^^iJ^i^ V y ^p^ 
 
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CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
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BOANERGES 
 
 BY 
 
 RENDEL HARRIS 
 
 Cambridge : 
 at the University Press 
 
 I 9 I ;, 
 

 Cambtiligf : 
 
 PRINTED BY JOHN CLAT, M.A 
 AT THK UNIVERSITY PRESS. 
 
In compliance with current copyright 
 
 law, U. C. Library Bindery produced 
 
 this replacement volume on paper 
 
 that meets ANSI Standard Z39.48-1992 
 
 to replace the deteriorated, 
 
 damaged, or lost original. 
 
 2003 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Preface 
 Errata 
 Introduction 
 
 Ainoricjin 
 
 CRAP. 
 
 I. Boanerges .... 
 
 II. The Parentage of the Twins 
 
 III. The Thunilor-bira . 
 
 IV. The Red Rol>cs of the Dioscuri 
 
 V. The Twin-Cult in West Africa 
 
 VI. The Twin-Cult in South Africa 
 
 VII. The Twin-Cult in East Africa 
 
 VIII. The Twin-Cult in Madagascar 
 
 IX. The Twin-Cult in South America 
 
 X. The Twin-Cult amongst the North 
 
 Indian.s .... 
 
 XI. Of Twins in Ancient Mexico . 
 XII. The Twin-Heroes of North and South America 
 
 XIII. The Twin-Cult in Saghalien, Northern .Japan, 
 
 and the Kurile Islands 
 
 XIV. Of Twins in Burma, Cambodia, and the Malay 
 
 Archiiiclago 
 
 XV. The Twin-Cult in Polynesia, Melanesia, an 
 Australia ..... 
 
 XVI. The Twin-Cult in Assam, etc. 
 
 XVII. The Twin-Fear in Ancient India 
 XVIII. The Twin-Cult in Central Asia Minor 
 
 XIX. Why did the Twins go to Sea ? 
 
 XX. The Twins and the Origin of Navigation 
 
 XXI. The Twins in Phoenician Tradition 
 
 PAOES 
 
 vii — ix 
 
 XI — XXIV 
 
 1 — 12 
 13—19 
 20— .TO 
 31—48 
 49—97 
 98—107 
 108—128 
 129—131 
 132—141 
 
 142— l.'il 
 152—154 
 155—159 
 
 160—164 
 
 165-170 
 
 171-178 
 179-181 
 182-190 
 191- 194 
 195- 204 
 20.5—215 
 216—220 
 
 iv'ii(;-'>>i45 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. PAOES 
 
 XXII. The Voyage to Colchis of Jason and his 
 
 Companions 221 — 2:J3 
 
 XXIII. The Ploughs and Vokcs of the Heavenly Twins 231—249 
 
 XXIV. The Twin-Cult at Edcssa .... 250—264 
 XXV. Further Traces of the Twins in Arabia and 
 
 in Palestine ...... 265 — 270 
 
 XXVI. The Twin-Cult in Egypt 271—274 
 
 XXVII. The Story of Esau and Jacob interpreted . 275—280 
 
 XXVIII. Further Traces of Dicscurism on the Sea of 
 
 fialilee 281—288 
 
 XXIX. The Dioscuric Element in II Maccabees . 289—290 
 
 XXX. On the Names commonly given to Twin 
 
 Children 291—296 
 
 XXXI. On the Twins in the Lettish Folk-songs and 
 
 on the Holy Oak 297—303 
 
 XXXII. The Heavenly Twins in Graeco-Romau Tradi- 
 
 tion 304—312 
 
 XXXIII. Some Further Points of Contact between 
 
 Graeco-Roman Beliefs and Savage Life . 313—316 
 
 XXXIV. Some Further Remarks on Twin-Towns and 
 
 Twin-Sanctuaries ..... 317 — 325 
 
 X,XXV. The Case of King Keleos .... 326—332 
 
 XXXVI. Jason and the Symplegades .... 333—337 
 
 XXXVII. Jason and Triptolemos 338—343 
 
 XXXVIII. The Woodpecker and the Plough . . . 344—347 
 
 XXXIX. The Korybantes and the infant Zeus . . 348 — 353 
 
 XL. Bees and the Holy Oak 354—357 
 
 XLI. The Twins in Western Europe . . 358—360 
 
 XLII. Dioscurism and Jasonism .... ,361 — 374 
 XLIII. Some Further Remarks upon Gnieco-Roman 
 
 Dioscurism 375 — 379 
 
 XLIV. Are the Twin-Myths one or many? . 380—383 
 XLV. Twins in the Bridal-Chamber and in the Hirth- 
 
 Chambcr 384— .388 
 
 Additional Notes 389—419 
 
 Index 420—424 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TN publishing the present volume, I must confess that 
 there are results arrived at, and other results adum- 
 brated, which I did not anticipate when I set to work to 
 arriinge into something like order the mass of information 
 which I had collected concerning the antiquity and wide 
 tlifl'usion of Twin-cults, and their influence upon religions 
 past and present. The investigation, however, opened up 
 from point to point, in a way that made it impossible for 
 me to limit its scoj>e or obscure its meaning. As often as 
 I repeated to myself the warning to beware of the idea that 
 one had found a master-key in mythology, so often some 
 fresh door or window would open under the stress of the 
 particular key that I was carrying ; and it was necessary to 
 go on with what one had begun, when the first stages of 
 enquiry were so rich in results. However much one might 
 elect to rest and be thankful over the elucidations which 
 a knowledge of Twin-culls furnishes to the history of the 
 Ancient Roman State or of the Modem Roman Church, we 
 could not stop the investigation in mid-stream, and say that 
 it should not be carried into the history of the Ancient 
 Jfwi.'ih Statt!, or the Modern Christian Church. There was 
 a harvest of results in the myths and legends of the Book of 
 Genesis, which now for the first time became intelligible; 
 but the pathway of the enquirer led on from Genesis into the 
 books of the Macciibees; and by establi.shing Dioscurism for 
 the period inimcdiatcly precfding the Christian era, one was 
 
ablo to take a Hying leap into the very centre of the Gospel 
 history. As said above, this was not what I originally ex- 
 pected or intended : but the motion of the enquiry could not 
 be arrested. If we have really found a clue for the elimina- 
 tion of certain Gospel miracles from the pages of history, we 
 must follow the clue as far as it can fairly be traced, on the 
 ground that what is good for the Old Testament or for 
 Jufiaism cannot necessarily be illicit for the New Testament 
 or for Christianity. The value of the enquiry and its 
 supposed results will be estimated later on by those who are 
 more expert than ourselves in theological learning, and in 
 the folk-lore which we have assumed to be a branch of 
 theology. 
 
 No book that I have ever written has left me with a 
 greater burden of indebtedness to my friends ; they have 
 furnished me with parallels and with facts from the four 
 corners of the world and from the longest extension of time. 
 It is impossible to name them all ; here and there the reader 
 will find an acknowledgement made for some service or 
 information, or verified quotation. My own students, from 
 their international character (Woodbrooke being a meeting 
 place of the nations), have delved for me into the folk-lore of 
 Europe, Asia, Australia, and America : if I mention one who 
 has worked harder for me and brought home more spoil than 
 others, it will be my friend, Mr R. 11. D. Willey. Dr Glover, 
 as in previous cases, has helped me with many wise sugges- 
 tions, and with the elimination of many errors, typographical 
 and otherwise. Mr F. G. Montagu Powell supplied me with 
 an actual carved image of a dead twin, which he had obtained 
 from his son, who is a doctor in L)igos. Dr Frazer gave me 
 many a hint from his vast collection of folk-lore. Mr Fritz 
 Krenkow helped me where I was altogether unfurnished, in 
 the region of early Arabic literature. My Missionary friends. 
 
PREFACE IX 
 
 too, in many a field of foreign service, found for me one 
 desired link after another. From Miss Jane Harrison and 
 Prof. Gilbert Murray I have- had some wise criticisms and 
 valuable confirmations. It has been difficult to acknow- 
 ledge all that I received : but I tender grateful thanks to 
 one and all, with the assiirancc that none of my friends is in 
 any way involved in any discredit attaching to conclusions 
 that I have drawn or suggested. 
 
 In two directions I should like to have improved the 
 book ; first, it has occasionally happened that a reference 
 could not be verified, owing to the distance at which I live 
 from the great libraries: second, it will be felt at many 
 points, that the book ought to have been illustrated ; the 
 expense hiis deterred nie from an adornment of the pages 
 which I recognise to be almost necessary. 
 
 For the first time in my life I have made an index to my 
 book, for which, rough iis it is, my readers will be grateful. 
 
 RENDEL HARRIS. 
 
 woodbrooke, 
 
 Sellv Oak. 
 
 1 August 1913. 
 
ERRATA 
 
 p. 61, 1. 'i, for contrast read compare. 
 
 p. 63 note, add sets after Benin. 
 
 p. 78, 1. 19, for Cessou read Ceston, and again 1. 25. 
 
 p. 213, note ', for Larkey read Larkby. 
 
 p. 241, note, for J. H. Allen read J. H. Allan. 
 
 p. 284, note ', for Sauve read Sauve, and corr. ref. to v. 157 £f. 
 
 p. 287, I. 12, for Xenophon read Xanthippos. 
 
INTRODUCTION ' 
 
 In the present treatise, I propose to make a more extended 
 study of the Cult of the Heavenly Twins than I was able to 
 attempt in my previous investigations into the subject. It 
 was inevitable that the discovery which I made of the existence 
 of pairs of twin saints in the Church calendars, and which 
 led back naturally to the place of the Heavenly Twins in the 
 religions of Greece and Rome, should require to be approached 
 from the side of anthropology rather than from that of 
 ecclesiastical or classical culture, as soon as it became clear 
 that the phenomena under examination were world wide, 
 and that the religious practices involved were the product of 
 all the ages of human history. At the same time, I do not 
 want to discuss the subject altogether de novo, nor have I 
 the expectation of writing the one book on this particular 
 subject. The banquet of research at which I am seated is 
 likely to be one of many courses: if I could fancy myself 
 beginning once more at the first course, I have no prospect 
 of sitting the feast out ah ovo usque ad mala. Indeed, I 
 am reiUionably sure that I shall never get to the apples at 
 all, and on that ground might well be absolved from the 
 completeness which one naturally desires in the study of 
 a single compartment of knowledge. For these reasons, 
 then, I think it best to assume some of the results which I 
 have arrive<l at in previous books and articles on the subject, 
 and to use the.sc results as a basis for further study, making 
 such changes as may be necessary in the light of clearer 
 knowledge, and conHrming previous enquiries made in limited 
 areas by the parallels which are supplied by a wider know- 
 ledge of the world and of the history of man. 
 
 6 2 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 My first book on the Twin-Cult was an expansion of a 
 short course of lectures given in Cambridge in the year 
 1903. It was entitled the Dioscuri in the Christian Legends. 
 Starting from the observation that there was a tendency in 
 human nomenclature to express by similarity of sound or by 
 parallelism of meaning the twin relationship, it was suggested 
 (and this was the real point of departure in the eiiijuiry) 
 that Florus and Lauras in the Byzantine and other calendars 
 were twins. Vespasian's retort upon a courtier who had 
 corrected him for saying plostritm instead of plamtrum by 
 calling him Flaunts instead of Florus, may be used to 
 illustrate the pronunciation of the names. 
 
 It was then noted that amongst the Russian pesisantry 
 Florus and Laurus (or as they say Fj-oI and Lavi'ir) are 
 regarded as the patron saints of horses, which led to the 
 next suggestion that they were the representatives of the 
 Great Twin-Brethren of pre-Christian times. 
 
 That they were twins was confirmed by a reference to 
 their Acts in the Synaxaria of the Greek Church, where they 
 were described as twin-brethren, who were of the craft of 
 stone-masons, the day of their celebration being the 18th of 
 August. 
 
 This might have been confirmed by caleniiars of the 
 Syrian Church; for example, in the Paris Syriac MS. 142, 
 they are commemorated as follows : 
 
 18th of Ab. Commemoration of the holy martyrs, 
 the twin-brethren Laurus and Florus. 
 
 Ab was, of course, the substitute for August, when the 
 festival was taken over, and it is to be observed that it was 
 as twins that they were in the first instance conuiumorated 
 in Syria. 
 
 The next fact betrayed by the Church calendars, was 
 that the 18th of August was the day on which the Greek 
 Church honours St Helena, the mother of Constantinc, which 
 immediately suggested that the Cult of the Twins was 
 accompanied by a cult of their sister; Castor and Pollux, as 
 Florus and I.juiru8, being ecclesiastically attached to their 
 
INTRODUCTION XIU 
 
 sister Helen, who h;i.s now become the Dowager Empress of Cult of 
 Byzantium. "'^'«"- 
 
 The next step was to show why the By/aiitine hagiolo- 
 gists describe the twins as stone-masons, rather than as horse 
 riders or horse-rearers, as in Homer and elsewhere ; or since 
 the Russian connection between the Twins and horses was 
 probably primitive, we had to ask the question whether the 
 Heavenly Twins were builders in stone as well iis tanu-rs of Heavenly 
 horses. The latter was well known, not only from Homeric bmijers'^'' 
 references to horse-taming Castor, but also from the parallel 
 cults in ancient Greece and in India (where the Twins are 
 actually known as Agvinau or the Bual Horsemen). The 
 other part of the iilentification was made for Castor and 
 Pollux, from Greek traditions of cities that they had built, 
 and of cities that they hixd destroyed: in particular it was 
 shown that the title AaTrepaat, which had been given to 
 them in ancient times, and was commonly interpreted by the 
 scholiasts as the Deatroyers of the City Las, was a misunder- 
 standing of an original Stoiie- Workers. And a comparison 
 with kindred myths, such as that of the Theban twins, 
 Zethus and Amphion, confirmed the belief that the twins 
 were builders of cities, and patrons and inventors of architec- 
 ture. By this time, the (juestions of the origin, meaning, 
 and diffusion of the Twin-Cult were moved into a wider 
 field. The Greek parallels showed that the worship of the 
 Great Twin- Brethren was not confined to Sparta, nor to 
 Dorian colonies. The Indian parallels suggested that the 
 myth might go back to the origins of the Arj-an race. The 
 Twins were found in Pereia iis well as in India, and, if we 
 examined the V'edic hymns, we could deduce such a variety 
 of useful offices discharged by the twins, as to make it certain 
 that a cult, which we (ind .so highly diHerentialed, must be 
 of extreme antiquity. 
 
 It was then shown that a cull of thi' suiiu' kind had Twin- 
 been described by Tiicitus, as prevailing among the Naharvali ""'''"'"'" 
 
 •^ 1 r» r> ninong tnr 
 
 in Eiistern Europe (perhaps in Lithuania), and that the Nalmrvali. 
 existing folk-songs of the Lettish |)eople describe certain 
 Sons of God who ride upon horses, and who are identified. 
 
XIV INTRODUCTION 
 
 from certain points of view, with the Morning Star, and the 
 Evening Star. This discovery was important, not only for 
 its confirmation of the observation of Tacitus, who said that 
 the young men named Alcis amongst the Lithuanians were 
 honoured as Castor and Pollux amongst the Romans, but 
 also because it suggested that there was an earlier stage of 
 stellar identification which preceded that of the well-known 
 stars in the constellation Gemini. It was clear that at one 
 time the Aryan race did not know that the Morning Star 
 was the same as the Evening Star; and because they were 
 alike, they were treated as twins, rather than as the same 
 star. Moreover, they never appeared in the East and West 
 on the same night, but, as it was said, when one was up, the 
 other was down, and conversely, which led at once to the 
 beautiful story of the divided immortality of Castor and 
 Pollux in the Greek mythology. This strange belief in the 
 duality of the planet Venus was illustrated subsequently on 
 a journey across Asia Minor, when I could not find anyone 
 who was aware that the Morning Star was the same as the 
 Evening Star. The Greeks themselves seem to have arrived 
 at this knowledge quite late. 
 Twinshalf . We are now able to detect the earlier belief which lay 
 half iiii- behind the Greek legend of the divided immortality of 
 mortal. Castor and Pollux, and to suspect that in each case of a pair 
 of Great Twin Brethren, one of the pair was mortal and 
 the other was immortal ; this was due, not to a study of 
 the stars, but to the dual paternity, which had affected the 
 mother of twins, one parent being an immortal god, and 
 the other a mortal man. This observation turned out to be 
 very important ; it was not suspected at the time, as proved 
 afterwards to be the case, that the belief in question was not 
 confined to the Aryan race, but that, in some form or other, 
 the dual paternity theory could be illustrated from the most 
 uncivilized and savage races that exist upon the planet ; so 
 that we need not have begun our empiiry with ancient 
 histories or with classical writers; we might have begun it 
 with the modern missionary and traveller engaged in work 
 for and observations of the rudest peoples, This point was 
 
INTRODUCTION XV 
 
 to come out more clearly at a later stage. It is interesting 
 to note that in these investigations the Zodiac had already 
 been left far behind ; whatever may be the reason for 
 including the Heavenly Twins in the Zodiac, or in an early 
 calendar of months, we were not dealing with Babylonian 
 myth-making, but with something much earlier. In the 
 history of the Twins, the elevation to a Zodiacal peerage is 
 almost the last honour that is conferred upon them. 
 
 The next step in the enquiry w;us to collect from the Twins in 
 Vedic literature the varied functions discharged by the 
 Twin-Brethren, some of which could be paralleled at once 
 from Western twin-cults. The principal of these functions 
 were : 
 
 ( 1 ) To save from darkness : 
 
 (2) To restore youth and remove senility : 
 
 (3) To protect in battle : 
 
 (4) To act as physicians (especially as miracle-workers, 
 in healing the blind, the lame, etc.): 
 
 (5) To be the patrons of the bride-chamber, and bless 
 newly married people : 
 
 (6) To promote fertility in men, as well ;is in animal 
 life and in plant life (as by the invention of the plough and 
 the bestowal of the rain and dew): 
 
 (7) To protect travellers by land and sea, under which 
 latter head their fame became great in the Mediterranean, 
 where, indeed, it subsists even to the present day. 
 
 It has already been intimated that a cult so highly 
 evolved has antiquity written large upon it : it must go back 
 to the earliest pages of human history. A superficial 
 objection has been, however, made to some of the character- 
 istics here recognised as denoting the Twin-Horsemen, on the 
 ground that the functions jissigncd to them really belong to 
 other gods, as, for instJince, rain-making to Indra, and military 
 prowess to other gods ; so that we ought not to emph.-isise 
 their functions so strongly on the ground of occasional Vedic 
 refcrencpR. and it is even said that, in any ciusi>. more pnmf 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Twins 
 
 earlier 
 than 
 Olympic 
 religion. 
 
 Dioscuri 
 in Acts n/ 
 Thiinms. 
 
 is required that the Vedic Horsemen are the Dioscuri. The 
 objection may be noted ; it will answer itself as the enquiry 
 proceeds: when it has been shown that similar beliefs can 
 be traced all over the rest of the world, we shall not be able 
 to insulate India, or even Palestine. It may, however, be 
 remarked in pa.ssing, that the variety of functions assigned 
 to the Great Twins is just as marked in the West as in the 
 East: though their place in the pantheon of Olympus is 
 barely recognised, they share functions with almost every 
 Olympic god : but it is not they who are encroaching upon 
 the Olympians: every one knows, by this time, that, with 
 some exceptions, it is the Olympians who are modern: the 
 overlapping in function between them and the Twins arises 
 from the fact that the religious stratum which appears in 
 the Olympic religion is superposed upon earlier strata, which 
 it does not wholly cover: and when the antiquity of the 
 Twin-Cult is demonstrated, there is no difficulty in their 
 exercising powers of divination with Athena, or going 
 hunting after the fashion of Artemis. With Zeus they share 
 antiquity as well as function, and the latter because they are " 
 Dioscuri, Ze^ls hoys. 
 
 To return to the investigation in Dioscuri a»d the 
 Christian legends. The attempt to classify the functions 
 which the Dioscuri exercised both in the East and the 
 West, led to a startling result in another quarter of. the 
 Christian world. It is well known that legend had been 
 busy with St Thomas and with his place in the propagation 
 of Christianity in the East, say from Edessa to India. These 
 legends occur in an early Syriac document, called by the 
 name of the Acts of Thomas, which gives the story of St 
 Thomas' apostolate in native Syriac, showing no signs of a 
 tran.slation. It is well known that the name Thomas means 
 nothing more or less than Twin; and when we read the 
 account of his mission, we find him discharging Dioscuric 
 functions all along the line. He -can build palaces and 
 temples and tombs; he can make ploughs and yokes, and 
 masts for ships; he can tame animals for driving, and he 
 can act as the patron of a wedding ; to say nothing of other 
 
INTRODUCTION XVll 
 
 powers anil interests not so obviously Dioscuric. In all these 
 functions he has with him as his immortal companion and 
 counterpart, similar in every respect to himself, the Loixl 
 Jesus; and although the scribes of the Acts have tried to 
 obliterate the startling statement, he is, over and over again, 
 recognised as being the Twin of the Messiah. Attempts on 
 the part of the scribes to substitute a slightly different 
 word, to read Abyss of the Messiah, or Ocean-Jiood of the 
 Messiah (Tehoina for Tauma), on\y serve by their unintelligi- 
 bility to bring more strongly into relief the fact that in the 
 earliest days of the Syrian Church at Edessa, Jesus and 
 Thomas were reganlctl as Twin-Brethren. They were, in 
 consequence, the Dioscures of the City: and there was raised 
 the interesting question whether we could find the original 
 Dioscures, whom they might be assumed to have displaced, 
 in the same way iis Ciustor and Pollux were displaced in the 
 West by Florus and Lauriis and other pairs of saints. It 
 was well known that the chief religion at Edessa was Solar, Twins at 
 in which the Sun was honoured along with two assessors, ^ ^''''*' 
 named Monim and Aziz. The names appear to be Semitic, 
 but there can be little doubt that they correspond to the 
 Twin-Brethren of the Aryan religions : in particular, their 
 close relation to the Sun-god, shows them to be parallel to 
 the two torch bearers of the Mithraic monuments, one of 
 whon» stands with a torch raised, and the other with his 
 torch depressed, and who are known by the names of Cautes 
 and Cautopates. As, however, in spite of the similarity of 
 these names, which suggests twinship, nothing was known as 
 to the meaning of the names, nor as to the f\mctions which 
 they discharged, we could not take the final step of identifying 
 Monim and Aziz with Cautes and Cautopates. The Mithraic 
 or Persian figures remained over for further investigation. 
 It w;is, however, fairly established that the Edes.san religion 
 had Dioscuric feature.s. It is inconceivable that there should 
 be so many twin-traits in the ..lets of Thomas unless the 
 writer had been using Jesus and Thomas to replace sotnc 
 other pair of Great Brethren. 
 
 In this connection we tried to establish the existence of 
 
XVIU INTRODUCTION 
 
 Twin the Dioscuric stars on the coinage of Edessa, and to show 
 
 Ed^ssa!' t^s-i' the two great pillars, which still rise above the city from 
 the ramparts of its citadel, were votive pillars in honour of 
 the Twins, and it was suggested that the Syriac inscription 
 on one of the pillars could be read in that sense. Under 
 both these heads there was eomething wanting to the 
 argument; the numismatic evidence was susceptible of other 
 interpretations and the decipherment of the inscription on 
 the pillar was challenged by Prof. Burkitt on an important 
 point. So that, here again, caution and repeated investigation 
 were necessary. The main points as to the existence of 
 Dioscuric worship at Edessa are quite clearly made out. 
 The Twins were there from old time, and they were replaced 
 by Jesus and Thomas. That was the chief result of the 
 enquiry, and, it need hardly be said, it raised at once the 
 question whether the Twins had been similarly displaced 
 elsewhere, and whether Jesus and Thomas were really Twins, 
 or whether they were only treated as such by the hagiologist, 
 for the sake of the good results that would follow in the 
 depaganisation of Edessa. 
 
 Collaterally, again, the question was raised as to the 
 place of the Twin-Cult in the Semitic religion. EMessa, itself, 
 was in ancient times a meeting point of religions: it is so, 
 almost as decidedly, to-day. We must not, however, assume 
 Semitic ancestry for the Twins because they are called 
 Monim and Aziz: these might be only names given by the 
 Edessan Arabs to the Aryan or Parthian Twins. The 
 question as to the existence of Twins in Semitic religion has 
 to be investigated on its own merits, as, for instance, in 
 Phoenicia (though we are not quite sure that Phoenicia is 
 originally Semitic) and in Palestine and Arabia. On these 
 points also further enquiry was to be desired. 
 
 In the volume which followed, named the Cult of the 
 Heavenly Twins (published in 1!)0G), the enquiry was re- 
 sumed : and this time, instead of beginning with the jiairs of 
 twin-saints under ecclesiastical disguise in the Calendar, I 
 began at the opposite end of the evolution of the cult, with 
 a study of the Taboo of Twins, which prevails to this day 
 
races. 
 
 INTRODUCTION XIX 
 
 among savage tribes, and constitutes their greatest Fear or 
 Supreme Reverence, and so furnishes the basis from which 
 the evolution of Natural Religion must inevitably proceed. 
 It was shown, in the first instance, that the Taboo in 
 question, which can be traced through almost all elementary Twin- 
 ntces, involved in its earliest stage the destruction of the ^l^„n^,eie. 
 mother of the twins, the twins themselves, and of the house "'e"'""? 
 and the chattels which might conceivably have been infected 
 by the Taboo. From this simple solution of the problem 
 raised by the great Fear for the Savage, we ptissed on to 
 consider those subsequent stages of reflection in which reason 
 was sought for the phenomenon, and for the best way of 
 dealing with it, and measures of mitigation were proposed 
 for the severity with which the unfortunate causes of the 
 Taboo were treated. It became more and more clear that 
 this initial application of reivson, which started from the 
 observation that the mother had either done or suffered 
 something dreadful, resulted in the hypothesis of a double 
 paternity, of the kind which is common in Greek and Roman 
 mythology ; only the second father w;i3 not yet become an 
 Olympian : he was, perhaps, only a spirit, or the externalised 
 soul of some person or thing, or an animal — by preference 
 a bird. It was natural that the hypothesis of dual parentage 
 should lead to some difference in the treatment of the 
 children; if only one wiis abnormal, a very elementary 
 instinct of justice woidd suggest that only one should be 
 killed. From this jx)int the progre.ss of humane feeling wiis 
 seen in the further development of lenity in the substitution 
 of exile for death, or its equivalent, exposure. The mother 
 and children are now isolated, and the result of their 
 isolation is to make their retreat in wood or in island, into 
 a sanctuary : thus, from the taboo on twins, there arose the 
 sanctuary rights of Twin-towns. It was suggested that 
 these Twin-towns, which still exist in their earlie.st smiplicity Fonimiion 
 in parts of Africa, were at one time very common in Europe, "o^^a. 
 and that Rome itself w;us such a sanctuary. An important 
 discover)' was then made, that the Taboo on Twins is not 
 always interpreted as Evil, but that there are tribes to-day 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Twins 
 chiklren 
 of the Sky 
 
 Various 
 functions 
 of twins. 
 
 which regard Twins as a blessing, though they show, by their 
 purifications of the persons involved, and of the comnuinity 
 in which they appear, that the second interpretation either 
 leans upon the first, which it h;is corrected, or, which is 
 perhaps the more accurate way of stating the case, that the 
 primitive Fear, aroused by the uncommon or abnormal 
 event, has been explained in two opposite senses. It is 
 curious that, to this day, tribes which are locally almost 
 contiguous, will take opposite views of the perplexing phe- 
 nomenon. Those which think twins a blessing appear to do 
 so, because they find them serviceable; they, with their 
 mother, stand for abnormal fertility, which is thought of as 
 contagious; and they are credited with control of the 
 influences which make for fertility, which gives them at once 
 a place of authority, because of their usefulness, in the tribes 
 where they are born. The next important step was the 
 discovery that there were tribes in S.E. Africa, which had 
 referred the parentage of both the twins to the Sky (or 
 perhaps to its equivalent, the Thunder) and that the Twins 
 had obtained, through this parentage, the title of Sky- 
 children, or Thunder-children. We are now at a stage in 
 the evolution of the cult which must have been very nearly 
 that of the ancestors of the Greeks, when they gave to their 
 idealised Twin-Brethren, the title of Dioscuri, or Zeus' boys. 
 From this point, the investigation proceeds with comparative 
 ease, the more savage interpretations of twiiisliip being now 
 left behind, except for stray survivals of ancient customs; 
 and an increasing sense is developed of the greatness, and 
 goodness, and usefulness of the Twins, as being, either 
 wholly or in part, the descendants and representatives of 
 the Sky-god. 
 
 It was now possible to ex])lain why the Twins had such 
 a prominent place in agriculture, and amongst the tribal 
 rain-makers. Successive inventions could be directly traced 
 to them, and they became the patrons of sexual acts and the 
 restorers of lapsed sexual functions. They acquired mantic 
 gifts, and became prophets .iiid luaiurs; they usni thiir 
 relation to the all-seeing Heaven to determine whether men 
 
INTRODUl'TIUN XXI 
 
 spoke truly, and became the patrons of trust, and of commerce 
 which reposes on trust, and the punishers of perjury. In 
 cases where the twins were not, both of them, credited to 
 celestial parentage, it was natural that steps should be taken 
 to define, if possible, the Immortal one of the pair, and to 
 distinguish him from his less favoured brother. Traces were 
 found of favourite forms of ditt'erentiation, such as Red and 
 White, Rough and Smooth, Strong and Weak, Mechanic or 
 Artist, or by the di.scrimination of names expressing either 
 the priority of one twin over the other, or their special 
 characteristics. The naming of twins wa-s evidently a subject 
 deserving further and closer attention. The use of assonant 
 names was especially noticed. 
 
 The rest of the book was chieHy devoted to the expansion 
 and verificiition of the former thesis that the ecclesiastical 
 calendar was full of cases of disguised twins, who were. Twins 
 presumably, transferred to the service of the Church from diendar. 
 the Dioscuric cults which prevailed all over Europe before 
 the introduction of Christianity. The most interesting cases 
 were those of Cosmas and Damian, Protasius and Gervasius, 
 the Tergemini at Langres (Speusippus and his brethren), 
 Nearchus and Polyeuctes. A further erujuiry was matle into 
 the case of Judas Thomas; and some explanations were given 
 of the symbols proper to represent the Dioscuri in Sparta 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 It will be seen that the investigations, which we have 
 thus brieHy suinmarised, had thrown a great light upon the 
 history of that branch of human culture, which we now call 
 Dioscurism. Much still remained to be cleared up, both 
 with regard to the siivage origins, and with regard to the 
 ecclesiiusticjil di.sguises of the cult: special investigation was 
 also necessjiry in explanation of cerUiin functions discharged 
 by the Heavenly Twins, which did not seem to have any 
 connection with sjivage life, or with savage explanations of 
 life. To take a single ciise of one of the most widcsprcjul 
 Dioscuric functions, the protection of sailors in the .Mediter- 
 ranean and elsewhere, it was by no means obvious how such 
 
XXn INTRODUCTION 
 
 a function should have fallen to the lot either of twins, or 
 the descendants of twins. The same thing appears in the 
 functions of chariot-driving and horse-training: we may 
 easily prove these functions to exist over wide areas ; but we 
 cannot easily prove that they were implicit in the archaic 
 cult. These and similar enquiries remain over, to be dis- 
 cussed more carefully as we know our Twins better, and as 
 we cease to be satisfied with merely recording the facts, 
 without giving a reason for the facts. 
 Twins In order to solve the question as to why the Heavenly 
 
 protect Twins became the special patrons of sailors, and are so, to 
 
 sailors. ^ ^ 
 
 some extent, even to the present day, it did not seem to me 
 to be adequate to label the Twins as Universal Saviours, and 
 then deduce from that title one of their most striking 
 functions ; nor did it seem sufficient to say that the respect 
 paid by sailors to the Twins was due to the control which 
 the Twins exercised over the weather by their affiliation 
 with the Sky-god ; for we found them exercising their art 
 over inland waters and streams, as well as over open seas, 
 and in those cases the control of the weather seemed hardly 
 an adequate motive. Accordingly I proceeded to make 
 Twins as a further study of the Dioscuri as Sea-Saints, and discovered 
 ^'y*"^" that there were not a few cases in which it could be proved 
 
 haints. '■ 
 
 that the Twins had definitely come down-stream, and had 
 been honoured on rivers before ever they came to be 
 revered at sea : an interesting case was that of Romulus 
 and Remus, who are still worshipped on the Riviera as 
 San Romolo and San Remo, and under other disguises can 
 easily be recognised on the Atlantic sea-board and else- 
 where. 
 
 These results were presented to the Oxford Congress for 
 the History of Religions in 1908, and were published in the 
 Contemporary Revie^v in January of the following year. 
 Many new illustrations were given, not only of the general 
 thesis that the Dioscuri were River-Saints before they were 
 Sea-Saints, but al.so of their care of navigation in dangerous 
 shallows and straits, and of their patronage of harbours and 
 of lighthouses. 
 
INTRODUCTIO>f XXlll 
 
 Some of tlusf points iiiiiy be re-stati'd in llu' fulluwing 
 pages: but at present it is to be noticed that in taking the 
 Dioscuri up-stream and inland, we had definitely abandoned 
 the idea that the reason of their nautical activity lay in their 
 care of the weather. We shall, therefore, be obliged to seek 
 for another solution, and wc shall find it before very long. 
 We are to go up the stream of time, as well as to ascend the 
 great rivers : we must go back to the time before man had 
 donned the 'robur et aes triplex,' which, Horace says, must 
 have been the equipment of the first navigator; we must 
 proceed as if the sea did not exist, and search for simpler 
 experiments than those which made Horace wonder: and as 
 the stream of time is ascended by us, the Twins are to 
 ascend with us, and help us to the explanation of their 
 various functions. It does not, at first sight, seem likely 
 that the art of navigation can be proved to be a Dioscuric 
 art from its first inception, but this is the direction in which 
 the ship's head (the ship itself being now much diminished) 
 appears to be pointing. 
 
 Now let us make the briefest po.ssible summarj' of the 
 results already arrived at, .so that in the following pages we 
 may see how to confirm them and how to extend them, 
 where to limit the area or the time to which they are to 
 be referred, and where to extend and make universal the 
 facts which have come to our knowledge. The following 
 summaiy, necessarily incomplete, will iissist our further 
 investigations. 
 
 The appearance of Twins is regarded by primitive man 
 with aversion : they are a great Fear, a Taboo. The mother 
 of such twins, and the twins themselves, must be killed : 
 the settlement must be purified from the Taboo. She, the 
 mother, is cither a criminal or a victim ; she has h.id con- 
 nection with a spirit, or the numen residing animistically in 
 some object; perhaps it Wiis a bird, perhaps it wiis the 
 thunder, or the lightning, or the sky. 
 
 Alleviations are proposed; spare one child (but which >), 
 spare the mother. Exile the mother and kill the children : 
 exile the niothor and the children, to an island or a village 
 
XXIV INTRODITCTION 
 
 of their own : make a twiri-islanil, or twin-sanctiiary, or 
 twin-village, or place of refuge. 
 
 Or perhaps they are not bad at all ; then tio nut kill 
 them : use purificatory rites and revere them ; perhaps they 
 are the children, one of them at least, of the Sky, or the 
 Thunder. Then they can help with rain-making, and their 
 mother, by contact, can fertilise fields and plants and crops. 
 Primitive agriculture is of the woman ; how much more is it 
 of the woman who has borne twins! Perhaps they will showr 
 us how to make digging-sticks and ploughs. As they are 
 fertile they will help women who are going to have offspring, 
 and men and women who are past having any. If their father 
 is the Sky the boys will get rain from him ; and he will help 
 them to find stolen property (for he sees and knows every- 
 thing), and to know if men speak truly : and they will help 
 trading (for the merchants can deposit their goods securely in 
 the neighbourhood of their sanctuaries), and they will punish 
 lying. As they know what their father knows, they will 
 tell us in dreams things that we ought to know, and the 
 medicines that we ought to apply to our diseases ; and we 
 will make images of them by which we may keep them in 
 remembrance, and make our salutations before them. 
 
 This is a brief summary of the facts already collected 
 about Twins. 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 BOANERGES 
 
 As is well known, the title which we place ;it the head of 
 this chapter is the name which is given in the Gospel of 
 Mark to James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, and which 
 is explained by the Evangelist £is meaning ' Sons of Thunder.' Sons of 
 Neither of the two other Synoptic writers, Matthew and 
 Luke, transfers this statement of Mark to his pages. It 
 may, perhaps, be inferred that they found the explanation 
 unintelligible or objectionable. The only other ancient 
 Christian writing in which it occurs is in Justin Martyr's 
 Dialogue with Trypho, where Justin professes to be giving 
 information from the Memoirs of the Apostles, and was, 
 therefore, either working directly from the Petrine tra- 
 dition in Mark, or from some collateral tradition': in either 
 case, the antiquity of the statement is confirmed ; and the 
 probability that Justin's source is Mark will be increased 
 when we observe that they appear to share in a peculiar and 
 perhaps corrupt form of spelling for the name. 
 
 The difficulties attaching to the Marci\n statement relate, 
 first, to the form of the spelling ; second, to the mtaning of 
 its equivalent translation. 
 
 As there seemed to be no Hebrew word exactly answering 
 to the termination -reges or -erges, those of the early Fathers 
 who were scholars could do little with the linguistic problem, 
 and it was reserved for Jerome to .suggest that, as the word 
 
 ■ Justin, tiial. 106. 'HcchanKed the name of one of the Apostles and 
 called him Peter: and in his (Peter's) memoirs it is aUo recorded to have 
 happened, that he changed the name of the sons of Zebedee to Sons of 
 Thunder (Boanerges).' 
 
 II. o. 1 
 
2 BOANERGES [CH. 
 
 for Thunder in Hebrew is re'eni, where the middle letter 
 (Ayin) is often transliterated in Greek by g, an error had 
 been made in the final consonant of a Semitic word : Boane- 
 would, then, be an attempt to transliterate, from some dialect 
 or other, the word for ' Sons of,' which we commonly write 
 B'ne. 
 
 It is possible that Jerome's is the right solution. It may, 
 however, be suggested, that there is a closely related root in 
 the Arabic language, which may furnish us the necessary 
 explanation; the word ragasa ((.^-a-j) means to 'roar aloud,' 
 ' to thunder'.' Perhaps, then, this is the root that we are in 
 search of. 
 
 Turn, now, to the explanation which Mark gives of the 
 matter. He tells us to equate the transliterated Semitic 
 word with ' Sons of Thunder ' ; and we shall see that no 
 room is left for reasonable doubt as to what was meant 
 by the peculiar appellation given to the two young men. 
 
 None of the Fathers, however, seems to have had any 
 suspicion as to the true meaning; and the modern com- 
 mentators are as much at sea as their patristic antecedents. 
 The common method of interpretation is to compare the 
 forceful actions and utterances of James and John with the 
 Origen on thunder. Thus, in the recently discovered scholia of Origen 
 oanerges. ^^ ^^^ Apocalypse, when Origen comes to discuss the seven 
 thunders in c. 10, v. 3, and the profKDsal to incorporate the 
 voices of these seven thunders in the Apocalypse, he 
 remarks parenthetically that ' if you enquire into the case 
 of the Sons of Thunder, James and John, whom Jesus 
 called Boanerges, that is. Sons of Thunder, you will find 
 them very properly called Sons of Thunder on account of 
 the loud voice of their ideas and doctrines'.' 
 
 The same line is taken among the moderns by Dr Swete, 
 who tells us' that ' in the case of James, nothing remains to 
 
 ' The .same word occurs in Hebrew (? Aramaic) in the second I'salm, 
 ' Wherefore do the heathen rage ? ' as our translators imitatively rendered the 
 word. Cf. the Latin, Quare/rem«en<n« gentes? 
 
 ' Teste u. Vntersuch. xxxvill. 3, p. 40. 
 
 ^ Comm. on Mark, iii. 17. 
 
l] BOANERGES 3 
 
 justify the title beyond the fact of his early martyrdom, 
 probably due to the force of his denunciations (Acts xii. 2): 
 John's poTjTT] ^popTTj (Orig. Philoc. XV. 18) is heard in 
 Gospel, Epistles, and Apocalypse.' 
 
 It is not necessarj' to examine into any further ex- 
 planations, either ancient or modern, of the perplexing 
 Boanerges, since it is clear that ' Sons of Thunder' is quite 
 intelligible from the standpoint of folk-lore, and means that 
 the persons so named were either actually twins or so twin- 
 like in appearance or action, that they might appropriately 
 be spoken of as ' the twins.' As the results which will 
 follow this identification are of the highest importance, it 
 will be well to set down some of the confirmations of the 
 correctness of the interpretation. Can we find ' sons of 
 thunder' elsewhere, either exactly so named or in equivalent 
 language ? Can we find either ' sons of the sky,' or ' sons 
 of lightning,' as parallels to the Boanerges ? And if they 
 are found, is there any evidence which suggests that the 
 idea that twins were children of the thunder wjis as much 
 at home in Palestine as in the outside world ? The first 
 and most obvious remark to be made is that the expression 
 is quam proxime the equivalent of the title by which the 
 Spartan Twins were known ; for ' Dioscuri ' is literally 
 ' Zeus' boys,' and while it is common to explain Zeus Twins as 
 etymologically as the equivalent of the bright sky (Dyaus), g^"^' 
 everyone knows that the actual Zeus is just as much the 
 Thunder as he is the Bright Sky ; in Graeco-Roman circles 
 he is, in fact, the thunder-god rather than the sky-god ; and, 
 as might be expected, when we move into regions further 
 north it is the Thunder-god whom we meet in the person 
 of Thor, and not the bright sky at all. The fact is that 
 the original notion of 'sky' involved the idea of 'thunder'; 
 and just as in the African tribes of to-day, one word did 
 duty for both. 
 
 We shall see, by-and-by, when we examine into the cult 
 of the Heavenly Twins more closely, that in almost every cjuse 
 in which the Twins are represented, in art, in worship, by an 
 attached priesthood, or by appropriate sacrifices, one colour 
 
 1-2 
 
Tilo 
 
 4 BOANERGES [CH. 
 
 dominates the representations, the red colour of the lightning. 
 There is not the slightest objection to the equation of the 
 Greek Dioscuri with the Children of the Thunder. 
 
 To take the matter a step further: it has been shown 
 that amongst the Baronga tribes in Portuguese East Africa, 
 it is the custom to attach to twins, when born, the collective 
 Bana ba- name of ' Bana-ba-Tilo,' or ' children of Tilo,' where the 
 word ' Tilo ' is used for ' sky ' in the general sense, including 
 the thunder and lightning, and possibly the rain. And it 
 was evident, as soon as attention was drawn to it, that we 
 had here in an African tribe the verj' same nomenclature 
 of twins which we find for the special ideal twins, Castor and 
 Pollux, amongst the Greeks. It is curious that Dr Frazer, 
 who had studied the account of the Baronga customs given 
 by M. Junod, the Swiss missionary, did not notice the 
 equivalence between Bana-ba-Tilo and Dioscuri, until I 
 pointed it out to him ; and he promptly retorted upon my 
 own lack of vision by remarking that in that case we had the 
 explanation of the perplexing Boanerges in the New Testa- 
 ment. We had between us arrived at the equivalence : 
 Boanerges = Dioscuri = Bana-ba-Tilo ! 
 
 We shall have to refer to the Baronga tribes again for other 
 features of the twin-cult : at the present point, all that is 
 necessary is to show how widespread is the idea that twins 
 are to be assigncid, either wholly or in part, to the parentage 
 of the thunder'. 
 
 Now let ur return to Palestine. If we take the Survey 
 Twins in map of the Palestine Exploration Society, we shall find a 
 village not far from Jaffa, marked by the name of Ibn Abraq 
 or Ibraq. It is four or five miles from Jaffa, and a little to 
 the north of the road that leads from Jaffa to Jerusalem. 
 The name means ' Son of Lightnings,' and suggests at once 
 a classification with the 'Sons of Thunder' that we are 
 discussing: only, in that case, we should expect a dual or 
 a plural in the Arabic. Now let us look at the book of 
 
 ' M. Junod's work, Le> Ba-nmga, (Stude ethnograpbique sur les iudigftnes 
 de la Baie de Delagoa, was published at Nouch&tel in 1898 in vol. 10 of 
 Bulledn de la Sociiti Neuchtitdoise de Gioijraphie. 
 
 ■^ulestine. 
 
l] BOANERGES 5 
 
 Joshua xix. •io, where we shall find a series of place-names 
 in the tribe of Dan and amongst them Jeliud and Bne- 
 Baraq and Gath-Rimmon. Here we have the name in its 
 original form, with the desired plural, while the worship 
 of the thunder is further attested by the presence in the 
 neighbourhood of a place which is compounded with that 
 of the Thunder-god (Rimmon). We need not, therefore, 
 hesitate to say that there was an ancient town in Palestine, 
 not far from Jaffa, which was named after the Heavenly 
 Twins. Further confirmation will be found in the great 
 inscription of Sennacherib, which mentions a town Bana-ai- 
 bar-qa in connection with Joppa and Beth-dagon. We are 
 sure, then, that such a town as was named Sons of Lightning 
 existed from the earliest times in Western Palestine. 
 
 We have now to investigate further the meaning of this 
 ])eculiar appellation: and it seems as if it could be only 
 one of three things: either (a) it is a settlement of people 
 coming from elsewhere, and bringing with them the name 
 of their protector-gods, much as the Greeks gave the name 
 of Tyndaris to a settlement in Sicily, in honour of the 
 Tyndaridae, or Sons of Tyndareus (Castor and Pollux); or 
 (6) it is a place-name of the same category as a number of 
 Dioscuric shrines, where sailors made appeal and presented 
 votive offerings, the position of such sanctuaries being 
 determined by dangerous rocks, shallows, and straits ; or 
 (c) it is a primitive sanctuary of the Twins, and a twin- 
 town, similar to those which are being formed by exiled 
 twin-mothers and their children in West Africa at the 
 present day. 
 
 Of these explanations the second is the most probable, 
 for, as is well known, the shore at Jaffa has outside it a 
 dangerous reef of rocks which was certtiin to require a 
 special oversight on the part of those who have the care 
 of sailors. Perhaps the actual position of the motlern 
 village Ibn Ibraq is moved somewhat from its original site. 
 We should have expected the Dioscureion to be on high 
 ground, especially if it served as lighthouse and look-out 
 station as well as shrine. Hcrt', then, we have, and again 
 
6 BOANERGES [CH. 
 
 on Palestinian soil, a decided memory of Twin-cult. It 
 may, perhaps, be urged that the village belongs to the 
 Philistines and their cult, and in the same way that the 
 Boanerges of Galilee are Aryan and not Semitic. That 
 may be so, but our first business is to find them ; if we want 
 to get them out of the Holy Land again, that will come later, 
 and will require special proof, which will perhaps not be forth- 
 coming. Wherever these commemorated twins come from, 
 they are to be studied along with the similar phenomena 
 that are being recorded and observed all over the world. 
 There must be no preliminary exclusion of the Holy Land. 
 Twins in For instance, it is well known that Cyrepe and the 
 
 Cjreue. Cyrenaica are under the protection of the Dorian twins, and 
 that the Cyrenians regarded themselves, when they posed as 
 Greek, as being a Dorian colony. Hence they put on their 
 coins stars, horses and the silphium plant, which are the 
 sacred symbols of the Dioscuri'. But it must be noted that 
 they had other than Spartan reasons for the cult of the Twins, 
 for just off their coast lay the Great Syrtis, one of the chief 
 perils to ancient navigation, which we remember to have 
 been dreaded when the tempestuous wind Euraquilo swept 
 St Paul's ship across the Mediterranean from Crete to 
 Africa. Amongst the famous cities of the Pentapolis we 
 find the name of Barca, which again reminds us by its 
 name and by its coins, that the city was named after the 
 Children of the Lightning. And this name is Semitic and 
 not Dorian Greek; so that we hesitate to ascribe the cult 
 of the Twins in the Cyrenaica only to Dorian (Spartan) 
 colonizers'. It is much more likely to be Phoenician first 
 ' e.g. Hunter Collection, no. 36 (Cyicne) ; a coin showing silphium plant 
 between two stars etc. 
 
 2 The recognition of Cyrene as a. cult centre for twin-worship has a, 
 literary as well as a numismatic interest. When the authorof the second book of 
 Maccabees epitomized the tive hooks of Jason of Cyrene, his first section was 
 ccincerned with the attempt of Hcliodorus to rob the temple at Jerusalem, 
 and his repulse by certain young men, who have been recognised as the 
 Dioscuri, slightly disguised as angels. But in that case, Jason must have 
 given the first place to this incident, and this is natural enough, for he was 
 writing in Cyrene and for Cyrenian readers, who would understand perfectly 
 the kind of interposition which he was recording, and be predisposed to 
 accept his interpretation. 
 
l] BOANERGES 7 
 
 and Dorian after. In the same way the Twins of Bne 
 Barqa may be Palestinian first and Philistian or Phoenician 
 afterwards. A somewhat similar case, of the carrying of 
 the Twins by colonization, will be found in the Spanish 
 city Barcelona, whose ancient name Barkinon shows that 
 it was a Punic settlement. It is not inconceivable, there- 
 fore, that in the neighbourhood of Jaffa, Phoenician 
 navigators or settlers should have established a shrine or 
 a sanctuary or a settlement, named after the Twins, and 
 we shall see later an abundant evidence of the Twin Cult 
 in Phoenicia itself If, on the other hand, it should be 
 urged that the colony (if it was a colony) w;is Philistian, and 
 came originally from Crete, we shall be equally able to 
 establish Twin-worship for the early civilization of that 
 famous island. And, in brief, whoever may have been the 
 people that were responsible for the settlement and naming 
 of Bne Barqa, the name itself can only stand for the 
 Heavenly Twins, considered as the Sons of the Lightning. 
 We have, then, the companion term of the highest antiquity 
 for the Boanerges of the New Testament. Nor does there 
 seem any reasonable doubt as to the accuracy of our 
 interpretation. 
 
 At this point, however, it becomes necessary to stop 
 and consider more closely the forms under which thunder 
 and lightning were regarded by primitive mankind, and 
 the characteristics which they attributed to them. One 
 caution may be expressed before we turn to this investi- 
 gation. It has been suspected that in attributing twins 
 to the parentage of the Thunder, whether one or both of 
 them be so honoured, that we are on a plane of human 
 evolution, where the facts of racial propagation are not 
 regarded as established in final form, and according to an 
 unvarying law. Parentage, for the primitive man, can come 
 from anywhere : from natural forces, and unusual objects 
 and events. The wind wivs credited with the fecundation 
 of mares ; the Egyptian bull Apis was conceived from a 
 lightning Hash, if we may bi-lieve Herodotus. Amongst 
 the North American Indians, wi; find parentage imaginefl 
 
8 BOANERGES [CH. 
 
 in the most diverse forms. And it seems certain, therefore, 
 
 that there may be cases where single births are credited 
 
 to the Thunder and the Lightning, as well as dual births. 
 
 We must not dogmatically affirm that every Son of Thunder 
 
 is necessarily a twin. 
 
 Thunder- To take a single example : the Aramaean people in 
 
 ancient N-^- Syria worshipped, amongst other objects of devotion, 
 
 Damascus, ^j^g god Hadad, who is the equivalent of the Babylonian 
 
 god Adad, the god of thunder. It seems, moreover, that a 
 
 number of the Syrian kings of Damascus took the title of 
 
 Bar-hadad. We should clearly be wrong in assuming that 
 
 Bar-hadad was a twin : for we can make out a sequence of 
 
 kings of Syria as follows : 
 
 Tab-Rimmon. 
 
 Bar-Hadad = Heb. Ben-hadad. 
 
 Hadad-idri = Heb. Hadad-ezer. 
 
 Bar-Hadad = Heb. Ben-hadad. 
 
 Hazael. 
 Four out of these five are affiliated to the Thunder-god, either 
 in the Assyrian form Ramman, or in the Babylonian (?Am- 
 ^ orite) form Adad or Hadad. Now the succession of the 
 
 names shows that the reference to the Thunder-god must be 
 a matter of dignity, not an indication of twin-ship. It will 
 be otherwise with private persons who do not stand in the 
 same close relationship to the gods as their kings. Such 
 persons may, and constantly do, have theophoric names ; but 
 the term Son of Thundei- is more than an ordinary theophoric 
 name, implying the gift or grace of a god in the birth of a 
 child. The probability is, therefore, that when such a name 
 was borne by a private individual, the name connoted twin- 
 ship. To take a curious illustration, we find in the chronicle 
 of Jushiia the Stx/lite^ that a bishop of Telia in the sixth 
 century w;is named Bar-hadad. The persistence of the ancient 
 name must be conceded, although it may be questioned 
 whether its meaning continued to be undei-stood : and the 
 easiest explanation of the persistence of such a pagan name 
 
 " Kd. Wright, c. 58. 
 
j] BOANERGES 3 
 
 in Christian circles is that it was for the general population 
 the name of a twin. If, however, it should be thought that 
 this explanation is unwarranted, the occurrence of the 
 name with its undoubted meaning would be one more reason 
 for caution in the too rapid inference from Thunder Sonship 
 to Twinship. 
 
 There is another direction in which we may require a 
 preliminary caution. We have shown that it does not 
 necessarily follow that when the parenthood of the Thunder 
 is recognised, it neces-sarily extends to both of the twins. 
 The Dioscuri may be called unitedly, Sons of Zeus ; but a 
 closer investigation shows conclusively that there was a 
 tendency in the early Greek cults to regard one twin as of 
 divine parentage, and the other of human. Thus Castor is 
 credited to Tyndareus, Pollux to Zeus; and of the Thcban 
 twins, Amphion is divine, and the son of Zeus, while Zethus 
 is human and of ordinary parentage; and a little reflection 
 shows, that such a distinction was, in early days, almost 
 inevitable. The extra child made the trouble, and was 
 credited to an outside source. Only later will the difficulty 
 of discrimination lead to the recognition of both as Sky-boys 
 or Thunder-boys. An instance from a remote civilization 
 will show that this is the right view to take. 
 
 For example, Arriaga, in his Extirpation of Idolatry in Twins in 
 Peru, tells us that ' when two children are produced at one 
 birth, which, as we said before, they call Chuchos or Curi, 
 and in el Cuzco Taqui Hua-hua, they hold it for an impious 
 and iibominable occurrence, and they say, that one of them is 
 the child of the Lightning, and require a severe penance, as 
 if they ha<l committed a great sin'.' And it is interesting to 
 note that when the Peruvians, of whom Arriaga speaks, 
 became Christians, they replaced the name of Son of Thunder, 
 given to one of the twins, by the name of Santiago, having 
 learnt from their Spanish teachers that St James (Santiago, 
 
 ' Arrift««, Ertirjmcion (/<• ta ItloUitria dtl Pirn, p. 32, Lima, 1621, 
 ' Qunndo naccn Hog de iin parlo. qui conio diximos arriva llaman Cliucbos. 
 o Curi. y en el Cuzco Taqui Huahua. lo tieiian por cosa sacrilcga y abo- 
 minnbilc, y aunquc ilizen, qui cl uno cs hijo del Rayo, bazen grande peni- 
 tencia, como si uviessen becho un gran pccca<lo.' 
 
10 BOANERGES [CH. 
 
 S. Diego) and St John had been called Sons of Thunder by 
 our Lord, a phrase which these Peruvian Indians seem to 
 have understood, where the great commentators of the 
 Christian Church had missed the meaning. When they 
 heard the Spaniards fire off their harquebuses, they used to 
 call the piece fired by the name of Illapa (i.e. Thunder') or 
 Rayo (i.e. Lightning) or Santiago (i.e. Son of Thunder)'. 
 Santiago, for them, was the equivalent of the thunder. 
 
 Another curious and somewhat similar transfer of the 
 language of the Marcan story in the folk-lore of a people, 
 distant both in time and place, but sharing the Jewish or 
 Galilean popular beliefs, will be found, even at the present 
 day, amongst the Danes. Dr Blinkenberg, in his valuable 
 Thunder- monograph on Tlie Thunderiveapon, has collected evidence 
 Denmark from many parts of Denmark to show that it is still common 
 to pay regard to Thunderstones, as being animistically in- 
 habited by the Thunder, and able in consequence to avert 
 the lightning from persons or places, in time of storm'. 
 
 ' See Acosta, Natural and Moral history of the Index, reprinted by 
 Hakluyt Society, Lond. 1880, p. 304, 'The thunder they (the Peruvians) 
 called by three divers name.';, Chuquilla, Catuilla, and Intillape (Yllapa is 
 Thunder in Quichna), supposing it to be a man in lieaven with a sling and 
 a mace, and that it is in his power to cause rain, haile, thunder and all the 
 rest that appertaines to the region of the air.' 
 
 - Arriaga, I.e. p. 33, 'En el nombre de Santiago tienen tambicn super- 
 sticion y suelcu dar esto nombre ad uno de los Chuchos como a hijos de 
 Rayo, q suelen llamar Santiago. No entiendo que sera por el nombre 
 Boanerges, que les pusso al apostol Santiago y a su hermano S. Juan Christo 
 nuestro Sefior, llamandoles Rayos, que esto quiere dezir hijos del trueno, 
 segun 1ft frasse Hebrea, sino o porque se avra cstendido por aca la frasse, 
 conseya de los muchachos de Espafia, que quando truena, dizen que corre 
 el cavallo de Santiago, or porque veian, que en las guerras que tenian los 
 Espanoles, quando querian disparar los arcabuzes, que los Indies llaman 
 Illapa, o Rayo, apellidavan priniero Santiago. Santiago. Ue qualquiera 
 manera que sea, usurpan con grande supersticion el nombre de Santiago, 
 y assi entra las denias constituciones que dexan los Visitadores acabade la 
 visitaes una, que nadie se llamo Santiago, sino Diego.' 
 
 ' It must not be supposed that this use of the thunderstone as a 
 lightningaverter is peculiar to Denmark. Probably the horseshoes which 
 one sees everywhere in country houses in England belong to the same 
 category. Uscner (Gi'illernamen, p. 287) gives an account of the pulling 
 down of an old convent at Bonn in the year 1884, when an axe of the 
 stone age was discovered under one of the beams. Evidently it had been 
 regarded as a thunder axe, and hiul been used for the protection of the 
 
l] BOANERGES 1 1 
 
 Besides the conventional flint axes and celts, which commonly 
 pass as thunder-missiles all over the world, the Danes regard 
 the fossil sea-urchin iis a thunderstone, and give it a peculiar 
 name. Such stones are named in Sailing, sebedaei-stones or 
 s'bedaei; in North Sailing they are called sepadeje-stones. 
 In Norbaek, in the district of Viborg, the peasantry called Zebedee- 
 them Zebedee stones! At Jebjerg, in the parish of Orum, 
 district of Randers, they called them sebedei-sioncs. At 
 Rcimshinde, in the district of Aarhus, the man who carried a 
 zebcdee-stone in his pocket believed himself immune from 
 thunder. At Salten, and at Taaning in the same district, 
 they were called seppedij-stones. At Klakring, in the district 
 of Vejle, they were called .?^((rfe;'o-st()nes, and are put under 
 the roof as a protection against lightning. 
 
 The name that is given to these thunderstones is, there- 
 fore, very well established, and it seems certain that it is 
 derived from the reference to the Sons of Zebedee in the 
 Gospel as sons of thunder. The Danish peasant, like the 
 Peruvian savage, recognised at once what w.vs meant by 
 Boanerges, and called his thunderstone after its patron 
 saint. Probably he displaced some cariiiT title in giving the 
 stone this name. 
 
 Feilberg, in his great dictionary, discusses the meaning 
 of the name under the head of Spudejesten, and with the 
 following conclusion : the word spadeje signifies a luitch, a 
 prophetess ; hence the stone is a xuitch-stone. The zebedee- 
 stone is a perversion of this, under the influence of Mark 
 iii. 17. In Kolkar's dictionary, the same derivation is given, 
 and the same allusion to Mark iii. 17 ; and the name 
 bodejesten is explained in the same way ius milkmaid-stone 
 from bodeje, a milkmaid. There is no difficulty about the 
 latter derivation, as the stones are actually used in dairies to 
 keep the thunder from souring the milk ; but the other 
 derivation is inadequate, and in view of the Peruvian analogy, 
 it is more natunil to suppose that the stones were regartled 
 
 Bacrcd building ivgainst lightning. We shall see later how the saino result is 
 accomplished by the attachment to a building of the body or representation 
 o( the thunder-bird. 
 
12 BOANERGES [CH. I 
 
 as embodiments of the thunder, in which case the thunder- 
 stone becomes naturally enough a Zebedee-stone'. 
 
 ■ It may be asked whether this does not require or suggest a further 
 possibility that Zebedee may itself be a thunder-name, whose meaning having 
 been obscured, an alternative name for the Sons of Thunder was introduced. 
 
 The name Zabdai (Zebedee) is good Hebrew; it will be found, for instance, 
 in the last chapter of Ezra in the form Zabad l/in, and Zebedaiah (i.e. God 
 has bestowed). It must be regarded as a genuine Hebrew name, unless there 
 should be reason to believe that Zabdai is a Hebrew substitute for some non- 
 Semitic name. Of non-Semitic influence in Galilee, there seem to be decided 
 traces; but it is extremely unlikely that we can refer Zebedee to such a 
 source. The only possible direction would be the name of the Phrygian 
 Zeus, which the Greeks give as Sabazios, Sabadios, and a variety of similar 
 spellings. Usener traces the root of this name {(iiitteniameti, p. 4-1) to the 
 word stor7>i, which would make Sabazios originally a storm god. His cult 
 can be traced as far east as Cilicia and Cappadocia; and in the west he 
 follows the Roman armies with Mithra. I know, however, of no trace of him 
 in Syria or Northern Palestine. In his cult-monuments we sometimes find 
 depicted the Eagle and the Lightning, and the Oakbranch. On a bronze 
 relief of Sabazios in Copenhagen, the corners of the plate are occupied by 
 the Dioscuri, standing by the side of their horses. This may be nothing but 
 Syncretism. On the other hand, the Eagle is the Thunder-bird, and as we 
 shall see, the Oak-tree is the Thunder-tree; so we have five suggestions for 
 identifying Sabazi with the Thunder. If such identification were possible, 
 Zebedee might still be a real person, for his name would be theophoric. In 
 the mysteries of Sabazios the initiate became identified with his god. The 
 identification of Sabazi with Zebedee would not, therefore, imply that 
 Zebedee was not a real person. The name occurs, moreover, a number of 
 times in the recently recovered papyri from Elephantine, in the forms Zabdai 
 and Zebadaiah, so that there appears to be no reason for questioning its 
 Hebraism, or introducing a mythological meaning. 
 
 On the other hand, it might be suggested that the awkward and unnatural 
 expression, 'the mother of Zebedee's children,' which occurs twice in the 
 Gospel of Matthew (xx. 20, xxvii. 56), would be perfectly lucid, if ' Zebedee'a 
 children ' were equivalent to the Dioscuri or Zeus' boys. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE I'AHKNTA(;E ok the TWIN'S 
 
 In the previous chapter it was shown that the popular 
 belief which expressed itself in the name Boanerges was very 
 widely spread over the ancient and the modern world. It 
 was not maintained that the Thimder, considered as parent, 
 had no children except twin children, but it was clear that 
 such were commonly assigned to him ; and that one child out 
 of a pair of twins was his by right, the other was his by 
 concession. The second child gravitated, so to speak, to the 
 same parentage as the first. 
 
 It becomes proper, therefore, to discuss more at length 
 the primitive conception of the Thunder, in order that we 
 may explain from it, wherever possible, the functions assigned 
 to the Twins in early or later stages of evolution. We shall, 
 therefore, indicate briefly some of the forms through which 
 the idea of Thunder h.is passed, without attempting an 
 exhaustive treatment of the subject. 
 
 Everyone knows the Thunder-god in the latest form Aryan 
 which he took for our ancestors, or for the artists and poets ^^j 
 of Greek and Roman civilization. The conception wjis 
 anthropomorphic ; the Thunder was either Thor with his 
 mell, or Jupiter with his lightning in hand, or Zeus, striking 
 men and ships with his bolts. There was a Euroi)ean Sky-god, 
 who was viewed alternatively aa a Thunder-god. The thunder 
 was, in fact, his monopoly. A very little study, however, 
 of classical literature and archaeology, will show that this 
 monopoly is an acquired monopoly. The thunder has been 
 ' cornered,' to use a modem commercial expression. Rival 
 firms have been suppresse<l or made tributiir)- ; they produce 
 the article, but after the rule of 'sic vos non vobi.s.' 
 
14 THE PAKENTAGE OF THE TWINS [CH. 
 
 Hephaestus is a rival Thunder-god, to whom nothing is left 
 but the smithy: the Cyclopes, too, appear to have had a 
 foundry of their own, and Hesiod expressly calls one of them 
 by the name of Brontes or Thunderer. Prometheus, too, the 
 Fire-bringer, belongs to the same circle of ideas ; he is, 
 perhaps, an original Zeus, for the fire and the lightning are 
 closely related, and Zeus himself is in one passage called 
 Promanthoua*. 
 
 Poseidon, also, appears at one time or another to have 
 been of similar occupation, for the trident which he wields is 
 not, as has sometimes been supposed, the archaic fish-spear, 
 but the forked lightning, whose correct analogue is the group 
 of lightning-shafts in the hands of the ancient Assyrian gods^ 
 All of these forms, however, belong to the anthropomorphic 
 stage in which the thunder is visaged as a man. 
 The There are, however, abundant indications that this anthro- 
 
 bird° pomoqihic stage has been reached by a somewhat long 
 journey. The Greeks themselves recognised that Zeus had 
 antecedents ; there was an ornithomorph, and possibly several 
 theriomorphs, before the anthropomorph. When we see Zeus 
 accompanied by an eagle in whose claws the sheaf of lightning 
 is disposed, we have one case out of many similar ones, 
 where two forms of a cult are expressed at one glance, the 
 elder and the younger, the eagle being the cult-ancestor of 
 Zeus ; we shall see presently reason to believe that there is 
 an earlier form of thundering bird than the eagle, and that 
 the eagle has actually displaced the woodpecker : but for the 
 present it is sutKcient to state that the human thunder-gods 
 
 ' Tzetzes in Lycoph. Alex. 537. 
 
 - Hence I infer that Mr A. B. Cook is wrong in connecting the trident 
 with the lordship of the sea : in describing a scarab of Etruscan workmanship, 
 in which a naked male deity is stepping into a chariot, grasping a thunderbolt 
 in his right hand, a trident in his left, Mr Cook remarks, ' the thunderbolt 
 marks him as a sky-gcMl, the triiicnt (i» a iidter-god etc' He goes on to give 
 Brunn's description of a bas-relief at Albano, where 'the central figure is a 
 god, bt'arded and crowned, who by the attributes of a thunderbolt and a 
 trident on his right, and a cornucopia surmounted by an eagle on his left side, 
 is .shown to be Jupiter conceived as lord of the sky, the sen, and the under- 
 world.' For Kea, read lightniny : and so with the rest of the examples adduced 
 by Mr Cook (Folk-Lore, 190-1, pp. 274-5). 
 
Il] THE PARENTAGE OF THE TWINS 15 
 
 have been evolved out of animal and bird fonna, or have at 
 least been evolved side by side with such forms. 
 
 The memory of such cult ancestry lingered amongst the 
 Greeks and Liitins to a very late day. They told legends of 
 a time when Zeus was not, and when Woodpecker was king ; King 
 and even if such statements should be made by a comic poet', pecker 
 he was not playing the innovator when he made the state- 
 ment, but the thoughtful conservative. In the same way, 
 artists all over the world have drawn the Thunder with bird 
 characteristics, very commonly with bird's feet. The popular 
 pictures of the devil with cock's feet are only an intimation 
 that the devil is one of the dispossessed thunder-gods. In 
 China, as we shall see later on, the thunder is drawn as a 
 man hurling lightnings, but the man has bird's feet. In 
 Crete there was a legend of the death of Zeus, which caused 
 holy horror to the pious Greeks of Olympian times, and was 
 the foimdation for the much misunderstood saying that ' the 
 Cretans were aye liars ' ; but along with this legend there 
 was another as to the death of Picus, who Wiis also Zeus. 
 Picus is, of course, the woodpecker. The statement is pre- 
 served for us by Suidas, under the form of an epitaph, 
 
 'EvddSe KCirai 6ava)V \_^a<Ti\ii.o<;'\ WrjKO'; 6 koI Zeil?. 
 
 All of which is suggestive enough, and intimates to us that 
 we should make an investigation into the bird-forms or 
 animal-forms with which the thunder was identified by men 
 of ancient days. Nor can we, in such an enquiry, ignore the 
 question as to whether the thunder had inanimate forms, or 
 vegetable forms, with which the primitive animist had 
 alternatively made his equation. That such forms existed is 
 clear from the persistent belief in the thunderstone, extiint 
 in Europe down to the present day ; such stones being 
 recognised in the stone axes of early times, or in fossil-forms 
 (like the sea-urchins amongst the Danes), which the lhun<ier 
 has tenanted in such a way .as to make them either a danger 
 or a means of security. In the vegetable world, as we shall 
 see, there are various thunder-incarnations. It suffices to 
 
 ' Arislopliancs, Axtt, 47S. 
 
16 THE PARENTAGE OF THE TWINS [cH. 
 
 mention, in the first instance, the oak-tree, which is for the 
 Europeans of ancient time the same thing in vegetable life 
 as the e.agle was in bird life, comparable also to the sky 
 itself, as being an animistic dwelling of the thunder. Mr 
 The A. B. Cook, in a series of remarkable papers on the European 
 
 Oak° " sky-god', has shown how closely the cult of the sky-god 
 amongst our ancestors was connected with the cult of the 
 sacred tree, the oak being the tree most commonly honoured, 
 though there are distinct traces of other tree cults. We 
 shall find the best explanation of the equation between the 
 sky-god and the oak-tree in the lightning which p;vsses from 
 one to the other, and makes its secondary dwelling in the 
 tree that it strikes. We shall probably see reason for be- 
 lieving that peculiar sanctity attaches to a hollow oak. In 
 the same way the Romans regarded as sacred, and fenced off 
 from the public with appropriate warnings, the spot of 
 ground where a lightning flash struck, or where a thunder- 
 stone was supposed to have fallen. The thunderstone itself, 
 when identified, became a sacred object, either dangerous, as 
 still containing the thunder within it, or protective, on the 
 hypothesis that lightning does not strike lightning. The 
 thunder-weapon accordingly becomes one of the principal 
 objects of cult, and in some points of view is regarded as 
 almost divine. In the E;ist the gods constantly carry it, 
 in the form of an axe, frequently a double axe, while 
 The in the West the most common form of the axe is known to 
 
 Thunder- ^g ,^g ^y^^ hammer of Thor. On the ancient Cretan monu- 
 ments, on the Hittite and Assyrian sculptures, the sky-god 
 (storm-god, thunder-god) is constantly represented with or 
 by the single or double axe ; and in many cases the god 
 carries his axe (thunderstone) in one hand, and his bunch of 
 lightnings in the other, the bunch of lightnings being often 
 in the form of a single or double trident^. 
 
 We have thus two series of identifications to keep in 
 mind : 
 
 ' Fulk-Lore, 1904. 
 
 - For illu.stration, see Blinkenbcrg, The Thitiiderneapon: Roscher, s.v. 
 Rammiin, Teshub, Dolichcnus, etc. 
 
 axo 
 
n] THE PARENTAGE OF TDE TWINS 17 
 
 Sky-god 
 or Thunder-god = Oak-god (with various substitute or 
 
 alternative trees), 
 or Lightning-god = Thunderstone (stone-axe, double-axe, 
 hammer, etc., including fossils with 
 imagined thunder-forms). 
 = Lightning (trident, dotible trident, etc.), 
 to which must be added the anthropomorphic, ornitho- 
 morphic or zodmorphic representations of the thunder. 
 
 These representations of the thunder as beast, bird or 
 man are of the first importance in our enquiry as to the 
 origin and development of the twin-cult ; for, if the Twins 
 are regarded as the sons of the thunder, the parentage will 
 be more easily recognisable when the thunder Uikes an 
 animate shape. It is not impossible that thunder-trees or 
 thunderstones should be identified with twins, but it is, in 
 the nature of the ca.se, much le.ss likely than that the twins 
 sh(juld be recognised in forms of animal life, which have been 
 associated either with the thunder, or the thunder-tree. 
 Moreover, we shall be able to trace the modification of the 
 parentage of the Twins from a bird ancestry to a human 
 ancestry, since this very change of view is actually taking 
 place among certain savage tribes at the present day, the 
 Thunder being considered by them in the first instiince as a 
 bird, and in a later and secondary identification being en- 
 dowed with a human form. As we have said, it is these 
 identifications and modifications which need to be cjirefully 
 watched, if we are to determine how such an idea as that of 
 the great Twin Brethren of the Dorians amse out of the 
 senseless but terrible taboo which we find still existing in 
 savage Africa at the present day. 
 
 Of bin! ancestries, we shall show that the first place 
 must be given to the woodpecker, but that there are a 
 number of other binis, more or less demonstrably thunder- 
 binls; we shall al.so come across suspicious cases of thunder- 
 beasts, including the squirrel, the flying-squirrel and jjerhaps 
 the beaver; and all of these must be groupi'd in an equation 
 of identification similar to what is given above, so that iho 
 
18 THE PARENTAGE OF THE TWINS [CH. 
 
 Sky-god 
 
 or Thunder-god = woodpecker, robin, stork (?), swan(?), 
 
 eagle, etc. 
 or Lightning-god = squirrel or beaver (?), etc. 
 
 = thunder-man (Zeus, Jupiter,Thor,etc.), 
 and according to the state of evolution of the idea of the 
 thunder, will be the form assigned to the Twins considered 
 as of Thunder-parentage. 
 
 The importance of the last consideration will be evident. 
 If, for example, we find Twins regarded as Woodpeckers, or 
 as human beings with names or characteristics which imply 
 The Twins woodpecker antecedents, then the twin-cult which we are 
 peckers Considering is older than the time when the woodpecker had 
 given place to an eagle or to an Olympian Jove. We are 
 working from a very ancient stratum of civilization, if it can 
 be called civilization, and not from a time when gods and 
 goddesses many had already been recognised and defined. 
 To say that the Twins in Greek religion are pre-Olympian 
 is to put it very gently indeed. They may be Zeus' boys, 
 but just as there was a time when there was no Zeus, so 
 there was a time when there were no boys. And it is to the 
 study of such a time that we must turn if we are to under- 
 stand the cult. 
 
 If, moreover, we must not derive our cult from Olympian 
 Zeus, or from any similar anthropomorph, still less must we 
 begin by discussing the Twins as they were finally lo<lged in 
 the Zodiac. For even if the Zodiac were as ancient as the 
 neo- Babylonian school imagine (which it almost certainly is 
 not), its antiquity would be a mere handbreadth compared 
 with the space of distant time in which our forefathers worked 
 out their fears of the elemental forces into the fabric of a 
 noble, though idolatrous, religion. The Zodiac can be left 
 almost to the last section of such an enqiiiry as that upon 
 which we are engaged. 
 
 Returning, then, to our theme, the suggested parentage 
 of Twins by the Thunder or Lightning requires that we 
 should examine rapidly the forms which the Thunder-cult 
 takes in different parts of the world, and determine in what 
 
Il] TUE rAKENTAGE OF THE TWINS 19 
 
 cases a Twin-cult has associated itself with the Thunder-cult. 
 The two parts of the enquiry will, almost of necessity, go on 
 side by side ; but perhaps it will be best to fix our minds at 
 first upt)n the Thundt-r rather than upon the Twins. 
 
 If it should happen that anyone should be sceptical as to 
 the multiplicity of the forms, animate and inanimate, which 
 have been suggested for the Thunder in the previous pages, 
 we have only to remind ourselves that exactly the same thing 
 happens with regard to the Corn Spirit, which is recognised 
 as man, as woman, as maid, as wolf, dog, cat, hare, and a 
 number of animals associate or associable with the cornfield. 
 
 2—2 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE THUNDER-BIRD 
 
 The Thunder-bird was, as I suppose, first discovered 
 
 amongst the Red Indians of North America, and it is still 
 
 extant among surviving tribes of that rapidly disappearing 
 
 race. 
 
 Thunder For example, among the Den^ Indians in the north-west 
 
 among ^j Canada, known as the Hare-skin D^n^s, there is a belief 
 
 Bed ' 
 
 Indians, that the thunder is a huge bird : all winter long he lies 
 hidden under ground, somewhere in the west-south-west. 
 But when the warm weather returns, he returns along with 
 the migrant birds; then, if he shakes his tail, we hear the 
 thunder ; and if he winks his eyes there are dazzling light- 
 nings'. 
 
 What is here reported of the Den6 Indians is common 
 belief of the whole race, although some tribes, such as the 
 Iroquois, may have changed or abandoned their beliefs under 
 the influence of the white man. If, however, we go biwk to 
 the accounts given of Indian beliefs by the first Jesuit 
 Missions, we find enquiries made and reports collected which 
 prove how universal was the belief in the thunder-bird. 
 Thus the missionary, Le Jeune, in his Relation under date 
 
 ' Pettitot, Traditions Indietinet dii Canada Nord-Ouest, L^gendes et 
 Traditivtis den Dini Peauxde-Uivre, p. 283, ' Iti est un oiseau gigantcsque, 
 qui demeure au pays des manes avec Ic gibier I'migrant. II y S(5journe tout 
 I'hiver sous terre, k la retomW'C de la voiite celeste, bien loin, au Pied-du- 
 Ciel, dans I'ouest sudouest. Mais lorsqu'il fait chaud de nouvcau, lorsque 
 le gibier aild revient vers nous k tire d'ailes, vers notre pays accourt Iti, 
 suivi de toutea les ames ou revenants. Alors, s'il fait vibrer Ics plumes de la 
 queue, nous entendons gronder le tonnerre, et s'il clignotte dca yeux les 
 (iclairs de la foudre nous ^blouissent, diton. Celui-ci est une divinity 
 mauvaise, car elle cause la mort des hommes.' 
 
CH. Ill] THE THUNDER-BIRD 21 
 
 1632 (Jesuit Relations, v. 57) tells of the Indians in the 
 neighbourhood of Quebec that ' they (the Iroquois) believe The 
 that the thunder is a bird, and a savage one day asked a 
 Frenchman if they did not capture them in France ; having 
 told him yes, he begged him to bring him one, but a very 
 little one : he feared that it would frighten him if it were 
 large.' Two years later (1633, 1634), Le Jeune reports again 
 {Jesuit Relations, VI. 22.5), ' I :vsked them (the Montagnais) 
 about the thunder: they said they did not know what animal 
 it was ; that it ate snakes and sometimes trees ; that the 
 Hurons believed it to be a very large bird. They were led 
 to this belief by a hollow sound made by a kind of swallow 
 which appears here in the summer. I have not seen any of 
 these birds in France, but have e.xamined some of them here. 
 They have a beak, a head and a form like the swallow, except 
 that they are a little larger; they Hy about in the evening, 
 repeatedly making a dull noise.' Le Jeune explains that the 
 Hurons compared this noise with that made by the thunder- 
 bird : ' there is only one man who has seen this bird, and he 
 only once in his lifetime. This is what my old man told me.' 
 
 Evidently the Hurons as well as the Iroquois believed in 
 the thunder-bird. In a note which is added to the tenth 
 volume of the (reprinied) Jesuit Relations (x. 319, 320), the 
 matter is summed up as follows : 
 
 'The myth of the Thunder-bird was, in some form or 
 other, common to the North American tribes from Mexico to 
 Hudson's Bay, and from the S. Lawrence to Bering Strait, 
 and it is still current among most of the northern and western 
 tribes. They explain the vivid and (to them) mysterious and 
 terrible phenomena of the thunderstorm ivs jjroceeding from 
 o»i immense bird, so large that its shadoiv darhens the heavens: 
 the thunder is the sound made by the flapping of its wings, the 
 lightning is the flashing or the winhing of its eye, and the 
 deadly and invisible thunderbolts are arrows sent forth by the 
 bird against its enemies. The Indians greatly dread this 
 imaginary bird, often addressing prayers to it during a 
 thunderstorm." 
 
 It would be a mistake to suppose that the Thunder is 
 
THE THUNDER-BIRD 
 
 [CH. 
 
 The 
 
 Sioux. 
 
 Lillooet 
 Indians. 
 
 Transition 
 from 
 
 Thunder- 
 bird to 
 Thunder- 
 man. 
 
 always imagined to be a large bird; on the contrary, as we 
 shall see presently (and the point is important for our 
 enquiry), there are tribes that have seen the thunder in a 
 form as small as the humming bird. The legends of the 
 Dakota Indians and of some other tribes identify the 
 thunder-bird with the Creator of the World, and say that it 
 brought fire from heaven for the use of men : they tell of an 
 unceasing strife between Unktaha, the god of waters, and 
 Wauhkcm, the thunder-bird. Mrs Mary Eastman gives the 
 following Sioux explanation of the thunder' : ' Thunder is 
 a large bird, flying through the air; its bright tracks are 
 seen in the heavens, before you hear the clapping of its 
 wings. But it is the young ones that do the mischief. The 
 parent bird would not hurt a Dahcotah. Long ago a thunder- 
 bird fell from the heavens ; and our fathers saw it as it lay, 
 not far from the Little Crow's village.' 
 
 For a more detailed statement of Dakota beliefs, with 
 an important modification, v. infra. 
 
 Mr Teit, in his account of the Indians on the Lillooet 
 River in British Columbia-, tells us, in an account to which 
 we shall have to refer again, that ' some describe the thunder- 
 bird as being like the ruby-throated humming-bird and of 
 about the same size. Others describe the thunder as a bird 
 about one metre in length. On its head it has a large crest, 
 like that of the blue jay, but standing far backward.... When 
 it turns its head from side to side, as it does when angry, fire 
 darts from its eyes, which is the Ughtning.... Some of the 
 lower Lillooet Indians say that the thunder is a man. It is 
 said that he was seen on the Lorver Lillooet river some years 
 ago, during a heavy thunderstorm. Each time a flash of 
 lightning came he coidd be seen standing on one leg.' 
 
 We shall have to return to this account, but for the 
 present it is sufficient to note, over and above the con- 
 ventional Red Indian account of the origin of thunder and 
 lightning, that the bird is sometimes regarded as extremely 
 small, and that the actual change from the ornithomorph to 
 
 ' Eastman, Dahcotah or Life and Legemh of the Siuu^c, p. 19. 
 2 Teit, The Lillooet Imliam. 
 
Ill] THE THUNDER-BIRD 23 
 
 the anthropoinorph is actually in process amongst the Indians 
 of British Columbia. Both of these points should be care- 
 fully noted. 
 
 This important transformation in the belief can also be The 
 traced among the Dakotas, to whom we were just now Dakotas. 
 referring: for they say that the Thunder-bird which was 
 killed at Little Crow's village on the Mississippi River, had Thunder- 
 a face like a man, with a nose like an eagle's bill; its body ^^n*" 
 was long and slender. Its tvings hud four joints to each, face. 
 which were painted in zigzags to represent lightning'. 
 
 Here, then, we see the same transformation going on, 
 with the aid of a pictorial symbol. It is not difficult, in view 
 of such beliefs, to realise the changes which produced out of 
 birds the thunder-gods of antiquity, for they also often carry 
 on, more or less definitely, the bird tradition. In the case of 
 the Dakotas, the human form is just beginning to appear. 
 In the case of the Thompson Indians, the change appears to 
 have been completely made, though it has not been accepted 
 by the whole commimity. In Graeco-Roman religions, Jupiter 
 will keep at his side the eagle out of whom he h;is been 
 evolved. In China, all the bird will disappear except the 
 feet, the bill, and perhaps the wings. 
 
 The same belief in the Thunder-bird, but apparently 
 without any deflection in the direction of the Thunder-man, 
 will be found amongst the Thompson Indians of British The 
 Columbia". According to them, the thunder is 'a little j^^^^n^g*"" 
 larger than the grouse, and of somewhat similar shape:... the 
 thunder-bird shoots arrows, using its wings like a bow. The 
 rebo\uid of its wings in the air, after shooting makes the 
 thunder.... The arrow-heads fired by the Thunder are found 
 in many parts of the country. They are of black stone and 
 of very large size. Some Indians say that lightning is the 
 twinkling of the thunder's eyes etc' 
 
 In the same way the Ahts of Vancouver Island believe Tbe Ahts. 
 in a great thunder-bird. His name is Tootooch. He is a 
 
 ' Schoolcraft, Iiulian TriUt of the Vnittd .States, vol. ni. p. 486; Md. 
 p. 233. 
 
 ' Teit, The Thompion Indians of liritith Columhia, p. 338 icq. 
 
24 THE THUNDER-BIRD [CH. 
 
 mighty, supernatural bird, dwelling aloft and far away. The 
 flap of his winga makes the thunder (Tootah) and his tongue 
 is the forked lightning'. 
 
 The importance of these statements is obvious in view of 
 the belief in the thunder-arrow and the thunder-axe amongst 
 our own ancestors, and amongst modem Europeans, like the 
 Danish farmers, whom we have described above. It is not 
 necessary, for our purpose, to collect further evidence of the 
 Thunder-bird amongst the North American Indians : those 
 who wish to examine further into the subject may consult 
 Myron Eells on ' The Thunder-bird,' in the Journal of the 
 Amencan Anthropological Society'-; or Brinton's Myths of 
 the New World, pp. 239, 245, or Chamberlain, 'Thunder- 
 bird amongst the Algonquins,' in the Journal of the American 
 Anthropological Society^ We shall presently see that there 
 is no need to describe these beliefs so exclusively as Myths of 
 the New World : but before returning to the Old World in 
 search of parallels to the Indian beliefs, it may be as well to 
 point out that the thunder-bird can be located amongst the 
 Esquimaux, and that it can be followed south into Mexico, 
 and into South America. A few instances may be given. 
 For the Esquimaux, see Hoffmann, Graphic Art of the 
 Esquimaux, pi. 72, where a picture of the thunder-bird, 
 from the Esquimaux' point of view is given. 
 
 The Amongst the Caribs, the Thunder-god is called Sawaku ; 
 
 sometimes ho is spoken of as a star, and sometimes as a bird, 
 who blows the lightning through a great reed*. 
 
 The Amongst the Brazilians, the fear of the thunder is very 
 
 great ; they have a thunder-god named Tupa, whose voice or 
 the Happing of whose wings, makes the thunder. From him 
 comes the name Tupecanongo, given to the thunder, while 
 the lightning is called Tupaberaba, i.e. the flashing of Tupa. 
 Some of the Brazilians think the thunder is the noise made 
 by departed spirits. They also attribute to the thunder-god 
 the invention of agriculture. 
 
 ' Sproat, Scenf.1 ami Studies of Savage Life, p. 177. 
 
 ■•' Vol. II. pp. 329-.H6. 3 Vol. iii. pp. 51-4. 
 
 * Miiller, Amerikanische UrrcUiiiutien. 
 
 Caribs. 
 
 Brazil 
 ians 
 
Ill] THE TUUNDER-BIBD 25 
 
 It is sufficient to point out that, even if Tupa should be 
 regarded as a thunder-man, it is a thunder-man who h;is 
 been evolved out of a thunder-bird, which appears to be 
 not very dissimilar to the type current among the North 
 American Indians*. 
 
 The belief in a thunder-bird, which we find so widely Thunder- 
 diffused over North and South America, can be traced amongst Polynesia, 
 the Polynesians, with the aid of the observations we have 
 already made as to the development of the belief. For 
 instance, John Williams, the martyr of Erromanga, brought 
 home amongst other relics the image of the god Taan, the 
 god of Thunder : and he tells us that, ' when the thunder 
 peals, the natives said that this god was flying, and pro- 
 ducing this sound by the flapping of his wings.' This is 
 almost e.xactly the language by which we found the thunder- 
 bird described by the Dakotas or the Brazilians-. 
 
 In the same way we are infomied by Ellis, the Poly- 
 nesian missjonarj', that ' among the Hervey Islands, they 
 woi-shipped a god of thunder; but he does not appear to 
 have been an object of great terror to any of them. The 
 thunder was supposed to be produced by the clapping of his 
 iinngs'.' Evidently another slightly di.sguised thunder-bird. 
 
 Now let us try South Africa, and see whether the same 
 beliefs are current. 
 
 Mr Dudley Kidd' tells us that 'the natives in Zululand The 
 believe that if one examines the spot where lightning struck 
 the ground, the shaft of an assegai will be found.' This 
 corresponds exactly to the European or Red Indian belief 
 in the thundorstone or thunder-arrow. ' The lightning is 
 thus thought to be some d;izzling spear hurled through the 
 air. Others mainUiin that a special brown bird will be 
 found at this sf)ot, which is supposed to be sun'ounded by 
 a mist or haze — probably their interpretation of the dazzling 
 of their eyes by the bright light. This idea is modified in 
 
 ' For the Brazihan Thundcr-Kcxl. see Mullcr, u( lupru, p. '271. 
 
 • Williams, Mitniomtry Knttrpritt, p. 109. 
 ' Ellis, I'nhjntiian llrstnrchtn, p. 417. 
 
 * The Hstrntial A'.i/ir, p. 120. 
 
26 
 
 THE THUNDER-BIKD 
 
 [CH. 
 
 The Poiidoland, where the natives assure you that lightning is 
 
 °" ''^' caused by a brown bird, which spits fire down on the earth. 
 
 The Bom- The Bomvanas modify this again, by saying that the bird sets 
 
 \anas. ^^.^ ^^^.^ j^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ throws it down on the earth. I was 
 
 on the point of shooting one of these birds, and the natives 
 cried out in horror, begging me not to "shoot the lightning".' 
 Mr Kidd goes on to explain that, in the native opinion, 
 the thunder is caused by the flapping of the bird's wings, 
 a belief which we have found in North and South America, 
 and in Polynesia. When the thunder is loud and crackling, 
 the agent is said to be the female bird; when it is di.stant 
 and rumbling, the male bird. 
 
 A further modification of the thunder-bird is said, by 
 Mr Kidd, to e.xist in Natal, where 'a white bird^ of enormous 
 size comes down and flaps his wings. An old native was 
 quite indignant with a missionary who contradicted this 
 assertion. The old man wanted to know how such a person 
 could ever presume to teach the natives, when he did not 
 know that thunder was caused by a bird.' Mr Kidd goes 
 on to explain the various means employed by the South 
 Lightning African Bantus to avert the lightning. The Kafirs stick 
 aver ers. g^g^g.^jg through the roof when a storm begins ; and others 
 place a hoe leaning against the side of the house. These 
 practices are clearly parallel to our European methods of 
 protection from the thunderstone by means of the thunder- 
 stone. It is more difficult to understand why the natives 
 on the Zambesi place pieces of ostrich shell on their roofs 
 fis a protection against lightning. Does this mean that any 
 Afriam tribe had identified the ostrich with a thimder- 
 bird ? The real business of protection against lightning 
 belongs to the medicine men. These have for their business, 
 as Mr Kidd .says, to control the clouds, which they drive 
 about like herds of oxen. They use as medicine the assegai 
 shafts which lie on the ground where the lightning strikes, 
 they catch the thunder-bird and make medicine of its 
 feathers, and they even eat the birds so as to be strong to 
 fight the storm. 
 
 ' Is this a case of white Mghtning? 
 
Ill] TUF, THUNDER-BIRD 27 
 
 Something of this kind had been noticed by the great 
 African missionary, Dr Moffat, amongst the Bechuanas. He The 
 tells us' 'Thunder they supposed to be caused by a certain ^nas" 
 bird which may be seen soaring very high during the storm, 
 and which appeared to the natives as if it nestled among the 
 forked lightnings. Some of these birds are not infrequently 
 killed, and their having been seen to descend to the earth 
 may have given rise to this ludicrous notion. I have never 
 had an opportunity of examining this bird, but presume it 
 belongs to the vulture species.' The missionary little 
 suspected that the ' ludicrous notion ' was once the common 
 belief of his own European ancestors. How near his descrip- 
 tion of the Bechuana thunder-bird approaches to the eagle 
 of Zeus ! Amongst the Zulus the same belief can be traced ; 
 we have a striking statement on the subject in Callaway's 
 Religious System of the Aniazulu^ which has the advantage 
 of giving the Zulu belief in their own words, as follows: 
 ' There is a bird of heaven : it too is killed ; it comes down The 
 when the lightning strikes the earth and remains on the 
 ground.... The bird of heaven is a bird which is said to 
 descend from the sky, when it thunders, and to be found 
 in the neighbourhooil of the place where the lightning has 
 struck. The heaven doctors place a large vessel of amasi 
 mixed with various substances near a pool such iis is 
 frequently met with on the tops of hills: this is done to 
 attract the lightning that it may strike in that place. The 
 doctor remains at hand watching, and when the lightning 
 strikes the bird descends and he rushes fonvarfl and kills 
 it.' The body of the captured bird makes a very powerful 
 mcfiicine. The heaven doctor here described might equally 
 be called thunder-floctor or rain-doctor ; for the same term 
 commonly describes sky, thunder, and lightning among 
 African tribes, a usjige which has its parallel in the terms 
 in which the Greek poets describe Zeus. We shall return 
 to these Zulu beliefs at a later point. For the present, it is 
 sufficient to show that the thunder-binl has a leading place 
 
 ' Moffat, Mitiionanj I.abourt in S. Africa, 4th cd. p. 338. 
 ' p. 110. 
 
28 
 
 THE THUNDER-BIRD 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Thunder- 
 bird in 
 Mada- 
 gascar. 
 
 Yoruba 
 tribes. 
 
 Ewe- 
 tribes. 
 
 in South African religion, and that the thunder-man does 
 not seem to have yet arrived, unless the medicine man 
 should be his foreshadowing and prototype. 
 
 Crossing to Madagascar, we might suppose that we had 
 passed outside the area of belief in the thunder-bird ; there 
 is, however, as my friend John Sims points out, a bird known 
 to the natives as voroinbdratiu, which is exactly hird-of- 
 thunder. 
 
 In West Africa, among the negro tribes, we have the 
 curious phenomenon of an advance in civilization relatively 
 to the Bantus ; for the thunder appears, in some places, to 
 be regarded as a man. Amongst the negroes of the Guinea 
 Coast, the thunder-god is Shango, and I have not as yet 
 detected any trace of bird-ancestry about him ; thougli it 
 is very probable that closer acquaintance would disclose 
 it. Ellis shows in his Yoruba-spealdng Peoples (p. 47) the 
 two stages of belief closely adjacent : ' the notion we found 
 amongst the Ewes that a bird-like creature was the animating 
 entity of the thunderstorm has no parallel here, and Shango 
 is purely anthropomorphic' 
 
 The exact passage in which Ellis describes the lightning- 
 god of the Ewe-speaking peoples of the Slave Coast is 
 deserving of study'. 
 
 ' Khebioso, whose name is often abbreviated to So, is the 
 lightning-god, and the word itself is used to mean lightning, 
 though the more correct term for that is Su-Jia. On the Gold 
 Coast, the lightning is wielded by the Sky-god, Nyankupon. 
 
 'The name Khebioso is compounded of Khe (bird), hi 
 (to let go light, to throw out light), and so (fire), so that 
 it literally means the bird, or bird-like creature, that throws 
 
 out fire The Ewe-speaking negroes imagine that Khebioso 
 
 is a flying god, who partakes in some way of the nature of 
 a bird. The general idea appears to be that Khebioso is a 
 bird-like creature, hidden in the midst of the black thunder- 
 cloud, from which he casts out the lightning, and by some 
 the crashing of the thunder is believed to be the flapping of its 
 enormous wings.' 
 
 • Ellis, EiieKpeakiufl peoples, p. 37. 
 
Ill] THE THUNDKR-BIRD 29 
 
 Ellis also notes that the negroes of the Slave Coast, as 
 elsewhere, identify the flint implements of the Stone Age 
 with thunderbolts, and they are consecjuently called So-Kpe 
 (Kpe = stone). 'After a building has been struck by 
 lightning, the priests of Khebioso, who at once run to the 
 spot to demand that the inmates should make amends for 
 the evident offence they have given their god, almost 
 invariably produce a flint arrow-head, or axe, which they 
 of course bring with them, but pretend to have found in 
 or'ne.T.r the building.' 
 
 The case of Shango, who is also known by the name of 
 Hurler of Stones (i.e. of thunderbolts), is interesting, as we 
 shall see later, on account of his having migrated to Brazil 
 with the slaves of the Portuguese, where he held his own 
 ;us an object of religion, even after the conversion of the 
 Brazilian negroes to Roman Catholicism. 
 
 The thunder-bird is also known to the Bakerewe, who The 
 live on the largest island in the Victoria Nyanza Lake '. '**''«'^*6- 
 I give the account at length. ' Foudre (nkuba) — Comme 
 la plupart des Negres, les Bakerewe personifient la foudre ; 
 c'est tin coq mysterieujc, au plumage de feu, qui s'abat 
 capricieusement sur les hommes et les choses, tuant, d^- 
 tniisant ou briilant tout ce qu'il touche. Bref! c'est un 
 esprit des plus malfaisants. Cependant il y a un moyen 
 de I'empecher de nuire : etre assez prompt pour le couvrir, 
 des qu'il apparait, d'une corbeille fortement tre.ss^e, dans 
 l.iquellc il demeure prisonnier quelques instants, pour s'en 
 retoumer bientcH purement et simplement par on il est 
 venu, sans causer le moindre dommage.' 
 
 So, then, the domestic cock is amongst the thunder-birds, 
 and his colour is red. 
 
 When we pass into Asia, we find ourselves nearing the 
 beliefs of our ancestors; the thimder is now commonly re- 
 ganled anthropomorphically, although there are still traces 
 of bin! -ancestry in the existing beliefs. One of the most 
 striking cases h.is alreatly been alluded to, the Chinese 
 representation of the thunder-go<l with bird's feet. There 
 > S«e Hurcl in Anthropot. 1911, Heft I. p. 75. 
 
30 THE THUNDER-BIRD [CH. Ill 
 
 Chinese is in the possession of Mr Freer, of Detroit, a beautiful 
 go'll'"''" painting of the thunder-god by Hokusai, a Japanese painter 
 who aftects Chinese archaism ; the picture, which I had the 
 opportunity of studying when I was in Detroit some time 
 since, shows this very peculiarity of the human form joined 
 to bird's feet. We shall refer to this picture again when we 
 come to discuss the colour of the thunder-god. More striking 
 is the figure of the Chinese thunder-god which Miss Ham- 
 son (Themis, p. 115) has reproduced from Simpson {The 
 Buddhist Praying Wlieel). Here we have the god beating 
 a series of drums arranged in a circle ; he has a thunderbolt 
 in his left hand, and his bird-ancestry is betrayed by wings, 
 claws and an eagle's beak. 
 
 We have now, perhaps, illustrated siifficiently for our 
 purpose the existence of a wide-spread belief in the 
 thunder-bird. It is not our intention to deal exhaustively 
 with this subject; but we have to prove that the belief 
 was held by our own Indo-European ancestors, for until we 
 know what was the idea of the thunder that prevailed 
 amongst them, we cannot trace to its origin the Cult of the 
 Heavenly Twins, considered as the Children of the Thunder. 
 •As far as we have gone, we have found evidence of the 
 existence of two dominant fears in the mind of primitive 
 man, one the perfectly natural fear of thunder and lightning, 
 the other, which at first sight .seems as artificial as the 
 other is natural, the fear of twins ; and we have already 
 more than a suspicion that these two fears are closely 
 involved in one another: so much of religious practice and 
 belief is traceable to one or other of these forms of terror 
 that we might almost say that on these two dreads hang 
 nine-tenths of subsequent religion. 
 
 We now know how to recognise the thunder-bird when 
 we see him in proprid persona, or in forms which have 
 displaced him. There is, however, a further direction in 
 which identification of the thunder can be made ; in this 
 al.so we shall find constant connection between the Thunder 
 and the Twins: we refer to the colour identification to which 
 we propose to devote our next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE RED KOBES OF THE DIOSCURI 
 
 In tho present chapter we are going to show that the The 
 proper colour for the niiinent of the Dioscuri is red, and that ^.^ar'^rcd 
 this red colour is significant of the relation in which they cloaks, 
 stand to the Thunder'. 
 
 That the Dioscuri, when they have appeared at important 
 functions in Greek or Roman history, wore scarlet chlamydes 
 can be deduced from the traditional account of their heroieal 
 deeds, which frequently make mention of their dress and 
 involve us in the belief that the colour is significant : no 
 doubt if the coins or other monuments, on which they are 
 represented riding victoriously towards or from some great 
 enterprise, could talk to us in colour as well as in form, they 
 would say the same thing, for it is the same chlamys in 
 metal or stone that is described as red in the prose of the 
 historians: and just iis we know that their horses, wherever 
 represented, are, for the most part, white, so we know that 
 their robes, Hying in the wind, are red. 
 
 It has not, however, been as commonly recognised that 
 the reason why the robes are red lies in the fact that the c 
 Twins are personifications of the lightning, being either 
 Sons of Zeus or Sons of Thunder, or Children of the Sky, 
 or whatever other title may express their superhuman 
 adinities. 
 
 Suppose, then, we start from the statement that red is 
 
 ' Most of this chaptrr baa already apprarril in the Contemporary lievinc 
 for May. 1912; the matter is reprocluccil hero by the courtesy of the 
 Editors. . . 
 
32 THE KED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 the proper colour for the lightning, and illustrate that 
 
 statement by reference 
 Red is the (1) To the colour ascribed to the Thunder-bird, who 
 
 Thunder- is the zoomorphic representative of thunder 
 
 Thunder. "'"^ lightning: 
 
 man, (2) To the colour ascribed to the anthropomorphic 
 
 Thunde representation of the deity who controls the 
 
 priest. thunder : 
 
 (3) To the colour worn by the priests and human 
 representatives of the aforesaid deity. 
 If all these developments of the idea of thunder and 
 lightning tell the same story of colour, we shall have little 
 doubt as to the meaning of that colour when it appears in 
 the raiment of the Heavenly Twins. 
 
 We begin, then, with the Thunder-bird. And first of 
 all, we select some cases of savage tribes who have evolved 
 the idea of the Thunder-bird. We alluded above to the 
 Zulus, whose opinions were so carefully recorded in Call.a- 
 
 Zululaiid. way's lieligiuus System of the Amaztdu. Amongst these 
 statements about the bird of heaven, or sky-bird, or 
 thunder-bird, which comes down when the lightning strikes, 
 we are told that the witch-doctors lie in wait for the 
 thunder by the side of a pool near a hill-top, and that, when 
 the lightning strikes, they rush forward and kill it. 'It is 
 said to have a red bill, red legs, and a short red tail like fire : 
 its feathers are bright and dazzling, and it is very fat.' In 
 the same book' we are furnished with an account given 
 by a Zulu who had actually seen a feather of the bird, 
 exhibited to him by the man who had found it. The story 
 runs thus : 
 
 ' As regards that bird, there are many who have seen 
 it with their eyes, and especially doctors, and those persons 
 who have seen it when it thunders, and the lightning strikes 
 the ground ; the bird remains where the ground was struck. 
 If there is any one near that place he .sees it in the fog on 
 the ground and goes and kills it. When he has killed it, 
 he begins to be in doubt, saying, " Can it be that I shall 
 ' I.e. p. 381. 
 
IV] THK RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 33 
 
 continue to live as I have killed this bird, which I never saw 
 before ? Is it not really that bird which it is said exists, the 
 lightning bird which goes with the lightning ? " He is in 
 doubt because he sees that its characteristics are not like 
 those of birds which he has seen for a long time; he sees 
 that it is quite peculiar, for its feathers glisten. A man 
 may think that it is red : again he sees that it is not so, that 
 it is green. But if he looks earnestly he may say, " No, it 
 is something between the two colours us I am looking at it." 
 I myself once saw a feather of this kind iis I w;us living on 
 the Umsundugi, for I had wished for a long time to see the 
 colour of the bird, and at length I saw one of its feathers. 
 The man, to whom it belonged, took it out of his bag, and 
 truly I sjiw it and said, " Indeed it is the feather of a 
 dreadful bird ! " ' 
 
 This very naive account shows that what was expected 
 was a bird of a red colour; if an iictiud bird obtained at the 
 right time should turn out to be green, the savage looks at 
 it, and it turns out to be between red and green. 
 
 Now let us turn back to the North American Indians 
 whom we were describing in a previous chapter. 
 
 Amongst the Lillooet Indians of British Columbia, we Lillooet 
 found first an identification of the thunder with the rubi/- '"'*'*''^' 
 throated humming-bird. Then apparently because the bird 
 was too insignificjint there was a suggestion that the thunder 
 was ' a bird about a metre in length ; on its head it has 
 a large crest, like that of the blue jay, but sUinding far 
 backward. Its body is blue and its throat red.' Then 
 after a statement that ' the Indians claim that it w;is seen 
 in the mountains near Pembcrton some years ago ' the 
 account continues, 'The humming-bird is the friend of the 
 thunder' (i.e. not really the thunder-bird, though some think 
 it to be so). ' Some of the Lower Lillooet Indians say that 
 the thun<ler is a man. It is siiid that he was seen on the 
 Lower Lillooet River some years ago, during a heavy 
 thunder-storm. Each time a flash of lightning came, he 
 coidd be seen standing on one leg. }lis head and hair 
 tvere red and thi' hair stood out stiff from one side of his 
 
34 
 
 THE RED ROBES OF THE DTOSCURI 
 
 [CH. 
 
 head'.' Here the colour will be noted, not only for the 
 humming-bird's throat, and for the unknown bird to whom 
 he is related (not being the thunder-bird exactly but just 
 his friend), whose throat also is red, but also because we 
 have here, as we pointed out in the previous chapter, 
 amongst the Lillooct Indians, the very transition from the 
 zoomorphic to the anthropomorphic representation of the 
 thunder; in which connection we note that when the 
 thunder passes over from the ranks of birds to men, he 
 carries his colour with him. The same feature comes out 
 Thompson amongst the Thompson Indians, of whom we are told that 
 ' Some describe the colour of its plumage as wholly red, while 
 others say that it resembles the female blue grouse, but has 
 large red bars above its eyes, or has a red head, or some red 
 in its plumage^.' 
 
 The same thing occurs among the Shuswap Indians, 
 where the conception of the thunder is said to be the same 
 as amongst the Thompson Indians. ' The thunder-bird is 
 large and black, and covered with down or short downy 
 feathers. Soine part of its body — according to some, its head 
 ■- — is bright red^.' 
 
 The prominence which is given to the colour of the 
 thunder is something which belongs to the nature of the 
 case, and ought to be careftdly noted ; for it is a dominant 
 factor in a number of traditional lines of thought. The 
 writer of the article on the Cherokees' in Hastings' Cyclo- 
 pedia of Religion and Ethics, sees the stress laid on the 
 colour and the meaning of it : he says ' The Cherokees 
 possess quite a number of anthropomorphic deities of more 
 or less importance. Of these Asgaya Gigagei (Red Man) is 
 perhaps the most frequently invoked. He appears to be 
 connected in some w.iy with the thunder.... The facts that ho 
 
 Shuswap 
 Indians. 
 
 Chero- 
 kees. 
 
 ' Teit, The IMlooet Indians. 
 
 ' Teit, The Thompfon Indians of British Columbia, pp. 338-99. 
 
 ' Teit. 7"/!^ Shiumip (Memoir of the American Museum of Natural 
 History, New York). The Jesup North Pacitic Expedition, vol. i. pt. vii. 
 1909, p. .597. 
 
 * Mr Lewis Sptnce. He is quolinR from the Reports of the Bureau of 
 Ethnology at Washington. 
 
IV] 
 
 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 35 
 
 is described as being of a red colour, and that the Chorokees 
 were originally a mountain people, seem to point to the 
 conclusion that he was a thunder-god. Other thunder-gods 
 of the American race, the Con of the Peruvians, for example, Permians. 
 are described as red in colour, and dwelling in clouds upon 
 the mountain tops — their hue, of course, denoting the light- 
 ning. The Chac or rain (cloud) gods of the Mayas were Mayas, 
 called " the Red Ones " owing to their emanating from the 
 clouds. A portion of the feather-shield of Tlaloc, the 
 Mexican god of rain, was also of a red colour.' 
 
 We are certain, then, that the colour of the thunder- 
 god or storm-god is commonly regarded as red, and in par- 
 ticular the thunder-god considered as thunder-bird, must 
 be a bird with red feathers, a red head, or breast, or tail. It 
 may, perhaps, be objected that we do not prove that red 
 always connotes lightning: nor is every red bird a thunder-bird : 
 that may be freely admitted ; it may be, for instance, a fire- 
 bird, or a sun-bird, especially a rising-sun bird. Such cases 
 may be found both East and West : but the fire-bird is only 
 slightly differentiated from the thunder-bird or lightning- 
 bird, and we shall sometimes 6nd the two omithomorphs to 
 be the same. Lightning and fire are in the nature of the 
 case next door neighbours. Supposing, then, that we have 
 proved red to be the proper colour of the American thunder- 
 gods, can we affirm the same thing for the other hemisphere, 
 and, in particular, Wiis the thunder-god of the Aryans a bird, 
 and was it a red birfi ? The answers to such questions have 
 been coming in for some time past from various cpiarters, and 
 there h;\s been an increasing perception of the existence of 
 an ancient bird-cult, earlier than the anthnipomoq)hic deities 
 of Greece and Rome. Peculiar importance appears to be 
 attached to the woodpecker in the early traditions of cither 
 civilization. As we have already stilted, the woodj>ecker in Wood- 
 Greek tradition antedates Zeus; in Liitin the same bird was^^*"^ 
 
 honoured as Picus Feronius, and associated with the carlv "*''''«''■ 
 
 1 i» T -11 I.- ■ i" th»n Zeus, 
 
 history of Romulus and Remus. It iissisted the woll in the 
 
 nutrition of the twins, which is very nearly the same thing 
 
 as saying that the woodpecker is an alternative }mrent. 
 
 3—2 
 
36 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 Some persons have treated the woodpecker as a fire-bird, 
 and have supposed it to be the inventor of the fire-stick, 
 from its habit of drilling into trees in search of food ; and, 
 on the same hypothesis, it has been brought into contact 
 with the Prometheus legends. As we have already said, the 
 ideas of lightning and fire are closely connected : but it is 
 clear that the woodpecker must be the lightning bird, for it 
 is the predecessor of Zeus and of Zeus' eagle'. Between 
 Zeus and the woodpecker stands the intermediate zoiimorph, 
 the eagle, which is certainly a thunder-bird ; but even if 
 the eagle were not there as a connecting link, the thunderous 
 character of Zeus is so well known that it would be hard 
 to describe his predecessor in any other terms : in other 
 words, the original thunder-bird of the Aryans was a wood- 
 pecker. 
 
 But was he red in colour ? The answer is that almost 
 all the woodpeckers are distinguished by red heads or by 
 red feathers. The woodpecker that was the predecessor of 
 Zeus is probably the great black woodpecker. Its head is a 
 brilliant red''. 
 
 ' In proving the woodpecker to be the European thunder-bird, we nre 
 making an unnecessary geographical limitation. The Arabs of N.W. Africa 
 call it Hedad, or Heddad, which is the Amorite thunder-god as we know it 
 in the name Benlladad. Thus the Syrian kings show the name Picus just 
 as do Italian kings. 
 
 ' Its head is one of the significant features in the account given of its 
 origin in the Norse legends. Here it is known as Gertrude's fowl, and 
 is supposed to be the metamorphosis of an old woman in a red cap. (We 
 shall see something like this presently in the storj' of the metamorphosis of 
 King Picus.) The Norse legend will be found in Grimm {Tent. Myth. p. 673, 
 Eng. trans.) or in Dasent's Popular Talat from the Xorxe, p. "230. It runs as 
 follows: When our Lord walked on earth with Peter, they came to a woman 
 that sat baking; her name was Gertrude, and she wore a red cap on her 
 head. Faint and hungry from his long journey, our Lord a.sked for a little 
 cake. She took a little dough and set it on, but it rose so high that it filled 
 the pan ; she thought it too large for an alms, took less dough, and began to 
 bake it, but this grew as big, and still she refused to give it. The third time 
 she took still less dough, and when the cake swelled to the same size, 'Ye 
 must go without,' said Gertrude, 'all that I bake becomes too big for you.' 
 Then was the Lord angry, and said, ' Since thou hast grudged to give mc 
 ought, thy doom is that thou be a little bird, seek thy scanty sustenance 
 'twixt wood and bark, and only drink as oft as it shall rain. No sooner 
 were these words spoken than the woman was changed into Gertrude's fowl. 
 
IV] THE RKO ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 37 
 
 It may, then, be taken for granted that the woodpecker 
 had been recognised as a thunder-bird by the colour of his 
 head. Some would add (iis we have already intimated) 
 that he was also a fire-bird, on account of his drilling holes 
 in trees after the manner of a fire-stick. As we have said, 
 it is not always easy to tell whether a bird with red crest or 
 red plumage is a fire-bird or a lightning-bird, or whether it is 
 both. Some Red Indians use the tail feathers of the red 
 Hieker when they desire to set on fire with their arrows the 
 wigwam of an enemy'; in this case, the red flicker is a 
 fire-bird ; but is he also a lightning-bird ? I do not know 
 for certain, but as they profess to be imitating the thunder 
 in using the red feathers in question, it seems likely. 
 
 There is, however, a parallel case of some importance, in 
 which we can decide that the bird under discussion was both 
 fire-bird, and lightning-bird. I refer to the robin redbreast. The 
 The evidence is abundant and interesting that it was a thunde'r^ 
 fire-bird, but it may be suspected that as it was so iden- '"''■<*• 
 tified from its colour (and without any thought of the fire- 
 drill, as is the case of the woodpecker) that it may just as 
 easily be a thunder-bird. Let us see. 
 
 Its smallness is no disqualification for discharging the 
 functions which might seem more naturally to belong to the 
 eagle of Zeus : for we have already seen the ruby-throated 
 humming-bird acting as Thunder to the American Indians; 
 and one writer on American folk-lore tells us' that he was 
 actually shown the nest of the Thunder, and was surprised 
 at its minuteness. So the robin is not excluded, nor even 
 
 anJ Hew up the kituhcn chimney. And to tliisday we sec her in her red cap, 
 mid the rest of tlie hody black, (or the soot o( the chimney hiid blackened 
 her: continually she hacks into the bark of trees (or (oo<l, and pipes be(ore 
 rain, because, being always thirsty, she then hopes to drink. 
 
 ' Teit, The Thomptoii Imlium. p. 346. ' On account of thoir belief that 
 the thunder shoots the ordinary thunder arrowheads, and tail-feathers of 
 the red-shafted tiicker, which sets on fire everything thikt it touches, the 
 Indians attached feathers of this bird to their arrows, which they shot at 
 enemies' houses. They also maile arrows intended to fire houses from wood 
 of trees struck by lifthtnin);;. or tied a splint of such wood to their ordinary 
 arrows.' 
 
 •' Catlin, I.iff amm„) the Imli.ini. p. 166. 
 
38 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 his constant companion, the wren. As a bringer of fire, 
 the robin appears in a curious story told by Swainson'. 
 An old woman, a native of Guernsey, declared that the 
 robin was the first who brought fire to Guernsey, and that 
 in crossing the water, his feathers were singed, and he has 
 remained red ever since. She added that her mother had 
 a great veneration for the robin, ' for what should we have 
 done without fire ! ' The story suggests to us that the robin 
 has been taboo from the earliest times, and not merely 
 because of a Christian legend that has been attached to 
 him. And in his case, it may be inferred that no dis- 
 tinction was made between the robin as fire-bird, and the 
 robin as thunder-bird. The name Robin is the friendly 
 form of Robert, it is Shakespeare's ' bonny sweet Robin ' ; 
 Robert is a common Norman name substituted for Rothbart 
 (Red-beard), which is well known to be a title of Thor. So 
 we get to the thunder-god at last. The very name Robin 
 Redbreast is almost a dittograph. 
 
 It would be easy to bring forward other cases of the 
 folk-lore explanations of the plumage of birds. For instance, 
 it can be shown that Greece and Rome hud other thunder- 
 birds beside the woodpecker. If the woodpecker was 
 honoured in ancient Rome, and elsewhere in Italy (for at 
 Picenum they worshipped a woodpecker on a pillar, i.e. on 
 the substitute for a sacred tree), recent investigation has 
 confirmed ancient tradition as to its sanctity in ancient 
 The Crete' ; there is also evidence that the cock was worshipped 
 
 thunder- '"^ '^ thunder-bird in early times. We have already alluded 
 •''■"'•• to him in that capacity, amongst a tribe dwelling on an 
 
 island in the Victoria Nyanza. At Sparta, also, as the 
 Dioscuric reliefs there discovered show, the cock is in 
 evidence from the third century B.C. onwards, which suggests 
 that at Sparta the cock had become, at some period, the 
 cult animal in the worship of the Great Twin Brethren. In 
 
 ' Folk-lore of Kritish birds, p. 16. 
 
 ' I am rcferriiiK to the famous painted sarcophagus discovered by the 
 Italians at Hapia Triada, where sacred birds are perched on pillars sur- 
 mounted by thunder-axes, and I am assuming that they are woodpeckers. 
 
IV] THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 39 
 
 the great votivo relief at Verona, in which Argenidas ex- 
 presses his devotion for a safe return from a sea voyage, 
 Mr A. B. Cook hiis detected a cock, perched on the rocks 
 overhanging the harbour, where the returned ship rides at 
 anchor. He has also shown that a cock was connected with 
 the worship of Zeus Felchanos, where the second name 
 under its equivalent Vulcanus makes it fairly certain that 
 the deity covered by the two names w,is a thunder-god'. 
 From these and similar indications we infer that the cock 
 is a thunder-bird, and its red crest is in harmony with the 
 identification. A curious confirmation of this arises from 
 the fact that the cock in modern times discharges a function Thunder- 
 which belonged in ancient days to the thunder-eagle, f'/gbtnlng'.' 
 Vitruvius tells us- that eagles are to be put upon the ends 
 of the roofs of temples, to protect them from lightning; 
 the same duty is discharged for modern churches and barns 
 by the mounted cock upon the weather-vane ; and it is 
 amusing (and we may add, it is characteristically ecclesias- 
 tical) to see the old and new sometimes side by side, when 
 the modern lightning conductor ru^s up by the side of 
 the ancient lightning averter. From these and similar cases 
 we see that the worship of the thunder passed through an 
 oi-nithomorphic stage, and that the proper ct)lour by which 
 one recognises the representative of the thunder or lightning 
 is red. No doubt the cock hius to do with the lightning, and 
 that he is what the Red Indian would call Thunder, with 
 power to avert the Thunder. 
 
 The question will arise at this point as to why, if the 
 cock is the cult-bird of the Dioscuri in Sparta at the time to 
 which we refer, it was not so at an earlier date. The answer The cock 
 is that it is a religious imjwrtation that came from Persia, ^,^,^^1^^'^ 
 where it was discharging the same function of thunder- I'ersiii. 
 hoo<i and original royalty as the wowlpecker was doing in 
 Greece. The Greeks call it ' the Persian bird,' and Aristophanes 
 tells us distinctly of the place of honour which it occupied 
 
 ' Sec A. B. Cook, Fidkl-nrt, 1904. For tlie SpnrUn reliefs, nee Tod and 
 W»ce, C'(i». of Sparta Muteumt, p. 113, etc. 
 
 » See S. Keinnch, Mythrs, Culta el Ueli(iio>u, torn. in. p. 73. 
 
40 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 in Persian folk-lore. Thus in the Birds (11. 480 sqq. tr. 
 Rogers) : 
 
 "Zeus won't in a hurry the sceptre restore to the Woodpecker tapping 
 
 the Oak. 
 In times prehistoric 'tis easily proved, by evidence weighty and ample, 
 That Birds and not Gods were the rulers of men, and the lords of the 
 
 world ; for example 
 Time was that the Persians were ruled by the cock, a king autocratic, 
 
 alone ; 
 The sceptre he wielded or ever the names, Mcgabazus, Darius, were 
 
 known; 
 And the Persian he still by the people is called, from the Empire that 
 
 once was his own." 
 
 Aristophanes clearly claims for the cock a position parallel 
 
 to that of the woodpecker antedating Zeus ; conseqtiently 
 
 the real king displaced in Persia is not Megabazus or Darius, 
 
 but some deity more or less parallel to Zeus, in the Persian 
 
 The cock pantheon. Let us test the matter by enquiring whether the 
 
 I? .'i'"^ cock is a cult animal in Mithraism. A reference to Cuniont' 
 
 Mitlira- 
 
 cult. will show a number of cases where a cock attends the 
 
 Mithraic twins Cautes and Cautopatea. 
 
 "On donne souvont un coq pour compagnon a Cautes," 
 with reference to monuments where the cock is seen at the 
 feet of Cautes, or on his hand. On another monument the 
 cock is said to stand at the feet of Cautopates. 
 
 It was natural to interpret these of a Solar cult, rather 
 than of the thunder: but first interpretations are not always 
 correct or final : and it does not by any means follow that 
 the thunder-bird is excluded. Moreover, since Cautes, who 
 has the cock on his hand, shows by that sign, in the manner 
 known to archaeologists, that he has displaced in the cult 
 what he is carrying, we may say that the Mithraic twins 
 were originally a couj>le of cocks in the same way that in 
 ancient Greece we identify them with a couple of wood- 
 peckers. 
 
 This protective power of the Thunder against the 
 Thunder can also be seen in the Zulu belief to which we 
 have already alluded ; for if the Zulu medicine man finds 
 a thunder-bolt, ' he uses it as a heaven-medicine,' and so 
 
 ' AJoiiiimcnti rclati/.t an ciillf de Mithni, i. 'JIO, 212. 
 
IV] THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 41 
 
 they say that the courage which they possess of contend- 
 ing with the heaven (i.e. the lightning) is that thunder- 
 bolt, which is found where the lightning hiia struck. 
 Especially the bird also, which is called the lightning bird, 
 they sav that it is among the most powerful of ail lightning- 
 medicines'. 
 
 We come in the next place to the anthropomorphic repre- 
 sentation of thunder and lightning : and here our previous Corn- 
 investigation has helped us, by showing us, in the case of the ^ind^an 
 Lillooet Indians, an actual transformation of function from ihunder- 
 
 god with 
 
 bird to man ; and with that transference, the symbolic colour scan- 
 is also transferred. When one reads as above, the Lillooet "'"''^■'''"• 
 Indian's account of the man with red face and red hair, who 
 wa-s seen every time a flash of lightning came, we are 
 reminded of the thunder-god of our own ancestors. For 
 Thor had red hair and a red beard, and when he blew therein 
 it thundered anil lightened. We .sec how close the American 
 Indian had come to the Scandinavian idea. 
 
 But it is not only Thor that makes the connection 
 between the earlier zoiimorphs of the thunder and the red 
 colour of the thunder. Jupiter Capitolinus himself was Jupiter 
 formerly a red-painted image ; so that there could be no ii"ug° , 
 mistake in s;iying that he was, par excellence, the Thunder. Thunder. 
 He was fulminate, as far iis colour could make him, and 
 strangely like the Northern Thor. What the Dioscuri by 
 their drapery suggest, he reinforces by a more complete 
 statement. 
 
 With regard to the Dioscuri themselves, the a.ssi>ciation 
 of red colour with them, is not a mere Roman peculiarity; 
 it must be an Aryan idea, for we find that the Veda says The i, 
 that red is the proper colour of the A(,-vins (the Indian ,.J5|""* 
 horsemen, who correspond to the Dioscuri). Acconlingly 
 Oldenberg says', ' in certain special sacrifices, along with 
 a bull offered to Indra, there is intro<luceil a red-coloured 
 goat for the Ayvins, for the A^-vins equally are of red colour.' 
 It hiis been {jointed out, for example, that, in the old times, 
 
 ' Citllawny, Kelifiiotn Syttem of the Amniulu, p. 3M0. 
 ' OldenberK, IVil.i, p. MS. 
 
42 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 a successful Roman general, to whom a triumph was granted, 
 was considered as an actual impersonation of Jupiter, and to 
 fulfil that dramatic action, he was painted red'. 
 
 This painting of the triumphant Roman general may be 
 
 compared with the humbler parallel of the man amongst 
 
 The tbe Thompson Indians of British Columbia to whom twins 
 
 Thunder- j^j.g given in charge when they are bom. He wears a head- 
 
 among the band, generally of the bark of Eleagnus anjentea, into which 
 
 biditwfs^™ are stuck eagle or hawk feathers. He paints his whole face 
 
 red, and holds a fir-branch in each hand. Evidently the 
 
 man is, here also, personating the thunder, and pretending to 
 
 be the father of the twins". 
 
 That this is the meaning of the red-painted face may be 
 seen from cases where the father of the twins himself takes 
 on the decoration. Thus Boas tells us in his sixth report on 
 the N.W. tribes of Canada\ that the ' parents of twins must 
 build a small hut in the woods far from the village. There 
 they have to stay two years. The father must continue to 
 clean himself by bathing in ponds for a whole year, and must 
 keep his face painted red.' The father is raised to thunder- 
 jank by the possession of twin-children. 
 
 What is true of the successful Roman general who 
 impersonates Jupiter for one particular occasion, is probably 
 true of the priests who represent him in other senses. Now 
 these priests are the successors of a long line of medicine 
 men, occupied inter alia with the management of the weather, 
 and working by sympathetic and other magic, for the kind of 
 weather that they want. If, then, we can show that red is the 
 proper colour for such performances, it will not be difficult to 
 
 ' We may refer to Pliny, Nat. HUl. xiixiii. 36. 'Minium quoque...nuno 
 
 ■ inter pigmentft magnae auctoritatis, et quondam apud Bomanos non solum 
 
 magnae, sed etiam sacrae. Enumerat auctores Verrius, quibus credere sit 
 
 neccssc, Jovis ipsius simulacri faciem dicbus testis minio illini solitam, 
 
 triumphantumque corpora; sic Camillum triumphasse.' 
 
 See also Rusliforth in Sraith-Wcytc-Marindin ; Diet. Ant. ii. 894, who 
 points out the identification of the triumphing general with the go<l. See 
 Suet. .4u(/. 94; .luv. i. 38; Liv. x. 7, 10, etc. 
 
 ^ Tcit, The Thomp.itm Indians, p. 310 (./t'siip iV. Pacific Expedition, vol. i. 
 1898-1900). 
 
 » 1890, p. 39. 
 
IV] THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 43 
 
 generalise for the priesthood the same colour as applies to 
 the divinity. Here is one curious case from a very debased 
 civilization, that of the negroes in Brazil, who have become Thunder- 
 nominally Roman Catholic, but have largely reverted to the ^",|J,^g 
 savage cults of the West Coiist of Africa from which they neKroes 
 originally came. They build rude oratories (tei-reiros) in 
 the manner of the African fetish huts, and have mingled in 
 an indiscriminate manner the saint worship of the Roman 
 Catholic Church with the original fetishism. In every one 
 of these huts, for example, will be found images of Cosmas 
 and Damian, one of the conventional Roman substitutes for 
 twin-worship. This combination of cults they call the 
 worship of the Orisas (or saints). In the catalogue of these, 
 the third place is given to the thunder-god Shango ; he is 
 the thunder-god of the Yorubas in West Africa. His other 
 name is Uzakouta, which means the ' hurler of stones,' by 
 reference to the thunderbolts. The wooden figure of Shango 
 which is found in all these oratories represents a priest with 
 the insignia of the deity, and especially with a flint hatchet 
 in each hand, and another flint hatchet over his head. And 
 amongst the other insignia of this thunder-representing figure, 
 not the least significant is his red apron. To the worship of 
 Shango, an order of devotees is attached, every one of whom 
 is dressed in red. And the Abb6 Etienne Ignace, to whom 
 we owe these observations, remarks that the colour is meant 
 t<) represent the lightning; ' cette couleur, en effet, est de 
 nature a rappeler les eclairs rutilants qui s'echappent des 
 mains de cette divinitt^'.' 
 
 The hatchets, t(X), iis we have seen elsewhere, are thunder- 
 axes, and can be paralleled in many a Greek and Oriental 
 cult, as in the worship of Jupiter Dolichenus and amongst 
 the ancient Cretans. 
 
 This single illustration from an out-of-the-way comer 
 will show how the medicine men and priests of old-time 
 thought of the thunder and lightning and their various 
 representations ami qualities. There can be no doubt that 
 the red raiment of the Heavenly Twins at Rome means the 
 
 ' Anthrnpiu (or 19(W, pp. H86, sqq. 
 
44 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 same as the red colour of the images, priests and worshippers 
 amongst the negroes in Brazil. 
 The story The transition from the red feathers of the woodpecker 
 
 Picus"*^ to the red raiment of the Dioscuri, can be studied very 
 prettily in the inverse order, in Ovid's account of the meta- 
 morphosis of Picus, king of Latium, at the hands of Circe, 
 the enchantress. According to Ovid, this enchantment was 
 an act of feminine revenge upon Picus, because he did not 
 respond to Circe's amatory proposals : he was, in fact, con- 
 tracted elsewhere. Picus, the king of Ausonian lands, of 
 Saturnian descent, a lover of horseflesh, and skilled in 
 cavalry warfare, goes out to hunt the wild boar in the 
 woods. Him Circe spies from out the glade, as he rode 
 along, with two boar-spears in his left-hand, and (notice 
 the horseman's raiment) robed in a scarlet chlamys buckled 
 with gold'. 
 
 Now notice what happens when Circe transforms him 
 from king Picus into king Woodpecker-: his wings become 
 the colour of the robe, his golden buckle turns to feathers, 
 and his neck is ringed with gold. Nothing remains of the 
 nncient Picus except his name. 
 
 Purpureum chlamyilis pennae traxere colorem, 
 Fibula quod fuenit, vestcmque momorderat a'urum, 
 Pluma tit, et fulvo cervix praecingitur auro. 
 Nee quicquam antiqui Pico nisi nomina restat, 
 
 Ot. Met. XIV. 393-396. 
 
 Ovid's metamorphosis is an artificial one, in exactly the 
 opposite direction to what really took place : the tradition 
 was not a mythologictil one from man to bird, but a change 
 of cult fi-om ornithomorph to anthropomorph. The real 
 king Picus is the woodpecker, who was king before Zeus. 
 Let us then transform him biick again, and we shall see that his 
 golden throat and red feathers become the scarlet chlamys 
 bound with gold of the thunder-man. The scarlet colour 
 of king Picus' chlamys answers then to the red feathers of 
 the woodpecker: and we have traced this colour through 
 the bird form to the human form in theology, and in the 
 
 ' Pocniceam fulvo chlainvdem contractus ab auro, Ov. Met. xiv. 34.5. 
 
IV] THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 45 
 
 images of the gods and the dress of their worshippers in 
 ritual. 
 
 We can now return to the description of the Dioscuri 
 which has come down to us in the ancient legends ; no 
 better instance could be found than Pausani;is' story of the The Mes- 
 two young warriors from Messene, who dressed themselves dress'a^s 
 up as Dioscuri, and deceived the Spartans who were gathered Dioscuri, 
 for a religious festival in honour of the Twins'. 'Once 
 when the L;ic«jdemonians were celebrating a festival in camp 
 in honour of the Dioscuri, and were carousing and making 
 merry after their mid-day meal, Gonippus and Panormus 
 appeared to them, clad in white tunics and purple cloaks 
 {ji(Xafj.vBaii Trop<f>vpd(;, tr. red cloaks) riding on gallant steeds, 
 with caps (TTiXoi) on their heads, and spears in their hands. 
 When tho Lacedemonians saw them, they did obeisance 
 and prayed, thinking that the Dioscuri were come to the 
 sacrifice. But when once the young men were in their 
 midst, they galloped through them all, stabbing with their 
 spears ; and after laying many low, they rode off to Andania. 
 Thus they dishonoured the sacrifices of the Dioscuri. It was 
 this, I believe, that roused the hatred of the Dioscuri against 
 the Messenians.' 
 
 No doubt the young Messenian cavalry-officers got them- 
 selves up for the sport by a proper equipment in caps, 
 tunics, cloaks and colours. I think there can be no doubt 
 that Pausaniiis means us to understand that their chlamydes 
 were red. 
 
 The same thing may be noted in the account of the The 
 battle of the Sagras river, where the Locrians unexpectedly I'p"^,"" 
 defeated the men of Crotona by the aid of the Dioscuri. Locrianj. 
 The I.atin version of this story is in Justin. The Locrians 
 had appealed to the 8p;\rtans for aiil, but the Spartans had 
 a distaste to go so far afield, and recommended the Ijocrians 
 to consult the Dioscuri. When the day of battle came, 
 there appeared on the wings of the little Locrian army two 
 young warriors of strange appearance, and unustial «'«, 
 riding white horses and wearing scarlet cloaks. These 
 ' Pausanins, tr. Frazer, iv. 27. 1. 
 
46 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. 
 
 strange auxiliaries decided the day in favour of the Locrians, 
 and the news of the battle was miraculously telegraphed on 
 the very same day to Athens and Sparta'. 
 
 Another curious legendary point which betrays the origin 
 The Twin of Castor and Pollux as the Sons of the Thunder will be 
 Brethren f^^^^^ jj^ ^j^g g^^^y ^( ^\^Q sceptic who doubted their veracity, 
 Foi-um at as they stood by the pool of Juturna and told the victory at 
 the Lake Regillus. The Twins touched the unbeliever's 
 beard. It was at once changed to a red colour; the victim 
 of the miracle went ever afterwards by the name of Aheno- 
 barbus, and transmitted the title to his clan. If the thing 
 had happened in Northern Lands, he would have been nick- 
 named Rothbart, and every one would have recognised that 
 he had had dealings with Thor, who bears the same supple- 
 mentary name^ 
 
 Not only was it the ca.se that the Dioscuri were believed 
 
 to have worn red chlamydes on those occasions when they 
 
 miraculously turned the tide of the battle, but there is 
 
 The reason to believe that the soldiers who were immediately 
 
 a™y*° under their patronage were also clothed in scarlet. Cer- 
 
 imitates tainlv this was the case with the Spartans, who used to go 
 
 theTwins. . , , . , , , ,o- ^ ... 
 
 into battle carrying the sacred cross-beams {ooKava) that 
 
 were the visible representations of the presence of the Twin 
 
 Brethren. They wore cloaks of the appropriate red colour 
 
 and marched to the music of fiutes that played a tune 
 
 known as Castor's tune. I suppose this means that Castor 
 
 wiis the inventor of it, so that we have here a case of the 
 
 patronage of music by one of the Twins, as we have it in 
 
 ' Justin. XX. 2, A. ' Quo metu territi Locrenses ad Spartanos decurrunt; 
 auxilium supplicea deprecantur ; illi lonninqiia militia gravati, auxilium 
 a Ca.store et Polluce peterc cos jubent... In cornibus quoque duo juvenes 
 diverso a caeteris amiorum habitu, eximia mapnitudinc et albis equis, et 
 coccineis paludamcnti.s, pugnare visi sunt, nee ultra apparuerunt, quam 
 pugnatum est. Hanc adniirationem auzit incredibilis famae velocitas; nam 
 eodcm die. qua in Italia pugnatum est, et Corintbo et Athenis et Lacedae- 
 tiione nuntiata est victoria.' 
 
 ' The story will be found in Plutarch, AcmHiun Pauilus, xiv. rW oi fxiv 
 itri^avaai X^-yoirai T^t vitt)vt}\ avrov Toif xepo'iv aTptfjLo. /KtStiicTf i ■ ^ 5i (OOv^ 
 Ik ^t\alvT)s Tpi\br ft't iruppaf ^(TufiaXouaa, ti^ fxiv \6yt^j iriffriv, t<^ 6' dv5pl 
 irapavxtiv ^vIkXtjch' t'ov 'Arfv^^apfiov, OT(p iari \a.\K0irtJ3'iuva., 
 
IV] THK RV.D ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI 47 
 
 the Thebaii pair, Zethiis and Aniphion, of whom the latter 
 is reiK)rted to have built Thebes, or to have helped to build 
 it, by the music of his lyre'. We remember also the Hebrew 
 triad, Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal ; of whom Jubal is the in- 
 ventor of the harp and org-.in. If this is the right explanation 
 of Castor's tune, this agrees with the idea that wo get of 
 him elsewhere, that he was the gentler of the pair, and his 
 brother the professional rufHan. 
 
 At Sparta, then, the music was Dioscuric, and so was the 
 drapery. On a certain occasion when an earthquake had 
 destroyed Spiirta, and when the Mcssenians were in revolt, 
 the Spartans sent a messenger to Athens for help; and 
 Aristophanes describes the appearance of the suppliant, 
 seated on the altar, with pale face and red coat'. 
 
 The Spartan army, then, was thoroughly Dioscurized. 
 And it is natural to ask the question whether the same 
 thing is not true of the Roman Knights, who rode in pro- 
 cession, called Transvectio Equitam, on the day of the 
 Commemoration of the Battle of the Lake Regillus. 
 
 We have now shown, from many points of view, that red 
 is the proper Dioscuric colour ; our investigation having 
 taken us into the earlier cults that preceded the great 
 religions of Greece, Rome, and India, and into the omilho- 
 niorphic worship which precedes some, at least, of the an- 
 thropomorphic representations of deity. The colour of the 
 thunder has affected all its living representatives. Moreover 
 the suspicion arises that this may apply, to some extent, to 
 the vegeUible and inanimate representatives of the Thunder. 
 Here is an interesting case. We have seen that, in general, 
 
 ' Cf. Marlowp, I>r Faiuttu, Act ii. sc. 2: 
 
 ' Have not I made blind Homer sing to me? 
 
 And hath not he thut built the walU of Thebe.s, 
 With nivishinK sounjK of his melodious harp. 
 Made music with my Mephistophilis?' 
 ' This is pointed out by Fmzcr, Attit, p. 108, who fjives the reference to 
 
 Aristophanes, I.yfitlratii (1138, seq.). Otiier allusions (r. Fmzer, in Inc.) 
 
 will be found in Plutarch, I.yruriiiu, 2'2 ; Xenophon, Rffuh. l.ncedarm. 
 
 XL. 3; Aristotle in a scholion to Aristophanes, Acharn. 3'iO; i'lulurch, Intiii. 
 
 iMccm. 24. 
 
48 THE RED ROBES OF THE DIOSCURI [CH. IV 
 
 the thunder-tree is the oak, though there are traces of other 
 dwellings for the mysterious flame : at Sparta, the Twins 
 were detected once in a wild pear-tree. In Palestine, also, 
 sacred oaks are the fashion, and it is from such sacred oak 
 (or terebinth) that the Thunder-god and the Twins came to 
 The pome- visit Abraham. There is, however, another tree, the pome- 
 Thunder- granate tree, whose name, Rimmon, has perplexed the le.xico- 
 tree: graphers. They usually content themselves by saying it is 
 
 etymologically of unknown origin. As Rimmon (Assyrian, 
 Rammanu) is the name for one of the thunder-gods of 
 Mesopotamia, we are naturally invited to consider the 
 pomegranate as a thunder-tree ; and anyone who has ever 
 seen a pomegranate orchard, aflame with scarlet blossoms in 
 the early spring, will have no doubt as to the reasons of the 
 identification. 
 the holly- It is possible that this observation may lead us to the 
 
 H*^^' re<a-son for the sanctity of the holly-tree, and the rowan-tree 
 
 the rowan- . •' . ■' 
 
 tree. (mountain-ash) in our own islands^ 
 
 Even inanimate objects will sometimes furnish us with 
 the colour suggestion. Blinkenberg reports that in the 
 .islands off Esthonia, people believe that the thunder-stone 
 hirns red on the approach of a storm". 
 
 ' The rowan-tree is simply the red tree; not from the English roan 
 which goes back through Italian rorano to the Latin rufiis; but from a, 
 Norse form said to be derived from a word meaning red and supposed to be 
 related to the Icelandic rfj/nir: see Skeat, Etyrn. Diet. 
 
 - The reference is to Russwurm, Eibofolke, ii. 249. The whole passage 
 is important. ' Wiihrend cines Gewitters werden die Donnerkeile ganz roth 
 (I. of Worms), und man legt sie dann in das Gefass, a>is welchem das Vieh 
 trinkt, damit es durch den Schreck beira Donner nicht Schaden leide: denn 
 dadurch wird die Milch ganz kraftlos und giebt keinen Rahm (Dago, 
 Wichterpal, and ^Vorras). Die Donnerkeile sichem auch gegen Einschlagen 
 des Blitzes (Wichterpal, Worms). ..Wenn man Korn aussaet, legt man sie 
 in das Kiilmit (Kjolmt) aus welcher man streuet, so schadet in dem .Jahre... 
 das Gcwitter dem Korne nicht,.. wer daher einen Donncrkeil tindct, der darf 
 ihn nicht weggeben, well er sonst sein Gliick verscherzen wiirde (Worms).' 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 We have spent some time in explaining the beliefs 
 which savage peoples have as to the nature of thunder and 
 lightning, and have taken pains to point out, without 
 attempting an exhaustive treatment, the wide-spread idea 
 that the thunder is a bird. It was necessary to do this 
 because of another belief, also widely held, which is our 
 main study, that Twins are the Children of Thunder. It 
 Wiis impossible to deal aderpiately with the genesis of the 
 Twin-cult, unless we h:ul some previous idea of Thunder- 
 cult. Now that we are sufficiently informed on that point, 
 we can go on to discuss the Twin-cults more minutely. Is 
 the taboo on Twins as universal as it is early ? Are there 
 any wide stretches of human life or of human historj' that 
 know nothing of such a taboo ? And does the taboo, where 
 it exists, work out from a Fear into anything that can be 
 called a Religion ? To answer these questions, we want to 
 know more about peoples siivage of to-day, and about peoples 
 le.ss eidtured than ourselves in bygone days. 
 
 We shall begin with Africji, becau.se there we shall find 
 civilization most elemenUiry, and we may therefore be able 
 to get nearest to the origin of the Great Fear, and to mark 
 n)ost certainly its early developments. There are still many 
 parts of Africa, where we only know the coast-line, and a 
 little of the hinterland. Where the coast-line belongs to 
 a progressive European power, the custom of killing twins is 
 sure to be in process of disappearance; and on this account, 
 the evidence is apt to be elusive. We shall, however, be 
 able to establish ipiite ejusily the genenil existence of Twin- 
 
 II. II. 4 
 
50 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 cults all over Africa, both amongst the negroes, and amongst 
 
 the Bantus. 
 
 Dapper's I believe the first to publish information about the Twin- 
 
 ^^°- cult in West Africa was Dr Olfert Dapper, whose book 
 
 graph J. _ . 
 
 entitled Nauwkeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaansche Ge- 
 
 westen was published at Amsterdam in 1668. It certainly 
 is strange that we should have no English or Portuguese 
 relations of an earlier date. The important thing about 
 Dapper is that he is a scientific geographer, and describes 
 countries and peoples he has never visited ; he tells us, in 
 his preface, that he obtained much information about the 
 country between Cape Verde and the kingdom of Lovango 
 Blomert's (Loango) from the writings of Samuel Blomert, which had 
 ravels. b^gn handed to him by the great Leyden scholar, Isaac 
 Vossius : and he mentions that Blomert's account was very 
 full, and that it contained a large amount of information 
 not previously recorded. Blomert had, ;is Dapper tells ua, 
 lived several years in Africa. 
 
 It may be assumed, then, that it was from Blomert 
 Twins that Dapper obtained the statement that in Benin ' no twins 
 killed in g^,.g gygp found ; but as may be supposed, they are bom there 
 as well as elsewhere, for it is suspected that either of them 
 is every time choked by the midwife, the giving birth to 
 twins being considered a dishonour in the country, for they 
 firmly believe that one man cannot be the father of two 
 children at one time.' 
 
 In this account we have evidence that twins are killed, 
 a conjecture as to how they are got rid of, and the native 
 rejison for their removal. We know enough iibout the Twin- 
 cult to inspire us with confidence in Dapper's statements. 
 The case was otherwi.se with these who followed him, ius we 
 shall presently see. 
 MuUcr on In 1673, W. T. Muller published at Hamburg an account 
 
 Coast" ^'^ ^ P'^""^ "^ '''"'' ^'o'') Coast'. In this we find (p. 184) that 
 Twins of when a woman brings into the world twins of the same sex, 
 liyg_ they preserve them alive. If, however, they should be of 
 
 ' Die Afrikannche auf der Guineisclien Gold-cust gelegent Landschaft 
 Fetu. 
 
V] THK TWIN-fl'LT IN WEST AFRICA 51 
 
 opposite sexes, they select one of them to live, and kill the 
 other. We shall see, later on, cases of" especial severity 
 towards twins of opposite sexes, and reasons assij^ned for 
 that severity'. 
 
 In 1704 there was published at Utrecht, by Bosnian, a Bosnian's 
 work entitled Nauwkeui-ige Beschnjvinge van de (j^ine.<ie,\^^"l^' 
 which contained accounts by D. van Nyendael of the manners Guinea, 
 and customs of the natives on the Gulf of Guinea. 
 
 Bosman, in his preface, challenges Dapper's statements, 
 and so does Nyendael. They argue that Dapper had never 
 visited Benin, and that his accounts are contradicted by 
 their own. That Dapper was never in Benin, we have his own 
 statement for; he was not a traveller, but a scholar writing 
 on Universal Geography ; that his evidence contradicted 
 v. Nyendael's is not to his discredit. The discord brings 
 at once to the front the important fact that precisely opposite 
 views of twins may be taken in the very same district. 
 Thus v, Nyendael relates that ' if a woman bear two Twins 
 children at birth, it is believed to be a good omen, and ^^ ™™^ 
 the king is immediately informed thereof, ivnd he causes Benin (?) 
 public joy to be expressed by all sorts of music. ..In all 
 parts of the Benin territory, twin-births are esteemed good 
 omens, except at Arebo, where they are of the contrary except at 
 opinion, and treat the twin-bearing woman very barbarously ; ^^°°- 
 for they actually kill both mother and infants, and s;icrifice 
 them to a certain devil, which they fondly imagine harbours 
 in a wood, near the village. But if the man happens 
 to be more than <irtlinarlly tender, he generally buys off his 
 wife, by sacrificing a female slave in her place : but the 
 children are, without pos,sibility of retlemption, obliged to be 
 made the s<itisfacti)rj' offerings which this wwage law requires.' 
 
 So it is clear that v. Nyendael had come across both 
 interpretations of the twin-tiiboo (though he makes too little 
 
 ' ■ Wanns gcschicht dii-is die Miittcr ZwillinKO eines Gc.iflili'cliles ziir 
 Well IriiKct, so behalten sic dics<-lbc beim Leben. Sind abcr die Zwillinnc 
 untcrscbiedenes Geschlcchles. ein Knablein und ein Mugdiein, so crwahlen 
 sic eines darausz, welches sie wollen, das ander abor wird von ilinen 
 erwelinter ma.isen Ket<Kltet Oleicher Oestalt wird aucb das lehende Kind, 
 welches oinc Miittcr gcbiehrct, unschuldiKer Wciso Ketiidtot.' 
 
 4—2 
 
53 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 of the savagery of the Guinea negroes), and that he had 
 also detected the beginning of the modification of the more 
 ^ savage interpretation. There was, therefore, no need to 
 challenge Dapper's statements which might have been as 
 true as his own : v. Nyendael goes on to give cases which he 
 had known ; the first one, which he dates in the year 1690, 
 was of a native merchant, whose wife had borne twins : the 
 merchant redeemed his wife with a slave, but sacrificed the 
 children. Next year, the same thing happened to a priest's 
 wife, and the priest sacrificed, with hLa own hands, the two 
 children, and a substituted slave woman. E-xactly a year 
 later, the priest's wife repeated the offence of twiji-bearing, 
 and V. Nyendael suspects that she atoned for her fertility by 
 death. 
 
 We are now in possession of trustworthy information as 
 to the state of opinion on twins in the district of Benin. 
 They were liked and not liked ; the centre of dislike appears 
 to have been Arebo. More than a hundred years later, Benin 
 was visited by Lieut, (afterwards Commander) John King 
 of the British Navy. It was somewhere between the years 
 ■1815 and 1821 '. He saw much service on the Guinea Coast, 
 but his account of Benin appears only to be known in a 
 French translation % 
 Lieut. Lieut. King notes that the barbarous custom of exposing 
 
 King. twins which formerly existed at Arebo (lat. 5° 80', long. 5° 10') 
 hivs now introduced itself at Gatto : the children were placed 
 in an earthen pot, face upwards, and allowed to perish on the 
 top of a hill. 
 
 From this statement we arrive at a confirmation of 
 v. Nyendael's statement about Arebo (unless King should be 
 quoting from v. Nyendael); we have al.so the very doubtful 
 statement that the inhumanity of twin-imirder was spreading 
 elsewhere. It is not at all likely that the (Juinea natives were 
 becoming more inhuman with the course of time : the natural 
 explanation is that the observers were coming across more 
 traces of the murders of twins, and not that more twins were 
 
 ' See O'Byme's Naval Biography. Lond. 1849. 
 ' Journal des Voy. vol. xm. Paris, 1823. 
 
V] THF. TWIN-ffI,T IN' WEST AFRICA 5.S 
 
 being murdered. As to their placing of twins in earthen 
 ]>ots on the top of a hill, that is confirmed by later tmvellers ; 
 the top of the hill only means that portions of the country 
 are tabooed for the purpose of getting rid of the dangerous 
 invaders. Any part of the bush, for instance, into which 
 twins have been thrown, becomes, as we shall see, infected 
 with the taboo of the exposed children, and will be universally 
 avoided, except for the purpose of such exposures. 
 
 When Captain John Adams published in 1823 his Captain 
 Remarks on the Country from Cape Palmas to the River ^^jn^jg 
 Congo, he noticed the same variety in the treatment of 
 twins. He tells us (p. 37) that all twins bom in Fanti- Twins 
 Jand are called by the same name Attah, which signifies JJ'*'"=°'"*^ 
 twin, and that the mothers are held in great esteem for Fantis 
 being thiis prolific. Whereas in Bonny, the reverse takes Bonny, 
 place: 'the mothers of twins are compared to goats and are 
 not infrequently destroyed.' We shall find this comparison 
 of the twin-mother with the mtiltiple-bearing lower animals 
 in many parts of the world : it is not, however, to bo re- 
 garded as the root idea of the great taboo, who.se leading 
 characteristic is fear rather than disgust. 
 
 Captain Hugh Crow tells us in his ^femo{rs, published in Captain 
 London in 1880, that at Bonny both the mother and the ^^^^ 
 twins are put to death. Here we have the taboo in its 
 extreme fonn, without any modification. So far we have 
 been following what may be called a history of the discovery 
 of the Twin-culls ; and the authors quoted, most of whom we 
 have verified, will be found collected in Ling Roth's book on 
 Greater Benin'. We shall obtain some more information for 
 our purpose from this valuable book. In recent times, the 
 evidence of travellers and of mi.ssiomiries hius greatly ex- 
 tended our knowledge. We will continue the examination 
 of the beliefs of the natives in the Niger Delta, making 
 notes from point to point of any iiuportaut developments in 
 the cult. 
 
 For example, there lies before me a magazine which 
 makes reports of a mission in the Niger Delta called the 
 ' GreaUr Benin. Halifai, 1003. 
 
54 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH, 
 
 Twins Qua Iboe Mission Quarterly, and relates to work carried on 
 Oua Itroe ^^^^ ^^^ mouth of the Qua Iboe River, In the issue for 
 district. August, 1911, Mr R. W. Smith reports a visit he paid to a 
 native church at Enon, He describes the change which the 
 Gospel was making in the people, and by contrast speaks of 
 what had happened upon a previous visit. He tells us that 
 ' about two months previous to this service, I heard the 
 people wailing in the village. Some young fellows asked me 
 to come and see a woman who had just given birth to twins. 
 I went with them to a little dilapidated hut. The woman 
 was sitting on the ground, and the children were lying on the 
 clay floor. There was no one to help her. 
 
 ' I went outside and asked the women to do something. 
 They told me that Twins were a sign of God's wrath ; if they 
 assisted this woman, their own children would be blighted. 
 I must say to their credit, they looked greatly distressed, 
 and I am sure would have liked to help, but this horrible 
 fear posseased them to siich a degree as almost to paralyse their 
 minds. I caught the husband, who wanted to run away, 
 apd tried to make him help, but he moaned and groaned so 
 •much that I was glad to get rid of him. One of the young 
 fellows and myself washed the infants, and as the woman 
 refused to suckle them, I got a tin of milk, and we tried to 
 feed them. For two days we kept them alive, but at hist 
 they died.' 
 
 This very simple account of the Twin-cult in our own 
 time will show clearly the extent to which the Great Fear 
 still prevails, stronger than neighbourliness, and more potent 
 than the love of father, or even mother, for the children. 
 In the next issue of the same magazine (Nov. 1911, p. 199).. 
 Mr Smith gives a further account of his conflict, as a 
 Christian teacher, with the great Taboo. As it brings out 
 some further important feuturos of the Cidt, I transcribe 
 some sentences. 
 
 ' You have heard how women who give birth to twins 
 Twin. are treated in Qua Iboe. The children are killed and the 
 mothers yjomen banished to a village where only mothers of twins are 
 
 banished. ,, , ■■ mi i r ■ i • 
 
 allowed to live. Ihe man who was foremost m welcoming me 
 
v] THB T\VI\-CUI.T IN WEST AFRICA 55 
 
 to the town (of Ikot-Idung) had five wives. One, whose name 
 wivs Chonko, his favourite, immediately after my arrival, 
 gave birth to twins. The father came and said " What shall 
 I do." I said, "Do you want to send her away?" and he 
 said, "No"; I .said, "Alright, my house is nearly finished, 
 are you prepared to leave your own compound and take your 
 wife there and nurse her?" He assented and went. The 
 custom is to condevm a house ivhere twins have been born. 
 The people said to me, " Look ! we have built you a nice 
 house, now you've gone and spoilt it, because you will have 
 very bad fort\ine if you live there after that woman is 
 gone." The chiefs threatened the man. The walls and Hour 
 were very damp, and the mud had not dried. He caught 
 a severe cold sleeping on the ground, yet he remained firm, 
 and to-day his wife is living with him. This brave stand 
 ha.s influenced the minds of all, and I hope to see the cruel 
 custom soon done away with completely.' 
 
 The writer has given us two fresh pieces of information ; 
 one, that the taboo on the unfortunate woman and children 
 extends to their house, and, he might have added, to all 
 their possessions. A Biblical parallel may be found in the 
 story of Achan in the book of Joshua, who had touched 
 tabooed spoil, with lamentable results to himself and all that 
 was his. 
 
 The second ])oint of importance is that the woman might 
 be expelled to live in a place where other similar tabooed 
 women live ; in other words, we have the suggestion of the 
 formation of a twin-town or sanctuary. 
 
 Mr Smith did not notice, that the aVwlilion of the twin- 
 taboo which he was trying U> accomplish radically by the 
 intHMluction of the Christian faith, was alreaily begun by a 
 slower evolutionary method. Apparently, it was already the 
 custom to spare the woman, and to a.ssign her a permanent 
 exile in place of an immediate death. 
 
 Many more testimonies to the beliefs of the negroes in 
 the Delta of the Niger and in adjacent districts might 
 be quoted at this jM>int. Some of them have already been 
 given, or reference has already been made to them in the 
 
5G THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 second chapter of my book on the Cult of the Heavenly 
 Ttuins, and it is not necessary to repeat them, simply foi- the 
 sake of making a complete literature on the Twin-cult. 
 It is proper, however, to allude briefly to such parts of the 
 evidence of travellers and of missionaries as throw into 
 relief either the inner meaning of the cult, or the various 
 stages of development through which it passes. 
 Miss One of the most striking and pathetic accounts of the 
 
 ^"■^ , , hold which the twin-terror has upon the native mind is 
 
 KinRslcj s ^ 
 
 story. given by Miss Kingsley in her Travels in West AfricaK 
 
 She relates the case of a poor slave woman who had become 
 
 an outcast through bearing twins, and the way in which the 
 
 children were saved by the heroic intervention of Miss 
 
 Slessor, a lady missionary at Okyou. The story should be 
 
 read in Miss Kingsley 's own pages, which are abbreviated in 
 
 Mr Ling Roth's book on Greater Benin, and still more 
 
 by myself in the work just referred to. A single sentence 
 
 from Miss Kingsley lets in a flood of light, without her 
 
 Twin knowing it, on the history of the taboo: 'AH children are 
 
 and'otbers thrown (into the bush) who have arrived in this world in the 
 
 exposed, way considered unorthodox, or who cut their teeth in an 
 
 improper manner. Twins are killed among all the Niger 
 
 Delta Tribes, and in districts out of English control, the 
 
 mother is killed too, except in 0-mon, where the sanctuaiy 
 
 Twin- is. There Twin mothers and their children are exiled to an 
 
 sanctu- igiand in the Cross River. They have to remain on the 
 
 island, and if any man goes across and marries one of them, 
 
 he has to remain on the island too.' 
 
 The opening sentence as to children born in an un- 
 orthodox manner is a delicate allusion to another savage 
 terror, the dread of children born feet first. It is an im- 
 portant study, as the history of Ancient Rome, with its 
 worship of Venus Verticordia, appears to involve European 
 peoples in the same primitive belief and dread. We shall 
 come across more of this sort of thing. With regard to the 
 twin-births, however, of which Miss Kingsli^ remarks that 
 ' there is always a sense of there being .something uncanny 
 > p. 324. 
 
 aries. 
 
y] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 57 
 
 about twins,' the passage which we have quoti'd conveys an 
 
 excellent idea both of the extent of the taboo, its original 
 
 intensity, and the mode in which the taboo has been 
 
 gradually lifted. The reference to the sanctuary on the 
 
 Cross River is of the first iniportiince, as we shall see later. 
 
 It means that the origin of sanctuaries is to be sought, in 
 
 part at least, in the isolation of twins with their mothers and 
 
 attached or annexed friends. Here again we shall want to 
 
 exannne the matter in the light of Greek and Roman origins. 
 
 The Cross River, which is a little to the east of the Sanciu- 
 
 Nigcr, after passing through the district of 0-mon, to which jhj'cross 
 
 Miss Kingslcy refere, runs out into the Gulf of Guinea at Old River. 
 
 Calabar ; and from a missionary of the Calabar Mission (quoted 
 
 by me in Cult, pp. 12-14), named Goldie, we obtained the 
 
 same statement <us that made by Miss Kingsley with regard Mr Goldie 
 
 to the formation of sanctuaries', to the following effect : ^^^^ q, 
 
 that ' the mother, who was visited with the much dreaded twin- 
 
 11 1 villages, 
 
 affliction of a twin-birth, was no doubt formerly destroyed 
 
 with her infants ; but we found on our arrival that, though 
 she Wiis driven out of the town, and mourned fur as dead, 
 she was permitted to live in the farm districts, and a hamlet 
 was built on the outskirts of each town, willed the ' tiinn- 
 mothei's milage,' in which those resided who were under- 
 going the banishment for life.' 
 
 This passage also is illuminating: it shows that the twin- 
 sanctuary is something much more common than the single 
 island in the Cross River, of which Miss Kingsley speaks ; 
 in other words, if the course of human evolution in Europe 
 is anything like what we see in the Niger DelUi, the pro- 
 gressive civilization of antiquity must have been prolific in 
 Twin-towns to an extent comparable with the abnormal 
 fertility of the fen\ale population. There should be many 
 Twin-towns, as Mr Goldie projMrly calls them, and we shall 
 have to keep our eyes open for such towns, and such islands, 
 as bear marks, in their nouuriclature or otherwise, of an 
 origin in the twin-taboo. 
 
 Returning to Mr (Joldie's account, it will bo found that 
 
 > Ooldie, Caliilnir unit ili .Uioion, pp. 24 seq. 
 
58 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Extent 
 and in- 
 tensity of 
 Taboo. 
 
 he gives a similar account to what we find elsewhere of the 
 exposures of twin-children in the bush, where their bodies 
 are commonly carried in earthen pots, and left for the ants 
 or the hyenas to devour. It is not ple;isant to describe 
 these cruelties, but it must be done to some extent, if we 
 are to realise the intensity of the twin-taboo ; for without 
 a proper realisation of that intensity, we shall constantly be 
 disposed towards a .sceptical attitude, and be asking ourselves 
 the question whether it is possible that a taboo of the kind 
 we are discussing can have had the wide range or the 
 deep hold upon the human mind which we attribute to it ; 
 and it is only as we observe how every other natural in- 
 stinct gives way before it, that we see how potent the taboo 
 must have been, and is, in the formation of belief 
 
 Thus Mr Goldie reports »f the case in which he un- 
 successfully intervened to save certain exposed twin-children, 
 that the mother refused any help, and would rather die than 
 become a twin-mother. The poor slave woman of whom 
 Miss Kingsley and Miss Slessor make report has a rankling 
 sense of injustice with regard to the way in which she has 
 been treated by her people, and the destruction of her goods 
 and chattels, but she has not the least maternal instinct 
 towards the rescued children, whom she appears to detest as 
 cordially as any of the rest of the community. 
 
 An Engli.sh doctor who was called in to the assistance of a 
 negro woman in this region reports that, when the first child 
 of a certain pair of twins arrived, the women in the court- 
 yard made themselves ecstatically happy over it, until it was 
 whispered from within the house, that a second child was 
 en route, when they dashed the helpless babe to the ground 
 and Hed as if they were e.scjiping from wild be;ists. 
 
 An even stronger proof of the hold of the taboo will be 
 found by most Christians in its power to resist the affections 
 produced and developed by the reception of the Faith : it is 
 difficult, or has been in recent times, to persuade native 
 Christians to admit to their fellowship in the Church any 
 persons marked by the taint of a twin-birth'. These, and 
 
 ' See Cult of the llenrenly Tiiius, pp. 14, 15. 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 59 
 
 similar instances which might be given will help us to 
 understand why we are right in laying emphasis on the 
 place which such a taboo nuist have assigned to it in human 
 history. 
 
 It is interesting, also, and necessarj' to watch the varia- 
 tions in the treatment of the subject by tribes who would 
 have been expected, from their physical contiguity, to think 
 the same. Mr Goldie, to whom we have just referred, points 
 this out clearly'. He tells us that 'a small tribe near 
 Ikorofiong (on the Cross River) kill both mother and 
 children ; the people of Akaba, another small tribe in our 
 neighbourhood, drive the poor mother into the bush, and 
 allow her to perish of want. The Calabar people sometimes 
 pick them up, the women going to the side of the river to 
 hail any canoe passing. Another tribe drives off both father 
 and mother, but the father is allowed to return to society on 
 paying a fine, and catching a certain animal without killing 
 it.' That the father should be taboo is rare and not quite 
 intelligible : nor do I see the meaning of the catching of the 
 animal referred to. Is the animal in any way concerned with 
 the parentage in the minds of the sivvages ? One would like 
 to know. So far, at all events, we have not found the West 
 African negroes assigning the twin-children to the parentage 
 of the Thunder, or employing them as Rain-makers, in con- 
 sequence of a Sky or Thunder paternity. Perhaps they are 
 not commonly in want of rain. 
 
 To return to our collection of facts ; here is an extract Mockler- 
 from a traveller through the Niger country, which explains o^^^jJIeJ" 
 Miss Kingsley's reference to a Taboo on children who do not supersii- 
 cut their teeth properly, and throws light again on the 
 variety that appears in the cult. We are told by Mockler- 
 Firryman in his work on British Nigeria' that 'certain 
 births are considered unlucky ; in the Niger Delta, for 
 instiince, a woman who beai-s twins is proclaimed an out- 
 cast, and her offspring destroyed. Children who cut their 
 upper teeth first are also supposed to be under evil influence, 
 
 ' Cult of Ikt Heavenly T^riiu. p. 15. 
 > p. 231. 
 
en THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [cH. 
 
 and are inafle away with, and the child of a mother dying in 
 giving it birth is buried alive. But these superstitions are 
 not universal, for in some districts twins are considered 
 the greatest good-luck ; and whereas some tribes oifer up 
 albino babies to their gods, others reverence them.' 
 
 Hence we have a suggestion, not very definite, that in 
 certain cases the gods were supposed to be implicated in 
 abnormal births. 
 Major We have already referred to the beliefs of the natives 
 
 on CrosT i" t^^* P^^'^ "^ Nigeria which borders on the Cross River. 
 River Pq^ this district we have a body of official infomiation from 
 Major Partridge, which will show some of the difficulties the 
 British Government has had to contend with in its attempt 
 to extirpate the twin-taboo'. He tells us (p. 38) that ' one 
 day a man living in a village distant only half an hour's walk 
 from the town complained to me in court that, his wife 
 having given birth to twins, the villagers wanted to drive 
 away the mother and infants, and make him pay to the 
 community a fine of five goats. (Here the father is clearly 
 sharing the responsibility for what has occurred.) The chief 
 of the village was summoned to attend court, and stated 
 that, though their ancient custom forbade any mother of 
 twins to go near the village stream, the woman in question 
 had actually drawn water therefrom, and had thus polluted the 
 stream, and that in consequence of her action a leopard was 
 infesting their neighbourhood, and so they wanted to banish 
 her and her babies and fine the father. (It is not cjuite 
 certain whether this means for polluting the stream or for 
 producing twins ; perhaps it means both.) I had to e.\plain 
 that this custom of theirs w:is unnecessary in the eyes of the 
 Government, and to issue an order that the man and his 
 family were not to be molested, and the complainant did not 
 Twins due appear again. The natives believe that when tiriits are bom, 
 paternity °"* ** '''* product of the mothers intercourse with a man, and 
 the other of her intercourse with an evil spirit, and she is 
 looked upon ;is no better than a she-goat or a dog, and driven 
 forth, while her babies are either drowned, or cast into the 
 
 ' Partridge, Crost Rirtr S'alives (Hutchinson, 1905). 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFBICA 61 
 
 bush to perish.' The latter part of this statement is, I suspect, 
 an alternative explanation for the former part ; we shall find 
 it common to contnist the prolific woman with the lower 
 animals : the allusion to a spirit ancestry, and the consequent 
 ditterentiation of the twins, is of the highest importance for 
 our enquiry. Some further notes may be made from Major 
 Partridge's book'. An account is given (p. 62) of a visit to 
 Kzialli, said to be the richest of the Aro rulers. The visitor 
 learns in conversation that the Aros regard the Vulture as a 
 sacred bird, and that it has hitherto been the custom, when 
 a woman bears twins, to kill both the mother and her off- 
 spring. 
 
 Some further notes on the twin-taboo are given (pp. 
 257 seq.) ; we are told that the husband of a twin-mother 
 repudiates her, and she is driven away from the community. 
 The twins were generally to be killed, but there were ex- 
 ceptions. When the mother was a free-born woman, pro- • 
 perly married according to native custom, one baby ?t'«.s 
 destroyed, but she was permitted to rear the other. When 
 she was a slave, one was destroyed, and the other given to 
 another woman to bring up. At a ca.se heard at Ogada, the 
 plaintiff being an Ikwe, and the defendant an Eshupum, an 
 old woman of Ogada stated that 'the old Ikwe custom is that, Ikwe 
 when a woman bears twins, they drive her away. Some- ""^'J''^ 
 times they bring her here and give her to us, but they take Twin- 
 back the children when old enough to leave their mother.' 
 This shows that the custom varies considerably. Among i^r^rras 
 the Igarras, up the Niger, tunns are welcomed and considered '^^^'^ 
 (LS lucky. lucky. 
 
 Perhaps the most imporUint study of the twin-taboo on 
 the Lower Niger, is that given in Leonai-d's book on The 
 Lower Niger and its tribes'. Leonard brings out many 
 important details of the influence of the taboo on the life 
 of the persons that are, or may be, affected by it. For 
 
 ' The full title of which is; Cnut liiver .VuJiim, beinK some notes on the 
 primitive poi^ns of Obibura Hill District, Southern NiKcrin, incluilint; a 
 description of the circles of upright sculptured stones on the left bnnk of the 
 Aweyong Kiver. 
 
 ' Published in 1906 (Macmillftn). 
 
62 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH, 
 
 Second 
 twin due 
 to spirit] 
 ancestry. 
 
 instance (p. 310) ' on the birth of twins — looked on as this is, 
 as unnatural and monstrous — all domestic utensils are at 
 once destroyed.' Leonard suggests that the destruction of 
 twins, if not exactly a sacrifice to ancestral spirits, is closely 
 akin to it. It is an otience against the ancestral gods that 
 must, of necessity, be removed, along with the offending 
 cause, the woman. He continues' with the important obser- 
 vation that the origin of the custom is ' lost in antiquity, 
 and due apparently to the conception that one birth at a 
 time is the distinguishing feature between man and all other 
 creation, and therefore the birth of twins was regarded as 
 an unnatural event, to be ascribed solely to the influence of 
 malign spirits, acting in conjunction with the power of 
 evil ...Indeed, according to their ancient faith, although two 
 energies are required to produce a unit, the production of 
 two such units is out of the common groove, therefore un- 
 natural, because it implies at once a spirit duality, or 
 enforced possession of some intruding and malignant demon, 
 in the yielding and offending person of a member of the 
 household.... For, in their opinion, the natural product of 
 • two human energies, as a single unit, is only endowed or 
 provided with one soul-spirit. The custom that prevails 
 among the Ibo or Brass vien, of allowiug one, always the 
 first-born of the twins, to live, is a practical admission of 
 this conception.' 
 
 Here we have the dtial paternity clearly brought out, 
 and the important additional fact that among the Ibo or 
 people on the Brass river, the first-bom is reckoned to be of 
 human parentage. We ought, on this belief, to s;vy Castor 
 and Pollux, not Pollux and Castor; Zethus anil Amphion for 
 the Theban twins would also be the right order as is clear 
 also from the 'divine Amphion' where Amphion only means 
 somebwly's twin. Leonard goes on to state in the strongest 
 \-^ terms the ' horror and detestation ' which twins produce in 
 every home in the Niger Delta. 'It is the standing law of 
 the priests that no time is to be lost in removing the un- 
 fortunate infants. This is generally done by throwing them 
 
 ' I.e. p. 458 seq. 
 
V] TUK TWIN-CULT IN WKST AFRICA 63 
 
 into the Bush, to be devoured by wild animals, or the equally 
 ferocious driver ants, or sometimes, as is done by the Ibibio, 
 Ijo, and other coast tribes, by setting them adrift on creeks in 
 roughly made baskets of reeds and bulrushes, when they are 
 soon drowned or swallmved by sharks or crocodiles'.' Leonard 
 goes on to explain the various modifications of the taboo. 
 The mother, for instance, may be quarantined in a dcUiched 
 hut for sixteen days. After this they go through purifiaition 
 rites, ending up with the si\crifice of a chicken or pup, and 
 with the removal of the chalk which had previously been 
 smeared upon them. We shall meet elsewhere with this 
 custom of whitewashing the twins. The father also pays 
 to the priests a fine of about 1600 manilhis (say £6. I'.is. id.). 
 
 On the subject of the formation of twin-towns, Leonard is 
 perfectly explicit. 
 
 'In the Ibibio country, and formerly among the Efik,... Formation 
 the women, looked on as unclean for the rest of their lives, are towns 
 obliged to reside in villages, which are known as Twin-towns.' ',?.f'?* 
 The husband continues to maintain the wife, and the children country, 
 are returned when weaned, i.e. at the end of two or three 
 years. Should the woman have children of any other member 
 of the community, the possession of them reverts to her 
 original husband. Special sacrifices are made when a twin- 
 child is received back from taboo, ;is well iis in all cases of 
 intercourse between the tabooetl and the community. By 
 this means, the women of the conmiunity are supposed to 
 be protected against the contagion of the twin-curse.' But 
 what is to be done if the first otfemling woman should 
 repeat the otience '. ' In this case,' says Leonard, ' the proba- 
 bilities are that the death of the mother would be demanded 
 by the household and by the community as well. Or, if not 
 killed, she would be driven into the bush and left to die, 
 although, if discovered by a stninger, he is at liberty to 
 claim her as his own projMTty, that is, at least, if he feels 
 
 ' This strikinK variation in the trcalnifnt of twins by the roiut triben in 
 thr Itiiy of Dvnin, un ihinkinK whether thix may not bo the real invan- 
 
 inK of the storips told of the exposure uf MtMeK ami SnrKon. The pamllel 
 story of Romulus and Uenum must be kept in niiii<l. 
 
64 THE TWIN-CDLT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 inclined to run the risk of a venture so truly provocative of 
 offence.' It is a natural assumption that the stranger, so 
 annexing a twin mother, even with the modified taboo 
 described above, would find himself migrating to a twin- 
 village, or furnishing in his own dwelling the nucleus of such 
 a village. 
 Rites of Leonard goes on to describe the method by which the 
 
 tion. Ibo clans purify house and community on the arrival of 
 
 twins. All the people in that quarter of the village appear 
 to be affected, and have to throw away their food ;ind drink 
 and half-burnt firewood ; in short, everything which might be 
 affected by the contagion. It is not, however, stated that 
 ■the house itself in which the twin-birth takes place is 
 destroyed or abandoned. To that extent some modification 
 of taboo appears to have been introduced : at an early stage 
 we may be sure that the house or hut would have been 
 abandoned or destroyed. The mother, herself, is promptly 
 isolated ; and we have this important supplementary state- 
 ment that when a woman is delivered of a child, and it is 
 known that another is to follow, ' she is instantly carried into 
 the bush, and whenever the second is born it is immediately 
 thrown away, while the first-born is retained, and named 
 Itt'menbo, which means two people.' We may probably infer 
 that this second child is the offence, and is due to the spirit 
 parentage. The name should be noticed, for it is charac- 
 teristic of the situation that twins have special names. The 
 same thing occurs at Brass where the first-born is kept, and 
 the other thrown away. In this case, if the child is a male 
 It is called Isele, and if a female Sela, both names meaning 
 Selected. It is implied by the name that one has been 
 destroyed, but that it is settled in advance which one is 
 to be kept. It is not a case of ' that is the one that I should 
 keep.' The election is according to law and not according to 
 grace. Leonard also alludes to the case, hinted at by Miss 
 Kingsley, of a child whose manner of birth is irregular. Such 
 a child is called Mkporooko, i.e. had or evil feet, and its birth 
 causes the same taboo as a twin-birth. The mother, in such 
 a case, goes to the Tw{n-to2un. 
 
V] THE TWIX-CCLT IN WEST AFRICA G5 
 
 So much, then, is clear, that the majority of the tribes of 
 the Niger Delta hold strongly the belief in the twin-curse ; 
 there may be some local modifications, but the genenil 
 prohibition of intercourse with those affected by twin-birth, 
 the avoidance of common roads, dwellings and markets, is 
 practically universal. 
 
 We have already alluded (p. 61, sup.) to Major Partridge's 
 
 statement that higher up the Niger, among the Igarras, the 
 
 taboo is interpreted in exactly the opposite sense. This is 
 
 confirmed by Leonard, who shows that they regard the 
 
 uncanny event as due to good spirits rather than malign. 
 
 In this case, then. Twins are regartied as a blessing. Yet 
 
 the IgaiTa tribes are in contact on the south and on the east 
 
 with the Ibo tribes, who take the gloomy view of the 
 
 situation. Even more curious is the reversal of judgement 
 
 with regard to the relative importance of the twins ; the Second- 
 
 second-burn is regarded as the elder: it is sissumed that the ^^j^ j,^, 
 
 birth-right follows the younger child of the pair ; the real primo- 
 
 111 1 1 111 r 1 • K^niture 
 
 elder has sent the younger into the world in advance of him riKhts. 
 
 in token of his superiority. This curious and important belief 
 will have to be alluded to again, when we come to discuss 
 certain Biblical twins. The Igiirra, however, make no differ- 
 ence in the treatment of twins, who are regarded as exactly 
 equal and who, when adult, are married on the same day. 
 
 An annual twin-day festival is kept up, in honour of the 
 birth of all twins in the community. Twins are supposed to 
 have special powers : they cannot be poisoned and they have 
 mantic foresight as to children not yet bom. All of this is 
 very important. When I was first engaged on the West 
 African beliefs, I did not immediately get evidence of the 
 d\ial paternity, or the intervening spirit father. This comes 
 out with clearness in the statements of Partridge and 
 Leonanl. The latter has especially thrown light upon the 
 savage mind and the sjivage custom. It remains to be .seen 
 whether in any of the districts describeil the second paternity 
 can be identified with Sky, Riiin, or Thunder: or whether 
 some other explanations maybe the ones which expres-s more 
 exactly what the natives really think. 
 
 u u. 6 
 
66 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Koler on 
 Bonny 
 
 OnitBha 
 natives 
 destroy 
 twins. 
 
 Twin- 
 mothers 
 compared 
 to lower 
 animals. 
 
 Insults 
 
 and 
 
 curses. 
 
 There are still some customs attaching to the twin-cult 
 in the Niger Delta, which need to be brought out, as well as 
 some further confirmations of statements already reported. 
 
 In 1848 Hermann Ktiler published at Gottingen, a book 
 called Einige Notizen ilher Bonny. He remarks', with regard 
 to the customs of the natives at Bonny, that, however 
 little trouble a single child may give to its mother, yet if 
 she were brought to bed of twins, it would mean very ill 
 fortune for her : the twins would be evidence of her guilt, 
 and the mother and children would be put to death-. Here 
 we have again the implication that one man cannot be the 
 parent of two simultaneous children. 
 
 In Mock ler- Ferry man's account of Major Claude Mac- 
 donald's mission to the Niger and Benue rivers, we have 
 some important statements'. At Sierra Leone, the party 
 were received by a missionary, a native of the place, named 
 Strong, who told them 'Strange tales of the barbarism of the 
 people of Onitsha, — tales of human sacrifices, destruction of 
 tvjins, and slavery, which we listened to with horror and 
 disgust*.' Onitsha is on the Niger river, half-way fi-om 
 Lokoja to the coast. When they called on the king of 
 Onitsha, they made a proclamation in the name of the Queen 
 of England ' against all human sacrifices, twin-munlers and 
 slavery. The poor king, being a good Conservative, begged 
 that the customs might last out his time'.' With regard to 
 the Ibo tribes of whom we have written above, they report' 
 that ' one of the most barbarous customs of the Ibo tribes 
 is the destruction of twins. A woman, by giving birth to 
 twins is considered to have committed an unnatural offence, 
 and to have viade herself akin to the lower order of animals. 
 Her twins are taken from her and thrown into the bush to 
 perish, whilst the miserable woman herself is proclaimed an 
 outcjist, and driven from her village. No greater insult can 
 be offered to an Iho woman than to call her twin-bearer, or 
 ' I.e. p. 102. 
 
 ^ ' So wenig Urastiindc aber ein einziges Kind dcr Mutter macht, so 
 ungliicklich ist cs lur sic von Zwillingen cntbundcn zu werden ; es gilt aU 
 Beweis von Schuld, und Mutter und Kinder werden getodtet.' 
 
 ' MocklerFerryman, Vp the Niger. Lond. 1892. 
 
 * p. 20. » p. 23. « p. 39. 
 
v] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA (i7 
 
 to hold up two Jincjers at her. This barbarism, at one time 
 common in all Ibo tribes, h;vs been considerably abated 
 amongst the tribes dwelling near the main river, owing to 
 the exertions of the Royal Niger Company.' 
 
 The interesting form of symbolic cursing in the Niger 
 region should be noted. It has important ecclesiastical 
 parallels to which we may allude later. 
 
 The siime observation, which we previously noted, with 
 regard to the appreciation of twins by the Igbarra tribes, 
 is also recorded by the Macdonald e.xpedition: they say', 
 ' Cannibalism is not practised by the Igbirra.s, and twins are 
 worshipped under the impression that theirbirth brings luck to 
 the family.' This is the strongest statement that we have come 
 across yet of the devotion to twins of certain African tribes. 
 
 From another writer we obtain confirmation of the 
 peculiar form of cursing prevalent in the Niger Delta. In 
 a book of J. Smith on Trade and Travels in the Gulph J. Smith 
 of Guinea (Lond. 1851), we find as follows': 'In the o^*^"^ "' 
 Bonny, woe be to the women who have two children at a 
 birth, or who even become mothers of more than four, for 
 their children are destroyed and the woman banished. The 
 greatest possible insult you can ofiFer an inhabitant of this 
 place, is to call him nam-a-shoobra, meaning one of twins, Twin- 
 er, as they would say, half a man: nam-a-shoobra also ""^'"S- 
 conveys the idea of being the son of one of the lower 
 animals'; [not necessarily; the writer has misimderstood the 
 comparison of the twin-mother with the lower animals]. 
 'The fiend-like expression of the countenance of a chief 
 when applying this dreadful blasphemous language to a 
 slave, tvith arm and two fingers extended, jK)inting at the 
 unlucky offender, and thus intimating by .sign as well as by 
 speech that he is only half a man, is one of tho.se displays 
 of human passion often witnessed, but not easily to b«- 
 described or forgotten.' The writer docs not understand the 
 twin-curse, and his explanation about being half a man is 
 probably his own imagination. The situation described is 
 intelligible enough, in view of what has preceded. 
 ' I.e. p. 141. ' I.e. p. 17. 
 
 5-2 
 
68 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Aro tribes 
 
 detest 
 
 twins. 
 
 Ellis on 
 Yoruba 
 
 tribes. 
 
 Twins 
 sacred to 
 monkey- 
 gexl. 
 
 Among the Aro tribes, there was a curious concurrence 
 noted by Partridge' of a belief in the sanctity of the vulture, 
 and the customary belief in the detestability of twins, which 
 suggests a possibility of a connection between the bird and 
 the twins. It seems to be a proper subject for enquiry 
 whether the vulture may be the second parent in the twin- 
 product, and whether, on the other hand, it may perhaps 
 be a thunder-bird. We have not means of deciding these 
 points at present, and must content ourselves with setting 
 down the evidence, which occurs in the description of a 
 visit paid by Major Partridge to Ezialli, the richest of the 
 Aro rulers. ' The chief has a clean skin brought for his 
 guest to sit on, and compliments are exchanged through 
 an interpreter. The visitor learns that the Aros regard the 
 vulture as a sacred bird, and that it has hitherto been the 
 custom, when a woman bears twins, to kill both the mother 
 and her offspring.' 
 
 Now we have probably said enough about the twin- 
 customs of the Benin Coast and the Lower Niger; let us 
 move westward and see how things stand in the Yoruba 
 country. For this our natural guide will be Ellis, in his 
 book on the Yoruba-speahing peoples of the West Coast of 
 Africa. Amongst the minor gods of the Yorubas, Ellis 
 gives the sixteenth place to Ibeji, who is described as 
 follows': 
 
 ' Iheji. 
 
 Ibeji, twins {hi, to beget, eji, two) is the tutelary deity 
 of twins, and answers to the god Hoho of the Ewe-tribes. 
 A small black monkey, generally found amongst mangrove 
 trees, is sacred to Ibeji. Offerings of fruit are made to it, 
 and its Hesh may not be eaten by twins or the parents of 
 twins. This monkey is called Edon dudii, or Edun oriohin, 
 and one of twin children is generally named after it, Edon 
 or Edun. When one of twins dies, the mother carries with 
 the surviving child to keep it from pining for its lost 
 comrade, and also to give the spirit of the decciised child 
 ' I.e. p. 62. 2 p. 80. 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 09 
 
 something to enter into without disturbing the living child, 
 a small wooden figure, seven or eight inches long, roughly 
 fashioned in human shape, and of the sex of the dead child.... 
 At Erapo, a village on the Lagoon between Lagos and 
 Badagry, there is a celebrated temple to Ibeji, to which all 
 twins, and the parents of twins, from a long distance round 
 make pilgrimages. It is said to be usual in Ondo to destroy 
 one of twins. This is contrary to the practice of the Yoru- 
 bas, and, if true, the custom has probably been borrowed 
 from the Benin tribes of the East.' 
 
 It is clear that the Yorubas have come to reganl twins 
 favourably : as to the dcstructicm of twins at Ondo, there is 
 no reason to suppose that twin-murder has been borrowed : 
 it is much more likely that the Ondo people have a belief 
 which is in process of modification, than that they have de- 
 liberately abandoned a humane view of twins for the opposite. 
 
 We have now struck a new area of savage belief: we Twins 
 have the twins deified in a small way, and provided with ^'"^9 
 a temple, and we seem to be on the roiwl to their represen- 
 tation by means of images. As Ellis points out, the origin 
 of this image-making is animistic, rather than religious. I 
 am, myself, in possession of such an image, obtained from ImaKcs 
 a doctor at Lagos. It hsis several nails driven into the j^;^ 
 crown of its head, and the natural explanation is that the 
 medicine-man, or some one of that character, first conjured 
 the spirit of the dead child into the image, and then fixed 
 it there by means of nails. The chief from whom the doctor 
 obtained it parted with it, because, the second twin being 
 now dead, there was no further danger to be guarded against. 
 The image hafl become useless. It may be remarked that 
 it is extremely ugly, and apparently was originally an- 
 drogyne. Whether such an image woidd developc naturally 
 into a god under favourable circumstances, is difficult to say. 
 
 Ellis does not say whether the Ibcji are represented regu- 
 larly by images: nor is there any clue to the meaning of the 
 cult-animal (in this civse a black monkey) which tunis up 
 in the storj-. From the pilgrimages, we may, perhaps, infer 
 as in a previous case, the existence of an annual festival. 
 
70 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Tshi- 
 
 tribes 
 
 make 
 
 image 
 
 of dead 
 
 twin. 
 
 Twins at 
 
 Porto 
 
 Novo. 
 
 Miss Kingsley has also given an interesting account of 
 the substitution of an image for a dead twin child. This 
 was among the Tshi-speaking tribes. She says : 
 
 ' I remember once among the Tschwi trying to amuse a 
 sickly child with an image which was near it and which I 
 thought was its doll. The child regarded me with its great 
 melancholy eyes pityingly, iis much as to say, " a pretty fool 
 you are making of yourself," and so I was, for I found out 
 that the image was not a doll at all, but an image of the 
 child's dead twin, which was being kept near it as a habi- 
 tation for the deceased twin's soul, so that it might not 
 have to wander about, and, feeling lonely, call its companion 
 after it.' 
 
 Returning for a moment to the Yoruba customs, it will 
 be seen that there is no evidence as yet brought forward to 
 connect the twins with the thunder-god. The latter is 
 named Shango, and is quite the normal type ; he could be 
 placed in the same row with Thor and Zeus. It remains to 
 be seen whether he has any bird ancestries, or whether he 
 has the twins in any way under his protection. 
 
 A somewhat similar report as to the making of images of 
 twins is reported in Les Missiovs Gatholiques, for 1875. In 
 this Cixse the images are of twins bom dead : and household 
 sacrifices to these images arc supposed to result in answers 
 to prayers, and a knowledge of future events. A picture is 
 given, hideous enough, of the two images armnged Janus- 
 fashion. The main points of the report are given in a note'. 
 The place for which this custom is reported is Porto Novo 
 on the Slave Coast. Further information from the same 
 centre will be found in Les Missions Gatholiques for 1884. 
 It is interesting to note that the small monkey previously 
 referred to turns up here also, and that it is supposed 
 there is spiritual confraternity between the twins and the 
 monkeys. 
 
 ' Vol. VII. 1875, p. 592. Igbeilji (jumeaux). I^es femmes qui mettcnt au 
 monde des jumeaux inorts font fabriquer une statue 4 double face ct d'une 
 
 seule piiee Elles la placent dans un coin de leur maison, ct lui offrent 
 
 deux poules, des bannne.i, et de I'huilc de palme, afin d'obtenir Ie8 
 faveurs dont cllea ont besoin, et Rurtout la connaissance de I'avenir. 
 
v] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 71 
 
 Les Missions Catholiques, XVI. (1884), p. 250. Ibeji. 
 
 ' Quand une feinme a deux enfants jumeaux, on ne les tue 
 
 pas a Porto-novo, comrae cela se pratique dans le Benin, 
 
 inais les Noire croient que ces enfants ont pour compagnons Twins 
 
 • • X 1 • r related to 
 
 des g^nies semblables a ceux qui animent les singes a une monjteys. 
 
 petite espece, tres commune dans les forets de la Guinee. 
 Quand les enfants seront grands, ils ne pourront pas manger 
 de la chair de singe, et, en attendant, la mere fait des 
 otfrandes aux singes de la foret, leur porte des bananes, et 
 autres friandises pour les iidoucir.' If one of the children 
 should be sick, the mother goes into the forest with the 
 witch doctor, taking with her a basket full of provisions for 
 the spirits. ' On la depose au pied d'un arbre ; le feticheur 
 evoque les esprits et quand ceux-ci manifestent leur presence 
 on se retire pour les laisser manger en paix. Apres quelque 
 temps on vieiit voir si les g<^nies ont trouve I'ottrande k leur 
 gout. Lorsque tout a disparu, heureux presage pour la 
 sante de I'enfant. L'esprit qui accepte le sacrifice est bien 
 entendu un esprit en chair et en os qui, prevenu a temp.s, 
 s'etait cache pres d'un endroit convenu.' 
 
 Whether we call such performances religious or not, it 
 will be agreed that they contain all the elements necessary 
 for the evolution of a religion, spirits to be propitiated, 
 priests, and sacrifices. 
 
 Among the Tshi-speaking peoples of the Gold Coast, Ellis on 
 Ellis notes an interesting case of twin-trees, in which a deity jnbes. 
 is supposed to reside, to which twins born in Cape Cojist are 
 brought to be named'. This god, formerly worshipped, was 
 Kottor-Krabah, who resided at the Wells now known by 
 that name. He was siiid to have migrated with the Fantis 
 from beyond Coomassie. When the emigrants came to the 
 sight of the present KotUir-Krabah wells, they were reduced 
 to great straits for want of water. The god showed them 
 where to dig at the foot of two large silk-cotton trees. 
 'The two silk-cotton trees were aflerwanls named N'ihna- 
 utta {Ihna, silk-cotton trees, »ttah, twins), and were regarded 
 as belonging to the gfnl, who, it wius believed, resided in 
 
 ' Ellis, Tthiiprakinii Ptoplet, p. 42. 
 
72 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 them. One tree was said to be male, the other female. 
 Sheep were in former times sacrificed to Kottor-Krabah, 
 and twins born in Cape Coast were carried to the trees to 
 be named.' 
 
 There is certainly some link between twins and this 
 mysterious and elusive god ; but what the connection is 
 must remain, for the present, obscure. 
 
 We have not found any traces, as yet, of the use of twins 
 as rain-makers in W. Africa. This may be mere lack of 
 information from the observers of the phenomena; or it 
 may be that the connection between twins and the sky-god 
 hcis not been made in these parts. This is a matter that 
 will require closer investigation : we must not generalise too 
 rapidly and say ' all twins are sons of Thunder,' but we must 
 delimit, if possible, the area over which that identification 
 is probable. 
 Twins in When we move again to the westward, we come to 
 
 Und' ^^^ ^"^^^ which the Germans call by the name of Togo- 
 
 land, for which we have a variety of information from the 
 most careful explorers and observers. For instance, Klose, 
 in his book entitled Togo unter Deutscher Flagge, draws 
 attention to the treatment of twins, using in part a dis- 
 sertation by Clerk, entitled Meine Reisen in den Hinterldndem 
 von Togo\ From Klose, then, we learn that amongst the 
 Kratyi tribes, people believe that in the case of twin-births 
 an evil spirit has had a hand in the game, for which 
 reason they mercilessly kill the innocent children. Should 
 the women be so unfortunate as to bear twins a second 
 time, the people do not shrink from throwing the innocent 
 children on to an ant-heap, since this is the only way in 
 which they can prevent a similar recurrence. It is note- 
 worthy that most of the savage races regard twin-births as 
 of evil omen and that an evil spirit is responsible therefor^ 
 
 From the same writer we learn the customs of the 
 Bassari, a tribe living between 9° and 10° N. Lat. and 
 between 0° and 1° E. Long.': 'Twins are regarded as 
 
 ' N. Clerk in MiUheilungen d, Geogr, Geaell. Jena IX. 
 
 ' Klose, I.e. p. 350. {Characteristik der Kratyilcute ii'ui der Haussa.) 
 
 ' I.e. p. 509 sqq. 
 
v] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 73 
 
 ill-omened by the Bivssari. If the first-born children are Twins 
 twins, one child is preserved, the other is put in a large pot ^^^ri 
 and buried alive. Should the twins be boy and girl, the 
 boy is kept: should they be of the same sex, they follow the 
 Spartan custom, of preserving the stronger. To exj)ress in 
 some way the relationship of the twins to one another, they 
 sacrifice a fowl and divide it into two parts. One half is 
 given to the child that is to be buried, the other half is 
 put into a pot and buried near by. This sacrifice placates 
 at once the Fetish and reminds the spirit of the tlead child 
 of his near relation to the living child, so that he shall not 
 wreak vengeance on him. Twin children, not first-bom, 
 are in any case buried alive. Later on the father of the 
 twins goes to the Fetish doctor, to pray for his help against 
 the recurrence of the event. 
 
 ' Women who have borne twins must not take part in 
 agricultural operations, for fear of damaging the crops. Only 
 after the birth of another child are they permitted to work 
 in the fields ''. 
 
 As we shall see later on, twins and twin-mothers are in 
 many places especially valued for their influence on agri- 
 culture; apparently because they can, by sympathetic magic, 
 communicate their own fertility. It will be noticed above 
 that there is, in certain cases, a slight margin of choice, with 
 regard to the child whose life is preserved. 
 
 For this same district we have a further description by Wolf on 
 a German missionary named Franz Wolf. The account will 
 be found in Anthropo.s, Bd vii. Heft 1 and 2, pp. 81-95'. 
 From this article we get a good deal of valuable inforniation: 
 according to Wolf, twins and triplets are welcomed amongst 
 the Fo. They are regarded as Ohoho's children. Twins 
 are common, triplets also occur. Of twins and triplets the 
 last born ix first in rank, and the explanation is given, vtileat 
 quantum, that persons of high rank send me.ssengers before 
 them. Fixed names are attached to them, e.g. 
 
 ' Very nearly tlio siiine statements by Klose in (IMiut. i.xm. (1902), 
 p. 190 sqq. 
 
 • The title is: Uritrait zur FAhnitgrnphif iter h'nntger in Togo. 
 
74 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Twins: both boys: Ese a.nd Esi, 
 
 both girls: Huevi and Uuesi, 
 one boy and one girl: the boy Esi and the girl Esihite. 
 Triplets (a known case): 
 
 boy, Ese : girl, Est: girl, Esihue. 
 Children of twins have also definite names assigned to 
 them : 
 
 First-born: boy, Dosu, 
 girl, Devi. 
 Second: boy, Dosavi, 
 
 girl, Dohnein. 
 Third: boy, Donyu, 
 
 girl, Dosovi. 
 
 The mother has to divide her food into equal portions, and 
 eat similarly from each portion, evidently so that each child 
 whom she nourishes shall be equally served. If she did 
 not, the neglected child would be cross and die. 
 Ohoho the The Ohoho-cult. Wolf cannot decide whether Ohoho, 
 twins? to whose parentage the twins are referred, is the guardian 
 •of the twins, or whether he is God who has taken possession 
 of them. They appear in some way to identify twins with 
 Ohoho, and call the father Ohohodyito (Ohoho-bearor), and 
 the mother Ohohono (Ohoho-mother). 
 
 After the birth, a couple of plates of food are prepared 
 for the Ohoho, and a woman, herself the mother of twins, 
 gives the invitation to the food which she has prepared, and 
 of which .she has placed small portions in the dishes, in the 
 terms 'This food is yours, I give it to you.' The remainder 
 of the food is eaten by the visitors. Here again we have a 
 rudimentary sacrifice with suggestions of a twin-priesthood. 
 
 When a twin dies, there are curious ceremonies to be 
 gone through, which may be of importance in the interpre- 
 tation of the twin-cult. 
 Capture 'phe parents buy a white hen, maize-beer, a new calaba.sh, 
 
 of ft (lend and a piece of white linen. They go out with a crowd of 
 '*""• natives into the bush. They look about for a long-tailed 
 
 monkey (Meerkatzc), and when they .see it, they say, ' See ! 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 75 
 
 there is Eise,' meaning the dead child. (The monkey's name 
 is Esio.) A twin-mother takes the calabash, poura some 
 beer into it, and calls the monkey, saying 'Come, Ese, let 
 us go home.' After three calls, she shuts the calabash with 
 the stopper, and binds it up in the white linen. Ese is now 
 inside. Then a woman kneels, and the twin-mother puts 
 the Ciilabiush on her head. The woman has a string of 
 cowries given her, which she holds in her teeth. She is 
 now supposed to be possessed by the deity Ohoho. They 
 return home, the twin-mother marching in front. They 
 throw cowries to the carrier woman, which are picked up 
 for her. On reaching home, the contents of the culabash, 
 which are now supposed to involve Ohoho, are poured into 
 the twin di.shes. The birth sacrifice is repeated, and finally 
 the dish that is supposed to belong to the dead child is 
 covered up. 
 
 There really seems .something like Totemism in the 
 foregoing account of Ohoho, the twins, and the long-tailed 
 monkey. Wolf himself appears to have maintained the 
 existence of individual totems amongst the Fo-tribe', in the 
 case of twins. He suggests that the totems of twins are 
 the two kinds of monkey, to which the people in Togo-land 
 pay respect; the esio (Meerkatze), and the oWa (Husarenaffe). 
 Twins may never kill and eat the former; they may kill, 
 but not eat the latter. It is said by the natives that twins, 
 in sleep, turn into one or other of these monkeys, and go 
 into the fields to eat maize. If one of the monkeys is killed, 
 the corresfwndiiig twin dies. 
 
 The parents of twins set apart every year a little pjitch 
 of maize for the twins to eat, when turned into monkeys. 
 This patch is never reaped, but left undisturbed. 
 
 There are traces of hereditary totemism in some tribes 
 (e.g. the Atak-pame), the totem-name being derived in the 
 first instance from the twin-mother. I suppose that in such 
 CA.ses a person bears the twin name without being actually 
 a twin. 
 
 Further information, in much greater detail, is given by 
 
 ' See Aulhropot, vol. VI. pp. 4.17, tHe, 
 
76 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Spieth a Togo-land missionary, named Spicth, in a book on the 
 tribes^ ^ Ewe-speaking tribes'. Spieth describes at great length the 
 manners and customs of the Ho-tnhe, the Akoviewe, and the 
 Kpenoe. About 600 pages are given to the Ho-district, and 
 a close and careful study is made of the subject of twins, 
 and the rites associated therewith. If we epitomise his 
 reports, we find that the birth of twins is an exceeding joy. 
 The path of the twin-mother is better than the path of a 
 rich man; a. special drum is beaten to express the joy proper 
 to this case. 
 
 The taboo imposed in such cases is not long: the father 
 and mother are obliged to fast and to be silent until other 
 twin parents come on the scene. To these they pay ransom, 
 to the amount of 20 hoka. The woman who presides over 
 the ceremonies prepares and eats food, the midwife prepares 
 palm-wine, with which she first washes her hands. A 
 festival is decreed at the nearest market-town of the Ho- 
 tribe : and on a certain day the relatives come together, 
 under the leadership of the visiting twin-mother who has 
 charge of the proceedings ; the parents have now to buy 
 back their house and chattels from the visitors. The old 
 woman says a prayer to the effect that everybody may have 
 twins. The parents now have their hair ceremonially cut. 
 Bean.s are cooked in a couple of pots and taken into the 
 market place, and girls are appointed to feed the company 
 therefrom Ivith spoons. The happy parents are led up and 
 down the street to the music of drums. More palm-wine 
 is drunk, and it is then on sale to the general ])ublic, at 
 the price of 5 hoka for two calabashes. The mother of the 
 ceremonies is then paid off and goes to her home. 
 
 No ceremonies are allowed for twins of opposite sexes. 
 The twins themselves are forbidden to eat the flesh of 
 the Hussar-monkey. The reason assigned is that twins 
 are called by the name of ' Children of the Hussar-monkey.' 
 Neither must they eat rat. If any one shoots one of these 
 monkeys, the twin-parents are allowed to cudgel him. 
 Here, then, again wo have the appearance of the monkey as 
 
 » Spieth, Ewe-fitnmmc, Berlin, 1906, pp. 202-206. 
 
V] THE TWIN-CUI.T IN WEST AFRICA 77 
 
 cult-animal, and this time he is detinitely connected with 
 the parentage of the children. The meaning of this is not 
 yet clear, but we shall perhaps find that this particular 
 monkey is associated with the care of the weather. 
 
 It will be observed that however joyfully twins are 
 regarded, there are plenty of suggestions of ransom on the 
 part of the parents, both for themselves and their property. 
 
 With something of the same kind of ceremonies, Spieth Twins 
 describes (p. <)16) the twin-births amongst the Akoviewe. 'I^"^"";^^,^® 
 The woman who is assisting the twin-mother leaves her on 
 the arrival of the first child for fear of falling into a swoon 
 
 or catching an incurable cough Various vegetables and 
 
 fruits are soaked in water, and the mother and children 
 are soaked therein. The father is prohibited from eating 
 offerings made to the Hussar monkey, or from eating the 
 Hesh of the same. For twin-boys there is a twenty-five 
 day festival, for twin-girls one of twenty. Strangers are 
 regaled, presents are made to the twins (which must in 
 any case be of equal value), the drums are beaten, and so on. 
 
 Much the same revelry occurs among the tribe of 
 the Kpenoe'. Palm-wine flows in abundance for those 
 who bring cowries, as gift or exchange. The customs are 
 under the suf)ervision of those who are themselves twins, 
 to wit drumming, dancing, and drinking. The twins are 
 airrietl about on their parents' shoulders for every one to see. 
 The festival is costly, and often residls in the impoverish- 
 ment of the parents. 
 
 Later on the writer' makes the remark that when 
 it rains, the people address God and s<iy ' The Hussiir- 
 monkey sees it and weeps,' which has its nearest parallel in 
 'Zeus rains' of the Greeks. It is possible, then, as w;is sug- 
 gested above, that the monkey in question is a rain-maker. 
 
 Moving again westward, we come to the (Jold Coast: we Twins on 
 have already pointed out on the authority of a seventeenth J?* 
 century writer that in the district of Felu, twins were 
 brought up, except wh<ii they were of op{x>sitc sexes, m 
 
 ' Spieth, I.e. p. 694. ' I.e. p. 9J4. 
 
Liberia. 
 
 78 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 which case one of them was killed. It is remarked by 
 Finsch' that on the Gold Coast, twins are looked upon as 
 lucky, while the contrary is the case with triplets. Among 
 the Fantis, it also appears to be the custom to spare the 
 lives of twins: in the report of Catholic Missions for 1893- 
 it is stated for the neighbourhood of Elmina, that there is 
 no lack of ceremonies more or less religious on the Gold 
 Coast. They celebrate a festival called Abam at the birth 
 of twins, and at the birth of the third or the seventh in 
 a family. The Abam consists of purifications made with a 
 special herb; a bracelet is given to the twin-child, which 
 must be worn all his life long. The Abam is renewed before 
 each harvest. 
 
 If we understand this rightly, twins are welcomed, and 
 neither is killed, but there must be expiatory rites. 
 Twins in Further to the West, we come to Liberia : concerning 
 
 the tribe of the Golahs in this country, we have some 
 important information from a Roman Catholic Missionary, 
 (J. H. Cessou) in Monrovia, as reported in Anthropos for 
 Nov. — Dec. 1911 (pp. 1037-8). In this district, twins are 
 ' not killed, but there are certain taboos which they must 
 observe. Cessou says they must not eat (1) bananiis, (2) a 
 certain snake, (3) the bush-goat or black-deer. Sometimes 
 the name of bush-goat is given to children, but it is not 
 limited to twin-children. Cessou goes on to explain : 
 
 ' Les personnes sujettes a ces prohibitions — k ces tabous 
 si tel est bien ici le mot propre — sont les jumeaux, en Golah 
 ase'vi ou zina, aussi comme en Vai. Jumeaux et fils de 
 jumeaux ne peuvent manger le bush-goat. 
 
 ' Le pfere d'un do nos hoys est jumeau: il ne pout en 
 manger; son fils 6galemcnt ne peut en manger. Quand il 
 nous I'amena, " Ne Jui donnez pjis du bush-goat," a nous 
 dit-il.... 
 
 ' Les jumeaux ont en eflfet le singulier privilege d'ap- 
 prendre beaucoup de choscs par reve. Peut-etre est-ce parce 
 qu'ils voicnt les esprits des morts, dont la vie dans I'autre 
 
 ' otto Finsch in Allgem. ZHtgchriftf. Krdkumle, Bd 17, 1864, p. 361. 
 ' l.e» Missiom CatlwUqiies, xxv. 1893, p. 346. 
 
Vj THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 79 
 
 monde est la rt^plique de la vie terrestre....Quoiqu'il en 
 soil, les jumeaux ont le privilege d'apprendre des choses 
 par le moyen des reves.... 
 
 'Et pouniuoi done les jumeaux ne peuvent-ils pas manger 
 le bush-goat ? Des jumeaux, il y a longtemps de cela, nous 
 ont dit les vieux, ont vu, parait-il, dans leurs reves que les 
 esprits des gens morts prenaient des corps de bush-goats, 
 lis ont vu des bush-goats, qui n'etaient point des animaux 
 mais des hommes. Voyez-vous un bush-goat qui se sauvc 
 d'une certaine fa9on, ce n'est pas un animal, c'est un esprit. 
 Les jumeaux sachant dont, pour I'avoir vu en reve, que 
 certains bush-goats sont des hommes, they know them to be 
 vien, ne peuvent en manger: ce serait mal, et d'ailleurs s'ils 
 en mangeaicnt, ils perdraient leurs privileges. Thei/ cannot 
 get good head again, and they no fit see again the things they 
 jit see otherwise.' 
 
 It was not, however, necessarily a twin that had been 
 changed into a bush-goat. 
 
 On the death of one of a pair of twins, the survivor has Protection 
 to be medicined by another tiirin of the same family. After "^j^ from 
 being washed by the medicining twin, the surviving twin ^^^ 
 is returned to his parents, and the officiant twin receives a 
 reward in the shape of palm-oil, white cloth, and bleached 
 rice: because white is the proper colour for twins, 'the white White the 
 things be twin things.' ^l^^V^ 
 
 The niantic gifts of twins are strongly emphasized in the 
 foregoing: one is surprised, however, to find that the twin- 
 colour amongst the Golahs is white, and not red Does that 
 mean that the (lolahs thought of lightning as white f 
 
 A good deal further to the West we come to Sierra 
 Leone; here we have a very instructive monograph on the 
 manners and customs of the Sherbro hinterland'. As there Twin.i 
 seems to be great variation in the details of the twin-cult I.!(,g,'bro 
 for Sierra Leone from what we find on the (Juinea Ci)a.sl, hink-r 
 we will examine carefully what this writer (Mr T. J. Aid- xidridm 
 ridge) has to say on the subject'. He tells us that 'Another "" ^<^^ 
 
 suprr- 
 ' T. J. AldridKe. Thr Sh^rl.m ,i,„{ in ItinirrUind, London, 1901. stition. 
 
 ' I.e. pp. M9-l.')l. 
 
80 
 
 THE TWIN-CDLT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH" 
 
 Names of 
 twins. 
 
 Magic 
 twin- 
 bouses. 
 
 Ciernis of 
 a twin- 
 priest- 
 bood. 
 
 kind of fetish for the obtaining of money from the super- 
 stitious is the twin-houses, or Sabo, the working of which is 
 carried out by twins, who may be any two persons of either 
 or both sexes, who are actual twins, or are one of twin 
 children of different families. The elder twin is called Sau 
 and the younger Jina, irrespective of sex. It is always 
 necessary, to render the fetish medicine efficacious, that it 
 should be deposited beneath specially erected twin temples, 
 ...Either the Sau or the Jina has the Fera Wuri, or twin 
 stick, that is, has the power to set up these twin-houses 
 and administer the medicine. Although both sexes ca7i apply 
 to the Sabo, it is more generally used by women in regard to 
 their specific complaints, more especially in cases of pregnancy 
 
 or the absence of it Assuming that the patient is a woman, 
 
 said to be under the twin influence, it is necessary that she 
 should be washed in the medicine, and should set up the 
 twin-houses, which, of course, means an outlay. 
 
 'A meeting follows with the Sau or Jina, and the fees 
 being paid a dance is arranged, to take place at the ap- 
 pearance of the next new moon, to which any of the 
 town-folk can go. The dance is kept up all night, and at 
 daylight the Sabo women, attended by some from the dance, 
 proceed to the bush to collect all the material for setting up 
 the little twin temples, and for preparing the ablutionary 
 medicine ' 
 
 The account goes on to describe the washing of the 
 woman with the twin medicine. Some grains of rice are 
 scattered on the ground, a twin holds a live fowl over the 
 woman, and says ' If it is true that this woman has been 
 affected by the twin spirit, the fowl must show it by eating 
 up the rice,' which, of course, the fowl promptly does. 
 These twin houses are frequently met with throughout the 
 Mendi and Sherbro countries. 
 
 It is clear from this account that twins are in high 
 esteem ; they have developed a twin-priesthood, an im- 
 portant fact to remember, for we shall find such twin- 
 priesthoods of the female sex in ancient Egypt, and perhaps 
 elsewhere. The same tendency towards a twin-priesthood 
 
v] THE TWIN-('ULT IN WKST AFRICA 81 
 
 was noticed among the Ewe-speaking tribes described above, 
 where the purification of the twin-mother comes by the 
 hands of other twin parents. Perhaps we shall be right 
 in saying that where the ddivjer of timns has to be averted 
 there is a tendencij to place the averting power in the hands of 
 those who are themselves twins. This will lead naturally to 
 a twin-priesthood. 
 
 Mr Aldridge explains that he had often seen the little 
 twin houses without understiinding their meaning: but 
 that, shortly before writing his book, he had found out 
 from the head man of a certain village that ' two particular 
 houses were put up by a woman belonging to the town, who 
 had twins both very sick. She had consulted the medicine 
 man, and he had advised her to apply to the Sabo medi- 
 cine.' 
 
 Now let us return to the Guinea Coast, and move eivst- Twins in 
 ward from Benin, which will take us again into German roons. 
 territory in the Cameroons. In this district fnim 3° N. Liit. 
 and 5° S. Lat., live the Fang tribes: let us see what the 
 Fang tribes think on the subject. In Anthropos, \. 745 sqq., 
 M. Ijouis Martron tells us as follows: ' Quand deux jumeaux Amoug 
 
 I |, I, ,.| I I the Fangs, 
 
 viennent au monde, 1 un deux, sil ny a jiersonne pour le t^j^g ^^y 
 recueillir, est destine k la mort. Celui qui survit n'a p.as "»' 1'^'' 
 
 111 11. • 1 -1- -J ' 111 the 
 
 le droit de regarder 1 arc-on-ciel. oi par madvertance ses rainbow, 
 yeux ont rencontr^ le mdt^ore, il devra se rascr les sourcils, 
 en colorer la place, d'un cot^, avec du charhon noir, dc I'autre 
 avec la poussiere du bois rouge. Dt^fense ainsi, de manger 
 tout animal dont le pelage est tachet^ ou zebre: jwnthfere, 
 chat-tigre, antilo{)e-cheval, etc.: at de tout poisson convert 
 d'^cailles.' 
 
 Here again we strike new groimd. The destniction of 
 twins is partial, as in so many places, b\it the twin that 
 lives must never look upon the rainbow. I do not at 
 present see the meaning of this: we shall meet the same 
 sup«'rstition again in E. Africa. 
 
 We come next to the mouth of the Congo River, and DuChailla 
 to the territory known as the French Congo. This district ^"i,nn~, 
 is partly covered by a journey of Du Chaillu, described as l»"d. 
 u. n. 6 
 
82 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 a Journey to Ashango Land. We shall get some curious 
 details' of the traveller's experiences amongst the Aponos 
 and Ishogos. He describes a war-dance accompanied by 
 hideous noises, which continued all night long. ' The singing 
 and dancing during this uproarious night were partly con- 
 nected with a curious custom of this people, namely, the cele- 
 bration of the mpaza, or the release from the long deprivation 
 of liberty which a woman suffers who has had the misfortune 
 to bring forth twins. The custom altogether is a very 
 strange one, but it is by no means peculiar to the Ishogos, 
 although this is the first time I witnessed the doings. The 
 negroes of this part of Africa have a strange notion or 
 superstition that when twins {mpaza) are born, one of them 
 must die early; so, in order, apparently, to avoid such a 
 calamity, the mother is confined to her hut, or rather, 
 restricted in her intercourse with her neighbours, until both 
 the children have grown up, when the danger is supposed 
 to have passed.' Evidently Du Chaillu misunderstood his 
 informants, who were substituting severe taboo and isolation 
 of the mother and twins in place of the death of one of the 
 • twins. It was not that one would die, but that one would 
 have to be killed. The natives were progressive in their 
 treatment of the subject: as Du Chaillu himself remarks, 
 'The tribes here are far milder than those near Lagos, or 
 in East Africa, where, aa Burton mentions, twins are always 
 killed immediately on their being born.' 
 Nature of As to the nature of the isolations, which corresfKjnds to 
 
 isoUtion what, in other communities, would be exile, we have some 
 interesting details. The woman is allowed to go into the 
 forest, but may not speak to any one outside her own family. 
 No one but the father and mother are allowed to enter the 
 hut: a stranger who did so would be seized and sold into 
 slavery. The twins must not mix with other children, and 
 all the household utensils are tabooed: (on the Niger they 
 would probably have been destroyed). Du Chaillu remarks 
 that 'some of the notions have a resemblance to the nonsense 
 believed in by old nurses in more civilised countries, such 
 ' pp. 272-274, 
 
V] THK TWIN-CULT IN \V K.ST AFRICA 83 
 
 as, for instance, that when the mother takes one of the 
 twins in her arms, something dreadful will happen if the 
 father does not take the other, and so forth.' 'The house 
 where the twins were born is always marked in some way 
 to distinguish it from the others, in order to prevent mistakes. 
 Here in Yengue, it had two long poles on each side of the 
 door, at the top of which wiis a piece of cloth, and at the 
 foot of the door were a number of pegs stuck in the ground 
 and painted white. The twins were now six years old, and White as 
 the poor woman was rele.ised from her si.\ years imprison- ^|o°y 
 ment on the day of my arrival. During the day two women 
 were stationed at the door of the house with their faces and 
 legs panted white, — one was the doctor, the other was the 
 mother. The festivities commenced by their marching down 
 the streets, one beating a drum, with a slow nieiisured beat, 
 and the other singing. The dancing, singing, and drinking 
 of all the villagera then set in for the night. After the 
 ceremony, the twins were allowed to go about like other 
 children. In consequence of all this trouble and restriction 
 of liberty, the bringing forth of twins is considered, and no 
 wonder, by the women, as a great calamity. Nothing irri- 
 tates or annoys an expectant mother in these countries so 
 much as to point to her and tell her she is sure to have tttrins.' 
 He might have made the statement more general ; almost 
 any West African woman (except in cases where twins are 
 regarded as a blessing) would recogni.se the curse of the 
 {X)inted two fingers as the most terrible of objurgations. 
 
 Now let us enquire how matters are looked at by the Twins on 
 tribes higher up the Congo River. The Congo gives us a ' * °'°' 
 chance of getting into the heart of Africa, whereas, up to 
 the present, we have been visiting the sea-boanl, with slight 
 excursions into the hinterland. It will be fliHicult to deter- 
 mine the beliefs of the Congo natives, for Belgian barbarity 
 and rubber-hunting have decimated the pxipulations, and, 
 to an astonishing degree, blotted and torn tlie reconls that 
 we are trying to read. 
 
 The beat information that I have been able to secure is Konred 
 contained in a letter from my friend Kunred Smith of the 
 
 6—2 
 
84 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Tem- 
 porary 
 fine paid 
 by the 
 mother's 
 relatives 
 to the 
 father. 
 
 Twins 
 named in 
 dream to 
 one of the 
 villagers. 
 
 No other 
 name safe. 
 
 Pride over 
 twins. 
 
 Mother 
 
 must 
 
 behave 
 
 bilaterally 
 
 in eating 
 
 or in 
 
 suckling. 
 
 Spirit's 
 kept off by 
 
 Mother 
 secluded 
 and 
 tabooed. 
 
 Baptist Mission at Upoto, on the Upper Congo. He writes me 
 to the following effect with regard to the Ngombe Manners 
 and Customs. 
 
 Twins (Mapasu). 
 
 When twins are born the relatives of the mother gather 
 and present to the father of the children, spears and knives 
 in honour of the birth. These spears and knives are never 
 really reckoned as belonging to the father of the twins, and 
 he does not pay them away for the purcha.se of another 
 wife, nor pay his debts with them, but preserves them intact. 
 After a period extending to four or five months, a feast is 
 prepared and the spears and knives haniled back to the 
 relatives of his wife. 
 
 Twins are supposed to name themselves, by appearing 
 to some of the villagers in a dream, and stating what their 
 names are to be. The person having the dream tells the 
 parents, and the names given in the dream are the names 
 by which the children will be called. If the parents attempt 
 to attach other names to the children they will die. 
 
 The mother of the children after regaining her strength 
 (and the cessation of the haemorrhage), gives inonduiidii, 
 that is, she takes her twins on show to her relatives ami 
 friends, and receives presents of money and food. 
 
 When the mother eats, she eats from two pots, the 
 food, maize, manioc ptidding, fish, etc. being cooked in two 
 different vessels. When eating, the mother is careful to 
 take first with her right hand, from the pot on her right, 
 and then with her left hand from the pot on her left. If 
 she eats only from the right hand vessel or only from the 
 left, or has only one pot, one of the twins will die. 
 
 While the mother eats, some of her relatives or some 
 of the villagers beat the ndundu or gbughu drums. This 
 custom of drum beating is continued until the mother comes 
 out from the (ihwai, that is, until she comes out from being 
 confined in her hut. This confinement hists about two 
 months and the mother is only allowed to go abroad at 
 night, or if in the day, only at the back of the hut where 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WKST AFKICA 85 
 
 the general public have no access. This imprisonmont takes 
 place after the uKfndiindu spoken of above. When she has 
 finirthed her imprisonment and enters again into the life of 
 the village, her friends give presents. 
 
 When nursing her little ones the mother of the twins Each child 
 reserves one side for the one and the other for the other ^^^ ^jj^ 
 twin. "' '^« 
 
 - . , J. 1 mother. 
 
 After the birth of the twins, on one of the leading paths Careuken 
 near the village vutduica are erected. The rnuduka are ^°^^jj,g 
 placed on two branches of trees planted on either side of after- 
 the path. Eiich branch hits three or four prongs, and the 
 imidukd rest on these prongs. The madulca are simply old 
 and useless native pots no longer tit for cooking the manioc 
 brea<l pudding. Into these old pots are placed the vuikaka- 
 beriji (the placenta), and it is supposed that unless the 
 iiiaduka are erected the twins will die. 
 
 P;is8ers-by pluck leaves and throw them at the foot of The 
 each stick on either side of the path, believing that thus ^i^'^ood 
 they will be lucky on their journey, whether it be a hunting '"ck. 
 journey into the forest, or a journey to collect a debt, or u 
 journey m;vle for the sake of visiting friends. Little heaps 
 of accumulated leaves gradually surround the two sticks on 
 which the nuiduka rest. 
 
 Twins are not called in to perform special functions, as Twins 
 marriage, funerals, etc., but as twins are thought to be ^ncegtry 
 einbete e Akongo (a wander of God) and are sometimes Tone of 
 spoken of as bana ba viilimo {children of the spirits) when 
 they are grown up, some superstitious reverence attaches 
 to them. Thus if men are going hunting and one of the Twins 
 number curses a twin, and the twin responds by saying that j^^^^ j^ 
 the hunt will be in vain, it will be abandoned, the others huntinxor 
 
 • 1 I • L 11 1 fishing, 
 
 believing that the twin has some occult power which will be 
 
 exercised against them, so that no animals will be taken. 
 
 The sttine applies to fishing. If a twin should junr/on (bless) 
 
 a fishing or hunting [wrty, it is sure to be succe.ssful. Twins Twin* 
 
 are nut entiled in as rain-maker* amongst the Ngomln-.s ^J'^^ 
 
 Here rain is usually abundant, so the niiii-maker is not °^" •»'"■ 
 
 needed. When there is a period of continuous rain, a 
 
86 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 twin is called upon to make it cease. Usually, the liist 
 bom twin is called, and he, taking some rain-saturated 
 earth from outside the hut, puts it on the fire, and calls 
 Twin kills on the rain to cease and the earth to dry up. 'If one 
 '^""" twin should die, his fellow-twin is supposed to have 
 
 killed it' 
 
 It will be recognised at once that this is a very im- 
 portant and illuminating communication. Here we appear to 
 be amongst the Bantu and not in Negro circles : the language, 
 bana ba niilimo, is clearly Bantu. Twins are regarded as 
 a blessing, but the period of isolation and the drum-beating 
 show that there is danger underneath the felicity. Here, 
 for the first time, we have a reference to the sanctity of the 
 placenta ; we shall see plenty of this in East Africa. The 
 belief that one twin kills the other, which we know of old 
 in the story of Romulus and Remus, or in that of Esau and 
 Jacob, is here definitely stated. From the fact that the 
 younger twin controls the weather, it is legitimate to itifer 
 that it is the younger twin that is the apirit-child or sky- 
 child. The references to the twins as patrons of hunting 
 and fishing are of the first importance, and will receive 
 striking confirmation. 
 Dr Girling From the same mission we have a very interesting state- 
 amoDg"the "^^^^^ f'""'" ^^° P<^" "' ^^ ^- ^- Girling, with regard to the 
 Batito. treatment of twins among the Batito, to the west of Lake 
 Leopf)ld II. Dr Girling publishes in the Herald, the organ 
 of the Baptist Missionary Society, for March 1912, a photo- 
 Twins graph showing a pair of twins whose fives have been painted 
 w^'ite white, to avert evil from them. His description is as follows: 
 ' The accompanying photograph gives you an idea of one of 
 . the sights we saw inlan(i. It represents twins born in a 
 Batito village away near Lake Leopold. They are nearly 
 six months old, and have been subjected to this white- 
 washing process every morning: also they and their mother 
 have never been allowed to pass the rough curtain fence 
 erected round the door of their hut for all these months. 
 Mother and babies all looked as if some fresh air and exercise 
 would do them good. 
 
Vj TIIK TWIN-CULT IN WEST AKKRA 87 
 
 ' The birth of twins ia regarded as a rriisfbrturie, and the.se Dopre- 
 rites are for the purpose of averting further evil. The father '^^''' 
 and mother were also smeared with chalk and their bodies 
 decorated with leaves.' 
 
 Here we have some new features, the whitewashing of 
 the children and the parents, and the decoration of the 
 latter with leaves. The reason for these practices is obscure: 
 and there does not seem to be any suggestion of the dual 
 paternity or of the thunder-god. 
 
 It is interesting, too, to find agjiin the opposite views 
 with regard to twins so nearly adjacent :is in the.se two 
 ca.ses from the same mission. 
 
 This may be the best place to refer to the twin-custom Twins In 
 as it prevails in the district of central Africa, known ;i3 *'^"'''' 
 
 ^ countrj. 
 
 M.sidi's country, or Katanga, or (Jarcnganze. The district 
 may be described a.s lying in Ijat. 10° S., and in Long. 25' — 
 26° E. : it was visited by Mr Arnot, who travelling N.W. 
 from Natal, cro^wed the continent to Benguela, and from 
 thence journeyed E.N.E. to Katanga. In his book entitled 
 Garenpunze, he gives iis a statement t<> the following 
 effect: 
 
 'As a rule, these simple people are fond i>f their childmn. 
 Cases of infanticide are very rare, and then only biH.-ause of 
 some deformity. Turins, strange to say, are not onlij alloired Twins are 
 to live, but the people deli()ht in them.' However much the * °°™ ' 
 p<?ople may delight in twins, there is deciiied evidence of 
 purificatory rites. Mr Arnot goes on to de.scribc a treatment 
 both of the king and his people by a witch doctoresa, who 
 sprinkled them with an ill-smelling medicine, and spouted Beer- 
 beer in their faces from her own sweet mouth, a proceeding ^"j".* 
 which the whole com[)any took up with great zest'. I do P">c*^tj 
 not understand the meaning of the beer-spouting, unless 
 it should be for a rain-charm. As we shall see, among the 
 Baronga in S.E. Africii the arrival of twins is at once a 
 signal for rain-charming on the part of the women. Beer, 
 however, does not exactly drop ' like the gentle rain from 
 
 ' For this ceremony, see Cull nf Iht Hrtumly Tirint, p. 16, (rem Arnot, 
 Garengatue, p. 241. 
 
88 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [cH. 
 
 heaven ' (we need not continue the quotation). Perhaps it 
 is sufificient to say that even in Msidi's country there are 
 traces of purificatory rites in the midst of the happiness 
 caused by twin-births. The situation might then be summed 
 Anker- up in the language of Ankermann' : ' Dans quelques tribes on 
 regard les jumeaux comme un signe de malheur : c'est pour- 
 quoi on les tue. Meme chez les peuplades qui se rejouissent 
 a la naissance des jumeaux, les parents sont obliges d'ac- 
 complir certaines ceremonies dont le but parait etre de 
 conjurer le mauvais sort (par exemple dans I'Ouganda).' 
 
 As we have already seen, this judgement might be 
 applied over a very wide area in Africa, and we shall prob- 
 ably say the same elsewhere. 
 Nassau on Dr Nassau says nearly the same thing' : ' In other parts, 
 country. ^ in the Gabun country, where twins are welcomed, it is 
 nevertheless considered necessary to have special ceremonies 
 performed for the safety of their lives, or, if they die, to 
 prevent evil.' 
 
 It will be observed that the cult, as it is developed from 
 its early form of irrational terror, is tending towards definite 
 practices and fixed explanations ; priesthood is beginning to 
 appear, and the dead twins are beginning to be honoured. 
 Where the twins are allowed to live. Twin-towns are formed. 
 We have not, however, reached the point where the thunder 
 is very much in evidence, and we have not yet foimd the 
 colour assigned to the twins which we have shown to prevail 
 in the traditions of the Aryan peoples and elsewhere. This 
 is somewhat surprising, for while Shango, the thunder-god 
 of the Yorubaa, as is seen by the negro cults in Brazil, is 
 as red as he can be painted, we have not found that this 
 colour is assigned to twins in W. African tribes. On the 
 other hand, we have two or three times found reference to 
 white as being the colour of twins, and on the Congo have 
 found them whitewashing twins every day. The meaning 
 of this is not (juite clear. Perhaps we may infer that some 
 tribes regard lightning as red and others as white : biit in 
 
 ' h'ElhiKiqriiphie actnelle de I'Afriquf iUeridimiale, p. 935. 
 » Fetichi^m in W. Africa, p. 206. 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 89 
 
 that case the proof is still incomplete of the connection nf 
 twins with the thunder and the lightning. The Bnizilian 
 negroes tell us to connect Shiingo with the twin-cult, tor 
 they have mounted Cosmas and Daiiiian with Shango in 
 their oratories; but we are still deficient in the evidence 
 which is to connect African twins generally or finally with 
 sky, thunder, or lightning. In some tribes there are traces 
 of the twins as rain-makers, through a particular monkey 
 with whom they are identifiecL We have nothing, as yet, 
 to entitle us to attach the tenii Hoanerges to the West 
 African twins. 
 
 Perhaps we may get some light upon the ipiestion of 
 colour from the following considerations. Among the Ewe- Thunder- 
 speiiking peoples of the Slave Coast, Ellis notes the worship fightnine- 
 of a god Bo, who is the protector of persons engaged in ^°^^- 
 war, and of a god So (Khebioso) who is the lightning. The 
 priests of Bo carry about, on ceremonial (x;casions, a jKjculiar 
 axe, usually made of brass ; also they cjirry fasces, or bundles 
 of sticks, called Bo-So, from four to si-x feet long, painted red 
 and white in alternate strijKiS, or spotted with the same 
 colours'. 
 
 Here we have the exact parallel to the fasces carried by 
 the Roman lictore, except that at Rome the axe is in the 
 bundle of ro<ls : notice that the lionum fasces are bound up 
 with red leather. Probably the axe in eich case is a 
 thunder-axe, and the rods are the lightning shafts. If this 
 be so, the colours red and white are both in use amongst 
 these tribes to represent the thunder and lightning. The 
 explanation is still tentative, but we shall see presently, 
 when we come to consider the practices of the Wurundi in 
 tierman East Africa, that the use of red and while in the 
 ceremonial dance at the birth of twins, is accompaniml by 
 a belief that the spirit father of the twins is rwilly the 
 Thunder. 
 
 The whole subject o( the use of colours by siivages 
 requires closer attention : we have shown the importance 
 of red in ceremonies connected with the thunder: white is 
 
 ' Ellw, I.e. p. 6H. 
 
90 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 a very common decoration all over the world, and it must 
 not be hastily assumed that it has necessarily an interpreta- 
 tion that would link it with the lightning. We will, how- 
 ever, add a few considerations that may help to elucidate 
 the matter. 
 Meaning It is certain that primitive men att;ich great importance 
 
 white *" ^^ *^® paint they wear, and, as far as white is concerned, 
 paint. it is commonly held that this is put on to avert spirits. 
 For instance, there is an important paper by Campbell in 
 the Indian Antiquary for June, 189o, in which it is main- 
 tained that the colours dreaded by spirits are red, yellow, 
 and black, and perhaps white. No attempt is made to 
 explain what spirits are connected with what colours ; are 
 there not 'black spirits and white, red spirits and gray'? 
 Moreover, when it is said that a spirit is averted by a 
 colour, does not this often mean that the colour is the 
 spirit's colour, and that the person painted is under the 
 protection of the spirit ? For instance, we know that red is 
 in many places the thunder-colour, and that a thunder-bird, 
 who is to keep off the thunder from a building or temple, 
 • should be (or was originally) a bird with red feathers. So we 
 certainly need more investigation into the actual meaning 
 of colours when employed by savages. I have suggested 
 that the bundle of rods accompanied by an axe, which the 
 savage in W. Africa paints red and white, is the equiva- 
 lent for the Roman fasces bound with red leather, and 
 stands symbolically for thunder and lightning. This does 
 not mean that white paint nece.s.sarily means the lightning, 
 though I think this is the most natural explanation in the 
 case of the whitewiished twins on the Congo. On the 
 general subject of pipeclay jus disguise or decoration, we 
 may consult what Miss Harrison has said about the Titans, 
 who stole away the infant Dionysos, and who were painted 
 with white clay (Ttrnft/ov). ' The Titanes, the white-clay 
 men, were later, regardless of quantity, mythologised into 
 Titanes'.* The explanation of the name is ingenious. 
 
 There Ls still something to explain in the whitewashing 
 
 ' Themis, p. 17. 
 
v] THE TWIX-Ct'LT IN WKST AFRICA 91 
 
 of the Titans. Perhajxs Miss Harrison c;iii complete her 
 ingenious argument. Why were they pjiinted white ? ' Tell 
 me that, and unyoke!' 
 
 Here is another curious custom to which n\y attention OriRin of 
 has been drawn by my colleague, Mr R. A. Aytoun. The p^f^/ ' 
 ordinary decoration of a barber's shop is a striped pole, in 
 colours red and white. The explanation usually given of 
 this is that it is a sign that the barber is also a surgeon 
 who does blood-letting: the blocxi and the bandages being 
 denoted by the striping of the pole. No doubt there is 
 something to be said for the explanation, as it is well known 
 that the arts of the barber and surgeon overlap : even at the 
 present day, in the East, the barber-surgeon is one person 
 and not two : but the explanation of the pole by blood and 
 bandages has an unnatural look about it. Perhaps if we ex- 
 amine more closely into the history of surgery we may see the 
 matter more clearly. Who are the patron saints of surgery ? 
 The answer of the mediaeval world will be at once, Cosmas 
 and Damian, the saints who healed without taking fee, the 
 Christian heirs of Aesculapius and of the Heavenly Twins. 
 The barber's pole is, then, the sign of Cosma-s and Damian : 
 but Cosmas and Damian are the Heavenly Twins : then the 
 red and white stripes arc the sign of the Sons of Thunder. 
 The induction is t<Ki rapid to be altogether satisfactory. 
 
 Supplementary Isfhrmation from Dr Ciikmni; with 
 RF,r.ARD TO Twins amonc thk Batito. 
 
 Enquiry from Dr Girling elicited, in a letter from Bolobo I'ppor 
 on the Upper Congo, dated May 27th. Iin2, the following ^'"«"- 
 additional information. 
 
 First of all Dr (Jirling confirms the period of seclusion of 
 twins amongst the Batito to be one year. ' I learnt from Seclu«ion 
 the teacher that the twins and mother I saw at Isanga in J^nj""""" 
 July last year arc still in seclu.sion, btit are very soon lo Ix- iwin.i. 
 allowed their freedom: this would make th.- period of se<-lu- 
 sion about one year, or until thr- children could walk. I have 
 made enquiries in this neighbourh.H^I fron) boys belonging 
 
92 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA [CH, 
 
 to the Bobangi, Batende, Basingele, Batehe and Batito tribes, 
 and get a period of seclusion varying from eight days 
 to eighteen days, but I have nowhere found anyone who 
 speaks of so long a period as one year; but as there were 
 two sets of twins at Isanga (Batito tribe), and both seta were 
 secluded for one year, I should say that the custom of the 
 Batito is probably as stated by our teacher.' 
 
 Next he doubts the existence of a former custom of killing 
 twins, on the ground that twins are lucky : a natural hesita- 
 tion to any one approaching the subject for the first time. 
 
 ...'I can find no traces of any former custom which 
 included the killing of twins; twins are considered a sign 
 of good fortune not in the least to be regretted, and so the 
 killing of them would seem to be inconsistent.' 
 
 Then he records the belief that one twin kills the other, 
 
 to which we have drawn attention elsewhere in W. Africa, 
 
 in ancient Rome, etc. 
 
 Twin kills ' It is sometimes thought that when a twin dies early in 
 
 twin. jjfg^ j^g survivor has had some part in his death ; the natives, 
 
 when I asked the question, answered, " Yes ! we think that 
 
 ■ the other twin refused his brother because he wished to be 
 
 alone." ' 
 
 He also got a suspicion of a belief that the spirit of the 
 dead twin would try to call the other into the spirit world. 
 
 Dr Girling failed to find any coimi'ction of twins with the 
 sky, a point on which I especially desired additional informa- 
 tion. He reports some further facts regarding the cult. 
 No appa- ' I can find no connection between twins and rain or the 
 
 rent ^j^ from the natives I questioned. I obtained a few ad- 
 
 connec- •' i 
 
 tion with ditional somewhat insignificant facts. When twins are born 
 The twin ^he woman who last bore twins comes to the mother, and 
 priestess? they both dance together with the father and friends who 
 wish to join for a day or so.' This is really an important 
 point, as it is paralleled in West Africa, where we find the 
 beginnings of a twin priesthood in the female sex, occupied 
 in averting the dangers presented by the situation. He 
 goes on to describe what looks like a ransom paid for the 
 twins amongst the Bobangi. 
 
V] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 93 
 
 ' A curious custom, which I can only find in the Bobangi 
 tribe, is that all the friends of the father enter his house and 
 take anything they may find (unless the father has been 
 there first and hidden his belongings); they take a hoe, Ransom 
 fishing-line, baskets, pots, anything, these they hold as a B^trn i*^* 
 pledge to be redeemed by the father, he usually pays the 
 same price for redemption of all the articles, irrespective of 
 their value. The price per article is variously given as 
 2 rods Oct.) to 10 or 15 rods, or even more, according to 
 the wealth and standing of the man ; he has to pay as high 
 a price as he can to avert disaster /rom the twins.' 
 
 The last sentence is suggestive, — it will be bad for the 
 twins if they are not ransomed. 
 
 Dr Girling goes on to explain the important place which 
 the placenta occupies in the cult : we shall see many varieties 
 in the disp<isal of the placentae, especially in Uganda and 
 East Africa. 
 
 'The disposal of the placentae is interesting in the DmpoHal 
 Bobangi district: they are placed one each side of the path,°|^^^^ 
 or at cross roads, and a three-forked stick stuck up over each 
 placenta, and in the forks of each a pot painted in three 
 colours, white, yellow, and red, is placed.' 
 
 Here we have the extension of the red and white colours 
 of the lightning-sticks which we reconled above. Is it 
 possible that the triple forks which are here reconied iis 
 being set up are, like the trident of anti()uity, repri«enta- 
 tions of the lightning, and were the twins primitively buried 
 in the pots ? Dr (Jirling continues : 
 
 ...'If a twin dies young, he is buried with the ]>liu;enlii 
 under the stick and pot. 
 
 ' In some tribes the placentae are buried in the forest. 
 and a shed is erected.... 
 
 ' Pots are also erected at the corner of this shed ami the 
 twins are buried there, if they die young. 
 
 ' If the twins live to reach adolescence, they are buned 
 in the usual burying ground, with, however, greater ceremony 
 anil more noise than even at the ordinary funerals. 
 
 ' AnothiT curious custom in connection with the pl;i('ent.a 
 
94 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Twin- 
 pejents 
 leaf -clad? 
 
 Further 
 notes on 
 Congo 
 twins. 
 
 I have from my friend at Isanga, and it is unconfirmed, but 
 I am inclined to credit it. You will remember that husband 
 and wife in my article were described as being decked with 
 leaves ; these leaves as they wither and the placentae are 
 kept together in the hut, and are buried in the bush when 
 the lady is released from confinement.... 
 
 ' The father of the twins (amongst the Bobangi) must 
 always eat only food cooked in his wife's pot, he must not 
 eat food cooked in any other pot ; if he goes on a journey 
 the pot goes with him. 
 
 ' One old lady persisted in stating that twins brought 
 riches to the father, because everybody brought presents 
 of fish, etc , at odd times to the twins. 
 
 ' A mother never allows a twin to sit on the bare ground.' 
 
 The foregoing observations will be seen, upon reflection, 
 to have a distinct value ; for the customs are parallel to 
 those which we have recorded elsewhere, and should admit 
 of similar explanations. 
 
 The foregoing accounts of the forms which the twin-cult 
 takes in the Congo region are full of suggestion to the 
 student of the subject: and I am the more interested in 
 the communication which my friends have made, because 
 on the firat enquiry it seemed as if the twLn-cult did not 
 exist on the Congo. Gradually the peculiar features of the 
 Congolese cult became registered and interpreted, and the 
 transition could be traced from the savagery common on 
 the West Coast of Africa to the timid appreciation which 
 prevails on the other side of the continent. As it is 
 important to collect as much testimony as possible, I am 
 going to transcribe some further details for the Congo, given 
 to me recently by my friend Mr Howell of the Baptist 
 Mission. We shall find many features of the West African 
 cult to prevail, such as the making of an image of a dead 
 twin to be placed near the surviving twin, the importance 
 assigned to a former twin-mother in the purification of a 
 house where twins are born, and so on. Let us see, then, 
 what Mr Howell says on the subject : his first observations 
 relate to a tribe near Stanley Pool. 
 
v] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 95 
 
 ' Bawuinba tribe, Near Stanley Pool. Congo. The 
 
 ' As soon as twins are born, a man (anyone will do) ^»*'""'*- 
 mounts the roof of the house, he adoms himself with a 
 special kind of long grass, used for medicinal purposes, it is 
 placed over his shoulder and under the opposite ;rrm, either 
 shoulder will do, he then dances all day. 
 
 ' A woman who hiis given birth to twins is then called. The twin- 
 she takes them in her arms and dances outside the hut, P"*''***- 
 this is done before anything whatever is done to the 
 children. 
 
 'She places a wide white mark across the forehead of Cere- 
 each child, after the ceremonies the children are treated just "huT' 
 as other children. wash. 
 
 ' In ca.se of the death of one. a wooden image is made, so Image o( 
 that the remaining child shall have company, it sees the ^ *'"' 
 image and thinks it is its companion.' 
 
 No explanation is yet forthcoming of the dancing, or i>f 
 the grass-decorated man. 
 
 The next observations relate to a tribe about 500 miles 
 higher up the river. 
 
 ' Bangala tribe, 500 miles above Stanley Pool. Congo The 
 river. ^"8»''- 
 
 ' When the twins are eight days old, the mother takes 
 them in her arms, and dances in front of her house before the 
 folk of the town, she and the folk around sing. 
 
 ' The decoration of leaves in the form of a garland is the 
 same as when one child only is bom, one kind of fibre is 
 always used in making up all garlands. At the time they 
 are named, first Nkunui, second one Mpeya. These names Names of 
 are held all through life. 
 
 'The one bom first is always carried on the right arm, 
 the second one on the left. Whenever the mother is Equal itj 
 saluted, she must always give two salutations in return. "nenP' 
 If a pri;sent be given there must be twti alike, if not, there 
 is grief to one. 
 
 'They are expected to cry together ami rejoicv together. 
 
 ' If one dies, no ceremony is performed.' 
 
 Mr Hiiwell ne.xt refers to the NgomlH' trib«- (dt-scribed 
 
96 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 
 
 [oh. 
 
 The 
 
 Ngombe. 
 
 Twin- 
 priestess. 
 
 Names of 
 twins. 
 
 Fees to 
 twin- 
 priestess. 
 
 Twins 
 quarrel. 
 
 Lower 
 Congo. 
 
 above by Mr Kenred Smith), which is 100 miles further up 
 stream. 
 
 ' Ngombe tribe, big, widespread, runs across Congo, 
 direction S.W. and N.E., 600 miles above Stanley Pool. 
 Congo. 
 
 ' A woman is called in to assist at birth, who has herself 
 given birth to twins. 
 
 'She first gives them their names, the first one is ciilled 
 Mondunga, second one Ndumba. The children are kept from 
 sight in the house one month. 
 
 ' The attendant ties rings of vine or fibre round ankles, 
 wrists, neck and waist, over both shoulders, round under the 
 arms, also the mother and father wear exactly the same kind 
 of thing. 
 
 ' After a month or so, a dance is arranged, <and presents 
 are given, and all decorations discarded. 
 
 'The day of birth a string is tied across the path, and 
 anyone passing must pay toll ; the father fixes the .sum. 
 
 ' If one is a weakling it is killed. If any present is 
 given it must be given to both. Two responses given to 
 any salutation, one for each child. The house is fenced 
 in. After the final dance all the decorations, fence, etc., etc., 
 are burned. 
 
 ' The assistant is paid 2000 brass rods, which equal 
 about £4, and then the mother is eligible to render a-ssistance 
 to other women who give birth to twins, collect fees, eto. 
 
 ' Should there be no woman about who has given birth 
 to twins, and thus be eligible to render aasist«ance, no one 
 else can. 
 
 ' Common report sjiys twins do not agree.' 
 
 It should be noted that we have here the elementary 
 priesthood already alluded to, where twin-mothers or twin- 
 children assist in the purificatory rites at a twin-birth. 
 Traces of the custom of killing one child of a pair can be 
 detected in Mr Howell's remark 'if one is a weakling it is 
 killed." 
 
 The fourth series of observations belongs to the Lower 
 Congo. 
 
v] THE TWIN-CULT IN WEST AFRICA 97 
 
 ' When twins are born, one is often neglected and sUirved 
 to death. Women do not like twins because of the extra 
 trouble involved in looking after them : when a twin is thus 
 starved or dies a natural death, a piece of wood carved into 
 an image to represent the child is put with the live twin image of 
 so that it may not be lonely ; in »ise of epidemic of small- '**'"' """' 
 pox, and if the child is vaccinated, the request is made by 
 the mother for the vaccine to be put on the image, and if 
 refuseil, the mother will take some from the child to rub on imat^evac- 
 the image, so that the spirit of the dead child shall not get "°"'*^- 
 jealous'. 
 
 ' If the second child dies, the image is buried with it. 
 When a twin dies, it is placed on loaves, a white cloth put Twins 
 over it. and it is buried at cross roafis, like a suicide, or as a afcrosa- 
 man struck by lightning'.' roads. 
 
 It will be seen that the description is susceptible again 
 of another explanation than that which lies on the surface. 
 To starve a child to death is, after all, only a lesser degree 
 of murder; we may conjecture that the custom of killing one 
 twin does not lie very far under the surface of the existing 
 civilisation, as reported by Mr Howell. 
 
 Notice should also be taken of the custom of burying 
 a twin in the same way as a person struck by lightning is 
 buried : this admits of an easy explanation, if we assume 
 that the dead child belongs in some way to the lightning. 
 At all events, the parallelism in the treatment should be 
 Ciirefully noted. 
 
 We have now added considerably to the knowledge of 
 the Twin-cult in ihe Congo region ; the general impression 
 is that we are receding from the common siivagery of 
 W. Africa, into what may be called a more temperate 
 region '. 
 
 ' Information auppliMl by Dr Catharine Mabie, a misaionai; on the 
 Congo. 
 
 ' The remarkable coincidence with the English cutlom of burying a 
 suicide at the cross roads should be noted, as well as the regard for, or fear 
 of, a fulminate person. 
 
 ' For the treatment of twins in Bihi (Angola) see notes at end of volume. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The As we pass down the West Coast of Africa, and leave 
 
 the ixjuatorial regions, we come to the German Territory, 
 which used to be known as Damaraland and Great Namaqua 
 land. The principal tribes in this region are the Hereros. 
 I have given in Cult of the Heavenly Twins' a brief state- 
 ment of the opinions and practices of the Hereros, noting 
 (1) that a twin-birth is one of the happiest of events; 
 • (2) that the parents of twins were allowed to levy a tax 
 on their neighbours, as if the danger from the twins attached 
 itself to the tribe rather than the family ; (3) that after 
 purification by the witch-doctor, the whole tribe presents its 
 offerings to the parents. 
 
 The case of the Hereros is an interesting one, because it 
 combines the feature of public satisfaction over the birth of 
 twins with an unusually careful ritual for the deprecation of 
 the evils which lurk in the phenomenon. 
 
 A very careful account is given by the Missionary J. Irle, 
 in his book on the Herero^ First of ail, he shows that when 
 a twin-birth is announced, the father, accompanied by two 
 men, leaves the kraal and goes outside to a rapidly con- 
 structed hut. He is promptly followed by the mother, with 
 her twin children, and a pair of women attendants. These 
 eight people now form a Guild of Twins and will be so 
 designated for a whole year. The whole tribe, with their 
 herds, are now summoned ; and the isolated people are now 
 Fictitious recalled to the kraal, where they are met with a volley of 
 expu ion. ^jggjigg aQ(j ^f/[l\^ howling on the part of the women. As 
 
 > p. 31. » Die Ilereru (Outersloh, 1906), pp. 96-99. 
 
 Isolation 
 of twins 
 and 
 parents. 
 
CH. Vl] THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA 99 
 
 the things thrown do not hit, it is clear that we are dealing 
 with an original expulsion which is now pretended and done 
 in niiniicry. The company now gather round the altar of 
 sacrifice inside the camp; every man brings a present to the 
 father, and every woman a present (a round piece of ostrich 
 egg) to the mother. Certiiiii men and women are cere- 
 moniously dedicated for the occasion. The women build a 
 hut for the twins, the men prepare an ox for .sacrifice. 
 
 After this, the family make a tour of the village, and Tribal 
 collect more gratuities from their neighbours ; they carry on ™'"^°™' 
 the same process in neighbouring kraals. The father and 
 mother obtain special names: he is called Omupundje and 
 she Onjambari (i.e. the one who suckles two). Up to the 
 end of the first year the parents have been dressed in their 
 oldest and worst clothes; now the taboo is raised, and they 
 chiinge their raiment. 
 
 Irle points out that the ritual for twins among the Irle on 
 Herero is much milder than among some Bantu tribes, *'^"'*- 
 where one or both of the twins are killed'; but he rightly 
 doubts, in view of the ceremonies performed, whether we 
 have a right to say that the Herero regard twins as a bless- 
 ing. He suggests that they are spared on account of their 
 value as a reinforcement to the tribe ; but that, in reality, 
 they are forbidden ; and are more regarded in the light of 
 fear than of happiness. The value of these observations is Original 
 clear. Even the relative humanity of the Herero is seen to j^g 
 turn, in the first iu.stance, on utility rather than on senti- 
 ment. The original dread of the abnormal twins lfM)ks at us 
 from the ceremonies required for their admission to tribal 
 life. 
 
 We come next into British South Africji, and here the 
 tracks of the superstition that we are following are obscured 
 by the strong hand of the (Jovernment, which, in Cain- 
 Colony at all events, has no room for twin munlei-s or such 
 like social aberrations. We are, therefore, obliged to refer 
 to historical documents if we wish to know whether the 
 
 ' He inatancc!) the Ovanibo tribe to tbo north of Dam&ra land, who kill 
 both twina. 
 
100 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Hottentots are to be classed either with the Hereros or with 
 the Benin negroes. 
 Cape of In Kolbe's work on The Present State of the Cape of Oood 
 
 HoD€ Hope^ we have a statement concerning the Hottentot festivals 
 
 and barbarities at the birth of twins : the account strikes one 
 as being overdrawn by the assistance of a powerful imagina- 
 tion, but most of the details can be paralleled elsewhere, so 
 Hotten- that we must not condemn Kolbe too hastily. He tells 
 us* that the Hottentot women dread the birth of twins, and 
 that they use their influence to persuade intending husbands 
 to submit to a certain operation which is intended to remove 
 twins out of the field of probable or possible events. As, 
 however, in spite of these precautions twins are born, he 
 proceeds to describe the customs that attach to them. 
 
 ' On every birth, excepting still ones, the parents observe 
 an Andersmaken or solemn feast by way of thanksgiving, in 
 which all the inhabitants of the kraal they live in have a 
 share. Yet do they often give the lie to those thanksgivings 
 by a cruel custom, practised indeed by some other nations, 
 but, to bosoms replenished with reason and humanity, the 
 • most shocking one in the world : and this on the birth of 
 twins. If the twins are boys, the parents observe an Anders- 
 maken by killing two fat bullocks for the entertainment of 
 the whole kraal, men, women, and children, who all, with 
 their parents, rejoice at the birth as a mighty blessing. The 
 mother only is excluded this entertainment, so far, that she 
 has only some of the fat of the bullocks sent her, with which 
 to anoint herself and the new-bom. 
 
 ' But if the twins are girls, things take (juite another 
 face. There is little or no rejoicing : and all the sacrifice 
 that goes to the Andersmaken on such an occasion is a 
 couple of sheep at the most. But they cannot often resolve 
 One twin to rear both twins. If the parents are rich, and the mother 
 exposed. ^^'^ ^^^> '*'" pretends she has not, supplies of milk for her 
 nourishment, the whole knuil which is consulted, forsooth, in 
 form on this occasion, easily admitting this plea, the worse- 
 
 ' English translation by Medley, London, 1731. 
 » Vol. I. p. 117. 
 
Vl] THK TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA 101 
 
 featured of the two is buried alive, or exposed on the bough 
 of a tree or among bushes. 
 
 ' If thi^ parents of twin girls are poor, their poverty is 
 their plea for exposing or making away with one of them. 
 They make this plea before the whole kraal, which generally 
 allows it, without taking much pains to look into it. The 
 case is the same when the twins are a boy and a girl, and 
 the parents have a mind to be rid of one of them. Only 
 here they are not governed by the features, in choice of the 
 child to be buried alive or exposed. For the girl is certainly 
 condemned, if either scarcity of the mother's milk, or poverty, 
 be alleged against breeding up both. But great rejoicings 
 are made for the boy.' 
 
 Now in reading over Kolbe's statement, one may hesitate 
 to believe what he says about the attempt to frustrate 
 physiciilly the production of twins by an operation upon the 
 male parent : but as to the rest of the story, it is not very 
 different from what we have been recording elsewhere, and 
 it appears to indicate that in the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century, the Hottentot custom w;vs gradually changing from 
 aversion of twins to their approbation. The explanation 
 given for not bringing one or both of them up, is not, indeed, 
 the original thought, but it is one which we shall meet with 
 not a few times elsewhere, among people who want a reason 
 for a practice which they have not .abandoned, and have lost 
 the original explanation. To denounce Kolbe's accuracy 
 because of its imputing an impossible degree of cruelty to 
 the Hottentots is absurd. Le Vaillant, who pours acorn on i,e Vail- 
 Kolbe and his imaginings, tried to disprove the killing of'""'°" 
 twin chil<lren, and, failing in this, maintjiined that the sup- 
 posed cruelty was really a case of preternatural tenderness. 
 I (juote his words' : ' I took great pains to enquire among 
 the Hottentots whether, when a mother is delivered of twins, 
 one of them is destroyed upon the spot: the result of my 
 enquiry was, that this urmatunil custom is very rarely 
 practised. Though a great cruelty, it is supposed to owe its 
 
 ' I* Vaillant, Trurth in Africa (KriKlish tran<ilatinn, Umdnn, 1790), 
 vol. II. p. 57. 
 
102 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Twir jise to maternal tenderness, the fear of not being able to 
 
 tender- fumish sufficient nourishment for both (and consequently 
 ness! seeing them perish) has suggested the expedient of sacrificing 
 
 one to the safety of the other.' 
 
 We need hardly say, in view of the examples already 
 accumulated, that this excess of maternal tenderness is a 
 pure imagination. Le Vaillant goes on to say that the 
 Gonaquais were wholly exempt from this reproach, and 
 greatly offended at the suggestion of such a thing. It was, 
 however, hardly possible to explain the twin-cult in the 
 eighteenth century, and for travellers of that period (resi- 
 dent missionaries were scarce or non-existent) we must be 
 thankful for the facts which they report to us, and improve, 
 as best we may, on their explanations. 
 Kidd on An admirable summary of the tAvin-cult from the Kafir 
 
 Tflffn's"*^*" standpoint will be found in Mr Dudley Kidd's Savage Child- 
 hood^: he tells us that 'it is very difficult for any European 
 to look at native customs practised in connection with the 
 birth of twins from the Kafir point of view. The native 
 thinks that twins are scarcely human ; and that the bearing 
 ' of twins is a thing entirely out of the course of nature. 
 The people do not like to talk about twins, and the fact 
 of their existence is hidden, if possible, by the parents. In 
 olden days, one of the twins was always put to death, and 
 One twin frequently both were killed. It is natural, so it was thought, 
 killed' f**'' ^'^g^ ^^^ P'gs to have twin ofifspring in a litter, but for 
 human beings it is disgraceful. A woman who has twins 
 is taunted with belonging to a disgraceful family, and in 
 olden times, if she gave birth to twins a second time, she 
 w;is killed as a monstrosity. When one of the twins was 
 allowed to live, an old woman, generally the grandmother, 
 would kill the child by holding her hand over its mouth. In 
 other cases the father placed a lump of earth in the mouth 
 of the child, thinking he would lose his strength if he did 
 not do this. In other tribes the child was exposed in the 
 veld, and was left for the wild animals to devour, or else it 
 was thrown into a river' 
 
 ' pp. 4.5 sqq. 
 
Vl] THK TWlN-rULT IN SOUTH AFRICA 103 
 
 All of these points of view and all of these pnictices have 
 already come before lis. My friend, Dudley Kidd, points out 
 that under British rule it is very difticult to carry on such 
 practices, but that, in spite of British rule, they are still 
 carried on secretly. He then gives some inipirtant informa- 
 tion which he gathered from a chief's son in Zululand, who 
 was himself a twin. A few of the iniportjint details may 
 be set down, and for fiirther information reference must be 
 made to Dudley Kidd's book. 
 
 A twin that is killed has no name : a twin that is saved No name 
 has no name until he is sixteen. The twin in question was °' '*'"*• 
 called ' Hatred,' which shows what his parents thought of 
 him. Twins are regarded iis being in abnormal sympathy 
 with one another, which may very well be the case. When 
 a twin marries there are no festivities. They are not counted 
 amongst the children. Twins are said to have no brains, but 
 to be, in spite of this, abnormally clever. They are supposed 
 to be able to foretell the weather from their physical feelings. 
 In war-time they are put in front of the army'. If a man does 
 an iiction unduly dual, like eating two mice caught at the 
 same time, the result may be that his wife will bear twins. 
 We shall find plenty of similar ideaa elsewhere. 
 
 Mr Kidd remarks in conclusion that ' when the above Twins 
 fervid beliefs and fears about twins are bonie in mind, it ""'"'^''y 
 
 amongst 
 cau.ses no surprise to learn that the people regard twins as Kafirs. 
 
 most unlucky, anri seek to kill them in infancy.' So much 
 
 for the Kafir generally and for Zululand. 
 
 Next let us try Matabeleland, or as it is now called. 
 Rhodesia. 
 
 Here is an extract from a London paper (Daily iV«f.s Twins 
 for Dec. 27th, 1910) describing a twin murder among the ^'"^p";"^ 
 Matabele. 
 
 ■ Coni|mrt' t)ii- way in wbith they are carried in symbol before tbc 
 Spartan amiy, in t)ii' simpc nf the Doknna, and how they are represented 
 on the field u( battle by the Spitrlan kings. 
 
104 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AFRICA [CH. 
 
 'A GHASTLY CUSTOM. 
 
 'WHERE TWINS AND TRIPLETS ARE KILLED. 
 
 A case in 
 
 British 
 
 Courts. 
 
 Report 
 from 
 Town 
 Clerk of 
 Bulawayo. 
 
 ' Bulawayo, Dec. 5th. 
 
 ' A remarkable case, showing the tenacity of the Mata- 
 bele in clinging to ancient custom.s, came before the Circuit 
 Court here this week. A native and his two wives were 
 charged with the murder of the twin children of one of the 
 latter. It is the Matabele custom to destroy twins, on the 
 ground that their birth is due to the influence of some evil 
 spirit. In the present case the children were buried alive. 
 When triplets are bom, the mother is killed as well as all 
 three children. The prisoners told the Court that their 
 fathers had instructed them always to destroy twins ; but 
 if the white men were sure that such a proceeding was not 
 necessary, and even that it was wrong, they would not do it 
 again. All three prisoners were sentenced to death, but 
 with a recommendation to mercy which will probably prove 
 effectual.' 
 
 On reading this report, it is easy to see that it is just 
 the kind of offence in which it is almost impossible for the 
 European to judge of the native mentality. The Matabele 
 try to explain that what they are doing is their religion, and 
 it is evidently not possible to make their judge sympathetic 
 with that point of view. They are the victims of a great 
 hereditary Fear; but if the white man can lift the Fear, 
 they will change the custom. The white man does not 
 understand the Fear, nor does he, in consequence, appreciate 
 the concession. 
 
 As I was much interested in this case, and felt sure that 
 it would result in racial contempt and hostility, I took the 
 trouble to enquire of the Mayor of Bulawayo, and I was very 
 courteously furnished by the Town Clerk with a newspaper 
 report of the proceedings and an explanatory letter, which 
 brought the news that ' the sentence of death inflicted upon 
 the culprits had, in this instance, been eventually reduced 
 
Vl] THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AKRICA 1U5 
 
 by the High Cominissioner to penal servitude.' The letter 
 concluded thus : 
 
 ' The custom o( putting to death twins immediately after 
 birth is an old and superstitious one indulged in by the 
 Matabele, and which in nearly every wise is carried out with 
 extreme brutality. This custom is, however, becoming less 
 frequent the more it is being realised amongst the natives 
 that such crimes are, under the English law, punishable by 
 death.' 
 
 I suppose all our ancestors once took the Matabele view : 
 it is a difficult matter for the twentieth century after Christ 
 to sit in judgement on the twentieth century before Christ; 
 and one can only hope that if these poor creatures have to 
 be severely punished, it will not be penal servitude for life. 
 The description given of Matabele views is illuminating, and 
 brings out suggestively the idea that twins are due, in part, 
 to the intervention of a spirit. It will be noticed that both 
 children were killed and the mother spared. This suggests 
 that the modification of the taboo begins with the mother, 
 which is both natural and likely'. 
 
 To the westward of Rhodesia and ihf Tniu-sviuil, we Bechu- 
 shall find the Bechuanas, concerning whom we have an early *"**' 
 testimony to the following eff"ect from John Campbell' 
 (Bootchuana Manners and Customs, vol. li. p. 20^). 
 
 When a woman hiis twins, one of the children is put Twins 
 to death. Should a cow have two calves one of them is j^J^* ^^^ 
 either killed or driven away. •"»«■ 
 
 Here we have a new feature, the extension of the taboo 
 to the larger cattle. This is important, for wc shall find the 
 wime custom existing in Wales to-day, ami in ancient India 
 we shall find abundant evidence of it. 
 
 ' There is a reference to ihe Matabele custom in Decle, Thrtr Yean in 
 Savage AJricn, p. 160 : • Twins (amonK the Matabvle) are put to death, and 
 the mortahty among childri-n is enormous.' Bent, in his UuinnI Citiet 
 oj Mnihonaland. p. 276, notos that at Lutzi, ' i( a woman Rives birth to 
 twins they are immc«litttrly destroyed. This they consider an unnatural 
 freak on the part of the woman, and it is auppoaed to indicate (amine, or 
 some other calamity.' 
 
 ' TrareU in Suiith Africa, bring a narratice of a ireond jimrnry (u thf 
 interior of Ih4it country, London, IH'i'i. 
 
106 THE TWIN-CUI.T IN SOUTH AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Maha- To the north of Matabelcland is a tribe called the 
 
 twin' °°* Mahalaka. Amongst these people, if twins are born, one 
 
 killed. is always killed ; the decision being made by throwing dice. 
 
 The condemned child is put alive into a pot, and soon 
 
 becomes the prey of the hyenas'. 
 
 In the N.E. corner of the Transvaal, between the rivers 
 
 Bawenda. Limpopo and Levuvu, we have a people called the Bawenda, 
 
 or people of Wenda. Of these people Gottschling says" that 
 
 ' the curriculum vitae of the heathen Bawenda is a long 
 
 Twins succession of fear, superstition, oppression, and misery.... If 
 
 killed. twins are born they are killed, for if they were left alive, 
 
 it would bring a calamity upon the whole country, according 
 
 to their opinion.' These people are supposed by Gottschling 
 
 to have migrated to their present situation from the region 
 
 of the great lakes. 
 
 Baronga. We come now to the Baronga tribes of the Portuguese 
 
 E. Africa. To this tribe we have already made reference, 
 
 and they occupy an important position in our enquiry. 
 
 • Dr Frazer first drew attention to them in his researches 
 
 into rain-making, a subject intimately connected with the 
 
 origin of kingship : and it was in following out the account 
 
 of the Baronga customs, as described by a Swiss missionary 
 
 named Junod, that we stumbled upon the interesting fact 
 
 Twins are that the Baronga people described twins in the terms which 
 
 Sky-boys. ^gggH^j ^jjg Dioscuri or Zeus' Boys of the Greeks, and with 
 
 the Boanerges or Thunder-Boys of the New Testament. 
 
 The name for twins is Bana-ba-Tilo, where Tilo stands for 
 
 the Sky, in its various manifestations : and it was of further 
 
 importance that the twins with their mother were actually 
 
 employed by the natives as rain-makers. 
 
 These remarkable coincidences give to the Baronga people 
 a very important position in this enquiry. M. Junod's mono- 
 graph on the Baronga is of the highest value : as, however, 
 I have discussed the evidence which he gives in Cult of 
 
 ' C. Mftuch, quoted in PI0S3, Das KimI, pp. 191 sqq. (Stuttgart, 1H76). 
 * 'The Bawenda: a sketch of their hiBtory and customs,' in ./oiirii. 
 Anthrop. Instit. vol. xxxv. (1895), p. 371. 
 
Vl] THE TWINCl'LT IN SOt'TH AFfilCA 107 
 
 the Heavenly Twins', I shall not ri'|)u:it all that is there 
 said'. 
 
 It should, however, be remembered that the twin-mother Survivals 
 
 iincien 
 pulsioD. 
 
 is immediately expilled with her children to a wretched hut e[p "i,*"' 
 
 in the neighbourhood, and has to undergo ceremonial puri- 
 fication. Her own hut is burnt and all her property, except 
 so far as the witch-doctor is ple;ised to reserve anything for 
 his own use. As the children grow up. they are driven away 
 from the native village with cries of ' Go away, children of 
 the Sky.' The women pour water over the twin-mother and 
 sing rain-charms. M. Junod reports a case in which the 
 grandfather of twins tried to kill one of them, but was pre- 
 vented by the women in the neighbourho(Kl. It is certain, 
 therefore, that in old times the Baronga used to kill their 
 twins; it is equally certain that they are now using them 
 for beneficent purposes, through their supposed connection 
 with the sky. The Baronga, therefore, are on the watershed 
 between those who detest twins and those who delight in 
 them, and they mark the transition from the one opinion 
 to the other. The connecting-link in this case between 
 cursing and blessing is the Sky-parentage. 
 
 » pp. 18—21. 
 
 ' M. Junod's work is entitled Let Harnnga : Haie ethnogr»phique sur 
 leg indiK*ne« de la Baie de Delagoa ; it was published at Ni-uchAtel in 1898 
 as the tenth volume of the HuUetin de la SncUU SeiichaUlin$e de t'reographie. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 
 
 Twins in In British East Africa we shall find abundant traces 
 
 E A^frica ^^ *^^ twin-superstition, with indications that the existing 
 customs have behind them as cruel treatment of twins as 
 can be found in the Niger delta. Sir H. H. Johnston tells 
 us, however, of tribes at the S. end of L. Nyassa, and in 
 the Shir^ Highlands, which 'do not seem to care much one 
 way or another whether twins are born'.' On the other 
 hand, amongst the Atonga, the birth of twins is a most 
 unlucky circumstance, and although the people would not 
 admit it, Johnston believes that one of twins was frequently 
 killed. They have the curious belief that the tie between 
 twins is so strong, that even when separated by distance, 
 each feels the other's pain. In that case, to allow them 
 both to live, is to double the pain of their lives. It may 
 be regarded as probable that the Atonga originally killed 
 twins, and now kill one of the two, though perhaps they are 
 becoming ashamed of the practice. 
 The Wau- Amongst the Waukondc, at the N. end of L. Nyassa, 
 twins are also unpopular. As Sir H. H. Johnston says, 
 ' the birth of twins is not ordinarily well-received and in 
 some tribes one of the two children is killed. I have never 
 heard of any case of triplets or quadruplets; and when I 
 told natives that such cases occurred in England occasionally, 
 they expressed the yreaiest horror.' To which the following 
 important note is added : 
 
 'A curious custom obtains amongst the Waukonde, if 
 twins arc born. Both parents are put into a grass hut in 
 a secluded part of the village, and there they abide for one 
 ' H. H. Johnston, Britith Central Africa, pp. 418 sqq. 
 
CH. VIl] THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 109 
 
 month. No villager can see the face of the secluded persons. 
 The father hides himself lest his enemies should kill him." 
 Here we have again the twin- taboo, and the isolation of 
 those involved ; curiously the father, in this axse, appears 
 to be the worse offender. Probably there is here some 
 exaggeration or misunderstanding of the situation. 
 
 Amongst the Akikuya of British E. Africa, whose customs The 
 have been studied by Mr and .Mrs Routledgc', we are told *'"'"'?'• 
 that ' twins iis among other races are considered unlucky. 
 If they are the first-born children they are both killed, or 
 possibly only the last one. The idea is that they prevent 
 a woman bearing again ; if they come later in the family, 
 the prejudice does not exist. Triplets are also unlucky 
 without regard to position in the family, and one or all are 
 killed. The s;ime applies to an infant born feet first.' 
 
 It may be doubted whether this report is correct with 
 regard to the repetition of twin-birth. The ordinary ex- 
 perience is exactly the opposite : a taboo which may be 
 lightened at the first of such births, becomes more severe 
 at a second. The danger of irregularly born children has 
 already been noted in several instances. 
 
 In German East Africa, we note for Usambara and the (iennan 
 neighbouring districts that child murder is frequent in ' "°'* 
 Bondei. Children are killed here if they are twins or if 
 the upper teeth appear before the lower, customs to which 
 we have already given West African parallels. Such children 
 are supposed to be unlucky'. 
 
 In the same province we havt; from Mr Cole, the mis- 
 sionary of the Church Missionary Society at Mpwapwa, the 
 following information'. 'The Wetumba, or Wiispara, kill The 
 twins, but the Wagogo have no such custom. The Wetumba '""" ' 
 also kill infants... if the feet come first at birth; or if one 
 hand protnides at birth.' The case of the Wagogo do<« 
 not seem to be exhaustively dealt with : one wants to know 
 
 ' With a prehiitorie I'ropit : Tht Akikuya uf llritith Ktut Africa, bj 
 W. Scorcaby and Katharine HoulledRO (London ; Arnold, 1910). 
 
 ' Biiunmnn, I'tamhara iind trine Sachhttryrhirtt, Bcrhn, IH91. Boodri 
 is in lat. .V 1.1' S. and lontt- 3**' ^S' E. 
 
 ' Journal of AnthrnpoltHiiral Inttilult. xxxil. (1902), p. 308. 
 
110 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 whether there are any purificatory rites which would imply 
 fear or detestation in previous generations. 
 
 As to the Wetumba, we have already noted in VV. African 
 centres the dislike of a child bom feet first. The other 
 feature is new: it is also important, as it has a parallel in 
 the book of Genesis in the story of Pharez and Zara, the 
 twin children of Judah. No reason is forthcoming as to 
 why the protrusion of the hand should be unlucky. In the 
 Biblical parallel Pharez would seem to be lucky, for the 
 benediction at the close of the book of Ruth on the posterity 
 of Boaz is made in his name. 
 Central In Mr Swann's delightful account of his great work in 
 
 Ainca. j^j^g civilisation of Central Africa' will be found a statement 
 of the twin-problem as it presented itself to a pioneer of 
 ' sweeter manners, purer laws.' Mr Swann does not say 
 much about the destruction of twins on the scale of the 
 more intense taboo. He came, however, to the conclusion 
 that many children were killed because twin-mothers could 
 not rear them and work in the rice fields as well. 
 
 ' When a woman had given birth to twins, the work 
 imposed on her in the rice fields was so great a burden as 
 to be almost unbearable, and there were, no doubt, thousands 
 of infants killed. I had long talks with the chiefs, but they 
 all considered that it was no use punishing the women ; we 
 must gain our object by other means. I recognised that it 
 was a great task for mothers with twin children to clean 
 the tax-rice, and this helped me to solve the problem of 
 infantile mortality. 
 
 ' I issued the notice to the effect that all women who 
 bore twins would be exempt from taxation during the 
 current year, provided they brought the youngsters the 
 following year.' 
 
 As might be expected, this caused some interesting 
 developments on the lines of personation and plural voting. 
 The In the neighbourhood of Zanzibar, amongst the Waza- 
 
 ramo, twins, ' here ctillcd Wapacha, and by the Arabs of 
 
 Waza 
 ramo 
 
 ' t'iijhlinci the Slave Ilunltm in Central Africa, p. 319. 
 
Vll] TUK TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 111 
 
 Zanzibar, Shukul, are usually sold or exposed in the jungle 
 as amongst the Ibos of \V. Africa'.' 
 
 So Burton, who also informs us concerning the Wanyain- 
 wezi, a tribe which dwells half-way between Zanzibar and Lake 
 Tanganyika. 
 
 Here ' twins are not common us amongst the Kafir race, 
 and one of the two is invariably put to death : the universal 
 custom amongst these tribes is for the mother to wrap a 
 gourd or calabiush in skins, to place it to sleep with, and 
 to feed it like the survivor'.' 
 
 We may compsire the West African custom of making 
 an image of the dead twin, and placing it in the cradle with 
 the living one. 
 
 Just north of Zanzibar, in British territory, to the N.W. of 
 Mombasa, we have the tribe of the Wakamba. The Wakamba The 
 do not kill twins, but.according to Decle', 'they are supposed to ^^*'"""'*- 
 bring bad luck, as it is thought the father will die before they 
 grow up to be strong.' This supposed dangerous reaction of 
 twins upon the father h;is also been noted among the Kafirs'. 
 
 The same thought of danger to the parents is found 
 amongst the Wadjagga, a people living in the neighbourhood The 
 of Kilimanjaro. Of these Merker writes that one of the J'8g»- 
 twins is killed : if they are of the same sex, it is the first- 
 born that is spared ; when the sexes are difTerent the girl 
 is killed. If they did not kill these children it is believed 
 that, later on, they would kill their parents'. 
 
 Next let us examine into the beliefs of the tribes known 
 by the name of Warundi, who live between Zanzibar and 
 Ujiji. These tribes speak a language (Kirundi), for which 
 a dictionary has recently been published by a missionary 
 named van der Burgt*. This dictionary and the attached 
 
 ' Burton, Lake litiiioni nf Central Africa, vol. i. p. 116. 
 
 • Ibul. vol. II. p. 23. ' Three yean in Saiage Africa, p. 491. 
 ' K.g. Dudley Kiilil, The Etiential Kafir, p. Wl. ' I( a mother gives 
 
 birth to twins one is fn-quentljr killed by iho fiithor, for the natives think 
 that unless a father pluces a lump of earth in the mouth of unr of the babie*, 
 he will lose his strenK'h.' 
 
 ' Merker in Tetcrmann, KrKaDzung»bund, x»i. Heft. 138; HechlMvrrhnll- 
 niite und .Sittert der H'lulichaijija, p. 13. 
 
 • V. d. Burgt, Dictiininaire FninfaiM Kirundi, 
 
112 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 notes contain an amount of valuable information as to the 
 folk-lore and general customs of the people. I propose to 
 make some extracts from and comments upon the article in 
 the dictionary which is headed Jumeau. 
 
 We are first told that twins are frequent among the 
 Warundi and that their birth is a religious event, which 
 calls for ritual songs, dances, etc.; often lasting for weeks. 
 The people say that, if these religious ceremonies were 
 omitted, the children would die, and perhaps their parents 
 also. Even if one or both of the twins were to die, the ritual 
 must go on. This suggests that the evil has to be averted 
 which the twins have brought. 
 
 As soon as the news gets abroad, all the neighbours 
 flock together to take part in the ceremonial. They bring 
 loads of presents for the parents, more exactly sacrificial 
 offerings to the spirits. An incredible quantity of provisions 
 is presented, and disappears, as if by magic. 
 
 The children being born the Kiranga, whom I suppose 
 to be the witch-doctor, appears with his acolytes to implore 
 the favour of the spirit Rikiranga. If the twins are born 
 at night, the announcement throws the whole village into 
 an uproar. Meal and leaves are scattered around the hut, 
 they sprinkle also a mixture of water and beer and other 
 consecrated liquid. Then the ritual dances begin, and are 
 carried to the point of frenzy : the dancers, male and female, 
 are marked with red and white paint, and they dance and 
 leap iis if the devil was in them, for hours at a time, with 
 the sweat streaming off them. Meanwhile they are singing 
 ritual hymns which are proper to the several dance.s. 
 The names of the dances themselves are Turerewe, Ntam- 
 anevje, Awana ni wawiri. A witch doctress sprinkles the 
 company with some liquid : on the third day, when the 
 mother comes out of her hut, the ceremony of the spear, 
 as it is called, begins afresh. It is also renewed if, at a 
 subsequent time, the woman should have other children, not 
 twins. 
 
 Of the children, the first burn is always c<illed ivakuru, 
 wuiviritfce : the second is Ciilicd wutoi/i tinisinija, shakati. 
 
VIl] THK TWIN-rilLT IN KAST AFRICA 113 
 
 ChiUlrun born subsequently take the names: (i) cyiza or 
 shahuti, (ii) urisar/o, (iii) nyiimhere. 
 
 At the birth of twins two black sheep cire purchased, one 
 of which is devoted and lussigned to each of the twins. The 
 greatest care is taken of these sheep, they can run where 
 they like, and feed where they will. If one sheep dies it 
 must be replaced. These sheep are the external repre- 
 sentation of the spirits of the twins. 
 
 The (juestion may be asked, Why they conduct these 
 religious ceremonies over twins. The re;ison is that the 
 Warundi believe the mother has had the visit of an incubus. 
 The younger people think this is a joke, but the older people, 
 the initiated, the awafumu, keep up the belief They know 
 that these twin-children, half spirits as they are, do not 
 commonly live. Their spirit calls for them ; he is a jealous 
 spirit, and may even call for the father and mother, taking 
 their tribute in corpses ! 
 
 Now the account which we have here summarized is 
 of real value: it brings out clearly the fact of the intrusive 
 spirit ancestiy. A spirit is responsible for one, if not both, 
 of the children. The whole community is in danger, and 
 averting rites must be practised. That is why the com- 
 munity comes together for the dance and the ritual chant, 
 and why they bring presents. But what sort of a spirit 
 is the cause of the uncanny phenomenon / In order to Knd 
 this out, we must examine the songs that arc sung by the 
 painted dancers: v<in der Burgt comes to our aid with 
 translations of some of these songs : his translations are 
 tentative, but they are sufficiently exact to show clearly 
 what the people are about. The first of his songs is some- 
 thing to the following effect: 
 
 Hymn I. 
 (The Kottrdinn Bpirit) will aee his childrrn luiil will rrjoice: 
 The supposed father o( the Iwinn, where wiw he (at the 
 
 inunient of their lonceptiun) ' 
 >Ip wux f^nne to drnw wuler, to ^iither firewood, to cut grau; 
 The children uf the famil;, I see them. 
 (The ^'uardian spirit) will sec hia children and will rejoice. 
 
 This hymn shows clearly that the ,s;ivages have the belief 
 u. a t( 
 
114 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 in a second parent, who ciinu' when the reguhir jjarent was 
 away from home. This spirit parent is entreated to look 
 kindly upon the children. At the end of the hymn, it is 
 said in his name, that he does look favourably on them. 
 The second chant is equally instructive : 
 
 Hymn II. 
 
 I was not there, my children: I was gone to gather wood! 
 I was far away : the father of the twins enters. 
 
 To-morrow I shall thunder, twins, 
 I shall come down in a storm. 
 
 Here the first lines represent the father of the twins 
 explaining his absence, in the same way as was suggested 
 in the first hymn. The dancers answer their own questions 
 in his name : but towards the end of the hymn, the spirit- 
 father speaks, and discloses to us the fact that he is the 
 storm-spirit, or thunder-god. The twins are therefore the 
 Sons of Thunder. So much being clearly made out, it is 
 surely not an undue stretch of the imagination to suggest 
 that the red and white paint of the dancers is the symbol of 
 . the thunder and lightning. 
 
 From this dialect dictionary, with its careful notes and 
 observations, we have learnt a good deal about the meaning 
 of twin-births to primitive man. It is especially important 
 to note that here, among the Warundi, the spirit-father 
 is credited with both of the children : each of them is a 
 Dioscure : their parent is the thunder, and we may, if we 
 please, call them Boanerges. 
 
 Ciiptaiii The name of Merker, to which we referred some way 
 
 d t h^ back, brings up the Masai, and his careful account of their 
 
 Masai. matmers and customs. Without necessarily endorsing all 
 of iMerker's views as to the possible Semitic ancestry of the 
 Masai, it may be remarked that the criticisms made upon 
 Merker are, so far, entirely insufficient to shake his credibility 
 a-s to the matters of fact which he professes to record. 
 
 Twin boys Amongst the Masai, then, then- is the greatest joy over 
 
 welcomed, j^^^. ^■^J.^^^ ^,,- ^^^^^^ esj)ecially if they are boys. The twins 
 are decorated with a neck-ornament of leather to which 
 
Vn] THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 1 I ^i 
 
 cowry-shells iire attached. The mother does not bring up 
 both the chihlren, but has the iuaisUmce of another woman 
 belonging to the same knial. No special names are attached 
 to twins If there were any peculiar purifications, they 
 appear not to be practiseii any longer. Did such purifi- 
 cations ever exist ! the analogy of all the other tribes that 
 we have been discussing suggests an affirmative answer: 
 but if that is the right answer it is probable that a closer 
 examination would betray traces of the purifications or of 
 isolations of mother and children. We are certainly far 
 removed from the West African treatment of the matter. 
 
 This absence of purificatory rites would be muoh more 
 intelligible if we could be sure that Merker had miule out 
 his case for a Semitic ancestry of the Mai>ai, and for the Are the 
 derivation of them from an Asiatic home by migration s",n*[i5» 
 through Egypt. In that case they would have brought 
 their twin cult out of Asia, and probably from a higher 
 civilization than they now enjoy, from which higher civili- 
 zation the purificatory rites might well have disappeared. 
 
 It would be well if some consensus couhl be arrived at 
 on this question, either pro or con. For certainly the coin- 
 cidences which Merker points out between the Masai legends 
 and the stories in the Old Testament are too striking to be 
 accidental. Either they are n-al national traditions, or they 
 have learnt the stories from Christian missionaries. Up to 
 the present, there is no satisfactory proof of the latter, and 
 Professor Hommel has recently expressed his belief that 
 they are really the Semitic people which Merker atfirnied 
 them to be'. 
 
 It will help the understanding of the involved problem 
 if we tiike one single case, out of the many which occur in 
 the Masai traditions collected by Merker, for a closer ct)n- 
 sideration': the story duafs with a cAse of deceit, resulting 
 in the alienation of the rights of the first-born of two 
 brothers It tells how a man named Muturi married a 
 wiiniaii whose name was Nasingoi. Nasingoi conceived 
 
 ' See h'.rpoiiUtnj Timtt for June »nd July, 1910. 
 • Merker, Pit .Vatiii. p. 311. 
 
 8—2 
 
116 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 The Masai triplets, two of whom were born first, after the normal 
 Jacob manner of twins, while the third was delayed, and did not 
 story. reach the outer world till three months later. The first-born 
 was covered with hair and had a beard, for which reason 
 he was called 'L ol munjoi, the bearded one. The second 
 one was called 'L en jergog, because his mother wrapped 
 him up after birth in an untanned calf-skin. The third 
 child, when it appeared, was appropriately named Ndarassi, 
 the loiterer. The first child continued to develop his 
 hairy characteristics, the second remained nearly hairless, 
 with a very scanty beard : while the third had actually 
 no haii; at all. 
 
 The story certainly opens with striking coincidences 
 with the Esau and Jacob legends in the book of Genesis. 
 Now let us see what happens. One day the father Wiis very 
 sick, and the two elder brothers betook themselves to a 
 prayer-festival, which was being held in the neighbourhood, 
 in order to pray for the recovery of their father. Ndantssi, 
 however, the youngest son, remained at home in the kraal. 
 Meanwhile the father became worse, and realising that his 
 death was at hand, he called for his eldest son, 'L ol munjoi, 
 to bless him before he departed. Ndarassi heard the cry, 
 promptly stripped off a goatskin, and put the parts of it 
 on his breast, his shoulders, and his cheeks. He went into 
 the darkness of the hut, and deceived his father in the 
 Biblical manner. When the eldest son returned and went 
 into the hut in order to get the blessing of his dying father, 
 he found that he had been anticipated and that Ndarassi 
 had been made the heir. 
 
 The story here combines two biblical incidents, the fraud 
 of the birthright, and the fraud of the blessing: the blessing 
 is no distant Messianic theme, nor general promise of fertile 
 lands, etc., it is the actual inheritance. The elder brother 
 departed, angry enough at what had happened, and returned 
 later with warriors to t.ake his revenge on Ndarassi ; the 
 latter, however, met him fi'iendly, and by presents and fair 
 speeches diverted his eldest brother's anger. Here again we 
 have extraordinary coincidence with the Jacob and Esau 
 
VIl] THK TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 117 
 
 story: and it must be admitted that the Masai account 
 cannot be treated as independent of the book of (Jenesis. 
 We are often surprised at the appearance of the same folk- 
 lore traits in different parts of the world, but here the 
 agreements are too close and too significant to be set on one 
 side. It follows that either the Masai traditions are sub- 
 stantially the Biblical traditions ;is brought by them from 
 an Asiatic home, or they have been brought into the Masai 
 story book by Christian teachers in modern times. In the 
 former case, we have what is practically a new copy of 
 Genesis and part of Exodus opened to us (the Masai 
 traditions going down to the giving of the Law, with 
 Kilimanjaro for Sinai), in which case the variants in the 
 legends will often be significjint and important ; in the 
 alternative supposition, we have a tale of deceit, successfully 
 accomplished by natives upon an inquisitive German scholar, 
 to which we shall not easily find a parallel. In which 
 direction does the truth lie? It is not easy to decide: 
 Merkcr's book was promptly used by the late Professor Emil 
 Reich as a cudgel for the backs of the higher critics, who 
 were supposed to be annihilated by a new proof of the 
 antiquity of the Mosaic traditions, though it was difficult 
 to see how the Mosaic reconis were to be rendered credible 
 by proving them to be a part of Arabian folk-lore thous;\nds 
 of years before Christ'! 
 
 The questiitn was very fairly .stated by I'rof Cameron of Cameron 
 Aberdeen in the Expoxitory Times for February. March, and ""•'"'''«'• 
 April 1!)0(). The conclusion at which Prof Cameron arrive<^l 
 w;is a sympathetic suspense of judgement : 'It is obvious 
 that, if Captain Merker hius given us the real beliefs of the 
 Ma.sai,an interesting and im[X)rtant (jue.stion has been raised 
 for Biblical students. It would bo unreasonable to throw 
 the Captain's conclusions Jiside, as of no value; it woidd be 
 foolish to accept them as beyond dispute. What is wanted 
 
 ' Reich, Conl. Hrv. (Feb. 190.'i) : ' ThoUHandit u( years before Christ % 
 stock o( reliRious »nd other Icceuds had K^own up kmonK>t the people* of 
 Arabia legends abovit the Creation, the DeluKC, the DecaloKue, etc. in their 
 aboriginal form.' 
 
118 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [cH. 
 
 is further investigation, and it is sincerely to be hoped that 
 
 this may be undertaken without loss of time.' Probably 
 
 it was this challenge which called forth a letter in the 
 
 StegRall Expository Times fi>r June 1906, from Mr A. R. Steggall, a 
 
 on Merker. r)^issionary amongst the Masai, who declared roundly that 
 
 though he had often had peculiar opportunities for becoming 
 
 acquainted with the Masai legends, 'anything in the least 
 
 like what Captain Merker has got from them was never 
 
 so much as hinted at.' And he maintains that Mr A. C. 
 
 Mollis on Hollis, the author of a valuable work on The Masai, language 
 
 " ^^' and folk-lore, agreed with him, and told him that he had 
 
 been assured by a Masai boy in his employ that Captain 
 
 Merker's informant had been for some years coimected with 
 
 a Roman Catholic Mission in the neighbourhood, and that 
 
 numbers of Masai had been under instruction in the Church 
 
 Missionary Society's Station at Taveta. 
 
 In estimating the value of these objections, it should be 
 remembered that Merker himself says that it took years of 
 intercourse before the state of friendliness was attained in 
 which the legends were confided to him ; and that it is 
 therefore not surprising that Steggall and Hollis, in spite 
 of their peculiar opportunities, should not have found their 
 way as completely or as successfully into the Masai mind. 
 
 From this time forward, I do not think any further 
 progress was made with the matter in England, until in 
 June and July of 1910, the Expository Times reprinted with 
 Hommel expansions the preface which Dr Fritz Hommel had written 
 on Merker. j-^j. ^^^ second edition of his friend, Captain Merker's book 
 (Merker being himself now deceased). Hommel shows 
 conclusively that the linguistic affinities of the Masai lan- 
 guage are with the Gallo and Somali languages, and that 
 their scheme of verb conjugation is fundamentally Semitic ; 
 so that there is fresh reason for believing that the Masai 
 came from the North, and originally from Arabia. He 
 concludes his statement as follows : ' I close this article 
 with the sure expectation that now, when my deceased 
 friend's book has appeared in a second edition, the traditions 
 of the Masai will no longer meet with the scepticism to 
 
VIl] TlIK TWIN-Cl'I.T IN KAST AFRICA 1 1 '.» 
 
 which they were exposed when they were Hrst divulgcil, 
 but that they will be duly appreciated in their incalculable 
 importance for the history of religion, .is they deserve to be. 
 And I repeat once more that a Christian or Jewish intiuence 
 of a former time (at all events through Christian Nuba 
 from the thii-d century A.D., or through the Jewish Falaahas 
 on the borders of Abyssinia) or from the older northern 
 abodes of the Masai, is out of the question because then 
 — a fact which Merker had emphasized — one would neces- 
 sarily have expected connections not only with the history 
 of the Bibliwil ancestors and patriarchs down to the giving 
 •of the I>aw, but also with the later parts of Biblical history 
 (and especially some sort of allusion to the GosjmjIs, in the 
 event of Christian missionaries coming into consideration).' 
 
 I do not know that I can make a serious contribution 
 of my own to the solution of the problem at the present 
 time. It still seems to recjuire scientific treatment and 
 further investigation. If we quote the Ma.sai legends in 
 our argument, we must do so with .some re,«idual suspense 
 of judgement as to the value and validity of what we 
 quote. 
 
 In the course of Professor Hommel's argument, to which 
 we have drawn attention, he shows that the Nandi tribes 
 must be closely connected with the Masai, for linguistic an<l 
 other reasons. Let us now see what the Nandi think on ihe 
 the subject of twins. These tribes live on the east side of" *" '■ 
 Lake Nyanza, not far from Kavirondo Bay : the Kavirondo 
 tribes are partly Nilotic and jmrtly Bantu ; to the east of 
 these lie the Nandi, and the Lumbwa tribes. It will be 
 convenient to Uikc the.se together, and our guiiie will be 
 Hobley in his work on Edstern Ugandii. He tells us with 
 regard to the Biintu Kavirondo' that ' twins are considered 
 very lucky, and amongst the Ama-wanga the birth of twins 
 is celebrated by what appears to us to be a somewhat "^ 
 obscene dance. The mother of twins has to remain seven 
 days in her house before she may ap|>car across the 
 threshold.' 
 
 ' KiifiUnt I'litiiulii, p. 17. 
 
rondo. 
 
 120 THK TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 Here we have the isolation of the mother in a much 
 reduced form : but it is there, and implies that some evil 
 has to be averted. 
 
 TheKavi- Of the Nilotic Kavirondo, we are told' that 'twins are 
 considered lucky, but the infants and their parents have to 
 stay in seclu.sion in their hut for a whole month. Women 
 neighbours may enter the hut, but men may not. The twin 
 born first is called Apio (the one who comes quickly). The 
 twin born second is called Adongo (the one who is delayed)". 
 The birth of twins is signalised by dances which extend over 
 a whole month : they are apparently of a somewhat obscene 
 character.' Sir H. H. Johnston .says nearly the same in his ■ 
 book on the Uganda Protectorate^: ' The (Kavirondo) women 
 are prolific, and the birth of twins is not an uncommon 
 occurrence. This is considered an extremely lucky event, 
 and is celebrated by an obscene dance, which is, however, 
 only lewd in its stereotyped gestures, and does not, so far as 
 I know, result in actual immorality. The mother of twins 
 must remain in her house for seven days without crossing 
 
 The the threshold.' These are Bantus ; of the Ja-Luo, whom 
 
 Johnston classifies as Nilotic negroes, we are told that 
 ' twins are considered lucky, though their arrival is attended 
 by a good many ceremonies, and by propitiatory dances, 
 which are of an obscene nature.' 
 
 It is not difficult to detect the primal fear at the back 
 of these rejoicings. 
 
 ThcNandi For the Nandi and Lumbwa tribes* Hobley says that 
 ' if a woman bears twins, the twins are not killed as in some 
 tribes, but the woman has to go and live apart for some 
 months, and she is not allowed to go near the cattle boma, 
 but one cow is put aside for her, and she drinks its milk ; 
 If she goes near the cattle they are said to die.' Here also 
 the excess of joy at the birth of twins is tempered by the 
 
 ' I.e. p. 28. 
 
 ' We may conipaie the Ma.iiii title the loiterer as above, for the third 
 ill a group of triplets. 
 
 ' Vganda Vrotectoratr, ii. p. 748. 
 ' EuHtern Unimila, pp. .■i!)sq(i. 
 
 Ja-Luo. 
 
 and 
 Lumbwa 
 
VIl] THE TWIN-CULT IN KA.ST AFRICA \'2\ 
 
 sense of danger which they cause, and the consequent 
 necessity of isolation. 
 
 There are very nearly the same statements in Johnston, 
 Ht stipra, II. 878. According to Mollis, the Nandi have a Twin 
 sky-god (the sun ?) and a pair of thunder-gwls, one kindly ^.Jj"'." 
 and the other malevolent. The sky-god is calle<l Asistu, 
 the superhuman thunder-gods Ilet ue mie (the good one) 
 and Ilet ne ya (the evil one)'. The collocation is extremely 
 suggestive. It is suggested that the two thunder-gods of 
 the Nandi should be compared with the two lightning gods 
 among the Ewe-tribes of West Africa. 
 
 HoUis makes the taboo of the twin-mother to be life-long. 
 According to him, ' the birth of twins is looked upon ixs an 
 inau.spicious event, and the mother is considered unclean for 
 the rest of her life.... She may enter nobody's house until she 
 has sprinkled a calabash of water on the ground, and she 
 may never cross the threshold of a cattle-krajil again. One 
 of the twins is always called SwrnUiw... whilst the other 
 receives an animal's name such as L'hep-tiuny, Chep-sepet, 
 Che-maket, Che-makxit etc.'' Simatua is explained to be the 
 name of a species of tig-tree. 
 
 Not far from the Victoria Nyanza lake on the north, we 
 come to the Basoga-Batamba tribe, in the Uganda Pro- The 
 tectorate, of whom M. A. Condon writes in AnUirojws for g'||||^[J^^_^ 
 March — April 1911 '. From him we learn that twins in this 
 district are not killed, but welcomed, and especial names 
 are assigned to them: e.g. when the twins are 
 
 boy and v\t\, Naiswa and Babilye, Special 
 
 two boys, Waisiva and hutu, 
 
 two girls, Uja and liabilye. 
 
 (Babilye = second). 
 
 Concerning twins generally* it is sjiid that their birth 
 is considered a great blessing. CerUinly it i.s a very nin- 
 occurrence, and triplets is an occurrence never heanl of 
 After the birth of twins, no one is allowed to look at them. 
 
 • See Hollia. Tht \,i.i./i, tUnr Utnyuxiir ,i»d fMklorr , p. 41 
 
 » Mollis. I.e. p. BH. 
 
 » p. 395. * Ic. P 376. 
 
122 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Twin 
 feast. 
 
 Twin 
 dances. 
 
 Preserva- 
 tion of 
 birth- 
 tokens. 
 
 The 
 Bakenii. 
 
 not even the father, although ' I h.ave seen occasions,' says 
 Condon, ' when the happy man would like to break through 
 this rigorous rule. The good tidings are soon spread, the 
 relations are informed of this joyous event Ten days after 
 birth the children are given names.... For the tnbncja or feivst, 
 if the father be a rich man, two bulls are slaughtered, one 
 for each child. If a poor man, two goats are sufficient. Of 
 course, the everlasting malwa or beer, is in great demand, 
 and each one imbibes freely, so that by midnight there 
 will not be a sober one among the company. This is the 
 occasion for much immorality. Paid dancers are brought in. 
 These are men and women who very often are quite nudi', 
 and perform dances mostly of an immoral nature. The 
 whole time the singing is in praise of the happy couple, 
 wishing them and their offspring long life.' 
 
 So far no special function is predicated of the twins, but 
 we shall find presently conclusive evidence that they stand for 
 the forces that make for fertility. There is, however, amongst 
 the tribes in question, a peculiar regard paid to the umbilical 
 cord and the placenta. Condon notes that in the case of 
 twins the former is always kept, and generally is worn by 
 the father about his person. 
 
 There is also a curious custom, according to which every 
 one of the relations presents a cowry-shell to the twin 
 mother. These she makes into two strings, and takes them 
 always with her, in the event of one or other of the twins 
 dying. She calls them bana hange, my children. ' It is 
 most amusing (says Condon), to see the mother of twins 
 cleaning and scrubbing the cowry-shells as if they were 
 her own flesh and blood.' 
 
 I supfwse that it is of tribes occupying adjoining territory 
 to the foregoing (the Bakena) that Roscoe speaks in a recent 
 Anthropological journal'; here, 'twins are thought to bt> 
 gifts of the gods, and the happy father announces their 
 birth by beating a drum. The sound is taken up and 
 repeated by his neighbours, so the good news goes rumbling 
 
 ■ Man. IX. (1909), pp. 118 sqq. quoted by Frazer, Tdteiiiism uikI 
 Exogamy. 
 
VIl] THE TWIN-CULT IN KAST AFRICA 123 
 
 down the waterways for a long distance. The father's 
 sister's son, h.istens to the house, closes the front door, and 
 makes a temporary opening at the back of the hut. He 
 takes the leiuling part in the dancing ceremonies which 
 follow. The after-birth of the twins is put into two new 
 cooking pots and dried ; then it is taken ashore and left in 
 the grass in one of the gardens.' The taboo on the mother 
 and twins by closing the house and making an opening at 
 the back has been already noticed in West Afriai in various 
 forms. 
 
 We now come to the Baganda, or people of Uganda, The 
 
 ..■,,.. -It -L-r l' Bat^aiuliV. 
 
 for whom we are splendidly tiimisheil with inlormation 
 by Mr Roscoe, whom we have just been quoting'. The 
 birth of twins is followed by a propitiatory and thanks- 
 giving ceremony to Mukasa, the god of plenty. From which 
 we see that twins have now fertility for their chief mark, 
 and will be useful iiccordingly, both to men and plants. 
 
 ' No announcement is made (amongst the Baganda) of 
 the birth of twins, nor is the word twins mentioned until 
 the rejoicings are over. Should any refer to their birth, it 
 is believed the children will die'.' 
 
 ' The father is called Salongo, the mother Nalongo, and 
 the children Balonero. If the birth takes place during the Cere- 
 
 " ... monies aV 
 
 day, both the mother and children must remain outside ^^^„. 
 until the father goes to the maiidwa (priest) whom he •>'"*'• 
 consulted when his wife conceived. He takes with him 
 nine cowrie shells and one seed of the wild banana; these 
 are the tokens which inform the mandwa (priest) that twins 
 are born. The Mandwa consult-s the oracles and tells the 
 father the result; he instructs him how to act, to take the 
 children into the house, and call a friend to come and act 
 as Afutdka.' 
 
 The Mutaka is now nwuster of the ceremonies; he clo.ses 
 the front door, anil makes openings at thi- back of the hou.se, 
 as described above for the Nandi. 
 
 ' Journal of Anihmpoln.jictl lu.titiiU {.I. A. I), vols. XXXI., xixil. (lUOl. 
 1902). 
 
 • ./..(./. ixxii. p. :j:i. 
 
communi 
 cated 
 
 124 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [CH. 
 
 'Salongo next takes an offering to Muanga, the chief 
 priest of MiikiiSii, as a thank offering for the great favour 
 shown him in giving him twins.' 
 
 ' The Miitaka waits until the evening, when he is given 
 the placenta of each child, which he takes to some unculti- 
 vated spot near, and puts them into a couple of earthen 
 pots and leaves them there.... The placenta of a prince is 
 always preserved, it is called the iiiulongoK' There follows 
 Fertility a description of the dancing and feasting which take place 
 a month later, when the flower of the banana is medicined 
 by contact with the body of the fertile and fertilizing twin- 
 mother. It is evident that in Uganda, as amongst the 
 ancient Peruvians, woman is supposed to be the agricultural 
 side of the house, a barren woman a curse to the field and 
 garden, a fertile woman, such as a twin-mother, the very 
 opposite. This is the main reason why twins are such a 
 blessing to the whole community. 
 
 Salongo then remains at home till the next war expedi- 
 tion, after which there is another feast, ending up with the 
 making of an effigy of each child, which is called the Mulongo. 
 Body of • ' When twins die, they are not buried at once, but their 
 drfeV" " botlies are placed by the fire and dried; the mother has to 
 before sleep with them near the fire each night, as though they 
 were alive. Should Salongo (the father) be absent they 
 await his return for the funeral. The Mutaka buries them, 
 and Nalongo puts the stones from the fireplace on the graves. 
 Each child, according to custom, must have a separate 
 grave.' 
 
 It will be seen clearly from the foregoing that for the 
 Baganda the leading feature in a twin birth is Fertility, 
 and that this is supposed to react upon the whole com- 
 The munity, and upon their fields and gardens. In the Journal 
 
 Hiiliinia. py ^/,g Anthropological Institute for January — June 1907, 
 Roscoe describes another tribe in the Uganda Protectorate, 
 called the Bahima". Amongst this people one clan has for 
 
 ' Apparently this means 'twin' and the placenta is iniagine<i to be the 
 prince's double. 
 
 2 J. A. I. XXXVII. p. 100. 
 
VIl] TUK TWIN-CULT IN KAST AFRICA 125 
 
 totem AbaloiHjo. i.e. twins. ' When a woman gives birth to 
 twins the natives desert the kraal, place the mother ami twins 
 with her parents, and build a new kraal ; when the twins have 
 cut their first teeth the husband restores his wife to her 
 home.' Evidently up to that time the mother and twins are 
 tiibooed, but only slightly. 
 
 Amongst the Bahima generally, there are no elaborate 
 ceremonies over twins. They prefer, however, that twins Twin* of 
 should be of one se.x ; to have them of opposite sexes is 'Je^' 
 unlucky. 'They are afraid to speak about them in a dis- ""'"'^''y- 
 paraging way lest a ghost should overhear them and be 
 angry and cause illness in the clan.' Very likely that ghost 
 has something to do with the parentage of the twins. 
 
 We have also some information from the same province 
 in the travels of Kmin P;usha (i.e. E. Schnitzer.) ; whose 
 letters and despatches were published in 1H8H by Schwcin- 
 fiirth and R;itzfl'. 
 
 Of the Magungo who live near the Albert Nyanza we The 
 learn that if twins are born of the same sex, the whole " *«""8°- 
 village rejoices over the event. They have special words 
 for the first and last born of the twins. 
 
 Here again we have hostility implied to twins of opposite 
 sexes : the reason will be given by tribes in Australia and Twins of 
 elsewhere : it is due to a fear that the rules about clan 'J^^g*',}*, 
 marriage have been ante-natally violated. \iVeA. 
 
 Of the Wanyoro, or people of Unyoro, we are told' again The 
 that a birth feet first portends misfortune to the family. '^'}°''°- 
 This is the reason for the Roman cult of Venus Verticordia, 
 to which we have already referred. Amongst the Wanyoro, 
 the birth of twins causes great joy and rich presents are 
 brought to the mother from all quarters : the first-born, 
 whether boy or maid, is called Singoma. the other is namwi Namcn of 
 Kato. The pUicenta of eiu;h twin is placed in an earthen """*" 
 i)ot. and for four days sUinds in a miniature hut encU-d 
 inside the house, after which it is carried m procession 
 
 ' Emin Pii-sha : Kint Sammlumj inn Rritflirir/rn uiid llerichtrn l>r Kmin 
 Patha't: von Schwcindirth und K«tzcl (LriptiK. IHSH). 
 > I.e. pp. 81, H2. 
 
126 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Care of 
 placenta. 
 
 Twins in 
 Monbuttu 
 lanil. 
 
 Special 
 names. 
 
 The 
 
 Lattuka. 
 
 Twins 
 
 unlucky 
 to the 
 luinter. 
 
 Bari 
 tribes. 
 
 to a great hut erected in the high grass, and there it 
 is left. 
 
 If the twins die, they and their placentae are put in 
 an earthen pot in the mother's hut. Again a miniature 
 hut is erected, over which the father watches to keep the 
 hyenas away. A long period of mourning follows, and at 
 the end of it, the hut in which the birth occurred is burnt. 
 
 In Monbuttuland, which is somewhat to the west of the 
 tribes just described', twins are regarded as peculiarly lucky, 
 and are the occasion of a great festival to which all the 
 people of the neighbourhood bring presents. The after- 
 birth is carried in procession in a pot and buried, and every 
 one is obliged on the way to pluck two leaves, to spit on 
 them and throw them right and left. Twins here have 
 special names ; 
 
 Boys : Aburi and Nabesse : 
 Girls: Abiida and Tindade. 
 A little lower down the Nile, between Gondokoro and 
 Agaru, there is a people called Lattuka^ Here we find 
 traces of the gloomier view of twin-births ; it is held that 
 a twin-birth brings ill luck to the father: if he goes buffalo- 
 hunting, he will certainly be killed by the buffalo: if he 
 wounds an antelope, it will escape the man. A person so 
 threatened will not venture to hunt': he will stay in the 
 village until .some other woman bears twins and diverts the 
 ill luck, or until his wife brings another child into the world, 
 and so breaks the spell. Twins have no special names, and 
 are brought up with the other children, without prejudice 
 against them. In fact, the ill luck in this case appears to 
 be concentrated on the father. 
 
 Somewhat lower down the Nile* amongst the Bari and 
 Fadjelin tribes, the names given to male twins are Keniy 
 and Mundia'. 
 
 ' I.e. p. 20H. J 1 c. p. TAf,. 
 
 ' The adverse influence of twins on the hunt should be noted : elsewhere 
 the favourable view of twins expresses itself in the belief that they arc great 
 aids to the hunter. 
 
 « I.e. p. 361. 
 
 ' This was noted by the tnivellci-s because a couple of hills were named 
 
Vll] TUK TWIN-rUI/r IN KAST AFRICA 1 -'7 
 
 Tht; Bari tribes, to whom reference has just been made, 
 occupy a vast extent of country to the west of Galla Land, 
 say about Lat. 5 N., and Long. .'H E. Of these people Twin^ 
 Casati reports' that 'twins are considered unlucky, and '" *' 
 when a birth of this kind takes place, the mother is sent 
 back to her father, who is bound to return part of the down,- 
 paid. There appears to be no thought of killing the twins; 
 they are unlucky; ill-starred; evil-omened. 
 
 We have now accumulated a nuiss of evidence from 
 tribes existing in Africa at the present time, or in quite Sinninnry 
 recent days, with regard to the almost universal diffusion evidence" 
 of the twin-tiiboo, and the various interpretations and 
 developments that it undergoes. Almost all these pecu- 
 liarities will turn up in other parts of the world, and some 
 will be especially significant, on account of the place which 
 they hold in CJreek and Roman Mythology. The twin- 
 beliefs do not identify the twins with Sky or Thunder so 
 much as might have been expected : this is partly due to 
 the fact that the travellers who make reports of savage 
 customs do not always know what to look for; the most 
 decided case is that of the Baronga, where the African 
 civilization can be seen to have touched an early Greek 
 level. Next in importance we may place the Warundi, who 
 identify the parent of twins with the Stonii-g<xl. The 
 idi'ntification of a second parent is clearly made in a number 
 of cases, but whether this second jwrent is a spirit or an 
 animal is not very clear; sometimes it appears to be one, 
 and sometimes the other. There are cases in which the 
 inHuence causing the dual birth is the totem of the mother, 
 so that it is conceivable that the thunder may itself have 
 come on the scene as a totem. Binl-parentage is occiisionally 
 suggested, but in West Africa, tnonkeys seem more prominent 
 in the cult than binls. If the thunder had been a common 
 
 tniiii, the names being those given above. It ii intereitting tu compnip 
 H iiKxIem instance like the twin hills just outside Uenoa, or in ancient tiuirs 
 thr twin peaks u( Delphi (i.e. i( Delphi is realljr an ahbreviatiun or an earlier 
 (orm ul Adolphi). 
 
 ' Casati, Teti ynirt in >.'</iin((>ri<i/ .|/n><i. i. p. :M)3. 
 
128 THE TWIN-CULT IN EAST AFRICA [cH. VII 
 
 totem, or a common second parent, we should have ex- 
 pected to find more use of the colour red in connection 
 with the twins : as a matter of fact, white in the form of 
 chalk-smearing is more common, and in one instance we 
 are expressly told that ' white things be twin things.' On 
 this question of the interpretation of the white-painting 
 some further investigation appears to be necessary. It may 
 be an alternative colour for lightning. Cases of red and 
 white painting are suggestive'. 
 
 We have now made a rapid tour of the savage races 
 in Africa : nothing has been said about the tribes and 
 peoples on the Mediterranean sea-board, nor have we dis- 
 cussed the Egyptians : in the case of the latter, we are not 
 confined to modern history ; we have the oldest records in 
 the world to draw upon, when we enquire whether twins 
 were hated or adored by the ancient Egyptians. The matter 
 had better be detached from the African tribes. 
 
 We will now go on to discuss the situation in 
 Madagascar. 
 
 ' For a striking case of red and white painting to represent thunder and 
 lightning in Central Australia, see Additional Notes at the end of the volume. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN M ADAOASl'AR 
 
 Madauascar gops geographically with Africa, but it^s 
 ethnographical relations are by no means exclusively African. 
 There are Malay elements in the origins of the Malagiusy 
 tribes. As, however, geographical contiguity is the first 
 factor in our arrangement of the theme, let us see what can 
 be said of twins in Madagiiscar, without asking how far 
 Malagasy customs can be paralleled in the Malay Peninsula. 
 Allusion was made to the subject in Cult, pp. 22, 23, where Twin- 
 evidence was brought forward as to the former prevalence M^iia^." 
 of twin-murder in M.idagiiscar from members of the Friends' '^'"■• 
 Mission in that country. Mr Suinding had, in fact, {)ointed 
 out in his book Children of Madagascar (p. 31), that ' twins 
 were also considered unlucky, and one would often be sent 
 away to be brought up by some one else or even put to death 
 as soon as born.' In Madagascar the word for TabtH> is 
 Fady, and Mr Standing has published an extended enume- 
 ration of existing forms of Faily in Madagascar'. This list, 
 however, seems to refer to existing superstitions as to what 
 is lucky and unlucky, and its references to twins are few. 
 I notice, however, one or two cjises : No. 2U9 = No. 2r)2. If 
 a pregnant woman eats anything double, she will bear Iwin.s. 
 
 This is only a Ciise of sympathetic magic ; it may l>e 
 paralleled elsewhere, in Denmark, for example, where to eat 
 a ilouble nut, or to look on a woman wearing two aprons, is 
 sup|xjsed to have the same efTect of twin-birth. It is 
 obvious that such mdd taboos »is these have little to do 
 with the great Fear that we have been discu.tsing: they 
 
 ■ H. P. SUndiDg, 'LcH Fuly MftlKachru.' Eitrmil du lUiltftin ilr 
 VAeadhhit Malgache, Tananarive (1883). 
 
 II. B. 9 
 
130 THE TWIN-CULT IN MADAGASCAR [cH. 
 
 belong to a much more advanced stage of civilization. 
 In the same collection (No. 613) will be found a warning 
 against planning a house with a retour d'aile in the month 
 of Alakurabo. The sequence will be twins; but I confess 
 I do not see the reason for this. Mr Standing has also 
 written on the same subject, in a Madagascar Journal', from 
 which it appears that in the province of Imerina it was 
 fadi/ to keep alive both of a pair of twins together. 
 Apparently each parent disposed of one of the pair. If the 
 twins appeared in the royal family, they and their mother 
 lost their noble rank. 
 
 M. Gennep, who hiis written a treatise on Taboo and 
 Totemism in Madagascar-, observes that amongst the people 
 referred to by Standing (the Antimerina) it is probable that 
 twins were originally put to death. On the other hand, in 
 the south of the island, amongst the Tanala, twins were 
 regarded as a gift of the supreme god, Zanahary-L 
 
 M. Gennep notes further the gradual modification of the 
 original twin murder, and the alleviation of the taboo also 
 in the cases of children bom on an unlucky day, week, or 
 month. In the S.E. of the island, amongst the Antamba- 
 hoaka, when a woman gives birth to twins, she and her 
 assistants withdraw at once, and give place to the witch 
 doctor, who promptly strangles the children ; after which 
 the family reassembles and mourns over them. Or they 
 throw them into the swamp on the pretence that they 
 cannot live, or that they would be dangerous to their 
 parents if they were brought up, and might actually threaten 
 their lives. A woman who refused to follow the custom of 
 the tribe was said to have seen one of her children lose its 
 life, and the other its reason*. 
 
 1 Atit. Ann. No. VII. 1883, p. 79. 
 
 ^ Gennep, 'Tivbou et tot^misme en Madagiisciir,' quoted in Revue det 
 traditions pcrpulaires, .Ian. 1907, pp. 45-7. 
 
 ' Durand, 'Etude sur les Tanalas d'AnibohimanKa du Sud,' Note», 
 liecunn. Krpl. 1H98, t. II. p. 1275. 
 
 ' G. Ferrrvnd, ' Notes sur la ri'gion comprise entre les rivieres Mananjara 
 et lavibola,' Extrait du Bull. Soc. Ueogr. Paris, 1896, p. 14. Les Slusulmans 
 h Madagascar, fasc. ii. Paris, 1893, pp. 'il, 2'2. 
 
fU. IX] THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMKRICA 1.'13 
 
 twins occur. They say they are not dogs to bring forth 
 children in that way. To avoid, then, the reviling of others. One child 
 when such a birth occurs, they bury one of the children. ' 
 In the same Spartan way they deal with defective children, 
 and with children born feet first, twisting their necks as soon 
 as born. 
 
 The foregoing statement is confirmed by Gumilla', who 
 reports that if a child is born with any defect or monstrosity, 
 or with a hare-lip, it must die on the spot ; and in the same 
 way in the case of twins, one of them is immediately buried 
 by its own mother. He also reports a special case in honour 
 of the Virgin Mary, when one of the Mission-Fathers heard 
 that an Indian woman had buried a daughter four hours 
 previously; the Padre implored the protection of the Virgin, 
 hiistened to the spot, disinterred the child, which was still 
 alive, and baptised it by the name of Mary of the Miracle ; 
 the said child grew up in the Mission of S. Miguele, and 
 was eleven years old when Gumilla wrote. He does not 
 say whether the child was a twin ; nor does he seem to have 
 any other explanation except cruelty for the murder of such 
 children. 
 
 We have similar statements concerning the barbarities Ouyaua 
 of the Guyana Indians from the pen of the great traveller ° '*"'' 
 Humboldt'. 'Among the barbarous peoples of Guyana, as 
 among the half-civilized inhabitants of the South Sea, many 
 young women do not wish to become mothers. If they have 
 jhildren, these are not only exj>osed to the dangers of siivage 
 life, but to still other dangers, arising from popular pre- 
 judices of the most fantastic kind. If the children hapjx>n 
 to be twin-brothers, the false ideas of propriety and of family 
 honour require that one of them should perish; to bring On.' child 
 twins into the world is to expose oneself to public ridicule, '""™- 
 it is to be like the rats, like the ojx)98ums, like the vilest 
 animals, which bring forth many young at once. But there 
 
 ' lliiloria mitural. iivil y <ifiti)ratita dt lot tiaciont* tituai: in tat 
 riberat dtl rio Orinoco. \o\. ii. p. S3. My reference* are lo k popular 
 eilition, puhli<ihe<l at Barcclunn in IHH'2. 
 
 ' A. dc Humb«lilt, roynxr nus Rfgiimt EijuinotuiUt, ii. 305. 
 
134 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMERICA [CH. 
 
 is more in it than this ; twin children boni at the same 
 lying-in cannot belong to the same father. We have here 
 an axiom of the Selwas Indians'; and in all zones, in the 
 most diverse states of society, when the people get hold of 
 an axiom, they hold it more tenaciously than wise men who 
 have first ventured to state it. In such ca-ses, to avoid 
 domestic disturbance, the elderly relatives of the mother, 
 or the midwives, undertake the disappearance of one of the 
 twins. Even if the new-born child is not a twin, yet if 
 it has some physical defect, the father promptly kills it. 
 They will have none but strong and well-made children, for 
 Spirit- or the deformities indicate the influence of the bad spirit lolo- 
 mternitv fjuiamo, or of the bird Tikititi, the enemy of the human race.' 
 So here again we see the contending explanations of the 
 twin phenomenon : the blame on the woman : the possible 
 spirit paternity, or bird-paternity, of disapproved children. 
 It will be seen that we are not very far from the ideas of 
 the Greeks. 
 
 This same idea axme out in the case which I reported 
 
 in Cult- from British Guiana, which gave me the clue to the 
 
 explanation of the dual paternity of twins. A few sentences 
 
 Esscquibo may be recalled from Commissioner McTurk's report on the 
 
 Indians, recrudescence of superstition among the Essequibo Indians : 
 
 'An Indian woman gave birth to twins: at the time, there 
 
 was considerable sickness in the neighbourhood, and a pui 
 
 man (sorcerer, witch-doctor) was called in. He declared the 
 
 cause of the sickness to be one of the twins, who was the 
 
 Spirit- child of a Kenaima, as a woman could not naturally produce 
 
 paternity. ^^^ children at a birth. The particular child was sick and 
 
 fretful, and one night on the cry of an owl or other night 
 
 bird, the child woke and commenced to cry. The pui man, 
 
 who wa-s present, declared the cry of the bird to be the 
 
 ' These Indians live between the Orinoco and Amazon rivers. So great 
 is her aversion from the thought of being a twin-mother and having to face 
 at once the scorn of the other women who compare her with a mouse, and 
 the jealousy of her husband, who suspects infidelity, that a woman will 
 hurriedly bury her first child when she sees that a second is to be expected. 
 See Le Vaillant, Vuyages u Guyane el Cayenne. 
 
 ' Cull of the Ihuveiily Tuin», pp. 5-7. 
 
IX j THK TWIN-CULT IN SOUTU AMERICA 135 
 
 Kenaima father of the child calling t<> it, and the child's 
 
 crying its answer. The next day at his instigation a large One child 
 
 hole was dug in the ground and a fire wsis built in it, when 
 
 it was well ablaze the infant was thrown into it and burnt 
 
 to death.' Later on, the mother shared the sjinie fate, and and its 
 -, , . ^•.- t_ mother, 
 
 this accentuation of the recrudesccnt superstition shows 
 
 clearly that the original custom was to kill the mother and 
 
 both children ; for there is no possible solution of the problem 
 
 that perplexes the savage by killing the mother and one 
 
 child. If the mother goes in the original custom, one may 
 
 be certain that both children went. That the mother was 
 
 killed in this p<irticular story is due to a reaction in the 
 
 cult, which has irregularly returned upon itself. 
 
 The importance of this incident from British Guiana The 
 
 1 /• 1 11- 1 i. r Ktnaiina 
 
 lies in the exposure it makes of the underlying strata ot parent. 
 belief. We see the spirit solution, one child the child of 
 a Kenaima, an animistic conception which lends itself to 
 totemistic ideas, but which in British Guiana appears com- 
 monly as the external .soul of a man or other animal. Then 
 we have the suggested bird parintiige, but without any 
 recognition iis yet that the bin! in question is the thunder; 
 and further we have the belief in the reaction of the twin- 
 birth upon the rest of the community. The ideas run 
 parallel at several points to the observations of v. Humboldt 
 on the causes of defective or irregular children. 
 
 As we are now in British Guiana, it may be noted that lint.sh 
 
 ..,,,. r 1 , ■ (iumna: 
 
 Schomburgk in his Travels in liriti.sh (miattti tound twin- ^^^„. 
 
 births rare, and twin-munlers amongst the Macusis and the J^J^'^J''^^.^ 
 Waikas non-existent. He was, however, quite aware of the „,ur.lera 
 common custom elsewhere of .sacrificing one child, and ap- ""■'• 
 parently so were the natives of whom he speaks, since they 
 give the conventional explanations, that the twin-mothir 
 has been unfaithful to her husband, and that the other 
 women would compare her multiple birth with those of the 
 lower animals. Schomburgk attributes the ab-sence of the 
 twin-murder to the geii.ral mildness of the chanvctor of 
 the Macusis. 
 
 When he sp)ke to the women of these tribes about the 
 
136 THE TWIN -CULT IN SOUTH AMERICA [cH. 
 
 fertility of the Paranaghieris, who not uncommonly have 
 twins, and sometimes bear three children at once, they 
 poured scorn upon such women, and maintained that they 
 themselves were not such dogs as to have a heap of children 
 at once'. Evidently Schomburgk is here giving the ex- 
 ception which proves the rule. The explanations given of 
 twin-births are the same among those who kill one child and 
 those who do not kill. 
 Twins in Now let US come to the ancient American populations 
 
 of Peru, where we shall find some evidence of the first 
 importance. 
 
 The situation is rapidly summed up for us by Miiiler 
 
 in his work on the Original Religions of America'. The 
 
 Peruvians used to honour the lightning under the name of 
 
 Libiac, and offer to it the choicest sheaves of maize. Twins, 
 
 Twins are whether of men or llamas, were regarded as the Children of 
 
 of Lich"- '^* Lightning. On the birth of such, a fast was necessary, 
 
 ning. and a sacrifice to the god Acuchuccacpuc. If the twins died 
 
 young, their bodies were preserved in large jars. A woman 
 
 who had borne twins, must confess and undergo penance. 
 
 It is evident from this sunmiary, that although twin.s 
 were not killed, they were detested and their mother dis- 
 Expiatory graced. Expiatory rites were required : but the most in- 
 " *^' teresting feature of all is the parentage of the lightning. 
 
 Here we have reached the same point as the early Greek 
 and Palestinian civilization ; we detected the emergence of 
 this belief in certain African tribes. 
 
 We shall do well, in view of the importance which this 
 statement acquires from its biblical and classical parallels, 
 to examine into some of the authorities \ipin whom Miiiler 
 relies, and to supplement them where possible. 
 
 One of the most valuable books for our purpose is 
 Arriaga's Extirpation of Idolatry in Peru, published at 
 Lima in 1621, a book as intere.sting to the ethnologist as 
 it is rare'. 
 
 ' Schomburgk, Reisen in lirititch Gviana, Leipzig, 1848. 
 
 '■' Mullcr, Amerikanifclie I'rreliniotieti, p. 370. 
 
 ' Arriagii, E.vtirpacion de la Idolalrid del Piru, Lima, 1621. 
 
IX] THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTU AMKKICA 137 
 
 We liave already alluded to the I'eruvian beliefs iis 
 described by Arriaga, in reference to the cult of the thunder: 
 but now we must examine them more closely : and as the 
 book in the original is hard to come at', we will transcribe 
 some of the leading passages (p. 32): 
 
 Quando nacen <los de un parto, que como dixiinos Numfs of 
 arriva llaman Chuchos o Curi, y en el Cuzco T;w)ui Huahua, i,»,ns. ' 
 io tienan por cosa sacrilega y abominabile, y aunque dizen, 
 qui el uno es hijo del Rjiyo, hazen grande penitcncia, como 
 si uviessen hecho un gran pccado. Le ordinario es ayunar 
 niuchos dias assi el Pailre como la Madre, como le retirid el 
 dotor Francisco de Avila, no comiendo sal, ni agi, ni juntan- 
 dosse en este tiempo, que en alguitas piirtes suelen sei por 
 seys meses, y otras assi el Padre como la Madre se hechan 
 de un lado cada uno de porsi, y estan cinco dijis sin menearse 
 de aquel lado, el un pie encogido, y debaxo de la corba ponen 
 un pallar, o hava, hasta que con el sudor comien(;a k brotar, 
 y otros cinco dias se buelven del otro lado de la misma 
 mancra ; y este tempo ayunan al modo dicho. Acabada 
 esta penitencia los parientes ca<;an un venado, y desollandole, 
 hazen uno como palio del pellejo, y debaxo del pasean a los 
 penitentes, con uniis sogill.vs al cuello, las quales traen des- 
 pues por muchos dias. 
 
 Este mes de Julio passado, en la doctrina de Mangas del 
 Corregiemento tie Cojatambo, avia parida una India dos de 
 un parto, y la penitencia ((ue hizo sue estar diez dias de 
 rodilla-s, y con les manos tambien, en el suelo como quien 
 esta en ({uattro pies, sin mudar postuni en t*)do esse tiempu 
 para cosa ninguna, y esUiva tan Haca, y desfigurada de esta 
 penitencia, que hallandole en ella, no se atrevii) el Cura a 
 cjistigalla, ponjue no peligraase, y a este modo tendnm on 
 otras partes, otnis diversjis supersticiones en este ciwo. 
 
 From the foregoing it appears that when twins are born, 
 they call them Chuchos or Curi, and in tl Cuzco they call One twin 
 them Taqui Huahua; twin-birth is regarded as abominable, V^'*' ' 
 and one of the twins in sttid to be the Son of the Lightning, child. 
 
 ' It will be (oiiiifi traiiHlfttril in the HnkliiTt Socicly'n «eriM o( booki 
 of travel. 
 
138 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMERICA [CH. 
 
 The importance of this is obvious : we have the missing link 
 in the development between the two natural and the two 
 supernatural children. It is the same variation between 
 single and dual divine children that we detect in Greek 
 literature when Castor and Pollux are both said to be 
 children of Zeus, and when we find out, as in Zeus' in- 
 dignant protests in Pindar, that it is only Pollux that is 
 entitled to that parentage. 
 
 Father and mother of the Peruvian twins have to fast, 
 to- abstain from salt and pepper and sexual intercourse ; in 
 some districts this abstinence lasts six months. These 
 statements are confirmed by the Chronicle of Peru of Pedro 
 de Cieza de Leon (a.d. 1532-50), translated by Clements R. 
 Markham for the Hakluyt Society, and published in 1864. 
 Here we find (p. 232, c. 65) that ' these Indians hold it to 
 be unlucky to bring forth two babes at once, or when a 
 child is bom with any natural defect, such as having six 
 fingers on one hand. If these things happen, the man and 
 his wife become sad, and fast, without eating aji (Chili 
 pepper), or drinking chicha, which is their wine, and they 
 do other things according to their customs, as they have 
 learnt them from their fathers.' To which statement Mark- 
 ham adds a confirming note from Rivero, that ' twins, called 
 Chiichu, and children born feet first, called Chacpa, were 
 offered up to the huacas' (sanctuaries), in some districts. 
 
 Arriaga reports further a recent case of the penance of an 
 Indian woman for bearing twins ; she remained in one position, 
 on her hands and knees, for ten days, without moving for all 
 that time ; at the end of which time she was, as the narrator 
 .Siiys, much disfigured. 
 Peruvians We have narrated already the fondness of the converts to 
 
 Boaner^- Christianity for the name of Santiago, or S. Diego, because 
 ges. they understood that St James (i.e. Santiago) and St John 
 
 were called Sons of Thunder, an appellation which was 
 perfectly familiar to them. St James was evidently iden- 
 tified by them with the Thunder, and when they heard the 
 Spaniards fire ofi' their harquebuses, they promptly called 
 these weapons by the name of Santiago. Amongst these 
 
IX] THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMERICA 139 
 
 Peruvian tribes, then, the conjunction between twins and 
 thunder or lightning ia clearly made out. It should further Twinning 
 be noted that the twin-taboo in Peru affected llamas us well *'"*'■ 
 as men. The parallel to this will be found in ancient India, 
 in modern Wales, and in some parts of South Africa, where 
 the larger cattle are subject to expiatory rites to avert the 
 ill-luck of twinning. Arriaga gives a summary of the twin 
 superstition in an edict against Idolatry, which I transcribe 
 (p. 132, c. 18): Item si saben, (^ue quando alguna niuger pare 
 dos de un vientre que llaman Chuchu, o uno creatura de 
 pies, que llaman Chiicpa, la dicha muger ayuna ciertos di;is 
 per ceremonia gentilica, no comiendo sal, ny agi, ny dor- 
 miendo con su marido ; encerrandose, y escondiendose en 
 parte secreta, donde non la vea nadic ; y si alguna de las 
 dos criatunis se muere la guardan en una oUa por ceremonia 
 di su gentitidad. 
 
 Here again we have the twin children grouped with 
 those born feet first; and the isolation of the woman is 
 definitely stated : also the preservation of a dead twin in 
 a jar, which may be compared with the West African 
 c\ist<jm of disposing of the body. The dciui twin, no 
 doubt, was originally kept from harming its brother in this 
 way. Arriaga, however, thinks the twin was preserved 
 as a s;icrcd thing, on ar-count of its relationship to the 
 Lightning'. 
 
 Now let us come down to the province of Bolivia, where Twins in 
 we shall find amongst the Moxos and Chiquitos tribes the "'*'* 
 same custom of killing twins, apparently in the severer 
 form. D'Orbigny notes' that the Moxos people immolate 
 through superstition a woman who miscarries, and her 
 children if they are twins. It is surprising to find such 
 customs amongst peopl(^ of otherwise gentle manners : they 
 killed twin children, on the sup]>osition that only animals 
 could produce several young at once. Religion has, indeed, 
 
 ' I.e. pp. 16, 17. ' Los Ciierpos Chucbus, j por otro nnmbrc Curi, qiip mi 
 quando nncpn duH de un vicntrr, ai mucren chiquitOH, los meW en unaM ollmi, 
 y loa gunrdan dcntro dc ca.sa, come una cosa saKrada, dizpn que el uno 
 es hijo del Ilayo.' 
 
 ' Alcide D'Orbinny, I.'hommf Am/irictin, pp. 211. 2;12. I'iirin, 1K39. 
 
140 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMERICA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 The 
 Moxos 
 kill one 
 twin. 
 
 The 
 Chili- 
 guanos 
 kill one 
 
 twin. 
 
 The 
 Great 
 Brethren 
 in South 
 America. 
 
 caused the cessation of these superstitious customs, but it 
 must not be supposed that all traces of primitive savage 
 life have disappeared. The reference to religion means the 
 missions of the Jesuit fathers. It may be worth while to 
 hunt up the Jesuit accounts of these Missions. In Lettres 
 edifiantes et ciirieiises^ there is an abridgment of a Spanish 
 account of Padre Cyprian Baraze, the Jesuit founder of the 
 mission to the Mo.xos tribe, printed at Lima by order of 
 Bishop Urban de Matha. From it we learn that the Moxos 
 ' have the barbarous custom of burying little children when 
 their mother dies; and, in case the mother brings forth twins, 
 they bury one of them giving as their reason that the mother 
 cannot very well bring up two children at once.' As we 
 have already suggested, this does not seem to be the real 
 reason, though we frequently come across it. It is an excuse 
 rather than a reason. 
 
 A little to the south of the Moxos tribes will be found 
 the Chiriguanos. For these people we have a reference in 
 the account of a journey from Santiago in Chili to Arica in 
 Peru-': if a woman in this tribe bears twins, they keep one 
 and sacrifice the other, provided the mother makes no formal 
 objection, which seldom happens. Here we have again the 
 modification (if it really is one) in the treatment of the twins ; 
 one only is killed. 
 
 There are some reasons for supposing that in the legends 
 of South American peoples we have a recurrence of the 
 theme of a pair of Great Brethren, much in the same way 
 as amongst the Mediterranean people. According to Ehren- 
 reich* these brother heroes take a part in the subordinate 
 processes of creation and occupy an intermediate j)osition 
 between God and men. We shall find similar beliefs among 
 the North American Indians, and many points of contact 
 with the ideas of primitive man in the Eastern hemisphere. 
 We shall return to this subject later on. 
 
 ' Vol. vni. p. 86 (Paris, 1781). 
 
 - Thouar, Explorations duns VAiiiciifjiic ilii Siid, Paris, IH91. 
 ' Ehrenreich, Die Mythen mid Leflenden der .SWamcr. Vrviil, 
 zur XeiUchrift filr Etimologie (Berlin, 1905, p. 44). 
 
 Siippl. 
 
IX] TOE TWIN-CULT IN SOUTH AMEKICA 141 
 
 Amongst the negro populations of Bnizil, we have the Twin 
 survival and modification of beliefs brought with them from anionK 
 the West Coast of Africa. Although they have noiiiiiially "fft'ilian 
 accepted the Roman Catholic religion, they still build their 
 ancient fetish houses and worship their ancient go<ls. Their 
 devotion to Shango, the thunder-god of the Yoruba negroes, Shango 
 is very marked: but in the very same hutJ* they erect ^°"h"'* 
 images of Cosmas and Damian, and tables for casting lota. Cnsmas 
 As Cosmas and Damian are one of the many ccclesiasticjil Damian. 
 substitutes for the ineradicable worship of the Heavenly 
 Twins, we conjecture naturally that they have replaced 
 twins attached in some way to Shango. The evidence has 
 not, however, been yet forthcoming that twins or their 
 totems or their images are in this way connected with 
 Shango. That Shango is still there in Brazil is certain ; 
 that twins are a part of the cult of Brazilian negroes is 
 possible. For the description of the customs of these people, 
 we may consult the article of I'Abbe Ignace to which we 
 have already referred in the chapter on The Red Robes uf 
 the Lyioscun '. 
 
 ' Anthnypot tor 1908: pp. HH6 sqq. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 THE TWIN-CULT AMONGST THE NORTH AMERICAN 
 INDIANS 
 
 Beliefs of We shall now tuin to the beliefs of the North American 
 
 Amerinds. Jufjians on the subject of twins, and we shall find an abund- 
 ance of parallels with customs noted in other countries and 
 amongst other peoples, including traces of the connection of 
 twins with the sky and the thunder, and of their usefulness 
 in hunting and fishing. 
 
 Traces of twin-murder may be found among the Indian 
 
 Call- tribes in California. For example, the Pitt River Indians 
 
 omia. practise the killing of one child. S. Powers' says that 'in 
 
 One child case of the birth of twins one is almost always destroyed, 
 for the feeling is universal that two little mouths at once 
 • are too great a burden. Infanticide seems to prevail in no 
 other instance than this.' He also tells us (p. 354) con- 
 cerning the Miwok Indians, who formerly occupied territory 
 that extended ft-om the Sierra Nevada to the San Joaquin 
 River, and from the Cosumnes to the Fresno, that 'mention 
 is made of a woman named Ha-u-chi-ah,' living near 
 Murphy's, who, in 1858 gave birth to twins, and destroyed 
 one of them, according to the universal custom. We shall 
 find closer Dioscuric parallels as we move further north. 
 
 For instance, Dr Franz Boas, in his Report to the British 
 Association on the Indians of British Columbia'^ tells us of 
 
 Tsim.shiim the Tsimshian Indians that 'while the religion of the Tlingit 
 and Haida Indians seems to be a nature worship, founded 
 on the general idea of the animation of natural objects, no 
 object obtaining a prominent place, that of the Tsimshian 
 is a pure worship of Heaven (Leqa). Heaven is a great 
 
 ' S. Powers, Tribes of Califoniin, Washington, 1877, p. 271. 
 " Proceedings of British Association, 1889, p. 845. 
 
en. x] TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMKKICAN INDIANS 143 
 
 deity, who has a number of inediatoi-s named Neqnoq'. 
 Now let us see what the Tsinishian say about twins*. 
 ' Twins are believed to control the iveulher; therefore they pray Twins 
 to wind and rain, Calm down, breath of the twins. What- leather 
 ever twins wish for is fulfilled, therefore they are feared, as 
 they can harm the man whom they hate. They can call the »'"' bring 
 olachen and the salmon and are therefore called Sewihan, 
 = making plentiful.' This is thoroughly Dioscuric, at all 
 events. Not very unlike these beliefs are those of the 
 KwakiutP: they believed that ' tivins were ^rans/omied Kwakiutl 
 aalmon : as children of salmon they are guarded against twins are 
 going near the water, as it is believed that they would be ^''''"o"- 
 retransformed into salmon. While children, they are able to 
 summon any wind by motions of their hands, and can make 
 fair or bad weather. They have the poorer of curing diseases, 
 and use for this purpose a rattle called Koivquaten, which They 
 has the shape of a flat bo.\ about three feet long by two wenther. 
 feet wide.' Again we are on the piirallel line to the Dioscuri ; 
 the control of the weather is in evidence, and the curing of 
 diseases. Note should be made of the rattle. It will turn 
 up again in Indian circles, and may be related to the famous 
 Australian-Greek rhombus or bull-roarer. 
 
 For a more extended account of the KwakiutI Indians, '^'"''T °' 
 see Franz Boas and George Hunt, Kwaktutl Te^ts, ii. pp. .S22 — bruught 
 330'. 'In the opinion of the KwakiutI twins are nothing "■""''• 
 but salmon who have assumed human shape, and in that 
 gui.se can bring plenty of their finny brothers and sisters to 
 the fisherman's net. Well, once upon a time there was a 
 chief called Chief-of-the-Ancients. There was no river where 
 he lived, and therefore necessarily no salmon. This troubled 
 the chief, so one day he said to his younger brothers, " I wish 
 
 ' The Tsimshian inhabit Nass and Skeena rivers and the adjacent lalands. 
 Tlie TlinRit inhabit Southi-m Alaska. The Haida inhabit gurrn Charlotte 
 islands and part o( Prince o( Wales Archipelago. 
 
 > 1.0. p. H47. 
 
 * The KwakiutI Indians inhabit the ooMt from Gardiner channel lo Cape 
 MudKO, with the sole ciceptions ol the country around Dean inlet, and the 
 West Coast of Vancouver Island. 
 
 * .If up N. PaciHr KipKlition. Memoir o( American Museum o( Natural 
 History, quoted by Frazcr in Tolmxitm untl f:ivii<imji, ill. 337. 
 
144 TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [CH. 
 
 The 
 
 Skgomic 
 
 Indians. 
 
 Twins 
 control 
 weather. 
 
 Isolation 
 of twin- 
 parents. 
 
 to look for one who is a twin and make her my wife that 
 through her the salmon may come." His aunt, the star- 
 woman, bade him go to the graves and search among them 
 for a twin. So he went to the graves, and cried out, "Is 
 there a twin here, O graves ?" But the graves said, "There 
 is none here." This he did to many graves. But at last 
 one of the graves answered " I am a twin." The Chief-of- 
 the-Ancients went to it, and gathered the bones and sprinkled 
 them with the water of life, and the twin-woman at once 
 came to life.' The account goes on to tell how the tivin-lady 
 brought the salmon. The motive of the tale is clearly the 
 control of twins over fishing, and their power to bring good 
 luck. 
 
 In the Report of the British Association for 1900, we 
 have a paper by C. Hill-Tout on another tribe of Indians 
 in British Columbia, the Skgomic', which brings up some 
 further folk-lore beliefs of great interest. ' The birth of 
 twins was a verj' special event, twins always possessing, as 
 was believed, supernormal powers, the commonest of which 
 was control of the wind. It would seem that the birth of 
 twins was usually presaged by dreains on the part of both 
 parents. In tho.se dreams minute instructions would be 
 given to the parents as to the course they must pursue in 
 the care and upbringing of the children. These they must 
 follow implicitly in every particular. If they were neglected, 
 it was thought and believed that the twins would die.... 
 Immediately after the birth of twins, both husband and wife 
 must bathe in cold water, using the tips of spruce, fir, and 
 cedar branches to scrub themselves with. After this they 
 must remain in seclusion apart from the rest of the tribe for 
 a month. Any breach of this rule was regarded as a grave 
 offence which was bound to bring severe punishment on the 
 offenders. The hair of twins was supposed never to be cut. 
 If for any reason this rule was departed from, great care 
 had to be taken to bury all that had been cut off... .If at 
 any time wind was desired for sailing, the bodies of the twins 
 would be rubbed u'ith oil or grease, after which, it is said, the 
 
 ■ I.e. p. 481. 
 
X ] TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 145 
 
 wind would ininiediately rise. The tuaiauuk, a kind ul' 
 small fish which I was unable to identity, and which periodi- 
 cally visits the Skgoinic river in large niunbers, are said 
 to be descended from a pair of twins'." 
 
 Now let us turn to the Shuswap Indians, concerning 
 whom we have an excellent account by J. Teit'. 
 
 'Twins were considered great "mystery," and the regula- Sliuswap 
 tions concerning thcni were much the same as amongst the "' '""'"■ 
 Thompson Indians^ The woman's husban<l was the real 
 father of twins ; but the foetus was divided, and beaime two 
 creations through the influence of the black bear, grisly bear, Hear or 
 or deer. The mother was fre<juently visited by one of these 'p'^e„ta„f> 
 animals in her dreams, or she repeatedly dreami'd of their 
 young, and thus she had twins. Whichever animal she 
 dreamed about became their protector for life, the manitou, 
 of her children. A woman was considered lucky to have 
 twins, for she thus gained powerful inanitous for her children, 
 before their birth. Twins who had the deer for their pro- Twina 
 tectors were always successful in hunting: in like manner, )J^,,^,|",j,' 
 those who had the grisly bear for protector could always find 
 bears and kill them easily. The bear never became angry 
 or tried to hurt them. Most twins were under the pro- 
 tection of the black bear. A good many had the grisly bear 
 
 ' This comes from a curious folktale, given in the same report (p. H'i'i), 
 concerning a man, the father of twins, who collected iJI the tish that 
 frequented the above-raentioned river, and placed them in a box in separate 
 compartments, which box he placed in the trunk of a tree. Soon after this 
 he died, and from that time no more tish came into the river, until a man, 
 by supernatural revelation, discovered the l>ox, and put the dust of the 
 contained tish into the river. This ma<lc the wind blow and the fish come, 
 especially a now kind, the taaimiuk. Since then iho people always put 
 a little bone dust in the river, and always have plenty of fish. The SkKomio 
 regard these particular fish as the descendants of twin children of the man 
 who oriKinally bid away the fish-bones; and according to them, it was the 
 power of the twins that made the wind blow, when the bonedusl woa 
 disturbed. 
 
 For our purpose, the chief poinU to bo noted are just the.so, the control 
 of the weather and of the fish by twms. which is assumed in ihc story. 
 
 ' The Shti3irap: Mrmoir i./ tlu Amrrican iliurum of Siitural llutury. 
 New York. (The Jesup North Pacific Kxpedition, vol. il. p. vii. 1909; 
 pp. 586 sqq.) 
 
 •> Viileiii/ni. pp. MB. 117, 
 
 H R. 10 
 
146 TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [CH. 
 
 Parents for protector, and a lesser number the deer On the birth of 
 
 isolated, twins, the parents shifted camp to the woods, some distance 
 
 away from other people, even if it were midwinter. Twins 
 
 were not carried round so much as other children, one of the 
 
 parents generally remaining at home with them.... Twins were 
 
 not allowed near people for four years. During this time 
 
 the father washed them with fir-branches every day. If the 
 
 father happened to die, the mother washed them. Young 
 
 men were not employed for this purpose, at least among the 
 
 The twins Western Shuswap. Txuins were believed to be endoxued with 
 
 weather power over the elements, especially over rain and snow. If a 
 
 twin bathed in a lake or stream, it would rain. ...The next 
 
 child born after twins was also considered " mystery," for 
 
 some of the influences which controlled the twins still 
 
 remained in the womb of the mother. For this reason the 
 
 next child was kept apart, and washed with fir-branches, in 
 
 and bring the manner of twins, for a year or less....7'«ri'/is (p. 609) were 
 
 goo uc . f-Q^g^i^^.g^ ygj.y inci^y guardians for gamblers.' 
 
 The taboo on twins shows itself very clearly in these 
 regulations for the isolation of the parents and children ; we 
 note again their control of the weather, their influence in the 
 chase, and their general good luck. All of these points must 
 be carefully registered. 
 Thompson We come now to the Thompson Indians of British 
 n lans. Columbia, to whom reference was just now made'. 
 
 ' A woman about to be delivered of twins was generally 
 made aware of the fact beforehand by the repeated appearance 
 of the grisly bear in her dreams : therefore twins were re- 
 garded as different from other children, and were treated 
 accordingly. They were called " grisly-bear children," or 
 " hairy feet." Immediately after their birth, the father put 
 on a head-band and went outside, walking round the house 
 in a circle, striking the ground with a fir-bough, anil singing 
 the grisly bear song. These children were supposed to be 
 under sp<!cial protection of the grisly bear and were endowed 
 by him with special powers. Amongst these was the power 
 
 ' Teil, Tile Thomp.iiin Iruliatis of British Cvluiiilrid, p. 310. (.Jpsup North 
 Pacific Expedition, vol. i. IH98— 1900.) 
 
X] TWIN-CULT OF NORT7I AMKRHAN INDIANS 147 
 
 0/ creating good or bad weather. Twins were supposed to T»iii« 
 be unable to see a grisly bear. The m-islu was not looked '^""":°' 
 
 . . J J ueuther : 
 
 upon as the real fitther of the tvnns, but only as their pro- 
 tector. When twins were bom, if it were possible, a young Iihm- b«ir 
 man was selected by the father to sing when they first '"'•**'"" 
 cried. ...Such a person was thought to become proficient in 
 the mystery of the grisly bear, and obtained him for his 
 guardian spirit.... //e painted his whole face red, and carrieil 
 a fir-branch in each hand. If the twins were male and 
 female, he held a male fir-branch in the right hand, and a 
 female fir-bninch in the left. As soon as the children began 
 to cry, he went round them, following the sun's course, at 
 the same time singing the grisly bear song, and striking the 
 
 children with the branches The parents, during the ceremong Panuu 
 
 had their faces painted red. The grisly-bear painting was a ^,J"' 
 picture of a bear's pavf in red on each cheek. The impression 
 of a man's himd in red was used to rej/resent a bear in facial 
 paintings.... The singer sometimes staid with the twins 
 during the entire period of separation, and took them under 
 his special care, washing them and singing to them. ...The 
 mother always took care to suckle the elder first. If she 
 should not do this, one of the twins would die. After P»ienU 
 the birth of twins the parents moved some distance away tout°reimt 
 from other people, and lived in a lodge made of Jir-bouglis 
 and bark, and continued to live there until tfie children were 
 about four years of age.. ..A male passing by a lo<lge in which 
 twin children resided always whistled. When wishing to 
 see some of the inmates, he called thi'in by whistling fn>m a 
 distance, but he did not enter.' 
 
 Closely related to these customs are those of the Lil- 
 looet Indians, on the I^)wer Lillooet River, in British 
 C'olumbia'. 
 
 'The beliefs of the Lilltjoet regarding twins differed Lillooet 
 somewhat from those of the Thompson |>eople. Twins were 
 consideretl the real o[fspring of the grisly bear. Many say 
 the grisly bear pitied the woman and made the.se children 
 grow in her womb. The husband of' the woman was not </i« H' " 
 
 piirrlil*KP. 
 ■ Tcit. riir I.UliH'tt lii,li,ni>. p. 163. 
 
 10—2 
 
148 TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [CH. 
 
 real father of twins, though some believed that the grisly 
 bear had acted through him. When twins were born, the 
 husband went outside and walked round in a circle, following 
 the sun's course. He struck the ground with a fir-branch as 
 
 Parents he went round, and sang the grisly bear song. The parents 
 
 tahowii ^or ^y i^^^^g huilt a lodge apart from the people, in which they 
 lived until the children were about four years old. The 
 longer they kept the children away from the people the 
 
 better was their chance of life The mother always suckled 
 
 the eldest child first. When the father visited people 
 during the period of isolation, he had to change his clothes 
 before going home again. If possible a young man was 
 hired to attend to the children, during the whole period of 
 isolation — He wore no particular dress, nor did he paint in 
 any particular manner. When the family returned again 
 to live with the people... the lodge in which they had lived 
 was left standing till it fell down. It was never burned, for 
 that would cause the children to die. When one of twins 
 died, whether infant or adult, the body was never buried. It 
 was tied up and deposited rather high up in a bushy fir-tree, 
 • and the grisly bear was supposed to take it away. Many 
 Indians say that twins were grisly bears in human form, and 
 that when a twin died, his soul went back to the grisly bears 
 and became one of them.' 
 
 When we compare the Lillooet customs with those of 
 the Thompson Indians, we see close agreement crossed by 
 some striking diversities. The grisly bear is more prominent 
 in the Lillooet story, and is very nearly the father of the 
 twins. The young man in the Thompson story paints his 
 face red, but not in the Lillooet story. This painting the 
 face red, however, is sig^nificant : it is the colour proper to 
 
 Parents the thunder, as was seen more clearly in a previous chapter. 
 
 Thumi" . -^""^ when the young man paints his face red, the explana- 
 tion of that feature of the cult would naturally be that he is 
 pretending to be the thunder (man or bird) just as the 
 Roman General in a triumph is painted red to imitate 
 Jupiter Capitoliniis, and Jupiter himself painted red be- 
 cause he is the thunder. There seems, however, to be no 
 
Xj TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMKBICAN INDIANS 149 
 
 room for the Thiinder as parent in these Indian legends; 
 the grisly bear is the prominent actor, and, if we like, the 
 second parent. But where is there any connection between 
 the grisly bear and the thunder ? It appears to be a totem 
 by itself. 
 
 Now let us go back to a little earlier period than that Indian* of 
 described by the investigators of the Jesup North Pacific 8,^',^* 
 Expedition. In the year 1824, John R. Jewett published 
 at Ekiinburgh, an account of his Adventures and Sujferings 
 dunng a captivity of nearly three years amcmg the savages 
 of Nootka Sound. He reports intelligently enough what he 
 noticed during that enforced sojourn, just outside Vancouver 
 Island. ' On the birth of twins, they have a most singular 
 custom, which, I presume, has its origin in some religious 
 opinion ; but what it wius I could never satisfactorily learn. 
 The father is prohibited for the space of two years from Tuboo.s on 
 eating any kind of meat, or fresh fi.sh, during which time he •''"' °' 
 
 J 1 ■ 1 1 1 parent. 
 
 does no kind of labour whatever, being supplied with what 
 he hiis occiision for from the tribe. 
 
 ' In the meantime he and his wife, who is al.so obliged to 
 conform to the .Siime abstinence, with their children, live 
 entirely separate from the others, a small hid being built isolation 
 for their accommodation ; and he is never invited to any "' P*"^"^"*^ 
 of the feasts, except such as consist wholly of dried pro- 
 visions, where he is treated with great respect, and seated 
 among the chiefs, though no more himself than a private 
 individual. Such births are very rare among them. An 
 instance of the kind, however, occurred while I was at 
 Tzishees the last time ; but it was the only one known since 
 the reign of a former king. The father always appeared 
 very thoughtful and gloomy, never associated with the other 
 inhabitants, and was at none of their feasts, but such as 
 were entirely of dried provisions, and of this he difl not 
 eat to excess, and constantly retired Wforc the amusements 
 commenceii. His dress was very plain, anil he wore round Fathcir 
 his head a red fillet of bark, the symbol of mouniing and ^™^ 
 devotion. It was his daily pnictice to rejMiir to the i>nnd. 
 mountain, with a chief's rattle in his hand, to sing anil 
 
150 TWIN-CULT OF NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [CH. 
 
 pray. As Maquina informed mc, for the fish to come into their 
 waters. When not thus employed, he kept continiially at 
 home, except when sent for to sing and perform his cere- 
 monies over the sick, being considered a sacred character, 
 one much in favour with their gods.' 
 
 In this story, the grisly bear does not appear, but we 
 
 recognise the rattle of the Tsimshian Indians, the influence 
 
 of the twins (and their parents) over the coming of the fish 
 
 and the expulsion of diseases. The red fillet must also be 
 
 noticed, it must surely be a thunder symbol. 
 
 Manitoba Amongst the Indians of Western Canada, we find traces 
 
 Indians. ^^ ^^ original alarm at the birth of twins. For instance, 
 
 Maclean in his work on the Canadian Savage Folk^ tells 
 
 us of his intercourse with Indians of the Blackfeet tribe. 
 
 ' Visiting a lodge one day, I saw the father and one of the 
 
 Twins wives with a gruesome countenance, and upon enquiring the 
 
 ilislike.1. cause was .shown twin-children in their beautiful moss-bags. 
 
 Twins are believed to be an omen of evil ; hence the sad 
 
 countenance of my friends.' 
 
 On another occasion he tells us* that ' while thus be- 
 . guiling the time, a faint cry was emitted from a tiny bundle 
 close at hand, and a young woman, with a rueful coun- 
 tenance, turned round to wait upon her babe. We had 
 known her as a young woman of a very lively disposition, 
 and were unable to account for the sudden change in her 
 deportment : but we were not long left in mystery, for as we 
 watched her tending her charge, a smile flitted over her 
 face when a second parcel moved, and emitted a sound 
 similar to that of the first. Ah ! here was the .secret of the 
 sad countenance. An evil had befallen them in the shape 
 of twins. What evil genius was presiding over their camp ? 
 Or why should the gods thus send sorrow upon then ? 
 " Boys ? " " No ! worse than that : a thousandfold worse 
 than twin-boys. Twins ! Girls ! " The father morosely gazed 
 upon the tiny strangers who were unwelcome guests in that 
 home, and not a merry heart was there in that lodge.' So 
 
 • p. 54. ' /b. p. 191. 
 
X] TWIN-CULT UK NORTH AMKKKAN INDIANS 151 
 
 the old t\vin-s»iperstition still lingers amongst the Indians of 
 Western Cimada. 
 
 Maclean also tells us that the Iiidians still believe the lr.>quoiii 
 story which the Iroquois told to the first Jesuit missionaries, ,','^pl;"^^, 
 of a pair of celestial twins sent down by a celi-stial twin- Twins Rtill 
 mother, whose names were Juskeha and Tawiskara. It is 
 not necessary to repeat here the story of their deeds, nor to 
 tell how one of the brethren found his way back again to 
 
 the heaven from which he had come'. 
 
 * 
 
 ' U is, however, very interesting to note how Br^beuf, who first drew 
 attention to this pair of heavenly twins {ReUitum det .h'tuiUf ttaru la 
 SimvelU Fratu-e. 1635, p. 31; 1636, p. 100). remarkeil on the way the twinn 
 quarrelled. ' Judge,' said he, ' if there be not in this a touch of the death of 
 Abel!' 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 OF TWINS IN ANCIENT MEXICO 
 
 Twins in In order to find out whether there are any traces of twin- 
 
 '"'"''''■ cult in Mexico in ancient times, we must in the first instance 
 
 turn to the Spanish writers on Mexican antiquities. In 
 
 Torquemada's account of the Ancient Indian Monarchy, we 
 
 find' as follows: 'They hold it for axiomatic that, when a 
 
 woman brings forth two children at one birth (which often 
 
 happens in these parts), either the father or the mother 
 
 must die. And the remedy, which the devil gave them 
 
 One twin for this was, that they should slaughter one of the twins, 
 
 " ^ ■ which in their tongue are called Cocolina, which means 
 
 snakes. Further they .say that the first woman who bore 
 
 First twin twins was called Cohuatl, which signifies snake, and this 
 
 mother, j^ ^^j^^ they called the twins by the name of snakes ; and 
 
 they said that they would eat up the father or the mother if 
 
 they did not slaughter one of the two children-.' 
 
 Fray Toribio (Motolinia)' tells us as follows with regard 
 to the ancient Mexican belief on the matter of twins : 
 ' Tenian tambien en que la mujer que parien dos de un 
 vientre, lo cual en esta tierra acontece muchas voces, que el 
 padre 6 la madre de los tales habia de morir ; y el remedio 
 que el cruel demonio las daba, era que mataban uno de los 
 gemellos, y con esta creian que no morira el padre ni la madre, 
 y muchas veces lo hacian.' 
 Twins According to this, the airival of twins is a positive danger 
 
 theii"^*'^ to the father and mother, <in opinion of which we have found 
 
 ' Torqucmada, De la Monnrq. Indian, ii. p. 84. 
 
 ' See also Miiller, Amerikanische Urreliyiouen, p. 514. 'Am Anfunj; 
 (iiescr I'eriode bevolkerte die Schlttngenfrau Cihuatciiluiatl oder Quetuzli die 
 Erde. Sic gebar jedcsmal Zwillinj^e.' 
 
 '■' In Icazbalccta, Colecciuii de Ihicuiiieutvii para la Ilintoria de Mejrico, 
 I. 130. 
 
 parents. 
 
CH. Xl] OF TWINS IN ANCIENT MEXICO 15.'? 
 
 traces elsewhurc ; tor this reason, and to divert the danger, 
 one of the twins is commonly sacrificed. 
 
 We should not have been in the least surprised to hear 
 that the Mexicans had killed every one involved in the twin 
 affair, for their ritual is about as savage as anything that 
 ever appeared on the planet. It will be noticed that the two 
 writers quoted are not altogether independent ; the testi- 
 mony is sufficient to establish the fact of twin-murder, which 
 is what we first want to know. 
 
 The next question would be whether the Mexicans, like 
 the ancient Peruvians, believed that one of the twins was 
 a child of the thunder (or perhaps both) — on this point I do 
 not think I have any evidence. 
 
 There is, however, a very curious theory projHiunded by 
 the Spanish writers on Mexican antiquities, that the Mexican 
 god Quetzalcoatl was himself a heavenly twin, to which they Mrxican 
 add the explanation that he was really the Apostle Thomas, "'"^ 
 who included the Mexicans amongst his extensive missionary 
 journeys. They base this belief on a philological equation 
 between Quetzalcoatl and Didymusl It is hardly necessary 
 to say anything on such speculations, but it would be in- 
 teresting to know whether there is any authority for trans- 
 lating Quetzalcoatl as precious twin : antl whether he was a 
 twin-god. As I am unacquainted with Mexican, and have 
 little confidence in Mexican philologists, I cannot explain the 
 name, and as far as I have gone have not yet seen reason for 
 believing the go<i in (juestion to be a twin'. For those who 
 are interested in the matter here is some of the evidence. 
 
 Rivero, Antigiiedudes Peruanas, tr. by Hawks, p. 15 : I<lcniifi«l 
 'We cannot do less than remark here on the opinions of^Jj^'^j,^ 
 many learned men, who think that the Toltecan gi>fl, Quet- Tliom»«! 
 zalcoatl, is identical with the Apostle Thomivs, and it is 
 observable that the surname of this Apjstle Didymus (twin) 
 has the same signification in Greek that Quetzalcoatl has in 
 Mexican. It is astonishing, also, U) consider the numerous 
 and extensive regions traversed by this Ajwstle." (!) He is 
 quoting from Pablo Felix, of Guatemala, whose Teatro 
 ' Elircnrcich Uikps Iho oppoeilc viow : r. inf. p. 159. 
 
154 OF TWINS IN ANCIENT JfEXICO [CH. XI 
 
 Gritico Americano will be found at the end of Del Rio's 
 Description of the Ruins of an ancient city (London, 1822), 
 p. 93 : ' Doctor Liguenza believes that Quetzalcoatl was the 
 Apostle Thomas... he drew a comparison between the name 
 which St Thomas bore, viz. Didymus, signifying twin, and 
 Quetzalcoatl, compounded of the words Qiietzalli, a precious 
 stone, and Coatl, twin, a precious twin.' 
 
 Perhaps that will be enough on St Thomas and his 
 Mexican travels. 
 
 According to Mr Lewis Spence', ' the most unique of all 
 the gods of Mexico was Quetzalcoatl. This name indicates 
 "Feathered Serpent."... He was a culture-god, and w;is 
 closely connected with the sun.' Ehrenreich thinks that 
 Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca are a pair of heroes, between 
 whom there subsists a constant quarrel. This, at all events, 
 is in the manner of Twin-cult, even if philology should not 
 countenance the hypothesis that the first of the pair was a 
 precious twin. 
 
 ' Mythologies of Ancient Mexico and Pern, pp. IH, 19. 
 
CHAPTEll XII 
 
 THE TWIX-HEROES OF NOKTU AND SOUTFI AMERICA 
 
 We discussed in a previous chapter the tnices that could 
 be found of the practice of twin-munler among the aboriginal 
 tribes of South America. Here the greatest disct)vi;ry was that 
 the ancient Peruvians regarded one of a pair f>f twin-children 
 as being a Son of the Lightning. The information came in 
 the first instance from Arriaga ; and, I supjto.se, it is the 
 rarity of Arriaga's work that is responsible for the omission 
 of any reference to this Peruvian belief in Ehrenreich's 
 very valuable work on the Myths and Legends of the 
 South American aborigines. The omission is the more to 
 be regretted because the recognition of the Peruvian parallel 
 to the Boanerges would have ivssisted Khrenreich in his proof 
 that many of the legends which he was discussing were 
 migrations (i) from the Northern Pacific to the Southern, 
 and (ii) from Asia or Europe to America. If, however, 
 Ehrenreich failed to detect the Peruvian myth and its 
 meaning, and, apparently, failed also to sec the original cause 
 of Twin-cults, he made up for his deficiency by an excellent 
 statement as to the cult of Twin-Heroes all over North and 
 South America : and to this question we now propose to 
 address ourselves. 
 
 It may be .is well to make one or two prelimniary state- South 
 
 ments with regard to South Americ^an beliifs concrning i,'d'«iM ' 
 
 thunder. It .seems clear that they had a Fire-bird, and eiiually l'**' » 
 
 ■ 111- 1 ' '"^ '"'^'*' 
 
 clear that they had not a rhunder-bml, m the .sum.- sen.se but no 
 
 and fre(piency as wc find the Thuniler represented by North {.''^p''"'' 
 
 American Imiians. Khrciireirh says positively that the 
 
 Thunder-binJ is not known in South America'. The Fire-binl 
 
 ■ Ehrrnrpich, I.e. ' Kine in SudKnii-rik* Kiinxlii-h IrblcnJe GwUlt i>t 
 dcr in Norili'n so b«xlcul»ttine l)onnor>o(;i'l.' 
 
156 THE TWIN-HEROES OF N. AND S. AMERICA [cH. 
 
 is said to be the Hacka-hen {Galictis Barbara) recognised for 
 its function by its red bill. Amongst the Tupi Indians, on 
 the other hand, the fire is said to have been extracted by the 
 Twin-Brethren from the back of the sloth'. When, however, 
 we make our search for the animate representative of the 
 Thunder, we find to our surprise that the regularity of the 
 rain-fall and of the rainy seasons has, for the most part, put 
 the Thunder out of account, except in such cases as that of 
 the Peruvian tribes noted above. We thus find ourselves 
 very nearly in the same position as we shall presently be in 
 when we study the folk-lore of Ancient Egypt, where there 
 is no Thunder-bird because there is no thunder, and in either 
 case we naturally expect that the Thunder-bird, who is the 
 parent of Twins, will be replaced by a Sky-bird or a Solar- 
 bird : the bright sky of Zeus or the Sun-god Ra replacing 
 the dark sky of the Thunder. 
 South Now this is one of the significant points in the South 
 
 American American cults: the worship is solar rather than tonitrual, 
 
 religion ^ 
 
 solar, not and the Great Twin- Brethren are the children of the Sky 
 °°' '^'"* ■ and of the Sun, and may, on account of their kinship, actually 
 be identified with the Sun or with the Sun and Moon. In 
 South America, as Ehrenreich says, religion acquires a 
 strongly-marked solar character : and he affirms that amongst 
 the Eastern Tupi-Indians, where a Thunder and Lightning 
 god has been detected, the deity in question has arisen out 
 of missionary teaching =. In the same way, Pillan, the 
 Thunder-god of the Araucanians is, in reality, the denizen 
 of a still active volcano, and so not a Sky-god at all. 
 These points should be carefully noted as explaining why 
 South American beliefs should differ so fundamentally from 
 those of the North American Indians, with which we shall 
 see reason to believe them to be intimately connected. The 
 difference lies in the weather characteristics of the north and 
 south ; it disappears as soon as we recognise that both the 
 Northern and Southern continents have for their leading 
 religious motive a belief in Twin-Heroes, occurring under 
 many forms, and so frequently i-eminiscent of the culture of 
 
 I P'.hrcnieich, I.e. p. 16. * I.e. p. 21. 
 
XllJ THE TWIX-UKROES OF N. AND S. AMKKICA 157 
 
 the Eastern hemisphere, thiit we shall not be able to il. tath 
 South America from North America, nor both of them from 
 the religions of Asia and Europe. 
 
 It will be convenient to make a brief summary of some Twin 
 of these pairs of heroes, and then to point out peculiarities in ^'"^^ '" 
 their traditional histories which require comment. America. 
 
 Amongst the Yunkas of Peru, we have Pachakamak and 
 
 VVichania ; 
 amongst the Guamachucos, Apocaleqiiil and Piguerao ; 
 amongst the Tupi, Tamendonare and Arikule ; 
 amongst the Mundruku, Karu and Rairu ; 
 amongst the Yurakare, Tiri and Karu ; 
 amongst the Arowak-Caribs, Keri and Kanie ; 
 amongst the Guarayo, two nameless henx-s who change 
 
 themselves into Sun and Moon ; 
 amongst the Orinoco-Giraro, two brother- gods'. 
 These pairs of Great Brethren are commonly de.scribed as 
 twins, sprung from the same mothi-r, but from two different 
 fathers; and they usually reckon tht-ir descent from the Sun, 
 so that the situation is exactly that which arises in the 
 interpretation of the perple.xing phenomenon of twin-children, 
 where a dual paternity is the .solution, the second pjirent 
 being Sky or Thunder or a bird which animisticjvlly repre- 
 sents the Sky or the Thunder. It thus becomes clear that the 
 Great Brethren of the South American Imlians arr the results 
 of an evolution of ideas exactly like that which, from a primi- 
 tive twin-taboo, produced Romulus and Remus or theSpjirtan 
 Dioscuri : and it is clear that we cannot detjich these South 
 American twins from the piirs that turn up in the legends 
 of the Northern Americans. Thus we shall have to add to 
 our cycle of heroes the cases of: 
 
 Juskeha and Tawiskara among the Iro4juois; Twin- 
 
 Menabozho and Chokaniij«ik among the Algompiins ; >jnrt»i 
 Ahaiy\ita and Matsadenia among the Zuni ; .America. 
 
 Tobiidizini and Nayenezkani among the Navaho ; 
 Pemsjinfo and Onkoito among the Maidu "f C'alifornia ; 
 
 ' Si'f Klinnrcich, I.e. p. 4.'>. 
 
158 THE TWIN-HEROES OF N. AND S. AMERICA [CH. 
 
 Nexus 
 
 between 
 
 Northern 
 
 and 
 
 Southern 
 
 legends, 
 
 and 
 
 between 
 
 Asiatic 
 
 and 
 
 American 
 
 myths. 
 
 Egg-birth 
 
 Twins 
 liberate 
 their 
 sister. 
 
 Kanigyilak and Nemokois among the Kwakiutl ; 
 Masmasalanih and Noakaua among the Awikeno. 
 
 To these parallels from the North American Indians, 
 Ehrenreich suggests that the Mexican gods Quetzalcoatl and 
 Tezcatlipoca may be added, and amongst the Mayas the 
 subterranean gods Hun-hun-ahpu and Vukub-hun-ahpu. 
 Nor can we be surprised that a claim should be made that 
 these groups of twin-heroes belong to the same class as the 
 Indian A9vinau, the Greek Dioscuri, and their Slavonic, 
 German and Celtic parallels'. 
 
 We are thus obliged to admit that there is an internal 
 nexus between these legends of Twin-Brethren : either they 
 are migrant traditions from an original centre, or they are 
 independent evolutions, such as might be expected from 
 advancing civilization ; nor is it impossible that both of these 
 explanations may have to be resorted to. What seems to be 
 certainly established by Ehrenreich's researches is the exist- 
 ence of definite themes in the stories of the twin-heroes 
 which must be referred, on account of their singularity, to 
 a common origin. For example, what are we to say, when 
 the myth of the Twin-Brethren takes the form of birth from 
 an egg ? Amongst the Guamachucos of Peru, the Solar 
 twins Apocatequil and Piguerao are born from two eggs, 
 deposited by the mother at the time of her death. Is this 
 a reminiscence of bird-parentage ? In that case, is the birth 
 of Castor and Pollux from an egg to be credited to the same 
 cycle ? We are further told that Apocatequil, for his brave 
 deeds, was regarded as the maker of thunder and lightning, 
 and that the thunderbolts were his children. These thunder- 
 bolts were employed to secure fertility and to avert lightning. 
 The parallels with the beliefs of the Eastern hemisphere are 
 obvious ^ 
 
 Amongst the Indians of N. W. Ameriwv we find stories of 
 Twin-Brethren who go up to heaven in order to set free the 
 daughter of the Sky. Is this any other story than that of 
 
 ' Ehrenreich, I.e. pp. 4.5, 4C. 
 
 ' For a summary of the story of the Peruvian Heavenly Twins, see 
 Additional Notes at the end of volunic. 
 
XIl] THK TWIN-IIKKUES OF N. AND S. AMKKICA 159 
 
 the Greek Dioscuri liberating Helena ? Or of the Twin- 
 Brethren in the Lettish folk-songs ? 
 
 Ehrenreich points out th;it one of the most widely diftused Twins 
 characteristics of the American Twin-Brethren, is that they ''"■"'* • 
 quarrel among themselves, so that one kills the other, or else 
 they separate and go oppn^site ways, east and west, or up and 
 down, apparently in quest of the Sun in his journey beneath 
 the earth. Is this any other story than what we already Are iohkIi 
 have noted for Romulus and Remus, Esau and Jacob and the gmooth. 
 rest ? The opposition between the brethren is emphasized 
 by the characteristics assigned to them, one of whom is rough 
 and impetuous, and the other smooth and gentle. Is this 
 anything different in the evolution of legend from what is 
 told of Zethus and Aniphion, or again of Esau and Jacob ?' 
 
 But perhaps the most striking of all the contacts between 
 the legends of the E<uHtern and Western hemispheres is one 
 which Ehrenreich points out among the Tupi Indians, who 
 say that the Twin-Brethren go out to the Ejist in search of They ro 
 their wandering father, and when they find him, have to n,r<MiKli 
 prove their kinship by marvels of prowess or of skill. ",'* ^l'" 
 Amongst these feats is the passing through a pair of 
 cliishing rocks, which at once recall the .Symplegadcs in the 
 story of the Argonauts ; and since the wandering father is ArKoimut 
 almost certainly the Sun, the suggestion arises that the twin nn<l 
 Argonaut story h<is both twin and solar elements in it, and "'>'»'■ 
 that Jiiaon is a solar twin, if not the Morning Star himself. 
 
 It is the recurrence of tht^se and similar motives in the 
 various legends and mythologies that makes one so strongly 
 convinced that both the eastern and the western forms have 
 a common origin, very far back in the history of the human 
 race. That the motive of the .Syraplegades should have been 
 arrived at independently in (irei-ce and in Peru, does not 
 seem very likely. 
 
 Now let us return to the geogniphieal study of the 
 diffusion of the twin-taboo. 
 
 ' Ebrenrcicb, I.e. p. 51. 
 
CHAPTER XIII 
 
 TRACES OF TWIN-CULT IN SAGHALIEN, NORTHERN 
 JAPAN, AND THE KURILE ISLANDS 
 
 We will now cross Behring's Straits, and make our first 
 enquiries into the existence of the twin-cult in Northern 
 Asia, beginning with those elementary civilizations which 
 are found in the islands off' Kamschatka, and in the northern 
 parts of Japan. 
 Twin-cult In Anthropos for July-August 1910' we have an article 
 
 in Sagha ^y Bronislaw Pilsudski on Birtlt Customs in the Island of 
 
 lien. •' •' 
 
 Saghalien. 
 
 The tribes discussed are the Giljake and the Ainu ; the 
 latter are already well known as occupying the northern part 
 of Japan, where they are gradually dying out before the 
 . more advanced civilization of the Japanese. They are a very 
 interesting people, aYid a group of them, who were brought 
 over to a recent Japanese exhibition in London, attracted 
 great attention. 
 
 The The Giljake are convinced that, in the case of twins, one 
 
 Giljakc yf ^}jg twins is the son of a mountain and forest-god whom 
 they call Mountain-man. This deity has great power over 
 the Giljake and so the child must be restored to its spirit 
 father as soon as possible. As they do not know which of 
 the two it is, they treat them both alike. Here we have the 
 
 Spirit dual paternity, and the introduction of the spirit-father; 
 
 paternity, ^^le description is not quite clear ; to send the child to its 
 father should naturally mean, as in British Guiana, its 
 
 Both sacrifice ; but the writer does not say this, nor does he say 
 
 ;*','":, that they kill them both. 
 
 When a twin dies among the Gdjake, it is buried, and 
 not burnt, as is the usual custom. 
 
 ' pp. 7.56—74. 
 
CH. XIUj TWlN-t'LLT IN SAUllALIKN, ETC. IGl 
 
 Twins who live and grow up are considered dangerous : Dead twin 
 but especiiilly a de;id twin is feared ; perhaps, iis in the ''»"Kerou«. 
 Niger region, because it might return and injure its brother 
 or the family. One way of getting rid of the danger of a 
 returning twin is to make a little mixlel house for it, and 
 place in the house an image to represent the twin. This is 
 something like the W. African custom of conjuring the dead 
 twin into an image. This image in the CJiljakfi custom has 
 to be fed every day. 
 
 In the case of the Saghalien Ainu, the customs are The 
 different, but the beliefs are much the same. One of the ^j^y *" 
 children is considered of diabolic origin, because a man, in 
 their opinion, can only fertilize one child. The writer came 
 across no cases of twin-munler, but he quotes a Russian 
 traveller Krascheninnikov of the beginning of the nineteenth 
 century to the effect that the custom of killing one twin One twin 
 was current in the Kurile islands. Pilsudski shows re:ison ,u^ '"i 
 
 the Kurile 
 
 for believing that the same custom once prevailed amongst islands. 
 the Ainu. 
 
 The Saghalien Ainu say that when a twin dies, it is 
 the one that had a spirit father, presumably because that is 
 the one that ought to die. 
 
 They carefully conceal the fact that twins are in the Twins » 
 community, apparently because it is a dishonour t<i the family S^^e,. 
 as well as a public danger. 
 
 The writer also reports cases of a concurrence of Ainu Twins of 
 beliefs with those of the Japanese, that when twins are ij^~r. 
 Ixirn, one of them is strong, brave and lucky ; the other is 
 an average human being. This different iation between the 
 twins has its parallel in the cases of Henikles and Iphikles, 
 and to some extent of Zethus and Amphion. I do not know 
 what is the authority for the Japanese opinion, but Pilsudski 
 app-ars to be a careful observer. 
 
 In the northern villages of Saghalien, the Ainu make Ainu mkke 
 offerings at the birth of twins : the shaven sticks which J,, ^^'"n*'" 
 they call inao are fiistened over the mother's bed : ami births, 
 two little images to represent the twins are fastened ti> 
 n. u. 11 
 
162 TRACES OF TWIN-CULT IN SAGHALIEN, [CH. 
 
 the wall. They have also talismans to prevent the return of 
 twins to the world. This last statement suggests a custom of 
 accelerating twins out of the world. 
 
 These uncivilized races deserve careful attention, not only 
 because they are uncivilized, and so disclose to us the ideas 
 and emotions of primitive man, but because they lie on the 
 bridge between Asia and America, or near it, and may, 
 therefore, help us to connect the North American Indians 
 with the Asiatic and European populations. In the case 
 of the Ainu, who are a migration from the mainland of Asia 
 to the islands, we have an Asiatic people to deal with, who 
 may be more closely related to peoples farther west than is 
 commonly imagined. 
 
 The great authority for the Ainu of Japan is that devoted 
 missionary, Mr Batchelor, who has given his life to their 
 uplifting. It is, however, to be noted that Mr Batchelor 
 sometimes reduces what might be thought the indecencies 
 of the native customs, in order to make the accounts more 
 palatable to the readers of the publications of the Religious 
 Tract Society, a proceeding which is no doubt quite proper, 
 but one that may sometimes obscure the meaning of a custom 
 or tradition. 
 Ainu have Batchelor does not appear to throw any light on the twin- 
 twin (?) jjyji^ . jjg does, however, draw attention to a pair of Ainu 
 
 weather- ' \ y 
 
 gods. deities or demigods, who behave very much like promoted 
 
 and idealised twins. They are said to be brothers, and 'their 
 names are Shi-ucha, the elder, and Mo-acha, the younger. 
 Ski-acha means " the rough " or " wild uncle," as he is sup- 
 posed to be of a very evil disposition, and to be continually 
 pursuing and persecuting his younger brother, Mo-acha. 
 Mo-acha means " uncle of peace." This one, being of a 
 benevolent and kindly character, and of a quiet disposition, 
 does all he can to live in peace and benefit the Ainu race'.' 
 Shi-achu raises storms and drives his brother away ; Mo-acha 
 makes calm weather, so that the Ainu can fish. Some Ainu 
 think they are the .same god. 
 
 ' Batchelor, The Ainu and their folk-lore, p. 536. 
 
XIll] N. JAPAN, AND TUK KUKILK ISLANDS 163 
 
 It is possible that this tale of the quarrelsome brothers 
 may be of the siime tyj)e that we find in the West, Romulus 
 and Renins, Ksau and Jacob, and the like. There is, how- 
 ever, no intimation in Mr Batchelor's account that they are 
 twins: they appear as weather-gods. 
 
 When we cross to the mainland, we strike the twin-cult 
 again, with a striking parallel to the story of Romulus and 
 Remus. 
 
 In a description of Kamschatka, published in Germany in Twins in 
 1774', we are told that if a woman bears twins, the wolf is gchTtv* 
 at the bottom of the business, and is, in some mysterious 
 way, the parent of the twins ; to bear twins is, consequently, 
 a sin. The same writer tells us' that amongst the Italmens Wolf 
 they make out of grass an image to represent a wolf and 
 that they keep this all the year long, pretending that it is 
 the husband of the Itiilmen girls; it is, however, prohibited 
 that the girls should bring forth twins : that would be a 
 grievous disaster, for which they hold the wolf in the forest 
 responsible. If such a birth occurred they would promptly 
 run out of the house ; if the twins were girls the case is so 
 much the worse. It is clear that here again we have the 
 twin-fear. Curiously the same people carve and set up 
 an image in human fonn, to represent the Thunder, and Thunder- 
 make offerings to it. It is not the Thunder, however, that ""•*"• 
 is the parent of twins, but the wolf And while we note 
 the coincidence in the intrusion of the wolf in the folk- 
 lores, respectively, of Kamschatka and Rome, we must not 
 lose sight of the differences between the traditions. The 
 Roman wolf is the foster-mother of the twins, and not the 
 father. This may be a Roman perversion of an original wolf 
 in the story, for the woodpecker, who also assists in bringing 
 up Romulus and Remus, stands for the Thunder, and is the 
 second male parent: but it is also possible that the two 
 wolves are not really parallel at all. 
 
 ' Stcller, Rttchreibung ron dem iMiidt hamtcluitkrn, p. 117 (Knnkfurt 
 und I^ipzig, 1774). 
 » pp. 327 aqq. 
 
 11—2 
 
164 TWIN-CULT IN SAGHALIEN, ETC. [CH. XIII 
 
 Twins The Kamschatkan evidence is clear that twins are a 
 
 dangerous, danger, and that they are due to a second parent, perhaps an 
 ■animal totem. 
 
 Leaving on one side the cases of the Japanese and 
 Chinese civilizations, where twin-cult has to be sought either 
 in history or in customs that survive from a distant past, we 
 may now examine some of the less advanced populations of 
 Southern Asia. 
 
CHAPTER XIV 
 
 OF TWINS IN BURMA, CAMBODIA, AND THE 
 MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 
 
 Amoxost the Sawngtiiiig Karens, twins and triplets being The 
 spiritually dangerous are always killed'. arens. 
 
 In Cambodia, ' the birth of twins is consideatd unlucky, 
 as also is that of albinos, dwarfs, and deformed infants. These 
 unfortunate children, except when the oHspring of bahis 
 (Brahmans), become from their very birth lifelong slaves of 
 the king'.' 
 
 Amongst the Batak tribes of Java, there are traces of The 
 special regard for twins, and of a connection of twins with * *' 
 the Rain and the Lightning. An interesting way of 
 examining the Batak cult will be to study Prof, van 
 Ophuijsen's paper on Der bataksche Znuberstah, from which 
 it appears that the Bataks use a magic st;iff in rain-making their 
 on which are c^irved the figures of rahi'suff. 
 
 Si Adji Donda Hatahtttan 
 and of his twin sister 
 
 Si Topi Hiuija Na ITasan, 
 with perhaps a third Ht,nire, who may be a double of the 
 second. 
 
 The story of these twins is told by the BatJik p«'ople : it 
 opens as follows : ' Once ujK)n a time in the old days, there 
 was a prince, whose wife brought twins into the world, a 
 boy and a girl. In any case it if uiducky to bear twin.s, but 
 the misfortune is even worse when the twins are a l>oy and 
 a girl.' So far we are on familiar ground: twins are tal>«M>, 
 and as we find in many places, there is a sjXKjial risk an to 
 
 ' Temple, in HastinKH' EncycUrp. Rtligion and Kthict, in. 3'i. 
 * Cabkton, in Haslinxii' KiicycUtp. Htliijinn and Kthui, Ul. IM. 
 
166 TWINS IN BURMA, CAMBODIA, [CH. 
 
 boy and girl twins, because they are thought to have 
 antenatally contradicted the law of exogamy in the tribe. 
 The story goes on to tell how they were turned into branches 
 of trees, and, being cursed by God, could be made into magical 
 staves. 
 
 Prof. Ophuijsen says the names of these magical staves 
 mean 
 
 Prince of the dread staff,] 
 Maiden, thirsty princess, [ 
 and that they represent the Lightning and the Earth. 
 
 Meerwaldt had explained them as Lightning and Rain, 
 probably with more correctness. Their father is called Data 
 Arang Deb(fta, which means Divine Black Prince, probably the 
 Sky covered with black clouds : his eldest son is the lightning. 
 
 On one of the staves described by v. Ophuijsen, the head 
 of Si Adji Donda is crowned with cock's feathers. The cock 
 is, as we shall often have occasion to note, one of the series 
 of thunder-birds. What does the staff represent ? Is it 
 a branch of the sacred tree, or is it another way of regarding 
 the lightning ? Or are both of these points of view tenable ? 
 In favour of the former is the belief in a Thunder-tree, such 
 as we find in Western and Middle Europe, in which the 
 Thunder-god animistically resides. In favour of the latter 
 explanation, that the staff is the lightning, we have for 
 parallels the spiral rod in the hands of the Mexican Thunder- 
 god', the trident in the hands of the Greek and A.ssyrian 
 gods, which is only a split flash of lightning, etc. 
 
 For Meerwaldt's belief that the twins are the lightning 
 and the rain, which may naturally be regarded as the children 
 of the Sky-god, we shall find some parallels in Chinese and 
 in Phoenician twin-lore, where the twins are Fire and Wind. 
 
 There seems to be no doubt about the twin-taboo among 
 the Bataks, nor that they are the children of the Sky, nor 
 that they are taboo in the sense of disapproval. 
 
 For a general summary of the beliefs of the natives of the 
 
 ' 'Thi.s Idol (Tlaloe) was painted blue and green, to represent the colours 
 of water, and held in his right hand a pointed spiral rod of gold, to represent 
 lightning.' Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes uf the United StaUs, vol. vi. p. 461. 
 
XIV] AND THE MAI-AY ARCHIPELAOO 167 
 
 Dutch East Indies with regard to twins, we may consult 
 VVilken, Haiidleiding voor de vergelijkende Volkenkunde van 
 Nederlandsch Indie {pp. 207 sqq.). 
 
 In the islam! nf Bali, Hindoo influences can still be The islwid 
 traced. The four Indian distinctions of caste can be ob- 
 served ; viz. the Brahmins of priestly caste, the Kshatryas or 
 soldiers, the Vaicayas or merchants and farmers ; and last 
 of all, the Sudras, or common people. The Bali people 
 call them Brahmanas, Satryas. Wesja-s, and Sudras. There 
 is no doubt as to the origin of these Bali castes : and, 
 amongst them all, the birth of twins is reg-arded ;is a bless- 
 ing, provided they are of the same sex. If, however, a boy 
 and a girl are born, that is regarded iis a calamity to both 
 parents and village, when it occurs among the Sudra and 
 Wesja CJistes, but a blessing for the Brahmana and Satrj'a ; 
 and in that case for the whole country. 
 
 In the two former cases twin-birth is called inanak salah 
 or sinful birth, and the twins themselves sinful tieins. This 
 peculiar variety in the interpretiition of the twin-birth should 
 be carefully noted, because we have here within the limits of 
 a single community the very same change of view which we 
 observed amongst different tribes in Africa. It is not to 
 be supposed that the two upper castes always reganled 
 twins favourably : the twin-taboo is older than the caste 
 divisions; but in the process of time the two upper castes 
 have rid themselves of the taboo, and have left it hanging 
 round the necks of the two lower austes. 
 
 Immediately after the birth, the mother with her newly Moihcr 
 born babies is hunted out of the village and condemned for "' " ■ 
 three months to live outside the centre of the community, 
 preferably in a temporary dwelling in the neighbourhinxl of 
 a graveyanl. They can only conte back after the lime 
 indicated and the offering of a proper sacrifice. 
 
 Amongst the Brahman.us and Satryas twins of op|Kwite 
 sexes are called betrothed twins , and in former times, it wa.s 
 the custom to marry them to one another when they rrmhe<l 
 maturity'. The influence of Hindoo religion in th.-.se customs 
 
 ' Tijitx-hritt V. bid. Tanl l.-in.U- "■ VolkmUmlt. .Iccl mil pp. lM-0. 
 
168 TWINS IN BURMA, CAMBODIA, [CH. 
 
 must be carefully kept in mind. It is quite possible that 
 many of the peculiar strands in the religions of the Dutch 
 East Indian islands may be traceable to continental migra- 
 tion, either Indian or Malay. 
 
 Niassers. Amongst the Niassers twins were universally regarded as 
 
 a curse and were immediately put to death ; their parents 
 were tabooed for a year'. 
 
 Dyaks.etc. Amongst the Dyaks of the Western division, twins of the 
 same sex are a favourable sign, of different sexes the opposite is 
 the case. A boy in such a case becomes a slave of the princel 
 Twin-births are looked at even less favourably by the 
 Makasars and Boegineze, who call them by names implying 
 marital infidelity'. 
 
 The case is even worse among the Igorrote. The last 
 born child of twins is given to someone who is willing to 
 bring it up. If no such person is found, the child is strangled 
 or buried alive. In some of the islands similar regulations 
 prevail, but, as a rule, twin-births are considered a sign of 
 good luck'. 
 
 Further light is thrown upon this subject by J. C van 
 Eerde in a paper in Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal- Lnnde- en 
 Volkenkunde'. 
 
 Sumatra. Amongst these Malay populations of Sumatra, who may 
 
 be reckoned the most primitive, twin-births are not frequent, 
 and triplets are extremely rare. If a person eats two bananas 
 that have grown together, or an egg with two yolks, there is 
 great chance that twins will be bom. When twins are of 
 different sex, then the children of the district throw stones 
 or coffee-beans against the wall of the house where the 
 twins are born : if this is not done, one of the twins, boy 
 or girl, will die. Van Eerde says that this is a stoning of 
 evil spirits, on the hypothesis that the children have before 
 birth broken sexual laws. We may compare this belief with 
 those of the natives of S. W. Australia. 
 
 ' Durdik, (Irneesk. Tijdnchr. r. Neder. Iiul. 1881, p. 262. 
 ' Tijd.irhr. v. Ind. T.- I..- en Viilkeiikunde, deel w. p. 24. 
 » Irul. Giih. 1882, vol. i. p. 62. ' I.e. p. 27. 
 
 ' ' Een Hiiwelijk bij de Minangkabauschc Maleiers,' vol. xi.iv. (1901), 
 p. 494. 
 
Xiv] AND THK MALAY ARCHIPELAGO 169 
 
 The twin problem in the Dutch East Indies is also dis- 
 cussed by Lettebocr in Mededeeling van ^Ye(fe dvr Neder- 
 landsche ZendelinggenootachapK The observations are made Islmnd of 
 on the natives of Savu, an island between Java and New " *"' 
 Guinea. Twins are not desired : they are, moreover, rare. 
 Twins of opposite sexes are even more disliked : one of the 
 two must promptly die : if they both jjrew up they would be 
 permanently unhappy: they cannot be strong (for want of 
 sufficient sustenance), nor clever: they will be deficient in 
 memory : above all they dread the prospect of such twins 
 marrying one another. This seems to be a traditional bi-lief, 
 and implies that in former times such cases of closely relatt--*] 
 marriage actually occurred. 
 
 With the foregoing we may take the customs of the island The 
 
 . ,, . ., ,, 1- Csrulins 
 
 of lap in the Larolme group. UUnds. 
 
 In this island there do not appear any definite traces of the 
 twin-taboo. When twins are bom, one of them is given to 
 a brother or other near relation to bring up, as it is thought 
 that otherwise one of the twins would die. Such a child 
 cannot afterwards be claimed by its parents in the event of 
 the death of its brother'. 
 
 Some closer enquiry into this case would seem ilesirable, 
 on account of the ambiguous statement that one of the twins 
 would die, if the brother did not remove it. As the case is 
 stated, it might mean nothing more than that it was difficult 
 for a woman to bring up twins. 
 
 Close to Sumatra on the west lies the island of Nias, Nim 
 concerning which we have .some further infonnation fn>m an 
 Italian traveller, named Modigliani'. 
 
 In this islanil the fear of twins is very gnat : the twin- 
 birth is not considered as a natural phenomenon, but as a 
 superfoetation due to the operation of a demon. If twins 
 were allowed to live, they would bring on their village the 
 disaster of fire, of plague, or th.- death of th.-ir own jmrenU; 
 
 I Vol. XLi. (190-2). p if). 
 
 ' A. Senflt. Kthm>;ir„i,huchr Ilrttr.njf ii><rr .U, Kan.Unrti hurl ).ip m 
 Peterroann, tux. p. 53. 
 ' I'iaggioii Niat, p. 3.W. 
 
170 TWINS IN BURMA, CAMBODIA, ETC. [CH. XTV 
 
 consequently one of them is put to death, commonly the 
 weakest of the two. When the twin-murder is over, they 
 make a sacrifice to Adu Horo, and the whole village gives 
 itself to a revel of congratulation over the escaped danger 
 and disgrace. 
 
 There can be no doubt here about the potency of the 
 twin-fear, and although the strongest twin has commonly 
 the right to survive, the cult cannot be reduced, as has 
 sometimes been suggested, to a case of ' which shall 
 I keep ? ' 
 
CHAPTER XV 
 
 TUE TWIN-CI'LT IN I'OLYNKSIA, MELANESIA, AND 
 AUSTRALIA 
 
 We now turn to New Guinta, and the islands that lie to 
 the north and east of the Australian continent. 
 
 From the reports of the Cambridge A nthrupulogiail T*^\nsm 
 Expedition to Torres Straits' we learn that in many parts j^"^" 
 of British New Guinea twins are very much disliked, the ^;j|;'^^^»"' 
 unfortunate mother is regarded iia being like a dog, and one 
 of the twins is almost invariably killed, but twins are not 
 disliked among the Sinangolo. 
 
 Twins are said to be uncommon among the Western 
 islands. Their occurrence is said to be due to excessive 
 intercourse and to inspire disgust. Formerly one of them 
 would have been got rid of by being buried alive in a hole 
 dug on the sand-beach. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the original twin-UdxM) lurks 
 under these sUtements : there is no trace of dual pirenUge. 
 and no remembrance of a tinu; when both twins and their 
 mother were killed. The mother is. however, the object 
 of general reprobation, and. as we have so often found, is 
 compared with the multiple-bearing lower animals. 
 
 We have .some further information of a Iwlief in Mabuiag T»nn.^ 
 that twins are priKJuced by the action of a sorcerer(m<.i(/W<iif/). I'j „,^c. 
 
 He ' twists dnmap. apparently a kind of creep<T brought 
 from New Guinea, round the neck of a wax figure, to which 
 he has given the name of the pn-gnant woman. Th.- ends 
 of the (lamap are not tied, but cro.Hs each oth.-r in front of the 
 figure's neck, thus repre.s.-nling the two cords cmssmg each 
 other in nfero.... Twins are also considered to be pr.Kluce<l 
 
 I Vol. y. p. 198 (I'JOi) 
 
172 TWIN-CULT IN POLYNESIA, [CH. 
 
 by the pregnant woman touching or breaking a branch of 
 a loranthaceous plant (viscum sp. probably V. orientale) 
 parasitic on a tree, rtiader. The wood of this tree is much 
 esteemed for making digging sticks and as firewood, no 
 twin-producing properties are inherent in it, nor is it re- 
 garded as being infected with the properties of its twin- 
 producing parasite.' 
 
 One would like to know some more about the virtues of 
 
 this tree and its parasite. 
 
 Tribes On the mainland of New Guinea, bordering on the Papuan 
 
 Papuan Gulf, we find that the tribes living in the district of Elema, 
 
 Gulf kill j^j^g coast territory lying between Cape Possession on the 
 
 one twin. j j o i-,, •■•l 
 
 east, and the Alele River on the west, think that it is right 
 to kill one of the twins, in the interest of the tribe, and 
 because (it is an explanation which we have not infrequently 
 found elsewhere) no mother can successfully bring up two 
 children at once'. 
 
 On the subject of twins in British New Guinea, there is 
 an important article by Henri Eschlimann in Anthropos for 
 March- April 191 1^ Speaking as a missionary for his own 
 ■ district, he says that it is the general opinion that twins 
 have no right to live, and that he only knows of one case to 
 the contrary, where a woman who had borne twins gave one 
 Kuni to a neighbour who had lost her child. The formula for 
 
 dealing with such cases is 
 
 'A woman has borne twins, she will kill one,' 
 and the reason assigned is, as was just now stated, that if 
 she tried to bring both of them up, neither would become 
 strong. 
 
 Eschlimann tells a tale of the influence of the Catholic 
 religion of repressing this surviving barbarism. A woman 
 who had borne twins was going to Uxke the usual steps, when 
 she was reviled and threatened by a Catholic friend with 
 divine judgements. The missionary was called in, and bought 
 the child in debate from its parents. 
 
 ' Holmes, ' Initiation Ceremonies of Natives of the Papuan Gulf,' Joum. 
 Anlh. Iii»tit. xxxn. (1902), p. 422. 
 ' pp. 264, 26.''). 
 
 tribe; 
 kill one 
 
XV] MELANESIA, AND AUSTKAI.IA 17:? 
 
 He relates another case of a woman, who, at her first 
 lying-in, hail twins, and killed them both, for fear that her 
 husband would be offended at such a manner of beginning 
 married life. 
 
 The tribes here described are cjilled Kuni, and the head- 
 quarters of the mission is at St Anne d'Oba-oba, Fapuii. 
 
 The north-eastern part of New Guinea and the adjacent 
 islands are now (ierman territory, tmder the name of Kaiser 
 Wilhelm's Land and the Bismarck Archipelago. 
 
 From the former it is reported that twins of the same 
 sex are allowed to live ; if of different sexes, one is killed, 
 generally the female'. 
 
 The same dislike of twins of opposite sexes is found in Twins dis 
 the Bismarck Archipelago (Duke of York islands), according Bismarck 
 to an account of Mr Danks in the Journal of the Anthro- Islands. 
 polo(jical Institute for l.H«!»-. The situation is summed up 
 by Frazer in his book on Totemism and Exogamy' »a follows: 
 ' a curious corollary of the exogamy of the two classes is 
 that, if twins are born, and they are boy and girl, they are 
 put to death, because, being of the same class, and being of 
 opposite sex, they were supposed to have had in the womb a 
 closeness of connection which amounted to a violation of 
 their marital law.' Exogamy, that is to say, peq)etuated Exi>Kamy 
 twin-murder in a particular case, when it was disapj)earing (,,„. 
 in other cases. """"^ *'■ 
 
 Frazer also quotes from Scott (which should be Scott 
 Nind ?) in the Journals of the Royal Geographical Society 
 for 18;}2« the custom of the natives of King (Jeorge's Sound One twin 
 
 ^ ,. ,_ , 1 killed on 
 
 in S. W. AustraliiL Here, when twins were born, one was ^^^^ 
 
 killed ; if of opposite sexes, the girl was killed ; and the (icorKe's 
 
 ..,,,.., Sound. 
 
 reason for killing one of them is, as in New liuinea, that the 
 woman could not well bring up two». 
 
 This is almost exactly what Delessert reporUs for New 
 Holland in his Voyages dans les deux Oceans* with the striking 
 
 ' tiachrichtm Uber Kaitrr fiUMm'i Land unH drr llxmitrck Archiptl. 
 p. 82. 
 
 ' Vol. iTiii. p. W2. • Vol. II. p. IM. 
 
 • Vol. I. p. 39. ' Fnncr, I.e. 
 
 • V'oi^ayei dans In dfus Of^am. I'Rri.s (ItMH), p. H2. 
 
174 
 
 TWIN-CULT IN POLYNESIA, 
 
 [CH. 
 
 In the 
 
 Solomon 
 Islands 
 one twin 
 killed. 
 
 Traces 
 of dual 
 parentage 
 in Leper's 
 Island. 
 
 variation that, in the case of boy and girl twins, it is the 
 male that is sacrificed. 
 
 The customs in the Bismarck Archipelago are also re- 
 ported on, for the island foi-merly known as New Britain, by 
 Dr George Brown, in his book on Melanesians and Poly- 
 nesians^. Twins (katai) were frequent. If both were male 
 or both female, they would be allowed to live ; but if one 
 was a male and the other a female, the girl was stmngled. 
 In some cases both were killed. This was done, because, 
 being of the same class, they were supposed to have violated 
 the laws of class relationship, or might do so in after life. 
 Both these reasons are given by the natives. In the Short- 
 land group (Solomon Islands) when twins were bom, one was 
 always killed. 
 
 When we move still further east, we do not find the same 
 evidence of twin-murder. Dr Brown reports- that in Samoa 
 twins were frequent, and that he had been informed of two 
 cases of triplets. Ill-natured people talked of these as 
 litter, but there was no suggestion of making away with 
 them. 
 
 To the S.E. of the Solomon Islands lie the New Hebrides ; 
 in one of these, Leper's Island, Codrington reports that it is 
 thought that twins may be a gift of Tagaro. Women who 
 want a child will go to a sacred place in hope that the spirit 
 of the place will give them one, and sometimes he gives them 
 two. The suggestion of spirit infiuence should be noted. 
 Codrington does not believe in a spirit parentage of twins 
 amongst the Melanesians ; but he admits that in the island 
 of Florida, on the outskirts of the Solomon Island group, 
 there seems to be something of a suspicion that two fathers 
 may be concerned ; they take it that the woman has 
 trespassed in the sacred place, vumuha, of some ghost, Tin- 
 dalo, whose power lies that way. That certainly is very near 
 indeed to the statement that the second child of twins is a 
 spirit-child'. 
 
 ' George Brown, U.l)., Mehiiicsian-i luid I'dli/nesidus, London (Macinillan), 
 p. 3.5 (1910). 
 
 » I.e. p. 4.5. ^ Codrington, Mdauesiuii.i, pp. 2'J9, 2:i(), 
 
XV] MKhANKSIA, AM) AISTRALIA 175 
 
 Codrington foiiml no instances in the Mclanesian groups Twin* 
 of the practice of twin-inunler, nor of any dislike to twins, MeUneii* 
 except for the trouble they cause. At S;ui, he says, twins 
 are liked : at Motlav, the people of a village are proud of 
 their twins, and the parents and relations make much of 
 them; no one would adopt one of thena because it would 
 spoil the pleasure of seeing them together. When one 
 reads these statements, especially the last, the impression 
 they make is that, in part at least, they are not sincere 
 answers to enquiries. The question was probably asked 
 in such a way as to suggest to the savage the kind of reply 
 that would please his enquirer. That the natives should be 
 averse to twins being brought up in different families is very 
 improbable. This is not the sort of thing that weighs with 
 them. While it is not impossible that the Melanesian mind 
 is friendly towards twins, it would be well to make a closer 
 investigation into the matter, as, for example, to enquire 
 whether there were any deprecatory rites at the supposed 
 welcome twin-birth. We are not to be surpri.sed if there 
 should be a rapid change of sentiment from the unfavourable 
 view of twins in New Guinea and the Bismarck Archi|K,'lago 
 to the supposed favourable judgement in the groups i>f islands 
 in the southern Pacific ; for we see such rapid changes Uiking 
 place as we move from tribe to tribe all over Africa; what 
 we want is some more evidence as to the circumstances which 
 attend the birth of twins, concerning which Codrington has, 
 apparently, nothing to say. We want, also, some further 
 information of the relation between the woman and the 
 tindalo. 
 
 Here is another matter that recjuires a little clearing up 
 in connection with Polynesian beliefs. Occasionally it seems 
 as if they had more astronomical knowleiige than belongs to The Con- 
 
 , . ... , . ,., I ' I It atfllktion 
 
 their proper tribal evolution, ror example, in the Her>ey „f ihe 
 
 islands, Ellis' found that the natives knew ' many of the T"">« 
 
 . ' known in 
 
 constellations, and still more of the single stars. Mars they Hmrj 
 
 call/e<ia uru, red sUir....The Pleiades they uill matan'i, small '"*" *" 
 
 ' Kills, Piilynriiiin Hrtrarchtt, II. 415. 
 
176 
 
 TWIN-CULT IN POLYNESIA, 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Twins on 
 mainland 
 of Aus- 
 tralia. 
 
 Violation 
 of exo- 
 gamy. 
 
 eyes. But one of the most remarkable facts is, that the 
 constellation of the Twins is so named by them ; only, instead 
 of denominating the two stars Castor and Pollux, they call 
 them ma ainanu, the two ainanus ; and to distinguish the 
 one from the other, ainanu above and ainanu below.' 
 
 The question is. How did the twin stars get this recogni- 
 tion of their duality among the South Sea Islanders ? Is it 
 spontaneous or borrowed : their own observation, or the 
 indication made to them by some voyagers ? I do not see 
 how to answer these questions at present: we shall, how- 
 ever, find something like the same observation amongst the 
 Australian tribes'. 
 
 We have already referred to the opinions of the natives 
 of St George's Sound in S. W. Australia with regard to the 
 violation of the law of exogamy by boy and girl twins. 
 Traces of the twin-cult may be found elsewhere in Australia, 
 and occasionally with the same curious explanation. Thus 
 Spencer and Gillen report^ that ' twins, which are of 
 extremely rare occurrence, are usually immediately killed 
 as something which is unnatural ; but there is no ill-treat- 
 ment of the mother, such as is described as occurring in the 
 case of certain West African peoples by Miss Kingsley. We 
 cannot find out what exactly lies at the root of this dislike of 
 twins, in the case of the Arunta and other tribes. Dr Fison 
 once suggested that it might be due to the fact that the 
 idea of two individuals of the same class being associated so 
 closely was abhorrent to the native mind, that it was, in 
 fact, looked upon much in the light of incest. In the case 
 of the twins being one a boy, and one a girl, this might 
 account for it, but when they are both of the same sex it is 
 difficult to see how any feeling of this kind could arise. 
 Possibly it is to be explained on the simpler ground that the 
 parent feels a not unrighteous anger that two spirit in- 
 dividuals should think of entering the body of the woman 
 at one and the same time, when they know well that the 
 mother could not possibly rear them both, added to which 
 
 ' Ellis does not, I think, explain the meaninf; of the word ainanu. 
 
 « Native trilies of Central Australia (1H99), p. 52. 
 
XV] MKI.ANKSIA. AM) Al'STKALIA 177 
 
 the advent of twins is of rare occurrence, and the native Dread o( 
 always has a dread of anylhiiif^ which appears strange and '*'"*' 
 out of the eoiinnon." 
 
 The foregoing remarks are suggestive, though confessedly 
 inadequate : it is true, as Dr Fison suggested, that the fear 
 of an actual or potential violation of the law of exogamy has 
 been operating on the savage mind : it is clear from the 
 illustrations already given of the existence of such suspicions, 
 that the exogamoiis practice h<is re-acted on the twin-cult : 
 but, as Spencer and (Jillen see clearly, it is not a suHicient 
 explanation of the twin-cult itself Neither is it sutticient to 
 say that twins are hard to bring up, and that food is scarce : 
 the same terrore prevail where food is plentiful, and life fairly 
 easy. The last sentence comes nearest to an explanation ; 
 the dreatl of the abnormal. Apparently this explanation was 
 the one that Spencer and (iillen found most sjitisfactory, for 
 in their next great book, published in 1904, on the Northern 
 Tribes of Central Australia (p. 609), they allude to the 
 matter again in the following terms: ' Tunnn are usually 
 destroyed at once as something uncanny, but appjirently they 
 are of very rare occurrence. In the Binbinga and Coastal 
 tribes a child will be killed if it has been causing the mother 
 much pain before birth. In every instance it must be re- 
 mcrnbered that the spirit part of the child returns at once to 
 the Alcheringa home, and may very soon be bom again, 
 entering, very likely, the same woman." 
 
 The infrequcncy of twins, which is suppo.sed by SjKMicer 
 and (iillen to accentuate the .sense of their abnormality, is 
 contradicted for S. E. Australia by Daw.son. in his Austrahan 
 Aborigines (p. 39), 'Twins are as common among them as 
 among Europeans: but ivs footi is ocai^ionally very suirce, 
 and a large family troublesome to move alxjul, it is lawful 
 and customary to destroy the weakest twin-child, irrespective 
 of sex. It is usual, als(», to destroy those that are malformeti.' 
 In confirmation of this theory of the twin-cult, Dawson goea 
 on to explain that when a woman finds her family increasing 
 too rapidly, she consults her husband as to the destruction 
 II. H. 1'^ 
 
178 TWIN-CULT IN POLYNESIA, ETC. [CH. XV 
 
 of one of them, and that this naturally means killing one of 
 the girls. 
 
 What we learn from Dawson is that in S. E. Australia, 
 also, the practice of twin-murder, with partial modification, 
 prevails. And it is probable that we might generalise some 
 such statement for the whole of Australia, in view of what 
 has already been stated. 
 
CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THK TWIN-CULT IN ASSAM, ETC. 
 
 There is a tribe in Assam called the Khiusis which has Twins in 
 the twin superstition in a form presenting striking analogies **^'"- 
 with what we have noticed in S. W. Australia and elsewhere'. 
 A twin-birth is saitf/ or taboo. The Khiisis argue that as The 
 there is but one Ka lawbei (first ancestress), and one U Thaw- *"""'*• 
 lang (first ancestor), so one child, male or female, should 
 be born at a time. A twin-birth is acconlingly regarded as 
 a visitiition by God for some son*; or tran.sgression, eommitti-d 
 by some member of the clan. When the twins are of oppo- 
 site sexes, the san(j is con-sidered to be extremely serious, the 
 Khasi idea being that defilement has taken place within the 
 womb. The case is treated as one of Shoiiij /cur, or marriage 
 within the clan, and the bones of the twin c^innot be placed 
 in the sepulchre of the clan. 
 
 Amongst the Ao-nagius in Ass;im we have a st<iry of the The 
 origin of lightning which is charged with Dioscuric features. ""■«'»■ 
 This story, which I find in Aiithropos (vol. iv. p. 154), comes 
 from a traveller nameil Molz, who describes a visit paid to the 
 Ao-nag!is, and the works and ways of the p<'ople. The myth 
 about the lightning is to the following effect: 
 
 Many years ago there lived upon earth Two />ii'ih« ThcBrcih- 
 Brethren, ivho were tdtmiys at loggerheads with one another, qmrrel 
 One day, after they had been fighting, the elder chiuiged the 
 younger into a s<juirrel, after which he left the earth ami wetit 
 nway to Heaven. The .s<jiiirTel left behind on the earth now One 
 makes a cry in a wailing tone: and this irritat<-s the Divine j,";^^. 
 Brother in Heaven, berau.se he thinks that the cry of the who 
 squirrel is a declaration of war. Ver;/ often he gets out <»/ ihundtr. 
 ' Gurdnn, Thf Khmtt. 
 
 12— J 
 
180 TWIN-CULT IN ASSAM [cH. 
 
 patience and hurls down the lightning. That this account is 
 Dioscuric is certain ; two brothers, one of whom resides in 
 Heaven, the other on earth ; the language not quite clear as 
 to whether one brother is mortal for they are both described 
 as Divine : a constant quarrel between the two brothers, as 
 in the case of Romulus and Remus, or Esau and Jacob ; and 
 since one brother is turned into a squirrel, must we not 
 assume a sacred tree for the earth brother to live in ? And 
 the control of the lightning makes the brother in Heaven 
 a thunder-boy, and the tree which he strikes a lightning-tree. 
 Surely these savages in Assam have either inherited or 
 evolved the Dioscuric tradition of the great Brethren, who 
 are the assessors of the thunder-god. But in that case the 
 squirrel must be the cult-animal, which is something new. 
 Squinel as The cult-animal for Thunder is commonly a bird, though we 
 animal have found cases of bear-ancestry, wolf-ancestry, and the like, 
 where the thunder is more or less involved, to say nothing of 
 a possible intrusion of the beaver (Castor) in the story of the 
 Spartan Dioscuri. These cases, however, are all obscure, and 
 are not sufficient to e.xplain the presence of the squirrel in 
 the Ao-naga cult. It is possible that the explanation may 
 Cult of lie in another direction. It may be a flying .squirrel that is 
 squirrel, ^t the bottom of the myth, the flying squirrel being re- 
 garded by savages of low culture as a bird. Let us turn to 
 Mr Batchelor's account of the Ainu and their folk-lore, and 
 see what the Ainu say about the flying s(iuirrel. 
 
 Bird-cult exists among the Ainu in a variety of forms : the 
 most important instance being the reference, upon which 
 we shall enlarge later, to the Woodpecker as a boat-builder, 
 amongst and a consequent semi-religious taboo of the bird. The 
 '• Ainu have a great regard for the flying squirrel ; Mr Batchelor 
 says : ' I find that the flying squirrel holds a very high place 
 in the cult practised amongst this people. The Ainu place 
 this anivial amongst the birds, but this is because they fly ; 
 and we will not quarrel with them becsiuse they are a little 
 out in some of their ornithological notion.s. In cases where 
 there is lack of family issue, the men, after earnestly appealing 
 to the goddess of fire and her consort, for help, often place 
 
XVl] TWIN-CULT IN ASSAM 181 
 
 their hopes on the Hying squirrel The name by which the 
 
 flying squirrel is known is At Kamu, and that is aaid to 
 mean, the divine prolific one. It is so called because it ia 
 said to produce as many as thirty young at a birth. When 
 partaken of, the flesh is supposed to convey power, in some 
 unexplained way, to generate children.' Mr Batchelor need 
 not have found a ditticulty in so simple a CJise of sympathetic 
 magic iis this. 
 
 The animal is siicriticed and eaten secretly, no one being 
 allowed to know of it except the husband and wife who are 
 involved in the plot. 
 
 It will be seen that amongst the Ainu, the flying squirrel 
 is considered as a bird (is it perhaps a thunder-bird and 
 actually discharges a Dioscuric function ; it h;us the patron.age 
 of fertility. If the flying squirrel should be the cult-animal 
 in rites of the Ainu, there is no rejison why the ordinary 
 stjuirrel should not be so amongst the Ao-nagiis, even if they 
 do not exactly recogni.se him ii-s a bird. The ciuse would be 
 easier if we could have the assistance of colo\ir. A red 
 squirrel would be a very good represenUitive of the thunder. 
 The gray squirrel ia, T believe, the Indian variety, but I am 
 not sure about this. If we could recognise the squirrel as 
 the cult-animal in a thunder-myth, then, since the earth- 
 brother in the myth of the Ao-nagaa is changeil into him, we 
 should have both brothers as thimder-boys, one through his 
 transformation into the Thunder-bird (or quaai-bird) the 
 other becau.se he actually wields the lightning. 
 
 As we have said, the Ao-naga myth must be classed as 
 Dioscuric. 
 
 Among the Todsus, it is the custom to kill one of a pair of 
 twins, even if both should Iw boys. If they should be girls, 
 it is probable that both would be killed'. 
 
 ' Rivera, The Tixiai, p. 4S0. 
 
CHAPTER XVII 
 
 ON THE TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA 
 
 Twins in 
 India. 
 
 Twin- 
 taboo in 
 the Rig- 
 Veda; 
 
 anas, 
 in Peru, 
 
 and in 
 Wales. 
 
 We are now come to the frontiers of India, and are to 
 enquire into the traces of twin-fear or twin-worship in the 
 ancient Indian civilization. We have, in reality, been on 
 the borders of the subject already, when we were discussing 
 the case of influence from Hindustan upon the natives of the 
 Dutch East India islands. We found a complete caste 
 system on the Indian model, associated with a twin-cult, 
 which was savage for the two lower castes, but modified into 
 approbation for the two higher castes, so that the priests 
 and warriors preserved their twin-children, while the lower 
 orders destroyed theirs. It was a natural suggestion that 
 we had caught the original custom of geminicide in the act 
 of transformation from twin-hate to twin-honour. It will be 
 well to keep this in mind, in case an Indian twin-cult at 
 home should show the same features in the peninsula, as we 
 detect in the islands. 
 
 The first fact to be brought to notice is that the Vedic 
 literature shows the existence of a twin-taboo, not only on 
 men, but upon the higher animals, kine, hoi-ses, and ;isses. 
 We are dealing with the ill-hick of a twinning (major) 
 animal. 
 
 Now this is not quite new to us. We have already 
 quoted John Campbell's observation (at the beginning of 
 liist century) that the Bechuan;us not only kill one of twin- 
 children, but if a cow should have two calves, one of them 
 must be either killed or driven away. In Peru, the twin- 
 fear aff(!ct8 llam'is as well as men. And it was pointed out 
 that in Wales at the present day, where the twin-cult for 
 children survives in the form of approbation and a sense of 
 
CH. XVll] TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA 183 
 
 goo(l-luck and fertile influences, a man will sell a cow which 
 brings forth two calves because the luck is gone from her. 
 This nieans that the taboo has been reversed in the case of 
 human beings, the original view being that both cases, twin- 
 men and twin-cattle, meant ill-luck. No one would want to 
 change the taboo on animals from gowl-luck again to ill-luck. 
 How lucky twin-children have become in Wales may be seen 
 from the following communication from my friend Miss Hilda 
 M. Stranger, of Plymouth : ' My house-keeper tells me that 
 at her home in a village of Glamorganshire, tunns tire viuch Welsh 
 in request for weddings. They have twin girls in their f^T' ■. 
 family, who are often asked ius bridesmaids to ensure luck human: 
 to the wedded pair.' 
 
 That is, of course, thoroughly Dioscuric, but it is not the and un- 
 view of the man with twin-calves, who sees nothing but bovine, 
 ill-luck in his twins. 
 
 When we turn to the Indian literature, we find in the Spells for 
 Atharva-Veda a special section dealing with the <iuestion of "1)']^^^*' 
 avertine the ill-luck caused by a twinning animal. The '■""'" "'« 
 
 * . Atharva- 
 
 section is translated in Grittith's Hi/tnus 0/ the Atharva-Veda Vcda. 
 (pp. 122, 123), and Griffith notes acutely that the 'same 
 superstition is found at the present time in uncivilized 
 parts of Africa.' It is also translated by Weber, Indische 
 Studien (XV!I. 297 flF.), and by Bloomficld in the Sacred 
 Books of the East (S.B.K. .\LII. pp. 145, 3.5!)). I transcribe 
 bloomfield's rendering, and some of his notes. 
 
 p. 145. III. 28. Formula in expiation of the birth of 
 twin-ciilves. 
 
 1. Through one creation at a time (this) cow was born 
 when the fashioners of the beings did create the cows of 
 many colours. (Therefore), when a cow doth beget twins 
 portentously, growling and cro.ss she injureth the cattle. 
 
 2. This (cow) doth injure our cattle: a flesh-eater, 
 a devourer, she hath become. Hence to a Brahman we shall 
 give her: in this way may she bo kindly and auspirious ! 
 
 3. Auspicious be to (our) men, auspicious to (our) cows The 
 and horses, auspicious to this entire field, auspicious be to us ^nn^^^ 
 right here ' »he cow. 
 
184 
 
 TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Exorcism 
 of twin- 
 ning 
 animals: 
 
 4. Here be prosperity, here be sap ! Be thou here one 
 that especially gives a thousandfold ! Make the cattle prosper, 
 thou mother of twins ! 
 
 5. Where our pious friends live joyously, having left 
 behind the ailments of their bodies, to that world the mother 
 of twins did attain : may she not injure our men and our 
 cattle ! 
 
 6. Where is the world of our pious friends, where the 
 world of them that sacrifice with the agnihotra, to that world 
 the mother of twins did attain : may she not injure our men 
 and our cattle ' 
 
 p. 359. (Bloomfield's comment on above ) 
 Contrary to modern superstitions which regard the birth 
 of twins as auspicious, and prize animals born in pairs, the 
 prevailing Hindu view is that the birth of twins is an ominous 
 occurrence to be expiated by diverse performances, and that 
 the cattle itself is, as a rule, to be given to the Brahmans. 
 But there are not wanting indications that a favourable view 
 of such events also existed, and one may suspect shrewdly 
 that the thrifty Brahmans, who stood ever ready to gather in 
 all sorts of odds and ends (of. the elaborate oratio pro domo, 
 XII. 4, in connection with the vasa), gave vigorous support to 
 any tendency towards superstitious fear which might show 
 its head in connection with such occurrences. Weber, 
 Ivdische Studien, xvii. 298 tf., has assembled quite a number 
 of passages which represent the Hindu attitude towards twins. 
 Cf also Tait, S. ii. 1. 8. 4. 
 
 The hymn is rubricated thrice in the Kau.vika, in the 
 thirteenth book, which is devoted to expiatory performances 
 (prayu.s'A;itti) in connection with all sorts of omens and por- 
 tents. It is employed in chapters 109, 5; 110, 4; 111, 5 on 
 the occasion of the birth of twins from cows, mares, asses, 
 and women. The practices consist in cooking porridge in 
 the milk of the mother, offering ghee, pouring the dregs of 
 ghee into a water vessel and upon the porridge. Then the 
 animal and its young are made to eat of the fjorridge, to 
 drink of the water, and they are also sj)rinkled with the same 
 Wiiter. The mother is then given to the Brahmans, and in 
 
XVll] TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA 185 
 
 the ciise of the human mother, a ransom "according to hur Raniioin 
 value, or, in accordance with the wealth (of the father)," is „(,ti,e/, 
 paid. Cf Weber, Omina iind Portentu, p. 377 ff. 
 
 Stanza 1. Since the mother of twins was bom under an 
 arrangement which made a separate act of creation necessary 
 for each individual, the birth of two at a time is apartu, 
 " unsciisonable, p)rtentous." 
 
 Stanziis 5, 6. The mother of twins is invited to enter 
 the world of the blissful which is described in all its attrac- 
 tiveness, and yet, implicitly, is not desired for the time being 
 by the owner of the cow. In yinulni, "a motluT of twins," 
 there is a pun, " fit for Yania the god of heaven, and death " : 
 this makes it still more appropriate that she shall go 
 there ' 
 
 This deprecatory ritual is full of suggestive poiiit.s. It is 
 interesting to see how the taboo is raised or re- interpreted. It 
 is not really raised : but it ce;uses to atfoct the Brahman and 
 his cows ; just as in the Dutch East Indies the taboo on 
 human twins does not touch the higher cjistes, who are 
 clearly immune. The Brahman, in fact, is in the [xjsition 
 of advantage of the African witch-doctor, who' can handle 
 tabooed property which would be fatal to meaner mortals. 
 The Brahman takes the cow, and removes the risks from the Twin-cull 
 owner by transferring the risks, and the cow, to himself; 
 and this proceeding suits all classes. When we compare it compared 
 with the action of the self-willed and ungoverned Welshman, X\\uh 
 who sells the cow and transfers the ill-luck to someone else, cuau.m. 
 we see that we are on a different plane of religious life. The 
 one person shutHes out of his dangers and responsibilities, 
 and leaves them on another man's shoulders, the other nobly 
 transfers them to his own;— for the consideration that the 
 cow should go along with the Uiboo : evidently the Hnihman 
 is the more religious pei^on of the two, and the better 
 endowed, for ho is better ort" by a cow, even if he is worse off 
 by the possible incidence of a tuboo, which would not normally 
 atl'ect him. Wise Brahman ! Bnive Bmhman ! It is in- 
 teresting too, that the Brahman also confiscaU's the offending 
 
186 TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA [CH. 
 
 woman, in the parallel case, and her husband has to redeem 
 her ! 
 
 Then it is noteworthy that the cow herself, whose action is 
 deprecated by the chant and the accompanying ritual, is also 
 appealed to positively, as being by synipathetic action the 
 symbol and cause of fertility. She attains an almost celestial 
 rank, and is the object of prayers. She is appealed to in 
 a somewhat similar manner and is employed to the same 
 ends as the hypothetically fertile Hying -sijuirrel of the Ainu. 
 One sees how important the twins and their mother are, 
 consequently, to be reckoned in the quest of fertilitj'. This 
 cow in Indian life, with its two calves, corresponds to the 
 Uganda twin-mother, whose body can fertilize banana trees ; 
 so that although the cow is disliked, she is also liked, and if 
 dangerous, is also helpful. It is natural that the theme of 
 fertility should become in time a leading motive in the 
 interpretation of twins. As we have seen, in South Wales, 
 where the cow is still dangerous, human twins are altogether 
 beneficent. The stages of the evolution can be traced. We 
 shall see, moreover, that when the Indian twins attain 
 . celestial rank, they carry over with them their powers of 
 fertilization, "and will preside over weddings just as potently 
 as if they were little twin-girls in modern Wales. The 
 bride-chamber and the birth-chamber will be their natural 
 places of resort. 
 
 This piece of old Indian ritual has now been sufficiently 
 explained. 
 The In the next place, something must be said with regard to 
 
 Horsemen ^^^ j.^^^ Acvins, or Celestial Horsemen, in whom the twin- 
 
 oi the ' ' 
 
 Rig- Veda, cult h;us finally expressed itself The exact process by which 
 
 the dreaded or approved twin-children become dread or 
 beneficent powers, may not be easy to describe : it is, how- 
 ever, clear from the analogies of other religions, that it is not 
 uncommon to find the cult of the earthly twins develop into 
 or be accompanied by the cult of the heavenly twins. In 
 Peru, for instance, where the Spaniards found the Indians 
 worshipping twins under the title of Children of the Thunder, 
 they worshipped also a pair <if Lluinder and lightning twins. 
 
XVIl] TWIN-FKAR IN ANTIKNT INDIA 187 
 
 Apocatequil and Pigueruo. Thu ihuiider ilsilt hivd come to 
 be regarded ;is dupliaite, no doubt under a reHex influence 
 from the belief that twins on earth were related to the 
 thunder. The earthly twins had become celestial and sat by 
 their sire. We need not be surprised at this, for from another 
 point of view, the West African beliefs suggest that a twin 
 which wiis dangerous in life, might be dangerous after death, in 
 which case images of them would naturally be made, supplies 
 of food and drink would be offered to them, and deprecatory 
 prayers addressed. Where the twins were friendly, they 
 might equally be expecleil to keep up their interest after 
 they hiul ce;vsed to be visible, and to be still helpful to men. 
 
 The A^vins occupy a very prominent place in the ancient 
 Indian religion, and the Vedas are constantly referring to 
 them. It would take a volume to discuss the character and 
 function of these twin-brethren (such a volume would be 
 something like Dr Myriantheus' book D\e A(;.vins^), but the 
 importance of the factor in the Aryan religion makes it 
 necessary to repeat a little of what is already well known to 
 the students of Indian religion and comjiarative theology. 
 
 The A^vins, or twin-horsemen, are mentionerl more than 
 400 times in the Rig-Veda, and arc celebrated in more than 
 50 complete hymns, as well i\s in parts of others. Their 
 name A^vinau {Equines in the dual), refers to a connection 
 between themselves and horses. One strand of the myth is 
 that they were born from horse parentage (gods transformed 
 into horses), for which the parallel is the swan parentage of 
 Castor and Pollux. As they are also described as children of 
 the Sky-g(jd, for which we have the Dioscuric parallel, and 
 the Children of Tilo among the Baronga, it is probable that 
 the horses in question are cult animals connected with the 
 worship of the Sky, in the Siime way lus the w.MxIp.ck.iN in 
 early Greek anil Roman religion. 
 
 In the Rig-Veda the twins are no longer thought of a-s The iwins 
 horses and are commonly horse-drivers, which must not be \^^^^' 
 confused with horse riding: the horse is driven in a chariot, 
 and the A(,vins are regarded as the inventors of the yoke 
 
 ' l>it Aiiiiii wler Aritchrn Ditiikurfn, Miinelii-n. 1H76, 
 
188 TWIN- FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA [CH. 
 
 which controls their steeds. The Greek parallel for this is 
 ' horee-taniing Castor' of Homer, where again we are not to 
 think of the horse as tamed for riding The Dioscuri who 
 ride on horses, as Castor and Pollux at the battle of the Lake 
 Regillus, are a later stage of development. The A(;vins, 
 without the name, and perhaps without the horses, may 
 go back to pre-Vedic days : it is better to think of them 
 simply as the great Twin-Brethren, without special names or 
 descriptions in the first instance. 
 Called In the Vedic literature they are also called by the name 
 
 " '^''' Nasatiyu, the meaning of which is uncertain : no etymology 
 that hiis been suggested for the name is entirely satisfactory : 
 the name must be kept in mind, not only because it is one 
 of the terms by which we recogni.se the A^vins in the Vedic 
 literature, and define their activities, but because the name 
 itself appears to be persistent. A statement has recently 
 been circulated that the Nasatiya with other Indian deities 
 have been found in the Hittite tablets. If this should turn 
 out to be correct, it will be a fact of the first importance in 
 determining the connection between Indian and Greek 
 ■ religious ideas. 
 
 Amongst the interpretations which have been given to 
 the word Nasatiya, one makes it practically equivalent with 
 the Greek Starrjp' (saviour). Whether this be coiTect or 
 not', it is certain that the twin-brethren came to be regarded 
 
 ' Brunnhofer, Von Aral bin ziir Gangn, p. 99, the root beiiiH nas a.s in 
 Gothic nasjan, to save, to help. 
 
 ' Hrunnhofer rejects peremptorily the suggestion that the twins were 
 called Nasatiya because they liad long noses! But perhaps he may be wrong 
 in this. We have traced the twins back to a bird ancestry in ever so many 
 places, and sometimes we have come across the trai)iti(<nal form aa they pass 
 from birds to men. For example, among the Dacotahs, the thunder-bird 
 which was killed had <i face like a man, with a nose like an eiiflle'ii liill. 
 There is then, nothing impossible in the supposition that between the 
 bird-twin and the human-twin, a bird-man shoiUd have occurred, in which 
 case the woid Nasatiya Iwcomes intelligible. The confirmation of this 
 explanation from the artistic side may be seen in the representation of the 
 Chinese Thunder-god to which we have already alluded (see p. 30) as 
 having wings, claws and lieak attaolied to a human form. The Nasatiya 
 might be thus Beak-men. For Sanskrit confirmation sec Additional Notes 
 at the end of this volume. 
 
XVIl] TWIN-FRAR IN ANCIENT INIJIA 1 89 
 
 iis the typical saviours of persons in (iis;ibility and in distress. The 
 The list of their benevolences is long and definite ; they have Saviour«! 
 an especial interest in the blind, whose eyes they open, in 
 the infertile or sexually disabled, in the traveller and the 
 SJiilor ; they i)resido over the nuptial chamber, supply the 
 agriculturist with rain, teach him the use of the plough, and 
 so on. 
 
 We should compare the language of the Homeric Hymns 
 (XXXIII. It)): 
 
 WKvxbptiiv Tt vtC/y Srt Tt awipx^^t*' aeXXoi 
 Xti/iipiai «ord roiroi' d/ieiXixi»'. 
 
 The question iis to what natural powers of phenomena 
 are represented by the A(;vins has met with very various 
 solutions : the difficulty of the determination arises from 
 not putting the emphasis on the fundamental feature of the 
 cult which necessarily underlies later developments. It is 
 certain from the Vedas that the A^-vins are twins, and we 
 know enough about twin-cults by this time to see how the 
 peculiarities of the great Twin-Brethren ran be derived from 
 or associated with the primal Fear. 
 
 We should, further, be on our guard against the natural 
 desire to find one consistent explanation of everything that 
 might be called A^vinism ; what we have before us is a 
 number of evolutionary strands tangled up together, a number 
 of overlapping strata of belief. That the Twins arc Sky- 
 children is cerUiin; the Vedas say so clearly in a nuudier 
 of places : but there is no consensus, either in the Vedic 
 hymns, or in the minds of their jnterprctere, as to what will 
 follow from their relation to the Sky. Could they be, for The Twin* 
 example, the Sun and Moon; or the morning and evening ^^"^^7' 
 twiliehts or the constellation which in later days is definitely evening 
 named after them, or are they the morning and evening ..r morn 
 stars? If there is one solution which must be adopted lo J,".J„*"^ 
 the exclusion of the others, it is the latter: for (1) it is »un.? 
 characteristic of primitive man to reganl the morning and 
 evening sUir ivs two different sUvrs, exactly e<|ual and similar, 
 anil therefore to be described ius twins, and even the (ireeks 
 
190 TWIN-FEAR IN ANCIENT INDIA [CH. XVII 
 
 only came slowly to realise that they were the same star; 
 (2) the coniparison of the Indian myths with the Lettish 
 traditions and folk-songs, shows, as Mannhardt pniinted out, 
 the same twin-brethren or their horses identified with the 
 morning and the evening stars. This means that when 
 the twins became stars, they were in the first instance 
 known as Hesper and Phosphor, and of these one was up 
 and the other down at the same time, whicii furnished the 
 Greeks with the material for their story of the alternate 
 immortality of Castor and Pollux. The supposition explains 
 at once why the twins are always invoked at the Dawn, and 
 why they are so closely connected with the maiden Surya, 
 who is either the Sun, or the daughter of the Sun. Here 
 again the Greek parallel comes to our aid ; for Castor and 
 Pollux have also a female figure associated with them, their 
 sister Helena: and in the Lettish myths, the Sons of God 
 (diva deli) ride on their horses to assist the daughter of the 
 Sun. Folk-lore will furnish us with other stories of the 
 Twin-Brethren, who rescue the imprisoned maiden ; all these 
 stories go back into a very primitive stratum of the twin-cult 
 ;is known to our Indo-Germanic ancestors. 
 Red the The colour of the Ayvins is red, and this means probably 
 
 of tli'c for the Vedic literature the red of the dawn, though it may 
 Ai;vins. have regard also to the colour of the lightning, seeing that, 
 like Indra, the twins are rain-makers. For the former inter- 
 pretation we have the known connection of the A(;vins with 
 morning and evening light ; in this connection, Myriantheus 
 has pointed out' that the A^'viiis sometimes drive a team of 
 gray asses, instead of their regular red or white steeds, 
 the reference being to the gray of the early morning light. 
 The suggestion is ingenious, and while not ijuite outside 
 doubt, is extremely probable. We shall find a parallel for 
 it, later on, in the Acts of Thomas. 
 
 ' I.e. p. 74. ' Aus dein Grauen des Morgens, welche.s der Rewohnlichen 
 Fiirbe dcs Eseh entspricht, hat sich auch ohne Zweifel die Vorstellung 
 (,'ebildet das.s dcr Wagen der Apvins von eineoi oder zwci Escln gezogen wird.' 
 
CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 TIIK TWIN-CULT IN CENTRAL ASIA MINOR 
 
 We have been discussing Indian deities, and may now 
 remind ourselves that some of these, such as Mithra, are 
 common both to Persia and India : and if the Vedas give 
 such prominence to the A(,-vin3, the Persian religion also had ThoTwina 
 its ufpino i/aviiio, the two youths, the A(,-pius. The obser- '" '"'*■ 
 vation is important for the twins ought to appear in Persia 
 if we are really dealing with the religion of our Aryan 
 ancestors : if the twin-cult is as primitive <is we suppose, it 
 cannot bo studied upon the isolated soil of IndiiL 
 
 Can we trace it on its westward way from the frontiers 
 of Persia and India > It is at this point that Winckler's 
 discovery of Aryan deities (including the Twins) amongst 
 the Hittite tablets, becomes so important. The imjxirtance ThoTwins 
 ot the discovery was emphasized in the Expository Times for ii".'. .* 
 August 1!)1() in the sUitement that ' the supreme surprise of tablets, 
 the Boghaz Koi tablets (is) that the royal house of .Mitanni 
 in the time of Hatti dominalion, invtikeil gods who have 
 familiar Aryan nanu's, Iniira, Mithni, Varuna, and the A^vin 
 Twins.' 
 
 The etiitor wius (pioting from a statement made by 
 Hogarth at the WinnijM/g meeting of the British Association 
 in 1901). It was tjuite right to express ' supreme surprise.' 
 The quotation might have been a little longer with advan- 
 tage. From Hogarth we learn that Winckler ' clearly stal«!S 
 his belief that the iMitarini were in the mass ethnically kin 
 to the Hatti, worshipping the .same supreme gixl Teshup. 
 
192 TWIN-CULT IN CENTRAL ASIA MINOR [CH. 
 
 Nor is he disturbed in this belief by what is perhaps the 
 most startling of the revelations made by the Boghaz Koi 
 tablets etc.' (ut supra). 
 
 The Aryan gods in question appear as the sponsors in 
 
 treaties made between Subbiluliunia and Mattiuaza, the son 
 
 Aryan of Tushratta, the king of Mitanni'. They appear along with 
 
 amonest ^^^ gods of Mitanni, of whom Teshub is the supreme, and the 
 
 the Hairi. population for whom these gods are responsible when oaths 
 
 are taken, are called Harri, lying to the east and north of 
 
 the kingdom of Mitanni. Winckler boldly claims these 
 
 Harri as Aryans, and justifies his efjuivalence by the Achae- 
 
 menid Inscriptions, where the Aryans appear ;is Har-ri-ja. 
 
 The Mitanni lie in Mesopotamia, and a people in alliance 
 with them on the north and east would occupy Armenia, 
 including perhaps the city of Malatiya and the plain of 
 Harput. This, then, is the region in which the Aryan 
 people were still united and powerful, in the time of the 
 supremacy of the Hittites. If Winckler can maintain these 
 positions, we shall have begun to build the ethnological 
 bridge between our own European ancestors, and their 
 . cognates in Persia and India. And there seems little doubt 
 that the Aryan deities have actually been found. 
 Are the There is another direction in which the result is im- 
 
 twin^s*" portant : it makes it easier for us to recognise the Aryan 
 Aryan? twins and the Aryan people in the complex population and 
 ancestry of the city of Edessa. We shall probably be able 
 to show that they worshipped the morning and evening stars 
 as assessors of the Sun in Ede.ssa, down to the very time of 
 the conversion of Edessa to Christianity and even later. If 
 so, we have in evidence twins of the Indian type in the 
 religion of that city, unless it can be shown that there are 
 Semitic twins of the very same type. It is practically at 
 this point that the difficulty will arise : the Edessan twins 
 are named Monim and Aziz, and it can be shown that both 
 of these are Arab names. So far jis the names go, the 
 evidence is against the belief that the E<lessan twins are 
 
 ' See Winckler, ilDOG. nr. 35, and id. Orientalifche Lit.-Zeitung for 
 .luly, 1910. 
 
XVIuJ TWIN-CULT IN CKNTKAL ASIA MlNoK 193 
 
 Aryan. The aigument is not final, and wc leave the matter 
 at this point iiiideciiii'd. 
 
 The history of the Abgar dynasty h.us yet to be un- 
 ravelled. On the one hand there is a steady affirmation 
 on the part of the citizens, as represented in the Syriac 
 literature, that Edessa is Parthian ; on the other hand the 
 name Abgar ami some other names associateil with the 
 dynasty are suspiciously transjordanic and Nabataean. As 
 far as I have yet gone with the problem, it appears to me 
 that a Nabiitaean prince succeeded to the Edessjin kingrlom, 
 without altogether displacing a previous Parthian rule : 
 this might easily have happened if, for example, a Nabataean 
 ruler had come in by marriage. The case would be some- 
 thing like the connection of Aretas with Herod by the 
 marriage of the daughter of the fonner. In this way we 
 might (iccount for the Semitic character of the names of the 
 Ekk'ssan twins'. 
 
 The (juestion of the Edessan twins is, therefore, one that 
 requires closer study. It belongs, in part, to the Prolego- 
 mena to the Apocri/phal Acts of Thomas, which we shall 
 show to have been thoroughly Dioscurizcd, and probably 
 by an Ede-ssan hand. 
 
 Meanwhile the cast? sta,nds thus: E<le.'»a, which is The Twins 
 probably not far removed from the centre of the Mitanni i"|,per 
 government, shows conclusive evidence that a twin-cult Kuphra- 
 
 to.i. 
 
 existed there ; to the north and east, the same side of the 
 Euphrates, lay, if Winckler is correct, the Aryan allies of 
 the Mitanni, also worshippers of twins. Siip|)<)se we go 
 a little further to the north, and follow the upjter arm of 
 the Euphrates till we come to the canon, just IhjIow the 
 modern city of Egin, we find at the dangerous spot where 
 the river enters the canon, a sanctuary of the Twins. This 
 makes three cases of twin-worship, two certain and the other 
 probable, placed right across the centre of Asia Minor: the 
 combination of the evidence is certainly striking. With 
 regard to the sanctuary at the Egin nipids, we have at the 
 present day, only a ruined chapel of 8. C'osmas and S. Damian. 
 
 ■ Src (urtluT nii tlii9 innttcr in .Xililitiuiial NoUra. 
 K. B. 13 
 
194 TWIN-CULT IN CENTRAL ASIA MINOR [cH. XVIIT 
 
 This I discovered in 1903 when I was preparing to navigate 
 the canon in question on a raft (kellik) floated on goatskins 
 in the manner that can be seen on the Assyrian monuments. 
 Cosmas and Damian are certainly twins, and they must be 
 recognised as discharging the usual functions of twins towards 
 those who navigate the rapids. There is not the least doubt 
 that they have displaced an earlier pair of twins at the point 
 in question : the navigation of the Euphrates and its dangers, 
 are not things of yesterday: the kelliks came down the 
 canon before Cosmas and Damian were thought of: and 
 the custom of prayer to guardian spirits, or of placating 
 river spirits in dangerous places, is known all over the world. 
 The spirits who were appealed to, or appeased at the canon 
 of the Euphi-ates, are seen, by the substitute which the 
 Church offered for them, to have been the Heavenly Twins. 
 These must have had a strong hold on the populations of 
 Asia Minor. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 WHY DID TllK TWINS (iO TO SEA ? 
 
 In the previous chapter we were examining the tnices of 
 twin-cult in ancient times for the central pirt of Asia Minor 
 and for Northern Mesopotamia, and we found reason to 
 believe that twin-worship prevailed in the district of Kdessji, 
 perhaps in the district of Malatiya (Melitenc) <ind Harpoot, 
 and on the upper branch of the Kuphrates. These three 
 suggestions provoke further enquiries in three directions : 
 the Edessan cult requires to be re-stated as regards the 
 extent to which it is involved in the Acts of Thomas, or to 
 which it has parallels in early Arabian or Palestinian religion; 
 the supposed Aryan settlement in Armenia suggests that 
 we now follow the Aryans westward into Kurope ; and the 
 discovery of the twins acting as river-siiints in the very heart 
 of the country, raises the question as to how they came to be 
 sea-saints, having presumably been river-saints in the first 
 instance. Which of these roads of enquiry shall we take < 
 they are all open, and all interesting : in each case the results 
 will be important, whether we start for Lithuania, for Central 
 Arabia or for the sea. As, however, the Edessan problem 
 opens up some of the niost important questions in religious 
 tniditiori, it will perhaps be b«,-tter to leave that for a latt-r 
 investigation; and, in the same way, the Lettish folk-songs, 
 which supply a parallel with Ede.ssji, in that the tnulition 
 of both districts involves the worship of the mornmg and 
 evening star, considere<l as twins, may be set on one side for 
 a little while. We will, therefore, proceeil with the thin! 
 point, the apjxarance of the twins lus river-saints on the 
 
 I. ■»-•-• 
 
196 WHY DID THE TWINS GO TO SEA? [CH. 
 
 Euphrates and the consequences which flow from that 
 observation'. 
 Twins are We will begin with the observation that the twins were 
 Saints River-Saints before they were Sea-Saints. One advantage 
 which accnies from having detected the primitive taboo 
 which underlies Dioscurism, is that we can rapidly reach 
 conclusions which, otherwise, might recjuire much collecting 
 and sifting of evidence. For example, when we observe that 
 in Graeco-Roman times, the Twins were the patrons of sea- 
 faring men, and wish to know whether this is one of their 
 Twins primitive characteristics, the taboo tells us at once that it 
 land"^ had originally nothing to do with the Sea, and that, there- 
 taboo, fore, the protection of sailors cannot be its first intention, a 
 result which would be borne out by the study of Greek 
 Literature, and might, indeed, have been derived from it. 
 Moreover, since the twin-cult is based on elementary fears in 
 connection with the propagation of the species, it is only after 
 long reflection on the part of our distant ancestors that the 
 Twins come to be regarded as human benefactors and 
 saviours ; and since man travels by land for ages before he 
 ■ ventures on the sea (illi robur et aes triplex) the Dioscuri 
 will be protectors of land travellers before they become the 
 patron saints of sailors, and since, when man does venture on 
 the water, he begins with river transport before he ventures 
 on the great deep, the Twins must be river-saints before 
 they become sea-saints. All of this lies in the nature of the 
 case, and does not need, or hardly needs, to be reinforced by 
 Twins on literary investigations or archaeological research. If, for 
 example, a votive altar is found in Notre-Dame at Paris with 
 a dedication from the boatmen on the Seine, accompanied by 
 images of Castor and Pollux, we have no reason to suppose 
 that this Cult of the Twins, which we recognise to exist in 
 (laul, has moved up the river from Havre de Grace; it is 
 much more likely to be on its way downstream : and in the 
 
 ' In what follows I make use of a paper read before the Oxford Congress 
 of Religions in 1908, and published in the Contemporary lieiiew in 1909; for 
 l)ermission to make use of this paper, as in similar cases, I am indebted to 
 the editorial managers of the magazine. 
 
 the Seine 
 
XIXJ WHY DID THE TWINS GO TO SKA? 197 
 
 same way the cult of the twins on the rapids of the Euphrates »ndon the 
 
 • III 1 1 L u- Euphra- 
 
 is, of necessity, a much older cult than the same worship ^^^ 
 
 piiid by Tyrian or Sidonian voyagers in the Mediterranean. 
 So the river-saints come first, because the river-navigation 
 comes first, and beaiuse river-dangers precede sea-perils 
 experimentally. If it should be objected that some of the 
 lowest specimens of humanity, say in Polynesia, are sea- 
 going people, and sj)end all their time on the sea, the 
 answer is easy; they did not originally belong to those 
 islands or seas, where we find them, but thty and their ships 
 have made an easterly migration from India or the Malay 
 Peninsula, and they learned ship-building and navigation 
 on the continent, which brings us back to the po.sitiun from 
 which we started. 
 
 The twins, then, preside i.ver the dangers of river- 
 navigation, whether of very dangerous waters, like the 
 Euphrates, or of less perilous streams, like the Seine ; we 
 need not hesitate to believe that they were once in evidence 
 on the Tiber, not indeed under the names of Castor and and on the 
 Pollux, which are probably due to Greek influence upon 
 neighbouring I.-iliii peoples, but under the names of Romulus 
 (Romus) and Remus, which we know to belong to the earliest 
 civilization on the banks of the river; and we shall show 
 presently that Romulus and Remus not only presided over 
 their home waters, but that they actually put to sea and 
 contended there for naval supremacy with C!usU)r and Pollux. 
 
 What is wanted, then, is a laying-down of the general 
 lines on which the Heavenly Twins arrived, by long evolution, 
 at their final position among the chief benefjicUirs of the 
 human race, and on those genenil lines, the filling-in of the 
 various factors of the evidence which go to make up a 
 complete demonstration : for, happily, thanks to the |)ersi.s- 
 tence of savage life on the one hanil. and of ecclesiastically 
 modified jKVganism on the other, we have almost all the links 
 in the evolutionary chain before us. and we know what to 
 look for in countries and amongst jieoples where, at first 
 sight, the evidence has. until now, been deficient or oU-*cured. 
 
 If, for .xaniple, wf start Irom the observation that the 
 
 Tiber. 
 
198 
 
 WHY DID THE TWINS GO TO SEA? 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Twins in 
 Western 
 Palestine 
 
 aa Sons 
 of Light- 
 ning. 
 
 Greeks regard Twins as the children of Zeus, the sky-god, 
 and the Baronga tribe as the children of Tilo (the sky), and 
 the ancient Peruvians as children of the Thunder, we have 
 to examine what is known about the Sky-god and the 
 Thunder-god, and we soon find out that for the Mediterranean 
 and middle-European peoples, the Thunder-god is also an 
 Oak-god. This leads on to the registration of all the forms 
 of the cult of the Oak-god, whether ancient or modern, and 
 the correlation of those cults with the worship of the 
 Thunder: for it is the two assessors of the Oak-god or 
 Thunder-god that are going to take charge of our ships for 
 us, and protect our sailors from the dangers of the streams, 
 the shallows, or the deep : the dangers must also be classified, 
 because they will make the places of worship of the Twins, 
 considered as human helpers and saviours. Let us take up 
 again an instance, to which we drew attention in a previous 
 chapter. 
 
 In the Survey-map of Western Palestine, we shall find 
 in the neighbourhood of Jaffa, a place whose modem name 
 is Ibn Abraq or Ibraq, lying somewhere to the east from 
 Jaffa, at a distance of about four or five miles, a little to the 
 north of the road that runs from Jaffa to Jerusalem. The 
 name means Son of Lightnings ; our attention is attracted, 
 we should have expected Sons of the Lightning. On turning 
 to the Book of Joshua (xix. 45), we find a list of places in 
 the tribe of Dan, and amongst them, Jehud and Kne-Baroq, 
 and Gath-Rimmon. Here we have the desired plural forma- 
 tion. Sons of Lightning, and curiously the thunder-god, as 
 Rimnion, is himself in the neighbourhood. 
 
 We turn in the next place to the great inscription of 
 Sennacherib, and we find (col. ii. 6(1) the same name Bana- 
 ai-bar-qa in connection with Joppa and Beth-Dagon. So 
 here again we have the same plunil formation, and the three 
 witnesses prove that there was a town in western Palestine 
 named after the Heavenly Twins. It does not appear to be 
 in any sense a Greek name or a later importation or modern 
 translation : it is as old as the literature and the monuments 
 can make it : and its form is exactly parallel to the term 
 
XIX] WHY DID THK TWINS CO TO SEA? 199 
 
 Boanerges, by which Jesus desi^^iiated two ot' his most 
 active and enthusiastic disciples. We shall be able to p<jint 
 out other cases of Palestinian Dioscurism, and it will become 
 clear in the course of the investigation that the Heavenly 
 Twins were worshipped in Palestine from the earliest times, 
 and that the cult prevailed in some form or tradition down 
 to the Christian era, and that we must not emphasize 
 Jewish monotheism so strongly as to obscure this fact. 
 
 Returning to the Sons of the Lightning, or Dioscuri, Paleaiine 
 iis we may now call them, we a.sk what they are doing in the '^'".'"JJ^ 
 place where we found them; for, to judge from analog}-, they Ki»ioni. 
 should have been rendering .some service. The answer inusi 
 surely be connected .with the harbour of Jaffa and its 
 dangers. If we move the modern village of Ibn Abra<j a 
 little further north, we are on the high ground overlooking 
 the harbour of Jaffa, and we, therefore, conjecture that the 
 place was either a landmark or a signal-sUtion for sadors 
 leaving or approaching Jaffa. The Twins are there bea»\Kse 
 the danger is there, as anyone knows who has tried to land 
 at Jaffa in rough weather. It is a wuse like Strabo describes 
 when he tells us of the erection of the Pharos at Alexan<lria, Twins pre- 
 and its dedication to the twms : ' for as the coast on eith.r j^^ 
 side is low and without harbours, with reefs and shallows, ^^•^^ 
 an elevated and conspicuous mark was required to enable »ndn». 
 navigators coming in from the open sea to direct their course 
 exactly to the entrance to the harbour'.' 
 
 Now let us go a step further; if we are right that the 
 Bne-Baraq are the Dioscuri, what shall we say of the city 
 Barca in N. Africa, one of the great cities of the Libyan 
 PenUpolis? It is sometimes said that this is a Libyan name, Twiiw in 
 but this will not do, be&iusi' we have it as a cognomen of '^'''y'• 
 Hair.ilcar the Carthaginian, on whom they conferred the 
 title Barciis, apparently because of his rapid action in war, 
 and this title must be Punic, i.e. Semitic ; we have a some- 
 what sinular ciuse in the hen> Baraq in th.' B.M)k of Judges. 
 Moreover, the town "f Barc-.lona in .Spain wius ..riginally 
 
 • Strnbo. xvii. I. 6. 
 
200 WHY DID THE TWINS GO TO SEA? [cH. 
 
 called Barkinon, and Ausoniiis says' that Barcelona was an 
 original Punic colony: the name of the city Barca appears 
 also in the Syriac lists of the bishops of the Nicene Council, 
 spelt Barqes ( cv».n -^-i). from which it is clear that the word 
 is derived from the lightning-. 
 
 So we conjecture that Barca has something to do with 
 the Lightning, and that it may be compared with the Bne 
 Baraq. Is there any evidence that would naturally connect 
 Protecting Barca with the Twins ? What should the Twins do there ? 
 from the The answer is, the great Syrtis. Both Cyrene and its colony 
 Syrtis. Barca honoured the Dioscuri, and had a sufficient local reason 
 for doing so, Barca even more than Cyrene. Take up a coin 
 of Cyrene, you will find, on one side of it, the silphium plant, 
 which was sacred to the Twins : take a coin of Barca, and 
 you will probably find on one side of it the head of Jupiter 
 Ammon, and on the other the silphium plant. Then turn to 
 Pausanias' and read how the Dioscuri came from Cyrene to 
 Sparta* in search of hospitality which was refused them by 
 Phormio who occupied their ancient dwelling, and how ne.xt 
 morning the daughter of Phormio had disappeared, and on 
 the table in her room there stood a silphium plant to show 
 who were the visitors that had carried her off, and to 
 intimate that people should not be unmindful to entertain 
 strangers, lest they should fail to entertain the Dioscuri 
 themselves. 
 
 So there can be no doubt that the Cyrenaica (and Barca 
 in particular) was under the protection of the Dioscuri, and 
 the reason for this em})hasis upon the protectors of the 
 Dorians must surely be the Syrtis, just as at Jaffa it is the 
 ugly reef of rocks outside the town, and at Egin on the 
 Upper Euphrates it is the broken water of the rapids. 
 
 From these observations we conclude generally that, 
 since the Twins preside over navigation, on shore as well as 
 at sea, we shall expect them to have charge of (a) signalling 
 
 ' Ep. XXIV. 68, 69, me Punica laedet Baicino. 
 
 *■' B. H. Cowper, Analecta S'iraetia, 7. 
 
 » tr. Frazer, in. 16. 2, 3. 
 
 ' Cyrene was, on the Greek side, a Dorian colony. 
 
XIX] WHY DID THK TWINS GO TO SKA? 'JOl 
 
 Stations and landmarks ; (6) lighthouses ; (c) dangerous Twins 
 straits and harbours difficult of access; (</) sandbanks etc.: P™*"*" 
 i.e. we should look tor them in connexion with all such liarbourii, 
 situations as would in modern times be occupied by light- s1„,iiowh 
 hou.ses and landmarks, with a view to the avoidance of *'*-'• 
 danger and the reduction of the risks of navigation. Let us 
 see whether this generalisation can be confirmed. 
 
 We understand from Strabo' that the Pharos at Alex- 
 andria had an inscription that Sostratus the Knidian the 
 son of Dexiphanes had erected it to the Saviour-gods on 
 behalf of those who made sea-voyages' : here we have the 
 definite statement that the Pharos w;i3 under the care of the 
 Dioscuri. It would be eiisy to show parallel crises to this ; 
 for instance, the ciistle of S. Elmo at Naples, and a similar ni Malu, 
 one at Malta may be put in the same category : for S. Elmo "P ^"^ 
 is one of the residuary legatees of the Dioscuri, and probably 
 the cult of S. Cyrus and S. John at Abukir (i.e. father Cyrus) .\lmkir, 
 is due to a displacement of the Dioscuri at another point of " ' 
 the Egyptian sea-board : a pretty case of dedicjition to the 
 Twins by a harbour-master was found at Kreusis in Boeotia'. and in 
 The Twins were evidently his natural jmtrons. °*° '* 
 
 I have shown in Cull of the Heavenly Tivins' that the 
 
 channel of the Bosjwrus for sailors going up or down the and on 
 
 strait was marked on either side by shrines of S. Michael, '*?!i' ^o" 
 
 . "' "'* Holl- 
 
 and since the tradition connected with these shrines suggests' porus, 
 
 that Michael had on a certain occasion fought with Amykus, 
 
 the king of the Bebryces, which is really the business of 
 
 Pollux the Argonaut, we may be sure that the shrines of 
 
 Michael on the Bosporus, are connected with early shrines of 
 
 the Twins': the real danger, however, for timiil Mediterranean 
 
 ' XVII. 10. 
 
 ^iJarpaTot Kftdioi Silttpafovt Otoif 
 
 LbfTiiptfir vwrp Tufr rXoi^OfUrup. 
 ' C. I. (i. VII. 1S26. quoted b> Jaisic in l)ie Itwsknrrn (i/« lirlUr ;iir Sff. 
 p. U. 
 
 * p. 132. 
 
 * The tradition \» prcncrvctl hy Jolin MuUla.H, Clinm. iv. 7H, and in 
 Sozomen (H. K. 11.3). 
 
 * The interesting cane o( ll>r •liiplaceiiient of tlio Twidh in llalv by 
 
202 WHY DID THK TWINS (JO TO SEA ? [cH. 
 
 and in the sailors going to the Eiixine, was the supposed Symplegades, 
 
 gea. 'iif^ it is interesting to note that when Ovid pronounces a 
 
 benediction on voyaging friends, one of whom is about to pass 
 
 the Symplegades, while the other was leaving Tomi for the 
 
 north, he commends them to the Dioscuri'. 
 
 It is reasonable to suppose that the heroes who had 
 
 sailed to Colchis with the Argonauts, would not desert 
 
 shipmen on entering the Euxine after protecting them 
 
 through the preliminary strait. As a matter of fact, the 
 
 Twins are at home everywhere in the Black Sea. 
 
 Twins in Let US come a little nearer home: think of the dangere 
 
 Channel, of the British Channel, which culminate in the Goodwin 
 
 Sands, 'a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcases 
 
 of many a tall ship lie buried.' The county of Kent, 
 
 surrounded as it is on three sides by the sea, and marked by 
 
 numerous points of danger, must have been a natural ground 
 
 especially for the development of Dioscuric ideas by sailors. Suppose 
 
 of Kent. ^ we test this by an examination of the saints who were 
 
 honoured in the Kentish churches before the Reformation. 
 
 We can do this fairly well by means of Hussey's Testamenta 
 
 Cantiarui which consists of extracts from Kentish Wills 
 
 relating to Church Building and Topography. 
 
 The four saints who are most in demand, ;us judged by 
 the benefactions for the maintenance of candles at their 
 altars and the like, are Nicholas, Erasmus, Closmas and 
 Damian, Crispin and Crispian. Nicholas is supposed to be 
 the substitute for Zeus-Foseidonios to whom sailors prayed 
 at Myra : he is a historical character : Erasmus is a substitute 
 for the Heavenly Twins, and may, conceivably, be a real 
 person, though we have something further to .say on this: 
 
 S. Micbtiel was noted during the last grcnt eruption of Vesuvius, when the 
 Church of S. Michael, which had formerly been a sanctuary of Castor and 
 Pollux, was overwhelmed. 
 
 ' Vos quoque, Tyndaridae, quos haec colit insula, fratres, 
 
 Mite precor duplioi numen adcsse viae! 
 
 Altera namque parat Symplegailas ire per artas, 
 
 Scindcre Bistonias altera puppis aquas. 
 
 Vos facite, ut ventos, loca cum diversa petanius. 
 
 Ilia suos babcat, nee minus ilia sues. Ovid, Tristia, w. iH — -50. 
 
XIX] WHY I>II) THK TWINS GO TO SKA ? 'JO.'J 
 
 the other two groups .we the Twins, thinly disguised, and 
 have no claim to real human existence'. 
 
 When we examine the Kent churches and their benefac- 
 tions in the period referred to, we find that Nicholas has 
 22 churches dedicated to him, and that he is mentioned in 
 benefivctions 133 times. Era-smus, who seems to have been 
 very popular in east Kent, has no churches dedicated to him, 
 but he is mentioned in 57 benefactions. Nicholas is evi- 
 dently the older saint, but Krasmus runs him hard in 
 popularity. Then we have Cosmkus and Damian, who have 
 two churches dedicated to them, and an occasional altar 
 (five benefactions noted), while for Crispin-Crispian there 
 are no churches dedicated (perhaps because they are late- 
 comers), but several cases of altars, images, and lights. 
 
 Now it is particularly interesting in this connection to Twins at 
 take the case of the harbour of Sandwich, which decayed ' '" *"" 
 through the encroachment of the Gootiwin Sands, and was 
 the nearest place of imjjortance to that great danger of 
 Channel navigation. 
 
 In Sandwich there was a Carmelite Friary, dedicated to 
 Our Lady of Mt Carmel, and in the church wius an altar of 
 S. Crispin and S. Crispian : in the sjime Church was an altar 
 of S. Cosmas and S. Damian. 
 
 So here were the twins, duplicated, and working ilouble 
 tides. There seems go<id reason fur referring this activity to 
 the neighbouring Syrtis'. 
 
 The English Channel, then, is under the care of the 
 Heavenly Twins, the Goodwin Sands being in thi.s respect 
 piimllel to the Great African Syrtis, and to the marine 
 difficulties at Jatfa or at the entrance to the Bosporus. 
 
 > For these saints, see Cult, pp. 73. 96. 
 
 ' Tnt. Cant. p. 293. 
 
 •To the liRht of S. Cosmiui »nd S. Dsniinn in llic Church of ihr 
 Carmelite Friars, 4 lbs. of wax. W. Harrison of S l"eU>r«. I4M9. 
 
 To the lipht of 8. Cosmas and S. Daniian in Ihr Church of the 
 Carmelite Friars, a lb. of wai. To the Friarn VJOJ u> nli-brale for my mul. 
 Wm Tanner of the I'arish of H. I'eter. M93, 
 
 LiRht of S. Crispin and S. Crispianus in the Church of the Friar* 
 Carmelite. 6 lbs. of wax. Wni Mounlford Conlincr of .S. I'etrr'i Parith, 
 1479.' 
 
204 WHY DIU THE TWINS GO TO SEA ? [CH. XIX 
 
 Enough has been said to show that the T*ins are the 
 constant protectors of travellers by land or water, by river or 
 sea. They went to sea, because they had been in the habit 
 of navigating the rivers that ttow into the sea. The next 
 step will be to enquire why they appear in the navigation of 
 rivers. 
 
CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE TWINS AND THK ORUJIN OF NAVUiATloN 
 
 In the t'ort'giiing chapter it was shown that the Heavenly TheTwins 
 Twins had accompanied Siiilors into all places of difficulty'*'™"'*"' 
 and danger in which they could be found, and, in their 'ion. 
 general character of Saviour-gods, had undertaken to light 
 the entrance to harbours, to direct the navigation of dangerous 
 channels, to divert the lightning, and to still the storm. 
 They did this as an evolved art, which was found in its 
 simpler form in shallow waters and in running streams. 
 And if we are to trace the cult to its origin, we have to 
 leave the deep and coast along the shore, to leave the shore 
 and ascend the rivers. To take a single instiince, it was 
 stated that Koniulus and Remus had come down the Tiber, 
 and had become protectors of .sjiilors in the Medilernuiean. 
 A few words in explanation of this unexpected phenomenon 
 may be in order. 
 
 It was pointed out in the previous chapter that one of 
 the patron saints of sailors in the Mediterranean was 
 Erasmus. Another is S. Elmo, well known in the Mediter- S. Elmo's 
 ranean, and well known to tnulition, because S. Elmo's fire, 
 which sometimes appears on the masts and yanis of .ships 
 during storms, is the exact continuation of what the Romans 
 recognised as the fire of the Heavenly Twins or of Helen 
 their sister. It was considered in ancient time.s a go<xl omen 
 if the light was double, as indicating the presence of the 
 Dioscuri, while a single discharge wils ominous and was 
 credited to their sister. So that, whatever the origin of his 
 name, S. Elmo became the patron saint of .-tailors in the west 
 of the Mediterranean, in a true Dioscuric succession, and 
 
•20(; TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION [CH. 
 
 disputed the spiritual empire of the sea with Nicholas of 
 Myra, and some lesser worthies. 
 Elmo or Who, then, is S. Elmo ? Is he the same as 8. Erasmus >. 
 
 Erasmo? q^. jg j^g ^ m;isculine substitute for Helena? The difficulty 
 arises that the name of the new patron saint occurs in 
 a variety of forms ; we find him called S. Heremo, S. Hermen, 
 S. Helm, S. Telmo, S. Anselmo, and S. Erasmus. It is not 
 likely that all these names are substitutes for Helena. Some 
 of them can be explained away : for instance, Telnio arises 
 out of Sant-Elmo, by a common error of division. Anselmo 
 is a coiTuption of San Elmo. But there are difficulties in 
 connection with the forms Eremo, Elmo, and Erasmo. 
 
 Dr Karl Jaisle, of Tubingen, who has written a very able 
 dissertation on the relation of the Dioscuri to navigation', 
 examines the evidence of mediaeval writers, and following 
 the lead of the Bollandists, decides that the original was 
 Erasmus, and so puts the electric fire under the care of 
 a famous bishop of the time of Diocletian, who belonged to 
 the neighbourhood of Antioch, but travelled, living or dead, 
 in Italy. He is, however, frank enough to confess, that 
 neither in modern Greek nor in late Latin would the s of 
 Erasmus naturally fall away before m ; and the instances 
 by which he tries to justify the change are not convincing. 
 I propose to show that he is on a wrong track, and that he 
 Rdiuulus should have begun much higher up. As I stated previously. 
 Be** us there is reason to believe that Romulus and Remus did get 
 on the to sea and contend with Castor and Pollux for naval pre- 
 dominance. True that Castor and Pollux were at Ostia as 
 well as at Rome, and might seem to have the control of the 
 Tiber; but then we have S. Reiuo in the Riviera. Now it 
 has been pointed out to me by Mr Karl Walter, of Bordighera, 
 who is engaged in the study of the topography and an- 
 tiquities of S. Remo, that close in the neighbourhood of the 
 city is the hermitage of S. Romolo, situated where it can be 
 a landmark to sailors making for the place, and at a height 
 above the town of more th.an 2500 feet". 
 
 ' Die Dioskiireu als Hetter zur See hei Griechru und Rnmeni mid ihr 
 Fortleben in chriiitlicheit Lefjeitdrit . 
 
 ' See B&eJeker, Guidebook to Northern Italy : 'Country houses and 
 
XX] TWINS AM) THK OIUGI.V OK NAVIGATION 207 
 
 So hi'iv we h;ivu Romulus ami Remus loguthiT'. Mi.ie 
 than this, the ancient name of S. Reino, or of one of its 
 suburbs, was Matuta ; so here is the mysterious MaU-r 
 Matuta- from Rome giving her name to a colony on the 
 Riviera'. 
 
 The explanation which the clergy give of the curious s. Eremo 
 canonisation of one of the Roman Twins is that S. Remo is „' ^'" 
 
 nemo, 
 a mistake for S. Eremo (the holy hermit), and that Romulus 
 
 has nothing to do with him. But this is clearly an evasion, 
 
 for on their own showing, it is Romulus that occupies the 
 
 hermitage ; the suggestion, however, of S. Kremo indicates 
 
 to us where we are to look for the origin of S. Ermo and 
 
 S. Elmo. If we go to Portugal, we tind up the Tagus 
 
 beyond Lisbon, the same saint appearing sis Santarem*. 
 
 All these forms, then, come from an original Remus, ami 
 Erasmus is one more deliberate MKnlitication of the sjime. 
 
 It is the failure U> recogni.se that the Roman Twins went 
 to sea that made the difficulty. Moreover, we see now why 
 S. Elmo belongs so distinctly to the western half of the 
 Mediterranean. If he had really been, in the first instance, 
 S. Enismus, he would, by his Antioch ancestry, have disputed 
 \vith S. Nicholas and othere the control of the I>evant ; but 
 he does not appear to do so. This does not mean that 
 Erasmus himself was a fiction ; we have not discussed that 
 question. Perhaps it may suffice to say in pa.ssing that, as 
 his body is preserved in eleven different places, we have 
 what may be called a cumulative argument for his real 
 existence. 
 
 cburches peep from ancient olive ^ruvca in every ilirecliun, the liiKhcsl bcinx 
 at S. KoiMoln, tu which the few visilorii who remain throughout the Summer 
 resort, in order tu escape fruni the heat.' 
 
 ' The Two are commemumted a.s Sancti Romuli on Oct. 11. 
 
 - CI. AmobiUH, 3, 23, " per nmria (.Mater Matuta) tuti!(.iinia prupHtal oira- 
 nieantibus navi|{ationem " : which iniplie'< that Mater Matuta had function* 
 lo exercise beyond the Tiber. 
 
 ' I cannot tind S. Itemo in ancient itineraries. VintimiRlia, iu< nrit -door 
 neighbour, is .^(hiiim Inlrmtlium, and .Monaco, a little further west, \* 
 V„Tl>,' Htrcili. M.morci. 
 
 ' Which the BollandiKls wiah to make a corruption of S. Irene. It in 
 simply a slinht nuxlilication of Sanio Kcmo. 
 
208 TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION [cH. 
 
 We are indebted to the conservatism of" sailors who keep 
 up ancient customs long after they have disappeared else- 
 where, that we are able to find so many traces of the 
 Heavenly Twins along the coasts of the Mediterranean and 
 the English Channel. 
 
 We are now going to leave the open sea, and with the 
 Twins still on board, jiscend the rivers where the Twins have 
 been shown to be at home. 
 
 One possible explanation of the interest of the Twins in 
 sailors disappears when we take this step. It was natural to 
 suppose that it was the power of the Twins, ;is children of 
 Twins as the Sky-god, to control the weather, that made them, in the 
 Sfti^nts ^'^^^ instance, to be appealed to by those who sail on the 
 stormy seas. In river-navigation the weather counts for 
 very little, and so this explanation is not the real one : it 
 belongs to a later stage of the evolution of the cult. Cosnias 
 and Damian, on the Euphrates, are not weather-saints, they 
 are river-saints: and the tutelary spirits of the sea must find 
 their origin and their function, either in the dangers of 
 elementary navigation, or in the invention of the art, or in 
 both : the weather may be ruled out as an explanation. 
 Twins as Suppose we leave the river for a little while, and think of 
 
 o/'the^" ^^^ Twins as being a part of the religious belief of ])rimitive 
 Sky, the man. In Europe and in Western Asia, the Twins are the 
 the Oak. children of the Sky-god, who is also the Thunder-god. More- 
 over, as Mr A. B. Cook has so convincingly shown in a series 
 of papers in Folk-Lore\ the Sky-god of our ancestors is also 
 the Oak-god. The simplest case of Dioscuric worship is the 
 cult of the Thunder-god and his iissessors, residing in a sacred 
 tree or grove. The suggestions of the connection of the 
 Dioscuri with a sacred tree, or a sacred pillar (the equivalent 
 of a tree), are abundant. Nor is it merely in Greek and 
 Roman antiqtiity that this sacred tree of the Thunder-god 
 and his twin children occurs: we should find it in the 
 Hebrew and Christian Scriptures; in the latter through the 
 term 'Sons of Thunder,' in the former, in actual appearance 
 of the Thunder-god and his two assessors, in connection with 
 
 ' Folk-hore for 1904. 
 
XX] TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION 209 
 
 the sacred oak at Manire. The antiquity of such ideas need 
 not be further emphasized. A more difficult question, how- 
 ever, arises sis to what precedes the Thundor-go<l, as we 
 know him anthropomorphicaiiy in Greek, Roman or He- 
 brew mythology. Is there anything to add to the suggested 
 identities, 
 
 8ky-god = Thunder-god = Oak-gotl, 
 before we come to Zeus with the thunder-bolt, or double axe, 
 or to Thor with his hammer ? 
 
 The first suggestion that comes to us in this direction is Wood- 
 from a passage in Aristophanes', where we are told that there l*<^''*'' »* 
 was a time when Zeus was not, but Woodpecker (SpvoKO- 
 XuTTTi;?, the Oak-tapper) was king. 
 
 Now this is a surprising suggestion ; one would have 
 expected, if a bird-divinity were to ante-date Zeus, that it 
 would be the eagle and not the woodpecker. For the eagle 
 is the right thunder-bird, ,un\ has the bolts in his claws like 
 Zeus himself. 
 
 But if Woodpecker is the original king, he must be the 
 original thunder-binl which docs not at first sight seem 
 likely. 
 
 Moreover, the probloin of hird-cults geniTaliy will he 
 raised, if we have to allow for a woodpecker di.splaced by 
 an eagle, that is for two stages of the cult of Thunder in 
 bird-form, before we come to Zeus and the human form. 
 
 The problem of birtl-cults was raised by Miss Jane 
 Harrison at the Oxford Congress of Religions in 190H, in 
 connection with the splendid .sarcophagus discovered by tht- 
 Italian excavators at Hagia Triada in Crete. On this sarco- xhunder- 
 phagus was represented a worship both of sacred birds, and n„cient 
 of sacred pillars; we have, in fact, the pillars, surmounteil by Crete, 
 a pair of double axes, on which was perched a bird of black 
 colour, ' possibly a pigeon, or, (us Dr Evans suggests, a wood- 
 pecker.' And Miss Harrison pointed out that ' the pillar, as 
 Dr Kvans has clearly shown, and lus is evidmt from the Hagia 
 Triiula sarcophagus, stiinds for a sacred tree.' At this jx»int, 
 however, Mi.s,s Harrison went iustray ; she imagined that the 
 
 ' Ari8toplinncii, Atri, 4H0. 
 
 II. M. U 
 
210 TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION [CH. 
 
 bird and the tree represented the marriage of Heaven and 
 Earth ; for ' if the tree is of the Earth, the bird surely is of the 
 Heaven.' In the bird brooding upon the pillar, she says, ' we 
 have, I think, the primal form of the marriage of Ouranos and 
 Gaia.' Miss Harrison had forgotten those double axes, which 
 represented to the ancient mind the actual thunderbolts of 
 Zeus, identified with stone celts, such as were used for primi- 
 tive axes and hammers. The double axes betray the thunder, 
 and tell us that the tree is a thunder-tree, and the bird is 
 a thunder-bird. But how came the woodpecker, if the Cretan 
 bird was a woodpecker, to be made into a thunder-bird or 
 a sky-bird, and matched with a thunder-oak or a sky-god ? 
 Let us return for a moment to the statement that the wood- 
 pecker preceded Zeus as an object of worship. 
 Zeus was In this connection we have the statement of Suidaa that, 
 
 Wood- on the tomb of Minos-Zeus in Crete, there was an inscription 
 pecker. jjj^t 'Here lies dead Picus, who is also Zeus'.' Picus(n7)«o?) 
 answers to the woodpecker of Aristophanes, and so we are 
 again brought to the conclusion that the primitive Cretans, 
 of whatever race they ultimately were, worshipped a wood- 
 pecker, and, as we have suggested above, the woodpecker as 
 a thunder-bird. 
 
 In order to understand how this belief arose, turn back to 
 our third and fourth chapters, on the Thunder-bird, or the 
 Red Robes of the Dioscun, and to the proofs there given that 
 it was the red-head of the male woodpecker that caused it 
 to be recognised as the incarnation of the thunder-. 
 
 We have now enlarged our series of identities between 
 Sky-god, Thunder-god, and Oak-god, to include the wood- 
 pecker as Thunder-bird. We might also add that it is an 
 axe-bird, or ireXeKi'iv, the axe being the thunder-axe as seen 
 on the Hagia Triada sarcophagus, and elsewhere. The pelican 
 has wrongly inherit(!d this name : it belonged originally to 
 the woodp<3cker. It was the woodjxickers {■neK.eKnvt'i) who 
 
 ' Suidas, ».v. II^KOf (rdaSe kutoi Sanini [/Sa^iXtios] Il^ito! o /tai Zeut. 
 
 - In the Ila^ia Triada suicophai^us, the red-head is wanting. I conjecture 
 that it WHS ori(,'inally painted witli niiniiini, wliich gives no permanent 
 colour. 
 
XX] TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION- 211 
 
 acted as the clever carpenters who hewed out the j,'ates in the 
 City of Cloud-cuckoo-borough in the birds of Aristophanes: 
 the name Axe-bird may represent to us the woodpecker 
 which uses its bill in making holes in trees, or it may be 
 a collocation of the Thunder-bird with the Thunder-axe. All 
 of these conceptions, the Sky-god, the Thunder-go<l, the 
 Lightning-god, the Thunder-oak, the Thunder-bird, the 
 Thunder-axe, precede the anthropomorphic conception which 
 the Greeks call Zeus, and the Latins Jupiter. 
 
 But what has this binl and thunder-cult to do with the 
 Twins ? 
 
 Dr Evans, in describing the Cretan sarcophagus to which Worship 
 we have been alluding, says: 'Amongst the. ..fetish objects jhunder 
 of the cult the principal, in addition to sacred trees and " Bird 
 pillars, was the double axe. An actual scene of worship of in Crete, 
 a pair of double axes... is represented to us in the wonderful 
 painted sarcophagus discovered by the Italian Mission at 
 Hagia Triada. There are seen two double axes — si(/nijicant 
 of a dual cult — between which a priestess pours a libation... 
 the result of the offerings and incantations is visible in the 
 birds — perhaps the sacred black woodpeckers of the Cretan 
 Zeus, settled on the apex of the double axes, and indicating 
 the descent into these... objects of the spirits of the 
 divinities.' 
 
 Observe the words ' a dual cult ' as used of the thunder- 
 axes and thunder-birds, and see how near we are to the 
 Heavenly Twins. The fact is the Twins, who lu-e boys of 
 Zeus, when Zeus is in her man form, are naturally a pair of 
 woo<lpeckers or other birds when Zeus is in the form of the 
 thimder-bird. 
 
 The connection between the Twins and the woodpecker Wood- 
 conies out clearly enough in the old Roman mythology, ^j^" '" 
 First of all, we have the legentl that Komulus .ind Kcnius ll"n>»n 
 
 ... Mm 
 
 were suckled by a she-wolf, and then the not so familiar u^Uu> 
 legend that the wolf was seconded in its maternal care by '" ""• 
 a woodjiecker. So Plutarch tells us in his account of the 
 birth and fortunes of Romulus, to wit, that the wiHK![M>ckcr 
 \ised to open the mouths of the twins and feed tht-m from iUs 
 
 U— 2 
 
212 TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION [CH. 
 
 own beak'. To which it should be added that Ovid makes 
 Rhea Sylvia dream of the woodpecker along with the wolf. 
 We may compare the idea of the women amongst the 
 American Indians, that a woman who dreams of the grisly 
 bear will have twins, who are in some way, perhaps 
 totemistically, connected with that quadruped. 
 
 That the woodpecker played an important part in early 
 Roman religion may be seen from its survival in cults 
 related to that of the Heavenly Twins : for instance, there 
 is a pair of Roman birth-helpers, named Picumnus and 
 Pilumnus, whose names suggest the twin-relation, and whose 
 occupation is one of the best known twin-functions. Picumnus 
 is evidently derived from Pious the woodpecker, and his 
 companion is supposed to derive his name from a great 
 pestle {pilum) which he carries. I am inclined to believe 
 that the pilum is not really a pestle (or something euphemis- 
 tically so described) but a thunder-bolt, or thunder- weapon'. 
 If that could be made out, we should have both the thunder- 
 bird and the thunder-weapon represented, twin-fashion, at 
 a Roman birth \ 
 
 The same cult of the woodpecker is involved in the name 
 of the town Picenum, whose inhabitants worshipped a wood- 
 pecker on a pillar (the bird on the sjicred tree) and related 
 a myth that their ancestors had been guided to the site of 
 the town by a woodpecker, the bird that was sacred to Mars*. 
 The connection of Mars with the Twins, in the Roman legend, 
 will at once occur to the mind. The natural explanation is 
 that Picenum was a twin-town, like Rome itself, a point 
 to which we must return later. We have also the story of 
 the metamorphosis of king Picus by Circe, to which reference 
 
 ' Plutarch, De Fort. liotii. vni. 320 d, iKaripov oTbtm rij xv^ii Stoiyuv, 
 ivfrWd y^ufAia^ta 7~^s iavrov rpo^T^s avo^x(pl^tJV. 
 
 '' Ovid, Fa»ti, iii. 37. 
 
 ^ It is perhaps the Donnirkeil which appears as Duniierpil in Mecklen- 
 burg, and as Dunnerpiler in Riigen : see Blinkenbcrg, The Thunder-Weapon, 
 p. 95. 
 
 * Among the Badcgas of South India, the stone-axes are regarded as a 
 cure for barrenness. Zeitschrift fiir Kthtwlogie, viii. (199) quoted in Blinken- 
 berg, p. 116. 
 
 ' Strabo, v. p. 240. 
 
XX] TWINS AND THK ORIOIN OF NAVIGATION 213 
 
 hiis cilreiuly been made: the origin of tlie saga lies in the 
 time when ' \vof)dpeeker wius king.' 
 
 So much having been sai(i by way of preliminary with 
 reference to the Sky-god and the woodjx;cker, let us now 
 return to the problem of navigation, anil work our way up- 
 stream to the origin of the tradition which makes the Twins 
 the patrons of the navigation of rivers. 
 
 The first thing to be observed is the character of the Origin ol 
 navigation itself It hiis been pointed out by Ur Tylor that |j'^'^ 
 our words 'ship,' 'skiff,' are connected with the Latin scapka 
 and the Greek aKii<(>o<:, and imply, in the first instance, 
 a dug-out canoe (from a-KavTo) to dig). We observe too, 
 says Mr Walter Johnson, in his book on Folk-Memori/', 'how 
 closely the rude punts of our inland waters resemble the 
 channelled trunk of oak, or other forest tree, u.sed 
 
 "When first on streams the hollowed alder swam." 
 
 Vergil [Georrtifi, i. 136).' 
 
 If, then, the interest of the Dio.scuri in navigation belongs to The 
 the earliest period of human culture, then it must have been ^^^ 
 the dug-out canoe in which they were interested, such as we 
 find in southern se;is, or, at all events, the hollow oak, which 
 has been made into a boat, or the hollowed alder of Vergil. 
 
 But how shall we convict them of any such interest either 
 in primitive naval architecture, or in primitive navigation ? 
 
 That they were ;issociated in early legend with the first 
 great marine ventures of the Greeks, appears from the 
 Argonaut legends, in which they play so prominent a part, The Argo 
 both on sea and land. But if Castor and Pollux were among s^^ij* 
 the Argonauts, then we are reminded that the Argo itself Oak. 
 was made in part at leivst from the sacred oaks at Dodona, 
 and so here also the legend throws us back on the primitive 
 cult of the Oak, with which we know the Dioscuri to have 
 been connecte<l. May wo carry the maritime intercst-s of the 
 Dioscuri back to the earlier ship that never ventunnl int<> 
 the open sea, or dared the voyage to far away Colchis with 
 
 ' I.e. p. 113, with reference lo Tylor, Anthnipolony, p. 343; J. R. 
 Larkcy in Ightham, the ttory of a Krnlith ViHagi. by K. J. Bonnell (1907); 
 Pitt Rivers, Erolutim of Culture, p. 1H6. 
 
214 TWINS AND THE ORIGIN OF NAVIGATION [cH. 
 
 Jason ? Did the Dioscuri actually invent the ship, as they 
 are said to have invented the plough and the yoke, and the 
 chariot ? If they did, it was woodpecker craft that they 
 practised, and with which they were credited. So we ask 
 the question whether, among the less cultured races of man- 
 kind, there is any evidence of the belief that the art of 
 ship-building, such as is involved in the making of a dug-out 
 canoe, was learned from the woodpecker ? 
 
 The In order to settle this point we go to the northern islands 
 
 Wood- . • 
 
 pecker of Japan, where the Ainu live, a people who came across 
 
 as boat- long ago from the mainland of Kamschatka, or the island of 
 
 builder . 
 
 among the Saghalien. We have already alluded to this people and their 
 
 Ainu. traditions, and to the labours amongst them by Mr Batchelor, 
 
 a heroic missionary, in what might seem at first a hopelessly 
 
 unfruitful field. Let us see what Mr Batchelor says of the 
 
 place of the woodpecker in the Ainu traditions : 
 
 ' The woodpecker appears to be in a peculiar way the 
 boat-maker's bird. The name Chipta-Chiri, by which he 
 is known, means " the bird which digs out boats," and he 
 came by this designation because he is always to be found 
 pecking at the branches and trunks of trees with his bill in 
 the same way as the Ainu hack at them with their tools when 
 making their dug-outs. He is thought a good deal of by 
 some people, and his skin and head are kept for worship. 
 This fetich is supposed to make the possessor thereof rich as 
 well as clever in shaping out boats. Some Ainu say that he was 
 originally sent by God to teach them how to make boats'.' 
 
 Then follows the Legend of the Woodpecker. ' The 
 Wot)dpecker was made by God upon this e<irth ; when the 
 divine Aiona came down to the world of men, he caused 
 the woodpecker to come and help him hollow out a boat. 
 The bird did so well at this work that when he had finished 
 Aiona killed him and made him a great feast. The woodpecker 
 is a truly clever bird and a fine gentleman. And so it happens 
 that, if a person should kill one of this kind of bird, he must 
 make him a feast, and send his spirit off well and happy. If 
 this be done, the worshipper will become rich, ivs well as very 
 ' The Ainu and their folk-lore, 1901. p. 451. 
 
XX] TWINS AND THE ORICJIN OF NAVIGATION 215 
 
 skilful in making boats. The wooilpi'ckcr ought, therefmu, 
 to be treated with reverence.' 
 
 Here, then, we have evidence as to the origin of naviga- 
 tion as believed in by an outlying and scarcely surviving 
 tribe, in a very early stage of culture. Thiy represent to us 
 the prehistoric ancestors of the Greeks and Romans ; we can 
 see the woodpecker in process of canonisation on account of 
 the services which he is supposed to have rendered to man, 
 as we see him actually canonised in Crete. He is the 
 primitive boat-builder, or rather, the primitive instructor in 
 boat-building. His virtues and talents are commemorated 
 among a people who obtain their living, for the most piirt, 
 from the sea and the rivers. What makes the woodpecker 
 sacred in northern Japan, made him sacred also on the banks 
 of the Tiber; and there his connection with the .sacred Twins 
 led to the psitronage by the latter of the new arts of rowing 
 and sailing, and eventually to many other services rendered 
 by and honours accorded to the Dioscuri. 
 
 The woodpecker, then, and the hollow oak have an 
 important place in early religion ; each represents on one 
 side, the thunder, and on the other the primitive craft of 
 navigation. When we read that Romulus and Remus were ItomiUus 
 put on the river in an alveus, the alveus is not a highly i;<.r,ui8 in 
 finished product, but just the sort of hollowed trunk that we »»>'•>. 
 commonly see in domestic use amongst primitive peoples. 
 On the Tiber the firet navigation wjus described as ' two boys 
 in a tub ! ' 
 
 We may compare the description given by \V\>o<l' of the 
 canoes of the Maories in New Zealand. ' The simplest fonn 
 of the New Zealander's canoe is little more than the trunk of 
 a tree hollowed into a sort of troiiffh. Being incapable of 
 withstanding rough weather, this canoe is only used upon 
 rivers.' 
 
 ' Satiiral Hiitory of Man. p. 170. 
 
CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE TWINS IN PHOENICIAN TRADITION 
 
 As we have now proved that there was a connection in 
 the mind of the primitive man between the elementary boat 
 and the twin thunder-boys (woodpeckers), it is proper to ask 
 whether this result is borne out by the examination of those 
 Mediterranean peoples who were eminent in the art of naviga- 
 tion, the Phoenicians and the Greeks. In order to test this 
 point, we must examine those traditions of Phoenician history 
 which have come down to us through the translations of 
 Greek historians, and we must also investigate the famous 
 Greek myth of the voyage of Jason to Colchis. In the 
 present chapter we confine ourselves to the former of the 
 two lines of enquiry. 
 Phoe- What do we know of the Phoenicians as to their early 
 
 le'cends history, and at what point do these great navigators of the 
 past affirm that they became a seafaring people ? In order 
 to answer these questions we turn to the fragments of 
 Sanchoniathon preserved in the Praepiiratio Evangelica of 
 Eusebius. For our purpose, the matter will be found in 
 a convenient form with a translation in Cory's Ancient Frag- 
 ments of the Phoenician, Chaldean, and other writers^. We 
 transcribe the important passages: p. 6, ' Hypsouranios in- 
 habited Tyre ; and he invented huts constructed of reeds and 
 rushes, and the papyrus. And he fell into enmity with his 
 brother Usous, who was the inventor of clothing for the body 
 which he made of the skins of the wild beasts that he could 
 
 ' pp. 3-18. 
 
CH. XXl] THE TWINS IN PHOENICIAN TRADITION 217 
 
 catch. And when there were violent storms of rain and 
 wind, the trees about Tyre being rubbed against each other, 
 took tire, and all the forest in the neighbourhood was con- 
 sumed. And Usous having taken a tree, and broken off it.s U«o the 
 boughs, was the first who dared to venture on the sea. And ^„^ },j, 
 he consecrated two pillars to Fire and Wind, ancl worshipped brother, 
 them, and poured out up<in them the blood of the wild 
 beasts he took in hunting : and when these men were dead, 
 those that remained consecrated to them rods, and wor- 
 shipped the pillars, and held anniversary feasts in honour of 
 them.' 
 
 Here we make a halt; we have seen something like this 
 before : two quarrelsome brothers, with no special reason 
 assigned for their quarrel, and one of them is a hunter. We 
 are familiar with the theme of the twins who quarrel ; the 
 Scripture parallel is Esau and Jacob, but there are parallels 
 outside the Scriptures; the hunting twin is again Esau, or 
 if we prefer it, Zethos, or, if we take a feminine parallel, 
 Artemis. So we need not hesitate to recognise a pair of 
 twins in Hypsouranios and Usous. The nanie of the first 
 twin is a translation of one of the divine names, the name of 
 the other has had a Graecised termination added to it : its 
 Phoenician form must be Uso (Outr&i). Is that Esau ? 
 I should not like to affirm it : the names are not unlike, but 
 the vocalisation is different in the two cases. 
 
 Uso, then, whoever he was, took advantage of a great 
 thunderstorm, which had caused a forest fire in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Tyre, and from one of the fallen trees he made 
 himself a boat, perhaps a dug-out, and venture<i in it on 
 the sea. 
 
 Then he instituted a fciriii of worship: hi- set up pillars 
 to Fire and Wind. It is almost exactly the repn-senUition 
 which survives in China, whire in painting and carvings 
 which go back to the stone work of the seventh century, we 
 have the Thunder-god accompanied by the Wind-go<i, who 
 sometimes actually stands by his sidt-'. The matter is 
 therefore Dioscuric, and the Twins an- now the Heavenly 
 
 ' I owe the inform»ti(>n to Mr Freer o( IH'troit. 
 
218 THE TWINS IN PHOENICIAN TRADITION [cH. 
 
 Twins, who are definitely stated to have been worshipped 
 after death. 
 
 Now let us return to Sanchoniathon'. ' And in times long 
 
 subsequent to these, were bom of the race of Hypsotiranios, 
 
 A^eus Agrieus and Halieus, the inventors of the arts of hunting 
 
 Haliens. and fishing, from whom huntsmen and fishermen derive their 
 
 names.' 
 
 Here we strike a new line of tradition, which has no real 
 connection with the preceding, in spite of the allusion to 
 Hypsouranios (?Bel or Bel-Shamin). The art of hunting is 
 discovered over again, at a time long subsequent to what we 
 previously were studying, and with hunting comes fishing. 
 The names of these two brothers are twin-like in Greek, and 
 it seems likely that the translator is trying to render the 
 original gemineity of the names. We see this in the following 
 way. To the Semitic mind it is common to regard hunting 
 and fishing as the same craft, and to express them by the 
 same word. Thus in Syriac, from the original stem sod, we 
 form sayyodo, which may mean either hunter or fisher. 
 
 The equivalence comes out prettily in the fifth Sura of 
 the Koran : ' it is lawful for you lo fish (sayodu) in the sea and 
 to eat what ye shall catch, as a provision for you, and for those 
 who travel ; but it is unlawful for you to hunt (sayodu) by land, 
 while ye are performing the rites of pilgrimage.' Here Mo- 
 hammed uses the same word exactly for hunting and fishing*. 
 
 If, then, we have to find out which of the brothers of 
 
 ' I.e. p. 7. 
 
 ' In Hebrew, however, this does not hold ; the Hebrew has distinct words 
 for fishing and hunting: e.g. in Jer. xvi. 16, 'I will send many fishers and 
 
 fish thera 1 will send many hunters and hunt them'; here the two crafts 
 
 arc clearly distinguished: the fisher is diiyyag, the hunter is myyait. And 
 it is interesting to note that when the Syriac translator comes to this 
 passage, he uses the same word in both cases, showing that there was for 
 him no difference between the two crafts. There is an alternative terra 
 goph in Syriac; but this may mean cither hunted or fished. Since gopha is 
 a net, it is possible that hunting and fishing were both carried on by a net ' 
 in the first instance. 
 
 Returning to the Hebrew usage, if this should be followed by the Phoeni- 
 cian, we should have two forms like Sidon and Dagon for the fishing and 
 hunting deities; the objection would apparently he in the fact that Dagon is 
 a corn-deity. So I think the statement in the text is the correct one. 
 
XXl] THE TWINS IN PHOENICIAN TRADITION 219 
 
 T3rre is Agrieus and which is Halieus, it is reasonable to 
 suppose that there is some modification in the vocalisation of 
 the root letters. We are obliged to guess what the original 
 Phoenician forms were, but it seems likely that one of the 
 brethren was named Sid, for we have Phoenician compound 
 names like Sid-juthan, Sid-tnel<jart, Sid-thanit, Baal-sid, 
 Han-sid, etc. 
 
 Perhaps the other name may have been sayid or sayid : 
 for we have an Aramaic analogy in Beth-snida, which suggests 
 the sanctuary of some deity, presiding over fishing. What- 
 ever may have been the forms of the differentiated names that 
 underlie Halieus and Agrieus, we may be sure that the 
 brothers, with such closely related names, were Dioscures. 
 
 To return to Sanchoniathon : ' Of these were begotten 
 two brothers who di.scovered iron and the forging thereof 
 One of these, called Chry.sor, who w;is the .same with He- Cbryaor 
 phaestos, exercised himself in words, and charms and divina- *"oihe™ 
 tions; and he invented the hook, and the bait, and the 
 fishing-line, and boats of a light construction (ffx^Stav = raft), 
 and he was the first of all men who .sailed. Wherefore he 
 was worshipped after his death iis a god, under the name of 
 Diamichius'. And it is said that his brothers inventetl the invent 
 art of building walls with bricks." bulid''"' 
 
 Here we have again two brothers, who at the close of the walls, 
 paragraph are at least three. The whole of the pnss;ige is 
 full of Dioscuric touches : the primitive smith is there, who 
 appears in the Bible as Cain ami Tubal ; the art of naviga- 
 tion is moved on a stage ; the brothers are builders of walls : 
 we remember Romulus and Remus. Zethos and Amphion. 
 and the Babylonian representation of tin- Twins by an 
 unfinished brick wall. 
 
 The art of brick-making, which may be accejited i\s a 
 Dioscuric function, is carried a stage further by ' two youths, 
 one of whom was called Techniles and the other Ciemus 
 Autochthon. These discovered the m.thcHl of mingling 
 stubble with the loam of bricks, and of baking them in the 
 sun ; they were also the inventors of tiling." 
 
 ' Perhaps Zeus Mrilirhio'. 
 
220 THE TWINS IN PHOENICIAN TRADITION [CH. XXI 
 
 The 
 
 Twins as 
 ship- 
 builders. 
 
 Then we are told of Miser and Sydyk, that is, Well-freed 
 and Just...' from Misor descended Taaut who invented the 
 writing of the first letters :... but from Sydyk descended 
 the Dioscuri or Cabiri or Corybantes or Samothraces ; these 
 (he says) first built a ship complete (-rrXolov evpop).' 
 
 So at last we come to a definite statement that the 
 invention of the ship was due to the Dioscuri. What was 
 the original term for them in Phoenician was not clear, 
 perhaps it was Kabirim, which the Greek translator has 
 furnished with all possible equivalents. 
 
 Then follows the account of the marriage of Gaia and 
 Ouranos, and the Phoenician coimterpart of the story of 
 Kronos, after which we are told that ' at this time the 
 descendants of the Dioscuri, having built some light and 
 other more complete ships (crx^^'''^'' '^"^ "Tf^oia crvi'devTe^), 
 put to sea ; and being cast away over against Mount Cassius, 
 there consecrated a temple.' So we are told, about as plainly 
 as a legend can tell us, that there was a Dioscureion on 
 Mount Cassiua. 
 
 Last of all (p. 16) we learn that the ' Kabiri were the 
 seven sons of Sydyk, and that their eighth brother was 
 Asklepios.' That the Kabiri were not so many in ancient 
 times is known from other sources, for they are often inter- 
 changed with the Dioscuri : for Asklepios we have also links 
 with the Heavenly Twins'. 
 
 When we review the various statements made by San- 
 choniathon, with regard to the art of naval architecture, we 
 can say positively that every one of his statements is Dios- 
 curic in character, either directly or by allusion to other arts 
 practised by the ship-builders which are assigned elsewhere 
 to the Twins. 
 
 The Phoenician ship-builders were originally Dioscures. 
 
 ' It is unfortunate that we have not the Phoenician forms, nor always a 
 transliteration: Kabiri is near enough to be counted exact, and Sydyk can be 
 restored with sufEcient approximation, but we would like to know what stood 
 for Asklepios. Was it something like the Greek form, and did Asklepios 
 come from Phoenicia, like Palaimon of Corinth (Baal- Yam), etc.? 
 
CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OK .IAS<3N AND 
 HIS COMPANIONS 
 
 Now we come to the Greek legends of ship-buildiiig and 
 of navigation: if we could iissume that the Greeks learnt the 
 art of navigation from the same source as they learnt the 
 alphabet, we might infer the Dioscuric origin of their ship- 
 building from what has preceded: but this is just what a 
 nauti&il people like the Greeks would be very slow to admit, 
 even if it were pointed out that Tyre and Siilon were a 
 thousand years older than Athens. So we must discuss the 
 matter de novo, and see if we can find a meaning in the story 
 of Jason and the first ship Argo, of which he was the captain. 
 
 The story of the voyage to Colchis is the most popular Jmon 
 of all the Greek myths; it gave rise to a literature of its own, *"^' * 
 which we comprehensively denominate Argonautica, and from imuu. 
 the prevalence of games in honour of Jiuson (Jasoneia') and 
 associated religious rites, we may conjectun- that the story 
 of Jiison and his argonauts supplied many a dnimatic entt^'r- 
 tainment, quite apart from the magnificent treatment given 
 to the subject by Euripides. The story wius one that invited 
 popular drama; there was the landing at Ix mnos, where the 
 wonien had organised a republic of their own, to the exclusion 
 of their own husbands and kin, whom they appear to have 
 
 ' II i« not quit* clear lliiit ki'ITIcs uro nlwajH involvr<l : llie Ja«unpion it 
 something like Dioscureion, n pliicc wIuti- .Iju-oii wim lionuurrd. Tbr 
 cpiKram on the returncJ Art(o ccrt»inly says that Ja.Hon inntitulitl gAtan: 
 'Apyu T» (r«(i0ot flM- 0«V *' i'^fl'" 'H«>» 
 
 Orph. Fm«. SO («l. Abel). 
 
222 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON [CH. 
 
 killed; the fight between Pollux and the King of the Bebryces, 
 which is described vividly enough by Apollonius Rhodius, 
 and still more so by Theocritus; and then the adventures in 
 Colchis, the taming of the fiery bulls, the capture of the 
 golden fleece from the dragon who guarded it, and the sub- 
 sequent adventures of Medea, her rejuvenescence of the aged 
 father (some say, of Jason also, as though Jason were an 
 elderly man), and their subsequent elopement to Corinth; — 
 all of these things are capable of dramatic treatment, and 
 some of the greatest Greek poets have been busied with them. 
 In modern times the story of Jason has been studied 
 chiefly with a view to the elucidation of the mythology that 
 is involved in the story: it was one of the most successful 
 hunting grounds of the scholars in search of Solar Myths; 
 here at all events, there does seem to be a naturalistic 
 explanation of the popular Greek story, for the golden fleece, 
 which had to be rescued from the dragon, was a not inapt 
 figure of the Sun which had been swallowed up by the 
 Demon of the Dark, and must be recovered from the far 
 eastern land beyond the Black Sea. Thus Jason becomes 
 a solar hero, and the rescuer of the imprisoned luminary, 
 and Medea is his attendant maiden of the Dawn. However 
 much the mythological school to which we refer may be 
 justly discredited, there is nothing impossible in the ex- 
 planation of the Argonaut saga by their methods. There 
 is, however, another method of approaching the subject 
 which will yield us results which are much more certain, 
 and may be far-reaching in the mythological problem itself. 
 Suppose we leave Colchis, and the Golden Fleece, and Medea 
 on one side for the present, and begin at the other end, with 
 the building, launching, and navigation of the good ship Argo. 
 She is popularly believed to have been the first Greek ship 
 that was ever launched. Argo, her builder, had Athena 
 standing by him to direct his skill ; the goddess has furnished 
 him with some talismanic boards of Dodona oak, to incorporate 
 with his Thcssalian pine. She will watch over the launching 
 of the ship, and will appear for the help of the voyagers in 
 difficult situations. 
 
XXIl] AND HIS COMPAMONS 223 
 
 How w;uj the shi|) manned? Here we have to work 
 through a variety of traditions, contiiined in the Argonaiitic 
 literature: according to the Pseudo-Orphic tradition, she was 
 a ship of fifty oars. Pindar, however, has only a crew of ten Tbe crew 
 heroes, along with Mopsus their seer. Other estimates run Argo* 
 even higher than fifty. ApoUonius Rhodius, who is, almost 
 certainly, the source of the Pseudo-Orpheus, counts fifty-five. 
 It must be obvious that the ship has been enlarged since it 
 was built ! How could such a ship be the first ship launched, 
 or the voyage to Colchis her trial trip^ If there is anything 
 primitive about the Argonaut tnwlition, we must reduce the 
 size of the ship and the length of her voyage. We must 
 work out successive strata of the mariner's skill and daring, 
 as we were able to do in the Phoenician legends, and see 
 what lies at the bottom of the imposing mass of traditions. 
 
 Suppose we tiike the story as we find it in ApoUonius 
 Rhodius. Here we have a long galley propelled by oars, the 
 rowers being no doubt placed two by two on each thwart. 
 Jason is the captain, Tiphys the steersman, Mopsus (shall 
 we -say?) the chaplain. 
 
 As the rowers are arranged in pairs, it is not surprising Hrothrr* 
 that the catalogue of the able seamen should also fall into ^)Jj ,*'„; 
 pairs, in an extraordinary degree. In fact, the greater part 
 of the crew are pairs of brothers, and of the brothers, most 
 are twins. Sometimes this is positively stated, and some- 
 times it can be inferred. In such cases it is natural that 
 they should sit side by side. The only difficulty will arise 
 where the one brother is very strong, and the other very 
 weak. For instance, Herakles is on boarti, and unless we 
 are much mistaken, Iphikles is there too. Now, Iphikles. 
 if he were on board, would be no match for Herukles. Her»kle», 
 ApoUonius tells us, in fact, that they had to put the 
 strongest man in the ship against Herakles, who rows so 
 hard that he actually breaks his oar, and has to go ashore 
 in search of another. 
 
 Then as is well known, t^a-stor and Pollux are on boiinl. C*»toT 
 
 .... and 
 Pollux being the boxing champion of the company, who will i-oUui. 
 
 presently have his hands full in a match with Amykos. the 
 
224 
 
 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Idas and 
 Lynceus. 
 
 meaning 
 of Am- 
 phion. 
 
 king of the Bebryces. Not only are the Heavenly Twins 
 on board in their conventional form, 
 
 ' the great Twin-Brethren 
 To whom the Dorians pray,' 
 
 but their deadly enemies, the Messenian twins, Id;is and 
 the far-seeing Lynceus, are there. In ordinary mythology, 
 Idas and Lynceus fight with Castor and Pollux over certain 
 maidens whom they have appropriated, and they kill Castor, 
 the mortal-bom twin, when he is hiding in a hollow oak. 
 We understand about the oak-tree, what we do not understand 
 is how the two pairs of twins are so amicably settled in the 
 same oak-built ship. 
 
 The next thing we notice is that there are a number 
 of other twins on board. The name Amphion betrays them, 
 and the occurrence of names compounded with Amphi. For 
 Amphion is only a shorter form of Amphigenes, and is not 
 in the first instance a name at all. It simply means ' twin- 
 bom.' Thus it does not necessarily connote the Theban 
 brother of Zethus; it may be anybody's twin-brother. 
 
 Keeping this simple point before our minds, we under- 
 
 Dcucalion. stand that if Deucalion, the son of Minos, is on board, and 
 Amphion his brother, they are twin-brethren ; and the same 
 will be true of Asterios the son of H3rperasios and his brother 
 Amphion; this last case is interesting, because Hyperaaios 
 is the same name as Hyperion', and means the Sky-god. 
 
 Asterios. Asterios and his brother were Sky-children. 
 
 So far we have the twin-brethren, the only doubtful case 
 being Iphikles. There is some confusion in the tradition 
 about Iphikles. The form appears to be Iphiklos, which 
 would make little difficulty if it were not that he is described 
 as son of Phylakos. Another tradition makes him the son 
 of Eurytos, and there are also Argonaut lists which contain 
 Iphitos anfl Iphis. It seems to me to be most natural to 
 
 Iphikles? 
 
 ' Usener, Giitteriuimen, p. '20. According to Usener, Hypcrasios is ex- 
 panded Crom Hyperes, connected with Hyperion, and ullimately with a 
 comparative formed Irom Ihrepot, like Ototoj from vir^p. Thus Hyperion is 
 the ' one above,' probably the Sun. 
 
XXIl] AND HIS COMPANIONS 225 
 
 assume a primitive Iphikles, brother of HerakUs, and then 
 to allow for the corruption of the name. 
 
 Our next pjiir is Zetis the Boread, and Kalais his brother. 
 Apparently this is not the Theban Zethos; that the brothera 
 are twins is definitely stated by Ovid. 
 
 For names involving Amphi in composition, we have NumeH 
 Eurydamas and Aniphidanuis, Areios and Amphiaraos. These J^"h 
 are not quite certain, because Apollonius adds their parentage, Amphi-. 
 as though they were not brothers. Thus Eurydamas is the 
 son of Ktimenos; and Amphidaniivs the son of Aleos. Areios 
 and Amphiaraos are credited to different fathers, but as they 
 are both from Argos, I suspect them to be brothers, and the 
 Amphi prefi.x in the case of the second brother shows them 
 to be twins. In fact, I should say that Aniphidama^ was 
 a twin in anyciise; the doubtful jx>int is whether Eurydamas 
 is his brother. This will come up again when we examine 
 more closely the lists of heroes in Apollonius Hhodius. We 
 shall find c;ises in which Apollonius registers three brothers as 
 being Argonauts, putting two of them together, and adding 
 the third as a postscript. For example, 
 
 (i. 118) 'Apyodfv av Ta\ao? koI 'Ap/jto^, vU Riai>TOK, 
 riXvdov, i<f>dift6i; re Ae(oBoKO<;, oOf TfKf IIi7pci> 
 Nri\yi<:. 
 
 'From Argos did sons of BiA.'i, Areius and Talau>, coni». 
 And miKht; Lnodokus, fruit of Nileua' daughter's womb." 
 
 (i. 50) ovS' 'AXoTTT) fiifiDOf TToXvXtjioi 'hlp/itiao 
 
 vUe<;, €V SeSaaiTf B6\ov<;, KpuTO? xai Ej^i'wf 
 Totfft fi' hri TpiTaro? 7»'a>Tov nie ifttrofifvoteiv 
 Ai6a\ihT]<;. 
 
 ' Neither in Alopt' tarried Echion and Krytus, nonii 
 Of Hermes, wealthy in com land, crafty hcarte<l one*. 
 And their kinsman the third wilh thi-.<e, came forth on tlipqueat, an they hic<l, 
 Aithalidcs.' (A. S. Way's lr»n«lalion.) 
 
 When we examine the.se pussages, we suspect that there 
 is a special reason for the coupling of the two brnthers. 
 distinct from the thini. Is it a mere literary trick' Or 
 does it mean that they were twins' Hut what become.i of 
 
 H H 15 
 
226 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON [CH. 
 
 our previous suggestion that Amphidamas is the twin of 
 Eurydamas, if we find him the closely attached brother of 
 Kepheus* ? so that, if we are interpreting Apollonius Rhodius, 
 we must not count Amphidamas as a twin twice over, and we 
 may not be able to count him at all. And the same might be 
 said of Areios and Amphiaraos. As we have found in our lists 
 the Spartan twins and the Messenian, the suggestion arises as 
 to whether other pairs of twins, belonging to the Greek cities 
 and states, may not be on board. What about the Moliones 
 of Elis, the sons of Aktor? Their names are commonly given 
 as Eurytos and Kleatos. Do they occur? And what shall 
 we say of the Aloads of Boeotia, Otus and Ephialtes ? 
 
 Apollonius'' introduces Aktor as sending his son Menoe- 
 tios, who is accompanied by Eurytion, who is the son 
 of Iru3, the son of Aktor. The name Eurytos evidently 
 belongs to the Aktorid circle: but we cannot make out a 
 clear genealogy. All we can say is that there were some 
 Aktorids on board, but whether they were the Moliones 
 is somewhat doubtful. Of Otus and Ephialtes I see no trace. 
 Reviewing the whole argument, and remembering that 
 ■ besides the cases discussed, there are a number of pairs 
 of brothers, not necessarily nor probably twins, it will be 
 admitted that the twin and brotherly element in the ship 
 is very strong. 
 
 There may be as many as eighteen twins on board 
 The first Apollonius' ship. Even if the number should be much less, 
 twinsliiD '*' '•'^ significant. Moreover, if we should sometimes fail to 
 identify the second brother of a pair, as perhaps in the c;use 
 of Herakles and Ij)hikles, yet when the twin motive has been 
 recognised, the presence of a single brother out of a pair is 
 significant. If Pollux only were to be foimd on board, Pollux 
 is a heavenly twin, and to that extent the ship is Dio.scurized. 
 This is what our investigation h;vs led us to, that since the 
 ship Argo was largely manned by twins, and was partly made 
 of holy oak, the nucleus of the myth of the building and 
 voyaging of the Argo is that the first ship known to the Greeks 
 was an oak tree with twins on board, which is precisely the 
 
 ' Apoll. I. 161. ■' Apoll. I. 69. 
 
XXIl] AN'I) HIS COMPANIONS 227 
 
 same restilt as we arrive<l at for Romulus and Remus on the . 
 Tiber. 
 
 Nor have we exhausted the matter by what has preceded. Asklepios 
 Here is another point that might have been mentioned. °° ''""d. 
 Apollonius says that there were on board Askalaphos and 
 lalmenos, sons of Ares and Astyoche, the latter being herself 
 a daughter of Aktor. There are several links in this with 
 the twins; I only emphasize one, the presence of iVskalaphos. 
 Askalaphos is certainly a variant for Asklepios, and ;is we 
 have already seen from the Phoenician traditions, Asklepios 
 i.s closely related to the twins'. Thus we see again the twin 
 motive running through the mythological development of the 
 story. 
 
 This naturally raises the question as to the first composition 
 of the crew. We have Argos for the builder, who may be a 
 mere disguise for the all-seeing Heaven, the jmrent of the 
 twins in one point of view, but who are the original twins? 
 Is Jason himself a twin, and if he should be one, who is the 
 other? 
 
 Last of all, if we were correct in identifying the original 
 Roman twins with the woodptecker, are there any traces of 
 the woodpecker in the ship Argo, or in her crew ? 
 
 I.«t us return for a moment or two to Askalaphos, whom Was be 
 we have assumed to be a variant of Asklepios. We have Lckcr or 
 already made use of Ovid's Metamorphoses in the case of'beow'? 
 Picus. the king of Latium, whom Circe transformed into 
 a woodpecker, and have pointed out that this was Ovid's way 
 of telling backwards how a birfl-cult of the wootlpecker was 
 transformed into a cult of a hero. Well : Askalaphos also 
 appears in Ovid as a bird-transformation ; he had borne 
 witness to the plucking and eating of the pomegranate by 
 
 ■ Clement o( AlexAndria reminds U8 that Aiiklepioo waa on board the 
 Arifu. He nays (.Strom, i. 21) 'AttX^wiit rt tal ol Si6cnovpoi «vriw\ioit 
 ai/roii, >1» fiafTi'pti u 'P6JI0I AroWuii-ioi ir roil ' A^orai/ruoii. from which it u 
 cleiir that Clement, or the person whom lie i.i qunlinK, has lilentiHod 
 Askalaphos ami Asklepios The same tradition in involved in Malalas, 
 Chron. iv. p. 77, Codrenus, i. pp 104, 'MO, Cramer, Anted. Paris, ii. 
 pp. 191. 1«5, Syncellus, i. p. 29t>. Sec Jes.Hcn, I'roUijg. in (Vit. Argimaul, 
 p. 36. 
 
 15—2 
 
228 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON [CH. 
 
 Persephone, and for that reason he was turned into a bird. 
 Ovid says it was an owl : 
 
 Ingemuit regina Erebi, testemque profanam 
 
 Fecit avem, sparsumque caput Phlcgethontide lympba 
 
 In rostrum et plumas et grandia lumina vertit. 
 
 Ille sibi ahlatus fulvis amicitur in alis, 
 
 Inque caput crescit, longosque reflectitur ungues, 
 
 Vixque movet natas per inertia braccbia pennas: 
 
 Foedaque. tit volucris, ventnri nuntia luctus 
 
 Ignavus bubo, dirum mortalibus omen. (Met. v. 543-550.) 
 
 Thus Ovid, explaining in 'reverse order how the owl 
 became Askalaphos. We are probably right in following his 
 intimation that Askalaphos was a bird in disguise : but was 
 he right in identifying it with an owl ? If he was, then we 
 have probably another case of the Thunder-bird, the owl 
 being a denizen of the hollow oak : in that sense it might 
 easily, like the woodpecker, become the patron of those who 
 go on the water in hollowed oaks, or of the Sons of Thunder, 
 whose father lives in the oak. There is, however, an exception 
 to be taken on the ground of etymology, and on the ground 
 of insufficient verification. That Askalaphos is a bird is con- 
 firmed by Aristotle': but the form of the name suggests 
 something different from an owl. If the root is a-KaXir-, we 
 have apparently two derived stems <Tica\- and aKair-: the 
 latter is well known as the root of aKa-mto, to dig : but the 
 former also appears in <TKd\i,<;, a hoe, in the corresponding 
 verb aKoXXta, in O.H.G. Scar = English (plough-s/iare), and 
 in a number of forms with a prefixed euphonic a, such as 
 daKaXi^d), to hoe ; and it is said to lie at the b.ise of a Latin 
 talpa for primitive stalpa, the mole being naturally described 
 as the digger. If this is on the right track, then a<ricd\a(f>o(; 
 should be a digger-bird, and not exactly an owl. It is much 
 more likely that the owl has appropriated a variant name of 
 the woodpecker. 
 
 This would mean that the woodpecker was on boani the 
 Argo in the shape of Askalaphos (= Asklepios), and certainly 
 he is the digger-binl.and the one who has been credited with 
 the invention of ship-building. Thus we explain at the same 
 
 ' //. A. II. 17, 34. 
 
XXIl] AND HIS COMPANIONS 229 
 
 time the association which is so often found between Asklepios 
 and the twins, his appearing with the Kabiri as if one of 
 them, etc. 
 
 We can now proceed to the reconstruction of the original WasJason 
 ship Argo, and ask the question whether Jason was a twin, * ' 
 and if so, who was his brother ? If we can show that Jason 
 was a twin, then we have added two more proofs of twin-dom 
 in the crew of the Argo, Jason and Askalaphos- Asklepios. 
 
 Without discu.ssing minutely the relation between Jason 
 and Jftsios and Jilsion (Usener explains that Jason with a 
 long a comes from the root "la/iat in the .same way as Jasios 
 with a short a comes from 'lao/^ai, and that they may be 
 considered eijuivalent), I am going to maintain the correctness 
 of the tradition that the twin-brother of Jason is Triptoleinos Tripto- 
 (= Jasion ?), and that the reason why Jason goes to sea, and '^'"°*- 
 Triptolemos stays on land, is that the common functions of 
 the Twins have been divided'. We shall show presently that 
 the Twins are patrons of the plough and of the ship; and 
 if that be the ciise, as Triptolemos is well known in Attica 
 as the inventor of the plough and the friend of Demeter the 
 coni-mother, we can see why (a) Triptojemos remains on 
 shore, and (6) why there are stories of Demeter falling in love 
 with Jiusion. In reality it was Jason's twin-brother to whom 
 she was attached ; perhaps he had the name J;ision before 
 he was called Triptolemos. 
 
 If this explanation is correct, then Jason belongs to the 
 Heavenly Twins, and discharges some of the functions 
 proper to the Twins, leaving the agricultural duties to his 
 twin-brother. 
 
 We have now shown reason to believe that Askalaphos 
 is an Oak-binl (either the owl or the woo<lpecker) and that 
 
 ■ The Greek trwlition of the stars, which are called the Twins, is not a 
 consistent one. Commonly they are called Castor and I'ollux, but sometimes 
 they are Jaton (' Jauon) and TriptnUmoM , and sometimes .\pollo and 
 Hcmkles: there are also other combinations, such as Theseus ami Herakles, 
 ZcthoH and Amphion and the Knbiri of Saroothrace. Wo shall see later on 
 thiit .lasnn is a Kiihir. Ah (iir as Triptolemos and Jasion RO, this nomencla- 
 ture of the oriKinnlly nHiiieless Twin Krcthren can be tmced tuti-k to 
 Hermippos. (.See Bull, Spharra. p. I'i.').) .See further in Additional Notes. 
 
230 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON [CH. 
 
 Jason is the twin who first, in Greek tradition, went to sea 
 in a trunk of holy oak. Moreover, there is a connection 
 between Jason the first navigator and Askalaphos the first 
 boat-builder. The ancients all say that Jason was the son 
 of Aeson, but they betrayed, by the familiar sound of the 
 name, that it was a mere invention of afterthought. As 
 to Jason's mother, there are several variant traditions ; 
 amongst them there is one preserved by Tzetzes' that his 
 mother was named Scarphe: Scarphe is only a variant for 
 Scalphe and implies that Jason is a twin descended from 
 the woodpecker (or conceivably the owl). There can be 
 little room for doubt that we have traced the Argonaut story 
 to its origin, we are behind the epos, and behind the saga, 
 we have arrived at the first stages of man's explanation of 
 the world and its phenomena and his own traditional 
 practices. 
 Was Jason It remains to be investigated whether the starting point 
 a Semite? ^^ ^y^^ story of ship-building is in Greece or in Phoenicia. 
 Is Jason originally a Semite ? 
 
 The first thing that suggests itself is that the name is 
 ■ commonly derived from the Greek 'Idofiai, to heal, and 
 implies that Jason had leech-craft. The name would on this 
 supposition be Greek and not Semitic. That the Twins 
 should be healers is well known, from the A9vins of India to 
 Protasius and Gervasius the boni medici of Milan. To con- 
 tradict this supposition we should have to say that they 
 were healers indeed, but that the leech-craft had come in 
 later, superposed upon the nautical-craft with which they 
 came accredited, say, from Phoenicia. This is not im- 
 possible, but inasmuch as leech-craft is early in the lore of 
 the Twins, it is, to say the least, unlikely. 
 Was Jason It wiis G. F. Grotefend' who first suggested the Phoenician 
 Joshua? origin for Jason and equated it with Joshua. If the Septua- 
 gint made Joshua into Jesus Clrfaovf), why should not the 
 Greeks of an earlier day have made Joshua into Jason 
 ('ItJo-mj'), which we see staring at us in its Ionic form (with 
 
 ' Lye. 872. 
 
 " Ersch and Oruber, AUgem. Encykl. s.v. lason. 
 
XXIl] AND HIS COMPANIONS 231 
 
 T) lor long a) nil ovrr the pages of ApoUonius Khodius f 
 The hypothesis is certainly attractive enough : but whiire 
 shall we find in Phoenicia, and amongst the Phoenician 
 twins, the name of Joshua / Does it underlie the name 
 Ova-co, which we were discussing previously ? It is hardly 
 likely. And if Joshua is the missing Semitic original, 
 how does his name compoundefl with Jahu appear in 
 Phoenician origins? It will be seen that the hypothesis is 
 beset with difficulties iis far jus Phoenicia is concerned. 
 
 The name uf Joshua does, however, become Graecized 
 into Jason, in the time of Greek iiiHuence in Palestine, 
 following on the invasion of Alexander. To take a single 
 instance, we have in the second book of Maccabees (iv. 7-15) 
 an account of how ' after the death of Seleucus, when 
 Antiochus called Epiphanes took the kingdom, Ju-son the 
 brother of Onias laboured underhand to be high-priest." 
 From Josephus {Antuj. Xli. 1) we learn what might, indeed, 
 have been almost guessed, that the real name of the priestly 
 pretender was Joshua. So that while the LXX were ren- 
 dering Joshua by Jesus ('Iijaovv'), the Graecizing jwpulation 
 were altering the names into Jason. ^ And it may be 
 suspected that, whenever we find a bond fide Jew with the 
 name of J;ison, such as Jason of Cyrene, the historian, he 
 was as probably a Joshua as if his name had been Jesus. 
 This puts the whole matter in a different light. There is .still 
 a want of evidence on the side of Phoenicia, from which we 
 have assumed that contact with Greek life by sea will be made, 
 but the (Jrotefend projMnsition begins to acquire a degree of 
 probability, that demands for it a close and careful enquiry. 
 
 The actual language of Grotefeiid is as follows: ' Dass er Crote- 
 ein Grieche war, dtutet Homer niit den Homeriden durch ^l^^ 
 keinc Sylbe an; .scin Tauschhandcl mit den Griechen scheidet thrsis. 
 ihn vielmehr als eine Fremdling aus, und vexmuthlich ist 
 sein Name 'Xi'iawv nur einc griechi-sche Nebenform von 
 '\r)aov'i, wiis im NT. Act vii. 45: Heb. iv. H gleichbe<ieutend 
 ist mit dem hebraischo ytTin' ,x1it .losua, Hedund, nach- 
 gebildct dem weiblichen '\dam filr die (Jottin dtr llcilkrafl. 
 Phoniken waren es ja, welche zuerst die Insdn I.,«'mni)s, 
 
232 THE VOYAGE TO COLCHIS OF JASON [CH. 
 
 Imbros, Thasos besetzten AUcin die Griechen ei^eten 
 
 sich, als sie die Phoniker aus ihren Meere verdrangten, auch 
 die erste Fahrt in den Pontus zu, und wussten zuletzt aiich die 
 phonikischen Namen einer navis longa Argo aus griechischer 
 Sprache zu deuten.' 
 
 Grotefend, then, affirms that Homer and his followers 
 know nothing of a Greek ancestry for Jason, and that it is, 
 therefore, reasonable to interpret his name by Semitic 
 analogies, which brings out Joshua as underlying Jason. 
 
 The Phoenicians were the first to sail the Aegean and 
 the Euxine, but the Greeks expelled them from their stations 
 in the islands, and then ascribed to themselves the origin 
 of ship-building, and the daring of the primitive navigator ; 
 as the Phoenicians must have been a sea-going people long 
 before the Greeks were heard of, it seems that Grotefend 
 must be right in saying that Jason came from Phoenicia. 
 We are not far, now, from the Lake of Galilee and can hardly 
 avoid the question whether the Lake was navigated before 
 the Mediterranean was ventured. If it was so dared, Jason 
 may be Galilean before he was Phoenician. 
 
 Grotefend's suggestion that Argo in Phoenician meant 
 a long ship (Heb. Arha, = long) is not so convincing. I 
 should rather have expected the first ship to be called oak, or 
 thunder, or woodpecker. This point can be left in suspense 
 with a strong mark of philological doubt. 
 
 Is there anything that will confirm us in accepting 
 Grotefend's judgement as to the meaning and origin of the 
 Jason legend ? I think I have found such a confirmation. 
 The first On an ancient gem, figured in King and Monro's illustrated 
 ^'P '" Horace, will be found a representation of the very pair of 
 twins in a boat, whom our analysis detected at the back of 
 the Argonaut legends. The two figures are seated in a boat, 
 facing one another, and holding between them something 
 like an amphora with handles: they have caps on their 
 heads, but note that they are not the egg-shaped caps of 
 the Dioscun, but the conical caps of the Kabiri. So then, 
 the verdict must be that the primitive sea-going twins were 
 remembered as Kabiri in some quarters. Jason and his 
 
XXn] AND HIS COMPANIONS 233 
 
 companion were a couple of Kabirs, which is the point that 
 we wished to confirm. 
 
 It is interesting to look a little more closely at the gem 
 which King and Monro delineate, and at their comment upon 
 it. The passage of Hon\ce to be illustrated is (Jde III. 29 : 
 
 Turn me biremis praesidio scaphae 
 tutum per Aei^eos tumultus 
 aura feret geminusque Pollux. 
 
 Pollux is invoked to bear him safe over the troubled Aegean; 
 and his wish is illustrated by a ship, with a couple of Kabirs 
 on board, who are companion saints of the Dioscuri. Upon 
 this the editors remark: 'Two men, wearing conical pilei. 
 seated in a galley with oars, and holding between them a 
 tall amphora. This curious and iiniiiue design shows us the 
 Cabiri, the great gods of Peliisgic, or pro-historic Greece, 
 and her numerous colonics. They were worshipped ;is the 
 inventors of all the useful arts of life, especially of navigation 
 and agriculture, which character is very expressively alluded 
 to by their attributes upon this gem. Their name is 
 Phoenician, signifying "The Mighty Ones," and is literally 
 translated by the I^atin Divi Potea. by which title Varro 
 mentions their worship at Rome.' 
 
 It will be noticed that the p;iss;ige contains an illegitimate 
 equation between Pelasgic and Phoenician. The wlitors go 
 on to explain that the Kabiri are described by Herodotus as 
 being the sons of Hephaestos (ill. 37), and that their figures 
 are like the Phoenician Pataeci, or like the pygmies, i.e. that 
 they wear conical caps. They conclude by saying that the 
 Kabiri were confounded by the later Greeks with the 
 Dioscuri. We agree that the Kabiri are an earlier form of 
 the Twins than the Dioscuri. Jason, then, is a Kabir, and we Janon a 
 should say, perhaps a Phoenician. This is the same result as 
 was arrived at by K. O. Milller, in his book on (Jrchomenos'. 
 
 ' K. 0. MiiUer. Orchnmnwt u. ilir Minyrr, p. a60. • I)cnn wag Jason's 
 Namcn und That botrifft. meinlcn «chon die Alton. (Usn Her Z6RlinK it» 
 heilkuniliRpn Cheiron von <lcr'Ioff(f brnannt und Ai«m und Jason uievntlich 
 cler.tclbe Name del. J««o!i, Jaion, und Jaaion ab«'r «ind von UrspnmR 
 einerlci. wie sie auch hnufin vcrwcch»clt wenlcn ; und -o iM audi dem 
 Namen nach der Haraolbrakisohe Kablr Jasion.' 
 
CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES OF THE HEAVENLY TWINS 
 
 In the previous chapter the question was raised whether 
 Triptolenios, the Attic inventor of the plough, was not a 
 twin-brother of Jason, the captain of the first Greek ship : 
 and this brings up the wider enquiry as to the association of 
 the great Twin Brethren with the plough, their nautical skill 
 having by this time been abundantly established. 
 The Twins Amongst the many services supposed to have been 
 p?oush "'^ rendered to mankind by the Heavenly Twins, one of the 
 most important is the invention of ploughs and yokes : and 
 it is interesting to enquire how this service came to be 
 • recognised as proper to them, and so actually performed by 
 them. For it is certain that the functions of the Dioscuri 
 are not thrown about at random, merely because they are 
 the common benefactors of mankind and general saviours of 
 the race, but in almost every case a careful examination will 
 show that the function in question is related to the original 
 taboo on twins, and to the recognition of the idealised twins 
 as children of the Sky or of the Thunder. In many cases 
 the reasons for some special form of Salvation and Well-being 
 can be made out. 
 
 Thus the idea of fertility, involved in the production of 
 twins, and considered in their supposed relation to the Sky, 
 led at once to the presidency of the Twins over the marriage 
 chamber, and over the fniits of the field ; if rain was required, 
 their connection with the Sky-god made them the proper 
 court of appeal, and for similar reasons they became the right 
 medicine men in the case of those whose physical powers 
 were declining and who wished to become young again. 
 
CH. XXIIl] THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES ETC. 235 
 
 These, and many other points, such as their care for the 
 sanctity of oaths, and their wrath against the perjured (for 
 they are the children of the all-seeing Sky, in whose presence 
 sub Divo the Oath is actually Uiken), their interest in ships 
 (which we have traced back to the holy oak and the sacred 
 woodpecker), can for the most part be made sufficiently 
 luminous when once we have the right point of view. Given 
 the same intellectual limiUitions, and a similar stage of 
 human evolution, we may be sure that we should have acted 
 and thought much as did our far away ancestors. 
 
 In the present chapter of our new science, we are to 
 discuss the relation of the Heavenly Twins to the discovery 
 of the plough and the invention of the yoke. 
 
 As we shall see from the traditions that have come down 
 to us, as well as from the nature of the case, the two discoveries 
 are closely related, and they constitute an imporUnt stage in 
 the history of man, almost comparable to the discovery and 
 use of fire: so that we should naturally e.xpect that nices 
 which study their own advance and realise their own iul- 
 vantages, will have some story or other to tell us as to how 
 high heaven causetl the art to be known and the useful 
 practice to be invented : in which connection it may be noted 
 in passing, that it is one of the curious defects of the Hebrew 
 religion that, old as it is, it has no myth of the origin of 
 fire, or of the invention of the plough', though it has a 
 sufficient record of the origin of clothes, and something to 
 .say on the subject of working in metals : many of the ancient 
 myths must have disappeared before the time of thi- produc- 
 tion of the book of Genesis. 
 
 In the case before us, then, we have first of all to prove 
 that the Twins hiid charge of the plough and the yoke : then 
 we have to make suggestion as to how these came U> be their 
 
 ' This is the more rcmnrkablo fta the I'hooniciftns had both. Sanchonia- 
 thon (in Eu.Heb. Pnirp. F.v.m. i. 10) Inlls u» that the thrrc children of Oi-no» 
 found out the means of producinR tire by rubhinR piece-i of wood aRainHl one 
 another, and taiinht men tlie u.<c thereof. 
 
 Ho also tells us that IhiKon wa« one of the sons of Ouranos and Go: 
 (Dagon signifjinn Bread corn); and that Dajfon, after he bad found oM 
 bread-corn and the plough, was called Zeus Arolrios. 
 
236 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [CH. 
 
 province ; after which we may go on to consider the later 
 
 stages of the cult and the traces of it which may survive in 
 
 modem religion. 
 
 The Twins That the Twins had charge of the plough and the yoke 
 
 the^Ris'" ^pps^irs in a number of ways. In the first case it is one of 
 
 Veda. the functions attached to the At^vins or Twin-horsemen of 
 
 the Rig- Veda. 
 
 It may be noted in passing that the grounds on which 
 some critics have doubted the identification of the A9vins 
 with the Aryan Dioscuri are quite insufficient to discredit a 
 hypothesis, so natural in itself, and so abundantly corro- 
 borated. Some perplexity has been unnecessarily introduced 
 over a passage in the Rig- Veda in which only one of the A9 vins 
 is said to be the son of the Sky ; the passage runs as follows : 
 
 ' One bom here, the other there, they strive together 
 with unblemished bodies in their noble nature, victorious 
 over the mighty ; one of you is a director, the other drives 
 on, as the darling son of the Sky.' 
 
 Max Miiller's explanation of the Twins, as being born 
 ' here and there,' is as follows : ' The A^vins are called ihSha 
 .gdtdu, born here and there, i.e. on opposite sides, or in the 
 air and in the sky. One is gishnu, victorious, he who bides 
 in the air ; the other is suhhaga, happy, the son of Dyu, or 
 the Sky.' 
 
 The difficulty arose from not seeing that the Rig- Veda is 
 explaining that one is mortal, the other immortal, and the 
 language naturally refers to the time when only one of the 
 pair was considered heaven-bom, a stage which is also to be 
 traced in the Greek legends, and in the taboos of savage 
 peoples. 
 
 With this explanation, and the direct statement of the 
 Rig- Veda that one of the two is a child of the Sky, or 
 Dioscure, we need not make any further difficidty over the 
 statement that one of the Twins is born here and the other 
 there : it only means earth-born and sky-bom. 
 
 Returning to the evidence of the Rig- Veda as to the 
 connection of the Twins with the plough, we have the 
 following statements : 
 
XXIIl] OF THE HEAVENLY TWINS 237 
 
 ' You, U A(,'vins, that lay enemies low, sow grain with the 
 plough, and milk out the quickening streams of water for 
 men." Rig- Veda, i. 117, 21. 
 
 ' Inasmuch as ye were helpful to men, yo in former times 
 sowed grain in heaven with the plough'.' lb. viii. 22, 6. 
 
 The meaning of those pas.sages is, that the twins, who have 
 a genera! care for fertility, through their connection with 
 the Sky, and through their e.xhibition of it in their own 
 persons, have also especially cjired for the crops by the in- 
 vention of the plough. They have the credit for the fertility 
 which the plough produces. 
 
 Now let us go to a more barbarous region and see what 
 the Scythifins say of the origin of such civilization .us they 
 have. 
 
 Here is a curious story from Herodotus-; 
 
 The Scythians say that they are the youngest of races Scythians 
 and that they all sprung from a certain Targitaos, who w;us pfo^gh 
 himself the .son of Zeus and of the daughter of the river dropped 
 Borysthenes : this Targitaos had three sons, named Ijeip<j.\ais heaven. 
 (AetTrofai?), Arpoxais (WpTrofats) and Kolaxais (KoXafat?), 
 the latter being the youngest of all. When these three 
 brothers were ruling over Scythia, there fell down from 
 heaven certain golden works of art, a plough and a yoke 
 {aporpov Tt Kai ^vyov), and an axe (<Tnyapi<;), and a cup 
 {<f>id\r)). The first brother tried to seize them, but the gold 
 caught fire on his approach ; so with the second ; the third 
 brother quenched the fire and got pos.session of the golden 
 ornaments ; and his brethren accepted the omen and handed 
 over the kingdom to him. The gold ornaments were laid up 
 in a temple and were the objects of a great aimual ri'ligious 
 festival'. 
 
 ■ Literally, with the icolj: this may be an early name (or the pluuKlisharc 
 on account of its biting and tearing the groiinil Sfp Mvriniilli.ii.i. Iiif 
 .Iftifu, pp. 12.1-r2-5. 
 
 ' Herod, iv. H. 
 
 ' I have tranHlatod aifufxt by ■aie." because it «|>p<'«rs ii> !><■ tli.' munr 
 implement or wcjijion described by llcroilolus elsewhere (vil. 64), where the 
 weapons o( the Scythians arc said to be bows, axe wgars {iHttx\ jayii^i) and 
 hand-daggers. 
 
238 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [OH. 
 
 Now in connection with the foregoing we have an account 
 of the discovery of the plough and the yoke, under the fiction 
 that golden models of them fell down from heaven. We 
 notice that the brethren who rule the country are a triad, 
 with names made on a common model. Is this a Kabiric 
 model ? May we compare Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal ? We 
 need further light on the meaning of the names before we 
 can answer the question'. 
 
 If the Scythian brothers were Dioscuric in character, 
 we should read a meaning into their connection with the 
 discovery of the yoke and plough. Perhaps the word ' axe ' 
 may be involved in their names also. The Scythian story 
 will at least show, what we shall presently confirm from other 
 quarters, that the plough and the yoke are a single discovery 
 to the ancient world, under celestial patronage. 
 The battle We will now move further west, and examine a curious 
 cartv"" ^•*' °f legendary history from the highlands of Scotland, the 
 account of the battle of Luncarty. 
 
 When I published my first researches into the history 
 and diffusion of the Cult of the Twins, I was made sport of 
 .by a reviewer, whose personality was not very difficult to 
 recognise, who wished to know why I had not proved Dioscuric 
 intervention in the battle of Luncarty. The situation was, 
 I suppose, meant to be a critical reductio ad absurdum. 
 However, since then, the matter has been moved out of the 
 region of ridicule by Mr A. B. Cook's researches on the 
 European Sky-God, who dwells in the sacred tree. Mr Cook 
 approached the Luncarty legends from another side, and 
 found traces of the same ancient cult as prevailed at Dodona 
 and at Nemi. And as we shall come to nearly the same 
 point in our investigations, it may after all become a 
 tenable theory that the battle of Luncarty was the scene 
 
 ' A parallel case would be three deities worshipped at Samothrace, named 
 Axiokersos, Axiokersii and Axieros. Here we are on Dioscuric grouud, for 
 Samothrace is headquarters for both Dioscuri and Kabiri. But here again the 
 names are hard to explain. Mr A. H. Cook has sought to connect them with 
 the worship of the double axe, and to explain them as (1) he that cleaves 
 with the axe, (2) she that is cleft by the axe, and (I suppose) (3) he to whom 
 the axe is sacred. See A. B. Cook, Oxford Conyress for Ilift. Jicl. p. 194. 
 
XXIIl] OF THE HEAVENLY TWINS 239 
 
 of a Dioscuric intervention. What then wiis the battle 
 ot" Luncarty and why does it become of interest in this in- 
 vestigation ? 
 
 When Milton was preparing for himself a list of subjects, 
 suitable for possible dramatic or poetical treatment (the 
 jottings of which are preserved among his manuscripts at 
 Trinity College, Cambridge), he took a number of sugges- 
 tions from the Scottish history of Hector Boece, which is 
 printed along with Holinshed's Chronicles. Amongst these 
 subjects wo find the following : 
 
 ' H(Vj the IHourjhman, who with his two sons at plough. Hay the 
 running to the battle that was between the Scots and the I,',',","*'' 
 Danes in the next field, stayed the fiight of his countrymen, 
 etc.' The subject was a very curious one for Milton to have 
 selected, but he was reading Holinshed carefully and no 
 doubt Boece : moreover his interest was especially awakened 
 in the battle of Luncarty; for, as his biographer Masson h;is 
 shown, his first preceptor, Young, came from the very parish 
 of Luncarty, where the battle wiis fought. It is easy to 
 infer that the story had impressed him at a very early date. 
 It hafi also impressed Shakespeare, who, ius Mr A B. Cook 
 reminds us, uses it in the fifth Act of Cymbeline. 
 
 The story of the Battle of Luncarty is summed up in 
 Burke's Armoury in connection with the pedigree of Hay 
 (Eiirl of Errol) as follows: and as we shall have to refer 
 particidarly to the coat of arms of the Earls of Errol, 
 which form a basis for part of the legends, or are closely 
 connected with them, I transcribe the Heraldic account, 
 after which we will see what Boece him.self says on the 
 matter. 
 
 Burke, Armoury. Hay (Earl of Errol). 
 
 ' In the reign of Kenneth III,' siiys Douglas, about 9S0, 
 • the Danes having invaded Scotland were encountered by 
 that king near Loncarty in Perthshire: the Scots at firat 
 gave way, an<l Hed through >i narrow pass, where they were 
 stopped by a countryman c,f great strength and courage, and 
 his two sons, with no other weapms than thi- yokes of their 
 ploughs; upbraiding the fugitives for their cowardice he 
 
240 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [CH. 
 
 succeeded in rallying them ; the battle was renewed, and the 
 Danes totally discomfited. It is said that after the victory 
 was obtained the old man lying on the ground wounded and 
 fatigued, cried " Hay, Hay," which word became the surname 
 of his posterity : the king, as a reward of that signal 
 service, gave him as much land in the Corse of Gowrie, as a 
 falcon could fly over before it settled : and <a falcon being 
 accordingly let otf, flew over an extent of ground six miles 
 in length, afterwards called Erroll, and lighted on a stone, 
 still called Falconstone : the king also assigned three shields 
 or escutcheons for the arms of the family, to intimate that 
 the father and the two sons had been the three fortunate 
 shields of Scotland. This legend, first told by Hector Boece, 
 was invented to explain the arms, which are at least as old 
 as 1292, and in turn suggested the crest, motto and 
 supporters. 
 
 Arms. Three escutcheon.s, gu. 
 
 Crest. A Falcon rising ppr. 
 
 Supporters: two men in country habits, each holding an 
 ox-yoke over the shoulders. 
 
 Motto : Serva Jugum.' 
 Luncarty As intimated above, the story is to be sought in Boece's 
 
 Chronicles of Scotland, to which we now turn. 
 
 Book XI. ' This day had been the utter extermination 
 of Scottis, wer not ane landwart man, namit Hay, with his 
 two sons, of strong and rude bodies, howbeit they were of 
 maist nobill curage, come haistelie in support of Kenneth 
 and his nobillis, efter they were neir vincust with their 
 enemies. This Hay, havand na wappinis bot the yok of ane 
 pleuch, and seand the middilward quhair Kenneth was 
 fechtand agains the Danes, nakit of baith the wingis, thocht 
 uathing so honorable as to de vailyentlie amang so many 
 nobill men. Than, wes ane strait passage, nocht far fra 
 the battall, cpihare grct noumer of Scottis were slane, 
 miserabillie fleing. This Hay, traisting nathing so guid as to 
 stop the fleing of the Scottis, abaid in this strait passage, 
 with his two sonnis, and slew baith Danes and Scottis quhom 
 he fand fleand, with his yok Sic things is done, Kenneth 
 
 in Boece 
 
XX hi] of toe heavenly twins 241 
 
 relumil to the aistel of Bertha and cnininandit this Hay 
 and his soniiis to be clothed with rich claithis aiul to follow 
 him to the said castel. Bot Hay, iiathing desiring thereof, 
 come with his sonnis, in their auld and rusty habit, strinklit 
 with dust and sweit of battal, in the samin manner as they 
 faucht ; reddy to do what charges he might, at the king's 
 
 pleisir Hay, accumpanit with huge pepil in this wise, 
 
 enterit in the King's palice, berand the yok on his shoulders, 
 in the Siime inaner ;us he faucht agains the Danis.' 
 
 Then follows the story of the falcon and the coat of arms. Thcsacred 
 Mr A. B. Cook shows that this legend of the eponymous ^^^Jj 
 ancestor of the Ha)s of Errol conUiins in it elements which 
 involve the ancient belief of the connection between men 
 and trees, in the matter of vital sympathy. For there wiis 
 in former times a wiz;ird oak not far from the Falcon Stone, 
 which delimited the estate of Errol, and with this oak and 
 its mistletoe the fortunes of the Hay family were connected. 
 The legend of the oak is told by John Hay Allen in a note 
 to one of his poems' entitled ' Lines written up<in coming in 
 sight of the Co.ist of Scotland.' ' Among the Low Country 
 families the badges are now almost generally forgotten : but 
 it appears by an ancient MS, and the tnulition of a few old 
 people in Perthshire, that the badge of the Hays was the 
 mistletoe. There was formerly in the neighbourhiKx] of 
 Errol, and not far from the F^alcon Stone, a vast oak of an 
 unknown age, and upon which grew a profusion of the 
 (mistletoe) plant : many charms and legends were connected 
 with the tree, and the duration of the family of Hay was 
 said to be united with its existence. It was believed that a 
 sprig of the mistletoe cut by a Hay on Allhallowmas Eve 
 with a new dirk, and after surrounding the tree three times 
 sun-ways and pronouncing a certain spell, was a sure charm 
 against all glamour or witchery, and an infallible guanl in 
 the day of battle. A spniy gathered in the sjime manner 
 was placed in the cnidle of infants, and thought to defeml 
 them from being changed into elf-baims by the fairies. 
 
 ' J. H. Allen, The IlriJal of Caolihtiirii iiml othi-i |xm'Iiii<, Lonilun, iHJ-i, 
 p. 97. 
 
 H. n. IC 
 
242 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [cH. 
 
 Finally, it was affirmed, that when the root of the oak had 
 perished, " the grass sh(iuld grow in the hearth of Errol, and 
 a raven should sit in the falcon's nest." The two most 
 unlucky things which could be done by one of the name of 
 Hay, were to kill a white falcon, and to cut down a limb 
 from the oak of Errol. When the old tree was destroyed 
 I never could learn. The estate has been some time sold out 
 of the family of Hay, and of coui-se it is said that the fatal 
 oak was cut down a short time before.' 
 
 Upon which legend and as.sociated cult Mr Cook remarks 
 that ' the fortune of the Hays was bound up with an imme- 
 morial oak. And the white falcon that haunted the spot 
 was very probably regarded as an ancestral spirit in bird- 
 form Both Greeks and Latins connected the mistletoe 
 
 with the sun : it is a priori probable that the insular Celts 
 
 did the same The mistletoe was cut on AUhallowmas Eve 
 
 from the oak at Errol by a Hay, who surrounded the tree 
 three times sun-ways. We can hardly deny that the cutting 
 of such a plant on such an occasion in such a way had a 
 definitely solar significance.' 
 
 In other words, the ritual of the oak at Errol was the 
 survival of the ancient ritual of the European Sky-god, who 
 lived in an oak covered with mistletoe, the plant in which 
 the solar virtue was believed to be concentrated. 
 
 Now let us approach the same series of legends from 
 a Dioscuric standpoint, according to which the oak-deity 
 had two assessors, whose closest parallel, if we may judge 
 from Tacitus' account of the Lithuanian religion (of the 
 Naharvali, to be more exact), lies in the worship of Castor 
 and Pollux by the Romans. We have at once the parallel of 
 the old man and his two sons with the Oak-god and his two 
 iussessors : then we have the familiar feature of the appearance 
 of the Dioscuri and (in this case) of their sire, when the tide 
 of battle has to be ttirned; and their sweating and dusty 
 figures in the Scottish legend can be compared with the 
 young horsemen who appeared and washed themselves and 
 their hoisos at the Fountain of Juturna in the Forum. 
 
 But last of all,an<l most important of all for our piirposes, 
 
XXIIl] OF THK HEAVENLY TWINS 243 
 
 there is the appearance of the plough among the iiifniories 
 of the day. Boece says the t)l(l man fought with his yoke. 
 And the supjwrtei-s of the Hay coat of anns are two country- 
 men, each holding an ox -yoke over his shoulders: while the 
 motto ' Serva Jugurn ' jjoints the s;iine way. 
 
 I should imagine that the plough-coulters, or at any rate 
 the ox-goads, were also in evidence: the primitive plough- 
 coulters do not differ much from ox-goads. But whether it 
 was one or both, all the symbols involved are Dioscuric, and 
 belong to those who invented the plough and the yoke. 
 
 A suspiciously parallel case occure in the Book of Judges, Sbamgar 
 when Shaingar, the son of Anath, slays 600 Philistines with he^!>°"'''' 
 iin ox-goad'. 
 
 Shamgar is, then, a s(jlar hero of the same type as the 
 Hays of Errol. Perhaps his name is an abbreviation for 
 Shamash-garain {lanyfriyepafioi;), of Northern Syria. That 
 he is the son of Anath is clear enough: Anath is the feminine 
 of Anu, the Babylonian Sky -god: she has recently turned up 
 iis either a consort or an assessor of Jahu in the Elephantine 
 Papyri. 
 
 We see then that the stories involved have a cyclical 
 element in them : and we conclude that the Hay family 
 have incorponited legends of the holy oak, of the Oak-god 
 and his children in their family history : their coat of anns 
 uses the legend much in the same way ;is noble familit-s at 
 Koine put the Dioscuri on their coins. Lunairty may be 
 placed, for folk-lore purposes, in the neighbourhood of the 
 I>ake Regillua, 
 
 There is, however, another clo.se panillel between the The 
 Hays of Errol, the Shaingar-stor}-, and the Dioscuri. Thert' 1,^°""^^' 
 is a curious tnulitioii that the Greeks were aide<l at the M»r»»hon. 
 Battle of Marathon by an unknown warrior, whose weajnin 
 was a ploughshare (aporpov). After the fight was won, he 
 mysteriously di.saj)jH,'are(l, and when the CJreeks consulted 
 
 ' The Hebrew crrtaiiil;r miKKesU 'ux^'^'xl'' but the LXX inUrpret ^ 
 ' plough coulter ' (iparpiroSi rur ^lour), and Jerome (ulluwt them with 
 lumere. It scenm that the primitive pointwl plouRh and the oi-goad wore 
 hardly differentiated. Hence one cuuld fiKht with a plouKhnhare, if ncces- 
 liary ; it is nut so cany to sco bow to tf,\\\ with a yoke. 
 
 16—2 
 
244 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [cH- 
 
 the Oracle at Delphi about him, they could get no infonuation 
 as to who he was, but only an instruction to ' Care for no 
 man at all, but say just this: We praise one helpful man 
 whom we c;ill the holder of the ploughshare.' The story 
 will be found in Pausanias, as follows' : 
 
 ' Now it befell, they say, that in the battle there was 
 present a man of rustic aspect and dress, who slaughtered 
 many of the barbarians luith a plough, and vanished after the 
 fight. When the Athenians enquired of the god, the only 
 answer he vouchsafed was to bid them honour the hero 
 Echetlaeus ('Ej^eTXaioi;).' The name is supposed to be 
 derived from e-)^eT\T), the plough-handle. It seems that this 
 story is a piece of folk-lore, exactly parallel on the one hand 
 to the story of the Hays of Errol (except for the number of 
 persons involved and the substitution of yoke for plough- 
 share), and to the story of Shamgar (with the variatit)n 
 between ploughshare and ox-goad in the weapon employed) : 
 while on the other hand it is Dioscuric in character on 
 account of the mysterious and anonymous intervention of 
 the strangely armed warrior, whose weapon is itself one of 
 ' the Dioscuric symbols, and his equally mysterious disappear- 
 ance. For the latter point we may compare what Dionysius 
 of Halicarnassus says of the appearance of the Twins after 
 the Battle of the Lake Regillus. The crowd that gathered 
 round the pool of Juturna enquired if they brought news 
 from the camp. They lelated to them how the day had gone, 
 and that the Romans won. Then they withdrew from the 
 Forum, and were seen no more, though the governor left in 
 charge of the city caused diligent search to be made for them'. 
 
 The abruptness of their withdrawal is brought out by 
 Macaulay in his Battle of the Lake Regtlliis; who describes 
 their disappearance thus: 
 
 'They washed their horses in the well 
 That springs by Vesta's fane, 
 And straight attain they mounted, 
 And rode to Vesta's door: 
 Then like a blast, away they passe<i, 
 And no man saw them more.' 
 
 ' Puus. I. 32, A (tr. Frazer). = Ct. Dion. Anti,). Horn. vi. 13. 
 
XXIIl] OF THK HKAVKNLY TWINS 245 
 
 We have the !«iim' abrupt (lisappciinvncf in thi' account of 
 the battle at the Sagiius, whi-re the Dioscuri t<i<ik the side of 
 the Locrians'. 
 
 In the Marathon legend wc have an earlier and humbler 
 conception of the Dioscuri than in the Roman story. Between 
 the stage where the Dioscure could be a ploughman and 
 tight with his plough-coulter, and the time when he was 
 a splendid horseman and used a spear, there is a wide space 
 of evolutionary history. Even in India, the horse stage w;is 
 not reached before the time of Eukratides when, ivs the coins 
 show, the riding knights c<ame back from the West : in the 
 old time they drove chariots : before they drove chariots, 
 they drove the plough. But the stages of the popular 
 belief are all closely linked, Marathon with Luncarty, and 
 both of them with the Lake Regillus. 
 
 Our next instance of the connection of the Heavenly 
 Twins with the plough shall bo taken from the early Christian 
 liteniture. It h;\s been shown that in certain quartt-i-s, there 
 wiU) a belief that the Apostle Thomas, whose name means 
 twin, was the twin-brother of Jesus. 
 
 This belief w;\s especially strongly held in the old Syrian Twin-cult 
 church of Ivle.ssa, which city was the centre of a heathen cidt '" ****' 
 of the Sun and the Heavenly Twins, the two latter being 
 probably identified with the Morning and Evening Stars. 
 The re.isons for this surprising sUitement are largely drawn 
 from the Acta of Thomas, the mythical founder of the 
 Ede.H-san Church: and these Acts, which are of Syrian origin, 
 make Thoiiiius play the part of the double of Jesus, in all 
 kinds of peculiar situations, and they make Ji'sus and Thomas Jesus and 
 do many things which can at once be explained if they were '"'"**■ 
 looked on iis l)io.scures; moreover on sevenil occasions, 
 Thom.us is tlefinitely ad(lresse<i iis the Twin of the Messiah. 
 For the proofs and elabonition of this theme, I must refer tn 
 my two tracts, the LHoscuri in Christian Legend, and thf 
 Cult of the Heavenly Twins : but we must not suppose- that 
 
 ' Justin XI. 3, ' pugnHrv vi.hi sunt, nvc ultra ap|urucrunt, quam pugoatuin 
 
246 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [CH. 
 
 the belief is limited to a single Church, planted in a centre 
 where Twin-worship was rife as a part of a solar cult. The 
 Roman Breviary itself is in evidence for the belief, and 
 contains sentences for St Thomas' day which, in their un- 
 corrected form, tell us plainly that Thomas is the twin-brother 
 of Jesus. These sentences in the Breviary can be traced 
 back to St Isidore of Seville, and it is quite possible that 
 they may be ultimately due to the westerly migration of 
 the Acts of Thomas. Even if this should turn out to be 
 the case, it appears as if a long time had elapsed before the 
 statements in question were recognised as heretical. And 
 this naturally leads to the belief that the gulf in theological 
 thought between the far East and the near West wa.s not so 
 deep as might, at first sight, be imagined. 
 
 When we turn to the opening sentences of the Acts of 
 Thomas, we have the well-known situation where Jesus sends 
 Thomas to preach in India ; and after some opposition on 
 the part of Thomas (who, by the way, is always JucUus Thomas 
 in the Acts), Jesus sells him as a slave to an Indian 
 merchant named Habban, who had been commissioned to 
 King Gundaphar to bring him a skilftil carpenter. 
 
 As soon as Habban had got Judas on boani ship, he 
 proceeds to interrogate him : 
 
 ' What is thy art that thou art skilled in practising?' 
 
 And Judas replies : 'Carpentering and architecture: the 
 
 business of the carpenter.' 
 Habban en(iuires further : 
 
 'What (lost thou know to make in wood, and what in 
 hewn stone ?' 
 .luda.'s And Judas replies: 'In wood and stone I have learned to 
 Thomas ,^^.^i[g plovghs and yokes and ox-goads ; and oars for ferry- 
 plouglis boats, and masts for ships : and in stone, tombstones and 
 yokes. monuments and temples and palaces for kings.' 
 
 ' Just the sort of man I want,' says Habban, who is 
 thinking of the commission with which he has been entrusted 
 by King Oundaphar, who has the building of a new palace in 
 iiiiiiil. 
 
 When they arrive in Inilia, the same catechism is repeated 
 
XXIIlJ OF TflK HKAVKNLY TWINS ■_>47 
 
 by King (Jmnlapliar, who is very well pleasuil with thi' 
 recapitulation of JihIjus Thomas' i|Ualificatioii8. 
 
 Now these riiiahfications are characteristic of the Dioscuri. 
 I have shown that one of their early Greek titles was 
 Lipersai, or stone-workers, and legend hxs been busy with 
 their names in this connection by making them the founders 
 anil builders of famous cities. Take for example, the building 
 of Thebes by Zethos and his twin-brother Amphion'. But 
 if we credit the Dioscuri with the art of the architect and 
 the building of temples and cities, we must remember that 
 in the earliest times the art of the architect was not difJer- 
 entiated from that of the carpenter. The man who could 
 work in woixl could also build a house. The Te;^i'tT7;? and 
 the Brj/Miovpyuf of the city could be one and the ."yinie 
 person '. 
 
 We see some con.sciousness of this unity of function in 
 the Acts of Thovius, where it is not thought strange that 
 Thomas should know how to make oars for a boat, and at 
 the same time to design and build a king's palace. 
 
 It appeai-s, then, that the skill of Judas Thomas is Judas 
 expressed in terms that are absolutely Dioscuric. Even the oioscure. 
 reference to the e(|uipnient of a boat or a ship goes back into 
 the early belief that the Twins were the patrons of navigation 
 and of sailors. The reasons for this belief have already been 
 pointed out. 
 
 Now let us look again at the (pialitications of Jud;i,s the 
 Twin when he is sent to India: the first statement that he 
 makes concerns his ability to make ploughs, yokes, and 
 ox-goads. If, on other grounds, the general (pialifications of 
 .ludius have enabled us to recognise him as a Dioscure, or 
 Heavenly Twin, then we are entitlcfl to include these special 
 (pialifications in the Dioscuric eipiipment: thus we say that 
 in certain rlistricts, notably at Edessa, the Heavenly Twins 
 were the patrons of agriculture, and the inventors of ploughs, 
 yokes, and ox-goads. These three implements go together; 
 we have .-ilreaily |)ointed out that the ox-goad is, in primitive 
 
 ' Amphion, as sUitc<l, = Twin. 
 « F.p. o./ Hrl.. XX. 10. 
 
248 THE PLOUGHS AND YOKES [oH. 
 
 times, merely the ploughshare detached : it is very nearly so, 
 to-day, in the East: and ploughing began as an art, when 
 men had learned how to harness and yoke cattle. So the 
 three inventions really belong together, and the Twins, 
 including Thomas, are credited with the manufacture of 
 them. 
 
 Now let us turn to a curious statement made by Justin 
 Martyr. 
 
 In the 88th chapter of Justin's Didlofine with Tnjpho, we 
 
 find as follows : 
 
 Jesus ' When Jesus came to the Jordan, and was supposed to 
 
 ploughs ^'6 *^^ ^^^ of Joseph the Carpenter and appeared without 
 
 an^ i comeliness, iis the Scriptures had foretold of him, and wa.s 
 
 supposed to be a carpenter (for these works of a carpenter 
 
 were wrought by him when he was among men, namely, 
 
 ploughs and yokes, by which he taught the symbols of 
 
 righteousness and the strenuous life), at that time, and for 
 
 the sake of men, as I said before, the Holy Spirit fluttered 
 
 down upon him in the form of a dove, etc' 
 
 Here we have a definite statement that Jesus was a 
 carpenter, and that he made ploughs and yokes. Now this 
 statement is very important, (1) because of its antiquity, 
 (2) because it goes beyond our canonical gospels, which say 
 nothing of Jesus Christ's carpentering beyond the bare 
 admission of the fact, and usually do not go beyond the 
 statement that he was believed to be the son of a carpenter, 
 (;i) because it is definite to such a degree that it must at 
 least incorporate a tradition. Possibly, though this is a 
 mere speculation, Justin is here using an uncanonical gospel, 
 as he certainly is when he describes the ' fluttering down' of 
 the Holy Spirit, which recurs elsewhere, and may, perhajxs, be 
 due to the influence of the Gospel according to the Hebrews. 
 Whatever the origin of the statement, it is significant. 
 Something like it can be traced elsewhere in the Apocryphal 
 Gospel of Thomas, where the incident of Christ's helping 
 Joseph to make a wooden bed is introduced by the statement, 
 ' His father was a carpenter and was occupied at that thnv. 
 in the manufacture of ploughs and yokes': a statement which 
 
XXIIl] OF THE HEAVENLY TWINS '24!» 
 
 must be compared with that of Justin, ami may come from 
 the very same source. 
 
 Another reason for believing that the statement and the 
 words in which it is expressed, do not come from Justin's 
 own bi-nin, lies in the fact that, when casually mentioninjj 
 them, he throws in a bit of mystical commentiiry, which 
 betrays the fact that what he is giving us is text that has 
 already been used for purposes of edification. Justin, then, 
 h:us given us a tnidition which \v:us prubably exUvnt in 
 writing. 
 
 But this tradition credits Jesus with the s<ime occupation 
 with which the Acts of Thomas credit Judas Thomas. We 
 can hardly prove Thomas, then, to be a Dioscure, without 
 admitting that Jesus also was believed, in some qujirters of 
 the Eiist, to be also a Dioscure. For, on the one hand, the 
 Acta Tliomae make Jesus to be Thomas' twin-brother, and, 
 on the other hand, the Apocryphal Evangelical tradition 
 makes Jesus do the same things that Judiis Thomas the 
 r*ioscurc does. 
 
 Probably, then, over a wider area than thi- princip;ility of 
 Osrhoene, or the city and suburbs of Ede.ssa, Jesus Wius 
 included with Thoma,s under the title ot the Heavenly 
 Twins. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Twin-cult 
 in Edessa. 
 
 Morning 
 
 and 
 
 Evening 
 
 Stars 
 Twins. 
 
 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE TWIN-CULT AT 
 EDESSA 
 
 Our last chapter brought us back again to Edessa ; and 
 it seems reasonable before we take up the further study of 
 the Aryan Dioscurism in Europe, that we should throw 
 some additional light on the nature of the Twin-cult in 
 Edessa. 
 
 That Edessa was a twin-centre has been proved in a 
 number of ways ; they may be classified as follows : 
 
 (1) The Acts of Thomas, an undoubtedly Syriac com- 
 position, probably composed in Edessa, have represented 
 Jesus and Thomas as twin brothers on the model of the 
 Dioscuri. It is reasonable to conclude that this presenta- 
 tion is due to the historical fact that in Edessa Jesus 
 and Thomas displaced the Dioscuri as objects of worship in 
 certain circles. 
 
 (2) This agrees with archaeologiaxl and other evidence 
 which makes Edessa the home of a Solar cult, in which the 
 sun was adored, along with two assessors named Monim and 
 Aziz. Monim and Aziz have been, on good grounds, identified 
 with the Morning and Evening Stars, con.sidercd as twin-stars 
 by the ancients. 
 
 (3) The numismatic evidence from Edessa shows con- 
 stant recurrence of the two stars referred to in the foregoing, 
 in a manner which reminds one of the stars attached to the 
 Dioscuri in coins of Asia Minor or of Rome. 
 
 (4) The most conspicuous monument in Edessa to-day 
 is a pair of lofty pillars standing on the edge of the Acropolis, 
 one of which bears an inscription that it was made in honour 
 
CM. XXIV 1 THE TWIN-CULT AT KOKSSA 251 
 
 of Princess Sh;iliii;ith mid refers to a carving upon the shaft 
 (now cut away by Moslem hands), which hiis been conjectured 
 to have been a representation of the Twins. 
 
 In the present chapter, I propose to make a re-statement 
 of the first two points, and to leave the numismatic and 
 existing archaeological evidence on one side for the present. 
 Those who wish to study the problem of the twin pillars' 
 will find the material collected in my two previous books, 
 Dioscuri and Cult, to which must be added Prof. Burkitt's 
 treatment of the subject in the Proceedings of the Suciety of 
 Biblical Archeology. Prof Burkitt does not think the twins 
 are specified in tht? inscription. It would be a good thing 
 if some excavation could he made at the b;ise of the columns 
 in order to find the fragments of the destroyed wirving, ;us 
 well as to determine whether the pillars have always st<jod 
 isolated, or whether they are the remains of an ancient 
 temple. As I am not able, at present, to undertake this 
 enquiry, it seems best to let the matter of the pillars stand 
 over for a while. 
 
 As to the numisinalie evitlenco, there is some slight 
 confusion owing to the occurrence of a star and crescent, iis 
 well as of the two stars, on Edessan monies. I have no 
 doubt myself that as the planet Venus, originally considered 
 as a pair of twin-stars, w;ia an object of E<less;in worship, 
 that the same instinct which represents upon Eiustern coin- 
 ages the chief symbols of their religion, would operate in 
 Edessa to the representation of the Morning and Evening 
 Stars : but Jis we are going to discuss this star-cidt on another 
 line of research, I am disposed to leave it on one side for the 
 present, so far as the numismatic evidence is concerned. 
 The numismatics of Dioseurism is a very wide subject. We 
 now propose to make a brief re-statement of the fundamental 
 Dioseurism of the Acts of Thomas, and then to discuss the 
 hypothesis of the worship of the Morning and the Evening 
 Star. 
 
 ■ In which connection Iho pillarK (Jacbin and Boaz) in Solomon's Temple 
 muni not be (orKotten, nnr the siniilnr pillars in the temple at rapho.i, nnil 
 elsewhere, nor the pillars net up at Antioch by Tiberius in honour of 
 /ethoR and .\ni|>hion. 
 
252 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [cH. 
 
 The Wt(s The Acts of Thomas are, as we have said, a Syriac 
 
 are Syriac Composition. The evidence is cninulative, and, I believe, 
 in origin, irresistible. The very first page would show it to the eye of 
 an e.xpert scholar, who compared the Syriac text with the 
 Greek. In the Syriac, Judas Thomas is introduced as sold 
 away by his master to go to India with an Indian merchant, 
 in order to build a palace for King Gundaphar. One of the 
 (puilifications of the slave who has been sold, turns out to be 
 his ability to work in wood, and especially to make ploughs 
 and yokes. We have already been discussing in a previous 
 chapter the invention of ploughs and yokes by the Dioscuri, 
 and have given striking parallels from sacred and profane 
 literature. 
 
 The Greek translator of the Acts, however, not under- 
 standing the connection between ploughs and yokes, has 
 interpreted the Syriac word for yokes by a double trans- 
 hi.tion, and has advertised Thomas accordingly as a maker 
 of ploughs and yokes and balances ! The mistake has been 
 widely followed, as in the Ethiopic Contendings of the 
 Apostles, by versions of the story which follow the Greek. It 
 .obscures the meaning of the tale at the very start to have 
 such an introduction of the balance along with the yoke^ 
 
 In the same way it can be seen that the Syriac version 
 must be assumed to be the original, if we are to explain how 
 later correctors have got rid of the undoubted statements of 
 the Acts as to the twinship of Jesus and Thomas. This 
 twinship is affirmed both in the Syriac which calls Thomas 
 the Twin of the Messiah, and in the Greek which addresses 
 him as o BiBvfio<; tov y^piarov. But when the statement is 
 corrected away, we find in the Greek an expression like the 
 Abyss of the Messiah, which has no relation whatever to the 
 Greek word Didymus, but is the very slightest modification 
 for the Syriac word for Twin (Tehoma for Tauina). It 
 follows from this that our Greek Acts of Thomas are derived 
 from a Syriac original, in which the process had already 
 begun of removing the offensive relation between Ju<las 
 Thomas and his master. 
 
 ' See further on tliis in Aililitional Notes. 
 
XXIV] TWIN-CULT AT EDESSA 253 
 
 One or two simple instances like these will throw inl<« 
 relief the dependence of the Greek upon the Syriac, and 
 closer and continuous examination will abundantly confirm 
 the hypothesis. This does not mean that the Greek text 
 can never be right as against the Syriac : here as in the 
 New Testament itself, the version will sometimes be found 
 to justify itself against the original language. We are 
 dealing, then, with a document composed in some early 
 Syrian Church. 
 
 The story opens with the statement that JudiW Thomas Thomas 
 is chosen by lot for the Ajjostolate of India, when the known |^^^|" *f 
 world is divided up among the twelve disciples. The division ln>lia 
 t)f the world in this way for aggressive religious work is 
 parallel to the iustrological division of the world under the 
 twelve signs of the Zo<liac : and I have shown reason for 
 believing that the reiison why Jud;is Thomas, the Twin, got 
 India :\s his portion is because, astrologically, India lies 
 under the spell of the sign Gemini. If that should be the 
 case, we start with the Dioscuri in the very op<"ning sentences, 
 and have the key in our hands at the start for the elucidation 
 of the Acts. I state<l the case as follows in Dioscuri, p. +0. 
 
 ' If we turn to the article on the Zodiac in the Encyclo- 
 pedia Britannica (ed. ix), we shall find the following state- 
 ment : 
 
 ' The inrtuence of the signs, though secondary, was over- 
 mastering: India called them Beoiv 8i/i/a/tet?, and they were 
 the objects of a corresjHinding venenition. Cities and king- 
 doms were allotted to their parenUigo on a system fully 
 expounded by Manilius: 
 
 Hon eril in lines orbis poiiluaque nolandus, 
 
 QueiD Deus in partts per singula Jiviciit aslra, 
 
 Ac siia cinque dedil UiWlfto rcKnii p«T orbfni 
 
 F,t propriiis KcntfS iitque urbc« adiliilit alias, 
 
 In (luibus oicrcent prBCstanlia sidcra viri-.i. 
 
 Manil. .^Xrciii iv. 696. 
 
 ' Syria was :Lssigiu<l to Aries, and Syrian coins frequently 
 bear ttii' image of a mm : Scylhia and Arabia f.-ll to Taurus. 
 India to (iemtni.' 
 
 Here, then, we havt; the explanation of TholiiiUs' suppos»-d 
 
254 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [cH. 
 
 journey to India. It is a subordination of the ecclesiastical 
 division of the world to the astrological. 
 
 The story, then, opens with a Dioscuric allusion ; Judas 
 Thomas is, as we say, a Dioscure. He proceeds to tell us 
 the same in the opening chapter. After he has made 
 passionate protests against being sent to India, our Lord 
 sells him right away to an Indian merchant named Habban, 
 and as soon as they are on board ship, at Jafla or at Caesarea, 
 Judas explains to Habban that he can make instruments of 
 wood, and buildings of stone ; ploughs and yokes and ox- 
 goads, and the furniture of ships and pontoons, oars and 
 masts ; and in stone, tombs, temples, and palaces. We 
 have already pointed out the relation of the Heavenly Twins 
 to the agriculture and navigation of antiquity : the building 
 of stone monuments and edifices is also one of the well-known 
 Greek characteristics of the Twins ; nor could Jud;is have 
 more clearly said that he was one of the Heavenly Twins, 
 short of using the actual title. Thus the opening of the 
 book is conclusive as to the motive that underlies it : the 
 writer's mask is off in the very first sentences. 
 
 The book is then arranged for us in a series of dramatic 
 Acts, in which Judas, with the assistance of Jesus, who is 
 accompanying his disciple, unseen, from place to place, does 
 notable thaiimaturgy, casting otit devils and raising the 
 dead. The last and longest of these Acts appears to me to 
 The con- be a later edition to the book ; it contains the acco\mt of the 
 version of (,f„^version of Mygdonia, the wife of a general of King Mazdai, 
 - Nisibis. under the preaching of Judas Thomas. The piece is alle- 
 goriciil, and transparent : for Mygdonia is the name of the 
 district of which Nisibis is the centre, the river of Nisibis 
 being called by the same name ; and Nisibis was both ecclesi- 
 astically and politically the battle-ground between the West 
 and the East for many a day. The conversion of Mygdonia 
 stands for the conversion of Nisibis, which is attributed to 
 Judas Thomas : King Mazdai representing, for the purposes 
 of the allegorist, the Persian religion. 
 
 Now I think it will be found that every one of these 
 Acts of Thomas has the Dioscuric mark on it; that is, in 
 
xxivj TwiN-cri/r at kdessa 255 
 
 every one we sh;ill bo reiiunded that Jesus and Judiis are 
 twins, being exactly alike, and mistaken consUmtly the one 
 for the other; or wc shall find that Judiis is addressed iis the 
 Twin of the Messiah, or spoken of as the brother of the 
 Messiah; or in some way the Dioscuric emphasis is laid upm 
 the story. 
 
 The opening st^iry is very significant: Judius and hisjesusnnd 
 iniister land at a city, where a marriage is being made by \v^ *' * 
 a king for his son ; and after a series of preliminary adven- 
 tures, Judas is invited by the king to come to the raairiage 
 chamber and pray for a blessing on the young couple. It 
 needs but a very slight acquaintance with the tradition of 
 the Twins to realise that the presidency of the Bridechamber 
 and the Birthchambcr is amongst the most widely diffused 
 of Dio-scuric honours. We have already made fre(|uent 
 allusion to the part wh^ch twins play in marriage ceremonies, 
 down to our own time and in our (»wn country : so that if we 
 are to understand the opening Act of the series called Acts 
 of Thomas, we must read the matter in a Dioscuric light. 
 As we have said, the writer never loses sight of this motive 
 in the whole of his work. If we remove the twins from the 
 fabric of the story, by enising whatever is naturally explaineil 
 by Dioscuric motives, the composition will be reduced to 
 a heap of meaningle-ss shreds. The Acts of Thomas are 
 fundamentally Dio.scuric. Perhaps that will be sufficient at 
 this point. I hope to deal with it again, more at length, in 
 an introduction which I am planning to write for the Acts in 
 <|uestion. 
 
 Now let us jKiss on to the question of the two sub-solar Momm 
 •deities of K<less)i, Monim and Aziz. As we have already siiid, *| ■**'* 
 Edessa is a meeting jxiint of races and of religions; it is .sti Kdessan 
 to-day; here the Arab, the Armenian and the Syrian meet; *""'■ 
 and such a conjunction occurred in ancient times, when the 
 early Grei'k (colonists were mixed with the Syrians and the 
 Parthians, and when one whole quarter of the city appears tn 
 have been occupied by Jew.s. Such a situation in early days 
 was very favourable to religious .syncretism. 
 
 Our fir^t eii(|uiry relates to the names, .Monim ami 
 
256 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [CH. 
 
 Aziz. Aziz has a very Arabian appearance, and is still a 
 common Arabian (and hence Turkish) name; it meAna strong, 
 might y. 
 
 Can this be the name of cither the Morning Star or the 
 'Aziz= Evening Star? The name is very like that of the goddess 
 Venusr Al-'Uzza, which was worshipped at Meccii, against whom 
 Mohammed rails in his 53rd Sura. Mohammed had himself 
 in early days sacrificed to 'Uzza, the daughter of Allah, 
 according to the Moslem traditions. Now Isiuic of Antioch, 
 writing in the first half of the fifth century, bears witness to 
 the worship of 'Uzza [Uzzi] by the Arabs of that period, so 
 that we do not need to go all the way to Mecca in search 
 of her'. In another passage Is;iac identifies 'Uzza with the 
 planet Venus''. Now this is very important, for we are further 
 informed that the Arabs swore by the two 'Uzzas, 'presumably 
 referring to (the planet) Venus as the morning and as the 
 evening star.' It is a case of swearing by twins ! May we, 
 then, consider 'Aziz as an equivalent of the Arabian 'Uzza ? 
 
 Here is an interesting piece of further evidence, in the 
 commentary of 'Isho'dad on Acts vii. 43, we find as follows : 
 
 ' Instead of Saturn your image, the Hebrew and Greek 
 say, the star of your god Re/an. The name of ReAin is 
 
 ' Isiuic of Antioch (Bickell's translation), i. 210, 211 : 
 Nee incolumem servavciunt eum Persae, 
 qui cum ipsis solem adorat, 
 neo pepercerunt ei Arabes, 
 quia Uzzim sacrificiis cum ipsis edit : 
 see also pp. 220, 221 : 
 
 (Arabes) pueros et puellas 
 Stellae Veneris immolaverunt : 
 and pp. 246, 247 : 
 
 Huic stellae Veneris sacrificia obtulerunt 
 tribus Hagarenorum postquam autcm 
 mulieres Arabum solem justitiae copnoverunt, 
 renuntiaverunt stellae illi Veneris, quam 
 inani spe coluerant. Onagri illi se jugo 
 subjecerunt. 
 - Noldcke in li.K. i. 660. We shall also find traces of 'L'zza in Petra: 
 for example, in Dalman's collection of inscriptions from Petra {Neue Petra- 
 ForschHiii/rn, p. 90) we liave in No. 85, 'These are the millstones of El 
 'Uzza and of the Lord of the House which Wahbiillatu, the caravan-guide, 
 the son of Zaidiin, has made.' 
 
XXI V] TWIN-CULT AT KDKSSA 257 
 
 Egyptian; but Rflan aiui Kewari and Kronos ami the st;ir 
 Venus, are the s:ime. What some say of 'Uzz<i is declared 
 not to be true, because 'Uzza and Xanaea and lialthi and 
 Astarte and the Morning Star are the same.' 
 
 The piissage requires a slight correction. 'Isho'da^J h;us 
 an elliptical way of introflucing matter, and of refuting 
 statements, which is often perplexing ; and he does not 
 always tell us from what author he is quoting. In the 
 first half of the pjis.sage he h;us wrongly placed the wonls 
 'and the planet Venus,' which clearly belong at the end: and 
 this much is evident, that he has definitely identified the 
 Arabian 'Uzza with the Morning Star, conceived of sis 
 feminine. We may add this testimony to what precedes 
 from Isaac of Antioch. 
 
 It is probable, then, that Aziz stands for either the 
 Morning Star or the Evening .Star at Edessa. 
 
 It is also probable that this Arab name may have a close 
 relative in the Hebrew Uzzah and Uzziah, commonly ex- 
 plained as ,/ahn is my strength, but etjually cap<ible of 
 interpretation iis 'Uzza is Jahxt (compare such names iis 
 Hadad-Riminon, Anat-Jahu etc.). 
 
 It should further be noted that Niildeke has offered an 
 explanation through the two 'Uzzas, of the 'two pillars or Two 
 obelisks... smeared with blood, which appear in connection j^j ^^j^j^^ 
 with human sacrifices offered by a king of Hira.' It is 
 possible, then, that Aziz may stiind for the planet Venus, and 
 answer to the (Ireek <f>ri)a<j>6po<i or ea^tpoi. 
 
 What i>f the other name, Monim ' ("an that be explained 
 i>n Arabic analogies i* 
 
 In HipjK)lytus, I'hilosophuuwwi, Hk viir., we have the 
 refutation of a heretic named Mov6»/iov; this must be the 
 same name as we are discu.ssing , and we note that he is 
 significantly called \\ov6i^lO'; o'jKpayjr, Monoimos tht Arabian; 
 we must, then, allow that we have found the name Monim 
 in an Arabic form, slightly different from the spelling as 
 given above. From Monoimas we remove the case-ending, 
 and we see that the initial m is a participial prefix, and that 
 a root-letter has disappeared between o and i. 
 
 H. B. 17 
 
258 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [CH. 
 
 This suggests an exact transliteration in one of the 
 forms 
 
 or > 
 
 writing Hebrew characters instead of Aiabic or Syriac, for 
 
 convenience. Of these forms, the second appears to be 
 
 preferable, on the ground that the form DyjD and the Greek 
 
 forms Moi'£/io?, Move^ot, Movyfio'; were found amongst the 
 
 Safaite inscriptions (see Dussaud, Missions dans les regions 
 
 desertiques de la Si/rie Moijenne, Nos. 35, 220, etc.). Dussaud 
 
 explains (p. 58) that, in accordance with the above spelling, 
 
 and the theory of Arabic influence, the name Monimos 
 
 (Moun'im) means ' the good,' ' the benevolent.' 
 
 Aziz and Thus both the names Monimos and Aziz may be of 
 
 are""" Arabian origin, and in that case we must refer them to 
 
 Arabic. Arabic influence wherever, as in Edessa, Palmyra, Baalbec 
 
 or elsewhere, they can be recognised in the monuments or 
 
 the inscriptions. 
 
 We see, then, that Edessa has religiously been Arabised 
 at some period in its history : in fact, the very name (Abgar) 
 of its ruling dynasty can be found amongst the inscriptions 
 from which we were just now quoting. 
 
 It is natural to ask what were the names of the Twins, 
 or of the Morning and Evening Stars, before this Arabic 
 influence was in operation, or amongst the Babylonians or 
 the Greeks. With regard to their {wssiblc Parthian names, 
 it is natural to suggest that the key is to be sought in the 
 interpretation of Cautes and Cautopates, the names of the 
 two figures on the Mithra monuments; but this is still :ui 
 unsolved riddle. For the Babylonian forms, wc shall suggest 
 ' that they were originally known as the Ishtar-Nebo or the 
 two Nebos; and la.st of all, we shall suggest that in Hel- 
 lenising circles the Morning and Evening Stars were known 
 in Edessa by the name of Paracletes (a mysterious term 
 preserved for us in the New Testament). 
 
 The last of these statements, if established, will bo of 
 the highest interest; for, as is well known, the Johannine 
 
XXIV] TWIN-CULT AT EDESSA 259 
 
 writings spt-ak of two Paracletes of Christian Theology'. Are they 
 We should thus discover in the Fourth (Jospel a new 1.'^*^.^.*° 
 Dioscuric statement framed on a different line from the clcu-s? 
 Edessan twin-ship of Jesus and Judas Thom;us (and perhaps 
 meant to avoid that suggestion), namely, that the real 
 Paracletes or Divine Assessors are Jesus and the Holy 
 Spirit. 
 
 We may present the suggested (mraliels to the eye as 
 follows : 
 
 There are two Para who are Monoim and who are the two 'Uzzas, 
 
 cletes Azi7. 
 
 One of whom is the suspectcJ to be the one of whom is identi- 
 
 Morning Star and the Morning and Evening Ked with the Mornin;; 
 
 other, by consequence, Stars. Star; and the other. 
 
 the Evening Star. by consequence, with 
 
 the Evening Star. 
 
 At this point our incomplete argument has to face some 
 objections: for according to Julian (Onit. iv. p. 195), who 
 took a great interest in Edessa on account of its Solar 
 worship, the Ede.ssenes worshipped along with the Sun two 
 TTi'ipeSpoi named Monim and Aziz. These assessors he 
 identities with Hermes and Ares respectively'. He admits 
 that he makes this identification on the faith of Jamblichus, 
 and Cumont jwints out, in an article on the Mithra-cult in 
 Edessa^ that it is merely a hasty Neo-Platonic idenlifieation 
 on the part of Jamblichus. 
 
 A little further on in the same Oration (p. 200) .Julian 
 informs us that Ares (the Aziz of Jamblichus) is said by 
 the Edessenes to march in front, or be the herald of the 
 Sun*, which, if we leave Ares out of account, means that 
 
 ' John xiv. 16, -Another Paraclete,' and 1 John ii. 1, 'We have a 
 Paraclete.' In this connection it may, perhaps, be lawful to quote also 
 John ivi. 7 (' If I go not away, the Paraclete will not come; if I go away, I 
 will send liira to you'). Sec further on p. 'i63 for the iduntilicatiun. 
 
 ' I.e. ol TT)»'Ea«»irai' oinouiTft, itpdr ii aiJroi llXioi; x^P^"'- MAn^* oury 
 xoi 'Afifop airyKaStiptOovatif^ cutfiTTtaBai, fpijair, 'Id/i/4\ixor.. .wt 6 tiir M6»tMot 
 'EpM^t «'"». 'AfifBi ii 'Apiit. HXiei/ wiptSpoi, troWa nal iyaSi. ry wtpi yiiit 
 
 ■■ Cumont, in lirvue Arclieologiqut, IHHH, pp. 95 sqq. 
 
 * AfiTif, 'Afifot \iy6iitrot vw6 tuo oiiot'itTui' rif 'Hitavar ^vpur 'IIXioi' 
 wporoiiwtvti. 
 
 17—2 
 
260 SOMK FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [t'H. 
 
 Aziz is the Morning Star, and confirms our previous 
 explanation. 
 
 Cumont, after clearing away the difficulty introduced 
 by Jamblichus, comes to the conclusion that Monim and 
 Aziz are to be identified with the Morning and Evening 
 Stars, and with the torch-bearers upon the monuments of 
 Mithras. 
 
 At this point I think we may take the matter up for a 
 closer consideration, for there is room for more to be said on the 
 subject, probably from the standpoint of ancient Babylonian 
 and Arabian astronomy. Very possibly we have to start from 
 an astronomy, which has for its principal figures the Sun, 
 the Moon, and the Hesper-Phosphor dyad. These deities 
 vary in sex, being sometimes male, and sometimes female, 
 as we work from Babylonian, Old Arabic, or Syrian 
 material. 
 Evolution Let us first imagine to ourselves what the evolution of 
 
 gn^y " astral deities is likely to have been in ancient Babylonia or 
 Arabia, and then compare the hypothetical evolution with 
 the recorded facts as disclosed by the monuments and the 
 literature. 
 Mercury It is clear that such an insignificant planet as Mercury 
 
 can never have occupied a place in the first a.stral pantheon. 
 It is difficult to observe, so difficult, that very few, of ordinary 
 people, have ever seen it : and I believe this has been stated 
 to be the experience of so great an astronomer as Copernicus ; 
 but, even if seen, it is rarely seen, and is inconspicuous, 
 and it can therefore hardly have had a place in the first 
 astral pantheon, or, indeed, a prominent place in any 
 pantheon. 
 
 On the other hand, the planet Venus is one of the most 
 conspicuous objects in the heavens, and was certain to have 
 religious attention, after the Sun and the Moon. 
 Venus re- More than that, it is practically certain that the first 
 
 double. observers did not know that the Morning Venus was the 
 same as the Evening Venus, and they commonly explained 
 their similarity by the idea that they were twins, the 
 assessors or heralds of the Sun : it will follow from this that 
 
XXI V] TWlN-fULT AT KDKSSA -61 
 
 the first stage of the astral worship was inclusive of tliree 
 heavenly bodies disguised as four. viz. the Sun, the Moon 
 and Hespor-Fhosphor, a triad regarded !is a tetrad: and. as 
 we have siiid, from this triad it will be a long stage to a 
 subsequent tetrad, if the next addition to the lustral pantheon 
 is to be the planet Mercur}'. 
 
 Here, then, we begin to ask for verifications : and at first [^^^^^^^^ 
 we run our heads against a flat contradiction; for it is cer- Mercury? 
 tain that in the ordinary Babylonian astronomy the planet 
 Mercury is represented by Nebo. and Nebo as a god is 
 anything but insignificant, nor are there any signs of his 
 being a later aajuisition to the company. When, therefore, 
 we s;iy that the nature of the case requires the absence of 
 Mercury, the reply is that Mercury is there ; and when we 
 say that Mercury must, in any case, be of slight import- 
 ance, we have to face the fact that Mercury is of great 
 importance, for he is Nebo or Nabu, the companion of the 
 great god Bel. 
 
 How is this contradiction to be met, unless by the [J^y",'^^^^ 
 assumption that the name of Nabu has been transferreii venus? 
 to the planet Mercury from some more prominent sUr > 
 It is natural to suggest that behind the Babylonian 
 
 tetrad 
 
 Sun, Moon, IshUr and Nabu 
 
 there lay a triad 
 
 Sun, Moon, and Ishtar-Nabu, 
 where the divine son and daughter have been found in the 
 twin Morning and Kvening SUr, so that if Nebo is the 
 Morning Star, Ishtar is the Evening Sur, or conversely. In 
 order to verify this hyp)thesis, we may turn to the ivstronomy 
 of the ancient Anibian kingdoms; we have already ha.1 M.-rour,^^^ 
 reason to susi)€ct that the Mcccans worshipi>ed th.- Kvenmg '„ K,Jiy 
 Star as Al'Uzza, or as the 'Uzwus ; and this naturally suggests Ar^bm. 
 that we should examine the theology of the ancient Minaean 
 .in.l Sabnean kingdoms, of which so many valuable and .arly 
 monuments have been recovered by Bent,Glaser, and others. 
 H. re is an imi)..rtant .sl.itement in Nielsen's l)ook i>n the 
 
262 SOME FURTHER LIGHT ON THE [CH. 
 
 Moon-religion of earl y A rabia: 'In the Minaean and Sabaean 
 theologies Mercury is eliminated and the four divinities have 
 become three\' Again: 'Venus, instead of being feminine, 
 as is usually the case, is masculine, and Mercury is elimi- 
 nated.' 
 
 It would be more correct to say, not that Mercury has 
 been eliminated, but that it has not yet been introduced : 
 and that the three divinities, which appear as four, have not 
 yet become four in reality. 
 
 Thus the common form of enumeration of deities in 
 Southern Arabia" involves three or four objects of worship : 
 the following is a typical group : 
 
 The Moon (masc). 
 The Sun (fern.), 
 and 'Athtar (= Ishtar) (masc), 
 
 to which the people of Hadramaut add Haul, whom Homme! 
 
 identifies with Mercury, and the Katabanians add Anbaj, 
 
 who is clearly parallel to the Babylonian Nabiu, except that 
 
 his name has a suspiciously plural appearance about it, and 
 
 may be taken to represent Mercury, or perhaps a pair of 
 
 transferred Nebos from another place. 
 
 Evolu- From the S. Arabian peoples, then, we learn how the 
 
 s°A°b" astronomical evolution took place. It began with Sun and 
 
 astron- Moon, as amongst the Babylonians, where the Sun is male 
 
 '""^" and the Moon female, or with the Mdoh (male) and Sun 
 
 (female), as amongst the Arabs from Harran to the Indian 
 
 Ocean : to this pair were added two sons of the primal pair : 
 
 they must have been sons because even Ishtar is male in 
 
 Southern Arabia, and they were perhaps known as the two 
 
 Nebos. The name Nabu is closely related to the Arabic for 
 
 prophet {naby), and means in this connection the herald of 
 
 the Sun. Both Mercury and Venus have the appellation 
 
 ' Nielsen, Die altarabisclte Mmid-rcH(ii(iii, p. 22. 
 
 '■' For Northern Arabia we hiive tlie Teima Inscription, which again 
 has three astral deities (see Liilzbarski, Handlmch iter Nordsentitischen 
 Epigraphik, pp. 44.5, 447). This inscription is referred to the fifth century 
 before Christ. 
 
XXIV] TWIN-Cl'LT AT KUESSA 263 
 
 Dilbut', which, according t.. Jt-nson', has the same heraldic 
 force. It appears, then, th;it Jamblichiis wiia ii.)t altoKether 
 wrong when he identified the Edessiin twins with Ares and 
 Hermes; he was right as regards Hermes, for Hermes is the 
 conventional equivalent of Nebo : he was wrong about Ares, 
 and ignorant, as ourselves until lately, that Nebo as Mercury 
 Wiis a displacement. 
 
 This theory of the gradual development of the planetary Nebo^^^^ 
 astronomy of the Babylonians, helps us to understand a ^„^l^^' 
 curious neglect of the god Nebo, which went on in the time Babylonia, 
 of Hammurabi. As Jastrow points out', Hammurabi exalts 
 Marduk and depreciates Nebo; in fact, he seems to ignore 
 the latter deity, and appears to transfer his title, uabiu Anu 
 (the herald of Anu), to the former god. This is perfectly 
 intelligible, if it was found out in Hammurabi's time that 
 the two henilds were one and the same. Ishtar retains one 
 of the Nebo dignities, the other goes begging : it is trans- 
 ferred at first to Marduk, and ultimately is given to the 
 smallest of the planets. 
 
 When we have recogni.sed that changes have occurred in 
 the names of the planets, as well as in their sexes and relative 
 rank, we are able to connect our new results with what went 
 before, when we explained the e(,uivalence of Monim and 
 Aziz with the Morning and Kvening St:irs, with the 'Uzz^us 
 of Arabic tradition, and with the Paracletes of the New 
 Testament: for we au, connect Nebo and the P'^"'^l^-^« ^■,^;^.^»^. 
 directly from the pages of the New Testament itself ,.|,^ 
 
 It will be r.;membered that when Barnabas is reported Barrmbft-s 
 in the Acts of the Ajiostles* to have joined the Apostolic *; J'' 
 company, something occurred with regard to his name: there 
 can be little doubt that Barnab.is stands for an original Bar- 
 
 • For Venus a.s />./'«« an'l 'i^ 'he IhraU (N»bu), «« R. Brown, i'rimitu f 
 CmMUllution,. II. 96 trum n.A.I. v. ilvi. 201 
 KuJckab Dil but | Na ba nt. Kakkabu. 
 
 The planet Venus ; Sb.- announces ( the Proclairacr). A 8Ur(.Dame). 
 AKain on p. '217 (from »'.A.l. n. ihx. No. 4) : 
 
 Kakkab Nabi (• The Star of the rroclaiincr ) = Venu». 
 ■' Jensen, K-,.......l..<,.>, pp. 71. 98, 117 33. 
 
 > IHe Relioionrn H<ihijtnni<-ns und .Wyritiu. I. 119. 
 « Acts iv. :1B. 
 
264 THE TWIN-CULT AT EDESSA [cH. XXIV 
 
 Nabu, and that the name is of pagan origin'. The explanation 
 is, however, given that the Apostles called him Barnabas, i.e. 
 v!6<; T^<r irapaKXi'iaeuKi, a son of Paraclesis, or son of consola- 
 tion, or son of exhortation. Now it stands to reason that they 
 never called him anything of the kind ; what they did was 
 to modify the heathen connotation of his name, and make 
 it ecclesiastically decent. See how close they came to 
 actually calling him a son of the Paraclete. Thus the Acts 
 of the Apostles help us in our previous identification of the 
 Paraclete with one or other of the Hesper-Phosphor pair. 
 Now if this argument is substantially correct, it follows that 
 Para- the original meaning of Paraclete is not Comforter but 
 
 HeraUi. Herald, Prophet (Nabi), or, one might almost say, Fu7-e- 
 rtinner. 
 
 Strange as the foregoing suggestion of the twin-ship of 
 Jesus and Jesus and the Holy Spirit may at first sight appear, there is 
 Spirit evidence that the belief was current in Gnostic circles. In 
 in the the Pistis Sophia (ed. Schwartz and Petermann, p. 77) the 
 Sopiii,,. Virgin Mary explains to Jesus that the pro[)hecy in the 
 Psalm about the meeting of mercy and truth had been ful- 
 filled in him, when yet a child, before the Spirit came upon 
 him, when occupied in the vineyard with Joseph. ' The 
 Spirit came from on high, entered my house in thy likeness, 
 and I knew him not, supposing him to be thyself: and the 
 Spirit said to me, Where is Jesus my brother ( ' The Virgin 
 then binds the Spirit-child to the bed, and goes out in search 
 of Joseph and Jesus. When they return, the similarity of 
 the two children is evident ! So the Gnostics of the Pistis 
 Sophia have preserved for us the peculiar form of Twin- belief 
 which we have been discussing. 
 
 ' It is actually found on a Palmyrene Inscription : see De Vogii^, Syrie 
 Cenlrale, no. 73. 
 
CHAPTER XXV 
 
 KLKTHKR TRACES OF THK TWINS IN ARABIA 
 AND IN PALESTINK 
 
 The foregoing chapter was almost eiitin-ly concerned 
 with elementary Eastern Astronomy ; it staled how the first 
 students of the skies, and the first worshipjiers of the 
 heavenly bodies, evolved their pantheon graclnally out of 
 a primitive nucleus, and with primitive misunderstandings. 
 A great deal has become clear to us from the recognition of 
 the fact that the early observers revered the Morning Star 
 and the Evening SUir as a pair of twins. Thus, when the 
 idealised twin-brethren appear in the visible heaven, they do 
 not appear as a constellation, or Jis a sign of the Zodiac, but 
 as a single misunderstood planet. It may, however, be 
 asked whether this widespread duplication of the planet 
 Venus is necessiirily connected with a twin-cult on the 
 earth-plane, such as we have traced from its first gross forms 
 among the African savages. It will not be ejisy to answer 
 such a question right otf, because we have not yet been able 
 to investigate the twin-cult for ancient Babylonia, or ancient 
 Arabia, nor is it at all easy to make such an investigation 
 apart from the religion or the astronomy of the peoples 
 involved. We can, however, say that just as the African 
 cuius emerge into a cult of the Sky-go<l and his twin-children, 
 and in that emergence become pamllel to what we know of 
 early (treek and lioman religion,. so amongst the Babylonians 
 and the Arabians we have the same Sky-parentage, eithir 
 in the fnrm "f Ann, th.- Sky-g'xl. or in thr variant forms ot 
 
266 
 
 KURTHER TRACES OF THE TWINS 
 
 [CH. 
 
 The 
 
 Thunder- 
 bird in 
 Arabia. 
 
 The 
 
 Qawari- 
 
 birds. 
 
 the Sun-god, or the Moon-god, according as either of the 
 latter acquires the more prominent position : so that there is 
 nothing against the belief, and there is analogy for the belief, 
 that a human twin-cult may underlie the worship of the 
 great Semitic peoples : and if we find traces of the Sky-god 
 as a tree-god, and of his twin-children associated with a cult 
 of holy trees or birds, we shall be able to connect together 
 the various forms in which the cult appears, and in the end 
 be certain that Twins, whether Indian, Semitic, or Germanic, 
 or Celtic, or Graeco-Roman, do all derive their dignity from 
 an aboriginal terror, such as that which we have been studying 
 in the previous pages. 
 
 Suppose we make an enquiry into the existence of the 
 Thunder-bird in Arabia. Is the woodpecker lucky or un- 
 lucky ? Is the woodpecker or any other bird the repre- 
 sentative of the sky or the thunder ? The enquiry is almost 
 outside of my own personal field of study, but I have had 
 the valuable help of my friend Fritz Krenkow, of Leicester, 
 an Arabist of the first rank. From his researches I derive 
 the following account of what looks very like the thunder- 
 bird in the Arabic literature. The book from which I am 
 quoting is named: Tahvlh fi Shark nl-Faslh, by Abu Sahl 
 Muhammad Ibn 'Ali al Harawi, a commentary on the 
 philological work al-F;usih by the celebrated Arabic Gram- 
 marian Tha'lab (ed. Cairo, 1907, p. 86): 
 
 ' You call this bird Qilriyah and the plural is qawarin. 
 It has short legs, and a large beak and a green back, the 
 Bedouins love it and consider it a good omen. Note that 
 the Bedouins consider it a good or a bad omen. As regards 
 the good omen, because it announces rain when it comes and 
 there is just an indication of clouds in the sky. Hence 
 al Ga'di (a poet contemporary with Muhammad) has said: 
 " Then did not cease to pour water over them and over their 
 country a thundering cloud luhich drives along the Qawdri 
 birds." As for the bad omen : If any one of them were to 
 meet on his jo\irney a single bird of this kind, and there were 
 no clouds and no rain, he considers it a bad omen. A poet 
 hiis .«aid, " Was it on account of the repeated scratchings of 
 
XXV] IN ARABIA AND IN PALESTINE 267 
 
 the Qariyah-birtl, that you threw away the women made 
 captives and returned home with terror?" He makes fun of 
 certain people who made a raid on which they took much 
 spoil. Then, when they were on their march home they 
 heard the voice of a Qariyah-bird. they abandoned their 
 booty and fled.' 
 
 A similar explanation is found in Lisan-al'Arab (ed. 
 Biilaq, vol. XIX. p. 41) where a verse of another contemporary 
 of Muhammad is ijuoted as follows : 
 
 ' Ibn Muqbil h:us said : On account of a Jidsk of lightning 
 from the North land (i.e. Syria) have I been kept awake ; 
 whenever I said, it has abated, it jiared again, and the 
 green Qawdri birds were flying close to the ground in the 
 darkness.' 
 
 Here we have something like a thunder-bird : it does 
 not, however, appear to be the black woodpecker. 
 
 There is another bird which is considered by the Bedouin 
 iw of especially evil onu-n, but here again it is not clear what 
 the bird is. Its name is al Ahyal, but whether it is a wood- Tlu- bird 
 pecker or a falcon or some other unknown species, must " ' •'^* ' 
 remain obscure ; I should hardly expect to find the wood- 
 pecker in Southern Arabia: and it does not seem as if we 
 should get much further light on the subject from the Arabic 
 writers. 
 
 The net result is that we do seem to have recovered an 
 Arabian storm-bird or thunder-birtl. 
 
 Amongst the Babylonians wc al.so find tnices of storm- 
 birds e a the irreat Zu-bird; but I do not pursue this subject The Kreat. 
 
 ' * *■ Zubird in 
 
 further. Babylonia. 
 
 It is interesting to note that we are not entirely without 
 evidence on the subject of the Babylonian beliefs with regard 
 to twin-births. It is not«rd by Jastrow' that the Babylonian Twins in 
 
 ., <• L 1 • •/• U»bylonift. 
 
 priests regard it as an evd omen for the king, it a woman 
 
 bears twins of opposite sexes; but that twins arc of g(»iKl 
 
 omen if they appear in the royal housed This agrees with 
 
 > ReligiOH of Attyrin and Bahytitnia, 3B5 »qq., 391, 396. 
 ' Sec V. NrK''""'". ^" nhtrqUohi.chf Il/,lrutiina •Irr /.HiUimiytfburl in 
 Archirf. Rrl. v. 'iTl. 
 
268 FURTHER TRACES OF THE TWINS [CH. 
 
 what we have observed in so many places, that twins of 
 opposite sexes arc peculiarly detestable: the raising of the 
 taboo in the royal house corresponds to what we observed 
 among the Brahmans and elsewhere, the taboo and its omens 
 being reversed for the upper classes, and left in force among 
 the vulgar, who can pay toll to the upper classes for the 
 dangers which they introduce to the community. It is said 
 that the same thing can be traced in Egyptian history. 
 
 There is a curious tradition, which I have not succeeded 
 Ninus the in analysing, according to which Ninus, the first king of 
 ot°Pic*us? Assyria, is a brother of Picas who is also Zeus: does this 
 mean that the woodpecker was known as a cult bird in 
 Babylonia ? The passage to which I refer is in Diodorus VI. 
 5, where it is restored from the Excerpta ex Joannis Chronicis 
 apud Cramer, Anecd. Pans. vol. ii. p. 236. 
 
 It begins thus : 
 
 o Se d8e\(f>o<! NiVoy, rii«09, o leal Tiev';, 6/9a<Tt\€u<re t*}? 
 'IraX/a? err) pic Kparwv rrj^ Si'(7ea)9...6cr;;^« Be o ai'TO? IIiAcof, 
 d ical Zev'i, vlov ovofiari *i>avi'ov, op Kal ' blpfirjv exaXeaev ei? 
 ovop,a Tov TrXaviirov aaTepo<i. 
 
 It is probable that this identification of Ninus the first 
 king of Nineveh with the brother of Picas, Woodpecker, is 
 due to some confusion between Ninus and Minos, in which 
 case the Woodpecker is no Babylonian or Assyrian bird, 
 but oar old friend Picas of Crete — as we might have 
 expected from the repeated formula ' Picas, who is also 
 Zeus' 
 
 In the same way Moses of Khorene (i. 15), along with an 
 account of the death of Ninus, has an alternative story that 
 he escaped to Crete: here again we suspect confusion between 
 Ninas and Minos. 
 
 The furth(,'r statement about Picus being the father of 
 Faunus is taken from the Ronum mythology, where they 
 are closely connected. Fiat why does he equate; Faunas and 
 Hermes ? 
 
 If we have failed to follow Diodorus in connecting Picus 
 with Ninus, we need not banish the sacred woodpecker from 
 Assyria; for, as we have shown elsewhere, he is called Hedad 
 
 
XXV] IN ARABIA AND IN TALKSTINK 2f)<.t 
 
 in the Arabic "f N.W. Africa, which is a survival from the 
 Ainorite ami Assyrian Hadad, or Adad, tho thiinder-god. 
 
 Returning northward, we may remind otirselves that 
 both in the history and geography of the Holy Lsind, we 
 have already found an abundance of Dioscuric traces; we 
 have, for instance, discussed the Boanerges of Galilee and 
 the place named Ibn Abraq in the 8.W., which is the 
 geographical counterpart. We have also shown that the 
 Phoenician traditions were saturated with Dioscurism. We 
 may add another Thunder-shrine close to Jerus;Uem; there is 
 a ruin to the N. of the city and almost due E. of Ramallah, 
 called Khurbet Ibn Baraq (Ruin of the Son of Lightning). 
 Nor is Jerusalem to be exempt ; the twins were honoured in Twins 
 Jerusaleui in the time of the supremacy of the .Syrian kings, ^^j^^ 
 ixs we see by the story of Heliodorus in the second book of 
 the Maccabees'. From the Talmud we have the suspicious 
 reference to a pair of sacred cedars, which st«x)d in the 
 Temple courts, from which it is siisjiected that the Kedron 
 derived its name (valley of the Cedars), and after the fall of 
 the city, the Dioscuri were locally honoured on the coins of 
 the restored city, Aelia Capiloliiia. 
 
 In the present chapter I only wish to establish one 
 point further, viz. that the geography of Palestine shows 
 traces of Dioscurism in connection with the sea of Galilee. 
 First of all with regard to Beth-Saida, and second for 
 Choraziii. 
 
 When we were discussing the Phoenician traditions, as Twins on 
 preserved by Sanchoniathon, we found a pair of twin an- of^iahlee. 
 cestral heroes, named Halieus and Agrieus (the Hunter and 
 the Fisher): and it wa^ {)ointed out that the.se were probably 
 ino<lifications of an original Semitic root, meaning either to 
 hunt or to Hsh. One of the names was cerUiinly connected 
 with the Phoenician jMjrsonal name Sid (us in Sid-Melqart, 
 etc.), and the place name of Sidon (modern Saida). It is 
 tiuite ini{xissible to deUich these names from the Galilean 
 Beth Jjaida, which should naturally mean the plnce of worship luih 
 of Siiidu, the twin fisher-hunter. It does not mean Hoxise o/'"^' 
 
 ' -i M,uf. lii. 22-30. 
 
270 TWINS IN ARABIA AND IN PALESTINE [CH. XXV 
 
 Its name 
 is dual. 
 The Two 
 Heralds. 
 
 Fish. It is the place of honour of the patron saint of fishing; 
 there is no reason to believe it to be a fish-god'. Thus, if 
 there is one Beth-Saida, there is one Dioscuric centre; if 
 there should be two there will be two such centres : one 
 would suppose that a natural place for such sanctuaries would 
 be the shore of the Lake. In Central Syria, to the S. of 
 Damascus, Dussaud notes a village named Saida, which was 
 at one time the residence of Ghassanid princes. One may 
 suppose this to be a shrine of the patron deity of hunting". 
 
 So much for Beth-Saida. Now for Chorazin. Here we 
 have again a Lake town, which is the centre of twin-worship. 
 The name is not Hebrew. It is Aramaic or Syriac; it means 
 The Heralds, and, as we have already seen, this was one of 
 the titles of the Twins in Mesopotamia and in Arabia. 
 Chorazin may be regarded as a variant of the Nebos. Now 
 notice a curious and impressive textual variation: the Codex 
 Bezae does not call it Chorazin but Chorozain, which is a 
 dual formation, and means the Two Heralds or the Two 
 Preachers. The reading of the Codex Bezae must be original, 
 and is a striking testimony to the existence of Dioscuric 
 ideas in Galilee, especially on the shore of the Lake'. There 
 is nothing that need surprise us in this ; for in any case we 
 shall have to allow for strong Aryan elements in the ancestry 
 of the Galileans, and where the Aryans are we have seen 
 that the Twins are sure also to turn up. This result is of 
 the highest importance. It gives us the necessary point 
 d'appvi for applying Dioscuric tests to the criticism of 
 historical accounts, and enables us to explain (and sometimes 
 to explain away) a good deal of perplexing matter: but of 
 this more later on. 
 
 ' Saida is a personal name in Palmyrene: see de Vogde, 76-. 
 
 * See Dussaud, Mission dans la Syrie iMiiyennc, p. 39. 
 
 ' For a parallel to illu.strate the way in which a dual sanctuary can be 
 formed, we may take the tombs of the two Kazims. They are 'situated 
 about three miles N. of Baghdad, and constitute one of the principal places 
 of pilgrimage of the Shi'ites. Around them has grown up a considerable 
 town, chiefly inhabited by Persians, known as Kazimcyu,' Browne, Kpisode 
 of the Bab, p. 8.5 n. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 ON THE TWIN-CULT IN KGYI'T 
 
 We have spoken brieHy in the previous chapter on the Twin-cull 
 twin-cult in Palestine, and more at length on the same 
 subject from the standpoint of the Arabians and the Baby- 
 lonians ; it may be jis well to say a word or two about the 
 Egyptian view of the matter: and the first word is one of 
 caution: we must not expect to find twins honoured as Twins nol 
 thunder-boys, in a country where there is no thunder, nor as ^^^ j^ 
 rain-makers, where no niiii descends. Accordingly it is re- ERypt. 
 cognised by archaeologists, who do not however know the 
 rea.son for the observation, that ' the double axe is a form 
 altogether foreign to Egypt'.' How could there be a thunder- 
 axe, where thunder is unknown' f Nor shall we be likely 
 to find the twins in evidence with their sire in an oak-tree, 
 or the neighbourhood of an oak-tree, for the thunder-tree 
 will also be absent; we cannot have an Egyptian Mamre or 
 an Egyptian Romovo. The evolution of the cult must be on 
 different lines in Kgypt, even from what it wiis in Arabia 
 or Babylonia. The natural suggestion is, that if the twins 
 are credited to the sky-parentage at all, it will be as having 
 mantic powers rather than meteorology. The parent, if any, 
 should be the Sun, or the Sky, and not the thunder. 
 
 Now we can actually trace something of this kind, i.e. we 
 
 ' Jountil (•/ Htllmic Sludie; xiv. IWM, p. 304. 
 
 ' Prof. Newl*rT7 in Aniiatt of Arrharttloify tmd .{iilhrityotogj/ o( llic 
 Tniversity o( Liverpool, sukkm's '*>»» » crrlain KKyptiim siKn is the symbol 
 for a ihundorbolt, and thai it belong!) to the Kod Min ( - .\nii>fi), the thunder 
 j{od. The identification i» very doubtfu 
 
272 ON THE TWIN-CULT IN EGYPT [CH. 
 
 can find plenty of traces of ordinary twin-worship, and we 
 can find divine twins, in the Zodiac and elsewhere. For 
 instance, we shall find that Shil is the first-born son of Ra, 
 and Hathor, and that he has for his twin-brother the lion- 
 headed Tefnut'; and in the book of the Deail, Tefnfit, the 
 divine consort of Shu, is classed together with him, and with 
 Turn as a ruler of Heliopolis — later texts refer both Shu and 
 Tefniit to the Zodiac as the Twins. Then there is another 
 pair of Heavenly Twins that preserves the feature of mutual 
 hostility, which h.is been so often noted, as in Jacob and 
 Esau, in Romulus and Remus, etc. These are Horus and 
 Set', who are described as twins and adversaries ; in the 
 great hymn to Amen Ra, the god is described as ' Thou who 
 judgest the dispute between the twins in the great hall,' 
 where it is said that Horus and Set are intended. 
 
 These cases are suggestive that the same problem has 
 been before the Egyptians of interpreting the twin-taboo 
 that we have found everywhere else. We may confirm the 
 suggestion by the consideration of a twin element in the 
 Twin- priesthoods of the great temples. From the Serapeum at 
 Pf'??''*^^*^ Memphis we have a collection of documents belonging to the 
 phis. Ptolemaic period, which deal with petitions lodged with the 
 
 government by Taues and Taous, the twins in the Serapeum, 
 who complain that they have been defrauded by the officials 
 of their normal and just allowance of com and oil. The 
 story is an interesting one when the documents are grouped 
 together: we see the Egyptian Circumloc\ition Office finally 
 outwitted, and the Twins restored to their rights. For our 
 purpose the important thing to note in the story is that the 
 yo\ing ladies are Egyptians, and that they plead precedent 
 against defaulting authorities, a*iking that they may have 
 the same allowances a-s the twins who were in ojfice before 
 them'. In other words, there w;vs a line of Egyptian Twin- 
 priestesses at Memphis, and no better proof could be given 
 
 ' Wiedemann, lieliyum uj the Ancirnt K(iiii'tiinis, p. A2. 
 '- Witdeinaun, p. 116. 
 
 ' e.g. Pap. Mus. Britt., xxn., «aCu! «ai tois ir^oi'Tra/JX"!'"''"' W"'' t'" '^V 
 rAirif) iWatt Siiifiais i',iviTo, wliicli siiK'^ests a long succession. 
 
XXVlJ ON TMK TWIN-CULT IN KliVl'T li 6 
 
 of the pievalt-nce and sway of the Iwiii-iiill in Kgypt. 
 Whether the girls in question were the earthly representa- 
 tives of a (wir of great Twin-sisters is not so e:usy to prove 
 in a final manner; but it loi)ks extremely probable in view 
 of the fact that the priest in such cults commonly personates 
 his deity; we might compare, for example, the priest at 
 Antioch, named Amphion', who wiis instrumental in setting 
 up the pillars to Zethos and Amphion in that city. The Twins ut 
 same suggestion may be made for the Egyptian Thebes, 
 though not in quite so striking a degree: here we have a 
 document called ' The Money-bill from Thebes ' (published 
 by the Palaeographical Society), in which the financial obli- 
 gations are discussed of two young ladies, who are Ibis- 
 wardens; their names are Tathautis and Taeibis: here again 
 we are dealing with Egyptians, and when we remove the 
 feminine prefix (ta), we have clearly the name of the god 
 Thoth, and of his cult-bird the Ibis. The names are, 
 therefore, probably twin-names, and the young ladies are 
 twins, attached to the service of Thoth. That is sufficient to 
 suggest to our minds the existence of a service of twin- 
 priestesses at Thebes. 
 
 Possibly we may take the argument a step further, for 
 here we have an actual case of the priestess taking the name 
 of the deity. Thoth answers to Hermes and to the Baby- 
 lonian Nebo: is it conceivable that, ;is in Babylonia, Thoth 
 was at one time honoured in twin-f;ishion f" At all events. Twins in 
 a measure of twin-cult has been ma<le out: and it has been !^f^jjj„„ 
 matle out for ancient Egypt, and not for a Greek immigrant (rom 
 population. When we come to the Greek settlers, or to ^JJj^ 
 Kgyptians who iulopt Greek customs, we find twin-worship, 
 and actual temples of the Dioscuri all over the country, ami, 
 jia we suggesle<l a while back, we find the Twins engaged in 
 mantic and medical service. 
 
 There is also evidence that the Twins were sometimes Twinn 
 attached to the worship of the greater ginls and ginldesses : ^^'^^'^ 
 for example, we have from Oxyrhynchus the following im- Kmiter 
 portant statement, showing that the Dioscuri were worshipped 
 
 > Cr. John Mnlitla^. p. 234. 
 u n 18 
 
274 ON THE TWIN -CULT IN EGYPT [cH. XXVI 
 
 in that city in A.D. 20, apparently in some connection with 
 Isis. The document is a census paper of the date mentioned, 
 and begins as follows': 
 
 ' To Eutychides and Theon, topogranimateis and konio- 
 grammateis, from Horion, the son of Petosiris. priest of Isis, 
 the most great goddess, of the temple called that of the Two 
 Brothers, situated by the Serapeum at Oxyrhynchus, in the 
 Myrobalanus quarter etc' 
 
 The Two Brothers can hardly be anything else but the 
 Dioscuri ; we find them served by a priest of Isis, and 
 apparently in a joint temple of Isis and the Twins. 
 
 Wherever the population of an Egyptian town is made 
 up, wholly or in part, of Greek colonists, we shall find plenty 
 of dedications to the Dioscuri : but these do not help us 
 with the history of an Egyptian cult : one has only to turn 
 to the indices of the volumes of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, or 
 to Prof. Petrie's volume on Naukratis, to see how much the 
 Twins are in evidence in the religion of the people. The 
 difficulty is in deciding whether these dedications and the 
 involved names cover an original Egyptian worship. We 
 have, however, said enough to show that there was such 
 a twin-cult in some of the greatest Egyptian temples. As 
 we have said, it was probably mantic, and had associated 
 with it the practice of incubation and the interpretation of 
 dreams ; for not even immigrant Greeks could use the Twins 
 for functions which involved the weather in a country which, 
 in the strict sense of the word, has no weather. 
 
 ' Uxyrlnjnclius Papyri, vol. ii. p. 214. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 TIIK STORY OF KSAU AND JACOB INTERI'UKTKD 
 
 We nuw procei'd to use the results of our enquirj' for the 
 interpretation of the legends of the Old Testament. The The Twins 
 book of (lenesis, in particular, is heavily Dioscurizefl, and [l^'t of 
 needs a fresh coiiinientarj- in the light of the facts which we <''enesi8. 
 have collected from all over the world. In some cases the 
 matter to be discu.ssed amounts to little more than a collo- 
 cation of names, as Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-Cain, the nomad, 
 the musician, and the smith (for Tubal-Cain is described ii-s 
 the inventor of iron and bniss work, and the name Cain, by 
 itself, means smith'). If we had not the occupation stated, 
 we should have susjx-cted from the jussonances that we were 
 dealing with a Kabiric triad (plus their sister Noema, as in 
 the case of Castor and Pollux with Helen): but with the 
 occupiitions we note the suspicious resemblance of Jubal the 
 lyrist to Anjphion of Thebes, or to Apollo the divine twin of 
 Delos. 
 
 The case of Cain and Abel (g.iKil :iiid Ibl.rl ,,f the Story of 
 Arabs) Ls more difficult. They are mark.-d out lus twins in ^j^".*"*^ 
 one striking feature, that of the hostility between the two 
 brothers, anil the fact that one of them kills the other, of 
 which we have found numerous tnices in the history of the 
 twin cult. The matter newls further confinnation before we 
 can make a strong .statement on the subject: it is not 
 uncommon for the first children, in the legendary births fn>m 
 the first jKiir of human beings, t<> \»- thought of jis twins. 
 
 One of the clearest and most instructive caaea of a 
 
 ' That is, the derivation from the Hebrew word Qana*. to acquire, in 
 Gen. iv. I, ih a misbe^ultcn piece of bad etjrmologj. 
 
 18—2 
 
276 
 
 ESAU AND JACOB INTKRPRKTEU 
 
 [CH. 
 
 of Abra- 
 ham and 
 
 his 
 heavenly 
 
 guests : 
 
 the story 
 of Esau 
 and 
 Jacob: 
 
 Dioscurized narrative is the story of the visit of the three 
 angels to Abraham at the sacred oak of Manire, and the 
 subsequent destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha 
 by two of these angels. Every detail in this story is 
 Dioscuric : the sacred oak which is the scene of the theophany, 
 the thiinder-g(xl and his two sons; the promise of rejuven- 
 escence and of offspring to the aged patriarch and his wife, 
 in recompense for his ready hospitality ; the reward meted 
 out to the inhospitable men of Sodom, partly by blinding of 
 individuals, and collectively by the raining of fire and brim- 
 stone from heaven, — all these points can be illustrated from 
 the Rig-Veda\ and the Greek mythologies ; and, ;us I said in 
 another place, the story, if it were translated into the terms 
 of Greek life, would be at once recognised as fundamentally 
 Dioscuric. As I have already explained this in the Cult of 
 the Heavenly Twins, I do not repeat the matter at greater 
 length. 
 
 Now let us come to another Biblical incident, or series of 
 incidents, the story of the fortunes of Esau and Jacob : let 
 us read this story in the light of what we know of the 
 Dioscuri, and let us see what has to be subtracted from the 
 accounts in Genesis on the ground of legendary accretion, or 
 mythological foundation. The case is, in one respect, simpli- 
 fied for us by the admission that the two brothers are twins. 
 If they are twins, are they also Dioscures ? Do they quarrel ? 
 Does one kill the; other ? 
 
 The answer is that the quarrel between the two brethren 
 is the leading motive of the story, so much so that it is even 
 described as antenatal : the mother obtains a divine oracle, ex- 
 plaining to her the meaning of the iiiutMal fraternal hostility. 
 
 ' As, for example, in the kindness of the A9vins to the aged Cyav&na. 
 
 Hig-Veda, i. 116. 10, 'You, O Nasatya, took off the body of the aged 
 Cyavana, like a cloak.' 
 
 I. 117. 13, 'You, O Avvins, through your help made the aged Cyavana 
 young again.' 
 
 So in I. IIH. 6; vii. 71. 5; v. 74. 5; x. ;<9. 4. 
 
 Especially note v. 74. 7, ' You took from the aged Cyavana his bodily 
 covering, like a garment, then you made him young again, and women again 
 ' provoked his desire.' 
 
XXVIl] KSAK AND JACOB INTERPRETED Zll 
 
 The (luarn-l is :i nioitiil one for the iiiiijor [«rt of the E-au 
 
 ' I 11 T L 1 •. ■ 1 • I.- I. woulJ kill 
 
 action. Esiui nie;ins to kill Jacob, and it is a tiesijjn which j^cob: 
 
 he cherishes tor a large section of their common lifetime. It 
 
 maybe objected that the story stojw short of the culminating 
 
 action as we have it in Romulus and Remus. There are, 
 
 however, different ways of telling the ainie story: and in the 
 
 case of Ksau and J;icob we have one story in Genesis, where 
 
 Esau detemiines to kill Jacob and just doesn't kill him ; and 
 
 at the same time there is (juite another story current in the 
 
 Jewish traditions, accortling to which Jiicob decides to kill 
 
 Esau and actually does so. The story will be found in the .Jacob kills 
 
 book of Jubilees, a-s follows (Jubilees .xxxviii. 1): 
 
 ' And after that Judah spake to Jacob his father, and 
 said unto him : " Bend thy bow, father, and send forth thy 
 arrows, and Ciust down thy adversary, and slay the enemy : 
 and mayst thou have the power, for we shall not slay thy 
 brother, for he is such :is thou, and he is like thee: let us give 
 him this honour." And Jacob bent his bow and sent forth 
 his arrow, an<l struck E.sau his brother on his right breast 
 and slew him.' 
 
 As we have said, this is a variant of the Genesis story. 
 anil in fact it varies in two ways ; first in making Jacob kill 
 Eisau, and secondly in describing the twin brothers iis exactly 
 alike, instead of, ius in Genesis, diverse. 
 
 The two traditions are combined, as far jis the murder is 
 concerned, in the Testaments of the Twelve Patri(irchs\ 
 where it is explaine<l that Es;iu came back, eighteen years 
 after his reconciliation with Jacob, to make war with him. 
 along with a strong anil numerous contingent of fighting 
 men; and then Jacob struck Es;iu with an arrow, and he 
 wiis Uken up dead in Mount Seir. The reference to Mount 
 Seir shows that it was J:icob who h;ul gone to make war with 
 Esau, and not conversely. 
 
 There are. then, two traditioii.s, both of which contain the 
 Dioscuric motive that one brother should kill the other. 
 
 Return to the book of Genesis : we find that when the Jiicob and 
 twins were born, one of them was rough and hair)-, and the 
 
 > Tf>t. Juilah, iz. 
 
278 
 
 ESAU AND JACOB INTERPRETED 
 
 [CH. 
 
 parallel to 
 
 Zethos 
 
 and 
 
 Amphion: 
 
 Esau the 
 Bed man. 
 
 Esau the 
 Thunder- 
 child. 
 
 The 
 
 meaning 
 of Jacob'i 
 frauds. 
 
 Other was smooth, and their characters corresponded, for orte 
 of them was a hunter and the other a shepherd. 
 
 We need hardly stay to draw the parallel between the 
 Biblical twins and the Theban twins, Zethos and Amphion, 
 of whom Zethos is the hunter with the dog, and Amphion, 
 the gentler soul, with the lyre. We may, if we please, com- 
 ])are also the twins of Delos, of whom Artemis is the huntress, 
 and Apollo the musical genius. 
 
 We come in the next place to a very important point : 
 the older brother Esau, is not only hairy, he is also red : and 
 this redness is clearly one of the leading ideas of the legend, 
 for it comes up in a later name given to Esau, where he 
 is called Edom, or the Red Man, and a ridiculous story is 
 told of the cheating of the tired hunter by his astute brother, 
 over a dish of red lentils. As we have said, such a story is 
 ridiculous ; if there had been food of that kind or of any 
 kind in the tent when Esau came home empty-handed, he 
 would not have hesitated to help himself, nor would Jacob 
 have tried to prevent him. The story is a mere peg on 
 which to hang an explanation of the name Red Man, whose 
 meaning has been forgotten. We are at no loss as to the 
 meaning of this fundamental note ; we have already ex- 
 plained what red means in twin-legends; it meiins thunder, 
 and Esau the Red is the Thunder-man, the immortal one of 
 the pair; Jacob, and Jacob only, is the son of Isaac. Thus 
 our story goes back to a time when one twin, and one only, 
 was of divine ancestry. The description is entirely mythical. 
 
 We come now to the story of Jacob's frauds. They are 
 two in number; first, he robs his brother of his birthright, 
 by means of the cooked lentils, then of his father's blessing, 
 by dressing himself in the mask of Esau. The story is illus- 
 trated by the etymology of Jacob, and the turning of the 
 expression' for following on the heels of any one into a state- 
 ment that he supplants him. The name Jacob is, however, 
 a typical name for the second of twins, and no etymology 
 that goes beyond this is valid. There is no fraud suggested 
 in being called Number Two. 
 
 ' Heb. '.((/(lb. 
 
XXVIl] KS.vr AND JACOB INTERPRKTED 279 
 
 Now look ;it ihe story more closely; one suspects that 
 the double fraud, the birthright fniud ;inil the blessing fraud, 
 iire variants of the same theme. The birthright is another 
 way of saying the inheritance, and cannot easily be detached 
 from the blessing. What, then, does the story mean i" It is 
 an e.xplanation of the perplexing fact that the younger of 
 a pair of twins is the heir ; for which abnonnal custom 
 explanation has to be made. That this is the real meaning of 
 the elder serving the younger we shall now be able to demon- 
 strate, in the following way. It is actually the ciise that 
 there are tribes that transfer birthright fnun the elder nf 
 twins to the younger. 
 
 Suppose we turn to Leonard, The Lower Niger (tiid its The 
 Tribes' : we shall find the following statements about the J^jn",'^ 
 birth of twins in Igarra-land. Here we find that ' the first ">e. 
 of the twins to amve, strange as it may appear... is looked 
 on as the younger, while the second occupies the position of 
 elder. The reason which is assigned by the people for this 
 curious reversal of the natural onler is the a.':suitipti(m...that 
 the younger is sent out first of all by the elder, in token of 
 his inferiority, or rather, in acknowledgment of his brother's 
 superiority.' 
 
 We shall find an echo of the .siime belief in the Greek 
 story of Proitos and Akrisios, of whom it is sjiid that even in 
 the womb they were quarrelling with one (mother*. The name 
 Proitos suggests at once, after the fashion of the twin names, 
 that he is the elder ; and the legend says that the elder 
 brother is beaten and expelled by the younger. So that the 
 maxim 'Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated,' is of 
 <vider application than the original Palestinian pair. This 
 exactly explains the legend in (ienesis, which is an attempt 
 to find a rea-son for the existing pnictice of the conferring 
 of the right of primogeniture upon the younger of twin 
 children. Now the curious thing is that the sjime tlifficulty 
 turns up again in the same book at a later place, where 
 
 ' pp. iM sqq. 
 
 ' Apollonius, Hihl. ii. 'i, lara YsirT^t m'" 't> orrci JaTatla(m wpit dX\4- 
 Xoii. / 
 
280 ESAU AND JACOB INTERPRETED [OH. XXVII 
 
 there is evidently another problem in primogeniture. This 
 time it is the case of Manasseh and Ephraim, the two sond of 
 Joseph : Manasseh is definitely stated to have been the elder, 
 but by a curious transference of the grandfather's hands in 
 benediction from the head of one child to the head of the 
 other, Ephraim obtains the rights of the first-born, so far as 
 these are carried by the benediction, and it is evidently 
 intended that they should bo so carried. Now it is not 
 stated that Ephraim and Manasseh are twins : if they are 
 not, the problem is a wider one, and the thing to be ex- 
 plained is the law of primogeniture in the younger child of 
 a family, such as we know to prevail in certain countries' ; 
 if, however, the facts have been obscured that Manasseh and 
 Ephraim are twins, the case reduces itself to the previous 
 category, and the problem is one of primogeniture of twin- 
 children. Such a problem was likely to arise, as soon as the 
 dual paternity had come into view. In either case, a story 
 is told to explain the obsolescent custom. 
 
 All that we really learn from these stories is that there 
 was formerly a custom of primogeniture in the younger child 
 of a pair : the rest is all romance. We have now much 
 reduced the story of Jacob and Esau : all the details of the 
 birth-story, all the conflicts between the brothers and the 
 divine election, have disappeared. Whether what is left is 
 history remains to be seen ; legend commonly needs some- 
 thing to which it can attach itself: our first duty is the 
 removal of the legends from the traditional account. What 
 is left is a mere trifle compared with what we started from. 
 
 There are other twin-stories in Genesis, such as the 
 Pharez and Zara story, which are capable of illumination 
 from folk-lore sources. 
 
 ' For instance it is an old English custom, known b; the name of 
 Borough English, prevailing in many places, e.g. in the town of Nottingham. 
 It is also said to occur in Germany and in Mongolia. Such a custom pre- 
 vailed in certain Semitic circles, if we may judge from the .story of Ephraim 
 and Manasseh. It prevails to this day among the Khasis of Assam in the 
 form of inheritance through the youngest daughter. See Additional Notes 
 at the end of the volume. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 FURTIIEH TKACF-S OK DIUStTRISM OX THE SKA 
 OF GALILEE 
 
 Now let us turn to the New Testament and examine The Sea of 
 for further traces of Diosenric influence, either upon the 
 geography of Palestine, or upon the New Testament records. 
 We have already shown that there is a high probability that 
 Beth Saida was the cult-contre of a twin-god, allied to the 
 divimty of Sidon, and that Chorazin (originally C'horozain) 
 was a shrine of tlie Heavenly Twins. 
 
 Let us approach the matter from another point of view, a centre 
 We will show that there are .special reiisons why the^^^. 
 Twins should be in evidence on the Sea of Galilee, and it 
 is likely that, if they are there, they will hi- fciuiid acting 
 in a particular manner. 
 
 We have often noticed that the cult of the Twins is 
 developed in dangerous positions on rivers, and in straits and 
 dangerous shallows or seas : it is, then, a priuri likely that ius 
 the Sea of Galilee, with its peculiar liability to sudden storms *"»>'*™- 
 of wind (Mark culls these gusts by the name of \arXa\^), 
 which rush down the steep valleys like funnels, should be a 
 centre of Twin worship. The Sea itself receives its name, 
 perhaps, from its stormy waves, rather than from a meaning- 
 less Hebrew word for circle. The underlying root may he 
 the Aramaic (Syriac) worfl for waves (gaUle)^ : the name 
 reminds us of the dangers, and the dangers suggest the depre- 
 catory cidt, which will allay the storms or protect fn)m them. 
 
 > The form (ialil (circle, roller) will bv a later pervcniion of thit; liut 
 the underljrinK ro«U ure very neiirly the same. 
 
282 DIOSCURISM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE [CH. 
 
 Those causes which coloured the Phoenician religion sO' 
 strongly with Dioscuric features would operate in a similar 
 manner on the inland sea. Indeed, we have suggested that 
 there was a common element in the beliefs of the Phoenicians 
 who sailed and rowed on the great Sea, and the Galileans 
 who navigated the inland sea, which Luke, more exactly, 
 the calls the Lake. Suppose, then, that Dioscurism prevailed 
 
 necMsary* °" *^^ Lake of Galilee : let us admit it, for it was inevitable : 
 we have now the cult, or at least the cult-centre. 
 
 Now let us go back to the origin of twin-cults, and we 
 
 and shall find that it is an extremely common view to regard 
 
 "^""^ " • twins as being u.seful in hunting and fishing. For instance, 
 
 among the Kwakiutl Indians, twins are nothing but dis- 
 
 they catch guised Salmon who have assumed human shape, and in that 
 
 guise are able to bring their brothers and sisters into the 
 
 fisherman's net. 
 
 Among the Ngombe tribes on the Congo, ' if men go 
 hunting and one of the number curses a twin, and the twin 
 or hinder responds by stating that the hunt will be in vain, it may be 
 capture- abandoned, the others believing that the twin has some 
 occult power which will be exercised against them, so that 
 no animals will be taken. The same applies to fishing : if 
 a twin should bless a fishing or hunting party, it is sure to 
 be successful.' 
 
 Among the Shuswap Indians of British Columbia, 
 ' twins who had the deer for their protector were always 
 successful in hunting; in like manner, those who had the 
 grisly bear for protector, could always find bears and kill 
 them easily.' 
 
 While the twins are quite little, they serve to diagnose 
 the success of the hunt. ' Their mother c<in see by their 
 play whether her husband, who is out hunting, is successful 
 or not. When the twins play about and feign to bite each 
 other, ho will be successful ; if they keep quiet he will come 
 home empty handed'.' 
 
 The Tsiinshian Indians, from the same part of the world, 
 fear twins, ' as they can harm the man whom they hate ' : 
 
 ' Boiis, u( supra. 
 
XXVIIl] UIOSCURISM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE 283 
 
 but they believe that the ' twins can cjill the olachen and 
 the salmon and arc therefore called Sewihan = making 
 plentiful.' 
 
 Here, then, are a number of ciises in which twins, con- Thunder- 
 sidered as lucky, are especially useful in hunting and fishing Ju^'j^y ,„ 
 The same thing is true of their symbols ; in Western Eurojje, ti>*hing. 
 we have shown the importance of the thunder-stone, and how 
 it conserves the powers and potencies of the thunder; and 
 since the twins are, in Europe as well as in Palestine and 
 elsewhere, the children of the Thunder, it is only natural 
 that the thunder-stone, which is a visible child of the 
 thunder, should also be lucky in hunting and fishing. On 
 this account the Danish fisherman regards the Zebedee-slone 
 as attracting good luck, so he uses it tis a sinker in his 
 fishing net. A peasiint in Vermland thought he had ob- 
 served that the fish came with greater readiness into those 
 nets for which stone axes (i.e. thunder-stones) were use<l as 
 sinkers'. We shall find that the thunder-stones can do 
 many of the things that are normally credited to the Sons of 
 the Thunder, ^'or insUince, they are employed as birth- 
 helps by women. 
 
 We shall not be surpi:ised, then, if we should find on the 
 Sea of Galilee stories of great fishing feats, attributed more 
 or less directly to the Heavenly Twins, or their earthly 
 representatives. 
 
 In another direction, also, their activity may be ex{)ected Twins 
 to be recorded. We have alluded to the jwwer which they ^^"li^s: 
 possess, as Children of the Sky, of controlling the storm, and 
 of the influence which the thunder-stone, as representing the 
 Sons of Thunder, has in protecting the person who is so 
 fortunate as to possess one. 
 
 Thus the Skgomic of British Columbia regard the birth in British 
 of twins as a ver)' special event, twins always possessing, as (,,,""'' 
 Wits believed, supernonnal p)wers, the coiiimoiie.st of which was 
 control of the mnd'. If at any time wind was required for 
 
 ' BlinkcnbcrK. "< mprn. p. SK): quolinn (nun Montclius, Sitri^rt forntut. 
 p. 161. 
 
 ' C. Hill T.ml. "( «i<;>r<i. 
 
284 DIOSCURISM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE [CH. 
 
 sailing, the bodies of the twins would be rubbed with oil or 
 
 grease, after which, it is said, the wind would immediately 
 
 rise. The same belief prevailed among the Shuswap Indians, 
 
 who held twins to be ' endowed with power over the elements, 
 
 especially over rain and snow'.' Of the Tsimshian Indians, 
 
 Boas tells us that it is their belief that ' twins control the | 
 
 weather; therefore they pray to wind and rain, " Calm doivn, 
 
 breath of the Twivs'-." ' Of the Kwakiutl, it is said that 
 
 twins, while children, are able to summon any wind by 
 
 motions of their hands, and can make fair or bad weather. 
 
 in The same belief in the control of the weather by twins 
 
 ^"^' can be traced, in survival, in Western Europe: in Finisterc, 
 
 they allay the wildest tempest by means of a talisman 
 
 preserved in the hollow of an oak tree, which consists of 
 
 two apples, growing on one stem, to which prayers are 
 
 addressed'. The talisman is significant : we have the hollow 
 
 oak where the thunder strikes, and where the thunder-stone 
 
 itself is often supposed to be hidden : the twin-apples are the 
 
 symbol of the twin-children of the Thunder. 
 
 Thundei- Traces of the same in the form of an influential thunder- 
 
 f cts^ '"^° stone controlling the weather, but apparently without the 
 
 against introduction of the Children of the Thunder, may be found 
 
 Indo- in the French colonies of the far East. In Annam the 
 
 China. thunder-stone protects against thunder, and in a stonn, one 
 
 puts such a stone among the silk-worms to protect them 
 
 from damage. This belief is not far removed from the 
 
 control of the weather by the Boanei-ges; certainly in the 
 
 districts where the thunder is personally represented by 
 
 twins, we shall expect them to discharge the duties which, in 
 
 the places where the rcpre.sentation is inanimate, are per- , 
 
 formed by stones or twin-apples. ' 
 
 The Greek III the Greek literature the power of the twins to calm 
 ca'lnTthe ^^^^ storm is expressed almost in Biblical language ; take, for 
 storm: examj)le, the Homeric Hymn (XXXIII. 1.5-18): 
 
 ' Teit, The Slni.iinip Indians, pp. 586, 587. 
 
 a Boas, Report Brit. .•!»»■. 1889, p. 847. 
 
 ^ L. F. Sauve in Rev. Celtviue, v. (?), 82, m. 
 
XXVIUJ l)l(JS( Tlil.S.M l)N THE SEA OF (JAI.IEEK 2H5 
 
 Ki'ti-ara S' tarbpiaaif XtvK-f]^ d\6i ef rtXdytffaiy, 
 
 yai'ratt tn/faara xa\a. 
 
 'So they allayed the Btorms of troubluuB winds, 
 
 And planed the whitening waves iiiMjn the main: 
 
 Fair signs to shipmcn.' 
 
 Or we may turn to Theocritus (xxil. 1. 17-21). 
 
 dXX' Ifiwaf UM''« 7' "'' '* fivSoi f^^tfT( foot ■ 
 
 avTolcriv vavrattriv iiofiivoii dtxyitadai' 
 
 al^' d*"o\i770i'rat 5' ivtfioif Xtwapd ii -^oKava. 
 
 d/x' TAo70f vt^t\aLi W dUSpafioif dXXuits dXXat. 
 
 •Nathlcss when sailors deem the tide their grave. 
 
 Ye draw the foundering bark from out the wave; 
 
 Soft murmur winds that erst were howling loud, 
 
 And far and wide recedes the vagrant cloud.' 
 
 The paniUel between the Greek conception of the Stilling Possible 
 of the Storm by the Twins, and the Gospel story of a similar p^raHgig, 
 miracle, is very close. Whether it is more than an acci- 
 dental parallel will depend upon the extent to which we 
 regard Dioscurism to be already established as a factor by 
 which to explain incidents in the Gospels, or in the Eiarly 
 Church history. We may, at any rate, use Theocritus' 
 language about 'sailors who think to die ' as an explanatory 
 illustration of ' M;ister ! save us, we perish,' and his 'assuaged 
 winds' and ' gUissy calm' side by side with the 'great calm' 
 of the Gospels. 
 
 It may therefore be concluded that we ought not to be 
 surprised, and may even have a right to expect, that control 
 of the weather by twins will be a belief on the shores of the 
 Sea of Galilee. 
 
 From these considerations we naturally p;iss to another i)o the 
 question, as to whether walking on the sea should be in- ,,."i'k''ii,e 
 cludefl auKjngst the Dioscuric powers. The answer seems to sea? 
 be that there are not a few traces of an early belief in the 
 jKJSsibility of walking upon water, but that they do not seenj 
 to be generally connected with the Twins. For instance, in 
 Roman legend, we ha\e the swift Camilla, who 
 
 • Flics o'er the unbending corn oi skims along the main',' 
 
 but there is no reason to suppose that Camilla hjus ab.sorbvd 
 
 ' I'opp, K«»iiy oil ('ri(ifi»"i. 
 
286 DIOSCURISM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE [cH. 
 
 a Dioscuric function. Amongst the Argonauts, as described 
 by Apollonius Rhodius, we have the case of Euphemus whom 
 Europa bore to Poseidon ; Euphemus was the swiftest of 
 men, and could run on the salt surge of the sea without 
 merging his feet^ There seems no reason to identify him 
 with the Dioscuric company. 
 Water- In the Indian literature, too, we have traces of water- 
 
 in'lmlmn walking, and here it is interesting to notice that the power 
 literature: jg jj^t; merely physical, but that it has a moral side, and 
 seems to be ascribed to virtue in the water-walker. Hopkins 
 has pointed out an important case in the Brahmin Mahabha- 
 rata^ : he says, ' Water is especially associated with truth, 
 because truth is verbal purity. Consequently, a very good 
 man can walk over water, or even drive his battle-car over 
 water without sinking into it, as was the case with Prthu 
 Vasinya, and with Ditipa, who was a speaker of truth.' 
 
 It will be said that this does not exclude the A^vins, and 
 that the Twins have as one of their functions the guardian- 
 ship of truth, but it does not include them. If the A^vins 
 can walk on water, we shall probably find the feat alluded to 
 in the Rig- Veda, where there are constant references to their 
 help in saving shipwrecked or storm-driven mariners. One 
 of the most interesting cases is that of a certain Bhujyu, the 
 son of Tugras, who had been abandoned by his friends, and 
 apparently by his o\vti father, to a watery death. After 
 three days and three nights in the deep (one naturally com- 
 pares the Jonah legend) the Acjvins rescued him in a ship 
 with a hundred oars. Sometimes the Twins are said to have 
 saved him on a flying chariot with a hundred horses". It 
 does not appear that they walked on the sea to save him. 
 On the other hand it should be noticed that the rescued 
 Bhujyu himself walked on the sea, and was safely taken on 
 board the chariot of the A(;vins. The passage is as follows : 
 I. 117. 15, 'The rescued son of Tugras cried to you and he 
 
 ' Apoll. Argonaut. I. 180 IH'). 
 - Prue. Am. Phil. Hoc. UJOO, p. 38. 
 
 ' Are the chariot and the ship ori^;i^lllly equivalent as in Syriac? cf. 
 Odes uf Solomon, 38. 
 
XXVIll] DIOSCUKISM UN THK .SKA of (JAMLKK 287 
 
 walkud Dii llie water without wavt'riiifj ; V"U, mighty ones, 
 brought him in safety on your chariot, well harnessed and 
 swift as tliought.' 
 
 To this there is an obvious Biblical parallel, but it does 
 not exactly establish that the A(,vins were thought of as 
 walking on the sea. 
 
 There is one pas.sage in the Acts of Thrntids which niav, a parallel 
 perhaps, be interpreted Dioscurically in view of the proved *[" ""* 
 inHuence of Dioscurism right through the fabric of the Acts. Thomas. 
 In the seventh Act, when Judas is addressing the people in 
 words of farewell, and commending them to the care of his 
 deacon Xenophon, he says that, ' when you go on boarfl ship and 
 are in danger, and no man can help you, then he (Jesus) will 
 walk upon the waters and support your ships.' The diffi- 
 culty is to decide whether this is a reHe.\ from the Gospel 
 narrative, or whether it is a genuine Dioscuric trait. If it is 
 the latter, then we add the Walking on the Sea in the Gospel 
 to the other cases of Dioscuric action. The references to the 
 care of ships in the opening chapter of the Acts are certainly 
 Dioscuric; the only question is whether we ought to extend 
 the statement to the pa-ssjige quoted from the seventh Act. 
 Reviewing the arguments of the whole chapter, it must at lesist 
 be admitted that a case has been made out for some Dioscuric 
 influence in the records and legends of the Sea of Galilee. 
 
 At this time it may be as well to reflect on the cumiila- Dio- 
 tive results of the argument : we find places, literatures and ^"■■'^"' 
 
 . 1 • 1 , r > ,n plates, 
 
 peoples impregnated with Dioscuric ideas. The names of peoples 
 the places betray the reverence and even the actual worship n^^^. 
 paid to the Twins; this argument will he more and more '"'^"^• 
 forcible according as we find more names of places that are 
 susceptible of Dioscuric explanation. In liteniture we find 
 whole books which are coloured by the beliefs of the Twin- 
 cult : the most striking case is that of the Acts of Tfiumns, lUe .\cu 
 but the second book of Maccabees is, in its way, as decidedly 'l'. 
 
 •' J I nomas: 
 
 Dioscuric; the book of (Jenesis is frankly unintelligible with- 
 out the assistance of thf illumination thrown on it by the the 
 Twin-cult. As for popular beliefs, we find that there are 'i^'T^, 
 
 * * WKlk of 
 
 very few races that do not hold the leading beliefs of the M«<<-i» 
 
288 DIOSCURISM ON THE SEA OF GALILEE [CH. XXVIII 
 
 Dioscuric superstition ; these beliefs are not exclusively 
 Aryan nor Semitic : we come across traces of them in Arabia, 
 as well .as in Greece and Rome, and in Palestine as well as in 
 Mesopotamia. Of the persistency of these beliefs there can 
 be no reasonable doubt. The second book of Maccabees is a 
 book which was written as late, perhaps, as the first years of 
 the Christian era : it is decidedly Dioscurized : if the objec- 
 tion be made that it simply incorporates the work of Jason 
 of Cyrene, the answer is that in that case we do not push 
 Jewish Dioscurism back to an earlier date than about 
 100 RC, and the events described are not themselves much 
 earlier. So we bring Dioscurism practically down to our 
 Lord's time, and this means that Dioscuric explanations 
 cannot be wholly ruled out of the interpretation of events 
 recorded in the Gospels, if, on other grounds, such explana- 
 tions should appear to be the most natural. 
 
 That the Boanerges are the Heavenly Twins can, more- 
 over, be established on the Gospel's own admission, in the 
 earliest known form of the Gospel, as well jis in a variety of 
 other ways. We are obliged to admit of the existence of the 
 Dioscuric environment, to allow for the permeation of Judean 
 society by the Dioscuric ideas. How far such ideas may 
 have actually coloured the narrations is another question : 
 our first business is to clear the ground, to get rid of false 
 ideas of Palestinian religion ; we shall then be able to judge 
 with greater certainty as to the relative cretlibility or in- 
 credibility of the different parts of the narrative. 
 
 We have alluded above to the Dioscurism of the second 
 book of Maccabees : and this may be the best place for com- 
 pleting the proof of such Dio.scurism, over and above the 
 story of Heliodorus. 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 THE DIOSCURIC ELEMENT IN II MACCABEES 
 
 We have already shown that the second book of Mac- The 
 
 - 1 £■ T c Twins in 
 
 cabees opens its transferences from the pages ot Jason ol 2 Macca- 
 
 Cyrene with an account of the defeat of Heliodorus in his '«'«*• 
 attempt to plunder the Temple at Jerusalem. Three 2 Mace, 
 heavenly beings, splendidly horsed and armed and richly '"" ^'^' 
 dight, opposed his entrance to the sanctuary, and two of 
 them scourged him mercilessly with their whips, so that he They 
 was carried out more dead than alive. The Dioscuri, with Hclio- 
 their sire, protected the Holy Place of the Jews. The "^o™"- 
 meaning of the story was recognised by Fairwcalher in his 
 article on the 'Development of Dcxjtrine in the Apocryphal 
 Period ' in Hastings' Bible Dictionary (vol. V. p. 287), where 
 it was referred to as ' almost a repetition of the old Roman 
 legend of Castor and Pollux mounted on white steeds, and 
 appearing at the head of the Jewish armies.' There is, 
 however, another story of the same kind a little later in the 
 book. Fairweather speaks of it as ' a somewhat similar tale,' 
 but doe-s not follow up the clue. As it stands, the legend is 
 as follows : 
 
 When Timotheus came agiiinst [.ludiis Maccabaeus to 2 Mocc. v. 
 revenge himself for a former defeat, with a horde of foreign 
 troops and Asiatic cavalry, he was minded to Uike all Judea 
 captive. The Jews, however, bes<iught the Lord to come to 
 their aid, and to be an adversary to their adversaries, as he 
 had promised in the Ijiw. When battle was joined, the 
 answer to their prayers aiine in the appearance from heaven 
 of five horsemen, with golden bridles, two of whi>m became 
 « B. 19 
 
290 DIOSCURIC ELEMENT IN II MACCABEES [CH. XXIX 
 
 They 
 
 flank 
 
 Judas 
 
 Macca- 
 
 baeus in 
 
 battle, 
 
 weapons 
 
 and 
 
 methods. 
 
 Dios- 
 curism in 
 Palestine 
 till the 
 Christian 
 era. 
 
 the leaders of the Jews, riding one on each side of Mac- 
 cabaeus, and discharging arrows and thunderholts upon the 
 enemy. Moreover the adversaries were struck blind, fell 
 into disorder, and were slaughtered on a great scale. 
 
 That this is Dioscuric is clear not only from the princely 
 pair, who protect the Maccabee, and are evidently, from the 
 missiles which they throw. Sons of the Thunder, but also 
 from the blindness which falls on the enemy, which is one of 
 the punishments proper to the twins, and is parallel to the 
 judgement of the men of Sodom in the book of Genesis at 
 the hands of the two angels. The only difficulty is with 
 regard to the number of the heavenly allies. They are said 
 to be five, of whom two undertook the actual leadership of 
 the Jews in battle. I suspect that the word ^ ye is an en-or : 
 we should read three; some one who did not see that the 
 three included the two, has replaced three by five, so as to 
 give the exact total. The number should clearly be the 
 same as in the story of Heliodorus. Even if we do not 
 correct the text, the two who rush with the Jews into 
 battle are described in such terms as hurling thunderbolts 
 {Kepavvov'i e^eppiirrov) and with such results to the enemy 
 that they are struck with blindness and thrown into con- 
 fusion {<TV'y)(y6evTe'i dopaa-ia), that we cannot doubt them to 
 be the Dioscures. And we are entitled to say that in the 
 time of the Maccabean wars, the Dioscuri had not yet been 
 displaced by the holy angels. These results are of the first 
 importance ; for the author of second Maccabees cannot be 
 much earlier than the Christian era, and the author from 
 whom he borrows is hardly earlier than 100 B.C., the events 
 that are described prohibiting a much earlier date. So we 
 have brought Dioscurism into Palestinian history at a time 
 which nearly coincides with the time of production of the 
 Gospels. The importance of this will be evident. It is a 
 companion result to the proof of Dioscurism in Mesopotamia, 
 which we derived from the Acts of Thomas. Each proof has 
 a legitimate re-action on the Now Testament. 
 
CHAPTER XXX 
 
 ON THE NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWIN CHILDREN 
 
 As there seems to be a verj' widespread custom of 
 indicating twinship by the names given to the children or Names o( 
 of specifying by their names either the onler in which they 
 were born or some peculiarity attaching to them, it seems 
 to be worth while to collect some of the princijjal varieties 
 of nomenclature which occur in our investigation. 
 
 The first classification that comes to one's hand is the 
 giving of a name which shall indicate twinship. The express 
 importance of this will be evident, for as soon as twins are "'"" '^' 
 allowed to live, they live as marked persons, either for good 
 or evil fortune ; and when they acquire dignity this dignity 
 is often transmitted to their offspring, or to a priesthood 
 operating for the deceiused or deified twins, and representing 
 them. In this connection, the first names that occur to one 
 are 
 
 Thomas 
 
 Didymus 
 
 Geminus, 
 
 respectively in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. Then in German 
 there is Zwilling. In English a variety of names can be 
 traced to this source : over and above the obvious Twinn we 
 have Twy.sse (for twice). Twist (for Twiced) ; in my immediate 
 neighbourhotxi a doctor named Gunimow betniys an original 
 French Jumean, and amongst my students a Scotch lady 
 named Gemmell answers to an original Latin Gemella, 
 perhaps through the French. 
 
 19—2 
 
292 ON NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWINS [cH. 
 
 In Greek we have also the form Amphion, which, as 
 we have pointed out, means Twin, and is the equivalent of 
 Amphigenes. 
 
 Amongst savage tribes we also find the custom of calling 
 a child simply Twin : e.g in Fanti land, all such children 
 are called Attah, i.e. twin. Amongst the Yorubas it is 
 common to call them simply Ibeji, i.e. twins. Traces of this 
 custom of giving a common name to twins and triplets can 
 be found in our own mythology : see Saxo Graramaticus 
 (Bk V. 122) for three brothers named Grep^ 
 indicating The next grouping of the names should be of those that 
 lji^{^ indicate that one is the first-bom and the other the second. 
 
 Thus, in the pair Esau-Jacob, the first name has not yet 
 been explained, but the second clearly means the follower, 
 and intimates that the person bearing the name is not the 
 first-bom. In the same way the Greek twins Proitos and 
 Akrisios, who quarrel antenatally, like E.sau .and Jacob, and 
 one of whom expels the other from Argos, must surely 
 conceal priority under the name of Proitos. The same thing 
 is true of the Milanese twins, Protasius and Gervasius. 
 Amongst African tribes we see constant attempts at indi- 
 cating the order of birth : thus amongst the Basoga-Batamba 
 tribes of the Uganda Protectorate, we have the following 
 scheme : 
 
 Boy and girl, Waiswa and Babilye, 
 Two boys, Waiswa and Kato, 
 
 Two girls, Uja and Babilye, 
 
 where, since twins generally are called 6««a-6a6i7i(= two- 
 children) it is clear that Babilye means the second of 
 a pair. 
 Twin- In the Sherbro Hinterland (Sierra Leone), twins are 
 
 names in n ■ • , • /• 
 
 W.Africa, called irrespective oi sex 
 
 Sau and Jina. 
 
 I do not pretend to know the interpretation of these 
 languages. 
 
 • See Cull, p. 58 sqq. 
 
XXX] ON NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWINS 293 
 
 Among the Kwe-speaking tribes, we have consistently 
 Atsu = first-bom, 
 Tse = second-born, 
 and a male boni after these is called Dosu. 
 
 For West African tribes, Dr Nassau ha,s noted that in 
 Benga the twins are called 
 
 Ivaha = a wish, 
 
 and Ayenwe = unseen, 
 
 while among the Egbas the names are 
 
 Taiwo = the first to taste the world, 
 Kehende = the one who comes last'. 
 From one of the Baptist Mission stations on the Congo, 
 the late Dr Bcntley informed tne that the names given to 
 twins in that region were Nsimbe and Nzuzi. 
 
 Among the Nilotic Kavirondo, the first of twins is cjilled in 
 Apio (the one who comes quickly), the other is called Adongo 
 (the one who is delayed). We note again the parallel with 
 Jacob (the follower). 
 
 Among the Warundi, the elder of twins is called W^ikuru, 
 Wuwiruke ; the younger, Witoyi, Wusinya, Shakati. I do not 
 know the meaning of these names. 
 
 On the Albert Nyanza, special names are given to the 
 first and hist of a pair of twins. 
 
 In the Unyoro country, the first is called Singonia, the 
 second Kato. 
 
 In Monbiittuland, twin boys are called 
 Aburi and Nabesse, 
 and twin girls 
 
 .\buda and Tindade. 
 
 On the White Nile beyond Beddcn, the names for twins 
 are Keniy and Mundia. 
 
 In Togo-lantI, the case is as follows: 
 
 Boys = E-se and Esi, 
 Girls = Huevi and Huese, 
 Boy and girl = Esi and Esihue. 
 
 ' NaaMU, Fftiehimi in Writ Africa, p. 'J06. 
 
294 ON NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWINS [CH. 
 
 The children of twins have also their parentage indicated : 
 first born, boy") _ Dosu, 
 
 girl] Devi, 
 second born, boyl Dosavi, 
 girl) Dohnevi, 
 third born, boyl _ Donyo, 
 girl) Dosevi. 
 
 No doubt these names are, as Pindar would say, cptovavra 
 
 (TvveTolaiv. 
 
 Twin- With the foregoing comes the case in which, one twin 
 
 names having been spared, his election to life is intimated in his 
 
 selection, name. For example, on the Brass River in the Niger 
 
 territory, one child is killed : the one that is spared is called, 
 
 if a boy, Isele, if a girl Sela, both names meaning ' the 
 
 selected one.' This case is interesting on account of a 
 
 suspicion that something of the kind can be traced in our 
 
 own national ancestry. Thus the name Joicey is really a 
 
 past participle and is a disguise of the French choisi ; much 
 
 in the same way as the English surname Chance, which, as 
 
 . its American form Chauncey shows, is again a past participle, 
 
 and means a child who has been changed (chanf/d) by the 
 
 fairies. On this hypothesis Joicey would be the twin child 
 
 saved out of a pair. 
 
 or origin, The next classification wo\ild be that in which the twins 
 
 are named collectively or individually by their powers and 
 
 potencies. The most striking examples of this will be, when 
 
 the twins are called children of Zeus (Dioscuri), or children 
 
 of the Thunder (Boanerges), or children of the Sky-Thunder 
 
 (Bana ba Tilo) or the like ; or we may have cases in which 
 
 or quality, the twins are simply named after the luck they bring in 
 
 hunting or fishing, as for instance among the Tsiinshian 
 
 Indians, who call twins Sewihan, i.e. making plentiful ; or iis 
 
 amongst the ancient Phoenicians, where the names of a pair 
 
 of brothers appear in Greek translation as Halieus, and 
 
 Agrieus. In Uganda, as Mr Roscoe informs me, twins are 
 
 named after the god of plenty, so that any male twin is 
 
 called Mukiusa, any female twin Nanuikasa. 
 
XXX] ON NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWINS 295 
 
 For names derived from the Thunder, I suspect that we Thunder- 
 have a good many names, in English and in Scotch, that go xwins. 
 back either directly to the Thunder, or to the Thunder-god 
 Thor. For instiince, a very old Scotch name is Livingstone, 
 whose Latin form is de Villa Levini, which suggests that the 
 place-name was originally Levin's Town and involves the 
 Lefin or thunderbolt. As a personal name Livcing, it was 
 the mark of a celebrated Cambridge Professor of Chemistry 
 in the present generation'. Of names formed from Thor, 
 it is certain that we have plenty, many of them being place- 
 names, which have become personal names. On this point 
 we must not linger ; no doubt, if such names exist, as I 
 believe to be the civse, some one, with wider philological 
 knowledge than my own, will before long deal with them 
 exhaustively. 
 
 Of all the names given to twins, the most perplexing is Meaning 
 that which is collectively given to Castor and Pollux. They °l^l°^' 
 are commonly called Tyndarides, after their supposed human 
 parent, Tyndareus. The earliest form of the name appears 
 to be Tindarides; but no clue has yet been found for the 
 meaning of the name. It was tempting to suggest that 
 perhaps Tyndarides was only another way of saying Sons of 
 Thunder, on the assumption that, iis in our own language, an 
 intrusive d has slipped into an original Tanar, from which 
 in the Saxon form thunor we get our thunder : there is no 
 difficulty in such an intrusion of the consonant in Greek, as 
 we see in the Clreek afBp6<; for dvtp6<:; but the vowels resist 
 the identification ; and however seductive the hypothesis, it 
 must be abandoned. If the word for thunder is not involve<l 
 in the Tyndarids, we must either look for some other twin- 
 parenUige (say the o.ik or the wt>odpecker)* or be satisfied 
 to leave Tyndareus as the name of an unknown and 
 
 ' It is a rare name, but it can kIiII be i>*en on the main street of 
 BirminRham; so that Sons o( Thunder can be found here at well as in 
 Pali'stine! 
 
 ' The suRRestion lia.i tx-.n m».le that the forrn we are in search of may 
 be related to the Ul.n ("...(.I (Sanskr. t,;l.iU. KnR. thwl). In that caM the 
 word describes either the hammcnnR of the woodpecker, or the crashing of 
 the thunder. 
 
296 ON NAMES COMMONLY GIVEN TO TWINS [CH. XXX 
 
 unexplained person, in whose family twins appeared, who were 
 
 ultimately raised to celestial rank. It is with regret that I 
 
 set the problem on one side as still unsolved. 
 
 Mean- The pair of twins in question are also known as Castor 
 
 'castor ^^^ Polydeuces ; and collectively as the Castors, or beavers. 
 
 It has been suggested to nie that the name ' beavers ' is 
 
 a companion to ' woodpeckers,' and has come in by way of 
 
 the first ship-yard, because if the woodpeckers hollow the 
 
 tree, the beavers fell it^ Moreover, a scrutiny of early 
 
 Greek ships in works of art will show that the steering-oar, 
 
 or rudder (the German ruder shows that the rudder was 
 
 originally an oar, perhaps the oar), was modelled on the tail 
 
 of the beaver. A similar oar is still in use on the rafts that 
 
 come down the Euphrates and Tigris. 
 
 Sky- Of the names of twins that betray quality or assume 
 
 Twins. origin, the most important are those which express kinship 
 
 with the bright sky, as Hilaeira and Phoebe, the twin-sisters 
 
 of Sparta, or Phoebus Apollo ; or which imply powers that 
 
 are borrowed from the sky, such as Idas and Lynceus. Of 
 
 Zethos and Amphion, the former is, I believe, still obscure : 
 
 ■ the latter has already been explained as being simply Twin. 
 
 ' See Wood, Natural History, p. 92, ' As many beavers live together in 
 one society, the formation of a dam does not take very long. By their 
 united efforts they rapidly fell even large trees by gnawing them round the 
 trunk, and always taking care to make them fall towards the water, so that 
 they can transport the logs easily.' The suggestion as to the beavers is due 
 to my friend Jowett Wilson. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 ON THE TWINS IN TUE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS, 
 AND ON THE HOLY OAK 
 
 We now follow the Aryan migration westward, and are 
 able to note the reappearance of a number of beliefs in 
 regard to twins, which we have previously detected in Indian 
 and Anatolian folk-lore. 
 
 The most important of such discoveries for our purpose The Twins 
 are contained in Mannhardt's famous studies of the Lettish i^^tj^ 
 folk-songs, which were published in the seventh volume of lolk- 
 the Zeitschn/t fin- Ethnolocfie. I should have liked, had *°° 
 space permitted, to have reprinted these famous article-s in 
 an English translation : they are still far too little known ; to 
 say that they are amongst the finest of Mannhardt's work is 
 to carry praise to a point where it can hardly go further. 
 Fortunately for English readers, a brief summary of Mann- 
 hardt's position and an appreciation of the value of his 
 results, can be fo\md in Schrader's noble article on the 
 Ar}iin religion in Hastings' Encyclopedia of Religion and 
 Ethics. 
 
 In my first study on the iliffusiotj of the Dioscuric 
 
 legends, I found the starting point of the ancient European ThoTwins 
 _^ . '. . r rr- ■ 1 • L • L L If iinionK the 
 
 Dioscurism in a passage of lacitus, in which he speaks ot Naharvali. 
 
 the beliefs of the N'aharvali, who may pmbably be located in 
 
 Lithuania, or in the country of the Vandals. As the passage 
 
 has become a chissiail one in this investigation, it is proper 
 
 once more to transcribe it : 
 
 Titcilua, Gmiuinia, c. 43. • Apud Nabarvalon antiqunr roliKioniii lucus 
 ostenditur. Pr»e»idel sawrdos mulicbri umatu: »«tl deo« interprctaliuoa 
 Bomana Ca-itorcni Pollucenique mcmorant: c» »i» nuraini, nomcn Alci» ; 
 nulla simulacra, nullum p.-ri-KrlnaciuperstilioniB vciliKium . ul (raln>s tarnrn, 
 ut javencs, venerantur ' 
 
298 ON TWINS IN THE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS [CH. 
 
 According to Tacitus, we have among the tribes whom he 
 describes, an archaic cult of a pair of young heroes, who were 
 brethren of the type of Castor and Polhix ; the priest, clad 
 in women's garments, officiated in a sacred grove ; but there 
 was no foreign superstition imposing itself upon the original 
 worship (Tacitus is, perhaps, speaking feelingly, in recol- 
 lection of the foreign religious invasions at Rome) : the name 
 of the deities worshipped was Alcis. The name Alcis has 
 not yet been explained : Schrader thinks it means ' hired 
 labourers,' and points out that there was a Lithuanian deity 
 named Algis (see Lasicius, De Bits Sarnagitarum, p. 47). 
 However that may be, it is clear, without any further 
 parallels, that if Tacitus' observations are correct, we have 
 recovered the twin-cult of the ancient Aryans among the 
 Naharvali ; and if we have recovered the ancient Twin-cult, 
 Tacitus is correct in drawing the parallel with the worship 
 of the Heavenly Twins at Rome. For it stands to reason 
 that, if the original Aryans started with a twin-cult, they 
 did not afterwards invent another independent twin-cult. 
 The worship in the grove of the Naharvali is the evolution 
 of the original cult of the Sky-god, or Thunder-god, as the 
 Aryan tribes made their westerly migration. So much 
 The Twins for the underlying necessary connection between the worship 
 O&k-god. o^ t.he Naharvali and that of ancient Rome. This worship 
 in a grove was the cult of a god Perkunas (the ancient 
 Lithuanian god) along with two young assessors : and as it 
 is clear that we must connect Perkunas with the Latin 
 quercus and with the Hercynian forest, we are to consider 
 the ancient worship as detected in Europe to be the worship 
 of a tree-god (who may also be a thunder-god) and the 
 Twins. 
 Mann- Now for the connection with the eastern forma of the 
 
 arscoverics Ary*" religion : it is at this point that Mannhardt's re- 
 in Lettish searches become so important; for they show again, from 
 the survivals of ancient beliefs in the Lettish folk-songs, that 
 there was a pair of heavenly beings, named dewa deli, 
 i.e. sons of god ; tl\ese sons of god are identified with the 
 Morning Star and the Evening Star so that it is certain that 
 
XXXl] ON TWINS IN THE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS 299 
 
 they are a pair of twin-gods ; they are trying to liberate the 
 daughter of the Sun. We have thus the same connection, 
 as we found in the Vedas, of the twin-brethren with the 
 sunrise, while it is equally clear that they are connected 
 also with Castor and Pollux and their sister Helena. 
 
 It is very surprising that so much can have been pre- 
 served in folk-songs out of the immemorial past. Hore is a 
 verse from one of the Lettish songs : 
 
 ' Why stand the gray horses 
 At the housedoor of the Sun ? 
 
 They are the gray horses of the Son of God The gnj 
 
 Who sets free the daughter of the Sun.' horses of 
 
 the Sun, 
 
 Here the only change that has occurred for ages in the 
 subject matter appears to be the turning of ' Sons of God ' 
 from the plural into the singular. Making only this slight 
 correction, we recover the pair of heavenly horsemen of the 
 Rig- Veda. In the same way, from the identification of 
 the twin-brethren and their horses, with the Morning and 
 the Evening Stars, we find ourselves in close agreement with 
 the ancient worship of Etlessa, viz. of the Sun with the 
 Morning and the Evening Stiirs for his assessors. 
 
 In the Lettish songs the gray horses of the dawn are 
 sometimes said to belong to the moon : e.g. <>r of the 
 
 moon; 
 ' Whose are the gray ponies 
 At the house<loor of the little god? 
 Those are the moon's ponies 
 Who set free the daughter of the Sun,' 
 
 and in the following verse the moon's ponies are expressly 
 identified with the Morning and the Evening Stars : 
 
 ' For as folks say. 
 
 The moon ha-s no pony of its own : 
 
 The Miorning star and the evening star, The Twin 
 
 They are the ponies of the moon.' horses as 
 
 Morning 
 
 It will be seen that the Morning and Evening StJirs arc Kvi.„in_ 
 clearly clistinguished, and that they are at the .same time Sun». 
 idintificil with the Sons of (jod, who liberate the daughter 
 of the Sun. 
 
300 ON TWINS IN THE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS [CH. 
 
 Now let us turn to another point which coines out very 
 
 clearly in the early European mythology, the identification 
 
 Perkunas of the sky-god or thunder-god with the tree-god (oak -god). 
 
 and the Yqt instance, the name Perkunas (=Perkuno), which we 
 oak-tree. .... 
 
 identify as an oak-name in Lithuanian, is also the name of 
 
 the thunder. The thunder is animistieally in the oak : in 
 
 that sense it is the oak. 
 
 Now one does not have to go far in the stoiy of Dioscurism 
 
 before one comes upon the sacred tree : in Northern Europe 
 
 it is the oak-tree ; at Sparta, there is some reason for 
 
 believing that the Heavenly Twins (and therefore their 
 
 sire) were lodged in the wild pear-tree '. When Castor 
 
 was killed in the conflict which he and his brother had 
 
 with the Messenian twins, Idas and Lynceus, he was hidden 
 
 in a hollow oak-tree, where he was detected by Lynceus and 
 
 shot=. 
 
 Nor was the case different in Palestine, where the most 
 
 sacred tree, in a land where many trees were sacred, was the 
 
 oak at Mamre, where Abraham had entertained the three 
 
 angels. The cult-representations of the twins involved 
 
 Twin- commonly a pillar or a pair of pillars (as amongst the 
 
 pillars Phoenicians, and, under their direction, in the temple at 
 
 for twin- 1 I-. I ] • 
 
 trees. Jerusalem, or in the temple at Paphos) : and, as is now 
 commonly recognised, such a pillar would be the representa- 
 tive of the sacred tree. When a sacred bird is perched on a 
 sacred pillar^, it will commonly be the thunder-bird on the 
 thunder-tree. Thus, when at Picenum (Woodpecker-town) 
 they worshipped a woodpecker on a pillar, the name of the 
 town shows that we are dealing with Dioscuric matter. In 
 all probability Picenum was an ancient twin-town, just like 
 Rome itself 
 
 As we have already pointed out, the great Cretan 
 sarcophagus, discovered by the Italians at Hagia Triada, 
 tells the same tale of twin-cult and thunder-cult ; for here 
 we have represented, perhaps 1500 years before Christ, 
 
 ' It may have been only an occasional manifestation. 
 
 ' See Pindar, Nem. x. 61, Spvbt h anXixei ijneyov. 
 
 ' For woodpecker on pillar, see Dion. Hal. i. 14; Strabo, v. 240. 
 
xxxi] ON TWINS IN thp: lkttish folk-songs 301 
 
 a pair of cult pillars sunuuuntuci by birds and double axes, 
 every pjirt of the symbolic representation being written in 
 the Dioscuric language. 
 
 We have shown in a previous chapter the importance 
 of the Holy Oak in the story of the making and manning of 
 the first ship, when the twins learnt from the wofxlpeckers 
 (or knew because they themselves were woodpeckers) how to 
 make the original dug-nut canoe in which man first inafle 
 his voyage on the water. The suggestion is that the hollow 
 oak is higher in sanctity than the unhollowed tree. It 
 discharges religiously a greater variety of functions. 
 
 This hollowed oak is not merely the first ship (Gk vaix;) The oak 
 but, as Schrader points out, it is also the oriiiinal temple "* j*"? 
 
 »^ _ p» I ana aB 
 
 (i/od?). Here the primitive man looked for his thunder- temple, 
 bolts, and here he preserved them". 
 
 We have already alluded to the belief in Brittany that 
 the worst storms can be allayed by means of twin-apples 
 which are preserved in a hollow oak. Here the twin-apples 
 are a vegetable representation of the Twins, and they are 
 kept in the oak, because the hollow ojik is the sanctuary of 
 the Thunder-god and his two children. 
 
 It is, perhaps, from the same quarter that we get The cxJc- 
 the explanation of a point which has perplexed me not a b^ufy. 
 little, the connection between the Twins and honey. There 
 is certainly .some explanation required, for the A^vins 
 in the Rig- Veda are constantly spoken of in a way 
 which shows that they have something to do with honey. 
 Macdonell, in his Vedic Mythology, sums the matter up as 
 follows (p. 49) : 
 
 ' Of all the ginls the Acjvins are most closely connected The Twins 
 with honey (madhu) with which they arc mentioned in '."nej. 
 many piLss;iges. They have a skin filled with honey, and 
 the birds which draw them abound in it (4. 4.5 *•*). They 
 poured out a hundnd jars of honey (1. 117"). Their 
 
 ' In Bdniura in Ihi' pri)%iiice of Linibourn ■ bt-lpmniU-H arc rrfiarJo<I aj 
 pirrrfi de tonnerrf, the [M-a-tantii as.icrt t)iat thry arc founil in hnllow (rpcii, 
 and am thrown <lown there h; the hKhtning.' Htf. lUt trad. pnpuUiirei 
 (quot«d in illinkrnb<-rK, p. M'i), ivu. p. 416. 
 
302 ON TWINS IN THE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS [CH. 
 
 honey-goad (1. 122^- 159*), with which they bestrew the 
 sacrifice and the worshipper, is peculiar to them.' 
 
 The explanation which I suggest is that the sacred tree 
 makes the connection between the Dioscuri and the honey. 
 The hollow tree was the first bee-hive as well as the first 
 ship. To this very day in all parts of England, a bee-hive is 
 called a skip, which means a naturally or artificially hollowed 
 tree'. Thus the bees arc to be found in the neighbourhood 
 of the twins and the thunder, and this is a sufficient 
 explanation of the recuiTence in the Rig- Veda of references 
 to the twin-horsemen and honey. In Latin the bee-hive is 
 alveiis, the very name given to the hollowed trunk in which 
 Romulus and Remus were set adrift. Vergil poetically uses 
 alveus sometimes for ship''. 
 
 It is natural to suppose that in very early times, man 
 did not have the trouble of making his own bee-hive ; it was 
 made for him by nature : he did not even cut it down : 
 accordingly Hesiod tells us that, amongst the blessings 
 that attend the upright, we may include the plentiful pro- 
 duction of food from the earth, abundance of acorns from 
 the top of the mountain-oak, and bees' from the midmost 
 bark. Here the tree is hollow but still standing, and the 
 bees occupy the interior. The tree is already an alveus or 
 a skip. In Palestine, the bee-hive remains unknown for 
 a very long while. Honey is found but not produced : as 
 in the case of Samson, and in the proverb, ' Hast thou found 
 honey ? ' 
 J^!; It has already been pointed out* that we may look in the 
 
 hollow J- • /• 1 111 
 
 oak and direction of the sacred and hollow oak for the meaning of 
 the Greek name Castor, given collectively sometimes to the 
 Twins, iis the Castors. No satisfactory explanation h;vs ever 
 been given of this name ; perhaps the most plausible was to 
 
 ' See further on this point, on p. 328 infra. 
 
 - AeneUl, vi. 412. 
 
 3 Op. et Dies, 232—3, 
 
 Tolai (f>^f}€i fiiv yaia noXvv ^iov, oUpetri 5i 5pvi 
 aKpri pill T( ipipti /SaXdfOi/s, p.i<r(Tr] 5i ntXlarat. 
 
 * Supra, p. 296. 
 
 the beaver. 
 
XXXl] ON TWINS IN THE LETTISH FOLK-SONGS 303 
 
 connect it with a gloss of Hesychius ; according to which 
 Kearope was exphiined aa ' brothers.' 
 
 Since, however, the art of felling trees might be said to 
 be learned from the boaver in the same way as the art of 
 hollowing them from the woodpecker, the very same causes 
 which would identify the twins with a pair of woodpeckers 
 might lead to their being styled a pair of beavers. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 OF THE HEAVENLY TWINS IN GRAECO-ROMAN 
 TRADITION 
 
 Graeco- A COMPARISON of the Twin-cults of the various Greek 
 
 ^™*° and Roman cities and states shows remarkable independence, 
 cults. and at the same time fundamental a^eement. Every place 
 has twins amongst its heroes and demi-gods but every place 
 appears to name them differently. The twins of Rome are not 
 borrowed from Sparta in the first instance, Romulus (Romus) 
 Differ- and Remus have nothing to do with Castor and Pollux, except 
 agree- °^ to be displaced by them; yet they agree with them in the 
 ments. peculiarity that one of them is of human parentage, and one 
 of divine, even if they do not agree exactly ivs to the defi- 
 nition of the divine parent, whether he is Jupiter or Ares. 
 
 In the same way, the twins of Messene, though next 
 door neighbours to Sparta, are not the same ; their names 
 vary, and Idas and Lynceus are mortal enemies of Castor 
 and Pollux. The twins of Eiis, the Moliones, appear to be 
 altogether pre-Dorian, and out of the current of the Laconian 
 tradition : and as for Thebes, the Boeotian twins agree with 
 the Spartan chiefly in the fact that, in either pair, one of 
 them is a man of violence and force, and the other a relatively 
 more gentle creature, so that Zethos and Amphion may be 
 compared on the one hand with Castor and Pollux, and on 
 the other with Esau and Jacob. Yet the Thebans swear by 
 their twins {urj tw ctku) just as the Spartans by theirs. 
 More might be said on the mixture of agreement and 
 difference presented by these various pairs ; but enough has 
 been said to show that many tribes and clans must have 
 
CH. XX \n] TWINS IN GRAECO-ROMAN TIIADITION 305 
 
 broMght down the twin-tradition out of thepiist, and that 
 the twins of remote time were probably without personal 
 names, being known Jis the Great Twin Brethren, or the Sons 
 of the Thunder, or some such terms, and acijuiring special 
 names as time went on, and as their functions became more 
 clearly recognised or appealed to. Thus Idas and Lynceus 
 are twins expressing the idea of far-sight and sharp-sight, 
 and it is easy to see that they have obtained their titles as 
 children of the all-seeing Sky. 
 
 One of the points that comes out most clearly in the I'hysi- 
 Graeco-Roman traditions is the belief in the double pater- °„"^ ° 
 nity of twins. On this point it may be convenient to make ''■'^h. 
 a few notes. In the first place, it is physiologically possible, 
 though not physiologically necessary. Twins may arise from Two kinds 
 the development of two ova, or from the unusual segmentation °' '*"'^' 
 of a single ovum. In the former case we shall, especially if 
 a second parent be introduced, have a prospect of unlike 
 twins ; in the latter an almost exact likeness, and of the 
 same sex. The question has recently been discussed by 
 Mr R. Clement Lucas in his Bradshaw lecture on Some points iJenticiJ, 
 in Heredity'. The latter are known as identical twins : the 
 former may be called coincident twins. How striking the and co- 
 identity can be may be seen from a tale which Mr Lucas tells '"" '°'' 
 of twins who entered as medical students at the .-^ame date, 
 and pjussed the examinations of the Royal Colleges and those 
 of the M.B. and M.S. Lond., at the same time. The totals 
 of their marks turned out to be almost identical. In the 
 opinion of seventeen examiners their abilities were indistin- 
 guishable or identical. 
 
 Now the primitive anthropologist knows nothing of the 
 
 physiology of the matter, but he has his eyes open to see The 
 
 what occurs in his family, and he describes twins acconline *"""">?- 
 
 ■' f tion of 
 
 to these two groups. Some arc idt^ntical and some variant, double 
 
 Castor and Pollux are identicAl in appearanc«\ at least when '* "" ^' 
 
 they are transferred to coins; but in (ireek legend Pollux is 
 
 the fighter, and Ciistor the cab-driver; that i.s, they are not 
 
 ' See iMnffI for I)nc. 2.1r.l. 1911. 
 H. B. -JO 
 
306 TWINS IN GRAECO-ROMAN TRADITION [CH. 
 
 really identical.- With the A(;vins, we get general identity, 
 but here again difterence of function can be detected by the 
 statement that ' one was born here and the other there.' 
 The question to be asked in any case is whether they are 
 both sky-born, or one from the sky and the other from the 
 earth. Now the Graeco-Roman tradition, as we have said, is 
 emphatic for double paternity. It is always stated, or else 
 can be inferred from the difiference of form and function. 
 Let us take a few cases. 
 
 Pindar tells us in a fine passage that Zeus disclosed the 
 
 Zeus parentage of Castor, when Pollux pleaded that he might be 
 
 disowns restored to life or promoted after death' : 
 
 ' Quickly back to his mighty brother came the hero 
 Polydeuces, and found him not yet dead, but shuddering and 
 gasping in his breath. Then weeping hot tears, with groans 
 he lifted up his voice aloud. " O father Zeus son of Cronos, 
 what deliverance is possible from my sorrow ? Send death 
 to me also, O King, along with him. For honour is gone 
 from a man bereft of friends, and few are faithful in affliction, 
 to share our burdens therein." And Zeus came to meet him, 
 -and uttered these words: "Thou art my son, but as for 
 this man, a hero-husband begat him from thy mother. But 
 come ! I offer thee a choice between two lots. If thou wilt 
 escape death and hateful old age, and dwell in Olympus 
 with me and with Athena, and with Arcs of the dark spear, 
 this fortune is thine. But if thou strivest for thy brother, 
 and art minded to portion out to him an equal share in all 
 things, then half the time thou mayest draw thy breath with 
 him beneath the earth, and half the time he may dwell with 
 thee in the golden halls of heaven." Thus spake Zeus, and 
 Polydeuces set no divided counsel in his mind, but straight- 
 way unsealed the lips and then the eyes of bronze-clad 
 Castor'.' 
 
 In the same way the parentage of Zethos and Amphion 
 is declared to be diverse, half human and half divine : 
 
 ' Pindar, Nem. x. 
 
 ^ Pindar, Nent. x., quoted by Clapp in the Ilibbcrt Journal for Jan. 
 1910. I correct tlie translation where necessary. 
 
XXXIl] T\VI^fS IN GRAKCO-ROMAN TRADITION 307 
 
 Ainphioii buing in this wise the diviiio twin, born of 
 Zeus and Antiojn?: so Fausanias, quoting from the poet 
 Asius'. 
 
 In the Cypriaca (quoted by Clement of Alexandria') 
 Castor is affirmed to be imirtal and Pollux iinninrtal: 
 
 K.a(TT<op fiev f^trrjToi;, OavitTov Se o'l alaa TTfirponai.' 
 Ainap o y ttOafa-rO'i lIoXi/SetAcr/s" ■ 
 
 against which Clement protests, saying that Homer is much 
 more to be trusted, who makes both the twins mortal. 
 
 In the Roman legend, the divine sire has assumed the The 
 parentage of both twins, but that this is a later development J^j"^*" 
 appears from the fact that only one of them is immortal, 
 viz. Romulus, and the other, Remus, very decidedly mortal. 
 Accoi-dingly Ovid represents Jupiter as promising immor- 
 tality to one of the children of Mars : 
 
 'Unus crit. qiiem tu toUes in caerula caeli ' 
 
 Tu niilii dixisti: sunt rata dicta lovis: 
 Juppiter annuiTat. Fiiufi, ii. 487. 
 
 This means that only one of the young gentlemen was 
 expected in Heaven, and entitled to admission. 
 
 The story of the cxposiire of Romulus and Remus on the 
 Tiber, and the killing of their mother, is the lowest stratum 
 of all, ;i3 can be seen by the African parallels. The story 
 of the Vestal Virgin, however, who wjis unfaithful to her Twin- 
 calling, is a later stage of the mythology : the tnulition as unchaste? 
 to ' immortality for one' inij)lies that there wa« not only a 
 divine sire, but a human jiaront somewhere, whose wife had 
 been unfaithful to him, or who had come under some second 
 influence : i.e. she waa not a Vestal. We have seen how 
 widespread this belief is amongst sjivage peoples. It is not 
 confined to people of low civilisation. I see it stated that 
 ' even in mediaeval Scotland it was considered impossible 
 that the mother of twins could have been faithful to her 
 
 ■ Pnuuniaa, quoted in l>uucuri, p. 18. 
 » Protrrpt. (p. 26, ed. Potter). 
 
 'JO— 2 
 
308 TWINS IN GRAECO-ROMAN TRADITION [cH. 
 
 husband, for two children impLed two fathers'.' The same 
 belief is proverbial in Denmark : there it is said 
 
 ' Foder Kvinde to. 
 Giver God tilkende at hien er sin mand utro.' 
 'If a woman gives birth to two, 
 God shows she is to her man untrue-.' 
 
 The Greek legend as to the divided immortality which 
 Zeus conferred on the two brethren is, perhaps, the reason 
 why, in art, the Heavenly Twins have become exactly like. 
 It seems pretty clear that originally they were diverse. 
 Indeed, we may expect that divine-human twins will be 
 diverse. The most striking case will be Heraklea and 
 Iphikles, the former a hero of the first water, the latter 
 a mere weakling. 
 Twins like When it IS a question of fine art, the representation of 
 fn Art"' "^ twins to the eye will often require diversity of treatment, 
 and result in decided variations. In such cases they will 
 become unlike from like : a good instance will be the case 
 of Hypnos and Thanatos, to which Miss Harrison has drawn 
 my attention. That Death and his brother Sleep should be 
 twins, is a beautiful poetical conception' : but in the treat- 
 ment of the subject we find that Death and Sleep, who 
 are twins in Homer, begin to be differentiated. on Attic 
 lekythoi by the beginning of the fifth century B.C. (See 
 Roscher, s.v. Hypnos.) Hypnos is young and beardless. 
 Thanatos, adult and bearded. On another line of evolution, 
 Hypnos became an ancient man who holds the sleeper in his 
 arms. On sarcophagi, he becomes an old man leaning on 
 a stick*. Although Homer does not recognise the divine 
 parentage of Pollux, he is very decided that when a god 
 does condescend to amalgamation with the human race, 
 twins are likely to result. So jierhaps Homer knew more 
 than he cared to tell. The followir)g instances will show his 
 
 ' Hastings, Encyc. Reliij. and Ethics, i. 4, sub voce Ahamlimmcnt. 
 ^ See Troelsund, Dafflig I.iv I Nordai, viii. 22, reference kindly given by 
 Dr Feilberg. 
 
 ' ' We thought her dying when she slept. 
 
 And sleeping when she died.' — Hood. 
 * For further suggestions on twin-diversity, see C'liJt, p. 91. 
 
XXXIl] TWINS IN (iKAECO-ItoMAN TKADITION 309 
 
 mode of treiitmetit ; they are taken from a lniri(Jre(i lines in 
 the eleventh book of the Odyssey, and seem to show that 
 when a go(i intervenes, twins are to be expected : 
 
 11. 235 — 257. The case of Tyro : refei? dyXaa itKia 
 11. 260 — 265. Case of Antiope, mother of Zethos and 
 
 Amphion. 
 II. 266 — 270. Ciise of Alkmena; only Herakles is men- 
 tioned, but Iphikles turns up in 1. 290. 
 
 11. 298 — 304. Case of Leda, with Castor and Polydeuces. 
 (Perhaps this case should be ex- 
 cluded as they are both said to be 
 children of Tyndareus.) 
 
 11. 305 — 320. Ca.se of Iphimedeia, Ka\ p €T€K€v Suo 
 ■nalhe, viz. Otus and Ephialtes. 
 
 In all these cases, the intervention of a god results in twins; 
 this is Homer's way of saying that when twins have occurred, 
 it is reasonable to assume that a god hiis intervened. 
 
 Here is one particularly interesting c<ise which forms the 
 
 basis of one of the lost tragedies of Euripides, the Melanippe. 
 
 According to the story, Melanippe was the wife of Hellen ; ThecaseoJ 
 
 but durine the absence of her husband who was in exile, ***'*■ 
 " nippe. 
 
 expiating a murder, she had brought forth twins to the go<i 
 
 Poseidon. Poseidon advised the exjwsure of the children, 
 and they were accordingly given to the herflsmen to make 
 away with. They were, however, defended by one of the 
 bulls of the herd, and suckled by a cow, a theme with which 
 we are familiar. The ox-herds, suspecting bovine parentage, 
 report the matter to the king, as being of the nature of a 
 portent. The king consulLs Hellen, who h;is now returned, 
 jind on his a<lvice directs that the twins shall be burnt alive. 
 So the play opens with Mt'lanipjm's prote.st.s. The story is 
 interesting, be&iuse both the twins are supposes! to belong 
 to Poseidon, and because we have the two stages of treat- 
 ment of twins in view at once. At first sight yon would .say 
 that Poseidon is acting in a very ungcxllike as well as 
 unfatherly manner, in directing the exposure of the children. 
 
310 
 
 TWINS IX GRAECO-ROMAN TRADITION 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Twins and 
 totems. 
 
 Greek 
 bird- 
 totems. 
 
 Fick's 
 theory 
 that the 
 Leleges 
 were 
 
 European 
 as well as 
 Asiatic. 
 
 On the contrary, he stands for mercy : and the normal 
 treatment, combustion, is represented by Hellen. We have 
 the two stages side by side'. 
 
 The next subject that seems to require attention is the 
 totemistic features associated with twin-birth. For instance, 
 we have in the case of Romulus and Remus, as pseudo- 
 parents, the Wolf and the Woodpecker. Of these the 
 Woodpecker has been explained, he is the original parent of 
 the twins, and while he has evolved into Zeus, they have 
 become men. No explanation, as far as I know, has yet 
 been forthcoming for the wolf. Castor and Pollux show 
 a suspicious intrusion of a beaver-cult : and I have made 
 a suggestion that the beaver and the woodpecker might 
 belong in the story together. 
 
 But what shall we say of the swan-parentage of Castor 
 and Pollux ; for their mother Leda was a swan-maiden, and 
 wooed by Zeus as a swan. Is there any clue to the origin 
 of this piece of mythology ? The swan can hardly be a 
 thunder-bird, and still less can a goose, which appears in some 
 ancient monuments as Leda's partner. Or is it possibly the 
 totem or clan animal of the Dorians, or of one of their tribes ? 
 These questions are not easy of solution. I will venture a 
 few remarks in favour of a belief in the existence of totems, 
 and of bird-totems especially, among the ancient Greeks. 
 Here is a case that deserves study and c:\reful consideration. 
 
 It has been conjectured by Fick that the Leleges, 
 of whom Homer speaks, a mysterious and elusive race, 
 were the real founders of Sparta and the patrons of the 
 Tyndaridae'. He argues that it is very difficult to explain 
 by Greek analogies a great number of names which occur in 
 ancient Greece, and that such names should be referred to 
 prehistoric migrations, of Pela.sgians, Leleges, Cretans, etc. 
 The Leleges, in particular, were in close connection with the 
 Hittites of Asia Minor, and especially with the Lycians: 
 they occupied the west side of the Aegean from Epirus to 
 
 ' For the argument of the play and (he openinp verses see Iliibe, aus 
 RhelorniHmuhchriflen, in Kheiu. Sim. i.xm. 1, pp. 1-1.5, 146. 
 ' Fick, Vorijriechische OrUnamen, p. .58. 
 
XXXIl] TWINS IN CRAECO-RO.MAN TRADITION 311 
 
 Cape Malea, He iissinnt-s that they had come over Parnassus, 
 and had swarmed into Euboea and Megaris, occupied the 
 Cyclades and the coast of Asia Minor as far as Lycia. An 
 examination of place names, east and west of the Aegean, 
 suggests a connection between two parallel movements on 
 opposite sides of the sea'. 
 
 Now Mr A. B. Cook has suggested that the mysterious Lclcgcs 
 Leleges are only another name for the Peliusgi, and that the peiasgi. 
 Peliusgi may be interpreted as an ancient form of Pelargi, 
 in which case they are simply storks. We may, if we please, 
 sj\y that the storks were the totem of the clan, or explain it 
 in some other way. 
 
 Now with regard to the supposition that the Pelasgi are The 
 storks, it can be rendered very probable by the observation art-^^rks. 
 that Pelargos is a Greek name for the stork, and that to this 
 day the Anibs of North Africa call the stork by the name of 
 Bellarij, which is only a slight dislocation of Pelargi^. The 
 name Pelargi would therefore seem to have been widely 
 current in the Mediterranean : and iis Pelasgi can be etpiated 
 philologically with Pelargi, we have the meaning of the 
 name with re:isonable certainty. It has left its mark on 
 the Mediterranean. 
 
 Now return to the Leleges. If Mr Cook is right in The 
 identifying the Pehusgi with the Leleges, may we take the ^'Xrke. 
 further step and say that the Leleges are storks also ? 
 
 The answer is in the affirmative : any one who hius 
 travelled in the East and h.is watched the storks and hiani 
 their note (which is almost exactly leklek). will understand 
 why the Asiatic Arabs call them by the name of Laq-laq. 
 For Leleges, then, we write an earlier Creek form Legleges, 
 and translate the word as storks. The dropping of the first 
 7 .sound can be observed to this day in Asia Minor. On a 
 recent journey I notice*! that at Ancyra they call the stork 
 leylek; and the sjimc pronunciation w.us recortled in Phil- 
 adelphia, where the storks build on the ruined city walls, 
 and walk about the bivzaars unmolested, their red beaks and 
 
 ' Fick, I.e. pp. 134 nqc). 
 
 ' Sec D«iy s.v. cigognt, und note the vftrielio< of apelling and Tocaliwtion 
 of the word. 
 
312 TWIN'S IN GRAECO-ROMAN TRADITION [CH. XXXII 
 
 The 
 
 Leleges 
 
 not 
 
 Spartan. 
 
 red legs being very conspicuous. The Modem Greek name 
 for the stork is XeXf/ct, which agrees closely with the 
 foregoing observations'. It follows that the Pclasgi and 
 the Leleges are the same bird-tribe of the same migration 
 from the north. This is an important point gained. But 
 are they the original founders of Sparta ? We are now on 
 less certain ground ; Fick pres.ses the occurrence of certain 
 religious cults, which occur in Leukas, Megara, and Ikaria. 
 He thinks they worshipped either the Sun, or a Sun-bird ; 
 over and above their solar cult, they had a great reverence 
 for twin-deities, and Fick proceeds to identify cult-centres of 
 such deities ; for example, he recognises, as we have done in 
 Cult of the Heavenly Tivins", that Amphissa, the capital of 
 the Western Locrians, was a centre of twin-worship, and, 
 having made that discovery, without positively saying that 
 the twin-centres are the places of the Leleges, he stiggests 
 that the twin-worship of Sparta belongs to the same people, 
 and that the Tyndaridae are patron-saints of the Leleges. 
 On Fick's theory, the original Spartans were worshippers of 
 the Sky-bird (Solar-bird) and his two assessors, the so-called 
 Tyndaridae. To this there are some objections ; first of all, 
 the Tyndarids, if they belong to a bird-clan at all, are of the 
 swan-clan and not of the stork-clan ; and next, it has been 
 abundantly shown that twin-worship does not belong to any 
 special race or tribe, but that it is the common characteristic 
 of practically all the races of mankind. It seems to be more 
 likely that the swan migration is independent of the stork 
 migration. 
 
 I have spent some time in drawing attention to Fick's 
 researches, because they are marked by great learning and 
 insight. Even where they do not reach final conclusions 
 with regard to the early Hellenic migrations, they point the 
 way for them'. 
 
 ' See Thompson, Glossary of Greek llinls, p. 127. 
 
 » p. 139. 
 
 ' Since writing the foregoing chapter, I find that I have been anticipated 
 in my explanation of the Leleges by Gleye, Die ethiiologische Stelluuff der 
 I.ykier, p. 8, ' Die Namen vieler Volker dea Altcrtums auf Vogelnamen 
 zuriickgehen. Ich verweise auf den Namen der Leleger (a.ssyr. lakalaku, 
 Storcb), etc' 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 SOME FURTHER POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN 
 GRAECO-ROMAN BELIEFS AND SAVAGE LIKE 
 
 The attempt which we made to collect and classify the 
 beliefs of African tribes with regard to the worship of the 
 thunder, and the danger or helpfulness of twin children, has 
 at least this advantage, that it brings out parallels of all sorts 
 with similar European beliefs and customs, and helps us to 
 undersUind the evolution of the latter in a way that we could 
 not have done without the African ]>arallels. 
 
 The most striking case was one of the first that we Parallels 
 detected, the equivalence of the Bana-ba-tilo of the Baronga, ^/^^^^ 
 with the Greek Dioscuri and the Palestinian Boanerges, an** 
 There are, however, many minor parallels. For instance, Twin^*"" 
 Mr Dudley Kidd tells us that in certain parts of South «""*• 
 Africa, in war-time, it is the custom to send twins in advance 
 of the main line of the army. ' In war-time, a twin used 
 to be hunted out, and made to go right in front of the 
 attacking army, some paces in front of the others. He 
 was suppo.sed to be fearless and wild'.' One thinks of the 
 Sfwrtan army mivrching with the Dokana or emblems of the 
 twins carried in front of them, ius well as of the j)resencc 
 of the two Spartan kings, who were the civil ancl military' 
 representjitives of Castor and Pollux. The Roman tradition 
 that the consuls must go to war is on the same line. The 
 consuls also represent the twins, ami must do duty for 
 them. 
 
 A more interesting case is the {x-rsistencc of early ideas Twinn ^nd 
 as to what makes valiil swearing and eflfective cursing. The '""°- 
 
 I Duiilrj Kidd, Sitin<if ChildhoMi, pp. 'l'^ iiqq. 
 
314 FURTHER POINTS OF CONTACT BETWEEN [CH. 
 
 oath is a very early feature of human life, and it was probably 
 necessary as well as ancient. I have shown in Cult the care 
 which the twins take over truth, and those who, under suit- 
 able conditions, speak the truth : and I have pointed oufc 
 that it is on account of their relation to the all-seeing sky 
 and the all-dreaded thunder, that an oath which involves 
 an appeal to the twins is effective. To punish the perjurer 
 was indeed a high calling ; to perform one's vows, or be 
 made to perform them, has a high place in the evolution 
 of ethics. 
 
 There are West African savages, to whom lying is as 
 easy — 'as easy as lying',' — who would never perjure them- 
 selves if a thunderstone were in the neighbourhood : the 
 'all-dreaded thunderstone' of Shakespeare involved the dread 
 of being found out by the Thunder himself who inhabited 
 the stone'. Is it a mere accidental coincidence, then, that 
 makes the Roman swear by Jupiter Lapis ? Biinkenberg 
 points out excellently that ' the most solemn oath of the 
 Romans was that sworn by the name of Juppiter Lapis....* 
 The sacred stone was used in Rome when the Fetiales took 
 the oath and made -sacrifice upon the formation of a new 
 alliance with a foreign power. Such an alliance, according 
 to the Roman view, received its highest sanction from the 
 lightning-god himself^ 
 
 From these, and other examples of swearing by the 
 thunder, the antiquity and continuity of the practice can 
 be inferred*. The same note of antiquity is heard in the 
 cursings and in the blessings which men invoke on one 
 another and on themselves. Here we find the twins in 
 evidence at a very early period of human living. It was 
 Symbolic pointed out by de Cardi, in his paper on Ju-ju laws and 
 w'^A.'frica cws^oww on the Niger Delta, that we had in West Africa, not 
 only curses in vocal form, but also symbolic actions: one of 
 
 Liars 
 dread the 
 thunder- 
 stone. 
 
 ' Shakespeare, Ilamlel. 
 
 "^ Monrad, SkiUlrimi (if OuiiimlCyxlen, p. ll.'j, quoted in Biinkenberg, 
 p. 8. 
 
 ^ Vergil, Am. xii. 200, 'audiat haee genitor, qui foedi-ra fiilniine sancit.' 
 ■* See Biinkenberg, Tlnnnler-irtupon, pp. 31, 106, 111. 
 
XXXlll] ORAE(X)-ROMAN BELIEFS AND SA V Ac;E LI FK 31 5 
 
 these actions consists in holding up two fingers to ;i woman, 
 and means, ' may you become the mother of twins,' and in- 
 volves the imprecation of the terrible fate that awaits the 
 woman who brings forth twin children'. 
 
 But it is not only women who can have the twin-curse 
 put over them. We have already reported how Captain 
 Smith records his observations in the Gulf uf Guinea on the 
 same subject. To call a man a twin was the greatest insult. 
 Smith siiw an unhappy slave cursed by the chief of the tribe 
 by two fingers of his extended arm, and explains the terror 
 of the situation. To revile a man as being a twin is near 
 neighbour to cursing him that he may, in his ofTspring, be- 
 come twins; and, from the curse in which twins are assumed 
 hateful, we easily pass over to the stage in which the twins, 
 as demigods, become the court of appeal in the matter of 
 a vengeance desired, or a justification demanded. Nor need 
 
 we be surprised that the simple and expressive symbol of Oaths by 
 
 ■ I J. Ti. • f iU the Twins, 
 
 the two fingers has become permanent. It is one ol the 
 
 forms under which a Roman Catholic considers himself 
 
 under moral obligation to tell the truth ; and not only 
 
 Roman Catholics, but Protestants also make use of the 
 
 symbol. In Holland it is the custom to raise two fingers 
 
 of the right hand in the court of law, and say, ' As truly may 
 
 help me Almighty God.' It is a nuKlified twin-oath. 
 
 It might have been anticipated that the Church would 
 not have been less conservative than the law: in fact, our Klossinga 
 ecclesiastical superiors, when they give the benediction, do •/„!„* 
 it with two fingers raised, which means either (1) May you 
 all have twin children ! or (2) May the twins themselves 
 bless you and take care of you ! We can take our choice 
 between the explanations. All these customs are survivals 
 and developments from the ways of the primitive savage man, 
 approximately ius we fiml him in West Africa. 
 
 Swearing by the twins is certainly very ancient and very 
 widespread. I have written on this at some length in IHoscnri Syrians 
 and in Cult. Here is a striking example which has not, \,^ j.j 
 I think, been citetl before, of oaths by St Thonnus among 'l'ln>niiu« 
 
 > Joiirn. Anthrnp. .SW. 1899, p. 57. 
 
316 ORAECO-ROMAN BELIEFS [CH. XXXIII 
 
 the Syrians of Mesopotamia, which will serve as one more 
 illustration of the place of St Thomas in the succession of 
 the Heavenly Twins. 
 
 Isaac of Antioch tells us in one passage, in which he 
 reproves the Christians for preferring an oath by St Thomas 
 to any other, that ' if it is a question of giving or accepting 
 an oath, we scorn to take it in the Church, but the other 
 refuses to recognise it, saying, " I will not believe you, unless 
 you swear in the chapel of Thomas the Apostle^." ' In the 
 beginning of the fifth century, then, Thomas was the residuaiy 
 legatee of the Heavenly Twins among the Mesopotamian 
 Christians. 
 
 If Thomas was the saint to swear by in Mesopotamia, 
 the great substitute for the twins in the Greek and Latin 
 Churches was St Polyeuctes of Melitene in Armenia. I have 
 or by Poly- explained in Dioscufi^ the reason for the sudden emergence 
 euctes. ^^ Polyeuctes into public honour as a referee in disputed 
 matters, and have shown that he is only Polydeuces slightly 
 disguised. Since then there have been attempts made to 
 show that he is something more than a mere ecclesiastical 
 double of Pollux, and to retain historic semblance for his 
 fleeting shade ; it has, however, come out that the real reason 
 for the connection of Polyeuctes with Melitene is that he 
 belonged to the famous Legio XII Fuhninata, which w;\s 
 quartered there, over which there has been so much dispute 
 in the Church's history. Naturally a thunder-struck legion 
 is under the patronage of the Sons of Thunder, and has the 
 duty and credit of obtaining rain when wanted : and therefore 
 Pollux, the pagan saint of the situation, has to be got rid 
 of in that legion, when the legion itself becomes Christian. 
 Hence his transformation from Polydeuces to Polyeuctes. 
 
 ' For the Syriac text, see Isaac of Antioch, Ilijmns (ed. Bickell), pp. 
 188—191. 
 » p. 55. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 SOME FURTHER RKMAKKS ABnUT TWIN-TOWNS 
 AND TWIN-SANCTI'AHIES 
 
 It hiia been conclusively shown that there was a natural Twin- 
 tendency in some parts of West Africa towards the formation (onned, 
 of twin-towns and twin-sanctuaries. As soon as ever the 
 taboo on twins wjus modified, so as to spare the life of either 
 the mother or the twins, and to substitute for death an 
 expulsion in the form of a banishment to some special place, 
 we have the conditions for the formation of a twin-town, 
 and such towns can actually be seen in process of formation 
 in West Africa at the present day. Any one who will share 
 the taboo of the expelled women and children, as, for example, 
 a runaway slave, will find shelter which no one will dare to 
 invade, and sanctuary rights which no one will dispute. The 
 secret of .sanctuary is Uiboo, and here we have a sufficiently 
 potent taboo to hand. 
 
 It i.s, however, a curimis point in the development ofnotalways 
 which we speak, that it becomes arrested if the taboo should mftncni. 
 be so far rai.sed as to become terminable. 
 
 If the wonian has a right to return after a lapse of a given 
 number of months or yearw, or if the children, after a sutticiint 
 absence and purification, can be claimed by the male parent 
 (suppo.sed not banished), then the building of the twin-village 
 is arrested, except in .so far ils a succession of expclle«l or 
 isolated twin-mothers finds ils way to the same spot. So 
 the mi)<lificatir>n of the tab«)0, if carried far enough, arresUs 
 
318 
 
 REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Not com- 
 mon iu 
 E. Africa 
 
 but com- 
 mon in 
 Europe. 
 
 Twin- 
 towns 
 recognised 
 
 by name, 
 
 by cult- 
 survivftls 
 
 Amphi- 
 geneia. 
 
 the development of the twin-town. I suppose this is the 
 reason why we have not traced such settlements in East 
 Africa ; they could not arise where twins were regarded 
 favourably, and where the taboo was reduced to a mere 
 formal purification by the witch doctor. It will follow with 
 great probability that if in European countries we find 
 abundant traces of twin-towns, we may infer that the period 
 of savagery in the twin-cult was longer amongst our own 
 ancestors than is the case for many Bantu tribes to-day. 
 The custom of permanent banishment of the twin-mother 
 must have been long continued, and must have operated 
 over a wide area. 
 
 How, then, shall we recognise the surviving traces of 
 such twin-towns ? 
 
 The first and simplest way is when a place is called 
 Twin-town, either directly, or by a very slight modification. 
 We need have little hesitation in saying that Didyma was 
 an original twin-town. When in later times its name was 
 changed to Branchidae, and a great sanctuary wiis built to 
 Apollo, the god was known as Apollo Didymaeus, or Apollo 
 of Didyma. As Apollo is himself a twin, and often, as at 
 Delos, has twins preceding him in his cult centre, there is no 
 difficulty in the statement that Apollo of Branchidae dis- 
 places an earlier cult of twins. 
 
 Less obvious is the c;use when the twin-element of the 
 place-name is obscured. We have, however, shown so 
 conclusively that in human names the prefix Amphi means 
 ' twin,' that we can hardly avoid the extension of the inter- 
 pretation to place-names. In this way we at once recognised 
 Amphissa and Amphipolis. Kick's researches confirmed our 
 interpretation as to Amphis.sa. There is, however, another 
 direction of confirmation, viz. the discovery of traces of a 
 twin-cult in the twin-town. 
 
 For example, we have shown that Aniphion is an 
 equivalent form of Amphigenes, and means ' twin.' What 
 shall we say then of Amphigeneia, which was one of 
 Nestor's cities. Strabo says the city was situated in 
 Macistia near the river Hypsoeis, and that in his time 
 
XXXIV] REMARKS ABOUT TWIIf-TOWNS, ETC. 319 
 
 there wiuj a temple of Leto in the place. That is to 
 say, there was a surviving twin-cult, for Leto is a twin- 
 mother. 
 
 Of Amphissa Pnusanias tells us that the place wiis a Amphissa. 
 centre of a cult of the 'AvaACTe?, which may mean either the 
 Dioscuri, or the Kabiri or the Kuretes ; Pausaniiis' says that 
 people were not agreed as to which of these ancient cults 
 was represented in Amphi.ssa. From our point of view they 
 are all originally twin-cults. With regartl to the origin of 
 Delos iis a sanctuarj', I fancy that I have not carried all my Delos. 
 critics with me in affirming it to be an original twin- 
 sanctuary. It must be admitted, however, that the ca.se is 
 a strong one. As we said just now, Leto is a twin-mother: 
 according to the myth, no other island would receive her, 
 which is very much like saying that the island is a twin- 
 island. Apollo and Artemis di.scharge some of the regular 
 functions of twins : he is the musician and answers to 
 Amphion of Thebes, and she is the huntress and answers to 
 Zethos and to Esau. If we could believe that Ap<5llo had an 
 Eastern origin, and cotdd accept Hommel's derivation of him 
 from the Semitic Jubal, the case would practically be proved. 
 There is, however, still something more to be said on this 
 score: for Apollo is not exactly a secondarj' god, like Palaimon 
 of Corinth for Baal Yam (Lord of the Sea). There is, how- 
 ever, another direction of evidence. Apollo and Artemis have 
 displaced a pair of white maidens from the north, named 
 Hyperoche and I..iiodike, whose male counterparts, a pair 
 of great brethren, have a prominent place in the sanctuary 
 of Apollo at Delphi. Where twins displace twins, it is not 
 absurd to say that the island where the cult changes is 
 originally a twin-island. I have not laid stress on the 
 proofs that the Dioscuri were actually worshipped at Delos. 
 because that may be the natural devotion of a sea-faring 
 people, or an importation from some famous twin-centn- 
 outside Delas. For example, a Delian in.scription' sj)caks of 
 the Samothracian (Jreat {J(k1s, the Dioscures, thf Kalurs. 
 
 ' Pausanift.'i, x M, 7. ' Uittenbcrgor, SyUoijt 430. 
 
320 REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. [CH. 
 
 The inscription is valuable for the equation of the Dioscuri 
 with the Kabiri, and for giving us the translation of Kabiri, 
 and for identifying them with the Samothracian cult, but it 
 proves nothing for Delos, except the migration of a ritual 
 from its normal centre. 
 Delphi? Does a similar reasoning apply to Delphi? I do not 
 
 know yet whether Delphi is the same as Adelphi : so that 
 I cannot say more than that Delphi is a shrine of the twin 
 Apollo, has two sets of twin heroes in its enclosure, and is 
 geographically dominated by twin peaks. Whether any of 
 these facts explains Delphi, I am not at present able to 
 decide. 
 
 Before leaving the Apollo and Artemis shrines, it is 
 worth noting that the custom of liberating slaves in the 
 temple of Artemis is a natural sequence to the fact that 
 slaves who had sought sanctuary escaped from their masters 
 in the original twin-towns. 
 
 We must not assume that every centre of Kabiric or 
 Dioscuric worship is an original twin-town ; but where we 
 find that such a cult centre is also a recognised sanctuary, 
 ■with a powerful overshadowing taboo, it is reasonable to 
 believe that we are on the track of the twin-town, and 
 especially in the case of island sanctuaries we may believe 
 that we have penetrated to the origin of the cult ; for we 
 learnt from our West African observations that an island 
 in a river is one of the favourite places of exportation of 
 twin-brothers, and such islands become undoubted sanc- 
 tuaries. 
 Samo- Perhaps this covers the case of Saniothrace, one of the 
 
 tw^^'' * great sanctuaries of antiquity, and one of the great sane- 
 island? tuaries of Dioscuric-Kabiric worship. See what I have said 
 on this in ('nit, c. xvii. 
 
 Note further that Jason, whom we have shown ro^vson to 
 believe to be an original Kabir, h;is connecting links both 
 with Lemnos and with Hamothrace. One form of the variant 
 tradition tells us that Jasion with his twin brother Dardanos 
 came to Saniothrace, and that here Jasion, who had become 
 enamoured of Demcter, w;xs struck b}' lightning for some 
 
XXXI V] REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. 321 
 
 insult done to the goddess, whereupon Danianos, in grief, 
 migrated to Troas'. 
 
 The intrusion of Dardanos is peculiar; we can hardly DurJanos 
 detach J.ision from Jason. The thunderbolt is also deserving '\^,^,„ 
 of study : it is an explanation of something in an earlier 
 cult. Aesculapius is also fulminate and there are parallel 
 cases. 
 
 We have assumed above that Dardanos antl Jasion were 
 twin-brethren, belonging to the Samothracian mysteries. 
 Servius, the commentator on Vergil, says definitely that 
 Dardanos was sprung from Jove, and Jasios from Corythus'. 
 Here, then, Dardanos is the Heavenly Twin, Jasios the 
 earthly one. Corythus appears to be the crested wren, which 
 is another form of thunder-bird. 
 
 Islands at the mouth of rivers will, as we have said, Ulaiuls 
 frequently betray signs of Dioscurism, and will suggest centres' 
 primitive sanctuaiy ; only we must be on our guard against 
 confounding the Dioscureion to which sailors pray on leaving 
 port, and its associated lighthouse and look-out station, with 
 an original twin-settlement. We know that Rome is an 
 original twin-sanctuarj" ; the traditions as to its foundation 
 betray the fact; several layers of twin-tratlition lie one over 
 the other, the destruction of the twins and iheir mother, the 
 exile of the twins, the twins as creators of sanctuary; all 
 of these can be easily made out. Curiously, the sanctuary is 
 not where we should have expected it, on the island between 
 the bridges, but on the Capitoline Hill. No doubt, however, 
 exists that Rome is a twin-town. The identifiuition is multi- 
 form and manifold. 
 
 Down the river at Ostia is another island ; it is sjvcred to Twin-cult 
 the Dioscuri, and h:»s an annual festival in their honour. In "' ""*■ 
 this neighbourhood twin-tradition accumulated. 
 
 W'ht-n .Minucius and his friends discuss Christianity at 
 
 ' Apollod. Ilibl. III. 12. 1 : 'HK^trpat H rijt 'ArXarrot «ai ^At 'latiur xai 
 ^piarvi iyitnTQ. 'laalur fiir our ipaaVih A4;ii)r^t <al 0/\ui> •arairx''"" 
 rtjr $(6¥ crpafroC'rat, Adp^ai'Of Sf <vt ry Otwifi^t roi- d^rX^ot! XiTot''M«*«t, Xa/AO- 
 ffl>^Hijr droXlvur f(l Ti)v ifriw^pa ^vri^r ^X^rr. 
 
 ' ScrviUH in Veri;. -len. in. 167 : ' UanUnun de Jove, Ja-tiua dc Corytbo 
 procrentus est.' 
 
 H. R. -Jl 
 
322 
 
 REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Ostia, Cecilius points out', as an evidence for the ancient 
 religion, that they are on the very spot where the Dioscuri 
 from their panting horses announced the victory over King 
 Perses. It would, however, be precipitate to identify Ostia 
 or its island as a twiu-sanctuary because it is a centre of 
 twin-worship; for every great sea-port has its shrine of the 
 Heavenly Twins, round which legends readily gather. 
 
 We shall be on safer ground inland, where the disturbing 
 influence of sailors' religion is not felt. Among Italian names, 
 we may be fairly sure that the district of Picenum is an 
 original twin-sanctuary, for its name contains the Wood- 
 pecker (Picus), and its legendary history says that the 
 founders of the state were guided in their migrations by a 
 Woodpecker, and that this was why they worshipped a Wood- 
 pecker on a pillar. We easily recognise in this account the 
 familiar features of twin-cult, the tree, the thunder-bird, the 
 sanctuary. 
 
 The case of Picenum suggests to us that when we find a 
 town named after the Woodpecker (or other thunder-bird) 
 we have at least a presumption that the town is a twin-town. 
 For instance, Pausanias tells us' that Keleos, the old king of 
 Eleusis, lived at Keleai. Now Keleos (/ceXeo?) is the green 
 woodpecker : we must, therefore, speak of him as King 
 Woodpecker, just as Ovid speaks of King Picus. Keleai is, 
 then, the exact parallel to Picenum'. It is a Woodpecker- 
 town, because Keleos is the green Woodpecker, and it is a 
 twin-town because tradition actually makes Keleos the father 
 of Triptoleinos. The case is so important that we will devote 
 a special chapter to it. 
 
 Praeneste is, perhaps, a similar ca.se ; for here, too, the 
 original worship was that of Divi Fratres, apparently without 
 any names in the first instance, and accompanied, like Castor 
 and Pollux, by their sister*. 
 
 1 I.e. c. 7. • Pausanias, ii. 14. 2. 
 
 ' Miss Harrison {Tlirmis, p. 101) siiKgests that Keleos is ii rain-bird, as 
 commonly in Northern legends: he is equally a thunder-bird. 
 
 ■* The reference is to Servius ad Aeneid. vii, 67H: ' Praeneste. ..ibi erant 
 pontiHces et dii indigetcs sicut etiani Uomae: erant autem illic duo fratres 
 qui divi appellahanlur : lioruni wrcr duni ad focuni sedebat, etc' 
 
 1 
 
XXXIV] REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. 323 
 
 Tibur, also, knew the twins, jis we see from Vergil, Tibur. 
 Aen. VII. 670, and so did Tusculiiin, where Cicero' tells us Tuscu- 
 that a thunderbolt once fell in their temple ; but this does '"'"• 
 not necessarily identify either Tibur or Tusculuni ;is an 
 original twin-town. 
 
 We may expect t« find many more of such centres of 
 early twin-worship, and some of them will certainly be 
 sanctuaries. 
 
 Occasionally we shall find a mere rock in the sea with 
 Dioscuric appellation, where it is altuost certain that no real 
 Dioscuric worship can have been practised, nor can a Dios- 
 cureion have existed ; in such cases, the rock has probably 
 been used for the exposure of twin-children. 
 
 Thus Pliny tells of a small island named Dioscoros'. The island 
 The name is suspicious : an island called Heavenly Twin """'°'''**- 
 ought, naturally, to be what we call a twin-island. Such 
 islands, if they are twin-islands, represent an earlier stratum 
 of practice than that which underlies the formation of 
 sanctuaries. 
 
 Pausanias' tells a tale of a rock named Pephnos, where The rock 
 the Dioscuri were said to have been born : " From Thalainae *'•'?*'"'"■ 
 it is a distance of twenty furlongs to a place on the coast 
 called Pephnos. Off it lies an island also called Pephnos, no 
 bigger than a large rock, and the people of Thalamac say 
 that the Dioscuri were bom upon it. I know that Alkman 
 
 also says so in a song In the islet are bronze images of 
 
 the Dioscuri, a foot high : they stand under the open sky ; 
 but the sea that breaks over the rock in winter will nut wash 
 them away." The persistent belief that the Twins are bom 
 on an island will be remarked. 
 
 How far such twin-centres can be traced in the West of 
 Europe it is difficult to say. Twin-cult can be made out all 
 over France, by meivns of its survival in the saint-worship of 
 the Roman Catholic Church; but towns actually named from 
 twins are not easy to identify. There is, however, a town 
 Jumeaux, in the Puy do Dome, not far from Clermont 
 
 ' De Pifinalionr, i. 43. 9rt. 
 
 • Pliny. //. .V. in. 96. • Tr. Kmzer, iv. 26. J. 
 
 21—1' 
 
324 REMARKS ABOUT TWIN-TOWNS, ETC. [CH. 
 
 Ferrand, and a similarly named Jumclle in Belgium, and no 
 doubt others will be located. 
 Tomi as a There is one case in the geography of the East which 
 town? raises some interesting questions. Not far from the mouth 
 of the Danube we have Tomi: the visitor to Costanza will be 
 reminded by a statue in the middle of the town that he is 
 near the place of exile of Ovid the poet. It is an ancient 
 settlement of the Milesians', if not of the Phoenicians. It 
 >vas also an ancient centre of twin-worship^ and the twins 
 appear on the local coins. One of the forms of the Argonaut 
 story brings Jason and his company on their return journey 
 to Tomi, and actually takes them up the Danube. 
 
 The name is peculiar, in Greek it appears as Tomi, or 
 Tomis, or Tomae. It is certainly not a Greek name ; is it 
 Scythian or Phoenician ? One would readily suggest that it 
 was the Semitic for ' twins ' (Thomim), if it were not for the 
 fact that the first vowel, in Greek and in Latin, is certainly 
 short: and this seems to exclude the Phoenician solution. 
 From the fact that the coins of Tomi sometimes bear the 
 figure of an Amazon, I should suspect Scythian influence. 
 We have referred above to the occurrence of the Twins on 
 the local currency : on these coins they are commonly 
 accompanied by the Mother of the Gods^. In an inscrip- 
 tion from Tomi, a sacrifice is ordered to be performed 
 every year in honour of the Mother of the Gods and the 
 Dioscuri*. 
 
 The Black Sea is well supplied with twin-centres, for 
 the most part connected with Jason or later navigators. 
 Wherever sailors go, the twins must accompany. 
 
 We were speaking a little while back of the identification 
 of Woodpecker-towns, such as Keleai or Picenum. 
 
 It is interesting to note that the same occurrence of 
 
 ' Ovid, Trist. in. vui. 4. 
 ^ Ovid, Trist. i. x. 45: 
 
 Vos quoque, Tyndaridae, quos haeo colit insula, fralres, 
 Mite precor duplici numen adesse viae. 
 Notice again the island as the Dioscuric centre. 
 
 3 See BvKchreibimii d. licrl. Mm. MUtizen, i. 89', 9i".'^, 94". 
 * Hce Dittenberger, Sijlloye, 529. 
 
XXXIV] KKMARKS ABOIT TWIN-TOWN.S, ETC. 325 
 
 personal or place-names derived from the Woodpecker can \Voo<l 
 be detected in the British Isles. For example, the name of ^^^" ,„ 
 Peake, and its cognate Picton, are Woodpecker names. In Great 
 
 , _ , ,. •■ J • 1 c_ BriUiin. 
 
 the same way the Peckover family are derived from an 
 ancestor named after the Green Woixlpecker, the French 
 Picvert = the Italian Pico verde'. 
 
 Not far from Bridlington, in Yorkshire, there is a village 
 named Speeton, on the edge of the Speeton s<vnds, which are 
 named after it. That this stands for an original Specht- 
 town (Specht = Woodpecker in German) appears in several 
 way.s. First of all, there is in Barbados a place named 
 Speightstown, which is either a direct transference and 
 migration of an English original, or else it is a town named 
 after a man called Speight, who is in that case a member of 
 the Woodpecker clan. Second, it happens that Speeton is a 
 very ancient place; it occurs in Speed's map of the beginning 
 of the seventeenth century as Speeton chapel, but in the 
 Domesday Book it is once written S{)etton and once Speeton, 
 which is very nearly the reipiired fomi, and once Spreton*. 
 The name Speght is well known in English history ; for 
 instance there is Thomas Speght, one of the early editors of 
 Chaucer : he is said to have been of a Yorkshire family. At 
 the present moment there are four maiden ladies in Brid- 
 lington named Speight. Curiously, I do not think there is a 
 single person in all Birmingham who bears the name. 
 
 ' The dcsJKners of the Peckover coatof-arms supplied, humorously, 
 a pair of Woodpeckers for the support of the shield; apparently without 
 knowing the meaning of the name. 
 < Domesday Book, p. 19a: 
 
 BrctlintoD = BridlinKtoo. 
 
 Frestintorp. 
 
 Bouinton. 
 
 Speeton. 
 Again, pp. 86b, 87a: Marton. 
 
 Bretlinlon = Bridlingtou. 
 
 Bouintorp. 
 
 ■Spcllon. 
 Afia'". p. 4a: Bouintonc. 
 
 Urcndale. 
 
 Sprctone. 
 See J. Horstall Turner, Vorkihirt I'Uue A'arMM, pp. 50, IM. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 THE CASE OF KING KELEOS 
 
 Keleos, 
 king of 
 Eleusis, 
 
 was the 
 Green 
 Wood- 
 pecker. 
 
 His son 
 was Tri- 
 ptolernos 
 
 Keleai a 
 twin- 
 town. 
 
 We alluded in the previous chapter to the possibility 
 of identifying twin-towns by means of the Woodpecker, after 
 whom they were sometimes named, and after discussing the 
 case of Picenum, in which etymology and tradition combined 
 to lead us to a centre of worship of King Picus, we pointed 
 out that there was a Greek parallel in the case of King 
 Keleos of Eleusis, who ruled over a city named Keleai, for 
 Keleos is the Greek name for the green woodpecker. Keleai 
 is therefore a woodpecker-town. 
 
 It was also a twin-town, for tradition says that when 
 Demeter came to Eleusis, and had been hospitably received 
 by King Keleos, she confided to Keleos and his family the 
 sacred mysteries of Eleusis, and took Triptolemos under her 
 special protection. This is intelligible enough, since Tri- 
 ptolemos is the Heavenly Ploughman, and Demeter the Corn 
 Mother. One tradition says that Demeter attempted to 
 make him immortal, another that Keleos, for some un- 
 explained reason, wished to kill him. Another tradition 
 tells of Jasion, who must be one of the Jason-Triptolemos 
 pair, and how he became the darling of Demeter, and 
 was thunderstruck as a punishment for his too great 
 familiarity. 
 
 It seems quite clear that the co-ordinating factor in these 
 traditions is to be sought in the twin-cult, in which case, 
 when we have identified the Woodpecker, the Twins and 
 the Thunder, we can hardly refuse to call Keleai a twin- 
 
C'H. XXXV] TDK CASE OF KING KELEOS 327 
 
 town. We thus establish the formation of a twin-town in 
 ancient Attica. 
 
 Now let us go a step further with the traditions 
 concerning King Keleos. We are now going to show that 
 the parallel between King Keleos and King Picus goes 
 further than the names. We have already drawn attention 
 to the story which Ovid tells of the transformation of King 
 Picus into a woodpecker, and have explained the story jis an 
 artificial converse of the turning of the woodpecker into 
 King Picus when the Thunder Bird became Thunder Man. 
 We will now show that there was a similar transformation 
 in the case of King Keleos, and point out some important 
 results which follow from the interpretation of the parallel 
 legend. Antoninus Libenilis has preserved for us (from Keleos 
 Boios) the Cretan tradition of a visit paid by a certain ^•l"^^ ° 
 Keleos and his companions to the holy birth-cave of Zeus, 
 with the irreverent intention of stealing the honey of the 
 sacred bees, who had nourished the infant gwl. The 
 Thunder-god would have promptly struck the intruder dead, 
 but Themis and the Moirai intervened, and pointed out to 
 Zeus that the cave was a sanctuary, where no bloixl might totliecavo 
 be shed. So Zeus simply made Keleos into a Green Wood- ° *'"^' 
 pecker, just as Circe had done to Picus. His companions 
 had a similar fate. 
 
 The meaning of the tradition is written clearly across its Meaning 
 face: — Keleos is the Old Thunder, who has been displaced " ^^^*' 
 by the New : the ancient sanctuary, the Hollow Oak, hiw 
 been replaced by a new sanctuary, the Hollow Rock, better 
 suited to the now anthropomorphic Th\indi'r; Keleos is 
 informed that he is no longer the genius of the sanctuary: 
 Zeus tells him plainly that ' this house will not hold thee 
 and me,' and bids him begone. So much is clear: but with 
 the explanation there come fresh ipiestions reijuiring a 
 further solution. We have to fin<l out the mejining of the 
 sacred bees, why they nurtured Zeus, and why Keleos wished Bees nur- 
 to steal their honey. The first point to be notetl is that, if "'" '*"'' 
 the bees are there in the new sjinctuary, they must have 
 come from thi- old sanctuary. There is no difficulty in 
 
328 THE CASE OF KING KELEOS [CH. 
 
 this, for although bees may naturally find their nests in 
 a hollow oak, they are equally at home in the crevices of a 
 rock-cave'. 
 Bees and The bees, then, pass over with the Thunder to the new 
 
 Oak. Sanctuary. We did not know before that they were a part 
 
 of the apparatus of the twin-cult and in the service of the 
 Thunder, but it seems clear that such must be the ca.se. 
 We are studying a time which is earlier than bee-keeping 
 in the modern sense : the hollow that makes the hive is 
 natural, not artificial, just as it is still in many savage 
 countries, where the natives get the honey by climbing for 
 it, and in no other way. 
 
 Why then did the infant Zeus, and the intruding Keleos, 
 both want the honey ? The answer must be, since they are 
 The both of them the Thunder, that there is a connection 
 
 bi'rd and between Thunder and Bees ; this connection is stated by 
 the Bees, the tradition in the form that the Thunder-bird likes honey 
 and so does the Thunder-man who displaces him. So we 
 must go further afield, and find out whether there is such a 
 connection between the Bird and the Bee, as seems necessary 
 for the explanation of the new Cretan legend. We pointed 
 out just now that such a legend antedates bee-keeping, in 
 the modern sense of a bee-hive ; the term skip", by which 
 the country people denote a hive, betrays by its etymology 
 that the first hive is a hollowed tree, just in the same way 
 as the words ship and skiff betray the original dug-out 
 canoe. Only there is this difference ; if one wants a canoe, 
 Thefirst the tree must come down ; if one tvants a bee-hive it can 
 stay up : and the evidence of customs of uncivilized or half- 
 civilized people is conclusive that it stayed erect for a much 
 longer period than would have been suspected. In the Ural 
 Mountains and the Eastern provinces of Russia, the peasants 
 
 ' Mr A. B. Cook in an article on 'The Bee in Oreek Mythology' {,Jimriial 
 oj Hellenic Society, 1H95, p. IH) quotes from the Scholiast on Nicander the 
 remark that 'before bees had been domesticated, they used to construct their 
 combs in the hollnws of the oak-tree and they do so still on occasion.' 
 
 ■^ Wc get almost the exact expression in Theocritus, Idyll, v. SS: Sroo-o; 
 S' iKTu ixiv ya.v\u% rif Wavi -^aXa/tros, 'Oxru Si SKaiplSa^ /iAiroi 7r\(o KTipC 
 ixoiaai. 
 
 bee-hive. 
 
XXXV] TIIK ('ASK OK KINC KKI.KOS 329 
 
 artificially hollow the trees at a considerable height above 
 the ground, and use the hollows thus made for the keeping 
 of bees. They find, however, that they are obliged to protect 
 their artificial bees' nests from the Woodpecker, who is as 
 much interested in bee-keeping as themselves! If we can ^^'j^^J^^ 
 find out the reason for this, we shall solve the mystery of^^siroy 
 Keleos and the Sacred Bees in Crete. First let us collect '^•«''- 
 the facts: — a reference to Latham's General History of 
 Birds* will tell us something about the Wotxlpecker and his 
 ways. 
 
 ' The Great Black Woodpecker is so very destructive to 
 bees that the Bixschurians in the vicinity of the river Ufa, as 
 well as the inhabitants of other parts, who form holes in the 
 trees, twenty-five or thirty feet from the ground, where the 
 bees may deposit their store. t;\ke every precjiution to hinder 
 the access of the bin!, and in particular to guard the hive 
 with sharp thorns; notwithstanding which the Woodpecker 
 finds means to prove a most formidable foe, and is most 
 numerous where the bees are in the greatest numbers." 
 
 To this account there is appended the following valuable 
 note: 
 
 ' At DschiggerUu, on the Ural Mountains, there is a 
 bee-hive almost on every one of the tallest pine-trees, and 
 in these parts the Black Woodpecker abounds excec<lingly, 
 being attracted no doubt by the inhabitants of the hives.' 
 
 Now in what does the attraction consist ? We see that 
 the Woo<ipecker abounds where bees are plentiful, but why ? 
 The Greek legend suggests that the Wf)odp«'cker wants their 
 honey; the ornithologist, on the other hand, suggests that it 
 is the bees themselves. A little observation of the interior 
 of the WofMijH-cker shoidd settle that (piestion, and prove 
 that both suggestions are wrong. The Woodjiccker is not a TIiy ••«t^ 
 bee-eater (like the Merojjs) nor is it a honey-eater. What 
 the Woodpt>cker is after is the larvae of the bees. We can 
 see this by a reference to Gould. Hird.i of Europe, vol. Ml. 
 where the fcMxl of the Great Black W<Mxl|)eeker is describ.-d 
 
 ' Vol. III. p. 3;<9:- qiioteil hIko in OouIiI'h Birdi n( iirtat Pritain, ».v. 
 Oreal Black Wooapeckcr. 
 
330 THE CASE OF KINC4 KELEOS [CH. 
 
 as consisting of ' the larvae of wasps, bees and other insects : 
 in addition, however, it devours fruits, berries and nuts with 
 avidity.' 
 
 ' In the same way the food of the Green Woodpecker 
 [our friend Keleos] consists of insects, ants, snails, worms, 
 etc., nor will it refuse fruits, walnuts and berries.' 
 
 The Great Spotted Woodpecker feeds on ' Larvae and 
 coleopterous insects in the bark of trees.' The same con- 
 clusion is arrived at, with great scientific detail, by the 
 American Commission for enquiring into the food of the 
 Woodpecker'. So it seems clear that it is the larvae of 
 not the the bees and not their honey that the woodpecker is 
 trying to get at. Apparently the Greeks did not observe 
 the case closely enough to see this. The Woodpecker, then, 
 and the Bees, find their home in the same hollow tree, and 
 their connection with the tree, and with the Thunder, who 
 animates the tree, is now made out. 
 
 In solving the Cretan riddle, we have dissipated incident- 
 ally a perplexity which occurred in the legends of the book 
 of Judges in the Old Testament. It was natural to suggest 
 tliat in the story of Baraq there might lurk a reference to 
 the Lightning after whom he Was named ; and when it is 
 noted that he is connected with a prophetess named 
 Deborah Deborah (the Bee), who judges Israel under a sacred tree, 
 '^ ^' the question arises whether the tree may not have been a 
 Lightning Tree. In that case, what was Deborah doing 
 there? The difficulty is removed by the previous investiga- 
 tion, which shows that the proper place for the Bee is the 
 Sacred Tree. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter by returning to our own 
 
 country and examining a little further into the names of 
 
 Wood- places and persons which show descent from, or connection 
 
 place^-'^and with, the Woodpecker. It is important to do this if we are 
 
 person- to find out twin-towns covered by Woodpecker names, like 
 
 Picenum and Keleai. We must first find out the popular 
 
 names by which the Woodpecker is known in various parts 
 
 ' Beal, Foud of the ll'oodpeckera of U.S.A. 19U (U.S. Depart, of Asri- 
 culture, Biol. Survey, Bull. 37). 
 
XXX V] THE CASE OF K.INU KELEOS 331 
 
 of the country ; we have already alluded to Speeton SpciKht. 
 (= Speight-town) and to Picton. If we turn to Swainson's Pick. 
 Folk-lore and Provincial Names of British Birds we shall 
 find a number of curious popular names'. 
 
 For example, the Green Wo<Klpecker is called Sprite in 
 Suffolk, and it is called Wofnlspite in Norfolk. Spite is, 
 evidently, the same as Specht, and Sprite is a corruption 
 of it : but the variant is worth noting ; for it explains why 
 Speeton is called Spreton in one passage in the Domesday 
 Book. 
 
 The bird is also culled Woodspack, buth in Norfolk and Spack, 
 Suffolk ; and here the variation in the spelling enables us to 
 identify Spaxton in Somerset (near Bridgewater) as a Wood- 
 pecker-town. It is the exact equivalent of Speightstown 
 in Barbados, though this latter is not really a Woodpecker- 
 town, but simply a settlement named after an early colonist 
 named Speight'. 
 
 In Oxfordshire the Woo<lpecker is called Eccle, which Eccle. 
 Swainson connects with the name Hecco given to the bird in 
 Drayton's poem on the Owl : 
 
 • The Crow is dia;'"K »' h'" breast amain 
 And sharp ncb'd Hi-cco stabbing at his brain.' 
 
 It seems to mean Digger, and may be connected with the 
 German Hack and Hackel. English names formed from it, H,u-k, 
 betraying Woodpecki-r ancestry, are t^cclcs', Eccleston, Hack Hatch, 
 and Hatch. 
 
 In Lincoln the bird is actually calli-d the W(.o<i-hatch. 
 In Essex the name for the bird is Whetile, which we may Whuall. 
 connect with whittle, and, its Swains(m .stiggists, with the 
 Saxon thimUm, to cut. This form of tht; bird's name under- 
 lies the proper names Whilwill, Whitall, etc. 
 
 ' I.e. pp. 99, 100. 
 
 ' This is certain, for the K'^ography of Ilarbadoa shows also a SpcJKhts 
 Baj. and in a list of the inhabitants of Harbado.H, who in the year 1638 
 posaeised more than ten acres of land, I find the name of William SpciRbt. 
 
 ' Mr Horsfall Turner, in his Yi>rk3hire I'lace Snnut, shows that these 
 lormg occur in York.'thire, and that Ihey have nothinK to do with Ecclesia, 
 p. 258, -Ecalt, Ekil, Eccle.H, Ecles. EkIcs. .AikiU. EnKle", Ayles. Eglus. 
 It cannot be traced to Ecclesia, as the places never had or bclooRod to a 
 church, with one exception.' 
 
332 
 
 THE CASE OF KING KELEOS [CH. XXXV 
 
 Wood- 
 pecker- 
 towns 
 twin- 
 towns ? 
 
 It was also known in ancient times as the Wood-awl, 
 from its boring propensities, which exphxins the name 
 Woodall ; Swainson connects this with the Woodweele in 
 the ballad of Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. 
 
 'The Woodweele sang and wold not cease, 
 Sitting upon the sprays 
 Soe lowde he wakened Robin Hood, 
 In the greenwood where he lay.' 
 
 In Yorkshire and elsewhere he is known as the Yaffle 
 and the Pickatree, names to which I have not found any 
 parallels in persons or places. In the Anglo-Saxon litera- 
 ture the name of one of the most famous heroes is borrowed 
 from the Woodpecker ; he is called Beowulf, or the Bee- 
 Wolf. We have already explained how common was the 
 belief among the early European peoples that the Wood- 
 pecker used to catch and eat the bees. 
 
 It seems to result from the foregoing enquiries that the 
 Woodpecker was revered quite as nmch in Great Britain in 
 early times as in Italy or in Greece. It was, no doubt, more 
 abundant than at present, and attracted more attention. If 
 we may take Woodpecker-towns to be, for the most part, 
 twin-towns, it would seem that twin- towns, of the .sanctuary 
 type, occurred also in Great Britain. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 JASON AND THE SYMPLKG APES 
 
 It was p)intcd out in a previous chapter that the passage The 
 of the Syinplegades or Clashing Rocks, at the entrance to ^^"^f*' 
 the Eiixine, by Jiuson and his companions, was not an incident found 
 that could be limiUnl to the supposed first (Jreek voyage of timuintbe 
 discovery. The Clashing Rocks occurred elsewhere, which Euxine. 
 showed that they had really nothing to do with the Euxine, 
 nor anything to do with Jason, imagined to be a definite 
 historical character. The Clashing Rocks, sis we have said, 
 occur elsewhere: we found them, for example, in South 
 America, which does not exactly lie on the Euxine. In a 
 modified fonn, they appear as Clashing Doors, in which the 
 passer through may be caught and perhaps destroyed, or 
 split trees which come together again and imprison the un- 
 wary. The theme is clearly the same : there is an attempt 
 on the part of some one or more persons to force a passage 
 into somewhere or after somebody, an<l a little study of the 
 various stories of heroes who, usually in pairs, make attempt 
 to pass the Clashers, will show that it is the Sky-boys or 
 Thunder-boys who are gone in search of the Sun, lost for a 
 time to mortal view in the Western Sea, or which is the 
 same thing, swallowed for a time by the Dragon and the 
 Darkness. Into this underworld the heroes will penetrate 
 in oixler to liberate the captive Sun. This theme is one 
 that is well known to us. Sometimes it is varied, and the Tlu- Sol»r 
 theme is the wooing of the Daughter of the Sun. The J'J^^^^^ 
 change could be explained, but it is not necessary at this »t"ni. 
 ij..int ; what is neces.sary is to register the facUs. and then in 
 
334 
 
 JASON AND TUE SYMPLEGADES 
 
 [CH, 
 
 to rescue 
 the Sun, 
 
 or to 
 woo his 
 daughter. 
 
 the light of the facts, to simplify the involved problems. 
 For example, without going into North or South America, we 
 know from the folk-songs of Lithuania, that our own ancestors 
 believed in Sons of God (dewa deli) who rode upon a chariot 
 in order to woo the daughter of the Sun. 
 
 The matter stands thus in Mannhardt's ti-anslation : 
 
 ' Warum stehen die grauen Ros.se 
 An der Hausthiir der Sonne ? 
 Es siud des Gottes Sohnes graue Rosse 
 Der freit um die Tochter der Sonne'-,' 
 
 where the only modern trait that needs removal is the 
 description of the Son of God in the singular, where it 
 evidently stood originally as dewa deli, in the plural. The 
 song goes on to identify the owners of the gray horses, or 
 rather, the gray horses themselves, with the Morning and 
 Evening Stars; so that we need have no hesitation in believing 
 that we are dealing with one of the simplest features of 
 a Solar Cult, the disappearance of the Sun or the Solar 
 Splendour and its ultimate recovery and reappearance. 
 
 In the same way it is said that the A9vins delivered 
 Surya the daughter of the Sun, and the Tyndarids delivered 
 Helen ; and, as we shall show, the Theban Twins, Zethos 
 and Amphion, rescue their mother Antiope. Nor must we 
 forget the story of the Signs of the Zodiac, which is told by 
 Jerome of Prague, and how they liberated the Sun, who had 
 been imprisoned in a dark tower, using for this purpose 
 a huge hammer with which they broke into the tower and 
 battered it down^ Here the signs of the Zodiac evidently 
 stand for the Heavenly Twins. These and similar cases all 
 arise out of the same theme, that the Sun (or the daughter 
 of the Sun) has been carried off, or swallowed or imprisoned, 
 . and must be recovered. The Twins, who are the children of 
 the Sky, undertake the search and the recovery. Naturally 
 one will go East and the other West; naturally, too, they 
 become identified with the Morning Star and the Evening 
 Star. When this is made clear, we do not need to explain 
 
 ' Maniihardt, Xeituchrift fiir Ethnologie, vol. vii. 1875, vide supra, p. 299. 
 
 - See Cult of the Hmvenly Twins, p. 8.5. 
 
XXXVl] JA.Sl^N AND THE SYMl'LEUADE-S 335 
 
 the Syruplegades as real rocks, nor interpret the passage of Symple 
 them rationalistically. It has been suggested, for exan)j)le, J!*^| *q^^j, 
 that the danger of the rocks at the entrance of tlie Eu.xine 
 led to the sending on in advance of a ship's boat, named the 
 Dove, to test the openness of the passage : and it resulted that 
 where the Dove, the ship's boat went, the Argo could follow. 
 This is mere dreary rationalism, trying to get rid of a miracle. 
 The rocks are not real rocks : the passage is not into the 
 Eu.xine but into another world. The Twins run the risk of 
 being swallowed like their sire. The real Symplegades are 
 the Clashing Doors of the mouth of the great Dragon of the 
 Dark. Our heroes run a risk indeed in venturing into the 
 interior of that dragon and making him disgorge. This is 
 expressed by the Argo losing the end of its rudder, the dove 
 which has been sent in advance its Uiil feathers; and J:ison, 
 perhaps, his sandal. We may treat the.se incidents iis poetical 
 embellishments but we must not explain them away rational- 
 istically in the hope of retaining a real voyage by ordinary 
 people in the story. The value of the incident of the Sym- 
 plegades is that it enables us to see that we are following 
 the working of the human imagination engaged in the 
 explanation of a simple natural phenomenon, the recurrence 
 of Day and Night. As this is an important result, we must 
 not say with Medea's nurse in Euripides, that we wish J.ison 
 had never passed the Symplegades : 
 
 eX9' ai<f>(\' '\pyov<! firj hiaTnaadai aKa(f>ov 
 KoXvtiJi' e? a2av Kvai'(a<: '^vfMTrXr}yaoa<. 
 
 (Where the pa-ssage of the Argo, following the trial pvssjige 
 by the dove, is aptly compared to the flight of that bin!.) 
 On the contrary, we are very glad that the .Symplegades are 
 imagined to be there (though a nure incident in the story) 
 and that they help us to correlate the legend of the Argonauts 
 with the Solar folk-lore of America. It is curious that, 
 although as we have said, the Symplegades do not seem, on 
 first study, to be a necessary nor a cardinal part of the legend, 
 they arc in some form or another of universal ciitfusion 
 wherever .solar myths c.in be traced. 
 
336 JASON AND THE SYMPLEGADES [CH. 
 
 Before leaving this point, which Ehrenreich has excellently 
 
 emphasized and summarized', it is only fair to state that he 
 
 has also given an accurate description of many of the leading 
 
 Eliieii features of the Twin-cult, thotigh apparently without any 
 
 twin-"" suspicion of the primal Fear from which Twin-cult proceeds. 
 
 qiiancls, For example, he explains that the Twin Brethren quarrel 
 
 amongst themselves : 
 
 ' Bruderzwist. Ein ziemlich weitverbreiteter Zug der 
 Zwillingsmythen ist der Streit, der zwischen beidcr Briidern 
 ausbricht, nachdem sie ihre Mission erfiillt und die Welt 
 unter sich geteilt haben. Es endet damit, dass ciner den 
 anderen erschlagt, oder beide sich trennen, wobei der eine 
 nach Osten, der andere nach VVesten zieht, um im Reiche 
 der untergehenden Sonne, also der Unterwelt, zu hen-schen. 
 . Ausser zur Sonne treten dann gewohnlich auch Boziehungen 
 zu Morgen- und Abendstern hervor, die weiterhin mythisch 
 ausgesponnen worden.' 
 
 According to Ehrenreich, then, the twin brothers, when 
 they have accomplished their mission of finding and restoring 
 their lost father, fall a-quarrelling among themselves, so that 
 one kills the other, or they mutually separate. 
 
 The foregoing statement is suggestively near to the 
 account of the Twin-myth which we have been working out. 
 It might, perhaps, be questioned whether the hostility be- 
 tween the Twins is not, on this view, developed too late in 
 their history : we found it to be even ante-natal in some 
 ml twin- case's, both Biblical and Hellenic ! Ehrenreich also detected 
 the tendency to describe the Twin Brethren as opposed, not 
 only in temper, but in actual form. We have explained the 
 existence of the Rough and Smooth Brethren, and have 
 given the Biblical and the Greek parallels. On this point 
 Ehrenreich gives some further parallels froiu South America, 
 and sums the matter up as follows : 
 
 ' In der urwiichsigen Mythe wird der CJlegensatz zwischen 
 beidcn (lurch die Venschiedenhcit der Charaktereigenschaften 
 erkliut. Der eine erscheint stiirmischer, kiihner, gewalt- 
 
 ' Iiie Mjithcn iiiiil I.eijenden dir StUlameiikdiiixchrii I'rriilker, pp. 50, T)!. 
 
 iliversi 
 tics. 
 
XXXVl] JASON AND THE SYMPLEOADES 337 
 
 Uitiger aberauch intollif^enter, (ier andere isl miklcren Sinnes 
 aber :mch wenigcT tatkriiftig und schlaii.' 
 
 \Vc have the Twins diffen'ntiated in character as well as 
 in appearance. Esa\i, Zethos and Artemis are more violent 
 and more capable than Jacob, Amphion and Apollo. 
 
 As we have said, those observations coincide very closely 
 with otir own. I am glad to find myself so well supported. 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 JASON AND TRIPTOLEMOS 
 
 The 
 
 Twins as 
 plough- 
 men, 
 
 Tripto- 
 lemos for 
 instance, 
 
 and 
 Jason ? 
 
 When we were discussing the functions of the Twins, 
 from the point of view of their beneficences to the human 
 race, we were able to show that they had been credited, 
 inter alia, with the invention of the plough and the yoke : 
 and this discovery is one of the fundamental traits of twin- 
 legend in its European development : even when the twins 
 have become heroized, the ancient symbols are still attached 
 to their cult, often in the form of weapons which they use, 
 or instruments which they are imagined still to manu- 
 facture. 
 
 In the case of Triptolemos it was quite easy to detect 
 the plough in his cult. He is the Attic father of the 
 plough, and it is in his honour that three ploughs are carried 
 in the festival of the Thesmophoria ; tradition made him the 
 darling of Demeter, to whom he had been entrusted by his 
 father King Keleos. Keleos, being the Green Woodpecker, 
 was naturally the parent of the Heavenly Twins, and Demeter, 
 the Corn-Mother, was with equal propriety made the guardian 
 of the Heavenly Ploughman, attached to her service either 
 as an adopted child, or received into her companionship as a 
 friend and perhaps a lover. 
 
 In dealing with the relationship of Jason and Triptolemos, 
 it was suggested that in the case of Jason the emphasis had 
 been laid on the Twin as ship-builder and navigator, while 
 in the ciuse of Triptolemos, the stress was on the Twin as 
 agriculturist. It looked like a case of divided functions. 
 No doubt this is a convenient way of studying the question, 
 and is a not unfair summary of the legends. We must, 
 
CH. XXXVIl] JASON AND TRIPTOLEMOS 31^9 
 
 however, adtnit that the division of function is not as com- 
 plete as it appears. In the fii-st place, Triptoleinos is not 
 bounded altogether by the limits of his ploughed field. At 
 Antioch he wjus honoured with a festival on Mount Cassius, 
 and Philo of Byblus tells us that tht; shrine on Mount 
 Cassius was coinnieinorative of a shipwreck near by of certain 
 descendants of the Dio.scuri: from which it was easy to see 
 that there was a Dioscureion on Mount Qissius, and that 
 shipmen prayed there or thitherward, using the name of 
 Triptolemos where we should have e.xpocted Jiison. 
 
 In the ne.xt place, Jiison is not so exclusively nautical Jnson as 
 that he can rid himself of connection with agriculture. It i',"'!!^;!' 
 
 o Diiin in 
 
 may, perhaps, at first sight, seem to be an undue stretch of Colchis, 
 the imagination to take the hero of Colchis back into the 
 humbler arts of life, with which war hiis apparently nothing 
 to do. We cannot, however, ignore the prominence which is 
 given in the story of the Golden Fleece, to the labours 
 assigned to Jason by the father of Medea. He must yoke 
 fire-breathing bulls and plough with them ; then he must 
 sow dragons' teeth, and overcome the brood of armed men 
 that will arise. The last feature of the conflict is one which 
 recurs again in the story of Kadmos, so closely connected in 
 many ways with that of Jason. Does it not seem as if 
 the starting point for the growth of the legend as to the 
 dragons' teeth was to be found in the simple sUitement that 
 the Heavenly Ploughman or Twin t«ught us how to yoke 
 cattle and attach them to the plough ? Let this story lose 
 its simplicity and become heroized ; we have then the material 
 for some at leiLst of the exploits of Jiison. If this explanation 
 be correct (I owe it in part to Miss Harrison), then Jjison is 
 still a Ploughman, even when he has become High Admiral 
 of the first (Jreek fleet; in other worfis, the division of 
 function between .lason and Triptoleinos was not lus complete 
 8ts, at first sight, it might apjwar to be. 
 
 The relations between the legend of Kadmos and that i>f 
 Jasun are still obscure. I do not, at present, .see how to 
 elucidate them. Probably it is better to work away on the 
 line where we discovered JiLson. ihi- evolutionary line of a 
 
340 
 
 JASON AND TRIPTOLEMOS 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Dissection 
 of Argo- 
 naut 
 
 loRends. 
 
 Jason not 
 primarily 
 Healer. 
 
 Twins 
 assist 
 Jason. 
 
 twin-cult, and leave Kadmos for further study in the light of 
 rapidly incre;ising mythological knowledge. 
 
 On the whole it appears that the perplexing mass of the 
 Argonautic legends is beginning to break up into strata: 
 we have shown that there is a stratimi of twin-cult revealed 
 by the invention and use of the plough and yoke, another 
 stratum which betrays the origin and development of ship- 
 craft, a third in which the Twins appear as heroes, after the 
 manner of the twin cults in North and South America, where 
 the prominent idea is that of sending the Sky-children or 
 Thunder-boys in search of their lost father the Sun. This 
 last stratum of belief ought to end in the evolution of a cult 
 of the Morning Star and the Evening Star ; amongst its 
 leading themes is that of a devouring dragon on the one 
 hand, and an imprisoned solar splendour on the other. 
 
 It may be noticed in passing that the common explana- 
 tion of Jason as the Great Healer, does not seem to be 
 warranted by the Argonautic story: nor does there seem to be 
 any special development of mantic art which is so commonly 
 allied with medicine in early times. In the case of the 
 Argonaut expedition the mantic element is supplied from 
 other quarters ; Mopsus, for example, in the ship ; Phineus 
 on the land. The medical and magic part, including the 
 pecidiarly Dioscuric art of rejuvenescence, appears to have 
 been transferred to Medea This does not mean that Jason 
 was inexpert in such arts ; there are occasional suggestions, 
 I believe, to the contrary ; but these are not the features by 
 which Jason impressed himself on the men who fashioned the 
 great Argonautic tradition. For them he was not, first and 
 foremost, the healer or the prophet : he Wiis the daring sailor, 
 the solar hero, and in a lesser degree the Heavenly Plough- 
 man. He cannot be understood, however, either in his 
 greater or lesser functions, without the aid of the twin- 
 cult. 
 
 In confirmation of the foregoing belief that original 
 functions have been heroized in the Jason story, let us look 
 more closely at the ploughing of Jasou as it appears in the 
 verses of ApoUonius Rhodius. Miss Harrison points out to 
 
XXXVII I JASON AND TRIITOLEMOS 341 
 
 me that Jason is assisted in the yoking of the bulls by the 
 Tyndarids, so that we have a case of the Twin being assisted 
 by the Twins. The meaning is that the task of yoking the 
 team re(juires two, and since J;ison's twin is not on hand, it 
 has been arranged in advance that C;ustor and Polydeuces 
 shall come to his assistance, as soon as by one mighty effort 
 he hiis forced the fire-breathing bulls to their knees. The 
 language of Apollonius is significant. 
 
 o'l B' apa Tet'ti)^ 
 TvvBapiBai — St) yiip (T<f>i irnXai irpoTre(f)paSfi.evof tjep — 
 ay-j^ifioXof ^vyri oi TTtSoflev hnaav ap(^i^a\ea6ai. 
 
 Apoll. Rhop. III. 1313—1315. 
 
 The parenthetic sentence shows the intention: since Jiison 
 is alone, another pair of twin yokers will come to his 
 assistance. Thus the Spartan Dioscuri are also connected 
 with the plough and the yoke, and it is a fair question 
 whether this may not after all be the meaning of their cult 
 symbols, the Dokana or .sacred cross-beams. 
 
 In the course of the analysis we have brought out Twins 
 another point, which might have been suggested to us by ^j"]* 
 the nature of the case: the Twins who are responsible for 
 the plough and the yoke must also be answerable for the 
 taming of the beasts who are to bear the yoke and drag the 
 plough. The bull is tamed for this very purpose. Now we 
 were well aware that Castor is the primitivu horse-breaker, 
 under which title he occurs constantly in Homeric and other 
 verse : we now see that the Twins are bull-tamers as well 
 as horse-tamers, otherwise they would invent the yoke and 
 plough in vain. We add this to their other functions, and 
 assume that the appearance of the Tyndarids at this |K)inl 
 in the Argonaut story is a part of the functional hiToization 
 of the legend. 
 
 In this connection we may udw iir;iw attention to a story uf 
 piirallel case in which the Twins handle the wild bull, Twimt. 
 without any sjH-cial reference to an ultimate ploughing 
 This part of th<' hcroizalion is pre.siTVfd for us in thi- story 
 of the Thebjin Twin.s, Zethos and Amphion. Zethos and 
 
342 JASON AND TRIPTOLEMOS [cH. 
 
 Amphion were the twin children of Antiope, their natural 
 parent being Epopeus and their supernatural sire Zeus him- 
 self. It is one of the typical csises of twin-birth, from two 
 male parents, human and divine. In the legend we are told 
 that Antiope's father died of chagrin at what had happened, 
 leaving it as a legacy to his brother to punish Antiope. 
 Meanwhile the children had been exposed on Mount Cithae- 
 ron, just as they would be in West Africa to-day, and they 
 were brought up by a friendly shepherd, who finds out the 
 secret of their birth. They grow up in time to intervene 
 between their mother and a certain Bacchant named Dirce 
 who is on the point of killing her. They rescue Antiope, 
 and apparently treat Dirce to the very same death which 
 she was planning for their mother, by attaching her to the 
 horns of a wild bull. There is some variation in the legendary 
 details, but this will suffice to introduce the matter. 
 
 Every one who is familiar with Greek art knows the 
 magnificent group at Naples which passes under the name 
 of the Famese Bull, the work of the Trallian sculptors 
 ApoUonius and Tauriskos. It represents the Theban Twins 
 controlling the motions of the wild bull, to whom tradition 
 says their mother, Antiope, had been bound by the order of 
 the jealous Uirce ; the Twin.s, however, being advised that 
 Antiope is their mother, prepare for Dirce, as we have .said, 
 the death designed for the other. 
 
 The key to the sculpture, and to the underlying legends, 
 lies in the recognition of two functions, belonging to Twin- 
 life, which are here heroized. 
 
 The fir.st of these is that Twins are the inventors of the 
 plough and yoke, which includes the suboidinate statement 
 that 
 
 They tame (a) Twins tame the wild bull : 
 
 biUl*" ^^^ second is the duty that belongs to the Twins ;ia Children 
 of the Sky, to recover the lost luminary, an<l one form of this 
 duty is stated ;vs follows : 
 
 (6) Twins liberate the Daughter of the Sun. 
 
 they When we superpose one of these functions on the other, and 
 
 Antiope. ^T ^'^ interpret them in the heroic language, we easily 
 
 i 
 
XXXVIl] JASON AND TRIPTOLEMOS 343 
 
 understand that the Farnese group is concerned in the first 
 instance with the liberation of Antiope and not with the 
 punishment of Dirce. The bull-taming twins have rescued 
 their mother. The only obscurity remaining is the intrusion 
 of Dirce into the legend. This I am not able at present 
 satisfactorily to e.\plain : it appears to constitute a third 
 stratum of cult, but I do not see its meaning. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 THE WOODPECKER AND THE PLOUGH 
 
 Jason a 
 
 Heavenly 
 
 Plough- 
 
 The 
 Wood- 
 pecker as 
 Plough- 
 animal. 
 
 In the story of Jason and Triptolemos, we were able to 
 detect a pair of Twin Brethren, who were also the Patrons of 
 the Art of Ploughing. At first sight it seemed as if Jason 
 had left his plough on the shore, when he went to sea : but 
 when he arrives at Colchis, we find the craft resumed in a 
 heroic fashion, which leaves Triptolemos far behind. So 
 Jason also was a Heavenly Ploughman, and the division of 
 labour between him and his brother is superficial. They are 
 really one in an art which requires two persons, if we may 
 judge from the way the Tyndarids come to the help of Jason 
 in the Argonaut legend, and put the yokes on the necks of 
 the bulls whom Jason had brought to the groimd. The 
 heroization of the story of the taming of oxen for the plough 
 (no small feat in the history of man) may now be regarded as 
 intelligible. 
 
 So much being clear, we come to a more curious folk- 
 belief, which must bo connected with that of the Heavenly 
 Ploughman ; the Woodpecker also is credited with the art of 
 ploughing, and a variety of talcs is told to explain how the 
 art passed out of his hands, and became an affair of men and 
 cattle. It will be perhaps said at once, that this is really 
 only a variant of the previous stories of the invention of the 
 plough by the Heavenly Twins, due to the tradition that the 
 Heavenly Twins are the children of the Thunder, that is, 
 of the Woodpecker. When we examine the traditions more 
 careftdly we shall find that such a statement does not disclose 
 all that may be learned from the supposed variant tradition. 
 Let us then see what people .say of the Woodpecker as a 
 Heavenly Ploughman. 
 
CH. XXXVIIl] THE WOODPECKER AND THE PLOUCH 345 
 
 The first story we shall quote relates how the Woodpecker 
 became a ploughman, and how, in consequence of his ill- 
 success in the craft, he got his red head. It comes fmm the 
 Lettish population in Polish Livland, and will be found in 
 Dannhardt's Nalursageti (I. 193). to the following effect: 
 
 Once upon a time God and the Devil were good fellows l^.uish 
 in the world together, and each of them had a field to plough. ^^ ^^^g 
 The Devil was ploughing with horses, but God with a J^^'J^^ 
 wooflpecker. By day's end the Devil had ploughed much w.xxl. 
 ground and God very little ; so at night God took the Devil's P*''^''*''- 
 horses and got his field ploughed. When the Devil saw the 
 result next morning, he said, ' Goodman God, let us change 
 over: you take the horses and give me your woodpecker." 
 For he thought it woul<l be less trouble to feed a woodpecker 
 than a pair of horses. The e.xchange being made, the Devd 
 harnessed his woodpecker, who couldn't stir the plough. 
 Enraged the Devil struck at him and broke his head. So 
 the Wooflpecker's head is red, even to this day. 
 
 Another form of tht; story', again from Lettish sources, Wood- 
 tells that the Woodpecker was the Devil's herdsman and had {^f,,"'"' 
 charge of his cattle ; God came one day to see the Devil, ">«». 
 who was, in those days, much richer than himself; he found 
 out that the Devil's st-rvants had white bread, and milk 
 soup; so he suspected that the D.-vil had a herd of cattle 
 somewhere, and marie a stratagem to drive thorn into his own 
 cattle-sheds by means of a swarm of tormenting insects. 
 The Devil goes afield, and finds his chief herdsman, the 
 Woodpecker, asleep on a tree and the cattle almost ail of 
 them disappeared. He beats him bloody over the head, and 
 U) this day, for pain, the Woodpecker has never had time to 
 get the blood off his head. He cries for his hurt and to call 
 back his lost rattlf. 
 
 These tales arc very instructive, coming, as thi-y do, ii,. \„m-* 
 from a primitive people, who have preserved Aryan and 
 prae-Aryan lf'gen<ls in very early forms. 
 
 The Woo<l|x.-cker is credited with the performance of two 
 
 I I)iinnli«rJl. .ValurKij;^.. I. Irt9, •199. 
 
346 THE WOODPECKER AND THE PLOUGH [cH. 
 
 duties, which he is set to discharge : the care of cattle and 
 the handling of the plough. He is ploughman in one story, 
 herdsman in the next. As to his ploughing, we are expressly 
 told that it breaks down ; it was so slow as to become im- 
 possible; it was displaced by something more effective. We 
 have to try and explain these curious traditions. 
 Evolution The way to understand them is to ask how the human 
 
 pIoughinR, ""'^ce came to plough. It is not sufficient to say that the 
 Twin Brethren are the children of the Thunder, that is, of 
 the Woodpecker ; for this still leaves the question before us, 
 as to the link between the Thunder and the Plough. Does 
 it simply mean that the Twins are the symbol of fertility 
 and hence the patrons of the plough ? That has been our 
 explanation up to the present, but let us look into the matter 
 a little more closely. How did the human race come to 
 plough ? Did they arrive at the invention per sultum ? The 
 answer must surely be in the negative. The observation of 
 savage tribes will tell us that the hoe precedes the plough, 
 and the scratching of the ground is earlier than its tearing. 
 Well, the scratching of the ground is Woodpecker craft : it 
 ■ means that what the bird is seen to do in a tree, man learns 
 to do in the field. To this day we call the instrument that 
 from pick he uses a pick, that is to say. Woodpecker (Picus). So we 
 *' '' see the reason why the Lettish stories carried the origin of 
 the art of ploughing behind the Twins to the Woodpecker, 
 and made a ploughman of the bird. 
 
 We see more than this : we have found the real rea.son 
 
 why the Twins, as children of the Woodpecker, came to be 
 
 credited with the art of taming cattle and using them for 
 
 ploughing. The Woodpecker, who showed men how to hoe, 
 
 became in the story the Devil's ploughman and likewise his 
 
 herdsman : the Twins took over the art of ploughing from 
 
 from him and the poor old Woodpecker was agriculturally displaced 
 
 pecker ^y his offspring. Thus we find the link in the evolution of 
 
 Twi^t iticas by which the Twins became the Inventors of the 
 
 Plough : the missing link is the hoe, or the digging-stick, 
 
 that is the Woodpecker. We have, in fact, a graphic account 
 
 of the break-down of the old system of agriculture, and the 
 
XXXVI II] THE WOODPECKER AND THE PLOUOH 347 
 
 arrival of tho new. The old system is what the Germans, 
 I believe, call Hackenbitu, where Hack, again, like Pick, is 
 one of the names of the Woodpecker. In the Lettish stories, 
 the Devil stands for the Old Thunder displaced by the New, 
 just as Keleos stands in the story of his expulsion from the 
 birth-cave of Zeus, as we explained in a previous chapter. 
 In one sense, the Devil, an old Thunder-god in most cases, is 
 the Woodpecker itself; but in the tale he becomes the owner 
 of the unsuccessful Woodpecker, upon whom, in a fit of rage, 
 he takes his revenge. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 THE KORYBANTES AND THE INFANT ZEUS 
 
 We may now advance a step further in our knowledge 
 of the Zeus-cult and its evolution from the primitive cult 
 of the Thunder in the Hollow Oak. We have shown why 
 King Keleos was not allowed to enter the' sanctuary-cave in 
 Crete, and why the infant-thunder was not permitted to blast 
 with his bolts the intruding Woodpecker. The important part 
 which the bees play in the myth of the Holy Oak has also 
 been recognised: we see nature looking out at us through the 
 forms of art, and when the mythologist begins his tale of the 
 way the bees fed the infant Zeus in ihe sacred cave, we are 
 able to write the simpler story that once upon a time, very 
 long ago, our ancestors believed that the Woodpecker (who 
 was the Thunder-bird) used to eat honey of the bees that 
 made their nests, and stored their vegetable and floral spoils 
 in his hollowed tree. We have shown the reasons for this 
 mistake; the Woodpecker actually ate the larvae of the bees, 
 but that does not mean that he ate the bees or their honey. 
 
 In Roman times, we find from Vergil's Georgics that 
 Enemies vario\is birds and beasts were recognised as hostile to bees, 
 such as the Merops (or bee-eater), and the swallow ; whether 
 the Woodpecker is involved in the general term, 'other birds' 
 which hurt the bees, is not quite clear. Then there was the 
 lizard who had to be kept out of the hive: the passage in 
 which Vergil groups the influences is as follows: 
 
 ' Absunt et picti squalentin terpi lacerti 
 Pingiiibus a stabulis, meropesque aliaeque volucies, 
 Et manibus Proone pectus signata cruentis: 
 Omnia nam late vastant ipsasque volantis 
 Ore ferunt dulcein nidis in mitibus cseam.' 
 
 Oeorgics iv. 12 — 16. 
 
 
CH. XXXIX] KORYBANTES AND THE INFANT ZEUS 349 
 
 The description does not necessarily include the Woodpecker ; 
 it refers principally to binls who catch the bees flying. It 
 is quite possible that, by Vergil's day, the belief that the 
 Woodpeckers stole the honey had altogether disappeared in 
 Italy ; he does not even suggest that Picus does any special 
 harm. It is Procne, not Picus, that is at fault. In Vergil's 
 time we may also assume that wild honey had disappeared; No wild 
 the bees were so carefully husbanded and hived, that the Veren '° 
 cultivated broods hatl displaced the wild ones. Hence, when 
 Vergil writes of wild swarms of bees, he does so on the ground 
 of tradition only, and not of observation: if rumour tells true, 
 says he, bees have hived both in hollow rocks and hollow 
 trees; but apparently they tlid not in North Italy tind wild 
 honey, any more than we do in England to-day. The language 
 of Vergil is as follows: 
 
 ' Saepe etiam cffossis, si uera est (ama, latebris. 
 Sub terra (ouere larem, penitusqae repertac 
 Puraicibusque cauis exesaeque arboris antro.' 
 
 Otorgio iv. 42 — 44. 
 
 ' And often, if the tale be true, contrive 
 Snug bomesteads in some burrow underground. 
 Or find a harbour in tbc caverned rocks. 
 Or in the hollow of time-eaten trees.' 
 
 (Burghclcre's translation.) 
 
 It will be observed that Vergil calls the hollow of the tree 
 by the name of antrum, or cave. 
 
 And now I want to pass on from these considerations 
 to the interpretation of the rites of the Kuretes and the 
 Korybantes, who are also traditionally connected with the 
 infant Zeus. 
 
 Every student of mythology knows the way in which 
 Zeus is rescued from being devoured by his father Krono8:Tbe 
 his mother Khta deci-iv»d Kronus by giving him a stone to "'''''**• 
 swallow, and then the Kuretes drown the cries of the newly- 
 born child by making a hideous clatter on their shields, until 
 an arrangement can l>e made for the removal of the chdil to 
 a place of safety. 
 
350 THE KORYBANTES AND THE INFANT ZEUS [CH. 
 
 The 
 
 Kory- 
 
 bantes. 
 
 Meaning 
 of their 
 dances. 
 
 In the case of the Korybantes we have the Phrygian rite 
 that corresponds to the Kiiretes of Crete : here the mother is 
 named Cybele, and the child is protected by the noises made 
 by a varying number of Korybantes who clash their cymbals ; 
 they dance around the babe, who is generally seated on the 
 ground, and quite uninterested in the measures that are being 
 taken for his protection and deliverance. 
 
 It is common to regard these dances as ritual dances, 
 accompanied by songs of a religious character, and not a few 
 attempts have been made to expound the dances and the ritual 
 songs and music. The latest attempt is that of Miss Jane 
 Harrison, in her book called Themis, in which it is suggested 
 that the ceremony of the Kuretes is the initiation of the 
 boys (Kovpoi) of a clan into tribal fellowship, for which 
 parallels are to be sought in African and Australian initia- 
 tions of the present day. ' The Kouretes are young men who 
 have been initiated themselves and will initiate others, will 
 instruct them in tribal duties and tribal dances, steal them 
 away from their mothers, conceal them, make away with 
 them by some pretended death, and finally bring them back 
 .as new-bom, grown youths, full members of their tribe'.' 
 
 Without entering into a detailed discu-ssion of Miss 
 Harrison's interesting hypothesis, it has occurred to me that 
 in one direction a simpler explanation might be found, an 
 explanation as close to the life of primitive man as that 
 which is so ably represented in Themis. My suggestion is 
 They call that the noise made by the Kuretes with their shields and 
 the bees, ^^^ Korybantes with their cymbals, which gave rise to the 
 myth that it Wcis intended to distract the attention of Kronos 
 from his infant son, is in reality a rude music meant to call 
 the swarming bees to a new hive. We connect, that is, the 
 Tattling of the shields of the Kuretes, and the clashing of the 
 cymbals of the Korybantes, with the noise of tin pans and 
 kettles which may be heard in the neighbourhood of any 
 cottage in the country when the bees are swarming. 
 
 Let us see what Vergil says on the matter. The fourth 
 ' Themis, pp. 19, 20. 
 
ith 
 
 XXXIX] KORYBAXTKS AND THE INFANT ZEUS 351 
 
 book of the Georgics will tell us all that he knew about bee- 
 culture and its mythology. When the bees swarm, we are 
 told 
 
 ' hue tu iussos asperge Hapores, 
 Trita melisphylla et cerintbae ignobile grainen, music of 
 
 Tiniiitiuque cie et Matrit qiititt cymbalti circiim ; cymbals. 
 
 Ipsae con.Hident medicatis sedibus, etc.' 
 
 GeonjicM iv. 62—65. 
 
 'Strew tbeie tbe subtle odours I ordain, 
 Such as bruised balm-leaves, humble hor\ey-wort, 
 CUmliiiiri tht cymhoU of great Cyhfle, 
 That they shall settle of their own free will 
 On the charmed spot.' 
 
 (Burghclerc's translation.) 
 
 Here we learn two things, (1) that cymbals were used to 
 draw the bees ; (2) that Vergil makes the parallel with the 
 cymbals of the Korybantes, in a way that is very suggestive 
 of a real connection between the two mu.sics. 
 
 This is not all that Vergil says on the subject; having 
 made the parallel with the music of the Korybantes, he 
 makes later on another connection, even more direct, with 
 the Kuretes. 
 
 'Nunc age, naturas apibus quas Juppiter ipse 
 
 Addidit expediam, pro qua mercede canoros 
 
 Curetiim tunitut errpitanliaqut aera lecutae 
 
 Diclaeo caeli regem pauere sub antro.' 
 
 (UtTijio IV. 149—152. 
 
 ' So prithee, to our bees and you shall learn 
 The wondrous instinct that controls their race, 
 By .love omnipot<^nt of old vouchsafed. 
 This was in truth the guerdon that they sought, 
 When, marthalted In/ the clumurout meloditt 
 And clathing cymbalt of the Corybanli, 
 They found and fed tbe infant King of heaven 
 Among the Cretan hills.' 
 
 (Burghclere's translation.) 
 
 Here Vergil expressly says (unless we have altogether mis- 
 understood him) that the bees who made honey in the 
 Dictaean cave, ha<l been attnicted thither by the music of 
 the Kuretes, and that they were suitably rewanled for 
 coming to the call If this be correct, Vergil hn.s made the 
 
352 THE KORYBANTES AND THE INFANT ZEUS [CH. 
 
 bee-keeper's cymbals the direct descendant of primeval music 
 made by primitive man to allure the bees to some fresh home 
 in rock or tree or elementary hive. The translator has sub- 
 stituted Korybants for Kuretes, but his freedom is allowable, 
 for it is Vergil's own, who, as our previous quotation shows, 
 makes no ditference between them. Either group may be 
 described as primitive bee-keepers. 
 
 Now this is not an unconfirmed or unwarranted exercise 
 of the imagination : for amongst the ancient traditions as to 
 the origin of bee-keeping and the invention of honey, we 
 find several which take us back directly to the Kuretes: 
 thus Diodorus says that ' it is related that the Kuretes 
 taught the art of bee-keeping,' 
 
 KovpT]Ta<;. ..ra irepl tcj? fxeXiTTOvpyua'; Karahel^ai 
 
 D10DORU.S, V. 65, 
 
 and from Pompeius Trogus (Justin, XIV. 4) we find that the 
 most ancient king of the Kuretes, named Gargoris, discovered 
 the art of collecting honey. 
 
 It was, therefore, quite natural that the Kuretes should 
 in ritual be represented as calling the bees. In view of 
 these corroborative traditions, it must be clear that Vergil's 
 reference to the bee-keeper's cymbals as comparable with 
 those of the Kuretes was not a mere poetic parallel : it arose 
 out of the fact that the Kuretes were the patrons of bee- 
 keeping ; the modern cymbals and the ancient were the same. 
 The whole matter is much simplified from our point of view : 
 
 Twins are attached to the Hollow Oak, 
 
 for 
 Twins are children of the Thunder 
 and the Thunder is the Woodpecker. 
 The Kuretes are (originally) Twins (and Woodpeckers) ; 
 Bees are attached to the Hollow Oak ; 
 Woodpeckers like honey and bees : 
 The Kuretes are, therefore, patrons of beekeeping: 
 Therefore they clash the sacred cymbals. 
 
 The call It remains for us to enquire in what way the act of 
 
 1"^' °' calling the bees in the early spring acquired a ritual 
 ritual, significance and developed ultimately a mythology. The 
 
XXXIXJ KORYBANTES ANDTIIK INFANT ZEUS 353 
 
 investigation is, at present, somewhat obscure. The mythology 
 has a curious inconsistency on its face; it makes the Kuretes 
 the guardians of the infant Zeus ; yet it seems that the and n 
 Kuretes cannot be dissociated from the Thunder, and if so, ™™*"'' 
 they are the Sons of the Thunder, and the Thunder is — Zeus 
 himself: at least Zeus is the New Thunder. It appears 
 therefore that there is something more in the curious 
 mythology and perplexing ritual than the calling of the 
 bees. One thing is clear, that we cannot overestimate the 
 importance of the bee in civilization's advance; honey was 
 the sugar of the ancients and the keeping of bees soon 
 became an art comparable with agriculture itself. Hence 
 there is nothing out of proportion in Vergil's giving a whole 
 book of his Georgics to the subject of bee-keeping; it would 
 hardly occupy a page in the handbook of the modern farmer. 
 Miss Harrison has commented and laid great stress on the Ritual 
 hymn of the Kuretes discovered at Palaiokastro in Crete ; it J'^^" °' 
 is interesting to note that in this hymn, undoubtedly of ritual Kuretes. 
 significance, the worshippers acting as a band of Kuretes, 
 address Zeus <is the greatest Kouros, and pniy for annual 
 prosperity in wine and wool and fruitful field and in 
 honey. 
 
 'A[tiii> l^ope, Kit (nalfifia, 
 
 Kal dop eUnroK f[? iroi^ivia. 
 
 Ke<; \T)ia Ktip-nuiv dope, 
 
 Ke<; Tf\fa[<{>opov^ infif:i\ov<;] 
 
 'To us also leap for full jars, and leap for Heecy Hocks, and 
 leap for fields of fruit, and for hives to bring increase." 
 
 Assuming this restoration of the inscription U) be correct, 
 the place of the bees in the invocation would seem to require 
 a corresponding ritual act, which may easily be the clashing 
 of the cymbals. At this point, then, we leave the matter for 
 further enquiry and criticism. If we are wrong that at the 
 base of all the myth anil all the legend lies the still existing 
 custom of citlling bees in s]>ring to the noise of tin (Hins, it 
 will be easy for Miss Harrisim or Mr A. B. Cook to point out 
 our mistake. 
 
 II. II. 23 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BEES AND THE HOLY OAK 
 
 Sanctity 
 of the 
 Hollow 
 Oak. 
 
 It has been sufficiently shown in a previous chapter that 
 the sacred bees, whom we find in the birth-cave of Zens in 
 Crete, belong really to the Holy Oak, which is, when we 
 examine it more closely, a hollow oak : and it must be in- 
 creasingly clear in the process of our argument, that the 
 hollow oak occupies a front place in the history of culture 
 and of religion. It was the home of the thunder-stone, of 
 the woodpecker, and of the sacred bees : it was the original 
 sanctuary, the first ship, and perhaps the most ancient place 
 of sepulture. Its branches were oracular, its mistletoe berries 
 had magic powers. We now resume the discussion of the 
 Oak as the first beehive. It might, perhaps, be supposed 
 that after researches into the place of bees in ancient history, 
 such as those of Mr A. B. Cook and of Robert-Tornow, there 
 would not be much to say upon this subject that was not 
 mere repetition. This is not exactly the case ; we are ap- 
 proaching the matter from new points of view ; we have 
 before us connecting links with Twin-cult and Thunder-cult,' 
 which may be of importance in the interpretation of some 
 of the matters to which eminent scholai-s that preceded us 
 have drawn attention. Especially we shall employ our 
 previous results to illustrate the passages on bee-lore in 
 Robert-Tornow's book entitled De Apium Mellisque Signifi- 
 catione. In this interesting and valuable dissertation, we 
 shall see that the connection between bees and the oak can 
 be made out, though the writer seems to have little idea 
 of the evolution of bee-keeping, and an interpretation can 
 also be attiichcd to a point which he noticed, but did not 
 
CH. xl] reks and thk holy oak 355 
 
 succcetl in explaining, that the ancients reganJc-d it as a mark 
 of the Golden Age that the earth flowed with n)ilk and the 
 trees dripped honey. 
 
 First of all, we remark that the ancients recognised a Bt-ca and 
 congniity between bees and the oak. Theophrastiis ', for"* "^ ' 
 example, observes that ' honey is found especially on the 
 leaves of the oak, and that there is some connection 
 {oiKeiaxTit;) between bees and oaks.' No doubt this is the 
 case, though Theophrastus does not realise in what the 
 congruity consists, nor does he know that the oak was at 
 one time much more richly endowed with honey than the 
 moisture which he had noticed on the leaves, which is not 
 really honey at all. 
 
 The ancient writers commonly refer the discovery of 
 honey and the invention of the beehive to a mythical hero Aristatus 
 n.amed Aristaeus, who is sometimes spoken of as Zeus i,^. 
 himself, Zeus Aristaeus. May wc paraphnise his name as keeper. 
 Goodman Thunder, ;is the Lettish peasants talk of Goodman- 
 God 1 
 
 The tradition say.s that Aristaeus took his bees from 
 the oak-tree : thus Oppian (Cijneget. \\. 269 sqq.) says of 
 Aristaeus, 
 
 TrpoiTOf iKelvo<i...iTori (xifM^Xov; 
 eK Bpvo<! afipwi ityaftK: €veK\ei<Te fxeXicrffat. 
 Aristaeus was the first to shut up the gentle bees in hives, 
 having removed them from the oak-tree. Stnibo says that 
 beehives are actually miide in the trees (ti> toU Beviptai 
 a-fj.7]i>ovpy€i(Tdai), which is very like what we notice*! in 
 the Ural mounUains, and is only one degree removed 
 from the lime when the beehives were the trees them- 
 selves'. 
 
 The oak-tree was, then, the original beehive, as we see 
 also from what Hesiml said of the wealth of its midmost 
 bark for the reward of g(><»d jK-ople. It need not be empha- 
 sized further that oak, in this connection, means hollow oak. 
 
 ' Robert Toniow, I.e. pp. 77, 78. 
 
 ' Prol. § U, lib. XI. 0. 1. quolod in Robert Tornow, p. 78. 
 
 23—2 
 
356 
 
 BEES AND THE HOLY OAK 
 
 [CH. 
 
 The 
 
 Golden 
 
 Age 
 
 We shall see this abundantly as we come to another point, 
 the wealth of honey in the Golden Age. 
 
 One of the favourite themes of Roman poets is the 
 Golden Age, whose passing away they mourn, and for whose 
 return they pine, when the restitution of all things shall 
 bring back the kingdom of old Saturn. Of these good old 
 times, for instance, Vergil and Horace, Ovid and Tibullus, 
 all write ; and, more remarkable still, they all say substan- 
 tially the same things. One of the themes is that there 
 was no need then of the plough, and the ploughman's toil; 
 the earth brought forth abundantly, automatically : nor was 
 there any need of agriculture, of education in the keeping 
 of bees, of legal enactments against placing your hive too 
 near to your neighbour's, to his detriment ; the honey dripped 
 from the trees in the good old times : thus Vergil {Eel. x. 30) 
 an age of tells how, when the good days return, and time's wheel has 
 made its full circle, ' the sturdy oaks .shall drip with honey- 
 dew,' 
 
 ' durae quercus sudabunt roscida inella'; 
 
 •Horace sings of the land flowing with wine, milk and 
 honey, and says that the honey ' drops from the hollow tree- 
 trunks,' 
 
 ' Fas pervicaces est mihi Thyiadas 
 Vinique fontem, lactis et uberes 
 Cantare rivos atque truncis 
 Lapsa cavis iterate melUi.' 
 
 Oil. II. 19. 9 -12. 
 
 Honey. 
 
 In another passage he longs for the liap])y isles, ' where 
 from the hollow oak the honies ilrop,' 
 
 ' aiva bcata 
 Petamus arva, divites et insulas, 
 Reddit ubi Cererem tellus inarata quotannis 
 
 Et imputata floret usque vinea, 
 Germinal et numquam fallentLs tcrmes olivae 
 
 Suamque pulla ficus ornat arborein ; 
 Mi'lla cuiHi imiiiinit ex ilice,' 
 
 F.pod. 16. -ll— 47. 
 
 Ovid, too, tells of Saturn's days, before the sliare had 
 
xl] bees and the holy oak 357 
 
 toiichfil iho soil, and when hoiu'y could bo found in the 
 
 hollow .,ak, 
 
 ' At cum regna senex cseli Saturnus haberet, 
 Omne lucrum teoebris alta premebat humus: 
 
 At meliora dabat; curvo sine vomers frugea, 
 
 Pomaque et in quercu mella reperta earn: 
 
 Nee vnlido quisqiiam terram scindebat aratro....' 
 
 Amor. III. 8. 35 — »0. 
 
 And again he describes the days of Saturn, before Jove 
 took the kingdom, when milk and nectar flowed in streams, 
 and the yellow honey dropped from the ilex : 
 
 * Flumina iara liictis, iam Humina nectaris ibant, 
 Flavoque Je viridi slillabaat ilice niclla. 
 Poatquam Satumo tenebrosa in lartara misso 
 Sub Jove mundus erat.' Met. i. iii. 
 
 In the Silver Age, honey was not to be found that way, 
 plentifully and without price. Tibullus tells 
 
 ' How bonnil; they lived in Saturn's day, 
 
 The very oaks had honey." 
 ' Quam bene Saturno vivcbant rege 
 
 Ipsae mella dabant querous.' El. i. 3. 35, 43. 
 
 When we ask why such prominence is given to honey in Folk 
 tht; Golden Age, the way to the answer is to realise oneself "iJ^HJ""^^ 
 in days before Zeus was king. In those days, Woodpecker poeu. 
 was king iis well jus Saturn ; his throne was the hollow oak, 
 as against the later Olympus, and the oak-tree was the only 
 beehive, just rts the trees are to-d.iy in the Australian bush, 
 where the natives find what they call 'sugar-bag.' What 
 we have stumbled on in the later {wets is just a case of folk- 
 memory set to music. Thes«; huney-beariiig oaks hiid ceased 
 to be: the old-world beehive had been replaced by an arti- 
 ficial structure, jus it will be in Australia, where they will 
 one day sing (if enough of the black fellows survive to sing). 
 
 Oh ! for the days we climbed (or sugarbag, 
 
 And found it high in every hollow tree, 
 
 lU'forc the while man came and marred our joy. 
 
 Thus will sing the Australian j)o«>tof the twenty-first century, 
 and the song may be headed 
 
 ll«dc«nt Salumia rogna. 
 
CHAPTER XLI 
 
 THE TWINS IN WESTERN EUROPE 
 
 Twins in 
 Western 
 Europe : 
 
 in Notre 
 Dame, 
 
 at Court- 
 
 St- 
 
 Etienne. 
 
 A PREVIOUS chapter brought to our notice some survivals 
 of the Twin Cult among the Celts of Brittany and in France 
 generally : it will be interesting to recover further traces of 
 that cult of the Dioscuri, which, according to Strabo, was one 
 of the prevalent characteristics of the Western Celts. 
 
 We obtain some information from the existing folk-lore, 
 in which we see evidence of the sanctity of the hollow oak, 
 and of its associations with the Thunder and the Twins. 
 
 Much more knowledge can be derived from a careful study 
 of the Acts of the French Saints in the Calendar of the 
 Church, many of whom are the thinnest disguise for an 
 original sacred dyad or triad, betraying by their names, by 
 their miracles, and in other ways that they are the Great 
 Brethren, who protect some city, or have been, from time 
 immemorial, honoured in some tree or sanctuary. 
 
 Archaeological research comes also to our aid, as in the 
 case of the recovered altar, found in Notre Dame, containing 
 a dedication by the boatmen of the Seine to certain Celtic 
 deities, including the Heavenly Twines. Note that the sanctuary 
 is, again, on an island in the river. 
 
 If, again, we travel a little further north, wo find 
 traces of prehistoric life, which belong to our investigation, 
 in the excavations at Co\irt-St-Etienne, in Belgium, con- 
 ducted by Count Goblet D'Alviella'. In these excavations a 
 number of funeral urns were found, of a small size, too small 
 for the incineration of an adult, and these small urns were 
 
 ' Antiijues Protohistoriques de CourtSt-Ktienne, p. 
 Uulletins de I'Acadc^mie Ko;ale de Belgique, Jan. 1908. 
 
 M. Extriiit (les 
 
en. XLl] THE TWINS IN WESTERN EUROPE 359 
 
 inserted in a larger one. It was sugge.sted by the explorer 
 that we had here the conservation of the remains of a child, 
 dying with its mother. Now came the surprise of the 
 situation. The small urns were sometimes in pairs, enclosed 
 in the larger urn. Count D'Alviella conjectured that this 
 was a case of twin-burial, and that the mother and her twins 
 had been put to death. His description of these double jars 
 of supposed infant-burial is as follows : ' Ici, en effet, ne 
 s'agirait-il piis de jumeaux ? Chez la plupart des nou-civilis^s, 
 la naissance de jumeaux a toujours passd {jour un fait sur- 
 naturel ou au muins suspect, un malefice qui entraine 
 I'immolation des enfants et frequemment de la mbre, alors que, 
 parmi les populations plus avanci^es, on se contente de les 
 tabouer, c'est h. dire qu'on les expulse ou qu'un les met en 
 qiiarantaine, afin d evitcr que toute la pcupiade n'en soit 
 contaminee. Mais chez les non-civilis^s, on confond aiscment 
 dans le surnaturel, les notions d'impurete et de saintete, de 
 n^faste et de propice. Par cela ineme (jue les j\imeaux sont 
 census une procreation de la puissance surhumaine, on tend 
 k se concilier leur influence et on leur rend des honneurs 
 divins apres leur mort. II n'y aurait done rien de surprenant 
 k ce que nos predece.s.seurs eussent a. la fois immole et v^nen^ 
 certains de leurs nouveau-ncs jumeaux en compagnie de leur 
 mere.' 
 
 The date of these fiiiienil deposits goes bsick to the be- 
 ginning of the Iron Age: we may .say that in Belgium the 
 custom of twin-munler prevailed, at least, down to 500 B.C., 
 and it is probable that a similar statement would hold for 
 Western Europe generally. On this matter archaeological 
 verification should be forthcoming, now that we know what 
 to look for. 
 
 The burials at Court-St-Etieime should bo compared with 
 the child burials discovered by Mr McAlister in the ancient 
 Caiiiianite stronghold at Oezer. 
 
 Outlying and isolated populations will oft^-n con.serve for 
 us beliefs with reganl to twins which will betray the original 
 prehistoric view, even though no cruel treatment is at the 
 present day meted out either to the twins or their mother. 
 
3G0 THE TWINS IN WKSTERN EUROPE [cH. XLI 
 
 Twins in For an example from Eastern Europe we might take the 
 "^thians Huzuls, a Ruthenian people, living on the N.E. slope of the 
 Carpathian mountains. They dread the birth of twins, on 
 the ground that it portends the early death of one of the 
 parents, or the decline in the prosperity of the family. Some 
 of them say that the birth of twins or of triplets is a direct 
 punishment from God'. We find traces of the same fear of re- 
 action of the twins on the life of the parents among S. African 
 tribes. We noted it also in the island of Nias^ 
 
 There is a good deal of further research to be made in 
 European countries both with regard to the twin-fear, and its 
 associated cult of the Thunder. In particular, we want to 
 know more about the mind of the Scandinavians on the 
 subject of Twins, and of the peoples who inhabit the Spanish 
 peninsula. As regards our own ancestors there is more to 
 be recovered. I have not attempted to decide whether 
 Hengest and Horsa are mythical or not ; their names and the 
 White Horse of their banners suggest twins (Hengst =stallion) ; 
 on the other hand they appear to be historical characters, 
 even if their names arc suspicious. So this matter must also 
 stand over for further investigation. The same thing must 
 be said with regard to the Irish folk-lore, a region in which 
 I am not at home. 
 
 ' Kaindl. Die Huzulen, p. 4. ' Supra, ch. xiv. p. 169. 
 
CHAPTER XLII 
 
 DIOSCt'RISM AND JASONISM 
 
 Now let us turn to wh:vt Wi^s, perhaps, the most difficult 
 and the most obscure part of our investigation, the extent to 
 which Twin-cult c^iii be traced in Palestine. 
 
 It will be remembered that for Dioscurism generally we rw.ns m 
 have accumulated n>any sinking instances all over Palestine, 
 beginning with the Boar.erges of the Gospels; we traced the 
 Twins in Jerusalem at several historical periods, and we tound 
 them located to the North of Jerusalem and ... the ne.gh- 
 bourhood of Jaflk. We found the Phoenician legends strongly 
 marked with Dioscurism, and the same thing could be said 
 of the geography of Galilee. In the Old Testament, Twins 
 were constantly to be recognise.i from Genesis to the secon.i 
 book of Maccabees; and it was, therefore, clear that we had 
 to discuss the possibility of Dioscurism m the New FesU- 
 ment- if a hypothesis of folklore influence was so powerful 
 in elucidating the legends of Genesis, we could not retrain 
 from examining whether it might not also clear up some ob- 
 scurities in the Gospels. So we a.lmit Dioscurism as a vera 
 caiuia in the New TesUiment legends also. 
 
 Along with this csUblished occurrence of the combme.l 
 cult-s of Twins and the Th.inder. we also detected unex- 
 pectedly a subonlinate branch of Di.Kscuhsm. to which we 
 may give the name of J.usonism. The way m which we 
 came .ujrass it was this: in proving the Twins to have 
 been connected in GraecoRoman myth with the origin of 
 
362 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM [CH. 
 
 navigation, we were' obliged to examine the legend of the 
 building and sailing of the first Greek ship the Argo, under 
 the captaincy of Jason. And in this enquiry it became clear 
 that the ship Argo was an evolution of a rudimentary ship 
 which had twins on board. 
 
 Jason in From this recognition two questions were started, (i) was 
 
 a es ine. jj^g^jj^ then, a twin ; and (ii) was he of Greek or some other 
 nationality ? The first question was readily answered in the 
 affirmative, by the finding of his twin-brother ; the other 
 ijuestion was answered by showing that Jason was a Kabir 
 (or Semitic Dioscure), and this was almost equivalent to sug- 
 gesting that he came from Phoenicia, a country whose legends 
 we had already shown to be saturated with Dioscurisni, or at 
 all events from the N.E. angle of the Mediterranean. And 
 since it could not be denied that in the Hellenistic period, 
 Jason was the recognised equivalent for the Semitic Joshua, 
 we had before us the possibility that in much earlier times, 
 when Phoenicia was influencing Greece and not Greece 
 Phoenicia, Joshua may have been the original form of the 
 name of the Argonautic hero. Moreover, in that case, Jason 
 may have come from inland to the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, 
 since the name Joshua appears to be Hebrew rather than 
 Canaanite or Phoenician. This is a matter that requires closer 
 investigation, and we do not know yet whether the problem 
 is capable of a definite solution. Let us, however, see how 
 far we have travelled. We have established the general 
 diffusion of Dioscurism in Palestine and in Syria, and now 
 along with Dio.scurism, there appears to be emerging a 
 secondary and subordinate form of Dioscurism, which we 
 may call Jasonism, if we can find evidence that Jason was 
 honoured with shrines, games or worship in the sense in 
 which the Dioscuri were commonly honoured. 
 
 Jasoncia This, then, is one of the first points to be established. 
 
 as cult- ^|.g t,hgre Jasoneia in the same sense as there are Dios- 
 centres. 
 
 cureia, and do such Jason-sites involve any form of public 
 
 w<jrship (* 
 
 Strabo afHrnis that there are a multitude of such Jason- 
 centres, and uses them to rebut the tloubts of persons ;is to 
 
 I 
 
XLIl] DIOSOURISM AND .TA80NISM S63 
 
 the reality of Jixson hiinsilf ! He tells us tHat all through 
 Armenia and Media and the neighbouring lands you will find 
 Jasoneia'. In another j);iss;ige he argues that Jason himself 
 must have visited places ; for it is said that Jason came to 
 many places in Armenia and Media, as ia testified by the 
 existence of the Jasoneia'. He recurs to the point again in 
 another passage in which he affirms that the Jasoneia are 
 Herua, in memory of Jiuson, and very much held in esteem by 
 barbarous peoples'. Acconling to this the Jason-centre is 
 a Heroon, or a place of honour of a cult-hero. Once more 
 Strabo repeats his argument that the J:usoncum is a proof of 
 the historicity of Jason and the Argonautic expedition; for 
 there are many such shrines which give testimony on the 
 point, some of which have been set up by rulers of states, in 
 the same way that Parmenio established the temple of Jason 
 in Abdera'. Notice that Abdera is a city, which, in early 
 times, struck coins with Phoenician inscriptions. (See Eickhel 
 
 I. 13.) 
 
 This time we have actual temple worship ascribed to 
 Jason. Without pressing the reference to the temple too 
 far, it is clear that Jason is a cult-hero, honoured in very 
 much the .same way as the Dioscuri themselves ; he is, as we 
 have said, a subonJinate Dioscure, a particular member of a 
 great family. Unless Strabo is hopelessly inac.-urate this 
 Jason-cult is Asiatic as will as Greek. In Greek centres we 
 have certainly eames in honour of Jason', and naval contests. Games 
 
 •^ " I • ' ftnu con* 
 
 Whether there were dramatic representations or religious ^^^^^ ^^ 
 mysteries involved is not known : it is at least lawful to con- Jasonii*. 
 jecture that the great variety of treatment of Jason, Medea, 
 and the ArgonauU by Greek dramatists makes it likely that 
 simpler forms of rustic drama may have preceded or accom- 
 panied the more stately monuments of the Attic muse : for 
 the story wjus one which furnished, jus we have said, a variety 
 of situations which were favourable to |K.pular treatment, 
 
 • strabo 4.'.. ' '^ ^^■ 
 
 > id. S26. * "••■ 53>- 
 
 » Sec note at the beRinning of ch. xti. where Jason is cre<lile<l in an 
 epigr&ni with the foundation of Isthmian Kamm. 
 
364 
 
 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM 
 
 [CH. 
 
 such as the landing of the Argonauts on the woman-in- 
 habited and woman-governed island of Lemnos, the fight 
 between Pollux and Ainycus, and the exciting scenes in the 
 courtship of Jason and Medea and the capture of the Golden 
 Fleece. 
 
 We note, in passing, that the dramatic representations of 
 the Jason story furnish us with an additional proof of the 
 correctness of Grotefend's derivation of Jason from Phoenicia; 
 for Aeschylus, when he writes on the Argonauts, calls his 
 play by the name of the Kabiri. The play is lost, but we 
 know from Athenaeus' that in this play Jason and his com- 
 Jason in panions were drunk when they landed on Lemnos; so there 
 can be no doubt that Jason was known to have been a Kabir, 
 and that the play involved himself and his companions. For 
 it seems clear that with the women ruling on Lemnos and 
 the men absent, the Kabiri referred to can only be Jason 
 and his crew. As, however, it has been commonly understood 
 in the opposite sense, that the inhabitants of Lemnos were 
 the Kabiri of Aeschylus' play, it may be worth while to 
 examine the matter more closely. 
 
 First of all we learn from the Scholiast on Pindar- that 
 Sophocles in his play called The Women of Lemnos, and 
 Aeschylus in his Ktihiri, makes a list (xaTaXeyei) of all the 
 crew of the Argo. Here we must clearly correct the text, so 
 as to read that Sophocles, with Aeschylus, makes sport of 
 (KaTayeXa) the Argonauts. For Athenaeus tells us that 
 Aeschylus was the first to mingle comedy with tragedy by 
 bringing the drunken seamen on the stage: 
 
 Trpa)To>; yap e/ceji/o?, xai ov< oxr evioi <f>aa'iv, KvpnrlS'tj'i, 
 irapijyayt Tqv Twr fxedvovTojv o'^iv eit rpaywhiav iv ynp 
 Tot? KayfcJfipo/? eiaiiyei tol/s" Trepl Tor Iticrova p.edvot'Ta<;. 
 
 Plutarch-' appears to me to say the same thing, that the 
 Kabiri, in Aeschylus' play, when they landed on Lemnos, 
 threatened ' to drink the hou.se dry': 
 
 ' Deipn. 10, p. 428. 
 
 ' Schol. PinJ. Pyth. 4.303: see Nauek. Fnui. (!k. Trnri. (ed ii. p. 31). 
 
 ' QitaeH. Comiv. 2. 1. 7, p. 632 f. 
 
XLii] nioscunisM and .jasonism 365 
 
 er T19 ni'Tt<TTpe\lra<; a'nim'o rov<: Ai'ffxiXoi; Kaffdpovi 
 6^ov<: ffTrari'feii' B^iyfxa -rronjaavra';. watrtp avTol -nai^oma 
 t)Trfi\r]aai>. 
 
 Surely the Kabiri, here, are not the inhabitanUs of Lemnos, 
 welcoming the strangei-s, but the visitors making themselves 
 very much at home'. 
 
 We have now conHmied Grotefend's view as to the Semitic Jason 
 
 . • • f ^L "Wl Semitic; 
 
 origin of Jason, and we must examine, in view of the possible 
 linguistic equation between Jason and Joshua, whether we 
 can take Jason further inland. I have explained that the 
 equation in question must be allowed to be a probable hypo- 
 thesis, but I have established Jason as a Kabir independently 
 of the linguistic argument or a definitely Phoenician origin. 
 The hypothesis is probable, beaiuse we jictually find Hellen- 
 istic Jews substituting the name Jason for their original 
 Joshua. At the same time it must be remembered that 
 there may be other origins for the name Ja«on. For example 
 in Dalman's list of Nabataean inscriptions fn.ui P.-tra. we shall ^.l^ap* 
 find (no. 3) such a name as Abd-ljasi CD'N^Sy). which |^g^„ 
 suggests a deity who.se name is Ij:isi. The same name 
 turns up in no. i)3. " Peace be upi>n Abiiijiusi the son of — ': 
 and Dalman draws attention to the forms Ij;usi ('{^'N) and 
 Ijasu (1tJ''S) in Dussaud's inscriptions from Mid-Syria. In 
 no. 15 Dalman gives the name Ijiusu detached, and apparently 
 not divine (' Gaddu. son of Ijaau. peace upon him '). 
 
 We should reserve our final judgement as to the necessary 
 equivalent of Joshua and J;ison, in view of this new form, 
 which actually occurs in Dussaud in its Gnek dn-.ss .w 
 'laffo?. We may, perhap. uke Jason inland without linking 
 him to Joshua, or making him |)as.s through Phoenicia. 
 
 It should be n<.ted further that the NabaUean form Ijfisu «'^^^;^J|' 
 occurs also in Ethiopic ; thus in the Scriptores Aethiupici 
 (Corp. Scr. Chr. Or.) we have the annals of two kings named 
 lyasu, which shows that the name is Si)Uth Semitic rather than 
 North. The observation is an important one if, for other 
 reasons we should i.l.nlify the name with the Greek Jason. 
 
 ' [Aibeck, Arilaoiih. l'.>07 h»i mUundcriitooil the |»M»({e. 
 
monu- 
 ments 
 
 366 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM [CH. 
 
 It might mean that Jason came up from S. Arabia, instead 
 of from Phoenicia, in which case any reference to Joshua as 
 the original cult-hero may be dropped'. 
 
 Is it conceivable that we might find in Palestine any of 
 those Jasoneia which Strabo says were so common in Media 
 and Armenia ? The mixed racial character of the population 
 of Northern Israel renders it a not unlikely hypothesis. 
 Suppose we move out of the districts and cities that are 
 Paneas altogether Phoenician into the frontiers of Phoenicia, where 
 the population is mixed; such a city as Paneas (better known 
 as Caesarea Philippi) will be a good centre for antiquarian re- 
 search. Its name Paneas, and its sacred grotto of Pan, show 
 Greek influence, its devotion to a succession of Caesars, from 
 Augustus to Nero, and perhaps to Julian, supplies Roman 
 influence; Eusebius, however, tells us that it was a Phoenician 
 city and is strongly supported in the statement. So that we 
 have in Paneas a meeting point of religions and of cultures, 
 the Phoenician having the mark of predominance in early 
 times. 
 
 Now Eusebius tells us- a curious archaeological story with 
 -regard to Paneas, namely, that it was the place of residence 
 of the woman whom the Lord healed of a twelve-years' sick- 
 ness, and that she had, in gratitude for healing, erected, near 
 A famous her own house, a monument on a lofty pedestal, representing 
 sculpture, herself in the attitude of a suppliant with outstretched hands, 
 
 ' For convenience we add some of Dussaud's notes as they occur in 
 Nouvelles Archives des Missions Scietitijiques , Tom. x. 1902 (Paris). 
 Amongst the Nabataean inscriptions we have No. 10 from Sabha: 
 
 Hasbou fille de lyasou. 
 'lyasiou est connu ; notre grecque No. 112 (1. 113) en donne la tran- 
 scription 'lao-oi, en .safaitique D'K. 
 
 The Greek inscription referred to is as follows : 113 from Sabha 
 
 'A/jLpos 'liaov ^r[wy] le'. 
 Amongst the Safaitic inscriptions we tind No. 13, from Es-soummaqiyat 
 
 i.e. Rem, el fils de Ausou. 
 
 It is not quite clear that this is the same name as "liiros or related to it; 
 but it has especial interest, because Justin Martyr when transliterating the 
 original name of Joshua (Hoshea) for Greek readers, uses the form Auses. 
 
 " H. E. viL 18. 
 
XLIlJ DIOSCrUISM AND JASONISM :iG7 
 
 receiving the blessing of ihu Lord who sUxxl i-rect with his 
 hand extended towanis her. Eusebius also tells us that there 
 was growing on the pedestal a magic herb, which reached !is 
 high iis the hem of the Lonl's robe, an<l wjis capable of healing 
 all sorts of diseases. These statements of Eusebius, who tells 
 us that anyone who visited Paneas could sec the bronze 
 statues for himself, were copied by subsequent writers, who 
 added what might be thought necessary to the description of 
 the statuary and its marvels. For instance, Sozomen' follows 
 Eusebius in calling the city a Phoenician city; and Theo- 
 phanes' adds that the image of our Lonl had been thrown 
 down by the Emperor Julian, who set up his own statue in 
 its place: Julian was, in fact, angry at the cures wrought by 
 the magic herb. The Christians are said to have rescued the 
 dejected sUitue, and placed it in their Church ! 
 
 Now with regard to this story of Eu.sebius, it would 
 probably be safe to say that no reasonable person believes it: 
 indeed, Eusebius himself does not appear to have seen the 
 figures. It is evidently a case of converted monuments such 
 as we recognise when Jupiter Capitolinus is .set up as S. Peter 
 in the Church of the Vatican, or when the pilgrim from 
 Aquitaine was told by her guides that a pair of Egyptian 
 statues which she saw were those of Moses and Aaron. 
 
 The question then arises iis to whose statue it was, if it Whose 
 wjis not a representation of Jesus. Robinson, in his Biblical w»s"it» 
 Researches', suggested that it was an imperial statue, which 
 would agree with and express a devotion proper to a cit}' 
 which honoured the Roman empen>rs and was named after 
 them. Only in that case, two things remained unexplained, 
 the kneeling woman and the magic herb ; two-thinis of the 
 monument is left oKscure. Now we may suspect that the 
 herb is not a real herb, but a part of the sculpture; it nuist 
 be there, because Eusebius relates that it reached the hem of 
 the Lord's diplois, and it is implied that this herb communi- 
 cated virtue to the garment; that is the herb hel|H-d the 
 
 ' //. E. T. 21. 
 
 * Ckronoyraphion, p 41 : quotmi in Kclantl, /'n/nlina, p. 9lH. 
 
 ' I.e. III. 410 V. 
 
368 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM [CH. 
 
 identification of the woman with the well-known Gospel 
 character. Now if the herb was a part of the sculpture, then 
 it is quite an inadequate explanation to say that the monu- 
 ment was an imperial bronze. Let us try a more natural 
 Jason and solution. Assume it to be a statue of Jason and Medea ; we 
 ^ ^*' then explain the herb in the representation, it is part of 
 Medea's magic. When Medea made medicine for the pro- 
 tection of Jason, she took for a chief ingredient the saffron 
 from a crocus-like plant which had been fed with the ichor of 
 the suffering Prometheus : 
 
 ' And the flower of it blossomed a cubit the face of the earth above, 
 As the glow of the crocus Corycian, so was the hue thereof. 
 Upborne upon pale stalks twain, and below in its earthly bed 
 The root thereof as flesh new severed was crimson red.' 
 
 (A. S. Way.) 
 
 Tov S' rjTOL ai>Oo<; fiev ocrov Trtj^vtov inrepOev 
 Xpotf) K(i>pvKL(p iKeXov KpoKoi e^e<padv0Tj, 
 KavKolaiv StBvfioicTLV eTrr/opov f) h' iv\ yair) 
 aapKi, veoTjxrjrtp evaXiyKirj eirXeTo pl^a. 
 
 Apoll. Rhod. III. 85:3—8.56. 
 This Hower about a cubit high may very well be the plant 
 which Eusebius describes. Eusebius expressly says that it 
 grew at the Lord's feet, upon the column itself: later writers, 
 like Theophanes, say that it grew underneath the basis 
 of the statue, which appears to be a misunderstanding of 
 Eusebius. 
 
 The correctness of our own interpretation may be inferred 
 from the fact that the Greek artists did represent the Hower. 
 On a Neapolitan vase, where the capture of the Golden 
 Fleece is delineated, the flower may actually be seen 
 growing near the root of the tree on which the Fleece is 
 suspended, between Medea, who is charming the snake, and 
 Jason who is seizing the Fleece. The Viise-painting may be 
 seen as copied in Roscher from a study of Heydemann's'. 
 
 Assuming, then, that we have here a statue of Jason and 
 Medea, we can now see why the people of the place came to 
 say it was a statue of Jesus ; for the known equivalence of 
 
 ' Roscher, Griech. u. Rom. Mytlwlugic, s.v. Jason; Heydemann, Hall. 
 Winckelmannsprogr. 886, Taf. .3. 
 
XLIl] DIOSt'URISM AND JASONMSM 369 
 
 Jason Cl^(T(ov) and Jesus made such iin identification per- 
 fectly natural. It was not an arbitrary guess, and when 
 Jesus was identified, it was easy to identify the woman, with 
 the aid of the gospel. 
 
 We nee<l not be surprised at finding a statue of Medea 
 in Paneas; when Dumitian adorned Antioch with monuments 
 and sanctuaries, he established a temple of Asklepios, and 
 built public baths in honour of Medea, whose statue was 
 there set up. It seems clear that the latter statue had a 
 religious as well as an artistic intention. If Medea was an 
 object of devotion in Antioch in the first century of the 
 Christian era, as well ;is Triptolemos, there is no reason why 
 Jason and Medea should not have been honoured as healers 
 and helpers at Paneas'. 
 
 We have now conjectumlly restored Jason into close JasoDism 
 geographical contiguity with Jesus. Each of them also is '^^g^_ 
 a twin, and their names are capable of a clo.se parallelism : curism. 
 one of them is a Kabir, the other has been shown to be 
 a Dioscure. If it was lawful to suggest Dioscurism as an 
 interpreting factor in the legends of the Old and New Testa- 
 ment, then Jasonism, as a subordinate form of Dioscurism, 
 may equally be invoked. This suggestion, however, raises 
 some difficult historical problems. For example, one of the The 
 best remembered points in the Argonaut story was that ""j'^°*^ 
 Medea, inHamed with love for Jason, provided him with an 
 unction that should preserve him from the fire-breathing 
 bulls and from the ileath-dcaling dragon whom he had to 
 face, before he could capture the Golden Fleece. In 
 Apollonius' account, Medea gives Jason the meiiicament, 
 and tells him to anoint his whole body with it, ivs if with 
 ointment. I^ater writt^rs represent Medea as herself acting 
 as aXfiT.Tjj?. Thus Horace .says' 
 
 ' ut ArKnnnuUw practcr omnc!) canHidum 
 Mcdc« minita rat ducetn, 
 ignota tiiuriii illiK»lurum iugm 
 pcrunxit hoc laivnem,' 
 
 and it is not uncommon in n-pre-sentations of the scenes at 
 ' Kur this iiUtiip at Antioch m« Malalan, p. 'J6.'l. ' F.pixl. iii. 9-13. 
 
 II. D. 24 
 
370 DIOSCDRISM AND JASONISM [cH. 
 
 Colchis to introduce Medea carrying her box of ine(Jicanient 
 with her. There can be little doubt that the statement 
 
 Medea anointed Jason 
 was very familiar in literature and in art. 
 
 When Apollonius tells us the story in the Argonaiitica, 
 Medea produces from her s;ish or breast-band {filrpd) the 
 protective charm, offers it to Jason, who gladly receives it ; 
 and then she stands before him, and in a flood of teal's 
 declares her love, and beseeches that he will remember 
 Medea when he is gone. 
 
 ' She, with a downcast glance, and maiden fear. 
 Bedewed her cheek divine with many a tear: 
 Grieving that he, her love, ere long would be 
 Far from her gaze, and wandering o'er the sea. 
 O'er virgin modesty her eyes prevailed 
 And with a troubled speech she hira assailed; 
 Eemember me, she said, and took his hand, 
 If e'er thou comest to thy fatherland ; 
 Thy poor Medea, far remote, will pay 
 Thy memory with remembering alway.' 
 
 a>? ap' ^'t>V> ""■'■ <^ty^ TToSaiv 7rapo<; oaae ^oKovcra 
 BeuTTicnov Xiapolcn -TrapTjiBa BuKpvai Sevev 
 fivpofiei'T], ot' e^eXXei" a-jroirpodi ttoWov eoio 
 •TTovTov i-mTrXdy^eaffai ■ aviTjpm Be p.iv avrr^v 
 i^avTi'! fjivOq} Trpu(Te(j)ct)vefv, elXe re ■)(^eipo'i 
 Seftrep^?* Brj yap ol dtr 6<^6aXfiow Xiirev aihw<;- 
 fivtoeo S', ^v apa S»j voO' i/7roTpo7ro9 oikuB iKrjai, 
 oviop.a M7)8ei7}<; • (L? B' avr' eyoo dfj.(pl<i e'dj/T09 
 
 /jLvy'icrOfiai,. 
 
 Ai'OLL. Ru. III. 1062—1070. 
 
 Here we have the unction and the weeping woman. Notice, 
 too, that in the Paneas monument also it is a weeping 
 woman : for Mahilas tells us that he visited Panesis, and 
 found there, in possession of a converted Jew, named Bussus, 
 a copy of the petition which the woman presented to Herod, 
 in which she tells the story of her appeal to the Lord : ' I, 
 falling before him, flooded the ground with my tears, confessing 
 my danng^.' 
 
 ' See Malalas, lib. x. pp. 304—308 for the Eusebian story and the 
 traditions which he gathered at Paneas. 
 
XLIlj DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM 371 
 
 Is It possible that the Gospel itself hiis been J.isonized Was the 
 by the insertion of a story in iniiution of or in parallelism to 'l^'^'Jf' 
 this of the anointing of Jiison ? We remember the beautiful 'ZfJ? 
 account of the woman who washed our Lord's feet with tears 
 and anointed him with costly unguent. What makes the 
 story suspicious is that it was told at different places and 
 times, and apparently of different people. Mark's story* is 
 of a woman who comes in with costly unguents into the 
 house of Simon the leper at Bethany, who wan entertaining 
 Jesus. John', who evidently knows the JIarcun story, de- 
 lib, rately corrects Mark, and maintains that it was Mary 
 of Bethany who anointed the Lord. Luke' transfers the 
 whole story to the hou.se of a Phari.see nainid Simon, who, in 
 a .somewhat supercilious manner, was entertaining Jesus at 
 <linner, and declares that the woman w;us a great sinner. We 
 take it for granted that .so extraordinary an incident did not 
 occur twice. So does the author of the fourth Gospel. The 
 discrepancies in these accounts cerUiinly lend a colour to the 
 suggestion that we are dealing with legendary matter that is 
 trying to make itself historical. If that should be the right 
 interpretation, there is no likelier (juarter in which to seek 
 for the origin of the story than in the tale of Jason and 
 Medea. 
 
 The difficulty, however, at once suggests itself that the Mary and 
 cases are not n-ally parallel : it is easy to write down the two ^^^^ 
 sentences 
 
 Medea anointed Ja.<ion, 
 Mary anointed Jesiia, 
 
 ami Id pDiiit. out their literary panillelism ; but in the latter 
 case the unguent is of surpiussing sweetness, and fills the 
 house with o<loiir; in the former ca.se, if tradition can be 
 trusted, it wius an evil-smelling compound. When Horace 
 had some unusually strong garlic at one of Maeienits' dinners, 
 he compand the smell of it to the medicine with which 
 Medea anointed Jason, and to the horrible poison which she 
 
 Mark XIV. 3—9. » John xii. I -H. 
 
 » Luke vii. 35—50. 
 
 ii-2 
 
 /• 
 
372 
 
 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Limits of 
 Dioscuric 
 influence. 
 
 prepared for the daughter of Croon : in the passage which we 
 have already quoted, 
 
 ' ut Argonautas praeter omnes candidum 
 Medea mirata est ducem, 
 ipnota tauris illiRaturum iuga 
 
 perunxit hoc lasonem ; 
 hoc dehbutis ulta donis paelicem 
 serpente (ugit alite.' 
 
 Epod. III. 9—14. 
 
 We may suspect also that its taste was as detestable as 
 its smell ; for there was a tradition, preserved to us on a 
 single monument, an Attic vase from Caere, which represents 
 Jason as actually swallowed by the dragon, and subsequently 
 disgorged'. It is natural to suggest that just as the fire- 
 breathing bulls did not like the smell of Medea's medicine, 
 so the dragon did not like the taste of it. We can hardly, 
 then, compare the Medean unguent with the spikenard of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 We are now faced with the problem of the determination 
 of the limits of a possible Dioscuric influence. It is clearly 
 one thing to be able to explain or remove a miracle, with 
 which an account has been surcharged, by the hypothesis of 
 popular Dioscuric influence ; but it is quite another to relegate 
 to the region of artificial legend an incident which is altogether 
 free from miraculous elements, and the description of which 
 is marked by the vividness of a story that is truly told. A 
 true history becomes more credible when its miraculous accre- 
 tions are removed ; but a history, whose fundamental events 
 are subtrahible, ceases, even if it be vividly told, to have the 
 confidence of the reader. Such, at least, is the impression 
 which is at first produced, by the application of Dioscurism 
 (including Jiisonisin) as an elucidating factor to the Gospel. 
 We proceeded on the hypothesis that we had discovered in 
 Dioscurism a critical vera causa: this w;us certainly the case 
 
 ' For the emerging Jason see Roscher, or Miss Harrison, Themis, p. 476. 
 That the Dragon is the Night is euggesleil liy Sadi in his Gulist,it> (trans, by 
 Platts, p. 10), 
 
 'The sun's orb disappeared in darkness, 
 Jonah entered the mouth of the fish.' 
 
XLIl] DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM 373 
 
 in the legends of Genesis, and in the freely-handled narration 
 of the second book of Maccabees ; whether our application of 
 the same methixls of explanation to the New Testament is 
 illicit, is the question that we must try to decide. Certainly 
 there can be no a priori exclusion of the Dioscuric hypo- 
 thesis : it has explained for us too many situations to be 
 treated with critical contempt. On the other hand, it is 
 quite likely that the methinl is applied by us in the New 
 Testament sometimes rightly and sometimes wrongly. It is 
 surely right when it is explaining Boanerges, and perhaps 
 right when it explains that the young disciples who bore 
 that name wished to invoke the doom of Sodom on the 
 inhospitable Samaritans; for the angels in the story of 
 the Destruction of Sodom <ire clearly Dioscures. Here the 
 parallel is perfect, and Ciin be reinforced from a Diascuric 
 incident in the second book of Maccabees, where the story of 
 Sodom can again be seen to furnish a parallel to the narra- 
 tive. Pos.sibly, also, the twice told tale of the miraculous 
 haul of fish may be credited to popular Dioscuric beliefs ; 
 though here there are objections that will readily be felt': 
 on the other hand, such accounts as the marriage in Cana (in 
 spite of the involved miracle), and the anointing of the Lord, 
 are so simple and natural, that one hesitates to cover them 
 with the hyjMjthesis of the invention of a folk-lorist. It 
 would be foolish to speak dogmatically of our results at this 
 stage of the investigation : we have certainly resolved some 
 riddles, but whether we have carried our explanations into 
 regions that did not need such elucidation, let the reader 
 judge, who is occupied with ourselves in the evaluation of 
 the Biblical story. It may be proper to remark at this jK>int No room 
 that we have not followed the meth<Kls nor inc(>qM)nited the n^JroloRy 
 results of those who regard the t'hristian .story a-s a disguis«'d 
 astrology, based on the supposed knowle<lge of the Babylonians 
 with regard to the signs and constellations in the heavens, 
 and the suppo.sed diffusion of this knowh-dge among all sorts 
 
 ' At for instance, that it Uie Dioscures brinfj llio fi.Hli, Iherc were other 
 twins on board the ahip. before Jesus appoarvd. Whj did not they bring 
 the luck? 
 
374 DIOSCURISM AND JASONISM [CH. XLII 
 
 and conditions of men. We proceed from the 'solid ground 
 of nature,' to which Wordsworth refers ns, and our folk-lore 
 combinations antedate by thousands of years the Babylonian 
 astronomy, which, in any case, has been credited with an 
 impossible antiquity ; as we have already pointed out, the 
 last thing that happens to the Twins is that they getr into 
 
 or for the the Zodiac. Hence the Zodiac does not constitute their true 
 explanation : how could two special stars in the sky explain 
 an age-long and universal Fear ? or a Babylonian school of 
 astrologers, in relatively modern times, instruct the farthest 
 Hebrides ? A particular instance will, perhaps, explain the 
 point more clearly. The monuments of Mithra present at 
 first sight a decidedly Zodiacal appearance ; the central figure 
 of the god slaughtering the bull is ringed by the twelve 
 signs in many of the sculptures that have come down to us. 
 It is equally clear that the Heavenly Twins are in the 
 central part of the sculpture as the two Torch-bearers, 
 
 J Cautes and Cautopates. Thus we have the Twins twice 
 
 over, Twins being superposed on Twins. Evidently the 
 bordering Zodiac is a later accretion to the original repre- 
 sentation of Mithra and the Twins : in other words, Mithra 
 has a great deal to do with the Twins, but very little, 
 if anything, to do with the Zodiac. We must, therefore, 
 subtract the Zodiac from the Mithra monuments if we are to 
 understand Mithraism ; and in the same way we subtract the 
 stars Castor and Pollux from the argument, if we wish to 
 understand the meaning and evolution of the Dioscuri. 
 
 I 
 
CHAPTER XLIII 
 
 SOME FURTHER REMARKS UPON GRAECO-ROMAN 
 DIOSCURISM 
 
 We have shown in a variety of ways that the Twin-cults 
 of Greece and Rome are closely linked to the savage beliefs 
 which attach to the Fear of the Thunder and the Fear of 
 Twins. It is clear, however, that much still remains obscure 
 with regard to the tradition of the cult and the meaning of 
 its chief symbols. If, for e.xample, we were to return to the Tbe 
 study of the great votive monument of Argenidas at Verona, ^"'''*'j^ 
 crowded as it is with Dioscuric suggestions, we should pro- ArgeniJas. 
 bably feel that we were beginning to understand it, but that 
 there was not a little to be said by way of further elucidation. 
 The first glance at the inscription and at the returned ship The ship, 
 lying in harbour informs us that the Dioscuri had protected 
 Argenidiis on a sea-voyage. Probably the .sculptured pig at 
 the b:ise of the altar is an intimation that he has paid his 
 debt ritually as well iis artistically. The two figures on the Thp twins, 
 left of the sculpture are evidently the Twins themselve-s, not 
 here represented as horsemen, nor sensibly pourtraycd aa 
 heroes, but as grave and reverend men, perhaps dead men. 
 
 On the rocks over the harbour is perched a c<x;k ; we The cock, 
 have traced him as the Persian substitute for the original 
 Graeco-Iioman thunder-binl, the Woodpecker; the .sculpture, 
 therefore, reminds us of the link between Twins and the 
 Thunder, or, in Graeco- Roman language, that the Twins are 
 the children of Zeu.s. 
 
 There remain, however, two parts of the sculpture which The 
 rcfpiire further study: (1) the Dokana or Sacred Beams, jj^^^ 
 
 , Th 
 suggesting that they adoni an Anakeion ur House of iho 
 
 which appt-ar in the right hand c-Drner. with a superscription "^^ 
 
376 SOME FURTHER REMARKS UPON [CH. 
 
 Anakes : (2) the two tall amphorae, from one of which an 
 The emerging snake is finding its way to the Anakeion. The 
 
 amphorae, twin-ness of these two symbols is evident : the Dokana have 
 been resolved into a pair of equal and similar H-shaped 
 symbols ; and the amphorae are also equal and similar, only 
 The differing in the fact that one of them has a snake visible and 
 
 s"!^ e- emerging from it, and the other not. It is common to 
 explain the Dokana as representing the entrance to a tomb, 
 and so to give the cult a Chthonian character and to repre- 
 sent the Twins as the spirits of the dead : a parallel to the 
 structure of the combined Dokana has been found in the 
 conventional gateway to a Chinese pagoda ; and certain 
 parallels have also been adduced, from Greek literature, for 
 the worship of the Twins as being worship at a tomb. 
 
 Those who make this explanation commonly go on to 
 point out the Chthonian significance of the snake in con- 
 nection with the amphora. On Roman denarii it is not 
 unusual to have a pair of amphorae entwined with snakes. 
 The vessels certainly denote the Twins. In the representa- 
 tion to which we alluded of the two primitive Kabirs in the 
 boat, they are seen on the carved gem to be grasping an 
 amphora which stands between them, and this amphora, 
 though single, must have a similar explanation to what 
 we find in the votive monument of Argenidas. It is by no 
 means clear why the Twin-sailors of antiquity should be 
 hugging this amphora on the gem in question, or why they 
 should be represented by Argenidas as standing behind the 
 pair of amphorae with the snake. 
 Votive In the Aiinnal of the British school at Athens for li)06 — 7 
 
 bfilT ^^® have a description by Mr Wace of a relief set up by 
 
 players. successful ball-players as a votive offering to the Dioscuri. 
 As this description brings out the connection between the 
 Dioscuric symbols, and their supposed funerary character, it 
 will be interesting to transcribe a passage: Mr Wace tells us 
 that 'above the inscription is a representation of the Dioscuri 
 in low and rather flat relief They stand facing one another 
 in exactly symmetrical attitudes, wearing ttIXoi and carrying 
 long lances. Their only garment is a chlamys, which hangs 
 
XLiii] (;rakc(>-romax dioscurism 377 
 
 loosely over the elbows and piisses behind the hack, leaving 
 the body quite nude. Their hair is long and curly. A tall 
 amphora with a conical lid stands on a .s(|uare base between 
 them, while above it, and apparently resting on its handles, are 
 the UKava. These consist of two vertical joined by two hori- 
 zontal beams in the middle and at the top. The uppermost 
 horizontal beam, which projects beyond the vertical ones, is 
 decorated with an egg between iwo snakes.... 0/</ie attributes 
 of the heroes we have here the funereal amphora, which refers to 
 the legend that they xuere buried near Sparta (Alkman. fr. 5; 
 Pindar, Nern. X. 56 ; Homer. II. III. 2+3; Od. XI. 301) and 
 tfie ho Kava.... Were, as in the two other reliefs we have 
 snakes in connection with the hiiKava, and this belief seems 
 to confirm the arguments advanced in the Sparta Museum 
 Catalogue that the Dioscuri were ivorshipped as dead heroes.' 
 In these words, Mr Wace brings out the commonly 
 accepted belief that the cult of the Twins wius Chthonian m 
 character ; and confirms the belief that the leading Dioscuric 
 symbols have .something to do with the dead. 
 
 So the (juestion arises whether wc can do anything further 
 to explain these symbols. They are clearly fundamentid ni 
 the Graeco-Roman cult. How do thi-y arise and at what 
 point, in the evolution of Dioscurism fron* its primitive 
 nucleus in sjivage Fears ? It may be conjectured that the 
 explanation lies in the following directions, if mir theory of 
 the origin nf Dioscurism be correct. 
 
 The amphonie must gi> back into primitive jK.ts of native Meaning 
 manufiu-tiire in savage communities ; now we have seen all |^„,p^o^ 
 through Africii the occurrence and n-currence of such poUs. 
 Wc found in West Africji that they were used for burying 
 the unfortunate child-victims of the primeval fear. When 
 one child dies, or is put to death, its twin-ship is emphj»»iz«>d 
 by the burying or exposing of a second pot along with it; 
 this is to intimate that bt>th childn-n are to be regnnlid iis 
 buried, though one of them has bet-n spored'. The panillela 
 
 ' The vprj name ihinK <>ccur« in ihe IVru»i»n lr«»tn>cnt of Twin*, a« 
 Arriftgn 1«I1h u«; ihe linui Iwin i» plared in a put an.l kcp» within ihc houM 
 08 a «cr«l thinR: we Arri»«*. /•.rlirfwrKJii ./.• la IJoUtlrut. p. 16. 
 
378 
 
 SOME FURTHER REMARKS UPON 
 
 [CH. 
 
 Burial 
 of the 
 placenta. 
 
 The 
 maduka. 
 
 to these customs are the dual amphorae with pair of snakes, 
 the single amphora, or the pair of amphorae with single 
 snake. We notice further the custom which prevails on the 
 Congo and in the Uganda Protectorate of burying or exposing 
 the placenta of one twin, or of both, in an earthen pot. The 
 devotion of the savage to the twin-placenta or to the placenta 
 of a king is extraordinary: these things are taboo of the 
 front rank. I imagine the explanation to lie in the following 
 direction. The reverence for the twin-placenta arises from 
 the fact that the life of the twin has been spared, and a 
 substitute for it found. The placenta is a twin of the twins. 
 Accordingly the placenta is buried or exposed instead of the 
 child ; it has its own earthen pot for burial or exposure ; 
 according to the degree in which the taboo has been lifted, 
 whether from one child or from both, there should be one 
 tabooed pot with relics or a couple'. 
 
 Now we begin to see daylight on one or two other prac- 
 tices which are reported from the Congo region, where we 
 have the twin-cult in a very interesting state of transition. 
 
 If we turn back to Mr Kenred Smith's account of the 
 superstitions of the Congolese we shall see the importance 
 of the maduka, or earthen pot containing the placenta. 
 These maduk;\s are expo.sed on forked branches of trees by 
 the way side, each planted branch having three or four 
 prongs, upon which the maduka c;in rest. So far, so good. 
 Dr Girling sends me a photograph of such a maduka in mid- 
 air, poised on its inverted three-prong branch''. The bare 
 branches represent the lightning, and the nearest analogue is 
 the Greek or Assyrian trident, which we have already ex- 
 plained as standing for the split lightning. Here then we 
 have the twins given back symbolically to their parent, the 
 Thunder : in cases where the placenta is buried or laid in the 
 
 ' The reverence for the placenta of a king does not mean that the king 
 has died or ought to die, but merely that, in a secondary sense, the placenta 
 has come to be re(,'ardcd as the king's double. It is actually called by the 
 name Twin luiumg the Baganda. Mr Roscoe acutely suggests the Egyptian 
 parallel of the Ba and the Ka. 
 
 ' Mr Howell gives me a similar picture of a pair of madukas, each 
 bearing a pot, on opposite sides of a road. 
 
XLlll] CRAKCO-KOMAN DI0SCURI8M 371) 
 
 bush, we have a substitution for the actual burial of the 
 twins, which burial is accomplished syniboli&iUy in the burial 
 of the placenta. 
 
 Dr Girling, as we have seen, gives us further information. 
 Among the tribes whom he describes it is common to erect 
 the madukiis (or, as I call them, lightning trees), on oppasite 
 sides uf the road. He also tells us that there are some 
 tribes which erect a rude shed and bury the twins at the 
 corners. Here we have the clue to the origin of the Dokana. 
 The Dokana arise out of these rude burial structures, either 
 by the setting up of a single shed with uprights and cross 
 beams, or by the laying of a connecting bar across a pjiir of 
 maduka trees on opposite sides of the ro;ul. This would e.x- 
 plain at once the apparently funerary character of the Dokana 
 at Sparta, and their attjichment to the grave of the Twins. 
 
 We may find, I think, other traces of these elementary 
 Dokana in African savage life. Du Chaillu tells us that in 
 the French Congo, the house where twins are bom is tabooed 
 by the erecting of tall poles at the door and planting between 
 them a number of pegs painted white ; and there are also 
 accounts of other forms of twin structure, such as rudimentary 
 huts in the forest, all of which must be classed with the 
 symbolic Dokana and related to them. 
 
 If, then, we are correct in our explanation of the l)it).scuric 
 symbols, almost every one of them is derived from primitive 
 .savage customs, closely parallel to those which prevail to-day 
 in the African forests. The Chthonian character of the cult 
 arises from the rule that Twins were formerly killed. This 
 is remembered, even when twin-killing has di.s;ippeared. One 
 or both of them is killed in HymlM>l, lus is shown by the 
 amphorae and the snakes. 
 
 Under the guidance of these considerations, the Argenidas 
 relief becomes quite an illuminated document; the Twins 
 and the Thunder are clearly revealed, and a numlwr of the 
 stages through which the Twin-cult pa.ssed, before it became 
 the religion of such as sail on stormy .seas. 
 
 It is, therefore, a religious monument of the first im- 
 portance. 
 
CHAPTER XLIV 
 
 ARE THE TWIN-MYTHS ONE OR MANY ? 
 
 Are Twin- In the present chapter we propose to ourselves a question 
 
 myths one ^j^g ^naX answer to Avhich may not be immediately forth- 
 or many :* j j 
 
 coming, as to whether the forms of the Twin-legend which 
 
 have come down to us are interconnected, or whether we are 
 
 to regard them as independent products of the evolution 
 
 of human thought. Every student of folk-lore is aware of 
 
 the perplexity which is caused by the appearance of what is 
 
 substantially the same folk-stoiy or folk-custom in places 
 
 that are widely remote from one another on the surface of 
 
 the earth. It seems impossible that such ideas or practices 
 
 can have originated independently, in view of their singular 
 
 coincidence in detail ; and, on the other hand, it seems 
 
 almost as impossible to find an explanation for their transfer 
 
 from a common origin to the places where they are actually 
 
 discovered. 
 
 The bull- A well-known instance, which the late Andrew Lang 
 
 discoursed on at some length, is the connection between the 
 
 bull-roarer of the savages in Central Australia, and the 
 
 rhombus which is used in the Greek mysterias and initia- f 
 
 tions. Here it is not merely that the ancient Greeks and *jl 
 
 the black tribes in Australia had discovered that a flat piece * 
 
 of wood with pointed ends can be whirled round by a string J 
 
 in such a way as to produce a humming noise, but that both * 
 
 Greeks and Australians employ the invention religiously, 
 
 with the object of sanctifying the initiation of boys into 
 
 tribal fellowship, or of inducing the good offices of the 
 
 thunder-god. Is it a fact that it is not so far off from 
 
 Greece and Phrygia to Central Australia as it seems to 
 
 be on the niai) ? 
 
 roarer. 
 
CH. XLIV] ARK THK TWIN-MYTHS ONK OR MANY ? 381 
 
 The question, thus simply raised, is made even more 
 perplexing by the fact that boys in Aberdeenshire make 
 a toy that is practically the equivalent of the bull-roarer 
 and designate it by the name of a ' thunner-sj)ell.' Are we 
 to connect Scotland also with Central Australia ? I imagine 
 the answer will have to be in the aHirmative. What shall 
 we say, then, if we bring on the scene a number of not very 
 dissimilar weather rattles employed by North American 
 Indians for the purpose of making weather, or calling fish or 
 the like'. Is the world really one, and do all its tribes 
 betray in their customs a common origin and an originally 
 united tribal life ? We should hesitate to make such broad 
 conclusions, until we have expanded the premises on which 
 we make them. 
 
 Something of the same perplexity turns up in the Twin Diffusion 
 problem upon which we have been engaged. We were con- °, p„^^ 
 fronted with the frequent attribution to the Twins of a filial nerges. 
 relation between themselves and the Sky or the Thunder 
 and the Lightning. It was not a little surprising that this 
 religious belief occurred in Europe, in K;ust Africa, and in 
 Peru. Did the Baronga get the belief from the Aryans or 
 the Semites? Have the Peruvians an ancestry that reaches 
 across to India or Greece or Africa ? Or are all these beliefs 
 independent atUiinments of the advancing mind of man, 
 making similar guesses at whatever is obscure or uncanny in 
 the world around him ? In onier to bring the matter a little 
 more into relief, I propose to examine some curious develop- 
 ments, which suggest that the Twin-cult in certain ((uarters 
 beciime a Dualist Religion of far-reaching effect. 
 
 We begin by the common folk-lore belief that there Anu- nainl 
 is supposed, by many peoples, to be an ante-naUl strife JJJn" " 
 between twins which marks them out as opjKisites. We are 
 familiar with this in the Biblical account of HLsau and Jacob, 
 and the trouble which they caused their mother before, as 
 St Paid sjiys, they had done either gocnl or evil. W'v have 
 the same feature in the (ireek story of Proiu>s and Akrisios 
 
 > Weiihkll alau fiiul tmcrHiif the bull-roairiT in W. Afrir*. .Src Additional 
 Notes. 
 
382 ARE THE TWIN-MYTHS ONE OR MANY ? [CH. 
 
 and in other places ; it appears somewhat mrxJified in the post- 
 natal feature of a rooted hostility between the Twins, accord- 
 ing to which one of them persecutes, exiles, or kills the other. 
 
 The Twins We notice, in the next place, that the same thing is told 
 
 n!,„i;..„, . of the Twin-Heroes of the Hurons in North-America. They 
 quarrel before birth, and their mother hears them at strife. 
 
 among the One of them is a good twin, the other is bad. They are 
 called Juskeha the Good and Tawiskara the Bad. Once 
 in the world they operate as Good and Evil Principles, one of 
 them being responsible for all the good creatures and pro- 
 ducts of the world, and the other being the author of 
 everything unpleasant and bad. It is easy to see that under 
 favourable circumstances such beliefs might grow into a 
 dualistic theology : and the strange thing is that the greatest 
 dualistic theology the world has known appears to have 
 arisen in this very way. For example', when Eznik, the 
 Armenian, comes to write the account of the Persian cosmo- 
 gony in his book against Heresies, he tells ns that Zervan 
 for a thousand years offered sacrifice in the hope of obtaining 
 a son : at the end of the time his faith became affected by 
 'doubt; and when his wife conceived, the faith asserted itself 
 
 and in as Ormuzd and the doubt as Ahriman''. Before they were 
 born, Ahriman was jealous of his brother and determined 
 to outwit him. He heard his father say, that he would give 
 the rule to whichever son was bom first, and he obtained 
 the boon ; the dark, ill-favoured brother came to birth first, 
 and for 9000 yeai-s he has the authority over his luminous 
 and sweet-savoured brother Ormuzd. As is well known, 
 Ormuzd and Ahriman are the two opposing principles of the 
 Persian Dualism, which is seen to rest, in popular oj)iiii(in, 
 upon an interpretation of Twin-births. 
 
 ' I owe the references to Dannhanlt, Sutiirsajini, i. p. 10 etc. 
 
 - In this connection we must not foryet that there is something similar 
 in the story in the Prolevant,'eliuni .lacobi (eh. 17) where Mai7, now near to 
 the Nativity, is observed to be alternately sad and gay. She explains the 
 situation in language borrowed in part from the book of Genesis which 
 suggests that the details belong to an original twin-birth that ■ she sees with 
 her eyes two peoples, one weeping and wailing and the other gladsome and 
 exultant.' 
 
XLIVJ AKE THK TWIN MYTHS ONE OR MANY? 383 
 
 Wliat are we to think, then, of this parallelism between 
 the beliefs of the Huron Indians and the ancient Persians ? 
 Dannhardt says, unhesitatingly, that the stories have a 
 common origin, and that the dualism of the American Indians 
 has migrsited from Iran eiistwanl'. We have, however, 
 already intimated that the pairs of twin-heroes, who turn 
 up in the legends of North and South America, must be the 
 product of a common myth-making element, in which case it 
 will not be ejusy to avoid a generalisation which would make 
 the whole bo<ly of American legends (Indian, Mexiciin, 
 Peruvian, and Brazilian) dependent, in part, from the same 
 source which underlies the Iranian traditions. Such are 
 some of the suggestions which present themselves, as we 
 carry out our enquiry into the effect of Twin-cults in pro- 
 ducing Dualistic religious beliefs. The coincident twins, as 
 distingui.shid from the identical twins, make for Dualism. 
 
 We must not, however, unify the world too rapidly, nor 
 comprehend all similar anthropological developments too 
 hastily under the terms of a single formida. without a good 
 deal more en(juiry into the varieties of religious thought and 
 expression. It seems, however, to be (piite likely that the 
 study of the Twin-cult may be a jjowerful solvent in the 
 mythologies of Persia and Central Asia, as well ius in those 
 of Greece, Rome and Syria. 
 
 In this connection we may remember that it is commonly 
 believed that there has been some reaction from Persian 
 Dualism upon both Judaism and Christianity, a probability 
 •which makes it the more incumbent upon us to delect, if 
 we can, the underlying strata of lielief in the Iranian 
 religion ; for if we succeed in our analysis so far as to sny 
 to the ancient Persians, 'These be thy gods, () Irani' we 
 may also find the formula returning to the hand that hurled 
 it, sent b;ick with the iwldcil legend in.s<Tibe<l u|K>n it. 
 
 ' muUto nuniinc dc U- 
 KabuU iiiuTKtur.' 
 
 ■ Dannbkrdt, I.e. p. 79. 
 
CHAPTER XLV 
 
 TWINS IN THE BRIDAL-CHAMBER AND IN THE 
 BIRTH-CHAMBER 
 
 The beneficent influence of the Dioscuri and of the tradi- 
 tional twins whom they represent upon the Bridal-chamber 
 and the Birth-chamber, is one of their earliest recognised 
 characteristics. It is also one of the extant surviving traits 
 by which they are known. We have already remarked that 
 it is, in S. Wales, considered lucky to have the presence of 
 twins at a wedding. The Aijvins were the groomsmen at the 
 marriage of Soma to their sister Surya' : and appeal is made 
 to them, along with other deities, to confer fertility on the 
 bride'. They even give the wife of the eunuch a child and 
 make the barren cow yield milk': they give a husband to 
 the old maid^ 
 
 In the same way we find the Twins as marriage helpers 
 in the Roman households, either as Castor and Pollux, or 
 in the form of Picumnus and Pilumnus ; these latter are 
 becoming more intelligible, since we have found the con- 
 nection between the Roman twins and the Woodpecker, the 
 original Roman thunder-bird (Picus). His companion Pilus 
 (Pilumnus) I have sought to connect, not with the big pestle 
 that he h;is been credited with, but with the thunderstone in 
 one of its ancient forms. Whether this be correct or not, it 
 is certain that his brother who bears the name of the Wood- 
 pecker is a thunder-man; it is ecpiaHy certain that thunder- 
 stones are in many c;ises used as charms by women on the 
 verge of child-birth. Blinkenberg points out that ' flint 
 arrow-heads (i.e. thunderstones) are used (in Poland) as a 
 
 ' Big- Veda, 10. 85. 9. See MacdoneU, Vedic Mythology, p. 51. 
 
 » /6. 10. 184. 2. ^ /(). 1. 112. 3. W6. 1. 116. 1. 
 
CH. XLV] TWIN.S IN Till: ItlM I >A L-Cll A M HKU, CTC. 385 
 
 help for women in labour'.' In such a ciuse it is not unn;itural 
 to suppose that the thunderstonis stand for the Twins, con- 
 sidered as the children of the Thunder. We have referred 
 above to the employment of thunderstones by the Badegas 
 of Southern India, jls a cure for barrenness'. The transition 
 from the idea of the Twins iis conferring blessing on the 
 Bride-chamber to the Twins as assisting in the Birth-chamber 
 is {)erfectly natural and logical. 
 
 In this connection we can find some illiistnitions from 
 Greek monuments and from savage customs There is, for 
 example, in the Museum at Sparta, a marble group' where 
 a woman kneeling, apparently in the act of chiM-birth, is 
 flanked by two much smaller male figures, who apparently 
 are assisting her, one of them by the pressure of the hand 
 upon the body, and the other by making signs or sounds to 
 drive away the evil spirits. Hiller von Oartringen explains 
 the group* iis 'Mother with the Twins.' Marx thinks they are 
 the Dio.scuri. Wilamowitz-Mollendorff aills them (I do not 
 quite know why) Nikomachos and Cjorge.sos'. The descrip- 
 tion, which I have taken from Samter, is accom|)anie<l by the 
 important parallel from the island of Bali in the Dutch 
 Indies, preserved in the Berlin Mu.seuin fiXr Volkerkunde, in 
 which a parturient woman is a.s-sisted by one or two male 
 figures and threatened by a horrible demon figure. It is 
 natural to regard this case also as being an illustration of 
 the protection given by Twins at the time of child-birth. 
 
 Returning to the bene<liction of the Bride-chamber, we 
 remember that this is the motive for the op«'ning scenes in 
 the Acts of Thoimis. where the Apostle Judius Thomas, the 
 Twin of the Me.ssiah, finds himself at the marriage feast of 
 a king's daughter and is invite<i by the king to come into 
 the bride-chamber and ble.ss the young people. The situa- 
 tion is the more inten^lfng. because the Christianity which 
 
 ' Crncow. lUvur drt trndttioni populaim, »i. 36. 
 
 • .S'lipru, p. 2ia. n. -4. 
 
 ' Hit Mum, Alhrn. .Villhritunyrn. x. (IHrW), p|. n. 
 
 * Them, ill. 163. 
 
 ' Hi'C Kamtrr, Cfhurt. Hofhiril, Ttot. p. 9 B. 
 
 II. li. 2& 
 
386 TWINS IN THE BRIDAL-CHAMBER [c'H. 
 
 Judas Thomas preaches, involves the abstinence from and 
 abandonment of the marriage state ; celibacy, as a counsel 
 of perfection, was strongly emphasized in the early Syrian 
 Church. So Judas, accompanied by his alternate, comes 
 into the bride-chamber with a benediction the very opposite 
 of that which the Dioscuri usually bring, and, in fact, he 
 persuades the young people to begin a life of marriage that 
 was not to be marriage. As we have said, the incident 
 shows how closely the author of the Acts keeps to the 
 Dioscuric ideas upon which he bases his work. As his 
 Apostle is a Twin, he will discharge all the twin-functions. 
 The story acquires a peculiar importance when we re- 
 member that the author of the Fourth Gospel also makes his 
 exordium of the public works of Jesus, with an invitation to a 
 marriage. ' Both Jesus was called and his disciples to the 
 marriage.' Upon this occasion he wrought his ' beginning of 
 miracles.' 
 
 What shall we say of this ? Must it be added to the 
 suspicious Dioscuric miracles in other parts of the Gospels ; 
 or is it the case that the author of the Acts of Thomas has 
 imitated the Fourth Gospel in making the Apostle Judas 
 the unexpected guest at a wedding feast ? Even in the 
 latter case, we should have to admit that the story of what 
 happened at Cana of Galilee suggested to him a Dioscuric 
 imitation which is an admission that the narrative was not 
 far removed from a Dioscuric legend. We may be able to 
 see the relation of the two stories more clearly as time goes 
 on, and the subject becomes better understood. We must 
 not be satisfied to regard the problem of the evaluation of 
 the Biblical accounts as an unresolved riddle. 
 
 It is natural that women who come under special twin- 
 inHuences should themselves bear twins; we find many 
 popular beliefs of this kind, such as the bearing of twins jis 
 the result of eating a twin-fruit' : they are, however, ecjually 
 well explained by the association of ideas and by sympathetic 
 magic. Thus a woman in Denmark will bear twins, if .she 
 
 ' See above, p. 168. 
 
XLV] AND IN THK BIRTH-CM AMBKU 387 
 
 eats twin-fruit' : ami in SwLiJen it she luuks iipjii a woman 
 with two aprons'. 
 
 In Brittany, however, as we have seen*, the two apples, 
 preserved in a hollow oak, represent the children of the 
 thunder and can still the storm : what shall we sjiy, then, 
 when we find that in Poitou a woman who eats a double nut 
 will have twins, or when, as in Mentone, the pregnant woman 
 who only finds such a double fruit is fated* ? 
 
 For a similar Uile of twin-birth from eating two fruits or 
 grains, we may refer to a stury told by KadlotV, ' from Altaic 
 tribes in South Siberia, conceming a girl, who, when married, 
 was found to be already pregnant. On being questioned, her 
 account of the matter wivs that she had picked up a lump of 
 ice, which had fallen with a heavy rain, and on breaking it 
 in pieces, she had found inside and eaten two grains of wheat. 
 When her time came, she bore twin boys*.' 
 
 In Scotland the well of St Mungo is credited with sin)ilar 
 fertilising powers: I do not know how St Mungo comes to 
 the pos-session of these Dioscuric inHuence.s. 
 
 There is an amusing story told of Hogg, the Kttrick 
 Shepherd, in this connection. ' One day Hogg took the 
 Johnstones (John Johnstone, editor of the Inverness Couiier) 
 to one of those innumerable wells that bear the name of the 
 seemingly bibulous s<iint Mungo, and tiiking up a glas-stul ot 
 the enchanted water, he handed it to Mrs .Johiistonf, .siiying 
 with a deliciicy that was all his own, and fortunately that of 
 nobody else: " Noo, mem, drink this: every leddy that takes 
 a tumblerfu' o' this is sure to ha'e twins." " Indeed," 
 Mrs Johnstone with cjiutious hesiUition answerc<J, "then, — 
 I — think — ill — take only half a glass." ' As I hav«> said, 
 
 ' Skaltfiiraierrn, IV. 68 (i.e. Diflijtr aj'ttr hidden lreinurr$). 
 
 -■ Suiiilblad in Gammeldny Srder of Bruk, p. ISO (i.s. Old Time Viutomu 
 anil I'lajirt). 
 
 I owe tlim retiTBtico and the prccnlinR lo l)r Keilbem. 
 
 J Supni. p. -iHI. 
 
 * Sfbillot, Folk l.urtdr hranct, HI. 391. 
 
 » I ({ivo the iitory from Uarlland, Vennu. i. 7H; and have vrriAvd il from 
 Badloff. 
 
 25—3 
 
388 TWINS IN THE BRIDAL-CHAMBER, ETC. [CH. XLV 
 
 I do not quite see why St Mungo (St Kentigern) is connected 
 with twins. 
 
 There is a curious Russian survival of the belief that the 
 Twins bring good luck to the birth-chamber and the newly 
 bom. It is still the custom in Russia to bring a present to 
 the newly arrived child, in the form of a toy woodpecker. 
 This is said to be for luck. The meaning of the gift is clear 
 enough in the light of the relation between the Woodpecker 
 and the Twins, nor need we doubt that the Woodpecker is 
 involved in the Picumnus, who appears as birth-helper in 
 a Roman family. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Page 8. .Single Thunder Birtfu. 
 
 In the Northern Territorj' of Australia, as wo It-arn from 
 traditions recently collected t>y Profos-sor .Spencer, anil puhlished 
 by the Melbourne (Joverament', wo find that it is common to 
 believe that children are due to ancestry outside their own 
 parents : such children may be referreil to Snake-parentage, 
 Honey-comb-parentage, Thunder-parentage, or Itainbow-parent- 
 age. In each cjise the intrusive piirent has a nunil>er of spirit- 
 childreti whom he tJikes with him, and who arc on the look-out for 
 the right lubnis (black girls) into whom to enter. Thus we are 
 informed of Nainanm, a Thunder man of the Mungarai tribe' 
 "that he had plenty of children. ..that he went into the water- 
 pool,... where he kept the children, coming out every now and 
 then to make rain and thunder and lightning. ... If a Onaritilx-llan 
 woman conies and puts a foot into the water, a spirit child at 
 once goes up her leg into her b<Kly ; if she drinks water, it goes 
 in by her mouth. The child ia thuiuUr, likt iJie old Namaran 
 man." 
 P. 12. Thf niim'- Zabdai. 
 
 It should be noticed that there is a HethZabdai on the banks 
 of the Tigris, to the north of Masul. Apparently it is an alter- 
 native name for Jezira Thus in a Syriac MS. in my po«s«Mion, 
 there is a story of some Indians who came to visit the Catholicua 
 Mar Simeon at Jezira, whic/t it lirlh-Znidai (or p<>rhaps Jeztra 
 of Helh Zabdai). 
 
 The name is an ancient one, whether it belongs to the place 
 or the district For instance, it (K:cur» fretjuently in the hUu>ry 
 of John Bar Penkaye (edit«"«l by Mingana). In the current form 
 it ini<'ht seem to suggest a .sanctuary ; on the other h«nd it may 
 be a Biblical transference, or H)e intim ition of a Jewish Sottloment. 
 
 ' Hrpon of thi I'rtlimtnar^ .SVimliA*- KxptJtIioH (o Iht Sortkfrn T*m. 
 tory. Melbourne, I'Jl'i. 
 > 1.0. pp. i3, 44. 
 
390 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Again, in the history of S. Simeon Bar Sabba'e' we are told 
 that Sapor built a city named Karka d-Lcdan, and settled in it 
 many captives whom he had taken from Arabia and Singara 
 and Beth-Zabdai and Arzum and Kardu and Armenu. Here it 
 appears in the 4th century as the name of a district. 
 
 Enquiry elicits the information that the name BethZabdai is 
 not now current on the Tigris, but that to this day whenever 
 an official letter is written from Deir Zaaferan, the seat of the 
 Jacobite bishop in the Tur Abdin, or from the Patriarchate at 
 Mardin, to the priest residing at Azakh (some six hours west of 
 Jezira on the way to Midyat), he is addressed as residing at 
 Beth-Zabdai. This is the ecclesiastical name of Azakh, but it is 
 only known to the clergy, and to those who are familiar with 
 Syriac literature. It appears that the name belongs really to 
 the whole district west of Jezira. Its chief villages were Finnik, 
 Arjoot, Ausen, Azakh, and Themanoon, while Arzoon (now a 
 ruin) is said to have been a walled city as large as Diarbekr ! 
 
 In the first book of ISIaccabees, Zabdai is reckoned as an 
 Arab name: e.g. I Mace. xi. 17, ' Zabdiel the Arabian.' xii. 31, 
 ' The Arabians who are called Zabedaeans.' 
 
 P. 12. The Thunderstone amongst the Celts. 
 
 That the Celts had the same belief with regard to the potency 
 of the thunderstone, and that they called such stones after the 
 thunder, as we have noticed in other parts of the world, begin- 
 ning with Denmark, may be seen from the occurrence of flint 
 axes in the dolmens in Brittany. Thus le Rouzic describes 
 such axes as follow.s'-: — "Axes or celts generally in hard stone, 
 generally in rare stone. Some of these are pierced... to allow of 
 their being suspended. Several, from 10 — 42 centimetres long, 
 are wonderfully perfect. They do not appear to have been u.sed, 
 and can only have been votive axes ; even at the present day 
 our peasants consider them valuable talismans and call them 
 Men-Gurun, or Thunder-bolts [' Men ' means stone in Breton]." 
 
 P. 14. Is the trident forkedUdhtniiKj or a fish-spear ? 
 
 There has been some controvers}- as to the correct interpreta- 
 tion of the trident in Greek art, e.g. the trident of Poseidon, or 
 the trident set up at the stern of ships. On one side it has been 
 regarded as the archaic fish-spear, on the other, as the Babylonian 
 
 ' Pat. Syr. n. 832. 
 
 • Megalitliic vwnumenta of Cunidc find Locmariaquer^ by le Koiizic. tr. by 
 W. M. Tafl. p. 26. 
 
AIiDITIiiNAl. NOTES 391 
 
 sign of forked lightning. Probably ciises can Vx- found coming 
 under either hua<l. It should, however, be noted that tho 
 occurrence of the tridt-nt amongst certain Himalayan tril>es, 
 suggests a non marine deity (see Atkinson: Hinuilnyan l)i»tnelt. 
 Vol. II. Allahabad, pp. 820 sqq.): in these ca.ses it appears to 
 be the symbol of a tire god. 
 
 The lightning symbol in Babylonian and Assyrian art can be 
 traced not only in the form of the trident, but in the simpler 
 form of the fork with two teeth : as siicii it is the symlwl of 
 Adad the Thundergo<l. A reference to King, Hock- Inscriptiont 
 oj fhf, Jthli Dagk (in S.B.A. xxxv. 2, p. 75), will show the con- 
 ventional form of the symbol by which Adad is represented. 
 
 P. 15. I'icun icho i* ttt»o Zetis. 
 
 For the cult-translation from Picus to Zeus, we have a snnio- 
 whitt confuse«l, but extremely valuable, piece of mythological 
 genealogy in the Clironides of John Malala-s' It runs as 
 follows : " Now the aforesaid Thcstios had three daughters, to 
 wit, IjpAa. and Klytia and Melanippe : Letia her father Thestioe 
 bestowetl in marriage on a certain Tyndarios, from wliiih union 
 with I-eda the afore.said Tyndaros (sic) had a dauglit«-r named 
 Klytemnestra ; when she was grown up, she U-canie the wife of 
 Agamemnon, king of Mycene : Le<la ha»l immoral relations with 
 a youth of senatorial rank, name<l Kyknos, the son of litlerion, 
 king of Achaia, wlios<! de--.cent was reckoned from I'ii-us Zeus 
 (to! Korayo^t'iou «'« roi" iriVoi. Aio?), though Tyndai ios, the husband 
 of Leda, Wiis entin-iy unaware of what ha4l occurri-<l. 
 
 "So L«(la, in an airy mind, withdrew to a citadel of her own 
 near the EuroUis river, where she brought forth as the result of 
 her union with Kyknt>s, the son of king Ederion, ihrtse children, 
 to wit, (Jastor and Polydeuces and Helena." Malaloa ccmcludes 
 by quoting Palaiphalos to the effect that it is mere idle Ulk of 
 the poet-s to represent Zeus as having become a swan (Kyknos) 
 and deflowered l.»-da. The re»il story is what Malala-s has 
 recorded. 
 
 The interest of the foregoing genealogy lies in iho way in 
 which Zeus is taken out of the twin myth, and Kyknos left in 
 the key of the |K-rplexity is left in the lock, for Kykno«, who is 
 the double of Zeus, is now made Ui U' the .son of Ktlerion, and to 
 l)C desc.nded from Z.us. Il.us Zeus is got rid of in two ways, 
 first l.y iMMng made tho ancestor of Kyknos, second by the 
 ' p. M (nl. N»-buhrK 
 
392 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 intrusion of a royal pedigree and ii special io}';il person between 
 Zeus and Kyknos. 
 
 The next thing we observe is that it is not really Zeus who is 
 the ancestor, but Picus Zeus, i.e. Picus who is also Zeus. So 
 here we have a definite tradition that the Spartan twins also, 
 and not merely Romulus and Remus, are of woodpecker ancestry. 
 This is interesting and important ; the woodpecker cult is seen 
 again to underlie the twin cult. 
 
 The name Ederion is a corruption of Aithcrion, and suggests 
 a relation with the sky. 
 
 P. 16. Why is the Oak the Thunder-trpe ? 
 
 Professor Fraser Story of the Forestry Department in the 
 University College of N. Wales kindly informs me through Sir 
 Oliver Lodge, as follows: — "That lightning strikes oak more 
 frequently than any other species, is, I think, fairly well proved. 
 Hess of Giessen, for example, had records kept over many years 
 in a mixed forest where beech predominated. lie found that the 
 following were struck, 
 
 Oaks, 310. 
 
 Scots pine, 108. 
 
 Beech, 33. 
 
 Others, smaller numbers. 
 " Hellmann declares that the difference is even greater. 
 
 Oaks, 54. 
 
 Conifers, 1.'). 
 
 Beech, 1. 
 " My own observation ijuiteconlirms this. In North Germany 
 one certainly sees many pines struck Vjy liglitning, but then it is 
 the prevailing tree. In England, Oak, I should say, easily has 
 the distinction." 
 
 P. 18. The Thunder in Bird form. 
 
 Probably we should have expanded this brief summary of the 
 chief animal representatives of Fire and of Thunder by .some 
 reference to the case of the Wren, which is a companion of the 
 Robin Redbreast, and has a cult of its own, being hunted, 
 captured, and sacri6ced at the winter-solstice. A good account of 
 the killing of the Wren in Brittany and elsewhere will l)e found 
 in Swainson's Folkhn-c of Hrilish Birds, from which I transcribe 
 a few sentences : 
 
 P. 42. "This custom (of killing the wren) is undoubtedly 
 sacri6cial in its origin, th>: wren, as lightning bird, being sacred to 
 
AI)I>ITI(iNAL NOTKS 
 
 393 
 
 Donar, the liijhiniiig ijofl. The time also of its ctlc>>ratii>n — at 
 the coinmenceiiu'iit and end of tlie first twelve nights of the sun's 
 reluin from the winter solstice - points in the same direction. 
 Moreover, in North Germany, the squirrel is liunttHl at Eaater 
 <\Volf, Beitnige, i. 7K), and Sinirock (D.M. 553) U-lls us ihal in 
 some parts of the same country a dead fox is carrie<l about by 
 the village boys at Midsummer. Both these animals, Jrom ikrir 
 red colour, were under the protection of the same deity." 
 
 Both the wren and the robin were Fire-birds as well as 
 Lightning-birds. The particular wren that provok«><l the identi- 
 fication may have l)een the crested wren, to whom Tennyson 
 alludes in the lines : 
 
 "Look, look, how he flits. 
 The fire-crowned kinR of the wren«, (rora out the pine." 
 
 TeDiiynoi) Thf U'indoK. 
 
 It will be noticed from the foregoing pa.s.sjige (a point which 
 we have referred to elsewhere) that the squirrel is counted in 
 with the Thunder and Lightning animals. 
 
 The wren is a fire binl amongst certain Ausiiuliaii tribes: 
 see Daw.son, AiistniHan Aborujiiifs, p. -''2. 
 
 p 22. Thunder tu Bird ami Man. 
 
 Li Parkman's JesuiU (p. 156) there is a sUtenient concerning 
 the belief of the Hurons about the thunder; based on Brebeuf, 
 Jielatiun deM /fuiuni t\>]>. lUsi|q.). 
 
 •'Thunder is <i niun in the form of a turkey cuck. The sky is 
 liis palace, and he remains in it when the air is cUyir. ..The 
 lightning Hashes whenever he open.s his eyi-s and closes his wings 
 If the storm is uion- violent than usual, it is U-cause the young 
 are with him, and aiding in the noise as well as they can." 
 
 That the signiticant point aljout the turkey cock was his 
 colour may be seen from another incident, also reported by Park- 
 man, where a " renownwl rainmaker (amongst the Huron*) 
 seeing his reputation tottering under his r.'{>t-ale.l failure, be- 
 thought him of accusing the Jesuit.s, and g»\e out that the red 
 colour of the cross which stoo<l U-fori' their hou.so scaie«l the bird 
 of thunder ami cause<l him t.i tly another way." The JesuiU 
 promptly ha.1 the eros.s jmint.sl white, and thus ri.l themwlves of 
 the suspicion that they ha«l capture«l the thundei. 
 
 P. 35. The ICnman Cult of the Wm^Jfi^rker. 
 
 Plutarch, in his invaluable Quatttwuet H,.m.inM diMU.M*-^ the 
 reasons for the j^-culiar sanctity of the \VtMHl|«-cker among the 
 
394 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Romans (see Qu. 21) : I quote the Elizabethan translation of 
 Philemon Holland instead of the original. 
 
 " What is the leason that the Latines doe so much honour 
 and reverence the Woodpecker, and forbeare altogether to do 
 that bird any harme? Is it for that Picus was reported in old 
 time, by the enchantments and sorceries of his wife, to have 
 changed his owne nature and to be uietamorphized into a Wood- 
 pecker, under which form he gave oracles, and delivered answers 
 unto those who propounded to him any demand? 
 
 " Or rather, because this seemeth a meere fable and in- 
 credible tale : there is another storie reported, which carieth 
 more probabilitie with it, and soundeth neerer unto trueth. 
 That when Romulus and Remus were cast forth and exposed to 
 death, not only a female woolfe gave them her teats to sucke, 
 but also a certaine Woodpecker flew unto them, and brought 
 them food in her bill, and so fedde tiiem ; and therefore haply it 
 is, that ordinarily in these dales wee may see, as Nigidius hath 
 well observed, what places soever at the foot of an hill covered 
 and shadowed with oakes or other trees a Woodpecker haunteth, 
 thither continually you shall have a woolfe to repaire. Or perad- 
 venture, seeing their maner is to consecrate unto every god one 
 kinde of birde or other, they reputed this Woodpecker sacred 
 unto Mars, because it is a couragious and hardy bird, having a 
 bill so strong, that he is able to overthrow an oke therewith 
 after he hath jobbed and pecked into it as farre as to the very 
 marrow and heart thereof." 
 
 P. 36. The Woodpecker named Hadad or Heddad 
 
 in N. Africa. 
 
 According to Wahrmund, the West African name for the 
 Woodpecker is Hadad or Heddad, .jtjJk. Professor Rene Hasset, 
 however, says that it should be spelt with a hard h, jl.fft-, in 
 which case the Woodpecker is called the Smith. Sometimes he 
 is called, no doubt from his persistent hammering, the father of 
 the smith : and Profes.sor Rene Basset says that it is the black 
 Woodpecker that is so described. He says : " En Kabyle et en 
 Arabe, on donne le nom de itjL». jJk ^\ k la charbonniero ou 
 grosse Misanga (?). Je ne connais pas de forme >ljuk, qu'indiquo 
 Wahrmund." It seems to me extremely likely that the smith 
 was actually named after the Woodpecker from their common 
 hammering : the connection with the thunder-god Hadad is 
 extremely probable. Wahrnnind's spelling may be taken from 
 the Dictioiinalre Fran^ais- Arabe of Bocthos, 2nd edn., Paris 1882, 
 
AKDlTloNAL NOTE-S 395 
 
 where on p. 601 we fiiiil >ljUk pic (oiseau) : (Barlmrie). For 
 a piiniUel to the e(iualioii made above l)etweeri tlie Woodpecker 
 and the Smith, we may Uike this from the Philippine Islands : 
 "the Spaniards call the Philippine \Vo<Hlpccker Ilerrero or 
 Blacksmith, on account of the great noise it makes with its 
 bill in striking the trees, to be heanl at 300 jmucs distance ' 
 (Latham, General IJuit. of Birds, III. 3')!). 
 P. 38. The Rubin Redbreast as J'hutulerbird 
 
 Mannhardt in Roggenwolj, p. 43, points out two curious 
 German tniditions which connect the Robin with the Thunder 
 ami Lightning. According to one, if the Robin builds iU nest 
 in a roof, the lightning will strike the liou.se; according to the 
 other, where Robins nest, the house is secure against lightning. 
 Mannhardt compares the contnidictory statements that when tho 
 lightning flashes, a thunderbolt falls in the house, and if there is 
 a thunderstone on the hearth, the house will never U- struck. 
 In the case of the Robin, it is assuniwl that there is an offiuily 
 between the bird and the thunder, in ronseiiuence of this the 
 thunder will strike or not strike the house where the thunder- 
 bird is. Perhaps there may Ix- a similar explanation of thunder- 
 god and thunder-l)oys being thunderstruck, as Aesculapius or 
 Jasion. 
 
 P. 48. The Poineijranate (Rinimon) and the Thundenjml 
 {Rimmun, Hamman). 
 The Pomegranate can b«- seen in sculpture on the top of the 
 great Stele of Shamshi Ramtuan in the British Museum. 
 
 When the Pomegranate is inverted it liecome.s a UU ; and 
 when we roii.1 in the Pentateuch that the High Priest's rol)e was 
 bordered with alternate bells and {M.megranatcs, this is only saying 
 twice over that he carries the symbol* of the Tliundergo.1. 
 
 For Pomegranates on Pillars see sonu^ im,M.rtnnt oWrvation* 
 by A .1. Kvaiis in the Journal „/ the HelUnic Suci'ly, 1901. 
 
 p' 144. , 
 
 "We are expressly U)ld of the brazen pdlan. wt up by 
 Solomon at the [Kirch of the U-mple that they were prowded 
 with capitals adorned with a network of pomegr«nat.-« and 'Illy 
 shape... Fn-c standing columnar imjK-n«.n-ili..nH of the deity 
 often supporting pomegranates ..n> fr.-.|ucnl on Carthaginian 
 stelai'." 
 
 1 Copied by n,« (A. J. E.) in ll.r Mu«-um .t Crth.^-r. If I'col .nd 
 Chipiez. I. iv. Figfi. 1B7. lOH. pp. 3-24. 3M. 
 
396 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 It is difficult to deny that in these representations the pome- 
 granate has a cult significance. 
 
 P. 91. Red Colour and the Thunder in Australia. 
 
 An interesting confirmation of the connection between these 
 will be found in Mrs Aeneas Gunn's delightful book, the Little 
 Black Priiicess, p. 6. " If you (a girl) had on a red dress when 
 there was a thunderstorm, the Debbil-debbil who made the 
 thunder would 'come on' and kill you 'dead-fellow ' 
 
 " This debbil-debbil is a funny sort of person, for although he 
 gets furious if he sees a lubra (i.e. black girl) dres.sed in red, it 
 pleases him wonderfully to see an old blackfellow with as much 
 red as he can find. Do you know if this Thunder Debbil-debbil 
 is roaring dreadfully and happens to catch sight of an okl man 
 with plenty of red handkerchiefs and scarves of red feathers tied 
 round hin), it puts him into such a good temper, that he can't 
 help smiling, and then nobody gets hurt. But sometimes even 
 a black fellow with yards of red stuff round him can do nothing 
 to (juiet this raging Debbil-debbil ; then everybody knows that 
 the lubras have been wearing red dresses. Such wicked selfish 
 people deserve to be punished, and it is quite a corafoit to think 
 that very soon Mr Thunder Debbil-debbil will get hold of them 
 and kill them dead-fellow. Of course if anyone gets killed by 
 mistake, it will be their own fault, for they (should) have given 
 all their red things to their husbands.' 
 
 It is interesting to note the hostility between the tiiunder 
 and the woman who wrongly tries to talisman herself by wearing 
 red. A parallel custom is the exclusion of women from the 
 ceremonies wliere the ' bull-roarer ' is used. 
 
 P. 91. Red for Thunder, White, for Liyhtninij . Spencer and 
 
 Gillen, Across Australia, 1912, ii. 277 — 8. Cerenwnies of 
 
 the Arunta I'ribe. 
 
 The Waninga, a banner-like structure consists of " central bar 
 
 with one or two smaller ones at right angles to it and strands of 
 
 strings so arranged as to form a flat expanded surface. Strands 
 
 of human hair strings were strung lightly and as close together 
 
 as possible For the space of about an inch and a half up each 
 
 side, indicated by a white band, the human hair string was 
 replaced by opossum fur string whitened with pipe-clay. On the 
 inner edge of this a band of the human hair string was red- 
 ochred. The white transverse bands seen in the illustration as 
 well as the bands on the bodies of the two performers, were 
 
AlU'lTloNAL NOTKS 397 
 
 mode of wliite down, and i-acli I'nil of the crosw bai-n, and llu- top 
 of the spear, were ornanKMiti-d with a tuft of tlie rejl-ljarreil tail- 
 feathers of the black cock:itoo, a bird often associated witli rain 
 cereinnnies, for the nimple reason that, in Central Australia, a 
 Hock of black cockatoos always indicates the presence of a water- 
 pool'." 
 
 " E^ch of the various parts of the Waninga has a special 
 significance, but it must always be renieniiK-re<l when dealing 
 with sacred objects such as this, or the Nurtinga, that the same 
 decoration hiis ditterent meanings in different totems 
 
 On this particular W'aninga, thf rnl slrimj rrprfsmt'd thuiidrr, 
 the white loityiludinal hintils liyhlniiiy, ami ihf filack »lriny 
 rain fiiUing. The white down represented clouds, and the red 
 t>f the feathers and also a n\imbjT of wotnl-jiarings smeared with 
 blood and worn on the heads of the performci-s, represented the 
 masses of dirty brown froth which Hoat on the top and gather on 
 the sides of a stream in flood." 
 
 P. 91. Tlf. AiiKtralian Bull roarer paiutnl red and iihile. 
 
 Here is another ca.se which point* in the same direction. 
 All students of anthropology know the importance in early 
 culture of the rhombus, oi bull narer, a piece of woo<l with 
 pointed ends, which can \>e whirled round rapidly in the air by 
 an attached .string, so as to produce a pe«-uliar and mournful 
 sound. This toy of U>^day was a part of the religion of primitive 
 man, if we may ju<lge of the prevalence of it among modem 
 Australians, the Ancient Greeks and Anatolians, the modem 
 Scotch-boy (who calls it a ' thunner spell') and ceiLain trilies of 
 American Indians. Its close connection with the thunder comes 
 out almost everywhere Now the Dipurtmenl of Kxternal 
 Affairs at Melbourne, Australia, has recently publishe<l a bulletin 
 conUining information with regard to the customs of certain 
 tribes in the Northern territory. In this bulletin therv is a 
 deUiled description of the annual initiation of the Imys of tho 
 Larrakia tribe to the privileges and duties of manhood. In the 
 course of the procee<lings, "the men, four or li\e in numlxr, 
 who are to swing the bull roarers, go away into the bush and 
 paint themselves where they cannot I* »een l.y the boys. TIm- 
 bull-ro<irer$ are. ornainmtrd with allernatr tinrt o/ red and trhiU. 
 
 ' Quite unnrceiMuiry nUKKMilion : tlir Uil (r«thrr« arr rnoufih to make a 
 nin-bird without any luljkcrnt pwl. 
 
398 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Tliey are called Bidu-bidu, and luay on no account be seen by 
 Women, or by the uninitiated. ' 
 
 Heie we have again the alternate striping of the thuuder-toy, 
 and are able to suggest a similar explanation to that which we 
 have given above'. 
 
 P. 93. I'lciiis ill the (fntic/o Region. 
 
 My friend, John H. Harris, who has worked so nobly for the 
 redemption of the Congo natives, has discussed the twin-problem 
 briefly in his new book-. As Mr Harris is a first hand authority, 
 I quote his statements on the Twin question, leaving the reader 
 to complete and correct them by the greater variety of informa- 
 tion which we have collected. There is a fine photograph in the 
 book of a pair of ' madukas,' on opposite sides of a forest road. 
 
 P. 69. " It is a mistake to assume, as some writers do, that the 
 taboo on twins is a prevailing custom among West African tribes. 
 The distribution of the taboo is extremely erratic. Twins are 
 unwelcome in the Northern territories of the Gold Coast, yet the 
 reverse is the case amongst the Egbas of Nigeria. In the Congo 
 territories, twins cause the greatest joy to a tribe and the mother 
 is lauded wherever she goes, whilst amongst the tribes of the oil 
 rivers of Nigeria, the birth of twins is regarded as the most 
 fearful calamity which can fall upon the conimunity." 
 
 " In the Upper Congo regions, the traveller may frequently 
 see two earthenware pots hoisted on forked stakes which have 
 been driven in the ground, one on cither side of the path, and 
 these are in honour of twins born in the nearest compound. 
 Every person passing by those pots will religiously pluck two 
 leaves, and throw one at the foot of each forked pole as a votive 
 offering to 'Bokecu' and 'Mboyo,' as all good twins are named " 
 
 The formation of twin towns in Nigeria is alluded to in the 
 following words : 
 
 P. 70. " Not only are the children killed, but the mother is 
 
 immediately driven from home In some districts, however,... 
 
 the mothers of twins are allowed to form isolated villages and to 
 engage in trade. Some tribes, again, whilst driving them from 
 the homes of their husbantls, permit them to engage in agricultural 
 pursuits upon the husband's lands." 
 
 ' The document quoted ia analysed in the Manch/'Slfr Guanlmn fur Sept. 
 lOtb, 1'J12. Tlirouyh the courtesy of tlie I'resideiit of the Di-parlnient of 
 Exterual Altairs, I have been supplied with copies of these valuable and in- 
 terestiug reports. 
 
 '■' Daxon in Darkest Africa. LuuJon; Smith, Elder and Co., 1912. 
 
 \ 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES .'{99 
 
 P. 93. The Sanctity of the I'lacntti. 
 
 Tlie following passjige from Gurdoii, The Khanit, p. \'16, will 
 show the importance which savage tribes attach to the preserva- 
 tion of the placenta. 
 
 "It is interesting to note that in the BarUir Archipelago 
 between New Guinea and Celebes, the placentJi i.s mixed with 
 ashes, and put in a basket, which seven women, each of them armed 
 with a sword, hani; up on a tree of a peculiar kinil . .The women 
 carry the swords for the purpose of frightening the evil spirits, 
 otherwise the latter might get hold of tlie placenta .ind make the 
 child sick. Mr C. H. Pleyte, lecturer on Indonesian Klhnology 
 in the (ivninasiuni William III, at Batavia, who has most 
 coui teousty furnished me with some inttiresting information on 
 this subject, states that it is es|ieciall3' in the Southern Moluccas 
 that the placenta is mixed with ashes and hung on a tree. 
 Widespread is the custom <>f placing the after birih on a small 
 bamboo-raft on a river, ' in order that it may l>e caught by 
 crocodiles, incarnations of the ancestors, who will guard it till 
 the person to whom it has lielonged dies : then the .soul of the 
 placenta is once more united with that of the dead man and 
 together they go to the realms of the dead. During lifetime the 
 connection between men and their placentas is never withdrawn.' " 
 
 P. 97. Twins in Amjola. 
 
 We add here an interesting statement with reference to Twins 
 in Bihe (Angola) from that charming mi.ssionary liook by Mr 
 Crawford, entitleil Thinkimj Itlnrk. 
 
 P. 72. " Enters a young slip of a girl who has been U>alen 
 for no fault of hers, yet never a tear does she shttl : no tear*, 
 mark you, and no crime did she commit. Un plying them with 
 questions, I tind that far from her innocence U-ing conjectured 
 they bluntly admit she did nothing worthy of stripes. Yet she 
 got them all, forty pltui more, and the curiously candid confe«si<iii 
 is that becjiuse she was innocent therefore was she beaten with 
 many stripes. It now comes out that the African can wriggle ..ut of 
 even this injustice, the cxplanatinn Ix-ing that the girl is a twin, 
 and as her sister did the dt-etl they must U- beal4-n in pairs ; not 
 either nor neither but lx)lh or none. Twins they were Uirn, and 
 twins they live and die. .So moil are tin- Africans on thin twin, 
 subject that even when .Mwi Fiisl gets marri.xl. the bri<legri><>m 
 is forced to marry her twii^.sister, Miss S«-c«nd, on the name day. 
 (Although thes»! sisters are slim little thing*, yot literally their 
 
400 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 names are Miss Elephant and Miss Hippo, all twins being forced 
 to take these two traditional titles.) There was a case here 
 where twin-brothers were forced to marry the same lady, so 
 inexorably operates this dogging law. Right up from birth, 
 each has ever haunted the other, their food being scrupulously 
 divided into two, the twin bairns with twin portions. 
 
 " In proffering them a gift you must sternly make it a two- 
 handed one, simultaneously holding out both arms to both 
 recipients. When a twin sickens mortally no doctor may be 
 called, nor any medicine administered, all moaning being de- 
 precated. God, they say, did this deed of creating 'terrible 
 twins,' and God must kill or cure them. The only way to wish 
 them well is by cursing them, and these cursings the complacent 
 twins receive as choice compliments. The hapless father and 
 mother get likewise all the town abuse, each vituperation being 
 a sort of upside down blessing." 
 
 P. 109. Twins amonff the Akikuyu. 
 
 The statement about the Akikuyu can be supported and 
 extended by a reference to Hildebrandt, Ethnographische Nodzen 
 iiber Wakamba uiid ihre Ndchbarn: Z. fur Etlin. x. 1875, where 
 we find that "Children who are born in an unusual position, the 
 second-born of twins, and children whose upper teeth appear 
 before the lower, are. ..exposed by the Akikuyu." 
 
 Here nothing is said about repeated twin-birth : apparently 
 the Routledges have misunderstood a statement about the 
 second-born of twins, the extra child who makes the trouble. 
 This explains also the sentence in which the Routledges speak 
 of the bad luck attaching possibly only to the last one of a pair 
 of twins. 
 
 P. 1 28. Tivins on Lake Chad. 
 
 It appears that twins are considered lucky among the 
 Buduna. In Olive Macleod's book, Tlie Budwaa on Lake Chad, 
 it is stated that "a man gives his wife a cow at the birth of each 
 child, and at the birth of twins prayers are offered, and there is 
 great rejoicing." 
 
 The [irayers suggest the averting of evil that may still be 
 associated with the thought of twins. 
 
 P. 129. Malagasy Saperstitiotm re Thunder and Ttving. 
 
 While these pages are passing through the press, I have 
 received a number of valuable notes from my friend Dr Standing, 
 
ADKITIoNAI, N(>Th>i 401 
 
 who has fliscoven-d the ThundiT-liirtl in tlie form of a cock, and 
 has iilso come across a trace of the twin town. As these are very 
 important additionK to our knowledge, I transcril>e some of \\\» 
 observations, wiili occasional referenci? to corresponding pagets of 
 the present work. 
 
 In the central province of Madagiustar it is lwlieve<l that 
 when the lightning strikes it takes the form of a cock. (Se«: 
 pp. JT. 29.) 
 
 The primitive native houses of the better tla.ss were usually 
 adorned with two lonj; poles or " horns " over each gable. It wa.s 
 frequently the practice to place a small image of ii bird near the 
 end of each of the.se horns. (.See p. 3!).) 
 
 Twins are universally considered unlucky in Madagascar. It 
 was formerly the practice tu put one or both of them to death. 
 The reason given by the Sakalavu for killing girl twins is the 
 fear lest, if allowed to live, they should again give birth to twins, 
 and so perpetuate the ill-luck. 
 
 A boy and girl twin are considered .specially unlucky, such 
 infants being regartled as immoral. (.See p. I7;l.) 
 
 The name Twin-town ( Ambohikambana) certainly exists in 
 Imerina, though I am unable, without further enquiry, to explain 
 the origin of the name. (See pp. rtti, TiT, 317, 3"_'j.) 
 
 Eggs with double yolks are considerecl unlucky. 1 liave 
 found such offered in sacrifice at a sacred shrine. A similar 
 superstition existii with regard to twin-fruits. A native woman 
 admonished my wife not to eat a twin fruit " lest she should 
 bear twins." (See p. 129.) 
 
 P. 139. The Ptruiian Soiu of Thuncli-r. 
 
 BnnUm : Mylhi of Ihe Nni World. New York. 1868. p. |.'»2 
 
 "Throughout the realm of the Incas the Peruviana vener 
 ated a creator of all things, maker of heaven and earth, and 
 ruler of the firmament, the god of Ataguju The legend wa« that 
 from him proceeilwl the first of mortals, the man (lUamauHuri. 
 who de.scended to the earth and there seduced the mater of certain 
 (iuacheniines, rayless ones, or Darklings, who then |>oHa(>aMHl it. 
 For this crime they ilestn>ywl him, but their hihi^t proved preg 
 mint, and died in her lalM>ur, giving birth to t»«> eggn. From 
 these emerged the twin brotheni, A|M>catei|uil and Pigueran 
 The former wa.s the more powerful. Hy touclung the ii>r|>)ie of 
 his mother he bi ought her to lifi-, he «ln>ve ofT and rIcw the 
 Guachemines, and directed by Ataguju, releanrtl the race of 
 II II. 26 
 
402 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Indians frmn tlie soil by turning it up with a spade of gold. 
 For this reason they adored him as their maker. He it was, 
 they tliought, who produced the thunder and lightning by hurling 
 stones witii his sling ; and the thunderbolts that fell, said they, 
 are his children. Few villagers were content to be without one 
 or more of these. They were in appearance small, round, smooth 
 stones, but had the admirable properties of securing fertility to 
 the fields, protecting from lightning, and by a transition easy to 
 understand, were also adored as gods of the Fire, as well material 
 as of the passions. 
 
 " Apocatequil's statue was erected on the mountains with 
 that of iiis mother on the one hand, and his brother on the 
 other. 
 
 " In memory of these two brothers, twins in Peru were 
 esteemed always sacred to the lightning, and when a woman or 
 .even a llama brought them forth a fast was held, and sacrifice 
 f)ffered to the two pristine brothers, with a chant commencing, 
 
 A chuchu cachiqui, 
 i.e. thou who causest twins." 
 
 Brinton refers for the myth of Apocatequil to Lettre sur le.s 
 superstitions du Perou, pp. 25 sqq., and Montensinos, Ancien 
 Ferou, chaps. II, XX. 
 
 P. 175. Twin- Murder in Polynesia. 
 
 Ellis states definitely that twin-murder, at least the destruc- 
 tion of one of the pair, was formerly common in Polynesia. 
 
 Poli/nesinn Researches, vol. 1. p. 251 (1832). 
 
 "The first missionaries have published it as their opinion that 
 not less than two-thirds of the children were murdered by their 
 parents. Subsequent intercourse with the people authorises the 
 adoption of this opinion as correct. The first three infants, they 
 observed, were frequently killed; and in the event uj twins being 
 bum, both were rarely permitted to live." 
 
 P. 183. The ill-luck of the twinning cou: 
 
 This peculiar feature, which we discovered in the ancient 
 Indian ritual, and of which traces remain in Wales and in 
 S. Africa to-day, can al.so be paralleled in France. Sebillot 
 reports in his Folk lore de France (III. 83) : " Dans le bocage 
 vendeen une vache qui a plusieurs veaux d'une portee, doit ctre 
 vendue ou abattue, pour detoiirner le malheur de la maison.' 
 
 He referred to J. Baffie in Le Chasseur Fran^aisior June 1st, 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 403 
 
 1904; aud Jehan de la Chpsnoye in Rrw dfi tratl. pojtulairet, 
 t. XVI II. p 463 ; which I havt< not Ix'cn able to verify. 
 
 P- 188. The iVdio/iyn tu Beak-men 
 
 The following reference to Monier-Willianis' Smukrit Fmjliah 
 DirlioiKiri/ (Oxford, 1899) will throw some li>,'ht on the meaning 
 of Nisatiya. 
 
 " Nasakya, any nasal sound : 
 
 dual, the two Asvins {- Nusatyau) L: 
 
 Na.sa-cliinni, feminine, a spccieti of bird with a divided l)cak. 
 L," where the reference to L (lexicoj^raphors) denotes a word or 
 meaning, which, though given in native lexicons, has not yet 
 been met with in any published text. 
 
 P. 192. The Xiisatiya iind the I/illites. 
 
 For Winckler's discovery of the treaty (written in Babylonian) 
 between the Hittites and Kanieses the second, a summary state- 
 ment may lie found by Jeremiius in Rfwcher, s v. Ramniari. The 
 gods to whom reference is made in the treaty are tlescril)ed n.s 
 follows : 
 
 iUni (!) nii-it-nsi il ilsni u-ruwDaRani-el 
 
 ilii (!) inilar ilani na-saa (tti-iaa) nna, 
 
 upon which Jeremias notes : 
 
 "So! Mithra, Varonn. Indra (wilh determinative ila aa aupreme Kod), 
 and the Nuxatiyai. if. tlie indogernianic supreme deitiea along with the 
 
 Nasati.VHJ." 
 
 P. 193. A'oitmoji and Dnminn on the Kuphratet. 
 
 The proof that Kosinas and I>amiaii took charge of those who 
 ventured into the rapids on the u]i|>er Kuphrales, may lie confirm»-d 
 by the observation that they exercised a similar function lower 
 down the stream at Zeugma, where the road to the hjist wa« 
 carrifil across the river on a bridge of boats : from this form of 
 transit the name Zeugnm is derived. There is a ilifTerenee, 
 however, between the risks run by the traveller who omies down 
 tlm rapids from Kgin on a K'llik, atid the traveller who merely 
 crosses the strejim in a ferry l>oat (as to<lay) or on a briilgr of 
 boats (as formerly). The risk ill the latter ca-so is lesa, but not 
 to be iieglecte<l, esp«!cially when the great stream ia in rtoo<l. So 
 the Twins were appropriately invi>ke<l at Zeugma. It is intnn<sting 
 to notice that when Justinian took the Twins under his protection 
 
 26 — 3 
 
404 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 at Byzantium, he also extended his care eastward, and rebuilt 
 the sanctuary at Zeugma, which had fallen into decay. If we 
 are right that this sanctuary at Zeugma is an ancient shrine of 
 the Twiiis, at which travellers prayed when they crossed the 
 stream, then we have one more centre of twin cult in Asia Minor 
 to add to those which we had alread}' detected. 
 
 P. 201. «S'< Michael ami the Ticins on Ihe Bosporus. 
 
 As the traditions gathered up by John Malalas are of great 
 importance in proving that St Michael displaces the Twins, and 
 particularly Pollux, I have written a special article on the sul^ject 
 of Twins in Byzantium, which will appeiar elsewhere. 
 
 P. 214. The Wuud}>ecker us Boalbuilder. 
 
 That the Woodpecker is a boatbuilder comes out in a curious 
 Singhalese story, according to which a Korawaka bird once 
 brought sacks of betel nuts, gave them to a flock of geese to 
 carry, and to put on board a boat which he had borrowed 
 from the Woodpecker. The boat collapsed, and since tlien the 
 Woodpecker has been searching /or ivood to make a new boat, while 
 the Korawaka bird lias been wailing over the loss of his betel 
 nuts. See Indian Antiquary, vol. x.xxiii. p. 230. 
 
 P. 219. Beth t'^aida as a place-name. 
 
 We have indicated that the name can be best explained as 
 the shrine of a god of fishing or hunting. It does not belong 
 exclusively to the lake-shore. We find it not only in the trans- 
 jordanic region, but even as far away as Adiabene the name can 
 be traced, without any reason for supposing that it has been 
 transplanted from the Gospels. Thus in the life of Sabriso of 
 Beth-Koka, published by Mingana, we dnd (p. 2G2) that a saint 
 named Maran Ammeh cured a woman, troubled with a demon, 
 from Beth Saida. No doubt other cases will be found. They 
 can hardly all be leduced to the fishing category. 
 
 P. 220. Sanchoniathon ur Philo of Byblus. 
 
 I have taken the text of Sanchoniathon, as transmitted by 
 Philo of Byblus to Eusebius, without discussing the questions 
 whether Sanchoniathon is mythical, or whether tho legends are 
 to be discredited. Sanchoniathon will probably survive the 
 attacks made upon his existence and his integrity. For our 
 purpose, the legends are almost as valuable, if they are from the 
 
AKI'irruNAI, NOTES 405 
 
 notebook of Philo of ByMus, as if they came from an earlier 
 Phoenician author. We simply transcribe tliem and interpret 
 them, leaving the i|ue8tion of their literary origin or form to be 
 discussed, and, if possible, settled by other j)eople. 
 
 F. 224. Tlie Tlifban Twin» anil ihi' Arijonaut». 
 
 If Zetes the Boread, and his brother Calais, are not the same 
 as Zethus and his twin-brother, it seems as if the framers of the 
 Argonaut story hud left out of their fabric a leaiiiiig pair of 
 , twins. A reference, however, to Apollonius Kho<lius will show 
 Jason clothed in a rol)e upon which the Theban Twins arc 
 depicted, engaged in the building of the city". They were not 
 Hltogether forgotten ; perhaps Apollonius Uhodius had been 
 struck by their absence and adopted this method of including 
 them. 
 
 P. 224. Tlie ttoinhHilder* «/ Alhfug. 
 
 Miss Harrison has pointed out' that Athens, like ThelH«, had 
 a tradition of giant buiUlers. Pausanias descrilMnl the fortifica- 
 tion of the acrojH)lis by the Pela-sgians, under the direction of 
 Agrolas and Ilyperbios, who were said to have como from Sicily*. 
 And it appears to l>e the same [>air that are spoken of by Pliny, 
 as having been the first to make brick kilns and hou.ses at 
 Athens; Pliny calls them Kuryalos and H>|)erbi<>K ; and he adds 
 the statement that they were brothers, which dfies not appear 
 in Pausanias. The twins as brick-makers and city builders 
 have l)een sufficiently illustrateil ; it is inU^resting to compare 
 what Sanchonialhon says on the point : fir<t of all he telU us 
 that Chrysnr, who is Ilephaeslu.s, had bnithers who invented 
 the art of building walls with bricks. Then he tilk» of two 
 youths, nam>-d Technites und (Jeuios Autochthon, who found 
 out how to mix stubbl.- with clay, and to l«ak.- the constructc<l 
 bricks in the sun ; they also invenle<l the art of tiling All of 
 
 1 ApoU RhoJ. I. 731; : 
 "Ami there were the "Onu of Aw^p(l•' dtUKhtcr Aniiope ul, 
 Amphion anfl Zcthin : »mi Tli»b*. with lowvni unftirdMl •• jret. 
 Stood niKli them : >nd lo! the rntintlaliona Iharnor »cr« Ih*; la^iiiK but now 
 III fierce haute, /athiii had heaved a cragKjr luuuulain't bruw 
 On his "ihoiil.ler*: a-i one hard •trainmi; In l-.il did Iho inia«e apptar. 
 And Amphion the while to hin i;nlden Ijro uiiK loud and clear. 
 On-pnciiiK: and twice ao great wa« the rock thai f.dlowed anear." 
 
 (A. S. Wajf'a inn.) 
 
 » Primitiie Alhriii. pp. 21. 'JV • Pauaaniaa, I. i». S. 
 
406 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 the cases referred to appear to lie cases of twin-cult ; and if this 
 be correct, Athens had a pair of twin-b>iilders very nearly on 
 the Theban model. 
 
 P. 229. - Jason and Triploleinos as Twins. 
 
 We have shown in chap. .\,\li that the Twinship of JasoQ and 
 Triptoleinos comes out incidentally in the fact that their names 
 are alternative designations for the names Castor and Pollux, by 
 which two leading Zodiacal stars are known. We have several 
 times pointed out that the Zodiacal Twin-cult is the last stage of 
 a long evolution, and that the two stars referred to have inherited 
 their dignity from the Morning and Evening Stars, considered 
 as Twins. Piobably this is just as true of Jason-Triptolemos as 
 of Castor and Pollux, in which case Jason will he the Morning 
 Star, and Triptolenios his double. 
 
 That we are not obliged simply to think of Triptolemos from 
 the Attic point of view as the Holy Ploughman may be seen 
 from another consideration. Philo of Byblus, as we have seen 
 above', reports Sanchoniathon as saying that the descendants of 
 the Dioscuri, having constructed rafts and .sliips, put out to sea ; 
 they were wrecked over against Mt. Cassius, and tliere they built 
 a temple, which, as we have pointed out, must be a Dioscureion. 
 Now we learn from Strabo^, that the Antiochenes were in the 
 habit of going up to this very mountain to hold a festival in 
 honour of Triptolemos. We can hardly separate this from the 
 Dioscuric centre of worship of which Philo Byblius speaks : in 
 other words, Triptolemos is a Dioscure, and his companion can 
 hardly be any other than Jason. The result is interesting : we 
 have almost taken Jason into Phoenicia ; at least we have found 
 a Jasoneum in the Dioscuieion on Mt. Cassius. 
 
 The occurrence of a Jason cult in the neighbourhood of 
 Antioch is surprising from one point of view : for in Antioch 
 itself the Twins were revered as Zethos and Aniphion, as we see 
 from the erection of pillars in their honour by Tiberius, and from 
 the existence of a priest named Amphion, whose name was, no 
 doubt, theophoric. We can, however, see in another way that 
 the Jason cult must have been at home in Antioch, from the fact 
 that Domitian, when founding a temple of Aesculapius, and 
 biiilding public V)aths for the city, dedicated the baths to Medea, 
 and set up her statue. Where Medea is proved to have been 
 honoured, we need not be astonished to find Jason also revered. 
 
 ' p. 220. » p. 175. 
 
ADDITIONAL NuTK-S 407 
 
 We have now found ttn- twirin tlirrc timp.t over at Antioch, 
 viz.: 118 Aniphion and Zethos, on Mt. CasHiun lut Jaxon ant] 
 Triptolemos, and implicitly in Antii>ch itself tHroujjh the Mi-dra 
 cult. It is reaaonalily certain that Castor and I'oilux must alxu 
 be added, either in Antioch or in Seleucia. 
 
 P. 235. The Ihbrfw PlmL,jh yfylh. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be suggestwl that the Hebrews, enterinj; 
 Canaan from nonuuhc life, had no plough myth. Even if this 
 were so, they would incorporate the plough-myth.s of the settle™ 
 wlio preceded them, who were certainly not ext<-rminat<.'d, just ax 
 they appropriated other forms of Canaanite folk-lore. 
 
 P. 237. The Holy Flonijhs n/ the Sci/lhiann. 
 
 It would, (H-rliaps, be more correct to any that the golden 
 ploughs, etc. were laid up in the king's palace, w hich has sanctuary 
 rights in days l)efore the fnrnml prie.stly sanctuary has In^en 
 evolved : at all events, the language of HercMlolus suggests 
 something of the kind, roy &i )^pvlTuv toDtov Tof Ipoc ^I'Aairaoi'ai ot 
 /ia<riAci9 XT*. 
 
 P. 251. The EiUnMiH /'i//<ii!i. 
 
 As any one can see from consulting the photograph of these 
 pillars in Cull of the lleavmly Ticitw, thes<! pillars are too lofty 
 to be incorporated with a temple, in the .si-nse that they are part 
 of its framework. It may l>e inU-resting to register a few ca.ses 
 of these doul>le (and triple!) pillars in ancient worship. 
 
 \Ve have allu(ie<l to Jaihin and Iloar, the pillars in the 
 TempJe at Jerusalem : these were surmounted with capitals 
 adorned with pomegranates, etc. The meaning of this is clear 
 from the identification which we have ma<le of the pomegrnnato 
 (Kimmon) with the Thunder tree. Of such columns supixirting 
 single pomegranates, there are examples in the mu.seuni at 
 Carthage '. 
 
 The.se pillars appear again in the ideal temple of Kzekiel 
 ("pillars hy thi' posts, one on this side and another on that side." 
 Kzek xl. »'J). 
 
 A. J. Evans notes a similar feature in the worship nf the 
 Arcadian Zeus: "the great Arcadian Z^•u^ who«c only shrine 
 was the oakwcxxls of Mt. l.ykapo^ otherwiiie found hia iiiatcrial 
 
 ' Perrol and Cliipifl, I. it. Yig*- 167. IWt. pp. SM. 305. »nd A. J K>»ni 
 in .lournnl nf Ihltrntc Sor„ly (or IWU. p. 114. 
 
408 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 shape in tlie twin-columns that rose... in front of the mound that 
 stood for his altar'." More exactly, the pillars were the material 
 shape of the Sons of Zeus. 
 
 Then we have the pillars of the temple of Paphos, as shown 
 on the coins ; and a number of similar numismatic traces. 
 
 P. 251. The Tiidn-Pillars at Anlioch. 
 
 For the erection of these Twin-pillars by Tiberius we have an 
 important statement from John Malalas (f . p. 160) as follows : 
 
 TifiJiv avTuiV^ 'A^(piov6i T€ Kal Zrjffov. 
 
 The description shows that the great Twin-pillars were in honour 
 ol' the Theban Twins, that they were set up in front of a newly 
 erected Temple of Dionyso.s, and that they were not, architec- 
 turally speaking, a part of that Temple. 
 
 P. 252. 7'he, Double Translations in the Ads of Thomas. 
 
 It is quite easy to show that the phenomenon of a double 
 rendering, which meets u.s on the first page of the Greek Acts of 
 Thomas, is characteristic of the whole translation. The instances 
 are almost as frequent as the pages, and it is surprising that no 
 one has noticed them. It would not be proper to take space in 
 this book for making an exhaustive proof of the statement, we 
 must defer such an extended demonstration to the Introduction 
 that we are hoping to write to the Syriac Acts. The proof will 
 be cumulative and convincing. 
 
 P. 255. Judas Thomas in PrisciUian. 
 
 There can be no doubt that PrisciUian identified the Judc of 
 the Catholic Epistles with Thomas of the Fourth Gospel, and 
 made him the twin brother of the Lord. The whole passage is 
 as follows. PrisciUian (ed. Schepss, p. 44, !. 13) ; 
 
 " Ait Juda apostolus damans ille didymus domini, ille qui 
 deum Christum post passionis insignia cum putatur teniptas!>e 
 plus credidit, ille (jui uinculorvim pressa uestigia et diuinae crucis 
 laudes et uidit et tetigit ; prophetauit de his, inquid, Septimus ab 
 Adam Enoc, etc." 
 
 PrisciUian had no difficulty in combining the two ideas, that 
 Christ was divine, and that lie had a huiuan twin-brother! 
 
 ' This is from Paiisaiiia-s, viii. 38, by way of Bdtticher, Der Baumkiittiis 
 der llelleiien. 
 
ADIHTHiNAL NOTE.S 409 
 
 P. 255. On the lilirifim nf Thuiniix atul Jtsiis. 
 
 Of the two classes of twins, to which we have iiiiwle reference 
 from the physiological point of view, one is markcii liy extra- 
 ordinary resenihlance l)etwe«n the twins ; anil it i» this class of 
 twin that furnishes matt-rial for the ecclesiastical novelist who 
 wrote the Acts of Thomas. For an instructive parallel where the 
 nauies as well as the forms show the |uirallelisni, wo may take 
 the case of the twin-brethn'O of Cleini-nt in the Clementine 
 Homilies, where Clement says (xii. S) : 
 
 "Caesar himself gave a wife of his own family to my father, 
 who was his foster-brother; and of her three sons of us were 
 born, two before rae, who were twins and very like eiich other, ao 
 my father told me. ...Of my brothers, one wa-s called FaustinuH, 
 and the other Faustinianus." 
 
 We n\ay take as a parallel to these almn-st coiiiculent iiame.s, 
 the hagiologic Crispin and Crispian. 
 
 P. 258. Aziz and Monim. 
 
 Cumont, in Leu Reliijions Orientnlet, p. 58. suggcsU that 
 Aziz and Monim are commonly unite<l in the inscriptions, and 
 that they are fundaiiieiilally Arab. 
 
 " Azizos et Monimos — 'Aziz et Moun'im--sont do» appella- 
 tions purement Arnhes, inexplicable hors de I'Arabe Aiizos 
 signifie le fort, le puissant, et Monimos le lK>n, le bienfttisant. 
 Les deux pei-sonnages .se trouvent souvent unis ilans lea inscrip- 
 tions : le lieuK Bonus I'uer Phosphorus ou Azizu* Uonus I'urr 
 represente AzizosMonimiw et non Az.izos Heul." Ho rac«n.i, if 
 I undersUnd him rightly, that there are two Aziz deities, one of 
 whom is call.-<l Monimos but i-s the equation Monimos - Bonus 
 «o certain 1 
 P. 269. riace names ii« terms i>/ the l.vjlitmnij 
 
 We must examine carefully the nnmi« of pl»< e» and |><oph. 
 which may lietray Diiwcurinm by reference to ihe Ijghtning or 
 the Thunder. Caaes like Bne Haraij are obviou.nly Pioscunc. but 
 there are others where we cannot get »)^yond a su.picion For 
 example, there is a village near AlepjK.. name.1 Kl Hura.,: i.s that 
 a Lightning townl Mr l>< Strange .hicril«« it in the following 
 torms': "There is a place of prayer where |ie..plr go to pa.« the 
 night, they will see in sleep ■.ne who will *«y, 'Thy healing will 
 
 > Viilettine undir Ik* Motltmt, |> li& 
 
410 ADDITIONAL NOTKS 
 
 consist in such and such a thing,' or the one who appears wilt 
 touch the sick part." 
 
 Mr Le Strange does not seem to be aware that he is descril)- 
 ing Incubation as it was practised in the temples of Aesculapius 
 and the Dioscuri. It seems likely that the village in question 
 was, in ancient times, a shrine of either Aesculapius or of his 
 companions the Sons of Thunder. Amongst personal names 
 we have already referred to Hamilcar Barcas; we might have 
 coupled him with the Baraq of the Book of Judges. In the 
 former case, it is genenlly explained ;(S a term describing the 
 rapidity of his military movements. A somewhat similar case is 
 that of the Sultan Bajazet, who acquired the title of Yilderim, 
 or "the Lightning," on account of his military prowess: Creasy, 
 however, in his history of the Ottoman Turks', gives another 
 explanation : he saj's that "according to some authorities it was 
 from Bajazet's deadly lapidity in securing his accession by his 
 hrotlter' s duath that he acquired the surname of Yilderim." This 
 is much nearer Dioscurism than the former explanation. There 
 is, however, so far as 1 know, no evidence that the brother was a 
 twin. 
 
 P. 270. Tivias in the Transjonlanic Region 
 
 In the countr}' on the other side of Jordan we find a number 
 of suspiciously dual formations in the names of places, for which 
 mi explanation has as yet been forthcoming. Such names as 
 Mahanaim, Diblathaim, Kiriathaim are certainly dual formations. 
 Diblathaira is peculiarly inteiesting because it occurs in the form 
 Beth-DiVjlathaim, which very commotdy connotes a sanctuary. 
 One's first impulse is to correct the form to Dilbathaim, and 
 explain the name by Babylonian influence, and the use of the 
 term Dilbat to describe the morning and evening stars. Un- 
 fortunately for this .suggestion, the name Beth-Diblathaim is 
 found on the Moabite stone, as well as in Jeremiah (xlviii. 22) 
 and in Numbers (x.xxiii. 47). 
 
 Kiriathaim is easier to handle : it is exactly twin-town, and 
 has an existing parallel in the town of Kuryateyn, between 
 Damascus and Palmyra. But this does not necessarily mean 
 twin-town in our .sense of the worth 
 
 P. 27 t, note, add : 
 
 The editors observe that the Two Brothers are presumably 
 the Dioscuri. 
 
ADDITIONAL NOTES 411 
 
 P. 280. Inhfrilancf in Ih' yoiinynt Horn. 
 
 Among the IIos the youngest Imni ninle ih heir to the futhi-rs 
 property, on thu plea of his Ix-inj; less ahle to help himself on the 
 death of his parents than his elder brethn-n, who have had their 
 father's assistance in settling themselves in the world during his 
 lifetime. 
 
 (Lieut. Tickell in Jour. As. iW. Ilt-nijul, ix. 7m ; ([Uoted in 
 Spencer : Descriptive Sociology, p. 11 . i 
 
 P. 280. Thf UnU of hthtriUinc among the Khiuis. 
 
 This custom has a curious parallel, as we have said, amon^t 
 the Khasis of Assam. Here " All land ac(|uire<l l>y inheritance 
 must follow the Khasi law of entail, hy which piop«'rty descend* 
 from the mother to the youngest daughter, and again from the 
 latter to her youngest daughter. Ancestral landed prop<Tty must 
 therefore tie always owned hy women'. The rule among the 
 
 Khasis is that the youmjfxl daughter 'holds' the religion Her 
 
 house is called ' ka iiiig .seng,' and it is here that the memlxTs 
 of the family as.semhle to witness her p«'rf<>rmance of the family 
 ceremonies. Hers is, therefore, the largest share of the family 
 property, because it is she whose duty it is to perform the 
 family ceremonies and propitiate the family ant^estors." 
 
 P. 2lS4. TivinnppUa calm tli» nlorm. 
 
 The prayers that are chanted to the twin-apples are given by 
 .Sauve in Revttf Cfltifjue, VI. 81 ff. : 
 
 "La race des charmeurs de vent n'a pa<i encore coniplet<-ment 
 disparu. Conjurer les etfets de la tourment** la plus implacable 
 est pour eux un jeu d'enfant s'ils out eu la precaution do 
 mettre en re.serve deux jximmes jumelles (•truitenient unies el 
 ayant conserve le lien uniijue qui les tenait sus|M-ndur.s au nivme 
 rameau. Si rare quelle soil, la chose n'nst paa iiitrouvalilc. \ii» 
 que le vent commence h soulRer en temp^t*-, on retire do Iwhut 
 du ch^ne la petite boite qui renfermo lu talisman et on la depin« 
 sur la table, Au second coup de vent, on ouvrii la l»<>il<>, en 
 faisaiit le signe di? la crtiix Au tr^•Lsi^m^• coup, on n-gnnlo 
 attcntivement les ponimes, ef, si eiles mmueiit quelquc p*u, on 
 se hate d'avoir recount ^ I'ornison que voici, 
 
 Vmil cflrovahU i-t ciAclialnr. 
 
 Car tol lout M-ra boiilcTcno. 
 
 Ni il»n« U nikoon. iii an drh»t 
 
 ' Ourdon, The Khatii. p. H'i, quolcd in Ki«"->. t.i •. •■(■i. •■>>r,,. 
 
 p. 38S note. 
 
412 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Surety ne sera Bi tu continues, 
 
 Et cependant, malgri tes menaces, 
 
 Nous avons ici eontre toi remade. 
 Les assistants se passent alors de I'un k I'autre les deux pommes 
 inprveilleuses, puis reprennent en choiur : 
 
 Fruit bon et delicieux, 
 
 Vous commandez au temps 
 
 Aussi bien en ce pays qu'en tout quartier, 
 
 Aux champs vous avez ete form<^. 
 
 A la cimc d'un arbre vous avcz muri, 
 
 Et toujoiirs vous avez pu faire la loi 
 
 Au vent, si courrouc^ qu'il fiit. 
 
 A ce moment, les pommes circulent una seconde fois dans toutes 
 les mains, aprfes quoi les voix s'elfevent de nouveau : 
 
 Au mois d'avril vous avez iti en fleur, 
 
 Au raois de mai, vous vous etes noue ; 
 
 Vous avez traverse jiiin, juillet 
 
 Sans ^prouver d'aucun vent dommat;e, 
 
 Au mois d'aodt vous etes devenue rouge, 
 
 En depit du veut maudit, 
 
 Et en septembre, quand vous 6tes entr^, 
 
 Dans le main de I'hoinrae vous vous etes jete. 
 
 Ici encore le talisman fait le tour de I'assembl^e, et I'oraison se 
 
 termine ainsi ; 
 
 Maintenant done (jue nous avons le bonbeur 
 De vous posseder au milieu de nous. 
 Nous ilemandons en votie noiu 
 A Saint Matliurin de Pontlion, 
 Que d'une tourniente si impitoyable. 
 Nous soyons comme vous preserves, 
 Notre maison, notre grange et nos etables, 
 Nos foins, le ble dans nos champs. 
 Si tous (ces biens) nous sont conserves, 
 Dans votre petite boite vous serez renfermc. 
 Ainsi soit.il." 
 
 P. i90. Jiiilas Maccabaeiis and the Dioscuri. 
 
 If we have rightly shown that the Twin-children of the 
 Thunder-god came to the protection of Judas Maccabaeus and 
 the leadership of the revolting Jews, we have the interesting 
 question raised, whether, in thus proving the persistence of the 
 Dioscuric ideas anujng the Hebrew people, we have not found 
 the clue to the meaning of tlie term Maccabee. The ancient 
 interpretation of the word, as mtianing Hannner or Hammerer, 
 would be natural enough if Judas himself had been given a name 
 implj'ing the connection with the Heavenly Twins, as Hanmierers 
 
AUDITION Al. NOTKS 113 
 
 or Thunderers, and iis liiiviii;; incorpurntL-d some tif tlirir pitt-ncy 
 
 in his own person. 
 
 P. 298. Unity of Tivin-Cult amonij Arynn p'oplft. 
 
 The statement in the text, that th«! Aryiin twin-cult should 
 be regarded as a single cult, is prenialure, and the ari;iinient will 
 require to be re-staled. It nmy l>o at once olijecttil that even in 
 Rome there are four sepurat*- twin-cults, Uoniului and Keniu.s, 
 Castor and Pollux, Picunitius and Piluniiius, and perhaps Mu- 
 tunus and Tutunus (not to sp(>ak of the Ij»res). It is not ohvioua 
 that all these forms are reducible to a Hiiigle origin. \V hy, then, 
 it may be askf<l, should we hssumic piirallelism iM'tween the Graeco- 
 Roman worship of Castor and Pollux, and that of the Naharvali ? 
 
 The answer iip|«ars to In* that Tiicitus, who may I**- a-s-suuietl 
 to be entirely free from the intluence of our folklore »()eculalion8 
 and deductions, lias made the identiHi-alion for uh, from the evident 
 similarities in the two rituals. Whether, then, the Aryan twin- 
 cults are reducible to a single original form or not, the two cults 
 that we have been discussing must l>e recognist-d a-s closely 
 related. 
 P. 300. Diosctirism in the Dintricl of Picfnum. 
 
 It is inte^^sting to oh.-terve that, in the famous diptych of 
 Ranibona, which U-longs to the province of Piceiium, the cruci 
 fixion is actually bordered at the foot with a representation of 
 Romulus and Hemus and the Wolf ! 
 
 P. .312. Thf. Ldi-get a» Stork*. 
 
 Thomp.son (/.c) says that Bytaiitios had already arrived At 
 the equation between I>'leges and Pehwj-i. Creuier also (Sytn 
 holik. III. 217) has suggested that the I^-leges wen- storks. In 
 discussing the stat<-ment "f the Samian chronicler Men<MlotUH 
 that the temple of llera at Samos wius built by the Nviiiphs and 
 the Lelege.s, he thinks that the mythical character of the story 
 would he evident, if we could regard the l^deges aji ■iynitM>lically 
 under the nainu of Storks ! 
 p. 31 -J. AmphisM a Twin-Town. 
 
 The recognition of Ainphisjia as a Twin town ran •«• coiifirmr<l 
 in the following manner. Tlie eponymous hero or foumlrr of Am 
 phi.vsik IS Aiiiplii».sus, and if AinphLvui is Twin town, Amphivtui- 
 should l)e a twin. Now ncmrding to the legrmU, Aniphluus is 
 the son of Hryope, whixw' f.ilher Uryopw m the e^ionym of the 
 Greek trilie the l)ryiHH's, just as AmphiMUS is of iho town 
 
414 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 Aniphissa. How, then, does Dryope become the mother of 
 Amphissus 1 She is the daughter of Dryops, and Dryops is the 
 Woodpecker. Of her Apollo became enamoured, and subsequent 
 to her union with the god, she married Andraemon. We are 
 expressly told that the result of her connection with Apollo was 
 Amphissus. It is clear, then, that Amphissus was not only 
 a twin, but a Heavenly Twin : and his mother was a woodpecker- 
 maiden'. 
 
 Almost every characteristic of thu Twin-cult seems to be repre- 
 sented in the story of Dryope and Amphissus, Sky-parentage, 
 Holy tree, and Sacred bird. Wo need Lave no further hesitation 
 that Amphissus was a twin, and that Amphissa was a twin-town. 
 
 P. 318. The Kabiri in MilKtus. 
 
 We have suggested that the worship of Apollo at Braiichidae 
 was superposed on an earlier twin-cult. It is interesting to 
 observe that in Miletus the ancient rites of the Kabiri were kept 
 up till Roman times. There is an inscription of the first century 
 A.D.''' in which a priest of the Kabiri prays the proconsul that the 
 rites of these ancient deities may be kept up as aforetime : 
 
 KaiKtva riatTol avdiiraro^ 
 MiXT^ffiwi' &.pxou<n xalpetv. 
 
 'El^€TUX( fJ-Oi TifJ.lM}!' Mec^- 
 
 (TTopos iro\€iTTjs iip^repos, 
 Upeds 0eu>v atjiaaTuii' Kal^ipuiv 
 ahoOfitvos TO. irpoyoyiKO. t5i- 
 Kttta a Ktti ToU irpd auroy avt'u- 
 
 pfVOiV TiV ^1 idoV^ KT£. 
 
 p. 320. Apollo and Artemis. 
 
 It may perhaps occasion .some ditliculty that we speak of 
 Apollo and Artemis as being in the series of the Sons of Thunder, 
 when one of them is feminine ; and still more so when we suggest 
 that at Delos they displaced a pair of Gieat Sisters, and not the 
 Great Twin Brethren to whom wo are most accustomed. How 
 could a pair of such Sisters find a place in a Thunder-cult ? And 
 how could a Brother and Sister Thinider come into being? In 
 this connection we may remind ourselves that there was a 
 feminine Goddess of Thunder, as well as a Zeu? Kcpau'iio?. Some- 
 
 ' Not an oak-maiden, as A. B. Cook (Folk-I.ure for iy04, p. 118) allinua, 
 but an oak-birJ. 
 
 ' Sue Wiegand, Scchater vorliiutiger liericht ilhrr Ausgrabiingen in Milet 
 und Didyma, p. 26. 
 
ADDITIDNAI, NOTh:s 415 
 
 times the male and ffinale Tbuiider are invoketi t<>t;ether, an in 
 an iiiscriptiun in La HiutWoddingtun (ii. '2l'.l'J), 
 
 xcXoXw/iVfou TtfXOi Tov KtpavrioV 
 it ri[i] 0>Xg i&v/Na 
 
 (S«« Ua«otrr, Gnttfrnanun, p. 3G.) 
 
 P. 321. Jason and Corylhut. 
 
 The reference given to Servius, identifying Ja-niuH tn tlie wm 
 of Coryttins, while his Iwin-biother Dardanus i.s sprung froo> 
 Jove, deserves a further investigation. For Corylhus is the 
 crested wren, and is a tire hird, and probably a thunder bird. 
 We have explained that Jasiu.s and Ja-sion are only iniMhlicationH 
 of Jason ; so that Ja.sius is either Ja.s4>n or his twin brother. If, 
 then, Corythus is the Crested Wren, we have Mlruck a fresh line 
 of tradition, in which the Thunder is no longer identified with 
 the Woodpecker, but with a laui-h smaller bird. That Corythus, 
 like Picus or Keleos, was known as King, ap|iearri from the 
 survival of his cult in the nioth-rn practic- of hunting; tin- Wn-ii 
 as King on New Year's day. 
 
 This raise.s a further question, more difficult to answer in our 
 present state of knowle«lge. What does hanlanns mean I We 
 find him intruded into the Twincult along with Ja.v>n, in 
 the Aegean Sea, perhaps at Samolhrace, or in the Tro*d. Is 
 Danlanus also the Thunder? How is it to U- proved, or 
 disproved ? 
 
 P. 326. ./iisnn awl TripUil'-moti tit Son* of' t/if 
 
 WiHxifieckrr. 
 
 A similar origin for TriptolemoM to that suggested in the 
 text is given in Creuzer, SytnholOc, I. 15l', from a .V yOxixyrapJxu 
 Valicaniit : " Eleu.sis civilas est Atticac provineiae. baud Imige al> 
 Athenis. In qua ciuuin regnaret C<;leu.H, el Cerereni t{uai-rent<-m 
 filiam liberalissime suscepisset h(»pitio ; ilia, pro muuneralione, 
 ostendit ei omne genus agricultuiae , filium riu» Tnplolrmum, 
 recena natum, fier noetem igne fovit, per diem divino Ucte 
 nutrivit." 
 
 Triptolemus is, in this writers view, the win of the wi.wl 
 pecker ; and we have aln-ady shown thiil the w.»«l|«x-k.r u the 
 Thuniler, fxuitim. Thus Jiuum and Triptoleinun are a pair "if 
 Dioscuri or H.Minerge.H. Now we ■..^< why the bright »tar« in the 
 Zodiacal sign (jemini were known in o-rUin quarters a* Jasion 
 and Triptolemus. 
 
416 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 P. 328. The Datujhters of Kiny Keleos. 
 
 We learn from Pausanias (i. 38) that the first priestesses of 
 Demeter at Eleusis were the daughters of King Keleos. They 
 were named McAicro-ai, i.e. Bee-Maidens. Here again we have 
 the connection between the Woodpecker and the bees brought 
 out. It is the feminine parallel to the Kuretes as the first Bee- 
 farmers. It is lawful to conjecture that these priestesses of 
 Demeter were, in the first form of the cult, twin-sisters. 
 
 P. 331. Names of the Woodpecker. 
 
 Dr Feilberg kindly sends me the following Scandinavian 
 names for the Woodpecker. 
 
 1. Dfiintnrk. 
 
 Sortspsette = picus martius (p.m.) 
 gr6nspa;tte = picus viridis (p.v.) 
 grispiftte = picus canus (p.c.). 
 A popular name is Johan Las.sen. 
 In Jutland. 
 
 fiagspajtte = flakspiette = fiakstier (p.v.). 
 For all woodpeckers the name 
 
 trapikku. 
 
 2. Norwai/. 
 
 Spjftr (Old Norse). 
 
 Spetta 
 
 trepikka 
 
 treklopp . Common names. 
 
 vidkleppa 
 
 kakspjot 
 
 Gronspetta = p.v. 
 
 Gjerstruet 
 
 Gjertn 
 
 3. Sweden. 
 
 Hpatt or Spett. 
 
 Skogsknarr. 
 
 Gronspett or gronspikl 
 
 „b,. s :,. \ = p.v. 
 
 Goling or grongoling J '^ 
 
 Spelkrilka or Spillkrilka = p.m. 
 
 (Also known as traknarr.) 
 
 Hacksj)ett or Hackspik. 
 
 Gjertrudsfugl = p.m. (?) 
 
 The foTcgoing are interesting in view of what we have 
 
 already collected in Yorkshire and elsewhere. 
 
 I 
 
 , , y - p.m. - (Gertrude s fowl), 
 .rusfuglj ' ^ ' 
 
ADDITION A I, NOTh-S 417 
 
 For instance the Sean<lin«vian trepikhn is cltarly the wrae a« 
 the Yorkshire I'ickatree. Tlie Swedish hitcktp<ttt liii.swi-rs to the 
 English hack anil hatch. 
 
 The forms Specht and Sp^iyht appear as SpttU and Spik in 
 Scandinavian, which makes the Huctuations b«'tween Sptrton and 
 Speclun inlt'lligible, and shows in what direction wo should look 
 for the origin of the English name Speke. 
 
 FlagspcetU and FUJaptrtte mean the fleckfd or spotted 
 Woodpecker. 
 
 P. 332. lieou-ulf the Woodpecker. 
 
 It maj' be asked whether the recognition of the Wtxxlpecker 
 as the Bee- Wolf may not lead us to the solution of the hitherto 
 un.solved riddle as to the iippcjirance of the Wolf as auxiliary 
 parent in the story of Honiulus and Remus. May it not be au 
 artificial double of the bird, with whom it actually appears on 
 the Roman denarii 1 See the case figured by Miss Harrison, where 
 the Twins and the Wolf in the foreground are accompanied by 
 two Woodpeckers on the tiered tree (p«!rlmps the Ficus Rumi- 
 nalis) in the background. The objection to this explanation 
 appears to be that the .suckling wolf is a type that frequently 
 recurs, with other animals, as mothers of exposed children ; it 
 would be unreasonable to imagine all these casea to lie derived 
 from the Roman Wolf: and if they exi.st independently, that 
 Wolf belongs to that cycle of legend, and not to the woodpecker 
 cycle. 
 
 p_ 337. Tivhui likr- ttnd uidikr. 
 
 It is interesting to note the two divergent dcBcriplions of the 
 legendary twins in the .stimo document ; when (Jvid describes the 
 birth of Romulus an<l Reiini.H, he .says almost in the same breath 
 that the twins are equal and .similar and that Romulus is the 
 better man of the two : 
 
 ■*At quam aunt limilMl al quam furiiiMU* uterqu* ! 
 IMuii Umcn ex illii iiU rigorii habel." 
 
 ba$ti. II. 395, 396. 
 
 p. 3,")2. Kinij Ciirijoru. 
 
 It is not quite ea.sy to atUch «n etymological meaning lo 
 flargori.s, but, perhaps, an he is the f«tlier of Rw kwping, we may 
 connect with yiipynfia (swarin.n), and call him King Swann. 
 Etymologies are, howrvor, treacherous things. 
 
418 ADDITIONAL NOTES 
 
 P. 352. The Cymbals as bee-charm. 
 
 Lucan tells us in his Pharsalia (ix. 287 sqq.) that heps are 
 chidden by the noise of the Phrygian brass and stopped from 
 further flight ; the reference to the noise made by Phrygian brass 
 is evidently to the cymbals of the Korybanta in the worship of 
 the Phrygian Great Mother. I do not, however, add this to the 
 passage in Vergil, because Lucan is an imitator of Vergil and 
 may have borrowed the figure from him. His exact language is 
 as follows : 
 
 Phrygii sonus increpat aeris, 
 Attonitae posuere fugam, studiumque laboris 
 Floriferi repetunt ct sparsi mellis amorem. 
 
 P. 354. Survival of Tivin Fear in Mediaeval France. 
 
 A curious case of the survival of Twin Fear, and of tlie 
 explanation of twins by the sui>posed infidelity of the mother, 
 will be found in one of the lays of Marie de France, entitled " Le 
 Fraisne," or "The Ash-Tree." The original text may be found 
 in Suchier, Biblioteca Normannica, vol. in, pp. 54 sqq. The story 
 opens by relating how two nol>les lived near to one another, and 
 the wife of one of them brought forth twins. At this the second 
 lady was envious, for she had no child, and she commenced to 
 slander the more fortunate mother of twin-boys. Having thus 
 damaged her reputation, about a year later she herself produced 
 twin-girls, and to avoid the reflex of her own thought, one of the 
 girls she sent away and exposed in an Ash-Tree, at the gate of an 
 Abbey. Here she grew up under pious care, and is known as 
 Miss Ash. The story now lends itself to .some pleasing matri- 
 monial confusions. It can be road in Engli.sh in a translation by 
 Eugene Mason in Everyman's Library. The opening .sentences 
 of the French poem are as follows : 
 
 I.e Fraisne. 
 En Bretaigne jadis maneient 
 dui chevalier: veisiu csteient. 
 Riche hume furent e manant, 
 e chevalier pru e vaillant. 
 Prochein furent, d'uno cuntiee. 
 Chescun.s feninie aveit espusee. 
 L'une des dames enceinta. 
 Al terme qu'ele delivra, 
 a cele feiz ot dous enfanz. 
 
 Ele parlo mult folement, 
 e dist oant tuto sa gent : 
 
AI'I>ll'Ii)NAL NOTES 419 
 
 ' Si m'ait deus, jo m'ciimerveil, 
 u cint prozilum pri>t ci-sil cuDicil, 
 qu'il a nianili! a niun soittneur 
 sa huntc e aa Rrant tlMbonur, 
 que sa femme a euz iloun fiz. 
 E il a ole lunt huniz. 
 Nus tavum bien qu'il i afiert : 
 uniqui'B ne fu ne ja neii iert 
 ne n'avcodra cele aveolare, 
 qu'a une sule porteiire 
 une femme dous enfani ait, 
 Be dni bume ne li ant fait.' 
 
 P. 362. H'lf/r- diffiunun of Jason Cult. 
 
 The language of Strabo in reference to the prevalence of the 
 Jason cult in Asia Minor is certainly remarkable. It is pos-sible 
 that he has included the Dioscureia in the Jusoneia, where we 
 should have reversed the order. As to the actual existi'nco of 
 such cult-centrtis we have the evidence of Trogus (42, 3) that 
 almost everywhere in the Kasl divine honoun were given to 
 Jason, but that Ale.xander the Great, or his lieutenant, .suppressed 
 the shrines : 
 
 " itai)ue Jasoni totus fernie Oriens ut conditori diuinos honores 
 templaquo constituit, quae Parmenion, dux Alexnndri Magni, 
 post multos annos dirui ius.sit, ne cuiuaquam noinen io Oriente 
 uenerabilius quam Alexandri cssct " ! 
 
 p. 381. yA/f Hull ruarT in If. A/rica. 
 
 Mr p. Amaury Talbot, who i.s in the Nigerian I'olitical 
 Service, descrilies in his IkmjIc In the Shwloit' of thr liuth the 
 country of the Ekoi trilK-.s and thi-ir customs. On p. 2f4, in 
 describing the secret societies of the natives, he t<'IU u» that in 
 some clubs, the Knyara Akum, the dark things of the clubs, 
 i.e. bull rtMirers, are usi?<i. These were formerly only played in 
 secret • no woman was allowe<l to .see them, or know the cauw of 
 the sound. "My wife," he !^ay^ "and her sister wero the timt 
 women in this part of the world to whom the much priz4-d aecrrt 
 was disclos<xl." 
 
 The parallel with the Auittndian cuitoni and its »«-crccy i« 
 very close. 
 
 As the bull roarer is conneolt«l with the thunder <ult it i* 
 interesting to note that, on p U of the name »)o.ik. the author 
 remarks the occurrenc-e of the double axe among the Kkoi oyniljol*. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Abukir, 201 
 
 Acosta, 10 n. 
 
 Acts of Thomas, 193, 195, 245-7, 
 
 250-5, 287 
 Apvins, 41, 18fr-90, 191 
 Adad, 8 
 
 Adams (Capt.), 53 
 Agrieus, 218, 269 
 Ahenobarbus, 46 
 Ahts, 23 
 
 Ainu, 160-2, 180, 181, 214 
 Akikuya, 109, 400 
 AkovievVe, 76, 77 
 Aldridge, 79 
 Alexandria, 199, 201 
 Algonquins, 24 
 Alkmena, 309 
 Allen (J. H.), 241 
 Amawanga, 119 
 Amerinds, 143-51 
 Amphiaraos, 225 
 Amphidamas, 225 
 Amphigeneia, 318 
 A-raphion, 224, 318 
 Amphipolis, 318 
 
 Ampbissa, 312, 319, 413 
 
 Amykus, 201 
 
 Antiope, 309, 342 
 
 Ao-nagas, 179 
 
 Apis, 7 
 
 Aponos, 82 
 
 Arebo, 51 
 
 Argenidas, 376 
 
 Argo, 213, 335-6 
 
 Argonauts, 159, 221-33 
 
 Aristaeus, 355 
 
 Aristophanes, 39 
 
 Arnot, 87 
 
 Aros. 61, 68 
 
 Arpoxais, 237 
 
 Arriaga, 9, 136, 137 
 
 Aryans, 192 
 
 Ashango Land, 81 
 
 Askalaphos, 227 
 
 Asklcpios, 227 
 
 Assam, 179 
 
 Asterios, 224 
 
 Atharva Veda (Twin-cult in the), 
 
 183-5 
 Australia (Twin-cult in), 176-8 
 Axe-Bird, 211 
 
 Aytoun, 91 
 
 Aziz, 250-60, 409 
 
 Badegas, 212, note 4 
 
 Baganda, 123-5 
 
 Bahima, 125 
 
 Bakarewe, 29 
 
 Bakena, 122 
 
 Bali, 167 
 
 Bana-ba-tilo, 4 
 
 Bangala, 95 
 
 Baraze, Padre Cypriano, 140 
 
 Barber's pole, 91 
 
 Barca, 6, 199 
 
 Bar Hadad, 8 
 
 Bari tribes, 126, 127 
 
 Barkinon, 7 
 
 Baronga, 4, 106 
 
 Basoga-Batamba, 121 
 
 Bassari, 72 
 
 Bataks, 165, 166 
 
 Batchelor, 180, 214 
 
 Batito, 86, 91-4 
 
 Baumann, 109 n. 
 
 Bawenda, 106 
 
 Bawumba, 95 
 
 Bechuanas, 105 
 
 Bees, 327-30, 348-53, 353-7, 417 
 
 Ben Hadad, 8 
 
 Benin, 50 
 
 Bent, 105, note 1 
 
 Bethsaida, 219, 270, 404 
 
 Bismarck Islands, 173 
 
 Blessing (see Cursing) 
 
 Blinkenberg, 16, 48, etc. 
 
 Blomert, 50 
 
 Bloomfield, 183-5 
 
 Bne-Baraq, 5, 199 
 
 Boanerges, 1 
 
 Boas, 42, 142 
 
 Boaz (.<!•« Jachin) 
 
 Boece, 239, 240, 241 
 
 Boghaz Keui, 191 
 
 Bolivia, 139 
 
 Bonny, 53, 66 
 
 Bosiiuin, 51 
 
 Bosporus, 201 
 
 Brazilians, 24, 43, 141 
 
 Brinton, 24 
 
 British East Africa, 108, 109 
 
 British Guiana, 134-6 
 
 
421 
 
 Brown, Dr G., 174 
 Buduna, 400 
 Bull roartr. 397 
 Burkitt, 251 
 Burmn, 165 
 Burton, 82 
 
 Cabiri [ste Kabiri) 
 
 Califomian Indians, 142 
 
 Callaway, 27, 32 
 
 Cambodia, 16.5 
 
 Cameron (I'rof.), 117 
 
 Cameroon^, 81 
 
 Camillus, 42 n. 
 
 Campbell (J.), 105 
 
 Caribs, 24 
 
 Caroline Islands, 169 
 
 Castor, 5, 9, 306 
 
 Castor and Pollux, 223, 305, 391 
 
 Catlin, 37 n. 
 
 Cautes and Cautopates, 40, 374 
 
 Central Africa, 110 
 
 Chamberlain, 24 
 
 Cherokecs, 34 
 
 China (Tbunder-bird in), 15, 23 
 
 Chiriguanos, 140 
 
 Chorazin, 270 
 
 Chuchos, 9 
 
 Circe, 44 
 
 Clerk, 72 
 
 Condon, 121, 122 
 
 Congo, 83-7, 91-7 
 
 Cook (A. B.), 16, .39, 208. 3.M 
 
 Com Spirit, 19 
 
 Corybanles {ife Korjbanles) 
 
 Cosmas and Uamian, 43, 91, 193, 
 
 203, 403 
 Court St t:tienne, 3.58, 359 
 Crawford, 399 
 Crete, 15, 209 
 Crispin and Crispian, 203 
 Cross River, .56 
 Crotona, 45 
 Crow (Capt. H). 53 
 Curi, 9 
 
 Cursing by two fingcn, 67, 315 
 Cyrene, 6, 200 
 
 Dakolas, 22, 23 
 
 D'Alvirlla (Count Ooblet), 858, 3J9 
 
 Uikmaru Land, 98 
 
 Danks, 173 
 
 Dopper, .50 
 
 Darilanoi, 320 
 
 Declf, 105, noto I 
 
 Dc Leon, 138 
 
 Delc-utert, 173 
 
 DeluA, 320 
 
 Delphi, 320 
 
 Dtnt Indians, 20 
 
 Deucalion, 224 
 Dioscurt'ia, 221 
 Uioscun, 4, 6, 9, 220, 284, 361- 
 
 74 
 ntrki. 342 
 Dolichenus, 43 
 D'OrbiRny, 139, note 2 
 Du Chaillu, 81-3, 379 
 Dumnd, 130, note 3 
 Dyaks, 168 
 
 Eastman, 22 
 
 Eells, 24 
 
 Edcssa, 192-3, 250-64, 407 
 
 Ehrvnrcich, 140, 155 
 
 Ekoi, 419 
 
 Ellis (W. Africa), 28, 69 
 
 Ellis (Polynesia), 175 
 
 Elino (S), 205 
 
 Emin Pasha, 125 
 
 Ephialtc.4. 309 
 
 Ksau and Jacob (Ma«ai .story). 116 
 
 Esau and Jacob, 27.5-80 
 
 Eschlimann. 172 
 
 Esquimaux, 24 
 
 Essequibo Indians, 134 
 
 Esthonia, 48 
 
 Eukratidrs, 245 
 
 Eusibius, 216 20 {tfe Pbilo Byblius) 
 
 Eurydamas, 223 
 
 Evans, 209 
 
 Ewe tribes, 68, 76 
 
 Fang tribes, 81 
 Fttsc.s. 89 
 hViDM-rg. 11, 416 
 Ki'lrlmnos, 39 
 Kcrrand, i:«), note 4 
 Kick. 309-12 
 Fo tribes, 73 
 Froier, 4 
 Freer, 30, 217. note 1 
 
 Uarrnganze, 87 
 
 rSath Himmon, 5 
 
 Ornnrp, I.TO 
 
 (irrinun E. Africa, 109 
 
 (iirtrudna fowl, 36 n. 
 
 (iilgoke. 160 
 
 (iihl. 132 
 
 OirlinK, 86. 87. 91-4. S7» 
 
 Oolahs. 78 
 
 Gobi C«*.l, .50, 77 
 
 G.ildir. .'.7. .W. 50 
 
 G<»>.lwin .Sanda, 202 
 
 (;.,tt..'hIinK. 10« 
 
 (ir..irtrnd, 230 1 
 
 C.i.nra. Uulf ol, 67 
 
 Durdiin, 17V 
 
 Guyana, 133 
 
422 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Hadad, 8 
 
 Hadad Ezer, 8 
 
 Hagia Triada, 38, 209 
 
 Halieus, 218, 269 
 
 Harri, 192 
 
 Harris (J. H.), 398 
 
 Harrison (.1. E.), 30, 90, 209, 350, 353 
 
 Hays of Errol, 239-43 
 
 Haz.ael, 8 
 
 Hedad, 36, 394 
 
 Hephaestus, 14 
 
 Herakles, 223, 309 
 
 Hereros, 98 
 
 Hervey Islands, 175 
 
 Hill-Tout, 144 
 
 Hittites, 191 
 
 Hobley, 119, 120 
 
 Hoffmann, 24 
 
 Hogarth, 191 
 
 Hokusai, 30 
 
 Holinshed, 239 
 
 Hollis, 118 
 
 Hollow Oak, 215 
 
 Holy Spirit as Twin, 264 
 
 Hommel, 115 
 
 Honey, 356, 357 
 
 Hottentots, 100, 102 
 
 Howell, 94, 98 
 
 Humboldt, 133 
 
 Hurons, 21, 393 
 
 Hyperasios, 224 
 
 Hypnos and Thanatos, 308 
 
 Hypsouranios, 217 
 
 Ibeji, 68 
 
 Ibn Abraq, 4 
 
 Ibn Baraq, 269 
 
 Ibos, 62, 06 
 
 Igarras, 61, 65 
 
 Ignace (Abbe E.), 43 
 
 Illapa, 10 
 
 Images of Twins, 69 
 
 India, 182 90 
 
 Indra, 41 
 
 Inheritance of younger twin, 65, 411 
 
 Iphikles, 223, 309 
 
 Iphimedeia, 309 
 
 Irle, 98 
 
 Iroquois, 21, 151 
 
 Ishogos, 81 
 
 Isolation of twins, 98, 107, 149, 167 
 
 Italraens, 163 
 
 Jabal, 47 
 Jachin, 251 
 Jacob {nee Esau) 
 Jaffa, 4, 5, 198 
 Ja-Luo, 120 
 James and John, 1 
 Jasion, 229 
 
 Jasios, 229, 321 
 
 Jason, 221-33, 332-7, 338-43, 361- 
 
 74, 406, 415 
 Jasoneia, 221, 362, 419 
 Jerome, 1 
 
 Jesus {see Acts of Thomas) 
 Jewett (J. B.), 149 
 Johnson (Walter), 215 
 .Johnston (Sir H. H.), 108, 120 
 Juhal, 47 
 
 Judas Thomas {see Acts of Thomas) 
 Junod, 4, 106 
 Jupiter Capitolinus, 41 
 Justin Martyr, 1 
 
 Kabiri, 233, 414 
 
 Kaffirs, 102 
 
 Kalais, 225 
 
 Kamschatka, 163 
 
 Katanga, 87 
 
 Kavirondo tribes, 119, 120 
 
 Keleai, 322 
 
 Keleos, 322, 325-32 
 
 Kent, 202, 203 
 
 Khasis, 179, 399 
 
 Khurbet Ibn Baraq, 269 
 
 Kidd (Dudley), 25, 102, 103 
 
 King (Lieut.), 52 
 
 King George's Sound, 173 
 
 Kingsley (xMiss), 56-9 
 
 Klose, 72 
 
 Kolasais, 237 
 
 Kolbe, 100 
 
 Koler, 66 
 
 Kolkar, U 
 
 Korybantes, 348-53 
 
 Krascheninnikov, 161 
 
 Kreusis, 201 
 
 Kuni tribes, 173 
 
 Kuretes, 349-53 
 
 Kurile Islands, 161 
 
 Kwakiutl Indians, 143, 282 
 
 Lattuka, 126 
 
 Leipoxais, 237 
 
 Le Jeune, 21 
 
 Leleges, 310-2, 412 
 
 Lemnos (.lason in), 364, 365 
 
 Leonard, 61-4 
 
 Lettcboer, 169 
 
 Le Vaillaut, 101, 134 
 
 Liberia, 78 
 
 Lightning-Sticks, 89 
 
 Lillooet Indians, 22, 33, 147 
 
 Locrians, 61-4 
 
 Lucas (U. Clement), 305 
 
 Lumbwas, 120 
 
 Luncarty, 238-41 
 
 Mabie (Dr Catharine), 97 
 
 
423 
 
 Maccabees (DioKUrism), 289, 290 
 
 MacdoDAld (Major), 66 
 
 Macuftis, 135 
 
 Madagascar, 29, 129-31, -100 
 
 MaguDgo, 126 
 
 Mamre (Dioscurophan; at), 300 
 
 Manitoba Indians, 1.50 
 
 Mannbardt, 297-303 
 
 Marathon, 243 
 
 Martron, 81 
 
 Masai, 114-9 
 
 Matabeleland, 103-5 
 
 McTurk, 134. 135 
 
 Medea, 36S-T2 
 
 Meerwaldt, 166 
 
 Melanesia, 174 
 
 Melanippe, 309 
 
 Melitene, 195 
 
 Memphis (Twins at), 172 
 
 Mcrker. HI, 115-9 
 
 Messcnians, 45 
 
 Mexico, 1.52-4 
 
 Michael, 201 
 
 Mithra, 374 
 
 Mithraism, 40 
 
 Mockler-Ferryman, 59, 06 
 
 Modigliani, 169 
 
 Moffat, 27 
 
 Mohalaka, 106 
 
 Molz, 179 
 
 Monbottuland, 126 
 
 Monini, 2.50-60, 409 
 
 Monrovia, 7H 
 
 Montagnais, 21 
 
 Motolinia, 152 
 
 Moxos, 140 
 
 Muller (W. T.), 50 
 
 Miillcr, 136 
 
 Nabu (Nebo), 261-3 
 
 Nandi, 119 
 
 Nasatiya, 188, 192, 403 
 
 Nassau, 88 
 
 Natal, 26 
 
 New Guinea, 171 
 
 Ngombe, 282 
 
 Nias. 168 
 
 Nootka Indians, 149 
 
 Nyassa (Lake), lOH 
 
 Nycndal. 51 
 
 Oak as Thunder tree, IB, 392 
 
 Ohoho, 73, 74 
 
 Onitsha, 66 
 
 Ophuijsen, 16.5 
 
 Origcn, 2 
 
 Orinoco Indians, 132 
 
 Ostia, 321 
 
 Otus and EphiallcM, 309 
 
 Ovid, 202 
 
 Oxyrhjncus, 273 
 
 Palestine. 198 
 
 Paneas, 366-9 
 
 Paraclete. 2.59-64 
 
 Pans. 3.58 
 
 Partridge (Major), 60, 68 
 
 Pelasgi (S I. 311 
 
 Pephnos, 323 
 
 Persia, 191 
 
 Peruvians, 35, 130, 401 
 
 Philo Byblius, 216-20 
 
 Phoenicia, 216-20 
 
 Picenum, 38. 322 
 
 Picumnus, 212 
 
 Picus, 15, 44, 210, 268, 391 
 
 Picus Feronius, 35 
 
 Pilsudski, 160 
 
 Placenta (of Twins), 126, 399 
 
 Pollux («« Castor) 
 
 Polynesia, 175 
 
 Polynesians, 125, 402 
 
 Pondoland, 26 
 
 Porto Novo. 70 
 
 Powers (S.), 142 
 
 Promantheus, 14 
 
 Prometheus, 14 
 
 Qua Iboe (River), 54 
 (juelzalcoati, 153 
 
 Itainbow. taboo, HI 
 
 Ked (or Thunder, 89, 396 
 
 Ited Ilobes, 31 
 
 Regillus (I.Jike), 46 
 
 Reich, 117 
 
 Kemus (ife Romulus) 
 
 Uhodesia, 103-5 
 
 Kimroon. 4M, 395 
 
 Kivuro, 153 
 
 Uobin, 38, 395 
 
 Romulus and Kemus, 35, 206, 207, 
 
 215, 307 
 Rosoe, 122 5 
 Roth (I.ing). 53 
 Rothbart. 38 
 
 lUiullrdgr (Mr and Mrs), 109 
 Rowan Irrr, 48 
 RusHWurm. 48 
 
 StbadicM, 12 
 •Sabazios. 12 
 Kabo Mrdicinr, 78, 80 
 SaghalKn, I5U 
 Sa^nui (Kivrrl, >5 
 Hanchonialhon, 216 20 
 .Sandwich, 203 
 Sanll*«^■. 10 
 Scarphr, 230 
 Schomburgk, 135 
 
424 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Schradcr, 297, 301 
 
 Scythia, -237 
 
 Sebedei Stones, 11 
 
 Sbamgar, 243 
 
 Shango, 28 
 
 Sherbro, 79 
 
 Shuswap Indians, 145, 282 
 
 Sierra Leone, 79 
 
 Sims (J.), 28 
 
 Sinagolo, 171 
 
 Skgomic Indians, 144, 283 
 
 Slessor (Miss), 56 
 
 Smith (J.), 67 
 
 Smith (Kenred), 83-6, 378 
 
 Smith (R. W.), 54 
 
 Solar Twins, 159 
 
 Spartans, 45-7 
 
 Speeton, 325 
 
 Speightstown, 325 
 
 Spence (Lewis), 34 
 
 Spieth, 76 
 
 Squirrel, 180-1 
 
 Standing, 129, 130 
 
 Steggall, 118 
 
 Sumatra, 168 
 
 Sjvann, 110 
 
 Sydyk, 220 
 
 Symplegades, 159, 333-7 
 
 Syrtis, 200, 203 
 
 Taan, 25 
 
 Teit, 34 n., 37 n., 42 n. 
 
 Thebes (Egypt), 273 
 
 Thomas, 316 {see Acts of Thomas) 
 
 Thompson Indians, 23, 34, 42 146 
 
 Thor, 13, 41 
 
 Thoth, 273 
 
 Thunder. axe, 16, 89 
 
 Thunder-bird, 20-30, 209, 266-7 
 
 Thunder-stone, 283, 284, 314 
 
 Todas, 181 
 
 Togo, 72 
 
 Tomi, 324 
 
 Tornow (Robert), 354 
 
 Torquemada, 152 
 
 Triptoleraos, 229, 322, 338-43, 406 
 
 415 
 Tshi-speaking tribes, 70, 71 
 Tsimshian Indians, 142, 282 
 Tubal, 47 
 Twin-cattle tabooed, 105, 139, 182-6 
 
 402 
 Twin-heroes of N. and S. America, 
 
 155-9 
 Twin-houses, 80 
 Twin kills Twin, 86 
 Twin-names, 291-6 
 Twin-pillars, 300 
 
 Twin-priesthood, 80, 96 
 
 Twins (names of), 73, 74, 80, 95, 
 
 103, 112, 121, 126 
 Twins and honey, 301, 302 
 Twins and truth, 315 
 Twins as ploughmen, 237-49, 328-43 
 Twins as river saints, 196-8 
 Twins buried at cross roads, 97 
 Twins, children of thunder, 136 
 Twins control weather, 142, 144 
 
 146, 147, 284, 411 
 Twins in war, 313 
 Twins quarrel, 96 
 Twin-town, 56, 57, 64, 317-25, 410 
 Tylor, 213 
 Tyndareus, 9 
 Tyndarides, 5 
 Tyndaris, 5 
 
 Usambara, 109 
 Usener, 10 n. 
 Uso, 217 
 Uzza, 256-7 
 
 van der Burgt, 111 
 van Eerde, 168 
 Vedas, 182-90 
 
 Wace, 376 
 
 Wadjagga, 111 
 
 Waikas, 135 
 
 Wakaraba, 111 
 
 Wales, 183 
 
 Walking on sea, 286 
 
 Wanyamwezi, 111 
 
 Wanyora, 125 
 
 Warundi, 111 
 
 Waukonde, 108 
 
 Wazaramo, 110 
 
 Weber, 183 
 
 White for lightning, 89, 396 
 
 Williams (J.), 25 
 
 Winckler, 191 
 
 Wolf, 73 
 
 Woodpecker, 209, 211, 212 329-32 
 
 393, 404, 416 
 Woodpecker and the plough, 344-7 
 Wren, 392 
 
 Yorubas, 28, 68 
 
 Zabdai, 12, 389, 390 
 Zebedee, 12 
 Zebedee-stones, 11 
 Zetes, 225 
 Zethus, 9 
 Zodiac, 18 
 Zulus, 25, 27, 32 
 
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