Some have explained the fable as referring to a warlike race of women, like the Amazons. Others suppose it to have had some reference to the moon as a dark body, which is said also to have been called Fogyóviov, from the face believed to be seen in it.

Massieu, sur les Hesperides, and sur les Gorgones, in the Mem. Acad. Inser. vol. 111. p. 28, 51. § 116. (13) The Amazons. The Amazons were no doubt mythical beings, although said to be a race of warlike women, who lived near the river Thermodon in Cappadocia. A nation of them was also located in Africa. They are said to have burnt off their right breast, that they might use the bow and javelin with more skill and force; and hence their name, 'Anatóres, from a and patos. They are mentioned in the Iliad (iii. 189. vi. 186.) and called artiú

πειραι.

Various explanations of the fable are given. Some consider it as having a connection originally with the worship of the moon. Several statues of Amazons were placed in the temple of Diana at Ephesus (Plin. N. Hist. xxxiv. 8), and may have represented some of her imaginary attendants, or some of her own attributes.. - A figure resembling an Amazon, but having four arms, is seen in the caverns of Elephanta.

-

Traditions respecting a race of Amazons are said to be still current in the region of Caucasus. Cf. Edinb. Rev. No. LVI. p. 324.On the Amazons, see Creuzer's Symbolik.

$117. This seems to be the place for noticing more particularly several Monsters, which are exhibited in the tales of ancient mythology.

(a) The Minotaur was said to be half man and half bull. The story is, that Minos, king of Crete, refused to sacrifice to Neptune a beautiful white bull, which was demanded by the god. The angry god showed his displeasure by causing Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, to defile herself with this bull, through the aid of Daedalus, and give birth to the monster. Minos confined the Minotaur in the famous labyrinth. Here the monster devoured the seven young men and the seven maidens annually required from the Athenians by Minos. Theseus, by the aid of the king's daughter Ariadne, slew the Minotaur and escaped the labyrinth (cf. §125).

(b) The Chimara was said to be composed of a dragon, goat, and lion united: the middle of the body was that of a goat, the hinder parts those of a dragon, the fore parts those of a lion; and it had the heads of all three, and was continually vomiting forth flames. This monster lived in Lycia, in the reign of Jobates, king of that country. This king, wishing to punish Bellerophon in order to gratify his son-in-law Prætus, sends him against the Chimæra; but Bellerophon, by the aid of Minerva, and the winged horse Pegasus, instead of perishing himself, destroyed the monster.

This fable is by some supposed to refer to a volcanic mountain on the Lycian coast. — See Clarke's Travels, pt. ii. sect. ii. ch. 8 (vol. 1. p. 211. ed. N. Yk. 1815). — Plin. N. Hist. v. 27. - Banier, and Freret, on Bellerophon, in the Mem. Acad. Inscr. v11. 37. 69.

(c) The Centauri were said to be half men and half horses. Some make them the offspring of Ixion and the cloud; others refer their origin to the bestiality of Centaurus, the son of Apollo. They were said to dwell in Thessaly. The principal incidents related of them are their rude attempts upon the women at the marriage of Pirithous and Hippodamia, and the consequent battle with the Lapithe, who drove them into Arcadia. Here they were afterwards chiefly destroyed by Hercules. (Or. Met. xii. 530.) Some have imagined this fable to allude to the draining of the low parts of Thessaly, as the horse is in general symbolical of water.

Knight's Inquiry &c. in the Class. Journal.-Cf. Mitford, ch. 1. sect. 3.—Banier, La Fable des Cent. in the Mem. Acad. Inser. 111. 18.

(d) Geryon was a monster said to be the offspring of Chrysaor and Callirhoe, and to have three bodies and three heads. His residence was in the island of Gades, where his numerous flocks were kept by the herdsman Eurythion, and guarded by a two-headed dog called Orthos. The destruction of this monster formed one of the twelve labors of Hercules ($123).

(e) The Hydra was a monstrous serpent in the lake Lerna, with numerous heads, nine according to the common account. When one of these heads was cut off, another or two others immediately grew in its place, unless the blood of the wound was stopped by fire. The destruction of the Hydra was another labor assigned to Hercules, which he accomplished by the aid of Iolaus, who

applied lighted brands or a heated iron, as each head was removed. The arrows of Hercules, being dipped in the Hydra's blood, caused incurable wounds. (f) Pegasus was not so much a monster as a prodigy, being a winged horse said to have sprung from the blood, which fell on the ground when Perseus cut off the head of Medusa. He fixed his residence on mount Helicon, where he opened the fountain called Hippocrene (iллоs and zoívy). He was a favorite of the muses, and is called the muses' horse.' The horse, having come into the possession of Bellerophon, enabled him to overcome the Chimæra. Afterwards Pegasus, under an impulse from Jupiter, threw off Bellerophon to wander on the earth, and himself ascended to a place among the stars.

Cf. Francœur, Uranographie ou Traite Elementaire d'Astronomie. Par. 1818. 8. containing the ancient Fables respecting the Constellations.

(g) Cerberus was the fabled dog of Pluto (§ 34), stationed as centinel at the entrance of Hades. He is generally described as having three heads, sometimes as having fifty. Snakes covered his body instead of hair. None from the world of the living could pass him but by appeasing him with a certain cake, composed of medicated and soporific ingredients. (Virg. Æn. vi. 420.) — To seize and bring up this monster was assigned to Hercules, as one of his labors. (h) Scylla and Charybdis are the names, the former of a rock on the Italian shore, in the strait between Sicily and the main land, and the latter of a whirlpool or strong eddy over against it on the Sicilian side. The ancients connected a fabulous story with each name : — - Scylla was originally a beautiful woman, but was changed by Circe into a monster, the parts below her waist becoming a number of dogs incessantly barking, while she had twelve feet and hands, and six heads with three rows of teeth. Terrified at this metamorphosis, she threw herself into the sea, and was changed into the rocks which bear her name.-Charybdis was a greedy woman, who stole the oxen of Hercules, and for that offence was turned into the gulf or whirlpool above mentioned. (i) The Sphinx was the offspring of Orthos and Chimæra, or of Typhon and Echidna; a monster having the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a dog, the tail of a serpent, the wings of a bird, the paws of a lion, with a human voice. This monster infested the neighborhood of Thebes, proposing enigmas and devouring the inhabitants who could not explain them. At length one of the enigmas, in which she demanded what animal it was which walked on four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three at night, was solved by Edipus: he said that the animal was man, who in the morning of life creeps upon his hands and feet, in middle age walks erect, and in the evening of his days uses a staff. On hearing this solution, the Sphinx instantly destroyed herself. Representations of the Sphinx are very common among Egyptian monuments. A very celebrated colossal statue of a Sphinx yet remains near the pyramids. It is cut in the solid rock, and is 125 feet in length.-Clarke's Travels, pt. ii. sect. 2. ch. 4.-Denon's Travels (vol. 1. p. 55. Lond. 1804).-Lond. Quart. Rev. xix. 193, 403 ss.

IV-Mythical History of the Heroes.

$118. In Grecian story three periods are distinguished even by the ancients the unknown, aðŋkor, of which no historical monuments remained to make known the state of society; the fabulous, uvdizór, of which the accounts left are mingled with manifold fictions; and the historical, forogizor, of which a genuine and trustworthy history is recorded. The first extends to the deluge of Deucalion, the second to the introduction of the Olympiad into chronology, and the third through the subsequent times. To the second of these periods belonged the Heroes, as they are called, and it is on that account often styled the heroic age. These personages are supposed to have possessed extraordinary powers of body and mind, and distinguished merit is ascribed to them as having founded cities or countries, improved their manners and morals, or otherwise exalted or defended them.

$119. Grateful sensibility to the merits of ancestors and progenitors, was a most common cause of the sort of deification, with which these heroes were publicly honored after death; and the disposition towards this grateful remembrance was quickened and sustained by oral traditions respecting their deeds, which were much adorned and exaggerated by the poets. Hence it came, that most of the heroes were at last viewed as sons of gods, and often of Jupiter himself. The veneration for the heroes was however less sacred and less universal than the worship of the gods. To the latter, important festivals were established, regular priests ordained, appropriate temples erected, and public solemn sacrifices offered. The heroes, on the other hand, received only an annual commemoration at their tombs, or in the vicinity, when offerings and libations were presented to them. Sometimes, however, the respect paid them exceeded these limits, and they were exalted to the rank and honors of the gods. The introduction of solemnities in memory of heroes is ascribed to Cadmus.

Cf. Virg. Æn. iii. 301.—Sallier, in the Hist. de l'Acad. des Inscr. vol. 1v. p. 299. 120. The heroes of the Greeks were of different ranks. Some were viewed as a sort of household deities, such as after their mortal existence watched over their families and friends and were honored and worshiped only by them. Others, whose services while they lived were of a more extended character, were worshiped by whole states and tribes, as demi-gods, and sometimes had their appropriate festivals and mysteries, and even temples and priests. To such was ascribed a more general superintendence of human affairs. It is the latter class that we are here to notice particularly, as they were the most illustrious, and their worship was not limited to the Greeks, but was adopted also among the Romans. Of these only the principal can be mentioned, in doing which the order of time will be followed.

$121. The Giants and Titans (97) might correctly be ranked among the Heroes, and regarded as the most ancient. To the same class, too, belong Inachus, founder of the kingdom of Argos; his son Phoroneus, to whom various merits were ascribed; and Ogyges, a king of Boeotia, memorable from the flood which occurred in his reign. This rank also was enjoyed, especially among their respective people and tribes, by Cecrops, founder of the Attic state; Deucalion, a Thessalian prince, who with his wife Pyrrha, escaped the general flood that happened in his times; Amphictyon, author of the celebrated council or confederation of the early Grecian states; Cadmus, who came from Phoenicia to Greece, and contributed so much to enlighten and improve the people (P. I. § 34); Danaus, to whom the kingdom of Argos was indebted for its advancement; Bellerophon, who was said to have destroyed the monster Chimæra, and to have performed other exploits; Pelops, king in Elis, from whom Peloponnesus took its name, as his descendants occupied that peninsula; and the two princes of Crete by the name of Minos, one celebrated as a lawgiver, the other as a warrior.

Some writers argue against the existence of two individuals by the name of Minos. See Hock's Kreta. Götting. 1e23. 3 vols. 8.

$122. PERSEUS was one of the most distinguished of the early Heroes. He was the son of Jupiter and Danae, educated by Poly

dectus on the island Seriphus. His chief exploit was the destruction of the gorgon Medusa, whose head he struck off with a sword given to him by Vulcan. From the blood, that fell, sprang the winged horse Pegasus, on which Perseus afterwards passed over many lands. Of his subsequent achievements, the most remarkable were his changing king Atlas into a high rock or mountain, by means of Medusa's head, and his deliverance of Andromeda, when bound and exposed to be devoured by the sea-monster. In connection with the latter adventure he also changed into stone Phineus, who contended with him for the possession of Andromeda. He inflicted the same afterwards upon Polydectes for ill treatment towards Danae. To Perseus is ascribed the invention of the discus or quoit, with which he inadvertently occasioned the death of his grandfather Acrisius. Finally he founded the kingdom of Mycena. After his assassination by Megapenthes, he was placed among the constellations, and several temples were erected to him, besides a monument between Argos and Mycenæ.

Ov. Met. iv. 603. v. 1-350. The fables respecting Perseus are by some considered as a modification of the story of the Persian Mithras, and a piece of ancient sculpture on one of the gates of the citadel of Mycenae has been thought to confirm the analogy.-Creuzer, Symbolik.-Gell, Itinerary of Greece. 123. Of all the Grecian Heroes, no one obtained such celebrity as HERCULES, son of Jupiter and Alcmena. Wonderful strength was ascribed to him even in his infantile years. Eurystheus king of Mycena imposed upon him many difficult enterprises, which he carried through with success; particularly those, which are called the twelve labors of Hercules. These were: to kill the Nemæan lion; to destroy the Lernæan hydra; to catch alive the Stag with golden horns; to catch the Erymanthean boar; to cleanse the stables of Augias; to exterminate the birds of lake Stymphalis; to bring alive the wild bull of Crete; to seize the horses of Diomedes; to obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons; to destroy the monster Geryon; to plunder the garden of Hesperides, guarded by a sleepless dragon; and to bring from the infernal world the three-headed dog Cerberus.

These various exploits were often made the theme of description and allusion in the poets. The first is detailed in the 25th Idyl of Theocritus. The twelve labors are described in 12 verses in the 3d Chiliad of Tzetzes (cf. P. II. § 81). $124. Many other exploits were ascribed to him, by which he gave proof of his extraordinary strength, and exhibited himself as an avenger and deliverer of the oppressed. Such were, his slaying the robber Cacus, so much dreaded in Italy; the deliverance of Prometheus, bound to a rock; the killing of Busiris and Antæus; the contest with Achelous; and the rescue of Alceste from the infernal world. Less honorable was his love of Omphale queen of Lydia, by which he sank into the most unworthy effeminacy. His last achievement was the destruction of the centaur Nessus. Nessus dying gave his poisoned tunic to Dejanira; Hercules afterwards receiving it from her, and putting it on, became so diseased, that he cast himself in despair upon a funeral pile on mount Eta.

The worship of Hercules soon became universal, and temples were erected to his honor, numerous and magnificent. He received a great many surnames and epithets from his exploits and from the places of his worship. Hercules and his labors afforded the artists of ancient

times abundant materials to exercise their ingenuity in devices, and they very often employed them.

On the Hercules Farnese, see P. I. § 186. 6.-For other principal representations of Hercules, Montfauc. Ant. expl. T. 1. pl. 123–141, and Ogle's Ant. exp. No. 31-40. — See also Laur. Begeri Hercules Ethnicorum, ex. var. antiq. reliquiis delineatus. Col. March. 1705. fol. Heynii Not. ad Apollodor. p. 325.-I. Gurlitt's Fragment. e. archæol. Abhandl. üb. Hercules. Magd.1800. 4. - Ph. Buttmann, über d. Mythos des Herakles. Berl. 1810. 8. — Dupuis, Orig. de tous les cult. vol. 11.-Respecting the ancient writers on the Mythol. of Hercules, see Muller's Hist, and Antiq. of Dor. Race. Oxf. 1830. vol. 1. p. 523.

Among the various solutions of the story of Hercules, there is one which very ingeniously applies the account of his twelve labors to the passage of the sun through the 12 signs of the Zodiac. A view of this is given in Anthon's Lempriere.

$125. THESEUS, a son of Ægeus and Ethra, or according to others a son of Neptune, was excited by the renown of Hercules, to engage in enterprizes the most hazardous, and he successfully accomplished them. Among these, was the extermination of a multitude of robbers and assassins that infested Greece, and especially the destruction of the Minotaur a terrible monster of Crete, to which the Athenians had previously been compelled to send seven male youth and as many young virgins annually, to be devoured by him. By the help of Ariadne, a daughter of Minos, Theseus was enabled to trace the winding of the labyrinth, in which the monster had his abode, and put him to death. Ariadne accompanied him on his return to Athens, but he ungratefully deserted her on the island of Naxos.

$126. The other principal exploits of Theseus were his descent to the lower world with his friend Pirithous, his victory over the Amazons (116), whose queen Hippolyta became his wife, and the assistance he gave Adrastus, king of Argos, against the Theban prince Creon. Great praise was awarded to him for improving the legislation and the whole morals of Athens and Attica; and yet he was for some time an exile. The manner of his death is variously related, but it seems by all accounts to have been caused by violence. -The honor paid to him was accompanied with unusual solemnities; a superb temple was consecrated to him at Athens, and a festival was established called Ojosta, held on the eighth day of every month, with games, and a regular sacrifice termed oysódiov. Provision was made at the public expense to enable the poor to share in the festivities of this occasion.

Cf. Plut. in Vit. Thes. -Diod. Sic. L. iv. c. 61. Ov. Metam. vii. 404; viii. 152; xii. 210. — Mitford's Greece, ch. i. sect. 3.-For a view of the temple of Theseus, see Plate XVI. fig. 3.

$127. JASON and the Argonauts. One of the most celebrated enterprizes of the heroic ages, one which forms a memorable epoch in the Grecian history, a sort of separation-point between the fabulous and the authentic, was the Argonautic expedition. This was a voyage from Greece to Colchis in order to obtain the golden fleece, conducted by Jason, the son of Æson, king of Thessaly. The undertaking was imposed upon him by his uncle Pelias. He invited the most illustrious heroes of Greece to unite in the expedition, and among those who joined him were Hercules, Castor and Pollux, Peleus, Pirithous, and Theseus. The vessel built for the purpose was named Argo, which after various adverse events arrived at Æa, the capital of Colchis. Eetes was then king of Colchis, and promised to Jason the golden fleece only on certain most difficult conditions.

128. Although Jason fulfilled these conditions, yet etes was unwilling to permit him to take the desired booty, and sought to slay