[[872]]Μολοιμι ταν ουρανου μεσαν
Χθονος τε τεταμεναν αιωρημασι πετραν,
Αλυσεσι χρυσεαις φερομεναν.
If then the name of the Sun, and of his temples, was among the antient Grecians Petros, and Petra; we may easily account for that word so often occurring in the accounts of his worship. The Scholia above will moreover lead us to discover whence the strange notion arose about the famous Anaxagoras of Clazomenæ; who is said to have prophesied, that a stone would fall from the Sun. All that he had averred, may be seen in the relation of the Scholiast above: which amounts only to this, that Petros was a name of the Sun. It was a word of Egyptian original, derived from Petor, the same as Ham, the Iämus of the antient Greeks. This Petros some of his countrymen understood in a different sense; and gave out, that he had foretold a stone would drop from the Sun. Some were idle enough to think that it was accomplished: and in consequence of it pretended to shew at Ægospotamos the very [[873]]stone, which was said to have fallen. The like story was told of a stone at Abydus upon the Hellespont: and Anaxagoras was here too supposed to have been the prophet[[874]]. In Abydi gymnasio ex eâ causâ colitur hodieque modicus quidem (lapis), sed quem in medio terrarum casurum Anaxagoras prædixisse narratur. The temples, or Petra here mentioned, were Omphalian, or Oracular: hence they were by a common mistake supposed to have been in the centre of the habitable globe. They were also Ηλιβατοι Πετραι; which Elibatos the Greeks derived from βαινω descendo; and on this account the Petra were thought to have fallen from the [[875]]Sun. We may by this clue unravel the mysterious story of Tantalus; and account for the punishment which he was doomed to undergo.
[[876]]Κορῳ δ' ἑλεν
Αταν ὑπεροπλον,
Ταν ὁι πατηρ ὑπερκρεμασε,
Καρτερον αυτῳ λιθον
Τον αει μενοινων κεφαλας βαλειν
Ευφροσυνας αλαται.
The unhappy Tantalus
From a satiety of bliss
Underwent a cruel reverse.
He was doom'd to sit under a huge stone,
Which the father of the Gods
Kept over his head suspended.
Thus he sat
In continual dread of its downfal,
And lost to every comfort.
It is said of Tantalus by some, that he was set up to his chin in water, with every kind of fruit within reach: yet hungry as he was and thirsty, he could never attain to what he wanted; every thing which he caught at eluding his efforts. But from the account given above by [[877]]Pindar, as well as by [[878]]Alcæus, Aleman, and other writers, his punishment consisted in having a stone hanging over his head; which kept him in perpetual fear. What is styled λιθος, was I make no doubt originally Petros; which has been misinterpreted a stone. Tantalus is termed by Euripides ακολαστος την γλωσσαν, a man of an ungovernable tongue: and his history at bottom relates to a person who revealed the mysteries in which he had been [[879]]initiated. The Scholiast upon Lycophron describes him in this light; and mentions him as a priest, who out of good nature divulged some secrets of his cloister; and was upon that account ejected from the society[[880]]. Ο Τανταλος ευσεβης και θεοσεπτωρ ην Ἱερευς, και φιλανθρωπιᾳ τα των θεων μυστηρια τοις αμυητοις ὑστερον ειπων, εξεβληθη του ἱερου καταλογου. The mysteries which he revealed, were those of Osiris, the Sun: the Petor, and Petora of Egypt. He never afterwards could behold the Sun in its meridian, but it put him in mind of his crime: and he was afraid that the vengeance of the God would overwhelm him. This Deity, the Petor, and Petora of the Amonians, being by the later Greeks expressed Petros, and Petra, gave rise to the fable above about the stone of Tantalus. To this solution the same Scholiast upon Pindar bears witness, by informing us, [[881]]that the Sun was of old called a stone: and that some writers understood the story of Tantalus in this light; intimating that it was the Sun, which hung over his head to his perpetual terror. [[882]]Ενιοι ακουουσι τον λιθον επι του ἡλιου—και επηωρεισθαι αυτου (Τανταλου) τον ἡλιον, ὑφ' ῳ δειματουσθαι, και καταπτησσειν. And again, Περι δε του ἡλιου ὁι φυσικοι λεγουσιν, ὡς λιθος (it should be πετρα) καλειται ὁ ἡλιος. Some understand, what is said in the history about the stone, as relating to the Sun: and they suppose that it was the Sun which hung over his head, to his terror and confusion. The naturalists, speaking of the Sun, often call him a stone, or petra.
Pl. V. Temple of Mithras Petræus in the Mountains of Persia. From Le Bruyn
By laying all these circumstances together, and comparing them, we may, I think, not only find out wherein the mistake consisted, but likewise explain the grounds from whence the mistake arose. And this clue may lead us to the detection of other fallacies, and those of greater consequence. We may hence learn the reason, why so many Deities were styled Πετραιοι, Petræi. We read of[[883]] Μιθρας, ὁ θεος εκ πετρας, Mithras, the Deity out of the rock; whose temple of old was really a rock or cavern. The same worship seems to have prevailed, in some degree, in the west; as we may judge from an antient inscription at Milan, which was dedicated[[884]] Herculi in Petrâ. But all Deities were not so worshipped: and the very name Petra was no other than the sacred term Petora, given to a cavern, as being esteemed in the first ages an oracular temple. And some reverence to places of this sort was kept up a long time. We may from hence understand the reason of the prohibition given to some of the early proselytes to Christianity, that they should no more[[885]] ad petras vota reddere: and by the same light we may possibly explain that passage in Homer, where he speaks of persons entering into compacts under oaks, and rocks, as places of[[886]] security. The oak was sacred to Zeus, and called Sar-On: and Petra in its original sense being a temple, must be looked upon as an asylum. But this term was not confined to a rock or cavern: every oracular temple was styled Petra, and Petora. Hence it proceeded that so many Gods were called Θεοι Πετραιοι, and Πατρῳσι. Pindar speaks of Poseidon Petraios;[[887]] Παι Ποσειδωνος Πετραιου: under which title Neptune was worshipped by the Thessalians: but the latter was the more common title. We meet in Pausanias with Apollo Patroüs, and with [[888]]Ζευς Μειλιχιος, and Αρτεμις Πατρῳα; also [[889]]Bacchus Πατρῳος, Zeus Patroüs, and Vesta Patroa, together with other instances.