Evolution Of The Dragon

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

Published for the John Rylands Library at

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 12

(H. M. McKechnie, Secretary) Lime Grove, Oxford Road, MANCHESTER

LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY London

New York

:

Chicago

39 Paternoster

;

Row

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Prairie

Avenue and Twenty-fifth

Street

Bombay Hornby Road Calcutta 6 Old Court House Street Madras 167 Mount Road :

:

:

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

BY

G.

ELLIOT SMITH, PROFESSOR OF ANATOMY

Manchester:

London,

IN

M.A., M.D., F.R.S.

THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER

AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONGMANS, GREEN & COMPANY New York, Chicago, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras 1919

St.

MidiaeFs

CoH^cre, '

Be-

,

D^

r

PREFACE. is

explanation

due

SOME

these elaborations of the lectures which

John Rylands Library during the

They

last

have given

I

at

three winters.

one connected story

or less intimately into

"

in the title

The book

The

is

only imperfectly

Evolution of the Dragon",

has been written

moments

in rare

from a variety of arduous war-time occupations

of

leisure

and

;

it

snatched

reveals only

too plainly the traces of this disjointed process of composition.

23 February, 1915,

I

presented

to

Manchester

the

Philosophical Society an essay on the spread beliefs

in

the

deal with a -wide range of topics, and the thread which binds

them more expressed

form and scope of

to the reader of the

ancient times under the

" title

On

On

Literary and

of certain

customs and

the Significance of the

Geographical Distribution of the Practice of Mummification," and

my

in

Rylands Lecture two weeks later I summed up the general conIn view of the lively controversies that followed the publica-

clusions.^

tion of the former of

these addresses,

devoted

I

Lecture (9 February, 1916) to the discussion of

some months "

later

so

much

stress

was

that

I

adopted

explain

which have or with

The "

little

"The

so

upon the problems of more concise title for the

laid

" this

elaboration of the lecture which forms the will

TTie Relationship

Practice of

Incense and Libations

This

next Rylands

Mummification to the Development of In preparing this address for publication in the Bulletin

of the Egyptian Civilization ".

my "

first

chapter of

this

book.

matters are discussed in that chapter " or no connexion either with Incense and Libations"

why

many

Evolution of the Dragon".

study of the development of the belief

in

water's life-giving

The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilisation in the East and in America," Bulletin of the John Rylands Libmry, January- March, 1916. '

PREFACE

VI

attributes,

and

their

personification

[Haoma] and Varuna, prepared the way history of

What

"

Dragons and Rain Gods"

played a large part

in directing

Ea,

Soma

for the elucidation

of the

the gods

in

Osiris,

my next lecture (Chapter II). my thoughts dragon-wards was

in

representations of the Indian

the discussion of certain

Elephant upon and manuscripts from, Central America {Nature, 25 Nov.. 1915; 16 Dec, 1915; and 27 Jan., 1916). For in the course of investigating the meaning of these remarkable dethat the Elephant-headed rain-god of America had signs I discovered Precolumbian monuments

v^th those of the Indian Indra (and of Varuna and

attributes identical \

I

Soma)

in,

The

and the Chinese dragon.

investigation of these identities

American rain-god was transmitted Cambodia.

established the fact that the

the Pacific from India via

The

intensive study of dragons impressed

across

upon me the importance

by the Great Mother, especially in her Babylonian Tiamat, in the evolution oi the famous wonder- beast. Under

of the part played

avatar as

the stimulus of Dr. Rendel Harris's Rylands Lecture of Aphrodite,"

1917)

to the

"

I

therefore devoted

Birth of

problems of Olympian

Each

my

was

and put

;

and, as Mr.

after the delivery of

discussion of the

it

Guppy

became

insisted

upon

necessary, as a

each address, to rearrange

my

form of a wiitten narrative the story which

into the

had previously been

Cult

delivered as an informal demonstration

the publication of the lectures in the Bulietiii,

material

The

obstetrics.

of these addresses

many months

"

next address (14 November,

Aphrodite" and a general

of large series of lantern projections

rule,

on

told mainly

by pictures and verbal comments upon

them.

making these elaborations additional facts were added and new points of view emerged, so that the printed statements bear little reIn

semblance to the lectures of which they pretend to be reports. transformations are inevitable port of of the

what was

Each lecture

essentially

numerous pictures of

was

the set

first

up

is

two

in type.

when one

attempts to

make a

Such

wiitten re-

an ocular demonstration, unless every one

reproduced. lectures

was

printed before the succeeding

For these reasons there

is

a good deal of

PREFACE repetition,

and

mentioned

in the

lectures a

in successive

permitted

me

wider interpretation of evidence

Had

preceding addresses.

the whole book at one time,

and

if

im

it

been possible to revise

the pressure of other duties had

devote more time to the work, these blemishes might

to

have been eliminated and a coherent story made out of what more than a collection of data and tags of comment. No one conscious than the writer of the inadequacy

of this

method

is

little

is

more

of present-

ing an argument of such inherent complexity as the dragon story

my I

obligation to the

had

to

stances.

attempt the

Rylands Library gave

difficult task in spite of all

:

the unpropitious circum-

raw material

study of the

for the

1918) on

"The

of Myths," which will be published in the Bulletin

of the

dragon's histoiy.

Meaning

matter

in the

This book must be regarded, then, not as a coherent argu-

but merely as some of the

ment,

me no option

but

:

my

In

lecture

(13 November,

have expounded the general conclusions that emerge from the studies embodied in these three lectures and in my " The Stoiy of the Flood," I have submitted the forthcoming book,

fohn Rylands Library,

I

;

whole mass tract

of

from

of evidence to examination in detail,

and attempted

to ex-

the real story of mankind's age-long search for the

it

elixii"

life.

In the earliest records

from Egypt and Babylonia

it is

customary to

portray a king's beneficence by representing him initiating irrigation works. In course of time he came to be regarded, not merely as the giver of the water personification

which made the desert

and the

giver of the vital

fertile,

powers

but as himself the

of water.

The

fertility \

of the land

and the welfare

dependent upon the

him when

king's vitality.

his virility

country's prosperity.

king acquired a

god

Osiris,

to the land

and he

new

of the people thus

showed

be regarded as

was not

illogical to kill

signs

of

failing

grant of vitality in the other world he

who was

became the

able to confer even greater boons of life-giving

the land.

He

was

the Nile,

original dragon was a water, and was identified with

beneficent

and people than was the case

fertilized

it

to

and so imperilled the But when the view developed that the dead

creature, the personification of

gods.

Hence

came

The

before.

kings

and

PREFACE

vm

But the enemy of Osiris became an

evil

dragon, and

was

identified

with Set.

The

dragon-myth, however, did not really begin to develop until an ageing king refused to be slain, and called upon the Great Mother, as the giver of

blood

and

;

Her murderous slaying of the

Her

rejuvenate him.

she

was compelled

led to her being

dragon

to

elixir

only

make

is

a

much

a

was human

human

sacrifice.

compared with and ultimately

distorted

rumour

The

story of the

of this incident

and

;

the process of elaboration the incidents were subjected to every kind

of interpretation conflict

human

had

to

and also confusion with the legendaiy account

between Horus and

When a

act

it

with a man-slaying lioness or a cobra.

identified

in

to

life,

to obtain

a substitute

victim

be found

was obtained

was no

blood the slaying of

to replace the

longer logically necessary

but an explanation

:

for the persistence of this incident in the story.

kind (no longer a mere individual

and

of the

Set.

human

sacrifice)

had become

Mansinful

rebellious (the act of rebellion being complaints that the king or

god was growing old) and had to be destroyed as a punishment for treason. The Great Mother continued to act as the avenger of

this

But the enemies

the king or god.

Horus

in the

legend of

of the

Horus and

came confused the one with the

Set.

other.

god were

also punished

by

The two stories hence The king Horus took

bethe

Great Mother as the avenger of the gods. As she was identified with the moon, he became the Sun-god, and assumed many of the Great Mother's attributes, and also became her son. In the place of the

development of the myth, when the Sun-god had completely usurped his mother's place, the infamy of her deeds of destruction further

seems to have led to her being confused with the rebellious

were now called the followers dragon emerged horn

and

Set.

This

plex jumble

is

this

of Set,

Horus's enemy.

men who

Thus an

evil

blend of the attributes of the Great Mother

the Babylonian Tiamat.

of this tissue of confusion all

From

the amazingly

com-

the incidents of the dragon-

myth were derived.

When

attributes of the

Water-god or his enemy became assimilMother and the Warrior Sun-god, the

ated with those of the Great

PxREFACE

ix

came

animals with which these deities were identified individually and

Thus

powers.

the

cow and

the gazelle, the falcon and the eagle, the

and the crocodile became symbols of the and the life-destroying powers of water, and composite

and the

lion

be regarded

to

collectively as concrete expressions of the Water-god's

life-giving

serpent, the fish

monsters or dragons were invented by combining parts of these various creatures to express the different manifestations of the vital

The

water.

still

further involved

became confused with man's evil

genius

of

process of elaboration of the attributes of these monsters

led to the development of an amazingly complex

became

powers

when

of every individual's body,

and

but the story

identified with the

welcome

as the guest,

and

:

the dragon's life-controlling powers

vital spirit

which was regarded

myth

or

good or

unwelcome,

the arbiter of his destiny.

remarks on the ka and ihefravashi

I

have merely hinted

In

my

at the vast

complexity of these elements of confusion.

Had

1

been familiar

monograph,^ when

tempted

I

to indicate

was

how

with [Archbishop] writing Chapters vital

I

Sbderblom's important

and

III,

I

might have

at-

a part the confusion of the individual

genius with the mythical wonder-beast has played in the history of the myths relating to the latter. For the identification of the dragon with the

the individual explains

vital spirit of

former appealed to the "

time the lecture on

selfish interest of

Incense and

idea that the problems of the

every "

Libations

why

the stories of the

human was

At

being.

written,

I

the

had no

ka and ^^fravashi had any connexion

wdth those relating to the dragon.

But

in

lion from Professor Langdon's account of

the third chapter a quota" Ritual of Atonement

A

"

for a

the

Babylonian King

ka and

many

the fravaski.,

"my

god

who

Babylonian equivalent of

walks

at

my

side," presents

points of affinity to a dragon.

When make

indicates that the

in the lecture

on "Incense and Libations"

I

ventured to

the daring suggestion that the ideas underlying the Egyptian con-

ception of the

ka

^vere substantially identical wath those entertained

by

Nathan Soderblom, " Les Fravashis Etude sur les Traces dans le Mazdeisme dune Ancienne Conception sur la Sur^ivance des Morts," Paris, '

1899.

PREFACE

X

^t fravashi,

the Iranians in reference to

was not aware

I

had already been made. Soderblom's monograph, which contains a wealth

In

that such a comparison

corroboration of the views set forth in Chapter

"

ment occurs

L analyse,

:

om

forestillinger

faite

par

(p. 58,

fravaski"

fravashi a

d Egypte,

the following state-

I,

Brede-Kristensen (^yEgypternes

livet efter doden,

analogie qui semble exister entre et

ete

1

4

ss.

Kristiania,

logic ^gyptiennes,

I,

de

sens originaire

le

"

note 4).

La

which

statement (Farvardin-Yasht,

Lhote,

have submitted

I

in

le sein

de

sa

mere

Chapter

et I'enveloppent

cit.,

Soderblom,

p. it

is

une personification de

La

I'homme de

se

de

"

de

ainsi d'exister et

par

sorte qu'il

).

(p.

and

58): is

it

ne

is

also as-

Nous voyons dans

de

vie,

la

faculte

qu'a

de manger, d'absorber

nourriture,

Cette etymologie et

se developper.

specific

conservee et exercee aussi

la force vitale,

la

that

The fravaski

placenta,

fravashi est le principe

soutenir

1

"the nurse"

fact the

in

is

It

58).

41, note

I,

tiennent en

les fravashis

sociated with the functions of the Great Mother.

apres la mort.

la

et darcht^o-

might refer to the "

I

1) that

XXIII,

"nourishes and protects" (p. 57):

fravashi

et

was suggested by

"

(p.

ka

47, note 3."

the placenta and the foetal membranes,

always feminine

frappante

deux termes

ces

Maspero, Etudes de 7nythologie

In support of the view,

{op.

la

Lettres ^crites

the original idea of \^ef?''avaski, like that of the ka,

ordre I'enfant dans

896) du ka

1

similitude entre le

deja par Nestor

signalee

note, selon

meurt pas

[Archbishop] information in

of

une vive lumiere sur notre question, par

egyptien, jette

ka

M.

of the fact

et

le role attribute

a la fravashi dans le developpement de Tembryon, des animaux, des

comme

plantes rappellent en quelque sorte, I'idee directrice

ete

de Claude Bernard.

une abstraction.

La

komunciiius in hovmie, un sources de vie et

fravashi

le

remarque

Seulement est

une

etre personnifie

puissance

comme du

de mouvement que I'homme non

M.

Foucher,

la fravashi n'a

jamais

vivante,

un

reste toutes les

civilise

apergoit dans

son organisme. II

ne faut pas non plus considerer

de Ihomme,

elle

en

est

plutot

une

tinue son existence apres la mort

la

fravashi

partie,

comme un

double

un bote intime qui con-

aux memes conditions qu'avant,

et

PREFACE vivanls a

les

qui oblige

X

fournir les aliments necessaires" {pp. cit.,

lui

59).

p.

Thus

the

fravashi has

same remarkable

the

As

nourishment and placental functions as the ka. of

its

and

with

associations

a further suggestion

connexion with the Great Mother as the inaugurator of the year,

her physiological (uteiine) functions the moon-controlled " Le 19^ jour de measurer of the month, it is important to note that in virtue of

chaque mois

premier mois porte aussi fetes

Quant aux formes des

Farvardin.

conformes a

semblent

elles

mensuelles,

nom de

le

Le

fravashis en general.

egalement consecre aux

est

que nous

celles

allons

"

rappeler

[les fetes

celebrees en I'honneur des mortes]

{pp. iiL, p.

1

0).

But the f^'avaslii was not only associated with the Great Mother,

Good Dragon,

but also with the Water-god or

waters of irrigation and gave

fravashi was Trinity, the

Winged Disk

{op. cit., pp.

with the dragon, so that

in

{op. cit., p. 51),

man and

shapes

fact the expression of a logists of Iran to

in the general

sense as the

is

became the genius

it

or spirit that possesses

his behaviour.

It

was

in

crude attempt on the part of the early psycho-

explain the working of the instinct of self-preservation.

In the text of Chapters

I

and

III

I

have referred

Babylonian, Chinese, and Melanesian variants conception.

The

36).

the primitive

67 and 68).

conduct and regulates

his

of

brought into close association " addition to being the divine and immortal

"

element

member

but also in the more definite form of

^^ fravashi

In all these respects

a

evil,

controlled the

it

soil {pp. cit.^ p.

with the third

Warrior Sun-god, not merely

adversary of the powers of the

the

fertility to

also identified

for

Soderblom

refers

to

an

to the

Greek,

same

of essentially the

interesting

parallel

among

the

Karens, whose kelah corresponds to the Iranian fravashi (p. 54,

Note 2: compare

A. E. Crawley,

also

"The

Idea of the Soul,"

1909). In the

development

a very obtrusive part

:

of the

but

I

dragon-myth astronomical factors played have deliberately refrained from entering

into a detailed discussion of them, because they real causal agents in the origin of the

a sky-world

or a heaven

myth.

became drawn

were not primarily the

When

into the

the conception of

dragon story

it

came

PREFACE

xu

to play so prominent a part as to convince

was

and

primarily

most writers that the myth

But

essentially astronomical.

it is

clear that origin-

myth was concerned solely with the regulation the search upon earth for an elixir of life. and systems ally the

When

put forward the suggestion that the annual inundation of

I

the Nile provided the information for the I

was not aware

of

of irrigation

Astronomy,"

substantiated

it

1

894,

p.

by much

first

measurement

of the year,

209),

Norman Lockyer (" The Dawn had already made the same claim and

fuller

evidence than

of the fact that

Sii-

have brought together

I

here.

In preparing these lectures

number But

I

of correspondents that

am

difficult to

it is

enumerate

all

of them.

under a special debt of gratitude to Dr. Alan Gardiner for

my

calling

have received help from so large a

I

attention to the fact that

the

Egyptian word didi as "mandrake" was F. LI. Griffith for explaining literature relating

Assistant

Keeper

meaning and Miss Winifred

the Egyptian

Museum, gave me very

rendering of the

unjustifiable,

true

its

to this matter. of

common

Department

and

to

Mr.

me

the

M. Crompton,

the

for lending

in

the Manchester

material assistance by bringing to

my

attention

some very important literature which otherwise would have been overlooked and both she and Miss Dorothy Davison helped me with the ;

Mr. Wilfiid Jackson gave me much of the information concerning shells and cephalopods which forms such an essential part of the argument, and he also collected a good drawings that

illustrate

deal of the literature which F.R.S., of Cambridge, lent I

was unable

to

1

have made use

me

Manchester

to obtain in

upon the

folklore of

Dr.

of.

A. C. Haddon,

a number of books and journals which ;

and Mr. Donald A. Mac-

upon me a stream of information, Nor must I forget Scotland and India.

Edinburgh, has poured

kenzie, of

especially

volume.

this

in

acknowledge the invaluable help and forbearance

of

Mr. Henry

Guppy, John Rylands Library, and Mr. Charles W. E. Leigh, of the University To all of these and to the still larger Library. of the

number ful

of correspondents

who have

helped

me

I

offer

my

most grate-

thanks.

During the three years

in

which these

lectures

were compiled

I

PREFACE W. H.

have been associated with Dr.

T. H. Pear

in

their psychological

xiu

R. Rivers, F.R.S., and Mr.

work

in

the influence of this interesting experience

is

the military hospitals, and

manifest upon every page

of this volume.

But perhaps the most potent directing

W.

J.

science

my

train of

factor of all in shaping

my

views and

thought has been the stimulating influence of Mr.

Perry's researches, which are converting ethnology into a real

and shedding a

brilliant

light

upon the early

history of civiliza-

tion.

G. 9 December, 191

8.

ELLIOT SMITH.

CONTENTS. CHAPTER

I.

PACE

INCENSE AND LIBATIONS

1

CHAPTER

II.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

76

CHAPTER THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

III.

140

XT

OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

LIST

FACING PACK

—The conventional Egyptian representation of the burning of incense and

1.

Fig.

2

the pouring of libations Fig.

2.—Water-colour sketch by .Mrs. Cecil Firth, representing a restoration of the early mummy found at .Medum by Professor Flinders Petrie, now in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London

....

3.

Fig.

—A mould

taken from a life-mask found

in

Quibell Fig. Fig.

4.

—Portrait statue of an Egyptian lady of the Pyramid Age

5.— Statue skill in

Fig. Fig.

of an Egyptian noble of the

the representation of

6.— Representation 7.— A medizeval Professor

W.

life-like

of the ancient

Pyramid Age

Mexican worship

show

the technical

of the

Sun

...

Dragon upon

its

17 18

52 70

cloud (after the late

80

Anderson)

Fig.

8.— A Chinese Dragon

Fig.

9.— Dragon from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon

Fig. 10.

to

....

eyes

picture of a Chinese

16

the Pyramid of Teta by Mr.

(after

80

de Groot)

81

— Babylonian Weather God

81

in the .Maya Codex Troano representing the Fig. 11.— Reproduction of a picture which is interposed between Rain-god Chac treading upon the Serpent's head, the earth and the rain the god is pouring out of a bowl. .'\ Rain-goddess

stands upon the Serpent's Fig. 12.

—Another

84

tail

representation of the elephant-headed Rain-god. He is holdTiie serpent is form.

a hand-like ing thunderbolts, conventionalized in converted into a sac, holding up the rain-waters

84

—A page (the 36th) of the Dresden .Maya Codex Fig. —A. The so-called "sea-goat" of Babylonia, a creature compounded of Fig. " " as the vehicle of Ea or the antelope and fish of Ea. — B. The sea-goat — — Marduk. C to K a series of varieties of the makara from the Buddhist Rails 13.

86

14.

at

Buddha Gaya and

-Mathura, circa 70 B.C.

— 70

a.d., after

Cunningham

Survey of India," Vol. Ill, 1873, Plates IX and XXIX).— L. The makara as the vehicle of Varuna, after Sir George Birdwood. It is not difficult to understand how, in the course of the easterly diffusion of culture, such a picture should develop into the Chinese Dragon or the American (" ArchiEological

elephant-headed Fig. 15.

go«.l

— Photograph

of a

............ Chinese embroidery

in the

Manchester School of

representing the Dragon and the Pearl-Moon Symbol

b

xvii

88

Ai-t

98

LIST

XVUl

OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE

1«.—The God of Thunder (from a Chinese drawing John Rylands Librarjf)

Fig.

From

Pig, 17.

Rome:

(?

17th Century) in the

136

" Joannes de Turrecremata's Meditationes seu Contemplationcs".

Han, HS7

Ulrich

—

137

Archaic Egyptian slate palette of Narnier showing, perhaps, the of Hathor (at the upper corners of the palette) as a woman

(a) The Fig. 18. earliest design

" The with cow's horns and ears (compare Flinders Petrie Royal Tombs of the First Dynasty," Part I, 1900, Plate XXVII, Fig.i71). The pharaoh is wearing a belt from which are suspended four cow-headed Hathor figures in This affords corroboraplace of the cowry-amulets of more primitive peoples. tion of the view that

Hathor assumed the functions originally attributed to

the cowry-shell, (b) The king's sporran, where Hathor-heads (H) take the place of the cowries of the primitive girdle

150

—^The

front of Stela B (famous for the realistic representations of the Indian elephant at its upper corners), one of the ancient Maya monuments at Copan, Central America (after Maudslay's photograph and diagram). The girdle of the chief figure is decorated both with shells (Oliva or Coinis) and

Fig. 19.

amulets representing human faces corresponding to the Hathor-heads on the

Narmer Fig. 20.

151

palette (Fig. 18)

— Diagrams illustrating the

form of cowry-belts worn

in (j)

East Africa

Oceania respectively. (c) Ancient Indian girdle (from the figure of Devata on the Bharat Tope), consisting of strings of pearls and precious stones, and what seem to be (fourth row from the top) models of cowries, (d) The Copan girdle (from Fig. 19) in which both shells and heads of deities are represented. The two objects suspended from the belt between the heads recall Hathor's sistra

and

(b)

Siriraa

Fig. 21.

—

(a)

A

slate triad found

Third Pyramid at Giza.

It

153

by Professor G. A. Reisner in the temple of the shows the Pharaoh Mycerinus supported on his

right side by the goddess Hathor, represented as a woman with the moon and the cow's horns upon her head, and on the left side by a nome goddess, bear-

ing upon her head the jackal-symbol of her nome. (b) The Ecuador AphroBas-relief from Cerro-Jaboncillo (after Saville, "Antiquities of Manabi,

dite.

A grotesque comEcuador," Preliminary Report, 1907, Plate XXXVIII). posite monster intended to represent a woman (compare Saville's Plates XXXV, XXXVI, and XXXIX), whose head is a conventionalized Octopus, whose body is a Loligo, and whose limbs are human Fig.

22. —

(a)

Sepia

after Tryon.

officinalis, after

The

(c)

Tryon, Cephalopoda ". (b) Loligo vulgaris, position usually adopted by the resting Octopus, after 168

Tryon Fig.

23.— A

series of

Mycenaean conventionalizations of the Argonaut and the Octopus (after Tumpel), which provided the basis for Houssay's theory of the origin of the triskele (a, c, and d) and swastika (h and e), and Siret's theory to explain the design of Bes's face (/

Fig.

164

"

24.— (a) and

and

g)

Two Mycenaean

pots (after Schliemann). (a) The so-called "owl-shaped" vase is really a representation of the Mother-Pot in the form of a conventionalized Octopus (Houssay). {b) The other vase represents the Octopus Mother-Pot, with a jar upon her head and another in her hands— a (b)

Mother as a pot. (c) A Cretan vase which the Octopus-motive is represented as a decoration

three-fold representation of the Great

from Gournia

in

172

LIST

OF ILLUSTRATIONS

xix PACING PACB

upon the pot instead of in its form. (
Ward

(" Seal Cylinders, etc.," p. 215)

.180

.

.

—

(a) Winged Disk from the Temple of Thothmes 1. Fig. 25. (6) Persian design of Winged Disk above the Tree of Life (Ward, " Seal Cylinders of Western

Assyrian or Syro-Hittite design of the Winged Disk an extremely conventionalized form (Ward, Fig. 1310). (d) Assyrian conventionalized Winged Disk and Tree of Life, from the design upon the dress of Assurnazipal (Ward, Fig. 670). (c) Part of the design from a tablet of the time of Dungi (Ward, Fig. 6H3). (/) Design on a Cretan sarcophagus from Hagia Triada (Blinckenberg, Fig. 9). (if) Double axe from a gold signet from Acropolis Treasure, Mycenre (after Sir Arthur Evans, " Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 10). (/;) Assyrian Winged Disk (Ward, " " Primitive Chaldean Fig. 608). (/) Winged Gate (Ward, Fig. 349). (k) Persian Winged Disk (Ward, Fig. 1144). (/) An Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk crudely conventionalized (Ward, Fig. 691). (m) Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk in which the god is riding in a crescent replacing the Disk (Ward, Fig. 695) Asia," Fig. 1109). and Tree of Life

(c)

in

184

— Fig. 26.

(a) An Egyptian picture of Hathor between the mountains of the horizon which trees are growing) (after Budge, " Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. II, (b) The mountains of the horizon supporting a cow's head as a p. 101). surrogate of Hathor, from a stele found at Teima in Northern Arabia, now in the Louvre (after Sir Arthur Evans, oJ>. cit., p. 39). (c) The Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash rising between the Eastern Mountains, the Gates of Dawn

(on

(Ward, op. cit., p. 373). (rf) The familiar Egyptian representation of the sun rising between the Eastern Mountains (the splitting of the mountain giving " birth to " the ridiculous mouse Smintheus). (e) Part of the design from a

—

Mycenaean vase from Old Salamis (after Evans, p. 9). (/) Part of the design from a lentoid gem from the Idaian Cave, now in the Candia Museum (after Evans, Fig. 25). (g^) The Eastern Mountains supporting the pillar-form of the goddess (after Evans, Fig. 66). (h) Another Mycenaean design comparable with (e). (i) Design from a signet-ring from Mycena; (after Evans, Fig. 34).

(k)

The famous sculpture above

ILLUSTRATIONS Fig.

1.

—Early representiition of

the Lion Gate at Mycenie

IN

.

.

THE TEXT. PAGE

a "Dragon

"

eagle and the hindpiirt of a lion (from an

of the forepart of an Archaic Cylinder seal from Susa,

compounded

79

after Jequier)

Fig.

2.

—The

earliest

Babylonian conception of the Dragon Museum, after L. W. King)

Tiamat

(from a

Cylinder-seal in the British Fig.

3.

—Wm.

Dennis's drawing of the " Flying

Dragon

at Piasa, Illinois

Fig.

4.

Fig.

5.

188

—Two representi'tions of Astarte (Qetesh) — Pteroceta bryonia, the Red Sea spider-shell

"

79

depicted on the rocks

.......

94 155 17()

LIST

X3f

OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE

Fig.

6.— (a) Picture of a bowl of water— the hieroglyphic sign equivalent to hm " Beni " woman Hasan," Part III, Plate "—Griffith, (the word hmt means VI,

Fig.

88 and

29).

p.

"Ancient Egyptians," Vol.

(b) I,

"A

p. 323.

—

basket of sycamore figs" Wilkinson's to be {c) and (d) are said by Wilkinson

"wife" and are apparently taken from (b). But which, according to Griffith (p. 14), represents a bivalve

hieroglyphic signs meaning (c) is

identical with

(i),

from Plate III, Fig. 3), more usually placed obliquely (h). The varyof (a) or (b) are shown in (d), (e), and (/) (Griffith, conventionalizations ing " Hieroglyphics," p. 34). (k) The sign for a lotus leaf, which is a phonetic equivalent of the sign (h), and, according to Griffith (" Hieroglyphics," p. 26), " is probably derived from the same root, on account of its shell-like outline ".

shell (g,

(/)

{m)

The hieroglyphic sign for a pot of water in such words as Nu and Nut. A " pomegranate " (replacing a bust of Tanit) upon a sacred column at

" Evans, Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 46). (h) body of an octopus as conventionalized on the coins of Central Greece (compare Fig. 24 {d))

Carthage (Arthur

The form

Fig.

7.

—

(a)

J.

of the

An Egyptian

179

design representing the sun-god Horus emerging from a

mother Hathor (I sis), (b) Papyrus sceptre often carried by goddesses and animistically identified with them either as an instrument of life-giving or destruction, (c) Conventionalized lily the prototype of the trident and the thunder-weapon, (d) A water-plant associated

lotus, representing

his

—

with the Nile-gods

180

—

" (a) "Ceremonial forked object," or Fig. magic wand," used in the ceremony of "opening the mouth," possibly connected with (b) (a bicornuate uterus), 8.

according to Griffith (" Hieroglyphics," p. 60). key. (d) The double axe of Crete and Egypt Fig. 9.

—The Egyptian emblem for gold, the sign nub

{c)

The Egyptian

sign for a

19f

222

Chapter

INCENSE

AND

I.

LIBATIONS.^

ivas primarily a personification of the life-giving and lifeThis chapter is concerned with the destroying powers of ivatcr. this theory of water and its relationship to the of biological genesis

The dragon

other

civili.'^ation,

commonly assumed

is

IT

germs of

of civilization,

that

many

of the elementary

such as the erection of rough

whether houses, tombs, or temples, the

practices

stone buildings,

crafts of

the carpenter

of statues, the customs of pouring out

and the stonemason, the carving

such simple and obvious procedures that any people might adopt them without prompting or contact of any kind with other populations who do the same sort of things. But libations or burning incense, are

such apparently commonplace acts be investigated they will be None of these things that found to have a long and complex history.

if

seem so obvious

to us

was attempted

cumstances became focussed strained

some individual

to

in

until

a multitude of diverse

cir-

some particular community, and con-

make

the discovery.

Nor

did the quality

become apparent even when the enlightened discoverer had gathered up the threads of his predecessor's ideas and woven For he had then to begin them into the fabric of a new invention.

of obviousness

the strenuous fight against the opposition of his fellows before he could

induce them to accept his discovery. against their preconceived ideas significance of the progress

them

"

of

its

obviousness ".

and

He

had,

in

fact, to

contend

their lack of appreciation of the

he had made before he could persuade That is the history of most inventions

But it is begging the question to pretend that since the world began. because tradition has made such inventions seem simple and obvious unnecessary to inquire into their history or to assume that any people or any individual simply did these things without any in-

to us

it

is

struction ^

An

when

the spirit

moved

it

or

him so

to do.

elaboration of a Lecture on the relationship of the Egyptian practice of mummification to the development of civilization delivered in the John Rylands Library, on 9 February, 1916.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

2

customs of burning incense and making libations in religious ceremonies are so widespread and capable of being explained in such

The

that it has plausible, though infinitely diverse, ways into their real origin sary to inquire more deeply ^

For example, Professor

Toy

seemed unneces-

and

significance.

disposes of these questions in relation to

" claims that when burnt before incense in a summary fashion. " " to be regarded as food, though in course of time, it is the deity when the recollection of this primitive character was lost, a conven-

He

tional significance

was attached

to the act of burning.

A more refined

as ambrosia and period demanded more refined food for the gods, such nectar, but these also were finally given up."

This, of course,

a purely gratuitous assumption, or series of as-

is

no

sumptions, for which there

is

there were any really early

literature to justify such

Incense-burning

explain nothing.

claim be granted as

it

was

real evidence.

is

just as

Moreover, even

if

statements, they

mysterious

if

Prof.

Toy's

before.

But a bewildering variety of other explanations, for all of which " " is claimed, have been simple and obvious sugThe reader who is curious about these things will find a gested. the merit of being

luxurious crop of speculations I

by

consulting a series of encyclopaedias.^

"

Frankincense by quoting only one more. were indispensable in temples where bloody sacrifices

content myself

shall

and other

spices

The atmosphere of Solomon's temple formed part of the religion. must have been that of a sickening slaughter-house, and the fumes of incense could alone enable the priests

and worshippers

to support

it.

This would apply to thousands of other temples through Asia, and doubtless the palaces of kings and nobles suffered from uncleanliness

and

insanitary arrangements

make them endurable." It is

and required an antidote

to evil smells to

^

an altogether delightful anachronism to imagine that religious and aromatic East was inspired by such squeam-

ritual in the ancient

ishness as a

experience ^

-

"

British sanitary inspector of

the twentieth century might

!

Introduction to the History of Religions," p. 486.

He

might start upon this journey of adventure by reading the on "Incense" in Hastings' Encyclopcsdia of Religion and Ethics. " ^ Samuel Laing, Human Origins," Revised by Edward Clodd, p. 38.

article

1

903,

Fig.

I.

— Thk

conventional Egyptian representation of the Burning of Incense and the Pouring of Libations (Period of the

New

Empire)

— after

Lepsius

AND

INCENSE But

are these

there

if

LIBATIONS

and mutually destructive

diverse

many

3

reasons in explanation of the origin of incense-burning, it follows that " the meaning of the practice cannot be so simple and obvious ".

For scholars in the past have been unable to agree as to the sense in which these adjectives should be applied. But no useful purpose would be sei"ved by enumerating a collecand exposing their contradictions when the true explanation has been provided in the earliest body of literature

tion of learned fallacies

has

that

"

come down from

I

antiquity.

the

to

refer

Egyptian

Pyramid Texts".

Before this ancient testimony is examined certain general principles involved in the discussion of such problems should be considered. In this connexion

is

it

appropnate to quote the apt remarks made, in by Professor Sollas.^ "If it is

reference to the practice of totemism,

more

how

to conceive

difficult

and have developed suppose that

1

.

,

do not think

.

.

.

originated at

all,

it is

still

they should have arisen repeatedly

same way among races evolving

the

environments.

[of them] have a

all .

how

much

in

different

in

independently

been carried

such ideas

to understand

difficult

It

common

at

is

source

.

least ,

.

simpler to

and may have

remote parts of the world,"

to

that

anyone

who

conscientiously

and without bias

examines the evidence relating to incense-burning, the arbitrary details of the ritual and the peculiar circumstances under which it is practised in

different countries,

can refuse to admit that so

artificial

a custom

must have been dispersed throughout the world from some one centre

where

it

The "so-called failure

was

devised.

remarkable

fact that

emerges from an examination of these

"obvious explanations"

on the part

of those

who

of ethnological

are responsible for

phenomena is the them to show any

adequate appreciation of the nature of the problems to be solved. They know that incense has been in use for a vast period of time, and that the practice of burning it is very widespread. They have been so familiarized with the custom

and

for its perpetuation that they

show no

certain

more

or less vague excuses

realization of

how

strangely

obvious meaning the procedure is. The reasons usually given in explanation of its use are for the most part merely paraphrases of the traditional meanings that in the course of irrational

and devoid

^

"

of

Ancient Hunters," 2nd Edition, pp. 234 and 235.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON have come

history

to designate

to

words used

to the ritual act or the

be attached

Neither the ethnologist nor the priestly apologist will,

it.

know why

as a rule, admit that he does not

such ritual acts as pour-

and

incense are performed, ing out water or burning

Nor

him. wholly inexplicable and meaningless to that the real inspiration to perform such rites decessors having

is

that they are

will

they confess

the fact of their pre-

handed them down as sacred

acts of devotion, the

meaning of which has been entirely forgotten during the process of Instead of this they simply pretend that transmission from antiquity. acts is obvious. Stripped of the glamour woven around them, such have and emotion which religious sophistry pretended explanations become transparent subterfuges, none the less

the significance of such

real because the apologists are quite innocent of

to deceive either themselves or their disciples.

have been handed down by tradition But in response to the instinctive and proper things to do.

them that such

for

as right

any conscious intention It should be sufficient

impulse of

human

all

of actions of

ritual acts

which

beings, the

mind seeks

the real inspiration is

for reasons in justification

unknown.

common fallacy to suppose that men's actions are inspired reason. The most elementary investigation of the psychology mainly by of everyday life is sufficient to reveal the truth that man is not, as a It

a

is

the pre-eminently rational creature he

rule,

He

is

commonly supposed

to

impelled to most of his acts by his instincts, the circumand the conventions of the society But once he has acted or decided upon in which he has grown up.

be.^

is

stances of his personal experience,

ready with excuses in explanation and of his motives. In most cases these are not the

a course of procedure he

attempted

justification

real reasons, for in

fact are

and the

is

few human beings attempt

competent without help to understand

real significance of their actions.

the instinct to interpret for his tions,

the meaning

i.e.

own

tions of thoughts

tion will ^

On

and decisions the

There

their

is

own

implanted

satisfaction his feelings

of his experience.

mostly of the nature of rationalizing,

Now

to analyse their motives or

i.e.

real

But

of

feelings in

man

and sensa-

necessity this

is

providing satisfying interpretaof which is hidden.

meaning

must be patent that the nature of this process of rationalizadepend largely upon the mental make-up of the individual it

this

—

subject see

Elliot

Smith and Pear,

Lessons," Manchester University Press, 1917,

"

p. 59.

Shell

Shock and

its

AND

INCENSE of the

come

body

of

knowledge and

LIBATIONS

traditions with

which

5 his

mind has be-

The

stored in the course of his personal experience.

influences

which he has been exposed, daily and hourly, from the time of his birth onward, provide the specific determinants of most of his beliefs to

Consciously and unconsciously he imbibes certain definite and politics, but of what is the

and views.

ideas, not merely of religion, morals,

correct

and what

the incorrect attitude to assume in most of the

is

circumstances of his daily his beliefs

and

These form the

life.

Reason plays a

his conversation.

part in this process, for

staple currency of surprisingly small

most human beings acquire from

their fellows

the traditions of their society which relieves them of the necessity of

The

undue thought. of his

very words in which the accumulated traditions

community are conveyed

to

each individual are themselves

charged with the complex symbolism that has slowly developed during the ages, and tinges the whole of his thoughts with their subtle and,

men, vaguely appreciated shades

to most

of meaning.^

During this and community's experiences a vast without number of individual question accepts apparently every He is apt to regard them as obvious, and simple customs and ideas. process of acquiring the fruits of his

to

assume that reason led him

although when

beliefs

them or be guided by them, put to him he is unable to give

to accept

the specific question

is

their real history.

Before leaving these general considerations certain elementary

who

those

Fii'st,

facts

of psychology

the concatenation of

all of

definite

want

to

emphasize

which are often ignored by

the multitude and the complexity of the circumstances that

men

second

I

investigate the early history of civilization.

are necessary to lead

a

"

to

make even

the simplest invention render

these conditions wholly independently on

occasion in the highest degree improbable.

and conclusive evidence

Until very

in

forthcoming any individual case can safely be assumed that no ethnological ly significant innovation in customs or beliefs has ever been made twice. is

it

Those by

who have

refening to the '

^

"

work

recently attempted to dispose of this claim

of the

Patent Office thereby display a singular

An

James oa

critics

interesting discussion of this matter by the late Professor William " will be found in his Principles of Psychology," Vol. I, pp. 261 et seq.

For a

fuller discussion of certain

Primitive

Man,"

especially pp. l.l>-b^.

in

phases of

this

matter see

the Proceedings of the British

my

address

Academy,

1917,

\ '

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

6

For the ethnological who are assumed not problem is concerned with different populations of to share any common heritage acquired knowledge, nor to have had But the inany contact, direct or indirect, the one with the other.

lack of appreciation of the real point at issue.

ventors

who

resort to the

Patent Office are

all

of

them persons sup-

the storehouse of our common civilization ; plied with information from which inventions the and they seek to protect from imitation by others are merely developments of the heritage of all civilized peoples.

when

circumstances, in

two

investigators

have followed up a

advance which has been

line of

common body

of the

determined by the development This general discussion suggests another factor the

of

knowledge.

in the

working

human

mind.

When

certain vital needs or the force of circumstances

man

Even

made

apparently independently under such most cases they can be explained by the fact that

similar inventions are

of

compel a

embark upon a certain train of reasoning or invention the results to which his investigations lead depend upon a great many circumstances. Obviously the range of his knowledge and experience to

and the general ideas he has acquired from large part in

shaping his inferences.

It

his fellows will

play a

quite certain that even in

is

the simplest problem of primitive physics or biology his attention v^ll be directed only to some of, and not all, the factors involved, and that the limitations of his knowledge will permit him to form a wholly

inadequate conception even of the few factors that have obtruded But he may frame a working hypothemselves upon his attention. thesis in

explanation of the factors he had appreciated, which may final, as well as logical and rational to

seem perfectly exhaustive and him, but to those properties of

who come

different attitude

may seem merely

after him,

wdth a wider knowledge of the

and a wholly towards such problems, the primitive man's solution

matter and

the nature of living beings,

a ludicrous travesty.

But once a tentative explanation of one group of phenomena has been made it is the method of science no less than the common tendency of the human mind to buttress fancied homologies. into a generalisation. this

In other It is

this

words the

important to

mental process begins very early

obtrusive part in the building

up

of

;

theory wdth analogies and

isolated facts are built

remember

up

that in most cases

so that the analogies play a very theories.

As

a rule a multitude

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

7

of such influences play a part consciously or unconsciously in shaping

any

Hence

belief.

the historian

quite insuperable, of

played some

finitely

part

scores of factors that

(among

ascertaining in

faced with the difficulty, often

is

upon which the vast

the real foundation

de-

the building up of a great generalization)

has been erected.

edifice

matters here for two

to these

reasons. First, elementary and secondly, because they are so often overlooked by ethnologists because in these pages I shall have to discuss a series of historical I

refer

;

events

in

which a bewildering number

In sifting out a certain I

do not pretend

to

number

of

them,

factors

want

I

to

played their

make

it

in the

part.

clear that

have discovered more than a small minority

most conspicuous threads

human

of

of the

complex texture of the fabric of early

thought.

Another considerations

that emerges from

fact is

these elementary psychological

the vital necessity of guarding against the misunder-

standings necessarily involved in the use of words.

In the course of

long ages the originally simple connotation of the v/ords used to denote of our ideas

many which

in

has become enormously enriched vrith a meaning

some degree

reflects the

human aspirations. Many of such make use terms, peoples

of

chequered history of the expression writers for

who

in

example, as

discussing

"

ancient

" soul,"

religion,"

"

gods," without stripping them of the accretions of complex symbolism that have collected around them within more recent times,

and

become involved

in difficulty

For example, the use

much

and misunderstanding. " " "

of the terms

or

soul

" soul- substance

of the literature relating to early or relatively primitive

fruitful of

misunderstanding.

For

it

is

people

in is

quite clear from the context

imply nothing more than life or vital principle," the absence of which from the body for But to translate such a word any prolonged period means death.

that in

"

many

cases such people

meant

to

"

'

"

"

inadequate because all of these people had some " its identity with the "breath or to its being in the nature of a material substance or essence. It is naturally imsimply as

life

is

theoretical views as to

possible to

find

any one word or phrase

express the exact idea,

in

our

own

language to

for among every people there are varying shades of meaning which cannot adequately express the symbolism distinctive of each place and society. To meet this insuperable diffi" the is term vital essence culty perhaps open to least objection. '

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

8

^ Rylands lecture I sketched in rough outline a tentaof the elements of the explanation of the world-wide dispersal

my

In tive

last

civilization that

to the part

is

now

the heritage of the

at large,

and referred

played by Ancient Egypt in the development of certain

On

customs, and beliefs.

arts,

world

amine certain aspects of

the present occasion

this process of

development

and

to study the far-reaching influence exerted

tice

of

by

I

propose to ex-

in

greater detail,

the Egyptian prac-

mummification, and the ideas that were suggested by

new

starting

it,

trains of thought, in stimulating the invention of arts

in

and

were unknown before then, and in shaping the complex customs and beliefs that were the outcome of these potent

crafts that

of

body

intellectual ferments.

In speaking of the relationship of the practice of mummification to

the development of civilization, however, the influence

it

have

I

in

mind not merely

exerted upon the moulding of culture, but also the part

played by the trend of philosophy in the world at large in determining the Egyptian's conceptions of the wider significance of embalming, and the reaction of these effects

upon the current doctrines

of the

meaning

of natural

No

phenomena. doubt it will be asked

at the outset,

what

possible connexion

can there be between the practice of so fantastic and gruesome an art

embalming of the dead and the building up of civilization ? Is conceivable that the course of the development of the arts and crafts,

as the it

the customs fact

any

and

beliefs,

of the essential

and the

social

and

political organizations

elements of civilization

a hair's breadth to the right or

—has been

in

deflected

as the outcome, directly

left

—

or in-

directly, of such a practice ?

In previous essays

and

lectures

'

I

have indicated

how

intimately

custom was related, not merely to the invention of the arts and crafts of the carpenter and stonemason and all that is implied in the " matrix of civiHbuilding up of what Professor Lethaby has called the

this

zation,

but also to the shaping of religious

beliefs

and

ritual practices,

1 «c

The Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilization in the East and in America," The Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Jan. -March, 1916. '-"The Migrations of Early Culture," 1915, Manchester University " Press The Evolution of the Rock-cut Tomb and the Dolmen," Essays and Studies Presented to William Ridgeway, Cambridge, 1913, p. 493 " Oriental Tombs and Temples," Journal of the Manchester Egyptian :

:

and Oriental

Society, 1914-1915, p. 55.

which developed

INCENSE

AND

in association

with the evolution of the temple and the

LIBATIONS

conception of a material resurrection. reaching significance of

have also suggested the

I

an indirect influence

the history of civilization.

fication in

9

of the practice of

was mainly

It

far-

mummi-

responsible for

prompting the earliest great maritime expeditions of which the history has been preserved.^

For many centuries the quest

of

and

resins

balsams for embalming and for use in temple ritual, and wood for coffin-making, continued to provide the chief motives which induced the Egyptians to undertake sea-trafficking in the Mediterranean and

Red Sea. mately made it

The knowledge and

the

experience thus acquired

and

possible for the Egyptians

adventures further

afield.

It is

their pupils to

push

ulti-

their

to estimate the

impossible adequately

vastness of the influence of such intercourse, not merely in spreading

abroad throughout the world the germs of our common civilization, but also, by bringing into close contact peoples of varied histories and traditions, in stimulating

progress.

Even

if

the practice of mummifi-

had exerted no other noteworthy effect in the histoiy of the this fact alone would have given it a pre-eminent place. Another aspect of the influence of mummification I have already

cation

world,

discussed,

and do not intend to consider further

refer to the

manifold ways in which

it

in

this

lecture.

I

affected the history of medicine

and pharmacy. turies,

By accustoming the Egyptians, through thirty cento the idea of cutting the human corpse, it made it possible for

Greek physicians

of the

Ptolemaic and

andria the systematic dissection of the prejudice forbade elsewhere,

later ages to initiate in

Alex-

human body which popular

and especially

in

Greece

itself.

Upon

foundation the knowledge of anatomy and the science of medicine has been built up.' But in many other ways the practice of mummification exerted far-reaching effects, directly and indirectly, upon the this

development ^

"

of

medical and pharmaceutical knowledge and methods.

Ships as Evidence of the Migrations of Early Culture," Manchester

University Press, 1917, p. 37. ' "

Part

Egyptian Mummies," Journal of Egyptian ArcJucology. Vol. I, July, 1914. p. 189. Such, for example, as its influence in the acquisition of the means of

III, "

preserving the tissues of the body, which has played so large a part in the

development of the sciences

of

anatomy, pathology, and

in fact biology in

The practice of mummification was largely responsible for the general. attainment of a knowledge of the properties of many drugs and especially

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

10

There practice of

then this prima-facie evidence that the Egyptian is mummification was closely related to the development of

maritime

architecture, chiefly

much and

concerned with

vaster part

it

trafficking,

in

played

the present lecture in

But what

and medicine. is

I

am

the discussion of the

shaping the innermost beliefs of

mankind

and the

scientific

directing the course of the religious aspirations

but opinions, not merely of the Egyptians themselves, world at large, for many centuries afterward.

also of

the

had a profound influence upon the history of human thought. The vague and ill-defined ideas of physiology and psychology, which had probably been developing since Aurignacian times in Europe, were suddenly crystallized into a coherent structure and definite form It

^

by the musings the

new

of the

Egyptian embalmer.

philosophy did

But

not find expression in

at the

same

time,

if

the invention of the

gave them a much more concrete form than they had previously presented, and played a large part in the estabUshment of first

deities,

it

the foundations upon which

all

religious ritual

was subsequently built rites which

up, and in the initiation of a priesthood to administer the were suggested by the practice of mummification.

The Beginning of Stone- Working. During the last few years I have repeatedly had occasion to point out the fundamental fallacy underlying much of the modern speculation in ethnology, and I have no intention of repeating these strictures

But

here."

is

it

a significant fact that, when one leaves the writings and turns to the histories of their special sub-

of professed ethnologists jects written of those

by

which

scholars in kindred fields of investigation, views such

But it was not merely in the restrain putrefactive changes. knowledge of material facts that mummification exerted its

acquisition of a influence. The

and medicine, which prevailed which are embalmed for all time in many our common speech, was closely related in its inception to the ideas which 1

humoral theory

of pathology

centuries and the effects of

for so

shall discuss in these pages.

The

Egyptians themselves did not

any appreciable extent from the remarkable opportunities of

profit

to

which

their practice sanctity of these

The for studying human anatomy. was fatal to the employment of such opportunities to gain knowNor was the attitude of mind of the Egyptians such as to permit

embalming provided

ritual acts

ledge. the acquisition of a real appreciation of the structure of the body. ^See my address, "Primitive Man," Proc. Brit. Acadeviy, 1917. ^

See, however,

Civilization of

op. cit.

supra

;

also

"

The Origin

America," Science, N.S., Vol.

246, 9 March, 1917.

Pre-Columbian No. 1158, pp. 241-

of the

XLV,

AND

INCENSE as

I

have been

question or

There

W.

particular that

I

"

book

little

R. Lethaby

affords an admirable

1

as the obvious truth.

an excellent

by Professor

1

be found to be accepted without

setting forth will often

comment is

LIBATIONS

entitled

Home

for the

Architecture," written

University Library, that

illustration of this interesting fact.

work because

wish to submit

it

gives lucid expression to

for

"Two

consideration.

some arts

" the surface of the world, Agriculture and Architecture

refer to this

I

of the ideas

have changed " (p.

I).

To

large degree architecture" [which he defines as "the matrix of " " we shall for in Egypt (p. 66) civilization"] "is an Egyptian art

a

:

whole"

best find the origins of architecture as a

Nevertheless Professor Lethaby

when he makes ably learnt

He

from Babylonia.

of a primitive age in

At

Mesopotamia.

Babylonia was that of a civilized people. a great similarity between this art and

Egypt.

Yet

reverse."

it

[He

Egypt prob-

puts forward this remarkable

claim in spite of his frank confession that

is

(p. 21).

the knee to current tradition

the wholly unwarranted assumption that

art

its

bows

" little

or nothing

is

known

a remote time the art

As

of

has been said, there

that of dynastic times in

appears that Egypt borrowed of Asia, rather than the gives

no reasons

for this opinion, for

which there

is

"

If no evidence, except possibly the invention of bricks for building.] as those in as known in were the origins of art Egypt, fully Babylonia

the story of architecture might have to begin in Asia instead of Egypt (p. 67).

But facts

later

on he speaks

when he

says (p. 82)

in a :

—

more convincing manner

When

first

Greece entered on her period of high-strung the heroes of Craft, invention in the arts was over

—

of the

life

like

known

the time of

Tubal Cain

and Daedalus, necessarily belong to the infancy of culture. The phenomenon of Egypt could not occur again the mission of Greece was rather to settle down to a task of gathering, interpreting, and bringing to perfecThe arts of civilization were never developed in watertion Egypt's gifts. ;

compartments, as is shown by the uniformity of custom over the modern world. Further, if any new nation enters into the circle of culture it seems borrow the capital '. The art of Greece could that, like Japan, it must Ideas hardly have been more self-originated than is the science of Japan. of the temple and of the fortified town must have spread from the East, the

tight

'

square-roomed house, columnar orders,

Elsewhere

^

I

fine

have pointed out that ^

Op.

cit.

masonry, were it

supra.

was

all

Egyptian.

the importance

which

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

12

came

the Egyptian

to attach to the preservation of the for

the making of

the

dead and

deceased's w^elfare

adequate provision to the aggrandisement of the tomb. led gradually this impelled him to cut into the rock,^ and, later

The Egyptian

ground.

the conceptions that grew^

still,

suggested the

evidence

scientiously examines

it

is

above

were thus intimately related

up with the invention

in confirmation of this

that

In course of time

substitution of stone for brick in erecting the chapel of offerings

burial customs

of

to

to

The who conthat man did

embalming.

so precise that every one

must be forced

to the conclusion

not instinctively select stone as a suitable material with which to erect

temples and houses, and forthwith begin to quarry and shape

it

for

such purposes.

There was an intimate connexion between the

first

use of stone

It was probably for and the practice of mummification. " at the magic sense of wonder reason, and not from any abstract

for building this

Professor Lethaby claims,

of art," as

that

"

ideas of sacredness, of

magic stability and correspondence with the uni" came to be associperfection of form and proportion

ritual rightness, of

and

verse,

of

ated with stone buildings.

At

stone

first

pharaoh alone fact that

was used only

was

entitled to use

for it

such sacred purposes, and the for his palaces, in virtue of the

he was divine, the son and incarnation on earth of the sun-

was only when these Egyptian practices were transplanted god. to other countries, where these restrictions did not obtain, that the It

convention was broken down.

rigid wall of

Even tic

and

Rome

in

civil

until

well into the Christian era

buildings were

of plastered brick

"

the largest domes-

"

Wrought masonry

".

seems to have been demanded only for the great monuments, triumphal arches, theatres, temples and above all for the Coliseum." (Lethaby, op, cit. p.

1

20),

mainly responsible for breaking down the which forbade the use of stone for civil purposes. architecture the engineering element became paramount.

Nevertheless

Rome was

hieratic tradition

" It

Roman

In

was

into

this

modern form, and made ^

For the

poses, see p.

which broke the moulds

212.

my

it

free

of tradition

once more

and

recast construction

" (p.

1

30).

evidence of the cutting of stone for architectural purstatement in the Report of the British Association for 1914,

earliest

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

13

But Egypt was not only responsible for inaugurating the use of For another forty centuries she continued to be stone for building. the inventor of

new

devices in

From

architecture.

time

time

to

which developed in Egypt were adopted by her 77iastabas neighbours and spread far and wide. The shaft- tombs and of the Egyptian Pyramid Age were adopted in various localities

methods

of building

Eastern Mediterranean/ with certain modifications

in the region of the in

each place, and

tombs

the wandering dolmen-builders.

by

copied in later ages

became the models which were roughly

turn

in

Crete and Mycenae were clearly only local modifications of

of

their square prototypes, the

"

dom.

While

(Lethaby,

of

Bronze

the

the chambered

New

in

Grange

Age

clearly

mounds

show

influence"

its

of the Iberian

Ireland and of

In the East the influence of these

Orkneys.^'

Middle King-

gathered from, and perhaps gave to, and west of Europe, where

in

78)

p.

art

of the

ideals to the north

its

of

productions

and Brittany,

Egyptian Pyramids

^gean

this

passed on

it

Egypt, the

The round

peninsula

Maes Howe

in the

/Egean modifications

the dagabas of Ceylon, possibly be seen in the Indian shipas and the effects of contact reveal there the stone as stepped pyramids just

may

with the

Babylonia and Egypt.

civilizations of

Professor Lethaby sees the influence of Egypt in the orientation of Christian churches (p. 1 33), as well as in many of their structural details (p.

142)

;

in

the

and the decoration

Mohammedan For

it

domed

Byzantine architecture (p. buildings wherever they are found. of

was not only

Christendom that received

the its

These buildings were

also.

Arabic

in origin.

When

new

^

the

iconography, the symbolism,

roofs, the

"

architecture

inspiration

of

138);

Greece,

and

in

Rome, and

from Egypt, but that of Islam

not, like the religion itself, in the

Primitive Arabian art

strength of the followers of

itself

is

main

quite negligible.

the Prophet

was

consoli-

Especially in Crete, Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor, Southern Russia,

and the North African Littoral. ^ For an account of the evidence historique Celtique et

"

relating to these

"

monuments, with

Manuel d'Archeologie Gallo-Romaine," T. 1, 1912, pp. 390 et seq. ;

bibliographical references, see

Dechelette,

full

prealso

Sophus Urgeschichte Europas," 1905, pp. 74 and 75; and " Louis Siret, Les Cassiterides et I'Empire Colonial des Pheniciens," Anthropologic, T. 20, 1909, p. 313. Miiller,

V

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

14

dated with great rapidity into a rich and powerful empire, it took over the arts and artists of the conquered lands, extending from North "

Africa to Persia

1

(p.

58)

;

and

it

is

known how

influence

this

as far east as Indonesia. "The spread as far west as Spain and Pharos at Alexandria, the great lighthouse built about 280 B.C.,

almost appears to have been the parent of all high and isolated towers. Even on the coast of Britain, at Dover, we had a Pharos which .

.

.

some degree an imitation of the Alexandrian one." The Pharos at Boulogne, the round towers of Ravenna, and the imitations

was

in

of

it

of

elsewhere in Europe, even as far as Ireland, are other examples "

its

But

influence.

great an

effect

Western towers 1

book

addition the Alexandrian Pharos had

in

as the prototype of Eastern minarets as " 1

I

(p.

it

as

had

for

5).

have quoted so extensively from Professor Lethaby's

brilliant little

independent testimony of the vastness of the influence by Egypt during a span of nearly forty centuries in creating " and developing the matrix of civilization ". Most of this v^der to give this

exerted

by alien peoples, who transformed their gifts from Egypt before they handed on the composite product to some more distant peoples. But the fact remains that the great centre of dispersal abroad

was

effected

original inspiration in architecture

The art

was the

development

With

and secure the welfare

desire to protect

importance attached to

this

some

and

the other,

aspirations,

grew up

The

of the practice of mummification.

this tangible

of

of the dead.

aim was intimately associated with the

and

persistent evidence of the general

of spread of the arts of building of

was Egypt.

original incentive to the invention of this essentially Egyptian

which

I

more

vital,

also,

like

in intimate association

now

can

manifestations of

the

"

scheme

turn to the consideration

human

thought "

matrix of civilization

itself,

with the practice of embalming the

dead. I

ture

have already mentioned Professor Lethaby's reference to architecagriculture as the two arts that have changed the surface of

and

the world.

It is

interesting to note that the influence of these

gredients of civilization

was

two

in-

abroad throughout the world in intimate association the one with the other. In most parts of the world diffused

the use of stone for building

made

their

first

and Egyptian methods

of architecture

appearance along with the peculiarly distinctive form

INCENSE oi agriculture

and

AND

LIBATIONS

15

so intimately associated with early

irrigation

Baby-

^

and Egypt. But agriculture also exerted a most profound influence

lonia

the early Egyptian

now

shall

I

and then

how

shaping

of beliefs.

body

the earliest

call attention to certain features of

discuss

in

mummies,

the ideas suggested by the practice of the art of

embalming the dead were affected by the early theories of agriculture and the mutual influence they exerted one upon the other.

The Origin of Embalming. "

how the increased importance that have already explained came to be attached to the corpse as the means of securing a continuI

ance of existence led to the aggrandizement of the tomb. Special care was taken to protect the dead and this led to the invention of coffins,

making of a definite tomb, the size of which rapidly more and more ample supplies of food and other offerings

and

to the

increased as

But the very measures thus taken the more efficiently to protect and tend the dead defeated the primary object of all this care. For, when buried in such an elaborate tomb, the body no longer be-

were made.

desiccated and preserved

came

happened when

it

was placed

the forces of nature, as so often

by in

a simple grave directly in the hot

dry sand. It is

fundamental importance

of

remember

that these factors

came

They were

the First Dynasty.

Egyptians not only to invent the the rock-cut tomb, and

measures for the

But

and the

architecture

two

the outset

ideals

minimum

:

{a)

art

coffin,

the stone sarcophagus,

preservation of the body.

and

beliefs

to preserve the actual of

iion

W.

and

" J.

Perry,

Irrioation,"

Vol.60, 1916. -

Op.

cit.

supra.

first

real

mummification other equally far-reaching

of

grew out of these the Egyptian embalmer was clearly

disturbance

here to

responsible for impelling the Proto-

wooden

its

superficial

tissues

of

the

appearance

preserve a likeness of the deceased as he was in ^

set forth

stimulating the development of the

to

results in the region of ideas

From

argument

to begin building in stone, but also to devise

artificial

in addition

in the

into operation before the time of

;

life.

practices.

inspired

by

body with a and {6)

At

first

to it

The Geographical Distribution of Terraced CultivaMemoirs and Proc. Manch. Lit. and Phil. Soc,

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

16

make

simulacrum of the body itself if it were possible, or alternatively, when this ideal was found to be It unattainable, from its wrappings or by means of a portrait statue.

was

naturally attempted to

was soon recognized balmer

to succeed

that

in

it

this

was beyond

mummifying

the

man when

em-

the powers of the early itself

body

so as to retain a

although from time to time such attempts were repeatedly made,^ until the period of the Dynasty, when the operator clearly was convinced that he recognizable likeness to the

alive

:

XXI

had

at

achieved what his predecessors, for perhaps twenty-live trying in vain to do.

last

had been

centuries,

Early Mummies. In

the earliest

of bandages,

the body.

known (Second Dynasty) examples of Egyptian the corpse was swathed in a large series

mummification

attempts at

*

which were moulded

into

In a later (probably Fifth

shape to represent the form Dynasty) mummy, found

of

in

892 by Professor Flinders Petrie at Medum, the superficial bandages had been impregnated wdth a resinous paste, which while still plastic was moulded into the form of the body, special care being bestowed 1

^

upon the modelling of the face and the organs of reproduction, so as to leave no room for doubt as to the identity and the sex. Professor Junker has described In

practices.

stucco plaster.

*

an interesting

series

of

variations

these

of

two graves the bodies were covered with a layer of First the corpse was covered vsath a fine linen cloth :

was put on, and modelled into the form of the body But in two other cases it was not the whole body that was

then the plaster (p.

252). ^

See

my volume

^

G.

on

"

The Royal Mummies," General

Catalogue of

Museum.

the Cairo

Elliot Smith,

"

The

Elarliest

Evidence

of

Attempts

at

Mummifica-

tion in Egypt," i?^/^r/ British Association, 1912, p. 612: compare also " Burial Customs of Ancient Egypt," London, 1907, pp. 29 and J. Garstang,

Professor

30.

Garstang did not recognize that mummification had been

attempted. ^

G.

Elliot Smith,

"

The

History of Mummification in Egypt," Proc. " Egyptian Mummies," 1914, Plate. III, July,

Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow, 1910 also Journal of Egyptian ArchcBology, Vol. I, Part :

XXXI. ^

"

Excavations of the Vienna Imperial Academy of Sciences Pyramids of Gizah, \9\ A," Journal of Egyptian Archeology, Vol. 1914, p. 250.

at I,

the

Oct

2 5 z > o

z J o < o A 32

>•

X o a G z a

r.

A

X 1 ^

I as

=

U

f X •J

5 5 3^

tin

D O

'-

.

Fig.

3.

—A

mould taken from a life-mask found BY Mr. Quibell

in

the Pyramid of Teta

AND

INCENSE covered with

LIBATIONS

17

but only the head. Professor junker apparently because the head was regarded

this layer of stucco,

"

was done

clciims that this

as the most important part,

hearing were contained in

and more obtrusive reason

the organs of taste, sight,

as it

smell,

and

But surely there was the additional means of identifying

".

that the face affords the

modelling of the features was intended primaiily as a restoration of the form of the body which had been In other cases, where no attempt altered, if not actually destroyed. the

individual

was made

For

!

this

to restore the features in

stucco, the linen-enveloped head of the eyes painted

upon

it

such durable materials as resin or

was modelled, and a

so as to

enhance the

representation

life-like

appearance

earliest

attempts to

of the face.

These

prove quite conclusively that the

facts

reproduce the features of the deceased

were made upon the wrapped

mummy

and

itself.

so preserve his likeness,

Thus

the

mummy

was

intended to be the portrait as well as the actual bodily remains of the In view of certain differences of opinion as to the original sigdead. nificance of the funerary ritual, later

on

(see p. 20),

A discovery

I

shall

have occasion

to discuss

important to keep these facts clearly in mind. J. E. Quibell in the course of his ex-

made by Mr.

cavations at Sakkara

a

it is

which

^

suggests that, as an

new procedure may have been

outcome

of

these practices

devised in the Pyramid

Age

— the

For he discovered what may be the mask taken directly from the face of the Pharaoh Teta (Fig. 3). making

of a death-mask.

About

this

time also the practice originated of making a

portrait statue of the

actual

body

life-size

dead man's head and placing it along with the chamber. These "reserve heads," as they

in the burial

have been called, were usually made found one made of Nile mud."

of fine limestone,

but Junker

Junker believes that there was an intimate relationship between They were both

the plaster-covered heads and the reserve-heads. expressions of the

when ^

''^

his actual

"

idea, to preserve a

body had

Excavations

The

same

lost

all

simulacrum of the deceased

recognizable likeness to him as he

Saqqara," 1907-8, p. 113. great variety of experiments that were being made at

ginning of the Pyramid Age bears ample testimony to the original inventors of these devices were actually at work in at that time.

at

fact

the bethat the

Lower Egypt

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

18

was when

The one method aimed

alive.

object the actual life-like portrait

when

the latter

Junker heads

body and the

likeness

;

in the

same

the other at making a

more

at

combining

apart from the corpse, which could take the place of it

states

decayed.

"

further that

it

is

no chance that the

substitute-

entirely, or at any rate chiefly, are found in the tombs that have no statue-chamber and probably possessed no statues. The statues [of the whole body] certainly were made, at any rate partly, .

.

.

with the intention that they should take the place of the decaying The placing of the body, although later the idea was modified. substitute-head in [the burial

came

chamber

moment when

unnecessary at the

[placed in a special hidden chamber,

The

dab\ was introduced." the serdab

^^ pi'-twt

or

"

of]

the mastaba therefore be-

the complete figure of the dead

now commonly

ancient

called the ser-

Egyptians themselves called

statue-house," and the group of chambers,

forming the tomb-chapel in the mastaba, was

known

them

to

as the

important to remember that, even when the custom of making a statue of the deceased became fully established, the original idea of It is

restoring the form of the

The

doned.

Dynasties it

give

to

mummy itself

attempts

pack the

made

body

in

of the

or

its

wrappings was never aban-

the XVIII, and

mummy

itself

XXI

and by

a life-like appearance afford evidence of

XXII

and

means

artificial

this.

In the

New

Empire and in Roman times the wrapped mummy was sometimes modelled into the form of a statue. But throughout Egyptian history it

was a not uncommon

wrapped mummy,

practice to provide a painted

mask

for the

or in early Christian times simply a portrait of the

deceased.

With

this

custom there also persisted a remembrance

ginal significance.

Dynasty,"^

when

mummy, no ^

statue

of its ori-

Professor Garstang records the fact that in the

a

XII mask was the painted placed upon wrapped or statuette was found in the tomb. The under-

Aylward M. Blackman,

"

The A'<7-House and the Serdab," /^//r«<2/ of Egyptiayi ArchcBology, Vol. Ill, Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 250. The word serdab is merely the Arabic word used by the native workmen, which has been adopted and converted into a technical term by European archaeologists. -

Op.

cit.

p.

171.

Fig.

4.

— Portrait

Statue of an Egyptian Lady of the Pyramid Age

AND LIBATIONS

INCENSE the

mask was

life-like

So

were devised.

ling of the actual

now

must

which was provided with which statues

therefore fulfilling the purposes for

New

also in the

mummy

so as to

need

regarded as obviating the 1

'

mummy

takers apparently realized that the

19

Empire the packing and modelrestore its life-hke appearance were

for a statue.

return to the further consideration of the

Old Kingdom

experiments were inspired by the same But when the desire, to preserve the likeness of the deceased. marvellous and created those life-like attained their object, sculptors statues.

All

portraits,

which must ever remain marvels

these varied

of technical skill

and

artistic

feeling (Fig. 4), the old ideas that surged through the minds of the P.e-dynastic Egyptians, as they contemplated the desiccated remains

The earlier people's thoughts were strongly reinforced. heretofore to the contemplation of were turned more specifically than of the dead,

the nature of

life

and death by seeing the bodies

served whole and incorruptible as an

expression

lacking feeling

these

in

and acting

of

their

and,

;

ideas,

if

like living beings.

to

body by

make more of

was

prevent them from Such must have been the results

of their puzzled contemplation of the great

the invention

dead pre-

can be regarded

they began to wonder what

physically complete bodies

Otherwise the impulse

of their

their actions

to

problems

of life

and death.

certain the preservation of the

mummification and to retain a

life-like

by means of a sculptured statue reBut when the corpse had been rendered incorruptible and the deceased's portrait had been fashioned with realistic The perfection the old ideas would recur with renewed strength. representation of the deceased

mains inexplicable.

then took more definite shape that if the missing elements of vitality could be restored to the statue, it might become animated and belief

the dead

man would

live

again in his vitalized statue.

This prompted

a more intense and searching investigation of the problems concerning the nature of the elements of vitality of which the corpse was deprived at the time of

Out

death.

highly complex system

of

these inquiries in course of time

of

a

philosophy developed."'

Mt is a remarkable fact that Professor Garstang, who brought to light perhaps the best, and certainly the best-preserved, collection of Middle Kingdom mummies had

ever discovered, failed to recognize the fact that they

really been embalmed "

The

these beliefs

{o^^.

who wishes and how seriously

reader

cit.

for

p. 171). fuller information

ihey

were held

as to the reality of them still in active

will find

j '

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

20 But

in the earlier

times with which

I

am now

the statue the breath of

sweat of the

living

life,

The

body.

believed to be retained in the that the only thing sible for the

was

tarily,

needed

dead man

at

to

heed

to present offerings of

of feeling

was

consciousness, friends

left

and make and

was

in situ: so it

pos-

to act volun-

blood to stimulate the physiological of vitality which left the

But the element

in the /§^ -house.

^

"

my

earlier attempts

view that the making of the practice of

of

portrait

I

But Dr. Alan Gardiner, whose the early literature enables him to look at

such problems from the Egyptian's a modification of this interpretation.

making

adopted the statues was the direct outcome

to interpret these problems,

mummification.

intimate knowledge of

of

the heart

of his

found

death had to be restored to the statue, which represented the

deceased In

awaken

it

and the odour and

fluids,

knowledge and

seat of

body when

to take

functions of the heart.

body

the vitalising

concerned

invented to convey to

in certain ritual procedures, practical expression

statues as an

outcome

own

point of view, has suggested

Instead of regarding the custom of the practice

of mummification,

he thinks that the two customs developed simultaneously, in response both the actual body and a repre-

to the twofold desire to preserve

sentation

of

the features of the dead.

But

I

think this suggestion

does not give adequate recognition to the fact that the tempts at funerary portraiture were made This fact and the evidence which actual mummies.^

at-

earliest

upon the wrappings of the I

have already

An

admirable account of Chinese philosophy will be operation in China. " found in De Groot's Religious System of China," especially Vol. IV, Book II. It represents the fully developed (New Empire) system of Egyptian

ways by Babylonian, Indian and Central Asiatic by accretions developed locally in China. A. M. Blackman, " The Ka-Wow^ and the Serdab," The Journal

belief modified in various

influences, as well as ^

of Egyptian Archeology, Vol. Ill, Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 250. " Migrations of Early Culture," p. 37. " ^ Dr. Alan Gardiner (Davies and Gardiner, The Tomb of Amencertain statements in I overlooked emhet," 1915, p. 83, footnote) has, think, and embalmer's art for the underestimated the of my writings antiquity he attributes to me the opinion that "mummification was a custom of rela""

;

tively late

The

growth

".

presence in China of the characteristically Egyptian beliefs concerning the animation of statues (de Groot, op. cit. pp. 339-356), whereas the practice of mummification, though not wholly absent, is not obtrusive, might perhaps be interpreted by some scholars as evidence in favour of the

AND LIBATIONS

INCENSE

21

that from the beginning the quoted from Junker make it quite clear embalmer's aim was to preserve the body and to convert the mummy When he realized that itself into a simulacrum of the deceased. to enable him to accomplish this back upon the device of making a more perfect But, as I have and realistic portrait statue apart from the mummy. his ambition of renounced never he completely already pointed out,

his technical

skill

was not adequate

double aim, he

fell

transforming the

mummy

itself

;

and

the time of the

in

he actually attained the result which he

twenty centuries. In these remarks

I

in

New

view

Empire

for nearly

have been referring only to funerary portradt

Centuries before the attempt

statues.

had kept

was made

to

fashion

them

modellers had been making of clay and stone representations of cattle and human beings, which have been found not only in Predynastic " so-called Upper Palaeolithic" deposits graves in Egypt but also in in

Europe. But the fashioning

of realistic

for

funerary purposes was

the

way

have

I

tried

a

in

and

life-size

human

portrait-statues

which gradually developed in doubt the modellers made use

art,

No

to depict.

they had acquired

of the skill

new

the practice of the older art of rough

impressionism.

Once

the statue

was made a

stone- house (the serdab)

was pro-

As the dolmen is a crude copy of the above ground. can be claimed as one of the ultimate results of the practice '

vided for sei'dab

it it

development of the custom of making statues independently of mummificaNot only is it the fact that in But such an inference is untenable. most parts of the world the practices of making statues and munmiifying the dead are found in association the one with the other, but also in China the essential beliefs concerning the dead are based upon the supposition that It is quite evident the body is fully preserved {sec de Groot, chap. XV.). that the Chinese customs have been derived directly or indirectly from some people who mummified their dead as a regular practice. There can

tion.

be no doubt

that the ultimate source

of their inspiration to

do these things

was Egypt. need mention only one of many identical peculiarities that makes this De Groot says it is " strange to see Chinese fancy depict the souls of the viscera as distinct individuals with animal forms" (p. 71). The same custom prevailed in Egypt, where the "souls" or protective I

quite certain.

deities '

were

first

given animal forms in the Nineteenth Dyna-ty (Reisner). the idea of being "hidden underground,'

The Arabic word conveys

because the house -

Oh.

cit.

is

exposed by excavation.

supra, Ridgeway Essays

;

also JSIan, 1913, p. 193.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

22

of mummification.

It

is

clear that the conception of the possibility of

beyond the grave assumed a more concrete form when it was realized that the body itself could be rendered incorruptible and its a

life

could be kept alive by means of a portrait statue. There are reasons for supposing that primitive man did not realize or

distinctive

traits

contemplate the possibility of his own existence coming to an end.^ Even when he witnessed the death of his fellows he does not appear to

have appreciated the

fact that

it

was

really the

end

of

life

and not

But if merely a kind of sleep from which the dead might awake. the corpse were destroyed or underwent a process of natural dis-

was brought home to him that death had occurred. considerations, which early Egyptian literature seems to suggest,

integration the fact If

these

mind, the view that the preservation of the body from corruption implied a continuation of existence becomes intelligible. At first the subterranean chambers in which the actual body was

be borne

in

housed were developed into a many-roomed house complete

for the deceased,

But when the statue took over the function

in every detail."

of representing the deceased, a

dwelling was provided for

it

above

This developed into the temple where the relatives and dead came and made the offerings of food which were

ground.

friends of the

regarded as essential for the maintenance of existence.

The

evolution of the temple

ideas that

For

at

grew up

first it

direct

outcome

of the

connexion with the preservation of the dead.

was nothing more than But when,

animated dead. (see p. 30),

in

was thus the

the dead king

the dwelling place of the re-

for reasons

became

which

deified,

I

his

shall

explain later

temple of offerings

became the building where food and drink were presented

to the god, not merely to maintain his existence, but also to restore his conscious-

and so

ness,

to consult offerings

afford an opportunity for his successor, the actual king,

him and obtain

and the

sciousness to the

But

ritual

his

advice and help.

presentation of

procedures for animating and restoring con-

dead king were

at

first

in course of time, as their original

directed solely to these ends.

purpose became obscured, these

services in the temple altered in character, ^

The

and

their

meaning became

See Alan H. Gardiner, "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings* Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics. ^ See the quotation from Mr. Quibell's account in my statement in the Report of the British Association for 1914, p. 215.

AND

INCENSE

23

homage and worship, and

acts of

into

rationalized

LIBATIONS

much

and

of prayer

times, acquired an ethical and moral significance that was wholly absent from the original conception of

supplication, and

in

later

The

the temple services.

earliest

idea of the temple as a place of

offering has not been lost sight of. still finds a place in temple services.

The The

M.

Even

our times the offertory

in

Significance of Libations.__..

central idea of this lecture

Blackman's important discovery

was suggested by Mr. Aylward of the actual

of incense

meaning

The earliest body of Egyptians themselves.^ from any of the peoples of antiquity is comprised in the texts inscribed in the subterranean chambers of the Sakkara and

the

libations to

literature preserved

of the Fifth

Pyramids

and Sixth Dynasties. were first brought

forty-five centuries ago, 1

880-8

1

and

;

since the late Sir

translation of them,

many But

ing their meaning. planation they

The

The

Gaston Maspero published the first have helped in the task of elucidat-

remained

and

for

Blackman

to discover the ex-

significance of the act of pouring

general meaning of these passages

*

is

quite clear.

To revivify it the dry and shrivelled. that have exuded from it [in the process of mummification]

corpse

vital fluids

ol

the deceased

must be restored,

for

not

is

till

so the texts

This,

again.

it

give of the origin

"

out libations.

scholars

These documents, written modern times in

to light in

then will

show

us,

life

and the heart beat

return

was believed

to

be accomplished '

by

offering libations to

the accompaniment of incantations

{pp. at.

p. 70).

In the

Texts

"

first

from the corpse". introduced. his

by Blackman from the Pyramid be the actual fluids that have issued

three passages quoted

the libations are said to

It is

In the next four quotations

not the deceased's

own

"a

different notion

shrunken frame but those of a divine body, the [god's ^

"

The

Significance of Incense

and Libations

Ritual," Zeitsckriftfiw Agvptische Spraclie 1912. p. 69.

is

exudations that are to revive

und

in

^

fluid]

that

Funerary and Temple

Alierluinskiinde, Bd. 50,

Mr. Blackman here quotes the actual word in hieroglyphics and adds the translation "god's fluid" and the following explanation in a footnote: " The Nile was supposed to be the fluid which issued from Osiris. The -'

expression in the Pyramid texts

Pyramid Age

it

may

refer to this belief

would have been more accurate

if

— the dead "

he had

[in

said the

the

dead

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

24

the corpse of Osiris himself, the juices that dissolved from his decaying flesh, which are communicated to the dead sacrament-

came from

under the form of these libations."

vy^se

This dragging-in

of Osiris

is

especially significant.

of the life-giving pov/er of vv^ater that

played a dominant part

when

water,

and come

to

I

specially associated with Osiris

the ritual of libations.

potency of water were current at the time,

shall explain later (see p. 28),

application to

man

had possibly received

long before the idea of libations developed. ^

in the

development

king, in identified

Just as

applied to the apparently dead seed, makes it germinate These general life, so libations can reanimate the corpse.

biological theories of the

and, as

is

in suggesting

For the analogy

of the cult of Osiris

whose Pyramid with

Osiris

—

the

since

the general fertilizing

specific

For,

power

" being usually inscriptions were foundl was Nile the libations in water used the

water." ^

The voluminous

be found summarized But by Sir James Frazer. remarkable compilation of evidence it is

literature relating to Osiris will "

in the latest edition of

"

The Golden Bough

referring the reader to this necessary to call particular attention to the fact that Sir

in

James Frazer's penneated with speculations based upon the modern and beliefs ethnological dogma of independent evolution of similar customs without cultural contact between the different localities where such similar-

interpretation

is

make their appearance. The complexities of the

ities

motives that inspire and direct human activities are entirely fatal to such speculations, as I have attempted to indicate (see But apart from this general warning, there are other obabove, p. 195). In his illuminating article upon jections to Sir James Frazer's theories. Osiris and Horus, Dr. Alan Gardiner (in a criticism of Sir James Frazer's

"The Golden Bough: Adonis, Attis, Osiris; Studies in the History of Oriental Religion," Journal of Egyptian Archceology, Vol. II, 1915, p. 122) insists upon the crucial fact that Osiris was primarily a king, and "

" the role of the living king being invarialways as a dead king," son and heir his ". Horus, ably played by He states further: "What Egyptologists wish to know about Osiris beyond anything else is how and by what means he became associated

that

it is

with the processes of vegetable relating to Osiris

and the large

life ".

series of

An

examination of the literature

homologous

deities in other countries

(which exhibit //'/wi? /(^r/^ evidence of a common origin) suggests the idea that the king who first introduced the practice of systematic irrigation therelaid the foundation of his reputation as a beneficent reformer. When, which I shall discuss later on (see p. 220), the dead king became deified, his fame as the controller of water and the fertilization of the

by

for reasons

earth

onl

/

became apotheosized also. 1 venture to put forward this suggestion because noue of the alternative hypotheses that have been propounded

INCENSE of

water when applied to the

AND soil

LIBATIONS

found

25 the

in specific exemplification

human beings. potency of the seminal fluid to fertilize has pointed out that certain Papuan people, who are ignorant of the fact that women are fertilized by sexual connexion, believe that they Malinowski

can be rendered pregnant by rain

The in

study of folk-lore and early beliefs

the distant past which

I

upon them [op. cit. infra). makes it abundantly clear that

falling

am now

discussing

no clear

distinction

was

made between fertilization and vitalization, between bringing new life into being and reanimating the body which had once been alive. a corpse or a process of fertilization of the female and animating statue were regarded as belonging to the same category of biological

The

The

processes.

sculptor

who

the

carved

portrait- statues

the

for

to live," and Egyptian's tomb was called saiikk, "he who causes is to all appearances identical a statue the word to fashion (w5)

*'

'

'

'

'

with

to give birth

7ns,

Thus

".^

the Egyptians themselves expressed in

words the ideas which

an independent study of the ethnological evidence showed modern times." peoples to entertain, both in ancient and

The less

interpretation of ancient texts

and the study

many

of the beliefs of

modern peoples indicate that our expressions "to give "to give life," "to maintain life," "to ward off death," "to

cultured

birth,"

insure

other

:

"

good luck,"

"

to prolong life,"

to

give

to the dead,"

life

"

to

"

to give fertility, animate a corpse or a representation of the dead," " to impregnate," "to create," represent a series of specializations of

meaning which were not clearly in early times or to

be

body

of

known

is

relatively primitive

one from the other

modern people.

to offer an adequate explanation of, the concerning Osiris. " The Development of a remarkable fact that in his lectures on

seem

It

among

differentiated the

in

acccordance with, or facts

Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," which are based upon his own studies of the Pyramid Texts, and are an invaluable storehouse of information, Professor J. H. Breasted should have accepted Sir James Frazer's views. These seem to me to be altogether at variance with the renderings of the actual Egyptian texts ^

p.

and

to confuse the exposition. " in my Migrations of

Dr. Alan Gardiner, quoted

42

:

Tomb

Early Culture," "

The see also the same scholar's remarks in Davies and Gardiner, " new Masterpiece of Egyptian of Amenemhet," 1915, p. 57, and

A

Sculpture,"

77ie

Journal of Egyptian

IV, Part

I,

the Migrations

of

Arclueologv, Vol.

Jan., 1917.

Wilfrid Jackson, "Shells as Evidence Early Culture," 1917, Manchester University Press.

See

J.

of

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

26

evidence brought together in Jackson's work clearly suggests

The

that at a very early period in human history, long before the ideas that found expression in the Osiris story had materialized, men entertained in all its literal crudity the belief that the external

from which the child emerged

tion

at birth

was

organ of reproducthe actual creator of

the child, not merely the giver of birth but also the source of Ufe.

The

and

objects

primitive

to assign to

birth-giving virtues. bii'th, to maintain

life,

any came to be

and

to give fertility, to assist at

Now,

as the giver of birth, the

identified with, or regarded as, the

family

;

when

the

and

cowrymother and

course of time, as this belief

in

personified as an actual

dead

and

danger, to ensure the life hereafter,

off

woman,

nameless and with ill-defined features.

first

these life-giving

all

rationalized, the shell's maternity received

became

it

ward

sort.

human

creator of the

became

to

to identify similar

the things they mimic led

of

the cowry-shell

became an amulet

It

to bring luck of shell also

them the powers

attribute to

men

human mind

of the

widespread tendency

visible expression

the Great

But

at a

Mother,

later

at

period,

king Osiris gradually acquired his attributes of divinity,

and a god emerged with the form of a man, the vagueness of the Great Mother v/ho had been merely the personified cowry-shell soon disappeared and the amulet assumed, as Hathor, the form of a real woman, or, for reasons to be explamed later, a cow.

The

influence of

these developments reacted

conception of the water-controlling

were enlarged

fertility

to include

god, Osiris

many

;

upon the nascent and his powers of

of the life-giving attributes of

Hathor

Early Biological Theories. Before the it is

and to

essential to

full significance of

to try to get at the

these procedures can be appreciated

back

of

the Proto- Egyptian's

mind

I understand his general trend of thought. specially want it clear that the ritual use of water for animating the corpse

make

or the statue

was merely

of biology v/hich

a specific application of the general principles It was no mere childish makecurrent.

were then

believe or priestly subterfuge to regard the pouring out of water as a

means

of

animating a block of stone.

the Proto- Egyptians considered there

and

their faith in

It

was

was a conviction a substantial

for

which

scientific basis

the efficacy of water to animate the dead

is

to

;

be

AND LIBATIONS

INCENSE in

regarded

same

the

light as

any

inference which

scientific

The

is

made

some general theory

at the present time to give a specific application of

considered to be well founded.

27

Proto-Egyptians clearly be-

lieved in the validity of the general biological theory of the life-giving

Many

properties of water. testified to the

soundness of their theory.

with the same confidence

Law

of

no doubt quite convincing

facts,

that

and

Gravitation,

They

to them,

accepted the principle

modern people have adopted Newton's Darwin's

of

theory

the

Origin

of

Species, and applied it to explain many phenomena or to justify certain procedures, which in the light of fuller knowledge seem to

modern people

puerile

and

But the early people obviously

ludicrous.

took these procedures seriously and regarded their actions as rational. The fact that their early biological theory was inadequate ought not to mislead

modern

inference.

teaching,

scholars

and encourage them

the ritual of libations

of supposing that

It

the error serious

Modern scientists do not accept the whole of Darwin's " or possibly even Newton's Law," but this does not mean

that in the past innumerable inferences

made

fidently

to fall into

was not based upon a

is

have been honestly and con-

in specific application of these general principles.

important,

then,

that

should examine more closely

I

the

Proto- Egyptian body of doctrine to elucidate the mutual influence of It is and the ideas suggested by the practice of mummification.

it

known where

not

which led men In

agriculture

parts of the

many

was

first

practised or the circumstances

to appreciate the fact that plants

could be cultivated.

world agriculture can be carried on without

and even without any adequate appreciation on the But when it came to the farmer of the importance of water.

artificial irrigation,

part of

be practised under such conditions as prevail tamia, the cultivator essential for the artificial

where

would soon be of plants,

growth means by which the

or

by whom

this

soil

forced to

and

that

might be

cardinal fact

it

Egypt and Mesoporealize that water was

in

was imperative

irrigated.

first

came

to

It is

to devise

not

known

be appreciated,

whether by the Sumerians or the Egyptians or by some other people. But

it is

known

Egypt and Sumer wisdom were the making

that in the earliest records both of

the most significant manifestations of a ruler's

and the controlling of water. Important as these from their bearing upon the material prospects of the people, they had an infinitely more profound and far-reaching effect upon the

of irrigation canals facts are

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

28

mankind.

beliefs of

that the earth

phenomenon

some explanation

after

Groping

became

of

the natural

when water was

fertile

applied

under the same influence, the early it, and not wholly illogical idea that natural the biologist formulated Water was equally water was the repository of life-giving powers. and for of life the maintenance of life. necessary for the production

and that seed burst into

to

life

At an

early stage in the development of this biological theoiy animals were brought within the scope of the other and man For the drinking of water was a condition of existence aeneralization.

The

in animals.

idea that water played a part in reproduction was

co-related with this

Even

fact.

the present time

at

!

New

(

process

!

role of fertilization.^

aboriginal peoples in Australia,

many

Guinea, and elsewhere, are not aware of the

male

the

of animal reproduction

fact that in the

exercises the physiological

I'

There are widespread indications throughout the world

I

I t

that the

knowledge was acquired

appreciation of this elementary physiological at a relatively recent period in the history of

mankind.

It is difficult

to believe that the fundamental facts of the physiology of fertilization in

unknown when men became

animals could long have remained

breeders of cattle. the knowledge

was

The

Egyptian hieroglyphs leave no doubt that

fully appreciated at the period

picture-symbols were devised,

by the male organs animals

of

may have been

for the

verb

"

But, as

generation.

the

may have been

definitely

logical theory of the fertilizing I

have discussed animals

that

could

this

be

tainly brought within

water

itself

is

power

scope

was endowed with

;

"Across Australia"

suggest

that

male

the

knowledge

was

cer-

generalization

that

seminal

the wider

fertilizing

;

of the

of water.

by the of

powers

it is

ancient than the earliest bio-

to

question

Baldwin Spencer and Gillen, "

Australia

represented

domestication of

fluid

properties.

the earth, so the semen fertilized the female.

fertilized ^

more

fertilized

the

the earliest

"

than the invention of agriculture,

earlier

possible that the appreciation of the fertilizing

animal

when

to beget

Just as water

Water was

"

The Northern Tribes of Central " and Spencer's Native Tribes of the For a very important study of the

Northern Territory of Australia ". whole problem with special reference to New Guinea, see B. Malinowski, " Baloma the Spirits of the Dead," etc., Journal of the Royal Anthropo:

logical Institute, 1916, p. 415.

INCENSE

AND LIBATIONS

29

necessary for the maintenance of life in plants and was also essential As both the earth and women in the form of drink for animals.

could be

by water they were homologized one with the to be regarded as a woman, the Great

fertilized

The

other.

When

Mother.'

came

earth

the fertilizing water

person of Osiris his consort

was

came

be personified

to

identified

in

of the earliest

pictures of an

Egyptian king represents him This

using the hoe to inaugurate the making of an irrigation-canal." was the typical act of benevolence on the part of a wise ruler.

not unlikely

that the earliest organization of a

definite leader

may have been due In

control of irrigation.

Sumer were supply and

essentially the controllers

Once men

The

to the

first

all

need

It

is

community under a

for

some systematized Egypt and

any case the earliest rulers of

as such the givers of fertility

not the end of '

the

with the earth which

by water."

fertilized

One

was

Isis

and regulators and prosperity.

of

the water

consciously formulated the belief that death

was

body could be re-animated and

things/ that the

idea of the earth's maternal function

spread throughout the

greater part of the world. With reference to the assimilation of the conceptions of human fertilization and watering the soil and the widespread idea among the ancients " he who irrigates," Canon van Hoonacker gave of regarding the male as

—

M.

Louis Siret the following note: " In Assyrian the cuneiform sign for water is also used, inter alia, to Compare with this the references express the idea of begetting {ba7iii). we read Hear ye In Isaiah xKiii. from Hebrew and Arabic writings. name the of Israel, and are which are called house of this, by Jacob, and in Numbers xxiv. 7, Water come forth out of the waters of Judah shall flow from his buckets and his seed shall be in many waters '. " The Hebrew verb {sliangat) which denotes sexual intercourse has, In the Koran, Sur. 36, to spill water '. in Arabic {sadjala), the meaning " v. 6, the word maun (water) is used to designate semen (L. Siret, '

1 ,

O

'

'

;

'

"

Questions de Chronologic et d' Ethnographic Iberiques," Tome I, 1913, p. 250). " Hicraconpolis, Vol, I, 260, 4. ^Quibell, ^ In using this phrase I want to make a clear distinction between the phase of culture in which it had never occurred to man that, in his individual case, life would come to an end, and the more enlightened stage, in which he fully realized that death would inevitably be his fate, but that in spite of

it

his real existence

would

continue.

clear that at quite an early stage in his history man appreciated But for a long time the fact that he could kill an animal or his fellow-man. It is

he

failed to

realize that

he himself,

if

he could avoid the process

of

me-

.v^, ;

-

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

30

consciousness and the will restored,

who, when continue to

it

was

natural that a wise ruler

alive, had rendered conspicuous services should after death The fame of such a man would grow with be consulted.

his powers would become apotheosized whose advice might be sought and whose oracle an he would become In other words the dead king would help be obtained in grave crises.

age

his

;

"

good deeds and

;

any rate credited with the ability to confer even greater boons than he was able to do when alive. " " It is no mere coincidence that the first god should have been

be

deified," or at

a dead king, Osiris, nor that he controlled the waters of irrigation and Nor, for the reasons that I specially interested in agriculture.

was

have already suggested, is it surprising that he should have had phallic attributes, and in himself have personified the virile powers of fertilization.^

In attempting to explain the origin of

burning incense and offering libations

it is

the ritual procedures of

essential

to realize that the

first deities was not primarily an expression of religious but rather an application of science to national affairs. It was

creation of the belief,

the logical interpretation of the dominant scientific theory of the time for the practical benefit of

the living

;

or in other words, the

means

devised for securing the advice and the active help of wise rulers after their death. It was essentially a matter of practical politics and applied science.

It

became

"

" religion

only

when

the advancement of

knowledge superseded these primitive scientific theories and as soothing traditions for the thoughts

and

aspirations of

left

them

mankind

to

For by the time the adequacy of these theories of knowledge began to be questioned they had made an insistent appeal, and had come to be regarded as an essential prop to lend support to

cherish.

A

web of man's conviction of the reality of a life beyond the grave, moral precept and the allurement of hcpe had been so woven around them

that

no force was able to

strip

away

this

body

of consolatory

by which he could kill an animal or a fellow-man, would The dead are supposed by many people to be still Once the body begins to long as the body is preserved.

chanical destruction

not continue to exist. in existence so

disintegrate even the most unimaginative of men can entirely repress the idea of death. But to primitive people the preservation of the body is The corpse is equally a token that existence has not come to an end.

merely sleeping. ^

Breasted, ^/. at., p. 28.

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

31

and they have persisted for all time, although the reasoning by which they were originally built up has been demolished and forgotten beliefs

;

several millennia ago.

not

It is

known where

was

Osiris

are homologous deities, such as Ea,

which are

Osiris-conception is

In

other countries there

Tammuz, Adonis, and

Attis,

same idea and sprung from Certain recent writers assume that the germ of the

certainly manifestations of the

the same source.

nothing

born.

known

was introduced

into

Egypt from abroad.

for certain of its place of origin.

In

But

if

so,

any case there

can be no doubt that the distinctive features of Osiris, his real personality

and character, were developed in Egypt. have suggested already

For reasons which significance of

cultivated in

water

I

in cultivation

some such place

as

was not

it

is

probable that the

realized until cereals

Babylonia or Egypt.

were

But there are

very definite legends of the Babylonian Ea coming from abroad by way of the Persian Gulf.' The early history of Tammuz is veiled in obscurity.

Somewhere

in South Western Asia or North Eastern Africa, prowithin a few bably years of the development of the art of agriculture, some scientific theorist, interpreting the body of empirical knowledge

acquired

by

cultivating cereals,

the great life-giving element. in the

Osiris-group of legends.

This theory found

and

propounded the view that water was This view eventually found expression

incense.

These

specific application in the invention of libations

practices in turn reacted

upon the general body of doctrine and gave it a more sharply defined form. The dead king also became more real when he was represented by an actual embalmed body and a life-Hke statue, sitting in state upon his throne and holding in his hands the emblems of his high office. Thus while, in the present state of knowledge, justifiable

to claim that the Osiris-group of deities

it would be unwas invented in

Egypt, and certainly erroneous to attribute the general theory fertilizing properties of water to the practice of embalming, it that the latter ^

The

was

responsible for giving Osiris a

much more

of is

the true

concrete

even the probability, must be borne in mind that arising from the waters may be merely another way of expressing his primary attribute as the personification of the fertilizing possibility, or

the legend of

powers

Ea

of water.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

32

"

and clearly-defined shape, of making a god in the image of man," and for giving to the water-theory a much richer and fuller significance than

had

it

before.

symbolism so created has had a most profound influence For Osiris upon the thoughts and aspirations of the human race.

The

.,!

^

]

was the prototype

of all

the gods

;

his ritual

was

the basis of

all

his priests who conducted the animating cerereligious ceremonial monies were the pioneers of a long series of ministers who for more ;

than

centuries, in spite of the endless variety of details of their

fifty

and the character

ritual

temples, have continued to perform

of their

ceremonies that have undergone remarkably

little

essential

change.

Though

the chief functions of the priest as the animator of the

and the

restorer of his consciousness

ground

most

in

and blood and the

rest)

appeals by prayer and

still

now

fallen into the

religions, the ritual acts (the incense

offerings of food

the priest

have

which the Proto- Egyptian aimed

and

still

and

persist in

god

back-

libations, the

many

countries

:

supplication for those benefits,

at securing

when he

The

created Osiris

is one of the prayer earliest forms of religious appeal, but the request for a plentiful inun-

as a

god

dation

to give advice

was

earlier

help.

for rain

still.

I have already said that in using the terms "god" and "religion" with reference to the earliest form of Osiris and the beliefs that grew

up with reference

to

During the last

him a potent element fifty

of confusion

is

introduced.

centuries the meanings of those

two words

have become so complexly enriched with the glamour of a mystic symbolism that the Proto- Egyptian's conception of Osiris and the Osirian beliefs must have been vastly different from those implied in the

words "god" and "religion"

at

the present

time.

Osiris

was regarded as an actual king who had died and been reanimated. In other words he was a 7;ian who could bestow upon his former subjects the benefits of his advice and help, but could also display such

human weaknesses

Much modern

as malice, envy,

and

discussion completely misses the

"gods" were

to recognize that these so-called

capable of acts of beneficence or the other aspect

and

The

demon acts

uncharitableness.

mark by the really

failure

men, equally and as one

of outbursts of hatred,

became accentuated the same deity could become

a Vedic deva or an Avestan dceva, a de^LS or a ness or a

all

devil,^

a god of kind-

of wickedness.

which the

earliest

"

"

gods

were supposed

to perform

AND

INCENSE were not

LIBATIONS

33

regarded as supernatural. They were merely the boons Vv'hich the mortal ruler was supposed to be able to confer, by It controlling the waters of irrigation and rendering the land fertile. at

first

was only when

his

powers became apotheosized with a halo

ulated glory (and the growth of knowledge revealed

of

accum-

the insecurity

upon which his fame was built up) that a priestabandon any of the attributes which had captured

of the scientific basis

hood, reluctant to

made

the popular imagination,

supernatural powers

it

of the

an obligation of

gods omena refused any longer to be a sponsor.

of natural

phen-

This was the parting

of

ways between science and religion and thenceforth the attributes " " the became definitely and admittedly superhuman. gods

the of

belief to accept these

which the student

for

;

As

I

have already stated

of libations

was

(p.

23) the original object

of the offering

thus clearly for the purpose of animating the statue of

the deceased and so enabling him to continue the existence which had

merely been interrupted by the incident of death. hov*?^ever, as

definite

gods gradually materialized and came to be they also

presented by statues,

until

had

Thus

water h'om time to time.

be an

ov^

times in

many

to

be

vitalized

by

and

;

in this

form

it

re-

offerings of

the pouring out of libations

act of worship of the deity

our

In course of time,

came

to

has persisted

civilized countries.

But not only was water regarded as a means of animating the dead, or statues representing the dead, and an appropriate act of worship, in that

it

vitalized

an idol and the god dwelling

Water

hear and answer supplications. of

any

act of ritual rebirth.^

giving of

life.

The

In scores of other of

initiate

ways

the

As

blessing buildings.

Egyptian

beliefs,

new

into a

same conception

many

it

was thus able

also

to

essential part

symbolized the

new communion

of faith.

of the life-giving properties

applications of the use of liba-

enterprises, such as

important to

it

became an

a baptism

was re-born

water was responsible for as

tions in inaugurating

also

in

"baptising" ships and

remember

that, according to early the continued existence of the dead was wholly deIt is

pendent upon the attentions

of

the living.

Unless

this

animating

ceremony was performed not merely at the time of the funeral, but also at stated periods afterwards, and unless the friends of the deceased ^

This occurred

at

when

a later epoch

trolling deity of fertility

the attributes of the water-con-

became confused with those

mother goddess {vide inp-a,

p.

40). 3

of the birlh-giving

THE EVOLUnON OF THE DRAGON

34

periodically supplied food

was

and

drink, such a continuation of existence

impossible.

had far-reaching

The development The idea directions.

that a stone statue could be animated ultimately

became extended

mean

of these beliefs

dead man could enter

into

and

block of stone, which he could leave or return to at

will.

to

dwell

in a

From

this arose the beliefs,

ancestors,

effects in other

that the

which spread far and wide, that the dead, or deified kings, dwelt in stones and that they

kings,

;

who

could be consulted as oracles,

The

gave advice and counsel.

acceptance of this idea that the dead could be reanimated in a stone statue no doubt prepared the minds of the people to credit the further belief, which other circumstances were responsible for creating, that could be turned into stone.

how imen J

J»

shall explain

But

rich crop of

which are

These

/>'':

'

I

myths concerning men and animals dwelling be found encircling the globe from Ireland to America, can be referred back to these early Egyptian attempts to solve the mysteries of death, and to acquire the means of circumventing fate. All the

in stones

L^r"

In the next chapter

these petrifaction stones developed.^

to

beliefs at first

may have concerned human

in course of time, as the

number

of

duty

of revictualling

tombs and temples tended

beings only.

an increasingly large

to tax the resources of the

people, the practice developed of substituting for the real things models, or even pictures, of food-animals, vegetables, and other requisites of the dead. reality

And

by means

these objects of

and

a ritual which

pictures

was

were restored

to

life

essentially identical with

or

that

used for animating the statue or the mummy of the deceased himself." It is well worth considering whether this may not be one of the basal factors in

Edward Tylor So

explanation of the "

labelled

animism

phenomena which the

late Sir

".

from being a phase of culture through which many, peoples have passed in the course of their evolution, may

all,

if

not

it

not

conception of certain things, which

was

far

have been merely an

artificial

^

For a large series of these Perseus ". But even more

stories see E.

Sidney Hartland's

"

Legend

instructive, as revealing the intimate connexion of such ideas with the beliefs regarding the preservation of the body,

of

see II,

J. J.

M. de

Groot,

"

The ReHgious System

of

China," Vol. IV, Book

1901. ^

In this

connexion see de Groot,

op. cit. pp.

356 and 415.

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

35

given so definite a form in Egypt, for the specific reasons at which

have

just hinted, this

and from there spread far and wide ? view may be urged the fact that our own children

Against an animistic fashion.

But

talk in

not this

is

the unconscious influence of their elders

vague and

I

?

due

in

some measure

Or

at

most

is

it

to

not a

attitude of

anthropomorphism necessarily inwhich is vastly different from what spoken languages, *' animism" ? the ethnologist understands by

volved in

ill-defined

all

^

But whether "

this

be

so or not, there

"

animism

offerings of food

means

and other funerary

incidentally there

But

precise

and

clear-cut

by dead and symbolic

statues of the requisites.

grew up the

which these make-believe

of

its

the result of the growth of ideas suggested

make mummies and

the attempts to

Thus

assumed

of the early Egyptians

distinctive features as

can be no doubt that the

belief in a

offerings could

power

of

magic by be transformed into

important to emphasize the fact that originally the conviction of the genuineness of this transubstantiation was a logical realities.

it is

and not unnatural inference based

upon the attempt to interpret influence them by imitating what

phenomena, and then to were regarded as the determining factors." in China these ideas still retain much natural

and directness

of their primitive influence

Referring to the

of expression.

Chinese

"

belief in

" de the identity of pictures or images with the beings they represent " " '' art is a main branch Groot states that the kwan shuh or magic " the infusion of a of Chinese witchcraft ". It consists essentially of soul, life,

to

work

and in

them

activity into likenesses of beings, to thus render

some

direction desired

.

.

.

this infusion

is

effected

fit

by

indeed spurting water over the likeness imbued with mouth breath or khi, or water from the breath, is ^ identical with vau^ substance or life. biovving or breathing, or

:

'

child certainly resembles primitive man in the readiness with attributes to even the crudest models of animals or human beings

The

^

which

it

the feelings of living creatures. " "

It

became

"

magical

in

our

sense

of

the

term only v/hen the

measures taken were inadeknowledge revealed the fact that the " " continued to make while the end to attain the desired magician quate the pretence that he could attain that end by ultra-physical means. grovvth of

;

"

De

Groot, op,

cit. p.

356.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

36

Incense.

So

far

have referred

I

was only one

in

only to the offering of libations.

detail

several procedures for animating statues,

But this mummies, and food- offerings. I have still to consider the ritual pro" cedures of incense-burning and opening the mouth ". From Mr. Blackman's translations of the Egyptian texts it is clear I I

of

that the burning of incense

|the

mummy)

was intended

to restore to the statue (or

the odour of the living body, and that this

was

part of

He says procedure considered necessary to animate the statue. " is the belief about incense [which explained by a later document,

iithe

Ritual of Ainon\ apparently does not occur

the

dom

religious texts that are preserved to us, yet

as ancient as that period.

That

is

it

in

Old King-

the

may

quite well

Erman's view

certainly

be

"

{pp.

cii.

p. 75).

He

gives the following translation of the relevant passage in the

Rittml of Anion {xw, II): "The god comes with body adorned v/hich he has fumigated with the eye of his body, the incense of the

god which has issued from his flesh, the sweat of the god which has fallen to the ground, which he has given to all the gods. ... It is the

Horus

If it lives,

eye.

vigorous" {pp. at.

Blackman

p.

the people

In his

72).

"In the

live,

thy flesh

lives,

comments upon

light of the

thy members are this

passage Mr.

Pyramid

libation-formulae the

expressions in this text are quite comprehensible.

Like the libations

states

:

grains of incense

the

which issued from

are the exudations of

a

'

divinity,^

the fluid

sweat descending to the ground. Here incense is not merely the 'odour of the god,' but the " " Both grains of resin are said to be the god's sweat {pp. at. p. 72). .

.

his flesh,' the god's

.

rites,

the pouring of libations and the burning of incense, are performed same purpose to revivify the body [or the statue] of god

—

for the

and man by

restoring to

it its

lost

moisture"

(p. 75).

In attempting to reconstitute the circumstances ^

As

which led

to the

page 38), the idea of the divinity of the and not the reason for, the practice of incenseAs one of the means by which the resurrection was attained burning. incense became a giver of divinity and by a simple process of rationalization the tree which produced this divine substance became a god. The reference to the " eye of the body" (see p. 55) means the lifeI

shall explain later (see

incense-tree

was a result

of,

;

giving

whom

god or goddess who is the "eye" dead king is identified.

the

of the sky,

i.e.

the

god with

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

37

invention of incense-burning as a ritual act, the nature of the problem to

be solved must be recalled.

of

death were the coldness of the

the most obtrusive evidences

Among

skin, the lack of perspiration

and

of

It is important to realize what the phrase the odour of the living. " From odour of the living" would convey to the Proto- Egyptian.

the earliest Predynastic times in

make

it

Egypt

extensive use of resinous material

(what a pharmacist would

One

metics.

call

of the results of

the

had been the custom

as

an

essential

adhesive

to

ingredient of

"vehicle")

cos-

practice in a hot climate must

this

have been the association of a strong aroma of resin or balsam with a Whether or not it was the practice to burn incense living person.^ The fact that such a to give pleasure to the living is not known. it procedure was customary among their successors may mean that must not be hand the on the other or archaic possibility really

was

;

may be merely

overlooked that

it

which

was devised

originally

the later vulgarization of a practice

was

of incense before a corpse or statue

v/armth, the sweat, and the odour of

When cense

the dead,

it

sense that

became

the belief

was potent

came

had the power

to

intended to

life.

and

especially a giver of

be regarded as a divine substance

of resurrection.

As

their

life

in

to

the

the grains of incense

consisted of the exudation of trees, or, as the ancient

"

burning convey to it the

well established that the burning of in-

as an animating force,

naturally

it

The

for purely ritual purposes.

texts express

it,

sweat," the divine power of animation in course of time became

transferred to the trees.

They

the life-giving incense, but

drops of

The

v/ere no longer merely the source of

were themselves animated by the deity whose

sweat were the means of conveying reason why the deity which dwelt

identified with the

Mother-Goddess

the subsequent discussion (p. 38).

will It

life

become is

to the

mummy.

in these trees

was

usually

clear in the course of

probable that

this

was due

mainly to the geographical circumstance that the chief source of incense was Southern Arabia, which was also the home of the primitive originally nothing more than from the Red Sea. amulets cowry " the value of the gum of Robertson Smith's statement that

goddesses of

For they were

fertility.

personifications of the life-giving

Thus

the acacia as an amulet ^

It

would lead me

is

connected with the idea that

it is

a clot of

too far afield to enter into a discussion of the use of

scents and unguents, which

is

closely related to this question.

THE EVOLUTIOiN OF THE DRAGON

38

menstruous blood, inversion of cause

that the tree

i.e.,

and e^ect.

It

woman

a

is

"

^

probably an

is

was the value attached

The

that conferred animation upon the tree.

rest of

the

to

gum

the legend

is

merely a rationalization based upon the idea that the tree was identiThe same criticism applies to his further fied with the mother-goddess. " the religious value of incense," contention (p. 427) with reference to

which he claims

samora

be due

to

...

(acacia) tree,

Many

to it

"

the fact that

was an animate

factors played a part in

like the

gum

or divine plant

the

of ".

the development of tree-worship,

probable the origin of the sacredness of trees must be assigned to the fact that it was acquired from the incense and the aromatic

but

it is

woods which were

credited with the

But

epoch many other considerations helped

at a very early

and extend the conception

of deification.

Osiris

"."^

with life-giving

The

sap

was

exuded as the sweat.

Osiris

to confirm

was

buried, a

"

and the incense

Just as the water of libation of

body came

the incense

tion,

When

also regarded as the blood of trees

the fluid of the

animating the dead.

of

the visible symbol of the imperishable But the sap of trees was brought into relationship water and thus constituted another link with Osiris-

sacred sycamore grew up as life of

power

Osiris, so also,

by

that

was regarded

this process of

as

rationaliza-

to possess a similar significance.

For reasons precisely analogous to those already explained in the case of libations, the custom of burning incense, from being originally a ritual act for

animating the funerary statue, ultimately developed into

an act of homage to the deity. But it also acquired a special significance

when

the cult of sky-

gods developed,^ for the smoke of the burning incense then came to be regarded as the vehicle which wafted the deceased's soul to the sky or conveyed there the requests of the dwellers upon earth.* " The soul of a human being is generally conceived [by ^

"

The

Religion of the Semites,"

p.

133.

the

"Breasted, p. 28.

A

For reasons explained on a subsequent page (56). It is also worth considering whether the extension of this idea may not have been responsible for originating the practice of cremation as a device for transferring, not merely the animating incense and the supplications of the living, but also the body of the deceased to the sky- world. This, of course, did not happen in Egypt, but in some other country which '^

—

of incense-burning, but was not hampered by the religious conservatism that guarded the sacredness of the corpse.

adopted the Egyptian practice

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

39

Chinese] as possessing the shape and characteristics of a human being, oi an animal the spirit of an animal is the

and occasionally those

;

.

.

,

animal or of some being with human attributes and speech. spirits are never conceived as plant-shaped, nor to have plant-

of this

shape

But plant characters

.

whenever

.

,

represented as a

forms are given

man, a woman,

they are

them,

and often

or a child,

dwelling in or near the plant, and emerging from heU'm, or to dispense blessings.

.

.

it

mostly an animal,

at times

Whether conceptions on

.

mation of plants have never developed before ideas about human ghosts .

mind and custom, we cannot say

also as

.

do

Chinese thought and worship

in .

to

the ani-

had become predominant

in

"

but the matter seems probable (De Groot, op. at. pp. 272, 273). Tales of trees that shed blood and that cry out ^vhen hurt are common in Chinese literature (p. 274)

Southern Arabia]

[as also in

into

maidens

up

taking

is

also of trees that lodge or can change

;

beauty

their residence in

usually a "

raven or the

Thus

in

like

(p.

276).

amongst the

further significant that

It is

being

of transcendant

:

and animating

stories of

trees

and

woman, accompanied by 'a (p.

plants, the

fox,

men human

souls of

a dog, an old

276).

China are found

all

the elements out of which Dr. Rendel

Harris believes the Aphrodite cult was compounded in Cyprus,' the animation of the anthropoid plant, its human cry, its association with

a beautiful maiden and a dog." The immemorial custom of planting trees on graves in China is " the desire to strengthen supposed by De Groot (p. 277) to be due to of buried thus to save his the soul the body from corruption, person, for

and cypresses, deemed to be bemg possessed of more shen than other But may not such were used preferably for such purposes".

which reason

trees such

as pines

bearers of great vitality for trees,

be an expression of the idea that a tree growing upon a developed from and becomes the personification of the de-

beliefs also

grave is ceased ?

The

be compared

significance of the selection of pines

to that associated

with the so-called

and cypresses may

"

"

cedars

in Babyand and the and frankincensePhoenicia, lonia, Egypt, myrrhproducing trees in Arabia and East Africa. They have come to be ^

-

"The

Ascent of Olympus," 1917. For a collection of stories relating to human beings, generally women,

dwelling in trees, see Hartland's

"

Legend

of

Perseus

".

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

40

"

accredited with

and

as incense

soul-substance," since their use in mummification,

and

for

making

coffins,

Hence in

attaining a future existence.

regarded as charged with the substance

spirit

has

made them

of vitality, the

means

the

course of time they

came

to

"

shen or

for

be

soul-

.

China

In

also

it

Cyprus were used resin was regarded cit.

pp.

was because the woods of the pine or making coffins and grave-vaults and

as a

296 and 297) "

trees.

At

that pine-

of attaining immortality

that such veneration

an early date, Taoist seekers

that animation [of the selves

means

and the

fir

for

(De Groot, op. was bestowed upon these

after immortality transplanted fir

hardy long-lived

and cypress^]

into

them-

the resin of those trees, which, apparently, they

by consuming

looked upon as coagulated soul -substance, the counterpart of the blood in

men and animals"

(p.

296).

amrita, the god's food of immortality, was someas the sap exuded from the sacred trees of paradise. times regarded Elsewhere in these pages it is explained how the vaguely defined In India the

Mother

"

"

Goddess

and the more

distinctly

anthropoid

Water

"

God,"

developed quite independently the one of the other, exert a profound and mutual influence, so that many came to ultimately of the attributes which originally belonged to one of them came to be

which

originally

factors played a part in this process of

Many

shared with the other.

As

blending and confusion of sex.

moon came of

to

be regarded

Hathor, the supposed

I

shall explain later,

as the dwelling

influence of

the

moon

when

the

the impersonation over water led to a

or

further assimilation of her attributes with those of Osiris as the controller of water,

which received

But the address

I

is

link that

is

provided by

definite expression in a lunar

most intimately related

to

the personification of the

form

of Osiris.

the subject of this

Mother-Goddess

in

incense- trees.

For incense thus became the sweat or the

tears of the

Great Mother

just as the water of libation

was regarded

as the fluid

of

O sins. ^

The

fact

that the

fir

" " and cypress are hardy and long-lived

is

not the reason for their being accredited with these life-prolonging qualities. But once the latter virtues had become attributed to them the fact that the trees belief

were

"

hardy and long-lived

"

by a process of rationalization.

may have been used

to bolster

up the

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

The Breath Although the poming

of

41

of Life. and the burning

libations

of

incense

or the played so prominent a part in the ritual of animating the statue " mummy, the most important incident in the ceremony was the open-

mouth," which was regarded as giving it the breath of life. ^ Elsewhere I have suggested that the conception of the heart and blood as the vehicles of life, feeling, volition, and knowledge may have ing of the

been extremely ancient.

It is

not

known when

stances the idea of the breath being the

"

or under

life"

was

what circum-

first

entertained.

fact that in certain primitive systems of philosophy the breath was to have something to do with the heart suggests that these

The

supposed beliefs

may be

a constituent element of the ancient heart- theory.

In

America, Australia, and elsewhere the But there can be to the heart. air-passages are represented leading little doubt that the practice of mummification gave greater definiteness

some

of the rock- pictures in

to the ideas regarding the

"

"

heart

"

and

breath," which eventually

between their supposed functions.' As the were blood the and heart obviously present in the dead body they " The breath was clearly life". could no longer be regarded as the

led to a differentiation

the

"element"

the lack of which rendered the

body inanimate.

It

The

therefore regarded as necessaiy to set the heart working. came to be looked upon as the seat of knowledge, the organ

was

heart then that feels

the

and

wills during v/aking

body seem

have been regarded,

to

as expressions of the vital principle or

WTiters refer to as

All the pulsating motions

life.

"

soul substance".

like the

" life,"

of

act of respiration,

which Dutch ethnological

The neighbourhood

of certain

most readily, and the top of the joints where the pulse can be felt head, where pulsation can be felt in the infant's fontanel le, were therefore regarded by some Asiatic peoples as the places where the substance of It is

"

'

It

life

could leave or enter the body.

possible that in ancient times this belief

was more widespread

Primitive y\din" Proceedings of the British Academy, 1917, p. 41. important to remember that the real meaning of respiration was

is

unknown

modern science revealed

the part played by oxygen. and intricacy of "the interrelation between complexity " " breath is revealed in Chinese the functions of the heart," and the philosophy (see de Groot, op. cit. Chapter VII. inter aiid). quite

-

until

The enormous

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

42 than

now.

it is

It

affords an explanation of the motive for trephining

the skull among ancient peoples, to afford a more ready passage lor " " to and from the skull. vital essence the " The Socratic Doctrine of the Soul," Professor In his lecture on ^

John Burnet has expounded the meaning of early Greek conceptions of the soul with rare insight and lucidity. Originally, the word ^t>x ? historical meant "breath," but, by times, it had already been It had come to mean courage in specialized in two distinct ways. the

first

and secondly the breath of life, the presence or which is the most obvious distinction betAveen the animate

place,

absence of

"

and the inanimate, the "ghost" which a man gives up" at death. But it may also quit the body temporarily, which explains the phenoIt seemed natural to suppose it menon of swooning {kiiTo->\svyi(x),

roam

v/as also the thing that can

at

when

large

the

body

is

asleep,

and even appear to another sleeping person in his dream. Moreover, what then us to must be since we can dream of the dead, appears These considerathe moment of death. just what leaves the body at tions explain the

world-v^de

of the real bodily

Greek

belief in the

"

soul" as a sort of double

man, the Egyptian ka^- the

Italian ^^?«V/5,

and the

^{jvxi-

Now

this

double

not identical with

is

feels and wills during our waking be blood and not breath.

What we belong to

It is

and perceive have the body and perish with it.

only

feel

when

v,

hatever

it

is

in

us that

That

is

their

seat in the heart

generally supposed to

:

they

the shades have been allowed to drink blood that

consciousness returns to

At

life.

one time the

the grave, where

it

vivors, especially

by

them

^v)(7]

had

to

for a while.

was supposed

to

dwell with the body

be supported by the ofienngs

libations

in

of the sur-

(voaQ.

An

Egyptian psychologist has carried the story back long before the times of which Professor Burnet v^rites. He has explained " his '

conception of the functions of the ^

'

'.

When

Second Annual Philosophical Lecture, Henrietta Hertz Trust, Proof the British Academy, Vol. VII, 26 Jan., 1916. The Egyptian ka, however, was a more complex entity than this

ceedini^s ^

heart (mind) and tongue

comparison suggests.

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

43

the eyes see, the ears hear, and the nose breathes, they transmit to brings forth eveiy issue and it is " the tongue which repeats the thought of the heart.' " There came the saying that Atum, who created the gods, stated

the heart.

It

is

who

he (the heart)

'

concerning Ptah-Tatenen

He made Then the gods

is

the fashioner of the gods.

and every

.

.

wood and

every

'

metal.'

these ideas are really ancient

shown by

is

the fact that in

represented conveying the breath of

life

to

by "causing a" wind with her wings".' The ceremony which aimed at achieving this restoration opening the mouth

of

the Pyramid Texts

I

sis is

Osiris

"

.

the satisfaction of their hearts.

entered into their bodies of every '

That

He

their bodies to

likenesses of

stone

'

:

the breath of

life

was

fore the statue or

who

the sculptor

the principal part of the ritual procedure be-

form

his

when

libations

As

and

it

in

a statue

to fashion

The

birth ".

(p.

25),

he

who

means

was animated by

the

man by sculptor made

god Ptah created

securing a perpetuation of

of

"

identical with

is

Similarly the life-giving

to be the

opening of the mouth," by

incense.

Egypt a vast which have persisted

the outcome of this process of rationalization in

of creation-legends

crop

"

"

"

word

clay.

was

the portrait which existence,

have already mentioned

I

modelled the portrait statue was called

which means "to give

modelling

As

mummy.

causes to live," and the that

of

came

into existence,

until the present day in India, Indonesia, statue of stone, wood, or clay is elsewhere. and China, America, fashioned, and the ceremony of animation is performed to convey to it the breath of life, which in many places is supposed to be brought

with remarkable completeness

A

down

from the sky.*

In the

Egyptian

beliefs,

as well

as in most of the world-wide

legends that were derived from them,

form that the "

substance, '

^

the idea assumed a definite " " to as the soulsoul,"

vital principle (often referred

or

"

double ") could

exist apart

Breasted, f/. «V. pp. 44 and 45. 0/y. cit. pp. 45 end 46.

from the body.

^

Whatever

Ibid. p. 28.

W. J. Perry has collected the evidence preserved in a remarkable series of Indonesian legends in his recent book, "The iMegalithic Cul^

But the fullest exposition of the whole subject Chinese literature summarized by de Groot {pp. a't.').

ture of Indonesia ".

provided

in the

is

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

44

the explanation,

that

it is

clear that

could return to

it

the possibility of the existence of the

apart from the body was entertained.

vital principle

It

was supposed

the body and temporarily reanimate

it.

It

could enter into and dwell within the stone representation of the " " soul was identified^ with the Sometimes this so-called deceased. breath of

life,

ceremony

of

"opening the

into the statue as the result of the

mouth

'.

Edward Tylor and

has been commonly assumed by Sir

It

who

which could enter

theory of

his

accept

animism that the idea

those

"soul" was

of the

based upon the attempts to interpret the phenomena of dreams and shadows, to which Burnet has referred in the passage quoted above. The fact that when a person is sleeping he may dream of seeing absent

people and of having a variety of adventures peoples by

when

the "soul"

man's shadow or preted

account

as is

is

explained by

the hypothesis that these are real experiences

his

wandered abroad during

it

his reflection in

double.

which

many befell

A

owner's sleep. water or a mirror has been interits

But what these speculations leave out of and shadow- phenomena were

the fact that these dream-

probably merely the predisposing circumstances which helped in the

development of (or the corroborative details which were added to and,

by

incorporated in) the

rationalization,

"

soul-theory," which other

circumstances were responsible for creating." I

have already called attention

of the psychological

(p.

in

5) to the fact that in

ethnology too

little

many

account

is speculations taken of the enormous complexity of the factors which determine even the simplest and apparently most obvious and rational actions of men.

must again remind the reader that a vast multitude of influences, many of them of a subconscious and emotional nature, affect men's deciI

sions

and

man

to

But once some

opinions.

definite state of feeling inclines a

a certain conclusion, he will call up a host of other circumand weave them into a complex net of

stances to buttress his decision, rationalization.

development ^

'

of

Some

such

process undoubtedly took place in the

"animism"; and though

it

is

not possible yet to

See, however, the reservations in the subsequent pages.

The thorough

of the beliefs of any people makes this Groot's abundantly monograph is an admirable illustration of this {pp. at. Chapter Both in Egypt and China the conceptions of Vll.).

clear.

analysis

De

the significance of the

shadow are

later

and altogether subsidiary.

INCENSE reconstruct the

no question nature of

whole

AND

history of the

LIBATIONS growth

of

45

the idea, there can be

that these early stiivings after an

understanding of the

and death, and the attempts

put the theories into

life

to

upon which a vast and com-

the foundations practice to rearimate the dead, provided the last

has been built up during plex theory of the soul.

and the

centuries

fifty

|

In the creation of this edifice the thoughts

have played a part

of peoples aspirations of countless millions

but the foundation was laid

down when

of the

"

v/and which he called

:

the Egyptian king or priest

the dead the "breath

claimed that he could restore to

by means

life" and,

of

the great magician,"

'

could

The wand is supposed by some enable the dead to be born again. " scholars to be a conventionalized representation of the uterus, so that power of giving birth is expressed with literal directness. Such beliefs and stories of the "magic wand" are found to-day in scattered locaHties from the Scottish Highlands to Indonesia and America.

its

In this sketch

I

have referred merely to one or two aspects of a conBut it must be remembered that, once the

ception of vast complexity.

mind

of

man began

of existing apart of

life,

to play

with the idea of a

from the body and

an illimitable

field

vital essence

to identify

was opened up

it

capable with the breath

The

for speculation.

\ital

in all the varied expressions of human principle could manifest itself indications of life. Expersonality, as well as in all the physiological " soul" to believe that the could also men leave led of dreams perience

body temporarily and enjoy varied experiences. But the concreteminded Egyptian demanded some physical evidence to buttress these

the

intangible ideas of the wandering abroad of his vital essence.

made

a statue for

able to

it

to dwell in

make an adequately

after his death, because

life-like

reproduction

of

He

he was not

the dead man's

Then he gradually wrappings. upon could exist apart from the life-substance that the himself persuaded body as a "double" or "twin" which animated the statue. the

features

mummy

itself

or

its

Searching for material evidence to support his faith primitive man not unnaturally turned to the contemplation of the circumstances of All his beliefs concerning the nature of life can ultimately his birth.

be referred back to the stoiy When an infant is born '

of his it

is

own

origin, his birth or creation.

accompanied by the

Alan H. Gardiner, Davies and Gardiner,

-F. LI.

Griffith,

"A

.

after-birth

op. at. p. 59.

Collection o^ Hieroglyphs," 1898, p. 60.

or

*

/

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

46

the umbilical cord. The full complacenta to which it is linked by these is an acliievement of of structures the of significance prehension

To

man

they were an incomprehensible But once he began to play v^^ith the idea that he had a marvel. double, a vital essence in his own shape which could leave the sleeping

modern

science.

primitive

a separate existence, the placenta obviously provided

body and lead

tangible evidence

of

its

The

reality.

considerations

set

forth

by

Blackman,^ supplementing those of Moret, Murray and Seligman, and others, have been claimed as linking the placenta with the ka. Much controversy has waged around the interpretation of the Egyptian word

ka, especially during recent

An

years.

excellent

summary of the arguments brought forward by the various disputants " Since Mysteres Egyptiens ". up to 1912 will be found in Moret's then more or less contradictory views have been put forward by Alan it is not my intention to interGardiner, Breasted, and Blackman. vene ture

in a dispute as to the

meaning

of certain phrases in ancient litera-

but there are certain aspects of the problems

;

so intimately related to

my

main theme

as to

at issue v/hich are

make some

reference to

them unavoidable.

The development

of the

custom of making statues

two on

earth

occasions

his

when

the

mummy

principle dwelt in the former,

vital

man

Vv'as

His

asleep.

pression to all the varied attributes of his

the statue

dead

problem of explaining the deceased's and his portrait statue. During life

necessarily raised for solution the bodies, his actual

of the

became the dwelling place

except

actual

on those

also

body But personality.

gave exafter death

of these manifestations

of the

spirit of vitality.

Whether

or not the conception arose out of the necessities unavoid-

ably created by the making of statues, it seems clear that this custom must have given more concrete shape to the belief that all of those elements of the dead man's individuality which left his body at the time of death could

At

shift as

a

the birth of a king he

exactly reproducing

all

associated throughout

shadowy double is

into his statue.

accompanied by a comrade or twin This double or ka is intimately

his features.

life

and

Aylward M. Blackman,

"

in

the

life

to

come with

the king's wel-

Some Remarks on an Emblem upon the Ancient Egyptian Birth-Goddess," Journal of Egyptian '' The Pharaoh's ArchcBo/ogv, Vol. Ill, Part III, July, 1916, p. 199; and Placenta and the Moon-God Khons," ibid. Part IV, Oct., 1916, p. 235. /-

Head

of

an

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS ka

47

"

was a kind of superior individual in the herethe the fortunes of guide genius intended " he had his abode and awaited the coming of his there after" In fact Breasted claims that the

fare.

to

.

earthly

.

.

At

companion "/

The ka

the sky".

It is

important clearly to keep

The

breath of

and

all

goes to his

protects the deceased

ka

:

—

mind the di^erent

in

statue of the deceased

life

"

:

^'a, to

he brings

eat together.

the conception of the {a)

and

controls

him food which they in

death the deceased

is

factors involved

animated by restoring to

it

the

the other vital attributes of which the early

Egyptian physiologist took cognisance. (^)

child a

At

came

the time or birth there

"twin" whose

destinies

into being along with

were closely linked with the

the

child's.

As

the result of animating the statue the deceased also has {c) " his character, the sum of his attributes," his indito him restored viduality, later raised to the position of a protecting genius or god, a

Providence

as

who

watches over

his well-being.-

The /ea is not simply identical with the breath of life or animus^ Burnet supposes {pp. at. supra), but has a wider significance. adoption of the conception of the ka as a sort of guardian angel finds its appropriate habitation in a statue that has been

The

which

animated does not necessarily

with the viev^ so concretely and

conflict

tomb-pictures that the ka unmistakably represented a double who is born along with the individual. in

of the

ka

to the individual

is,

This material conception

and closely linked veiy suggestive of

At

the

Baganda

beliefs

and

as a as

rites

double

who

is

is

also

born with

Blackman has emphasized,^ connected

^vith the placenta.

death the circumstances of the act of birth are reconstituted, and for

this rebirth the

process

is

placenta which played an essential part in the original

restored to the deceased.

the expression

"

he goes to

his

May

ka"^ be a

not the original meaning of literal

description of this re-

union with his placenta ? The identification of the ka v/ith the moon, the guardian of the dead man's welfare, may have enriched the symbolism. '

"

that the

Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. 52. ka was an element of the personality.

Breasted denies

For an abstruse discussion of this problem see Alan H. Gardiner, " Personification (Egyptian)," Hastings' Encvdopcedia of Religion and Ethics, pp. 790 and 792.

^

Op.

cit.

supra.

I

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

48

"

Blackman makes the suggestion that on the analogy of the beHefs entertained by the Hamitic ruling caste in Uganda," according to " the placenta/ or rather its ghost, would have been supposed Roscoe, the Ancient Egyptians to be closely connected with the individual's " he maintains was also the case with the god or propersonality, as " Unless united with his twin's tecting genius of the Babylonians.'

by

his placenta's] ghost the

[i.e.

directing intelligence

was impaired

placenta was composed

tae

dead king was an imperfect of

deity,

i.e.

his

or lacking," presumably because

blood,

which was regarded as the

material of consciousness and intelligence.

from de Groot (see footnote) show, the under felicitous circumstances is able to ensure placenta when placed the child a long life and to control his mental and physical welfare. In China, as the quotations

In

view

put forward by Blackman to associate the is of interest to note Moret's it suggestion

of the claims

placenta with the ka,

concerning the fourteen forms of the ka, to which von Bissing assigns " puzzled to explain what possible connexion there could be between the Pharaoh's placenta and the moon beyond the fact that it is the custom in Uganda to expose the king's placenta each new moon and anoint it with butter. To those readers who follow my argument in the later pages of this ^

Mr. Blackman

discussion

is

the reasoning at the back of this association should be plain as the controller of menstruation. The

The moon was regarded

enough.

placenta (and also the child) was considered to be formed of menstrual The welfare of the placenta was therefore considered to be under blood. the control of the moon.

The anointing with butter is an interesting illustration of the close connexion of these lunar and maternal phenomena with the cow. The placenta was associated with the moon also in China, as the following quotation shows. " in the Siao 'rh fang or According to de Groot (op. cit. p. 396), Medicament for Babies, by the hand of Ts'ui Hing-kung [died 674 A.D.], it is said The placenta should be stored away in a felicitous spot under '

:

the salutary influences of the sky or the moon ... in order that the child ' then goes on to explain how any intermay be ensured a long life ". ference with the placenta will entail mental or physical trouble to the child. The placenta also is used as the ingredient of pills to increase fertility,,

He

bring back life to people on the brink of death and " the main ingredient in medicines for lunacy, convulsions, epilepsy, " It to the heart, nourishes the blood, increases etc." (p. 397). rest gives " the breath, and strengthens the tsiiig (p. 396). These attributes of the placenta indicate that the beliefs of the Baganda facilitate parturition, to

it is

are not merely local eccentricities, but widespread and sharply defined interpretations of the natural

'Op.

cit.

p.

241.

phenomena

of birth.

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

49

He

the general significance "nourishment or offerings". question whether they do not

"

intellectual prosperity, all that " spirit {pp. cit. p. 209).

The

placenta

is

is

credited with

necessary for the health of

all

welfare of the individual and, like ensures his good fortune.

the

But,

body and

the varieties of life-giving potency

Mother-Goddess.

that are attributed to the

puts

personify the elements of material and

all

It

therefore controls the

maternal amulets {vide supra),

probably by virtue

derivation from and intimate association wdth blood,

of

it

its

supposed

also ministered

to his mental welfare. In

Rylands Lecture I referred to the probability that the elements of Chinese civilization were derived from the West.

my

essential

last

had hoped that, before the present statement went to the printer, 1 would have found time to set forth in detail the evidence in substantiaI

tion of the reality of that diffusion of culture.

Briefly the chain of proof

the intimate cultural

composed of the following links {a) contact between Egypt, Southern Arabia, Sumer,

and El am from a period

Dynasty

;

is

at

:

least

as early as the

First

Egyptian Sumerian and Elamite culture in very

{F) the diffusion of

early times at least as far north as Russian Turkestan and as far east as Baluchistan

;

{c)

at

some

later period

the quest of gold, copper,

turquoise, and jade led the Babylonians (and their neighbours) as far north as the Altai and as far east as Khotan and the Tarim Valley,

where

pathways were blazed with the distinctive methods ofi and irrigation {d) at some subsequent period there was}

their

cultivation

;

an easterly diffusion of culture from Turkestan into the Shensi Pro-j vince of China proper and {e) at least as early as the seventh century} ;

B.C. there

was

also a spread of

Western

culture to

China by

sea.'

have already referred to some of the distinctively Egyptian traits Chinese beliefs concerning the dead. Mingled with them are other I

in

equally definitely Babylonian ideas concerning the

must be apparent that

liver.

course of the spread of a complex of beliefs to so system religious great a distance, only certain of their It

features

in the

would survive the journey. Handed on from people to whom would unavoidably transform them to some

people, each of ^

See " The Origin

lished in the

of

Early Siberian Civilization,"

Memoirs and Proceedings of

Philosophical Society,

4

the

now

being pub-

Manchester Literary and

-

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

50

extent, the tenets of the

Western

beliefs v/ould

become shorn

and have many excrescences added

of their details

Chinese received them,

to

of

many

them before the

the crucible of the local philosophy they

in

would be assimilated with Chinese ideas

When

assumed a Chinese appearance.

until the resulting

compound

these inevitable circumstances

Western influence

are recalled the value of any positive evidence of

is

of special significance.

According to the ancient Chinese, man has two souls, the kivei The former, which according to de Groot is definitely and the shen. the

more ancient

two

of the

which emanates from the o{

yin

and on

death

his

the material, substantial soul,

the universe, and

teiTestrial part of

man

is

formed

operates under the name oi p'ok, returns to the earth and abides with the deceased

In living

substance.

is

(p. 8),

it

it

in his grave.

The sken

actively in the living

when

hivun

;

spirit,

styled

may for

Just as in

which

human body,

also,

dwell of

in

of

shen

them

in

celestial

operating

and

called khi or "breath," it

lives forth as

a refulgent

grave-stone (p. 6).

may

(p. 74). is

said to

"

symbolize the force of life 2 2), so the Chinese refer

"

careful study of the

superficial

about the

There may

one body and many "soul-tablets"

Egypt the ka

by de Groot

many

When

spite of its sky- affinities, hovers

in the inscribed

(Moret,

to the ethereal part of the food as

forth

is

it

after death

it

resides in nourishment

The

yano- substance.

ming}

be a multitude be provided

consists of

separated from

But the shen grave and

emanates from the ethereal

or immaterial soul

cosmos and

part of the

its

mass

in his great

differences

khi,

p. i.e.

1

the

of detailed

"

"

breath

of its shen.

evidence so lucidly

set

monograph reveals the fact that, in spite and apparent contradictions, the early

Chinese conceptions of the soul and its functions are essentially identical with the Egyptian, and must have been derived from the same source.

From pages,

it

the quotations which

I

have already given

in

the foregoing

appears that the Chinese entertain views regarding the func-

tions of the placenta

and a conception

which are

identical with those of the

of the souls of

analogies with Egyptian beliefs. ^

De

man Yet

Baganda,

v/hich presents unmistakable these Chinese references

Groot, .p 5.

do

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

51

not shed any clearer light than Egyptian literature does upon the problem of the possible relationship between the ka and ^^ placenta.

domain, however, right on the overland route from the Persian Gulf to China, there seems to be a ray of light. According " to the late Professor Moulton, The later Parsi books tell us that In the Iranian

the Fravashi

a part of a good man's identity, living in heaven and It is not reuniting with the soul at death. exactly a guardian angel, for

is

shares in the development or deterioration of the rest of the

it

In fact the

Fravashi

man."

'

not unlike the Egyptian ka on the one " other. They are the Manes,

is

and the Chinese shen on the

side

'

'

"

the good folk

capacity as

(p.

144)

spirits of the

they are connected with the stars

:

dead

(p.

paths to the sun, the moon, the sun,

kas guide the dead

The

in their

143), and they "showed their and the endless Hghts," just as the

in the hereafter.

Fravashis play a part in the annual All Soul's feast (p. 144),

which Breasted has provided an almost exact parallel in Egypt All the circumstances of the two during the Middle Kingdom." for

ceremonies are essentially identical.

Now

Moulton

Professor

suggests that the

derived from the Avestan root vai\

mean "birth-promotion"

(p.

"

As

142).

childbirth the possibility suggests itself

word Fravashi may be

to impregnate,"

and fravan

he associates

this

with

whether the "birth-promoter"

not be simply the placenta. Loret (quoted by Moret, p. 202), however,

may

ka from a

root signifying

"

so that the

word may be

derives the

"

to beget,

Fravashi

nothing more than the Iranian homologue of the Egyptian ka.

The may

connecting link between the Iranian and Egyptian conceptions " be the Sumerian instances given to Blackman by Dr. Langdon.

i

the

he whole idea seems to have originated out

sum

of

of

the belief that

the individual attributes or vital expressions of a man's

The contempersonality could exist apart from the physical body. plation of the phenomena of sleep and death provided the evidence in corroboration of

At v^'ith

birth the

this.

newcomer came

the placenta,

liie-giving

into the

world physically connected

which was accredited with the

attributes of the

and birth-promoting Great Mother and intimately related ^

Early Religious Poetry of Persia,

2

Op.

cit.

p.

264.

2

p. 145.

Ibid. p. 240.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

52

moon and

to the

concerned

the earliest totem.

It

was

obviously, also, closely

was

the nutrition of the embryo, for

in

upon which the latter was growing like some was a not unnatural inference to suppose that,

it

on

fruit

not the stalk

stem

its

personality were not indissolubly connected with the body, they

brought into existence at the time of birth

?

It

as the elements of the

and

were

that the placenta

was

their vehicle.

The show

own

Egyptians'

terms of reference to the sculptor of a statue

were uppermost

that the ideas of birth

custom

statue-making was

of

in their

minds when the

Moret has brought

devised.

first

together {pp. at. snprci) a good deal of evidence to suggest the far-

reaching

the

of

significance

conception of

With

Egyptian religious ceremonial.

rebirth

ritual

these ideas

in

his

in

early

mind the

Egyptian would naturally attach great importance to the placenta in any attempt to reconstruct the act of rebirth, which would be rea

in

garded

part in the original act

placenta which played an essential

would have an equally important role in the comment upon the problem discussed

[For a further

ritual of rebirth.

in the

The

sense.

literal

preceding ten pages, see

Appendix A,

The Power of the

p. 73.]

Eye.

In attempting to understand the peculiar functions attributed

the eye

is

it

After mould-

the problem from the early Egyptian's point of view.

shape the wrappings of the

ing into

to

the inquirer should endeavour to look at

essential that

mummy

so as to restore as far as

embalmer then painted eyes when the sculptor had learned to make

possible the form of the deceased the

upon the face. finished models enhanced the thing.

So in

also

wood, and by the addition of paint had appearance, the statue was still merely a dead

stone or

life-like

What were needed above

ally, in other artist set to I

words, to animate

work and with

all

it,

to enliven

were the eyes

truly marvellous

skill

literally

it,

;

and actu-

and the Egyptian

reproduced the ap-

How

pearance of living eyes (Fig. 5), ample was the justification ror this belief will be appreciated by anyone who glances at the remarkable The photographs recently published by Dr. Alan H. Gardiner.'

wonderful eyes will be seen to make the statue sparkle and

To

the concrete ^

"

A

New

mind

of the

Egyptian

Masterpiece of

this

Egyptian

Egyptian Archceology, Vol, IV, Part

I,

triumph

ot art

Sculpture,"

Jan., 1917.

live.

was regarded

Tlie

Journal of

Fig.

5.

—Statue

Xobmc ok thu Pyramid Age to show thu the representation of life-like eves

ok an Egyptian

technical skill

in

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

53

The

not as a mere technical success or aesthetic achievement.

was considered

have made the statue

to

and actually converted it into a selves were regarded as one of the

had been conferred upon the This is the explanation of upon the making responsible

for

of artificial

giving

really live

" living

image

artist

in fact, literally

;

The

".

eyes them-

chief sources of the vitality which

statue. all

the elaborate care and

No

eyes. to

definition

doubt also

the remarkable

skill it

bestowed

was

belief

largely

the

in

But so many other factors of most animating power of the eye. in a kinds diverse building up the complex theory of the part played eye's fertilizing potency that all the stages in the process of rationaliza-

cannot yet be arranged in orderly sequence. I refer to the question here and suggest certain aspects of

tion

that

it

seem worthy of investigation merely for the purpose of stimulating some student of early Egyptian literature to look into the matter further.^

As

death was regarded as a kind of sleep and the closing of the

was the

e\ es

distinctive sign of the latter condition the

open eyes were and life.

not unnaturally regarded as clear evidence of wakefulness

In fact, to a matter-of-fact people the restoration of the eyes to the

mummy At

or statue

a time

was supposed individual's "life,"

"

was equivalent

when

an awakening to

to

life.

a reflection in a mirror or in a sheet of water

to afford quite positive evidence of the reality of

double," and

was imagined

to

likely that the reflection

peculiarly rich in

the

soul," or

more

it.

The

is

concretely,

soul substance

eye was certainly regarded

".

It

was not

as

until Osiris received

from Horus the eye which had been wrenched out " combat with Set that he became a soul ".' It

each

be a minute image or homunculus, it is quite in the eye may have been interpreted as the

"soul" dwelling within "

when

"

in

the latter's

a remarkable fact that this belief in the animating power of

the eye spread as far east as Polynesia

and America, and

as far

west

as the British Islands. in all probability the main factor that was responsible for conferring such definite life-giving powers upon the eye was the identification of the moon with the Great Mother. The moon was the Eye of Re, the sky-god. '

The Breasted, "Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt," p. 59. " here would be more accurately meaning of the phrase rendered "a soul " reanimated ". given by the word ^

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

54

course the obvious physiological functions of the eyes as means of communication between their possessor and the world around him ;

Of

the powerful influence of the eyes for expressing feeling and emotion the analogy between the closing and opening of the without

speech

;

eyes and the changes

day and

of

night, are all hinted at in

Egyptian

literature.

But there were

seem

certain specific factors that

to

have helped

to

ideas of the physiology of the eyes. give definiteness to these general The tears, like all the body moisture, came to share the life-giving

water

of

attributes

in

And when

general.

it

is

that

recalled

at

ceremonies emotion found natural expression in the shedit is not unlikely that this came to be assimilated with

funeral

ding of tears, all

of in

Nephthys were

refers to the

in

fact, Egypt, the reanimation of Osiris,

mourners brought Isis

the funerary

the other water-symbolism of

literature

life

back

life-giving in the

Isis

early

and

the tears they shed as

But the

They were

wider sense.

by

part played

when

to the god.

The

ritual.

fertilizing tears of

said to cause the

inundation which fertilized the soil of Egypt, meaning presumably that " the Eye of Re" sent the rain.

There

is

the further possibility that the beliefs associated with the

cowry may have played some

part,

if

not in originating, at any rate

I emphasizing the conception of the fertilizing powers of the eye, features of the of the have already mentioned outstanding symbolism

in

In

the cowry.

many

places in Africa and elsewhere the similarity its use as an artificial

of this shell to the half-closed eyelids led to

"eye"

in

The

mummies.

use of the

same

objects to symbolize the

female reproductive organs and the eyes may have played some part in

transferring

were born

to

the

latter

the

fertility

of the eyes of Ptah.

Might

of the

The

former.

gods

not the confusion of the eye

There with the genitalia have given a meaning to this statement ? is evidence of this double of these shells. Cowry shells symbolism have

also

been employed, both

to decorate the

bows

of boats,

in

the Persian Gulf and the Pacific,

probably

for the dual

purpose of

These

presenting eyes and conferring vitality upon the vessel. suggest that the belief in the fertilizing

some extent be due that all the

known

relatively late,

and

to this

of the eyes

power Even cowry-association.

if it

it

is

not

known

to

facts

may

to

be admitted

mummies

are

have been employed

for

cases of the use of cowries as eyes of that

re-

such a purpose in Egypt, the mere fact that the likeness to the eyelids

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

linked together the attributes of

may have

so readily suggests itself

55

the cowry and the eye even in Predynastic times, placed with the dead in the grave.

Hathor's identification with the

"Eye

of

when

cowries were

Re" may

possibly

But the role of the have been an expression of the same idea. of Re" was due primarily to her association with the moon infra,

"

Eye {^^ide

p. 56).

The

apparently hopeless tangle of contradictions involved in these " For no eye is to conceptions of Hathor will have to be unravelled.

be feared more than thine (Re's) when

Hathor" (Maspero,

op. tit. p.

which led

giving aspect of the eye

when

in course of time,

If

165). to

its

the reason for this

it it

attacketh in the form of

was

the beneficent

identification with

connexion was

life-

Hathor,

lost sight of,

became associated with the malevolent, death-dealing avatar of the hatred goddess, and became the expression of the god's anger and it

toward

his enemies.

It

have been responsible fact

psychological

is

not unlikely that such a confusion

for giving concrete

expression

that the eyes are obviously

among

may

the general

to

the chief

means

"

and intimidating and brow-beating' ones exI shall lecture on "The Birth of Aphrodite

for expressing hatred for

"

fellows,

my

[In

plain the explicit circumstances that gave rise to these contradictions.] It is significant that, in addition to the widespread belief in the " " which in itself embodies the same confusion, the expresevil eye

—

sion of admiration that

eye that produces the dead

works

evil

The

petrifaction.

become transformed

lack their original attribute

—

multitude of legends it is the stony stare" causes death and

in a

"

into statues, which,

of animation.

These

however, usually have been

stories

"

Legend of Perseus ". by Mr. E. S. Hartland in his There is another possible link in the chain of associations between I have already referred to the the eye and the idea of fertility. development of the belief that incense, which plays so prominent a collected

upon the dead, is itself replete Glaser has already shown the anti

part in the ritual for conferring vitality

with animating

" properties.

incense of the Egyptian '

'

tree-eyes

{Punt

refer to the large

Punt

Reliefs to be an

Arabian word, a-a-neie,

unci die Siidarabischen Reicke, p. 7), and to

lumps

...

as distinguished from the small

round

drops, which are supposed to be tree-tears or the tree-blood.

Wilfred H. p. 164.

Schoff,

"The

Periplus of the Ei7thr3ean Sea,"

1912,

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

56

The Moon and the There are reasons

Sky- World.

for believing that the chief episodes in

Red Sea

Aphro-

many past point other factors, due partly to local circumstances and partly to contact with other civilizations, contributed to the determination of the traits to the

dite's

for their

inspiration,

though

In Babylonia and India there Mediterranean goddess of love. It is imfrom the same source. are very definite signs of borrowing

of the

for further evidence to portant, therefore, to look

Arabia

as the obvious

bond of union both with Phoenicia and Babylonia.

The

claim

made

Ishtar,

Assyrian

the

in

Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie that the (Astarte), the Syrian

Phoenician Ashtoreth

and the Arabian Atargatis (Derketo), the Babylonian Belit (Mylitta) Hat (Al-ilat) were all moon-goddesses has given rise to much rather aimless discussion, for there can be no question of their essential

ology with Hathor and Aphrodite.

hom-

Moreover, from the beginning, most primitive stratum of fertility

goddesses— and especially this were for obvious reasons intimately associated with the moon.^ But the cyclical periodicity of the moon which suggested the analogy

all

deities

I

—

with the similar physiological periodicity of women merely explains The influence of the moon the association of the moon with women.

upon dew and the tides, perhaps, suggested its controlling power over water and emphasized the life-giving function which its association For reasons which have been with women had already suggested. explained already, water was associated more especially with fertiliHence the symbolism of the moon came to zation by the male. include the control of both the male and the female processes of reproduction.'

The ^

1

their

literature relating to the

am

development of these ideas with

not concerned here with the explanation of the transferred to the planet Venus.

refer-

means by which

home became

" In his discussion of the functions of the Fravashis in the Iranian Yasht, the late Professor Moulton suggested the derivation of the word from the Avestan root var, "to impregnate," so that //vr^'^-iV might mean "birth" Less easy to But he was puzzled by a reference to water. promotion ". " understand is their intimate connexion with the Waters (" Early Religious But the Waters were regarded as Poetry of Persia," pp. 142 and 143). " the This is seen in the Avestan Anahita, who was fertilizing agents.

of the presiding genie of Fertility and more especially " 1915, Mithraism," p. 13). Phythiaji-Adams.

Waters

"(W.

J.

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

moon has been summarized by

ence to the

He

AND

"

shows that

57

Professor Hutton Webster.^

good reason for believing that among many primitive peoples the moon, rather than the sun, the planets or any of the constellations, first excited the imagination and aroused feelings there

awe

of superstitious

is

or of religious veneration

Special attention

was

first

devoted

to the

'.

moon when

agricultural

men to measure time and determine the seasons. the moon on water, both the tides and dew, brought

pursuits compelled

The

influence of

within the scope of the then current biological theory of fertilization. This conception was powerfully corroborated by the parallelism of the it

moon's cycles and those

of

womankind, which was interpreted by

re-

moon as the controlling power of the female reproductive Thus all of the earliest goddesses who were personifications functions. of the powers of fertility came to be associated, and in some cases garding the

with the moon.

identified,

In this

about

the animation and deification of the

way

and the

:

the cowry,

i.e.

first

moon was brought

all

the attributes of

the female reproductive functions, but

controller of water,

with Osiris.

sky deity assumed not only

The

many

of those

also,

as the

which afterwards were associated

confusion of the male fertilizing powers of Osiris

with the female reproductive functions of Hathor and Isis may explain how in some places the moon became a masculine deity, who, how-

womankind, and caused the phenomena of menstruation by the exercise of his virile powers.'' But the moon-god was also a measurer of time and in this aspect was specially ever,

still

retained his control over

personified in Thoth.

The

assimilation of the

moon with

conception developed

these earth-deities

was prob-

sky-deity.

For once the

of identifying a deity with the

moon, and the

ably responsible for the creation of the

first

Osirian beliefs associated with the deification of a dead king grew up, the

moon became

mortal

the impersonation of the

woman who by

spirit of

womankind, some

death had acquired divinity.

After the idea had developed of regarding the moon as the 1

-

"

Rest Days,"

Wherever

New

York, 1916, pp. 124 et

these deities of

fertility

spirit

scq.

are found, whether in Egypt, Baby-

Mediterranean Area, Eastern Asia, and America, illustrations of The explanation which Dr. Rendel Harris offers of this confusion in the case of Aphrodite seems to me not to give A\x^ recognition to its great antiquity and almost world-wide distribution. lonia, the

this

confusion of sex are found.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

58

it was only natural that, in course of time, the sun should be brought within the scope of the same train of When this happened, thought, and be regarded as the deified dead. the sun not unnaturally soon leapt into a position of pre-eminence.

of a

dead person,

and

stars

represented the deified female principle the sun became The stars also became the spirits of the the dominant male deity Re.

As

the

moon

dead.

Once

this

new

conception

luxuriant crop of beliefs old,

and

complex

The

grew up

a sky-world

of

to assimilate the

was adumbrated

new

a

beliefs with the

to buttress the confused mixture of incompatible ideas

with a

scaffolding of rationalization.

Osiiis consun-god Horus was already the son of Osiris. and the irrigation canals, but also the rain-

trolled not only the river

The

clouds.

fumes

conveyed to the sky-gods the supplica" the perfume on earth. Incense was not only

of incense

tions of the worshippers

that deifies," but also the

means by which the

deities

and the dead

1 he could pass to their doubles in the newly invented sky-heaven. sun-god Re was represented in his temple not by an anthropoid statue,

but by an obelisk,^ the gilded apex "

drew down

"

of

which pointed

to

the dazzling rays of the sun, reflected from

heaven and its

polished

surface, so that all the worshippers could see the manifestations of the

god

in his temple.

are important, not only for creating the sky-gods and the sky-heaven, but possibly also for suggesting the idea that even a

These events

whether carved or uncarved, upon which no attempt had been made to model the human form, could represent the " " to be animated by the deity, or rather could become the body

mere

pillar of stone,

For once

god.'

it

was admitted, even

in

the

ideas concerning the animation of statues, that

the idol to be shaped into

cultured peoples,

who had

human

form, the

home of these ancient it was not essential for

way was opened

not acquired the technical

statues, simply to erect stone pillars or

skill

for

less

to carve

unshaped masses of stone or

" Das Re-heilig'cum des Kcnigs Ne-woser-re ". Borchardt, " For a good exposition of this matter see A. Moret, Sanctuaires de I'ancien Empire Egyptien,", Awialcs du Musi'e Gnuiiei, 1912, ^

p.

L.

265. "

It is

possible that the ceremony of erecting the

dad columns may have (On this see A.

played some part in the development of these beliefs. Moret, "Mysteres Egyptians," 1913, pp. 13-17.)

AND

INCENSE wood

for their

gods to enter,

when

LIBATIONS

59

the appropriate litual of animation

was performed/ This conception in stones

spread

place where

it

of the possibility of gods,

in

course of time throughout the world, but in eveiy

is

found certain arbitrary details

animating the stone reveal the fact that been derived from the same source.

The complementary men and animals has

The

men, or animals dwelling of

the methods of

these legends must have

all

belief in the possibility of the petrifaction of

a similarly extensive geographical distribution.

history of this remarkable incident

shall explain in the lecture

I

on "Dragons and Rain Gods" (Chapter

II.).'

The Worship of the Cow. Intimately linked with the subjects

worship

of the

cow.

It

the details of the process

became

by which the

so closely associated or

the cow's horns

I

would lead me

have been discussing

the

is

too far afield to enter into earliest

Mother-Goddesses

even identified with the cow, and

became associated with the moon among

the

why

emblems

^

Many other factors played a part in the development of the stones of the birth of ancestors from stones. I have already referred to the origin cowry (or some other shell) as the parent of mankind. place of the shell was often taken by roughly carved stones, which of course were accredited with the same power of being able to produce men,

of the idea of the

The

or of being a sort of egg from which human beings could be hatched. It unlikely that the finding of fossilized animals played any leading role in the development of these beliefs, beyond affording corroborative evidence

is

in

support

originating splitting of

by the

of

the

them

after

stories.

other circumstances hac! been

The more

responsible

for

circumstantial Oriental stories of the

stones giving birth to heroes and gods may have been suggested finding in pebbles of fossilized shells— themselves regarded already

as the parents of mankind. But such interpretations were only possible because all the predisposing circumstances had already prepared the way for

the acceptance of these specific illustrations of a geneial theory. These beliefs may have developed before and quite independently of the ideas concerning the animation of statues

would have strengthened and

in

;

but

if

so the latter event

some places become merged with the other

story. "

For an extensive

collection of these remarkable petrifaction legends

in almost every part of the world, see E. of Perseus," especially Volumes I and III.

found

to

address.

be complexly interwoven with

Sidney Hartland's

These all

"The Legend

distinctive stories will

be

the matters discussed in this

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

60

But

Hathor.

of

essential

is

it

that reference should

be made

to

certain aspects of the subject.

do not think there

I

is

any evidence

that the likeness of the crescent

On

for the association.

and the cow became pendently the one

of

to justify the

to a

the other hand,

common

theory

cow's horns was the reason

it is

clear that both the

moon

with the Mother-Goddess quite indethe other, and at a very remote period. identified

probable that the

It is

moon

fundamental factor

in the

development

of

cow and the Mother- Goddess was the fact of the human beings. For if the cow could assume this maternal function she was in fact a sort of foster-mother of mankind and in course of time she came to be regarded as the actual mother of the human race and to be identified with the Great this association of

the

use of milk as food for

;

Mother.

Many

other considerations helped in this process of assimilation.

The use of cattle not merely as meat for the sustenance of the living but as the usual and most characteristic life-giving food for the dead naturally played a part in conferring divinity

analogous relationship sponsible

for

the

made

personification

This influence was

still

upon the cow,

further

of

as a

the incense-tree

emphasized

in

was

an re-

goddess.

the case of cattle

because they also supplied the blood which was used of

just as

incense a holy substance and

for the

ritual

bestowing consciousness upon the dead, and in course of

purpose time upon the gods also, so that they might hear and attend

to

the

prayers of supplicants.

cow

Other circumstances emphasize the significance attached to the but it is difficult to decide whether they contributed in any way :

development of these beliefs or were merely some practices which were the result of the divination of the cow. to

the

custom

of

placing butter

Uganda, and

in

the mouths of the dead,

in

of the

The Egypt,

India, the various ritual uses of milk, the

employment the grave, and

a wrapping for the dead in also in certain mysterious ceremonies,^ all indicate the intimate con-

cow's hide as

of a

nexion between the life to I

cow and

the

means

of attaining a rebirth in the

come.

think there are definite reasons for believing that once the

became

identified ^

cow

with the Mother-Goddess as the parent of mankind

See A. Moret,

op.

cit.

p. 81, inter alia.

INCENSE the

first

was taken

step

now known

ideas

as

This, however,

" is

AND

LIBATIONS

61

the development of the curious system of

In

totemism

.

a complex

problem which

I

cannot stay to

discuss here.

When moon was

the

cow became

goddess, the Divine

be

identified with the

Great Mother and the

regarded as the dwelling or the personification of the

Cow

by a process

came

of confused syncretism

regarded as the sky or the heavens, to

same to

which the dead were raised

up on the cow's back. When Re became the dominant deity, he was identified with the sky, and the sun and moon were then regarded as his eyes. Thus the moon, as the Great Mother as well as the Eye of Re, was the bond of identification of the Great Mother with an eye. of the

This was probably Giver of Life.

how

the eye acquired the animating powers

A whole

volume might be written upon the almost world-wide these beliefs regarding the cow, as far as Scotland and

diffusion of

Ireland in the west, and in their easterly migration probably as far as

to the confusion alike of

America,

its

ancient artists

and

its

modern

ethnologists.^

As

an

illustration of the identification of

those of the life-giving Great Mother,

I

the cow's attributes with

might refer to the late Pro-

fessor

Moulton's commentary" on the ancient Iranian Gathas, where

cow's

flesh

"

May we

tion

given to mortals by Yima to make them immortal. connect it with another legend whereby at the Regenerais

Mithra

of the

Aryan

is

to

make men immortal by

giving

them

to eat the fat

Cow

from whose slain body, according to the " " mankind was first created ? Mithraism, legends adopted by .

.

.

primeval

^

See the Copan sculptured monuments described by Maudslay in " and Salvia's Biologia Centrali- Americana," Archasology, " Stela D," with two serpents in the places ocPlate 46, representing concerning which see Xatiire, cupied by the Indian elephants in Stela Intertwined of these one To 1915. November 25, serpents is attached a cow-headed human daemon. Compare also the Chiriqui figure depicted by " Study of Chirlquian Antiquities," Yale University Press, by MacCurdy,

Godman

B—

A

19ll,fig. 361.p. 209. " Early Religious Poetry of Persia," pp. 42 and 43. ^ But I think these legends accredited to the Op. cii. p. 43. •^

Aryans

parentage to the same source as the Egyptian beliefs concerning the cow, and especially the remarkable mysteries upon which Moret has

owe

their

been endeavouring

to

throw some

light

— " Mysteres Egyptiens,"

p.

43.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

62

The

have made no attempt to deal with the far-reachproblems of the diffusion abroad of the practices and

In these pages

ing

and

Diffusion of Culture.

intricate

I

But the thoughts and the aspiradiscussing. are cultured tions of every people permeated through and through

beliefs

which

I

have been

with their influence. important to remember that in almost every stage of the de" velopment of these complex customs and ideas not merely the finished " but also the ingredients out of which it was built up were product being scattered abroad. It is

shall briefly refer to certain evidence

I

in illustration of this fact diffusion to the

The

and

in

h'om Asia and America

substantiation of the reality of the

East of some of the

beliefs

I

have been

unity of Egyptian

and Babylonian ideas

strikingly

demonstrated than

in

of Osiris

and Ea.

It

discussing.

nowhere more

the essential identity of the attributes

affords the most positive proof of the derivation

from some

of the beliefs

is

common

Egyptian and Sumerian civilizations

source,

and reveals the

must have been

in

fact that

intimate cultural

contact at the beginning of their developmental history.

"

In

Baby-

there were differences of opinion regarding the

lonia, as in

Egypt,

origin of life

and the particular natural element which represented the " One section of the people, who were represented

vital principle."

by the worshippers of Ea, appear to have believed that the essence of The god of Eridu was the source of the life was contained in water. ^

'

v/ater of life

'."

"

water and food were made to the dead," not " prevented from troubling the primarily so that they might be to with the means of sustenance and to but them living,"" supply Offerings

^

of

Donald A. Mackenzie, " Myths

of

Babylonia and Assyria,"

p.

44

et seq.

" Dr. Alan Gardiner has protested against the assertions of some Egyptologists, influenced more by anthropological theorists than by the un" ambiguous evidence of the Egyptian texts," to the effect that the funerary "

and practices of the Egyptians were in the main precautionary measures " " Life and Death (Article serving to protect the living against the dead rites

(Egyptian)," Hastings' Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics). \ should like " to emphasize the fact that the anthropological theorists," who so frequently " some put forward these claims have little more justification for them than

INCENSE

AND

LIBATIONS

reanimate them to help the suppliants.

It

these and other procedures were inspired

is

by

a

63

common

belief

that

But

fear of the dead.

such a statement does not accurately represent the attitude of mind of For it is not the the people who devised these funerary ceremonies.

enemies of the dead or those against whom he had a grudge that run and the more deeply he was risk at funerals, but rather his friends

a

;

attached to a particular person the greater the danger for the latter. For among many people the belief obtains that when a man dies he will

endeavour to

steal the

who

"soul-substance" of those

are dearest

But as him to the other world. may accompany " means death, it is easy to misunderstand soul-substance stealing the Hence most people who long for life and such a display of affection. to

him

so that they "

'

hate death do their utmost to evade such embarrassing tokens of love " appeasing ethnologists, misjudging such actions, write about ;

and most the dead

".

Ea was of the river

It

was

those

whom

and god

who

upon man the

'

sustaining

rivers

food of '

her servant to

"

Like Osiris "he

of creation.

and sunburnt wastes through

commanded

the gods loved

not only the god of the deep, but also

and

life

died young. lord of life,"

fertilized

irrigating canals,

and conferred

.... The goddess of

sprinkle the

Lady

kmg

parched the dead

the water

Ishtar with

of life'" {pp. cit. p. 44).

In

Chapter

HI. of

Mr. Mackenzie's book, from which

I

have

just

Careful study of the best evidence from Babylonia, India, Egyptologists ". Indonesia, and Japan, reveals the fact that anthropologists who make such claims have in many cases misinterpreted the facts. In an article on "Ancestor Worship" by Professor Nobushige Hozumi in A. Stead's "Japan by the

"The origin of view is put very clearly of ancestor-worship is ascribed by many eminent writers to the dread of gliosis and the sacrifices made to the souls of ancestors for the purpose Japanese" (1904) the true point

:

It of propitiating them. appears to me more correct to attribute the origin It was the love of ancestors, not of ancestor-worship to a contrary cause. " the dread of them [Here he quotes the Chinese philosophers Shiu-ki

and Confucius

in

corroboration!

that impelled

men

to

"

worship.

We

celebrate the anniversary of our ancestors, pay visits to their graves, offer flowers, food and drink, burn incense and bow before their tombs, entirely from a feeling of love and respect for their memory, and no question of

'dread' enters our minds in doing so" (pp. 281 and 282).

[See, however,

Appendix 3, p. 74.] ^ For, as I have already explained, the idea so commonly and mistakenly " soul- substance by writers on Indonesian and conveyed by the term "

Chinese

word

"

beliefs

would be much more accurately rendered simply by the the stealing of it necessarily means death.

life," so that

THE DRAGON

THE" EVOLUTION OF

64

quoted, there

is

an interesting collection

of quotations clearly

showing

body moisture of in Babylonia and

that the conception of the vitalizing properties of the is

gods

not restricted to Egypt, but

is

found also

Western Asia and Greece, and also in Western Europe. has been suggested that the name Ishtar has been derived from " '* she who makes fruitful .^ she w^ho waters," Semitic roots implying India, in It

' '

Barton claims that

:

The

beginnings of Semitic religion as they

were conceived by the Semites themselves go back to sexual relations embodies the truth the Semitic conception of deity

.

.

.

but nevertheless

grossly indeed,

at.

{pp.

see

— God embodies — — however, very misleading .

Appendix C,

.

'

that

it

p.

is

love

is

[This statement,

107).

p.

.

75.]

Throughout the countries where Semitic- influence spread the primitive Mother- Goddesses or some of their specialized variants are found.

But

tinctive

traits

in

every case the goddess is associated with many disher identity with her homologues in

which reveal

Cyprus, Babylonia, and Egypt. " Among the Sumerians life comes on earth through the intioduc"Man also results from a union tion of water and irrigation".^

between the water-gods." The Akkadians held views which were almost the direct of these.

To them

"

the watery deep

the order of the world,

is

due

is

to the victory of

spring over the monster of winter and water

by the gods "

antithesis

and the cosmos, a god of light and

disorder,

;

man

is

directly

made

".^

The Sumerian

account of Beginnings centres around the production by the gods of water, Enki and his consort Nin-ella (or Dangal), of a great number of canals bringing rain to the desolate fields of a dry Life both of vegetables

continent.

...

of the vivifying waters.

and animals follows the profusion

In the process of

Enki, the personality of his consort

is

life's

production besides

very conspicuous.

She

is

called

^Barton, op. cit. p. 105. The evidence set forth in these pages makes it clear that such ideas are not restricted to the Semites nor is there any reason to suppose that "'

:

they originated amongst them. ^Albert J. Carnoy, "Iranian Views of Origins in Connexion with Similar Babylonian Beliefs," Journal of the American Oriental Society ^

XXXVI,

Vol. ^

This

expressed

is

1916, pp. 300-20. Professor Carnoy's summary of Professor Jastrow's views as

in his article

"

Sumerian and Akkadian Views

of

Beginnings ".

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

65

Daiuo^al-Nunna, the " the Waters,' Nin- Tii, the Lady of Birth (p. 30 Enki and Nin-ella was the ancestor of mankind/ the pure Lady,'

Lady

great

'

'

"

'

'

Nin-Ella,

1

The

).

child of

Great Lady seems who absorbed several

In later traditions, the personality of that

have been overshadowed by that

of

Ishtar,

of

to of

'

her functions

(p.

Professor so-called

301).

"Aryan" "

the creation

fully demonstrates the derivation of certain early

Carnoy

beliefs

from Chaldea.

the great spring

countries (Yt. 5,

goddess

.

She

fair

eU'e

.

and

.

1) is

.

.

.

the Iranian account of

Ardvi Sura Anahita

ing, the herd-increasing, the fold-increasing all

In

that precious spring

personified

is

is

prosperity for

worshipped

handsome and

as a

the life-mcreas-

who makes

stately

a

" of gracefulness" (Yt. 5, 7, 64, 78).

Anahita

Ishtar

is

Moreover

.

.

she

.

Achaemenian

in

Professor

a goddess of

is

inscriptions

a

Her arms

maid, most strong, tall of form, high-girded. white and thick as a horse's shoulder or still thicker. is

as

woman.

She

Cumont

is full

thinks that

fecundation and birth.

Anahita is associated with Ahura

Mazdah and

Mithra, a triad corresponding to the Chaldean triad Sin-Shamash-Ishtar. 'Ai^atrt? in Strabo and other Greek writers is :

"

treated as \K<^pohir-q

But

Egypt "

in

(p.

Mesopotamia

302).

also the

same views were entertained

as in

of the functions of statues.

The

statues hidden in the recesses of the temples or erected

on

'

'

Ziggurats became imbued, by virtue of their the actual body of the god whom they reprewith consecration, sented." Thus Marduk is said to "inhabit his image' (Maspero, the summits of the

op. cit. p. 64).

This

precisely the idea

is

present day

it

make images

survives

of

among

which the Egyptians had.

Even

the Dravidian peoples of India."

their village deities,

at the

They

which may be permanent or only

temporary, but in any case they are regarded not as actual deities but " " so to speak into which these deities can enter. bodies They are sacred only when they are so animated by the goddess. The as the

^

Jastrow's interpretation of a recently-discovered tablet published by the title The Sianeriari Epic of Paradise, the Flood and

Langdon under the Fall of -

I

China

Man.

have already also.

(p.

43) mentioned the

fact that

it

is

still

preserved in

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

66

animation

ritual of

is

Libations are poured out

Egypt.

;

incense

a buffalo constitutes the right fore-leg of deity

by

these procedures

reanimated by

is

the blood-offering

Ancient

essentially identical with that found in

it

burnt

is

;

the bleeding

When

blood -offering.'

and

its

the

consciousness restored

can hear appeals and speak.

The same attitude towards their idols was adopted by the Poly"The priest usually addressed the image, into which it was nesians. the god entered when anyone came to inquire his will." imagined ^

But there are certain other aspects are of

peculiar to

referred

In

interest.

of these

my Ridgeway

the means by which

in

Indian customs that

essay {pp.

cit.

sjiprd)

Nubia the degradation

I

of the

oblong Egyptian inastaba gave rise to the simple stone circle. This type spread to the west along the North African littoral, and also to the Eastern desert and Palestine.

from the [It is

circles

Red Sea

introduced

At some

subsequent time mariners

this practice into India.

important to bear n mind that two other classes of stone One of them was derived, not from the

were invented.

'inastaba

itself,

but from the enclosing wall surrounding

it

(see

my

p. 531, and compare with Figs. 3 and 4, Ridgeway essay, Fig. This type p. 510, for illustrations of the transformed mastaba-iyY>e).

13,

of circle (enclosing a

dolmen)

area as well as in India.

type of structure

is

A

is

found both

in

the Caucasus- Caspian

highly developed form of this encircling

seen in the famous rails surrounding the Buddhist

A

third and later form of circle, of which stupas and dagabas. Stonehenge is an example, was developed out of the much later New

Empire Egyptian conception of a temple.] But at the same time, as in Nubia, and possibly in Libya, the mast aba was being degraded into the first of the three main varieties forms of simplification of the " The Village Deities of Henry Whitehead (Bishop of Madras), Southern India," Madras Government Museum, Bull., Vol V, No. 3, " Dravidian Gods in Modern Hindu1907; Wilber Theodore Elmore, of ism the Local and Village Deities of Southern India," Study University Studies: University of Nebraska, Vol. XV, No. I, Jan., 1915.

of stone circle, other,

though

less drastic,

^

:

A

—

Egypt A. E. P. B. An Ancient Egyptian Funeral Qev&caony," Jour iiat of Egyptiaii Weigall, Archcsotog}',Vo\.\\, 1915, p. 10. Early literary references from Babylonia suggest that a similar method of offering blood was practised there. " William Ellis, Polynesian Researches," 2nd edition, 1832, Vol. I,

Compare

p.

373.

the sacrifice of the fore-leg of a living calf in

"

liNCENSE mast aba were

taking

Mediterranean

least altered copies of the

"

But the

umstaba

Egypt

67 but certainly

itself,

some

respects the " are found in the so-called giant's In

coasts.

and the "horned cairns"

of Sardinia

araves

LIBATIONS

possibly in

place,

the neighbouring

upon

AND

of the British

Egyptian serdab^ which was the

real features of the

Isles.

essential

part, the nucleus so to speak, of the fnasfaba, are best preserved in " of the Levant, the Caucasus, and holed dolmens the so-called "

India.

also occur sporadically in the

[They

West, as

France and

in

Britain.]

Such dolmens and more

simplified foniis are scattered in Palestine,'

advantage upon the Eastern Littoral of the Black Sea, the Caucasus, and the neighbourhood of the Caspian. They are found only in scattered localities between the Black and are seen to best

but

As

Caspian Seas. explained by

They were

de Morgan has pointed

their association

out,"

their distribution

is

with ancient gold and copper mines.

the tombs of immigrant mining colonies

who had

settled

in these definite localities to exploit these minerals.

Now

the same types of dolmens,

There

mines," are found in India.

is

also

with ancient

associated

some evidence

to suggest that

these

degraded types of Egyptian mastabas were introduced into

India

at

some time

the

after

adoption of the other,

modification of the inastaba which

is

the

represented by the

first

Nubian variety

of stone circle.^

have referred

I

to these

Indian dolmens for the specific purpose

of illustrating the complexities of

the processes of diffusion of culture.

For not only have several variously specialized degradation-products of the same original type of Egyptian inastaba reached India, possibly

by

different routes '

p.

and

See H. Vincent,

395. - "

different

times, but also

Canaan d'apres

Tome

Caucase,

W.

Tome

many

of the ideas

I'exploration recente," Paris, 1907,

Paris, 1909, p. 404 and Mission VIII, arched.

Les Premieres Civilizations,"

Delegation en Perse, ^

"

at

:

;

Memoires de

la

Scientifique au

I.

" J.

Perry,

bution of Megalithic

The Relationship between the Geographical DistriMonuments and Ancient Mines," Memoirs and Pro-

ceedings of the Manchester Literarv and Philosophical Socictv, Vol. 60, PartI, 24th Nov., 1915. ^ The evidence for this is being prepared for publication by Captain Leonard Munn, R.E., v/ho has personally collected the data in Hydera-

bad.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

68

developed out of the funerary

that

mastaba was merely one

of the

India at various times and expressions

ritual

Egypt— of which the made their way to

in

manifestations

became secondarily blended with other

same or associated ideas

of the

—

there.

I

have already

elements of the Egyptian funerary as still persisting statues, incense, libations, and the rest

referred to the essential

—

ritual

—

among

the the

Dravidian peoples.

But

in the

Madras Presidency dolmens

are found converted into

—

Now in the inner chamber of the shrine which Siva temples.^ in place of the statue or represents the homologue of the serdab bas-relief of the deceased or of the deity, which is found in some of

—

them

(see Plate

there

I),

is

the stone linga-yoni

tion corresponding to that in locality

(Kambaduru), there

which, is

emblem

in

the posi-

the later temple in the

in

an image

of

same

the consort of

Pai'vati,

Siva.

The

earliest

deities

in

Egypt,

both Osiris and Hathor,

really expressions of

the creative principle.

the goddess was, in

fact,

reproduction." creation

were

In the case of Hathor,

the personification of the female organs of

In these early Siva temples in India these principles of

were given

and represented frankly

their literal interpretation,

as the organs of reproduction of the

two

sexes.

The

gods of creation

were symbolized by models in stone of the creating organs. Further illustrations of the same principle are witnessed in the Indonesian megalithic

The

monuments which Perry later

Indian

temples,

calls

both

"

dissoliths "."

Buddhist

and

Hindu,

were

developed from these early dolmens, as Mr. Longhurst's reports so But from time to time there was an influx of clearly demonstrate.

new

West which found Thus architecture.

ideas from the

fications

of

illustration

the

of this principle of culture

of megalithic culture introduced purely

expression in a series of modiIndia

provides

contact.

Western

A

an

admirable

series of

ideas.

waves

These were

in their own way, constantly intera of cultural influences to weave them into a dismingling variety

developed by the local people

^

Annual Report

Madras,

for the year

of the Archaeological Department, Southern Circle, See for example Mr. A. H. Longhurst's

1915-1916.

photographs and plans (Plates 1-IV) and especially that of the old Siva temple at Kambaduru, Plate IV {b). As I shall show in " The Birth of Aphrodite " (Chapter III). ; ^W. J. Perry, "The Megalithic Culture of Indonesia".

AND

INCENSE

which was compounded partly

tinctive fabric,

woven

local threads,

LIBATIONS

imported, partly of In this pro-

locally into a truly Indian pattern.

development one can detect the

cess of

of

69

effects of

Mycenean

accretions

example Longhurst's Plate XIII), probably modified during (see and also its indirect transmission by Phoenician and later influences for

;

the more intimate part played by Babylonian,

Egyptian, and, later, Persian art and architecture in directing the course of

Greek and

of Indian culture.

development

Incidentally, in the course of the discussions in the foregoing pages, 1

profound influence of Egyptian, Babylonian ^and Eastern Asia. Perry's important book {pp. cit. suprii)

to the

have referred ideas in

Indian

Pacific to

In the

"

"

Migrations of Early Culture

among This

mummy.

idea of libations,

ritual

I

14)

I

called attention

Brasseur de Bourbourg, the pour" C est cette eau accompanied by the remark

was

venant au monde

tu as re^ue en

(p.

was poured upon the head procedure was inspired by the Egyptian

the Aztecs water

according to

for,

ing out of the water

que

the

across

America.

to the fact that of the

Thence they spread

Indonesia.

in

efforts

their

reveals

".

But incense-burning and blood-offering were also practised m In an interesting memoir on the practice of blood-letting ^

America.

by

and tongue, Mrs. Zelia Nuttall reproduces a re" from a partly unpublished MS. of Sahagun's work

piercing the ears

markable picture preserved in Florence

man whose body each other

in

is

" ".

The image

partly hidden,

ings to the sun, like censers,

But

it

two

the sun

But

in

addition to these blood-offer-

priests are burning incense in remarkably Egyptian-

and another pair are blowing conch-shell trumpets. the use of incense and libations and the

the Spaniards

wholly arbitrary

Yucatan they found

visited

first

^

A

was

Ethnological Papers No. 7, 1904. -

Bancroft, op.

cit.

traces of a

" zihil, signifying

II,

pp.

Maya

bap-

be born again

".

Mexicans," Archaeological and University, Vol. I,

Peabody Museum, Harvard

Vol.

to

burnt."

Penitential Rite of the Ancient of the

American pantheon Old World. When

attributes of the

which the natives called

the ceremony also incense

"

to

piercing the helices or

that reveal the sources of their derivation in the

At

held up by a

was not merely

identities in the

tismal rite

is

and two men, seated opposite in the act of

the foreground, are

external borders of their ears."

of

682 and 683.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

70

The

the face,

forehead,

the

and

fingers

toes

were moistened.

"

After they had been thus sprinkled with water, the priest arose and removed the cloths from the heads of the children, and then cut off with a stone knife a certain bead that was attached to the head from '

childhood."

[The custom Egypt

wearing such a bead during childhood

of

is

found in

at the present day.]

In the case of the girls, their mothers

which was worn during

"

their childhood,

having a small shell that hung

in front (' '

venia a dar encima de la parte honesta

divested

them

of a cord

fastened round the loins,

una conchuela asida que les The removal of

— Landa).

'^

they could marry." This use of shells is found in the Soudan and East Africa at the

this signified that

The

present day."*

girdle

upon which the

prototype of the cestus of Hathor, Ishtar, the goddesses of

of the fact

illustration

goddesses and

in

fertility

Old World.

the

that not only

New

earliest

of their

World, but also the which the complexities

In Chapter III ("The Birth an important part the invention

it

were the

It

an admirable

is

finished products, the

their fantastic repertory of attributes, transmitted to the

of

ment

were hung is the Aphrodite, Kali and all shells

of

and most primitive ingredients out traits were compounded.

Aphrodite")

of this girdle

of the material side of civilization

exerted upon beliefs and ethics.

evolution of clothing

and

in love-philtres

;

and

it

It

was

I

shall

played

explain

in the

what

develop-

and the even vaster influence

represents the

first

stage in the

responsible for originating the belief

in the possibility of foretelling the future.

would lead me too

main purpose in this book to discuss the widespread geographical distribution and historical associations of the customs of baptism and pouring libations among different It

peoples.

I

Elsdon Best,

from

my

may, however, refer the reader to an article by Mr. " entitled Ceremonial Performances Pertaining to Birth,

as Performed by the

of the

far

Maori

of

New Zealand in

Past Times" {Jouf'nal

Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol.

which sheds a

clear light

The whole

XLIV,

1914,

p. 127),

upon the general problem.

subject of baptismal ceremonies

is

well worth detailed

study as a remarkable demonstration of the spread of culture in early times. '

Op.

cit.

p.

684.

-

Ibid.

^

See

J.

Wilfrid Jackson,

op. cit.

supra.

Fig.

The image

of

6.— Rei'kksentation of the ancient Mexican wokshii' the sun

is

held up by a

man

in

front of his face

trumpets; another pair burn incense; and a third pair their ears

— after

Zelia Nuttall.

;

make

oi-

the Sin

two men blow conch-shell blood-offerings by piercing

AND

INCENSE

LIBATIONS

71

Summary. In these pages

groping in the

have ranged over a very wide

I

dim shadows

been attempting to pick up a few

came woven

of the threads

human

into the texture of

beliefs

suggest that the practice of mummification

web

the

of civilization

was

was

I

have

which ultimately beaspirations, and to

and

the woof around which

intimately intertwined.

have already explained

I

field of speculation,

of the early history of civilization.

how

closely that practice

was

related to

the oiigin and development of architecture, which Professor Lethaby " matrix of ci\'ilization," and how nearly the ideas that has called the

grew up in explanation and in justification of the ritual of embalming were affected by the practice of agriculture, the second great pillar of It has also been shown how support for the edifice of civilization. far-reaching

was the

influence exerted

which impelled men, probably carry out great expeditions resins and the balsams, the

by

medicine and

But

I

sea

and land

wood and

upon the means

effect

the embalmer,

plan and

to obtain the necessary

the spices.

Incidentally also

mummification came to exert a pro-

for the acquisition

the sciences ancillary to

it.

have devoted chief attention

to

all

of

for the first time in history, to

in course of time the practice of

found

by the needs

of a

knowledge

of

the bearing of the ideas

which developed out of the practice and ritual of embalming upon the spirit of man. It gave shape and substance to the belief in a future

ment

life

;

it

was perhaps

the most important factor in the develop-

a definite conception of the gods

of

:

it

laid

the foundation of

the ideas which subsequently were built up into a theory of the soul in fact,

and

was

it

intimately connected with the birth of

all

:

those ideals

which are nov/ included

in the conception of religious multitude of other trains of thought were started amidst the intellectual ferment of the formuktion of the earliest con-

aspirations

belief

and

ritual.

A

crete system of biological

theory.

The

idea of the properties and

which had previously sprung up in connexion with the development of agriculture became crystallized into a more definite form as the result of the development of mummification, and this has

functions of water

played an obtrusive part ever since. in

many

Moreover

its

in

religion,

in

influence has

philosophy and

become embalmed

languages and in the ritual of every religion.

in

medicine

for all

time

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

72 But

it

was

a factor in the development not merely of religious be-

temples and

liefs,

origin of beliefs.

much The

ritual,

but

was

it

also very closely related to the

gods and of current popular

of the paraphernalia of the

and demons, them conceptions that were

swastika and

the thunderbolt, dragons

totemism and the sky-world are all of less closely connected with the matters

more or

I

have been

dis-

cussing.

The

which grew up mummification were responsible

and

ideas

and

its ritual

But they were existence

with the practice of

association

the development of the temple

for

for a definite formulation of the

conception of

dead

king, Osiris,

was necessary

and

deities.

For the

also responsible for originating a priesthood.

resuscitation of the it

in

maintenance

for the

for his successor, the reigning king,

of his

to per-

animation and the provision of food and drink. king, therefore, was the first priest, and his functions were not primarily acts of worship but merely the necessary preliminaries for

form the

ritual

of

The

restoring sult

life

and consciousness

him and secure It

his

was only when

their ritual so

to

the dead seer so that he could con-

advice and help.

number

the

temples became so great and

of

complex and elaborate as

to

make

bility for the king to act in this capacity in

occasion that he

was compelled members

to delegate

a physical impossi-

it

all of

them and on every

some

of his priestly func-

the royal family or high officials. In course of time certain individuals devoted themselves exclusively to

tions to others, either

these duties

remember reigning

of

and became professional

that at

first

it

was

king, to intercede

priests

but

;

important to

it is

the exclusive privilege of

Horus, the

with Osiris, the dead king, on behalf of

men, and that the earliest priesthood consisted of those individuals to whom he had delegated some of these duties. In conclusion I should like to express in words what must be only too apparent to every reader of this statement. ing more than a contribution

problems

in the history of

for a task of such

explanation.

up.

I

thought.

am

It

some

claims to be noth-

of the

most

difficult

For one so ill-equipped

to attempt

it

calls for

a word of

clear light that recent research has shed

earliest literature in the

tions

human

a nature as

The

to the study of

world has done much

to

upon the

destroy the founda-

upon which the theories propounded by scholars have been built It seemed to be worth while to attempt to read afresh the volu-

INCENSE minous mass

of old

AND

LIBATIONS

73

documents with the illumination of

this

new

in-

formation.

The other reason for making such an attempt is modern scholar who has discussed the matters at

that almost every issue has

assumed

that the fashionable doctrine of the independent development of

was a

human

upon which to construct his practices At best it is an unproven and reckless speculation. I am theoiies. convinced it is utterly false. Holding such views I have attempted to and

beliefs

safe basis

read the evidence afresh.

APPENDIX On

A.

re-reading the discussion of the significance of the ka to keep the size of la striving after brevity and conciseness within the limits of the Bulleliii of the

—

realize that,

I

—

my

statement

John Ry lands

Library, generously a rather nebulous form.

I have left the argument in though it is that be a concrete-minded it must not people like the ancient imagined " the soul ". Egyptians entertained highly abstract and ethereal ideas about

elastic

that all the expressions of consciousness and personality could cease during sleep and at the same time the phenomena of dreams seemed to afford evidence that these absent elements of the individual' s

They recognized

;

Thus there was an alter being were enjoying real experiences elsewhere. ego, identified by this matter-of-fact people with the twin (placenta) which was born with intellectual

was

the child and

nourishment

—

for

it

clearly

concerned with

its

was obviously connected by

physical and stalk to the

its

embryo like a tree to its roots, and it seemed to be composed of blood, " " twin which was regarded as the vehicle of mind. But this intellectual kept pace in

its

growth with the physical body.

When

to represent the latter the ka. could dwell in the real

The of the

identification of the placenta with the

conception that

re-birth in the

life

to

a statue

body

was made

or the statue.

moon helped

the growth

"

birth-promoter" could not only bring about a come, but also facilitate a transference to the sky-

this

The placenta had already been superintending the deceased's welfare upon earth and would continue to do so when he rejoined his ka in the sky world. world.

The early

complexity of the conception is due to the fact that the simple " " a double was gradually elaborated, as one new idea

belief in

after another

complex

in

became added an

to

increasingly

it,

and

rationalized to blend with the former

involved

synthesis.

It

was only when the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

74

elaborate scaffolding of material factors was cleared " " was sublimated. the soul ethereal conception of

APPENDIX

B.

should like to emphasize the fact that

1

more

that a

away

my

(on

protest

63) was

p.

directed against the claim that the custom of offering food and drink to the

dead was inspired primarily Its

prevent them from troubling the living. but, of course, original purpose was to sustain and reanimate the dead to

;

when

meaning was forgotten,

real

its

it

was explained

a great variety of

in

the people who made a practice of presenting offerings to the dead without really knowing why they did so. Dr. Alan Gardiner himself has made a statement which casual readers

ways by

(i.e.,

those

who do

not discriminate between the motive for the invention of

a procedure and the reasons subsequently given for as a

contradiction of

regard Thus he says:

and malicious

feared."

god could doubtless attack

deities, like '

the

[Sekhet],

"Any

my

its

continuance) might

quotation from his writings on

human

p.

62.

beings, but savage

Seth [Set], the murderer of Osiris, or Sakhmet,

lady of pestilence' {iib-t 'idiv), were doubtless most to be

[This attitude of the malignant goddesses

revealed in a most

is

obtrusive form in the village deities of the Dravidians of Southern India.] " The dead were specially to be feared nor was it only those dead who ;

were unhappy or unburied sometimes warns them that

that might torment the living,

for the magician

"

"

tombs are endangered (Article Magic and Religion, p. 264). Ethics (Egyptian)," Hastings Encycl. But it is important to bear in mind, as the same scholar has explained else-

where

[" Life

their

"

and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings Encyd.,

p.

ing could be farther from the truth [than the statement that

and

rites

practices

of

the

Egyptians

were

the main

in

measures serving to protect the living against the

dead

']

;

23] '

:

Noth-

the funerary

precautionary of funda-

it is

mental importance to realize that the vast stores of wealth and thought expended by the Egyptians on their tombs that wealth and that thought

—

which created not only the pyramids, but also the practice and a very extensive funerary literature—were due

of mummification

to the anxiety of

each

member

of the

own

individual future welfare,

and not

to feelings of respect, or fear, or duty felt

towards the other dead."

It

community with regard

was only

observed

all

in

response to

certain binding obligations that the living

those costly and troublesome rules which

sure the welfare of the deceased. real

purpose

to his

of

But

were believed

this recognition of the

to in-

primary and

the food offerings as sustenance for the dead or the gods

INCENSE must not be allowed

AND

LIBATIONS

to blind us to the fact that there is

75

widespread through-

out the world a real fear of the dead and ghosts, and that in many places " of appeasing the fairies food-offerings are made for the specific purpose Mr. Donald Mackenzie tells me that offerings of milk and porridge are '

.

made

at the

pockets to

and children carry meal in their For the dead went to protect themselves from the fairies.

monuments

stone

in Scotland,

Fairyland. Beliefs of a similar kind can

but

the point

rationalizations

be collected from most

parts of the

world

:

I specially want to emphasize is that they are secondary of a custom which originally had an utterly different signific-

ance.

APPENDIX

C.

widespread misapprehension, resulting from the confusion between sexual relations and the giving of life. At first primitive people did not realize that the maniProf. Barton's statement {s?(pra, p. 64)

festations of the sex instinct

They were aware

deity.

The But

it

typical of a

had anything whatever

of the fact that

women

gave

to

do with reproduction. and the children

birth to

;

life, the process was regarded as the apotheosis of these powers led to the conception of the first

organ concerned in creator.

is

giver of

this

was only

secondarily that these life-giving attributes were sexual act and the masculine powers

brought into association wdth the of fertilization.

Much

confusion has been created by those writers

and phallic ideas in evei7 aspect most cases only the power of life-giving

see manifestations of the sexual factor of primitive

plays a part.

religion,

where

in

who

Chapter

II.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS/ adequate account of the development of the dragon-legend would represent the history of the expression of mankind's

AN

aspirations

and

fears during the past fifty centuries

and more.

The search For the dragon was evolved along with civilization itself. to back the from old turn and confer the life, years age boon of immortality, has been the great driving force that compelled for the elixir of

up the material and the

men

to build

The

dragon-legend

is

intellectual fabric of civilization.

the history of that search which has been pre-

served by popular tradition

:

it

has grown up and kept pace with the

constant struggle to grasp the unattainable goal of men's desires

new

the stoiy has been constantly growing in complexity, as

meaning was

and

scope and confused with old incidents whose It has forgotten or distorted. passed through all the

were drawn within real

;

incidents

its

phases with which the study of the spreading of rumours or the developThe simple ment of dreams has familiarized students of psychology.

which become blended and confused, theii* meaning disand reinterpreted by the rationalizing of incoherent incidents, are given the dramatic form with which the human mind invests all stories that make a strong appeal to its emotions, and then secondarily elaborated

original stories,

torted

with a wealth of circumstantial legends and the development displayed in their most state

man

restrains

his

called a "censorship" falls asleep, ^

An

This

detail.

roving fancies

the history of popular

But these phenomena are

of rumours.

emphatic form

is

in

and

dreams.' exercises

;

and

free rein

is

his

waking what Freud has

over the stream of his thoughts

the "censor" dozes also

In

:

but

when he

given to his un-

elaboration of a Lecture delivered in the John Rylands Library

on 8 November, 1916. ' "

In his lecture, Dreams and Primitive Culture," delivered at the John Rylands Library on 10 April, 1918, Dr. Rivers has expounded the principles of dream-development. 76

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS make a hotch-potch

restrained fancies to

77

most varied and unre-

of the

lated incidents, and to create a fantastic mosaic buih up from fragments

bound together by the cement

of his actual experience,

and

The myth

fears.

resembles the dream because

of his aspirations it

The

without any consistent and effective censorship.

has developed

who

individual

tells one particular phase of the story may exert the controlling influence but as it is handed on from of his mind over the version he narrates " " :

man

man and

to

generation to generation the

This lack

stantly changing. of the

censorship

of unity of control implies

also

con-

is

that the de-

not unlike the building-up of a dream-stoiy.

myth velopment But the dragon-myth is vastly more complex than any dream, because mankind as a whole has taken a hand in the process of shaping it and is

;

the

number

far greater

devoted

of centuries

to

work

this

of elaboration

has been

than the years spent by the average individual in accumulat-

which most

ing the stuff of

of his

dreams have been made.

But though

enormously complex, so vast a mass of detailed evidence concerning every phase and every detail of its history has been preserved, both in the literature and the folk-lore of the world, that we are able the

myth

to submit

is

it

to

psychological analysis

development and

the

of

significance

and determine the course every

incident

in

its

of

its

tortuous

rambling. In instituting these comparisons

and dreams, of the

should

I

in

7nyth proposed

between the development

these pages

his

The dragon employed

in

tive motif in

is

almost diametrically opposed ad absuriim?i

has been described as "the most venerable symbol

ornamental artistic

design

".

which a wealth

the nucleus around

the

throughout

and most highly decoraIt has been the inspiration of much, if literature in every age and clime, and

and the

art

not most, of the world's great

lated

myths

by Freud, and pushed to a reductio more reckless followers, and especially by Yung.

to that suggested

by

of

emphasize the fact that the interpretation

like to

ages.

favourite

of ethical

symbolism has accumu-

The dragon-myth

represents

also

the

theory of astronomy and meteorology. romantic and chequered history the dragon has

earliest doctiine or systematic

In the course of

been

religion.

of

it

di\inities, for

the earliest

all of the gods and all of the demons of every most intimately associated with the earliest stratum has been homologized with each of the members of

wnth

identified

But

its

is it

Trinity,

the

Great

Mother, the

Water God, and

the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

78

Warrior Sun God, both individually and

complexities of the story, the dragon-slayer same deities, either individually or collectively

his victim, for

destruction

it

;

dragon is also animated by him who wields

is

and

it,

a symbol of the same power of

it

to the

by the and the weapon wdth homologous both with him and

slays the

make

add

also represented

is

which the hero

To

collectively.

powers of which it itself

its

evil

destroys.

Such a •with

of

fantastic

which the

of contradictions has supplied the materials

paradox

fancies of

men

of every race

and

knowledge and ignorance, have been playing

land,

and every

stage

for all these centuries.

not surprising, therefore, that an endless series of variations of the story has been evolved, each decked out with topical allusions and

It is

But throughout the complex

distinctive embellishments.

tissue of

this

highly embroidered fabric the essential threads of the web and woof of its foundation can be detected with surprising constancy and regularity.

Within the

limits of

such an account as

this

deal only with the main threads of the argument

The

fundamental element

Both

in

in

and

regarded as animated by the dragon, Osiris or his

enemy

Set.

of the

the lioness (Sekhet) form of destructive Tiamat,

dragon became

As

in

became the symbol

identified

Similarly the third

dragon.

who

the son

with her

member

interest-

the control

is

was

thus assumed the role of

attributes of the

Water God evil avatar,

Egypt, or in Babylonia the of

disorder

and chaos, the

also.

of the Earliest Trinity also

and successor

can

time.

Great Mother, and her

Hathor

I

destructive aspects water

But when the

became confused with those

and leave the

the dragon's powers

beneficent

its

obvious that

some other

ing details of the local embellishments until

of water.

it is

of the

became the

dead king Osiris the

living

When the belief became king Horus became assimilated with him. more and more insistent that the dead king had acquired the boon of immortality and the

was

actually living

really alive,

king

the

distinction

between him and

Horus became coirespondingly minimized.

This process of assimilation was advanced a further stage when the

became a god and was thus more closely identified with his father and predecessor. Hence Horus assumed many of the functions of and amongst them those which in foreign lands contributed to Osiris king

;

making a dragon

of

the

Water God.

But

if

the

distinction

be-

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

79

tween Horus and Osiris became more and more attenuated with the

Hathor

lapse of time, the identification with his mother

complete

For he took her place and assumed many

still.

butes in the later versions of the great saga which

the literature of of

Mankind

The

real ster

— mythology

^I

attributes of

members

these three

;

dragon developed,

compounded

powers which

I.

"The

refer to the story of

of her attri-

the nucleus of

all

Destruction

'.

it

of

the Trinity,

Hathor,

received concrete form (Fig. 1) as a

of the lioness of

eagle) of Horus, but with the

"Fig.

is

was more

and Horus, thus became intimately linked the one with the and in Susa, where the earliest pictoiial representation of a

Osiris,

other

(Isis)

— Early

originally

mon-

Hathor (Sekhet) with the falcon (or attributes and water-controlling

human

belonged

Osiris.

to

Representation of a

Fig.

"Dragon"

Compounded of the Forepart of an Eagle and the

In

some

parts oi Africa

—

The Earliest Babylonian Con2. ception OF THE Dragon Tiamat

—

(from a Cylinder-seal in the British Museum, after L. W. King).

Lion — (from

an Hindpart of a Archaic Cylinder-seal from Susa, after Jequier).

"dragon" was nothing more than Hathor's cow or the antelope of Horus (Osiris) or of Set. the dragon was compounded of all three deities, who was

the earliest gazelle or

But

if

the slayer of the evil dragon

The

story of

the

?

dragon-conflict

is

really

a recital of Horus's

vendetta against Set, intimately blended and confused with different versions

of

"The

Destruction of

Mankind".^

incidents of the originally prosaic stories

The commonplace

were distorted

into

an almost

unrecognizable form, then secondarily elaboiated without any attention to their original meaning, but with a wealth of circumstantial embellish-

ment,

in

accordance with the usual methods of the

human mind

that

have already mentioned. The history of the legend is in fact the most complete, because it is the oldest and the most widespread, illusI

tration of those instinctive tendencies of the ^

Vzde infra,

p.

109

human

et seq.

spirit to

bridge the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

80

gaps in its disjointed experience, and to link together in a kind of mental mosaic the otherwise isolated incidents in the (acts of daily life and the rumours and traditions that have been handed down from the story-teller's predecessors.

"

In the

Destruction of Mankind," which

in the following

the later stories

pages (p.

Horus ^

Warrior Sun-god

109

and earns

takes his mother's place

the enemies of Re, the original victims in the

who

the followers of

fought originally

variants of the legend

Hence with

the

all

it is

fully in

:

his spurs as the

but

;

and

in

many

of the Trinity

with

also

the

legend,

and Horus's

Against the latter

Set.

the rain-god himself

members

three

dragon,

slaying

hence confusion was inevitably introduced between

:

traditional enemies,

Osiris himself

more

shall discuss

I

Hathor does the

et secj.^,

of the

who

were

is

was

non- Egyptian

the warrior.

identified, not

who was

hero

it

only

the dragon-

slayer.

But the weapon used by the latter was also animated by the same In the Saga of the Winged Trinity, and in fact identified with them. Disk, Horus assumed the form of the sun equipped with the wings of his

own

heaven

falcon

But

fire- spitting

form he was

in this

weapon. were now

and the

As

at

"

Destruction of Manmyth (i.e. the " " was Hathor who was the Eye of Re and descended

and

;

in the earliest version

or an axe with which she

was

was

from

But he

heaven.

demon, when the

which was due of

'

;

she also

the vulture

animistically identified. of destruction, both in the

the personification of the river)

was

was

also

an instrument

form

oi

and the rain-storms

for vanquishing

the

intoxicating beer or the sedative drink (the potency of

to the indwelling spirit of the

god) was the chosen

overcoming the dragon.

This, in Trinity

fire

she did the slaughter with a knife

But Osiris also was the weapon the flood (for he

means

who

personal foes, the followers of Set.

the

from heaven to destroy mankind with

(Mut)

down from

same time the god and the god's

the

own

identified with his

it

Flying

a fiery bolt from heaven he slew the enemies of Re,

in the earlier versions of

kind "),

uraeus serpents.

as

Hence

brief, is

the hero,

the

framework

of

the dragon- story.

armed with the Trinity

as

weapon,

The

early

slays the

and women dying in childbirth receive heaven of (Osiris's) Horuss Indian and American representatives, Indra and Tlaloc. soldiers killed in battle

special consideration in the exclusive

wlPi Bfi

Fig.

g.

— Dragon

from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon

.iA:^ Fig.

io.

— Babylonian

Weather God

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

81

With its illimitable possibilidragon, which again is the same Trinity. fantastic embellishment with incident and dramatic for ties development and

ethical

story-tellers

of their

symbolism, this theme has provided countless thousands of with the skeleton which they clothed with the living flesh

stories,

not

representing

merely

the earliest

tronomy and meteorology, but all the emotional the struggle between light and darkness, heat and

and

justice

The whole gamut until

legend

theme

it

of

and

prosperity

injustice,

human

became the

that has appealed

strivings

adversity,

of daily

human

great epic of the

life,

cold, right and wrong, wealth and poverty.

and emotions was drawn

to the interest of all

An

theories of as-

conflicts

spirit

mankind

in

into the

and the main every age.

ancient Chinese philosopher, Fu, writing in the time of " of the dragon. nine resemblances" the enumerates the Han Dynasty,

"

Wang

His horns resemble those

those of a

demon,

his

of a stag, his

head that

neck that of a snake,

scales those of a carp, his

ears those of tiger, his

of a camel, his eyes

his belly that of a

clam, his

claws those of an eagle, his soles those of a But this list includes only a small

a cow."

'

minority of the menagerie of diverse creatures which at one time or another have contributed their quota to this truly astounding hotchpotch.

This composite wonder-beast ranges h'om Western Europe to the Far East of Asia, and as we shall see, also even across the Pacific to America.

Although

in the different

varied ingredients enter into

its

localities

composition, in

a great number of most

most places where the

dragon occurs the substratum of its anatomy consists of a serpent or a crocodile, usually with the scales of a fish for covering, and the feet

and wings, and sometimes also the head, of an eagle, falcon, or hawk, An association and the forelimbs and sometimes the head of a lion. of anatomical features of so unnatural and arbitrary a nature can only

mean

that all dragons are the

progeny

of the

same ultimate

ancestors.

But it is not merely a case of structural or anatomical similarity, but also of physiological identity, that clinches the proof of the derivaWherever the tion of this fantastic brood from the same parents. dragon

is

found,

it

displays a special partiality for water.

the rivers or seas, dwells in pools or wells, or in the clouds

It

controls

on the tops

M. W. de Visser, "The Dragon in China and Japan," Verhandelingen der Koninklijke Akadeniie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam, Af dealing Letterkunde. Deel XIII, No. 2, 1913, p. 70. ^

6

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

82

of mountains, regulates the tides, the flow of streams, or the rainfall,

and

bottom of the

at the

and Ughtning.

associated with thunder

is

where

sea,

it

upon the top

of

home

a mansion

is

guards vast treasures, usually pearls,

but also gold and precious stones.

the rain-clouds.

Its

other instances the dwelling

In

is

a high mountain and the dragon's breath fornis emits thunder and lightning. Eating the dragon's ;

It

" heart enables the diner to acquire the knowledge stored in this organ " so that he can understand the language of birds, and of the mind in

have contributed to the making

of all the creatures that

fact

of

a

dragon.

should not be necessary to rebut the numerous attempts that have been made to explain the dragon-myth as a story relating to exIt

Such

tinct monsters.

can be made only by writers

fantastic claims

devoid of any knowledge of palaeontology or of the distinctive features of the

dragon and

its

But when the Keeper

history.

and Assyrian Antiquities

of the

Egyptian

Museum, in a book that is not claims Dr. Andrews' discovery of

in the British

intended to be humorous,^ seriously " " a gigantic fossil snake as of the former existence of proof

Apep," Those who attempt to

it is

great serpent-devil

as lizards like

of the composite

"

the

tials

and unnatural

Whatever be the they first became

when

same

or

the

time to protest.

derive the dragon

Draco volans

"

hom

such living creatures

Moloch ko7'ndus ^

ignore the evidence

features of the monsters.

origin of

the Northern dragon, the

articulate for us,

as that of the South

and

show him

He

East.

to is

be

in all

myths, essen-

a power of

evil,

greedy withholder of good things from men and the slaying of a dragon is the crowning achievement of heroes of

guardian of hoards, the

Siegmund, Lancelot,

;

—

even of Beowulf, of Sigurd, of Arthur, of Tristam " the beau ideal of mediaeval chivalry {Encyclopaedia of

Britanmca, usually a

—

vol.

"power

viii.,

467).

p.

of evil,"

But

in the far

if

in

the

East he

is

West

the dragon

is

equally emphatically

a symbol of beneficence. He is identified with emperors and kings he is the son of heaven, the bestower of all bounties, not merely to ;

mankind

Even

directly, but also to the earth as well.

in our country his

^E. A. Wallis Budge, p. 11

"

symbolism

The Gods

is

not always wholly malevolent,

of the Egyptians,"

.

-Gould's "Mythical Monsters," 1886.

1904,

vol.

i..

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS otherwise— if

heraldic ornament

of

development

moment we

the

for

83

to the history of the

shut our

— dragonseyes would

hardly figure as

and as the symbol the Royal House which families, among many Tudor is included. It is only a few years since the Red Dragon Cadwallader was added as an additional badge to the achievement

the supporters of the anus of the City of London, of of of

of our aristocratic

"

though a common ensign in war, both East and the West, as an ecclesiastical emblem his opposite quali-

of the Prince of in the

Wales.

But,

have remained consistently

ties

is

dragon

represented,

Hell

works.

medicEval art

in

until

the present day.

symbolizes the

it

is

V/henever the

of evil, the devil

power

and

his

a dragon v^th gaping jaws, belching

fire."

And For

it

in the

East the dragon's reputation

some disreputable

figures in

sort of

and does not escape the

incidents

punishment that tradition metes out to his

The Dragon

in

two

or three hundred years earlier

civilizations of the

and Peru.

Old World was

The most

especially in the

European

cousins.

America and Eastern Asia. and probably

In the early centuries of the Christian era, for

not always blameless.

is

at

still,

work

in

also even

the leaven of the ancient

Mexico, Central America

obtrusive influences that

were brought

to bear,

area from Yucatan to Mexico, were inspired by the

Cambodian and Indonesian

The god who was

modifications of Indian beliefs

and

most often depicted upon the ancient

practices.

Maya and

Aztec codices was the Indian rain-god Indra, who in America was provided with the head of the Indian elephant (i.e. seems to have been '

confused with the Indian Ganesa) and given other attributes more suggestive of the Dravidian

Naga

than his enemy, the

other words the character of the the

Maya

people and

lustration of the effects

studied in

Melanesia."

Tlaloc by the Aztecs, is an interesting ilof such a mixture of cultures as Dr. Rivers has as

Not only does

America represent a blend the

Old World ^

"

American god,

Aryan deity. In known as Chac by

of

the

two

the

elephant-headed god in

great Indian rain-gods

which

in

are mortal enemies, the one of the other (partly for

Precolumbian Representations of the Elephant in America," Nature, Nov. 25, 1915, p. 340; Dec. 16, 1915, p. 425; and Jan. 27, 1916, p. 593. ""History of Melanesian Society," Cambridge, 1914.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

84

the political reason that the Dravidians and Aryans were rival and hostile peoples), but all the ti'aits of each deity, even those depicting

conception of their deadly combat, are reproduced in America under circumstances which reveal an ignorance on the part

the old

Aryan

of the artists of

the significance of the paradoxical contradictions they

But even many incidents

are representing.

in the early history of the

Vedic gods, which were due to arbitrary circumstances in the growth To cite one instance (out of of the legends, reappear in America. scores

which might be quoted), in the Vedic story Indra assumed many In America the name of the god of god Soma.

of the attributes of the rain

and thunder, the Mexican Indra,

translated

"pulque

of the earth,"

is

Tlaloc, which

\xoTii tlal\(\i,

is

generally

"earth," and

(?^[^/?],

"pulque, a fermented drink (Hke the Indian drink soma) made from the juice of the agave ".^

The so-called "long-nosed god "(the elephant-headed rain-god) " has been given the non-committal designation god B," by Schellhas." I reproduce here a remarkable drawing (Fig. ) from the Codex 1

Troano,

in

which

this

god,

whom

the

Maya

1

people called Ckac,

is

shown pouring the rain out of a water- jar (just as the deities of Babylonia and India are often represented), and putting his foot upon the head

of a serpent,

Here we

find

who

depicted

preventing the rain from reaching the earth.

is

v^th

childlike simplicity

and

directness the

Indra overcoming the demon Vritra. Stempell " describes this scene as the elephant- headed god B standing upon the " ^ head of a serpent while Seler, who claims that god B is a tortoise,

Vedic conception

of

;

explains

^ '

it

as the serpent forming a footstool for the rain-god.^

H. Beuchat, "Manuel "

d'

Archeologie Americaine," 1912,

Representation of Deities of the Peabody Museum, vol. iv., 1904. ^

Maya

p.

In the

319.

Manuscripts," Papers of the

Zeitschrift fur Ethnologic Bd. 40, 1908, p. 716. " Die Tierbilder der mexikanischen und der Maya-Handschriften," ,

^

In the remarkZeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, Bd. 42, 1910, pp. 75 and 77. able series of drawings from Maya and Aztec sources reproduced by Seler in his articles in the Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologie, the Peabody

Museum

Papers, and his monograph on the Codex Vaticanus, not only is practically every episode of the dragon-myth of the Old World graphically depicted, but also every phase and incident of the legends from India (and Babylonia, the myth.

Egypt and the /Egean)

that

contributed to the building-up of

i

Fk;.

—

RliPKODLCTION Ol' A PiCTUKE IN THE MaVA CoDEX TkOANci REPKESENTING TI. inE Rain-god Chac treading upon the Serpent's head, which is interposed BETWEEN the EARTH AND THE RAIN THE GOD IS POURING OUT OF A BOWL. A Rain-goddess stands upon the Serpent's tail.

—

Another representation op the Elephant-headed Rain god. He is HOLDING THUNDERBOLTS, CONVENTIONALISED IN A HAND-LIKE FORM. ThE SERPENT is CONVERTED INTO A SAC, HOLDING UP THE RAIN-WATERS.

Fig. 12.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Codex Cortes

the

same theme

85

depicted in another way, which " "

is

is

'

the restrainer

truer to the Indian conception of Vritra, as

ing

The

serpent (the

itself

into a sac to hold

American up

the rain

and so prevent

American codices

In the various

the earth.

(Fig. 12).

rattlesnake) restrains the water

as great a variety of forms as the

this

Vedic poets

of

by

coil-

from reaching

it

episode

is

depicted in

India described

when

The Maya Chac is, in fact, Indra they sang of the exploits of Indra. ti'ansferred to the other side of the Pacific and there only thinly disguised by a veneer of

American

stylistic

design.

But the Aztec god Tlaloc is merely the Chac of the Maya people Schellhas declares that the "god B," the transferred to Mexico. *' most common figure in the codices," is a "universal deity to whom the most varied elements, natural phenomena, and activities are subject "• " Many authorities consider God B to represent Kukulkan, the

Others Feathered Serpent, whose Aztec equivalent is Quetzalcoatl. God of the East, or with Chac, identify him with Itzamna, the Serpent the Rain God of the four quarters and the equivalent of Tlaloc of the Mexicans."

From

"

the point of view of

its

Indian analogies these confusions are

same phenomena are found

peculiarly significant, for the

The

in India.

snake and the dragon can be either the rain-god of the East or the

enemy

who

of the rain-god

has to be

slain.

the beneficent god

"elephant," and

;

either the dragon-slayer or the evil

The

Indian

word Ndga, which

is

dragon

applied to

or king identified with the cobra, can also

this

double

the confusion of the deities in

significance

mean

probably played a part

in

America.

In the Dresden Codex the elephant-headed god is represented in one place grasping a serpent, in another issuing h'om a serpent's mouth, and again as an actual serpent (Fig. 3). Turning next to the attri1

American gods we find that they reproduce vrith amazing Not only were they the divinities who conthose of Indra.

butes of these precision

thunder, lightning, and vegetation, but they also carried

trolled rain,

3) like their homologues in the Old World. Like Indra, Tlaloc was intimately associated with the East and with the tops of mountains, where he had a special heaven, reserved for

axes and thunderbolts (Fig.

'"

1

Compare Hopkins, "Religions of India," p. Herbert J. Spinden, " Maya Art," p. 62.

94.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

86

wamors who

fell

and women who died

in battle

As

in childbirth.

a

water-god also he presided over the souls of the drowned and those who in life suffered from dropsical affections. Indra also specialized in the same branch of medicine. In fact,

if

one compares the account

achievements, such or Professor Seler's

Mr.

as is given in

Tlaloc's attributes and

of

"

Mexican Archeology"

Joyce's

monograph on the "Codex Vaticanus," with Pro-

Hopkins's summary of Indra's character (" Religions of India") the identity is so exact, even in the most arbitrary traits and confusions fessor

investigator to refuse to

Even

can forms of Indra. of the its

American

analogy

was

still

"

becomes impossible for any serious admit that Tlaloc and Chac are merely Ameri-

deities' peculiarities, that

with other

in

being used by

As

so fantastic a practice as the representation

rain-god's face as

Siam, where

the god of

it

composed

of contorted snakes

in relatively recent times this curious

^

finds

device

artists.^

maize belonged to him [Tlaloc], though according to one legend he stole it after

fertility

not altogether by right, for

had been discovered by other gods concealed in the heart of a ^ Indra also obtained soma from the mountain by similar mountain."

it

means.* In the ancient civilization of deities

was

Kukulkan, "

Mother

called the

of

"

and

lightning. ;

of the most prominent

in

the

Maya

language,

Quiche Gukumatz, Aztec Quetzalcoatl, the Pueblo Waters". Throughout a very extensive part of America

the snake, like the Indian Naga,

rain

America one

Feathered Serpent,"

But

it

is

and the god who

is

the

essentially

emblem

of rain,

clouds, thunder

and pre-eminently the symbol of

controls the rain,

Chac

of the

Mayas, Tlaloc

axe and the thunderbolt like his homologues and prototypes in the Old World. In America also we find reproduced in full, not only the legends of the antagonism between the of the Aztecs, carried the

'

Seler.

"

Codex Vaticanus,"

Figs. 299-304.

" K. Mailer, Nang," /«/. Arch.f. Ethnolog., See, for example, F. 1894, Suppl. zu Bd. vii., Taf. vii., where the mask of Ravana (a late surrogate of Indra in the Ramayana) reveals a survival of the prototype of "'

the

W.

Mexican designs. ^

Joyce, op. cit., p. 37. For the incident of the stealing of the soma by Garuda, who in this legend is the representative of Indra, see Hopkins, "Religions of India," pp. 360-61. ^

Fig. 13.

A

photographic reproduction of the 36th page of the Dresden

Maya

Codex.

Of

three pictures

the

in

the

row one represents

top

headed god Chac with a snake's body central

picture represents

heaven

to earth.

On

thunderweapons

in the

In the

the lightning

the right

form

of

Chac

is

He

animal carrying

shown

second row a goddess

in his

third

illustration

boat ferrying a depicts

sits

woman

the

iire

The down from

human

in

guise carrying

burning torches.

m

the rain

:

her head

The

is

prolonged

central picture

shows

across the water from the East.

The

into that of a bird, holding a fish in its beak.

Chac

the elephant-

pouring out rain.

is

familiar

conflict

between the vulture and

serpent. In the third

he

is

row Chac

is

seen with his axe

:

in the central picture

water looking up towards a rain- cloud shown sitting in a hut resting from his labours.

standing in the

;

and on the

he

is

right

Fig. 13.

—A

page (the 36TH) of the Dresden Mava Codex

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS thunder-bird and the serpent,

is

but also the identification of these l"wo

have aheady mentioned, the Old World and the New.'

one composite monster, which, as

rivals in

seen in the winged disks, both in incident in the

Hardly any thunder-birds

of

America and

Greece or

Egyptian falcon or fails

India, in

expression

pictorial

I

the

of

histoiy

Babylonia,

find

87

to

reappear

in

Aztec

Maya and

the

the

codices.

What makes America and

for

strand has

much

it is

made

stretched

it

a

across the

museum

is

;

of the cultural history of the

which would have been

of

saved

such a rich storehouse of historical data

world almost from pole to pole many centuiies the jetsam and flotsam swept on to this vast

the fact that

lost

for ever

if

Old World,

America had not

But a record preserved in this manner is necessarily in a For essentially the same materials reached confused state.

it.

highly

Ameiica

The

manifold forms.

in

original immigrants

into

America

brought from North- Eastern Asia such cultural equipment as had reached the area east of the Yenesei at the time when Europe was in

Then when ancient mariners began to coast along the Eastern Asiatic littoral and make their way to Ameiica But by the Aleutian route there was a further infiltration of new ideas. when more venturesome sailors began to navigate the open seas and exthe Neolithic phase of culture.

Polynesia, for centuries

ploit

of customs

and

beliefs,

-

there

was a more

or less constant influx

which were drawn from Egypt and Babylonia,

from the MediteiTanean and East Africa, from India and Indonesia, China

and Japan, Cambodia and Oceania. idea, such as the attiibutes of

Ameiica

an

in

One and

the

same fundamental

the serpent as a water-god,

infinite variety of

guises,

Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese,

reached

Egyptian, Babylonian, Indian,

and from

this

amazing jumble

of

of Central America built up a system of most of the American, distinctively though ingredients and the principles of synthetic composition were borrowed fi'om the Old

confusion the local priesthood beliefs

which

is

World. Eveiy

and

all

^

"

possible

The

America,"

of

which

in

the the

early

history of the dragon-story

Old World went

to the

makina

Influence of Ancient Egyptian Civilization in the East and in Bulletin of the John

Serpent-Bird '

phase

the ingredients

Rylands Library, 1916,

".

Probably from about 300 B.C.

to

700 A.D.

Fig.

4,

"The

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

88 of

have been preserved

it

in

American

pictures

and legends

in

a be-

wildering variety of forms and with an amazing luxuriance of compliIn America, as in India cated symbolism and picturesque ingenuity. was identified both with water the and Eastern Asia, power controlling

a serpent (which in the New World, as in the Old, was often equipped with such inappropriate and arbitrary appendages, as wings, horns and crests) and a god, who was either associated or confused -with an ele-

Now many

phant. of

the

life-giving

of the attributes of these gods, as personifications

powers

Babylonian god Ea and warriors

with

Horus.

The

are identical with those of the

of water,

the Egyptian Osiris, and their reputations as

the respective sons and

representatives,

Marduk and

composite animal of Ea- Marduk, the "sea-goat" (the

Capricornus of the Zodiac), was also the vehicle of Varuna in India, relationship to Indra was in some respects analogous to that of " "

whose

Ea

to

was

Marduk

in

The

Babylonia.^

Indian

or

sea-goat

Alakara

both with Varuna and with Indra.

in fact intimately associated

This monster assumed a great variety

of

forms, such as the crocodile,

the dolphin, the sea-serpent or dragon, or combinations of the heads of different animals

with a

fish's

Amongst these we find makara, which was adopted as far

body

(Fig.

1

4).

an elephant- headed form of the and as far west as Scotland.

east as Indonesia I

in

have already called

attention" to the part played

of the

detennining the development in

god

Ameiica.

Another fonn

of the

following American legend, which

is

1912 Hernandez

translated

which had been written out ^

in

makara

fuakara

described in the

is

interesting also as a mutilated

version of the original dragon-story of the In

by the

form of the elephant-headed

Old World.

and published a

Maya

Spanish characters

in

'

manuscript

the early days

"

For information concerning Ea's Goat-Fish," which can truly be " Father of Dragons," as well as the prototype of the Indian " " makara, the mermaid, the sea-serpent," the dolphin of Aphrodite," " and of most composite sea-monsters, see W. H. Ward's Seal Cylinders and especially the of Western Asia," pp. 382 ct scq. and 399 et seq. detailed reports in de Morgan's Memoires (Delegation en Perse). called the

;

"^

Nature, op. cit.^ supra. ^Juan Martinez Hernandez, "La Creacion del Mundo segun los Mayas," Paginas Ineditas del MS. De Chumayel, International Congress of Americanists, Proceedms^s of the Xrill. Session, London, 1912, p. 164.

Fig. 14.

A. The

so-called

the antelope and

at

B.

The

C

to

It

as the vehicle of

series of varieties of the

Survey

XXIX). L. The makara is

not

difficult

of culture,

to

compounded

of

Ea.

Buddha Gaya and Mathura,

("Archaeological

of Babylonia, a creature

sea-goat

"

sea-goat

K—a

"

fish of

"

"

of

circa

India,"

as the vehicle of

understand how,

Ea

or

Marduk.

mak.ara from the Buddhist Rails

70 B.C.— 70 A.D., Vol.

Ill,

Varuna, in the

after

1873,

after Sir

Cunningham

Plates

IX and

George Birdwood.

course of the easterly diffusion

such a picture should develop into the Chinese Dragon or the

American Elephant-headed God.

Fig. 14

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Americas, but had been overlooked

of the conquest of the It

years ago.

an account

is

" passages

ing

:

All

earth

and

;

who

the

water

The heaven was that

they say

Baccab, were those

came

[?

it.

...

six

'

;

the

after

rain]

broken up

Cantul-ti-kii (four

destroyed

until

and includes the follow-

the creation,

of

once

at

dragon was earned away. the

89

fell

it

upon

the

four

The whole world,'

said

gods),

Ak-mic-chek-nale (he who seven times makes fruitful), 'proceeded And he descended to make from the seven bosoms of the earth.' Itzam-kab-ain (the female whale with

fruitful

when

alligator-feet),

'

he came down from the central angle

of

the heavenly region

(p.

171).

Hernandez adds whale Itzani

known

V'.ere

The

:

"the old fishemien

that

this explains

the

name

before the founding of

of Itzaes,

Mayapan

close analogy to the Indra-story

scribing the

coming

of the

Yucatan

of

is

call the

still

by which the Mayas

".

suggested by the phrase de-

water "after the dragon was carried away". makara, which was confused in

Moreover, the Indian sea-elephant

Old World

the

dolphin of Aphrodite, and was sometimes " female whale

v/ith the

also regarded as a crocodile, naturally suggests that the

"

the alligator- feet

vs-ith

was only an American

version of

the

old

Indian legend.

All

this sei'ves,

not only to corroborate the inferences

the other sources of information which

I

drawn horn

have already indicated, but

also to suggest that, in addition to borrowing the chief divinities of their

pantheon from India, the

Maya

people's original

name was denved from

the same mythology.' It

is

earliest

of considerable

dated example of

Vera Cruz State of

235

interest

B.C.,

of

and importance

Maya workmanship (hom for

which Spinden

Mexico), an unmistakable elephant

which

to note

figures

that in

the

in

the

Tuxtla,

assigns a tentative date

among

the four hiero-

A

Spinden reproduces {op. cit. p. 171). hieroglyphic sign is found in the Chinese records of the Early Dynasty (John Ross, "The Origin of the Chinese People,

glyphs

,

similar

Chow

"

p.'

1

1916,

32).

The ^

use of the numerals four and seven in the narrative tran.slated

From

elephant.

America I have collected many interesting and other legends (and artistic designs) of the

the folk-lore of

variants of the Indra story I

hope

to publish these in the near future.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

90

as in so

by Hernandez,

many

other

American documents,

is

itself,

Mrs. Zelia Nuttall has so conclusively demonstrated,^ a most ing

and conclusive demonstration Indra

was

for all the associated ploits,'

We refers

who was

with the characteristic

deities,

the

Old World.

transferred to

America,

of their ex-

stories

are also found depicted with childlike directness of incident, but

amazingly luxuriant

stories

of the link with

not the only Indian god

as

strik-

artistic

Maya and Aztec

phantasy, in the

find scattered throughout the islands of the

New

spouted water

same number

One

mentioned by the Bishop of Wellington Zealand dragon with jaws like a crocodile's, which

of the dragon. to a

codices.

Pacific the familiar

like

a whale.

of the Scunxe

It

a fresh-water lake."

lived in

Sir

Jouj'nai

George Grey

In the

gives extracts from

a Maori legend of the dragon, which he compares with corresponding passages from Spenser's

"Faery Queen

poetical conformity with the

New

"Their

".

to lead to the impression either that Spenser

and language from the Nev/ Zealand scribes the

dragon a hideous Uzard ;

tough

skin, its

as

"in

for in

sharp

as at his

first

images have

poets, or that they must

The Maori

362).

(p.

size large as its

verbal and

must have stolen

"

acted unfairly by the English bard

strict

Zealand legends are such

legend de-

a monstrous whale, in shape

huge head,

its

limbs,

its

tail,

its

like

scales, its

"

spines, yes, in all these

it

resembled a lizard

(p.

364).

Now

the attributes of the Chinese

controller of rain, thunder

and

and Japanese dragon

as the

lightning are identical with those of the

American elephant-headed god. It also is associated with the East and with the tops of mountains. It is identified with the Indian Naga, but the conflict involved in this identification is less obtrusive than it is either in

America

or in India.

are identified wath the serpent hostile to the

Dra vidians,

and the gods but among the Aryans, who were

In Dravidian India the rulers :

the rain-god

is

the

enemy

of the

Naga.

In

America the confusion becomes more pronounced because Tlaloc The repre(Chac) represents both Indra and his enemy the serpent. sentation in the codices of his conflict with the serpent

is

merely a

tra-

Peabody Museum Papers, 1901. " Shells as Evidence of the MiSee, for example, Wilfrid Jackson's gration of Early Culture," pp. 50-66. ^ " Notes on the Maoris, etc.," Journal of the Ethnological Societ\\ vol. i., 1869, p. 368. ^ ^

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Maya and Aztec

which the

dition

its

understanding In

91

scnbes followed, apparently without

meaning.

China and japan the Indra-episode plays a much

part, for the

dragon

is,

like

the Indian

which approximates more nearly Osiris.

is

It

water and

its

to the

Naga,

less

prominent

a beneficent creature,

Babylonian

Ea

or the Egyptian

not only the controller of water, but the impersonation of it is identified with the emperor, with

powers his standard, with the sky, and with all the powers that give, maintain, In other and prolong life and guard against all kinds of danger to life. the of the of is the mankind, words, it rejuvenator good luck, bringer :

life-giving

giver of immortalit}'.

the physiological functions of the dragon of the Far East can thus be assimilated to those of the Indian Naga and the Babylonian

But

if

and Egyptian Water God, who is also the king, anatomically he is as the Babyusually represented in a form which can only be regarded Ionian composite monster, as a rule stripped of his wings, though not of his avian feet.

America we

preserved in the legends of the Indians an accurate and unmistakable description of the Japanese dragon (which is In

mainly Chinese

in

find

Even Spinden, who "does not

origin).

care to

theories of ethnic connections

refutation the numerous

empty dignify by between Central America" [and in fact America as a whole] "and the Old World," makes the following statement (in the course of a discussion of the similar monster,

common

in

myths

relating to

possessing antlers,

horned snakes

in California)

and sometimes wings,

:

"a

also very

is

As Algonkin and Iroquois legends, although rare in art. is a water spirit and an enemy of the thunder

a rule the horned serpent bird.

Among

the Pueblo Indians the horned

snake seems to have

considerable prestige in religious belief. ... It lives in the water or ^ the sky and is connected with rain or lightning."

Thus we

find

stories

of

a dragon equipped vrith those distinctive

tokens of Chinese origin, the deer's antlers

with lonia.

m

;

and along with

it

a snake

horns suggesting the Cerastes of Egypt and Babyhorned viper distantly akin to the Cerastes of the Old " " are so insignificant horns but its does occur in California

less specialized

A

World as to make responsible

;

it

highly improbable that they could

for the obtrusive role

^Op.

have been

played by horns

at., p.

231.

in these

in

any way

widespread

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

92 American is

But the proof

stories.

of the foreign origin of these stories

by the horned serpent's achievements.

established

"

"lives in the water or the sky

It

"

World, and Cerastes

is

it

a water

like

Now

".

spirit

its

homologue in the Old Cobra nor the

neither the

Their achievements

actually a water serpent.

in the

myths have no possible relationship with the natural habits of the snakes. They are purely arbitrary attributes which they have is

therefore real

acquired as the result of a peculiar and fortuitous series of historical incidents. is

It

and in the highest degree imchance circumstances should have

therefore utterly inconceivable

probable that

long chain

this

of

happened a second time in America, and have been responsible for the the same bizarre story in reference to one of the rarer

creation of

Ameiican snakes vestiges,

a

of

localized distribution,

which no one but a trained

whose horns are mere

morphologist

is

likely

to

have

noticed or recognized as such.

But the American horned homologues,

is

also the

enemy

corroboration of the transmission to

chance

result

of certain

have mentioned

historical

America

American dragon.

If

94

I

signed to this sketch

I

the Algonkin Indians had not preserved legends

:

but as v/e

deer's antlers,

know

the legend of just such a wonder-beast,

"

which were the

Old World, which

reproduce a remarkable drawing of an

winged serpent equipped with

dra'v\ing as

of ideas

events in the

in this lecture.

In the figure on page

of a

its Babylonian and Indian thunder bird. Here is a further

serpent, like of the

something more than a

Petroglyphs are reported

no value could be

as-

that this particular tribe retains

we

are justified in treating this

jest.

by Mr. John Criley

as occurring near

Ava, Jackson County, Illinois. The outlines of the characters obdrawn from memory and submitted to Mr. Charles S. Mason, of Toledo, Ohio, through whom they were furnished to the Bureau of Ethnology. Little reliance can be placed upon the accuracy served by him were

of such drawing, but originals of

from the general appearance of the sketches the

which they are copies were probably made by one

middle Algonquin

of the

tribes of Indians.^

I quote this and the following paragraphs verbatim from Garrick " Picture Writing of the American Indians," \^th Annual Report, Mallery, 1888-89, Bureau of Ethnology {Smithsonian Institute^, p. 78, '

A

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS '

'

"The

Piasa

rock, as

it is

generally designated,

the missionary explorer Marquette in 1675.

93

was

refeiTed to

situation

Its

by

was immedi-

"

above the

ately

city of

Alton,

lllmois.

by Dr. Francis Parkman

Marquette's remarks are translated follows

"

:

—

On

the

flat

face of a high rock

were painted,

in red, black,

as

and

'

as large as a calf, with horns like a green, a pair of monsters, each a a beard like red deer, tiger, and a h'ightful eyes, expression of

The

countenance.

covered with scales

face

is

;

like

something

and the

and between the

the body, over the head, "

that of a

so long that

tail

man, the body passes entirely round

it

ending

legs,

like that

of

a

fish.'

/

Another

is

Davidson and Struve,

by

version,

the petroglyph

as follows

:

—

of

the discovery of

"

Again they (Joliet and Marquette) were floating on the broad bosom of the unknown stream. Passing the mouth of the Illinois, they soon

fell

into the

shadow

and with great two monsters painted on

of a tall promontory,

ment beheld the representation

of

astonishits

lofty

limestone According Marquette, each of these frightful figures had the face of a man, the horns of a deer, the beard of a tiger, and to

front.

the

passed around the body, over the head, was an object of Indian worship and greatly

of a fish so long that

tail

and between the impressed the

It

legs.

mind

it

of the pious missionary with

stituting for this monsti'ous idolatry the

A

worship of the true God."

footnote connected with the foregoing quotation gives the fol-

lo^ving description of the

"

the necessity of sub-

Near

the

mouth

same rock

:

—

of the Piasa creek,

on the

bluff, there is

a smooth

cleft, under an overhanging cliff, on whose face 50 from the base, are painted some ancient pictures or hieroglyphics, of great interest to the curious. They are placed in a horizontal line

rock in a cavernous feet

from east to west, representing men, plants and animals. The paintings, though protected from dampness and storms, are in great part destroyed,

maiTed by portions

of the rock

becoming detached and

falling

"

down. Mr.

McAdams,

Indian and

signifies,

of in

Alton,

Illinois,

furnishes a spirited pen-and-ink sketch,

purporting

to represent

says,

"The name

the lUini, the bird which devours 1

2 by 15 inches

the ancient painting described

Piasa

men ". in

size

is

He and

by Marquette.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

94

On

the picture

The

1825".

Dennis, April 3rd,

On

date

in

is

the top of the picture in large letters are the

DRAGON He " seen

:

—

One is

in

two words,

which has been kept

another

publishes

of the

its

1

with

representation

FLYING Gilham

is

age,

repro-

the

St.

following

we

have ever

'

The Valley of the horn Nature, by H. Lewis, Eighty Anthony to the Gulf of Mexico,' published about

an old German publication

h'om the Falls of

entitled

illustrations

839 by Arenz

&

Dusseldorf,

Co.,

Geraiany.

" 3.— Wm. Dennis's Drawing of thk Flying Dragon

P'lG.

"

in the old

of

most satisfactory pictures of the Piasa

Mississippi Illustrated.

the year

letters

Fig. 3.

also

remarks

picture,

both

by Wm. and figures.

Made

:

Madison county and bears the evidence

family of

duced as

This

".

"

inscribed the following in ink

is

"

One

of the

Depicted on the Rocks

AT Piasa, Illinois.

work

large full-page plates in this

with

the figure of the Piasa

gives a fine

German

picture there

shown

is

bluff at

on the face of the rock.

sented to have been taken on the spot by the

view of the

from Germany.

is

Alton, repre-

...

In

behind the rather dim outlines

just

of the second face a ragged crevice, as

artists

It

though

of a fracture.

Part of the

face might have fallen and thus nearly destroyed one of the

bluff's

monsters, for in later years writers speak of but one figure.

The whole

"

face of the bluff

The

was quarried away at

once

846-47.

arrests attention.

are so extraordinary that is

1

close agreement of this account with that of the Chinese

Japanese dragon there

in

if

no longer any room

and

anatomical peculiarities

Pere Marquette's account is trustworthy doubt of the Chinese or Japanese deriva-

for

tion of this composite creature.

be driven, not only

The

If

the account

is

not accepted

we

will

to attribute to the pious seventeenth-century mission-

aiy serious dishonesty or culpable

gullibility,

but also to credit him with

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS a

remarkably precise knowledge of

Algonkin legends are recalled,

95

however,

I

we

think

much more

He

Han

dynasty.

The

ancient.

tells

and shows

the

But the legend

evidence has been given

us that the earliest reference

that the

which [used]

"a

dragon was

is

to

unknown

in

of the

in full

found

bound

are

accept the missionary's account as substantially accurate. Minns claims that representations of the dragon are

China before

When

Mongolian archaeology.

dragon is by de Visser.^

in the

Yih King\

water animal akin to the snake,

to sleep in pools during v/inter

and

arises in the spring ".

"It is the god of thunder, who brings good crops when he appears in the rice fields (as rain) or in the sky (as dark and yellow clouds), in " other words when he makes the rain fertilize the ground (p. 38). In the Shu King there is a reference to the dragon as one of the symbolic figures painted on the upper garment of the emperor Hwang according to the Chinese legends, which of course are not

Ti (who

above reproach, reigned

in

the twenty-seventh century B.C.).

ancient literature there are numerous references to the dragon,

In

this

and not

merely to the legends, but also to representations of the benign monster "The ancient texts on garments, banners and metal tablets.^ are .

main conceptions

short, but sufficient to give us the

regard

of

.

.

Old China with he was

In those early days [just as at present]

to the dragon.

the god of water, thunder, clouds, and rain, the harbinger of blessings, and the symbol of holy men. As the emperors are the holy beings

on

earth, the idea of the

based upon

this ancient

In the fifth

Confucius

(i.e.

it

is

Imperial

"

stated that

Kien

^

cit.,

pp.

all

ascribed to

dynasty mentioned a horse, Kiviui (Heaven) is

1

the origin of

is

Han

a cow,

is

power

42).

Yih King., which has been

three centuries earlier than the

that the dragon

Op.

to the

cit., p,

of

Chen {Thunder^ is a dragon" {pp. 22 philosopher Hwai Nan Tsze (who died

is

The

conception" {pp.

appendix

by Mr. Minns), (Earth)

dragon being the symbol

cit., p.

37)."

B.C.) declared

creatures, winged, haiiy, scaly,

and

2>5 et seq.

"

See de Visser, p. 41. " There can be no doubt

that the

Chinese dragon

is

the descendant of

the early Babylonian monster, and that the inspiration to create it probably reached Shensi during the third millennium B.C. by the route indicated in " my Incense and Libations" {Bu//. Jolni Ry lands Library, vol. iv., No. Some centuries later the Indian dragon reached the Far East 2, p. 239). via Indonesia

and mingled with

his

Babylonian cousin

in

Japan and China.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

96

and he propounded a scheme of evolurion (de Visser, p. 65). seems to have tried to explain away the fact that he had never

mailed

He

;

actually witnessed the dragon performing attributed to

" it

:

Mankind cannot

some

of the

remarkable

see the dragons rise

wind and

:

"

rain assist

them

fucius also

is

ascend to a great height

Con-

{pp. cit., p. 65).

credited vvath the frankness of a similar confession

" :

As

we

cannot understand his riding on the \Adnd and clouds To-day I saw Lao Tsze is he not ascending to the sky.

to the dragon,

and

to

feats

his

;

"

like the

?

(p. 65). dragon This does not necessarily mean that these learned men were sceptical of the beliefs which tradition had forged in their minds, but that

had the power of hiding itself in a cloak of invisibility, just as clouds (in which the Chinese saw dragons) could be dissipated in the dragon

the sky.

The

belief in

that of

learned

men

these

of

powers

of the

other countries

in

dragon was as sincere as the beneficent attributes

had taught them to assign to their particular deities, in the passages I have quoted the Chinese scholars were presumably attempting to bridge the gap between the ideas inculcated by faith and

which

tradition

the evidence of their senses, in

much

Dean Buckland

instance, actuated

the

last

same

century,

sort of spirit as,

when he

for

claimed that

the glacial deposits of this country afforded evidence in confirmation oi the Deluge described in the

The

tiger

Book

of Genesis.

and the dragon, the gods

of

stones of the doctrine called fung sktci,

described

in

wind and water,

are the key-

which Professor de Groot has

detail.^

He describes where and how

" it

as a quasi-scientific system, supposed to teach

to build

graves,

temples, and dwellings,

the dead, the gods, and the living

may be

in

men

order that

located therein exclusively,

or as far as possible, under the auspicious influences of Nature

".

The

"

the chief dragon plays a most important part in this system, being of the of one water and and at the same time rain, spirit representing four quarters of heaven

the

first

(i.e.

the East, called the

of the seasons, spring)."

Azure Dragon, and

The word Dragon

comprises the

high grounds in general, and the water streams which have their sources therein or ^

wind

their

way

through them."

"

Religious System of China," vol. iii., chap, xii., pp. 936-1056. This paragraph is taken almost verbatim from de Visser, op. pp. 59 and 60. '

cit.^

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS The

97

to the Blue Dragon, his control of on water and dwelling high mountains whence they spring, and his association with the East, will be seen to reveal his identity

attributes thus assigned

streams, his

with the so-called

TIaloe

headed god

parent was

dii'ect

B"

"god

of the

of

American

archaeologists, the elephant-

Aztecs, Cliac of the Mayas, whose more

Indra.

of interest to note that, according to Gerini,' the

It is

denotes not

only a snake but

also

word Ndi^a

Both the Chinese

an elephant.

dragon and the Mexican elephant-god are thus linked with the Naga,

who

is

This

with Indra himself and Indra's enemy Vritra.

identified both

is

another instance of those remarkable contradictions that one

In the confusion resulting meets at every step in pursuing the dragon. cultures the Aryan deity diverse tribes and from the blending of hostile

who, both for religious and political reasons, becomes himself identified with a Naga

is

the

enemy

of the

Nagas

!

have already called attention {Natu?'e, Jan. 27, 1916) to the form of representation of the American elephant-

I

fact that the graphic

headed god was derived h'om Indonesian India

the

itself

makara

of forms, most of

Hence

the

dragons

is

pictures of the

niakara.

In

is

represented in a gi'eat variety

which are prototypes

of different kinds of dragons.

homology

(see Fig. 14)

of

the elephant-headed

further established

and shown

god

with

the other

to be genetically related to

the evolution of the protean manifestations of the dragon's form. " " The dragon in China is the heavenly giver of fertilizing rain In the Shit

{pp. cit., p. 36).

A'm^

"

the emblematic figures of

t.he

the stars, the mountain, the

ancients are given as the sun, the

moon, animals and the (pheasants) which are depicted variegated di'agon, " In the on the upper sacrificial garment of the Emperor (p. 39). Li Ki the unicorn, the phcenix, the tortoise, and the dragon are called the four ting (p. 39), which de Visser translates "spiritual beings," creatures with enormously strong vital

spirit.

the most ling of

all

The

of the

42).

dragon

The

(p.

dragon sheds a

his glittering eyes.

^

creatures (p. 64).

G. E. Gerini,

He

is

brilliant

light

the giver of

"

at

The dragon

tiger

is

enemy

night (p. 44), usually fi'om

omens

(p. 45),

good and bad,

Researches on Ptolemy's Geography Asia," Asiatic Society's Monographs, No. 1, 1909, p. 146.

7

possesses

the deadly

of

Eastern

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

98 rains

and

Earth

The

floods.

dragon-horse is a also of river water

58) and

(p.

vital

spirit

Heaven and

of

has the

it

:

a huge

of

tail

serpent.

The

vestments of the Wu-ist priests are endoM^ed with

ecclesiastical

magical properties which are considered

to enable the

the order of the world, to avert unseasonable

drought, untimely and superabundant

such as

wearer to control

and calamitous

and

rainfall,

These powers are conferred by the decoration upon the

events, eclipses.

dress.

Upon

the back of the chief vestment the representation of a range of mountains is

embroidered as a symbol

left) of

it

of

the world

:

on each side (the

right

a large dragon arises above the billows to represent the

They

ing rain.

surrounded by gold-thread

are

and

fertiliz-

figures representing

clouds and spirals typifying rolling thunder.^

A

ball,

sometimes with a

decoration,

spiral

commonly

is

repre-

The Chinese writer Koh Hung sented in front of the Chinese dragon. " a spiral denotes the rolling of thunder from which issues tells us that a flash of lightning

and

De

".^

Visser discusses

refers to Hirth's claim that the

known three-comma shaped

thunder-weapon and

its

question at

the Japanese

figure,

ancient spiral, represents thunder also/

which involves the consideration

this

Chinese triquetrum,

i.e.,

relationship to the spiral

the well-

initsu-toinoe,

Before discussing

of the almost

some length the

this question,

world-wide

belief in

a

ornament, the octopus,

iDe Visser, p. 102, and de Groot, vi., p. 1265, Plate XVIII. The " " a range of mountains ... as a symbol of the world rereference to calls the Egyptian representation of the eastern horizon as two hills between " Gods of the Egyptians," which Hathor or her son arises (see Budge, vol.

ii.,

101

p.

;

and compare

Griffith's

"Hieroglyphs,"

p.

30): the same

conception was adopted in Mesopotamia (see Ward, "Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," fig. 412, p. 156) and in the Mediterranean (see Evans, " Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 37 et seq.). It is a remarkable fact that Sir

drawings

Arthur Evans, who, upon "

of the

"

Egyptian

failed to recognize in

secration

".

Even

if

was very ancient (for made this inevitable),

it

horizon

p.

64

of his

memoir, reproduces two

supporting the sun's disk, should have

the prototype of what he calls "the horns of con" horizon" with a cow's horns

the confusion of the

Cow supporting the moon should not blind us as to the real

the horns of the Divine this rationalization

which is preserved in the ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Cretan and Chinese pictures (see Fig. 26, facing p. 188). •^De Visser. p. 103. ^P. 104, The Chinese triquetrum has a circle in the centre and five or eight commas. origin of the idea,

Fig. 15. ^Photograph of a

Chinese Embkoidekv in the Manchester School of Art representing the Dkagon and the Pearl-Moon Symbol

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS the pearl, the swastika and triskele, of the dragon's ball (see Fig.

De

1

let

99

us examine further the problem

5).

Groot regards the dragon

as a thunder- god

Hirth, assumes that the supposed thunder-ball

and

therefore, like

being belched fo7'tk

is

But de Visser, as the result and not being stvai'/oived by the dragon. Mr. and the with a conversation of study of a Chinese picture Kramp in Slacker's

"Chats on Oriental China" (1908,

the suggestion that the ball is

dragon

moon

the

is

"

Buddhism

influence of

"

the dragon.

i.e.,

"

Was

Taoism

the ball

"

precious pearl," which, under the

China, was identified with "the pearl that under the special protection of the Naga,

in

and

all desires

is

Arising out of

this

a

also

originally

de Visser puts the conundrum

pearl, not

were

of civilization

germs bued with the

belief

may

I

first

call

planted

that the pearl

powers

prosperity- conferring

moon, but

also

was

itself

:

in

attention

:

of

it

quintessence of life-giving

was not only

identified with the

a particle of moon-substance which

fell

as

dew

was the very people who held such views

It

about pearls and gold who, when searching water pearls in Turkestan, were responsible life-giving properties to jade

jade was of China

to the fact that the

China by people strongly im-

was the

^

into the gaping oyster.

;

for alluvial

gold and fresh-

for transferring these

same

and the magical value thus attached to which the earliest civilization

the nucleus, so to speak, around ^vas crystallized.

As we

shall see, in the discussion of the thunder- weapon (p. 121

the luminous pearl, which

was homologized with

own

Buddhism but

of

?

In reply to this question

and

forward

which the

The Chinese

swallo\ving, thereby causing the fertilizing rain.

themselves refer to the ball as the

grants

p. 54), puts

or the pearl-moon

was

),

believed to have fallen h'om the sky,

the thunderbolt, with the functions of

magical properties were assimilated. Kramp called de Visser's attention

to the

hieroglyphic character for the dragon's ball

is

fact that

compounded

which

its

the Chinese of the signs

jewel and mooji, which is also given in a Japanese lexicon as divine pea7'l, the pearl of the bnght moon. " When the clouds approached and covered the moon, the ancient

for

"

The Origin of Early Siberian Civilization," being published in the Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, ^

now

See on

this

my paper

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

100

more

this pearl, p.

thought that the dragons had seized and swallowed " than all the pearls of the sea (de Visser,

may have

Chinese

brilliant

108).

The

de Visser

difficulty

satisfactory

first,

is,

pattern upon

He

it.

own

But de Visser seems

to

red and rose-coloured pearls obtained

that

were used "

in

The

is

spiral

much used

have overlooked the

from the conch-shell

Taoism

design those of

to

"

1

:

are

:

the

swallow the

attitude

eager

ball

;

the

of

moon

pearl

the red colour of the ball,

;

As

we

facts

grasp and

the ideas of the Chinese themselves as to the ball

being the " like form.

—

to

ready

dragons,

;

Buddhist pearl goes

spiral of the

upward, while the spiral of the dragon is flat (p. 03). De Visser sums up the whole argument in these words " These are, however, all mere suppositions. The only

know

Bud-

in delineating the sacred pearls of

might have served also

it

must acknowledge that the

I

spiral

China and Japan.'

dhism, so that

although

theory as wholly

and secondly, the

explains the colour as possibly an attempt to re-

present the pearl's lustre. fact

finds in regarding his

the red colour of the ball,

or a pearl

the existence of a kind of sacred

;

emitting flames

its

and

"moon-

its

spiral-

the three last facts are in favour of the thunder theory,

should be inclined to prefer the latter. dragons do not belch out the thunder. I

swalloii) the thunder could be explained,

Yet

1

I

am

convinced that the trying to

their

If

grasp

or

should immediately accept

the theory concerning the thunder-spiral, especially on account of the

flames

it

should

But

emits.

persecute

above

facts

'

It

:

'

non

see the reason

itself.

the reader

that

obliged to say

do not

I

thunder

may

take

them

who

after

into

god

of

thunder

having given

consideration,

I

the feel

"

liquet

(p.

1

08).

does not seem to have occurred

scholar,

the

why

Therefore,

to

the distinguished

has so lucidly put the issue before

tion of the fact of the ball being the

us, that his

pearl-moon about

to

Dutch

demonstra-

be swallowed

by the dragon does not preclude it being also confused with the thunder. Elsewhere in this volume I have referred to the origin of the spiral symbolism and have it

shown

became the symbol ^

Wilfrid Jackson, Culture," p. 106.

that

it

became

of thunder.

"

associated with the pearl before

The

pearl-association in fact

was

Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of Early

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS one

the chain of events

of the links in

spirally-coiled

arm

which made the pearl and the

of the octopus the sign of thunder.'

seems quite clear to

It

101

me

that

de Visser's pearl-moon theory

is

the

But when the pearl-ball was provided with the

true interpretation.

and given flames

spiral, painted red,

to represent

its

of emitting

power

and shining by night, the fact of the spiral ornamentation and of the pearl being one of the surrogates of the thunder-weapon was rationalized into an identification of the ball with thunder and the light light

it

was

emitting as to

thunder-god

It

lightning.

swallow

his

own

of

is,

thunder

for

course, quite irrational

a

but popular interpretations

:

of subtle symbolism, the true explanation of

which

is

deeply buried in

the history of the distant past, are rarely logical and almost invariably irrelevant.

In his account of the state of

two

of the

earlier

Vedas, Professor Hopkins

significance of the ball

real

Brahmanism

in

in "

India after the times

throws

the dragon-symbolism.

light

"

upon the

Old

legends

now expounded thus Indra, who slays Vritra, is the sun. Vritra is the moon, who swims into the The sun rises after swalsun's mouth on the night of the new moon. the is invisible because he is swallowed. The and moon him, lowing The

are varied.

victory over Vritia

sun vomits out the moon, and the

is

:

increases again, to serve the sun as food.

when

that

the

moon

This seems ball.

It is

is

invisible

to clear

he

is

In another passage

hiding in plants

away any doubt

the pearl-moon, which

then seen in the west, and

latter is

is

it is

said

and waters."

as to the significance of the

both swallowed and vomited by

the dragon.

The

snake takes a more obtrusive part in the Japanese than

in

the

Chinese dragon and

it frequently manifests itself as a god of the sea. old Japanese sea-gods were often female water-snakes. The cultural influences which reached Japan from the south by way of

The

—

Indonesia— many centuries before the coming of Buddhism naturally emphasized the serpent form of the dragon and its connexion with the ocean.

But

the

river-gods,

dragons identified ^

I -^

"

or

"

water-fathers," were

real

four-footed

with the dragon-kings of Chinese myth, but

shall discuss this

more

Religions of India,"

p.

fully in

197.

'"

The

Birth of Aphrodite

at

".

the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

102

same time were

strictly

homologous with the Naga Rajas or cobra-

kings of India.

The "

Japanese

"Sea Lord' or "Sea Snake" was also " who had a magnificent palace

Abundant-Pearl- Prince,

bottom

the

of

called

the

at

His daughter (" Abundant- Pearl- Princess") she observed, reflected in the well, sitting on a

sea.

married a youth whom Ashamed at his presence at her lying-in cassia tree near the castle gate. she was changed into a wani or crocodile (de Visser, p. 39), elsewhere 1

De Visser gives it as his opinion described as a dragon {jnakard). " that the ivani is an old Japanese dragon, or serpent-shaped sea-god, and the legend

by

later

is

an ancient Japanese "

generations

1

(p.

dragon existed long before

He

40).

tale,

dressed in an Indian garb

arguing that

is

Japan came under Indian

the Japanese

But

influence.

he ignores the fact that at a very early date both India and China were diversely influenced by Babylonia, the great breeding place of dragons through

was

and, secondly, that Japan

;

it

by the West, for

influenced

many

later Indian legends as those relating to the palace

castle gate

and the

As Aston

cassia tree.

by

and

Indonesia,

centuries before the arrival of such

under the

sea, the

(quoted by de Visser)

remarks, all these incidents and also the well that serves as a mirror, " form a combination not unknown to European folklore".

After de (on

141)

p.

Visser had given his

when he

had been recorded the light of this

in the

new

He

views, he

modified

them

Kei Islands and Minahassa (Celebes). he frankly admits that "the

In

information

semblance of several features of striking, that

own

learned that essentially the same dragon-stories

this

myth

v^ith

the Japanese one

reis

so

we may be sure that the latter is of Indonesian origin." " when he recognizes that probably the foreign in-

goes further

who

vaders,

in prehistoric times

conquered Japan, came from Indonesia, "

and brought the myth with them

(p.

141 ).

The

evidence recently

brought together by W. J. Peiry in his book "The Megalithic " Culture of Indonesia makes it certain that the people of Indonesia in turn got it from the West.

An

old painting reproduced by F. W. K. Miiller,^ who called de Visser s attention to these interesting stories, shows Hohodemi (the ^

"

Mythe der Kei-Insulanerund Verwandtes," Zeitsch.f. Ethnologie,

vol. XXV.,

1893, pp. 533 et seg.

.

1

i

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

103

youth on the cassia tree who married the princess) returning home mounted on the back of a crocodile, like the Indian Varuna upon the

7nakara

in a

drawing reproduced by the

The want is

late Sir

or crocodile thus introduced from India, via Indonesia,

really the Chinese and Japanese dragon, as

Aston and

refers to

in

Japanese pictures

Aston has claimed.

which the Abundant- Pearl- Prince

daughter are represented with dragon's heads

his

their

George Birdwood.'

human

appearmg over

Indonesian version they maintain

ones, but in the old

their forms as ivani or crocodiles.

The

dragon's head appearing over a

human one

motive, transferred to China and from there to Visser, p.

1

42), and,

I

may

quite an Indian

is

Korea and Japan (de

add, also to America.

[Since the foregoing paragraphs have been printed, the Curator of

the Liverpool

Museum

has kindly called ray attention to a remarkable remains in the collection under his care, which were

Maya

series of

made by Mr. T. W.

obtained in the course of excavations

M.R.C.S., an his

Bureau

Among

them

alligator,

of is

in

Part

sumably meant of the

It

sources of

The

British

of the 19th

Gann, Honduras (see

Annual Report

Ethnology, Smithsonian institution of Washington). wani or Tnakara in the form of

a pottery figure of a

;

to represent the spots

upon the star-spangled

As

Aryans (p. 130). human head

tioned by Aston, a throat.

II.

of

equipped with diminutive deer's horns (like the dragon of and its skin is studded with circular elevations, pre-

E.astern Asia)

Stag"

Semce

the Medical

account of the excavations

of the

an

officer in

F.

in

"

Celestial

the Japanese pictures

men-

seen emerging from the creature's affords a most definite and convincing demonstration of the

American

is

culture.]

jewels of flood and ebb in the Japanese legends consist of the

and ebb obtained from the dragon's palace at the bottom By their aid storms and floods could be created to destroy

pearls of flood of the sea.

enemies or calm to secure safety for friends. Such stories are the logical result of the identification of pearls with the moon, the influence of which

upon the

tides

was probably one

sponsible for bringing the

moon

of

the circumstances

which was

re-

into the circle of the great scientific

This in turn played a great, powers not decisive, part in originating the earliest belief in a sky world, or heaven.

theory of the life-giving

of water.

if

^

See

Fig.

1

4.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

104

The Evolution of the Dragon. The American and

Indonesian

Babylonia,

channels

the

to

can

and Japanese

primarily to India, the Chinese

The

dragons

be

back

referred to

varieties

India

and

dragons Europe can be traced through Greek same ultimate source. But the cruder dragons of of

Africa are derived either from Egypt, from the /Egean, or from India.

All dragons that strictly conform to the conventional idea of what such a wonder-beast should be can be shown to be sprung from the fertile imagination of ancient Sumer, the "great breeding place of monsters"

(Minns).

But the history countries

many

is

of the dragon's evolution

some

episodes,

to other

and the dragon-myth is made up which were not derived from Babylonia.

of complexities

full

and transmission

of

;

of

Egypt we do not find the characteristic dragon and dragonYet all of the ingredients out of which both the monster and

In stoiy.

the legends are

compounded have been preserved

perhaps a more primitive and

less altered

in Egypt, and in form than elsewhere. Hence,

if Egypt does not provide dragons for us to dissect, it does supply us with the evidence without which the dragon's evolution would be quite

unintelligible.

Egyptian literature ai^ords a clearer insight into the development Great Mother, the Water God, and the Warrior Sun God than

of the

we

can obtain from any other writings of the origin of

stratum of

And

deities.

Mankind, The Story of the Winged Disk, Horus and Set, it has preserved the germs Babylonian

up

literature

into the definite

has shown us

and

how

this

this

fundamental

The Destruction of and The Conflict between

the three legends

in

:

of the great

raw

Dragon Saga. was worked

material

familiar story, as well as

how

the features of

a variety of animals were blended to form the composite monster. India and Greece, as well as more distant parts of Africa, Europe, and Asia, and even America have presei'ved many details that have been

lost in

the real

home

of the monster.

In the earliest literature that has clear

account

is

given

of

comes, he recognizes his father " '

Fresh

Water '."

Thou

the beginning of the seasons

come down

to us

from antiquity a

the original attributes of Osiris.

art ;

in thee [Osiris], youthful in

thy indeed the Nile, great on the

gods and

men

live

"

Horus

name

of

fields

at

by the moisture

that

is

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS He

in thee." is

Unis

He

is

\vith the

also identified

dead king identified with wind and guides

[the

raises

the king from the dead as

comes

to Osiris bearing wine-juice :

he

who

" river,

The

Osiris.

It

inundates the land."

the breath of

It is

it.

an

life

which

wine- press god "

Lord and the great god becomes also identified with barley and with

"

of the overflowing wine the beer made from it.

inundation of the

Osiris]

also brings the

105

is

Certain trees also are personifications of the

god.

But Osiris was regarded not only as the waters upon and streams, the moisture in the soil and in the bodies

earth, the

of animals

rivers

and

plants, but also as

"

As

the waters of

life

' :

(Sea)

Thou

thou art round

lo,

;

art great, thou

that are in the sky ".

with the waters of earth and sky, he

identified

even become the sea and the ocean

may thus

was

Osiris

"

art

as the

We find

itself.

green, in

name

thy

him addressed Great Green

of

Great Circle (Okeanos)

lo,

;

turned about, thou art round as the circle that encircles the

thou art

Haunebu

(.'tgeans)."

This ligion

and Thought

own

Egyptians'

garded Ea

in

in

is,

as a

But there

dead

an important and

Babylonians re-

endowed him with significant diiference

Ea was

represented as a

man wearing

or as the composite monster with a

which was the prototype

tail,

The

former was usually represented as a man,

whereas

king, fish,

is

The

Re-

8-26) gives the earliest

almost precisely the same light and

a fish-skin, as a

and

(pp.

1

ideas of the attributes of Osiris.

identical powers.

"

"

Ancient Egypt

between Osiris and Ea. that

from Professor Breasted's

of interesting extracts

series

of the Indian

fish's

body

iiiakara and "the

rather of dragons ".

In attempting to understand the creation of the dragon

portant

remember

to

primarily

as

that,

although

personifications of

water, as the bringers of

the

fertility to

mortality to living creatures, they

soil

Osiris or the fish-god

Ea

givers of

it

is

im-

regarded

powers of life and im-

also identified with the destructive

by which men were drowned or various ways by storms of sea and wind.

Thus

Ea were

life-giving

and the

forces of water, in

and

beneficent

the

were

Osiris

their welfare affected

could destroy mankind.

In other

words the fish-dragon, or the composite monster fonned of a fish and an antelope, could represent the destructive forces of wind and water.

Thus even

the malignant dragon can be the

homologue

of

the usually

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

106

and Ea, and

beneficent gods Osiris

their

Aryan sunogates Mazdah

process of

archaic rationalization the

and Varuna.

By

a somewhat analogous

Horus and Marduk,

sons respectively of Osiris and Ea, the sun-gods

Although their outstanding acquired a similarly confused reputation. of the achievements v/ere the overcoming powers of evil, and, as the givers of light, conquering darkness,

them

their character as warriors

The

of destruction.

also

falcon of

made

Horus thus became

powers symbol of chaos, and as the thunder-bird became the most obtrusive feature in the weird anatomy of the composite Mesopotamian dragon and his more modern bird-footed brood, which ranges from

also a

Western Europe to the Far East That the sun-god derived his and Hathor

Osiris

"

the earliest

"Men

Horus

scholars pretend,

The sun-god

fertility.

his parents,

one of the

as the controller of

The

him: 'Thou

of

driven

hast

away

in life

the "

and hast broken up the clouds ',' Osiris and Hathor, from whom he de-

rain,

invention of the sun-god

was

not, as

most

to give direct expression to the fact that the

That

who were

quotation from the

illustration of

his

is

a discovery of modern science.

acquired his attributes secondarily (and for definite historical

reasons) from

The

The

an attempt

the source of

is

said

Wcis in fact the son of

rived his attributes.

from

most primitive attributes, for Abusir, he appears as the source of

and hast expelled the

storm,

Asia and America,

functions directly or indirectly

shown by

sun- temples at

and increase".

sun

is

of

responsible for his birth.

Pyramid Texts

is

of special interest as

an

results of the assimilation of the idea of Osiris

water with that of a sky- heaven and a sun-god.

sun-god's powers are rationalized so as to bring them into con-

formity with

the

earliest

conception of a god as a power conti'olling

water.

Breasted attempts to interpret the statements concerning the storm as references to the enemies of the sun, who steal the sky-

and rain-clouds god's eye, of

i,e,,

The

obscure the sun or moon.

an eye, which looms so large

in

incident of Horus's loss

Eg)'ptian legends,

is

possibly

more

closely related to the earliest attempts at explaining eclipses of the sun " " and moon, the of the sky. The obscuring of the sun and eyes

moon by

clouds

is

a matter of

little

significance to

the

Egyptian

:

but the modern Egyptian fellah, and no doubt his predecessors also, ^

Breasted, op.

cit.

,

p. II.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

107

Such events excite great alarm, regard eclipses with much concern. for the peasants consider them as actual combats between the powers of

good and

evil.

in other countries

where

rain

is

a blessing and not, as in

Egypt,^

merely an unwelcome mconvenience, the clouds play a much more In the Rig- Veda the power prominent part in the popular beliefs. as an elaboration of the ancient holds up the clouds is evil

that

:

Egyptian conception of the sky as a Divine the

Aiyan

Cow,

Vedic warrior-god Indra (who

in

this respect is

the

Egyptian wariior Horus) stole from the powers of

upon mankind. and brought rain.

The

Horus, he broke up the clouds

In other words, like

between the two aspects of the character of these most pronounced in the case of the other member of

is

She was the

most primitive Trinity, the Great Mother.

beneficent giver of that she

homologue of the and bestowed

evil

antithesis

ancient deities this

the Great Mother,

Indians regarded the clouds as a herd of cattle which the

was

life,

but

also the

the death-dealer.

controller of

But

this evil

life,

great

which implies

aspect of her character

developed only under the stress of a peculiar dilemma in which she On a famous occasion in the very remote past the great placed. The only Giver of Life was summoned to rejuvenate the ageing king.

was

elixir

of

life

that

human blood

was known

in

her lioness

The

the pharmacopoeia of the times

but to obtain this life-blood the Giver of Life

:

pelled to slaughter mankind.

kind

to

earliest

avatar

known

consists of the forepart

She

thus

became the destroyer

of

of

frequent

this as

this

corrections,

man-

the sun-god's falcon or eagle united with

a dragon at

The all,

student of

creature

is

modern

but merely a gryphon "

A recent writer on heraldry has complained

griffin.

of

representation of the dragon (Fig. I)

the hindpart of the mother-goddess's lioness.

or

was com-

as Sekhet.

pictorial

heraldry would not regard

was

that,

persistently confused

in spite in

the

popular mind wnith the dragon, which is even more purely imaginary ".^ But the investigator of the early history of these wonder-beasts is compelled,

even at the

risk of

incuning the herald's censure, to regard the

gryphon as one of the earliest known tentative efforts at dragon-making. But though the fish, the falcon or eagle, and the composite eagle-lion '

G.

W.

Eve,

"

Decorative Heraldry," 1897,

p. 35.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

108

monster are early known pictorial representations of the dragon, good or bad, the serpent

The

^' but

l-i

j3

^

CO

7

:

t;r '/ -"

'

;>

c.

lO o-.;

w

"a f.,

^ CJ

^ b c3

^-

it is

still

(Fig. 2).

form assum.ed by the power of evil was the serpent important to remember that, as each of the primary deities can earliest

:

of either

power

Si

probably more ancient

is

good or

them

of the animals representing

any

evil,

can symbolize either aspect. Though Hathor in her cow manifestation is usually benevolent and as a lioness a power of destruction, the

demon in certain cases and the lioness a kindly The falcon of Horus (or its representatives, eagle, hawk,

cow may become creature.

a

woodpecker, dove, redbreast,

etc.)

may be

either

good or bad

the gazelle (antelope or deer), the crocodile, the

The Nagas

kings

luxury in their magnificent

abodes

or lakes.

When

of being

grasped

Garudas, which " jewels

;

human

at

the bottom of the sea or in rivers

killed

by

are depicted in three forms

beings with four snakes

find a link

constant danger

the gigantic semi-divine birds, the " men (de Visser, p. 7).

in

:

common

snakes, guarding

their necks

;

and winged

body human, but with a horned,

the lower part of the

ox-like head,

in

change themselves into

the upper part of the

sea-dragons,

Here we

and

also

The Nagas

which very often assume with their retinues in the utmost

serpents

Naga world they are

leaving the

good or bad

live

are semi-divine

human shapes and whose

so also

or any of the

fish,

menagerie of creatures that enter into the composition of

demons. "

:

body

that of a

coiling-dragon.

between the snake of ancient India and the four"

legged Chinese dragon himself emitted, like a himself invisible. breath.

The

(p. 6),

modern

hidden

in the clouds,

battleship, for the purpose of rendering

In other words, the rain clouds

fertilizing rain

was

We

jewels and

find the

Naga

were the dragon's

thus in fact the vital essence of the

dragon, being both water and the breath of "

which the dragon

life.

king not only in the possession of numberless

beautiful girls, but also of

mighty charais, bestowing super-

and hearing. The palaces of the Naga kings are always described as extremely splendid, abounding with gold and silver and natural vision

precious stones,

were

and the Naga women, when appearing

in

"

beautiful

beyond

description

human

shape,

(p. 9).

De

Visser records the story of an evil Naga protecting a big ti'ee that grew in a pond, who failed to emit clouds and thunder when the tree

was

cut

down, because he was

neither despised nor

wounded

:

for

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS his

body became

This aspect of the

of the stupa (p. 16). in

common

India, but

as a tree-demon

Naga

China and Japan,

in

became a beam

tree

It

rare

is

seems to be identical

Mediterranean conception of the pillar of wood or stone, of the Great Mother and the chief sup-

with the

which

and the

the supporl of the stupa

109

both a representative

is

port of a temple.'

kmg Yacjahketu saw, when he dived that granted every desire" were among

In the magnificent city that into the sea,

trees

"wishing

There were

the objects that met his vision. stones and gardens and

tanks,

also palaces of precious

and, of course,

maidens (de

beautiful

Visser, p. 20).

In the Far of the

dragon

Eastern

stories

it

is

when we

to the tiger,

to note

interesting

the antagonism

that the lioness-form of

recall

Hathor was the prototype of the earliest malevolent dragon. There are five sorts of dragons serpent- dragons lizard-dragons and toad-dragons (de Visser, p. 23). elephant-dragons >fish-dragons :

;

"

According this is

de Groot, the blue colour

to

is

the

represented by the

We

dragons.

already prescnbed

Azure Dragon,

have

seen,

is

rain

;

and

the patron of the East,

in

China because

must come

the highest in rank the

however, that

to use the blue colour

Indra, the rain-god,

chosen

is

where the

the colour of the East, h'om

quarter all

;

;

this

;

among sutra

original

to face the East.

and Indra-colour

.

is

.

.

nila,

dark blue or rather blue-black, the regular epithet of the rain clouds. If the priest had not to face the East but the West, this would agree with the fact that the that in India the

Nagas were

West

said to live in the western quarter

and

corresponds wdth the blue colour.

Facing the seems to to an old rain in which Indra East, however, point ceremony " was invoked to raise the blue-black clouds (de Visser, pp. 30 and 3 ), I

The Dragon Myth. The most of

mythology

was

important and fundamental legend is

the story of

in the

the "Destruction of

whole

history

Mankind".

"It

and commented upon by Naville (" La Dedes hommes par les Dieux," in the Transactions of the

discovered, translated,

struction

Society of Biblical

made

Hay's copies ^Arthur

J.

at

Evans,

Arch ecology,

vol.

iv.,

pp.

1-19, reproducing

the beginning of [the nineteenth] century

"

Mycenaean Tree and

Pillar Cult," pp.

88

;

and

ct seq.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

110 *'

de

L'Inscription

Ramses

the

in

III,"

des

Destruction

la

hommes dans

vol.

Transactions,

pp.

viii.,

le

tombeau de

412-20);

after-

anew by Herr von

wards published

Bergmann {^Hieroglyphische and pp. 55, 56) completely translated by Brugsch {Die neue Welt07'dming nach Ve7'nicJitung des siindigen Menschengeschlechts nach einer Alidgyptischen Ueber-

Inscriften,

pis.

Ixxv.-lxxxii.,

;

and partly translated by Lauth i^Aus y^gyptens Vorzeii, pp. 70-81) and by Lefebure (" Une chapitre de la chronique

lieferung, 1881)

solaire,"

the

in

;

Zeitschrift fiir yEgypiisclie Sprache, 1883, pp.

32, 33) 'V

Important commentaries upon

this story

have been published also

by Brugsch and Gauthier.^

As

the really important features of the story consist ol the incoherent

and contradictory details, and it would take up too much space to reproduce the whole legend here, I must refer the reader to Maspero's account of in

it

{pp. cU.), or to the versions given

Ancient Egypt"

Gods

(p.

of the Egyptians," vol.

Although the time of Seti

I

story as

{circa

1300

as a popular legend for

The

267, from which

narrative

i.,

p.

it is

it

was not

contradictory interpretations

own

Budge

in

"

"

Life

The

down

until the

centuries before that time.

story because

of the

written

very old and had been circulating

more than twenty

itself tells its

quote) or

in his

388.

we know B.C.),

I

by Erman

same

it is

composed

of

many

incidents flung together in a

highly confused and incoherent form.

The

other legends to which

have constantly to refer are "The Saga of the Winged Disk," "The Feud between Horus and " The Stealing of Re's Name by Isis," and a series of later Set," variants and confusions of these stories.^ I

shall

^G. Maspero, "The Dawn of Civilization," p. 164. " H. Brugsch, Die Alraune als altagyptische Zauberpflanze," Zeit. / .Egypt. Sprache, Bd. 29, 1891. pp. 31-3 and Henri Gauthier, " Le nom hieroglyphique de I'argile rouge d'Elephantine," Revue Egyptologique, "

;

t.

Nos.

xie,

i.-ii.,

1904,

p.

1.

^

These legends will be found in the works by Maspero, Erman and Budge, to which .1 have already referred. very useful digest vrill be " found m Donald A. Mackenzie's Mr. Egyptian Myth and Legend ". Mackenzie does not claim to have any first-hand knowledge of the subject, but his exceptionally wide and intimate knowledge of Scottish folk-lore, which has preserved a surprisingly large part of the same legends, has enabled him to present the Egyptian stories with exceptional clearness and

A

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

1

1

1

The

Egyptian legends cannot be fully appreciated unless they are studied conjunction with those of Babylonia and Assyria/ the mythology of Greece," Persia,'^ India,' China, Indonesia,' and America. in

'

For

will

it

flowing in

all

be found

same stream

that essentially the

these countries,

and

that the scribes

and

of legends

was

painters

have

caught and preserved certain definite phases of this verbal currency. The legends which have thus been preserved are not to be regarded as having been directly derived the one from the other but as collateral

out from one centre. phases of a variety of waves of story spreading

Thus

the comparison of the

peculiariy instructive

and

whole range

useful

;

of

because the

homologous legends gaps

in

the

is

Egyptian

series, example, can be filled in by necessary phases which are in Babylonia or Greece, missing in Egypt itself, but are presei-ved Persia or India, China or Britain, or even Oceania and America.

for

The marized

incidents in the Destruction of :

—

As Re

"

grows old

Re

signs of rebellion.

the

calls

Mankind may be

men who were

briefly

^

begotten of his eye"

sum-

show

a council of the gods and they advise him

But I refer to his book specially because he is one of sympathetic insight. the few modern writers who has made the attempt to compare the legends Hence the reader of Egypt, Babylonia, Crete, India and Western Europe.

who

not familiar with the mythology of these countries will find his books works of reference in following the story 1 have to

is

particularly useful as

Myth and Legend," "Egyptian Myth and Legend," and Legend," "Myths of Babylonia and Assyria" and Myth Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe ". See Leonard W. King, "Babylonian Religion," 1899. " Zeus ". For a useful collection of data see A. B. Cook, " " Iranian Views of Origins in connexion with Albert J. Carnoy, Similar Babylonian Beliefs," Journal of the Aiuerican Oriental Society, vol. xxxvi., 1916, pp. 300-20; and "The Moral Deities of Iran and India and their Origins," The American Journal of Theology, vol. xxi.. No. i.,

unfold: "Teutonic

"Indian " ^

January, 1917. ^

'

Hopkins, "Religions of India". De Groot, "The Religious System

''Perry,

"The

of

China".

Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Manchester, 1918.

H. Beuchat, "Manuel d' Archeologie Americaine," Paris, 1912; " Mexican Archaeology," and especially the memoir by Seler T. A. Joyce, " on the "Codex Vaticanus and his articles in the Zcitsclinft fiir Ethno'

Logie

and elsewhere.

^

I.e.

"Eye

of

the offspring of the Great

Re".

Mother

of

gods and men, Hathor, the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

112 to

"

^

shoot forth his

Eye

that

may

it

slay the evil conspirators.

»

.

.

Let the goddess Hathor descend [fi'om heaven] and slay the men on the mountains [to which they had fled in fear]." As the goddess "it will be good for me when I subject mancomplied she remarked :

Re

kind," and

"

them and

Hence the goddess received the additional name of Sekkniet from the word " 1 he destructive Sekhmet " avatar of Hathor is repreto subject ", sented as a fierce lion-headed goddess of war wading in blood. For the goddess set to work slaughtering mankind and the land was flooded

Re became

with blood."

remnant

gave

When

the

god

the slaves

was mixed with this

it

Sektet

was poured

resume her task

of

Heliopolis

had crushed barley so as to

blood-coloured beer

this

alarmed and determined

make

it

red

was made

out upon the

to

fields,

to

them

to save at least

some

to

grind

up

which he

text,

in

a

mortar.

make beer the powdered d'cf like human blood. Enough of fill

7000 when

jars.

At

nighttime

the goddess

came

to

morning she found the fields in-

of destruction in the

and became intoxicated so

".

sent messengers to Elephant-

so that

undated and her face was mirrored fluid

slay

a substance called cftf in the Egyptian

ine to obtain to

shall subject

For this purpose he

mankind.

of

I

replied,

in the

that she

fluid.

She drank

of

the

no longer recognized man-

kind.'^

Thus Re saved a remnant of mankind from Hathor. But the god was weary of life on

the bloodthirsty, terrible

earth

heaven upon the back of the Divine Cow. There can be no doubt as to the meaning confused as

it is.

The

who was

king

and withdrew

to

of this legend, highly

responsible for introducing irriga"

That is, Hathor, who as the moon is the Eye of Re". Elsewhere in these pages I have used the more generally adopted " Sekhet". spelling " " ^ Mr. F. LI, Griffith tells me that the translation flooding the land is erroneous and misleading. Comparison of the whole series of stories, however, suggests that the amount of blood shed rapidly increased in the ^

^

development

of the narrative

the blood of mankind

;

:

at

first

the blood of a single victim

then 7000 jars of a substitute for blood

;

;

then

then the

red inundation of the Nile.

*This verson I have quoted mainly from Erman, op. at,, pp. 267-9, but with certain alterations which I shall mention later. In another version " the blood of of the legend wine replaces the beer and is made out of those

who

Parthey) 6.

formerly fought against the gods,"

cf.

Plutarch,

De

Iside (ed.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS tion

came

He

was

be himself identified with the

to

prosperity. failing

it

became a

:

his

life,

time

refused to

virility

was

giver of

life,

and

came when a comply with

failing

vital

and

powers were

this

custom.

power and

When

the enjoyment of

he realized that his

he consulted the Great Mother, as the source and

to obtain

that

of water.

all fertility

people.^

king, rich in

an

was

which would rejuvenate him and obviate

elixir

The

the necessity of being killed. of those times

of

logical necessity that he should be killed to safeguard

the welfare of his country

The

power

life-giving

own vitality was the source Hence when he showed signs that his

the river

113

only medicine

in the

pharmacopoeia

believed to be useful in minimizing danger to

was human blood. Wounds that gave rise to severe haemorrhage If the were known to produce unconsciousness and death. escape of life

^

It is still the custom in many places, and among them especially the regions near the headwaters of the Nile itself, to regard the king or rain-maker as the impersonation of the life-giving properties of water and the source

of all ferlility.

When

his

own

vitality

shows signs of failing he is killed, so community by allowing one v/ho

as not to endanger the fruitfulness of the is weak in life-giving powers to control

its

Much

destinies.

of the evi-

dence relating to these matters has been collected by Sir James Frazer in "The Dying God," 1911, who quotes from Dr. Seligman the following " Osiris account of the Dinka " While the mighty spirit Lerpiu is supposed to be embodied in the rain-maker, it is also thought to inhabit a certain hut which serves as a In front of the hut stands a post to which are fastened the horns shrine. and in the hut is of many bullocks that have been sacrificed to Lerpiu of a sacred which the name bears very spear Lerpiu and is said to kept have fallen from heaven six generations ago. As fallen stars are also called exist beLerpiu, we may suspect that an intimate connexion is supposed to " tween meteorites and the spirit which animates the rain-maker (Frazer, Here then vvc have a house of the dead inhabited by op. cit., p. 32). Lerpiu, who can also enter the body of the rain-maker and animate him, as well as the ancient spear and the falling stars, which are also animate forms of the same god, who obviously is the homologue of Osiris, and is identified with the spear and the falling stars. In spring when the April moon is a few days old bullocks are sacri" ficed to Lerpiu. Two bullocks are led twice round the shrine and afterwards tied by the ram-maker to the post in front of it. Then the drums beat and the people, old and young, men and women, dance round the shrine and sing, while the beasts are being sacrificed, Lerpiu, our ancestor, we have brought you a sacrifice. Be pleased to cause rain to fall.' The blood of the bullocks is collected m a gourd, boiled in a pot on the fire, cmd eaten by the old and important people of the clan. The horns of the " animals are attached to the post in front of the shrine (pp. 32 and 33). '

:

;

'

8

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

114

the blood of

life

assume

cal to

that the exhibition of

vitality of living

men and

so

"

Pyramid Texts express

as the

Thus w^ith the

it was not altogether human blood could also add

could produce these results

"

turn back the years from their old age, it.

the Great Mother, the giver of

dilemma

illogi-

to the

to all

life

that, to provide the king

mankind, w^as faced

with the

elixir to restore his

youth, she had to slay mankind, to take the life she herself had given Thus she acquired an evil reputation which was to her own children.

She was not only the beneficent but she was also

to stick to her throughout her career. creator of

a

demon

all

things and the bestower

who

of destruction

of all blessings

:

did not hesitate to slaughter even her

own

children.

In course of time the practice of

and

substitutes

were adopted

Either the blood of

cattle,^

human

place

sacrifice

was abandoned

blood

the

of

who by means

human

could be transformed into

Cow

in

of

mankind.

of appropriate ceremonies

Mother

beings (for the Great

herself

was the Divine offspring cattle), was employed in its or red ochre was used to colour a liquid which was used ritually stead When this phase of culture was to replace the blood of sacrifice. and her

;

reached the goddess provided for the king an

elixir of

life

beer stained red by means of red ochre, so as to simulate

consisting of

human

blood.

But such a mixture was doubly potent, for the barley from which was made and the drink itself v/as supposed to be imbued with

the beer the

life-giving

powers

of

Osiris,

The

therapeutic usefulness.

and the blood- colour reinforced

legend

now begms

to

its

become involved and

For the goddess is making the rejuvenator for the king, who and the beer, the meantime has died and become deified as Osiris

confused. in

;

which

is

the vehicle of the life-giving powers of Osiris,

to rejuvenate his son

version that has ^

and

successor, the living king

come down

to us

is

is

now being used who in the

Horus,

replaced by the sun- god Re.

who bore the title of Killer of the Elesoon as he showed signs of failing health or The king-elect was afterwards conducted to the centre growing infirmity ". of the town, called Head of the Elephant, where he was made to lie down on a bed. Then a black ox was slaughtered and its blood allowed to pour all over his body. Next the ox was flayed, and the remains of the dead king, which had been disembowelled and smoked for seven days over a slow fire, were wrapped up in the hide and dragged along to the place of burial, In

Northern Nigeria an

phant throttled the king

where they were interred

"

official

as

"

in a circular pit

(Frazer, op.

cit., p.

35).

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Re who

It is

Mother,

some

is

king and

growing old

is

him with the

to provide

he asks Hathor, the Great

:

elixir of

But comparison with

life.

Re

of the legends of other countries suggests that

Horus and

place previously occupied by the real personification of the

lile- giving

the appropriate person to be slain

when

115

originally

of

power

has usurped the

by Osiris, who as water is obviously

his virility begins

to

Dr.

fail.

C. G. Seligman's account of the Dinka rain-maker Lerpiu, which I " have already quoted (p. Dying God," 3) horn Sir James Frazer's 1

1

god was

suggests that the slain king or

The

Re

introduction of

belief in the sky- world or

sonified as a

woman and

developed that the

and exercised a

was

human mind of

marks the beginning

Hathor was

fertility

and

identified

Then

vitality.

more

she was per-

But when the view

controlled the powers of life-giving in

women

Great Mother

their life-blood, the

upon But how was such a conception to be harmony with the view that she was also a cow ? The moon.

displays an irresistible tendency to unify

to bridge the gaps that necessarily exist in

knowledge and

instinctive

of the

originally nothing

with a cow^.

direct influence

identified vv^th the

brought into

and

moon

into the story

heaven.

than an amulet to enhance

originally Osiris.

No

ideas.

impulse

to

break

its

broken

its

experience

series of scraps

too great to be bridged

is

rationalize the products of

the Great

by

this

diverse experience.

Mother both with

a Hence, early man, having " the cow jump cow and the moon, had no compunction in making " The moon then became the to become the sky. over the moon identified

"

"

Eye

of the sky

and the sun

necessarily

became its other

"

Eye ".

But,

"

more important Eye," seeing that it determined the day and gave warmth and light for man's daily work, it was Therefore Re, at first the Brother- Eye of the more important deity. Hathor, and afterwards her husband, became the supreme sky-deity, as the sun

was

clearly the

and Hathor merely one

When the the tion

"

this

Eye

of

was reached, the story of Mankind" was re-edited, and Hathor was called In the earlier versions she was called into consulta-

stage of theological evolution

Destruction of

"

of his Eyes.

Re ".

solely as the giver of

men's throats with a

life

and, to obtain the life-blood, she cut

knife.

But as the Eye of Re she v/as identified with the fire-spitting She was uraeus- serpent which the king or god wore on his forehead. both the moon and the fiery bolt which shot down from, the sky to slay

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

116

provide the blood for an reason for this

was

who were originally slaughtered to now became the enemies of Re. The

For the men

the enemies of Re.

elixir

human

that,

sacrifice

substitutes provided to replace the

know why

a loss to

found

— and

result

Horus and

and had

A

be

was

men had

that

was

at

reason had to be rebelled

This interpretation was proof a confusion with the old legend of the fight between to

Set, the rulers of the

bility also suggests itself that a

have been the

blood, the story-teller

the goddess killed mankind.

the rationalization adopted

against the gods

bably the

human

having been abandoned and

killed.

two kingdoms

of

The

Egypt.

pun made by some

possi-

priestly jester

may

factor that led to this mingling of two originally " " In the Destruction of Mankind the story runs,

real

separate stories.

ma-ten according to Budge,' that Re, referring to his enemies, said " Behold ye them {set^ fleeing into the mountain uar er set, :

set

{set^ ".

The

and with

Set, the

enemies were thus identified v/ith the mountain or stone

enemy

of the gods.^

Egyptian hieroglyphics the

In

When

determinative for Set.

and the

rebels

were thus

regarded as creatures of "stone".

From

for

stone

is

used as the

Eye of Re" destroyed mankind with the followers of Set, they were

the

identified

symbol "

In other

words the Medusa-eye

pun on the part of some ancient Egyptian scribe has arisen the world-wide stories of the influence of the " " As the and the petrification of the enemies of the gods." Evil Eye

petrified the enemies.

this feeble

"

name for Isis in Egyptian is Set" it is possible that the confusion of the Power of Evil with the Great Mother may also have been facilisame pun.

tated by an extension of the It

is

from the

whatever " "^

Hathor descending destroying fire had nothing

important to recognize that the legend of

moon

or the sky in the form of

to do, in the

Gods

first

instance, with the

phenomena

of lightning

of the Egyptians," vol. i., p. 392. of the sun-god, which was subsequently called the

The eye

Horus and

identified with the

Uraeus- snake on the forehead of

eye of

Re and

of

the Pharaohs, the earthly representatives of Re, finally becoming synonymous with the crown of Lower Egypt, was a mighty goddess, Uto or Buto by " " " name (Alan Gardiner, Article Magic (Egyptian) in Hastings' Ei:cyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics, p. 268, quoting Sethe. "

"

For an account

The Legend of

Indonesia ".

of the distribution of this story see E. Sidney Hartland, " " also The Megalithic Culture of J. Perry,

Perseus

;

W.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS and meteorites.

It

was

117

the result of verbal quibbling after the destruc-

goddess came to be identified with the moon, the sky and the Eye of Re". But once the evolution of the story on these lines

tive

"

prepared the way, destruction exerted

with the lightning "

it

was

inevitable that in later times the

by the fire hom the sky should have been and meteorites.

identified

When the destructive force of the heavens was attributed to the Eye of Re" and the god's enemies were identified with the followers

of Set,

it

was

natural that the traditional

more potent other "Eye

the

of punishing

place at

rebellious

the

Re"

of

"Saga

(Horus) was

of the

"

enemy

of Set

who was

also

should assume his mother's role

That Horus did

mankind.

occupied by Hathor

first

of trivial episodes from the in

powers of

in the story

is

fact

in

take the

revealed by the series

Mankind" that reappear The king of Lower Egypt

Destruction of

Winged

Disk".

identified with a falcon, as

Hathor was with the

vulture

^

(Mut) like her, he entered the sun-god's boat and sailed up the river he then mounted up to heaven as a winged disk, i.e. the with him :

:

sun of

Re

equipped with

force displayed identification

by Hathor

his

own

as the

with Tefnut, the

Eye

of

Re was

added

serpents to destroy Re's enemies.

destructive

symbolized by her

fire-spitting ureeus-snake.

assumed the form of the winged disk he spitting

The

falcon's wings.

When Horus

to his insignia

The winged

disk

two

fire-

was

at

It swooped (or once the instrument of destruction and the god himself. flew) down from heaven like a bolt of destroying fire and killed the

enemies of Re.

By

a confusion with Horus's other fight against the

The original "boat of the sky" was the crescent moon, which, from likeness to the earliest form of Nile boat, was regarded as the vessel in ^

its

which the moon (seen as a faint object upon the crescent), or the goddess who was supposed to be personified in the moon, travelled across the " "

was obviously part of the boat But as this moon itself, it also was regarded as an animate form of the goddess, the " the chief Eye of Re". When the Sun, as the other "Eye," assumed " boat," which role, Re was supposed to traverse the heavens in his own waters of the heavens.

was

also brought into relationship with the actual boat used in the Osirian

burial ritual.

" in reference to a boat is dragon It is the direct found in places as far apart as Scandinavia and China. outcome of these identifications of the sun and moon with a boat animated

The custom

of

employing the name

"

In India the Makara, the prototype of the by the respective deities. as a boat which was looked upon as was sometimes represented dragon, the {^ici-avatar of Vishnu, Buddha or some other deity.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

118

followers of Set, the enemies of

and they

Re become

whose shapes the enemies

kinds of creatures

with Set's army

identified

are transformed into crocodiles, hippopotami

and

the other

all

of Osiris assume.

In the course of the development of these legends a multitude of

played a part and gave

other factors

meaning

rise

to

transformations of

the

of the incidents.

The

goddess originally slaughtered mankind, or perhaps it would be truer to say, made a human sacrifice, to obtain blood to rejuvenate But, as

the king.

we

have seen already, when the

was no

sacrifice

longer a necessary part of the programme, the incident of the slaughter

was not dropped out framed.

of

Instead of simply making a

whole was destroyed

new explanation of it was human sacrifice, mankind as a

the stoiy, but

a

for rebelling against the gods, the act of rebellion

the king's old age and loss of virility. The soon became something more than a rejuvenator it was transformed into the food of the gods, the ambrosia that gave them their

being murmuring about elixir

:

and distinguished them from mere mortals.

immortality,

Now

when

the development of the story led to the replacement of the single victim

by the whole of mankind, the blood produced by the wholesale slaughter was so abundant that the fields were flooded by the life-giving elixir.

By

the sacrifice of

men

the

the blood-coloured beer

ception

soil

was

was renewed and

substituted

blood the con-

was brought into still closer harmony with Egyptian was animated with the life-giving powers

cause the beer

But Osiris was the Nile. identified with the

Nile.

Now

The

blood-coloured

When

refertilized.

for the actual

fertilizing fluid

ideas, be-

of

Osiris.

was then

annual inundation of the red-coloured waters of the

the Nile waters were supposed to

come

fi-om

the First

Cataract at Elephantine. Hence by a familiar psychological process the previous phase of the legend was recast, and by confusion the red ochre (which was used to colour the beer red) was said to have come

from Elephantine.^ ^

This is an instance of the well-known tendency of the human mind to blend numbers of different incidents into one story. An episode of one exbeen transferred to an earlier becomes rationalized one, perience, having in adaptation to its different environment.

transference

This process of psychological

the explanation of the reference to Elephantine as the source of the cfd\ and has no relation to The naive efforts of Brugtch actuality. and Gauthier to study the natural products of Elephantine for the purpose is

of identifying iCd"

were therefore wholly misplaced.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS of

Thus we have phases, the new

119

arrived at the stage where,

distortion of a series

incident emerges that

of a

the Nile flood can be produced.

by a means by

human

sacrifice

a further confusion the goddess,

By

Hence the story the victim. originally did the slaughter, becomes and ata beautiful assumed the form that by means of the sacrifice of

who

tractive

potent symbol of

i.e.

and desirable

ritual

that she should be a virgin

When

the land.

and

practice,

in

be

and the most beauti-

human

the practice of

was

the most

should

essential that the victim

a figure or an animal

was abandoned in

in

is

it

life-giving

sexually attractive, ful

As

maiden the annual inundation can be produced.

sacrifice

for the

substituted

legends the hero rescued

maiden as

the maiden,

The dragon is the personifisaved from the dragon.' in the waters as well as the destructive that dwell cation of the monsters Andromeda was forces

the

of

flood

followers of Set

;

itself.

But the monsters were no other than the

they were the victims

identified with the god's other

Thus

the monster from

representative of herself

But the destructive

the slaughter v,ho becam.e

of

traditional enemies, the follov/ers of Set.

whom Andromeda

is

rescued

is

merely another

!

forces of

the

flood

now

enter

into

the

pro-

In the phases we have so far discussed it was the slaughter gramme. but in the next phase it is of mankind which caused the inundation :

the flood

itself

which causes the

destruction, as in the later

and the borrowed Sumerian, Babylonian, Hebrew world-wide versions. Re's boat becom.es the ark

—

which was despatched by

Re

— and ;

enemies of Re. the

new weapon

the

of

Hathor's knife and Horus's winged the lightning and the thunderbolt

be

either a beneficent giver of

the

the winged disk

from the boat becomes the dove and the

other birds sent out to spy the land, as the winged

Thus

Egyptian in fact

—

life

gods

disk, is

— we

which

the flood.

is

Horus

spied the

have already noted the

fire

from heaven,

Like the others

it

can

or a force of destruction.

But the flood also becomes a weapon the earlier incidents of the story represents

of

another kind.

Hathor

One

in opposition to

of

Re.

The

goddess becomes so maddened with the zest of killing that the god becomes alarmed and asks her to desist and spare some representatives of the race. But she is deaf to entreaties. Hence the god is

Mn

Hartland's

story will be found.

"Legend

of

Perseus" a collection

of variants of this

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

120

have sent to Elephantine for the red ochre to make a sedative have already seen that draught to overcome her destructive zeal. said to

We

this incident

had an

meaning —it was merely intended wherewith to redden

entirely different

to explain the obtaining of the colouring matter

make

the sacred beer so as to

resemble blood as an

it

elixir for

the god.

was brought from Elephantine, because the red waters of inundation of the Nile were supposed by the Egyptians to come from Elephantine. It

But according to the story inscribed in Seti I*' tomb, the red ochre was an essential ingredient of the sedative mixture (prepared under the direction of Re by the Sekti of Heliopolis) to calm Hathor's ^

^

murderous

spirit.

has been claimed that the story simply means that the goddess became intoxicated with beer and that she became genially inoffensive It

the e^ect

solely as

of

such inebriation.

But the incident

Egyptian story closely resembles the legends of which some herb is used specifically as a sedative.

Egyptian mythology the drink to colour the

it is

word

Hebrew word dudaini "mandrakes"

translated

(rt^V)

"

translated

the

In

most books on

the substance put into the

mandragora," from

its

resemblance to

Old Testament, which

the

in

for

in

other countries in

or "love-apples".

often

is

But Gauthier has

clearly

demonstrated that the Egyptian word does not refer to a vegetable but to a mineral substance, which he translates "red clay"". Mr. F. LI. Griffith tells

drake

have already given,

is

is

But

it is

red ochre".

In

any

case,

man-

not found at Elephantine (which, however, for the reasons

is

tion of the substance

I

"

me, however, that

if

some

a point of no importance so far as the identificaconcerned), nor in fact anywhere in Egypt.

foreign story of the action of a sedative

blended with and incorporated

drug had become

complex and composite Egyptian legend the narrative would be more intelligible. The mandrake is such a sedative as might have been employed to calm the murderous frenzy of a maniacal

woman.

in

the highly

In fact

it is closely allied to hyoscyamus, used in modern medicine precisely for such purposes. I venture to suggest that a folk-tale describing the effect " " of opium or some other has been absorbed into the drowsy syrup of the Destruction of Mankind, and has provided the starting legend

whose

active principle, hyoscin,

point of ^

all

those incidents

Op.

cit.,

the dragon-story in which poison or some

have quoted from Erman he refers supra.

In the version

^

m

is

I

to

"

the

god Sektet

".

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS sleep- producing

drug plays a

presentative Tiamat,

and

is

For when Hatnor

part.

continues the destruction, she

is

121

Re and

defies

playing the part of her Babylonian re-

who

a dragon

has to be vanquished by the

drink which the god provides.

The of

life

red earth which

and the

fertilizer

was pounded

in the

came

of the soil also

material out of which the

new

race of

who were destroyed. The god fashioned mankind

mortar to make the

men

to

was'

elixir

be regarded as the

made

to replace those

of this earth and, instead

of the red

ochre being merely the material to give the blood-colour to the draught became confused actual blood was presented

of immortality, the story

:

to the clay images to give

them

life

and consciousness.

mankind

a later elaboration the remains of the former race of

In

were ground up This version created.

to provide the material out of

were

which

their

successors

Northern Europe, and has obviously been influenced by an intermediate variant which is

a favourite story in

finds expression in the Indian legend of the

Milk.

Churning

of the

Ocean

of

Instead of the material for the elixir of the gods being

by the Sekti Hathor,

it

is

to provide the

pounded and a sedative for incidentally becoming Heliopolis the milk of the Divine Cow herself which is churned

of

amrita.

The Thunder-Weapon.^ In

the development of the dragon-story

instruments of destruction

were

as well as a giver of

homologue or surrogate

The

history of the

and

moon

Each

of the

and Horus can be a destructive of all

kinds of boons.

of these three deities can

dragon- destroying, such as the ^

life

have seen that the

most varied kind.

of a

three primary deities, Hathor, Osiris

power

we

Every become a weapon for

or the lotus of Hathor, the water

thunder-weapon cannot wholly be ignored

in dis-

It cussing the dragon-myth because it forms an integral part of the story. vvas animated both by the dragon and the dragon- slayer. But an adequate

account of the weapon would be so highly involved and complex as to be Hence I am reunintelligible without a very large series of illustrations. ferring here only to certain aspects of the subject. Pending the preparation of a monograph upon the thunder- weapon, I may refer the reader to the works of Blinkenberg, d'Alviella, Ward, Evans and A. B. Cook (to which frequent reference is made in these pages) for material, especially in the form of illustrations, to supplement my brief and unavoidably involved

summaiy.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

122

Hathor used a

axe

knife or

flint

falcon of Horus. Origina " then she did the execution as the

the sun or the

or the beer of Osiris,

:

Re," the moon, the fiery bolt from heaven Osiris sent the destroying flood and the intoxicating beer, each of which, like the knife, of

Eye

:

axe and moon of Hathor, were animated by the

came

as the

winged

As

thunderbolt.

any one

literal

of

the dragon-story "

Then Horus

was spread abroad

in

the world

;

Greeks, Indians and others, gave the Egyptian verbal simile

expression and converted

an actual Cyclopean eye planted

into

it

which shot out the destroying

in the forehead,

The

deity.

the falcon, the sun, the lightning and the

weapons was confused with any of (or all) the rest. Re was the fire- spitting uraeus- serpent and foreign people,

of these

The Eye like the

"

disk,

warrior god

of

or lightning of Ishtar,

Babylonia

who was

is

fire.

called the bright one,^ the

sword

both the sword or

light-

herself called

ning of heaven. In the

/Egean area

also the sons of

Zeus and the progeny

of heaveiii

may be axes, stone implements, meteoric stones and thunderbolts. In " a sword like a flash of lightning a Swahili tale the hero's v/eapon is .

According brought is

down from heaven by

parallel

to that of

This parallelism

hymn

1

Bergaigne," the

to

to

is

myth

of

the celestial diink

a bird ordinarily called fjena,

Agni, the celestial

fire

brought by

soma^

" eagle,"

Matari(;vaiii.

Rig Veda, verse 6 of Mataricvan brought the one from heaven,

even expressly stated

Agni and Soma.

in the

the eagle brought the other from the celestial mountain. Kuhn admits that the eagle represents Indra and Lehmann regards ;

the eagle

Indra and

who

takes the

Agni

Winged Disk

as

fire

Agni

himself.

It

is

patent that both

are in fact merely specialized forms of

Saga,

in

in the other the living

one fire.

of

which the warrior sun-god

The

elixir of life of

Horus is

of the

represented,

the Egyptian story

is

associated with the

represented by the soma, which by confusion is in other words, the god Soma is the homologue not only of eagle :

Osiris, but also of

Greek

Horus.

incidents in the

same

story of Prometheus.

He

Other

original version are confused stole the fire

in

the

from heaven and brought

As in Egypt Osiris is described as "a ray of light" which issued from the moon (Hathor), i.e. was born of the Great Mother. " /Etos ^"Religion vedique," i., p. 173, quoted by S. Reinacn, 72. Revue 4'^ tome x., 1917, p. Prometheus," serie, archcologique, ^

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS it

to earth

but, in place of the episode of the elixir,

:

the Indian story just mentioned,

in

accredited

by the Greeks

which

is

adopted

men from

the creation of

clay

is

the "fire eagle"

the "flaming one,"

to

123

Prometheus.

The

double axe v/as the homologue of the winged disk which This

fell,

or rather flew, from heaven as the tangible form of the god.

from heaven inevitably came

be

to

identified with the

the double-axe

He

is

many

19)

Ac-

lightning.

"

cording to Blinkenberg {op. ciL, p.

points go

to

fire

prove that

a representation of the lightning (see Usener, p. 20)

".

on the famous gold ring from Mycenae where " the sun, the moon, a double curved line presumably representing the refers to the design

rainbow, and the double-axe,

the lightning":

i.e.

placed lower than the others, probably because to

and flew down

disk of

Horus when he assumed

earth," like

to

earth

it

the

"the

but

latter

is

descends from heaven

form of

the winged

as a fiery bolt to destroy the enemies

Re.

The

of the

recognition

homology

the winged disk with

of

the

problems which have puzzled classical The form of the double axe on the

double axe solves a host of scholars within recent years. ^

and the painted sarcophagus from Hagia Triada in Crete (and especially the oblique markings upon the axe) is probably a suggestion of the double series of feathers and the outlines of the in-

Mycenaean

ring

The

dividual feathers respectively on the wings.

upon a symbolic p. 21), as

but life

is

"a

tree

is

not intended, as Blinkenberg claims {op.

representation of the trees struck

ritual

the familiar scene of the

surmounted by the winged

The

bird poised

Mesopotamian

itself.

cii.,

by lightning"

culture-area,

:

the tree of

disk."

upon the axe Horus it

logue of the falcon of the winged disk

position of the axe

:

in is

the Cretan picture in fact a

is

the

homo-

second representation of not affected by the con-

This interpretation is may be replaced by the eagle, pigeon, woodthese substitutions were repeatedly made by the

sideration that the falcon

pecker or raven, for

ancient priesthoods in flagrant defiance of the proprieties of ornithological homologies.

The same phenomenon

trusively in Central ^

Evans,

chapter xxxviii.

displayed even more ob-

America and Mexico, where

op. cit.. Fig. 4, p.

-William

is

the ancient sculptors

10.

Hayes Ward, "The

Seal Cylinders of

Western Asia,"

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

124

and

painters represented the bird perched

falcon,

an

The

eagle, a vulture, a

incident of

macaw

upon the

tree of life as a

or even a turkey/

the winged disk descending

to effect the

sun-

god's purposes upon earth probably represents the earliest record of the

and

recognition of thunder

lightning

All gods

manifestations of the god's powers.

and clouds derive tion of them,

and the phenomena

and the

their attributes,

of rain as

of thunder, lightning, rain

arbitrary graphic representa-

from the legend which the Egyptian scribe has preserved

Saga of the Winged Disk. The sacred axe of Crete is represented elsewhere as a sword which

for us in the

became the

visible

impersonation of the deity."

sword-handle coming to

of a

same incident

in certain

Sir

fell

"

Arthur Evans describes as

stone pillar on

which crude

These representations winged

sword

of the

axe

a Hittite story

and the

story

the

refer to

true to the

sun.^ "

the aniconic image of the

god

a

double axe have been scratched.

in fact serve the

we

is

same purpose as the

shall see subsequently, there

was an

between the Egyptian symbol and the Cretan axe.

actual confusion

The

;

from the

pictures of a

disk in Egypt, and, as

is

Hose and McDougall

life.

Sarawak legends

original in the fact that the

There

obelisk at Abusir

was the

aniconic representative of the sun-

god Re, or rather, the support of the pyramidal apex, the gilded surface of which reflected the sun's rays and so made manifest the god's presence in the stone.

The

Hittites

seem

sentation of the sun

to

have substituted the winged disk as a reprein a design copied from a seal we find the '

:

for

Egyptian symbol borne upon the apex of a cone. The transition from this to the great double axe from Hagia Triada in the Candia Museum^ is a relatively easy one, which was materially helped,

as

we

shall

see,

by

the fact that the vsdnged disk

was

actually homologized with an axe or knife as alternative weapons used by the sun-god for the destruction of mankind. In Dr. Seligman's account of the

^

Seler, -

^

Evans, "

"Codex ;/>.

Vaticanus, No.

cit., p.

Dinka rain-maker {supra,

3113"

vol.

i.,

p.

71

p.

113)

et seq.

8.

The Pagan Tribes of Borneo," 1912, vol. ii., p. 137. Evans, op. cit.. Fig. 8, r, p. 17. There is an excellent photograph of this in Donald McKenzie's " Myths of Crete and Pre-Hellenic Europe," facing p. 160. *

'

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS we

have already seen that the Soudanese Osiris was spear and falling stars.

Mr.

a handle.

word

(" Hieroglyphics,"

p.

the

however, interprets

Griffith,

46).

identified with a

Egyptian hieroglyph used as the nclcr, meaning god or spirit, is the axe with

Dr. Budge'

to

According

determinative of the

125

On

it

as a roll of yellow cloth

Hittite seals the axe sometimes takes

god Teshub.' Arthur Evans endeavours

the place of the Sir

vague appeal

to certain natural

to

explain

phenomena

these conceptions

and

specific to

20 and 21); much too arbi-

{op. ciL, pp.

but the identical traditions of widespread peoples are trary

by a

be interpreted by any such speculations.

Sanchoniathon's story of Baetylos being the son of Ouranos is merely a poetical way of saying that the sun-god fell to earth in the

form of a stone or a weapon, as a Zeus Kappotas or a Horus in the form of a winged disk, flying down from heaven to destroy the enemies of Re. "

The

idea of their [the weapons] flying through the air or falling

from heaven, and shining in

their

supposed power of burning with inner

the nighttime,"

Evans claims {op.ciL,

p.

was not

primarily suggested, as Sir

"by

21),

the

phenomena

fire

or

Arthur

associated

with

meteoric stones," but was a rationalization of the events described in the early Egyptian and Babylonian

stories.

They "shine at night" because the original weapon of destruction " was the moon as the Eye of Re. They burn with inward fire," like Marduk, when

the Babylonian

"he

filled

his

in the

fight

with the dragon Tiamat

body with burning flame" (King, op. cii., p. 71), befire, the fire of the sun and of lightning, the fire spat

cause they we?'e out by the

Eye

Re.

of

Further evidence in corroboration of these views fact that in the

the gods provided for

forth a series of

^

'^

"

provided by the

/Egean area the double-axe replaces the moon between

the cow's horns (Evans, op. cit.. Fig. 3, p. 9). " " In King's Babylonian Religion (pp. 70 and 7

the combat

is

Marduk with an

vrith the its

The Gods

dragon

homologues

of the

See, for example.

:

:

—

invincible

i.,

)

in preparation

scribe himself sets

pp. 63 ct seq.

op. cit., p. 41 1.

we are told how

weapon

and the ancient

Egyptians," vol.

Ward,

1

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

126

He made He slung

ready his bow a spear and quiver

The bow

He

.

.

.

set the

.

.

.

.

in front of him,

hghtning flame he

With burning

An

.

.

filled his

body.

ancient Egyptian writer has put on record further identifica-

In the 95th Chapter of the Book of the Dead, the weapons. " I am he who sendeth forth terror deceased is reported to have said tions of

:

into the

of rain

powers knife which is

the "

in

hand

Gods

thunder" (Budge,

The

and thunder.

...

Thoth

of

have made

I

of the Egyptians," vol.

words " in a

:

some representations

seeing

of the

remarkable manner the outlines of the

asked

it

if

414).

p.

was not owing

not

is

altogether new,

Count d'Alviella

years ago by

—

On

i.,

the winged disk with the thunderbolt which

identification of

was suggested some

it

my

the powers of rain and

in

emerges so definitely from these homologies for

to flourish

^

in

these

Thunderbolt which

recall

Winged

Globe,

it

may be

symbol that the Greeks trans-

to this latter

formed into a winged spindle the Double Trident derived from AsAt any rate the transition, or, if it be preferred, the combination syria. of the t\vo

symbols

where Greek

Thus on

met with

is

coins of

Bocchus

-with

from lightning or some

According exhibits the form " at

the

the

Winged Globe, and M.

L.

really the result of crossing

is

not always, or even commonly, the disk.

winged

It

is

more

often derived

floral design.'

Count

to

types.

Mauretania, figures are found

".

thunderbolt, however,

representative of

of

which are

Miiller calls Thunderbolts, but

between these two emblems

The

those coins from Northern Africa

King

II,

which M. Lajard connected

direct

in

was most deeply impregnated with Phoenician

art

d'Alviella^'

"the Trident of Siva

of a lotus calyx depicted

in the

at

times

Egyptian manner ". still be found

Perhaps other transformations of the trisula might

Boro-Budur

[in

Java].

.

.

.

The same Disk

which,

when

trans-

formed into a most complicated ornament, is sometimes crowned by a which brings us back Trident, is also met with between two serpents to

the origin of the ^ '^

"The

Winged

Circle

—

—

the

Globe

Migration of Symbols," pp. 220 and ^ cit., p. 53. Op.

Blinkenberg, op.

of

Egypt with the

22K cit.,

p.

256.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS " (see d'AKaella's

ursi

tween which and

"Moreover

158).

Fig.

127 ornament, be-

this

forms of the trisiila the transition

certain

is

easily

traced, commonly sunnounts the entrance to the pagodas depicted

the

bas-reliefs

adorns the

—

find

traces of

independently from the

derived

as the

Winged Globe

Egypt and Phoenicia." a blending of the two homologous

the temples in

lintel of

Thus we

same manner

exactly the

in

in

and

lotus

the winged

designs,

disk,

which

acquired the same symbolic significance. The weapon of Poseidon, the so-called "Trident of Neptune," is " sometimes crowned with a trilobate lotus flower, or with three lotus

buds

;

in

other cases

is

it

depicted in a shape that

may

well represent

a fishing spear" (Blinkenberg, op. cit., pp. 53 and 54). " Even if Jacobsthal's interpretation of the flov/er as a

common

be not accepted, the conventionalization of the Greek symbol trident as a lotus blossom is quite analogous to the change, on Greek for fire

soil,

of the Assyrian

thunderweapon

to

two flowers pointing

in opposite

directions" (p. 54).

But the conception sunamarily be dismissed.

of

a flower as a symbol of fire cannot thus For Sir Arthur Evans has collected all the

stages in the transfonnation of pillars of

Cyprus,

in

Egyptian palmette

which the

leaflets of the

Cypro- Mycenaean

The

Egyptian conception of Hathor as a sacred lotus

plant,

be

born.

is

whether

lotus,

correlated with

f!eur-de-lys type

The

p. 50).

which he

its

now

trident

The god iris

or

of light

lily

;

is

and the

hom which

identified lotus

is

^

^

"

of

the

the sun-

"

The

"

takes

its

and the

place beside the sacred lotus fleur-de-lys are

attributes

" of

{op. cit.,

thunderweapons because

identified with Indra's thunderbolt, the

many

the

form of Horus can

Hellenic surrogate, Apollo Hyakinthos.

also applied to the diamond, the

quired

is

with the water-

they represent forms of Horus or his mother. The classical keraunos is still preserved in Tibet

which

the

calls

underlying motive which makes such a transference easy

god Horus

rayed

palmette become converted "

derivatives) into the rays " natural concomitant of divinities of light }

(in the

pillars into the

as the dorje,

vajrar This word is which in turn ac-

king of stones," the

pearl,

another of

Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 51 and 52. See Blinkenberg, op. cit., pp. 45-8.

the Great

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

128

Mother's surrogates, which

is

reputed to have fallen from heaven like

the thunderbolt.^

The Tibetan

dorje, like

its

Greek

conven-

original, is obviously a

tionalized flower, the leaf-design about the base of the corona being

quite clearly defined.

The

influence of the

Greek myths as

Winged- Disk Saga

Aristophanes as declaring that

The eye

When we

to

is

clearly revealed in such

"

that relating to Ixion.

Euripides

Aitker aX

is

represented

by

the creation devised

mimic the wheel

^

of the sun."

read of Zeus in anger binding Ixion to a winged wheel

fire, and sending him spinning through the air, we are merely with a Greek variant of the Egyptian myth in which Re dealing In the Heldespatched Horus as a winged disk to slay his enemies.

made

of

lenic version the

angry with the father of the centaurs for father-in-law and his behaviour towards Hera

sky-god

his ill-treatment of

his

is

and her cloud-manifestation reveal

their

Aryan

variants.

It is

of

but though distorted

original inspiration in

the

for

a

common

all

the incidents

Egyptian story and

remarkable that Mr. A. B. Cook,

Ixion with the Egyptian

deeper

;

who compared

its

the wheel

disk (pp. 205-10), did not

winged two myths,

origin of the

so far as to identify Ixion with the sun-god (p.

especially

early

look

when he

got

211 ).

Biinkenberg sums up the development of the thunder- weapon thus "

From

the old Babylonian representation of the lightning,

i.e.

:

two or

three zigzag lines representing flames, a tripartite thunder-weapon

was

evolved and carried east and west from the ancient seat of civilization. ^

I must defer consideration of the part played by certain of the Great Mother's surrogates in the development of the thunder- weapon's symbolism I have in mind and the associated folk-lore. especially the influence of the was and the cow. former The octopus responsible in part for the use of

the spiral as a thunder- symbol

;

and the

latter

for the beliefs in the'^s^pecial

over cows (see Biinkenberg, op. at.'). The thunder stone was placed over the lintel of the cow- shed for the same Until purpose as the winged disk over the door of an Egyptian temple.

protective

power

of thunderstones

the relations of the octopus to the dragon have been set forth it adequately to discuss the question of the seven-headed dragon,

from Scotland

to

Japan and from Scandinavia to

is

impossible

which ranges " In the Zambesi. The

"

Birth of Aphrodite I shall call attention to the basal factors in A. B. Cook, " Zeus," vol. i., p. 198.

its

evolution.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

129

Together with the axe (in Western Asia Minor the double-edged, and towards the centre of Asia the single-edged, axe) it became a regular

attribute of the Asiatic thuuder-gods.

Greek

triaina are

both

.

.

.

The

Indian trisula and the

descendants"

its

(p. 57). Discussing the relationship of the sun-god to thunder, Dr. Rendel Harris refers to the fact that Apollo's " arrows are said to be light-

nings,"

and he quotes Pausanias, Apollodorus and Mr. A. B. Cook Both sons of Zeus, Dionysus and

in substantiation of his statements.'

"

Apollo, are

concerned with the production of

fire ".

According Hyginus, Typhon was the son of Tartarus and the Earth he made war against Jupiter for dominion, and, being struck by lightning, was thrown flaming to the earth, where Mount /Etna was placed upon him.' to

:

In this curious variant of the story of

of

Horus with Set

is

the winged

disk, the conflict

merged with the Destruction, for the son of Tar-

tarus [Osiris]

and the Earth

brother Set.

Instead of fighting for Jupiter

here

[Isis]

is

not

Horus

but his hostile

(Re) as Horus did, he is (which is Horus in the form of the winged disk) strikes Typhon and throws him flaming to earth. The episode of Mount /Etna is the antithesis of the incident in the Indian him.

against

The

lightning

Mount Meru is placed in the legend of the churning of the ocean sea upon the tortoise avatar of Vishnu and is used to churn the food :

of

immortality for the gods.

brought h-om Elephantine

The (xii.,

stoiy told

7 et

seq.):

is

the

In

Egyptian story the red ochre

pounded with the

barley.

by Hyginus leads up to the vision in Revelations " Thece^ was ^ai^ in heaven Michael and his ;

and the dragon fought, and his fought and angels, prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world he was cast against the dragon

angels

;

:

into the earth,

and

The Ascent

his angels

of

"

were

Olympus,"

cast out with him."

p. 32.

Tartarus ex Terra procreavit Typhonem, immani magnitudine, specieque portentosa, cui centum capita draconum ex humeris enata erant. Hie

Jovem provocavit,

secum de regno centare. Jovis fulmine ardenti Cui cum flagraret, montem /Etnam, qui est in super eum imposuit qui ex eo adhuc ardere dicitur" (Hyginu^ ^^ si

vellet

pectus ejus percussit. Siciha,

fab. 152).

;

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

130

In the later variants the original significance of the Destruction of

Mankind seems to have been lost sight of. The life-giving Great Mother tends to drop out of the story and her son Horus takes her place.

He

becomes the warrior-god, but he not only assumes

but he also adopts her

capacity of the sky-god's sun, to w^hich

the winged

he gave

disk.

his

"

mother's role

his

Just as she attacked Re's enemies in the

tactics.

Eye," so Horus as the other

own

"

Eye," the form of

falcon's wings, attacked in the

The winged

like

disk,

"

the other

Eye

of

Re,"

was not merely the sky weapon which shot down to destroy mankind, This early conception involved but also was the god Horus himself. the belief that the thunderbolt and lightning represented not merely the fiery weapon but the actual god.

The winged disk thus exhibits the same confusion we have already noticed in Osiris and Hathor. It is symbol of

and beneficent protective power

life-giving

weapon used to slaughter mankind. It as well as the baneful thunder- weapon.

The One

of the

and America,

is

commonest

yet

:

it

is

the

healing caduceus

in fact the

Deer.

most surprising features of the dragon

is

of attributes as

the

in

China, Japan

the equipment of deer's horns.

In Babylonia both

Ea and Marduk

are intimately associated with

the antelope or gazelle, and the combination of the head of ,the antelope (or in other cases the goat) wdch the

body

of a

the most char-

fish is

god. Egypt both Osiris and Horus are at times brought into relationship with the gazelle or antelope, but acteristic manifestation of either

more

often

it

In

represents their enem.y Set.

Hence,

in

some

parts of

Africa, especially in the west, the antelope plays the part of the dragon in Asiatic stories.^

dragon

and

is

^

also.

The cow

-

of

Hathor (Tiamat) may

represent the

In East Africa the antelope assumes the role of the hero,^

the representative of Horus.

Frobenius,

"The Voice

In the

of Africa," vol.

^^gean

ii.,

p.

area,

467

Asia Minor

inter alia.

468.

"-Op. cit., p. ^J. F. Campbell,

"The

Celtic

Dragon Myth," with the "Caste

of

Fraoch and the Dragon," translated with Introduction by George Henderson, Edinburgh, 191 1, p. 136.

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS and Europe the antelope, gazelle or the the Great Mother.' In India the

Soma's chariot

god

have already suggested that

Soma

is

deer,

may

13)

be associated with

drawn by an

is

antelope.

I

only a specialized form of the

Babylonian Ea, whole evil avatar \s the dragon there is thus suggested 1 he Ea-element another link between the antelope and the latter. :

explains the fish-scales and the antelope provides the horns.

shall

I

return to the discussion of this point later.

Vayu or Pavana, the Indian god of the winds, who afterwards became merged with Indra, rides upon an antelope like the Egyptian Soma's attributes also were in large measure taken over by Horus. Hence

Indra.

in this

complex

contradictions

tissue of

find the dragon-slayer acquiring the insignia, in this

we

once more

case the antelope,

of his mortal

enemy. have already referred to the fact that the early Babylonian deities could also be demons. Tiamat, the dragon whom Marduk fought, was 1

merely the malevolent avatar of

the Great

from an

acquired his covering of fish-scales

evil

Mother.

The dragon

form of Ea.

Hibbert Lectures Professor Sayce claimed that the name of Ea was expressed by an ideograph which signifies literally " the anteIn his

"

lope

"

Ea was

280).

(p.

'

the animal of to

Ea

to

the lusty antelope

have been the

fish

:

the

We

'

antelope the creator,'

'

the antelope of the deep,'

called

should have expected the fact that it is not so points

'.

Babylonia was an one the divine antelope and the

the conclusion that the culture-god of Southern

amalgamation

of

two

earlier

deities,

'

other the divine

was

Ea was

lish.

"

the god of the river and Nina was also both the fish-

originally

also associated with the snake

".

goddess and the divinity whose name is interchanged with that of the " Professor Sayce then refers to the curious process of developdeep. ment which transformed the old serpent- goddess, the lady Nina,' into '

the

embodiment

after all,

of all that

was

hostile to

Nina had sprung from the

the powers of heaven

fish-god of the deep

[who

;

but

also

was

For example the red deer occupies the place usually taken by the " goddess's lions upon a Cretan gem (Evans, Mycenaean Tree and Pillar on the bronze plate from Heddemheim (A. B. Cult," Fig. 32, p. 56) Cook, "Zeus," vol. i., pl. xxxiv., and p. 620) Isis is represented standing on a hind Artemis, another avatar of the same Great Mother, was in:

:

timately associated with deer.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

132

both antelope and serpent as well, see "

'

'

the deep

in Semitic dress

(p.

At times Ea was regarded as a The position of the name in lope." animal must be meant.

re-duplicated form of the to

be equivalent

herself

gazelle rather than as an ante-

the

of animals

list

"

Ltilwi,

same word.

to sarrii, king (p.

Certain Assyriologists, from

is

283).

"

species of

282], and Tiamat

p,

shows what

a stag," seems to be a

Both hilwi and elnn are said

284).

whom

asked for enlightenment upon these philological matters, express some doubt as to the antiquity or to

names

the reality of the association of the antelope,

But

gazelle or stag.

I

of

Ea and

the

word

whatever the value of the

for

linguistic

evidence, the archaeological, at any rate as early as the time of

buchadnezzar

I,

Ea and Marduk

brings both

an

Ne-

into close association vHth

a strange creature equipped with the horns of an antelope or gazelle.

The

association with the antelope of the

and Egypt leaves the that

hoped

homologous deities in India no doubt. I had

reality of the connexion in

Professor Sayce's evidence

would have provided some But whether or

explanation of the strange association of the antelope.

not the philological data justify the inferences which Professor Sayce

drew from them, his statement that in

be no doubt concerning the correctness Ea was represented both by fish and antelope,

there can

body

of

a

He

fish.^

of Ea, tiirahu-apsii,

for

M.

J. de Morgan brought to Ea's animal consisting of an antelope's head on

the course of his excavations at Susa

light representations of

the

of

also

makes the statement

means "antelope

that the

of the sea".

I

ideogram have already

"

antelope of the sea," the socalled goat-fish," is identical with the prototype of the dragon. " " fish If his claim that the names of Ea meant both a and an (p.

88) referred

to

the fact that this

"

"antelope" were well founded, the pun would have solved this problem, as it has done in the case of many other puzzles in the history But

of early civilization.

open

for solution.

As

animals, the gazelle reason.

Set

was

if

this is not

was held

identified

to

tells

us that

"

be personified

with the demon

In her important treatise on

Gladys Davis

the case, the question

"

The

in his aspect of

is

in all the desert

of

evil

for

Asiatic Dionysos"

Moon

still

this

.Miss

'

the lord of stars'

" de Morgan, article on Koudourrous," Mew. Del. en Perse, t. 7, 1905. Figures on p. 143 and p. 148 see also an earlier article on the same subject in tome i. of the same series. ^

J.

:

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Soma

has

of the

names

in

marked

or

an antelope"

the early Indians

'

was mriga-piplu

over v^hich

Soma

presides

is

Soma

is

'

'

or the deer-headed."

mriga-siras

merely the

Aryan

Ea

Sayce's association of

be admitted that

it

Osiris, as

with the antelope

is

have claimed,

I

corroborated, even

not explained.

is

if

it

"

China the dragon was sometimes called "the celestial stag (de In Mexico the deer has the same intimate 43). op. ciL, p.

In Gi'oot,

1

celestial relations as

1

has in the

it

noiogie, Bd. 41, p. 414).

deer-crocodile

Maya

I

makara

Old World

(see Seler, Zeit. f.

have already referred

to the

Museum

in the

Liverpool of the ancients was lacking zoology systematic

The of

If

Ea and

specialization of

"The

adds:

Further she

202).

(p.

lunar mansion

for the

one

'

moon by

given to the

like

In fact,

character the antelope as his symbol.

this

name

Sanskrit

133

modern

times

and there are reasons

;

for

Etk-

remarkable

(p.

103).

in the precision

supposing that the antelope

and gazelle could exchange places the one wath the other in their divine the deer and the rabbit were also their surrogates. In India a roles ;

spotted rabbit can take the place of the antelope in playing the part of

"

what we

call

the

man

in the

not only in India, but also in ancient

Mexican codices

we

just

have

moon

This interpretation is common, China, and is repeatedly found in the ".

In the spread of the ideas

(Seler, op. czt^.

been considering from Babylonia towards the north

we

find

that the deer takes the place of the antelope. In view of the close resemblance between the Indian god Soma and the Phrygian Dionysus, which has been demonstrated by Miss Gladys Davis, it is of interest to note that in the service of the Greek

god a man was disguised as a stag, slain and eaten.^ Artemis also, one of the many avatars of the Great Mother,

was

also related to the I

moon, was

have already referred

closely associated with the deer.

tc the fact that

in

Africa the dragon role

may be assumed by the cow or buffalo. Soma and Dionysus their association with the

of the female antelope

case of the gods or deer

may be

that in the

Homa

the god presides "

Mazda

extended

is

brought

girdle (the belt of ^

to

the bull.

Miss Davis

In the

antelope

{pp. cit.)

states

Yasht the deer- headed lunar mansion over v/hich spoken of as to thee

"

leading the Paurvas,"

(Homa)

the star-studded

B. Cook,

"

Zeus,"

vol.

i.,

p.

674.

i.e.

Pleiades

:

spirit- fashioned

Now the

Orion) leading the Paurvas.

A.

who

Bull- Dionysus

THE EVOLUnON OF THE DRAGON

134

was

especially associated with the

— mythology which

classical is

a sign of

Thor

Pleiades on ancient

gems and

form part of the sign Taurus."

Haoma (Homa)

or

The

Soma.

belt of the

The

in

bull

thunder-god

corroborates the fact of the diffusion of these Babylonian ideas as

far as

Northern Europe.

The Ram. The related

by

the

ram with the thunder-god is probably with the fact that the sun-god Amon in Egypt was represented ram with a distinctive spiral horn. This spiral became a dis-

tinctive

close association of the

feature of the

thunder throughout the Hellenic and those parts of Africa which were affected of

god

Phoenician worlds and in their influence or directly

by Egypt. account of the widespread influence of the ram-headed god of thunder in the Soudan and West Africa has been given by Fro-

by

An

benius.^

But the ram also became associated with Agni, the Indian firegod, and the spiral as a head- appendage became the symbol of thunder throughout China and Japan, and from Asia spread to America where such deities as Tlaloc still retain this distinctive token of their origin

h-om the Old World. In

this

Europe

association

an even more obtrusive

of the

ram and

its

spiral

horn played

part.

octopus as a surrogate of the Great Mother was primarily responsible for the development of the Hfe-giring attributes of the spiral

The

But the

motif.

close connexion of the Great

Mother with the dragon

and the thunder-weapon prepared the way for the special association of the spiral with thunder, which was confirmed when the ram with its spiral

God

horn became the

of

Thunder.

The The

Pig.

relationship of the pig to the

to that of the

a malevolent

cow and

part.

the stag, for

But the nature

dragon is on the whole analogous it can play either a beneficent or

of the special circumstances

which

gave the pig a peculiar notoriety as an unclean animal are so intimately " Birth of

associated vrith the

cussion of

them

for

my

lecture

^

Op.

Aphrodite" that I shall defer the on the history of the goddess.

cit., vol. i.,

pp. 212-27.

dis-

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS Certain Incidents

in

the Dragon Myth.

greater part of the area

Throughout the

135

which

tradition has

peopled

with dragons, iron is regarded as peculiarly lethal to the monsters. " smiths'* who forged This seems to be due to the part played by the iron weapons with which Horus overcame Set and his followers,' or in the earlier versions of the legend the metal the

weapons by means

of

which

Egypt secured their historic victory over the But the association of meteoric iron with the

people of Upper

Lower

Egyptians.

thunderbolt, the traditional ^veapon for destroying dragons, gave force to the ancient legend

and made

it

added

peculiarly apt as an incident in

the story.

But though the dragon is afraid of iron, he likes precious gems and k'ung-ts''ing ("The Stone of Darkness") and is fond of roasted swallows.

The

partiality of

dragons

of a very ancient story of the

was

devour the pray

transmission

form of

dragon whose home

swallows

—aEnglandwhich tale

is

swallows flying

Isis

the monster

is

has eaten of swallows should avoid in

is

the deep should

But those

traveller to secure the dainty morsel of swallow.

for rain use

in

in the

In China, so ravenous

anyone who

crossing the water, lest the

to the

who

Great Mother,

identified with the swallow.

for this delicacy, that

who

swallows v/as due

for

to attract the beneficent deity.

low are believed

to

Even

be omens of coming rain

about as reliable as the Chinese variant of the same

ancient legend.

"The

beautiful

gems remind us

of the Indian

of the sea were, of course, in India as well as

dragons

;

the pearls

China and Japan, con'

sidered to be in the special possession of the dragon- shaped sea-gods

West

The cultural drift from (de Visser, p. 69). southern coast of India was effected mainly by ing for pearls.

sailors

to East

along the

who were

search-

Sharks constituted the special dangers the divers had to

incur in exploiting pearl-beds to obtain the precious

But

at the

Indian

time these great enterprises were

Ocean

first

"giver of life'. undertaken in the

the people dwelling in the neighbourhood of the chief

pearl-beds regarded the sea as the great source of

all life-giving

virtues

and the god who exercised these powers was incarnated in a fish. The sharks therefore had to be brought into harmony with this scheme, and "

^

Budge,

Gods

of the

Egyptians,"

vol.

i.,

p.

476.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

136

they were rationalized as the guardians of the storehouse of life-giving pearls at the bottom of the sea, I

do not propose

to discuss at present the diffusion to the East of

the beliefs concerning the shark and the modifications which they underin the course of these migrations in Melanesia and elsewhere ; " " but in my lecture upon the Birth of Aphrodite I shall have occasion

went

to refer to

its

transferred

West and

spread to the the

to

then assumed

a

in

dog-fish

explain

how

The

Mediterranean.

the

form and became

terrestrial

the shark's role

was

dog-fish

simply the dog

who

plays such a strange part in the magical ceremony of digging up the

mandrake.

At

we

present

are concerned merely with the shark as the guardian

of the stores of pearls at the

with the

Naga and

bottom of the

the dragon, and

treasure-house which

became one

it

This episode

He

sea.

became

the store of pearls

identified

became a vast

of the chief functions of the

dragon

wonder-beast's varied career has a place in most of the legends ranging from Western Europe to Farthest Asia. Sometimes the dragon carries a pearl under his tongue or in his chin as to guard.

in the

a reserve of life-giving substance.

Mr. Donald Mackenzie has

^

called

influence

upon the development

Egyptian

representation of the child

On

lips.

some pretence or such as

slaying heroes, fingers in

mouths.

their

attention

to

the remarkable

of the

Dragon Myth of the familiar Horus with a finger touching his

many of the European dragonthe and Sigurd Highland Finn, place their other,

This action

is

usually rationalized

by the

statement that the hero burnt his fingers while cooking the slain monster.

The Ethical So

far in this

discussion

I

Aspect.

have been dealing mainly with the pro-

blems of the dragon's evolution, the attainment of

his or

her distinctive

But during this proanatomical features and physiological attributes. cess of development a moral and ethical aspect of the dragon's character

was

also emerging.

Now the

that

we

moon-god

it

have realized the is

important to remember that one

functions of this deity, ^

fact of the dragon's

which

"

Egyptian

later

became

Myth and Legend,"

homology with of

the primary

specialized in the

pp.

340

et seq.

Egyptian

i>^

Fig. i6.

(From

a Chinese drawing

— The

(?

God

of

Thunder

17th Century) in the John Rylands Library)

Fig. 17.

— From

Joannes de Turrecremata's CoNTEMPLATioNES ". Rotiic UlHch :

"

Meditationes seu

Hail, 1467

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS

137

god Thoth, was the measuring of time and the keeping of records. The moon, in fact, was the controller of accuracy, of truth, and order, The identification and therefore the enemy of falsehood and chaos.

moon with

who

from a dead king eventually developed into a king of the dead, conferred upon the great Father of Waters the power to exact from men respect for truth and order. For even if at of the

these ideas

first

Osiris,

were only vaguely adumbrated and not expressed

in

to good discipline vvhen men and the remembered that the record-keeper guardian of law and order was also the deity upon whose tender mercies they would have to rely set phrases,

must have been an incentive

it

Set, the

in the life after death.

type of the

evil

enemy

of Osiris,

who

is

the real proto-

dragon, was the antithesis of the god of justice

the father of falsehood

and the symbol

He

of chaos.

was

:

he was

the proto-

type of Satan, as Osiris was the first definite representative of the Deity of which any record has been preserved.

The

history of the evil dragon

devil, tut

it

not merely the evolution of the

is

also affords the explanation of his traditional peculiarities, his

bird-like features, his horns, his red colour, his

and

his

They

tail.

and from time

are

all of

to time in the history of

the reality of these identifications.

VI.) found

(Pi,

A

the bird's feet of the dragon, is

In

past ages

one

a printed book Satan

in

wings and cloven hoofs,

them the dragon's

is

is

we

features

;

catch glimpses of

of the earliest

depicted as a

woodcuts

monk

with

most interesting intermediate phase

seen in a Chinese water-colour in the John

which the thunder-dragon

distinctive

Rylands Library,

in

represented in a form alm.ost exactly re-

producing that of the devil of European tradition (PI, VII,).

Early

in the Christian

era,

when

ancient beliefs in

Egypt became

disguised under a thin veneer of Christianity, the story of the conflict between Horus and Set was converted into a conflict between Christ

and Satan, in

relief

Roman which to

the

M, Clermont-Ganneau Louvre

in

which

has described an interesting basa hawk-headed St, George, clad in

military uniform and mounted on a horse, is

represented by Set's crocodile.

Satan leave no doubt as to "

his

But the

is

slaying a dragon

Biblical references

identity with the dragon,

who

is

Horus at St. George d'apres un bas-relief inedit du Louvre," Revue It is Archcologique, Nouvelle Serie, t. xxxii., 1876, p. 196, pi. xviii. right to explain that M. Clermont-Ganneau's interpretation of this relief has not '

been accepted by

all

scholars.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

138

specifically

which

The god

mentioned

Book

in the

devil

Osiris

Revelations as "the old serpent,

of

"

the Devil and Satan

is

(xx. 2).

was symbolic

Set

was the maintainer

and darkness, while the

of disorder

and the

of order

giver of light.

Although

the moon-god, in the form of Osiris,

Thoth and

other deities, thus

came

a

who

to acquire the moral

movements

attributes of

the waters

of the celestial bodies, controlled

and was responsible

for the

maintenance of order

was

aspect of his functions

ethical

just judge,

material importance of

his

In

Babylonia held with respect to the beneficent water-god Ea, of civilization,

order and

and

justice,

upon the

in the

Sin, the

and

*'

From

the planets, the overseer of

by the were

similar views

who was the giver " had moon-god, who

attained a high position in the Babylonian pantheon," as of the stars

earth,

Universe, the

large measure disguised

in

duties.

regulated the

"the guide

the world at

night".

moral character soon developed." "He is an extremely beneficent deity, he is a king, he is the ruler of men, he produces order and stability, like Shamash and like the Indian that conception a

Varuna and bonds is

of high

god

Mitra, but besides that, he

of the imprisoned, like

the symbol of righteousness.

Mazdah, he

Iranian

When

is

.

.

.

is

also a judge,

His

Varuna.

he loosens the

light, like that of

Varuna,

Like the Indian Varuna and the

a god of wisdom."

Egyptian and Babylonian ideas were borrowed by Mazdah and the Indian Varuna assumed

these

the Aryans, and the Iranian

the role of the beneficent deity of the former more ancient civilizations,

moon-god became less obgradually emerged the conception, to which Zara-^

the material aspect of the functions of the trusive

and there

;

thushtra

first

Mazdah

as

vellous

gave concrete expression, of the beneficent god

"an

morality and creator

omniscient protector of

power and knowledge ".

the most- seeing one.

No

radiant eyes everything that

"

He

is

in

mar-

the most-knowing one, and

one can deceive him.

done

Ahma of

open or

He

watches with "

in secret."

Although he has a strong personality he has no anthropomorphic features." He has shed the material aspects which loomed so large in his Egyptian, Babylonian and

earlier

is

Aryan

prototypes,

and a more ethereal concep-

God of the highest ethical qualities has emerged. The whole of this process of transformation has been described

tion of a

deep

insight

and

lucid exposition

with

by Professor Cumont, from whose im~

DRAGONS AND RAIN GODS portant and convincing

memoir

I

have quoted so

139

freely in the foregoing

paragraphs.^

The

such moral grandeur in" Power evitably emphasized the baseness and the malevolence of the of Evil No longer are the gods merely glorified human beings who creation of a beneficent

Deity of

i

.

can work good or

God "

evil as

they will

;

controlling the morals of the universe,

the dragon, the old serpent, which ^

but there

and

the Devil

now an in

all-powerful

opposition to

and Satan

Him

".

The Moral Deities of Iran and India and their The American Journal of Theology, vol. xxi., No. I, Jan. I9I7»

Albert

Origins," p. 58.

"

is

is

J.

Carnoy,

Chapter

III.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITES may seem

ungallant to discuss the birth of Aphrodite as part of But the other chapters the stoiy of the evolution of the dragon.

IT

of this book, in

which frequent references have been made to the Great Mother, have revealed how vital a

the early history of The earliest real part she played in the development of the dragon. dragon was Tiamat, one of the forms assumed by the Great Mother ;

and an even of

earlier

prototype was

the lioness (Sekhet) manifestation

Hathor.

Thus done

in

it

enquire more fully (than has been into the circumstances of the Great

becomes necessary

the

to

other chapters)

Mother's birth and development, and to investigate certain aspects of her ontogeny to which only scant attention has been paid in the preceding pages. Several reasons have led

Great Mothers

of

legion

for

me

to select

Aphrodite from the vast In spite of her

special consideration.

high specialization in certain directions the Greek goddess of love retains in greater measure than any of her sisters some of the most primitive associations of her original parent.

Like

vestigial structures

in biology, these traits afford invaluable evidence, not

only of Aphroalso of the whole but of that dite's own ancestry and early history, For family of goddesses of which she is only a specialized type. of the circumstances a survival is shells connexion with Aphrodite's

which

called into existence the

only the Creator of all

deities,

as

inventiveness.

she

was

An

Great Mother and made her not universe, but also the parent of

historically the

In this lecture

aspects of the evolution of ^

first

mankind and the

all

1

propose

first

to

be created by human

more general the Great Mother

to deal with the

these daughters of

:

elaboration of a lecture delivered at the John Rylands Library, on

14 November, 1917. 140

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

141

have used Aphrodite's name in the title because her shellassociations can be demonstrated more clearly and definitely than those

but

of

I

of her sisters.

any

In the past a vast array of learning has

been brought

to

bear upon

but this effort has, for the most the problems of Aphrodite's origin a narrowness of vision and a lack of adepart, been characterized by ;

quate appreciation of the more In the search for the in

her embryological history.

deep human motives that found too

the great goddess of love,

primitive man's psychology, life

vital factors in

and

to avert the risk of death, to

of existence after death.

On

little

specific expression

been paid an elixir

attention has

his persistent striving for

to of

renew youth and secure a continuance

the other hand, the possibility of obtain-

dashed aside by most scholars, who ing any real explanation has been to have been content simply juggle with certain stereotyped catchbecause the traditions of phrases and baseless assumptions, simply the pawns in a rather these devices made have classical scholarship aimless game. is

It

unnecessary to cite

specific

in

illustrations

support of this

to any of the standard works on classical " Roscher's as such Lexikon," will testify to the truth of archaeology, " In her Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Remy accusation. " " The Making devotes a chapter (VI) to Harrison Miss Jane ligion " The Birth of Aphrodite ". But she of a Goddess," and discusses

statement.

strictly

Reference

observes the traditions of the classical method

;

and assumes

—

meaning of the myth of Aphrodite's birth from the sea the can be decided by the germs of which are at least fifty centuries old

that the

—

omission of any representation of the sea in the decoration of a pot

made

in the fifth

century B.C.

But apart from

!

this general

and open mindedness,

certain

criticism, the

more

specific

lack of resourcefulness factors

have deflected

In the search for the ancestry classical scholars from the tiue path. of Aphrodite, they have concentrated their attention too exclusively

upon the Mediterranean area and Western Asia, and most ancient

whom

of the historic

so ignored the

Great Mothers, the African Hathor,

v/ith

^

clearly demonstrated more than fifteen years ago) the Cypriote goddess has much closer affinities than with ^

W.

"

(as Sir

Arthur Evans

Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 52. " The Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. I, Budge,

Compare p.

435.

also

A. E.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

142

of her Asiatic

any

side,

Egyptian

investigate

the

Hath or, and

sisters.

Yet no

scholar,

either

on the Greek or

has seriously attempted to follow up this clue and really nature of the connexions between Aphrodite and

the history of the development of their respective speciali-

zations of functions.^

But some explanation must be given for my temerity in venturing " to invade the intensively cultivated domains of Aphrodite with a mind undebauched by classical learning ". I have already explained

how

the study of Libations

and Dragons brought me face

the problems of the Great Mother's attributes.

At

to face

with

that stage of the

enquiry two circumstances directed my attention specifically to AphroMr. Wilfrid Jackson was collecting the data relating to the dite. cultural uses of shells, which he has since incorporated in a book.'

As

the results of his search accumulated, the fact soon emerged that '

"

With

a strange disregard of Sir Arthur Evans's Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," Mr. H. R. Hall makes the following remarks in his " " " The origin of the goddess Aphrodite /Egean Archaeology (p. 150) :

It has been has long been taken for granted. regarded as a settled fact that she was Semitic, and came to Greece from Phoenicia or Cyprus. But the new discoveries have thrown this, like other received ideas, into the melting-

We

Minoans undoubtedly worshipped an Aphrodite. see her, naked and with her doves, on gold plaques from one of the Mycenaean shaft-graves (Schuchhardt, SchlieniaiDi, Figs. 180, 181), which must be as old as the First Late Minoan period {c. 1600-1500 B.C.), and not rising from the foam, but sailing over it in a boat, naked, on the lost gold ring It is evident now that she was not from Mochlos. only a Canaanitish-Syrian She is Aphrogoddess, but was common to all the people of the Levant. dite-Paphia in Cyprus, Ashtaroth-Astarte in Canaan, Atargatis in Syria, Derketo in Philistria, Hathor in Egypt what the Minoans called her we do not know, unless she was Britomartis. She must take her place by the side pot, for the

—

—

;

of

in the Minoan pantheon." not without interest to note that on the Mochlos ring the goddess sailing in a papyrus float of Egyptian type, like the moon-goddess in her

Rhea-Diktynna It is

is

crescent moon.

The

Aphrodite with doves is Highnard's attempt (" Le Mythe de Venus," A /males du Musce Gniinet, T. 1, 1880, p. 23) to derive the name of " " la deesse a la colombe from the Chaldean and Phoenician //^/vV ox phriit " a dove". meaning Mr. Hall might have extended his list of homologues to Mesopotamia, Iran, and India, to Europe and Further Asia, to America, and, in fact, every part of the world that harbours goddesses. " Shells as Evidence of the Migration of Early Culture." association of this early representative of

of special interest in

'

view

of

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

143

Mother was nothing more than a cowry- shell used

the original Great

and that Aphrodite's shell- associations were as a life-giving amulet At a survival of the earliest phase in the Great Mother's history. claimed that Aphrothis psychological moment Dr. Rendel Harris ;

^

was a

dite

mandrake, which he claimed

Of the

But the magical attributes have been responsible for con-

mandrake.

personification of the

to

verting the amulet into a goddess, were identical with those which Jackson's investigations had previously led me to regard as the reasons

a surrogate of the shell or vice versa." to

decide which amulet

The

life-giving.

the

The mandrake was clearly The problem to be solved was

Aphrodite from the cowry.

for deriving

was

responsible for suggesting the process of

goddess Aphrodite was closely related to Cyprus

mandrake was a magical plant there

ately associated with the island as to

;

and the cowry

be called Cyprcsa.

shell- amulet is vastly

known, however, the

magical reputation of the plant.

Moreover,

;

so intim-

is

So

far as

is

more ancient than the

we know why

the cowry

was regarded as feminine and accredited with life-giving attributes. There are no such reasons for assigning life-giving powers or the The claim that its magical properties are female sex to the mandrake. due

to the fancied resemblance of

The

'

untenable.

even

if

roots of

this character

many

was the

its

root to a

human

being

is

plants are at least as manlike

wholly ;

exclusive property of the mandrake,

and,

how

and help to explain the remarkable and the female sex assigned to the plant ? Sir " such beliefs and practices illustrate the James Frazer's claim that " is a gratuitous and quite irprimitive tendency to personify nature

does

repetory of quite arbitrary

it

fantastic properties

'

relevant assumption, specific

and arbitrary nature

But when we ^

"

A

which

no explanation whatsoever of the the form assumed by the personification.

offers

of

investigate the historical development of the peculiar

The Ascent

of

Olympus."

striking confirmation of the fact that the

mandrake

is

really a surro-

afforded by the practice in modern Greece of using the cowry mandrake carried in a leather bag in the same way (and for the same magigate of the cal

is

purpose as a love philtre) as the Baganda of East Africa use the cowry

(in a leather

bag) at the present time.

" Old Gerade was frank enough to admit that he never could perceive " (quoted by Rendel Harris, op. cit., p. 10). shape of man or woman ^ " Jacob and the Mandrakes," Proceedings of the British Academy, '

1

Vol. VIII,

p. 22.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

144

cowry- shell, and appreciate why and how they were as to the source from which the mandrake obdoubt acquired, any " " and with it the fallacy of Sir James tained its magic is removed

attributes oi the

;

Frazer's wholly unwarranted claims is also exposed. If we ignore Sir James Frazer's naive speculations

we

can make

use of the compilations of evidence which he makes with such remarkBut it is more profitable to turn to the study of the able assiduity.

remarkable lectures which Dr. Rendel Harris has been delivering in Our genial friend has been this room during the last few years. '

Olympus," and has been pluckAt the ripe scholarship and nimble wit. ing the rich same time, with rougher implements and cruder methods, I have been cultivating his garden

fruits of

in the

burrowing

on the slopes

of

his

depths of the earth, trying to recover information

concerning the habits and thoughts of mankind

many

centuries before

dreamt of. Dionysus and Apollo, and Artemis and Aphrodite, were In the course of these subterranean gropings no one was more surprised than of the

I

was

to discover that

same plants whose golden

I

was

fruit

Dr. Rendel Harris was gather-

But Olympian heights. view was perhaps responsible

ing from his points of

getting entangled in the roots

the contrast in our respective for the

different

appearance

the growths assumed.

drop the metaphor, while he was searching for the origins of the deities a few centuries before the Christian era began, I was find-

To

ing their turies

more

more than twenty cenFor the gods and story.

or less larval forms flourishing

before the

commencement

of

his

of

were only the thinly disguised representatives much more ancient deities decked out in the sumptuous habiliments

of

Greek

goddesses of his narrative

culture.

In his lecture

on Aphrodite,

Dr. Rendel Harris claimed that the

goddess was a personification of the mandrake

;

and

I

think he

made

But other scholars

out a good prima facie case in support of his thesis. set forth equally valid reasons for associating Aphrodite with the

have

other argonaut, the octopus, the purpura, and a variety of

shells,

both

univalves and bivalves."

The '

^

goddess has also been regarded as a personification of water, '

"

The Ascent of Olympus." See the memoirs by Tiimpel, Jahn, Houssay, and Jackson, to which

The John Rylands

reference

is

Library.

made elsewhere

-

in these pages.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE the ocean, or

its

Then

foam,'

again she

cows, lions, deer, goats, rams, dolphins,

145

closely linked with pigs,

is

and a host

of other creatures,

not forgetting the dove, the swallow, the partridge, the sparling, the

and the swan."

goose,

The mandrake nition

why

of

any

to,

theory does not explain, or give adequate recog-

Nor does

these facts.

wnth the goddess, or

identifies

why

it is

Rendel Harris suggest mandrake which he

Dr.

so dangerous an operation to dig

it is

up the

essential to secure the assist-

^

The explanation of ance of a dog in the process. gives an important clue to Aphrodite's antecedents.

The Search for the

this fantastic fable

Blood as

Elixir of Life.

Life.

we

In delving into the remotely distant history of our species

can-

be impressed with the persistence with which, throughout * the whole of his career, man (of the species sapiens) has been seeking

not

an

for

to

fail

elixir of life, to

was not

istence

active

from

life

all

the

of the amulets, even of

in love

and

to

own

protect his

life

In

he sought was something that would bring

elixir

in all the events of his life

Evil

and

days of

not merely of time, but also of circumstance.

"

"

the dead (whose ex-

to

vitality

consciously regarded as ended), to prolong the

assaults,

good luck

of the

"

"

added

the living, to restore youth,

to

other words,

"

give

modern

and

its

Most

continuation.

times, the lucky trinkets, the averters

Eye," the practices and devices for securing good luck

sport, in curing bodily ills or

mental

distress, in

attaining

material prosperity, or a continuation of existence after death, are sur-

and

vivals of this ancient

which

persistent striving after those objects

"

our earliest forefathers called collectively the givers of Hfe ". From statements in the earliest literature ^ that has come down to us from antiquity,

no

^

The well-known

'

See the

^

article

"

less

than from the views that

still

prevail

among

circumstantial story told in Hesiod's theogony. " "

Aphrodite

in

Roscher's

Lexikon

".

James Frazer's claim that the incident of the ass in a late Jewish story of Jacob and the mandrakes {pp. at., p. 20) "helps us to understand The learned guardian of the function of the dog," is quite unsupported. the

Sir

Golden Bough does

not explain hozv

*

In response to the prompting of the of the preservation of life.

•'See

\

that

Alan Gardiner, Journal of Egyptian Archceology, Vol. IV,

Parts II-IH, April-July, 1917, p. 205. of

it helps us to understand. most fundamental of all instincts,

Gilgamesh.

lO

Compare

also the Babylonian story

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

146

more

the relatively originally

was

It

primitive peoples of the present day, it is clear that did not consciously formulate a belief in immortality. rather the result of a defect of thinking, or as the modern

man

would express it, an instinctive repression of the unpleasant death would come to him personally, that primitive man

psychologist

idea that

refused to contemplate or to entertain the possibility of

So

an end. physical

intense

damage

as

was

coming to and dread of such

his instinctive love of life

would destroy

his

man

that

body

life

unconsciously

avoided thinking of the chance of his own death hence his belief in the continuance of life cannot be regarded as the outcome of an active :

process of constructive thought.

This may seem altogether paradoxical and How, it may be asked, can man be said death,

if

he

instinctively refused to

admit

its

incredible. to repress the idea of

possibility ?

How

did

he escape the inevitable process of applying to himself the analogy he might have been supposed to make from other men's experience and recognize that he must die

Man man by

?

appreciated the fact that he could

seems to have believed that himself, his

life

if

and the onlookers recognize the

It

death on would,

of

an animal or another

he could avoid such

reality,

at

first

for the

he

upon

death does occur

the practice

is still

it

people to search

But

direct assaults

When

would flow on unchecked.

certain relatively primitive flicted

kill

on him.

inflicting certain physical injuries

among

man who

has

in-

his fellow.

course, be absurd

to pretend

that any people could

to recognize the reality of death in the great majority of cases.

fail

The mere

fact of burial

ference between

is

an indication of

the views of these early

this.

But the point

men and

ourselves,

of dif-

was

the

assumption on the part of the former, that in spite of the obvious changes in his body (which made inhumation or some other procedure tacit

necessary) the deceased

was

still

continuing an existence not unlike

which he enjoyed previously, only somewhat duller, less eventful He still needed food and drink, as he did beand more precarious.

that

fore,

ent

and

all

the paraphernalia of his mortal

upon his relatives Such views were

for the

maintenance

life,

but he

was depend-

of his existence.

acceptance by a thoughtful people, once they appreciated the fact of the disintegration of the corpse in the and in course of time it was regarded as essential for continued grave ;

difficult of

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

147

body should be preserved. The idea developed, the body of the deceased was preserved and there

existence that the so long as

that

were restored death,

to

the elements of vitality which

all

it

had

it

lost

at

existence was theoretically possible and

the continuance of

worthy of acceptance as an article of faith. Let us consider for a moment what were considered .

of vitality

by the

From fact that

earliest

he could

The

He of

loss

Blood, therefore,

of

be elements

our species.^

man seems

to

animals or his fellow

kill

physical injuries.

blood.

members

the remotest times

to

have been aware

men by means

associated these results with

of

the

of certain

the effusion of

blood could cause unconsciousness and death.

must be the vehicle

of

consciousness and

life,

the

whose escape from the body could bring life to an end.' first pictures painted by man, with which we are at present roofs of certain caves in acquainted, are found upon the walls and

material

The

They were the work of the earliest own species. Homo sapiens^ in the phase " Aurignacian ". by the name

Southern France and Spain.

known

representatives of our

of culture

now

distinguished

'

The

animals

man was

in

the habit of hunting for food are depicted.

them arrows are shown implanted in the animal's flank near the region of the heart and in others the heart itself is represented. In

some

of

;

This implies that at

this distant

how

time in the history of our species,

a spot in the animal's anatomy the But even long before man began to speculate about the heart was. functions of the heart, he must have learned to associate the loss of

it

was already

realized

vital

blood on the part of man or animals with death, and to regard the Many factors must pouring out of blood as the escape of its vitaUty.

have contributed to the new advance

in

physiology which

made

heart the centre or the chief habitation of vitality, volition, feeling,

the

and

knowledge.

Not merely

the empirical fact, acquired

of the peculiarly vulnerable nature of

knowledge

that the

heart

contained

by experience

in hunting,

the heart, but perhaps also the life-giving

blood,

helped

in

have been discussed in Chapter I (" Incense and Libabe further considered here. " " The life which is the blood thereof (Gen. ix. 4), " " Ancient Hunters," 2nd Edition, 1915. pp. See, for example, Sollas, 326 (fig. 163), 333 (fig. 171), and 36 (fig. 189). '

Some

tions ") "^

and

of these

will not

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

148

developing the ideas about

its

functions as the bestower of

and

life

consciousness.

The

palpitation of the heart after severe exertion or under the

influence of intense emotion v^rould impress the early physiologist with

the relationship of the heart to the feelings, and afford confirmation of his earlier ideas of its functions.

But whatever the explanation,

it

is

known from

the folk-lore of

even the most unsophisticated peoples that the heart was originally regarded as the seat of life, feeling, volition, and knowledge, and that the blood was the life-stream. The Aurignacian pictures in the caves that these beliefs were extremely ancient. evidence at our disposal seems to indicate that not only were such ideas of physiology current in Aurignacian times, but also certain of

Western Europe suggest

The

cultural

them had been inaugurated even

applications of

remarkable method

of blood-letting

seems to have been practised even If it

in

part of a finger

by chopping

off

Aurignacian

times.^

legitimate to attempt to guess at

is

The

then.

the meaning these early

people attached to so singular a procedure, we may be guided by the ideas associated with this act in outlying corners of the world at the On these grounds we may surmise that the motive present time. underlying

this,

and other

later

cumcision, piercing the ears,

body,

was the

et cetera,

Once was due

it

lips,

of blood-letting, such as cir-

and tongue, gashing the limbs and

offering of the life-giving fluid.

was recognized

to the loss of

methods

that the state of unconsciousness or death

blood

it

was

a not illogical or irrational pro-

cedure to imagine that offerings of blood might restore consciousness and life to the dead.^ If the blood was seriously believed to be the

and knowledge, the exchange of blood or the offering blood to the community was a reasonable method for initiating anyone into the wider knowledge of and sympathy with his fellow- men.

vehicle of feeling of

therefore, played a part in a great variety of cere-

Blood-letting,

monies, of burial and of initiation, and also those of a therapeutic later, of

^

and,

a religious significance.

^

Sollas, op.

cit.,

pp.

347

et seq.

^The "redeeming ^ The practice of

blood," ^apfxaKov aOavaa-ia'i. blood-letting for therapeutic purposes was probably The act of blood-letting was first suggested by a confused rationalization. a means of healing and the victim himself supplied the vitalizing fluid ;

!

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

149

But from Aurignacian times onwards, it seems to have been admitted that substitutes for blood might be endowed with a similar potency.

The

extensive use of red ochre or other red materials for packing

around the bodies of the dead was presumably inspired by the idea that materials simulating blood-stained earth, were endowed with the

same

life-giving properties as actual

ceremonies.

in similar vitalizing

As

blood poured out upon the ground

the shedding of blood produced unconsciousness, the offermg

blood or red ochre was, therefore, a logical and practical means of restoring consciousness and reinforcing the element of vitality which of

was diminished

or lost in the corpse.

The common irrational

child

man was

statement that primitive

based upon a

is

endowed mentally

as his

rational as they are

but

;

fallacy.

modern

many

hadn't the necessary body of

He

successors

;

a fantastically

was probably as well and was as logical and

were wrong, and he accumulated wisdom to help him to of his premises

correct his false assumptions. If primitive man regarded the dead as still existing, but with a reduced vitaHty, it was a not irrational procedure on the part of the people of the Reindeer Epoch in Europe to pack the dead in red ochre

(which they regarded as a surrogate of the

good the lack

life-giving fluid) to

make

of vitality in the corpse.

blood was

and knowledge, the a logical procedure for establishing comexchange of blood was clearly If

munion

of

the

vehicle of consciousness

thought and feeling and so enabling an

initiate to assimilate

the traditions of his people. If

red carnelian

was

a surrogate of blood the wearing of bracelets

was a proper means

or necklaces of this life-giving material off

danger to If

life

and

of securing

good

of

warding

luck.

red paint or the colour red brought these magical results,

clearly justifiable to resort to

All these procedures are

its

it

was

use.

logical.

It is

only the premises that were

erroneous.

The

Egypt makes it possible for us to obtain literaiy evidence to support the inferences drawn from For instance, the red jasper archaeological data of a more remote age. persistence of such customs in Ancient

amulet sometimes called the

"

girdle-tie of

Isis,"

was supposed

to re-

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

150

was applied

present the blood of the goddess and *'

^

stimulate the functions of his blood

accurate to say that

was intended

it

which was so obviously lacking

The Cowry Blood and

its

;

to

to the

or perhaps

add

to

mummy

"

to

would be more

it

the vital substance,

in the corpse.

as a Giver of Life. however, were not the only materials

substitutes,

that had acquired a reputation for vitalizing qualities in the Reindeer For there is a good deal of evidence to suggest that shells Epoch. also were regarded, even in that remote time, as life-giving amulets. If the loss of blood was at first the only recognized cause of death,

was

the act of birth

by which a

child entered the world

was

cowry-shell,

which

portal

regarded, therefore, not only

as the channel of birth, but also as the actual giver of

Red Sea

The

clearly the only process of life-giving.

closely simulates this

**

life.'

The

large

giver of life," then

came to be endowed by popular imagination with the same powers. Hence the shell was used in the same way as red ochre or carnelian it was placed in the grave to confer vitality on the dead, and worn on :

bracelets

and necklaces

to secure

" to avert the risk of

life

danger

good luck by using the

to

properties of blood, blood substitutes,

the one with the

At

first it

life.

and

Thus shells,

"

giver of

the general life-giving

came

to

be assimilated

other.'^

was probably

or giving vitality to

more general power of averting death the dead that played the more obtrusive part in

the magical use of the

shell.

'

Davies and Gardiner,

'

As

"

its

But the circumstances which led

The Tomb

of

Amenemhet,"

p.

to the

112.

In the Egyptian Pyramid called in the Semitic languages. " a reference to a new being formed by the vulva of

it is still

Texts there

is

Tefnut" (Breasted). "

customs and beliefs of primitive peoples suggest that this correlablood and shells went much deeper than the similarity of their use in burial ceremonies and for making necklaces and bracelets. The fact that the monthly effusion of blood in women ceased during pregnancy seems to have given rise to the theory, that the new life of the child was actually formed from the blood thus retained. The beliefs that grew up in explanation of the placenta form part of the system of interpretation of these phenomena for the placenta was regarded as a mass of clotted blood (intimately related to the child which was supposed to be derived from part of the same material) which harboured certain elements of the

Many

tion of the attributes of

:

child's mentality (because

blood was the substance

of consciousness).

I

I

I

{b)

—

(a) The Archaic Egyptian slate palette of Narmek showing, perhaps, THE earliest DESIGN OF HaTHOR (aT THE UPPER CORNERS OF THE PALETTe) AS A WOMAN WITH COW'S HORNS AND EARS (COMPARE FLINDERS PeTRIE, " ThE RoYAL Tombs ok the First Dynasty," Part I, igoo, Plate XXVII, Fig. 71). The PHARAOH is wearing A BELT FROM WHICH ARE SUSPENDED FOUR COW-HEADED HaTHOR FIGURES IN PLACE OF THE COWRY-AMULETS OF MORE PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. This affords corroboration of the view that Hathor assumed the functions ORIGINALLY ATTRIBUTED TO THE COWRY-SHELL. The king's sporran, where Hathor-heads {H) take the place of the cowries OF THE primitive GIRDLE.

Fig. i8.

t

>

C.v-

;tf^

Fig.

.

fc

.f^

— The

front of Stela B (famous for the realistic representations of elephant at its upper corners), one of the ancient Maya MONUMENTS AT CoPAN, CENTRAL AMERICA (AFTER MaUDSLAY's PHOTOGRAPH AND 19.

THE

Indian

diagram). is decorated both with shells (Pliva or COXUS) AND amulets REPRESENTING HUMAN FACES CORRESPONDING TO THE HaTHOR-HEADS on the NaRMER PALETTE (FiG. 18).

The girdle of the chief figure

1

i

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE of the shell's

development

upon the cowry

women and

power over women. It became an amulet to

them

to help

suspended from a

girls

symbolism naturally and inevitably conferred It

special

the life-giving organ.

151

childbirth.

in

girdle, so as

was

the suiTogate of

increase the fertility of

was, therefore, worn by

It

be as near as possible to the

to

it was believed organ it was supposed to simulate and whose potency to be able to reinforce and intensify. Just as bracelets and necklaces

were used

of carnelian

blood, which

it

was

on either sex the

vitalizing virtues of

supposed to simulate, so also cowries, or imita-

them made

tions of

to confer

were worn

of metal or stone,

as bracelets, neck-

in both sexes. laces, or hair- ornaments, to confer health and good luck

But these ideas received a much further extension. As the giver of life, the cowiy came to have attributed

some people

definite

to increase fertility

creator of

all

powers

was

it

:

living things

;

of creation. itself

It

to

by

it

was not merely an amulet

the actual parent of mankind, the

and the next

step

was

to give these mater-

nal functions material expression,

and personify the cowry as an actual

woman

with the distinctly feminine characters

in the

form

of a statuette ^

grossly exaggerated of a Great

Mother,

;

and

in the

who was

domain

of belief to create the

image

the parent of the universe.

Thus

gradually there developed out of the cov^y-amulet the conand good luck. This ception of a creator, the giver of life, health, Great Mother, at first with only vaguely defined traits, was probably

the

first

deity that the wit of

man

watchful care over his welfare in

devised to console him with her

this life

and

to give

him assurance

as

to his fate in the future.

At

this stage

I

should like to emphasize the fact that these beliefs definite ideas had been formulated

had taken shape long before any

as to the physiology of animal reproduction

and before

agriculture

was

practised.

Man fertility,

had not yet come to appreciate the importance of vegetable nor had he yet begun to frame theories of the fertilizing powers

of water, or give specific expression to

own image. Nor had he begun

them by

creating the

god Obiris

in his

to

take anything

more than the most casual

" Les Dtesses Nues dans I'Art Oriental et dans I'Art S. Reinach, Revue ArchcoL, T. XXVI, 1895, p. 367. Grec," Compare also the in Europe. Period Palaeolithic of the so-called Upper figurines ^

See

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

152

stars.

He

When,

for reasons that

and the

interest in the sun, the mooji,

a sky-world nor created a heaven.

had not yet devised I have

the theory of the fertilizing and the animating water was formulated, the beliefs concerning this element power assimilated v^th those which many ages previously had grown were

already discussed,^ of

explanation of the potency of blood and

in

up

shells.

In addition to

fertilizing the earth, water could also animate the dead.

and the

seas

The powers

were

in

of the

fact a vast reservoir of

this

The

rivers

animating substance.

were rationalized

cowry, as a product of the sea,

into an expression of the great creative force of the water.

A bowl of water became the symbol

of the fruitfulness of

woman.

Such symboHsm implied that woman, or her uterus, was a receptacle which the seminal fluid was poured and from which a new being

into

emerged

a flood of amniotic

in

The burial

of shells

fluid.

with the dead

is

an extremely ancient practice,

have been found upon human skeletons of the so-called " Upper Palaeohthic Age of Southern Europe. At Laugerie- Basse (Dordogne) Mediterranean cowries were found

for cowries

"

two pairs on the forehead, one near arranged in pairs upon the body each arm, four in the region of the thighs and knees, and two upon Others were found in the Mentone caves, and are each foot. ;

upon the same stratum as the skeleton with which they were associated, was found part of a Cassis rufa, a shell whose habitat does not extend any nearer than the Indian peculiarly important, because,

Ocean.'^

These great

facts are

very important.

In the

antiquity of the practice of burying

sumably

for the

purpose of

" life-giving

'*.

first

shells

place they reveal the

with the dead, pre-

Secondly, they suggest the

be more ancient possibility that their magical value as givers of life may than their specific use as intensifiers of the fertility of women. Thirdly, the association of these practices with the use of the shell Cassis

rufa between the people living upon the Mediterranean in the Reindeer Age

indicates a very early cultural contact

the North- Western shores of

and the dwellers on the coasts

of the Indian

Ocean

;

and the proba-

^

Chapter '

I.

literature relating to these important discoveries has been sum" by Wilfrid Jackson in his Shells as Evidence of the Migrations of

The

marized

"

Early Culture,

pp. 135-7.

OL

I (c)

(d)

— Diagrams

illustrating the form of cowry-belts worn in (o) East Africa and (b) Oceania respectively. Ancient Indian girdle (from the figure ok Sirima Devata on the Bharat Tope), consisting of strings of pearls and precious stones, and what seem TO be (fourth row from the top) models of cowries. The Copan girdle (from Fig. 19) in which both shells and heads of deities are represented. The two objects suspended from the belt between the heads recall Hathor's sistra.

P"iG.

20.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE special uses of shells

bility that these

the

153

by the former were

inspired

by

latter.

This hint assumes a view

significance

special

when we

first

a clear

get

more fully-developed shell-cults of the Eastern Meditermany centuries later.' For then we find definite indications

of the

ranean

that the cultural uses

of

were obviously bonowed from the

shells

Erythraean area.

Long

before the shell-amulet

Mediterranean people had ability to give life

and

became

personified as a

woman

the

definitely adopted the belief in the cowry's

birth.

The Origin of Clothing. The cowry and fer fertility

to

wear a

its

on maidens

surrogates ;

and

on which

girdle

were supposed

became the

to

be potent

to

con-

practice for

growing girls suspend the shells as near as possible to it

to

was supposed to stimulate. Among many was discarded as soon as the girls reached ma-

the organ their magic "

this

peoples

girdle

turity.

This practice probably represents the beginning of the history of clothing It

;

but

had other far-reaching

it

effects in the

domain

of belief.

has often been claimed that the feeling of modesty was not the

reason for the invention of clothing, but that the clothes begat modesty.'*

This doctrine contains a certain element the whole explanation.

have never worn

of

For true modesty

truth,

is

but

displayed

is

by no means

by people who

clothes.

Before mankind could appreciate the psychological fact that the wearing of clothing might add to an individual's allurement and en-

hance her sexual been responsible

attractiveness,

some other circumstances must have

the experiments out of which this emThe use of a girdle {a) as a protection

for suggesting

knowledge emerged. against danger to life, and (^) as a means pirical

^

Cowries were obtained

oJ>. cit.,

of

conferring fecundity on

in Neolithic sites at Hissarlik

and Spain

(Siret,

p. 18).

'^

See Jackson, op. cit., pp. 139 et seq. " The Psychology For a discussion of this subject see the chapter on " of Modesty and Clothing," in William 1. Thomas's Sex and Society," " also S. Reinach, Cults, Myths, and Religions," p. 177 Chicago, 1907 " and Paton, The Pharmakoi and the Story of the Fall," Revue Archeol., SerielV, T. IX, 1907, p. 51. '''

;

;

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

154 ^

provided the circumstances which enabled

girls

men

to discover that

the sexual attractiveness of maidens, which in a state of nature

was

and coyness, was profoundly intensified by the artifices of clothing and adornment. Among people (such as those of East Africa and Southern Arabia) in which it was customary for unmarried girls to adorn themoriginally associated with modesty

it is easy to understand how the meaning of the a change, and developed into a device for enhancpractice underwent charms and their stimulating the imaginations of theii* suitors. ing

selves with a girdle,

Out

of such experience developed the idea of the magical girdle

as an allurement and a love- provoking

charm

Thus Aphro-

or philtre.

girdle acquired the reputation of being able to

dite's

When

Ishtar

removed her

compel

love.

girdle in the under- world reproduction ceased

The

Teutonic Brunhild's great strength lay in her girdle. In fact magic virtues were conferred upon most goddesses in every part But the outstanding of the world by means of a cestus of some sort."'

in the world.

^

It is

important to remember that shell-girdles were used by both sexes and luck-bringing purposes, in the funerary ritual of both

for general life-giving

dead or statues of the dead, to attain success in Thus men also and head-hunting, as well as in games. hunting, fishing, at times wore shells upon their belts or aprons, and upon their implements and fishing nets, and adorned their trophies of war and the chase with them. Such customs are found in all the continents of the Old World and also in America, as, for example, in the girdles of Conus- and Oliva-^f\\s worn sexes, in animating the

See, for example, by the figures sculptured upon the Copan stelae. Maudslay's pictures of stele N, Plate 82 (Biologia Centrali-Americana But they were much more widely used by Archaeology) iiittv alia. women, not merely by maidens, but also by brides and married women, to heighten their fertility and cure sterility, and by pregnant women to enIt was their wider sure safe delivery in child-birth. employment by women ;

that gives these shells their peculiar cultural significance. ' Witness the importance of the girdle in early Indian

sculptures

:

and American

Egypt, Babylonia, Western Europe, and the For important Indian analogies and Egyptian parallels

in the literature of

Mediterranean area. "

The magic Mysteres Egyptiens," p. 91, especially note 3. assumed a great variety of forms as the number of surrogates of the cowry increased. The mugwort (Artemisia) of Artemis was worn in the the people of girdle on St. John's Eve (Rendel Harris, op. cit., p. 91) Zante use vervain in the same way the people of France (Creuse et Corin Vedic India the initiate wore the Eve's fig-leaves reres) rye- stalks " " and Kali had her girdle of hands. Breasted, cincture of Munga's herbs " In the oldest (" Religion and 1 bought in Ancient Egypt," p. 29) says see Moret,

girdle

:

;

;

;

;

:

fragments we hear of Isis the great, \Aio fastened on the girdle in Khemmis, when she brought her Icenserl and burned incense before her son Horus".

i

THE BIRTH

Ox^

APHRODITE

feature of Aphrodite's character as a

bound up with

these conceptions

155

goddess of love

is

intimately

which developed from the wearing

of a girdle of cowries.

In the Biblical naiTative, after

bidden

"

the eyes of

fruit,

that they

were naked

;

themselves aprons," or,

The

4.

—Two

and Eve had eaten the

for-

them both were opened, and they knew

and they sewed fig leaves together and made as the Revised Version expresses it, "girdles".

girdle of fig-leaves,

Fig.

Adam

however, was originally a surrogate

of

the

representations of Astarte (Qetesh).

she is (a) The mother-goddess standing upon a lioness (which is her Sekhet form) wealing her girdle, and upon her head is the moon and the cow's horns, conventionalized so as to simulate the crescent moon. Her hair is represented in the conventional form :

which is sometimes used as Hathor's symbol. In her hands are the serpent and the lotus, which again are merely forms of the goddess herself. " Lexikon {b) Another picture of Astarte (from Roscher's ") holding the papyrus sceptre which at times is regarded as an animate form of the mother-goddess herself and as such a thunder weapon.

girdle of cowries

:

it

was an amulet

to give fertility.

The

conscious-

was part of the knowledge acquired as l/ie 7'estdt such wealing girdles (and the clothing into which they developed), and was not originally the motive that impelled our remote ancestors to clothe themselves. ness of nakedness of the

of

The

use of fig-leaves for the girdle in Palestine

connecting link

drake in

for similar

purposes in

is

an interesting

cowry and the manthe neighbourhood of the Red Sea and

between the employment

of

the

Cyprus and Syria respectively {vide infra). In Greece and Italy, the sweet basil has a reputation '

for

magical

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

156

Maidens

properties analogous to those of the cowry.

and wear bunches married

odour

women

of

the plant will

of

Bacia-nico/a, In Crete

"

their

upon

it

fix basil

upon attract

admirers

Kiss me, Nicholas

it is

or

body

upon

their heads,^ :

It

collect the plant

their girdles

hence

as a

means

while

in

Italy

it is

called

".'"

a sign of mourning presumably because

longing attributes,

;

believed that the

is

its

life-pro-

of conferring continued existence to the

dead, have been so rationalized in explanation of its use at funerals. On New Year's day in Athens boys carry a boat and people re" St. Basil is come from Caesarea ". mark,

Pearls. During the chequered history of the Great Mother the attributes of the original shell-amulet from which the goddess was sprung were also changing and being elaborated to fit into a more complex scheme.

by

other

The magical properties Red Sea shells, such as

and

shells,

the moon,

The

moons, drops

were supposed to be little moon-substance (or dew) which fell from the sky

by

have come

:

Hence pearls acquired the reputation moon from which they were believed

oyster.

*'

shining

of

to

pearls found in the oysters

of the

the gaping

into

Each

others. '

cowry came

be acquired P^erocera, the pearl oyster, conch these became intimately associated with of the

night,"

like

the

and every surrogate

of the

of

to

Great Mother, whether plant,

animal, mineral or mythical instrument, came to be endowed with the " But pearls were also regarded as the power of shining by night ". quintessence of the to

be

all

the

shell's life-giving properties,

which were considered

more potent because they were sky-given emanations

Hence

the moon-goddess herself.

of

pearls acquired the reputation of

This distinction between the significance of the amulet when worn on the girdle and on the head (in the hair), or as a necklace or bracelet, is the girdle it usually has the significance of stimulatvery widespread. worn elsewhere it was intended to ward off ing the individual's fertility '

On

:

to life, i.e. to give good luck. distinctive emblem is the necklace of

danger

Apollo (Rendel Harris, -'

'

De

Gubernatis,

"

An interesting

surrogate of Hathor's a priestess of

golden apples worn by

op. cit., p. 42).

Mythologie des Plantes," Vol.

11,

p. 35.

Both the shells and For the details see Jackson, op. cit., pp. 57-69. the moon were identified with the Great Mother. Hence they were homologized the one with the other.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE being the "givers of \\W^

and gan,

"

par

excellence, an idea

Persian

expression in the ancient

languages (ranging from

which found

word maro;an (from

This word has been borrowed

life").

to

Hungary

157

))iai\

in all the

literal

"giver" Turanian

Kamskatckha), but also

in

the

non-Turanian speech of Western Asia, thence through Greek and The same life-giving Latin {m.irgaritd) to European languages.^ and the other attributes were also acquired by pearl-bearing shells ;

some subsequent period, when it was discovered that some of these shells could be used as trumpets, the sound produced was also believed

at

to

be

life-giving or the voice of the great

the trumpet was

also

supposed

store his consciousness, so that plicants.

In other

to

Giver

of Life,

The

blast of

be able to animate the deity and

he could attend to the appeals

words the noise woke up the god from

re-

of sup-

his

sleep.

the shell-trumpet attained an important significance in early ritual purpose of summoning the deity, religious ceremonials for the

Hence

and

especially in Crete

the world.-

Long

and ultimately

India,

before these shells

widely distant parts of are known to have been used as in

" givers trumpets, they were employed like the other Red Sea shells as " Their use as trumpets was secondaiy. to the dead in Egypt. of life

And when

it

was discovered

that purple

dye could be obtained

the trumpet-shells, the colouring-matter acquired the same life-giving powers as had already been conferred upon the thus it became regarded as a divine subtrumpet and the pearls

from certain

of

:

stance and as the exclusive property of gods and kings.

Long

before,

surrogate of

helped

life-giving blood

in the

red had acquired

the colour

development

;

and

this

magic potency as a

colour-symbolism undoubtedly

of the similar beliefs concerning purple.

Sharks and Dragons.

When

the life-giving attributes of water were confused with the same properties with which shells had independently been credited "It is very probable Dr. Mingana has given me the following note Graeco-Latin niargarita, the Aramaeo- Syria c margvita, the Arabic margan, and the Turanian niargan are derived from the Persian ^

:

the

that

'

'

'

'

or etymologically and life,' giver, The word go.n, in Zend yan, is thoroughly owner, or possessor, of life '. Persian and is undoubtedly the original form of this expression." See Chapter II of Jackson's book, op. cit.

mar-gnu,

'^

meaning

both

pearl

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

158

long before, the shell's reputation the vital the

powers of the ocean

in

was

rationalized as an expression of

which the mollusc was born.

same explanation was also extended

to include fishes,

But

and other

denizens of the water, as manifestations of similar divine powers. In " the lecture on Dragons and Rain Gods" I referred to the identification of Ea, the

Babylonian

Osiris,

value of the pearl as the giver of

life

to obtain so precious an amulet,

were due

pearl-fishers

with a

impelled

the chief

demons guarding the treasure-houses

at the

When

105),

men

to incur

dangers that

These came

sharks.

to

fish (p.

to

bottom

the risks

any

threatened

be regarded as

Out

of the sea.

these crude materials the imaginations of the early pearl-fishers

of

created the picture of wonderful submarine palaces of

Naga

kings in

which vast wealth, not merely of pearls, but also of gold, precious stones, and beautiful maidens (all of them "givers of life," vide infra, 224), were placed under the protection of shark-dragons.^ The conception of the pearl (which is a surrogate of the life-giving Great p.

Mother) guarded by dragons is linked by many bonds of affinity with The more usual form of early Erythraean and Mediterranean beliefs. both

the story,

Mycenaean

art,

tree or pillar

Arabian legend and in Minoan and represents the Mother Goddess incarnate in a sacred Southern

in

with

its

protecting dragons in the form of serpents or

a variety of dragon-surrogates, either real animals, such as deer or cattle, or composite monsters (Fig. 26)."

lions, or

^

"

The HisagoBune," Tokio, 1918, published by the Tokio Society of Naval Architects, 8, where the dragon is identified with the warn, which can be either a p. " crocodile or a shark) in Oceania (L. Frobenius, Das Zeitalter des Sonnengottes," Bd. I., 1904, and C. E. Fox and F. H. Drew, "Beliefs and Tales of San Cristoval," Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, " Vol. XLV, 1915, p. 140) and in America (see Thomas Gann, Mounds in Northern Honduras," Nineteenth Annual Report ofthe Bureau of American In Eastern

Asia

(see,

for

example, Shinji Nishimura,

1

;

;

Ethnology, 1897-8, Part II, p. 661) the dragon assumes the form of a shark, a crocodile, or a variety of other animals. " " Sir Arthur Evans, Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," op. cit. supra :

W.

"

The Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," op. cit. and Robertson Smith, "The Religion of the Semites," p. 133: "In Hadramant it is still dangerous to touch the sensitive mimosa, because the spirit that resides in the plant will avenge the injury ". When men interfere with Hayes Ward,

the incense trees

it is

:

"

reported

:

the

demons

doleful cries in the shape of white serpents,

afterwards

".

of the place flew

away with

and the intruders died soon

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

159

are reasons for believing that these stories were

There

invented

first

of the Erythraean Sea, probably in Southern animation of the incense-tree by the Great Mother, for the reasons which I have already expounded,' formed the link of her

somewhere on the shores

The

Arabia.

with

identification

which probably

the pearl,

reputation in the same region. " In the Persian myth, the white

Vourukasha

in the lake it

and defends

children to

it

:

the fish

Khar-mahi

against the toad

women, husbands

Haoma

is

its

magical

a divine tree, growing

circles protectingly

Ahriman.

to girls,

acquired

It

and horses

around

gives eternal to

men.

In

life,

the

"

'

Minokhired the tree is called the preparer of the corpse (Spiegel, " Eran. Altertumskunde," II, II 5 -quoted by Jung, "Psychology

The idea

of the Unconscious," p. 532).

by dragons was probably the

Great Mother

ticular surrogate of the

from

ated

the

result of

of

expeiiences

the

of guarding the divine tree

the transference to that

of the shark-stories

seekers

after

which

pearls,

"

par-

origin-

her other

representatives.

There are many other ^

-

life

Vide supra, In

of corroborative evidence to suggest

p. 38.

Western mythology

also

is

bits

the dragon guarding the fruit-bearing tree of " Celtic Mother of Mankind (Campbell,

identified with the

Dragon Myth,"

pp.

xli

and

18).

Thus

the tree and

its

defender are both

When Eve

ate the apple from the tree an act of cannibalism, for the plant was " Her " sin consisted in aspiring to attain the

surrogates of the Great Mother. of Paradise she was committing

only another form of herself. This incident immortality which was the exclusive privilege of the gods. is analogous to that found in the Indian tales where mortals steal the amrita. " " By Eve's sin death came into the world for the paradoxical reason that The punishshe had eaten the food of the gods which gives immortality. ment meted out to her by the Almighty seems to have been to inhibit the life-giving

and

all

and

fruit of immortality, so that she birth-facilitating action of the doomed to be mortal and to suffer the pangs of

her progeny were

child-bearing.

There was a widespread belief among the ancients that ceremonies in connexion with the gods must (to be efficacious) be done in the reverse of " So also an the usual human way (Hopkins, Religions of India," p. 201), act which gives immortality to the gods, brings death to man.

The

full

realization of the fact that

man was

mortal imposed upon the

the immortality of the gods. early theologians the necessity of explaining that conferred eternal life upon of the food was the life The eHxir of gods to maker of myths this same so dear the of those one them. paradoxes By elixir

brought death

to

man.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

160

that these shell-cults

and the legends derived from them were actually

transmitted from the

Red Sea

Nor

to the Eastern Mediterranean.

is

should have happened, when it is recalled that sailors were trafficking in both seas long before the Pyramid Egyptian surprising that

it

this

Age, and no doubt to the other.

and the legends

carried the beliefs

have already referred

I

to the

of

one region Mediter-

in the

adoption ranean area of the idea of the dragon-protectors of the tree- and pillarforms of the Great Mother, and suggested that this was merely a

garbled version of the pearl-fisher's experience of the dangers of attacks But the same legends also reached the Levant in a less by sharks.

modified form, and then underwent another kind of transformation

(and confusion with the tree-version) in Cyprus or Syria. As the shark would be a not wholly appropriate actor Mediterranean, dog-fish.

its

role

is

Mr. H. T. Riley

De

Bell. Pers." B.

"

*

wonderful story

the

smaller Selachian relative, the

refer to the habits of dog-fishes

and quote from Procopius (" "

its

on Pliny's Natural History, Dr. Bostock and

In the notes '

taken by

in

in relation to this subject

:

(" Canes marini

I, c.

"),

4) the following

Sea-dogs are wonder-

A

admirers of the pearl-fish, and follow them out to sea. ... certain fisherman, having watched for the moment when the shell-fish ful

was deprived the shell -fish

the attention of

of

and made

soon aware of the

theft,

its

attendant sea-dog,

for the shore.

and making

.

.

seized

sea-dog, however,

was

straight for the fisherman, seized

Finding himself thus caught, he

him.

The

.

made

a

last effort,

the pearl-fish on shore, immediately on which he

was

and threw

torn to pieces

^

by

its

protector."

Though

the written record of this story

incident thus described probably goes back to

is

relatively

much more

modern the

ancient times.

only a very slightly modified version of an ancient narrative of a shark's attack upon a pearl-diver. It is

For reasons which

I

shall discuss in the following pages, the role

cowry and pearl as representatives of the Great Mother was in the Levant assumed by the mandrake, just as we have already seen of the

the Southern Arabian conception of her as a tree adopted in lands.

Having replaced the

sea-shell

by a land plant

it

Mycenaean became neces-

^Bohn's Edition. 1855, Vol. II, p. 433. ~ Cretan scene depicts a man attacking a dog-headed sea-monster (Mackenzie, op. cit., "Myths of Crete," p. 139).

A

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE Not

land animal.

Thus

The

attempt to dig up the mandrake was said The traditional means of circum-

be fraught with great danger.

to

venting these risks has been described by

modern, and preserved

They

dig

small, then they tie a

him

is

by Josephus

and when the dog

it,

is

told

ancient and

as

follows

man

that

is

:

very

hard to follow

tries

easily plucked up, but the

were, instead of the

it

writers,

the hidden part of the root

it till

to

dog

that tied him, this root

mediately, as

as

story

a trench round

many

most European and western

in the folk-lore of

The

Asiatic countries.

"

the story of

mandrake assumed

the dangers incurred in the process of digging up a the well-known form.^

some

sea-dog

became a dog.

it

unnaturally

"

"

legend, to substitute for the

sary, in adapting the

161

dog dies im-

would take

the plant

away "." Thus the dog takes the place of the dog-fish when the mandrake becomes the pearl's surrogate. The only discrepancy between the two stories is the point to which Josephus calls specific For instead

attention.

of the

dog

killing the thief, as the shark

(dog-

the stealer of pearls, the dog becomes the victim as a subAs Josephus remarks, " the dog dies immediately, stitute for the man. fish)

kills

as

were, instead of the

it

man

This

distortion of the story

ing.

The

for

dog-incident

would take

so twisted as to

Great Mother if

only by creating confusion which I

necessary. collect the

refer

Greek avatar Cerberus,

;

and the

in the

world

association of the dog- star Sirius with

with the confusion

is

dog with the

A

such rationalization in

role played of

transference of

this

the dead.

helping

I

to

sis

by Anubis, and

Whether

Hathor had anything

the

do

to

uncertain.^

There was an intimate '

made

played by Anubis

to the part

fragments of Osiris

".

risk.

played some part in

may have

away

be transformed into a device

quite possible that earlier associations of the

is

meaning,

the plant

true to the traditions of legend-mak-

is

plucking the dangerous plant without It

his

is

that

number of versions by Dr. Rendel Harris {pp.

association of the

dog with the goddess

of

widespread fable have been collected I and Sir James Frazer {of), cit.). quote

of this cit.)

here from the former (p. 118). " ^ Bell. Jud.," VII, 6, Josephus,

3,

quoted by Rendel Harris, op.

cit.,

p. 118. ^

The

plained on

and

the

dog-star p.

New

209.

became associated with Hathor for reasons which are ex" " the opener of the way for the birth of the sun It was

Year. II

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

162

the underworld (Hecate) and the ritual of rebirth of the dead.^

Per-

haps the development of the story of the underworld-goddess Aphrodite's dog and the mandrake may have been helped by this survival of the association of

with Anubis, even

Isis

if

there

between the dog-incidents

definite causal relationship

not a

is

in

more

the various

legends.

The with

divine dog

the

ritual

Anubis the

Egyptian word mes,

"

frequently represented in connexion

where

it

is

The

placenta.

shown upon a standard hieroglyphic

sign

for the

to give birth," consists of the skins of three

dogs three-headed dog Cerberus that guarded

The

(or jackals, or foxes).

the portal of

is

rebirth,^

with

association

in

of

Hades may

possibly be a distorted survival

of this

ancient symbolism of the three-fold dog-skin as the graphic sign for

Elsewhere

the act of emergence from the portal of birth. lecture

this

have referred

I

life-giving pearl or " vital

to

Rohde

223)

in

Charon's obohis as a surrogate of the

cowry placed

substance ".

(p.

in the

'

regards

mouth

Charon

dead

of the

to provide

as the second Cerberus,

Egyptian dog-faced god Anubis just as Charon received his obolus, so in Attic custom the dead were provided with /xeXtTouTta, the object of which is usually said to be to pacify the dog corresponding to the

:

of hell.

What

seems to

and customs with the

link all these fantastic beliefs

the story of the dog and the mandrake bound up with the conception of the dog is

fact that they are closely

as the guardian of hidden

treasure.

The mandrake two

at the

bottom

have arisen out

may —the shark

story

streams of legend

of the sea,

ing the dog-headed god

of the story

(dog-fish) protecting the treasures

and the ancient Egyptian

who

and superintends the process

The dog

of a mingling of these

is

presides at the

beliefs concern-

embalmer's operations

of rebirth.

a representative of the dragon guarding

the goddess in the form of the mandrake, just as the lions over the

Mycenae heraldically support her pillar-form, or the serpents Southern Arabia protect her as an incense tree. Dog, Lion, and

gate at in

^

When

Artemis acquired the reputation as a huntress and her deer bethe dog was rationalized mtp the new scheme. " See, for example, Morel's Mysteres Egyptiens,"pix 77-80.

came her quarry ''

'

"

Psyche,"

p.

244.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE Serpent i.e.

in these

merely her

At one

legends are

time

representatives of the goddess herself,

all

own avatars

(Fig. 26).

Anubis as a god

imagined that the role of

I

163

of

em-

balming and the restorer of the dead was merely an ingenuous device on the part of the early Egyptians to console themselves for the de-

For if the jackal were predations of jackals in their cemeteries. converted into a life-giving god it would be a comforting thought to " in the bosom believe that the dead man, even though devoured, was

^

"

In and thereby had attained a rebirth in the hereafter. to There devour. ancient Persia corpses were thrown out for the dogs was also the custom of leading a dog to the bed of a dying man who of his

god

was given honey-cakes by presented him with food, just as Cerberus But I have not been able to obtain Hercules in his journey to hell. It is a remarkable coincidence any corroboration of this supposition. that the Great iM other has been identified with the necrophilic vuland it has been claimed by some writers that, just as ture as Mut ^

;

was regarded

the jackal

dead were exposed

for

corpse- devouring habits identification

its

gesting

as a symbol of rebirth in

dogs

cathedrals,

of.'

recumbent

Petronius ("Sat.,"

c.

devour

may have been

in

primarily responsible for sug-

leaving the corpses of the

of

It is

not

statues

uncommon

of

meae

contingat tuo beneficio post

mortem

vivere

secundum

dead

even

The

English

footstools.

" :

valde te

— pingas

catellam "."

for the

in

dogs as

71) makes the following statement statuae

ut

to find,

with

bishops

pedes

rogo,

Persia,

Egypt and the so the vulture's

with the Great Mother and for the motive

behind the Indian practice vultures to dispose

to

ut

mihi

belief in the dog's

service as a guide to the dead ranges from Western Europe to Peru. To return to the story of the dog and the mandrake no doubt :

demand

the

will

be made

evidence that the mandrake

for further

actually assumed the role of the pearl in these stories.

-

See, for example, Jung, op. cit., p. 268. Nekhebit, the Egyptian Vulture goddess,

was

If

identified

the remark-

by the Greeks

" with Eileithyia, the goddess of birth (Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient was She usually represented as a vulture hovering Egyptians," p. 141). Her place can be taken by the falcon of Horus or in the over the king.

Babylonian story of Etana by the eagle. " is described as the bird of life

Garuda all".

'Quoted by Jung,

op. cit., p.

530.

In the Indian .

.

.

Mahabharata the

destroyer of

all,

creator of

.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

164

be magical properties assigned to the mandrake compared with those which developed in connexion with the cowry and the pearl,"^ it will be found that the two series are identical. The able repertory of

mandrake childbirth

also ;

influences only

the giver of

is

and

life,

like the cownry it

if

be worn

of fertility to

and the pearl

in contact

it

women,

of safety in

exerts these magical

with the wearer's

But

skin.^

the most definite indication of the mandrake's homology with the pearl " it shines is provided by the legend that by night ". Some scholars,^

both ancient and modern, have attempted to rationalize

by

interpreting

But

it

as a reference to the

glow-worms

this tradition

that settle

on the

only one of many attributes borrowed by the manplant drake from the pearl, which was credited with this remarkable reputa!

tion only

was

it is

when early scientists conceived moon substance.

the hypothesis that the gera

a bit of

As fusion

the memory of the real was rapidly introduced

how

plained

of treasures

history of these beliefs into the stories.

I

grew dim, con-

have already ex-

the diving for pearls started the story of the great palace

under the waters which was guarded by dragons.

As

the

had the reputation of shining by night, it is not surprising that it or some of its surrogates should in course of time come to be credited " wdth the power of revealing hidden treasures," the treasures which in the original story were the pearls themselves. Thus the magic pearl

fern-seed

and other

"'

the mandrake, and like indirectly ^

See Rendel Harris Jackson, op.

An

it

from the pearl.

^ ^

are surrogates of derive their magical properties directly or

treasure-disclosing vegetables

{op. cii.)

{op. at.).

interesting rationalization (of which Mr. T. H. of this ancient Oriental belief is still alive

reminded me)

women. worn in

and Sir James Frazer

cit.

Pear has kindly amongst British

" maintained that pearls lose their lustre" unless they are contact with the skin. This of course is a pure myth, but also an It

is

illuminating survival, ^

See Frazer, op. cit., p, 16, especially the references to the "devil's candle" and "the lamp of the elves", Rendel Harris, op. cit. p, 113: Other factors played a part in the Both Artemis development of this legend of opening up treasure-houses. and Hecate are associated with a magical plant capable of opening locks and helping the process of birth, Artemis is a goddess of the portal and her life-giving symbol in a multitude of varied forms is found appropriately placed above the lintel of doors. ''

,

a

1

(b)

A

—

hy Pkokkssok G. A. Reisnick i.n thk temi'lk (a) A slate tkiao tound It shows the Phakaoh Mycerinus supor THE Third Pvkamid at Gua. I'OKTED ON HIS RIGHT SIDE KY THE GODDESS HaTHOR, REPRESENTED AS A WOMAN WITH THE MOON AND THE COW'S HORNS UPON HER HEAD, AND ON THE LEFT SIDE BY A NOME GODDESS, BEARING UPON HER HEAD THE JACKAL-SYMBOL OP HER NOME. The Ecuador Aphrodite. Bas-relief from Cerro Jaboncillo (after Saville, " Antiquities of Manabi, Ecuador," Preliminary Report, 1907, Plate XXXVIII). grotesque composite monster intended to represent a woman (co.mpare Saville's Plates XXXV, XXXVI, and XXXIX), whose head is a conventionalized Octopus, whose body is a Loligo, and whose limbs are human.

Pig. 21.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE The

fantastic story of the

165

dog and the mandrake provides the most

deiinite evidence of the derivation

of the mandrake-beliefs from the

There are many other

shell-cults of the Erythraean Sea.

scraps of

I shall refer here only to one of these. evidence to corroborate this. " The discovery of the art of purple-dyeing has been attributed to the Tynan tutelary deity Melkart, vv^ho is identified with Baal by many

writers.

According

to

Pollux

Julius

('

Onomasticon,'

I,

iv.)

and

306) Hercules (Melkart) was walking on accompanied by his dog and a Tyrian nymph, of whom The dog having found a Murex with its head he was enamoured.

Nonnus

('

Dionys./

XL,

the seashore

proitruding from

devoured

its shell,

it,

and thus

its

mouth became

stained

The nymph, on seeing the beautiful colour, bargained with purple. This v/ith Hercules to provide her with a robe of like splendour." of the same variant seems to be another story. '

The Octopus. Aphrodite was associated not only with the cowry, the pearl, and the mandrake, but also with the octopus, the argonaut, and other cephalopods. Tiimpel seems to imagine that the identification of the goddess with the argonaut and the octopus necessarily excludes her association with molluscs and Dr. Rendel Harris attributes an equally ;

exclusive importance

argument due recognition

is

history of primitive beliefs.

generalizations in

were searching include,

The

for

the same

But

mandrake.

the

to

in

such methods of

not given to the outstanding fact in the

The

early philosophers built up their great

way

some explanation

most diverse natural

modern

as their of,

successors.

They

or a working hypothesis to

phenomena within a concise scheme. was the institution of a series of

very essence of such attempts

Aphrohomologies and fancied analogies between dissimilar objects. dite was at one and the same time the personification of the cowry, the conch shell, the purple shell, the pearl, the lotus, and the lily, the mandrake and the bryony, the incense tree and the cedar, the octopus and the argonaut, the pig, and the cow. Every one of these identifications is the result of a long and chequered history,

in

which fancied resemblances and confusion

of

But I cannot too strongly repudiate meaning play a very large part. the claim m.ade by Sir James Frazer that such events are merely so ^

Jackson, op.

cit., p.

195.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

166

many evidences of the innate human tendency to The history of the arbitrary circumstances that were development

of

each one of these homologies

is

personify nature.

responsible for the

entirely fatal to this '

the Aphrodite Tiimpel claims wholly unwananted speculation.^ '* was associated more especially with a species of Sepia ". He refers to the attempts to associate the goddess of love with amulets of uni-

valvular shells "in virtue of a certain peculiar and obscene symbol-

ism

Naturalists, however, designate with the term

".^

Vemis Cytherea

certain gaping bivalve molluscs.

But, according to Tiimpel (p. 386), neither univalvular nor bivalve shells

ment.

can be regarded as a real part of the goddess's cultural equipThere is no representation of Aphrodite coming in a shell from

across the sea.^

The truly

so Tiimpel believes

:

was entirely

sacred Aphrodite- shell

was obviously

it

different,

but

to preserve,

difficult

for

more worthy of notice, for the small yoipivai (pectines), marina (Apuleius de mag. 34, 35, and in reference thereto, virginalia that reason

Isidor. origg.

more

and ^

9, 5,

24) or spuria (crTrdpta) were only the commoner

readily

obtained

surrogates

univalvular

the

:

shells

"

Proc. Brit. Academy. James Frazer, Jacob and the Mandrakes," " " K. Tiimpel, Die Muschel der Aphrodite,' Philologus, Zeitschrif: fiir das Classische Alienhiuii, Bd. 51, 1892, p. 385: compare also, with " Muschel der Aphrodite," O. Jahn, ^V). d. k. Sachs. reference to the G. d. JV., VII, 1853, p. 16 ff. also IX, 1855, p. 80 and Stephani, Commie rendu pour l\in 1870-71, p. 7 ff. ^ See Jahn, op. cit., 1855, T. V, 6, and T. IV, 6 figures of the so-called " " " and the female Xoipivai (from Xotpof in the double sense as pig 332 16 He£ch. 1147 Pollux, 8, pudendum ") Aristophanes, Eq. Vesp. Sir

~

'

;

;

I

:

:

;

;

;

s.v. *

The fact that no graphic representation of this event has been fourid Very surely a wholly inadequate reason for refusing to credit the story. few episodes in the sacred history of the gods received concrete expression

is

A

in pictures or sculptures until relatively late. of the goddess emerging from a bivalve was

Hellenistic representation

found

in

Southern Russia

"

Scythians and Greeks," p. 345). Tiimpel cites the followang statements

(Minns,

"

te (Venus) ex concha natam " e! cave tu harum conchas spernas!" Tibull. 3, 3, 24: faveas concha, Cypria, vecta tua Statius Silv. 1 2, 117: Venus to " haec et caeruleis mecum consurgere digna fluctibus et nostra Violentilla, " concha etiam marica potuit considere concha Fulgent, myth. 2, "4 Paulus Diacon. p. 52, am portare) pingitur (Venus) portari (I. " M. Cytherea Venus ab urbe Cythera, in quain primum devecta esse

esse autumant

:

:

'

;

,

'

;

HS

dicitur concha,

cum

in

man

:

—

esset concepta

;

cet ".

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE of

{ixouoOvpa

such

Aristotle),

those

as

just

167

and

mentioned,

the

other ocrrpea of Aphrodite, the Nerites (periwinkles, etc.), the purple shell and the Echineis were also real V^eneriae conchae. Among the

Nerites Aelian enumerates aiTCDixeuV/P

avTou

eV r^

of abortion

1,

5:

f.), it

was

Aphrodite

is

called u)hivo\vTrj

Mutianus (Pliny,

to

According

!).

women

this

the sanctity "

demonstrated

the

^

was

(Pliny, 32, 9,

25 (41),

a species of purple shell, but larger than the true

From

purpura. ventis

especially as a prophylactic for pregnant

pisciculus

Se ctvj^Sl-

'AcfipoSiTrju

account of their supposed medicinal value in cases

(pure Latin re[mi]mora)

'E^i^evryis

79

and

28):

14,

OakaTrrj i-jaOr^vai re to) ^rfpiTy tojSc kol c^^etf

On

(plkov.

(N.A.

Murex

the Echineis to the Cnidian

of

quibus (conchis) inhaerentibus plenam

:

stetisse navem portantem Periandro,

conchasque, quae id praestiterint, apud

ut castrarentur nobilis pueros,

Cnidiorum Venerem

"

coli

(Pliny).

Tiimpel then of

387) accuses Stephani

(p.

of being mistaken

Martial's Cytheriacae

in his

=

(Epign. II, 47, purple amulets of Aphrodite, and claims that Jahn has given the correct solution of the following passages from Pliny (N.H., 9, 33 " [53]) navigant ex his (conchis) veneriae, [52], 103, compare 32,

interpretation

1

shells) as the

1

1

:

praebentesque concavam sui partem et aurae opponentes per summa " "in Propontide and further (9, 30 [49], 94) aequorum velificant :

;

concham

modo

carinatam inflexa puppe, prora rostrata, in hac condi nauplium animal saepiae simile ludendi societate sola, duobus hoc fieri generibus tranquillum enim vectorem demissis palmulis ferire esse acatii

:

ut remis

vero

si

;

flatus

pandique buccarum

invitet,

easdem

in

usu

gubernaculi porrigi

sinus aurae".

Tiimpel claims (pp. 387 and 388) that this quotation settles the " shell," according to him, is the Nauplius question. Aphrodite's as a with its sail-like palmulae spread out to the shell-fish, (depicted wind, but " clearly

vsdth the

same

a species of

like shell-fish sailing

[The analogy and originally

sails flattened into plate-like

Sepia" wholly

like

arms

Aphrodite

herself, a

to a ship bearing the

Great Mother

referred to the crescent

From

ship-

over the surface of the water, the concha veneria.

moon

is

extremely ancient

carrying the moon-goddess

across the heavenly ocean.] ^

for steering),

wihivo

—"

to

have the pains

of childbirth

'*.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

168

Elsewhere

399) he

(p.

discusses the reasons for the connexion of

Aphrodite with the "nautilus," by which

is

meant the argonaut

of

zoologists.

But

if

Jahn and Tiimpel have thus

clearly established the proof of

the intimate association of Aphrodite with certain cephalopods, they

assumption that their quotations from

are wholly unjustified in the

relatively modern authors disprove the reality of the equally close (though more ancient) relationship of the goddess to the cowry, the

and the purple-shell. It must not be forgotten that, as we have already seen, the primishell-cults of the Erythraean Sea had been diffused throughout

pearl-shell, the trumpet-shell,

tive

the Mediterranean area long before Aphrodite

was born upon

and possibly before Hathor came The use of the cowry and gold models

shores of the Levant, in the south.

goes back to an early time

in

/Egean

And

history.^

the

into existence of the

cowry

the influence of

Aphrodite's early associations had become blurred and confused by the development of new links with other shells and thei-. surrogates.

Aphrodite with the octopus and its kindred and its played a very obtrusive part in Minoan and Mycenaean art ' influence was spread abroad as far as Western Europe and towards But the connexion

of

;

the East as far as America.

development

of

such

artistic

In

many ways

it

designs as the spiral

was a

factor in

and the

volute,

the

and

not improbably also of the swastika. Starting from the researches of Tiimpel,

a distinguished French

Houssay," sought to demonstrate that the cult based upon a pre-existing zoological philosophy ".

zoologist. Dr. Frederic of

Aphrodite was

The argument

in

"

support of his claim that Aphrodite

was a

personifica-

must be sharply differentiated into two parts of the association of the octopus with the goddess, of first, the reality which there can be no doubt and secondly, his explanation of it, of the octopus

tion

:

;

which (however popular ^

scholars) ^ -

^

is

may be

with

classical writers

Siret, op. cit.

" llios," p.

435

;

and

It

were

Siret, op. cit.

Las Theories de la Genese a Mycenes at la sens zoologique de du culte d' Aphrodite," Revue Archeologiq7ie, 3'« seria,

XXVI, '

if it

supra, p. 59.

certains symboles

T.

and modern

not only a gratuitous assumption, but also, even

See Schliemann, "

it

1895, p. 13.

was adduced

also

by Tutnpel and others before him.

(X

G

((•)

—

" CkI'HALOI'ODA ". 22. (a) SeFIA officinalis, after TrYON, LOLIGO VULGARIS, AFTER TrYON. The POSITION' usually AnopTED by the resting Octopus, after Tryon.

F"lG.

[h)

i

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

169

based upon more valid evidence than the speculations of such recent writers as Pliny,

would not

refer to his claim that

I

really carry the explanation veiy far. " les premiers conquerants de la mer furent

du poulpe nageur (octopus) parce

induits en veneration

que quelque-uns de ces cephalopodes, avciient, p.

1

comme eux

et

avant eux,

do not help

Idle fancies of this sort

5).

traiy beliefs concerning the magical

The

real

problem

we have

qu'ils crurent

poulpes sacres (argonauta) " invente la navigation {pp. cit., les

powers

to solve

us to understand the arbiof the octopus.

to discover

is

why, among

all

the multitude of bizarre creatures to be found in the Mediterranean Sea, the octopus distinctive

and

should thus have been singled out for

its allies

appreciation, and also acquired the same remarkable

attri-

butes as the cowry.

Red Sea

"

Spider shell," Pterocera^ was the This shell was used, like link between the cowry and the octopus. believe that the

I

the cowry, for funerary purposes in Egypt and as a trumpet in India.' But it was also depicted upon a series of remarkable primitive statues o.f

the god Min, which

were found

at

Coptos during the winter

1

893-4

by Professor Flinders Petrie.'^ Some of these objects are now in the Cairo Museum and the others in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

are supposed to be late predynastic representations of the

They

god Min.

If

this

supposition

is

correct

they are the

earliest

idols

(apart from mere amulets) that have been preserved from antiquity. Upon these statues, representations of the Red Sea shell Pterocera

bryoma are to accept

was

sculptured in

my

low

it

shells

Mr. F.

LI. Griffith

is

disinclined

suggestion that the object of these pictures of the shell

But whether

was theii* purpose or probably not without some significance that these life-giving were associated with so obtrusively phallic a deity as Min. In

to animate the statues.

not,

relief.

this

is

any case they afford concrete evidence Coptos and the Red Sea, and indicate

of cultural

were chosen

coast.

The

as symbols of that sea or

its

that

distinctive feature of the Pie7'ocera

is

contact between

these particular shells

that the mantle in the

adult expands into a series of long finger- like processes each of ^

or Pteroceras.

-

which

Jackson, op. at., p. 38. III. and for a discussion of the signifiPis. IV. 7-9, Koptos," pp. cance of these statues see Jean Capart, " Les Debuts de I'Art en Egypte," Brussels, 1904, p. 216 et seq. ^

"

:

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

170 secretes a

calcareous process or

"

claw

There

".

are seven

^

of these

columella (Fig. 5). claws Hence, when the shell-cults were diffused from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean as well as the long

(where the Pterocera is not found), it is quite likely that the people of the Levant may have confused with the octopus some sailor's account of the eight-rayed shell (or perhaps representations of it on some amulet or statue). Whether this is

the explanation of the confusion

or not,

it is

certain that the beliefs

cowry and the

associated with the in

octopus

the

/Egean area are

identical with those linked

up

vvith

the cowiy and the Pterocera in the

Red

the the

Sea.

have already mentioned that

I

mandrake

is

believed to possess

same magical

James Frazer has to the fact

powers.

Sir

called attention

that in

Armenia the

bryony {Bryonia alba) is a surrogate of the mandrake and is credited with the same

—

(" Conchologia VI, 1851) refers to the "

Pterocera Bryonia, 5. THE Red Sea Spider-shell

Fig.

— the columella. — the " claws

Col. 1-7

Root

radix bryoniae

Iconica,"

Red Sea

Wild Vine

Pterocera as the

".

Lovell

attributes.^

Reeve

" species, previously kno^vn

and Chemnitz ("Conch. Cab.," " the call it Racine de brione French 1788, Vol. X, p. 227) says ** Here then the maiden ", femelle imparfaite," and refer to it as

as

is

Strornbus

;

further evidence that this shell

{(i)

was

with a surrogate of the mandrake (Aphrodite), Thus clearly it has a place garded as a maiden.

have suggested the fusion with the octopus, which may have led

history of Aphrodite.

latter

within

cultural

the

equipment. '

-

I

scope

of

the

According

marine to

some way and [p) was re-

associated in

in the

to

the inclusion of the

creatures

Matthioli

chequered

of its con-

possibility

in

(Lib,

Aphrodite's 2,

p.

This may help to explain the peculiar sanctity of the shell. Frazer, op. cit., 4.

135),

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE another

of

known

the

Aphrodite's creatures, "

as

the maiden

By

".

purple

was

shell-fish,

called

is

it

Pliny

171 also

Greek

Pelogia, in

and 7Topff)vpcoiiaTa was the term applied to the flesh TTop(f)vpa of swine that had been sacrificed to Ceres and Proserpine (Hesych.). ;

the purple-shell

In fact, in other

words

"

"

was

the maiden

The

was Aphrodite.

it

and

also

"

sow

the

"

use of the term

"

:

"

maiden

Pteroccra suggests a similar identification. To complete web of proof it may be noted that an old writer has called the

for the this

mandrake the plant

of

the sorceress

Circe,

Thus we have

swine by a magic draught.^

and marine creatures accredited with each all

them known

of

in

who

turned

men

a series of shells, plants,

identical magical properties,

"

popular tradition as

the maiden

".

They

shall

have occasion

{^lufra, p.

177) to refer to

M.

are

account

Siret's

/Egean octopus-motif upon /Eneolithic widespread use in Western Europe of

of the discovery of the

Spain, and

of the

M.

conventional designs derived from the octopus. the table, Fig. 6, on p.

34

of his

Quibell," course in

is

the god whose function

its

this is true

physical — purely and am bound I

suggests that the

it

aspect,

is

Red Sea

Siret also (see

Bes and Hathor are said

to

according to

to preside over sexual inter-

derived from the octopus.

littoral

may

If

from being proved have been the place of

it is

far

and an

association with Hathor, have been introduced into Egypt from

origin of the cultural use of the octopus for

is

it

admit that

to

objects certain

book) makes the remarkable claim

that the conventional form of the Egyptian Bes, which,

—

and

culturally associated with Aphrodite. I

in

into

there."

That the octopus was and

also with the

an octopus-form

dragon is revealed by the fact of the latter assuming Eastern Asia and Oceania, and by the occuiTence

Mother

is

the goddess in America.

the representation of

most remarkable

of the

Mother

in

of octopus-motifs in

One

actually identified with the Great

series of

pictures depicting the

Great

found sculptured in low relief upon a number of stone slabs in Central America,* one of which I reproduce here

from Manabi '

Just as

of Set, '

"

i.e.

Hathor (or her surrogate Horus) turned men

pigs, crocodiles, et cetera.

Excavations

^

Maspero, ^

at

Saqqara," 1905-1906,

"The Dawn

Saville, "Antiquities of

of Civilization,

p.

14.

p. 34.

Manabi, Ecuador," 1907.

into the creatures

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

172

2

(Fig.

1

The head

5).

was added

to that

greater definiteness

of the

a

body

to

this

goddess

a conventionalized octopus

is

a Loligo

consisting of

remarkable

process of

form of the goddess, conventional representations of

;

to

and,

;

give

up the her arms and legs building

(and in some of the sculptures also the pudendum muliebre) were added. Thus there can be no doubt of the identification of this

American Aphrodite and the octopus. In the

Polynesian Rata-myth there

The

manifestations of the dragon.^ in

this

was a gaping

story

peared as a

mighty

shell-fish

octopus

and

;

a very instructive

is

series of

form assumed by the monster of enormous size then it ap-

first

;

lastly,

as a

whale,

into

whose

jaws the hero Nganaoa sprang, as his representatives are said to have done elsewhere throughout the world (Frobenius, op. cit., pp. 59-219).

Houssay {op. cit. infrd) calls attention to the fact that at times Astarte was shown carrying an octopus as her emblem," and has suggested that it was mistaken for a hand, just as in America the thunderbolt of

Chac was

supra. Fig. If

1

given a hand-like form in the Dresden 2). 3), and elsewhere {e.g. Fig.

Codex {vide

1

should prove to be well founded

this suggestion

a more convincing explanation Indian goddess Kali

^

of the girdle

would provide

hands worn by the

If

the

than that usually given.

represent surrogates of the

it

of

"

hands'* really

cowry, the wearing of such a girdle brings

the Indian goddess into line, not only with Astarte and Aphrodite, but also with the East African maidens who still wear the girdle of cowiies.

Kali's exploits

were

in

respects identical with those of

many

the bloodthirsty Sekhet-manifestation of the Egyptian goddess Hathor. Just as Sekhet had to be restrained by Re for her excess of zeal in

murdering his

foes, so

Siva had to intervene with Kali upon the battle-

A

^

detailed summary of the literature relating to the world-wide dis" Das tribution of certain phases of the dragon-myth is given by Frobenius, Zeitalter des Sonnesgottes," Berlin, 1904 on pp. 63-5 he gives the Rata:

myth. "

Which can

also

be compared with the conventional

form

of

the

thunderbolt, '

Of

course the hands had the additional significance as trophies of her

murderous

zeal.

meaning.

An

But

I

think this

is

a secondary rationalization of their

excellent photograph of a bronze statue (in the Calcutta

Gallery), representing Kali with her girdle of hands, A. Mackenzie, " Indian Myth and Legend, p. xl. "

is

Art

given by Mr. Donald

ex

{

—

A series of Mvcen.ean conventionalizations ok the Argonaut and the Octopus (after Tumpel), which provided the basis for Houssay's theory of THE origin of THE TRISKELE (a, i\ AND d) AND SWASTIKA {b AND e), AND SiRET'S theory to explain THE DESIGN OF Bes's FACE (/ AND g).

Fig. 23.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

173

flooded with gore (as also in the Egyptian story) to spare the

field

remnant

of his enemies.'

The Swastika. supra) has made the interesting suggestion that have been derived from such conventionalized remay This series presentations of the octopus as are shown in Fig. 23. of sketches is taken from Tiimpel's memoir, which provided the {op. cit.

Houssay

the swastika

foundation for Houssay's hypothesis. vast amount of attention has been devoted to this lucky symbol,'' which still enjoys a widespread vogue at the present day, after a

A

vmtten his

thousand

several

of

history

years.

Although

so

much

in attempted explanation of the swastika since

suggestion,

so

far

as

I

am aware no

attention to his hypothesis or memoir.'^

more

so than

Houssay made

one has paid the

slightest

a passing reference to his

and far-fetched though

Fantastic

(though surely not

made even

been

has

it

may seem

at

first

sight

the strictly orthodox solar theory

Cook or Mrs. Nuttall's astral speculations) Houssay's an explanation of some of the salient attributes of the swastika on which the alternative hypotheses shed little or no light.

advocated by Mr. suggestion offers

the earliest

Among ^

F. T.

Elworthy has

known examples

the symbol are those

summarized the extensive "

literature relating

to

Horns of Honour," 1900). ("The Evil Eye," 1895; and of these hands have the definite reputation as fertility charms which

hand-amulets

Many

one would expect is

of

if

Houssay's hypothesis of their derivation from the octopus

well founded.

(" The Swastika, the Earliest Known Symbol, and with Observations on the Migration of Certain Industries in Prehistoric Times" Report of the U.S. Xational Mh'se/un for i'6g^, Washington, 896) has given a full and well-illustrated summary of most of '

its

Thomas Wilson

Migrations

;

1

is provided by Count d Alviella (('/>. cit. Migration of Symbols"; by Zelia Nuttall ("The Fundamental Principles of Old and New World Civilizations," Archceological and Ethnological Papers of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., Study in Ancient Religion," 1901) and Arthur Bernard Cook (" Zeus, Vol. I, Cambridge, 1914, pp. 472 et secf). Since this has been printed Mr. W. J. Perry has called my attention to a short article by Rene Croste (" Le Svastika," Bu/l Triviestriel de la Societe Bayonnaise d'Etudes Regionales^' 1918), in which Houssay's

the literature

supra),

:

further information

"The

A

;

'"

hypothesis

is

mentioned as having been adopted by la Science ").

Nouveaux Horizons de

Guilleminot

("

Les

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

174

engraved upon the so-called

"

"

owl-shaped

(but,

Houssay has

as

conclusively demonstrated, really octopus-shaped) vases and a metal figurine

The

found by Schliemann

swastika

is

in his excavations of the hill at

represented upon the

mons Veneris

Hissarhk/

of these figures,

which represent the Great Mother in her form as a woman or as a pot, which is an anthropomorphized octopus, one of the avatars of the Great Mother. The symbol seems to have been intended as a fertility amulet like the cowry, either suspended from a girdle or depicted upon a pubic shield or conventionalized fig-leaf. Wherever it is found the swastika is supposed to be an amulet to " " confer

and long

good luck

Both

life.

reputation and

this

the

association with the female organs of reproduction link

up the symbol with the cowry, the Ptcrocera, and the octopus. It is clear then that the swastika has the same reputation for magic and the same attributes and associations as the octopus and it may be a conventionalized ;

representation of It

it,

as

Houssay has

must not be assumed that the

the Great Mother and

suggested. identification of the swastika

her powers of giving

life

with

and resurrection

necessanIy'vs\s2iX\A?sX&% the solar and astral theories recently championed by Mr. Cook and Mrs, Nuttall respectively. I have already called

attention to the fact that the attributes

from

his

mother.

Disk and the Wheel

of

Sun-god derived his existence and all his The whole symbolism of the Winged

the

Sun and

their reputation

for

and destruction were adopted from the Great Mother.

life-giving

These well-

established facts should prepare us to recognize that the admission of

the truth of

more

Houssay *s

suggestion

would not

necessarily invalidate the

VNidely accepted solar significance of the swastika.

Tiimpel called attention

to the fact that,

ventionalizing the octopus, the

Mycenaean

practice of representing pairs of

"arms"

when

artists often

as units

set

they

and

about con-

resorted to the

so

making

four-

limbed and three-limbed forms (Fig. 23), which Houssay regards as the That such a prototypes of the swastika and the triskele respectively.

may have played

a part in the development of the symbol is further suggested by the form of a Transcaucasian swastika found by process

Rossler," ^

who

assigns

it

to the

Late Bronze or Early Iron Age.

Each

Wilson {pp. cit., pp. 829-33 and Figs. 125, 128, and 129) has collected the relevant passages and illustrations from Schliemann's writings. Zeitschriftjiir Ethnologic, Bd. 37, p. 148.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE of the four limbs

bifurcated at

is

its

Moreover they

extremity.

the series of spots, so often found upon

175 exhibit

or alongside the limbs of the

of representing the suckers symbol, which suggest the conventional way of the octopus in the Mycenaean designs (Fig. 23).

Another remarkable

picture of a swastika-like

emblem has been

the centre and elephant-headed god four pairs of arms radiate from him, each of them equipped with de-

found

in

The

America.^

sits in

finite suckers.

Another

possible

way

in

of a four-limbed

which the design

swas-

may have been derived from an octopus is suggested by the ' gypsum weight found in 90 by Sir Arthur Evans in the West Magazine of the palace at Knossos {circa 500 B.C.). Upon the tika

1

1

1

surface of this weight the form of an octopus has been depicted, four of the arms of which stand out in much stronger relief than the others.

The number

four has a peculiar mystical significance {znde infra,

associated with the Sun-god Horus. p. 206) and is especially fact may have played some part in the process of reduction

number

octopus to four

of limbs of the

;

or altematively

helped to emphasize the solar associations of the symbol, considerations

were responsible

pots from Hissarlik

show

was confused with the spokes.^

But the

The

the

may have

which other

upon the

designs

that at a relatively early epoch the swastika

sun's disc represented

solar attributes of the

as a

wheel with four

swastika are secondary to

those of life-giving and luck-bringing, with

endowed

The

for suggesting.

it

This of

which

it

was

originally

form of the Great Mother.

as a

only serious

of

fact is

which arouses some doubt as

to the validity

the discoveiy of an early painted vase at Susa

Houssay's theory decorated v^th an unmistakable swastika.

Edmond

Pottier,

who

has

described the ceramic ware from Susa,* regards this pot as Proto-

Elamite of the in this isolated

Moreover, to

it

earliest period.

If

Pottier's claim

specimen from Susa the

comes

hom

a region in

is justified

we have

earliest example of the swastika. which the symbol was supposed

be wholly absent. '

-

" ^

Seler, Zeitschrlft fi'ir Ethnologic, Bd., 41, p. 409.

Corolla Nwnismatica, 1906, p. 342. A. B. Cook, " Zeus," pp. 198 et seq.

"

Etude Historique et Chronologique sur las Vases Paints de lAcrode Susa," Meinoires dc la Dcli'gation en Perse, T. XIII, Rech. pole ArcheoL, 5^ serie, 1912. Plate XLI, Fig. 3.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

176 This

a

raises

difficult

for solution.

problem

swastika the prototype of the symbol

have been studied by Wilson of independent evolution ?

cit.

{pp. If

it

falls

Is

the Proto-EIamite

whose world-wide migrations supra) ? Or is it an instance within the

explained

Was

?

category and

first

really the parent of the early Anatolian swastikas,

how

is

to

it

the conventionalization of the octopus design

is

be

much

Or Trojan examples symbol was the Susian design adopted in the West and given a symbolic meaning which it did not have before then ? These are questions which we are unable to answer at present more ancient than the

of the

earliest

because the necessary information

is

I

lacking.

?

have enumerated them

merely to suggest that any hasty inferences regarding the bearing of the Susian design upon the general problem are apt to be misleading.

Vincent

^

claims that the fact of the swastika having been in use by

artists in Crete and Susiana many centuries before the appearBut I think ance of Mycenaean art is fatal to Houssay's hypothesis. The swastika was already it is too soon to make such an assumption.

ceramic

when we

a rigidly conventionalized symbol

Mediterranean and

in Susiana.

It

may

first

know

it

both in the

therefore have a long history

The

octopus may possibly have begun to play a part in the development of this symbolism before the Egyptian Bes {vide supra, p. 171) was evolved, perhaps even before the time of the

behind

it.

Min when the

statues of

Coptos

erian history

determined

{in/?'a,

mention merely

for

p.

{siipi'a, p.

169), or in the early days of

1

79).

These are mere

which

conjectures,

the purpose of suggesting that the time

arguments as Vincent's

ripe for using such

Sum-

was being

conventional form of the water-pot

finally to dispose of

is

I

not yet

Houssay's

octopus- theory.

There can be no doubt and the volute

is

that the symbolism of the

closely related to the octopus.

Mycenaean

provided by Minoan paintings and Mycenaean decorative strates that the spiral

from the octopus.

as a symbol of life-giving

The

use of the volute on

was

art

demon-

definitely derived

Egyptian scarabs

'

and

nude god-

also in the decoration of an early Thracian statuette of a ^

spiral

In fact, the evidence

"

Canaan," p. 340, footnote. Alice Grenfell, Journal of Egyptian ArchcBology, Vol. 217 and Ancient Egypt, 1916, Part I, p. 23. ^

p.

:

II,

1915,

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE '

dess

indicate that

was employed

it

like the

177

and octopus

spiral

as a

life- symbol.

Spanish graves of the Early and Middle Neolithic types found cowry-shells in association with a series of flint im-

In

M.

Siret

plements, crude idols, and pottery almost precisely reproducing the forms of similar objects found with cowiies and pecten shells at His-

But when the /Eneolithic phase

sarlik.'

of culture

dawned

in Spain,

and the /Egean octopus-motif made its appearance there, the culture whole reveals unmistakable evidence of a predominantly Egyptian

as a

inspiration.

M.

even in the Neolithic phase in Spain, the crude idols represent forms derived from the octopus in the He regards the octopus as Eastern Mediterranean (p. 59 et seq.). "

Siret claims,

however,

that,

a conventional symbol of the ocean, "

watery principle

tilizing

(p.

1

or,

He

9).

more

elucidates a very interesting

feature of the /Eneolithic representation of the spiral -motif of

the

claims to be due

^gean

precisely, of the fer-

The

octopus in Spain.

gives place to an angular design,

which he of

way — and, — accept

to the influence of the conventional Egyptian

representing water (p. 40). spite of the slenderness of

If

this

interpretation

the evidence,

affords a remarkable illustration of

I

am

is

in

coiTect

inclined to

it

it

the effects of culture- contact in the

conventionalization of designs, to which Dr. Rivers has called attention.'*

Whatever explanation may be provided

of

this

method

its

have an important bearing on For it would reveal the means by which the origin. shape

of the limbs of the swastika

form, which

The

is

1

significance of

1913,

its

S. Reinach,

"

L. Siret, p.

became

spiral or volute

transformed into the angular

so characteristic of the conventional symbol.'

evitably led to

-'

of representing

angularly bent extremities, it seems to Houssay's hypothesis of the swastika s

the arms of the octopus vsdth

the spiral as a form of

identification

the Great

with the thunder weapon,

Mother

in-

like all

her

Revue Archcol., T. XXVI, 1895, p. 369. Questions de Chronologie et d'Ethnographie Iberiques,"

18, Fig. 3.

"

also Report History of Melanesian Society," Vol. II, p. 374 Brit. Association, 1912, p. 599. ' Ivl. Siret assigns the date of the appearance in Spain of the highly form of octopus to the time between the fifteenth conventionalized

Rivers,

;

angular

and the twelfth centuries

B.C.

;

and he

(p. 63).

12

attributes

it

to

Phoenician influence

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

178

other surrogates.

I

have ah'eady referred (Chapter II, p. 98 ) to the associaand lightning in Eastern Asia. But

of the spiral with thunder

tion

other factors played a significant part in determining this specialization. and this creature's In Egypt the god Amen was identified with the ram ;

spirally

curved horn became

the symbol of the thunder-god throughout

the Mediterranean area/ and then further afield in Europe, Afnca, and

Asia, where, for instance,

see

Agni's ram with the characteristic

This blending of the influence of the octopus- and the ram's-

horn.

horn-motifs

This

we

is

made

the spiral a conventional representation of thunder.

displayed in

most definite form

its

in

China, Japan, Indonesia,

and America, where we find the separate spiral used as a thundersymbol, and the spiral appendage on the side of the head as a token of the god of thunder.^

The Mother In the lecture on

"

Pot.

Incense and Libations" (Chapter

I)

I

referred

to the enrichment of the conception of water's life-giving properties

which the inclusion

When

this

human fertilization by water involved. new view developed in explanation of

of the idea of

event happened a

woman

the part played by

in

reproduction.

She was no longer

garded as the real parent of mankind, but as the matrix in seed was planted and nurtured during the course of

development.

Hence

in

the earliest

its

re-

which the

growth and

Egyptian hieroglyphic writmg

the picture of a pot of water was taken as the symbol of v/omanhood, " " which received the seed. vessel the globular water-pot, the

A

phonetic value of which is Niv or Nu, was the symbol of the cosmic waters, the god Ahv (A^w), whose female counterpart was

common

the goddess JVzd. In his

" report,

Griffith discusses the

A

Collection of

bowl

of

^

Hieroglyphs,"

water {a) and says that

it

Mr.

F.

female principle in the words for vulva and woman. When it had the same double other cowry (and shells)

is

called that the

ficance, the possibility ^

suggests

itself

whether

LI.

stands for the re-

signi-

at times confusion

may

"

Cook, Zeus," p. 346 et seq. ^This is well shown upon the Copan representaUons (Fig. 19) elephant-headed god— see Nature, November, 25, 1915, p. 340. ^ Archceol. Survey of Egypt, 1898, p. 3.

of

the

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

179

not have arisen between the not veiy dissimilar hieroglyphic signs for " " " " a shell the bowl of water {/i) and (woman) (/).' " a shell," Mr, Griffith says Referring to the sign (;' and //) for

"It is regularly found at all periods 25) and but it altar,' perhaps only in this word :

(p.

Pyramid Texts that the sign shown in them used very commonly, not

(a)

means

"

(6)

in

the

a

word

is

the text-figures a

word-sign,

Fig. 6. Picture of a bowl of water the hieroglyphic sign equivalent to " woman ")— Griffith, Beni Hasan," Part III, Plate VI, Fig. 88 " " A basket of Wilkinson's " Ancient

—

sycamore

and

figs

—

=

peculiarity of the

:

in

as

liaivt

r, It,

and

/

is

but also as a

hm

(the word hmf p. 29. Egyptians," Vol. I, p. 323. " "

and

are said by Wilkinson to be hieroglyphic signs

meaning wife and are apparently taken from (b). But (c) is identical with (i), which, according to Griffith (p. 14), represents a bivalve shell [g, from Plate III, Fig. 3), more usually placed obliquely (It). The varying conventionalizations of (a) or (b) are shown in (d), (e), and {f) (Griffith, " Hieroglyphics," p. 34). [k] The sign for a lotus leaf, which is a phonetic equivalent of the sign {k), and, ac" is cording to Griffith (" Hieroglyphics," p. 26), probably derived from the same root, on account of its shell-like outline ". The a for of water in such words as Nu and Nut. (l) hieroglyphic sign pot " " (tn) A pomegranate (replacing a bust of Tanit) upon a sacred column at Carthage " (Arthur J. Evans, Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 46). (n) The form of the body of an octopus as conventionalized on the coins of Central Greece (compare Fig. 24 (d)). Its similarity to the Egyptian pot-sign (I) (which also has the significance of mother-goddess) is worthy of note. (c)

(d)

phonetic equivalent to the sign labelled ^ (in the text-figure) for A* {k/za), or apparently for ^ alone in many words. " The name of the lotus leaf is probably derived from the same root, on account of its shell-like outline or vice versa" ^

Compare "bowl". " Compare

the two-fold meaning of the Latin tesfa as the association of shells with altars in "

widespread use of large shells as bowls for churches.

"

" shell

Minoan Crete and

holy water

"

in

and the

Christian

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

180

The

familiar representation of

Horus (and

his

homologues

in India

that the flower reand elsewhere) being born from the lotus suggests But as the argument in these pages has his mother Hathor. presents

t

(a)

An Egyptian

Fig. 7. . , a lotus, the sun-god Horus emerging from design representing

and P""?;;"l a'pyrr sc^pt" tf^^n^cS'ed by goddesses

animistically identified with

trident

^''-^:^S^::SS^S:^oX:^^ A water-plant associated with the Nile-gods.

re-

them

and the thunder-weapon.

(d)

form of Hathor was a led us towards the inference that the original that her identification with the lotus shell-amulet/ it seems not unUkely of the Egyptian DepartMiss Winifred M. Crompton, Assistant Keeper to a remarkable attention called has my ment of the Manchester Museum, of the view that corroboration additional affords which piece of e^idence 1

Hathor was a development

of the cowiy-amulet.

Upon

the famous archaic

of four representations ot

Narmer (Fig. 18), a sporran, composed cowries that were suspended Hathor's head, takes the place of the original from more primitive girdles. c \c „J ot Atnca and The cowries of the head ornament of pnmitive peoples s liios. times- Schliemann Asia (and of the Mediterranean area in early Spanton lotus flowers (W. in often by are Egypt replaced Fig. 685) 19, 20 and " Water Lilies of Egypt," Andent Egypt, 1917, Part 1, Figs.

palette of

....

i

D

21)

Upon

which the head-band of the statue of Nefert,

I

have reproduced

is found (see bpanton in Chapter 1 (Fig. 4), a conventional lotus design which is almost identical with the classical thunder-weapon.

Fig. 19),

s

24.

Fig.

(a) and {n)

Mother-Pot

Two

{/>)

The

so-called

in the

Mycenaean "

pots " (after Schliemann). vase is really a representation of the

owl- shaped

form of a conventionalized Octopus (Houssay).

The

other vase represents the Octopus Mother-Pot, with a jar upon a three-fold representation of the Great her head and another in her hands (/^)

Mother as (c)

A

—

a pot.

Cretan vase from Gournia

in

which the Octopus- motive

sented as a decoration upon the pot instead of in its form. series of coins from Central {(/), (
A

Head)

is

repre-

Greece

showing a series of conventionalizations of the Octopus, with

its

(after

pot-

Hke body and palm-tree-like arms (/). (/) Sepia officinalis (after Tryon).

" the hands of the Babyspouting vases lonian god Ea, from a cylinder seal of the time of Gudea, Patesi of Tello, after Ward (" Seal Cylinders, etc.," p. 215). " The " spouting vases have been placed in conjunction with the Sepia to suggest the possibility of confusion with a conventionalized drawing of the (//)

latter in

and

(/)

The

so-called

"

m

the blending of the symbolism of the water-jar the Mediterranean.

Western Asia and

and cephalopods

in

Fig. 24.

*;

^ U'

t~

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

may have

latter

and the cowry,

to the belief that both the shell

the vital powers of the water in

of

Great Mother with a pot was one

identification of the

factors that

due

also in part

and the plant were expressions which they developed.

The

between the

arisen from the confusion

which no doubt was

181

played a part in

of the

the assimilation of her attributes with

Water God, who

in early Sumerian pictures was usually the life-giving waters from his pot (Fig. 24, A and /). represented pouring of the Mother Pot is found not only in Babylonia, idea This

those of the

Egypt, India,^ and the Eastern Mediterranean, but wherever the influence of these ancient civilizations

among

made

the Celtic-speaking peoples.

powers are enhanced by making

In

itself felt.

Wales

It is

widespread

the pot's life-giving

rim of pearls. But as the idea At first it was merely a spread, its meaning also became extended. or a of of water basket but elsewhere it became also a witch's figs, jug cauldron, the magic cup, the

its

which a child

Grail, the font in

Holy

is

the vessel of water here being interpreted in the earliest sense as the uterus or the organ of birth. The Celtic pot, so

reborn into the

faith,

Mr. Donald Mackenzie

me,

tells

is

serpents, frogs, dragons, birds, pearls, fire

under the cauldron"

;

and,

if

closely

and

"

associated with

cows,

nine maidens that blow the

the nature of these relationships be

examined, each of them will be found to be a link between the pot and the Great Mother.

The

witch's cauldron and the maidens

tion of the witch's medicine

seem

to

who

assist in

the prepara-

be the descendants respectively

of

Hathor's pots (in the story of the Destruction of Mankind) and the Sekti who churn up the dtdi and the barley with which to make the elixir of

immortality and the sedative draught for the destructive god-

dess herself.

Mr. Donald

Mackenzie has given me a number of additional and Indian literature in coiToboration of these wide-

references from Celtic

and he reminds spread associations of the pot with the Great Mother me chat in Oceania the coco-nut has the same reputation as the pot in the ;

Indian

Mahabharata.

that

wanted, and

is

future occasion

I

food and anything else can be never exhausted. supply [On some hope to make use of the wonderful legends of the

^

It

is

the source of

its

Among the Dravidian people at the present day the seven goddesses (corresponding to the seven Hathors) are often represented by seven pots.

/

\7->

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

182

pot's life-giving powers,

At

attention.

ment

to

which Mr. Mackenzie has directed

that the pot's identity

my

must content myself with the statewith the Great Mother is deeply rooted

present, however,

I

in ancient belief throughout the greater part of the world.']

The

Mother

diverse conceptions of the Great

octopus seem to have been blended " " owl -shaped so-called pots were

in

and

as a pot

Mycenaean

as an

where the

lands,

clearly intended to represent the

both these aspects united in one symbol. When the diffusion of these ideas into more remote parts of the world took place syntheses with other motives produced a great variety of most complex goddess

in

forms.

In

Honduras pottery

vessels

have been

found

tangible expression to the blending of the ideas of the crocodile- like

^

The

Makai-a, star-spangled

luxuriant crop of

stories of

A

like

the

"

which give

Mother

Pot, the

Hathor's cow. Aphrodite's

Holy Grail was not inspired

tradition sprung from the fountainoriginally by mere literary invention. head of all mythology, the parent-story of the Destruction of Mankind,

provided the materials which a series of writers elaborated into the varied assortment of legends of the Mother Pot. The true meaning of the Quest of the Holy Grail can be understood only by reading the fabled accounts in the light of the ancient search for the elixir of life development of the narrative describing that search.

of

it

A

and the

historical

will be found in Jessie L. summary of the Grail literature " Her theory will be Quest of the Holy Grail (1913). some slight modifications, to fail into line with the general

concise

Weston's

"The

found, after

argument

of this book.

me that the Egyptian hieroglyphic for the verb gives frank expression to the real meaning of the symbolism of the pot as the matrix which receives the seed. The same idea provides the material for the incident of the birth of Drona (the pot-bom) in the Adi Mr.

"coire

F.

LI. Griffith tells

cum"

CXXXl, CXXXIX,

Parva (Sections the Mahabharata, to

and CLXVllI, in Roy's translation) of which Mr. Donald A. Mackenzie has kindly called my

A

Drona was conceived in a pot from the seed of a Rishi. widespread variant of the same story is the conception of a child from a drop of " blood in a pot (see, for example, Hartland, Legend of Perseus, Vol. I, pp. 98 and 44). If the pot can thus create a human being, it is easy to underattention.

"

1

how

it acquired its reputation of being also able to multiply food and provide an inexhaustible supply. Similarly, all substances, such as barley, rice, gold, pearls, and jade, to which the possession of a special vital essence " '* or soul substance was attributed, were believed to be able to reproduce " themselves and so increase in quantity of their own activities. As givers of " life they were also able to add to their own life- substance, in other words

stand

to

grow '

like

"An

any other

living being.

American Dragon," Man, November, 1918.

;P

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE and Soma's

pig,

and provided with the

deer,

Eastern Asiatic dragon (see Chapter

The New Testament rebirth.

When

when he

is

the

Can he he

?

is

the

antlers of

deer's

103).

p.

conception of birth and can a man be born again

sets forth the ancient

Nicodemus

old ? "

and be born

II,

183

asks

" :

How

womb,

enter a second time into his mother's

"

told

:

Except a

man be

born of water and of

That which is he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. " and that which is born of the spirit is spirit the flesh is flesh

spirit,

born

of

(John

:

and

4, 5,

iii.

"

The

phrase and the mother's the

new

Isis

:

life

6).

born of water"

womb 8e

TeTOLOTr)

the vessel containmg

is

Plutarch

emerges.

*'

refers to the birth

Tr)v

iv

of the flesh "

;

from which

the water

with reference to the birth of

states,

"\cnv

"

"

"

The Egyptian god Nun yeveadaL

Trauvypoci

".

which produced all living things, the and the goddess Nut, were expressed in hieroglyphic as pots of water. The goddess was identified with Hathor's celestial star-spangled cow, great waters

the original mother of the sun-god bol of

all

life-giving

was

and the w^ord

;

was new, young, and

that

waters

of

the annual

fresh,

inundation

"

and the of

the daughter of these waters, as Aphrodite

"

Nun

the

was

a sym-

and

fertilizing

Hathor

Nile.

was sprung from the

sea- foam.

Artemis and the Guardian of the Portal. Gardner Wilkinson

Sir

"

basket of sycamore

woman, the

possible bearing of

the

Book

The

was

for

of

this

Later on

allusion to

powers attributed

to

sociation of these ideas with the fig-tree " "

that

199)

I

shall

"a

for a

to

refer

"a

"

basket of

apples

figs

"

" love-apples

may have

and the

as-

facilitated the trans-

to those actually

growing upon

tree.

We "

(p.

Jeremiah.

life-giving

b')

Egyptian idea upon the origin of the

mandrakes and the

ference of these attributes of

a

179,

originally the hieroglyphic sign

a goddess, or a mother.

Hebrew word in

figs

states (see text-figure, p.

know

that

Aphrodite was intimately associated, not only with 1 he sun-god Apollo's apples.

love-apples," but also with real

connexion with the apple-tree, which Dr. Rendel Harris, with great daring, wants to convert into an identity of name, was probably only one of the results of that long series of confusions between the Great

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

184

Mother (Hathor) and in

my

the

to

Sun-god (Hoius),

which

I

have refeiTed

discussion of the dragon- story.

But when Apollo's form emerges more

he

clearly

is

associated not

with Aphrodite but with Artemis, whom Dr. Rendel Harris has shown The association of the to be identified with the mugwort, Artemisia.

goddess with this plant is probably related to the identification of Sekhet with the marsh-plants of the Egyptian Delta and of Hathor and Isis with the lotus and other water plants. Any doubt as to the

and Egyptian connexions is banished by the male Artemis's counterpart Apollo Hyakinthos and his the sacred lily and other water plants.^ Artemis was a

reality of these associations

evidence of relations to

for she assisted women not only in childbirth gynaecological specialist and the expulsion of the placenta, but also in cases of amenorrhoea and :

She was regarded

affections of the uterus.

as the goddess of the por-

not merely of birth,' but also of gold and treasure, of which she

tal,

possessed the key, and of the year (January). This brings us back to the guardianship of gold and treasures which plays so vital a part in the evolution of the Mediterranean goddesses. For, like the story of the dog and the mandrake, it emphasizes the con-

and

chological ancestry of these deities of the subterranean palaces

where

their

connexion with the guardians

But Artemis was

pearls are found.

not only the opener of the treasure-houses, but she also possessed the she could transmute base substances secret of the philosopher's stone :

was she not the

into gold,^ for

offspring of the

Golden Hathor

To

?

open the portal either of birth or wealth she used her magic wand or key. As Nub, the lady of gold, the Great Mother could not only change other substances into gold, but she

was

also the guardian of the treasure

house of gold, pearls, and precious stones. Elsewhere in this chapter (p. 221) riches. goddess came

Hence I

be identified with gold. as Hathor, the Eye of Re, descended Just

youth ^

'

ate,

Evans, op.

Her

cit.,

who was

i.e.

"

the

Rendel Harris,

whom

of

Janus,

Lexikon

provide the is

elixir of

described as

p. 50.

puerperium concipitur quotations see Rendel " Roscher's

to

the sun-god, so Artemis

Latin representative, Diana,

Dianas,

how

to

the king

for

she could grant

shall explain

.

.

.

it

p. 73.

a male counterpart and conjug" Ipse primum Janus cum

said

:

aditum aperit recipiendo semini

Harris, op.

".

had

was cit.,

p.

88 and the

For other

".

article

"

"

Janus

in

Fig.

"

(<^)

Winged Disk from

{/>)

Persian design of

the

25.

Temple

of

Thothmes

Winged Disk above

Seal Cylinders of Western Asia," Fig. II 09). Assyrian or Syro-Hittite design of the ((")

the

I.

Tree

of

Life

(Ward,

Winged Disk and Tree

of

Life in an extremely conventionalized form (Ward, Fig. 1310). conventionalized Winged Disk and Tree of Life, from the ((/) Assyrian

design upon the dress of Assurnazipal (Ward, Fig. 670). Part of the design from a tablet of the time of Dungi (Ward, Fig. (fc') The Tree of Life (or the Great Mother) between the two mountains 663).

:

the heraldic eagle. Cretan sarcophagus from Hagia Triada (Blinckenberg, on a (/) Design The Tree of Life has now become the handle of the Double Axe, Fig. 9). Disk has been transformed. But the bird which was into which the Winced O

alongside the tree

is

Winged Disk has been added. from a gold signet from Acropolis Treasure, Mycenae Double axe {g") " Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult," p. 10). (after Sir Arthur Evans,

the prototype of the

Disk (Ward, Fig. 608) showing reduplication of (//) Assyrian Winged the wing-pattern, possibly suggesting the doubling of each axe-blade in " " Primitive Chaldean Winged Gate (Ward, Fig. 349). The Gate (/) .i,'".

as the

Goddess

of the Portal.

Winged Disk (Ward, Fig. 1144) above a fire-altar in the form suggestive of the mountams of dawn (compare Fig. 26, c). conventionaHzed (/) An Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk crudely (Ward, Fig. 691). " " {'/i) Assyrian Tree of Life and Winged Disk in which the god is riding (/')

Persian

in a crescent replacing the

Disk (Ward, Fig. 695).

{=:*5

^^5

5^

S^^::?!?=<^

\

I ^/m^ iL

m .t %,

Xr i '

\

Fig. 25.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE travelling through the air in a car

most pious

of

drawn by two

seeking the

serpents

order that she might establish her cult with him

kings in

him with renewed youth." Artemis was a moon-goddess

and

185

bless

Cretan

the

Diktynna,

closely related

of

prototype

to

Britomartis and

These goddesses

Aphrodite.

women in childbirth and were regarded as guardians The goddess of streams and marshes was identified with

afforded help to of the portal.

the

mugwort at

occupied

[A?iej?iisia), which

other times

by

As

crocodile (dragon).

was hung above

the winged disk,

the door in the place

the thunder-stone, or a

the guardian of portals Artemis's magic plant

As the giver of life she could also withcould open locks and doors. so cause disease or death but she poshold the vital essence and ;

sessed the all

means

curing the

of

In former lectures of

was a

the other goddesses, ''

gerate the door-posts

grown doorways

Artemis,

in fact, like

witch.

which

and

is

lintels,

temples become transformed or pylons.

inRuence exerted by

she inflicted.

have often discussed the remarkable feature

I

Egyptian architecture,

ills

into I

line

this

in the

displayed

tendency to exag-

the New Empire the great more than monstrously over-

until in little

need not emphasize again the profound of development upon the Dravidian

temples of India and the symbolic gateways of China and Japan.

was no doubt suggested by the idea they represented the means of communication between the living

This significance that

of gates

and the dead, and, symbolically, the a rebirth into a

new form

portal

of existence.

reason that the winged disk as a symbol of

by which

the

dead acquired

was presumably for this life-giving, was placed above It

the lintels of these doors, not merely in Egypt, Phoenicia, the Mediter-

ranean Area, and Western Asia, but also forms

in India, Indonesia,

The came

discussion (Chapter II) of the

to acquire the

have made

will

virtues only

it

when

the Great Mother.

-

power

of

" life-giving,

the healing in

In fact,

it

was

a not

uncommon Winged

John

its

wings,"

Ry lands

practice in

Library, 1916.

Egypt

Disk.

and Oriental

Influence of Egyptian Civilization in the East

tJie

modified

that the

'^Journal of the Majichester Egyptian * "

Brdletin of

in

means by which the winged disk

iNo doubt the two uraei of the Saga of the A. B. Cook, " Zeus," Vol. I, p. 244.

The

America,' and

sun became accredited with these " assumed the place of the other Eye of Re,

clear it

in

Melanesia, Cambodia, China, and Japan.

Society,

and

in

1916.

America,"

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

186

Re

to represent the eyes of

or of

Horus himself

place of the more

in

winged disk. In the /Egean area the original practice of repiresenting the Great Mother was retained long after it was superseded usual

of the

Egypt by the use

in

Over of the

the

lintel

winged

disk,

of

winged disk (the sun-god). " the famous Lion Gate" at Mycenae, instead

we

find a vertical pillar to represent the

Goddess, flanked by two

lions

Mother

which are nothing more than other

representatives of herself (Fig. 26).

"

In his

shown

that

Mycenaean Tree and all

Pillar Cult," Sir

possible transitional forms

Arthur Evans has

can be found

(in

Crete and

her

itgean area) between the representation of the actual goddess and pillar- and tree-manifestations, until the stage is reached where the

sun

itself

the

In the large appears above the pillar between the lions.^ from Mesopotamia and Western Asia which have been

series of seals

described in Mr. William

Hayes Ward's monograph,^ we

find

mani-

between both the Egyptian and the Minoan cults. The tree-form of the Great Mother there becomes transformed

fold links

tree of

Thus we

mit.

"

"

"

into the

" tree of

which

is

life

of

life

and the winged disk

is

perched upon

Mother surmounted by

the Great

really her surrogate or

who

that of the sun-god,

power is tj'ipled. There is not only the Mother herself but also the double axe

the Great

The

the winged disk

took over

from her the power of life-giving (Figs. 25 and 26). In an interesting Cretan sarcophagus from Hagia Triada life-giving

sum-

its

have a duplication of the life-giving deities.

;

'

the

tree representmg

(the winged-disk

and the more direct representation of homologue of the sun-god) him as a bird perched upon the axe (Fig, 25, /). The identification of the Great Mother with the tree or pillar ;

seems also

to

have led to her confusion with the pestle with which the

materials for her draught of immortality

was pounded.

She was

also

the bowl or mortar in which the pestle worked.* ^

"

Evans's, Fig. 41, p. 63.

"

The

Western Asia," 1910. Monumenti antichi dell' accademia dei Lincei, XIX, puist. and V. Duhn, " Arch. f. Religionswissensch.," XII, p. 161, pll. 1, pU. 1-3 2-4; quoted by Blinkenberg, "The Thunder Weapon," pp. 20 and 21, "

Seal Cylinders of "

'

Paribeni,

... ;

^^8- 9*

was

Without

identified

just reason,

many

writers have assumed that the pestie, which

with the handle used in the churning of the ocean (see de

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE As

Mother became confused with

the Great

187 "

the pestle, so,

the

Soma-plant, whose stalks are crushed by the priests to make the Somalibation, becomes in the Vedas itself the Crusher or Smiter, by a very characteristic and hequent Oriental conceit in accordance with which " the agent and the person or thing acted on are identified } "

The

pressing-stones by

"

thunderbolts." '

rathah,

i.e. '

again

:

In the

means

Rig- V eda, we read

of

crushed typify

is

him [Soma] as jyotih-

*

mounted on a car

of light

Like a hero he holds weapons "

'

a chariot

"

which Soma

of

4, 76, verse

(IX,

2)

—

(p.

(IX,

in his

86, verse 43)

5,

hand

.

.

.

;

or

mounted on

171).

Soma was

the giver of power, of riches and treasures, flocks and " herds, but above all, the giver of immortality (p. 40). 1

Sir

Arthur Evans

is

of opinion "that in the case of the Cypiiote

cylinders the attendant monsters and, to a certain extent, the symbolic

column

itself,

are taken fiom an Egyptian solar cycle,

and the

inference

has been drav/n that the aniconic pillars among the Mycenaeans of Cyprus were identified with divinities having some points in common

with the sun-gods Ra, or Horus, and Hathor, the Great Mother {pp. cit., pp.

63 and 64).

In attempting to find

the goddess

some explanation

of

how

the tree or pillar of

be replaced in the Indian legend by Mount Meru, suggests itself whether the aniconic form of the Great

came

the possibility

"

to

Mother placed between two

relatively

diminutive

hills

may

not have

helped, by confusion, to convert the cone itself into a yet bigger hill, which was identified with Mount Meru, the summit of which in other

legends produced the

soma plant there.

that

But,

amrita

grew upon

its

of

the gods, either in the form of the

heights, or the rain clouds

as the subsequent

argument

reason for the identification of the Great the belief that the sun

will

make

Mother with

was born from the

which collected clear,

the real

a mountain

splitting

of

the

was

eastern

mountain, which thus assumed the function of the sun-god's mother. Possibly the association of the tops of mountains with cloud-and rain-

phenomena and

the gods that controlled

them played some part

in the

Gubernatis, "Zoological Mythology,' Vol II, p. 361), was a phallic emblem. This meaning may have been given to the handle of the churn at a later period, when the churn itself was regarded as the Mother Pot or uterus but we are not justified in assuming that this was its primary signi;

ficance. '

" The Asiatic Dionysos," Gladys M. N. Davis,

p.

1

72.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

188

development of the symbolism of mountains. [When I referred (in " fact that what Sir to the Arthur Evans calls the 11, p. 98) Chapter "

was

horns of consecration

was not aware

primarily the split mountain of the

(" Two

Professor

that

dawn,

I

Old

Cults of the

Newberry Kingdom," Annals of Ai'ckceology and Anthropology, Liverpool, Vol, I, 908, p. 28) had already suggested this identification.] 1

In the Egyptian story the to

pound the materials

for the

god

Re instructed

the Sekti of Heliopolis

food of immortality.

the gods, aware of their mortality,

desired

which would make them immortal.

To

this

to

In the Indian version,

discover

end.

some

elixir

Mount Meru

Great Mother] was cast into the sea [of milk]. Vishnu, in ^ avatar as a tortoise supported the mountain on his back

his ;

[the

second

and the

Naga serpent Vasuki was then twisted around the mountain, the gods seizing its head and the demons his tail twirled the mountain until they had churned the amrita or water

of

life.

Wilfrid Jackson has called

scene has been depicted, not only in

attention to the fact that this

India and Japan, but also in the Precolumbian

by some Maya

The

artist in

Codex Cortes drawn

Central America.'

the birthplace of the gods and the birth of the as an with literal deity depicted crudity emergence from the portal between its two mountains. The mountain splits to give birth to the

horizon

is

;

is

sun-god, just as in the later fable the parturient mountain produced the " " ridiculous mouse The Great Mother is de(Apollo Smintheus). scribed as giving birth

— "the

Teti himself at break of horizon].

"He

—

comes

gates of the firmament are

day" forth

undone

for

is when the sun-god is born on the " from the Field of Earu (Egyptian

[that

Pyramid Texts Breasted's translation). In the domain of Olympian obstetrics the analogy between birth and the emergence from the door of a house or the gateway of a temple is

common theme

a

of veiled reference.

Artemis, for instance,

is

a

goddess of the portal, and is not only a helper in childbirth, but also grows in her garden a magical herb which is capable of opening locks. This reputation, however, was acquired not merely by reason of her skill in

midwifery, but also as an outcome of the legend

"

of the treasure-

house of pearls which was under the guardianship of the great ^

in

The

tortoise

was

" giver

the vehicle of Aphrodite also and her representatives

Central America.

"Jackson, "Shells, etc.," pp. 57 et seq.

^

Vide supra,

p. 158.

Fig. 26. (a)

An

Egyptian picture

of

Hathor between the mountains

of

the

" Gods of the Egyptians," horizon (on which trees are growing) (after Budge, Vol. 11, p. 101). [This is a part only of a scene in which the goddess Nut illuminate giving birth to the sun, whose rays " " of the for the sun.] Sothis, the Opener

is

Hathor on the horizon, as

Way

(/')

of

The mountains

Hathor, from a

of the horizon supporting a cow's stele found at Teima in Northern

head as a surrogate Arabia,

now

in

the

Louvre (after Sir Arthur Evans, o/^. cit., p. 39). This indicates the identity " " the horns of consecration of what Evans calls and the "mountains of the horizon," and also suggests how confusion may have arisen between the mountains and the cow's horns. (r) The Mesopotamian sun-god Shamash rising between the Eastern Mountains, the Gates of Dawn (Ward, op. cit., p. 373). {d) The familiar Egyptian representation of the sun rising between the " Eastern Mountains (the splitting of the mountain giving birth to the ridicu" lous mouse The (luk/i (life- sign) below the sun is the deSmintheus).

—

terminative of the act of giving birth or life. supported by the Great Mother's lionesses.

The

design

is

heraldically

{/) Part of the design from a Mycenaean vase from Old Salamis (after Evans, p. 9). The cow's head and the Eastern Mountains are shown alongside one another, each of them supporting the Double Axe representing the

god.

Part of the design from a lentoid gem from the Idaean Cave, now in Museum (after Evans, Fig. 25). If this design be compared with the Egyptian picture {(n), it will be seen that Hathor's place is taken by the if)

the Candia

tree-form of the Great Mother, and the trees which in the former ((^/) are " horns ". growing upon the Eastern Mountains are now placed alongside the In the complete design (rvV/r Evans, ('/. r/A, p. 44) a votary is represented

blowing a conch- shell trumpet to animate the deity in the sacred tree. {g) The Eastern Mountains supporting the pillar-form of the goddess (after Evans, Fig. 66).

Another Mycenaean design comparable with {i'). If Design from a signet-ring from Mycenae (after Evans, Fig. 34). this be compared with the Egyptian picture {(i) it will be noted that the Great Mother IS now replaced by a tree the Eastern Mountains by bulls, from whose backs the trees of the Eastern Mountains are sprouting. This design affords interesting corroboration of the suggestion that the Eastern Mountains and () or with the cow itself. may be confused with the cow's head (see (//)

(/)

:

/''

(^Aiuials of Ardueology and Aiitfiropo/oo'w Liverpool, Vol. I, p. 28) has called attention to the intimate association (in Protodynastic Egypt) of the Eastern Mountains, the Bull and the Double Axe a certain token of

Newberry

—

cultural contact with Crete.

The pillar (X) The famous sculpture above the Lion Gate at Mycenae. form of the Great Mother heraldically supported by her lioness-avatars, which correspond to the cattle of the design (/) and the Eastern Mountains of (
l'"lG.

26.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

189

"

and of wliich she kept the magic key. of life She was in fact the feminine form of Janus, the doorkeeper who presided over all beginnings,

whether

the

or

any kind

of birth, or of

commencement

guardian of the door of

of enterprise or

the year (like

of

Olympus

new

venture,

Janus was the

Hathor).

the gate of rebirth into the

itself,

immortality of the gods.

The

underlying these conceptions found expression in an

ideas

endless variety of forms, material, intellectual, and moral, wherever the influence of civilization

made

of these expressions that

book.

this

I

mean

is

itself felt.

I

shall refer only to

one group

directly relevant to the subject-matter of

the custom of suspending or representing the

life-

Thus the plant giving symbol above the portal of temples and houses. the to Artemis or was herself, Artemisia, mugwort peculiar hung above the door,^ just as the winged disk the thunder-stone

the protection of

was sculptured upon

the

lintel,

or

"

was placed above the door of the cowhouse to afford the Great Mother s powers of life-giving to her own

cattle.

In the

Pyramid Texts the

rebirth of a ' '

with vivid realism and directness. the sky come.

The

waters of

life

The

dead pharaoh waters of

which are

life

in the earth

is

described

which are

in

The

come.

sky burns for thee, the earth trembles for thee, before the birth of the

The two

god.

hills are

divided, the god

takes possession of his body.

comes this

The two

hills

comes

into being, the

god

are divided, this Neferkere

Neferkere takes possession of his body. Behold feet are kissed by the pure waters which are from

into being, this

Neferkere —

-his

Atum, which the phallus

of

Shu made, which

the vulva of Tefnut

brought into being. They have come, they have brought waters from their father." pure

for thee the

*

^

Rendel Harris,

"

The Ascent

of

Olympus,"

p.

80.

In the

build-

ing up of the idea of rebirth the ancients kept constantly before their minds a very concrete picture of the actual process of parturition and of the anatomy This is not the place of the organs concerned in this physiological process. to enter into a discussion of the anatomical facts represented in the symbolism " " two hills" which of the "giver of life presiding over the portal and the

are divided at the birth of the deity

:

but the real significance of the primitive

imagery cannot be wholly ignored if we want to understand the meaning of the phraseology used by the ancient writers. " ^ The Thunder-weapon," p. 72. Blinckenberg, " ^ Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient M. Blackman, Aylward the of of Biblical Archceology, March, 1918, Proceedings Society Egypt," p. 64.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

190

^

The

Egyptians entertained the belief that the sun-god was born " o{ the celestial cow Mehetweret, a name which means Great Flood,''

and

the equivalent of the primeval ocean

is

cow Hathor,

celestial

Nun.

the embodiment of

In other

the life-giving

words the waters of

heaven and earth, is the mother of Horus. So also Aphrodite was " " born of the Great Flood which is the ocean. In his report

the picture of "

to

refers

seklit,

upon the hieroglyphs

and

is

who

marshes,

"

a

woman

of

of

Beni Hasan," Mr. Griffith

the marshes," which

is

read

used to denote the goddess Sekhet, the goddess of the presided over the occupations of the dwellers there.

Chief among these occupations must have been the capture of fish and fowl and the culture and gathering of water-plants, especially the Sekhet was in fact a rude prototype of papyrus and the lotus ".

Artemis It is

in the character depicted

by Dr. Rendel Hariis.^

perhaps not v^thout significance that the root of a marsh plant, * is regarded in Germany as a luck-bringer which

the Iris pseudacorus

'

can take the place of the mandrake. The Great Mother wields a magic wand which the ancient " Great Magician ". It was endowed Egyptian scribes called the

and opening, which from the beginning were intimately associated the one with the other from the analogy of the act of birth, which was both an opening and a giving with the two- fold powers of

of

Hence

life.

the

ways," wherewith,

opened

"

at

magic

life-giving

wand

"

was a key

or

"

opener of the

the ceremonies of resurrection, the

mouth was

speech and the taking of food, as well as for the passage

for

the eyes were opened for sight, and the ears for ' " act of opening (the hearing. key aspect) as " uterine" well as the vital aspect of life-giving (which we may call the of the breath of

life,

Both the physical

aspect) were implied in this symbolism.

form ^

-

''

was

of the

magic wand

may have

Mr.

Griffith suggests that the

been derived from that of a con-

Op. cit., p. 60. " Archaeol. Survey of Egypt," 5th Memoir, 1896, p. 31. See especially op. cit., p. 35, the goddess of streams and marshes, "

who

the mother plant," like the mother of Horus. ^ Whose cultural associations with the Great Mother in the Eastern " Mediterranean littoral has been discussed by Sir Arthur Evans, Mycenaean also herself

Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 49 et seq. Compare also Apollo as further evidence of the link with Artemis. ^P.

J.

Veth, "Internat. Arch.

f.

hyakinthos

Ethnol.," Bd. 7, pp. 203 and 204.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE veationalized picture

But

it is

"

of the uterus/

possible also that

may have helped

ways

its

in

191

aspect as a giver of "

its

other significance as an

in the

life.

opener of the

confusion of the hieroglyphic uterus-

symbol with the key-symbol, and possibly also with double-axe symbol which the vaguely defined early Cretan Mother-Goddess wielded. For, as

we

have already seen {supra,

and a magic wand " the Origin chapter on

giving divinity

In his

122), the axe also

p.

was a

life-

8).

(fig.

of the

Cult of Artemis," Dr. Rendel

Harris refers to the reputation of Artemis as the patron of travellers, and to Paridnson's statement "It is said of Pliny that if a traveller binde some of the hearbe [Artemisia] with him, he shall feele no :

"

weariness at

in

all

name Beifuss

is

his

journey

applied to

(p.

Hence

72).

the high

Dutch

it.

t

<^

a

Fig. 8.

" Ceremonial forked " " object," or magic wand," used in the ceremony of opening the mouth," possibly connected with [h) (a bicornuate uterus), according to Griffith (" Hieroglyphics," p. 60). (c) The Egyptian sign for a key. {d) The double axe of Crete and Egypt. ^a)

The

foot of the

left

the Egyptians tegs to It

walk

;

dead was called

and the goddess was

said

"

the

"

to

staff of

make

Hathor

"

by

the deceased's

".'

was a common

practice to tie flowers to a

mummy's

feet,

as

I

According to Moret and Lower Egypt were tied under the Upper the celebration of the Sed festival.

discovered in unwrapping the royal mummies.

aL)

{op.

king's

the flowers of

feet at

Mr. Battiscombe Gunn (quoted by Dr. Alan Gardiner) that the familiar symbol of

life

known

states

as the a/ik/i represents the string

of a sandal."*

seems to be worth considering whether the symbolism of the sandal-string may not have been derived from the life-girdle, which in It

-

"

Hieroglyphics,"

-

"

p.

60.

" The Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. I, pp. 436 and 437. Budge, Alan Gardiner, " Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings' Ejicyclo-

pcsdia of Religion

and Ethics.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

192

Indian medical treatises

ancient

girdle furnished with

91) a

ci/., p.

was a

cration or attainment of the divine

270), who, however,

tries

name with

linked in

and the pubic bones.

organs of reproduction

tail

According

was used

the female

Moret

{o/>.

as a sign of conse-

after death.

life

to find a phallic

to

Jung

meaning

in

all

{o/>. cit., p.

symbolism,

claims that reference to the foot has such a significance.

The Mandrake.

We

now

have

given reasons for believing that the personification

mandrake was

of the

some way brought about by the transference

in

to

the plant of the magical virtues that originally belonged to the cowry shell.

The

problem that

awaits solution

still

by which the transference was

When Mankind fusion.

(see

Chapter

seemed

to

seemed

II)

to offer

an explanation of the conin fact most Egypt-

Maspero, Erman, and

be agreed that the magical substance from which the was made was the mandrake. As there was no

in the

Egyptian story

fancied likeness to the to

the story of the Destruction of

elixir of life

Egyptian ^

began

the nature of the process

effected.

this investigation

Brugsch, Naville,

ologists,

hint

1

is

of

human

the derivation of

form,

be merely another instance

its

its

identification

of those confusions

reputation from the

with Hathor seemed

with which the path-

In other words, the plant mythology is so thickly strewn. used to soothe the excited goddess have been then seemed merely " the food of the gods," of which it was an inthe other properties of

way

of

to

:

became

gredient,

transferred

reputation of being a

been true

"

to the

mandrake, so that

acquired the

giver of life" as well as a sedative.

would have been a simple process

it

it

If this

to identify this

"

had

giver of

Hfe" with the goddess herself in her role as the "giver of life," and her cowry- ancestor which was credited with the same reputation.

But

this

(vciiiously

hypothesis

transliterated

followers interpreted as

is

no longer tenable, because the word " and or didi), which Brugsch

doudou

"

mandragora,"

is

now

dd his

believed to have another

meaning. ^

166). ^'

As Maspero "

has specifically mentioned ("

Die Alraune

Sprache, Bd.

als altagyptische

XXIX,

1891, pp. 31-3.

Dawn

of Civilization," p.

Zauberpflanze,"^^zVj"r//.

_/!

yEgypt.

THE. BIRTH In a closely reasoned

OF APHRODITE Henri Gauthier

memoir,

demolished Brugsch's interpretation

numerous instances

of

this

'

193 has completely

He

word.

says there are

of the use of d'd'

(which he transliterates doudott" In the Ebers papyrus doudon d'Ele-

the medical papyri. " phantine broye is prescribed as a lOJi) in

and

remedy

for external

application in

an astringent and emollient dressing for He says the substance was brought to Elephantine from the of Africa and the coasts of Arabia.

diseases of the heart, ulcers.

interior

as

F. LI. Griffith informs me that Gauthier's criticism of the " " translation mandrakes is undoubtedly just: but that the substance

Mr.

was most probably "red ochre"

referred to

The (in Seti

or "haematite".'

relevant passage in the Story of the Destruction of I's

tomb)

will then read as follows

" :

the red ochre, the Sekti of Heliopolis pounded

mixed the pulverized resembled

"

unknown

had S07ne magical us

to

the

of a

fruits

posed analogy

Greek

the

then

fruit,

so that the

mixture

Gauthier's

comment

that the blood-

and marvellous property which

"."

Brugsch considered the determinative m

In his dictionaiy to

it,

they had brought and the priestesses

".

call special attention to

coloured beer is

substance with the beer,

human blood

would

I

Mankind

When

which he called

tree

Avith

oiro'jpa

"

to refer

apple tree," on the sup-

^^Qop
and

transliterated

he

proposed to identify the supposed doudou, with the Hebrew doudaim, and

ti'anslate it p0)na amato?'ia, mandragora, or in German, Alrazine. This interpretation was adopted by most scholars until Gauthier raised

objections to

it.

As

Loret and Schweinfurth have pointed out, the mandrake not found in Egypt, nor in fact in any part of the Nile Valley.'*

But what "

is

more

significant,

the Greeks translated the

is

Hebrew

hieroglyphique de I'argile rouge d'Elephantine," Revue i.-ii., 1904, p. 1. " " ^ for this It is haematite that the use of the name quite possible ancient substitute for blood may itself be the result of the survival of the old ^

Le nom

Egyptologique, XI^ Vol., Nos.

tradition. *

very important to keep in mind the two distinct properties of didi : magical life-giving powers, and (/') its sedative influence. In Chapter II, p. 118, I have given other reasons of a psychological It is

{a)

its *

nature for minimizing the significance of the geographical question. 13

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

194

dildaim by fiai'^pdyopaq and

the Copts did not use the

Greek word or a term

in their translations, but either the

sedative

and

soporific

Steindorff has

properties.

^gypt. Sprache, Bd. XXVII, pute would be more conectly Finally, in a letter Mr.

with the Coptic

Griffith tells is

red colouring matter

60)

p.

"

transliterated

Kl^l, "apple (?)"

this

Although

1890,

word K'KI

referring to

shown

that the

{J^eitsch. f.

word

"

didi

me

its

instead of

"

in dis-

doudo2i

".

the identification of di'di

philologically impossible.

thus definitely proved not to

is

be the huit of a plant, there are reasons to suggest that when the story and the whole arguDestruction of Mankind spread abroad

—

of the

ment

book

of this

substance didi

establishes the fact that

was

it

did spread abroad

—

the

actually confused in the Levant with the mandrake.

We

have already seen that in the Delta a prototype of Artemis was already identified with certain plants.

was

probability did^

In all

brought into the Egyptian and the mixture of which

originally

legend merely as a sunogate of the life-blood,

was simply a the determinative (in the tomb of

it

was an

ingredient

Seti I)

But

to the king.

restorer of

— a youthyellow little

disc with a

red border, which misled Naville into believing the substance to be may also have created confusion in the minds of ancient yellow berries

—

Levantine

visitors to

made

being

to their

incident might have

Egypt, and led them to believe that reference was own yellow-berried drug, the mandrake. Such an

had a two-fold

effect.

It

would explain the

intro-

duction into the Egyptian story of the sedative effects of didi, which

would

easily

dess

and

;

mandrake

^

be rationalized as a means

in the

Levant

it

of soothing the

would have added

maniacal god-

to the real properties of

the magical virtues which originally belonged to didi (and

blood, the cowry, and water). " In

my

on

lecture

Dragons and Rain Gods" (Chapter

II)

I

ex-

plained that the Egyptian story of the Destruction of Mankind is merely In many of the one version of a saga of almost world-wide currency.

non- Egyptian versions^ the role of ctidi ^

For the therapeutic

effects

Journal, 15 March, 1890,

620.

"

Even

in

Egypt

variants of the

Disk,

Re

is

De

itself

p.

didi

truction of

of

the Egyptian story

in

is

taken

mandrake see the British Medical

may be replaced by fruit in the more specialized Mankind. Thus, in the Saga of the Winged "

Thou didst put grapes in Horus from Edfu ". Wiedemann (" Religion of

reported to have said to

water which cometh foith Ancient Egyptians," p. 70) interprets

:

this as

"

meaning

:

the

the

thou didst cause

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE by some ve^^etable product

of a

red colour

;

193

and many of these verfruit and the red clay,

sions reveal a definite confusion between the red

mandrake

thus proving that the confusion of didi with the

hypothetical device to evade a difficulty on

my

part,

is

no mere

but did actually

occur. In the course of the

development

of the

Egyptian story the red clay

from Elephantine became the colouring matter of the Nile flood, and was rationalized as the blood or red clay into which the

this in turn

bodies of the slaughtered enemies of

new

material out of which the

words, the

new

Re were

race of mankind

transformed,'

was

created.'

and the In other

was formed

race

of didi. There is a widespread legend formed from the substance of dead bodies

'

that the

mandrake

the red

blood of the enemy to flow into

also

is

it

".

But by analogy with the it should read or perhaps be

original version, as modified by Gauthier's translation of didi, " " thou didst make the water blood-red with grape-juice

:

;

merely a confused jumble of the two meanings. " in the Babylonian story of the Deluge Ishtar cried aloud like a woman in travail, the Lady of the gods lamented with a loud voice (saying) The old race of man hath been turned back into clay, because I assented to an evil thing in the council of the gods, and agreed to a storm which :

hath destroyed

my

Religion," p. 134). The Nile god, Knum, the

world

broU;^ht -

of

life to

alluvial

which

that

people

Lord

soil.

"

I

brought forth

of Elephantine,

The coming

of

"

(King,

was reputed

to

Babylonian have formed

the waters from Elephantine

the earth. "

bade one of the gods cut off his head Babylonian story, Bel and mix the earth with the blood that flowed from him, and from the mix" " ture he directed him to fashion men and animals (King, Babylonian Bel (Marduk) represents the Egyptian Horus who asReligion," p. 56). sumes his mother's role as the Creator. The red earth as a surrogate of blood in the Egyptian story is here replaced by earth and blood. But Marduk created not only men and animals but heaven and earth also. To do this he split asunder the carcase of the dragon which he had slain, the Great Mother Tiamat, the evil avatar of the Mother-Goddess In the

meintle had fallen upon his own shoulders. In other words, he " " created the world out of the substance of the who was giver of life identified with the red earth, which was the elixir of life in the Egyptian

whose

Thio is only one more instance of the way in which the same story. fundamental idea was twisted and distorted in every conceivable manner in one version of the Osirian myth Horus and the moon-god Thoth replaced it with the Indian myth Ganesa's head was replaced by

the process of rationalization. cut off the head of his mother

a cow's head, just as in

In

Isis

an elephant's. ''

See Frazer,

op.

cit.,

p. 9.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

196

men wrongly

often represented as innocent or chaste

was

red clay

"

mankind

the substance of

killed to

as the

killed, just

appease Re's wiath,

the blood of the slaughtered saints "}

But the

God

original belief

"

stoiy that

the

formed

Adam

same substance

is

found

In other

"."

as the earth

more

definite

of the

form

in the ancient

same earth whereof

words the mandrake was part

of the

ci^t^i.^

Further corroboration of Little Russia,

in a

mandrake was fashioned out

this confusion is

quoted by de Gubernatis.^

If

afforded by a story from

bryony (a widely recogall the dead

nized surrogate of mandrake) be suspended from the girdle

Cossacks (who, like the enemies of Re in the Egyptian story, had been TAi^s killed and broken to pieces in the earth) will come to life again.

we have positive

evidence of the homology of the

mandrake with

red day or hcematite.

The

transference to the

(and the goddesses

mandrake

who were

of the

of the properties

personifications of the shell)

cowry and blood

(and its surrogates) was facilitated by the manifold homologies of the have already seen that the goddess Great Mother with plants.

We

was

identified with

{a) incense-trees and other trees, such as the

:

sycamore, which played some either

by providing the

body, or for so

make ^

isle

it

making

Compare with

and there was

ensure the protection of the dead, and

to continue their existence

the story of Pious the giant

who

;

and

fled

{p) the

to Kirke's

plant /x6)Xv springing from his blood " For a discussion of mofy see Zeus," p. 241, footnote 15). "

(A. B. Cook, Lang's

Andrew

them

this

the burial ceremonies,

divine incense, the materials for preserving the

coffins to

possible for

definite part in

slain

by Helios, the

Custom and Myth

".

^

Frazer, p. 6. " In Socotra a tree (dracaena) has been identified with the dragon, and " its exudation, dragon's blood," was called cinnabar, and confused with the mmeral (red sulphide of mercury), or simply with red ochre. In the

Socotran dragon-myth the elephant takes the hero's role, as in the American stories of Chac and Tlaloc (see Chapter II), The word kinnabari was applied to the thick matter that issues from the dragon when crushed beneath the weight of the dying elephant during these combats (Plir.y, XXXIII, 28 and VIII, 12). The dragon had a passion for elephant's blood. Any thick red earth attributed to such combats was called kinnabari (Schoff,

This is another illustration of the ancient belief in the 137). identification of blood and red ochre. op. cit., p. '

"

Mythologie des Plantes," Vol.

II,

p.

101.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE lotus, the lily, the

iris,

already mentioned

(p.

and other marsh

197

plants,' for reasons that

I

have

184).

The

Babylonian poem of Gilgamesh represents one of the innumerable versions of the great theme which has engaged the attention of writers in every age

longings of the

human

and country attempting spirit.

It is

to

express the deepest

the search for the elixir of

life.

The

is a magic plant to prolong life and restore of hero the youth. story went a voyage by water in order to obtain what appears to have been a marsh plant called dtttit: Tlie

object of Gilgamesh's search

The

question naturally arises whether this of the plant

played any part

Babylonian

stories

Babylonian story and the name

in Palestine in

blending the Egyptian and

and confusing the Egyptian

elixir of

life,

the red

earth didi^ with the Babylonian elixir, the plant ditiii ? In the Babylonian story a serpent-demon steals the magic plant, In Egypt Isis just as in India sot)ia, the food of immortality, is stolen. steals ^

Re's name," and in Babylonia the "

Zu

The Water

bird steals the tablets of "

Ancient Egypt 1) Mr, W. D. Spanton has collected a In view of the series of illustrations of the symbolic use of these plants. fact that the papyrus- and lotus- sceptres and the lotus-designs played so prominent a part in the evolution of the Greek thunder- weapon, it is peculiarly an interesting article on {Ancient Egypt, 1917, Part I, p. In

Lilies of

interesting to find (in the remote times of the Pyramid Age) lotus designs built up into the form of the double-axe (Spanton's Figs. 28 and 29) and the classical kerau7ws (his Fig. 19). -

The Babylonian magic plant to prolong life and renew youth, like the It was also "the plant of birth" red mineral didi ok the Egyptian story. and "the plant

of life".

" Maspero, and Sethe regard the round cartouche," which the divine falcon often carries in place of the a ^/y^'//- symbol of life, as " Les Origines de I'Egyple a representation of the royal name (R. Weill, du Miisee Annates Ginviet, 1908, p. 111). The analogous pharaonique," " " is described by Ward {of^. known as rod and ring the Babylonian sign " cit., p. 413) as "the emblem of the sun-god's supremacy," a symbol of like the of ". tablets destiny majesty and power, As it was believed in Egypt and Babylonia that the possession of a ^

Miiller, Quibell,

name " was equivalent carried by the hawk or

to

being

in

existence,"

we

can regard the object life and the con" tablets of with the

vulture as a token of the giving of

It can probably be equated destiny. so often mentioned in the Babylonian stories,

trolling " of

which the bird god from BCl and was compelled by the sun-god to restore again. Marduk was given the power to destroy or to create, to speak the u'ord of command and to control fate, to wield the invincible weapon and to be able " " or logos. the word to render objects invisible. This form of the weapon, destiny

Zu

stole

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

198

destiny, the

hovs.

Greek legend apples

In

are stolen from the garden

Apples are surrogates of the mandrake and didi. that the mandrake is definitely a surrogate {a) of the cowry and a series of its shell-homologues, and {/)) of the red substance in the Story of the Destruction of Mankind. of Hesperides.

We have now seen

There

still

remain to be determined

mandrake became

(i)

the Hebrew word dudd-i?n, and

(iii)

means by which the

the

identified with the goddess,

(ii)

the significance of

the origin of the Greek

word

mandragora.

The answer to

As

enough.

the

first

of these three queries should

now

be ob\ious

the result of the confusion of the life-giving magical sub-

stance didi with the sedative drug, mandrake, the latter acquired the " reputation of being a giver of life" and became identified with the

"

giver of life," the

Great Mother, the story

of

whose

exploits

was

responsible for the confusion.

The

erroneous identification of didi with the mandrake

ally suggested

by Brugsch from the

literated do?idoic)

with the

likeness of

the

Hebrew word dildd-Jm

word

was

origin-

(then trans-

in Genesis, usually

"

mandrakes ". I have already quoted the opinion of Gauthier and Griffith as to the error of such identification. But the translated

evidence

now

at our

disposal seems to

reality of the confusion of the

me

to leave

no doubt as

to the

Egyptian red substance with the man-

This naturally suggests the possibility that the similarity of the sounds of the words 77tay have played some part in creating the confusion but it is impossible to admit this as a factor in the development drake.

:

of the story,

because the

Hebrew word

probably arose out of the

mandrake with the Great Mother and not by any names. In other words the similarity of the names of

identification of the

confusion of

these homologous substances

is

a mere coincidence.

Dr. Rendel Harris claims (and Sir James Frazer seems to approve the suggestion) that the Hebrew word dndd-ini was derived from " " love and, on the strength of this derivation, he soars into dodlfu., of

;

a lofty

flight of philological conjecture to transmute

like all the other varieties of the

dodiiu into

thunder- weapon, could

"

become

Aphroflesh," in

other words, be an animate form of the god. In Egyptian art it is usually the hawk of Horus (the homologue of Mar" round cartouche," which is the logos, the tablets duk) which carries the of destiny.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE "love"

dite,

ence on

into the

"goddess

of love".

It

199

would be an impertin-

unknown

part to attempt to follow these excursions into

my

heights of cloudland.

But

my

colleagues Professor

that the derivation of dfidCx-Jm

Canney and from dodJru

Principal Bennett is

tell

me

and the

improbable former authority suggests that dudd-im may be merely the plural of " Now I have already explained how a pot came to dftd^ a pot". symbolize a woman or a goddess, not merely in Egypt, but also in

Southern India, and

the giver of

and a

fiuit

an

or

life,

Mycenaean Greece, and,

Hence

ranean generally." implies either {a)

in

the use of the term

in

fact,

dud

an analogy between the form

(//')

in turn led

to

it

the Mediter-

for the

identification of the plant with the

which

pot,

;

of

mandrake

goddess

who

the mandrake-

a pot, and

being called

is

from

that being identified with the goddess.'

when

should explain that

I

Canney gave me

Professor

this state

-

I quote Professor Canney's notes on the word dudaim (Genesis xxx. verbatim: "The EncyUopcedia Biblica says (s.v. 'Mandrakes'): The Hebrew name, dudaim, was no doubt popularly associated with '

14) '

dodim, D^lilj is

obscure

"The "

"

"

love

but

;

its

real

etymology

(like that of p.avopa'yopa;)

'.

same word

Dudaim

'

translated 'mandrakes

is

occurs also

in

Jeremiah

xxiv,

1

,

'

in Song of Songs vii. 13. where it is usually translated plural of a word dud, which

baskets* ('baskets of figs'). Here it is the means sometimes a pot or kettle,' sometimes a is again doubtful. '

'

'

'

basket

'.

The etymology

I should imagine that the words in Jeremiah and Genesis have somehow or other the same etymology, and that duda-'im in Genesis has no real connexion with dod'nn love '. '

The meaning '

than

basket

'.

'

'

pot

{cffid,

duda-ini) is probably more original Genesis and Song of Songs denote some

plur.

Does duda-lm

in

"

kind of pot or caldron-shaped flower or fruit ? " The Mother Pot is really a fundamental conception of beliefs and is almost worldwide in its distribution. ^

The

all

religious

(which is a form of Hathor) assumes a form 51) that is idenlical with a common Mediterranean " " symbol of the Great Mother, called pomegranate by Sir Arthur Evans (see my text-fig. 6, p. 79, m), which is a surrogate of the apple and mandrake. The likeness to the Egyptian hieroglyph for a jar of water (text-fig. 6, /) and (Spanton,

fruit

of the

op. ciL.

lotus

Fig.

1

the goddess

the

Nu

of the fruit of the

mandrake by reason

of

its

transference of their attributes. associated with the Nile god

poppy (which was

closely associated with soporific properties) may have assisted in the The design of the water-plant (text-fig. 7, d)

may have helped

such a confusion and exchange.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

200

ment he was not aware with the mandrake

words

had

I

soon as

I

Mother was

received his note,

Griffith's discussion

woman,

wife,

Wilkinson that

*'

of

equate the

and

Hebrew

pot with the mandrake.

especially

when

I

As

read his reference to

basket of figs," in Jeremiah,

recalled

I

Mr.

the Egyptian hieroglyphic (" a pot of water ")

and the claim made by

or goddess,

this

had already arrived at the with a pot and also

I

identified

but in ignorance of the meaning of the

;

hesitated to

the second meaning,

for

the fact that

of

conclusion that the Great

manner

of representing the

word

Sir

"

for

Gardner

wife" was

" a basket of sycaapparently taken from a conventionalized picture of ".^ has now The more figs interpretation clearly emerged that the

mandrake was

called

diidaim by

with the Mother Pot.

Hebrew word Egypt, where a

When

of

The

Hebrews because

the

was

identified

may have come from

also suggests that the inspiration

woman was

it

symbolism involved in the use of the

called

"

"

a pot of water

or

"a

basket of

mandrake acquired the definite significance as a symbol " the Great Mother and the power of life-giving, its fruit, the love the

apple," became the quintessence of vitality and "

and

the pomegranate

became

graphically represented

in

surrogates of the

forms

The

fertility.

love apple,"

from

hardly distinguishable

apple

and were pots,

occupying places which mark them out clearly as homologues of the Great Mother herself."^

But once the mandrake was

identified with

the Great

Mother

in

the Levant the attributes of the plant were naturally acquired from her local

reputation there.

This explains the pre-eminently conchological

aspect of the magical properties of the I

shall

mandrake and the bryony.

not attempt to refer in detail to the innumerable stories of

red and brown apples, of rowan berries, and a variety of other red fruits that play a part in the folk-lore of so many peoples, such as didi

played

in the

Egyptian myth.

and food

of the gods, or

(Sekhet)

was conquered by her

^

"

A

These

weapons

for

fruits

can be either

elixirs of life

overcoming the dragon as

Hathor

sedative draught.^

Popular Account of the

Ancient Egyptians,"

abridged, 1890, Vol. I, p. 323. " See, for example, Sir Arthur Evans, Worship," Fig. 27, p. 46.

"

revised

Mycenaean Tree and

and Pillar

" " sake from pots set Japanese dragon-story the dragon drinks out on the shore (as Hathor drank the didi mixture from pots associated '

In a

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE In his account of the peony, Pliny (" Nat. Hist.,"

LX)

Chap.

two

has

it

says

.

the seed

.

.

a stem

...

two

cubits in length,

and of a reddish colour,

or three others,

the laurel.

"

is

201

Book XXVIII, accompanied by

with a bark

like

that of

enclosed in capsules, scmie being red and

has an astringent taste. The leaves of the female Bostock and Riley, from whose translation plant S)nei/ like myrrk ".

some black

I

have made

this

quotation,

add

that in reality the plant

is

destitute of

Ebers papyrus didi was mixed with incense in one of and in the Berlin medical papyrus it was one of the

In the

smell.

it

^

the prescriptions

;

ingredients of a fumigation used for treating heart disease. tention

is

may

it

justified,

arose by which the peony

myrrh

came

to

have attributed

If

how

provide the explanation of

to

it

con-

my

the confusion

a

"

smell like

".

"

Both plants \i.c. male and female] grow Pliny proceeds woods, and they should always be taken up at night, it is said

in the

:

would be dangerous

to

do

so in the day-time, the

being sure to attack the person so engaged."

woodpecker

It is

as

;

it

Mars

of

stated also that the

person, while taking up the root, runs great risk of being attacked with Both plants are used for various purposes the [prolapsus anij. red seed, taken in red wine, about fifteen in number, arrest menstrua'

.

tion

.

.

:

while the black seed, taken in the same proportion, in either

;

raisin

"

or other wine, are curative of diseases of the uterus.

I

refer to these

red-coloured beverages and their therapeutic use in women's complaints the analogy with that other red drink administered Great Mother, Hathor.

to suggest

to the

"

^ Jacob and the Mandrakes," Sir James Frazer has called attention to the homologies between the attributes of the peony and the mandrake and to the reasons for regarding the former as

In his essay,

Aelian's aglaopkotis. Pliny statesC' Nat. Hist.." v»-i

Book

XXIV, Chap. CII) that the ag/ao-

From its tail and the intoxicated monster was then slain. sword (as in the case of the Western dragons), which now said to be the Mikado's state sword. See Gauthier, op. cit., pp. 2 and 3. ' Compare the dog-incident in the mandrake story. " ^ the peony has no medicinal Bostock and Riley add the comment that h the river)

;

the hero extracted a is

^

whatever ". Proceedings of the British Academy, Vol. VIII, 19)7,

irirlues ""

reprint).

p.

16 (in the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

202 "

found growing among the marble quarries of Arabia, on tbe side of Persia," just as the Egyptian didi was obtained near the granite is

photis

"

By means of this plant [aglaophotis], according Magi can summon the deities into their presence

Aswan.

quarries at

the

to Democritus,

when

they please," just as the users of the conch-shell trumpet believed I have could do with this instrument. already (p. 96) emphathey 1

sized the fact that all of these plants,

the

were

rest,

really

1 he

conch-shell.

womankind,

first

is

the ultimate source of

some

peony are

influence

theii'

the second the origin of their attribute of aglaophotis,

the third of their supposed tributes of

of

surrogates

mandrake, bryony, peony, and the covsay, the pearl, and the

on

and

power of summoning the deity. The atwhich Pliny discusses along with the

of the plants

achaemems

Pieces of the root of the

suggestive.

(? per-

or else a night-shade) taken in wine,

haps Euphorbia antiquorum. torment the guilty to such an extent

them a confession

dreams as

in their

He gives

of their crimes.

the

it

from

to extort

name

"

also of

hip-

The combeing an especial object of terror to mares. The is told of the mandrake in mediaeval Europe. plementary story on the gallows decomposing tissues of the body of an innocent victim

pophobas,"

when

—

they

it

upon the earth can become reincarnated

fall

the main de gloire of old French writers. Then there is the plant adamantis, grown

padocia, which \A\GVi presented its

back, and drop

its

lion-manifestation of

A

more

direct

link

jaws.

this

a distorted reminiscence of the

Hathor who was calmed by the substance dtdi ? with the story of the destruction of mankind is

an island of Ethiopia

hideous to the

Armenia and Cap-

lion 7nakes the beast fall ttpon

suggested by the account of the ophiusa, ine,

mandrake

a

to

Is

in

in a

sight.

"

which

This plant

".

Taken by a person

is

in

found

is

of

a

drink,

in

livid it

Elephant-

colour,

hon'or of serpents, which his imagination continually represents as acing him guilty

"

of

that

he commits suicide at

sacrilege

Nat. Hist.,"

:

hence

it

is

that

compelled to drink an infusion of

are

XXIV,

last

1

02).

I

am

and

inspires such a

men-

persons

it

(Pliny,

inclined to regard this as a variant

the myth of the Destruction of Mankind in which the " from Elephantine takes the place of the uraei of the plant

"

of

snake-

Winged

Disk Saga, and punishes the act of sacrilege by driving the delinquent into a state of delirium tremens.

The

next problem to be considered

is

the derivation of the

word

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE Dr. Mingana

mandrai^ora.

The

any adequate meaning. "

"

mand, mandra,

"

a great

intoxication," or

it

puzzle to discover

through the Sanskrit " "

niantasaria, life," or sleep," " " unparadise tree," and (i(^J'u, pleasure," or mantara,

joy,"

"

Persian

is

hazardous and possibly far-fetched. "

is

mardiofii^iak,

Syro- Arabic word

giver of

it is

attempt to explain

married, violently passionate,"

The The

me

tells

203

This

life ".

is

for

it

is

man- like

plant

",

Yabrouh, Aramaic Yahb-kouh,

possibly the source of the Chinese Yah-piili-

The termination Yak /« (Syiiac v«-^?'/^-/^«) and Yah-piih-lu-Yak. " termination diminutive ". is merely the Turanian meaning The interest of the Levantine terms for the mandrake lies in the they have the same significance as the w^ord for pearl, i.e. This adds another cirgument (to those w^hich I have giver of life". for regarding the mandrake as a surrogate of the pearl. already given) fact that

"

But they

also reveal the

the plant with the In

"

that led

essential fact

Mother-Goddess, which

Arabic the mandrake

is

I

to the identification of

have already discussed.

called aboti nihr, "father of

life," i.e.

" giver of life

In Arabic

}

ntargan means

Mediterranean area coral

is

"

" coral

as well as

explained as a

"

new and

pearl

".

In the

marvellous plant

sprung from the petrified blood-stained branches on which Perseus hung the bleeding head of Medusa. Eustathius ('* Comment, ad Dionys. Perieget."

1097)

derives

hom

KopoXiov

/co'pi^,

personifying

the

but Chaeroboscos claims that it comes from Kopj] monstrous virgin and oXiov, because it is a maritime product used to make ornaments :

for

maidens.

identified with

In

any case coral

is

a

"giver of life" and as such

a maiden,' as the most potential embodiment of life" But this specific application of the word for giver of

giving force. " M'as due to the fact life

that in all

the Semitic languages, as well as

phrase was The understood as a reference to the female organs of reproduction.

in literary

*

references in the Egyptian

Pyiamid Texts,

this

am

indebted to Dr. Alphonse Mingana for this information. But the the is discussed in a learned memoir late Professor by philological question " De Leer der Signatuur," Interjiatiojiales ArcJiiv fur EtluwP. J. Veth, I

graphie, Leiden, Bd. VII, 1894, pp. 75 and 105, and especially the ap" De Mandragora, Naschrift op het tweede Hoofdstuk pendix, p. 199 ^/ seq., der Verhandeiing over de Leer der Signatur ". ""

Like the Purpiira and the Ptcroccra, the bryony and other

plants.

shells

and

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

204

same double entendre "

" pig of

and

"

which can be taken

to

word

implied in the use of the Greek

is

two surrogates

cowry," these

mean

the

"

of the

"

giver of

for

Great Mother, each or the

life

"

pudendum

muliebre ".

Perhaps the most plausible suggestion that has been made as derivation of the

word "mandragora"

is

Delatre's claim

^

to the

that

it

is

"

"

words viandros, sleep," and agoi'a, object or compounded " substance," and that mandragora means the sleep-producing substance ". of the

This derivation

is

in

harmony with

which the plant acquired

its

my

suggestion as to the

magical properties.

The

means by

sedative substance

Egyptian hieroglyphs (of the Story of the Destruction of Mankind), was represented by yellow spheres with a red covering was

that, in the

confused in Western Asia with the yellow-berried plant which was known to have sedative properties. Hence the plant was confused

with the mineral and so acquired

Great Mother's

all

the magical

But the Indian name

elixir.

actual properties of the plant

and

is

of

the

descriptive of

the

properties

is

possibly the origin of the Gi'eek

word.

Another suggestion

that has been

made

has been

claimed that the first syllable of

Sanskrit

mandara, one

of

the

deserves some notice.

name

is

It

derived from the

the trees in the Indian paradise, and the

instrument with which the churning of the ocean was accomplished." The mandrake has been claimed to be the tree of the Hebrew paradise ;

and a connexion has thus been instituted between

it

and the mandara.

offer any explanation of how either mandrake or the mandara acquired its magical attributes. The " " sweat amrita just as the incense Indian tree of life was supposed to

This hypothesis, however, does not the

trees of

Arabia produce the divine

But there are reasons

life-giving incense.

'''

for the belief

churning of the sea of milk

is

a

that the

much modified

Indian story of the version of the old for the

Egyptian story of the pounding of the materials The mandara churn-stick, which is often supposed

elixir of

to represent

life.

the

^

Larousse, Article "Mandragora". I have already referred to another version of the churning of the ocean in which Mount Meru was used as a churn- stick and identified with the Great Mother, of whom the inandara was also an avatar. "

•^

Which

Flood

".

I

shall

discuss in

my

forthcoming book on

"The

Story of the

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE was

phallus/

originally

the tree of

life,

the tree or

205 which was

pillar

So that the mandarn is animated by the Great Mother herself." But so far as I am aware, there homologous with the mandragoi'a. is

no adequate reason

The to

fit

for deriving the latter

word from the

former.

derivation from the Sanskrit words uiiDidros and agora seems

naturally into the

scheme

of explanation

which

1

have been formu-

lating.

the Egyptian story the Sekti of HeliopoHs pounded the didi " in a mortar to make the giver of life," which by a simple confusion " the might be identified v^th the goddess herself in her capacity as In

giver of

life

Lakshmi, or

Sri,

who was

dite,

This seems

".

was

have occurred

Indian legend. born at the churning of the ocean. Like Aphroto

in

the

born from the sea-foam churned from the ocean, Lak-

shmi was the goddess of beauty, love, and prosperity. Before leaving the problems of mandrake and the homologous plants and substances, it is important that I should emphasize the role of blood

and blood- substitutes, red-stained the various

berries in

substances were

all

beer, red wine,

These

legends.

life-gi\ing

associated with the colour red,

red earth, and red

and death-dealing and the

demons Sekhet and Set were given red forms, which transmitted to the dragon, and to that specialized form

destructive

turn

in

of the

were

dragon

which has become the conventional way of representing Satan. [The whole of the mandrake legend spread to China and became attached to the plants ^m^^//^ and shang-hih see de Groot, Vol. II,

—

p.

316

£?^

seq.

1895,

25. ^

The

p.

;

also

Kumagusu Minakata, N^ature, Vol.

608, and Vol. LIV. Aug.

phallic interpretation

is

13,

1896,

p.

LI, April

343.

The

certainly a secondary rationalization of an

which had no such implication originally. " The "tree of the knowledge of good cind evil (Genesis ii. 17) produced fruit the eating of which opened the eyes of Adam and Eve, so that they realized their nakedness they became conscious of sex and made

incident

:

In other words, the tree of life girdles of fig-leaves \yide supra, p. 155). " had the power of love-provoking like the mandrake. In Henderson's Celtic " " The berries for which she [Medbl craved Dragon Myth (p. xl) we read :

were from the Tree

of Life, the food of the gods, the eating of which by " mortals brings death," and further The berries of the rowan tree are the " berries of the gods 1 have (p. xliii). already suggested the homology be:

tween these red berries, the mandrake, and the red ochre of Hathor's elixir. Thus we have another suggestion of the identity of the tree of paradise and the mandrake.

206

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGOiN

fact that

the Chinese

make

word yabi'itha {vide

use of the Syriac

suprcL) suggests the source of these Chinese legends.]

The Measurement of It

was

moon and

the similarity of the periodic phases of the

womankind

of

that originally suggested the identification of the Great

Mother with the moon, and regulator of

human

of astrology

and the

controlled

Time.

beings.^ belief in

and measured the

moon was

originated the belief that the

the

This was the starting-point of the system The goddess of birth and death Fates. lives of

mankind.

But incidentally the moon determined the earliest subdivision of and the moon-goddess lent the sanctity of her divine

time into months

;

number twenty-eight. The sun was obviously the determiner

attributes to the

rising

and

setting directed

day and night, and its the east and the west as

of

men's attention to

cardinal points intimately associated with the daily birth

We

the sun.

the direction of the river Nile," which of the corpse in

its

But

grave,

may

head with the

home

first brought seems probable that

the guide to the orientation

The

for giving special

association of the diiection

position of the original

homeland and

the dead would have made the south a

of

region in Predynastic times.

For

acquired special significance in the

cardinal

was

it

have been responsible

sanctity to these other cardinal points.

of the deceased's

When

of

have no certain clue as to the factors which

the north and the south into prominence.

the eventual

and death

the north

similar reasons the north

'

divine

may have

Early Dynastic period.^

and the south were added

points the intimate association of the east

the measurement of time

"

would be extended

to

the other

two

and the west with

to include all

the four

Four became a sacred number associated with time-

cardinal points.^

'

measurement, and especially with the sun. Many other factors played a part in the establishment of

The Greek Chronus was the son of Selene. Or possibly the situations of Upper and Lower Egypt. " ^ The Ancient Egyptians ". See G. Elliot Smith, * The association of north and south with the primary subdivision

the

^

^

probably led to the inclusion of the other the subdivision four-fold.

state

'^

"

The number

children of

four "

Horus

was

two cardinal

points to

There associated with the sun-god. to the wheel of the sun.

and four spokes

of the

make

were four

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE number

sanctity of the

207

Professor Lethaby has suggested

four.

'

that

was determined by certain practical factors, such fashioning a room to accommodate a v/oven mat,

the four-sided building as the desirability of

which was necessarily

of

Egyptian grave and tomb-superstructures

the evolution of the early suggests that the early

But the study

oblong form.

of a square or

use of slabs of stone,

bricks helped in the process of

wooden

boards, and

determinmg the four-sided form

of

mudhouse

and room.

When,

out of these rude beginnings, the vast four-sided pyramid

developed, the direction of the four cardinal points

and enrichment

of the

divine house of the

its

and there

;

symbolism

dead

king,

which

supported the Celestial

was

was brought into relationship with was a corresponding development number

of the

who was

four.

the god,

The form

was thus

of the

assimilated

which was conceived as an oblong area

to the form of the universe,

the four corners of

sides

at

supported the sky, as the four legs

pillars

Cow.

Having invested the numbers four and twenty- eight with special sanctity and brought them into association with the measurement of time, it was a not unnatural proceeding to subdivide the month into four parts this

and

was done

number seven

so biing the

week was

procedure, and the length of the

this

Once

into the sacred scheme.

the moon's phases were used to justify

and

rationalize

incidentally brought

who had seven avatars, perthe week. At a later peiiod the

into association with the moon-goddess,

haps

originally

one

number seven was

The dite

was

arbitrarily

chief of the fates.

priestesses

the

seven

is

associated

at the celebration

a prominent part

came

each day of

brought into relationship with the Pleiades. seven Hathors were not only mothers but fates also. Aphro-

The number

tity of

for

in

with the pots used by Hathor's

inaugurating the

new

the Story of the Flood.

number received

year

;

and

it

plays

In Babylonia the sanc-

When

special recognition.

the goddess be-

the destroyer of mankind, the device seems to have been adopted

of intensifying her powers of destruction

by representing her

at times as

seven demons." ^

""

"

Architecture,"

p.

See the chapter on

In his article

"

24. "

"

Magic

in

"

Jevons,

Comparative Religion

".

Magic (Egyptian)," in Hastings' EncyclopcEdia of Religion and Ethics (p. 265), Dr. Alan Gardiner makes the following statement

:

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

208

But the Great Mother was associated not only with the week and also with the year. The evidence at our disposal seems to

month but

suggest that the earliest year-count

undation of the

The

river.

v»'as

determined by the annual

in-

annual recurrence of the alternation of winter

and summer would naturally suggest in a vague way such a subdivision of time as the year but the exact measurement of that period and the ;

an arbitraiy commencement, a

fixing of

other

In the Story

reasons.

of

New

Year's day, were due to

the Destruction

of

Mankind

it

is

recorded that the incident of the soothing of Hathor by means of the blood-coloured beer (which, as I have explained elsewhere,^ is a refer-

ence to the annual Nile flood) was celebrated annually on

New

Year's

day.

Hathor was regarded in ti*adition as the cause of the inundation. " " She slaughtered mankind and so caused the original flood in the next :

phase

she

was

associated with the

7000

jars of red beer

ultimate version with the red-coloured river flood, story

was reputed

to

be

Hathor's day was

"

in

inundation and of the year of the year

the tears of fact

and

;

which

in the

another

in

Isis ".

the date of the

commencement

of the

and the former event marked the beginning

;

and enabled men

for the first time to

measure

its

' Thus Hathor was the measurer of the year, the month, and while her son Horus (Chronus) was the day-measurer.

duration.

the

week

;

'*

The mystical potency attaching to certain numbers doubtless originated in The number seven, in associations of thought that to us are obscure. Thus we find Egyptian magic, was regarded as particularly efficacious. to the seven Hathors cf. al kirTa Tvxai rod ovpavov (A. 'the seven Dieterich, Eine MitJirasliturgie, Leipzig, 1910, p. 71): in their and knots of stand and make seven who Re,' weep daughters

references

:

'

'

seven tunics of

Re

;

and

'

similarly

the seven

Are

the seven daughters of

Re

Hathor corresponding ^Chapter II, p. 118.

sentatives of

''

hawks who are

in front of the

barque

'."

We have already

an

the seven days of the week, or the repreto the seven days ?

seen that the primitive aspect of life-giving that played we are considering was the

essential part in the development of the story search for the means by which youth could be

restored.

It

is

significant

Hathor's reputed ability to restore youth is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts in association with her functions as the measurer of years for she " is said to turn back the years from King Teti," so that they pass over him " without increasing his age (Breasted, Thought and Religion in Ancient that

:

Egypt,"

p.

124).

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE "

In Tylor's is

of

Mankind"

Early History of

(pp.

209

352

et scq.)

widespread summary of some Youth which restores youthfulness to the aged who drank

a concise

bathed

in

He cites instances from

it.

places the Fountain of (p.

The

New

India, Ethiopia,

"The Moslem

Polynesia, and America.

earth"

stories of the

of the

there

Fountain of

it

or

Europe, Indonesia,

geographer, Ibn-el-Wardi,

Life in the dark south-western regions of the

353).

star Sothis rose

Hence

Year.^

it

heliacally

became

"

on the

first

day

of

the

Egyptian

the second sun in heaven," and

was

with the goddess of the New Year's Day. The identification of Hathor with this "second sun"" may explain why the goddess is

identified

She took her place as a crown upon was assumed by her surrogate, the firehis forehead, which afterwards When Horus took his mothers place in the spitting uraeus- serpent. said to

have entered Re's boat.

myth, he also entered the sun-god's boat, and became the prototype of Noah seeking refuge from the Flood in the ship the Almighty instructed

him

to

In

make.

memory

New

kind,

of the beer-drinking episode in the Destruction of

Year's

Day was

celebrated

by Hathor's priestesses

Man-

in

wild

orgies of beer drinking.

This event was necessarily the

earliest celebration of

an anniversary,

and the prototype of all the incidents associated with seme special day year which have been so many milestones in the historical pro-

in the

gress of civilization.

The

first

measurement

of the year also naturally forms the starting-

point in the framing of a calendar.

Similar celebrations took

the year in

Egyptian

all

countries

either directly or indirectly,

of

under

'A<^poStcria (so-called from the festival of the goddess)

began the calendar of

^

which came,

commencement

influence.

The month feast

place to inaugurate the

was a

New

Bithynia, Cyprus, and

lasos,

just

as Hathor's

Year's celebration in Egypt.

Breasted (" Religion and Thought

in Ancient Egypt," p. 22) stales began at the rising of Sothis, the star of Isis, sister of " The beloved daughter, Sothis, makes Osiris, they said to him {i.e. Osiris] thy fruits (rnpwt) in her name of Year (mpt) ". The Great Mother was identified with the moon, but when she became

that as the inundation

:

'

'

specialized, her representative adopted Sothis or

14

Venus

as her star.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

210

In the celebration of these anniversaries the priestesses of

Aphrodite

worked themselves up in a wild state of frenzy and the term became identified with the state of emotional derangement ;

with such

orgies.

The common

rived directly h'om the

The word as a

va-r-qpia for

synonym

belief that the

Greek word

was used

in the

uterus

for

same sense

term is

'

vo-rijpLa

associated " is dehysteria

"

certainly erroneous.

as 'A(/)/)o8to-ta, that

The

the festivals of the goddess.

"

" hysteria

is,

was

name for the orgy in celebration of the goddess on New Year's day then it was applied to the condition produced by these excesses and in it was adopted medicine to to similar emotional ultimately apply " ^ " " Thus both the terms disturbances. and are hysteria lunacy the

:

;

"

intimately associated history

;

with the

phases in the moon-goddess's and their survival in modern medicine is a striking tribute to earliest

the strong hold of effete superstition in this branch of the diagnosis

and

treatment of disease.'

have already refeiTed to the association of Artemis with the portal As the guardian of the door her Roman repreof birth and rebirth. I

Diana and her masculine avatar Dianus or Janus gave the the commencement of the year. The Great Mother not

sentative

name

to

only initiated the measurement of the year, but she (or her representative) lent hei"

name

to the opening of the year in various countries.

But the story of the Destruction of Mankind has preserved the record not only of the circumstances which were responsible for originating the measurement of the year and the making of a calendar, but also of the materials out of

^

which were formed the mythical epochs pre-

"

At Argos the principal fete of Aphrodite was called vGTi']pia because " Clem. Alex. Protr." they offered sacrifices of pigs (" Athen." Ill, 49, 96 ; " des Article The Greek Diet, Antiquitcs, p. 308. 33)" Aphrodisia,"

—

word

for pig

reproduction "

had the double

significance of

"

"

pig

and

"

female organs of

".

Aphrodite sends Aphrodisiac

"

mania

" (see Tiimpel, op.

cit.,

pp.

394

and 395). ^ There "

is still widely prevalent the belief in the possibility of being moonstruck," and many people, even medical men v/ho ought to know better, solemnly expound to their students the influence of the moon in pro" If it were not invidious one could cite instances of this lunacy ". ducing from the writings of certain teachers of psychological medicine in this country

within the

one

last

few months.

of the factors that

make

The it

persistence of these kinds of traditions is so difficult to effect any real reform in the

treatment of mental disease in this country.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE served in the legends of Greece and

and many other countiies

India

further removed from the origmal centre of

elaboration of the early story involved

became necessaiy

new

civilization

When

the

the destruction of mankind,

it

provide some explanation of the continued existman upon the earth. This difficulty was got rid of by creating

ence of a

211

race of

to

men from

the fragments of the old or from the clay into

which they had been transformed {supra, p. 196). In course of time creation became the basis of the familiar secondary story of the

this

But the story also became transformed the process of destruction were

original creation of mankind. other ways.

in

Different versions of

blended into one narrative, and made into a a succession of acts of creation. "

Mexican Aichaeology,"

p.

series of

shall quote (from

I

50) one example

and

catastrophes

Mr. T. A. Joyce's

of these series of mythi-

—

epochs or world ages to illustrate the method of synthesis When all was dark Tezcatlipoca transformed himself into the sun to give light to men.

cal

:

1.

This sun terminated

in the destruction of

mankind, including a

race of giants, hy jaguars.

The

second sun was QuetzalcoatI, and

age terminated in a terrible hurricane^ during which mankind was transformed into 2.

his

monkeys. 3.

The

third sun

was Tlaloc, and the

destruction

came by a rain

of fire. 4.

The

fourth

was

Chalchintlicue,

and mankind was

stroyed by a deluge, during which they became

The or

first

episode

is

clearly based

Hathor destroying mankind

:

upon the

the second

is

finally

de-

fishes.

story of the lioness-form

the Babylonian story of

Tiamat, modified by such Indian inHuences as are revealed

in

the

the third is inspired by the Saga of the Winged Disk and the fourth by the story of the Deluge. Similar stories of world ages have been preserved in the mythologies

Ramayana :

01

;

Eastern Asia, India, Western Asia, and Greece, and no doubt were

derived from the same original source.

The Seven-headed Dragon. I

have already referred

to the magical

number seven and the widespread

significance attached

to the

references to the seven Hathors, the

seven winds to destroy Tiamat, the seven demons, and the seven

fates.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

212

Flood there

In the story of the

nature of

many

incidents of

is

a similar insistence on the seven- fold

good and

the dragon w^ith this seven-fold

ill

power

meaning

be symbolized by a creature with seven heads. Japanese story told in Henderson's notes

A

'

to a house

where

that the last daughter of the house

seven or eight

He

victim.

"

to

'

heads

went with

who came

to

were weeping, and learned

all

was

be given to a dragon with

to

the sea-shore yearly to claim a

her, enticed the

dragon

to drink

sake from pots the end of

From

out on the shore, and then he slew the monster.

state

to

:—

A man came

his tail

But

Celtic Campbell's will serve as an introduction to the seven-headed

^

Dragon Myth monster "

set

in the narrative.

wrecking vengeance came

of

he took out a sword, which

He

sword.

is supposed to be the Mikado's married the maiden, and with her got a jewel or

talisman which

is

so preserved

a mirror.

A third

preserved with the regalia.

thing of price

"

The

is

seven-headed dragon

found also

is

myth, and the legends of Cambodia, India, East Africa, and the Mediterranean area.

in

the Scottish dragon-

Persia,

Western Asia,

The

seven-headed dragon probably originated from the seven In Southern India the Dravidian people seem to have borHathors. "

There are seven rowed the Egyptian idea of the seven Hathors. in All the seven who are Mari deities, all sisters, Mysore. worshipped sisters

are regarded vaguely as wives or sisters of Siva."

^

At one

Bishop Whitehead found that the village in the Trichinopoly goddess Kaliamma was represented by seven brass pots, and adds district

:

"It

is

possible that the seven brass pots represent seven

sisters

or the

" But the seven virgins sometimes found in Tamil shrines (p. 36). is is also the seven who seven who animates Hathors, pots, goddess

probably well on the way to becoming a dragon with seven heads. There is a close analogy between the Swahili and the Gaelic stories that reveals their ultimate derivation from

Babylonia.

In the Scottish

" Caste of F. Campbell, with the Fraoch and the Dragon," translated with introduction by George Henderson, Edinburgh, 1911, p. 134. ^

•'

The

Celtic

Dragon Myth," by

'

My

^

Henry Whitehead (Bishop

J.

italics.

India," Oxford, 1916, p. 24.

of

"

Madras),

The

Village

Gods

of

South

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE comes

story the seven- headed dragon

213

storm of wind and spray.

in a

The

In the East African serpent comes in a storm of wind and dust.' Babylonian story seven winds destroy Tiamat. " The famous legend of the seven devils current in antiquity was

and

of Babylonian origin,

belief in these evil spirits,

who

fought against

was wide-

the gods for the possession of the souls and bodies of men,

Here

spread throughout the lands of the Mediterranean basin. of the descriptions of the seven

demons

:

—

is

one

"

Of the seven the first is the south wind. " The second is a dragon whose open mouth. " The third is a panther whose mouth spares not. " The fourth is a frightful python. " who knows no turning back. The fifth is a wrathful " who against god and king [attacks]. The sixth is an on-rushing " The seventh is a hurricane, an evil wind which [has no mercy]. " The Babylonians were inconsistent in their description of the seven .

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

In fact them in various passages in different ways. of a number of these conceived demons, and very large they actually their visions of the other evil spirits are innumerable. According to the devils, describing

incantation of

Shamash-shum-ukin

fifteen evil spirits

had come

into his

body and " *'

'

My God

The

who

walks

at '

king calls himself

most fundamental doctrines

of

from the religious

of

beliefs

my

the son of his

protected by a divine

their

whom

spirit

ka

"

or the soul's double.

and

a state of atonement,

in

they conceived of as dwelling in

bodies along with their souls or

ways the Egyptians held the same the

We

Babylonian theology, bonowed originally the Sumerians. For them man in his

natural condition, at peace with the gods is

drove away.' God '. have here the

side they

'

the breath of

doctrine, in

According

their

life

belief

to the beliefs

In

*.

many

concerning of the Su-

merians and Babylonians these devils, evil spirits, and all evil powers stand for ever waiting to attach {sic) (? attack) the divine genius with each man. By means of insinuating snares they entrap mankind in the meshes of their magic.

body by leading him things, or 1

<<

by overcoming

The

Celtic

They

secure possession of his soul

into sin, or bringing his divine

Dragon Myth,"

p.

him

into contact wnth

and

tabooed

protector with sympathetic magic. 136.

-

See Chapter

I,

p. 47.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

214 .

.

These

.

adversaries of humanity thus expel a man's god, or genius,

These

or occupy his body.

object the ejection of the

Many

tector.

hands of "

his

of

atonement have as

rituals of

demons and the

the prayers

god and goddess

him

Mus.

figurine represents the

dog, scorpion

tail,

bird legs

and

demon

*

somewhat

of the

"

rare.

A

Langdon,

(S.

.

.

.

The

winds with body "

feet

the kind

Into

petition,

*.

Representations of the seven devils are

Brit.

primary

restoration of the divine pro-

end with the restore

their

of a

Ritual of

Atonement for a Babylonian King," The Museum /ott7'nal\[Jm\&['a.\y of Pennsylvania], Vol. VIII, No. 1, March, 1917, pp. 39-44). the

But the Babylonians not only adopted the Egyptian conception of power of evil as being seven demons, but they also seem to have

fused these seven into one, or rather given the real dragon seven-fold attributes.^

In

"

The Cuneiform

" Inscriptions

of

Museum), Marduk's weapon is compared "

The god himself is represented as The tempest of battle, my weapon

great serpent of seven

heads

sti"ong serpent of the sea

is

to

Western "

the

fish

addressing of

fifty

Asia

'

(British

with seven wings it

in

".

words

these

:

heads, which like the

yoked with seven heads, which

like

tKe

(sweeps away) the foe ". which I have quoted, the number of the

In the Japanese story

dragon's heads

know why

"

is

the

given as seven or eight

number

;

and de Visser

is

at

eight should be stereotyped in these

a

loss to

stories of

[Japanese] dragons".""

have already emphasized the worldwide association of the seven-

I

^

do not propose to discuss here the interesting problems raised by this But it is worthy dragon with a man's good or evil spirit. note that while the Babylonian might be possessed by seven evil spirits, I

identification of the

of

In a form the Egyptian could have as many as fourteen good spirits or kas. somewhat modified by the Indian and Indonesian channels, through which

and the illuthey must have passed, these beliefs still persist in Melanesia minating account of them given by C. E. Fox and F. W. Drew (" Beliefs ;

XLV,

of San Cristoval," Jonrn. Roy. Anthropol. Inst., Vol. makes it easier to us to form some conception of their original 161), p. The ataro which possesses a man meaning in ancient Babylonia and Egypt.

and Tales 1915,

" ghosts ") leaves his body (and there may be as many as a hundred of these at death and usually enters a shark (or in other cases an octopus, skate, turtle,

hawk,

crocodile,

-Vol.

II,

kingfisher, tree, or stone).

19, 11-18,

282. ^

Op.

cii.,

p. 150.

and 65, quoted by Sayce, Hihhert Lectures,

p.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE The Argonaut

headed dragon with storms. by

classical scholars)

was

215

(usually called

"

"

Nautilus

the prophet of ill-luck and the storm-bringer

:

paradox that runs through the whole tissue of mythology, form of the Great Mother is also a benevolent warner against

but, true to the this

This

storms.

process of blending the seven

may have been

dragon

between

seems to be another link

dragon and these cephalopoda. I would suggest, merely as a facilitated

and the octopus. We know forms assumed by the dragon numbers seven and

eight

is

working hypothesis, that the dragon into a seven-headed

tentative

avatars by

of the

identification

its

that the octopus (see p.

seven-headed

the

72)

1

:

with the Pterocera

and the

shell-fish

were

the confusion between the

such as might have been created during the

transference of the Ptei^occrd s attributes to the octopus {inde supra,

" the fish with seven wings," and the Babylonian reference to 170) " a great serpent with seven which was afterwards rationalized into heads," seems to provide the clue which explains the origin of the sevenp.

;

headed dragon. If Hathor was a seven-fold goddess and at the same time was identified with the seven-spiked spider-shell {^Pterocera), the process of converting the shell-fish's seven

would be a very simple one has any basis

in

fact,

for

an ancient

story-teller.

of the shell- fish)

upon the shores of Southern Arabia attention

was

seven heads

If this

hypothesis

have come

first

into ex-

would explain the appeai-

ance of the derived myth of the seven-headed dragon

My

into

the circumstance that the beliefs concerning the

Pterocera must (hom the habitat istence

"wings"

in

Babylonia.

called to the possibility of the octopus being

the parent of the seven-headed dragon, and one of the forms assumed

The by the thunderbolt, by the design upon a kiater from Apulia.' seemed to of be a conventionalization the weapon octopus. TTiough further research

vinced spiral

me

has led

me

to distrust

of the intimate association

of

this

interpretation,

it

has con-

the octopus and the derived

ornament with thunder and the dragon, and has suggested that demons into a seven-headed demon

the process of blending the seven

has been assisted by the symbolism of the octopus and the Pterocera. '

A.

Cook, "Zeus," Vol. I, p. 337, in which (Fig. 269) the rider welconiing the thunderbolt as a divine gift from heaven, i.e. as a life-amulet, a giver of fertility and good luck. For a design representing the octopus as a weapon of the god Evos see the title-page of Usener's " Die B.

in the car is

Sintfluthsagen," 1899.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

216

The

to the circumstances that

have already referred

I

cow with

for the identification of the

Once

Pig.

were responsible and

the Great Mother, the sky,

had happened, the process seems to have been include other animals which were used as food, such as the

the moon.

extended to

this

sheep, goat, pig, and antelope (or gazelle

and

deer).

In

Egypt the

cow continued to occupy the pre-eminent place as a divine animal and the cow-cult extended from the Mediterreanean to equatorial Africa,

;

to

Western Europe, and as far East as India, But in the Mediterranean In more prominent part than it did in Egypt.'

area the pig played a

the latter country Osiris, the pig

and

and

Isis,

in Syria the place of

were

especially Set,

Set as the

identified

with

of Osiris

enemy (Adonis) was taken by an actual pig. But throughout the Eastern Mediterranean the pig was also identified with the Great Mother and associated with In fact at Troy the pig was represented lunar and sky phenomena. ;

'^

with the star-shaped decorations with which Hathor's divine cow (in To complete her role as a sky-goddess) was embellished in Egypt. the identification with the cow-mother Cretan fable represents a sow the

suckling

infant

Minos

or

the

youthful

Zeus- Dionysus

as

his

Egyptian prototype was suckled by the divine cow.

Now

the cowry-shell

pig, in fact,

and

it

is

was

clear

reason for this

identified

was

by the Greeks. both with the Great Mother and the called x^t/aos

from what has been said already in strange homology was the fact that

The shell

;

these pages that the originally

the Great

Mother was nothing more than the cowry-shell. But it was not only with the shell itself that the pig was identified Thus the term xoipog had but also with what the shell symbolized. an obscene significance acquired meaning part in fixing

But

it

in addition

"cowiy". for other

eating of swine-flesh

was

fact

"

upon the pig the

was mainly

meaning "pig" and its seems to have played some

to its usual

This

notoriety of being

an unclean animal

".^

reasons of a very different kind that the

forbidden.

The

tabu seems to have arisen

a misunderstood form, even as far as America. " llios," Fig. 1450, p. 616. ^ in the case of the Persian word khor, which means both ** " *' woman ". The possibility of the derivaor and harlot filthy pig " " from the same source is worth tion of the old English word [wlhore ^

-

And

also, in

Schliemann, This is seen " "

considering.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE originally because the pig

Mother and

the

was a sacred animal

Water God, and

217

identified with the

Great

especially associated with both these

deities in their lunar aspects.

a Cretan legend the youthful god Zeus- Dionysus " the Cretans consider this For this reason was suckled by a sow. and the men of Praesos animal sacred, and will not taste of its flesh

According

to

;

perform sacred

with the sow, making her the

rites

first

offering at the

sacrifice ".^

But when the pig also assumed the role of Set, as the enemy of Osiris, and became the prototype of the devil, an active aversion took the place of the sacred tabu, and inspired the belief in

someness of pig

flesh.

To

this

a dirty animal which the pig

have already stated. I have already referred

was added itself

the unpleasant reputation as

acquired,

for the

to the irrelevance of

denial of the birth of Aphrodite from the sea (p.

does not seem to have realized that evidence which

is

much more

in

the unwhole-

reasons which

I

Miss Jane Harrison's 141 ). Miss Harrison

her book' she has collected

relevant to the point at issue.

For, in

50

et se^.),

the interesting account of the Eleusinian Mysteries (pp.

she has called attention to the important

rite

upon the day '

'

'

1

"

called in

"

dXaSe ixvcTTai,,' to the sea ye mystics popular parlance 52), (p. I has a direct bearing upon the myth of Aphrodite's birth which, think, from the sea. 1

The

and each of the candiMysteries were celebrated at full moon " dates for admission took with him his own pharmakos,^ a young pig ", " " Arrived at the sea, each man bathed with his pig 52). (p. On one occasion, so it is said, " when a mystic was bathing his pig, a " sea-monster ate off the lower part of his body So impor(p. 53). " tant was the pig in this ritual that when Eleusis was permitted (B.C. to issue her autonomous 350-327) coinage it is the pig she chooses as ;

I

1

" the sign and symbol of her mysteries (p. 53). " the final day of the Mysteries, according to Athenaeus, I

On

vessels called

plemochoa: are emptied, one towards the East and the

other towards the West, and at the ^

'

L. R. Farnell, "

Prolegomena "

"

Which,

two

in fact,

"

moment

of

outpouring a mystic

Cults of the Greek States." Vol.

to the

Study

was intended

the redeemino blood ".

of

I,

p. 37.

Greek Religion."

as the equivalent of cf^dpfiaKov

udavaaia^,

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

218

formulaiy was pronounced. cannot certainly say, but it

.

.

What

.

was we

the mystic formulary

tempting to connect the libation of the with a He says In the plemochocB formulary recorded by Proclos. " Eleusinian mysteries, looking up to the sky they cried aloud Rain," " " " and looking down to earth they cried Be fruitful (p. 161). In these latter incidents we see, perhaps, a distant echo of Hathor's is

'

'

were poured out upon the soil, which became the symbol of the inundation of

pots of blood-coloured beer that in

a later version of the story

The

the river and the token of the earth's fruitfulness. in the

Great Mother

of these life-giving

about the same time

was born

;

and

Hence

this

was

She was

the sea.

of

personification

of the river occurred at

powers

by the myth

rationalized

that she

moon and

also identified with the

a

were celebrated, both in Egypt and in the Mediterranean, at full moon, and the pig played a prominent part in them. The candidates washed the sacrificial pig in the sea, not sow.

these Mysteries

primarily as a rite of purification,^ as

the sacrificial animal

and

in the sea,

was merely a

of the

and hence born

is

surrogate of the cowry, which lived

Great Mother,^

who was

being attacked by a sea-monster, perhaps

we

widespread story of the shark guarding the seen

how

it

the digging

was up

sprung from the cowry

In the story of the

of the sea.

claimed, but because

commonly

man

carrying the pig

have an incident

We

pearls.

of

that

have already

distorted into the fantastic legend of the dog's role in

of

the pearl's place

In the version we are now considering taken by the pig, both of them sunogates of the

mandrakes. is

cowry.

The

object of the

the cleansing of purification in

"

of carrying the pig into the sea

the unclean animal," nor was

any sense

for identifying the

medium, and

ceremony

of the term

sacrifice

:

it

primarily

was simply a

ritual

with the goddess by putting

it

was not a

rite of

procedure

in her

own

so transforming the surrogate of the sea-shell, the proto-

type of the sea-born goddess, into the actual

The

\\.

question naturally arises

:

Great Mother.

what was the

real

purpose of the

sacrifice of the pig ? '

Blackman (" Sacramental Ideas and Usages in Ancient Egypt," Proceedings of the Society of liiblical Archccology, March, 1918, p. 57: and May, 1918, p. 85) has shown that the idea of purification was certainly entertained. "

In

some places an image

of the

goddess was washed

in the sea.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE the story of the Destruction

In

life-giving

stances

were responsible

was

place, there

first

stitution of either

for the

of

purpose

seen that

obtammg

the

Two

circum-

for the modification of this procedure.

In the

the ageing king.

abandonment

the

Mankind we have

of

human victim was slam human blood to rejuvenate

originally a

219

of

human

sacrifice

and the sub-

beer coloured red with ochre to resemble blood (or in

other cases red wine) oi the actual blood of an animal sacrifice in place of the self

human

Secondly, the blood of the Great Mother her-

blood.

(personified in the special

cow

locality, the

human

It

being.

is

as a life-giving force than that of a

tion of

an animal

human

a

for

state of society

mere mortal

perhaps even probable, that

possible,

the real reason for the abandoning of

rude

was recognized in a particular in another, and so on) was le-

that

one place, the pig

in

more potent

garded as

avatar

human For

being.

sacrifice it

is

and the

this

was

substitu-

unlikely that, in

the

which had become familiarized with and brutalized

by the practice of these bloody

rites of

homicide, ethical motives alone

would have prompted the abolition of the custom of human sacrifice, The substitution of the to which such deep significance was attached. animal was prompted rather by the idea of obtaining a more potent elixir from the life-blood of the Great Mother herself in her cow- or

sow- forms. In the transitional stage of the process of substitution of an animal for a

human

meaning

of

being some confusion seems to have arisen as to the ritual new procedure. If Moret's account of the Egyptian

the

—

^

and v^thout a knowledge of Egyptian philology Mysteries is correct the attempt I am not to express an opinion upon this matter competent was made to identify the animal victim of sacrifice with the human being

whose place

it

had

passing a

transforming

taken.

In the procession a

human

being wore

and, according to Moret, there was a ceremony human being through the skin as a ritual procedure for the mock victim into the animal which was to be sacri-

the skin of an animal of

—

ficed in his place.

;

If

there

is

any

tiuth

in this

interpretation, such

a

ceremony must have been prompted by a misunderstanding of the meaning of the sacrifice, unless the identification of the sacrificial animal with the goddess was merely a secondary rationalization of the tution which had been made ior ethical or some other reasons.

We

know

that the

dead were often buried ^

"

Mysteres Egyptians."

substi-

in the skins of sacrificial

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

220 animals,

We

and

so identified with the life-giving deities

and given

rebirth.

know^ also that in certain ceremonies the appropriate skins were

worn by

who were

those

The wearing

impersonating particular gods or goddesses.

these skins of divine animals seems to have been

of

prompted not so much by the idea of a reincarnation in animal form as by the desire for identification and communion with the particular deity which the animal represented. The whole question, however, is one of great complexity, which can only be settled by a critical study of the texts by some scholar who keeps clearly before his mind the real issues,

and

refuses to take refuge in the stereotyped evasions of conventional

methods

of interpretation.

The

of the

sacrifice

Hathor's

sacrifice of

sow

the real meaning of the story in

Chapter

II

to

human

a

Demeter

became

distorted

I

good harvest

good inundation of the

is

The

other her place

is

is

sow

a maiden

the suiTogate of

Instead of the

tale.

Andromeda, she

killing of the

sacrifice of

The sow

river.

the beautiful princess of the fairy case, as

have already explained

homologous with the

to obtain a

one

merely a late variant of Re. How

(" Dragons and Rain Gods").

to obtain a

slain, in

is

being to rejuvenate the king

maiden being

rescued by the hero, in the

These late rationahzations are taken by a sow. more than fifty centuries ago which motives deep

is

glosses of the

merely

have prompted early pharmacologists to obtain a more potent than human blood by stealing from the heights of Olympus the

seem

to

elixir

divine blood of the life-giving deities themselves.

The Osiris

pig

was

and Set

identified not only with the

With

also.

Great Mother, but with

the pigs lunar and astral associations

1

do

not propose to deal in these pages, as the astronomical aspects of the problems are so vast as to need much more space than the limits im-

posed

in this

But

statement.

this

it

is

important to note that the

was perhaps the main

cation of Set with a pig

creature the fetters of a reputation for

the representative

Tiamat)

;

and both

killed Osiris,

of

both Set and

them were

so the pig gave

earthly incidents ^

of

Myths

upon

dragon was

Great Mother (Sekhet or Just as Set

When

celestial significance, the

these

con-

collected a good deal of folklore concern-

Egypt," pp. 66 ct seq.

and Cretan

evil

his mortal injury.^

were embellished with a

of

The

identified with the pig.

Adonis

Mr. Donald Mackenzie has

ing the pig (" lonian, Indian,

the

evil.

identifi-

factor in riveting

n\yths, op. cit. supra).

;

also his books

on Baby-

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE Horus with Set was

of

flict

interpreted

221

as the struggle between

and order and the powers

darkness

and chaos.

forces

When

worshipped as a tempest-god the Mesopotamian Rimmon was " " " as the pig the wild boar of the desert," was a and, as

known

light

of

the

of

'

form of Set.

have discussed the pig at this length because the use of the words the Greeks, and porciis and porcidiis. by the Romans, re)(^oLpo<; by " " veals the fact that the terms had the double significance of and pig I

" cowry-shell "

**

".

As

is

it

manifestly impossible to derive the word " for pig," the only explanation that

from the Greek word

cowry

examination is that the two meanings must have been acthe identification of both the cowry and the pig with the from quired In other words, Great Mother and the female reproductive organs. will stand

the pig-associations of Aphrodite afford clear evidence that the goddess

was

originally a personification of the cowry.'

The fundamental

nature of the identification of the cowry, the pig,

and the Great Mother, the one with the other, in the archaeology of the

is

/Egean, but also in the

revealed not merely

modern customs and

For example,

ancient pictures of the most distant peoples.

in

New

Guinea the place of the sacrificial pig may be taken by the cowiy^ and upon the chief facade of the east Mang of the ancient Ameiishell can monument, known as the Casa de las Monjas at Chichen Itza, the ;

hieroglyph of the planet of

a wild

Venus

is

placed in conjunction with a picture

pig.*

Gold and the Golden Aphrodite. The

evidence which has been collected by Mr. Wilhid Jackson

seems to suggest that the shell-cults originated the

Red Sea. With the

in the

neighbourhood of

introduction of the practice of wearing shells on girdles "

^

Hibbert Lectures," p. 153, note 6. According to Sayce, " *' In Egypt not only was the sow identified with Isis, but lucky pigs " Guide were worn on necklaces just like the earlier cowry- amulets (Budge, -'

"

Egyptian Collections Malinowski, Trans, XXXIX, 1915, p. 587^/.

to the "

"

^

(British

and

Museum), Royal

Proc.

p. 96).

Society,

South Australia,

seq.

Die Tierbilder der mexikanischen und der Maya-HandsEthnologie, Bd. 41, 1909, p. 405, and Fig. 242 in " Maudslay, Biologia Centrali- Americana, Vol. Ill, PI. 13. Seler,

chriften," Zeitsch. f.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

222

when people

necklaces and as hair ornaments the time arrived

and

living

some distance from the

sea experienced

they resorted to the manufacture

meet

to

these amulets in quantities sufficient

in

difficulty

their

obtaining

demands.

Hence

of imitations of these shells in clay

and

an early period in their history the inhabitants of the deserts between the Nile and the Red Sea (Hathor's special province) discovered that they could make more durable and attractive models of But

stone.

at

cowries and other shells by using the plastic yellow metal which was This practice about in these deserts unused and unappreciated. lying

value which gave to the metal gold an arbitrary For the peculiar life-giving attributes of the before. first

it

did not possess

shells

modelled

in

No doubt the yellow metal came to be transferred to the gold itself. models appealed to the lightness and especially the beauty of such gold the early Egyptians, and were in large measure responsible for the hold gold acquired over

But

kind.

was an outcome

this

man-

of the empirical

knowledge gained from a practice that originally

tian^kmblh™ THE SIGN

gold;

It

tmb.

re-

PRESENTS A COLLAR FROM WHICH GOLDEN AMULETS, PROBABLY RE PRESENTING COWRIES ARE SUSPENDED.

was

inspired purely

The

motives.

cultural

by

earliest .

gold was a

for

amulets

;

and

of the

tive

^

picture of

this

and not

aesthetic

Egyptian hieroglyphic sign ^"^ 1

1

£

a necklace of

emblem became

I

such

the determina-

Great Mother Hathor, not only be-

cause she was originally the personification of the life-giving shells, but also because she was the guardian deity both of the Eastern wadys

where the gold was found and of the Red Sea coasts where the covmes " were obtained. Hence she became the Golden Hathor," the prototype of the It is

"

Golden Aphrodite

".

a significant token of the influence of these Egyptian incidents

history of the /Egean that among the earliest gold ornaments found by Schliemann at Troy were a series of crude representations of covAies worn as pendants to a hair ornament.

upon the

It is

hardly necessary to

history of civilization

which

sponsible for exerting. '

So

far as

I

insist

this

upon the

upon the

arbitrary value of gold has been re-

For more than

am aware

vast influence

fifty

centuries

the fact that these objects

men have been

were intended

to re-

I am present cowries does not appear to have been recognized hitherto. indebted to Mr. Wilfrid Jackson for calling my attention to the figures 685 " " and 832 in Schliemann's Ilios (1880), and for identifying the objects.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE and have been spreading

the precious metal,

for

searching

223 abroad

It has been not throughout the world the elements of our civilization. factor in about the contact of and chief the bringing peoples only has in our it been the but culture, cause, directly incidentally building up '

or indirectly, of

most

warfare which has

of the

these mighty forces were

loose

let

circumstance that early searchers for an

make

metal to

The

elixir of

imitations of their shell amulets

gold with cowries

of

identification

afflicted

Yet

mankind.

upon the world as the result of the life

used the valueless

!

not have been

may

the

In fact, Professor primaiy reason for the invention of gold currency. Ridgeway has called attention to certain historical events which in his

opinion forced

men

were

that cowries

But the

to convert their jewellery into coinage.

the earliest

form

of currency

may have

prepared the

More-

for the recognition of the use of gold for a similar purpose.

way

we know

over,

that long before a real

were

rings of gold

Egypt a form

in

gold currency came

and a

of tribute

fact

sign

into

being

of wealth.

Cowries acquired their significance as currency as the result of incidents in some respects analogous to those which impelled the early Egyptians to

make gold models

the shells.

of

In places in Africa far

removed

from the sea where the practice has grown up of offering vast numbers of cowries to brides on the occasion of their marriage (as fertility amuor of putting the shells in the grave (to secure for the

lets)

vital energy), the

as their cattle,

in

for the

exchange

exchange

When

or wives.

for cowries, or the shells

the

new

of the

knowledge

dead

of

com.

Most

'

scholars

:

:

but

the people

when the who had

in

the

cowries lost

all

the

"

the

fall

cowry was replaced by an actual metallic same error as these ancient rationalists,

into the

Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," Proceedings tlic Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, " also War and Civilization," Bulletin of the fohn Rvlands Library,

See Perry,

1918.

life

were placed

with which to pay Charon's fare to the other world.

and Memorials of 1916

as currency,

purchaes

developed a remark-

places cov/iies

to confer the breath of

money many places,

in

many

for the

the original significance of this practice explained

cowries as

Then,

In

new meaning

acquired the

Cattle were therefore

were used

significance as currency

able confusion occurred.

mouth

fresh

amulets which were believed to

confer such priceless social and religious boons.

given in

dead

people offered their most treasured possessions, such

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

224

and accept

their

explanation of the obohts as though

it

were the

real

of the act.

meaning Another resuU

of the use of gold models of shells as Hfe-giving amulets was that the metal also acquired the reputation of being a giver

of life/ its

which

belonged merely to the

originally

shell or the imitation of

form, whatever the substance used for making the model.

Thus gold came to It was pearl.

share the same magical reputation as the cowry

and the

also put to the

same use

it

:

was buried with

the dead to confer a continuation of existence.

Not only was Hathor

Nub,

called

i.e.

or the

"gold"

golden

Hathor but the place where the funerary statue was made (" born ") " " House of Gold and personified as a godin Egypt was called the " The Tomb of dess who gave rebirth to the dead (Alan Gardiner, :

Amenemhet,"

95

p.

;

and A. M. Blackman, Journal of Egyptian

Archiso/ogy, Vol. IV,

When Turkestan

p.

127).

ancient prospectors from the South exploited the rivers of for alluvial gold

and

fresh

water pearls, incidentally they also

collected pebbles of jade for the purpose of

making

seals.

The

local

inhabitants confused the properties of the stone with the magical reputation of the gold

and the

pearls.

One outcome

Turkestan was the transference of the credit

of

of

this jade-fishing in

life-giving

Prospectors searching for these precious materials gradually

way

east past

Lob Nor, and

distinctive

civilization

played an obtrusive part not only in determining the locality

planted "

in

jade. their

eventually discovered the deposits of gold

and jade in the Shensi province. which the

to

made

Thus jade became of

the nucleus around

China became

in attracting

where the germs

of

crystallized.

men from Western

China, but also in giving Chinese culture

its

the

It

West and

civilization

were

distinctive shape.

The

ancient Chinese, washing to facilitate the resunection of the them with jade, gold, pearls, timber, and other things surrounded dead, imbued with influences emitted from the heavens, or, in other words,

with such objects as are pervaded with vital energy derived from the " Yang matter of which the heavens are the principal depository (De Groot, op.

cit., p.

316).

By a similar process diamonds acquired the same reputation in India when searchers after gold discovered the precious metal in Hyderabad, ^

"

Danas pregnant with immortal gold."

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE and the diamonds

Golconda came

of

to

225

be accredited with

life-giving

powers.'

"

the Naga owns According to the beliefs of the Indians water of life, and a jewel that restores the dead to life ".

Thus

gold,

and diamonds

jade,

pearls,

in

course

life,

upon mankind was due

{a) that the amulets

made

materials rcu-y

Evans

made

made them

cirbit-

desirable objects to search for.

Cult" (1901) Sir Arthur view that at the time when Mycen-

"Mycenaean Tree and

gives cogent reasons for the

ac-

of these

a strong appeal to the aesthetic sense, and {6) the

value assigned to them In his

time

but the hold they established

quired the reputation of elixirs of to the fact

of

niches, the

Pillar

"

'

was powerful in Cyprus the golden Aphrodite' of the Egyptians seems to play a much more important part than any form of

aean influence

" " The Cypriote parallels will be found Astarte or Mylitta (p. 52). to have a fundamental importance as demonstrating in detail that these

a simple form of the palmette pillar, approaching a fleur-de-lys in outline,' in association with its guardian monsters] are in fact taken over ['

from the cult of Mentu-Ra, the Warrior Sun-god of Egypt, of Hathor,

and

of

Horus

"

(p. 52).

Aphrodite as the Thunder-stone.

As

a surrogate of the Great Mother, the

weapon

w^as also identified with

The

thunderbolt

death-dealing Divine

mundane

one

is

of

any

Eye

of

Re, the thunder-

of her varied manifestations.

the manifestations of the life-giving

Cow, and

therefore

and

able specially to protect

is

cows.'

There are numerous in confirmation

"

hints in the ancient literature of other countries

of the association of

the Great

Mother wath

" falling

In a

fragment of Sanchoniathon, Astarte, travelling about the habitable world, is said to have found a star falling through the air, ^ which she took up and consecrated." stars ".

Aphrodite ^

of

also

was looked upon

See Laufer, " The Diamond,"

also

as a meteoric stone that

Munn,

Hyderabad," paper now being published

chester Literary

and

"

in the

fell

The Ancient Gold Mines Proceedings of the

Man-

Philosophical Society.

"'

Blinckenberg, op.

70 et seq. Nineveh and

cit., p.

^

Quoted by Layard,

"

its

from

Remains," Vol.

II,

p.

457.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGOiN

226 the moon.

"

In the

Zeus

Iliad,"

said to

Is

have sent Athena

as

a

meteorite fiom heaven to earth/

The

association of

belief that

fell

they

from the

moon

meteoric stones and the ancient

serve to confirm the identification of

and

death-dealing objects with the pearl and the Southern India the goddesses may be represented

these life-giving

thunderbolt.

w^ith

Aphrodite

In

usually seven in number.

by small stones or by pots of water,

either

During the ceremony around the stone-form of the goddess the kappuruns thrice around the stone, as the mandrake- digger does around

karan

The

the plant.

who

/?^y<^;7

leopard (Hathor's lioness) (like

Hathor)

(Whitehead,

is

represents the goddess

and

supposed

is

painted like a

The

the sacrificial sheep.

kills

to drink

goddess

the blood of the sacrificial victims

op. cit., pp. 164-8).

played a part in the development of the beliefs about the origin of mankind Irom stones, with which the identification of the thunderbolt with the winged disk plays a part.

Many

factors

The idea men was also

cowry was the

that the

giver of

life

and the parent

of

Per-

transferred to crude stone imitations of the shell.

haps the belief in such stones as creators of human beings may have been reinforced by finding actual fossilized shells within pebbles.'

A further corroboration of came

this

theory was provided

when

the pearl

be regarded as the quintessence of the life-giving substance of shells and as a little particle of moon- substance which fell as a drop of dew into the gaping oyster. Perry {pp. cit., p. 78) refers to an Indoto

nesian belief

moon

;

among

and the

to represent the

the Tsalisen that their ancestors

came out

of

the

which

is

said

chief of this people has a spherical stone

moon.

This association

of the

moon with round

stones

may be

connected

with the identification of the sun (as the winged disk) with a stone axe, ^

Cook,

"

Zeus,"

I.

760.

p.

-

have been Striking examples of these stones about birth from split stones " Megalithic Culture of Indonesia," Chapter X, and de given by Perry, " It is Groot's possible that the double meanReligious System of China ". ing of the Egyptian word originating these stories.

"

"

"

"

played a part in have already quoted from the Pyramid Texts the " " of mountain account of the daily birth of the sun-god by a splitting of the interhave been the on word the dawn. a this god's origin might By pun " stone ". The fact that the Great preted as having taken place from a split

Mother was

set,

as

stone

and

mountain

I

identified with a

"

"

mountain

homology with the other meaning of

{set)

"

set, i.e.

may

also

a stone

'.

have

facilitated the

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

227

when

they came to be regarded as alternative weapons for the destruction or the creation of men. Perry records a story of a rock being

down from the sun, from which it was born, and out of a cleft man and woman emerged, as they were believed to have been

lowered in

it

born from the

Then

or even

lisks,

human bemgs

The

cleft in

the cowry.

there are the Egyptian beliefs

unshaped blocks

**

followers of Set,

men

:

creatures of stone

and

so

group of legends which

in

"

"

was completed when the Eye of Re the god and they became identified with the

cycle of these stories

rebellious

obe-

statues,

or gods.'

slaughtered the enemies of

It is

concermng stone

stone which could be animated by

of

Thus

".

was launched upon

the evil eye petrified its

course the peculiar

time encircled the world.

particularly significant that in

and

these ideas about stone-origins

also the clear-cut belief that the

Indonesia,

petiifaction,

in

Perry

with

association

133) found

(p.

thunder-weapon was a

stone, or

the

tooth of a cloud-dragon in the sky. In Indonesia also petrifaction, thunder-stones, rain, floods, lightning,

and an arrow

shot to the

accompaniment

of thunder

and

lightning

were

the punishments traditionally assigned for certain offences, such as incest

and laughing at animals. The same people who introduced characteristic

fragments of the

into the

dragon-myth

Malay Archipelago also believed

these

that certain

animals were impersonations of their gods they also brought stories of incestuous unions on the part of their deities and rulers. To laugh at :

animals, or to imitate privileged customs permitted to their

their sacred

deities, but not to ordinary mortals, merited the same sort of punishments

as

were meted out

gods ^

'

in the

"

home

to those other rebels against the ruling class

and the

of these beliefs.'

Incense and Libations ".

As

the character and attributes of the early goddesses became more contradictory traits were more sharply contrasted, the in-

complex, and

evitable tendency developed to differentiate the goddesses themselves, and provide distinctive names for the new personalities thus split off from the

common and

in

differentiation

We

Egypt in the case of Hathor and Sekhet, and Tiamat. But the process of specialization and There can be no doubt a involve even change of sex. might

parent.

Babylonia

see this in

in Ishtar

god Horus was originally a differentiation of certain of the aspects of " the sky-goddess Hathor, at first as a brother Eye ". But as the king Horus was the son of Osiris (as the dead king), when the confusion of the attributes that the

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

228

To

laugh at the divine animals, or to commit incest, which was a " the blasphemy against the Holy divine prerogative, was analogous to

Ghost," which

and

offence,

in the

New

Testament

is

proclaimed an unpardonable

pagan legend was punished by

in

the

divine wrath,

thunder, lightning, rain, floods, or petrifaction being the avenging instru-

CEdipus put out

ments.

his

own

eyes to forestall the traditional wrath

of the gods.

The Serpent and the When

the development of the story of the Destruction of

kind necessitated the finding of a

Mother

to

homicide,

human

side of

this

She had and

sacrifice

and drove the Great

was symbolized by

and the venomous

(antelope or deer)

but

:

when

the destroyer of

cow, the sow, and the gazelle

she developed into a malevolent creature

mankind

it

was appropriate

assume the form of such man-destroyers as the ,

Once

reason

the

such identifications

for

form of the Great Mother became her symbol

good

uraeus-serpent.

previously been represented by such beneficent food-pro-

life-sustaining creatures as the

and became

lion

that she should

and the cobra.

grew dim, the in either of

uraeus-

her aspects,

or bad, although the legend of her poison-spitting, man-destroying

powers

The

persisted.^

the moon,

"

the

Eye

identification of

of

the

the destroying-goddess with

Sun-god," prepared the

way

rationalization of her character as a urasus-serpent spitting

the sun's

of Osiris

made

Man-

her character

identifying her with a man-slaying lion

viding

Lioness.

Eye

spitting

fire

at

— the actual

and Hathor^

the

Sun-god's enemies.

father

for

the

venom and

Such was the

and the divine mother

of

Horus

—

inevitable, the maternal relationship of the goddess to marriage " " her brother was emphasized. But as the Great Mother, Hathor was their

the parent of the universe, and the mother not only of

Horus but

also of his

This complicated rationalization made Hathcr the sister, mother, and grandmother of Horus, and was responsible for originating the

father Osiris.

belief in the incestuous practices of the divine family. family assumed the role of gods and goddesses they were

(which had their origin purely in driven to indulge in actual incest, as we

traditions

When

the royal

bound by these theological sophistry) and were

know from the records of the But incest beEgyptian royal family and their imitators in other countries. came a royal and divine prerogative which was sternly forbidden to mere mortals and regarded as a peculiarly detestable sin. ^ " Zur altagyptische Sage von Sonnenaugen das im Fremde war," Sethe, Untersuchungen zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Aigyptens, V, p. 23.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE goddess of Buto

in

Lower Egypt, whose

the king's forehead, and

229 was worn on

uraeus-symbol

was misinterpreted by the Greeks median eye upon the

a symbolic "eye," but an actual

as not merely king's or the

god's forehead.

not without special significance that in the ancient legend (see

It is

Sethe, op. cit^ the lioness-goddess Tefnut was reputed to have come h'om Elephantine (or at any rate the region of Sehel and Biga, which has the same significance), which serves to demonstrate her connexion

Mankind and

with the story of the Destruction of inference as to

its

She was

remote antiquity.

to

corroborate the

identified with

Hathor,

Sekhet, Bast, and other goddesses.

But the uraeus was not merely the goddess who destroyed the in course of time the king's enemies and the emblem of his kingship :

cobra became identified with the ruler himself and the dead king, who was the god Osiris. When this happened the snake acquired the god's reputation of being the controller of water.

The

fashionable speculation of

modern scholars

of the snake naturally suggest rippling water

^

that the

and provide

"

movements the obvious

"

reason other to

which led many people quite independently the one of the associate the snake with water, is thus shown to have no

foundation in

fact.

One would have snakes and water

imagined

if

that,

was the reason

any natural association between

for

this association,

would have been chosen

a water- snake

to express the symbolism or, if it was the motion of or the that all snakes rippling reptile, any snake would have been drawn into the analogy. But primarily only one kind of ;

mere

snake, a cobra, live in or

was

selected

under water.

It

" ;

was

and

it

is

not a water snake, and cannot

selected because

it

was venomous and

the appropriate symbol of man-slaying.

The

circumstances which led to the identification of

this particular

serpent with water were the result of a process of legend-making of so arbiti-aiy and eccentric a nature as to make it impossible seriously to

pretend that so tortuous a ratiocination should have been exactly

lowed

to

the

same unexpected

destination also in Crete

fol-

and Western

See especially the claims put forward by Brinton, which have been accepted by Spinden, Joyce, and many other recent writers. '

-

Possibly also the Cerastes.

were adopted

At

a relatively late period other snakes

as surrogates of the cobra

and Cerastes.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

230

Europe, in Babylonia and India, in Eastern Asia, and in America, No serious investigator who without prompting the one of the other. is capable of estimating the value of evidence can honestly deny that the belief in the serpent's control

over water

one centre where a concatenation

of

was

diffused abroad from

peculiar circumstances

led to the identification of the ruler with the cobra

and

beliefs

and the control

of

water.

We are surely

on

a wholly fortuitous ing the

same

set

ground

result elsewhere.

we

these early Egyptian events

doubt as "

made

Naga worship common origin

To

were

rulers

this

find in India the

^

some way the

influence of

As we

India.

Naga

ability to control

compare

with early Egyptian

beliefs,

disappears.

closely associated v/ith springs, streams,

the rulers of the

day

in

felt in

itself

in India

to their

The Naga lakes.

Thus when we

can confidently assume that

the details of the all

in

with the cobra, and credited with the

rajas identified

the waters,

assuming the improbability of such of events happening a second time and produc-

safe

Hindu Kush

states,

and

Hunza and

Nagar, though now Mohammedans, are believed, by their subjects, to be able to command the elements." " This power is still ascribed to the serpent-gods Oldham adds :

of the sun-worshipping countries of China,

was

so, until

This

is

the introduction of

put forward

in

support of

Manchuria, and Korea, and

Mexico and Peru

Christianity, in

".

that the

his

argument Naga kings' supposed ability to control the elements, and especially the waters," " arose from their connexion with the sun ". But this is not so." The "

in the Egyptian king's power over water was certainly older than sun-worship, which did not begin until Osirian beliefs and the

belief

moon as the Great Mother brought the sky-deities water into coiTelation the one with the other. The

personification of the

and the control

of

association of the sun

and the serpent

in

the royal insignia

was a

later

development.

The

early Egyptian goddess

in that vitally

Lower Egypt. ^

^

was

identified vsith the uraeus-serpent

important nodal point of primitive

The

earliest deity in

See Oldham, " Sun and Serpent,"

civilization,

Buto,

in

Crete and the Eastern Mediterp. 51

inter alia.

Blackman, however, has recently advanced this claim in reference to Eg^'pt {pp. cit., Proc. Soc. Bibl. Ardueobgy, 1918, p. 57), as Breasted and others have done before.

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

231

ranean seems to have been a goddess who was also closely associated " the ophidian nature of the with the serpent. According to Langdon

Sumerian mother-goddess Innini is unmistakable. the caduceus in her hand, two serpents twining about a

earliest

carries

.

The of

earliest Indian deities also

whom any whom was

were goddesses, and the

She

.

.

'

staff."

first

rulers

record has been preserved were regarded as divine cobras,

These Nagas, attributed the power of controlling water. whether kings or queens, gods or goddesses, were the prototypes of the

to

Eastern Asiatic dragon, whose origin

is

discussed in Chapter

Elsewhere

with a snake.

in this

to the completeness of the transference to

cultural diffusion across the Pacific

form the old

beliefs

(C. E.

civilizations

America

of these

Old World

Right on the route taken by the main stream

ideas of the serpent.

we

of

find in their fully-developed

still

Mother Serpent of the ancient H. Drew, op. cit. supra, p. 139).

concerning the good

Fox and

She could be re-incarnated

was

II.

was a goddess who was identified volume (Chapter II) I have referred

Japan the earliest sun-deity

In

F.

as a coconut

:

she controlled crops

she

;

associated with the coming of death into the world, with the in-

troduction of agriculture and the discovery of sors in

the

Like her predecesshe was also a Mother Pot or Basket that never

West

fire.

emptied.

All the hiona ox figona pent incarnation from to

Oharimae and

spirits,

called

Agunua

others,

ataro,

only

might

Agunua, who took the form

Very many

{i.e. spirits)

pools, rocks,

of

San

Cristoval have a ser-

the creator, worshipped by every one,

known

be

to particular

incarnate

of a serpent,

in

was good,

water-falls, or large trees

Other

persons.

almost

any

animal.

not evil (p.

were thought

1

34).

to

be

the abode of Jigona. stone, or retire

ym^ Jigona

These serpent spirits could take the fonn of a within a stone, and sacred stones seem to be connected

rather than with ataro (p. 135).

fioona are represented as female snakes, but

Almost

Agunua

is

all

the local

a male snake

(p. 137).

As its

is

the real significance of the snake's symbolism originated from

identification

with the Great Mother in her destructive aspect,

not surprising that the snake

A

is

il

the most primitive form of the evil

" Seal of Nidaba, the Goddess of Vegetation," ProLangdon, the ceedings of Society of Biblical Archceology, Vol. XXXVl, 1914, p. ^

281.

S.

232

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

dragon.

The Babylonian Tiamat was

originally represented as a

serpent/ and throughout the world the serpent

dragon and the powers of

of the evil

is

huge

pre-eminently a symbol

evil.

The serpent that tempted Eve was the homologue both of the mother of mankind herself and also of the tree of paradise. It was the representative of the dragon-protector of pearls treasure

was

it

:

as the protector

who

attacked

tempted Eve

dragon that

and

kinds of

of other

who animated the sacred tree all who approached it. It was

as well

also the goddess

of the forbidden fruit

to eat

the evil

which brought

her mortality.

The

identification of

Mother with

the Great

the lioness (and the

husband and son with the

secondary association of her

was

lion)

re-

sponsible for a widespread relationship of these creatures with the gods

and goddesses Babylonia and

Egypt and the Mediterranean, in Western Asia, in India, in Eastern Asia [tiger] and America [ocelot, and

in

forms borrowed from the conventionalized lions and

tigers of the

Old

World].

The account

Great Mother's

of the

clear relief certain aspects

into

were

of

somewhat nebulous

a

left in

form assumed by the power of

evil

attributes

and

associations

throws

the evolution of the dragon which state in

was

Chapter

The

11.

earliest

the serpent or the lion, because

were adopted as symbols of the Great the Destroyer of Mankind. When Horus was

these death-dealing creatures

Mother

her role as

in

differentiated his

from the Great Mother and became her locuf7i tenens,

falcon (or eagle)

was blended with Hathor's

composite monster which

monuments

(see p. 79).

became prominent, Ea's antelope and

of destruction

to

make a

lioness to

make

the

represented on Elamite and Babylonian But when the role of water as the instrument is

monster, usually

known

as the

fish

" goat-fish,"

were blended

which

in India

and elsewhere assumed a great variety of forms. Some of the varieties of maka?'a were sufficiently like a crocodile to be confused or identified with

this representative of

The

real

eagle-lion, bird's feet

dragon was

the followers of Set.

created

when

—were

all

three larval types

—

serpent,

and antelope-fish blended to form a monster with and wings, a lion's forelimbs and head, the fish's scales, the

antelope's horns, ^

L.

and a more or

W.

less

serpentine form of trunk and

"

King,

Babylonian Religion,"

p. 58.

tail,

THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE and sometimes

also of head.

substitution of

Repeated

animals, such as the spiral horn of

233

Amen's ram,

parts of other

a deer's antlers, and

the elephant's head, led to endless variation in the dragon's

The

essential unity of the motives

and

incidents of the

traits.

myths

of all

peoples and of every age is a token, not of independent origin or the " the similarity of the working of the human mind," but of

result of

their derivation

from the same ultimate source.

The question naturally arises what is a myth ? The dragon-myth West is the religion of China. The literature of every religion :

of the is

saturated with the influence of the myth.

from myth

differ

ligion

and

originally science

outcome

?

In

religion

Chapter were not

I

I,

what

In

respect does re-

how

attempted to explain

differentiated.

Both were the

man's attempt to peer into the meaning of natural phenomena, and to extract horn such knowledge practical measures for cirHis ever-insistent aim was to combat danger to life. cumventing fate. of

was

Religion trolling fate

differentiated

from science

when

became invested with the assurance

the measures for conof supernatural help,

which the growth of a knowledge of natural phenomena made it It became a impossible for the mere scientist to be the sponsor. for

question of faith rather than knowledge agciinst

of

If

belief

and man's

instinctive struggle

the risk of extinction impelled him to cling to this larger hope

and

salvation,

which

;

at

first

was

to embellish

it

with an ethical and moral significance

lacking in the eternal search for the elixir of

life.

religion can be regarded as archaic science enriched with the in supernatural control, the myth can be regarded as effete re-

which has been superseded by the growth of a loftier ethical The myth is to religion what alchemy is to chemistry or purpose. ligion

astrology

is

to

astronomy.

Like these sciences, religion retains much

of the material of the cruder phase of thought that

is

displayed in myth,

The alchemy, and astrology, but it has been refined and elaborated. dross has been to a large extent eliminated, and the pure metal has been moulded into a more beautiful and for the elixir of

phers

stone,

life,

attractive form.

In

searching

the makers of religion have discovered the philcso-

and with

its

aid have transmuted the base materials of

myth

into the gold of religion. If

we

seek for the deep motives which have prompted

ages so persistently to search for the

elixii-

of

averting the dangers to which their existence

life, is

for

men

in all

some means

exposed,

it

Vrill

of

be

THE EVOLUTION OF THE DRAGON

234 found

in

the instinct of

self-preservation,

which

factor in the behaviour of all liAang beings, the

the

life

which

is

their

distinctive attribute

is

means

the

fundamental

of preservation of

and the veiy essence

of

their being.

The dragon was

originally a

concrete expression of the divine

but with the development of a higher concep; powers tion of religious ideals it became relegated to a baser role, and eventuof life-giving

ally

became the symbol

of the

powers

of evil.

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