From this Sabaism, or serpent worship, Ireland obtained the name of Tibholas or Tivolas; S and T being commutable letters, Tibholas is the same as Sibholas, and this being derived from sibal, a circle, shows the name to have been equivalent with the land of circles or revolutions, otherwise, both to the serpent and the planets.
Those prophetic women of Etruria, designated Sybils, were named from the same cause, being priestesses of the serpent, i.e. the Sabh or Yoni—allegorically represented as married to Apollo, and gifted with a longevity of a thousand years. Here, again, the same conversion of letters occurred, for the place which they inhabited was called from themselves, Tivola, corresponding to our Tivolas, the S and T being, as before explained, commutable, and b or bh being equivalent to v.
Pythia is exactly synonymous with Sybil, meaning the priestess who presided over the Pith, which, like Sabhus, means as well serpent as yoni: and the oracle which she attended was called Delphi, from de, divine, and phith, yoni—it being but a cave in the shape of that symbol,[600] over the orifice of which the priestess used to take her seat upon a sacred tripod, or the religiously emblematic pyramid,[601] while the inspiring vapour issued from beneath through a tube similar to that exhibited at p. 460, and one end of which, passing through the aperture, held fast the tripod to which the priestess had been secured, so that she should not, in her delirium, relinquish the position.
The great Samian philosopher, known as Pythagoras, only assumed this name in deference to those rites: for Pyth-agoras means one who expounds the mysteries of the pith, viz. death from its weakness, and redemption from its virtue.
“Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel,”[602] was the spiritual substance of those expositions: the only difference being in that Isaiah spoke prospectively towards a lately verified issue, whereas the initiated took the promise from the moment of the fall: and of its partial accomplishment prior to our era, there can be no doubt, even from the writings of this prophet.
On the opposite plate are three profile likenesses of Christ, as He appeared upon earth in human form—the first is a facsimile from a brass medal, found at Brein Owyn, in the Isle of Anglesey, and published in Rowland’s Mona Antiqua. The inscription upon it has been translated as meaning, “Jesus the Mighty, this is the Christ and the Man together.”
The second, likewise of brass, and found at Friar’s Walk, near Cork, is now in the possession of a Mr. Corlett.—Inscription upon one side, “The Lord Jesus.”—Upon the other, “Christ the King came in peace, and the light from the heaven was made life.”
You will please observe here, that he does not say the Word was made life, but the Light was made life.
The third is of silver, and the inscription means, “Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ—the Lord and the Man together.”