A few words are here necessary respecting the orthography of Greek names adopted in the above table and generally throughout this history. I have approximated as nearly as I dared to the Greek letters in preference to the Latin; and on this point I venture upon an innovation which I should have little doubt of vindicating before the reason of any candid English student. For the ordinary practice of substituting, in a Greek name, the English C in place of the Greek K, is, indeed, so obviously incorrect, that it admits of no rational justification. Our own K, precisely and in every point, coincides with the Greek K: we have thus the means of reproducing the Greek name to the eye as well as to the ear, yet we gratuitously take the wrong letter in preference to the right. And the precedent of the Latins is here against us rather than in our favor, for their C really coincided in sound with the Greek K, whereas our C entirely departs from it, and becomes an S, before e, i, æ, œ, and y. Though our C has so far deviated in sound from the Latin C, yet there is some warrant for our continuing to use it in writing Latin names,—because we thus reproduce the name to the eye, though not to the ear. But this is not the case when we employ our C to designate the Greek K, for we depart here not less from the visible than from the audible original; while we mar the unrivalled euphony of the Greek language by that multiplied sibilation which constitutes the least inviting feature in our own. Among German philologists, the K is now universally employed in writing Greek names, and I have adopted it pretty largely in this work, making exception for such names as the English reader has been so accustomed to hear with the C, that they may be considered as being almost Anglicised. I have, farther, marked the long e and the long o (η, ω,) by a circumflex (Hêrê) when they occur in the last syllable or in the penultimate of a name.
CONTENTS
VOL. I.
PART I.
LEGENDARY GREECE.
CHAPTER I.
LEGENDS RESPECTING THE GODS.
Opening of the mythical world. — How the mythes are to be told. — Allegory rarely admissible. — Zeus — foremost in Grecian conception. — The gods — how conceived: human type enlarged. — Past history of the gods fitted on to present conceptions. — Chaos. — Gæa and Uranos. — Uranos disabled. — Kronos and the Titans. — Kronos overreached. — Birth and safety of Zeus and his brethren. — Other deities. — Ambitious schemes of Zeus. — Victory of Zeus and his brethren over Kronos and the Titans. — Typhôeus. — Dynasty of Zeus. — His offspring. — General distribution of the divine race. — Hesiodic theogony — its authority. — Points of difference between Homer and Hesiod. — Homeric Zeus. — Amplified theogony of Zens. — Hesiodic mythes traceable to Krête and Delphi. — Orphic theogony. — Zeus and Phanês. — Zagreus. — Comparison of Hesiod and Orpheus. — Influence of foreign religions upon Greece — Especially in regard to the worship of Dêmêtêr and Dionysos. — Purification for homicide unknown to Homer. — New and peculiar religious rites. — Circulated by voluntary teachers and promising special blessings. — Epimenidês, Sibylla, Bakis. — Principal mysteries of Greece. — Ecstatic rites introduced from Asia 700-500 B. C. — Connected with the worship of Dionysos. — Thracian and Egyptian influence upon Greece. — Encouragement to mystic legends. — Melampus the earliest name as teacher of the Dionysiac rites. — Orphic sect, a variety of the Dionysiac mystics. — Contrast of the mysteries with the Homeric Hymns. — Hymn to Dionysos. — Alteration of the primitive Grecian idea of Dionysos. — Asiatic frenzy grafted on the joviality of the Grecian Dionysia. — Eleusinian mysteries. — Homeric Hymn to Dêmêtêr. — Temple of Eleusis, built by order of Dêmêtêr for her residence. — Dêmêtêr prescribes the mystic ritual of Eleusis. — Homeric Hymn a sacred Eleusinian record, explanatory of the details of divine service. — Importance of the mysteries to the town of Eleusis. — Strong hold of the legend upon Eleusinian feelings. — Different legends respecting Dêmêtêr elsewhere. — Expansion of the legends. — Hellenic importance of Dêmêtêr. — Legends of Apollo. — Delian Apollo. — Pythian Apollo. — Foundation legends of the Delphian oracle. — They served the purpose of historical explanation. — Extended worship of Apollo. — Multifarious local legends respecting Apollo. — Festivals and Agônes. — State of mind and circumstances out of which Grecian mythes arose. — Discrepancies in the legends little noticed. — Aphroditê. — Athênê. — Artemis. — Poseidôn. — Stories of temporary servitude imposed on gods. — Hêrê. — Hêphæstos. — Hestia. — Hermês. — Hermês inventor of the lyre. — Bargain between Hermês and Apollo. — Expository value of the Hymn. — Zeus. — Mythes arising out of the religious ceremonies. — Small part of the animal sacrificed. — Promêtheus had outwitted Zeus. — Gods, heroes, and men, appear together in the mythes.