We may now refer to a remarkable series of drawings, representing the funeral of Patroclus, described by Homer, which were discovered in the Etruscan sepulchre of the Tarquinii near what once was Vulci and is now "Ponte della Badia," in the year 1857, and which is described in Noël des Vergers L'Etrurie et les Etrusques, and in Corpus Inscriptionum Italicarum (Turin 1867), the latter of which I use as my authority. In one of the scenes we find depicted the sacrifice of the Trojan youths at the grave of Patroclus. The artist has not left to the fancy of the observer the identification of his figures, but has written in Etruscan letters the modified names of the actors. Beginning from the right hand, we find Ajax Oileus, and next to him a naked Trojan youth, whose hands are bound behind his back, and who is guarded by Telamonian Ajax. Behind and besides him is Charon, and in front of the latter is another Trojan youth, nude, seated on the ground, and receiving his death-wound from Achilles. Behind the latter stands a winged, draped, tall female figure, whom at one time I took to be the glorified soul of Patroclus; but, having seen a similar figure on other Etruscan designs depicting human sacrifice or death, and finding over the head of this one the word fanth, vanth, or fano—according to the value which we assign to the digamma or F and O—which is, I think, equivalent to the Latin Fatum, fate, &c., we must regard the figure as resembling Azrael—"the angel of death." Besides and behind her stands a draped man unarmed, having a fixed countenance of settled melancholy, and regarding without a shade of exultation the death of the young Trojan whom Achilles slaughters. Over his head are the words hinthial patrucles, which is believed to signify "the shade of Patroclus." The last figure in the group is Agamemnon.
This and the other sculptures in the tomb are extremely interesting to the archaeologists, firstly, because they bear evidence of a very superior style of art; secondly, because they testify to the antiquity of Homer's Iliad, and its popularity in other nations than the Greek. They show, moreover, that the wealthy men amongst the Etrurians were not ignorant of the Grecian language, or rather literature, although they had difficulty in adapting the Hellenic words to their own alphabet; lastly, they ought to be especially valuable to us inasmuch as they demonstrate the existence of a belief in ancient Italy of the resurrection of the body, and of the existence of angels precisely the same in shape as those which pious Christians delight to see in their churches, and in their manuals of devotion. It is worthy of notice that upon some Etruscan vases in the museum at Munich there are angelic warriors covered with armour—a winged female carrying a caduceus, and winged horses—like Pegasus, and probably like those seen by Zechariah, the Hebrew vaticinator.
We consider it best to omit making any remarks respecting the ideas entertained about angels by the Phoenicians, for we have scarcely any information about their mythology beyond the names of certain gods and goddesses. It will be more profitable to pass on to the Greeks, and inquire into the general system of their theological belief. This is, we think, a matter of some importance, for this people, as victors and masters, came into contact with the Jews in the time of Joel, about b.c. 800; and if any captive Hebrews came back from Grecia (see Joel iii. 6), we believe that they would naturally bring back with them much of the Hellenic lore of their conquerors. The reader must not be carried away here with the once popular notion that everything which was found in heathendom, which resembled something biblical or Jewish, came of necessity from scriptural or Israelitish sources. The reverse is much more likely, for the Hebrews in old times are described by their historians and preachers as hankering after novelty—"going whoring after other gods," as the Bible has it. They, on the other hand, were encouraged to keep themselves aloof from others, and were never a missionary nation; nor, had they been so, were they sufficiently honourable or wealthy, as a race, ever to command respect. They were, indeed, generally despised by the people round about them, who would no more think of adopting Jewish fables than we should care to learn theology and cosmogony from African negroes.
If we endeavour to reduce Grecian mythology to its simplest expression, we find that it consisted of a belief in a creator—grand beyond conception, and one whom the mind could not conceive, nor pencil nor the chisel depict. Under him there was thought to be a host of minor deities, who agreed, more or less, amongst themselves, each having a particular department of creation to preside over, or a definite function to perform. Jupiter, for example, had the air and the heavens generally under his management; Neptune superintended the sea; Rhea, or Gaia, or Gee, was the goddess of the surface of the earth; and Pluto had the management of the interior of the globe and of those who were buried therein. If corpses were unburied, they did not come under his immediate cognizance. Then, as it was quite possible that one deity might be counteracting another, as, indeed, they are represented to have done during the Trojan war, another god was necessary to be a medium of communication between the others, and Mercury became the messenger, or go-between.
Below the major gods was an infinity of smaller ones, who presided over physical and moral matters. There were, for example, wood and tree nymphs; Dryads and hamadryads—gods of rivers, such as Simois and Scamander. Pan presided over husbandmen; Hermes, over thieves, &c. Others, like Eros, fulfilled the duty of bringing the sexes together. Hymen secured them in marriage, and Venus had the duty of insuring connubial happiness, whilst Lucina's business was to bring the offspring of the marriage into the world—with as little pain or danger as possible. Then, again, Fortune brought good luck. The "furies" brought evil, and the "fates" ruled the destiny of mortals.
Against some of these gods others rebelled. For example, there were the Titans, the sons of Heaven and Earth (Cælus et Terra), who were all of gigantic stature, and may be said to be identical with the giants spoken of in Gen. vi. 2-4, as being the offspring of the sons of God and the daughters of men. These Titans were much disliked by their father, and confined in the bowels of the earth, or, as we should say, in Hell; but their mother relieved them, and they in turn revenged themselves upon their progenitor. When Jupiter succeeded to Cronos or Saturn, the giants, the sons of Tartarus and Terra, or Hell and Earth, united with their half-brothers, the Titans, and attacked Olympus, and its gods, in dismay, assumed disguises and fled into Egypt—a rare spot, whence also came as history tells us, the founder of Christianity and the doctrine of the Trinity. To regain his position, Jupiter found a man—a son of his own—whom he had begotten by lying three nights in the heart of the earth, or, as the fable has it, in the arms of Alcmena—Hercules by name, to attack the allied monsters, and thus with the aid of a mortal the gods became victorious. Just as in more modern days the divine mission and position of Jesus of Nazareth and Mahomet of Mecca, have been determined by the arms of human warriors. The power of men in heaven is wonderful, considering how great is their weakness upon earth! It is probable, that to the Greeks, Milton owed his ideas of Paradise Lost.
According to the ordinary ideas of angels, the gods, demigods, goddesses, genii, and the like, were essentially the same amongst the Hebrews as the archangels and inferior hierarchy are in modern christian mythology. We shall the more readily see this if we inquire into the ideas of the Greeks respecting demons. "The latter were regarded as spirits which presided over the actions of mankind, and watched over their secret intentions." Many Greek theologians thought that each man had two, the one good, the other bad. These sprites could change themselves into any form, and at death the individual was delivered up to judgment by these companions, who testified to his actions during life. Socrates often spoke of his own peculiar "spirit." Not only were these creatures supposed to influence men, but they were also believed to guard places, and a genius loci was the same as the God of Ekron, or any other locality.
It is almost impossible for a thoughtful man not to compare with the Greek ideas those held by moderns. We hear in familiar discourse, and read in popular books, about a good angel and a bad one. God is said to use both (see Ps. lxxviii. 49, and 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22.) Many, too, of the readers of Sterne will remember the remarks which he makes about a recording angel who was obliged to register an oath, but who contrived to blot out the entry with a tear (com. Mal. iii. 16.) As we have already adverted to the belief of Jesus that every child had an angel, who is always in the presence of. God, we need not remark again upon the matter.
But though the Grecian gods and demigods were the counterparts of the archangels and lesser powers of the Jews and Christians, they were not pictorially depicted, as they were in other places, like winged men or other creatures.
Arnobius, for example, in Advenus génies, when writing about the divinities of the heathen, remarks, that they are so like ordinary men and women, that the artist has to resort to some contrivance to show that any offspring of his brush, or of his chisel, is a god or goddess. A painter, he observes, will select the finest young women he can discover—or the handsomest prostitute in his country, and from one maiden, or from the collective charms of many, will paint a lovely woman and style her Venus; yet she is only a courtezan after all. His remark is a certainly true one. Jupiter is never represented otherwise than as a man, nor does Minerva ever figure except as a woman. None of the greater gods of Hellas are winged like the tutelar gods of the Assyrians and Persians were. Even Hermes, though he does bear pinions, does not carry them in the usual form. Instead of having powerful wings behind his arms, like the Gabriel or Michael of Christian mythology, he has little nippers attached to each side of a cap, of a pair of socks, and of a curiously-shaped wand—all of which he can put off when he pleases, or don when he is sent with a message. Jupiter's thunders bear similar wings. But such minor deities, or devils, as Eros or love; Hymen or marriage; Fame, or victory; Aurora, or day-break; the winds, the Genii, the Gorgons, the Furies, the Harpies, Iris, Isis, Hebe, Psyche, and even Pegasus—a wondrous horse, are winged with pinions which resemble those of the eagle.