PHILO'S SECTION III. URANOS THIRD CLASS OF KOSMOGONIES, OR (SAMIN), KRONOS (EL), AND THE KRONIDÆ, KOSMOGONY AND PRIMITIVE HISTORY ACCORDING TO THE DOCTRINE OF BYBLUS THE CITY OF ADONIS. (Chapters IV. V.) INTRODUCTION. We have already called attention to the loose, indeed the arbitrary and senseless, manner in which this the most celebrated of all the Greek theogonies was connected with the preceding accounts (iv. § 1.). But it is undoubtedly also a pure invention. We must certainly assume that the mythology anterior to Uranos and Gê, heaven and earth, contained an ideal dualism, which was placed at the head of this visible development. This was probably the dualism of the two first beginnings, primeval matter (Baau, Bohu) and spirit, the idea of which must lie in Kolpia, from the sense conveyed by the usual explanation (breath of the mouth of Yah). Now this primitive God might very well be called, in Byblus the city of Adonis, "Eliûn," the Highest, as being the first cause of the All. Beûth, his wife, however, according to the literal sense of the word, is unquestionably the same as Baau, that is Matter. As in Philo's first theogonies the physical element predominated, and was evidently applied in a material sense, so here the spiritual principle, the creative will, is the prominent one. But the ancient tradition never could have said that these two deities produced the Earthy (Adam), who was afterwards called Uranos, on account of his beauty. Taken alone each is correct: Man is the creation of the Most High, and so is the world above us, which Uranos represents, or, combined with the earth, the universe. But the name of Earthy implies the existence of heaven according to the prevailing idea in all traditions. Now the fact of Philo jumbling the two accounts together, in his bantering Euhemeristic fashion, proves that they were coordinate in the tradition of Byblus, but as two separate effects of the highest cause. He must have found some pretext for this in the tradition. Antecedently to the visible universe, the Highest and primeval Matter existed. Then came creation, which, considered as the visible universe, in conformity with the obvious duality in all the old histories of it, comprised heaven and earth. As yet man had not come into being; he is contemporary with Kronos, the regular order of time. These two epochs, in the accounts of which, as usual, eternity and time are mixed together, form the two divisions of this kosmogony, and of the succeeding one, the fourth and last. But as Uranos and the beginnings of Kronos form the prominent features in the third account, so do the subsequent Kronos period, which is treated altogether epically, and the commencements of people history, in the fourth. Eliûn, therefore, lived at Byblus, and with him Uranos is closely connected as his son, and Gê likewise. Byblus again was the first city built by Kronos (§ 6.). We may therefore venture to assert, that the account immediately succeeding refers to Byblus. A. URAÑOS, HIS REIGN, HIS RACE, HIS COMBAT, AND HIS Fall. The Text. (Chap. IV.) THE text commences, as we have seen, in the middle of a paragraph of Philo's, with a barefaced attempt to connect it with the first man, who is descended from ELIUN. . . § 1. "whom (the first man!) they afterwards called Uranos, heaven, so that the firmament above us is on account of its extraordinary beauty called after him. He had a sister born to him from the above-mentioned pair (Eliûn and Behuth), who was called Gê (earth), and she was so named on account of her extraordinary beauty. Her father, the most high, died in a combat in the open field, and was honoured as God. The children offered to him libations and sacrifices. § 2. "Uranos took to wife his sister Gê, and had by her three children: Elos, who is also Kronos, Bætylos and Dagon, who is the same as Siton and Atlas. § 3. "By his other wives Uranos had also a large family. Gê, who was offended at this, upbraided him so severely out of jealousy that they separated. But Uranos, after the separation, approached her whenever he pleased, by force, and then deserted her again. He even attempted to destroy her children, which Gê several times prevented, and instigated a coalition against him. § 4. "When Kronos had arrived at man's estate, he asked the advice and assistance of Hermes Trismegistus, who was his scribe: and thus he raised up an opposition to Uranos, and avenged his mother. § 5. "The children born to Kronos were Persephone and Athêna. The first died unmarried: but Kronos manufactured sickles and lances of iron by the instructions of Athêna and Hermes. "Hermes then stirred up the allies of Kronos, by means of magic formulas which he repeated to them, to make war on Uranos in favour of Gê. "Thus Kronos deprived Uranos of the sovereignty after waging war, and seized upon the government." § 6. "In this contest, a wife whom Uranos had subsequently married was taken prisoner. She was pregnant. Kronos gave her to Dagon to wife, and while married to him she brought forth the child of which she was pregnant by Uranos, and called it Demarûs. § 7. "After this Kronos built a wall round his dwelling, and erected the first city in Phoenicia, Byblus. § 8. "Kronos then became jealous of his brother Atlas, and by the advice of Hermes hurled him down into the depths of the earth, and buried him there. § 9. "About this time the descendants of the Dioskuri made canoes and boats in which they embarked, and when they were cast on shore (by storms) at Mons Casius, they built a temple there. § 10. "The allies of El, who is Kronos, were called also Elohim, that is Kronidæ, as those were named who lived in the time of Kronos. 11. "But Kronos had a son Yádid, whom he slew with his own iron weapon out of suspicion, and thus took with his own hand the life of his child. He also cut off his own daughter's head, so that all the Gods were alarmed about his sanity. § 12. "In progress of time, Uranos, who had made his escape, sent his virgin daughter Astarte, with her two sisters Rhea and Dione, in secret, to get rid of Kronos by artifice. Kronos took his virgin sisters to wife. When Uranos heard this he recommenced with his allies the combat against Kronos. "Kronos retained Heimarméne and Hora after having taken to himself the latter. § 13. "Now the God Uranos invented Bætylia, inasmuch as he endowed the stones with souls. § 14. "But there were born to Uranos, by Astarte, "Seven Titanidæ or Artemides, and again by Rhea Seven Sons, the youngest of whom was reckoned among the Gods from his birth: and by Dione, (the same number of) daughters, and again by Astarte, two boys, Pothos (Desire) and Eros (love). § 15. "Dagon, however, after he had discovered corn and the plough, was called Zeus Arotrios. § 16. "But with Sydyk, surnamed the Just, one of the Titanidæ united herself, and bore Esculapius. § 17. "But there were born to Kronos, in Peræa (the country on the other side), three children, Kronos, who had the same name as his father, Apollon; and Nereus, the father of Pontus, but the son of Belus.62 § 18. "Contemporary with these were born, Pontus and [and Nereus, the father of Pontus, the son of Belus.] 62 Upon the confusion in the succeeding text, see what follows. VOL. IV. К |