. the Ark.' The same story, divested of its mysticism, is told in their literal account of the flood; for the number of holy persons, who entered with Satyavrata into the ship, is expressly said to have been seven. In the Phenician mythology, the seven Cabiri are described as the sons of Sydyk or the Just Man: and these eight persons are reported to have been the builders of the first ship, and at the close of some remarkable voyage to have consecrated to the sea-god the relics of the ocean.* The same Cabiric gods are enumerated with some variation, but in a yet more accurate manner, by Pherecydes. He tells us, that the great artizan Vulcan, who was thought to exercise his craft in a wonderful floating island, and who is certainly Noah viewed as the framer of the Ark, espoused Cabira or the maritime Venus, and by her became the father of the three Cabiri and the three Cabiræ.' This ogdoad is the same as the classical ogdoad of Saturn and Rhea, viewed as the parents of three sons united to their three kinswomen. Hence we are informed, that Saturn once constructed a cavern in the midst of the ocean, where he concealed his family during a time of imminent danger and hence we find, that the number eight was consecrated in a peculiar manner to Rhea. From the Asiat. Res. vol. i. p. 253, 248. Moor's Hind. Panth. p. 12, 105, 58, 64. 2 Euseb. Præp. Evan. lib. i. c. 10. 3 Strab. Geog. lib. x. p. 472. Apoll. Argon. lib. iii. ver. 42. 4 Porph. de antr. nymph. p. 254. Damas. in annot. ad Phurn. Theor. sect. vi. VOL. I. I same source Xenocrates appears to have derived his eight principal deities, whom he supposed to be the regents of the eight heavenly bodies.' This notion originated from the belief, that the souls of the hero-gods were after death translated to the sphere. Accordingly we learn from Martianus Capella, that the whole solar system was mystically esteemed an immense ship, manned by the seven planetary brethren, and steered by the Sun who acts as pilot.* With a similar reference to the arkite navigators, the hieroglyphical character, by which the Chinese express a ship, consists of a boat, a mouth, and the number eight. The mouth relates to the supposed oracularity of the diluvian ship, which was feigned to direct its votaries in an audible voice what course they ought to take: and this character, added to the eight and to that by which water is designated, presents to the minds of the Chinese the idea of a prosperous voyage.3 Nor was this famous number unknown to the ancient Druids. Bardic songs are yet extant, in which is celebrated the return of the mythological Arthur with his seven companions from their voyage over a boundless ocean, beneath the waves of which all the rest of mankind had been overwhelmed.+ XIV. I shall conclude this disquisition with 1 Cicer. de nat. deor. lib. i. c. 13. 2 Mart. Capell. Satyr. lib. ii. p. 43. 3 Bryant's Anal. vol. iii. p. 9. Eratos. Catast. xxxv. Callist. Stat. c. x. Apoll. Argon. lib. iv. ver. 580-592. + Davies's Mythol. of Brit. Druids. p. 517. noticing the singular manner, in which the history of the deluge seems to be pourtrayed on the southern hemisphere of the celestial globe. 1. The greatest part of this division of the sphere is occupied by various aquatic animals; and water is represented as streaming upon it in almost every direction. In the midst of the waves appears the ship called Argo: near it is a dove, which seems to be flying towards it: and, at a small distance from it, is a raven, perched upon the back of the sea-serpent. Farther on, as if he had lately left the ship, is the fabulous Centaur; who with his lance pierces an animal, and bears it as a victim towards a smoking altar. 2. The Argo, thus depicted on the sphere, is claimed by the Greeks as the vessel of Jason; which bore him from Pagasa to Colchis in quest of the golden fleece. The Centaur is equally claimed by them and the whole catasterism is said to relate to a pretended expedition, conducted by a petty Thessalian chieftain. It is not difficult however to shew, that such a claim was purely the result of national vanity united with a love of poetical romance. 3. With respect to the constellation, its very position alone may prove that its attached story was not of Grecian origin. Canopus, the principal star in this catasterism, is only thirty seven degrees from the south pole; and the greatest part of the constellation lies still nearer to it. But the course of the fabled Argonautic voyage from Pagasa to Colchis lay between thirty nine and forty five degrees of north latitude. The constellation therefore of the Argo is alike invisible, both at Pagase and at Colchis. Hence it is sufficiently manifest, that the history attached to that constellation cannot relate to the pretended Thessalian expedition: for, if the Greeks had been the persons who first placed the Argo in the sphere, we may be morally sure, that they would have placed it in the northern hemisphere where they could themselves see it, not in the southern where thye could not see it. Such being the case, the catasterisin of the ship must have been originally arranged by a nation, which lay far to the south of Greece, and which could behold it from their own settlements. Consequently, whatever history it may relate to, it clearly cannot relate to the voyage of a Thessalian galley from Pagasa to Colchis.' 4. With this conclusion, all, that we are told of the Argo, perfectly agrees. Though it is said to have been the ship of Jason, and though the poets largely describe its structure of Thessalian timber; we are nevertheless assured, that it was the identical vessel, in which Danaus sailed from Egypt to Greece many years before the alleged epoch of Jason. Nor is this all: we are further taught, that the Argo of the sphere is the sacred ship of the Egyptian Osiris, into which he was compelled to enter by Typhon; and we are informed, that Typhon was a mere personifi See Rutherford's Syst. of Nat. Philos. vol. ii. p. 849. cation of the sea, which therefore constrained the hero-god denominated Osiris to take refuge in the ship named Argo. The knowledge however of the Argo was no way peculiar to the Egyptians and their copyists the Greeks: we find this famous ship equally familiar to the Hindoos. As the Osiris or Isiris of the former enters into the Argo, so the Iswara of the latter enters into the Argha: and, as the navicular goddess of Egypt was called Isis, so the navicular goddess of Hindostan still bears the title of Isi. But the Argha of Hindostan is manifestly the Ark; for it floats upon the waters of the deluge, and afterwards flies away in the shape of a dove. Hence we may be sure, that that Argo, which from its position could only have been placed in the sphere by a nation much more southern than the Greeks, is no obscure Thessalian galley, but a ship the history of which was well known from Egypt to Hindostan; a ship, which every particular attached to it proves to have been the Ark of Noah. 5. This is in effect acknowledged even by the Greeks themselves: although they claim the Argo as their own, they yet confess it to have been the first-built vessel, Thus we are informed by Eratosthenes, that the constellation of the Argo was placed in the heavens by divine wisdom; that the Argo was the first ship that ever was constructed; that it was built at a period of most remote antiquity; that it was an oracular vessel; that it was the first ship that ven 'Plut. de Isid. p. 359, 356, 363. |