UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
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 A SERIES OF HANDBOOKS ON 
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 Edited by MORRIS JASTROW, Jr. 
 
 Professor of Semitic Languages in the University of 
 Pennsylvania 
 
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 GINN AND COMPANY Publishers
 
 HANDBOOKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 MORRIS JASTROW, Jr., Ph.D, 
 
 Professor of Se»iitic Languages in the 
 University of Fc7insylvania 
 
 Volume IV
 
 1banMtoc!'^i3 on the Ibitnorv of 1Rclici<on9 
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 
 HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 BY 
 
 CRAWFORD HOWELL TOY 
 
 Pkofessou Emekitus in Hakvaku UnIVIiKSITY 
 
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 1 
 
 
 § PREFACE 
 
 >- 
 
 ex. The object of this volume is to describe the principal customs 
 
 and ideas that underlie all public religion ; the details are selected 
 from a large mass of material, which is increasing in bulk year by 
 year. References to the higher religions are introduced for the 
 oo purpose of illustrating lines of progress. 
 
 "^ The analytic table of contents and the index are meant to sup- 
 
 00 plement each other, the one giving the outline of the discussion, 
 cc: the other giving the more important particulars ; the two together 
 "^ will facilitate the consultation of the book. In the selected list of 
 works of reference the titles are arranged, as far as possible, in 
 chronological order, so as to indicate in a general way the progress 
 of investigation in the subjects mentioned. 
 
 My thanks are due to the publishers for the care they have taken 
 in the printing of the volume, and to their proofreaders, particularly 
 to the chief proofreader, for not a few helpful suggestions. 
 
 C. H. T. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts 
 
 VII 
 
 291711
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 (The Arabic figures in the chapter summaries refer to paragraphs) 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. NATURE OF RELIGION i 
 
 Science and religion coeval, i ; Man's sense of dependence on mysteri- 
 ous Powers, 2 ; Early man's feeling toward them of a mixed nature, 3 ; 
 mainly selfish, 4 ; Prominence of fear, 6 ; Conception of natural law, 7 ; 
 Sense of an extrahuman Something, 9; Universality of religion, 10; 
 Its development parallel to that of social organization, 12; Unitary 
 character of human life, 14 ; External religion, 15 ; Internal religion, 16. 
 
 CHAPTER II. THE SOUL 10 
 
 Nature of the Soul. Universal belief in an interior something, 18 ; 
 its basis, 19; from observation of breath, 21 ; of shadow, 22 ; of blood, 
 23; Its form a sublimated double of the corporeal man, 24; or of an 
 animal, 25; The seat of the soul, 26; Localization of qualities, 27; 
 Consequences of the soul's leaving the body, 29 ; The hidden soul, 31. 
 Origin of the Soul. Not investigated by savages, 32; Creation of 
 man, 33 ; Theories of birth, 34 ; Divine origin of the soul, 36 ; Mysteri- 
 ousness of death, 38. 
 
 PoLYPSYCHisM. Early views of the number and functions of souls, 
 39 ; Civilized views, 43. 
 
 Future of the Soul. Belief in its death, 46; This belief tran- 
 sient, 51-53; Dwellingplace of the surviving soul in human beings, 
 beasts, plants, or inanimate objects, 55-59; or near its earthly abode, 
 60-63; o'' '" some remote place in earth, sea, or sky, 64-66; or in an 
 underground world, 67-69; Occupations of the dead, 70; Retribution 
 in the Underworld, 71; Nonmoral distinctions, 72-75; Moral retri- 
 bution, savage, 76-78 ; Civilized, 79-80 ; Local separation of the good 
 from the bad, 8r ; Reward and punishment, Hindu, 82; Egyptian, 83; 
 Greek, 84; Jewish and Christian, 85, 86 ; Purgatory, 87 ; Resurrection, 
 88-90. 
 
 Powers of the Separated Soul. Prayers for the dead, 95, 96. 
 Genesis of Spirits. Functions of spirits (souls of nonhuman ob- 
 jects), 97-100. 
 
 ix
 
 J.yTKODL'CriOX TO HISTOJiV OF KELfG/OAS 
 
 CHAPTER III. EARLY RELICIOUS CEREMONIES .... 48 
 
 Predominance of ceremonies in early religious life, 10 1, 102 ; They are 
 communal, 103; and sacred, 104. 
 
 E.MuTioNAL AND Dra.matic Ckremonies. Religious dances and plays, 
 106-108; Connected with the worship of gods, 109; Are means of 
 religious culture, no; Processions, in; Circumambulation, 112; 
 Magical potency, 1 13. 
 
 Decor.\tive AM) Curative Ceremonies. Decoration of the body, 
 114-11S; of houses, 119; of official dress, 120; Symbolism in decora- 
 tion, 121. 
 
 Economic Ceremonies. Propitiation of hunted animals, 122-125; 
 Taboos, 126; Rules about eating, 1 27-1 28; Magical means of procur- 
 ing food, 129-131 ; Use of blood, 132 ; to fertilize soil, 133; Sacrifice 
 of first-born animals, including children, 134; Raising and housing 
 crops, 135; Rain, 136; Survivals in civilized times, 137. 
 Apotropaic Ceremonies. Early methods, 138-139; Expulsion of 
 spirits, 140-141 ; Transference of evil, 142, 143; E.xpulsion by sacrifice, 
 144 ; The massing of such obser\'ances, 145. 
 
 Ceremonies of Puberty and Initiation. Training of the young, 
 146; Tests of endurance, 147; Seclusion of girls, 14S; Rearrange- 
 ment of taboos, 149; Supernatural machinery, 150; Mutilation of the 
 body, 151, 152; Circumcision of males, its wide diffusion, 153; not a 
 test of endurance, 154; nor hygienic, 155; nor to get rid of magical 
 dangers, 156; nor to increase procreative power, 157; not religious 
 in origin: not a form of phallic worship, 15S; nor a sacrifice, 159, 160; 
 nor a provision for reincarnation, 161 ; Circumcision of females, 162; 
 Object of circumcision probably increase of sensual enjoyment, 163, 
 164; The symbolical interpretation, 165-168; Ceremonies of initiation 
 to secure union with the clan, 169 ; Feigned resurrection of the initiate, 
 170; The lonely vision, 171; Instruction of youth, 172, 173; Ini- 
 tiation into secret societies, 174. 
 
 Marriage Ceremonies. Simple forms, 176-178; The bride hid- 
 ing, 179; Prenuptial defloration, 180; Introduction of a supernatural 
 element, 181; View that all marriage-ceremonies are essentially 
 religious, 182. 
 
 Ceremonies at Birth. Parental care, 184; The couvade, 1S5; Child 
 regarded as a reincarnation, 186; Ablutions and naming, 187; Child 
 regarded as child of God, 188. 
 
 Burial Ceremo.nies. Natural grief, 189; Propitiation of the dead 
 by offerings at grave, 190 ; Ban of silence, 191 ; The dead regarded as 
 powerful, 192; Social value of these ceremonies, 193.
 
 COA'7'LA'TS xi 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 Cerk.moniks of Purification and Consecration. Occasions of 
 puriticalioii, 194-196; Methods : by water, sand, etc., 197-199 ; by sac- 
 rifice, 200; Purification of a whole conummily, 201; Consecration of 
 private and ofiicial persons, 202, 203 ; Fasting, 204 ; its origin ; 205- 
 207 ; its religious effects, 208 ; Result of massing these ceremonies, 209. 
 Ckremomks connected with Seasons a.nd Periods. Calendars, 
 210, 211; Lunar festivals, 212-214; Solar festivals, 215; Solstitial 
 and stellar festivals, 216; Importance of agricultural festivals, 217; 
 Joyous, 218; Licentious, 219; Offering of first fruits, 220; Sadness, 
 221 ; The eating of sacred food, 222; Long periods, 223; Social value 
 of these ceremonies, 224. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. EARLY CULTS 99 
 
 Savage treatment of superhuman Powers discriminating, 225-228; 
 Charms and fetish objects, 229, 230; Life-force (mana), 231-233 ; not 
 an object of worship, but enters into alliance with religion, 234, 235; 
 Nature of sacredness, 236, 237; Luck, 238; The various objects of 
 worship, 239, 240. 
 
 Animals. Their social relations with men, 241, 242; Transforma- 
 tion and transmigration, 243 ; Two attitudes of men toward animals, 
 244-24S ; What animals are revered, 249, 250; Regarded as incarna- 
 tions of gods or of spirits, 251 ; Those sacred to gods generally repre- 
 sent old beast-cults, 252, 253 ; Survivals of reverence for animals, 254 ; 
 Beasts as creators, 255, 256; Worship rarely offered them, 257, 25S; 
 Coalescence of beast-cults with other religious observances, 259; 
 Whether animals ever became anthropomorphic deities, 260; Histori- 
 cal significance of beast-cults, 261. 
 
 Plants. Their economic role, 262-264; Held to possess souls, 265; 
 Their relatic^ns with men friendly and unfriendly, 266, 267 ; Sacred 
 trees, 268, 269 ; Deification of soma, 270 ; Whether corn-spirits have 
 been deified, 271 ; Sacred trees by shrines, 272 ; Their connection with 
 totem posts, 273 ; Blood-kinship between men and trees, 274, 275 ; The 
 cosmic tree, 276; Divinatory function of trees, 277; Relation of tree- 
 spirits to gods, 278-285. 
 
 Stones and Mountains. Stones alive and sacred, 2S6-288 ; have 
 magical powers, 289, 290 ; Relation between divine stones and gods, 
 291-295 ; Magna Mater, 291 ; Massebas, 293 ; Bethels, 294 ; Stones 
 cast on graves, and boundary stones, 296; Stones as altars: natural 
 forms, 297 ; artificial forms, 298 ; High pillars by temples, 299 ; Images 
 of gods, 300, 301 ; Folk-stories and myths connected with stones, 302 ; 
 Sacred mountains, 303-305.
 
 xii J\IKODL'Cr/0\ TO J/ISTOKV OF I^EUuJOXS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Waters. Why waters are regarded as sacred, 306-30S ; Ritual use 
 of water, 309; Water-spirits, 310, 311; Water-gods, 3t2-3i4; Rain- 
 giving gods, 315; Water-myths, 316; Gods of ocean, 317. 
 Fire. Its sacredness, 31S, 319; Persian fire-cult, 320; Ritual use of 
 fire, 321-323; Its symbolic significance, 324; Light as sacred, 325. 
 Winds. Their relation to gods, 327. 
 
 He.wenly Bodies. Anthropomorphized, 328; Cosmogonic myths con- 
 nected with them, 329, 330; Sex of sun and moon, 331 ; Whether they 
 ever became gods, 332, 333 ; Thunder and lightning not worshiped, 334. 
 Worship ok Human Beings. Their worship widespread, with dis- 
 tinction between the living and the dead, 335. 
 
 The Cult of the Living. Worship to be distinguished from rev- 
 erence, 336 ; Worship of the living by savages, 337 ; by civilized 
 peoples, 338 ; in Egypt, 339, 340 ; in Babylonia, 341 ; but there probably 
 not Semitic, 342; not by Hebrews and Arabs, 343, 344; in China, 
 345; in Japan, 346; Whether by Greeks and Romans, 347; Not in 
 India and Persia, 348; Cults of the living rarely important, 349. 
 The CiLT OF the Dead. Of historical persons: noncivilized, 
 351 ; civilized: in Egypt, 352; in Greece and Rome, 353; in China, 
 354; of the Calif Ali, 355; Greek and Roman worship of mythical 
 ancestors, 356, 357; Dedivinization of gods, 35S ; Euhemerism, 359; 
 Worship of the dead kin, 360, 361 ; Ghosts friendly and unfriendly, 
 362 ; Savage customs : mourning, 363 ; funeral feasts, 364 ; fear and 
 kindly feeling, 365, 366; Definite cult of ghosts: savage, 367-370; 
 civilized, 371-373; Greek and Roman state cults, 374 ; Chinese, 375; 
 Divine functions of the venerated dead, 376-378 ; Ethical power of 
 ancestor-worship, 379-383. 
 
 Cui.Ts OF Generative Powers. Nature's productivity, 3S4-386; 
 Not all customs connected with generation are religious, 387 ; Cult of 
 generative organs, 388-406 ; widespread, 388 ; Nonreligious usages, 
 389, 390 ; Phallic cults hardly to be found among the lowest peoples, 
 391, 392; Well developed in West Africa, 393; in modern India, 
 394; in Japan, 395; Most definite in some ancient civilized religions, 
 396; In Egypt. 397; Whether in Semitic communities, 398; Hier- 
 apolis, 399; Babylonia and Palestine, 400; Extensively practiced in 
 Asia Minor, Ionia, and Greece, 401 ; Priapos, 402, 403 ; The Roman 
 Mutunus" Tutunus, 404; Phalli as amulets, 405; The female organ, 
 406; Androgynous deities, 407-418 ; Supposed Semitic figures : Ishtar, 
 408; Ashtart, 409; Tanit, 410; The Cyprian goddess, 411, 412; The 
 Phrygian Agdistis, 413; Ilermaphroditos, 415, 416; Androgynous 
 deities not religiously important, 417; Origin of the conception, 418; 
 Animals associated with phallic deities, 419 ; Christian phallic cults, 420.
 
 CONTENTS xiii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER V. TOTEMISM AND TABOO 176 
 
 The contrasted roles of the two, 421. 
 
 ToTEMiSM. Social protective clan customs, 422; Control of marriage 
 by exogamic organization, 423-428 ; Theories of the origin of exogamy 
 (scarcity of women, primitive promiscuity, absence of sexual attraction 
 between persons brought up together, patriarch's jealousy, horror of 
 incest, migration of young men) and criticism of them, 429-435 ; Diffu- 
 sion and function of exogamy, 436-440; Definition of totemism, 441 ; 
 Customs and beliefs associated with it, 442: exogamy, 443; names 
 and badges, 444-448; descent from the totem, 449-451; refusal to 
 kill or eat it, 452-459 ; magical ceremonies for increasing supply of food, 
 460, 461 ; Stricter definition of totemism, 462-465; Geographical dis- 
 tribution of totemic usages, 466-513; Australia, 468-473; Torres 
 Straits Islands, 474, 475; British New Guinea, 476; Melanesia, 477- 
 4S3 ; Micronesia and Polynesia, 484, 485 ; Indonesia, 486 ; India, 487 ; 
 North America, 4S8-506 ; Africa, 507-513; Supposed traces in civil- 
 ized peoples, 514-519; The permanent element in totemism, 520, 521 ; 
 Conditions favorable and unfavorable to totemistic organization, 522: 
 economic, 523-528 ; individualistic institutions (secret societies, guar- 
 dian spirits), 529-537; political, 538; religious, 539, 540; The lines of 
 progress to which totemism succumbs, 541. 
 Theories of the Origin of Totemism, 542-559: 
 Individualistic Theories. Confusion between names and things, 
 544 ; Animal or plant held to be the incarnation of a dead man, 
 545; Body of an animal as magical apparatus, 546; Animals as 
 places of deposit of souls, 547 ; An object that influences a mother 
 at conception, of which the child may not eat, 548 ; Animals and 
 plants as incarnations of the souls of the dead, 549 ; Criticism, 550- 
 
 55^- 
 
 Theories eased on Clan Action. A clan chooses an animal or 
 
 plant as friend, 553, 554 ; The totem a clan badge, 555-557 ; Coopera- 
 tion of groups to supply particular foods, 558 ; The totem a god incar- 
 nate in every member of a clan, 559; Summing-up on origin of totemism, 
 560-562 ; Social function of totemism, 563 ; Whether it produced the 
 domestication of animals and plants, 564-569; Its relation to religion, 
 570-580; The totem as helper, 570-575; Whether a totem is ever 
 worshiped, 576 ; or ever becomes a god, 577-580. 
 
 Taho(j. Its relation to ethics, 581-584; It has to do with dangerous 
 objects and acts, 585, 586; Classes of taboo things, 587: those con- 
 nected with the conception of life (parents and children), 58S, 589; 
 v^-ith death, 590, 591 ; with women and the relation between the sexes,
 
 xiv IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 592-594 ; with great personages, 595-597 ; with industrial pursuits, 
 598-600; with other important social events (expulsion of spirits, 
 sacred seasons, war, etc.), 601-604 ; with the moon: fear of celestial 
 phenomena, 605; observation of lunations, 606; new moon and full 
 moon, 607; Whether the Hebrew sabbath was originally a full-moon 
 day, 608, 609 ; The seven-day week, 610; Prohibitions connected with 
 lucky and unlucky days, 611-613; Punishment of violation of taboo, 
 614, 615; Removal of taboos, 616, 617; Taboo and magic, 618, 619; 
 Modification of taboo by civil law, 620; Despotism of taboo, 621; 
 Duration of taboo periods, 622 ; Diffusion of taboo customs, 623, 624 ; 
 Traces in ancient civilized communities, 625 ; Indications of former 
 general prevalence, 626, 627 ; Causes of disappearance, 628, 629; Role 
 of taboo in the history of religion, 630-634. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. GODS 265 
 
 How- gods differ from other supernatural beings, 635, 636; Early 
 
 mythical founders of culture, 637-643. 
 
 Cl.\n Gods (including divinized men). In lower tribes, 644-647; 
 
 In civilized nations, 648-651 ; One class of Greek " heroes," 652, 653; 
 
 Historical importance of clan gods, 654. 
 
 Dep.vrtmextal Gods. In half-civilized communities, 658-662; In 
 
 Maya, Mexican, and Peruvian religions, 663-665 ; Among Egyptians, 
 
 Greeks, and Romans, 666-670; Supposed Semitic instances, 671 ; 
 
 Tutelar)' deities of individuals, cities, and nations, 672, 673 ; Classes of 
 
 departmental gods, 674 : Creators, 675-679; Gods of the other world, 
 
 680-682: Good and bad Powers, 683-694; Conflict and adjustment, 
 
 684-688; Ethical dualism, 689; Man's attitude toward demons, 690- 
 
 694; Gods of abstractions, 695-697 : Semitic, 69S-700; Egyptian, 701 ; 
 
 Roman and Greek, 702 ; Aryan, 703 ; Absorption of specialized deities 
 
 by great gods, 704-706. 
 
 Nature Gods. Their characteristics, 707, 708 ; Cult of the sun, 709- 
 
 713; of the moon, 714 ; of stars, 715-718. 
 
 The Great Gods. Their genesis, 719. 720; Divine dynasties, 721-723; 
 
 The supremacy of a particular god determined by social conditions, 
 
 724 ; Origin of composite figures, 725. 
 
 Illustrations of the growth of gods, 725 ff. : 
 
 Egyptian. Horus, 726; Ra, 727; Osiris, 728; Ilathor, Neith, Isis, 
 
 729. 
 
 HiNDtr. Varuna, 730; Indra, 731; Soma, 732; Vishnu and Qiva, 
 
 733; Dyaus and Prithivi, 734; Ushas (and (,'aktism), 734; Yama, 
 
 735. 736-
 
 CONTE.VTS XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Persian. Ahura Mazda and Angro Mainyu, 737, 738; Mitlira and 
 Anahita, 739; Character of the Zoroastrian reform, 7.40-745. 
 Chinksk. Feeble llieistic development, 7.16; Confucianism and 
 Taoism, 747-749. 
 Japanese. No great god, 750. 
 Nature of Semitic theistic constructions, 751-755. 
 Bahyi.onian and Assyrian. Ea, 756; Enlil (Bel), 757; Marduk, 
 758; Ashur, 759; Female deities, 760; Bau, 761 ; Ishtar, 762, 763. 
 Phoenician and Arabian. Melkart, Eshmun, Dusares, Al-Lat, 
 Al-Uzza, 764. 
 
 Hebrew. Yahweh, 765; The titles Ilu (El), Elohim, 766. 
 Greek. The pantheon, 767; Zeus, 768, 7iJ9 ; Apollo, 770; Posei- 
 don, 771; Hermes, 772; Pan, 773, 774; Ares, 775; Dionysus, 776-778 ; 
 Hades, 779, 780 ; Female deities, 781 : Hera, 782, 783 ; Demeter, 784 ; 
 Maiden goddesses, 785 : the Kore, 786 ; Hestia, 787 ; Artemis, 788, 
 789; Hekate, 790; Athene, 791, 792; Aphrodite, 793, 794; Breadth 
 of the Greek theistic scheme, 795. 
 
 Roman. Nature gods, 796, 797; Jupiter, 79S ; Janus, 799; Mars, 
 800; Saturn, Soi ; Deities of obscure origin, 802; Female deities, 
 803; Juno, 804; Vesta, 805; Diana, S06 ; Minerva, 807; Venus, 
 808, 809. 
 Characteristics of the great ancient national religions, 810-S18. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. MYTHS 
 
 559 
 
 Their historical value, S19, 820; Duration of the mythopoeic age, 821 ; 
 
 Period of origination of myths, 822 ; Similarity of myths throughout 
 
 the world, 823-826 ; Classes of myths, 827 : 
 
 Cosiiiogonk. Creation of the world, 828-831 ; of man, 832, 833; Man 
 
 originally not mortal, 834 ; Macrobiotes, 835 ; Primeval paradise, 835 ; 
 
 Final destruction of the world, etc., 836-838. 
 
 EtIutPgonic, 839-841. 
 
 Sociogonic, 842: Arts and ceremonies, 843-S45 ; Relation between myth 
 
 and ritual, 846 ; Social reforms, 847 , Sacred places, 848. 
 
 Astro7to))iicaI,p>ocellar, vegetation : astrological, 849,850; Storm myths, 
 
 851 ; Certain heroes, S52, 853; Decay and revival of vegetation, S54, 
 
 855; Literary mythical histories, 856; Antagonism between light and 
 
 darkness, 857, 858. 
 
 Mingling of mytli and legend, 859, 860 ; Original nature of a god given 
 
 in popular observances, 861 ; Interpretation of myths, S62 ; Ancient, 
 
 863 ; Recent, 864-879; Influence of myths on dogmas and ceremonies, 
 
 880; Fairy lore, 881.
 
 xvi JXTKODC'CIVOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. MAGIC AND DIVINATION 392 
 
 Difference between their functions, 882. 
 
 Magic. Science of magic, 883-SS5 ; Its methods, 886,' 887; Rela- 
 tion between magic and religion, S8S-890 ; Magic a social product, 
 S91 ; Magicians, 892-894; Families, 895; Women, 895, S96; Tribes, 
 897; Power of the magician, 898; His methods, 899, 900; Attitude 
 of civilized religions toward magic, 901, 902; Its persistent hold on 
 men, 903 ; Its historical role, 904. 
 
 Divination. Its nature and organization, 905, 906 ; Prophetic 
 ecstasy, 907 ; Relations between magician, diviner, and priest, 908. 
 
 Divinatory signs, 909, 910; Signs without human initiation : omens, 
 911, 912; Prodigies, 913; Astrology, 914, 915; Words and acts of 
 men, 916 ; Parts of the human body, 917 ; Signs arranged for by men : 
 lots, 918; Haruspication, etc., 919, 920; Oneiromancy, 921-923; 
 Ordeals, 924-926; Oracles and necromancy, 927 ; Development of the 
 office of diviner, 928-932 ; Sibyls and Sibylline books, 933-940 ; Re- 
 ligious and ethical influence of divination, 941, 942. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. THE HIGHER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT 440 
 
 Groups into which the great religions fall, 943, 944. 
 Polytheism. Differences between the polytheistic schemes of 
 various peoples : Egyptian, Semitic, Indo-European, Mexican, Peru- 
 vian, 945-950; Extent of anthropomorphization of gods measured by 
 richness of mythology : in savage and half-civilized communities, 952- 
 954 ; Gradations of anthropomorphization in civilized peoples, 955- 
 964 ; Religious role of polytheism, 965, 966 ; Dissatisfaction with its 
 discordances, and demand for simplification of the conception of the 
 divine government of the world, 967. 
 
 Dualism. Belief of lower tribes in two mutually antagonistic sets of 
 Powers, 968-972 ; Of the great ancient religions it is only Zoroastrian- 
 ism that has constructed a dualistic system, 973-976 ; Whether a 
 strictly dualistic scheme has ever existed, 977; Manicha;ism, 978; 
 Problems raised by dualism, 979. 
 
 Mo^•(•TH^:ISM. The general movement toward it, 980, 9S1 ; Two 
 theories of its origin : that it is the natural ])rimitive form of religion, 
 that it is the result of a primitive divine revelation, 982 ; The facts in 
 the case : it is not now found in low tribes, 983-985 ; it is not visible 
 in the popular cults of the great nations of antiquity, 986; But ten- 
 dency toward a unitary conception of the divine government of the 
 world, 987 ; Disposition to ascribe absoluteness to some one deity in
 
 CO A TAW yy xvii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, India, 988-991 ; Chinese headship of 
 Heaven, 992; Peruvian cult of the sun, 993; Hebrew monolatry, 994, 
 995; Demand for unity by Greek poets and philosophers, 996-1001 ; 
 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, 1002; Cults of Isis and Mithra — 
 Modern refoims: Brahma-Samaj, Tarsi, Babist, Shinto, 1003. 
 Pantheistic and Nontheistic Systems. Pantheism is a revolt 
 against the separation of God and the world, 1004 ; Perplexing ethical 
 and religious questions make it unacceptable to the mass of men, 1005 ; 
 Nontheistic systems attempt to secure unity by taking the world to be 
 self-sufficient, or by regarding the gods as otiose, 1006; The Sankhya 
 philosophy dispenses with extrahuman Powers, but recognizes the soul 
 — Buddhism ignores both, 1007 ; Greek materialism, 1008. 
 General Survey of the Theistic Development, 1009 ff. Interven- 
 tion of gods fixed by appeal to natural law, loio; Persistence of belief 
 in miracles, loi i ; Constitution of the deity constructed by philosophy, 
 1012 ; His moral character determined by that of his worshipers, 1013. 
 
 CHAPTER X. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION . . 481 
 
 The external history of religion a history of social growth, 1014- 
 1016. 
 
 External Worship. Establishment of relations with Powers, 1017, 
 loiS : by processes, 1019-1021 ; by gifts, 1022, 1023; by messengers, 
 1024, 1025; Blood is placatory as a gift of food, 1026; Pluman 
 sacrifice, 1027-1031 ; Dances and processions, 1032; Preponderant 
 importance of ordinary sacrifices — the various kinds, 1033-1035; 
 Elaboration of the sacrificial ritual, 1036. 
 
 Theories of the Origin of Sacrifice. Their formulation late, 
 1037 ; Bloody and unbloody offerings equal in expiatory virtue, 1038; 
 Two groups of theories of origin, 1039: the offering as gift, 1040, 
 1041 ; as effecting union between deity and worshiper, 1042 : by shar- 
 ing the flesh of a sacred animal (Smith and Frazer), 1043-1047 ; Self- 
 sacrifice of a god, 1048; Union through a sanctified victim (Hubert and 
 Mauss), 1049, 1050; Union with the Infinite effected by all religious 
 acts (Tiele), 1051, 1052; Persistence of these conceptions of sacrifice 
 1053, 1054. 
 
 Ritual. Its growth in elaborateness along with the growlii of 
 social forms, 1055-1061. 
 
 Priests. Regulation of the life, physical and moral, of priests and 
 priestesses, T062-1065; Origin of religious prostitution: secular and 
 religious explanations, 1066; Organization and influence of the priest- 
 hood: Egyptian, 1067; Babylonian and Assyrian, 1068; Palestinian,
 
 xviii /.\rROI)i'CT/0.y TO /l/SfORV OF REL/G/OXS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1069; Hindu, 1070; Persian, 107 1 ; Greek, 1072; Roman, 1073 ; Chi- 
 nese, 1074; Peruvian and Mexican, 1075; Influence for good and for 
 evil, 1076-1079; No priesthood in Islam or in Judaism after 70 A.D., 
 loSo; Its function in some Christian ciiurches, 1080. 
 Worship. Early places of worship, 10S1-1082; Development of 
 temples, 10S3-1086; Forms of worship: offerings, hymns, music, 10S7, 
 10S8; Festivals, 1089; Vows, blessings, curses, 1090; Idols: their 
 formal development, 1091, 1092; Conception of their personality, 
 1093; Religious function of idolatry, 1094. 
 
 Churches. Individualism called forth voluntary associations, 1095; 
 Savage secret societies, 1096; Greek mysteries, 1097-1099; \Vhether 
 the Semites produced mysteries, 1100; Rise of the idea of the church 
 in the Graeco-Roman world, iioi: Philosophy produced no church, 
 1 102-1 105; True churches produced by Buddhism and Jainism, 1106, 
 1 107 ; not by Judaism and Mazdaism, i loS, 1 109; Development of the 
 Christian idea of the church, 1 1 lo-i 1 12 ; A church called forth by the 
 cult of Mithra, 11 13; not by that of Isis or that of Sarapis, 11 14; 
 The Manichx-an church, 1115; As to Islam and certain associations 
 that have arisen within it (Mahdism, Drusism, etc.), 1 1 1 6 ; Ecclesiastical 
 power of the Peruvian Inca, 11 17; Hindu and Persian movements, 
 1 1 18-1 1 20. 
 
 MoNACHlSM. Its dualistic root, 1121; India its birthplace, 1122; 
 Trace in Egypt (the Sarapeum), 11 23; Therapeutae, 11 24; Essenes, 
 1 125; Christian monachism, 1126; Religious influence of monachism, 
 1 1 27. 
 
 Sacred Books. Their origin and collection, 11 28; Canons: Bud- 
 dhist, 1129; Jewish, 1130; Christian, 1131; Mazdean, 1132; Islamic, 
 1 133; Religious influence of sacred books, 1134-1136; General influ- 
 ence of churches, 1 137-1 140. 
 
 UMVER.SAL Religions. Actual diffusion the test of universality, 
 1141 ; As to Buddhism, 1142; Judaism, 1143; Christianity, 1144; 
 Zoroastrianism, 1145; Islam, 11 46; So tested no existing religion is 
 universal, 1147. 
 
 Ci.ASSiFiCATlo.N OF Religio.ns. Their resemblances and differences, 
 1 148; Points in common, 1149; Proposed systems of classification, and 
 objections to them : according to grade of general culture, 1 1 50 ; divi- 
 sion into national religions and those founded each by a single person, 
 1 151; religions of redemption, 1151; Religious unity, savage and 
 civilized, 11 52; Disadvantages of tabulated classifications of religions, 
 "53-
 
 CONTENTS xlx 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XL SCIENTIFIC AND ETIIICAI, ELEMENTS IN 
 RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS 
 
 573 
 
 Spheres of religion, science and constructive ethics distinct, Init tend 
 to coalesce, 1 1 54. 
 
 The Scientific Elkment. When science clashes with religion, 
 1 1 55; Phases in the relation between the two: when there is no 
 knowledge of natural law — a crude conception of unity — no place 
 for the miraculous, 11 56; Rise of highly personalized deities who 
 stand outside the world: age of miracles, 11 57; Recognition of the 
 domination of natural law — separation between science and religion, 
 1 1 58; Higher conception of the unity of Ciod and the world, 1159; 
 Scientific theories held to be not a part of the content of religion, 1 160. 
 The Ethical Element. Religion adopts current ethical customs 
 and codes, 1161; Both good, 1162; and bad, 1163; Mutual influence 
 of religion and ethics, 1164, 1165; Religion infuses nobility and ten- 
 derness into ethics, 1 166; Religious personalities : martyr, saint, 1167, 
 116S; Evil influence of religion on ethics, 1169; Contribution of re- 
 ligion to the sense of obligation to do right, 1 170; Answers of religion 
 to questions concerning the existence of moral evil, 1171 ; concerning 
 man's moral capacity, 11 72; concerning the essential goodness or 
 badness of the world, 1173. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 
 
 585 
 
 INDEX 62 
 
 5
 
 INTRODUCTION TO THE 
 HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 NATURE OF RELIGION 
 
 1. It appears probable that primitive men endowed with their 
 own qualities every seemingly active object in the world. Experience 
 forced them to take note of the relations of all objects to themselves 
 and to one another. The knowledge of the sequences of phenomena, 
 so far as the latter are not regarded as acting intentionally on him, 
 constitutes man's science and philosophy; so far as they are held 
 to act on him intentionally, the knowledge of them constitutes his 
 theory of religion, and his sense of relation with them is his reli- 
 gious sentiment. Science and religion are coeval in man's history, 
 and both are independently continuous and progressive. At first 
 science is in the background because most objects, since they are 
 believed to be alive and active, are naturally supposed by man to 
 affect him purposely ; it grows slowly, keeping pace with observation, 
 and constantly abstracting phenomena from the domain of religion.^ 
 Religion is man's attitude toward the universe regarded as a social 
 and ethical force ; it is the sense of social solidarity with objects re- 
 garded as Powers, and the institution of social relations with them. 
 
 2. These Powers are thought of in general as mysterious, and 
 as mightier than ordinary living men.- Ordinarily the feeling toward 
 them on man's part is one of dependence — he is conscious of his 
 
 1 That is, phenomena regarded as special acts of a superhuman Power ; in the 
 larger conception of religion all phenomena are at once natural and divine acts. 
 
 2 In early religion they are usually ghosts, beasts, plants, or inanimate objects; 
 rarely living men. Cf. Marett's remarks on pre-animistic religion in his Threshold of 
 Religion. 
 
 I
 
 2 /XTKOnL'tncKV TO HISTORY OF REUGIOXS 
 
 inferiority. In some forms of philosophic thought the man regards 
 himself as part of the one universal personal Power, or as part of 
 the impersonal Whole, and his attitude toward the Power or the 
 Whole is like that of a member of a composite political body toward 
 the whole body ; such a position is possible, however, only in a 
 j)criod of very advanced culture. 
 
 3. There being no records of initial humanity, it is hardly pos- 
 sible for us to know certainly what the earliest men's feeling was 
 toward the animate and inanimate forces around them. Not im- 
 probably it was simply fear, the result of ignorance of their nature 
 and absence of social relations with them. But in the human 
 communities known to us, even the lowest, the relations with extra- 
 human beings appear to be in general of a mixed nature, some- 
 times friendly, sometimes unfriendly, but neither pure love nor 
 pure hatred. So refined a feeling as love for a deity is not found 
 among savages. As religion springs from the human demand for 
 safety and happiness as the gift of the extrahuman Powers, hostil- 
 ity to them has been generally felt to be opposed to common sense. ^ 
 Coercion there has been, as in magical procedures, or to bring a 
 stubborn deity to terms ; and occasional antagonism (for example, 
 toward foreign gods) ; but not hatred proper as a dogma, except 
 in the great ethical religions toward evil spirits, and in certain elab- 
 orate philosophic systems — as, for example, in the Gnostic concep- 
 tion of an imperfect Demiurge, or in the assumption of an original 
 blind Chance or blind Will whose products and laws are regarded 
 as not entitled to respect and obedience. 
 
 4. Instead of complete friendliness and unfriendliness in early 
 tribes we find more commonly between the two a middle ground 
 of self-regarding equipoise. The savage, the half-civilized man, and 
 the peasant often deal with superhuman Powers in a purely selfish 
 commercial spirit, courting or neglecting them as they seem likely 
 
 1 Appeal to the Powers carries with it a certain sense of oneness with them, in 
 which we may reasonably recognize the germ of the idea of union with God, which 
 is the highest form of religion. This idea is not consciously held by the savage — it 
 takes shape only in highly developed thought (Plato, the New Testament, Christian 
 and other mysticism). If the impulse to religion be thought to be love of life (so 
 Leuba, in the Monist, July, 1901), this is substantially desire for safety and happiness.
 
 NATURI-: 0J-' RICLIGION 3 
 
 to be useful or not. The Central Australian (who may be credited 
 witli a dim sense of the superhuman) conducts his ceremonies, in- 
 tended to insure a supply of food, apparently without the slightest 
 emotion of any sort except the desire for gain.' The Italian peas- 
 ant, who has vowed a wax candle to a saint in return for a favor 
 to be shown, docs not scruple to cheat the saint, after the latter 
 has performed his part of the agreement, by offering tallow instead 
 of wax, if he thinks he can do so with impunity. A recusant deity 
 is sometimes neglected or even kicked by way of punishment or to 
 force him to give the desired aid, and a god or a saint is valued and 
 sought after in proportion to his supposed ability to be useful. 
 
 5. And this naively utilitarian point of view is by no means con- 
 fined to the lowest forms of religion ; in the Old Testament, for 
 example, the appeal to Yahveh is generally based on his assumed 
 power to bestow temporal blessings,^ and this is a widespread atti- 
 tude at the present day in religious communities, where salvation is 
 commonly the end had in view by the worshiper. L,ove toward the 
 deity simply on account of his personal moral character, without re- 
 gard to the benefit (namely happiness) to be got from him, is found, 
 if found at all, only in highly cultivated natures, and is rare in these. 
 And, in truth, it is difficult if not impossible to justify religion except 
 on the ground that it brings satisfaction (that is, happiness through 
 and in perfection of nature) in the broadest and highest sense of 
 that term, for otherwise it could not be regarded as a good thing. 
 
 6. On the other hand, fear of the superhuman Power is a common 
 feeling, recognizable everywhere, at all times, and in all stages of 
 social and intellectual development. By many it is regarded as the 
 original and essential attitude of the religious mind.^ To this view 
 it is sometimes objected that religion could never have arisen from 
 fear — that religion, as a cult, of necessity involves amicable rela- 
 tions between man and the deity. The objection, however, is based 
 on an arbitrary and incorrect definition of religion ; it is quite con- 
 ceivable that man might cultivate the deity through fear of the 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 170. 
 
 2 Gen. xxviii, 20-22 ; Hos. ii ; Ezek. xxxvi ; and the Psalter passim. 
 
 3 The classic expression of this view is given by Statius (77/. 3, 661) : primus in 
 orbe deos fecit timor. Cf. L. Marillier, in International Monthly , ii (1900), 362 ff.
 
 4 /.\TRODL'CT/0.\' TO H/STORV OF KELIGIOXS 
 
 latter's displeasure, and that an elaborate system of ceremonies 
 and beliefs might arise from the desire to avert his anger. Such 
 a conception — which is certainly not a lofty one — is not un- 
 natural in the presence of a great Power whose dispositions and 
 purposes are not well understood ; numerous examples of such an 
 attitude might be cited from various religions, savage and civilized. 
 
 7. But, on historical grounds, as in the examples given above, it 
 seems better to say that the earliest known attitude of man toward 
 the superhuman Power is one of interested observation and fluid 
 emotion — the feeling is determined by experience of phenomena. 
 The man is pleased, displeased and afraid, suspicious or careless, 
 according as he sees things to be helpful, harmful, doubtful, or 
 resultless. In process of time, by observation and reflection, he 
 succeeds in tabulating phenomena, and more or less definitely fixing 
 his emotional attitude toward their assumed cause. A tradition is 
 gradually established, and men arc trained from infancy to wel- 
 come certain things, to fear others, and to accept certain others as 
 meaningless ; from time to time strange things will appear, and these 
 will be treated according to established principles or will remain 
 mysterious. A germinal conception of natural law will arise from 
 the observation of periodically occurring phenomena (such as the 
 rising and setting of the sun, periodic rains, tides) and familiar facts 
 of everyday life, as, for example, the habits of men and other ani- 
 mals. Ever)'thing outside this sphere will be ascribed to extrahuman 
 agency — so sickness, death, and sometimes birth. ^ 
 
 8. The history of religion, which is a part of the history of thought, 
 necessarily shows, as is observed above, a constant enlargement of 
 the domain of natural law, and a consequent contraction of the 
 direct action of the supernatural, though this does not always or 
 generally lessen the conviction that the Supernatural Power, acting 
 through natural law, controls all things. In this process, also, the 
 conception of the attitude of the Supernatural Power is more or 
 less definitely fixed ; a formulation of signs is accomplished, whereby 
 it is known whether the deity, at particular moments, is pleased or 
 
 1 For numerous examples of the belief in supernatural birth see E. S. Hartland, 
 Primifive Paternity.
 
 x.rrcR/': of religion 5 
 
 displeased, and whether a given deity is generally friendly or hostile. 
 This method of determining the attitude of the deity continued into 
 late stages of social life, and still exists even in professedly Christian 
 communities.^ 
 
 9. As the basis of the religious feeling we must suppose a sense 
 and conception of an extrahuman Something, the cause of things 
 not otherwise understood. All things were supposed to have life, 
 and therefore to be loci of force ; man's sense of social relation with 
 this force constituted his religion. This sense was at first doubtless 
 vague, ill-defined, or undefined, and in this form it is now found in 
 certain tribes." Gradually, as the processes of human life and of 
 the external world become better known, and the vastness of the 
 extrahuman control becomes evident, the Something is conceived 
 of as great, then as indefinitely great, and finally, under the guidance 
 of philosophic thought, as infinite. Thus the sense of the infinite 
 may be said to be present in man's mind in germinal form at the 
 beginning of truly human life, though it does not attain full shape, 
 is not formulated, and is not effective, till the period of philosophic 
 culture is reached.^ 
 
 10. As far as our present knowledge goes, religion appears to be 
 universal among men. There is no community of which we can 
 say with certainty that it is without religion. There are some doubt- 
 ful cases — for example, certain Australian tribes reported on by 
 Spencer and Gillen, among whom it is difficult to discover any defi- 
 nite religious feeling : they offer no sacrifices or petitions, and ap- 
 pear to recognize no personal relations with any supernatural Power, 
 beyond the belief that the spirits of the dead are active in their 
 
 1 Modem civilized nations, after victories in war, commonly assume that God has 
 thus pronounced in favor of the justice and right of their side, and sing Te Deums. 
 
 2 This vagueness reappears in some systems of late philosophic speculation. On 
 the question whether a sense of the divine exists anterior to conscious experience 
 cf. Marett, Thirshold of Rcllgioii. 
 
 8 This is only a particular application of the general assumption that all human 
 powers exist in germ in the lowest human forms. Discussions of the sense of the 
 infinite are found in the G'tfford Lectures of F. Max Miiller and Ticle, and in Jastrow's 
 Study of Religion. But early man thinks only of the particular objects with which 
 he comes into contact ; the later belief in an Infinite is a product of experience and 
 reflection.
 
 6 JXJKonrcTJox jo justokv o/-- a' /■:/./ u/iLVs 
 
 midst, causing sickness, death, and birth ; nor is there any sign that 
 they have lost earlier more definite beliefs.* Wt thc\- have solemn 
 ceremonies in which human blood plays a great part, and these 
 may ha\e reference to the intervention of supernatural beings, the 
 term " supernatural " being taken as expressing an}- m)'sterious 
 fact lying outside of the common course of things. A mysterious 
 being called Twan is spoken of in initiation ceremonies, chiefly, it 
 seems, to frighten or train the boys. Is there an indication that 
 the tribal leaders have ri.sen above the popular belief in such a 
 being ? Experience shows that it is difficult for civilized men to get 
 at the religious ideas of savages ; and it is possible, in spite of the 
 careful investigations thus far made, that the last word on Central 
 Australian beliefs has not yet been spoken. A similar reserve must 
 be exercised in regard to reports of certain other tribes, whose 
 ceremonies and institutions have appeared to some European and 
 American observers to be without a religious element.^ 
 
 11. There is at present no satisfactory historical evidence (what- 
 ever psychological ground there may be, or whatever deduction 
 from the theory of evolution may seem necessary) of the existence 
 of a subreligious stage of human life — a stage in which there is 
 only a vague sense of some extrahuman power affecting man's 
 interests, without definition of the power, and without attcni]5t to 
 enter into social relations with it.'** 
 
 12. True, in the great mass of existing savage humanity we 
 find social and religious customs so definite that we are forced to 
 suppose a long«p receding period of development. It has even been 
 
 1 Cf. Aiincc sociolog'iqiie, iii (1S98-1899), 205 ff. 
 
 2 On the Fuegians cf. K. Fitzroy, in Voyages of the Adventure mid the Beagle, 
 ii (1831-1836), 179 ff. ; on the African Pygmies, A. do Quatrefages, The Pygmies 
 (Eng. tr., 1895), p. 124 ff. ; W. Schmidt, Pygmaenvo/kcr, p. 231 ff. ; on Ceylon, T. II. 
 Parker, A/icient Ceylon, iv ; and on the Guaranis and Tapuyas (Botocudos) of Bra- 
 zil, Waitz-Geriand, Ani/irofiologie, iii, 418, and the references in Hastings, Riuyclo- 
 pccdia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 837 f. The Fnegians are said to stand in awe of a 
 " black man " who, they believe, lives in the forest and punishes bad actions. On the 
 people of New Guinea see C. G. Seligmann, The Mclancsians of British Nct^v Guinea, 
 chaps. 16, 25, 48, 55. 
 
 •i Such relations exist between men and the vague force variously called mana, 
 manitu, wakonda ; but the conception of this force is scientific rather than religious, 
 though it is brought into connection with religious ideas and usages.
 
 A\- 1 '/ 7 'A'/-: (>/■' A" /■:/. I ( UON 7 
 
 held that traces of religious conce[Hions arc discernible in the first 
 surviving records of "prehistoric" man, the contemporary of the 
 cave bear ^ a period separated from the earliest clear historical 
 records by many millenniums ; * but, though the existence of such 
 conceptions is by no means improbable, the alleged traces are too 
 dim to build a theory on. The supposition of a continuous religious 
 development from the earliest times is in accord with all that we know 
 of human history, but, until more facts come to light, it will be pru- 
 dent to reserve opinion as to the character of prehistoric religion. - 
 13. In general, religious development goes hand in hand with 
 social organization. Those groups which, like the Rock Veddas 
 of Ceylon (described by Sarasin) and the Yahgans of Tierra del 
 Fuego (described by Hyades and Deniker), have scarcely any clan 
 organization, have also scarcely any religion. In most of the lowest 
 communities known to us we find well-constituted clans and tribes, 
 with strict (and usually complicated) laws of relationship and mar- 
 riage, and a somewhat developed form of religion.^ Here again it 
 is evident that we see in the world onl\' the later stages of a long 
 social process ; the antecedent history of this process belongs to 
 sociological science, and does not concern us here ; * its later history 
 is inseparably connected with the development of religion. 
 
 1 The evidence is summed up in G. d'Alviella's Illbbert LecUires. Cf. Brinton, 
 Religion of Priini/ive Pco/'lcs, p. 30 ff. 
 
 2 The question whether the religious sense exists in the lower animals is discussed 
 by Darwin, Descent of Man (1S71), p. 65 ff., loi f., and others. The question is similar 
 to that respecting conscience ; in both cases there is in beasts a germ that appears 
 never to grow beyond a certain point. On the genesis of the moral sense see (be- 
 sides the works of Aristotle, Spinoza, Kant, and their successors) G. II. Palmer,^7y/<: 
 Field of Ethics ; L. T. Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution ; E. Westermarck, Origin and 
 Development of the Moral Ideas. In regard to religious feeling we observe in cer- 
 tain animals, especially in the domesticated dog, an attitude of dependence and de- 
 votion toward the master as a superior Power that is similar to the attitude of man 
 toward a deity, only with more affection and self-surrender. But in the animal, so 
 far as we can judge, the intellectual and ethical conceptions do not come to their 
 full rights — there is no idea of a Power possessing moral qualities and controlling all 
 phenomena. The beast, therefore, is not religious in the proper sense of the term. 
 But between the beast and the first man the difference may have been not great. 
 
 S The Central Australians, however, have an elaborate marriage law with the 
 simplest political organization and the minimum of religion. 
 
 ^ Cf. L. M. Keasbey, in Intci-national Monthly^ i (1900), 355 ff. ; 1. King, The 
 Development of Religion.^ Introduction.
 
 8 J\TRODrCTJO\ TO H/STORV OF KKUGIOA'S 
 
 14. It is in this social process that science, philosophy, art, and 
 ethics are constructed, and these, though distinct from the religious 
 sentiment, always blend with it into a unity of life. Religion proper 
 is simply an attitude toward a Power ; the nature and activity of the 
 Power and the mode of approaching it are constructed by man's 
 observation ^nd reflection. The analysis of the external world and 
 of man's body and mind, the discovery of natural laws, the history 
 of the internal and external careers of the human race — this is the 
 affair of science and philosophy ; rules of conduct, individual and 
 communal, grow up through men's association with one another in 
 society, their basis being certain primary instincts of self-assertion 
 and sympathy ; art is the product of the universal sense of beauty. 
 All these lines of growth stand side by side and coalesce in unitary 
 human life. 
 
 15. The external history of religion is the history of the process 
 by which the religious sentiment has attached itself to the various 
 conceptions formed by man's experience : ritual is the religious 
 application of the code of social manners ; the gods reflect human 
 character; churches follow the methods of social organization ; mon- 
 otheism springs from the sense of the physical and moral unity of 
 the world. Ideas concerning the nature and functions of the deity, 
 the nature of the soul and of conscience, and future life arc all 
 products of scientific thought and might exist if religion did not 
 exist, that is, if men did not recognize any practical relations between 
 themselves and the deity. Ikit, as a matter of fact, the religious senti- 
 ment, coexisting with these ideas, has ahvays entered into alliance 
 with them, creating nothing, but appropriating everything. Super- 
 natural sanctions and emotional coloring are products of general 
 experience and feeling. The intellectual and ethical content of re- 
 ligion varies with the intellectual and ethical culture of its adher- 
 ents ; we may speak properly of the philosophy and morals, not of 
 a religion, but of the people who profess it. 
 
 16. The internal history of religion is the history of individual 
 religious emotional experience (a phenomenon that hardly appears 
 at all in the records of early life), and becomes especially interesting 
 only in periods of advanced culture. It is true that this experience
 
 NATUKE OF RELIGION 9 
 
 is based on tlic whole reflective life of man, whose beginnings go 
 back to the earliest times. Aspirations and ideals, connected es- 
 •pecially with man's religious life, spring from the long line of expe- 
 riences w ith which men have always been struggling. The central 
 fact of the higher religious experience is communion and union 
 with the deity, and the roots of this conception are found in all 
 the religious ideas and usages that have been formulated and 
 practiced in human history. The study of such ideas and practices 
 is thus important for the understanding of the later more refined 
 spiritual life, as in turn this latter throws light on its crude pred- 
 ecessors. It is no disparagement to the higher forms of thought 
 that they have grown from feeble beginnings, and it docs not de- 
 tract from the historical value of primitive life that we must decline 
 to credit it with depth and refinement. Every phase and every 
 stadium of human experience has its value, and the higher stages 
 must be estimated by what they are in themselves. In the history 
 of religion the outward and the inward elements have stood side 
 by side in a unitary experience. But, though the deeper feeling is 
 necessarily more or less closely connected with the external history, 
 it is an independent fact requiring a separate treatment, and will 
 be only occasionally referred to in the present volume.
 
 chapti-:r II 
 
 THE SOUL 
 
 17. The doctrine of the soul is so interwoven with the history of 
 religious beliefs that a brief statement of its early forms will be 
 appropriate before we enter on the consideration of religious insti- 
 tutions and ideas.^ 
 
 1. Nature of the Soul 
 
 18. The belief in an interior something in man, different from 
 the body, appears to be practically universal in early human history ; 
 the ideas concerning the nature of the soul have changed from time 
 to time, but no tribe of men has yet been found in which it is certain 
 that there is no belief in its existence. The Central Australians, re- 
 ligiously one of the least-developed communities known, believe in 
 ghosts, and a ghost presupposes some sort of substance different 
 from the ordinary body. Of some tribes, as the Pygmies of Central 
 Africa and the Fuegians, we have no exact information on this point. 
 But in all cases in which there is information traces of a belief in a 
 soul are found. We are not concerned here with philosophic views, 
 like that of Buddhism and many modern psychologists, that do not 
 admit the existence of the soul as a separate entity. The proofs of 
 the universality of the belief in a soul are scattered through all books 
 that deal with man's religious constitution and history. '^ 
 
 19. For the basis of a universal fact of human experience we 
 naturally seek a universal or essential element of human thought. 
 In this case we must assume a natural or instinctive conviction of 
 the existence of an internal life or being — a consciousness (at first 
 
 1 C/. Tylor, Primitive Culture, chap, xi f. 
 
 2 Beasts, plants, and what we call inanimate objects, also arc held, in early stages 
 of civilization, to have souls — a natural inference from the belief that these last are 
 alive and that all things have a nature like that of man. 
 
 10
 
 77//-; SOUL I I 
 
 doubtless dim and vague) of something diverse and separate from 
 the visible physical being, a sense of mental activity in thought, 
 feeling, and will. 
 
 20. It is not surprising that we do not meet with the expression 
 of such a consciousness among savages : partly, as is well known, 
 they are like children, intellectually incapable of formulating their 
 instinctive beliefs (and they have, consequently, no word to express 
 such a formulation) ; partly, they are not disposed to speak frankly 
 on subjects that they regard as sacred or mysterious. iVttempts at 
 formulation follow the lines of cultur£, and it is not till a compara- 
 tivel)- late stage that they reach definite shape. 
 
 21. The interior being, whose existence was vaguely felt, was 
 recognized by early man in many common experiences. Certain 
 phenomena were observed that seemed to be universal accompani- 
 ments of life, and these, by a strictly scientific method of procedure, 
 were referred to an inward living thing. It was hardly possible for 
 early observers not to notice that when the breath ceased the life 
 ceased ; hence many peoples have regarded the breath as the life, 
 and as the form of the interior being, and in many languages the 
 words for ' soul ' and ' spirit ' are derived from the word for 
 ' breath '} The breath and therefore the soul of a dying man might 
 be received (inhaled) by any person present ; it was sometimes 
 obligatory on a son to receive his father's last breath — he there- 
 by acquired the father's qualities.^ 
 
 22. Another accompaniment of the body that attracted the 
 attention of early men was the shadow, for which the science of 
 that day, unacquainted with optical laws, could account only on 
 the supposition that it was a double of the man, another self, a 
 something belonging in the same general category with the breath- 
 soul, though usually distinguished from it.^ The shadow was 
 
 1 So Semitic nafs 'soul,' riili 'spirit'; Sanskrit diman 'soul,' 'self; Greek 
 psyi/ic, f'lniima ; Latin anima, sf-iritiis ; possibly English ghost (properly gosl 
 'spirit'); and so in many low tribes. See Tylor, Pi-imiiive Culture, i, 432 f. ; 
 O. Schrader, in Hastings, Encyclof>ccdia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 15. 
 
 2 The expression ' to receive the last breath ' {.^jieid, iv, 684 f.), used by us to rep- 
 resent the last pious duty paid to a dying man, was thus originally understood in a 
 strictly literal sense. 8 So the Delaware Indians (Brinton, The Lcnd/e, p. 67).
 
 12 /XTKODC'CTIOX TO J//STORV OF J^ELIGIOXS 
 
 regarded as a sort of independent objective being, which might be 
 seized and destroyed, for example, by a crocodile, as the man 
 passed along a river bank ; yet, as it was the man, its destruction 
 involved the man's death.* The soul, regarded as a shadow, could 
 not cast a shadow. Similarly one's reflection in water was regarded 
 as a double of him." 
 
 23. Blood was known by observation in very early times to be 
 intimately connected with life, acquired the mystery and sacredness 
 that attached to life, and has played a great part in religious cere- 
 monies.^ As soul is life, a close relation between blood and soul 
 appears in the thought of lower and higher peoples, though the 
 relation is not always the same as that described above. The blood 
 is sometimes said to be the soul,* sometimes the soul is supposed 
 to be in the blood as it is in the hair or any other part of the body. 
 Blood could not be regarded as the soul in the same sense in which 
 the breath, for example, was the soul — if the breath departed the 
 man's life departed, but one could lose much blood without injury 
 to vital power. It is not to be expected that the relation between 
 the two should be precisely defined in the early stages of society. 
 If Homer at one time speaks of the soul passing away through a 
 wound and at another time of the blood so passing (death being 
 the result),^ this variation must not be pressed into a statement of 
 the exact identity of blood and soul, pjy the Californian Maidu the 
 soul is spoken of as a ' heart ', apparently by reason of the connec- 
 tion of the heart with the blood and the life.® There is to be 
 recognized, then, a vague identification of ' soul ' and ' blood ' ; but in 
 
 1 Cf. the name 'shade' (Greeks, Redmen, and others) for the denizens of the 
 Underworld. 
 
 2 Photogsaphsare now looked on by some half-civilized peoples with suspicion and 
 fear as separate personalities that may be operated on by magical methods. A similar 
 feeling exists in regard to the name of a man or a god — it is held to be somehow 
 identical with the person, and for this reason is often concealed from outsiders. 
 
 3 Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 402; Frazer, Golden Bough, 1st ed., i, 178 f.; 
 article " Blood "in Hastings, Encyclopadta of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 ^ .So in the Old Testament, in the later ritual codes : Deut. xii, 25 : Lev. xvii, 14 ; 
 Gen. ix, 4 ; and so Ps. Ixxii, 14 ; cf. Koran, xcvi, 2 (man created of blood). 
 
 5 Iliad, xiv, 518; xvii, 86 ; cf. W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 40 n. 
 (Arabic expression: "Life flows on the spear-point"). 
 
 6 R. 13. Uixon, The Northern Maidu, p. 259.
 
 77//: SOUL I 3 
 
 common usage the two terms are somewhat differently employed — 
 'soul' is the vital entity, the man's personality, ' blood ' is the repre- 
 sentative of life, especially on its social side (kinsmen are of "one 
 blood," but not of " one soul ") ^ and in offerings to the deity. Early 
 man seems, in fact, to have distinguished between life and soul.*^ 
 
 24. As the suul was conceived of as an independent being, it 
 was natural that it should be held to have a form like that of the 
 external body — it could not be thought of otherwise.^ This 
 opinion was doubtless confirmed in the savage mind by such ex- 
 periences as dreams, visions, hallucinations, and illusions, and by 
 such phenomena as shadows and reflections. The dreamer believed 
 that he had been far away during the night, hunting or fighting, 
 and yet the testimony of his comrades convinced him that his body 
 had not left its place ; the logical conclusion was that his inner self 
 had been wandering, and this self, as it seemed to him, had walked, 
 eaten, hurled the spear, done all that the ordinary corporeal man 
 would do. In dreams he saw and conversed with his friends or his 
 enemies, all in corporeal form, yet all of them asleep in their several 
 places ; their souls also, he concluded, were wandering. Even in 
 his waking hours, in the gloom of evening or on some wide gleam- 
 ing plain, he saw, as he thought, shadowy shapes of persons who 
 were dead or far away, and heard mysterious voices and other 
 sounds, which he would naturally refer to the inner self of the 
 absent living or the dead. Reproductions of himself and others 
 appeared on land and in water. All such experiences would go to 
 convince him that there were doubles of himself and of others, and 
 that these were corporeal — only dim, ethereal, with powers greater 
 than those of the ordinary external body. 
 
 25. While the soul of the living man was most commonly con- 
 ceived of as a sublimated replica of the ordinary body, it was also 
 
 1 So friendly (fraternal) compacts between individuals are sealed b)' exchange of 
 blood, whereby the parties to the covenant become one ; many examples are given in 
 H. C.Trumbull's Blood-Covenant, 2d ed. 
 
 2 In many languages (.Semitic, Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, English, German, etc.) 
 the word for 'soul' is used in the sense of 'person' or 'self.' Hut the conception 
 of "life " was in early times broader than that of " person " or that of " soul." 
 
 3 An incorporeal or immaterial soul has never been conceivable.
 
 14 IXTRODL'CT/O.y TO /IISJVRV OF KKLIGIOXS 
 
 supposed in some cases to take the form of some animal — an 
 opinion that may have arisen as regards any particular animal from 
 its appearance at a time when the soul was supposed to be absent 
 from the body/ and is to be referred ultimately to the belief in the • 
 identit}' of nature of animals and man. 'I'he souls of the dead also 
 were sometimes supposed to take the shape of animals, or to take 
 up their abode in animals'- or in trees (as in Egypt) : such animals 
 (tigers, for example) were commonly dangerous, and this theor)' of 
 incarnation is an expression of the widely diffused belief in the 
 dangerous character of the souls of the dead. In later, cultivated 
 times the bird became a favorite symbol of the soul — perhaps 
 from its swift and easy flight through the air.^ . 
 
 26. Savage science, though it generally identified the soul with 
 the breath, and regarded it as a separate interior form, seems not 
 to have attempted to define its precise locus, posture, and extension 
 within the body — the early man was content to regard it as a 
 vague homunculus. The whole body was looked on as the seat of 
 life, and was sometimes eaten in order to acquire its qualities, 
 especially the quality of courage.'* Life was supposed to reside in 
 the bones as the solid part of the body, and these were preserved 
 
 1 For old-German examples see Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 297 ; for 
 Guiana, E. F. im Thurn, in Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xi, 368 ; com- 
 pare the belief in the hidden soul, spoken of below, and article "Animals " in Hast- 
 ings, Encyclof Cilia of Religion and Ethics. * 
 
 2 So the bush-soul or beast-soul among the Evve-speaking peoples of West Africa 
 (A. B. Ellis, The li-'ce-s/'eaking Peoples, p. 103) and in Calabar (Kingsley, 1 1 'est African 
 Studies). Spirits (Castren, Finnischc Mythologie, p. 1S6) and demons (as in witchcraft 
 trials) sometimes take the form of beasts. For American Indian examples see Brin- 
 ton. Myths of the Nciv World, p. 294. 
 
 3 See the Egyptian representations of the soul as bird (Ohnefalsch-Richter, Ay- 
 pros, the Bible and Homer, pi. cvi, 2 ; cix, 4, etc.) : Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, 
 p. 183, compare p. 109. Other examples are given by 11. Spencer, Principles of 
 Sociology, i, 355 ff. ; N. W.Thomas, in Hastings, Encyclopcrdia of Religion and Ethics, 
 i, 488. On siren and ker as forms of the soul see Miss Harrison, Prolegomena to the 
 Study of Greek Religion, pp. 139, 197-217. Cf. Hadrian's address to the soul: 
 
 Animula vagula blandula 
 Hospes comesquc corporis 
 Quae nunc abibis in loca 
 Pallidula rigida nudula 
 Nee ut soles dabis jocos? 
 
 ^ The body is spoken of as the person, for example, in Iliad, i, 4 ; Ps. xvi, 9.
 
 THE SOUL 1 5 
 
 as the basis of a future life.^ But even in early stages of culture 
 we find a tendency to specialize — courage, for example, was as- 
 signed particularly to the head and the heart, which were accounted 
 the most desirable parts of a dead enemy.- These organs were 
 selected probably on account of their prominence — the heart also 
 because it was the receptacle of the blood. The soul was located 
 by the Indians of Guiana in the pupil of the eye.' 
 
 27. Gradually a more precise localization of qualities was made 
 by the Semites, Greeks, Romans, and other peoples. These, for 
 reasons not clearly known to us, assigned the principal emotional 
 faculties to the most prominent organs of the trunk of the body. 
 The Semites placed thought and courage in the heart and the liver, 
 anger in the liver (the bile), love and grief in the bowels, voluntary 
 power in the kidneys.* The Greeks and Romans were less defi- 
 nite : to the heart, the diaphragm, and the liver (the upper half of 
 the trunk) the Greeks assigned thought, courage, emotion ; ^ the 
 Romans placed thought and courage in the heart, and the affec- 
 tions in the liver. Among these organs special prominence came 
 to be given to the heart and the liver as seats of mental faculties.*^ 
 
 28. It is not clear how early the brain was supposed to be con- 
 nected with the mind. Alcmaeon of Crotona (5th cent. r..c.), who, 
 according to Diogenes Laertius, wrote chiefiy on medical subjects, 
 is credited with the view that the brain was the constructor of 
 thought." Plato suggests that the brain may be the seat of percep- 
 tion and then of memory and reflection, and calls the head the 
 most divine part of man.^ Cicero reports that some persons looked 
 on some part of the cerebrum as the chief seat of the mind.'-* 
 
 1 Hence various means of preserving the body by mummification, and the fear of 
 mutilation. 
 
 - On the cult of skulls in the Torres Straits and Horneo see Haddon, Head- 
 hunters, chap. xxiv. » J. H. Bernan, British Gtnana, p. 134. 
 
 ■* See Old Testament passim, and lexicons of the various Semitic languages. 
 
 5 An elaborate account of the loci of qualities is given by Plato in the Timatts, 
 69 ff. 
 
 6 On the importance attached to the liver as the seat of life see Jastrowf, Aspects 
 0/ Religious Belief aiui Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 149 ff. 
 
 ■^ Diels, Fragmente dcr Vorsokratikcr, 2d ed., i, 10 1 f., quoted in Hastings, En- 
 cyclopicdia of Religion and Ethics, article " Brain and Mind." 
 
 8 Hucdo, 96 li ; Timicus, 44. 9 Tusc. Disp. i, 9, 19 ; cf. Plautus, Aulul. ii, i, 30.
 
 10 I.\ TRODUCriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 In the Semitic languages the first occurrence of a term for ' brain ' is 
 in the Arabic* Some American tribes are said to regard the brain 
 as the seat of the mind.- The scientific Greek view appears to have 
 been connected with medical research, but the process by which 
 it was reached has not been recorded. The Arabic conception of 
 the brain was probably borrowed from the Greeks. 
 
 29. The soul as an independent personality was supposed to 
 leave the body at times, and its departure entailed various conse- 
 quences — in general the result was the withdrawal of the man's 
 ordinar}' powers to a greater or less extent, according to the dura- 
 tion of the soul's absence. The consequences might be sleep, 
 trance, swoon, coma, death ; the precise nature of the effect was 
 determined by the man's subsequent condition — he would wake 
 from sleep, or return to his ordinary state from a trance, or come 
 to himself from a swoon, or lie permanently motionless in death. 
 When he seemed to be dead there was often doubt as to his real 
 condition — the escaped soul might seek its old abode (as in the 
 case of the vampire, for instance), and means were sometimes 
 taken to prevent its return.^ 
 
 30. The obvious difference in serious results between sleep and 
 other cessations of the ordinary consciousness and activity led 
 among some tribes to the supposition of a special dream-soul that 
 could leave the body without injur)' to the man. It was believed 
 by certain Greenlanders * that a man going on a journey might 
 leave his soul behind. It was a not uncommon opinion that souls 
 might be taken out for a while, with friendly intent, to guard ihcm 
 during a period of danger (so in Celebes when a family moves into 
 a new house). In Greenland, according to Cranz, a damaged soul 
 might be repaired. Or the soul might be removed with evil intent 
 by magic art — the result would be sickness or swoon ; it was 
 then incumbent on the sufferer or his friends to discover the hostile 
 magician and counteract his work by stronger magic, or force him 
 
 1 Arabic dimag appears to mean ' marrow,' but how early it was employed for 
 'brain' is uncertain. 
 
 2 Waitz, Anthropologic^ iii, 225 ; of. Roger Williams, Litiigiiagc 0/ America, p. 86. 
 '^ Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv (the Karens). 
 
 * Cranz, Greenland (Eng. tr.), i, 184.
 
 THE SOUL 17 
 
 to restore the soul.^ On the other liand, the soul of a dead man 
 might be so recalled that the man would live again, the usual 
 agency being a god, a magician, or a prophet. 
 
 31. Tt has been and is a widespread opinion in low tribes that 
 the life of a person is bound up with that of an animal or plant, 
 or with the preservation of something closely connected with the 
 person. This opinion springs from the conviction of the intimate 
 \ital relation between men and their surroundings. From the com- 
 bination of these beliefs with the view referred to above ^ that a 
 man's soul might dwell in a beast or a plant, the idea of the hidden 
 soul, common in folk-lore, may have arisen'' — the idea that one 
 might conceal his soul in some unsuspected place and then would 
 be free from fear of death so long as his soul remained undis- 
 turbed.^ These folk-tales are products of the popular imagination 
 based on materials such as those described above. From the early 
 point of view there was no reason why the vital soul, an independ- 
 ent entity, should not lead a locally separate life. 
 
 2. Origin of the Soul 
 
 32. Theories of a special origination of the soul belong only to 
 the more advanced cults. In early stages of culture the soul is 
 taken as a natural part of the human constitution, and though it is 
 regarded as in a sort an independent entity, the analysis of the 
 man is not carried so far as to raise the question of separate be- 
 ginnings of the two constituents of the personality, except as this 
 is partially involved in the hypothesis of reincarnation. The child 
 is born into the world equipped with all the capacities of man, and 
 further investigation as to how these capacities originally came is 
 not made. 
 
 33. It was, however, thought necessary to account for the ap- 
 pearance of man (a clan or tribe) on earth, and his creation was 
 generally ascribed to a supernatural being. Every tribe has its 
 
 1 Examples in Frazer, Golden Doughy chap. ii. 2 § 25. 
 
 8 For folk-tales of the hidden ' external ' soul see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., 
 iii, 389 ff. 
 
 4 The coyote (in Xavaho Legends, by \V. Matthews, p. 91) kept his vital soul in 
 the tip of his nose and in the end of his tail.
 
 iS i.yTRODL'cr/ox to history of religions 
 
 histor)' of man's creation — the variety in the anthropogenic myths 
 is endless, the diversities depending on the differences of general cul- 
 ture and of surroundings ; but the essential point is the same in all : 
 some god or other supernatural Power fashioned human creatures of 
 different sex, whether with well-considered aim or by caprice is not said. 
 
 34. The first pair is thus accounted for in a simple and generally 
 satisfactor)' manner. But the fact of the perpetuation of the tribe 
 or the race appears to have offered serious difficulties to the savage 
 mind. Some tribes are reported to be ignorant of the natural cause 
 of birth. Some Melanesian women believe that the origin or begin- 
 ning of a child is a plant (coconut or other), and that the child will 
 be the ;/////// (something like an echo) of that thing or of a dead per- 
 son (this is not the transition of a soul — the child takes the place 
 of the dead person). In Mota there is a similar belief.^ The Central 
 Australians, it is said, think that the birth of a child is due to the en- 
 trance of a spirit into the body of a woman' — every child is thus 
 the reincarnation of some ancient person (an "ancestor"), and the 
 particular person is identified by the sacred object (stone or tree, or 
 other object) near which the woman is when she first becomes aware 
 of the child within her ; every such object (and there are many of 
 them near any village) represents some spirit whose name is known 
 to the old men of the tribe, and this name is given the child. ^ 
 
 35. Similar theories of birth are found among the Eskimo'* and 
 the Khonds,^ in Melanesia,^ in West Africa,' and elsewhere.* Such 
 
 ^ loumal of the Anthropological I nsittute, xviii, 310. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia^ p. 124. Andrew Lang 
 (in Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor) holds that this Australian view 
 comes not from ignorance but from the desire to assign a worthy origin to man in dis- 
 tinction from the lower animals. Some tribes in North Queensland think that the latter 
 have not souls, and are bom by sexual union, but the human soul, they say, can come 
 only from a spiritual being. Decision on this question must await further information. 
 
 8 Spencer and Gillen, loc. cit. * Journal of American Folklore, xvii, 4. 
 
 5 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 530 (the child is the returned soul of an ancestor). 
 
 c Codrington,.l/f/<7««/rt//.f, p. 154 (a spirit child enters a woman): c{. Journal of the 
 American Oriental Society, viii, 297 (the Xusairi),and I.ydc, in Curtiss, Primitive Se- 
 mitic Religion To-day, p. 1 15 ; Hartland, Primitive Paternity, i, 50, and chap. 3 passim. 
 
 "! A. B. Ellis, The E-ive-speaking Peoples, p. 15 ; The Tshi-speaking Peoples, p. iS. 
 
 8 For the belief that the soul of the child comes from the shades see Journal of 
 American Folklore, xiv, S3. I-'urther, Tylor, Primitive Culture, chap, xii ; Lang, in 
 article cited above ; Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, ii. 96.
 
 THE SOUL 19 
 
 views thus appear to have been \vidcl\- diffused, and arc in fact a 
 natural product of early biological science. They embody the earliest 
 known form of the doctrine of reincarnation, which is so important 
 in the Buddhistic dogma. ^ With it must be connected the fact that 
 among many peoples (savage, half-civilized, and civilized^ birlh was 
 intimately connected with supernatural beings, whence the origin 
 of numerous usages : the precautions taken to guard the woman 
 before delivery, the lustrations after the birth, tlie couvade, the 
 dread of menstrual and seminal discharges, and further, customs 
 relating to the arrival of boys and girls at the age of puberty. 
 
 36. At a later stage of culture the creation of the soul was dis- 
 tinguished from that of the body, and was generally regarded as a 
 special act of the deity : the Hebrews conceived that the body was 
 fashioned out of 'dust, and that the breath of life was breathed into 
 it by God, so that man became a " living soul '" ^ ; Plato at one 
 time ^ thought that the soul of the world was created by God, out 
 of certain elements, before the body, and was made prior to it in 
 origin and excellence so that it should be its ruler, and that after- 
 wards he placed separate souls in the various separate bodies ; the 
 immortal gods, says Cicero, have placed souls (animos) in human 
 bodies, and the human soul has been plucked (decerptus) from the 
 divine mind.^ 
 
 37. In the early Christian centuries the question of how the 
 soul came into the body was an intensely practical one — it was 
 closely connected with the question of man's inherent sinfulness 
 and his capacity for redemption. Tertullian's theory of the natural 
 propagation of souls (traducianism), which involved the inheritance 
 of a sinful nature, was succeeded on the one hand by the theory 
 of preexistence (adopted by Origen from Plato), and on the other 
 hand by the view that every soul was an immediate creation .of 
 
 1 Possibly a survival of the theory is to be recognized in the custom, prevalent 
 among some peoples, of naming a male child after his grandfather; examples are 
 given in Gray, Ilc/ncw Proper A'amcs, p. 2 f. All such theories appear to rest on a 
 dim conception of the vital solidarity of the tribe or clan — the vital force is held to 
 be transmissible ; cf. the idea of mana, a force inherent in things. 
 
 2 Gen. ii, 7 ; cf. Ezek. xxxvii, 10. -^ Timaus, 34 f. 
 ^ Dc ScH. 21, 77 ; Tusc. Disp. v, 13, 38.
 
 20 IXTRODrCT/Oy TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 God (crcationism, held by Jerome and others), these both assuming 
 the natural goodness or untainted character of the soul at the birth 
 of the human being. 
 
 38. The mysterious character of death, the final departure of 
 the soul from the body, called forth in savage communities feelings 
 of awe and dread. As death, in the savage view, was due to the 
 intervention of a supernatural agency, the dead body and every- 
 thing connected with it partook of the sacredness that attached to 
 the supernatural.^ Hence, probably, many of the customs relating 
 to the treatment of corpses — taboos that survived into compara- 
 tively late times. ^ The Old Testament ritual term ' unclean ' is 
 used of corpses and other things that it was unlawful to touch, 
 things taboo, and in this sense is equivalent to ' sacred.'^ 
 
 3. POLYPSVCHISM 
 
 39. In the preceding section only the general fact of the existence 
 of the soul is considered. We find, however, a widespread belief 
 among savage and half-civilized peoples that ever)' human body is 
 inhabited by several souls (two or more).^ Thus, the Fijians, the 
 Algonkins, and the Karens recognize two souls ; the Malagasy, 
 the Dahomi, and the Ashanti three ; the Congoans three or four, 
 the Chinese three, the Dakotas four, the Malays (of the peninsula) 
 seven ; and this list is not exhaustive.^ To these various souls 
 different procedures and functions are assigned. 
 
 1 The term ' sacred " in early thought has no ethical significance ; it involves only 
 the idea that an object is imbued with some superhuman quality, and is therefore 
 dangerous and not to be touched. 
 
 ■- On modes of burial, see article " Funerailles " in La GianJi- F.ttcy dope die. 
 Other considerations, however (hygienic, for example), may have had influence 
 on the treatment of corpses. 
 
 3 In the Talmud the books of the Sacred Scriptures are said to " defile the hands," 
 that is, they are taboo [Yiulnim, Mishna, 3, 5). 
 
 * The lower animals also are sometimes credited with more than one soul : so the 
 bear among the Sioux (Charlevoix, Noitvellc France, vi, 28 ; Schoolcraft, Indian 
 Tribes of the United States, iii, 229). 
 
 5 Williams, Fiji, i, 241 : Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 434, cf. Brinton, T/u- Len&pc, 
 p. 69 ; Cross, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv, 310 (Karens); W. Ellis, 
 Madas^ascar, i, 393 ; A. B. Ellis, The F.-ive-speakin^ Peoples, p. 1 14, and The Tshi- 
 spcaking Peoples, p. 149 ff. ; Kingsley, West African Studies, p. 200 ff. ; Skeat, Malay 
 Magic, p. 50.
 
 Till-: SOUL 21 
 
 40. In general, as to place and function during the man's life, 
 the following classes of souls are distinguished : the vital soul, or the 
 principle of life, whose departure leaves the man insensible or dead 
 (Malagasy aina, Karen kalah, Favc 'ghost-soul'); the dream-soul, 
 which wanders while the man is asleep (probably a universal con- 
 ception in early stages of culture) ; the shadow-soul, which accom- 
 panies him by day (also, probably, universal) ; the rcflcction-soul 
 (similar to the preceding) ; the beast-soul, or bush-soul, incarnate in 
 a beast (among the Congoans, the K\\ c, the Tshi, the Khonds), with 
 which may be compared the Egyptian view that revenant souls and 
 Underworld shadows may assume the form of animals, and the 
 Hindu metempsychosis. A particular responsible moral soul is also 
 reported (among the Karens),^ but it is doubtful whether this is 
 native ; and still more doubtful are the Karen ' reason ' {tso) and 
 the Khond beatified soul." 
 
 41. In regard to procedure after the man's death, it is generally 
 held in early stages of culture that one soul stays with the body, 
 or at the tomb, or in the village, or becomes air, while another departs 
 to the land of the dead (Fijians, Algonkins, and others), or is reborn 
 (Khonds), and in some cases a soul is said to vanish.^ 
 
 42. It is obvious that there was great flexibility and indefiniteness 
 in early theories of the soul. The savage mind, feeling its way 
 among its varied experiences, was disposed to imagine a separate 
 interior substance to account for anything that seemed to be a 
 separate and valuable manifestation of the man's personalit)-. The 
 number of souls varies with the number of phenomena that it was 
 thought necessary to recognize as peculiar, and the lines of demar- 
 cation between different souls are not always strictly drawn. As to 
 the manner of the souls' indwelling in the body, and as to their 
 relations one to another, savages have nothing definite to say, or, at 
 least, have said nothing. In general our information regarding savage 
 psychical theories is meager ; it is not unlikely that with fuller ac- 
 quaintance the details given above would have to be modified, though 
 the general fact of polypsychism would doubtless remain. 
 
 '^ Journal of the American Oriental Society^ iv, 310. 
 
 2 Cf. Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 530. 8 See below, § 46 ff.
 
 22 IM'RODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 43. In the higher ancient religions there are only more or less 
 obscure indications of an earlier polypsychic system. The Egyptian 
 distinction between soul {l>ai), shadow (Jiaihet), and double (ka) 
 appears to involve such a system ; but the Egyptologists of the 
 present day are not agreed as to the precise interpretation of these 
 terms.^ The Semitic terms tiafs and ruh (commonly rendered ' soul ' 
 and 'spirit ' respectively) are of similar origin, both meaning ' wind,' 
 ' breath ' ; in the literature they are sometimes used in the same 
 sense, sometimes differentiated. The ' soul ' is the seat of life, 
 appetite, feeling, thought — when it leaves the body the man swoons 
 or dies ; it alone is used as a s)Tionym of personality (a ' soul ' often 
 means simply a ' person '). ' Spirit,' while it sometimes signifies the 
 whole nature, is also employed (like English ' spirit ') to express the 
 tone of mind, especially courage, vigor. But, so far as the conception 
 of an interior being is concerned, the two terms are substantially 
 identical in the Semitic languages as known to us." And though, 
 as is noted above, ' spirit ' is not used for the human personality, it 
 alone is the term in Hebrew for a class of subordinate supernatural 
 beings standing in close relations with the deity.* (}reek literature 
 seems to know only one personal soul {psji/ie, with \\h.\c\\ pncn ma is 
 often identical in meaning) ; a quality of nature (as in Semitic n//i) 
 is sometimes expressed hy pneiima (' spirit ' )} The thyjnos appears 
 in Homer to be merely a function of the psyche^ in any case it does 
 not represent a separate personality alongside of the psyche, and the 
 same thing is true of the daimon. Similarly, in Latin, animus and 
 
 1 See Maspero (1S97), Dawn of Ckilizaiion, p. loSf. ; W. M. Miiller in En- 
 cyclopadia Bibiua, article "Egypt"; Pctrie, KcHgion and Conscience in Ancient 
 Egypt, pp. 30 ff., 48 ff. ; Breasted, History of Egyf-t, p. 63 f. ; Erman, Handbook of 
 Egyptian Religion, pp. 86 f., 108; Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, 
 p. 234 ff. 
 
 2 R. H. Charles in his Eschatology, Hebre-w, Jeicis/i, and Christian, p. 153, holds 
 that the Hebrews made a distinction between soul and spirit (the former being 
 " living " only when the latter is present), and that the recognition of this distinction 
 is necessary for the understanding of the Old Testament conception of immortality. 
 His discussion is valuable if not convincing. 3 j Kings xxii, 21 f. 
 
 •• For the New Testament usage see 1 Cor. vi, 17:2 Cor. iv, 21 ; xii, 18; Luke 
 ix, 53 (in some MSS.) ; Rev. xix, 10 ; John vi, 63. Cf. Grimm, Greek-English Lexicon 
 of the New Testament, ed. J. H. Thayer, s.w. pnewna znd psyche. 
 
 S Cf. Rohde, Psyche, 3d ed., i, 45n. ; ii, 141, n. 2.
 
 Till-: SOUL 23 
 
 anima are substantially synonyms ^ — animus sometimes expressing 
 tone of mind — and spiritus is equivalent to riih and pncuma ; the 
 individual genius, with its feminine representative the j'ufio, is a 
 complicated and obscure figure, but it cannot be regarded as a 
 separate soul.^ 
 
 44. This variety of terms in the more advanced religions may 
 point to an carl\- polypsychic conception. The tendency was, with 
 the progress of culture, to modify or efface this sort of conception." 
 From a belief in a number of entities in the human interior being 
 men passed to a recognition of different sides or aspects of the 
 inward life, and finally to the distinct conception of the oneness of 
 the soul. The movement toward p.sychic unity may be compared 
 with the movement toward monotheism by the unification of the 
 phenomena of the external world. 
 
 4. Future of the Soul 
 
 45. Savage philosophy, recognizing the dual nature of man, 
 regarded death as due to the departure of the soul from the body. 
 The cessation of breathing at death was matter of common obser- 
 vation, and the obvious inference was that the breath, the vital soul, 
 had left the body. Reflection on this fact naturally led to the ques- 
 tion, Whither has the soul gone ? 
 
 46. DcatJi of the soul. The general belief has always been that 
 the soul survived the man's death.'* There are, however, excep- 
 tions ; the continued existence of the soul was not an absolutely 
 established article in the savage creed. According to the reports of 
 travelers, it would seem that among some tribes there was disbelief 
 or doubt on this point. A West African native expressed his belief 
 
 1 In philosophical thought the two are sometimes distinguished : the anima is the 
 principle of life, and the anbnus of thinking mind (Lucretius, iii, 94-141). 
 
 2 A curious resemblance to the cult of the 'genius' is found in the Ewe (Da- 
 homi) custom of consecrating a man's birthday to his ''indwelling spirit" (A. B. 
 Ellis, The Ei'vc-spcakiiii; Peoples, p. 105). Compare Horace's designation of the genius 
 as ' naturae deus humanae ' {Ep. ii, 2, 188), and Servius on V'erg., Georg. i, 302. 
 
 3 So in I'lato and Aristotle, and in Brahmanism. 
 
 * The evidence for this belief is found in hundreds of books that record observa- 
 tions of savage ideas, and it is unnecessary to cite particular examples.
 
 24 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in the form of the general proposition, " The dead must die " ; that is, 
 apparent!}-, the dead man must submit to the universal law to which 
 the living are subject.' In another African community some held 
 and others denied that a spirit could be killed, and one man was 
 certain that spirits lived long, but was not certain whether they ever 
 died.- Differences of opinion in regard to the fact of immortality 
 are said to exist in Banks Islands.* The Eskimos are reported as 
 holding that the soul may be destroyed, and then, however, repaired.* 
 
 47. It thus appears that even among low tribes there is specula- 
 tion on the question of the continuance of existence after earthly 
 death ; there is admission of ignorance. \\'c have, however, ex- 
 amples of a definite belief in annihilation. In some cases, when the 
 theor)' of several souls is held.^ one of these souls is supposed to 
 become extinct at death : this is the case with the Malagasy sai/ia, 
 and the ' beast-soul ' among the Ewe, Tshi, and Congoans ; but 
 such a soul represents only a part of the man, and its disappearance 
 does not signify the extinction of the man's personality. 
 
 48. Complete extinction of the .soul and the personality, in the 
 case of certain persons, is found among the Fijians : in the long 
 and difficult way to the Underworld, bachelors (as a rule ), untattooed 
 women, false boasters, and those men who failed to overcome in 
 combat the " slayer of souls " (the god Sama) are killed and eaten.® 
 Something like this is reported of the Hervey Islands,'' New Zealand,® 
 the Hawaiians,^ and other tribes. Among the wild tribes of India, 
 the Khonds and the Oraons, or Dhangars, hold to annihilation of 
 the soul in certain cases. ^'^ Miss Kingsley reports a specially inter- 
 esting view in Congo to the effect that souls die when the family 
 dies out." 'J"he ground of this sense of the solidarity of the living 
 
 1 Ellis, T/ie Eive-speaking Peoples, p. io8. Cf. 1 1 inde. The Last of the Masai, p. 99. 
 
 2 I). Macdonald, Africana, i, 58 f. 
 
 ^Journal of the Antliropologkal Institute, x, 2S3 ; cf. Codrington, Afclaiusians, 
 p. 277. * Rink, Tales of the Eskimo, p. 36. 5 See above, § 41. 
 
 G Thomas Williams, Fiji, i, 244. Cf. \V. Ellis, Polynesian Peseairhes, i, 303. 
 
 " fiill, Myths ami Songs from the South Pacific, p. 160. 
 
 ^Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xix, 1 18 f. 
 
 9 Jar\'es, History of the Sanduich Islands, p. 42. Cf. Tylor, Primili-c Culture, 2A 
 ed., ii, 22 f., and Codrington, The Melanesians, p. 256 ff. 
 
 1" Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 530 f. " Kingsley, Travels, p. 444.
 
 /■///-; SOUL 25 
 
 and the dead is not clear ; the most obvious explanation is that the 
 latter get their sustenance from the offerings of the former, and 
 perhaps from their prayers ; such prayers, according to W. Ellis/ 
 are made in Polynesia. Tiiis belief appears also in some advanced 
 peoples : so the Egyptians,^ and apparently the Hindus.* 
 
 49. \\\ these cases no explanation is offered of how a soul can die. 
 Earthly death is the separalioii of the soul from the body, and by 
 analogy the death of a soul should involve a disruption of constitu- 
 ents, but the savage imagination appears to have passed lightly over 
 this point: when a soul is eaten, it is destroyed as the human body 
 is destroyed when it is eaten ; if it is drowned or clubbed, it dies as 
 a man does under similar treatment. The soul is conceived of as an 
 independent personality, with a corporeal form and mental powers ; 
 the psychic body, it would seem, is endowed with power of thought.* 
 
 50. This vagueness of conception enables us to understand how 
 savage logic reaches the conclusion that the soul may be mortal : 
 all the possibilities of the earthly person are transferred to it. \w 
 regard to the occasion of its death, it is sometimes represented as 
 punishment for violation of tribal customs (as in Fiji), sometimes 
 as the natural fate of inferior classes of persons (as among the 
 Tongans, who are said to believe that only chiefs live after death),'^ 
 sometimes as a simple destruction by human agency. 
 
 51. In the popular faith of the Semitic, Egyptian, Chinese, and 
 Indo-European peoples there is no sign of an extinction of the 
 personality after earthly death. The Babylonian dead all go to the 
 vast and gloomy Underworld (Aralu), where their food is dust, and 
 whence there is no return.® The Old-Hebrew ' soul ' (jiep/ies/i) 
 continues to exist in Sheol. True, its life is a colorless one, without 
 achievement, without hope, and without religious worship ; yet it 
 
 1 Polynesian Researches, p. 218. 
 
 2 Maspcro, Dawn of CivUizalhm, pp. 112, 1S5. 
 
 8 Taittiriya Drahrnana, 3, 11, S, 5 ; Qa/a/'a/ha Bralnnana, 12, 9, 3, 12. Cf. Bloom- 
 field, Religion of the Veda, p. 253. 
 
 •1 The same remark holds of later conceptions of the departed soul and of deities. 
 
 5 Mariner, Tottga, pp. 328, 343. Gods also die, as in the Egyptian religious creed 
 (Maspero, Datvn of Civilization, p. in), in Greek myths and folk-beliefs (the grave 
 of Zeus, etc.), and in the Norse myth of the combat of the gods with the giants. 
 
 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, chap. .\.\v.
 
 26 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 has the marks of personality.^ The fortunes of the spirit (/v///), 
 when it denotes not merel)' a quality of character but an entity, 
 are identical with those of the 'soul.'- In India, belief in life after 
 death has always been held by the masses, and philosophic systems 
 conceive of absorption, not of extinction proper. Zoroastrianism 
 had, and has, a well-developed doctrine of immortality, and the 
 Egyptian conception of the future was equally elaborate. In China 
 the cult of ancestors does not admit belief in annihilation.^ No 
 theory of annihilation is found in connection with the Greek and 
 Latin ' soul " and ' spirit ' {^psyche, ptieuma : animus^ a/iima, spiritiis) ; 
 the thymos is not a separate entity, but only an expression of the 
 ' soul ' ; * and the Greek daittion and the Latin genius are too vague 
 to come into consideration in this connection.*^ 
 
 52. Omitting the purely philosophical views of the nature and 
 destiny of the soul (absorption into the Supreme God, or the 
 Universal Force, is to be distinguished from annihilation), and 
 the belief of certain Christian sects in the future annihilation of the 
 wicked (based probably on a misunderstanding of certain Biblical 
 passages*^), it may be said that the role of the theory of extinction 
 of the soul in the general development of religion has been an 
 insignificant one. Beginning among the lowest tribes as an ex- 
 pression of belief in the universality of mortality, it assumed a 
 punitive character in the higher savage creed, and was gradually 
 abandoned by the religions of civilized peoples. 
 
 53. The belief in the continued existence of the soul, on the 
 other hand, has maintained itself from the earliest known times to 
 
 1 I .Sam. xxvii, ii f . ; Ezek. xxxii, i; f . ; Isa. xiv, 9 f. Eccl. iii, 19 f., ix, 5, 6, 10, 
 which are sometimes cited in support of the opposite opinion, belong not to the 
 Jewish popular belief, but to a late academic system which is colored by (Ireek skep- 
 tical philosophy. All other late Jewish books (Apocrypha, New Testament, Talmud) 
 assume the continued existence of the soul in the other world. 2 gee above, § 4 ^. 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp.130, 143 ff., 396; Khys Davids, Biu/d/iism, 
 p. iiiff. : .Spiegel, F.ranischc Altcrthwnskiindc, ii, 161 ff. ; \\'iedemann, Egyptian 
 Doctrine of Immortality ; De Groot, Religion of the Chinese, chap. iii. 
 
 4 On the Homeric usage see Rohde, Psyeke, as cited above, §43. 
 
 5 Several early Christian writers (Tatian, .Iddress to the Greeks, 13 ; Justin, TrypJio, 
 cap. vi) held that souls are naturally mortal, but these views did not affect the gen- 
 eral Christian position. 
 
 6 Such as Ezek. xviii, 4. This view appears in Clementine Homilies, vii, i.
 
 yy/A" SOUL 27 
 
 the present. The inc|uir\- into llic <;rounds of this survival belongs 
 to the history of the doctrine of immortality, and will not be pur- 
 sued here in detail.' Doubtless it has been the increasing sense of 
 the dignity of human nature, the conviction of the close connection 
 of human life with the divine, and the demand for a compensation 
 for the sufferings of the present (together w^ith the instinctive desire 
 for continued existence) that has led men to retain faith in the 
 continued life of the soul. Modern beliefs in ghosts and in spirit- 
 ualistic phenomena testify to the persistence of this article of faith. 
 
 54. .Iboilc of tJw surviving soiilr Opinions regarding the destiny 
 of the surviving soul have changed from time to time in accordance 
 with topographical conditions and with changes in intellectual and 
 moral culture. 'I'here is no place or thing on or under or above the 
 ground that has not been regarded, at some time and by some com- 
 munities, as its abode. The selection of the particular thing or place 
 has been determined by local conditions — by what was supposed to 
 be observation of facts, or by what was concei\-cd to be appropriate. 
 I'he obscurity of the subject has allowed free play to savage imagina- 
 tion. The paucity of data makes it impossible to give a complete 
 statement of the views that have been held, or to arrange such as are 
 known in accurate chronological order; but the principal opinions may 
 be mentioned, following, in a general way the order of refinement.^ 
 
 55. I. One of the earliest (and also one of the most persistent) 
 views of the future of souls is that they are reborn or reincarnated 
 as human beings, or as beasts or plants or inanimate things. It 
 was not unnatural that, when a new human being came into the 
 world, it should be regarded as the reproduction of a former human 
 being, especially if the physiological conditions of birth were not 
 understood;^ the basis of the belief may have been the general 
 similarity between human forms, and, in some cases, the special simi- 
 larity between the infant or the adult and some deceased person. 
 
 1 Cf. \V. R. Alger, Critical His/oiy of the Doctrine of a Future Life; Han-ard 
 IngersoU Lectures on " The Immortality of Man." 
 
 2 Cf. H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, chap, xv ; article " Blest, abode of the," 
 in Hastings, Rncyclofcedia of Religion and Ethics. • 
 
 3 Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, chap, xii f. 
 
 ^ Cf. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, i, 254, and chap. iii.
 
 28 IXTRODL-CT/OX TO H/STOKV OF RKUGIOXS 
 
 An extension of the sphere of reincarnation would also naturally 
 arise from the recognized kinship between man and other things, 
 animate or inanimate. 
 
 56. Examples of these views are found in many parts of the 
 world. Tylor^ and Marillier^ have collected instances of such beliefs 
 among savage tribes in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania, 
 as well as in higher religions (Brahmanism, Buddhism, Plato, Mani, 
 the Jewish Kabbala, Swedenborg ).' Other instances of belief in 
 rebirth in human beings or in animals are found among the ancient 
 Germans,* the people of Calabar,^ the Torres Straits islanders,^ 
 the Central Australians," and the Yorubans.* 
 
 57. There is an obvious relation between the belief in reincar- 
 nation in animal form and the worship of animals;^ both rest on 
 the assumption of substantial identity of nature between man and 
 other beings, an assumption which seems to be universal in early 
 stages of culture, and is not without support in modern philosophic 
 thought.'" Ancient belief included gods in this circle of kinship — 
 a view that appears in Brahmanism and the later Buddhism. 
 
 58. The higher forms of the theory introduced a moral element 
 into the process of reincarnation — the soul ascends or descends in 
 the scale of being according to the moral character or illumination 
 of its life on earth." Thus it is given a practical bearing on ever)'- 
 day life — a result that is in accordance with all religious histor)-, 
 
 I In Primiih<e Odturc, chap. xii. "^Xn I.a sunivance dc PAmc, passim. 
 
 3 See also the discussion of the subject in Alger, op. cit. (in § 53), p. 62 f. This 
 work contains a bibliography of the future state (by Ezra Abbot) substantially com- 
 plete up to the year 1S62. * Cf. Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 295 f. 
 
 5 M. Kingsley, Studies, p. 122; Travels, p. 445. 
 
 6 II addon, Head-hunters, p. 179 ff. 
 
 7 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, Index, s.v. Alcheringa ; 
 id.. Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 271. 8 A. B. Ellis, Yorttba, p. 128. 
 
 9 Cf. especially the Central Australian conception. 
 
 10 It is involved in all monistic systems. It appears also to be silently made in the 
 Old Testament : the lower animals, like man, arc vivified by the " breath of God "' 
 (Ps. civ, 29, 30 ; cf. Gen. ii, 7 ; vii, 22), and are destroyed in the flood because of the 
 wickedness of man (Gen. vi, 5-7) ; cf. also Rom. viii, 22. 
 
 II So in the Upanishads (but not in the poetic Veda) ; see Hopkins, Religions of 
 India, g. 227 ; Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 237. Tylor {Primitive Culture, 
 ii, 18) points out that in this conception we have a suggestion of the theory of devel- 
 opment in organic life.
 
 77//; SOUL 29 
 
 in which we find that religious faith always appropriates and utilizes 
 the ethical ideas of its time. 
 
 59. At the present day the interest in the hypothesis of reincar- 
 nation springs from its supposed connection with the doctrine of 
 immortality. Brahmanists and Buddhists maintain that it is the 
 only sure basis for this doctrine ; but this view appears not to have 
 met with wide acceptance. 
 
 60. 2. An all but universal belief among lower tribes is that de- 
 parted souls remain near their earthly abodes, haunting the neigh- 
 borhood of the body or the grave or the village.' It is apparently 
 assumed that a soul is more at home in places which it knew in 
 its previous life, and this assumption is confirmed by sights and 
 sounds, chiefly during the night, that are interpreted as the forms 
 and utterances of wandering souls. 
 
 61. Generally no occupation is assigned to these ghosts, except 
 that it is sometimes supposed that they seek food and warmth : ^ 
 scraps of food are left on the ground for them, and persons sitting 
 around a fire at night are afraid to venture into the dark places 
 beyond lest they meet them.'* For it is a common belief that such 
 souls are dangerous, having both the power and the will to inflict 
 injury.* It is easy to see why they should be supposed to possess 
 extraordinary powers.^ The belief in their maliciousness may have 
 come naturally from the social conditions of the place and time : 
 in savage communities a man who is stronger than his fellows is 
 likely to treat them as his savage instincts prompt, to seize their 
 property or kill them ; and departed souls would naturally be 
 credited with similar dispositions. 
 
 62. It is also true that the mysterious is often dreadful; even 
 now in civilized lands there is a general fear of a 'ghost.' Precau- 
 tions are taken by savages to drive or keep the soul away : the 
 
 1 So the Central Australians (Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Aus- 
 tralia^ p. 514), the Califomian Maidu (Dixon, The Northern Maidii, p. 246). Cf. the 
 cases in which precautions are taken against a ghost's entering its old earthly abode. 
 
 2 Rig-Veda, 15. 3 Spencer and Gillen, loc. cit. and p. 5i6f. 
 
 * Probably the (jreek ker {K-qp) and the Teutonic ' nightmare,' French eauchemar 
 (mara, an incubus, or succuba), belong in this class of malefic ghosts. 
 5 See below, § 92.
 
 30 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 doors of houses are closed, and noises are made. On the other hand, 
 o-hosts, as members of the family or the clan, are often regarded as 
 friendly.^ E\en during a man's lifetime his soul may be a sort of 
 iTuide and protector — may attain, in fact, the rank of a deity ; " and 
 after death it may become, as ancestor, the object of a regular cult. 
 
 63. Fear of ghosts has, perhaps, suggested certain methods of 
 disposing of the dead body, as by interring or exposing it at a dis- 
 tance from the village, or burning it or throwing it into the water ; 
 other considerations, however, as is suggested above,'' may deter- 
 mine, in whole or in part, these methods of dealing with the body. 
 
 64. 3. It may be considered an advance in the organization of 
 the future life when the soul is supposed to go to some distant 
 place on the earth or in the sea or in the sky.'' This is an attempt 
 to separate the spheres of the living and the dead, and thus at 
 once to define the functions of the dead and relieve the living from 
 the fear of them. The land of the dead is sometimes vaguely 
 spoken of as lying on earth, far off in some direction not precisely 
 defined — east, west', north, or south — in accordance with tradi- 
 tions whose origin is lost in the obscurity of the past. 
 
 65. Possibly in some cases it is the traditional original home of 
 the tribe ;^ more often, it would seem, some local or astronomical 
 fact has given the suggestion of the place ; one Egyptian view was 
 that the western desert (a wide mysterious region) was the abode 
 of the departed : it was a widespread belief that the dead went 
 to where the sun disappeared beneath the horizon." Tribes living 
 near the sea or a river often place the other world beyond the sea 
 or the river,^ and a ferryman is sometimes imagined who sets souls 
 
 1 Steinmctz, F.thnologisclic Studien zur crsicn FMi-vickhmg dcr Strafe, i, 141 flf. 
 
 2 For West Africa see above, § 43, n. 2 ; for the Norse fyigja (' follower ') cf. Saus- 
 saye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 292 ff. ^ § -jg^ n. 2. 
 
 4 i\ transitional stage is marked by the theor)', in a polypsychic system, that one 
 soul remains near the body while another goes to the distant land. 
 
 5 So, perhaps, among the eastern Polynesians (\V. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i, 
 303) and the Navahos (Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 3S). 
 
 6 Maspero, Daun of Civilization, chap, iii, 183 ff. ; Teit, Thompson River Indians, 
 p. 85 ; Rink, Tales of the Eskimo, p. 40. 
 
 ' Odyssey, xi (by the encircling Okeanos) : Williams, Fiji, p. 192 ; Brinton, Myths 
 of the New World, p. 288 f . ; Saussaye, Religion of the Teuto7ts, p. 290; Rig-Veda, 
 X, 63, 10: ix, 41, 2.
 
 THE SOUL 
 
 31 
 
 over the water. ^ Mountains also arc regarded as abodes of the 
 dead." It is not unnatural that the abodes of departed souls should 
 be placed in the sky, whose height and brightness, with its crowd 
 of luminous bodies, made it an object of wonder and awe, and 
 caused it to be regarded as the dwelling place of the happy gods, 
 with whom deserving men would naturally be. Sometimes the ex- 
 panse of the upper air was regarded as the home of souls (as in Sa- 
 moa), sometimes a heavenly body — the sun (in India), or the moon 
 (in the Rowditch Islands), or the stars.'^ 'i"hc schemes being vague, 
 several of these conceptions may exist side by side at the same place 
 and time. 
 
 66. The occupations of the dead in these regions arc held 
 usually to be the same as those of the living ; no other view is 
 possible in early stages of social life. Generally all the apparatus 
 of earthly life (food, utensils, weapons) is placed on the grave or 
 with the body, and w'ives and slaves are slain to be the companions 
 of the deceased. 
 
 67. 4. A more decided separation between the living and the 
 dead is made in the conception of the underground world as the 
 abode of the latter. It was, however, only at a late period that this 
 conception was carried far enough to make the separation effective. 
 Among the Central Australians there were folk-stories of early 
 men who traveled under the ground, but this is represented as 
 merely an extraordinary way of getting from one place to another 
 on the surface of the earth. Some North American tribes tell of 
 an underground world inhabited by the ants and by beings similar 
 to man, but those who live up on the earth are seen there only by 
 accident, as when some hero dares the descent.* The conception 
 of a real subterranean or submarine 'hades is found, however, 
 
 1 Breasted, History of Egy/'f, p. 65 ; Charon; Saussaye, op. cit., p. 290; Rohde, 
 Psyche, 3d ed., i, 306. For the story given by Piucopius {Dc Bell. Goth, iv, 20) see 
 Tyler, Primitive Culture, ii, 64 f. '^ Saussaye, op. cit., p. 291. 
 
 3 Rig- Veda, x, 154, 4, 5 ; Lister in Join nal of the Anthropological Institute, xxi, 5 1 
 (moon). Cf. Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 64; Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 
 129,206; VirxrAor^, Myths of the Ne7v Ifb7'/(/, p. 2S4 ff. ; '^\v\\q'[, Amcrikanische Urrc- 
 ligionen, i, 28S ff. ; Saussaye, op. cit., p. 291 ; Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, 232 f. 
 
 ■* Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 1S5 f. ; Teit, Thcmipson River Indians, p. 78.
 
 32 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 among many savage and barbarous peoples, as the Samoans, the 
 inhabitants of New Guinea, the Zulus, the Xavahos, the Eskimo, 
 the Kahrs of the Hindu Kush, and others.^ 
 
 68. These pictures of the future world are crude, and usually 
 stand side by side with others ; they are experiments in escha- 
 tology. But the constructive imagination moved more and more 
 toward an organized underground hades as the sole abode of the 
 dead — the place to which all the dead go. Such a hades is found 
 among the civilized peoples of antiquity, Egyptians, Semites, Hin- 
 dus, Greeks, and Romans, and, in more recent times, among the 
 Teutons (Scandinavians). The suggestion for this position may 
 have come from the grave (though it does not appear that the 
 grave was regarded as the permanent abode of the dead), and from 
 caverns that seemed to lead down into the bowels of the earth. 
 The descent of souls into a subterranean world offered no difficul- 
 ties to early imagination : ghosts, like the Australian ancestors, could 
 move freely where living men could not go ; where there was no 
 cavern like that by which yEneas passed below, "^ they could pass 
 through the ground. 
 
 69. A lower region offered a wide land for the departed, with the 
 possibility of organization of its denizens. Ghosts gradually lost their 
 importance as a factor in everyday life ; sights and sounds that had 
 been referred to wandering souls came to be explained by natural 
 laws. Wider geographical knowledge made it difficult to assign the 
 ghosts a mundane home, and led to their relegation to the sub- 
 mundane region. Further, the establishment of great nations famil- 
 iarized men with the idea that every large community should have 
 its own domain. The gods were gradually massed, first in the sky, 
 the ocean, and hades, and' then in heaven. For the dead the first 
 organization (if that term may be allowed) was in hades ; the sepa- 
 ration into heaven and hell came later. A specific divine head of 
 the Underworld is found in Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, India, 
 
 1 Turner, Samoa, p. 257 ; Lawcs (on New Guinea), in Journal of the Anthropo- 
 logical Institute, viii, 371 : Callaway, '/.nlu Nursery Talcs, p. 31C); Matthews, Xavaho 
 Legends, p. 215 ; Kink, Talcs of the Eskimo, p. 37; Sir G. S. Robertson, The Kafirs 
 of the Hindu-Kush, p. 380 f. 2 yEneid, vi.
 
 THE SOUL 33 
 
 Greece, Rome, but not in Isriul. Such a definite system of govern- 
 nu-nt could exist onh' when something approaching a pantheon had 
 been established ; the Babylonians, for example, whose pantheon 
 was vague, had also a vague god of hades. 
 
 70. Theories of the occupations of the dead varied in the early 
 civilized stage, before the rise of the idea of ethical retribution in 
 the other life. In the absence of carthl\ relations, imagination could 
 conceive of nothing for iIkmii to do, and hence an ardent desire for 
 the continuance of earthh- life.' I*"or the Hebrews the Underworld 
 was without pursuits ; the shades sat motionless, in the dress and 
 according to the rank of the upper world, without emotions or aims 
 (except a sparkle of malicious satisfaction when some great man 
 came down from earth), and without religious worship.^ A similar 
 view was held by the Greeks and the Romans. Certain Kg\ptian 
 documents speak of mundane occupations for the dead, but these 
 documents belong to a comparatively late stage of culture, and w-hat 
 the earlier view w^as we do not know.^ Of Hindu ideas, also, on 
 this point we have only relatively late notices. 
 
 71. 5. A radical transformation in the conception of the state of 
 the dead was effected by the introduction of the idea of moral retri- 
 bution into the life of the Underworld.** The basis of the movement 
 was the natural conception of life as determined by ethical consider- 
 ations, but the process of transformation has extended over thousands 
 of years and has hardly yet reached its completion. In the lowest es- 
 chatological systems known to us there is no marked difference in the 
 status of departed souls ; so among the Central Australians, the tribes 
 of New Guinea and the Torres Straits islands, the Zulus, the Mala- 
 gasy, the West African peoples, and some North American tribes.^ 
 
 1 Odyssey, xi, 4S9 ; Isa. xxxviii, 10 ff. ; Prov. iii, 16, etc. 
 
 2 I Sam. xxviii, 14 ; Ezek. xxxii, ig-32 ; Isa. xiv, 9-15 ; xxxviii, 18. For the earl)' 
 Babylonian conception of the Underworld see the Descent of Ishtar (in Jastrow, 
 Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, chap, xxv) ; S. H. Langdon, " Babylonian Escha- 
 tology," in Essays in Modern Theology and Related Subjects (the C. A. Briggs Memo- 
 rial). 3 Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 175. ^ Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 83 ff. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia ; Callaway, Amazulus, 
 pp. 12, 151 f . ; W. Ellis, Madagascar, \, 393 (cf. J. Sibree, Madagascar, p. 312); 
 A. B. Ellis, The Ewe, p. 107 f., and The Tslti, p. 156 ff. ; M. Kingsley, Travels, pp. 461, 
 480 ; R. B. Dixon, The Shasta, p. 469.
 
 34 JMRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 11. The earliest grounds of distinction are ritualistic and social; 
 these occur among the higher savages and survive in some civilized 
 peoples. The Fijians assign punishment in the other world to 
 bachelors, men unaccompanied by their wives and children, cowards, 
 and untattooed women. ^ Where circumcision was a tribal mark, the 
 uncircumcised, as having no social status, were consigned to inferior 
 places in hades : so among the Hebrews.^ The omission of proper 
 funeral ceremonies was held in like manner to entail deprivation of 
 privilege in hades : the shade had an undesirable place below, as 
 among the Babylonians and the Hebrews,^ or was unable to enter 
 the abode of the dead, and wandered forlorn on the earth or on the 
 border of the Underworld, as was the Greek belief.* Exposure of 
 the corpse to beasts and birds, making funeral ceremonies impos- 
 sible, was regarded as a terrible misfortune for the dead.^ 
 
 73. Such of these beliefs as relate to violations of ritual appear 
 to spring from the view that the tribal customs are sacred, and from 
 the consequent distinction between tribesmen and foreigners. All 
 persons without the tribal mark were shut out from the privileges 
 of the tribe, were outlaws in this worid and the next ; and those 
 whose bodies were not properly disposed of lost the support of 
 the tribal deities or of the subterranean Powers.® It was also held 
 that the body retained the form in which il went down to hades ; "^ 
 hence the widespread dread of mutilation, as among the Chinese 
 still. On the other hand the brave were rewarded." 
 
 74. Sometimes earthly rank determines future conditions — a 
 natural corollary to what is stated above (§72 f.). A distinction is 
 made between nobles and common people in the Bowditch Islands.^ 
 The members of the Fijian Areoi Society are held to enjoy special 
 privileges in the other wcnld." The belief in the Marquesas Islands is 
 that the sky is for high gods and nobles." According to John Smith, 
 
 1 Williams, Fiji, p. 194. 2 Ezek. xxxii, 23, 27 ; Isa. xiv, 15. 
 
 3 Jastrow, op. cit., p. 601 ; Ezek. xxxii. ■• Iliad, xxiii, 71. 
 
 5 Jastrow, op. cit., p. 602 ; Iliad, i, 3 ff. ; 2 Sam. xxi, 10 ; Prov. xxx, 17. 
 
 6 Hence special desire for sons, who were the natural persons to perform funeral 
 rites for fathers. ' So also Plato, Gorgins, 80 (524). 
 
 8 Hesiod, Works and Days, no. 9 Marillier, La survivancc dc Vamc. 
 
 10 \V. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, chap. ix. " Marillier, op. cit.
 
 77/ A' .SOUL 35 
 
 in savage Virginia only nobles and priests were supposed to survive 
 after death.' 'i'he North American Mandans (of Dakota), accord- 
 ing to one view, assign to the brave in the hereafter the delightful 
 villages of the gods.- When souls are supposed to enter into animals 
 different animals are assigned to nobles and common men.' Kings 
 and nobles retain their superiority of position and are sometimes 
 attended by their slaves and officers.* 
 
 75. The manner of death is sometimes significant. 'I'he Karens 
 hold that persons killed by elephants, famine, or sword, do not enter 
 the abode of the dead, but wander on the earth and take possession 
 of the souls of men.^ In liorneo it is supposed that those who are 
 killed in war become specters." The belief in the Marquesas Islands 
 is that warriors dying in battle, women dying in childbirth, and 
 suicides go up to the sky.' In regard to certain modes of death 
 opposite opinions are held in the Ladrone (Marianne) Islands and 
 the Hervey group : in the former those who die by violence are 
 supposed to be tortured by demons, those who die a natural death 
 arc believed to be happy ; according to the view in the latter group 
 these last are devoured by the goddess of death, and the others are 
 happy. In the one case violent death, it would seem, is supposed to 
 be due to the anger of the gods, and to be a sign of something bad 
 in the man ; in the other case happiness is compensation for the mis- 
 fortune of a violent death, and natural death, being the fate of ordi- 
 nary people, leaves one at the mercy of the mistress of the other world. 
 
 76. The advance to the conception of moral retribution here- 
 after could take place only in communities in which earthly life 
 was organized on a moral basis. The beginning of the movement is 
 seen in certain savage tribes. Savages have their codes, which gen- 
 erally recognize some ethical virtues among the tribal obligations. 
 
 1 Smith, Virgbua, p. 36. 
 
 2 Will and Spinden, The Mandans {Papers of the Pcabody Museum of American 
 Archicology a)td Ethnology, Harvard University), p. 133. 
 
 8 So among the Betsiieos and the Zulus (Marillier, op. cit.) 
 4 So in iMadagascar. Cf. Ezek. xxxii, 18 ff. ; Isa. xiv, 4 ff. 
 ^ Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv, 312 f. 
 6 S. St. John, The Far East. 2d ed., i, 182 f. ; cf. i, 184. 
 
 ■ Marillier, op. cit. Here suicide appears to be regarded as a heroic act, and the 
 women in question perish in doing a service to the tribe.
 
 36 J\TRODi'CT/OX TO J/ISTOKV OF /C/iL/C'/O.VS 
 
 Stealing, lying, failure in hospitality, cowardice, violation of mari- 
 tal rights — in general, all the acts that affect injuriously the com- 
 munal life — are, as a rule, condemned by the common sense of 
 the lowest peoples, and the moral character of the gods reflects that 
 of their worshipers. By reason of the sense of solidarity the faults 
 of individuals affect not only themselves but also their communities, 
 and the gods care for communities as well as for indixiduals. When- 
 ever, then, there is an inquest in the other world, these faults, it is 
 likely, will be punished. On account of the paucity of our infor- 
 mation, it is not possible to make a general statement on this point, 
 but examples of future moral control occur in many savage creeds.^ 
 In such systems the nature of the life beyond the grave is variously 
 conceived : sometimes as cheerless and gloomy (as in P'inland), 
 sometimes as pleasant (as in Samoa, New Guinea, New Caledonia, 
 Bowditch Islands, some North American tribes, Brazil).^ 
 
 77. In tracing the growth of the conception of distinctions in 
 the other world,^ we find first a vague opinion that those w^ho do 
 badly in this life are left to shift for themselves hereafter ; ■* that 
 is, there is no authority controlling the lives of men below. In the 
 majority of cases, however, distinctions are made, but these, as is 
 remarked above, are based on various nonmoral considerations, 
 and have small cultural value. ^ 
 
 78. In the published reports of savage beliefs there is not always 
 mention of a formal examination of the character of the dead, and 
 probably nothing of the sort was imagined by the lowest tribes. It 
 appears, however, in such relatively advanced peoples as the Fijians ^ 
 and the Khonds.^ 
 
 1 Dixon, The Northern Maidtt, p. 26 1 ; Westermarck, Moral Ii/cas, 1 ndex, s. v. />/- 
 iiirc Life ; Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, ii, 27 1 ff. ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 83 ff. 
 
 2 Castren, Finnischc Mythologie, p. 126; Turner, Samoa, p. 259; Lawes, "New 
 Guinea," in Journal of the Anthropologieal Institute, viii, 370 ; Rochas, Nouvelle Cale- 
 donie {Bulletin de la Socictc d'anthropologie, 1S60), p. 2S0: \J\%Kqx, Journal of the 
 Anthropologieal Institute, xxi, 5 1 ; Dixon, op. cit., p. 262 : Miiller, Amerikanische Urre- 
 ligionen, p. 289 (Brazil)'. 
 
 3 See Westermarck, loc. cit. ^ Hawkins, Creek Country, p. So. 
 '•> For details on this point see L. Marillier, La survivancc de Peime. 
 
 ^' Uilliams and Calvert, Fiji, p. 193 f. 
 
 ~ Journal of the Koyal Asiatic Society, 1842, p. 172, and 1852, p. 2u; Hopkins, 
 Religions of India, p. 530 f.
 
 J'JUC SOUL 37 
 
 79. Mdial ivliihutioii proper is found only in great civilized 
 nations and not in all of them ; the early Semites appear to have 
 retained the old conception of ])unishnient for ritual faults or fail- 
 ures, and for offenses against the national welfare. For the Hebrews 
 the proof is found in the Old Testament passim ; in the Babylonian 
 and Assyrian literature, as far as published, there is one sign of 
 departure from the scheme sketched in the Descent of Ishtar: 
 Hammurabi (ca. 2000 D.c.) invokes the curses of the gods on 
 any one who shall destroy the tablet of his penal code, and wishes 
 that such a one may be deprived of pme water after death. In 
 regard to the South Arabians, the pre-Mohammedan North Arabians, 
 and the Aramaeans, we have no information ; and for the Phre- 
 nicians there is only the suggestion involved in the curse invoked 
 on those who violate a tomb, and in the funeral ceremonies.^ But 
 the same general religious ideas prevailed throughout the ancient 
 Semitic area, and we may probably assume that the Hebrew con- 
 ception was the universal one. 
 
 80. In Egypt, India, China, Persia, Greece, Rome, however, and 
 among the Jews in the Greek period," higher ethical conceptions 
 were carried over to the Underworld ; judgment, it was held, was 
 pronounced on the dead, and rewards and punishments dealt out 
 to them according to their moral character. The Jews and the 
 Persians went a step further, and conceived of a final general 
 judgment, a final winding-up of human history, and a permanent 
 reconstruction of the world on a basis largely moral, though tinged 
 with local religious elements — a grandiose idea that has maintained 
 itself up to the present time, embodying the conviction that the 
 outcome of life depends on character, and that ethical retribution 
 is the essence of the world. 
 
 1 Sepulchral inscriptions of Tabnit and Eshmunazar, and the inscriptions of 
 Antipatros (Corpus Inscrlptioninn Scinilkarum, vol. i, part i, p. 9 ff . ; Lidzbarski, 
 llandluich dcr nordscmitiscltcn Epigrapliik, part ii, pi. iv, i, 2 ; part i, p. 117; 
 Kawlinson, Phcfnicia, p. 394 f.). 
 
 '- Breasted, Egypt, p. 173 ff. ; Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 252 ; Hopkins, 
 Religions of India, pp. 336, 3S0, 443 : Texts of Taoism, ed. J. Legge, ii, 6 f. (in Sacred 
 Books of the East, vol. 40) ; Legge, Religions of China, p. 82 ; Do (J root, Religion of 
 the Chinese, pp. 6, 25, 54, 70 ff., 117; Spiegel, Eranisehe Alterthnmskundc, ii, 158 ff. ; 
 Plato, Republic, 614 (story of Er); Book of Enoch passim. 
 
 Ji91711
 
 38 IXTRODUCTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 81. This ethical constitution of the life hereafter led to the local 
 separation of the good from the bad. Such a separation was imagined 
 by comparatively undeveloped peoples whose ethical principle was 
 chiefly ritualistic, as, for example, the I''ijians. the American Indians, 
 and by civilized peoples in their early stages, the Vcdic Hindus ^ 
 (Yama's abode in the sky, and a pit) and the Greeks (the Homeric 
 Elvsian Fields, and Tartarus)."^ 
 
 82. In fact, a recognition of a place of happiness and a place of 
 punishment in the other life accompanies sooner or later a certain 
 stage of ethical culture in all communities. In India it appears in 
 the late Vedic and post-Vedic periods, together with the ethical 
 doctrine of metempsychosis, and though, as is natural in such a 
 stage of development, various ideas are held respecting the destinies 
 of the good and the bad, the ethical distinction between these classes 
 of persons, with a systematic awarding of rewards and punishments, 
 becomes firmly established : Yania becomes an ethical judge. In the 
 Brahmanas, Manu, and the Mahabharata, we find a sort of heaven 
 for the virtuous and a hell for the vicious. While the academic 
 thought of Brahmanism and the altruistic systems of Jainism and 
 Buddhism looked to the absorption of the departed into the All, 
 the popular Hindu faith held fast to the scheme of happiness and 
 wretchedness in the future.^ As in Dante's Divina Commedia, the 
 heaven was somewhat colorless, the hell more distinct and pictur- 
 esque ; pain is acute and varied, happiness is calm and uniform. 
 
 83. The later Egyptian eschatological development was not unlike 
 the later Hindu. The good were rewarded with delightful habitations 
 in the West or with the Sun ; the bad were tortured in a gloomy place.'' 
 
 1 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, chap, xv; Will and Spinden, The Mandans, 
 p. 133 ; Dixnn, The Northern Maulit. p. 261 ; KiQ;-l'cda, i, 356 : vii, 104. Cf. article 
 " Blest, abode of the" in Hastings, lincyclopadia of Religion and Ft hies. 
 
 2 Tartarus is as far below Hades as the earth is below the sky {Iliad, viii, j6). 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 379 ff. 
 
 ■1 Wiedemann, Egyptian Doctrine of Immortality, p. 50 f. ; Maspero, Dawn of 
 Civilization, p. 183 ff.; Breasted, I/istoiy of Egypt, pp. 64, 173 ff. Different con- 
 ceptions, however, appear in different stages of eschatological thought. Probably 
 the older view was that all the dead descended to the Underworld. According to 
 another view, the good ascended to heaven and accompanied the sun on his daily 
 voyage over the heavenly ocean.
 
 nil': so LI. 39 
 
 84. As regards the early Greek eschatological scheme, it is 
 suggested by S. Reinach^ that the descriptions of punishments in 
 
 Tartarus (as in the cases of Tantalus and others) arose from mis- 
 understood representations of the condition of the dead in the other 
 world, they being represented either as engaged in the occupations 
 of this life, or as they were at the moment of death. The great 
 ])unishments. in fact, are assigned onl_\- to heroic mythical offenders, 
 but there seems to be no reason whv the idea of retribution should 
 not be supposed to enter into such descriptions. Separation of the 
 good from the bad on ethical grounds appears in Greece in the 
 time of Plato. In various passages he describes the savage places 
 (Tartarus and others) to which criminals go after death, and the 
 happy abodes of the virtuous.^ These abodes were not with the 
 gods ; the occasional translations to heaven (Heracles, Ganymede) 
 are exceptional honors paid to heroes and favorites. 
 
 85. The Jewish conception of a punitive future belongs to the 
 Greek period of Jewish history, and was probably developed on 
 I lebrew lines under Greek and Egyptian influence. A combination 
 of the Gld Testament view of future retribution on earth with the 
 conception of torture in the other world is given in Enoch. '^ In 
 some circles Sheol was placed in the West and divided into two 
 regions, one of happiness, the other of punishment,* or the good 
 dwell with the angels in heaven, the bad in hell.^ By others the 
 abodes of the dead were placed in the heavenly regions : of the 
 seven heavens, the second was assigned to the bad and the third 
 to the good.*'' With all the variation of locality, the separation of the 
 bad from the good is made permanent, and this distinction is main- 
 tained in the New Testament, which throughout assigns the wicked 
 to hell (Gehenna or Tartarus), while the righteous dwell some- 
 times on the renovated earth, sometimes in the heavenly regions." 
 
 1 Revue archeologique^ '903i and Reinach, Orflicits (Eng. tr.), p. SS f. 
 
 2 Gorgias, 523-526 ; Republic, x, 614 ; Laws, x, 904 f ; Plurdo, 1 13 f. 
 
 3 Isa. Ixv, 17-21; Ixvi, 24 ; Enoch, x, 12-22. ■* Enoch, xxii. 
 5 Enoch, civ, 6 ; xcix, 1 1. 
 
 ^ Secrets of Enoch, chaps, vii-x. For the third heaven cf. 2 Cor. xii, 2-4. Varro 
 also (quoted in .'\ugustine, De Civ. Dei, vii, 6) assigned the souls of the dead to a 
 celestial space beneath the abode of the gods. 
 
 " Matt, XXV, 46: 1 Thcss. iv,i7; 2 Pet. ii, 4 ; iii, 13; Rev. xx, 15 ; xxi, i ; 2 Cor. xil, 2-4.
 
 40 IXTROnUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 86. The Jewish and Christian books mentioned above content 
 themselves with the general statement that the punishment of the 
 wicked will be torture by fire and cold. Succeeding Christian books 
 elaborated the picture of torture with great ingenuit)- ; the Apoca- 
 lypse of Peter, following and expanding the description of Plato 
 and Enoch, has an elaborate barbarous apparatus of punishment, 
 and this scheme, continued through a series of works, ^ has its 
 culmination in Dante's Inferno, where, however, the ethical ele- 
 ment is pronounced, though colored by the poet's likes and dislikes. 
 
 87. Purgatory. The wicked dead were not always left hopeless 
 in their place of punishment. Kindly human feeling (shown in 
 early stages by pious care for the well-being of the dead) and the 
 analogy of earthly procedures, ci\il and religious, led to the view 
 that, after the expiation of faults by suffering, the evildoer might 
 be freed from his prison and gain a place of happiness. Pardon 
 and purification were effected on earth by punishments (scourging, 
 imprisonment, etc.) or by ritual processes (ablution, fastings, etc.) 
 — why not in the other life ? In some systems of transmigration 
 the man, forced after death to assume a lower form, may rise by 
 good conduct to a higher form. In Plato's imaginative construction 
 of the Underworld" those who ha\e li\ed neither well nor ill are 
 purified in the Acherusian lake and then receive rewards according 
 to their deserts ; and those who have committed great but not 
 unpardonable crimes may come to the lake (after having suffered 
 the pains of Tartarus) and be freed from trouble if they obtain 
 pardon from those they have wronged. But as here, so hereafter, 
 certain offenses were regarded as unpardonable. The jDurgatorial 
 conception passed into patristic and Roman and Eastern Chris- 
 tianity and Talmudic and Medieval Judaism.^ 
 
 88. Resurrection. The doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, 
 which has been fully developed only by the Persians and the Jews 
 (and from them taken by Christianity and Islam), appears to have 
 
 1 See, for example, the Re- elation of the Afonk of Ere sham, Eng. tr. by \ . Paget 
 (New York, 1909). 2 Rcpublk, x, 614. 
 
 3 Herzog-Hauck, Rcal-Encyklopddie, Index, s.v. Fegfeuer ; Jewish Encyclopedia, 
 article " Purgatory."
 
 Tilt: SOUL 41 
 
 grown from simple beginnings. 1 1 is liie expression of the con- 
 viction that the perfect man is made up of soul and body, and its 
 full form is found only in periods of high ethical culture. But in 
 very early times the belief in the intimate connection between body 
 and soul appears in the care taken among certain peoples to pre- 
 serve the bones or the whole body of the deceased as a possible 
 future abode for the soul ; ^ and, on the other hand, as the soul, it 
 was held, might return to the body and be dangerous to the li\ing, 
 means were sometimes employed to frighten it off. It seems to 
 ha\e been believed in some cases that the destruction of the body 
 iiivohcd the destruction of the soul (New Zealand). An actual 
 entrance of a departed soul into a human body is involved in some 
 early forms of the doctrine of reincarnation," but this is not the 
 restoration of the dead man's own body. It was held in Kg}-pt 
 (and not improbably elsewhere) that the soul after death might 
 desire to take possession of its own body, and provision was made 
 for such an emergency ; but this belief seems not to have had 
 serious results for religious life. A temporary reunion of soul and 
 body appears in the figure of the vampire, which, however, is a 
 part of a popular belief and religiously not important. But these 
 passing beliefs indicate a general tendency, and may have paved 
 the way for the more definite conception of bodily restoration. 
 
 89. The more developed Hindu doctrine (Brahmanic, Jainistic, 
 buddhistic) recognized a great variety of possible forms of rein- 
 carnation (human and nonhuman), and made a step forward by 
 including the continuity or reestablishmcnt of moral life and re- 
 sponsibility (the doctrine of karma).^ It, however, never reached 
 the form of a universal or partial resurrection. 
 
 1 American Indians (II. C. Yarrow, IntroduLiion io the Study of Mortiiaiy Customs 
 among the North American Indians, p. 5 ff.) ; Egypt (Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyp- 
 tians, chap, x) ; see article " Funerailles " in La Grande Encyclopedic. Grant Allen, 
 in The E.i;oluiion of the Idea of God, chap, iii, connects the idea of bodily resurrection 
 with the custom of inhumation and the idea of immortality with cremation, but this 
 view is not borne out by known facts. 
 
 2 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 262, 278. 
 
 3 The doctrine of reincarnation in India followed on that of Hades, and stood in 
 a certain opposition to it. Cf. Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 204 ff., 530 n. 3 ; Bloom- 
 field, Religion of the Veda, pp. 211, 252 ff.
 
 42 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 90. The birthplace of this latter doctrine appears to ha\c been 
 the region in which Mazdaism arose, the country south of the 
 Caspian Sea. W'indischmann infers from Herodotus, iii, 62, that it 
 appears as a Mazdean belief as early as the sixth century h.c.^ This 
 is doubtful, but it is reported as a current belief by Theopompus.^ 
 Its starting-point was doubtless the theory of reincarnation, which, 
 we may suppose, the Iranian Aryans shared with their Indian 
 brethren. Precisely what determined the Iranian movement toward 
 this specific form of reincarnation we have no means of knowing. 
 It may be due to the same genius for simple organization that led 
 the Zoroastrians to discard the mass of the old gods and elevate 
 Ahura Mazda to the chief place in the pantheon : their genius for 
 practical social religious organization may ha\c induced them to 
 select human reincarnation as the most natural and the most 
 effective morally, and to discard other forms as unworthy.^ The 
 dead man's own body would then be the natural dwelling place of 
 his soul ; but a refined body (as in i Cor. xv) might be regarded 
 as better suited to the finer life of the future. Whatever the 
 cause, they adopted this conception, and probably through their in- 
 fluence it passed to, or was formulated by, the Jews, among whom 
 it appears in the second century B.C. (in the Book of Daniel).^ In 
 Daniel and 2 Maccabees resurrection is confined io the Jews ; in 
 Enoch it is sometimes similarly confined, sometimes apparently 
 universal.^ In the New Testament also the same diversity of state- 
 ment appears ; resurrection seems to be confined to believers in some 
 
 1 Zoroastrian Studies, p. 236. Prexaspes says that " if the dead rise again " Smerdis 
 may be the son of Cyrus. He may mean that this is not probable. Smerdis, he would 
 in that case say, is certainly dead, and this pretender can be the son of Cyrus only in 
 case the dead come to life. 
 
 2 Diogenes Laertius in Miiller, Fragment a Hisioriconim Graconim, i, 289; of. 
 Plutarch, his ami Osiris, 47, and Herodotus, i, 131-140. See Spiegel, F.ranischc 
 AltcrilmmskumU-, ii, 1 58 ff. 
 
 8 Occasional reincarnation in human form is found elsewhere. The Mazdeans 
 made it universal. 
 
 ^ There is no certain or probable reference to it in the Old Testament before this. 
 Ezek. xxxvii, 1-14, is obviously a figurative prediction of national (not individual) re- 
 suscitation, and the obscure passage Isa. xxvi, 19 seems to refer to the reestablishmcnt 
 of the nation, and in any case is not earlier than the fourth century b.c. and may 
 be later. s Dan. xii ; 2 Mace, vii, 14 ; Enoch, .xci, 10 ; xxii.
 
 THE SOUL 43 
 
 passages' and lo be universal in others.- In tlic former case it is 
 regarded as a reward of piety and as a consequence of the intimate 
 relation between the man and God or Christ ; unbelievers then re- 
 main in hades, where they are punished. Ikit universal resurrection 
 was pr(;bal)ly thought of as involved in the grandiose conceptions 
 of a final judgment and a final moral restoration.^ 
 
 5. Powers ok iiik Soul 
 
 91. Savage lore takes account (jf the powers of the separated 
 soul only ; the qualities and functions of the earthly incorporate 
 soul are accepted as a part of tlie existing familiar order, and are 
 not analvzcd or discussed. It was different with the departed soul, 
 which, because of its strangeness and mystery, was credited with 
 extraordinary powers, and tliis part of savage science was gradually 
 developed, through observation and inference, into an important 
 system. In the search for causes, the Shade, its independent exist- 
 ence once established, came to be regarded as the agent in many 
 procedures of which no probable account could otherwise be given. 
 
 92. The greatest activity of the departed soul is found in the 
 earliest known period of culture, when it was not yet relegated to 
 hades or to the sky, but dwelt on earth, either near its former habi- 
 tation or in a distant region from which it might return. Its powers 
 of movement and action are then held to be all that imagination 
 can suggest. Such souls move through the air or under the ground, 
 enter houses through obstacles impenetrable to the earthly man, 
 pass into the human body, assume such shapes as pleases them. 
 1 )ivested of gross earthly bodies, they are regarded as raised above 
 all ordinary limitations of humanity. Of these conceptions, that of 
 the ghost's superhuman power of movement remains in the popu- 
 lar faith to the present day. 
 
 93. The practical question for the early man is the determination 
 of the relation of departed souls to earthly life. Among savage 
 tribes their altitude is sometimes friendly, sometimes unfriendly, 
 
 1 1 Cor. XV, 23 ; Rom. vi, 4 ; viii, 1 1 ; John vi, 54. 
 
 2 Acts xxiv, 15 ; John v, 28 f. 3 Apokatastasis (Col. i, 20 ; cf. Rom. xi, 32).
 
 44 JXTRODL'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 more often the latter.^ To fear the unknown is a human instinct. 
 Shades are looked on as aliens, and aliens are generally enemies. 
 In particular, ghosts are conceived of as sometimes wandering 
 about in search of food or warmth, or as cherishing enmity toward 
 persons who had wronged them in their earthly life. They are 
 supposed to be capable of inflicting disease or pain, and precau- 
 tions are taken against them. Cases are reported of persons who 
 killed themselves in order that, as ghosts, they might wreak ven- 
 geance on enemies.^ On the other hand, to the members of its own 
 family the departed soul is sometimes held to be friendly, or not 
 unfriendly, but among savages it is not thought of as a potent and 
 valuable friend. 
 
 94. In the more advanced cults the functions of the departed 
 souls become larger and more important. They are regarded as 
 having the power of foretelling the future, and are consulted.' They 
 become guardian spirits, and a cult of souls arises.'* In some higher 
 forms of religion (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) they are regarded 
 as mediators between man and the deity, or as advocates for man 
 in the heavenly court. 
 
 95. Prayer for the dead. Before the ethical stage of religion tlie 
 moral condition and needs of the dead did not come into considera- 
 tion ; their physical wants were met by performance of funeral 
 rites and by supplying them with food and other necessities of life,* 
 and they later came to be looked on as helpers rather than as need- 
 ing help ; but when this old view passed away, and the conceptions 
 of judgment and ethical retribution after death were reached, the 
 moral status of the dead became a source of anxiety to the living. 
 It was held that the divine judge might be reached — by interces- 
 sion or by petitions, or by the performance of certain ceremonies 
 — and his attitude toward the dead modified. 
 
 1 Cf. Steinmetz, EtJmologischc Studicn zjir cisfcii F.ithnckluug dcr Strafe. 
 
 2 Westermarck, Moral hicas, ii, 234, 245 f. 8 See below, on necromancy, § 927. 
 * See § 360 ff. (ancestor-worship) and § 350 fif. (divinization of deceased persons). 
 5 Jn Egypt there grew up also an elaborate system of charms for the protection 
 
 of the dead against hostile animals, especially serpents, — a body of magical texts 
 that finally took the form of the " Book of the Dead " (Breasted, History of Egypt, 
 pp. 69, 175 ; Stcindorff, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 153 ff.).
 
 THE SOUL 45 
 
 96. A (race of such care for tin- deceased may be found in the 
 Brahmanic ceremonies intended to secure complete immortality to 
 fathers.' In Kg}pt, in the later times, there was an arrangement 
 for securing for the deceased immunity from punishment for moral 
 offenses : a sacred beetle of stone, inscribed with a charm beginning 
 " O my heart, rise not up against me as a witness," laid on the 
 breast of tlie mummy, silences the heart in the presence of Osiris, 
 and the man, e\en though guilty, goes free. Forms of charms were 
 prepared b\- tlie priests, and the name of any one who could pay 
 was inserted in blanks left for this purpose." This sort of corrupt- 
 ing procedure was reproduced in some periods of Christianity. In 
 the early Church a custom existed of receiving baptism on behalf 
 of such as died unbaptized;^ here, apparently, a magical efficacy 
 was ascribed to the act. The first mention of prayer for the dead 
 occurs in a history of the Maccabean wars, where a sin-offering, 
 accompanied by prayer, effects reconciliation for certain soldiers 
 who died in a state of sin (idol symbols were found on their per- 
 sons). ■* Prayer for the dead has been largely developed in Chris- 
 tianity and Islam. ^ 
 
 6. Genesis of Spirits 
 
 97. As early science identified life with the soul, it logically attrib- 
 uted a soul to everything that was regarded as living. This category 
 seems to have embraced all the objects of the world — human be- 
 ings, beasts, plants, weapons, rocks, waters, heavenly bodies. Sav- 
 ages rarely formulate their ideas on such a subject, but the belief in 
 the future existence of nonhuman as well as human things is fairly 
 established by the widespread practice of slaying animals at the 
 tomb and burying with the dead the objects they are supposed to 
 need in the other world. This custom exists among many tribes at 
 
 1 (^aiapatha Brahmana, xii, 9, 3, 12. Cf. W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, i, 193 f. 
 
 2 Breasted, op. cit., p. 249. •* i Cor. xv, 29. 
 
 ^ 2 Mace, xii, 40 ff . I^ossibly the custom came to the Jews from Egypt. For later 
 Jewish ideas on this point see Jewish liiicyclopcdia, article " Kaddish." 
 
 ^ Smith and Cheetham, Dictionaiy of Christian Aniiqtiitics, article " Canon of the 
 Liturgy"; Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, article " Prayers for the Dead."
 
 46 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the present day, and the contents of ancient tombs prove its exist- 
 ence in former times. The dead are provided with clothing, imple- 
 ments of labor, weapons, ornaments, food, and as these objects 
 remain in their mundane form by or in the grave, it is held that 
 their souls pass with the souls of their possessors into the world 
 beyond. Further, the belief in transformation from human to non- 
 human forms and vice versa involves the supposition of life in all 
 such things. That the heavenly bodies, similarly, are supposed to 
 be animated by souls appears from the fact that they are regarded 
 as manlike in form, thought, and manner of life : the sun is frequently 
 represented as a venerable man who traverses the sky — the moon 
 being his wife, and the stars their children ; and sun and moon 
 sometimes figure as totems. This general conception has been ex- 
 panded and modified in a great variety of ways among different 
 peoples, but the belief in the anthropomorphic nature of the astral 
 bodies has been an element of all religions except the highest. 
 
 98. The apparent incongruities in the savage theory — that all 
 things are endowed with life — need occasion us no difficulty. Com- 
 plete consistency and tenability in such theories is not to be expected. 
 Early men, like the lower animals, were doubtless capable of dis- 
 tinguishing between things living and things dead : a dog quickly 
 discovers whether a moving object is alive. Man and beasts have 
 in such questions canons of criticism derived from long experience.^ 
 
 99. But man differs from the beast in that he feels the necessity 
 of accounting for life b\- the hypothesis of a soul, and as he seems 
 to himself to find evidence of life in plants and minerals (movement, 
 growth, decay), he is justified in attributing souls to all things. He 
 is interested, however, only in movements that affect his welfare. 
 Whatever his general theory about rocks, a particular rock, as long 
 as it does not affect his life, is for him an inert and worthless mass, 
 practically dead ; but if lie discovers that it has power to harm him, 
 it becomes instinct with life, and is treated as a rational being. Man 
 has shown himself practical in all stages of religion ; he is always the 
 center of his world, and treats objects and theories with sole regard 
 to his own well-being. 
 
 1 On savage logic cf. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion^ chap, iv.
 
 77//'; SOUL ^7 
 
 100. 'I'lic world of the savage was thus peopled with souls, and 
 these came to have an independent existence. That this was the 
 case with human souls is pointed out above/ and by analogy the 
 separateness was extended to all souls. Thus there arose tree- 
 spirits, river-spirits, and other similar extrahuman beings. It is con- 
 venient to employ the term ' spirit ' as the designation of the soul 
 in a nonhuman object, isolated and independent, and regarded as 
 a Power to be treated with respect. The term is sometimes used 
 of a disembodied human soul, and sometimes of a deity resident in 
 an object of nature. It is better to distinguish, as far as possible, 
 between these different senses of the word. The functions of a 
 spirit are sometimes practically identical with those of a god. The 
 difference between these two classes of extrahuman agents is one of 
 general culture ; it is especially determined in any community by 
 the extent of the organization of such agents that has been effected 
 by the community. The cult of spirits is considered below in con- 
 nection with the description of divine beings." 
 
 iSee§iSff. 2See§635ff.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 EARLY RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES 
 
 101. The earliest known forms of social life are characterized 
 by the performance of public ceremonies, which are almost always 
 religious. Religion in some form enters into all the details of early 
 life — there is no event that is not supposed to be caused or affected 
 by a supernatural Power or influence. A vaguely conceived force 
 {}na?ia), an attribute of life, is believed to reside in all things, and 
 under certain circumstances has to be reckoned with. Mysterious 
 potencies in the shape of souls, spirits, gods, or mana are held 
 to preside over and control all affairs — birth, sickness, death, hate 
 and love, hunting and war, sowing and reaping. I'here is no dogma 
 except belief in this extrahuman influence — no conception of moral 
 effort as based on and sanctioned by a definite moral ideal, no 
 struggle of the sort that we call spiritual. Religion consists of a 
 body of practices whose authority rests on precedent ; as it is sup- 
 posed they have existed from time immemorial, they are held to be 
 necessary to secure the well-being of the tribe (a sufficient supply 
 of food, or victory over enemies) ; to the question why such and such 
 things are done, the common reply of the savage is that without 
 them the thing desired could not be got. 
 
 102. In the earliest stages known to us these procedures are 
 already elaborate and distinct ; they are generally conducted by the 
 tribal leaders (old men, chiefs, magicians), by whom they are handed 
 down from generation to generation.^ Their precise origin is lost 
 in the depths of antiquity. Doubtless they arose from social needs, 
 and their precise forms were suggested by crude observation and 
 
 1 As to the efficiency of such tradition, compare the way in which mechanical 
 processes are transmitted by older worl<mcn to younger, always with the possibility 
 of gradual improvement. In literary activity, also, tradition plays a great part ; a young 
 people must serve an apprenticeship before it can produce works of merit. 
 
 48
 
 EARLY RELICIOUS CEREMOXIES 49 
 
 reasoning. Reflection on processes of nature, guided sometimes by 
 fortunate or unfortunate accidents, may have led to the establish- 
 ment of methods of procedure for gaining social and individual ends; 
 and, as at this formative period the whole life of the community 
 was permeated by religious conceptions, the procedures either 
 were originally religious or speedily took on a religious coloring. 
 
 103. Two characteristics belong to early ceremonies: they are 
 communal, and they are generally sacred mysteries. Whatever be 
 the origin of the tribal and clan institutions of society, these are 
 practically universal in the world as it is now known. Even in the 
 few cases where men live in the comparative isolation of individual 
 family groups (as the Eskimo, Fuegians, and others are said to 
 do ^), there is a communal feeling that is shown in the identity of 
 customs and ideas among the isolated groups. In early man there 
 is little individuality of thought or of religious experience, and 
 there is no observable difference between public and private re- 
 ligious worship. Ceremonies, like language, arc the product of 
 social thought, and are themselves essentially social. When a man 
 performs an individual religious act (as when he recognizes an omen 
 in an animal or bird, or chooses a guardian animal or spirit, or 
 wards off a sickness or a noxious influence), he is aware that his 
 act is in accordance with general usage, that it has the approval of 
 the community, and that its potency rests on the authority of the 
 community. It is true that such communal character belongs, in 
 some degree, to all religious life — no person's religion is wholly 
 independent of the thought of his community ; but in the lower 
 strata the acceptance of the common customs is unreflective and 
 complete. When definite individualism sets in, ceremonies begin to 
 lose their old significance, though they may be retained as mere 
 forms or with a new interpretation. 
 
 1 .Spencer, Piinciplcs of Sociology, i, sec. 35 ; Westermarck, Human Marriage, 
 p. 43 ff. ; Pridham, Ceylon, i, 454 (Vcddas) ; United States Exploring Expedition, i, 1 24 
 (Fuegians); Fison and Ilowitt, Kamilaroiand Kurnai, p. 278 (Australian Grounditch); 
 Fritsch, Die Eingcborenen Siid-Afrikas, p. 328 (Bushmen) ; Schoolcraft, Indian 
 Tribes of the United States, i, 207 (North American Snake tribes) ; Rivet, in The 
 American Anthropologist, 1909 ("The Jivaros of Ecuador"). 
 
 2 Cf. I. King, The Development of Religion, p. 66 ff.
 
 50 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 104. That the ceremonial observances are usually sacred is obvi- 
 ous from all the descriptions we have of them. Their power is 
 not always attributed to the action of external personal, supernatural 
 agencies (though such agencies may have been assumed originally) ; 
 in many cases, it is held to reside in themselves.^ They are sacred 
 in the sense that they are mysterious, acting in a way that is 
 beyond human comprehension and with a power that is beyond 
 human control." They are efficacious only when performed by 
 persons designated or recognized by the community. Here there 
 is undoubtedly a dim sense of law and unity in the world, based on 
 an interpretation of experiences. This is a mode of thought that 
 runs through the whole history of religion — only, in the earliest 
 stages of human life, it is superficial and narrow. The earlier 
 ceremonial customs contain the germs and the essential features 
 of the later more refined procedures. 
 
 105. Without attempting to give an exhaustive list, the principal 
 early ceremonies may be divided into classes as follows : 
 
 Emotional and Dramatic Ceremonies 
 
 106. The dances that are so common among savage tribes are in 
 many instances now (and doubtless this has always been the case) 
 simply the expression of animal joyousncss.' They are like the 
 caperings of young animals — only, the human feeling of rhythm 
 asserts itself, the movements are often measured and graceful. 
 There is naturally an accompaniment of noise — shouting and 
 beating on pieces of wood, bone, or metal, with songs or chants, 
 the beginnings of vocal and instrumental music. 
 
 Words and melodies are simple and rude ; they are the pro- 
 ductions of individual singers, often, of course, made from a stock 
 
 1 Even in higher forms of religion, as the Vedic, sacrifice and other ceremonies 
 are supposed to have a magical power over the gods. 
 
 2 This is a part of the belief in the mysterious energy {maim) potentially resident 
 in all things. 
 
 3 See, for example, the bird dances described by II addon {Head-hunters, p. 358) ; 
 compare W. Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 83 al. Dances are now often given for 
 the amusement of the public. Clowns often form a feature of such ceremonies ; see 
 Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 230; K. IJ. Dixon, The Northern Maidu {Bulletin of 
 American Museum 0/ Natural History, xvii, part iii, p. 315 ff.).
 
 EARLY RI-:LIGI0US CERICMOXIES ■ 5 I 
 
 of material common to all members of the clan or the tribe. In 
 Australia songs are thought to be obtained by bards during sleep 
 from the souls of the dead (sometimes from Ikinjil), or the bard 
 is possessed by the soul of a beast ; chants are employed in magical 
 ceremonies, and there are lullabies and other children's songs.' The 
 Muscogee "Song of the Sabbea" is very sacred.'^ In West Africa 
 minstrels recite song-stories, every story being attached to an object 
 (bone, feather, etc.).^ Songs are chanted at festivals in Guiana (and 
 at night men tell endless stories).* 
 
 107. The movements of the dance are sometimes in imitation 
 of those of animals,^ sometimes spontaneous, and sometimes from 
 our point of view indecent. The indecency and obscenity originated 
 and has continued in a period when no moral element entered into 
 such performances — they simply follow animal instincts and im- 
 pulses, are controlled by them, and appear usually not to affect the 
 customs relating to marriage and chastity (so in the Areoi festivities 
 of Tahiti, and among the Central Australians ®). 
 
 108. In accordance with the law by which religion appropri- 
 ates social customs, the dance is devoted to religious purposes 
 and acquires a sacred character.'' It is a common ceremony as a 
 preparation for war : the warriors of the tribe jump about with 
 violent gesticulations and shouts, brandishing weapons and mimick- 
 ing the acts of attacking and slaying enemies.^ Here, doubtless, the 
 object is partly to excite the men to fury and thus prepare them 
 for combat, but there is also the conviction that the ceremony itself 
 has a sacred potency.^ A similar occult power is attached to dancing 
 
 1 ITowitt, '\x\ Journal of the Anthropological lustilittc, xvi, 327 ff. 
 
 2 Miss Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies, p. 263 n. 3 Miss Kingsley, Studies, p. 126. 
 * E. F. im Thurn, Indians of Guiana, vii, iv, 5. 5 E. F. im Thurn, op. cit., vi. 
 6 Of the same simple festive nature as dances are the plays or sports that are not 
 
 infrequent among savages and half-civilized tribes. In the Areoi dramatic perform- 
 ances priests are ridiculed (W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, p. 1S7). 
 
 '' Miss Fletcher, "' Emblematic Use of the Tree in the Dakotan Group " (in Pro- 
 cecdiitgs of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1896). 
 
 8 So among the hill tribes of North Arracan {Journal of the Anthropological In- 
 stitute, ii, 239) and the North American Indians (Featherman, Paces of Matikind, 
 division iii, part i, p. 37 etc.). Such dances are performed by the Tshi women in the 
 absence of the men (A. B. Ellis, The Tshi, p. 226). 
 
 3 See below, § 905, on imitative magic.
 
 52 •• JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in Timorlaut, where, when a ship is at sea, the girls sing and dance 
 on the beach daily to bring the men back.' There are dances in 
 commemoration of the dead'' — apparently a combination of affec- 
 tion and homage, with the general purpose of conciliating the de- 
 parted and procuring their aid ; the belief being, apparently, that 
 the dead see these demonstrations and are pleased with them. .V 
 Ghost Dance formerly performed in California had for its object 
 bringing back the dead.* 
 
 109. At a later time such ceremonies were connected with the 
 worship of gods : sometimes they were of the nature of offerings of 
 homage to the supernatural Powers, as in the Young Dog Dance ; ^ 
 sometimes they took on a symbolic and representative or dramatic 
 character. Among the Redmen the dramatic dances are elaborate, 
 often representing the histories of divine persons, these latter fre- 
 quently appearing in the form of animals.^ The accompanying 
 songs or chants relate stories that are intended to explain, wholly 
 or in part, the details of the rite.® 
 
 110. Thus combined with other ceremonies, dances become im- 
 portant means of religious culture. In Greece dances were connected 
 with many cults, among others with the Dionysiac ceremonies, out 
 of which grew the Greek drama. Among the Hebrews the ancient 
 ceremonial dance appears as late as the time of David," though it 
 was then, perhaps, falling into desuetude, since his wife, Michal, is 
 disgusted at his procedures. The violent movement of the dance 
 excites not only warlike rage but also religious ecstasy, and has 
 been used abundantly for this purpose by magicians, prophets, and 
 
 1 Riedel, in Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic, xvii. 2 Haddon, Hcad-hintters^ p. 139. 
 
 ^ Journal of American Folklore, xvii, 32. Cf. the dance for the benefit of a sick 
 man (R. B. Dixon, " Some Shamans of Northern California,'' op. cit., xvii, 23 ff.). 
 
 ^Journal of American Folklore, iv, 307. Cf. Will and Spinden, The Mandans, 
 pp. 129 ff., 143 ff. The gods themselves, also, have their festive dances (\V. Matthews, 
 i\a-alto Legends, p. S3), and are sometimes represented as the authors of the sacred 
 chants (ibid. p. 225). s See \V. Matthews, loc. cit. 
 
 6 S&c, iuTther, Journal of American Foil-lore, in, 2iy -.iv, i2g;xii,Si (basket dances) ; 
 R. B. Dixon, The Nor/hern Maidu, p. 1S3 ff. (numerous and elaborate, and sometimes 
 economic); Robertson, R'afirs of the Hindii-Kitsh, chap. 33 ; N. \V. '}L\\om-AS, Australia, 
 chap. 7. Thomas describes many Australian games, and Dixon (The Shasta, p. 441 ff.) 
 Califomian games. For stories told by the natives of Guiana see above, § 106. 
 
 "> 2 Sam. vi, 5.
 
 EA A' /. } ' A' I'lLIGIO US CERE. MONIES 5 3 
 
 mystics ; the performer is regarded as a vehicle of divine revelation, 
 all abnormal excitement being ascribed to possession by a spirit.^ 
 
 111. With dances may be classed processions, in which usually a 
 god is invoked or praised. In Ashanti-land, in time of war, when 
 the men are with the army, processions of women, wives of the 
 warriors, march through the streets, invoking the gods on behalf 
 of the absent men.^ Often the performers bear a sacred object, 
 as a stone (sometimes inclosed in a box '), a boat, or an image ; in 
 early times such objects not only represent the gods but actually 
 embody them, or are themselves superhuman Powers. 
 
 112. A peculiar form of procession is that in which the wor- 
 shipers move round a sacred object, perhaps the adoption of a 
 natural form of play. The original design in such movements may 
 have been simply to show respect to the object in question and 
 secure its favor, the circular movement being a natural way of 
 keeping in touch with it. In certain cases the circumambulation is 
 connected with the movement of the sun in the sky — probably a 
 later interpretation of the ceremony. Examples are found in Hindu, 
 Greek, and Roman practices, and in some modern Christian usages 
 (in the Greek and Roman churches). As a magical efficiency was held 
 to attach to the ceremony, its effect was sometimes held to depend 
 on the direction of the movement : if it was to the right — passing 
 from east through south to west (the worshiper facing the east) — 
 it was good, but bad if in the opposite direction. Though traces of 
 solemn circumambulation are found in some lower tribes, it has 
 been, and is, practiced chiefly in the higher cults.* 
 
 113. Sacred dances and processions are natural human expres- 
 sions of emotions that have been adopted by religious sentiment, 
 and are often supposed to have potency in themselves. They tend 
 to disappear with the progress of general refinement and of ethical 
 conceptions of life and of deity. They continue, however, far into 
 the civilized period, in which we find dramatic representations (as 
 
 1 Tylor. Primitive Culture, ii, 133 f., 409 f. 2 A. B. Ellis, Tlie Ts/ti, p. 226. 
 8 So, probably, the Old-Hebrew ark. 
 
 * See the references in article " Circumambulation " in Hastings, Encyclopadia of 
 Religion and Ethics.
 
 54 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the Eleusinian rites and the medieval Myster)' Plays), processions 
 of priests bearing or conducting sacred objects, processions of 
 devotees with music, and pilgrimages to shrines. Such ceremonies, 
 while they are regarded by educated persons simply as expressions 
 of reverence and accompaniments of prayer, are still believed by 
 many to have an innate or magic potency, insuring prosperity 
 to the participants. 
 
 Decorative and Curative Ceremonies 
 
 114. Love of ornament is found among all savage peoples ; the 
 value they attach to beads and all colored things is well known to 
 travelers and traders. It has been plausibly argued that the origin 
 of clothing is to be found in the desire of each sex to make itself 
 beautiful in the eyes of the other. ^ However that may be, the 
 employment of leaves for headdresses and waistbands is general 
 among lower tribes. - 
 
 115. Equally popular is the adornment of the body by colored 
 marks made with red ocher, pipe-clay, turmeric, charcoal, and such 
 like things as are furnished by nature. Elaborate designs, of straight 
 and curved lines, are traced on the skin, and these are gradually 
 differentiated and become marks of rank and function. The war 
 paint of the American Indians is governed by fixed rules, the object 
 being to make the warrior terrible to enemies.^ Rings, quills, sticks, 
 and stones, worn in holes made in ears, nose, lips, and cheeks, 
 are all originally decorative ; and so also prickings and gashes in 
 the body, often in regular outlines.* 
 
 116. These latter, made according to tribal custom and law, be- 
 come tribal marks (tattoo), and are then essential to one's standing 
 in the community. This custom is general in Polynesia and in 
 
 1 Wcstermarck, Human Marriage, 3d ed., p. 541. This sexual instinct is carried 
 back by Darwin {Descent of Man, chap, xii) to the lower animals. 
 
 2 Cf. Gen. iii, 7. There is no conclusive evidence that the concealment of parts 
 of the body by savages is prompted by modesty (cf. Ratzel, History of Mankind, i, 
 93 ff.), but it may have contributed to the development of this feeling. 
 
 3 Cf. Y. Him, Origins of Art, chap. xvi. For the Maori usage see R. Taylor, New 
 Zealand and its Inhahttants, chap, xviii. 
 
 ^ Cf. Lucien Carr, " Dress and Ornaments of Certain American Indians " (in Pro- 
 ceedings of the American Antiquarian Society, 1897).
 
 E.l RL ) ' RFJJGIOl :V CEREMONIES 5 5 
 
 parts of North America.' 'J"hc use of oil and other unguents early 
 established itself as a custom of savage society. They were prob- 
 ably useful in a variety of ways. For the hair they made up for the 
 absence of comb and brush ; in combat they enabled the warrior 
 to slip from the grasp of his enemy ; they defended the naked 
 body from rain, and from soiling and injury produced by contact 
 with the earth and hard bodies ; and in sickness they were regarded 
 as curative.''^ Oil was abundantly used as an article of food. 
 
 117. All these materials of decoration are transferred to the serv- 
 ice of religion. The headdress becomes a mask to represent an ani- 
 mal in a sacred ceremony,^ or a priestly tiara. In such ceremonies 
 (especially in those of initiation) the painting of the body plays an 
 important part, the traceries varying according to the thing repre- 
 sented and the symbolism of the action.* It is often difficult to see 
 the precise significance of the paintings, but in certain cases they are 
 totemic marks, and represent whatever is sacred in totemic belief.^ 
 
 118. It is possible to construe the development in two ways : the 
 paintings may be regarded as originally totemic or other clan marks,, 
 and as afterwards employed as ornaments, or the order of move- 
 ment may be taken to be in the reverse direction ; but when we 
 consider the primitive character of decoration, the second sug- 
 gestion seems the more probable. The same remark applies to the 
 practice of pricking, scarring, and tattooing.*^ For the body-markings 
 blood is sometimes employed, perhaps in part on account of its 
 decorative color, but also probably with a religious significance." 
 
 1 Ratzel, op. cit., Index, s.v. Tatioo'ing; Boas, The Central Eskimo^ p. 561 ; Fro- 
 benius, Childhood of Man, chap. ii. Among some tribes (as the Fijians) untattooed 
 persons arc denied entrance into the other world. Naturally the origin of tattoo is 
 by some tribes referred to deities: see Turner, Samoa, p. 55f. ; Journal 0/ the 
 Anthropolop:kal Institute, xix, too (New Zealand) ; xvii, 318 ff. (Queen Charlotte 
 Islands and Alaska). The Ainu hold that it drives away demons (Batchelor, The 
 Ainu, p. 22). 2 Turner, op. cit., p. 141. 
 
 8 Spencer and (iillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, chap. vi. 
 
 ^ Frobenius, Childhood of Man, p. 31 ff. ; cf. chap. i. , 
 
 s .Spencer and Gillen, op. cit., chap. vii. 
 
 On a possible connection between tattoo marks and stigmata cf. W. R. Smith, 
 Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 334. 
 
 " See § 23. Blood of men is sometimes drunk, simply to assuage thirst, or as a 
 curative (Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 462, 464).
 
 56 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 119. Decoration has been and is largely employed in structures 
 and dress connected with religious life. Posts and beams of houses, 
 totem posts and masts of vessels are covered with figures in which 
 artistic feeling is discernible ; ' and in late periods all the resources 
 of art are devoted to the form and adornments of temples, altars, 
 and images. The designs are taken from familiar objects, mostly 
 from plants and animals. The ultimate motive is love of orna- 
 ment, which, while it finds abundant expression in ordinary social 
 life, has its greatest development in religion — .a natural result of 
 the fact that in a large part of human history religion has been the 
 chief organizing factor of societ}'. 
 
 120. The tendency has been to make the dress of ministers 
 of religion ornate.^ This tendency has arisen partly from love of 
 ornament, and partly, doubtless, it is the transference of court 
 customs to religious ceremonial.^ 
 
 121. Symbolism has entered largely into religious decoration. 
 In very early times figures of animals, plants, and human beings 
 
 .were used as records of current events, and were sometimes sup- 
 posed to have magical power, the picture being identified with the 
 thing represented. In a more advanced stage of culture the tran- 
 sition was easy to the conception of the figures as representing 
 ideas, but the older conception is ofren found alongside of the 
 later — a symbolical signification is attached to pictures of historical 
 things. These then have a spiritual meaning for higher minds, 
 while for the masses they may be of the nature of fetishes.* In 
 both cases they may serve a good purpose in worship by fixing 
 the mind on sacred things. 
 
 1 Seligmann, The Mclancsians of British Nnv Guinea, Index, s.v. Art, deeorativc ; 
 Journal of American Folklore, vol. xviii, no. 69 (April, 1905). 
 
 2 So the dress of the Jewish high priest (Ex. xxviii), that of the Lamas of Tibet 
 (Abbe Hue, Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China, ii, chap, ii ; Rhys Davids, Bud- 
 dhism, p. 250), and costumes in some Christian bodies. 
 
 8 Of the same natufe is Jeremy Taylor's view (. /;/ Afoloi^y for authorized and 
 set forms of Liturgy, Question I, § 7 ff.) that, as earthly monarchs are not addressed 
 in the language of everyday familiar intercourse, so it is not proper that the deity 
 should be approached with other than choice and dignified words — public prayers 
 should be carefully worded. 
 
 ■* Cf. A. C. 11 addon, article "Art" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 EARL \ ' RI'JJ Clous CERICMOM l-:S 5 / 
 
 Economic Ceremonies 
 
 122. The first necessity of savages is a sufficient supply of food, 
 and this, they hold, is to be procured either by the application of 
 what they conceive to be natural laws, or by appeal to superhuman 
 Powers. Among economic ceremonies, therefore, we may distin- 
 guish those which may be loosely described as natural, those in 
 which a supernatural element enters, and those in which the two 
 orders of procedure appear to be combined. 
 
 123. Savages are generally skillful hunters. They know how 
 to track game, to prepare nets and pits, and to make destructive 
 weapons. The African pygmies have poisoned arrows, with which 
 they are able to kill the largest animals.^ The people of British 
 New Guinea organize hunts on a large scale.^ In Australia, Poly- 
 nesia, and America there is no tribe that is not able to secure food 
 by the use of natural means. 
 
 124. But such means are often supplemented by ceremonies that 
 involve some sort of supernatural influence. These cc:cmonies 
 appear to assume a social relation between man and beasts and 
 plants ; in some cases there is assumed a recognition by animals of 
 the necessities of the case and a spirit of friendly cooperation ; in 
 other cases a magical power is called into play. 
 
 125. Desire to propitiate the hunted animal, in order not only 
 to avert the anger of its kin but also to obtain its aid, appears in 
 the numerous cases in which excuses arc made for the killing, and 
 the animal is implored to make a friendly report of the man to 
 its friends and to return in order that it may be killed.'' L'ormal 
 prayer is sometimes made to the animal in important tribal cere- 
 monies, as in Briti.sh Columbia a boy is ordered by the chief to 
 pray to the first salmon sighted for a good catch ; * here the good 
 will of the salmon tribe and the cjuasi-human intelligence of the 
 fish are assumed. 
 
 1 A. de Quatrefages, The Pygmies, p. 157. 
 
 2 Seligmann, The Mclancsians of British Nexv Guinea, Index, s.v. Hunting. 
 
 3 Batchelor, The Ainu (the hunting of the bear) ; and so many American tribes, 
 and, in part, some half-civilized peoples, as the Arabs of North Africa. 
 
 ■* Teit, in Jesup North Pacijic Expedition, ii, 2S0.
 
 38 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 126. Precautions are taken to guard against antagonistic extra- 
 human influences ; there are taboos and rules of purification in 
 preparation for hunting. In New Guinea hunters are required to 
 abstain from certain sorts of food and to perform purificatory cere- 
 monies.^ Among the Xandi some men are forbidden to hunt, 
 make traps, or dig pits for game ; - these men. it would seem, are 
 supposed to be, for ceremonial reasons, antipathetic to the animals 
 to be hunted, as, on the other hand, there are men who attract 
 game.^ The taboos of food and other things imposed are doubt- 
 less intended to guard against malefic spirits or mana. The particu- 
 lar rules are determined by local conditions. 
 
 127. Certain rules about eating the food secured bv hunting 
 appear to have come from the desire to act in an orderly manner 
 and with due respect to the animal. When it is prescribed that a 
 bone shall not be broken this may be for fear of giving offense to 
 the animal kin and thus insuring failure in further hunting.^ The 
 provision that each man shall gather of a fruit or vegetable only so 
 much as will suffice for a single day may ha\c had an economic 
 ground, the desire to avoid waste ; or it may have been made also 
 partly in the interest of orderliness, and so have had originally no 
 reference to any superhuman being.^ Naturally it was taken up 
 into religion and given a religious sanction. 
 
 128. In Central Australia, where every clan is charged with the 
 duty of procuring a particular food (its totem) for the tribe, the 
 custom is that when the product of hunting or gathering is brought 
 in to be thrown into the tribal store, the principal men of the hunting 
 group begin by eating a little of the food, after which the food is 
 
 1 Seligmann, The Mclanesians of British Ne-w Guinea, p. 291 ff. 
 
 2 HoUis, The Naitdi, p. 8 (cf. p. 24). 
 
 3 Hollis (op. cit., p. 6 f.) relates that on a certain occasion when liis party was 
 driven from its wagons by a swarm of bees, a Nandi man appeared, announced that 
 he was of the bee totem, and volunteered to restore quiet, which he did, going stark 
 naked into the swarm. His success was doubtless due to his knowledge of the habits 
 of bees. 
 
 * So in the Tsimshian ceremony in eating the first fish caught (Boas, in Fifth 
 Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. lix, p. 51). Cf. 
 the Jewish rule (Ex. xii, 46), which may have had a similar origin. 
 
 5 Teit, in Jcsnp North Pacific Expedition, ii, 2S2. A similar provision is mentioned 
 in Ex. xvi, 16-20.
 
 EARLY RICLIulOUS CEREMOXl ES 59 
 
 licit for the rest of the trilx- but illicit for the luintcrs/ This custom 
 has been held to have a sacramental signihcancc ; it has been sug- 
 gested that the food is sanctified by the touch of the elders and thus 
 made lawful for the tribe, or that, as naturally sacred, it secures, 
 when eaten, union between the eater and a superhuman Power. 
 But there is no hint of such a conception in the Australian ceremony 
 or elsewhere. The procedure is obligatory and solemn — to omit it 
 would be, in the feeling of the people, to imperil the life of the 
 trilx- ; l)ut all such usages are sanctified by time. We should rather 
 seek for the origin of the custom in some simple early idea. It is 
 not unusual, in parts of Australia and in other lands, that a man, 
 though he may not eat his totem, may kill it for others ; the eating 
 in this case is the important thing — there is magical power in it — 
 and the economic obligation to provide food overbears the sense of 
 reverence for the totem. The only obscure point in the ceremony 
 under consideration is the obligation on the killer or gatherer to taste 
 the food before he gives it to his fellows. This may be a survival 
 of the rule, known to exist among some tribes, that in a hunting 
 party he who kills an animal has the first right to it. The Australian 
 hunter cannot eat his totem, but he may hold to his traditional right ; 
 the result will be the custom as it now exists. With our present 
 knowledge no quite satisfactory explanation of the origin of this 
 particular rule can be given. 
 
 129. The employment of magical means for procuring food 
 appears in the performance of ceremonial dances, in the use of 
 charms, the imitation of animals, and otlier procedures. In Cali- 
 fornia the supply of acorns and animals is supposed to be increased 
 by dances.- The New Guinea Koita give their hunting dogs decoc- 
 tions of sago and other food into which are put pieces of odoriferous 
 bark ; ^ these charms are said to have been got from the Papuans, 
 the lowest race of the region. A Pawnee folk-story (which doubtless 
 reflects a current idea) tells how a boy by his songs (that is, magic 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 167 f., and Natiri'e 
 Tribes of Northern Australia, p. 30S etc. ; Strehlovv, Die Aranda- mid Loritjastdmme 
 in Zcntralausiralien, part ii, p. 59 etc. ^ Dixon, The Northern Maidu, p. 285 f. 
 
 3 Seligmann, The Mclanesians of British New Guinea, p. 177 f.
 
 6o JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 songs or charms) brought the buffalo within reach of his people.^ 
 Among the Melanesians of New Guinea the hunting expert plays a 
 great role — his presence is necessar)' for the success of an expedi- 
 tion.- He fixes the date of the hunt, prepares himself by a series 
 of abstinences,' and at the appointed time assembles the men, recites 
 spells addressed to ancestors, and passing along the lines of the 
 hunters imitates the movements of the animal sought.* 
 
 130. ^^ery elaborate ceremonies including imitations of animals 
 (imitative or sympathetic magic) are found in Central Australia.*^ 
 When any animal is to be hunted the old men of the appropriate 
 totemic group, dressed to imitate the totem and accompanied by 
 some of the young men, repair to a spot regarded as sacred, and, 
 along with other ceremonies, trace on the sacred rock, with blood 
 drawn from the young men, a picture of the animal, or figures 
 representing its growth — in general, something that sets forth its 
 personality. These ceremonies, very numerous and extending over 
 a long space of time, constitute the main business of the elders, as, 
 in fact, the procuring of food is the chief concern of the people. 
 
 131. There is no perceptible religious element in these Australian 
 ceremonies — no utterance of charms or prayers, no mention of 
 any supernatural being. The acts appear to be simply procedures 
 of imitative magic, customs sanctified by long usage. They relate 
 to the life of the tribe ; this life, like all life, is mysterious and there- 
 fore sacred.*^ The belief in the potency of the ceremonies appears 
 to come from belief in the vital identity of the two groups, human 
 and nonhuman — the latter is supposed to respond, in some occult 
 way, to the expression of kinship involved in the official proceedings. 
 
 132. The employment of blood (considered as the locus of life) 
 may indicate more definitely a sense of the unity of life-force ; the 
 human blood is, perhaps, supposed to stimulate life in the kindred 
 animal group, and so to produce a large supply of individuals. In 
 
 1 Dorsey, The Skidi Pa-vitcc, p. 149. 2 Seligmann, op. cit., p. 291 ff. 
 
 3 Here again the taboos are precautions against injurious supernatural influences. 
 
 ■< Me is said also to imitate the cries of animals — that is, he combines natural 
 means with supernatural. ^ Spencer and Gillen, and Strehlow, loc. cit. 
 
 •i This feeling for the tribal life may be called germinal public spirit. Cf. above, 
 § 103-
 
 EARLY RELIC JOL 'S CEREMOXIES 6 1 
 
 the published accouiUs there is no hinl that the blood is supposed 
 to have atoning power. There is no sense of wrongdoing or un- 
 worthiness on the part of the performers, or of any relation to a 
 deity. The theology of Central Australia is still obscure — the gen- 
 eral religious situation in that region has much that is enigmatical. 
 
 133. A more advanced ritual occurs among certain agricultural 
 tribes, among whom is found a more elaborate use of blood and a 
 definite recognition of superhuman beings. In these communities 
 it is regarded as necessary to proli table tilling to fertilize the soil 
 with the blood of a slain victim, sometimes human (as among the 
 Khonds of Orissa, the Pawnees, and others'), sometimes bestial (as 
 in Southern India"-); parts of the victim's flesh are buried, or blood 
 is sprinkled on the seed, and homage' is paid to a sacred stone or 
 some similar object. 
 
 134. In more civilized agricultural communities these ceremonies 
 persist in attenuated form. There is a sacrifice of first-born animals 
 to a deity and an offering of the first fruits of the field ; and as chil- 
 dren, no less than crops, are the gift of the gods, whose bounty 
 must be recognized, it is not surprising to find that, along with the 
 first fruits of the field, first-born children are sometimes sacrificed to 
 the deity. Such a custom is reported as existing or having existed 
 in New South Wales, Florida, East Africa, heathen Russia, the Fiji 
 Islands, and Northern India.^ A trace of the custom among the 
 early Hebrews is, probably, to be recognized in the provision of the 
 Old 'J'estament code that the first-born children are to be redeemed 
 by an animal sacrifice.* 
 
 135. In the course of time many ceremonies grew up in connec- 
 tion with the procuring and housing of crops and other supplies. 
 In Australia the men of the clan charged with assuring any sort of 
 food were unarmed and fasted during their ceremony.^ Among the 
 Kondyan plowing and sowing are solemn seasons, an a.uspicious 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough^ 2d cd., ii, 23S ff. - Hopkins, Religions of Iinliii, p. 526. 
 
 3 Frazer {Golden Bonglt, 2d ed., ii, 45 ff.) refers to B. Smyth, Aborigines of Vieloria, 
 ii, 31 1 ; Strachey, Historic, p. 84 ; Krapf, Travels, p. 69 f. ; Mone, Gcschkhte dcs Hci- 
 denthiims im nordliilien Eiiropa, i, 119. See, further, T. Williams and Calvert, Fift, 
 p. 181 f . ; W. Crooke, Pof<ular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, ii, 169. 
 
 ^ Ex. xxii, 29 [28] ; xiii, 12, 13. 5 Spencer and Gillen, op. cit., chap. vi.
 
 62 JXTRODUCTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 day is chosen, and there are religious songs and clioruses.' For 
 the Hos of Northeastern India the harvest home is a great fes- 
 tival, held with sacrifice and prayer (though also with great license 
 of manners).' A dim conception of law underlies all these proce- 
 dures. The law is sometimes natural, as in imitative processes, 
 sometimes religious, as when blood is employed or the agency of 
 religious official persons is called in. 
 
 136. The economical importance of rain has led to various quasi- 
 scientific and magical devices for securing it, and to the rise of pro- 
 fessional rain makers. I'he methods commonly employed are mimic 
 representations of rainfall or of a storm.^ The Australian Arunta 
 have a rain clan whose function is to bring the desired supply 
 by nonsacred dancing festi^'als and sacred ceremonies. A more 
 advanced method is to dip a stone, as rain-god, into a stream.'* 
 Certain American tribes assign the duty of rain making to secret 
 societies or to priests. 
 
 137. All such economical ceremonies disappear with the progress 
 of knowledge, though traces of them linger long in civilized com- 
 munities. Messrs. Spencer and Gillen note the gradual disappear- 
 ance of the economical and magical aspect of ceremonies in parts 
 of Australia, and a similar process is to be observed elsewhere.^ 
 
 Apotropaic Ceremonies 
 
 138. The savage and half-civilized belief (a belief that has sur- 
 vived to some extent in civilized communities) is that the ills that 
 afflict or threaten a community (such as epidemics and shortage of 
 crops) are due not to natural causes but to supernatural agencies. 
 
 '^Journal of the Anthropological Instiiiite, xxv, 104 ff. 
 
 2 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., iii, 78. 
 
 'i Journal 0/ the Anthropological Institute, xxiii, iS ; xxvi, 30. Other examples are 
 given by Frazer in his Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 81 ff., 163 : he cites cases of persons 
 (priests and kings) held responsible for rain, and put to death if they failed to 
 supply it. 
 
 ■* Turner, Samoa, p. 145. On certain Roman ceremonies (that of the lapis mana- 
 lis and others) that have been supposed to be connected with rain making see Wis- 
 sowa, A'eligion und Kuttus dcr Komcr, p. 106 ; W. W. Fowler, Roman Festivals of the 
 Period of the Republic, iii. 
 
 S Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, p. 23.
 
 EARLY RriLIGIOUS CEREMOXIES 63 
 
 But man, it is held, may control the hostile supernatural agents — 
 they are subject to fear and other emotions, and though powerful are 
 not omnipotent ; they ma\' be expelled or otherwise got rid of — 
 violence may be used against them, or the aid of stronger super- 
 natural Powers may be called in. In pursuance of these ends 
 ceremonies have been devised in many parts of the world ; though 
 differing in details they are alike in principle ; the question is how 
 man may become the master of the demons. The ceremonies are 
 sometimes performed on the occasion of particular afflictions, some- 
 times are massed at stated seasons, as at the beginning of the year 
 or in connection with some agricultural festival. 
 
 139. Man's defensive attitude toward the supernatural world 
 appears in many usages connected with ordinary life. P^ear of the 
 hostility of ghosts has led surviving friends to take precautions 
 against their return — their own houses are closed to them and 
 they are driven away with blows. ^ They are too near akin to be 
 trusted, and they are believed to be able and willing to do harm.^ 
 At the other extreme of life, when the child comes into the world, 
 mother and child must be guarded against hostile demonic in- 
 fluences.^ When a demon is known to have entered into a human 
 being, producing sickness or madness, exorcism must be resorted 
 to ; magicians, prophets, and saints are able by ceremonies or by 
 prayer to expel the intruder and restore the afflicted to health. 
 Ritual taint (which is supernatural), incurred, for example, by touch- 
 ing a dead body, is removed by sprinkling with sacred water.^ 
 
 140. Eut the term " apotropaic " is generally used of expulsive 
 ceremonies in which a whole community takes part. In the sim- 
 plest forms of procedure the hostile spirits are driven out of the 
 village by shouts and blows ; crowds of men rush through the 
 streets, searching houses, expelling spirits at every possible point 
 of ingress, and finally forcing them outside the limits of the com- 
 munity. Examples of such a custom are found in the Pacific 
 
 1 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 454; Westermarck, Origin and Development of the 
 Moral Ideas, i, 52 ff.; ii, 532 ff. 
 
 2 There is, of course, another side to the character of ghosts — sometimes they 
 are friendly. 3 Ploss, Das Kind, 2d ed., i, chap. iv. * Numb. xix.
 
 64 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Islands, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, West Africa, Cambodia, India, 
 North America (Eskimo), South America (Peru),* and there are 
 survivals in modern Europe. In China this wholesale expulsion is 
 still practiced in a very elaborate form."'^ Among the Ainu, it is said, 
 on the occasion of any accident the " spirit of accidents " (a useful 
 generalization) is driven away b\- tlie community.'' In these cases 
 the spirits are thought of as being in a sort corporeal, sensitive to 
 blows, and also as afraid of noise. There is sometimes a combi- 
 nation of natural and supernatural conceptions : while the \iolent 
 expulsive process is going on the household utensils are vigorously 
 washed by the women ; washing, known to cleanse from mere 
 physical dirt, here also takes on, from its association with the men's 
 ceremony of expulsion, a supernatural potency — it removes the 
 injurious mana of the hostile spirits. 
 
 141. Less violent methods of riddance may be employed. T'-vil, 
 being a jjhysical thing, may be embodied in some object, nonhuman 
 or human, which is then carried forth or sent away to some distant 
 point, or destroyed. With this principle of transference may be 
 compared the conception of solidarity of persons and things in a 
 tribe or other communitv : what one unit does or suffers affects all 
 — the presence of an accursed thing with one person brings a curse 
 on his nation,'' and conversely, the removal of the evil thing or per- 
 son removes the curse, which may, under certain circumstances, 
 be shifted to some other place or person. 
 
 142. The particular method of expulsion or transference is im- 
 material.^ The troublesome evil may be carted or boated away 
 according to local convenience, or it may depart in the person of 
 an animal. Leprous taint is transferred to a bird, which, having 
 been dipped in the blood of a sacred animal, is allowed to fly away 
 carrying the taint off from the community." Even moral evils (sin) 
 may thus be got rid of. \\\ the great Hebrew annual ceremony 
 of atonement not only the ritual impurity of the sanctuary and 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough, zd ed., iii, 39 ff. 
 
 2 J. J. M. de Groot, Religion of the Chinese, chap. ii. 
 
 8 Batchelor, The .linn, new ed., p. 321 f. •* Josh, vii (story of Achan). 
 
 5 Examples are given in Frazer's Golden Bough, loc. cit. "^ Lev. xiv, 1-9.
 
 K.l RL \ ' RKIJGIOUS CEREMONIES 65 
 
 the altar, but also the sin of the nation, is laid on a goat and sent 
 away to the wilderness demon, Azazel.^ 
 
 143. Examples of human apotropaic vehicles occur in the ancient 
 civilized world. In the Athenian Thargelia the Pharmakos was 
 supposed to bear in his person crimes and evils, and was driven 
 forth from the city.'- The same conception is found, perhaps, in the 
 Roman Mamuralia and Lupercalia. In the first of these Mamer- 
 tius is driven forth from the city and consigned to the keeping of 
 hostile persons;^ in the second, young men ran about the streets 
 beating the women with strips of goatskin, the skin being that of a 
 sacred animal — a proceeding that was regarded as purificatory, 
 and seems to be naturally explicable as an expulsion of evil spirits 
 or injurious mana.'* 
 
 144. In another direction expulsion of evil, or protection against 
 it, is effected by the blood of a sacrificed (and therefore sacred) 
 animal. A well-known example of this sort of ceremony is the 
 Hebrew pesah (the old lamb ceremony, later combined with the 
 agricultural festival of unleavened bread, at the time of the first 
 harvest, the two together then constituting the passover) ; here 
 the doorposts and lintel of every house were sprinkled with the 
 blood of a slain lamb by the master of the house,^ and the hostile 
 spirits hovering in the air were thus prevented from entering. The 
 sacred blood seems to have been conceived of as carrying with it 
 the power of the family god (who was also the clan god), which 
 overbore that of the demons (in the earliest period, however, the 
 efficacy was doubtless held to reside simply in the blood itself). 
 The ceremony belonged to each family, but it belonged also to the 
 clan since it was performed by every family, and ultimately it became 
 a national usage. 
 
 1 Lev. xvi. Cf. the vision (Zech. v, 5 ff.) in which wickedness (or guilt), in the 
 shape of a woman, is represented (in no brotherly spirit) as being transferred from 
 Jewish soil to Shinar (Chaldea). 
 
 2 Miss J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, p. 95 ff. 
 
 8 Later the festival was certainly connected with the driving forth of winter, but 
 its earlier form was, probably, as given above. 
 
 •* W. W. Fowler, Roman Festivals, Index, s.v. Mamurius, Lupercalia. The beat- 
 ing was supposed also to have fertilizing pow'er ; cf. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, 
 ', Joo ff. 5 Dcut. xvi; Ex. xii.
 
 66 IXTKODL'CTIOX TO J/ISTOKV OF REL/GIOXS 
 
 145. Apotropaic ceremonies appear to have been performed 
 originally at various times during the year as occasions arose ; 
 the increasing pressure of occupations,^ the necessity of consulting 
 people's convenience, and the demand for order and precision led 
 here (as in other cases) to the massing of the obsen'anccs. When 
 so massed they begin to lose their original significance, to yield to 
 the knowledge of natural law, to be reinterpreted from time to time, 
 and finally to become mere social events or to be dropped altogether. 
 Apotropaism has hardly survived at all in the higher religions." In 
 popular customs it appears in the reliance placed on horseshoes 
 and other objects as means of keeping witches and similar demonic 
 thing's out of houses.^ 
 
 '&" 
 
 Ceremonies of Puberty and Initiation 
 
 146. Ceremonies in connection with the arrival of young persons, 
 male and female, at the age of maturity appear to be uni\ersal, and 
 they yield in importance to no other class of social procedures. 
 The basis of most of these is civil ; their object is to prepare young ^ 
 persons for entering on the active duties of what may be called 
 citizenship. They involve a distinct idea of the importance of the 
 clan, the necessity of maintaining its life unimpaired, and, to that 
 end, preparing with the utmost care the younger portion of the 
 community to take up the duties of the older. The boys are to 
 be trained to be the hunters and rulers of the clan, the girls are to 
 be fitted to become the wives and mothers of the next generation. 
 But while the ceremonies in question have their foundation in the 
 needs of civil life, they inevitably receive a religious coloring, since 
 religion is intimately connected with all the details of early life. 
 
 147. Among the details of the initiation of boys, tests of en- 
 durance occupy a prominent place. In various ways the capacity 
 of the lad to endure physical pain or to face apparent dangers is 
 
 1 In some savage tribes the older men seem to have nothing to do but arrange 
 ceremonies. 
 
 2 There is a faint survival, perhaps, in the use of incense in churches. 
 
 8 A. WuHkc, Dcr deittsc/ie Volksabcrglaitbc dcrGcgotwari^zA. E. H.Meyer, Index; 
 J. H. King, The Suj>€ntaiural, i, 1 1 1 ff.
 
 EARLY RFJJCIOUS CER/CJ/OXZ/iS 6/ 
 
 tested,^ and in some cases one who fails to stand such tests is re- 
 fused admission into the clan and forever after occupies an infe- 
 rior and despised position. Such persons are sometimes treated 
 as women ; they are required to wear women's dress and to do 
 menial work.^ 
 
 148. 'I'he seclusion of girls on arriving at the age of puberty, with 
 imposition of various taboos (of food, etc.), is a widespread cus- 
 tom. The mysterious change in the girl is supposed to be produced 
 by some supernatural and dangerous Power, and she is therefore to 
 be shielded from contact with all injurious things. The details of 
 the procedure depend on local ideas, but the principle is the same 
 everywhere. The object is the preparation of the girl for civic life, 
 and the ceremony inevitably becomes connected with tribal cults of 
 the supernatural Powers.^ 
 
 149. A rearrangement of taboos is a frequent feature in cere- 
 monies of puberty and initiation. Certain taboos, no longer needed, 
 are removed and others are imposed ; these latter refer, in the case 
 of boys, to intercourse with the men and women of the clan or 
 tribe — they are instructed not to speak to certain persons, and 
 in general they are made acquainted with the somewhat elaborate 
 social system that prevails in many early tribes. These taboos are 
 intended to prepare the boys to understand their position as members 
 of the tribe, responsible for the maintenance of its customs. The 
 taboos relating to food have arisen from conditions whose origins 
 belong to a remote and unrecorded past, and remain obscure.* 
 
 150. When the ceremony of initiation is elaborate and secret, 
 it becomes mysterious to boys, is looked forward to by them with 
 apprehension, and appeals to their imagination. Supernatural terrors 
 are provided by the leaders — noises are heard (made by the bull- 
 roarer or some similar device), and the report is circulated that the 
 
 1 Journal of the Anthropological Institute , xii, 129 ff. (.\ndaman Islands) ; ibid, xxv, 
 188 (East Africa) ; Frobenius, Childhood of Man, chap, iii ; Frazer, Golden Bough, 
 2d ed., iii, 422 ff. 
 
 2 A. L. Kroeber, in University of California Publieations in American Archceology 
 and Ethnology, ii, viii ; Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, 
 chap, xliii (on homosexual relations). 
 
 3 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 326 ; iii, 204 ff. ; Hartland, Primitive Paternity, 
 Index, s.v. Puberty ; Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 55. < See below, under " Taboo."
 
 68 JXTKODL'CT/O.y TO I/ISTORV OF KELIG/OXS 
 
 initiate is in danger of death at the hands of a supernatural being. 
 These methods testify to the importance attached b\- early societies 
 to the introduction of the young into social and political life, and 
 they furnish an early example of the employment of the super- 
 natural for the government of the masses. I'he old men do not 
 believe in their supernatural machinery, and the boys, after initia- 
 tion, are let into the secret. 
 
 151. Mutilation of the body is a widespread custom in connection 
 with initiation and arrival at the age of puberty-' In most cases the 
 origin of mutilating customs is obscure. Imitation of the form or 
 appearance of a sacred animal, embellishment of the initiate, or 
 consecration of a part of the body to a deity have been suggested 
 as motives ; but there is no clear evidence of such designs. The 
 knocking out of a tooth may be for convenience in taking food ; 
 it seems not to have religious significance except in so far as all 
 tribal marks become religiously important.^ Boring through the 
 septum of the nose is perhaps for decorative purposes. The cut- 
 ting of the hair is possibly for convenience, possibly for dedication 
 to a deity.'' 
 
 152. Among the most important of the customs of initiation 
 are those connected with the organs of generation, excluding, as is 
 remarked above, complete excision, which belongs to conceptions 
 of religious asceticism (consecration to a deity, preservation against 
 temptation) in the higher cults, and is not found among savages.* 
 Partial excision occurs in circumcision, for males, and in similar 
 operations for females. 
 
 153. Circumcision of males. ^ The most widely diffused of such 
 customs of initiation is the gashing or the complete removal of the 
 
 1 Emasculation, of course, does not belong here ; it is not a custom of initiation 
 proper. 2 cf. Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 135. 
 
 ^ JoJirnal of the Anthropological Institute, xxvii, 406 (Omahas). On mutilation as 
 a general religious rite see H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, 189, 290, and as pun- 
 ishment, Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. 
 Mutilation. 
 
 * Roscher, I.cxikon, articles " Attis," " Kybele." Origen is a noteworthy example 
 in Christian times ; cf. Matt, xix, 12. 
 
 s For details of diffusion, methods, etc., see article " Circumcision " in Hastings, 
 Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 EARLY RI'.LIGIOL'S CIIREMOXIES 69 
 
 prepuce. It existetl in ancient limes amonj; the Egyptians, the 
 Canaanites, and the Hebrews (for the Arabs, the Syrians, and the 
 Babylonians and Ass\rians we have no information), not, so far as 
 the records go, among the Greeks, Romans, and Hindus. At the 
 present time it is found among all Moslems and most Jewish com- 
 munities, throughout Africa, Australia, Polynesia and Melanesia, 
 and, it is said, in Eastern Mexico. It is hardly possible to say what 
 its original distribution was, and whether or not there was a single 
 center of distribution. As to its cjrigin many theories ha\-e been 
 advanced. Its character as initiatory is not an explanation^ — ^all 
 customs of initiation need to have their origins explained. It may 
 be said at the outset that a usage prevalent in low tribes and clearly 
 beginning under savage conditions of life must, probably, have 
 sprung from some simple physical need, not from advanced scien- 
 tific or religious conceptions. We may briefly examine the principal 
 explanations of its origin that have been offered. 
 
 154. It cannot be regarded as a test of endurance, for it involves 
 no great suffering, and neither it nor the severer operation of sub- 
 incision^ (practiced in Australia) is ever spoken of as an official test. 
 
 155. A hygienic ground is out of the question for early society. 
 The requisite medical observation is then lacking, and there is 
 no hint of such a motive in the material bearing on the subject. 
 Circumcision is employed in modern surgery for certain diseases 
 and as a generally helpful operation, but such employment appears 
 to be modern and of limited extent. The exact meaning of Herod- 
 otus's statement that the Egyptians were circumcised for the sake 
 of cleanliness, preferring it to beauty,- is not clear ; but in any case 
 so late an idea throws no light on the beginnings. 
 
 156. Somewhat more to the point is Crawley's view that the 
 object of the removal of the prepuce is to get rid of the dangerous 
 emanation from the physical secretion therewith connected.'' Such 
 an object would issue from savage ideas of magic, the secretions 
 of the human body (as urine and dung) being often supposed to 
 contain the power resident in all life. But this view, though 
 
 1 This is an incision of the penis from the meatus down to the scrotal pouch. 
 
 2 Herodotus, ii, i"]. 3 Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 137 f.
 
 yo IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 conceivably correct, is without support from known facts. There is 
 no trace of fear of the secretion in question, and the belief in power, 
 when such a belief appears, attaches rather to the oblated prepuce 
 (which is sometimes preserved as a sort of charm, or hidden, or 
 swallowed by the boy or by some other person ) than to the secretion. 
 Nor does this theory account for the custom of subincision. 
 
 157. As circumcision is often performed shortly before marriage 
 it has been suggested that its object is to increase procreative 
 power by preventing phimosis.^ The opinion that such is its effect, 
 though it has no scientific support, has been and is held by not a 
 few persons. Such an object, however, is improbable for low stages 
 of society — ■ it implies an extent of observation that is not to be 
 assumed for savages ; and there is, besides, the fact that certain 
 tribes (in Australia and elsewhere) that practice circumcision do not 
 connect the birth of children with sexual intercourse. In general it 
 is not to be supposed that savages make well-considered physical 
 preparation for marriage in the interests of procreation. The choice 
 of mates is determined by tribal law, but in other respects the in- 
 dividual is generally left free before marriage to satisfy his appetite 
 — it is instinct that controls the relations between the sexes. 
 
 158. There is no clear evidence that the origin of circumcision 
 is to be traced to religious conceptions. It has been held that it is 
 connected with the cult of the generative organs (phallic worship).^ 
 It is true that a certain sacredness often attached to these organs; 
 this appears, for example, in the oath taken by laying the liands upon 
 or under the thigh, as in the story of Abraham.^ In some parts of 
 Africa circumcision is directly connected or combined with the wor- 
 ship of the phallus.* But, on the other hand, each of these customs is 
 found frequently without the other: in India we have phallic worship 
 without circumcision, in Australia circumcision without phallic wor- 
 ship ; and this separateness of the two may be said to be the rule. 
 The cult of the phallus seems not to exist among the lowest peoples. 
 
 159. The view that circumcision is of the nature of a sacrifice 
 or dedication to a deity, particularly to a deity of fertility, appears 
 
 1 Ploss, Das k'iiid, 2d cd., i, 36S f. 3 Gen. xxiv, 2 f. 
 
 2 On phallic cults see below, § 388 ff. ^ A. 15. Ellis, T/ic Yoriiba, p. 66.
 
 EARLY RELIGIOUS CEREMOXIES y\ 
 
 to be derived from lalc usages in times when more refined ideas 
 have been attached to early customs. '1 he i'hr)'gian practice of 
 excision was regarded, probably, as a sacrifice. But elsewhere, in 
 Egypt, Babylonia, Syria, and Canaan, where the worship of gods 
 and goddesses of fertility was pr<:)minent, we do not find circum- 
 cision connected therewith. In the writings of the (Jld Testament 
 prophets it is treated as a s\mbol of moral purification. Among 
 the lower peoples there is no trace of the conception of it as a 
 sacrifice. It is not circumcision that makes the phallus sacred — 
 it is sacred in itself, and all procedures of savage veneration for 
 the prepuce assume its inherent potency. 
 
 160. Nor can circumcision be explained as an attenuated sur- 
 vival of human sacrifice. The practice (in Peru and elsewhere) of 
 drawing blood from the heads or hands of children on solemn 
 occasions may be a softening of an old savage custom, and the 
 blood of circumcision is sacred. But this quality attaches to all 
 blood, and the essential thing in circumcision is not the blood but 
 the removal of the prepuce. 
 
 161. The suggestion that the object of detaching and preserving 
 the foreskin (a vital part of one's self) is to lay up a stock of vital 
 energy, and thus secure reincarnation for the disembodied spirit,^ 
 is putting an afterthought for origin. The existence of the practice 
 in question is doubtful, and it must have arisen, if it existed, after 
 circumcision had become an established custom. Savages and other 
 peoples, when they feel the need of providing for reincarnation, 
 commonly preserve the bones or the whole body of the deceased. 
 
 162. Ci/nt/Nas/o/i and other operatiojis performed on females. 
 Circumcision of girls is practiced by many African savage tribes 
 (Nandi, Masai, Mandingos, and others), by Malays and Arabs, 
 Gallas and Abessinians and others. Introcision appears to be con- 
 fined to Australia. Infibulation is practiced in Northeastern Africa 
 and by the Mohammedan Malays." The effect, and doubtless the 
 
 1 J. G. Frazer, in the Independent Re-\cu>, iv, 204 ff. 
 
 2 Circumcision of females is the removal of the clitoris and the labia minora ; in- 
 trocision is the enlargement of the vaginal orifice l)y tearing it downwards : infibula- 
 tion is the closing of the labia just after circumcision. Cf. Ploss, Das Welb, 2d ed., i, 
 chap. V.
 
 /- 
 
 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 purpose, of the first and second of these operations is to facilitate 
 coition ; the object of tlic third is to prevent coition until the proper 
 time for it arrives. They are all connected more or less with initia- 
 tion or with arrival at the age of puberty, and they are, naturally, 
 sometimes associated with other ceremonies. 
 
 163. Origin of circumcisioii. The preceding review may be taken 
 to make it probable that the origin of circumcision is not to be 
 referred to reflection or to religious ideas. We must look for a 
 cruder motive, and several considerations point to the desire to 
 facilitate coition as the starting point of the custom. Reports from 
 all over the savage world testify to the prominence of sexual in- 
 tercourse in the lower forms of human life. Folk-stories are full 
 of coarse details of the practice. Popular festivals are often char- 
 acterized by gross license. To lend a wife to a guest is in many 
 places a recognized rule of hospitality.' In all this there is nothing 
 immoral — it is permitted by the existing law arrd is in accord with 
 the current ideas of propriety. Early man seems in this regard to 
 have obeyed his animal appetite without reflection, so far hardly 
 differing from the brutes. This form of pleasure occupied (and 
 occupies) a great part of his life, and it was not unnatural that he 
 should seek to remove all hindrances from it. It is quite conceivable 
 that early observation led him to regard the prepuce as a hindrance. 
 
 164. About the motives of early man in the adoption of these 
 customs of excision we have, of course, no direct information ; 
 but some later usages favor the explanation suggested above. 
 The operations performed on females are obviously dictated by 
 considerations of convenience or propriety in coition. Various 
 means are adopted of increasing the pleasure of sexual intercourse 
 (in Indonesia and elsewhere).^ These procedures are purely ani- 
 mal, nonmoral, and withput ulterior design ; there is no thought of 
 progeny or, in general, of preparation for marriage — the frame of 
 mind is appropriate to the lowest grade of life. 
 
 1 Cf. also the great extent to which masturbation prevails among savages. Cf. 
 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, chap, xliii. 
 
 2 A rod is thrust through the glans of the penis ; see Roth, in Journal of the An- 
 thropological Institute, xxii, 45 (the palang) ; cf. Ploss, Das Weib, 2d ed., i, chap, xi ; 
 J. '^Xdx.d.oToX^, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xx, 116.
 
 EARL \ ■ RICLIGIOUS CEREMONIES 73 
 
 165. In the course of time, however, all such customs tend to 
 become sanctified and to take on new meanings. When the im- 
 portance of circumcision was generally felt, it was natural that 
 it should he ])erformed at puberty and at initiation.^ It would 
 thus come to be regarded as an introduction to the tribal life — 
 not as preparation, but as a custom established by unwritten law. 
 Its origination would be put far back in the past and sometimes 
 ascribed to supernatural personages — the Central Australians 
 refer it to the m\thical ancestors, the later Jews to the command 
 of the national tlcity issued to the legendary or mythical ancestor 
 Atram.'- I'nder certain circumstances it might become a tribal 
 mark ; the Hebrews thus distinguished themselves from their 
 neighbors the Philistines, and "uncircumcised" was a term of 
 reproach.^ 
 
 166. Apart from its use in initiation the cultic role of circum- 
 cision has been small. It does not appear as an element in the 
 worship of any deity, neither in that of such gods as Osiris, Tam- 
 muz, Adonis, Attis, nor in that of any other. It is not represented 
 in ancient records as a devotion of one's self or an assimilation 
 of one's self or of a child to the tribal or national god. Its per- 
 formance is generally a religious duty, as is true of every estab- 
 lished custom, but this fact throws no light on its origin. The 
 prepuce is sometimes treated as an amulet or in general as a magi-' 
 cally powerful or sacred thing ; but many other parts of the body 
 (hair, finger nails, etc.) are so treated. 
 
 167. In the higher religions circumcision is generally viewed as 
 an act of physical purification or as a symbol of moral purification. 
 The former view, perhaps, prevailed in Egypt, though on this 
 jwint the records appear to be silent.* The latter view is that of 
 the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament.^ It has 
 
 1 Cf. the defloration of young women (by certain officially appointed men) on the 
 occasion of their arriving at the age of puberty ; Rivers, Tlic Todas, p. 503 ; Spencer 
 and Gillen, A^rt/fz'f Tribes of Central Australia, p. 93 ; Crawley, The Mystic Rose, p. 347. 
 
 2 Gen. xvii. Islam has no divine sanction for irircumcision ; it is not mentioned 
 in the Koran, doubtless because Mohammed took it for granted as a current usage. 
 
 ^ I Sam. xvii, 26. 
 
 ■1 Article "Circumcision (Egyptian) " in Hastings, F.ncyclop(cdia of Religion and 
 Ethics, and the literature there cited. 5 Deut. x, 16 ; Jer. ix, 25 f. ; Rom. ii, 2S f.
 
 74 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 now ceased to have any effective religious significance, and is re- 
 tained in some communities merely as a national social tradition 
 or as an ancient divine ordinance. 
 
 168. The origin of circumcision suggested above seems to ac- 
 count sufficiently for all usages and ideas connected with it ; the 
 possibility of several different origins need not be denied, but 
 the practical identity of the customs in all parts of the world in 
 which the institution exists, makes the simpler hypothesis the 
 more j^robable. 
 
 169. Certain features of ceremonies of initiation appear to be 
 designed to secure tmion between the initiate and the clan. Such, 
 for example, is the custom found in New South Wales of the 
 initiate's drinking the blood of his companions. In other cases there 
 is a union with other parts of the body. Such usages arise from the 
 idea that physical union is essential to social union — a conception 
 which elsewhere takes the form of blood-brotherhood.^ This is a 
 scientific rather than a religious idea, depending on the belief that 
 the body is an essential part of the personality.^ 
 
 170. Another noteworthy custom is the feigned rcsurreciion of the 
 initiate. In Australia the women are informed that the youth during 
 the process of initiation is slain by a supernatural being and brought 
 to life again. Elsewhere the initiate is supposed to forget his former 
 life completely and to be obliged, on emerging from the ceremony, 
 to recover slowly his knowledge of things.^ The origin of this custom 
 is obscure, but it appears to express the idea that the youth now 
 enters on an entirely new life, and having come into new relations 
 and responsibilities, is to forget what he was and what he did 
 before — a profound conception which has been taken up into some 
 of the most advanced religions (as, for example, in baptism and 
 confirmation). 
 
 171. In certain half-civilized tribes a higher type of initiatory 
 ceremonies is found. The youth must perform a lonely vigil, going 
 
 1 Article'' Brotherhood (artificial)" in YiAst\ng%,Encyclopa:dia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 Cf. H. C. Trumbull, The Dlood-Covcnaitl , passim : W. K. Smith, Religion of the 
 Semites, new cd., Index, s.v. Blood Covenant. 
 
 3 Frazer, Golden Bough, ad ed., iii, 422 ff. ; cf. Gatschet, Migration Legend of the 
 Creeks, p. 185 f.
 
 J-:. I RL \ ' RELlulO US CEREMONIES y 5 
 
 into the forest or some other solitary place, and there wait for the 
 vision or revelation of a supernatural protector.' This procedure 
 is connected with the advance of individualism, the old totemic or 
 other relation being superseded by an individual relation to a 
 guardian spirit. The development of this higher religious conception 
 will be discussed below. '^ 
 
 172. Finally, instruction forms a part of most initiation cere- 
 monies. The youth is told the secrets of the tribe, and is thus 
 inducted into its higher and more intimate life.'' This confiding of 
 tribal secrets (the tradition and the knowledge of sacred things) to 
 the young man about to enter on public life is a political necessity, 
 but in the nature of the case connects itself with religious concep- 
 tions. Generally, also, moral instruction is given.'* The ethical code 
 is usually good so far as intratribal relations are concerned (foreign- 
 ers are not considered): the youth is told that he must obey his elders, 
 respect the rights of his fellow clansmen, and especially be careful 
 in his attitude toward women. In some cases a supernatural sanction 
 for such instructions is added ; it is impressed on the youth that 
 some supernatural being will punish him if he disobeys these instruc- 
 tions. The moral code in question is one which springs naturally 
 and necessarily from the relations of men in society, and the super- 
 natural sanction affixed to it is a consequence of the belief that the 
 tribal deity is the lord of the tribe and the natural and most effec- 
 tive guardian of its rights. 
 
 173. From this brief statement of initiation ceremonies it appears 
 that they rest substantially on social ideas and necessities. Religion 
 enters into them, as is pointed out above, when a superhuman being 
 is represented as the patron of the clan and the protector of its 
 ceremonies, or when the moral teaching is referred to such a being, 
 or when the initiate seeks a supernatural patron with whom to en- 
 ter into relations, or when, as in some North Australian tribes, the 
 
 1 Alice Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies, p. 27S. - §§ SI*. 'o<^'5 ^- ' ■''" ^^■ 
 
 '^Journal of the Anthropological Instiintc, x.w, 295 (South .Australia): llowitt, 
 
 Native Tribes of South- East Australia, p. 531 f. 
 
 ^ Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xiii, 296 (Queensland) ; Hovvitt, loc. cit. ; 
 
 Spencer and Gilicn, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 22 1, 223, and Native Tribes 
 
 of Northern Australia, p. 361.
 
 je IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 supernatural being is believed to be angry at the omission of the 
 ceremonies. This last case might recall the displeasure of the Greek 
 gods when sacrifices to them were withheld or diminished ; but more 
 probably it involves simply the belief that all important ceremonies 
 and affairs are under the control of the being in question, who de- 
 mands obedience to him as lord. 
 
 174. In later stages of savage or semicivilized life the clan con- 
 stitution as a rule has been succeeded by the formation of secret 
 societies, and then initiation into a society takes the place of the old 
 initiation into the clan.^ Initiation into such a society is often elabo- 
 rate and solemn — it is carried out in great detail in many Polynesian, 
 African, and North American tribes — but its general features are 
 the same as those of the earlier procedure. Savage societies and 
 civilized mysteries all have their secrets and their moral instruction, 
 and they all represent an advance in individualism. Still later the 
 church takes the place of the mysteries, and here the process of 
 initiation, though more refined, is still in essence identical with the 
 earlier forms. ^ Naturally in the increasing refinement of the cere- 
 monies there is an increasing prominence of the supernatural ele- 
 ment, for the reason that the special care of religion recedes more 
 and more from general society (which tends to occupy itself with 
 civil and political questions solely), and is intrusted to special 
 voluntar)' organizations. 
 
 Marriage Ceremonies 
 
 175. Marriage is so important a fact for the communal life that 
 it has always been regulated to a greater or less extent by the 
 community, which defines its methods, rights, and obligations.^ 
 
 111. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, chap, ii ff. 
 
 2 The office of sponsor exists in embryonic form in many savage communities; 
 for boys the sponsor is the father or other near relation, for girls an old woman. The 
 duties of savage sponsors usually continue only during the period of initiation. 
 
 3 Westermarck, Hitwau Marriage; H. N. Hutchinson, .\[arnagc Customs in 
 Many Lands ; Ch. Lctourneau, The Evolution of Marriage and of the Family ; 
 Crawley, The Mystic Rose ; and the references in G. E. Howard's History of Matri- 
 monial Institutions, i, chaps, i-iv; cf. Hartland, Primitive Paternity.
 
 EARLY RllLIGIOUS CEREMOXI ES J J 
 
 176. In the lowest known trilx'S the ceremony of marriage is 
 sinipk- : the woman is given to the man by tlie constituted author- 
 ities — that is, the relatives of the parties and the elders of the 
 clan or tribe — and by that act the two become husband and wife. 
 At this stage of social growth the stress is laid on preparation for 
 marriage in the ceremonies of puberty and initiation. The members 
 of the tribe being thus prepared for union, marriage is merely the 
 assignment of a given woman to a given man. The wife is selected 
 according to established custom ; that is, in accordance with custom- 
 ary law, which in most cases defines precisely from what group of 
 the tribe the woman proper to a given man shall be taken. 
 
 177. Though the origin of this law goes back to a remote an- 
 tiquity and is involved in obscurity, it seems to have been origi- 
 nally simply a matter of social agreement. It came to be, however, 
 connected with systems of totemism and taboo, and thus to have 
 acquired a certain religious character ; and, as being important for 
 the tribal life, it would come under the control of the tribal god when 
 there is such a god. A similar remark may be made in regard 
 to exogamy. Why marriage between members of the same tribe, 
 clan, or phratry should be prohibited is not clear. ^ The rule arose, 
 doubtless, from some social feature of ancient society, and only 
 later was involved in the general religious atmosphere.^ 
 
 178. Gradually greater freedom of choice was allowed men and 
 women, and the ceremonies of marriage became more elaborate. 
 Certain of these seem intended to secure the complete union of 
 husband and wife ; such, for example, are the customs of eating 
 together, of the inoculation of each party with the blood of the 
 other or with some bodily part of the other, and the giving of 
 
 ' Sec below, § 429 ff . 
 
 2 Similar restrictions existed in Greece and Rome. An Athenian citizen was not 
 allowed to marry a foreign woman. In Rome connubium held in the first instance 
 between men and women who w-ere citizens, though it might be extended to include 
 Latins and foreigners. In India marriage came to be controlled by caste. These 
 local and national rules gradually yielded to rules based on degrees of consanguinity. 
 Marriage between near relations was looked on with disfavor in Greece and Rome 
 and by the Hebrews, and the Old Testament law on this point has been adopted 
 (with some variations) by Christian nations. For the Arab customs see \V. K. Smith, 
 Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, chap. iii.
 
 jS JXTRODUCTIOiX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 presents by each to the other. All these rest on the conception 
 that union between two persons is effected by each taking some- 
 thing that belongs to the other ; each thus acquires something of 
 the other's personality. This is a scientific biological idea ; and 
 though it had its origin doubtless in some very crude notion of life, it 
 has maintained itself in one form or another up to the present time. 
 
 179. Among many communities the custom is for the bride 
 to hide herself and to be pursued and taken by the bridegroom. 
 This custom, again, is in its origin obscure. Almost certainly it does 
 not point to original marriage by capture, for of such a customary 
 method of acquiring wives there is no trace in savage communities 
 (though in particular cases women may have been captured and 
 married). Possibly it reflects merely the coyness of the woman ; 
 or it may be simply a festive procedure, an occasion of fun for the 
 young people, as indeed a wedding now commonly is. In many 
 cases, however, it appears to represent the transference of the woman 
 from her own tribe to that of her husband. Though she was thus 
 transferred bodily and brought into civic relations with the latter, 
 certain taboos, arising from her original tribal position, often clung 
 to her. The right to dwell in her own house in her own tribe, and 
 to receive there her foreign husband, belongs to a relatively late 
 social stage. ^ 
 
 180. The defloration of the woman before marriage is rather a 
 preparation fur marriage than a marriage ceremony ; or it may rep- 
 resent the social right of the elders of the tribe and the relatives 
 of the bride to the possession of her, perhaps symbolizing her en- 
 trance into a famil}-.- The hypothesis that such a custom points to 
 primitive promiscuity is ably combated by Westermarck, and is in- 
 volved in great difficulties ; it is, however, maintained by Messrs. 
 Spencer and Gillen in their two works on Australian tribes, whose 
 customs seem to them to be inexplicable except on the supposition 
 
 1 Cf. Crawley, The Mystic I\osc, p. 462 ff . ; W. K. Smith, Kinship and ^[arriagc 
 in Early Arabia, ist ed., p. 62 ff. ; Ilarlland, Primitive Paternity, chaps, v, vi. 
 
 2 In some cases, among the Todas of South India for example, the defloration 
 takes place shortly before the girl reaches the age of puberty (Rivers, The Todas, 
 p. 703) ; more generally it is performed when she reaches this age. This difference 
 of time is not essential as regards the significance of the ceremony.
 
 EARLY RFJ.TGTOUS CEREMONIES 79 
 
 of primitive promiscuily, in spile of Weslermarck's arguments ; and 
 in sup|)()rl of this view the sexual license granted in many tribes 
 to unmarried girls may I)e adduced. However this may be, the 
 custom in question appears to be ei\il and not religious. The same 
 thing is true of the ceremonies in which bridegroom and bride are 
 hailed as king and queen — a very natural form of merrymaking.^ 
 The purchase of wives is probably a simple commercial act. 
 
 181. I'he marriage ceremonies mentioned above appear to be all 
 social in their nature. Into them the supernatural is introduced in 
 proportion as the conception of a divine control of society obtains.^ 
 On the other hand, those customs which are intended to ward off 
 evil spirits or general evil influences from the married pair are 
 religious or magical. 
 
 182. Mr. Crawley^ holds that all marriage ceremonies are essen- 
 tially religious, as involving the conception of something strange 
 and dangerous in the contact of men and women ; they are in- 
 tended, he thinks, to neutralize dangers by reversing taboos and by 
 assimilating the two persons each to the other, the dangers in ques- 
 tion being not merely distinctly sexual but those of contact in gen- 
 eral. Though he carries his application of the principle of taboo 
 too far, he has collected a large number of examples which illus- 
 trate the separation between the sexes in early society, and the 
 taboos which hold in their social intercourse. The separation of 
 the sexes in early times seems to have resulted largely from the 
 difference in their occupations and the consequent isolation of each 
 from the other. Possibly one result of this isolation was that each 
 saw something strange and wonderful in the other ; but it must be 
 remembered that the taboo laws were made by men and are there- 
 fore directed particularly against women. The belief in the sacred- 
 ness of life would act more particularly on the ideas concerning birth. 
 
 1 Cf. Frazer, Golden Dotigh, 2d ed., i, 224. For the Old Testament Song of Songs 
 see Budde's commentary on that book. 
 
 2 Sacrifices to local or other deities formed a part of marriage ceremonies in 
 Greece and Rome ; Hera and Juno were guardians of the sanctity of marriage. No 
 religious ceremony in connection with marriage is mentioned in the Old Testament ; 
 a trace of such a ceremony occurs in the book of Tobit (vii, 13). 
 
 '■^ The Mystic Rose, p. 322, etc.
 
 8o JATJiODi'CT/OX TO HISTOKV OF KEL/GIOAS 
 
 183. Among many half-civilized peoples and generally in Chris- 
 tian communities marriage is regarded both as a religious ceremony 
 and as a civil contract, and is controlled in the one case by the re- 
 ligious authorities, in the other case by the civil authorities. In 
 Mohammedan communities marriage is simply a civil contract, but 
 religious ceremonies are often connected with it.^ 
 
 Ceremonies at Birth 
 
 184. It is possible that early man was so impressed by the fact 
 of life and the wonderfulness of the birth of a human being that he 
 included this latter fact in the sphere of the supernatural, and that 
 the taboos connected with it arose from his dread of supernatural, 
 dangerous influence.'' Many of the ceremonies connected with the 
 birth of a child may be explained easily as resulting from the nat- 
 ural care for mother and child. Both of these are, in the modern 
 sense of the term, sacred ; and even in very early times ordinary 
 humane feeling w-ould seek to protect them from injury.^ 
 
 185. Thus the curious custom of the couvade,* in which the hus- 
 band, and not the wife, goes to bed on the birth of the child, may 
 be an effort on the man's part to share in the labor of the occasion, 
 since he has to take care of the child ; or it may be primarily an 
 economical procedure — the woman must go out to w^ork and the 
 man must therefore stay at home to take care of the house and 
 the child. But probably something more than this is involved — 
 there seems to be fear of supernatural danger. It is not necessary 
 to suppose that tlic man takes the woman's place in order to attract 
 to himself the malevolent spirits that figure on such occasions ; but 
 the belief in the intimate vital connection between father and child 
 may induce the desire to guard the former against injury. Similar 
 precautions are taken in regard to the mother ; '^ some of these have 
 
 1 Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, article " Marriage."' 
 
 2 The danger might continue into early childhood and have to be guarded against ; 
 for a Greek instance see Gardner and J evens, Greek Antiquities, p. 299. 
 
 8 For details see Ploss, Das Kind, and works on antiquities, Hebrew, Greek, and 
 Roman. 4 cf. Frazer, Totcmism and Exoj^anty, \, 72 ff. ; iv, 244 ff. 
 
 5 Dixon, T/ic Northern Maidu, p. 228 ff., and The Shasta, p. 453 ff. ; Rivers, The 
 Todas, p. 313 ff. ; Hollis, The Xandi, p. 64 f. ; D. Kidd, Savage Childhood, p. 7 ; Lev. 
 xii; article "Birth" in Hz&tmgs, Encyclo/itdia 0/ Religion and Ethics.
 
 EARLY Ri:i.n:iOUS CERICMOXIES 8 I 
 
 a natural basis in her physical condition which necessitates a certain 
 carefulness. Where such customs connected with birth prevail, de- 
 parture from them is thought to be dangerous or fatal ; but such 
 a feeling exists in regard to all social customs. 
 
 186. The belief that the newborn child is the reincarnation of 
 an ancestor is scientific rather than religious. In Central Australia, 
 every child is held to be the reincarnation of a spirit ancestor ; a 
 similar idea is found in North America, in Western Africa, and in 
 Orissa.' In searching for the cause of birth it is not unnatural that 
 it should be ascribed to a preexistent being who desires to enter 
 again into human life." 
 
 187. The ablutions or sprinklings of water practiced in some 
 places appear to be merel}- the expression of welcome into the 
 community.'^ The choice of a name for the child is frequently 
 connected with religious ideas. Among many tribes the custom 
 is to seek for some hint from the child itself, as by repeating a 
 number of names and observing which of them the child seems 
 to recognize or accept. The help of a deity is sometimes invoked, 
 as in Borneo, where a pig is killed and its spirit thus sent as mes- 
 senger to a particular god, who is asked to approve.* In Samoa a 
 tutelary spirit is sometimes chosen for the infant ; ^ during child- 
 hood the child bears the name of a god, who seems to be regarded 
 as its protector. The identification of person and name, common 
 among savages, is also scientific rather than religious. At the 
 entrance into a secret society the novitiate may receive a new 
 name.*^ The adoption of a child's name by the father (teknonymy) 
 may be simply the expression of paternal pride, or possibly it is 
 
 1 See above, § 55 f- 
 
 2 Tylor {Primitive Culture, ii, 3 ff.) suggests that such an idea may have been sup- 
 posed to account for the general resemblance between parents and children. 
 
 3 R. H. Nassau, Feticliism in West Africa, p. 212. 
 •1 Haddon, Head-hunters, p. 353 ff. 
 
 5 Turner, Samoa, chap. iii. In some Christian communities the saint on whose 
 festival day a child is bom is adopted as the child's patron saint. In the higher an- 
 cient religions there were religious observances in connection with the birth and 
 rearing of children, special divine care being sought ; see, for example, the elaborate 
 Roman apparatus of divine guardians. 
 
 G Dixon, The Northern Maidu, p. 231 ; H. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, 
 p. 40 f.
 
 82 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the expression of the father's protection or of his identification with 
 the child. The adoption of a secret name that involves the man's 
 personality and is therefore to be withheld from enemies belongs 
 to adult life. 
 
 188. The taboos imposed on the mother during pregnancy and 
 after the birth of the child, often numerous and oppressive, are 
 derived from local conditions, and are generally regulated by re- 
 ligion. ^^'ith the growth of refinement they tend to disappear, while 
 the attendant ceremonies take on a moral and spiritual character, 
 culminating, in the great religions, in the conception that the babe, 
 as a child of God, "is to be taken into the religious fellowship of the 
 community ahd trained for a good life. 
 
 Burial Ceremonies ^ 
 
 189. Among savage peoples grief for the dead expresses itself 
 in a variety of violent ceremonies of mourning, such as wailing, and 
 
 'cutting and gashing the body. These are partly expressions of nat- 
 ural sorrow,^ but may be intended in part to propitiate the dead, 
 who thus sees that honor is paid him. 
 
 190. The belief that the dead person is powerful expresses itself 
 in the care with which the grave is guarded, it being held that 
 injury to the grave is an injury to the dead, and likely, therefore, 
 to excite his anger. Further, savage science as a rule does not 
 recognize natural causes of death. It regards death as murder, 
 and there is accordingly search for the murderer, often by pro- 
 tracted ceremonies with the aid of a magician. The well-being of 
 the dead man is provided for by placing food and drink, utensils 
 and weapons in his grave, that he may have the means of enjoy- 
 ment in the other world. ^ To assure him proper service his wives 
 and slaves are sometimes slain, that their souls may accompany his ; 
 
 1 For methods of burial see article '' Funerailles" in La Grande Encyclopedic. 
 
 2 Robertson, TItc Kafirs, chap, xxxiii ; Batchclor, The Ainu, chap, xlviii (the god- 
 dess of fire is asked to take charge of the spirit of the deceased). 
 
 ^ The food and drink (of which only the soul is supposed to be consumed by the 
 deceased) are often utilized by the surviving friends ; such funeral feasts have played 
 a considerable part in religious history and survive in some quarters to the present day.
 
 EARLY RELluIOUS CEREMOMES 83 
 
 but this custom is not found amont;- the lowest tribes — it belongs 
 to a relatively advanced conception of the other life.^ In many 
 cases blood is sprinkled on the ground near the grave of the corpse, 
 as in Borneo (the blood of a fowl) ; - the blood may be meant to 
 be food for the dead, or its supernatural power may be supposed 
 to guard against injury from him to the living. 
 
 191. A ban of silence is often imposed — the name of the dead 
 person is not to be mentioned except by certain ])rivileged men ; ^ 
 among certain North American tribes on the death of a child there 
 is a ban of silence on the father.* The reason for this prohibition 
 of the dead person's name is not certain. It may be respect for 
 him, or it may be merely an expression of sorrow at his loss. More 
 probably, however, it comes from the belief that the dead man is 
 powerful and may be hurtful, and that therefore his name, which 
 is identical with himself, is dangerous.^ 
 
 192. In the cases mentioned above, the dead person is generally 
 regarded as dangerous — to be feared and appeased. Among some 
 tribes, indeed, precautions are taken to prevent his coming back to 
 his house. Very generally the presence of the corpse is held to 
 cause a certain pollution.® There is, however, another side to the 
 attitude toward the dead. As he is regarded as powerful, parts of 
 his body are preserved as amulets ; wives wear parts of the bones 
 of the dead husband, and the skulls of the deceased are supposed 
 to be especially powerful, in some cases to give oracular responses.'' 
 
 193. In general, early burial ceremonies appear to be designed 
 to assure the comfort of the deceased in the other world with a 
 view to securing his friendship and aid for the members of his 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, The Ewe (Dahomi), chap, viii ; .\. G. Leonard, The Lower Niger 
 and its Tribes, p. 160 f.; Herodotus, iv, ;i f. (Scythians) ; v, 5 (Thracians). Cf. the 
 Greek Anthesteria and the Roman Parentalia. 
 
 "^Journal of the Anthropological Institiile, xxi, 121. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 498. 
 
 * For elaborate Sioux ceremonies on the death of a child see Miss Fletcher, 
 Indian Ceremonies (the Shadow or Ghost Lodge). 
 
 5 On the disposal of the corpse, by inhumation, cremation, exposure, etc., see arti- 
 cle " Funerailles " cited above ; O. Schrader, in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion 
 and Ethics, ii, 16 ff. c This may be in part a hygienic precaution. 
 
 " Haddon, Head-hunters, p. 91. Cf. (i. L. Kittredge, '' Disenchantment by De- 
 capitation," \x\ Journal of American Folklore, vol. xviii, no. 68 (January, 1905).
 
 84 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 family and clan in this life. As he is of the nature of a dixine 
 person, the ceremonies in question are naturally religious. Socially 
 they are effective in binding the members of a community together 
 — a large sense of solidarit}^ is produced by the communal recog- 
 nition of kinship with the dead. Special stress is laid on this con- 
 ception in China.^ 
 
 Ceremonies of Purification and Consecration^ 
 
 194. The essence of religion is a helpful relation to the super- 
 natural, but in early stages of culture man frequently finds himself 
 exposed to conditions, either resident in himself or induced from 
 without, that destroy this relation and disqualify him for the per- 
 formance of sacred acts. The result is a state of ritual impurity 
 or uncleanness, conceived of at first as purcl\- physical, but tending 
 to become gradually moralized. The removal of the disqualification 
 constitutes purification ; the positive preparation for the perform- 
 ance of a sacred act constitutes consecration ; the two procedures 
 represent two sides of the same idea, and they are related in a 
 general way to ceremonies of initiation and atonement. 
 
 195. The occasions for purification are numerous, including all 
 contacts or possibilities of contact with dangerous (sacred) things, 
 and thus often coinciding with taboo conceptions.* All acts con- 
 nected with procreation and birth ; contact wuth a corpse, or with 
 a sacred person or thing, or with an object belonging to a sacred 
 person ; return from a journey (in the course of which the traveler 
 may have been exposed to some injurious supernatural influence) * 
 ■ — such things as these call for cleansing. Inanimate objects also, 
 especially such as are connected w'ith religious worship (altars, 
 vessels, and instruments), require purification ; these are thought 
 of originally as having souls, and as incurring defilement by the 
 transmission of neighboring impurities. A moral conception may 
 
 1 De Groot, Religion of the Chinese, chap. iii. 
 
 2 Cf. Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, chap, xxxvii ff. ; 
 Saussaye, Science of Religion (Eng. tr.), chap, xviii ; and the references given in these 
 works. 3 See below, on removal of taboos. 
 
 ^ Frazer, Golden Dough, 2d ed., i, 306 f.
 
 EARLY Rl'J.nUOi'S CERIlMOXI ES 85 
 
 seem to be involved in the aciuircment of purification after the 
 committal of a murder ; certainly, in the more advanced stages of 
 society, the feeling in this case is moral, but it is doubtful whether 
 in earlier stages anything more is involved than the recognition of 
 ritual defilement by contact with blood ; homicide, as a social crime, 
 is dealt with by the civil law, and is generally excluded from the 
 benefits of acts of ritual atonement,^ and so also all violations of 
 tribal law. 
 
 196. The religious preparation for the performance of a sacred 
 act usually concerns official persons (see below, under consecration, 
 § 202)" but sometimes involves the purification of others. The 
 largest act of purification is that which includes a whole community 
 or people ; "^ the social mass is then regarded as a unit, and there is 
 no reason, according to early thought, why such a mass should not, 
 by a ceremony, be freed from all ritual disabilities, the idea of moral 
 purification being, of course, absent or latent. Finally, ritual puri- 
 fication is sometimes a preliminary to pleasing and influencing the 
 deity, who, as the most sacred and most dangerous object, must 
 be approached with the greatest precautions.^ 
 
 197. The various methods of purification may be included under 
 a few heads, the principal of which are : the application of water 
 (bathing, sprinkling) ; the application of sand, dung, bark, and 
 similar things ; exposure to fire ; incantation and sacrifice ; and 
 fasting. In all these cases the virtue lies either in a sacred thing 
 or act that has the quality of dissipating the mysterious defilement 
 present, or in the removal or avoidance of the defiling thing ; it is 
 frecjucntly required that the application of tlie cleansing substance 
 be made by a sacred person, whose character adds potency to the 
 act. The use of water for ceremonial purification has been, and 
 is, practiced all over the world, alike by savages and by civilized 
 peoples : ^ the newborn child, ritually impure by reason of the 
 
 1 Cf. Westermarck, Or/j;/« and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. 
 Homicide. 2 Sec below, § 201 ; cf. the Athenian .Anthesteria and Thargelia. 
 
 3 In Ex. iv, 24 f., Yahweh is about to kill Moses, apparently for neglecting a 
 ritual act. 
 
 '• Examples in Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 429 ff. ; cf. Knox, Religion in Japan, 
 
 P-39-
 
 86 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 myster}' of birth, is bathed or sprinkled ; before the performance 
 of a sacred act the officiator must bathe ; ' numerous ablutions are 
 prescribed in the Old Testament ; similar usages obtained among 
 the Egyptians, the Hindus and the Persians, the Greeks and the 
 Romans, the Chinese and the Japanese, the Mexicans and the 
 Peruvians, and other peoples. 
 
 198. These usages have arisen doubtless from observation of 
 the natural cleansing power of water and other things in conjunc- 
 tion with the belief in their sacred character. Adopted by the 
 higher religions they have been more or less spiritualized by the 
 infusion into them of ideas of penitence, forgiveness of sin, and 
 regeneration — so in India, Persia, and Peru. Christian baptism 
 seems to have come from Jewish proselyte baptism : - the proselyte 
 was by immersion in water symbolically cleansed from sin and intro- 
 duced into a new religious life, and such was the significance of 
 the rite practiced by John, though his surname "the Baptizer " 
 probably indicates that he gave it a broader and deeper meaning ; 
 he overstepped national bounds, receiving Jews as well as non- 
 Jews.® Moslem ritual requires ablutions before the stated prayers 
 and at certain other times ; every mosque has its tank of water 
 for the convenience of worshipers. 
 
 199. Where water cannot be had, usage in Islam and in some 
 forms of Christianity permits the substitution of sand or dust — 
 both thought to have cleansing power. Similar power is ascribed 
 to urine and dung of domestic animals.* Such usages may originate 
 in a belief in the physical cleansing efficacy of those substances 
 (the Toda women employ dried buffalo's dung in household clean- 
 ing), or they may be supposed to derive their eflficacy from the 
 sacredness of the animals. The Todas also make much use of a 
 
 1 See the practices described by Rivers, in The Todas, Index, s.\^'. Bathing, 
 Purification. 
 
 2 Schneckenburger, Proselytentaiifc ; article " Proselyten " in Herzog, Rcal-Ency- 
 klopddic. 
 
 3 In the New Testament baptism is said to be " for the remission of sins " (Acts 
 ii, 38), and is called "bath of regeneration" (Tit. iii, 5); a quasi-magical power is 
 attributed to it in i Cor. xv, 20. 
 
 ^ For the -Ma^dcan use of urine see Vendidad, Fargard v, lOo; xvi, 27, etc.; for 
 use of buffalo's dung, Rivers, The Todas, pp. 32, 173 f., etc.
 
 /■;. / A7. ) • Ri'j.icn n 's c i:ri:monies 87 
 
 certain bark for purification.' The origin of these customs is 
 obscure ; they go back to times and conditions for a knowledge 
 of which data are lacking — possibly to the early conception of the 
 sacrcdness of all natural objects.^ It is less difficult to explain the 
 belief in the purifying power of fire. Its splendor and utility caused 
 it to be regarded as a god in India and Persia, and if it was also 
 destructive, it often consumed hurtful things. It was sacred, and 
 might, therefore, be a remover of impurity. Its employment for 
 this purpose is, however, not frequent ; '* it is oftener used to con- 
 sume corpses and other unclean things. 
 
 200. In the more developed religious rituals, sacrifice is a com- 
 mon accompaniment of purifying ceremonies, the object being to 
 procure the forgiveness of the deity for the offense held to be in- 
 volved in the impurity ; the conception of sin in such cases is 
 sometimes physical, sometimes moral, and the ceremony is always 
 nearlv allied to one of atonement. In the Hebrew ritual a human 
 bodily impurity and the apparatus of the temple alike require a 
 sin-offering.'' In India the bath of purification stood in close rela- 
 tion with a sacrifice.^ In Greece the two were associated in the 
 cults of Apollo and Dionysos and in ordinary worship in general.® 
 Thus, men and gods take part in the process of freeing the 
 worshiper from the impure elements of life : the man obeys the 
 law of the ritual, and the god receives him into association with 
 the divine. 
 
 201. Ancient examples of the purification of a whole community 
 are the Hebrew ceremony on the annual day of atonement " (which 
 is called in the text a purification), and the Roman Lupercalia.^ 
 
 1 Rivers, op. cit., p. 367. 
 
 2 Compare, however, the use of natural pigments for decorative and religious pur- 
 poses ; see above, § 1 1 5 ff . 
 
 3 The Toda ceremony of burning a woman's hand in the fifth month of preg- 
 nancy, and a child's hand on the occasion of a funeral (Rivers, The Todas, pp. 315, 
 374), may be purificatory, but this is not clear; cf. I'razer, m Journal of the Anthropo- 
 logical Iiislilutc^ xi. •" Lev. xv, 30; xvi, 15 ff. 
 
 6 Hopkins, Religions of India ^ p. 196. 
 
 fi Gruppe, Griechischc Mytliologie, p. 888 ff. ; Jevons, Introdiiciion to the History 
 of Religion, p. 375 ; Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, p. 150 ff. 
 " Lev, xvi. 8 Fowler, Roman Festivals, Index, s.v.
 
 88 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 An elaborate festival of this sort was observed every )-car by the 
 Creeks ; ^ it lasted eight days, included various cathartic observ- 
 ances, and ended in a physical and moral reconstruction of the 
 nation. Among the Todas a similar ceremony for the purification 
 of a village exists.'^ 
 
 202. Ceremonies of consecration are similar to those of purifi- 
 cation, only usually more formal and solemn. Entrance on a sacred 
 function, w liich involves special direct contact with a deity, requires 
 special preparation. Even before a simple act of prayer it was felt 
 to be proper to cleanse one's person ; ^ how much more important 
 was bodily cleansing and other preparation for one who was 
 chosen by the communit)' to represent it in its relations with the 
 supernatural Powers ! The preparation for such an office is in 
 earlier times ritual and external, and becomes gradually moral- 
 ized. Magicians must submit to purificatory restrictions, and 
 prove their fitness by various deeds.'* Initiation into secret soci- 
 eties (whose members had a certain official character) was, and 
 is, often elaborate.^ Priests in Egypt, Babylonia and Assyria, 
 Canaan, India, Greece and Rome, were subject to conditions of 
 purity, always physical and sometimes moral, that secured a daily 
 consecration. 
 
 203. Methods of initial consecration were, probably, of the 
 general character of those prescribed in the Hebrew ritual law." 
 Authority is often conferred by a high official, whose consecrating 
 act is then generally regarded as essential." The priest becomes 
 invested with a quasi-divine authority. The consecration of kings 
 follows the same general lines as that of priests. In both cases the 
 desire is to have some visible form of the deity whose relations 
 with men may be felt to be direct. 
 
 1 The native name of the festival, f-iiskita (busk), is said to mean 'a fast,' but 
 the ceremonies are largely purificatorj' ; ( latschet, J//!,';y?//<w LcscihI of the Ctccks, 
 p. 177 ff- ^ Rivers, The Todas, p. 300 ff. 3 Odyssey, iv, 750. 
 
 4 Westermarck, Orri'm and DcvclofmciH of the Moral Ideas, ii, 352 ; Dixon, T/ie 
 Northern Maidii, p. 269 f. 
 
 5 H.Webster, Pnmithe Scerct Societies, chap, ix : (".. Ilrown, Mclanesians and 
 Polynesians, pp. 60-7S. 
 
 C Lev. viii ; cf. Copleston, Buddhism, chap, xviii : Lippert, Pricsterthum (see ref- 
 erences in the headings to the chapters). '' So in some Christian bodies.
 
 EARLY RIUJGIOUS CERJiMOMES 89 
 
 204. No purificatory and consecrative usage has been more 
 widespread than fasting.' It is found throughout religious history 
 in the U)\vest triljes and in the most highly civilized peoples, has 
 been i)racticecl in a gi-eat variety of circumstances, and has been 
 invested with a special sanctity and efficacy, it has been regarded 
 as necessary before partaking of sacred food, before the perform- 
 ance of a sacred ceremony, after a death, in the presence of a 
 great occurrence (as an eclipse or a thunderstorm, regarded as 
 supernatural), as a part of the training of magicians, as a prepara- 
 tion for the search after a guardian spirit, as a part of ceremonies 
 in honor of gods, as an act of abstinence in connection with a 
 calamity (or in general as a self-denial proper to sinful man and 
 pleasing to the deity as an act of humility), and, finally, as a retire- 
 ment -from fleshly conditions in preparation for spiritual exercises. 
 
 205. A great number of explanations of the origin of the custom 
 have been proposed, and it is obvious that the particular usages 
 come from somewhat different conceptions. Apparently, however, 
 all these usages of purification by fasting go back to the idea that 
 the body, which is identified with the human personality, is in its 
 ordinary state nonsacred '^ and therefore unfit for the performance 
 of a sacred act, and that it is rendered especially unfit by contact 
 with a ritually unclean thing. Ordinary food, nourishing the body 
 and becoming a part of it, thus maintains it in its nonsacred char- 
 acter. This point of view appears in the practice of administer- 
 ing a purge as a means of ceremonial purification ; the Nandi, 
 for example, give a purge to a girl before her circumcision, and in 
 some cases to any one who has touched a taboo object.^ 
 
 206. The essence of fasting is the avoiding of defiling food ; this 
 conception may be traced in all instances of the practice, though 
 it may be in some cases reenforced by other considerations, and 
 is sometimes spiritualized. The efficacy of sacred food would be 
 
 1 The details are given at great length by Westermarck, op. cit., chap, xxxvii, 
 with references to authorities. 
 
 2 It is by nature nonsacred, and so remains so long as it has not been made sacred 
 by the special ceremonies that abound in savage communities. We have here the 
 germ of the dualistic conception of man's constitution — the antagonism between 
 spirit and body. 8 Hollis, The Nandi, pp. 58, 92.
 
 90 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 destroyed if it came in contact with common food, or it might 
 itself become destructive.' A sacred ceremony demands a sacred 
 performer, one who has not taken a defiling substance into his 
 being. Death diffuses defilement, and makes the food in tlie house 
 of the deceased dangerous. 
 
 207. Other ideas may here come in : abstinence may be a sign 
 or a result of grief, though this does not seem likely except in re- 
 fined communities ; or its ground may be fear of eating the ghost, 
 which is believed to be hovering about the dead body ; - it is hardly 
 the result of "making excessive provision for the dead." ^ Special 
 communion with supernatural Powers, by magicians and others 
 (including conditions of ecstasy), requires ritual purity, and similar 
 preparation of the body is proper when it is desired to avert the 
 anger of a deity or to do him honor. 
 
 208. Once established, the custom has maintained itself in the 
 higher religions* in connection with more or less definite spiritual 
 aims and with other exercises, particularly pra}er. The dominant 
 feeling is then self-denial, at the bottom of which the conviction 
 appears to be that the deity demands complete subordination in 
 the worshiper and is displeased when he asserts himself. This 
 conviction, which is a fundamental element in all religious thought, 
 pertains properly only to inward experience, but naturally tends to 
 annex nonspiritual acts of self-abnegation like fasting. As a moral 
 discipline, a training in the government of self and a preparation 
 for enduring times of real privation, fasting is regarded by many 
 persons as valuable. Its power to isolate the man from the world 
 and thus minister to religious communion differs in different per- 
 sons. The Islamic fast of Ramadan is said to produce irritability and 
 lead to quarrels. In general, fasting tends to induce a nonnatural 
 condition of body and mind, favorable to ecstatic experiences, and 
 favorable or not, as the case may be, to a genuine religious life.^ 
 
 1 Cf. the danger to a common man of eating a chief's food ; see Frazer, Golden 
 Boitgit, 2d ed., i, 321 f. 
 
 2 Frazer, mjouriial of the Anthropological Institute, x\', 94, quoted by VVestermarck. 
 8 H. Spencer, Prinaplcs of Sociology, i, § 140. 
 
 ^ In Christianity in connection with the eucharistic meal and other observances. 
 6 The true principle is stated in Isa, Iviii, 3 ff.
 
 EARLY RELIGIOUS CEREMOXIES 9 1 
 
 209. As with other religious observances, so with purificatory 
 ceremonies the tendency is to mass and organize them — they are 
 made to occur at regular times and under fixed conditions, as in 
 the Christian Lent, the Moslem Ramadan, and the Creek Busk. 
 Such arrangements give orderliness to outward religious life, but are 
 likely to diminish or destroy spontaneity in observances. Ceremonies 
 of this sort have great vitality — they are handed on from age to age, 
 the later religion adopting and modifying and reinterpreting the 
 forms of the earlier. In such cases the lower conceptions survive in 
 the minds of the masses, and are moralized by the more spiritual na- 
 tures, and their influence on society is therefore of a mixed character. 
 
 Ceremonies connected with Seasons and Periods 
 
 210. Some of these have already been mentioned under "Eco- 
 nomic Ceremonies." We may here take a general, survey of festi- 
 vals the times of whose celebration are determined by the divisions 
 of the year, and thus constitute calendars.^ The earliest calendars 
 appear to have been fixed by observation of the times when it was 
 proper to gather the various sorts of food — to hunt animals and 
 gather grubs and plants (as in Central Australia), or this or that 
 species of fish (as in Hawaii). The year was thus divided accord- 
 ing to the necessities of life — ■ seasons were fixed by experience. 
 
 211. At a comparatively early period, however, the phases of 
 the moon attracted attention, and became the basis of calendars. 
 Lunar calendars are found among savage and half-civilized tribes 
 of various grades of culture in Polynesia, Africa, Asia, and the 
 Americas, and were retained for a time by most ancient civilized 
 peoples. Later observation included the movements of the sun ; 
 it is only among advanced peoples that festivals are connected with 
 equinoxes and solstices. ' The more scientific calendars gradually 
 absorbed the earlier, and it is probable that simple ceremonies that 
 were originally neither agricultural nor astral were taken up into 
 the later systems and reinterpreted.''^ 
 
 1 Cf. article "Calendar" in Hastings, Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 For a series of dance seasons see Dixon, The Northern Maidn, p. 283 ff . ; cf. 
 Basset, in Hastings, Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 513.
 
 92 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 212. Wlien, from observation of climatic conditions and lunar 
 changes, a general division of the year came to be made into spring, 
 summer, autumn, and winter, or several similar seasons (sometimes 
 with intermediate points), festivals gradually arranged themselves 
 in the various periods. The terms designating tlie four seasons 
 are, however, somewhat indefinite in regard to position in the 
 year and duration, varying in these points in different places, and 
 it is better, in considering agricultural ceremonies, to make a gen- 
 eral division into times of planting and times of har\^esting. It is 
 not certain whether lunar or agricultural festivals came first in the 
 development of public religious life, but as (omitting the lowest 
 tribes) the former are found where there is no well-organized agri- 
 cultural system, we may begin with them. 
 
 213. The new moon, as marking the beginning of the month, 
 and other phases of the moon are frequently accompanied by ob- 
 servances of a more or less definitely religious character, with great 
 variety of detail in different places. The Nandi ^ have two seasons 
 (the wet and the dry) and twelve months named from meteorologi- 
 cal phenomena, and each day in the month receives a name from 
 the attendant phase of the moon, 'i'he great ceremonies are con- 
 ducted in the period of the waxing of the moon, and its waning is 
 an occasion of mourning. The new moon is greeted with a prayer 
 that it may bring blessing. A similar custom exists among the 
 Masai. '-^ On the other hand the Todas, though the times of their 
 festivals are all regulated by the moon, appear to have no lunar 
 ceremony ; ^ if there was ever any sucli ceremony, it has been ab- 
 sorbed by the buffalo cult. The South American Arawaks have six 
 ceremonies in the year that seem to be fixed by the appearance of 
 the new moon.* The Hebrew first day of the (lunar) month was 
 observed with special religious ceremonies.^ The full moon, the last 
 phase of growth, is less prominent ; where it marks a festival day 
 it is generally in connection with an agricultural event, as among 
 
 1 Mollis, The NatiiVi, p. 94 ff. 2 Hollis, The Masai, Index, s.v. Moon. 
 
 3 Rivers, The Todas, Index, s.v. Moon. 
 
 ■* Hastings, F.ncyclop(cdia of Religion and Ethics, ii, S35. 
 
 6 I Sam. XX, 6 (clan festival) ; Isa. i, 13 ; Numb, xxviii, 11.
 
 EARLY KIJJGJOL'S CEREMONIES 93 
 
 the non-Aryan I'.hils of India' and in ihc later Hebrew calendar;"'' 
 in both these cases the observance occurs only once in the year. 
 
 214. 'J "he new moon of the first month marks the beginning of 
 the year, and new year's day is celebrated, particularly in the more 
 advanced communities, with special observances. Th6 Hindu /d?«- 
 gol and similar festivals are seasons of merriment, with giving of 
 presents, and religious exercises.^ 'J'hough these occasions now in- 
 clude agricultural epochs, we may recognize in them an interest in 
 the beginning of a new era in life. A like character attaches to the 
 celebration of the Japanese new year's day.^ Of Assyrian observ- 
 ances of the day little is known, but at Babylon it was celebrated 
 with great pomp, and with it was connected the conception of the 
 determination of human fortunes for the year by Marduk, the chief 
 deity of the city.^ The late Old Testament ritual makes it a taboo 
 day (first day of the seventh month, September-October) ; no servile 
 work is to be done, trum.pets are to be blown (apparently to mark 
 its solemnity), and a special sacrifice is to be offered;" in post- 
 Biblical times the feature of the divine assignment of fates (probably 
 adopted from the Babylonians) appears. The old Roman religious 
 year began with the kalends of March, when the sacred fire of 
 Vesta was renewed, a procedure obviously intended to introduce a 
 new era ; on the later civil new year's day (kalends of January) 
 presents were exchanged,'' a custom everywhere relatively late, a 
 feature in the gradual secularization of ceremonies. 
 
 215. Solar festivals, as such, are less prominent than the lunar 
 in religious ritual. Though the sun was a great god widely wor- 
 shiped, it was little used in the construction of early calendars. 
 Primitive astronomy knew hardly anything of solstices .and equi- 
 noxes, and where these are noted in the more advanced rituals, they 
 
 1 Hastings, op. cit., ii, 555. 
 
 2 Lev. x.xiii, -^i; Ps. Lxxxi, 4 [j]. On the Sabbath as perhaps full-moon day, see 
 below, § 608. 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 449 ff. 
 
 ^ Buckley, in Saussaye"s Lchrbiich tier Rcligionsgcschichtc, 2d ed., p. S3. 
 
 5 Jastrow, A'digion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 677 ff. 
 
 6 Lev. xxiii, 23 f . ; Numb, xxix, i ff. The Hebrew text of Ezek. xl, i, makes the 
 year begin on the tenth day of some month unnamed ; but the Hebrew is probably 
 to be corrected after the Greek. Cf. Nowack, Hcbrdischc Archdologic , ii, 15S f. 
 
 '' Fowler, Roman Festivals, p, 278.
 
 94 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 appear to be attachments to obser\'ances founded on other consid- 
 erations — so the Roman Saturnalia, celebrated near the winter 
 solstice, and apparently the plebeian festival of the summer solstice 
 attached to the worship of Fortuna ; and the same thing is proba- 
 bly true of the Semitic and Greek festivals that occurred near the 
 equinoxes and solstices.^ 
 
 216. Elaborate solstitial ceremonies are practiced by the North 
 American Pueblos.- A well-developed solar system of festivals 
 existed in Peru, where the sun was the central object of worship ; 
 equinoxes and solstices were observed with great ceremonies, and 
 especially at the summer solstice the rising of the sun was hailed 
 with popular rejoicing as a sign that the favor of the deity would 
 be extended to the nation.^ Similar ceremonies may have existed 
 in Mexico and elsewhere, but in general, as is remarked above, the 
 astronomical feature at solar epochs yielded to other associations. 
 Occasional festivals occur in connection with the worship of stars 
 (especially the morning star);^ the Pleiades are objects of observa- 
 tion among some low tribes, and in some cases (Society Islands, 
 Tahiti, Hawaii, New Zealand) the year began with the rising of these 
 stars, but apparently no festivals are dedicated to them.* In the later 
 theistic development various deities are brought into connection 
 with heavenly bodies, and their cults absorb earlier observances.® 
 
 217. Socially the agricultural festivals are the most important 
 of the early festival ceremonies ; ' they unite the people in public 
 observances, thus furthering the communal life, and they satisfy 
 the popular demand for amusement. Doubtless under any social 
 conditions gatherings for merrymaking would have arisen, but, by 
 reason of .the constitution of early society, they necessarily assume 
 a religious character. Whether for planting or for reaping, the local 
 god must be considered ; it is he whose aid must be invoked for 
 
 1 Cf. A. Mommsen, Fesie dcr Stadi Athcn (1898), p. 55. 
 
 2 J. \V. Fewkes, "The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi" (in The American 
 Anthropologist, xi). 3 Prescott, Peru, i, 104, 127. 
 
 * A Saracen cult is described in Nili opera qtuedam (Paris, 1639), PP- 28, 117. 
 
 5 Mollis, The Xandi, p. 100 ; Rivers, The Todns, p. 593 ff. ; cf. Dorsey, The Skidi 
 Pawnee, p. xviii f. ; Hastings, Eneychprndia of Religion and F.thics, iii, 132 f. 
 
 6 For some fasting observances in astral cults see Westermarck, Origin and De- 
 velopment of the Moral Ideas, ii, 312 f. " As food is the most pressing need.
 
 EARLY R ELI uIOUS CEREMOXIES 95 
 
 coming crops, and he must I)c thanked for successful seasons. The 
 festivals occur at various times in the year among various peoples, 
 Init the tone of merriment is the predominant one — it is only in a 
 few cases that a touch of seriousness or sadness is found. Early 
 festal calendars are largely agricultural. In Greece, Rome, and Peru 
 there was a succession of festivals, connected with planting and 
 reaping, running substantially through the year ; other ceremonies, 
 of course, stood side by side with them, but these were relatively few. 
 
 218. Joyous festivals occur especially at the time of the ripening 
 of crops and harvest. The old Canaanite autumn feasts, adopted 
 by the Hebrews, were seasons of good cheer.^ In Greece the Pan- 
 athenaca fell in July-August, the Thesmophoria in October, and 
 the Anthesteria in February, — all agricultural, with joyous fea- 
 tures;''^ of the similar Roman festivals the Feriae Latinas fell in 
 April, the Feriae Jovi in August, the Saturnalia in December, and 
 with these should perhaps be included the Ambarvalia (in May) and 
 the festival of the horse sacrifice (in October).^ Other ceremonies 
 of this nature occur in India, New Zealand, Torres Straits islands, 
 and in the old Peruvian cult. 
 
 219. Popular festivities easily pass into license; examples are 
 the Roman Saturnalia and the Hindu Holi ■* ; the harvest festival 
 of the Hos of Northeastern India is a debauch,^ and with it is 
 connected the expulsion of evil spirits — an example of the coa- 
 lescence of festivals. A peculiar feature in certain of these cere- 
 monies is the exchange of places between masters and servants ; 
 this abandonment of ordinary social distinctions is an expression 
 of the desire for freedom from all restraints, and is found in 
 carnivals generally (in the Saturnalia and elsewhere).® 
 
 1 Judg. ix, 27 ; Neh. viii, lo. 
 
 2 A. Mommsen, Feste der Stadt Athcn (1S98), Index, s.w.; Gardner and Jcvons, 
 Greek Aniiqiiiiics, pp. 287 f., 290, 292. 
 
 8 Fowler, Roman Festivals, pp. 05 ff., 157 ff., 26S ff., 1 14, 124 ff., 241 ff . ; cf. article 
 " Mars " in Roscher, Lcxikon, col. 2416 f. 
 
 ^ Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 453 ff. ^ Frazcr, Golden Dough, 2d cd., iii, 78 f. 
 
 6 A Babylonian festival of this sort (Sakea) is mentioned by Athenaeus (in Dcip- 
 nosophisf(c, xiv, 639) on the authority of I?erosus, and '' Sakea " has been identified 
 with "zakmuk," the Babylonian New Vear"s Day (cf. the story in Esth. vi) ; but the 
 details of the festival and of the Persian Sakaea (Strabo, xi, 8) are obscure.
 
 g6 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGJOAS 
 
 220. Ceremonies of a serious character occur in connection with 
 the eating of the first fruits of the year. In developed cults (as in 
 the Hebrew) the deity is recognized as the giver by the presentation 
 of a portion of the new crop.^ In very early cults there are other 
 procedures, the origin and significance of which are not always clear. 
 So far as the ceremonial eating, a preliminary to general use, is 
 concerned, this may be understood as a recognition, more or less 
 distinct, of some supernatural Power to whom (or to which) the 
 supply of food is due. I'hc obscurest form of such recognition is 
 found among the Australian Arunta.^ The Nandi practice is clearer 
 ^- the god is invoked to bless the grain. ^ In the Creek Puskita 
 (Busk) there is perhaps a worship of the sun as the source of fertil- 
 ity.* Probably the element of recognition of extrahuman power (the 
 object being to secure its favor) is to be found in all first-fruits cere- 
 monies. A natural result of this recognition is that it is unlawful (that 
 is, dangerous) to partake of the new food till it has been properly 
 offered to the deity. The ceremonial features (such as the choice of 
 the persons to make the offering) are simply the carrying over of 
 general social arrangements into religious observances — the minis- 
 trant is the father of the family, or the chief of the tribe, or the priest 
 or other elected person, according to the particular local customs. 
 
 221. The sadness or gloom that sometimes attaches to these 
 ceremonies has been variously explained, and is due doubdess to 
 various orders of ideas ; it comes probably from the coalescence 
 of other cults with the agricultural cults proper. The remembrance 
 of ancestors is not unnatural at such a time, and sorrow may be ex- 
 pressed for their death ; such is perhaps the case jn the Nandi 
 usage mentioned above — the women sorrowfully take home baskets 
 of elusine grain, and the bits that drop in the house are left to 
 the souls of the deceased. Sorrow appears also in other agricul- 
 tural seasons, as in the Roman Vestalia (in June) and the Greek 
 Thesmophoria (in the autumn), in which cases more likely it is 
 connected with the fear of evil influences.^ So the great tribal 
 
 1 Lev. xxiii. 2 gee above, § 128. •'' Ilollis, The A'aiidi, p. 46 f. 
 
 ■* Gatschct, Mii^raiion Legend of the Creeks, p. 177 ff. 
 
 6 Cf. the ceremony of the pharmakos in the festival of the Thargelia (Miss Harri- 
 son, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, p. 95 ff.).
 
 EARLY K/i/JuJOLS C/j:A'/-JJ/i>.\/ES 97 
 
 purification of the Creeks, at the beginning of a new year, natu- 
 rally coincides with the gathering of the new crop. 
 
 222. A further extension of the conception of the sacredness of 
 food (whether or not of the first eating) appears in the Mexican 
 custom (in May and December) of making dough images of gods, 
 the eating of which sanctifies the worshiper ; ^ here the god dwells 
 in the bread of which he is the giver. 
 
 223. In addition to the astral and agricultural festivals above 
 described there has been the observance of long periods to which 
 a religious significance was sometimes attached. The Egyptian 
 Sothis period^ (of 1461 years), the Greek period of eight years 
 (oktaeteris), and the Mexican period of fifty-two years were calen- 
 dary — attempts to harmonize the lunar and solar years ; in Mexico 
 the new cycle introduced a new religious era — a great ceremony 
 was held in which domestic fires were rekindled from the sacred 
 fires. The Hebrew jubilee period (of fifty years), apparently a late 
 development from the sabbatical year, was intended, among other 
 things, to maintain the division of landed property among the people 
 — all alienated land was to return finally to its original owner — 
 participation in the blessings bestowed by the national deity being 
 conditioned on having a share in the land, of which he was held to 
 be the proprietor ; the proposed arrangement turned out, however, 
 owing to changed social conditions, to be impracticable. 
 
 224. It thus appears that ceremonies of various sorts have played 
 a very important part in religious life. They have been the most 
 popularly effective presentation of religious ideas, and they have 
 preserved for us religious conceptions that without them would have 
 remained unknown. Their social character has insured their per- 
 sistence^ — ceremonies of to-day contain features that go back to 
 the earliest known stratum of organized religious life. While the 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Boiig/i, 2d ed., ii, 337 ff. 
 
 2 This period has been generally held to be ralcndary. Its calendary reality is 
 denied by Legge (in A'cciicil dcs travaiix, xxxi) and Foucart (in Hastings, Encyclo- 
 pud'ia of Religion and Ethies^ article " Calendar [Egyptian] "). 
 
 3 A noteworthy instance of this persistence appears in the history of the Bene- 
 Israel, a body of Jews living in the Bombay Presidency (article " Bene-Israel " in 
 Hastings, Encyelopadia of Religion and Ethics) ; they preserve the Jewish religious 
 festivals, but under Indian names.
 
 98 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 motives that underlie them (desire to propitiate supernatural 
 Powers, demand for an objective presentation of ideas, and love 
 of amusement) are the same throughout the world, their forms 
 reflect the various climatic, economic, and general cultural condi- 
 tions of clans, tribes, and nations. They acquire consistency with 
 the organization of society ; they tend to become more and more 
 elaborate, just as in other points social intercourse tends to 
 produce formal definiteness ; they grow decrepit and have to 
 be artificially strengthened and revived ; they lose their original 
 meanings and must be constantly reinterpreted to bring them 
 into accord with new ideas, social, moral, and religious. Their 
 history, in a word, is the history of the development of human 
 ideas, and it sets forth the religious unity of the race. The selec- 
 tions given above are only a small part of the known material, 
 a full treatment of which would require a separate volume.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 EARLY CULTS 
 
 225. The lowest tribes known to us regard the wliolc world of 
 nature and the human dead as things to be feared and usually as 
 things to be propitiated. In most cases they conceive of some an- 
 thropomorphic being as the creator or arranger of the world. But 
 in all cases they regard animals, plants, and inanimate objects as 
 capable of doing extraordinary things. All these beings they think 
 of as akin to men; transformations from human to nonhuman and 
 from nonhuman to human are believed to be possible and frequent. 
 
 226. From the point of view of the savage mind this theory 
 of the world is inevitable. Ignorant of what we call natural law, 
 they can see no reason why the phenomena of life should not be 
 under the control of any of the powers known to them ; and for 
 sources of power they look to the things around them. All objects 
 of nature are mysterious to the savage — stones, hills, waters, the 
 sky, the heavenly bodies, trees, plants, fishes, birds, beasts, are full of 
 movement, and seemingly display capacities that induce the savage 
 to see in them the causes of things. Since their procedures seem to 
 him to be in general similar to his own, he credits them with a nature 
 like his own. As they are mysterious and powerful, he fears them and 
 tries to make allies of them or to ward off their injurious influences. 
 
 227. Ikit while he excludes nothing from his list of possible 
 powers, he is vitally interested only in those objects with which 
 he comes into contact, and he learns their powers by his own 
 experience or through the wisdom inherited from his forefathers. 
 His procedure is strictly scientific ; he adopts only what observa- 
 tion has shown him and others to be true. Different tribes are 
 interested in different things — some are indifferent to one thing, 
 others to another, according to the topographical and economic 
 milieu. The savage is not without discrimination. He is quite 
 
 99
 
 lOO JATHODL'CriOA TO JIJSTOKV OJ' KK/JG/OXS 
 
 capable of distinguishing between the living and the dead. Not 
 all stones are held by him to be alive in any important sense, and 
 not all beasts to be powerful. He is a practical thinker and deals 
 with each phenomenon as it presents itself, and particularly as it 
 shows itself to be connected with his interests. He is constantly 
 on the alert to distinguish between the profitable and the unprofit- 
 able, the helpful and the injurious. He himself is the center of his 
 whole scientific and religious system, and the categories into which he 
 divides all things are determined by his own sense of self-interest.^ 
 
 228. It is often by accident that one object or another displays 
 itself as helpful or harmful, just as, in a later and higher form of 
 religious belief, a theophany is often, as to time and place, a matter 
 of accident. Indeed, most manifestations of extrahuman power in 
 the earliest times may be said to come to man incidentally, since 
 he does not generally demand them from the gods or make experi- 
 ments in order to discover them. fJut in the nature of the case 
 many things meet him as to which he is obliged to use judgment, 
 and of these a certain number appear to him to be powerful. 
 
 229. These objects are held by him to be in some sort akin to 
 man. This seems to be his view of certain dead things in which a 
 mysterious power is held to reside. When such objects are parts 
 of animals (bones, feathers, claws, tails, feet, fat, etc.), or of vege- 
 tables that are used as charms, it may be supposed that they simply 
 retain the power resident in the objects of which they are parts — 
 objects originally living and sacred. In other cases an indwelling 
 supernatural being is assumed, as, for example, in minerals whose 
 shape and color are remarkable. 
 
 230. Fetish objects in West Africa are believed to be inhabited 
 by spirits.^ The Australian sacred object called churinga — a thing 
 
 1 See above, §§ 4, 7. 
 
 2 The word " fetish " (from Portuguese /ir/V/fo, ' artificial,' then ' idol, charm,'), de- 
 vised originally as a name of charms used by the natives of the West African coast, is 
 often employed as a general name for early religious practices. Its proper use is 
 in the sense of a dead object, as a piece of clay or a twig, in which, it is held, a spirit 
 dwells. The fetish is often practically a god, often a household god ; the interesting 
 thing about it is that the spirit, generally a tutelary spirit, can enter the object or de- 
 part at will, may be brought in by appropriate ceremonies, and may be dismissed 
 when it is no longer considered useful.
 
 EARLY CULTS lOr 
 
 of mysterious potency — is believed to be the ai)ode of the soul 
 of an ancestor endowed with extraordinary power. Many such 
 fetish objects arc found all o\er the world. 
 
 231. I'urther, the conception of a life-force, existing in many 
 things (perhaps in all things), appears to have been prominent in 
 savage religious systems. Life implies power ; but while it is held 
 to reside in all things, its manifestations vary according to the 
 relations between things and human needs. The life-force in its 
 higher manifestations has been isolated in thought by some more 
 advanced savages, especiall)' in \orth America and Polynesia, and 
 has been given a definite name ; in Polynesia and Melanesia it is 
 called maiia, and other names for it occur elsewhere.^ 
 
 232. It shows itself in any object, nonhuman or human, that 
 produces extraordinary effects. In the Pacific islands all great 
 achievements of men are attributed to it — all great chiefs possess 
 it in an eminent degree ; ^ it is then nearly equi\alent to what we 
 call capacity or genius. When it resides in an inanimate thing it 
 may produce a physical effect : it comes up in the steam of the 
 American sacred sw^eat lodge, and gives health to the body (and 
 thus buoyancy to the mind) ; ^ here it is identical with the soothing 
 and stimulating power of the steam. It is, in a word, a term for 
 the force residing in any object.* Like sickness and other evils, 
 blessings, and curses, it is conceived of as having physical form and 
 may be transmitted from its possessor to another person or object. 
 In some cases its name is given to the thing to wiiich it is attached.^ 
 
 233. How widely the conception exists is uncertain; further 
 research may discover it in regions where up to now it has not 
 
 ' .-Mgonkin maiiito or mniii/it {W . Jones, in Journal of American Folklore, xviii, 
 190) ; Froquois orcnda ; Siouan wakonda ; Chickasa hullo i Journal of American Folk- 
 lore, XX, 57); cf. the Masai ii'gai, 'the unknown, incomprehensible' (Ilinde, Tlie 
 Last of the Masai, p. 99), connected with storms and the telegraph. Other names 
 perhaps exist. 
 
 2 Codrington, The Melanesians, Index, s.v. Maua. •' \v. Jones, op. cit. 
 
 ^ It has therefore been compared to the modem idea of force as inherent in 
 matter. 
 
 5 The .American manitu is an appellation of a personal supernatural being. The 
 Siouan ivakonda is invoked in prayer (Miss Fletcher, The Tree in flic Dakotan 
 Grouf) .
 
 102 JXTRODrcno.y to jiistokv of kkugioxs 
 
 been recosfnizccl. Scarcelv a trace of it exists in the hitrhcr ancient 
 religions. The Latin genius, the indwelling power of the man, bears 
 a resemblance to it. The Old Testament " spirit of God " is said 
 to "come on" a man or to be ''poured out on" him, as if it were 
 a physical thing — it gives courage and strength to the warrior and 
 knowledge to the worshiper ; ' the power or energy is here (in the 
 earlier Hebrew writings) identified with the spirit or animus of the 
 deity, which appears to be thought of as physical. 
 
 234. Mana is conceived of by the peoples mentioned above not 
 as a vague influence diffused through the world, but as a power 
 resident in certain definite persons or things. It is impersonal in 
 the sense in which any quality, as courage, is impersonal, but it 
 is not itself an object of worship; worship is directed toward the 
 thing that possesses or imparts mana. It may reside in a natural 
 object or in a supernatural being — the object will be used to secure 
 it, the supernatural being will be aske'd to bestow it. In both cases 
 the act will be religious. 
 
 235. Mana is itself, strictly speaking, a scientific biological con- 
 ception, but it necessarily enters into alliance with religion. Belief 
 in it exists along with belief in ghosts, spirits, and gods — it is not 
 a rival of these, but an attachment to them. As a thing desirable, 
 it is one of the good gifts that the great Powers can bestow, and 
 it thus leads to worship. It is found in distinct form, as is pointed 
 out above, only in superior tribes — it has not been discovered 
 in very low communities, and appears not to belong to the earliest 
 stratum of religious beliefs. But it rests on the view that all things 
 are endowed with life, and this \iew may be taken to be universal. 
 The doctrine of mana gradually vanishes before a better knowledge 
 of the human constitution,^ a larger conception of the gods, and 
 a greater trust in them.^ 
 
 236. Things and persons endow^ed with peculiar power, whether 
 as seats of mana or as abodes of spirits, are set apart by themselves, 
 
 1 Judg. xiv, 19 ; i Sam. xix, 23 ; Ezek. xxxix, 29. Fury also is said to be poured 
 out. Cf. Mark v, 30, where power {biva/xLi) is said to go out of Jesus. 
 
 2 Cf. the Greek cncrgeia and entelcchcia. 
 
 8 Cf. I. King, The Development of Religion, chap. vi.
 
 EARLY CULTS 103 
 
 arc regarded witli feelings of awe, and thus become '" sacred." 
 In prt)cess of time the accumulated experience of generations builds 
 up a mass of sacred objects which become a part of the religious 
 possessions of the community. The quality of sacredness is some- 
 times attached to objects and customs when these are regarded 
 as necessary to the well-being of the community, or highly con- 
 venient. A house, for example, represents the life of the family, 
 and is therefore a thing to be revered ; and in many tribes the 
 walls, which guard the house against intrusion, and the door and 
 the threshold, which offer entrance into it, are considered sacred ; 
 the hearth especially, the social center of the dwelling, becomes a 
 sacred place. 
 
 237. The savage communities with which we arc acquainted all 
 possess their stock of such things — the beliefs concerning sacred 
 objects are held by all the members of the tribe. The development 
 of the idea of 'sacred' is a social communal one, but it is impos- 
 sible for us to say precisely how all the individual sacred objects 
 were selected, or what was the exact attitude of primeval man 
 toward all the things that are now regarded as sacred. 
 
 238. The conception of power resident in certain things to con- 
 trol human life is represented by our term " luck." The formulation 
 of " luck " systems goes on in savage and half-civilized communities 
 up to a certain point, and is then checked by the rise of higher 
 religious ideas and by the growth of the conception of natural 
 law. But long after the grounds of belief in luck have ceased to 
 be accepted by the advanced part of the community, many indi- 
 vidual forms of good luck and bad luck maintain themselves in 
 popular belief.^ Some of these beliefs may be traced back to their 
 savage sources, especially those that are connected wnth animals ; 
 the origin of most of them is obscure. They coalesce to some 
 extent with conceptions derived from magic, divination, and taboo. 
 The persistence of such savage dogma into civilized times en- 
 ables us to understand how natural this dogma was for early 
 forms of society. 
 
 1 Examples in J. IT. King, The Siifcrnatiiral. Cf. T. S. Knowlson, Origins of 
 Pfl/-iila)- Sii/'crsl!lio?is, etc. ; T. Keightley, Fa'uy Mythology.
 
 I04 /.vy'A\>/n'C'/voA' jv j/istokv oi' ki-:lic,/o\s 
 
 239 . I n the practices mentioned above there is no worship proper. 
 Mana is not thought of as being in itself a personal power, and wor- 
 ship is paid onl\- to objects regarded as having personality. The 
 fetish derives its value from the spirit supposed to be resident 
 in the fetish objects ; these are commonly worn as charms, and 
 the attitude of the man to such a charm, though he regards it as 
 powerful, seems to be not exactly that of worship — he keeps 
 it as a protection so long as it appears to be useful, but, as is 
 remarked above, he acts as if he were its master. He believes 
 that the efficient factor is the indwelling spirit, but he commonly 
 distinguishes between this sj)irit and a god proper. When, how- 
 ever, the fetish is regarded as a tutelar}- di\init)', it loses its lower 
 character and takes its place among the gods. 
 
 240. We turn now to man's attitude toward other objects, simi- 
 larly regarded as sacred, but invested with distinct personality, and 
 supposed to act consciously on human life. I'hcse are all such things 
 as men's experiences bring them into intimate relations with, this 
 relationship forming the basis of the high regard in which they are 
 held. They arc animals, plants, mountains, rivers, heavenly bodies, 
 living men, and ghosts. These are objects of cults, many of them 
 in some cases being worshiped at the same time in a single com- 
 munity. A chronological order in the adoption of such cults it is 
 not possible to determine. All objects stand together in man's con- 
 sciousness in early cultural strata, and the data now at command 
 do not enable us to say which of them first assumed for him a re- 
 ligious character ; the chronological order of cults may have differed 
 in different communities when the general social conditions were 
 different. W'e may begin with the cult of animals without there- 
 by assuming that it came first in order of time. 
 
 Animals 
 
 241. Of all nonhuman natural objects it would seem to have 
 been the animal that most deeply impressed early man.^ All objects 
 were potentially divine for him, and all received worship, but none 
 
 1 Cf. Tylor, Primitkc Culture, 3d cd., ii, 229 ff . ; article ",\nimals'' in Hastings, 
 Encyclopmdia of Religion ami Ethics.
 
 KARLV CULTS 
 
 105 
 
 entered so intimately into his life as animals. He was doubtless 
 struck, perhaps awed, by the brightness of the heavenly bodies, but 
 they were far off, intangible ; mountains were grand and mighty, 
 but motionless ; stones lay in his path, but did not approach him ; 
 rivers ran, but in an unchanging way, rarely displaying emotion ; 
 plants grew, and furnished food, but showed little sign of intelli- 
 gence. Animals, on the other hand, dwelt with him in his home, 
 met him at every turn, and did things that seemed to him to exhibit 
 qualities identical with his own, not only physical but also mental 
 — they showed swiftness, courage, ferocity, and also skill and cun- 
 ning. In certain regards they appeared to be his superiors, and 
 thus became standards of power and objects of reverence. 
 
 242. At a very early period the belief in social relations between 
 men and animals appears. The latter were supposed to have souls, 
 to continue their existence after death, sometimes to come to life 
 on earth after death. Their social life was supposed to be similar 
 to that of men ; ^ in Samoa the various species form social units,^ 
 the Ainu see tattoo marks on frogs and sparrows,^ the Arabs recog- 
 nize a clan organization in beasts.* 
 
 243. From identity of nature comes the possibility of transfor- 
 mation and transmigration.^ An Australian of the Kangaroo clan 
 explained that he might be called either kangaroo or man — it was 
 all the same, man-kangaroo or kangaroo-man, and the Australian 
 legends constantly assume change from human to animal and from 
 animal to human.*' The same belief appears in Africa and North 
 America, and may be assumed to be universal among savages. It 
 survives in the Greek transformation stories and in the werwolf 
 and swan maiden of the European popular creed. It is the basis 
 of a part of the theory of the transmigration of souls.'' 
 
 1 This may have been simply the transference to them of human custom, or it 
 may also have been suggested by the obvious social organization of such animals as 
 bees, ants, goats, deer, monkeys. 2 'lumcr, Samoa, pp. 21, 26. 
 
 '^ Batchelor, The Ainu, p. 27. 
 
 ■* \y. R. Smith, Religion of the Semi/es, (new ed., sec p. 106) p. 12S f. 
 
 5 A. Lang, A/y/h, Ritual, and Religion, i, 1 17 ff. 
 
 fi .'Spencer and Ciillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 3S9, 401. Some 
 Australians believed in an original gradual transformation of animals and plants into 
 human beings. " On the conception of animals as ancestors see below, § 449 f.
 
 I06 /\TRODfCriO.\ TO H/SJORV OF KEUuIOXS 
 
 244. The relations of early man with animals are partly friendly, 
 partly hostile. A friendly attitude is induced by admiration of their 
 powers and desire for their aid. Such an attitude is presupposed 
 in the myths of intermarriage between beasts and men. It is per- 
 haps visible also in the custom of giving or assuming names of 
 animals as personal names of men, though this custom may arise 
 from the opinion that animals are the best expressions of certain 
 qualities, or from some conception underlying totemistic organi- 
 zation ; the general histor}' of savage proper names has not yet 
 been written. Beast tales, likewise, bear witness to man's opinion 
 of the cleverness or folly of his nonhuman brethren, and perhaps 
 originally to nothing more. The distinctest expression of friendli- 
 ness is seen in certain religious customs spoken of below. 
 
 245. On the other hand, early man necessarily comes into con- 
 flict with animals. Against some of them he is obliged to protect 
 himself by force or by skillful contrivance ; others must be slain 
 for food. With all of them he deals in such a way as to secure 
 his own well-being, and thus comes to regard them as things sub- 
 servient to him, to be used in such way as he may find profitable. 
 Those that he cannot use he gradually exterminates, or, at a later 
 stage, these, banished to thickets, mountains, deserts, caves, and 
 other inhospitable places, are excluded from human society and 
 identified with demons.' 
 
 246. The two attitudes, of friendliness and of hostility, coexist 
 throughout the savage period, and, in* softened form, e\cn in half- 
 civilized life. They represent two points of view, both of which 
 issue from man's social needs. Early man is logical, but he com- 
 prehends the necessity of not pushing logic too far — he is capable 
 of holding at the same time two mutually contradictory views, and 
 of acting on each as may suit his convenience ; he makes his dogma 
 yield to the facts of life (a saving principle not confined to savages, 
 
 1 A demon may be defined as a supernatural being with whom, for various reasons, 
 men have not formed friendly relations. Cf. W. K. Smith, Religion of I he Semites, 
 new ed., p. 1 19 ff., on the Arabian jinn ; De Groot, Religion 0/ the Chinese, p. 13 ff., 
 for the Chinese belief in demonic animals. On the origin, names, and functions 
 of demons and on exorcismal ceremonies connected with them see below, § 690 ff., 
 and above, §138 ff.
 
 EARLY CULTS 107 
 
 but acted on to a greater or less extent by all societies). He slays 
 sacred animals for divinatory and oiIkt religious purposes, for food, 
 or in self-defense ; be fears tbcir anger, but his fear is overcome 
 by hunger ; he offers profuse apologies, explains that he acts without 
 ill will and that the bones of the animal will be preserved and hon- 
 ored, or he declares that it is not he but some one else that is the 
 slayer — but he does not hesitate to kill.^ 
 
 247. This fact — ■ the existence of different points of view — en- 
 ables us to understand in part the disrespectful treatment of sacred 
 animals in folk- tales. Such tales are the product of popular fancy, 
 standing . apart from the serious and solemn conceptions of the 
 tribal religion. 'i"he reciter, who will not fail at the proper time to 
 pay homage to his tribal patron, does not hesitate at other times 
 to put him into ridiculous and disgraceful situations. - 
 
 248. Man's social contact with the lower animals is doubtless as 
 old as man himself, but there are no records of his earliest life, and 
 it is not possible to say exactly when and how his religious relations 
 with them began. His attitude toward them, as is remarked above, 
 was a mixed one; in general, however, it may be assumed that 
 constant intercourse with them revealed their great qualities and 
 impressed on him the necessity of securing their good will. This was 
 especially true of those of them that stood nearest to him and were 
 of greatest importance for his safety and convenience. These, in- 
 vested with mystery by reason of their power and their strangeness, 
 were held in great respect as quasi-gods, were approached with 
 caution, and thus acquired the character of sacredness. Gradually, 
 as human society was better and better organized, as conceptions 
 of government became clearer, and as the natures of the various 
 animals were more closely studied, means were devised of guard- 
 ing against their anger and securing their friendship and aid. Our 
 earliest information of savage life reveals in every tribe an in- 
 choate pantheon of beasts. All the essential apparatus of public 
 religion is present in these communities in embryonic form — later 
 
 1 So the Eskimo, the Ainu, the Redmen, and modem Arabs in Africa ; many 
 other instances are cited by Frazer in his Cyotdai Dough, 2d ed., ii, 3S6 ff. 
 
 2 Examples are found in many folk-stories of savages everjTvhere.
 
 I08 IXTRODL'CTIO.X TO HISTORV OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 movements have had for their object merely to clarify ideas and 
 refine procedures. 
 
 249. The animals re\ered by a tribe are those of its vicinage, 
 the inhabitants of its hunting grounds. Some of these man uses 
 as food, some he fears. His relation to plains, mountains, forests, 
 lakes, rivers, and seas, influences his choice of sacred beasts. Usu- 
 ally there are many of them, and the natural inference is that origi- 
 nally all animals are sacred, and that gradually those most important 
 for man are singled out as objects of special regard. 
 
 250. Thus, to mention the principal of them : in Africa we find 
 lion, leopard, hyena, hippopotamus, crocodile, bull, ram, dog, cat, ape, 
 grasshopper ; in Oceania, kangaroo, emu, pig, heron, owl, rail, eel, 
 cuttlefish ; in Asia, lion, elephant, bear, horse, bull, dog, pig, eagle, 
 tiger, water wagtail, whale ; in Europe, bear, wolf, horse, bull, goat, 
 swan ; in America, whale, bear, wolf, fox, coyote, hare, opossum, 
 deer, monkey, tiger, beaver, turtle, eagle, raven, various fishes. 
 The snake seems to have been generally revered, though it was 
 sometimes regarded as hostile.^ Since animals are largely val- 
 ued as food, changes in the animals specially honored follow on 
 changes in economic organization (hunting, pastoral, and agricul- 
 tural stages). 
 
 251. Often animals are looked on as the abodes or incarnations 
 of gods or spirits : so various birds, fishes, and beasts in Polynesia 
 (in Samoa every man has a tutelary deity, which appears in the 
 form of an animal'^), Siberia, Mexico, and elsewhere. \\\ other 
 cases they are revered as incarnations of deceased men.* \\'here a 
 species of animal is supposed to represent a god, this view is prob- 
 ably to be regarded not as a generalization from an individualistic 
 to a specific conception (a process too refined for savages), but as 
 an attempt to carry over to the animal world the idea of descent 
 
 1 For other sacred animals see X. \V. Thomas, article " .\nimals " in Hastings, 
 Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 2 Turner, Samoa, p. 238. 
 
 3 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., ii, 430 ff. ; Thomas, article ''Animals" cited above ; 
 Shortland, Traditions of Nciv Zealand, iv ; Marsden, Sumatra, p. 292; Schoolcraft, 
 Indian Tribes, i, 34 ; v, 652 ; Waitz, Anthropologic, iii, 190 ; Callaway, Amazidiis, p. 196 ; 
 A. B. Ellis, The Tshi, p. 150; Mouhot, Indo-China, i, 252; J. Wasiljev, Hcidnische 
 Gebrduche der Wotyaks, pp. 26, 78, etc. ; G. de la Vega, Comentarios Kealcs, bk. i, 
 chap, ix, etc. (Peru) ; Miss Kingsley, Travels, p. 492.
 
 KARI.V CULTS IO9 
 
 from a common ancestor combined witli the idea of a special 
 creator for cver\- family of animals.^ 
 
 252. in the course of religious growth the beast-god may be 
 replaced or succeeded by an anthropomorphic god, and then the 
 former is regarded as sacred to the latter — the recollection of the 
 beast form still remains after the more refined conception has been 
 reached, and the two, closely connected in popular feeling, can be 
 brought into harmony only by making one subordinate to the other. ^ 
 A certain element or flavor of divinity clings to the beast a long 
 time, but finally vanishes under the light of better knowledge. 
 
 253. While the cases, very numerous, in which animals are as- 
 sociated in worship with gods — in composite forms (as in Egypt, 
 Babylonia, and Assyria) or as symbols of deities or sacred to them 
 — point probably to early beast-cults, Egypt alone of the ancient 
 civilized nations maintained the worship of the living animal." For 
 the better thinkers of Egypt beasts doubtless were incarnations 
 or symbols of deities ; but the mass of the people appear to have 
 regarded them as gods in their own persons. 
 
 254. Reverence for animals persists in attenuated form in civi- 
 lized nations in various superstitions connected with them. Their 
 appearances and their cries are believed to portend success or disas- 
 ter. The great number of "signs" recognized and relied on by un- 
 educated and educated persons at the present day bear witness to 
 the strong hold that the cult of animals had on early man.^ 
 
 255. It is in keeping with early ideas that savages often, per- 
 haps generally, ascribe the creation or construction of the world (so 
 far as they know it) to animals. The creation (whether by beasts or 
 
 1 Turner, op. cit., p. 242 ; Castren, F'mnische Mythologie, pp. 106, 160, 1S9, etc.; 
 Parkman, Jcsidts in North Ameiica (1906), pp.61 f., 66 ; Brinton, Myths of the New 
 World, pp. 3, 105, 127, 161, 175, 272 ; cf. Acosta, Historia dc las Indias, bk. v, chap. iv. 
 
 2 .So Zeus and bull, Artemis and bear, Aphrodite and dove, and many other exam- 
 ples. In such cases it is generally useless to trj- to discover a resemblance between 
 the character of the god and that of the associated animal. There is simply, as a rule. 
 a coalescence of cults, or an absorption of the earlier cult in the later. 
 
 3 The particular conditions that induced this cult in Egypt escape us. ."^ec the 
 works on Egyptian religion by Maspcro, Wiedemann, l']rman, -Steindorff, and others. 
 
 ■• On the curious attitude of medieval Europe toward animals as legally respon- 
 sible beings see E. P. Evans, The Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment 
 of Animals.
 
 1 lO IXTRODL'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 by other beings) is not conceived of as produced out of nothing ; 
 there is ahvays preexisting material, the origin of which is not 
 explained ; primitive thought seems not to have considered the 
 possibility of a situation in which nothing existed. The " creation " 
 concei\-ed of is the arrangement of existing material into the forms 
 familiar to man — every tribe accounting thus for its own environ- 
 ment. The origin of the land, of mountains, defiles, lakes, rivers, 
 trees, rocks, sun, moon, and stars, wind and rain, human beings 
 and lower animals, and sometimes of social organizations and 
 ceremonies, is explained in some way natural to the thought of 
 the time and place. Not all these details occur in the cosmog- 
 ony of every tribe or clan, but the purpose of every cosmogony 
 is to account for everything in the origin of which the people 
 are interested. 
 
 256. The creator in the cosmogonies known to us is not always 
 an animal — he is sometimes a man, sometimes a god; it is pos- 
 sible, however, that human and divine creators are the successors 
 of original animal creators. In Central Australia the production of 
 certain natural features of the country and the establishment of 
 certain customs are ascribed to ancestors, mythical beings of the 
 remote past, creatures both animal and human, or rather, either 
 animal or human — possibly animals moving toward the anthro- 
 pomorphic stage. ^ However this may be, there are instances in 
 which the creator is an animal pure and simple, though, of course, 
 endowed with extraordinary powers. The beast to which the demi- 
 urgic function is assigned is selected, it would seem, on the ground 
 of some peculiar skill or other power it is supposed to |)ossess ; 
 naturally the reason for the choice is not always apparent. J-'or 
 the Ainu the demiurge is the water wagtail ; - for the \avahos 
 and in California,^ the coyote or prairie wolf; among the Lenni- 
 Lenape, the wolf.'' Various animals — as elephants, boars, turtles, 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, chap. x. Two super- 
 human creators arc said to have transformed themselves into lizards (ibid. p. 3S9 ff.). 
 
 2 Batchclor, The .liiiii, p. 35 ff. 
 
 3 Matthews, Navaho Legends, pp. 80, 223 ; Dixon, The Northern Maidn, p. 263. 
 
 ■• Brinton, Myths of the Neiv World, p. 269; cf. article "Animals" in Hastings, 
 Encyclojxedia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 EARLY CL'LTS I II 
 
 snakes — arc supposed to I)car the world on their l)acks. The 
 grounds of such opinions, resting on remote social conditions, 
 are ohseure. 
 
 257. 'I'hough, in early stadia of culture, animals are universally 
 revered as in a sort divine, there are few recorded instances of 
 actual worship offered them/ Whether the Bushmen and the Hot- 
 tentots worship the mantis (the Bushman god Cagn) as animal is 
 not quite clear.'- The bear, when it is ceremonially slain, is treated 
 by the Ainu as divine — it is approached with food and prayer, 
 but only for the sjiecific purpose of asking that it will speak well 
 of them to its divine kin and will return to earth to be slain. The 
 Zuhi cult of the turtle and the Californian worship of the bird called 
 panes ^ present similar features. The non-Aryan Santhals of Bengal 
 are said to offer divine worship to the tiger.* Such worship appears 
 to be paid to the snake by the Naga tribes and the Gonds of India, 
 and bv the Hopi of North America.^ 
 
 258. In these and similar cases it is sometimes difficult to say 
 whether the animal is worshiped in its own person merely, or as 
 the embodiment or representative of a god or of ancestors. The 
 usages in question are almost entirely confined to low tribes, and 
 disappear with the advance of civilization ; wild animals are ban- 
 ished from society and cease to be sacred, and the recollection of 
 their early character survives only in their mythological attachment 
 to deities proper. For a different reason doinesticated animals lose 
 their sacredness — • they become merely servants of men. The 
 Egyptian cult of the bull is the best-attested instance of actual 
 worship of a domestic animal, and parallels to this it is hard to 
 find ; the Todas, for example, for whom the buffalo is the central 
 sacred object, do n(jt now pay worship to the animal — they may 
 have done so in former times. 
 
 1 See above, § 253, for the Egyptian cult. 
 
 2 References to Stew's Native Races of South Africa and Merensky's Beitr'dgc 
 are given in Hastings, F.iicyclof'tciHa of Religion and Ethics, i, 522. 
 
 3 Gushing, in The Century Magazine, 18S3; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii. 243 f. 
 ■* Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, ii, 213. 
 
 5 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 539, 527; Crooke, op. cil. ; Fcwkcs, " Tlic 
 Winter .Solstice Ceremony at W'alpi," p. 17 ff.
 
 112 JATKODLCTIOX TO HISTORV OF KEUGIO.VS 
 
 259. The sacredness of animals, and the fact that they are re- 
 garded as embodying the souls of things and human beings, have 
 led to a coalescence of their cults with other religious observances. 
 They are abundantly employed in magical procedures «nd in sacri- 
 fices ; they are often identified with spirits of vegetation, any locally 
 revered animal being chosen for this purpose ; they are brought 
 into connection with astral objects and their forms are fancifully 
 seen in sun, moon, and constellations ; they play a great role 
 in apotropaic and purificatory ceremonies ; and they appear in 
 myths of all sorts,^ especially in the histories of. gods. 
 
 260. But. though they are in many cases regarded as tutelary 
 beings, it is doubtful whether they ever develop into anthropo- 
 morphic deities." The creation of such deities followed a different 
 line * and dispensed with the lower quasi-divine forms. Such man- 
 like attributes as beasts were supposed to have were taken up into 
 the distincter and nobler conceptions of tribal gods to whom beasts 
 were more and more subordinated. The latter were allegorized 
 and spiritualized, and came to serve merely as material for poetry. 
 
 261. Yet beast worship, such as it was and is. has played an 
 important part in religious development. It has furnished a point 
 of crystallization for early ideas, and has supplied interesting objects 
 in which man's demand for superhuman companionship could find 
 satisfaction.^ It has disappeared when it has been no longer needed. 
 
 Plants 
 
 262. The cult of plants has been as widespread as that of animals, 
 and, if its role in the history of religion has been less important than 
 that of the latter, this is because plants show less definite signs of 
 life than animals and enter less intimately than they into the social 
 
 1 For a fanciful connection between the sun-myth and the spider see Frobenius, 
 Childhood of Man, chap, xxiii. 
 
 2 h. somewhat vague Naga (snake) being of this sort is noted (Hopkins, Religions 
 of India, p. 539). The relation between the Australian supernatural being Bunjil (or 
 Punjil) and the eagle-hawk is not clear. Cf. Howitt, A'ativc Tribes of Soidh-East Aus- 
 tralia, Index; Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, Index. 
 
 8 See below, § 635 f. 
 
 < A special form of man's relations with animals is considered below under 
 " Totemism."
 
 EARLY CULTS II3 
 
 interests of man. lUit, like all uiher things, they are regarded by 
 early man as living, as possessing a nature similar to that of man, 
 and as having power to work good or ill. Trees are represented as 
 thinking, speaking, entering into marriage relations, and in general 
 doing whatever intelligent beings can do. Through thousands of 
 years in the period before the dawn of written history man was 
 brought into constant contact with the vegetable world, and learned 
 by experience to distinguish between plants that were beneficial and 
 those that were harmful. His observation created an embryonic 
 science of medicine, and his imagination an embryonic religious cult. 
 
 263. The value of certain vegetable products (fruits, nuts, wild 
 plants) as food must have become known at a very early time, 
 and these would naturally be offered to the extrahuman Powers. 
 At a later time, when cereals were cultivated, they formed an im- 
 portant part of sacrificial offerings, and were held — as, for example, 
 among the Greeks and the Hebrews — to have piacular ef^cacy. 
 
 264. Among the discoveries of the early period was that of the 
 intoxicating quality of certain plants — a ciuality that came to play 
 a prominent role in religious life. Valued at first, probably, for the 
 agreeable sensations they produced, such plants were later sup- 
 posed to possess magical power, to exert a mysterious influence on 
 the mind, and to be the source or medium of superhuman communi- 
 cations. Thus employed by magicians they w'ere connected with 
 the beginnings of religious ecstasy and prophecy. Their magical 
 power belongs to them primarily as living things, but came to be 
 attributed to extrahuman beings. 
 
 265. Plants as living things were supposed to possess souls. ^ 
 Probably the soul was conceived of at first as simply the vital 
 principle, and the power of the plant was thought of as similar 
 
 1 For example, in .Sumatra, offerings are made to the " soul of the rice " ; there is 
 fear of frightening the rice-spirit, and ceremonies are performed in its honor ; see Wil- 
 kcn, f/rt Ajiiwismc bij dc Volkcii van den Indischen Archipcl; Kruyt, De Kijs/mocdir 
 xan den Indischen Aiehif'el, 3S9. It has been suggested that the prohibition of 
 yeast in the Hebrew mazzot (unleavened bread) festival may have come originally 
 from fear of frightening the spirit of the grain. It may have been, however, merely 
 the retention of an old custom (if the grain was eaten originally without yeast), 
 which later (as sometimes happened in the case of old customs) was made sacred 
 by its age, was adopted into the religious code, and so became obligatory.
 
 I 14 /XTRODi'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 to the power of an animal or any other living thing. In the course 
 of time this soul, the active principle, was distinguished from the 
 vital principle, was isolated and regarded as an independent being 
 dwelling in the plant. To it all the powers of the latter were 
 ascribed, and it became a friend or an enemy, an object of wor- 
 ship or of dread. ^ 
 
 266. This difference of attitude on man's part toward different 
 plants probably showed itself at an carl\' period. Those that were 
 found to be no.xious he would avoid ; the useful he would enter into 
 relations with, though on this jjoint for very early times there is in 
 the nature of the case little information." Unfriendly or demonic 
 spirits of plants are recognized by savage man in certain forests 
 whose awe-inspiring gloom, disease-breeding vapors, and wild beasts 
 repel and frighten him. Demons identified with plants or dwelling 
 in them are of the same nature as animal demons, and have been 
 dealt with in the same way as these.^ 
 
 267. The progress of society brought men into association with 
 useful plants, such as medicinal and edible herbs, and fruit-bearing 
 and shade-giving trees ; these, conceived of as inhabited by anthro- 
 pomorphic spirits, fulfilled all the functions that attach to friendly 
 animals. They became guardians and allies, totems and ancestors.* 
 Several of the Central Australian totems are plants, and form part 
 of the mythical ancestral population constructed by the imagination 
 or ethnographic science of the people.^ In Samoa a plant is often 
 the incarnation of a spirit friendly to a particular family® — a 
 conception that is not improbably a development from an earlier 
 view that a certain plant had a special relation to a certain clan.'' 
 
 1 This conception survives in the expressions '" spirit of wine," etc., and Cassio's 
 " invisible spirit of wine " easily passes into a " devil." 
 
 2 This distinction is made in a somewhat formal way by the .Ainu, a very rude 
 people (Batchclor, The Ainu, chap, xxxiii). 
 
 •' W. K. .Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 132 f. 
 
 •* Frazer, Toiemism and Exogamy, Index, s.w. totems, ancestors. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, ■p^'- 112, 116. Many 
 other plant totems are mentioned by Frazer in his Totemism and Exogamy. 
 
 c Turner, Samoa, pp. 32, 39, 43, 72. 
 
 '■ This relation was not necessarily totemic — it may have been of a general char- 
 acter, of which totemism is a special form.
 
 EARLY CULTS I15 
 
 In general, a plant important in a given region (as, for example, 
 the tobacco plant in North America) is likely to be invested with 
 a sacred character. 
 
 268. Trees, by reason of their greater dignity (size, beauty, pro- 
 tective character), have generally been singled out as special cultic 
 centers.^ A great tree sometimes served as a boundary mark or 
 signpost ; under trees chiefs of clans sat to decide disputes. Thus 
 invested with importance as a sort of political center as well as the 
 abode of a spirit, a tree naturally became a shrine and an asylum. '•^ 
 In India and Greece, and among the ancient Celts and Germans, 
 the gods were worshiped in groves, b\' the Canaanites and He- 
 brews "under every green tree." To cut down a sacred tree was 
 a sacrilege, and the spirit of the tree was believed to avenge 
 the crime. ^ 
 
 269. As might be expected, there is hardly a species of tree that 
 has not been held sacred by some group of men. The Nagas and 
 other tribes of Northeast India regard all plants as sacred,* and 
 every village has its sacred tree. In Babylonia and Assyria, it is 
 said, there were hundreds of trees looked on as invested with 
 more or less sanctity. The oak was revered in some parts of 
 Greece, and arriong the Romans and the Celts. The cult of par- 
 ticular species, as the pipal (Fic/ts- religiosa), the vata or banyan 
 (Fiais Indlca), the karam and others, has been greatly system- 
 atized in India. ^ 
 
 270. Vegetable spirits in some cases have developed into real 
 gods. A notable example of such growth is furnished by the history 
 of the intoxicating soma plant, which in the Rig- Veda is represented 
 not only as the inspiring drink of the gods but as itself a deity, 
 doing things that are elsewhere ascribed to Indra, Pushan, and other 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 1 79 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. articles " Asylum " in Hastings, Eucyclopadia of Religion and Ethics, and 
 Jcifish Encyclopedia. 
 
 8 \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semifcs, 2d ed., pp. 133, 195 ; Hopkins, in Journal 
 of the American Oriental Society, xxx (1910), 4, p. 352. 
 
 ^ Miss Godden, m Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxvi, 1S6 ff. 
 
 5 W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, new ed., ii, 85 ff. ; 
 cf. Hopkins, "Mythological Aspects of Trees, etc.," xn. Journal of the American 
 Oriental Society, September, 1910.
 
 Il6 I\TR0I)rCT70X TO IIJSTOR)' OF RKLIGIOXS 
 
 well-established deities.^ The spirit, coming to be regarded as an 
 anthropomorphic person, under peculiar circumstances assumes the 
 character of a god. A similar development appears in the Iranian 
 haoma, and the cultic identity of soma and haoma shows that the 
 deification of the plant took place in the early xYryan period.- 
 
 271. Another example has been supposed to be furnished by 
 corn-spirits. The importance of cereal crops for human life gave 
 them a prominent position in the cult of agricultural communities. 
 The decay and revival of the corn was an event of prime signifi- 
 cance, and appears to have been interpreted as the death and resur- 
 rection of the spirit that was the life of the crop. Such is the idea 
 in the modern popular customs collected by Mannhardt and Frazer.^ 
 The similarity between these ceremonies and those connected with 
 the Phoenician Tammuz (Adonis) and the Phrygian Attis makes it 
 probable that the two are based on the same ideas ; that is, that 
 Adonis and Attis (and so also Osiris and Ishtar) were deities of 
 vegetation. This, however, does not prove that they were devel- 
 oped out of spirits of vegetation ; they may have been deities charged 
 with the care of crops.* The Phoenician name Adon is merely a 
 title (' lord ') that might be given to any god ; he whom the Greeks 
 called Adonis was a Syrian local deity, identical in origin with the 
 Babylonian Tammuz, and associated in worship with Astarte, whom 
 the Greeks identified with their Aphrodite. 
 
 272. A sacred tree often stood by a shrine; that is, probably, 
 the shrine was put in the spot made sacred by a tree, and a ritual 
 connection between the two was thus established. Later, when a 
 shrine for any reason (in consequence of a theophany, for example) 
 was built where there was no tree, its place was sujiplied by a 
 wooden post, which inherited the cultic \-alue of a sacred tree. In 
 the Canaanite cult, which was adopted by the Hebrews, the sacred 
 post (called "ashera") stood by the side of every shrine, and was 
 
 "^ Rig-Vcda, ix al. ; Muir, Original Sanskt-it Tcx/s, v; Hillebrandt, Vcdisc/tc 
 I'lyihologic, i, 450 ; Hopkins, Rc/igioirs of India, p. 1 12 ff. 
 
 2 Spiegel, Eranischc Altcrtliumskiindc, ii, 114 ff . ; Tiele-Gehrich, Gcschichtc dcr 
 Religion im Alicriiim, ii, ii, p. 234 ff. 
 
 3 'Sldxinhardt. Baumkullits axid Anlikc Wald- tnid Fcldkidte \ Frazer, Golden Bough, 
 Index, s.v. Coni-sfirit. ^ Cf. below, § 75 1 ff.
 
 EARLY Cri.TS II7 
 
 denounced by the prophets as an accompaniment of foreign (that is, 
 non-Yahwistic) worship.^ The transition from tree to post is illus- 
 trated, perhaps, by the conventionalized form of trees frequent on 
 Babylonian seal cylinders." How far the sacred post was an object 
 of worship by the people we have no means of knowing ; but by 
 the more intelligent, doubtless, it came to be regarded simply as a 
 symbol, a sign of the presence of a deity, and was, in so far, in the 
 same category with images." 
 
 273. It is not impossible that totem posts may be connected with 
 original totem trees or other sacred trees. A tree as totem would 
 naturally be the object of some sort of cult, and when it took the 
 form of a post or pole, would have totemic symbols carved on it. 
 Oftener, probably, it was the sacred pole of a village (itself de- 
 scended from a sacred tree) that would be adorned with totemic 
 figures, as among the Indians of Northwestern America.'' In all 
 such cases there is a coalescence of totemism and tree worship. 
 
 274. It was natural in early times, when most men lived in for- 
 ests, which supplied all their needs, that trees should be looked on 
 as intimately connected with human life. x\ tree might be regarded 
 as in itself an independent personality, having, of course, a body 
 and a soul, but not as dependent on an isolated spirit. A group of 
 men might think itself descended from a tree — a conception that 
 may have been widespread, though there is little direct evidence of 
 its existence.^ Indirect evidence of such a view is found in the cus- 
 tom of marrying girls to trees,® and in the belief in '"' trees of life," 
 which are sometimes connected with individual men in such a way 
 that when the tree or a part of it is destroyed the man dies, as in 
 the case of Meleager whose life depended on the preservation of a 
 piece of wood,' the representative, probably, of a tree, and the priest 
 
 1 The connection between such posts and the North-Semitic goddess Ashera is 
 uncertain. 2 Ward, Scal-cyliiidcrs of Western Asia. 
 
 •' Cf. the suggestion of .V. Keville (in his Prolcgomincs dc P/iisioire dcs religions') 
 that images arose in part from natural woods bearing a fancied resemblance to the 
 human form. 
 
 ^ lioas, The K~i.vakuill\ Swanton, "Seattle Totem Pole," m Journal of American 
 Folklore, vol. xviii, no. 6g (April, 1905). ^ See below, " Totemism," § 449 f. 
 
 6 Crooke, Pofidar Religion and Folklore of Northern India, ii, 115 ff. 
 
 " Fausanias, x, 31, 4 ; Koscher, Lcxikon, article " Meleagros."
 
 Il8 I.\rRODL/CT/OX TO H/STORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of Nemi whose life was bound up in the "golden bough "^; some- 
 times the tree has a magical power of conferring life on whoever 
 eats of its fruit, as in the case of the tree of Eden.- 
 
 275. These stories involve the conception of blood-kinship be- 
 tween man and tree. Closely related to the " tree of life " is the 
 " tree of know- ledge " — life is knowledge and knowledge is life. I n 
 the original form of the story in Genesis there was only one tree — 
 the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ^ — whose fruit, if eaten, 
 made one the equal of the gods ; * that is, the tree (in the original 
 form of the conception, in remote times) was allied in nature (that 
 is, in blood) to gods and to men, so that whoever partook of its 
 substance shared its attribute of knowledge in sharing its life, and 
 the command not to eat of it was due apparently to Yahweh's un- 
 willingness that man should equal the gods in knowledge. The 
 serpent-god, who belongs to the inner divine circle, but for some 
 unexplained reason is hostile to the god of the garden,^ reveals 
 the secret. 
 
 276. Probably, also, it is from this general order of ideas that 
 the conception of the cosmic tree has sprung. The Scandinavian 
 Yggdrasil is the source of life to all things and represents also 
 wisdom ; though the details may contain Christian elements, the 
 general conception of the world as a tree or as nourished by a 
 tree is probably old.^ The same conception appears in the cosmic 
 tree of India. ^ Such quasi-philosophical ideas of the unity of the 
 life of the world suppose, doubtless, a relatively advanced stage of 
 culture, but they go back to the simple belief that the tree is en- 
 dowed with life and is a source of life for men. The transition 
 to the cosmic conception may be found in those quasi-divine 
 trees that grant wishes and endow their friends with wisdom 
 and life. 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., iii, 391 ff. 
 
 2 Gen. iii ; cf. Hopkins, in Journal of the Atnerican Oriental Society, September, 
 1910. Whether the golden apples of the Hespcrides had the life-giving quality is 
 doubtful. 
 
 3 'J'his appears from a comparison of Gen. iii, 3 with ii, 17. ^ Gen. iii, 5, 22. 
 6 He is, perhaps, a diminished and conventionalized form of the old chaos dragon. 
 O On the various names and characters of this cosmic tree see Saussaye, Religion 
 
 of the Teutons, 'p. ;ij,y a. '^ Hig-Veda, \,?,\, ^.
 
 EARLY CULTS 1 19 
 
 277. The divinatory function of trees follows as a matter of 
 course from their divine nature (whether this was regarded as 
 innate or as due to an indwelling spirit). Their counsel was sup- 
 posed to be expressed by the rustling of their leaves,^ or in some 
 way that was interpreted b\- priests or priestesses (as at Dodona 
 and elsewhere) or by diviners (so, perhaps, the Canaanite " tere- 
 binth of the diviners ").^ The predictions of the Cuma^an sibyl 
 were said to be written on leaves that were whirled away by the 
 wind and had to be gathered and interpreted. To what method 
 of divination this points is not clear — possibly to supposed indi- 
 cations in the markings of the leaves ; it may, however, be merely 
 an imaginative statement of the difficulty of discovering the sibyl's 
 meaning.^ 
 
 278. The passage from the conception of the tree as a divine 
 thing or person (necessarily anthropomorphic) to the view that it 
 was the abode of a spirit was gradual, and it is not always easy 
 to distinguish the two stages one from the other. The tree-spirits, 
 in the nature of the case very numerous, were not distinguished 
 by individual names, as the trees were not so distinguished.* The 
 spirits resident in the divine trees invoked in the Vedas are power- 
 ful, but have not definite personality, and it is hard to say whether 
 it is the tree or the spirit that is worshiped. The Indian tree-spirits 
 called Nagas appear to be always nameless, and are not mentioned 
 in the list of deities that pay reverence to the Buddha (in the Maha 
 Samaya).^ The large number of trees accounted sacred in Babylonia 
 were doubtless believed to be inhabited by spirits, but to no one 
 of these is a name given. 
 
 279. Thus .the divine tree with its nameless spirit stands in a 
 class apart from that of the gods proper. A particular tree, it is 
 true, may be connected with a particular god, but such a connec- 
 tion is generally, if not always, to be traced (as in the parallel case 
 of animals ®) to an accidental collocation of cults. When a deity has 
 become the numen of a tribe, his worship will naturally coalesce 
 
 1 2 Sam. V, 24. 2 judg. ix, 37. 3 See below, § 935 ff. 
 
 ■• This is the case with all spirits that social needs do not force man to give 
 names to. » Rhys Davids, Buddhisl India, p. 232. ^ See above, § 252 f.
 
 I20 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 with the veneration felt by the tribe for some tree, which will 
 then be conceived of as sacred to the god. Such, doubtless, was 
 the histor)' of the oak of Dodona, sacred to Zeus ; when Zeus 
 was established as deity of the place, the revered tree had to be 
 brought into relation with him, and this relation could only be one 
 of subordination — the tree became the medium by which the god 
 communicated his will. There was then no need of the spirit of 
 the tree, which accordingly soon passed away : the tree had lost 
 .its spiritual divine independence. The god who is said to have 
 appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and is described as dwelling 
 in the bush, is a local deity, the numeji loci, later identified with 
 Yahweh, or called an angel.^ That a tree is sacred to a god means 
 only that it has a claim to respect based on its being the property 
 or instrument of a god. 
 
 280. While the tree-spirit has undoubtedly played a great role 
 in early religious history, there is not decisive evidence of its ever 
 having developed into a true god, with name, distinct personality, 
 and distinct functions.^ There are many Greek and Roman titles 
 that connect gods with trees,' but these may be explained in the 
 way suggested above : Zeus Endendros is a god dwelling in a tree, 
 but the tree is only an abode, not a god, and the god Zeus does 
 not come from the tree — rather two distinct sacred things have 
 been brought together and fused into a unity, or the tree is a rude, 
 incipient image. The Dionysos hermes-figures may be explained 
 in the same way.* 
 
 281. It appears to be the aloofness of trees that prevents their 
 becoming gods ; they are revered and worshiped, but without be- 
 coming personalities. Babylonian seal engravings and wall pictures 
 often represent a tree before which men or higher beings stand 
 in adoration ; according to Maspero ® there was actual worship of 
 trees in Eg)'pt, and similar cults are found among the wild tribes 
 of India.® Adoration, however, does not necessarily imply a god ; 
 
 1 Ex. iii, 2 ff. ; Deut. xxxiii, i6 ; Acts vii, 30, 35. 
 
 2 Stt Journal of the American Oriental Society, xxx, 353 f., for possible examples. 
 
 3 A list of such titles is given by C. Boetticher in his Bawnkultus der Ilellenen 
 und R'dmer, chap. iv. ■» Dionysos is a bull-god as well as a tree-god. 
 
 S Dawn 0/ Civilization, p. 12. 6 Hopkins, Religions of Ittdia, p. 533.
 
 J'lAKLV CULTS 121 
 
 the Buddhist's worship under the bo-tree is not directed to any 
 being ; it is only the recognition of something that he thinks 
 worthy of reverence.^ 
 
 282. The cult of the corn-spirit is referred to above,'- and doubt 
 is there expressed as to whether such a spirit has grown into a 
 true god. TIk' question is confessedly a difficult one on account 
 of the absence of full data for the period involved. The chief 
 ground for the doubt as to the development in question lies in 
 what we know of early gods. The term ' Adon,' as is remarked 
 above, is the Phoenician title of the local deity. The origin of such 
 deities is involved in the obscurity of the remote past, but they are, 
 each in his community, universal powers ; their functions embrace 
 all that their communities desire, and they represent each the total 
 life of a people. It is the general rule that any popular custom 
 may be introduced into the cult of the local god ; of such sort 
 of procedure there are many examples. In the case under con- 
 sideration the god may have become the hero of a ceremony with 
 which he had originally nothing to do, as the Hebrews when they 
 entered Canaan connected Canaanite festivals with their national 
 god, ^'ahweh, and later a cult of the wilderness deity Azazel^ 
 was adopted and modified by the Yahwist leaders. Various cults 
 attached themselves to the worship of Zeus, Apollo, Dionysos, and 
 other Greek deities.'* 
 
 283. A similar explanation may be given of the ceremonies of 
 death and resurrection connected with Attis and Osiris. Of Attis 
 we have only late accounts, and do not know his early history. 
 Osiris is an old underground deity (later the judge of the Under- 
 world), with functions that included more than the vivification of 
 vegetation, and the absorption of the corn-spirit into his cult would 
 be natural. The collocation of a male with a female deity, com- 
 mon to the three cults, may be merely the elaboration of the 
 myth in accordance with human social usage (the dead deity is 
 mourned by his consort).^ The descent of Ishtar has been 
 
 1 On the Soma cult see above, § 270. '^§271. 3 Lev. xvi. 
 
 ■1 Gruppe, CidU tiiul .}ry//tat\ Koscher, Lcxikon. Cf. the developed cults of 
 \'ishnu and (^iva. ^ On Osiris and Isis see below, § 72S f.
 
 122 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 interpreted of the weakening of the sun's heat in winter ; but as 
 she is obviously a deity of fertility and, in her descent, disappears 
 entirely from among men, while the sun does not disappear en- 
 tirely, she rather, in this stor)-, represents or is connected w iih the 
 decay and rebirth of vegetation. 
 
 284. It is thus possible that, though many ancient ceremonies 
 stand in relation to the corn-spirit and also to a god, the explana- 
 tion of this fact is not that the spirit has grown into a god, but 
 that it has coalesced with a god. In all such explanations, how- 
 ever, our ignorance of the exact processes of ancient thought 
 must be borne in mind. 
 
 285. 'I'rees have been widely credited with the power of bestow- 
 ing blessiilgs of all sorts. But, like animals, they rarely receive 
 formal worship ; ^ the reason for this is similar to that suggested 
 above ^ in the case of animals. The coalescence, spoken of above, 
 of tree ceremonies wuth cults of fully developed gods is not un- 
 common, and trees figure largely in mythical divine histories. 
 
 Stones and Mountains 
 
 286. Like all other objects stones have been regarded, in all 
 parts of the world, as living, as psychologically anthropomorphic 
 (that is, as having soul, emotion, will), and, in some cases, as pos- 
 sessing superhuman powers.' The term ' sacred,' as applied to 
 them, may mean either that they are in themselves endowed with 
 peculiar powers, or that they have special relations with divine 
 beings ; the first meaning is the earlier, the second belongs to a 
 period when the lesser revered objects have been subordinated to 
 the greater. 
 
 287. The basis of the special belief in their sacredness was, 
 probably, the mystery of their forms and qualities, their hardness, 
 brilliancy, solidity. They seem to have been accepted, in the 
 earliest known stages of human life, as ultimate facts. When 
 
 1 Some instances of worship are given in Frazer's Golden Bmtgli, 2d cd., i, iSi, 189, 
 191. Frazer sometimes uses the term ' tree worship' where all that is meant is re- 
 spect for trees as powerful things. 2 See § 253 ff. 
 
 8 See Revue de riiisto'ire dcs religions, iSSi.
 
 i:.\Ri.\- CULTS 123 
 
 explanations of their presence were sought, they were supposed 
 to have been deposited by ancestors or other beings, sometimes 
 as depositories of their souls.' Meteorites, having fallen from the 
 sky, needed no other explanation. Popular science (that is, popu- 
 lar imagination), perhaps from fancied resemblances to the human 
 form, assumed of some stones that tliey were human beings turned 
 to stone, and stories grew up to account for the metamorphoses. 
 In many different ways, according to differences of physical sur- 
 roundings and of social conceptions, men accounted for such of 
 these objects as interested them particularly. 
 
 288. That stones were believed to be alive and akin to men is 
 shown b}- the stories of the birth of men and gods from stones,'^ 
 the turning of human beings to stone (Niobe, Lot's wife), the 
 accounts of their movements (rocks in Brittany).* 
 
 289. Small stones, especially such as are of peculiar shape, are 
 in many parts of the world regarded as having magic power ; 
 the peculiarity of shape seems mysterious and therefore connected 
 with power. Doubtless accidental circumstances, such as the occur- 
 rence of a piece of good fortune, have often endowed a particular 
 stone with a reputation for power. Certain forms, especially flat 
 disks with a hole in the center, have preserved this reputation 
 down to the present day. The Roman lapis manalis is said by 
 Festus to have been employed to get rain.'* 
 
 290. Magical stones were, doubtless, believed to possess souls. 
 In accordance with the general law such stones and others were 
 regarded later as the abodes of independent movable spirits.^ 
 
 1 So in Central Australia (Spencer and ("lillen, Xaiivc Tribes of Central Aitsiralia, 
 pp. 123 f., 137). 
 
 2 The rock whence came the stones thrown by Deucalion and Pyrrha (the origin 
 of the human race) also gave birth to Agdistis miigitibus editis tnultis, , according to 
 Arnobius, Aikcrsiis A'ationes, v, 5. Mithra's birth from a rock (Roscher, Lcxikoii) 
 is perhaps a bit of late poetical or philosophical imagery. 
 
 3 For various powers of stones, involving many human interests, see indexes in 
 Tylor's Primitive Cttltiire, Frazer's Golden Bough^ and Ilartland's Primitive Pater- 
 nity, s.v. Stone or Stones. 
 
 * Festus, p. 2 ; see the remarks of Marquardt, Rdmise/ie Staatsver7valtung ■. .Vust, 
 Religion der Rbmer, p: 121 ; and Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 232 f. On the relation 
 between the lapis and Juppiter Elicius, see Wissowa, Religion und Kidtus der RUmer, 
 p. 106 ; cf. Roscher, Lexikon, article " luppiter," col. 606 ff. 5 See above, § 97 ff.
 
 124 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIC lOXS 
 
 When the power of a fetish seems to be exhausted, and a new- 
 object is chosen and l)y appropriate ceremonies a spirit is induced 
 to take up its alx)de in it, there seems to be no theory as to 
 whether the incoming spirit is the old one or a new one, or, if it 
 be a new one, what becomes of the old one, about which little or no 
 interest is felt.^ The pneumatology is vague ; the general view is 
 that the air is full of spirits, whose movements may be controlled 
 by magical means : spirits, that is, are subject to laws, and these 
 laws are known to properly trained men. 
 
 291. Reverence for divine stones continues into the period of 
 the rise of the true gods. When god and stone stand together in 
 a community, both revered, they may be and generally are com- 
 bined into a cultic unity : the stone becomes the symbol or the 
 abode or the person of the god." It was, doubtless, in some such 
 way as this that a stone came to be identified with the Magna 
 Mater of Pessinus. When this stone was brought to Rome toward 
 the end of the Second Punic War, the Roman leaders may have 
 regarded it simply as a symbol of the goddess, but the people 
 probably looked on it as itself a divine defense against Hannibal.' 
 The Israelite ark, carried out to the battle against the Philistines,* 
 appears to have contained a stone, possibly a meteorite, possibly 
 a piece taken from the sacred mountain Sinai, itself divine, but in 
 the Old Testament narrative regarded as the abode of Yahweh (a 
 Sinaitic god), though it was probably of independent origin and 
 only gradually brought into association with the local god of the 
 mountain. 
 
 292. Similar interpretations may be given of other stones iden- 
 tified or connected with deities, as that of Zeus at Seleucia,^ that 
 of Aphrodite at Paphos,*' that of Jupiter Lapis," and the black 
 
 1 On processes of capturing a god in order to inclose him in an object, or of 
 transferring a god from one object to another, sec \V. Crookc, " The Binding of a 
 God," in Folklore, viii. 
 
 2 In pre- Islamic Arabia many gods were represented by stones, the stone being 
 generally identified with the deity; so Al-Lat, Dhu ash-Shara (Dusares), and the 
 deities represented by the stones in the Meccan Kaaba. 3 Livy, xxix, lo f. 
 
 4 I Sam. iv. 5 Head, Historia Nnmonim, p. 66 1. 
 
 6 Tacitus, Hist, ii, 3 ; it was conical in shape. 
 
 ■ Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 230 ff. ; cf. above, the " lapis manalis," § 289.
 
 . EARLY CULTS 1 25 
 
 stone that represented the Syrian Elagabalos at Emcsa.^ The 
 remark of Pausanias, alter he has described the thirty sacred 
 stones of Pherac, that the early Greeks paid divine honors to un- 
 hewn stones, doubtless expresses the traditions and beliefs of his 
 time ;- and it is probable that in antiquity there were many divine 
 stones, and that these were frequently in later times identified with 
 local gods. In many cases, however, there was no identification, 
 only a collocation and subordination : the stone became the sym- 
 bol of tlu' deity, or a sacred object associated with the deity.^ 
 
 293 . This seems to be the later conception of the character of 
 the sacred stones mentioned in the Old Testament, as the one 
 that Jacob is said to have set up as a masseba and anointed.'' 
 The Canaanite massebas, adopted as cultic objects by the Israel- 
 ites,^ were stone pillars standing by shrines and regarded as a 
 normal if not a necessary element of worship ; originally divine in 
 themselves (as may be inferred from the general history of such 
 objects), they came to be regarded as mere accessories ; there is 
 no indication in the Old Testament that they were looked on as 
 gods, though they may have been so regarded by the people ^ — 
 their presence at the Canaanite shrines, as a part of foreign, non- 
 Yahwistic worship, sufficiently explains the denunciation of them 
 by the prophets.'' 
 
 294. In the story of Jacob he is said to have given the name 
 Bethel to the place where he anointed the stone. It does not 
 appear that he so called the stone itself; Bethel (in Hebrew, 
 "house of God"^) seems to have been an old sacred place, and 
 terms compounded with ' beth ' in Hebrew are names of shrines. 
 The relation between this name and the Semitic word whence, 
 
 1 Ilcrodian, v, 3, 10. 
 
 2 Pausanias, vii, 22. Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 160 ff. 
 
 3 H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, 335 ; Saujsaye, Mamial of the Science of 
 Religion (Eng. tr.), p. S5 ff. 
 
 * Gen. xx\iii, 18 ; cf. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 203 f. 
 5 llos. iii, 4. 
 
 B The reference in Jer. ii, 27, Hab. ii, 19 (stones as parents and teachers), seems 
 to be to the cult of foreign deities, represented by images. 
 
 ' On the interpretation of the masseba as a phallus or a kteis see below, §§ 400, 406. 
 8 And so in Assyrian and Arabic,
 
 126 IXTRODUCTION TO J/ISTORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 probably, comes Greek bailiilos ^ (Latin baetiilus) is not clear ; 
 this last is the designation of a sacred stone held to have fallen 
 from heaven (meteoric). Such an one is called by Philo of Byb- 
 los "empsuchos," 'endowed with life or with soul.'" Pliny de- 
 scribes the baetulus as a species of ceraunia (thunderstoTie).* The 
 Greek word is now commonly derived from betel (' bethel ') — a 
 derivation possible so far as the form of the word is concerned.* 
 According to this view the stone is the abode of a deity — a con- 
 ception common in early religion. Such an object would be 
 revered, and would ultimately be brought into connection with a 
 local god.* If Hebrew bethel was originally a stone considered 
 as the abode of a deity, then in the Old Testament the earlier 
 form of the conception has been effaced by the later thought — 
 the word ' bethel ' has become the name of a place, a shrine, the 
 dwelling place of God.^ 
 
 295. The origin of the black stone of the Kaaba at Mecca is un- 
 known — it was doubtless either a meteorite or in some way con- 
 nected with a sacred place ; it was, and is, regarded as in itself 
 sacred, but whether it represented originally a deity, and if so what 
 deitv, is not known." 
 
 296. The belief in the sacred character of stones may account, 
 at least in part, for the custom of casting stones on the grave of a 
 chieftain (as in Northern Arabia), though this may be merely in- 
 tended to preserve the grave. So also the stones thrown at the 
 foot of a Hermes pillar may have been meant as a waymark, yet 
 with the feeling that the stone heap had a sacred character of its 
 
 1 There is no Greek etymology for baitulos, and if it came from without, a 
 Semitic origin is the most probable. 
 
 2 Eusebius, I'racparailo Erangdica, i, lo, iS. 
 8 Hist. Nat., bk. xxxvii, chap. 5 1 . 
 
 4 Cf. F. Lenormant, in Revue de Phistolre ties religions, iii, 31 ff. ; Gruppe, Gric- 
 cliischc Mythologic, p. 775 f. , 
 
 5 For Phoenician customs see Pietschmann, Phoiiizicr, p. 204 ff. 
 
 ** Cf. Deut. X, 2 ; Ex. xxv, 16 ; 2 Chr. v, 10, where the stone in the ark seems' to 
 have become two stone tables on which the decalogue was written by the finger of 
 Yahweh — an example, if the view mentioned above be correct, of the transforma- 
 tion of a thing originally divine in itself into an accessory of a god. 
 
 ■7 Cf. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, s.v, Kaaba; Wellhausen, Rcstc arabischcn 
 Hcidcntumes, pp. 99, 171.
 
 I-IARLV CULTS 12/ 
 
 own.^ The stone circles at Sto^ehenge and Avebury may have had 
 a religious significance, but their function is not clear. Boundary 
 stones seem to have had at first simply a political function, but 
 were naturally dedicated to the deities who were guardians of 
 tribal boundaries (Roman Terminus, various Babylonian gods, etc.). 
 
 297. It is by virtue of their divine character that stones came 
 to be used as altars.^ As things divine in themselves or as represent- 
 ing a deity they receive the blood of the sacred (that is, divine) 
 sacrificial animal, which is the food of the god. Originally a part of 
 the blood is applied to the stone, and the rest poured out or eaten 
 (as sacred food) by the worshiper. In process of time , when the 
 god has been divorced from the stone, the latter becomes a table 
 on which the victim is offered;^ the old conception survives in the 
 custom of slaying the victim by the side of the altar, and applying 
 the blood to the horns of the altar as a representative part of the 
 sacred structure. In the late Jewish ritual this application of blood is 
 interpreted as a purification of the altar from ceremonial defilements.* 
 
 298. Originally, it seems, it was only natural stones that were 
 sacred or divine and were employed as representatives of deities ; 
 but by a natural process of thought the custom arose of using arti- 
 ficial stones in the same way. By means of certain ceremonies, it was 
 held, the deity could be induced to accept an altar or a house, or to 
 take up his abode in an image, as a spirit is introduced by the savage 
 into a fetish object.^ The basis of this sort of procedure is first the 
 belief in the amenableness of the deity to magical laws, and, later, 
 the belief in his friendly disposition, his willingness to accede to the 
 wishes of his worshipers provided they offer the proper tribute; but 
 even in very late ceremonies a trace of the magical element remains. 
 
 1 On the relation between the stone heaps and the Hermes pillars cf. \\'elckcr, 
 Gricchhche Got/crlchrc, ii, 455, and Koscher, Lcxikoii, i, 2, col. 2382. With Hermes 
 as guide of travelers cf. the Egyptian Khem (Min), of Coptos, as protector of wander- 
 ers in the desert, and perhaps Eshmun in the Sardinian trilingual inscription (see 
 Roscher, Lcxikon, article "Esmun"; Oricnialischc Studicn NoJdckc gcwidmct). 
 
 2 See below, § 1080. 
 
 3 W. R. Smith, Kdigion of the Soiiihs, 2d ed., pp. 202, 341 ; cf. Jevons, Intro- 
 duction to the History of Religion, chap, xi ; article " Altar " in Hastings, Encyclopecdia 
 of Religion and Ethics. * Lev. xvi, 19. 
 
 5 For some methods of such introduction see W. Crookc, in Folklore, viii.
 
 128 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 299. The significance of the high pillars, of stone or of metal, 
 that stood at the entrance of certain Semitic temples, is not clear. 
 Examples are: in Tyre, the temple of the local Baal (Melkart);^ 
 Solomon's temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, and the temple planned 
 by Ezekiel in imitation of that of Solomon ;- compare the temple of 
 the Carthaginian Tanit-Artemis, a form of Ashtart, the votive stela 
 from the temple of Aphrodite in Idalium (in Cyprus), and similar 
 figures on Cyprian coins. ^ Of the various explanations offered of 
 these pillars that which regards them as phallic symbols may be set 
 aside as lacking proof. ^ It is not probable that they were merely 
 decorative ; the details of ancient temples, as a rule, were con- 
 nected with worship. It has been suggested that they were fire 
 altars,^ in support of which view may be cited the figures on Cyprian 
 coins (mentioned above), and the fact that sailors sacrificed at Gades 
 at a place where there were two high pillars;'' but such a custom 
 does not prove that the sacrifices were offered on the pillars, and 
 these latter are generally too high to serve such a purpose ; they 
 are too high also to be convenient candelabra." It seems more prob- 
 able that they were developments from sacred stones (such as the 
 Canaanite massebas), which originally represented the deity, came 
 to be conventional attachments to temples, and then were treated 
 in accordance with architectural principles. They would be placed 
 in pairs, one pillar on each side of the temple door, for the sake of 
 symmetry, and dignity would be souglit by giving them a consid- 
 erable height.^ They might also be utilized, when they. were not 
 too high, as stands for lamps or cressets, but this would be a second- 
 ary use. The obelisks that stood in front of Egyptian temples, like- 
 wise, were probably sacred monuments reared in honor of deities.® 
 
 1 Herodotus, ii, 44; he identifies Melkart with Herakles. 
 
 2 I Kings, vii, 15-22 ; Ezek. xl, 49. 
 
 3 Perrot and Chipiez, Histoire de tart., vol. iii : cf. Pietschmann, Phonhicr, 
 p. 203 ff. ; RawliTison, Phoenicia, p. 338. •• Cf. below, § 399 ff. 
 
 S \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed.. p. .(Sj ff. c Strabo, iii, 5, 5. 
 
 '• Those of Solomon's temple arc described as being 27 feet in height, and with- 
 out stairways. Cf. the structures connected with the Hierapolis temple (Lucian, Dc 
 Syria Dea, 28). 
 
 8 Desire for height appears also in the Egyptian pyramid and the Babylonian 
 ziggurat, but both these had means of ascent to the higher levels. Cf. below, § 10S5. 
 
 'J Maspero, Egyptian Archaology, p. 100 ff.
 
 i:.\RlA' CULTS 129 
 
 300. Images of gods and other extrahuman beings arise through 
 the natural human impulse to represent familiar objects of thought. 
 Very rude tribes have stone or wood carvings of spirits and gods, 
 good and bad. These images are generally in human shape, because 
 all Powers are thought of as anthropomorphic. Sometimes, as 
 R^ville suggests, a root, or branch of a tree, bearing some resem- 
 blance to the human face or figure, may have led to the making of 
 an image ; but the general natural artistic tendency is sufficient to 
 account for the fact.^ 
 
 301. The character assigned to images varies with stages of cul- 
 ture. In low communities they are themselves divine — the gods 
 have entered into them and they are not thought of as different 
 from their divine indwellers. In such cases they are sometimes 
 chained to prevent their getting away ; if they are obstinate, not 
 listening to prayers, they are cuffed, scourged, or reviled." This con- 
 ception lingers still among the peasants of Southern Europe, who 
 treat a saint (a rechristened old god) as if he were a man to be won 
 bv threats or cajolements. In a more refined age the image be- 
 comes simply a symbol, a visible representation serving to fix the 
 attention and recall divine things. 1 different races also differ in the 
 extent of their demand for such representations of deity. 
 
 302. Stones and rocks, like other natural objects, are starting- 
 points for folk-stories and myths. All over the world they lie on 
 the ground or rise in the shape of hills, and, being mysterious, 
 require explanation. The explanations given, and handed clown 
 from generation to generation, are always connected with superhu- 
 man or with extraordinary persons, ancestors, heroes, spirits. To 
 each stone or rock a story is attached, a creation of the fancy sug- 
 gested by the surroundings and by the popular traditions ; and each 
 story forms an episode in the history of the hero or spirit. The 
 stones and rocks thus come to constitute a book chronicling the 
 history of the tribe and the deeds of its great men — a book quite 
 
 1 The movement from aniconic to anthropomorphic forms is seen in the image of 
 the Ephesian Artemis, the upper half human, the lower half a pillar (Roscher, Lcxi- 
 koii, i, I, cols. 5S8, 595). 
 
 2 Examples in Tylor's Primitive Culture^ 2d ed., ii, 170 f. ; cf. his Early History 
 of Mankind, chap. vi.
 
 I30 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 legible to the man who has been taught the stories. These grow 
 with ever)' generation, receiving such additions as fancy and reflec- 
 tion dictate, and gradually taking on literary form. In the territory 
 of the Australian Arunta every stone is connected with some inci- 
 dent in the careers of the mythical ancestors, and the stories taken 
 together form the legendary history of the origin of customs.^ In 
 Samoa and New Guinea many stones are pointed out as having 
 been set in place by local heroes. In North America innumerable 
 rocks and stones are connected with the mythical ancestors and 
 creators- of the tribes. 
 
 303. Mountains have everywhere been regarded as abodes of 
 spirits or deities, and therefore sacred, 'i'hcir height and massive- 
 ness invested them with dignity (even as now they appeal mightily 
 to the imagination), and their lofty summits and rugged sides were 
 full of danger and mystery. Sacred mountains are found in North 
 America, Bengal, Africa, and elsewhere. Naturally they are often 
 abodes of gods of rain ; they are feared on account of the spirits in- 
 habiting them, but they are also resorted to as places where divine 
 revelations may be obtained.- The Semitic, Hindu, and Greek ex- 
 amples are familiar : the Hebrew and Canaanite Sinai (or Horeb), 
 Nebo, Carmel, Hermon ; the Arabian Arafat, near Mecca ; the 
 Babylonian Ekur; in India, Meru, Mandara, Himavat, and other 
 mountains ; in Greece, Olympus and Parnassus. 
 
 304. Mountains are also worshiped as being themselves divine.* 
 The cult, however, has not been important ; the physical mass is 
 too solid, lacking in movement, and human interest naturallv cen- 
 tered in the spirit or deity who dwelt therein.'' 
 
 305. Mythological fancy has made them the abodes and places 
 of assembly of gods and glorified saints, usually in the north. The 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Natk'e Tribes of Central Australia, p. i88, etc. . 
 
 2 Matthews, Navaho Legends, Index, s.v. Mountains; article " Bengal " in Hast- 
 ings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics \ Tylor, Primitive Culture, n, 260; Hollis, 
 The A^andi, p. 48. 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 358 ff., 537, and Journal of the American Ori- 
 ental Society, September, 1910. 
 
 ^ On a general relation between gods and local hills see Rivers, The Todas, 
 p. 444.
 
 EARLY CULTS I 31 
 
 mythical Ekur was the dwelling place of Babylonian deities.^ In 
 India various peaks in the Himalayas, inaccessible to men, were 
 assigned to groups of deities, and the mythical world-mountain 
 Meru was the special abode of great gods, who there lived lives 
 of delight.- On the highest peak of the Thessalian Olympus Zeus 
 sat, surrounded by the inferior gods ; here he held councils and 
 announced his decrees.^ The two conceptions of the home of 
 the gods — on mountains and in the sky — existed for a time 
 side by side, having in common the feature of remoteness and 
 secrecy; gradually the earthly abode was ignored, and the gods 
 were assigned to the more dignified heavenly home. 
 
 Waters 
 
 306. To early man waters, fire, winds, are interesting because 
 of their relation to his life, and sacred because of their power and 
 mysteriousness.'' They are regarded by him not as " elements " of 
 the world, but as individual phenomena that affect well-being. His 
 conception of them is not cosmogonic or analytic, but personal ; 
 they are entities with which he has to deal. 
 
 307. The mobility of masses of water, seeming to be a sign of 
 life, naturally procured them a definite place among sacred things^ 
 Any spring, pond, lake, or river with which a tribe was brought 
 into intimate relations was regarded as a source of life or of heal- 
 ing, and of divination. Dwellers by the sea regarded it with awe ; 
 its depths were mysterious and its storms terrible. 
 
 308. As in the case of animals, plants, and stones, so here : the 
 earliest conception of water masses is that they are divine in them- 
 selves (every one, of course, having its own soul), and are potent 
 for bodily help or harm, and for divination. The waters of the 
 
 1 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 541, 638 ; cf. Isa. xiv, 13. Many 
 Babylonian temples, considered as abodes of gods, were called ''mountains." 
 
 ■■2 Hopkins, m Journal of t/ie American Oriental Society, \oc. cit., where the mythi- 
 cal mountains of the Mahabharata are described. 8 JUad viii, 2 al. 
 
 •» Bastian, " Vorstellungen von Wasser und Feuer," in Zcitscluift fiir Ethnologie, i ; 
 Tylor, Primitive Culture, 2d ed., ii, 209 ff., 274 ff. ; W. R. Smith, Religion of the 
 Semites, lecture v.
 
 132 IXTRODUCTIOX TO H/STORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Nile, the Ganges, the Jordan, were held to heal the diseased and 
 purify the unclean ; and a similar power is now ascribed to the 
 water of the well Zamzam in the Kaaba at Mecca. Hannibal 
 swore, among other things, by the waters,^ and the oath b}- the 
 river Styx was the most binding of oaths, having power to control 
 even the gods ; the thing by which an oath is taken is always 
 originally divine. In the Hebrew ordeal of jealousy the sacred 
 water decides whether the accused woman is guilty or not." The 
 sea is treated as a living thing, whose anger may be appeased by 
 gifts ; it is a monster, a dragon.'' The Spartan Cleomenes, about 
 to start on a voyage, sacrifices a bull to the sea."* Offerings to the 
 sea are made in the Maldive Islands.^ 
 
 309. Water is abundantly employed in religious ritual as a means 
 of purification from ceremonial defilement, and in services of initi- 
 ation. A bathing-place often stood by a shrine (as in pre-Islamic 
 Arabia and in Islam now), and immersions came to play a promi- 
 nent part in highly developed systems (Jewish, Christian, Mithraic). 
 The purification was generally symbolic, but in some forms of Chris- 
 tian belief the water of baptism is held to have regenerating power® 
 — a survival of the ancient conception of the divinity of water. 
 
 310. It is often hard to say whether a body of water is regarded 
 simply as itself a living thing, or is conceived of as the dwelling 
 place of an isolated or independent spirit. In savage systems the 
 details on this point are hardly ever recorded or obtainable : but 
 the beliefs involved in later folk-lore make it probable that this latter 
 stage of the construction of creeds is passed through in savage life. 
 The water maidens of Greek mythology and the Germanic nixies 
 and water kelpies are developed forms of spirits. Sacred springs 
 and wells are still believed to be inhabited by beings that are not 
 gods, but possess superhuman power. 
 
 311. While wells and streams of a domestic character (such as 
 are freely used by human beings) are generally friendly, they have 
 their unfriendly side. The spirits that dwell in iliem are sometimes 
 
 1 Polybius, vii, 9. 2 Num. v. 3 job vii, 12. ^ Herodotus, vi, 76. 
 
 ^Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, x, i^-g ; Bell, Maldive Islands, p. ■j-^. 
 6 In Titus iii, 5, the reference seems to be to baptism.
 
 KARJA' CULTS I 33 
 
 regarded as being hostile to man. They drag the incautious 
 wanderer into their depths, and then nothing can save him from 
 drowning. Fear of these malignant beings sometimes prevents at- 
 tempts to rescue a drowning person ; such attempts are held to bring 
 down the vengeance of the water-demon on the vvould-bc rescuer.^ 
 
 312. In the course of time true water-gods appear. In Greece 
 every river had its deity, and in India such deities are found in 
 the Mahabharata."'^ When in the Iliad the river Xanthos rises to 
 seize and drown Achilles, it may be a question whether the stream 
 or the god of the stream is the actor. Nor is it always possible to 
 say whether the extrahuman Power inhabiting a w-ater mass is a 
 true god or a spirit ; the latter form may pass b\- invisible grada- 
 tions into the former. 
 
 313. Waters originally divine tend to become the abodes of the 
 deity of the place, or sacred to him, and healing or other power is 
 ascribed to his presence or agency.*' Sacred water, being unwill- 
 ing to retain anything impure, thus becomes a means of detecting 
 witches and other criminals, who, when thrown in, cannot sink, but 
 are rejected by the dix'ine Power. 
 
 314. Deities of streams and springs do not play an important 
 part in worship or in mythology ; their physical functions are not 
 definite enough, and their activities are naturally merged in or sub- 
 sumed under those of the greater or more definite local gods. If, 
 for example, the Canaanite Baals are gods or lords of underground 
 irrigation,'' this is because they, as divine lords of the particular 
 regions, control all phenomena ; they are, in fact, also gods of rain 
 and thunderstorms, harvests and war. So rain-gods in general are 
 to be regarded as local deities, among whose functions that of be- 
 stowing rain was regarded as specially important. In the lowest .sys- 
 tems the rain-giver may be a sacred stone, dipped in a stream,^ or a 
 royal or priestly magician who is held responsible and is punished 
 
 1 De Groot, Religion of the Chinese, p. 10 f. ; cf. the German Lorelei. 
 
 2 Frazer (in Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor) sees a river-god in the 
 figure mentioned in Gen. xxxii, 24. 3 cf. John v, 4 (in some MSS.). 
 
 •* This is W. R. Smith's contention in Religion of the Semites, Iecti;re v. See his 
 account of Semitic water-gods in general. 
 
 5 'turner, Samoa, p. 345 f. Cf. the Roman lapis manalis ; see above, § 136.
 
 134 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 if the expected result is not attained.' In such cases the procedure 
 is often one of imitative magic.- 
 
 315. If there be, in the next higher stratum of belief, a local 
 or tribal god, it is he who is looked to for the rain supply ; so the 
 early Hebrews looked to Vahweh,^ and the Canaanites, doubtless, to 
 the Baals. The economic importance of rain led', even in low tribes, 
 to the conception of a special deity charged with its bestowal/ In 
 more elaborate mythologies various deities are credited with rain- 
 making power. In India, for example, Dyaus, the Maruts, !Par- 
 janya, Brihaspati, Indra, Agni,^ all concerned with rain, have, all 
 except Agni, evidently grown from local figures with general func- 
 tions ; this appears from the great variety of parts they play. The 
 same thing is true, perhaps, of Zeus and Jupiter in their character 
 of rain-gods — as all-sufficient divine patrons they would be dis- 
 pensers of all blessings, including rain; they seem, however, to 
 have been originally gods of the sky, and thus naturally the 
 special guardians of rain.^ 
 
 316. Great masses of water have given rise to myths, mostly 
 cosmogonic. The conception of a watery mass as the primeval 
 material of the world (in Egypt, Babylonia, India, Greece, Rome) 
 belongs not to religion but to science; in a relatively advanced 
 period, however, this mass was represented as a monster, the 
 antagonist of the gods of light and order, and from this repre- 
 sentation has come a whole literature of myths. In Babylonia a 
 great cosmogonic poem grew up in which the dragon figures of 
 the water chaos (Tiamat, Mummu, Kingu) play a great part,^ 
 and echoes of this myth appear in the later Old Testament books. 
 
 1 .'\ large number of examples are given by Frazer in his Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 
 8if.,al. 
 
 2 Brinton, Myths of the h'nv World, p. 17 ; Spencer and (iillen, Native Tribes of 
 Central Australia, p. 189 f. 
 
 3 One signification (not a probable one) proposed for the name Yahweh is, ' he 
 who causes (rain) to fall.' 
 
 •1 Examples of such gods, in Africa, America, and Asia, are given in Tylor's Prim- 
 itive Culture, ii, 239 ff. ^ Hopkins, Riligions of India, p. 99 ff. 
 
 So in the Secrets of Enoch (ed. R. H. Charles), chaps, iv-vi, the treasuries of 
 rain and dew in the lowest heaven are guarded by angels. 
 
 1 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Index, s.w.
 
 EARLY CULTS I 35 
 
 317. In the more elaborate pantheons the local deities of streams 
 and springs tend to disappear, and gods of ocean appear : in Baby- 
 lonia, Ea ; in (ireece, Okeanos and Poseidon ; in Rome, Neptune; 
 and along with these are numerous subordinate figures — attendants 
 on the great gods, and intrusted with various particular duties. 
 
 Fire 
 
 318. There was, doubtless, a time when man had not learned to 
 produce lire, and there may now be tribes unacquainted with its 
 domestic uses. But such ignorance, if it exists, is rare ; savages 
 generally know how to make fire, and to use it for warmth and for 
 the preparation of food. W'lien men began to reflect on the origin 
 of things, fire seemed to them so wonderful that they supposed it 
 must have been discovered or invented, and the knowledge of it 
 bestowed on men by higher beings, gods or demigods ; such bene- 
 factors are Hastsezini (of the Navahos), Lightning (of the Paw- 
 nees), the Beaver and the Eagle (of the Thompson River Indians 
 of British Columbia), Maui (of the Maoris), Agni, Prometheus.^ 
 
 319. Though, like other mysterious things, it has been regarded 
 generally (perhaps universally) as sacred, there is no clear proof 
 that it has been worshiped as divine. What may have been the 
 case in remote ages we cannot tell, but, according to the information 
 we possess, it has been, and is, merely revered as in itself mys- 
 terious or sacred," or as the abode or production of a spirit or a 
 deity. Possibly in the early stages of culture known to us there is a 
 fusion of the element with the indwelling or controlling god or spirit.^ 
 The divine patrons of fire are found in all parts of the world, varying 
 
 1 Matthews, .\'ava/io Legends, p. ^j ; Dorsey, The Skidi Pawnee, p. 8 ; Teit, Thomp- 
 son A'iver Indians, p. 56 f; R. Taylor, i\e7V Zealaitd and its Inhabitants, p. 130; 
 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 16S, n. i ; Roscher, Lcxikon, article "Prometheus." 
 Accounts of the original production or the theft of fire arc found in savage mythol- 
 ogy the world over; see Frobenius, C/«'A//^fo</ o/. !/«;/, chaps, xxv-xxvii ; Seligmann, 
 The Melanesians of British New Guinea, p. 379 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 277 ff. ; 
 O. T. Mason, Origins of Invention, chap iii. 
 
 - So among the Todas (Rivers, The Todas, p. 437) and the Nandi (Hollis, The 
 Nandi, p. 85). 
 
 <^ On an identification of Agni with fire see Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, 
 p. iSSff.
 
 I ^6 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in form and function according to the degrees of advancement of the 
 various communities, from the beast-gods of the Redmen to the de- 
 partmental deities of the Maoris, Babylonians, Mexicans, and others, 
 and to the more complicated gods of Hindus, Greeks, and Romans.^ 
 
 320. The most elaborate and most interesting of all fire-cults is 
 the Persian. The ritual of the Avesta appears at times to describe 
 a worship of the element itself : in Fargard xviii the fire implores 
 the householder to rise, wash his hands, and put pure wood on the 
 flame ; Yagna bci is a hymn of homage and petition addressed to 
 the fire, which is called the son of Ahura Mazda — the householder 
 asks that all the blessings of life may be his as a reward for his 
 sacrifice. The numerous temples devoted to the fire-cult, men- 
 tioned by later writers," might seem to look in the same direction. 
 But a comparison of other parts of the Avesta makes it doubtful 
 whether in the passages just cited anything more is meant than that 
 the fire, as a creation of Ahura Mazda and sacred to him, is for his 
 sake worthy of reverence and through him a source of blessing. 
 Thus Va^na xvii is a hymn in honor of Ahura Mazda and all his 
 creatures, among which are mentioned the law of Zarathustra, the 
 fire (and five different fires are named), the soul of the ox, and pure 
 deeds, along with the Amesha-Spentas, the heavenly bodies, and 
 good men. This collection shows vagueness in the conception of the 
 di\-ine and the sacred, and, to say the least, leaves it uncertain 
 whether the singer does not think of the fire simply as a symbol of 
 the Supreme God. 
 
 321. The relation of fire to the gods, and especially its use in 
 sacrifice, have led to a number of religious ceremonies in which it 
 plays a principal part.^ Certain fires must be kindled b\- specially 
 appointed sacred persons : among the Todas of Southern India, 
 when a new dairy is visited or an old dairy is reconsecrated ;* among 
 
 1 See Chap. VI. 
 
 2 Shahrastani (i2th centun'), Kitab al-MUal 7va' l-Nihal, a sketch of religions and 
 philosophical sects, Moslem and other (Germ. tr. by Haarbriicker, p. 298 f.). 
 
 3 Hopkins observes {Religions of India, p. 105) that originally fire (.Agni), in dis- 
 tinction from sun and lightning, is the fire of sacrifice. Cf. Bloomfield, Religion of 
 the Veda, p'. 157. 
 
 * Kivers, The Todas, p. 437 ; cf. the ceremony described on page 290 f.
 
 KAKJ.Y CULTS I 37 
 
 the Lacandones of Central America, on the occasion of the renewal 
 of the incense-bowls;^ in ihc iVTuvian temple at the feast of 
 Raymi, when the flame was intrusted to the care of the Virgins 
 of the Sun, and was to be kept up during the year ; ^ in the temples 
 of Hestia and Vesta ; throughout (Greece, when the fires had been 
 polluted by the presence of the Persians, it was ordered that they 
 should be put out and rekindled from the sacred fire at Delphi.'^ 
 
 322. The purificatory power of fire was, doubtless, a fact of early 
 observation. 
 
 323. As the physical means of sacrifice, fire acquired a certain 
 symbolic significance ; in the 1 Icbrew ritual "fire-offerings" are re- 
 garded as specially important. Ky Carthaginians, Moabites, and 
 Hebrews children were devoted to the deity by fire.'* 
 
 324. By reason of its brightness fire connects itself in religious 
 imagery with the sun, with lightning, and with light in general, and 
 so appears frequently as a representation of the glory of the deity.'' 
 
 325. Light is sometimes regarded as an independent thing, and 
 as sacred.*^ 
 
 Winds 
 
 326. Traces of an early cult of the physical wind may be found, 
 perhaps, in certain customs that survive in modern communities ; 
 as, for example, in the offering of food to the wind that it may be 
 placated and do no harm." The belief of sailors that wind may be 
 called up by whistling rests on a process of imitative magic that 
 may be connected with an early cult. Wind is said to be regarded 
 as a divine being in some American tribes.^ But generally it is the 
 spirit or god of a wind (and usually of a definite wind) that is 
 
 J A. M. Tozzer, Comparative Study of the Mayas and the Lacandones, p. 133. 
 2 Prescott, Peru, i, 106 f. 3 Plutarch, Aristidcs, 20. 
 
 4 The Hebrew expression, rendered in the English version " cause to pass through 
 fire," means simply 'devote by fire.' 
 
 5 Ex. xix, 18 ; Ezek. i, 4 : Ps. xviii, 9 [S] ; Rig-Veda, iii, 26, 7 (Indra). 
 
 G Rivers, The Todas, p. 437. In Gen. i, 3, light appears before the creation of the 
 heavenly bodies. 
 
 T So in Carinthia, the Tyrol, and neighboring districts (Wuttke, Der deiitsche 
 Volksabey-glaube der Gegcmvart, p. 86). 
 
 8 Dorsey, The Skidt Pawnee, p. xix.
 
 138 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 invoked. Examples of wind-gods are found in all parts of the 
 world.' A wind may be the vehicle or the messenger of a deity. ^ 
 
 327. As in the cases of other elements, referred to above, it is 
 often hard to say whether it is the thing or the deity that is invoked : 
 Achilles's appeal, for instance, seems to be to the physical winds, 
 but Iris, who goes to summon them, finds them carousing like men, 
 and they act like gods.^ It must be borne in mind, however, that 
 in early thought all active things are conceived of as being anthro- 
 pomorphic, and there is the difficulty, just mentioned, of determining 
 where the anthropomorphic object stops and the spirit or god begins. 
 
 Heavenly Bodies 
 
 328. The heavenly bodies seem to have been regarded at first 
 merely as objects somehow thrown up into the sky or in some 
 other way fixed there by gods or men.'' Later, under the general 
 anthropomorphizing tendency, they are conceived of as manlike 
 beings, and their characters and histories are worked out in ac- 
 cordance with local ideas. 1'heir origin is ascribed at first to such 
 creative beings as appear in the various early communities ; for 
 example, among the Navahos to the First Man, the First Woman, 
 and the coyote.^ 
 
 .329. In half-civilized peoples elaborate cosmogonies arise, in 
 which the sky is introduced along with sun, moon, and stars. 
 The most noteworthy of these representations of the origin of 
 the sky is one that occurs in almost identical forms in Egypt and 
 New Zealand, among the Masai of Central East Africa, and else- 
 where : two beings lie in marriage embrace — one is lifted up and 
 stretches from horizon to horizon as the sky, the other remains as 
 the earth.® The sun is commonly male but sometimes female,^ and 
 
 1 See below, § 662, etc. 2 Ps. xviii, 11 [10] ; civ, 3 f. 3 IJiad, xxiii, 194 ff. 
 
 ^ Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia^ chap, xviii ; Rivers, 
 Tli£ Todas, p. 595. 5 \v. Matthews, .Wna/io Legends, pp. 80, 223. 
 
 •< Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 55 : Taylor, Nciv Zealand, p. 119; HoUis, 77/^- 
 Masai, p. 279 ; cf. Turner, Samoa, p. 283. 
 
 ^ Teit, Thompson River Indians, p. 55 (the present sun is the daughter of a 
 man sun).
 
 KARLV CULTS I 39 
 
 there is also diversity of views as to the sex of the moon. The stars 
 are often called the children of the sun and moon. 
 
 330. Savage fancy sees in the groups of stars resemblances to 
 human persons and objects.^ Such resemblances are worked out 
 by civilized peoples, a descriptive science of constellations arises, 
 and stories are invented to explain the origin of their names. These 
 stellar myths, brought into connection with others, play a great part 
 in developed mythologies. 
 
 331. Among higher communities there are diverse conceptions 
 of the sex of the great luminaries. The word for ' sun ' is feminine 
 in Sanskrit, Anglo-Saxon, German, and often in Hebrew ; masculine 
 in Ikibylonian, Assyrian, Greek, and Latin. ' Moon ' is masculine in 
 Anglo-Saxon and German, and generally in Sanskrit and the Semitic 
 languages ; feminine in Greek and Latin. The reasons for these 
 differences are to be sought in the economic relations of the com- 
 munities to sun and moon, and in the play of imagination, but the 
 history of the variations is not clear. One proposed explanation 
 is that to those who traveled by night on land or on sea the moon 
 was the strong guide and patron, and by day the sun appeared as a 
 splendidly beautiful woman. Other explanations have been offered, 
 but no general determining principle can be stated." 
 
 332. The early anthropomorphic figures of sun and moon appear 
 to be on the verge of becoming true gods. It is, however, often 
 difficult to decide whether in the widespread veneration of the sun 
 it is to be regarded as a li\'ing thing (it is frequently represented 
 as a man, a great chief, "^ dwelling in the sky), or a physical object 
 inhabited by a spirit, or a fully developed god.* The transition to 
 the higher conception is gradual, and will be discussed below, ^ along 
 with the representations of the moon and the stars. 
 
 333. The view that the sky and the earth are the original pro- 
 genitors of things appears among many peoples, low and high 
 (notably among the Chinese) ; the two are sometimes taken for 
 
 1 See examples in Tylor's Primiihc Ciiliitrc^ i, 2qo ff. 
 
 2 On the position of the sun and moon in the later cults see below, Chap. VI. 
 
 3 Teit, op. cit., p. 54. 
 
 ^ See the elaborate Pawnee history of gods (Dorsey, The Skidi Pawnee). 
 5 See Chap. VI f.
 
 140 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 granted, but it is probable that there were ahvays stories account- 
 ing for their origin. The sky is sometimes female, usually in the 
 older myths (Maori, Egyptian), sometimes male (Greek, Roman).^ 
 
 334. Thunder and lightning are regarded in early systems of 
 thought as independent things, only localh- or accidentally com- 
 bined. They are awful and terrible to savage feeling,^ but they 
 have never received religious worship. A quasi-scientific explana- 
 tion of thunder found among certain peoples (North American, 
 Brazilian, Bakuana, Karen, and others) is that it is produced by 
 the flapping of the wings of a mighty bird.^ More commonly 
 thunder is the voice of a deity, and lightning is his arrow,* or 
 these are said simply to be sent by a god.^ 
 
 Worship of Human Beings® 
 
 335. We might naturally suppose that human beings, as well 
 as animals, plants, and inanimate things, would be objects of reli- 
 gious reverence to undeveloped communities ; men, it might seem, 
 would be thought worthier objects of worship than beasts, plants, 
 and stones. In fact, the cult of human beings has been and is 
 widespread, but in this cult the savage mind makes a sharp dis- 
 tinction between the living and the dead. Living men are tangible 
 and intelligible, affected with human frailties, and therefore offer 
 less food for the imagination than beasts ; the souls of dead men 
 are remote, intangible, mysterious, and it is they that have most 
 inspired religious emotion. The histor)^ of these cults is in some 
 
 1 On the genesial (urano-chthonic) conception of the world in Polynesia see Tau- 
 tain, in Anthropologic, vii (1896). 2 HoUis, The Nandi, p. 1 13. 
 
 3 Tyler, Primitive Culture, i, 363 ; ii, 262. ^ Vs.. xxix, 3 ; xviii, 14, 15 [13, 14]. 
 
 5 Iliad, viii, 76 f . ; xxi, igS, etc. The thunderbolt of Zeus is said in Hesiod, Thco- 
 gonia, 140 f., to be forged by the Cyclops. 
 
 6 Bastian, Bcitrdge-. H. Spencer, Principles of Sociology and Principles 0/ Ethics; 
 Grant Allen, Evolution of the Idea of God; Waitz-Gerland, .Anthropologic dcr Natunol- 
 ker: Lippert, Allgemcinc Gcsehichtc dcs Priesterthums ; Tylor, Primitive Culture; 
 Codrington, The Melanesians ; Frazer, Golden Bough ; Wilken, Handleiding voor dc 
 Vergclykcndc Volkcnkunde van Nederlandsch-Indi'e ; Steinmetz, Ethnologische Studien 
 ziir crstcn Entwicklung dcr Strafe ; Westermarck, Origin and Development of the 
 Moral Ideas, Index, s.vv. Kings, .Man-gods; Religions of Egypt (Maspero, Meyer, 
 Wiedemann, Breasted, Steindorff), Babylonia (Jastrow), India (Barth, Hopkins), 
 China (De Groot), Greece (Gruppe), Rome (.\uer), etc.
 
 i:akly cults 141 
 
 points obscure ; though many facts have been collected, the data 
 arc not full and exact enough to furnish a complete explanation 
 of the details of usage, diffusion, origin, and development. 
 
 The Cult of the Living 
 
 336. Savages appear to put no limit to the possible powers of 
 men. In the absence of any exact knowledge of natural law there 
 is no reason why a man should not be thought capable of inflicting 
 sickness and death, bringing rain, securing food, and doing all that 
 relates to human life. Magicians, prophets, ascetics, and saints are 
 credited with such powers in early and later times. Polynesian chiefs 
 are supposed to be imbued with a sacredness that makes contact 
 with them dangerous, and everything that they touch becomes 
 thereby taboo to the ordinary man ; the same sort of sacredness 
 clung to the Roman flamen dialis, to the emperor of Japan, and 
 to many other high officials. This reverence, however, is simply 
 fear of the mysterious, and does not, in itself, reach the height of 
 worship, though it prepares the way for it and may sometimes 
 be scarcely distinguishable from worship proper. The magician is 
 the mouthpiece of a god, and in popular belief is often invested 
 with power that is practically divine. 
 
 337. Many cases, in fact, are reported in which living men are 
 worshiped as gods ; but such reports are often open to doubt and 
 need confirmation. Travelers and other observers are not always 
 in position to state the facts precisely ; particularly they do not 
 always distinguish between awe and religious worship, and the 
 statements of savages on this point are often vague. Frazer has 
 collected a considerable number of examples of alleged worshi[) of 
 living men.^ One of these, that of the dairyman {palol) of the 
 Todas of Southern India, is not supported b\' the latest observer, 
 who says that the palol is highly respected but not worshiped. '-^ 
 An apparently clear case of worship is the Panjab god Nikkal 
 Sen, said to be General Nicholson ; * and it is not improbable that 
 
 1 Golden Doughy zd ed., i, 139 ff. '^ Rivers, T/ie Todas, p. 44S. 
 
 3 Monier-Williams, Religmis Life and Thought hi Itidia, p. 259. See the cases 
 mentioned by Hopkins, Religions 0/ India, p. 522 n.
 
 142 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in other cases mentioned by I'razer (^Marquesas Islands, Raiatea, 
 Samoa, Fiji) actual deification takes place. 
 
 338. Among many more-advanced communities divinity has 
 been ascribed to living monarchs : to the kings of ancient Egypt ; 
 to many early Babylonian kings ; to the emperor of China ; to some 
 of the Ptolemies and Seleucids ; to certain Roman emperors ; to 
 the kings of Mexico and Peru ; and in more modern times to 
 the emperor of Japan. Whether such titles involve a real ascrip- 
 tion of divinity, or are only an assertion of kinship with the 
 gods, or express nothing more than the adulation of courtiers, 
 it may not be easy always to determine ; probably all these con- 
 ceptions have existed at various times. 'I'he conception that men 
 are akin to gods, that there is no difference of nature between the 
 two classes, is an old one, and the ascription of divinity to a king 
 might involve, in earlier stages of civilization or even in relatively 
 advanced stages, no break in the order of things, 'i'hc custom once 
 established, it might continue to be observed, long accepted seri- 
 ously by the mass of the people, but coming gradually to be re- 
 garded bv the educated classes as a mere form. 
 
 339. The development of the custom appears most plainl\- in 
 Egypt} Hie identification of the king with Horus (apparendy the 
 ancient patron deity of Eg>'pt) runs through the history down to 
 the Persian conquest : he is called " Horus " or " Golden Horus," 
 and sometimes (as, for example, Mentuhotep IV) " heir of Horus," 
 or is said to sit on the throne of Horus, and has a " Horus name," 
 the affirmation of his divine character ; even the monotheistic re- 
 former Amenhotep IV is called " Golden Horus." At the same 
 time he is styled the " son " of this or that deity — Re, Min, Amon, 
 Amon-Re, Osiris — according to the particular patron adopted by 
 him; the liberal interpretation of such filial relation is illustrated 
 by the title " son of the gods of the Northland " given to one 
 monarch. The king is "the good god"; at death he flics to 
 heaven (so, for instance, Totmose HI, of the eighteenth dynasty). 
 
 340. 'i'he official honorific character of divine titles appears as 
 earl)' as the fifteenth century, when Queen Hatshepsut is officially 
 
 1 For the documents see Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt.
 
 EARIA CULTS 1 43 
 
 declared to be the daughter of Anion. By such an ofruial ]5n) 
 cedure Alexander, though not akin to any Egyptian royal house, 
 was declared to be the son of Amon ; Ptolemy Philadelphus be- 
 came the son of the sun-god, and his wife Arsinoe was made a 
 goddess by a solemn ceremony. Possibly the recognition of the 
 divine title, in educated Egyptian circles, as a conventional form 
 began at a rclativ cly early time — the easy way in which a man 
 was made a god may have been felt in such circles to be inccjm- 
 patible with real divinity. Nevertheless the cult of the divinized 
 king was practiced seriously. In some cases the living monarch had 
 his temple and retinue of priests, and divine honors were paid him.* 
 
 341. The case was different in the Setniiic treatment 0/ kings 
 styled divine. The custom of so regarding them is found only in 
 early Babylonia. The evidence that they were held to be divine 
 consists in the fact that the determinative for divinity (Sumerian 
 dingir, Semitic an) is prefixed to their names in the inscriptions.^ 
 It appears that the determinative occurs at times during a period 
 of about a thousand years (ca. 3000-2000 B.C. — the chronology 
 is uncertain), and is then dropped. The data do not explain the 
 reasons for this change of custom ; a natural suggestion is that 
 there came a time when the conception of the deity forbade an 
 ascription of divinity to human beings. However this may be, 
 the nominal divinization of kings seems not to have had any effect 
 on the cultus. As far as the known evidence goes, the king seems 
 never to have been approached with divine worship.^ 
 
 342. It may be doubted whether the Babylonian usage can 
 properly be called Semitic. As such a custom is found nowhere 
 
 ' Rawlinson, Egypt ^ ii, 40 f., S4 ; Ed. Meyer, Gcsdikhte dcs Alien Acgy/'tcns, p. 252. 
 
 2 When in a compound name the name of a god stands first, the determinative may 
 refer simply to the god ; it is evidence for the man only when it stands immediately 
 before the nondivine element of the royal name. The inscriptions are given in 
 Schrader, K'cUiincIirlJtUchc Bib/iot/uk, 1 1 1, i ; ThiireauDangin, Siimciisc/i-.tl-i-aitisc/ic 
 Kdnigsinschriftcn. In the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 2000 B.C.) the king in one place 
 (col. 5, 11. 4, 5) calls himself " the Shamash of Babylon," but this is of course a figure 
 of speech ; the code is given him by Shamash, the god of justice, and he assumes 
 to be no less just than the god whom he here represents. 
 
 3 p"or a different view see S. II. Langdon, article " Uabylonian Eschatology " in 
 Essays in Modern Theology and Related Sid'jects (the C. A. Briggs memorial volume).
 
 144 lyTRODUCTWN TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 else in the Semitic area, and as the early Babylonian Semites 
 borrowed much from the non-Semitic Sumerians (they borrowed 
 their system of writing and some literary material), it is conceiv- 
 able that they adopted this practice from ihcm. There is, to be 
 sure, no proof, except from the inscriptions, that the practice was 
 Sumerian ; but, as it is found in sonic Asiatic non-Semitic lands,^ 
 there is the possibility that it existed among the Sumerians, of 
 whose history, however, we unfortunately know little. It is to be 
 noted that the cessation of the practice appears to be synchronous 
 with the establishment of the first great Semitic dynasty at Babylon. 
 343. No ascription of divinity to men is found among the 
 Hebrews. The Elohim-beings (called " sons of God " in the Eng- 
 lish translation of the P.ible) are gods. Hie code forbids men to 
 curse God (not ''judges")- — judges are not called "gods." 
 There is nothing going to show that the old Hebrew kings were 
 looked on as divine. Frazer's hypothesis that the king was iden- 
 tified with the God Adonis^ is not supported by the statements 
 of the Old Testament ; the title ' my lord ' {adoni) given him is 
 simply the ordinary expression of respect and courtesy. He is 
 " the anointed of Yahweh," as many ancient official persons (kings 
 and priests) were inducted into oflftce by the pouring of oil on their 
 heads, but, as a mouthpiece and representative of the deity, he is in- 
 ferior to the prophet ; at best, flattery, such as that of the woman of 
 Tekoa, might liken him to an angel." The epithet el gibbor (English 
 Bible, " mighty God "), applied to a Jewish prince, must probably be 
 rendered ' mighty hero.' '" The title ' gods ' has been supposed to be 
 given to men (judges) a couple of times in the Psalter,® but the refer- 
 ence there seems to be to Greek deities regarded as acting as judges. 
 
 1 Cf. the Chinese and Japanese views mentioned above. .Vmong the Mongols 
 there seems to be no trace of such a cult (Buckley, in Saussaye, Lehrbiich dcr 
 Religtoiisgcschkhtc, 2d ed.), but a similar one is found in Tibet in Lamaism. 
 
 2 Ex. xxii, 28 [27]. Cursing the deity (that is, the national or the local god) is 
 mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Eli's sons committed this offense 
 (i Sam. iii, 13, corrected te.xt), and Job feared that his sons might have been guilty 
 of it (Job i, 5, where the old Jewish scribes, causa rcvcrcntiac, have changed "curse" 
 into "bless,"— so also in i, 1 1 ; ii, 5, 9). ^ Adonis Attis Osiris, p. 15 ff. 
 
 4 2 Sam. xiv, 17. 5 isa. ix, 6 [5]. 
 
 Ps. Iviii, 1 [2] ; Ixxxii, i, 6. This last passage, however, is understood in John 
 X, 34 f., to refer to Jewish men. The Hebrew text of Ps. xlv, 7 [(>], is corrupt.
 
 EARIA' CULTS 1 45 
 
 344. The ascription of divinity to human beings is lacking in 
 Arabia also and among Semitic Moslems generally, "i'hc Ismailic 
 and Babist dogmas of the incarnation of God in certain men are 
 of Aryan (Indian) origin. 
 
 345. The Chinese conception of the all-pervading and absolute 
 power of the Universe naturally invests the emperor with divinity.^ 
 All human beings are supposed to possess some portion of the 
 divine essence, but he alone, as head and representative of the 
 nation, possesses it in full measure. He is theoretically perfect in 
 thought, word, and deed, and is entitled not only to the reverence 
 and ohedienee of his subjects, but also to their religious homage. 
 Larger acquaintance with other peoples has doubtless led educated 
 Chinese to regard him as only one among several great kings in 
 the world, but for the people at large he is still practically a god. 
 Other living men also are worshiped as divine. 
 
 346. 'l"he Japanese formal divinization of the emperor appears 
 to have begun with the establishment of the monarchy (in the 
 sixth or seventh century of our era), but, like the Chinese, goes 
 back to the crude conception of early times. It has been gener- 
 ally accepted seriously by the people, but has not received philo- 
 sophical formulation. It is now practically given up by the 
 educated classes, and will probably soon vanish completely." 
 
 347. Among the Greeks and the Romans the belief in the divinity 
 of living men and women was of a vague character. In Homer 
 the epithet dios when applied to human beings (individuals or 
 peoples) means little more, if any more, than ' of exalted char- 
 acter ' (except in the case of mythical heroes, like Achilles, who 
 were of actual divine parentage). At a later time such di\ini/.a- 
 tion was sometimes treated jestingly. If Plutarch may be accepted 
 as authority,^ Alexander did not take his own godhead seriously, 
 did not believe in it, but allowed it merely for its effect on others. 
 
 1 De Qixoot, Religion of the Chinese. This is the philosophical form of the dogma. 
 The root of the conception is to be found, doubtless, in the old (savage) view that 
 the chief of the tribe has quasi-divine attributes. 2 Knox, Religion in Japan, p. 64. 
 
 ^ In Alexander, 28. In the case of Alexander the influence of Egypt is ap- 
 parent, and it may be suspected that this influence affected the later Greek and 
 Roman custom.
 
 146 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 It was little more than a farce when the S\Tian-Greek Aniiochus II, 
 for services rendered to a city, was called " Theos " by the grate- 
 ful citizens ; ^ it was the baldest flatter)' when Herod's oration ^ 
 was greeted by a tumultuous assembly as the " voice of a god." 
 Augustus, though he allowed temples and altars to be consecrated 
 to him in the provinces, did not permit it in Rome, being, appar- 
 ently, ashamed of such procedures.'' The most infamous of the 
 early emperors, Caligula, received divine honors in his lifetime by 
 his own decree.* Apart from these particular cases, however, the 
 general conception of the possibility of a man's being divine had a 
 notable effect on the religious development in the Roman F.mpire.^ 
 The custom, for example, of burning incense before the Emperor's 
 statue (which faithful Christians refused to do), while it strength- 
 ened the idea of the presence of the divine in human life, doubt- 
 less debased it. 
 
 348. Deification of living men is not found in the great national 
 religions of India and Persia. Mazdaism, like Hebraism, kept the 
 human distinctly apart from the divine : Ahura Mazda is virtually 
 absolute, and Zoroaster and the succeeding prophets, including the 
 savior Qaoshyang, are men chosen and appointed by him.^ Vedism 
 developed the nature-gods, and in Brahmanism the goal of the 
 worshiper was union with the divine, but not independent divinity ; 
 the muni by ascetic observances might attain a power equal or 
 superior to that of the gods and feared by them," but he remained 
 (like the old magician) a powerful man and did not receive divine 
 worship.** In recent times the followers of the Brahma-Samaj leader 
 Sen are said to have worshiped him as a god^ — apparently an 
 isolated phenomenon, the origin of which is not clear. Buddha was 
 
 1 Appian, Dc Rebus Syrlacis, Ixv. 2 Acts xii, 22. 
 
 3 Boissier, La rc/is^ion romainc (187S), i, 131 ff. 4 Suetonius, Caligula, xxii. 
 
 5 On the demand for a universal religion in the Roman Empire, and the prepara- 
 tion in the earlier cults for the worship of the emperors, see J. Iverach's article 
 "Caesarism" in Hastings, F.ncyclopinlia 0/ Religion ami Ethies; Boissier, op. cit., 
 bk. i, chap. ii. Spiegel, Eranisehe Alterihnmskundc, bk. iv, chap. iii. 
 
 *■ See the story of the power and fall of a great muni in Lassen's Anthologia 
 Sanseritica. 
 
 8 So, many Christian and Moslem saints have been wonder-workers without being 
 divinized. » Monier-Williams, Bralwianism and Hinduism, p. 5 10 f.
 
 EARLY CULTS 1 47 
 
 purely human to himself and his contemporaries. The ascription of 
 divinity to the Tibetan Grand Lamas is a product of the transfor- 
 mation of Ikiddhism under the influence of a crude non-Aryan pop- 
 ulation that retained the old conception of the essential identity of 
 nature of men and cjods. 
 
 349. When chiefs and kings are divinized, offerings are usually 
 made to them as to other gods; llicir cult becomes a part of the 
 polytheistic system. Ikit it is rare that they displace thd old local 
 deities or equal them in influence, 'i'heir worship passes with the 
 passing of polytheism. 
 
 The Cui/r ok the Dead 
 
 350. In the history of religion the veneration of the dead, as is 
 remarked above, is more widely diffused and more effective than 
 that of the li\ing. We may distinguish between the cult of known 
 historical persons after death (which is closely related to that of 
 living men\ the deification of mythical ancestors, and the worship 
 of ghosts. 
 
 351. Historical pefso/is. l\\ simple communities commanding 
 personalities that have impressed the imagination of the people by 
 proofs of power and by conferring benefits on communities may 
 not unnaturally receive divine honors after death. Lyall reports a 
 case of this sort in recent times : the French officer Raymond in 
 Hyderabad is said to have been worshiped as a god.^ Other cases 
 are reported as occuring in Samoa and in India.- Rivers mentions 
 traditions among the Todas of Southern India which, he thinks. 
 may vouch for the worship of gods who were originally men, but 
 implicit reliance cannot be placed on such traditions.^ Two appar- 
 ently definite instances of deification are given by Ellis,'' both of 
 cruel kings (one dethroned in 18 18), to whom temples with com- 
 plete rituals arc dedicated : but the deification in one of these cases 
 (and probably in the other) was a deliberate act of political leaders, 
 
 1 Fortnightly Reviciv, 1S72. 
 
 2 Stair, Samoa, p. 221 : article " Bengal " in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion 
 and Ethics (Brahmans often become evil spirits). 
 
 8 The Todas, pp. 193, 203, 446. ■• The Ewe-speakittg Peoples, p. SS ff.
 
 148 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 and not a product of spontaneous popular feeling. Two other local 
 gods mentioned by Ellis were, according to the tradition, two men 
 who began the trade that made W'hydah the chief port of the 
 w^est coast of Africa ; but here also the tradition is not perfectly 
 trustworthy. 
 
 352. Egyptian kings were regularly deified after death, being 
 identified with Osiris ; their cult, though not equal in sanctity to 
 that of the gods proper, was still prominent and important.^ It is 
 probably to be regarded as a revision and magnification of the cult 
 of the dead kin, combined with the desire to honor great repre- 
 sentative men. No such custom is known to have existed among 
 Semitic peoples, by whom a sharp distinction was made between 
 the divine and the human. In India it was chiefly the ascetic sages 
 that were religiously eminent, and in the prevailing pantheistic 
 system these (as is remarked above), absorbing the divine essence, 
 sometimes became as powerful as gods, but passed after death into 
 the cosmic All, and remained human. The Mazdean faith, like the 
 Israelite, made it impossible to accept a deceased man as a god. 
 
 353. E.xamples of the occasional divinization of deceased men 
 in the Hellenic world are given below. ^ In Rome the custom arose 
 at a comparatively late period, and ii was the work not of spon- 
 taneous Roman thought but of political philosophy.^ The deifica- 
 tion of the Roman emperors after death had its ground in the 
 reconstruction of Roman life undertaken by Augustus. He recog- 
 nized a principle of unification in the resuscitation of the old national 
 religion, in which the people believed, whether he himself did or 
 not. Religion in Rome was largely an affair of the state ; the 
 leaders of the public religion were great state officials. Augustus 
 was made pontifex maximus, and it was only one step farther to 
 elevate the chief magistrate to the rank of a god. The good sense 
 of the time generally forbade the bestowment of tliis lionor during 
 the imperator's lifetime, but an apotheosis was in accord with the 
 veneration paid to the manes and with the exalted position of the 
 
 1 Breasted, Records of Ancient Egypt. 2 § 357. 
 
 8 Here, as in the case of the divinization of living men (§ 347 n., above), outside 
 suggestion is probable.
 
 EARLY CULTS 1 49 
 
 Emperor as absolute lord of the Western world.^ Popular feeling 
 appears to have accepted this divinization without question and in 
 sincerity ; educated circles accepted it as an act of political policy. 
 The elevation of Julius Caesar and Augustus to the rank of gods 
 established the rule, and deceased emperors received divine honors 
 up to the triumph of Christianity. - 
 
 354. In China, Confucius was deified as the special exponent of 
 the state religion and the authoritative teacher of the principles of 
 social and political life. His religious cult is practiced by the govern- 
 ment (ofificially) and by the masses of the people ; how far it is 
 sincerely accepted by the educated classes is uncertain. In China 
 and in Japan the gods of war are said to be historical persons deified. 
 
 355. The divinization of the Calif Ali by some Shiah sects was 
 the product of religious fanaticism under the guidance of Aryan 
 conceptions of the incarnation of the divine.^ 
 
 356. Mythical ancestors. Mythical ancestors are usually epony- 
 mous ; the tendency in all ancient peoples was to refer their names 
 and origins to single persons. Such an eponym was the product of 
 imagination, a genealogical myth (Hellen, Ion, Dorus, Jacob, Israel), 
 and was revered, but was not always the object of a religious cult ; 
 such cults do not appear among the Semites ■* or in the native 
 Roman rites. Nor does the custom seem to have originated in the 
 earliest periods ; it was rather a creation of quasi-scientific reflec- 
 tion, the demand for definite historical organization, and it appears 
 first in relatively late literary monuments.^ 
 
 357. Still later arose the worship of these ancestral founders. 
 In Greece shrines were erected by various cities to their supposed 
 founders, and where, as in Athens, the tribes had their eponyms, 
 these received divine worship, though they never attained equal 
 
 1 Cf. article "Cassarism-" in Hastings, Encyclopccdia of Religion and Etliics. 
 
 2 Boissier, La religion romaiue, i, 182. An illustration of religious ideas in the third 
 century is afforded by the enrollment of Caracalla among the heroes, a divinizing de- 
 cree of the Senate having been extorted by the turbulent and mercenary soldiery (Die 
 Cassius, ed. Boissevain [Eng. tr. by 11. B. Foster], Ixxi.x, 9). 
 
 3 A. Miiller, Islam, i, 494 ; W. Muir, TJie Calip/tale, p. 553 ff. 
 
 •• In Isa. Ixiii, i6, 'Abraham 'appears to be a synonym of 'Israel,' and the refer- 
 ence then is to the nonrecognition of certain Jews by the national leaders. 
 5 The narratives of the Pentateuch ; Herodotus, v, 66 ; Pausanias, i, 5, i.
 
 I50 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 rank witli the gods proper. From Greece this cult was brought into 
 Italy. It was probably under Greek influence, and at a relatively 
 late time, that Romulus was created, made the immediate founder 
 of Rome, and took his place among the objects of worship ; ^ on the 
 other hand, ^neas (a Greek importation ), though he was accepted 
 as original founder, never received divine worship, doubtless because 
 Romulus (nearer in name to the city Roma) already held the position 
 of divine patron. The cult of cponyms tended naturally to coalesce 
 with that of divine 'heroes' ^ — the two figures were alike in charac- 
 ter, differing mainly in function, and eponyms were styled ' heroes.' ' 
 358. The inverse process, the reduction of divine beings to 
 simple human proportions, has gone on in early cults and in 
 early attempts at historical construction to a hdI inconsiderable 
 degree. Thus, to take a relatively late example, by Saxo Gram- 
 maticus and in the Heimskringla (both of the thirteenth century) 
 the god Odin is made into a human king and the history of his 
 exploits is given in detail.* It is, however, especially in the treat- 
 ment of the old divine heroes, originally true gods, that the process 
 of dedivinization appears. These figures, because of their local 
 character and for other reasons, entered into peculiarly close re- 
 lations with human societies, of which they thus tended to become 
 constituent parts, and the same feeling that gave the gods human 
 shapes converted the heroes into mere men, who are generally 
 reconstructers of society. Examples of this sort of anthropomor- 
 ]Dhizing are found in myths all over the world : the Babylonian 
 Gilgamesh ; the " mighty men " of Genesis vi, 4, originally demi- 
 gods, the progeny of human mothers and of the Elohim-beings 
 (the Bene Elohim, ' sons of the gods,' members, that is, of the di- 
 vine circle) ; Heracles and Hercules ; the Scandinavian (apparently 
 general Teutonic) Valkyrs, Nomas, and Swan-maidens.^ 
 
 1 Article " Romulus" in Koschcr's Lcxikou. 2 See below, § 652. 
 
 3 Herodotus, v, 66 al. 4 Saussayc, Kdigion of the Teutons, pp. 163, 170, 206. 
 
 5 The Ojibwa god Manabozho (described in Schoolcraft's Algic Researches) by 
 some inadvertence got the name ' Hiawatha,' and so appears in Longfellow's poem. 
 The real Hiawatha was a distinguished Iroquois statesman (supposed to he of the 
 fifteenth century), the founder of the Iroquois League, honored as a patriot, but never 
 worshiped as a god. See H. Hale, Iroquois Book of Rites, Index, s.v. Hiawatha; 
 Beauchamp, m Journal of American Folklore, October, 1S91.
 
 EARLY CULTS I 5 i 
 
 359. The Sicilian Euhemeros (of the latter part of the fourth 
 century r..c.), after extensive travels to great places of worship, 
 formulated the theory that all the gods were deified men. Some 
 grounds for his theory he doubtless had, for, according to ancient 
 opinion, gods might and did die, and their places of burial were 
 sometimes pointed out (the grave of Zeus, for instance, in Crete). 
 How far this view had been held before the time of Euhemeros is 
 uncertain, but he gave it vogue, and it is called, after him, I'^uhe- 
 merism.' In recent times it has been revived in part by Herbert 
 Spencer and Allen, who derive all gods from ghosts.^ Similar to 
 it is the rationalizing of myths, which has met with favor at vari- 
 ous times. 
 
 360. The dead kin. Apart from the special cases mentioned 
 above, the dead have been the objects of particular care in all 
 parts of the world. Some of the observances connected with them 
 might perhaps, in themselves considered, be ascribed to natural 
 affection. It cannot be denied that savages have some love of 
 kindred, and this feeling, in conjunction with the ideas concern- 
 ing the future state, might lead the survivors to do such things 
 as it was believed would secure the comfort of the deceased — 
 decent burial in accordance with tribal customs, and provision of 
 food and attendants and other necessaries. But, while the exist- 
 ence and influence of natural human kindliness need not be denied, 
 observation of savage life favors the conclusion that the greater 
 part of the earlv usages connected with the dead have their origin 
 in the desire to conciliate them, to avert their displeasure and gain 
 their aid, and thus come to constitute a cult of the dead that runs 
 through all phases of civilization." 
 
 361. Such usages must be very ancient, for they are found in 
 the lowest tribes, and appear to be based on the earliest known 
 conceptions of the nature of departed souls.* These latter are held 
 
 1 F. Pfister, Dcr Rdiqitkuhilt bn AHcrtitm. 
 
 2 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i; Grant Allen, Evolttiion of the Idea of God. 
 See below, § 631 ff. 
 
 3 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. Dead; 
 Grant Allen, op. cit. ; article "Ancestor-worship" in Hastings, Encyclopadia of 
 Religion and Ethics. * Cf. above, Chap. II.
 
 152 IXTKODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 to have all the ordinary affections of the living, but to be endowed 
 with extraordinary powers : they have their likes and dislikes, their 
 kindliness, jealousy, anger, revengefulness, all on the lower moral 
 grade of undeveloped life ; they are, in many regards, not subject 
 to the ordinary limitations of the living — they are invisible, move 
 swiftly from place to place through obstacles impervious to the 
 living, enter their bodies, produce sickness and death, aid or de- 
 stroy crops. On the other hand, they need food and other necessi- 
 ties of ordinar)' life, and for these things are dependent on the living. 
 Hence the desirableness of securing their good will by showing them 
 respect and supplying their needs, or else of somehow getting rid 
 of them. 
 
 362. There are, then, two sorts of ghosts, or, more precisely, 
 two sorts of ghostly activity — the friendly and the unfriendly — 
 and corresponding to these are the emotions of love and fear which 
 they call forth. On account of paucity of data it is difficult to say 
 which of these emotions is the commoner among savages ; probably 
 the feeling is a mixed one, compounded of fear and friendliness.^ 
 In general it is evident that with the better organization of family 
 life a gentler feeling for the dead was called forth ; but it is prob- 
 able that in the least-developed communities fear of the mysterious 
 departed was the prevailing emotion. 
 
 363. Though the accessible evidence does not enable us to de- 
 termine with certainty the motives of all savage customs connected 
 with the dead, there are some distinctions that may be made with 
 fair probability. To supply the dead with food and cooking-utensils 
 may very well be, as is remarked above, the impulse of affection, 
 and even where slaves and wives are slain that their ghosts may 
 minister to the ghost of the master and husband, this may not go 
 beyond pious solicitude for the comfort of the deceased. But the 
 mourning-usages common with savages are too violent to be 
 merely the expression of love ; the loud cries and the wounding of 
 
 1 Steinmetz {Etimologische Studicn zur erstcn Eitiwicklung dcr Strafe, p. 280 ff.) has 
 attempted a collection and interpretation of the usages of nearly two hundred tribes, 
 but his reckoning is not satisfactory — his enumeration is not complete, and the facts 
 are not sufficiently well certified. He concludes that cases of fear are twice as numer- 
 ous as those of love.
 
 KARI.Y CULTS I 53 
 
 the person are meant more probably to assure the deceased of the 
 high regard in which he is held ; ^ in some cases, as among the 
 Central Australians, men gash themselves so severely as to come 
 near producing death."-^ These excessive demonstrations are softened 
 as general culture increases, and finally dwindle to an apparatus of 
 hired mourners. A similar explanation holds of the restriction of 
 food, the seclusion of the widow or the widower, and llic rule against 
 mentioning the name of the deceased : abstinence and silence are 
 marks of respect. 
 
 364. Funeral feasts also testify respect:'' they appear to be 
 extensions of the practice of providing food for the dead, feasts 
 in which the mourners, from motives of thriftiness, take part ; 
 the ghost consumes only the invisible soul of the food, and it is 
 proper that what is left should furnish refreshment for the living.^ 
 The funeral festivities are sometimes protracted, and become oc- 
 casions of enjoyment to the circle of kinsfolk, in some cases at a 
 ruinous expense to the family of the deceased, as is true now some- 
 times of Irish and other wakes. The honor of the family is involved, 
 and this fact, together with the natural desire for pleasure, has con- 
 tributed to the development of the custom in savage as well as in 
 civilized life. In general the solemnity of the various ceremonies 
 and other usages testifies to a profound conviction of the necessity 
 of keeping on good terms with the dead.^ 
 
 365. The reports of savage customs show a certain number of 
 cases in which the benevolent and the malevolent activities of the 
 dead are equally prominent : so, for example, among the Austra- 
 lian Kurnai,'"' the New Zealanders," the Melanesian peoples,^ the 
 
 1 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, chap. xlv. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, Northern Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 516 f., 520 f. 
 
 3 Cf. Codrington, The Melanesians, p. 271 f. 
 
 * The conception of such meals as physical and spiritual communion with the 
 dead was a later development. 
 
 5 The buffoonery that was sometimes practiced at Roman funerals seems to have 
 come from the natural love of fun, here particularly, also, through the reaction from 
 the oppressive solemnity of the occasion. 
 
 ** Howitt and Fison, Kamilaroi and Kiirnai, p. 246 ff. 
 
 ^ Taylor, IVetv Zealand, pp. 104, loS. 
 
 8 Codrington, The Melanesians, pp. 194, 253 f . ; Powell, Wanderings, p. 170.
 
 154 JyTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Vezimbas of Madagascar/ ihc Zulus,^the Ewe-speaking tribes on the 
 west coast of Africa.'* It is probable that the list might be greatly 
 extended by exact observation. When we find two peoples, dwell- 
 ing near together and of the same grade of general culture, credited 
 the one with fear, the other with friendly feeling toward the dead, 
 it seems likel\- that different sets of usages have met the eyes of 
 the obser\'ers ; a certain amount of accident must color such reports. 
 
 366. It is natural to suppose that fear of ghosts is commoner 
 among less-developed peoples, kindly feeling more usual in higher 
 communities ; and when civilized peoples are taken into account 
 this sort of progression is obvious. But the reports of savages 
 show such a mixture of customs that it is difficult to see any line 
 of progress. Dread of ghosts is certified in Central Australia and 
 North Queensland, in Tonga (Polynesia), Central Africa, Central 
 Asia, among the North American Chippewas, Navahos, and South- 
 west Oregon Indians, and the South American Araucanians ; friendly 
 feeling is found in Tasmania, Western Africa, South Africa, Cali- 
 fornia, and among the Iroquois and the Zuni Indians.'* In such 
 lists there is no clear sign of a division according to general culture. 
 
 367. Friendly relations with the dead do not in themselves neces- 
 sarily involve worship, but a more or less definite aiH of ghosts is 
 found in various parts of the world. They are, or were, regarded as 
 tutelary spirits in Tasmajiia, Ashanti, and Dahomi (where shrines 
 are dedicated to them), and by the Zuni Indians : prayers arc ad- 
 dressed to them in Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands (where there 
 is a definite family worship), in Yoruba, by the Banyas and the 
 Zulus, by the Ossetes, the Veddahs of Ceylon, and the North 
 American Dakotas ; offerings are made to them — sometimes to 
 influential persons, chiefs, and others, as in the Gilbert Islands, in 
 parts of Melanesia, in Borneo, and by the Cakchiquels of Central 
 America — sometimes to all the dead, as in the Solomon Islands, 
 
 1 Ellis, Madagascar, i, 23, 423. 2 Callaway, Tlie Amazulii, pp. 145, 151. 
 
 8 A. B. Ellis, The Eu'c, p. 102 f. 
 
 * Steinmetz, F.tlmologische Studien zttr crstcn Ent-ivicklting dcr Slrafe. A. L. Kroe- 
 ber (m Journal of American Folklore, 1904) gives an account of a 'ghost-dance' in 
 Northwest California, the object of which was said to be that the dead might return, 
 though the details are obscure.
 
 EARLY Ci'LTS I 55 
 
 the New Hebrides, Fiji, Torres Straits, and by the Zulus, the Vcd- 
 dahs of Ceylon, the Kolarians of Bengal, and the Ossetes.^ 
 
 368. These lists include peoples of very different grades of cul- 
 ture ; the inference suggested is that the cult of the dead is of 
 very early origin — its basis is the same among all communities 
 that practice it, though the particular ceremonies of worship vary. 
 
 369. Besides forms of actual worship there are several usages 
 that invohe religious veneration of the dead. Graves are regarded 
 as asylums by the Kafirs (graves of chiefs)'- and in Tonga. ^ The 
 Bedawin of Arabia held (in ])rc-lslamic times), and still hold, graves 
 sacred ; ■* they sometimes become shrines, and oaths are sworn by 
 them. The custom of swearing by the dead is widespread. In their 
 character of powerful spirits they are agents in processes of magic 
 and divination. Parts of dead bodies are used as charms. The 
 skull especially is revered as an oracle.^ 
 
 370. Among the lower tribes, savage and half-civilized, it is 
 chiefly those who have died recently that arc worshiped. A Zulu 
 explained to Callaway that his people forgot those who died long 
 ago — they were supposed to be not helpful — and hope of gain 
 has always been the basis of worship. Among the Kafirs of the 
 Hindu Kush it is the custom to erect an effigy to the memor)' of 
 every adult one year after his decease. Women, as well as men, 
 are thus honored, and may be put on ^n equality with men by 
 being given a throne to sit on. No worship is offered to these 
 images, but it is believed that their presence brings prosperity ; 
 bad weather is ascribed to their removal. There are solemn dances 
 in honor of the illustrious dead and sacrifices are offered to them." 
 
 371. l"he worship of the dead in the great civilized communi- 
 ties, though more elaborate and refined than the sa\-age cult, is in 
 
 1 .Some such custom seems to be referred to in Deut. xxvi, 14. 
 
 2 Fritsch, Die Eingcborcnen Siid-Afiikas. 3 Mariner, Tonga, p. 149. 
 
 ■i Wellhausen, Rate arabhchcii Ihidiiitiimcs, p. 162 f. : Goldziher, in Revue de 
 riiistoirc dcs religions, x. So the Egyptian fellahin to-day. 
 
 5 Codrington, The Melanesians,'p.2\cji. ; Bonney, \x\ Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute, xiii, 122 ff . ; Haddon, Head-hunters, pp. cji f., 1S5; G. Allen, Evolution of 
 the Idea of God, chap. iii. 
 
 ^ .Sir G. S. Robertson, The Kafirs of the Hindu-Kush, pp. 645 ff., 615 ff., 414 f.
 
 156 IXTRODUCTIOX TO H/STOKV OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 substance identical with it. The Egyptians provided the departed 
 soul with food and honored the dead man with laudatory notices of 
 his earthly life ; the royal ancestor of a king, it was believed, might 
 act as mediator between him and the gods.* The Babylonians, 
 while thcv lamented the departure of men to the gloomy exist- 
 ence in the Underworld, recognized the quasi-divine power of the 
 dead and addressed prayer to them.'- The Hebrews offered food 
 to the dead, had funeral feasts, and consulted ghosts who were 
 regarded as divine.^ The Hindu " fathers," though kept distinct 
 from the gods, were yet conceived of as possessing godlike powers 
 and were worshiped as gods.'' The Persian "forefathers" {frava- 
 shis), particularly the manes of eminent pious men, were held to 
 be bestowers of all the blessings of life ; offerings were made and 
 prayers addressed to them.^ 
 
 372. Early notices of a cult of the dead among the Greeks are 
 scanty. There was the usual kindly provision of food, arms, and 
 other necessaries f(jr them.** Odysseus in Hades pours out a liba- 
 tion (honey, wine, water, to which meal is added) to all the dead, 
 addresses vows and prayers to them, and promises to offer to them 
 a barren heifer on his return to Ithaca, and.a black sheep separately 
 to Teiresias.'' From the sixth century onward the references in the 
 literature show that the worship of the dead (including children) 
 was then general (and of course it must have begun much earlier). 
 The offerings made to them were both vegetable and animal ; the 
 sacrificed animal was slaughtered in the same way as in the sacri- 
 fices to chthonic deities — the dead were, in fact, regarded as 
 underground deities.^ The flesh of the animals offered was not 
 eaten by the worshipers. 
 
 373. Among the dead thus honored is to be included one class 
 of heroes. A Greek " hero " was sometimes an eminent man, 
 
 1 Breasted, Egyf>f, p. 421, etc. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 604 f. 
 
 8 Deut. xxvi, 14 ; Hos. ix, 4 ; Ezek. xxiv, 17 (revised text) ; Isa. viii, 19 ; i Sam. 
 xxviii, 13. * Rig-Vcda, x, 15 ; Hopkins, Religious 0/ India, p. 143 f. 
 
 5 Spiegel, Eranische Allcrthnmskwtde , ii, 91 ff. 
 
 6 Odyssey, xi, 74 ff. ; cf. xxiv, 63 ff. " Odyssey, x, 519 ff. ; xi, 25 ff. 
 8 Stengel and Oehmichen, Die gricchischen Sakralaltertiimer, p. 99 f.
 
 EARLY CULTS 157 
 
 sometimes such a man divinized, sometimes an old god reduced to 
 human dimensions, reckoned in some cases to belong to the circle 
 of the gods proper.^ Such personages might be worshiped as gods, 
 with the sacrifices appropriate to the gods, or as departed men, 
 with the sacrifices that custom fixed for the dead. The hero-cult 
 included many men of note recently deceased, like Brasidas and 
 those that fell at Marathon. '-^ 
 
 374. TIic cults just mentioned dealt with the departed as friendly 
 souls, the protectors of the family, the clan, or the state. The state 
 cult of the dead was elaborate and solemn. The Greek citizen was 
 surrounded by a host of the eminent dead who kept him in touch 
 with the past and offered him ideals of life.* Another attitude 
 toward the dead is indicated by the great apotropaic spring festival, 
 the Anthesteria of Athens, the object of which was to rid the city 
 of the ghosts that then wandered about.* This double attitude is 
 precisely that of the savage tribes referred to above. 'I'he same 
 difference of feeling appears in the Roman cults : the manes are 
 the friendly or doubtful souls of dead ancestors ; the Parentalia is 
 a festival in honor of the dead kin ; in the Lemuria, on the other 
 hand, the father of the family performs a ceremony at midnight 
 intended to rid the house of ghosts.^ 
 
 375. Among modern peoples it is the Chinese that have organ- 
 ized the worship of the dead in the completest way ; it is for them 
 the most important part of the popular religion.*^ Similar veneration 
 of ancestors exists in Japan."^ 
 
 1 Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities^ p. 158 ff. ; Gruppe, Gricchischc Mytho- 
 logies Index, s.v. Hcros; Deneken, article " Ileros" in Roscher, Lexikon. 'Lists of 
 heroes are given by F. Pfister, in Der Rcliqiiicnkiilt im Altertiim. 
 
 2 Thucydides, v, 1 1 ; Pausanias, i, 32. For other examples, and for the details of 
 the cult, see Stengel and Oehmichen, Die griechischcn Sakralaltcrtiimer, p. 96 ff. 
 
 3 Similar functions are performed by saints in some Buddhist, Christian, and 
 Moslem communities. 
 
 4 I'auly-\\'issowa, Real-Encyclopddie der classisclien A It ertiimswissenschaft ; Miss 
 J. E. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, chap, ii, and the references 
 in these works. On the Keres as ghosts see Crusius, in Roscher's Lexikon, s.v. 
 Keren, and Harrison, op. cit., chap. v. 
 
 5 Ovid, Fasti, v, 429 ff., inanes exite paterni; cf. the Greek proverbial expression 
 Wpafe Ka/)€S (Suidas, s.v.^iipafe). C De Groot, Religion of the Chinese, chap. iii. 
 
 " Aston, Shinto ; Knox, Religion in Japan, p. 66 f.
 
 158 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 376. The venerated dead stood apart, as a rule, from the nature- 
 spirits and the gods, but these different classes sometimes coalesced, 
 as has been remarked above, in popular usage. The powers and 
 functions of the dead were not essentially different from those of 
 the divinities proper, particularly in the simpler stages of society. 
 They were able to bestow all the blessings and to inflict all the 
 misfortunes of life. In process of time the advance of knowledge 
 relegated them to a subordinate place, but they long retained a 
 considerable importance as friends of families and states, as dis- 
 seminators of disease, and as predictors of human fortunes. 
 
 377. In the exercise of these functions they were often not to 
 be distinguished from the higher and lower deities. King Saul, on 
 the eve of a great battle, having failed to get an answer from the 
 national deity by the ordinary legitimate methods, had recourse to 
 necromancy and obtained from the ghost of Samuel the informa- 
 tion that Yahweh had refused to give.^ The Greek kcres and the 
 wandering ghosts of West Africa do exactly what is ascribed to 
 the malefic spirits of Babylonia."^ Examples of such identity of 
 function between the various superhuman Powers are found all 
 over the world. 
 
 378. This fact does not show that these Powers have the same 
 origin. The savage accepts agents in human life wherever he can 
 find them — in beings inhabiting mountains, rocks, trees, caves, 
 springs, and in the souls of departed men. Doubdess he thinks 
 of the forms of these various actors as being all of the same sort, a 
 sublimated manlike body ; but he keeps them in different categories, 
 and in the course of time the tendency is for ghosts and spirits to 
 sink out of sight and for the gods to absorb all extrahuman activities. 
 
 379. The ethical power of the cults so far discussed resides in 
 the human association to which they give rise and the sanctions they 
 supply to conduct. Of these two effects the former is the more 
 important. The moral character of a ghost or spirit or deity never 
 rises above that of its circle of worshipers : its approval or disap- 
 proval is the echo of current usage, and has special efficiency only 
 in the accompanying power of reward or punishment ; it appeals 
 
 1 I Sam. xx\'iii. 2 cf. also the Teutonic valkyrs and nomas.
 
 KAKLY CULTS I 59 
 
 to the hopes and fears of iiuii. I'his police function is doubtless 
 valuable in restraining from crime and inciting to good conduct, but 
 it has no regenerative power. The enlargement of human associ- 
 ation, on the other hand, increases sympathy and cooperation among 
 men, and paves the way to the cultivation of the mutual respect and 
 rejrard which is the basis of social virtue. 
 
 380. Among the lower cults ancestor-worship may be expected 
 to take the highest place, for the reason that it tends to strengthen 
 family unity and the solidarity of the clan, tribe, or nation ; all such 
 knitting together of men makes for the increase of honesty and 
 kindliness. The data are lacking, however, for the determination 
 of this point. It may be said in general that the attitude toward 
 the dead becomes finer with advance in civilization ; but before a 
 specific moral power in ancestor-worship can be proved, it will be 
 necessary to have exact details of moral ideas and conduct in all 
 the lower tribes, together with some information regarding the atti- 
 tude of individuals toward questions of conduct, and the motives 
 that impel toward this or that action. The question of ethical 
 growth in society is a complicated one, and the most that can 
 be said for any element of social constitution is that it tends to 
 strengthen or weaken the individual's confidence in and regard 
 for his fellows. 
 
 381. The part played in religious history by the worship of the 
 dead is so important that some writers have derived all religion 
 from it.^ This view is now generally rejected for the reason that it 
 does not accord with known facts ; it is only by forced (though often 
 ingenious) interpretations that a plausible case is made out for it. 
 To reply in detail to the arguments advanced in its favor would be 
 to go over the whole ground of the origin of religious observances; 
 the answer is furnished by setting forth the nature of the various 
 cults, as is attempted in this and following chapters. If, for exam- 
 ple, there is reason to believe that savages have always regarded the 
 lower animals as powerful beings, there is no need, in accounting 
 
 1 See above, § 359. The wide prevalence of the theory in ancient times is indi- 
 cated by its adoption in the Graeco-Jevvish Wisdom of Solomon (of the first century 
 B. c), chap, xiv, and by some Roman writers.
 
 l6o IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 for the veneration given them, to resort to the roundabout way of 
 assuming a misinterpretation of names of men derived from beasts. 
 
 382. Between Euliemerism and the theory that explains myths 
 as a " disease of language " there is little or no essential difference 
 of principle. Both theories assume that man, having devised cer- 
 tain epithets, later came to misunderstand them and to build up 
 histories on the misunderstanding. Both thus rest the immense 
 mass of human religious customs and beliefs, which form so large 
 a part of human histor)% on the precarious foundation of passing 
 fancy and inadvertence, and they must be put into the same cate- 
 gory with the naive theory, once popular, that religion is the inven- 
 tion of priests who sought to control men through their fears. 
 
 383. Ancestor-worship is the feeling of kinship with the dead, 
 invested by religion with peculiar intensity and solemnity. It has 
 been one of the great constructive forces of society. 
 
 Cults of Generative Powers 
 
 384. The origin of religion is not to be referred exclusively to 
 any one order of ideas ; it springs out of man's total life. All 
 objects and processes have been included in men's construction of 
 nature, and the processes, when they have been liL-ld to bear on 
 human well-being, have been ascribed to a force inherent in things 
 or to the activity of supernatural beings. 
 
 385. The study of processes has gone hand in hand with the 
 creation of divine beings who are supposed to manifest themselves 
 in the processes. The great spectacle of nature's productivity has 
 been especially recognizable in the vegetable world and in the world 
 of man ; in both of these life has been perpetually unfolding itself 
 under men's eyes as a mysterious process, which, l^y virtue of its 
 mysteriousness, has become religious material and has entered into 
 systems of religious worship. 
 
 386. The relation of vegetable life to religious cults is referred 
 to elsewhere,^ and a brief survey may now be given of usages and 
 ideas that have been connected with the production of human life. 
 
 1 § 262 ff.
 
 EARLY CULTS l6l 
 
 387. It is obvious that not all customs that include the func- 
 tion of generation are of the nature of religious observances. The 
 promiscuity that obtains in many savage communities before mar- 
 riage is a naive unrettective animal procedure. I'>xchangc of wives 
 (as in Central Australia) and the offering oi a wife to a guest are 
 matters of social etiquette. Festivals in which sexual license is the 
 rule are generally merely the expression of natural impulses. Holi- 
 days, being times oT amusement, are occasions used by the people 
 for the satisfaction of all appetites : there is eating and drinking, 
 buffoonery, disregard of can-rent conventions, unbounded liberty to 
 do whatever exuberant animalism prompts. Such festivities abound 
 among existing savages,^ were not uncommon in ancient cix'ilized 
 times,- and have survived in diminished form to the present day.^ 
 In the course of time they often become attached to the worship of 
 gods, are organized, explained by myths, and sanctified. In such 
 cases of coalescence w^e must distinguish between the true wor- 
 ship offered to a divine being, and the observances, generally origi- 
 nating in desire for animal amusement and enjoyment, that have 
 been attached to them. 
 
 388. Cult of generative organs. Men's attention rriust have been 
 directed very early to those organs that were believed to be con- 
 nected w^ith the genesis of human life. At what stage this belief 
 arose it is hardly possible to say ; there are peoples among whom 
 it seems not to exist ; •* but it is found over a great part of the 
 world, and was doubtless an outcome of popular observation.'' 
 As it was intimately connected with life it passed naturally into 
 the domain of religion, and in process of time became a more or 
 less prominent part of religious observances ; the organs in ques- 
 tion, both male and female, became objects of religious devotion. 
 
 389. Here again it must be noted that not all usages con- 
 nected with the organs of generation were religious of origin. It 
 
 1 For example, in Australia, Fiji, New Guinea, and India. 
 
 2 Greece, Rome (Lupercalia), Egypt, and apparently in Israel (Ex. xxxii, 6; 
 Numb. xx\'). ^ In carnivals and many less elaborate customs. * See above, § 34. 
 
 5 It was observable in the lower animals, but in their case was not regarded 
 as religiously important. See below, §419, for the connection of animals with 
 phallic cults.
 
 1 62 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 is pointed out above ^ that the origin of eircumcision and excision 
 is to be sought in another direction. lth)phallic images are some- 
 times merely attempts at realism in art ; a nude figure (as in 
 ■ modem art) must be represented in its full proportions. Such 
 seems to be the nature of certain images among the \^'estem 
 Bantu,^ and this may have been the case with the images of the 
 Eg)'ptian Khem and Osiris and similar deities. In general this sort 
 of representation in savage and ancient civilized communities is 
 often either simple realism or indecency. Folk-stories abound in 
 details that sound indecent to modern ears, but were for the authors 
 often merely copies of current usages. 
 
 390. All important members of the human body have been 
 regarded as to a greater or less extent sacred, their importance 
 depending on their subservience to man's needs. The head of an 
 enemy gives the slayer wisdom and strength ; an oath sworn by 
 the head or beard of one's father is peculiarly binding ; the heart, 
 when eaten, imparts power ; a solemn oath may be sworn by the 
 sexual organs. In no case does the sacredness of an object neces- 
 sarily involve its worship ; whether or not it shall receive a true 
 cult depends on general social considerations. 
 
 391. Though phallic cults proper cannot be shown to be uni- 
 versal among men, they have played a not inconsiderable part in 
 religious histor)'. They appear to have passed through the usual 
 grades of development — simple at first, later more complicated. 
 The attitude of savages and low communities generallv, non-Chris- 
 tian and Christian, toward the phallus, suggests that in the earliest 
 stage of the cult some sort of worship was paid the physical object 
 itself considered as a creator of life ; satisfactor}' data on this point, 
 however, are lacking. It was at so early a period that it was 
 brought into cultic connection with supernatural beings that its 
 initial forms escape us. 
 
 392. It seems not to exist now among the lowest peoples. 
 There are no definite traces of it in the tribes of Oceania, Cen- 
 tral Africa, Central Asia, and America. The silence of explorers 
 on this point cannot indeed be taken as proof positive of its 
 
 1 § 15S ff. ■- Hastings, Emyclopctdia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 361.
 
 EARLY Cri/fS 163 
 
 nonexistence ; yet the absence of distinct mention of it in a great 
 number of carefully prepared works leads us to infer that it does 
 not play an important part in the religious systems therein de- 
 scribed.' It seems to require, for its establishment, a fairly well- 
 developed social and political organization. Some of the tribes 
 named above have departmental deities, mostly of a simple sort, 
 but apparently it has not occurred to them to isolate this particular 
 function, which ihey jjrobably regarded as a familiar part of the 
 order of things and not needing special mention. The gift of 
 children was in the hands of the local god, a generally recognized 
 part of his duty as patron of the tribe, and all sexual matters natu- 
 rally might be referred to him. Also, as is remarked above, in 
 certain tribes there was no knowledge of the connection between 
 the birth of children and the union of the sexes," and such tribes 
 would of course ascribe no creative power to the phallus. 
 
 393. 'I'he best example of a half-civilized phallic cult is that 
 which is now practiced in Yoruba and Dahomi, countries with 
 definite government and institutions. The cult is attached to the 
 worship of a deity (Elegba or Legba), who appears to be a patron 
 of fertilit)' ; the phallus occupies a prominent place on his tem- 
 ples, and its worship is accompanied by the usual licentious rites.' 
 These are expressions of popular appetite, and it docs not ap- 
 pear that the cult itself is otherwise religiously significant. 
 
 394. In modern India the Qivaite phallicism is pronounced and 
 important. The linga is treated as a divine power, and, as pro- 
 ducer of fertility, is especially the object of devotion of women ; * 
 though (Jivaism has its rites of unbridled bestialism, the worship of 
 
 1 Sec Ratzel, //«/o;j of Mankind ; \\m\.z. Anthropologic dcr Naturvblkcr; Miiller, 
 Amcrikaniscltc Urrcligioncn \ Spencer and fiillen, A'aiiic Tribes of Central Aus- 
 Iralia ; Codrington, The Melancsians ; W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches ; Hartland, 
 article " Rantu " in Hastings, Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics; Callaway, Ama- 
 ziiltts; Faatherman, Races of Mankind; Griinwcdel,''Lamaismus" in Die orientalischen 
 Religionen (I, iii, i, of Die Kuliiir der Gegemvart) ; Brinton, Myths of the Ne-w World, 
 p. 149; Matthews, Dorsey, Teit, Boas, Hill-Tout, opp. cit. (on .Vmerican Indians). 
 
 2S 
 
 S34- 
 
 3 A. B. Ellis, Yoruba and Eii'c. Ellis does not say that the cult exists in Ashanti, 
 where we should expect it to be found ; its absence there is not accounted for. On 
 phallic worship in Congo see II. II. Johnston, in Jotimal of the Anthropological 
 Institute^ xiii. 4 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 453, 470.
 
 1 64 lyTRODrCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 the linga by women is often free from impurity ; it is practically 
 worship of a deity of fertility. The origin of the Indian cult is not 
 clear. As it does not appear in the earliest literature, it has been 
 supposed to have come into Aryan worship from non-Ar}'an tribes. 
 \\'hatever its origin, it is now widely observed in Aryan India, and 
 has been adopted by various outlying tribes.^ 
 
 395. While it is, or was, well established in Japan, it apparently 
 has had no marked influence on the religious thought of the people. 
 Phallic forms abound - in the land, in spite of repressive measures 
 on the part of the government, but the cult partakes of the gen- 
 eral looseness of the Shinto organization of supernatural Powers. 
 It is said to have been adopted in some cases by Buddhists. It 
 appears to have been combined with Shinto at a very early (half- 
 civilized) time, for which, however, no records exist. 
 
 396. It is among the great ancient civilized peoples that the 
 most definite organization of phallic cults is found. 
 
 397. For Egypt there is the testimony of Herodotus,' who 
 describes a procession of women bearing small phallic images and 
 singing hymns in honor of a deity whom he calls Dionysos — 
 probably Khcm or Osiris or Bes ; such images are mentioned by 
 Plutarch,* supposed by him to represent Osiris. Both Khem and 
 Osiris were great gods, credited with general creative power, and 
 popular ceremonies of a phallicistic nature might easily be attached 
 to their cults. Bes, a less important deity, seems to have been 
 fashioned largely by popular fancy. These ceremonies were doubt- 
 less attended with- license,^ but they probably formed no part of 
 Egyptian serious worship. The phallus was essential in a realistic 
 image, but it appears to have been regarded simply as a physical 
 part of the god or as an emblem of him ; there is no evidence 
 that worship was addressed to it in itself. 
 
 398. The evidence that has been adduced for a cult of the phal- 
 lus among Semitic peoples is of a doubtful nature. No ithyphallic 
 
 1 Cf. Crooke, article " Bengal" in Hastings, Eiicyclo/adia of Religion and fJ hies. 
 
 2 Griffis, Religions of Japan ; Aston, Shinto ; Buckley, in Saussaye, Lchrbiuh der 
 Rcligionsgeschichtc, 2d ed. ; Florenz, in Die Kultur der Gegetrwart. 
 
 3 Herodotus, ii, 48 f. ■* !sis and Osiris, 51. 
 
 •"' An example of naive popular festivities is given in Herodotus, ii, 60.
 
 EAA'J.]- CC'L/S 165 
 
 images or figures of gods have been found. Religious prostitution 
 there was in all North Semitic lands/ but this is a wholly different 
 thing from a phallicistic cult. It is suj^posed, however, by not a few 
 scholars that descriptions and representations of the phallus occur 
 in so many places as to make some sort of cult of the object prob- 
 able. In a passage of the Book of Isaiah, descriptive of a foreign 
 cult practiced, probabl\', by some Jews, the phallus, it is held, is 
 named.- The passage is obscure. The nature and (^-igin of the cult 
 rel erred to are not clear ; it is not elsewhere mentioned. The word 
 {j(7(^, usually ' hand ') supposed to mean ' phallus ' is not found 
 in this sense elsewheiv in the Old Testament or in later Hebrew 
 literature. But, if the proposed rendering be adopted, the refer- 
 ence will be not to a cult of the phallus but to sexual intercourse, 
 a figurative description of idolatry. 
 
 399. .A. distinct mention of phalli as connected with religious 
 worship occurs in Tseudo-Lucian's description of the temple of a 
 certain goddess at Hierapolis.^ He gives the name to enormously 
 high structures standing in tlic propylasa of the temple, but men- 
 tions no details suggesting a phallic cult. Twice a year, he says, 
 a man ascends one of them, on the top of which he stays seven 
 days, praying, as some think, for a blessing on all Syria — a pro- 
 cedure suggesting that the pillar was simply a structure consecrated 
 to the deity of the place (probably Atargatis, who is often called " the 
 Syrian goddess '") *. However, if there was a phallic cult there (the 
 phallus being regarded as a symbol of the producti\e function of 
 the deity), it is not certain that it was Semitic. Hierapolis had long 
 been an important religious center in a region in which Asiatic and 
 Greek worships were influential, and foreign elements might easily 
 have become attached to the worship of a Semitic deity. 'I'he cult 
 
 1 The Gilgamesh epic (Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 477) ; -Vmos 
 ii, 7 ; Dcut. xxiii, 17 f. ; Herodotus, i, 199 ; Strabo, xvi, i, 20 ; Epistle of Jeremy, 42 f. : 
 Lucian, £>c Syria Dca, 6 ff. But lies, ii, Ezek. ,\vi, xxiii, Isa. Ivii, S, are descriptions 
 of Hebrew addiction to foreign idolatrous cults. 
 
 2 Isa. Ivii, S : " Thou didst love their bed, the yad thou sawest." The renderings 
 in the English Revised \'ersion are not possible. 3 l.ucian, op. cit., 28, cf. 16. 
 
 ■i The Aramean .\targatis, properly Attar-Ate, is substantially identical with Ash- 
 tart and Ishtar.
 
 1 66 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of the Asian Great Mother (whom the Greeks identified with their 
 Leto) had orgiastic elements. Lucian's reference to a custom of 
 emasculation suggests Asian features at Hierapolis.^ 
 
 400. In Babylonia and Palestine stones, held by some to be 
 phalli, have been found.- \\'hile the shape of some of these objects 
 and their occurrence at shrines ma\- be supposed to lend support 
 to this view, its correctness is open to doubt. There is no docu- 
 mentary evidence as to the character of the objects in question, 
 and they may be explained otherwise than as phalli. But, if they 
 are phalli, their presence does not prove a phallic cult — they may 
 be votive objects, indicating that the phallus was regarded as in 
 some sort sacred, not that it was w^orshiped. Decision of the 
 question may be reserved till more material has been collected. 
 There is no sufficient ground for regarding the stone posts that 
 stood by Hebrew shrines as phallic symbols ; they are naturally 
 explained as sacred stones, originally embodying a deity, later 
 attached to his shrines as traditional objects entitled to veneration.' 
 
 401. In Asia Minor and the Hellenic communities (both in 
 Ionia and in Greece proper) the phallicistic material is extensive 
 and complicated. A symbolic signification appears to have been 
 superimposed on early realistic anthropomoi;phic figures that were 
 simply images of supernatural Powers. In various regions such 
 figures came to be associated with the generative force of nature 
 in human birth, and the tendency to specialization assigned these 
 divine beings special functions ; of this nature, probably, were the 
 local Athenian deities Orthanes, Konisalos, and others.* At a later 
 period such functions w-ere attributed to the well-developed gods 
 of fertility ; rituals sprang up and were explained by myths, and 
 various combinations and identifications were made between the 
 prominent gods. 
 
 1 Lucian, De Syria Dea, 15. 
 
 2 J. P. Peters, A7//?/r, Index, s.v. Pliallk symbols: Bliss and Macalister, ^.vra- 
 vations in Palestine, p. 136; Macalister, Bible Side-lights, p. 72 f. 
 
 8 These objects (Hebrew massebd) are denounced by the prophets because they 
 were connected with the Canaanite non-Vahwistic worship. The same thing'is true 
 of the sacred wooden post (the ashcra) that stood by shrines : Deut. xvi, 21 f., etc. 
 
 ^ Koscher, Lexikon, s.v. Priapos. Diodorus Siculus, iv, 6, mentions also Ithy- 
 phallos and Tychon.
 
 KARIA' CULTS 1 67 
 
 402. The most interesting figure of tliis character is I'riapos, 
 an ilhyphallic deity of uncertain origin; his special connection 
 was with Lanipsakos, and he may have been an Asian creation. 
 From the variety of his functions (he was patron of gardens and 
 viticulture, of sailors and fishermen, and in some places a god of 
 war)^ it may be surmised that he was originally a local deity, charged 
 with the care of all human interests, in an agricultural community 
 the patron of fertility, and at some time, and under circumstances 
 unknown to us, especially connected with sexual life. Whatever 
 his origin, his cult spread over Greece, he was identified with cer- 
 tain (".reck deities, licentious popular festivals naturally attached 
 themselves to his worship, and his name became a synonym of sex- 
 ual passion. In the later time the pictorial representations of him 
 became grossly indecent ; his eult was an outlet for popular and 
 artistic license." On the other hand, in the higher thought he was 
 made the representative of the production of universal animal life, 
 and rose tt) the rank of a great god.^ 
 
 403. The Greek deities with whom Priapos was oftenest identi- 
 fied were I )ionysos and Ilermcs — both gods of fertility. They, 
 as great gods of such a nature, w-ould naturally absorb lesser phalli- 
 cistic figures ; but they were specialized in other directions, and 
 Priapos remained as the distinctest embodiment of phallicistic con- 
 ceptions. Other such figures, as Pan, Titans, Sileni, and Satyrs, 
 were beings connected with fields, woods, and mountains, products 
 of a low form of civilization, to whom realistic forms and licentious 
 festixals naturally attached themselves. 
 
 404. Rome had its native ithyphallic deity, Mutunus Tutunus (or 
 Mutinus), a naive symbol of generative power.^ Little is known of 
 his cult be)ond the fact that he figured in marriage ceremonies 
 in a peculiarly indecent way ; by later writers he is sometimes iden- 
 tified with Priapos.'^ The Romans adopted the cult of Priapos as 
 well as other phallicistic forms of worship ; his original character 
 appears in his role of patron of gardens. 
 
 1 Roscher, Lcxikon. 2 s. Seligmann, Dcr b'dsc Blick mid Verwandtcs, ii, 191 ff. 
 
 3 Diodorus Siculus, i, 88. 
 
 * Roscher, Lcxikon, s.v. Indigiiamcnta. MiUo is ' phallos.' 
 
 5 So Augustine, De CivUate Dei, iv, 11, 34 al.
 
 1 68 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 405. Phalli as amulets occur in all parts of the world ; as sym- 
 bols and perhaps as abodes of deities, they have been held potent 
 to ward off all evils. ^ 
 
 406. The female organ {yoni, kfeis) appears frequently in figures 
 of female deities, ordinarily without special significance, religious or 
 other, e.xcept as a sign of sex. In tlie rare cases in which it is the 
 object of religious veneration (as in India) it is subordinated to the 
 phallos " — there is little or no evidence for the existence of a yonis- 
 tic cult proper.^ Female deities act as fully formed anthropomorphic 
 Powers, embodiments of the productive energies of nature ; they 
 are generally treated as persons, without special reference to bodily 
 parts. The most definite formulation of this conception appears 
 in ^aktism, the worship of the female principle in nature as rep- 
 resented by various goddesses, often accompanied, naturally, by 
 licentious rites.'* 
 
 407. Androgyiiotts deities represent attempts to combine in a 
 single person the two sides of the productive power of nature. 
 Such attempts are relatively late, implying a considerable degree of 
 reflection and organization ; how early they began we have not the 
 data to determine. 'Phey are not found among savage or half- 
 civilized peoples. 
 
 408. In Semitic lands no artistic representations of a bisexual 
 deity are now known, but evidence is adduced to show that this 
 conception existed in early times. It has been sought in two old 
 Babylonian inscriptions published by the British Museum.^ The 
 first of these (written in Sumerian) reads : " For [or, in honor of] 
 the (divine) king of countries, the (divine) Nana [Ishtar], the lady 
 Nana, Lugaltarsi, king of Kish, has constructed," etc. Barton takes 
 
 1 S. Seligmann, Dcr hose Blick und Verwandfes, ii, 196 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 490, n. 4. 
 
 3 On the yoni as amulet see Seligmann, Der base Blick und Vcrwandtes, ii, 203. 
 
 4 Hastings, Encyclopadia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 491 f., and the references there 
 to Gait's Assam and other works. 
 
 5 III Rawlinson, pl.i, no. I2i55,and IV Rawlinson, col. 2,11. 25-28. The androgy- 
 nous sense is maintained by G. A. Barton, in Journal of the Amei-ican Oriental 
 Society, xxi, second half, p. 185 ff. Other renderings of the first inscription are given 
 by Thureau-Dangin in Revue d'' Assyria logie, iv, and Kadau, Eariy Babylonian His- 
 tory, p. 125.
 
 KAKLV CULTS 1 69 
 
 the two titles " the divine Ishtar " (= ' king of countries,' mascu- 
 line) and "the lady Ishtar" to refer to the same deity, in whose 
 person would thus be united male and female beings. If, how- 
 ever, the king of countries and Ishtar be taken to be two differ- 
 ent deities (as is possible), there is no bisexuality. The second 
 inscription, which is bilingual, has the expressions " the mother- 
 father Enlil," '' the mother-father Ninlil " (Sumerian), rendered in 
 Semitic "the father-motlier luilil," "the father-mother Ninlil." 
 These expressions probably signify not that the two deities are bi- 
 sexual, but that each of them fullills the guarding and nourishing 
 functions of a father and a mother. 
 
 The expression in a hymn to Ishtar that " she has a beard like 
 the god Ashur " ma)- be satisfactorily explained as an astrological 
 statement, the meaning of which is that the planet Dilbat (Ishtar, 
 Venus) at certain times equals the sun (represented by Ashur) 
 in brilliancy, her rays being likened to a beard.' A similar astro- 
 logical interpretation is offered by Jastrow of a passage (to which 
 attention was called by Fran^-ois Lenormant) in which a female 
 Dilbat and a male Dilbat are spoken of. Other astrological texts 
 indicate that the terms ' male ' and ' female ' are employed as 
 expressions of greater or less brilliancy.^ Lajard's view, that all 
 Babylonian and Assyrian deities were androgynous, hardly needs 
 discussion now.^ 
 
 409. Of a more definite character are expressions in two Phccni- 
 cian inscriptions. In an inscription of Eshmunazzar II (probably 
 early in the fourth century u.c.) the great goddess of Sidon is called 
 " Ashtart Shem Baal."'* The word sJiem means 'name,' and, if it 
 be so interpreted as to give the goddess the name of a male divinity, 
 she may be understood to have partly male form. Ikit such change 
 
 1 Text in Craig, Assyrian and Babylonian Religious Texts, i, pi. vii, obv. 6, and 
 by Meek, in American Journal of Semitic Languages, xx\'i : translarion in Jastrow's 
 Religion Dabyloniens unci Assyrieus, i, 544 f., and discushion by him in article " The 
 ' Bearded ' Venus " in Revue arehcologique, 191 1, i. 
 
 2 .See for Lenormant's view Gazette archeologiquc, 1876 and 1S79, and Jastrow's 
 criticism in the article cited in the preceding note. 
 
 3 Lajard, Recherches sur le culte dc Venus. He is followed by A. Jeremias, The 
 Old Testament in the Light of the Ancient East (Eng. tr.), i, 123. 
 
 ■* Corpus Inscriptionum Semiticarum, i, i, p. 13.
 
 \yo IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of name is hardly probable, and this is not necessarily the natural 
 force of the phrase. In Hebrew to " call one's name on a person 
 or thing " is to assert ownership in it or close connection with it.^ 
 In the West Semitic area some personal names signify simply ' name 
 of such and such a deity,' as, for example, Shemuel (Samuel), 
 ' name of El,' Shemzebul, ' name of (the god) Zebul,' denoting 
 devotion or subordination to the deity in question. " Shem Baal " 
 as a title of Ashtart may then indicate her close relation with the 
 god, or, perhaps, if the expression be understood more broadly, 
 her equality with him in power (the name of a deity involves his 
 attributes) — he was the great god, but she, the expression would 
 say, is not less mighty than he ; or, less probably, baal may be taken 
 not as proper name but as liile, the sense then being that the god- 
 dess is the lord of the city.^ Another proposal is to read " Ashtart 
 shame Baal," "Ashtart of the heaven [sky] of Baal.''' There is a 
 Phoenician Baal-shamem, ' lord of the sky,' but nowhere else is the 
 sky described as the abode of a baal, and the transference of the 
 local city-goddess to that region would be strange ; nor in the ex- 
 pression ' Baal-shamem' is Baal a proper name — it is merely a title. 
 410. Another phrase, occurring in many Carthaginian inscrip- 
 tions, makes mention of '' Tanit face of Baal," * an expression that 
 may point to a female body with male face. Its indefiniteness — it 
 does not state the nature of the face (it may point to a beard) — 
 makes it difficult to draw from it any conclusions as to the char- 
 acter of the deity named.* Jkit the probability is that it is identical 
 
 1 I Sam.xii,28; Deut. xx\'iii, lo. The angel in whom is Vahweh's name (E.\. x.xiii, 21) 
 has the authority of the deity. 
 
 2 Cf. Dillmann, in Monatsbcricitt dcr Akadcmk dcr Wisscnscliaftcn (Berlin, iSSi). 
 The feminine form given to Baal in Rom. xi, 3 f., may refer to the disparaging term 
 'shame' (Heb. boshct, for which the Greek would be aischime) often substituted by 
 the late editors of the Old Testament for Baal. .Saul's son Ishbaal ('man of Baal') 
 is called Ishbosheih, Jonathan's son Meribbaal is called Mephibosheth, etc. 
 
 3 Dillmann (loc. cit.) combines shame with .\shtart, as if the sense were ' the 
 heavenly .\shtart of Baal' — an impossible rendering; but he also interprets the 
 phrase to mean 'Ashtart the consort of the heavenly Baal.' Ilalevy, Milangcs, 
 p. 33 ; Ed. Meyer, in Koscher's Lcxikon, article "Astarte." 
 
 ^ Corpus Inscrlptionwn Scmiticannn, i, i, no. 195 ; i, ii, no. i, al. Tanit appears to 
 be identical in character and cult with Ashtart. 
 
 5 See below, § 41 1 f. ; cf. W. R. Smith, Religion 0/ the Semi/es, 2d ed., p. 478.
 
 EARLY CULTS l/l 
 
 in sense with the one mentioned above. Tanit was the great god- 
 dess of Carthage ; slic is called "Aden," ' lord,' and her equality 
 with Baal is indicated hv the statement that she had his face, the 
 word 'face' being here equivalent to 'personality' and 'power.'^ 
 
 411. At a later period (early in the fifth century of our era) two 
 authors, Servius and Macrobius, make definite statements concern- 
 ing a bisexual cult, apparently Semitic." IJolh statements occur in 
 connection with Vergil's use of the masculine deus {ducente ded) as 
 a title of Venus, in explanation of which the cases of supposed bi- 
 sexualism are cited. ^ What is said is that there was in Cyprus a 
 deity whose image was bearded — a god of virile nature, but dressed 
 as a woman, and regarded as being both male and female. Further, 
 Philochorus is quoted to the effect that men sacrificed to her in 
 women's dress and women in men's dress. This last remark does 
 not necessarily point to an androgynous deity, for exchange of 
 dress between men and women sometimes occurs where there is 
 no question of the cult of such a deity.* Ikit the Cyprian deity 
 is said also to have been called 'A<^po8iToi' (Aphrodites ? or Aphro- 
 dilon ?) ® — apparently a male Aphrodite. 
 
 412. Leaving aside a few other notices that add nothing to 
 our knowledge of the point under consideration, we should natu- 
 rall)' conclude, if we give any credit to the statements of Servius 
 and Macrobius, that there was a report in their time of a bise.xual 
 deity in Cyprus. As regards Vergil's '' deus," that may be merely 
 a poetical expression of the eminence and potency of the goddess. 
 But the assertions of her bisexual character are distinct, even if the 
 " beard " be discarded. This latter may have come from a mis- 
 understanding of some appearance on the face of the statue ; or, 
 
 1 A similar interpretation is given by Baethgen in his Sanitische Religionsgcschichte, 
 p. 267 f. His " monistic " view, however, that various deities were regarded as mani- 
 festations of the supreme deity is not tenable. , 
 
 2 Servius, Commentary on Vergil, .-£«. ii, 632 : Macrobius, SafuntaHa, iii, 8, on 
 the same passage. 
 
 3 There are manuscript variations in the text of Scr\ius, but these do not affect 
 the sense derived from the two authors, and need not be considered here. 
 
 * Cf. Frazer, Adonis Atiis Osiris, p. 428 ff. 
 
 5 Servius, " they call her"; Macrobius, ".Aristophanes calls her." But who this 
 Aristophanes is, or where he so calls her, we are not informed.
 
 1/2 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 as has been suggested, there may have been a false beard attached 
 to it permanently or occasionally,^ and from this may have sprung 
 the belief in the twofold nature of the deity. \<q. arc not told, 
 however, that such a nature was ascribed to Aphrodite, or that a 
 beard was attached to her statue ; and, if this was done, it is diffi- 
 cult to suppose that a popular belief in the bisexuality of a deit)'^ 
 could have arisen from such a procedure. Some better ground 
 for the statements of Servius and Macrobius there seems to have 
 been, though we do not know their authorities. In any case it 
 may be concluded that the cult in question, if it existed, was late, 
 popular, and without marked influence on the Semitic religious 
 development. No figures or other traces of a bisexual deity have 
 been discovered in Cyprus or elsewhere (unless the Carthaginian 
 Tanit be an exception), and all that is otherwise known of the 
 character and cult of the Bab}lonian Ishtar, the Phoenician Ash- 
 tart, and the Carthaginian Tanit (= Ashtart) is against the sup- 
 position of bisexuality. Ishtar, originally a deity of fertility, became, 
 through social growth, a patron of war and statecraft ; but there is 
 no indication that an attempt was ever made to combine these two 
 characters in one figure. 
 
 413. The Phrygian figure Agdistis, represented in the myths 
 as androg\nous - (the myths being based on cults), is connected 
 with the worship of the Great Mother, Kybele (the embodiment 
 of the female productive power of nature), with whom is associ- 
 ated Attis (the embodiment of the male power). ^ The myths iden- 
 tify Agdistis on the one hand with Kybele, on the other hand with 
 Attis — he represents in his own person the combination of the two 
 generative powers. But it is doubtful whether this was his signifi- 
 cance in the actual worship, in which he hardly appears ; he was 
 
 1 So Jastrow, in the article cited above. Remarking on the statement of Lydus 
 (in Dc Afciisibits, ii, jo) that the Pamphylians formerly worshiped a bearded Venus, 
 he calls attention to the Carian priestess of Athene (Herodotus, i, 175 ; viii, 104), who, 
 when misfortune \vas impending, had (or grew) a great beard — a mark of power, but 
 presumably not a genuine growth. Exactly what this story means it is hard to say. 
 
 2 Pausanias, vii, 17 ; Amobius, v, 5. 
 
 3 Roscher, Lcxil-on, articles " Agdistis,"' " .\ttis " ; Frazer, Adonis Atiis Osiris, 
 p. 2igf. ; H. Hepding, Attis; of. Pseudo-Lucian, Dc Syria Dca, 15 (Attis assumes 
 female form and dress).
 
 EARLY CULTS 173 
 
 probably a divine figure of the same character as Kybele and Altis, 
 worked up \)\- myth-makers and woven into the larger myth. His 
 self-castration reflects the practice of the priests and other wor- 
 shipers of Kybele.' Thus cultually he is of little or no importance. 
 
 414. There is no evidence that this Phrygian figure was derived 
 from Semitic sources. A certain similarity between Phrygian and 
 Syrian cults of gods and goddesses of fertility is obvious, and the 
 social relations between Asia Minor, Syria, and Cyprus make 
 borrowing in either direction conceivable. But cults of such deities 
 might grow up independently in different regions,'^ and the suppo- 
 sition that the Phrygian worship was native to Asia Minor is favored 
 by the great elaboration of its ceremonies and by their barbarous 
 character. This character suggests that the worship may have origi- 
 nated w iih savage peoples who preceded the Aryans in the country.' 
 
 415. The most definite androgynous figure is the Greek Hermaph- 
 roditos. It was only in Oreece that such a compound name arose, 
 and that the composite form became established in art. It is not 
 certain when the Greek form was fixed. If the statement that Aris- 
 tophanes used the term "Aphroditos "■* (or "Aphroditon " ) is to be 
 relied on, it must be concluded that the conception existed in Greece 
 prior to the fifth century, probabl) in that case as a popular usage 
 that was unorganized and unimportant, since it is not referred to in 
 the existing literature. But of this Aristophanes we know nothing, 
 and the vague statements of Servius and Macrobius may be neg- 
 lected as being without significance for the figure in question. 
 
 416. The name Hermaphroditos is said to occur for the first 
 time in the fourth or third century b.c.^ This would indicate a 
 gradual formulation of the idea, the result being the combination 
 of two divine forms into a single form. Aphrodite would naturally 
 be chosen for the female side, and the ithyphallic Hermes is 
 
 1 This practice seems to be an exaggerated form of the savage custom of self- 
 wounding in honor of the dead (to obtain their favor), interpreted in developed 
 cults as a sacrifice to the deity or as a means of union with him. 
 
 - On the wide diffusion of cults of mother-goddesses see below, §§ 729, 734, 762, etc. 
 
 3 Cf. Pseudo-Lucian, De Syria Dca, 15 ; Ed. Meyer, Geschkhtc des Alierltims, 
 2d ed., i, 649, 651 ; Lagrange, Etin/cs surlcs religions shnitiqiics, 2d ed., p. 241 ; Hep- 
 ding, Aitis, p. 162. ^ See above, § 411. 
 
 5 In Theophrastus, Characters, article 16 (Roscher, Lexikoti, s.v. Hennaphrodiios).
 
 174 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 appropriate for the male side — possibly the Hermes pillar with 
 Aphrodite bust was the earliest form.^ The representations of 
 Hermaphroditos show a male body with female bust ; the name 
 Aphroditos would rather suggest a female body with male additions. 
 Other Greek bisexual figures are forms of Priapos and Eros. 
 
 An historical connection between the Greek and the Phrygian 
 forms is possible, but is not proved. In India the bisexual form 
 of ^iva, which seems to be late," connects itself with the licentious 
 character of his rites. Its historical origin is uncertain. 
 
 417. It does not appear that the cult of the Greek androgynous 
 deities entered seriously into the religious life of the people. In late 
 philosophic circles they were treated merely as symbols of the cre- 
 ative power of nature, and thus lost their character as persons. 
 
 418. The starting-point for the development of the hermaphro- 
 dite figure may perhaps be found in two facts, the interchange or 
 change of sexual characters ^ and the combination of two deities to 
 express a broader idea than either of them represents. The as- 
 sumption of female dress and sexual habits by males, and of male 
 dress and habits by females, has prevailed over a great part of the 
 world.'* The embodiment of this fact in a composite divine form 
 would be not unnatural at a time when there was a disposition to 
 give expression, in the person of gods, to all human experiences. 
 Such definite embodiment is, however, rare in religious history, prob- 
 ably, as is suggested above, because it involves a large generaliza- 
 tion and a more or less distinct s}-mbolism. The first movement 
 in this direction may have been naively sensuous ; later, as is re- 
 marked above, the symbolic conception became predominant. 
 
 419. The association of certain animals with certain j^hallic dei- 
 ties (as the bull with Dionysos, the goat with Pan, llic ass with 
 Priapos) is a part of the general connection between gods and an- 
 imals, the grounds of which are in many cases obscure.^ Pan's rural 
 character may explain his relation to the goat : the bull, the ass, and 
 
 1 Roscher, article cited. 2 Hopkins, Religions of India ^ pp. 447, 492. 
 
 8 H. Ellis, Psychology of Sex, i, passim. 
 
 ^ W'estermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, chap, xliii. 
 CCf. §251 ff.
 
 KARJA' CULTS 1 75 
 
 main' other animals rcgank-d as sacrrd. may have been brought 
 into ritual connection with gotls by processes of subordination of 
 divine beasts and through collocation of cults. There is no evidence 
 to show that the animals connected wuth phallic gods were selected 
 on account of their salacious dispositions or their sexual power. 
 
 420. I'hallicistic cults, attenuated by advance of refinement, sur- 
 vived long, even into Christian times, under modified forms. ^ In 
 such cases they become merely devices of ignorant ]iiety. When 
 the aid of a Christian saint is sought in order to secure fertility, the 
 trust in the phallus-symbol involves no unworthy desire ; and what 
 is true of medieval F.uropean peoples mav have been true of ancient 
 peoples. In the ancient world these cults took many forms, rang- 
 ing from naive faith to frank obscenity on the one hand and phil- 
 osophic breadth on the other hand. They take their place as part 
 of the general worship of the forces of nature, and follow all the 
 variations of human culture. 
 
 1 Dulaure, Des dh-butcs generatrices. Cf. liartland, PrbnUive Paternity, chap. ii.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 TOTEMISIM AND TABOO 
 
 421. Tolemism and taboo arc both of them intimately connected 
 with the history of early religion, but in different ways. Totemism 
 is not essentially religious if religion be held to involve worship of 
 superhuman or extrahuman beings ; it has, however, in many cases 
 coalesced with religious practices and ideas, and it is sometimes 
 difficult to draw the line distinctly between it and religion proper. 
 Taboo, on the other hand, is founded on magical conceptions, and 
 these are nearly allied to the basis of early religion ; it is more or 
 less prominent in all early cults, and has survived in the higher re- 
 ligious .systems, though in these it is generally spiritualized. The 
 two lines of development, totemism and taboo, appear side by side 
 in early cults, and influence each the other; but their functions 
 in the social organization of religion ha\e been different, and they 
 are best treated separately. As the collections of material for their 
 history are still incomplete, accounts of them must be regarded as, 
 to a greater or less extent, provisional. 
 
 Totemism 
 
 422. Hie natural attraction of human beings for one another 
 and the necessity of providing effective means of defense against 
 enemies have led men to associate themselves together in elans 
 and tribes. In such associations some form of organization arose 
 as a matter of course; experience early sliowed that men could not 
 live together except under the guidance and control of aulhoiitative 
 regulations. Such regulations dealt with fundamental facts of life, 
 which in the beginnings of society are mostly physical. The points 
 requiring regulation arc : the relation of man to nonhuman things 
 
 176
 
 TOTEM ISM AXn TABOO 177 
 
 (animals, plants, and inanimate objects) ; the maintenance of rights 
 of life and property ; and the sexual relations between human be- 
 ings, especially marriage as the basis of the family. The determina- 
 tion of what things may be eaten belongs more particularly under 
 " taboo," and is considered below. Customs and rules designed 
 to protect life and property have always coalesced with religious 
 systems ; they are mentioned in connection w ith the ethical element 
 in religion.' The other points — relations to nonhuman things and 
 sexual relations — ma\' be conveniently considered together here ; 
 but, as the second point belongs rather to sociology than to the 
 history of religion, it will be sufficient, with an introductory word 
 on marriage restrictions (under Exogaviy), to give the facts in 
 connection with the various totemic organizations. 
 
 423. Exogamy} jVU over the savage world the general rule 
 prevails (though not without exceptions) that a man must not 
 marry a woman of his own clan ; though the family proper (hus- 
 band, wife, and children) exists, the clan is the fundamental social 
 unit. When a tribe contains several clans it is commonly divided 
 into groups (phratries), each phratry including certain clans, and 
 the rule then is that a man shall not marry a woman of his phratry. 
 Usually the number of phratries is two, but in some cases (as among 
 the Australian Arunta and adjoining tribes) these are divided so that 
 there are four or eight exogamous groups (subphratries). When 
 the totem is hereditary the totemic clans are exogamous ; otherwise 
 (as among the Arunta) marriage between persons of the same clan 
 is permitted. 
 
 424. Whether the clan or the phratry preceded in time it is hardly 
 possible to determine — clans may have united to form a larger 
 group, or an original group may have been divided into clans. P>ut 
 in the latter case this original group was practically a clan, .so 
 that the question of precedence in time is not important. Where 
 clan exogamy exists without phratries it is possible that these also 
 
 1 See below, Chap. XI. 
 
 2 J. F. McLennan, Studies in Ancient History; Frazer, Totcmism and Exogamy; 
 A. Lang, Social Origins ; A. E. Crawley, in Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. 
 Tylor : X. W. Thomas, ibid.
 
 1/8 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 formerly existed and have been dropped in tlie interests of free- 
 dom — that is, they limited the choice of a wife to an extent that 
 proved inconvenient.^ 
 
 425. An almost universal feature of the marriage rules of low 
 tribes is the classificatory system of relationship. According to this 
 system, the community being divided into groups, terms of rela- 
 tionship indicate not kinship in blood but tribal status in respect 
 of marriageability ; thus, the same term is used for a child's real 
 father and for every man who might legally have become the 
 husband of his mother, and the same term for the real mother 
 and for even' woman whom the father might have married ; 
 the children of such possible fathers and mothers are the child's 
 brothers and sisters ; all possible spouses are called a man's 
 "wives" or a woman's "husbands"; and similarly with all rela- 
 tionships.^ 
 
 426. The system has many varieties of form, and gives wav in 
 time to the formal recognition of blood kinship. It has been held 
 to point to an earlier system of " group marriage," in which all 
 the men of one group had marital relations with all the women of 
 another group, and further to a primitive custom of sexual promis- 
 cuity.^ In the nature of the case these hypotheses do not admit of 
 proof or disproof. All that is certain is that the classificatory system 
 has been and is an accompaniment of one stage of social and religious 
 development. 
 
 427. The effect of exogamous arrangements has been to pre- 
 vent marriage between persons related in blood. ^ In totemic 
 organizations, when the totem is inherited, a division into two 
 exogamous groups makes marriage of brother to sister impossible, 
 since all the children of one mother are in the same group ; and 
 
 1 Frazer {Totcmism and Exogamy, iv, 135), thinks it possible that exogamy of 
 totemic clans is always exogamy in decay. 
 
 2 L. H. Morgan (the discoverer of the system), Aiiiicnt Society ; W. li. \\. Rivers 
 in Anthropological Essays presented lo E. B. Tylor. 
 
 8 For the supposition of promiscuity are Morgan (op. cit., p. 54), Spencer and 
 Oillen (Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 100 ff.), and others; against arc 
 Westermarck {Human Marriage, chap, iv), Crawley {The Mystic Rose, p. 479 ff.), 
 and others. ^ Cf. Morgan, op. cit., p. 27, and part ii, chap. i.
 
 TOTliMISM AM) JABUO I 79 
 
 if there are four such groups and children are assigned to a group 
 different from that of the father and that of the mother, marriage 
 between parent and child is impossible. When the totem is not in- 
 herited (as is the case among the Australian A run taV similar results 
 are secured by a further subdivision. 
 
 428. The particular exogamic customs vary considerably among 
 early tribes, the differences following, in general, differences of 
 social organization. In some more settled savage communities (as, 
 for example, the Kurnai of .Southeast Australia), in which there are 
 neither classes nor totemic clans, marriage is permitted only between 
 members of certain districts.^ Well-organized social life tends to 
 promote individual freedom in marriage as in other things. Mar- 
 riage with a half-sister was allowed by the old Hebrew law,^ and 
 Egyptian kings often married their sisters. 
 
 429. Theories of the origin of exogamy. Exogamy has been re- 
 ferred to a supposed scarcity of women, which forced the young 
 men to seek wives abroad.^ On the assumption of early sexual 
 promiscuit)- it has been regarded as a deliberate attempt to prevent 
 the marriage of blood relations.'' It has been supposed to result 
 from the absence of sexual attraction between persons who have 
 been brought up together.^ An original human horde being assumed, 
 it has been suggested that the patriarch, who had possession of all 
 the women of the horde, would, from jealousy, drive the young 
 men off to seek wives elsewhere.'' Yxom the point of view of the 
 totem as divine ancestor, exogamy has been supposed to arise from 
 religious respect for the clan blood, which is held to share the divin- 
 it\- of the totem, and would be polluted (with danger to the clan) 
 by outside marriages.'' 
 
 1 llowitt, Native Tribes of Soiit/i-East Australia, p. 269 ff. 
 
 2 Gen. XX, 12 ; the rule was later abrogated (Ezek. xxii, 1 1 ; Lev. xviii, 9). 
 
 3 J. F. McLennan, Stttdies in Ancient I/istoiy, first series, p. 90 ff. ; second series, 
 chap. vii. 
 
 4 L. H. Morgan, Ancient Society, p. 424 ff . ; Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, 
 i, 164 ff. 
 
 5 U'estermarck, Human Marriage, chaps, xiv-xvi ; Crawley, The Mystic Rose, 
 p. 222. Cf. Danvin, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, ii, lo;? f. 
 
 e'j. J. Atkinson, Primal Larv (in volume with Lang's Social Origins, p. 210 ff.). 
 ' E. Durkheim, in Annee sociologique, i, 1-70.
 
 l8o JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 430. Objections may be raised to all these theories. It is doubt- 
 ful whether a scarcity of women existed in early times ; and sup- 
 posing that there were not women enough in a clan for the men 
 of the clan, this would not stand in the way of men's taking as 
 wives their clan women. ^ The assumption of ]Drimitive sexual 
 promiscuity, likewise, cannot be said to be distinctly borne out 
 by known facts.'' Morgan's theor\-, however, is not dependent on 
 this assumption — it need only suppose repugnance to the marriage 
 of blood relations. Such repugnance granted, the main objection 
 to the theon,' rests on the difficulty of supposing savages capable 
 of originating so thoughtful and elastic a scheme as the exogamous 
 system. This is a point on which it is not possible to speak posi- 
 tively. The lowest tribes have produced languages of wonderfully 
 intricate and delicate construction, and. supposing the process of 
 constructing marriage regulations to have gone on during a very 
 long period, modifications introduced from time to time, to meet 
 conditions felt to be important, might conceivably result in such 
 exogamous systems as are now found. 
 
 431. As to absence of sexual attraction between persons brought 
 up together,^ this seems to be a result rather than a cause of the pro- 
 hibition of sexual relations between certain classes of persons. The 
 argument from habits of the lower animals is indefinite — no gen- 
 eral habit has been proven. In orgies in India and elsewhere no re- 
 pulsion appears between persons of the sarrie famih-. In the ancient 
 w'orld marriage between such persons was legal and not uncommon. 
 
 432. The human horde, with its jealous patriarch, appears to be 
 a creation of the scientific imagination. It, again, was derived by 
 its author from the procedure of certain beast-herds in which the 
 strongest male drives away his rivals. It is supposed, however, 
 that in the human horde the young men, having found wives, are 
 allowed to come back bringing their wives with them, and these 
 last the patriarch is supposed not to appropriate. The theory is 
 supported by no facts of actual usage. 
 
 1 Frazer, Totcnitsm and Exogamy, iv, 75 ff. 2 See references in §426. 
 
 3 H . Ellis, Psychology of Sex, i, 36 f. ; Crawley, in Anthropological Essays presented 
 to E. B. Tylor.
 
 totI':mism axd taboo i8i 
 
 433. The supposition that the young men of a clan or tribe go 
 off to seek food, and thus found a new clan, has more in its favor. 
 Being compelled to seek wives in their new surroundings, they might 
 thus initiate a habit of outside marriage that would in time become 
 general usage and therefore sacred. Secession from tribes does oc- 
 cur, and may have been frequent in prehistoric times, but concerning 
 these times we have little or no information. It may be said that 
 movements of this sort would furnish a more probable starting-point 
 for savage customs than the ideas and schemes mentioned above. 
 
 434. Troof is lacking also for Durkheim's theory. It is not 
 probable that the totem was regarded as di\ine in the period in 
 which exogamy arose — by the tribes whose ideas on this point are 
 known the totem is looked on as a friend and an equal but not as 
 a god. And, as is pointed out above, there is no such general reli- 
 gious respect for the clan blood as would forbid sexual intercourse 
 between persons of the same clan. The demand for revenge for 
 the murder of a clansman arises from the sense of clan solidarity 
 and the necessity of self-defense — it is only in this regard that the 
 blood of the clan is regarded as sacred. 
 
 435. Horror of marriage or of sexual intercourse in general, 
 within the prohibited degrees or areas, is universal in low com- 
 munities ; violation of the tribal law on this point is severely pun- 
 ished, sometimes with death. Whence this feeling sprang is not 
 clear.' It cannot have arisen from respect for the purity of women 
 or from a belief in the sanctity of the family — intercourse with girls 
 before their marriage is freely allowed, and lending or exchange 
 of wives is common. Magical dangers are supposed to follow on 
 infringement of marriage rules, but, as such reslilts come from 
 violation of any tribal custom, this throws no light on the origin 
 of the feeling of horror in question. Absence of sexual attraction 
 between persons brought up together," though the absence of such 
 feeling is said to have been observed in some of the lower animals, 
 is not assured for savages ; its existence in civilized communities 
 
 1 See above, §431. 
 
 2 See above, §429, and compare Howard, ///V/o/y of Mair'nnoiiial Institutions, 
 i, 121 ff.
 
 1 82 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 is due to the acceptance of the established usage, whicli makes 
 certain unions impossible, so that they are not considered, and 
 the germ of such a public opinion may perhaps be assumed for 
 early tribes. Probably the horror of incest is a derivation from 
 economic and other situations and laws that arose naturally in 
 early society — it is a habit hardened into an instinct. 
 
 436. Though exogamy differs from totemism in origin and func- 
 tion, the two are often found associated — their conjunction may 
 be said to be the general rule. There arc, however, exceptions.^ 
 Totemic clans are not exogamous in Central Australia, the Melane- 
 sian Banks Islands, among the Nandi of East Africa, and the 
 Bakuana of South Africa. On the other hand, exogamy is found 
 without totemism in the tribes just mentioned, among the Todasof 
 Southern India, in Sumatra, among the African Masai and Ashanti, 
 and in Southern Nigeria, and local exogamy among tribes (for 
 example, the Kurnai of Southeast Australia, and the Californian 
 Maidu and Shasta) in whicli totemic divisions are not perceptible. 
 
 437. In all such cases, however, the absence of records makes 
 the history of the organizations uncertain — we do not know whether 
 or not one of the elements, totemism or exogamy, formerly existed 
 and has yielded to disintegrating influences. Thus local exogamy 
 may have superseded clan exogamy in many places, the former 
 representing tlie more settled habit of life, and the absence of the 
 totemic constitution may indicate a process of decay of totemism. 
 No general rule for the decision of the question can be laid down — 
 every case must be judged for itself.'^ 
 
 438. Since a custom of exogamy presupposes at least two social 
 groups (clans), and totemism appears to be connected originally with 
 single clans, the natural inference is that the latter has everywhere 
 preceded the former in time. Both have undergone great changes 
 produced by similar sets of circumstances, and in Isoth cases the 
 simplest form is probably the oldest, though here again definite 
 data are lacking. However, comparison of the known exogamous 
 systems points to a two-group arrangement as that from which 
 the existing forms have come. 
 
 1 Details are given in Frazcr's Totemism and Exogamy. - Cf. laclow, § 442.
 
 ToricMisM A.\n r.inoo 183 
 
 439. Exogamy served a good purpose in earl\' stages of society, 
 hdtli by preventing marriages Ijctween blood relations and by in- 
 ducing a sense of the sacredness of the marriage bond. Its long 
 persistence shows that it was regarded by most tribes as necessary 
 for the maintenance of the tribal life. Its restriction of individual 
 freedom in the choice of wives was an evil, and was in time modi- 
 fied and finally thrown off ; but it seems to have been the only 
 means, discoverable by early society, by which clans and tribes 
 could live peaceably side by side, and it paved the way for the 
 establishment of the family j^roper. 
 
 440. This brief account of the most important adjunct of 
 totemism may serve to clear the way for the consideration of 
 the totemic system. 
 
 441. Among the various relaticjns that undeveloped communities 
 sustain to nonhuman things totemism has the peculiarity that it is 
 an alliance between a human group (clan or tribe) and a species 
 of animals or plants, or an inanimate natural object (as sun or 
 moon), or, rarely, an artificial object (usually an implement of 
 labor). ^ The nonhuman thing is regarded as a friend, and is re- 
 spected and cared for accordingly. When it is a species (animal 
 or plant) every individual of the species is held to bear this friendly 
 relation to every individual of the allied human group. Generally 
 there is believed to be not only similarity or identity of nature 
 between the two (such identity of nature between man and non- 
 human things is everywhere an article of the creed of savages) 
 but a special intimacy, commonly a kinship of blood. While the 
 men of a group respect their ally, it, on its part, is supposed to 
 refrain from injuring them, and even in some cases to aid them. 
 It is credited with great power, such as in savage life all nonhuman 
 things are supposed to possess. The members of the human group 
 regard one another as brothers ; this feeling, however, can hardly 
 be said to be peculiar to totemic organizations — it exists, more or 
 less, in all early associationsj particularly in any one association as 
 against others. 
 
 1 On two supposed human totems, Laughing Boys and Nursing Mothers, see 
 Frazer, To/cmtstn and Exogamy, i, i6o, 253 ; ii, 520 f.
 
 1 84 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 442. While, therefore, we may take a certain clan alliance as a 
 fundamental fact of totemism, we find in various communities other 
 features of organization more or less closely combined with this 
 into a social unity. In exery such case it is necessary to inquire 
 whether the feature in question is a universal or general accom- 
 paniment of clan alliance, and whether it is peculiar to tlic latter 
 or is found in other systems also. 
 
 443. (a) Exogaftiy. It is pointed out above ^ that totemism and 
 exogamy are mutually independent arrangements, differing in func- 
 tion and origin, each being found without the other. Vet in many 
 cases, perhaps in the majority of cases, the two are found combined. 
 Exogamy supposes a body of clans, and, given a group of totemic 
 clans, it would naturally be attached to these, and so become an 
 organic part of their social constitution. Where there is no totem- 
 ism the question of union, of course, does not come up. Where 
 totemism is not accompanied by exogamy it is sometimes probable 
 that the union of the two once existed," or that exogamy is excluded 
 by the peculiar form of the totemism.^ Exogamy may thus be re- 
 garded as a natural and frequent accompaniment of totemism, but 
 it is not a universal and necessary element of the totemic constitution. 
 
 444. (b) Names. As a general rule the totemic clan bears the 
 name of its totem. The exceptions appear to be found in some- 
 what advanced communities, as the Fijians and the Kwakiull (but 
 not the northern branch of this tribe ).'' There are also many larger 
 exogamous groups (as, for example, in Australia) the meaning of 
 whos^ names is obscure — they may or may not contain the name 
 of the totem ; but such groups mav ha\-c a different origin from 
 that of the totemic clans. 
 
 445. In some cases clans and tribes have distinctive crests or 
 badges^ generally totemic figures or parts of such figurds. These 
 are carved on beams of houses and on house poles, or cut or drawn 
 on men's persons, and are used as signs manual, serving thus to 
 indicate to strangers a man's clan connections. Such emblems are 
 
 1 § 436. 2 So, apparently, among the Xandi (Ilollis, The Nand'i, pp. 6, 61). 
 3 As among the Australian Arunta (Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central 
 Australia, pp. 116, 125 ff.). 
 
 ■4 Frazer, Totemism a?td Exogamy, ii, 136; iii, 321 ; Boas, The Kivakiutl, p. 328 ff.
 
 TOTEM ISM A XI) TABOO 185 
 
 employed in the Torres Straits islands and British New Guinea,^ 
 in the Aru Islands (southwest of New Guinea), and in North 
 Ameriea among the Lenape' (Delawares), the l*uebl(j tribes, (he 
 'riin^it, the Haidas, and the Kwakiutl.- 
 
 446. In Ameriea the erest is not always identical in name- with 
 the totem, and sometimes coalesces with the guardian animal-spirit. 
 The myths that give the origin of the crest usually describe some 
 •adventure (marriage or other) of a man with the crest animal, in- 
 volving sometimes, but not always, the origin of the clan.'' The 
 relation between totem and crest thus differs in different places, 
 and its origin is not clear. The simplest form of this relation 
 (that found in the New Guinea region) may indicate that the 
 totem animal, being most intimately connected with the clan, is 
 chosen on that account as its badge. Or possibly totem and 
 crest have arisen, independently of each other, from some early 
 affiliation with animals, and therefore do not always coincide. 
 Such a mode of origination would help to explain the fact that in 
 Northwestern America a clan may have several crests, and a man 
 also may acquire more than one. The relation of crest to clan is 
 looser than that of totem to clan — the same crest or crests are 
 found in different clans. When the totemic constitution of the 
 tribe or clan is weakened, the crest may become more important 
 than the totem, as is the case among the Haidas. But the adop- 
 tion of the crest name does not invalidate the general rule that 
 the clan bears the name of its totem. 
 
 447. Names of families and of persons do not come into con- 
 sideration here. They arise from various local and personal peculi- 
 arities that, as a rule, have nothing to do with totemism, and they 
 become more prominent and important as the latter declines. 
 
 448. The origin of clan totemic names is closely connected with 
 the origin of the totemic organization, and will be more conven- 
 iently considered in connection with this point.'* 
 
 1 lladdon and Rivers, Expedition to Torres Straits, v, 15S ff. ; Seligmann, The 
 Melanesians of British Nezv Guinea, pp. 51, 320. 
 
 2 Frazer, Tutemism ami Exooamy, ii, 200; iii, 40, 227, 267, 2S1, 322. 
 
 ^ Swanton, Tlingit Myths {Bulletin sq, Bureau of American Ethnology). 
 4 See below, § 544 ff.
 
 1 86 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 449. (Cj Descent from the totem. Details so far reported as to 
 this belief are regrcttabh- few and often indefinite, and it is not 
 possible to give more than a provisional sketch of it.^ In Central 
 Australia it is held that all" the members of a clan come into being: 
 as spirit children, who are the creation of mythical half-human, half- 
 animal beings of the olden time ; the clan bears the name of the 
 mythical ancestor (its totem), and its members regard themselves 
 as identical in blood and nature with the totem.- Similar beliefs, 
 are reported as existing in New "South Wales and West Australia, 
 and a definite conception of descent from the totem has been found 
 in the Santa Cruz group in Southern Melanesia, in Fiji in East- 
 ern Melanesia, and apparently in Tonga and Tikopia." In North 
 America the belief is reported as existing among the Lenape' (Dela- 
 wares) and other Eastern tribes.* In South America it appears 
 among the Arawaks of Guiana,^ and perhaps elsewhere. For Africa 
 there is little information on this point, and what we have is not 
 always definite ; ® one of the clearest expressions of descent is 
 found in the title " grandfather " given to the chameleon by the 
 Chameleon clan of the Herrero of German Southwest Africa, but 
 a comparison with the similar title given by the Zulus to a sort of 
 divine ancestor, and with the Herrero mythical stories of the origins 
 of certain clans, suggests that the conception is vague. 
 
 450. In addition to the more direct statements there are tradi- 
 tions or m)ths that connect the origin of clans with animals or 
 plants through the intermediation of gods or human beings, by 
 marriage, or some other relation. The Bushbuck clan of the East 
 African Baganda worship a lion-god, who is called an ancestor and 
 is said to have turned into a lion at his death. Fluctuating opinions 
 (some persons holding to direct descent from a nonhuman ob- 
 ject, others to friendly relations between it and the ancestor) are 
 
 1 For the details of totemic customs reference may be made, once for all, to 
 Frazer's encyclopedic Totcmism and Exogamy. 
 
 2 Spencer and (iiilen, Native Tribes of Central Australia^ pp. 415, 423, etc. 
 
 3 K'weTS, Journal 0/ the lioyal Anthropological Institute, xxxix ; .1/(7;;, viii. 
 
 * Brinton, l^ie l.enH/'c, p. 39. 5 e. F. im Thum, Indians of Guiana, p. 1S4. 
 For the Mandingos of Senegambia see Rcviic d'' ethnographic, v, Si, cited in 
 Frazer's Totcmism and Exogamy, ii, 544,
 
 TOTEM ISM .\.\n I.IBOO 1S7 
 
 reported in Sumatra, Borneo, and the Moluccas. The Hurons re- 
 garded the rattlesnake as a kinsman of their ancestor. The origin 
 of the clan or family is referred to marriage with an animal by the 
 llorneo Dyaks and xaiious tribes on the African Gold Coast, and 
 to marriage with a plant by some of the Upper Liluet ; ^ and the 
 origin of the crests in Northwestern America is ascribed to adven- 
 tures with crest animals.'- In the Trobriand group of islands (lying 
 to the northeast of British New Guinea) the totems are said to have 
 been l)r()ught by the first men : naturally it is not explained whence 
 and how the men got them.'' 
 
 451. 'I'hese instances of indirect origination (to which others of 
 the sort might be added) show a variety of points of view, and 
 may be variously interpreted. They may be regarded as declen- 
 sions from an earlier belief in the direct descent of the clan from 
 the totem, or as independent conceptions that never grew into this 
 belief. Both these ideas of the form of descent are found in widely 
 separated regions and in communities differing one from another 
 in general culture and in the degree of importance they attach to 
 the totemic constitution. The possibility of general agreement in 
 myths, with difference in details, between tribes remote from one 
 another is illustrated by the creation myths of the Australian 
 Arunta (who have an elaborate totemism) and the Thompson 
 River Indians of Northwestern America (who have no clan totems, 
 secret societies, or dramatic ceremonies) ; both relate transforma- 
 tions of primitive unformed persons, but in the former the creators 
 are half-human, half-animal, in the latter they are men who trans- 
 form half-human, half-animal beings. Such widespread variations 
 point to early differences in social conditions and in intellectual 
 endowments with the nature of which we are not acquainted.'* 
 
 452. (d) Refusal fo kill or cat the totem. The usages in regard 
 to killing or eating the totem are so diverse, and often so uncertain, 
 
 1 Tcit, Thompson River /iiiliaiis, p. 95. 
 
 2 S wanton, Tlbigil Myths, andjcstip North Pacific Expedition, v, 231 ; Boas, The 
 Kwakiutl, pp. 323, 336 f. 
 
 •i Seligmann, The Mclancsians of British New Guinea, p. 679 ; in the Louisiade 
 group belief in direct descent is said to exist (p. 743). 
 
 •• Cf. the remarks of Boas in the Introduction to Teit's Tliompson River Indians.
 
 1 8 8 IXTRODL 'C/7l W 7\ ) Hisn Vv' J ' ( )/•" RELIGIOXS 
 
 that it is not possible to lay down a general rule of prohibition. 
 An edible totem is only a peculiar sort of sacred animal or plant, 
 and respect for such objects often leads to refusal to kill or eat 
 them — an interdiction of this sort does not in itself show whether 
 or not the object in question is a totem. But within totemic areas 
 the usage varies in a remarkable manner, as, for example, in 
 Australia. In the north there is complete prohibition, sometimes 
 including the totems of a man's father, mother, and father's father. 
 Among the central tribes a man kills his clan totem only for the 
 benefit of other clans, and eats a little of it ceremonially. In the 
 southeast the Dieri, it is said, kill and eat their totems freely, while 
 other tribes, the Wotjoballuk and others, eat them only at a pinch. ^ 
 The northeastern tribes have many food taboos, which, however, 
 relate not to the totemic clans but to the e.xogamous subclasses. 
 A modified regard for the totem or crest (kobong) appears in 
 West Australia, according to Sir George Grey's report -' ; it is 
 not allowable to kill a family kobong w'hile it is asleep, and it is 
 alwavs with reluctance that it is killed. 
 
 453. Abstention from killing and eating the totem holds, as a 
 rule, in the Torres Straits islands, while in New Guinea the cus- 
 tom varies — the totem is eaten by some tribes, not eaten by 
 others. 
 
 454. In Melanesia the food restrictions connected with ani- 
 mal patrons or friends of clans are less definite than in Australia. 
 Here, also, there are local differences of usage. Prohibition of eat- 
 ing or using the totem (fish, grass, fowl, and so forth) w^as found 
 by Rivers in the Santa Cruz group (in Southern Melanesia) but 
 not in the northern New Hebrides.'' In the central islands the 
 prohibition refers to the exogamous classes, and a similar usage is 
 reported as existing in the Duke of York group (in the north). 
 The Fijians refrain from eating their tribal sacred animals. 
 
 1 On the other hand, the Kurnai, who are not totemic, refrain, apparently, from 
 eating their sex-patrons. 
 
 2 This report was made in 1S41, before the natives had come in contact with the 
 whites. 
 
 3 In the Banks Islands the restrictions of eating relate to the patrons of individual 
 persons; saa Journal of the Royal Anlhropological Institute , xxxix, 165 f.
 
 TOri'.MlSM AM) I'ABOO 189 
 
 455. In Polynesia family ,e^ods ap]:)car instead of totems, and 
 the incarnations of gods (in animals and plants) are not eaten; 
 such is the rule in Samoa and Tonga, and this was formerly the 
 practice in Hawaii. The food restrictions in Borneo and Sumatra 
 are not definitely totemic. 
 
 456. 'i"he non-Atyan tribes of India generally refrain from eat- 
 ing their totems, or, in some cases, from injuring or using them; 
 and this is true even of those tribes (for example, the Khonds and 
 Oraons of Bengal) that have somewhat developed theistic systems. 
 Occasionally exemptions from the rule of abstention are procured, 
 perhaps under Aryan influence ; such influence has affected many 
 of the tribes, but has not usually destroyed the old totemic customs. 
 Among the Todas (in the south), however. Rivers found only 
 feeble suggestions of totemic objects and food restrictions ; the 
 buffalo-cult seems to have ousted all others.^ 
 
 457. Among the native tribes of Africa there is special respect 
 for the object with which the clan or tribe has particularly definite 
 relations. The Bakuana do not eat the animal whose name is 
 borne by the clan ; if an animal (the lion, for example) is danger- 
 ous, it is killed with an apology. The Herrero (of German South- 
 east Africa) abstain from the flesh of the chameleon, and will not 
 eat gray sheep or oxen. Among the half-civilized Baganda, of the 
 east, certain of the clans refrain from eating the object from which 
 a clan takes its name ; the noteworthy political organization of 
 these people seems to have obliterated old clan functions in part. 
 In the west (Senegambia, Ashanti, Dahomi, Nigeria, Congo) there 
 are food restrictions, but these are not generally connected with 
 totemic social organizations. 
 
 458. There is little evidence for totemic food restrictions in North 
 America. The custom of apologizing to an animal on killing it, 
 frequent elsewhere, is reported as existing among the Algonkin 
 Ottawas and Menomini ; but this is not necessarily totemic. The 
 more advanced tribes of the East and South (Algonkin, Iroquois, 
 Creeks, Choctaws, Chickasas, Cherokees, Natchez), the peoples of 
 the Pacific Coast, and the agricultural tribes of the middle of the 
 
 1 Rivers, The Todas ^ Index, s.v. Food, restriction on.
 
 190 
 
 /.yj-KODUCTIOX TO H/STOKV OF RELIGIOA'S 
 
 continent (^Pueblos, Mandans. and others) appear to be free from 
 restrictions as to eating. The Xavahos are said to refrain from 
 the flesh of fish, turkeys, swine, and bears, but the grounds of the 
 interdiction are not clear.^ The distinctcst evidence of totemistic 
 clan food-taboos are found among tlic Siouan Caddos (of the 
 southern Mississippi Valley) and tlic Omahas (of the Middle 
 West). Both these groups are in part agricultural, and it does 
 not appear how they have come to differ from their neighbors 
 in this regard. Food restrictions are reported for the North- 
 west region." 
 
 459. There is no clear report of totemic food restrictions in 
 Central America or in South America ; '' but these regions have as 
 yet not been thoroughly examined for clan usages. 
 
 460. (c) Magical ceremonies for increasing the supply of food. 
 Such ceremonies exist, or have existed, in many regions and among 
 peoples of various grades of culture, civilized as well as savage, 
 but the cases in which they are, or were, conducted by totemistic 
 clans are comparatively few. This sort of economic function of 
 the totem clan is most definite and important in Central and parts 
 of Southeast Australia, where every clan is charged willi the 
 duty of increasing the supply of its totem for the benefit of its 
 connected clans ; and magical rites are performed in the fertile 
 coast region no less than in the arid region about T.ake Eyre — 
 that is, in these cases the employment of magic seems not to be 
 conditioned on the natural resources of the land. Similar totemic 
 clan functions appear in the islands of Torres Straits, the Turtle 
 and Dugong clans performing ceremonies to increase the supply 
 of turtles and to attract dugongs. Magical control of totems for 
 the benefit of the whole community is reported to be found in the 
 Siouan Omaha clans (in the center of tlie Nortli American conti- 
 nent). The tribes just menlioned are tliose in wliich the social 
 organization is definitely totemistic. 
 
 1 Cf. Matthews, A'rtjw/w ^f^^-w/j, p. 239, note 169; Franciscan Fathers, /s/Z/w/og-zV 
 Dictioiiaiy, p. 507. 2 Teit, Thompson River Indians, p. -JT. 
 
 8 Cf. A. M. Tozzer, Comparative Sliu/y of the Mayas and the Laeandoncs (of 
 Yucatan), and the literature given in articles "America, South'" and " Hrazil" in 
 Hastings, Encyclopa-dia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 TOTllMISM AM) TABOO I9I 
 
 461. Elsewhere the economic function attaches to otlier bodies 
 than totemic clans, as in parts of Southeast Australia, and in 
 West Australia (where the ceremonies are conducted by the ex- 
 ogamous classes). In New Guinea the totemic character of the 
 performances appears to be doubtful. A single instance of clan 
 action has been found among the East African Baganda — the 
 women of the Grasshopper clan undertake to increase the supply 
 of their totem ; why this duty is assigned to the women is not 
 clear — the custom appears to involve a relaxation of totemistic 
 rules. The economic festivals and " dances " of the Siouan Man- 
 dans and Hidatsa are general tribal ceremonies. Among the 
 Pueblo Indians such rites are the care of religious fraternities ; ^ 
 the Zuni Frog clan performs a ceremony to procure rain, but 
 this duty is mainly committed fo rain-priests. In Northwestern 
 America the magical performances are not connected with to- 
 temic clans. 
 
 462. Definition of totcmism. It appears, then, that not one of 
 the points just mentioned is found invariably in the systems of 
 organization commonly called totemic. Exogamy is an independ- 
 ent phenomenon ; the clan does not always bear the name of the 
 totem, and is not always held to have descended from it ; usages 
 in regard to eating it vary greatly ; magical economic ceremonies 
 are performed by other than totemic bodies. There is no known 
 clan that includes all these elements in its organization, though in 
 Central Australia there is an approach to complete inclusion ; the 
 features lacking are clan exogamy and absolute prohibition of eat- 
 ing the totem, but practically a clan does not eat its totem, and 
 exogamy, for reasons given above, may be left out of considera- 
 tion. The Central Australian system may be said to be substan- 
 tially complete ; with it the North American systems stand in sharp 
 contrast, and from it many others diverge. 
 
 463. But, with all these differences, the fact remains that in 
 totemism the human group stands in a peculiar relation to some 
 
 1 J. W. Fewkes is of opinion that the great Snake dance (an economic function) 
 was formerly conducted by the Snake clan {Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bureau 
 of American Ethnology, p. 304).
 
 192 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 nonhuman object.^ This general statement must, however, be de- 
 fined in two particulars: the relation is an alliance for the benefit of 
 both parties; and the nonhuman object is not regarded as a god and 
 is not worshiped. The first of these particulars marks totemism 
 off from ihat general regard thai is paid by savages to animals, 
 plants, certain heavenly bodies, and other physical things;- the 
 second particular distinguishes it from the cult of ghosts and gods 
 proper. We ma\- therefore define it as an alliance, offensive and de- 
 fensive, between a human group and a nonhuman group or object 
 that is not worshiped, the friendly relation existing between every 
 member of the one group and every member of the other group.* 
 
 464. This relation having been formed, the various features 
 mentioned above will naturally become attached to it in various 
 ways and to different ex-tents. The clan will somehow get a name, 
 when and how we need not now ask; usually its name is that of 
 the totem — this is in keeping with the intimate connection between 
 the two. To trace the origin of the clan to the totem is only to do 
 what is done abundantly among uncixilized and civilized peoples 
 (Hebrews, Greeks, and others) ; the eponymous ancestor is con- 
 structed out of the current name of the elan. To refrain from kill- 
 ing or eating a friendly animal or plant is a simple mark of respect. 
 The conception of special ability in a clan to insure a supply of its 
 totem for food is in accord with savage ideas of magical endow- 
 ment. When the custom of exogamy arose it would naturally at- 
 tach to the clan as the social unit. 
 
 465. In view of the diverse physical surroundings of the tribes 
 of the earth and their intellectual differences, it cannot be surprising 
 
 1 The choice of the object is determined by local conditions that are not known 
 to us. Sometimes, probably, the object is the one most important for the welfare 
 of the community : sometimes it may have come from accident. See below, § 554 ff. 
 
 2 The artificial objects that are regarded, in a few cases, as totems are probably 
 of late origin, the product of reflection, and thus differing from the old totems, which 
 arise in an unreflective time. However, the artificial totems are doubtless sometimes 
 looked on as powerful : in some cases they may be little more than badges. 
 
 •i This is Frazer's definition (in his Totemism, p. i), supplemented by the words 
 " not worshiped." Cf., on the whole subject, Tylor, in Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute, xxviii, 144 ; F. Boas, in American Journal of Psychology, xxi ; A. A. Golden- 
 weiser, "Totemism," \n Journal of Atnerican Folklore, x.\iii (1910).
 
 TOTEM JSM A XI) TABOO 193 
 
 that tlu'\- have combined these elements of organization in various 
 ways. In their efforts to secure food, good marriage relations, pro- 
 tection of property, and defense against enemies, they have from 
 time to time adopted sucli measures as the circumstances made 
 desirable and possible, 'i'here is evidence tliat in some instances 
 clans have changed their social regulations, sometimes by a process 
 of internal growth, sometimes by borrowing from without. It is 
 not alwavs possible to trace such movements, and it is impossible 
 now to sa\- what the earliest social constitution of men was. The 
 probability is that the earliest state was an unformed one, without 
 governmental or other institutions, and that totemism was one of 
 the first attempts to introduce order into society. In accordance 
 with what is said above, the term ' totemism ' may be used to 
 mean particularly a simple alliance between men and nonhuman 
 things, and then more generally to mean such an alliance com- 
 bined, in whatever way, with one or more of the particular customs 
 described in preceding paragraphs.* 
 
 466. Geographical survey of iotemistic usages. If totemism be 
 taken in the simpler sense, as a certain sort of intimate relation 
 between men and nonhuman things, it will be found to be widely 
 distributed in the noncivilized world. Its occurrence becomes rarer 
 in proportion as adjuncts are attached to it ; as is remarked above, 
 it is hardly possible to find a clan whose constitution embraces 
 all adjuncts. Where usages like exogamy occur, or where there is 
 reverence for an object, without belief in a definite, nontheistic 
 relation between a human clan and a nonhuman object, we cannot 
 recognize totemism proper ; such usages must be treated as 
 belonging to man's general attitude toward his nonhuman asso- 
 ciates. The question whether they represent germinal or deca- 
 dent totemism, or neither, must be considered separately in 
 every case. 
 
 467. The two great totemistic regions of the world are Australia 
 and North America, and in each of these the variations of custom 
 run through the gamut of possible differences. In each of them 
 also the native population may include different stocks, though on 
 
 1 For a preciser definition of totemism see below, § 520.
 
 194 IXTRODUCTIOX TO IflSTORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 this point there is uncertainty. Differences of climate and topo- 
 graphical situations there are, but these do not always account for 
 the diversities of culture and custom.^ 
 
 468. Australia. In the heart of Central Australia (the home of 
 the Arunta and other tribes) there are clans that bear the names 
 of their totems, and trace their descent from half-human totem 
 ancestors, with whom they consider themselves to be identical ; 
 totems, however, are not hereditary, but are determined by the 
 ancestor connected with the place where the mother first becomes 
 aware of the child within her ; each clan performs magical cere- 
 monies to secure a supply of its totem for the associated clans, and, 
 when the totem is an animal or a plant, hunts or gathers it and 
 brings it to be distributed ; at the distribution the headman of the 
 providing clan must eat a little of the food ceremonially, and at 
 other times clansmen eat of it sparingly ; ^ the rule of exogamy re- 
 lates not to the totemic clans, but to the phratries or subphratries. 
 
 469. In the South Central region these features are found, with 
 an exception in the rule concerning eating one's totem. Sometimes, 
 as in the Urabanna tribe, such eating is forbidden. But among the 
 Warramunga there is a relaxation of the rule in the case of old 
 people — for them the food restriction is remoxcd (apparently 
 a humanitarian provision) ; on the otlicr hand, for other clansfolk 
 there is an extension of the rule — the prohibition includes two 
 subclasses of the moiety to which the clan belongs, and condition- 
 ally includes the whole moiety (this is perhaps a cautionary meas- 
 ure, to guard against the possibility of unlawful eating on the part 
 of clansmen). 
 
 470. The special feature in North Australia (on the shores of 
 the Gulf of Carpentaria) is the absolute prohibition of eating the 
 totem. In regard to (lie performance of magical ceremonies for 
 increase of the totem also there is the peculiaritv that a clan is not 
 bound to conduct such performances — it is optional willi it to do 
 
 1 The details arc gi\cn in Frazer's To/cmism and Exogamy. 
 
 2 Certain Arunta traditions appear to point to a time when the totem was freely 
 eaten. The bird-mates of the clans may be regarded as secondarj' totems — perhaps 
 a survival from a time when a clan might have more than one totem.
 
 TOTKMISM AXn TABOO 195 
 
 so or not ; it has magical power, Ijiit is not rctiuirrd by custom to 
 exercise it. It is suggested by Spencer and Gillen that this varia- 
 tion from the usage of the Central region is to be attributed to the 
 more regular rainfall on the coast, which insures a more regular 
 supply of food and thus does a\va\' with the necessity for magic.^ 
 Possibly, also, this climatic feature may account for the stricter rule 
 of prohibition mentioned above ; as the rule is sometimes relaxed 
 when it is hard to get food, so, on the other hand, it may be strictly 
 enforced when food is plentiful. 
 
 471. Still a different situation appears in the southeastern part 
 of the continent (New South Wales and Victoria) — several promi- 
 nent features of the CJentral system are absent. The Dieri clans 
 bear the names of their totems, from which also they think them- 
 selves descended, but they eat them freely. Some adjacent tribes 
 eat them only at a pinch, others refrain from them. The clans of 
 the Narrinyeri are mostly localized, and the clan-names are not 
 now those of the totems ; ^ the totems are eaten. The Kurnai show 
 the greatest divergence from the ordinary type — they. have neither 
 totemic clans nor exogamous classes ; their rule of exogamy relates 
 to districts. Throughout the southeast the conduct of magical eco- 
 nomic ceremonies by clans, every clan being responsible for its own 
 totem, seems not to exist. 
 
 472. In certain tribes (the Wotjoballuk, the Yuin, the Kurnai, 
 and others) there are sex-patrons, animals intimately related to 
 all the males or all the females of the tribe ; the belief is said to 
 be that the life of any individual of the animal group is the life 
 of a man or a woman, and neither sex group will kill its patron 
 animal. So far as regards the conception of identity with the 
 animal and reverence for it, the institution agrees with the usual 
 totemic type ; but since it is not connected with clans, some such 
 designation for the animal as " patron " or " guardian " is to be 
 preferred to "totem.'"'' Such animals, protectors of sexes, are 
 of rare occurrence, having been certainly found so far only in 
 
 1 Spencer and Gillen, Notihcrn Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 173, 31S. 
 - The clan-names may formerly have been totemic, but data for the decision of 
 this point are lacking. 3 So Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 173.
 
 196 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Southeast Australia, and they occur in a body of tribes that show a 
 disposition to discard the clan constitution. In this region individual 
 men also sometimes have animal guardians, so that a general tend- 
 ency toward individualism may be recognized. It is not unnatural 
 to connect this tendency with the fertility of the south coast, which 
 may weaken the clan organization. The organization by sex is a 
 singular phenomenon, of the history of which there are no records. 
 It is doubtless a special development of the widespread separation 
 of the sexes, combined with an increasing recognition of the prop- 
 erty rights and the social equality of women. At an early age boys 
 were often kept apart from girls. Special taboos, of food and 
 other things, were imposed on women. On the other hand, they 
 were in some cases the owners of the tribal property, and were 
 sometimes admitted to membership in secret societies. The 
 organization of the sex would follow under peculiarly favorable 
 conditions.^ 
 
 473. The remaining districts of Australia have been less care- 
 full\' investigated than the central and southern parts, and informa- 
 tion about their totemistic customs is not always satisfactory. So 
 far as the accounts go there is a widespread divergence from simple 
 clan organization in these districts. In Northeast Australia (Queens- 
 land) there are exogamous subclasses, and no clan taboos. In the 
 southwest not clans but families are the social units ; these trace 
 their descent from animals, and there are individual animal patrons. 
 In the northwest no clan organization is reported ; there is class 
 exogamy, and in the magical ceremonies the performers are taken 
 from the exogamous classes. 
 
 474. Torfcs Straits Islajids. These noteworthy variations in the 
 totemism of the Australian continent appear to be connected in a 
 general way with differences of climate and the degree of isolation 
 of the clans and tribes. Similar variations appear in the Torres 
 Straits islands and in British New Guinea. In the western islands 
 of the Straits (the only part in which distinct totemism has been 
 
 1 Cf. H. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, pp. i, 121 ff.; Crawley, The Mystic 
 Rose, pp. 41 f., 45, 350, 454 ff . ; Westermarck, Origin and Dcrclopmcnt of the Moral 
 Ideas, ii, 28 ff. ; Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, i, 183 ff., 188 ff.
 
 TOTEM ISM AM) TABOO 1 97 
 
 found) the social organization is to a certain extent independent of 
 totemic relations : the clans are locally segregated, and marriage 
 is mainly regulated by blood-kinship. On the other hand, an in- 
 timate relation between a man and his totem is recognized — the 
 latter, as a rule, is not eaten by the related clansmen (there are 
 exceptions), magical econt)mic ceremonies arc performed by certain 
 clans, and there is clan exogamy. A possible survi\-al of an early 
 social arrangement is the existence of subsidiaiy totems. 
 
 475. There is also a rudimentary cult of heroes : two of these 
 (animal in form) have shrines and effigies, annual dances are per- 
 formed in their honor, and stones are shown in which their souls 
 are supposed to dwell. The resemblance of this cult to certain forms 
 of worship in Polynesia (in Samoa, for example) is apparent ; the 
 stones may be compared with similar abodes of superhuman animals 
 or spirits in Central Australia and elsewhere ; the myths connect 
 the two animal heroes with the origin of totems — a common pro- 
 cedure. One hero, Kwoiam of Mabuiag, is said to have been a real 
 man, and to have been almost deified ; divinization of dead men is 
 not unusual in Polynesia. 
 
 476. New Guinea. In the eastern portion of British New Guinea 
 the peculiarities of organization are ^ that the people live in hamlets ; 
 that there is generally a combination of totems in a clan ; and that 
 special regard is paid to the father's totem. There is no report of 
 belief in descent from the totem.- The hamlets tend to become family 
 groups, but clan exogamy is observed. The system of " linked 
 totems " seems to be designed to secure superhuman aid from all 
 departments of the nonhuman world : ordinarily there will be a 
 bird, a fish, a snake, and a plant — the bird has come to be the 
 most important of these. A man may kill his own totem but not 
 his father's — a rule that has arisen perhaps from a displacement 
 of matrilineal descent (according to which a man's totem is that of 
 his mother) by descent through the father. So far as appears, there 
 
 1 C. G. Seligmann, The Mclanesians of British AVrr Guinea, chaps, xxxv, 1. 
 
 ■■^ Such a belief is said to exist in the Aru archipelago (Papuan) west of New 
 Guinea. There the family, and not the clan, is the social unit; every family has its 
 badge or crest.
 
 198 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 are no magical ceremonies for increase of the supply of food. In 
 both New Guinea and the Straits the fact that old customs are 
 disappearing under foreign influence increases the difficulty of de- 
 termining whether certain usages are primitive or decadent. 
 
 477. Melanesia. The social organization in the vast mass of 
 islands called Melanesia ^ has not been fully investigated, but the 
 existence of some general features has been established. Society 
 is divided not into clans or tribes, but into exogamous classes, and 
 the classificatory system of relationships is general. The rules gov- 
 erning marriage are less elaborate than in Australia, the method 
 of initiation is simpler, and the political organization is more defi- 
 nite. In regard to other usages commonly associated with totem- 
 ism the reported details are not numerous. There appears to be 
 a movement away from Australian totemism, growing more pro- 
 nounced as we go eastward, and culminating in Fiji, in which 
 totemic features are very rare. 
 
 478. In the Bismarck Archipelago every class has connected 
 with it certain animals regarded as relatives, but in New liritain, 
 apparently, not as ancestors.- In New Ireland dances imitating the 
 movements of the sacred animals are performed. Such animals are 
 treated with great respect, and tlie relation to them constitutes a 
 bond of union between members of a class. 
 
 479. Some peculiarities appear in the Solomon Islands. While 
 there is the usual regard for the sacred objects (called biito), so that 
 these are not to be eaten (in some cases not to be touched or seen), 
 the names of the classes are not always those of the sacred things, 
 and there is difference of opinion among the natives as to whether 
 the latter are ancestors or merely associated with an ancestor : a 
 man (particularly a chief) may announce that after death he will 
 be incarnate in a given thing, as, for example, a banana — this 
 then becomes sacred. I kit in some cases® the god of the class is 
 regarded as the ancestor ; instead of a number of sacred animals 
 
 1 Melanesia is here taken to include the Bismarck Archipelago (New Britain, 
 New Ireland, and adjacent islands) and the islands lying to the eastward as far as 
 the 180th meridian of longitude, though in this area there is in some places Polynesian 
 influence. 2 So Reverend George Brown, Melanesians and Polynesians^ p. 2S. 
 
 3 This usage is reported for Florida Island.
 
 TOTEM ISM A.\D TABOO 1 99 
 
 there is a theistic system with iv.^ular worship — a state of things 
 quite distinct from totemism.' 
 
 480. In the New Hebrides group there is mention of a slight 
 magical ceremony performed by a member of a class to attract a 
 class animal, but there is no rule against eating the object whose 
 name the class bears. The usage in the Santa Cruz group in re- 
 gard to eating, and the belief as to descent from the sacred object, 
 differ in different islands ; they are sometimes lax and vague, some- 
 times strict and definite. 
 
 481. lielief in a vital connection between a man and some object 
 chosen by himself is found in the Banks Islands ; there is an obvious 
 similarity between such an object and the North American manitu. 
 Further, the belief is reported by Rivers that in these islands the 
 character of a child is determined by an edible object from which 
 the mother, before the birth of the child, received some sort of 
 influence ; the child will resemble the object or be identified with 
 it, and will not, throughout life, eat of it.'' 
 
 482. In the easternmost group, the l-'ijian, the relation between 
 the tribes and their associated sacred animals and plants was, and 
 is, various. The rule was that these should not be injured, and, if 
 edible, should not be eaten. But alongside of such sacred objects 
 real gods are found ; these dwell or are incarnate in certain birds, 
 fish, and plants, and sometimes in men. In one district, in the in- 
 terior of the large island \'iti Lc\ u, Rivers learned that every village 
 had its deity, which in many cases might turn into an animal, and 
 the animal would then become taboo ; ^ the familiar custom of not 
 eating a sacred thing was thus extended to any new object of this 
 sort. The functions of the tribal sacred animals approached in 
 some points those of gods : they were consulted by magicians on 
 important occasions (war, sickness, marriage). It was supposed 
 (somewhat as in the Banks Islands) that the tribal sacred animal 
 appeared to a mother just before the birth' of her child. 
 
 1 On ihc question whether these gods are a development out of totem animals see 
 below, § 577. 
 
 2 On the relation of this idea to Frazer's theory of " conceptional totemism " see 
 below, § 548. 
 
 3 It might then seem that the deity was originally the animal : see below, § 577.
 
 200 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 483. Thus in Melanesia, along with a large mass of sacred ob- 
 jects connected more or less intimately with social units (but not 
 with clans proper), there are usages and ideas that are commonly 
 found associated with clan totemism (belief in descent from a sacred 
 thing and refusal to eat it when it is edible), but also other ideas 
 and usages (omens from animals; superhuman determination, before 
 a child's birth, of its character ; creation of a new sacred thing by 
 an individual man) that look away from clan organization to an 
 individualistic form of society.' 
 
 484. Micronesia and Polynesia. The character of the social 
 organization in Micronesia (the Caroline and Pelew groups, with 
 which may be included the little island of Tikopia, southeast of 
 the Santa Cruz group) is not very well known, but the published 
 reports indicate a considerable divergence from clan totemism. The 
 westernmost island of the Carolines, Uap (or Yap), according to a 
 recent observer,^ retains many old beliefs, is without an exogamous 
 system, and has a large apparatus of spirits and gods. Elsewhere 
 in the Carolines and in Tikopia there are nonc.xogamous social 
 groups, sacred animals greatly revered, and in some places belief 
 in descent from an animal-god. Sacred animals and village gods 
 (with exogamous families) are found in the Pelew group. ^ The 
 diversity in Micronesian customs may be due in part to mixture 
 of tribes resulting from migrations. 
 
 485. In Polynesia the family is generally the social unit, and there 
 is a fairly good political organization, with more or less developed 
 pantheons. Gods are held to be incarnate in animals and trees, 
 but there are also great gods divorced to some extent from phe- 
 nomena. The theistic development is noteworthy in Hawaii, New 
 Zealand, Samoa, Tahiti, and Tonga, and there are elaborate forms 
 of worship with priests and temples. The existing organization is 
 not totemic, but here, as elsewhere in similar cases, the question 
 has been raised whether or not the gods have arisen from sacred 
 
 1 As to the significance of this fact cf. below, § 529 ff. 
 
 2 W. H. Furncss, 3d, The Island of Slonc-Moncy. 
 
 3 On the large theistic material of the Pelews see Frazcr, Adonis Atiis Osiris, 
 pp. 386, 428 ff., with references to J. Kubary, "Die Religion der Pelauer" (in A. 
 Bastian's Allcrlci aus Volks- und Menschcnkiindc).
 
 TOTI'.MJSM AM) J A BOO 20I 
 
 (or, more definitely, totemic) animals and plants,^ and whether, in 
 general, the existing organization was preceded by one approaching 
 toteniism.^ 
 
 486. Indonesia. The Battas of the interior of Sumatra have clan 
 exogamy (but the clans live mixed together), and every clan has 
 sacred animals which it is unlawful to eat. One clan on the west 
 coast asserts its descent from a tiger. In the Moluccas villages 
 claim descent from animals or plants, and these are taboo. The 
 indications of totemic organization in Borneo are slight: there arc 
 sacred animals that are not eaten, and there is a vague feeling of 
 kinship with animals — phenomena that are not necessarily totemic. 
 The belief of the Sea Dyaks in individual guardians is to be distin- 
 guished from general respect for sacred animals. 
 
 487. India. The non-Aryan peoples of India are divided into 
 a large number of exogamous clans, each with its sacred object, 
 which it is unlawful to injure or use.^ A departure from ordinary 
 totemic usage appears in the fact that in many cases the sacred 
 objects receive worship. The social constitution of these peoples 
 seems to have undergone modifications, partly through adoption of 
 agriculture (which has occurred generally), partly by direct Hindu 
 religious influence ; the history of the non-Aryans, however, is ob- 
 scure in many points. The Aryans of India have exogamy but not 
 totemism, and this is true in part of the Assamese. Totemism has 
 not been observed in Burma* and China, or in the Malay Peninsula. 
 
 488. Xortli America. The North American native tribes, scat- 
 tered over a large territory, w'ilh widelv different climatic and 
 topographical features, and themselves divided into half a dozen lin- 
 guistic stocks, .show great diversities of social organization. While 
 exogamous groups (clans, phratries, and local group.s) are lound 
 
 1 Cf. below, § 577. 
 
 2 Exogamy is said to exist in the atoll Lua Niua, in the Lord Howe group; the 
 population is described as Pol3ncsian (Brown, Mchuicsiaiis and Poiyiicsiaiis, 
 p. 414 ff.) ; Dr. Brown thinks it probable that exogamous classes formerly existed 
 in Samoa, to which place the Lua' Niua people, he holds, are ultimately to be traced. 
 
 3 Certain septs (among the Telugus and others) are named from inanimate (some 
 times artificial) objects. 
 
 * The usages mentioned in article " liurnia '" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Reli- 
 gion and Ethics, iii, 24, do not necessarily show totemism.
 
 202 IXTRODUCTIO^X TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 almost evcnwhcre, there is little precise information about certain 
 fundamental points of totemic systems, particularly customs of kill- 
 ing and eating the totem and belief in descent from it. With a 
 general apparatus that often suggests an original totemism, the 
 American social type differs considerably from the Australian, re- 
 sembling in some respects the Melanesian and the Polynesian, but 
 with peculiarities that difference it from these. Among the Eskimo 
 and the Californians no definite signs of totemism have been dis- 
 covered. Among the other peoples the Rocky Mountain range 
 makes a line of demarcation — the tribes of the Pacific Coast differ 
 in organization decidedly not only from their eastern neighbors 
 but also from all other known savage and half-civilized peoples. 
 There are points of similarity to these, but the general Pacific 
 Coast t}'pe is unique. 
 
 489. Beginning with the Eastern tribes, we find that the Iroquois 
 and their allies (Mohawks, Senecas, and others),^ mainly agricultural, 
 had the tribe or the phratry rather than the clan as their political 
 and religious unit. The Iroquois League, organized by the great 
 statesman Hiawatha in the fifteenth centurv, was a federal union 
 of five (later of six) tribes that showed remarkable political wisdom 
 and skill. The great festivals were tribal. The clan is recognized 
 in a myth that describes the metamorphosis of a turtle into a man 
 who became the progenitor of the clan of that name, and it was 
 socially influential by reason of the brotherhood that existed among 
 members of clans having the same name in different tribes, and 
 through the fact that a man's personal name was the property' of 
 the clan. 'l"he totem figure was used as a badge. Whether or not 
 the totem was killed and eaten is not known. In the form, then, 
 in which it is known, the Iroquois organization cannot be called 
 totemic — whether it was originally such must be left undetermined. 
 
 490. The Cherokees, belonging to the southern division of the 
 Iroquois stock (living former)}- in Tennessee and North Carolina), 
 killed the animals they respected, but with ceremonies. Their Green 
 
 ^ The Iroquois stock occupied an immense territory', partly in Canada, partly in 
 the region now including the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennes- 
 see, Georgia, Alabama, and the Carolinas.
 
 TOTEM JSM .\.\n r.iBoo 203 
 
 Corn dance, the object of which was to insure a good crop, was 
 expiatory, and was accompanied by a general amnesty.^ 
 
 491. Wyandot (Huron) myths" account for their Snake and 
 Hawk ckms by stories of marriages between women and a snake 
 or a hawk ; liere human beings are assumed to have existed before 
 the genesis of the clan (a difference from the Australian scheme), 
 but it is true that the clan is held to have descended in part from 
 an animal. 
 
 492. Ill the great Algonkin stock ^ the evidence for a distinct 
 totemic organization is similarly indefinite. The Lenape (Dela- 
 wares), who were agricultural and well advanced in manufacture, 
 gave prominence to families rather than to clans, and the totem was 
 a badge. The Ojibwas, hunters (dwelling by the Great Lakes and 
 in the valley of the St. Lawrence),* also used their sacred animal 
 forms as badges ; whether they ate such animals or claimed descent 
 from them we are not informed. The friendly relation existing 
 between the Otter and fJeaver clans is explained by a story of a 
 marriage between an Otter clansman and a Beaver woman. For 
 the Potawatamies it was lawful to kill and eat the totem. The 
 Ottawas (of Canada) and the combined Sauks and Foxes (of the 
 Mississippi Valley) had traditions of descent from the totem. The 
 Menomini (of the same region) would kill the totem, but always 
 with an apology to it ; their myths embody varying conceptions of 
 the relation of eponymous animals to clans : sometimes the origin 
 of a clan is referred to the action of a supernatural being who 
 changed a bear, for example, into a man, or to adventures of 
 animals ; sometimes eponymous birds (eagle and hawk) are de- 
 scribed as being spirits or deities. Such introduction of super- 
 natural beings involves a deviation from the conception of the 
 eponymous animal as independent creator of a clan.'^ 
 
 1 Cf. Gatschet, Migni/ion Legend of the Creeks, p. 24 ff. 
 
 2 The Wyandots, who were allied to the Iroquois, duelt in the district north of 
 I.ake Ontario. 
 
 3 The Algonkins formerly ranged over a large territory extending along the .Vtlan- 
 tic coast as far south as North Carolina and reaching westward to the Mississippi. 
 
 * It was from the Ojibwas that our word " totem ' was taken. 
 
 5 A similar role, somewhat vague, is assigned to two supernatural beings in .Aus- 
 tralia (Spencer and Cillen, A'aihc Tribes of Central Australia, p. 3SS ; cf. p. 246).
 
 204 I.\TRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 493. For the tribes bordering on the Gulf of Mexico no signs 
 have been preser\ed of an organization based on the relation 
 between clans and eponymous animals, plants, and other objects. 
 The great Maskoki stock (including Creeks, Seminoles, Choctaws, 
 Chickasas, and some other less important tribes) had a well-formed 
 political system, and their religion was represented b\- the Chief 
 Magician or Priest (Medicine Man). They performed magical 
 ceremonies for increase of food, but these were tribal, and the 
 Creek annual fast {piiskita, busk) had high religious and ethical 
 significance.^ 
 
 494. The Caddoan group, dwelling formerly west of the Missis- 
 sippi, in 'J'exas, Louisiana, and Arkansas, had an approach to 
 specific totemism. In the Caddo tribe clansmen refrained from 
 killing the eponymous animal ; but all members of the tribe re- 
 frained from killing eagles and panthers. \\'hether this custom 
 represents former clan restrictions is uncertain. For the related 
 Skidi Pawnee (who formerly dwelt in the Nebraska region) there 
 is evidence, from folk-tales, of a belief in the origin of clans from 
 marriages between human beings and animals, and of belief that 
 through such marriages benefits accrued to the people. But such 
 beliefs appear not to have affected the Pawnee social organization.^ 
 
 495. The Nakchi (Natchez) people (of the lower Mississippi 
 Valley) dwelt in villages that had such names as " pond-lily people," 
 " hickory people," " swan people," " forest people." These are pos- 
 sibly survivals of totemic names, but there is no account of the 
 existence of totemic groups among them. On the other hand, 
 they had a highly developed sun-worship, with human sacrifices. 
 
 496. Customs in the Siouan stock vary. In the Dakota tribe 
 there is no known evidence of totemism. 'J'he Omahas (of the 
 
 1 Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks, p. 177 ff. It was cxpiaton', and was 
 accompanied by a moral reconstruction of society, a new beginning, with old scores 
 wiped out. Cf. the Cherokee Green Corn dance (see article " Cherokees " in Hastings, 
 Encyclofadia of Religion nnd Ethics) . 
 
 2 Dorsey, The Skidi Pawnee, p. xviii. The Pawnee had a fairly well-developed 
 pantheon, and a civil government based on rank (chiefs, warriors, priests, magicians). 
 They lived in endogamous villages ; in every village there was a sacred bundle, and 
 all the people of the village were considered to be descendants of the original owner 
 of the bundle.
 
 TOri'.MlSM AM) TABOO 205 
 
 Missouri \'allc\), wlio arc partly a<j;riculturalists, partly hunters, 
 refrain from eating or using eponymous objects, certain clans are 
 credited with magical power o\er such objects, and there are traces, 
 in ceremonies and myths, of the descent of clans, each from its 
 eponym. This combination of more definite totemistic conceptions 
 is not found in any other member of the Siouan stock. The Osages 
 had a tradition or myth of their descent from animals, but their 
 civil organization was nontotemic — they were divided into two 
 groups, termed respectively the Peace Side and the War Side, and 
 the members of the former group took no animal life, though they 
 ate flesh that they obtained from the War Side. The origin of this 
 custom is uncertain — the two divisions of the tribe, the hunters 
 and the tillers of the soil, exchanged products, but how this division 
 of labor arose (whether from a union of two tribes or otherwise) 
 is not clear. Among the Hidatsa, it is reported, there was a belief 
 that spirit children might enter into a woman and be born into the 
 world. The resemblance to tlic Central Australian belief is striking, 
 but it does not appear that sucli entrance of spirit children was 
 supposed to be the only mode of human birth. The Mandans (liv- 
 ing on the Missouri River, in North Dakota) now have no totemic 
 system ; but little or nothing is known of their early history.^ In 
 the Siouan tribes the figure of the individual animal guardian (the 
 manitu or " medicine ") plays a prominent role. 
 
 497. There are indications that the institutions of the Pueblo 
 tribes (who are now wholly agricultural) have undergone modifi- 
 cations, perhaps under foreign (Spanish) influence. Hopi myths 
 represent clans as descended from ancestors originally animal, and 
 transformed into human shape by deities. But the elaborate sun- 
 worship and the complicated solstice ceremonies are tribal.- The 
 Zuhi economic ceremonies appear to have passed from under clan 
 control. Thus, the magical ceremony for procuring rain, properly 
 the function of the Frog clan, is now in the hands of rain-priests ; 
 
 1 Will and Spinden, The Mandans {Tapers of the Peabody Museum of American 
 Arch<fology and Ethnology, Harvard University, vol. iii, 1906), p. 129 ff. 
 
 2 J. \V. F"e\vkes, The Winter Solstice Ceremony at U'al/i (reprint from The Ameri- 
 can Anthropologist, vol. xi, 1898), with bibliography.
 
 206 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 and the magical, dramatic performances for insuring a supply of 
 food are conducted by nontotemic religious fraternities. The great 
 Snake " dance " may have been originally a totemic ceremony in- 
 tended to secure rain and corn.* 
 
 498. For a former totemic organization among the Navahos, 
 Apaches, and Mohaves (these last live on the Colorado River) 
 there are only vague traditions and other faint traces ; the taboos 
 on foods now touch not a particular clan but a whole tribe. 
 
 499. The coast tribes of Northwest America (in British Columbia 
 and the United States) ^ differ in social organization from the other 
 Indians in several respects, and particularly in the importance they 
 attach to rank, in their employment of the crest or badge, and in 
 the prominence they give to the individual guardian animal or spirit. 
 
 500. In the civil organization of the Carrier division of the D^ne', 
 the Salish, the Kwakiutl, and other tribes, three or four castes or 
 groups are recognized : hereditary nobles ; the middle class, whose 
 position is based on property ; and the common folk ; and to these 
 is to be added among some tribes the class of slaves. In the 
 summer ceremonies the men are seated according to class and 
 rank. The family pride of the nobles is great — every family has 
 its traditions and pedigrees. In such a scheme the zoonymous clan 
 plays an insignificant part. Classes and clans are mixed in the 
 villages in which, for the most part, these people live, and trade 
 is prominent in their life. The curious custom of the " potlatch " 
 — a man invites his friends and neighbors to a gathering and 
 makes them magnificent presents, his reputation being great in 
 proportion to the e.\tent of his gifts — appears to be a device for 
 
 1 Fewkes, Journal of American Ethnology and Archceology, iv, and Journal of 
 American Folklore, iv. 
 
 2 The stocks or groups are, going from north to south : the D6n6 or Athabascans 
 (middle of Alaska and running east and west) : the Tiingit (Southern Alaska) ; the 
 Haidas (Queen Charlotte Islands and adjacent islands); the Tsimshians (valleys of 
 the Nass and Skeena rivers and adjacent islands) ; the Kwakiutl (coast of British 
 Columbia, from Gardiner Channel to Cape Mudge, but not the west coast of Van- 
 couver Island) ; the Xootkas (west coast of \'ancouvcr Island) ; the Salish (eastern 
 part of X'ancouver Island, and parts of British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, and 
 Montana) ; the Kootenay (near Kootenay Lake and adjoining parts of the United 
 States). See the authorities cited by Frazcr in Totcmism and Exogamy.
 
 TOTEMISM A.\D TABOO 207 
 
 laying up property ; the host in his tuin receives presents from 
 friends and neighbors. 
 
 501. The cnipl(nmcnt of a sacred object as a badge or crest, a 
 sign of tribal or clan position, is found, as is noted above,' in various 
 parts of the world : in the Torres Straits islands, in the Aru archi- 
 pelago (west of New Guinea), and in North America among the 
 Iroquois, the Lenap<§ (Delawares), the Pueblos, and perhaps among 
 the Potawatamies. In these tribes, however, the role of the badge 
 is relatively unimportant — it is employed for decorative purposes, 
 but does not enter fundamentally into the organization of the clan 
 or the tribe. In Northwest America, on the other hand, it is of 
 prime significance both in decoration and in organization — it, to 
 a great extent, takes the place occupied elsewhere by the totem, 
 and it is not always identical with the eponymous object of the 
 clan, though this may be an accidental result of shifting social 
 relations (new combinations of clans, or a borrowing of a device 
 from a neighbor). 
 
 502. Tlie crest. The origin of this function of the crest and its 
 relation to the function of the totem is not clear ; it may have 
 arisen in different ways in different places, or different conceptions 
 may have been combined in the same place. The decorative use 
 is an independent fact, having no necessary connection with clan 
 organization ; the demand for decoration is universal among savages, 
 and the employment of sacred objects for this purpose is natural. 
 Figures of such objects are used, however, in magical procedures — 
 abundantly, for example, in Central Australia — and it is conceiv- 
 able that such use by a clan may have converted the totemic object 
 into a symbol or device. The artistic employment of figures of 
 sacred objects has been developed on the American Pacific Coast 
 to a remarkable extent ; the great poles standing in front of houses 
 or erected in memory of the dead have carved on them histories 
 of the relation of the family or of the deceased person to certain ani- 
 mals and events. These so-called totem poles presuppose, it is true, 
 reverence for the sacred symbol, but the custom may possibly have 
 grown simply out of artistic and historical (or biographical) motives. 
 
 l§445f.
 
 208 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 503. Perhaps, however, we must assume or include another line 
 of development. The crest may be regarded either as the non- 
 artistic modification or degradation of an original true totem (due 
 to diminished reverence for animals and other causes), or as an 
 employment of sacred objects (for purposes of organization) that 
 has not reached the ])roportions of totemism proper. Which of 
 these views will seem the more probable will depend partly on 
 the degree of importance assigned to certain traditions and folk- 
 stories of the Northwestern tribes, partly on one's construction 
 of the general history of totemistic observances. In so obscure a 
 subject a definite theory can hardly be maintained. The large 
 number of stories in which the beginnings of clan life are attrib- 
 uted to marriages between clansmen and eponymous animals, or 
 to beneficent or other adventures with such animals, may appear 
 to indicate that there was an underlying belief in the descent of 
 clans from animals. On the other hand, in certain low tribes (in 
 New Britain and the Solomon Islands and elsewhere) the feeling 
 of kinship with animals is said to exist without the belief that they 
 are ancestors, or the animal is regarded as the representative of a 
 human ancestor rather than as itself the ancestor. This latter view 
 may be a bit of euhemeristic rationalism.^ 
 
 504. While guardian spirits (generally in animal form) are found 
 abundantly in America and elsewhere," ihcir role in the tribes of 
 the Pacific Coast appears to be specially important, for there they 
 largely take the place occupied in Central Australia by the clan 
 totems. They are not wholly lacking, however, in Australia. Among 
 the nontotemic Kurnai of Southeast Australia there are animal 
 patrons of the sexes and of shamans and other individuals. In like 
 manner the shamans of the Pacific Coast Haidas and Tlingit have 
 their guardians, and sometimes secret societies are similarly pro- 
 vided ; in the winter ceremonies of the Kwakiutl the youth is sup- 
 posed to be possessed b\- the i)atron of the society to which he 
 
 ' Cf. the divergent native accounts of the Melanesian bido (Codrington, The 
 Mclancslans, p. 31 ff.). 
 
 2 In North America, in the Iroquois, Algonkin, Maskoki (Creek), and Siouan 
 stocks ; in Central America and South America ; in Ijorneo and East Africa ; and 
 elsewhere.
 
 TOTEM ISM AM) lAliOO 209 
 
 belongs. Wc lluis have, apparently, similar and mutually inde- 
 pendent developments in Australia and America out of the early 
 relations of men with animals. 
 
 505. The Kskimo live in small groups, and marriage is locally 
 unrestricted. There is the usual reverence for animals, with folk- 
 stories of animal creators and of transformations, but no well-de- 
 fined marks of totemism, and no recognition of individual protecting 
 animal-spirits. 
 
 506. In the Californian tribes, which are among the least de- 
 veloped in America, no traces of totemistic organization have been 
 found. ^ 'JI1C people live, or lived, in villages. The .shamans, who 
 are important members of the communities, have their familiar 
 spirits, acquired through dreams and by ascetic observances ; but 
 these belong to the widespread apparatus of magic, and differ in 
 their social function from guardian spirits proper. 
 
 507. There are no definite marks of totemism in Central and 
 Northeastern Asia, and few such marks in Africa. The Siberian 
 Koryaks believe in a reincarnation of deceased human beings in 
 animals, but their social organization is not determined by this 
 belief. Certain clans of the Ainu (inhabiting the northernmost 
 islands of the Japan archipelago) are said to regard as ancestors 
 the animals whose names they bear, but this belief appears to be 
 socially unimportant. Marriage is not controlled by clan relations. 
 
 508. Throughout savage Africa sacred animals, plants, and other 
 objects play a great part in life, but generally without assuming a 
 specifically totemistic role. 
 
 509. In the great Bantu family the usages vary greatly.^ One 
 of the most interesting systems is that of the Bakuana (in the south). 
 Here the eponymous animal approaches divinity — not only is 
 it killed with regret, it is a thing to swear by, and has magical 
 power ; but independence of the totem appears in the fact that it 
 may be changed ; that is, it is a friend adopted by men at their 
 
 1 R. B. Dixon, The Northcnt Maidii (Central California), p. 223 ; id., The Shasta 
 (Northern California and Oregon), p. 451 ; id., The Chimariko Indians (west of the 
 Shasta, on Trinity River), p. 301 ; A. L. Kroeber, article "California" in Hastings, 
 Encyclop(cdia of Re/ifi'ion and Ethics. 
 
 2 Article " liantu " in Hastings, Eiicyclopadia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 2IO /XTA\l/)rC7V0X TO I/ISTOR]- OF REIJG/OXS 
 
 convenience. It is in accord with this conception that the Bakuana 
 (who are pastoral and agricultural) have clan gods. Beyond taboos 
 on sacred objects there is nothing in tlie Bantu territory that 
 clearly indicates a totemistic organization of society. 
 
 510. In the 'half-civilized and higher savage communities of the 
 eastern and western parts of the continent totemism proper, if it 
 has ever been predominant, has been expelled or depressed by 
 higher forms of organization. It seems not to exist among the 
 Masai, a vigorous people with an interesting theistic system. The 
 neighboring Nandi, who have clan totems, lay stress rather on the 
 family than on the clan in their marriage laws, and their taboos 
 include more than their totems ; their excessive regard for the 
 hyena may be due simply to their fear of the animal.' 
 
 511. The half-civilized Baganda (of the British Uganda Protec- 
 torate) refrain from injuring clan totems, but the functions of the 
 clans are now political and religious (relating, for example, to the 
 building of temples) under the control of a quasi-royal govern- 
 ment ; there is almost complete absence of magical ceremonies 
 for the multiplication or control of sacred objects.^ Old marriage 
 laws are relaxed — a king may marr}- his sister (as in ancient 
 Eg)'pt). Free dealing with totems is illustrated by the adoption of 
 a new cooking-pot as totem by one clan. The cult of the python 
 obtains here, as in West Africa. Among the neighboring Banyoro, 
 and among the Bahima (west of Victoria Nyanza), who are herds- 
 men with a kingly government, there is the usual, reverence for 
 animals, but eponymous animals are not important for the social 
 organization. 
 
 512. In West Africa also definite totemistic organization has 
 not been found. Everywhere there is rever'ence for the epony- 
 mous sacred thing, and, when it is edible, refusal to eat it ; but the 
 taboos are sometimes, as in Siena (which is agricultural), more ex- 
 tensive than ihe list of sacred things. In Southern Nigeria at 
 
 1 Mollis, The Mtisiii, Index, and The Xaiuli, p. 5 f. 
 
 2 A hint of an earlier usage is given in a legend which relates that totemic clans 
 were ordained by a king to the end that certain sorts of food might be taboo to cer- 
 tain families, and thus animals might have a better chance to multiply.
 
 TOTEM ISM AXn TABOO 211 
 
 funerals (and somc(imcs on other occasions) the totem animal or 
 plant is offered, in the lorm of soup, to the dead ; tlie animal or 
 plant in such cases is regarded, apparently, simply or mainly as 
 acceptable food for ghosts — the offering is a part of ancestor- 
 worship. In ( "ongo families have sacred animals (as in Samoa) 
 which the\- abstain from eating. Here and there occurs belief in 
 the reincarnation of deceased human beings in animals. A negro 
 fetish, becoming intimately associated with a clan, sometimes re- 
 sembles a totem. The half-civilized Ashanti, Dahomi, and \'oruba 
 have elaborate theistic systems, with monarchical governments 
 that leave no place for a totemistic organization.^ 
 
 513. Madagascar, before it came under European control, had 
 a well-defined religious and political hierarchy.^ Along with its 
 very elaborate tabooism the island has beliefs concerning animals 
 that are found in totcmic systems but do not take the form of 
 totemism proper. The animal is regarded as an ancestor or a patron, 
 but clans do not take their names from animals, there is no general 
 rule of exogamy, and there is no word corresponding exactly to 
 the word 'totem.' The question arises whether the Malagasy sys- 
 tem is a stage antecedent to totemism proper or an attenuated 
 survival of it.''^ 
 
 514. Alleged siinnvals of totemism among civilized peoples. 
 Though totemism, as a system of social organization, is not recog- 
 nizable in any civilized community, ancient or modern, it is held 
 by some scholars that the fragments or hints of such a system 
 that are certified bear witness to its former existence in these 
 communities.* 
 
 1 See the volumes of A. B. Ellis on these countries (chapters on " Gods " and on 
 " Government "). 2 a. van Gennep, Tabou ct totcmisvie h Madagascar, p. 314. 
 
 8 On this point see below, § 522 ff. 
 
 4 For the details see \V. K. Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (in- 
 cludes the Hebrews) ; Joseph Jacobs, ".'\re there Totem-clans in the Old Testament .' " 
 (in Archccological Review, vol. iii) ; A. Lang, Custom and Myth (on the Greek ^fwoj), 
 and Myth, Ritual, and Religion, i, 266 ff. ; ii, 226 ; S. Reinach, Ciiltcs, mythcs ct reli- 
 gions (Greek and Celtic) ; Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, p. 68 ff., etc. ; 
 Fowler, /?(««(t;? Festivals, p. 84 f. ; G. L. Gomme, " Totemism in Britain'" (in Areluc- 
 ological Review, vol. iii) ; N. W. Thomas, " I.a survivance du cultc totemique des 
 animaux et les rites agraires dans le pays dc Galles " (in Revue de Phistoirc des 
 religions, vol. xxxviii).
 
 212 /.XTROPL'CTJOX TO J//STORV OF KKIJG/OXS 
 
 515. In fact certain ideas and customs that occur in connection 
 with savage totemism are found abundantly among ancient Semites, 
 Greeks and Romans, and in Celtic and Teutonic lands. They are 
 such as the following : a tribe or clan bears an animal name, and 
 regards itself as akin to the animal in question and as descended 
 from it ; this animal is sacred, not to be killed or eaten (except 
 ceremonially), and, when it dies, is to be buried solemnly ; sacred 
 animals aid men by furnishing omens, or even by protecting from 
 harm ; they are sacrificed on critical occasions (sometimes once 
 every year), and in some cases the killing of the sacrificial animal 
 is treated as a crime ; animal-gods are worshiped, and gods are 
 thought to be incarnate in animals ; men change into animals and 
 animals into men ; certain animals are sacred to certain deities ; 
 human worshipers dress in imitation of animal forms (by wear- 
 ing skins of beasts and by other devices) ; a man's tribal mark is 
 derived from the form of an animal ; the death of the sacrificial 
 animal comes to be regarded as the death of a god ; the form of 
 social organization in certain ancient communities is similar to that 
 with which totemism is usually found associated. 
 
 516. Not all of these points are found in any one case, but their 
 occurrence over so wide an area, it is argued, is most naturally 
 explicable by the assumption of an original totemism of which 
 these are the survivals. It is suggested also that they may be an 
 inheritance from savage predecessors of the civilized peoples. 
 
 517. It will be sufficient to mention a few examples of the beliefs 
 and usages that appear to point io an original totemism.^ Names 
 of clans and tribes derived from animals or plants are not uncom- 
 mon : Hebrew Rahel (Rachel, ewe), perhaps Kalcb (dog) and 
 Yael (Jael, mountain goat);- Greek Kunnadai (dog), and jx-rhaps 
 Myrmidon (ant) ; Roman Porcius (hog), Fabius (bean) ; Irish 
 Coneely (seal) ; Teutonic clan-names like Wolfing and the like. 
 Belief in a general kinship of men and animals existed among 
 Semites, Greeks, and Romans. ( )n the other hand, belief in the 
 descent of a clan from an animal rarely appears : it is apparently 
 
 1 Names are omitted that appear to belong only to individuals or to places. 
 '- G. B. Gray, Ilcbicu' Piopcr X nines, p. 86 ff.
 
 tot]-:mism a XL) taboo 213 
 
 not found in the Semitic area ; the Ophiogencis of Parium (in Asia 
 Minor) are said to have regarded themselves as akin to snakes and to 
 have traced their genos (family or clan) ta a hero who was at first 
 a snake ; ^ the Myrmidons, according to one tradition, were trans- 
 formed ants, and some of the Irish Coneely clan are said to have 
 been changed into seals. Transformations of men into animals are 
 common in Greek mythology. Taboos of certain foods were ob- 
 served abundant]}- in the ancient world: by Egyptians,'^ Hebrews,^ 
 Greeks,'' and Romans,'^ and by Celts." Among the various omen- 
 giving animals some may have been totems. Solemn annual sacri- 
 fices, followed b\' mourning for the victims, were performed in 
 Egvj^t," and the slaying of the sacrificial animal was treated as 
 murder in various Greek cities.® Living animals w-ere worshiped in 
 Egypt, and everywhere in antiquity gods assumed animal forms, and 
 certain animals were sacred to certain gods. W'orshipers clothed 
 themselves in the skins of sacrificed animals in Egypt, Cyprus, and 
 Rome.^ Tribal marks and ensigns were sometimes derived from 
 figures of animals.'" Finally, there are traces, in the early history 
 of the ancient civilized peoples, of the form of social organization 
 with which savage totemism is found associated." 
 
 518. It is possible that such facts as these may point to a 
 primitive totemistic stage of ancient civilized society. But it is to 
 be noted that the usages in question almost all relate to the general 
 sacredness of animals (or of plants), not to their specific character 
 as totems. They occur in lower tribes in cases where totemism does 
 not exist.'- Animal clan-names and tribe-names, belief in kinship 
 
 1 Strabo, Gcoi^ra/'h'ua, xiii, 588. 
 
 2 Herodotus, ii, t^j, 42 ; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheke Historikc, i, 70. 
 
 3 Lev. xi ; Deut. xiv. 
 
 ■1 Stengel and Oehmichen, Die gricchischcn Sakralalierdimcr, p. 27. 
 
 5 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d cd., i, 241 f. c Caesar, Dc Bella Gallieo, v, 12. 
 
 " Herodotus, ii, 42. 
 
 8 Pausanias, i, 24, 4. ( )n the death of the god of. Frazer, T/ic Dying God. 
 
 9 Herodotus, ii, 39 ff . : W. R. .Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., additional 
 note O ; the Roman Lupercalia. 
 
 1" Diodorus Siculus, i, 86 (Egypt) ; cf. Pliny, Historia Naturalis, x, 4 f. 
 
 11 W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, chap, viii (Semites). 
 
 12 See above, §§ 441 ff., 466, and below, § 526; Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, 
 Index, s.vv. .Iniinals and Totems.
 
 214 l.yTRODCTTIOX TO HISTORY OF REL/CrOXS 
 
 with animals and plants and in descent from them, exogamy, 
 transformations, refusal to eat certain animals except ceremonially, 
 apologies for killing them, omens derived from iIkiii. worship of 
 animal-gods, incarnations of gods in animals, animals sacred to 
 gods, tribal marks derived from animals — all these are found in 
 such diverse social combinations that it is impossible to infer merely 
 from the occurrence of this or that custom the existence of the 
 peculiar form of social organization to which the name ' totemism ' 
 proper is given above. The same remark holds of inferences from 
 ilic general constitution of early society ; a custom of matrilineal 
 descent, for example, by no means carries totemism with it. 
 
 519. The evidence for the existence of totemism among the an- 
 cient civilized peoples, consisting, as it does, of detached statements of 
 customs that are found elsewhere without totemism, is not decisive. 
 Animal-worship has played a great role in religious history, but the 
 special part assigned to totemism has often been exaggerated. It has 
 been held that the latter is at the base of all beliefs in the sacredness 
 of animals and plants, or that certain usages (such as those men- 
 tioned above) are inexplicable except on the supposition of an origi- 
 nal totemism. These positions are not justified by known facts, and 
 it will conduce to clearness to give totemism its distinct place in that 
 general regard for animals and plants of which it is a peculiar part. 
 
 520. Totemistic forms of society, as far as our present knowl- 
 edge go'es, are found only among the lower peoples, and among 
 these a perplexing variety of conditions exists. As our review^ of 
 what may be called totemistic features shows,-' the one permanent 
 element in the relation between men and nonhuman, nondivine 
 objects is reverence for these last on men's part ; and tlie con- 
 ception of an alliance, defensive and offensive, between the two 
 groups has been proposed above as an additional differentia of 
 totemism, a sense of kinship being involved. If we further add the 
 condition that the social organization (not necessarily exogamous) 
 must be determined by this alliance, we have all that can safely be 
 demanded in a definition of totemism ; but as much as this seems 
 necessary if totemism is to be marked off as a definite institution. 
 
 1 See above, § 44 5 ff.
 
 rOTEMI.SAf ANJ) TABOO 21 5 
 
 521. From the point of view of religious history the important 
 thing in any social organization is its character as framework for 
 religious ideas and customs. If the central social fact is an intimate 
 relation between a human group and a nonhuman class of natural 
 objects, then conceptions regarding this relation may gather about 
 it, and these will be as various as the tribes of men. The elements 
 of social and religious institutions spring from the universal human 
 nature and attach thc-inselves to any form of life that may have 
 been suggested by circumstances. Thus the term 'totemism' may 
 be used loosely to denote any combination of customs connected 
 with the idea of an alliance between man and other things, and 
 the alliance itself may exist in various degrees of intimacy. The 
 restricted definition suggested above is in part arbitrary, but it 
 may serve as a working hypothesis and as a norm by which to 
 estimate and define the various systems or cults involving a rela- 
 tion between human groups and individuals on the one side and 
 nonhuman things on the other side. 
 
 522. Conditions favora/'lc and unfavorable to totemistic organi- 
 zation. The questions whether totemism was the earliest form of 
 human social life and whether existing freer forms are developments 
 out of definite totemism may be left undetermined. Data for the 
 construction of primitive life are not accessible, and how far decay 
 or decadence of institutions is to be recognized must be determined 
 in every case from such considerations as are offered by the cir- 
 cumstances. We may, however, distinguish between social condi- 
 tions in connection with which some sort of totemism flourishes and 
 those under which it is nonexistent or feeble ; we may thus note 
 unfavorable and, by contrast, favorable general accompaniments. 
 These may be roughly described as economic, individualistic, polit- 
 ical, and religious. 
 
 523. Economic conditions. Of savage and slightly civilized tribes 
 some live by hunting or fishing, some arc pastoral (nomadic or 
 settled), some practice agriculture. Without undertaking to trace 
 minutely the history of these economic practices it may be assumed 
 that they are fixed in general by climatic and topographical con- 
 ditions. Where food is plentiful, thought and life are likely to be
 
 2l6 IXTRODUCTIOX TO lU STORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 freer. In general, savage peoples are constantly o\\ the alert to 
 discover supplies of food, and they show ingenuity in devising eco- 
 nomic methods — when one resource fails they look for another. 
 Hunters and fishers are dependent on wild animals for food, and 
 stand in awe of them. The domestication of animals leads men to 
 regard them simpl\- as material for the maintenance of life — the 
 myster}^ that once attached to them vanishes ; they are considered 
 not as man's equals or superiors but as his servants. The same re- 
 sult follows when they are used as aids in tilling the .soil or in trans- 
 portation. Agricultural peoples also have generally some knowledge 
 of the arts of life and a somewhat settled civil and political organi- 
 zation, and these tend to separate them from the lower animals and 
 to diminish or destroy their sense of kinship with them. 
 
 524. We find, in fact, that in many cases totemic regulations are 
 less strict where the food supply is plentiful and where agriculture 
 is practiced. The correspondence is not exact — other considera- 
 tions come in, such as isolation and the unknown quantity of natural 
 tribal endowments ; but the relation between the economic and 
 totemic conditions is so widespread that it cannot be considered 
 as accidental. 
 
 525. Thus, for example, the contrast between the social system 
 of sterile Central Australia and that of certain tribes on the compar- 
 atively fertile southeast coast is marked : the Kurnai have practically 
 no clan totemism.- In the islands of Torres Straits and in New 
 Guinea agriculture marks a dividing line between stricter and 
 looser organizations based on regard for the totem. The agricultural 
 Melanesian and Polynesian tribes, with great regard for animal 
 patrons, lay stress on the family or on voluntary associations rather 
 than on the clan. In Africa the partially civilized peoples, such as 
 the Baganda and adjacent tribes in the east, and Yoruba, Dahomi, 
 and Ashanti in the west, have fairly well-developed religious organi- 
 zations, in which totems play a subordinate part. The customs of 
 certain tribes in the south are especially worthy of note : the pas- 
 toral Herrero have a double system of clans, maternal and paternal, 
 and their food restrictions are curiously minute, relating to parts 
 of animals or to their color ; the Bakuana, who are pastoral and
 
 TOTEMISM AND TABOO 217 
 
 agricultural, kill the chui f])on\ luous animals, thou<;h unwillinglv, 
 and appear not to regard them as ancestors. The non-Aryan tribes 
 of India have been so long in contact with Aryan civilization that 
 in many cases, as it seems, their original customs have been ob- 
 scured, but at present among such agricultural tribes as the Mos, 
 the Santhals, and the Khonds of bengal, and some others, totemic 
 organizations are nut i)n)mincnl, and the Todas, with their buffalo- 
 cult, show no signs of toteniism. 
 
 526. In North America tlie x^ariety of climatic and other eco- 
 nomic conditions might lead us to expect clear testimony as to the 
 relation between these conditions and totemic development ; but 
 the value of such testimonv is impaired by the absence of in- 
 formation concerning early fcjrms of organization. In the period 
 for which there arc details it appears that in the Eastern groups 
 (Iroquois, Algonkin, ("reek, Natchez, Siouan, Pueblo) the effective 
 role of totemism is in inverse proportion to the development of 
 agriculture and to stable civil organization : there arc clans bearing 
 the names of animals and other objects, with m\thical stories of 
 descent from such objects, and rules of exogam)% but the civil, 
 political, and religious life is largely independent of these con- 
 ditions ; there are great confederations of tribes with well-devised 
 systems of governinent that look to the well-being of the whole 
 community, the clan-dit'ision being of small importance. The mode 
 of life appears to be determined or greatly influenced b}- climate, 
 though different climatic situations sometimes lead to similar re- 
 sults : agriculture naturally arises from fertility of soil, but the 
 Pueblo tribes have been driven (perhaps under civilized influ- 
 ences), by the aridness of their land, to till the soil. Throughout 
 the East the known facts suggest that a nontotemic organization 
 has followed an earlier form in which quasi-totemic elements are 
 recognizable. 
 
 527. The interesting social organization of the Northern Pacific 
 Coast, on the other hand, appears to be independent of agriculture. 
 The people live by hunting and fishing ; families and villages are 
 the important social units ; instead of totems there are crests or 
 badges ; society in some tribes is marked by a division into classes
 
 2l8 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 differing in s(icial rank. The histur\- of all these tribes, however, is 
 obscure : there have been modifications of organization through 
 the influence of some tribes on others ; the details of the various 
 social schemes are not all accurately known. The settled village 
 life and the half-commercial, half-aristocratic constitution of society 
 must be referred to racial characteristics and other conditions with 
 which we are not acquainted. As in the East, so here there is the 
 suggestion of a movement away from a form of organization that 
 resembles true totemism. The Northwest has a remarkable system 
 of ceremonies, but in definiteness and elevation of religious con- 
 ceptions it is greatly inferior to the East. 
 
 528. The fact that some of the least-advanced American tribes, 
 particularly the Eskimo and the California tribes, show no signs 
 of totemistic organization ^ makes against the view that totemism 
 was the initial form of human society, but its historical background 
 is not known. In any case it does not invalidate what is said above 
 of the role of agriculture in the modification of savage institutions. 
 The lines of savage growth have been various — - a general law of 
 development cannot be laid down ; the history of every community 
 must be studied for itself, and its testimony must be given its 
 appropriate value. In this way it will be possible to give a sketch 
 of totemistic forms and suggestions, if not a history of totemism. 
 
 529. Individualistic institutions. The development of individ- 
 ualism, a universal accompaniment of general social progress, is 
 unfavorable to totemism, since in this latter the individual is subor- 
 dinated to the clan. To assert one's self as an individual is prac- 
 tically to ignore the totem, whose function pertains to the clan as a 
 whole, without separate recognition of its members. Revolt against 
 the supremacy of the clan (if that expression is allowable) has shown 
 itself from an early social stage and in all parts of the world. Tlie 
 principal forms in which it appears are the institution of voluntary 
 societies, and the adoption of personal guardians by individuals. 
 
 530. Secret societies. It is a common custom in the lower tribes 
 to keep the sexes separate and to distinguish between the initiated 
 
 1 .So, also, in Northeastern Asia, in the Japan archipelago (the Ainu), and in low 
 African tribes.
 
 TO'fJiMJSM AM) TABOO 219 
 
 and tlu' uninitiated. There are often men's houses in which the 
 young unmarried males are required to live.^ Women and boys 
 arc forbidden to be present at ceremonies of initiation when, as 
 in some instances, the secrets of the tribe are involved. 'I'hus there 
 arise frequently secret associations of males, who conduct tribal 
 affairs. Ikit these associations are not voluntary — all initiated men 
 belong to them perforce — and they are not divorced from totemic 
 relations. Tlie real voluntary society is of a quite different character. 
 In general, in its most developed form, it ignores differences of age, 
 sex, and clan. There are, however, diversities in the constitution 
 of the various organizations that may be called voluntary ; - con- 
 ditions of membership and functions vary. 
 
 531. Such organizations are of two sorts, one mainly political 
 or governmental, the other mainly religious. The best examples 
 of the first sort are found in Melanesia, Polynesia, and West Africa. 
 The clan government b)- the old men, of which a simple form exists 
 in Central Australia, has passed into, or is represented by, a society 
 of men that undertakes to maintain order, exact contributions, and 
 provide amusements for the people. The Dukduk of the Bismarck 
 Archipelago,^ the Egbo of Old Calabar, and the Ogboni of Yoruba,* 
 to take prominent examples, are police associations that have man- 
 aged to get complete control of their respective communities and 
 have naturally become instruments of oppression and fraud. They 
 have elaborate ceremonies of initiation, are terrible to women and 
 uninitiated males, and religion usually enters only casually and sub- 
 ordinatel)' into their activities, chiefly in the form of magical cere- 
 monies. A partial exception, in regard to this last point, occurs in the 
 case of the Areoi society of Tahiti, which, as it is the best-organized 
 society in Polynesia, is also the most tyrannical, and the broadest in 
 its scope ; its members enjoy not only a large share of the good things 
 of this life, but also the most desirable positions in the future life.® 
 
 I Where sexual license before marriage prevails, young girls are allowed to go to 
 these houses. 2 h. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies. 
 
 3 G. Brown, Melancsians ami Polynesians, p. 60 ff. 
 
 •> Mary Kingsley, West African Studies, p. 3S4, and Travels in West Africa, 
 p. 532ff. ; Ellis, Yortiba,-^. no. 
 
 ^11. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, p. 164 ff.
 
 220 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISrORV OF REUGIOXS 
 
 532. On the other hand, the North American voluntary societies 
 are mainly concerned with the presentation of religious ideas by 
 the dramatization of myths, and by demanding for membership 
 some sort of religious experience. How far such societies existed 
 in the Eastern tribes it is not possible to say. Among these tribes, 
 as among the Skidi Pawnee, the Navahos, and other groups of the 
 Middle West, the control of religion has largely passed into the hands 
 of priests — an advance in religious organization. Where ceremonies 
 are conducted by societies, membership in these is often conditioned 
 on the adoption of a personal divine patron by even,' member. 
 
 533. This adoption of 2i guardian spirit by the individual is the 
 most definite early divergence from the totemistic clan organization. 
 An intermediate stage is represented by the sex-patrons of South- 
 east Australia,^ who embody a declaration of independence by the 
 women. In this region, moreover, among the Kumai, not only 
 shamans but all other men have each his special ''brother" and pro- 
 tector.- Naturally, where the family, in distinction from the clan, 
 is the social unit, family protectors arise. The Koryaks of North- 
 eastern Asia have a guardian spirit for every family and also for 
 every person.^ A curious feature of Dahomi religion is the impor- 
 tance that is attached to the family ghost as protector, the ghost, 
 that is, of a former member of the famil\-, ordinarily its head ; he 
 has a shrine, and becomes practically an inferior deity. Still more 
 remarkable is the worship that the West African native, both on the 
 Gold Coast and on the Slave Coast (communities with well-developed 
 systems of royal government), offers to his own indwelling spirit ; * 
 the man's birthday is sacred to the spirit and is commenced with 
 a sacrifice.® In Samoa a guardian spirit (conceived of as incarnate 
 in some animal) is selected for a child at its birth.® Some such 
 custom is said to exist among the Eskimo of the Yukon district 
 
 1 Frazer, Totamsm and Exogamy, i, 495 ff. 
 
 2 Frazer, loc. cit. Cf. A. Lang, Secret of the Totem, p. 138. 
 ^ Jcsiip North Pacific Expedition, vi, i, 32 ff., 43 ff. 
 
 4 So worship was offered to the Roman genius (Horace, Carm. iii, 17; E/ist. 
 i, 7, 94). 5 A. B. Ellis, Ewe , p. 105 ; Tshi, p. 156 ; Yoniba, chap. vii. 
 
 6 Turner, Samoa, p. 78 f. So the KOvpoTp6(pos (Famell, in Anthropological Essays 
 presented to E. B. Tylor).
 
 TO TEMISM A ND TABOO 221 
 
 in Alaska ; a guardian animal is selected by a boy when he arrives 
 at the age of puberty, or it is selected for him in his early child- 
 hood by his parents.' 
 
 534. While these examples indicate a tendency toward the adop- 
 tion of individual patrons, and may suggest that the custom is, or 
 was, more widespread tlian now appears, it is among the North 
 American Redmen that this sort of individualism is best developed 
 and most effective socially and religiously." There are traces of it 
 in the Eastern tribes ; but it is in its Western form that it is best 
 known — it is explicit among the Western Algonkins and the Siouan 
 tribes, and on the Northwest Pacific Coast. Most men, though not 
 all, seek and obtain a guardian spirit (usually represented by an 
 animal) which shall protect from injury and bestow prowess in 
 war, success in love, and all other goods of life. The spirit is, as 
 a rule, independent of the clan totem — ■ is found, indeed, in non- 
 totemic tribes ; it is often identical with the eponymous animal of 
 some religious society. It is sometimes inherited, but rarely — the 
 essence of the institution is that the guardian shall be sought and 
 found. The preparation for the quest is by fasting ; the revelation 
 of the guardian comes in a dream or a vision, or by some strong 
 impression made otherwise on the mind. 
 
 535. Among the Siouan Indians there are religious societies, 
 each of which bears the name of some animal and has a ritual 
 composed of chants and songs which, it is often claimed, have 
 been received in a supernatural manner.* The youth who aspires 
 to become a member of one of these societies goes off alone to the 
 forest, and there, fasting and meditating, waits for the vision of 
 the sign. This comes usually in the form of an animal, and the 
 youth enters the society whose distinguishing mark this animal is. 
 First, however, he must travel until he meets the animal he saw, 
 when he must slay it and preserve the whole or a part of it. This 
 
 1 W. H. Dall, Alaska and its Resources, p. 145, cited by Frazcr, Totcmism and 
 Exogamy, iii, 442 f. 
 
 2 The acquisition of a supernatural inspirer by a shaman is analogous to this cus- 
 tom, but belongs in a somewhat different category : see below, § 540. 
 
 8 Miss Alice Fletcher, "Indian Ceremonies" (in Rcfort of the Peabody Mu- 
 seum of American Archceology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 1S83).
 
 222 ixriiODUCT/o.y to ji/storv of rel/gioxs 
 
 trophy is the sign of his vision and is the most sacred thing he can 
 possess, marking as it does his personal relation to the supernatural 
 being who has appeared to him. 
 
 536. A similar ceremony is found among the Kwakiud in North- 
 western America.' The. novice is supposed to stay some time with 
 the supernatural being who is the protector of his society. From this 
 interview he returns in a state of ecstasy, and is brought to a nor- 
 mal state by the songs and dances and- magical performances of 
 the shaman ; but before he is permitted to take part in the ordinary 
 pursuits of life he must undergo a ceremonial purification. In these 
 tribes, as is remarked above, the totemic groups have been replaced 
 by clans, and in the winter ceremonial these clans (according to one 
 report) are again replaced by the secret societies, whose function 
 is political only in the sense that its members form a part of the 
 aristocracy. Recently societies of women have been established — 
 a fact that illustrates the di\-ergence of the new system from the old. 
 
 537. The details of initiation or of acquisition of the guardian 
 spirit vary (for example, it is not always required that the }outh 
 kill his patron animal), but in all cases there is recognition of the 
 emotional independence of the individual, and there is involved a 
 certain largeness of religious experience in the modern sense of the 
 term. The demand for the supernatural friend represents a ger- 
 minal desire for intimate personal relations with the divine world ; 
 and, though the particular form that embodied the conception has 
 given way before more refined ideas, the conception itself has sur- 
 vived in higher religions in the choice of patron saints.'^ 
 
 538. J\)IiiicaI conditions. Political organization, in unifying a 
 community under the control of a central authority, tends to efface 
 local self-governing groups. This process is visible in the increased 
 power of Melanesian chiefs, in the royal governments of Polynesia 
 and Western and Eastern Africa, and in the inchoate constitutional 
 federations of Eastern North America. In all these cases the simple 
 clan system is reduced to small proportions, and totemism loses its 
 social significance. 'Phe way in which the functions of totemic 
 
 1 F. Boas, The Kwakintl, p. yyi, f. 
 
 2 Cf. Fra2er, Totemism anei Exogamy, iii, 450 ff.
 
 TOTEM ISM A.\n TABOO 223 
 
 groups are thus modified appears plainly in such governmental 
 systems as that of the Ivist African Uaganda (in which heads of 
 clans have become officers of the king's household) ^ and the 
 Iroquois Confederation (in which the tribes act through their 
 representatives in a national Council or Parliament). 
 
 539. /\'(/ii:^i(>its conditions. The personal guardian spirit and llie 
 totem, when it assumes this character, sometimes receive worship 
 — they are treated as gods. Hut their role as divinities is of an 
 inferior nature, and it does not last long. JJeities proper came into 
 existence as embodiments of the sense of an extrahuman govern- 
 ment of the world by anthropomorphic beings ; they are direct 
 products of the constructive imagination.- When the true gods 
 appear the totemic and individual half-gods disappear. We find 
 that totemism is feeble in proportion as theistic systems have taken 
 shape, and that where personal guardians are prominent there are 
 no well-defined gods. In Central Australia there is only a vague, 
 inactive form that may be called divine ; a more definite concep- 
 tion is found in Southeastern Australia, where the strictness of 
 totemism is relaxed. Melanesia and I'olynesia show an increased 
 definiteness of theistic figures. Northwestern North America is, 
 in comparison with the East, undeveloped in this regard. Similar 
 relations between totemism and theism appear in India and South 
 America. In a certain number of cases the facts suggest that the 
 former system has been superseded by the latter. 
 
 540. Cults of the totem and of individual guardian spirits are 
 to be distinguished from certain other forms of worship with which 
 they have points of connection. The West African fetish is the 
 abode of a tutelar)' spirit, and finall\- is absorbed by local gods ; it 
 arises, howexer, from belief in the sacrcdncss and power of inani- 
 mate things, and is without the sense of identity with the spirit that 
 characterizes the North American relation. The familv sacred sym- 
 bols that are worshiped in some places* are really family gods 
 
 1 This process is similar to the gradual reduction of the European independent 
 barons to the position of royal officers. 2 See below, § 633 f. 
 
 3 As, for example, by the Marathas of the Bombay Presidency (Frazer, Totemism 
 and Exogamy, ii, 276 ff.).
 
 224 J.\'TKODL'CT/OX TO J//SJVR]' OF RFJJG/0\S 
 
 (whether or not they were originally totems), developed, probably, 
 under Brahmanic influence. The worship of a tutelary spirit has 
 sometimes coalesced with that of an ancestor, but this is doubtless 
 due to the collocation of two distinct cults ; at a certain stage an 
 ancestor is naturally regarded as friend and protector. The general 
 potency termed " mana " is not to be connected particularly with 
 any one cult ; it represents a conception that probabl}- underlies all 
 ancient forms of worship. 
 
 541. it thus appears that several lines of social progress have 
 proved unfavorable to totemism, and to these movements it has 
 generally succumbed. Its home has been, and is, in isolated hunting 
 communities ; agriculture and social intercourse have been fatal to 
 it as to all early forms of society based on a belief in kinship with 
 nonhuman natural objects. 
 
 542. It remains to mention the principal theories of the origin 
 of totemism that are or have been held, and to ask what part it has 
 played in the histor}' of religion. 
 
 543. Theories of the ongin of fofetnism. These may conveniently 
 be divided into such as refer the origin to individual action, and 
 such as refer it to the action of clans. 
 
 544. Individualistic theories. Among the earliest of theories were 
 those that explained the totemic constitution as due to a confu- 
 sion in the minds of savages between names and things. Individ- 
 uals or families might be named after animals, plants, and other 
 objects, and these, it was supposed, might come to be regarded as 
 intimately associated with human persons, and might be looked on 
 with affection or reverence and even worshiped.^ Or, more defi- 
 nitely, it was held that, the origin of such names being forgotten, 
 reverence for the ancestors led to reverence for the things after 
 which they were named and identification with them — a man 
 whose ancestor was called " the Tiger " would think of himself as 
 descended from a tiger and as being of the tiger stock." It is now 
 
 1 Lord Avcbury (.'^ir John Lubbock), Prehistoric Times, 2d ed., p. 598, and 6th ed., 
 p. 610 ; id., Ongin of Ciiilisaiion (1902), p. 275 ff. ; and his Marriage, Totemism, and 
 Religioiu 
 
 2 Herbert Spencer, Fortnightly Rciicw, 1870, and Principles of Sociology, i, § 171-
 
 TUriiMISM AM) TABOO 225 
 
 generally recognized, however, that the origin of so widespread and 
 influential a system of organization as totemism cannot be referred 
 to a mere misunderstanding of nicknames ; and whether such mis- 
 understandin^!,- was general or natural in early times is open to doubt. 
 
 545. h sometimes happens that a man (generally a chief) 
 announces that after death he will take the form of this or that 
 animal or plant, and this procedure, it has been supposed, would 
 found a totemic family — his descendants would revere the object 
 in question as the embodiment of the spirit of the ancestor, would 
 take its name, and, when it was edible, would refrain from eating 
 it.' It is true that the belief was, and is, not uncommon among 
 savages that a deceased person might take the form of some natural 
 object ; but the reported cases are rare in which a man deliberately 
 enjoins on his descendants reverence for such an object with the 
 result that a quasi-totemic group arises.- This custom is not fre- 
 quent enough to account for totemism. 
 
 546. A theory suggested by the fact that many clans perform 
 magical ceremonies (for the purpose of increasing the supply of 
 food) is that, when the magical apparatus of some body of persons 
 consisted of parts of an animal, the animal would become sacred, 
 a magical society might be formed by an individual magician, and 
 thus a totemic magic-working clan might be created. For this 
 hypothesis there is no support except in the fact that changes in 
 clan life are sometimes brought about by the old men ; but such 
 changes are modifications of existing usages, not new creations. 
 The power of a savage man of genius may be admitted, but to 
 account for the known totemic communities we should have to 
 suppose a vast number of such men, in different parts of the world, 
 all working in the same direction and reaching substantially the 
 same results. 
 
 547. The belief that a man might deposit his soul in an animal 
 or a plant or some other object is found in West Africa, North 
 America, and probably elsewhere. As such objects would, as a 
 
 1 This view is provisionally indorsed by E. B. Tylor, in Journal of (he Anthrof-o- 
 logical Iiisiitutc, xxviii. 
 
 - One such case is mentioned in Codrington's Mclanesians, p. si.
 
 2 26 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 rule, not be killed (_and e\ery individual of a group would be thus 
 respected), it has been supposed that, when various persons de- 
 posited their souls in the same object, a totemic body would come 
 into existence.' This view would account for totemic reverence 
 and for the sense of kinship, but the objection to it is that in most 
 totemic organizations the belief in question has not been certified. 
 548. The "conceptional" theory refers the origin of totemism 
 to the belief, found among certain peoples, that conception is pro- 
 duced by the entrance into the mother's womb of some object 
 (animal, plant, or otherj with which the child is identified.- In Cen- 
 tral Australia it is held that what passes into the woman is a spirit 
 child which has a certain object for its totem ; but in this case the 
 previous existence of the totem is assumed. In certain islands 
 (Mota and Motlav) of the Banks group, however, there exists, it 
 is said, the belief that a child is the object from which the mother 
 received some influence at conception or at some other period of 
 pregnancy — the child resembles the object, and may not eat it if 
 it is edible.'' The pers'ons thus identified with a given object would, 
 if united, constitute a group totemic in the respects that the)- be- 
 lieve themselves to be one with the object in question and refrain 
 from eating it.* The totemic object is selected, in the case of every 
 child, by the fancy of the mother, and is, therefore, not inher- 
 ited ; totemic groups, thus, would be found distributed through 
 the larger groups (phratries or tribes), and might also gradually 
 coalesce and form local groups. If the belief in this origin of birth 
 (identity of the child with some object) were found to be wide- 
 spread, and generally effective as the ground of early social organ- 
 ization, it would furnish a satisfactory explanation of totemistic 
 beginnings. But in point of fact it has so far been found, in full 
 form, only in a small region in Melanesia, and its histor}' in this 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Bough (i8go), ii, 332 ff. This theory has since been abandoned 
 by Frazer (Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 54 f.). 
 
 2 Frazer, Fortnightly Rcvicii', July and September, 1905, pp. 154-172 (reprinted 
 in Totemism and Exogamy, i) ; Totemism and Exogamy, ii, 89 ff. : iv, 57 ff. 
 
 ■i Rivers, ''Totemism in Polynesia and Melanesia" (in Journal of the Royal An- 
 thropological Institute, xxxix [1909], 172) ; Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 59 ff. 
 ^ This is the theory adopted by Frazer in his latest work on the subject.
 
 TOTEMJSM .l.\/> /.moo 227 
 
 region is not known ; hack of it may lie some other system of 
 organization. And in this region clan totemism is lacking or faint. 
 Further testimony is needed before it can be accepted as the solu- 
 tion of the i^roblem of totemic origins.' 
 
 549. A similar remark must be made in reference to theories 
 based on the belief that the souls of the dead are incarnate in 
 animals and plants. Such a belief is a natural outgrowth from the 
 conception of the identity of nature of human beings and animals, 
 and it occurs in so many parts of the world (Oceania, Africa, 
 America) that it might naturally be regarded as having been at 
 one time universal, though it is not now found everywhere. 
 Reverence for an ancestor might be, and sometimes is, transferred 
 to the object in which he is supposed to be incarnate ; from this 
 object a man holds himself to be descended, and he refrains from 
 eating or injuring it.- This view, a combination of reverence for 
 ancestors and reverence for animals and plants, thus supplies two 
 features of totemistic organization, but proof is lacking that it is 
 the basis of this organization. If it be the determining considera- 
 tion in some cases, there are many cases in which its influence is 
 not apparent. There are myths tracing the totemism of clans to 
 ancestors having animal forms, but these myths are relatively late 
 savage philosophical explanations of existing institutions. 
 
 550. The relation of the individual patron and guardian to the 
 clan totem has been variously defined. Such a patron, it is some- 
 times held (obtained by a dream or a vision), descends from the 
 original possessor to his children (or, in a matrilineal system, to 
 his sister's children), and thus becomes the patron (the totem) 
 of a family or kin ; and a larger group, formed by the union of 
 several kins, may similarly have its protecting spirit. Cases in 
 which descent is through the mother here make a difficulty — a 
 
 1 The widespread belief that birth may be independent of the union of the sexes 
 does not, of course, carry with it an explanation of totemism. 
 
 2 Lippert, Die RcUgioncn dcr citropdisclicn Cidiiinvlkci-, p. 12 ; G. A. Wilken, 
 " Het Animisme bij de Volken van den Indischen Archipel," in Dc Indischc Gids, 
 1884 (cf.Tylor, \n Journal of the Aiit/iin/'ological Insli/iitc,x\\u\, 1899) ; G. M. Theal, 
 Records of South-eastern Africa, vii, and History and Ethnography of South Africa^ 
 i, 90.
 
 228 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 man's guardian spirit would not then be inherited. Granting that 
 the personal patron of a shaman or of an ordinary man may be 
 inherited, such inheritance appears to be of rare occurrence, and 
 there is no trustworthy evidence that it ever leads to the forma- 
 tion of a totemic clan. 
 
 551. It is true there is a resemblance between a man's relation 
 to his clan totem and his relation to his personal guardian — in 
 both cases the sacred object is revered and spared. It is some- 
 times the case also (as, for example, among the Australian Arunta) 
 that the totem comes through an indi\idual (the mother) and is 
 not transmissible, and yet endogamous clans arise by the union of 
 persons having the same totem. But here the resemblance ceases 
 
 — the Arunta child's totem is determined for him before his birth, 
 but a man chooses his personal guardian for himself, and joins 
 others having the same guardian, not in a clan but in a secret 
 society. Furthermore, the institution of the personal guardian is 
 very rare except in North America, and there flourishes in inverse 
 proportion to the strength of clan life proper. 
 
 552. On the supposition of the primitive predominance of the 
 rule of descent through the mother individualistic theories of the 
 origin of totemism, with one exception, are out of the question 
 
 — the totem is first chosen by a man, but children would have 
 the totem not of the father but of the mother. The exception is 
 the conceptional theory, in which the totem is determined by the 
 mother — especially the Mota (Banks Islands) form, in which the 
 choice of a sacred object by the woman is unlimited. In a small 
 community a certain number of women would, how'ever, choose 
 the same object, and thus totemic groups would arise. This scheme 
 of organization, though not open to the objection mentioned above, 
 is geographically limited. 
 
 553. Theories based 07i dan action. Here the starting-point is the 
 clan, which is supposed to have come into existence somehow ; it is 
 not essential to determine precisely the method of its origination, 
 though the question of method is sometimes included in the discus- 
 sion of a theory. The clan finds itself confronted by various natural 
 objects with which, it believes, it must form helpful relations ; or some
 
 TOTEM ISM AM) TABOO 229 
 
 sort of relation is forced (ni it 1)\' tlic conditions of life. The ques- 
 tion is how a human group came to enter into the totemic relation. 
 
 554. The simplest answer is that the primitive clan deliberately 
 chose among all associated objects some one to be its particular 
 friend or its special associate,' naturally valued and respected this 
 object, refrained from eating it when it was edible, took its name, 
 came to regard it as ancestor, and created myths explanatory 
 of these conceptions. This general theory has assumed various 
 forms, but the objection usually made to its central supposition 
 is that such deliberate choice is out of keeping with the known 
 methods of early societies. Though a certain amount of reflection 
 must be assumed for primitive men (the lower animals, indeed, 
 show reflection), it is held that so elaborate a system as totemism, 
 like other institutions, must have been the product of accidental 
 experiences, developed through a long period of time. Something 
 more definite, it is said, is required in order to account for the 
 details of the system — all that can be safely assumed is that early 
 man, constantly on the alert to better his condition, took advan- 
 tage of every silutUion to strengthen himself by taking precautions 
 against enemies or b\' securing the aid of surrounding objects, 
 human and nonhuman. 
 
 555. The totem is supposed by some to have been originally 
 merely the mark or badge by which a human group distinguished 
 itself from neighboring groups. In hunting expeditions and migra- 
 tions such a mark would be necessary or, at any rate, useful." 
 More generalh", it was natural for a clan to have a name for itself, 
 as it had names for its individual members and for other objects. 
 It might take its name from an associated animal or plant or 
 heavenly body or from a place. The badge and the name once 
 adopted, other totemic features would follow. Such badges are com- 
 mon in Northwestern America, and are found elsewhere, and the 
 term ' totem ' has been explained by natives as meaning ' badge.' 
 
 1 F. B. Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, ist ed., p. 10 1. 
 
 2 F. M. Miiller, Anthropological Religion, p. 121 ff. ; Pikler and .Somlo, Ursprung 
 des Totcmismus, p. 7 ff.; A. K. Kcane, Ethnology, p. 10 ; cf. G. M. Theal, Histoiy and 
 Ethnography of South Africa, i, 1".
 
 230 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 But this explanation is late, and the employment of the sacred 
 object as badge is not widel}- diffused. \\'hen it gives a clan its 
 name it is, of course, a distinguishing mark, but this does not show 
 that such distinction was in all cases its original function. Nor 
 would the badge come into use till the name had been fixed. 
 
 556. The view just mentioned does not attempt to explain how 
 a particular name came to be attached to a clan. This lack is 
 supplied by the theory that a clan was named by its neighbors 
 after the kind of food on which it chiefly subsisted.^ The objec- 
 tion to this theory is that no group of men is known to confine 
 itself to one article of food — savages eat whatever they can find 
 — and moreover contiguous groups would feed on the same kinds 
 of food. A view not open to this objection is that names of clans, 
 also given from without, expressed fancied resemblances of the 
 persons named to animals and other objects, or peculiarities of 
 person or speech, or were derived from the place of abode. - 
 
 557. It is obviously true that .human groups have names derived 
 from objects with which they are somehow specially connected ; in 
 the lists of clan-names in Oceania, Africa, India, America, animal 
 names predominate, but many are taken from plants, and some 
 from inanimate objects ; ^ when groups become settled they are 
 sometimes called after their places of abode. The other supposi- 
 tion in these " name theories " — that the names are given from 
 without — is less certain. There are examples of such naming by 
 outsiders — nicknames, sometimes respectful, sometimes derisive.* 
 But the known cases arc not numerous enough to establish a 
 general rule — the origin of names of clans and tribes is largely 
 involved in obscurity.^ There is no improbability in either theory 
 of the method of naming, native or foreign — both modes may 
 have existed, one in one region, one in another, and one group 
 may at different times have been called by different names. 
 
 1 A. C. Maddon, in Report of the British Association for the Advanecment of 
 Science, 1902. ^ A. Lang, The Secret of the To/^w, chap. vi. 
 
 3 Lists are given in Frazer's Totcmism and Exogamy. 
 
 * Lang, The Secret of the Totem, loc. cit. ; Theal, History and Ethnography of 
 South Africa, i, 92. 
 
 5 Cf. A. \V. Howitt, Native Tribes of Soiith-East Australia, p. 154.
 
 TOTEM ISM .L\'J) TABOO 23 I 
 
 558. " Cooperative " theories suppose that a number of groups 
 unitfd for ccoiiomir purposes, to each being assigned the duty of 
 increasing by magical means the supply of a particular sort of food 
 or other necessity, and procuring a portion for the general store. ^ 
 Such cooperation, however, assumes too great a capacity of organiza- 
 tion to be primitive. It is hardly found outside of Central Australia, 
 in which region there are indications of a long period of social 
 development.'^ 
 
 559. The thcorv that the totem is a god, immanent in the clan, 
 incarnate in every member of the clan, a divine ancestor, the center 
 of the clan's religion,^ is contradicted by the actual relation between 
 a clan and its totem : the latter is cherished as a kinsman and friend, 
 but not worshiped as a god.* 
 
 560. Summing-up on the origin of totemism. This brief survey 
 of proposed theories of the origin of totemism is sufficient to show 
 the complexity of the jjroblem. Not one of the hypotheses just 
 mentioned is universally accepted, and no one of them appears 
 to account satisfactoril)' for all the known facts. Some of them 
 are based ob\iousl\- on data derived from limited areas. Australian 
 usage suggested the cooperative theory, and Australia and Mela- 
 nesia the conceptional theory. The identification of totemism with 
 ancestor-worship comes from South Africa ; its connection with 
 the belief in transmigration is due to Indonesia ; its derivation from 
 the individual guardian is based on a North American institution ; 
 and North America probably suggested the badge theory also. It 
 may be frankly confessed that in the present state of knowledge 
 all theories are guesses. 
 
 561. As there are communities in which it is probable or pos- 
 sible that totemism has never existed, so it is conceivable that it 
 has been developed in different ways in different places. Consider- 
 ing the variety of circumstances in primitive life, it would not be 
 strange if human groups found themselves impelled to take various 
 
 1 Frazcr, in Fot-imghtly Review, 1899 (this theory was afterwards abandoned by 
 him) : B. Spencer, \\\ Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxviii (1S99). 
 
 2 Cf. Durkheim, in Annie sociologiqne, v. 
 
 8 Durkheim, in Annee sociologique, v. ■* See below, § 577.
 
 232 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 paths in their attempts at effective organization. The starting-point 
 being reverence for animals and other objects of nature, and be- 
 lief in their kinship with men, one human group may have been 
 led by some accidental experience to regard some nonhuman group 
 or object as its ally. In another case a name, adopted by a group 
 of its own accord or given it from w-ithout, may have induced such 
 an alliance. Individuals may have imposed their guardian animals 
 or plants on communities. A badge, chosen for convenience, may 
 have been the beginning of a totemic organization. In these and 
 other ways a group of men may have come to form intimate re- 
 lations with a nonhuman group or other object. 
 
 562. This fundamental relation having been established (with 
 aversion to eating or injuring the sacred object), various usages 
 would attach themselves to it in accordance with general laws of 
 social development. In many cases a rule of exogamy, for the 
 better regulation of marriage, would be adopted. When tribes, 
 consisting each of several clans, came into existence, a coopera- 
 tive economic system would sometimes arise : magical methods of 
 producing results, common in early stages of life, would be so or- 
 ganized that to every clan would be assigned tlie duly of producing 
 a supply of some sort of food. I'\)lk)wing the general tendency to 
 genealogical construction, the belief in kinship with the sacred ob- 
 ject would lead a clan to imagine an ancestor of the same kind, 
 animal or animal-human or plant or rock, and myths explaining 
 the origin would be devised. Various other usages and ideas would 
 coalesce with those belonging to totemism proper : belief in the 
 superhuman power of nonhuman things, including the conception of 
 mana ; the belief that every newborn child is the reincarnation of an 
 ancestor; recognition of omens from the movements of such things; 
 belief in the magical power of names; reverence for ancestors — a 
 natural feeling, in itself independent of the totemic conception ; to- 
 tems regarded as creators ; the employment of totemic animals as 
 emissaries to the supernatural Powers. Thus the resultant social sys- 
 tem would be a congeries of beliefs and usages, and in such a system, 
 when it appears, the totemic element must be distinguished from its 
 attachments, which must be referred each to its appropriate source.
 
 TOTEM JSM AM) I'ABOO 233 
 
 563. Function of fotcmisin in the development of society. The 
 service of totcmism to society lies in the aid it has given to the 
 friendly association of men in groups. Common social feeling, 
 the perception of the advantage to be gained by combination in the 
 quest for food and for defense against human enemies, originated 
 the formation of groups. Totemism strengthened union by increas- 
 ing tlie sense of brotherhood in the clan and facilitating the co- 
 operation that is a condition of social progress. This sort of service 
 was rendered in early times b}- all systems in which social relations 
 were connected with relations to animals and other natural objects ; 
 but totemism made a special appeal to the emotions and gave all 
 the members of a human group one and the same object of devotion 
 about which sentiments of loyalty and brotherhood could crystallize. 
 It is a crude, initial political form that has given way to more defi- 
 nite forms. 
 
 564. It cannot be said that totemism has contributed to economic 
 progress except in so far as every stable organization may be favor- 
 able to general progress. It has been claimed that it effected the 
 domestication of animals and plants.^ In support of this claim it is 
 urged that, apart from reverence for these objects, there is nothing 
 in savage ideas and customs that could lead to domestication. Early 
 man, seeking food, would try all accessible animals and plants — 
 but why, it is asked, should he desire to keep them as attachments 
 to his home and culti\-ate them for his own use ? Would his pur- 
 pose be amusement t P>ut. though savages sometimes have animals 
 as pets, the custom is not general, and such pets are freely killed. 
 Could the motive be utilit}- ? The answer is that savages have 
 neither the ability to perceive the advantage, for food and labor, 
 that would accrue from domestication, nor knowledge of the fact 
 that seeds must be kept, in order to secure a crop, from one year 
 to another, nor the self-restraint to practice present abstinence for 
 the sake of future good. 
 
 1 Frazer, in his Totemism (this view is now given up by him) ; F. B. Jevons, Intro- 
 diictioit to the History of Rc/is^ioii, Index ; S. Reinach, Ciiltcs, mythes ct religions, i, 86 flf. ; 
 Hahn, Die Haiisticre, pp. 28 ff., 42, and his Dcmetcr imd Batibo, p. 19 ff. (domestication 
 of cattle and use of milk as food connected with moon-cult). Cf. H. Ling Roth, in 
 Joimuil of the Anthropological Institute, xvi, 102 ff.
 
 234 J.\TRODL'C770X TO H /STORY OF REL/G/OXS 
 
 565. C >n llie uihcr hand, it is said, semireligious reverence for 
 animals preserves them from injur\-, the\- lose their fear of man, 
 and those that are domesticable become tame and are appropriated 
 and used by men ; and sacred plants are retained from one year to 
 another for ritual purposes, and their seeds produce a succession 
 of crops. Totem animals are not eaten — a pastoral people does 
 not eat its cattle, it keeps them for their milk. In a word, animals, 
 it is held, are not tamed by man of set purpose, but grow tame 
 when not molested, and those that are edible or capable of ren- 
 dering service are gradually domesticated ; and similarly, through 
 religious use of plants, the possibility of cultivating certain plants 
 becomes known. 
 
 566. This argument rests on the assumption of the universal 
 mental incapacity of early men — a subject admittedly obscure. 
 Certainly they appear to be quite lacking in knowledge and re- 
 flection in some regards ; yet they sometimes show remarkable 
 skill in hunting (so, for example, the African Pygmies), and they 
 have created remarkable languages. But, if we leave the question 
 of intellectual capacity aside, there are facts that seem to throw 
 doubt on the totemic origin of domestication. In the first place, 
 the conditions under which reverence for a totemic animal may 
 make it tame do not appear to have existed in totemic society. 
 For such taming it is necessary that the animal be perfectly safe 
 within a considerable area. But this is not possible where a group 
 of men is composed of various clans, a given animal being spared 
 by one clan but freely hunted and killed by all the other clans ^ — 
 a state of things that was presumably universal. 
 
 567. Further, it is difficult to discover an\- historical connection 
 between the actual cases of domestication of animals and reverence 
 for these as totems. Il is unforlunalc for the decision of this ques- 
 tion that in the two princij^al totemic centers, Australia and North 
 America, there are very few native domesticable animals — only 
 one (a species of dog) in Australia, and two (dog and bison) in 
 North America. The history of the dog in North America, however, 
 
 1 The totem belongs not to a tribe (Jevons, Introduction to the History of Reli- 
 gion, p. 1 14 f.) but to a clan.
 
 TOTEM LSM AAl) TABOO 235 
 
 is suggestive: il lias bccMi domesticated by totemic Redmen fcjr luinl- 
 ing purposes and by nontotemic Eskimo for drawing sledges — that 
 is, its economic use seems to be independent of totemic considera- 
 tions. Other cases of divergence between employment of animals 
 and their position as totems have been cited in Uganda, for ex- 
 ample ; ^ but civilization is relatively far advanced in Uganda, and in 
 such cases we cannot infer original conditions from existing customs. 
 
 568. It may fairly be surmised that observation in some cases 
 led to the domestic use of animals. The value of the milk of cattle, 
 goats, and mares as food may have been suggested to men who 
 were acquainted with the life of these animals ; and valuing them 
 for their milk, their owners would abstain from eating them except 
 under pressure of hunger or for ceremonial purposes. Such a pro- 
 cedure does not seem to be beyond the capacities of very simple 
 communities. Chance may have suggested the function of seeds 
 in the growth of ])lanls, and, agriculture once entered on, the labor 
 of animals would gradually be utilized. So far as regards artistic 
 representations, these are found everywhere, and their occurrence 
 on totemic poles (as, for example, among the Haidas of Queen Char- 
 lotte Islands) cannot be regarded as a special product of totemism. 
 
 569. Considering the obscurity of the subject, it is doubtless 
 wise to refrain from offering a uni\'ersal theory of the origin of 
 domestication of animals and plants. All that is here contended 
 for is that the large role sometimes assigned to totemism in this 
 regard is not supported by the facts now known to us. Future in- 
 vestigations may bring with them new constructions of early history. 
 
 570. Relation of toteftiism to religion. As the beginnings of 
 totemism are obscure it is not possible to say exactly what a man's 
 attitude toward his totem was in the earliest period. But, when the 
 totemic relation became a definite feature of social organization, the 
 feeling was that the totem was in the nature of a clansman, of 
 the same blood as the human group, and entitled to all the respect 
 and affection with wliieh men regarded their clan-brethren. The 
 sentiment, in this point of view, was sacred in the sense in which 
 this term ma\' be used of the feeling existing between persons of 
 
 1 Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 19.
 
 236 I\TRODrCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIO.XS 
 
 the same human group ; it involved a certain sense of obligation 
 toward fellow members — to respect their rights and to defend them 
 against enemies was an imperative duty. 
 
 571. Totemic clanship, however, differed from ordinary human 
 clanship in that the nonhuman clan-brother was regarded as a 
 specially powerful being, endowed with the superhuman qualities 
 with which all animals and plants and certain other objects were 
 credited. Regard for the totem was, thus, part of the regard paid 
 to nonhuman objects in general, only emotionalized and intensified 
 by the belief that the nonhuman group was in a peculiar way allied 
 to the human group. There was not on))- unwillingness to injure 
 the totem — there was fear that one would suffer by such an act. 
 The totem, it was believed, was able in its turn to inflict injury ; 
 and this belief added an element of awe to the feeling with which 
 it was regarded. 
 
 572. In another respect, also, the totem shared the powers of 
 other nonhuman objects — it could aid its friends. The expectation 
 of totemic aid is, however, vague in the earlier stages of organiza- 
 tion, that is, in communities in which totemism proper is well-defined 
 — it appears to amount to little more than a feeling that things 
 will go well if respect is paid to the totem. In cases where there 
 is more definite aid there is always the question whether the aid 
 is afforded by the totem in its specific character of clan-brother dr 
 merely in its character of nonhuman powerful thing. Omens, for 
 example, are given by all natural objects ; when an object of this 
 sort happens to be a totem, it is not clear that its capacity of omen- 
 giving belongs to it simply as totem. 
 
 573. There is similar uncertainty in the case of the Queensland 
 practice, when a man, on lying down at any time or rising in the 
 morning, whispers the name of the animal after which he is called 
 or the name of the animal belonging to his group-division, in the 
 belief that it will give him success in his affairs;^ here tlie animal 
 is not a clan totem, and the evidence does not show that it has 
 come from such a totem — it may be a sacred animal that has 
 somehow been brought into special connection with the man or 
 
 1 W. E. Koth, quoted in Frazcr's Totemism and Exogamy, i, 532.
 
 Tori-iMisM .\.\n TABOO 237 
 
 with his group. Personal guardians that confer magical powers 
 (111 a man do not here come into consideration. 
 
 574. I'he relation between totemism and the practice of magic 
 appears to be essentially one of coexistence in a community. The 
 two belong to the same stage of culture and the same order of 
 ideas; but the fact that each is found without the other shows that 
 neither is dependent on the other. Naturally they are sometimes 
 combined, as sometimes happens in North America and particularly 
 in Central Australia ('where every totemic clan is charged with cer- 
 tain magical ceremonies) ; yet this close alliance is rare. Magical 
 practice rests on a conception of man's relation to nature that is 
 distinct from the conception of kinship between a human clan and 
 a nonhuman species or individual object. 
 
 575. Secret societies sometimes perform magical ceremonies ; 
 but such societies are not totemic — either they have risen above 
 the totemic point of view, or they have sprung from ideas and 
 usages that are independent of totemism proper.^ 
 
 576. It is difficult to find a clear case of the offering of religious 
 worship to a totem as totem. There are the ceremonies performed 
 by the Australian Warramunga for the purpose of propitiating or 
 coercing the terrible water snake Wollunqua." This creature is a 
 totem, but a totem of unique character — a fabulous animal, never 
 visible, a creation of the imagination ; the totem proper is a visible 
 object whose relations with human beings are friendly, the W'ol- 
 lunqua is savage in nature and often hostile to men. He appears 
 to be of the nature of a god, but an undomesticated one — a demon, 
 adopted by a tribe as totem, or identified with a previously existing 
 totem. The situation is an exceptional one and cannot be regarded 
 as evidence of general totemic worship. 
 
 577. The question whether a totem ever develops into a god is 
 a part of the general question whether a sacred animal ever be- 
 comes a god.'^ The complications of early ideas and customs and 
 
 1 See above, § 529 ff . 
 
 - W. E. Roth, North Queensland Ethnography ; Spencer and Gillen, Northern 
 Tribes of Central Australia, p. 226 ff. 
 
 3 See below, § 635 ff. : cf. A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Relii^ion, ii, 197, etc. ; S. Rei- 
 nach, Orpheus (Eng. tr.), p. Si ff. : Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, iv, 30 ff.
 
 238 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the paucity of data for the formative period of early religion make 
 an answer to these questions difficult. As far as regards the evolu- 
 tion of the totem into a true divine figure the evidence is not deci- 
 sive. The identification of heroes or gods with animals, their trans- 
 formations into animals, and their incarnations in animal forms may, 
 indeed, suggest such an evolution. Thus, in the island of Yam 
 (between Australia and New Guinea) two brothers, Sigai and 
 Maiau, have their shrines, in which they are represented by a shark 
 figure and a crocodile figure respectively, and to them food is pre- 
 sented, songs are sung, dances are danced and prayers are offered. 
 Other heroes, Kwoiam (a totem-bringer), Sida (an introducer of 
 the arts of life), Yadzebub (a warrior), and some unnamed are 
 revered in islands of Torres Straits.^ In the Rewa district in Fiji 
 every village, it is said, has a deity, and these deities have the power 
 of turning into animals, which are then not eaten — that is, it may 
 be supposed, the god is a developed totem.- In the \\'akelbura 
 tribe of Southeast Australia the totem animal is spoken of as 
 " father," a title frequently given to clan gods. Household gods are 
 considered to be incarnate in animals and other objects in some of 
 the Caroline Islands, in Tonga and Tikopia, and in Samoa, and 
 in these islands, except Samoa, the people are supposed to have 
 descended from the animals in question. Similar ideas seem not 
 to exist in the Americas or in Africa : in India the influence of 
 Hindu cults has largely effaced or greatly modified non-Aryan 
 usages so that their original form cannot generally be determined.^ 
 578. The cases just mentioned are susceptible of other expla- 
 nations than that of an evolution from totem to god. The history 
 of the cult of heroes in Yam and other Torres Straits islands is 
 obscure, but from known facts the indications are that the hero 
 figures have arisen independently of the totem figures and have 
 been, by a natural process, identified with these. ^ The peculiarity 
 
 1 Iladdon, in Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor, 1S3 ff. 
 
 2 Rivers, in Man^ viii (190S). 
 
 3 Cf. Frazcr, Totcmhm and Exogamy, iv, 31 ff. The P.ushman god Cagn, who 
 has the form of a mantis, and the Hindu monkey-god Hanuman seem to have no 
 connection with totemism. 
 
 * Cf. the remarks of Haddon, op. cit.
 
 TOTIIMISM AXn TABOO 239 
 
 of the Rewa deities is that they assume animal forms at will, and 
 sueh animals, not being ealen, arc held to be totems. Whether totems 
 or not they are sacred and might easily be identified with gods who 
 stood alongside of them ; an obvious explanation of this identity 
 would be that the god assumed the form of the animal.' A similar 
 explanation may be given of incarnations of gods in animals — a 
 metamorphosis is a temporary incarnation. The Samoan Moso is 
 incarnate in half a dozen different objects, and some deities are 
 incarnate in men. As for the title " father." it belongs of course 
 to the object from which a clan is supposed to be descended. 
 
 579. The sacramental eating of the totem, where such a custom 
 exists, involves a certain identity of nature of totem and clan god, 
 but the two are regarded as distinct — their distinctness is, indeed, 
 a necessary condition of the sacrificial efficacy of the totem as a 
 means of placating the deity." 
 
 580. Our review seems, thus, to lead to the conclusion that there 
 is no good ground for the opinion that a totem has ever grown 
 into a god. The question, belonging, as it does, to a period for 
 whicli we have no contemporary records, must be admitted to be 
 difficult, and answers to it must be of the nature of hypotheses ; 
 but gods and spirits appear to have taken shape through processes 
 of thought different from those that lie at the basis of totemism.** 
 
 Taboo 
 
 581. So far we have been considering the grow^th of the simpler 
 religious ideas and the parallel development of a quasi-religious 
 .social organization. The ethical development is no less important 
 than the religious and the political, with which it has always been 
 closely connected. Ethical ideas and customs are in their origin 
 independent of religion. Religion deals with the relation between 
 human beings and supernatural Powers ; ethics has to do with the 
 relation between man and man."* 
 
 1 So Zeus and other Greek gods. 2 gee below, § 1041 ff. 3 See below, § 635. 
 
 < The moral perfection of the individual is an ideal that has arisen out of social 
 relations ; it is demanded by the deity because the moral standard of a deity is that 
 of his human society.
 
 240 JXTRODLXTION TO nJSTORV OF REUGIOAS 
 
 382. Thus, the necessity for the protection of life and property 
 (including wives and children) has produced certain rules of conduct, 
 which are at first handed on orally and maintained by custom, and 
 gradually are formulated in written codes. The protection of the 
 tribal life is secured by the tribal leaders as representatives of 
 society. The protection of individual interests is at first in the 
 hands of the individuals concerned, but always under the sanction 
 of society. The murderer, the thief, and the adulterer are dealt 
 with by the person injured or by his clan or family, in accordance 
 with generally recognized regulations. As social life becomes more 
 elaborate, such regulations become more numerous and more dis- 
 criminating; every new ethical rule springs from the necessity of 
 providing for some new social situation. In all communities the 
 tendency is toward taking the protection of interests out of the 
 hands of the individual and committing it to the community ; this 
 course is held to be for the advantage of society.^ 
 
 583. As men are constituted, to account for the growth of moral 
 customs we need to assume only social life ; practically all our re- 
 quirements that refer to the relations between men are found 
 among early tribes, and it ma}" be taken for granted that an}- body 
 of human beings, living together and having some form of activity, 
 w^ould work out some such system of rules, mostly negative or 
 prohibitive but also to some extent positive. Even the law of kind- 
 ness, a product of natural human sympathy, exists among the 
 lowest known peoples. The reference of moral growth to social 
 necessities does not involve the denial of a germinal sense of right 
 and wrong or of germinal moral ideals, but this sense and these 
 ideals arise, through reflection, from experience. We are here con- 
 cerned only with the actual conduct of men traceable in the early 
 forms of society. 
 
 584. ]5ut while social life is the basis of ethical construction, the 
 actual ethical constitution of men has been influenced by religion, 
 in later times by the supplying of lofty ideals and sanctions, in 
 early times by a magical determination of things injurious. It 
 is this second category that is covered by the term ' taboo,' a 
 
 1 In international relations this tendency appears in the demand for arbitration.
 
 TOTEMJSM AAD TABOO 24 1 
 
 Polynesian word said to mean ' what is proliibitcd.' Prohibitions 
 arising from natural human relations constitute civil law ; those 
 arising from extrahuman or other magical influences constitute 
 taboo.' 
 
 585. Early man, regarding all objects as possibly endowed with 
 power, selects out of the whole mass by observation and experi- 
 ence certain objects which affect his life, his relations with which 
 he finds it desirable to define. These are all mysterious ; ^ some 
 are helpful, some harmful. The helpful objects become lucky 
 stones, amulets. The injurious or dangerous objects are the more 
 numerous : in an atmosphere of uncertainty the mysterious is 
 dreaded, avoided, and guarded against by rules." 
 
 586. The objects affected by the conception of taboo are as 
 various as the conditions of human life — they include things inani- 
 mate and animate, and events and experiences of all sorts. Some- 
 times the danger is supposed to be inherent in the object, sometimes 
 the quality of dangerousness is imposed on it or infused into it by 
 some authority ; but in all cases there is present the force (mana) 
 that, in savage theory, makes the external world a factor in human 
 destinies.'* This force may be transmitted from one object to 
 another (usually by contact ^), and thu^ the taboo infection may 
 spread indefinitely, a silent and terrible source of misfortune, some- 
 times to a single person, sometimes to a whole community. C'ere- 
 rhonies connected with taboo are designed to protect against this 
 destructive influence. 
 
 1 N. W. Thomas, article '' Taboo " in Encyclopedia Britannka, i ith cd. ; Codring- 
 ton, The Mclaiicsians\ Thomson, Siory of Nnv 7.caland\ A. van Gennep, Talwii ct 
 tothnismc h Afatlas^ascar; Wallace, Malay Archipelago, p. 149 f. ; J. G. Frazer, Early 
 History of the Kingship ; Marett, " Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? " (in Anthropological 
 Essays presented to E. D. Tyloi) . 
 
 2 Cf. the Chickasa hullo, said to mean ' mysterious ' (Speck, in Journal of Amer- 
 ican Folklore, xx, 57). 
 
 3 The danger from such objects is referred to a supernatural presence, whose 
 attitude toward human beings may be doubtful ; only, when the phenomenon ob- 
 served is thought to be nonnatural and is afflictive (as in the case of death, for 
 example), this attitude is judged to be hostile. 
 
 ^ Purely economic and other social considerations are sometimes combined with 
 the mana conception. 
 
 5 The physical unity produced by contact may be brought about, according to 
 savage philosophy, in other ways.
 
 242 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 587. The principal taboo usages may be classed roughly under 
 certain heads, which, however, will sometimes overlap one another. 
 
 588. Taboos connected 7oith the conception of life. Vox early man 
 the central myster)- of the world was life, and mystery and danger 
 attached to all things connected with its genesis, maintenance, and 
 cessation — to pregnancy, birth, death, corpses, funerals, blood. 
 Against these things precautions, in the form of various restric- 
 tions, had to be taken. Pregnancy was sometimes regarded as due 
 to supernatural agency, and in all cases was noted as a mysterious 
 condition in which the woman was peculiarly exposed to evil influ- 
 ences ; she was sometimes required to keep her head covered or 
 to avoid moonshine, or to live separated from her husband.^ 
 
 589. Care for women during pregnane}- and after tlie birth of 
 a child might be induced by natural human kindliness. Ikit certain 
 usages in connection with birth indicate fear of superhuman dan- 
 gers. In many regions (Central Asia, Africa, Oceania, China) the 
 mother is taboo for a certain time, being regarded apparently as 
 a source of danger to others, as well as being herself exposed to 
 danger. The child also is surrounded by perils. Mother and child 
 are protected by isolation, ablutions (baptism), amulets, conjurations, 
 and by consecration to a deity.- The intimate relation between 
 father and child may make it necessar}- to impose taboos on the 
 former — he is sometimes required to go to bed (the couvade, or 
 man-childbed), to abstain from work and from certain foods held 
 to be injurious, and to avoid touching weapons and other dangerous 
 things ; thus, through the identity of father and child, the latter is 
 guarded against the hostile mana thai may be lurking near. The 
 seclusion of the mother sometimes varies in duration accordin<r to 
 the sex of the chikl ; in most cases, apparently, the period is longer 
 for a male child ; ^ in the Jewish ritual the period for ilu- maid-child 
 is twice as great (eighty days) as that for the male ; ■* tlie difference 
 
 1 IMoss-Bartels, Das Wfil', i, 591 ; cf. E. .S. Ilartland, Prhiiitiic Paternity ; Avesta, 
 Vendldad, xv, 8. 
 
 2 Article '■ Birth " in Hastings, F.ncyclopccdia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 3 PIoss-Bartels, Das lVeit>, ii, 345 ff. 
 
 ^ Lev. xii. In the modem Parsi usage a woman after giving birth is secluded 
 forty days.
 
 TOTEMISM AM) TABOO 243 
 
 in the points of view, perhaps, is that the evil influence may 
 direct itself particularly against, or be more serious for, the male as 
 socially the more important, or it may be more dangerous for the 
 female as the weaker.^ 
 
 590. Taboos connected ivitli death. The danger to the li\in": 
 arising from a death is of a twofold nature : the corpse, as a 
 sti an;;!', uncanny thing, is a source of peril ; and there are possi- 
 ble external enemies — the spirit that produced the death, and the 
 ghost of the departed. Against these dangerous things avoidance 
 of the corpse is the common precaution — a dead body must 
 not be touched, or, if it is touched, he who touches must undergo 
 purification.- Perhaps the various modes of disposing of corpses 
 (exposure, inhumation, cremation) were originally attempts to get 
 rid of their dangerous qualities ; later other motives came in. The 
 body of a suicide was especially feared, and was staked down on 
 a public way to prevent its reappearance ; it was perhaps the ab- 
 normal and desperate character of the death that produced this 
 special fear. The dread of a corpse is, however, not universal 
 among savages — in many cases it is eaten, simply as food or to 
 acquire the qualities of the deceased, or for other reasons. It is 
 feared as having hurtful power, it is eaten as being sacred or helpful. 
 
 591. The house in which a death occurs shares the evil power 
 of the dead body, and sometimes must he destroyed, together with 
 all its furniture, or abandoned or purified.^ Death diffuses its bale- 
 ful influence through the atmosphere, making it unfavorable for 
 ordinary work, which, accordingly, is often then suspended for a 
 time.* Seclusion is sometimes enjoined on widower or widow,'' and 
 mention of the name of the deceased is forbidden — the identity 
 of spouse or name with the dead effects the transmission of what is 
 
 1 On the relation between birth customs and systems of relationship (patrilineal 
 and matrilincal) see the references in Hastings, Ejicyclopccdia of Religion and Et litis, 
 ii, 636. 
 
 2 Numb, xix, 1 1 ff. For the Mazdean rules see Tiele-Gehrich, GcscMchtc dcr 
 Religion im Altertiim^ ii, 340 ff. 
 
 3 Sanitary purposes may have entered into such customs. 
 
 ■* Seligmann, The Afelancsinns of British A\it' Guinea, chap, xxiii, p. 13S, etc.; 
 Turner, Samoa, p. 145 f. ; Kidd, Tlie Essential Kafir, p. 253. 
 5 Ellis, The Ewe-sf caking Peoples, p. 160.
 
 244 lyTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 dangerous in him. In another direction the earthly dwelling of a dead 
 person is protected — a curse is pronounced on one who violates it.^ 
 
 592. Taboos connected 7c<ith icoman aiui the relations beticeen 
 the sexes. Among many peoples there is dread of the presence 
 of women and of their belongings under certain circumstances.^ 
 The ground of this fear may lie in those, physiological peculiarities 
 of woman which are regarded as mysterious and dangerous, and 
 the antagonism of feeling may have been increased by the separa- 
 tion between the sexes consequent on the differences in their social 
 functions and their daily pursuits. Woman seems to move in a 
 sphere different from that of man ; she acts in ways that are 
 strange to him. Whatever its ground, the feeling of dread is a real 
 one : a case is reported of a man who, on learning that he had lain 
 down on his wife's blanket, became violently ill. 
 
 593. \'arious restrictions arc imposed on women at periods of 
 sexual crisis. The girl on reaching the age of puberty is generally 
 (though not always ^) immured, sometimes for weeks or months, 
 to shield her from noxious influences, human and nonhuman. Dur- 
 ing menstruation a woman is isolated, may not be looked on by the 
 sun, must remain apart from her husband, and her food is strictly 
 regulated.'* It is not infrequenth- the case that certain foods are 
 permanently forbidden women, for what special reasons is not 
 clear. ^ The rule forbidding a wife to eat with her husband may 
 have come originally from nonreligious social considerations (her 
 subordination to the man, or the fact that she belonged to a social 
 group different from his), but in that case it later acquired a religious 
 character. Women have commonly been excluded in savage com- 
 munities from solemn ceremonies (as those of the initiation of males) 
 and from tribal councils ; " such rules may have originated in the 
 natural diffcFentiation of social functions of the sexes or in the 
 
 1 Cicero, Dc I.cgil>i(s, ii, 26 (Athens) ; Roman Digests, xlvii, 12 ; Cor/'i/s /iiscri/- 
 tionum Semiticannii, i, 13 (Phoenician) ; and so among many savage and half-civili2ed 
 peoples. 2 Crawley, T/ic Mystic Rose, chap. iii. 
 
 8 Seligmann, 'f/ic Melatiesiaiis of Britisli Ncxv Guinea, p. 140. 
 
 ■* I'loss-lJartels, Das U'eib, i, 296, 302, 374, 61S. 
 
 ^ Frazer, article "Taboo" in Encyclopcedia Briiaiiiiica, 9th ed. 
 
 6 Seligmann, T/tc Melanesians of British New Guinea, p. 466 ; Crawley, The Alystic 
 Rose, p. 52 ff.
 
 TOTEM ISM AM> TABOO 245 
 
 desire of men (o krcp llic control of tribal life in their own hands, 
 but in many cases the presence of women was supposed to vitiate 
 the proceedings supernaturally. In industrial enterprises, such as 
 hunting and fishing, they are sometimes held to be a fatal influence.^ 
 In family life a wife's mother was debarred from all social inter- 
 course with her son-in-law.^ 
 
 594. W here procreation was ascribed to the union of the sexes, 
 sexual intercourse, as being intimately connected with life, was 
 credited with supernatural potency, generall\- unfavorable to vigor.' 
 It has been largely prohibited on all important public occasions, 
 such as hunting and war, and particularly in connection with reli- 
 gious ceremonies.'' ^'arious considerations may have contributed 
 to the establishment of such customs, but in their earliest form we 
 have, probably, to recognize not any moral effort to secure chastity, 
 but a dread of injurious mana resident in women. ^ \\'e may com- 
 pare the fact that women have often been regarded as specially 
 gifted in witchcraft." 
 
 595. Taboos aDincdcil icith great personages. The theory of 
 mana includes the belief that special supernatural power resides in 
 the persons of tribal leaders, such as magicians, chiefs, priests. It 
 follows that danger attaches to their bodies (particularly to head, 
 hair, and nails), to their names, and to their food and other belong- 
 ings. These things must be avoided : their food must not be eaten 
 by common folk ; their houses and other proper t\- must not be 
 used : their nail-cuttings must be buried so that danger may be 
 a\'erted from the communit)- ; their names must not be mentioned. 
 Thev themselves, being peculiarly sensitive to malign influences, 
 must be protected in the house and when they walk out ; and it is 
 
 1 c;. Brown, Afclancsuws ami Polynesians, p. 241 ; W. H. Furness, 3d, The Island 
 ()/Slt7nc-.]/oncY, p. 38 f. 2 Crawley, T/ic Myslic Rose, p. 399 ff. 
 
 3 A physiological basis for this view seems to lie outside the resources of savage 
 obscr\-ation, but prohibition of intercourse just after childbirth may have a humani- 
 tarian basis. 
 
 ■1 G. Brown, Mclancsians and Polynesians, pp. 68, 80, 200 ; Seligmann, The .l/<-/- 
 anesians of Brilish New Guinea, p. 292 ; W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, addi- 
 tional note C. 
 
 s Cf. Westermarck, Origin and Develo/'ment of the Moralldcas, ii, 406 ff. ; Hob- 
 house, Morals ill F.voliition, Index, s.v. Chastity. 
 
 u See below, § 895 ff. ; Westermarck, op. cit., i, 620 ff.
 
 246 IXTRODL'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 in some cases not safe for the common man to look on the chief 
 as he passes through the village. 
 
 596. Xot all these regulations are found in any one communit}-, 
 but the principle is the same evenwhere. The greatest develop- 
 ment of taboo power in chiefs occurs in Poh-nesia, the home of 
 taboo. There they are all-powerful. \\Tiatever a chief touches be- 
 comes his property. If he enters a house, steps into a canoe, affixes 
 his name to a field, it is his. His control appears to be limited only 
 by the accident of his momentar\' desire. No one thinks of oppos- 
 ing his decisions — that would be fatal to the opposer. This social 
 situation passes when a better form of civil government is estab- 
 lished, but some features of the old conception cling to later digni- 
 taries : till recently the nail-parings of the emperor of Japan were 
 carefully disposed of lest, being inadvertently touched, they should 
 bring misfortune. 
 
 597. A priest also may carr\- taboo infection on his person. In 
 Ezekiel's scheme of ritual organization it is ordered that when the 
 priest, having offered sacrifice, goes forth into the outer court where 
 the people are, he shall put off the garments in which he ministered 
 and lay them in a sacred place, and put on other garments, lest 
 some one touching him should be made ritually unclean, that is 
 taboo, forbidden to mingle with his fellows or to do his ordinan' 
 work for a certain time (generally till the evening).^ In many re- 
 gions there have been and are numerous restrictions on priests, 
 some of which are in their own interests (to preserve their ritual 
 purity), some in the interests of others (to guard them against the 
 infection of taboo).- Other quasi-official or devoted persons (as, 
 for example, the Hebrew Nazirite ^) were subject to restrictions of 
 
 1 Ezek. xliv, 19. The term "sanctify" of the English \"ersion means 'make ritu- 
 ally sacred," not to be touched. Cf. Shortland, Southern Dhtricts of Xciv Zealand, 
 p. 293 f. ; Wellhausen, Resic arabischcn Hcidentittncs, p. 106 f. 
 
 2 For Jewish rules see Lev. xxi. The onerous restrictions on the Roman flamen 
 dialis and his wife are given in Frazer's Golden Bough (see Index, s.v. Flamen dia- 
 lis) and the authorities cited by him. 
 
 3 The prohibition of the products of the grapevine to the Xazirite (Numb, vi, 3 f.) 
 seems to have been originally part of the attempt to follow the old pastoral life, in 
 contrast with the Canaanite agricultural life : later it received a religious coloring. 
 The prohibition might begin at the moment of the child's conception (Judg. xiii,4, 14).
 
 TOTEM ISM AM) TABOO 247 
 
 food. Strangers, who in a primitive period were frequently put 
 to death, in a more humane period were subjected to purifying 
 processes in order to remove the taboo infection that might cling 
 to thcm.^ 
 
 598. Industrial taboos. The customs of certain Polynesian 
 chiefs, described above, cannot be said to aid industry, but there 
 are taboo usages designed to protect and further popular occu- 
 pations. 'J'hcse doubtless have a natural nonmagical basis — the 
 necessity of making good crops and protecting private property 
 would be recognized everywhere, and would call forth legal enact- 
 ments ; but it was inevitable, in certain communities, that such 
 enactments should be strengthened by supernatural sanctions such 
 as those offered by the conception of taboo. 
 
 599. Protective arrangements of this sort abound in Oceania 
 and Indonesia. In Samoa the sweet-potato fields are taboo till 
 the crop is gathered." Hawaiian fisheries are protected by the sim- 
 ple device of forbidding the taking of certain fish at certain seasons ; 
 here the economic motive is obvious, but taboo penalties are an- 
 nexed.^ During planting time in New Zealand all persons employed 
 in the work were taboo for other occupations and obliged to give 
 all their time to the planting ; and the same rule held for hunting 
 and fishing.* The Borneo Kayans refrain from their usual occupa- 
 tions during planting, harvesting, and the search for camphor.^ 
 Similar restrictions, of an elaborate kind, are in force in Sumatra,^ 
 and in Assam.' 
 
 600. The property of private persons was protected : the com- 
 mon man might impose a taboo on his land, crops, house, and gar- 
 ments, and these were then safe from depredation. It was true, 
 however, in New Zealand as elsewhere, that the potency of the im- 
 posed taboo depended on the influence of him who imposed it ; 
 chiefs, as uniting in their persons civil and religious authority, were 
 
 1 Frazer, Golden Dough, 2d ed., i, 299 ff. - Turner, Samoa. 
 
 3 .\Iexander, Short History of the Ha-ccaiian People. 
 
 4 R. Taylor, New Zealand, chap. viii. 
 
 5 Fumess, Home Life of the Borneo Head-hunters, p. 160 ff. 
 
 6 C. S. Hurgronje, The Aehehncse, p. 262 ff. 
 
 " T. C. Hodson, \n Journal of the Anthropologieal Institute, xxxvi.
 
 248 /.vrRODi'CT/OX TO H /STORY OF RELIG/OXS 
 
 the most powerful persons in the community, and taboos ordered 
 by them were the most effective. In Melanesia taboo is largely 
 employed for the protection of private property — curses are pro- 
 nounced against trespassers, and the authority of the tabooer is 
 reenforced by that of the local spirit or ghost (findah)\^ here 
 taboo has become definitel}- an element of civil law. in which it 
 tends to be absorbed. 
 
 601. Taboos connected with other important social ei'cnts. It ap- 
 pears that all occurrences supposed to affect the life of the com- 
 munit}' have been, and often still are, regarded as bringing with 
 them, or as attended by, supernatural influences (resident in mana 
 or in spirits) that may be dangerous. Against these perils the 
 usual precautions are taken, one of the commonest (as in cases 
 mentioned in the preceding paragraphs) being abstinence from 
 ordinary work ; the belief, apparently, is that such work is tainted 
 with the injurious influence with which the atmosphere is charged. 
 
 602. Among religious ceremonies the expulsion of evil spirits 
 w'as naturally attended with danger, and work was prohibited. 
 Such was the custom in Athens at the Anthesteria and on the 
 sixth day of the Thargelia, and in Rome at the Lemuria.- Among 
 existing tribes there are numerous examples of this sort of restric- 
 tion : it is found in West Africa^ and in Indonesia (Kar Xicobar, 
 Bali ^) ; in Assam it takes the form of a taboo {genna) for laying 
 to rest the ghosts of all who have died w'ithin the ycar^ (an All 
 Souls ceremony). 
 
 603. In general, sacred seasons, times of great communal cere- 
 monies, demand the avoidance of ordinary pursuits, which, it is 
 feared, may imperil the success of the ceremonies by necessi- 
 tating contact with things infected or nonsacred. The earlier 
 Hebrew usage recognized such seasons (new moon, sabbath, and 
 perhaps others) ; the later usage increased the number of tabooed 
 
 1 Codrington, The Mclancsians, P- 215 ff. 
 
 2 Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, pp. 50, g6 ff. ; Fowler, 
 Roman Feslrtals, p. 106 ff. 8 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., iii, 76 f. 
 
 •• Journal of tht Anthropological Institute, xxxii ; Frazer, op. cit., iii, 80. 
 5 T. C. Hodson, " The Genna amongst the Tribes of Assam " (in Journal of the 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvi).
 
 Tori-'.MISM .\\n TABOO 249 
 
 days as the liuial was expanded and organized.^ For Greece 
 \\c Ikuc tlir riynteria, on ihc principal day of which work was 
 suspended;- in Rome tlic i'eriae were such days, regular or occa- 
 sional.'^ The inbringing of first fruits was a peculiarly solemn 
 occasion, when gratitude lo the deity mingled with fear of hostile 
 influences; so among the Hebrews'' and at Athens® and in Tonga." 
 Polynesian restrictions on the occasion of ceremonies are given by 
 Ellis." All such days of abstinence from ordinary work tend to be- 
 conu' holidays, times of popular amusement, and a taboo element 
 may be suspected in such festivals as those of the later Hindu pe- 
 riod.^ Naturally, also, days of restriction become sacred to deities. 
 604. Great nonreligious tribal events and peculiar situations de- 
 mand restrictive precautions. Warriors prepare for an expedition 
 by remaining apart from their wives.^ \\'omen whose husbands 
 are absent are sometimes immured or forbidden all intercourse 
 with human beings ; by reason of the identity of husband and wife 
 supernatural harm to the latter will affect the former. Afflictive 
 occurrences, such as famines, pestilences, earthquakes, are signs 
 of some hostile supernatural power, defense against which recjuires 
 the avoidance of ordinary pursuits. Arbitrary enactments by chiefs 
 may attach restrictions to a particular day. Sometimes restrictive 
 usages, of obscure origin, become communal law. Thus, every 
 Toda clan has certain days of the w-eek (not the occasion of special 
 ceremonies) in which it is forbidden to follow ordinary occupa- 
 tions ; among the things forbidden are the giving of feasts, the 
 performance of funeral ceremonies, the cutting of nails, and shav- 
 ing ; women and dairymen may not leave the village, and the 
 people and buffaloes may not move from one place to another.'" 
 Doubtless this system of jjrohibitions is the outcome of many gen- 
 erations of experience — the organization of various local usages. 
 
 i Lev. xxiii : Numb, xxviii f. 
 
 2 Stengel and CJehmichen, Griechische SakralaltertUmcr^ p. 170. 
 
 3 ^\■isso\va, Religion dcr Rb7ncr, p. 365 ff. * Numb, xxviii, 26. 
 
 5 The Thargelia ; Harrison, op. cit., chap. iii. 6 Mariner, Tonga, p. 4S3. 
 
 " \V. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iv, 388, etc. 
 •* Cf. Hopkins, Religions oj India, p. 448 flf. 
 'J Cf. W. K. Smith, Religion of the Semites, additional note C. 
 1" Rivers, The Todas, p. 405 ff.
 
 2 50 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 605. Taboos connected with the moon. Unusual celestial phenom- 
 ena, such as eclipses, meteors, and comets, have always excited 
 terror, being referred to some hostile supernatural agency, and 
 have called forth special placative and restrictive ceremonies. They 
 are accounted for in savage lore by various myths. ^ But the per- 
 manently important taboos have been those that are associated 
 with the phases of the moon. These periodical transformations, 
 unexplained and mysterious, seemed to early man to have vital 
 relation with all earthly life — the waxing and waning of the moon 
 was held to determine, through the sympathy existing between all 
 things, the growth and decay of plants, animals, and men.^ Hence 
 arose the widely diffused belief that all important undertakings 
 should be begun while the moon was increasing, and innumerable 
 regulations for the conduct of affairs were established, not a few 
 of them surviving in civilized popular belief and practice to the 
 present day. 
 
 606. Sometimes the changes in the moon are minutely observed. 
 The Nandi describe every day of the month by the appearance of 
 the moon or by its relation to occupations.^ Natural observation 
 in some cases divided the lunar month into four parts : the Bud- 
 dhist uposatha days are the four days in the lunar month when the 
 moon is full or new or halfway between the two ; ^ in Hawaii the 
 3d-6th, i4th-i5th, 24th-25th, 27th-28th days of ever)' month 
 were taboo periods;^ the Babylonians had five such periods in 
 certain months (four periods with one period intercalated). But, 
 though the quartering of the lunation may seem to us the most 
 natural division of the month, in actual practice it is rather the 
 exception.'^ ^Ihe simplest division, indeed, is that into two parts, 
 determined by new moon and full moon (Cambodia, Siam ; cf. the 
 Mexican period of thirteen days), 'i'he division into three periods 
 
 1 Tylor, Prbiiitkc Ciilimr, i, 2S8, 354. 
 
 - For details sec Frazer, Adonis AHis Osins, bk. iii, chap, viii f. 
 
 3 HoUis, 7V/<- A'rtiidi. p. 95 f. 
 
 ■1. Khys Davids, Buddhism (in Non-Christian Religious Systems), p. 140 f. Thus, 
 as the author remarks, uposatha is a weekly festival : and there is an approach to a 
 true seven-day week. 5 Alexander, Sho>i Hisfoty of the Ha-aaiimi People. 
 
 c Details of the week are given in the article " Calendar" in Hastings, EncyelopcB- 
 dia of Religion and Ethics, with references to authorities.
 
 TOTl'lMISM AAI) TABOO 25 I 
 
 of ten days each (Egypt, Greece, Annam, Japan) ignores lunai- 
 phases and seeks a convenient and symmetrical arrangement. 
 With this decimal system is ])erhaps connected the division of the 
 month into six periods of five days each (Voruha, Java, Sumatra, 
 and perhaps iJahylonia). The Ri^mans had a somewhat irregular 
 official division of the lirst half of the month into three parts 
 (Kalends, Nones, Ides) corresponding in a general way to lunar 
 phases, and also commercial periods of eight days (iiundhiae), 
 perhaps of similar origin. A seven-day division is found in 
 Ashantiland (and perhaps in rem), and in Java there is reported 
 a division of a \-ear into thirty periods of seven days each. 
 
 607. It appears, then, that in several communities there has been 
 a division of the month in the interests of convenience, without 
 regard to lunar phases ; that in several cases a seven-day week has 
 been fallen upon ; and that of the phases of the moon new moon 
 and full moon have been most frequently looked to as chronological 
 marks. The new moon, apart from its function of indicating the 
 beginning of the lunar month, has also by many tribes been hailed 
 with joy as a friend restored to life after seeming extinction.^ The 
 full moon, A\hilc it has not entered so intimately into the emotional 
 life of man, has played an important part by marking the division 
 of the month into two equal parts. 
 
 608. llic Hebrew sabbath. Taboo days are days of abstinence 
 from work, set apart as seasons of rest.^ Such was the original 
 form of the Hebrew sabbath — it is described in the earlier ( )]d 
 Testament notices simply as a day on which ordinary work was 
 unlawful.^ The history of its precise origin and development is, 
 however, by no means clear. Theories that derive it from the cult 
 
 1 Ilollis, 'I7u- A'luidi, p. 79 ; Frazer, Adonis A/tis Osiris^ pp. 370 ff., 375. 
 
 2 See the noteworthy Yoruban rest day, the first day of the five-day week (A. P.. 
 Ellis, Yoridia). 
 
 8 For the literature on the sabbath see llerzog-IIauck, Rcal-Encyklopddic ; Jastrow, 
 in American Journal of Theology for 1898 ; Cheyne, Eiicyclo/'adia Diblica ; Hastings, 
 Dictiona>y of the Bible ; Jetvish Encyclopedia ; F. Bohn, Der Sabbat im Alien Testa- 
 ment ; Menzmgcr, Hebraische ArcMologie ; Nowack, Nebrdisc/ie A reliaologie ; C. H. 
 Toy, "The Earliest Form of the .Sabbath," m Journal of Biblical Literature for 1899 
 (in which, so far as appears, the view that the Hebrew sabbath is a taboo day is stated 
 for the first time).
 
 252 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 of some particular deity or rej^ard it as priiiiaril_\- a day for placating 
 a supernatural Power ^ may be set aside. It may be assumed that 
 it is an early institution somehow connected with the moon, and 
 a definite indication of origin appears to be furnished by the fact 
 that in a Babylonian inscription the term shabattii - is used for the 
 full moon. The identification of Hebrew sabbath with full moon 
 is favored by the collocation of new moon and sabbath in early Old 
 Testament documents * as days on which trading was unlawful. 
 These, obviously, were the two chief taboo days of the month ; the 
 fact that new moon stands first is doubtless due to its position in 
 the month. 
 
 609. It is uncertain whether the Babylonian full-moon day was 
 ritually particularly important, and it is not clear how the Hebrews 
 came to invest this day, if it was their sabbath, with peculiar signif- 
 icance. In the earlier legal documents it is merel\- a restrictive 
 period — man and beast are to rest from toil ; ■* in later codes reli- 
 gious motives for the observance of the day are introduced — first, 
 gratitude to 'S'ahweh for the rescue of the nation from Egyptian 
 bondage, and then resjx'ct for the fact that Yahweh worked in 
 creating the world six days and stopped work on the seventh day.' 
 In the sixth ccntur\- wc find the sabbath elevated to the position 
 of specific sign of Vahwch's protective relation to the people, and 
 still later it is regarded as a day of joyous obedience to divine law.® 
 Thus, the process of moralization of the da\' was probably a long- 
 continued one.^ 
 
 1 .Any taboo day might be the occasion of placative ceremonies ; but this is not a 
 distinctive feature of the day. 
 
 ^ T. G. Pinches, in Piocccdiiis;s of the Society of Biblical Arch(eolo^\ xxvi, 51 ff. i 
 Zimmcm, in Zcilschrift iter dcutschen morgenlaiuliscluii Gcscllsehaft, Iviii, igg ff., 
 45S ff. ; J. Meinhold, Sabbat unit Wochc im Alien Testament. There is no good 
 reasOQ to doubt that this Babylonian term is formally identical with Hebrew sliabat. 
 
 3 2 Kings iv, 23 ; Amos viii, 5 ; Isa. {,13. ■* Exod. xxiii, 6. 
 
 5 Deut. V, 12 ff. ; Exod. xx, 8 ff. ; the term ' holy ' here means set apart ritually, 
 that is, taboo. 
 
 6 Ezek. XX, 12 f., 16, 20 f., 24 ; Isa. Iviii, 13 f. ; cf. article " Sabbath " in Jewis/i 
 Encyclopedia. 
 
 'The Hebrew stem sitabat means 'to cease,' a signification that accords well 
 with the character of a taboo day. Hut this sense has not been certainly found for 
 the Babylonian stem, and the original force of the term sabballi may be left undecided.
 
 TOTEM JSM A\l) TABOO 253 
 
 610. Ill tlic various cxpcrinu'iital cli\i.sions of the month, as \vc 
 have seen, a week of seven clays has been approaehed independ- 
 ently in several places (Babylonia, Hawaii, Java, Ashantilandj. The 
 basis of this division is doubtless the quartering of the lunation, 
 and it has been reenforced, probably, by considerations of conven- 
 ience — seven is an intermediate number, six days of work and 
 one of abstinence and rest (holiday) commends itself as a practical 
 arrangement. It appears among the Hebrews as early as the eighth 
 century n.c. ; ^ it may have been derived from or suggested by 
 Babylonian usage, or it may have been an ancient Hebrew custom 
 — data on this point are lacking. In any ca.se the Jewish genius 
 for religious organization seized on the seven-day scheme and wove 
 it into the system of worship. A more important step taken by 
 the Jews was the ignoring of lunar phases (except, ot course, new 
 
 . moon as the beginning of the month) and reckoning the week and 
 the seventh day (the sabbath) in a continuous line. We have noted 
 cases in which lunar phases were ignored, but this Jewish arrange- 
 ment appears to be unique, and its simplicity and convenience have 
 commended it to the world. 
 
 611. T.ucky and unlucky days. The malefic influences ema- 
 nating from various objects and resident in the air attached them- 
 selves to certain days, and out of the vast mass of experiences in 
 every community there grew up systems of days when things might 
 or might not be done with safety and advantage. There were the 
 great occasions, economic and astronomical, referred to above, and 
 there were particular occurrences, such as a death or a defeat, that 
 stamped a day as unlucky. There are many such beliefs, the origin 
 of which is lost in a remote antiquity. The ancient civilized nations 
 had their codes of luck. Egypt had a long list of unlucky days."'^ 
 In Babylonia onerous restrictions were imposed on kings, seers, 
 and physicians on certain days (the 7th. 14th, 19th, 21st, 28th) 
 of the sixth and eighth months ^ (and perhaps of other months). 
 
 1 Exod. xxiii, 12. 
 
 2 Chabas, l.c calcitdricr dcs jours fastes ct ncfastes-, Maspero, Etudes egyp- 
 iicuucs, i, 28 ff. ; Wiedemann, Religion of the Aiieieitt Egypt iaiis, chap. x. 
 
 3 ] \' Kawlinson, plates, 32 f. ; Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 373 ff.
 
 2 54 LXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 A brief list of days favorable and unfavorable to work is given by 
 Hesiod.^ The Roman dies nefasti, properly ' irreligious days,' were 
 inauspicious, unlucky." Similar lists of lucky and unlucky days are 
 found among existing tribes,** and the popular luck codes in Chris- 
 tian communities are numerous and elaborate.* These have done, . 
 and still do, great harm by substituting irrational for rational rules 
 of conduct. 
 
 612. In many of the cases cited above and in many totemistic 
 regulations there are prohibitions of particular sorts of food. Such 
 prohibitions, vcr)- numerous, are found in all grades of civilization.'^ 
 They have arisen from various causes — climatic conditions, 
 hygienic beliefs, religious conceptions (as, for example, the recog- 
 nition of the sacred character of certain animals, and the connec- 
 tion of certain foods with supernatural beings and ceremonies '^), 
 sometimes, perhaps, from accidental experiences ; the history of. 
 most of the particular usages escapes us. The fundamental prin- 
 ciple involved is the identity of the food with him who eats it — 
 when it is charged with supernatural power (by its own sacred- 
 ness, or by its connection with a sacred person, or by ecclesiastical 
 decree) it becomes malefic to an unauthorized person who par- 
 takes of it. 
 
 613. A peculiar form of prohibition of foods appears when a 
 society is divided into groups that are kept apart from one another 
 by social and religious traditions that have hardened into civic rules. 
 In such cases the diet of every group may be regulated by law, 
 and it may become dangerous and abhorrent for a superior to eat 
 what has been touched by an inferior. The best example of this 
 
 1 Hesiod, Works and Days, 763 ff. 
 
 2 Wissowa, Religion dcr Romci; p. 365 ff. ; Fowler, Roman Festivals, Index. 'J'lie 
 Romans, with their thoroughness where public religion was concerned, divided all 
 the days of the year into the three classes, dies fcsti (festive, for worship), dies f'ro- 
 fesii (for ordinary business), and dies intcrcisi (mixed, partly for religion, partly for 
 ordinary affairs). 
 
 3 Hastings, Kneyclopadia 0/ Religiott and Ethics, iii, 29 (Burma). 
 * J. H. King, The Siipernaliiral, Index, s.v. Luck. 
 
 5 Many examples are given in Westermarck's Origin and Development of the 
 Moral Ideas, chap. xxx\-ii f. ; cf. above, § 204 ff., on fasting. 
 
 6 Hewitt, Native Tribes of Soitth-East Australia, p. 630 ff.
 
 TOTEM ISM AM) TABOO 255 
 
 sort of organization is the Hindu system of castes, uliich lias a 
 marked and unhappy effect on the life of the pcoj^lc.' All such 
 arbitrary social divisions yield gradually to the intluence of educa- 
 tion and civic freedom, and this appears to be the tendency in 
 India at the present day. 
 
 614. TitnisJiment of violation of taboo. Where the hostile ])o\ver 
 is inherent in an object, punishment is supposed to follow violation 
 automatically — through contact the malefic influence passes into 
 the man's body and works destruction. Many experiences seem 
 to the savage to establish the certainty of such a result. Fervid 
 belief, moreover, produced by long tradition, acts powerfully on 
 the imagination, and in taboo-ridden communities thus often brings 
 about the bodily ill called for by the theory : a man who ate of 
 food that he found on the roadside, learning afterwards that it 
 belonged to a chief, fell ill and died in a few hours. '^ When taboo 
 regulations have been taken up into the civil law,'^ punishment for 
 violations is inflicted by the civil authorities. The tendency to 
 make taboo a part of the civil law, and to subordinate the former 
 to the latter, increases with the advance of knowledge and political 
 organization ; and one result of this movement is that great per- 
 sonages are sometimes permitted to violate with impunity taboos 
 imposed by inferiors. The native theory in such cases doubtless 
 is that the great man's mana overcomes the taboo infection ; but 
 at bottom, we may surmise, lies the sense of the dominance of 
 civil authority. 
 
 615. The chief's mana, however, sometimes comes into play 
 as a means of relief. A man who has inadvertently (or perhaps, 
 in some instances, purposely) violated a taboo may escape punish- 
 ment by touching some part of a chief's body. Here the innate 
 potency of the superior man expels or destroys the taboo force that 
 has entered the inferior — another example of how the primitive the- 
 ory of taboo is modified by conceptions of social rank and authority. 
 
 1 E. A. Gait, article "Caste" in Hastings, Encyclopicdia of Religion aiiJ Ethics. 
 
 2 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 321. 
 
 3 Taboo thus helps the growth of civil law (especially of penal codes) by its col- 
 lection of offenses, though only on condition of retiring from the field. Cf. Frazer, 
 Psyche'' s Task, p. 1 7 ff .
 
 256 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 616. Kcmoval of taboo. In general, magical ceremonies may be 
 employed to counteract the injurious influence resident in a thing 
 or an act, or to destroy the evil consequences resulting from a 
 violation of the taboo law. For this purpose sprinkling with water, 
 bathing in water, and the employment of charms are held to be 
 effective. Thus in tlie old Hebrew code the taboo resting on a 
 house supposed to l)e infected with the plague is removed by 
 sprinkling the house with water and the blood of a slain bird, and 
 setting free a second bird alive, which is supposed to carry the 
 plague-power off with it.^ A woman is tabooed forty days at the 
 birth of a male child, and eighty days at the birth of a female child ; 
 the taboo is removed by a holocaust and a sin-offering.^ 
 
 617. A general taboo regulation may be set aside by tribal 
 agreement in the interests of convenience or pleasure. On cer- 
 tain occasions the restrictions on the intercourse of the sexes are 
 removed for a brief period, at the expiration of which the pro- 
 hibitory law resumes its place.** Many special ceremonies in vari- 
 ous parts of the world have to do with modifications of marriage 
 laws.^ 
 
 618. Tiiboo and magic. Reference is made above to magical 
 procedures in connection with taboo customs. Taboo and magic 
 have a common basis in the conception of an occult force (which 
 may conveniently be called matia) resident in all things, but they 
 contemplate different sides of this force, and their social develop- 
 ments are very different. Taboo recognizes the inherent malefic 
 manifestations of the force (known by supposed experience), and 
 avoids them ; magic uses the mana energy to effect results impos- 
 sible for unaided human power. In taboo man feels himself to be 
 under the dominance of an occult law, and his virtue is blind obe- 
 dience ; in magic he feels himself to be the master of a great 
 energ)% and what he needs is knowledge. Taboo has originated 
 a mass of irrational rules for the guidance of everyday life ; magic 
 
 1 Lev. xiv, 48-53. 2 Lev. xii. 
 
 3 So in many popular festivals ; see Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central 
 Australia; Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 453 ff . : Wcstermarck, Origin and Devel- 
 opment of the Moral Ideas, chap. xlii. 
 
 4 Examples are given in Crawley's Mystic Rose, pp. 223, 4S0 ff., chap, x ff.
 
 roTE.-\risM Axn rinoo 257 
 
 has grown into a quasi-sciencc, w ilh an organized body of adepts, 
 touching religion on one side and real science on another side. 
 
 619. A closer relationship between magic and taboo has been 
 assumed in view of the fact that both rest to some extent on the 
 principle of the association of ideas, the principle that like proce- 
 dures produce like results. It is true that some taboo rules depend 
 on this conception : ^ the fiesh of timid animals is avoided, that of 
 courageous animals is eaten, under the belief that the man partakes 
 of the character of the food he eats ; association with women is 
 sometimes supposed to make a man or a boy effeminate. It is to 
 be expected that in the immense number of taboo prohibitions and 
 precautions some should be found in wliich the association of ideas 
 is the determining factor. I'ut for the majority of taboo regula- 
 tions this explanation does not hold. In the economic and sexual 
 taboos mentioned above, in the dread of corpses, in the fear of 
 touching things belonging to a chief, and in other cases there are 
 customs that can only be referred to a belief in an injurious potency 
 fesiding in certain objects." Practically, savage tribes distinguish 
 between taboo and magic. 
 
 620. Contamination of customs has always been the rule in 
 human communities, early and late, savage and ci\ilized. We have 
 seen how there has often been a coalescence between taboo regu- 
 lations proper and ordinary civil law. To state the case more fully, 
 these have been fused into a unity of social life with individual 
 initiative, magical notions, arbitrary enactments. The actual social 
 constitution even of slightly developed tribes is composite, the out- 
 come of long experience and experiment in which all the lines of 
 social feeling and thought have gradually drawn together and been 
 compacted into a more or less unitary mass. While these lines 
 have influenced each the others, it is possible, to a considerable 
 
 1 Tylor, Early History of Mankind, 3d ed., p. 129 ff . ; Hubert and .Mauss, in 
 Annee sociologiqtte, vii ; Frazer, Early History of the Kingship, lecture ii, especially 
 p. 52 ff. (he defines taboo as "negative magic," magic, that is, employed to avoid 
 malefic influences) ; cf. Crawley, The Mystic Nose, chap, ix, for the transmission of 
 sex characteristics. 
 
 2 Cf. R. K. Marett, " Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? " (reply to Frazer), in Anthropo- 
 logical Essays presented to E. B. Tylor,
 
 258 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 extent, to distinguish the sphere of each. Thus we can, in many 
 cases, see where ordinary civil law comes in to adopt, modify, or 
 set aside taboo rules, and so we can generally recognize the line of 
 demarcation between definite taboo and the conception of associ- 
 ation of ideas. In some cases the explanations offered of taboo 
 customs are afterthoughts — imagined hypotheses to account for 
 things already in existence.^ 
 
 621. 'I'he despotism exercised by taboo systems over certain 
 Polynesian communities is one of the extraordinary facts of human 
 history. In New Zealand and Hawaii the restrictions on conduct 
 were so numerous and were carried out so mercilessly that life 
 under these conditions would seem to us intolerable.- In addition 
 to a great number of particular prohibitions and to the constant fear 
 of violating the sacredness of the persons of chiefs and trenching 
 on their prerogatives, we find in New Zealand the amazing rule 
 that on the occasion of a great misfortune (as a fire) the sufferer 
 was to be deprived of his possessions — the blow that fell on him 
 was held to affix a stigma to all that he owned. Besides the tra- 
 ditional taboos there were the arbitrary enactments of chiefs which 
 might constantly introduce new possibilities of suffering. Yet with 
 all this the people managed to live in some degree of comfort, 
 somewhat as in civilized communities life goes on in spite of earth- 
 quakes, epidemics, bank failures, the injustices of law, and the 
 tyranny of the powerful. 
 
 622. The duration of certain taboo periods among various peoples 
 in various ages has varied greatly. Taboos relating to foods, chiefs, 
 and the intercourse of the sexes are usually permanent everyday 
 customs ; those that relate to economic procedures are in force 
 for the time demanded by each industry. In Hawaii the catch- 
 ing of certain species of fish was forbidden for half the year, and 
 the Borneo har\'est taboo (carrying prohibition of other work) 
 lasts sometimes for weeks. There is mention in a Maori legend 
 of a taboo of three years.^ According to the later Hebrew law, in 
 
 ' Cf. Marett, op. cit. 
 
 2 R. Taylor, New Zealand, chap. \ iii : Alexander, Short History of the Ha-waiian 
 People. 8 Shortland, Maori Religion.
 
 TOri.MlSM A.M) TABOO 259 
 
 every seventh year all agricultural operations ceased.^ A portent 
 may demand a long period of restriction, as in the case of the 
 Roman nine-day ceremony {tiovcndiales feriae)!- As has been re- 
 marked above, economic taboos arc often dictated by convenience 
 — they are prudential rules to which a supernatural sanction has 
 been attached. 
 
 623. Diffusion of taboo. l'()l\ncsia, particularly New Zealand 
 and Hawaii, is the special home of taboo — the only region in 
 which it is known to have taken the form of a well-compacted, 
 all-embracing system. It exists in Melanesia, but it is there less 
 complicated and general,'' and the same thing is true of IJritish 
 New Guinea.'' In parts of Borneo it is found in modified form : 
 there are two sorts of taboo, one, called mali, absolutely forbidding 
 work on certain occasions, the other, called petiti, allowing work if 
 it is begun by a person not penti ; before the birth of a child the 
 latter form of taboo rests on both parents.^ The Land Dyaks 
 have their lali days and the Sea Dyaks their petnate^^ these terms 
 being the equivalents of taboo. 
 
 624. Though there is no proof of the existence of all-pervading 
 taboo systems among the peoples of Asia and America, there are 
 notices of taboo regulations in particular cases in these regions. At 
 the birth of a child the Hindu father was subject to certain restric- 
 tions along with the mother, and his taboo was removed by bath- 
 ing." Among the Sioux Indians on the death of a child the father 
 is taboo for a period of six months or a year.^ In West African 
 Calabar there are taboos (called ibet) on individuals, connected 
 with spirits, the guardians of children.^ In Assam economic and 
 other taboos are elaborate and well organizcd.^'^ Such observances, 
 
 1 Exod. xxiii, 10 f. 2 Livy, i, 31. 
 
 3 Codrington, The Afclanesians, p. 215 ff. ; George Brown, Melanesians and Poly- 
 ftcsians, p. 273 ff. 
 
 ■* Seligmann, T/tc Melanesians of British New Guinea, Index, s.v. Taboo. 
 
 o n. Ling Koth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo, i, 98. 
 
 c On pennontong sec W. H. Furness, 3d, Home Life of the Borneo Head-hunters, 
 p. 160 ff. " Manu, V, 62. 8 Miss Alice Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies, p. 297 f. 
 
 8 Miss Mary Kingsley, Travels, Index. 
 
 1" T. C. Hodson, "• Genna amongst the Tribes of Assam," in Journal of the An- 
 thropological Institute, xxxvi (1906).
 
 26o IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 in connection with death, are found among the Kafirs^ and the 
 Eskimo. - 
 
 625. P'or the ancient civilized peoples there is no proof of the 
 existence of general taboo systems. A'arious particular prohibitions, 
 involving a sense of danger in certain things, are mentioned above ; 
 they relate chiefly to corpses, to infected houses, to women in con- 
 nection with menstruation and childbirth,^ to certain official persons 
 (as the Roman flamen dialis). There are also the lists of unlucky 
 days (Eg\ptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman). I'he origin of food 
 prohibitions (Hebrew, Pythagorean) is uncertain ; ■• they may have 
 arisen, as is suggested above, from general regard for sacred animals 
 and plants, or from totemistic relations, or from other conditions 
 unknown to us ; the Hebrew lists of forbidden animals may have 
 been gradually expanded under the guidance of antagonism to sur- 
 rounding non-Yahwistic cults. Whether the ancient taboo usages 
 are the remains of older more extensive systems or represent the 
 extreme point to which tabooism was carried by the communities 
 in question the data do not enable us to decide. 
 
 626. In various places, outside of the Polynesian area, we find 
 terms that bear a more or less close resemblance in signification 
 to taboo. ^ Melanesian tambu is that which has a sacred character.® 
 The Borneo terms {Jali, pemate, mali, penti) are mentioned just 
 above, and there is the pomali of Timor (in the Malayan Archi- 
 pelago). The Malagasy _/<7</)' is defined as 'dangerous, prohibited.' "^ 
 In Gabun (West Africa) onmda is said to mean 'prohibited to 
 human beings.' ^ The Hebrew ta^n'e is used of things dangerous, 
 not to be touched, ritually defiling," and this sense sometimes 
 
 1 Kidd, The Essential A'tijir, Index. 
 
 2 Boas, in Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology, and 
 Bulletin A'F, American Museum of Natural History. 3 Lev. xii-.\v. 
 
 ■* Deut. xiv ; Lev. xi ; Diogenes Laertius, Pythagoras, xvii. 
 
 5 On tabu (or tapu') see E. Tregear, Maori- Polynesian Comparative Dictionary ; 
 W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches, iv, 385. 6 Codrington, The Afclanesians, p. 215. 
 
 ' A. van Gennep, Tabou et iotemisme h Madagascar. 
 
 8 R. H. Nassau, Fetichism in West Africa,'^. 211. 
 
 9 The taboo sense proper is not found in Greek ^7105 (61705), iva'yi)%, and Latin 
 sacer, which rather mean what is accursed, detestable on account of wrong com- 
 mitted.
 
 TOTEM JSM AM) lABOO 261 
 
 attaches to llu- trim </in/(>s// (rcndcrctl in the English version by 
 'huh'), whieh in\()l\e-s the piesenee dI" a supernatural (and there- 
 lore diingerous^ quality.' 
 
 627. From all the facts known it nia\' he concluded that the 
 conception of taboo exists or has existed in some form in a great 
 oart of the world, ^ though its development has differed greatly in 
 different regions. In general its prevalence appears to have been 
 in inverse proportion to that of totemism — it is lacking or feeble 
 in the chief totemic centers, Australia and North America, and 
 strongest in Polynesia, where totemism is hardly recognizable. It 
 may be said that, while totemism appears in those forms of social 
 life that have been created by hunting communities,^ taboo is the 
 product of more settled societies, in which agriculture plays an 
 important part. But while this is true, at least in a general way, 
 we are not able to trace all the influences that have determined 
 the development of totemism and taboo ; some of these are lost 
 in the obscurity of the remote past, and, unfortunately for pur- 
 poses of investigation, both taboo and totemism, as we now meet 
 thorn in actual operation, arc in process of decay. Why, for instance, 
 taboo has llourished in Hawaii with its fishing industries and has 
 not flourished in certain half-civilized, partly agricultural North 
 American tribes we are unable to explain precisely. We may fall 
 back on the vague statement that every community has accom- 
 plished that for which its genius fitted it, but how the genius of 
 any one people has fitted it for this or that particular task it is 
 not always possible to say. 
 
 628. T/ie disappearance of the taboo system in civilized nations is 
 to be referred to the general advance in intelligence and morality. 
 Usually this movement is a gradual and silent one, marked by 
 a quiet dropping of usages as they come to be held unnecessary 
 or oppressive. Sometimes a bold individual rebels against the 
 established custom and successfully introduces a new era : thus 
 
 1 Sacred books " defile the hands." 
 
 2 Cf. articles "Taboo" in Encyclofadia Briiannka, 9th ed. (by Frazer) and nth 
 cd. (by Thomas). 
 
 3 The relation between totemism and man's attitude toward beasts and plants is 
 discussed above, §§ 524 ff., 564 ff.
 
 262 jxTRODi'CriLxy to h/stor]' of religions 
 
 in Voruba, under an old custom, when a king died his eldest son 
 was obliged to commit suicide ; this custom was set at defiance by 
 a certain Adelu in i860, and has not since been observed.* ^11 the 
 influences that tend to broaden thought go to displace taboo. The 
 growth of clans into tribes, the promotion of voluntary organiza- 
 tions, secret societies, which displace the old totemistic groups, the 
 growth of agriculture and of commercial relations — all things, in a 
 word, that tend to make the individual prominent and to further 
 familv life lead naturally to the abrogation of oppressive taboos. 
 
 629. Doubtless also among lower tribes intercourse with higher 
 communities has had the same result. One of the most remarkable 
 episodes in the histor)^ of taboo is its complete overthrow in the 
 Hawaiian Islands in the year 18 19 by a popular movement.- The 
 movement was begun by members of the n^yal famil\-. particularly 
 by one of the queens, and was eagerly followed bv almost the 
 whole population — the result was the final overthrow of the sys- 
 tem. This was before the arrival of Christian missionaries ; but 
 as foreigners had visited the islands many years before (Captain 
 Cook first came in 1778), it is possible that the suggestion of the 
 reform came from observation of the fact that the taboos were 
 disregarded by those men without evil effects. In any case it was 
 the acceptance of better ideas b\- the people that led to the rev- 
 olutionary movement. 
 
 630. Ro/e of taboo in the history of religion. The relation of 
 taboo to morality and religion and to the general organization of 
 society appears from the facts stated above. It has created neither 
 the sense of obligation nor the determination of what is right or 
 wrong in conduct. The sense of obligation is coeval with human 
 society — man, at the moment when he became man, was already 
 potentially a moral being (and a religious being as well).' His ex- 
 perience of life induced rules of conduct, and these, with the con- 
 currence of some hardly definable instincts, became imperative for 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, Yoriiba, p. 167. 
 
 2 Alexander, Short History of 1 lie Hcnvaiian People, chap. xxii. 
 
 3 On the question whether a germinal sense of moral obligation is found in the 
 lower animals sec above, § 12.
 
 TOrilMISM AM) TAHOO 263 
 
 him — the conception involved in the word 'ought' gradually took 
 shajic. The practical content of the conception was determined by 
 all sorts of experience ; the decisive consideration was whether or 
 not a given thing was advantageous. The belief arose that certain 
 disadvantageous things were to be referred to extrahuman influ- 
 ences, and such things were of course to be avoided — this belief 
 produced the taboo system. 
 
 631. i he prohibitions of morality sprang from social relations 
 with human beings, the prohibitions of taboo from social relations 
 with superhuman beings — duties to both classes of beings were 
 defined by experience. The rule "' thou shalt not kill thy clansman" 
 was a necessity of human society ; the rule "' thou shalt nc^t touch 
 a corpse " sprang from the fear of a superhuman, malign, death- 
 dealing Power. Avoidance of poisonous herbs was an obligation 
 founded on common experience ; avoidance of a chief's food and 
 certain other foods arose from dread of offending a spirit or some 
 occult Power. And so with all taboo prescriptions as contrasted 
 with others relating to conduct. "• 
 
 632. Taboo is in essence religious, not moral. In so far as it 
 supplies a supernatural sanction for moral conduct proper and 
 maintains rational social relations (as when a man's wife and other 
 property are made taboo to all but himself), it is often beneficent. 
 On the other hand, it is antimoral when it elevates to the rank of 
 duties actions that have no basis in human relations or are in any 
 way antagonistic to a healthy human instinct of right. This it has 
 often done, and there has accordingly resulted a conflict between 
 it and morality — a conflict that has formed no small part of the 
 ethical history of the race, its echoes remaining to the present day. 
 In all religions it has been hard to bring about an intelligent har- 
 mony between the moral and the ritual. Taboo was not originally 
 irrational — it sprang from the belief (rational for the early time) 
 in the presence of the supernatural in certain objects, and this 
 belief was held to be supported by early experience, according to 
 which it seemed that violations of taboo were followed by sickness 
 
 1 Naturally, the origin of all the particular taboos escapes us; it depends in most 
 cases on unknown conditions.
 
 264 lyTRODUcriox to history of religions 
 
 or death or other misfortunes. It came to be thought irrational 
 with the progress of knowledge and reflection. 
 
 633. Taboo, being a religious conception, has been adopted and 
 fostered by all popular systems of religion. It has been set aside 
 not by religion as such but b\- all the influences that have tended 
 to rationalize religion. Religious leaders have modified it so far as 
 modification has been demanded by public opinion. So enlightened 
 and spiritualminded a man as the apostle Paul declared that an 
 unworthy participation in the eucharistic celebration produced 
 sickness and death. ^ Innumerable are the taboos that have passed 
 silently into oblivion. 
 
 634. Taboo, then, is a concomitant of man's moral life that has 
 sometimes opposed, sometimes coalesced with natural morality. 
 Like all widely extending institutions it has tended in part to weld 
 men together; like all irrational restrictions it has tended also to 
 hold men apart. Like all positive law it has fostered the sense 
 of moral obligation, but like all arbitrary law it has weakened the 
 power of intelligent and moral obedience. It has been not the 
 guardian of morality, but a temporary form ( useful in a primitive 
 stage of society) in which a part of the moral law expressed itself. 
 The real moral force of society has been sympathetic social inter- 
 course, which, under the guidance of an implicit moral ideal, has 
 been constantly employed in trying to spiritualize or to reject those 
 enactments of taboo that haw Ix-en proved by experience, obser- 
 vation, and reflection to be injurious." 
 
 1 I Cor. xi, 27-30. 
 
 2 On the social organization of law cf. Darwin, Descent of Man, p. 108 ; article 
 "Aryan Religion " in Hastings, Encyclopccdla of Religion and Ethics.
 
 cha]'']'i:r VI 
 
 GODS 
 
 635. The climax of the organization of external religion appears 
 in the conception of gods proper ; this conception is always asso- 
 ciated with more or less well-developed institutions. Early religious 
 life expresses itself in ceremonies ; the god is the embodiment of 
 man's ideal of the extrahuman power that rules the world. It is 
 not always easy to distinguish the true gods from the other super- 
 natural beings with which earl\- man's world is peopled.^ As far 
 as concerns power, the ghosts and the spirits appear to do all that 
 the gods are credited with doing ; the sphere of ghostly action is 
 practically unlimited, and the spirit that dwells in a spring, in a 
 river, or in a mountain, is as mighty in his sphere as Indra or Apollo 
 in his sphere ; the difference between them and gods is a difference 
 of intellectual and moral culture and of the degree of naturaliza- 
 tion in a human society — a god might be defined as a superhuman 
 Being fashioned by the thought of a civilized people (the term 
 ' civilized ' admitting, however, of many gradations). Still, gods 
 proper ma\- be distinguished from other Powers by certain char- 
 acteristics of person and function. Ghosts are shadowy doubles of 
 human beings, sometimes nameless, wandering about without defi- 
 nite purpose except to procure food for themselves, uncertain of 
 temper, friendly or unfriendly according to caprice or other circum- 
 stances, able to help or to harm, and requiring men to be con- 
 stantly on the alert so as not in an unguarded moment to offend 
 them. Souls of recently deceased ancestors, more highly organized 
 ghosts, conceived of also as attenuated bodies, have powers not 
 essentially different from those of the simpler ghosts, but are dif- 
 ferentiated from these in function by their intimate relations with 
 
 1 See above, § 240 ff. 
 265
 
 266 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the family or clan to which they belong, and by their more definite 
 human nature ; they are as a rule permanently friendly, are capable 
 of definite sympathetic social intercourse with living men, and are 
 sometimes controllers and patrons, hardly to be distinguished from 
 local or departmental gods. Spirits are ethereal beings residing in, 
 or closely connected with, certain objects (trees, rivers, springs, 
 stones, mountains, etc.), sometimes permanently attached to these 
 objects, sometimes detached ; roaming about, sometimes kindly, 
 more generally inimical, authors of disease and death, to be feared 
 and to be guarded against, but sometimes in function (though not 
 in origin) identical with ancestral ghosts. Totems, in their developed 
 form, are rexercd, but rarely if e\er worshiped. The term ' animal- 
 gods ' may mean either living animals regarded as divine, or animals 
 believed to be the forms assumed by gods ; in the latter case they 
 may be taken to be real gods of an inferior type. 
 
 In distinction from the four classes of Powers just mentioned, 
 a true god is a supernatural being with distinct anthropomorphic 
 personality, with a proper name or a distinctive title, exercising 
 authority over a certain land or people or over a department of 
 nature or a class of phenomena, dwelling generally in a sanctuary 
 on the earth, or in the sky, or in the other world, and in general 
 sympathetic with men. Gods have rational human qualities, human 
 modes of procedure, and are human beings in all things except 
 power.' 
 
 636. The god appears to have beep at the outset a well-formed 
 anthropomorphic being. His genesis is different from that of the 
 ghost, spirit, ancestor, or totem. These, except the spirit, are all 
 given by experience : totems are familiar objects plainly visible to 
 the eye; ghosts and ancestors are known through dreams and ap- 
 pearances by day, and by tradition : and tlie conception of the spirit 
 is closely allied to that of the ghost, though it is in part a scientific 
 inference rather than a fact of experience. In distinction from these 
 a god is a larger product of imagination, sj^ringing from the neces- 
 sity of accounting for the existence of things in a rclativelv refined 
 
 1 In a cannibal communit)', for example, the gods will be cannibal; sec .\. Lang, 
 Myth, Riliial, and Religion, new ed., i, 6, 263 f.
 
 CODS 267 
 
 way. The creator is a beast only in low tribes, and in process of 
 time, if the tribe continues to grow in culture, is absorbed in the 
 cult of a true god. It is rarely, if ever, that a beast, whether a 
 totem or only a sacred thing, becomes a god proper. 
 
 The best apparent examples of such a growth are the Egyptian 
 bull Apis, who had his temple and ministers, the Hindu monkey- 
 god llanuman, and ihe divine snake of the Nagas of India.^ But, 
 though ill these cases the beast forms receive divine worship, it is 
 not clear whether it is the l)east tliat is worshiped or a god incar- 
 nate in the beast ; the question is difficult, the data being meager. 
 The myths in which gods appear in beast forms do not prove a 
 development of the former out of the latter. It is not necessary to 
 suppose that Zeus was once a bull, Artemis a bear or a sow, Adonis 
 a boar, and Aphrodite a sow or a dove. The myths may be naturally 
 explained as arising from the coalescence of cults, the local sacred 
 beast becoming attached to a local deity who had a different birth. 
 
 The god is a figure of slow growth. Beginning as a sort of head- 
 man, identified sometimes with an ancestor, sometimes with a beast, 
 his character is shaped by all the influences that go to form the 
 tribal life, and he thus embodies from generation to generation the 
 tribe's ideals of virtue. 
 
 637. The list of classes of supernatural Powers given above 
 must be regarded, as is there intimated, as a general one. One 
 class appears sometimes to shade into another ; in the theistic 
 schemes of low tribes it is often difficult to define the conceptions 
 of supernatural beings with precision. 
 
 Early mythical founders of cttlturc. Before proceeding to a con- 
 sideration of true gods, a class of beings must be mentioned that 
 appears to stand on the borderland between divine animals, spirits, 
 and gods. There are various sorts of beings that appear sometimes 
 in animal form, sometimes in human form, their function being the 
 arranging of the affairs of the world, the origination of institutions, 
 and sometimes a definite creation of various things. The title 
 " founders" vr:" transformers " or " culture-heroes" has been given 
 
 1 Rawlinson, Histoiy of Ancient Egypt, i, 414 f.; ii, 85, 506; Breasted, History of 
 Egypt, pp. 46, 575 ; Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 36S, 502 ; ibid., p. 33S f.
 
 268 /.VTA\WCTr/O.V TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 them. They arise, just as the true gods do, from the necessity of 
 accounting for the beginnings of things,^ and, from a comparison 
 of the ideas of various tribes, a certain growtli in the conception 
 may be recognized. 
 
 638. In some cases the figure is that of a mere trickster, a mis- 
 chievous being, the hero of countless stories, who acts from caprice 
 or malice, though his actions may result in advantage to men. 
 Such are many of the animal forms of the North American Indians : 
 the coyote of the Thompson River Indians,^ the raven of North 
 British Columbia,^ the mink and the blue jay of the North Pacific 
 Coast.* In other cases, as also to some extent in the Thompson River 
 region, he appears in a more dignified form as a benevolent organizer. 
 
 This growth of the trickster into the real culture-hero ma\- be 
 referred to a progress in thought and refinement.^ Among the 
 Northern Maidu of California there is a sharp distinction between 
 the two characters : the coyote is tricky and mischievous in the bad 
 sense, with no desire to do anything profitable to men ; the benevo- 
 lent and useful work of the world is ascribed to a personage called 
 " the creator," who is always dignified and regardful of the inter- 
 ests of man." This sort of distinction, intended to account for the 
 presence of both good and evil elements of life, is found in inchoate 
 form among other low peoples (as, for example, the Masai and the 
 Australians '), but reaches its full proportions only in the great 
 civilized religions. 
 
 1 They sometimes coalesce in functions with ghosts and spirits. • 
 
 2 Teit, Thompson River Indians, p. 19 ff. 
 
 8 L. Farrand, "Traditions of the Chilcotin Indians " in Jcsn/> North Pacific Expe- 
 dition (vol. ii of Memoirs of the American Mttscum of Xat/iral History), i, 14 ff . ; 
 Farrand and Kahnweiler, " Traditions of the Quinault Indians," ibid., iii, iii; Boas, 
 Indianischc Sagen, p. 194 fi. : C. Hill-Tout, articles in Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute, vols, xxxiv, xxxv, xxxvii. 
 
 ^ Boas, Introduction to Teit's Thompson River Indians, p. 16, and " Reports 
 on the Indians of British Columbia " in Rcpoiis of the British Association for the 
 Advancement of Science, vols, lix, Ix, Ixi, Ixiv, Ixv. A tricksy character is ascribed to 
 Loki in some of the Norse stories (Saus-saye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 263). Loki, 
 however, as he appears in the literature, is a highly complex figure. 
 
 5 See Boas's Introduction in Teit's Thompson River Indians. 
 
 6 R. B. Dixon, 77/^? Northern Maidu, p. 263. 
 
 " A. C. IloUis, The Masai, p. 264 f. ; Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, ist ed., 
 ii, 4 f.
 
 (j( VAV 269 
 
 639. In this class of vaguely conceived creators or transformers 
 we may place the Central Australian Arunta ancestors, who em- 
 bodied the idea of the identity of beasts and human beings, and 
 are the originators of all the arts and institutions of the tribes ; 
 they established the totcniic groups and the ceremonies, and, in the 
 developed m\lh, perpetuate their existence by entering the bodies 
 of women and being born as human beings.' The relative antiquity 
 of this conception of the origin of things is uncertain ; in one point 
 of view it is crude, but in another it is an elaborate and well-consid- 
 ered attempt to explain the world. These Arunta ancestors, notwith- 
 standing their half-bestial forms, are represented as acting in all 
 regards like human beings, and as having planned a complete 
 system of tribal organization, but no religious worship is offered 
 them — they figure only in sociogonic myths and in the determina- 
 tion of the totemic status of newborn children. Among the Navahos 
 we find a combination of beast and man in the work of creation.*^ 
 In their elaborate cosmogonic myth the first actors are Coyote, 
 First Man, and First Woman, and there is discord between Coyote 
 and his human coworkers. Here again the object seems to be to 
 account for the diverse elements of the tribal life. 
 
 640. Many such personages, originators oj introducers of the arts 
 of life and the distribution of territory, are described in the folk-tales 
 and m\ths of the North American tribes. The conception, it may 
 be concluded, existed all over the world, though for man\- com- 
 munities the details have not yet been brought to light. ^ A note- 
 worthy personage of this class is the Melanesian Qat (especially 
 prominent in the Banks Islands), a being credited with almost 
 plenary power, the creator or arranger of seasons, the introducer 
 of night, therefore an important cultural power, yet mischie\ous, 
 the hero of numerous folk-stories ; he does not appear in animal 
 form but lives an ordinary family life. He is not worshiped — -he 
 is regarded rather as the explanation of phenomena, a genuine 
 
 1 Spencer and (iillcn, JVa/tTC Tribes of Central Australia, p. 123 ff. 
 
 2 W. Matthews, iXavaho Legends, pp. 69 ff., 73 ff. 
 
 3 See Brinton, Myths of the Nciv World and American IIcro-Myths ; Jour- 
 nal of Amcricatt Folklore, passim. On the ' Hiawatha' myth see Hale, Iroquois Book 
 of Rites, p. iSoff., and Beauchamp, m Journal of American Folklore, October, 1S91.
 
 270 IXTRODUCriOX TO I//STOR\' OF Rl£/JG/0.\S 
 
 product of early cosmogonic science. He appears to be the nearest 
 approach in Melanesia to a real creator (with the exception perhaps 
 of a somewhat uncertain female being called Koevasi) ; but along- 
 side of him stand a number of spirits and ancestral ghosts who 
 play an important part in the organization of society.^ For the 
 Koryaks of Northeastern Siberia the " Big Grandfather " is an ar- 
 ranger of all things out of preexisting material ; - the Chukchee, on 
 the other hand, regard as creator a benevolent being residing in 
 the zenith. Vague stories of similar arrangers are found among the 
 East African Nandi, and the South African Zulus.^ 
 
 641. Traces of this function of organizing society appear in the 
 mythical figures of some higher religions. Among such figures may 
 be reckoned the Babylonian Gilgamesh, the Old Testament Cain- 
 ides, the Greek Heracles, Theseus, Orpheus, and others.'' But 
 these personages generally take on human form and are treated as 
 factors in the regular social development. 
 
 642. The " culture-hero " thus seems to be a natural product of 
 incipient civilization. He represents the vague feeling that the insti- 
 tutions of society arose out of human needs and that the origina- 
 tion of these institutions demanded more than human wisdom and 
 power.^ He partakes of the nature of both men and gods — he is 
 all-powerful, yet a creature of caprice and a slave of accident. To 
 him society is supposed to owe an incalculable debt ; but his mixed 
 nature affords a wide field for bizarre myths and folk-stories, and 
 he of necessity gives way to more symmetrical divine figures. 
 
 1 Codringlon, The Mclaiicsians, pp. 28, 167, and Index, s.v. Qat. 
 
 2 He is called also the '' Big Raven," belonging under this title in the cycle of 
 raven myths of the North Pacific Ocean (both in Asia and in America) ; see Jochel- 
 son, mjcsiip North Pacific Expcdiiioii, vi, i, 17 f. 
 
 •i Hollis, The Nandi^ p. 98 f. ; Callaway, The Amazulu^ p. i ff . ; cf. the Japanese 
 mythical emperor Jimmu (Knox, Development of Kclii^ion in Japan, pp. 46, 63). 
 
 •• Jastrovv, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Index, s.v.; Gen. iv ; articles in 
 Roscher's Lcxikon, s.vv. ; Gruppe, Griechischc Mythologic, Index, s.vv. 
 
 5 It is noteworthy that among the numerous aitiological myths there seems to be 
 no attempt to account for the origin of language. Language was thought of as so 
 simple and natural a thing that no explanation of its beginnings was necessary. Adam, 
 in Gen. ii, is able, as a matter of course, to give names to the animals. In early myths 
 beasts have the power of speech. In a Nandi folk-story (Hollis, The Nandi, p. 1 13) 
 what excites the wonder of the thunder and the elephant is not man's capacity of 
 speech, but the fact that he can turn over when asleep without first getting up.
 
 cons 
 
 271 
 
 643. The god, in the true sense of the word, is tlie highest gen- 
 eralization of the construetive religious imagination. In his simplest 
 and earliest form he appears as a venerable supernatural man, wise 
 according to the wisdom of his place and time — such is the natural 
 conception of the lower tribes. His position is described by the 
 titles " the old one," " the father," " the grandfather " ; ^ he is a 
 superhuman headman or chief, caring for his people, giving them 
 what they need, sharing their ethical ideas and enforcing their ethical 
 rules. He is an all-sufificient local ruler or overseer, his functions 
 touching the whole life of his people and of no other people. In 
 the progress of myth-making (that is, in the construction of early 
 scientific theology) such gods are not infrequently represented as 
 men who have gone up to the sky ; this is a natural way of ac- 
 counting for their superterrestrial abode. Savage conceptions of 
 the origin and history of such figures are usually vague, and their 
 theologies fluctuating and self-contradictory ; but there are two 
 points as to which opinion is firm : the god is like men in every- 
 thing except power, and his functions are universal. He represents 
 not a monotheistic creed (which takes the whole world as the do- 
 main of God), but a narrow tribal acceptance of the sufficiency of 
 the local divine patron.^ 
 
 Clan Gods 
 
 644. The character just described is that of the earliest known 
 gods ; it is embodied in certain figures found in various parts of 
 the world. Such divine figures belong to the simplest form of 
 social organization, the clan ; it is in the clan that thc)^ are shaped, 
 and they reflect the conceptions, political and ethical, of the clan. 
 In Southeast Australia the personages called Daramulun, Baiame, 
 Bunjil, correspond to this description : they are supernatural old 
 men who have always existed ; they are taken for granted without 
 inquiry into their origin ; the}' direct the affairs of the tribe in a 
 
 1 For female deities the title "grandmother" occurs (Batchelor, The Ainu [1901], 
 p. 578). The devil's grandmother figures in Teutonic folk-stories; see Journal of 
 American Folklore, xiii, 27S ff. ; Frazer, Golden Boui^ii, 1st ed., i, 336. 
 
 - Attempts to prove a primitive monotheism usually fail to take this distinction 
 into account.
 
 272 IXTRODUCriON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 general way in accordance with the moral ideas of the place and 
 time.^ The Australians have other beings with vaguely expressed 
 characters and functions, but our information regarding these is so 
 meager that it is not possible to form a distinct judgment of their 
 character. Similar figures are the Klamath Indian "Old Man " '^ 
 and the Zulu Unkulunkulu, an old man. the father of the people, 
 only dimly understood by the natives who have been questioned 
 on this point ; they are uncertain whether he is dead or alive, but 
 in any case he is revered as a great personage.^ 
 
 645. Other such deities are reported in South Africa, as the 
 Qamata of the Xosa, Morimo of the Bakuana, and farther north 
 Molungu.^ On the West Coast «lso, in Ashanti, Dahomi, and 
 Yoruba, a number of deities exist which were in all probability 
 originally local.^ Such appears to be the character of certain gods 
 of the non-Aryan tribes of India, as the Kolarian Sunthals and 
 Koles.® Perhaps also the god Vetala was originally such a local 
 deity with the savage characteristics proper to the time and place, 
 though later he was half Brahmanized and became a fiend." Among 
 the Todas every clan has its god, who was the creator and in- 
 structor of the people. The large number of gods now recognized 
 by the various Toda communities are essentially the same in char- 
 acter and function, and the existing system has doubtless been 
 formed bv the coalition of the clans.* In North America the 
 Navahos have a number of local deities, the yei (Zuni, yeyi), some 
 of which are called by terms that mean ' venerable.'® The Koryak 
 guardians of occupations and houses may be of the nature of such 
 objects of worship in the clans,^° and so also the Patagonian family- 
 gods. Cf. the Greek Kovporp6<^o<i. In Japan the early system of 
 supernatural beings has been obscured by the great religions of 
 
 1 Howitt, Native Tribes of Sotith-East Australia, p. 488 ff. 
 
 2 Boas, Introduction to Teit's Thompson River Indians, p. 7. 
 
 3 Callaway, The Amazitlii, p. i ff. ■• Kidd, The Essential Ka/ir, p. 101 ff. 
 
 5 A. B. Ellis, Tshi, chaps, v-vii ; Eii-e, chap, v; Yoruba, chap. iii. Cf. C. Par- 
 tridge, Cross Rh'er Natives (South Nigeria), p. 282 ff. 
 
 6 VV. Crooke, The Popular Religion and Folklore of Nortlicni India (1907), 
 chap. ii. ' Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 537 f. 
 
 8 Rivers, The Todas, chap. xix. 9 Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 35 ff. 
 
 10 Jochelson, mjesuji North Pacific Expedition, vi, i, 36-43.
 
 ao/).s' 273 
 
 the later time — Shinto in its developed form, and Buddhism — 
 but the indications are that the general term /Cv/w/, a designation 
 of all supernatural things, included local deities.^ 
 
 646. It is not clear how early the practice began of giving 
 these beings proper names. In the lowest known tribes we meet 
 descriptive titles such as ''old one," "grandfather," "grand- 
 mother " ; and so among some civilized peoples, as the Semites, 
 whose local deities are often known simply as /uitr/s (' possessors,' 
 ' lords '), sometimes as lords of particular places, as, for example, 
 the Aral)ic Dhu ash-Shara (Dusares), 'lord of the Shara.' A god 
 identified with a particular object may be called by its name; 
 so ' Heaven ' is said to have become the proper name of a Hu- 
 ron deity (cf. Zeus, Tien, Shangti).^ Names of Pawnee gods arc 
 Bright Star (Evening Star), Great Star (Morning Star), Motion- 
 less One (North Star), and many other such ; the Navahos have 
 The Woman Who Changes (apparently the changing year). White 
 Shell Woman, Child of Water ; ^ the Kolarian Sunthals, Creat 
 Mountain ; ■* the Brazilian Arawaks, River-born." A proper name 
 becomes necessary as soon as definite social relations with a god 
 are established. Di\-ine names in civilized religions, of remote 
 origin, are often inexplicable. 
 
 647. Among the simple clan gods divinized men should be 
 included. In many parts of the world, as is remarked above, 
 chiefs and other great personages are regarded as divine ; this 
 attribution of divinity is a part of that general early conception 
 according to whicli there was an element of power in all things, 
 naturalh- embodied in a special way in important men. This sort 
 of divinization is particularly prominent in Melanesia and parts of 
 Polynesia ; it exists also in Japan and in West Africa. As a rule 
 it is only the recently dead that are thus regarded as divine ob- 
 jects of worship, and the cult would thus be substantially a part 
 of the worship of ancestors ; but such divinized men frequently 
 
 1 Aston, Shinto, Index, s.v. Kami; Knox, Religion in Japan, p. 27 ff. 
 
 2 Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 255 ; cf. ii, ;^;^y. 
 
 3 Dorsey, The Skieii Pawnee, p. xix : Matthews, NavaJio Legends, p. 34 f. 
 
 4 Hopkins, Religions 0/ India, p. 532. 
 
 5 Spence, in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ii, 835.
 
 274 lyTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 bore a peculiarly intimate relation to the clan ur community and 
 became" specific protectors.* So far as their origin is concerned, 
 this class of divine patrons differs essentially from the old clan 
 god, whose genesis probably belongs to a remote antiquity and is 
 based on the general consciousness of some powerful inHuence in 
 nature." 
 
 648. Clan gods are found abundantly among the ancient civi- 
 lized peoples, Egyptian, Babylonian, Canaanite, Arabian, Greek, 
 Roman, and probably existed among other peoples as to whom 
 we have no exact information. In Old Egypt every hamlet had 
 its protecting deity ; these continued to be the objects of popular 
 worship down to a ver\- late time, the form of the deity being 
 usually that of a living animal." 
 
 649. A similar religious constitution obtained among the old 
 Semitic peoples. This is obvious in the case of the Canaanites 
 (including the Phoenicians), where every clan or community had 
 its divine lord (the Baal), who was a universal deity suflficient for 
 all the needs of the living, though particularly connected with the 
 dominant interests of his people.'* Such, probably, was the original 
 forra of the Hebrew Yahweh (Jehovah) ; in his Sinaitic home he 
 was naturally connected with the phenomena of desert and moun- 
 tain, and in Canaan, whither the Israelites brought his cult, he 
 was after a while recognized as the giver of crops also, and grad- 
 ually became a universal god in the larger sense of the term.^ 
 The Phoenician Baals — such as the Tyrian Melkart, ' the king of 
 the city' — are obviously local deities.^ The same thing is true 
 of the various gods that appear in pre-Mohammedan Arabia ; the 
 
 1 A. B. Ellis, Ewe (Dahomi), p. 104. 
 
 - On the ascription of divinity to men in great civilized religious systems see 
 above, §351!?. 
 
 3 Maspero, Dawn of CMlizatiou, p. 120 ff. ; Ed. Meyer, Gcschkhlc des Alton 
 Acgyflcns, p. 31 ff.; Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians^ p. 109; Erman, 
 Handbook of Egyptian Religion, pp. 21 f., 39. 
 
 •• Cf. W. von Baudissin, Stiidicn ziir semitischcn Rcligionsgeschichte, i, 28 f. 
 
 '•> R. Smend, AlttestavuntUchc Religionsgcscliichtc, p. 33 f. In regard to the orig- 
 inal home of Vahweh and the diffusion of his cult among other peoples than the 
 Hebrews exact information is lacking. 
 
 'J Pietschmann, Plionizier, pp. 170 f., 182 ff.
 
 GODS 275 
 
 deity of ;in\' particular tlan oi^ tiibc was l<no\vn to the people as 
 "the god" (Arabic A//a/i, that is, al-Ilahti), and tlie title "Allah," 
 adopted by Mohammed as the name of the supreme and only god, 
 thus in so far fitted in with the usage of the people.^ . 
 
 650. In Babylonia also a very large part of the divine names 
 found in the inscriptions must be understood to refer ultimately 
 to local deities, each sui)rcme in his own territory ; the later theo- 
 logians (probably priests) endeavored to organize these into a sort 
 of pantheon, but never succeeded in differentiating the various 
 deities distinctly. In general it may be said that all these old 
 Semitic gods had one and the same character ; each in his place 
 was supreme, and it is difficult to find any difference in real char- 
 acter and function among the great gods, as Ea, Bel, Marduk, 
 Sin, Shamash, Ishtar, Nabu, Ashur, Eshmun, and others.^ 
 
 651. The same remark will probably hold good of the popular 
 worship of the old Greeks. When Pausanias traveled through 
 Greece he found everywhere local cults which bore evidence of 
 primitiveness, and obviously pertained to the clan gods of the 
 various regions. In many cases these had been identified with 
 old animal-gods or had been interwoven into the general later 
 scheme and had been merged with the great gods of the developed 
 pantheon.^ The functions ascribed to various deities in the Veda 
 suggest a similar origin for them. When we find that many of 
 them are credited with the same larger or smaller acts of creation, 
 protection, or blessing, we may suspect that they were originally 
 clan gods that have been incorporated in the great theologic sys- 
 tem, and that " hcnotheism " is mainly a survival from this earlier 
 scheme or an extension of it.'' Similar local gods appear in Peru '" 
 and Mexico.*^ 
 
 1 Hastings, Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics, i, 664. 
 
 2 jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Index, s.\^. ; articles in Roschcr"s 
 Lcxikon ; " Eshmun " in Oricnialisclic Stndicn XdLlcA'c- gnuidmct. 
 
 3 See, for example, Pausanias, i, ^j, 3 (Zeus Meilichios); ii, ig, 3 (Apollo Lykios); 
 iii, 13, 2 (Kore Soteira — Persephone, the protectress); v, 25, 6 f. (Heracles); 
 viii, 12, I (Zeus Charmon). 
 
 4 Macdonell, Vcdic Mythology, p. 15 ff.; Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 90. 
 6 Sir C. R. Markham, The Incas of Peru, p. 104. 
 
 6 L. Spence, The Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Pern, p. 24 f.
 
 276 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 652. One class of Greek "heroes " may be considered as belonging 
 in the category of clan gods.* When the hero appears to be origi- 
 nally a god his worship is identical in character with that offered to 
 local deities ; so in the case of Achilles and many others.'"^ Such an 
 one is often a divine patron of a definite (usually small) territory, 
 has his sacred shrine with its ministers, and his specific sacrificial 
 cult. A trace of this t}-pc ma)- perhaps be recognized in Hesiod's 
 " halfgods," ^ the heroes of the Trojan war and others, whom he 
 places just after the age of bronze and just before his modern age 
 of iron ; their origin is thus made relatively late, as was natural if 
 thev descended cultually from old gods. 
 
 653 . A similar view appears in the fact that a hero is sometimes 
 of mixed parentage — his father or his mother is divine : a local 
 god, standing in close cultic connection with a greater deity, is 
 easily made into a son of the latter. In general, in the popular 
 worship there seems to be no distinction between old heroes and 
 gods. Where such a hero stood in close relations with a community 
 
 — if, for example, as was sometimes the case, he was the patron 
 or tutelary divinity of a family, or a mythical ancestor — - there was 
 doubtless a peculiar tenderness in the feeling for him. But his 
 general function probably was simply that of local patron.* 
 
 654 . Clan gods are specially important in the history of worship 
 
 — they form the real basis of the great theistic development. 
 Ghosts and spirits continue to be recognized and revered or 
 dreaded, but they are not powerful social bonds — it is the local 
 deity about whose person organized public worship grows up, and 
 it is he whose functions are gradually enlarged till he becomes a 
 universal god. The initial forms of religion are everywhere limited 
 locally and intellectually ; it is only by loyalty to the home as a 
 center and standing-place that man's religious affections and ideals 
 have expanded so as to embrace the world, and reach a high 
 standard of ethical purity and logical consistency. 
 
 1 See above, § 647. 2 Roscher, Lexikon, article " Heros," col. 2473 ff. 
 
 3 Works and Days, 155 ff. 
 
 ■» He appears to be usually beneficent ; but, like all the dead, he might sometimes 
 be maleficent.
 
 GODS 277 
 
 Departmental Gods 
 
 655. It must be regarded as an advance in religious conceptions 
 and religious life when natural phenomena are divided into classes 
 and assigned each to its special deity ; such a scheme brings men 
 into more intimate and sympathetic relations with the gods. It pre- 
 supposes a relatively advanced observation of nature and some 
 power of coordination and generalization, and seems to he found 
 only in communities that have some well-organized communal life. 
 In general it belongs to the agricultural stage and to the higher 
 civilizations that have grown out of this stage. Care for food ap- 
 pears to be the starting-point ; later, all sorts of social interests 
 demand consideration. 
 
 656. This specialization of functions is possibly in part an ele- 
 vation of the old scheme of spirits according to which every object 
 in the world was conceived of as inhabited or controlled by some 
 spiritlike being. It is not probable that the departmental gods are 
 always developed directly out of spirits — they appear sometimes 
 to belong rather in the clan system, are anthropomorphic, human, 
 lending themselves more readily than spirits do to human inter- 
 course.^ It is true that the lower cults of animals and spirits per- 
 sist alongside of the higher religious forms, and the various groups 
 often appear to blend with one another, as is generally the case in 
 transitions from one system of thought to another. 
 
 657. Deities with this sort of specialized functions appear in all 
 parts of the world and at various periods of culture. The particular 
 sort of specialization differs according to climatic conditions and 
 social organization — that is, it depends in any community on the 
 nature of the phenomena that touch the life of the commimity 
 closely. But the general principle remains the same — it is the effort 
 to penetrate more deeply into the nature of the supernatural Powers, 
 and to enter into more intimate and helpful relations with them ; it 
 is the beginning of a more practical study of theology proper. 
 
 658. A somewhat low and vague form of specialization of func- 
 tion is found in Melanesia, where certain beings appear as patrons 
 
 1 But these origins, going far back into prehistoric times, are obscure.
 
 2/8 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of work.' 'rhese arc said by Codrington to be ghosts, \et to be 
 praved to just as if they were gods ; and in fact, being men with 
 indefinitely great powers, they can hardly be distinguished from 
 such deities as Uaramulun and I'nkulunkulu, except in the fact that 
 their function is specific. In Australia the published reports do not 
 describe departmental gods proper, with the possible exception of 
 an undefined being in the Nortli. A more developed scheme exists 
 in Polynesia. In New Zealand there were deities of food-planting 
 and of forests.- The highest point of Polynesian civilization seems 
 to have been reached in the Hawaiian Islands, where, besides several 
 great gods, there were deities of the sky, the sea, winds, and light- 
 ning, of agriculture, and of various occupations and professions, 
 such as fishing, and even robbing.^ 
 
 659. The Sea Dyaks have a god of rice-farming and one of 
 war."* In the Malay Peninsula there is a confused mingling of 
 supernatural beings of various sorts, with a great development 
 of magic ; the determination of the functions of the better-developed 
 gods is rendered difficult by the fact that the Malays have been 
 much affected by Hindu influence.^ Such influence is possibly to 
 be recognized also in the systems of the Dravidian and Kolarian 
 tribes, though in them there seems to be a native non-Anan ele- 
 ment. The Khonds have gods of rain, fruit, hunting, and bound- 
 aries. Among all these tribes the chief deity is the sun-god, by whose 
 side stands the earth-god ; these may well be primitive, though their 
 present form may be due to Hindu influence.® 
 
 660. The Masai of Eastern Africa have two chief gods — one 
 black, said to be good ; the other red, said to be bad." The only 
 trace of a recognition of cosmic powers appears in their myth that 
 
 1 Codrington, The Mclancsians, p. 132. 
 
 2 Tregear, in Journal of ihc Anthropological Institute^ xix, 97 ff . ; Grey, Polynesian 
 Mythology, p. 164. ^ Alexander, Short History of the Hawaiian People. 
 
 ^ E. H. Gomes, Southern Departments of Borneo. 
 
 6 Skeat, Malay Magic, chap, iv ; Skeat and Blagdcn, Pagan Races of the Malay 
 Peninsula, ii, 245 ff. 
 
 *■' Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 529 f. ; Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of 
 Northern India, i, chap. ii. 
 
 '1 Hollis, The Masai, p. 264. The related Nandi worship the sun (Asista) mainly, 
 but have also a thunder-god (Hollis, The Nandi, p. 40 f.).
 
 c;oj)s 279 
 
 (he sky and the earth were once united in one embrace;^ but it is 
 not clear that they recognize a god of the sky and one oi the earth. 
 Among the Bantu, who are largely, though not wholly, pastoral, there 
 appears to be no trace of an apportionment of natural phenomena 
 among supernatural beings.- On the West Coast of Africa there is 
 a somewhat elaborate scheme of departmental deities. The sky is the 
 chief god, but in Dahomi and Ashanti there are gods of lightning, 
 lire, the ocean, the rainbow, war, markets, silk, cotton, aiul poison 
 trees, smallpox, sensual desire, discord, and wisdom; in 1 )ahonii 
 there is a tutelary god of the ro\'al family. The Yorubans have a 
 similar system, embracing gods of the Niger, nightmare, wealth, 
 gardens, and divination.^ This more elaborate system corresponds 
 to their more highly developed scheme of social organization. 
 
 661. 'l"he tribes of Northeastern Asia are less developed reli- 
 giously. The Koryaks arc said to have benevolent and malevolent 
 deities, but appear not to have made much progress in the recogni- 
 tion of the distinct departments of nature.* The Ainu have a large 
 number of specific deities: the goddess of fire, whose title is 
 " Grandmother"; gods of the kitchen, of doors, of springs, and of 
 gardens.^ As the Ainu culture resembles that of Northeastern 
 Asia in several respects, it is possible that in the latter region there 
 exists a more highly specialized scheme than has yet been reported. 
 In Central Asia also it seems that no great progress has been made 
 in this direction by native thought. The statement of Herodotus ® 
 that the Thracians in time of thunderstorms used to shoot arrows 
 at the sky and threaten the god, may point to a recognitiou of a god 
 of the sky or of storm. In the greater part of C'entral Asia the 
 conception of local spirits has prevailed and still prevails (Shaman- 
 ism), a phase of religion that stands below that of the division of 
 nature into departments. In certain districts of Mongolia, in which 
 
 1 Ilollis, op. cit., p. 279. 
 
 - With them, as everywhere else, there is occasional discrimination in the func- 
 tions of magicians, different men healing or inflicting different sicknesses ; cf. article 
 " Bantu " in Hastings, Encyclo/'<riiia of Rc/ii;ion ami Ethics. 
 
 3 A. 15. Kllis, Eivc, chap, v ; Tslii, chap, v ; Yoniba, p. 45. 
 
 ^ Jochelson, m Jesup North Pacific Expedition., vi, i, 33 ff., 27 ff. 
 
 5 Ratchelor, The Ainu., chap. li. 6 Herodotus, iv, 94.
 
 2 So IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the theistic system is complicated, departmental deities are now 
 found, but the obvious dependence of this region on Buddhism 
 (Lamaism) and other outside cults makes it doubtful whether or 
 how far this scheme of gods is of native origin.' 
 
 662. In Xdith America the Algonkin and Maskoki nations and 
 the Skidi Pawnee have deities of the sky. the heavenly bodies, the 
 winds, and fire.- In the western part of the continent the theistic 
 systems are less developed, but the details of the cults have not yet 
 been fully collected ; so far as appears, a departmental organization 
 has not been made. In Brazil there is a trace of such a conception 
 among the Tupis ; but the South American tribes remain at a low 
 level of theistic development.^ 
 
 663. The three greater religions of America, the Maya, the Mexi- 
 can, and the Peruvian, offer much more interesting material, in re- 
 gard to which tlie information which has been handed down to us is 
 often unfortunately meager. Particulaii\-, little definite is known of 
 the Maya system ; the indications are that the Mayas were superior 
 in civilization to the Aztecs, and their religious customs and con- 
 ceptions correspondingly higher than those of the latter.* 
 
 664. The Aztec religion is that which the Spaniards on their 
 arrival found to be the dominant one in Mexico. It was the re- 
 ligion of a conquering race, formed in part by a coalition of tribes 
 and a combination of cults. From the records (none of which are 
 contemporaneous) it appears that there was a \ery considerable 
 specialization of function in the Aztec deities. These were j^robably 
 local gods with universal functions gradually differentiated. Iluitz- 
 ilopochtli, apparently a patron of vegetation (with three annual fes- 
 tivals corresponding to agricultural seasons), became especially 
 the god of war, in accordance with the character of the Aztecs. 
 Another side of social life was embodied in llic conception of 
 
 1 Demetrius Klementz, article " Burials " in Hastings, F.ncyclo/'itdia of Religion 
 and Ethics. 
 
 2 Brinton, T//c /.aia/e, p. 65 ff. ; Dorsey, T/ir S/cidi Pau'ucc, p. xviii ff. On gods 
 of air and winds see J. H. Keane, in article "Air and Gods of the Air" in Hastings, 
 Encyclopcrdia of Religion and Ethics. 3 Hastings, op. cit., i, 382 ff., and ii, 837. 
 
 * Brinton, American Hero-Myths, chap, iv ; A. M. Tozzer, Coni/'arative Study of 
 the .]/ayas and the Lacandoncs (of Yucatan), pp. So, 93 ff. ; H. H. Bancroft, Native 
 Races of the Pacific States of North America, ii, chap. .\x ff.
 
 GODS 281 
 
 Tezcatlipoca, who represented law and justice, but naturally be- 
 came also a god of war. In sharp contrast with these stands 
 Quetzalcoatl, a milder god, apparently a representative of general 
 culture and good life, liut he is commonly held to be of foreign 
 origin. If a foreigner, lie was nevertheless adopted by the Aztecs 
 and embodied one side of their life, particularly, perhaps, the pro- 
 tests against the luniian sacrifices, which were so prominent a 
 feature in the cults of the other two deities. There were further 
 a god of rain, a goddess of harvest, and a goddess of sensual pleas- 
 ure, besides a great number of minor specialized deities. With this 
 specialization of function, however, there was no corresponding 
 development of character in the gods, no pantheon proper. The 
 myths which have been preserved relate to the origin of social cus- 
 toms and to the birth of gods. They appear to have been devel- 
 oped only a step beyond the myths of the Redmen.^ 
 
 665. The Peru\ian cult differs from the Mexican in that it 
 recognizes, in its developed form, one preeminent deity, the sun- 
 god, from whom issues all authority. Along with him stand two 
 prominent figures, Viracocha and ?achacamac, who also are credited 
 with great powers. Apparently they were local universal deities 
 who were incorporated into the Peruvian system and subordinated 
 to the sun-god. All three are only vague, general figures, having 
 no histories except a few stories of origins, and the Peruvian myths 
 do not differ in essential character from those of the Aztecs." 
 
 666. In this category we may include a large number of minutely 
 specialized deities of the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans. As 
 among some lower tribes already referred to, so here many common 
 objects and pursuits are regarded as being under the fostering care 
 of specific deities. In Egypt the ripe ear of the grain, the birth of 
 a child and its naming, and other things had their special divinities.* 
 
 1 J. G. Miiller, Gcschichic dcr mncrikaii'tschcti IJrrcligioncii, p. 577 ff. ; Lang, Myth, 
 Ritual^ and Ncligion, chap, xiv ; L. Spence, Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru ; 
 E. Seler, Gcsammeltc Abhaiidhingcn. For earlier authorities see W'insor, A'anative 
 and Critical History of America, \o\. i, chaps, iii, iv. 
 
 2 J. G. Miiller, Geschichte dcr ayncrikanischen UrrcUgioiioi, p. 313 ff. ; Prescott, 
 Peru, i, 91 ff. ; C. R. Markham, The Incas of Pent, chap, viii ; and see preceding note. 
 
 8 Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, ii, 81, note 2 ; p. S2, notes i and 2.
 
 282 IXTRODUCTJON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 667. The Greeks had such divine patrons of the corncrib, beans, 
 plowshare, cattle, city walls, banquets, potters, physicians, athletic 
 contests, and even one hero known as the " frightener of horses " 
 and a deity called the " flycatcher." ^ 
 
 668. The Romans carried out this specialization in even greater 
 detail. Almost every object and every event of the communal life 
 had its patron deity : the house, the hearth, the field, the boundary 
 stone, sowing and reaping, the wall, breath, marriage, education, 
 death ; the Lares were the special protectors of the house or of 
 the field, and all patrons of the home were summed up under the 
 general designations d it pe nates and dii familiares. Most of these 
 beings have proper names, but even where there are no such names, 
 as in the case of the dii penates, there can be little doubt that they 
 were looked on as personal individualized beings.- The tendency 
 was, as time went on, to add to the number of these specialized 
 patrons, as appears from the Roman indigitamenia^ lists of such 
 divine beings redacted by the priests, who were disposed, naturally, 
 to make the objects of worship as,numerous as possible ; but herein 
 they doubtless responded to a popular impulse. 
 
 669. This disposition to define practical functions minutely ap- 
 pears also in the cultic history of the greater gods of the old Roman 
 religion : the role of Jupiter as god of sk\' and rain was definitely 
 fixed, and Tellus was not the di\ine mother of the human race but 
 the beneficent bestower of crops. As the functions of such greater 
 gods became more numerous and more definitely fixed, epithets were 
 employed ; Jupiter had a dozen or more of such adjectival additions, 
 and it appears that at a later time such epithets w-ere personalized 
 into deities ; but this academic or priestly procedure does not set 
 aside the fact that the early Roman religion recognized a vast num- 
 ber of divine beings as the specific patrons of certain things and acts. 
 
 670. It was quite naluial for the practical Roman mind to place 
 everything of importance under the care of a divine being — a 
 
 1 Usenet, Gottcmmncit, p. 122 ff. ; L. K. Farnell, "The Place of the ' Sonder- 
 Gbttcr' in Greek I'olytheism " (in Anthropological Essays frcscntcd to E. B. Tylor). 
 
 2 Farnell, op. cit. ; cf. T. R. Glover, Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman 
 Empire, p. 12. 8 Roscher, Lexikon, s.v.
 
 GODS 283 
 
 procedure which is simply carrying out in greater detail modes of 
 thought which we have seen to be common in many of the lower 
 tribes. Augustine thinks this specialization amusing, ridiculous, and 
 difficult to understand. He brings up the whole question of origin 
 when he asks why it was necessary to have two goddesses for the 
 waves of the sea — one, Venilia, representing the wave as advancing 
 to the shore ; the other, Salacia, representing the wave as receding.^ 
 This seems, to be sure, an unnecessary specialization ; but, con- 
 sidered in connection with the whole Roman system, it is not less 
 intelligible than the multiplication of deities attending upon the 
 birth and education of a child, on the processes of farming, and on 
 the fortunes of war. Since human life is guided by the gods, 
 thought the Romans, there is no act that may not have its god ; 
 this system is the objectivation of the conception of divine special 
 providence." 
 
 671. To certain Semitic deities highly specialized functions have 
 been supposed to belong ; but the known facts hardly warrant this 
 supposition. In the names Baal-Marqod, Baal-Marpe, IJaal-Gad, 
 the second element may be the name of a place ; that is, the Baal 
 may be a local deity (as the Baals elsewhere are). The title Baal- 
 berit ^ has been interpreted as meaning " lord of a covenant " — that 
 is, a deity presiding over treaties ; but the expression is not clear. 
 Baal-zebub is in the Old Testament the god of the Philistine city 
 Ekron, where he had a famous oracle ;* it is highly improbable that 
 the name means " lord of flies " (which would rather be Baal-zebu- 
 bim), but the sense is obscure. The New 'I'estament Baal [Beel]- 
 zebuP (the only correct form) has been variously explained. 
 The second element, zebu/, occurs in the Old Testament as a name 
 of the heavenly abode of the deity,*"' and the title has been regarded 
 as the Semitic rendering of a Greek or Roman title of a god of 
 heaven (Zeus Ouranios; cf. Caelestis, epithet of Jupiter); as foreign 
 
 1 Augustine, Dc Civitatc Dei, vii, 22 ; cf. bks. vi, vii, passim. 
 
 ■^ Cf. Wissowa, Religion dcr Rbmcr, pp. 15, 145 ff. 3 Judg. viii, 33. 
 
 4 The name occurs only once, in 2 Kings, i, 2. It is incorrectly adopted in the 
 English \'ersion of the New Testament. 
 
 5 I'ound only in the Synoptic Gospels, Mk. iii, 22 ; Matt, x, 25 ; .\ii, 24, 27 ; Luke 
 xi, 15, iS, 19. ^ Isa. Ixiii, 15.
 
 284 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 deities were called " demons " by the later Jews, the chief of these 
 deities, it is held, might well be taken to be the " prince of demons." 
 However this may be, Beelzebul cannot be ranked among the deities 
 with highly specialized functions.^ 
 
 672. The scheme of gods just described is closely allied to that 
 of tutelar)- deities for individual human beings. A transitional step 
 may be recognized in the assignment of special divine protectors 
 to every house or village or grove, as among the Ainu (with whom 
 the tutelary power is the head of a bear), in Borneo (where every 
 house has a human skull as protector), among the Khonds, in the 
 Vedic Vastoshpati, the " lord of the house," in the Hindu " house 
 goddess," and in the Chinese tutelary god for every year.'- l'"rom 
 such a scheme to the assignment of a protecting spirit to every 
 human being there is but a step, and this is made natural or neces- 
 sary by the increasing sense of the value of the individual. Such 
 tutelary spirits or deities are found in Polynesia and Africa.^ The 
 North American manitu and the Central American nagual,'' referred 
 to above, are not only special objects of worship but also constantly 
 present guardians of individual men. The Iroquois have special 
 tutelary spirits.^ In Ashanti sucli a function is performed by the 
 indwelling spirit, which is scarcely distinguishable from the man 
 himself.® The Roman genius represents the man's indi\idual life, 
 but becomes also his guardian ; " and the daimon of Socrates was 
 possibly originally a being of the same sort,^ though he may have 
 identified it with conscience. 
 
 1 On these Semitic titles see articles " Baal " and " Baalzebub " in Hastings, En- 
 cyclopedia of Religion and Ethics ; article " Beelzebul " in Cheyne, Encyclopedia 
 Biblica; various articles in Brown, Driver, Briggs, Hcbrnv and English Lexicon. 
 
 2 Batchelor, The Ainn, chap, x; Fumcss, Howe Life of the Borneo Head-hnntcrs, 
 p. 64 f. ; Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 530, note 2 ; De Groot, Religion of the Chi- 
 nese, p. 129 f. 
 
 8 Turner, Samoa, p. 18 f. ; Nassau, Fctichism in West Africa, pp. 67, 163 ff. 
 
 4 On " manitu " see Haudhook of American Indians, s.v. (and cf. article " \Va- 
 konda ") ; \V. Jones, in Journal of American Folklore, xviii, 1S3 ff. On " nagual " see 
 Bancroft, Native Races of the Pacific States of North Atnerica, iii, 458 ; Brinton, in 
 Journal of American Folklore, viii, 249. 5 Journal of American Folklore, viii, 115. 
 
 *> Cf. M. H. Kingsley, West African Studies, p. 132 f. 
 
 '' Roscher, Lcxikon, i, 2, col. 1616. 
 
 ** Cf. article " Daimon " in Koscher, op. cit.
 
 GODS 285 
 
 673. [n the great religions of antiquity every city and every state 
 had its special divine protector. 'I'he Persian fravashis are the 
 guardians of individtial human beings. The later Jews held that 
 there was a guardian angel for e\ery nation and for every person.' 
 All such conceptions embody the human sense of dependence on 
 divine aid and the dcmaiKl for specific divine protectors standing 
 near to man and sustaining special relations with individuals. In 
 some forms of Christianit\- the function of protection is assigned to 
 patron saints. 
 
 674. Certain classes of departmental or specific gods may be 
 mentioned here for the purpose of indicating their development. 
 
 675. Creators. The work of the creation of the world is assigned 
 among various peoples to a great variety of beings. In the earliest 
 strata of religious belief animals play a great role as creators. The 
 known examples of their creative function are so numerous that 
 we ma\- well be disposed to regard it as universal. In general it 
 is the best-known animal, or the one credited with the greatest 
 sagacity, that is regarded as creator."'^ 
 
 676. But the natural progress of thought involved the advance to 
 the conception of anthropomorphic creators. A transitional stage 
 is presented by the Australian Arunta, in whose mythical sys- 
 tem the authors of tribal institutions and the makers of heavenly 
 bodies are the half-animal, half-human ancestors ; this seems to be 
 an attempt at a transformation of the, old scheme of creation by 
 animals — unwilling to abandon the earlier conception, these tribes 
 ha\e satisfied themselves by the theor)- that the ancestors and 
 creators, though animals in nature, must at the same time have 
 been human. ^ We may compare with these the Melanesian and 
 Samoan supernatural beings who are incarnate in animal forms and 
 are at the same time originators of civilization.'' These zoomorphic 
 beings are not necessarily totems, as in Australia ; outside of the 
 Arunta it does not appear that totems as such are ever regarded 
 
 1 Spiegel, Eranische Alterilmmskundc, ii, 91 ff.; Dan. x, 20; xi, i ; xii, i ; Matt. 
 x-\^iii, 10. 2 Examples are given above, § 255 f. 
 
 3 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, chap. x. 
 
 ^ Codrington, The Melancsians, pp. 150 f., 15S f., 168 f. ; Turner, Samoa, pp. 7, 52.
 
 286 JXTRODL'CTIOX TO HISTOR\' OF REUG/OXS 
 
 as creators ^ — they are ancestors, but at that point their function 
 appears to cease. 
 
 677. There are however ghosts, which, while of course repre- 
 senting ancestors, are regarded not speciall\- in their ancestorial 
 capacity, but rather as powerful beings who have been more or 
 less active in framing the constitution of society. This form of 
 ghost occurs in Melanesia, where also spirits, vague beings who 
 never were human, play a great role. The best authorities find it 
 somewhat difficult to distinguish between such ghosts and spirits 
 on the one hand, and gods on the other hand.'^ The Qat of the 
 Banks Islands is in one sense a creator, since he determines the 
 regular courses of the seasons and is the introducer of night ; yet, 
 since he does not actually create the world, but only rearranges the 
 existing material, he belongs rather in the category of transformers 
 or initiators. Real anthropomorphic gods appear as creators in 
 very early tribes. Such, for example, are Baiame, Daramulun, Bun- 
 jil of Australia,^ perhaps Supu of the Melanesian island of Vate. 
 
 678. In Polynesia there is a better-defined cosmogonic anthropo- 
 morphism. The Hawaiian creators Kane and Tangaloa appear to 
 be fully formed deities.'' The Maoris have the divine figures 
 Heaven and Earth, whose children are the producers of all things 
 in the world. But Maui, who seems to be a general Polynesian 
 figure, is rather a culture-hero than a god, though his achievements 
 were of a very serious sort. The Tapa of the Borneo Land Dyaks,^ 
 and the Boora Pennu of the Khonds ^ may be regarded as real 
 gods. On the West Coast of Africa the Yorubans, the most ad- 
 vanced of the coast tribes, with a well-developed pantheon, have 
 deities who may be called creators ; such are Obatala, who, accord- 
 ing to one account, made the first human pair out of clay, and Ifa, 
 the restorer of the world after the flood." In North America the 
 
 1 Here again a distinction must be made between animals simply sacred and those 
 that are specifically totcmic. - Codrington, The Mchnicsiaiis, pp. 248 f., 253 ff. 
 
 3 Lang, A/yi/i, Ritual, and Religion, chaps, xii f. 
 
 * So the Samoan Tangaloa (Tylor, Primitive Culture, 3d ed., ii, 344 f.). 
 
 5 St. John, The Far East, i, 180. 6 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 528 ff. 
 
 ' \. B. Ellis, Yoruba, pp. 38 ff., 56 ff. ; cf. .M. H. Kingsley, West African Studies, 
 p. ii7ff.
 
 GODS 287 
 
 New England Kiehtan and the Virginian Oki have creative func- 
 tions.^ The Navahos ascribe the creation of certain animals to a 
 god Bckotsidi, whose character and role, however, are vague. ^ The 
 Brazilian Tupan and Jurupari appear to be divine creators.'^ For a 
 good many tribes in all parts of the world the published reports 
 give no precise information regarding the beginning of things, but 
 it seems probable that fuller acquaintance with them would reveal 
 conceptions similar to those described above. 
 
 679. The great civilized nations, with their well-formed anthropo- 
 morphic deities, have constructed elaborate cosmogonies, which 
 commonly begin with the conception of an unshaped mass of 
 material out of which the gods arise and create the world. There 
 is no great difference in these various schemes : Babylonians and 
 Greeks have fallen upon substantially the same general view of 
 creation ; the variations among the various peoples are due to cir- 
 cumstances of place and culture. It is noteworthy that the Maoris 
 have a cosmogony which is not unlike that of the great civilized 
 nations of antiquity, but the origin of their scheme of the world is 
 not clear.* 
 
 680. Gods of the other wortd. The class of departmental 
 gods includes those who have charge of the other world. As soon 
 as the abode of men after death is definitely fixed, it is natural 
 that a deity presiding over this other world should arise. Among 
 the lower tribes this sort of god is not frequent.^ One of the 
 clearest cases of such organization occurs in Fiji.'' Here, in addi- 
 tion to other deities who deal with the dead on their entrance into 
 
 1 Lang, Mytti, Ri/7(al, and Relighm, preface to new edition. 
 
 2 Matthews, Navalio Legends, p. 34. 
 
 3 Article " Brazil" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Etiiics. 
 
 4 G. Grey, Polynesian Myttiology, p. i ff. ; Taylor, Nei.v Zealand, chap, vi ; cf., 
 for Polynesia, W. Ellis, Polynesian. Researches, chap. xiii. The abstract ideas reported 
 by Taylor are remarkable : from conception came increase, from this came swelling, 
 then, in order, thought, remembrance, desire ; or, from nothing came increase and so 
 forth ; or, the word brought forth night, the night ending in death. The significance 
 of this scheme (supposing it to be correctly stated) has not been explained. The 
 role assigned to "desire" in the Rig-Veda creation-hymn (x, 129) is the product of 
 learned reflection (cf. Schopenhauer's "blind will"), and sounds strange in the 
 mouth of New Zealand savages. 5 cf. Tylor, Pnmitiie Culture, ii, 308 ff. 
 
 ^ Williams and Calvert, Fiji, p. 193 f.
 
 288 IXTRODUCTION TO HI STORY OF RELIGIO.XS 
 
 this farther world, the great deity Ndengei has his abode, and 
 one of his functions is to pass on the merits of those who present 
 themselves from the world of living men. He is, however, in part 
 an otiose deity and can hardly be said to rule over this other- 
 worldly realm. Similar undeveloped deities are found among the 
 Maoris and the Finns. ^ 
 
 681. But fully formed and effective divine rulers of the other 
 world occur only in the more advanced religions, such as the Baby- 
 lonian, the Egyptian, the Hindu, the Persian, the Greek, the 
 Roman.- From the nature of their abode such deities have very 
 little to do with the life on earth except when, as in the Egyptian 
 system and to some extent in the Fijian, there is a judge of con- 
 duct, with authority to assign the dead their places, good or bad. 
 In such cases they become important moral factors in life. 
 
 682. An ethical god of the other world appears not to have 
 been created b\- the Semites. The Babylonian Underworld god- 
 dess or god has nothing to do with moral character, and among 
 the Hebrews, so far as the statements in the Old Testament go, 
 no special deity was assigned to the other world ; whether such 
 an Underworld deity once existed and was lost by the Hebrews, 
 or has been expunged by the later editors of the Old Testament 
 books, must remain uncertain ; ^ in the late pre-Christian period the 
 
 1 Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 15 ; Castren, Finnische Mythologic, p. i. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (English and German editions), 
 Index, s.vv. Allafu, A'eigal; id., Aspects of Religions Belief and Practice in Baby- 
 lonia and Assyria, p. 36S ff. ; Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 217 ; 
 Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, p. 94 ff. ; Macdonell, Vcdic Mythology, pp. 
 171 ff., 169 ff. : Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 144 f. : Hopkins, Religions of India, 
 p. 128 ff. ; Spiegel, Eranischc AltcHlmmskiinde, ii, 163 (but the old Persian god of 
 the Underworld, if there was one, was absorbed, in Zoroastrianism, by Ahura Mazda) ; 
 Jackson, in Geiger and Kuhn's Gnindriss der iranischen Philologic, ii, 652, § 52 ; 
 Farnell, CiUts of the Greek States, ii, 513 ff.; iii, chap, v; Wissowa, Religion der 
 Romer, p. 187 ff. ; Aust, Religion der Romcr, p. 52 ; Rohde, Psyche, 3d ed. i, 205, ff. ; 
 articles on Hades, Plutos, Hermes, Dionysos, Nergal, and related deities, in Ro- 
 scher's Lexikon. 
 
 3 Cf. Jastrow, Aspects of Religions Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, 
 pp. 356 f., 372 f. ; F. Schwally, Das Lcben nach dem Tode, p. 65 ff. ; R. H. Charles, 
 Eschatology, p. i8 f. For the Arabs see W'ellhausen, Resie arabischcn Hcidentnmcs, 
 iii, 22 ff., 42 ff. ; NiJldeke, article " Arabs (.-\ncient) " in Hastings, Encyclopcedia of 
 Religion and Ethics : for the Phoenicians, Pietschmann, Phdnizier,^. 191 f.
 
 GODS 289 
 
 national god, "S'aliwcli, was regarded as controlling the Under- 
 world as well as Heaven and Earth. ^ The Greek Aides or Tlouton 
 and the Roman I'luto also are not ethical gods in the higher sense, 
 as indeed no early deity of any people has such a moral character. 
 At a later period ethical distinctions were introduced into the ad- 
 ministration of the other world. 
 
 ])V reason of paucity of data it is difficult to determine the pre- 
 cise characters of \arious Celtic, Slavic, and (iermanic deities 
 whose names appear in the records. They are gods of clans and 
 of departments of nature ; none of them can properly be reck- 
 oned among the great gods.'- 
 
 683. Division into good and bad Fozvers. Among many savage 
 and half-civilized peoples we find that a distinction is recognized 
 between good and bad ghosts and spirits — a distinction at first 
 vague, based on passing experiences in which all the fortunes of 
 men, favorable and unfa\'orable, are referred to these beings. 
 Their morals are those of the human communities with which 
 they are connected : they may be amiable or malignant, beneficent 
 or revengeful, but the ethical element in their characters and deeds 
 is not distinctly recognized and is not made the basis of the dis- 
 tinction between the two classes. The world is seen to be full of 
 Powers that make for weal or for woe — a conception that con- 
 tains the germ of all the later development but is at first nebulous. 
 
 684. In a somewhat higher form (jf culture these two classes 
 of Powers may be unified respective!}- into, or replaced by, two 
 gods, one helpful, the other harmful. Such appears to be the 
 scheme of the Masai, who have their black god and red god.^ A 
 Californian cosmogonic myth describes a nonmoral conflict of 
 work between the good "Creator" and the malicious Coyote.'* 
 
 1 Ps. cxxxix. 
 
 2 See article '"Celts" in Hastings, op. cit. ; Saussaye, Lchrbiich dcr Rcliglous- 
 gcschichte, 2d ed. ; Usener, Gottcniamcn ; article "Aryan Religion " in Hastings, 
 op. cit., p. 38 f. and passim. 
 
 3 HoUis, The Masai, p. 264. The neighboring Xandi, according to HoUis {The 
 Nandi, p. .41), have a similar pair. 
 
 4 A. C. nixon, The Northern Maidii {Bulletin of the Amerieait Museum of Natural 
 History, xviii, iii), p. 263. For other such conceptions see Tylor's discussion in 
 Primitive Culture, ii, 320 ff.
 
 290 /\TKODiVTjOX TO lUSrORY OF NEUG/OXS 
 
 A real unification appears, however, to be rare ; it supposes in 
 fact a degree of reflection and organization that we should not 
 expect to find among lower peoples. The stor\', for example, that 
 has been told of a well-developed dualistic system of the Iroquois 
 is based on a misconception.^ Dualism proper is not recogniz- 
 able among the savages of America, Polynesia, Asia, or Africa." 
 In the Old Testament prior to the sixth century b.c. the spirits, 
 good and bad, which are not essentially different from those we 
 find among the lower tribes, are massed under the control of 
 Yahweh, and do his bidding without moral reflection ; when he 
 sends a lying spirit into the mouth of Ahab's prophets^ this 
 spirit goes without malice merely to perform the will of the 
 supreme god. This massing of all spirit Powers under the control 
 of one god is a step toward unity and clearness in the conception 
 of the government of the world. 
 
 685. At a later stage of social growth there appears the con- 
 ception of a cosmic struggle, the conflict between the natural 
 forces that tend to disorder and those that tend to order. Philo- 
 sophical reflection led to the supposition of an original chaos, a 
 medley of natural forces not combined or organized in such a way 
 as to minister to the needs of human life ; and a similar concep- 
 tion of conflict may have arisen from observation of the warring 
 elements at certain seasons of the year. 
 
 686. The adjustment of the rival forces and the establishment 
 of a system of physical order is referred to the great gods. Such 
 a picture of the original state of things is contained in the elabo- 
 rate Babylonian cosmologies that have come down to us ; in these 
 the dragon of disorder (Tiamat) is completely conquered by the god 
 Bel-Marduk, who represents the Babylonian civilization of the 
 time in which the cosmology arose. Of the same nature is the 
 Egyptian myth of the contest between Horus (the light) and Set 
 (the dark), in which, however, the victor)' of Horus is not described 
 
 1 Brinton, .\fyt/is 0/ the A'nc World, p. 63 ; II. Hale, Iroquois Book of Rites, p. 74. 
 
 2 .\ possible exception is the Khond myth of the struggle between the sun-god 
 (Boora Pennu), the giver of all good things, and the earth-goddess (Tari), the au- 
 thor of evil things (Hopkins, Religions 0/ India, p. 529 f. ; Macpherson, India, p. 84) ; 
 but the origin of this myth is uncertain. 3 j Kings .x,\ii, 19-23.
 
 UOIJS 291 
 
 as being absolute ^ — a representation suggested, possibly, by the 
 recognition of tlic persistence of the good and bad elements of the 
 world ; compare the cosmologies of the Maidu and the Khonds 
 mentioned above (§684). In the Greek and Teutonic myths in 
 which the Giants are the enemies of the great gods a more humane 
 and settled government of the world is introduced by Zeus and 
 Wodan. Traces of this construction of the universe are to be 
 found also among the Maoris, the Hawaiians, and other peoples 
 of a like grade." 
 
 687. In the original form of these myths there is no moral ele- 
 ment beyond the fact that the settlement of the cosmic powers was 
 necessary in order to the establishment of good social life. Individ- 
 ual wicked deities do not appear at this stage, but the way is pre- 
 pared for them by the picture of cosmic struggle in which powers 
 friendly and unfriendly to men are opposed to one another. A 
 similar conception is found in the figures of the Fates, who are the 
 embodiment of the course of events in the world — the immovable, 
 remorseless, absolute fortune of men, good and bad — a picture 
 of life as it has presented itself, doubtless, to men in all periods of 
 histor)^ Out of this came the abstract conception of Fate, the 
 impersonal power that controls all things. 
 
 688. The deeper conception of a conflict between the moral good 
 and the moral evil in life belongs to the latest period in religious 
 historv. Here the determining fact is the control of the world by 
 the high gods, who have their adversaries, but in general prove 
 victors. At the foundation of this scheme of the world lies the con- 
 ception of order, which is particularly defined in the Vedic i/r/ir and 
 the Avestan as/itr ^ — the regulation of the world in accordance 
 with human interests, in which the ethical element becomes more 
 and more prominent as human society is more and more formed 
 on an ethical basis. 
 
 1 Ed. Meyer, Gcschichte dcs Alien Acgyptcns, p. ;i f. ; Maspero, Dmvn of Civili- 
 zation^ pp. 172, 177. 
 
 2 R. Taylor, Nnv Zealand, pp. 114 ff., 132 ; Jean A. Owen, The Story of Hawaii, 
 p. 70 f. 
 
 3 Mills, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, xx, 31 ff . ; Bloomfield, 
 Religion of the Veda, p. 125 f?.
 
 292 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 689. Ethical dualism is most fully embodied in the Persian con- 
 ception of two gods, good and bad, with the understanding that 
 the good god, Ahura Mazda, exercises a certain restraint on the 
 bad god, Angro Main\u, who is finally to be crushed.^ This opti- 
 mistic point of view, which has no doubt existed in germinal shape 
 among all peoples, appears also in the modified dualism of the Old 
 Testament and the late Jewish and Christian schemes. The Old 
 Testament Satan is originally a divine being, one of the '" sons of 
 the Elohim'' (that is, he belongs to the Elohim, or divine, class); his 
 function is that of inspector of human conduct, prosecutor-general, 
 with a natural tendency to disparage men and demand their pun- 
 ishment. As a member of Yahweh's court and council he makes 
 regular reports to his divine lord and pleads cases before the divine 
 court.- In this character he is suspicious and mischievous but not 
 immoral ; but a little later a trace of malice appears in him,^ and in 
 the uncanonical Jewish book of the \\'isdom of Solomon and in 
 the New Testament he advances to the position of the head of the 
 kingdom of moral evil, so that he is called also " the god of the 
 present age " * — that is, he is the controller of the existing im- 
 regenerate element in human society, and is to be displaced when 
 the ideal age shall be established. 
 
 690. Man^s attitude tfl7vard demons. Demons^ (the term being 
 taken to include all early malefic superhuman beings, whether ghosts 
 or spirits) are feared and guarded against, but rarely receive wor- 
 ship. As they are the authors of all physical ills that cannot be 
 explained on natural grounds, measures, usually magical, are taken 
 to thwart their purposes — to prevent their intervention or to over- 
 come and banish the evil begun by them. As they are not credited 
 with moral principle, hostility to them rests not on ethical feeling 
 but merely on fear of suffering.*' If they are placated, it is in cases 
 in which they approach the character of gods and in so far cease to 
 be demons in our sense of the word. They serve a useful purpose 
 
 1 Spiegel, Eranischc Alteri/mmsktmdc, ii, 21 ff., 121 ff. 
 
 2 Zech. Hi, 1-5 ; Job i,ii. 3 i Chr. xxi, i. * 2 Cor. iv, 4. 
 
 5 The Greek daimon. properly simply a deity, received its opprobrious sense when 
 Jews and Christians identified foreign deities with the enemies of the supreme God. 
 
 6 Tylor, Priimiivc Culture, ii, 318 ff.
 
 CODS 293 
 
 in tliat, taking on their shoulders all the ills oi life, they leave the 
 clan j;()(ls free from the suspicion of unfriendliness to men.^ On the 
 other hand, the belief in them has created a pseudo-science of relief 
 from suffering and a great host of pseudo-doctors who for a long 
 time exercised a large control over society and bound men in fetters 
 of ignorance. 
 
 691. In early societies demons have not individual names. In 
 savage societies there are malefic deities, with individual names, 
 connected with sicknesses and other ills ; but such deities are not 
 demons. Demons do not enter into friendly social relations with 
 men,'- and observation of experiences is not carried so far as to 
 assign every ill to a separate author. In more advanced societies, 
 as, for instance, the Babylonian,^ demons are divided into classes 
 according to their various lines of activity, and to these classes 
 names are given. If some individual demon, representing a partic- 
 ular ill, becomes specially important, it may receive an individual 
 name. In general, the demonic name-giving follows the theistic, but 
 lags behind it. Clan gods have at first some such appellation as 
 Old One, Grandfather, or a descriptive epithet (as among some 
 American Indian tribes), and later. Lord, Lady, Mighty One, Exalted 
 One ; in process of time they receive proper names, which must have 
 arisen at a relatively early period, since the meaning of the names 
 of most of the old deities was to the ancients, as it is to us, unknown. 
 h\ the case of the demonic world this development has not been 
 carried so far, for the reason stated above, namely, that these 
 beings, unlike gods, have not become real citizens of the commu- 
 nities with which they are connected. 
 
 692. In like manner the organization of demons has not kept 
 pace with that of gods. In most regions they have remained a 
 mob, every individual pursuing his wa_\- independently. It is only in 
 
 1 Great gods also send suffering, hut only wht- n they are angered by men's acts, 
 as by disrespect to a priest (Apollo, in Ilidil, i) or to a sacred thing (Yahvveh, 1 Sam. 
 vi, 19 ; 2 Sam. vi, 7). In the high spiritual religions suffering is treated as educative, 
 or is accepted as involving some good purpose unknown to men. 
 
 - \V. K. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d cd., p. 126 f. 
 
 3 Jastrovv, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 260 ff . ; O. Weber, Ddmonenbc- 
 schu'bning bci den Babyloniern iind Assyricrn (in Dcr Alte Orient, 1906).
 
 294 i:^'TRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELICIOXS 
 
 advanced cults that they form a community with a head. In China 
 and Persia the sharp division of supernatural forces into two classes 
 was the outcome of great religious reformations that followed the 
 usual savage chaos of the hordes of demons. The Jewish demonol- 
 ogy (probably influenced by the Persian) chose for the head of its 
 kingdom of evil an old god (the Satan) or the similar figure Azazel.^ 
 693. It does not appear that religious worship has ever been 
 offered to a being regarded as morally bad and in honor of moral 
 badness. The " devils " reported by early (and some recent) 
 travelers as the recipients of religious homage turn out on inquiry 
 to be clan gods whose anger is feared.- The cult of many savage 
 and many civilized deities has been, and is, characterized by gross 
 cruelty and licentiousness; but it is certain that human sacrifice 
 and sexual indulgence were, and are, in these cases not regarded as 
 morally wrong. Durga (Kali), wife of Qiva, most terrible and 
 repulsive of female deities, while she is feared, is also revered as the 
 giver of all good gifts ; and the Thugs, when they offered her their 
 strangled victims, ascribed no more moral blame to her than to 
 themselves — their work they regarded not as murder but as pious 
 sacrifice.'^ I'he Gnostic sects. Ophites and Cainites, looked on the 
 serpent and Cain as friends of the supreme Deity and of man; 
 they were enemies only of the Demiourgos, the Jewish god Yahweh, 
 who, they held, wished to keep man in ignorance.'' The Mesopo- 
 tamian Yezidis also (the so-called devil-worshipers) revere only 
 beings that they regard as morally good or as destined to become 
 good. Their peculiar attitude toward Satan (a mingling of fear and 
 respect) is based not on his connection with evil but on their expec- 
 tation that, though he is now fallen from his high angelic estate, he 
 is ultimately to be restored to his original dignity. ** 
 
 1 The Ethiopic Book of Enoch (ed. R. H. Charles), chaps, liii, vi-x ; the Slavonic 
 Enoch, or .Secrets of Enoch (ed. R. II. Charles), chap. xx.\i. For the later Jewish view 
 (in Talmud and Midrash) see Jnvish Encyclopedia, article "Satan." 
 
 2 The "demons "of i Cor. x, 20 (King James version, "devils") are foreign deities. 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 416, 492 ff. 
 
 * Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyklop'ddic, articles "Ophiten," " Kainiten." 
 
 5 J. Menant, Lcs Yczidiz (in Annales du Musec Gniine/) \ Isya Joseph, Yezidi 
 
 Texts (reprinted from American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, xxv 
 
 (1909), no. 2 f.). Cf. the idea of restoration in Col. i, 20.
 
 GODS 29s 
 
 694. 'I'luis, it cannot be said that a demon has ever developed 
 into a god. The malefic Powers of savages have generally been 
 absorbed by higher beings or have otherwise disappeared. Some 
 gods, such as the Hebrew Satan and certain Greek deities, have 
 been degraded to the demonic class. In some cases, particularly in 
 the Zoroastrian system, a being who is the consolidation of all 
 malign supernatural activities has been credited with ail-but divine 
 power and authority.' Ikit the two classes remain distinct — the 
 true " god " is a friendly member of a human society, and when he 
 is angry ma)- be placated ; the true " demon " is essentially hos- 
 tile to men and must be thwarted and expelled." 
 
 695. Gods of abstractions. Gods of abstractions, found in cer- 
 tain theistic systems, are to be distinguished on the one hand from 
 deities that are simply personalizations of physical objects (such as 
 Vesta and Agni) and on the other hand from poetical personifica- 
 tions, such as that of Wisdom in the Jewish books of Proverbs, 
 Ecclesiasticus, and the Wisdom of Solomon, and from concrete fig- 
 ures like the Logos of Philo and the Fourth Gospel. Though these 
 abstract forms appear to be relatively late (posterior to the for- 
 mation of the greater gods), the meagerness of our data makes it 
 difficult to describe their genesis and the conceptions of their char- 
 acter by the peoples among whom they arise. Some facts known 
 to us, however, may help us to understand in part the process by 
 which they came into existence. 
 
 696. We have already considered the tendency in human com- 
 munities to particularize the divine objects of worship and to per- 
 sonalize external objects ; everywhere, it would appear, there is a 
 disposition to assign a particular divine control to every fact that is 
 specially connected with human interests. We have to note, fur- 
 ther, the tendency to concretize, as, for example, in many cases in 
 which evil, physical or moral, is regarded as a concrete thing that 
 may be removed bodily from the community." This sort of 
 
 1 So the Christian Satan. 
 
 ■- When, in the reports of travelers and other observers, demons are said to be pla- 
 cated, examination shows that these beings are gods who happen to be mischievous. 
 Of this character, for example, appear to be the " demons" mentioned in Hastings, £■«- 
 cyclopccdia of Religion and Ethics^ ii, 122. ^ frazer, Golden Dough, 2d ed., iii, 39 ff.
 
 296 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 conception we may suppose to be connected with early psycholog- 
 ical iheon-, according to which anything that affects man is credited 
 with manlike form and power. The facilit\- with which the abstract 
 and the concrete may be identified is illustrated b\- such modern 
 terms as deity, majesty, highness, state, government, direction, 
 counsel ; in these expressions the abstract quality or act is incar- 
 nated in certain persons, and so we may imagine that at a certain 
 stage of society any quality or act might be isolated and regarded 
 as a personal thing. A series of victories, for example, might sug- 
 gest the conception of ' victory ' as a thing present in these events, 
 and the tendency to personalize would then create the divine figure 
 Victor)'. Historically a personalization may have arisen, in some 
 cases, through the isolation of an epithet of a deity (so, for example, 
 Fides may have come from Dius Fidius),' but in such cases the 
 psychological basis of the personalization is the same as that just 
 stated. From these, as is remarked above, must be distinguished 
 poetical and philosophical abstractions. 
 
 697. Whatever be the explanation of the process, we find in fact 
 a large number of cases in which such abstractions appear as deities 
 and receive worship. 
 
 698. Semitic. The material for the Semitic religions on this point 
 is scanty.^ The Arabic divine names supposed by Noldeke to repre- 
 sent abstractions arc Manat (fate), Sa'd (fortune), Ruda (favor), 
 W'add (love), Manaf (height), "Aud (time). Whether these are all 
 abstract terms is doubtful. ]Vadd means also ' lover,' divine friend 
 or patron. Sa\i occurs as adjective ' fortunate,' is the appellation 
 of certain stars, and the god Sa'd is identified by an Arab poet 
 with a certain rock ^ — the rock is doubtless an old local divinity. 
 
 1 But see below, § 704. 
 
 2 Bacthgen, Bcitr'dgc ztir scmil'ischcn RcligionsgcscJiicIUc ; Wellhausen, Skizzat, 
 iii, 25 ; Xcildeke, in Zcitschrift dcr dctiisc/icn morgcnldudischcn Gcscllschaft, 1S86, 1888, 
 and article "Arabs (Ancient)" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics; 
 Pinches, article "Gad," and Driver, article " Meni," in Hastings, Dictionary of the 
 Bible ; Cheyne, article " Fortune " in Encyclopedia Biblica ; Commentaries of De- 
 litzsch, Duhm, Marti, Skinner, and Box on Isa. Ixv, 1 1. 
 
 8 Lane, Arabic-English Lexicon, s.v. The Old Testament title " Rock" given to 
 Yahweh (Deut. xxxii, 18, "the Rock that begat thee ") is figurative, but may go back 
 to a divine rock.
 
 GODS 297 
 
 Ruda is found apparently only as a divine name (in Palmyrene 
 and Safu inscriptions and as a god of an Arabian tribe) — the form 
 may be concrete, in the sense of ' favoring,' divine patron. As 
 " time " {(iahr, zamaii) often occurs in Arabic poetry in the sense 
 of ' fate,' the god 'Aud mav be an embodiment of this conception.^ 
 Maiiiif, if understood, as is possible, in the sense ' high place,' is 
 not abstract but concrete, though in that case the original refer- 
 ence of the term is not clear. 
 
 699. Manat is one of the three great goddesses of Mecca, the 
 others being Al-Lat ( ' the goddess ') and Al-l^zza ( ' the mighty one ') ; 
 as these two names are concrete, there is a certain presumption that 
 Afafiat likewise is concrete. The original meaning of the word is 
 obscure. It does not occur as a common noun, but from the same 
 stem come terms meaning 'doom, death,'" and, if it be allied to 
 these, it would be an expression for ' fate ' (like ^ And). However, 
 the stem is used in the sense ' number, determine, assign,' and 
 Manat may be the di\ine determiner of human destinies. From 
 this same stem comes the Biblical Mcni^ and apparently the Assyrian 
 Mann} The ordinary North Semitic conception of the source of 
 human destinies is that they are determined by the gods and writ- 
 ten on tablets or in a book,* and the same conception may have 
 existed in the South Semitic area.^ The other deity mentioned in 
 Isaiah Ixv, 11, is (kid; the word means in Arabic and Hebrew 
 ' fortune, good fortune,' and occurs as the name of a deity in 
 Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions, but the data are not sufficient 
 to fix its original sense. It is the name of a Hebrew tribe, which 
 
 1 On the Hebrew place-name (Job i, i) and perhaps personal name (Gen. xxxvi, 28) 
 Us (Uz), which seems to be formally identical with 'Aud, see \V. K. Smith, Kinship 
 and M(xrriage in Early Arabia, ist ed., p. 260 f., and his Religion of the Semites, p. 43 : 
 Wellhausen, Skizscii, iii ; Noldeke, in Zeilschri/t dcr dcittschen morgcnldndischen 
 Gesellschafl, xl, 183 f. ^ Maniya, 'pXuvA mandyd. 
 
 3 Isa. l.w, II ; III Rawlinson, 66. 
 
 •• Jastrow, Religion of Bahylo)iia and Assyria, pp. 420,428 (the tablets of fate given to 
 Kingu and snatched from him by Marduk.) ; R. F. W.-iX'^ex, Assyrian and Babylonian 
 Literature, p. 304 f. (Marduk seizes the tablets of fate from Zu) ; Ps. cxxxix, 16 ; 
 Dan. vii, 10; Rev. v, 1, and other passages. 
 
 •'> As far as the forms are concerned, a concrete sense for manat, manii, meni, 
 seems possible; cf. Wright, Arabic Grammar, 2d ed., i, §231; Barth, Semitische 
 Nominalbildiingcn, p. 163 ff. ; Delitzsch, Assyrian Grammar, p. 15S ff.
 
 298 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 is perhaps so called from the tribal god, and the name of a tribal 
 god is probably concrete.' 
 
 700. It seems, then, that for most if not all of the names of the 
 Semitic deities just mentioned abstract senses, though possible, are 
 not certain. Noldeke remarks that most of these terms are poetical 
 — they may be ornate epithets given to old concrete divine figures, 
 in which case the real cults were attached to these latter and not 
 to abstractions. It must be regarded as doubtful whether Semitic 
 rcli,L;;ion created any abstract deity. 
 
 701. K};yptiaii. 'Fhe most prominent Egyptian abstract deity is 
 Maat, ' truth.' She fulfilled an important function in the judgment- 
 hall of Osiris in the Underworld, and was widely revered, but had 
 no mythical history, and seems to have been ratlier a quasi-philo- 
 sophical creation than a vital element of the Egyptian religious 
 life. A god Destiny is mentioned, who generally bestowed a 
 happy fate.^ 
 
 702. Roman and Greek. The most fully developed form of this 
 conception is found in the Roman cult.^ The civic genius of the 
 Romans led them to give prominence to the maintenance of public 
 and private rights ; thus among their deities appear public safety 
 or salvation (Salus Publica), public faith or fidelit\' to engagements 
 (P'ides), civic harmony (Concordia), connubial purity (Pudicitia), filial 
 devotion (Pietas), the boundary of property (Terminus), victory 
 (Victoria), liberty (Libertas). There are further the gods Youth 
 (Juventus and Juventas) and Desire * (Cupido), perhaps as things 
 fundamental in human life.^ P'ortune (Fortuna) is the mass of 
 evidence determining life by the will of the gods, with which the 
 utterances of the gods (Fata) are identical, and the embodiment of 
 the determining agencies is the Parcaj. Several of these deities 
 
 1 The etymologies in Gen. xxx, 11 ff. are popular. In " Baal-Gad" (Josh, xi, 17) 
 Gad may be the name of a place ; cf. Slade, Gcschichtc dcs Volkcs Israel, i, 271, note. 
 
 2 Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, chap, iii, For a list of other Egj'ptian 
 gods of abstractions, such as eternity, life, joy, see Wiedemann, " Religion of Egypt," 
 in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, v, 191. 
 
 3 Boissier, La religion romaine, i, 4 ff . : Wissowa, Religion der R'dmer, p. 46 ff. ; 
 Usener, Gottcrnamen, p. 364 ff. (cf. I-'arnell, in Anthrofologieal Essays presented 
 to E. D. Tylor) ; Fowler, Roman Festivals, pp. 190 f., 341 ; Frazer, Adonis Aitis Osi- 
 ris, p. 169 ff. 4 (jf. above, § 679, note. 5 Not all of these had public cults.
 
 GODS 299 
 
 have their correspondents in the Greek theistic system : ' l'>os 
 (desire) ; I'uche (that which is allotted one by the gods or by the 
 course of events) ; Moira (Aisa), the unification of all the powers 
 that determine man's destiny. The god Kronos was by some im- 
 properly identified with '' time " (;(poVos ).'" 
 
 703. Aryan. Among the Aryans of India the god Kama 
 (desire) appears to be identical with Cupido. Some other abstrac- 
 tions, such as Piety and Infinity, are akin to Mazdean concep- 
 tions."'^ Brahma, originally 'magical formula,' then 'prayer,' and 
 later 'pious thought,' becomes finally Brahma, the all-embracing 
 god. Rta (arta), ' order,' at first, perhaps, the proper order of the 
 sacrificial ritual, becomes finally 'moral order or righteousness' 
 and 'cosmic order.' 'i'his conception ■ is still more prominent in 
 the Avesta,* in which Asha (Order) is one of the Amesha-spentas, 
 only inferior to the supreme god ; the other companions of Ahura 
 Mazda have similar titles and may equally be regarded as the per- 
 sonalization of abstract ideas. '^ In the .same category may be in- 
 cluded the Mazdean conceptions Endless Time (Zr\an Akarana) 
 and Endless Space (Thwasha), which appear to be treated in the 
 Avesta as personal deities.'' The organizers of the Mazdean faith, 
 
 1 Sec articles in Koscher's Lcxikon ("Eros," "Moira," and similar terms) ; on 
 Phoibos, cf. L. Deubner, in Aihenische Mitihciliiiigot, 1903. 
 
 2 Cicero, Dc Natura Deorinn, ii, 25. 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 135 f. ; Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 191, 
 243 ff. ; Macdonell, Vedie Mythology, p. 1 15 ff. 
 
 4 Spiegel, Erauische Altcrthnmskiinde, ii, 34 ff. ; A. V. Williams Jackson, Iranisehe 
 Religion (in Geiger and Kuhn's Grundriss dcr iranischen Philologie, ii, 6^7). 
 
 5 The six are: Vohumanah (Good Thought or Good Mind), Khshathra Vair)a 
 (Best or Wishcd-for Righteous Realm or Law), .Spenta .Armaiti (Holy Harmony), 
 Asha Vahista (Perfect Righteousness or Piety), Haurv-atat (Well-being), .Ameretat 
 (Immortality). 
 
 s On these and certain minor divinized conceptions of time see Spiegel, op. cit., 
 ii, 4-17. On the Hindu personification of time see Bloomfield, Religion of the I'cda, 
 p. 244 ff. In these and similar cases time, containing all things, is conceived of as 
 the producer of all things, and the line between personification and hypostatization 
 is not always clearly defined. For the influence of astrology on the deification of time, 
 see Cumont, Les religions orientates f^anni les peiiples romains. chap, vii (on astrol- 
 ogy and magic), p. 212 f., paragraph on new deities, and notes thereto. Hubert, " La 
 representation du temps dans la religion et la magie " (in Melanges dc I'histoire des 
 religions), p. 190, distinguishes between the notation of favorable and unfavorable 
 times (and the nonchronological character of mythical histories) and the calendar, 
 which counts moments continuously.
 
 300 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIC, lOXS 
 
 having discarded almost all the old gods, invested the supreme 
 god with certain moral qualities, and these, by a natural process 
 of thought, were concretized (Ahura Mazda is sometimes included 
 in the list of Amesha-spentas). Thus arose a sort of pantheon, 
 an echo of the old polytheism ; but the history of the process of 
 formulation is obscure.' 
 
 704. Most, if not all, of the abstract conceptions mentioned 
 above are also placed, in the various theistic systems, under the 
 control of great gods. Thus, for example, Jupiter is the guardian 
 of boundaries and has the epithet " Terminus," and Zeus is the 
 patron of freedom (Eleutherios).'-^ It is, however, not necessary to 
 suppose that the abstractions in question are taken from tlie func- 
 tions of the great gods. Rather these epithets of the gods are to 
 be explained from the same tendency that produced gods of ab- 
 stractions. It was the sense of the importance of the boundary 
 in early life that led both to the creation of the god Terminus and 
 to the assignment of the epithet " Terminus" to Jupiter. The desire 
 or love that was so important an element in human life both 
 fashioned itself into a personality and was put under the guardian- 
 ship of a special deity. Public safety was a cherished idea of the 
 Romans and was doubtless held to be maintained by e\ery local 
 or national god, yet could none the less become an independent 
 deity. The data are not sufficient to enable us to determine in all 
 cases the question of chronological precedence between the deifi- 
 cation of the abstraction and the assignment of the epithet to a 
 god. We know that in the later Roman period abstractions were 
 personalized, but this procedure was often poetical or rhetorical.^ 
 
 705. A general relation may be recognized between the intel- 
 lectual character of a people and the extent to which it creates ab- 
 stract gods. The Semitic peoples, among whom the development 
 
 1 On a supposed relation between the Amesha-spentas and the Vedic .-Vdityas see 
 Koth, in Zcilsi/iii/t dcr dcuischcn morgcnldndisclicn Gcst/lsc/ia//, vi, 69 f. ; Macdonell, 
 Vcdic Mythology^ p. 44 ; Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 134 f. Cf. also L. H. 
 Gray (on the derivation of the Amshaspands from material gods), in Arclm fUr 
 RcUgionswisscnscliaft, vii (1904), 345. 
 
 2 Cf. J. B. Carter, Dc Dconnn Romanorum Cognominibus. 
 8 Cf. Boissier, La religion lomaine, i, 9.
 
 CODS 301 
 
 of such gods is the feeblest, are characterized by objectiveness 
 of thought, indisposition to philosophical or psychological analy- 
 sis, and a maintenance of local political and religious organiza- 
 tion ; it is natural that they should construct concrete deities 
 exclusively or almost exclusively. Egypt also was objective, and 
 carried its demand for visible objects of worship to the point of 
 incarnating its gods in living animals ; such living gods tend to 
 banish pale abstractions, and such conceptions played an insignifi- 
 cant part in Eg)'ptian religion. In India, with its genius for philo- 
 sophical refinement, we might expect to find this latter class of 
 gods ; but Indian thought speedily passed into the large panthe- 
 istic and other generalizations that absorbed the lesser abstractions. 
 Greece appears to have had the combination of philosophy and 
 practicalness that favors the production of a certain sort of ab- 
 stract gods, and a considerable number of these it did produce ; ^ 
 but here also philosophy, in the form of large theories of the con- 
 stitution and life of man, got the upper hand and repressed the 
 other development. The Romans had no pretensions to philo- 
 sophic or aesthetic thought, but they had a keen sense of the value 
 of family and civic life, and great skill in using religion for social 
 purposes. It is they among whom specialized deities, including 
 abstractions, had the greatest significance for the life of the people 
 — family and State. 
 
 706. With the growth of general culture all specialized divini- 
 ties tend to disappear, absorbed by the great gods and displaced 
 by better knowledge of the laws governing the bodily and men- 
 tal growth of men.^ The divinities of abstractions, so far as they 
 were really alive, had the effect of making great civic and religious 
 ideas familiar to the people. Later (as in modern life) such ideas 
 were cherished as the outcome of reflection on domestic and 
 national relations — in the earlier period they were invested with 
 sacredness and with personal power to inspire and guide. Exactly 
 what their ethical influence on the masses was it is hardly possible 
 
 1 Cf. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, v, 442 ff. 
 
 2 They survive in later times to some extent in the form of patron and other local 
 saints, Christian and Moslem.
 
 302 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 to determine ; but it may be regarded as probable that they helped 
 to keep alive certain fundamental conceptions at a time when re- 
 flection on life was still immature. 
 
 Nature Gods 
 
 707. The term "nature gods" may be taken as designating 
 those deities that arc distinguished on the one hand from natural 
 objects regarded as divine and worshiped, and on the other hand 
 from the great gods, who, whatever their origin, have been quite 
 dissociated from natural objects ; in distinction from these classes 
 nature gods are independent deities who yet show traces of their 
 origin in the cult of natural objects.^ 
 
 708. These three classes often shade into one another, and it is 
 not always easy to draw the lines between them. It is worth while, 
 however, to keep them separate, because they represent different 
 stadia of religious and general culture ; the nature gods are found 
 in societies which have risen above the old crude naturalism, but 
 have not yet reached the higher grade of intellectual and ethical 
 distinctness. But as they are in a real sense dissociated from natural 
 objects, they tend to expand as society grows, and it is unnecessary 
 to attempt to deduce all their functions from the characteristics of 
 the objects with which they were originally connected. In some 
 cases, doubtless, they coalesce with the local clan gods whose 
 functions are universal ; and in general, when a god becomes the 
 recognized deity of his community, the tendency is to ascribe to 
 him a great number of functions suggested by the existing social 
 conditions. In some cases the particular function of the god may 
 be derived from the function of the natural object whence he is 
 supposed to spring ; but the number and variety of functions that 
 we often find assigned to one deity, and tlir number of deities 
 that are connected with a single function, indicate the complexity 
 of the processes of early religious thought and make it difficult to 
 trace its history in detail. 
 
 1 Cf. Bloomficld's classification of deities {Religion of the Viifd, p. 96) partly 
 according to the degree of clearness with which characters belonging to physical 
 niture appear: " translucent " gods are those whose origin in nature is obvious; 
 " transparent" gods are half-personified nature objects.
 
 GODS 303 
 
 709. Among natural objects ilic heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and 
 stars, and particularly the sun and moon, have very generally 
 attracted men's attention and become objects of worship. The 
 deification of the sun may be traced through all stadia of develop- 
 ment, from the crudest objectivism to a highly developed monolatry 
 or a virtual monotheism.^ Veneration of the physical sun, or a con- 
 ception of it as a supernatural man, is found in many parts of the 
 world." It has not been observed, apparently, in Australia, Mela- 
 nesia, Indonesia, and on the North American Pacific Coast ; ^ these 
 regions are all backward in the creation of gods — devoting them- 
 selves to the elaboration of social organization they have contented 
 themselves largely with an apparatus of spirits and divine animals. 
 In Central and Northern Asia and among the Ainu of Jesso, while 
 there appears to be a recognition of the sun as divine, it is difficult to 
 distinguish real solar divinities.'* In Japan mention is made of a sun- 
 goddess but she plays an insignificant part in the religious system.^ 
 
 710. The cult is more developed in Eastern and Central North 
 America, particularlv in the former region. The Navahos (in the 
 center of the continent) have a vague deity of the sun, but the cult 
 is most prominent among the Algonkin ( Lenapc') and Natchez 
 tribes ; the last-named especially have an elaborate cult in which the 
 sun as deity seems to be distinct from the physical form.** 
 
 711. The highest development of this cult in America was 
 reached in Mexico and Peru. In both these countries, which had 
 worked out a noteworthy civilization, the solar cult became supreme, 
 and in Peru it attained an ethical and uni\-ersalistic form which 
 entitles it to rank among the best religious systems of the lower 
 civilized nations.'' 
 
 1 Cf. Tylor, Prhmtivc Culture, ii, 2S5 ff. 2 See above, § 32S ff. 
 
 ^i Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 561 ff., and Northern 
 Tribes of Central Australia, p. 182 ; Codrington, The Melanesians, p. 34S ; Roth, in 
 Journal of the Anthropoloi:;iial Institute, xxi, 125 ; Boas, The K-vakiutl, p.4iof. 
 
 ^ Cf. Uatchelor, The Ainu (1901), p. 63 f. 5 cf. Aston, Shinto, p. 35. 
 
 O J. G. Miiller, Amcrikanischc Urreligionen, p. 58, and Index, s.v. Sonnenitiensl ; 
 Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 33 ; Brinton, The Len&pe, p. 65 (cf. his American 
 Hero-Myths, p. 230) ; Gatschet, ATtgration Legend of the Creeks, p. 216 f. 
 
 7 Prescott, Mexico, i, 57 ff.; id., Peru, i, 92 ff. ; V.. J. Payne, History of the Ne7i< 
 World called America, {,463, 550 ff.; C. R. Markham, The Incas of I\ru, pp. 63, 
 67, 104 ff.
 
 304 INTRODL'CTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 712. 'I"he Eg}-ptians, with their more advanced ci\'ilization, finally 
 carried sun-worship to a ver)- high point of perfection- The 
 h)inns to Ra, the sun-god, reached the verge of monotheism and 
 are ethically high, yet traces of the physical side of the sun app>ear 
 throughout.^ The same thing is true of the old Semitic sun-cult. 
 TTie Babylonian and Ass3Tian Shamash is in certain respects an 
 independent deity with tmiversal attributes, but retains also some 
 of the physical characteristics of the sun.^ In Africa, outside of 
 Elg\"pt the only trace of an independent sun-god appears to be in 
 Dahomi, where, however, he is not prominent ; why such a god 
 should not be fovmd in the neighboring countries of Ashanti and 
 Yoruba is not clear: climatic conditions would affect all these 
 countries alike.' 
 
 713. In the Veda the sun-god Savitar has a ver\- distinguished 
 position as ethical deit}-, but earlier than he the similar figure Surya 
 represents more nearly the ph\-sical sun, and this is true perhaps 
 also of Mitra.* With the latter it is natural to compare the Avestan 
 Mithra : he is held by some to have been originally a god of light, 
 but he seems also to have characteristics of the sun in the Avesta,* 
 and in late Persian the word mihr Q sim ' ) indicates that he was at 
 any rate finally identified with the sim. It is noteworthy that a dis- 
 tinct sun-worship is reported among certain non-Ar)-an tribes of 
 India, particularly the Khonds : ' this cult may be compared with 
 that of the Natchez mentioned above," though the Khonds are less 
 socially advanced than these American tribes. 
 
 714. 'ITie cultic histoiy of the moon is similar to that of the 
 sun, but in general far less important In addition to its charm 
 as illuminer of the night, it has been prominent as a measurer of 
 time — lunar calendars appear among many tribes and nations, 
 imci\Tlized CMaoris, Hawaiians, Dahomi, Ashanti and Yorubans, 
 Nandi, Congo tribes, Bantu, Todas, and others; and ci\ilized 
 (the early Babylonians, Ass)Tians, Hebrews, Greeks. Romans, 
 
 1 Records of the Past, first series, ii, 129 fF. : ^ii, 105 fiF. 
 
 2 Jastrow. Rehgion of I: ' ' ' : and Assyria, p. 71. * A. B. Ellis, Eue. p. 65. 
 
 * Macdonell, Vedk M_, '/'?-V>^ V-t 29i cf- P-23: Bloomfield, jf^iij'/OT: of the 
 Veda. p. S6: Hopkins, Reltgwns of India, p. 40 ff. 5 Yasht x, 67. 
 
 * Hopkins, ReUgions of India, p. 529 f. " § 710.
 
 GODS 305 
 
 perhaps the early Egyptians, and now all Mohammedan peoples). 
 Naturally it has been associated with the sun in myths, standing 
 to it in the relation of brother or sister, husband or wife. Among 
 existing noncivilized peoples it sometimes receives worship as a 
 god ^ or as connected with a god." In these cases it retains to a 
 great extent its character as an object of nature. So the Greek 
 Selene and the Roman Luna, standing alongside of the lunar 
 gods proper, probably indicate an early imperfect deification of 
 the moon. 
 
 715. Though the stars were generally regarded, both among 
 savages and in ancient civilized communities, as animated (pos- 
 sessed of souls), and in a sort divine," instances of the deification 
 proper of particular stellar bodies are rare. In Egypt they were 
 reverenced, but apparently not worshiped.^ The Babylonian astron- 
 omers and astrologers began early to connect the planets with 
 the great gods (Jupiter with Marduk, Venus with Ishtar, etc.), and 
 stars, like other heavenly bodies, were held by them to be divine, 
 but a specific divinization of a star or planet docs not appear in 
 the known literature.^ The same thing is true of CJhina, where, 
 it may be supposed, reverence for the stars was included in the 
 general high position assigned to Heaven.'' In the Aryan Hindu 
 cults stars were revered, and by the non-Aryan Gonds were wor- 
 shiped, but there is no star-god proper.'' 
 
 716. In the Old Testament and the Apocrypha there are pas- 
 sages in which stars and planets are referred to in a way that 
 indicates some sort of a conception of them as divine : they are 
 said to have fought against Israel's enemies, and in the later liter- 
 ature they are (perhaps by a poetical figure of speech) identified 
 
 1 W. Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of Norlhern India, i, 12 ff . ; Journal 
 of the Royal Asiatic Society, xviii, 373 ff. (the Lurka Coles) ; Hopkins, Religions of 
 India (Dravidians, Kolarians) ; and for a modern, more civilized cult see Hopkins, 
 op. cit., p. 480, note 3 ; I'ayne, Ilisioiy of the Neiu World called America, i, 546 ff. 
 
 2 Turner, Samoa, Index, s.v. Moon ; Matthews, Navaho Legends, pp. 86, 226. 
 
 3 See above, § 328 ff. ; cf. Tylor, Primitive Cidture, i, 290 f. 
 ■* Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, pp. 88, 91. 
 
 5 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 356 ff., 457. 
 
 6 De Groot, Religion of the Chinese, p. 5 (cf. J. Edkins, Religion in China, p. 105 ff.). 
 'i Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 204, 266, 526.
 
 306 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 with foreign deities or with angels.' But there is no sign of Israel- 
 ite worship offered them till the seventh century B.C., when, on the 
 irruption of Assyrian cults, incense is said to have been burned 
 in the Jerusalem temple to the mazzalot (probably the signs of 
 the zodiac) and to all the host of heaven (the stars) ; " and there 
 is still no creation of a star-god.* The early Hebrews may have 
 practiced some sort of star-worship ; there are traces of such a 
 cult among their neighbors the Arabs. 
 
 717. The Arab personal name Abd ath-thuraiya, ' servant (wor- 
 shiper) of the Pleiades,' testifies to a real cult,* though how far 
 it involves a conception of the constellation as. a true individual 
 deity it may be difficult to say. It has been supposed that the 
 pre-Islamic Arabs worshiped the planet Venus under the name 
 Al-Uzza,^ but this is not certain. It is true that they worshiped 
 the morning star, and that ancient non-Arab writers identified the 
 planet with Al-Uzza because it was with this goddess that the 
 Roman goddess Venus was generally identified by foreigners. 
 But Al-Uzza was an old Arabian local deity who gradually assumed 
 great power and influence, and it is certain that she could not have 
 been originally a star. It must, therefore, be considered doubtful 
 whether the Arabs had a true star-god. 
 
 718. A well-defined instance of such a god is the Avestan 
 Tistr}-a.*' His origin as an object of nature appears plainly in his 
 functions — he is especially a rain-god, and, as such, a source of 
 all blessings. Alongside of him stand three less well defined stellar 
 Powers. The Greeks and Romans adopted from Chaldean astron- 
 omy the nominal identification of the planets with certain gods 
 (their own divine names being substituted for the Babylonian) ; 
 
 1 Judg. V, 2o ; Isa. xxiv, 21 ff. : Job xxxviii, 7 ; Enoch xviii, 12 : xxi, 1 (cf. Rev. ix, i) ; 
 cf. Neh. ix, 6. See Baudissin, Scmitischc Rcligionsgcsc/iic/itc, i, 118 ff.; article " As- 
 tronomy and Astrology " in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible. 2 2 Kings xxiii, 5. 
 
 3 The corrupt and obscure passage Amos v, 26, cannot be cited as proving a 
 cult of a deity Kaiwan (Masoretic text Kiyyun, Eng. R.V. " shrine ") identical with 
 Assyrian kaiwan or kaiman, the planet Saturn ; there is no evidence that this planet 
 was worshiped in Assyria. * Hastings, £»c}'e/o/'(rdia of Religion and Ethics, i, 660. 
 
 5 Cf.W. R. Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, chap, vi, note 8 ; Hast- 
 ings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, loc. cit. 
 
 << Spiegel, Eranische Altcrihumskunde, ii, 70 ff.
 
 GODS 307 
 
 this did not necessarily carry with it stellar worship,' but at a late 
 period there was a cult of the constellations.^ 
 
 To some savage and half-civilized peoples the rainbow has 
 appeared to be a living thing, capable of acting on man's life, 
 sometimes friendly, sometimes unfriendly.* It figures largely in 
 myths, but is not treated as a god. 
 
 TiiK Great Gods 
 
 719. Along with liie deities described above there is a class of 
 higher gods with well-defined personalities, standing cjuite outside 
 physical nature and man, with definite characters, and humanized 
 in the higher sense. In contrast with the bizarre or barbarous 
 anthropomorphic forms of the earlier deities these have the shape 
 of refined humanity, capable of taking part in the life of the best 
 men ; they are the embodiment of a reflective conception of the 
 relations between men and the great world. Inchoate divine forms 
 of this sort may be recognized among certain half-civilized commu- 
 nities, but in their full form they are found only among civilized 
 peoples, being indeed the product of civilization ; and among such 
 peoples they exist in varying degrees of approach to completeness. 
 
 720. The process of growth from the clan deities and the nature 
 gods up to these higher forms may be traced with some definite- 
 ness in the great civilized nations of antiquity. We can see that 
 there has been a scientific movement of separation of gods from 
 phenomena. There is the distinct recognition not only of the dif- 
 ference between man and physical nature, but also of the difference 
 between phenomena and the powers that control them.'' At the 
 same time there is an increasing belief in the predominance of 
 reason in the government of the world, and along with this a larger 
 conception of the greatness of the world and finally of its unity. 
 Artistic feeling cooperates in the change of the character of di\'ine 
 
 1 Cf. Gruppe, Gricchischc Myt/tologic, Index, s.vv. Sicni and Sicriibildcr. 
 
 2 Cumont, Lcs religious oricntalcs pamii Ics pcuples roniains, chap vii. 
 
 3 The Franciscan Fathers, Ethnologic Diciionaty of the Navaho Language, Index, 
 S.v. ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 293 f. 
 
 ^ This is the full development of what had doubtless been felt vaguely froni the 
 beginning of religious history.
 
 308 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 beings — the necessity of giving symmetry and clearness to their 
 persons, whereby they more and more assume the form of the 
 highest human ideals. Necessarily the ethical element advances 
 hand in hand with the intellectual and artistic ; it becomes more and 
 more difficult to conceive of gods as controlled by motives lower 
 than those recognized by the best men. 
 
 721. This general progress of thought is in some cases embodied 
 in the conception of a succession of dynasties — one set of gods 
 is overthrown or succeeded by another set ; the most extreme form 
 of the overthrow appears in the conception of the death of a 
 whole community of gods, but this occurs not in the form of natural 
 development, but only when one stadium or phase of religion is 
 overmastered and expelled by another. 
 
 722. In Babylonia the earliest pair of deities, Lakhmu and 
 Lakhamu, vague forms, were succeeded by a second pair, Anshar 
 and Kishar, somewhat less vague, and these in their turn yielded 
 to the more definite group represented by Ea, Bel, and Marduk — 
 deities who became the embodiments of the highest Babylonian 
 culture ; in Assyria Ashur and Ishtar occupied a similar position. 
 In the long religious history of the Hindus many of the gods 
 prominent in the Veda disappear or sink into subordinate positions, 
 and deities at first unimportant become supreme. The Greek suc- 
 cession of dynasties resembles the Babylonian. The ancient Heaven 
 and Earth are followed by Kronos,^ and he is dethroned by Zeus, 
 who represents governmental order and a higher ethical scheme of 
 society. The Romans appear to have borrowed their chronology 
 of the gods from the Greeks : the combination of Saturnus with 
 Ops (who belongs rather with Consus), the identification of these 
 two respectively with Kronos and Rhea, and the dynastic succes- 
 sion Caelus,^ Saturnus, Jupiter, seem not to be earlier than the 
 Hellenizing period in Rome. 
 
 723. These changes, when original, may have been due partly to 
 the shifting of political power — the gods of a particular dominant 
 
 1 On Kronos and the Titans cf. article " Kronos " in Roscher's Lcxikon. 
 '^ Caelus (or Caelum) was sometimes called the son of .Ether and Dies (Cicero, 
 De Natura Deontm, iii, 17, 24).
 
 iJODS 309 
 
 region may have come into prominence and reigned for a time, 
 giving place then to deities of some other region which had secured 
 the hegemony ; the history of the earliest gods lies far back in a 
 dim region without historical records and therefore is not to be 
 reconstructed definitely now. Hut such light as we get from liter- 
 ary records of later times rather suggests that the dynastic changes 
 are the product of changes in the conception of the world, and these 
 are as a rule in the direction of sounder and more humane thought. 
 
 724. 'i'here is a general similarit\' between the great deities that 
 ha\e been created by the various civilized peoples, since civilization 
 has been practically the same everywhere. But the gods differ 
 among themselves according to the special characters, needs, and 
 endowments of the various peoples, so that no deity can be profitably 
 studied without a knowledge of the physical and mental conditions 
 of the community in which he arose. But everywhere we find that 
 any one god may become practically supreme. Here again the 
 political element sometimes comes in — a dominant city or state 
 will impose its special god on a large district. There is also the 
 natural tendency among men to concentrate on an individual figure. 
 As legendary material has always gathered around particular men, 
 so the great attributes of divinity gather about the person of a 
 particular god who, for whatever reason, is the most prominent 
 divine figure in a given community. Such a god becomes for the 
 moment supreme, to the exclusion of other deities who under dif- 
 ferent circumstances might have had similar claims to precedence ; 
 and under favorable conditions a deity thus raised to the highest posi- 
 tion may maintain himself and end by becoming the sole deity of his 
 people and of the world. In any case such a divine figure becomes 
 an ideal, and thus influences more or less the life of his worshipers. 
 
 725. In Oriental polytheistic systems the desire to secure com- 
 pleteness in the representation of divine activity shows itself in the 
 combination of two or more forms into a unity of action. On the 
 lower level we have the r;omposite figures of Egypt and Babylonia, 
 congeries of bodies, heads, and limbs, human and nonhuman — the 
 result partly of the survival of ancient (sometimes outgrown) forms 
 or the fusion of local deities, partly of the imaginative collocation
 
 3IO IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of attributes. Many compound names may be explained in this 
 way ; in some cases they seem to arise from accidental local rela- 
 tions of cults. 
 
 As illustrations of lines of growth in divine figures wc may take 
 brief biographies of some of the greater gods. It is in compara- 
 tively few cases that the development of a god's character can be 
 satisfactorily traced. There are no records of beginnings — we can 
 only make what may be judged to be probable inferences from 
 names, cults, and functions. The difficulty of the subject is increased 
 by the fact that mythologians and theologians have obscured early 
 conceptions by new combinations and interpretations, often em- 
 ploying familiar divine figures simply as vehicles of late philosophical 
 ideas or some oiIkt sort of local dogmas. 
 
 726. Egypt} The cult of the sun in Egypt issued in the creation 
 of a group of solar divinities, the most important of whom arc 
 Horus (Har or Hor) and Ra (or Re). 
 
 Horus appears to have been the great god of united Egypt in 
 the earliest times about which wc have information. The kings of 
 the predynastic and early dynastic periods are called " worshipers 
 of Horus," a title that was adopted by succeeding monarchs, who 
 had each his '' Horus name." - He was also the special patron of 
 some small communities — a fact that has been variously inter- 
 preted as indicating that the god's movement was from local to general 
 patron, '^ or that it was in the opposite direction ^ ; tlie former of 
 these h3'pothcses is favored by what appears elsewhere in such 
 changes in the positions of deities. As Horus is always connected 
 with light he may have been originally a local sun-god ; it is pos- 
 sible, however, that he was a clan god with general functions, who 
 was brought into association with the sun by the natural progress 
 of thought. In any case he became a great sun-god, but }iclded 
 
 1 Ed. Meyer, Gcschkhtc des Altai Acgyftctis (and cf. his Gcschichic dcs Altcr- 
 twiis, 2d cd.) ; Maspero, Dawn of Civilization ; Wicjjemann, Religion of the Ancient 
 Egyptians, and article " Religion of Egypt " in Hastings, Dictionary of the Bible, 
 vol. v; Erman, Handbook of Rgyfiian Religion; Breasted, Histoj-y of Egypt. 
 
 2 Breasted, op cit., pp. 36, 46 ; id.. Ancient Records of Egypt, under the various 
 kings. 3 So Ed. Meyer, in article " Horos " in Roscher's Lexikon. 
 
 * So Steindorff, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 26 f.
 
 GODS 3 1 1 
 
 his position of eminence to Ra. The myth of his conflict with Set, 
 the representative of darkness, is probably a priestly dualistic con- 
 struction, resting, perhaps, on a political situation (the struggle be- 
 tween the North and the South of the Egyptian territory).^ 
 
 727. The general development of Ra is plain, though details are 
 lacking. It may be inferred from his name (which means ' sun ') 
 that he was originally the physical sun. Traces of his early crude- 
 ness appear in the stories of his destruction of mankind, and of 
 the way in which Isis, by a trick, got from him his true name and, 
 with it, his power." With the growth of his nati\e land (Lower 
 Egypt) he became the great lord of the sun, and finally universal 
 lord ; ^ his supremacy was doubtless due in part to the political im- 
 portance of On (Heliopolis), the seat of his chief shrine. What 
 other circumstances contributed to his victory over Ilorus are not 
 recorded ; in general it may be supposed that political changes 
 occasioned the recedence of the latter. 
 
 The primacy of Ra is illustrated by the fact that Amon was iden- 
 tified with him. Amon, originally the local god of 'I'hebes,'' became 
 great in the South as Ra became great in the North, rising with the 
 growth of the Theban kingdom. His hold on the people, and par- 
 ticularly (as was natural) on the priests, is shown in a noteworthy 
 way by the episode of Amenhotep IV's attempt to supplant him 
 by establishing a substantially monotheistic cult of the sun-god 
 Aton; the attempt was successful only during the king's life — after 
 his death Amon, under the vigorous leadership of the Theban 
 priests, resumed his old position and maintained it until the first 
 break-up of the national Egyptian government. But it was Amon- 
 Ra that became supreme from the fourteenth century onward. The 
 combination of the names was made possible by the social and 
 political union of the two divisions of the land, and it was Ra who 
 gave special glory to Amon.^ 
 
 1 Cf. Steindorff, op. cit., p. 30 f. 
 
 2 Records of the Past, vi, 105 ff. ; Steindorff, op. cit., p. 107 ff. 
 
 8 See, for example, the hymn in Records of Ihc Past, viii, 105 ff. 
 * He was, therefore, doubtless a god of fertility. 
 
 S Records of the Past, ii, 129 ff. The names of other deities also were combined 
 with that of Ra.
 
 312 lyTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORV OF KELIGIOXS 
 
 728. A different line of growth appears in the histor)- of Osiris 
 — he owed his eminence mainly to his connection with the dead. 
 Where his cult arose is not known ; he was a \ery old god, possibly 
 prominent in the predynastic period ; ^ at a later time the impor- 
 tance of Abydos, the chief seat of his worship, may have added to 
 his reputation. But the ceremonies of his cult and the myths that 
 grew up about his name indicate that he was originally a deity of 
 vegetation, the patron of the underground productive forces of the 
 earth, and so, naturally, he became the lord of the Undenvorld,- 
 and eventually (as ethical conceptions of life became more definite 
 in Eg)pt) the embodiment of future justice, the determiner of the 
 moral character and the everlasting fate of men. Why he and not 
 some other underground god became Underworld judge the data 
 do not make clear. His association with the death and revivifica- 
 tion of plants gave a peculiarly human character to his mythical 
 biography and a dramatic and picturesque tone to his cult.* Of 
 all ancient lords of the Otherworld it is Osiris that shows the most 
 continuous progress and reaches the highest ethical plane — a fact 
 that must be referred to the intense interest of the Eg}ptians in 
 the future.* 
 
 729. The three most prominent female deities of the Egyptian 
 pantheon, Hathor of Dendera. Xeith (Xit. Xeit).of Sais, and Isis 
 of Buto, exhibit one and the same type of character, and each is 
 occasionally identified with one of the others. Hathor was widely 
 worshiped, but was not othenvise especially noteworthy. The 
 famous inscription said to have stood in the temple of Neith at Sais 
 (" What is and what shall be and what has been am I — my veil 
 no one has lifted " ^) seems not to be immediately connected with 
 
 1 Egj-ptian civilization, as appears from recent explorations, began far back of 
 Menes ; cf. Ed. Meyer, GeschichU des Alteriiofis, 2d ed., vol. i, part ii, § 169. 
 
 - a. Breasted, History of Eg) ft, p. 5S ; Frazer, Adonis Attis Osiris, bk. iii, chap. v. 
 
 3 Plutarch, Isis attd Osiris, iS ; Frazer, loc. cit. ; Breasted, gp. cit.. p. 171 f. 
 
 ■• His identification by some ancient theologians with the sun (Frazer, op. cit., 
 p. 351 f.) or with the moon (Plutarch, op. cit., 41) is an illustration of the late tend- 
 ency to identify any great god with a heavenly body. 
 
 5 Such is the wording given by Proclus. The form in Plutarch {/sis and Osiris, 9) 
 is substantially the same : " 1 am all that has been and that is and that shall be. and 
 my veil no mortal has lifted." See Roscher, Lexikon, article " Nit," col. 436. Doubts 
 have been cast on the reality of the alleged inscription.
 
 CODS 313 
 
 any important religious movement, though it is in keeping with the 
 liberal and mystical tendency of the later time. The third goddess, 
 Isis, had a more remarkable history. Her beginnings are obscure, 
 and she appears in the inscriptions later than the other two. She 
 may have been a local deity,' brought into association with Osiris 
 (as his sister or his wife) through the collocation of their cults, and 
 thus sharing his popularity ; or she may have been a late theological 
 creation.- Whatever her origin, as early as the sixteenth century b.c. 
 she appears as a great magician (poisoning and healing Ra by magic 
 arts),^ then (along with Osiris) as civilizer, and finally as model wife 
 and mother, and as serene and beneficent mistress of the land. It 
 was, apparently, in this last character that she became the gathering- 
 point for the higher religious and ethical ideas of the'time, and the 
 central figure in a religious scheme that was widely adopted in and 
 out of Eg}-pt and seemed to be a formidable rival of Christianity.^ 
 
 730. India. It is in India that we find the most varied and most 
 sweeping development in the functions and positions of deities — 
 a result due in part to the long-continued movement of pl.ilosophic 
 thought, partly to changes in the popular religious point of view 
 occasioned by modifications of the social life.^ 
 
 The etymology of the name Varuna is doubtful, but the repre- 
 sentation of him in the Rig- Veda points to the sky as his original 
 form — he is a clear example of a sky-god who becomes universal. 
 Of his earliest history we have no information — in the most ancient 
 records he is already fully formed. In the Rig-Veda he embraces 
 the whole of life — he is absolute ruler and moral governor, he 
 punishes sin and forgives the penitent. In conjunction with Mitra 
 he is the lord of order." Mitra, originally the physical sun, is natu- 
 rally associated with Varuna, but in the Rig-Veda occupies a gener- 
 ally subordinate position, though he appears sometimes to have the 
 
 1 Maspero, Dawn of CivUhation, p. 131. 
 
 2 So Ed. Meyer, in Roscher, I.cxikoii, article " Isis," col. 360. 
 8 Steindorff, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 107 ff. 
 
 ^ See Drexlcr, in Roscher, l.exikon, article " Isis," col. 424 ff. 
 
 5 Barth, T/ie Religions of India (Eng. tr.) ; Hopkins, Religions of India; Ilille- 
 brandt, Vcdiselie Mytliologic ; Macdonell, Vedic Mythology ; Bloomfield, Religion 0/ 
 the Veda. See the bibliography in Hopkins, op. cit., p. 573 ff. 
 
 6 Rig-Veda, viii, 41,1.7; i, 23, 5 {>ta, ' order').
 
 314 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 attributes of his associate ; the two togctlicr embody a lofty etliical 
 conception. In accordance with the Hindu fondness for metaphys- 
 ical abstractions and generalizations the nature god Varuna in the 
 course of time yielded the primacy to Prajapati, ' lord of beings,' ^ 
 who in his turn gave way to the impersonal Brahma. In ilie popu- 
 lar cults as well as in philosophical systems Varuna sank (or perhaps 
 returned) to the position of patron of phenomena of nature — there 
 was no longer need of him. 
 
 731. A god of somewhat uncertain moral character is Indra, 
 who as a nature god is closely connected with the violent phenom- 
 ena of the air (rain, thunder, and lightning). In this relation he is 
 often terrible, often beneficent, but with low tastes that it is difificult 
 to explain. His fondness for soma, without which he attempts 
 nothing, is perhaps a priesdy touch, a glorification of the drink that 
 played so important a part in the ritual ; or he may herein be an 
 expression of popular tastes. The sensuous character of the heaven 
 of which he (as air-god) is lord arose doubtless in response to early 
 conceptions of happiness ; - it is not unlike the paradise of Moham- 
 med, which is to be regarded not as immoral, but only as the embodi- 
 ment of the existing conception of happy family life. Yet Indra also 
 becamt a universal god, the controller of all things, and it was per- 
 haps due to his multiform human character as warrior and rain- 
 giver^ (in his victorious conflict with the cloud-dragon), and as 
 representative of bodily enjoyment, that he became the favorite god 
 of the people. It is not hard to understand why Agni, fire, should 
 be associated with him and share his popularity to some extent ; 
 but the importance of fire in the sacrifice gave Agni a peculiar 
 prominence in the ritual. 
 
 732. The most curious case of transformation and exaltation is 
 found in the history of Soma, at first a plant whose juice was 
 intoxicating, then a means of ecstatic excitement, a gift to the gods, 
 
 1 Rig- Veda, x, 1 2 1 . 
 
 2 Early imagination apparently connected the future social life of gods and men 
 not with the calm sky, but with the upper region that was the scene of constant and 
 awful movements. But the ground of the choice of Indra as lord of heaven rests in 
 the obscurity of primeval times. 
 
 8 For economic reasons a rain-god must generally be prominent and popular.
 
 GODS 3 1 5 
 
 the drink of the gods, and fiiiall)' itself a god invested with tlie 
 greatest attributes. 'I'his divinization of a drink was no doubt 
 mainly priestly — it is a striking illustration of the power of the 
 association of ideas, and belongs in the same general categoiy with 
 the deification of abstractions spoken of above.' 
 
 733. An example of a god leaping from an inferior position to 
 the highest place in the pantheon is afforded by Vishnu, a nature 
 god of some sort, described in the early documents as traversing 
 the universe in three strides. Relatively insignificant in the earlier 
 period and in the Upanishads, he appears in the epic, and afterwards, 
 as the greatest of the gods, and, in the form of his avatar Krishna, 
 becomes the head of a religion which has often been compared with 
 Christianity in the purity of its moral conceptions. By his side in 
 this later time stands his rival ^iva, the chief figure in a sect 
 or system which shared with Vishnuism the devotion of the later 
 Hindus. The rise of these two gods is to be referred probably to 
 the dissatisfaction in the later times with the phenomenal character 
 which still clung, in popular feeling, to the older deities. Varuna, 
 once supreme, sank after a while to the position of a god of rain, 
 and Indra, Agni, and Soma were frankly naturalistic, while the 
 impersonal IJrahma was too vague to meet popular demands. What 
 the later generation wanted was a god personal and divorced from 
 physical phenomena, supreme, ethically high, but invested with 
 warm humanity. These conditions were fulfilled by Vishnu and 
 Qiva, and particularly by Krishna ; that is, the later thought con- 
 structed these new deities in accordance with the demand of the 
 higher and the lower religious feeling of the time : the two sides of 
 the human demand, the genial and the terrible, are embodied, the 
 first in Vishnu, the second in Qiva. 
 
 734. The primeval pair, Heaven and Earth, though represented 
 as the parents of many gods and worshiped with sacrifices, play 
 no great part in the Hindu religious system. Dyaus, the Sky, 
 never attained the proportions of the formally identical Zeus and 
 Jupiter. His attributes are distinctly those of the physical sky. 
 The higher role is assigned to Varuna, who is the sky conceived 
 
 1 § 703-
 
 3l6 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of as a divine Power divorced from mcrel\- physical character- 
 istics : * the mass of phenomena connected with the sky (thunder, 
 lightning, and such like) are isolated and referred to various 
 deities. Prithivi, the Earth, in like manner, retains her physical at- 
 tributes, and does not become the nourishing mother of all things."-^ 
 
 With a partial exception in the case of Ushas* (Dawn) the 
 early Hindu pantheon contains no great female figure ; there are 
 female counterparts of male deities, but no such transcendent 
 personages as Isis, Athene, and Demeter. Whether this fact is to 
 be explained from early Hindu views of the social position of 
 women, or from some other idea, is uncertain. In certain mod- 
 ern religious cults, however, the worship of the female principle 
 (Qakti) is popular and influential. It is probable that in early 
 times every tribe or district had its female divine representative 
 of fertility, an embryonic mother-goddess. If the Ar}'an Hindus 
 had such a figure, she failed to grow into a great divinity. But 
 the worship of such deities came into Aryan India at a relatively 
 recent date, apparently from non-Aryan sources, and has been 
 incorporated in Hindu systems. Various forms of Qakti have 
 been brought into relation with various gods, the most important 
 being those that have become attached to the worship of Qiva.* 
 To him is assigned as wife the frightful figure called Durga or 
 Kali (and known by other names), a blood-loving monster with 
 an unspeakably licentious cult. Other Qakti deities are more 
 humane, and there is reason to suppose that the ground of the 
 devotion shown to Kali, especially by women, is in many cases 
 simply reverence for the female principle in life, or more particu- 
 larly for motherhood.* 
 
 735. The original character of the Hindu lord of the Other- 
 world, Yama, is obscured by the variety of the descriptions of 
 
 1 The history of this distinction between Dyaus and Varuna is lost in the obscu- 
 rity of the beginnings. 
 
 2 This conception appears in germinal form in Rig-Vcda, v, 84, vi, 515, but is not 
 there or elsewhere developed. 3 Macdonell, Vcdic Mythology, § 20. 
 
 4 Cf. Hastings, Encydopadia of Religion and Ethics, article " Bengal," p. 491 ff., 
 and the references there given to authorities. 
 
 6 One form of Qaktism is described (in Hastings, loc. cit.) as being the general 
 worship of the Mothers of the universe represented as the wives of the gods.
 
 GODS 3 1 7 
 
 him in the documents. In the Rig- Veda he appears both as god 
 and (as it seems) as man. lie is the son of the solar deity 
 Vivashant (Vivashat) ; lie is named in enumerations of gods, and 
 Agni is his friend and liis priest ; lie receives worship, and is be- 
 sought to come to the sacrifice.^ On the other hand, he is never 
 called "god," but only "king";- he is spoken of as the "only 
 mortal," and is said to have chosen death ; he is associated in 
 heaven with the " fathers." ^ The modern interpretations of his 
 origin have followed these two sets of data. By some writers he 
 has been identified with the sun (particularly the setting sun), and 
 with the moon.'' Ikit these identifications are set aside for the 
 V-eda by the fact that in lists of gods he is distinguished from sun 
 and moon.'^ Vty others he is regarded as the mythical first man, 
 the first ancestor, with residence in the sky, deified as original 
 ancestors sometimes were, and, as the first to die and enter the 
 world beyond, made the king of that world. 
 
 Though Yama is not the sun in the Veda, it is possible that he 
 was so regarded in the period preceding the Vedic theological 
 construction, and in support of this view it may be said that the 
 sun setting, descending into the depths, is a natural symbol of the 
 close of man's life," and rising, represents the man's life in the be- 
 yond — thus the sun would be identified with man, and not un- 
 naturally with the first man, the first to die. In support of the 
 other view may be cited the great role ascribed by many peoples 
 to the first man : in savage lore he is often the creator or arranger 
 of the world,' and he is sometimes, like Yama, the son of the sun.* 
 
 1 Rig-Veda, x, 64, 92, 135, 21, 52, 14. 
 
 2 Ibid., X, 14 ; ix, 113. However, this title is given to Varuna also (x, 14) : Vama 
 and Varuna are the two kings whom the dead man sees when he reaches heaven. 
 
 3 Ibid., X, 10, 13, 14 (cf. Atharva-Veda, xviii, 13). 
 
 4 Hillebrandt, Vcdischc Mythologic, i, 394 ff., but only for the Indo-Iranian period. 
 
 5 Rig-Vcda, X, 64. 
 
 6 Cf. Miillcr, Lectures on the Science of Language, second series, p. 534 f. ; Tylor, 
 Primitive Culture, ii, 314 ; Bergaignc, La religion vcdii/ue, ii, 94, note 3; Frobenius, 
 Childhood of Afan, chap. xxii. Cf. the Egyptian conception of Osiris (Maspero, Dawn 
 of Civilization, p. 195). 
 
 ^ Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. So ; other examples are given in \V. Ellis's Poly- 
 nesian Researches, i, chap, v, and 'Jyior, op. cit., ii, 312 ff. 
 8 Ellis, loc. cit. ; Dorsey, The Sktdi Pawnee, p. 6.
 
 3l8 /\TRODUCT/OX TO H/STOKV OF f!EL/GIO\S 
 
 Such an one, entering the other world, might become its lord, and 
 in process of time be divinized and made the son of the creator 
 sun.^ The Hindu figure is often compared to the Avestan first 
 man, Yima ; but Vima, so far as appears, was never divinized, 
 and is not religiously of great importance. Nor do the late Jew- 
 ish legends and theosophical speculations bear on the point un- 
 der consideration : in Paradise, it is said, Adam was waited on by 
 angels, the angels were commanded by God to pay him homage 
 (so also in the Koran), and he is described as being the light of 
 the world ; and Philo and others conceived of a first or heavenly 
 man (Adam Kadmon), free from ordinary human weakness, and 
 identical with the Logos or the Messiah — therefore a judge in 
 the largest sense of the word.- But, while these conceptions testify 
 to the strong appeal made to the imagination b)- the figure of the 
 mythical first man, they throw little light on the original form of 
 Yama — the early constructions do not include the judge of the 
 other world, and the later ones are too late to explain so early a 
 figure as the Vedic king of that world. 
 
 736. In the Rig- Veda Yama is specifically the overlord of the 
 blessed dead — the pious who were thought worthy to dwell in 
 heaven with the gods and to share to some extent their divinity ; 
 with the wicked he seems to have nothing to do. The general his- 
 tory of the conception of the future life suggests that in the earli- 
 est Indo-Iranian period there was a hades to which all the dead 
 went.^ If there was a divine head of this hades (originalh- an 
 underground deity, like Osiris, Allatu, and Ploutos) he would 
 accompany the pious fathers when, in the later Hindu theologic 
 construction, they were transported to heaven ; and if the first 
 ancestor occupied a distinguished place among the dead,* he 
 might be fused with the divine head into a sort of unity, and the 
 
 1 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 12S ff . ; Macdonell, Vcdic Mythology, § 77; 
 liloomfield, Religion of the Veda, Index, s.v .Yatna; and see the references in these 
 works to other authors. 
 
 ^Jcii-ish Encyclopedia, articles " Adam " and " Adam Kadmon " ; Koran, ii, 29 ff. ; 
 cf. I Cor. XV, 45 ff. 3 Sec above, §§ 67 ff., 82. 
 
 ^ On the relation between the two " first ancestors," Vama and Manu, cf. Bloom- 
 field, op. cit., p. 140 f.
 
 cons 
 
 319 
 
 result ini<2;ht be such ;i complex figure as Yama appears to be. 
 However this may be, the Vedic Yama underwent a development 
 in accordance with the changes in the religious ideas of the people, 
 becoming at last an ethical judge of the dead.' 
 
 737. J\'rsia. The Mazdean theistic system presents special dif- 
 ficulties.- The nature of its divine world is remarkable, almost 
 unique, and the literature that has come down to us was edited at 
 a comparatively late period, probably not before the middle of the 
 third century of our era, so that it is not always easy to distinguish 
 the earlier and the later elements of thought. It is generally re- 
 garded as certain that the two branches of the Aryan race, the 
 Indian and the Persian, once dwelt together and formed one com- 
 munity, having the same general religious system : the material of 
 spirits is substantially the same in the two and they have certain 
 important names in common — to the Indian Asura, Soma, Mitra, 
 the Persian Ahura, Haoma, Mithra correspond in forni exactly. 
 But in the wav in which this material was modified and organized 
 the two communities differ widely. 
 
 738. The peculiarity of the Persian system is that it practically 
 disregards all the old gods except Mithra and Anahita, substituting 
 for them beings designated by names of qualities, and organizes 
 all extrahuman Powers in two classes — • one under the (iood Spirit 
 (Spenta Mainyu), the other under the Bad Spirit (Angro Mainyu). 
 The former is attended by six great beings. Immortal Spirits 
 (Amesha-spentas) : Good Mind, Best Order or Law, Holy Har- 
 mony or Wisdom, Piety, Well-being, Immortality.'* In the Gathas, 
 which are commonly held to be the most ancient Zoroastrian docu- 
 ments, these attendants of the supreme god are often nothing 
 but qualities, but on the other hand are often personified and wor- 
 shiped. The rival of the Good Spirit is surrounded similarly by 
 lying spirits (j/n/jas), among whom one, Aeshma, holds a promi- 
 nent place. The two divine chiefs stand side by side in the earliest 
 
 1 Hopkins, Rclii^wns of India, p. 379 ff. 
 
 ■- Ticlc-fichrich, Gcschichtc dcr Religion im Alicrtum, vol. ii, part i. 
 3 See above, § 703. Cf.articles by L. H. WxW^'m. Journal of the American Oriental 
 Society, \'o\s. x.x and xxi ; L. H. Gray, in Archiv fiir Religionsu'issenschaft, vii (1904), 
 
 P- 345-
 
 320 IXTRODUCTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 literature almost as coequal powers ; but it is explained that the 
 wicked one is to be destroyed with all his followers. 
 
 739. In some of the early h}-mns (Ya^nas) Mithra is closely 
 attached to Ahura Mazda — the two are called " the lofty and 
 imperishable ones." The goddess Anahita, first mentioned in an 
 inscription of Artaxerxes II, and described only in the late Fifth 
 Yasht, appears to have been original!)- a deity of water. It was, 
 doubtless, her popularity that led to her official recognition by 
 Artaxerxes ; possibly her formal recognition by the Mazdean lead- 
 ers was a slow process, since she docs not appear in the older 
 Avesta. In the Yasht she receives worship (being in the form of 
 a beautiful young woman) as the dispenser of all blessings that 
 come from pure water ; she is said to have been created by Ahura 
 Mazda, and is wholly subordinated to him. Besides these two a 
 great number of lesser gods are mentioned ; the latter, apparently 
 the old local gods and spirits here subordinated to the supreme 
 god, arc unimportant in the official cult. The souls of the departed 
 also become objects of worship. 
 
 740. It thus appears that Zoroastrianism was a reform of the 
 old polytheism. The movement closely resembles the struggle of 
 the Hebrew prophets against the worship of the Canaanite Baals 
 and other foreign gods. In both cases there is evidence going to 
 show that popular cults continued after the leaders of the reform 
 had thrown off the offensive elements of the old system : the 
 Hebrew people continued to worship foreign gods long after the 
 great prophets had pronounced against them ; and the official 
 recognition of Ahura Mazda in the Acha^menian inscriptions ^ by 
 no means proves that lower forms of worship were not practiced 
 in Persia by the people. - 
 
 741. If we ask for the grounds of this recoil from the old gods, 
 we must doubtless hold that ethical feeling was a powerful motive 
 in the reform, though economic and other considerations were, 
 doubtless, not without influence. 
 
 1 Records of the Past, vols, v, ix. 
 
 2 Many lesser divine beings are mentioned by Spiegel (in Eranische Alterthitms- 
 ktinde, ii, 66 ff .) ; the advance to a real monotheistic cult was not achieved in Persia 
 without many generations of struggle.
 
 GODS 321 
 
 Since Ahura Mazda is ethically good and his worship ethically 
 pure, there is clearly in its origin hostility to Icnv modes of wor- 
 ship and to materialistic ideas. Possibly also we have here a struggle 
 of a clan for the recognition of its own god, as among the Israel- 
 ites the Yahweh party represented exclusive devotion to the old 
 national god. If there was such a clan or party in Persia, it is 
 obvious that it produced men of high intelligence and great moral 
 and organizing power, and all that we know of the religious histoiy 
 leads us to suppose that the establishment of the supremacy of 
 Ahura Mazda was the result of a long development. 
 
 742. As to the provenance of the Mazdean supreme lord, not a 
 few scholars of the present day hold that he was identical with the 
 Indian Varuna. It is in favor of this identification that the quali- 
 ties of the two deities are the same, and there is also the note- 
 worthy fact that Ahura Mazda is coupled with Mithra as Varuna 
 is coupled with Mitra ; according to this view the Mazdean deity 
 was originally the god of the sky, by whose side naturally stands 
 the sun. In a case like this, involving a general agreement between 
 two systems of thought, there are two possible explanations of the 
 relation between them : it may be supposed that one borrowed 
 from the other (in the present case the borrowing would be on 
 the part of the Persians) : or the explanation may be that the two 
 communities developed original material along the same general 
 lines, though with local differences. In the absence of historical 
 data it is perhaps impossible to say which of these explanations is 
 to be preferred. There is, however, no little difficulty in the sup- 
 position that one community has actually borrowed its religious 
 system from a neighbor ; the general probability is that each fol- 
 lowed its own line. 
 
 743. Nor is it probable that the rejection of the old divine names 
 by the Persians w-as the result of hostility toward their Indian 
 neighbors. It is doubtless a curious fact that the Indian name for 
 "evil spirit,' asura, is in Persian the name of a good spirit, Ahura, 
 while the Indian diva, the general term for a god, is in Persian 
 the designation of a wicked spirit, daeva. The Persian employment 
 of daeva for ' evil spirit ' may be explained as a protest not against
 
 322 IXT^ODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Indian gods, but against the deities of their o\\ n land ; so the 
 Hebrew prophets or their editors apply opprobrious names, " no- 
 god " and other terms, to deities regarded by them as inadequate. 
 The abstractions of the Mazdean system have been referred to 
 above. They seem to have been resorted to from a feeling of pro- 
 found disgust at the worship of some class of people. Unfortunately 
 we have not the historical data that might make the situation clear. 
 In the Gathas the people of Ahura Mazda are suffering from the 
 incursions of predator)' tribes, and the greater part of the appeals 
 to the deity are for protection for the herds against their enemies. 
 We thus have a suggestion of a struggle, political and religious, 
 between the more civilized Aryans and the savage Tataric tribes 
 around them. 
 
 744. In the later period of Mazdeanism the old titles of supreme 
 deity were succeeded (though not displaced) by the terms " Bound- 
 less Time" and " Boundless Space," the latter doubtless suggested 
 by the vault of heaven. These generalizations, however, had little 
 influence on the development of the theological side of the religion, 
 which has continued to regard Ahura Mazda and Angro Main}u 
 as the two heads of the world and the determiners of human life. 
 The rituals of the Mazdean and Hindu faiths were influenced by the 
 ethical developments of the two, becoming simpler and more humane 
 with the advance toward elevated conceptions of God and man. 
 
 745. In view of such facts as are known it may be surmised that 
 the Mazdean system originated with an Aryan agricultural tribe or 
 body of tribes dwelling near the Caspian Sea, in contact with hostile 
 nomads. These Aryans, we may assume, had the ordinary early 
 apparatus of spirits and nature deities (gods of the sun, water, 
 etc.), but, at the same time, a disposition to concentrate worship 
 on a single god (probably a sky-god), who became the chief tribal 
 deity and was naturally regarded as the source of all things good, 
 the Good Spirit ; the phenomena of life led them (as it led some 
 other early peoples) to conceive of a rival spirit, the author of things 
 hostile to life. With economic conditions and intellectual character- 
 istics very different from those of their Hindu brethren, they de- 
 veloped no capacity for organizing an elaborate pantheon — they
 
 GODS 323 
 
 were practically monolatrous, were content with an all-sufficient 
 Good Spirit (the Had Spirit being tolerated as an intellectual neces- 
 sity), gradually subordinated to him such gods as the popular feel- 
 ing retained, and relegated to the sphere of evil the host of inferior 
 hurtful spirits or gods (daevas) whose existence they could nf)t 
 deny.^ The religious leaders, representing and enforcing the tribal 
 tendency of thought, in the course of time gave more and more 
 definite shape to the cult ; perhaps Zoroaster was a preeminent 
 agent in this movement. I'lthical purification, as a matter of course, 
 went hand in hand with cultic organization. The old gods or spirits, 
 associates of the supreme god, became embodiments of moral con- 
 ceptions, and a ritual of physical and moral purity was worked out. 
 Such may have been the general history of the official system ; data 
 for a detailed chronological history are lacking." 
 
 746. China. Chinese religion is characterized by a lemarkable 
 restraint in ecclesiastical development : simple religious customs, no 
 native priestly order, few gods, almost no myths. The basis of the 
 popular religion is the usual material, comprising ancestors, .spirits 
 (including tutelary spirits), a few departmental gods (of war, of the 
 kitchen, etc.), some of which are said to be deified men. The 
 system is thus nearly the same as that of the central Asiatic 
 Mongolians.^ 
 
 747. The reflective movement (which must have begun long 
 before the sixth century B.C., the period of Confucius and Lao-tsze) 
 is marked by the attempt to perfect the social organization, regard 
 being paid mainly to visible, practical relations. Stress is laid on the 
 principle of order in family and state, which is held to reflect the 
 order of the universe ;■* speculation is avoided, there is a minimum 
 of religion. In the more developed religious system the two promi- 
 nent features are, first, the dominant conception of the unity of 
 
 1 Cf. the similar process in the Arabian treatment of the jinn (W. K. Smith, 
 Religion of the Semites^ new ed., p. 122 f.). 
 
 2 Cf. A. V. WiHiams Jackson, /.oi-oas/cr, and his sketch in Geiger and Kuhn's 
 Grwidriss dcr imiiisclicii Philologic \ D. Menant, Zoroaster d''aj>ris la tradition far- 
 sie, in .'Innales dit Mitsee Gnitnet, vol xx.x. 
 
 3 De Groot, Religion of the Chinese^ chaps, i and iii ; pp. 62 ff., 112 f., 129 f. 
 
 ■* With this conception we may compare the similar principles in the Vedic and 
 Mazdean systems.
 
 324 I.yTRODrCT/OX TO JI/STOKV OF RKL/GIOXS 
 
 the family and of the state led to the emphasizing of the worship of 
 ancestors — a cult which, going back to a very early time, has been 
 interwoven in ("liina with the individual and communal life in a 
 thoroughgoing way, with a constant infusion of moral ideas ; and 
 in the next place, the order of society and of the external world is 
 represented by Heaven.' 
 
 748. Originally, doubtless. Heaven was the physical sky (as 
 among the Hindus and Persians and many other peoples), but at 
 an early period came to be practically the supreme god. A sort of 
 monotheistic cult has thus been established as the official religion. 
 The emperor is the Son of Heaven and the High Priest of the 
 nation, and in the great annual sacrifices performed h\- him the 
 host of minor powers is practically ignored and worship is addressed 
 to the controlling powers of the world. This official worship does 
 not set aside the cult of the various spirits, whose existence is rec- 
 ognized by the minor officials as well as by the people. The cult 
 of local spirits has grown to extraordinary dimensions. They fill 
 the land, controlling the conditions of life and demanding constant 
 regard ; and the experts, who are supposed to know the laws gov- 
 erning the action of the spirits (for example, as to proper burial- 
 places), wield enormous pow'er, and make enormous charges of 
 money. These spirits are treated as of subordinate importance 
 in the official religion. The process by which China has reached 
 this religious attitude must have extended over millenniums, and, 
 as is stated above, the intellectual movement in the direction of 
 simplicity and clearness has been attended by an advance in 
 ethical purity. 
 
 749. The tendency of Chinese thought is illustrated by the two 
 systems of philosophy which in the sixth century b.c. formulated 
 the conception of a universal dominant order : ^ Confucius repre- 
 sents the extreme logical development of natural order in human life 
 as a product of cosmic order — he is content absolutely to deal with 
 
 1 The all-controlling order, as is remarked above, is that of the universe, which 
 furnishes the norm for human life ; but in the universe the grandest object is heaven. 
 
 2 Legge, in Sacred Books of the East, xxxix, xl : De Greet, Religious System of 
 China, and his smaller works, Religion of the Chinese and Development of Religion 
 ill China.
 
 GODS 325 
 
 the practical affairs of life and discourages attempts to inquire into 
 the nature of gods or into the condition of men after death. Lao- 
 tsze, on the other hand, similarly taking the Way {ta(}), or l^nivcrsal 
 Order, as the informing and controlling power of the world, appears 
 to have laid the stress on the relation between it and the human 
 soul — a conception that has affinities with the Stoic Logos. But 
 it is Confucianism that has remained the creed of educated China. 
 Taoism, beginning, apparently, as a spiritual system, did not ap- 
 peal to the Chinese feeling, and speedily degenerated into a system 
 of magical jugglery. Thus the Chinese, with the feeblest religious 
 sense to be found in any great nation, have nevertheless reached 
 the grandiose conception of the all-embracing and all-controlling 
 supreme Heaven. In their case the governing consideration has 
 been the moral organization of social life, and Nature has swal- 
 lowed up all great partial deities. 
 
 750. Japan. Japan has produced no great god ; ^ out of the mass 
 of nature gods reported in the Kojiki not one becomes preeminent. 
 There is recognition of Heaven and Earth as the beginning of 
 things, and of the sun as a deity, but neither the sky-god nor the 
 sun-goddess becomes a truly high god. Japanese theistic devel- 
 opment appears to have been crippled at an early period by the 
 intrusion of Chinese influences ; the very name of the national 
 religion, Shinto, ' the Way of the Gods,' is Chinese. The emperor 
 was deified, and ancestor-worship became the principal popular 
 cult ; - but Confucianism and Buddhism overlaid the native w-orship 
 at an early period. The later forms of Shinto have moved rather 
 toward the rejection of the old deities than toward the creation of 
 a great national god. 
 
 751. Sonitic peoples. Among the various Semitic peoples there 
 is so marked a unity of thought that, as Robertson Smith has 
 pointed out,^ we may speak of the Semitic religion, though there are 
 
 1 \V. E. Griffis, Religions of Japan \ E. Buckley, in Saussaye, Lehrbitch dcr Reli- 
 gionsgeschichte, 2d ed. ; Aston, Shinto ; Knox, Development of Religion in Japan ; 
 Longford, The Story of Old Japan, chap. ii. 
 
 2 Whether the worship of ancestors, now so important an element of the national 
 life, is native or borrowed is uncertain. 
 
 3 W. K. Smith, Religion of the Semites, new ed., p. 13 ff.
 
 326 IXTRODUCTJOX TO H/STOR]' OF RELIG/OXS 
 
 noteworthy local differences. Generally we find among these com- 
 munities, as elsewhere, a large number of local deities, scarcely 
 distinguishable in their functions one from another.^ A noteworthy 
 illustration of the long continuance of these local cults is given in 
 the attempt of the last king of Babylon, Nabonidus, to centralize 
 the worship by bringing the statues of the local deities to Bab- 
 ylon ; the result was a general popular protest. Similarly an attempt 
 was made by King Josiah in the seventh century b.c. to centralize 
 all Israelite worship in Jerusalem, but the histor\' of the succeeding 
 generations shows that the attempt was not successful. The local 
 gods represent the clannic and tribal organization, to which the 
 Semites appear to have clung with peculiar fondness. 
 
 752. Semitic religion shows an orderly advance through the 
 medium of tribal and national feeling in conjunction with the 
 regular moral and intellectual growth of the community. First one 
 god and then another comes to the front as this or that city attains 
 leadership, but these chief gods are substantially identical with one 
 another in functions. The genealogical relations introduced by the 
 priestly theologians throw no light on the original characters of the 
 deities and are often ignored in the inscriptions. A natural division 
 into gods of the sky and gods of the earth may be recognized, but 
 in the high gods this distinction practically disappears. 
 
 753. Turning first to the Tigris- Euphrates region, we find certain 
 nature gods that attained more or less definite universal character." 
 The physical sky becomes the god Anu, who, though certainly 
 a great god, was never so prominent as certain other deities, and 
 in Assyria yielded gradually to Ashur. Why the Semites, in marked 
 contrast with the Indo-Europeans and the Chinese, have shown a 
 relatively feeble recognition of the physical heaven we are not able 
 to say ; possibly the tribal feeling referred to above may have led 
 
 1 Compare Baethgen, Bcitr'agc zur scmitischcn Rcligionsgcschichic, p. 262 f. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria ; id., Aspects of Religious Belief and 
 Practice in Babylonia and Assyria ; Jeremias, in Saussaye, Lchrbuch der Religions- 
 geschichtc; Zimmem, article " Babylonians and Assyrians " in Hastings, F.ncyclopctdia 
 of Religion and Ethics: Ed. Meyer, Gescliichtc dcs Altertums, i, part ii, 2d book. In 
 our sur\'ey of Babylonian deities the question of Sumerian influence may be left 
 out of the account.
 
 CODS 327 
 
 to a centering of devotion on lliosr deities that lay nearer to every- 
 day life, or in the ease of ISabylonia it may be that the city with 
 which Anil was particular!)' connected lost its early importance, and 
 its deity in consequence yielded to others.' The sun is a more defi- 
 nite and more practically important object than the expanse of the 
 sky, and the Semitic sun-god, Shamash, plays a great role from the 
 earliest to the latest times. The great king Hammurabi (commonly 
 placed near the year 2000 r..c.\ in his noteworthy civil code, takes 
 Shamash as his patron, as the inspirer of wisdom and the ccjn- 
 troller of human right ; and from this time onward this deity is 
 invoked by the kings in their inscriptions. 'I'he worship of the 
 sun was established in ("anaan at an early time (as the name of 
 the town ]3ethshemesh, ' house of Shemesh,' shows), and under 
 Assyrian influence was adopted by a large number of Israelites in 
 the seventh century n.c. ; the prophet Ezekiel represents prominent 
 Israelites as standing in the court of the temple, turning their backs 
 on tlie sacred house and w'orshiping the sun ; - but as to the natiu'c 
 of the sun-god and his worship in these cases w'e have no informa- 
 tion. ( )ther nature deities that rose to eminence are the moon-god, 
 Sin, and the storm-god, Ramman. 
 
 754. The other deities of the Babylonian and Assyrian pan- 
 theons seem not to be connected by their names with natural 
 phenomena. They are attached to particular cities or districts, 
 and each district or city, as it becomes a great religious center, 
 raises its favorite god to a position of preeminence. Generally 
 the choice of a special deity by a particular cit\- lies back of histori- 
 cal documents, and the reason for such choice therefore cannot be 
 definitely fixed. The attributes and functions of the resulting great 
 gods, as has already been remarked, are substantially everywhere 
 the same, and where one function becomes prominent, it is often pos- 
 sible to explain its prominence from the political or other conditions. 
 
 755. Moreover, as in all theological constructions that follow 
 great political unifications, it was natural to extend the domain 
 
 1 Compare Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^ p. 4S1 ; id., Asf<ccts of 
 Religions Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 23, 45, 121. 
 
 2 Ezek, viii, 16.
 
 328 IXTRODUCTJOy TO HISTORY OF REUGIOA'S 
 
 of a principal god to whatever department of life or of nature 
 appealed especially to the theologian. When we find certain gods 
 invested with solar functions it does not follow that they were 
 originally sun-gods — such functions may be a necessar)' result 
 of their preeminence. Out of the great mass of Babylonian and 
 Assyrian deities we may select a few whose cults illustrate the 
 method of development of the religious conceptions. As non- 
 Semitic (^Sumerian) religious and other ideas and words appear to 
 have been adopted by the Semitic Babylonians, it is not always 
 easy to distinguish between Semitic and non-Semitic conceptions 
 in the cults as known to us. 
 
 756. Babylonia. The god Ea appears to have been originally 
 the local deity of Eridu, a city which in early times stood on the 
 Persian Gulf. This proximity to the sea may account for the fact 
 that Ea was generally associated with water (in Babylonia, as else- 
 where, there were many deities of waters). It is not certain that 
 this w'as his original role, but it was, in any case, assigned him in 
 the course of the theistic construction. It is not improbable that 
 in the original form of the Babylonian epic it was Ea who sent 
 the flood and saved one man — a natural representation for the 
 god of Eridu ; in later recensions of the poem it is first Bel and 
 then Marduk who assumes the principal role. As Eridu was 
 probably a prominent political center, Ea, as its chief god, natu- 
 rally became the creator, the bestower of wisdom, the author of 
 the arts of life, in general a universal god. As the political center 
 shifted, the popular interest changed and Ea yielded more or less 
 to other gods, continuing, however, throughout the whole Baby- 
 lonian and Assyrian period to receive high consideration. 
 
 757. Enlil, the god of Nippur, had a similar career; originally 
 local, he became supreme. A peculiar feature of his history is the 
 fact that the title Bel, ' lord ' (which is the Semitic equivalent of 
 the non-Semitic Enlil), clung to him in a peculiar way and practi- 
 cally ousted the original name. This title was assigned to various 
 gods (so in Canaan the title Baal), and its special appropriation by 
 the god of Nippur must be referred to the preponderant impor- 
 tance of that city in the period before the rise of Babylon. In the
 
 GODS 329 
 
 Babylonian system he is lord of the lower world, that is, appar- 
 ently, the divine king of the earth ; his original domain, the dis- 
 trict of Nippur, was extended to embrace the whole world — a 
 sort of extension that was common in all ancient religions. His 
 importance is evident from the fact that he was a member of the 
 early triad, Anu, Bel, lui, names that have been supposed to rep- 
 resent three divisions of the world into heaven, earth, and ocean. 
 It seems probable, however, that this triadic grouping was the 
 work of relatively late constructionists ; it is more likely that the 
 original prominence of these three deities was due to the fact that 
 they represented the more important political communities.^ 
 
 758. A particularly good illustration of the dependence of a 
 god's position on the political position of his region is furnished 
 by the god Marduk, a name the meaning of which is uncertain. 
 He is first clearly mentioned in the inscriptions of Hammurabi 
 (ca. 2000 r..c.), but mentioned in such a way that his cult must 
 go back to a much earlier time. From the devotion paid him by 
 Hammurabi, and much later by Nebuchadrezzar K (sixth century 
 B.C.), it is generally assumed that he was the local god of Babylon. 
 He rose with the fortunes of this citv, finally becoming supreme : 
 he was regarded as creator, and invested with all the highest func- 
 tions ; in the later astronomical constructions he is represented as 
 the arranger of the zodiacal system and all that was connected 
 with it, but, as is pointed out above, this is no ground for regard- 
 ing him as having been originally a sun-god. A glimpse into the 
 method of theological reconstruction is afforded by the representa- 
 tion in the cosmogonic epic where he is invested with supreme 
 power by the older gods — this investiture is with probability 
 regarded by Assyriologists as representing the leadership attained 
 by the city of Babylon (ca. 2000 B.C.), whose religious hegemony 
 lasted throughout the existence of the Babylonian state. 
 
 1 Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 82. 
 The Babylonian and Assyrian triads were loosely constructed, and had, apparently, 
 no significance for the local and royal cults. In this regard they differed from the 
 Egyptian triads and enneads, which were highly elaborated and organized (Maspero, 
 Dawn of Civilization, p. 104 ff, ; Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 56.; Steindorff, 
 Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 29).
 
 330 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 759. Assyria. The Assyrian pantheon is in general identical 
 with that of Babylon, but has certain features which are due to 
 the peculiar character of the Assyrian civilization. The god Ashur, 
 originally the local god of the city or district of Ashur, and then 
 the chief god of Assyria, was naturally a war-god — Assyria was 
 essentially a military nation, differing in this regard from Babylonia. 
 He is, however, more than a mere god of war — he has all high 
 attributes, and came to represent in Assyria that approach to 
 monotheism which in Babylon was embodied in the later cult 
 of Marduk. 
 
 760. Babylonian and Assyrian T^w^/^ deities are of two classes : 
 those who are mcrcl)' consorts of the male deities, and those who 
 represent fertility. The first class we may pass over — the god- 
 desses of this class are vague in character and functions and play 
 no important part in the religious system ; they appear to be arti- 
 ficial creations of the systematizers. The deities of the second 
 class, however, are important. I*Yom a \'ery early time the fer- 
 tility of nature has been referred appropriately to female Powers, 
 and in the Semitic pantheon a large number of such divinities 
 occur. A deity of this sort naturally becomes a mother-goddess, 
 with all the attributes that pertain to this character ; in some cases 
 a mother-goddess becomes supreme. 
 
 761. A very early female divinity is Bau, worshiped particu- 
 larly at the city Lagash and by King Ciudea. Her function as 
 patron of productiveness is probably indicated in the spring fes- 
 tival held in her honor on New Year's Day, in which she is wor- 
 shiped as the giver of the fruits of the earth. There are several 
 local female deities that seem to be substantially identical in char- 
 acter with Bau. Innanna (or Ninni) in Uruk (Erech) was the 
 mistress of the world and of war. and Nana is hardly to l)e dis- 
 tinguished from her.' In Agade Anunit has a similar role ; in 
 Lagash Nina was the determiner of fate, and the mother of the 
 goddesses. 
 
 762. These names appear to be titles signifying ' mistress,' 
 ' lady,' and this is probably the meaning of the name of the great 
 
 1 Cf. article "Astarte" (by Ed. Meyer) in Koschcr, Lcxlkoii.
 
 GODS 331 
 
 goddess who finallv ousted or absorbed her sisters, Ishtar.' In the 
 earliest form in which Isiilar appears, in tlie old poetry, she is the 
 deity of fertility ; when she goes down to the Underworld all pro- 
 ductiveness of plants and men ceases ; and her primitive character 
 at this time appears in the account of her marriages with animals, 
 in which there is to be recognized the trace of the old zoolatrous 
 period ; but as patron of fertility she becomes in time a great god- 
 dess and takes on universal attributes — she is the mother of gods 
 and men, universal protector and guide. Where war was the chief 
 pursuit she became a goddess of war ; in this character she appears 
 in Dabylonia as early as the time of Hammurabi, and later in 
 Assyria. In the genealogical constructions she was brought into 
 connection, as daughter, wife, or other relation, with any god that 
 the particular conditions suggested. As the Assyrians grew mor- 
 ally she was endowed with all the highest virtues (so in the Peniten- 
 tial Psalms), and occupied so preeminent a position that under 
 favorable circumstances she might perhaps have become the only 
 god of the land. 
 
 763. If her name signified originally ' lord ' or ' lady,' the oc- 
 currence of several Ishtars in Assyria (particularly Ishtar of Nine- 
 veh and Ishtar of Arbela) is easily understood ; so in Canaan, as 
 we learn from the Old Testament, there was a great number of 
 local Ashtarts.'^ We can thus also explain the male deities Ashtar 
 in Moab and .Vthtar in South Arabia.^ None of these, however, 
 attained the eminence (jf the Babylonian and Assyrian Ishtar ; her 
 
 1 For the cuneiform material see Dclitzsch, Assyrisches Haiidivbrlcrbitc/i, and, for 
 various etymologies proposed for the name, Barton, 6"««///V Origins, p. 102 ff. ; Ilaupt, 
 in Journal of the American Oriental Society, xxviii, 1 12 ff. ; Barton, ibid., xxxi, 335 ff. 
 The frequent expression Hani u islitardti, ' gods and goddesses,' suggests that the 
 original sense of ishtar is simply ' a deity ' ; it is not probable that a proper name 
 would become a common noun and have a plural ; cf. the treatment of the title 
 ilti, ' a god.' 
 
 2 As the title hcl, ' lord,' became the proper name of a particular god, so the title 
 ishtar, ' mistress,' ' lady,' might become the proper name of a particular goddess ; in 
 neither case is the detailed history of the process known to us. 
 
 3 They were probably local '■ lords " ; in Moab .Ashtar was combined with a deity 
 called Kemosh, of whom nothing is known except that he was a Moabite national 
 god (cf. G. F. Moore, article " Chemosh " in F.ncycloptrdia Diblica). For a different 
 view of Ashtar and Athtar see Barton, Semitic Origins, Index, s.vv. Chemosh, Athtar ; 
 he regards these deities as transformations of the mother-goddess Ashtart.
 
 332 IXTRODUCTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 supremacy in Mesopotamia was due doubtless in part to the politi- 
 cal importance of the cities that adopted her. She had her rivals, 
 as we have seen, in Marduk and Ashur and others ; and that she 
 was able to maintain herself is to be ascribed in some measure to 
 the importance attached by her worshipers to the fertilizing power 
 of nature. 
 
 764. The other Semitic peoples, with the exception of the 
 Hebrews, offer little material for tracing the development of the 
 great gods. For the Aramean region the records are sparse ; Ara- 
 mean deities appear to be of the same character as the Canaanite.^ 
 In Canaan (including Phoenicia) out of the vast number of local 
 divinities, the Baals and Ashtarts, few attained to eminence, and it 
 is doubtful whether any one of them deserves the title " great." ^ 
 The divine patrons of cities were locally powerful ; such were the 
 Baal of Tyre, called Melkart (' the king of the city '), the Ashtart 
 of Sidon, and Tanit of Carthage ; ^ these owed their reputation 
 to their oflficial positions, and there is no other record of their de- 
 velopment. The same thing is true of the Moabite Kemosh, the 
 Ammonite Malkom (Milkom), and the Philistine Dagan (Dagon) 
 and Baalzebub. None of these became ethically great or approached 
 universality. The Phoenician Eshmun was known to the Greeks, 
 and was identified by them with their Asklepios (yEsculapius), 
 probably because among the various functions attaching to him 
 as local deity healing was prominent ; but of his theologic history 
 little is known. ^ Several North Arabian deities, especially Dusares 
 (Dhu ash-Shara) and the goddesses Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, were 
 widely worshiped, their cults extending over the whole Nabatean 
 region ; but the communities to which they belonged never 
 produced a great civilization or attained great political signifi- 
 cance, and these deities always retained traces of their local 
 
 1 Baethgen, Beitrdge ziir scmitischcn Rcligionsgeschichte, p. 66 ff. ; Jcrcmias, " Sy- 
 rien und Phonizien " (in Saussaye's Lchrbitch dcr Relig'ionsgcscliichtc). 
 
 2 Kawlinson, Histoiy of Fhoenicia ; Pietschmann, Gcsch'ichtc dcr P/i'diiizkr; Jere- 
 mias, op. cit. 
 
 3 Article " Esmun " in Roschcr's Lcxlkon ; article in Oriciiialische Studicn Nbldcke 
 gewidmct. Of the vague group known as the Kabiri (the ' great ones,' seven in 
 number, with Eshmun as eighth) we have little information ; on the diffusion of 
 their cult in Grecian lands see Roscher, op. cit., article " -Megaloi Theoi."
 
 GODS 333 
 
 nature.^ The same remark is to be made of the South Arabian 
 gods known to us ; they were locally important, but we have 
 little information concerning their characters.^ 
 
 765. The clearest example of the orderly advance of a deity to 
 preeminence is afforded by the Hebrew Vahweh (Jehovah). Origi- 
 nally, it would seem, a local deity, the god of certain tribes on the 
 northern boundary of Arabia,*^ he was adopted iDy the Hebrews 
 under conditions which are not quite clear, and was developed by 
 them in accordance with their peculiar genius. At first morally and 
 intellectually crude, he became as early as the eighth century b.c. 
 ethically high and practically omnipotent.'* For many centuries he 
 was regarded merely as the most powerful of the gods, superior 
 to the deities of other nations, and it was only after the begin- 
 ning of our era that the Hebrew thought discarded all other 
 gods and made " Yahweh " synonymous with " God." In each 
 period of their histor)' the conception that the Hebrews had of 
 him was in accord with the economic and intellectual features of 
 the time.^ 
 
 766. A word may be added respecting the Semitic titles Ilu, or 
 El, and I'llohim, which have been supposed by some recent writers 
 to prove the existence of an early monotheism, particularly in 
 Southern Arabia. The terms mean simply ' god,' and were applied " 
 by early Semitic communities to. any deity, particularly to the lo- 
 cal god. In the Arabia of Mohammed's time a tribe would call 
 its deity simply " the god," a sufficient designation of him for the 
 
 1 Wellhausen, Rcste arabischcn Heiden/itmes,p'p. 21 ff., 45 ff. ; \V. K. Smith, K'iii- 
 ship and Marriage in Early Arabia, chap, vi, note S ; chap, viii, note 2 ; article " Du- 
 sares " in the Anthropological Essays presented to F. I ( '. Putnam. 
 
 2 Mordmann, Himyarischc Inschriftcn; Mordmann and Miillcr, Sabdische Denk- 
 malcr\ Barton, Semitic Origins, p. 127 ff. 
 
 3 His original seat is uncertain ; by some scholars he is regarded as an old North 
 Semitic deity, but the grounds for this view are not convincing. The occurrences of 
 the name outside of the Hebrew region throw little or no light on his origin. Cf. 
 Delitzsch, Paradies ; Baudissin, Stiidien zur scmitisc/ien Retigionsgeschiclite ; Barton, 
 Semitic Origins, chap. vii. 
 
 ■• On his position in the seventh century cf. W. !•". Bade, in Transactions of the 
 American Philological Association, 1908. 
 
 5 For the Old Testament statements see C. G. Montefiore, Origin and Gnm'th of 
 Religion as illustrated by the Religion of the Ancient Hebrews (Hibbert Lectures, 
 1892), Index, s.v. Yalm'ch.
 
 334 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 place ; ^ this designation, in Arabic al-ihihu, came to be pronounced 
 " Allah,-' and this familar term, as is remarked abo\e, was adopted 
 by Mohammed and expanded (probably under the influence of 
 some advanced Arabian circle of thinkers of his time) into the con- 
 ception of the one only god, which he and others had derived from 
 Christians and Jews. In certain parts of the Old Testament also 
 " Elohim " stands for the national god, conceived of as all-sufficient. 
 But these are late conceptions. There is no proof that in South 
 Arabia or in Babylonia the term Ilu meant anything else than the 
 local deity, though such a deity would naturally receive all the attri- 
 butes that his worshipers demanded in their religious constructions. 
 Most of the appellations of Semitic deities are epithets, and while 
 this mode of conceiving of the gods militated against ilie develop- 
 ment of them into distinct personalities and the construction of a 
 pantheon, it was favorable, on the other hand, to isolation and to the 
 tendency to elevate any favorite deity to a position of preeminence. 
 767. Greece. The Greeks, with their rich imagination and artis- 
 tic feeling, filled the world with divine figures, well-defined types of 
 Greek character, ideals of Greek thought. Greece alone has con- 
 structed a true pantheon, a community of gods all individualized, 
 but all compacted into a family or a body of government. The 
 question of their historical development in\olves great difficulties, 
 partly because the wide diffusion of their cults in Hellas occasioned 
 many local expansions of the original conceptions in the various 
 regions, partly because most of the deities appear fully or almost 
 fully formed in the earliest literary monuments, so that we are 
 dependent on cultic procedures and passing allusions for a knowl- 
 edge of their preliterary character. Without, then, attempting an 
 investigation of the obscure prehistoric theogonic period, the gen- 
 eral lines of growth of some of the principal divine personages 
 may be followed (as far as the data permit) as examples of the way 
 in which the great gods were gradually created.^ 
 
 1 He was thus supreme for the particular tribe, though not universal; cf. article 
 "Arabs (Ancient) " in Hastings, Rncyclopudia of Ki-li^'wii ami Etiius. 
 
 2 Farnell, Cults of the Greek States; Gruppe, Grkchisclic Mytliologic ; articles on 
 the various deities in Roschcr's Lcxikon.
 
 uoDS 335 
 
 768. Zeus, originally doubtless a sky-god (not the sun), repre- 
 sents an old Indo-European divine conception, found substantially 
 also among all the great peoples of antiquity, as well as in many 
 half-civilized tribes. IJut nowhere has he attained so eminent a 
 position as in (I recce. The Hindu Dyaus (the 'shining one')' is 
 not prominent in the Vedic mythology or in later times, and the 
 Mazdean Ahura Mazda, if he was originally the sky, had dropped 
 his physical characteristics and become only a spirit; the T.atin 
 Jupiter approaches Zeus most nearl)- in name and character. A 
 sky-god is naturally conceived of as universal ruler, ^ but in any 
 particular region he assumes the characteristics of the ruling human 
 personages of the place and time. Zeus appears first as a barbarian 
 chieftain with the ordinary qualities of such persons. Stories that 
 have come down about him reflect a period of what now seems 
 immorality, though it was the recognized morality of the time ; he 
 is deceitful and changeable and completely unregardful of any 
 definite marriage laws. His cult in some places (for example, in 
 Arcadia) had savage features. Whether he had originally in the 
 Hellenic world a special home, and if so what it was, cannot now 
 be determined.^ 
 
 769. In the historical period he appears as a chief god in many 
 places in Greece, gradually absorbs the functions of other gods, 
 and receives numerous titles derived from places and functions. He 
 is the father of gods and men, but not the .sole creator of the world. 
 His gradual rise in moral character may be traced in the literature. 
 In Homer he is a universalized Agamemnon, with very much the in- 
 tellectual and moral qualities of Agamemnon ; a process of growth 
 
 1 Formally the names Dyaus, Zeus, and Ju (in Jupiter) are identical ; and to these 
 may probably be added the Teutonic Tiu (Tyr). 
 
 ^ In early thought the sky (like the earth) is in itself a powerful thing, a person- 
 ality, and the god who is later supposed to inhabit and control it is a definite figure, 
 like, for example, a tree-god. 
 
 3 From the ancient notices of Kronos it is hardly possible to fix definitely the 
 relation between him and Zeus. It is probable that he represents an older cult that 
 was largely displaced by that of Zeus. The custom of human sacrifice in his cult led 
 to the identification of him with the Phoenician (Carthaginian) Melek (Moloch), and 
 his name has been interpreted (from upalvw) as meaning 'king' (= melek) : but 
 this resemblance does not prove a .Semitic origin for him. Whether his role as king of 
 the Age of Gold was anything more than a late construction is not clear.
 
 336 J.M'RODUCriON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in the conception of him in the Homeric poems is indicated by 
 the incongruities in his portraiture — at one time he is a creature 
 of impulse and passion, at another time a dignified and thoughtful 
 ruler. In Pindar and the tragedians of the fifth century he has be- 
 come the representative of justice and order in the world, and in later 
 writers he comes to be more specifically the embodiment of every- 
 thing that is good in the universe. He represents the Greek concep- 
 tion of civic authority, and thus the nearest approach to monotheism 
 discoverable in the Greek mythological system ; and as embodying 
 the finer side of religious feeling he both punishes and forgives sin. 
 770. Next in importance to Zeus as representative of Greek 
 religious thought stands Apollo. The meaning of the name and the 
 original seat of the god are obscure ; he appears to have been a 
 Pan-Hellenic deity ; he was definitely shaped by the whole mass of 
 Hellenic thought. Originally, perhaps, the local deity of some 
 hunting and pastoral region, and possessing the quasi-universal 
 attributes of such deities, the wide diffusion of his cult (through ' 
 conditions not known to us) brought him into relation with many 
 sides of life. While he shares this many-sidedness with several 
 other gods, the Greek genius of theographic organization assigned 
 him special headship in certain distinctively Hellenic conceptions. 
 Zeus embodied the theocratic idea, and Apollo the ideas of Pan- 
 Hellenic civic unity, artistic feeling, and the more intimate ethical 
 and religious experience. He became the patron of the Amphicty- 
 onic assembly and of literature and art, and, especially in connection 
 with the Delphic oracle, the fosterer of ethical conceptions of ritual 
 and of sin. How it came to pass that these particular departments 
 were assigned him it is not possible to say. Such specialization was 
 natural to the Greeks, but the determining conditions in particular 
 cases have not been recorded, and can only be surmised. His 
 growth kept pace with that of the Hellenic people — in the Iliad 
 he is a partisan, and his words and deeds do not always command 
 our respect, but in the later theological constructions he throws 
 off his crudeness. His connection with the sun was a natural con- 
 sequence of his rise to eminence ; he is not a sun-god in the earliest 
 literary remains.
 
 CODS 337 
 
 771. Poseidon, second only to Zeus in power, is also of obscure 
 origin.' I lis specific marine character is certain, though as a great 
 god lie Iiad many relations and functions." Possibly he was origi- 
 nally the local deity of some marine region, and by reason of the 
 importance of his native place, or simply through the intimate 
 relationship between the Greek communities, and in accordance 
 with the (ireek spirit of organization, came to be generally recog- 
 nized as the god of the ocean. ^ Though he was widely revered he 
 remained largely a nature god — he never attained the majesty and 
 moral supremacy of Zeus, never, indeed, represented specifically 
 any refined moral or religious conception. Whether this ethical 
 and religious meagerness was a consequence of the vagueness of 
 the relation between the sea and human life, or of some other fact, 
 is a point that can hardly be determined. 
 
 772. Hermes, to judge from his history, was the creation of 
 some pastoral community, an ideal of rustic excellence : fleet of 
 foot, a leader in popular amusements, skilled in simple music, emi- 
 nent in an art much valued in early times — the art of stealing 
 cattle. When he was taken into the circle of Greek theological 
 thought his swiftness recommended him to the position of messen- 
 ger of the gods,* and his function as psychopompos, the guide of 
 souls to the other world, would then follow naturally ; from this 
 function it cannot, however, be inferred that he was originally a 
 chthonic deity — a character that does not accord with the early 
 portraitures of him. Like other gods he grew morally, but he never 
 reached ethical distinction. Skill in theft was in early times often 
 regarded as a virtue,'^ and in general he who got the better of his 
 
 1 The etymology of his name is doubtful. 
 
 2 On his titles "earth-shaker" and "earth-upholder" cf. Gruppc, Grkchische 
 Afyihologic, p. 1 139, note 2. 
 
 3 Possibly he was originally the ocean itself conceived of as a living and powerful 
 thing, as Zeus (and so Varuna and Ahura Mazda) was originally the physical sky ; 
 Okeanos is a great god {Iliad, xiv, 201 ; Hesiod, Thcogony, 133). 
 
 •• r>y many writers he is considered to have been originally a wind-god ; but wind, 
 though it might suggest swiftness (and, with some forcing, thievishness), cannot 
 account for his other endowments. 
 
 5 Gen. xxx, 27 ff- ; xxxi, 9; Wellhausen, Rcs/c arabischcn Hcidcii/unics, p. 196; 
 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas., ii, 17-19.
 
 338 lATRODL-CT/OX TO H/SrORV OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 fellows was esteemed a master of good luck and prosperity ; and 
 a bestower of outward prosperity Hermes came to be.^ His main 
 quality was cleverness, in contrast with the intellectual power of 
 Apollo. 
 
 773. On the other hand, another rustic figure, the Arcadian 
 herd-god Pan,- never developed into a great Hellenic god. His 
 worship was widely diffused ; he appears often in artistic repre- 
 sentations, and Pindar thought him worthy of a hymn (of which, 
 unfortunately, only fragments survive), but in general he remained 
 uncouth and half savage, a goatlike figure, the companion of 
 satyrs, or (as the Homeric hymn depicts him) a merrymaker. 
 He seems to have been an embodiment of the lower rustic 
 pleasures, a local god, probably not a divinized goat.^ 
 
 774. His name, however, taken to mean ' all,' gave occasion 
 to fanciful interpretations. He was so called, it was said, because 
 he gave delight to all the Immortals ; ■* or his person and his 
 musical and other instruments were supposed to represent uni- 
 versal nature — his horns the rays of the sun and the horns of 
 the moon, his spotted fawnskin the stars, his pipe of seven reeds 
 the harmony of the heavens, his crook the year, which returns on 
 itself, and so on.^ The Stoics and the Orphic writers made him 
 Universal God, the creator of the world." In the popular cult, 
 however, he remained the merry patron of herds. The most satis- 
 factory explanation of his name is that which derives it from the 
 sXeva pa, 'feed' — he is then "the goatherd."" The story told 
 by Plutarch, of a voice heard crying on the coast of Epirus, 
 " Great Pan is dead," arose from .some misapprehension, but no 
 
 1 Odyssey, xv, 319 f. Lang lays too much stress on this fact {Myt/i, Ritual, and 
 Religion, ist ed., ii, 257). 
 
 2 Gruppe {Gricchisclie MytJiologic, p. 1384) thinks (on grounds not clear) that he 
 was originally of Crete. 8 So Gruppe, op. cit. ■• Homeric Hymn to Pan. 
 
 5 Ser\'ius on \'ergil, Eclogue ii, 31. 
 
 << Roscher, in Lexikon, article "Pan," col. 1405, and in Festschrift fiir Jolt. Over- 
 beck, p. 56 ff. On the influence of the Egyptian cult of the goat-god of Mendes on 
 the conception of Pan see Roscher, Lexikon, article " Pan," cols. 1373, 1382. 
 
 " Mannhardt, Antikc IVald- und Feldkultc, p. 135 f. ; Roscher, op. cit., col. 1406; 
 Famell, Cults of the Greek States, v, 431, and many others. To this etymology 
 Gruppe (op. cit., f>. 1385) objects that such a name for a deity is not probable for 
 primitive savage times ; he offers nothing in its place.
 
 GODS 339 
 
 precise explanation of its orij^in has been given.' Poets like Pindar 
 and Vergil, disposed to preserve and dignify the old traditions, 
 treat Pan respectfull}- and sympathetically, but such constructions 
 are nonpopular." 
 
 775. Arcs seems to be the creation of a war-loving tribe; in 
 the Iliad he is a fierce warrior, armed cap-a-pie, delighting in 
 battle and slaughter. Through the machinations of Hera and 
 Athene he is overcome by human heroes, the poet's feeling being, 
 possibly, contempt for the mere savage fighter; in fact, Ares in 
 the Iliad is, from our point of view, hardly a respectable charac- 
 ter — he vit)lates his promise, and when wounded cries out like 
 a hurt child. But as war-god he was widely revered in Greece ; 
 in Thebes especially he was honored as one of the great gods. 
 Hesiod makes him the son of Zeus and Hera,^ but he never 
 attains moral or other dignity ; in the popular cult he remained, 
 probably, merely the patron of war. In the later artistic repre- 
 sentations he is the ideal of warlike vigor and grace. In the 
 Homeric hymn (which may be of Orphic origin) he is trans- 
 formed into a lover of peace and a source of all pure and lofty 
 aspirations — a violent procedure, induced by the poet's unwill- 
 ingness that an Olympian should represent anything but what 
 was morally good. 
 
 776. The process of development of a god's character is illus- 
 trated with special clearness by the history of Dionysus. It is 
 generally agreed that he was of foreign origin, an importation 
 from Thrace. The features of his earliest cult known to us are 
 marked by bald savagery. His worshipers indulged in wild 
 orgies, probably excited by intoxicating drinks, tore to pieces a 
 goat (as in Thrace) or a bull (as in Crete) and ate the flesh raw ; * 
 and the evidence goes to show that they practiced human sacri- 
 fice. All these procedures have parallels in known savage cults. 
 Omophagic orgies are described by Nilus (among the Saracens), 
 
 1 Plutarch, Dc Defcciu Oraciilomni, 17 ; Kcinach, Orpheus (Eng. tr.), p. 41. 
 
 2 Pindar, cd. W. Christ, Fraffnu-iifs, 95 ff. 3 Tlicogoiiy, 922 f. 
 
 ^ Euripides, Daccha, 131 f. (cf. .Eschylus, The Seven against Thebes, 541; Por- 
 phyry, Dc Absibicniia, § 13).
 
 340 IXTRODUCriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 and such customs are reported as existing or having existed in 
 the Fiji Islands and elsewhere.^ Among many tribes intoxication 
 is a common preparation for the work of the shaman; and human 
 sacrifice has been practiced in all parts of the world. There is 
 nothing peculiar in the office of soothsayer that accompanied the 
 Dionysiac cult ; mantic persons and procedures have formed a 
 prominent part of the constitution of the lower peoples everywhere. 
 777. Dionysus, in a word, was originally the local god of a 
 savage community ; the data are not sufficient to fix precisely his 
 original place and the original conception of him. His mantic 
 function does not necessarily show that he was a ghost. It is 
 true that the dead were often consulted (and necromancy long 
 survived among civilized peoples), but any sj^irit or god might 
 take possession of a worshiper and make him the vehicle of 
 revelation. Nor is the phallus-cult peculiar to Dionysus ; this cult 
 is widely diffused, and its origin is to be referred not specifically 
 to the recognition of the general generative power of nature, but 
 to the mystery of human life.^ In his original home Dionysus 
 seems to have represented everything that touched the life of his 
 people. When, at a certain time, he passed into Hellas (carried, 
 doubtless, by immigrants), he took on the character necessitated 
 by his new surroundings — a process of transformation began. 
 Exact chronological data are lacking, but as in the Iliad ^ he is 
 the son of Zeus, he must have been adopted by the Greeks very 
 early. In his new home he became the patron of the vine.* In a 
 vine-growing region any prominent deity may become a wine-god ; ® 
 but the special connection of Dionysus with wine in Greece sug- 
 gests that in his earlier home he was somehow identified with in- 
 toxicating drinks. With vegetation in general also he may have 
 been connected in Thrace — such a relation would be natural for 
 
 1 Nili Opera, p. 27 ; Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 33S f. ; Spencer, 
 Principles of Sociology, i, 288. - See above, § 384 if. 3 Iliad, xiv, 325. 
 
 ^ Perhaps the description of him in the Iliad (loc. cit.) as " a joy to mortals " 
 refers to wine ; cf. Hesiod, Tluogony, 94 1, where he is called the " bright joyous one." 
 
 S As, for example, the Arabian clan god Dusarcs (Dhu ash-Shara), carried by the 
 Nabateans northward, was brought into relation with the viticulture of that region. 
 Cf. above, § 764.
 
 GODS 341 
 
 a clan god — and in that case his Hellenic role as god of vegeta- 
 tion would follow as a matter of course ; or, if he advanced from 
 the vine to the whole of vegetable nature, the development is 
 intelligible. 
 
 778. When and on what grounds he was accepted as one of 
 the Olympians is not clear;' perhaps it was on account of the 
 importance of vine culture, perhaps from the mysterious charac- 
 ter of his cult, the enthusiasm of divine inspiration reflected in the 
 frenzy of the worshipers, or from these causes combined ; his later 
 name, Bacchus, which seems to refer to cultic orgiastic shout- 
 ing, would appear to indicate this element of the cult as a main 
 source of his popularity. Once established as a great god he 
 was credited with various functions. The Greek drama arose in 
 connection with his worship, and at Eleusis the old element of 
 seizure by the god was transformed by the higher thought of the 
 time into the conception of ethical union with the deity. Thus the 
 old savage god came to stand for man's highest aspirations. 
 
 779. As among other peoples, so among the Greeks the gov- 
 ernment of the Underworld was gradually organized, and a head 
 thereof appointed.^ Already in the Iliad and in Hesiod ^ the uni- 
 verse is divided into three parts under the rule of the Kronids 
 Zeus, Poseidon, and Aides respectively ; the earth, however, and 
 Olympos, says Poseidon, are the common property of them all — 
 there was no complete governmental separation between the 
 Underworld and the Upperworld. The Greeks, with their joy in 
 the present, gave comparatively little prominence to the future 
 (being herein sharply contrasted with the Egyptians). 
 
 780. The title generally given to the underground chief, Hades 
 (apparently ' the invisible one '), indicates the vagueness that at- 
 tached to this deity.* In the Iliad he is a dark and dread divinity. 
 The precise significance of his title Plouton " is uncertain ; but 
 under this name he is connected in the myths with processes of 
 
 1 On this point cf. Miss J. Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, 
 p. 366. 2 See above, § 680 f. 8 /Had, xv, 184 ff. ; Hesiod, Thcogony, 453 ff. 
 
 4 He is not always in mythological constructions distinct from Zeus — in Iliad, 
 ix, 457, it is Zeus Katachthonios who is lord below. 
 
 6 jEschylus, Prometheus Bound, 806.
 
 342 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORV OF RELIGIONS 
 
 vegetation — it is Plouton who carries off Persephone, leaving the 
 world in the deadness of winter. The figure of the underground 
 deity appears to have taken shape from the combination of two 
 mythological conceptions — the underground fructifying forces of 
 nature, and the assemblage of the dead in a nether world or king- 
 dom.^ His only moral significance la)' in his relation to oaths, 
 wherein, perhaps, is an approach to the idea of a divine judge 
 below the earth. - 
 
 781. 'V\vt female deities of the Greeks are no less elaborately 
 worked out than the male gods, and, like these, are types of 
 human character and representatives of human pursuits.'' 
 
 782. The great goddess Hera is in Homer attached especially 
 to Argos, Sparta, and Mycenae, but at a very early time was Pan- 
 Hellenic. The meaning of her name and her origin are uncertain. 
 There is no good ground for regarding her as having been origi- 
 nally a moon-goddess (Selene was the real moon-goddess). What 
 is certain is that she had a special relation to women and particu- 
 larly to childbirth ; but such a function is so generally attributed 
 to some goddess that we can only suppose that she rose to emi- 
 nence through local conditions unknown to us. The most interest- 
 ing point about her is that she came to be the representative of 
 the respectable Greek matron, jealous of her wifely rights, holding 
 herself aloof from love affairs, a home person, entitled to respect 
 for the decency of her life, but without great womanly charm. 
 
 783. By a natural mythological law she was regarded as the 
 consort of Zeus, and gradually acquired dignity without, however, 
 ever coming to be a distinct embodiment of any form of intellec- 
 tual or moral life. As Zeus embodied the conception of civil and 
 political headship, so Hera appears to have embodied the idea of 
 the wife as controller of the purely domestic affairs of the family, 
 her business being the bringing up of children and the oversight 
 of servants — duties that ma)- have seemed at an early period not 
 to require great moral and intellectual power. 
 
 1 Cf. the development of Osiris (above, § 72S). 
 
 2 Cf. Greek llorkos, and the oath by the .Styx. 
 
 8 Cf. Miss Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, chap. vi.
 
 CODS 343 
 
 784. A distinckT form is ilial of Demeter, who, whatever the 
 meaning of her name/ certainly represents the fertile earth — a 
 fijrure similar to hundreds of others in the world, and doubtless 
 existing at various points in Greece under local names ; she prob- 
 ably represents a unification of the different conceptions of the 
 fertile earth, a process that went on in the natural way in Greek 
 thought, and was formulated by the poets. Her historical con- 
 nection with the great Asian earth-goddess, the Mother-Goddess, 
 is uncertain. Denieler, however, never became the great earth- 
 mother; she remained allaehed to the soil, except that in the 
 Elcusinian mysteries she (probably as patron of fertility) was 
 allegorized into a representation of . those moral conceptions of 
 the future that gradually arose in Greece. 
 
 785. The group of deities that may be called maiden goddesses 
 is of peculiar interest. A maiden goddess is originally an inde- 
 pendent deity who, for whatever reason, has not been brought by 
 the myth-makers into marriage relations with a male deity. Gener- 
 ally such independence is a result of the fact that the goddess is the 
 representative of fertility. She may, in accordance with early cus- 
 toms of human society, choose temporary consorts at will (as is the 
 case with Ishtar) ; she may be in her sole person (like the Uea 
 Mater) the productive power of the world ; or she may remain a 
 virgin, occupied only with the care of some department of life (so 
 Athene and Artemis). Which of these characters she takes depends 
 on early social conditions and on the nature of the local theistic 
 organization. In Greece these goddesses assume various shapes. 
 
 786. There is first the primitive divine Power of vegetation, 
 called simply the Kore, the Maiden, a figure ultimately identical 
 with Demeter and in the later constructions represented as her 
 daughter. She is not necessarily to be regarded as a development 
 out of an original corn-spirit. Her title "maiden" may be com- 
 pared with the Semitic tide "mistress," mentioned above, and with 
 the names expressing family relations, "sister," "mother" — only 
 this particular designation defines her simply as an unmarried 
 
 1 Cf. Koschcr, Lcxikoii, s.v. ; Miss Harrison, Prolcgomctia to the Study of Greek 
 Religion, p. 271 ff.
 
 344 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 female divinity. The " corn-maiden " of modern European folk-lore 
 may be the cultic degradation of an old deity. ^ The title Kore be- 
 came almost a proper name, though the designation was not so 
 definite as in the cases of Bel and Ishtar.- 
 
 787. As the Kore is the representative of vegetable life, so 
 Hestia stands in general for the indoor life, the family. She long 
 retained this local character, but gradually assumed the position of 
 the great goddess of the home center, the hearth,^ and was con- 
 nected with the household fires and festivals. She represents the 
 more intimate social life of the family in contrast with Hera, who 
 stands for the government of the household. 
 
 788. The development of the functions of Artemis is compara- 
 tively clear. The origin of the name is doubtful, but in the earliest 
 records she is connected with the fertile earth, with vegetable and 
 also with animal life.* This character indicates that she was at one 
 time a local, all-suflficient deity, though it is hardly possible to de- 
 termine her original seat. As a local goddess in the hunting area 
 she was naturally connected with the chase, and as a female divin- 
 ity she was the patroness of marriage and the protector of human 
 birth. Her original nature as the maiden appears in the represen- 
 tation of her as a virgin which occurs in Homer.^ There is no 
 contradiction between this character and her function of presiding 
 over marriage and birth if we consider her as a local goddess who 
 from one point of view was regarded as a simple maiden, from 
 another point of view as the protector of women.*"' Thus invested 
 with the control of these important features of life she naturally 
 became a general patroness, a guardian. Later she was connected 
 with Apollo as his sister, exactly by what steps we do not know ; 
 
 1 Compare Mannhardt, Mythologischc Forschtingen, p. 320 ff . ; Frazer, Golden 
 Boitgh, 2d ed., ii, 176 ff. 2 Compare Miss Harrison, op. cit., p. 271 ff. 
 
 3 By her name she is identified with the hearth, as similarly Zeus is identified 
 with the sky. The hearth was the center of the home, and had wide cultic signifi- 
 cance. The name Hestia embodies not the divinization of a concrete object, but the 
 recognition of the divine person presiding over the object in question. 
 
 ^ Roscher, Lixikon; Famell, Cults of the Greek States. 5 Odyssey, xx, 71. 
 
 'J The representation of her as the slayer of women with her " kindly arrows " 
 {Odyssey, xx, 67), that is, by an easy death, is in keeping with the early idea that 
 death was caused by some supernatural Power; so Apollo slays {/Had, xxiv, 759).
 
 GODS 345 
 
 and in the mythical constructions she was represented as the daugh- 
 ter of Zeus and Leto.^ 
 
 789. The Hellenic goddess Artemis is to be distinguished from 
 the Kphcsian deity to whom the Greeks gave the same name, 
 though when the Greeks came into close contact with Asia Minor 
 the two were identified. And in fact, though in historical origin the 
 two deities are to be kept apart, they doubtless go back to the 
 same conception. The Ephesian goddess was the Great Mother — 
 she stood specifically for the idea of maternity which lies at the 
 basis of the world ; the Greek divinity, beginning as a local protect- 
 ress, took on larger functions which gave her general resemblance 
 to the universal mother. 
 
 790. The relation between Artemis and Ilekate is an illustration 
 of the process of coordination and harmonization that went on con- 
 tinually among the Greeks. Hekate does not appear in Homer, 
 but in Hesiod she has the full form of a great deity — she exer- 
 cises control over heaven, earth, and sea ; '^ and at a later period 
 she becomes similarly connected with the Underworld. This variety 
 of functions can be explained only by the supposition that she also 
 was a local deity, who, like all local deities, was regarded as univer- 
 sal.^ As the meaning of her name is uncertain and her original 
 region unknown, it can be only surmised that her cult spread grad- 
 ually in Greece through the growing unification of the Hellenic 
 states. Like Artemis she presided over human birth. The functions 
 of the two goddesses being so nearly the same (they appear to 
 represent similar conceptions arising at different centers), it was 
 natural that in the later times they should be identified or closely 
 associated. 
 
 1 Leto is a Titaness (Hesiod, Theogony, 404 ff.), an old local goddess, naturally 
 a patron of children, and so of similar nature with Artemis, with whom she was often 
 joined in worship. Her connection with Apollo arose possibly from a collocation of 
 her cult with his in some place ; in such collocations the goddess would become, in 
 mythological constructions, the mother, sister, or wife of the god. This relation once 
 established, stories explaining it would spring up as a matter of course. The fact that 
 she was later identified with the Asian Great Mother indicates that she also had a 
 universal character. 2 Hesiod, Tlicogony, 411 ff. 
 
 " She was, perhaps, an underground deity, or the product of the fusion of two 
 deities, one of whom was chthonic.
 
 346 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 791. Athene is said in a late myth (not in the Iliad) to have been 
 born from the head of Zeus, a representation that has led many 
 recent scholars to regard her as the goddess of the thunderstorm, 
 the lightning that cleaves the clouds, the divine warrior that slays 
 the dragon. Uut ingenious and attractive as this interpretation is, 
 to determine the origin of the goddess it is safer to go to the 
 earlier forms of her cult. At a very early period she is connected 
 with ordinary social occupations.^ She is the patroness of the cultiva- 
 tion of the land ; in .\thens, where the olive was important, it was 
 she who bestowed this tree on the city ; here she is the maiden, 
 the genius, the divine patron of vegetation. She presided over the 
 domestic employments of women, spinning and weaving — that is, 
 she is the goddess of household work." As is the case with so 
 many divine patrons of men's early simple employments, she grew 
 with the community and became gradually a great goddess, and 
 necessarily a patroness of cities. In her character of general 
 patroness she became a goddess of war — a necessity for all 
 ancient states. On the other hand, in a community (like Athens, 
 for example) where intellectual insight was highly esteemed she 
 would naturally become the representative of cleverness and 
 wisdom. 
 
 792. The peculiar nature of tlie wisdom that is prized by men 
 depends on time and place. In the earliest periods what Athene 
 bestows is a high degree of common sense and skill in devising 
 ways and means, such as Odysseus shows. In later times of larger 
 cultivation she bestows wisdom in the higher sense, intellectual 
 breadth. Exactly how it came to pass that the two figures Artemis 
 and Athene developed on such different lines we are unable to say 
 — the beginning of the divergence goes back to times of which we 
 have no records ; but, as gods represent the elements of human life, 
 it was natural lliat a gradual differentiation should lake place; the 
 same general conception would be particularized in different ways 
 in different places, just as divergent forms of the same original word 
 
 1 Famell, Cults of the Greek States-. Roscher, Lexikon. 
 
 2 Thus the Greeks endeavored to embody in divine figures all sides of family life. 
 The division of functions between Hera, Ilestia, and Athene is clear.
 
 uons 347 
 
 acquire different significations in speech.^ As for the later combi- 
 nation of these deities with heavenly bodies and many other things, 
 these are to be regarded as the product of later poetical imagination 
 and the tendency to universalize all great deities. 
 
 793. Aphrodite exhibits more clearly than any other deity the 
 process or the direction of the Hellenization of a foreign god. Her 
 titles Cypris, Paphia, Cytherea, as well as her connection with 
 Adonis, point, as is generally held, to a Semitic origin ^ ; she seems 
 to ha\c been identical with the great Babylonian, Assyrian, and 
 Syrian goddess Ishtar (Astarte).^ Received into the Greek pan- 
 theon at a ver)' early time (already in the Iliad she is one of the 
 Olympians), she yet shows the main characteristics of the Semitic 
 deity * — she is especially the representative of fertility and sexual 
 passion, and also has relation to war. The lines of development, 
 however, were different in different communities. In Babylonia and 
 Assyria Ishtar became a great universal national deity, charged par- 
 ticularly with the care of all the interests of the state, while in Syria 
 and Canaan the corresponding figures (Attar, Ashtart) remained 
 to a great extent local, and were especially prominent in festivals. 
 
 794. In Greece the conception of Aphrodite was worked out in 
 a non-Semitic way in two directions. I>y poets and philosophers 
 she was made the beneficent producer of all things, shedding her 
 charm over animate and inanimate nature ; ^ and the sentiment of 
 love, for which she stood, was exalted into a pure affection, the 
 basis of married life. The baser side of her cult, with its sexual 
 license (Asiatic of origin), remained along with the higher concep- 
 tion of her," but the latter was the special contribution that the 
 Greeks made to her development. 
 
 1 As, for example, ' fragile' and ' frail,' 'intension' and ' intention," ' providential' 
 and ' prudential,' and many other groups of this sort. 
 
 ■^ For the view that she was a native ^Kgean deity see Farnell, Greece and Babylon, 
 p. 97. Later Semitic influences, in any case, must be assumed. 
 
 ■^ No satisfactory' explanation of the name .Aphrodite has as yet been offered. 
 
 ■* See above, § 762. 
 
 5 Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite ; Euripides, Medea, 835 ff. ; Lucretius. Ishtar also 
 is the mother of all things, but the idea is not developed by the .Semites. 
 
 fi Compare the details given in J. Rosenbaum's GcschiclUe der Lustscuchc im 
 Altertumc.
 
 348 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 795. The llieistic scheme of the old Greek polytheistic period is 
 the broadest and finest that the ancient polytheism produced. It 
 recognized a divine element in all sides of human life, from the 
 lowest to the highest ; it marked out the various directions of 
 human feeling and effort, and in its final outcome it reached the 
 conception of a unity in the divine government of the world, and 
 gave expression to man's best aspirations for the present and for 
 the future. True, it gave way at last to philosophy ; but it had 
 recognized those elements of thought on which philosophy was 
 based. The Persian and Hebrew systems expressed more defi- 
 nitely the idea of a divine monocracy, and lent themselves easily to 
 the formation of a religious society, a church, but they did not 
 escape the limitations of mere national feeling. The Greeks founded 
 no church — they formulated universal ethical and religious con- 
 ceptions, and left the development to the individual. All the great 
 ancient religions reached a high ethical plane and a practical mono- 
 theism, but the Greek was the richest of all in the recognition of 
 the needs of humanity. 
 
 796. Ronie. The Roman pantheon (if the Italian divine com- 
 munity can properly be called a pantheon) had not the fullness and 
 fineness of the Greek — in accordance with the Roman genius it 
 included only deities having special relations with the familv and 
 its work and with the state.^ The rich Roman development of 
 specific gods of the home is referred to above." The old nature gods 
 long retained their place, doubtless, in popular worship, but were 
 gradually subordinated to and absorbed in the larger divine figures. 
 And the great gods themselves began at an early time to be assimi- 
 lated to Greek deities and to assume their functions and even their 
 names. ^ 
 
 797. The most important of the nature gods are Sol, Luna, and 
 Tellus (primitive figures that soon gave way to deities divorced from 
 
 1 Aust, Religion dcr Romcr; Fowler, Roman Festivals \ id. The Religious Expe- 
 rience of the Roman People ; articles in Roscher's Lexikon ; Mommsen, History of 
 Rome (Eng. tr.), bk. i, chap. xii. 2 § 702 ff. 
 
 3 Hence a confusion of names that appears even to-day, and in books otherwise 
 careful, as, for example, in the Hohn translations of Greek works, in which the Greek 
 deities are throughout called by Latin names.
 
 GODS 349 
 
 the physical sun, moon, and earth), and the patrons of agricultural 
 work, Consus and ( )ps. Liber and Libera, Silvanus and Faunus. 
 The natural features represented by these deities did not disappear 
 entirely from the greater deities, but were purified and elevated. 
 Anna Perenna, for example, as representative of the round of years, 
 remained by the side of Janus, but he embodied this conception in 
 a larger civic way. 
 
 798. The greatest of the Roman gods, Juppiter ' or Jupiter, is 
 identical in name with Zeus, but differs from him in mythological 
 development and in the final form of his character. As sky-god he 
 was connected with atmospheric phenomena (rain and lightning) 
 and so naturally with wine and other crops. But as chief god of 
 the state he speedily rose above these connections, and as Optimus 
 Maximus became the representative of all Roman virtues. Along 
 with this native development he was in later times more or less 
 identified with Zeus. By his side stood the national deity Quirinus, 
 who remained a local patron and never rose to large proportions. 
 Related to him are Sancus and Dius Fidius, who represented some 
 primitive conceptions similar to those belonging to his early form, 
 but they did not develop into great gods. These three were practi- 
 cally absorbed by him, but the history of this process is obscure. 
 
 799. Janus, the guardian of the entrance to the house {Jaiiiia) 
 — a function of prime importance in early times, had a prominent 
 place in the cult. He was invoked at the beginning of the day, the 
 month, and the year ; in the Salian hymn he is called " god of 
 gods" and "good creator"; he was served by the rex sacrorum, 
 who was the first in priestly dignity. He may thus have been a 
 chief god in the oldest Latin scheme.^ Yet he seems never to have 
 come to stand for anything intellectually or morally high except in 
 late philosophical thought. Though the guardian of public as well 
 
 1 So written in good manuscripts. The " pitcr '' probably denotes fatherly protec- 
 tion, though it may have meant originally physical paternity. On this point cf. W. R. 
 .Smith, K'cUg'ion of the Semites, lefture ii, and the various stories of the birth of Jupi- 
 ter's children. 
 
 - On the significance of the doublefaced Janus (Janus (^leminus) and of the 
 ancient usage of opening the gates of his temple in time of war and closing them in 
 time of peace, see article " Janus " in Roscher's Lcxikon, col. iS ff.
 
 350 /.v/vcojjc/cr/o.v to history of religioxs 
 
 as private houses, ho was not the patron of the city. lie remained 
 in the cult a sort of family and clan god, and represented onl)' the 
 ideas of a primitive mode of life, the great role being assigned to 
 the sky-god.^ 
 
 800. To judge from the old rituals Mars was in the earliest time 
 of which there is any record a god of vegetation. The Arval 
 Brothers, who were charged with the care of crops, addressed their 
 petitions to him, and it was to him that the Roman husbandman 
 prayed for a blessing on his labors.'^ What riiay have been his still 
 earlier character we have no means of determining with certainty. 
 The view that he was originally a god of the fructifying sunlight® 
 seems to rest mainly on a precarious etymology, the derivation of 
 his name from a stem »iar meaning ' to shine ' ; but il does not 
 appear that ancient peoples attributed the growth of crops to the 
 sun.'' Analogy would rather lead us to regard him as an old local 
 deity, naturally connected with vegetation. How'ever this may be, 
 the importance of agriculture for the life of the community raised 
 him to a position of eminence, his priestly college, the Salian (tradi- 
 tionally referred to Numa), was one of the greatest, he was con- 
 nected with various departments of life, and for the warlike Romans 
 he naturally became the patron of war. The cult of the old war- 
 goddess Bellona maintained itself, but she never attained the high- 
 est rank ; she is not the equal of Mars, with whom in the later 
 constructions she was brought into connection. In the Hellenizing 
 period he was identified with Ares.* 
 
 801. The name Saturn is generally connected with the stem sa 
 (sen), satiiin, satii), to sow, and he is accordingly regarded as 
 an agricultural deity, the special patron of agricultural work. 
 Whether or how he differed originally from Mars is not clear — 
 perhaps in original differentiation of functions, he being attached to 
 the work of sowing. Mars to vegetation in general ; or perhaps 
 
 1 With his function as door-god compare the functions of other Roman door-gods, 
 of Vesta, and of Hindu and other house-deities. 
 
 2 Varro, Dc Lingua Latvia^ v, 85 ; Cato, Dc Agri CiiliKra, 141. 
 
 8 So Roscher and others. ■* Cf. I'owler, Roman Festivals, p. 35. 
 
 5 The cult of Mars was widely diffused in Italy and, later, elsewhere. His original 
 seat is uncertain. He was, perhaps, the tribal god of a conquering people.
 
 GODS 351 
 
 they were two similar deities belonging originally to different 
 regions, and differentiated when l)rougiit together in the same sys- 
 tem. Information on this point is lacking. That Saturn was an 
 ancient Latin god is probable from the fact that he was traditionally 
 said to be an old king of Latium. Of his earliest cult in Rome 
 litde is known. The feast that bears his name, the Saturnalia (held 
 on December 17 and some following days), was a time of popular 
 festivity when social distinctions were laid aside (slaves were on 
 an equality with masters). Similar festivals are found elsewhere.^ 
 Midwinter, when the work of gathering in the harvest was over, 
 was a natural time for festivities." Saturn, or the figure from which 
 he arose, may have presided over this season originally, or he may 
 have been gradually connected with an old ceremony. The process 
 of Hellenizing him began early. He was identified with Kronos, 
 made the father of Jupiter and the head of a pre-Jovian divine 
 d)'nasty, and, in accordance with the tendency to regard the former 
 days as better than the present, the Satiirnia regtia became the 
 golden age of the past.^ Apart from this he seems to have had no 
 ethical significance. 
 
 802. In the case of certain deities, as Volcanus, Neptunus, Mer- 
 curius, Sancus, a pronounced Roman development cannot be traced, 
 partly because of the lack of full data, partly, in the case of Volcan, 
 Neptune, and Mercury, because of an early and complete identifi- 
 cation with the Greek gods Hephaistos, Poseidon, and Hermes. 
 
 803. The 'R.om^n fet?iale deities'^ are far less developed than the 
 Greek — their functions are simple, their mythological interest 
 small. The members of the group representing the productive 
 power of the earth — -Bona Dea, Dea Dia, Libera, Fauna, Ceres, 
 Proserpina,^ and others — were not worked up b\- the Romans into 
 great personalities. 
 
 804. Juno, an independent deity, originally not the wife of Ju- 
 piter, is, in the developed cult, the special patron of the maternal 
 
 1 Cf. also the Ancillarum Fcrias (July 7). 2 See above, § 217 ff. 
 
 3 \'ergil, Eclogues, iv, 6. Cf. above, § 768, nole (Kronos). 
 
 ■• Aust, Religion tier Nomcr; Famell, Culls 0/ the Greek S/<t/es; Fowler, Roman 
 Fcsiii'als ; articles in Roscher's Lexikon. 
 
 6 She appears to have been a Greek deity adopted by the Romans.
 
 352 JXTROnUCTION TO HISTORY OF KELIGJOXS 
 
 side of the life of women, and, as such, is a great domestic power, 
 the embodiment of a large part of family life. It was probably as 
 great sky-gr>ddess that she attained this position — the chief female 
 deity is naturally the protector of women. The name came to desig- 
 nate the woman's personality as childbearer, and more generally her 
 inner essence or self, as " genius " came to designate the male 
 essence.' Whether this usage was simply an extension of the idea 
 of ' protectress ' to that of ' self,' an identification of woman with 
 her specific function in the family, or rested on some older concep- 
 tion, is rtot clear. However this may be, .she became a great 
 goddess, in the later construction the wife of Jupiter, and was 
 identified with Hera, to whom in fact she is nearly related in 
 function and character. Though her name appears to contain the 
 same stem {iu) as ' Jupiter,' and her epithet ' Lucina ' the stem 
 hic, ' to shine,' there is no proof that she was, in early times, re- 
 garded as a light-deity, or particularly as moon-goddess. She was 
 sky-goddess, but not, for that rea.son, necessarily light-goddess. 
 
 805. The importance attached by the Romans to the family life 
 is expressed in the cult of Vesta, the guardian of the hearth as the 
 center of that life.* 'J'he Penates, however, the divine protectors 
 of the household, were no less important in the family cult than she. 
 The state also had its Vesta and its Penates. To this character of 
 sacredness .stamped on the life of the private family and the 
 larger family, the state, ethical significance and influence must 
 doubtless be a.scribed. 
 
 806. Diana appears to have originated in the time when life was 
 spent largely in forests, and trees were a special object of worship ; 
 she was in historical times connected with groves.^ Her cult was 
 widely diffused in Italy, and she became (perhaps because she em- 
 bodied the common feature of the old life) the representative of 
 Italian unity. As great female deity she was the helper of women 
 in childbirth. Her name is based on the stem di, 'to shine,' * which 
 
 1 See above, § 43. 
 
 2 Compare the Greek Hestia and the Mindu house-goddess (Wo^Vm^, Religions 
 of Imliti, pp. 374, 530). 
 
 8 On the Arician Diana see Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d cd., i, 230 f. 
 ■* Or, better, from dciS.
 
 GODS 353 
 
 appears in ' Jupiter ' and ' Juno ' ; but she is not a sky-goddess — 
 the "shining" in her case is that of trees and plants, the green 
 color that gleams in the light, so that the grove is called /ucits, the 
 'shining mass/' Diana was soon identified with Artemis, and 
 was endowed with her attributes. 
 
 807. Another Italian goddess, Minerva, stood, probably, in the 
 earlier time for the simpler arts of a simple community — she was the 
 patroness of manual work and of the healing art. The expression 
 omnis Mincnac homo, descriptive of a man capable in his line of 
 work, almost reduces her to an abstract idea. The name (as the 
 older form, Menerv^a, more clearly indicates) is based on the stem 
 man (found in Latin mens), and appears to mean ' endowed with 
 mind ' (or, ' spirit ' ), though exactly what was the range of this 
 conception in the earliest times is not clear.- Later her function was 
 extended to embrace intellectual capacity, but it was not until her 
 identification with Athene (not later than the third centur)' B.C.) 
 that she attained her full cultic significance.' 
 
 808. Venus, though an old Italian deity (as her name and her 
 ancient temples show), was so early Hellenized that her proper 
 native development was cut short. The fact that she was in early 
 times the patroness of gardens ■* suggests that she was originally a 
 deity of the productive field ; probably she belonged in the group 
 of goddesses (Libera, Bona Dea, and others) ® who presided over fer- 
 tility. It would seem that every region in Italy had such a nutnen 
 loci (naturally mainly agricultural). It is not clear to what particular 
 spot Venus was originally attached,® or how she came to be revered 
 over a wide region. Under ordinary Italian conditions she might 
 have become a deity like Ceres. But in Sicily, at Mount Eryx, 
 
 1 The prevailing view is that the grove is an opened place into which light enters, 
 and it is thus distinguished from the dark and gloomy forest. The verbs )iitcrc, 
 nitescere, znrere, are used by Ovid and other writers to describe this gleaming of 
 leaves, plants, trees, groves, and of the earth. 
 
 2 An early divine name expressive of intellectual power is not probable. 
 
 3 On her origin cf. Wissowa, Religion der Rbmcr, p. 20j ff. 
 
 •• Varro, Dc Re Rustica, i, i . 5 See above, § 803. 
 
 6 In favor of Ardea, twenty miles south of Rome, as her original seat, cf. Wis- 
 sowa, Religion der Rbmer, p. 235.
 
 354 /.yfRODL^CT/OX TO JHSTOIii' OF RELIGIONS 
 
 according to tradition, her cult came into contact with that of 
 Aphrodite, whose qualities she soon assumed.' 
 
 809. In the third century r..c. the cult of the Sicilian ^'enus 
 (Venus Erycina) was brought to Rome by direction of the Sibylline 
 Books, and from this time onward her advance to prominence was 
 continuous. As a great goddess she became (like Ishtar and 
 Aphrodite) in a warlike community the patron of war (Venus 
 Victrix). When the ^neas myth was adopted in Rome she took 
 the place of Aphrodite as mother of that hero (who became the 
 founder of the Roman state), and was honored by Julius Caesar 
 and others as Venus Genetrix. The old Roman moral feeling 
 appears in the dedication of a temple (114 B.C.) to Venus Verti- 
 cordia as atonement for the unchastity of three Vestals." In gen- 
 eral the later functions and cult of A'enus were reproductions or 
 imitations of those of Aphrodite. Such a divine figure, it seems, 
 the Romans would nc\er have developed out of their own resources. 
 
 810. The general characteristics of the great ancient national 
 religions are indicated in the preceding descriptions. In the sacri- 
 ficial cult and the general apparatus of worship there is no im- 
 portant difference between them, but they differ notably among 
 themselves in the construction of the divine w'orld. I'he simplest 
 theistic system is the Cliinese, which regards the world as order 
 controlled by Heaven. The western culls fall into two divisions, 
 the Egypto-Semitic and the Indo-European, 'i'he Egyptian and the 
 Semitic, though they differ in collateral points (divinization of kings, 
 idea of the future life), agree in lacking a true pantheon. On the 
 other hand, notwithstanding resemblances between the Hebrew and 
 
 J Her identification with the Greek goddess was perhaps furthered by a supposed 
 relation between her name and the noun vetmsias, ' grace, beauty,' the special qual- 
 ity of Aphrodite. If that was the original sense of ' Venus,' it could hardly have 
 indicated an aesthetic perception of nature (Wissowa, op. cit.) ; such a designation 
 would be foreign to early ways of naming deities. Whether the stem Tan might 
 mean 'general excellence' (here agricultural) is uncertain; on the Greek epithets 
 'Kallisto,' 'Kalliste,' and so forth, cf. Gruppe, Gricchlschc My/hologic, p. 1270 f. The 
 name ' Venus,' if connected with the root of vcncian, might mean simply ' a revered 
 object,' a deity; cf. Bona Dea and Ceres (creator). 
 
 2 Koscher's Lexikoti, s.v. " Fortuna," col. 1518; Fowler, Rornan Festivals, p. 68. On 
 licentious cults of \'cnus cf. J. Rosenbaum, Gcschichtc dcr Ltistseuche im Altcrinmc,
 
 GODS 355 
 
 tlic I'nsian. the difference between the Semitic group and the Indi)- 
 Europcan is well-dedned. This difference may he indicated by 
 pointing out certain peculiarities of the Semitic theistic system. 
 
 811. Features of Semi fie theism, i. Paucity of departmental 
 gods and absence of high!)' specialized gods. Of this latter class, 
 so prominent in Greece and Rome, there is no clear trace in Semitic 
 cults. ^ Departmental deities are not found in Arabia, Canaan (in- 
 cluding Israel and Phoenicia), and Syria. The Hebrew Vahweh 
 obviously controls all departments of nature and life. The Phoe- 
 nician Eshmun (a name of uncertain meaning) was identified by 
 the Greeks with their Asklepios as god of healing, but no special 
 function of this sort is attributed to him in Semitic records. As 
 he was somehow connected with the Kabiri, the " great gods," 
 it is probable that he was a local divinity credited with general 
 powers.^ There is more ground for recognizing real departmental 
 gods in Pabylonia and Assyria, though even there the evidence is 
 not cjuite satisfactory. The great gods, Ea, Bel, Sin, Shamash, 
 Marduk, Ishtar, Ashur, preside over all human interests. Nabu 
 stands for agriculture as well as for wisdom, and Ea for wisdom as 
 well as for the great deep. Nergal is not the only god of war. 
 Perhaps the distinctest case of specialization is Ramman (Ninib, 
 Adad), the storm-god^: the "thunderbolts of Im [Ramman] " are 
 mentioned in "The War of the Seven Evil Spirits"; yet Shamash 
 stands with him against the storm-spirits. In general it appears 
 that the recognition of special departments for gods is inchoate and 
 feeble in Babylonia and Assyria. There is a separate deity for the 
 Underworld, sometimes a goddess, sometimes a god, but they are 
 vague figures.* The connection of certain gods with certain stars 
 was a late construction, and seems to have had no significance 
 for worship except a general deanthropomorphizing tendency. 
 
 1 See above, § 671. 
 
 2 Articles in Koschcr, I.cxikou, and in Oiicnlalischc Studicii .Y'dldckc i^nvhlmct. 
 
 8 Inscriptions of Rammannirari and Nebuchadrezzar (Birs Nimrud) ; Jastrow, 
 Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^ Index, s.v. ; id., Aspects of Religious Belief and 
 Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, Index, s.v. Adad. 
 
 * There is no separate god of Sheol in the Old Testament. On Eve as such a 
 deity see Lidzbarski, Efhemcris, i, 26 ; cf. Cook, North Semitic Inscriftiotis, 135.
 
 356 IXTRODUCTJON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 812. 2. There is no trace of a cult of heroes in the Semitic 
 area. The Babylonian Etana, Gilgamesh, and Nimrod (^an enigmat- 
 ical figure), and the Old Testament Nephilim do not receive wor- 
 ship.' riic dead were consulted, but there was no cult of the 
 great ancestors." 'I'he di\'inization of Babylonian kings, referred to 
 above,' seems not to have carried worship with it. 
 
 813. 3. The Semitic material of malefic spirits, while in general 
 the same as that found elsewhere in the world, has a couple of 
 special features. In Babylonia there was a sort of pandemonium, 
 a certain organization of demons,'* with proper names for some 
 classes ; demons usually have not proper names, but may receive 
 such names when they come into specially definite relations with 
 men. The demon Lilit mentioned in the Old Testament,'^ is prob- 
 ably Babylonian. The two great Hebrew hostile beings, Satan 
 and Azazel, are rather gods than demons.^ They were both most 
 highly developed under Persian influence, and in the Book of Enoch 
 take on the character and role of Angro Main}-u. Their history 
 exhibits, however, the disposition of the later Jews to organize the 
 realm of supernatural evil ; about the first century b.c. the serpent- 
 god of Genesis iii was identified with Satan." 
 
 The Greek malefic beings, Ker, Harpy, Fur)-, Gorgon, Sphinx, 
 and the like, appear to have been developed out of ghosts* — 
 whether or not this is true of the Babylonian demons the known 
 material does not enable us to say. Organization of such beings 
 was carried out fully by the Persians, but not by any other Indo- 
 European people and not b)' the Chinese. 
 
 1 Gen. vi, 4, cf. Ezek. xxxii, 27 ; Fhilo of Byblos ; Harper, Assyrian and Dabylo- 
 7tian Litcraliirc. 
 
 2 Isa. Ixiii, 16 (" God is our father, though Abraham and Israel do not acknowl- 
 edge us ") is regarded by some commentators as pointing to ancestor-worship. It 
 seems, however, to be nothing more than the complaint of persons who were dis- 
 owned by the community or by the leaders. 3 § 34 1 ff. 
 
 ^ Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 168 : " a pantheon of demons." 
 
 = Isa. xxxiv, 14. 
 
 6 Satan is one of the Elohim-beings, old gods subordinated to Vahweh, and .Vzazel, 
 if his name contains the divine title cl, must be put into this class. 
 
 " Wisdom of Solomon, ii, 24. 
 
 8 Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, chap. v. On Hindu 
 demons see Hopkins, Religions of India, Index, s.v. Devils,
 
 GODS 357 
 
 814. 4. On abstract gods and phallic cults see the discussions of 
 these points above. ^ 
 
 815. 5. Semitic thcistic myths differ from Indo-European in that 
 they are almost wholly without the element of personal adventures 
 of gods.- Since all known genuine Semitic myths seem to have 
 their original home in Babylonia, and Babylonian mythical material 
 bears marks of Sumcrian inllucnce, the question has been raised 
 whether we have any genuinely Semitic mythical biographies of 
 gods. However this question may be answered, it remains true that 
 the Semites show little disposition to work out this line of thought. 
 
 816. Of the origin of these peculiarities of the Semitic theistic 
 system, as of all such origins, it is impossible to give any satisfac- 
 tory explanation. Geographical and climatic conditions have been 
 appealed to : the Semitic area was small and isolated — the Semites 
 were shut off by oceans, mountains, and rivers from the rest of the 
 world, were disposed to migrate only within the limits of their 
 area,^ and long lived under the monotonous influence of the desert ; 
 thus, it is said, their conception of the world became objective and 
 limited — they were clannish, practical, unanalytic, and unimagina- 
 tive. But the origin of races is obscure, and the genius of every 
 ancient people was formed and developed in remote ages under 
 conditions not known to us. We can do little more than note the 
 characteristics visible in historical times. 
 
 817. Paucity of myths and the other features mentioned above 
 accord with the later role of Semitic, especially Hebrew, theism — 
 the tendenc}- to conceive of the deity as on the one hand aloof and 
 transcendent, and on the other hand standing in close social relations 
 with man as his lord and protector. This proved to be socially the 
 most effective idea of God, and has been adopted by all the great 
 nations of the western world. 
 
 818. The contributions of the Indo-European religions to the 
 religious thought of the world are indicated in the preceding 
 
 i§§698ff.,398ff. 
 
 2 See below, Chapter vii. Here, again, Mazdaism forms an exception, resembling 
 the Semitic scheme rather than the Hindu. 
 
 3 A partial exception is found in the comparatively late movement from the south 
 of Arabia over into .\frica (Abessinia, Ethiopia).
 
 358 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 sketches. What is to be learned from the Chinese the future must 
 show. 'I'hc general historj' of civilization leads us to expect a 
 gradual combination and fusion of all lines of religious development, 
 in which every system will contribute its best, and the lower ele- 
 ments will be discarded.^ 
 
 1 On the characteristics of the various great religions see Hegel, Rcligious/'hi- 
 losofhic-, -Santayana, Reason in K'cligioit (vol. iii of The Life of Reason) ; E. Caird, 
 Evolution of Religion; R. B. V^xry, Approach to Philosophy; S. Johnson, Oriental 
 Religions; J. F. Clarke, Ten Great Religions; S. Reinach, Orpheus. See below. 
 Chapter ix.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 MYTHS 
 
 819. Myths represent the savage and half-civilized science of 
 origins, tlic imaginary construction of the world. I^'rom the earliest 
 times men have shown curiosity respecting the origin of the things 
 that lie about them. In the presence of plains and mountains, 
 trees and rivers, sun, moon, and stars, beasts and human beings, 
 they have felt the necessity of accounting for the beginning of all 
 these objects.^ This attempt at giving a natural history of the world 
 is in itself a scientific procedure, but in the earlier periods of hu- 
 manity it naturally attached itself to the hypothesis of superhuman 
 Powers — the production of this variety of mysterious things ap- 
 peared to demand capacity above that of man. The science and 
 the fancy of early man combined to produce a great mass of theo- 
 ries and stories which to their inventors seemed to be a satisfactory 
 account of the origin of all things. 
 
 820. Myths thus furnish an important contribution to the history 
 of earlx' opinion, scientific and religious ; in the absence of written 
 records they often offer our only means of information concerning 
 early thought. They describe the origin not only of the physical 
 world but also of communities and social organizations and institu- 
 tions. They have a noteworthy vitality, lasting from the beginning 
 of human communal life into periods of advanced civilization ; and, 
 when adopted by great religious organizations and interwoven into 
 their theories of salvation, they perpetuate to civilized times the 
 
 1 But a certain substratum is usually assumed, no attempt being made to account 
 for its existence. 
 
 ^ a. Ty\oT, Primitive Culture, chaps, viii-x ; Jastrow, Study of Religion, Index, 
 s.w. Myth, Mythology ; l^ang, Custom ami Myth, and Myth, Ritual, and Religion; 
 articles " Mythologie " in La Grande Encyclopedic, and "Mytholog}'" m. Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica, nth ed. 
 
 359
 
 360 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 ideas of the crude period in whicli they originated. In many cases 
 they stand side by side, and in sharp contrast, with elevated moral 
 conceptions of the deity, and then have to be harmonized, usually 
 wiili a great expenditure of exegetical ingenuity, with the higher 
 ideas of society. 
 
 821. The mythopoeic age, in the widest sense of the term, em- 
 braces the whole period in w hich appeal is made, for the explanation 
 of phenomena, to other than natural agencies ; but it is generally 
 understood to extend only up to the time when, though a general 
 divine Power is invoked for creation, this is regarded as working 
 solely through the laws of nature.^ And witliin this period the 
 myth-making impulse lasted longer in some directions than in 
 others. In general, the mythical theories concerning the larger 
 processes, as, for example, the creation of the world, received 
 no addition after the establishment of a settled civilization ; but 
 after this time even well-advanced communities continued to invent 
 mythical accounts of the origin of customs, institutions, genealo- 
 gies, and similar facts. Throughout the whole myth-making period 
 a progression may be recognized in the character of the myths : 
 from the earlier animal and human creators we pass to the higher 
 anthropomorphic forms, the great gods;, there is increased literary 
 excellence, a molding and a remolding of the old crude stories, 
 with a combination of them into well-ordered histories ; they are 
 constantly modified by the growing acquaintance with the laws of 
 nature and by the higher intellectual conceptions of the deity ; and 
 they are more and more infused with ethical significance. 
 
 822. An examination of myths all over the world shows that 
 the most of them, especially those relating to creation and to the 
 histories of the gods, originated at a period when men stood intel- 
 lectually and morally on a very low plane. ^ The first myth-makers 
 were savages, wiili all the well-known characteristics of savage 
 life. Having next to no knowledge of natural law, and holding 
 to a practical identity of nature among men, beasts, and physical 
 
 1 Belief in miracles, which is found in some higher religions, may here be left out 
 of the account as belonging in a separate category. 
 
 2 Lang, -Myth, Ritual, and Religion, chaps, ii-iv.
 
 MYTHS 361 
 
 things, tliey had no difficulty in imagining all sorts of transforma- 
 tions and creative procedures. No liniii was conceived of for the 
 power of beasts and men — there was no object in heaven or earth 
 which, according to the current ideas, could not have been pro- 
 duced by some procedure which was similar to the procedures of 
 ordinary life. The ethical character of the creators and of the in- 
 troducers of general culture was that of the communities that 
 imagined them ; naturally the stories were full of ethical barbarities 
 and violations of all the moral rules recognized at a later period ; 
 and, as is remarked above, these stories continued into civilized 
 times, and had to be interpreted by various devices. 
 
 823. One of the most noteworthy facts in the history of my- 
 thology is the general similarity of the myths that are found all over 
 the world. Allowing for continuous moral and intellectual progress 
 and for local differences of surroundings, it may be said that the 
 theories of the production of the earth and the heavenly bodies, of 
 man and other objects, of customs and institutions, show substan- 
 tially the same types everywhere. The question has been raised 
 whether this virtual identity is to be explained by the supposition of 
 independent origination at various points, or is to be attributed to 
 a borrowing by one community from another. The question of the 
 migration of myths is a part of the larger question of the migration 
 of culture, and is attended with all the difficulties that attach to 
 this latter. It is not possible at present to give an answer which 
 shall embrace all the phenomena. Obviously any satisfactory solu- 
 tion of the problem must be preceded by a thorough examination 
 of all particular myths, all social characteristics, and all geographical 
 and migratory relations affecting the early communities ; and on 
 these points there is yet much to learn. 
 
 824. It is well known that customs and beliefs have sometimes 
 passed from one tribe or nation to another, when there has been 
 close social intercourse between the two. It is known also that 
 early men were capable of long journeys by land and by water : 
 the migration legends of various peoples are full of the details of 
 such movements ; in comparatively recent times there have been 
 great migrations of large bodies of people, as, for example, from
 
 362 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the Arabian desert to the north and northwest, and from the central 
 Asiatic steppes westward and eastward ; and the tribes of the 
 Pacific Ocean appear to have traversed long distances in their 
 canoes. And when we consider the great lapse of time, many 
 thousands of years, that preceded the formation of tlic human 
 society with which we are acquainted, it appears to be impossible 
 to assign any limit to the possibility of tribal movements on the 
 face of the earth. On the other hand, we do not know whether, 
 or how far, such migrations issued in social fusion ; and all the 
 well-attested cases of borrowing of customs and ideas have sprung 
 from long-continued social union. 
 
 825. Further, a distinction must be made between general re- 
 semblances and minute agreement or complete identity ; there may 
 be a similarity so great as to force on us the hypothesis of imita- 
 tion, and there may be general similarities that may be ascribed to 
 ordinary human thought working in different places under similar 
 conditions. In fact, the conditions of existence have not varied 
 very greatly over the globe. There are differences of climate and 
 soil and surface-configuration, but everywhere there have been the 
 sky with the heavenly bodies, the sequence of day and night, sun- 
 shine and rain, hunting and fishing, trees, rivers, beasts and birds, 
 and the cultivable soil ; and as man's problem was everywhere the 
 same — namely, how to put himself into good relation with his 
 surroundings — and as his intellectual equipment was everywhere 
 substantially the same, it would not be surprising if he should fall 
 on similar methods of thought and procedure independently in vari- 
 ous parts of the world. It was natural to early man to think of the 
 sun as a ball of fire which had somehow been thrown up into the 
 sky, and of the moon as associated with the sun as sister or wife 
 or husband, and of the stars as children of these two. For creative 
 agents early man had to look to the beings about Iiim, particularly 
 to beasts, birds, and insects. The process of creation was simple 
 — the story usually amounts merely to saying that such and such 
 a beast or other being made this or that object : and there is very 
 rarely, if ever, a conception of an absolute beginning ; almost 
 always a reconstruction of existing material is assumed.
 
 MYTHS 363 
 
 826. r>()lh explanations of ihc resemblances in myths, it thus 
 appears, are reasonable in themselves, and every case must be 
 considered separately. That a community has borrowed one story 
 does not prove borrowing in the case of any other story ; and that 
 a people has been a center of distribution of certain myths does 
 not prove that it was the originator of all myths. These two propo- 
 sitions appear to be self-evident, but they have often been ignored 
 in discussions of the provenance of mythical material.^ 
 
 827. 'i"he similarities in myths all over the world extend over 
 the whole domain of religion. Myths may be divided into those 
 which deal with the creation of the world and of man (cosmogonic), 
 those which deal with the origins of tribes and nations (ethnogonic), 
 those which refer to the origin of customs and institutions (soci- 
 ogonic), and those which are based on the forms and movements 
 of the heavenly bodies, clouds, winds, and so forth (solar, lunar, 
 procellar, and so forth). 
 
 828. Cosmogonic iiiyths.'^ Among earl)- tribes ihe creators are 
 very often familiar animals, such as the coyote, the raven, the hare 
 (North America), the wagtail (among the Ainu), the grasshopper 
 (among the Bushmen) — in general, whatever animals appear to the 
 men of a particular tribe to show skill and powxr. Reference is made 
 above to the reasons which led early men to pay such high regard 
 to the lower animals.^ But in more advanced savage communities 
 the creative function is ascribed to a man, as among the Thompson 
 River Indians and in Southeast Australia ; in Central Australia the 
 authors of creation or of the arrangement of things are beings who 
 are indifferently men or animals, but are regarded as the ancestors 
 of the tribes. In the higher religions the creators are nature gods 
 and great gods, and finally the one God stands alone as creator. 
 
 829. The act of creation is commonly represented as a process. 
 Mud is brought up from a pool, or an island is raised from the sea 
 
 1 So with the theory of universal borrowing from one center advocated by Stucken 
 i^Asiralmytlien), W'inckler {//hnmcls- mid W'cllciisbild dcr Dahylonicr ah Gnindlagc 
 der Weltanschauung tind Mythologlc alter Volker), Jeremias (^Das Alte Testament hn 
 Lkhtc dcs Attcn Orients), Jensen (Das Gitgamese/t F./'os), and others. 
 
 - Cf. article " Cosmogony and Cosmolog)' "' in Hastings, Encyctopadia of Religion 
 and Ethics. 3 § 225 ff.
 
 364 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 (the Maoris, the Redmen\ and these are stretched out so as to 
 meet the needs of men ; or a dragon or a giant is cut to pieces 
 and the various parts of the universe are made from the pieces 
 (Babylonia, India, Scandinavia); or, in still later times, an unformed 
 mass of water is conceived of as the original state out of which all 
 things are fashioned (Babylonians, Hebrews, Hindus, Greeks) ; 
 or the universe issues from an egg (the origin of the ^^g being 
 left unexplained),^ or the earth is represented as the mother of all 
 things (California). Elaborate cosmogonies are found in New 
 Zealand (the Maoris), in North America (the Pawnees, the Lenape, 
 and so forth), in Australia, and elsewhere. An interesting example 
 is the Calif omian Achomawi cosmogony. In the beginning, accord- 
 ing to this scheme, were only the sea and llie sky, and from the 
 sky came down the Creator ; or a cloud, at first tiny, grew large, 
 condensed, and became the Silver-Gray Fox, the Creator, and out 
 of a fog, whicli in like manner was condensed, came the Coyote, 
 and these two made the earth and man.^ 
 
 830. In all these cases the creation is out of already existing 
 material ^ and the creator is really a culture-hero or transformer, a 
 character that clings to deities in the most advanced religions, as 
 the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek. The character of these early 
 transformers and creators is that of the coniniunitics in which they 
 originate. Morally they represent both the higher and the lower 
 sides of life, and this is true in all periods — the Hindu Indra is as 
 tricksy and unmoral as the North American Coyote, and the early 
 form of Zeus resembles these and other savage figures.'* The con- 
 ceptions of the creator grew more and more ethically good, but the 
 lower representations continued to exist side by side with the higher.^ 
 
 1 (^atapatha Brahmana, xi, 1,6, 1 . 
 
 2 R. B. Dixon, The Northern Maidti, p. 355 f. 
 
 3 .Spiegel {Rranlsche Alloihnmskunde, ii, 144) ascribes to the Eranians the con- 
 ception of creation out of nothing. See also the Hawaiian representation of the origin 
 of all things from the primeval void, and the orderly sequence of the various forms 
 of life. •■ A. Lang, Myth, Ritual, and Religion, chap, vi ff. 
 
 5 See, for example, the two accounts of creation in the Book of fienesis. In 
 the earlier account (chap, ii) the procedure of Vahweh is mechanical, and things do 
 not turn out as he intended ; in the later account (chap, i) there is no mention of a 
 process — it is the divine word that calls the world into being.
 
 MYTHS 365 
 
 831. It is not altogether strange that the two sorts of creative 
 Powers should be earl\- thought of as nuilually antagonistic. The 
 Maiclu bad creator is constantly opposing and bringing to naught 
 the work of his good rival, and their collision produces the actual 
 state of things on the earth.' It is probably by way of explanation 
 of the evil in the world that in this myth the bad Coyote finally 
 overcomes his rival. The resemblance of this scheme to the Maz- 
 dean dualism, except in the outcome, is obvious. For a full account 
 of these systems we must await further information ; but at present 
 there is no ground for holding that the similarity is due to borrowing. 
 
 832. In various early cosmogonies the representation is found 
 of an earlier race or an early world that had been destroyed, some- 
 times by a flood (Babylonia, India, Greece, Polynesia, North 
 America, South America), sometimes in other ways." Flood stories 
 probably arise from local inundations, and may therefore have been 
 constructed independently in various regions. In some cases the 
 general conditions favor the supposition of distribution from one 
 point : it seems probable, for example, that the Babylonian flood 
 %\.oxy was adopted by the Canaanites and from thcni by the 
 Hebrews (the supposition of common descent from an original 
 Semitic myth is made improbable by the closeness of resemblance, 
 between the Babylonian and Hebrew forms) ; it may have passed 
 to India, but the Hindu story may be accounted for from local 
 conditions. But we know of no such intercourse between the 
 Americas, Polynesia, and Western Asia, as would suggest a mi- 
 gration of the myth from the latter to the two former, though this 
 is conceivable. 
 
 833. The origin of man is included in that of the world. He is 
 made from clay or wooden figures or stones, or, as in Australia, 
 out of a shapeless mass. The conception found in various parts of 
 the world, that the present race of men was preceded by another, 
 appears to be due sometimes to a leal, though often confused, 
 tradition of an earlier population, sometimes to a vague conception 
 
 1 Di.xon, The Xorthcrn Maitin. p. 26j. 
 
 2 See R. Andree, Die Flutsa^en ; article " Flood " in Hastings, Dictionary of the 
 Bible.
 
 ^66 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of the conflict and incompleteness in ilio world. Traditions of 
 predecessors are found in various parts of the world. In North 
 America — as, for example, among the Navahos — a part of the 
 early history is the conflict with certain mighty and evil beings who 
 made good life impossible — a semidualistic scheme.^ This view 
 comes from the general disposition to conceive of the past as the 
 time of mightier agencies, good and bad, than now e.xist. 
 
 834. A not uncommon representation is that man was originally 
 not mortal, or that it was a question whether or not he should be 
 mortal (death being generally regarded by early man as an abnor- 
 mal event, produced by supernatural agency). \\\ such cases 
 mortality is brought about by an accident or an error : among 
 the Maoris by a mistake of the hero Maui ; - among the Hebrews 
 by the disobedience of the first man, or by his failure to eat of 
 the tree of life ; in South Africa by the accident that the mes- 
 senger who was to announce immortality was outrun by one w'ho 
 announced mortality.^ 
 
 835. The belief that the earliest men were longer-lived and of 
 larger stature than their successors is found among certain peoples.* 
 Of the origin of this belief in ancient times w^e have no accounts. 
 It may have been suggested by various objects supposed to be 
 remains of men, or it may have been due simply to a tendency to 
 conceive of the beginners of human society as superior beings 
 (dedivinized gods). The Hebrew tradition ascribed great age to 
 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses, on a generally descend- 
 ing scale ; the longevity of the antediluvians is perhaps a specu- 
 lative continuation of the series back of Abraham on an ascending 
 scale, though special mythical traits here come in. 
 
 Connected with the general belief in the superiority of early 
 conditions of life is the belief in a primitive earthly paradise ; the 
 history of this conception is not clear, but in some cases the para- 
 dise appears to have been the delightful abode of a deity, into 
 
 1 Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 37 ; cf. Dorsey, The Skidi Pawnee, p. 14 ff. 
 
 2 Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 57 f. ;' cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 335. 
 
 3 Callaway, The Aniazulu, pp. 3, 4, 100, 138. 
 
 4 Gen. V ; vi, 4 ; Herodotus, iii, 23 ; Roscher, Lcxikon, s.v. Giganien ; cf. Tylor, 
 op. cit., i, 3S5 ff. ; Brinton, American Hero-Myths, p. SS.
 
 MYTHS 367 
 
 which human beings were for various reasons admitted, or the 
 prinu'xal fair and happy earth.' 
 
 836. The bi-lief thai the woiid or the existing order is to be 
 destroyed appears to be connected with the conception of history 
 as involving a cycle of ages, and the theory of ages may have arisen 
 from the tradition or the knowledge of social and political revolu- 
 tions, the rise of each' new phase of civilization involving the de- 
 struction of its predecessor. Traditions of past cataclysms may 
 have helped toward the formulation of an expectation of coming 
 destruction. This expectation, generalized under the influence of 
 belief in a final judgment of men by God, would lead to the an- 
 nouncement of a final destruction of the present world. This de- 
 struction, which ushers in a new age, is accomplished in various 
 ways, sometimes by water, wind, or fire,^ sometimes by supernatural 
 enemies.^ The Hindu and the Persian schemes of successive ages 
 are relatively late theological constructions, but they are based on 
 the older idea that present things must have an end.'* The Navaho 
 series of five worlds represents, apparently, nothing but traditions 
 of social changes, interspersed with minor aetiologic myths. ^ 
 
 837. Many other cosmogonic details, common to various peoples, 
 might be added. Transformation from human to animal or mineral 
 forms and the reverse are to be found, as we have seen, every- 
 where. The slaying of dragons by gods or heroes is often con- 
 nected with creation, but belongs sometimes in the category of 
 cultural or nature myths. .Abnormal forms of birth and generation 
 
 1 lirinton, Religions of Primitive Peoples, p. 126 f. ; Maspero, Dmvn, p. 15S ; CJen. 
 ii, iii ; A-'csta, VfiiJidad, Fargard ii ; Spiegel, Rranische Alfoihinnskiindc, i, 4^)3 ff. ; 
 Windischmann, '/.oroaslrischc StuJicii, p. 19 ff. ; Hopkins, m Journal of the American 
 Oriental Society (September, 1910), pp. 362, 366 ; article " Hesperiden " in Roscher's 
 Lcxikon\ commentaries of Kalisch, Dillmann, Driver, Skinner, and others on Gen. 
 ii, iii; Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. Paradise \ Dclitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? On 
 the character of the abode of the Babylonian Parnapishtim see Jastrow, Religion of 
 Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 488, 496. 
 
 2 2 Pet. iii, 7, contrast with the old destruction by water; Hindu eschatology. 
 
 3 The Xorse myth of " the twilight of the gods " has perhaps been colored, in its 
 latest form, by Christian eschatology. 
 
 4 Yio^Vm.%, Religions of India, ■^.i,2i ; Spiegel, Eranise/ie Alierthiwtshtnde, ii, 161 ; 
 II. Warren, Buddhism in Translations, p. 315 ff. 
 
 5 Matthews, Xavaho Legends, p. 63 ff.
 
 368 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOAS 
 
 may be sometimes products of savage fancy, or they may be at- 
 tempts to set forth the mysterious or the supernatural in certain 
 beings, or they may be nature myths : in various mythologies a 
 god or a hero is bom from the side or the thigh or the head of 
 the mother or the father ; fecundation by other means than sexual 
 union appears in Xorih America, Egypt, Greece, and generally in 
 savage tribes.^ The representation of the primeval parents. Heaven 
 and Earth, as having been originally united in a close embrace 
 and then separated, Heaven being lifted up and Earth remaining 
 below, is so remarkable that it might be doubted whether it arose 
 independently in different places ; yet, as it is found in New Zea- 
 land,^ in Egypt,* in India,'* among the Masai of Eastern Central 
 Africa,^ and as the supposition of borrowing for these widely sep- 
 arated communities would be difficult (except, perhaps, as between 
 Eg)^pt and the Masai land), it is simpler to regard the myth as a 
 natural effort of early science.^ It need hardly be added that with 
 all the similarities in the various cosmogonic systems the diversities 
 among different peoples are as numerous as the differences of sur- 
 roundings and character. 
 
 838. Among most early communities -the great figures of the 
 past (creations of imagination) to whom are ascribed the introduc- 
 tion of the arts of life and the general betterment of society are 
 regarded as demigods, descended from parents one of whom is 
 divine and the other human ; it is sometimes the father, some- 
 times the mother, that is divine." This conception is a simple and 
 natural explanation of the supposed extraordinary powers of the 
 personages in question. A more refined conception represents 
 man as receiving life from the breath of God,^ whence easily 
 comes the idea that man is the child of God and has in him 
 a spark of divinity. 
 
 1 Hartland, Primitive Paternity, chap. i. 2 Grey, Polynesian Mythology, chap. i. 
 3 Maspero, Dawn, p. 128 f. ■* Ailareya Brahmana, iv, 27. 
 
 5 Mollis, The Masai, p. 279; cf. Turner, Samoa, p. 198. 
 
 6 Gruppe, Griechische Ciilte unci Mythcn. Cf. the birth-myth in Matthews, A'avaho 
 Legends, p. 71. 
 
 f So Heracles, Achilles, iEneas, and the heroes mentioned in Gen. vi, 4. 
 * Gen. ii, 7.
 
 ^fYTHS 369 
 
 839. Jithiiogonic iiiy//is. Karly science has to account not (jnly 
 for the origin of tlic world and the human race, but also for the 
 origin of particular tribes and their surroundings. The area involved 
 is the known world, which among savage peoples is small in ex- 
 tent l)ut increases with knowledge, the general method of account- 
 ing for social division remaining, however, the same. As a rule, 
 the center of the distribution of mankind is the territory of the 
 particular tribe in which the nnth originates. There is always the 
 conviction, expressed or implied, that the tribe in question is the 
 center of the world and the favorite of the creative Power ; ^ it 
 being established in its place, the rest of the world is divided 
 among other tribes — a conception that survives among civilized 
 peoples of anticiuity." 
 
 840. The ethnogonic history generally takes the form of a gene- 
 alogy — every tribe or other group is derived from a mythical 
 ancestor, who among savages is frequently a beast, or half-beast 
 half-human, or even in some cases a rock or a stone. Familiar 
 examples are the genealogical systems of the Australians, the 
 Maoris of New Zealand, the Samoans, the American Indians ; ^ 
 but the conception appears to be universal. There was indeed no 
 other natural way of accounting for the origin of a tribe : as an 
 existing family would reckon its beginning from the grandfather, 
 so the tribe would come from some remote person, and so at a 
 later time the nation, and then finally the human race. As there 
 were no historical records of such beginning, the scientific imagi- 
 nation of early peoples constructed the first parents in various 
 ways, often by personifying the tribe and transferring its name to 
 the mythical ancestor. It is in this way that the genealogical lists 
 of the post-Mohammedan Arabians arose ; it is certain that they 
 had no records of the past extending further than a few genera- 
 tions, and in some cases the origins of the names in genealogical 
 
 1 So in Polynesia, North America, China, ancient Greece, and among the Hebrews. 
 
 2 As, for example, the Hebrews (Deut. .xxxii, S f.). 
 
 ' 8 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, p. 1 19 ff . ; Taylor, Nc^c 
 '/.calami, chap, xiv and p. 325 ; Turner, Samoa, p. 3 ff. ; J. f'l. Miiller, Geschichtc dcr 
 amcrikanischcn Urreligioncn, pp. ->,t, ff., 179 ff., § 61.
 
 370 /\TRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 lists mav be fixed. The Greek method of naming ancestors is 
 simple and obvious : the sons of Hellen are Dorus, Xuthus, .-Kolus ; 
 the sons of Xuthus are Achaeus and Ion ; and these are all de- 
 scended from Deucalion. In like manner the Pelasgians are carried 
 back to the ancestor Pelasgus, and the Peloponncsians to Pelops. 
 The Roman Romulus, Remulus, Remus, are natural inventions 
 based on the name of the city. 
 
 841. Genealogical elaboration was carried out more full\- by 
 the Hebrews than by anv otlicr ancient people. Not only were 
 tribal names, Jacob, Israel, judali. Joseph, Ephraim, and the rest, 
 personified, but they were arranged in a well-shaped family .system ; 
 and, the same method being ap]:)licd to all the nations known to 
 them, these were carried up to the three sons of Noah, and finally 
 through Noah up to the first man, whose Hebrew name, Adam, 
 means simply man.^ The table of nations in Genesis x is a re- 
 markable example of ethnographic organization. As it is based on 
 geographical relations, it does not in all particulars accord witli 
 modern ethnological schemes, but it is a noteworthy attempt to 
 embrace the whole world in a family ]:)icture. The view that the 
 division of the earth among the various peoples revolved around 
 the Israelite territor)' is expressed in the poem cited above," which 
 is of the seventh century n.c, and it may be inferred that this 
 large genealogical unification was completed among the Israelites 
 at a time when thev felt the influence of the great Assyrian civili- 
 zation, with which llicv seem to have come into somewhat intimate 
 contact. Later examples are found in N'ergil's ^^.neid and Milton's 
 " History of P>ritain " (in which lie adopts early attempts at gen- 
 ealogical construction). 
 
 842. Sociogonic i7iyths. Most of the customs and institutions of 
 early peoples go back to a time when there were no records, and 
 their introduction was naturally referred, so soon as reflection 
 thereon began, to gods and heroes of primeval time. 
 
 1 So the Hindu Mnnu (man), or Father Manu {Ris^-Vcila, ii, 33, 13), is the pro- 
 genitor of the human race. Cf. the "first man," ^'ama. For the Old-Persian genea- 
 logical scheme see Spiegel, Eranischc Altcrthionsktindc, i, 473, 500 ff. 
 
 2 Deut. xxxii.
 
 MVTHS 371 
 
 843. The arts of life are commonly explained in this mythical 
 way. The beginnings of agriculture are referred in Melanesia to 
 the Little One or to Qat, in Mexico to the god or culture-hero 
 Quetzalcoatl, in Peru to \'irac()cha or Pachacamac, or to Manco 
 Capac and his wife. l'V)r the Algonkins Michabo, the Great Hare, 
 was the teacher of fishing and of other pursuits.^ The Babylonian 
 god Ea was the instructor of his people in all the arts of civiliza- 
 tion.^ In the Old Testament Cainite (Kenite) genealogy the origi- 
 nators of pastoral life, of metal-working, and of music, are the 
 ancient ancestors.^ In the Book of Enoch the employment of 
 metals, the use of writing, and in general all the early arts of civili- 
 zation are ascribed to the fallen angels, whose children are repre- 
 sented in the lk)ok of Ocnesis '' as the culture-heroes of the olden 
 time. The introduction of writing into Greece is ascribed by the 
 Greeks to the mythical hero or demigod Oadmus.^ Fire is in India 
 the production of the god Agni " (who is simply fire elevated to 
 the rank of a personal divinity) ; in the Greek myth it is stolen 
 and given to men by the demigod Prometheus "^ against the will 
 of the gods, who are jealous of human progress.^ Among various 
 savage tribes there are similar histories of the derivation of the 
 use of fire from superhuman beings.^ 
 
 844. ]''arly ceremonies, as we have seen,'" are universally con- 
 nected with religion, and their origin is ascribed to divine or semi- 
 divine figures of the past. In Australia the initiation ceremonies, 
 which take up a great part of the tribal life, are regarded as 
 having been established by the mythical ancestors." Among the 
 
 ' Codrington, The Mclaiicsians, p. 156 ff. ; Revillc, Native Reiis;ions of Mexico 
 and Pent ^ p. 64 ; Brinton, Myths of the iVew World, p. 264, and American Hero-Myths, 
 pp. 1S6 f., 195 ff. ; cf. K. B. Brehm, Das Inka-Rcich, p. 24 ff. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 89. 
 
 3 (ien. iv, 16 ff. * Gen. vi, 1, 2, 4 (verse 3 is an interpolation). 
 
 5 Herodotus, v, 57 f. ; Roscher, Lcxikon, s.v. Kadmos. "J Rig-Veda, i, 93, 6. 
 
 " Hesiod, Works and Days, 49 ff. 
 
 8 In the story in Genesis (ii, 17 ; iii, 5, 22-24) there is a trace of such jealousy; 
 and it is by violation of the command of the deity that man attains the knowledge of 
 good and evil. 
 
 '•• L. Frobenius, Childhood of Man, chap, xxv (and cf. chap. .\x\m). 
 
 1" Chapter iii. 
 
 11 Spencer and Gillen, Xative Tribes of Central Australia, p. 394 ff.
 
 372 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Hebrews when circumcision, an early initiation ceremony,^ became 
 religiously important, its establishment was referred to the ancestor 
 Abraham, who is said to have acted by direct command of God,'^ 
 but in earlier documents there are hints of other origins for the rite.* 
 The ritual dances of the North American Indians, which are very 
 elaborate, are accompanied by explanations in which the origin of 
 every detail is referred to some event or person in the supernatural 
 past ; * and similar explanations are given of the dances of Mexico.^ 
 In many cases the restrictions of food and other things are ascribed 
 to the experiences of the ancestors or to the commands of deities : 
 the Hebrew usage of not eating a certain sinew is connected with 
 the stor}' of the struggle between Jacob and a divine being.'' 
 
 845. Festivals also were treated in this manner as soon as men 
 began to reflect on the origin of society. As one feature in the 
 festival sacred to Mars (March i ) was the dancing of the priests 
 who carried curious shields, it was narrated, to account for this, 
 that the shield of Mars fell down from heaven ; ' and the goddess 
 Maia, according to one conjecture, was invented to explain the 
 name of the month of May.^ A Greek explanation of the fact that 
 children at a later period were not called by the mother's name 
 was that in the contest between Poseidon and Athene for the 
 control of the city of Athens the latter deity prevailed by the votes 
 of the women, who were in the majority, and to appease the wrath 
 of Poseidon this rule was then made by the mcn.^ The Gileadite 
 festival in which maidens lamented the death of the daughter of 
 Jephthah "^ was doubtless an old rite in which the death of some 
 divinity was bewailed. The Greek Boedromia was referred to 
 the succor given by Theseus against the Amazons," and in the 
 
 I See above, § 153 ff. '^ Gen. x\-ii. 3 Ex. iv, 24-26 ; Josh, v, 2 ff. 
 
 ^ W. Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 40 ff. ; J. \V. Fewkes, T/ic Wiitter Solstice 
 Ceremony at VVa/pi. 
 
 5 K6ville, Native Religions of Mexico and Peru (Hibbert Lectures), pp. 94 f., 1 10 
 (cf. ib., p. 224 f., on Peruvian dances). See above, § 109, note 6. 
 
 fi Gen. xxxii, 24 ff. ' Fowler, Roman Festivals, p. 38. 
 
 t* Fowler, op. cit., p. 99 ff. ; for another view see Roscher, Lexikon, article " Maia 
 II " ; cf. Wissowa, Religion dcr R'diner, p. 185. 
 
 9 Augustine, De Civitatc Dei, iS, 9. i" Judg. xi, 30 ff. 
 
 11 Plutarch, Theseus, 27.
 
 MYTHS 373 
 
 celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries aetiological myths connected 
 with Demeter, Kore, and Dionysos formed the central part of the 
 proceedings.^ In the Old Testament the spring festival (Passover) 
 is connected with the departure of the people from Egypt, and the 
 autumn festival (Tabernacles) with the sojourn in the wilderness; 
 and by the later Jews the midsummer festival (the Feast of Weeks, 
 Pentecost) was similarly brought into connection with the giving 
 of the law on Mount Sinai. 
 
 846. Relation between niyth and ritual. 'I'he question whether 
 myth comes from ritual or ritual from myth has been much dis- 
 cussed. Obviously universal precedence cannot be allowed to either 
 of the two. There are cases in which primary mythical beliefs 
 determine the form of religious procedure : the belief, for example, 
 that a god, as anthropomorphic divine patron, must be placated 
 and provided with all the accessories of a potentate, leads to the 
 offering of food and other gifts and to the establishment of abodes 
 and attendants ; the sense of his aloofness and of his powerful and 
 dangerous qualities induces cautionary rules for approach to his 
 presence ; because he has manlike intellectual and emotional lim- 
 itations his favor must be secured by prayers and praises ; if he has 
 a son, this latter may act as mediator between his father and a sup- 
 pliant, or one god may mediate with others in behalf of men.^ On the 
 other hand, there are many examples of myths that arise as expla- 
 nation of ritualistic details.' It is sometimes hard to say on which side 
 the precedence in time lies. In general, it seems, it is from broader 
 and fundamental mythical conceptions that ritual arises, while 
 mythical narratives spring from particular ritualistic observances. 
 
 847. Important religious changes which have come to pass 
 through natural changes of thought, usually by the movement 
 
 1 F. B. Jevons, Introduction to tlie History of Religion, chap, xxiii f. ; Miss J. E. 
 Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion, chap, x ; K. H. E. de Jong, 
 Das antike Mysierictrwesen, pp. 14, 16, 18 ; Preller, " Eleusinia" in Pauly's Realency- 
 clopddie: Kcitzenstein, Hellcnistische Mysterienreligion. 
 
 2 In I5abyIonia such roles are ascribed to Ea and Marduk (Jastrow, Religion of 
 Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 137, 139, 276). 
 
 8 See above, § S44 f. ; \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., pp. iS, 1 73 ff. , 
 Records of the Past, vi, 108.
 
 374 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 toward greater refinement, are explained as having been intro- 
 duced by some great reformer. The abrogation of human sacrifice 
 was a reform of great moment : in Mexico it is ascribed to the 
 god Quetzalcoatl/ and in the Old Testament to Abraham acting 
 by command of God.- One of the Incas of Peru is said to have 
 reached monotheistic views by a process of reasoning, and the post- 
 Biblical Jewish myths ascribed the same achievement to Abraham.^ 
 
 848. As a rule sacred places were connected with stories of 
 the presence of divine personages or mythical ancestors. In Samoa, 
 the Hawaian group, and other Pacific islands many stones are 
 connected with stories of heroes, spirits, or gods.^ In Central Aus- 
 tralia every stone, rock, or tree has its myth of the half-bestial 
 ancestors.^ In Greece, as Pausanias relates, there was hardly a 
 place that did not ha\c its story of the origin of some sacred spot 
 or thing due to a god.'' In the earlier books of the Old Testament 
 the sacred places, which were Arabian or Canaanite shrines adopted 
 by the Hebrews, are generally connected with the presence of 
 the patriarchs or other great men. The magical qualities of springs, 
 pools, and other bodies of water are explained by stories in which 
 a god or other divine person descends into them, or in .some other 
 way communicates power." 
 
 849. Myths of heavenly bodies, rvinds, and vegetation. As the 
 sun, the moon, and other objects of nature were regarded as an- 
 thropomorphic persons and naturally came into relation with men, 
 
 1 The myths connected with Quetzalcoatl (see Brinton, Amcriaxn Hcro-Afyt/ts, 
 and I.. Spence, Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Pern) do not relate mostly to the 
 movements and deeds of the sun or the winds, but arose from his character as local 
 deity with universal powers. Social and political events were woven into them. His 
 contest with Tezcatlipoca seems to reflect the struggle between two tribes ; his de- 
 feat signifies the victory of the conquering tribe, and the expectation of his return 
 (by which the invading Spaniards, it is said, profited) was based on the political hope 
 of his people. Cf. similar expectations among other peoples. 
 
 2 Gen. xxii. 
 
 3 B. Beer, Lcbcn Abrahatn's nach Aiiffassung dcr jiidischen Sage, p. 5 and note 34 ; 
 p. 102, note 30. ^ Turner, Samoa, Index. 
 
 5 Spencer and Gillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, chap, xviii. 
 •< Pausanias, Description of Greece, passim. 
 
 ' .Semitic and other examples are given in W. K. .Smith's Religion of the Semites, 
 p. 1 73 ff.
 
 MVTifS 375 
 
 their imagined adventures have produced a great mass of stories 
 
 in all parts of the world. These stories are partly attempts to 
 account for phenomena and partly are simply products of fancy ; 
 the myth-maker is very often a mere story-teller. The sun, con- 
 ceived of usually as an old man, is supposed to live in a house up 
 in the sky, to have his wife and children, to receive visitors, and 
 to interfere to some extent in human affairs. An eclipse was ob- 
 viousl)- to be regarded as the work of an enemy of the sun, usually 
 a dragon (so in many low tribes, and in India). A great excess of 
 heat on the earth might be explained by the supposition that the 
 chariot of the sun had been dri\en too near the surface.^ The 
 waning of the moon was supposed to be due to her sorrow at 
 the loss of her children, the stars, which were devoured by the sun. 
 The moon might be a fair woman who becomes enamored of 
 a human being. \\. a later time in the progress of astronomical 
 knowledge the planets and certain of the stars were individualized 
 — they became actors in human history or, still later, the abode of 
 supernatural beings.^ 
 
 850. The beginnings of astrological theory are probably to be 
 recognized at a very early period. The height of the sky above 
 the earth, the persistence with which the stars seem to look down 
 on men, the invariability of their courses, the mysteriousness of 
 their origin would naturally lead to the belief that they had some 
 control over human affairs. Meteors, regarded as falling stars, 
 have ahvays been objects of dread. The development of astrology 
 has been due to the increase of astronomical knowledge and to 
 the tendency to organize religion in its aspect of dependence on 
 the supernatural Powers.* • 
 
 851. Winds ha\e played a less prominent part in theistic history 
 than the heavenly bodies, but have given rise to not a few- myths 
 
 1 On the complicated myth of Phai-lhon see the article in Koschcr's I.cxikoti. 
 
 2 Isa. xxiv, 21 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 356 ff. 
 
 3 The Babylonians were the great astronomers and astrologers of antiquity, but 
 their eminence in this regard belongs to their later period. After the fall of the later 
 Babylonian empire (h.c. 539) the term 'Chaldean' became a synonym of 'astrolo- 
 ger ' (so in the Book of Daniel, B.C. 165-164) : cf. Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief 
 and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, p. 259 f.
 
 3/6 IXTRODUCTIOA TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in religions of different grades of culture and in different parts of 
 the world. ^ In the Scandina\ian myths the storm wind as a repre- 
 sentative of the prevailing climatic condition has assumed special 
 prominence. In the Iliad when a messenger is dispatched to the 
 abode of the winds to secure their aid, these are found feasting 
 like a human family." Later, winds are, .of course, subordinated 
 to the great gods. 
 
 852. From time to time theories have arisen explaining many 
 deities and heroes as representatives of the heavenly bodies, and 
 many stories of gods and heroes as reflecting the phenomena of 
 the sky or the air. Such theories have been carried so far some- 
 times as to explain ever}'thing in mythology as a solar or lunar 
 or astral mvth. These constructions leave much to the fancy, and 
 it is not difficult to find in mythical narratives references to the 
 movements of the sun or the moon or the stars or the winds. 
 It is possible that such reference really exists in certain stories. It 
 is probable also that simple myths representing such phenomena 
 have been in later times elaborated and brought into connection 
 with a more detailed astronomical knowledge. The same principles 
 of interpretation should guide us here as are referred to above. 
 
 853. There are doubtless cases in which a hero or a god repre- 
 sents the sun or the moon, the correspondence between the ad- 
 ventures of the hero and the movements of the heavenly bodiqs 
 being plain. The twelve labors of Heracles may represent the 
 passage of the sun through the t\vel\-e signs of the zodiac ; l)ut if 
 this be the case, it is certain that such construction was relatively 
 late, and that the separate adventures must be referred to some 
 more simple /acts. If Heracles slays the Hydra, it is more natural 
 to regard this as having represented originally some mundane 
 phenomenon of nature or some simple conflict of the savage life. 
 
 1 Brinton, A/;'//« of the New World, passim; Hartland, Primitive Paternity, i, 
 149 f. ; Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. i ff . ; Hickson, Norihcrn Celebes ; Lane, Ara- 
 bian Nights, i, 30 ff. ; .Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 216 f. ; Iliad, .\xiii, 198 ff. ; 
 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 360 ff. ; Katzel, History of Mankind (Eng. tr.), passim. 
 
 2 Iliad, xxiii, 200 f. For some wind-myths see Roscher, Lcxikon, articles " IJorea- 
 den," " Boreas," " Harpyia." Cf. the Maori myths given in R. Taylor's New Zealand, 
 chap, vi, and for Navaho winds see Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 226, note 75.
 
 J/VTNS 377 
 
 The same thing is probably true of the adventures of the Babylonian 
 hero (iilgamesh, who is sometimes considered l(; I)c the original of 
 Heracles. Nothing is easier than to expound the story of Samson 
 in the Old Testament as a series of solar and other phenomena/ 
 but the probability is that he embodies the vague recollections of 
 early tribal adventures, and, notwithstanding his name (which means 
 ' solar,' that is, devoted to the sun), there is no good ground for 
 supposing that his history has been astronomically worked over. 
 A similar remark applies to many discussions respecting various 
 deities, Hindu (as Indra), Egyptian (as Osiris), Semitic (as Nergal, 
 Marduk, Nabu), and Greek (as Apollo). In all such cases it is 
 necessary to inquire first whether the explanation of the myth may 
 not be found naturally in some ordinary' human experience or some 
 very simple natural phenomenon, and a line of demarcation must 
 be drawn between original forms of the myth and later learned 
 constructions. 
 
 854. Another source of mythical narration is the history of 
 vegetation, which at the present time has largely supplanted the 
 solar theory. The amazing spectacle of the decay and revival of 
 vegetation, naturally referred to superhuman power, and the im- 
 portance of plants for human life, have led to the construction 
 of stories (sometimes founded on ritual) in which the adventures 
 of the spirit of vegetation are recounted. Obviously there is a 
 sound basis for this view. The earth was necessarily regarded as 
 the mother from whom came the corn and wine that supported 
 human life. The study of the relatively modern European cere- 
 monies'- has brought out the persistence of such an idea, and the 
 similarity between the new ceremonies and the old may be said 
 to have demonstrated the existence of an early cult of the divine 
 Power controlling vegetation. 
 
 855. The Asian Magna Mater and the Greek Mother (Demeter) 
 or Maiden (Kore, Persephone) are identical in function with the 
 
 1 As in (ioldziher's Hebrew Mythology (Eng. tr.), a view later abandoned by the 
 author. 
 
 2 By Mannhardt, in Mythologische Forschungen, p. 224 ff . ; Frazer, in Golden 
 Bough, 2d ed. (see Index, s.v. Coni) ; and others.
 
 3/8 JXTRODUCriON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 corn maiden of modern times, and tlic latter figure may be a de- 
 graded or socialized descendant of an early deity. When we add 
 that ancient local deities all took account of the products of the 
 soil, it will not seem improbable that a great mass of stories should 
 have arisen describing the adventures of the Spirit of Vegetation.^ 
 The descent of a hero or a god into Hades may be explained as 
 the passage of the sun from its summer warmth to its winter feeble- 
 ness, or as the annual death and revival of vegetation. \Miich of these 
 views shall be adopted will depend in any case on the particular 
 coloring of the story, on the signification of the names involved, or 
 on the ceremonies accompanying the worship. It is not now pos- 
 sible to frame a theory that shall embrace all possible phenomena. 
 856. Certain great myths have in the course of time taken on 
 elaborate literary form, and in this form show traces of advanced 
 thought on some fundamental questions. .Such myths occur among 
 half-civilized peoples. There is, for example, the great mythical 
 cosmogony of the Maoris of New Zealand — a scheme seemingly 
 so philo.sophic in form that it excites wonder as to how it could 
 have arisen in such a place.- The story of the adventures of Maui, 
 a general Polynesian figure, constitutes a Polynesian history of the 
 rise of civilization. Among the North American Indians the mytho- 
 logical systems of the Algonkins, the Pawnees, and other tribes, 
 include the origin of all forms of natural objects and all institutions 
 of society. The histories of the drcat Hare of the Lenape, the 
 Thunder Bird of the West, and the various transformers or culture- 
 heroes, are scarcely less elaborate than the New Zealand stories. 
 The mythologies of the Finns also (given in the Kalevala) are 
 noteworthy. Passing to higher forms, it is sufficient to note the 
 suggestive story of Balder among the Scandinavians, and, in the 
 ancient world, the Egyptian Osiris myth, the Great Dragon myth of 
 the P»abylonian cosmogony, the various forms of the stor}' of a 
 primeval paradise, and the ceremonies and ideas that ha\e arisen 
 in connection with the death of a rad. 
 
 t5^ 
 
 1 Cf. Frazer, op. cit., chap, iii, § i6 f . ; Koschcr, Lcxikon, articles " Kybele," " At- 
 tis," " Persephone," " Ceres " ; and Farnell, Cidts of tlic Greek States. 
 
 2 See above, § 6-8.
 
 :mytiis 379 
 
 857. The motif of the aiitago7iism I'chueeti light and darkness 
 appears to be attached to or invoh'cd in certain myths, especially 
 the great cosmogonies and stories in which solar deities figure 
 prominently. The original unformed mass of matter is often, per- 
 haps generally, conceived of as being in darkness, and its transfor- 
 mation is attended with the appearance of light ' — light is an 
 essential element in the conditions that make earthly human life 
 possible ; in contrast with the Upperworld the Underworld is dark. 
 The diffusion of light is a main function of the sun, and the high 
 gods dwell in continual brightness." Light is the symbol of right, 
 security, and happiness. But it is doubtful whether the expression 
 of the antithesis and conflict of light and darkness is the immediate 
 object of the early portraitures of deities and the mythical narra- 
 tives of creation and the future of the world. The Egyptian Ra 
 has no conflict with darkness, and the struggle between Osiris (and 
 Horus) and Set, while it may be and often is interpreted in this 
 sense, is susceptible of other interpretations. The motif in the 
 Babylonian cosmogony is the bringing of order out of disorder, in 
 which work the creation of light is an incident. In ethically ad- 
 vanced religious systems, such as the Hindu and the Persian, the 
 good Powers are connected with light and the wicked Powers with 
 darkness, but a conflict between these adjuncts is not brought out 
 clearly. No such conflict appears in Greek mytholog)'. Where a 
 supernatural being intervenes in defense of light (as when a god 
 destroys a dragon-creature who attempts to swallow the sun), this 
 is simply an explanation of a physical phenomenon, and not a 
 conflict between light and darkness. 
 
 858. The theory, widely held, that a great body of early myths, 
 including the conception of the characters and functions of many 
 deities, represent the struggle between light and darkness, is, there- 
 fore, not sustained by the facts. Such a generalization is found in 
 late philosophic systems, but it docs not belong to early religious 
 thought, which deals with concrete personal agents.^ A conflict 
 between two gods is often to be explained as the rivalry of two 
 
 1 Gen. i, 2 f. 2 Dan. ii, 22 ; Rev. xxi, 23. 
 
 3 This is true even in the case of abstract deities ; see above, §§ 696, 702 ff.
 
 38o IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 districts or of two forms of culture. Attacks on luminous bodies, 
 or defenses of them, are common as etiological myths, and an 
 antagonism between light and darkness then naturally appears, as 
 is observed above, as an accessory or incident, but not as an im- 
 mediate object of mythical portraiture. The closeness of the 
 relation between the light-and-darkness theory and the solar theory 
 of myths is obvious. 
 
 859. ^[\th and legetid. In the course of the formulation of 
 myths they have naturally become mingled with legend. As they 
 narrate the achievements of the great supernatural figures of the 
 past, these achievements have often become blended in the twilight 
 of tradition with actual (though embellished) experiences of the 
 clan or tribe and of the great men therewith connected.^ In such 
 cases it is generally difficult to decide where legend ends and myth 
 begins, and every story must be investigated separately, and its 
 nature determined from what is known of the real history of the 
 time and of the development of mythical ideas. Familiar examples 
 of this combination of legend and myth appear in connection with 
 the Homeric poems, certain Asian and Greek cults, and the early 
 histories of Greece and Rome and Israel." The elucidation of such 
 narratives must be left to the technical investigator in the various 
 historical periods. In general, it may be said, there is enough his- 
 torical material to enable us to trace the development of tribes and 
 nations with a fair degree of certainty ; and the caution already 
 expressed against excessive mythological interpretation is especially 
 in place in such researches.' 
 
 The material published under the general tide of " folk-lore " 
 consists of various elements — purely religious usages and ideas, 
 mythical and legendary narratives, and fanciful stories. As the 
 term, defined precisely, refers only to popular survivals from 
 
 1 A myth is a purely imaginative explanation of phenomena ; a legend rests on 
 facts, but the facts are distorted. The two terms are often confused the one with the 
 other. 
 
 2 Some peculiar combinations appear in the figures of Semiramis and the Kuretes 
 and the Korybantes ; see the articles in Koscher's Lcxikoii under these headings. 
 
 3 Cf. Gomme, Folklore as an Historical Science ; Van Gennep, La formation des 
 legcndcs.
 
 MYTHS 381 
 
 defunct religious systems, its material shows a constant process of 
 modification from generation to generation by newer ideas. The 
 mythical element, rxtricalcd from the general mass, must be treated 
 in accordance with the general principles of the criticism of myths.' 
 
 860. Mythical biographies. As gods and heroes are the actors 
 in mythical constructions of society, the stories in such construc- 
 tions generally assume the form of anecdotal biographies of these 
 personages. Such sketches gather fresh material from generation 
 to generation, are gradually worked up into literary shape, and, 
 being brought into connection with historical traditions, assume 
 historical form, and arc then sometimes accepted in their homes 
 and elsewhere as historical." As they embody the ideas of the 
 times in which they originate, they have, in so far, historical and 
 psychological value. Charm of style has given some of these 
 stories literary value, and they have been accepted as part of the 
 literary treasure of the world. They are sometimes combinations 
 or fusions of myth and legend, and these two elements are not 
 always easily distinguishable the one from the other." 
 
 861. In questions that touch the original nature of a god the 
 possible difference between earlier and later conceptions of him 
 must, of course, be borne in mind. When a deity has been defi- 
 nitely shaped and has. become a patron of a community, he may 
 be identified by the people, or particularly by poets and priests, 
 with any object or idea that is of special interest to the community. 
 The baals of the agricultural Canaanites presided over irrigation, 
 but were not specifically underground gods ; * they were rather 
 general divine patrons interested in all that interested the people. 
 A solar deity, becoming the favorite god of an agricultural com- 
 munity, may be regarded as connected with vegetation ; or a god 
 of vegetation may be associated, in astronomical circles, with the 
 sun. A divine figure is often composite, the product of the coales- 
 cence of several orders of ideas. In general it may be said that 
 
 1 See the various folk-lore journals; \V. W. Newell, article " Folk-lore" in John- 
 son's Universal Cyclofccdia ; cf. C'lomme, op. cit., and §8Si below. 
 
 2 So in the cases of the Australian ancestors, the Polynesian, Teutonic, Finnic, 
 Slavic, Greek, Phr)'gian, and other heroes and gods, the Hebrew patriarchs, and many 
 other such figures. 3 See above, § S59. ■* See above, § 649.
 
 382 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the simplest and least socially refined function of a god is likely to 
 indicate his original character. We must go behind the concep- 
 tions of cultivated times to the hints given in popular observances 
 and poetr}'. 
 
 862. Interpretation of tnyt/is. For savage and half-civilized com- 
 munities, and for the masses in civilized times, the stories of the 
 achievements and adventures of gods, heroes, and ancestors, ac- 
 cepted as history, have been and are sources of enjoyment and of 
 intellectual impulse. Narrated by fathers to their families, and 
 recited or sung by professional orators and poets to groups and 
 crowds throughout the land,* they have been expanded and handed 
 down from generation to generation, receiving from every gener- 
 ation the coloring of its experiences and ideas, and in the course 
 of time have taken literary shape under the hands of men of 
 genius, and have been committed to writing. For the early times 
 they not only formed a body of historical literature, but also, since 
 they described relations between men and gods, came to be some- 
 what vague yet real sacred scriptures of the people.^ As such, 
 being regarded simply as statements of facts, they needed no out- 
 side interpretation ; and being molded by human experience, they 
 carried with them such moral and religious instruction as grew 
 naturally out of the situations described. A more highly cultivated 
 aee, dissatisfied with bald facts, desired to find in the stories the 
 wisdom of the fathers, and the imagination of poets and philoso- 
 phers was long occupied with discovering and expounding their 
 deeper meanings till further research set aside such attempts as 
 useless. The treatment of mythical material thus shows three 
 stadia : the acceptance of myths as genuine history ; esoteric ex- 
 planations of their assumed profound teachings ; and finally, return 
 to their original character as primitive science, having their origin 
 in crude conceptions of life. A brief sketch may show how the 
 
 1 Such were the Greek rhapsodists (Miillcr and Donaldson, Histoiy of the Litera- 
 ture of Ancient Greece, i, 33 ff.), and probably the Hebrew mashalists (Xumb. xxi, 27, 
 Eng. tr., "they that speak in proverbs"). Such reciters are found in India at the 
 present day. 
 
 2 On the value of myths for religious instruction cf. Schultz, Old Testament The- 
 ology, Eng. tr. (of 4th German ed.), i, chap ii.
 
 M]-rHS 383 
 
 iiUcrpi"clatit)n of mylhs has cumc lu be regarded as an liistorical 
 and sociological science. 
 
 863. :i'i'-']iif i"f''i\h-^ - "'^t'^"' "/ ^ n 'v^/'c When the progress of 
 thought, especially in Greece, made it impossible to accept the 
 current beliefs concerning gods and their doings, it was felt neces- 
 sary to put some higher meaning into them — they were rationalized 
 and spiritualized by a process of allegorization. This process seems 
 to have begun in Greece as early as the sixth century i?.c.^ It was 
 the philosophers who undertook to reinterpret the Homeric mythi- 
 cal material, and the extent to which this procedure had been carried 
 in the time of Plato is indicated by the fact that he ridicules these 
 modes of dealing with the poet.^ But Homer maintained his place 
 in literature, and the demand for a spiritualizing of his works in- 
 creased rather than diminished. A science of allegory was created, 
 Pergamus became one of its chief centers,* and the Alexandrian 
 Jew Philo applied the method to the interpretation of the Penta- 
 teuch. It was speedily adopted in the Christian world, and has 
 there maintained itself, though in diminishing extent, up to the 
 present day.'' As a serious interpretation of ancient myths, outside 
 of the Old Testament, it is no longer employed. Myths are, in- 
 deed, important as reflecting early opinions, religious and other — 
 good doctrinal matter may be extracted from them, but this must 
 not be ascribed to the intention of their authors and reporters. In 
 the Old Testament itself the Jewish editors have socialized the 
 mythical material (weaving it into the history, as in Genesis), or 
 have brought it under the work of the national deity. 
 
 864. Recent interpretations. In recently proposed interpretations 
 we may note first certain attempts at a iinijication of some body 
 of myths or of all known mythical material. These attempts, 
 almost without exception, take the sky and the hea\enl\- bodies 
 as their basis. 
 
 1 Geffcken, article "Allegory" in Hastings, Encyclopmdla of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 Phcednis, 229 ; Cratylus^ 406 f. ; Republic, 378. 
 
 3 Cf. Miiller and Donaldson, I/istoiy of the Literature of Ancient Greece, 
 chap. xxvi. 
 
 ^ I Cor. ix, 9 f. ; x, 1-4 ; Gal. iv, 24 ff. ; Ileb. vii, 2 ; Origen, Augustine, Thomas 
 Aquinas, and commentators generally up to the sixteenth century and later.
 
 384 IXTRODfCriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 At the end of the eighteenth century, when the theory of human 
 unity had taken hold of the French revolutionists, C. F. Dupuis ^ 
 undertook to explain all the cults of the world as having come 
 from the worship of the universe — a conception broad enough 
 to cover everything ; but he practically reduces it to the worship 
 of the heavenly bodies, particularly the sun, and derives all myths 
 from stellar objects. His work is ingenious, learned, and sugges- 
 tive, but in his day the facts of ancient mythology were insufficiently 
 known. 
 
 865. In the next centur)^ the study of Sanskrit and Old Persian 
 widened the field of knowledge, the science of Indo-European 
 grammar was created, and on this followed attempts at the con- 
 struction of an Indo-European mythology. The first definitely 
 formulated unification was the theory of F. Max Miiller,'^ which 
 derived all Aryan (Indo-European) myths from phenomena of the 
 sun and the dawn, largely, he held, through misunderstandings of 
 the meaning of old descriptive terms (myths as a " disease of 
 language"). It is conceivable that a word, originally used simply 
 as descriptive of an actual fact, may have passed into a proper 
 name and become personalized and the center of adventures ; but 
 the character of early man's thought, as we now know it, makes 
 it impossible to regard such a view as a probable explanation of 
 the mass of mythological material. Miiller's services to the science 
 of the history of religions were great, but his theory of the origin 
 of myths has now been generally abandoned.* 
 
 866. The great discoveries of literary material made in Egypt 
 and Babylonia since the middle of the nineteenth century have 
 aroused special interest in the religions of these countries. Leader- 
 ship in ancient civilization is claimed by Egyptologists and Assyri- 
 ologists, each party for its own land. It is, however, Babylonia that 
 has given rise to the largest theories of the unity of myths — a 
 fact due in part to its development of astronomy, in part, perhaps, 
 to the resemblance between the Babylonian mythical material and 
 
 1 Orig'me dc tons Ics cultcs ou religion univcrscUc (1794). 
 
 2 Science of Language, 2d series ; cf. his Hibbert and Gifford lectures. 
 
 3 It is elaborated in G. W. Cox's Mythology of the Aryan Nations.
 
 MYTHS 385 
 
 that of the Old Testament. Dupuis ^ had observed that the ancient 
 Chaldeans taught that tlie heavenly bodies controlled mundane 
 destinies, and, according to Diodorus, that the planets were the in- 
 terpreters of the will of the gods. This is substantially the point 
 of view of E. Stuckcn,'"* who, in common with Dupuis (though, ap- 
 parently, independently), holds to the unity of ancient religions and 
 the astral origin of all myths. From Babylonia, he thinks, myths 
 passed to all parts of the world, Egypt, Asia, Europe, Polynesia, 
 and America — in such migrations, however, it was the motif that 
 passed ; the personages might vary in different lands. ^ Finally he 
 traces all sagas of all peoples to the creation myth.'' This supreme 
 unification is reached by arguments so far-fetched as to deprive 
 them of force. 
 
 Stucken's position was adopted and elaborated by H. VVinckler, 
 who was followed by A. Jeremias and some others.'' Winckler 
 attempts to show that a single religion existed in the ancient Ori- 
 ental world (with a single system of myths), and that this was 
 dominated by the conception that there was a correspondence be- 
 tween the heavenly world and the lower world in such wise that 
 all earthly affairs were indicated by the movements of the heavenly 
 bodies, whence arose the whole religious system of Western Asia 
 and Greece. 
 
 867. What is true in this theory (to which the name of " Pan- 
 babyloniani.sm " has been given) is that Semitic mythology is a 
 unit, with Babylonia as its birthplace, and that certain elements are 
 common to the Egyptian, Semitic, Greek, and other mythological 
 systems. The substantial identity of Babylonian, Aramean (Syrian), 
 and Canaanite myths is generally acknowledged:*^ the Old Testa- 
 ment dragon-myth (which occurs also in the New Testament 
 Apocalypse) is found in full shape only in Babylonian material ; ^ 
 
 1 Op. cit., § 864. Cf. article " Panbabylonianism " in Hanaid Theological Review 
 for January, 1910. 
 
 2 Astralmythcn der Hebrder, Babylonier wid Aegypter (1896-1907). 
 
 3 So in folk-tales the same motif appears in a hundred different settings; but this 
 is not necessarily a sign of borrowing. ■* Op. cit., p. 190. 
 
 6 See above, § 826, note. '^ No well-defined Arabian myths are knowTi. 
 
 ' Most of the Old Testament mythical material has been worked over by Hebrew 
 monotheistic editors.
 
 386 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the Syrian Adonis m\th is at bottom the Babylonian story of 
 Tammuz and Ishtar. 'Hie probability is that all early Semitic 
 schemes of creation and prehistoric life are essentially one. Further, 
 such conceptions as the origin of the world from an unshaped mass 
 of matter and the origin of man from the earth are widely dis- 
 tributed over the earth. 
 
 868. Babylonia, then, is the chief mythopoeic center for the 
 Semitic region, but we are not warranted in extending its influence 
 as myth-maker beyond this region. The myths of the Indo-Euro- 
 pean peoples have in general the stamp of independent creation. 
 Loans there may be (as, for example, in the myths connected 
 with Aphrodite and Heracles, and perhaps others), but these do 
 not affect the character of the whole. The relation between the 
 Semitic and the Egyptian mythologies is still under discussion. 
 
 869. The astral element of the theory, based on arbitrary paral- 
 lelisms carried out without regard to historical conditions, is an 
 unauthorized extension of the generally accepted fact that certain 
 myths are astral. W'inckler's assumption of an astral " system " 
 that obtained throughout the Western world is supported only by 
 unproved assertions of the sort just referred to. 
 
 870. Jensen's contention that all myths come from the Baby- 
 lonian Gilgamesh stor)- ' exhibits the same general method as the 
 theories of Stucken and W'incklcr (giving assertion in place of proof), 
 differing from them onh' in the material of comparisons. 
 
 871. The fundamental vice of these theories (apart from the 
 arbitrary character of the assertions made bv their authors) is the 
 failure to take into account the historical development of mythical 
 conceptions, their beginnings in the rudest periods of human 
 thought, and their gradual elaboration and distinct formulation in 
 the great communities, in which process, along with the varieties 
 of local conditions, certain fundamental resemblances remain 
 throughout.'^ 
 
 872. Besides these more prominent or more definitely formu- 
 lated theories there has been in some quarters a disposition to 
 
 1 p. Jensen, Das G'llgamcsch Epos in dcr WcliliteraUir. 
 
 2 Cf. article " Panbabylonianism " cited in § 866, note.
 
 MYTHS 387 
 
 insist too strongly on lines ol mythical dcvclopnu'nt connected with 
 the ])Iant world, partit'ularly with the death and revi\al of vegeta- 
 tion. .Ml that we know of the history of mythical material among 
 existing savages and in the earliest forms of helief of civilized 
 nations forbids the limitation of the origin of myths to any one 
 department of nature or to any one part of the world. Myths, 
 like gods, may be composite : of this nature, probably, are some 
 cosmogonic histories,^ and the stories of Gilgamesh, Heracles, 
 Perseus, and many others. 'l"hc lines of origin mentioned above 
 have, naturally, in .some cases, coalesced, and their combination 
 into single coherent narratives has been spread over long periods 
 of time. For this reason there is always need of detailed investi- 
 gations of particular myths as a preparation for a general history 
 of mythology." 
 
 873. Moilcnt critical mcthcnls in the interpretation of myths. The 
 treatment of myths has followed the general course of the develop- 
 ment of thought in the world. In the old national religions they 
 were incorporated in the substance of the religious beliefs. 'I'he 
 reformers of thought either ignored them (so, for example, Con- 
 fucius and I5uddha), or denounced their absurdities (so Plato and 
 others), or allegorized or rationalized them (so many Greek phi- 
 losophers) ; the early Christian writers treated Old Testament 
 myths as history, and ridiculed the myths of Creece and Rome. 
 During the long period when the European peoples were assimi- 
 lating the ideas of Christianity the study of myths remained in 
 abeyance. After the classical revival there was a return to the 
 allegorizing method, the fondness for which has not yet completely 
 died out.' 
 
 874. The extension of knowledge in the eighteenth century 
 gave an impetus to the study of religion, the results of which 
 for mythological investigation appear in the works of Dupuis 
 and others.^ These authors were necessarily ignorant of many 
 
 1 .Vs, for example, those of New Zealand, Babylonia, and Greece. 
 
 2 Cf. Keightley, Fairy Mythology, 2d ed., p. 14 f. 
 
 3 Bacon, Wisdom of t lie Ancients; in Biblical exposition many recent writers. 
 •• See above, § 864 ff. ; cf. Jastrow, Study 0/ Religion, p. 28 ff.
 
 388 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 important facts, but they have the merit of having collected much 
 material, which they treated as something that had to be explained 
 in accordance with the laws of human thought. 
 
 875. The turning-point in the development of mythological 
 science was the rise of the modem critical study of histor)', begun 
 by Voltaire and Gibbon and carried on by Niebuhr and others. 
 A vigorous group of writers arose in Germany. Creuzer/ indeed, 
 holding that the myths of the ancients must embody their best 
 thought, and falling back on symbolism, cannot be said to have 
 advanced his subject except by his collection of materials ; there 
 is some basis for his position if the ancient myths are taken in the 
 sense given them by the later poets and philosophers, but the sup- 
 position of a primary symbolism in myths is set aside by an 
 examination of the ideas of undeveloped races. Creuzer's theory 
 was effectively combated by Voss.- Other writers of the time 
 adopted exacter methods of inquiry,^ and K. O. Miiller,* particu- 
 larly, laid the foundation for a scientific treatment of myths by 
 distinguishing between their real and their ideal elements, between 
 the actual phenomenon and the imaginative (the true mythical) 
 explanation of it. 
 
 876. The next generation witnessed two retrograde movements 
 in the interpretation of myths. F. Max Miiller, dazzled by the 
 wealth of Sanskrit mythological material, revived tlie solar theory, 
 with a peculiar appendage ; ^ the defects of his theor)- must not 
 blind us to the great service he performed in arousing interest in 
 the comparative study of myths and leading the way to a formula- 
 tion of the conception of the general history of religion. On 
 another side the vast accumulation of the religious ideas and usages 
 of lower tribes led Herbert Spencer to his euhemeristic view.® 
 Neither of these theories has seriously affected the growth of the 
 science of mythology. 
 
 1 SymboUk und Mythologie dcr alien Volkcr (i8 10-1812). 
 
 2 Antisymbolik ( 1 824-1 826). 
 
 8 Buttmann, Welcker, Lobeck, and others. 
 
 < Prolegomena zu einer wissensehafilichen Mythologie (1S25). 
 
 6 See above, § S65. 
 
 6 See above, § 359. Cf. Grant Allen, The Evolution 0/ the Idea of God.
 
 Mvnis 389 
 
 877. A saner direction was given to investigation by the great 
 biological aiul sociological studies made in the second half of the 
 nineteenth century.' K. B. Tylor definitely stated the view that 
 the origin of myths is to be found in all the ideas of early man. 
 By a very large collection of facts - he showed that the same rep- 
 resentations that are familiar in Egyptian, Semitic, Hindu, Greek, 
 Roman, and other ancient myths occur also in the systems of half- 
 civilized and savage communities ; and he pointed out how such 
 representations had their basis in the simple ideas of undeveloped 
 men and how their survival is to be traced through all periods of 
 history. This fruitful view has been illustrated and developed by 
 later writers,^ and much light has been thrown on the genesis and 
 growth of myths by studies of existing popular customs in civilized 
 communities.* 
 
 878. Interest in the subject has now become general, and collec- 
 tions of material are being made all over the world. ^ At the same 
 time it is recognized that every local mass of myths must be studied 
 first by itself and then in connection with all other known material, 
 and that great caution must be exercised in dealing with questions 
 of origin, transmission, and sur\ i\al. Archaeological and geograph- 
 ical discoveries have widened the known area of human life on 
 earth ; it is seen that the history of man's development is more 
 complicated than was formerly supposed. 
 
 879. We are still without a general survey of myths arranged 
 in some orderly fashion.*"' The material for such a collection is 
 scattered through a great number of publications, in which the 
 mythical stories are not alwa\-s treated critically. The most use- 
 ful principle of tabulation, perhaps, would be an arrangement ac- 
 cording to motifs, under which geographical or ethnological and 
 
 1 Darwin and Spencer (evolution), Bastian (ethnology), and others. 
 
 2 In his E(irly History of Mattkimi iyc\A Primi/hr Culture. Cf. C. dc Drosses (Z?« 
 culte dcs dicux fetiches, 1760), who expressed a similar view. 
 
 8 A. Lang, Custom and Myth and Myth, Ritual, and Religion, and other works ; 
 Frazcr, Golden Bough, 2d and 3d edd. ; \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites; and 
 others. ■* Mannhardt, Wald- und Fcldkultc and Mythologisehc Forschungcn. 
 
 S See the bibliography at the end of this book. 
 
 fi Beginnings for such a sur\'ey have been made in the Teutonic, American, and 
 some other areas.
 
 390 IXTRODUCTJON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 geographical relations might be noted. At the present time it would 
 be possible only to make a beginning in such a work, since the 
 obtainable material is not all recorded, and the complicated charac- 
 ter of many myths makes an arrangement by place and motif 
 difficult. Still, even an incomplete digest would be of service to 
 students of m\-thology and would pave the way for a more com- 
 prehensive work. The importance of the study of m}'thology for 
 the general history of religions is becoming more and more mani- 
 fest. This study, in its full form, includes, of course, psychological 
 investigation as well as collections of statistics ; but the psychology 
 finds its material in the facts — we must first know what men 
 believe, and then explain why they believe. 
 
 880. It must, however, be added that myths have influenced 
 mainly the dogmas and ceremonies of religion — their part in more 
 intimate or spiritual w'orship, the converse of the worshiper w-ith 
 the deity, has been comparatively slight. Religious ceremonies are 
 ordinary social customs and forms transferred to dealings with 
 supernatural Powers. Dogmas are quasi-philosophical expressions 
 of conceptions concerning the nature of these Powers and their 
 relations with men, and sometimes contain mythical material which 
 is then introduced into worship ; if, for example, a man is di\'inized 
 and worship is paid him, the tone of the worship is affected b\- the 
 divine character thus ascribed to him. Put in general, as men, in 
 worship proper, approach a deity to get some advantage from him, 
 the appeal is to him directly without regard to ceremonies or 
 minute dogmas: Savages, though in theory they may make a god 
 to be an animal or a plant, come to him devoutly as a superior 
 being who can grant their requests. In higher religions the deity 
 addressed is for the moment an omnipotent friend standing apart 
 from the stories told of him. Rival sects lose sight of their differ- 
 ences in the presence of needs that drive theni to God for help. 
 Prayer is a religious unifier — communion with the Deity is an in- 
 dividual experience in which all men stand on common ground, 
 where ritual and dogmatic accessories tend to fade or to disappear. 
 
 881. Long after myths in their original forms have ceased to 
 be believed thcv persist in the form of '" fairy tales," which retain
 
 M\riis 391 
 
 something of the old supcnialural framework, but sink into mere 
 stories for amusement.^ 
 
 But fairy tales are not the only form in which ancient myths 
 persist. Myths have played their ]:)n)minent part in the history of 
 religion for the reason that they cml:)ody the conception of the 
 tangible supernatural in a vivid and dramatic wav. To this per- 
 sonalization and socialization of the supernatural men have con- 
 tinued to cling up to the present time ; the mass of men demand 
 not onl\- tlie presence of the supernatural as protection and guid- 
 ance, but also the realization of it in objective form. This objec- 
 tiveness was useful and necessary in early times, and the demand 
 for it remains in periods of advanced civilization. In the reigning 
 religions of the world at the present day myths continue to hold 
 their place and to exercise their influence,^ the more that in the 
 course of time they become fused with the constantly advancing 
 ethical and spiritual thought of the communities in which they 
 exist. The tendency appears to be to minimize, under the influence 
 of general enlightenment, the crude supernatural parts of such 
 combinations, to exalt the moral and spiritual, and to allegorize or 
 rationalize the rest. But along with such process of rationalization 
 the mythical form is maintained and continues to be a powerful 
 eleiTient in the general structure of religious opinion and life. 
 
 1 Confucianism, if it can be called a religion, is an exception. 
 
 - See the bibliographies in Johnson's Universal Cycloftciiia, article " F'air)'-lore," 
 and La Grande Encyclof^edie, article " Fee " ; Maury, Croyances ct legendes dit moycn 
 dge, new ed. ; Hartland, The Science 0/ Fair}'-ialcs.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 MAGIC AND DUINATION 
 
 882. The regulation of relations with the superhuman world 
 has been attempted by means of friendly social intercourse with 
 supernatural Powers, and by studying their methods of procedure 
 with a view to applying these methods and thereby gaining bene- 
 ficial results. Friendly social intercourse is practical religion in the 
 higher sense of that term. The application and use of superhuman 
 procedures takes two lines of action : the powers of superhuman 
 agents may be appropriated and used independently of them, or 
 the object may be simply to discover their will in order to be 
 guided by it. The first of these lines is magic, the second is 
 divination. While the two have in common the frank and inde- 
 pendent employment of the supernatural for the bettering of 
 human life, their conceptions and modes of procedure differ in 
 certain respects, and they may be considered separately. 
 
 Magic ^ 
 
 883. The perils and problems of savage life, more acute in 
 certain directions than those that confront the civilized man, de- 
 mand constant vigilance, careful investigation, and prompt action. 
 So far as familiar and tangible enemies (beasts and men) are con- 
 cerned, common sense has devised methods of defense, and ordi- 
 nary prudence has suggested means of providing against excessive 
 heat or cold and of procuring food. But there are dangers and 
 
 1 Tylor, Primitive Culture, Index, s.v. Magic; Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., 
 Index, do.; id., Early History' of the A'ingsliif, Index, do.; Hobhouse, A f orals in 
 Evolution, Index, do. ; Westermarck, Origin ami Development of the Moral Ideas, 
 Index, do.; S. Reinach, Orpheus, Index, do. ; Hubert and Mauss, in Amtcc sociolo- 
 gique, vii ; Marett, Threshold of Religion ; articles " Magie " in La Grande Encyclo- 
 pedie and "Magic" in Encyclopicdia Britanniea, nth ed. ; article "Magia" in 
 Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et romaincs. 
 
 392
 
 MAGfC AX I) nil'fXATIOX 393 
 
 ills that in the savage view cannot he referred to such sources, 
 but must he held to be caused by intangible, invisible forces in 
 the world, against which it is iiiaiTs business to guard himself, 
 lie must learn what they are and how to thwart or use them as 
 circumstances may require. They could be studied only in their 
 deeds, and this study involves man in the investigation of the law 
 of cause and effect. The only visible bond between phenomena is 
 that of sequence, and on sequence the savage bases his science 
 of causes — that which precedes is cause, that which follows is 
 effect. The agencies he recognizes are spirits, gods, the force 
 resident in things (mana), and human beings who are able to use 
 this force. 
 
 884. liut belief in such agencies would be useless to man unless 
 he also believed that he could somehow determine their actions, 
 and belief in the possibility of determining these appears to have 
 come to him through his theory of natural law. The reasoning of 
 savages on this point has not been recorded by them, but the 
 character of their known procedures leads us to suppose that they 
 have a sense of a law governing the actions of superhuman 
 Powers. Being conscious that they themselves are governed by 
 law, they may naturally in imagination transfer this order of things 
 to the whole invisible world ; spirits, gods, and the mana-power, 
 it is assumed, work on lines similar to those followed by man, only 
 with superhuman breadth and force. The task before the orig- 
 inators of society was to discover these modes of procedure in 
 order to act in accordance with them. The discovery was made 
 gradually by observation, and there grew up thus in process of 
 time a science of supernatural procedure which is the basis of the 
 practice of magic. 
 
 I'his science does not necessarily regard the superhuman power 
 as purposely antagonistic to man. Rather its native attitude ap- 
 pears to have been conceived of as one of indifference (as nature 
 is now regarded as careless of man) ; it was and is thought of as a 
 force to be guarded against and utilized by available means, which, 
 of course, were and are such as are proper to an undeveloped 
 stage of social growth.
 
 394 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELJGIOXS 
 
 885. Magic is a science of sequences, but only of sequences 
 supposed not to be explicable from ordinary experience. When 
 the savage puts his hand into the fire or receives a spear-thrust 
 in his body he recognizes visible and familiar causes of pain, and 
 accepts the situation as a fact of life, calling for no further ex- 
 planation. But when the pain comes from no familiar tangible 
 source he is driven to seek a different sort of source. A cause 
 there must be, and this cause, though superhuman, must follow 
 definite methods — it must have the will to act, and it must have 
 knowledge and skill to carry out its designs. To discover its 
 methods man must observe the processes of nature and imitate 
 them, and must at the same time have in mind familiar human 
 modes of action. The savage scientific explanation of mysterious 
 facts is that superhuman Powers are intellectually akin to human 
 beings ; the question of motive in such Powers (except in the case 
 of developed gods) seems not to be considered. The basis of 
 magical procedure is imitation of nature and of man. This prin- 
 ciple is supplemented by the conception of the unity of the world, 
 a feeling at first vague, that all things have the same nature and 
 are bound together in a cosmos ; animals and men, trees, stones 
 and waters, and fragments of all these are parts of one great 
 whole, and each feels, so to speak, what is done to or by one of 
 the others. This feeling, derived from observation and reflection, 
 is not formulated, but is influential in the construction of the 
 unconscious philosophy of the savage. 
 
 886. The methods of man's magical procedure follow these 
 principles ; they are as various as the sequences that savage man 
 thinks he observes.^ Many of them are suggested by natural 
 phenomena. Since rain was observed to fall from the sky, it was 
 held that in time of drought it might be obtained by casting water 
 into the air and letting it fall, or by dipping a stone in water and 
 letting it drip : in general, by any process in which water falls on 
 the ground. The wind might be raised by ejecting air from the 
 mouth (as by whistling). Or ordinary human actions might be 
 imitated : a stick thrown or pointed toward an enemy, it was 
 
 1 Examples are cited in the works mentioned above.
 
 j/,i(7/r .i.y/> DiiixA rioN 395 
 
 believed, woukl cause a spear to enter his body ; ' a hostile glance 
 of the eye, indicating desire lo inllict injury, might carrv ill luck.- 
 In such cases the fundamental conceptions are the sympathy that 
 comes from unitv and the activity of the pervasive mana. These 
 conceptions are visible in procedures in which action on a part of 
 the human body, or on an image or picture of it, was supposed lo 
 reach the body itself. The possession of a piece of the bone, skin, 
 hair, or nail of a man might enable one who had knowledge of 
 superhuman laws and processes to affect the man with sickness 
 or even to cause his death. Contact of objects naturally suggests 
 their unity, but the sympathy between them was not held to be 
 dependent on contact ; a man's bone remained a part of him, 
 however far it might lie separated from him. A dead body did 
 not lose its virtues ; the qualities of a dead warrior might be 
 acquired by eating his flesh. The mysterious unity of things 
 seems to have resided, in savage thought, in the omnipresent 
 mana, a force independent of human limitations. Not that there 
 was a definite theory on the subject, but something of this .sort 
 seems to be assumed in the ideas and usages of many low tribes.^ 
 
 On the other hand, a magical effect may be set aside by magic. 
 A sick man, believing his sickness to be the work of a magician 
 (the usual savage theory of the cause of bodily ills), sends for 
 another magician to counteract the evil work ; and a magician, 
 failing to cure his patient, ascribes his failure to the machinations 
 of a powerful rival. In all such cases the theory and the methods 
 are the same ; the magic that cures is not different in principle 
 (though it may differ in details) from the magic that kills. 
 
 887. The facts observed by practicers of magic probably contrib- 
 uted to the collections of material that furnished the starting-point 
 
 ' On the view that many quasi-magical acts are spontaneous reactions of the man 
 to his environment see 1. King, Development of Religion, chap. vii. According to this 
 view the thought suggests the act. The warrior, thinking of his enemy, instinctively 
 makes the motion of hurling something at him (as a modem man shakes his fist at 
 an absent foe), and such an act, a part of the excitation to combat, is believed to be 
 efficacious. 
 
 2 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, s.v. The Evil Eye. 
 
 3 On mana see above, § 2^1 ff. Though the theory of mana was necessarily vague, 
 the thing itself was quite definite.
 
 396 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 for the scientific study of physical phenomena. The interest in the 
 facts arose at first simply from their relation to magical procedure 
 — it was from them that certain laws of supernatural action were 
 learned, and men thus got control of this action. Magic is essen- 
 tially a directive or coercive procedure and differs in this respect 
 from fully formed religion, which is essentially submissive and 
 obedient. 
 
 888. It is true that coercion of divine beings appears in well- 
 developed religions. A Babylonian goddess (Nana) was carried off 
 by the Elamites to their land that she might there do duty as divine 
 protector; restored to her proper home 1635 years later, she re- 
 sumed her old functions.^ The Egyptians are said by Plutarch to 
 have slain their divine animals if these failed to avert or remove 
 calamity.- Prometheus and certain Homeric heroes are victorious 
 over gods. In some savage tribes divine kings are put to death if 
 they fail to do what is expected of them. A god was sometimes 
 chained or confined in his temple to prevent his voluntary or con- 
 strained departure. A recusant deity was sometimes taunted or 
 insulted b\- liis disappointed worshipers.^ There is, however, a dif- 
 ference between the two sets of coercive acts. The force used by 
 developed religion is physical, that employed in magic is psycho- 
 logical and logical. When a god is chained or carried off, it is only 
 his body that is controlled — he is left to his own thoughts, or it is 
 assumed that he will be friendly to his enforced locus. Magic brings 
 the supernatural Power under the dominion of law against which 
 his nature is powerless. Religion, even when it employs force, rec- 
 ognizes the protective function of the deity ; magic is without such 
 acknowledgment, without emotion or worship. \\'hile it has, on 
 one side, a profounder conception of cosmic force than appears in 
 early religion, it is, on the social side, vastly inferior to tlic latter, 
 to which it has necessarily yielded in the course of human progress. 
 Nevertheless, if religion in the broadest sense includes all means 
 of bringing man into helpful relations with the supernatural world, 
 then magic is a form of religion. 
 
 1 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. S5. 2 [sis and Osiris, y^, 
 
 3 Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., i, 154 ff.
 
 MAGIC .l.\/> nil'IXATJOX 397 
 
 889. The much-discussed question whether magic was the earliest 
 form of religion is not susceptible of a definite answer for the reason 
 that wc have no account of man's earliest conceptions of his rela- 
 tions with the world of invisible forces. There is some reason to 
 hold, as is remarked above,' that in the lowest stage of life known 
 to us men were logically indifferent spectators of the world, but in 
 general stood in awe of phenomena, so that fear was their prevailing 
 feeling. It may be surmised that this feeling would engender a 
 sense of antagonism to such superhuman Powers as came to be 
 conceived of, on which would naturally follow a desire to get con- 
 trol of them. Yet it is impossible to say at what stage of social 
 development the necessity would be felt of establishing friendly 
 relations with the Powers. The two lines of effort may have begun 
 and gone on side by side, the two springing from the same utilitarian 
 impulse, but each independent of the other — a coexistence that 
 actually appears in many tribes ; finally the coercive effort tends 
 to yield to the kindly influences of organized society. There is no 
 ground for calling magic a " disease of religion." The presumption, 
 from the general law of progress, is that, when there is a chrono- 
 logical difference, the socially lower precedes the socially higher. 
 Religion and magic come to be mutually antagonistic, except in 
 cases where religious authorities adopt magical procedures, giving 
 them a theistic and socially useful coloring. Magic has been a natu- 
 ral, if not a necessary, step in the religious organization of society.^ 
 
 890. Since religion and magic have in common the purpose to 
 establish relations with extrahuman Powers the dividing line be- 
 tween the two is in some cases not easily fixed — the same pro- 
 cedure may be held to belong in the one category or the other, 
 according as it invokes or does not invoke the aid of a god in 
 friendly and submissive fashion. We may thus be carried back to 
 a time when a sharp distinction between the two did not exist, as 
 there was a time when such a distinction is not visible between 
 " gods " (friendly divine members of the human community) and 
 " demons " (unfriendly outside beings), both classes being regarded 
 simply as agents affecting human life. Even when some fairly good 
 
 1 § 6 f . 2 cf. Lord Avebury, Marriage, Totcmism, and Rdh^'wii, p. 135.
 
 398 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELfGIOXS 
 
 form of organization has been reached it is often hard to say to 
 which class a particular figure belongs. The Hawaiian Pele (the 
 " goddess " of the great and dangerous volcano) is often vindictive, 
 and then differs little or not at all from a demon that sends sickness 
 and death.* The Babylonians gave the same name (s/iet/u) to a 
 class of demons proper and to the divine or half-divine winged 
 beings (to which, apparently, the Hebrew cherubs are allied) that 
 guarded the entrances to temples, sacred gardens, and palaces.^ 
 The Navaho beings called jei and (7/i(7ve seem to hover on the 
 border line between the divine and the demonic classes.^ The dif- 
 ference between the two seems to be merely that the one class 
 (the gods) has been adopted (for reasons not originally ethical) 
 into the human community, while the other has not received such 
 adoption.^ In such a case a given figure may easily pass from one 
 class into the other. According to the Thompson River folk-lore 
 the sun was once a cannibal but became beneficent.* The early 
 Christians converted the Gracco-Roman gods {liaimomd) into 
 " demons." ® There being this fluid relation between supernatural 
 beings, it is not strange that such a relation should exist between 
 procedures intended to act on them.'^ 
 
 891. Magic, as we have seen, is based on the observation of 
 sequences, and before the development of reflection and the acqui- 
 sition of a knowledge of natural law the disposition of human beings 
 is to regard all sequences as exhibiting the relation of cause and 
 effect. A typical example is that of the anchor driven ashore, a 
 piece of which was broken off by a man who died soon after ; the 
 conclusion was that the anchor caused his death and therefore was 
 divine, and accordingly it received religious worship.^ In the course 
 
 1 Alexander, Short History of the Hawaiian People. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 263. 
 
 3 Matthews, Navaho Legends, p. 36. 
 
 ^ Cf. \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, lecture iii. 
 
 ^ 'I'cit, Thorn/son River Indians, p. 53 f. 'J i Cor. x, 20 f. 
 
 ' Certain ceremonies of the higher religions produce effects that must be re- 
 garded as magical. 
 
 f* Lubbock, Origin of Civilization, p. 188. -Similar logic appears in the stor)' of the 
 origin of Goodwin Sands, told by Bishop Latimer (in a sermon preached before 
 Edward VI). An old man, being asked what he thought was the cause of the Sands,
 
 MAGIC AND DIVINATION 399 
 
 of ages thousands of such sequences must have been observed, 
 and these, handed down from one generation to another, would 
 shape themselves into a handbook of magic, 'rhcy wtjuld, however, 
 be constantly reexamined and sifted under the guidance of wider 
 experience and a better acquaintance with natural causes, and this 
 process, carried on by experts, would give rise to the science of 
 magic as we find it among lower tribes. 
 
 Magic, like religion, is a social product. The two, as is remarked 
 above, may coexist in the same community. But when a State re- 
 ligion is established to which all citizens are expected to conform, 
 the pursuit of magic assumes the aspect of departure from, and 
 hostility to, the tribal or national cult. It is then under the ban, 
 and can be carried on only in secret ^ (as is the case with prohibited 
 religions also). Secrecy of practice is not of the essence of magic ; 
 among the Australian Arunta, for example, magical ceremonies 
 constitute the publicly recognized business of the community act- 
 ing through its accredited representatives ; the partial exclusion of 
 women and uninitiated boys from these ceremonies (and from 
 political councils) is due mainly to the desire of the elders to keep 
 the power in their own hands. The State religion may sometimes 
 be forced by public opinion to adopt particular magical procedures. 
 
 892. It was natural that the specific study of sequences and 
 laws should fall into the hands of special persons and classes of 
 men. The human agent in the discovery of laws is the magician 
 (sorcerer, shaman), who, since he was generally a physician also, 
 sometimes received the name of " medicine man." As the office 
 of chief arose for the direction of social culture and political affairs, 
 so the office of magician arose naturally for the direction of super- 
 natural relations. He may have been the earliest religious teacher 
 and guide." He knows the will and nature of the supernatural 
 Powers and is therefore a necessity to men. He is specifically in 
 charge of all that relates to the control c-f these Powers. 
 
 replied that he had lived near there, man and boy, fourscore years, and before the 
 neighboring steeple was built there was no Sands, and therefore his opinion was 
 that the steeple was the cause of the Sands. 
 
 1 So among the old Hebrews, according to i Sam. xxviii, 9. For Rome cf. Fowler, 
 Hcligious Experience of the Roman People, lecture iii. - Cf. above, § S89.
 
 400 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 893. In the course of time there arises a differentiation of func- 
 tions, and, when religion becomes friendly, the office of priest is 
 created. The priest, like the magician, understands the will of the 
 gods, but his procedure is intended simply to propitiate them or to 
 discover their will in particular cases. ^ He is a development out 
 of the magician in so far as friendly religion is a development out of 
 magical religion.''^ The prophet also, in the role in which he appears 
 among the Greeks, is a development out of the old magician ; he 
 knows the will of the gods and is thus able to predict events. This 
 is the character of the old Hebrew seer; the Hebrew prophet, 
 originally a seer, assumed in the course of time a quite different 
 character — he became a preacher of ethical religion. 
 
 894. The office of magician, once established, became subject 
 to all the rules that govern official persons in barbarous, half- 
 civilized, and civilized societies. Of the way in which the position 
 was attained in the earliest times we have no information, but in 
 relatively low tribes it appears that it is attained in various ways. 
 There is sometimes a suggestion of vocation in a dream or a 
 vision.^ Among some tribes a candidate for the office has to 
 undergo a process of education, that is, of training in the signs 
 by which the presence of superhuman Powers is recognizable and 
 of the way of dealing with disease and other evils.* It is not un- 
 usual that the candidate is required to submit to a test, some- 
 times of physical endurance (as is required also in the case of the 
 young warrior), but chiefly of susceptibility to supernatural influ- 
 ences and capacity of insight, and of the conduct of magical opera- 
 tions.^ Generally in the lower tribes the office comes by free 
 choice of the individual, or by choice of the body of magicians, 
 without regard to the social position of the man. \\\ West Africa, 
 
 ' In some cases the priest is a magician (Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 1 14 ff.) — 
 he acts as the mouthpiece of a god, and in sympathy with the god. Cf. Wester- 
 marck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, ii, 65S. On a connection between 
 the magician and the poet see Goldziher, in Proceedings of the Tenth International 
 Congress of Orientalists. - Q.i. above, § 8S9. 
 
 8 Dixon, The Northern Maidii, p. 267 f. ; id.. The Shasta, 471 ff. 
 
 ■* Ellis, Tshi, p. 120. 
 
 5 Dixon, The Shasta, loc. cit. ; Miss Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies, p. 2S0.
 
 AfAGlC AX/-) nniXATIOIV 401 
 
 says Miss Kingsley, everybody keeps a familiar spirit or two 
 for magical purposes ; this is unlawful only when the spirit is 
 harmful.' 
 
 895. In somewhat more advanced societies the office falls into 
 the hands of families and descends from father to son, in which 
 case the younger man is instructed by the older in the secrets of 
 the profession.^ In some higher religions magical performances 
 are in the hands of certain clans or tribes. In most of these cases 
 women as well as men may be masters of the art. In the more 
 advanced systems it is often the case that it is especially women 
 who are considered adepts ; so it was in Babylonia ; ** in the Old 
 Testament Saul seeks the w^oman of Endor ; * Thessalian witches 
 were famous ; " women who tie magical knots are provided against 
 in the Koran by a special form of prayer ; ® in Europe, medieval 
 and later, the practicers of magic have generally been women. 
 
 896. The grounds for the ascription of magical superiority to 
 women — whether from their supposed greater susceptibility to 
 demoniac influence, or for some other reason — are not clear. 
 In the lowest tribes sorcerers are commonly men "^ — the profes- 
 sion is an influential and honored one, and naturally falls into the 
 hands of leading men ; the magician is often the most powerful 
 man in the community. 
 
 897. Reputation for magical power appears sometimes to attach 
 to a tribe or other body of persons as the representatives of a 
 religion which is adopted by a lower community. Possibly this 
 is the explanation of the role ascribed at an early period to the 
 Mazdean Magi.* The Magi (apparently Median of origin) formed 
 the priesdy tribe of the Mazdean religion, and we do not know 
 that they played originally any part as sorcerers. But it seems 
 
 1 M. Kingsley, Studies, p. 136. 2 Grey, Polynesian Mythology, p. 2;8. 
 
 3 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 267 f. ■* i Sam. .xxviii. 
 
 5 Apuleius, Mctatnorfhoses, bk. ii f. 6 Sura cxiii. 
 
 " Women, however, are sometimes shamans in such tribes, as in the California 
 Shasta (while in the neighboring Maidu they are commonly men). See Dixon, The 
 Shasta, p. 471 ; The Northern Maidu, p. 267 f. 
 
 8 Tiele, Elements of the Science of Religion, ii, 140 ; of. Spiegel, Eranische Alter- 
 thwnskunde, iii, 564 f., 587 f. ; Jackson, in Geiger and Kuhn's Grnndriss der iranischen 
 Pltilologie, ii, 630, 671, 692.
 
 402 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 that they were so considered in Greece as early as the fifth 
 century b.c..^ and after the Moslem conquest of Persia and the 
 suppression of Zoroastrianism a fire-worshiper or Magian is espe- 
 cially a representative of magic." On the other hand, it some- 
 times happens among adjoining tribes that the lower become the 
 special practitioners of magic, ^ which is then considered to be a 
 mysterious art, alien to the official religion, and therefore proper 
 to the ministers of the old mysterious cults. 
 
 898. The power exercised by the magician extends over the 
 whole world of men and things, and is generally considered to 
 be practically without limit. He guards men against diseases, 
 noxious beasts, and all other forms of injury ; he destroys one's 
 enemies and guards one against plots of enemies, including other 
 magicians ; he is able to induce or destroy love, to give physical 
 strength, to inflict disease, to kill, and to restore to life ; he ascends 
 to heaven or descends into the world below ; he is able to coerce 
 the gods themselves ; in fact, he does everything that a god is 
 commonly supposed to do — the tendency was to identify the 
 magician and the god.* Such identification is natural or necessary 
 in early faiths, inasmuch as it was held that there was no differ- 
 ence of nature between men and gods. A god was as a rule the 
 stronger. But how gods arose and how they gained their superior 
 strength was not clear, and it might thus easily happen that a 
 man should acquire powers equal to those of divine beings.* 
 
 1 Sophocles, Qldipus Tyranniis, 3S7 ; Euripides, Oreslcs, 149S. Hence the term 
 ' magic ' as the designation of a certain form of procedure. 
 
 2 So in the Thousand and One Nights^ passim. 
 
 3 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 113 ff. ; Castren, Fmnische Mythologic, pp. 186 ff., 229 ; 
 Skeat, Malay Magic, p. 162 ; Rivers, The Todas, p. 263 ; Crooke, Popular Religion 
 and Folklore of Northern India, ii, 283 ff. For modem usages see Wuttke, Dcr 
 deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gcgemvart, 2d ed., pp. 131, 241. 
 
 ■* A magician, as a man of special social prominence and of extraordinar}' power 
 over the forces of the world, becomes, in some cases, the political head of his com- 
 munity (as a priest sometimes has a like position). Where the divinization of men is 
 practiced, the magician may be recognized as a god. But no general rule can be laid 
 down. The office of king had its own political development, and a god was the nat- 
 ural product of the reflection of a community. The elevation of the magician to high 
 political or ecclesiastical position was dependent on peculiar circumstances and may 
 be called sporadic. Cf. Frazer, Early Histoty of the Kingship, p. 107 ff. and lecture v. 
 
 6 Cf. Frazer, Golden Bough, 2d ed., Index, s.v. Kings,
 
 MAGIC AAD niilXATION 403 
 
 899. 'I'lie methods employed by llie magician to effect his pur- 
 pose are various. In early times it is usual for him to fall into 
 an ecstatic state ; by drinking intoxicating liquors, by violent move- 
 ments, or by contemplation he gets out of himself and comes into 
 relations with the mysterious potencies. In such a condition he 
 acts as his imagination suggests.' But in the organized forms of 
 magic long experience has devised various means of producing 
 results beyond ihc power of ordinary men. Certain objects arc 
 magically charged with supernatural power (charms), and these 
 worn on the person guard the i)ossessor against malign influences. 
 Various formulas are employed which are supposed to coerce the 
 Powers ; these are sometimes names of ordinary objects regarded 
 as sacred, the name of some plant or animal.^ Names of divine 
 persons have special potency. The name of a god was supposed 
 to carry with it his power, and the utterance of his name secured 
 all that he could secure ; thus, in the early Christian times the tetra- 
 grammaton YHWH (Yahweh) had absolute power against demons. 
 
 900. Similar efficacy attached to sacred compositions, prayers,'^ 
 and the like. The Mazdean petition, Honover (Ahuna-Vairya), 
 was so employed, and in Christian circles even the Lord's Prayer. 
 Charms or incantations often took rhythmical form — verses, 
 couplets, or quatrains were widely used. All such methods were 
 the product of ages of experience.* They were handed down from 
 generation to generation, often in families or classes of magicians, 
 were modified or enlarged from time to time, and thus came at 
 last to form a literature. 
 
 901. In the great civilized religions magical practice gradually 
 assumed a tone somewhat different from that of the earliest times. 
 It continued to be coercive toward evil Powers, but in regard to 
 
 1 See Lord Avebur)', Marringc, Totcmism, and Religion, chap. iv. 
 
 2 The plant or animal may be a totem, but its magical power is not derived from 
 itstotemic character. Magical potency may dwell in nontotemic objects ; in magical 
 ceremonies connected with totems (as in Australia) it is the ceremony rather than 
 the totem that is efficacious. Cf. Marett, Threshold of Religion, p. 22 f. 
 
 3 Cf. Marett, " From spell to prayer," in his Threshold of Religion, p. 33 ff. 
 
 ■* Cf. J. H. King, The Snpemalural, Index, s.v. Chann ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 
 148 ; article " Charms and Amulets " in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics.
 
 404 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 the good Powers it assumed rather to discover their modes of 
 action. It was not anti-religious ; it remained alongside of the 
 official religious systems in friendly relations. It relied on the 
 assistance of the good gods and not on that of the demons. There 
 was good magic and bad magic, white magic and black magic, as 
 these came to be called. A procedure of white magic can thus, 
 from the point of view of religion, hardly be distinguished from 
 prayer to a deity. The difference between the two appears to be 
 that the magic produces abnormal or violent effects, which experi- 
 ence taught could not reasonably be expected from the deity. It 
 is the old crude science brought (as the lesser divine Powers were 
 brought) into a relation of subordination to the chief god of the 
 community. 
 
 902. Elaborate magical systems are found in some of the ancient 
 national religions. In India the Atharva-Vcda, though it contains 
 a mass of crude old material, is nevertheless recognized as one of 
 the sacred books, standing by the side of the Rig-Veda, though of 
 less authority and significance than that. The Atharvan was origi- 
 nally a priest of fire, but in this work he becomes simply a magician; 
 the immense number of magical procedures in the book provided 
 for all emergencies of life.^ The Babylonian magical formulas also 
 go back to an early time, but they were preserved by the priests 
 and recognized as a legitimate element in the religious practice.^ 
 The old Egyptian stories introduce a number of magical proceed- 
 ings, and the formulas have been preserved in treatises.^ Of the 
 earliest periods of the Mazdean religion we have unfortunately 
 no records ; in the time of the decadence of the national religion, 
 especially in the Thousand and One Nights, the fire-worshiper or 
 Magian is commonly a wicked magician, as was natural since he 
 belonged to a faith hostile to Islam, and the practicer of good magic 
 is generally a Moslem.'' The early Greeks and Romans appear not 
 
 1 Eng. tr. by Bloomfield, in Sacred Books of the East. 
 
 2 L. W. King, Babylonian Magie and Soreery. 
 
 3 Records of the Past, first series, vols, ii, vi ; Griffith, article " Egyptian Litera- 
 ture " in Library of the World's Best Literature \ Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, 
 p. 212 ff. ; Breasted, History of Egypt, Index, s.v. Magic. 
 
 * CI. Macdonald, Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, Index, s.v. Magic.
 
 MAGIC AND DIVINATION 405 
 
 to have been greatly interested in magical practices, though these 
 existed.^ But a great outburst of magic occurred in the Graeco- 
 Roman world in the first and second centuries of our era, the 
 magician being, however, generally not Greek or Roman, but of 
 an inferior alien race.^ Among the old Hebrews we have no de- 
 tails of magical procedure except in the invocation of the dead ; ' 
 this procedure was denounced by the prophets as hostile to the 
 worship of the national god, but it continued among the people a 
 long time.'' The practice of magic existed abundantly among the 
 early peoples of Europe, the Teutons, and others. The primacy, 
 however, in magic belongs to the Finns and Lapps, alien races 
 regarded as inferior in civilization. 
 
 903. The hold of magic on the minds of men is shown b)- the 
 fact that it has persisted up to the present day. Its basis is a belief 
 in occult powers and the conviction that man may attain to mastery 
 over them. Certain forms of this belief, called theosophical, are 
 held by many at the present day ; it is supposed that men are 
 capable of transcending the ordinary limitations of humanity. In 
 general, however, the whole system of magic yielded gradually to 
 the organized religions, the essence of which was a friendly and 
 rational relation with the deity. Religion has organized itself in 
 accord with the general organization of human social systems. It 
 has seen the necessity of getting rid of force, of depending on 
 humane feeling, cultivating simply friendl}- relations, attempting 
 a unity of work, a cooperation of divine and human forces. All 
 this has worked against magic. In addition to these tendencies 
 the constantly growing belief in the domination of natural forces 
 
 1 Daremberg and Saglio, DktioiDnurc dcs anliqttilcs gi'ccqucs et rontaiiics, article 
 " Magia " ; cf. articles " Medeia " and '' Kirke " in Roschers Lexikon. 
 
 2 Apuleius, Mclmnorf'lioscs; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman F.infirc, ii, 
 535 ff. ; Friedlander, Roman Life and Manners under the F.arly Fm/'ire (Eng. tr.), i, 
 260 f. ; Fowler, The Religious Experience of the Roman People, p. 57 ff. ; cf. Cumont, 
 Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans, Index, s.v. Magic. 
 
 3 1 Sam. xxviii ; Isa. viii, 19. 
 
 4 In the later Judaism -Solomon is the great master of magic; see the stor)' of 
 the Queen of Sheba in the Second Esther Targum ; Baring-Gould, Legends of Old 
 Testament Characters. For the Arabian legends of Solomon (borrowed from the 
 Jews) see Koran, sura xxxviii ; History of Bill-is, Queen of Sheba, compiled from 
 various Arabic sources, in Socin's Arabic Grammar (Eng. tr., 1885).
 
 406 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 has made it impossible in civilized societies to accept the powers 
 called magical.^ 
 
 904. To sum up : magic is a means of securing superhuman 
 results by adopting the methods of the superhuman Powers.- It 
 may be coeval with religion proper or may have preceded it in 
 human religious organization. In any case it has been, up to the 
 present day, the rival of religion, though more and more driven 
 to take a secondary place. It has collected physical facts which 
 have served as a basis for the study of physical science and have 
 indirectly furthered the cause of religion by leading men to recog- 
 nize natural law and also by necessitating a distinction between 
 thcistic and other superhuman results.^ In the absence of distinct 
 religious systems it has been a bond of social union, and to that 
 extent has been a civilizing influence. On the other hand, it has 
 fostered belief in a false science of sequences and thus helped to 
 introduce confusion into thought and the conduct of life. The aim 
 of religion has been, and is, to banish magic from the world.* 
 
 Divination 
 
 905. Divination is the science that seeks to discover the will of 
 the supernatural Powers by means of the observation of phenomena. 
 Men desire to learn the causes of present and past misfortunes 
 and the story of the future, that they may know at any moment 
 what is the best course to pursue. The underlying supposition is 
 that these things are indicated by the appearances and movements 
 of the various objects of the world. It is in these phenomena that 
 the purposes of superhuman forces become visible to man ; the 
 gods, it is held, cannot but so reveal themselves (for they produce 
 
 1 Lecky, Hisioiy of the Rise and Iiifiucncc of the Spirit of Rationalism in Europe ; 
 Westertnarck, Origin and Development of ike Moral Ideas, Index, s.w. Magic and 
 Witches. 
 
 2 These Powers, including mana, may all be called " divine " as distinguished 
 from the purely '■ human." 
 
 3 .\ superhuman phenomenon, if produced by a deity, is called a " miracle," and is 
 held to be beneficent; if produced by a nontheistic process, it is called "magical," 
 and is looked at doubtfully. 
 
 * Cf. Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, ii, 696; Hob- 
 house, Morals in Evolution, Index, s.v. Magic and Morals.
 
 MAGIC AXD DIVINATION 407 
 
 all phenomena), and man's task is to discover the laws of phe- 
 nomenal revelation. 'I'he question of the motive in this revelation 
 is not distinctly raised, hut it is taken for granted that the Powers 
 are willing to help man h\- guiding his uncertain footsteps ; their 
 attitude is so far friendly — - they belong in feeling to the human 
 communitN'.' 
 
 Divination has in common with magic the assumption of the 
 unit) of the world and its control by law, and the search for divine 
 activity in the facts of life. But the two differ essentially in their 
 aims. Divination seeks to learn the divine will in order to be guided; 
 magic studies divine action in order to imitate it and accomplish 
 divine results. Divination is an inquirer, and its virtue is obedience; 
 magic is an investigator, and its virtue is achievement. Both are 
 self-seeking, but divination is the more reverent and allies itself 
 more easily with religion. But both tend to become corrupt and 
 decadent, and their roles are determined from time to time by the 
 conditions of the communities in which thev are found. '^ 
 
 906. The organization of divination resembles that of magic in 
 several respects. It comes to have its special functionaries, into 
 whose hands all its authority falls. The divinatory power (like the 
 magical) comes to a man sometimes as a gift of nature (that is, of 
 a god) or in some mysterious external way, sometimes as a result 
 of a course of training in which the significance of the various signs 
 is learned. It is sometimes a property of a clan or a family and 
 descends from father to son, always, however, under the condition 
 of instruction of the young by the old. The diviner, like the magi- 
 cian, sometimes performs various ceremonies for the purpo.se of 
 bringing himself into relation with the gods, and his utterances are 
 frequently given in an ecstatic condition. In this condition he is 
 said in some instances (as among the Todas*) to speak a lan- 
 guage not his own, with which in his ordinary state of mind he is 
 
 1 Ultimately, in early religious theor)', all objects are divine or abodes or incarna- 
 tions of divine beings and capable of independent action ; sometimes, doubtless, the 
 recognition of the natural character of a thing (as of courage and other qualities in 
 animals) coalesces with the belief in its guiding power. 
 
 2 Cf. article " Magia " in Daremberg and .'^aglio, Dictionnalrc dcs antiquitcs 
 grecques et roynamcs, p. 1496. 3 Rivers, The Todas, p. 254.
 
 408 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 unacquainted, or to utter words that are not understood either by 
 himself or by others. Ecstasy means possession by the deity; 
 the interpretation of the diviner's words, which, in the ecstatic con- 
 dition, are the words of a spirit or a god, is sometimes left to the 
 bystanders, or, if unintelligible to them, musf be recovered by the 
 seer himself when he returns to his normal condition. 
 
 907. The highest development of ecstasy is found in the prophet 
 proper. Originally the prophet was a foreteller and acted under 
 the inspiration of a god, a divine seizure that was allied to madness. 
 The ravings of the savage shaman ' are repeated in the ravings of 
 Cassandra and in the excited utterances and bodily exhaustion of 
 the early Hebrew prophets.- A nobler use of ecstasy is exhibited 
 in the youth of K)blos, who rescued an unfortunate Egyptian envoy 
 from insult and secured him honorable treatment.^ The more ad- 
 vanced thought tended to abandon the abnormal state of the diviner 
 and make him simply a recipient of divine knowledge by the favor 
 of a god — the gods came to choose thoughtful men instead of 
 beasts as their intermediaries.^ The Hebrew prophets whose utter- 
 ances have been preserved, from Amos onward, are men of insight, 
 essentially critics of the national life, and moral watchmen ; but 
 features of the old conception of divinatory power continue for 
 some time to attach to them.^ 
 
 908. The differentiation of functions between magician, diviner, 
 and priest appears to have taken place at a comparatively early 
 period, though it is probable that in the earliest times all these 
 characters might be united in a single person. As soon as an 
 organized religion is established the priest acquires his specific 
 function as intermediator between men and gods, often, however, 
 retaining the power of discovering the will of the deity.^ Magic, 
 as we have seen, tends to become an unsocial and hostile thing, 
 
 ' Cf. article " Bantu" in Hastings, Encycloptcdia of Rclv^ion and Rthks, p. 35S. 
 
 2 I Sam. X, 5 ; xix, 24. 
 
 3 Breasted, llisloty of Es^y/'t, p. 5 13 f. The envoy not only failed to procure cedar 
 for the sacred barge of Anion but was ordered by the prince to leave the city; the 
 youth intervened successfully (ca. iioo B.C.). 
 
 * So Teiresias {Odyssey, x, 492 ff. ; G^.dipiis Tynrimiis, 92) and Samuel (1 Sam. ix). 
 6 Mic. i, 8 ; cf. 2 Kings iii, 15 (music as a preliminary condition of inspiration). 
 6 As among the Hebrews, the Greeks, and other ancient peoples.
 
 MAGIC AND DIVINATION 409 
 
 and the magician is in later times j^unished or discountenanced by 
 ])ublic opinion. The diviner, on the other hand, has generally re- 
 tained possession of his public for the reason that he is in sympathy 
 with the gods of the community and his work is held to be wholly 
 friendly. In all stages of religious development, except the very 
 highest, he has been recognized by public opinion and by law as a 
 part of the religious constitution of society and has often attained 
 great ci\il and political power.^ Among civilized peoples he comes 
 to be a man of learning, acquainted with many things besides the 
 mere signs of the will of the gods. 
 
 909. Divinatory signs may be grouped in various classes accord- 
 ing as they belong to the outer world or to men's inward experi- 
 ences, and according as they present themselves without or with 
 preparation by man. Outward signs in ordinary occurrences which, 
 so far as human initiative is concerned, are accidental may be 
 called, for convenience, " omens." Uncommon occurrences may be 
 called, if they appear in the forms of men and animals, " prodigies," 
 and if they are seen in the physical world, " portents." These desig- 
 nations are arbitrar)', and sometimes two or more of them may be 
 appropriate for the same event. Inward signs are dreams, reve- 
 lations in the ecstatic state, and prophetic inspirations.^ We may 
 begin with divination from the observation of external objects, and 
 consider first such as are accidental (omens, prodigies, portents). 
 
 910. Omens, prodigies, and portents are to be regarded as the 
 product of ages of experience. The observations of early men 
 seem to them to show that certain appearances are followed by 
 certain events, and the details of experience, handed down and 
 interpreted by successive generations, are in the course of time 
 sifted, systematized, and formulated. In savage and half-civilized 
 communities divinatory signs are usually simple, drawn from ap- 
 [jcarances of familiar objects and occurrences. They become more 
 complicated in civilized times — they are mingled with elaborate 
 
 1 Formerly, says Cicero {De Divitiaiionc, i, 16), almost nothing of moment, or 
 even in private affairs, was undertaken without an augur}'. 
 
 - For a tabulation of omens and other signs and of forms of divinatory procedure 
 see article " Divination " in La Grande Encyclopedic,
 
 4IO JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 astrological ideas. Divination becomes a science for tlie practice 
 of which a technical education is required. Belief in omens and 
 other signs survives among the highest civilized peoples long after 
 the conceptions on which they rest have been abandoned. The 
 origin of signs among savage peoples may often be traced with 
 more or less probability ; in the case of such as survive in periods 
 of high culture the origin is necessarily obscured by the lapse 
 of time and can be surmised only by comparison with earlier 
 conceptions. 
 
 The belief in such signs may be traced over a great part of the 
 world. It is found among the ancient Eg}'ptians, Babylonians, 
 Assyrians, Hindus, Chinese, Hebrews, Greeks, Romans, Arabians, 
 and at a later time among the Celtic, Slavic, and Teutonic peoples.^ 
 At the present day it occurs most highly developed in Polynesia, 
 Northern Africa, Southern India, and Central Asia ; it is relatively 
 unimportant in Western and Central Africa, North America, South 
 America, and Australia. One difference between divination and 
 magic thus appears to be that the latter is vigorous in savage 
 communities that pay little attention to the former. Further collec- 
 tions of facts may require a modification of this statement ; but, in 
 general, it would seem that an organization of signs, demanding, as 
 it does, orderly reflection on phenomena, is proper to communities 
 that have advanced beyond the hunting and nomadic stages. For 
 the rest, there are few objects or occurrences that have not been 
 
 1 Cicero, De Divinaiione, i, 1-4 : Diodorus Siculus, i, 70, 81 : Maspero, Dawn of 
 Civilization, p. 216 ff.; Steindorff, Religion of the Ancient Egy/'tians, p. ii3ff. (cf. 
 Gen. xliv, 5, 15, which may point to an Egj^ptian custom of divination by cup) ; Jas- 
 trow. Religion Babyloniens und Assyricns, and Aspects of Religions Belief and Practice 
 in Babylonia and Assyria; Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 256, 328; De Groot, 
 Religions System of China, i, 103 ff.; iii, chap, xii ; Buckley, in Saussaye's Lehrhncli 
 der Rcligionsgcschichte, 2d ed. (China); articles "Divination" in pMcyclopicdia 
 Biblica, Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, and Jewish Encyclopedia ; Bouche- 
 I.eclercq, Histoire de la divination dans .''antiqnite ; articles " Divinatio " and " Haru- 
 spices " in Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnciire des antiquites grecques et romaines ; 
 Gardner and Jcvons, Greek Antiqnities, chap, vii ; .Stengel and Oehmichen, Die 
 griechischen SakralaltertUmer; Wissowa, Religion der Rbmer, p. 450 ff. ; Fowler, Re- 
 ligious Experience of the Roman People, lecture xiii ; W'ellhausen, Reste arabischen 
 Heidentiimcs, pp. 126 ff., 148 ff . ; article "Celts" in Hastings, Encyclopaedia of 
 Religion and Ethics; Hastings, op. cit., ii, 54 ff . ; Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, 
 Index, s.v. Divination.
 
 MA GIC AND ni I IN A TION 4 i i 
 
 regarded at some time by some people as indieations of divine will 
 in respect to present, past, or future events. 
 
 911. A fair illustration of the early belief in omens is afforded 
 by the divinatory system that prevails in Samoa and iIk- neighbor- 
 ing group of islapds.^ It appears that all omens are derived either 
 from the movements of animals that are regarded as incarnations 
 of deities,*-^ or from phenomena that are held to be produced im- 
 mediately by deities. The flight of owls, bats, or rails, according to 
 its direction, indicates the result of a battle or a war ; the howling 
 of a dog is a sign of coming misfortune ; if a centipede crawls on 
 the top of a mat it is a good omen, if on the bottom of a mat it is 
 bad ; it is unfortunate when a lizard crosses one's path ; if a basket 
 be found turned upside down in a road, this is a sign of evil ; the 
 wa)' in which sacred stones fall to the ground is an indication of 
 the future. The animals mentioned above (and there are many 
 other such) are all regarded as incarnations of deities. So as to 
 portents : loud thunder, taken to be the voice of the great god 
 Tangaloa, is a good sign ; the significance of lightning (w hich also 
 is sent by the god) depends upon the direction taken by the flash. 
 An eclipse is regarded as a presage of death. A similar system of 
 interpretation of signs is found elsewhere. The Masai and the 
 Nandi draw omens from the movements of birds." In Ashantiland 
 the cry of the owl means death.* When in Australia the track of 
 an insect is believed to point toward the abode of the sorcerer by 
 whom a man has been done to death, the conception is probably 
 the same. The modern Afghans hold that a high wind that con- 
 tinues three days is a sign that a murder has been committed.^ 
 Examples from Brazil, Borneo, New Zealand, Old Calabar and 
 Tatarland are given by Tylor.^ In the early Hebrew history 
 
 1 Turner, Samoa, Index, s.v. Omens. 
 
 - These animals were originally themselves divine, and therefore, by their own 
 knowledge, capable of indicating the course of events; cf. § 905, note. 
 
 3 Hollis, The Masai, p. 323 f. ; id., The Nandi, p. 79. 4 Ellis, Tshi, p. 203. 
 
 5 Conolly, /('//'■'/<•;■ to tlie North of India, 2d cd., 1838, ii, 137 ff. 
 
 •5 Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 78, etc. For .South .Vfrica cf. Callaway, The Amazuhi, 
 Index, s.w. Omens, Divination, Diviners; Kidd, The Essential Kafir, Index, s.v. Di- 
 vining; article " Bantu" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, p. 362.
 
 412 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 it appears that a rustling in trees was looked on as a sign of 
 divine inter\'ention.^ 
 
 912. In ancient Babylonia and Assyria an elaborate system of 
 interpretation of ordinary occurrences prevailed — the movements 
 and appearances of various species of birds, of bulls, of dogs of 
 all colors are noted, with minute interpretations.- The Greeks 
 recognized omens in the acts of various animals, especially in the 
 flight and cries of birds ; so important were these last that the 
 words for ' bird ' came to be employed for ' omens from birds ' 
 and even simply for 'omens';^ Aristophanes, laughing at the 
 Athenians, declares that they called every mantic sign ' bird '.* 
 Skepticism, however, appears in Hector's passionate rejection of 
 the signs of birds and his declaration that the best omen is to fight 
 for one's country.^ A similar mantic prominence of birds appears 
 in ancient Rome where the terms for the observation of birds 
 {auspiciiim, auguriutn) came to signify ' omens ' in general. The 
 preeminence thus accorded to birds was due perhaps to the fact 
 that they move in a region above the earth, the larger species 
 (otwvds) seeking the sky near the abode of the gods, as well as to 
 the frequency and variety of their actions.® The feeling of direct 
 contact with the deity appears in the significance attached to the 
 movements of a sacrificial animal : if it approached the altar 
 willingly, this, showing accord with the deity, was a good omen, 
 and unwillingness was a bad omen." Among the later Romans 
 the entrance of a strange black dog into a house, the falling of a 
 snake through the opening in the roof, the crowing of a hen were 
 unfavorable signs which prevented the immediate undertaking of 
 
 1 2 Sam. V, 24. 
 
 2 Jastrow, Kdigion of Babylonia and Assyria (Eng. and Ger. edd.), in which ref- 
 erences to the original documents are given. 
 
 3 fipnj, oiwv6s. Iliad, ii, 859 ; xii, 237 ; xxiv, 219 ; Hesiod, Works and Days, 826 ; 
 cf. Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la divination dans rantiquiti, i, 127 ff. 
 
 4 Birds, 715 ff. ^ llia^t, xii, 243. 
 
 6 In Borneo, which has an elaborate scheme of omens from birds, prayer is some- 
 times addressed to them. Fumess, Home Life of the Borneo Head-hunters, 1 ndex, s.v. 
 Omen; Haddon, /Av7(/-/«w)'r/.y, p. 344. 
 
 - The sacrificial animal was regarded as divine, and its movements had the signifi- 
 cance of divine counsels.
 
 MA GIC AND ni I 7.VA TION 4 1 3 
 
 any new affair ; ^ these were all unusual and therefore uncanny 
 occurrences. Some of the animals that furnish omens are totems, 
 and in such cases the totemic significance coalesces with that of 
 the omen ; the animal that appears to the young Sioux candidate 
 as his manitu has both characters — it is the sign of divine ac- 
 ceptance and the embodiment of the di\ inc patron.''^ 
 
 913. Prodisrics connected with the birth of children are numer- 
 ous. The complete or incomplete character of the infant's body, 
 various marks and colors, and the number produced at a birth 
 have been carefully noted by many peoples. The birth of twins 
 seems to have been more commonly regarded in savage and half- 
 civilized communities either as a presage of misfortune (as being 
 unusual and mysterious) or as a sign of conjugal unfaithfulness 
 (as indicating two fathers, one of whom might be a god). Inter- 
 pretations of births are given in Babylonian records.' Everywhere 
 monstrous births, misshapen forms, and abnormal colors in the 
 bodies of men and beasts have been regarded as indications of 
 divine displeasure. 
 
 914. That the stars early attracted the attention of man is 
 shown by the fact that constellations are recognized in some 
 lower tribes — for example, in the New Hebrides Islands, among 
 the Todas, the Masai, the Nandi, and elsewhere.* Since all 
 heavenly bodies were regarded originally as divine, and later as 
 controlled by divine beings, sometimes also as the abodes of the 
 dead or as the souls of the dead, it was natural that astral move- 
 ments should be looked on as giving signs of the will of the 
 gods. Astronomy appears to have been pursued in the first in- 
 stance not from interest in the natural laws governing the move- 
 ments of sun, moon, and stars, but from belief in their divinatory 
 significance. How far this study was carried on all over the 
 ancient world we have no means of knowing ; but, as far as 
 
 1- Terence, Phorniio, IV, iv, 25 ff. 
 
 2 Frazer, Totcmism and Kxogamy, ii, 137; Tylor, Primlth'e Culture, i, 119 f.; 
 Miss Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies, p. 278 ff. 
 
 8 Jastrow, Religion 0/ Babylonia and Assyria, p. 384 ff. 
 
 •• Turner, Samoa, p. 319 ; Rivers, T/ie Todas, p. 593 ; Hollis, T/ie Nandi, p. 100, 
 and The Masai, p. 275 ff.
 
 414 IXTRODLXTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 the records go, it was the Babylonians that first reduced astral 
 divination to the form of a science,^ and it is probable that from 
 them it spread over Western Asia and India, and perhaps into 
 Europe. Babylonian and Assyrian documents contain many ac- 
 curate statements of the appearances of heavenly bodies ; and 
 in the third or second century B.C., as we learn from the Book 
 of Daniel, the term "Chaldean' was synonymous with 'magician.' 
 While astronomy was pursued by the Egyptians with great suc- 
 cess, whereby they made a notable construction of the calendar, 
 they seem not to have cultivated astrology, though they associated 
 certain stars with certain gods and with lucky or unlucky days.^ 
 
 915. Of all divinatory methods astrology has played the greatest 
 role in human history, and is still believed in and studied by not 
 a few persons. It derived its prominence originally, no doubt, 
 from the splendor and mystery of the sidereal heavens ; the 
 identification (by the Babylonians) of certain planets with certain 
 deities gave it more definite shape. It was necessarily a learned 
 pursuit, and, falling naturally into the hands of priestly bodies, 
 was developed by them in accordance with the needs of the situa- 
 tion. Rules of interpretation were established that became more 
 and more specific. In the early period of astrology it was con- 
 cerning matters of public interest that information was sought — 
 crops, wars, and the fortunes of the king as the head of the 
 nation.^ At a later time, but before the beginning of our era, in 
 accordance with the growth of ethical individualism, the stars 
 were interrogated for the destinies of private individuals ; ■* the 
 aspect of the heavens at the moment of birth, the horoscope, 
 announced the fate of the nascent man.^ 
 
 In the hands of the Chaldeans astrology remained exclusively or 
 largely a science of omens. An advance toward a higher concep- 
 tion, however, was made by their identification of certain planets 
 
 1 On the exaggerated range and importance ascribed by some modem writers 
 to early conceptions of the divinatory function of heavenly bodies see above, §§ 826, 
 866 ff. 2 Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, pp. 163, 180. 
 
 8 Jastrow, Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria, 
 p. 240 ff. ; R. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature, p. 451 ff. 
 
 * I'crsius, vi, 18. 6 Cicero, De Divinationc, ii, 42 ff.
 
 J/.U;yC .L\/) PJVINATION 415 
 
 with certain gods,^ whereby the regularity and certainty of move- 
 ment of the astral world were carried over to the world of divine 
 Powers. When, in the centuries just preceding and following the 
 beginning of our era, Chaldean astrology was adopted by the 
 Greeks and Romans, it was organized by them in accordance 
 with their philosophy, and it entered into alliance with all the 
 higher religious tendencies of the period. \\\ the unchangeable- 
 ness of stellar movements the Stoics saw a principle substantially 
 identical with their doctrine of fate. Along various lines (in 
 Judaism and Christianity, and in the mysteries of Mithra and 
 I sis) men were moving toward the conception of a single supreme 
 ruler of the world, and astrology fell into line with this movement. 
 The starry universe was held to be the controller of human life, 
 worth}- of worship, and able to call forth emotion. Thus astrology 
 became a religion ■ — it was adopted by learned and unlearned, 
 its ethical and spiritual quality being determined by the character 
 and thought of the various groups that professed it. P"or some 
 centuries it was a religious power in the world ; as a religious 
 system it gave way gradually to more definite constructions, but 
 it survived as a science long after it had ceased to be believed in 
 as a life-giving faith. 
 
 The persistence of faith in it as a science is an additional illus- 
 tration of men's demand for visible signs of the intervention of 
 the deity in human affairs ; ''' as often as certain supposed embodi- 
 ments of the supernatural are discarded, others are taken up. 
 
 1 The largest planet was brought into connection with the chief god of Uabylon, 
 Marduk ; the bright star of morning and evening with Ishtar ; the red planet with 
 Nergal, god of war, and the others with Ninib and Nebo respectively. The Romans 
 changed these names into those of their corresponding deities, Jupiter, \'enus, Mars, 
 Saturn, and Mercury. 
 
 - Cumont, Lcs religions oncntalcs dans le paganisme romain, chap, vii, and Eng. 
 tr.. The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism ; id.. Astrology and Religion among 
 the Greeks and Romans ; Bouche-Leclercq, L'astrologie greeqite and Histoire de la 
 divitiation dans I'antiqtiite. 
 
 3 Medieval belief in astral power is embodied in the English word 'influence,' 
 properly the inflow from the stars (so in Milton's L' Allegro, 121 f., "ladies whose 
 bright eyes rain influence"). An astrologer was often attached to a royal court or 
 to the household of some great person, his duty being to keep his patron informed 
 as to the future.
 
 4l6 IXTRODUCriO.X TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 The earlier philosophical views of the relation of the heavenly 
 bodies to human life are now generally abandoned, and such 
 belief in this relation as now exists has no scientific basis, but 
 is founded on vague desire. 
 
 In savage and in civilized times eclipses, comets, the appear- 
 ance of a new star, and earthquakes have been regarded as indica- 
 tions of the attitude of the deity — sometimes favorable, sometimes 
 unfavorable. 
 
 916. The words and actions of men and their normal peculi- 
 arities of bodily form have furnished comjDaratively few divinatory 
 signs, the reason being, probably, that in early times animals and 
 other nonhuman things arrested the attention of observers more 
 forcibl)-, while in later times such acts and ft)rms were more 
 readily explained from natural conditions and laws. The palpita- 
 tion of the eye, which seems sometimes to uneducated man to be 
 produced by an external force, has been taken as a presage of 
 misfortune. A burning sensation in the car is still believed by 
 some persons to be a sign that one is being talked about ; in 
 early stages of culture the sensation was regarded as a warning 
 sent by the guardian spirit or some other superhuman being. 
 Sneezing was once looked on as a happy omen : when Telemachus 
 gave a resounding sneeze Penelope interpreted it as a sign that 
 news of his father was at hand.' An act performed without 
 ulterior purpose may be taken to symbolize some sort of for- 
 tune. When the Calif Omar sent an embassy to the Persian 
 King Yezdegird summoning him to embrace Islam, the angry 
 king commanded that a clod of earth should be brought and that 
 the ambassadors should bear it out of the city, which they accord- 
 ingly did ; and this act was taken both by Arabs and by Persians 
 as a presage of Moslem victory — the invaders had a jjortion of 
 Persian soil.- .\n element of magic, however, may have entered 
 int(j this conviction ; the bit of soil was supposed, perhaps, to 
 
 1 Odyssey, xvii, 541 ff. The fear of a sneeze (which must be followed by some 
 form of ' God bless you ! ') belongs in a different category ; the danger is that a 
 hurtful spirit may enter the sneezer's body, or that his soul may depart. 
 
 2 Muir, T/u- Caliphate, p. 112.
 
 MAuJC A AD DIVIAATION 417 
 
 carry with it the wliolc land. A chance word has often been 
 seized on as an indication of the future, or a proper name taken 
 as a presage. 
 
 917. The belief in the sacredncss or divinity of the human 
 body has led to the search for divinatory signs in its parts. But 
 it is only the hand that has been extensively employed in this 
 \va\-. The hand has offered itself as most available for divination, 
 partly, perhaps, because of the variety and importance of its 
 functions, partly because of the variety of lines it shows and the 
 ease with which it may be examined. Chiromancy, or palmistry, 
 has been developed into a science and has maintained itself to 
 the present day ; but it has largely lost its divinatory significance 
 and has become a study of character, which is supposed to be 
 indicated by the lines of the hand. In its divinatory role it has 
 often been connected with astrology. 
 
 918. The preceding examples deal with occurrences that present 
 themselves without human initiation. In certain cases the materials 
 for divination are arranged by men themselves. In such methods 
 there is always an appeal to the deity, a demand that a god shall 
 intervene and indicate his will under the conditions prepared by 
 men, the assumption being that the god has prepared the event 
 or thing in question, and that, when properly approached, he will 
 be disposed to give his w'orshipers the assistance desired. The 
 casting of lots and similar random procedures have been common 
 methods of divination the world over. The African Kafir diviner 
 detects criminals by the fall of small objects used as dice. The 
 Ashanti discover future events b)' the figures formed when palm 
 wine is thrown on the ground, and from the nature of the num- 
 bers, whether even or odd, when one lets fall a handful of nuts. 
 In a dispute the Voruban priest holds in his hand a number of 
 grass stalks, one of which is bent, and the person who draws the 
 bent stalk is adjudged to be in fault.' The Hebrews had the 
 official use of objects called " urim and thummim " (terms whose 
 meaning is unknown to us), which were probably small cubes, to 
 
 1 Hastings, Eucyclofi(cdiii of Religion and Ethics, ii, 362 ; Ellis, Tshi, p. 202 ; id., 
 Yoniba, p. 97 ; cf. Ilollis, The Masai, p. 324.
 
 4lS IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 each of which was somehow attached an answer " yes " or " no," 
 or the name of a person. Thus, when David inquired whether 
 he was to attack the Philistines, the answer seems to have been 
 "yes."^ When it was a question who had violated the taboo 
 announced by Saul, the urim and thummim first decided that 
 it was not the people but the ro)'aI family ; and then, as between 
 Saul and Jonathan, that it was the latter who was guilty.^ Accord- 
 ing to the Book of Ezekiel the Chaldean King Nebuchadrezzar 
 drew lots by arrows to determine what road he should take in a 
 campaign.^ The old Arabs employed a species of divination by 
 arrows, which, when thrown down, by their position indicated 
 the will of the gods ; and in the division of the flesh of a beast 
 slaughtered by a clan or group, the portions to be assigned to 
 various persons were determined by the drawing of arrows.* 
 Divination b\- lot was also largely employed by the Greeks and 
 the Romans.^ The method called " sortes vergilianae " is still in 
 vogue ; it was and is a custom among pious persons. Christian 
 or Moslem, to learn the course that they are to take in an 
 emergency by opening a Bible or a copy of the Koran at ran- 
 dom and accepting the first words on which the eye falls as an 
 indication of the divine will, the deity being supposed to direct 
 the eye.® 
 
 919. One of the commonest and most important methods of 
 divination in antiquity was the examination of the entrails of ani- 
 mals (haruspication). Of this system there are a few examples 
 among savage peoples.' but it has attained special significance 
 only among the great civilized nations and especially among the 
 Babylonians, the Etruscans, and the Greeks and Romans. The 
 slaughtered animal was generally held to be itself sacred or divine, 
 
 1 1 Sam. xxiii, 2. 2 , Sam. xiv, 38-42 (see the Septuagint text). 
 
 3 Ezek. xxi, 21 [26]. •* Moallakat of hnruU-Kais, ver. 22. 
 
 5 Houch^-Leclercq, Histoirc lie la divination dans Paniiquite, i, 195 ff. ; iv, 153, 
 159; Augustine, Confessions^ iv, 5 : de paginis poetae cujuspiam longe aliud canentis 
 atque intendentis ; if, says Augustine's friend, an apposite verse so appears, it is not 
 wonderful that something bearing on one's affairs should issue from the human soul 
 by some higher instinct, though the soul does not know what goes on within it. 
 
 6 Cf. Comparctti, Virgilio ncl tncdio cvo, i, 64 f. (Eng. tr., p. 47 f.). 
 " As the Masai (Mollis, The Masai, p. 324).
 
 MAGIC AND DIl-IXATION 419 
 
 and, as it was offered to the deity, it was a natural belief tliat the 
 god would indicate his will by the character of the inward ])arts, 
 which were supposed to be j^articularly connected with the life of 
 the animal. ( )f these animal parts the liver was regarded as the 
 most important. The liver was for the IJabylonians the special .seat 
 of thought, whether from its position or its size or from some other 
 consideration we have no means of knowing. The explanation of 
 the form and appearance of the liver became itself a separate science, 
 and this science was developed with extraordinary minuteness by 
 the Babylonians. The whole structure of the liver, together with 
 the gall, bladder, and the ducts, was analyzed, and to every part, 
 every line, and every difference of appearance a separate signifi- 
 cance was assigned. Thus hcpatoscopy, demanding long training 
 and influencing ix)litical action (and, doubtless, calling for ingenuity 
 and tact in interpretations), assumed great importance in Baby- 
 lonia and Assyria ; and it was hardly less important among the 
 Etruscans, the Greeks, and the Romans.^ It is held by some 
 scholars that Babylonia was the original home of the developed 
 science, whence it passed into Greece and Italy." It may be rec- 
 ognized in Babylonia in the third millennium n.c, and there is 
 no improbability in the supposition that Babylonian influence 
 was felt in Asia Minor and Eastern Europe ; but, in view of the 
 number of possibly independent centers of culture in this region 
 in ancient times and the paucity of data, the question may be 
 left open. 
 
 920. Other jxirts of the animal bodies also were employed in 
 divination. Tylor^ mentions the examination of the bones of the 
 porcupine among North American Indians, the color giving indica- 
 tions as to the success of hunting expeditions. The shoulder blade, 
 when put into the fire, showed by splits in it various kinds of for- 
 tune. The heart was of less significance in ancient thought than 
 the liver, it being of less size, and its function in the circulation 
 
 1 Bouchd-Leclercq, Histoire dc la divination dans raniiquitc ; Darcmberg and 
 Saglio, Dictionnairc dcs antiquites grccques et romaincs, s.v. Harus/'kcs ; Fowler, 
 T/u- Rclis^ions Experience 0/ the A'oma/i Peop/e, Index, s.v. Hantspices. 
 
 2 M. Jastrow, "The Liver in .Vntiquity " (University of Pennsykanta Medical 
 Bulletin, 1908) and Religion Babyloniens iind Assyricns. 8 Primitive Culture, i, 124.
 
 420 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of the blood not being known. The brain also did not come, 
 until a comparatively late period, to be regarded as the seat of 
 the intellect.' 
 
 921. lYom these external signs we may now pass to consider 
 divinatory facts derived from men's inward experience. 
 
 Dreams. The importance attached all ove*r the world to dreams 
 as presages is a familiar fact. It would appear that among savage 
 peoples a dream is regarded as representing an historical fact, the 
 actual perception of an occurrence or a situation. It is believed 
 that the mysterious inward thing, the soul, endowed with peculiar 
 pow'er, is capable, during sleep, of leaving the body and wandering 
 to and fro ; " why, then, in its journeys, should it not be able to 
 see the plans of friends and enemies, and in general to observe the 
 course of events ? We do not know the nature of savage logic in 
 dealing with these visions of the night, but some such line of 
 reasoning as this, it seems probable, is in their minds. The soul, 
 they hold, is an entit}', possessing intellectual powers like those of 
 the ordinary living man — it sees certain things, and its knowledge 
 becomes the possession of the man when he awakes. Thus the 
 soul in dreams is a watchman, on the lookout for what may help 
 or harm the man. Perhaps there is, even in low tribes, a vague 
 feeling that it has extraordinary powers of perception ; whether 
 such a feeling, if it exists, is connected with a belief that, during 
 sleep, the soul is freed from the limitations of the everyday corporeal 
 man we are not able with our present data to say.' Savages often 
 follow the suggestions made in dreams'* (particularly when they 
 are vivid) and are confirmed in their faith by occasional fulfillments 
 of predictions ; the mind, working during sleep on the observations 
 made by day, may sometimes fall on situations that afterwards 
 really appear, and a few such realizations arc sufficient to establish 
 a rule or creed. 
 
 1 See above, § 28. The skull is employed as a means of divination (Haddon, 
 Head-hunters, p. 91 ff.). 2 gee above, § 24. 
 
 3 Cf. Roscher, Lexikoii, article " Oneiros," col. 904. 
 
 *]. H. King, T/te Supernatural, i, 168 ff.; Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 121 ff., 
 440 f.; Howitt, Native Tribes of South-East Australia, p. 436 ; Mrs. K. Langloh 
 Parker, The Euahlayi Tribe, pp. 28, 83 f.
 
 MA GIC AND DIVINA TION 4 2 1 
 
 922. 'I'his naive conception of dreams as products of the soul's 
 perception of realities survives to a greater or less extent among 
 higher tribes and nations, but finally gives way, when some sort of 
 theistic construction is reached, to the view that they are sent im- 
 mediately by deities. An approach to this view appears in North 
 America when, for example, a Pawnee Indian sees in a dream some 
 being who gives him important information, though in the folk-tales 
 nothing is said of the source of the dream. ^ A step in advance ap- 
 pears in the belief of the Ashanti, according to which the existence 
 of a tutelary family deity is indicated in a dream ; ^ it is, however, 
 not clear whether or not they hold that the tutelary deity has himself 
 suggested the dream. In the higher religions a dream is often sent 
 by a patron deity as a prediction or for guidance in a coming emer- 
 gency. Doubtless it was only in the case of specially distinct dreams 
 and such as related to important matters that attention was paid to 
 them — the deity intervened only in affairs that called for his special 
 direction. Examples are numerous in the history of the great nations 
 of antiquity. The Egyptian King Merneptah in a time of great 
 danger had a dream in which the god Ptah appeared to him and 
 bade him banish fear ; ^ and the Hebrew Yahweh is represented 
 as having sent dreams to a king of Egypt (probably in the interests 
 of the Hebrews) to warn him of a coming famine.* The Assyrian 
 Ashurbanipal was favored with special communications from Ishtar, 
 and the god Ashur in a dream ordered Gyges, King of Eydia, to 
 submit to the Assyrian king.^ In some documents of the Pentateuch 
 Yahweh regularly announces his will in dreams to both Hebrews 
 and non-Hebrews ;'' and a Hebrew writer of a later time (the 
 third or second century 15. c.) represents the God of Israel as 
 giving Nebuchadrezzar an outline of the history of the rise and 
 fall of the kingdoms of Western Asia and Greece.'' A god might 
 employ a dream for a less worthy purpose : Zeus sends a dream 
 to .Agamemnon to mislead him and thus direct the issue of the 
 
 1 Dorsey, The Skidt Pawnee, Index, s.v. Dreams. - Ellis, Ts/ii, p. 90. 
 
 3 Breasted, History of Egyft, p. 46S, and see p. 5 58. •♦ Gen. xl f. 
 
 5 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and .hsyrta, p. 349 f. 
 
 6 Gen. XX, 3 ; xxviii, 12 ; xxxi, 1 1 ; xxxvii, 5. ' Dan. ii, iv.
 
 422 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 war.' So important for life did the Greeks conceive the dream 
 to be that, as it would seem, they personified it.- 
 
 Incubation. Divine direction by dreams was not always left to 
 chance. The custom arose of sleeping near a shrine (engkoimesis, 
 incubation) where, doubtless, after appropriate ritual preparation 
 the god was expected to signify his will in a dream (his generally 
 friendly feeling was assumed and the dream would be of the nature 
 of an answer to prayer). This was one of the means employed by 
 Saul when he desired to learn what would be the issue of the im- 
 pending battle with the Philistines.* In Greece, and later in Italy, 
 the most famous shrine of incubation was that of Asklepios (Aescula- 
 pius), which was widely resorted to and came to exert a good moral 
 influence.^ The renown of the shrine was doubtless increased by 
 the fact that Asklepios was a god of healing.^ 
 
 923. As a dream was often obscure the services of a trained 
 interpreter became necessary in order that the dream might be 
 effective. The interpreters were magicians, priests, or sages ^ — 
 men in intimate association with deities and acquainted with their 
 modes and vehicles of revelation ; " dreams thus became equivalent 
 to oracular responses. An interpreter would become famous in pro- 
 portion to the number of fulfillments of his interpretations, and his 
 god would share in the glory of his renown.* Of the particular 
 conditions through which certain men and certain shrines attained 
 special fame we have few details. 
 
 1 Iliad, ii, i ff. So Vahweh, by a lying spirit, sends Ahab to his death (i Kings, 
 xxii, 19 ff.) and deceives the prophet, who misleads the people (Ezek. xiv, 9). The 
 theory of these ancient writers was that a deity, like an earthly king, had a right to 
 use any means to gain his ends. - Cf. article '' Oneiros " in Roscher's Lcxikon. 
 
 3 I Sam. xxviii, 6. The other means used, it is said, were the urim (urim and 
 thummim) and prophets. These all failing, the king had recourse to necromancy. 
 
 * See article "Asklepios " in Roscher's Lcxtkou. 
 
 5 See the description in Pater's Maiius the F./'iaamn. 
 
 6 A god might send a dream to a seer for the benefit of some other person. So 
 Ishtar spoke to Assurbanipal through the dream of a seer (George Smith, History' 
 of Assurhampal, p. 123 f.). 
 
 " Jastrow, Religion Babylonicits und Assyricus ; Dan. ii, 2 ff. ; Deut. xiii, i ; Gard- 
 ner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, p. 258 ; Aust, Religion der Rbmcr, Index, s.v. 
 Traum, Traumdetitung ; Roscher, Lexiknn, article '' Oneiros." 
 
 * So it was in the case of magicians and prophets generally ; cf . Ezek. xxxix, 2 1 ; 
 Isa. xliii, 9.
 
 MAGIC AM) DIVINATION 423 
 
 Oneiromancy, in unorgani/xd form, was studied in very early 
 periods of relit;ii)us life. It shared in the general advance of thought, 
 and in the course of time a traditional science of the explanation 
 of dreams arose. There were records of experiences, particularly 
 of notable fulfillments, and it became possible to make lists of 
 dreams with interpretations ; ^ these were written down and passed 
 on from generation to generation, increasing in volume as they 
 went. Such manuals have played no inconsiderable part in the life 
 of the people. - 
 
 924. Ordeals. Divination has played an important part in civil 
 life as a means of determining the guilt or innocence of an accused 
 person. From very early times ordeals of various sorts have been 
 devised for securing a judicial opinion when ordinary means of 
 investigation have failed. One of the simplest methods is to 
 require an accused person to swear that he is innocent, the belief 
 being that the god will avenge false swearing with immediate and 
 visible punishment.^ This method is employed by the Ashanti : '^ 
 the accused is required to drink a certain decoction ; if he is 
 made sick by it this is proof of his innocence ; ^ and if there be 
 a question between two men, and one after drinking is made sick, 
 the other is regarded as guilty, and executed. On the Lower 
 Congo the accused swallows a pill made of a bark said to be 
 poisonous ; if he soon vomits it he is declared innocent, if not, 
 he is adjudged guilty.*' A similar procedure was employed in 
 Samoa : ' standing in the presence of representatives of the vil- 
 lage god, the suspected person laying his hand on the object 
 wishes that if he is guilty he may speedily die. Among the Hill 
 people of Ceylon also this custom exists. Ordeals in Loango are 
 described by Purchas.* 
 
 1 Jastrovv, RcHgion of Babylonia and Assyria., p. 404, and German cd., ii, Index. 
 
 2 Dream-books exist at the present day. Those who believe in the predictive 
 power of dreams regard them as messages from God or as products of telepathy. 
 
 8 The Nandi invoke a skull as divine witness (Mollis, The Nandi, p. 76 f.). 
 ■* Ellis, Ts/ii, chap, xviii. 
 
 5 Apparently because he is thus shown to be unsupported by any evil spirit. 
 
 6 Frobenius, Childhood of Man, p. 190 ff. ' Turner, Samoa, p. 1S4. 
 8 Purchas, Pilgrimage, ed. Kavenstein, pp. 56 f., 59 f.
 
 424 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 925. Among the ancient nations the earliest example of an 
 ordeal occurs in the code of Hammurabi (about 2000 B.C.). Here 
 the accused is thrown into the sacred water, and if not drovvTied 
 is declared innocent ; he is protected by the deily.^ The same 
 principle appears in the old Hebrew ordeal : when a woman 
 was accused of unfaithfulness to her husband the accused was 
 made to drink sacred water ; if she was innocent no bad con- 
 sequences followed ; if she was guilty she died.' In India, 
 where various tests by fire, water, and food have been and 
 are emplo}ed, the decision is sometimes as in the Hebrew pro- 
 cedure ; sometimes (when the accused is thrown into the water) 
 the principle (found elsewhere abundantly) is recognized that it 
 is the innocent person that suffers and the guilty that is unin- 
 jured.^ The ordeal as a civil process continued in Europe until 
 the Middle Ages. In the submersion in water of a woman sus- 
 pected of being a witch the principle of decision was the same 
 as is now practiced in Ashantiland and India — if the woman 
 was drowned it was a sign that she was innocent, but if she rose 
 unharmed from the water she was adjudged guilty and was put 
 to death.'* 
 
 926. The imprecation is similar to the ordeal. A man invokes 
 the curse of the deity on his enemy, and it is supposed that such 
 curse will bring its punishment.^ A curse was regarded as an 
 objective thing, which reached its object quite independently of 
 guilt or innocence." In Morocco a conditional curse is pronounced 
 and is suppo.sed to become effective if the wrong complained of 
 is not righted.'' These ordeals and imprecations were sometimes 
 effective in fi.xing guilt ; the dread of incurring the wrath of the 
 deity sometimes forced a guilty person to confess, or his dread of 
 
 1 " Code of Hammurabi " (§§ 2, 132), by C. H. W. Johns, in Hastings's Dkiionary 
 of the Bible, extra volume. - Numb. v. 3 Hopkins, Religious 0/ India, p. 275 ff. 
 
 ^ .She was rejected by the sacred water; cf. \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 
 2d ed., p. 179: Tylor, Primitive Culture, i, 140. Cf. Ellis, Yoniba,ip. igof. ; id., Tshi, 
 pp. 198, 201. •'' Turner, Samoa, p. 184. 
 
 c Similarly, a blessing once uttered remains effective and cannot be recalled ; so 
 in the story of Isaac blessing Jacob and Esau, Gen. xxvii. 
 
 <■ Westermarck, " ' L-' ar " in Anthropological Essays presented to Tylor ; cf. his 
 Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. Curses.
 
 MAGIC A\n DIVINATION 425 
 
 the punishment produced signs of guilt. On the other hand, it is 
 probable that just as often innocent persons were convicted and 
 punished through such tests. 
 
 With all such systems of signs may be compared the Chinese 
 quasi-science called Fung-Shui (' Wind and Water '), which deter- 
 mines proper sites for graves and for temples and other buildings 
 by observations of the influences of the sky (moisture, warmth, 
 wind, tluiiidei"), of waters and hills, and of the earth, and by the 
 study of various magical combinations. Thus, it is held,- it is 
 possible in important undertakings to obtain the favor and sup- 
 port of the good Powers of the world. I'he site of a grave, 
 affecting the future of the dead, is of especial significance, and 
 the Fung-Shui interpreters, regularly trained men, levy what con- 
 tributions they please from surviving relatives, sometimes pur- 
 posely prolonging their investigations at a ruinous cost to the 
 family of the deceased.^ The system sprang from the Chinese 
 conception of heaven and earth as the controlling Powers of the 
 world ; l)ut, neglecting the higher side of this conception, it has 
 sunk into a fraudulent trade."'^ 
 
 927. Oracles. As men went to the tents or palaces of chiefs 
 or kings for guidance in ordinary matters, so they went to the 
 dwelling places of superhuman Powers for direction in matters 
 that were beyond human ken. Such appeal to divine or quasi- 
 divine beings began early in religious history. In Borneo and 
 the islands of Torres Straits the abodes of skulls are places from 
 which responses are obtained ; '^ speaking heads are found there 
 and elsewhere. The Sunthals of West Bengal have the ghost of 
 a specially revered ancestor as a dispenser of superhuman knowl- 
 edge.'' \\'hen local gods arose every local shrine, it is probable, 
 
 1 Hence the opposition (now disappearing) to lines of railway and telegraph, 
 which were supposed to interfere with the happy influences of rivers and hills and 
 other natural features. 
 
 2 l)e Groot, Kdigious System of China and Devtlo/'mint of A'ilii;ioii in China \ 
 and his article " Die Chinesen " in Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Kdigioitsgcschichtc. See 
 above, § 747 ff. 
 
 3 Haddon, ilcad-huntcrs, pp. 42, 1S2 f. ; on the sacredness of the head see Frazer, 
 Golden Bougli^ 2d ed., i, 362 ff. ; I'"robenius, Childhood of Man, chap. .\iii. 
 
 ■• Hopkins, Religious of India, p. 532.
 
 426 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 contained an oracle.' The shrines of the great gods naturally 
 acquired special prominence, their oracles were consulted by kings 
 and other leaders on affairs of importance, and tlius came to exert 
 a great influence on the course of events." The stars also, though 
 they had no earthly habitations, were consulted through their in- 
 terpreters. Such astrological oracles, as used by men like Posi- 
 donius, the teacher of Cicero, might be morally inspiring ; but 
 when, at a later time, the consultation of heavenly bodies fell 
 into the hands of wandering " Chaldeans " (who might be of 
 any nation^ it became a system of charlatanry, and thus morally 
 debasing.^ 
 
 The greater nations of antiquity differed considerably among 
 themselves in regard to the part played in their lives by oracles. 
 In general, the organization of oracular shrines grew in proportion 
 to the rise of manlike gods — deities whose relation to men was 
 socially intimate. In Egypt such shrines were not of prime im- 
 portance ; ■* the functions of the gods were mainly governmental — 
 the most human of them, Osiris, became an ethical judge rather 
 than a personal friend. The pre-Mohammedan Arabs did not 
 create great gods, and their resort to local divinities was commonly 
 in order to ask whether or not a proposed course of action was 
 desirable ; the answer was " yes " or " no." ''' The famous warrior 
 and poet, Imru'1-Kais, desiring to go to war to avenge his father's 
 death, received at a shrine three times a negative answer, where- 
 upon, hurling abusive epithets at the god, he exclaimed, " If it 
 were your father, you would not say 'no.'" Such independence 
 was probably rare ; most men would ha\ e accepted the di\ine 
 decision. The answer of the Hebrew oracle was, as among the 
 Arabs, " yes " or " no " (by urim and thummim) — the gods were 
 remote, and the oracle, whose minister was a priest, gradually 
 
 1 So when Rebecca wished to obtain information about her children, soon to be 
 bom, it is said simply that she went to inquire of Vahweh ((ion. xxv, 22), as if there 
 was, as a matter of course, a shrine in the neighborhood. 
 
 2 Bouche-Leclercq, Hisloire de la divination dans Panliqiiitc, ii, 250 ff. ; iii. 
 
 3 Cumont, I.cs religions orientates dans le paganismc romain, Eng. tr., The 
 Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism, pp. 105, 124 f., 16S. 
 
 * Cf. .Steindorff, Religion of the Aneicnt Egyptians, p. 1 13 f. 
 5 W'ellhausen, Rcstc arabischen Heidcntwnes, p. 126 ff.
 
 MAGIC AND nniNATION 427 
 
 yielded to the prophet, the human interpreter of the deity.' 
 The Philistines appear to have had well-organized oracles ; when 
 King Ahaziah was sick he sent to inquire of Baalzebub, god of 
 Ekron, whether or not he should recover.'^ Many Babylonian and 
 Assyrian deities gave oracular responses ; " it is not known whether 
 the shrines were resorted to by the people at large, and their im- 
 portance was probably diminished by the great role played by 
 the priestly interpretation of omens, whereby the will of the gods 
 was held to be clearly revealed. The Romans under the republic 
 were practically independent of oracles at shrines : in household 
 affairs they had a family god for every department and every 
 situation, and for State matters they found the Sib)lline oracles 
 sufficient.'* Later, with the widening of the horizon of religion, 
 the resort to (Ireek and oilier oracular shrines became general 
 — a departinv from the old Roman constitution.^ The greatest 
 development of oracular service took place in Greece. The Greek 
 gods, with their anthropomorphically emotional characters, entered 
 intimately and sympathetically into human life, communal and in- 
 dividual. The great shrines of Zeus at Dodona and Apollo at 
 Delphi were centers of Hellenistic religious life, and there were 
 others of less importance.*' Zeus, as head of the pantheon, natu- 
 rally took a distinguished place as patron of oracles ; and Apollo's 
 relation to music and inspiration may account in part for the 
 preeminence of his oracular shrine. In many cases, however, 
 the grounds of the choice of a particular deity as oracle-giver 
 escape us. 
 
 1 I .Sam. xiv, 36 ff. ; xxiii, 2 ; xxx, 7 f. ; Isa. Ixv, i ; Ezek. xxxiii, 30 ff. 
 
 2 2 Kings, i, 2. The prophet Klijah, who was a zealous Vahwist, was very angry 
 with the king for applying to a foreign deity ; but evidently the I'hilistine shrine 
 enjoyed a greater reputation than any in Israel. 
 
 8 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Index, s.v. Orachs. 
 
 ^ Cf. Aust, Riligion dcr Rdmcr, Index, s.v. Orakcl; see below, § 933 ff. 
 
 " Friedliinder, Roman Life and Manners under the F.arly Empire (Eng. tr.), p. 3, 
 129 ff. ; Fowler, Religious Experience of the Roman People, p. 339. 
 
 Cicero, De Divinatione, i, 34, 37 f. ; I'lutarch, De Pythiae Oraculis and De De- 
 feet it Oraeuloritm; Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, Index, s.v. Oracles; 
 Bouche-Leclercq, Histoirc de la divination dans Cantiquitc, Index, and .Stengel and 
 Oehmichen, Die griechischen Sakralaltertiimer, Index; Encyclopitdia Brit annua, 
 nth ed., article "Oracle."
 
 428 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 The human demand for di\ine guidance long maintained the 
 influence of oracles ever)'\vhere, and it is not improbable that in 
 general they furthered what was good religiously and socially. 
 They were bonds of union between communities, and their 
 authoritative role would naturally force on them a certain sense 
 of responsibility. As to the character of the mouthpieces of the 
 gods and the material on which they based their answers to 
 questions we have not the means of forming a definite opinion. 
 There can be little doubt that the official persons were sometimes 
 sincere in the belief that they were inspired — such is the testi- 
 mony of observers for both savage and civilized communities — and 
 many modem instances bear out this view. On the other hand, 
 there is reason to suppose that pretense and fraud often crept 
 into the administration of the oracles. When the questions were 
 known beforehand the responses may have been based on in- 
 formation that came from various quarters and on insight into 
 the particular situation about which the inquiry w-as made. When 
 the questions were not known beforehand we are in the dark as 
 to the source of the answers. Sometimes, doubtless, they were 
 happy or unhappy guesses ; sometimes they were enigmatical or 
 ambiguous in form, so that they could be made to agree with the 
 events that actually occurred. In most cases the authorities would 
 know how to explain the issue in such a way as to maintain the 
 credit of the oracle. The best-known and the most impressive of 
 the utterers of oracles is the priestess of Apollo at Delphi, the 
 Pythia. She occupied a commanding position in the Hellenic 
 world (and beyond it), such as was enjoyed by few persons of 
 the time.^ She was invested with special sanctity as the dispenser 
 of divine guidance to the Western world (to nations and indi- 
 viduals). It was required of her that she be morally and cere- 
 monially pure, and she had to undergo a special preparation for 
 the delivery of her message. The manner of her revelation did 
 not differ from that of similar officials in noncivilized communi- 
 ties — she spoke in a condition of ecstasy ; she is the best 
 
 1 On the position of women in ancient religion of. Famell's article in Archn fiir 
 Religionsu'isscnschafty 1904.
 
 MAGIC AXn D[]'IXATION 429 
 
 representative of the intimate union of the diviner and a great 
 god, a union that tended to give dignity and wisdom as well as 
 authority to the oracular utterance.^ She was, thus, in the best 
 jiosition for exerting a good influence on the world of her time. 
 How far the oracles of Apollo and other deities furthered the 
 best interests of religion it may be difficult to say — the data 
 for an exact answer are lacking. Socially they were useful in 
 maintaining a certain unity among peoples, and they may some- 
 times have upheld justice and given judicious advice, but they 
 were always exposed to the temptation of fraud. 
 
 Necromancy. While in ancient times the dead were everywhere 
 placated by gifts and were sometimes worshiped, the consultation 
 of them for guidance seems to have been relatively infrequent. 
 The attitude of existing lower tribes toward ghosts varies in dif- 
 ferent places,^ but the predominant feeling seems to be fear; 
 these tribes have not accomplished that social union between 
 themselves and the departed without which, as it appears, the 
 living do not feel free to apply to the latter for information con- 
 cerning things past, present, and future.'^ Savage and half-civilized 
 peoples depend for such information on divination by means of 
 common phenomena (omens) and on the offices of magicians and 
 soothsayers, and references in published reports to necromantic 
 usages among them are rare and vague. But among civilized 
 peoples also application to the dead is not as frequent as might 
 be expected ; there is still fear of ghosts, and the part assigned 
 in early times to spirits in the administration of human life has 
 been given over to gods — family divinities and the great oracular 
 deities supply the information that men need. There are few signs 
 of dependence on necromancy in China, India, Persia, and Rome. 
 The Babylonian mythical hero Gilgamesh procures (through the 
 aid of an Underworld god) an interview with his dead friend 
 Eabani in order to learn the nature of the life below ; ■* this story 
 
 1 Gruppe, Griechische Mythologic, pp. 102, 105 ; I-'arnell, Cults of the Greek States, 
 iv, 187 ff. 2 See above, §§ 362, 366. 
 
 8 See article " Ancestor-worship " and articles on lower tribes in Hastings, Ency- 
 clopedia of Rclii^ion and Ethics. 
 
 * Jastrow, Kclij^ion 0/ Babylonia and Assyria, p. 511.
 
 430 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 points, perhaps, to necromantic usages, but in the extant literature 
 there are no details of such usages. Application to the dead is cer- 
 tified for the old Hebrews not only by the story of Saul's consulta- 
 tion of Samuel (which, though a folk-story, may be taken to prove a 
 popular custom) but by a prophetic passage condemning the prac- 
 tice.- Teraphim were employed, probably, for divination, but there 
 is no proof that they were connected with necromancy.'^ After the 
 sixth century n.c. we hear nothing of consultation of the dead by the 
 pre-Christian Jews. Among the Greeks also such consultation seems 
 not to have enjoyed a high degree of favor. There were oracles of 
 the dead (of heroes and others), but these were inferior in impor- 
 tance to the oracles of the great gods ^ and gradually ceased to be 
 resorted to. Where the practice of incubation existed, answers to in- 
 quiries were sometimes, doubtless, held to come from the dead, but 
 more commonly it was a god that supplied the desired information. 
 The stages in the history of necromantic practice follow the 
 lines of growth of psychical and theistic beliefs. There was first 
 the era of spirits when men were doubtful of the friendliness of 
 ghosts, and held it safer in general to trust to soothsayers for 
 guidance in life. Then, when the gods took distinct shape, they 
 largely displaced ghosts as dispensers of knowledge of the future, 
 and these latter, standing outside of and in rivalry with the circle 
 of State deities, could be approached only in secret — necromancy 
 became illicit and its influence was crippled. And when, finally, 
 in the earlier centuries of our era, the old gods disappeared, the 
 rise of monotheistic belief was accompanied by a transformation 
 of the conception of the future of the soul : it was to be no 
 longer the inert earthly thing of the old theories but instinct with 
 a high life that fitted it to be the companion of divine beings and 
 the sharer of their knowledge and their ideals.'* This conception 
 
 1 I Sam. xxviii; Isa. viii, 19. 
 
 2 Ezek. xxi, 26 [21] (King Nebuchadrezzar divines by teraphim). 
 
 3 Bouche-Leclercq, Histoirc dc la div'malion dans I'antiqiiitc, iii, 363 ff . ; Darem- 
 berg and Saglio, Dklionna'ire des antiqitites grccques et romaines, article " Divination," 
 p. 308. 
 
 ■* I Cor. XV, 49 ; 2 Cor. v, 8 ; Cumont, Astrology and Religion among the Greeks 
 and Romans, lecture vi.
 
 MAGIC AXD nniXATION -431 
 
 K'd to (he hc'lii't' in the possibility oC a nonmagical friendly inter- 
 course with tlu' departed, who, it was assumed, would be willing 
 to impart their knowledge to their brethren on earth. Saints have 
 thus been appealed to, and it has been attempted in recent times 
 to enter into communication with departed kin and other friends. 
 
 928. The oflice of diviner, though it has always been an in- 
 fiuential one, has followed in its development the general course 
 of social organization, becoming more and more specialized and 
 defined. In the simplest religions the positions of magician and 
 diviner are frequently united in one person. In Greenland the 
 Angekok, acting as the interpreter or mouthpiece of a super- 
 natural being from whom men learn how they may be fortunate, 
 foretells the condition of the weather and the fortunes of fishing.^ 
 A similar combination of the offices is found among the Ainu, 
 and apparently among the Cakchiquels, among whom the divining 
 functicMi is said to have related particularly to war.^ 
 
 929. There was, however, as is remarked above, a tendency 
 to invest the priest with the function of divination. The Arabian 
 kahili was a soothsayer, the Hebrew kolwii was a priest.^ The 
 \'orubans have a special god of divination whose priest is the 
 soothsayer of the communitw In Ashantiland priests and priest- 
 esses, who are exceedingly intiuential and powerful, owe a great 
 deal of their importance to their ability to explain signs and 
 omens, especially to discover guilt and to foretell events.^ In the 
 elaborate divinatory ceremonies of the Ahoms of Southeastern 
 Asia, the conductors, who are highly con.sidered in the commu- 
 nity, are priests ; these people are partly Hinduizcd, but probably 
 retain much of their ancient religious forms.''' A noteworthy 
 specialization of functions is found among the Todas of Southern 
 India, who distinguish the diviner from the magician, the prophet, 
 and the dairyman. The dixiner is inspired by a god, gives his 
 
 1 Cranz, Greenland, i, 192 ff. ; Kink, Danish Greenland^ p. 142 f. 
 
 2 Brinton, Cakihiqiicls, p. 47. 
 
 8 Cf. Xoldcke, article "Arabs (Ancient) " in Hastings, Eneyclo/xsdia of Religion 
 and Ethics, i, 667, 671. •! Ellis, Yoruba, p. 56 ff. ; id., Tshi, p. 124 ff. 
 
 5 P. R. Gurden, article " .\homs " in Hastings, Encyclopicdia 0/ Religion and 
 Ethics.
 
 43^ jyfRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 utterances in an ecstatic state, and for the most part limits him- 
 self to the explanation of the origin of misfortunes.' It would be 
 a matter of interest to trace, if it were possible, a history of this 
 specialization, but the early fortunes of the Toda religion are 
 without records and can only be surmised. In ancient Gaul 
 the diviner, it is said, was distinguished from the priest and the 
 prophet." Where divination is the duty of the priestly body, 
 there is sometimes a differentiation within this body, some per- 
 sons devoting themselves specifically to soothsaying ; so among 
 the Babylonians, where this function was most important.^ 
 
 930. Among the old Hebrews the soothsaying function is 
 connected not only with priests but also with prophets.'' The 
 priest was the official diviner, employing the urim and thummim. 
 Prophets and dreamers are mentioned together as persons of the 
 same class and as sometimes employing their arts for purposes 
 contrary to the national religion ; various classes of diviners are 
 mentioned as existing among the Israelites in the seventh cen- 
 tury B.C., but the distinctions between them are not given. ^ From 
 a statement in Isaiah ii, 6, it may perhaps be inferred that some 
 form of divination was imported into Israel in the eighth century 
 or earlier from the more developed Philistines and from the coun- 
 tries east of the Jordan ; ^ and the passage just referred to in Deu- 
 teronomy probably reveals Assyrian influence. While the Egyptian 
 documents have much to say of magic, they give little information 
 with regard to the existence of a class of diviners ; but it appears, 
 according to a Hebrew writer,' that the art of divination might 
 belong to any prominent person — Joseph is represented as divin- 
 ing from a cup. 
 
 931. The greatest development of the office of the diviner in 
 ancient times was found among the Greeks and Romans.*^ The 
 
 1 Rivers, The Todas, p. 249 ii. 
 
 2 A. Bertrand, La religion des Gciulois, pp. 257, 259, 263. 
 '^ Jastrow, Keligioi! of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 341. 
 
 •* (Jn Hebrew divination see articles " Divination" in Hastings, Dictionary of the 
 Bible, and in the Encyclopadia Biblica. ^ Deut. xiii, 1 ; w'iii, 10. 
 
 •' The Hebrew text is doubtful, and its meaning is not clear; cf. Gray, "The Book 
 of Isaiah," in The International Critical Commentary. " Gen. xliv, 5. 
 
 8 Cf. Bouch6-Leclercq, Histoirc dc la divination dans Pantiqiiitc, ii, i ff., 62 ff.
 
 MAGIC AX/) DJllXATION 433 
 
 Greek word mantis appears to have been a general term for any 
 I)er.s()n, male or female, who had the power of perceiving the will 
 of the gods, 'i'he early distinction between the mafitis and the 
 prophetes is not clear. Plato, indeed, distinguishes sharply between 
 the two terms : '' the mantis, he says, while in an ecstatic state 
 cannot understand his own utterances, and it is, therefore, the 
 custom to appoint a prophetes who shall interpret for him ; some 
 persons, he adds, give the name mantis to this interpreter, but 
 he is onl}' a prophetes. We find, however, that the terms are 
 frequently used interchangeably ; thus the Pj'thia is called both 
 mantis and prophetis. Whatever may have been the original sense 
 of these terms, the office of diviner in Greece was in the main 
 separate from that of priest. It is found attached to families and 
 was hereditary. It was recognized by the State from an early 
 time and became more and more influential. According to Xeno- 
 phon Socrates believed in and approved divination.^ Plato held 
 that it was a gift of the gods, and that official persons so gifted 
 were to be held in high esteem. 
 
 932. In Rome, in accordance with the genius of the nation, sooth- 
 saying was at a comparatively early period organized and taken in 
 charge by the State. There were colleges of augurs,'' standing in 
 various relations to political and social life, having their heads (chief 
 augurs) — thus in their organization similar to the priesthood, but 
 standing quite apart from this. The same sort of organization was 
 established in the Etruscan office of hanispex^ when this was intro- 
 duced into Rome. The members of these colleges were at first 
 Etruscans and, as such, looked down on ; but gradually Roman 
 youth of good famil)' and education were trained for the duty, and 
 in the time of the Emperor Claudius the social difference between 
 augurs and haruspices seems to have been almost elim.inatcd.''' 
 
 1 Timwiis, 72. 
 
 2 Xcnophon, Memorabilia, i, 3, 4 : to. virb tCov diCov <Tr)ixaiv6ix{va. 
 
 3 Originally diviners from the flight of birds, but the area of their divinatory func- 
 tions was gradually extended. See Wissowa, Kcligion iter Rdmcr, p. 450 ff. ; Fowler, 
 /^rtii^ioits Experience of tlie Roman I'eople. lecture xiii. 
 
 •» Charged with the interpretation of the entrails of sacrificed animals, and also of 
 lightning and portents. 5 Wissowa, op. cit., p. 474.
 
 434 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIO.XS 
 
 933. Sibyls. In the old Groeco-Roman world inspired women 
 placed a great role.^ The belief in such personages goes back, to 
 the old conception of the possession of human beings by a super- 
 natural being, which, as we have seen, was common in early 
 forms of religion. This idea assumed various shapes in Clreece, 
 and in the course of time the inspired women were connected 
 with \arious deities. In the- 1 )ionysus cult the orgiastic rites (in 
 which women took a chief part) seem to ha\'e grown up froni 
 old agricultural ceremonies in which the spirit or god of vegeta- 
 tion was invoked to give his aid. Such ceremonies naturally 
 coalesced here as elsewhere with the license of popular festivities. 
 The legends connected with the Dionysus cult introduced savage 
 features into the rites, as, for example, in the story of Pentheus." 
 ]!ut whatever may have been the case in Thrace, whence the 
 cult came to" Greece, it was not so in historical times in Greece, 
 where the celebrations were controlled by the State. These ex- 
 hibit then onlv the natural frenzy of excited crowds without the 
 element of divination. 
 
 934. 'i'he development of the role of women as representatives 
 of deities is illustrated by the character of the priestesses of oracular 
 shrines.^ These, like the Dionysiac devotees, are seized and pos- 
 sessed by the god, and speak in a state of frenzy. But their 
 frenzy is controlled by civilized conditions. It exists only as a 
 preparation for divination ; it is the movement of the god in them 
 laboring to express himself, and his expression is couched in intel- 
 ligible human language. The' priestess is a part of an organized and 
 humanized cult and, as such, represents to a certain extent the ideas 
 of a civilized socictv. The Dionysiac woman yields to an excess of 
 animal excitement, witliout thought for society ; the priestess feels 
 herself responsible to society. A similar progress in civilized feeling 
 appears among the old Hebrews ; the incoherency of the earlier 
 prophets ^ gives way to the thoughtful discourses of the ethical 
 
 1 Cf. above, § S95 f. 
 
 2 This story (connected with 'J'hcbcs) appears to represent some sort of protest 
 against the Dionysiac cult when it was first brought to Circcce ; cf. Koschcr, I.cxikon, 
 article " Pentheus." 3 (jf. above, § 927. ^ 1 Sam. xix, 24 ; cf. Mic. i, 8 ff.
 
 MA GIC AND 1)1 1 7A:1 TION 435 
 
 leaders.^ The manner and the expression of revelation ahvays 
 conform to existing social usages. 
 
 935. Of a still different character is the figure of the Sibyl, 
 created by the Greeks and adopted by the Romans.- She, too, 
 is possessed by a god and sometimes, at least, raves in ecstasy ; 
 but she d;)es not officiate at a shrine and is not controlled by 
 any official body. She dwells in a cave or a grotto, has her life 
 in the open air, and gives her answers on the leaves of the 
 forest. She represents the divine voices that are heard by early 
 men everywhere in the world ; in the m\th, when she displeases 
 Apollo she is condemned to fade linall)', after a long life, into a 
 voice.'' She is not, like the I'ythia, an actual human being — she 
 is never seen except in legends and myths. She is a creature of 
 Greek imagination, the embodiment of all the divine suggestions 
 that come to man from the mysterious sounds around him. 
 
 936. The historical origin of the full\- developed figure of the 
 Sib)l is obscure.^ In the literature she appears first in the sixth 
 century b.c. along with the Pythia, but she was then thought of 
 as well established and ancient. She is not mentioned by Homer 
 or Hesiod, but their silence is not proof positive that the concep- 
 tion of the character did not exist in their time ; they may have 
 had no occasion to mention her, or the figure may have been so 
 vague and unimportant as not to c^U for special mention. For 
 such a figure it is natural to assume a long development, the 
 beginnings of which are, of course, enveloped in obscurity. How- 
 ever this may he, the Sibyl appears to have received full form 
 under the religious impulse of post-Homeric times, under con- 
 ditions the details of which are not known to us. 
 
 937. In the scant notices of the figure that have been pre- 
 served the indications are that there was originally only one 
 Sibyl — she w-as the mythical embodiment of divine revelation, as 
 the muse was the embodiment of intellectual inspiration. At a 
 
 1 Their "visions " sometimes show literary art (Ezek. xl ff. ; Zech. i-viii). 
 
 2 Roscher, Lcxikon, article " Sibylla." 
 
 3 That is, she was not to be tolerated as a rival of the great oracular god. 
 ■* Cf. Wissowa, Religion der Rdmcr, pp. 239, 462 ff.
 
 436 /XTRODCCTIOX TO HISTORY OF REIJGTOXS 
 
 later time many sibyls came into being ; Varro reckons ten and 
 other authors give other numbers. Apparently a process of local 
 differentiation went on : when tlie idea of the revealer was once 
 established and the historical beginnings of the figure were un- 
 known, many a place would be ambitious to have so noble a 
 figure domiciled in its midst. One line of tradition referred the 
 original Sibyl to the Ionian Erythrae, and when the Sibylline 
 Books were burned in the year 83 B.C., it was to Erythrae that 
 the Romans sent to make a new collection of oracles. Whatever 
 the original home of the figure, one of the most famous of the 
 Sibyls was she. of Cuma?.^ She was regarded as being very old, 
 and she was probably a permanent diviner of that place. It was 
 from Cumas, according to the legend, that the Sibylline Books 
 came to Rome. The story of how they were first offered to King 
 Tarquinius Priscus, who refused to pay the price, how three of 
 them were destroyed and then three more, and how finally the 
 required price was paid for the remaining three, points to a belief 
 that the material of the oracles had once been larger than that 
 which came to Rome. There is also the assertion that the utter- 
 ances of tlic Sibyl were at that time recorded in books. This fact 
 suggests that oracular responses had long been known at Cumae, 
 and that some persons, of whose character and functions we 
 know nothing, had from time to time written them down, so 
 that a handbook of divination had come into existence. 
 
 938. In whatever manner the oracles were first brought to 
 Rome it is certain that they were accepted by the Romans in 
 all good faith, and they came to play a very important part in 
 the conduct of public affairs. They were placed in the temple of 
 Jupiter Capitolinus under the charge of two men (<///■ //wrv/v), and 
 later a college was established for their guardianship. They were 
 used in Rome especially for guidance in national calamities : when 
 the existence of the city was threatened by the victorious career 
 of Hannibal, it was the Sibyl who prescribed the importation of 
 the worship of the Phrygian Great Mother. It is certain that the 
 books were manipulated by political and religious leaders for their 
 
 1 Bouch6-Leclercq, Histoirc dc la divinathm dans Paniiquiii, ii, Index, s.v. Cutncs.
 
 M.IG/C Ai\n DIVINATION 437 
 
 own purposes, old ditta being recast and new ones inserted as 
 occasion required ; ' but probably this procedure was unknown to 
 the people — it docs not appear that it affected their faith. Even 
 Augustine speaks of the theurgi as dxmones, and cites a passage 
 from the Erythraean Sibyl as a prediction of Christ.^ 
 
 939. I'o the poetical books which have come down to us under 
 the name of Jewish Sibylline Oracles no value attaches for the 
 history of the Sibyl except so far as they are an indication of the 
 hold that the conception kept on men's minds.' They are a product 
 of the passion for apocalyptic writing that prevailed among the Jews 
 and Christians in Palestine and Alexandria, from the second cen- 
 tury r,.c. into the third century of our era. The fame of the Graeco- 
 Roman Sibyl was widespread, and to the Jews and Christians of 
 that time it seemed proper that she should be made to predict the 
 history of Judaism and Christianity ; possibly it was believed that 
 such a prophetess must have spoken of this history. Naturally the 
 Jewish Sibyl has a Biblical genealogy — she is the daughter of Noah. 
 
 940. Her utterances, given in heavy Greek hexameters, have 
 been preserved for us in a great mass of ill-arranged fragments, 
 with many repetitions, indicating them as the work of various 
 authors. What we have is clearly only a part of what was pro- 
 duced, but the nature of the whole body of pseudo-predictions is 
 easily understood from the material that has been preserved. They 
 follow the history down to the author's time, giving it sometimes 
 an enigmatical form, and the future is described in vague phrases 
 that embody the guesses or hopes of the writer. It seems certain 
 that all of the existent material of these oracles is from Jewish 
 and Christian hands. Even when Greek mythical stories are in- 
 troduced, as in the euhemeristic description of the origin of the 
 
 1 Wissowa, Religion dcr Romcr, p. 463 ; Fowler, Religious Experience of the 
 Roman People, p. 339. 
 
 2 Augustine, De Civitatc Dei, x, 27 (in connection with Vergil's verses, Eclogues, 
 iv, 13 f.) ; xxviii, 23 (the initial letters in Sibylline Oracles, viii, 268-309, giving a title 
 of Christ). So Eusebius, in his report of the Oration of Constantino, xviii ; of. Lactan- 
 tius, Divinae Institutiones, lib. i, cap. vi. 
 
 8 Oracula Sibyllina, ed. .Mexandre ((ireek text, with Latin tr.) ; ed. Friedlicb 
 (Greek text, with German tr. and additions by Volkmann) ; ed. Rzack (critical Greek 
 text); Terry, The Sibylline Oracles (Eng. tr., blank verse).
 
 438 IWRODCCTIOX TO JIISTORV OJ-^ RELIGIONS 
 
 Greek d}Tiasties of gods in the third book, tlie whole is conceived 
 under the forms of Jewish or Christian thought. The Sibyllines 
 are quoted by Josephus and b\- many Christian writers from 
 Justin Martyr to Augustine and Jerome and later. They give a 
 picture of certain Jewish and Christian ideas of the period and of 
 the opinions held concerning certain political events, but other- 
 wise have no historical value. An illustration of the fact that the 
 belief in them as real inspired prediction continued to a late time 
 is found in the hymn Dies Jrac, in which the Sibyl is cited along 
 with David as a prophet of the last judgment. The whole history 
 of the figure is a remarkable illustration of the power of a written 
 record, held to be a divine revelation, to impress men's minds and 
 control their beliefs and actions. 
 
 941. While divination has played a great part in the religious 
 history of the world, it has rarely brought about important political 
 or religious results.^ The exceptions are the great Greek oracles 
 of Dodona and Delphi and the Roman Sibylline Books ; to these 
 last, as is observed above, the Roman people owed the introduction 
 of some important religious cults. But for ordinary procedures 
 priests and other officiators everywhere were disposed to give 
 favorable responses, especially to the questions of prominent men ; 
 and military and other political enterprises were usually in such 
 form that they could not conveniently be modified in accordance 
 with unfavorable omens — the omen had to be favorable. There 
 were exceptions, but this was the general rule. The science of 
 divination, however, did good service in fostering the obser\'ation 
 of natural phenomena, and especially in the development of astron- 
 omy and anatomy. In connection with these observations it called 
 into being bodies of men — corporations that in process of time 
 became centers of general culture. 
 
 942. On the ethical side it may be doubted whether divination 
 has been an advantage to society. It has produced much deceit, 
 
 1 On the attitude of early Greek philosophers (Pythagoras, Democritus, Emped- 
 ocles, Thales, Xcnophancs) toward divination, and the relation of the latter to the 
 idea of divine providence, see Bouche-Leclercq, Histoire de la divination dans Van- 
 tiqidle, i, 29 ff.
 
 MA GJC .L\/) nni.XA TION 439 
 
 unconscious and conscious. Whether diviners believed or did not 
 believe in their science, the result was bad. If they did not believe, 
 the)- fostered a .s^^stem of deceit. Whether there was real belief or 
 not, the practice of divination encouraged false methods and turned 
 men's minds away from immediate appeals to the deity, and in 
 general from a spiritual conception of religion. On the other hand, 
 it helped to maintain the external apparatus of religion, which for 
 ancient life was an important thing. Like all great institutions its 
 effects have been partly good, partly bad. It belongs to a lower 
 stage of human thought and tends to disappear gradually before 
 enliuhtenment.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE HIGHER THEISTIC DE\'ELOPMENT 
 
 943. The preceding survey of early religious customs and insti- 
 tutions discloses a recognizable unity in diversity. Everywhere we 
 find the same classes of sacred objects and the same methods of 
 approaching them. Whether the supernatural Powers are conceived 
 of as animals or as plants or as what we call inanimate things, or, 
 in more advanced thought, as ghosts or spirits or gods, they are 
 held to be factors in human life, are regarded with awe, are dreaded 
 and avoided, or are welcomed as helpers, and in any case are pro- 
 pitiated by gifts and other marks of respect. The potency inherent 
 in things is the object of observation, its laws are studied, and it is 
 used for purposes of life. The diversities in the form of ceremonies, 
 in the conception of the characters of the Powers, and in the general 
 tone and coloring of worship arise from economic and cultural dif- 
 ferences, and are as numerous as the tribes of men ; the unity of 
 cults is a result of the psychological unity of the human race — the 
 religious needs of men in all stages of culture are the same ; there 
 is nothing in the highest religious systems that is not found in germ 
 in the lowest. 
 
 944. I "he earliest expression of religious feeling, as is pointed 
 out above,^ is in the form of ceremonies. But ceremonies tend to 
 group themselves round the persons of divine beings. Gods, as 
 the controllers of human fortunes here and hereafter, naturally be- 
 come the centers of religious thought. Their characters and func- 
 tions reflect the ideals of their worshipers, and all ritualistic and 
 other usages and all doctrines concerning the relations between 
 gods and men and, in general, all ideas concerning the physical 
 and moral constitution of the world attach themselves perforce to 
 
 1 See Chapter iii. 
 440
 
 THE IIIGHF.R rill-JSTIC DEVELOPMENT 441 
 
 the divine embodiments of these ideals. Thus, in one sense, the 
 history of the gods is the history of religion. I'Vom the earliest 
 times up to the present the efforts of men have been directed 
 toward defining the divine Powers that have been supposed to 
 stand behind all phenomena. 'l"he problem of harmonizing diverse 
 divine activities has always been a serious one, and its solution has 
 been sought in various ways. Gods have been locally limited, every 
 one to his own human tribe, district, or nation ; or, when they dwell 
 together and their spheres of influence are larger, they have been 
 given free scope of action, and the resulting contradictions in human 
 affairs have been accepted as a part of the mysterious nature of 
 things ; or order has been sought in simplification — headship has 
 been ascribed to some one deity, and the relation between him and 
 the subordinate divinities has been somehow explained or has been 
 left unexplained. The process of simplification has gone steadily 
 on with the result that the great religious systems of the world fall 
 into groups distinguished from one another by their conceptions of 
 the divine government of the world, whether as pluralistic or as 
 unitary. The development of these different conceptions may be 
 traced here in outline, though the absence of exact data and the 
 variety and complexity of the formative influences (economic, philo- 
 sophical, political, and other) necessarily make it difficult or impos- 
 sible to account satisfactorily for all details. The groups to be 
 considered are polytheism, dualism, and monotheism, to which may 
 be added brief mention of systems that do not recognize a personal 
 divine ruler of the world. 
 
 Polytheism 
 
 945. The first stage in the final theistic history of the w^orld up 
 to the i)resent day, polytheism, appears in all the great civilized 
 nations. The great polytheistic systems have much in common : 
 for example, protection of civil order and morality by a god ; promi- 
 nence of the god of a ruling tribe or family or of a great city ; 
 disposition to embody certain general facts, as war, lo\e. learning, 
 in divine figures ; tendency to make some god universal. On the
 
 442 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOAS 
 
 other hand, they differ amon^i; themseh'es in certain regards : in the 
 degree of specialization and differentiation of divine functions, and 
 in the stress that they lay on the various departments of human 
 life. Their agreements and disagreements seem to be in some 
 cases independent of racial relations and climatic conditions ; their 
 roots lie so far back in histor\- that we have no means of tracing 
 their genesis and development. 
 
 946. The Eg)-ptian and the Semitic peoples were parts of the 
 same original stock,^ and their systems of social and political organ- 
 ization were substantially identical — the government in its devel- 
 oped form was monarchical, but tribal and other locally isolated 
 forms of organization maintained themselves to a certain extent — 
 and their literary and artistic outputs do not differ materially. We 
 might, then, expect their religions to be in the main identical, in 
 fact they agree in having a relative meagerness of theistic differ- 
 entiation, but in some important points they are far apart. The 
 Semites were indifferent to the future life, the Egyptians con- 
 structed it elaborately (in this point taking precedence among the 
 ancients) ; the Semites were averse to divinizing human beings, for 
 the F.gyptians kings were divine. In this last point Egypt resembles 
 China, but in other respects is at a world-wide remove from it. 
 Other peoples thought of their gods as having relations with beasts ; 
 the Egyptians alone, among civilized nations, worshiped the living 
 animal.- Some Greek writers regarded Egypt as the religious mother 
 of Greece, but Hellenic cults show little resemblance to Egyptian. 
 
 947. The Hebrews had the general Semitic theistic and cultic 
 scheme, but in their capacity (in their higher development) to con- 
 tent themselves with one deity, and in their elaboration of ritualistic 
 forms and institutions, were more closely akin to the Aryan I'ersians 
 than to any Semitic community, and borrowed freely from them. 
 The resemblance between the two cults, however, was confined to 
 these two points ; in other respects they were very different. 
 
 948. The linguistic identity of the Indo-European peoples does 
 not carry with it theologic identity. The theistic .scheme of India 
 
 1 Cf. 15ait(jn, Siiiiitic Origins, chap. i. 
 '- Cf. Breasted, A'i:/igio/i ami Tlioiis^lit in Aiuicnt Egyft.
 
 Tin-: ii/ciii'.R ini:isTrc df.velopment 443 
 
 is more nearly allied, in the disposition to grant equality of signifi- 
 canee to all gotls, to tlu' l'",ny])tiaii and Semitic than to the Persian 
 and the (ireek, \el the tone and color of the Hindu deities do 
 not resemble the tt)ne and color of the Egyptian and Babylonian 
 divinities. 
 
 Even between Greece and Rome the religious differences are 
 great. Greece stands alone in its artistic creation of divine forms. 
 Rome rather resembles the Hebrews in its sobriety of theistic 
 creations, and particularly is like the Chinese in the purpose to 
 make religion subservient to the interests of the family and the 
 State ; Roman religion, like Chinese, might be described as a body 
 of public and private ceremonies to which gods were attached.' 
 The Roman gods, however, arc much more definite figures than 
 the Chinese ; the latter are either unimportant folk-gods or pow-ers 
 of nature. 
 
 949. The contrast between Mexico, with its considerable number 
 of departmental gods, some of them savage, and Peru, whose quasi- 
 monotheistic system is relatively mild, is striking. But the origin of 
 these two peoples (who perhaps are made up of different sets of 
 tribes) is involved in obscurity, and it is uncertain whether or not we 
 should expect a greater resemblance between their cults. 
 
 950. The differentiation in the theistic scheme of the Teutons, 
 especially the Scandinavians, is noteworthy. Several of their deities, 
 particularly Wodan (Odin), Thor, and Loki, are well-developed 
 persons, and these and some others do not differ materiall5- in 
 character from the earlier corresponding Hindu and Greek gods. 
 A comparison between the 'Peutonic figures and the Celtic and 
 Slavic would be pertinent if we knew more of the character of 
 these last ; but the information about them is slight.'^ 
 
 951. The extent of the anthropomorphization of gods in any 
 system may be measured by the richness and refinement of its 
 mythology. \\'hen the gods live apart from men, being conceived 
 
 1 Fowler, Religious Experience of ihe Roman People, chaps, i, xvi. 
 
 2 Bertrand, La religion des Gaiilois \ Khys, Celtic Heathendom; Usenet, Gbtter- 
 iiamen ; articles " Celts " and " Aryan Religion '' in Hastings, Encyclopicdia of Reli- 
 gion and Ethics.
 
 444 INTRODUCTION TO HI STORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of mainly as transcendent Powers, or when they are not fully de- 
 veloped men, there is little room for the play of social emotions 
 and for the creation of biographies of individual deities. It is the 
 humanized god that has emotional life, and it is in this mvthical 
 life that the religious feeling of the worshiper is expressed with 
 greatest fullness of detail. 
 
 952. The development of mythology through all its gradations 
 of fullness and fineness can be traced in the religious systems of 
 the world.' Where there is no recognizable- worship there is, of 
 course, no mythology. This is the case in Australia, in Pygmy 
 lands, in Tierra del Fuego, in parts of New Guinea, and perhaps 
 elsewhere."-^ Scarcely above these are parts of Central and Southern 
 Africa, the countries of the Bantu, the Hottentots, and the Bush- 
 men.^ A feeble mythological invention appears among the Zulus, 
 whose conception of gods is indistinct ; ■* and the Masai and the 
 Nandi, who are somewhat farther advanced in the construction of . 
 deities, show mythopoeic imagination in a single case only (the 
 famous myth of the embrace of the earth and the sky), and this is 
 perhaps borrowed.^ Along with these we may place the Todas 
 whose theogonic conceptions appear to have been cramped by 
 their buffalo cult, and their mythical material is small and vague.® 
 
 953. A somewhat higher stage of mythopoetic development is 
 represented by peoples of Oceania and North America. The myths 
 are still prevailingly cosmologic and sociologic, but the beginning 
 of biographical sketches of supernatural Powers is visible. The 
 Melanesian Qat and the Polynesian Maui are on the border line 
 between culture-heroes and gods, but they arc real persons, and 
 their adventures, while they describe origins, are also descriptions 
 of character. Hawaii and Borneo have departmental gods and 
 
 1 Cf. the sketch given above. Chapter vii ; Tylor, Primith'e Culture ; F"ra2er, Golden 
 Dough, 2d ed., passim. 
 
 2 Spencer and Ciillen, Native Tribes of Central Australia, and Northern Tribes of 
 Central Australia ; Howitt, Art/izr Tribes of South-East Australia; Quatrefages, 77/^- 
 Pygmies ; Hyades and Deniker, Mission scietitifique du cap Horn ; Seligmann, The 
 Melanesians of British New Guinea. 
 
 8 Fritsch, Die Eingeborencn SUd-Afrika's-. article " Bantu" in Hastings, Encyclo- 
 p(edia of Religion and Ethics. ^ Callaway, The Amazulu. 5 Scc above, § S37. 
 
 6 Rivers, The Todas.
 
 THE HIGHER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT 445 
 
 a body of stories about them.' Certain tribes of Redmen have not 
 only divine genealogical systems but also narratives resembling the 
 Melanesian in character, the line between myth proper and folk-lore 
 being often hard to trace. "•^ The stories fall into more or less well- 
 defined groups, and of the Coyote and, less definitely, of certain 
 other personages biographies might be written. 
 
 954. The half-civilized peoples of Madagascar, West Africa 
 (Dahomi, Ashanti, Vuruba), the Malay Peninsula, and Southern 
 India ( Khonds) have more coherent figures and stories of divine 
 personages.^ Here something like living human beings appear, 
 though there is crudeness in the portraiture, and the interest is 
 chiefly in the history of origins. The Malayan and Khond figures 
 are especially noteworthy, but are not free from the suspicion of 
 influence from higher religions. 
 
 955. True literary mythology is found only in civilized peoples, 
 and among these a gradation is recognizable. We have first the 
 stage of culture represented b\- the Japanese, the Finns, the Mexi- 
 cans, and the Peruvians, with fairly well-developed gods, who have 
 emotions and histories. In this group Japan takes the lowest 
 place ; ■* it is chiefly in the figures regarded as deified men that 
 definiteness of character and human warmth are found. Japanese 
 theogony was depressed by the interest of the people in family and 
 State organization ; the gods, though civilized, are vague personal- 
 ities. The Finnish literary mythical material, given in the Kalevala, 
 has a highly humanized coloring and is worked up into a coherent 
 story ; the social system revealed in the myths is superior in many 
 regards to that of the Redmen, but the theistic scheme is crude.® 
 
 1 Codrington, Tlic Mclaiics'iaiis; W. Ellis, Polynesian Researches; Williams and 
 Calvert, /V/V ; Turner, Samoa; Kramer, ZJzV Samoa-Inseln; Taylor, New Zealand; 
 H. Ling Roth, The Natives of Sarawak and British North Borneo. 
 
 - IJrinton, The Lencipe ; Matthews, Navaho Legends; Dorsey, Traditions of the 
 Skidi Pawnee; Teit, Thompson River Indians ; Boas, The Kwakiutl; Dixon, The 
 Northern Maidu and The Shasta ; Journal of American Folklore, passim. 
 
 3 \'an CJennep, Taboii ct totemisme h Madagascar ; A. B. Ellis, Ewe, Tshi, Yo- 
 ritba; Skcat, Malay Magic; Skeat and Blagdcn, Pagan Races of the Malay Penin- 
 sula ; Hopkins, Religions of India. 
 
 * Aston, Shinto ; Knox, Development of Religion in Japan. 
 
 5 The Kalevala ; Castren, Finnische Mythologic.
 
 446 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 The few Mexican myths that have come down to us (probably 
 only the remains out of a large mass) show reflection and portray 
 human experiences.^ Both in Mexico and in Tcru the Spanish 
 conquest appears to have destroyed no little material that, if pre- 
 ser\'ed, would have illustrated the mythical constructions of these 
 lands. In Peru, further, it may be that the monotheistic tinge of 
 the State religion had the effect of banishing subordinate deities 
 and the stories connected with them. For whatever reason litde 
 is known of its mythical material, but the little that is known 
 shows a certain degree of refinement. South America, excluding 
 Peru, has no mythical constructions of interest." 
 
 956. Of the great religions the Chinese may be passed by in 
 the present sketch : its form leaves no place for ni\ thology ; its 
 virtual monotheism excludes lesser supernatural figures as actors 
 in the drama of human life.** 
 
 957. The Persian cosmogonic myths are merely statements of 
 great facts without biographical features. In the hands of late 
 writers they shaded into legendary accounts of the origin of the 
 kingdom, and the whole was colored by the developed Mazdaism. 
 We thus have theological constructions rather than true m\ths.'* 
 The few mythical stories that have survived play an insignificant 
 part in the religious system — a sort of result that is to be ex- 
 pected whenever a substantially definite monotheistic conception 
 has been reached. 
 
 958. Egypt produced a couple of myths of great interest.^ The 
 story of Ra's anger with men, and his act of wholesale destruction, 
 belongs in the group of myths (in which flood stories and others 
 are included) the motif of which is antagonism between gods and 
 men. The conception of such antagonism seems to go back to the 
 
 1 Prescott, Conquest of Mexico and Compiest of Peru ; Winsor, Narrative and 
 Critical Uistoiy of America; Brinton, Amcricait Hero-Myths, Index; Lang, Myth, 
 Ritual, and Religion, Index, s.vv. Mexican Di-.ine Myths and Pcmvian Myths. 
 
 2 Ehrenreich, Mythcn iind Legcndcn dcr siidamcricanischcn Urvolker. 
 8 De Groot, Religious System of China. 
 
 4 The Ai'csta ; Spiegel, F.rattischc Alterthmnskundc, vol. ii, bk. iv, chaps, i, ii ; 
 De Harlez, .Avesta, Introduction, p. Ixxxiv ff. ; The Shahnameh. 
 
 6 Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, p. 155 ff. ; Steindorff, Religion of the Ancient 
 Egyptians, p. 106 ff.
 
 77/ A" j/Jui/JCK riii-usric J)i:\ij.oi'M1-:\t 447 
 
 carlv opinion tliat all misforlnncs were caused by supernatural 
 beings ; in civilized times some great calamity would be singled 
 out as a special result of divine anger, and imagination would 
 construct a history of the event, why the god was angry, and how 
 he was appeased. What particular occurrence this Egyptian story 
 refers to is unknown. 
 
 The Osiris myth has better literary form and more cultic signifi- 
 cance.^ The slaying of Osiris by Set, Isis's search for the body of 
 her husband, and the role of the young Ilorus as avenger of his 
 father make a coherent history. Osiris had the singular fortune of 
 being the most widely popular god in Egypt, the hero of a romantic 
 e])isode, and the ethical judge of men in the Underworld. The 
 motif of the myth is the cosmic struggle between life and death ; 
 the actors are made real persons, and the story is instinct with 
 human interest. No great cultic association like the Eleusinian 
 mysteries was created in connection with it, but the echo of the 
 conception appears in the great role later assigned to I sis. 
 
 959. All Semitic mvlhs of which we have records are cosmogonic 
 or sociologic or, in some late forms, theological constructions. It is 
 Babylonia that has furnished the greater part of the material, perhaps 
 all of it.- The stories preserved give little or no portraiture of 
 divine persons — it is always cosmic phenomena that are described, 
 and gods and heroes are introduced simply as actors. The purpose 
 in the two cosmogonic poems — to explain the reduction of the 
 world to order and the existing constitution of earth and skv — • is 
 one that is found everywhere in ancient systems of thought. The 
 Oilgamesh epic, a collection of popular usages and tales without 
 definite unity, is contaminated with legend'; Gilgamesh is now a 
 god, now a national hero ; at the end, however, there is a bit of 
 speculation concerning the future state of men. Ishtar's descent 
 to the Underworld is a pure nature myth ; Ishtar and the goddess 
 of the Underworld are real persons, yet merely attachments to the 
 
 1 Plutarch, Isis and Osiris; Steindorff, op. cit., Index, s.\^'. Isis and Osiris; Ro- 
 schcr, I.cxikon, articles " Isis," " Usire." 
 
 2 K. F. Harper, Assyrian and Babylonian Literature ; Jastrow, Aspects of Reli- 
 gions Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria^ Index, s.v. Myths.
 
 44>^ JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 fact. The seizure of the tablets of fate from Bel by the storm-god 
 Zu represents some natural phenomenon (perhaps the reign of 
 winter), possibly, also, a transference of headship from one deity 
 to another. The stor\- of Adapa is in ])art an explanation of how 
 men came to lose immortality. There is, thus, in these myths a 
 fairly full histor\- of the origin of the large facts of human life, 
 with little interest in the personalities of the divine actors. 
 
 Hebrew mythical material is in general identical with Babylonian; 
 its Old Testament form has been more or less revised by late mono- 
 theistic editors. The two cosmogonies in Genesis, the flood story, 
 and the dragon of chaos (a late figure in the Old Testament ^) are 
 merely descriptions of cosmic or local facts. The dispersion at 
 Babel (not now found in Babylonian records, but paralleled else- 
 where) deals with a sociological fact of great interest for the 
 Hebrews, marking them off, as it did, from all other peoples.^ 
 The heroes of the early time " belong to folk-lore, probably a 
 mixture of myth and legend. The explanation of various human 
 experiences in the Eden stor\- ■* appears to be of Hebrew origina- 
 tion ; it is, however, rather a late theological theor)' than a myth. 
 The Syrian and Palestinian Tammuz (Adonis) myth is identical in 
 general form with the Babylonian mxth of Tammuz and Ishtar.* 
 
 960. The Indo-European mythical material shows an advance 
 over the Egyptian and Semitic in distinctness and fullness of life 
 corresponding to the distincter individuality of the Indo-European 
 divine personages. These are not mere powers in the world, more 
 or less identified with natural forces and phenomena, nor a collec- 
 tion of deities substantially identical in character and functions ; 
 they have grown into persons, differing, indeed, in the degree of 
 individualization, but all pronounced personalities. 
 
 1 Job xxvi, 12 ; Ps. Ixxxix, n [lo] ; Isa. li, 9. 2 Deut. xxxii, 8 f. 
 
 8 Gen. iv, 17 ff. ; v, vi, 4 ; Ezek. xxxii, 27 (revised text). 
 
 ^ Gen. iii, 14 ff. On the loss of immortality see above, § 834. 
 
 6 On the ceremony of mourning for Tammuz (Ezek. viii, 14) see Jastrow, Reli- 
 gion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 574 ff. ; I'seudo-Lucian, De Syria Dea. In Babylo- 
 nia the ceremony appears to have been an official lament for the loss of vegetation 
 (the women mourners being attached to the temple) ; in Syria (Hierapolis) it took 
 on orgiastic elements (perhaps an importation from Asia Minor). The women of 
 Ezek. viii were attached, probably, to the service of the temple.
 
 THE iiigiii:r riii:isTic development 449 
 
 961. Hindu myths, though less numerous and less highly elabo- 
 rated than the Greek, still reflect fairly well the characters of certain 
 divinities, especially Indra, Agni, the A^vins, the Maruts, and some 
 others.' Indra, particularly, is portrayed in detail, so that he is as 
 distinct a person as Arcs or Mars. Krishna and other figures in 
 the epics live human lives with all human virtues and vices. 
 
 962. The full literary form of the myth is found only in Greece. 
 As Zeus, Apollo, Athene, Aphrodite, and others are well-defined 
 personalities, each with certain intellectual and moral characteristics 
 and with a unity of development, so the stories about them recount 
 adventures and acts that form biographical unities ; and, as these 
 stories are of diverse nature, some reflecting barbarous periods, 
 others marked by refinement, they exhibit, when brought together 
 and arranged in order of moral or intellectual excellence or accord- 
 ing to their geographical or ethnical origin, not only the history of 
 the gods, but also the development of Greek religious feeling. Being 
 the embodiment of human experiences, they lend themselves readily 
 to processes of allegorizing and spiritualizing.'^ 
 
 ■963. Roman gods, homely figures, occupied with agriculture 
 and affairs of State, have no adventures and no biographies. The 
 practical Roman mind was concerned with the domestic functions 
 of divine beings, and the Roman genius was not of a sort to con- 
 ceive gods as individuals leading lives filled with human passions. 
 Myths do not figure in the Roman religious scheme except as they 
 are borrowed from Greece or from some other land. 
 
 964. Teutonic mythology is largely cosmogonic or cosmologic, 
 not without shrewd portraitures and attracti\^c episodes, but ne\-er 
 reaching the point of artistic roundness and grace.'' The adventures 
 of Odin, Thor, Loki, and other divine persons reflect for the most 
 part the daring and savagery of the viking age, though there are 
 
 1 Barth, Religions of India; Hopkins, Religions of India; Macdonell, Vcdic My- 
 thology ; Lang, Mylh, Ritual, and Religion, Index. 
 
 2 This is true of all mythical and legendarj' creations of the thought of communi- 
 ties, but in an especial degree of the Greek. 
 
 3 Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, Index, s.v. Myths ; he distinguishes between 
 the earlier and the later stories; R. M, Meyer, Altgennanische Religionsgeschichte, 
 chaps, iii, iv.
 
 450 JXl'RODL'CTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 kindly features and an occasional touch of humor.^ Loki in some 
 stories is a genuine villain, and the death of Balder is a real tragedy. 
 The great cosmogonic and eschatological myths are conceived in 
 grandiose style. The struggle between gods and giants is in its 
 basis the widespread nature myth of the conflict of seasons. The 
 overthrow of the old divine go\crnment (the Twilight of the Gods) 
 and the rise of a new order appear to have a Christian coloring, 
 but the belief that the world is to be destroyed may be old Teutonic' 
 
 The history of theistic movements in civilized peoples shows that 
 the effectiveness of a polytheistic system as a framework of religious 
 life is in proportion to the extent of its anthropomorphization of 
 deities, that is, it is in proportion to their humanization that gods 
 enter into intimate association with human experiences. On the 
 other hand, it is true tliat the tendency toward a unitary conception 
 of the divine government of the world is in inverse proportion to 
 such humanization : the more definitely aloof from men the gods 
 have stood (as among the Hebrews and the Persians), the easier it 
 has been for the people to attach themselves to a single deity as 
 all-sufficient. The Romans form no exception to this general rule, 
 for though, while they did not create great anthropomorphic deities, 
 there was yet no native Roman movement toward monolatry, the 
 place of such deities in worship was taken b\- a multitude of minor 
 divine patrons who presided over all the details of private and 
 public life and satisfied the demand for divine guidance. 
 
 While polytheism has assumed various forms, differing from one 
 another in elaboration of deities and in general cultural charac- 
 ter, it has had, as a system, a distinctly marked place in human 
 experience. 
 
 965. General role of pohi/u'is/n. Polytheism has played a great 
 role in the religious histor}^ of the world. Representing in general 
 a thoughtful protest against the earlier shapeless mass of spirits, 
 it expressed more definitely the belief in the intellectual and moral 
 divine control of all things. It flourished at a time when there 
 was no general demand in human thought for cooperation in 
 
 1 Folk-lore and legend mingle with the myths. 
 
 2 See K, M. Meyer, op. cit., p. 44.) ff.
 
 Till-: iin',iii:R riii'.isric DEii-iLorMicxr 451 
 
 supernatural Powers. The sense of variety in the world was pre- 
 dominant, corresponding to the absence of cooperation among the 
 tribes and nations of the world; the apparently isolated character 
 of natural phenomena and the independence of the nations, each 
 of the others, seemed to men to demand a number of separate 
 divine agencies. These were all made to accord with the external 
 and internal condition of their worshipers and met the demands 
 of life in that they represented redemption, salvation, and, in gen- 
 eral, all blessings. They were not offensive ethically to the people 
 for the reason that they embodied the ethical conceptions and 
 usages of their time. Thus they furnished the framework for 
 religious feeling — they secured the union of divine and human in 
 life, brought the divine, indeed, into most intimate contact with the 
 human, and so supplied the material for the expression of pious 
 feeling. When the gods were represented by idols, these tended to 
 become merely the symbols and reminders of their divine originals. 
 The elastic character of this theistic system permitted the widest 
 variety of cults, with the possibility of bringing any new social 
 tendency or idea into immediate connection with a divine patron, 
 so that human life became religious with a degree of intelligence 
 and intensity that has perhaps not existed under any other system. 
 966. The great civilizations of the ancient world arose and were 
 developed under polytheism — many noble human characters and 
 customs and institutions were created under the dominance of this 
 system in Babylonia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and elsewhere — that 
 is to sa)-, human instincts and aspirations developed freely under 
 a theistic organization that satisfied in general the intellectual and 
 moral needs of the time. The different polytheistic cults of the 
 world differed considerably in intellectual and moral value. These 
 differences pertain to the diversity of characteristics among the 
 nations of the world and are to be studied in connection with the 
 histories of the various peoples. Here it is sufficient to note 
 the general position which polytheism has occupied in the whole 
 religious development of the world. ^ 
 
 1 Even in great modern religions nominally monotheistic a virtual polytheism 
 continues to exist.
 
 452 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 967. At a relatively early time, however, dissatisfaction arose 
 with the discordances of the pol\-theistic conception. It raised 
 many problems and failed to account for many phenomena, and 
 efforts were made to systematize and simplify the conceptions of 
 the divine government of the world. These efforts took the shape 
 of dualism, monotheism, pantheism, Duddhism, Confucianism, and 
 later tended to regard the supernatural in the world as Ultimate 
 P'orce or as Moral Ideal. These tendencies may be examined in 
 the order just given. 
 
 Du.ALISM 
 
 968. In all the religious systems so far considered the existence 
 of human suffering is assumed. The sole object of religious prac- 
 tices, in all cults except the highest, has been to secure extrahuman 
 or superhuman aid and comfort in the ills of life. There has been 
 the conviction, for the most part implicit, that man is not in har- 
 mony with his surroundings. We have now to consider those 
 systems of religious thought in which the existence of this dishar- 
 mony is more or less distinctly announced and the effort is made 
 to discover its source. 
 
 The conception of two sets of Powers in the world, one helpful 
 and the other harmful, is suggested by human experience and by 
 the larger observation of natural phenomena, and it is found all 
 over the world, among low communities as well as high, perhaps 
 in all tribes of men.' Possibly there are some low groups, such as 
 the Fuegians and the African Pygmies in which the conception 
 does not exist ; but as the religious ideas of these low groups are 
 yet imperfectly understood, we cannot say what their position on 
 this point is. In general, for the lower tribes the world is peopled 
 by spirits, which arc the ghosts of the departed or the embodiment 
 of natural forces, and the feeling has been that these are some- 
 times friendly, sometimes unfriendly.- In some cases the hurtful 
 spirits stand in contrast with a god who may be a strict ruler 
 
 1 See above, § 6S3 ff. 
 
 2 This conception survives in the great polytheistic cults, and may be recognized 
 in the later religions of redemption.
 
 THE lUGIlER TIIJ'JSTJC DEyELOrM EXT 453 
 
 and somewhat indifferent to men, but nf)t hostile ; in other cases 
 there is a simple division of spirits into two classes, the friendly 
 and the unfriendly/ and in the higher forms of savage life there" 
 may be two such classes of deities.^ The double feeling of man 
 respecting the attitude of ghosts toward living human beings is 
 referred to above. ^ 
 
 969. In certain higher forms of savage and half-civilized life we 
 find the conception of a definite contrast between the two sets of 
 Powers. TJK' Hottentots are said to believe in two opposed super- 
 natural Ijeings, the struggle between them ending to the advantage 
 of the one who is beneficent toward men.* The Masai have two 
 powerful beings, one accounted good, the other bad ; the difference 
 between them is not ethical, but represents only the relation of 
 their acts to man's w-ell-being.® The Malays have a very elaborate 
 system of good and evil spirits, but the system is colored by 
 foreign influences." For the Ainu snakes are an embodiment of 
 merely physical evil, and other Powers are the dispensers of physical 
 well-being." The Arab jinn represent the unwholesome and antag- 
 onistic conditions of nature, stand opposed to the gods, and are 
 without ethical motives.^ Even the Andamanese, one of the lowest 
 of human communities, have a division of Powers into one who is 
 friendly and two who are unfriendly.^ In all these cases we have 
 to recognize simply the expression of the perception of two sets 
 of physical agencies in the world. It is easy to exaggerate the 
 
 1 Compare the Brazilian Tapuyas (Botocudos) ; see article " Brazil " in Hastings, 
 Encyclof'adia of Religion am! Etiiics. 
 
 2 For West Africa cf. A. B. Ellis, Yorii/ui, p. 87 ; Ts/ii, chaps, iii-viii : liive, 
 chaps, iii-v. 
 
 3 § 365 ff. On this attitude see the reports of the religions of particular peoples 
 and the summaries of such reports in dictionaries and encyclopedias, and in such 
 works as Steinmctz, EtJmologischc Studicn ziir crstcii Entwickbmg dcr Strafe ; W'es- 
 termarck. Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas; also articles in the /ountal 
 of the Aiithrofological Institute^ the reports of the .American Bureau of Ethnology, 
 and similar publications. ■* Theoph. Hahn, Tsimi-Goam, p. 38. 
 
 5 Mollis, The Masai, p. 264 f. <» Skeat, Malay Magic, pp. 93 ff., 320 ff. 
 
 " Batchelor, The Ainu, pp. 195 f., 200. 
 
 ^ Wellhausen, Resie arabtschen Heidentumes, p. i 35 ff. ; \\'. K. Smith, Religion 
 of the Semites, Index, s.v./inn. 
 
 R. C. Temple, article "Andamans" in Hastings, Encyclopcedia of Religion and 
 Ethics.
 
 454 JyrRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 nature of these contrasts and to represent certain low tribes as 
 possessing general divine embodiments of good and evil. 
 
 970. Such a conception has been attributed to the American 
 Redmen,^ but on insufficient grounds. The most careful recent 
 investigations of the religious ideas of the Creeks, the Lenape', the 
 Pawnees, and the Californian Shasta (four typical communities) 
 fail to discover anything that can be called a real dualistic concep- 
 tion." Dorsey mentions a Pawnee myth of the introduction of 
 death into the world by a member of the heavenly council of gods 
 who felt himself slighted ; but this isolated story does not prove 
 the existence of a general dualistic scheme — the act in question 
 has parallels in savage systems that recognize various unfriendly 
 Powers.^ The reports we have of two definite morally antagonistic 
 deities in Redmen tribes resolve themselves on examination into 
 misconceptions or exaggerations on the part of the reporters ; or, 
 so far as the antagonism really exists, it is due to Christian influ- 
 ence. The Iroquois dualistic system as described by Chief Cusic 
 (in 1825) — two brothers, Good Mind and Bad Mind, the former 
 the creator of all things good, the latter the creator of all things 
 bad — appears in the version of Bre'beuf (in 1636) as a simple 
 nature myth, the two deities in question being somewhat more 
 definite forms of the friencllv and unfriendly spirits met with in all 
 lower communities.^ In like manner Winslow's two opposed 
 Powers of the New England Algonkins turn out not to be morally 
 antagonistic to each other, in fact, according to Brinton, not antag- 
 onistic at all.'^ These facts warn us to treat with caution the \ague 
 
 1 For example, by Waitz, Anthropologic , iii, pp. 1S2 f., 330, 334 f. ; Waitz expresses 
 doubt (p. 345) as to the correctness of certain accounts of the rehgious ideas of the 
 Oregon tribes. 
 
 2 Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks, p. 215 f. ; Brinton, The Lcnd/>c, 
 p. 67 f. ; Dorsey, T/tc Skiifi Pawnee, p. xviii f. ; Dixon, The Shasta, p. 491 ff. 
 
 3 On methods of accounting for the existence of death in the world see above, 
 
 §834. 
 
 ^ Br6beuf's account is given in Relation des Jesuites dans la notivellc France, 
 '6351 P- 34; ''^3'^) P- '°o; cf. the edition of the Relation by R. G. Thwaites, viii, 
 ii6ff. ; X, 126 f. Br6beuf appears to have followed Sagard, Canada (see Troas ed., 
 p. 452 ff.). The story is discussed by Brinton, in Myths of the Nciv World, 3d ed., 
 p. 79 ff., and his criticism is adopted by 'i'ylor, Primitiic Culture, 3d ed., ii, 322. 
 
 S Brinton, op. cit., p. 77.
 
 Till-: HIGHER THl'JSTJC ni-A'ELOPMENT 455 
 
 Statements of early travelers respecting dualistic views supposed 
 to be held by tribes in North America and South America.^ 
 
 971. In West Africa the Ashanti embody the sources of physi- 
 cal misfortune in several deities, who are malignant but do not 
 stand in opposition to the friendly gods. A preliminary step to the 
 conception of a god of misfortunes is the assignment of a sort 
 of headship to one of a mass of unfriendly or hurtful spirits — 
 such a crude organization is natural in a community in which there 
 is a fairl)' developed form of social organization, and the head 
 spirit easily grows into a god. A simple headship over hurtful 
 spirits appears to be found in the Ainu system, though this latter 
 is in general not well developed.'^ 
 
 972. A definite antagonism of good and bad Powers is found 
 in the religion of the non-Aryan Khonds of Orissa : the earth- 
 goddess Tari, the creature but the opponent of the sun-god Bella 
 Pennu, introduced sin and death into the world and contested (and, 
 according to one native account, still contests) with her creator the 
 control of life, '["his explanation of the origin of death is a higher 
 form of stories that occur abundantly in savage lore, with the im- 
 portant difference that in these death comes by accident, but here 
 by malicious purpose. It is not clear whether or not the characters 
 of Tari and Bella Pennu are conceived of ethically. The weapons 
 (comets, winds, mountains) employed by the two deities indicate 
 that the basis of the representation is a naturt,- myth. Advanced 
 eschatological thought appears in the opinion, held by some natives, 
 that the good god was victorious in the contest.^ 
 
 973. In the great ancient religions, with the exception of Zoro- 
 astrianism, no dualistic scheme appears. An Eg)'ptian god may be 
 angry, as, for example, Ra, who in a fit of resentment causes men 
 to be slain but soon repents ; and Set, the enemy of Osiris, a 
 nature god, seemed at one time to be on the way to become an 
 embodiment of evil, but the Egyptian cult rejected this idea and 
 
 1 Cf. Tylor, Primitive Culture^ ii, 324 ff. ; article " Algonquins " in Hastings, ^wtj- 
 clopadia of Religion and Ethics, pp. 320, 323. 
 
 2 Ratchclor, The Ainu, and his article in Hastings, op. cit. 
 
 3 Hopkins, Religions of Indicx, p. 5 28 ff. The influence of Brahmanism is possible 
 here ; but cf. Hopkins, op. cit., p. 530, note 3.
 
 456 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Set gradually disappeared.^ The Babylonian cosmogonic myth, in 
 which Tiamat is the enemy of the gods of order, has no cultic 
 significance ; the great mass of demonic beings was not organized 
 into a kingdom of evil, and the Underworld deities, nature gods, 
 while subject to ordinary human passions, are not hostile to the gods 
 of heaven and earth. The Hebrews adopted the Babylonian cosmo- 
 gonic myth,- but it became a mere literary attachment to the con- 
 ception of the supreme god Yahweh, and was otherwise ineffective. 
 974. The same thing is true of certain cosmogonic myths of 
 the Greeks, such as the war of the Titans against Zeus and similar 
 episodes. Ate and the Erinyes are embodiments of man's own evil 
 nature or represent the punishment that overtakes guilt, but they 
 do not represent a formal opposition to goodness nor are they 
 organized into a definite body.'' The Roman Furies are practically 
 identical in function with the Erinyes. In the old Teutonic religion 
 the only figure who approaches essential badness is Loki ; but he, 
 though at times malignant and treacherous (as a human chieftain 
 might be), remains a recognized member of the assembly of gods. 
 As a nature god he may represent the elements of darkness and 
 unhappiness in life, just as the various evil spirits in the world do, 
 but he never approaches the position of an independent creator of 
 evil.'' The Celtic deities Llew and Dylan are said to stand over 
 against each other and to represent good and bad tendencies and 
 elements of life ; but they are not very distinct and are probably 
 nothing more than somewhat developed local deities.* In the Chinese 
 
 1 Maspero, Dawn of Civilization, pp. 172, 202 ; Breasted, History of Egypt, P- S/' : 
 Steindorff, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 67 ff. 
 
 2 This myth may have trickled down to them (through the Canaanites or in some 
 other way) in subdued form — it appears, perhaps, in the serpent of Gen. iii ; but it 
 seems to have been adopted in full form at a later time, apparently in or after the 
 sixth century B.C. 
 
 3 Rohde, Psyche, Index, s.v. Erinycn; articles "Ate," " Erinys," in Roscher's 
 Lexikon. 
 
 * On the diverse elements in Loki's character, and on his diabolification, see 
 Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 259 ff. : K. .M. Meyer, Altgcnnanischc A'eligions- 
 geschichte, p. 335 ff. (Loki as fire-god developed out of a fire-demon). 
 
 5 Hastings, EncyclopaJia of Religion and Ethics, article " Celts," p. 289. On the 
 anthropinizing or the distinctly euhemerizing treatment of these two personages see 
 Rhys, Celtic Folklore, Index, s.vv.
 
 THE linHIER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT 457 
 
 and Japanese cults there is no indication of a conflict ; evil spirits 
 there are in abundance, but no cosmic antagonism. 
 
 975. In India the cosmogonic myths are to be interpreted in 
 the same way as those mentioned above. Soma and Indra, as 
 slayers of the demon \'ritya, represent order as against disorder, 
 but Vritya never had cultic significance ; he appears only as a 
 bodily demonstration of the power of the great gods. The asuras 
 are not essentially different from the harmful spirits of savages, 
 though it is true that they come into conflict with the friendly gods. 
 Rahu, who causes eclipses by swallowing the sun, is only a nature 
 deity of great might. In the Mahabharata there are powerful 
 demons, and the ^ivaite cult includes the worship of dread beings, 
 but such worship only reflects the fear of the unfriendly elements 
 of physical nature.^ Nor do we find in the persons of Durga, Kali, 
 and the Yakshas, unpleasantly savage as these are, a conception of 
 e\il as an organized force directed against the good gods ; they 
 are rather the embodiment of evil human dispositions. The under- 
 ground demons are punishers of sin, but not themselves morally 
 evil. There is, it is true, in the Hindu religious scheme the general 
 antithesis of light and darkness, which are connected -with right 
 and wrong — an antithesis that appears abundantly in other reli- 
 gious systems ; - but the powers of darkness are not organized 
 against the powers of light, and there is no complete dualism, 
 though we have here, perhaps, the starting-point for such a 
 conception. 
 
 976. While thus a vague sense of duality has existed all over 
 the world, and in certain cases, as it seems, there were vague 
 attempts at organization, it is only in Zoroastrianism that the de- 
 cisive step has been taken. We have to recognize in this system a 
 distinct movement towards a unitary conception of the world ; but 
 the sense of difference in human experiences was so great in the 
 mind of the creators of the system that they were led to a unifica- 
 tion in two divisions.^ The origin of the movement lies far back 
 
 1 Hopkins, Religions of India, pp. 367, 377, 414. 2 gee above, § S57. 
 
 3 It has been suggested that climatic conditions (shaqj contrasts of storm and 
 calm, with consequent strain and peace in life) led to this dual arrangement. Hut we
 
 458 IXTRODUCTIO^Y TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 at a time when there were no records of thought and social move- 
 ments, and it is impossible now to say definitely what were the 
 original elements of the cult. \\'e may surmise that there was an 
 Indo-Iranian conception of a general contrast between light and 
 darkness, and that this was the starting-point or the basis of the 
 developed Iranian theological system. 'I'he old Indie and the old 
 Iranian religions seem to have been independent developments 
 from a common original mass of material ; but we do not know 
 what determined the differences in the two developments. The 
 constructions were the work, doubtless, of successions of reformers, 
 but the details of these long-continued efforts have not come down 
 to us.^ The essential point is that the evil mass in the world was 
 conceived of as a unity b\- tlic Iranians and assigned a head, Angro 
 Mainyu. Tiiis name does not occur in the Achaemenian inscrip- 
 tions, but it is mentioned in the Gathas and by Aristode,^ so that 
 it appears to belong to an early stratum of tlic Iranian religion. 
 The present state of the world is regarded as the result of a con- 
 stant series of antagonisms between the two creators, Spenta Mainyu 
 (Ahura Mazda) and Angro Mainyu, these being attended each by a 
 circle of helpers. A polytheistic interpretation of the helpers is 
 avoided by making them abstractions (though with a tendency 
 toward personification), the representatives of various features or 
 elements in llic government of the world or in the experiences 
 of men.''' 
 
 977. A strictly dualistic system recognizes only two Powers in 
 the world. The Avestan religion, however, admits other deities 
 besides Ahura Mazda and Angro Mainyu; Mitra, Anahita, and 
 others are objects of worship. The ancient national faiths, that is, 
 were not content with a simple division of things between two 
 divine beings. An approach to such a view was made by Judaism, 
 
 do not know that there were specially strong contrasts of weather in the Iranian 
 home, and there is no mention of such a situation in the early documents, in which 
 the complaint is of inroads of predatory bands from the steppe. 
 
 1 See above, § 742 ff. 2 According to Diogenes Lacrtius, Proem, viii. 
 
 3 To designate the unfriendly supernatural I'owers two terms meaning ' divine 
 beings' were available, 'asuras' and 'divas' (daevas) ; the Hindus chose the for- 
 mer, the Iranians the latter. Cf. Darmesteter, Ormazd ct A/iriman, p. 26S ff . ; Mac- 
 donell, Vcdic Mythology,^. i56ff.
 
 TJH-: nn;ni:R jiiijstic development 
 
 459 
 
 which, partly under Persian influence, produced the figure of the 
 Satan, a ([uasi-indcpcndent being hostile to the Supreme Deity.^ 
 Christianity, adopting this conception from Judaism, elaborated it 
 into the person of the Devil, the veritable head of a kingdom of 
 evil, called in the New 'JVstameiU '" the god of this age."''^ Though 
 doomed to final defeat, as Ahriman in the Avesta is doomed, the 
 I)e\il in the orthodox Christian system is practically omnipresent 
 and is powerful enough to defeat the plans of God in man\- cases. 
 In modern enlightened Christian feeling, however, he has become 
 little more than a name. Though he is credited in theory with 
 suggesting evil and alluring men to sin, this dogma has small force 
 in the better minds against the strong conviction of individual free- 
 dom and responsibility. Current Christianity, in its highest forms, 
 is theoretically, but not really, dualistic. The Satan is taken more 
 seriously by Islam, which has adopted the conception from Christi- 
 anity and Judaism." For the ordinary Moslem he belongs in the 
 category of evil spirits and is as real as one of the jinn ; he may 
 be cursed and stoned and driven away,^ but he does not affect 
 the Moslem belief in the oneness of God. 
 
 978. From the conquest of Persia by Alexander to the fall of 
 the Parthian dynasty (a period of over five hundred years) little is 
 known of the history of Mazdaism beyond the fact that it seems to 
 have been adopted by the Parthians in a debased form ; but about 
 the time of the I'ersian revival under the Sassanians (226 a.d.) it 
 passed the bounds of its native land and made its way into the 
 Roman lunpire in the shape of Manichitism, a mixture of dualistic 
 and Christian Gnostic conceptions. That Manichaeism had a certain 
 
 1 Zech. iii ; Job i, ii ; i Chron. xxi, i, contrasted with 2 .Sam. xxiv, i ; Enoch xl, 7 ; 
 hii, 3, etc. ; Secrets of Enoch (Slavonic Enoch), xxix, 4, 5 ; xxxi, 3, 4. The word Satan 
 means 'adversary',' and, as legal adversary, 'accuser.' The germ of the conception 
 is to be sought in the apparatus of spirits controlled by Vahweh, and sometimes em- 
 ployed by him as agents to harm men ( 1 Kings xxii, 19-2 5). The idea of an accusing 
 spirit seems to have arisen from the necessity of explaining the misfortunes of the 
 nation (Zech. iii) ; it was expanded under native and foreign influences. 
 
 2 2 Cor. iv, 4. 3 Koran, vii, 10 ff. 
 
 ^ So in the ceremonies of the pilgrimage to Mecca and in common life. The 
 "satans" have in part coalesced with the jinn; see Lane's Arabian Nights, " Notes 
 to the Introduction," note 21.
 
 460 INTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 force is shown by the fact that it attracted such a man as Augustine, 
 and its survival for several centuries in spite of persecutions attests 
 its vitality. It may be doubted whether its attractiveness lay so 
 much in its dualism as in its gnosticism, though the former element 
 maintained itself in some minor Christian sects. However this may 
 be, it gradually faded away, leaving no lasting impression ; it was 
 a form of faith not suited to the peoples who professed Christianity.^ 
 
 979. The modern philosophic proposals to recognize two deities 
 instead of one are as yet too vague to call for discussion. Dualism, 
 though it accounts in some fashion for the twofold character of 
 human experiences, raises as many problems as it solves ; in par- 
 ticular it finds itself confronted apparently by a physical and psy- 
 chological unity in the world which it is liard to explain on the 
 hypothesis of conflicting supernatural Powers.^ On the moral side 
 the record of dualistic schemes is in general good. The ethical 
 standard of Mazdaism is high, and the ethical practice of Mazdean 
 communities hardly differs from that of other prominent modem 
 religious bodies. Though the Manichaeans were accused of immoral 
 practices, it does not appear that Mani himself or any prominent 
 disciple of his announced or favored or permitted such practices. 
 
 Monotheism 
 
 980. The preceding survey has shown that the theory of dualism 
 has not proved in general acceptable to men. It was adopted by 
 one people only, and even by them not in complete form, and its 
 character as a national cult was destroyed by the Moslem conquest 
 of Persia in the seventh century. The Zoroastrian system was 
 indeed carried by a body of emigrants to India and has since 
 been professed by the I'arsis there ; but it has been converted by 
 them into a practical monotheistic cult, so that a consistent dual- 
 ism now exists nowhere in tlic world. The thought of the great 
 civilized nations has turned rather to a unitary view of the divine 
 government of the world. 
 
 1 Ilerzog-Hauck, Real-Encyklofddie, s.v. " Mani u. Manichiiismus." 
 
 2 On a lack of unity in the world sec \V. James, A Pluralistic Univcfse,
 
 THE IIIGIIIIR TllFJSTlC DEVELOPMENT 46 1 
 
 981. Ihc history of tlic movement which has elevated mono- 
 theism to the highest place among the civilized cults extends over 
 the whole period of man's life on the earth. It is pointed out above* 
 that very generally in low tribes a local supernatural personage is 
 invested with great power : he is creator, ruler, and guardian of 
 morals ; where a tolerably definite civil and political organization 
 exists he has virtually the position and performs the functions of 
 the tribal chief, only with vastly greater powers and privileges ; 
 where there is no such organization he is simply a vaguely con- 
 ceived, mysterious man who has control of the elements and of 
 human fortunes, and punishes violations of tribal custom. Such a 
 personage is, however, at best only the highest among many super- 
 natural Powers. It is immaterial whether we regard such a figure 
 as developed from a spirit or as the direct product of religious 
 imagination. He is always crudely anthropomorphic and, notwith- 
 standing his primacy, is limited in power by his own nature, by 
 other supernatural Powers, and by men. Frequently, also, he tends 
 to become otiose and virtually loses his supremacy ; " that is to say, 
 in the increased complexity of social life a god who was once suf- 
 ficient for the needs of a simpler organization has to give way to 
 a number of Powers which are regarded as the controllers of special 
 departments of life. Such an otiose form may sometimes indicate 
 a succession of divine quasi-dynasties, somewhat as in the Greek 
 sequence of Ouranos, Kronos, Zeus. Handed down from a former 
 generation, he becomes dim and is neglected. That he is not wor- 
 shiped is a result of the fact that other divine beings, standing 
 nearer to existing human interests, have come to the front. 
 
 982. The theory has been held in the past, and is still held, that 
 monotheism was the primitive form of religion and that the wor- 
 ship of many spirits or many gods is a corruption of primitive 
 thought due to man's intellectual feebleness or to his moral de- 
 pravity. It is urged that such a monotheistic system was the 
 natural one for unsophisticated man. The view has been widely 
 held also that it w'as the result of a primitive divine revelation to 
 
 1 § 643- 
 
 2 So the Zulu Unkulunkulu, the Fiji Ndengei, the \'irginia Ahone, and others.
 
 462 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 men. It is obvious that neither of these opinions is susceptible of 
 proof on a priori grounds ; the question can be settled only by a 
 survc}- of the phenomena known to us. When the facts are clearly 
 stated, it is then allowable to deduce from them such conclusions 
 as may seem legitimate. 
 
 983. As a matter of fact, it does not appear that real mono- 
 theistic belief exists or has existed among savage and half-civilized 
 communities of whose history we have any knowledge. Where a 
 certain supernatural being is described by observers as " the god " 
 or " the supreme god " of a tribe, it turns out on inquiry that he 
 is at most, as is remarked above, a very prominent divine figure, 
 perhaps the most prominent, but never standing alone and never 
 invested with those physical, intellectual, and moral capacities that 
 are necessary for a complete monotheistic faith. 
 
 984. While, however, this conclusion is generally admitted for 
 the majority of cases,^ it has been held, and is still held, that there 
 are found in savage cults certain " self-existent, eternal, moral " 
 beings who satisfy all the conditions of a monotheistic faith. Among 
 the examples cited are the American gods described by Strachey 
 and Winslow as supreme in power and ethically good." But, even 
 in the curt and vague accounts of these early observers (who were 
 not in position to get accurate notions of Indian beliefs), it appears 
 that there were many gods, the supposed supreme deity being 
 simply the most prominent in the regions known to the first settlers. 
 The "Great Spirit" of the Jesuit missionaries is found, in like 
 manner, to be one of many supernatural patrons, locally important 
 but not absolute in power.^ The Zulu Unkulunkulu is revered by 
 the natives as a very great being, morally good according to the 
 standards of the people, but he is of uncertain origin and is value- 
 less in the existing cull.'' I he much-discussed Australian figures, 
 TJaiame, Bunjil, and Daramulun, appear not to differ essentially 
 
 1 Compare Lang's sketch of the gods of the lower races in Myth, Ritual, ami 
 Religion, chap, xii f., and Making of Religion, preface and chaps, xii-xiv. 
 
 '^ Strachey, Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannica (1612), p. 98 f. and 
 chap, vii: Winslow, Relation (1624), printed in Voung's Chronicles of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers, see chap, xxiii. 3 Cf. Tyler, Primitive Culture, ii, 324, 339. 
 
 * Callaway, The Amazulu, p. 1 ff.
 
 THE 11 lull El^ 111E1S17C lJElEEOrME.\r 463 
 
 from those just mentioned. 'I'he reports of the natives who have 
 been ciuesiioiud on the subject are often vague and sometimes 
 mutually eontradietory, and exact biographical details of these 
 divine personages are lacking ; but careful recent observers are 
 of opinion that they are nothing more than supernatural headmen, 
 having such power as tribal chiefs or headmen possess, and credited 
 in different regions with different moral qualities.^ 
 
 985. In the systems of many other low tribes there are quasi- 
 divine beings who are credited with great power and are revered 
 without being thought of as eternal or as standing alone in the 
 government of the world. A specially interesting example is the 
 Andaman Puluga, a sort of creator who receives no worship ; his 
 abode is a mountain or the sky, and he seems to have been origi- 
 nally a local supernatural figure who is traditionally respected but 
 is no longer thought of as an efficient patron.' 'I'he mysterious 
 Ndengei of Fiji is judge of the dead, but one of many gods and 
 not all-powerful.'^ In many tribes there is no one great divine 
 figure; the control of things is divided among hosts of spirits and 
 gods. This is the case with the Ainu, tlie Maoris, the Greenlanders, 
 the Kwakiutl of Northwest America,"* and is probably the rule in 
 most of the lower communities. 
 
 The terms ' self-existent ' and ' eternal ' are not found in savage 
 vocabularies and seem to have no representatives in savage thought. 
 Savage cosmology carries the history of the world back to a certain 
 point and stops when there is no familiar hypothesis of genesis.^ 
 As a rule spirits (as distinguished from ghosts) are not thought of 
 as having a creator ; they are a jxart of the system of things and 
 are not supposed to need explanation, and so it seems to be with 
 simple clan gods. Nor is there any reason, in savage theor\% why 
 
 1 \\o\s\\X, Native Tribes of South-Easi AustraUu, Index (cf. Spencer and Gillen, 
 Xorthcni Tribes of Central .liistratia, p. 4()2) ; cf. Thomas, Natives of Australia, 
 chap, xiii, and article "Australia" in Hastings, F.neydoptedia of Keligioit and Ethics. 
 
 - Temple, article " Andamans" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 ■* Williams and Calvert, 7v/V, chap. vii. 
 
 •1 Batchelor, The Ainu, chap, xvii ; Taylor, Neiv Zealand, chaps, v-vii ; Kink, 
 Danish Greenland, p. 204 ff. ; Boas, 'The K'vakiutl, chap. vi. 
 
 5 The confusion incident to savage theogonic reflection is illustrated by Zulu 
 attempts to explain Unkulunkulu (Callaway, loc. cit.).
 
 464 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 gods or spirits should die ; death is an accident for human beings, 
 not an essential feature of their constitution ; but such an accident 
 is not usually supposed to occur in the case of gods. What takes 
 the place of the conception of ' eternal ' in savage thought is an 
 existence that is supposed to continue for the reason that its cessa- 
 tion does not come into consideration. As to creation, there is no 
 need, in a low community, to suppose more than one originator of 
 the world, and cosmogonic theory may stop at that point, though 
 this is not an invariable rule. The title " father " for persons of 
 distinction, human or divine, is found among many undeveloped 
 peoples, and a headman or patron may be called, by a natural 
 extension of thought, " all-father," a title that is not essentially 
 different in signification from the simple " father," and does not 
 carry with it the refined sense of later times. The question of 
 savage monotheism need present no difficulty if the conditions are 
 clearly defined.^ It is true that there is in some cases a monar- 
 chical conception of the divine control of a clan or a tribe, and that 
 this simple system is followed by a more or less elaborate theology. 
 In both civil and religious systems the increasing complexity of 
 social life has called forth correspondingly complex organizations, 
 but this movement away from simplicity does not denote falling off 
 in civil and religious purity and wisdom. A true monotheism has 
 never arisen except as a criticism of polytheism. 
 
 986. It is obvious that the popular cults of the great nations of 
 antiquity were far removed from monotheism. The Egyptians, the 
 Babylonians and the Assyrians, the Phoenicians, the Hebrews, the 
 Arabs, the Hindus, the Greeks and the Romans, down to a late 
 period, worshiped a multitude of gods and were not disturbed by 
 any feeling of lack of unity in the divine government of the world. 
 I'hc proof that such was the case among the ancient Hebrews down 
 to the sixth century i;.c. is found in the Old Testament writings: 
 the historical books from the entrance of the Hebrew tribes into 
 Canaan down to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans 
 
 1 I.ang, in the works cited in the preceding paragraph, is right- in his contention 
 that the clan god is not always derived from a spirit ; but the coloring he gives to 
 the character of this sort of god is not in accordance with known facts.
 
 Tin-: nJuiiER rm-.isTic development 465 
 
 and tlu- iJinplic-tical writings of the eighth, seventh, and sixth cen- 
 turies represent the people generally as addicted to the worship of 
 a great number of gods. In Persia also, since the Mazdean system 
 recognized a considerable number of deities, it cannot be doubted 
 that the people were polytheistic, not to speak of the probability 
 that there were survivals of a lower form of religion which preceded 
 Mazdaisni. In the modern nations of the east of Asia, China and. 
 Japan, the popular worship is anything but monotheistic : in China 
 the local spirits play a very great part in the life of tlie people, and 
 in Japan the old gods are still objects of worship. It may be added 
 that among the masses in some nominally Christian countries, 
 particularly among the peasants of Southern Europe, the old poly- 
 theism continues in the form of the worship of saints and the 
 Madonna. 
 
 987. While the popular cults in the civilized world have* held 
 somewhat pertinaciously to pluralistic views, there has been a 
 general tendency in advanced circles everywhere toward a unitary 
 conception of the government of the world. As this tendency has 
 been general it must be referred to the general progress of thought, 
 the demand of the human mind for unity or simplicity. The par- 
 ticular lines of the movement have varied among different peoples 
 according to the peculiarities of their culture, and the unitary feeling 
 has varied in its degree of definiteness. In some cases the political 
 predominance of a city or region has secured preeminence for its 
 deity, or national attachment to the national god has elevated him 
 above all other gods ; where a people has cultivated poetry or 
 philosophy, the idealizing thought of the one or the scientific 
 analysis of the other has led in the same direction. 
 
 988. First, then, we may note the disposition to give substantial 
 absoluteness to some one god, the choice of the deity being deter- 
 mined by the political condition as is suggested above, or by local 
 attachments, or possibly by other conditions which do not appear 
 in the meager records of early times. E.xamples of this form of 
 thought are found in several of the great nations of antiquity. I'he 
 hymns to the Egyptian gods Ra, Amon, Amon-Ra, Osiris, and the 
 Nile describe these deities as universal in attributes and in power.
 
 466 IXTRODUCriOX TO HISTORV OF RELIGIO.XS 
 
 At the moment the poet conceives of the god whom he celebrates 
 as practically the only one — if Ra does everj^thing, there is no 
 need of any other deity. At another moment, however, the same 
 poet may celebrate Osiris with equal enthusiasm — these high gods 
 are interchangeable. The suggestion from such fluid conceptions 
 of the divine persons is that the real thought in the mind of the 
 •poet was the supremacy of some divine power which is incorpo- 
 rated now in one familiar divine name, now in another. It does 
 not, however, quite reach the point of well-defined monotheism, 
 for these gods remein distinct, sometimes with separate functions 
 and duties. 
 
 989. But this mode of conceiving of the supernatural Power 
 would naturally pave the way for monotheism, and it is not sur- 
 prising that very early in Egypt a definite monotheistic view was 
 developed. King Amenophis IV, or to give him the name that he 
 adopted in conformity with his later cult, Khuen-Aten, made a 
 deliberate attempt to elevate the sun-god Aten to the position of 
 sole ruler and object of worship. Though the nature of his belief 
 in this deity is not stated in the documents with the fullness and 
 precision that we should desire, it seems clear, from the fact that 
 he ordered the destruction of the shrines of the other deities in the 
 land, that he regarded the worship of this one god as sufficient. 
 The movement was not a successful one in .so far as the national 
 religion was concerned — it lasted only during his lifetime and that 
 of his son, and then a counter-revolution swept Aten away and 
 reinstated the Theban Amon in all his former dignity and powers 
 — but its very existence is a testimony to the direction of thought 
 of educated minds in Egypt about the year 1400 B.C. The Aten 
 revolution appears to have been distinctively Egyptian — there is 
 no trace of foreign influence in its construction. It has been sug- 
 gested that Amenophis got his idea from Semites of Western Asia 
 or particularly from the Hebrews. Ikit neither the Hebrews nor 
 any other Semitic people of that period were monotheistic, nor do 
 we find in Egyptian history at the time such social intercourse as 
 might produce a violent upturning of the religious usage. We can 
 only suppose that Amenophis was a religious genius who put into
 
 Till'. Ilhilll'-.R rillJSTIC DEVELOrMI'.Xr 467 
 
 definite shape a conception that was in tlie air, and by llie force of 
 his enthusiasm made it for the moment effective. Such geniuses 
 have arisen from time to time in the world, and though the revolu- 
 tion of this Egyptian king may seem to us to have sprung up with 
 abnormal abruptness, it is more reasonable to suppose that the way 
 had been prepared for it in Egyptian thought. He was a man 
 born out of due time ; but it cannot be said that his attempt was 
 without influence on succeeding generations. 
 
 990. Passing now to the oldest Semitic civilizations, we find in 
 ]kibylonia and Assyria many local deities, one or another of whom 
 comes to the front under the hegemony of some city or state. Here 
 we are met b\- the fact already referred to that the gods are inter- 
 changeable — it is practically a matter of indifference whether one 
 deity or another is elevated to headship. In the great empires the 
 gods of the capital cities naturally became preeminent ; so Marduk 
 in Babylonia and Ashur in Assyria. The royal inscriptions speak 
 of these gods as if they were all-powerful and all-controlling. In 
 both countries the goddess Ishtar appears as the supreme director 
 of affairs, and other deities are similarly honored. What might 
 have been the issue if the later Babylonian kingdom had continued 
 for a long time it is impossible to say, but the impression made by 
 the words of the devout king Nebuchadrezzar H (605-562 h.c.) is 
 that he would have been content with Marduk as the one object 
 of worship. Babylonia produced no such radical refonner as the 
 Egyptian Amenophis — there is no formulation of monotheism ; 
 but the general tone of the Babylonian religion of the sixth cen- 
 tury is not very different from that of the Hebrew religion of the 
 same time. 
 
 991. i'he religious point of view of the Vedas belongs in the 
 same category with the early Egyptian. Varuna, Agni, and Indra 
 appear in the hymns, each in his turn, as supreme. The role of 
 Varuna seems to be practically identical with that of the Iranian 
 Ahura, but unlike the latter he docs not succeed in expelling his 
 brother divinities. This difference of development between the 
 Hindu and the Iranian people we cannot hope to explain. India 
 moved not toward monotheism, but toward pantheism. But the
 
 468 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Vedic hymns prove the existence of a certain sense of oneness in 
 the world, held by the poets, though not by the mass of the people, 
 and destined to issue in a very remarkable religious system. 
 
 992. It has been by a very different line that China has reached 
 its unitary conception of the world. The details of the movement 
 are obscure, but its general course is clear.^ As with many other 
 peoples it is the objects of nature to which Chinese worship is 
 mainly paid, but the Chinese mind, impressed by the power of 
 these objects, is content to rest in them in their visible form ; no 
 proper names are attached to them, and they have a more or less 
 vague personality which varies in definiteness at different times 
 and with different persons. The theistic system is a reflection of the 
 social system. The eminently practical Chinese mind lays the chief 
 stress on the earthly life : in the common everyday life the family 
 is the unit ; but the general course of affairs is controlled by the 
 great natural Powers of earth and sky, whence arise the two great 
 divisions of Chinese worship. The State is a larger family in 
 which the duke or emperor or other chief political officer occupies 
 the same position that is occupied by the father in the smaller 
 social circle ; the government is patriarchal, with gradations which 
 correspond to those of the faniilv. Life, it is held, is controlled by 
 the heavenly bodies, b)- tlie mountains and rivers of the earth, and 
 by deceased members of families. 'I'o these the people sacrifice, 
 the principal part being taken by the civil Iicads of the larger and 
 smaller constituent parts of the empire ; there is thus no place for 
 priests. As the emperor (or other head of the State) is supreme 
 on earth, so Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon occupy the highest 
 positions in the divine hierarchy, and ancestors are influential and 
 entitled to worship according to the rank of the families they 
 represent.^ From an early time, long before Confucius, the head- 
 ship of the divine Powers, it would seem, was assigned to Heaven 
 — not the physical sky, but, at least in the thinking circles of the 
 
 1 See above, § 746 ff. 
 
 2 It is not probable that the recent abolition of the oflice of emperor (supposing 
 the present revolutionary movement to maintain itself) will affect the essence of the 
 existing cult.
 
 THE llIullllR I7//-:/S77C DEVELOPMENT 46^ 
 
 nation, the Power therein residing. Thus arose the conception 
 of an imperial divine government in which Heaven, though it does 
 not stand alone, is recognized as supreme. The larger theistic 
 conception is embodied in the annual sacrifices conducted by the 
 emperor,^ especially at the winter and summer solstices when sacri- 
 fices are offered to Heaven and Earth, Sun and Moon, the Four 
 Quarters and the mountains and rivers of the empire and to his 
 ancestors, whose worship includes the interests of the whole State. 
 Thus with a vast number of objects of worship (spirits of all de- 
 partments of life, and a few gods proper) the Chinese religion has 
 attained and maintained a general unitary conception of the 
 divine government of the world. ^ 
 
 993. Some resemblance to the Chinese system appears in the 
 religion of Peru, so far as this can be understood from the accounts 
 that have come down to us.^ The supreme position given to the 
 Sun in Peru and to the Inca as child of the Sun is parallel to the 
 supremacy of Heaven in China and the headship of the emperor 
 as the son of Heaven. The Peruvian cult appears not to have 
 reached the distinctness of the Chinese. There were, in fact, in 
 Peru a considerable number of tolerably well-formed divinities 
 along with a vast crowd of spirits. Yet it appears that the sun 
 was regarded, at least by the Inca and his circle, as supreme ruler 
 of the world. The Sun, as god, has no proper name in Peru, as 
 in China Heaven, as god, has no proper name. In both countries, 
 it would seem, the imagination of the people was overpowered by 
 the spectacle of the majesty of a great natural object. The two 
 religions differ in their ritual development : while the Inca, like 
 the Chinese emperor, was the religious head of the nation, the 
 Peruvians created an elaborate system of worship, with temples 
 and ministrants, which is wanting in China.'' The remarkable 
 character of the Peruvian system makes it all the more regrettable 
 
 1 In place of the emperor some high official personage will doubtless be de- 
 puted to conduct the national sacrifices. 
 
 2 De Greet, Religious System of China, Religion of the Chinese, and Development 
 of Religion in China. 
 
 8 Prescott, Conquest of Peru; Spence, Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru. 
 ■* An approach to such a system appears in the later cult of Confucius.
 
 470 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RIILIGIOXS 
 
 that the data a\ailablc do not enable us to trace its growth from 
 the simplest beginnings. 
 
 994. Still another line of theistic development is furnished by 
 the Hebrew system. The Hebrews are remarkable among ancient 
 peoples as having had, so far as our information goes, only one 
 national god. This god they brought with them into Canaan from 
 the wilderness over which they appear to have roamed with their 
 flocks for a period and under conditions not definitely known to 
 us. Arrived in Canaan, tlie masses were attracted by the local 
 Canaanite deities (whose worship represented a higher civilization 
 than that of the nomadic Hebrews), and later, in the seventh cen- 
 tury' B.C., a great part of the people of the little kingdom of Judah 
 adopted the Assyrian astral cult ; but a group of Israelites had 
 always remained faithful to the national deity Yahweh (Jehovah) 
 and vigorously opposed all foreign worship. It was naturally the 
 more thoughtful and ethically better-developed part of the com- 
 munity that took this uncompromising position, and their spokes- 
 men, the writing prophets whose discourses are preserx^ed in the 
 Old Testament, became preachers of morality as well as champions 
 of the sole worship of Yahweh. It does not appear that they de- 
 nied the existence of other gods, but they regarded their own god as 
 superior to all others in power, standing in a peculiarly close rela- 
 tion to his people and bound to them by peculiarly intimate ties. 
 
 995. This attachment to one deity proved to be the dominant 
 sentiment of the nation. As time went on and the people were 
 sifted by the Assyrian and Babylonian deportations, the higher 
 moral feeling of the best men attached itself more and more defi- 
 nitely to the national god. Thus was established a monolatry 
 which was practically monotheism, though a theory of absolute 
 monotheism was never formulated by the pre-Christian Jews. It 
 must be added, as is remarked above, that, from the third or 
 second century B.C. on, the somewhat undefined range of activity 
 attributed to Satan produced a sort of dualism, yet without im- 
 pairing the practically unitary conception of the divine govern- 
 ment of the world. ^ The course of their national fortunes and the 
 
 1 See § 977.
 
 /7/A' IllCIIIJ^ rill'JsrJC DEVELOPMENT 471 
 
 remarkable power of self-contained persistence of the Jews brouj^ht 
 about a segregation of the people and, finally, their organization 
 into a community governed by a law held to be divinely revealed. 
 This capacity of social religious organization was the distinctive 
 characteristic of the Jewish people and, supported by their unitary 
 theistic system and a high moral code, gave the example of popular 
 monotheism which, tlirough the medium of Christianity, finally 
 imposed itself upon tlu- Roman w(Mid. 
 
 996. In the ancient world the most thorough investigation of the 
 theistic problem was made by the Greeks, whose leading thinkers, 
 like the Hebrews, moved steadily toward a unitary conception of 
 the divine power, but, unlike the Hebrews, did not succeed in 
 impressing their views on the people at large. What the theistic 
 conception in the pre-Homeric times was we are unable to say 
 defmitc-h , but presumably in every separate community there was 
 a local deity who had practically the direction of affairs. In process 
 of time, through conditions not known to us, Zeus came to be rec- 
 ognized throughout the Hellenic world as the principal deity. In 
 the Homeric poems and in Hesiod we find a political or governmen- 
 tal organization of the gods which followed the lines of the social 
 organization of the times. As Agamemnon is the head chief over a 
 group of local chiefs, so Zeus, though not absolutely supreme, is a 
 divine king, the head over a considerable number of deities who 
 have their own preferences and plans, and in ordinary matters go 
 their own way and are not interfered with so long as they mind 
 their own business ; but at critical points Zeus, like Agamemnon, 
 intervenes, and then no god disputes his decisions. 
 
 997. This conception of the divine government appears, there- 
 fore, to rest on the Greek demand for political organization ; the 
 world was thought of as divided into various departments which 
 had to be brought into a unity by the ascription of a quasi-supreme 
 authority to some one personage. Necessarily, however, larger in- 
 tellectual and ethical ideas were incorporated in this political view. 
 Though the popular anthropomorphic conceptions of the deities 
 appear throughout the Homeric poems (the gods being sometimes 
 morally low as well as limited in knowledge and power), yet on the
 
 472 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 other hand they are said to know everything. To Zeus in particular 
 lofty qualities are ascribed ; he is the father of men and their savior 
 and the patron of justice. How it came about that these two sorts 
 of coiiceptions of a supreme deity are mingled in the poems is a 
 question that need not be discussed here ; a similar mingling of 
 contradictory ideas is found in the Old Testament, in which the 
 unmoral god of the people stands alongside of the highly developed 
 ethical Vahweh of the great prophets. 
 
 998. In Homer and Hesiod, however, the conception of head- 
 ship is complicated by the introduction of the idea of fate. In the 
 Iliad Zeus is sometimes ignorant of the future and has to employ 
 the scales of destiny, and in Hesiod appear the three Fates who 
 control the lives of men independently of the gods. The conception 
 of a controlling fate may be regarded as an effort to reach an abso- 
 lutely unitary view of the world. Above all the divine powers that 
 regulate affairs, after the manner of the government by a king with 
 his attendant chieftains and officers, there is a sense of a dim and 
 undefined power of unknown origin, mysterious, absolute, universal. 
 The question whether this conception was a reflection of a sense of 
 the controlling power resident in the universe itself, or merely an 
 endeavor to rise above the variations of anthropomorphic deities, 
 is important from the point of view of the genesis of ideas, but 
 its decision will not affect the fact just stated.^ Obviously in the 
 Homeric world there appears this general conviction that men and 
 gods are bound together in unity and that some force or power 
 controls all things. "■^ 
 
 999. This sense of the governmental unity is further de\-eloped 
 by the later great poets who infused into it higher and more definite 
 moral elements. The polytheistic view continues ; to the thinkers 
 of the time there was no more difficulty in conceiving of a single 
 headship along with many deities of particular functions tlian was 
 felt by Hebrew prophets who recognized the existence of foreign 
 
 1 So later, for example, in Plato, necessity appears as something limiting the 
 deity. See below, § looi. Cf. Cicero, De Falo. 
 
 2 Cf. the Chinese conception of the supreme order of the world. Possibly this 
 goes back to the general savage conception of mana.
 
 THE HIGHER THEISTIC DEVELOPMENT 473 
 
 deities, with Yahweh as a superior god, or by the modern Chris- 
 tian world with its apparatus of angels, saints, and demons along- 
 side of the supreme God. For Pindar Zeus is lord of all things 
 and is far removed from the moral impurities of the popular con- 
 ception, ^schylus represents him as supreme and in general as 
 just, though not wholly free from human weaknesses. A real 
 unit\- of the world is set forth by Sophocles : there is a divinely 
 ordered control by immutable law, and the will of Zeus is un- 
 questioned. The unitary conception is found also in Euripides not- 
 withstanding his skeptical attitude toward the current mythology. 
 The sense of symmetry potent in the poets forced them to this 
 unitary conception of government, and the natural jjrogress of 
 ethical feeling led them to ascribe the highest ethical qualities to 
 the deities. 
 
 1000. Similar motives appear in the speculations of the Greek 
 philosophers : Greek philosophy in seeking to discover the essential 
 nature of the world moved definitely toward the conception of its 
 unity — so, for example, as early as the sixth century, in Xenoph- 
 anes and Parmenides. The conception of a supreme spiritual 
 ruler of the world appears in Heraclitus and Anaxagoras (fifth 
 century). To these and other Greek thinkers the unity of the 
 world and the dominance of mind or spirit appeared to be neces- 
 sary assumptions. The most definite expression of these concep- 
 tions is found in Plato and Aristotle. According to Plato (in the 
 Timaeus) God, the eternal Father, created the world (for nothing 
 can be created without a cause), brought order out of disorder and 
 made the universe to be most fair and good, so that it became a 
 rational living soul, the one only-begotten universe, created the gods 
 and the sons of the gods, and framed the soul to be the ruler of the 
 body. Aristotle, in simpler phrase, represents the ground of the 
 world as self-sufficient Mind, an eternal Power (Sum/xis), from which 
 all action or actuality {Ivipyua) proceeds.^ 
 
 1001. There are certain apparent limitations, it is true, to this 
 conception of unity. Both Plato and Aristotle recognize the exist- 
 ence of a host of subordinate deities (created but immortal) to whom 
 
 1 Metaphysics, ix, S ; .\ii, 6 f.
 
 474 I^'TRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 is assigned a share, by direction of the supreme God, in the creation 
 of things ; yet essentially these deities are nothing more than agents 
 or intermediaries of the divine activity, and may be compared to 
 the natural laws and agents of modern theism and, more exactly, 
 to the Hebrew angels through whom, according to the Old Testa- 
 ment, God governed the world. I^lato has also a somewhat vague 
 notion of a something in the nature of the material of the world 
 that limits or constrains the divine creative power — a " necessity " 
 that forces the deity to do not the absolutely best but the best 
 possible. Perhaps this is a philosophical formulation of the old 
 " fate," perhaps Plato is merely trying to account for certain sup- 
 posed inconcinnitics and inadequacies in the world. He is not quite 
 consistent with himself, since he represents the creation of the 
 universe as resulting from the fact that necessity yielded to the 
 persuasion of mind, which thus became supreme.^ In spite of this 
 vagueness his view is unitar\-, and tlie unitary conception is con- 
 tinued by the Stoics, its best Stoic expression being found in the 
 famous hymn of C'lcanthes to Zeus: "Nothing occurs on earth 
 apart from thee " and " We are thy offspring." ^ 
 
 1002. In the last centuries before the beginning of our era the 
 Jews, partly under Persian and Greek influence, clarified their 
 theistic view, attaining a practically pure monotheism, only retain- 
 ing their apparatus of angels and demons. This theistic j§|cheme 
 passed over in complete form to early Christianity, in which, how- 
 ever, greater prominence was given to the chief demon, the Satan ; fj 
 his larger role arose from the fact that he was brought into sharp 
 antagonism with the Christ, the head of the kingdom of God. 
 When Christianity was adopted by the Grasco-Roman w^orld, the 
 doctrine of the Trinity was worked out and formulated in accord- 
 ance with Greek and Roman ])hilosophic thought, but was held 
 not to impair the monotheistic view since the three Persons were 
 regarded as being in substance one. Islam adopted the Jewish 
 
 1 Tim(fus, 4 7 f . 
 
 2 Stobaeus, Ecloga, ed. Wachsmuth, lib. i, cap. i, no. I2 ; Pearson, Fragments of 
 Zcno and Clcanthcs\ Eng. tr. in Arnold, Roman Stoicism, p. 85 ff. 'I'he quotation in 
 Acts xvii, 28, may be from Clcanthcs or from Aratus. On the Craeco-Roman Stoicism 
 and the relation between it and Christianity see Arnold, op. cit. 
 
 %
 
 THE lUuIIER rUKJSTJC DJii'llLOPM ENT 4yc, 
 
 form of monotheism, witli ils Satan and angels, retaining also the 
 old Arabian apparatus of demonic beings (the jinn). 
 
 1003. A certain tendency to a practically unitary view is discerni- 
 ble in the cults of Isis and Mithra, which were widely diffused in 
 the Roman Empire.^ In both these cults the main interest of the 
 worshipers was centered in a single deity, though other deities were 
 recognized. The unifying impulse was devotional, not philosophic. 
 
 So far as a unitary conception of thq, divine governmnt of the 
 world existed it must be referred. to the spirit of the age which had 
 outgrown the old crude polytheism. Such modern monotheistic 
 movements as the Brahma-Samaj and the Parsi in India, the 
 Babist in Persia, and the reformed Shinto in Japan owe much to 
 European influence, though doubtless some part of them is the 
 outcome of natural progress in intellectual and moral conceptions. 
 
 Panthkistic and Nontheistic Svstem.s 
 
 1004. I'he systems of theistic thought considere 1 above all 
 make a sharp separation between God and the world. Plato and 
 Aristotle regarded mind or spirit as a force that dominated matter. 
 The Persian, Hebrew, and Christian theologies conceive of the 
 deity as transcendent, standing outside of and above the world 
 and entering into communication with it either by direct revelation 
 or through intermediaries. To certain thinkers of ancient times 
 this dualistic conception presented difficulties — an absolute unity 
 was held to be incompatible with such separation between the 
 world and (lod. The precise nature of the reflections by which 
 the earliest philosophers reached this conclusion is not clearly set 
 forth, but it ma}- be surmised that in general there were two lines 
 of thought that led to this inference : first, a metaphysical con- 
 ception of unity as something that was demanded b\- the sense of 
 perfectness in the world ; and, secondly, observation of facts that 
 appeared to characterize the world as a unit. Among several dif- 
 ferent peoples, and apparently in each independently, the idea 
 
 1 Apuleius, Mctamorf'hoscs, bk. xi ; Koschcr, Lc.xikoii, article "Isis"; Cumont, 
 Mysteries of Mithra ; id., Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans, 
 Index, s.vv. /sis and Sera/is and Mithia.
 
 4/6 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 arose that the divine manifests itself in the world of phenomena 
 and is recognizable only therein. Such a view appears in India in 
 the Vedanta philosophy, and in (ireece a little later it is more or 
 less involved in Orphic theories and in the systems of several phi- 
 losophers. The tendency to deify nature appears even in writers 
 who do not wholly exclude gods from their schemes of the world 
 — in the sayings of Heraclitus, for example : " All things are one," 
 " From all comes one, and from one comes all." A similar view is 
 attributed to Xenophanes by Aristotle,^ and traces of such a con- 
 ception appear in Euripides. "■^ For the modern forms of pantheism, 
 in Spinoza and other philosophers, reference must be made to the 
 histories of philosophy. 
 
 1005. Pantheism has never commended itself to the masses of 
 men. It is definitely theistic, but the view that the divine power is 
 visible only in phenomena and is to be identified practically with 
 the world is one that men in general find difficult to comprehend. 
 The demand is for a deity with whom one may enter into personal 
 relations — the simple conception of a god who dwells apart satis- 
 fies the religious instincts of the majority of men. The ethical 
 questions arising from pantheism seem to them perplexing : how 
 can man be morally responsible when it is the deity who thinks 
 and acts in him ? and how can he have any sense of loyalty to a 
 deity whom he cannot distinguish from himself ? Nor do men 
 generally demand so absolute a imity as is represented by panthe- 
 ism. Such questions as those relating to the eternity of matter, the 
 possibility of the existence of an immaterial being, and the mode in 
 which such a being, if it exists, could act on matter, have not seemed 
 practical to the majority of men. Man demands a method of wor- 
 ship, and pantheism does not permit organized worship. l'"or these 
 reasons it has remained a sentiment of philosophers, though it has 
 not been without effect in modifying popular conceptions of the 
 deity : the conception of the immanence of God in the world (held 
 in many Christian orthodox circles), when carried to its legitimate 
 consequences, it is often hard to distinguish from pantheism. 
 
 1 Metaphysics, i, 5 : " The one is god." 
 
 2 So in Goethe, Wordsworth, and other modern poets.
 
 THE iugiii:r tiieistjc development 4yy 
 
 1006. N^ontheisiic systems. A further attempt to secure a 
 complete unity of the world appears in those systems of thought 
 which regard the world as self-sufficient and, therefore, dispense 
 with extramundane agency. These start either from the point of 
 \iew of man and human life or from contemplation of the world. 
 In China the sense of the sole importance of the moral life and 
 the impossibility of knowing anything beyond mundane life led 
 Confucius practically to ignore divine agency. He did not deny 
 the existence of Powers outside of men, but he declined to speak 
 of them, regarding them as of no practical importance. This 
 sort of agnosticism appears in Greece as early as the fifth cen- 
 tury B.C., when Protagoras's view that " man is the measure of all 
 things " makes extrahuman Powers superfluous. Epicurus reached 
 a similar practical atheism apparently from a scientific view of 
 the construction of the world. According to him there are gods, 
 but they are otiose — living a life of happy ease, they are to be 
 thought of as a pleasant phenomenon in the world, but ineffective 
 as regards human fortunes, and men may go their ways certain 
 that if they obey the laws of the world the gods will not interfere 
 with them. 
 
 1007. 'I'he Sankhya philosophy of India dispenses completely 
 with gods, holding that the primordial stuff is eternal, but it also 
 holds that souls have a separate existence and are eternal. Thus 
 a species of dualism emerges. Buddhism goes a step further, ignor- 
 ing the soul as well as gods. It is agnostic in that, admitting the 
 world to have a cause, it holds that it is impossible to know this 
 cause. Its practical aim — to get rid of suffering by getting rid of 
 desire, and thus to pass into a blissful state of existence in which 
 apparently there is to be no effort as there is to be no pain — has 
 enabled it to establish a vigorous organization, a sort of church, in 
 which the undefined universe takes the place of a personal god, 
 and character takes the place of soul, this character (Karma) passing 
 from one being to another without the assumption of identity in 
 the beings thus united in destiny.^ 
 
 1 In certain regions, especially in Tibet and Japan, IJuddhism coalesces with pop- 
 ular nature-cults and shamanistic systems, and loses its nontheistic character.
 
 47S I.M'RODUCriON TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 1008. In Greece pure materialism (similar in essence to the 
 Sankhya) took the shape of the assumption of an original and 
 eternal mass of atoms whence have come all forms of being (so 
 Democritus in the fifth century B.C.), and this conception was 
 adopted by Epicurus and expounded at length by Lucretius.^ The 
 necessary qualities and movements being attributed to the atoms, 
 the conclusion was that nothing else was required in order to ex- 
 plain the world. With this may be compared the view of Empedocles 
 (fifth century) that love and hate (in modem phrase, attraction and 
 repulsion) are the creative forces of the world. The simplicity 
 of this scheme has commended it to many minds in modern as in 
 ancient times. Man, it is said, can know nothing outside of phe- 
 nomena, and, so far as regards the origin of things, it is as easy to 
 conceive of an eternal self-existent mass of matter as of an eternal 
 self-existent deity. The nobler part of man, it is held, is not thereby 
 surrendered — reason and all high ethical and spiritual ideals have 
 grown naturally out of the primordial mass. In such systems there 
 is often the hypothesis of an original force or life resident in matter, 
 and this force or life, being credited with all that has issued from 
 it, may be regarded as having the elements of personality, and in 
 that case becomes practically a deity. Such a deistic materialism 
 approaches pantheism nearly. 
 
 General Survey of the Theistic Development 
 
 1009. The theistic conceptions of men have followed the general 
 line of social development. All systems and shades of thought are 
 faithfully reflected in the various ideas that men have formed for 
 themselves of the gods. Human nature is the highest thing known 
 to men, and their conception of supernatural forces has been based 
 on ideals derived from experience. The sphere of cli\ine activity 
 has been determined for men by their systems of physical science ; 
 the moral character of the gods is a reflection of human ethical 
 conceptions ; the internal activity of the deity in man's mind is 
 defined by man's spiritual experience. 
 
 1 Cf. Santayana, " Lucretius,'' in his Three Philosophical Pods.
 
 Till-: j//u//j:k riiEiSTic developmi-:x r 479 
 
 1010. From the earliest times the extent to which the gods were 
 supi^oscd to intervene in human affairs has been fixed by scientific 
 observation, by the knowledge of natural law — the gods have been 
 called on to intervene only when it was necessary because ordinary 
 powers failed. When finally the conception is reached that all nature 
 is govcrne-d by naluial law, the theistic view assumes that the deity 
 works through ordinary natuial means, and the supposition of par- 
 ticular interventions is rejected by the mass of scientific thinkers. 
 It was natural in early times to suppose that reward and punish- 
 ment were administered by the deity in this world in accordance 
 with the principles of right, that the good prospered and the bad 
 failed ; but this view has vanished before observation, and, by 
 those who demand an exact accordance between conduct and for- 
 tunes, the final compensations of life have been relegated to the 
 other world. 
 
 1011. The belief in miracles, however, has never completely 
 vanished from the world. A miracle is an intervention by the 
 deity whereby a natural law is set aside. No a jiriori reasoning 
 can ever prove or disprove the possibility of miracles — such proof 
 or disproof would involve complete knowledge of the universe or 
 of the divine power in the universe, and this is impossible for man. 
 The indisposition to accept a miracle has arisen from the conviction 
 that the demand for interventions that set aside the natural order 
 is a reflection on the wisdom of the Creator's arrangement of the 
 world, and further from long-continued observation of the domi- 
 nance of natural law, and, when appeal is made to alleged miracu- 
 lous occurrences, from the arbitrary way in which, according to the 
 reports, these have been introduced. In the records of peoples we 
 find that miracles increase in number and magnitude in proportion 
 as we go back to dim times without exact historical documents. 
 They appear, it is held, in connection usually with insignificant 
 affairs while the really great affairs in later times are left with- 
 out miraculous elements.^ The history of the world, so historical 
 
 1 The great exception is the resurrection of Jesus, regarded in the New Testa- 
 ment and by the mass of orthodox Christians as an historical fact, and one of infinite 
 significance for the salvation of the world.
 
 48o INTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 science holds, receives a satisfactory explanation from the char- 
 acter of the general laws of human nature, and the principle of 
 parsimony demands that no unnecessary elements of action be in- 
 troduced into affairs. The exclusion of miracles from the world does 
 not exclude divine agency and government ; it only defines the 
 latter as being in accordance with man's observation of natural law. 
 
 1012. Philosophy constructs the constitution of the deity and 
 the relation of divine elements to the world. Whether the deity 
 stands outside of the world or within it, whether the divine power 
 is unitary or dual or plural, or whether there is any need to assume 
 a power outside of physical nature — these are the questions that 
 are discussed by philosophy, whose conclusions sometimes favor a 
 religious view of the world, sometimes oppose it. Few persons are 
 able to follow elaborate philosophic lines of thought — the majority 
 of men accept the simple doctrine of a personal god who is gener- 
 ally supposed to stand outside of the world. The controlling con- 
 sideration here is that everything must have a cause — a line of 
 reasoning in accordance with common sense, but not always, in its 
 crude form, regarded by philosophers as decisive. 
 
 1013. The moral character of a deity is always in accordance 
 with the moral ideas of his worshipers. Religions have sometimes 
 been divided into the ethical and the nonethical ; but so far as 
 the character of the deity is concerned no such division holds, for 
 there never has been a supernatural Power that has not reflected 
 the moral ideas of its time and place. A cannibal god is not only 
 natural in a cannibal society, but he represents moral ideals, namely, 
 the attempt to acquire strength by absorbing the physical substance 
 of men. The deity who deceives or is vindictive arises in a society 
 in which deceit and vindictiveness are regarded as virtues. The 
 pictures of what we regard as immoralities in the deity as given in 
 the Iliad and in the Old Testament were not regarded as immoral 
 by the writers. The progress in the characterization of the deity 
 has been not by the introduction of an ethical element, but by the 
 purification and elevation of the already existing ethical element.^ 
 
 1 An emotional element possessing moral force may exist in any religion ; cf. 
 below, §§ 1 167, 1 192, 1 199.
 
 CHAPTF.R X 
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 
 
 1014. Religion is social because man is a social animal. This 
 does not exclude individual religion — in fact religion must have 
 begun with individuals, as is the case with all social movements. 
 Morality, indeed, understood as a system of conduct among human 
 beings, could not exist except in a society which included at least 
 two persons ; but if we could imagine a quite isolated rational 
 being, he might be religious if, as is perfectly possible, he conceived 
 himself as standing in relation with some supernatural being or 
 beings. This question, however, is not a practical one — there is 
 no evidence of such isolation, and no probability that there ever 
 has been a time when man was not social. 
 
 1015. It is generally agreed that men lived at first in small 
 detached groups, gradually forming tribes and nations, and finally 
 effecting a social fusion of nations. Religious worship has followed 
 these changes. Religion is simply one line of social growth existing 
 along with others, science, philosophy, art ; all these, as is remarked 
 above,* go on together, each influencing and influenced by the 
 others. Human life has always been unitary — no one part can 
 be severed from the others ; it is a serious error, impairing the 
 accuracy of the conception of religion, to regard it as something 
 apart from the rest of human life. 
 
 1016. The external history of religion, then, is the history' of 
 social growth in the line of religious organization ; that is, it has 
 been determined by religious outward needs in accordance with the 
 growth of ideas. In the consideration of this history we have to note 
 a growth in ritual, in devotional practices, and in the organization 
 of religious usages, first in tribal or national communities and then 
 in religious communities transcending national and racial boundaries. 
 
 l§.3ff. 
 
 481
 
 482 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 External Worship 
 
 1017. We assume a human society recognizing some supernatu- 
 ral or extrahuman object or force that is regarded as powerful and 
 as standing in some sort of effective relation with human life. It 
 is possible that societies exist that do not recognize any such object 
 or force or, recognizing them, do not employ any means of enter- 
 ing into relation with them. Such cases, if they exist (and their 
 existence has not been fully established), we may pass by with the 
 remark that the absence of worship need be taken to show only 
 that ritual has been a slow growth. 
 
 Our information regarding the least-developed communities in- 
 dicates tliat with them religion, when it exists, is an affair of 
 custom, of tradition and usage, handed down during a period the 
 histor}' of which we have no means of knowing. Worship as it 
 first appears consists of ceremonies, generally, perhaps always, re- 
 garded as having objective effectiveness.^ The ritual act itself, in the 
 earliest systems, is powerful, in a sort magical, but tends to lose this 
 character and take on the forms of ordinary human intercourse. 
 
 1018. The precise ways in which extrahuman Powers were first 
 approached by men it is not possible now to determine — these 
 procedures lie far back in a dim prehistoric time. C'oming down 
 to our first knowledge of religious man it may be assumed that 
 the superhuman Powers recognized by him were of varying sorts : 
 a quasi-impersonal energy which, however, must probably be as- 
 cribed ultimately to a personal being; animals; ghosts; spirits resi- 
 dent in objects ; anthropomorphic beings. With all these it was 
 necessary to establish relations, and while the methods employed 
 varied slightly according to the nature of the object of worship, the 
 fundamental cultic principle appears to have been the same for all. 
 Several different methods of approaching the Powers appear in 
 the material known to us. and tliesc may be mentioned without 
 attempting exact chronological arrangement. 
 
 1019. One of the earliest methods of establishing a relation with 
 the Powers is by certain processes — acts or words. The most 
 
 1 See above, Chapter iii.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOJ\Mi:.\r OF RELIGION 483 
 
 definite example of a mere proeess is that found among tlie Central 
 Australians, the nature of whieh, however, is not yet well under- 
 stood. They perform ceremonies intended to procure a supply of 
 food. It is not quite clear whether these ceremonies are merely 
 imitations of animals and other things involved, or whether they 
 contain some recognition of a superhuman Power. In the former 
 case they are magical, not religious in the full sense of the term. 
 But if they involve a belief in some force or power with which man 
 may enter into relation, however dim and undefined this conception 
 may be, then they must be regarded as belonging definitely in the 
 sphere of religion. A certain direct effect is in many cases sup- 
 posed to issue from ritualistic acts, a belief that is doubtless a 
 survival of the old conception of mana.' 
 
 1020. In many cases eflEicacy is attached by savages to singing 
 — the word "sing" is used as equivalent to "exert power in a 
 superhuman way." It is not the musical part of this procedure 
 that is effective — the singing is simply the natural tendency of 
 early man — the power lies in the words which may be regarded 
 as charms. A charm is primarily a form of words which has power 
 to produce certain results with or without the intervention of the 
 gods.^ In the form of an invocation of a deity the charm belongs 
 to a comparatively late stage of religion ; but where its power lies 
 wholly in its words, it involves merely some dim sense of relation, 
 not necessarily religious. Obviously the idea of law underlies all 
 such procedures, but the law may be a sort of natural law and the 
 charm will then not be religious. Religious charms are to be 
 sharply distinguished from prayers ; a prayer is a simple request, 
 a charm is an instrument of force.^ The history of the growth of 
 savage charms it is impossible for us to recover ; it can only be 
 supposed that they have grown up through a vast period of time 
 and have been constructed out of various signs and experiences of 
 all sorts that appeared to connect certain words with certain results. 
 There is no evidence that they came originally or usually from 
 
 1 See above, §§ 128, 131, 231 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. article "Charms and Amulets" in Hastings, Encycloptcdia of Religion and 
 Ethics. 3 Cf. Marett, Threshold of Religion, p. 77 ff.
 
 4 84 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 prayers that had lost their petitionary character, petrified prayers, 
 so to speak, of which there remained only the supposition that 
 they could gain their ends, though bits of prayers, taken merely as 
 words, are sometimes supposed to have such potency. Charms 
 and prayers are found side by side in early stages of religion ; the 
 former tend to decrease, the latter to increase. Charms are allied 
 to amulets, exorcism, and to magic in general.^ 
 
 1021. Certain processes and words are supposed to have power 
 to summon the dead and to gain from them a knowledge of the 
 future. This is a case of coercion by magical means. Nonmagical 
 coercion belongs to a relatively late period in religious history and 
 may be passed over at this point. It is not in itself incompatible 
 with religion ; a god is subject to caprice and ill humor, and may 
 have to be controlled, and we know that coercion of the gods has 
 been practiced by many peoples, with the full sanction of the 
 religious authorities. '^ But coercive procedures do not accord vdth 
 the general line of social development. The natural tendency is to 
 make friends with the gods, and coercive methods have died out 
 with the growth of society. 
 
 1022. The methods of establishing friendly relations with the 
 supernatural Powers are the same as those which are employed to 
 approach human rulers, namely, b)- gifts and by messengers or 
 intermediaries. 
 
 Gifts. The custom of offering gifts to the dead is universal.^ 
 Among low tribes and in highly civilized peoples (the Egyptians 
 and others) things are placed by the grave which it is supposed 
 the spirits of the dead will need. Food and drink are supplied, 
 and animals and human beings are slain and left to serve as min- 
 isters to the ghosts in the other world. Possibly these provisions 
 for the dead are sometimes suggested by sentiments of affection, 
 but more commonly the object in making the provision appears to 
 be to secure the favor of the deceased : ghosts were powerful for 
 
 1 Examples are found in J. H. King, The Supernatural, Index, s.v. ; Tylor, 
 Primitive Culture, Index, s.v.; L. T. Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, Index, s.v.; 
 and see the references in these works. 2 See above, § 3. 
 
 3 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, 280 ff. ; VVestermarck, Origin and Develop- 
 ment of the Moral Ideas, ii, 550 al.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 485 
 
 good or for evil — .they were numerous, always hovering round 
 the living, and the main point was to gain their good will. For a 
 similar reason such gifts were made to s])irits and to gods. It was 
 a common custom to leave useful articles by sacred trees and 
 stones, or to cast them into rivers or into the sea. The food and 
 drink provided was always that in ordinar\' use among the wor- 
 shipers : grain, salt, oil, wine, to which were often added cooking 
 and other utensils. It was common also to offer the flesh of 
 animals, as, for example, among the Eskimo, the American Indians 
 (the Pawnees and others), the Bantu, the Limbus, and the Todas 
 of Southern India.^ It was supposed that the god, when he was 
 in need of food, sometimes used means to stimulate his worshipers 
 on earth to make him an offering. 
 
 1023. Since it was obvious that the food set forth for the spirit 
 or deity remained untouched, it was held that the gods consumed 
 only the soul of the food. This conception, which is found in very 
 early times, was natural to those who held that every object, even 
 pots and pans, had its soul. The ascending smoke carried with it 
 the essence of the food to spirits and deities — they smelled the 
 fragrance and were satisfied.' The visible material part of the 
 offering, thus left untouched by the god, was often divided among 
 his worshipers, and generally it furnished a welcome meal. 
 These communal feasts are found in various parts of the world, 
 among the Ainu of the Japan Archipelago, the American Indians, 
 and others.^ They were social and economical functions. It was 
 desirable that the good food not consumed by the deity should be 
 utilized for the benefit of his worshipers. There was also the 
 
 1 Dorsey, Skidi Pawnee, p. 341 ; article " Bantu" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of 
 Religion and Ethics, ii, 359 ; Rivers, The Todas, p. 393 ; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 
 392 ; Westermarck, op. cit., ii, 518 al. 
 
 2 Tylor, op. cit., ii, 385, 395 al. ; Gen. viii, 21. 
 
 3 Batchelor, The Ainu; Miss Fletcher, Indian Ceremonies; Hollis, The Nandi, 
 p. 12; Hopkins, Religions of India, pp.449 ff., 528: Saussaye, Religion of the Teu- 
 tons, pp. 373, 383 ; R. M. Meyer, Altgennanische Religionsgeschichte, pp. 416, 419 ff. ; 
 N.W.Thomas, article "Animals" in Hastings, Encyclopcrdia of Religion and Ethics. 
 Cf., for the Hebrews, W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 217 ff. : for the 
 Greeks, Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, p. 245 f. ; Miss Harrison, Prole- 
 gomena to the Study of Greek Religion, chap. x.
 
 486 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 natural desire and custom of eating with friends. To this was 
 added the belief that the bodies of such animals possessed powers 
 which the worshiper might acquire by eating. The powers and 
 qualities of the animal were both natural and sacred, or divine. 
 The devotion of the dog, the courage and physical power of the 
 bear, the cleverness of the fox — all such natural powers might 
 be assimilated by the worshiper ; and since the animal was itself 
 sacred, its body, taken into the human body, communicated a 
 certain special capacity. Thus the virtue of the communal feast 
 was twofold : it placated the supernatural Power, and it procured 
 for the worshiper a satisfactory meal and probably also an infusion 
 of superhuman power. The favor of the deity was gained simply 
 by the i)resents offered him ; in these early times there is no 
 indication of the belief that there was a recognized sacramental 
 sharing of sacred food by the gods and their worshipers. 
 
 1024. Messengers. The supernatural Power was sometimes ap- 
 proached by a messenger who was instructed to ask a favor. The 
 messenger was an animal regarded as sacred, akin to men and 
 to gods, and therefore fitted to be an intermediary. Examples 
 of such a method of approaching a deity are found among the 
 Ainu, in Borneo, and among the North American Indians. The 
 Ainu, before slaying the bear wlio is to serve as messenger, de- 
 liver to him an elaborate address in which he is implored to repre- 
 sent to his divine kinsfolk abo\e how well he has been treated on 
 earth and thus gain their favor ; he is also invited to return to 
 earth that he may be again captured and slain. His fiesh is eaten 
 by the worshipers, and his head is set up as an object of worship. 
 Thus, he is after death a di\ine Power and a portion of his own 
 flesh is offered to his head, but this is simply to gain his good will, 
 and there is no suggestion of a joint feast of gods and men.^ 
 Somewhat like this is the procedure in P>orneo, where on special 
 occasions when some particular favor is desired, a ])ig is dispatched 
 with a special message to the gods.- In America the sacred turtle, 
 regarded as a brother to the tribe and affectionately reverenced by 
 his human brethren, is dispatched with tears to the other world to 
 
 1 Batchclor, The Aiiui. ^ .\. C. llycldon, llcad-lmiitcrs, p. 353 ff.
 
 SOCIAL J)/: I '/■:/.()/'.]/ /■:.\/\ ( >/■' ri-:ijcion 487 
 
 join his kinsmen there and be an ambassador and friend.* A simi- 
 lar conception is to be found perhaps in the great Vedic animal 
 sacrifice in which the victim was likewise made ready by ceremonies 
 to go to the heavenly court and there stand as the friend of the 
 worshipers."'^ 
 
 1025. In all these cases there was a certain identification of the 
 victim with men on the one side and gods on the other. This is 
 simply a part of the general belief in the kinship existing between 
 all forms of being. Karly men in choosing animal gifts for the 
 gods, or an animal as messenger to them, could not go astray, for 
 all animals were sacred. The effective means of* procuring the 
 favor of the supernatural Powers is always a friendly gift or a 
 friendly messenger. When animals lost their religious prestige, 
 their ambassadorial function gave way to the mediatorial function 
 of gods and men. 
 
 Incense, tobacco, and other such things that were burned before 
 the deity are also to be regarded as food, though in the course of 
 time, when the recollection of this primitive character was lost, a 
 conventional significance was attached to the act of burning. A 
 more refined period demanded more refined food for the gods, 
 such as ambrosia and nectar, but these also were finally given up. 
 
 1026. Food was conveyed to the gods either by simply laying 
 it down at some sacred place (where it was devoured by beasts, 
 but more generally taken by official ministers of the god), or by 
 burning it.^ In the body of the victim the blood came to play the 
 most important part as an expiatory force. Early observation, as 
 is pointed out above, ^ showed that the life was in the blood, and 
 so a principle of economy naturally suggested that it would be suf- 
 ficient to offer the blood to the deity, though this was generalh' 
 supplemented by some choice portion of the flesh. Thus, the 
 
 1 I'". II. Gushing, " My Adventures in Zuni " in 'I'hc Century Magazine ioT May, 
 1883. 
 
 2 Cf. Hubert and Mauss, '' Essai sur le sacrifice" in Annce sociologiquc, ii 
 (1898). 
 
 3 A more socially refined conception appears in the lectistemium, in which the 
 gods sit at table with their human friends. Cf. Wissowa, Religion der Rdmer, p. 355 ff. ; 
 Fowler, Religions Experience of the Roman People, Index, s.v. •• § 23.
 
 488 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 opinion arose that blood had a special expiatory power, and this 
 conception remained to a late period.' But the expiatory power 
 rested finally on the fact that the blood was a gift of food to the 
 gods. The gift was most effective, apparently, when the whole of 
 the animal was burned, since thus the greatest honor was shown 
 the deity and the most ample satisfaction of his bodily needs was 
 furnished. The holocaust proper appears in religious history at a 
 comparatively late stage, but the essence of it is found in all early 
 procedures in which the whole of any object is gi\'en to the deity. 
 
 1027. Human sacrifice. That taste for human flesh on the part 
 of men "is not unnatural is shown by the prevalence of cannibal cus- 
 toms in many parts of the world. When such customs existed, it 
 was natural that the flesh of human beings should be offered to 
 the supernatural Powers. 
 
 The slaying of human beings at the graves of deceased clans- 
 men or friends has prevailed extensively, though apparently not 
 among the lowest tribes ; it represents a certain degree of reflec- 
 tion or intensity ; it is found in the midway period when religious 
 customs were fairly well organized and when manners were not 
 yet refined. Not ever)- slaughter at a grave, however, is an act of 
 religious ofi"ering to the dead. It is sometimes prompted by the 
 spirit of revenge, to ease the mind of the slayer, or perhaps by 
 desire to do honor to the deceased — doubtless there was a senti- 
 ment of piety toward the dead. 
 
 1028. The slaughter of slaves and wives to be the attendants 
 of the deceased in the other world is of the nature of an offering 
 — it is intended to procure the good will of the ghost. The self- 
 immolation of widows and other dependents was in some cases a 
 selfish act. It was supposed that the persons thus offering them- 
 selves up would procure certain advantages in the other world, 
 while at the same time they would there minister to the manes of 
 their husbands or lords. 
 
 As there was no practical difference between ghosts and spirits 
 or gods in respect of power and influence in human life, the offer- 
 ing of human beings to these last came as a matter of course. 
 
 1 For the worshiper the blood had strengthening power.
 
 SOCIAL DE\'ELOrME.\T OF RELIGION 489 
 
 Their bodily appetites were the same as those of men — they were 
 fond of human flesh. Wherever it was necessary to invoke their 
 special aid this sort of offering was presented : for the success of 
 crops ; to insure the stability of houses and bridges ' ; to avert or 
 remove calamities, such as pestilence and defeat in battle. 
 
 1029. While in the simpler societies human sacrifice was simply 
 an offering of food to the Powers, in later times it came to be con- 
 ceived of as the devotion of an object to the deity, and thus as a 
 sign of obedience and dependence. 'Die offering of firstborn chil- 
 dren was a recognition of the fact that the god was the giver of 
 children as of crops. The sacrifice of the dearest object, it was 
 supposed, would soften the heart of the deity. In some cases the 
 person who was supposed to be the occasion or source of misfor- 
 tune was offered up. In general, human sacrifice followed the lines 
 of all other sacrifices and disappeared when it became repugnant 
 to humane and refined feelings. 
 
 1030. 'i'he testimonies to its existence are so numerous that we 
 may suppose it to have been universal among men." There is a 
 trace of its early existence in Egypt. ^ In the Semitic region it is 
 known to have been practiced by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, 
 Moabites, Hebrews, Arameans, and some Arabs. ■* There is no evi- 
 dence of the practice in Babylonia ; an indication of its existence 
 in Assyria is possibly found in an Old Testament passage.^ Its 
 existence in early times in India is held to be implied in the Rig- 
 Veda.'^ It appears in the Brahmanic period also : a man (who had 
 to be a Brahman or a Warrior) was bought, allowed liberty and 
 the satisfaction of all his desires (except that sexual intercourse 
 was forbidden) for one year, and then ceremonially slain. '^ It is 
 only recently that the sacrifice of children in the New Year festival 
 
 1 I Kings, xvi, 34 ; article " Bridge" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and 
 Ethics. 
 
 2 Cf. Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. 
 Human Sacrifice. 3 Breasted, Ilistoiy of Egypt, pp. 325, 411, 47S. 
 
 ■* Pietschmann, Phbnizicr, p. 167; Tylor, Primitive Culture, ii, 403; 2 Kings, iii, 
 27 ; Exod. xiii ; i, 13 ; Noldeke, article "Arabs (Ancient) " in Hastings, Encyclopicdia 
 of Religion and Ethics. 5 2 Kings, xvii, 31. 6 Rig-Veda, x, iS, 8; viii, 51, 2. 
 
 " Sdnkhayan Srauta Sutra, xvi, 10-14 ; Weber, Indische Strcifen, i, 65 ; Hopkins, 
 Religions of India, pp. 196, 198.
 
 490 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 at the mouth of the Ganges has been abolished ; and it is doubtful 
 whether, in spite of the efforts of the British Government, it has 
 been completely put down among the wild tribes, as the Gonds 
 and the Khonds.^ The records of China, from the eighth cen- 
 tury B.C. onward are said to prove the existence of human sacrifice.'^ 
 Among the ancient Scandinavians and Germans it was frequent.' 
 In more recent times the practice is known either to exist or to 
 have existed in Polynesia (Fiji, Samoa), Melanesia (Florida Islands), 
 Borneo (formerl)'),'' and North America (the Iroquois, the Natchez, 
 the Florida peninsula, and the Southwest coast). ^ Nowhere does 
 it appear on so large a scale as in Mexico ; and it existed also in 
 Peru.® In Africa it was practiced to a frightful extent in Ashanti- 
 land and Dahomiland and more guardedly in Voruba.' 
 
 1031. Its gradual disappearance (a result of increasing refine- 
 ment of feeling) was marked by the substitution of other things 
 for human victims or of aliens for tribesmen. In early times indeed 
 it seems to have been slaves and captives taken in war that were 
 commonly sacrificed. In more civilized times the blood of a tribes- 
 man, as more precious than other blood, was regarded as being 
 more acceptable to the deity, and it was then a sign of advance 
 when aliens were substituted for tribesmen. Lower animals were 
 sacrificed in place of men : in India, where the recently sown fields 
 had been fertilized with human blood, it became the practice to kill 
 a chicken instead of a human being; and so in the story of Abraham 
 (Gen. xxii) a ram is substituted for the human being. ** Elsewhere 
 
 1 Hopkins, op. cit., p. 526 ff. Cf. also the practice of the thugs, which has now 
 been put a stop to by the British Government. «> 
 
 2 De Groot, in Saussaye, Lchrbuch der Rcligionsgeschichtc , 2d ed., p. 77 f. 
 
 3 Saussaye, Religion of the TaUous, Index, s.v. 
 
 * Williams, Fiji; Turner, Samoa; Codrington, The Melancsiam. 
 
 5 Waitz-Gerland, Anlhropologie tier Natio-'dlkcr, Index; J. G. Miiller, Gcschichtc 
 der amerikanischcn L'ncligioiien, Index; Gatschet, Migration Legend of the Creeks, 
 p. 36. 
 
 •* Payne, The Ne-u World, Called America. In Mexico the victim was surrounded 
 with luxuries (including wives) and treated as a god for one year and then sacrificed 
 (Frazer, Golden Dough, ist ed., ii, 21S ff. ; 2d ed., ii, 342 f.). 
 
 ^ A. B. Ellis, Tshi, Eiue, and Yoruha. 
 
 8 For such substitutions in Greece see Gardner and Jcvons, Greek Antiquities, 
 p. 243 f.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 491 
 
 paste images arc offered to the deity as representing men ; an 
 interesting development is found in Yorulia, where the proposed 
 victim, instead of being sacrificed, becomes the protector of the 
 sacrificer ; that is, he is regarded as substantially divine, as he 
 would have been had he been sacrificed.^ 
 
 1032. Along with gifts, which formed perhaps the earliest 
 method of conciliating divine beings, we find in very early times 
 a number of procedures in honor of the deity, and intended in 
 a general way to procure divine favor. Among these procedures 
 dances and processions are prominent. The dance, as is observed 
 above," is simply the transference to religious rites of a common 
 social act. It is, however, often supposed to have been communi- 
 cated supernaturally, and in some cases it attains a high religious 
 significance by its association with stories of divine persons. This 
 organized symbolic dance has been developed to the greatest extent 
 among certain North American Indian tribes.'^ Here every actor 
 and every act represents a personage or procedure in a myth, and 
 thus the dance embodies religious conceptions. This sort of sym- 
 bolism has been adopted also in some sections of the Christian 
 church, where it is no doubt effective in many cases as an element 
 of external worship. 
 
 1033. While human sacrifice continued to a comparatively late 
 period, it was the ordinary sort of sacrifice that constituted the 
 main part of the ancient religious bond of society.* In the course 
 of time tlie apparatus of sacrifice was elaborated — altars, temples, 
 priests came into existence, and an immense organization was built 
 up. Sacrifices played a part in all the affairs of life, took on various 
 special shapes, and received different names. They were all placa- 
 tory — in every case the object was to bring men into friendly 
 relations with the god. They were expiatory when they were 
 designed to secure forgiveness for offenses, whether by bloody or 
 by unbloody offerings, or by anything that it was supposed would 
 
 1 Ellis, Yontba. 2§ ,06 ff. 
 
 8 Alice Fletcher, IiuUan Ceremonies ; Journal of American Folklore, vol. iv (tSgi), 
 no. 15, and vol. xvii (1904), no. 64 ; Kiforts of the Bureau of Ethnology, vol. xiv, p. 701. 
 
 ■< Cf. Tylor, Primitive Cittture, Index, s.v. Sacrifice, and Westermarck, Origin and 
 Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. Sacrifice.
 
 492 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 secure the favor of the deity. They were performed when it was 
 desired to procure some special benefit, for on such occasions it 
 was necessary that the deity should be well disposed toward the 
 supplicant ; such supplicatory or impetratory sacrifices ha\e been 
 among the most common — they touch the ordinar)' interests of 
 life, the main function of religious exercises in ancient times being 
 to procure blessings for the worshiper. These blessings secured, 
 it was necessary to give thanks for them — encharistic sacrifices 
 formed a part of the regular worship among all civilized peoples. 
 When the crops came in, it was felt to be proper to offer a portion, 
 the first fruits, to the deity, as among the Hebrews and many 
 others, and. this custom once established, the feeling naturally 
 arose that to partake of the fruits of the earth before the deity 
 had received his part would be an impious proceeding likely to 
 call down on the clan or tribe the wrath of the god. When a gift 
 was made to a temple, since it was desirable that the deity should 
 accept it in a friendly spirit, a sacrifice was proper. \ In the numer- 
 ous cases in which some person or some object was to be conse- 
 crated to the deity a sacrifice was necessary in order to secure his 
 good will ; the ordination of temple-ministers, or the initiation of 
 the young into the tribe, demanded some consecrative sacrifice. 
 And, on the other hand, there was equal necessity for a sacrifice, 
 a deconsecrative or liberative ceremony, when the relation of con- 
 secration was to be terminated (as in the case of the Hebrew 
 Nazirite) or when a person was to be relieved from a taboo — in 
 this latter case the ceremony of cleansing and of sacrificing was 
 intended to secure the approval of the deity in whose name and 
 in whose interest the taboo had been imposed. \ 
 
 1034. Sacrifices might be individual or communal, occasional or 
 periodical. The early organization of society into clans made the com- 
 munal sacrifice the more prominent ^ — the clan was the social unit, 
 the interests of the individual were identical with those of the clan, 
 and there was rarely occasion for a man to make a special demand 
 on the deity for his individual benefit. Such occasions did, however, 
 arise, and there was no difficulty in an individual's making a request 
 
 1 Cf. Wissowa, Religion dcr Romcr, p. 33S f.
 
 socj.ii. ni:\i:i.orMi:.\r oi' RELIGION 493 
 
 of tlie tribal god i)rovidcd it was not contrary to the interests of the 
 tribe. If the petitioner went to some god or supernatural Power 
 other than the tribal god, this was an offense against tribal life. 
 
 1035. The great communal sacrifices were periodical. They 
 were determined by great turning-points in the seasons or by agri- 
 cultural interests. Sowing time; wlicn the crops became ripe; 
 harvest time ; midsummer and midwinter — such events were 
 naturally occasions for the common approach of the members of 
 the tribe to the tribal deity. The same thing is true of military 
 expeditions, which were held to be of high importance for the life 
 of the tribe. War was, as W. R. Smith calls it, a " holy function," ' 
 and its success was supposed (and is now often supposed) to 
 depend on the supernatural aid of the deity. The particular 
 method of conducting the ceremonies in such cases varied with the 
 place and time, but the purpose of the worshiper and the general 
 methods of proceeding are the same among all peoples and at all 
 times. Occasions connected with the individual, such as birth, 
 initiation, marriage, death, and burial, are also affairs of tl.e family 
 or clan, and the same rule applies to sacrifices on such occasions 
 as to the great communal periodical offerings. 
 
 1036. It was inevitable that the ritual, that is, the specific mode 
 of procedure, should receive a great development in the course of 
 history. As colleges of priests were established, ceremonial elabo- 
 rateness would become natural, and precise methods of proceeding 
 would be handed down from generation to generation. Thus in 
 many cases the w^orshiper had to be prepared by purificatory and 
 other ceremonies, and the priest had to submit to certain rules 
 before he could undertake the sacrifice. The victim was selected 
 according to certain prescriptions : it had to be of a certain age or 
 sex, of a certain color, generally free from impurities and defects, 
 and sometimes it was necessary that it should show itself willing to 
 be sacrificed.^ These details do not at all affect the essence of the 
 
 1 Religion of the Semites, 2cl ed., p. 455. 
 
 2 I,ev. i-iv, viii, xvi, xxi ; Numb, xix ; Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 197 ff. ; Gard- 
 ner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, Index, s.v. Priests and Sacrifices ; Lippert, Ge- 
 schiehtc dcs Priestcrthitms.
 
 494 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 sacrifice. They are all the result of the ordinary human tendency 
 to organization, to precise determination of particulars, and while 
 certain general features are easily understood (those, for example, 
 relating to the perfectness of the victim) others arc the result of 
 considerations which are unknown to us. It would be a mistake 
 to seek for the origin of sacrifice in such ritualistic details. 
 
 Theories of the Origin of Sacrifice 
 
 1037. Up to a very recent time the institution of sacrifice was 
 generally accepted either as a natural human custom, due to 
 reverence for the gods, or as of divine prescription. In very early 
 documents, as, for example, in the Iliad and in certain parts of the 
 Old Testament, it is assumed tliat the material of sacrifice is the 
 food of the gods — a fact of interest in the discussion of the origin 
 of sacrifice, never, however, in ancient times formulated as a 
 theor)-. In the Graeco-Roman and later Jewish periods sacrifices 
 seem lc> liave been conceived of in a general way as a mark of 
 respect to the deity and fell more and more into disuse as the 
 ethical feeling became distinctcr. In the New Testament there is 
 a trace of the view that the victim is a substitute for the offerer : 
 in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said that the blood of bulls and 
 goats could never effect the remission of sin — a nobler victim was 
 necessary.^ A similar conception is found in the later Greek and 
 Roman literature, but there is still no distinct theory. In the third 
 century of our era Porphyry, who was greatly interested in religious 
 matters and, doubtless, represents a considerable body of thought- 
 ful current opinion, says simply that sacrifices are offered to do 
 honor to a deity or to give thanks or to procure favors." The 
 early Christian writers make no attempt to explain the origin of 
 the custom, nor do we find any such attempt in the European phi- 
 losophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It was not 
 until the spirit of historical inciiiiry had entered the sphere of reli- 
 gious investigation that the question as to the historical beginning 
 and the significance of sacrifice was fairly put. 
 
 1 Hcb. X, 3. 2 Dc Alistincntia, ii, 24.
 
 soc/.iL i)EIi:lopmi:.\t of ri:ligion 495 
 
 1038. Ill discussions of this (|ucstion a distinction is sometimes 
 made between bloody and unbloody offerings — they are supposed 
 to differ in placatory or expiatory virtue, and one or the other of 
 them is held to precede in order of time. 'I'he facts seem, how- 
 ever, not to warrant this distinction. J'Acry where the two sorts of 
 offering have equal power to please and placate the deity ; the 
 special prominence that may be given to the one or the other is 
 due to peculiar social conditions that do not affect the essential 
 nature of the rite.^ As to precedence of one or the other in time 
 the available data offer nothing definite beyond the fact that choice 
 between thc-ni is determined by the circumstances of a community 
 — the material of an offering is whatever (food or other thing) 
 seems natural and appropriate in a particular place and at a par- 
 ticular time, and this may vary, of course, in the same community 
 at different stages of culture. 
 
 1039. Current theories of the origin and significance of sacrifice 
 divide themselves into two general groups, the one laying stress 
 on the idea of gift, the other on the idea of union with the deity. 
 Both go back ultimately to the same conception, the conviction, 
 namely, that man's best good can be secured only by the help of 
 the supernatural Powers ; but they approach the subject from dif- 
 ferent points of view and differ in their treatment of the rationale 
 of the ritual. 
 
 1040. The conception of an offering as a gift to a deity is found 
 in very early times and is common in low tribes. In Greece the 
 word for " gift," as offering, occurs from Homer on, and in Latin 
 is frequent, and such a term is employed in Sanscrit. The common 
 Hebrew term for sacrifice {miiiha) has the same sense ; it is used 
 for both bloody and unbloody offerings, though from the time of 
 Ezekiel (sixth century p..c.) onward it became a technical term 
 for cereal offerings.'^ The details of savage custom are given by 
 Tylor," who proposes as the scheme of chronological development 
 " gift, homage, abnegation." This order, which is doubtless real, 
 embodies and depends on growth in social organization and in the 
 
 1 Sec below, § 1045 ff. 2 Gen. iv, 3, 4 : Lev. ii, al. 
 
 « Primiik'c Ciiltutc, ii, 375 ff. ; cf. Spencer, Principles of Sociology, i, 280 ff.
 
 496 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 consequent growth in depth and refinement of religious feeling, 
 'riie object of a gift is to procure favor and protection ; homage 
 involves the recognition of the deity as overlord, and, in the higher 
 stages of thought, as worthy of reverence — always, however, with 
 the sense of dependence and the desire for benefits ; abnegation is 
 the devotion of one's possessions and, ultimately, of one's self; this 
 idea sometimes assumes a low form, as if the deity were pleased 
 with human loss and suffering, or as if human enjoyment were 
 antireligious,^ sometimes approaches the conception of the unity 
 of the worshiper with the object of worship.^ 
 
 1041. A special form of the gift-theory, with a peculiar coloring, 
 is that which holds that some object is substituted for the wor- 
 shiper who has fallen under the displeasure of the deity and is in 
 danger of punishment. This conception, however, is found only 
 in the most advanced religions. The pases in which an animal is 
 substituted for a human victim ^ are of a different character — 
 they are humane reinterpretations of old customs. In eariy pop- 
 ular religion the only examples of a deity's deliberately inflicting 
 on innocent persons the punishment of another's wrongdoing are 
 connected with the old conception of tribal and national solidarity 
 — CEdipus, Achan, David, and others, by their crimes, bring mis- 
 fortune on their peoples ; when the guilty have received their 
 punishment the innocent are relieved. A real vicarious suffering 
 is not found in these cases or in any ancient sacrificial ritual — the 
 victim is not supposed to bear the sin of the sacrificant.^ It is 
 only in comparatively late theological constructions that vicarious 
 atonement occurs. Some Jewish thinkers were driven to such a 
 theory by the problem of national misfortune. The pious and 
 faithful part of the nation, the " Servant of Vahweh," had shared 
 in its grievous sufferings, and, as the faithful did not deserve this 
 punishment, the conclusion was drawn that they suffered for the 
 
 1 So often in ascetic practices. 2 go, for example, in the Im'itatio Christi. 
 
 8 Euripides, Iphtgencia in Aiilis, 1581 ff. (Iphigeneia) ; Gen. xxii (Isaac) ; and 
 similar procedures in Hesiod, Theogony, 535 ff. ; Ovid, Fasti, iii, 339 ff . ; Aitarcya 
 Bra/imana, ii, 8; Qatapatha Drahmaita, i, 2, 3, 5. 
 
 * The expulsion of sin or evil in the person of a beast or a human being is a 
 totally different conception. See above, § 143.
 
 SOCIAL I)E\i:loi'Mi:xt ()/■■ Ri:Lh;/oN 497 
 
 iniquilics of tlic bocl\- of llic j^eoplc ; ' their suffering, however, 
 was to end in \iclor\- and prosperity. In this conception the theory 
 of solidarity is obvious, but it differs from the old tribal theory in 
 that the suffering of the innocent brings salvation to the whole 
 mass. In the prophetic picture there is no explanation of how 
 this result was to be brought about — there is no mention of a 
 moral influence of the few on the many — only there is the impli- 
 cation that tlie nation, lau<;lit b_\- suffering, would in future be faith- 
 lul to the worship of tlie national deit_\-. It does not appear wherein 
 the ethical and religious significance of the unmerited suffering of 
 the pious consisted ; apparent])- the object of the writer is merely 
 to account for this suffering and to encourage his countrymen. In 
 another passage," suffering is represented as having in itself expia- 
 tory power ; the view in this case is that a just deity must punish 
 sin, forgives, however, when the punishment has been borne. 
 
 1042. The view that the efificacy of sacrifice is due to the fact 
 that it brings about a union between the deity and the worshiper has 
 been construed in several different ways according as the stress is 
 laid on one or another of the elements of the rite. One theory 
 represents atonement, the reconciliation of god and man, as effected 
 by the physical act of sharing the flesh of a sacred animal ; another 
 finds it in the death of an animal made sacred and converted into 
 an intermediary by a series of ceremonies ; a third holds that union 
 with the divine is secured by whatever is pleasing to the deity. 
 
 1043. Recoticiliation through a coinmunal meal. Meals in which 
 the worshipers partook of the flesh of a sacred animal (in which 
 sometimes the dead animal itself shared) have probably been cele- 
 brated from an immemorial antiquity. Examples of such customs 
 among savages are given above.* A familiar instance of a com- 
 munal meal in civilized society is the Roman festival in which the 
 shades of the ancestors of the clan were honored (ihe sacra genti/icia) 
 — a solemn declaration of the unity of the clan-life.'* A more definite 
 
 1 Isa. liii. 2 isa. xl, 2. 8 Cf. §§ 12S, 217 ff., 1023. 
 
 •• Other examples are given in I'owlcr, Rimiait Fcsthals, pp. Si (shepherd sacrifice), 
 96 (Ferias Latina:), 194 (at the temple of Hercules), and cf. his Religious Experience 
 of the Roman People, Index, s.v. Meals, Sacrificial.
 
 498 JXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTOKV OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 act of social communion with a deity seems to be recognizable in the 
 repasts spread in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, which 
 appear, however, to ha\e been merely a social attachment to the 
 mysteries proper.^ In the feasts of the IMithraic initiates, in which 
 mythological symbolism is prominent, a more spiritual element 
 becomes visible : the participant absorbs something of the nature 
 of the god — power to overcome evil, with hope of immortality.^ 
 
 1044. In the ancient records of these ceremonies there is no 
 theor)' of the means bv wliiih man comes into friendly relations 
 with the deity. The meal is an act of friendly intercourse — it 
 doubtless involves the ancient belief that those who eat together 
 thus absorb a common life and are bound together by a strong tie. 
 In the earliest and simplest instances the feeling apparently is that 
 the communion is between the human participants — the divine 
 animal is honored as a brother; but, even when, as among the 
 Ainu,^ he receives a part of the food, the tie that binds him to them 
 rests on the fact of original kinship rather than on the communal 
 eating. Later the view that the god was pleased and placated by 
 the nourishment offered him assumed more definite form ; ■* hut it 
 is doubtful whether on such occasions man was regarded as the 
 guest of the deity. ^ 
 
 1045. However this may be, it is the effect of the food on the 
 god that has been made by W. Robertson Smilli the basis of an 
 elaborate theory of sacrifice ; ^' his view is that the assimilation of 
 the flesh and blood of the kindred divine animal strengthens the 
 deity's sense of kinship with his worshipers, and thus, promoting 
 a kindly feeling in him, leads him to pardon men's offenses and 
 grant them his protection. Smith's argument is mainly devoted to 
 
 1 Foucart, Dcs associations rcligici/scs chcz ks Grccs. Vox the I sis ceremony 
 cf. Apuleius, Aletamorphoscs, xi, 24 f. 
 
 2 Cumont, T/ic Mystcfics of Mithra (Eng. tr.), p. 160. On the magical clement 
 in mysteries cf. De Jong, Das aiitike Mystcricmvcscn, chap. vi. 
 
 8 See above, § 1024. ■* Itiad^ i, 66 f. ; Odyssey, x, 5 iS ff. ; Gen. viii, 21. 
 
 5 So Wellhausen, Prolegomena to the Jlistoiy of Israel (Eng. tr.), p. 62. In the 
 Roman sacra gcntilicia it was rather the divinized ancestors who were the guests — 
 they were entertained by the living. 
 
 fi In his article "Sacrifice" in Encyclopicdia Britannica (1886) and his Religion 
 of the Semites (new ed., 1S94).
 
 sociAJ. i)i-:\i':iA)r.\fi':.\r oi-' riujgiox 499 
 
 illustrating the ancient conception of blood-kinship between gods, 
 men, and beasts. He assumes that sacrifice is the offering of food 
 to the deity (the blood of the animal, as the seat of life, coming 
 naturally to be the most important part of the offering), the sacred- 
 ness of the victim, and the idea of communion, and further that 
 the victim is a totem — the existence of totemism in the Semitic 
 area, he hcjlds, though not susceptible of rigid proof, is made prac- 
 tically certain by the wide diffusion of the totemic conception 
 elsewhere.^ As evidence that the effective thing in sacrifice is the 
 sharing of sacred flesh and blood, he adduces a great number of 
 offerings (such as the shedding one's own blood and the offering 
 of one's hair) in which there is no death of a victim, and no idea 
 of penal satisfaction of the deity. In the Israelite ritual he lays 
 special stress on the common clan-sacrifice (the zeba/i) in which a 
 part of the victim is given to the god and a part is consumed by 
 the worshiper ; this he contrasts with offerings that are given 
 wholly to the god, and, leaving aside piacula and holocausts, this 
 distinction he makes correspond to that between animal and 
 vegetable offerings, the latter, he holds, being originally not con- 
 ciliatory. Thus, he concludes, the expiatory power lies in the 
 sharing of animal flesh. Here the theory is confronted by the 
 holocaust and the piaculum. expiatory sacrifices in which there is 
 no communal eating. Smith meets this difficulty by suggesting 
 that these two sorts of sacrifice belong to a relatively late period, 
 when, in the progress of society, the original conception had become 
 dim. As time went on, he says, the belief in kinship with animals 
 grew fainter. Sacrificial meals became merely occasions of feasting, 
 and at the same time the establishment of kingly government 
 familiarized men with the idea of tribute — so sacrifice came to be 
 regarded as a gift and the victim was wholly burnt (holocaust); 
 the same result was reached when the feeling arose that the victim 
 was too sacred to be eaten — it must be other^vise disposed of 
 (piaculum). The piacula he refers to times of special distress, when 
 
 1 The assumption that the victim is a totem is not necessary to his argument, 
 which rests on the sacrcdncss (that is, the divinity) of the victim — a fact univer- 
 sally admitted.
 
 500 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 recourse was had to the sacrifice of ancient sacred animals, old 
 totems (Hebrew : " unclean " animals), supposed to have special 
 potency.^ It is true that in the course of time certain old concep- 
 tions grew dim, but this does not set aside the fact that expiatory 
 power was supposed to attach to animal sacrifices in which there 
 was no communal eating ; though some of these were late, they 
 doubtless retained the old idea of the nature of the cfiicacy of 
 sacrifice. 
 
 1046. In Smith's theory there is confusion between the two 
 ideas of communion and expiation or plication. All the facts ad- 
 duced by him go to show only that the earliest form of animal 
 sacrifice took the form of communal eating ; and in such repasts, 
 as in the savage feasts on the bodies of warriors and others, the 
 prominent consideration seems to have been the assimilation of 
 the qualities of the thing consumed — in this case a divine animal. 
 There is not a word of proof of the view that the placation of the 
 deity was due to his assimilation of kindred flesh and blood. Such 
 a view is not expressed in any ancient document or tradition, and, 
 on tlie other hand, placation by gifts of food (animal or vegetable) 
 and other things appears in all accounts of early ritual. Even in 
 the sacramental meals of later times, Eleusinian, Christian, and 
 Mithraic, there is no trace of the theory under consideration. In 
 the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles" (ix f.) the conception of 
 the eucharistic meal is simply symbolical. The origin of the 
 Australian custom- (in wliicli the food brought in by a clan is not 
 eaten till the old men have first tasted it ) is obscure ; but there is 
 no hint that the food was supposed to be shared b\' a supernatural 
 being.' Piacula arose under the influence of a deep sense of indi- 
 vidual relation to the deity, and sometimes in connection with 
 voluntary associations in which a special sanctity was held to 
 accrue to the initiates through the medium of a cult in which 
 special .sacrifice^ were prominent. It was natural that peculiarly 
 
 1- Isa, Ixv, Ixvi. 
 
 2 Spencer and Gillen, Nat'ne Tribes of Central Aiislyulux ; id., Native Tribes 
 of Northern Australia. 
 
 8 On this point and on Smith's theory in general see the exposition of the theory 
 by Jevons, Introduction to the History of Religion, chap. xii.
 
 SOCIAL ni:\i-:iA)rMi:\T o/-- ricligion 501 
 
 solemn or dreadful offerings should be made to llu- deity in times 
 of great distress; the placating efficacy in such cases seems 'to 
 have been due to the pleasure taken by the deity in the proof of 
 devotion given by the worshipers. In general, the communal meal 
 lost its early significance as time went on, and came at last to be 
 celebrated merely as a traditional mark of respect to the deity, or 
 as a social function ; the belief in its efficacy, however (and some- 
 times belief in its magical power), survived into a relatively late 
 period. 
 
 1047. In one point, the death of the god, J. G. Frazer, while 
 accepting Smith's theory in general, diverges from his view. 
 Smith regards the death of the god as having been originally the 
 sacrificial death of the divine totem animal, with which later the 
 god was identified. P>azer ^ (here following Mannhardt ^) finds its 
 origin in the death of the vegetation-spirit (the decay of vegetation), 
 which was and is celebrated in many places in Europe, and fur- 
 nishes an explanation of the myths of Adonis, Attis, Osiris, Diony- 
 sus, Demeter and Proserpine, and Lityerses. This explanation is 
 adopted and expanded by Hubert and Mauss.^ So far as the 
 mere fact of the sacrifice of a divine being is concerned it might 
 be accounted for by either of these theories ; but the numerous 
 points of connection between the deities in question and the an- 
 cient ideas concerning the death of vegetation make the view of 
 Mannhardt and Frazer the more probable. The kernel of the 
 original custom is not expiation but celebration or worship ; the 
 myths are dramatic developments of the simple old idea. Frazer 
 suggests that the spirit or god, supposed to be enfeebled by age, 
 was slain by the worshipers in order that a more vigorous successor 
 might infuse new life into the world — an explanation that is 
 possible but cannot be considered as established or as probable.* 
 However this may be, it was at a relatively late period that the 
 conception of communion was introduced into . ceremonies con- 
 nected with the death of a deity. Originally the grain, identified 
 
 1 The Dying God (part iii of 3d ed. of The Golden Dough). 
 
 2 W'ald- and Fcldkidtc, 2d ed., ii, 273 ff. 3 Uanncc sociologiqiie, ii, 115 ff. 
 * Frazer, The Dying God, chap, ii, § 2.
 
 502 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 with the god, was eaten in order to acquire his strength ; ' such 
 seems to be the purpose in the Mexican ceremonies in which paste 
 images of the deity were eaten by all the people. With the growth 
 of moral and spiritual conceptions of worship such communal 
 eating came naturally to be connected with a sense of union of 
 soul with the deity, as we find in the higher religions, but still with- 
 out the feeling that reconciliation and unity were effected through 
 the absorption, by god and man, of the same sacred food. 
 
 1048. In some forms of Christianity the sacramental eating is 
 brought into connection with the atoning death of a divine person, 
 but this latter conception came independently by a different line of 
 thought. Its basis is the idea of redemption, which is an element 
 in all sacrifice proper. And, as the death of the divine victim is 
 held to rescue the worshiper from punishment for ill doing, the 
 conclusion is natural that the former stands in the place of the 
 latter. In the higher forms of thought such substitution could only 
 be voluntary on the part of the victim. Traces of the self-sacrifice 
 of a god have been sought in such myths as the stories of the 
 self-immolation of Dido and Odin; but the form and origin of 
 these myths are obscure ^ — all that can be said of them in this 
 connection is that they seem not to contain expiatory conceptions.' 
 The higher conception of a divine self-sacrifice is a late historical 
 development under the influence of convictions of the moral majesty 
 of God and the sinfulness of sin. 
 
 1049. Union icif/i the dh'inc tliroi(i:;h a sanctified victim. The 
 conception of sacrifice as bringing about a union of the divine and 
 the human is reached in a different way from that of .Smith by 
 MM. Hubert and Mauss, and receives in their hands a peculiar 
 coloring.'' They hold that the numerous forms of sacrifice cannot 
 be reduced to " the unity of a single arbitrarily chosen principle " ; 
 and in view of the paucity of accurate accounts of early ritual (in 
 
 1 Cf Frazer, Adorns Attn Osiris (part iv of 3d cd, of T/w Golden Bougfi) ; 2d ed. 
 of T/ie Golden Bough, ii, 365 f. 
 
 2 Article " Dido '' in Koscher's Lexikon ; Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons, p. 231. 
 
 3 For the view that Odin's self-sacrifice is merely an imitation of the reception 
 into the Odin-cult see Meyer, Allgennanialie Rcligionsgcscliicliic , p. 241. 
 
 ^ L'anncc soeiologiquc, ii.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMllXT OF R ELI G I OX 503 
 
 wliith they include the Greek and the Roman) they reject the 
 "genealogical" (that is, the evolutionary) method, and devote them- 
 selves to an analysis of the two ancient rituals, the Hindu and the 
 Hebrew, that are known in detail and with exactness. They thus 
 arrive at the formula : " Sacrifice is a religious act which, by the 
 consecration of a victim, modifies the state of the moral person 
 who performs it, or of certain objects in which this person is in- 
 terested." The procedure in sacrifice, they say, consists in estab- 
 lishing a comiininicalion between the sacred world and the profane 
 world by the intermediation of a \ictim, that is, of a thing that is 
 destroyed in tlie course of the ceremony ; it thus serves a variety 
 of purposes, and is dealt with in many ways : the flesh is offered 
 to hostile spirits or to friendly deities, and is eaten in part by wor- 
 shipers or by priests ; the ceremony is employed in imprecations, 
 divination, vows, and is redemptive by the substitution of the vic- 
 tim for the offender ; the soul of the beast is sent to join its kin 
 in heaven and maintain the perpetuity of its race ; all sacrifices 
 produce either sacralization or desacralization — both offerer and 
 victim must be prepared (for the victim is not, as Smith holds, 
 sacred by nature, but is made sacred by the sacrifice), and, the 
 ceremony over, the person must be freed from his sanctity (as 
 in the removal of a taboo) ; all sacrifice is an act of abnegation, 
 but the abnegation is useful and egoistic, except in the case of the 
 sacrifice of a god. 
 
 1050. The essay of MM. Hubert and Mauss is rather a de- 
 scription of the mode of procedure in Hindu sacrifice than an 
 explanation of the source of its power. A victim, it is said, sanc- 
 tified by the act of sacrifice, effects communication between the 
 two worlds, but we are not told wherein consists this sanctifying 
 and harmonizing efficacy. The rituals chosen for analysis are the 
 product of many centuries of development and embody the con- 
 ceptions of theological reflection ; it does not appear why they 
 should be preferred, as sources of information concerning the 
 essential nature of sacrifice, to the simple rites of undeveloped 
 communities. The authors of the essay, though they deny the 
 possibility of finding a single explicative principle chosen arbitrarily,
 
 504 IXTRODUCTION TO HIiiTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 themselves announce a principle, which, however, amounts simply 
 to the statement that sacrifice is placatory. In thus ascribing the 
 virtue of the ceremony to the act itself it is possible that they may 
 have been influenced by the Brahmanic conception that sacrifice 
 had power in itself to control the gods and to secure all blessings 
 for men ; it was credited by them with magical efficacy, and the 
 efficacy depended on performing the act with minutest accuracy 
 in details — the slightest error in a word might vitiate the whole 
 proceeding.' The developed Hindu system thus embodied in learned 
 form the magical idea that is found in many early procedures, and 
 in some other cults of civilized communities. So far as regards the 
 variety of functions assigned by MM. Hubert and Mauss to sacri- 
 fice, they may all be explained as efforts to propitiate supernatural 
 Powers ; and the obligation on priests and worshipers to purify 
 themselves by ablutions and otherwise arises from a sense of the 
 sacredness of the sacrificial act, which is itself derived from the 
 feeling that the sacredness of supernatural beings communicates 
 itself to whatever is connected with them. Tlie view that the vic- 
 tim is not in itself sacred is contradicted by all the phenomena of 
 early religion. Though the essay of MM. Hubert and Mauss for- 
 mulates no definition of the ultimate efficient cause in sacrifice, 
 passing remarks appear to indicate that they look on the offering 
 as a gift to superhuman Powers, and that their object is to show 
 under what conditions and circumstances it is to be presented. 
 
 1051. Siicrifice as the expression of desire for itnion 7i>if/i the 
 Infinite. Professor C. P. Tiele, dissatisfied with existing theories 
 of the significance of sacrifice, contents himself with a general 
 statement.^ After pointing out that the material of sacrifice in 
 any community is derived from the food of the community, he 
 passes in review briefly the theories of Tylor (gifts to deities), 
 Spencer (veneration of deceased ancestors), and Robertson Smith ; 
 all these, though he thinks it would be presumptuous to condemn 
 them hastily, he finds insufficient, most of them, he says, confining 
 
 1 Yajiir-Vcda, passim; (^atapatha Brahmana, i, 3, 6, 8 ; ii, 6, 2; Hopkins, Reli- 
 gions of India, p. 188 al. ; Bloomfield, Kclis^ion of the Veda, pp. 31 ff., 215. 
 
 2 Elements of the Science of Religion (Gifford Lectures), ii, 144 ff.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 505 
 
 themselves to a single kind of offering, whereas every kind should 
 be taken into account, gifts presented, objects and persons con- 
 secrated, victims slain with or without repasts, possessions and 
 pleasures renounced, acts of fasting and abstinence, every kind 
 of religious self-denial or self-sacrifice. The question being whether 
 one and the same religious need is to be recognized in all the varie- 
 ties, he finds the root of sacrificial observances in the yearning of 
 the believer for abiding ct)mmuni()ii with the supernatural Power 
 to which he feels himself akin, the longing of finite man to become 
 one with the Infinity above him. 
 
 1052. Tide here has in mind the highest form of the religious 
 consciousness, which he carries back to the beginnings of religious 
 thought. He is justified in so doing in so far as all later develop- 
 ments must be supposed to exist in germinal form at the outset of 
 rational life ; but such a conception tells us nothing of the historical 
 origin of customs. The idea of the relation between the finite and 
 the infinite is not recognizable in early thought ; to trace the history 
 of such an institution as sacrifice we desire to know in v> hat sort 
 of feeling it originated, and we may then follow its progress to its 
 highest definition. All the details mentioned by Tiele are included 
 under the head of gift except acts of abstinence and self-sacrifice, 
 and these last belong properly not to what is technically known as 
 " sacrifice," but to man's endeavor to bring himself into ethical 
 harmony with an ethical deity. With equal right prayer and all 
 moral conduct might here be included ; Tiele thinks of " sacrifice " 
 as embracing the whole religious life. In the earliest known cults 
 the ■' yearning for union with the Infinite " takes the form of de- 
 sire to enter into friendly relations with superhuman Powers by 
 gifts, in order to derive benefit from them ; when old forms have 
 been outgrown the conviction arises that what is well-pleasing to 
 God is the presentation of the whole self, as a " living sacrifice," 
 in service in accordance with reason (Rom. xii, i). 
 
 1053. The various theories of the origin and efficacy of sacrifice 
 (omitting the ambassadorial conception) are thus reducible to three 
 types : it is regarded as a gift, as a substitution, or as an act 
 securing union (physical or spiritual) with the divine. These have
 
 506 IXTRODL'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 all maintained themselves, in one form or another, up to the present 
 day. The old ritual slaughter of an animal and the presentation 
 of vegetables and other things have, indeed, vanished. The move- 
 ment of thought against animal sacrifice began in the Western 
 world (among the Greeks and the Hebrews) probably as early as 
 the fourth century B.c.^ In Greece the formulation of philosophic 
 thought and the rise of individualism in religion (embodied, for ex- 
 ample, in the great Mysteries; brought larger and more spiritual 
 ideas into prominence. Rational law and inward impulse took the 
 place, in the higher circles, of ritual offerings. The object of law, 
 says Plato, is the encouragement of virtue of all kinds and the 
 securing of the highest happiness ; but, he holds, there is some- 
 thing higher than law : the good Athenian is above other men, 
 for he is the only man who is freely and genuinely good by inspi- 
 ration of nature, and is not manufactured by law.^ The Mysteries 
 assumed that every man, with suitable inward preparation, was 
 fitted to enter into a spiritual union with the deity. The later Jews 
 showed equal devotion to their law, held to be di\-inely given, la}ing 
 the stress on the moral side;' jurists became more important than 
 priests, and the synagogue (representing individual worship) more 
 influential than the temple-ritual. In certain psalms* sacrifice is 
 flatly declared not to be acceptable to God ; this attitude had been 
 taken by the earlier prophets,® but is emphasized in the psalms in 
 the face of the later opinion that the sacrificial ritual was of divine 
 ordination (so in E.\odus, Leviticus, Numbers). In the Gospels 
 the sacrificial ritual is practically ignored. In India the Brahmanic 
 and Buddhistic movements toward rational conceptions of religion 
 showed themselves as early as the sixth centurj' B.C. Thus, over 
 a great part of the civilized world intellectual and moral progress 
 took the form of protest against the old idea of sacrifice. 
 
 1054. Vet old customs are long-lived, and the ancient theories, 
 as is remarked above, still have a certain {X)wer. The crudest of 
 them — that the deit\' may be propitiated by gifts — shows itself 
 
 1 Plato (La-US. iii, 716; says that a bad man gets no benefit from sacrifice. 
 2/.^aj,i, 631,642 3 Ps. xix. 7 ff. : cxix. < Ps. xl. 7 ; 1, S-15 ; li, iS f., al. 
 
 5 Amos, V, 21 ff. : Isa. i, 1 1 fiT. : Mic. \n, 6 flf. ; Jer. \-ii, 21 ff.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 507 
 
 in the belief that ill-doing may be atoned for by the support of 
 charitable and religious institutions — by the building of churches 
 and hospitals, by the maintenance of religious worship, and by aid 
 to the poor. Society has benefited largely by this belief, especially 
 in medieval Europe and to some extent in Buddhistic and Moslem 
 communities ; it has formed a transition to higher conceptions, by 
 which it has now been in great measure replaced. The same thing 
 is true of ascetic observances. The idea of sacrificial substitution, 
 which has been prominent in organized Christianity from an early 
 period (though it has no support in the teaching of Jesus), might 
 seem to be prejudicial to religion for the reason that it tends to 
 depress the .sense of individual responsibility by relegating the 
 reconciliation with the deity to an external agency — and such has 
 often been its effect ; but this unhajopy result has been more and 
 more modified, partly by the natural human instinct of mcjral re- 
 sponsibility and the ethical standard of the Christian Scriptures, 
 partly by the feeling of gratitude and devotion that has been called 
 forth by the recognition of unmerited blessing. The third theory 
 of sacrifice, according to which its essence is union with the divine, 
 has passed gradually from the sphere of ritual to that of moral 
 culture. In mystical systems, Christian and Moslem, it has lent 
 itself sometimes to immorality, sometimes to a stagnant, egoistic, 
 and antisocial quietism ; but in the main it has tended to avoid 
 or abandon mechanical and mystical features, and confine itself 
 to the conception of sympathetic and intelligent cooperation with 
 what may be regarded as the divine activities of the world. 
 
 1055. Further external apparatus of religion. Along with the 
 growth of sacrifice there has been a natural development of every- 
 thing that was necessary' to give permanent form to public worship 
 — ritual, priests, temples, idols, and whatever was connected with 
 the later church organizations. 
 
 Ritual 
 
 Apart from magical procedures the earliest known public reli- 
 gious worship consisted simply in the offering of an animal, a 
 vegetable, a fluid, or other object to a superhuman being, the
 
 508 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 offering being performed by any prominent person and without 
 elaborate ceremonies. Inevitably, however, as the social organi- 
 zation grew more complex and the conception of sanctity more 
 definite, the ceremonial procedure became more elaborate. The 
 selection and the handling of the victim came to be objects of anx- 
 ious care, and the details increased in importance as they increased 
 in number. It was believed that minute accuracy in every ritual 
 act was necessary for the success of the offering. Various elements 
 doubdess entered into this belief : often a magical power was at- 
 tributed to the act of sacrifice ; and there was a feeling, it may be 
 surmised, that the deity was exacting in the matter of ceremonies 
 — these were marks of respect, such as was paid to human poten- 
 tates, and well-defined court rituals (on which the religious ritual 
 was probably based) appear in early forms of society. Thus ritual 
 tended to become the predominant element in worship, serving first 
 the interests of unity and order in religion, and later always in dan- 
 ger of becoming a mechanical and religiously degrading influence. 
 1056. In most savage and half-civilized communities sacrifice 
 is a simple affair, and the details of the ceremonies of worship 
 are rarely reported by travelers and other observers.^ An exception 
 exists in the case of the Todas of Southern India, who have elab- 
 orate ceremonies connected with the milking of buffaloes." The 
 ordinar}' buffaloes of a village are cared for by some prominent 
 man (never by a woman), who is sometimes a sacred person and 
 while carrying on his operations performs devotional acts (prayer 
 and so forth), but without a fixed ritual. A higher degree of sanc- 
 tity attaches to the institution called //, which comprises a herd of 
 buffaloes belonging to a clan and provided with dairies and graz- 
 ing-grounds ; each dairy has appropriate buildings, and the //' is 
 presided over by a sort of priest called a palol. The migration of 
 the buffaloes from one grazing-ground to another is conducted as 
 a sacred function. In the case of an ordinary herd the procession 
 
 1 See Ellis, Ewe (Dahomi), Tslii (Ashanti), Yoniba; Miss Kingsley, Travels; 
 Codrington, The Melaiicsiaus ; Turner, Samoa ; articles " Andeans," " Bantu," 
 '■ Bengal," " Brazil," al., in Hastings, Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 Rivers, The Todas, chaps, vi, xi, xiii.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 509 
 
 of animals is accompanied by a religious official who carries the 
 dairy implements ; on reaching the destination the new dairy is puri- 
 fied, the sun is saluted, and prayer is offered. In a // migration the 
 procedure is more elaborate : the milking of the buffaloes is accom- 
 panied by prayers for the older and the younger members of the 
 herd, and every act of the {^dlol is regulated by law. The same thing 
 is true of the animal sacrifices : the slaughter of the victim and 
 the disposal of the various parts are accomplished in accordance 
 with definite rules that are handed down orally from one generation 
 to another. The Todas are a non-Aryan people, hardly to be called 
 half-civilized : if the buffalo-ritual is native with them, the natural 
 inference will be that the custom is ancient. Rivers adduces a con- 
 siderable number of similarities between Toda institutions and those 
 of the Malabar coast (such as polyandry and (jther marriage institu- 
 tions), and this agreement, as far as it goes, may point to a common 
 culture throughout a part of Southern India ; ^ the early history of 
 these tribes is, however, obscure. It is possible that the Todas have 
 borrowed some customs from the Hindus. They have certainly 
 adopted some Hindu gods, and Rivers suspects Hindu influence 
 in their recognition of omens and lucky and unlucky days, in cer- 
 tain of their magical procedures, and in their use of pigments and 
 ashes in some sacred ceremonies. There seems, however, to be no 
 proof that the buffalo-ritual has been borrowed from the Hindus. 
 On this question, which is of importance as bearing on the early his- 
 tory of ritual, it is to be hoped that further information will be got. 
 1057. Various nonsacrificial rituals (dances and so forth) are 
 referred to above.^ Magical processes should be here included so 
 far as they involve a recognition of superhuman agents ; they are 
 then to be regarded as religious. Definite magical ritual is found 
 in many of the lower tribes, and there are ceremonies in which a 
 shaman is the conductor — these are governed by fixed customs 
 as to dress, posture, acts, and words." They differ from magical 
 
 1 Cf. also Crooke's Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, in which 
 similar customs are mentioned. "^ Chapter iii. 
 
 •s Dixon, The Xorthcrn Maidu and The Shasta. For Korea see H. G. Under- 
 wood, Religions of Eastern Asia.
 
 5IO IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 processes in that tlicy arc assemblies of the people, religious be- 
 cause there is communication with spirits. In the Calif ornian tribes 
 and others they become occasions of merrymaking ; a peculiar fea- 
 ture of these gatherings among the Maidu and other tribes is the 
 presence of a clown who mimics the acts and words of the dancers 
 and performs knavish tricks ; the origin of this feature of the 
 dances is not clear. In all such ceremonies the tendency to regu- 
 late the details of religious performances is apparent, and such 
 regulation is found in so many parts of the world that it may be 
 regarded with probability as universal. 
 
 1058. For the ancient national religions we have the fullest 
 details in the case of the Hindus and the Hebrews. The Hindu 
 sacrificial ritual is described by MM. Hubert and Mauss ; ' the 
 Hebrew procedure is given in the later sections of the Pentateuch.^ 
 The Egyptian ritual also appears to have been elaborate, including 
 much music.'^ These show methods similar to those described above, 
 and probably the same general modes of procedure were followed 
 in Babylonia and Persia, though of the ritual in these countries 
 only slight notices have been handed down.^ The great Chinese 
 Imperial sacrifices are described by H. Blodget.'' 
 
 1059. These national systems exhibit a gradual quiet enlarge- 
 ment of the ritual resulting from increasing specialization in the 
 conception of sin and forgiveness and in the functions of religious 
 officials. A different sort of development appears in the rites of 
 the cults that sprang up on the ruins of the old faiths — Greek 
 Mysteries, Mithraism, Isisism, Christianity. These were all re- 
 demptive religions, highly individualistic and intense, efforts to 
 infuse into old forms the ideas concerning moral purity, union 
 with the deity, immortality, and future salvation that had arisen 
 
 1 L'amiee sociologiqiic, ii ; see above, § 1049. 
 
 2 Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. A single early detail is mentioned in i Sam. ii, 
 13 ff. For the later Jewish ceremonial see article " Sacrifice " in Encyclopadia Biblica. 
 
 3 Mariette, Abydos ; Maspero, Dawn of Civilization (Eng. tr.), p. 121 ff. ; Erman, 
 Handbook of Egyptian Religion, pp. 46-49, 122, 179 f. (reports of Herodotus). 
 
 4 For Babylonia see Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and .Issyria, Index, s.v. Rit- 
 ttals; for Mazdean, De Ilarlez, Avesta, Introduttion, pp. clxvi, clxx. 
 
 '" Journal of the American Oriental Soeiety, xx, 58 ff. ; cf. De Groot, in Saussaye, 
 Lehrbuch dcr Rcligionsgeschichte, p. 60 ff.
 
 SOCIAL DEIICLOIWIEXT OF RELIGION 511 
 
 in the Graeco-Roman world l)y llic natural growth of thought and 
 the intermingling of the various existing schemes of religious life. 
 They are all marked by a tendency toward elaborate organization, 
 a sharp differentiation from the national cults, and purificatory and 
 other ceremonies of initiation. 'i"he differentiation was most definite 
 in Christianity, the ritual was most highly developed in the other 
 movements. In the Greek public Mysteries ^ and in those of 
 Mithra "^ there were (besides ablutions) the old communal meals, 
 processions, striking dramatic performances, and brilliant effects 
 of light and music, and in Mithraism trials of courage for the 
 neophyte after the manner of the old savage initiations. The 
 ceremonies in the Isis cult were less sensational, more quiet and 
 dignified.* In all these cults there was symbolism, and the moral 
 teaching was of a lofty character. 
 
 1060. Christian ritual was at first simple,'' but rapidly grew in 
 elaborateness. The liturgy and the eucharistic ceremonies were 
 expanded into great proportions, and came to be the essence of 
 worship. This movement went on throughout Christendom (with 
 variations here and there) up to the rise of Protestantism, and after 
 that time continued in the Greek and Roman Churches. Protes- 
 tantism, in its recoil from certain doctrines of the Church of Rome, 
 threw off much of its ceremonial, which in the minds of the people 
 was associated with the rejected dogmas. Since the separation, how- 
 ever, especially in the last hundred years, the violent antagonism hav- 
 ing largely quieted down, there has been in some Protestant bodies 
 a slow but steady movement in the direction of ritualistic expansion ; 
 procedures that three centuries ago would have called forth earnest 
 protest are now accepted and interpreted in accordance witli Protes- 
 tant ideas. Doubtless the temperament of a people has something 
 to do with the amount of ceremonial it favors in religious service. 
 
 1061. The history of ritual thus shows that it tends to grow 
 in elaborateness and importance as social forms become more 
 
 1 Foucart, Associations relig'tcuscs chcz Ics Grccs\.}Q\ov\s, Introdi(ction to History 
 of RcUi:;ioii, chap, xxiii ; De Jong, Das antike Mystericnwcscn, p. 18 ff. 
 
 2 Cumont, Mysteries of Mithra. * Apuleius, Metamorphoses, chap. xi. 
 
 ■* 1 Cor. xi, 20 ff . ; xiv (cf. Acts ii, 46) ; Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, chap, ix f.
 
 512 J.XTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 elaborate and important — the mode of approaching the deity 
 imitates the mode of approaching human dignitaries, postures are 
 borrowed from current etiquette.^ Form was especially sought after 
 under the old monarchies, Egyptian and Assyrian." The exagger- 
 ated Oriental court etiquette, introduced into Roman life as early 
 as the time of Diocletian, was maintained and developed under the 
 Byzantine emperors.^ These usages may have affected the growth 
 of the Greek and Roman Church liturgies."* In modem China, 
 under the imperial government, divine worship was substantially 
 identical in form with the worship of the emperor. In some cases 
 it may be doubtful in which direction the borrowing has been. 
 
 The expansion of liturgical forms has often been accompanied 
 by the effort to interpret them symbolically. Intelligent reflection 
 has led to the conviction that forms without religious meaning are 
 valueless, and it has been easy, after ceremonies were established, 
 to attach spiritual definitions to their details. This relieves their ma- 
 terialism, and gives a certain realness and force to religious feeling. 
 
 Priests ^ 
 
 1062. A priest is a person commissioned by the community or 
 its head to conduct the sacrificial service and related services con- 
 nected with shrines. Such a person differs in two respects from 
 the religious official of the simplest times, the magician (shaman, 
 or medicine man) : the latter acts in his own name and by his own 
 authority, and the methods he employs are magical — - they are 
 based on the belief that the supernatural Powers are subject to 
 law and may be controlled by one who knows this law ; the priest 
 
 J So, for instance, postures in prayer, such as kneeling, bowing, standing. 
 
 2 The Amania Letters ; Records of Ancient Egypt, ed. Breasted ; cuneiform in- 
 scriptions. The Egyptian king, however, was regarded as divine. 
 
 3 Gibbon, chaps, xiii (Diocletian), xl, year 532 ; cf. descriptions in Scott's Count 
 Robert of Paris. 
 
 ■* Daniel, Codex IJtwgicus ; articles " Liturgie " and " Messe " in Ilerzog-Hauck, 
 Real-Encyklop'ddie ; articles " Liturgy " and " Liturgical Books " in Smith and 
 Cheatham, Dictionary of Christian Antiquities. 
 
 5 Cf. J. Lippert, Allgemevie Gcschiclite des Priestcrifiiims ; Westermarck, Origin 
 and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. Priests.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 5 I 3 
 
 acts in the name and by the authority of the community, and his 
 methods are dictated by the friendly social relation existing between 
 the community and the Powers. He differs, further, from those 
 religious ministrants (chiefs of clans, fathers of families, and other 
 prominent men) who acted by virtue of their social or political 
 positions in that his functions are solely religious and are in that 
 regard distinct from his civil position. He represents a differenti- 
 ation of functions in an orderly nonmagical religious society. Such 
 an office can arise only under a tolerably well-organized civil gov- 
 ernment and a fairly well-defined sacrificial ritual. It is doubtless 
 a slow growth, and there may be, in a community, a period of 
 transition from one grade of religious ministers to another when 
 the distinction between the priest and the magician or between 
 the priest and the headman is hardly recognizable ; the distinction 
 comes, however, to be well marked, and then indicates an impor- 
 tant turning-point in religious history. It may be, also, that at 
 certain times under certain circumstances the civil ruler may have 
 priestly functions or the priest may exercise civil authority ; but 
 these exceptional cases do not affect the specific character of the 
 sacerdotal office. 
 
 1063. The priest is a sacred person, and is affected by all the 
 conditions pertaining to the conception of " sacred." In early 
 times he has to be guarded against contamination by impure or 
 common (profane) things, and care has to be taken that his quality 
 of sacredness be not injuriously communicated to other persons or 
 to any object.^ The parts of his person, such as hair and nail- 
 parings, must not be touched by common folk. The dress worn 
 by him when performing his sacred duties must be changed when 
 he comes out to mix with the people. He must keep his body 
 clean, and the food that he may or may not eat is determined by 
 custom or by law. His sexual relations are defined — sometimes 
 he is forbidden to marry or to approach a woman, sometimes the 
 prohibition extends only to marriage with a certain sort of woman 
 
 1 On priestly taboos see Frazer, Golden Dough, 2d ed., Index, s.v. ; these are 
 often of the same sort as royal taboos. See above, § 595 fif. For Hebrew priestly 
 taboos see Ezek. xliv, Tev. xxi f.
 
 514 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 (a foreigner, a widow, or a harlot). In some cases he is forbidden 
 to engage in warfare or to slied human blood ; ^ the ground of this 
 prohibition was physical, not moral. - 
 
 1064. Similar rules in regard to food, marriage, chastity applied 
 to priestesses.'' Women were often, in ancient times, the minis- 
 trants in the shrines of female deities — there was a certain pro- 
 priety in this arrangement ; they w-ere, however, in some cases 
 attached to the service of male deities.* Their duties were in 
 general of a secondary character : they rarely, if ever, offered 
 sacrifice ; ^ they were often in charge of the temple-music ; the 
 function of soothsaying or of the interpretation of oracular say- 
 ings was sometimes assigned them. On the other hand, female 
 ministrants in temples, who were closely connected with temple 
 duties, were sometimes considered as wives of the god, and in 
 some cases had sexual relations with priests and worshipers, and 
 became public prostitutes.*"' This custom does not exist among the 
 lowest tribes, and it attained its largest development in some of 
 the great civilized cults. It seems not to have existed in Egypt." 
 The consecrated maidens described in the Code of Hammurabi 
 appear to have been chaste and respected ; ** the relation between 
 these and the harlots of the early Ishtar cult is not clear. A dis- 
 tinction may be made betw^een priestesses proper and maidens 
 (hierodules) consecrated to such a deity as Aphrodite Pandemos ; 
 Solon's erection of a temple to this goddess, w^hich he supplied 
 with women, may have been an attempt to control the cult of 
 the hetaerae. The thousand hierodules at Corinth ^ were probably 
 
 1 Westermarck, Origin and DcTclof^mcnt of the Moral Ideas, i, 348, 38 1. 
 
 2 Not all these conditions were to be found in any one community. 
 8 Westermarck, op. cit., ii, 406 ff. ■* I'ausanias, ii, 33, 3. 
 
 5 For a possible case see Wilkinson, The Ancient Egyptians, ist ed., i, 317. 
 
 6 Ellis, Eu'C, p. 141 ; Ward, History, Literature and Religion of the Hindoos, ii, 134 ; 
 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, p. 660 ; Hos. iv, 14; Deut. xxiii, 17 f. 
 (prohibition) ; Gen. xxxviii, 14 ff. 
 
 " Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, pp. 72, 221, is disposed to reject the 
 statement of Strabo (xvii, i, 46) that there was libertinage at Thebes. Cf. Wilkinson, 
 The Ancient Egyptians, Index, s.v. Priestesses. 
 
 8 C. H. W. Johns, article "Code of Hammurabi" in Hastings, Dictionary of the 
 Bible, extra volume; D. G. Lyon, "The Consecrated Women of the Hammurabi Code" 
 in Studies in the History of Religions presented to C. H. Toy. 9 Strabo, p. 378.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 5 i 5 
 
 not priestesses, and the same thing may be surmised to be true of 
 the women devoted t(^ the Semitic prototype of Ajjhroditc, the 
 Syrian Ashtart (Astarlc), and to the 15abylonian Ishtar.' 
 
 1065. The origin of temple prostitution is not clear. In many 
 cases (in Greece, Rome, Mexico, Peru, and elsewhere) the conse- 
 crated women were required to be virgins and to remain chaste — 
 this higher conception is obviously the natural one in a civilized 
 community in which the purity of wives and daughters is strictly 
 guarded. The old idea that sexual union was defiling may have 
 originated or strengthened the demand for chastity. The institu- 
 tion of the lower class of women docs not seem to have originated 
 in a society in which this regard for purity is lacking, for the hiero- 
 dulic class is rarely if ever found in existing societies of this sort. 
 The origin of the class is not to be sought in a low valuation of 
 woman, nor, on the other hand, is it to be found in a desire to 
 secure fruitfulness ; fruitfulness is generally secured by offerings 
 to the gods, and though the belief has doubtless existed that it 
 could be secured by commerce with a supernatural being,^ there 
 is no trace of this belief in the accounts of the lives of the hiero- 
 dules ; the benefit would be restricted also to a small number of 
 women. Probably the custom was developed gradually and, like 
 other such customs, had its ground in simple needs. Women were 
 required for the menial work of shrines.'^ Once established in service, 
 they would acquire a certain sanctity and power by their relation 
 to sacred things, and at the same time would, as unattached, be 
 sought by men. Their privileges and license would grow with 
 time — they would become an organized body, and would seek 
 to increase their power. In the course of tim6 current religious 
 ideas, low or high, would attach to them. They would be sup- 
 posed to be in the confidence of the deity, able to interpret his 
 will, and endowed with the power of cursing or blessing.'* With 
 the growth of refinement they would be thought of as servants 
 
 1 Roscher, Lexikoii, article " Aphrodite," col. 401. Cf. the practice mentioned in 
 I Sam. ii, 22. 2 Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day. 
 
 8 See, for example, i Sam. ii, 22. 
 
 ^ For a description of their privileges and power in Ashanti see Ellis, Tshi, 
 p. 121 ff.
 
 5l6 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of the deity, belonging to him and to no other, and might be 
 described, as in fact they are sometimes described, as his wives. 
 The title " wife " would be compatible with purity in the higher 
 religious systems, but in the lower systems would be connected 
 with license. 
 
 1066. Theories of the origin of religious prostitution. The license 
 just referred to is a part of a widespread custom of the prostitution 
 of sacred persons, of which various explanations have been offered.^ 
 The existence of the custom is attested for the larger part of the 
 ancient civilized and half-civilized world, and for many more recent 
 peoples. In old Babylonia, Canaan, Syria, Phoenicia, Asia Minor, 
 Armenia. Greece, and now in ^^'est Africa and India, we find 
 officially appointed " sacred " women a part of whose religious 
 dut}^ it was or is to offer themselves to men.^ The service in 
 ancient times was not regarded as degrading ; on the contrary, 
 maidens of the noblest families were sometimes so dedicated, and 
 the role of devotee might be continued in a family for generations.^ 
 Such service was sometimes a necessary preliminar)' to marriage. 
 This seems to be the case in the custom reported by Herodotus^ 
 that every native Babylonian woman had, once in her life, to sit 
 in the temple of Mylitta (Ishtar) and wait till a piece of money 
 was thrown into her lap by a stranger, to whom she must then 
 submit herself — this duty to the goddess accomplished, she lived 
 chastely. In Byblos a woman who refused to sacrifice her hair to 
 Ashtart on a certain festival day had to yield herself to a stranger.^ 
 
 Official male prostitutes also there were in some ancient -cults ; 
 but information about such persons is scanty, and they seem not 
 
 1 License in festivals and mystical or symbolic marriages are excluded as not 
 being official consecration of a class of persons. 
 
 2 Examples are given in Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral 
 Ideas, ii, 443 ff. ; Frazer, Adonis Attis Osiris, chap, iv ; Seligmann, Der bdsc Blick 
 und Ver-candtes, ii, 190 ff. ; and see above, § 3S4 ff. 
 
 3 Inscription of Tralles ; see Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i, 94 ff. ; 
 Famell, Cttlts of the Greek States, ii, 636. 
 
 ^ Herodotus, i, 199. The correctness of Herodotus's statement has been doubted; 
 but, though the procedure is singular, it is not wholly out of keeping with known 
 Babylonian customs. It must be remembered, however, that Herodotus wTOte long 
 after the fall of the Babylonian empire, when foreign influence was possible. See 
 also Epistle of Jercmias, v.' 43. 5 Pseudo-Lucian, De Syria Dea, chap. vi.
 
 SOCIAL DEiELOPMENT OF RELIGION 517 
 
 to have been numerous.' The most definitely named case is that 
 of the Hebrew official class called kedes/iim, that is, persons de- 
 voted to the service of the deity and therefore sacred '■^ (as it is 
 said in Zech. xiv, 20 ff., that bells on horses and temple-vessels shall 
 be sacred to Yahweh). These, together with the female devotees, 
 kedcshot ('' prostitutes "), are denounced as abhorrent to Yahweh ; 
 both were features in the ritual of the Jerusalem temple of the 
 seventh century b.c. and apparently earlier.^ The female devotee 
 is called a " harlot " and the male a " dog " (kalb). The original 
 religious sense of the latter term is uncertain. In the ( )ld Testa- 
 ment it occurs, in this sense, only in the passage cited above. In 
 a Phoenician inscription of Larnaca (in Cyprus) * the plural of the 
 word designates a class of attendants in a temple of Ashtart, and 
 there are proper names in which the term is an element (and 
 therefore an honorable title). It is not improbable that it meant 
 originally simply a devotee or minister of a god in a temple,^ the 
 bad sense having been attached to it in the Old Testament from 
 the license sometimes practiced by such ministers. 
 • The sentiment of chastity is a product of the highest civilization. 
 In many savage and half-civilized tribes the obligation on a 
 woman to keep herself pure is not fully recognized, and in the 
 case of married women the opposition to unfaithfulness some- 
 times springs from the view that it is a violation of the husband's 
 right of property in the wife. In some ancient civilized communi- 
 ties a god's right to a woman seems to have been taken for 
 granted.^ Ordinary prostitution seems to have existed in the world, 
 
 1 Homosexual practices do not belong here (Westermarck, op. cit., chap, xliii). 
 The intercourse of priests with sacred and other women is likewise excluded. 
 
 2 Dcut. xxiii, 18 [17] f., "sodomite."' 
 
 3 I Kings, xiv, 24 (tenth century), where the kcdcshim seem to be described as 
 a Canaanite institution. Cf. Deut. xxii, 5. 
 
 ■* Corpus Inscriptiomim Scmilicunnn, part i, i, 86, B lo. 
 
 * With allusion, perhaps, to the dog's faithfulness to his master. In the Amarna 
 Letters a Canaanite governor calls himself the " dog " {kallnt) of his Egyptian 
 overlord. Cf. W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p 292, n. 2. For exam- 
 ples of the sanctity of the dog see article "Animals" in Hastings, Encyclopedia of 
 Religion and Ethics, p. 512. 
 
 ^ Cf. Frazer, Adonis Attis Osiris, p. 71 f., and the curious story told in Josephus, 
 Antiquities, xviii, 3.
 
 5lS JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in all grades of civilization, from the earliest times. This attitude 
 toward the custbm being so widespread, it is not strange that it 
 has established itself in religious organizations. 
 
 Two types of organized religious prostitution have to be con- 
 sidered : ^ there is the Babylonian (Mylitta) type, in which every 
 woman must thus yield herself before marriage ; and there is the 
 attachment of a company of official public women to a temple 
 permanently or for a considerable time. The explanations that 
 have been offered of these institutions fall into two classes, one 
 tracing their origin to some nonreligious custom, the other re- 
 garding them as originally religious (these classes are, however, 
 not necessarily mutually exclusive). 
 
 Scriehir explanations. It has been held that all such customs go 
 back to a period of sexual promiscuit)',- which has been modified 
 in the course of ages. It is doubtful whether such a period ever 
 existed," but it is certain that prenuptial license has been common, 
 and this laxity may have prepared the way for organized prostitu- 
 tion. More particularly, reference is made to puberty defloration 
 ceremonies, when the girl is handed o\-cr to certain men no one of 
 whom can, by tribal rule, be her husband — that is, before marriage 
 she becomes sexually the property of the tribe through its regularly 
 appointed representatives, and is thus prepared for membership ; 
 then, it is added, at a later period, when religious service has been 
 established, the girl is given over or devoted not to the tribe but to 
 the tribal god, in whose shrine she must submit to defloration, in 
 accordance with rules fixed from time to time. The act thus becomes 
 religious — -it is a recognition of the sovereignty of the deity, and 
 procures divine favor. Such may be a possible explanation of the 
 procedure in the temple of Mylitta and at Byblos.* But the mean- 
 ing of the condition imposed at these places, namely, that the man 
 
 1 The Lydian method by which girls earned their dowries (Herodotus, i, 95) is 
 economic, and had, apparently, no connection with religion. 
 
 2 See above, § 180. Cf. Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i, 94 ff. 
 
 3 Westermarck, History of Human Maniagc, chap, iii ff. 
 
 ■* At Byblos the prostitution of the woman was required only in case she refused 
 to offer her hair to the goddess. This offering was probably originally a substitute 
 for the offering of her virginity, but there is no evidence that the latter was of the 
 nature of a sacrifice.
 
 SOCIAL PEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 519 
 
 to whom the woman yields herself must be a stranger, is not clear. 
 It is hardly probable that an outsider was called on to perform 
 what was regarded as a dangerous duty — a stranger would not 
 be likely to undertake what a tribesman feared to do.^ Nor is the 
 power of a stranger to confer benefits so well established that we 
 can regard his presence as intended to bring a blessing to the girl." 
 Morc to the point, in one respect, is the conjecture that we have 
 here an attenuated survival of the exogamic rule — the girl must 
 marry out of her social group ; '* the old social organization having 
 disappeared, the "stranger" takes the place of the original func- 
 tionary, and the deity the place of the clan. This explanation has 
 much in its favor ; but, as it is hardly possible to establish an his- 
 torical connection between the older and the later custom, it cannot 
 be said to be certain, and the origin of the " stranger-feature " 
 remains obscure. 
 
 KeligioHs explanation. Sacred prostitution is supposed by many 
 writers to have sprung from the cult of the goddess who repre- 
 sented the productive power of the earth* (Mother Earth, the 
 Great Mother). While such a figure is found in many of the 
 lower tribes, it is only among civilized peoples, and particularly in 
 Western Asia, that the cult acquired great importance. By the side 
 of the female figure there sometimes stands a male representative 
 of fertility (Tammuz by the side of Ishtar, Attis by the side of 
 Kybele) who is regarded as the husband or the lover of the goddess, 
 but occupies a subordinate position. In early times the goddess is 
 represented as choosing her consorts at will, but this is merely an 
 attribution to her of a common custom of the period. All deities, 
 male and female, might be and were appealed to for increase of 
 crops and children, but a Mother goddess would naturally be 
 
 1 l-'amell, \n Archiv fitr RcUgwiLnvssscnschaft^ vii, 8S (see above, §§ 182,594, and 
 cf. Crawley, Mystic Rose, p. 322). Farnell does not mention this suggestion in his 
 Greece and Babylon, p. 269 ff. 
 
 2 Westermarck, Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, ii, 446 ; cf. Frazer, 
 Golden Boiigli, 2d ed., Index, s.vv. Stranger, Strangers. 
 
 3 Cumont, Lcs religions orientales dans le paganisme romain (Eng. tr., Oriental 
 Religions in Roman Paganism, p. 247 f.) ; cf. Ilartland, in Anthropological Essays pre- 
 sented to Tylor, p. 201 f. 
 
 ■* On this cult see Mannhardt, Baiimkidtiis and Antike Wald- und Fcldkulte.
 
 520 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 looked on as especially potent in this regard. Prayer would be 
 addressed to hef, and that, with offerings, would be sufficient to 
 secure her aid ; simply as patroness of fertility she would not 
 demand prostitution of her female worshipers — some special 
 ground must be assumed for this custom, and it is held that, as 
 fertility was produced by the union of the goddess with her con- 
 sort or her lovers, tliis union must be imitated by the women who 
 sought a blessing from her.' 'Fhe probability of such a ground for 
 sacred prostitution is not obvious. There are communities of 
 temple-courtesans (in West Africa and India) where such an idea 
 does not exist. If the license was in imitation of the goddess, this 
 feature of her character requires explanation, and the natural ex- 
 planation is that such a figure is a product of a time of license. In 
 the ancient world it was only in Asia Minor and the adjacent 
 Semitic territory that religious orgies and debauchery existed — 
 they seem to have been an inheritance from a savage age. Or, 
 if the prostitution is explained as a magical means of obtaining 
 children,- this also would go back to a religiously crude period. 
 Magical rites, many and of various sorts, have been performed by 
 women desiring offspring — imitations and simulations.^ Ikit the 
 giving up of the body is not imitation or simulation — it is the 
 procreative act itself. 
 
 Organized official sacred prostitution must be regarded as the 
 outcome of a long period of development. License, starting at a 
 time when sexual passion was strong and continence was not 
 recognized as a duty or as desirable, found entrance into various 
 social and religious customs and institutions, accommodating itself 
 in different places and periods to current ideas of propriety. Ap- 
 propriated by organized religion, it discarded here and there its 
 more bestial features, adopted more refined religious conceptions, 
 its scope was gradually reduced, and finally it vanished from re- 
 ligious usage. The objections urged to such a process of growth are 
 not conclusive.^ Explanations of communities of temple-courtesans 
 
 1 Mannhardt, Aiitikc Wald- wid FcldktiUc, ii, 284: Frazer, Adonis Attis Osiris, 
 p. ii ff. 2 Cf. Hartland, op. cit., p. 199. 3 Hartland, Primitive Paternity, chap. ii. 
 * Frazer, Adonis Attis Osiris, p. 50 ff.
 
 SOCIAL DEl'ELOJWIEXT OF RELIGION 52 I 
 
 and male prostitutes and of customs affecting individual women 
 are suggested above.^ Many influences, doubtless, contributed to 
 the final shaping of the institution, and we can hardly hope to 
 account satisfactorily for all details ; but the known facts point 
 to an emergence from savage conditions and a gradual modifica- 
 tion under the influence of ideas of morality and refinement. 
 
 1067. Orgatiization and itifluence of the priesthood. In accord; 
 ance with the law of natural human growth the priests in most of 
 the greater religions came to form an organized body, hierarchical 
 grades were established, many privileges were granted them, and 
 they exercised great influence over the people and in the govern- 
 ment. In Eg}^pt they were exempt from taxes and had a public 
 allowance of food ; the temples at the capitals, Memphis and 
 Thebes, became enormously wealthy ; the priests exercised judicial 
 functions (but under the control of the king) ; they cultivated 
 astronomy and arithmetic, and controlled the general religious life 
 of the people ; as early as the thirteenth century n.c. they had 
 attained a political power with which the kings had to reckon, and 
 still earlier (ca. 1400 B.C.) the Theban priests were able to over- 
 throw the religious reformation introduced by Amenhotep IV ; 
 the departments of sacerdotal functions were multiplied, and the 
 high priest of the Theban Amon, whose office became hereditary, 
 controlled the religious organization of the whole land, set himself 
 up as a rival of the Pharaoh in dignity, and finally became the 
 head of a sacerdotal theocracy.^ 
 
 1068. While the Babylonian and Assyrian priesthoods were not 
 so highly organized as the Egyptian, and never attained great 
 political power, they were nevertheless very influential. Astronomy 
 and astrology, the interpretation of omens and portents, the science 
 of magic and exorcisms, the direction of the religious life of kings 
 and people were in the hands of the priests ; the great temples 
 were rich, there were various classes of temple-ministers, all well 
 cared for, and the chief priest of an important shrine was a person 
 
 ^ Cf. Nilsson, Gricchische Feste. 
 
 2 Maspcro, Z><7a7/ of Civilizaliou \ Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion, Index, 
 s.v. ; Breasted, History of Egypt, Index, s.v.
 
 522 JWKODL'CriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 of great dignity and power. The interpretation of sacrificial phe- 
 nomena was made into a science by the priests, and, passing from 
 them to Greece and Italy, exerted a definite influence on the 
 religious life of the whole Western world. ^ 
 
 1069. The process of organizing the Hebrew priesthood began 
 under David and Solomon, at first, under Solomon (who favored 
 t^e Zadok family), affecting only the Jerusalem temple. In the 
 Northern kingdom (established about 930 B.C.) there seems to 
 have been a similar arrangement. As long as the old royal go\-- 
 emments lasted (the Northern kingdom fell in the year 723 n.c, the 
 Southern in 586) the priests were controlled by the kings. On the 
 building of tlic Second Temple (5 1 6) and the reorganization of 
 the Judean community they became, under Persian rule, inde- 
 pendent of the civil government and finally, in the persons of the 
 highpriests, the civil heads of the Palestinian Jews. The Macca- 
 bean uprising resulted in the establishment of the Asmonean 
 priest-dynasty, in which the offices of civil ruler and religious leader 
 were united. After the fall of this dynasty (37 r.c.) the priestly 
 party (the Sadducccs, that is, the Zadokites), forming an aristoc- 
 racy, conservative of ritual and other older religious customs and 
 ideas, was engaged in a constant struggle with the democratic 
 party (the Pharisees), which was hospitable to the new religious 
 ideas (resurrection, immortality, legalism). The latter part)' was 
 favored by the people, and with the destruction of the temple 
 (70 A.D.) the priests disappeared from history. From the beginning 
 they appear to have been not only religious ministrants and guides 
 but also civil judges ; their great work was the formulation of the 
 religious law, as it appears in the Pentateuch, and it is probable 
 that the shrines (especially that of Jerusalem) were centers of 
 general literary activity. 'Phe national development turned, how- 
 ever, from sacerdotalism to legalism — the later religious leaders 
 were not priests but doctors of law (Scribes and Pharisees). 
 
 1070. In India the priests formed the highest caste, were the 
 authors of the sacred books (which they alone had the right to 
 expound), conducted the most elaborate sacrificial ceremonies that 
 
 1 Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria^ Index, s.v.
 
 socJAL j>E\ELOJ'.\n:.\ r (>/■' ricugjon 523 
 
 man lias imcntcd, and by ascetic observances, as was believed, some- 
 times became more powerful than the gods.^ Ritual propriety was 
 a dominant idea in India, and the influence of the priesthood on 
 the religious life of the people was correspondingly great. Priests 
 did not attempt to interfere in the civil government, but their re- 
 ligious insliuction may sometimes have affected the policy of civil 
 rulers. ( )n the other hand, the Hindu priesthood, by its poetical 
 productions and its metaphysical constructions, has become a 
 permanent influence in the world. 
 
 1071. 'Die early (pre-Zoroastrian) history of the Mazdean priest- 
 hood is obscure. In the Avestan system, however, a great role is 
 assigned the priests, as is evident from the vast number of regu- 
 lations concerning ceremonial purity, of which they had charge.^ 
 It does not appear that the early sacerdotal organization was 
 elaborate or strict. There were various classes of ministrants at 
 every shrine, but they differed apparently rather in the nature of 
 their functions than in rank. 
 
 1072. The Greek priestly class had the democratic tone of the 
 (ireek people.^ There was little general organization : every priest 
 was attached to a particular deity except the Athenian King Archon, 
 who had charge of certain public religious ceremonies. The mutual 
 independence of the Greek States made the creation of a Hellenic 
 sacerdotal head impossible. In Sparta the priestly prerogatives of 
 the king were long maintained ; usually, however, there was a 
 separation of civil and religious functions. Generally in Greece 
 priests were chosen by lot, or were elected by the priestly bodies 
 or by the people, or were appointed by kings or generals. They 
 were usually taken from good families, were held in honor, and 
 were housed and fed at the public expense (their food came largely 
 from sacrificial offerings). It was required that they should be 
 citizens of the place where they ofiiciated, and should be pure in 
 bud)^ and of good conduct. They seem to have been simply citizens 
 
 1 Barth, Religions of India, Index, s.v. ; Hopkins, Religions of India, Index, s.v. 
 
 2 Spiegel, Erantschc Altcrtlunnsktnidc, vol. 1 II, bk. vi. 
 
 3(). Ciruppe, Gricchische Mythologic, Index, s.v. Pricstcr; Gardner and Jevons, 
 Greek Antiquities, Index, s.v.; FarncU, Cults of ike Greek States, passim.
 
 524 J.MRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 set apart to conduct religious ceremonies, and their influence on the 
 general life was probably less than that of civil officers, poets, and 
 philosophers. Greek educated thought moved at a relatively early 
 period from the conventional religious forms toward philosophical 
 conceptions of the relation between the divine and the human. ^ 
 
 1073. The minute details of the Roman ritual might seem to 
 give great importance to priests ; - and the flamens (the ministers 
 of particular deities) were of course indispensable in certain sacri- 
 fices. But the organization of Roman society was not favorable 
 to the development of specifically sacerdotal influence. Religion 
 was a department of State and family government. For the mani- 
 fold events of family life there were appropriate deities whose 
 worship was conducted by the father of the famil)-. The title rex 
 (like the Greek basileus), in some cases given to priests, was a 
 survival from the time when kings performed priestly functions. 
 Later the consul was sometimes the conductor of public religious 
 ceremonies. There was hardly a religious office, except that of 
 the flamen, that might not be filled by a civilian. In the Augustan 
 revival membership in the College of the Arval Brothers was sought 
 by distinguished citizens. It was thought desirable that the Pontifex 
 Maximus, the most influential of the priests, should be a jurist; 
 and the office was held by such men as Julius Caesar and Augustus. 
 The increase of temples and priests by Augustus did not materially 
 change the religious condition. The adoption of foreign cults was 
 accompanied by ideas that did not belong to the Roman religion 
 proper. In general, if we except the augurs, who represent the 
 lowest form of the sacerdotal office, the priest was relatively unin- 
 fluential in Rome.' 
 
 1074. The minimum of priestly influence is found in the national 
 religion of China, in which there is no priestly class proper.* In 
 
 1 This remark applies to the oracles as well as to the ordinary temple-service. 
 
 2 Cf. Wissowa, RcHf;iou dcr K'dincr, Index, s.v. Pontifex, Poii/ijiccs; Fowler, Ro- 
 man Festivals, s.v. Pontijiccs; Saussaye, Lchrbiich dcr RcUgionsgeschichtc, 2d ed. 
 (Roman religion). 
 
 3 On the other hand, the Romans have given us such fundamental terms as ' re- 
 ligion,' 'superstition,' 'cult,' 'piety,' 'devotion,' all theocratic and individual. 
 
 •* De Groot, Religious System of China : Legge, Religion of China ; Doolittle, 
 Social Life of the Chinese.
 
 SOCJAL DElELOrMEXT OF RELIuION 525 
 
 the worship of ancestors, which satisfies the daily religious needs 
 of the people, every householder and every civil official is a minis- 
 trant. The great annual sacrifices to the heavenly bodies have 
 been conducted till recently by the emperor in person.^ Public 
 religion is, in the strictest sense, a function of the State. Society, 
 according to the Chinese view, is competent to manage relations 
 with the supernatural Powers — it needs no special class of inter- 
 mediaries. This thoroughgoing conception of civic autonomy in 
 religion connects itself with the supreme stress laid on conduct in 
 the Confucian system, which represents the final Chinese ideal of 
 life : - man constructs his own moral life, and extrahuman Powers, 
 while they may grant physical goods, are chiefly valued as incidents 
 in the good social life. The great speculative systems of thought, 
 Confucianism and Taoism, gradually gave rise to definite sacerdotal 
 cults ; but the priests of the Confucian temples serve mainly to 
 keep before the people the teaching of the Master, and the Taoist 
 priests have become largely practicers of magic and charlatans. 
 Chinese religious practice remains essentially nonsacerdotal. 
 
 1075. The Peruvian cult presents a remarkable example of a 
 finely organized hierarchy closely related to the civil government.' 
 'I'he priests were chosen from the leading families ; the highpriest 
 was second in dignity to the Inca only. The functions of the priests 
 were strictly religious ; and as the masses of the people were de- 
 voted to the worship of local deities and natural objects, it seems 
 probable that the sacerdotal influence was merely that which be- 
 longed to their supervision of the State religion. Details on this 
 point are lacking. 
 
 Priests played a more prominent part in Mexico, entering, as 
 they did, more into the life of the people.'' On the one hand, the 
 
 1 Some high official will, doubtless, now take the emperor's place. 
 
 2 This seems to remain true notwithstanding the present movement in China 
 toward the adoption of Western methods of education. De Groot's estimate of Chi- 
 nese religion (in op. cit.) is less favorable. 
 
 3 Garcilasso de la Vega, Royal Commentaries of the Yncas, ed. C. K. Markham, 
 part i, bk. ii, chap, ix ; Prescott, Pcnc, vol. i, chap, iii ; Payne, Nev.> World, called 
 America^ Index ; A. Revillc, .Xative Religions of Mexico and Pern, Index. 
 
 •* Sahagun, Ilisioria General de las Cosas de Nncia Esfana, Eng. tr. by" Mark- 
 ham ; Payne, op. cit. ; Keville, op. cit.
 
 526 jyTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 numerous human sacrifices, of which the priests had complete con- 
 trol, kept the terrible aspect of religion constantly before the mind 
 of the public ; and, on the other hand, the milder side of the cult 
 (for the Mexican religion was composite) brought the priests into 
 intimate relations with adults and children. As the priests, apart 
 from their monstrous sacrificial functions, appear to have been 
 intelligent and humane, it is nut unlikely that their general moral 
 influence was good. 
 
 1076. The influence of the priesthood on religion (and on civi- 
 lization so far as religion has been an element of civilization) has 
 been of a mixed character. On the one hand, while not the sole 
 representative of the idea of the divine government of the world 
 (for soothsayers and prophets equally represented this idea), it 
 has stood for friendly everyday intercourse between man and the 
 deity, and has so far tended to bring about an equable and natural 
 development of the ordinary religious life ; it was involved in the 
 sacerdotal functions that the deity might be placated by proper 
 ceremonies, whence it followed that the priest, who knew the 
 nature of these ceremonies, was a benefactor, and, more gener- 
 ally, that man had his salvation in his own hands. The business 
 of the priest was to maintain the outward forms of religion, to 
 order and elaborate the ritual, to organize the whole cultus.^ This 
 was a work that required time and the cooperation of many minds. 
 Priests were, in fact, naturally drawn together by a common aim 
 and common interests — with rare exceptions they lived in groups, 
 formed societies and colleges, had their traditions of policy, gath- 
 ered wealth.- For this reason they were in general opposed to 
 social changes — they were a conservative element in society, and 
 in this regard were the friends of peace. 
 
 1077. On another side they did good work ; they were to some 
 extent the guardians of morals. In ancient popular life ethics was 
 not separated from religion — religion adopted in general the best 
 
 1 In the political and social disorders in Judea in the seventh and sixth centu- 
 ries B.C. the priesthood was, probably, influential in maintaining and transmitting 
 the purer worship of Vahweh, and thus establishing a starting-point for the later 
 development. 
 
 2 Cf. Breasted, Religion and Thought in Ancient Egy/>t, lecture x.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGIOX 327 
 
 moral ideas of its time and place and undertook to enforce obedi- 
 ence to the moral law by divine sanctions. Priests announced, 
 interpreted, and administered the law, which was at once religious 
 and ethical ; lhc\- were teachers and judges, and this function of 
 theirs was of prime importance, particularly where good systems 
 of popular education did not exist. I-'urther, as a leisured class 
 they often turned to literaiy occupations; examples of their liter- 
 ary work are found in India (poetry and philosophy), Babylonia 
 (the history of Berossus), Palestine (Old Testament Psalter, the 
 works of Josephus). They offered a place of rest in the midst of 
 the continual warfare of ancient times. 
 
 1078. On the other hand, the priesthood has been generally 
 conservative of the bad as well as of the good. It has maintained 
 customs and ideas that had ceased to be effective and true, and in 
 order to preserve them it has resorted to forced interpretations and 
 has invented accounts of their origin. It has thus in many cases 
 been obscurantive and mendacious. It has tended to make the 
 essence of religion consist in outward observances, and has not 
 infrequently degraded the placation of the deity to a matter of 
 bargaining — it has sold salvation for money. Priests have not 
 always escaped the danger that threatens all such corporations — 
 that of sacrificing public interests to the interests of the order. 
 They have drifted naturally toward tyranny — ^the enormous power 
 put into their hands of regulating men's relations wiili the deity 
 has led to the attempt to regulate men's general thought, though 
 in most of the great religions their power in this regard has been 
 partly controlled by the civil authority and b)- the general intelli- 
 gence of the community. When they have not been controlled, 
 they have often succumbed to the temptations that beset wealth ; 
 they have fallen into habits of luxury and debaucherv. 
 
 1079. In a word the history of the priesthood has been like 
 that of all bodies of men invested with more or less arbitrar)' 
 power. Its role has varied greatly in different places and at dif- 
 ferent times. It has numbered in its ranks good men and bad, and 
 has favored sometimes righteous, sometimes unrighteous, causes. 
 It is not possible to define its influence on religion further than to
 
 528 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 say that it has been a natural element of the organization of reli- 
 gion, taking its form and coloring from the various communities 
 in which it has existed, embodying current ideas and thus acting as 
 a uniting and guiding force at a time when higher forces were lack- 
 ing. It has formed a transitional stage in tlie advance of religious 
 thought toward better conceptions of the relation of man to the deity. 
 
 1080. Islam has no priesthood, as it has no provision for atone- 
 ment for sin except by the righteous conduct of the individual ; its 
 cultic officials are preachers or leaders of prayer (imams) in the 
 mosque worship, and jurists or scholars (ulamasj who interpret 
 the Koran. Judaism has had no priests since the destruction of 
 the Second Temple (70 a.d.); its synagogue .services are con- 
 ducted by men trained in the study of the Bible or the Talmud 
 (rabbisj. In Christianity the conception of a sacrificial ministrant 
 has been retained in those churches (the Greek and the Roman) 
 which regard the eucharistic ceremony as a sacrifice. In the West 
 the " presbyter " (such is the New Testament term), the head of 
 the congregation, took over the function of the old priest as con- 
 ductor of religious worship, and the word assumed the form 
 " priest '' in the Latin and Teutonic languages. Among Protes- 
 tants it is employed only in the Church of England, in which, how- 
 ever, for the most part it has not the signification of ' sacrificer.' 
 
 Worship 
 
 1081. Places of worsJiip. The simplest form of early worship 
 is the presentation of an offering to the dead or to some extra- 
 human object of reverence. Such objects were held to exist in all 
 the world, in the sk\', in rocks, streams, woods, caves, hills and 
 mountains, and beneath the surface of the earth ; but it was chicfiy 
 in places of human resort that their presence was expected. On 
 some natural object or at some spot regarded as sacred, particu- 
 larly where, it was believed, a spirit, or deity had manifested him- 
 self (in some remarkable natural phenomenon, or in some piece 
 of good fortune or ill fortune), the worshiper would place his offer- 
 ing. Sometimes it was left to be disposed of by the deity or spirit 
 or dead person at his pleasure. When the offering was an animal,
 
 SUL/AL D EiELOr mi:. XT Ol' RELIGION 529 
 
 the blood, as food, was often applied to the grave or to the stone 
 or other object connected with a superhuman Power. In the course 
 of time, it may be supposed, it would be found convenient to erect 
 a table or some other structure on which an animal could be slain. 
 Such a structure would be an altar. At first simple, a heap of 
 stones, a pile of dirt, a rough slab, it was gradually enlarged and 
 ornamented,* and itself, by association, became sacred. 
 
 1082. Places where the presence of the divine was recognized 
 were sacred. In them worship was paid to the deity, and in the 
 course of time ihey were marked off and guarded against profane 
 use. At first, however, they were merely spots on hills or in groves, 
 by streams or in the open country, needing no marks or watches, 
 for they were known to all and were protected by the reverence 
 of the people." W'hen the land came to be more thickly populated 
 and religion was better organized, such places were inclosed and 
 committed to the care of official persons. Well-known examples 
 are the Greek temenos and the Arabian haram.^ Taboos and privi- 
 leges attached themselves to such inclosures. Precautions had to 
 be taken on entering them ; the shoes, for example, were removed, 
 lest they should absorb the odor of sanctity and thus become unfit 
 for everyday use. The spaces thus set apart were sometimes of 
 considerable extent (as was and is the case at Mecca) ; within them 
 no war could be waged and no fugitive seized. Sometimes they 
 owed their sacredness to the buildings to which they were attached. 
 
 1083. 'I'he necessity for a house of worship arose very early.^ 
 Where there was an image or a symbol of a god, or where the 
 
 1 So Ezekiel's altar (probably a copy of that in the Jerusalem temple-court), over 
 16 feet high, with a base 27 feet square (Ezek. xliii, 13 ff.). The Olympian altar was 
 22 feet high and 125 feet in circumference. Cf. W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 
 2d ed., pp. 202, 341, 377 ff. On the general subject see article ''Altar" in Hastings, 
 Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 So in Australia (Spencer and Gillen, A'ativc Tribes of Central Australia, Index, 
 and Native Tribes of Xorthern Australia, Index), -Samoa (Turner), Canaan (fJene- 
 sis, Judges, passim), Greece (Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, p. 173), etc. 
 
 3 Gardner and Jevons, op. cit., Index, s.v. r^/uei/os, Temple ; Wellhausen, Rcste 
 arabischen Hcidentumes, Index; W. R. Smith, op. cit., Index, s.v. Temples. There 
 is perhaps a hint of such a place in Ex. iii, 5. 
 
 * K. V. Hermann, Gottesdienstliche Alte?ihiimer der Griechen, § iS; Jevons, In- 
 troduction to the History of Religion, 1st ed., p. 137.
 
 330 IXTRODUCTIOX TO JIJSTOR)' OF /C/SL/G/OA'S 
 
 apparatus of sacrifice or of other ritual practice was considerable, 
 buildings were required for the protection of these objects and 
 perhaps for the convenience of the ministrants. The development 
 of buildings followed the course of all such arrangements — at 
 first rude, they became gradually elaborate and costly. In many 
 savage tribes and in the earliest period of civilized peoples (Egyp- 
 tians, Hebrews, al.) a hut, constructed like those of the people and 
 therefore of a very simple character, houses the image or other 
 representative of the god. With the progress of artistic feeling 
 and skill abodes of men grow into palaces and abodes of deities 
 into temples. It is on the temples that the greatest labor has been 
 expended, partly because they are the work of the whole com- 
 munity, pardy because it has been believed that the favor of the 
 deity would be gained by making his dwelling-place magnificent.^ 
 The essential fact in a temple — its definition — is (in the lower 
 cults) and was (in the great ancient cults) that it is or was the 
 home of a god, the specific place of approach to him, with the 
 possibility of face-to-face intercourse and a greater probability of 
 gaining the blessings desired. This local conception of the deity 
 continued after larger ideas had arisen,^ and is to be found at the 
 present day in some Christian circles. 
 
 1084. Temples have tended to grow not only in beauty and mag- 
 nificence but also in elaborateness of interior arrangements and of 
 connected structures. Anciently they were specifically places of 
 sacrifice — the abodes of gods to whom sacrifice was offered — 
 and this function generally determined their interior form. Some- 
 times they contained a single room in which stood an image and 
 an altar ; this was the simplest architectural embodiment of the 
 idea of divine sacredness. But the progress of ritual forms was 
 accompanied by the notion of grades of sanctity, and a special 
 sanctity was indicated by a special room, an adytum, an inner or 
 most holy shrine ; ^ where, as was often the case, gradations in 
 priestly rank existed, only the highest priest could enter the adytum. 
 
 1 Cf. article " Architecture " in Hastings, Encyclofccdta of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 2 Ps. xlii, 3 [2] ; Ixxxiv, 3 [2]. 
 
 3 So in Egypt, Palestine, Greece, and probably in Babylonia and Assyria.
 
 SOCIAL DIIVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 53 I 
 
 For the implements of service and for the priests there were build- 
 ings attached to the temple. The people gathered in courts ad- 
 joining the sacred structure ; where ritual exactness was carried 
 very far (as in Ezekiel's plan and in Herod's temple), there were 
 gradations in the courts also/ Usually an altar- stood in one of 
 the courts. The sacredness of the sanctuary communicated itself 
 to llic vessels and otlicr implements of the sacrificial service. 
 
 1085. Temples, like sacred inclosures and altars, were often 
 asylums, and doubtless in many cases served to protect innocent 
 persons. The privilege, however, was often abused, and it became 
 neccssarv in Greece and Rome to restrain it."^ 
 
 1086. As a factor in the development of art the temple has 
 been important. It has called forth the best architectural skill of 
 man, and the statues that often adorned sacred buildings have 
 stimulated sculpture. It does not appear that symbolism entered 
 into the idea of ancient temples.^ The Babylonian and Assyrian 
 zikkurat (or ziggurat) was a staged structure (resembling in this 
 regard the Egyptian pyramid), supposed by many scholars to be 
 an imitation of the mountains whence the predecessors of the 
 Semites in Babylonia came, and on which they worshiped ; ^ if 
 this be so, there is no attempt at pointing upward to the abode 
 of the gods. Nor is there any trace elsewhere in the ancient 
 world of a symbolic significance attached to temples beyond the 
 distinction of place, referred to above, between the sacred and 
 the profane and between different degrees of sacredness. The 
 form of temples appears to have been determined b)- imitation of 
 early nonreligious usage or by considerations of convenience ; " 
 the ziggurat may have been suggested by a high place, the adytum 
 by a cave, but most temples were probably copies of ordinary 
 
 1 In Herod's temple : the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of Women, the Court 
 of Israel {yiowiick, Lchrbiich dcr hcbrci'isclun Archdologic, ii, /Off.). 
 
 2 Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclofddie dcr classischen AltcrHimswissetischaft ; arti- 
 cle " Asylum " in Jnvish Encyclopedia. The right of asylum goes back to ver)' early 
 forms of society in all parts of the world ; many examples are cited by Wester- 
 marck, Origin and Dcvelopyncni of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. Asylums. 
 
 3 Cf. above, § 121. ^ Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, chap. xxvi. 
 5 On the supposed difference of symbolism between Greek and Gothic temples 
 
 (churches) see Ruskin, Scien Lamps of Archttectitre.
 
 532 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 human dwellings or civic buildings (as in late Latin, basilica is 
 used in the sense of ' cathedral '). 
 
 As abodes of priests temples were the centers of all priestly 
 activities in the development of ritual and literature. Being strong 
 and well guarded they were often used by kings as treasure-houses ; 
 but they were stripped of their wealth by native kings in times of 
 need, and were freely plundered by conquerors. 
 
 1087. Forms of worship. The ancient forms of divine worship, 
 as is remarked above, ^ follow in a general way the modes of ap- 
 proaching human potentates. Ceremonies of worship reached a 
 high degree of elaboration in the great religions, Egyptian, Baby- 
 lonian-Assyrian, Hebrew, Hindu, Greek, Roman.- The central 
 fact was the presentation of the offering, and with this came to 
 be connected prayers and hymns, ceremonies of purification, vows, 
 imprecations, exorcisms, oracles ; the festivals also were religious 
 functions. Prayer is spoken of below.'' Hymns sometimes con- 
 sisted of or contained petitions, more generally were laudations of 
 the power and benefactions of a deity. For poetical charm the 
 first place is to be assigned to the Egyptian, Hebrew, and Hindu 
 hymns. The religious ideas expressed in such compositions varied 
 with time and place, but they show a general tendency toward a 
 monolatrous or henotheistic point of view and toward higher ethi- 
 cal and spiritual feeling. Many of the Egyptian hymns seem to 
 be substantially monotheistic, and the same thing is true of the 
 Babylonian, the Assyrian, and the Vcdic. 'i'hc Babylonian hymns 
 so far recovered (belonging in their present form mostly to the 
 seventh century r.c.) are chiefly penitential ■* and show a close 
 resemblance to .some Hebrew psalms. In the Veda traces of 
 philosophical thought, pantheistic and other, are not lacking. The 
 poems of the Old Testament Psalter vary greatly in breadth and 
 
 ^ §§ 15. 120. note 3. 
 
 2 For details see Erman, Handbook of Egyptian Religion^ p. 45 f. ; Jastrow, op. cit., 
 p. 658 ff. ; articles "Ritual" and "Sacrifice" in Encyclopicdia Biblica; Bloomfield, 
 Religion 0/ the Veda, p. 213 f. ; Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 124 ; fSAnnee soetolo- 
 giquc.W. ^§1199- 
 
 ^ Some hymns to Tammuz are lamentations for dying vegetation and petitions 
 for its resuscitation.
 
 SOC/.IL DI'A'ELOPMENT OF RIUJGION 533 
 
 elevation of thought — some, dealing generally witli national affairs 
 (occasionally with individual experiences), are narrow and ethically 
 low ; others show exalted conceptions of the deity and fine moral 
 feeling. The Avestan ritual is concerned largely with physical 
 details, but is not lacking in a good ethical standard ; the Gathas, 
 particularly, though not free from national coloring, give a note- 
 worthy picture of the government of the world according to 
 moral law. (~)f Greek ritual hymns we have few remains, and 
 these are of no great interest. 
 
 1088. Everywhere the temple-hymns, as is natural, deal chiefly 
 with the desires and hopes of the worshiper, and often do not rise 
 above mere egoism. Their object is to secure blessing, and the 
 blessing is often, perhaps generally, of a nonmoral character — 
 wealth, children, triumph over enemies. Desire for moral purity 
 appears in some Hebrew hymns, and perhaps in some Babylonian. 
 ( )f the modes (;f presenting liturgical poems to the deity we have 
 few details. \\\ the Second Temple at Jerusalem there were choruses 
 of ministrants (Levites), and some of the titles of the psalms con- 
 tain what seem to be names of musical instruments and melodies ; 
 but of this temple-music nothing further is known than that it was 
 sometimes sung antiphonally, but without harmony.^ In some parts 
 of Greece boys were trained to render hymns musically in the daily 
 service and on special occasions. The general character of old 
 Greek music is indicated in the 1 )elphian hymn to Apollo discov- 
 ered in 1893 ; '" the melody is simple but impressive — there is no 
 harmony. 
 
 1089. The temple-music doubtless tended to heighten devotional 
 feeling among the worshipers, and possibly a similar popular effect 
 was produced by the festivals that were common in the ancient 
 world. Here the whole population took part, there were religious 
 ceremonies, and the consciousness of the presence of the deit}' 
 was made more distinct not only by visible and tangible repre- 
 sentations, but often also by the fact that these occasions were 
 
 1 I Chron. xvi ; commentaries on the Psalms; works on Hebrew, archaeology 
 (Nowack, Benzinger) ; articles in Biblical dictionaries and encyclopedias. 
 
 2 Reriic des etudes grecques, 1894. On savage songs and music see above, § 106.
 
 534 J.\'TKOJ)LC'J'JO.y TO ///S'/VA'y OJ-' KELIUJOXS 
 
 connected in current ni\ths and legends with histories of gods 
 and ancient national experiences. Processions and ])ilgrimages 
 brought the people to sacred places to which stories were at- 
 tached, and the religious life became a series of object lessons. 
 The Greek and Roman calendars contain a great number of 
 feast days, each assigned to some god.' The Hebrews at a com- 
 paratively early date (eighth or ninth century B.C.) connected their 
 great festivals with remote national events ; ^ examples of festivals 
 attached to recent historical events arc Purim,'' the l"'cast of Dedi- 
 cation established in commemoration of the rededication of the 
 temple by Judas Maccabaeus (December, 165 h.c.) after the Svrian 
 profanation,'* and the " Day of Nicanor " commemorating the vic- 
 tory of Judas over that general (March, 161 K.c.).* In the Hindu 
 festivals (New ^'ear's Day and during the spring months) stories 
 of gods formed a prominent feature.'' The Greek Genesia. the 
 season of mourning for the dead, came to be connected w ith the 
 victory of Marathon." 
 
 All such celebrations tend to become seasons of merrymaking, 
 and the religious clement in tlu-m then rcceiv^es less and less at- 
 tention.*^ This remark holds of the festivals that diristianity took 
 over from the old religions, adapting them to the new conditions." 
 Such occasions lose their distinctive religious significance in propor- 
 tion as the events they commemorate recede into the past and be- 
 come less and less distinct. It is in \ery early times, when they are 
 thought of as representing realities, that they are religiously effective ; 
 in later times they give way to more reflective forms of devotion. 
 
 1090. \V)ws, blessings, and curses may be considered lo belong 
 to worship in the regard that they contain petitions to the deity; 
 the cur.se or the blessing, however, sometimes rested on a baldly 
 
 1 Pauly-Wissowa, Rcal-Encyclopa die dcr classischcn Allcrtinmnvisscnsihaft ; 
 Fowler, Ro)na)i Festivals. 
 
 2 Passover with the departure from I'^gypt ; Sukkot ('J'abcrnacles) wiili the march 
 through the wilderness; later, Weeks (Pentecost) with the revelation of tlic law at 
 .Sinai. 3 Book of Esther. ^ j Mace, v, 47 ff. & i Mace, vii, 40. 
 
 6 IT. II. ^^■ilson, Religious Seets of the Hindus; Monier-Williams, Hinduism, 
 Index. " Gardner and Jevons, Greek Antiquities, p. 289. 
 
 8 They sometimes degenerate into coarseness or immorality. 
 
 9 Christmas, New Year's Day, May Day, Midsummer, All .Souls, and others.
 
 solv.1L Did'ELorMEyr of relioion 535 
 
 objective conception of the power of words, sometimes was iickl 
 to be magical : once uttered, the word, beneficent or maleficent, 
 went to its object, person or thing, did its w'ork, and could not be 
 recalled ; its effect could be set aside only by an utterance in the 
 opposite direction.' A magician, by the power resident in him, 
 could fix a curse or a blessing on man or thing. An exorcism, 
 also, might be effected by magic or by in\oking the aid of a deity; 
 an evil spirit is a supernatural Power and has to be considered — 
 one does not worship such a being, but one may employ religious 
 means to circumvent him. Ikid magic may be overcome by good 
 magic, and a deity, hostile and maleficent under certain circum- 
 stances, may be placated by offerings. It is not always easy to 
 draw the line between worship proper and modes of defense against 
 injurious Powers. But in general true worship implies friendly 
 relations between human and superhuman persons. 
 
 1091. Idols. From an early time men ha\'e desired to have visi- 
 ble representatives of the supernatural. So long as natural objects, 
 trees, stones, mountains, were regarded as themselves divine or as 
 the abodes of spirits, so long as a loose social organization and the 
 absence of definite family life led men to spend their lives in the 
 open air, there was no need of artificial forms of the Powers. Such 
 a need arose inevitably, however, under more advanced social con- 
 ditions. Exactly at w'hat stage men began to make images it is 
 hardl\- possible to say, — the process was begun at different stages 
 in different regions, — but it appears that in general it was syn- 
 chronous with some fairly good form of social organization. Yet, 
 where such forms exist, there are differences in the use of images. 
 These are found — to take the lower peoples — in Melanesia and 
 the Northern Pacific Ocean, in the northern part of South America, 
 in North America apparently only among the Eastern Redmen (as 
 the Lenape or Delaw^ares),^ and on the western coast of Africa 
 
 1 The protest in I'rov. xxvi, 2, against this whole conception shows that it 
 existed among the Jews down to a late time. 
 
 2 Totemic poles, with carved figures of animals, are found in Northwest America 
 (Boas, The Ku-ak'uc1l\ Swanton, vn Journal of American Folklore, xviii, loS ff.) and in 
 .South Nigeria (Partridge, Cross Rkcr Natives, p. 219) ; but these figures are rather 
 tribal or clan symbols than idols.
 
 536 JXTRODUCriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 (Ashanti, Dahomi, Yoruba). Where the cult of beasts (whether 
 totemic or not) is a living one, idolatry does not find a place; it 
 is only when communities have begun to be agricultural that they 
 have artificial forms of gods ; that is, idolatry comes in with the 
 stage of culture connected with the agricultural life.^ 
 
 The development in the form of images is familiar. The rude 
 and, to modern eyes, grotesque idols of the lower peoples gradu- 
 ally pass into the more finished forms of the civilized nations.^ 
 Really artistic forms, however, were produced only by some Semites 
 (Babylonians and Assyrians) and in the Hellenic and Graeco-Roman 
 worlds. In Central America, Mexico, and Peru images are anthropo- 
 morphic but lacking in symmetry and grace. Hindu idols are often 
 composite and grotesque, sometimes (especially images of Buddha) 
 highly impressive. 
 
 1092. 'Ilie Hebrews appear to have had no anthropomorphic 
 images of their national deity. Down to a late period there was a 
 cult of household gods,** and of these, probably, there were images 
 in private houses and in shrines, whether anthropomorphic or not 
 is uncertain. In Solomon's temple (and in EzekieFs proposed plan) 
 figures of cherubs (originally divine beings) stood on the walls of 
 the main room and guarded the ark in the adytum ; they were 
 w^inged creatures, the forms derived immediately from Phoenicia, 
 ultimately from Babylonia; they appear only in the great public 
 cult, probably did not enter into the religious life of the people at 
 large, and there is no evidence that they ever received divine wor- 
 ship.* The Hebrews had no plastic art of their own, seem to have 
 had small disposition in their earlier history to make images, and 
 later such forms were excluded by the antagonism of the prophets 
 to foreign cults and by refined ideas of the deity.^ The absence 
 
 1 The situation in Egypt was exceptional ; after the idolatrous stage had been 
 reached the old worship of the living animal survived. 
 
 2 Aniconic representations of deities in civilized communities (like the stone 
 representing the Ephesian great goddess) are survivals from the old cult of natural 
 objects. 3 Teraphim, i Sam. xix, i^al. 
 
 ^ In the literature they are guardians of sacred places (Gen. iii, 24) and throne- 
 bearers of the deity (Ezek. i, 26: Ps. xviii, 11 [10]). 
 
 '•> The numerous images mentioned in the Old Testament as worshiped by the 
 Israelites appear to have been borrowed from neighboring peoples. The origin of
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RICLIGION 537 
 
 of images in the Zoroastrian cult may be accounted for in a similar 
 way — from early lack of artistic impulse and later elevated con- 
 ceptions. In China there are images in household worship, but 
 none in the great imperial religious ceremonies.^ Though the Koran 
 does not expressly forbid the cult of images, yet, as the old Arabian 
 cults denounced by the prophet were all idolatrous, images were 
 identified with false religion (polytheism) and have been avoided 
 by the Moslems, whose strict monotheism left nc^ place for them. 
 1093. Images were credited in half-civilized times with a certain 
 personality, were flogged or destroyed when they failed to do what 
 was expected of them, or were bound in order to prevent their 
 going away.'^ In such cases the conception of the power of these 
 objects was probably a confused one ; though they were known 
 to be inanimate pieces of wood or stone or other material, it was 
 believed that they were inhabited by spirits or deities, and it was 
 held that in some undefined way the power of the divine agent 
 was transferred to its physical incasement — the two were practi- 
 cally identified. This sort of conception soon passed away and was 
 succeeded by a symbolical interpretation. Whatever the ultimate ori- 
 gin of the Egyptian, Babylonian, and Hindu divine and semidivine 
 forms (which are sometimes monstrous),^ it is probable that for the 
 more thoughtful worshipers they represented divine powers and 
 functions. Uncouth shapes may be softened or transformed by fa- 
 miliarity, and by association with higher ideas — things in themselves 
 repulsive may become vehicles of devotion.* In all religious wor- 
 ship objects associated with pious acts acquire sanctity and beauty. 
 
 the bull figures worshiped at Bethel and Dan is obscure, but they appear to repre- 
 sent the amalgamation of an old bull-cult with the cult of Yahweh. 
 
 1 Possibly the civilization of China was in earliest times identical with or similar 
 to that Central Asiatic civilization out of which Mazdaism seems to have sprung. 
 Cf. R. Pumpelly, in Explorations in Turkestan (expedition of 1904), i, pp. xxiv, 7, 
 chap, iv f. 
 
 - The same feeling appears in the treatment of images of saints by some Euro- 
 pean peasants. 
 
 3 For Egyptian forms see Rawlinson, I/istoiy of Ancient Egyft, vol. i ; Maspcro, 
 Dawn of Civilization; for Semitic, Ohnefalsch-Richter, Kypros, the Bible, and Ho- 
 mer: for Indian, Lefmann, " Geschichie des alten Indiens" in Oncken's Allgemcine 
 Geschiclitc. 
 
 * Even the Hindu women's linga-cull is said to be sometimes morally innocent.
 
 538 IXTRODUCTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 1094. That idolatry in ancient times was not a wholly bad fea- 
 ture of worship is shown by the excellence of the great religions 
 in which it was practiced. Its general function was to make the 
 deity more real to the worshiper, to make the latter more sharply 
 conscious of the divine presence, to fix the attention, and so far 
 to further a real communion. On the other liand, it tended to pro- 
 duce a low physical conception of the divine person, and to distract 
 the mind of the worshiper from the ethical side of worship. Its 
 moral effect was dependent on the man's character and thought. 
 When the image was regarded as the symbol of an ethically good 
 Power, it was a reenforcement of pure religious feeling ; when it 
 was regarded as in itself a source of physical benefit, it was a 
 degrading influence. This difference of effect exists in those 
 Christian bodies that include images and pictures of the deity 
 and of saints in their apparatus of worship. 
 
 Churches 
 
 1095. 'I'he history of the social organization of religion is the 
 history of the growth of churches — voluntary associations for 
 worship ; it is toward the Church that society has hitherto moved. ^ 
 Every ancient community may be said to be an incipient church 
 in the sense that it contains the germs of the later ecclesiastical 
 development. IJut this later form exists in such communities only 
 in germ — the most ancient worship was communal, an affair of 
 clan, tribe, or State. Men were born into their religious faith and 
 could no more change it, or think of changing it, than they could 
 change, or think of changing, their language or any other inherit- 
 ance. It was inevitable, however, that there should be a growth 
 of individualism — instinct impelled men to think for themselves in 
 religion as in all other things. Religion was a part of the general 
 social movement, affected by all other parts of that movement. 
 Independence of thought led to social aggregations, the mem- 
 bers of which were drawn together by similarity of ideas and 
 
 1 .\ church is here taken to be a voluntary rehgious body that holds out to its 
 members the hope of redemption and salvation through association with a divine 
 person or a cosmic power.
 
 SOCIAL nid'ELOI'MllXr Ol' RlJJClOX 539 
 
 aspirations. This is the familiar history of social movements, and 
 that in rclii;ion such movements have been continuous will be 
 evidriit lioni a brief statement of the historical facts. 
 
 1096. Siivagc secret societies. These societies are referred to 
 above ; ' here we have only to notice their germinal ecclesiastical 
 character. '!'hc\- represent a partial l)reak-u[) of tribal communal 
 worship by assigning special duties and granting special privileges 
 to certain initiated persons. Totemic groups are sometimes (as in 
 Central Australia) charged with .specific functions in the tribal life; 
 but membership in such groups is a matter of birth, and they 
 everywhere tend to give way to secret societies. These latter 
 often have charge of certain religious rites, and from their secret 
 proceedings and from a knowledge of their secret lore the rest of 
 the tribe are excluded. 
 
 The extent to which religious organization and influence have 
 been carried is illustrated b)- the history of the Polynesian Areoi, 
 the most remarkable of such fraternities.^ The Areoi created 
 ' mysteries,' with an elaborate ritual whose effectiveness; was de- 
 pendent on absolute accuracy in words ; its members were chosen 
 without regard to tribal position and entered of their own free 
 will ; it was a x'oluntary association and made its own religious 
 laws. It was restricted (as all such associations are) by the neces- 
 sity of paying regard to existing customs, but within such limits it 
 was independent of the tribe, and its members were held to be 
 entitled to special honors and enjoyments in this life and the next 
 (a crude conception of salvation). It was essentially a chiu'ch, 
 and other societies, in Polynesia, Africa, and North America, ap- 
 proached this position more or less nearly. They all tended to 
 become tyrannical — their social influence enabled them to impose 
 their authority on the tribe, and they did not hesitate to employ 
 violence in asserting their rights.^ To foreign influence they were 
 naturally hostile, since this generally diminished their power. 
 Founded as they are on savage ideas they have disappeared, 
 or are disappearing, before foreign civilizations. In their best 
 
 1 § 530 f. - W. I'.llis, I'olyiicsian Researches, vol. i, chap. ix. 
 
 3 11. Webster, Primitive Secret Societies, chap. vii.
 
 540 JXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 form they doubtless gave a certain unity to communities and 
 were thus an element of order. 
 
 1097. Greek mysteries. In Greece dissatisfaction with the cur- 
 rent cults expressed itself in various ways, largely through poets 
 and philosophers, who asserted themselves, indeed, individually, 
 but showed no power of organization. The task of organizing 
 religious opinion fell to that new direction of thought (vaguely 
 called " Orphic " ^) which, while it gave prominence to spiritual 
 ideas and moral ideals, introduced a lively emotional element into 
 worship. In the Eleusinian and other mysteries this element was 
 both external (dramatic representations, songs, processions, cere- 
 monies of initiation) and internal (the hope of salvation). Without 
 breaking with the popular religious forms the mysteries constructed 
 their own forms, chose their members, and created a religious 
 impermm in imperio. They were voluntary associations for worship, 
 ignored distinctions of social rank, had great ideas and impressive 
 rituals — apparently all the elements necessary to the establish- 
 ment of churches or of a national church. Yet they faded gradually 
 away, and perished finally without leaving any definite impression, 
 as it seemed, on Greece or the world without. - 
 
 1098. The reasons of their failure are not far to seek. They 
 did not reach the Hellenic mind for the reason that they were of 
 foreign origin and much in thcni was opposed to the genius of the 
 Hellenic religion. Even the Pythagorean reform movement of 
 Southern Italy, with its strenuous mora! culture of the individual, 
 seems to have had a foreign (Asiatic) coloring. It was, indeed, at 
 one with the better Greek thought of the time (sixth century' B.C. 
 and later) in its elevated conception of the deity and of worship, 
 but with this it combined ascetic observances and, apparently, 
 mystical ideas ; it established what may be called a church, which 
 had a great vogue in Southern Italy for several centuries but did 
 not, as an organization, penetrate into Greece. 1 1 attracted some 
 thoughtful men, but was too calm and restrained for the masses.' 
 
 1 For a large definition of the term sec S. Kcinach, Oifhcus (Kng. tr.), p. v. 
 
 2 For a possible influence sec below, § i loi. 
 
 8 See the histories of philosophy of Ueberweg, Windelband, Meyer, Zcller.
 
 SOCIAL DI'Al'J.OrMI-lXT Ol' RI-JJCJON 541 
 
 1099. ll was dilTercnt with the Dionysiac cult, whose wildness 
 made it popular ; of foreign origin, it was in tinir partly Hellenized 
 and in Athens took its place in the regular national worship ; some 
 of its foreign features were taken up in the mysteries. These latter, 
 with their enthusiasm and their half-barbaric ceremonies, excited 
 the contempt of most of the educated class.' These cults were 
 Asiatic — not Semitic — but probably a product of a non-Hellenic 
 population of Asia Minor (Phr^'gia and other regions), developed 
 during a period the histoiy of which is obscure. 
 
 1100. The Semites seem to have produced no mysteries — there 
 is no record of such cults in Babylonia, Syria, Phoenicia, the 
 Hebrew territory, or Arabia ; Semitic religion was objective, simple, 
 nonmystical.- The Syrian cult of Tammuz (Adonis), which was 
 adopted by Hebrews in the sixth century n.c. (Ezek. viii, 14), was 
 an old folk-ceremon)', not a mystery ; it is allied to the Attis cere- 
 monies of Asia Minor and to the mourning ceremony mentioned 
 in Judges xi, 40 (mourning for a dead deity, but there referred to 
 Tephthah's daughter). 
 
 1101. The Greek mysteries, then, derived their orgiastic side 
 partly from Thrace, partly from Asia Minor. They chiefly at- 
 tracted the lower classes and particularly slaves, for they offered 
 individual independence in religion, freedom from the sense of 
 social inferiority, and hope for the life to come. Thus they did 
 not appeal to the Hellenic spirit, and did not, as organizations, 
 survive the political decadence of the Greek States. P>ut it is 
 probable that their effects survived in the recognition of the pos- 
 sibility of religious worship apart from the traditional cults, and, 
 more generally, in contributing to the establishment of the principle 
 
 1 See the reference in the Republic (ii, -564 f.) to the mendicant prophets with 
 their formulas for expiation of sin and salvation from future punishment, and De- 
 mo.sthenes's derisive description of ."Eschines as mystagogue {De Corona^ 'S'^'^- 
 
 2 It is not clear that the peculiar cults described in Isa. Ixv, 3-5 ; Ixvi, 3 f., are 
 of Semitic origin. Their history, however, is obscure — they are not referred to 
 elsewhere in Jewish literature. In part they are, like the cults mentioned in 
 Ezek. viii, 10, the adoption of the sacred animals of neighboring peoples; Isa. Ixv, 5 
 seems to point to a close voluntary association with a ceremony of initiation, but 
 nothing proves that the association was of Semitic origin. For a different view see 
 \V. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, 2d ed., p. 357 ff.
 
 54- J.\"J'K0DL'C770X TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 of individualism in religion. An historical connection between the 
 Greek mysteries and the later indixidualistic cults is, indeed, not 
 probable. Cumont believes that Mithraism did not imitate the 
 organization of the Greek secret societies.^ The New Testament 
 use of the term ' mystery ' in the sense of ' esoteric doctrine ' ^ 
 may have come from the Asian cult ; the Mithraic worship was 
 practiced in Tarsus, the native city of the Apostle Paul, in the 
 first century of our era. However this nia\- be, it seems probable 
 that the conception of a church existed in the Graeco-Roman world 
 before the beginning of our era, and tliat its existence was due 
 in part to the Greek mysteries, whose members were scattered 
 throughout the empire of Alexander. 
 
 1102. 'V\\c p/tiJosop/iiail systems that arose in Asia and Europe 
 concurrently with the Greek mysteries did not found ecclesiastical 
 organizations. 'I'he disciples of philosophers formed schools, and 
 the adherents of each school constituted a group the members of 
 which were united one witli another by the bond of a common 
 intellectual aim and a common conception of life and of the world ; 
 and there was also a scientific union between the various groups, 
 the fundamental methods of investigation and lines of thought 
 being the same everywhere. But the object of thought was the 
 discovery of truth by human reason, not the quest of salvation by 
 worship of the divine. The emotional element essential to the 
 formation of a church was wanting, and where philosophical 
 systems adopted devotional forms these were not the creation of 
 philosophy but were borrowed from current cults. They sought 
 happiness, l)ut not through religious ritual. They did not always 
 formally discard or condemn existing cults, l)ut they ignored them 
 as means of salvation ; they sometimes recognized traditional gods 
 and forms of worship, but interpreted them in accordance with 
 their own ideas. 
 
 1103. In India the Upanishads practically abolished the national 
 pantheon and the old Brahmanic ritual — knowledge, they taught, 
 was the key to bliss, and the knowledge was not that of the Veda, 
 
 1 The Afysierics of Mithra (Eng. tr.), p. 29. 
 
 2 I Cor. ii, 7 ; Mk. iv, 11 al.
 
 SOCIAL niAl-'J.Ol'MllXr O I' RELIGION 543 
 
 it came 1)\' reflection ; emancipation from earthly bonds, absorp- 
 tion into the Infinite, was the goal of effort, but the effort was 
 individualistic and led to no devotional organization. Ascetic ob- 
 servances, as a means of attaining perfection, were an inheritance 
 from popular Brahmanism.^ In China Taoism, originally a system 
 of thought (based on the conception of all-controlling order) that 
 appealed only to a certain class of philosophic minds, became a 
 religion by borrowing crude ideas and sensational methods from a 
 debased form of Buddhism and other sources." C'onfucius steadily 
 declined to teach anything about divine worship ; Confucianism 
 remained merely an ethical system, dealing only with the present 
 life, until its founder, with disregard of his teaching, was divinized. 
 
 1104. Many of the (ireek philosophers, from Socrates and Blato 
 on, were definitely (some of them warmly) religious, but their reli- 
 gion was chiefly valued as an aid to ethical life, and it did not 
 respond to the demand for communal worship. The Platonic and 
 Stoic conceptions of the deity were pure, but they remained indi- 
 vidualistic — salvation was the creation of the man himself. The 
 noble hymn of Cleanthes to Zeus ^ and the fine religious morality 
 of Marcus Aurelius led to no church organization. The attempted 
 combination of Platonism and Judaism by Philo was equally result- 
 less. Neo-Platonism also, though it had enthusiasm and some sense 
 of brotherhood, showed itself unable to produce a church. Plotinus, 
 indeed, proposed to the Emperor Gallienus the establishment in 
 Campania of a city of philosophers, a Platonopolis, in wliich the 
 ideal life should be lived, but the proposal came to nothing.'* The 
 Neo-Platonic union with the deity was too vague a conception to 
 bring about communal worship, and the deity had no definite role 
 in securing the salvation of men. 
 
 1105. Thus, in the period beginning abt)ut the sixth century n.c. 
 and extending into the Christian era, all over the civilized world 
 
 1 Barth, Religions of India, p. 76 ff. ; Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 216 ff. ; cf. 
 Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, p. 282 ff. 
 
 - " Die Chinesen," in Saussaye, I.ehrbuch dcr Religionsgeschichtc ; K. K. Doug- 
 las, Confucianism and Taoinsm; De Groot, Religion of the Chinese , cf. II. G. Under- 
 wood, Religions of Eastern Asia. 8 Stobaeus, Eclogues, i, 30. 
 
 * Porphyry, Vita Plotini, cap. 3.
 
 544 IXTKODL'CTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIG/OXS 
 
 attempts were being made to reconstruct life by ethical and philo- 
 sophical systems, by ascetic obser\ances. and by mysteries. These 
 attempts bear witness to the prevailing sense of the insufficiency 
 of current schemes of life. They differ according to differences of 
 place and time, but agree in the search after something better; 
 this better thing was always ethical and in most cases religious. 
 Their failure to construct effective organizations was due to the 
 deficiencies pointed out above. 
 
 1106. Buddhism and Jainism. The first churches produced by 
 civilized men arose in India in the sixth centur}- b.c. out of the 
 bosom of Brahmanism, whose failure to establish a c'.urch was 
 due in part to its dependence on philosophical speculation. Of the 
 protests against the Brahmanic orthodoxy the most important were 
 Buddhism and Jainism.^ Buddhism discarded philosophy and as- 
 ceticism, and came forward with a plan of salvation that was intel- 
 ligible to all.- Disciples gathered about the Master and he became 
 the object of enthusiastic devotion. All complete churches have 
 owed their origin each to a single founder ; this is due to the fact 
 that the insight and constructive genius of the founder have chosen 
 out of the mass of the existing thought those broad principles that 
 the times demanded and have presented them in incisive form and 
 with freshness and enthusiasm.^ Buddha's followers quickly formed 
 themselves into associations, the entrance into which was by free 
 choice. As his doctrine of salvation was nontheistic, so his church 
 was nontheistic, but not therefore nonreligious. The ecclesiastical 
 organization was simple, but effective. The original Buddhism has 
 been degraded, especially in Tibet, China, and Korea, but the 
 church form remains everjwhere more or less recognizable.* 
 
 1 Hopkins. Religions of India, chap, xii f . ; Rhys Davids, Buddhism-. Barth, Reli- 
 gions of India : Oldenberg, Buddha. 
 
 2 The problem of life is stated to be how to get rid of desire, which is the source 
 of all suffering : the Buddhist answer is that desire is eliminated by moral living, for 
 which knowledge is necessary-. So the Socratic school based virtue and happiness on 
 knowledge. Cf. also the Biblical book of Proverbs. 
 
 3 It does not follow that ever)- founder of a religion will establish a church ; other 
 things than the person of the founder, such as the nature of his teaching and the 
 character of his social milieu, enter into the problem. 
 
 * On current proptosed reforms of Buddhism in Japan see Underwood, Religions 
 of Eastern Asia, p. 222 fif.
 
 SOC/AL niCl'ELOPMEAr 01' RELIGION 545 
 
 1107. Jainism, while tliffering from its contemporary, Buddhism, 
 in its metaphysical dualism and its asceticism, agreed with it prac- 
 tically in its method of salvation from the ills of life. It established 
 a nontheistic church which has had experiences (polytheistic and 
 other) like those of I5uddhism. Historically it is less important than 
 the latter ; it still has a considerable following, but it has never 
 passed out of India. Apparently its local features, metaphysical 
 and ascetic, have impeded its progress — it lacks the simplicity of 
 Buddhism. 
 
 1108. Jiidaisin. Judaism stands on the border line — it was a 
 cult that approached the position of a church, )-ct failed to reach 
 it. Its line of movement differed in toto from those described above. 
 It had no philosophy, no asceticism, no secret societies, and it did 
 not rely on its ethical code. It was essentially religious, in theory 
 a theocracy, in form a national cult. The steps by which the old 
 polytheistic Israelite nation passed into the monotheistic Judaism 
 can be traced historically, but the impulse to the movement was a 
 part of the genius of the people and cannot be further explained. 
 The leaders, of the small body of people that gathered at Jerusalem 
 in the sixth centur}', after the break-up of the year 586, were ani- 
 mated by a patriotic devotion to the national deity ; without political 
 autonomy, merely a province of the Persian empire, the sole in- 
 terests possible for the people were racial and religious, and these 
 isolated them from the neighboring peoples. Those who remained 
 in Babylonia (where they were prosperous and comfortable) were 
 similarly isolated, devoted themselves to their own development, 
 and their religious attitude was the same as that of the Palestinian 
 community. Distance from the temple led to gatherings in various 
 places for worship (synagogues). 
 
 The Jews thus became a nation organized under religious law, 
 with an institution devoted to voluntary communal worship, and 
 offering salvation, at first for this life only, but later (from the 
 second century B.C. onward) for the future life also — these were 
 elements of a church. ]]ut in two points this cult fell short of the 
 complete church idea: the business of a church is wholly and solely 
 religious, and the Jewish nation was organized not only for religion,
 
 546 IXTROJUTTIOX TO H/STOR)' OF REIJG/OXS 
 
 but also for commerce, politics, and war ; ' and the synagogue and 
 the temple-service were not free to all iIk- world — (>nl\- Jews and 
 proselytes" might take part in them. Any religious body, it is true, 
 may properly define the conditions of entrance into it ; Init here 
 the restriction was national — the synagogal cult, individualistic 
 and simply devotional as it purported to be, was a part of the 
 national system, and its membership depended almost exclusively 
 on the accident of birth. Proselytes, indeed, formed an exception 
 — they came in of their own choice — but they were numerically 
 not important and did not affect the general character of the cult.'* 
 The Jews came as near tlie ideal of a voluntary religious associa- 
 tion as was then possible under the hampering conditions of a 
 racial organization and peculiar national customs. Their genius 
 for the organization of public religion appears in the fact that 
 the form of communal worship devised by them was adopted by 
 Christianity and Islam, and in its general outline still exists in the 
 Christian and Moslem worlds. 
 
 1109. Zoroastrianisin resembled Judaism in its later practical 
 monotheism and its elaborate ritual, but was more isolated and less 
 advanced in the formation of assemblies for voluntary worship. 
 Its pre-Sassanian period produced no church, only a national cult, 
 which was adopted bv the Parthians and others in debased form, 
 but otherwise did not attract outsiders. On a sect that arose in 
 Persia in Sassanian times see below.'* 
 
 1110. Christianity. The teaching of Jesus was directed toward 
 a purification of the existing cult, the elimination of mechanical 
 views, and the emphasizing of spiritual and ethical ideals.^ There 
 
 • 
 
 1 The two last of these functions ceased on the destruction of Jerusalem by the 
 Romans (70 A.D.), the first remained. 
 
 2 Proselytes arose mostly from the general liberal tendency of tlie times (from 
 about the second century B.C. and on), sometimes from lower impulses, sometimes 
 they were made by force. See articles in Cheyne, Encyclopadia Biblica; Hastings, 
 Dictionary of the Bible; and Jni'is/i Encyclopedia. 
 
 3 They w^ere virtually identified with the Jewish people. On the early form of 
 voluntary devotion to a foreign deity see W. R. Smith, Religion of the Seviiies, 2d ed., 
 
 p. 75ff. ^§'"5- 
 
 6 On attempts to discover forms of Christianity before Jesus see W. B. Smith, 
 Der vorchnstUche Jesus, and Ecce Deiis ; M. I'riL-dlander, Synagoge und Kirche.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 547 
 
 is no indication that he purposed founding a separate organization.^ 
 Rut, after his death, his disciples were drawn together hy their 
 relation to him, particularly when the new congregation became 
 predominantly Grajco-Roman. For its administration the syna- 
 gogue was the model — from it were taken the titles and func- 
 tions of some of its officers and the method of conducting public 
 service.^ But the new ekklesia, the church, followed its own lines 
 and speedily created a new cult. Its fundamental conception was 
 salvation in the future through Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ. In 
 the beginning it was thoroughly individualistic and voluntary. It 
 had no connection with the State, was not a religio licita ; its ad- 
 herents joined it solely out of preference for its doctrines ; its 
 activity was wholly religious. But this ideal constitution of a 
 church was not long maintained. The introduction of infant bap- 
 tism (toward the end of the second century) and the adoption of 
 Christianity as the religion of the State by Constantine went far 
 to make membership in the Church an accident of birth or of 
 political position ; in this regard Imperial and Medieval Chris- 
 tianity did not differ from the old national religions — it was a 
 religion but not a church. At the present day in the greater part 
 of Christendom one's ecclesiastical position is inherited precisely 
 as the ancient clansman inherited his special cult.^ The word 
 " church " has largely lost its early signification of voluntary reli- 
 gious association, and has come to mean any Christian organization, 
 or, by further extension, any religious body. 
 
 1111. 'I "he secularization of the Church, the failure to discriminate 
 between its function and that of the State, is an inheritance from 
 
 1 The two passages in the Gospels (Matt, xvi, iS; xviii, 17) in which the word 
 '■ church " occurs appear clearly, on exegetical grounds, to be scribal insertions of 
 the later period. 
 
 2 '' Elder " and " apostle " are Jewish titles, and the reading of the Scriptures, 
 prayer, and exhortation formed part of the synagogal service ; see Schiircr, T/ic Jew- 
 ish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (Eng. tr.), II, ii,*52ff., and article "Apostle" 
 in Jewish Encyclopedia. Other offices arose in the church out of the peculiar con- 
 ditions ; the eucharistic meal appears to have been developed under non-Jewish 
 influence. 
 
 3 So far has the idea of the civil character of the Church been carried that in some 
 places the keeper of a licensed brothel has been required to be a member of die 
 State Church.
 
 548 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Roman Imperialism, which in its turn was derived from the primi- 
 tive clan constitution of society in which the individual had no 
 standing apart from the community. P"rom the Roman Empire it 
 passed to Medieval Europe, and it has survived in the Christian 
 world by force of inertia. It is, however, not universal in Christen- 
 dom (there are religious bodies in which individual freedom of 
 choice is fully recognized), and in some cases where it exists 
 formally or theoretically it is practically ignored. Notwithstanding 
 departures from the ideal the services of the Church often represent 
 voluntar)' worship ; such worship, however, has been the rule in 
 all religions from the earliest times to the present day and does 
 not in itself distinguish Christianity from any other religion. 
 
 1112. The word " church " meant at first a local Christian con- 
 gregation, but was enlarged so as to designate the whole body of 
 Christians. In this body various tendencies of thought showed 
 themselves from time to time, and new organizations were formed 
 that constituted new churches in the sense that they had their own 
 theological dogmas, ritual, and conditions of membership. Most 
 of them had brief careers and offer nothing of interest for the 
 histor)' of the development of the church-idea. Gnosticism was a 
 serious and noteworthy attempt to bridge over the gap between a 
 good supreme God and an evil world, and was in form a church, 
 but its philosophical and mystical sides had so much that was fan- 
 ciful and grotesque or ethically dangerous that it did not commend 
 itself to the mass, and soon ceased to exist as a separate organi- 
 zation, though its echoes long continued to be heard in certain 
 Christian groups.^ 
 
 1113. Cults of Mithra and Isis. The Mithraic communities 
 were w'holly voluntary associations, without distinctions of birth 
 or social position, were recognized by the State, but received no 
 pecuniary aid from it and had no official connection with it. Per- 
 haps this independence helped to nourish the enthusiasm that 
 carried Mithraism from one end of the Roman Empire to the 
 other; a church appears to flourish most on the religious side 
 
 1 Hamack, Dogmengeschichie \ articles in Herzog-Hauck, Real-Encyklopddie, and 
 Jewish Encyclopedia ; Mansel, The Gnostic Heresies.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 549 
 
 when it confines itself to religion. A more important fact was 
 that Mithraism was a religion of redemption. It does not appear 
 that there was any general organization of the Mithraic associa- 
 tions ; each of these was local, probably small, had its own set of 
 officers, and managed its own affairs.^ It was thus free from some 
 of the perils that beset Christianity. It is not improbable that some 
 of its liturgical forms were adopted by the Christian Church, but it 
 seems itself not to have borrowed from the latter. Its weakness 
 was its semibarbarous ritual and its polytheism ; it yielded of 
 necessity to the simpler and loftier forms of Christianity. 
 
 1114. The cult of Isis, in spite of its ethically high character 
 and its impressive ceremonies of initiation (as described by Apu- 
 leius '^), did not give rise to associations like the Mithraic. It be- 
 longs to the mysteries, but had not their organization of meetings 
 and ritual, had no brotherhoods (except those whose bond of union 
 was devotion to this cult) and no general organization embracing 
 the Empire. The reason for its failure in this regard appears to 
 lie in its lack of definiteness in certain important points : it was in 
 a sense monotheistic, since the goddess was called the supreme 
 controller of the world of external nature and of men, but its 
 monotheism was clouded by its connection with the old national 
 cults and by current theological speculations — for Apuleius, it 
 would seem, Isis was rather a name for a vague Power in nature 
 than for a well-defined divine person, and particularly it offered 
 no clear picture of the future and no clear hope of mtn'al redemp- 
 tion, two things that were then necessary to the success of any 
 system that aspired to supplant the popular faiths.''' Such lacks 
 as these appear in the cult of Sarapis also, which never developed 
 the characteristics of a church. 
 
 1115. Manichmsm. Of the religious movements that sprang 
 from the contact of Christianitv with the East Manichaeism was 
 the most important on account of its great vitality. It possessed 
 all the elements of a church, voluntary membership, independence 
 of the State (it was alwa\s persecuted by the State), and the claim 
 
 1 Cumont, Textcs ct moiiumoits and The Mysteries of Mithra. 
 
 2 Metamorphoses, chap. xi. '^ Cf. article " Isis" in Roscher's Lexikon.
 
 550 IXTRODUCTIOX TO H/STOKV OF RKIJGIOXS 
 
 to a divine revelation of salvation. Like Buddhism, Jainism, and 
 Christianity, it owed its origin to a single founder. Its plan of or- 
 ganization and its ethical standards were good. Like Mithraism 
 its basis was Persian (its rise was synchronous with the Sassanian 
 revival of Mazdaism), but the two went different ways : the former 
 laid stress on mystical ceremonies, the latter on moral and theo- 
 logical conceptions. The vogue that Manichaeism enjoyed was due, 
 apparently, to its eclectic character : adopting the Persian dualism, 
 it modified and expounded this by a Gnostic doctrine of asons, 
 which was intended to harmonize the goodness of God and the 
 existence of evil, and it added the figure of the highest aeon, Christ, 
 the savior of men. On the other hand, its involved and fantastic 
 machinery led to its downfall. 
 
 1116. Two theocratic bodies that failed to reach the full church 
 form are Islai?i and the Peruvian cult of tJic sun. The Islamic con- 
 stitution is based on a sacred book, its theology and its form of 
 public worship are borrowed from Christianity and Judaism, its 
 private worship is individualistic, and it offers paradise to the 
 faithful. l!ut Islam is in essence a State religion rather than a 
 church. Its populations belong to it by descent ; its head is the 
 Calif (now the Sultan of Turkey). Its diffusion, though due in 
 certain cases to the superiority of its ideas and the simplicity of 
 its customs,^ has yet come largely (as in Egypt, Syria and Palestine, 
 Persia, and North Africa) from social and political pressure — in 
 some cases it has been adopted by whole nations at a blow ; 
 Mohammed forced all the people of Arabia to accept it. Indi- 
 vidual choice recedes into the background, except (as in Judaism) in 
 the case of proselytes. Its conception of sin and salvation are largely 
 external. It bears a great resemblance to the Judaism of the Has- 
 monean dynasty, a national cult with a priest-sovereign at its head. 
 
 Within Islam there have arisen organizations that imitate the 
 form of a church in certain respects ; such were the Morabits 
 (Almoravides) and the Mohads (Almohades),^ whose bond of 
 
 1 Cf. A. G. Leonard, Islam, her Motal and Sfiritnal Value. 
 
 2 A. Miiller, Islam, ii, 614 ff.; Copp6c, Conquest of Spain; Dozy, Histoirc dcs 
 musulmans en Espagne ; Stanley Lane-Poole, Story of the Moors in Spain.
 
 SOCJ.IL DIA -I'J.OrMI-.Xr ( >/■' RI'JJGION 5 5 I 
 
 union was in part thcolot^ical, and such arc ihe great fraternities 
 in Africa and Asia, which arc devoted, among other things, to 
 religious work, and have elaborate organizations and ceremonies 
 of reception.^ But these are all largely political and military. The 
 Ismalic movement (from ca. 900 a.d. on), the central doctrine of 
 which was the incarnation of God in certain men and finally in 
 the Mahdi, was not Islamic and not Semitic ; with a nominal 
 acceptance of the Koran, it was in fact a mixture of Persian and 
 Buddhistic ideas ; from it came the Fatimide califate of Kgypt, 
 and from this (ca. 1000 a.d.) the Druse sect, which began as a 
 church, but has become merely a local religion.^ 
 
 1117. It was in Peru that the most thoroughgoing identification 
 of religion with the State was effected." In the old national religions 
 the individual followed the custom of his country ; in Peru the 
 State, in the person of the Inca, determined every person's reli- 
 gious position and duties. If Islam resembles Maccabean Judaism, 
 the Peruvian organization resembled some forms of Medieval Chris- 
 tianity. The Inca was a Pope, only with more power than the 
 Christian Pope, since he acted on every individual. The general 
 ethical standard was good, in spite of some survivals of savagery, 
 but there was a complete negation of individual freedom in religion.'' 
 
 1118. Modem Hindu sects. The vast multiplication of sects in 
 India is an indication of activity of religious thought ; ^ the move- 
 ment has been in general toward the formation of voluntary asso- 
 ciations, though with many variations and modifications. The 
 reform sects, while they may be considered as developments out 
 of the old systems, Vedic, Qivaic, Vishnuic (Krishnaic), have been 
 
 1 Of these fraternities the largest and most powerful is the Scnussi of North 
 Africa, a splendidly organized body with a central administration clothed with abso- 
 lute authority ; see Depont and Coppolani, Les confreries religieuses musulmancs. 
 
 2 S. de Sacy, Expose dc la rcUgion dcs Druses \ J. Wortabet, Researches into ihe 
 Religions of Syria; C. H. Churchill, Ten Ycars^ Residence in ,1//. Lebanon. 
 
 '^ Cf. Dr. Thomas Arnold's ideal, the identification of Church and State (A. P. 
 Stanley, Life and Correspondence of Thomas Arnold). 
 
 * Payne, History of ihe A^ew World called .America ; Markham, Rites and Lavs 
 of the Incas; Prescott, Conquest of Peru ^ bk. i, chap. iii. 
 
 5 On India's fertility in the production of religions cf. Bloomfield, Religion of the 
 Veda, p. 2 ff .
 
 552 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGJOXS 
 
 affected by foreign influence, Mohammedan or Christian. Of the 
 organizations influenced by Islam (followers of Kabir and Dadu) 
 several have produced societies that for a time had the form of a 
 church, with voluntary membership and a plan of salvation ; but 
 it has been hard for them to overcome the national tendencies to 
 idolatry and to deification of founder or teacher. The Sikhs, be- 
 ginning (in the fifteenth century) as a purely religious bod)-, became, 
 by the eighteenth centur}', a powerful political and military organi- 
 zation. Along with theological reform these sects have been con- 
 stantly in danger of reverting more or less closely to the old national 
 type, and their church form has been only feebly effective. 
 
 1119. The case has been different with the movements induced 
 by contact with Christian forms of belief. The organizations founded 
 or carried on by Rammohun Roy^ (early part of the eighteenth 
 centuiy) and later by Chunder Sen,- Alozoomdar, and others are 
 churches in the full sense of the word, and, notwithstanding occa- 
 sional individual lapses into old Hindu ideas, have so far maintained 
 this character; but they are not wholly native creations, and it 
 remains to be seen what their outcome will be.'' 
 
 1120. Babism and Bahaism,^ the transformation of Babism 
 effected by Bahau'llah, is a church in all essential points, though 
 its organization consists merely in the devotion of its adherents to 
 the teaching and the person of its founder; it has no clergy, no 
 religious ceremonial, no public prayers, no connection with any 
 civil government, but its dogma is well-defined and'it offers eternal 
 salvation to its adherents. Its chief source of inspiration is the be- 
 lief that its founder was an incarnation of God, the Manifestation 
 
 1 This organization was first called the " Brahma-Samaj " (the Church of Brahma), 
 later the '' Adi-Samaj " (the First Church). 2 xhe Brahma-Samaj. 
 
 3 There are other theistic bodies in India. The Arya-Samaj (Aryan Church) de- 
 rives its doctrines (monotheism and other) from the Veda (necessarily by a forced 
 interpretation) ; it is a sort of protest against foreign (Christian) influence. See arti- 
 cles " Arj'a Samaj " and "Brahma Samaj " in Hastings, Emyc/o/irtiia of Religion 
 and Ethics. 
 
 * Gobineau, Les religions ct les philosophies dans J'.lsie ccntralc ; K. G. BrowTie, 
 The Episode of the Dab and The Nciv History of the Bab ; article " Bab, Babis " 
 in Hastings, op. cit. ; article " Bahaism " in the Nouvcaii Laroiisse, Supplement ; Some 
 Answered Questions^ translated by Laura C. Bumey (exposition of the doctrine by 
 the son of the Bahaist founder).
 
 socj. I L i)i:\ 'ELorMi-:\T of relic, ion 553 
 
 of God announced by his forcruniK-r, the Bab (the " Gate " to God 
 and trutli). That its lack of official ministers and public communal 
 religious services is no bar to its effectiveness is shown by the 
 favor it has met with not only in Persia and other parts of Asia 
 but also in luirope and America. Possibly its success is due in 
 part to its eclectic character and its claim to universality (it seeks 
 to embrace and unite Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Juda- 
 ism, and Christianity) as well as to the simplicity of its dogma 
 (theism and immortality) and its admirable humanitarian spirit.'^ 
 
 MONACHISM 
 
 1121. An effective outgrowth from the church is the monastic 
 system, which is an eccksia in ecdesia, emphasizing and extending 
 certain features of the parent organization.'^ It sprang from a 
 dualistic conception, the assumption of a relation of incompatibility 
 or antagonism between God and the world — a feeling whose 
 germ appears in savage life (in taboos and other forms). It has 
 assumed definite shape only in the higher religions and not in all 
 of these — it is foreign to Semitic, Persian, Chinese, and Greek ^ 
 peoples. Austerity there has been and abstention from certain 
 things but not with the aim of ministering to spiritual life.* 
 
 1122. The birthplace of monachism proper was India. In the 
 Brahman ic scheme the highest sanctity and the most brilliant pros- 
 pects attached to the man who forsook the life of men and devoted 
 himself to solitary meditation in the forest.^ The seclusion was 
 individual — the man was an eremite. The organization into com- 
 munities was made by Buddha*^ and, apparently contemporaneously, 
 by Mahavira, the founder of Jainism. It is this organization that 
 
 1 Babism is fairly well represented in Persia at the present day ; see R. G. Browne. 
 
 2 Cf. articles in Herzog-IIauck, Rcal-Encyklopddic ; McClintock and Strong, Bibli- 
 cal Cyclopicdia ; New Schaff-Hcrzoi; Encyclopadia of Religious Knowledge. 
 
 " On the community founded by Pythagoras see the histories of philosophy; it 
 appears to have embodied a suggestion of monastic life, but its origin is uncertain. 
 
 ^ The Hebrew Nazirite vow, for example, was merely a consecration bf a part of 
 the body to the deity with the obser\'ance of old nomadic customs of food and dwell- 
 ings. 5 Hopkins, Religions of India ^ Index, s.v. Monks. 
 
 Rhys Davids, Buddhism, chap. vi.
 
 554 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 has made the institution a power in religious history. Buddha's 
 associations were open to all, without distinction of social position 
 or sex. From India monachism passed into all the lands that were 
 occupied by Buddhism. 
 
 1123. In Eg)'pt under the Ptolemies there arose a sort of mo- 
 nastic life : after the cult of Sarapis was established men wishing to 
 devote themselves to religious meditation would go to the Sarapeum 
 and shut themselves up in cells. ^ It is, however, not clear that 
 there was an organization or any sort of communal life in connec- 
 tion with these gatherings. There is no evidence of foreign influ- 
 ence beyond a possible suggestion from the fact that Sarapis was 
 a foreign deity and his cult may have imported foreign ideas into 
 Eg)'pt ; but he was completely domiciled in his new abode, was 
 identified by the Greeks with their Zeus and by the Egyptians (by 
 a popular etymology) with their Osir-Apis ; there was nothing 
 foreign in his cult, and the claim, sometimes made, for Buddhistic 
 influence (through embassies sent by Asoka to Greek kings) has 
 no definite historical foundation.- Possibly Greek (Pythagorean) 
 influence is to be recognized,^ but it cannot be considered strange 
 that a practice of this sort should arise independently in Egypt at 
 a time when a practical monolatry with a good ethical conception 
 of the deity might dispose some men to solitary reflection. 
 
 1124. The Eg}'ptian Therapeutae, the " Servants" of God, de- 
 scribed by Philo,^ resemble these Sarapis monks in certain respects, 
 particularly in their habit of contemplation. Their kernel, however, 
 was Jewish — they had the Jewish Scriptures and observed the 
 seventh day of the week. On this Jewish substratum was imposed 
 Greek thought ; they adopted the Alexandrian allegorizing inter- 
 pretation of the Scriptures, and Philo includes them in that group 
 of persons who found it desirable to withdraw from the common 
 
 1 Cf. H. Weingarten, Ursf'ning dcs Md)ich/hiims, cited with approval by Meyer, 
 Geschichic dcs Allen Acgy/>lcns, p. 401 ; cf. Lehmann-Haupt, in Roscher's Lcxikon, 
 article " Sarapis," col. 362 ff. 
 
 2 Cf. Hopkins, Religions of /ntlia, chap, xix ; J. Estlin Carpenter, " Buddhist and 
 Christian Parallels" in Studies in the History of Religions presented to C. H. Toy. 
 
 8 Against this view see Breasted, History of Egypt, p. 57S ff. 
 < De Vita Contctnplativa \ see the edition of F. C. Conybeare. The work is prob- 
 ably to be considered genuine.
 
 SOCIAL PEIELOI'MKNT OF RELIGION 555 
 
 life of men in order to cultivate ])hilosophical and ethical thought. 
 Six days they lived each by liimself ; on the seventh day they came 
 together for a religious service. Women as well as men were ad- 
 mitted into the association, but the place of general meeting had two 
 divisions, one for men, the other for women. The date of the rise of 
 the sect is uncertain, luit it must probably be put in the Ptolemaic pe- 
 riod. I'hcir monastic organization must be referred to some current 
 practice, Greek or Egyptian, or to a blending of various lines ; the 
 details of their history are too sparse to build oii with definiteness. 
 1125. The similar sect of the ]"'.ssenes, or Essaei, which was con- 
 fined to Palestine, is better known.^ The Jewish features in their 
 system are : acceptance of the Jewish Scriptures, observance of 
 the Sabbath, recognition of the temple by sending unbloody offer- 
 ings, regard for ceremonial purity. Non-Jewish features are : re- 
 jection of marriage, trade and (according to Philo) animal sacrifice, 
 turning to the sun in prayer (or, according to Josephus, praying 
 to the sun), the teaching that the soul, when set free from the 
 body, passes, if good, to a delightful region across the ocean, and, 
 if bad, to a dark den of ceaseless punishment. Foreign influence 
 in these latter practices and beliefs is obvious, but its precise source 
 is uncertain. There are suggestions of Pythagoreanism and pos- 
 sibly of Zoroastrianism ; " it can only be said that various ideas 
 were in the air of Palestine, and that the Essene formulation was 
 effected under conditions and at a time not known to us.^ The 
 monastic constitution was clearly of foreign (non-Jewish) origin. 
 Essenism seems not to have affected the Jewish religious ideas of 
 the time. Jesus, though he may have taken from it the prohibition 
 of swearing and possibly one or two other points, w^as in the main 
 and on all important points (except ethical teaching, which was 
 largely common property) the reverse of what Essenism stood for. 
 
 1 I'hilo, Quod oniiiis probus liber; Pliny, Hisiorin A'alitralis, v, 17; Josephus, 
 Antiquities, xviii, i, and War, ii, S: Scluircr, The Jewish People in the Time of 
 Jesus Christ (Eng. tr.), II, ii, 188 ff. (and the bibliography there given) ; articles in 
 Cheyne, Encyclopadia Bihlica, and Hastings, Dictionaiy of the Bible. 
 
 2 From the geographical and historical conditions a Pythagorean origin (perhaps 
 indirect) seems the more probable. 
 
 3 The earliest appearance of an Essene is in the latter part of the second cen- 
 tury li.c. (Josephus, Antiquities, xiii, 11, § 2).
 
 556 JXTRODfCriOX TO HISTORY OF KELIGIOXS 
 
 1126. Christian monachism, which appeared first in eremitic 
 form (second century) and later in organized communal form, 
 may have been an independent creation of Christian piet)' ; but 
 it is also possible that it was suggested by the traditions of its 
 birthplace, Egypt ; ^ definite data on this point are lacking. \\'hat- 
 ever its origin, it speedily overran the Christian world, in which it 
 has maintained itself up to the present day." 
 
 1127. Monachism has rendered valuable aid to Buddhism and 
 Christianity by training men and women, laity and clergy, who 
 were devoted to the forms of religion represented by these organi- 
 zations. It has done a higher service by establishing communities 
 that have often been beacon lights, representing, particularly in 
 times of popular ignorance, ideals of conduct. Such communities 
 have often been homes of beneficence and learning. They have, 
 on the other hand, injured religion by severing it from ordinary 
 life. By assuming that the secluded life was holier than that of 
 the world they have tended to put a stigma of unholiness on the 
 latter. Buddhism taught that on!}' the monk could attain the high- 
 est sanctity and receive the highest reward, and such has generally 
 been the teaching in those forms of Christianity in which mona- 
 chism exists. Monasteries and convents, further, have in many 
 cases become rich in this world's goods — a favorite form of de- 
 votion has been to build and endow or aid such communities (often 
 with the belief that this atoned for sin) ; with wealth has come 
 worldlymindedness and corruption of morals. Numerous examples 
 of such decadence occur in Buddhistic and Clirislian history. There 
 are, however, many examples of htjly monastic living. It is true in 
 general of these institutions, as of all others, that when moral super- 
 vision of them is exercised by society the possibilities of moral decline 
 are greatly diminished ; in an enlightened age they may be assumed 
 to be generally exemplary. Their specifically useful role in the de- 
 velopment of religion, as refuges in times of turbulence and centers 
 of charity and thought, belongs to an imperfectly organized form of 
 society ; with the growth of enlightenment they tend to disappear. 
 
 1 Roscher, l.cxikon, article " Sarapis," col. 3()2 f. 
 
 2 See references given above in § 1121, note.
 
 SOCIAL DEl'LLOrMEAT OF RELIGION y^-J 
 
 Sacred Books 
 
 1128. All churches and all bodies approaching nearly the church- 
 form have writings that embody their beliefs and are regarded as 
 sacred. Such sacred Scriptures necessarily grow up with the organ- 
 izations to which they belong, since these latter originate in literary 
 periods and claim divine authorship. Great religious communities 
 naturally produce a large number of such books, and at some time 
 it becomes necessary (from the growth of heresies or rivals) to sift 
 the whole mass and decide which works are to be considered to 
 have permanent divine authority ; the process of sifting is per- 
 formed in each case by its community under the guidance of 
 leading men, and the result is a canon of sacred Scriptures. Such 
 canons are found in Buddhism, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Chris- 
 tianity, and Islam, and in minor bodies like the Essenes, Mormons, 
 and others, but not among the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans ; 
 Brahmanism occupies a middle ground — it regards the Veda and 
 the accessory books as entitled to great reverence, but has never 
 drawn the line between sacred and nonsacred writings so sharply 
 as has been done in the group named above. 
 
 1129. While the general method of fixing the canons has been 
 the same ever}^vhere, the details of the process have differed in 
 different lands. In India the canon of Southern Buddhism (ac- 
 knowledged formerly in India and now in Ceylon, Burma, and 
 Siam) was settled in a series of councils coming down to the middle 
 of the third century B.C. or later (several centuries after the death 
 of Buddha), the object being to define the faith against heresies ; 
 probably the reports of the Master's discourses (he left no writings) 
 were examined, and those declared authentic were brought together, 
 but the date of the final settlement of the canon is not certain, and 
 the sacred books were not reduced to writing till the first century 
 B.C. The canon of Northern Buddhism (accepted in Tibet, Mon- 
 golia, Manchuria, China, Japan) is less definite and was fixed later.^ 
 
 1130. The development of the Jewish canon extended over a 
 long period, and its history in outline is well known. While the 
 
 1 Rhys Davids, Buddhism ; R. .S. Copleston, Bitddhistn,
 
 558 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 discourses of the prophets were regarded with respect as giving 
 divine revelations, there is no record of the recognition of an 
 authoritative book before the fifth century B.C., when a sacred 
 law was proclaimed by Nehemiah and Ezra.^ Even then there 
 seems to have been no definite collection of writings. The Law 
 was the national religious constitution, and in process of time 
 prophetic books and others came to be regarded with reverence. 
 The translator of Ben-Sira (Ecclesiasticus) into (ireek (132 K.c.) 
 mentions three groups of national books (the law, the prophets, 
 and " other writings "), but does not speak of them as divinely 
 inspired. But the intimate contact with the Greek world, and 
 especially the Maccabean struggle, deepened the Palestinian Jew- 
 ish reverence for the national literature. A process of sifting and 
 defining, at first unofficial, began, and this w^ork naturally passed, 
 with the growth of legal learning, into the hands of leading doctors 
 of law. Early in the first century of our era public opinion in 
 Palestine had taken shape ; the standard established was a local 
 national one — books illustrating the national history and teachings, 
 and written in Hebrew, were accepted (so, for example, the book 
 of Esther, which is nonreligious but national), others (as the 
 \Vi.sdom of Solomon) were rejected. Tor various reasons certain 
 books (Ezekiel, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs) remained 
 doubtful. After the destruction of Jerusalem the increasing literary 
 feeling, the establishment of rabbinical schools, and the necessity 
 of defining the Jewish position against growing Christianity and 
 other heresies led to definite action- — in the Synod of Jamnia 
 (about 100 A.D.) the Palestinian canon, after hot debates, was 
 finally settled in the form in which the Hebrew Old Testament 
 now appears. Alexandrian Judaism had a different standard and 
 accepted, in addition to the Palestinian collection, a group of books 
 (the Apocrypha) that the Palestinians rejected. Certain other books 
 (as the various Enoch apocalypses) were not accepted by either 
 
 1 Ezekiel, early in the sixth century, and Ilaggai and Zcchariah in the latter part 
 of the century, show no consciousness of the existence of authoritative writings. 
 
 2 Cf. O. F. Moore, "The Definition of the Jewish Canon and the Repudiation 
 of Christian Scriptures'" in Essays in Modern Theology and Related Subjects . . . 
 Testimonial to C. A. Briggs.
 
 sue/. I A ni-'AiCLoiwiJiXT uj-kjlUujua 559 
 
 Jcwisli body, though llicy were highly esteemed. Both canons 
 were slow growths of national feeling — books were chosen that 
 accorded with prevailing ideas ; but it is now impossible to recover 
 all the critical views that determined the results.^ 
 
 1131. \'oungC'hristianity, at first a Jewish body, naturally adopted 
 the Jewish canons, but in the course of a century produced a con- 
 siderable norniali\e literature of its own. The Christian canon was 
 settled much in the same way as the Jewish. There was doubt 
 about certain books, there were differences of opinion in different 
 quarters, the growth of heresies called for the establishment of a 
 definite standard, and a final decision was reached in the West and 
 announced toward the end of the fifth century by Pope Gelasius ; 
 in the East the action was less definite, but the conclusion was 
 about the same. The books of the Alexandrian canon that were 
 rejected by the Palestinians were largely used by early Christian 
 writers, by whom some of them are constantly cited as sacred 
 Scripture, for they were found in the Greek translation of the Old 
 Testament (the Septuagint), which was the Old Testament text 
 used by Christians. So great was their popularity that Jerome was 
 led, against his judgment, to include them in his translation (the 
 Latin Vulgate), and by the Council of Trent (1546) they were 
 indorsed as deuterocanonical, and are still so regarded in the 
 Roman Church. In the Greek Church they were accepted as 
 canonical in the beginning and up to the early part of the nine- 
 teenth century, but are now, it would seem, looked on only as 
 useful for the instruction of catechumens.- By Protestants their 
 canonical authority is generally denied, though up to the earl)- part 
 of the nineteenth century they were commonly printed in editions 
 of the Bible ; the Articles of the Church of England characterize 
 them as instructive but not of authority for doctrine, and lessons 
 from them now appear in the Lectionaiy of the Church.^ 
 
 1 (;. Wildeboer, Hei Onstaan van den Kanon dcs Oiuicn Vcrbonds \ H. E. 
 Kyle, Canon of the Old Testament ; articles " Canon " in Encyclopadia Diblica, 
 " Bible Canon" in /ewisA Encyclopedia, " Kanon des Alten Testaments" in Herzog- 
 Hauck, Rcal-Encyklopdd'ie. 2 See the Longer Catechism of Philatrt, 1S39. 
 
 8 T. Zahn, Gcschichtc dcs nciitcstamentlichcn f\'aito)is\ E. C. Moore, The New 
 Testament in the Cliristian Church ; article " Canon " in Encyclopcedia Biblica.
 
 56o IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 1132. The history of the collection of the Zoroastrian sacred 
 books is involved in obscurity. A late tradition was that many 
 such writings were destroyed by Alexander. This points to a be- 
 lief that the existing writings were later than the fall of the old 
 Persian empire. When a beginning was made of committing Zoro- 
 astrian material to writing is uncertain. In the first century of 
 our era Pliny had heard of verses ascribed to Zoroaster,^ and, as 
 Mazdean books were in existence at the rise of the Sassanian 
 dynasty, the probability seems to be that the reduction to writing 
 had then been going on for a considerable time — how long it is 
 impossible to say. The material grew with the development of the 
 people and was ascribed to Zoroaster ^ (as the Jews ascribed their 
 legal material to Moses). An official collection of sacred writings 
 was made in the fourth century of our era — the exact extent of 
 this collection and the principle that governed its formation are not 
 clear. It may be surmised that the appearance of strange teachings, 
 such as that of Mani, and the spread of Christianity eastward, 
 forced on ilie leaders the task of defining the orthodox faith.'' In 
 making their collection they would naturally take only such writings 
 as were in accord with the spirit of the religion of their time. Thus 
 they established (in the fourth century) a body of sacred writings ; 
 it does not follow that no additions were later made to the canon 
 — how far it is represented in the present Avesta it may be diffi- 
 cult to sav. 
 
 1133. The history of the Islamic canon is simple. The Koran 
 enjoys the distinction of being the only sacred canon produced by 
 one man. There never was any question of its sacredness, and 
 there has been hardly any question of its content. Mohammed's 
 discourses were taken down by his followers in his lifetime, were 
 put into shape just after his death, the collection was revised a 
 few years later (under the C^alif Othman), has since been univer- 
 sally accepted in the Moslem world as the authoritatiVe divinely 
 given standard of religious truth, and there is no reason to doubt 
 
 1 Hisioria Nattimlis, xxx, chap, i, § 2. 
 
 2 The question whether any of this material went back to Zoroaster must here be 
 left undecided. 3 Spiegel, Eranischc Altcrthumskundc, iii, 778 ff.
 
 SOCIAL DF.VKLOPMKXT OF RELIGION 561 
 
 that it contains substantially all the teaching of -the Prophet and 
 only his leaching'. The scribe Zayd, who acted as editor, may have 
 altered or inserted a word here and there, but he would not have 
 dared to change the thought. The traditions of extra-Koranic 
 sayings ascribed to Mohammed (the hadith), so far as they may 
 l)c sui:>posed to be genuine utterances of his (most of them are 
 spurious), do not add anything to his doctrine.^ 
 
 1134. As to the influence of sacred books on religion, it is 
 obvious, in the first place, that they are always formulations of 
 the ideas of the places and times in which they originate, and that 
 they vary in tone and in importance accordingly. It is true, how- 
 ever, that the canonical collections of the great religions, having 
 arisen in enlightened circles, all have, along with local (social, 
 mythological, eschatological) features, generally high ethical and 
 spiritually religious standards. For this reason they have always 
 been, as religious and ethical guides and sources of inspiration, 
 important factors in« the development of civilization as well as in 
 the life of the churches. Their teachings, generally representing 
 the ideas of gifted men formulated under the pressure of great 
 religious enthusiasm, have perpetuated high standards, holding 
 them up in times of decadence and corruption and clouded moral 
 vision. 
 
 1135. A specially noteworthy point in their influence is their role 
 of household monitors and comforters. As religious manuals, in- 
 vested with divine authority, they have found their way into families 
 and other small and intimate circles, have been children's textbooks 
 and parents' guides, and thus have entered in an extraordinary 
 way into individual life. They have reached wider circles through 
 expositions and discourses held in connection with stated religious 
 services. They have been used as textbooks in schools, and in 
 general have been the most widely read books in the wf)rld. They 
 have thus been unifying forces, each in its special community. 
 
 Their influence, further, has not been confined to purely religious 
 life. Being regarded as containing the final truth, they have been 
 objects of study and occasions of the development of learning. The 
 
 1 Ndldeke, Sketches from Eastern History (Eng. tr.), p. 25 ff.
 
 562 IXTRODCCTIOX TO H/STORV OF REL/GIOXS 
 
 necessity of explaining their use of words and grammatical con- 
 structions, their historical and geographical statements and views, 
 their pictures and theories of social life, their psychology and phi- 
 losophy, their theistic and eschatological ideas, ha\-c led to in\esti- 
 gations of all these subjects. Early Moslem science sprang from 
 the study of the Koran, and the later Moslem discussions of free- 
 will, immortality and other points were called forth by Koranic 
 statements. The philosophical writings of Maimonides, produced 
 under Greek influence (through Moslem translations of Aristotle), 
 were directed to the elucidation of Old Testament ideas. The 
 contributions of modern Christians, Jews, Moslems, and Parsis 
 to knowledge, sacred books being the occasions, arc numerous 
 and important. 
 
 1136. Along with these beneficent influences there have been 
 others less praiseworthy. As any sacred book belongs to a par- 
 ticular age, it inevitably, in the course of time, falls into disaccord 
 with later ideas on certain points. When this happens there are 
 always some persons who, failing to discriminate between the local 
 and transiton,- and the permanent, unjustly reject the book /// t(>to\ 
 others, making a distinction, take it as a literar)' product, accept 
 what they think valuable, and treat the rest as an imperfect product 
 of the past. Those who accept the book as divinely inspired and 
 therefore, as they think, infallible citlier maintain literally all its 
 statements (cosmological, historical, eschatological, and other) or 
 else undertake to interpret certain of them in accordance with 
 current views. When such interpretation is forced, it becomes 
 intellectually and morally an evil — it accustoms the religious pub- 
 lic to logical distortions, and it nourishes a disingenuousness that 
 easily becomes immoral. The belief that a sacred book is flnal 
 authority often results in liinilalion of freedom of thought — 
 certain things are excluded from discussion. The instinctive de- 
 mand for freedom asserts itself, however, in various ways : some- 
 times, as described above, a desired sense is obtained by violence ; 
 sometimes a religious body that is regarded by its adherents as 
 authoritative interpreter changes its decision, in accord with the 
 spirit of a new age, and grants liberty where it had previously
 
 SOCIAL i)i:\i:i.orMi:xT oi- ri-.liciox 563 
 
 refused it. 'I'lu' la-almcnt of sacred books follows the phases of 
 general culture. 
 
 The dogmatic statements of these books are condensed into 
 creeds, which become organic law.' I'hey express each the inter- 
 pretation put by a given church on the words of its sacred Scrip- 
 tures. The interpretations are the (uitcome of historical processes, 
 the final result of which is a formulation of the ideas of its time ; 
 where the same sacred book is accepted by several churches, there 
 may be several different creeds based on the one book — that is, 
 churches and creeds alike are subject to the variations of human 
 opinion that result from differences of temperament, social sur- 
 roundings, and general culture. Creeds are convenient and effec- 
 tive manuals. They may be made to change their meaning by 
 processes of interpretation ; elasticity in a creed is favorable to 
 permanence — it is thereby able to adapt itself to changing condi- 
 tions — and the degree of elasticity depends largely on the persons 
 who are its authorized expounders, that is, on the area of public 
 opinion that these persons represent. 
 
 1137. General influoice of cJuiriJics. All organized religion has 
 been a potent factor in human life. In savage and half-civilized 
 communities it enters into eveiy detail of life, since, in the absence 
 of knowledge of natural law, everything that happens is ascribed 
 to supernatural agency. In the old national cults, in which other 
 departments of thought (art, commerce, science, philosophy) be- 
 came prominent, religion was somewhat isolated — it received a 
 particular representation in sacrifices, festivals, and other observ- 
 ances ; but such ceremonies were so numerous, and so many 
 ancient customs survived, that it still played a conspicuous part 
 in daily life.'^ In the period in which churches arose there was a 
 still greater specialization of the activities of life, and this special- 
 ization has become more pronounced in modern times, in which 
 from various causes the tendency is to mass religious observances 
 
 1 A creed usually contains also an afTirmation of the authority of the book on 
 which it is based. .Some religious bodies do not regard any book as absolutely 
 authoritative, and their creeds are merely expressions of their independent religious 
 beliefs. 
 
 2 So among the Egyptians, Hebrews, Hindus, Greeks, Romans, and others.
 
 564 IXTRODUCTIOX TO IIJSTORV OF REL/GWAS 
 
 in certain days and seasons and leave the rest of the time free. 
 This apparent banishment of religion from evetyday affairs does 
 not, however, signify diminution of interest in religion itself — 
 partly it is an economic arrangement, the assignment of a definite 
 time to ever)' particular duty, but mainly it is the result of a better 
 conception of what religion means, the feeling that, being an inward 
 experience, it is less dependent on external occasions. 
 
 1138. Churches, as is remarked above, differ from the old 
 national religions mainly in the emphasis they lay on individualism 
 and on the idea of redemption. They represent a profounder con- 
 ception of the ethical relation between man and God, or, as in 
 Buddhism, between man and the ideal of perfection in the universe. 
 I'hey foster religion by holding public ser\'ices and by the produc- 
 tion of devotional works ; they advance learning by supplying men 
 of leisure ; socially they are in general a conservative force, with 
 the good and bad effects of conservatism. IJut their special function 
 is to treat man as a spiritual being having immediate personal re- 
 lations with the deity. Charitable and educational work (ethical 
 and other) and social gatherings they share with other organizations, 
 and they are incompetent in themselves to deal with economic and 
 other scientific questions. That wherein they stand apart from 
 other organizations is the emotional element they introduce into 
 man's attitude toward the universe. According to this point of 
 view man regards himself not merely as a part of the world but 
 as bound to its author by ties of gratitude and affection. This 
 sentiment may be independent of all scientific theories, may be 
 shared by the learned and the unlearned ; it is thus a great unifying 
 force, and gives to life the glow of enthusiasm with the repose 
 of trust. 
 
 1139. The temptations to which churches are exposed are those 
 that are touched on above, and they may be briefly summed up 
 here. There is the tendency to an excessive elaboration of the 
 externals of religion, ritual, and dogma. Something of these is 
 doubtless necessary in churches as in all human organizations, 
 but they may easily be carried so far as to obscure the essential 
 things. The histor)' of all churches exhibits this tendency. There
 
 SOCIAL DElllLOPMlCXT OF RELIGION 565 
 
 arc protests from timo lo lime, revolts against formalities and 
 speculations, and then frequently in the new organizations the old 
 movement is resumed. P'or our own times a distinction may per- 
 \xOi\><, be made : while there seems to be a steady general increase 
 of ritual, there is in many quarters a disposition to minimize or 
 curtail dogma. 
 
 1140. However this may be, a more important tendency in 
 churches is toward the claim to absolute authority in religious 
 matters. I'his tendency is universal in bodies that hold to the 
 infallibility of certain sacred books. It is obvious that absolute 
 authority in an organized body and individual freedom are mutu- 
 ally incompatible,^ and that all that makes for freedom makes 
 against the church influence in this direction. Finally, when 
 churches enter into administrative alliance with the civil authorities, 
 or assume civil and political power, they to that extent abdicate 
 their spiritual rights and abandon their true function. 
 
 Universal Religions 
 
 1141. So far only particular religions, belonging to particular 
 peoples or regions, have been considered. In recent years the 
 question has been much discussed whether any of these may be 
 called universal. A universal religion may be defined either as one 
 that has been accepted by all peoples, or as one whose doctrines 
 are such that it may be so accepted. The term is frequently used 
 loosely to describe a religion that has passed definitely beyond its 
 birthplace and has been adopted by different nations or districts. 
 Obviously, if we take the stricter definition, the question at issue 
 can be decided only by an appeal to facts. Whether or not a given 
 religion has actually been universally accepted can be determined 
 from statistics, and the question w'hether it is fitted to be generally 
 adopted must be answered by a similar appeal. It may be held, 
 and is held, of various religions that their standards are so high 
 and their schemes of worship and conceptions of salvation so 
 obviously suited to human nature that they cannot fail to be 
 
 1 Cf . Sabatier, Authority in Religion (Eng. tr.) , and the bibliography therein given.
 
 566 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIG/OXS 
 
 adopted when they are known ; but such are the di\ersities of 
 human thought that this consideration cannot be regarded as de- 
 cisive — a religious system that seems to one set of men to be 
 perfect may appear to others to be unsatisfactor}',^ and it is only 
 by trial that it can be determined how far it is capable of conquer- 
 ing new territory. The test of actual diffusion, then, must be ap- 
 plied to those religions for which the claim to universality has been 
 made — these are Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, 
 and Islam." 
 
 1142. Buddhism has had a history full of vicissitudes.' Begin- 
 ning in Northern India as an Aryan faith, in the course of a few 
 centuries it overran a great part of the peninsula, then began to 
 decline, gradually lost its hold on the people, partly, it is said, by 
 reason of the corruption of its morals, chiefly, doubtless, because 
 it was not suited to the character of the Hindu people, and finally, 
 in the twelfth century of our era, left its native land, to which it 
 has never returned. Meantime it had established itself firmly in 
 Ceylon and later in Burma and Siam and had been carried to China 
 (not long after the beginning of our craj, whence it passed to 
 Korea, Central Asia, Japan, and adjacent islands, and as early as 
 the sixth century gained a footing in Tibet. It has maintained its 
 conquests outside of India to the present day, except that it has 
 been driven out of a considerable i)art of Central Asia by Moham- 
 medanism ; in China and Japan it exists alongside of the native 
 cults, its relations with which are friendly. It presents the curious 
 spectacle of a religion, originally Hindu Ar^^an, that now finds a 
 home exclusively (with one exception, Ceylon) among non-Aryan 
 peoples ; but among these peoples it has generally been degraded 
 by the infusion of low native elements, and has discarded its original 
 essence. By reason of its negative altitude toward life it has found 
 no favor as a system with Western Indo-Europeans, Persians, and 
 Semites, except that it gave a coloring to certain Persian sects (the 
 
 1 The contention that a given religion must triumph because it is divine and its 
 triumph is divinely predicted introduces a discussion that cannot be gone into here, 
 where the object is to consider existing facts. 
 
 2 Babism (or Bahaism) also claims to be universal, but its origin is so recent that 
 this claim cannot be tested. 3 Rhys Davids, Buddhism.
 
 SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION 567 
 
 Ismailic) and has pcrliaps influenced Bahaism.^ As far as present 
 appearances go there is no probability of its gaining general 
 acceptance. 
 
 1143. Judaism is too much encumbered with peculiar national 
 usages to commend itself to non-Jews. There was a time just before 
 and just after the beginning of our era when a considerable number 
 of persons resorted to it for escape from the confusion of current 
 religious systems, and since that time there have been conversions 
 here and there ; but these have been too few to affect the general 
 character of religion in any community. Even to Reform Judaism, 
 which has discarded Talmudic usages and does not differ doctrin- 
 ally from certain forms of Christianity, there clings a racial tone 
 that tends to isolate it, and it docs not seem that this isolation is 
 likely to cease soon. 
 
 1144. Christianity, beginning as a Jewish movement, speedily 
 became Graeco-Roman, and in this form took possession of the 
 whole of Western Asia (except Jewish districts and parts of Arabia), 
 Greece, Italy, Eg>'pt, and the northern coast of Africa, and was 
 adopted, under Byzantine and Roman influence, by the Celtic, 
 Slavonic, and Teutonic tribes. Most of its Asiatic and all of its 
 African tcrritoiy except Abessinia was taken from it by Moham- 
 medanism in the seventh century, but small bodies of Christians 
 remained in Armenia, Mesopotamia, Syria, and Egypt. \\'ith this 
 exception it has since been the religion only of the Western Indo- 
 Europcans and of a few half-civilized peoples who have been 
 Christianized either by missionaries (the Karens of Burma, a part 
 of the Telugus of Southeastern India and others) or by contact 
 with Westerners (Philippine Islands, tribes of North America and 
 South America) or by both these agencies (the Hawaiian Islands). 
 Local peculiarities have been largely banished from its usages but 
 not from its dogma. It is, apparently, its dogma (in the orthodox 
 form) that has prevented its acceptance by most Semites, by the 
 
 1 It has been professed by a few persons in Europe and America, but the so- 
 called " theosophy " is not Buddhism. On supposed points of contact between the 
 New Testament and Buddhism cf. C. F. Aiken, The Dliamma of Gotama the Buddha 
 
 and the Gospel of Jesus the Christ.
 
 568 /.vr/wnc'CT/thv to }/istorv of relig/oxs 
 
 peoples of Central and Eastern Asia, and by many undeveloped 
 tribes of Africa and Oceania. 
 
 1145. Zoroastrianism has never advanced to any important 
 extent beyond the boundaries of its native land. It has never 
 recovered from the crushing blow dealt it by Mohammedanism 
 in the seventh centur)-, and is now professed by hardly more than 
 100,000 persons (mostly in Bombay). 
 
 1146. Islam is now the religion of the Turkish empire (e.xcept 
 the Christian groups in Europe, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia), 
 Persia, Eg^'pt (except the Copts), and the North African coast, and 
 has a large following in Central Asia, China, India, the Malay penin- 
 sula, the Malay Archipelago, the Sudan, and a considerable rep- 
 resentation on the east and west coasts of Africa. Its spread, as 
 is remarked above, has been effected sometimes by force, but oftencr 
 by social pressure and through traders and missionaries. Decadent 
 Christianity in Palestine, Syria, and Eg}'pt readily yielded to it ; 
 Persian Zoroastrianism made some effort to maintain itself but 
 succumbed to the combination of militar\- pressure and the pros- 
 pect of civil advancement and peace ; after the fall of Constanti- 
 nople conversions of Christians in Europe were numerous, and the 
 Moslem conquests in India were followed by a considerable acces- 
 sion of Hindus to the Islamic faith. At the present time it appears 
 to be advancing only among the half-ci\'ilized tribes of Central Africa, 
 but it maintains its position against Buddhism and Christianity.^ 
 
 1147. There is, thus, now no religion that, so far as extent of 
 diffusion is concerned, can be called universal. Omitting the Jewish 
 and Parsi groups, the Brahmanic and other religions of India, and 
 the Chinese Confucian cult, three gjeat religions have divided the 
 world among them. Buddhism taking Eastern Asia, Islam Western 
 Asia and Northern Africa, and Christianity Europe and America. 
 It is .sometimes suggested that the religion of the leaders of civili- 
 zation, the Christian nations, must become the faith of the world. 
 But, even if we may look forward to a time when social fusion, 
 under the control of the present Christian nations, shall have 
 brought about substantial unity of religious thought in the world, 
 
 1 T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam.
 
 soc/.u. ni:\i:LorMi-:xT ()/■' Ri:i.n;inx 569 
 
 il is impossible now lo predict what the nalure of that thought 
 will be, since Christianity has undergone and is now undergoing 
 change, and may in the far future assume a different form from 
 that of to-day ; fundamentals may remain, but oi)inions differ even 
 now as to what are fundamentals. 
 
 1148. Classification of religions. A word may be added on pro- 
 posed classifications of religions.^ Certain resemblances and differ- 
 ences between religions are obvious, and groups may be made, 
 geographical, ritualistic, theologic, or soteriological, but it is diffi- 
 cult to find a principle of classification that shall bring out the 
 essential characteristic or characteristics of every religion and yet 
 distinctly mark every one off from all others. All have much in 
 common, and the elements in all are so mixed that divisions nec- 
 essarily cross one another. Every religion is the product of some 
 one community and represents its peculiar view of human life in 
 its relation to the supernatural ; there may be borrowings and 
 fusions, but the final outcome is shaped by the thourht of the 
 people to whom the religion specifically belongs.'-^ The differences 
 between various religions are the differences of thought between 
 the communities involved, and the differences and the resemblances 
 are often curious and sometimes defy explanation. 
 
 1149. Leaving aside ritual, which, so far as it is a merely ex- 
 ternal form of approach to the deity, does not touch the essence 
 of religion, the following points may be said to be common to all 
 religions: (i) The sense of a supernatural control of life, and the 
 conviction that the supernatural Power must be placated or obeyed.^ 
 (2) The belief that religion deals with and controls the whole of 
 life ; this belief is pronounced among savages, who know nothing 
 of natural law, and is regarded as essential in more advanced com- 
 munities, in which, from the religious point of view, law, physical 
 
 1 See Tiele, article " Religion " in F.ncyclopctdia Britauitica, gth ed., and cf. his 
 Elements of the Seiencc of Religion, i, 28 ff . ; R. de la Grasserie, Des religions com- 
 farees an point dc vne sociologique \ M. Jastrow, The Study of Religion, pp. 58 ff . ; 
 article '' Religion" in F.ncyclof'a-dia Britniuiica, iith ed. 
 
 2 Cases of adoption of alien cults bodily are here of course excluded ; in such 
 cases the cults are to be referred to the creators and not to the borrowers. 
 
 3 In some forms of Brahmanism, in Buddhism, and in some modern systems this 
 Power is impersonal or undefined.
 
 5/0 IXTRODLXTIOX TO HISTORY OF KEUGIOXS 
 
 or mental, is taken to be an expression of the will of the deity. 
 (3) The creation of divine personalities^ (representing popular 
 ideals), and movements toward a unitary view of the divine con- 
 trol of the world. (4) An ethical element in the conception of the 
 character of the supernatural Power and the modes of pleasing 
 this Power. The ethical side of religion corresponds to the general 
 ethical standard of the people — in savages it is low, but it exists. 
 (5) The conception of salvation as the goal of religious faith and 
 service ; the salvation looked for is at first physical, is gradually 
 moralized, and ultimately takes the form of spiritual union with the 
 deity. These are the essential elements of religion ; they all exist 
 in crude form in the lowest strata of society, and are purified in 
 the course of social growth. 
 
 1150. A classification naturally suggested by this enumeration 
 of fundamentals would be one based on grades of general culture, 
 savage, half-civilized, and civilized ; but such a classification would 
 not take account of the differences of character in the members of 
 the higher grades. These differ from one another in the concep- 
 tion of the ultimate Power of the world and of the nature of 
 salvation and the mode of attaining it, and in other less important 
 points. They are so highly composite in structure that their inter- 
 relations are complicated, and those that are brought together by 
 one critical canon may be separated by another, liuddhism is allied 
 on one side (the ignoring of deity) to Confucianism and Epicurean- 
 ism, on another side (the hope of moral salvation) to Christianity. 
 Zoroastrianism touches the Veda in its theistic construction, and 
 is remarkably like Judaism in its organization. Christianity is Jew- 
 ish on one side and Graeco-Roman on another. Islam has Christian 
 and Jewish conceptions attached to the old-Semitic view of life. 
 
 1151. A distinction of importance is that between national reli- 
 gions and those fcninded each by a single man (Buddhism, Cliris- 
 tianity, Islam).- This distinction may be pressed too far — all 
 religions have great men who have given new directions to 
 
 1 On Gautama's attitude toward divine beings cf. Rhys Davids, Buddhism, p. 87 f. ; 
 Hopkins, Religions of India, p. 333 f. 
 
 2 \V. D. Whitney, Princeton RericTX', May, 1881.
 
 SOCIAL DL I 'KLOPMEXT OF RELIGION 5 7 1 
 
 thought, and no rrlii;ii)n can be said to l)c wholly the creation of 
 an indi\idual man, since all, as is pointed out above, are outcomes 
 of the ideas of communities.' The distinction in question is not a 
 satisfactory basis for a general classification since it fails to note 
 the theological differences between the various religions. Never- 
 theless, it embodies a significant fact : in the course of the history 
 of the world the three religions above-named have come to divide 
 the civilized world among them, that is, they have been selected as 
 best responding to the religious needs of men. No one of them is 
 universal, but the three together practically include the civilized 
 world. ■■^ They are modified in various ways by their adherents, but 
 they have not been superseded. They have grown beyond the ideas 
 of their founders, but these latter nevertheless occupy a unique 
 position. Moses and Zoroaster are dim figures whose work it is 
 impossible to define, but the teachings of Buddha and Jesus, though 
 they left no writings, are known with substantial accuracy, and 
 Mohammed has expressed himself in a book. The persons of the 
 three founders are the objects of a devotion not given to other 
 leaders. These things justify us in putting Buddhism, Christianity, 
 and Mohammedanism in a class by themselves, of which the dis- 
 tinguishing note is the discarding of local national ideas and usages. 
 These last are not wholly given up, but they are less prominent 
 than in Judaism and Zoroastrianism. It is to the insight of the 
 individual founders that this relative freedom from local features 
 is due. This characteristic does not necessarily carry with it supe- 
 riority in ethical and general religious conceptions. 
 
 A different line of cleavage is indicated by the designation " re- 
 ligions of redemption." In one sense all religions come under this 
 head,^ for all have for their object the freeing man from the ills of 
 life. In a higher sense the term ' redemption ' means deliverance 
 
 1 Kuencn, National Religions and Universal Rclii^ions (Hibbert Lectures, 1SS2) ; 
 Tiele, Elements of the Science of Religion, i, 43 ff. ; Jastrow, Study of Religion, 
 p. 89 ff. 
 
 2 Confucian China and Shintoist Japan arc excluded ; but in both these countries 
 Buddhism is widespread. Pure Confucianism is not a religion, and the old Shinto 
 is no longer believed in by educated Japanese. 
 
 8 Cf. Tiele, Elements of the Science of Religion, Index, s.v.
 
 572 IXTRODUCriOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 from the power of sin and from its punishment, particularly in the 
 world to come. This meaning appears in definite form in Buddhism 
 and Christianity, and somewhat less distinctly in Mithraism and the 
 later Judaism ; in the Old Testament religion and Islam it is not 
 clearly stated. As it appears in germinal form in the lower cults, 
 its development may be traced up to its culmination in the systems 
 in which man is freed from moral taint through the agency of an 
 individual savior or in accordance with a cosmic ethical law. 
 
 1152. Unity exists among the lowest and among the highest 
 religious systems. Among savage and half-civilized cults there are 
 no important differences — they all have the same ideas respecting 
 the nature and functions of supernatural Powers and the ways of 
 approaching them.^ In the higher cults a process of differentiation 
 goes on for a certain time while each is developing its special char- 
 acteristics, and then a counter-movement sets in — they all tend to 
 come together by suppressing local features and emphasizing gen- 
 eral ideas.^ Thus at the present day there are groups of Buddhists, 
 Zoroastrians, Jews, Christians, and Moslems that, without aban- 
 doning their several faiths, find themselves in substantial accord 
 on some essential points. The unity of savages is the uniformity 
 of undeveloped thought ; the later unity rests on discrimination 
 between fundamentals and accessories. 
 
 1153. Tabulated classifications of religions, it would seem, must 
 be arbitrary and misleading — they give undue prominence to some 
 one religious fact, they maim the individuality of cults, and they 
 obscure the relations between certain cults by putting these into 
 different divisions. The true relations between the various religious 
 systems may be brought out by comparisons. In this way individ- 
 uality and unitary character may be preser\ed in every case, while 
 the agreements and disagreements may be made clear by referring 
 them to general principles of religious development. 
 
 1 Myths, it may be remarked, are not confined to the uncivilized and the old 
 national cults; they are found in all great religious systems. 
 
 2 See, in this connection, the account of the faith of the philosopher Sallustius, 
 the Emperor Julian's friend, by Professor Gilbert Murray, " A Pagan Creed," in the 
 English Review for December, 1909. The term ' pagan ' now has a connotation that 
 is singularly out of accord with the character of a man like Sallustius.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 SCIENTIFIC AND ETHICAL ELEMENTS IN 
 RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS 
 
 1154. It is remarked above ^ that the sphere of religion is wholly 
 distinct from that of science (including philosophy and art) and 
 from that of constructive ethics (the determination of rules of con- 
 duct), while it is true that the three, being coexistent and original 
 departments of human nature, must influence one another, and 
 must tend to coalesce and be fused into a unitary conception of 
 life. This process goes on in different degrees in different times 
 and places, sometimes one department of thought getting the upper 
 hand and sometimes another, but we cannot suppose that it ever 
 ceases entirely. The relation between religion and its two com- 
 panions may become clear from a brief survey of the facts given 
 by historical records, this term being used to include all trustworthy 
 sources of information. 
 
 The Scientific Element 
 
 1155. Man is bound by his constitution to inquire into the 
 nature of things, to seek for the facts of the world, including the 
 human soul. This search is made by both religion and science, 
 but their procedures are somewhat different. Religion demands 
 only the fact of an ultimate moral ground of the world ; science 
 observes all phenomena and endeavors to connect and organize 
 them by a thread of natural causation or invariable sequence ; 
 religion looks behind phenomena to what it regards as its source. 
 This source is reached by some process of reasoning, either by 
 acceptance, on grounds held to be satisfactory, of a divine revela- 
 tion, or by inference from the facts of the world (as the presence 
 
 573
 
 574 /.\'TKODLC'J'JOX TO HISTORV OF RFJJGIOXS 
 
 of design or of moral order) ; but, when it is reached, all other 
 facts of science are treated as irrelevant. If, then, science confines 
 itself to the observation of sequences, the relation between the two 
 cannot be one of permanent hostility, since their material is not the 
 same. They clash when an old nonreligious belief, adopted by 
 religion, is confronted by an antagonistic scientific discovery ; the 
 first result is a protest, but the mind demands harmony, and reli- 
 gion always ends by accepting a well-attested scientific conclusion,^ 
 and bringing it into harmony with its fundamental beliefs. 
 
 1156. Certain phases in the relations between religion and sci- 
 ence may be distinguished, but an earlier or cruder phase may con- 
 tinue to exist alongside of a later and higher one. I'here is first 
 the time when science based on a recognition of natural laws does 
 not exist. The existing science is then one of imagination, the 
 fanciful application of crude observations to the explanation of all 
 phenomena. The verae causae are supernatural agencies — science 
 and religion are one. Explanations of phenomena take the form 
 of what we call myths, what the people of the time regard as true 
 histories. There is no place for tlie conception of miracle ; the 
 supernatural agents are all-powerful, one thing is no harder than 
 another, nothing is strange or inexplicable. There is a crude concep- 
 tion of the unity of God and the world. 
 
 1157. The period of the rise and decline of the great national 
 religions and the rise of monotheistic cults (along with which may 
 be included Confucianism and Buddhism) is characterized by a 
 great development of philosophy (in China, India, and Greece) and 
 a beginning of scientific research properly so called (especially in 
 astronomy, physics, medicine, and chemistry, in Greece and by the 
 Moslems of Persia). There is a revolt against the older conception 
 of unity. Deities are highly personalized, stand outside of the world, 
 and intervene in human affairs at crises. It is the age of miracles 
 — supernatural Powers, by reason of their intimate social relations 
 with their respective communities, are expected to come to their 
 
 • Examples are the Copernican and Newtonian theories ; the magnitude of the 
 stellar universe ; Biblical criticism ; the theories of evolution and the conservation 
 of energy.
 
 SCIENTIFIC AM) im/ICAL KLEMENTS 575 
 
 aid in all iin])()rlant matters, and, for most persons, there is no 
 difficuUy in holding that they are ahlc to change the course of 
 nature, which is not regarded as being absolutely fixed. In certain 
 philosophical circles, however, this view is rejected, and nature, 
 with its laws, is conceived of as a separate and independent ex- 
 istence, accompanied or not by gods. Science begins to define the 
 nature of deities, and to limit the sphere of their practical activities 
 
 — this is a precursor of the fall of the old divinities. The old myths 
 are retained, but they are purihed, humanized, and allegorized, and 
 in some cases applied to new persons and events, according to 
 changes in religious construction. 
 
 1158. The next phase is the recognition by science of the ab- 
 solute domination of natural law in the world of phenomena. Reli- 
 gion, when it accepts this view, holds fast to the belief in the 
 ultimate personal moral Force, and conceives of this Force as 
 working and expressing and manifesting itself only in phenomena 
 in accordance with natural law — that is, this law is regarded as 
 the expression of the divine will. Science is thus given liberty to 
 investigate phenomena to the fullest extent, and religion is freed 
 from the incumbrance of physical, psychological, and metaphysical 
 theories ; the spheres of the two are sharply defined and kept 
 separate. Such a conception is held to differ from " naturalism " 
 or " materialism " in that it recognizes a Power distinct from 
 matter — -to differ from what has been called " humanism " (which 
 makes man the sole power in the world), or from positivism (which 
 regards man as the only worthy object of worship), in that it 
 ascribes to the will and activity of divine spirit the high position 
 of humanity as the center and explanation of the life of the world 
 
 — to differ from pantheism in that for it God is a i)ersonal being 
 who enters into relations with a free humanity — and to differ from 
 agnosticism in that it holds that God may be known from his works. 
 
 1159. Whatever difficulties may attach to this conception are 
 regarded by its adherents as not insuperable. In all religious sys- 
 tems except Buddhism and Positivism the personality of the ulti- 
 mate ground of the world is looked on as a necessary datum. In 
 the view under consideration it is held that God exists for the world
 
 5/6 INTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 in which he expresses himself, as the world exists for him, its source 
 and end. The world, with all its parts and incidents, is conceived 
 of as a sacred thing, consecrated to God, and ever striving to realize 
 him in itself, and itself in him. Under the guidance of exacter 
 scientific thought the old crude idea of the unity of the divine and 
 the world is thus transformed into the idea of a unity of will and 
 work. In this conception there is no place for myths, and no need 
 is felt for miracles : histories of the external world and of human 
 society are held to rest on obser\'ation of facts, and generally the 
 possibility of miracles is not denied, but they are regarded as un- 
 necessary and improbable — they are thought unnecessary because 
 the conception of the divine character and the religious life are not 
 supposed to be dependent on them, and they are thought improbable 
 because they are held to be not supported by experience. This is 
 the attitude of those persons who accept the conclusions of science ; 
 there is, however, great difference of opinion in the religious world 
 on this point. ^ 
 
 1160. Certain scientific and philosophical positions discard reli- 
 gion as a department of human life. When it is held that man 
 knows nothing and can know nothing but phenomena, or when, if 
 something is assumed behind phenomena, it is regarded as too 
 vague to enter into personal relations with men, religion as a force 
 in life becomes impossible. In these cases the two conceptions must 
 stand side by side as enemies till one or the other is proved, to the 
 satisfaction of men, to be untenable. Meanwhile it appears that 
 one result of scientific investigations has been to delimitate religion 
 by making it clear that, while it belongs as an influence to all life, 
 it cannot include scientific theories as a part of its content — a result 
 that cannot be otherwise than favorable to its development. 
 
 The Ethical Element 
 
 1161. Conduct has always been associated with religion. Super- 
 natural Powers have been regarded as members of the tribe or 
 other society, divine headmen part of whose function it is to see 
 
 1 The general religious attitude may be the same whether the world be regarded 
 as monistic or as pluralistic.
 
 SCIEXTIFIC AXD KTIIICAL ELEMEXTS S77 
 
 that the existing cust(Miis are observed, these customs being ethical 
 as well as ritual. I'Aen in such low tribes as the I'"uegians and the 
 Australians the anger of some Tower is supposed to follow viola- 
 tion of law. Instructions to initiates often include moral relations.^ 
 The connection of morals with religion in the more advanced 
 peoples is close. In this regard a distinction is to be made be- 
 tween the creation and the adoption and treatment of ethical ideals. 
 
 1162. Ethical codes are never created by religion but are always 
 adopted by it from current usages and ideas. ^ Rules respecting the 
 protection of life, property, and the family are found everywhere 
 — they arise out of natural social relations, even the sirnplest, and 
 grow in dcfiniteness and refinement with the advance of society, 
 so that things at one period lawful, and accepted by religious 
 authorities, are at a later period prohibited.^ Kindness to one's 
 fellows is common in the lowest tribes, and in higher civilizations 
 is formulated as a golden rule (Confucius, Book of Tobit, New 
 Testament, and virtually the Egyptian Ptahhotep, the Old Testa- 
 mentBook of Proverbs, Buddha). Truthfulness, fidelity, and justice 
 have been generally recognized as things to be approved — roughly 
 defined and aimed at in rude communities, more exactly defined 
 and more clearly held up as ideals in higher communities. All 
 these virtues are taken up more or less definitely into religious 
 codes. 
 
 1163. Less praiseworthy customs and ideas also have been 
 indorsed by religious law. Where sexual license prevails it is 
 made a feature in religious ritual and other ceremonies after it has 
 become a part of social usage and law. It is true that it is gener- 
 ally at first nai've, and, being not illegal, is not a violation of rights 
 and not immoral in the sense in which a refined age regards it.'* 
 
 1 See above, § 172. 
 
 2 Cf. L. T. Hobhouse, Morals in Evolution, part it, chaps, v-vii. 
 
 3 An example is the Old-Hebrew usage respecting marriage with a half-sister or 
 with a wife (not one's mother) of a father. Up to about the seventh century B.C. 
 such marriages were lawful (Gen. xx, 12 ; 2 Sam. xiii, 13 ; xvi, 22) ; later they were 
 forbidden (Ezek. xxii, 10 f. ; Lev. xviii, 11). Maspero (in the Annuaire de I'ecole dcs 
 haii/cs Httdts, iS()6) points out that in Kgypt marriage between uterine brothers and 
 sisters in the royal family was not only legal but a sacred duty, its object being to 
 maintain the purity of the divine blood. ■* See above, §§ 107, 180, 219.
 
 578 J.XTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 But it tends, even among savages, to become socially bad, and, 
 when it survives into times of higher standards, is a corrupting 
 influence. In this bad form it was sanctioned by religious author- 
 ities in Canaan (even at one time among the Hebrews),^ Greece, 
 and Syria, and exists to-day in India as an accompaniment of re- 
 ligious worship. The records of religious cruelty are familiar. 
 Wholesale slaughter, persecution, torture have been abundantly 
 practiced in the name of religion.^ Many social institutions (such 
 as slavery and polygamy) countenanced by a gi\cn age have been 
 adopted in the religious codes of the age. These examples illus- 
 trate the fact that religion does not undertake to fix the details of 
 ethical conduct — its role is something different. This statement 
 applies to the institution of taboo, as is remarked above ^ — its 
 ritual rules are not moral, and its moral rules are adopted from 
 social usage. It was influential in the organization of society, but 
 not in the way of adding anything to the moral code. In modern 
 economic and other social questions that have an ethical side the 
 details are left to science; religion contents itself with insisting 
 on moral principles as having divine authority, and these principles, 
 as moral, are already recognized by society. 
 
 1164. Discrepancy between codes and conduct has always ex- 
 isted — few religious persons live up to the standards that the)' 
 regard as authoritative. This failure concerns not the sincerity of 
 the religious society in setting up its standard, but the conditions 
 regulating actual conduct. 
 
 A natural consequence of the coexistence of religion and ethics 
 in human life has been that each has influenced the other. Advance 
 in the purity and clearness of social ethical ideals has had the effect 
 of modifying not only religious codes but also religious dogmas. 
 The old belief ('founded on the conception of social solidarity) that 
 
 1 .'\mos ii, 7 ; Hos. iv, 14. 
 
 2 The Old Testament command to exterminate the Canaanites (Deut. vii, 2 ; 
 XXV, ig; Josh, vi-xi) is not historical, that is, was not given at the time stated or at 
 any other time. The Israelites, in fact, settled down among the Canaanites and in- 
 termarried with them, and at the time when the passages just cited were written 
 Cseventh century and later) there were no such alien tribes in Canaan. Rut these 
 passages show how a current barbarous custom of war could be regarded by religious 
 leaders as pleasing to God. 3 See § 630 ff.
 
 SCIENTIFIC AM) ICTIIICAL ELEMENTS 579 
 
 a famih', tribe, or nation was ])unishL'(l 1)\- the deity for the sin of 
 one of its members vanished before the reeognition of individual 
 responsibility. The doctrines of eternal punishment and vicarious 
 expiatory suffering are now rejected by some religious bodies and 
 circles as unjust. When they are maintained, it is on the ground 
 that they are not unjust — the appeal is to an ethical principle. 
 Apart from the fact of maintenance or rejection, the tendency is 
 to try all doctrines by moral standards. If they are rejected and 
 yet stand, or seem to stand, in sacred books, then either the state- 
 ments of the books are interpreted in accordance with the moral 
 standards, or the ethical authority of the books is set aside. 
 
 1165. The influence of religion on ethics has been in the way 
 not of modifying codes but of enforcing existing ideas and customs 
 and giving an impulse to moral life. It has commonly furnished 
 supernatural sanctions — rewards and punishments in this life or 
 in the other. How far this conception has been effective in re- 
 straining men from actual ill-doing, in furthering good conduct, 
 and in developing inward loyalty to the right, may be a question. 
 To answer this question would require such a collection of facts as 
 has never been made and perhaps cannot be made. We can see 
 that the belief in divine rewards and punishments has sometimes 
 been a real power, sometimes seems to have no effect. The char- 
 acter of the sanctions varies with the growth of refinement, ad- 
 vancing from the crude savage and later ideas of physical pains 
 and pleasures to the conception of moral degradation or salvation. 
 The recognition of rew'ards and punishments for one's self as in- 
 centives to good living is not regarded as immoral if they are not 
 made the chief motive — the prevailing view^ is that it is legitimate 
 to look for results of action, that, however, devotion to right must 
 always be independent of results that affect only the actor. What- 
 ever the general effect of belief in supernatural sanctions, it must 
 be concluded that the existence of morality in the world is not 
 dependent on this belief. The common social motives for practic- 
 ing justice and kindness are so strong and so persistent that these 
 virtues must always retain a certain supremacy apart from men's 
 religious creeds. The term ' supernatural ' is used abo\e in the
 
 5 So LXTRODC'CnOX TO JUSTOK)' OF A'A'L/u/OAS 
 
 more usual sense of ' opposed to natural,' but, according to one 
 religious point of view, all things are the direct work of God, so 
 that there is no difference between ' natural " and ' supernatural,' 
 and the real sanctions of morality are all the conditions of life, 
 external and internal.' 
 
 1166. The most important elements that religion (^ihough only 
 in its highest form) has introduced into ethics are a grandiose con- 
 ception of the basis and nature of the moral life, and a tone of 
 tenderness in the attitude toward the deity and toward men. The 
 moral code it regards as the will of God, conscience as the voice 
 of God, morality as obedience to God, all activity' as a coworking 
 with God. Nobility is given to the good life by making it a part 
 of the eternal divine purpose of the world. The conception of 
 human life as an essential factor in the constitution and histor)' of 
 the world is common to religion and philosophy, but religion adds 
 the warmth of personal relation with the divine head of the world. 
 Into the philosophical and ethical view of the unit)' of humanity 
 religion infuses reverence and affection for the individual as being 
 not merely one of the component parts of the mass but a creature 
 of God, the object of his loving care, capable of redemption and 
 union with God. Here again, while there is no addition to the 
 content of the ethical code, there is added intensity of feeling, 
 which may be a spur to action. 
 
 1167. In the sphere of religion, as in all spheres of human 
 activity, ideas and tendencies are embodied in human personalities 
 by whom they are defined, illustrated, and enforced — not only in 
 founders of religious systems and other great leaders of thought, 
 but in lesser everj-day persons who commend religion, each to his 
 limited circle, by purity of life. The special ethical figures contrib- 
 uted to history by religion are those of the martyr and the saint. 
 The martyr is one who bears witness passively to what he regards 
 as truth at the cost of his life ; he thus differs from the hero, who 
 is a man of action. The martyr spirit is found elsewhere than in 
 religious history, but it is in this latter that it has played its special 
 ethical role — divergencies from established faiths always excite 
 
 1 So, for example, Butler's Analogy.
 
 SCJEATIFIC AM) lilllJCAL ELEMENTS 58 I 
 
 peculiarly sharp hostility. \\'hcn it is pure loyalty to convictions 
 of truth, it is an ethical force of great moment — a permanent 
 inspiration.' It is less valuable when it springs from the hope of 
 personal advantage, when a controlling consideration is the belief 
 that one goes directly from the stake (as Moslem warriors believed 
 they went from death in battle) to celestial happiness. There arose 
 at times (for example, in the Decian and Diocletian persecutions 
 of the ihinl cenlurw and in Cordova in the ninth century, when 
 there was no persecution) a fanatical desire for the honors of 
 martyrdom that had to be checked by the Church leaders. 
 
 1168. I'lie saint is related to the virtuous man as holiness to 
 virtue. The difference between them is one not of ethical practice 
 but of motive and sentiment — holiness is virtue consecrated to the 
 deity. The saint, like the martyr, is often an ethical power. When 
 the title is given officially as an ecclesiastical honor, it may or may 
 not cany with it moral excellence. In Brahmanism, Buddhism, 
 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam saintship has sometimes been 
 contaminated with physical and ritual ideas and practices, and so 
 far ceases to have ethical value." 
 
 1169. The evil influence of the religious point of view on ethical 
 life has been of the general nature already referred to : ^ embalm- 
 ing and sanctifying outgrown and injurious social institutions ; sub- 
 stituting form for spirit ; encouraging asceticism ; drawing sharp 
 lines of demarcation between men on the basis of religious opinions, 
 and so far creating an antisocial spirit. 
 
 1170. The development of the sense of obligation to do right 
 (conscience) is due to so many different influences that it is hard 
 to say exactly what part any one of these has taken in the process. 
 But obviously religion has been an important factor in the result 
 
 1 It is an exaggeration to say (as has been said) that the sentiment of the sacred 
 obligation of opinion was first formulated or created in the world by the early Chris- 
 tian martyrs — before their time Socrates, Jews in the Antiochian persecution, and 
 probably others, had embodied this sentiment — but the Christian devotion helped to 
 make it a generally recognized ethical principle. 
 
 - Hopkins, Rdii^iam of India, Index, s.v. Yoga: I51oomfield, Religion of the Veda, 
 Index, s.v. Bakshccs/i ; article " Saint and Saintliness" in Jewish Encyclopedia ; Chris- 
 tian hagiologies ; Goldziher, Muhammedanischc Stiidien ; C. Trumelet, Les saints de 
 f Islam. 8 See above, § 1 163.
 
 582 IXTRODL'CTIO\ JO J/ISTOKV OF A'JiL/o/OAS 
 
 so far reached. By its distinct connection of the favor of the deity 
 with conduct it has tended to fix attention on the latter and to 
 strengthen the feeling that righteousness is the sovereign thing. 
 Though such regard for right-doing is at first mainly egoistic, it 
 easily becomes an ideal, reverenced for its own sake, and more 
 powerful because it is identified with a person and colored by the 
 sentiments of gratitude and love that religion calls forth. Religion, 
 especially in the earlier forms of society, though not only in them, 
 has been a pedagogue to lead men to the acknowledgment of the 
 supremacy of the moral law. It differs from other such guides 
 in the tone of mingled humility and enthusiasm that it gives to 
 this fealtv. 
 
 1171. As to the existence of moral evil in the world, rclitrion 
 can only regard it as the work of supernatural Powers. In the 
 savage period the question does not come up — moral evil is taken 
 as a part of the nature of things and is not curiously inquired into. 
 In later times it is ascribed to some malevolent spirit or deit}' who 
 is either independent of the supreme deity (as in certain half-civilized 
 tribes) or is tolerated b\- him (Angro Mainyu, Satan), or to a 
 subordinate employed by him (lies put into the mouths of prophets 
 by a deity), ^ or to a quite separate divine Power, not necessarily 
 malevolent (as in some philosophical theories). Religion may adopt 
 some philosophical explanation — as that evil is only failure to reach 
 the good, or only the lower step to which we look back from a 
 greater height, or an inevitable accompaniment of a scheme of life 
 characterized by struggle and intended to recognize the freedom 
 of the will and to develop moral autonomy — but, from its own 
 resources it can only sa\- that it is a thing inexplicable by man, 
 belonging to a divine plan that the devout soul accepts as right 
 because God has ordained it. 
 
 1172. The theory of man's native incapacity to do right (total 
 depravity), held by some religious bodies, is antimoral since it 
 denies human freedom. The attempt to modify it by the supposi- 
 tion of divine impartation of moral power is inadequate unless such 
 power is held to be given to every person, and this amounts to an 
 
 1 Ezek. xiv, 9.
 
 sciEXTii'JC AAJ) j:tiijlal elements 583 
 
 indirect affirmation of freedom and denial of moral impotcncy. 
 The theory is, however, practically innocuous, being rejected or 
 ignored by the universal consciousness of freedom. 
 
 1173. To the questions, raised by philosophy, whether the world 
 is essentially good or bad and whether life is worth living, theistic 
 religion gives a simple answer : a perfect God implies a perfect 
 universe ; this answer is germinal and confused in early religion, 
 and is definitely stated only in the higher systems. The great 
 theistic sacred books, Jewish, ("liristian, Mazdean, and Moslem, 
 all teach that though there are present limitations and sufferings, 
 there is to be a happy issue for the faithful out of all distresses, 
 and the Buddhistic view, though nontheistic, is essentially the same 
 as this ; as for other persons, they are sometimes included in a 
 final restoration, when moral evil is to disappear, sometimes are 
 excluded from the happy outcome, but in both cases the scheme 
 of the world is regarded as good. Leaving out of view the question 
 as to the exact interpretation of the facts of life, this optimism is 
 ethically useful as giving cheerfulness and enthusiasm to moral life, 
 with power of enduring ills through the conviction of the ultimate 
 triumph of the right. It may pass into a stolid dogmatic ignoring 
 or denial of the existence of evil, and then tends to become inhuman 
 and therefore ethically bad.'^ It is, however, commonly saved from 
 such an unfortunate result by common sense and the instinct of 
 sympathy. And it is so general a conception and its goal is so 
 remote that it cannot be a strong and permanent moral force for 
 most persons — immediate experiences are as a rule more powerful 
 tlian remote expectations. But, so far as it is a living faith, religious 
 
 optimism is in the main a healthy ethical factor in life. 
 
 « 
 
 1 It is this sort of insensate optimism thnt Voltaire ridicules in Candide — a just 
 and useful protest against a superficial view of life.
 
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 586 /.yfRODiXTIOX TO H/STORV OF RKLIGIO.XS 
 
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 L'Annee sociologique (Paris). 
 
 Zeitschrift fiir Ethnologic (Berlin). 
 
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 American Journal of Archa-ology (New York and London). 
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 Journal of Hellenic Studies (London). 
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 Meiners, C. Allgemeine kritische Geschichte der Religion (Hannover, 
 
 1806-1S07). 
 Waitz, T. Anthropologie der Naturvolker (Leipzig, 1859-1872). 
 Bastian, a. Beitrage zur vergleichenden Psychologic (ISerlin, 1S68). 
 MiJLLER, Fr. Max. LUroduction to the Science of Religion (2d ed., 
 
 London, 1880); Natural Religion (London, 1S90) ; Physical Religion 
 
 (London, 1891); Anthropological Religion (London, 1892); Theosophv, 
 
 or Psychological Religion (London, 1893). 
 Spencer, IL Descriptive Sociology (London, 1S73-1881); Principles of 
 
 Sociology (London, 1S79-1S96); vol. i (on religious phenomena)^ (New 
 
 York, 18S2). 
 LiPPERT, J. Religionen der europaischen Culturvolker (Berlin, 1881); 
 
 Allgemeine Geschichte des Priesterthums (Berlin, 1883). 
 Revili.e, a. Prolegomenes de I'histoire des religions (Paris, 1S81 ; Eng. tr., 
 
 London, 1S84) ; Les religions des peuples non-civilises (Paris, 1883). 
 KuENEN, A. National Religions and Universal Religions (London, 1882). 
 Cl.vrke, J. F. Ten Great Religions (Boston, 18S3; popular ed., 1899). 
 d'Alviella, Goblet. Introduction a I'histoire generale des religions (Brus- 
 sels, 1887); Origin,and Growth of the Conception of God (London, 1892); 
 
 Croyances, rites, institutions (Paris, 191 1). 
 La Sauss-'WE, P. D. Chantepie de. Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte 
 
 (Freiburg, 1887-1888; Eng. tr. of vol. i, London, 1892; 2ded., 1S97). 
 Tylor, E. B. Researches into the Early History of Mankind (London, 
 
 1878); Primitive Culture (3d ed., London, 1S91 and 1903). 
 The Ilibbert Lectures (London and New York, 1878-1894). 
 The Gifford Lectures (London and New York, 1S90- ). 
 UsENER, IL Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen (Bonn, 18S9); Got- 
 
 ternamen (Bonn, 1896). 
 Frazer, J. G. The Golden Bough (London, 1890; 3d ed., 1906-1911); 
 
 Early History of the Kingship (London, 1905).
 
 590 
 
 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 King, J. II. The Supernatural (London, 1S92). 
 
 Article " Fetishism " in Hastings's Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 Trumbull, H.C. The Hlood-Covenant (New York, 1S93); The Threshold- 
 Covenant (New York, 1896). 
 Marillier, L. La sur\ ivance de I'ame et I'idee de justice chez les peuples 
 
 non-civilises (Paris, 1S94) ; L'origine des dieux [criticism of Grant Allen's 
 
 Evolution of the Idea of God] (Paris, 1899). 
 Steinmetz, S. R. Ethnologische Studien zur ersten Entwicklung der Strafe 
 
 (Leiden and Leipzig, 1S94). 
 TiELE, C. P. Geschichte der Religion im Alterthum bis auf Alexander den 
 
 Grossen (Germ, tr., Gotha, 1895 ; ed. Gehrich, Gotha, 1896-1903). 
 Menzies, a. History of Religion (London and New York, 1895; New 
 
 York, 1906). 
 Religious Systems of the World (London, 1896; new ed., 1902). 
 C.vrpenter, J. E. Place of Christianity among the Religions of the World 
 
 (London, 1904). 
 OrientaHsche Religionen (in Die KulturderGegenwart) (Berlin and Leipzig, 
 
 1 906). 
 
 Bloomfielp, M. The Symbolic Gods (in Studies in Honor of B. L. Gilder- 
 sleeve) (Baltimore, 1902). 
 
 Jevons, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religion (London, 1896; 
 2d ed., 1902) ; Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion (New 
 York, 1908); The Idea of God in Early Religions (Cambridge, Eng- 
 land, 1910). 
 
 Johnson, S.\muel. Oriental Religions and their Relation to Universal 
 Religion (1872-1885; Boston, 1897). 
 
 White, A. D. Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (New 
 
 York, 1897). 
 DURKHEIM, E. Definition des phenomenes religieux (in L'Aiinee sociologiqite, 
 
 ii) (Paris. 1S97-1S9S). 
 Allen, Gr.vnt. Evolution of the Idea of God (London and New York, 
 
 1897). 
 TiELE, C. P. Elements of the Science of Religion (Edinburgh and London, 
 
 1897-1899). 
 Brinton, D. G. Religions of Primitive Peoples (New York and London, 
 
 1897). 
 R.vrzEL, F. History of Mankind (Eng. tr., London, 1898). 
 L.A.XG, A. Custom and Myth (London, 1S84); Myth, Ritual and Religion 
 
 (2d ed., 1899); The Making of Religion (2d ed., London, 1900). 
 A.N DREE, R. Die Flutsagen (Braun.schweig. 1S91). 
 Usener, H. Die Sintfluthsagen (Bonn, 1899). 
 Woods, F. H. Article "Flood" (in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible) 
 
 (Edinburgh and New York, 1900). 
 Sutherland, A. The Origin and Growth of the Moral Instinct (London 
 
 and New York, 1898).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFEREAXE 591 
 
 La Grasserie, Kaoul de. Des religions comparees au point de vue socio- 
 
 logique (Paris, 1899). 
 
 Incra.m, J. K. Outline of ihe History of Religion (London, 1900). 
 
 Lord Avkhuky (Sir John Lubbock). Prehistoric Times (6th ed., London, 
 1900). 
 
 IIiK.N, V. Origins of Art (London, 1900). 
 
 Eli. IS, Havelock. Studies in the Psychology of Sex (London, 1900; and 
 Philadelphia, 1904-1910). 
 
 Morris, Miss M. The Economic Study of Religion (in Journal of the 
 Atne>-ican Oriental Society, xxiv) (New Haven, 1903). 
 
 Reinach, S. Cultes, mythes et religions (Paris, 1905-1908). 
 
 Hopkins, E. W. The Universality of Religion i^w Journal of the American 
 Oriental Society, xxv) (New Haven, 1904). 
 
 Jordan, L. H. Comparative Religion, its Genesis and Gro%vth (Edin- 
 burgh, 1905). 
 
 DiETERiCll, A. Mutter Erde, ein Versuch iiber Volksreligion (Leipzig and 
 Berlin, 1905). 
 
 Earn ell, L. R. Evolution of Religion (London and New York, 1905). 
 
 DuLAURE, J. A. Des divinites generatrices (2d ed., Paris, 1905). 
 
 Reitzenstein, R. Hellenistische Wundererziihlungen (Leipzig, i()o(ii). 
 
 CuMONT, F. Les religions orientales dans le paganisme romain (Paris, 
 1907; Eng. tr., Chicago, 1911). 
 
 Hamilton, Mary. Incubation (London, 1906). 
 
 HoBHOUSE, L. T. Morals in Evolution (London and New York, 1906). 
 
 Article " Art " in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Edinburgh and 
 New York, 1908). 
 
 Perrot and Chipiez. Histoire de I'art dans I'antiquite (Paris, 1882-191 1 ; 
 Eng. tr., London and New York, 1883-1890). 
 
 Meyer, Edouard! Geschichte des Altertums (2d ed., Stuttgart and Berlin, 
 1 907-1 909). 
 
 Westermarck, E. Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas (London, 
 1908). 
 
 Preuss, K. T. Ursprung der Religion und Kunst. 
 
 Webster, H. Primitive Secret Societies (New York, 190S); Rest-Days: 
 a Sociological Study (reprinted from University Studies) (Lincoln, Ne- 
 braska, 191 1 ). 
 
 Conder, C. R. The Rise of Man (London and New York, 1908). 
 
 Ploss, H. H. Das Kind (Stuttgart, 1S76); Das Weib, ed. M. Bartels 
 (Leipzig, 1902). 
 
 Hartland, E. S. Primitive Paternity (London, 1909). 
 
 Frazer, J. G. Psyche's Task [influence of superstition on the growth of 
 institutions] (London, 1909). 
 
 Rein.\ch, S. Orpheus (Paris, 1909; Eng. tr., revised by the author, Lon- 
 don and New York, 1909). 
 
 Frobenius, L. Childhood of Man (Eng. tr., London and Philadelphia, 1909).
 
 592 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Tii< >MAS, \Y. I. Source-Book for Social Origins (Chicago and London, 1909). 
 
 Makett, R. K. The Threshold of Religion (London [1909]). 
 
 Seligmann, S. Der bose Blick und Verwandtes (Berlin, 1910). 
 
 Elworthy, F. T. Article " Lvil Eye " (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Reli- 
 gion and Ethics). 
 
 BoEHMER, J. Religions-Urkunden der Viilker (Leipzig). 
 
 Article "Cosmogony and Cosmology" in Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
 Ethics (Oxford, 191 2). 
 
 Cr.wvley, a. E. Articles " Cursing and Blessing," " Uress," and " Eating 
 the God," ibid. 
 
 Articles " Dwarfs and Pygmies," " Dualism," "' Fate," " Calendar," " Feast- 
 ing," " Fasting," " Festivals and Fasts," ibid. 
 
 Schneider, H. Religion und Philosophic (Leipzig, 191 2). 
 
 Carpenter, J. Estlin. Comparative Religion (London and New York, 
 
 I9i3(?))- 
 
 Works on Totemism and Exogamy 
 
 Morgan, L. H. Ancient Society (London, 1877). 
 
 Spencer, H. Principles of Sociology, i, § 171 ff. (London and New York, 
 
 1S82). 
 Hahn, Ed. Die Haustiere (Leipzig, 1S96) ; Demeter und Baubo (Liibeck, 
 
 1897). 
 Tyi.or, E. B. Remarks on Totemism, Jourtial of the Anthropological In- 
 stitute (1899). 
 Pikler and Somi.o. Ursprung des Totemismus (Berlin, 1900). 
 Hartland, E. S. Totemism and Some Recent Discoveries, Folklore (1900). 
 Durkheim, E. La prohibition de I'inceste et ses origines, VAnnee socio- 
 
 logique, i (Paris, 1896-1897) ; Sur le totemisme, VAnnee sociologique, v 
 
 ( 1 900-1 901). 
 Zapletal, V. Totemismus und die Religion Israels (Freiburg (Swiss), 1901). 
 Hii.L-TouT, C. Origin of Totemism among the Aborigines of British 
 
 Columbia, Transactions 0/ the Royal Society 0/ Catiada (2d Series, 1901- 
 
 1902 and 1903-1904). 
 Smith, W. R. Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia (2d ed., London, 
 
 1903) (criticized by Nrildeke in Zeitschrift der deutschen viorgenliin- 
 
 dischen Gesellschaft, 1886). 
 Lang, A. Social Origins (London, 1903); Secret of the Totem (T,ondon, 
 
 1905); Australian Problems (in Anthropological ILssays presented to 
 
 Tylor) (Oxford, 1907). 
 Jevons, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religion (2d ed., London, 
 
 1902). 
 Marii.lier, L. La place du totemisme dans revolution religieuse [criticism 
 
 of Jevons], Revue de Phistoire des religions, xxxvi, xxxvii (Paris, 1897- 
 
 189S) ; article " Totem " (in La Grande Encyclopedie) (Paris, 1S86-1902).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 593 
 
 WuNUT, W. Mylluis unci Religion (in his Volkerpsychologie, Leipzig, 
 1908-1910). 
 
 Cravvlky, a. E. Exogamy and the Mating of Cousins (in Essays presented 
 to Tylor, Oxford, 1907). 
 
 Rivers, W. II. II. On the Origin of the Classificatory System of Relation- 
 ships (in Essays presented to Tylor, 1907). 
 
 Th()M.\s, N. W. La survivance du culte totemique . . . dans le pays de 
 Galles, Revue de I'/iisioire des relii^ions, xxxviii (Paris); Origin of Exog- 
 amy (in Essays presented to Tylor, Oxford, 1907). 
 
 Gt)MMK, G. L. Totemism in Britain, Arclucological Ke7'ieio (London, 1S89). 
 
 Goi-DK.WVEISER, A. .\. Totcmism, an Analytical ^ixxdy, Journal 0/ Ameri- 
 can Folklore (Boston and New York, 19 10). 
 
 Frazek, J. G. Totemism and Exogamy (London, 1910). 
 
 Works on Taboo 
 
 Frazer, T. G. Article "Taboo" (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 9th ed.). 
 Crawley, A. E. Mystic Rose (London, 1902); Exogamy and the Mating 
 
 of Cousins (in Essays presented to Tylor, Oxford, 1907). 
 Ge.n.nep, A. van. Tabou et totemisme a Madagascar (Paris, 1904). 
 HoDSON, T. C. The Genna amongst the Tribes of Assdiin, Jourtial of t/te 
 
 Anthropological Institute, xxxvi (London, 1906). 
 Marillier, L. Article "Tabou" (in La Grande Encyclopedie) (Paris). 
 Tylor, E. B. Early History of Mankind, p. 129 ff. (3d ed., London, 
 
 1878). 
 Frazer, J. G. Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship [holds that 
 
 taboo is a negative magic] (London, 1905); Taboo and the Perils of the 
 
 Soul (part ii of 3d ed. of the Golden Bough) (London, 191 1). 
 Mareit, R. R. Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? (in Essays presented to Tylor) 
 
 (Oxford, 1907) [reply to Frazer]. 
 Thomas, N. W. Article "Taboo" (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, nth ed.). 
 Gait, E. A. Article "Caste" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics) 
 
 (Edinburgh and New York, 191 1). 
 Taylor, R. New Zealand (London, 1870). 
 Alexander, W. D. Brief History of the Hawaiian People (New York, 
 
 1892). 
 
 The Hebrew Sabbath as a Taboo Day 
 
 Toy, C. H. The Earliest Form of the Hebrew SzhhzX\\, Journal 0/ Bibli- 
 cal Literature (Boston, 1899). 
 
 Driver, S. R. Article " Sabbath " (in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible) 
 (Edinburgh and New York, 1902). 
 
 Pinches, T. G. Sapattu, the Babylonian Sabbath, Proceedings of the So- 
 ciety of Biblical Archicology (London, 1904).
 
 594 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 ZiMMER.N, II. Comments on Pinches's article, Zeitschrift der deutschen 
 viorgenldndischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig, 1904). 
 
 Mkinhold, J. Sabbat und Woche in Alten Testament (Gottingen, 1905). 
 
 Webster, H. Rest Days: a Sociological Study, i'jiiversity Studies (Lin- 
 coln, Nebraska, 191 1). 
 
 On Magic 
 
 Articles in La Grande Encyclopedic (Paris) ; Encyclopaedia Britannica 
 
 (London, nth ed.) ; Daremberg and Saglio, Dictionnaire des antiquites 
 
 grecques et romaines (Paris). 
 Tylor, E. B. Researches into the Early History of Mankind, p. \2(^ (3d ed., 
 
 London, 1878); Primitive Culture, Inde.x, s.v. (3d ed., London, 1891). 
 King, J. IL The Supernatural, bk. ii, chap, iii f. (London, 1S92). 
 Davies, T. Witton. Magic, Divination, and Demonology (London, 
 
 1898). 
 Tiele, C. P. Elements of the Science of Religion, Index, s.v. (Edinburgh 
 
 and London, 1899). 
 Jevons, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religion, Index, s.v. (London, 
 
 1896; 2d ed., 1902). 
 Lang, A. Magic and Religion (London, 1901). 
 Hobhouse, L. T. Morals in Evolution, Index, s.v. (London and New York, 
 
 1906). 
 Haddon, a. C. Magic and Fetishism (London, 1906). 
 Westermarck, E. Origin and Development of the Moral Ideas, Index, s.v. 
 
 (London, 1908). 
 Hubert and Mauss. In VAnnee sociologiqiie, vii (Paris, 1902-1903). 
 Reinach, S. Orpheus, Index, s.v. (Paris, 1909 ; Eng. tr., London and New- 
 York, 1909). 
 Frazer, J. G. Early History of the Kingship, Index, s.v. (London, 1905). 
 Marett, R. R. Is Taboo a Negative Magic ? (in Anthropological Essays 
 
 presented to E. B. Tylor) (Oxford, 1907). 
 Harrison, Miss J. E. Chap, iv of her Themis (Cambridge, England, 1912). 
 
 Egypt 
 
 Erman, a. Life in Ancient Egypt (Eng. tr., London, 1894). 
 
 Budge, E. A Wallis. Egyptian Magic (London, 1S99). 
 
 WiEDEMAN.N, A. Magie und Zauberei im alten Aegypten (Leipzig, 1905). 
 
 Breasted, J. H. History of Egypt, Index, s.v. (New York, 1905). 
 
 Babylonia and Assyria 
 
 King, L. \V. Babylonian Magic and Sorcery (London, 1896). 
 
 Jastrow, M. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898); Religion 
 
 Babyloniens und Assyriens (Giessen, 1906- ). 
 FosSEY, Ch. La magie assyrienne (Paris, 1902).
 
 SELECTIin LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 595 
 
 Je^vish 
 
 Articles in Encycloprctlia Biblica (London and New York); Hastings's, 
 
 Dictionary of tlie Hible (Kdinhurgii and London); Jewish Encyclopedia 
 
 (New York and London). 
 SchOrer, E. Geschichte des jiidischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi 
 
 (3d ed., Leipzig, 1901 ; Eng. tr., History of tlie Jewisli i'uople in the Time 
 
 of Jesus Christ, Index, s.v. (New York, 1891). 
 Hlau, L. Das alt-jUdische Zauberwesen (Strassburg, 1898). 
 
 Arabia a ltd Modern Fi^ypt 
 
 \VEl,i,HAUSf:N, J. Reste arabisciien Ileidentumes, Index, s.v. (Berlin, 1897). 
 L.v.NE, E. W. The Thousand and One Nights, Index (London, 1S83). 
 
 Finitisk 
 Gastrin', M. A. Finnische Mythologie (Germ, tr., St. Petersburg, 1853). 
 
 India 
 
 Bloomfield, M. Eng. tr. of the Atharva-Veda (in Sacred Books of the 
 
 East) (Oxford). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India, Index, s.v. (Boston and London, 1895). 
 
 Greek 
 
 Harrison, Miss J. E. Themis, a Study of liie Social Origins of Greek 
 Religion (Cambridge, England, 191 2). 
 
 7\o»ian 
 
 Apuleius. Metamorphoses. 
 
 Friedlander, L. Darstellungen aus der Sittengeschichte Roms (Sth ed., 
 Leipzig, 1910); Eng. tr., Roman Life and Manners under the Early 
 Empire, Index (London and New York, ca. 1903). 
 
 Wissuwa, G. Religion und Kultus der Riimer (Miinchen, 1902). 
 
 Fowler, W. W. Religious Experience of the Roman People, Index (Lon- 
 don, 191 1). 
 
 Teutonic 
 
 La Saussaye, P. D. Chantepie de. Religion of the Teutons, Index, s.v. 
 (Boston and London, 1902). 
 
 A'onci'i'ilized Teoples 
 
 Ellis, A. B. Tshi (London, 18S7) ; Ewe (London, 1890) ; Yoruba (London, 
 1894). 
 
 CoDRiNGTON, K. 11. The Melanesians, Index, s.v. (Oxford, 1S91). 
 
 Spencer and Gillen. Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1S99) ; 
 Northern Tribes of Central Australia [the Intichiuma ceremonies] (Lon- 
 don, 1904). 
 
 HowiTT, A. W. Native Tribes of South-East Australia (London, 1904).
 
 596 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 HoLLis, A. C. The Masai, Index (Oxford, 1905) ; The Nandi, Index (Oxford, 
 
 1909). 
 
 Westermarck, E. L'ar, or the Transference of Conditional Curses in 
 Morocco (in Essays presented to Tylor) (Oxford, 1907). 
 
 Seligmann, C. G. Melanesians of British New Guinea, Index (Cambridge, 
 England, 1910). 
 
 Brown, G. Melanesians and Polynesians, Index (London, 1910). 
 
 Dixon, R. B. The Northern Maidu (New York, 1905) ; The Shasta (New- 
 York, 1907). 
 
 Skeat, ^Y. W. Malay Magic (London, 1900). 
 
 Rivers, \V. II. II. The Todas (London, 1906). 
 
 Crooke, W. Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, Index 
 (London, 1896). 
 
 Teit, J. Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia, 
 Index (Boston and New York, 189S). 
 
 Bell, H. II. J. Obeah: \Vitchcraft in the \Vest Indies (2d ed., London, 
 
 1893)- 
 
 Ox Divination 
 
 La Grande Encyclopedie (Paris), article '■' Divination." 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica (nth ed.), articles " Divination" and "Oracle." 
 Encyclopedia Biblica (London and New York), article " Divination." 
 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible (Edinburgh and New York), articles 
 
 " Divination " and " Soothsaying." 
 Jewish Encyclopedia (New York and London), articles " Divination," 
 
 " Astrology," " Necromancy." 
 Cicero. De Divinatione. 
 
 Plutarch. De Pythiae Oraculis ; De Defectu Oraculorum. 
 Manilius.- Astronomica (ed. Theod. Breiter, Leipzig, 1907-1908). 
 FiRMiCUS Maternus. Matheseos Libri viii (ed. Pruckner, Basel, 1551); 
 
 bks. i-iv and bk. v, proem (ed. Kroll and Skutch, Leipzig, 1897). 
 Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture, Index (London, 1S91). 
 King, J. H. The Supernatural (London, 1892). 
 
 Erman, a. Handbook of Egyptian Religion (Eng. tr., London, 1907). 
 Jastrow, M., Jr. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston and London, 
 
 1898; and the German ed., Giessen, 1906- ); Aspects of Religious 
 
 Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria (New York and London, 
 
 191T). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India, pp. 256, 328 (Boston and London, 
 
 1895). 
 Stengel and Oe.michen. Die griechischen Sakralaltertumer (Munich, 
 
 1890). , 
 
 Bouchi^-Leclercq. Histoire de la divination dans I'antiquite (Pans, 
 1879-1882); L'astrologie grecque (Paris, 1899).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOK'S OF REFERENCE 597 
 
 Daremhkrg and Sa<".li(). Dictionnaire des antiquites grecques et ro- 
 maines, articles " Diviiuilio" and " Ilaruspices" (Paris, 1S73-1884). 
 
 Farneli,, L. R. Cults of the (Ireek Stales, iv, 179 ff. (Oxford, 1S96-1909) 
 (Oracles); Greece and Babylon, Index, s.v. (Edinburgh, 1911). 
 
 Gardner and Jevdns. Greek Antiquities (London, 1S95). 
 
 WissowA, G. Religion und Kultus der Romer (Miinchen, 1902). 
 
 Fowler, W. W. Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 
 1911). 
 
 Article "Sibylla" (by Buchholz in Roscher's Lexikon). 
 
 CuMONT, Er. Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans 
 (New York and London, 1912). 
 
 Weli.HAUSEN, J. Reste arabischen Ileidentumes (Berlin, 1897). 
 
 Article " Celts" in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Edin- 
 burgh and New York, 191 1). 
 
 La Saussaye, P. D. Chantepie de. Religion of the Teutons, Index 
 (Boston and London, 1902). 
 
 Groot, J. J. M. DE. Religious System of China (Leiden, 1892-1907). 
 
 Articles " Ancestor-worship," " Ahoms," " Bantu " in Hastings's Encyclo- 
 paedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 Turner, G. Samoa, Index (London, 1884). 
 
 FuRNESS, W. H. 3d. Home Life of Borneo Head-hunters (Philadelphia, 
 1902). 
 
 Rivers, W. H. H. The Todas, Index (London, 1906). 
 
 Thurston, E. Omens and Superstitions of Southern India (London, 1912). 
 
 Ellis, A. B. Tshi (London, 1887). 
 
 Call.wvay, H. Religious System of the Amazulu (Natal, 1 868-1870). 
 
 Article " Ureams and Sleep " in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
 Ethics. 
 
 On Folklore 
 
 See periodicals mentioned above, p. 587. 
 
 Frazer, J. G. Golden Bough (3d ed., London, 191 1). 
 
 Keightly, T. Fairy Mythology (2d ed., London, 1S50). 
 
 MacCulloch, J. A. Article "Fairy" (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Religion and Ethics). 
 Mannhardt, J. W. E. ^Vald- und Feldkulte (Berlin, 1877). 
 History of the ^^isopic Fable (in Caxton's ^sop, ed. Jos. Jacob) (London, 
 
 1889). 
 Jacobs, J. Migration of Fables (Introduction to his Fables of Pilpay) 
 
 (London, 1888); Fables of ^sop (London, 1894). 
 Hartland, E. S. Science of Fairy Tales (London, 1891) ; Folk-lore, what 
 
 is it? (London, 1897); Mythology and Folktales (London, 1900). 
 GoMME, G. L. Ethnology in Folklore (London, 1892); Folklore as an 
 
 Historical Science (London, 1908).
 
 598 IXTRODCCTIOX TO H/STO/n' OF RELIGJO.XS 
 
 Gennep, a. van. La formation des legendes (Paris, 1910). 
 
 Bibliotheca Diaholica (New York, 1874). 
 
 Carts, P. History of the Devil and of the Idea of Evil (Chicago, 1900). 
 
 Oceania 
 
 Batchelor, J. The Ainu and their Folklore (London, 1901). 
 Seidenagel, C. W. Language spoken by the Bontoc-Igorot [of Luzon] 
 
 (Chicago, 1909). 
 Emerson, N. B. Unwritten Literature of Hawaii (Washington, 1909). 
 
 America 
 
 Boas, F. Dissemination of Tales among the Natives of North America, 
 Journal 0/ American Folklore, iv (Boston, 1891); Indianische Sagen 
 von der nordpacifischen Kiiste Nord-Amerikas (Berlin, 1895). 
 
 DORSEY, G. A. The Dwamish Indian Spirit Movit., Bulletin of Philadelphia 
 Free Museum of Science and Art (1902). 
 
 Egypt 
 Maspero, G. Les contes populaires de I'figypte ancienne (Paris, 1882). 
 Wiedemann, A. Altagyptische Sagen und Miirchen (Leipzig, 1906). 
 
 Asia 
 
 Ben FEY, Th. The Pantschatantra (Leipzig, 1S59) ; Introduction to Bick- 
 ell's ed. of the Kalilag and Damnag (Leipzig, 1S76). 
 
 Keith-Falconer, F. G. N. Eng. tr. of Wright's ed. of the Late Syriac 
 Kalilah and Dimnah (Cambridge, England, 1885). 
 
 Crooke, W. Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India, West- 
 minster (London, 1896). 
 
 Thurston, Edgar. Omens and Su])erstitions of Southern India (London, 
 1912). 
 
 The Jesup North Pacific Expedition (New York and Leiden, 1900- ). 
 
 Bogoras, W'. The Folklore of North-Eastem Asia as compared with that 
 of North- Western America, American Anthropologist {\\'^sh'mgt.or\, 1902). 
 
 CosQUiN, E. Origine et propagation des contes populaires europeens (in 
 his Contes populaires de la Lorraine) (Paris, 1SS6) ; Le lait de la mere et 
 le coffre flottant (reprint from Revue de questions historiques) (Paris, 
 1908") ; Le prologue cadre des Mille et Une Nuits, les lefgendes perses et 
 le livre d'Esther (Paris, 1909). 
 
 Africa 
 Theal, G. M. Kaffir Folklore (London [1S72]). 
 
 P.LEEK, W. H. I. Specimens of Bushman Folklore (Eng. tr., London, 191 1). 
 Rivers, W. II. H. The Todas, Index, s.vv. Folklore, Mythology (London 
 
 and New York, 1906). 
 IIoi.Lis, A. C. The Masai, Index (Oxford, 1905); The Nandi, Index 
 
 (Oxford, 1909).
 
 SELECTKP LIST 01' BOOKS OF RKFliRENCE 599 
 
 Europe 
 
 Grimm, W. Die deutsche Ileldensage (1829; 3d ed., Gottingen, 1889). 
 
 WuTTKK, A. Der deutsche Volksaberglaube der Gegeiuvart (3d ed., Ber- 
 lin, 1900). 
 
 Rhys, J. Celtic Folklore (Oxford, 1901). 
 
 Campkei.l, J. F. Popular Tales of the West Highlands and Heroic Gaelic 
 Ballads (1S72; new ed., Edinburgh, 1S90-1S93). 
 
 Brand, J. Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (new ed., London, 1905). 
 
 S^BiLLOT, P. Le folklore de France (Paris, 1 904-1 907). 
 
 Maury, L. F. A. Croyances et legendes du moyen age (new ed., Paris, 
 1S96). 
 
 Geldart, E. M. Folklore of Modern Greece (London, 1884). 
 
 Krauss, F. S. Volksglaube und religioser Branch der Siidslaven (Vienna, 
 18S5 ; Miinster, 1890). 
 
 Knowlson, T. S. Origin of Popular Superstitions (London, 19 10). 
 
 Wi.isi.ocKi, H. VON. Volksglaube und religioser Branch der Zigeuner 
 (Miinster i. \V., 1891); Volksglaube und religioser Branch der Magyaren 
 (Miinster i. \V., 1893). 
 
 On Mythology 
 
 Ge)ural 
 Articles in Encyclopaedia Britannica (iith ed.) and La Grande Encyclo- 
 
 pedie (Paris). 
 MiJLLER, K. O. Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftlichen Mythologie 
 
 (Gottingen, 1825). 
 MOller, F. Max. Comparative Mythology (1856; in vol. ii of Chips from 
 
 a German Workshop, London, 1858; New York, 1869). 
 Brkal, M. Melanges de mythologie et de linguistique (Paris, 1877). 
 Pfleiderer, O. Religionsphilosophie auf geschichtlicher Grundlage (3d 
 
 ed., Berlin, 1896; Eng. tr., London, 1886). 
 Tylor, E. B. Early History of Mankind (London, 1878) ; Primitive Culture 
 
 (3d. ed., London, 1891). 
 ViGNioi.i, T. Myth and Science (London, 1S82). 
 La Saussaye, P. D. Chantepie de. Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte 
 
 (ist ed., Freiburg, 1887-1889) ; Eng. tr. of vol. i (London and New York 
 
 189 1 ). 
 Lang, A. Myth, Ritual and Religion (2d ed., London, 1899) ; Custom and 
 
 Myth (London, 1901). 
 Gardner, P. Origins of Myth (0.\ford, 1S96). 
 Tiele, C. p. De Oorsprong van myth en godsdienst, Theologisch Tijd- 
 
 schrift, iv (Amsterdam and I^eiden); Elements of the Science of Religion, 
 
 Index, s.vv. Mytlioloi^y, Myths (Edinburgh and London, 1S97-1899). 
 Jevons, F. B. Introduction to the History of Religion (2d ed., London, 
 
 1902).
 
 600 J.XTRODLVTIO.y TO J //STORY OT RELIG/OXS 
 
 R^viLLE, J. De la complexite des mythes et des legendes, Rnue de 
 
 ritistoire des religions, xiii (Paris). 
 Jastrow, M. Study of Religion (London and New York, 1901). 
 ScHULTZ, H. Old Testament Theology, Introduction (Eng. tr. of 4th Germ. 
 
 ed., Edinburgh, 1S92). 
 Articles "Demons and Spirits," "Earth, Earth-gods" in Hastings's Ency- 
 
 clopasdia of Religion and Ethics. 
 
 Special 
 
 Taylor, R. New Zealand (London, 1S70). 
 
 BuLOW, W. Die samoansche Schopfungssaga, Internationales Archiv fiir 
 
 Ethnologie, xii (Leiden). 
 Bastian, a. Die samoanische Schopfungssage (Berlin, 1894). 
 Alexander, W. D. Brief History of the Hawaiian People (New York, 
 
 1892). 
 Turner, G. Samoa (London, 1884). 
 Brinton, D. G. American Hero- Myths (Philadelphia, 1882) ; Myths of the 
 
 New \Vorld (New York, 1896). 
 Ehrenreicii, p. Mythen und Legenden der siidamerikanischen Urvolker 
 
 (Berlin, 1905). 
 Castren, M. a. Finnische Mythologie (Germ, tr., St. Petersburg, 1853). 
 Cox, G. W. Mythology of Aryan Nations (London, 1887). 
 Meyer, E. H. Germanische Mythologie (Berlin, 1S91). 
 Gruppe, O. Griechische Mythologie (Miinchen, 1897-1906). 
 Jastrow, M. ReUgion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston and London, 
 
 1898). 
 Muir, Joh.v. Original Sanskrit Texts (London and Edinburgh, 1858- 
 
 1870). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India (Boston and London, 1895). 
 Macdonell, A. A. Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1S97). 
 Farnell, L. R. Cults of the Greek States (Oxford, 1896-1909). 
 Grimm, J. Deutsche Mythologie (4th ed., Berlin, 1S75-1S78); Eng. tr., 
 
 Teutonic Mythology (London, 1S8S). 
 La Saussaye, P. D. Chantepie de. Religion of the Teutons, Index 
 
 (Boston and London, 1902). 
 Campbell, J. F. The Celtic Dragon-Myth (Edinburgh, 191 1). 
 Articles " Celts," " Cuchulainn Cycle," " Feinn Cycle" in Hastings's Ency- 
 clopaedia of Religion and Ethics. 
 CoLLiGNON, M. Manual of Mythology in Relation to Greek Art (translated 
 
 and enlarged by Jane E. Harrison) (London, 1899). 
 Article "Female Principle" in Hastings's Encyclopasdia of Religion and 
 
 Ethics. 
 CuRTiN, J. Myths of the Modocs (Boston, 191 2). 
 Article " Animal " [on cults of animals, plants, stones, waters] in La Grande 
 
 Encyclopedie, section iv, " Mythology " (Paris).
 
 SELl-XTED LJST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 6oi 
 
 Thomas, N. W. Article "Animals" (in Hastings's Encyclopx'dia of 
 
 Religion and Ethics); Article "Animal-Worship" (in Encyclopajdia Hri- 
 
 tannica, nth ed.). 
 Tylor, E. B. Primitive Culture, Index, s.vv. Stock- and Sto)ie-lVorship, 
 
 Mountain, River-lVo)-sliip (London, 1891). 
 CooKK, S. A. Article "Tree-Worship" (in Encyclopasdia Britannica, 
 
 nth ed.). 
 American Bureau of Ethnology, ibth Annual Report (Washington). 
 Smith, W. R. Religion of the Semites, lecture v (new ed., London, 1894). 
 Erman, a. Handbook of Egyptian Religion, Inde.x (Eng. tr., London, 
 
 1907). 
 SteindokfI'-, G. Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York and 
 
 London, 1905). 
 Jastrow, M., Jr. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, pp. 662 f., 688 f. 
 
 (Boston, 1S98). 
 Garstang, J. Land of the Hittites, Index (London, 1910). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Mythological Aspects of Trees and Mountains in the 
 
 Great Y^\nc,/o!n-nal of the Ai?teriiait Oriental Society (September, 1910) ; 
 
 The Sacred Rivers of India (in Studies presented to C. H. Toy) (New 
 
 York, 191 2). 
 GuKKRNATis, A. DE. Zoological Mythology (London, 1872); La mytholo- 
 
 gie des plantes (Paris, 1 878-1882). 
 Fergusson, James. Tree- and Seipent-Worship (2d ed., London, 1873). 
 Crooke, W. Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (London, 
 
 1896). 
 Hos and McDougall. Relation between Man and Animals in Sarawak, 
 
 Journal of the Anthropological l7istittite, xxxi (London). 
 Ei.Lis, A. B. Ewe, pp. 49 f., 98 (London, 1890). 
 
 Boetticher, K. Baumkultus der Hellenen und Romer (Berhn, 1856). 
 Gruppe, O. Die griechischen Culte und Mythen (Leipzig, 1887). 
 Overkeck, J. Das Cultusobject bei den Griechen in seinen altesten Ge- 
 
 staltungen, Berichte der sdchsischen Gesellschaft der IVissenchaftcn, 
 
 p. 121 ff. (1864). 
 Ohnefalsch-Richter, M. Kypros, the Bible and Homer (London, 1893). 
 Weli.HAUSEN, J. Reste arabischen Heidentumes, Index (Berlin, 1S97). 
 Hughes, T. P. Dictionary of Islam, Index, s.v. Kaaba (2d ed., London, 
 
 1896). 
 La Saussaye, p. D. Chantepie de. Religion of the Teutons, Index, 
 
 s.v. Tree-lVorship^l^o^iow and London, 1902). 
 Mannhardt, W. Baumkultus der Germanen und ihrer Nachbarstamme 
 
 (Berlin, 1875). 
 Fraz.er, J. G. Golden Bough, Index, s.v. Tree-Worship (London, 1907); 
 
 Adonis Attis Osiris, Index, s.vv. Animals, Water, and p. 158 (London, 
 
 1907). 
 Articles " Asherah " and " Pillar" in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible.
 
 602 IXTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Articles " Asherah " and " Massebah " in Encyclopncdia Biblica. 
 Trumbull, H. C. Threshold Covenant, p. 22S (New York, 1S96). 
 Hartland, E. S. Primitive Paternity, Index, s.v. Trees (London, 1910). 
 Philpot, Mrs. J. II. The Sacred Tree, or the Tree in Religion and Myth 
 (London, 1S97). 
 
 Works on Particular Religions 
 
 Egyptian 
 
 Plut.\rch, Isis and Osiris. 
 
 Rawlinson, G. History of Ancient Egypt (London and New York, 1S81). 
 
 TiELE, C. P. History of the Egyptian Religion (Eng. tr., Boston, 18S2). 
 
 Le Page Renouf, P. Religion of Ancient Egypt (London, 18S4). 
 
 Brugsch, H. Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter (1884). 
 
 Meyer, Ed. Geschichte des alten Aegyptens (Berlin, 1887). 
 
 Maspero, G. fitudes de mythologie et d'archcologie egyptiennes (Paris, 
 
 1893); The Dawn of Civilization (Eng. tr., London, 1S96). 
 MiJLLER, \V. Max. Asien und Europa (Leipzig, 1S93) ; Article "Egypt" 
 
 (in Encyclopedia Biblica). 
 Wieue.ma.nn, K. a. Religion of tlie Ancient Egyptians (London, 1897); 
 
 Egyptian Doctrine of Immortality (London, 1S95); Religion of Egypt (in 
 
 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. v) (1904). 
 Petrie, ^V. M. F. Religion and Conscience in Ancient Egypt (London, 
 
 1898); Article "Egyptian Religion" (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Religion and Ethics). 
 Steindurff, G. Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (New York and Lon- 
 don, 1905). 
 Erman, A. Aegypten und aegyptisches Leben im Altertum (1SS7) ; Eng. tr., 
 
 Life in Ancient Egypt (London, 1894) ; Handbook of Egyptian Religion 
 
 (Eng. tr., London, 1907). 
 Breasted, J. H. History of Egypt from the Earliest Times to the Persian 
 
 Conquest (New York, 1905); Development of Religion and Thought in 
 
 Ancient Egypt (New York, 191 2). 
 CuMONT, F. The Religion of Egypt (Eng. tr., in The Open Court, Chicago, 
 
 September, 1910). 
 Reitze.nstein, R. Poimandres (Leipzig, 1904). 
 Foucart, G. Article " Dualism (Egyptian) " (in Hastings's Encyclopaidia 
 
 of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 General Semitic 
 
 Baudissin, W. \V. Studien zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Leipzig, 
 
 1876-187S). 
 IIal^vy, J. Melanges de critique et d'histoire relatifs au.x peuples semi- 
 
 tiques (Paris, 1883). 
 Baethgen, Fr. Beitrage zur semitischen Religionsgeschichte (Berlin, 
 
 1888).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF HOOKS OF REFERENCE C03 
 
 Nui.DF.Ki:, Tii. Sketclies from Kasteni TTistory (Kng. tr., London and 
 
 Edinburgh, 1892). 
 MuLLKR, W. Max. Asien und Europa (Leipzig, 1893). 
 Smith, W. R. Religion of the Semites (2d ed., London, 1894); Kinship 
 
 and Marriage in Early Arabia (2d ed., London, 1903). 
 Barton, G. A. A Sketch of Semitic Origins (New York and London, 
 
 1902). 
 CuRTiss, S. L Primitive Semitic Religion Today (London, 1902). 
 Lac.rangk, AL J. luudes sur les religions semiliques (2d ed., Paris, 1905). 
 
 Arabian 
 
 S.ALE, G. Preliminary Discourse to Translation of the Koran (1734; new 
 ed., London, 1S57) (and in Wheri-y's Commentary on the Quran, Lon- 
 don, 1SS2). 
 
 Sprenger, a. Das Leben und die Lehre des Mohammeds (Berlin, 1861- 
 1S65). 
 
 Syed, Ahmed. Essays on the Life of Mohammed and Subjects Subsidiary 
 thereto (London, 1870). 
 
 Ameer, All Life and Teachings of Mohammed, or the Spirit of Islam 
 (London, 1873); Islam (London, 1897). 
 
 Tassy, Garcin I)E. L'lslamisme d'apres le Coran (Paris, 1874). 
 
 Kremer, a. von. Kulturgeschichte des Orients unter den Chalifen 
 (Vienna, 1S75-1877). 
 
 Smith, R. B. Mohammed and Mohammedanism (New York, 1875). 
 
 (}oldziher, L Muhammedanische Studien (Halle, 18S9-1890). 
 
 Muir, Sir William. Mahomet and Islam (London, Religious Tract 
 Society; New York, ca. 1894). 
 
 Castries, Le Comte Henry de. L'Islam (Paris, 1S96). 
 
 Wellhausex, J. Reste arabischen Ileidentumes (Berlin, 1897). 
 
 Smith, \\. P. The Bible and Islam (New York, 1897). 
 
 Klein, F. A. The Religion of Islam (London, 1906). 
 
 Leonard, A. G. Islam, her Moral and Spiritual Value (London, 1909). 
 
 Macdonald, D. B. Religious Attitude and Life in Islam (Chicago, 1909); 
 Aspects of Islam (New York, 191 1). 
 
 Margoliouth, D. S. Article " Mahomet " (in Encyclopx'dia Hritannica, 
 nth ed.). 
 
 Thatcher, G. \V. Article " Mahommedan Religion," ibid. 
 
 NoLDEKE, Til Article "Arabs (Ancient)" in Encyclopasdia of Religion 
 and Ethics. 
 
 Rees, J. D. The Muhammadans (in Epochs of Indian History) (London 
 and New York, 1894). 
 
 Lane, E. \V. Notes to his Thousand and One Nights (ed. E. S. Poole, 
 London, 1883). 
 
 H.A.RTMANN, M. Article "Islam in China" (announced to apjjear in En- 
 cyclopaedia of Islam).
 
 604 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOA'S 
 
 Meyer, Edouard. Der Ursprung des Islams und die ersten Offenbarungen 
 Mohammeds (excursus in his Ursprung und Gescliichte der Mormonen, 
 p. 62ff.) (Halle a. S., 191 2). 
 
 Toy, C. II. Mohammed and the Islam of the Koran, IIar7'ard Theologi- 
 cal Review (Cambridge, Mass., 191 2). 
 
 Garnett, Lucy M. J. Mysticism and Magic in Turkey (London, 1912). 
 
 Babylonian-A ssyria n 
 
 Jensen, P. Die Kosmologie der Babylonier (Strassburg, 1890). 
 
 TiELE, C. P. Babylonisch-assyrische Geschichte (Gotha, 1886); Die 
 
 Religion in Babylonien und Assyrien (in his Geschichte der Religion im 
 
 Alterthum) (new ed., Gotha, 1896-1903). 
 Jeremias, Friedr. Die Babylonier und Assyrier (in Saussaye's Lehrbuch 
 
 der Religionsgeschichte) (2d ed., Freil^urg, 1S97). 
 King, L. W. Babylonian Religion and Mythology (London, 1899). 
 Jeremias, Alfred. Die babylonisch-assyrischen Vorstellungen vom Leben 
 
 nach dem Tode (Leipzig, 1897); Das Alte Testament im Lichte des alten 
 
 Orients (2d ed., Leipzig, 1906; Eng. tr., London and New York, 191 1). 
 Jastrow, M., Jr. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898; 
 
 Germ, ed., Giessen, 1904- ); Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (in 
 
 Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. v) (Edinburgh and New York, 
 
 1904); Aspects of Religious Belief and Practice in Babylonia and Assyria 
 
 (New York and London, 191 1). 
 Harper, R. F. Assyrian and Babylonian Literature (New York, 1901). 
 Delitzsch, Friedr. Babel und Bibel (Leipzig, 1902; and Stuttgart, 1903; 
 
 new ed., Stuttgart, 1905); Eng. tr., ed. C. H. \Y. Johns (London, 1903); 
 
 Eng. tr. by McCormack and Carruth [with German criticisms and the 
 
 author's replies] (Chicago, 1903). 
 Rogers, R. W. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, especially in its Re- 
 lations to Israel (New York, 190S). 
 Dhorme, p. La religion assyro-babylonienne (Paris, 1910). 
 Zimmer.n, II. Article "Babylonians and Assyrians" (in Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Religion and Ethics). 
 LA.\GDt).v, S. H. Sumerian and Babylonian Psalms (New York and Paris^ 
 
 1909); Babylonian Eschatology (in Essays offered to C. A. Briggs, New 
 
 York, 1911). 
 Toy, C. H. Panbabylonianism, Ilnr-i'ard Theological Review (Cambridge, 
 
 Mass., 191 o). 
 Articles on Marduk, Nebo, Oannes, etc., in Roscher's Lexikon. 
 
 Mandean 
 
 NoLDEKE, Th. Mandiiische Grammatik, Einleitung (Halle, 1S75). 
 
 Brandt, A. J. IL W. Die mandaische Religion (Leipzig, 18S9). 
 
 Kessler, K. Article " Mandaer" (in Herzog-Hauck's Real-Encyklopadie). 
 
 GoTTHEiL, R. J. II. Article " Mandsans " (in Johnson's Universal Cyclo- 
 paedia).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 605 
 
 Yezidi 
 
 Ibn, Hali.ikan. Wafayat al-Ayan (biographical Dictionary) (ed. F. Wiis- 
 
 tenfeld, Giittingen, 1S35-1840); Eng. tr. by Macduckin de Slane (Paris 
 
 and London, 1842-1871). 
 Layard, Sir A. II. Nineveh and its Remains (2d ed., London, 1849 ; new 
 
 ed., New York, 1853) ; Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and 
 
 Babylon (London, 1853). 
 Baogf.r, G. p. Nestorians and their Rituals (London, 1852). 
 SiouFFi, N. \\\ Journal asiatique (Paris, 1882 and 1885). 
 Menant, J. Les Yezidiz, Annates du Musee Guimet (Paris, 1892). 
 Parry, O. H. Six Months in a vSyrian Monastery (London, 1895). 
 Huart, Clement. Histoiy of Arabic Literature, p. 272 f. (London and 
 
 New York, 1903). 
 Jackson, A. V. \V. In Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. xxv, 
 
 p. 178 ff. (1904); Sketch in his Persia, Past and Present (New York, 
 
 1906). 
 Article "' Yesidis" in New International Encyclopaedia (New York, 1905). 
 LlDZB.'VRSKl, M. In Zeitschrift der deutsc/ien morgetildndischen Gesell- 
 
 sc/iaft, vol. li (Leipzig). 
 Joseph, Isya. Yezidi Texts (reprinted from American Journal of Semitic 
 
 Languages and Literatures) (Chicago, 1909). 
 
 Hebre-cO, Edomite, Phceniciau, Arainean, etc. 
 
 KuENEN, A. Religion of Israel to the Fall of the Jewish State (Leipzig, 
 1873-1874; Eng. tr., London, 1874); The Prophets and Prophecy in 
 Israel (Eng. tr., London, 1877). 
 
 ScHULTZ, H. Old Testament Theology (Eng. tr. of 4th Germ, ed., Edin- 
 burgh, 1892). 
 
 ScHW.M.LY, F. Das Leben nach dem Tode nach den Vorstellungen des 
 alten Israel unci Jiidentums (Giessen, 1892). 
 
 MoxTEFioRE, C. G. Religion of the Ancient Hebrews (London, 1S92). 
 
 Dillon, E. J. The Sceptics of the Old Testament (London, 1S95). 
 
 GuNKEL, H. Schopfung und Chaos in Urzeit und Endzeit (Gottingen, 
 
 1895). 
 Marti, K. Geschichte der israelitischen Religion (3d ed., Strassburg, 1897) ; 
 
 Religion des Alten Testaments (Tubingen, 1906 ; Eng. tr., London, 1907). 
 Cheyne, T. K. Jewish Religious Life after the Exile (New York and 
 
 London, 189S). 
 BuDDE, K. Religion of Israel to the Exile (New York and London, 1S99). 
 Smend, R. Alttestamentliche Religionsgeschichte (Leipzig, 1S99). 
 Kautzsch, E. Religion of Israel (in Hastings's Dictionary of the Bible, 
 
 vol. v) (Edinburgh and New York, 1904). 
 Kent, C. F. History of the Hebrew People (New York, 1896-1899). 
 Mann, Newton. The Evolution of a Great Literature (2d ed., Boston, 
 
 1906).
 
 6o6 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Addis, \V. E. Hebrew Religion to liie Establishment of Judaism under 
 
 Ezra (London and New York, 1906). 
 Wellhausen, J. Israelitisch-judische Religion (in Kultur der Gegenwart) 
 
 (Berlin and Leipzig, 1909). 
 LoiSY, A. La religion d'lsracl (2d ed., revised and enlarged, Ceffonds, 
 
 chez I'auteur, 190S) ; Eng. tr., The Religion of Israel (London and New 
 
 York, (190). 
 \Valli.s, Lt)Uis. The Sociological Study of the Bible (Chicago, 191 2). 
 Mitchell, H. G. Ethics of the Old Testament (Chicago, 1912). 
 Benziger, L Hebrjiische Archaologie (2d ed., Tiibingen, 1907). 
 NoWACK, W. Lehrbuch der hebraischen Archaologie (Leipzig, 1894). 
 Wage, W. The Apocrypha (Eng. tr., in Speaker's Commentary) (London, 
 
 1888). 
 ScHiiRER, E. Geschichte des jiidischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi 
 
 (3d and 4th add., Leipzig, 189S-1907); Eng. tr. of 2d. ed.. History of the 
 
 Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (New York, 1S91). 
 BiJCHLER, A. Die Priester und der Cultus im letzten Jahrzehnt des jeru- 
 
 salemischen Tempels (Vienna, 1895). 
 BoussET, W. Die Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter 
 
 (Berlin, 1903). 
 RiGGS, J. S. History of the Jewish People during the Maccabean and 
 
 Roman Periods (New York, 1910). 
 Hollman.n', G. The Jewish Religion in the Time of Jesus (Eng. tr., London, 
 
 1909). 
 Graetz, H. History of the Jews (Eng. tr., Philadelphia, 1891-1S95). 
 Grossman, L. Judaism and the Science of Religion (New York and Lon- 
 don, 1889). 
 SuFFRi.v, A. E. Article " Dualism (Jewish) " (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia 
 
 of Religion and Ethics). 
 Weber, F. Jiidische Theologie (2d. ed., Leipzig, 1897). 
 Lazarus, M. Ethics of Judaism (Eng. tr., Philadelphia, 1900- ). 
 Philipson, D. The Reform Movement in Judaism (New York and London, 
 
 1907). 
 Oesterley, W. O. E., and Box, G. H. Religion and Worship of the Syna- 
 gogue (New York, 1907). 
 Bliss, F. J. The Religions of Modern Syria and Palestine (New York, 
 
 1912). 
 Joseph, M. Judaism as Creed and Life (London and New York, 1910). 
 Philo of Byblos. Greek tr. of Sanchuniathon (te.xt, Greek and Latin, in 
 
 K. Miiller's Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum) (Paris, 1848). 
 Cory, I. P. Ancient Fragments of the Phoenician . . . and Other Writers 
 
 (London, 1S76). 
 Gutschmii), a. von. Kleine Schriften (Leipzig, 1890). 
 Rawltnson, G. History of Phoenicia (London, 1SS9). 
 Pietschmaw, R. Geschichte der Phoenizier (Berlin, 1S89).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF />()() AW OF REEEREXCE 607 
 
 Baudissin, W. von. Adonis unci Ksmuii (Berlin, 191 i). 
 
 Mui-LER, W. Max. Remaiks on tiie Cartliaginian l^&hy, Journni of (he 
 
 American Oriental Society, vol. xxxii (December, 191 2). 
 Articles "Edomites" and "Syrians" (announced) in Hastings's Kncyclo- 
 
 pxdia of Religion and Ethics. 
 Alexandre, Charle.s. Oracula Sibyllina (Greek text with Latin tr.) 
 
 (Paris, 1 84 1, new ed., 1869). 
 Frikdi.ikr, J. H. Oracula Sibyllina (Greek text with German tr.) 
 
 (Leipzig, 1852). 
 RzACH, A. Oracula Sibyllina (critical Greek text) (Vienna, 1S91). 
 Tkkrv, M. S. The Sibylline Oracles (translated from the (Jreek) (New 
 
 York, 1S90). 
 
 Asia Minor 
 
 PsEUDO-LuciAN. De Syria I)ea. 
 
 Meyer, Edouard. Geschichte des Altertums, vol. i, part ii (2d ed., Stutt- 
 gart and Berlin, 1909). 
 
 Perkot AND Chipiez. I listory of Art in Sardinia . . . and Asia Minor 
 (Eng. tr., 1890). 
 
 Messerschmidt, L. Corpus Inscriptionum Hettiticarum, Mitteilungen 
 der vorderasiatischen Gesel/sc/ia/t {l.e\\)7Ag, 1900); The Ancient Ilittites, 
 Smithsonian Institution, Annua/ Reports (1893, ^^9A)- 
 
 Ramsay, Sir William. Historical Geography of Asia Minor (in supple- 
 mentary papers of the Royal Geographical Society, iv) (London, 1S90); 
 articles m Journal of Royal Asiatic Society, xv. 
 
 Winckler, H. In Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (Berlin, 
 1907). 
 
 Hogarth, D. G. Article " Hittites " (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1 1 th ed.). 
 
 Garstang, J. Land of the Hittites (London, 1910). 
 
 Ward, W. H. The Greek and the Hittite Gods (in Essays presented to 
 C. A. Briggs, New York, 191 1); Asianic Influence in Greek Mythology 
 (in Studies presented to C. H. Toy, New York, 1912). 
 
 Roscher. Lexikon, article " Kybele." 
 
 Mithrais7n 
 
 CuMONT, Franz. Textes et monuments figures relatifs aux mysteres de 
 Mithra (Brussels, 1899); Mysteres de Mithra (2d ed., Paris, 1902; Eng. tr., 
 Chicago, 1903) ; Astrology and Religion among the CJreeks and Romans 
 (New York and London, 191 2) ; article " Mithras " in Roscher's Lexikon. 
 
 Indian ( Vedic, Brahjnanic, Modern) 
 
 Ward, W. A View of the History, Literature and Mythology of the 
 
 Hindoos (London, 1822). 
 Wilson, H. H. Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus (in Asiatic 
 
 Researches, 1S2S-1S32) (republished, London, 1S61).
 
 6o8 INTRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 ft 
 
 Macpherson, S. C. Religious Opinions and Observances of the Khonds, 
 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (London, 1842 and 1S52). 
 
 BuRNOUF, Emile. Essais sur le Veda (Paris, 1863). 
 
 CoLEBROOKE, H. T. Essays (new ed., London, 1S73). 
 
 Bergaigne, a. La religion vedique (Paris, 1878-1SS3). 
 
 MiJLLER, F. Max. Religions of India (London, 1S78). 
 
 ZiMMER, H. Altindisches Leben (Berlin, 1879). 
 
 Lekmanx, S. Geschichte des alten Indiens (Berlin, 1880). 
 
 Barth, a. Religions of India (Eng. tr., London, 1S82). 
 
 Deussen, p. Uas System des Vedanta (Leipzig, 1883) ; Eng. tr., The sys- 
 tem of the Vedanta (("hicago. 191 2). 
 
 WiLKiNS, W. J. Modem Hinduism (London, 18S7). 
 
 Le Bon, G. Les civilisations de I'lnde (Paris, 1887). 
 
 Lanman, C. R. Beginnings of Hindu Pantheism (Cambridge, Mass., 1890). 
 
 Mo.nier-Wili.iams, Sir Monier. Hinduism (London, 1890); Brahmanism 
 and Hinduism (4th ed., London, 1891) ; Indian Wisdom (London, 1893). 
 
 Garue, R. Uie Samkhya Philosophie (Cambridge, Mass., and Boston, 
 1895); Bcitrjige zur indischen Kulturgeschichte (Berlin, 1903); Akbar, 
 Emperor of India, The Monist, (Chicago, April, 1909). 
 
 Olden berg, H. Religion des Veda (Berlin, 1894). 
 
 Macdonell, a. a. Vedic Mythology (Strassburg, 1897). 
 
 HiLLEBR.^NDT, A. Vedische Mythologie (Breslau, 1891-1902). 
 
 Bloomfield, M. Religion of the Veda (New York and London, 1908). 
 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India (Boston, 1895) ; The Great Epic of 
 India (New York, 1901) ; India Old and New (New York, 1901). 
 
 Dubois, J. A. Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies (tr. from the 
 author's later French manuscript, by H. K. Beauchamp) (Oxford, 1897). 
 
 DuiT, R. C. Civilization of India (London, 1900). 
 
 Eggeling, H. J. Article " Hinduism " (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 
 nth ed.) (London). 
 
 Beveridge, H. Article "Akbar" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
 Ethics) (Edinburgh and New York). 
 
 Grierson, G. a. Article " Bhakti-Marga," ibid. 
 
 Pridham, C. An Account of Ceylon [the Veddas] (London, 1849). 
 
 Crooke, \V. Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India (London, 
 1896) ; article " Bengal " in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics ; article 
 " Dravidians (North India)," ibid. 
 
 Frazf.r, R. W. .\rticle " Dravidians (vSouth India)," il)id. 
 
 Robertson, Sir G. Scoit. The Kafirs of the Hindu Rush (London, 1896). 
 
 Rivers, W. H. H. The Todas (London, 1906). 
 
 HoDSON, T. C. The Naga Tribes of Manipur (London, 1911). 
 
 Buddhism 
 
 BuRNouF, Emile. Introduction a I'histoire du bouddhisme indien (Paris, 
 1844) ; Le lotus de la bonne loi (tr. of the Saddharma-Pundarika) (Paris, 
 1852).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 609 
 
 Hue, AnBii. Travels in Tartary, Thibet and China (1844-1846; Eng. tr., 
 
 Chicago, 1S98). 
 Hakdy, R. Si'KNCE. Eastern Monachism (London, 1S50) ; Manual of 
 
 Buddhism in its Modern Development {2d ed., London, i860). 
 Daviiis, T. W. Rhys. Some Points in the History of Indian 15uddhism (Lon- 
 don, 1881); Buddhism (London, 1882); Buddhist India (London, 1903); 
 
 Buddhism, its History and Literature (2d ed., New York and London, 
 
 1907). 
 Oi.DKN'iiKRG, II. Buddha, his Life, his Doctrine, his Order (Eng. tr., Lon- 
 don, 1882). 
 Kern, H. The Lotus of the True Law (tr. of the Saddharma-I'undarika), 
 
 vol. .\xi of Sacred Books of the East {O.\ford, 1S84). 
 MoNlER-WlLLlAMS, SiR MoNiKR. Buddhism (London, 1890). 
 Hardy, Edmund. Der Buddhismus (Miinster, 1890). 
 CoPLESTON, R. S. lUiddhism Primitive and Present in Magadha and in 
 
 Ceylon (London, 1892). 
 Barth, a. Religions of India (Eng. tr., London, 1882). 
 Hopkins, E. W. ReHgions of India (Boston and 1-ondon, 1S95) ; India 
 
 Old and New (New York, 1901). 
 \Varren, H. C. Buddhism in Translations (Cambridge, Mass., 1896). 
 De l.\ Vali.ke Poussin. Buddhisme et religions de ITnde (Brussels, 
 
 1912). 
 Waddell, L. a. Buddhism in Tibet, or Lamaism (London, 1895). 
 Grunwedei,, a. Lamaismus (in Kultiir der Gegenwart, Die orientalischen 
 
 Religionen) (Berlin, 1906). 
 RdCKHiLi., ^V. W. Life of the Buddha and the Early History of his Order 
 
 [from Tibetan works] (London, 1907). 
 Beal, Samuel. Buddhism in China (London, 1884). 
 Dk Groot, J. J. M. On Mahayana (in his Religion of the Chinese) (New 
 
 York, 19 10). 
 Hackmann, H. Der Buddhismus (Halle a. S., 1905-1906); Eng. tr., 
 
 Buddhism as a Religion (London, 1909). 
 Oltramare, P. Histoire des idees theosophiques dans I'lnde, Aiinales du 
 
 Musee Guimet, v (Paris, 1906). 
 Cowell, Muli.er and Takakusu. Tr. of Buddhist Mahayana siitras (in- 
 cluding the Buddha-Karita of Asvaghosha), vol. xli.x of Sacred Books of 
 
 the East (Oxford, 1S94). 
 Articles (announced) on Ilinayana and Mahayana in Encyclopaedia of 
 
 Religion and Ethics. 
 Suzuki, T. Eng. tr. of Asvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith 
 
 (Chicago, 1900) ; Outlines of Mahayana Buddhism (London, 1907). 
 Aung, S. Z., and Mrs. Rhys Davids. Compendium of Philosophy 
 
 (London, 1910). 
 Haas, H. Article " Amida Buddha unsere Zuflucht," Religions-Urkunden 
 
 der Volker (Leipzig, 1910).
 
 6io /.yTRODCC'r/o.y to history of religions 
 
 Richard, T. The New Testament of Higher Buddhism (Edinburgh, 1910) ; 
 
 Eng. tr. of Asvaghosha's Discourse on the Awakening of Faith (Shanghai, 
 
 1907). 
 Anesaki, M. Article " Docetism (Buddhist) " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion 
 
 and Ethics). 
 Lloyd. A. The Creed of Half Japan, Sketches of Japanese Buddhism 
 
 (New York, 19 12). 
 Aiken, C. F. The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of 
 
 Jesus the Christ (Boston, 1900) (with bibliography). 
 Edmunds, A. J. Buddhist and Christian Gospels (4th ed., Philadelphia, 
 
 1 908- 1 909). 
 
 Jainism 
 
 Jacobi, H. Gaina-sutras, vol. xxii of Sacred Books of the East (Oxford, 
 
 18S4). 
 Hoi'KiNS, E. W. Religions of India (Boston and London, 1S95), ^^^ ^'^^ 
 
 bibliography there given. 
 
 Sikhs 
 
 Trumpp, Ernst. Religion der Sikhs (Leipzig, 18S1) ; The Adi Granth 
 
 (Eng. tr., London, 1907). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India, pp. 510 ff., 591 (Boston, 1S95). 
 Macauliffe, M. a. The Sikh Religion (Oxford, 1909). 
 Bloomfield, M. The Sikh Religion (in Studies in the History of Religions 
 
 presented to C. II. Toy) (New York, 191 2). 
 
 Gypsies 
 
 Wlislocki, H. von. Volksglaube und religioser Brauch der Zigeuner 
 
 (Miinster, Westphalia, 1891). 
 Burton, Sir R. F. The Jew, the Gypsy, and El Islam (Chicago and New 
 
 York, 1898). 
 Gaster, Moses. Article "Gipsies" (with bibliography) (in Encyclopaidia 
 
 Britannica, nth ed.). 
 Article " Gypsies " in New International Encyclopaedia. 
 Ethnologische Mitteilungeii (Berlin, 1892). 
 
 Malay Peninsula and Assam 
 
 Skeat, W. W. Malay Magic (London, 1900). 
 
 Skeat, \Y. W., and Blagden, C. O. Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula 
 (London, 1906). 
 
 HoDSON, T. C. Genna amongst the Tribes of Assam, /<'//;■;/<// of the An- 
 thropological Institute, (London, 1905). 
 
 Gait, E. A. History of Assam (Calcutta, 1906). 
 
 Anderson, J. D. Article " Assam " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and 
 Ethics).
 
 SELECTED LIST O!' BO(^KS ()r RIIFI'.REXCE 6 1 r 
 
 Jtido- Chinese Poiiitsiila 
 Cabaton, a. Article " Annam " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Persian 
 
 WiNDisciiMANN, F. Zoroastrische Studien (Berlin, 1863). 
 
 Spiegel, Fr. Franische Alterihumskuiide (Leipzig, 1871-1878). 
 
 IIari.kz, C. de. Introduction to his French Translation of the Avesta (Paris, 
 iSSi). 
 
 Haug, M. Essays on the Parsis (3d ed., London, 1884). 
 
 JusTi, F. Geschichte des alten Persiens, p. 67 ff. (Berlin, 1879). 
 
 Geiger, W. Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times (Eng. 
 tr., London, 18S5-18S6). 
 
 Darmesteter, J. Le Zend-Avesta (Paris, 1892-1893). 
 
 Jackson, A. V. Williams, Die iranische Religion (in Geiger and Kuhn's 
 Gruiidriss der iranischen Philoloi^ie^ (Strassburg, 1896-1904) ; Zoroaster 
 (New York and London, 1899); Persia, Past and Present (New York, 
 1906); article "Avesta" (in Encyclopx-dia of Religion and Ethics); Reli- 
 gion of the Achaimenian Kings (according to the inscriptions), yt;?<;-//<;/ of 
 the American Oriental Society, xxi (New Haven, 1901). 
 
 Browne, E. G. Literary History of Persia, p. 95 ff. (London, 1902). 
 
 GeldNer, K. F. Avestalitteratur, Grnndriss der iranischen P/iiIologie,\\\ 
 Eng. tr., in Studies in honor of Sanjana (Strassburg, 1904). 
 
 Sanjana. Zarathushtra and Zarathushtrianism in the Avesta (Leipzig, 
 1906). 
 
 Menant, D. Zoroaster d'apres la tradition parsie, Annates dii Musee Gttirnet, 
 vol. XXX (Paris). 
 
 Mills, L. IL Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), Philo, the Acha;menids and Israel 
 (Chicago, 1906); articles (on Asha and Vohumanah) in Journal of the 
 American Oriental Society, xx, xxi (New Haven, 1899-1901). 
 
 Gray, L. H. In Archiv fiir Peligionswissenschaft, vii, 345 (Leipzig, 1904). 
 
 Casartelli, L. C. Philosophy of the Mazdayasnian Religion under the 
 Sassanids (Eng. tr., Boml:)ay, 1S89); article "Dualism, Iranian" (in 
 Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Moore, G. F. Zoroastrianism, Harvard Theological Perie'w, vol. v. (Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., 1912). 
 
 Darmesteter and Mills. Eng. tr. of the Avesta (in Sacred Books of the 
 East) (O.xford, 1879- ). 
 
 CuMONT, Fr. Article " Mithras" (in Roscher's Lexikon). 
 
 Manichaism 
 
 Beausobre, Isaac de. Histoire critique de Manichee et du manicheisme 
 (Paris, 1734-1735). 
 
 Flugel, G. Mani, seine Lehre und seine Schriften (from the FiArist) (Leip- 
 zig, 1862).
 
 6l2 /XrKODi'CTJOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Kessler, K. Mani (Berlin, 1889 and 1903); article " Mani und die Mani- 
 chaer" (in Herzog-Hauck's Real-Encyklopadie) (Leipzig, 1903). 
 
 KuGENER AND Cu.Mo.NT. Recherches sur le manicheisme (Brussels, 
 1908 ff.). 
 
 Druses 
 Sacy, Silvestre de. Expose de la religion des Druses (Paris, 1838). 
 Churchill, C. II. Ten Years' Residence in Mount Lebanon (London, 
 
 1853)- 
 
 WoRTABET, J. Researches into the Religions of Syria (London, i860). 
 
 Guys, H. La theogonie des Druses (Paris, 1863). 
 
 Herzog-H.'VUCK. Real-Encyklopadie, Index, s.v. Driisen. 
 
 Hogarth, D. G., and Bell, Gertrude L. Article '" Druses " (in Encyclo- 
 paedia Britannica, iith ed.). 
 
 Babtsm and Bahaistn 
 
 Comte de Gi)Bine.\u. Les religions et les philosophies dans I'Asie Cen- 
 trale (Paris, 1866). 
 
 Browne, E. G. The Episode of the l!ab: a Traveller's Narrative, vol. i 
 Persian text, vol. ii Eng. tr. (Cambridge, England, 1891); New History of 
 the Bab (Eng. tr., Cambridge, England, 1893). 
 
 Phelps, M. II. Life and Teaching of Abbas Effendi [son of the founder, 
 Behau'llah] — Religion of the Babis and Behais (New York, 1903). 
 
 Burnev, Laur.a. C. Some Answered Questions [statement of Bahaist be- 
 liefs by Abbas Efendi] (London, 1908). 
 
 Armenian 
 Sayce, a. H. Article " Armenia (Vannic) " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion 
 
 and Ethics). 
 Ananikian, M. H. Article "Armenia (Zoroastrian)," ibid. 
 
 Aegean 
 Perrot and Chipiez. La Grece primitive (in their Histoire de I'art) (Paris, 
 
 1895). 
 Evans, A. J. Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult (London and New York, 
 
 1901); Scripta Minoa [written documents of Minoan Crete] (Oxford, 
 
 1909- ). 
 Articles m Journal 0/ Hellenic Studies and Annals 0/ ike British School at 
 
 Athens. 
 Hogarth, D. G. Article " .^Egean Religion " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion 
 
 and Ethics). 
 
 Greek 
 Augustine. De Civitate Dei. 
 
 \Velcker, F. G. Griechische Gotterlehre (Gottingen, 1S57-1863). 
 Hermann, K. F. Lehrbuch dergottesdienstlichen AlterthiimerderGriechen 
 
 (Heidelberg, 1858).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 613 
 
 Gladstonf., W. E. Juvenilis Mundi, the CJods and Men of the Heroic 
 Age (London, 1S69). 
 
 BoKi-nciiKR, C. iJauniUiiltiis der Ilellenen iind Riimer (Berlin, 1856). 
 
 Gki ri'K, O. Die griecliischen Cuke und Mythen (Leipzig, 1SS7); Grie- 
 chische Mythologie (Miinchen, 1897-1906). 
 
 Stengel and Oehmichen. Die griecliischen Sakralaltertiimer (Miinchen, 
 1S90). 
 
 Dyer, Louis. Studies of the Gods in Greece (London, 1891). 
 
 Caird, E. Evolution of Religion, lecture v (London and New York, 
 1893). 
 
 Gardner and Jevons. Greek Antiquities (London, 1895). 
 
 MoMMSKN, A. Feste der Stadt Athen (new ed., Leipzig, 1898). 
 
 Dickinson, G. Lowes. The Greek View of Life (2d ed., London, 1898). 
 
 Farnki.i., L. R. Cults of the Greek States (Oxford, 1S96-1909); The Place 
 of the ' Sondergotter ' in Greelc Polytheism (in Anthropological Essays 
 presented to E. B. Tylor) (Oxford, 1907); Greece and Babylon (Edin- 
 burgh, 191 1); Higher Aspects of Greek Religion (London, 1912). 
 
 RoHDE, E. Psyche, 1894 (3d issue, Leipzig, 1903). 
 
 Harrison, Miss J. E. Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Cam- 
 bridge, Eng., 1903); Themis, a Study of the Social Origins of Greek Re- 
 ligion (Cambridge, England, 191 2). 
 
 Hatch, E. Influence of Greek Ideas and Usages upon the Christian 
 Church (London, 1904). 
 
 Seymour, T. D. Life in the Homeric Age (New York and London, 1907). 
 
 Adam, James. The Religious Teachers of Greece (Edinburgh, 1908). 
 
 Pkister, F. Reliquien-Cult im Altertum (Giessen, 1909). 
 
 Foucart, p. Des associations religieuses chez les Grecs (Paris, 1873); 
 Les grands mysteres d'Eleusis (Paris, 1900). 
 
 Jevons, F.B. Introduction to the History of Religion (2d ed., London, 1902), 
 chap, xxiiif. 
 
 Jong, K. II. E. de. Das antike Mysterienwesen (Leiden, 1909). 
 
 Fairbanks, A. Handbook of Greek Religion (New York, 1910). 
 
 Rei/.knstein, R. ITellenistische Mysterienreligion (Leipzig and Berlin, 
 1910). 
 
 Article " Dionysos " in Roscher's Lexikon. 
 
 Articles " Mystery " and " Orpheus " in Encyclopaedia Britannica i ith ed. 
 
 Article "Mystery" in New International Encyclopjcdia. 
 
 Bevan, E. R. Article " Deification (Greek and Roman) " (in Encyclo- 
 paedia of Religion and Ethics) (Edinburgh and New York, 1912). 
 
 Lehmann-IIaupt, C. F. Article "Sarapis" (in Roscher's Lexikon). 
 
 Mahaeky, J, P. History of Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty, p. 56 ff. 
 (London, 1889). 
 
 Steindorkf, G. Religion of the Ancient Egyptians, p. 72 f. (New York 
 and London, 1905). 
 
 Plutarch. Isis and Osiris.
 
 6i4 i.yTRoiH'cr/ox to jiistorv of religioxs 
 
 Preuschen, E. Monchtum und Sarapiskult (Giessen, 1903). 
 Apuleius. Cult of Isis (in his Metamorphoses, bk. xi). 
 Drexler, W. Article "Isis" (in Roscher's Lexikon). 
 
 Keligiotts Relations bet-ween Greece and Im/ia 
 
 Schroder, L. von. Pythagoras und die Inder (Leipzig, 1SS4). 
 Weber, A. Die Griechen in Indien, Literarisches Ceniralblatt (1884). 
 Garbe, K. Connexion between Indian and Greek Philosophy, The 
 
 Monist (July, 1894). 
 Hopkins, E. W. Religions of India, chap, xix (Boston and London, 
 
 1895). 
 Pringle-Pattison, .\. S. Article "Pythagoras" (in Encyclopasdia Bri- 
 
 tannica, i ith ed.). 
 Histories of Philosophy, on Pythagoras. 
 
 Roman 
 Varro, M. T. Res Rusticae (Leipzig, 1SS9) ; Res Divinae (from 
 
 Augustine's De Civitate Dei) (Leipzig, 1896); De Lingua Latina 
 
 (Leipzig, 1910). 
 Arnobiu-S. Disputationes adversus Gentes (or Nationes) (Latin text, 
 
 Vienna, 1875; Eng. tr.. New York, 1888). 
 Servius. Commentary on Vergil (Leipzig, 1881-1887). 
 Macrokius. Saturnalia (Fr. tr., Paris, 18S3). 
 Augustine. De Civitate Dei. 
 MoMMSEN, Th. Romische Geschichte (new ed., Berlin, 1856-1887; Eng. 
 
 tr., London and New York, 1870, 1894, 1903). 
 Zeli.er, E. Religion und Philosophie bei den Romern (in his Beitrage und 
 
 Abhandlungen) (Berlin, 1872). 
 Boissier G. La religion romaine d'Auguste aux Antonins (2d ed., Paris, 
 
 1S78). 
 Renan, E. Influence of the Institutions, Thought and Culture of Rome 
 
 on ("hristianity (London, iSSo). 
 Prellek-Jordan. Rfiniische Mythologie (Berlin, 18S1-18S3). 
 AusT, E. Religion der Romer (Minister, \Vestphalia, 1899). 
 WissoWA, G. Religion und Kultus der Romer (Munich, 1902). 
 Fowler, W. W. Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic (London, 
 
 1899); Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero (New York, 1910); 
 
 Religious Experience of the Roman People (London, 191 1). 
 Friedlander, L. Sittengeschichte Roms (8th ed., Leipzig, 1910) ; Eng. 
 
 tr. of 7th ed., Roman Life and Manners under the Early Empire (London 
 
 and New York [19- ]). 
 Glover, T. R. Conflict of Religions in the Early Roman Empire (2d ed., 
 
 London, 1909). 
 Gruppe, G. Kulturgeschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit (Miinchen, 1903- 
 
 1904).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOK'S OF /REFERENCE 615 
 
 Carter, J. B. Religion of Numa (I^ndon, 1906); The Religious Life of 
 
 Ancient Rome (Boston and New York, 1911). 
 Reinach, S. Orpheus [a p;eneral history of religions], chap, iii (Paris, 1909 ; 
 
 Eng. tr., revised by the aullior, London and New Vork, 1909). 
 Arnold, E. V. Roman Stoicism (Cambridge, England, 191 1). 
 
 £truscan 
 
 Herbig, G. Article "Etruscan Religion" (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of 
 Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Celtic 
 
 Rhys, J. Celtic Heathendom (London, 1886). 
 
 Bertrani), a. Religion des (jaulois (2d ed., Paris, 1891). 
 
 Ihm, M. Der Miitter- oder Matronenkultus und seine Denkmiiler, Bonner 
 
 Jah rhiich er ( 1 88 7 ) . 
 MacCulloch J. A. Religion of the Ancient Celts (Edinburgh, 1911); 
 
 article "Celts" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics); article 
 
 "Druids," ibid. 
 Gruffydd, \V. J. Welsh Literature (in article " Celt " in Encyclopaedia 
 
 Britannica, nth ed.). 
 QuiGGiN, E. C. Article "Celtic Languages and Literature," ibid. 
 Robinson, F. N. Article " Ueae Matres " (in Encyclopaedia of Religion 
 
 and Ethics). 
 Revue Celtique (Paris). 
 Celtic Revieiv, Edinburgh. 
 
 Teutonic 
 
 Grimm, J. Deutsche Mythologie (Berlin, 1835; 4th ed., 1875-1878); 
 
 Kleinere Schriften (Berlin, 1864-1890). 
 Mi;LLENHOFF, K. Deutsche Altertumskunde (Berlin, 1870-1892). 
 BuGGE, S. Studier over de nordiske Gude- og Lleltesagns oprindelse 
 
 (1S80) ; Germ, tr., Studien iiber die Entstehung der nordischen Giitter- 
 
 und Heldensagen (Munich, 1889). 
 Gruppe, O. Griechische Culte und Mythen in ihren Beziehungen zu den 
 
 orientalischen Religionen, Index (Leipzig, 18S7). 
 MoGK, E. Germanische Mythologie (in Paul's Grundriss der germani- 
 
 schen Philologie) (2d ed., Strassburg, 1898). 
 Meyer, E. IL Germanische Mythologie (Berlin, 1891). 
 GuMMERE, F. B. Article "Teutonic(or Germanic) Mythology" (in Johnson's 
 
 Universal Cyclopaedia); Germanic Origins (New York, 1892). 
 La Sahssaye, P. D. Chantepie de. Religion of the Teutons (with bibli- 
 ography) (Boston and London, 1902). 
 Chadwick, H. M. Article " Teutonic Peoples," p. 683 ff. (in Encyclopasdia 
 
 Britannica, i ith ed.). 
 Mannhardt, W. Baumcultus der Germanen und ihrer NachbarstJimme 
 
 (Berlin, 1875); Antike \Yald- und Feldkulte aus nordeuropaischen
 
 6l6 IXTRODL'CTIOX TO H/STORV OF REL/G/OXS 
 
 Uberlieferungen erlautert (Berlin, 1S77); Mythologische Forschungen, 
 Quelle n u n d Forsch u ng^en ( i S 84 ) . 
 
 JoNssoN, F. Article " The Eddas " (in Hastings's Encyclopaedia of Re- 
 ligion and Ethics). 
 
 ViGFussoN, G., AND PowELL, F. YoRK. Corpus Poeticum Boreale (Old 
 Norse Poetry, Scaldic and Eddie) (Oxford, 1SS3). 
 
 Thorpe, B. Metrical Translation of the Edda (London, 1866). 
 
 Slavic 
 
 Archiv fiir slavische Philologie (Berlin, 1876- ). 
 
 Manns, E. H. Article "Slavs," p. 230 (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, i ith.ed.). 
 UsENER, H. Gotternamen (Bonn, 1896). 
 Krauss, F. S. Slavische Folkforschungen (Leipzig, 1908). 
 MoNE, F. J. Geschichte des Ileidenthums in nordlichen Europa (Leipzig, 
 1836). 
 
 Central and N^orthern Asia 
 
 Ratzel, F. Historj' of Mankind (Eng. tr., London, 1896-1S98). 
 
 Featherman, a. Races of Mankind, iv (London, 1S81-1891). 
 
 Pu MPELLY, R. Explorations in Turkestan (Prehistoric Civilizations of Anau) 
 
 (Washington, 1908). 
 Vambery, a. Die primitive Cultur des turko-tatarischen Volkes (I^ip- 
 
 zig, 1879). 
 Hue, E. R. Travels in Tartary, Tibet, and China (Eng. tr., London, 
 
 1859). 
 Keane, a. H. Asia (London, 1896-1906); article "Asia" (in Encyclopaedia 
 
 of Religion and Ethics). 
 King, L. W. History of Sumer and Akkad, Appendi.x (New York, 1910). 
 MouHOT, H. Travels in the Central Parts of Indo-China (London, 1S64). 
 Cross, E. B. The Karens, Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv 
 
 (New York, 1S54). 
 Klkmentz, Demetrius. Article "Buriats" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion 
 
 and Ethics). 
 Wasiljev, J. Heidnische Gebrauche, Aberglaube und Religion der Wot- 
 
 yaken (Ilelsingfors, 1902). 
 JociiELSON, W. The Kor)ak (in Jesup North Pacific Expedition, vi) (New 
 
 York). 
 Bogoras, W. The Chukchee, ibid. 
 Wright, J. H., editor. History of All Nations, vol. ii. Central and Eastern 
 
 Asia in Antiquity (by F. Justi, F. W. Williams, M. Jastrow, Jr., and 
 
 A. V. W. Jackson) (Philadelphia and New York, 1902 and 1905). 
 Wi.isi.ocKi, H. vo.n. Volksglaube und religibser Brauch der Magyaren 
 
 (Miinster, Westphalia, 1893). 
 Gastrin, M. A. Finnische Mythologie (Germ, tr., St. Petersburg, 1853).
 
 SELECTED LJSE OE BOOKS OE KEEEh'EXCE 617 
 
 Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennica; (Ilelsingfors). 
 
 CoMPARK.TTi, D. II Kaleval;i. o la poesia tradizionale dei Finni (Rome, 
 
 1891). 
 Cravvkord, J. M. Eng. ti. of the Kalevala (New York, 1888). 
 KlRBY, W. F. Eng. ti. of tlie Kalevala (London, 1S98). 
 
 Japan 
 
 Grifkis, W. E. The Religions of Japan (London, 1895). 
 
 ASTUN, W. G. Shinto (London, 1907). 
 
 Knox, G. W. Development of Religion in Japan (New York and London, 
 
 1907). 
 LoNGKoRi), J. II. Story of Old Japan (London, 1910). 
 Brinkley, F. In article "Japan" (in Encyclopa;dia Britannica, iith ed., 
 
 p. 222 ff.). 
 Batchki.ur, J. The Ainu and their Folklore (London, 1901); article 
 
 "Ainus" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 IIow.vRn, B. D. Life with the Trans-Siberian Savages (London, 1893). 
 
 China and A'orea 
 
 DoiTGLAS, R. K. Confucianism and Taouism (London, 18S9). 
 
 Legge, James. Religions of China (London, 1880); articles "Confucius" 
 and " Lao-Tsze " (in Encyclopaedia Britannica, nth ed.); Te.xts of Taoism 
 (in Sacred Books of the East, vol. xl). 
 
 De Gruot, J. J. iM. Religious System of China (Leiden, 1S92-1907) ; Re- 
 ligion of the Chinese (New York, 1910) ; Religion in China: Universism, 
 a Key to the Study of Taoism and Confucianism (New York and London, 
 1912). 
 
 Giles, H. A. Articles " Religions of Ancient China," " China " (in 
 Encyclopaedia Britannica, iith ed.). 
 
 Griffis, W. E. Corea, the Hermit Nation (New York, 1901). 
 
 Longford, J. H. Story of Korea (New York, 191 1). 
 
 Howarth, O. J. R. Article "Korea "(in Encyclopaedia Britannica, iithed.). 
 
 Underwooo, H. G. Religions of Eastern Asia (New York, 1910). 
 
 Parker, E. IL Studies in Chinese Religion (London, 1910). 
 
 Chavannes, E. Memoires historiques, vol. i. Introduction to tr. of the 
 Tao-Teh-King (Paris, 1895). 
 
 Dvorak, R. China's Religionen, No. 2 (Miinster, 1903). 
 
 Heysingor, J. W. The Light of China (metrical version of the Tao-Teh- 
 King) (Philadelphia, 1903). 
 
 Oceania 
 
 Ratzei,, F. History of Mankind (Eng. tr., London, 1S96-1S9S). 
 
 Frazek, J. G. Totemism and Exogamy, Index (London, 1910) ; The Belief 
 
 in Immortality and the Worship of the Dead (the Gifford Lectures, 191 1- 
 
 1912) (London and New York).
 
 6l8 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Bastian a. Inselgriippen in Oceania (IJerlin, 1SS3). 
 
 Keane, A. H. Article "Australasia" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Polynesia 
 
 Mariner, W. Tonga Islands (London, 1S17). 
 
 Grey, G. Polynesian Mythology (Auckland, 1SS5). 
 
 Ellis, \V. Polynesian Researches (London, 1S59); Tour around Hawaii 
 
 (London, 1S29). 
 Jarves, J. J. History of the Hawaiian Islands (Honolulu, 1S72). 
 Bastian, A. Zur Kenntniss Hawaiis (Berlin, 1883). 
 
 Alexander, W. D. Brief History of the Hawaiian People (London, 1S92). 
 AcHELis, Thos. Ueber Mythologie und Cultus von Hawaii, 1895 (reprint 
 
 from Ausland, 1S93). 
 Taylor, R. New Zealand and its Inhabitants (London, 1S70). 
 Gill, W. Myths and Songs of the South Pacific (London, 1S76). 
 Turner, G. Samoa (London, 1884). 
 
 Kramer, A. Hawaii, Ostmikronesien und Samoa (Stuttgart, 1906). 
 Tregear, E. The Maori race (Wanganui, New Zealand, 1904). 
 Shortland, E. Traditions and Superstitions of the New Zealanders 
 
 (London, 1854). 
 Bassler, a. Siidsee Bilder (Berlin, 1895); Neue Siidsee Bilder(Berlin, 1900). 
 
 Melanesia 
 
 Williams, J., and Calvert, J. Fiji and the Fijians (London, 1S70). 
 
 CoDRiNGTON, R. H. The Melanesians (Oxford, 1891). 
 
 Seligmann, C. G. The Melanesians of British New Guinea (Cambridge, 
 
 England, 1910). 
 Brown, George. Melanesians and Polynesians (London and New York, 
 
 1910). 
 FuRNESS, W. H., 3d. The Island of Stone-Money (Uap of the Carolines), 
 
 (Philadelphia and London, 1910). 
 
 Australia and Tasmania 
 
 Spencer, B., and Gillen, J. Native Tribes of Central Australia (London, 
 1899); Northern Tribes of Central Australia (London, 1904). 
 
 HowiTT, A. \V. Native Tribes of South-East Australia (London, 1904). 
 
 Parker, Mrs. K. L. The Euahlayi Tribe (London, 1905). 
 
 Gennep, a. v. Mythes et legendes d'Australie (Paris, 1906). 
 
 Thomas, N. W. Native Tribes of Australia (London, 1907); article 
 "Australia" (in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Tylor, E. B. On the Tasmanians as Representatives of Palaeolithic Man, 
 Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xxiii. 
 
 Malay Archipelago anil the Philippines 
 
 Marsden, W. History of Sumatra (London, 1811). 
 Bock, C. Head-hunters of Borneo (London, 1881).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF KEEEKEACE 619 
 
 Man, E. II. The Aboriginal Inhabitants of the Andaman Islands, yi>«r«a/ 
 
 of the Aiitliropolos^ical Iitstitiiti\ xii (London, 1SS5). 
 Wallack, a. R. The Malay Archipelago (London, 1S90). 
 WiLKEN, G. A. Met shamanisme bij de volken van den Indisclien Arcliipel 
 
 (■'S-IIage, 18S7). 
 Kkuijt, a. C. Ilet animisme in den indischen Archipel ('S-Gravenhage, 
 
 1906). 
 Sarasin, p. and F. Die Weddas von Ceylon und die umgebenden Volker- 
 
 schaften (Wiesbaden, 1S93). 
 Roth, H. L. The Natives of Sarawak and iJritish North Borneo (London. 
 
 1S96). 
 IIaddo.n, a. C. Head-hunters, T51ack, White and Brown (London, 1901). 
 FuRNESS, W. H., 3d. Home-life of Borneo Head-hunters (Philadelphia, 
 
 1902). 
 Morris, IMiss M. Harvest Gods of the Land Dyaks of V>or\\eo, /ournal 0/ 
 
 the AmcriaDi Oriental Society (July, 1905). 
 Hurgronye, C. S.nouck. The Achehnese (London, 1906). 
 Warneck, J. Die Religion der Batak (in J. Bohmer's Religionsurkunden 
 
 der Volker, Abth. iv, Bd. i) (Leipzig, 1909). 
 Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology of the J'hilifpine Government, 
 fournal of American Folklore. 
 Philippine foiirnal of Science, Manila. 
 Bureau of American Ethnology. 
 Blimentritt, F. Diccionario mitologico de Philippinas (2d ed., Madrid, 
 
 1S95). 
 Beyer, H. O., and B.\rton, R. F. An Ifugao Burial Ceremony (reprint 
 
 from J'h ilippine fournal of Science) (1911). 
 
 North .America 
 
 Relation des Jesuites de la Nouvelle France [17th century] (edited, with 
 Eng. tr., by R. G. Thwaites, Cleveland, 1901). 
 
 Parkman, F. The Jesuits in North America in the Seventeenth Century 
 (London, 1S67). 
 
 W'lLLiAMS, Ro(;er. Key into the Language of .America (London, 1643). 
 
 Hodge, F. W'. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (Wash- 
 ington, 1907-igio). 
 
 fournal of American B'olklore (Boston and New York). 
 
 Smith, John. General History of Virginia (London, 1627; new issue, 1907). 
 
 Strachey, W. Ilistorie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia (1618; ed. 
 R. H. Major, London, 1849). 
 
 Henderson, S. R. The Government and Religion of the Virginia Indians, 
 fohns Hopkins University Studies in J/istory and Political Science, xiii 
 (Baltimore). 
 
 MiJLLER, J. G. Geschichte der amerikanischen Urreligionen (Basel, 1S67).
 
 620 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Schoolcraft, II. R. Indian Tribes of tlie United States (Philadelphia, 
 1851-1860). 
 
 Bancroft, H. II. Native Races of the Pacific States of North America 
 (New York, 1S75-1S76). 
 
 WiNSOR, J. Narrative and Critical History of America (Boston, 18S9). 
 
 Payne, E. J. History of the New World, called America (Oxford, 1899). 
 
 Gushing, F. H. My Adventures in Zuiii, Century Magazine (New York, 
 May, 18S3). 
 
 Fletcher, Alice. Indian Ceremonies (from the Sixteenth Report of tlie 
 Peabody Museum of American Archceology and Ethnology (Cambridge, 
 Mass., 1883) (Salem, Mass., 1884). 
 
 Gatschet, a. S. a Migration Legend of the Creek Indians (Philadelphia, 
 1884). 
 
 Brinton, D. G. The Lenape and their Legends (Philadelphia, 1885). 
 
 Fewkes, J. W. The Winter Solstice Ceremony at Walpi (reprinted from 
 the American Anthropologist, xi) (Washington, 189S). 
 
 Matthews, W. Navaho Legends (Boston and New York, 1897). 
 
 Bo.vs, F. The Indians of British Columbia (reprinted from Report of the 
 British Association, 1S89) (London); The Kwakiutl (Washington, 1897). 
 
 Text, J. Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia 
 (Boston and New York, 1S98). 
 
 Morice, a. G. Notes ... on the Western Denes, Transactions of the 
 Canadian Institute (1894). 
 
 Will, G. F., and Spinden, H. J. The Mandans [of North Dakota], 
 (Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Mass., 1906). 
 
 Hill-Tout, C. British North America (the Far West) (London, 1907). 
 
 Dixon, R. B. The Northern Maidu [of California], Bulletin of American 
 Museum of Xatural History, vol. xvii (New York, 1905); The Shasta 
 (California), ibid. (New York, 1907); The Chimariko Indians, i'niversity 
 of California Publications in American Archeology aiid Ethnologv (Berke- 
 ley, 1910). 
 
 Cranz, D. History of Greenland (London, 1820). 
 
 Rink, H. J. Tales and Traditions of the Eskimo (Edinburgh and London, 
 1875); The Eskimo Tribes (Copenhagen and London, 1887). 
 
 Boas, F. The Central Eskimo, Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1884- 
 1885 (Washington, 1888). 
 
 Rasmussen, Knud. People of the Polar North (London, 1908). 
 
 Radin, p., and Gray, L. II. Article "Eskimos" (in Hastings's Encyclo- 
 paedia of Religion and Ethics). 
 
 Mormonism 
 
 Riley, I. W. The Founder of Mormonism, a Psychological Study of 
 
 Joseph Smith (New York, 1902). 
 Linn, W. A. The Story of the Mormons ... to the Year 1901 (New York, 
 
 1902).
 
 SELECTED JJST OF />•()() AS ()/■ REFERENCE 62 I 
 
 Meyku, F'.DDi.'ARi). Ursprung imd Geschichte der Mormonen (Ilalle a. S., 
 1912). 
 
 JMexico 
 
 Saiiagun, F. B. de. Ilistoria general de las cosas de Nueva Espaiia 
 
 (Mexico, 1 829-1 830, and Fr. tr.). 
 AcosTA, J. DE. Ilistoria de las Indias (Eng. tr., C. R. Markham, London, 
 
 I SSo). 
 IIkukf.RA, a. de. Ilistoria de las Indias Ocidentales (Eng. tr., London, 
 
 1S25-1S26). 
 Sei.ER, E. Altmexikanische Studien, Piihlicalioiis of Berlin I\fitscitm flir 
 
 Volkerkitnde, vi (1899); Gesammelte Abliandlungen ziir amerikanischen 
 
 Sprach- und Alterthuniskunde (Berlin, 1902-1909). 
 Prescott, W. II. Conquest of Mexico (Boston, 1S43). 
 RiWlLLE, A. Native Religions of Mexico and Peru (London, 1884). 
 Spence, L. Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Peru (London, 1907). 
 Preuss, K. T. Die Feuergotter als Ausgangspunkt zum Verstandniss der 
 
 mexikanischen Religion, Mitteiliiugen tier [Wiener] antkropolo^ischen 
 
 Gesellschaft (1903). 
 NuTALL, Zelia. A Penitential Rite of the Ancient Mexicans, Archaoh^ical 
 
 cuid Ethnological Papers of the rcahody A/nseiiin, Harvard University 
 
 (Cambridge, Mass., 1904). 
 Toy, C. II. Mexican Human S■^Lcnf).ce:, Journal of Amerieati Folklore (Bos- 
 ton and. New York, 1905). 
 
 Central America 
 
 Brixton, D. G. The Names of the Gods in the Kiche Myths of Central 
 America, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (Philadelphia, 
 i88t); The Annals of the Cakchiquels (Philadelphia, 1885) ; Nagualism, 
 a Study in Native American Folklore and History (Philadelphia, 1894). 
 
 ScHELi-HAS, P. Representations of Deities of the Maya Mss. (Eng. tr. of 
 2d ed. in Papers of the Peabody Museum, Harvard University) (Cam- 
 bridge, Mass., 190.1). 
 
 TozZER, A. M. Comparative Study of the Mayas and Lacandones [of 
 Yucatan] (New York and London, 1907). 
 
 Porto Rico 
 
 Fewkes, J. W. Aborigines of Porto Rico (in Reports of the Bureau of 
 Ethnology, xxv) (Washington). 
 
 South America 
 
 La Vega, Garcii.aso de. Comentarios reales de los Incas (1609; Eng. 
 
 tr., ed. C. R. Markham, Rites and Laws of the Yncas) (London, 1870). 
 Prescott, W. II. Conquest of Peru (Boston, 1S47).
 
 622 IXTRODUCTIOX TO H/STORV OF RELIG/OXS 
 
 Bernau, J. II. Missionar)' Labors in British Guiana (London, 1S47). 
 
 Im Thtrn, F. Among the Indians of Guiana (London, 1SS3). 
 
 Reville and Spence. See under ' Mexico.' 
 
 HY.A.DES, P., AND Deniker, J. Mission scientifique du Cap Horn (Paris, 
 1S82-1S83, 1891- ). 
 
 Von den Steinen, K. Unter den Xaturvolkem Zentral-Brasiliens (Ber- 
 lin, 1S94). 
 
 Bassler, a. Altperuanische Kunst (1902). 
 
 Ehrenreich, p. Mythen und Legenden der siidamerikanischen Urvtilker 
 (Berlin, 1905). 
 
 Farabee, W. C. Some Customs of the [Peruvian] Machegongos (reprinted 
 ixoxn. Proceedings of the A in erica)i Antiquarian Society) (Worcester, 1909). 
 
 Africa 
 
 Waitz-Gari.and. Anthropologie der Naturvolker (Leipzig, 1S59-1S72). 
 
 Ellis, \V. History of Madagascar (London, 1838). 
 
 Fritsch, G. Die Eingeborenen Siid-Afrika's (Breslau, 1872). 
 
 IIaiin, Th. Tsuni-Goam, the Supreme Being of the Klioi-Khoi (London, 
 18S1). 
 
 Macdonald, D. Africana (London, 1882). 
 
 Macdonald, J. Manners, Customs, Superstitions and Religions of South- 
 African Tribes, Journal of the Anthropological Institute, xi.\, x.\ (Lon- 
 don) ; East Central African Customs, ibid., xxii (London, 1893). 
 
 Call.\w.a.y, H. Religious System of the Amazulu (Natal, 1S6S-1870). 
 
 Ellis, A. B. The Tshi-speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West 
 Africa (London, 1887); The Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of 
 West Africa (London, 1890) ; The Yoruba-speaking Peoples of the Slave 
 Coast of West Africa (London, 1894). 
 
 Schneider, W. Religion der afrikanischen Naturvolker (Miinster, West- 
 phalia, 1891). 
 
 Hanoteau, a., and Letourneaux, a. La Kabylie (2d ed., Paris, 1893). 
 
 Westermarck, E. Nature of the Arab G'lwn, Journal of the Anthropological 
 Institute (London, 1900) ; L'ar, or the Transference of Conditional Curses 
 in Morocco (in Anthropological Essays presented to E. B. Tylor) (Oxford, 
 1907). 
 
 Kingsley, Mary. Travels in West Africa (London, 1897); West African 
 Studies (London, 1901). 
 
 TiiKAL, G. M. Records of South-Eastern Africa (London, 1S98-1900); 
 History and Ethnogra])hy of South Africa (London, 1907-1910). 
 
 QUATREFAGES, A. DE. The Pygmies (Eng. tr.. New York, 1895). 
 
 Johnston, H. The Pygmies of the Great Congo Forest, Smithsonian Insti- 
 tution Reports, 1902 (Washington). 
 
 Schmidt, W. Stellung der Pygmiienvblker in der Entwicklungsgeschichte 
 des Menschen (Stuttgart, 1910).
 
 SELECTED LIST OF BOOKS OF REFERENCE 623 
 
 Mac-Ritchik, I). Article "Dwarfs and rygmies" (in Hastings's Encyclo- 
 
 pasdia of Religion and Ethics). 
 Frohknius, L. Uispiung der afiikaniscliL-ii Kiiituien (1S9.S; Kng. tr. in 
 
 Smithsojtian Jnstitiilioii Reports, 1S9S, Washington). 
 HiNDK, S. L., AM) Mrs. Hu.dkgarue. The Last of the Masai (London, 
 
 1901). 
 HoLLis, A. C The Masai (Oxford, 1905); The Nandi (Oxford, 1909). 
 Nassau, R. II. Fetichism in West Africa (London, 1904). 
 KlDD, D. The Essential Kafir (London, 1904). 
 Johnston, 1L The Uganda Protectorate (London, 1904). 
 Partridge, C. Cross River Natives (London, 1905). 
 Roscoe, J. Manners and Customs of the lizgdinda., Journal 0/ t/ie Antliro- 
 
 poloi^icitl Institute, x.K.xi, xxxii (London); The Bahima, ibid, xxxvii 
 
 (London). 
 Brun, p. Croyances et pratiques religieuses des Malinkes fetichistes, 
 
 Aut/iropos, ii (Salzburg, 1907). 
 Lk.onard, a. G. The Lower Niger and its Tribes (London, 1906). 
 MiLi.iGAN, R. II. The Fetish Folk of West Africa (New York, 1912).
 
 INDEX 
 
 (The Arabic figures refer to paragraphs) 
 
 Ablutions, sacred, 197 
 Abnegation, offering as, 1040 
 Abraham, abrogation of human sacri- 
 fice ascribed to, 847 
 Abstractions, gods of, 695 ff. 
 Abydos, chief seat of worship of 
 
 Osiris, 72S 
 Acts, ritual, magical power in, 10 19 
 Adam Kadmon, 735 
 ^schines as mystagogue, 1099 n. i 
 Aesculapius, shrine of, incubation 
 
 at, 922 
 Aeshma, prominent position of, 73.S 
 Africa, clan deities in, 645 ; food re- 
 strictions in, 457; myths of clan 
 origins in, 450 
 Africa, Central, Islam in, 1146 
 Africa, West, polyjjsychism in, 39 
 Agdistis, birth of, 288 n. 2 ; cult of, 
 
 413 
 Age, mythopccic, 821 
 
 ayios, sense of, 626 n. 9 
 
 Agnosticism, Chinese, 1006 
 
 Agriculture, sacrifices in, 1035 
 
 Ahura Mazda, relation of, to Varuna, 
 
 742 
 
 Ainu, the, bear-cult of, 257 ; gods of, 
 
 661, 672 
 
 Alexander, deification of, 340, 347 
 
 Alexandrian canon, 11 30 
 
 Ali, deification of, 355 
 
 Allah, cultic significance of, 766 
 
 Al-Lat, local nature of, 764 
 
 Allegory, science of, 863 
 
 Altar, origin of, 297, 1081 ; religious 
 
 purificatioif of, 195 
 
 Al-Uzza, local nature of, 764 
 
 Amenhotep IV, reform of, 727 
 
 America, examination of dead in, 
 
 76 ; gods of, 662-665 ; guardian 
 
 spirits in, 504; polypsychism in, 
 
 39 ; power of priests in, 532 ; social 
 
 625 
 
 organizations in, 499; tribal badges 
 in, 446; trickster heroes in, 633 
 
 America, North, food restrictions 
 in, 458 
 
 America, Northwest, religiously in- 
 ferior to the Eastern tribes, 527 
 
 Amesha-spentas, the, 320, 703, 738 
 
 Amon-Ra, supremacy of, 727 
 
 Amulets, phallos and yoni asj 405, 
 406 n. 3 
 
 Anahita, 739 
 
 Ancestor-worship, 360 ff. ; moral 
 power of, 380 ; origin of totemism 
 sought in, 544, 549 
 
 Anchor, worship offered to, 891 
 
 Androgynous deities, 407 ff. 
 
 Angels, guardian, 673; as rain-givers, 
 315 n. 6; originators of arts, S43 
 
 Angro Mainyu, 976 
 
 Animals, abodes of souls, 25, 31 ; 
 connection of, with phallic deities, 
 419; cult of, 241-261 ; domestica- 
 tion of, ascribed to totemism, 564- 
 569; morning prayers to, 573; 
 whether religious sense in, 12 n. 2 
 
 Anthesteria, the, apotropaic element 
 in, 374; prohibition of work in, 602 
 
 Aphrodite, history of, 793 f. ; repre- 
 sented by a stone, 292 
 
 Apocrypha, the, recognition of, 1131 
 
 Apollo, development of, 770; Del- 
 phian hymn to, 1088 
 
 Apostle, Jewish title, 11 ion. 2 
 
 Apotheosis, Roman, 353 
 
 Apuleius, his conception of Isis, \\\.\ 
 
 Arabia, supposed abstract gods in, 
 698 ff. ; worship of morning star 
 in, 717 
 
 Aramea. deities of, 764 
 
 Areoi, the, church-form of, 1096; 
 future privileges of, 74; tyranny 
 of, 531
 
 626 LMRODUCTIOX TO 111 STORY OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 Ares, historj' of, 775 
 
 Ark, the Israelite, 291 
 
 Arrows, Arab divination by, 918 
 
 Arta, V'edic, 6SS 
 
 Artemis, functions of, 788; Ephesian, 
 image of, 300 n. i 
 
 Arval ihotiiers, the, 800 
 
 Asha, Avestan, 688 
 
 Ashanti, gods of, 660 
 
 Ashera, Hebrew, origin of, 272 
 
 Ashtar, relation of, to Ishtar, 763 
 
 Ashtart, shem Baal, meaning of, 409 
 
 Ashur, god, nature of, 759 
 
 Ashurbanipal, dreams of, 922 
 
 Assyria, influence of priests in, 106S 
 
 Astrology, development of, 850,9 14 f. 
 
 Asylums, graves as, 369 ; temples as, 
 1085 
 
 Atargatis, origin and cult of, 399 
 
 Aten, as sole ruler, 9S9 
 
 Atharva-Veda, magic in, 902 
 
 Athene, history of, 791 f. 
 
 Athtar, relation of, to Ishtar, 763 
 
 Atonement, Hebrew annual cere- 
 mony of, 142 
 
 Attis, origin and cult of, 271, 413, 
 1066; death of, 2S3 
 
 Augustus, religious reconstruction 
 by, 353 ; temi^les consecrated to, 
 
 347 
 Australia, absence of sacrifice in, 10; 
 
 ceremonies of, blood in, 10; crea- 
 tors in, 639; food restrictions in, 
 452; rain clan in, 136; rites, eco- 
 nomic, in, 460; totemism in, 46S ff. 
 
 Australia, North, prohibition of eat- 
 ing totem in, 470 
 
 Authority, religious, al)solute, claim 
 to, 1 140 
 
 Azazel, head of fallen angels, 692 ; 
 lord of wilderness and receiver of 
 Jewish national sins, 142 
 
 Baalshamem, meaning of, 409 
 
 Baalzebub, meaning of, 671; oracle 
 of, 927 
 
 Bab, the, function of, 11 20 
 
 Balie, as child of Cod, 1S8 
 
 Bal^ylonia, influence of priests in, 
 1068; local gods in, 650; omens 
 in, 912; Semitic mythopoeic cen- 
 ter, 868 ; unlucky days in, 61 1 
 
 Badges, function of, 501-503; sup- 
 posed origin of totems, 555 
 
 Baetulus, etymology of, 294 
 Baganda, the, totemistic usages 
 
 among, 457, 511 
 Bahaism, success of, i 120 
 Jiah.iu'Uah, founder of a church, and 
 
 claimed to be incarnation of Clod, 
 
 1 120 
 Baiame, clan god, 644 
 Bakuana, the, food restrictions 
 
 among, 457 
 Banana, incarnation of dead chief, 
 
 479 
 
 Baptism, infant, result of its intro- 
 duction, 1 110; proselyte, 198; 
 quasi-magical power attributed to, 
 i9Sn.3 
 
 Bards, Australian, 106 
 
 Bathing, removal of taboo by, 616 
 
 ]5au, goddess of fertility, 761 
 
 Bear, as messenger, 1024 
 
 Beasts, pantheon of, 248 
 
 ]5eelzebul, origin of, 671 
 
 Beings, savage, whether regarded as 
 eternal, 984 f. ; two supernatural, 
 opposed to each other, 969 
 
 Bene-Israel, the, persistence of Jew- 
 ish customs among, 224 n. 3 
 
 Bengal, oracles in, 927 
 
 Bethel, Hebrew, meaning of, 294 
 
 ]5ible, the, results of study of, 1 135 
 
 Bird, the, symbol of soul, 25 
 
 liirth, supposed cause of, 34 
 
 Blood, connection of, with life, 23 ; 
 expiatory power of, 1026; inocu- 
 lation with, in marriages, 1 78 ; 
 kinship of, totemic, 441 
 
 Body, the, as seat of life, 26; re- 
 garded as by nature nonsacred, 
 205 
 
 Boedromia, the, 845 
 
 Bombay, Parsiism in, 1145 
 
 Bones, animal, not to be broken, 
 127 ; divination by, 920 
 
 Borneo, harvest taboos in, 599 ; 
 oracles in, 927 
 
 Bo-tree, the, worship under, 281 
 
 Boundaries, gods of, 704 
 
 r.owels, the, as seat of emotion, 27 
 
 Brahma, impersonal, 730; meaning 
 
 of, 70,3 
 Brain, the, relation of, to thought, 
 
 28; Arabic conception of, 28 
 Brides, taboos on, 179 
 iirotherhood, blood-, 169
 
 JXDEX 
 
 627 
 
 Buddhism, agnosticism of, 1007; 
 
 canons of, 1129; diffusion of, 
 
 1142, 1147 
 Bull, the, woiship of, 258 
 Bunjil, Australian, nature of, 644 
 Burma, Bucklhisni in, 1142 
 Bush, burning, god in, 279 
 Bushmen, cult of mantis by, 257 
 Byblos, sacred i)rostilutiuii at, 1066 
 
 Cadmus, culture-hero, 843 
 
 Caslus, 722 
 
 Caesar, Julius, deified, 353 
 
 Cainites, the, 693 
 
 (Jakti, cult of, 734 
 
 (j-'aktism, cultic significance of, 406 
 
 Calendars, savage, 210 f. 
 
 Calif Omar, embassy of, to Persia, 
 
 916 
 California, cosmogony in, 829; ghost 
 
 dance in, 108 
 Caligula, divine honors accorded to, 
 
 347 
 
 Canaan, sun-cult in, 753 
 
 Canons, religious, ii28ff. 
 
 (^aosliyan(j:, the, prophetic function 
 of, 348 
 
 Caracalla, enrollment of, among the 
 heroes, 353 n. 2 
 
 Carthage, cult of Tanit in, 410 
 
 Ceremonies, marriage-, whether 
 essentially religious, 178-1S3; re- 
 ligious, merrymaking in, 1057 ; re- 
 ligious, later interpretation of, 103 
 
 Ceres, origin of, 803 
 
 Ceylon, Buddhism in, 1142 
 
 Chaldeans, astrological science of, 
 914 f. ; charlatanry of, 927 
 
 Ch^tos, philosophical conception of, 
 685 
 
 Charms, animal and vegetable, 229; 
 attitude of men toward, 239 
 
 Chastity, origin of demand for, 594 
 
 Chiefs, relief from taboo by, 615; 
 sacredness of, 595 
 
 Child, death of, ceremonies at, 
 191 n. 4 ; name of, how chosen, 
 187; new-born, purification of, by 
 water, 197; perils of, 5S9 ; pre- 
 natal influence on, 481 
 
 Childbirth, future of women dying 
 in. 75 
 
 Children, first born, sacrifice of, 134 ; 
 savage training of, 146 
 
 China, Buddhism in, 1142; concep- 
 tion of kinship with the dead in, 
 193; divini/.ali<jn of emperor in, 
 345; expulsion of spirits in, 140; 
 no priestly class in national re- 
 ligion of, 1074 ; official religion 
 of, 748 ; polypsychism in, 39; sky 
 and earth as progenitors in, 992; 
 stress on earthly life in, 992; su- 
 premacy of Heaven in, 992 ; tute- 
 lary gods in, 672 
 
 Christendom, development of ritual 
 in, 1060 
 
 Christian canon, formation of, 1131 
 
 Christian monachism, i 126 
 
 Christian writers, early, interpreta- 
 tion of myths by, 873 
 
 Christianity, diffusion of, 1 144, 1 147 ; 
 dualism of, 977 
 
 Chunder Sen, church-founder, 11 19 
 
 Church, Buddhistic, iic6; pre- 
 Christian idea of, iioi 
 
 Churches, origin and function of, 
 1095 ff.; iiifluence of, ii37ff. ; 
 temptations of, 11 39 
 
 Cicero, on cerebrum as seat of mind, 
 28; on origin of the soul, 36 
 
 Circumambulation, object of, 112 
 
 Circumcision, 153-168 
 
 <.'|va, 733 
 
 Civilization, mythical origin of, 
 
 ,843 
 Clan, rain-, Australian, 136; relation 
 of, to marriage customs, 423; sup- 
 posed deliberate choice of totem 
 
 W' 554 
 Clans, mythical origin of. 450; non- 
 
 exoganious totemic, 436 
 Clanship, totemic, religious side of, 
 
 571 
 Climate, effect of, on totemic usages, 
 
 470; Iranian, 976 n. 3 
 Clothing, origin of. 1 14 
 Code, moral, regarded as will of 
 
 God, 1 166 
 Codes, good and bad, accepted by 
 
 religion, 1 162 f. 
 Conceptional theory of the origin 
 
 of totemism, 348 
 Conceptions, mythical, historical 
 
 development of, 871 
 Conduct, association of, with re- 
 ligion. 1 161 
 Confucianism not ecclesiastical, 1 103
 
 638 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Confucius, deified, 354 ; teaching of, 
 1103 
 
 Congo, dealli of souls lield in, 4S 
 
 Conscience, religious development 
 of, 1 1 70 
 
 Consecration by sacrifice, 1033 
 
 Constitution, savage social, com- 
 posite character of, 620 
 
 Control, supernatural, common to 
 all religions, 1 149 
 
 Corpse, savage attitude toward, 
 590 
 
 Corruption, monachistic, 11 27 
 
 Cosmogonies, civilized, S29 ff. ; sav- 
 age, 255, 829 
 
 Cosmogony, Babylonian, 316; He- 
 brew, 830 n. 5 
 
 Courtesans, temple-, in West Africa 
 and India, 1066 
 
 Couvade, the, 5S9; origin of, 185 
 
 Coyote, the, malicious, 634 ; place 
 of soul of, 31 n. 4 
 
 Creation, Iranian, out of nothing, 
 830 n. 3 ; myths of, 828-S33 
 
 Creatianism, 37 
 
 Creators, American, 67S ; mutually 
 antagonistic, 831 
 
 Creeds, value of elasticity in, 1 136 
 
 Crests, relation of, to totem, 502 
 
 Criminals, detection of, liy divina- 
 tion, 918 
 
 Cult, synagogal, national character 
 of, 1 108 
 
 Cults, alien, adoption of, Ii48n. i ; 
 collocation of, 279; individuality 
 of, how obscured, 11 53; orgiastic, 
 derived from Asia ^Iinor, ieoi; 
 popular, polytheistic, 9S6 
 
 Culture, as basis of classification of 
 religions, 1 150 
 
 Culture-heroes, 637 ff. 
 
 Curse, conditional, 926 
 
 Curses and blessings, relation of, to 
 worship, 1090 
 
 Customs, mythical origin of. S44 f. 
 
 Cyprus, supposed bisexual deity in, 
 411 
 
 Dahomi, cull of indwelling spirit in, 
 43 n. 2 ; ghost as family protector 
 in. 533; gods of, 660 
 Dnitnotiid, Greek, as demons, 890 
 Dance, Green Com, Cherokee, 490; 
 Snake, economic, 461 n. i 
 
 Dances, cultic role of, 106 ff.; sym- 
 bolic, 1032 
 
 Danger, magical, origin of, 5S6 
 
 I )aniel, book of, resurrection in, 90 
 
 Daramulun, origin of, 644 
 
 Dead, the, as advocates, 94 ; as un- 
 derground deities, 372 ; Babylo- 
 nian prayer to, 371 ; Brahmanic 
 ceremonies for, 96 ; charms for, 
 95 n. 5; cult of, 350 ff.; dependent 
 on the living, 361; magical coer- 
 cion of, 1021 
 
 Death, infection of air by, 591 ; 
 origin of, 834 ; savage view of, 38 
 
 Deconsecration by sacrifice, 1033 
 
 Dedication, Jewish feast of, 1089 
 
 Deities, female, minor Roman, 803 ; 
 immoralities of, 1013; nature of, 
 defined by science, 1 157 ; need of 
 caution in approaching, 196; 
 Roman, primitive, 797 
 
 Delphi, sacred fire at, 321 
 
 Demeter, origin of, 7S4 
 
 Demigods, dedivinization of, 358 
 
 Demiurge, Gnostic, 3 
 
 Demons, dwelling in plants, 266 ; 
 exorcism of, 139; future torture 
 by, 75; relation of, to gods, 694; 
 religious utility of, 690 
 
 Depravity, total, religious view of, 
 1 172 
 
 Devil, the, grandmother of, 643 n. i ; 
 in New Testament, 977 
 
 Diana, nature of, 806 
 
 Dido, self-immolation of, 1048 
 
 Dies Jrae, the, 940 
 
 Dionysiac cult, partly Ilellenized, 
 1099 
 
 Dionysus, history of, 776 ff. * 
 
 Divination, definition of, 905; organ- 
 ization of, 906 
 
 Diviner, the, civil and social recogni- 
 tion of, 908 ; ecstatic state of, 907 
 
 Divinity, tutelary, tenderness for, 
 
 Doctrines, religious, tried by moral 
 standards, 1 164 
 
 Dodona, history of oak of, 279 
 
 Dog, name of male sacred prosti- 
 tutes, 1066 
 
 Dogmas, religious, philosophical 
 character of, S80 
 
 Domestication of animals and plants, 
 relation of, to totemism, 523,564 ff.
 
 ixnicx 
 
 629 
 
 Dough, images of, eaten in Mexico, 
 
 o -> -» 
 
 Dreams, as presages, 921 f. 
 
 Dualism, (jCS IT.; alleged, of Iroquois, 
 970; of mind and matter, 1004, 
 1007; Manicha;an, 11 15; mona- 
 chistic, 1 121; Persian, 976; sav- 
 age, 6S3 ff. 
 
 Dukduk, the, police role of, 531 
 
 Dupuis, stellar theory of, 864, 866 
 
 Durga, reverence for, 693 
 
 Dusares, origin of, 764 
 
 Dyaks, Sea-, deities of, 659 
 
 Dyaus, role of, 734 
 
 Dylan, Celtic deity, 974 
 
 Dynasties, divine, 721 ff. 
 
 Ea, origin and growth of, 756 
 Eating, whether sacramental in 
 
 Australia, 128 
 Eclipses, mythical cause of, S49 
 Economic questions, relation of re- 
 ligion to, 1 163 
 Ecstasy as condition of revelation, 
 
 906 f . 
 Eden, magical trees of, 275 ; story 
 
 of, 959 
 Effects, magical, how set aside, 886 
 Egbo, the, police role of, 531 
 Egypt, abstract gods of, 701 ; divine 
 animals slain in, 888 ; kings of, 
 deified afterdeath, 352; phallicism 
 in, 397 ; power of priests in, 1067 ; 
 Ptolemaic monks in, 1123; spe- 
 cialized gods in, 666 ; sun-cult of, 
 712; tree-worship in, 2S1 ; un- 
 lucky days in, 6i i 
 El, meaning of, 766 
 Elder, Jewish title, 1 1 10 n. 2 
 Elegba, phallic character of, 393 
 Elohim, use of, in Old Testament, 
 
 766 
 Endor, the woman of, 895 
 Enlil, nature of, 757 
 Enoch, book of, Azazel in, 692 ; 
 resurrection in, 90; satans in, 
 6S9 ; Sheol in, 85 
 Entrails, divination by, 919 
 Epicurus, atomic theory of, 1008; 
 
 practical atheism of, 1006 
 Equinoxes, calendars fixed by. 211, 
 215 f.; Peruvian ceremonies at, 
 216 
 Eremites, Brahmanic, 1122 
 
 Erinyes, the, function of, 974 
 P^rytlira", Sibyl of, 937 
 Eshmun, character of, 764 
 Eskimo, the animals revered by, 505; 
 
 destruction <jf the soul lic-Ul by, 
 
 46 
 Essenes, the. 1 125 
 Eternal, a term not found in .savage 
 
 thought, 9S5 
 Ethics, relation of, to religion, 1 161 ff. 
 Euhemerism, 359, 382 
 Europe, Islam in, 1146 
 Evil, moral, existence of, how treated 
 
 l)y religion, 1 171 
 Exogamy, origin of, 429 ff. 
 Expiation by sacrifice, 1033 
 Eye, the, palpitation of, omen, 916 
 Ezekiel, taboos in ritual of, 597 
 
 Family, the, Polynesian social unit, 
 485 
 
 Fasting, religious, 204-208 
 
 P^ate, in Ilomer and liesiod, 998 
 
 Fates, the, 687 
 
 Father, the, perils of, 589 
 
 Fathers, the, Hindu and Persian, 
 worship paid to, 37 1 
 
 Feasts, communal, economical func- 
 tion of, 1023 ; funeral, origin of, 
 190 n. 3, 364; Mithraic, 1043, 1046 
 
 Ferryman, souls conducted by, 65 
 
 Festivals, licentious, nonreligious, 
 387 ; Priapic, 402 ; religious, in- 
 fluence of, 1089 
 
 Fetish, definition of, 230 n. 2 ; 
 African, cult of, 540 
 
 Figures, divine, comjiosite, 725, S61 
 
 Fiji, examination of dead in, 78, 81 ; 
 extinction of soul held in, 48 ; 
 future punishment in, 72; poly- 
 psychism in, 39; village deities in, 
 482 
 
 Fire, sacredness of, 31 8 ff. ; theft of, 
 318 n. I 
 
 Flood, great, stories of, S32 
 
 Folklore, material of, 859 
 
 Folk-tales, scurrilous feature in, 247 
 
 Food, sacramental sharing of, 1023 
 
 P^orce, personal, moral, religious con- 
 ception of, 1 1 58 
 
 Form, literary, of myths. 856 
 
 Forms, liturgical, symbolical inter- 
 ])retalion of. 1061 
 
 Fortune, personalized as deity, 702
 
 630 
 
 IXTRODi'CTJOX TO HISTOKV 0J-' KEUGJthXS 
 
 Fortunes, human, determined on 
 new year's day, 214 
 
 Founders, shrines to, 357 ; the three 
 great, 1 151 
 
 Fravashis, the, as guardians, 673 
 
 Frazer, J. G., on the death of the 
 god, 1047 
 
 Fuegians, fear anger of a super- 
 natural being, 1 161 
 
 Funerals, buffoonery at, 364 n. 5 
 
 Fung-Shui, nature of, 926 
 
 Fusion, social, basis of religious 
 unity, 1 147 
 
 Gad, deity, whether abstract, 699 
 
 Gehenna, New Testament concep- 
 tion of, 85 
 
 Genealogies, savage and civilized, 
 840 f. 
 
 Genesia, the Greek, 1089 
 
 Genesis, book of, accounts of crea- 
 tion in, 830 n. 5 ; table of nations 
 in, 841 
 
 Genius, the, 672 ; resemblance of, 
 to mana, 233 ; not a separate per- 
 sonality, 43 
 
 Ghosts, Australian belief in, 18 ; dif- 
 ference of, from gods, 635 ; fear 
 of, 139, 366; occupations of, 61 ; 
 police function of, 379 ; prayers 
 addressed to, 367 
 
 Giants, Greek and Teutonic, 686 
 
 Gifts, to gods, material of, 1022; 
 utilized by worshipers, 1023 
 
 Gilgamesh, adventures of, 853 ; con- 
 sultation of, 927 ; myth of, 959 
 
 Girls, marriage of, to trees, 274 
 
 God, the, definition of, 635, 643 ; 
 genesis of, 636 
 
 God, Sons of, in Old Testament, 
 343; transcendence of, 1004 
 
 Goddesses, Babylonian and Assyri- 
 an, 760 ff.; Egyptian, 729; Greek, 
 78iff.; Hindu, 784; maiden, 785; 
 Roman, S03 ff. 
 
 Gods, abstract, 695 ff. ; ancient, uni- 
 versal, 988 ; antagonism of, to men, 
 958; capture of, 290 n. i ; compli- 
 cated functions of, 708 ; conflicts 
 between, meaning of, 85S; con- 
 nection of, with planets, 715, 915 ; 
 death of, 50 n. 5 ; departmental, 
 development of. 656; identifica- 
 tion of, with animals, 577 ; otiose, 
 
 Epicurean, 1006; process of 
 growth of, 720; rain-, local deities 
 as, 314; relation of their human- 
 ization to polytheism and mono- 
 theism, 964 ; separation of, from 
 phenomena, 720; stones entered 
 by, 298; supremacy of, how deter- 
 mined, 724; whether developed 
 out of totems, 577 
 
 Golden Rule, the, formulations of, 
 1 162 
 
 Goodwin Sands, origin of, 891 n. 8 
 
 Grandfather, divine title, 643 ; 
 chameleon as, 449 
 
 Great Hare, the, 856 
 
 Great Mother, l^phesian, 789 ; Phryg- 
 ian, Roman cult of, 938 
 
 Greece, abstract gods of, 702 ; con- 
 sultation of dead in, 927 ; functions 
 of priests in, 1072 ; omens in, 912 ; 
 specialized gods in, 667 ; taboo 
 days in, 603 ; theistic scheme of, 
 
 795 
 Greek Church, canon of, 1131 
 
 Greenland, repair of souls in, 30 
 
 Groves, as places of worship, 268 
 
 Growth, social, religious, 1015 
 
 Guardians, animal, 496; jjlant, 267 
 
 Guinea, New, hunting-charms in, 
 
 129; tribal badges in, 445 
 
 Hades, god, moral significance of, 
 
 780 
 Hades, place, Greek and Roman 
 
 gods of, 682; organization of, 69; 
 
 submarine, 67 
 Hadith, value of, 1133 
 Hadrian, address of, to soul, 25 n. 3 
 Half-sister, marriage with, 428 
 Hammurabi, code of, ordeal in, 
 
 925 
 Hannibal, oath of, 308 
 
 Hanuman, monkey-god, not totemic, 
 
 577 '1- 3 
 Ilaoma, deification of, 270 
 Haram, Arabian, .sanctity of, 1082 
 Haruspe.\', function of, 931 
 Hawaii, death of souls held in. 48; 
 
 fishery taboos in, 599; despotism 
 
 of taboo in, 621 ; overthrow of 
 
 taboo in, 629 
 Hearth, sacredness of, 236 
 Heaven, feeble Semitic recognition 
 
 of, 753; of Indra, 731
 
 rXDEX 
 
 631 
 
 Heaven and Earth, Hindu, 734; 
 Maori, 67S ; marriage-embrace of, 
 
 3-9 
 Heavenly bodies, cult of, 328 ff. ; sex 
 
 of, y^"^ 
 Hebrews, ordeal in law of, 925; taboo 
 
 days of, 603 ; tree-cult of, 272 
 Hekate, function of, 790 
 Hera, origin of, 7S2 f. 
 Heracles, labors of, 853 
 Heraclitus, sayings of, 1004 
 Hermaphroditos, 415 f. 
 Hermes, development of, 772 
 Herodotus, phallic cults mentioned 
 
 Heroes, cult of, in Greece, 373 ; in 
 Torres Straits islands, 475 ; iden- 
 tification of, with animals, 577 
 
 Hesiod, division of universe by, 779; 
 half-gods of, 652 ; unlucky days 
 mentioned by, 61 1 
 
 Hestia, significance of, 7S7 
 
 Hiawatha, how made into a god, 
 
 35^"^ "• 5 
 Hierapolis, phallic cult at, 399 
 
 Histories, tribal, in stones, 302 
 
 Holocaust, expiation by, 1045 
 
 Homage, offering as expression of, 
 
 1040 
 Home, the, as center of religious 
 
 developmunt, 654 
 Homer, meaning of dios in, 347 
 Homilies, Clementine, annihilation 
 
 in, 52 
 Honover, the Mazdean, magical use 
 
 of, 900 
 Horseshoes, witches restrained by, 
 
 145 
 Horus, conflict of, with Set, 726; 
 
 kings identified with, 339; origi- 
 nal character of, 726; victory of, 
 not absolute, 1S6 
 
 Hubert and Mauss, their theory of 
 sacrifice, 1049 f. 
 
 Humanism, 1 158 
 
 Hymns, Egyptian, Babylonian and 
 Assvrian, Hebrew, Hindu, Aves- 
 tan, Creek, 10S7 f. 
 
 Idolatry, role of, 1091 ff. 
 
 Images, eaten by Mexicans, 1047; 
 formal development of, 1091; 
 ilhy])hallic, 3.^9, 402 ff. ; symboli- 
 cal interpretation of, 1093 
 
 Immersion, symbolic significance of, 
 
 198 
 Imru'1-Kais, treatment of oracle by, 
 
 927 
 Inca, the, ecclesiastical power of, 
 
 "■7 
 Incarnation, Ismailic and Habist, 
 
 344 
 
 Incense, food of deity, 1025 
 
 Incest, cause of horror of, 435 
 
 Indecency, savage, 107 
 
 India, abstract gods of, 703 ; birth- 
 place of monachism, 1 122 ; bisex- 
 ual cult in, 416- harmful I'owers 
 not organized in, 975 ; heaven and 
 hell in, 82 ; ordeals in, 925 ; power 
 of priests in, 1070; Sankhya phi- 
 losophy of, 1007; sun-cult of, 713; 
 theistic bodies in, i 1 19 n. 3 
 
 Individualism, fostered by churches, 
 1 1 38 
 
 Indra, development of, 731, 830 
 
 Infibulation, 162 
 
 Infinite, the, sense of, 9 
 
 Interpretationsof sacred books, 1 136 
 
 Intervention, divine, rejected by 
 science, loio 
 
 Intoxication, inspiration by, 899 
 
 Introcision, Australian, 162 
 
 Isaiah, book of, supposed mention of 
 phallus in, 398; secret cults de- 
 scribed in, 1 100 n. 2 
 
 Ishtar, origin and development of, 
 762 f. ; descent of, to Hades, 2S3 ; 
 myth of, 959 
 
 Isis, origin of, 729 ; late cult of, cere- 
 monies in, 1059; organization of 
 the cult, 1 1 14 
 
 Isis. as magician, 729 ; as model wife 
 and mother, 729 
 
 Islam, canon of, 1 1 33 ; conquests of, 
 ii46f. ; no priesthood in, loSo; 
 not a church, 1 1 16 
 
 Ismailic movement, the, 11 16 
 
 Israel, organization of priesthood in, 
 1069 
 
 Jacob, anointment of stone by, 294 
 
 Jainism, a nontheistic church, 1107 
 
 Janmia, synod of, 1 1 ^o 
 
 Janus, nature of. 709 
 
 Japan, divinization of emperor in, 
 
 3 {6 ; phallirism in. 305 
 Jensen, mythical theory of, 870
 
 6^-,2 IXTRODUCTIOX TO HISTORY OF RELIGIONS 
 
 Jephthah, daughter of, ceremony of 
 
 mourning for, 845, 1 100 
 Jesus, object of his teaching, 11 10; 
 
 not an Essene, 1 1 25 ; resurrection 
 
 of, ion n. 
 Jews, formation of canon of, 1130; 
 
 genius of, for organization of pub- 
 He religion, i loS 
 Jubilee, Hebrew, object of, 223 
 Judaism, diffusion of, 1143; failure 
 
 of, to create a church, 1 108 
 Juno, nature of, 804 
 Juno, the, not a separate personality, 
 
 43; representative of woman's 
 
 personality, 804 
 Jupiter, origin and development of, 
 
 79S ; represented by a stone, 292 
 
 Kaaba, the, black stone of, 295 
 Kafirs, effigies erected by, 370 
 Kalevala, the, mythology of, S56, 955 
 Kami, Shinto, meaning of, 645 
 Karens, the, Christianizationof, 1 144 
 Karma, Buddhistic, 1007 
 Ker, the, as form of soul, 25 n. 3 
 Khonds, the, deities of, 659 
 Khuen-Aten, reform of, 989 
 Kindness to fellows, universal, 1162 
 Kings, Babylonian, whether wor- 
 shiped, 341 
 Koran, the, relation of, to Moslem 
 science, 1135; prayer against 
 witches in, 895 
 Kore, the, origin of, 786 
 Korea, Buddhism in, 1142 
 Krishna, ethical significance of, 
 
 733 
 Kronids, the, governmental role of, 
 
 779 
 Kronos, 768 n. 3 
 Kteis, the, veneration of, 406 
 Kybele, cult of, 413 
 
 Lamas, Grand, ascription of divinity 
 
 to, 348 
 Language, origin of, no myths of, 642 
 Lao-tsze, system of, 749 
 Lapis viitnalis, function of, 289 
 Lapps, the, primacy of, in magic, 
 
 902 
 Law, civil, relation of, to taboo, 
 
 614; idea of, in channs, 1020; 
 
 natural, germinal conception of, 
 
 7; natural, domination of, 115S 
 
 League, Iroquois, 489 
 
 Legend, connection of, with myth, 
 859 
 
 Lemuria, the, apotropaic element in, 
 374 ; prohibition of work in, 602 
 
 Leto, Titaness, 78S n. i 
 
 License, in festivals, 135, 219; 
 sexual, adopted by religion, 1163 
 
 Life, annihilation of, 46, 51 ; iden- 
 tified with breath, 21 ; mysteri- 
 ousness of, 3S5 ; nobility given 
 to, by religion, 11 66, 1173; rela- 
 tion of blood to, 23 ; unitaiy char- 
 acter of, 14 
 
 Light, as symbol, 857 ; significance 
 of, in myths, 858 
 
 Linga, the, worship of, in India, 394 
 
 Liver, the, as seat of life, 27 ; divina- 
 tion by, 919 
 
 Living, the, cult of, 336 ff. 
 
 Llew, Celtic deity, 974 
 
 Loki, not independent creator of 
 evil, 974 ; tricksy traits in, 638 
 n.4 
 
 Lot, wife of, 288 
 
 Lots, divinatory use of, gi8 
 
 Love, toward the deity, 5 ; as a 
 divine personality, 704 
 
 Luck, relation of, to magic, 238 
 
 Lunation, the, divisions of, 606 
 
 Lupercalia, the, purification in, 201 
 
 Maccabees, Second, resurrection in, 
 90 
 
 Macrobiotes, 835 
 
 Macrobius, on a bisexual cult, 411 
 
 Magi, the, Mazdean, 897 
 
 ^lagic, in religion, 1090; methods of, 
 886 ; no worship in, 888 ; relation 
 of, to taboo, 618 f.; to totemism, 
 574 ; use of, for procuring food, 
 129 ff. ; when under the ban, 891 ; 
 white, 901 
 
 Magician, office of, preparation for, 
 894 
 
 Magicians, sometimes political 
 rulers, 898 n. 4 
 
 Magna Mater of Pessinus, 291 
 
 Maia, conjecture as to origin of, 
 
 845 
 Mamertius. expulsion of, 143 
 
 ISIan, early, logicalness of, 246; medi- 
 cine, 493 ; prehistoric, whether re- 
 ligious, 12
 
 INDEX 
 
 633 
 
 Mana, definition of, 231-236; pro- 
 ducer of symixithy between all 
 things, 8S6; relation of, to taboo, 
 5S6; synonyms of, 231 n. 1 
 
 Manichxism, as a church, 11 15; 
 causes of its success, 97S 
 
 Mantis, Hushnian cull of, 257 
 
 A/iuitis, (Jreek, function of, 931 
 
 Marduk, cult of, 7 58, 990 
 
 Marriage, restrictions on, 177 n. 2, 
 
 439 
 Mars, development of, Soo ; shield 
 
 of, 845 
 Martyr, spirit of, where shown, 1 167 
 Masai, the, two chief gods of, 660 
 Mashalists, Hebrew, 862 n. i 
 Massebas, Canaanite, 293 
 Masters and servants, exchange of 
 
 places between, 219 
 Masturbation, savage practice of, 
 
 163 n. I 
 Materialism, deistic, 1008 
 Matter, eternity of, 1005, 1007 
 Maui, Polynesian, role of, 67S 
 Mazdaism, origin and nature of, 740, 
 
 745 ; canon of, 1132 
 Meal, communal, reconciliation of 
 deity by, 1043; communion in, 
 between human partici]5ants,io44 ; 
 eucharistic, in " Teaching of the 
 Twelve Apostles," 1046 
 Medicine man, the, S92 
 Melanesia, animal incarnations in, 
 676; cult of divinized men in, 
 647 ; descent from totem in, 449 ; 
 food restrictions in, 454 ; power of 
 chiefs in, 538 ; protection of prop- 
 erty by taboo in, 600; specializa- 
 tion of divine functions in, 658 
 Meleager, life of, dependent on a 
 
 piece of wood, 274 
 Men, race of, preceding the present, 
 
 833 
 Mendes, goat-god of, 774 n. 6 
 Meni, god, whether abstract, 699 
 Mercurius, Roman development of, 
 
 not traceable, S02 
 Merneptah, dream of, 922 
 Mexico, gods of, 664; prominence 
 
 of priests in, 1075 ; sun-cult of, 711 
 Alinerva, development of. S07 
 ]Mira(ies,beliefin,periodsof, i I56ff.; 
 
 grounds of objection to, ion; 
 
 when not demanded, 1 1 59 
 
 Mithra, birth of, 288 n. 2; organiza- 
 tion of cult of, 1113 
 Miihraism, mysteries of, 1059 
 Mitra, association of, with Varuna, 
 
 730 ■ 
 Mohads, the, organization of, 1 1 16 
 Monachism, 1 121 ff. 
 Monasteries, functions of, 1127 
 Monolatry, Hebrew, influence of, 
 
 994 f- 
 Monotheism, alleged savage, 985 ; 
 
 development of, 9S7 ff. 
 Moon, the, cultic history of, 714 
 Morabits, the, organization of, 11 16 
 Morality, conflict of, with taboo, 
 
 632 
 Mother, the, magical perils of, 589 
 Mother, the Great, 1066 
 Mother-in-law, the, tabc)()s on, 593 
 Motifs, mythical, tabulation of, 879 
 Mountains as abodes of souls, 65 
 Mourning-usages, savage, 363 
 INIozoomdar, theistic reformation of, 
 
 I 1 19 
 Miiller, F. Max, solar theory of, 865, 
 
 876 
 Miiller, K. O., treatment of myths 
 
 by. 875 
 
 Murder, i^urification after, 195 
 
 Music, temple-, 1088 
 
 Mylitta, temple of, prostitution at, 
 1066 
 
 Mysteries, Eleusinian, 845; failure 
 of, 1097 f.; Greek, ceremonies 
 of, T059; survival of effects of, 
 
 I lOI 
 
 Mystery, New Testament use of the 
 
 term, iioi 
 Mythology, relation of, to culture, 
 
 95' ff- 
 Myths, borrowing of, S23 ff. ; edu- 
 cational value of, 862 ; Indo-Euro- 
 pean, character of. 960 ff.; per- 
 sistence of, 881; purification of, 
 1 1 57; savage origin of, 822 
 
 Nabonidus, centralizing effort of, 
 
 751 
 Nagual, meaning of, 672 
 
 Names, demonic, 691 ; divine, magi- 
 cal power of, 899; divine, Persian, 
 743 ; proper, of gods, 646 
 
 Nana, goddess, nature of, 761 ; car- 
 ried off, 888
 
 634 IMRODUCTION TO HISTORY OF RELIC/ OXS 
 
 Nandi, the, grain of, blessed by the 
 god, 220; months how named by, 
 
 Natchez, the. sun-cult of, 710 
 
 Naturalism, 1 1 5S 
 
 Navahos, the, creative beings of, 
 
 639, 645 
 Nazirite, the, restrictions on, 597 
 Ndengei, other-world god, 6S0 
 Necessity, Plato's conception of, 
 
 100 1 
 Necromancy, Hebrew, 377 
 Neith, inscription in temple of, 729 
 Nemi, priest of, 274 
 Neptunus, S02 
 
 New Testament, Satan in, 689 
 Nicknames, supposed origin of 
 
 totemism, 557 
 Nightmare, as ghost, 61 n. 4 
 Nikkal, Panjab god, 337 
 Niobe. relation of, to stone-cult, 288 
 Nose, the, boring through septum 
 
 of, 151 
 
 Obelisks, Egyptian, function of, 299 
 
 Odin, humanization of, 358; self- 
 immolation of, 1048 
 
 Offerings, cannibal, 1027; unbloody, 
 placatory virtue of, 1038 
 
 Officer, French, worshiped after 
 death, 351 
 
 Ogboni, the, police role of, 531 
 
 Old Testament, the, conception of 
 sacrifice in, 1037 ; kings in, not 
 deified, 343 ; stars and planets in, 
 716 
 
 Olympus, as council-house, 305 
 
 On, seat of worship of Ra, 727 
 
 Ophites, the, 693 
 
 Optimism, religious, ethical value 
 of, 1 1 73 
 
 Oracles, 927 ff. ; Sibylline, Jewish, 
 
 939 f- 
 
 Ordeals, 308, 924 f. 
 
 Order, Chinese stress on, 747 
 
 Organization, churchly, Hindu ap- 
 proach to, 1 118 ; nontotemic, 526; 
 religious, Jewish capacity for, 995 ; 
 social, of animals, 242 ; theistic, 
 Greek, 997 
 
 Osiris, death of, 2S3 ; myth of, 958; 
 mythical biography of, 728 
 
 Paintings, totemic, 117 
 
 Palmistry, 917 
 Pan, development of, 773 f. 
 Panbabylonianism, 866 f. 
 Pantheism, ethical, difficulties of, 
 
 1005; Hindu, 705 
 Pantheon, Greek, 767 ; Roman, 
 
 796 ; Voruban, 678 
 Paradise, earthly, 835 
 Parentalia, the, 374 
 Patriarch, the, jealousy of, 432 
 Patron, divine, of individual, 550 
 Pausanias, local cults described by, 
 
 Pele, nature of, 890 
 
 Pelews, the, theistic material of, 
 484 
 
 Persecution, religious, 1163 
 
 Persia, abstract gods of, 763; Bab- 
 ism in, at the present day, 11 20 
 
 Peru,cultof,com])ared with Chinese, 
 993; functions of priests in, 1075; 
 gods of, 665 ; negation of relig- 
 ious freedom in, 11 17; sun-cult 
 of, 711 
 
 Pesah, Hebrew ceremony of, 144 
 
 Peter, Apocalypse of, future punish- 
 ment in, 86 
 
 Phallicism, 3SS ff. 
 
 Pharmakt)s, the, expulsion of, 143 
 
 Philo, allegorical interpretation of, 
 863 ; combination of Platonism 
 and Judaism by, 1104; description 
 of the Therapeulae by, 1 124 
 
 Phi-losophers, Greek, attitude of, 
 toward divination, 941 n. 1 ; the- 
 istic views of, looof. 
 
 Philosophy, Greek, not ecclesiasti- 
 cal, 1 104 
 
 Phimosis, supposed prevention of, 
 
 Phoenicia, deities of, 764 
 Photographs, sus])icion of, 22 n. 2 
 Phrati-y, the, origin of, 423 f. 
 Phrygia, cults of, 414 
 Piaculuni, the, origin and nature of, 
 
 1045 f. 
 Pig as divine messenger, 1024 
 Pillar, Hermes-, as waymark, 296 
 Planets, connection of, with gods, 
 
 715 
 Plants, history of domestication of, 
 
 564 ff. 
 Plato, description of Tartarus by, 84, 
 87 ; divination highly esteemed
 
 I.XDEX 
 
 635 
 
 ^X' 93' ; function of brain, liow 
 
 regarcied by, 28 
 riatonopolis, a, proposed, 1104 
 Pleiades, tiie, Arab cult of, 717; 
 
 savage observation of, 216 
 IMoulon, function of, 7S0 
 Poets, (heek, theistic views of, 999 
 Poles, house-, crests carved on, 445 
 Polygamy, recognition of, by religion, 
 
 "63 
 Polynesia, antitotemic governments 
 
 of, 538 ; family the social unit i)i, 
 
 485 ; sacredness of chiefs in, 336 ; 
 
 specialization of divine functions 
 
 in, 658 
 Porphyry, his conception of sacrifice, 
 
 1037 
 Poseidon, power of, 771 
 Powers, divine, coercion of, 3 
 Prajapati, primacy of, 730 
 Prayer, animals approached by, 1 25 ; 
 
 unifying influence of, S80 
 Prayers, difference of, from charms, 
 
 1020 
 Pregnancy, mysterious nature of, 
 
 5S8 
 Prepuce, magical power of, 166 
 Priest, relation of, to magician, 893 
 Priest, term, use of in Christian 
 
 churches, loSo 
 Priestesses, functions of, 1064 
 Priests, as diviners, 929 f. ; as inter- 
 preters of dreams, 923 ; moral in- 
 fluence of, 1077 f. ; quasi-divine 
 
 authority of, 203 
 Prithivi, 734 
 Prohibitions, civil, difference of, 
 
 from magical, 584 
 Prometheus, victory of, over a god, 
 
 888 
 Promiscuity, early, 430 ; whether 
 
 primitive, 180 
 Prophet, the, excited by dance, 1 10 ; 
 
 relation of, to magician, 893 
 Proselytes, Jewish, influence of, 
 
 1 108 
 Prostitution, sacred, 1065 ff. 
 Psalter, the Old Testament, moral 
 
 and religious tone of, 1087 
 Puberty, mysteriousness of, 146 
 Puige, purificatory power of, 205 
 Purim, feast of, 10S9 
 Puskita (busk), the Creek, religious 
 
 significance of, 201 
 
 Pythagoreanism, traces of, in Essen- 
 ism, I 125; South Italian, 1098 
 Pythia, the, moral influence of, 927 
 
 Qat, role of, 640, 677 
 Quetzalcoatl, niytlis of, 847 n. i 
 
 Rainbow, the, no cull of, 718 
 Ramadan, fast of, moral effects of, 
 
 208 
 Rammohun Roy, 11 19 
 Raven, the, myths of, 640 n. 2 
 Raymi, feast of, 321 
 Reason, basis of religious belief, 
 
 "55 
 Redemption, element of, in sacrifice, 
 
 1048 ; senses of, 1 151 
 Reform Judaism, racial character of, 
 
 ■'43 
 
 Reincarnation, 55 ff. ; nujral value 
 of, 89; of ancestor in child, 186 ; 
 supposed relation of, to immor- 
 tality, 59 
 
 Relationship, in blood, 426; basis 
 of classification, 425 
 
 Religion, definition of, i ; adoption 
 of taboo by, 633 ; codes adopted 
 by, 1 162 f. ; coeval with science, 
 i; communal character of, 103; 
 decoration used in, i2of. ; imper- 
 sonal cult in, 2 ; influence of, on 
 ethics, 1 1 65; influence of priest- 
 hood in, 1076; alliance of, with 
 the state, 1 1 1 7, 1 1 40 ; isolation of, 
 1 1 37; pre animistic, 2 n. 2; primi- 
 tive form of, whether monotheis- 
 tic, 9S2 ; relation of, to magic ; 
 relation of, to totemism, 570 ff. ; 
 utilitarian point of view in, 5 
 
 Religions, classifications of, 114S; 
 higher, culture-myths in, 641 ; 
 national, differences among, 810; 
 never nonethical, 1013; of single 
 founders, 11 51; redemptive, or- 
 ganization in, 1059 
 
 "Repulilic," the, mendicant prophets 
 mentioned in, 1099 n. i 
 
 Revelation, supposed primitive, 9S2 
 
 Rewards and punishments, as mo- 
 tives, 1 165 
 
 Rhapsodists, Greek, 862 n. i 
 
 Rice, soul of, 265 n. i 
 
 Right-doing, egoistic element in, 
 1170
 
 636 
 
 /.\TA\)I)L'CT/OX TO /I/STOKV OF KELJG/OXS 
 
 Ritual, development of, 1055 ; magi- 
 cal, 1057; origin of, 15; relation 
 of, to myth, S46 
 Roman Church, canon of, 1131 
 Rome, abstract gods of, 702 ; influ- 
 ence of priests in, 1073; omens 
 in, 912; specialized gods in,66Sff.; 
 taboo days in, 603 ; unlucky days 
 in, 61 1 
 Romulus, divinized founder, 357 
 Rules, ethical, origin of, 582 
 
 Sabbath, Hebrew, relation of, to full 
 
 moon. 608 
 Sacer, sense of, 626 n. 9 
 Sacra i^entilicia, 1 043 
 Sacred books, study induced by, 
 
 Sacred flesh, reconciliation by shar- 
 ing, 1042 
 
 Sacred places, connection of, with 
 myths, S48 
 
 Sacrifice, animal, movement against, 
 1053; as gift to a deity, 1040 
 human, 1029 ff. ; individual, 1034 
 in marriage ceremonies, 181 n. 2 
 occasions of, 1033 ff. ; purificatory 
 power of, 200 ; removal of taboo 
 by, 616; Vedic, as embassy, 1024 
 
 Saint, the, function of, 11 68 
 
 Saints, as patrons of fertility, 420; 
 as rechristened old gods, 301 
 
 Sallustius, philosopher, faith of, 
 1 1 52 n. 2 
 
 Salvation, physical and moral, 1 149 
 
 Sama, Fijian god, 48 
 
 Samoa, divination in, 911; taboo 
 on potato fields in, 599 
 
 Samson, solar interpretation of, 853 
 
 Sanctions, supernatural, how far 
 effective, 1 165 
 
 Sanctity, Brahmanic, 1122 
 
 Sancus, Roman development of, 
 obscure, 802 
 
 Sankhya philosophy, 1007 
 
 Satan, development of, 689 
 
 Saturn, histor)' of, 801 
 
 Saturnalia, the, 801 
 
 Satiiruia regiia, 801 
 
 Saul, consultation of Samuel by, 927 
 
 Savages, beliefs not formulated by, 
 20; cultic discrimination of, 227; 
 ethical codes of, 76; isolated 
 groups of, 103 
 
 Scandinavia, storm-myths of, 851 
 Science, primitive, i, 1156; relation 
 
 of, to religion, 1 154 ff. 
 Scriptures, sacred, influence of, 
 
 ii34ff. 
 Seasons, agricultural, solemn, 135 
 Secretions, human, potency of, 156 
 Self, the, doubles of, 22, 24 
 Sen, reformer, worshiped as god, 
 ,348 
 Sentiment, religious, alliances of, 
 
 15 
 Senussi, the, organization of, 11 16 
 
 n. 2 
 Sequence, savage theory of, 883 ff. 
 Serpent, cult of, 250, 257; divine, 
 
 in Genesis, 275 
 Servius, on bisexual cult, 411 
 Set, conflict of, with Horus, 726 
 Sexes, the, animal patrons of, 472 ; 
 
 early separation of, 182 
 Shades, powers of, 91 
 Shaman, the, wherein different from 
 
 the priest, 1062 
 Shamanism, 661 
 SlicJii, the, character of, 890 
 Shinto, term, meaning of, 750 
 .Shrines, oracular, 927 
 Siam, Buddhism in, 1142 
 Siberia, Big Grandfather of. 640 
 Sibyls, 933 ff. ; the Cuma.an, 277 
 Signs manual, crests as, 445 
 Sikhs, the, churchly form of, 11 18 
 Simplification, religious, process of, 
 
 944 
 Siren, form of soul, 25 n. 3 
 Skulls, oracular responses by, 192, 
 
 369 
 Sky, the, abode of departed souls, 
 
 64 
 Slavery, recognized by religion, 1 163 
 
 Slaves, slaughter of, as offering, 
 
 1028 
 
 Smith, W. R., his theory of sacrifice, 
 
 1045 f- 
 Sneezing, ominous significance of, 
 
 916 
 Societies, secret, savage, 174, 1096; 
 
 voluntary, antitotemic, 529 
 Society, magical, supposed origin of 
 
 totemism, 546 
 Socrates, his belief in divination, 
 
 93' 
 Soil, fertilization of, by blood, 133
 
 JAP/iX 
 
 637 
 
 Solidarity, tribal, religious signifi- 
 cance of, 1041 
 Solomon, as magician, 902 n. 4 
 Solstices, fixing of calendars by, 211, 
 
 215 f. 
 Soma, deification of, 270 
 Songs, savage, 106 
 Sortes vergilianae, 91S 
 Soul, the, function of, in dreams, 92 i ; 
 
 as god, 62 ; hidden, 31 ; terms for, 
 
 21 n.i 
 Souls, numtjer of, how determined, 
 
 42 ; transmigration of, 243 
 Space, Endless, personalized, 703 
 Spirit, definition of, 100; guardian, 
 
 adoption of, by individual, 533; 
 
 lying, sent by Yahweh, 922 second 
 
 n. I ; relation of, to soul, 43 
 Spirits, corporeal nature of, 140; how 
 
 different from gods, 635 ; guardian, 
 
 function of, 504 
 Sponsors, savage, 174 n. 2 
 Stability, offerings for, 1028 
 Statius, gods produced by fear, 
 
 6 n. 3 
 Stigmata, 1 18 n. 6 
 Stonehenge, 296 
 
 Stones, supposed to be phalli, 400 
 Stucken, astral theory of, 866 
 Styx, the, oath by. 308 
 Substitution, sacrificial, 1054 
 Suffering, as expiatory, 104 1 
 Suicide, a, body of, why feared, 
 
 590 
 Suicide, effect of, on future state, 
 
 75 
 
 Sun, the, as old man, 849; deifica- 
 tion of, 709 ff. 
 
 Sun-gods, 726 f., 730, 753, 797, 972 
 
 Swan-maiden, the, 243 
 
 Swoon, produced by withdrawal of 
 soul, 29 
 
 Systems, philosophical, not churches, 
 1 102 ; religious, groups of, 944 
 
 Taboo, conflict of, with morality, 
 632 ; infection of, 586 
 
 Taboos, priestly, 1063; rearrange- 
 ment of, 149 
 
 Tales, fairy, 881 
 
 Tame, Helarew, significance of, 626 
 
 Tammuz, cult of, not a mystery, t too; 
 mourning for, 959 n. 5; relation 
 of, to Adonis, 271 ; to Ishtar, 1066 
 
 ianit, 410, 764 
 
 7\to, meaning of, 749 
 
 Taoism, how made a religion, 1103 
 
 Tari, Khond, as opponent of sungod, 
 
 972 
 Tarsus, seat of Mithraic worship, 
 
 I lOI 
 
 Tartarus, punishments in, 84 
 Tattoo, religious significance of, 1 16, 
 
 72 
 Taylor, Jeremy, his view of prayer, 
 
 I 20 n. 3 
 Teknonymy, origin of, 187 
 Telugus, the, Christianization of, 
 
 1144 
 Temenos, sanctity of, 1082 
 Temple, the, development of, 1083 ff. 
 Temples, called mountains, 305 n. i ; 
 
 fire-, Persian, 320 
 Teraphim, nature of, 1092 
 Terrors, supernatural, devised by 
 
 clan-leaders, 1 50 
 Testament, New, resurrection in, 
 
 90 
 Thanksgiving, by sacrifice, 1033 
 Theism, Semitic and Indo-European, 
 
 810 ff. 
 Thesmophoria, the, sadness in, 221 
 Things, nonhuman, future existence 
 
 of, 97 
 Thousand and One Nights, magi- 
 cians in, 902 
 Thrace, orgiastic cults derived from, 
 
 IIOI 
 
 Threshold, sacredness of 236 
 
 Thugs, the, piety of, 693 
 
 Thiimos, the, character of, in Homer, 
 
 43 
 Thunder-bird, the, 334 
 Tiamat, conquest of, 686; cosmo- 
 
 gonic function of, 316 
 Tibet, Buddhism in. 1142 
 Tiele, C. P., his theory of sacrifice, 
 
 1051 f. 
 Tierra del Fuego, social and religious 
 
 organization in, 13 
 Time, divinization of, 698, 703 n. 6; 
 
 Endless, 703 
 Tistrya, divine character of, 718 
 Titans, the, war of, against Zeus, 
 
 974 
 Tobacco, food offered to gods, 1025 
 Todas, the, buffalo-ritual of, 1056; 
 
 dairy fire of, 321; dairymen of,
 
 6^8 LYTKODCCrJOX TO HISTORV OF RELIGIOXS 
 
 337; diviners of, 929; taboo days 
 of, 604 
 Tooth, knocking out of, 151 
 Totem, the, not a god, 559; sacra- 
 mental eating of, 579 
 Totemism, beginnings of, 561 f . ; 
 coalescence of, with tree-worship, 
 273 ; definition of, 463, 520 f. 
 Totems, artificial, origin of, 463 n. 2 
 Traducianism, 37 
 Triad, Babylonian, 757 
 Trinity, the, doctrine of, 1002 
 Turtle, the, cult of, 257; use of, as 
 
 messenger, 1024 
 Twins, presage of misfortune, 913 
 Tylor, E. B., mythical theory of, 877 
 
 Unclean, meaning of, in Old Testa- 
 ment, 38 
 
 Under^vorld, the, ethical conceptions 
 of, 80; gods of, 680 ff.; Plato's 
 construction of, 87 ; separation in, 
 between good and bad, Si f. 
 
 Union with God, idea of, moral in- 
 fluence of, 1054 
 
 Unitary view of divine control, 1 149 
 
 Unity, religious, basis of, 1 147 ; sav- 
 age and civilized, 1 152 
 
 Universality, religious, test of, 1141 
 
 Universe, perfectness of, how held 
 to be implied, 1 173 
 
 Upanishads, the. produced no de- 
 votional organization, 1103 
 
 Urim and thummim, nature of, 918 
 
 Uzza, A1-, not star-god, 717 
 
 Vampire, the, 88 
 
 Varro, abode assigned the dead by, 
 85 n. 6 
 
 Varuna, comparison of, with Iranian 
 Ahura, 991 ; nature of, 730 
 
 Vastoshpati, 672 
 
 Veda, the, local deities in, 65 1 ; tree- 
 spirits in, 278 
 
 Veddas, the, social and religious or- 
 ganization of, 13 
 
 Vegetation, as source of myths, 55; 
 Osiris as deity of, 728 
 
 Venus, development of, 808 f. ; the 
 bearded, 408 
 
 Vesta, origin of. 805 
 
 Vestalia, the, sadness in, 221 
 
 Vetala, original character of, 645 
 
 Victory as god, origin of, 696 
 
 Vishnu, history of, 733 
 \'olcanus, origin of, obscure, 802 
 Voltaire, the "Candide" of, ii73n. 
 
 \Vakes, Irish, origin of, 364 
 
 War, future of those killed in, 75; 
 sacrifices in, 1035 
 
 Water, substitutes for, in purificatory 
 ceremonies, 199 
 
 Waters, sacred, 306 ff. 
 
 Week, the seven-day, 607, 610 
 
 Werwolf, the, 243 
 
 Wicked, the. annihilation of, 52 
 
 Winds, whether divinized, 326 f. 
 
 Wisdom of Solomon, the Devil in, 
 689 
 
 Witches, Thessalian, 895 
 
 Wives, slaughter of, as offering, 1028 
 
 Wollunqua, the, unique kind of 
 totem, 576 
 
 Woman, magical dread of, 592 
 
 Women, alleged early scarcity of, 
 430; devotion of, to cult of linga, 
 394; exclusion of, from ceremo- 
 nies, 592 ; favored by Therapeu- 
 tae, 1 1 24; honor shown to, after 
 death, 370 ; magical power of, 
 895 f. ; of Baganda, economic 
 function of, 461 
 
 Word " church," larger sense of, 
 1 1 12 
 
 World, the, future destruction of, 
 836 ; relation of, to God, 1 1 59 ; 
 savage conception of unity of, 
 885 f. 
 
 Worship, forms of, 1081 ff. ; phallic, 
 whether connected with circum- 
 cision, 1 58 ; practically universal, 
 1017 
 
 Xanthus, the, river or god in the 
 Iliad, 312 
 
 Va^na xvii, conception of worship 
 
 in, 320 
 Vahweh, development of, 765 ; 
 
 dreams sent by, 922 ; early cult 
 
 of, 649 ; pillars of temple of, 
 
 299 
 Varna, history of, 735 ff. 
 Vear, sabbatic, Hebrew, 622 
 Veast, prohibition of. 265 n. i 
 ^'ezidis, the, attitude of, toward 
 
 Satan, 693
 
 /.\7)/:.\' 639 
 
 Yggdrasil, nature of, 276 Zeus, 768 f. ; dream sent by, 922 
 
 Viiiia, 735 Zikkurat (/iggurat), the, Babylonian 
 
 Voni, the, veneration of, 406 and Assyrian, loSO 
 
 Voruba, gods of, 660; rebellion in. Zodiac, signs of, cult of, 716 
 
 against old custom, 6:;8 Zoroaster, 745 ; verses ascribed to, 
 
 Zealand, Ne\v,C()sm(jl<)gy of,679n.4; Zoroastrianism, preSassanian, 1109 
 
 despotism of taboo in, ()j I ; plant- Zuni, the, economic ceremonies of, 
 
 ing-taboos in, 599 497
 
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