The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion (Vol. 1 of 2)

1066

Euripides, Bacchae, 920 sqq., 1017.

1067

Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 35; Athenaeus, l. c.

1068

Diodorus, iii. 64, 2, iv. 4, 2; Cornutus, De natura deorum, 30.

1069

Diodorus, l. c.; Tzetzes, Schol. in Lycophr. 209; Philostratus, Imagines, i. 14 (15).

1070

Müller-Wieseler, Denkmäler der alten Kunst, ii. pl. xxxiii.; Daremberg et Saglio, i. 619 sq., 631; Roscher, Ausführl. Lexikon, i. c. 1149 sqq.

1071

Welcker, Alte Denkmäler, v. taf. 2.

1072

Plutarch, Quaest. Graec. 36; id., Isis et Osiris, 35.

1073

Nonnus, Dionys. vi. 205.

1074

Firmicus Maternus, De errore profan. religionum, 6.

1075

Euripides, Bacchae, 735 sqq.; Schol. on Aristophanes, Frogs, 357.

1076

Hesychius, s. v. Ἔριφος ὁ Διόνυσος, on which there is a marginal gloss ὁ μικρὸς αἴξ, ὁ ἐν τῷ ἔαρι φαινόμενος, ἤγουν ὁ πρώϊμος; Stephanus Byzant. s. v. Ἀκρώρεια. The title Εἰραφιώτης is probably to be explained in the same way. [Homer], Hymn xxxiv. 2; Porphyry, De abstin. iii. 17; Dionysius, Perieg. 576; Etymolog. Magnum, p. 371, 57.

1077

Apollodorus, iii. 4, 3.

1078

Ovid, Metam. v. 329; Antoninus Liberalis, 28; Mythogr. Vatic. ed. Bode, i. 86, p. 29.

1079

Arnobius, Adv. nationes, v. 19. Cp. Suidas, s. v. αἰγίζειν. As fawns appear to have been also torn in pieces at the rites of Dionysus (Photius, s. v. νεβρίζειν; Harpocration, s. v. νεβρίζων), it is probable that the fawn was another of the god's embodiments. But of this there seems no direct evidence. Fawn-skins were worn both by the god and his worshippers (Cornutus, De natura deorum, c. 30). Similarly the female Bacchanals wore goat-skins (Hesychius, s. v. τραγηφόροι).

1080

Varro, De re rustica i. 2, 19; Virgil, Georg. ii. 380, and Servius, ad I., and on Aen. iii. 118; Ovid, Fasti, i. 353 sqq.; id., Metam. xv. 114 sq.; Cornutus, De natura deorum, 30.

1081

Euripides, Bacchae, 138 sq. ἀγρεύων αἷμα τραγοκτόνον, ὡμοφάγον χάριν.

1082

Schol. on Aristophanes, Frogs, 357.

1083

Hera αἱγοφάγος at Sparta, Pausanias, iii. 15, 9 (cp. the representation of Hera clad in a goat's skin, with the animal's head and horns over her head, Müller-Wieseler, Denkmäler der alten Kunst, i. No. 299 b); Apollo ὁψοφάγος at Elis, Athenaeus, 346 b; Artemis καπροφάγος in Samos, Hesychius, s. v. καπροφάγος; cp. id., s. v. κριοφάγος. Divine titles derived from killing animals are probably to be similarly explained, as Dionysus αἱγόβολος, Pausanias ix. 8, 2; Rhea or Hecate κυνοσφαγής, Tzetzes, Schol. in Lycophr. 77; Apollo λυκοκτόνος, Sophocles, Electra, 6; Apollo σαυροκτόνος, Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxiv. 70.

1084

Porphyry, De abstin. ii. 55.

1085

Pausanias, ix. 8, 2.

1086

Plutarch, Quaest. Graec. 38.

1087

Aelian, Nat. An. xii. 34. Cp. W. Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, i. 286 sqq.

1088

It is to be remembered that on the Mediterranean coasts the harvest never falls so late as autumn.

1089

On Demeter as a corn-goddess see Mannhardt, Mythologische Forschungen, p. 224 sqq.; on Proserpine in the same character see Cornutus, De nat. deor. c. 28; Varro in Augustine, Civ. Dei, vii. 20; Hesychius, s. v. Φερσεφόνεια; Firmicus Maternus, De errore prof. relig. 17. In his careful account of Demeter as a corn-goddess Mannhardt appears to have overlooked the very important statement of Hippolytus (Refut. omn. haeres. v. 8, p. 162, ed. Duncker and Schneidewin) that at the initiation into the Eleusinian mysteries (the most famous of all the rites of Demeter) the central mystery revealed to the initiated was a reaped ear of corn.

1090

Welcker, Griechische Götterlehre, ii. 532; Preller, in Pauly's Real-Encyclopädie für class. Alterthumswiss. vi. 107; Lenormant, in Daremberg et Saglio, Dictionnaire des Antiquités grecques et romaines, i. pt. ii. 1047 sqq.

1091

Homer, Hymn to Demeter; Apollodorus, i. 5; Ovid, Fasti, iv. 425 sqq.; id., Metam. v. 385 sqq.

1092

A third, according to Homer, H. to Demeter, 399, and Apollodorus, i. 5, 3; a half, according to Ovid, Fasti, iv. 614; id., Metam. v. 567; Hyginus, Fab. 146.

1093

Schömann, Griech. Alterthümer,3 ii. 393; Preller, Griech. Mythologie,3 i. 628 sq., 644 sq., 650 sq. The evidence of the ancients on this head, though not full and definite, seems sufficient. See Diodorus, v. 4; Firmicus Maternus, cc. 7, 27; Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, 69; Apuleius, Met. vi. 2; Clemens Alex., Protrept. ii. §§ 12, 17.

1094

Mythol. Forschungen, p. 292 sqq.

1095

Etymol. Magnum, p. 264, 12 sq.

1096

O. Schrader, Sprachvergleichung und Urgeschichte2 (Jena, 1890), pp. 409, 422; V. Hehn, Kulturpflanzen und Hausthiere in ihrem Uebergang aus Asien,4 p. 54. Δηαί is doubtless equivalent etymologically to ζειαί, which is often taken to be spelt, but this seems uncertain.

1097

Hesiod, Theog. 971; Lenormant, in Daremberg et Saglio, i. pt. ii. p. 1029.

1098

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 296.

1099

Ib. p. 297.

1100

Ib. p. 297 sq.

1101

Ib. p. 299.

1102

Ib. p. 300.

1103

Ib. p. 310.

1104

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 310 sq.

1105

Ib. p. 316.

1106

Ib. p. 316.

1107

Ib. p. 316 sq.

1108

See above, pp. 16 sq., 286 sq.

1109

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 317.

1110

Ib. p. 317 sq.

1111

Ib. p. 318.

1112

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 318.

1113

Ib. p. 318 sq.

1114

Sébillot, Coutumes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne, p. 306.

1115

W. Mannhardt, M. F. p. 319.

1116

Ib. p. 320.

1117

Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 321.

1118

Ib. pp. 321, 323, 325 sq.

1119

Ib. p. 323; Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. p. 219, No. 403.

1120

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 325.

1121

Ib. p. 323.

1122

Ib.

1123

Ib. p. 323 sq.

1124

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 324.

1125

Ib. p. 320.

1126

Ib. p. 325.

1127

See abbove, p. 83 sqq.

1128

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 324.

1129

Ib. p. 324 sq.

1130

Ib. p. 325.

1131

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 327.

1132

Ib. p. 328.

1133

Jamieson, Dictionary of the Scottish Language, s. v. “Maiden”; W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forschungen, p. 326.

1134

Communicated by my friend Prof. W. Ridgeway, of Queen's College, Cork.

1135

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 328.

1136

Ib.

1137

Ib. p. 328 sq.

1138

Ib. p. 329.

1139

Ib. p. 330.

1140

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 330.

1141

Ib. p. 331.

1142

Ib. p. 331.

1143

Ib. p. 332.

1144

Hutchinson, History of Northumberland, ii. ad finem, 17, quoted by Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 20, Bohn's ed.

1145

Quoted by Brand, op. cit. ii. 22.

1146

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 333 sq.

1147

Ib. p. 334.

1148

Ib. p. 334.

1149

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 336.

1150

Ib. p. 336.

1151

Ib. p. 336; Baumkultus, p. 612.

1152

W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen, p. 28.

1153

W. Mannhardt, l. c.

1154

Ib.; Henderson, Folk-lore of the Northern Counties, p. 87; Brand, Popular Antiquities, ii. 20, Bohn's ed.; Chambers's Book of Days, ii. 377 sq. Cp. Folk-lore Journal, vii. 50.

1155

Brand, op. cit. ii. 21 sq.

1156

Folk-lore Journal, vi. 268 sq.

1157

From information supplied by Archie Leitch, gardener, Rowmore, Garelochhead.

1158

Communicated by Mr. Macfarlane of Faslane, Gareloch.

1159

Jamieson, Dictionary of the Scottish Language, s. v. “Maiden.”

1160

W. Gregor, in Revue des Traditions populaires, iii. 533 (485 B); id., Folk-lore of the North-East of Scotland, p. 182. An old Scottish name for the Maiden (autumnalis nymphula) was Rapegyrne. See Fordun, Scotichron. ii. 418, quoted in Jamieson's Dict. of the Scottish Language, s. v. “Rapegyrne.”

1161

W. Mannhardt, Die Korndämonen, p. 30; Folk-lore Journal, vii. 50.

1162

W. Mannhardt, l. c.; Sommer, Sagen, Märchen und Gebräuche aus Sachsen und Thüringen, p. 160 sq.

1163

See above, p. 83 sqq.

1164

Above, pp. 333, 344.

1165

Above, p. 307.

1166

Above, p. 67 sqq.

1167

Above, pp. 334, 335.

1168

Above, pp. 334, 345.

1169

See above, p. 335 sq.

1170

Above, p. 340; cp. Kuhn, Westfälische Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen, ii. No. 516.

1171

Above, pp. 336, 337, 345.

1172

See above, p. 9 sqq.

1173

Above, p. 341.

1174

Above, p. 338.

1175

Above, p. 334, cp. 335.

1176

Above, pp. 334, 345.

1177

Above, p. 344 sq.; W. Mannhardt, Korndämonen, pp. 7, 26. Amongst the Wends the last sheaf, made into a puppet and called the Old Man, is hung in the hall till next year's Old Man is brought in. Schulenburg, Wendisches Volksthum, p. 147. In Inverness and Sutherland the Maiden is kept till the next harvest. Folk-lore Journal, vii. 50, 53 sq. Cp. Kuhn, Westfälische Sagen, Gebräuche und Märchen, ii. Nos. 501, 517.

1178

Acosta, Hist. of the Indies, v. c. 28, vol. ii. p. 374 (Hakluyt Society, 1880).

1179

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 342 sq. Mannhardt's authority is a Spanish tract (Carta pastoral de exortacion e instruccion contra las idolatrias de los Indios del arçobispado de Lima) by Pedro de Villagomez, Archbishop of Lima, published at Lima in 1649, and communicated to Mannhardt by J. J. v. Tschudi.

1180

Brasseur de Bourbourg, Histoire des Nations civilisées du Mexique, iii. 40 sqq.

1181

H. M. Elliot, Supplemental Glossary of Terms used in the North Western Provinces, edited by J. Beames, i. 254.

1182

Spenser St. John, Life in the Forests of the Far East,2 i. 187, 192 sqq.

1183

E. B. Cross, “On the Karens,” in Journal of the American Oriental Society, iv. 309.

1184

See above, p. 346.

1185

Veth, Java, i. 524-526.

1186

Homer, Od. v. 125 sqq.; Hesiod, Theog. 969 sqq.

1187

See above, p. 343 sq.

1188

It is possible that a ceremony performed in a Cyprian worship of Ariadne may have been of this nature. Plutarch, Theseus, 20, ἐν δὴ τῇ θυσίᾳ τοῦ Γορπιαίου μηνὸς ἱσταμένου δευτέρα κατακλινόμενον τινα τῶν νεανίσκων φθέγγεσθαι καὶ ποιεῖν ἄπερ ὠδινοῦσαι γυναῖκες. We have already seen grounds for regarding Ariadne as a goddess or spirit of vegetation (above, p. 104). If, however, the reference is to the Syro-Macedonian calendar, in which Gorpiaeus corresponds to September (Daremberg et Saglio, i. 831), the ceremony could not have been a harvest celebration, but may have been a vintage one. Amongst the Minnitarees in North America, the Prince of Neuwied saw a tall strong woman pretend to bring up a stalk of maize out of her stomach; the object of the ceremony was to secure a good crop of maize in the following year. Maximilian, Prinz zu Wied, Reise in das innere Nord-Amerika, ii. 269.

1189

W. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, pp. 468 sq., 480 sqq.; id., Antike Wald- und Feldkulte, p. 288 sq.; id., Mythologische Forschungen, pp. 146 sqq., 340 sqq.; Van Hoëvell, Ambon en de Oeliasers, p. 62 sq.; Wilken, in Indische Gids, June 1884, pp. 958, 963 sq. Cp. Marco Polo, trans. Yule,2 i. 212 sq.

1190

See above, p. 335 sq.

1191

Cp. Preller, Griech. Mythol.3 i. 628, note 3. In Greece the annual descent of Proserpine appears to have taken place at the Great Eleusinian Mysteries and at the Thesmophoria, that is, about the time of the autumn sowing. But in Sicily her descent seems to have been celebrated when the corn was fully ripe (Diodorus, v. 4), that is, in summer.

1192

Homer, Hymn to Demeter, 401 sqq.; Preller, l. c.

1193

In some places it was customary to kneel down before the last sheaf, in others to kiss it. W. Mannhardt, Korndämonen, 26; id., Mytholog. Forschungen, p. 339; Folk-lore Journal, vi. 270.

1194

Above, p. 332 sq.

1195

In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, she is represented as controlling the growth of the corn. See above, p. 331.

1196

See above, pp. 305 sqq., 309 sqq.

1197

Pauly, Real-Encyclopadie der class. Alterthumswiss. v. 1011.

1198

Above, p. 105 sq.

1199

Diodorus, i. 14, ἔτι γὰρ καὶ νῦν κατὰ τὸν θερισμόν τούς πρώτους ἀμηθέντας στάχυς θέντας τοὺς ἀνθρώπους κόπτεσθαι πλησίον τοῦ δράγματοσ κ.τ.λ. For θέντας we should perhaps read σύνθεντας, which is supported by the following δράγματος.

1200

Herodotus, ii. 79; Pollux, iv. 54; Pausanias, ix. 29; Athenaeus, 620 A.

1201

Brugsch, Adonisklage und Linoslied, p. 24.

1202

Above, p. 355.

1203

Ralston, Songs of the Russian People, p. 249 sq.

1204

Homer, Il. xviii. 570; Herodotus, ii. 79; Pausanias, ix. 29; Conon, Narrat. 19. For the form Ailinus see Suidas, s. v.; Euripides, Orestes, 1395; Sophocles, Ajax, 627. Cp. Moschus, Idyl. iii. 1; Callimachus, Hymn to Apollo, 20.

1205

Conon, l. c.

1206

W. Mannhardt, A. W. F. p. 281.

1207

Pausanias, l. c.

1208

Pollux, iv. 54; Athenaeus, 619 f, 620 a; Hesychius, svv. Βῶρμον and Μαριανδυνὸς θρῆνος.

1209

The story was told by Sositheus in his play of Daphnis. His verses have been preserved in the tract of an anonymous writer. See Scriptores rerum mirabilium, ed. Westermann, p. 220; also Athenaeus, 415 b; Schol. on Theocritus, x. 41; Photius, Suidas, and Hesychius, s. v. Lityerses; Apostolius, x. 74. Photius mentions the sickle. Lityerses is the subject of a special study by Mannhardt (Mythologische Forschungen, p. 1 sqq.), whom I follow.

1210

Pollux, iv. 54.

1211

In this comparison I closely follow Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 18 sqq.

1212

Cp. above, p. 340. On the other hand, the last sheaf is sometimes an object of desire and emulation. See p. 336. It is so at Balquhidder also, Folk-lore Journal, vi. 269; and it was formerly so on the Gareloch, Dumbartonshire, where there was a competition for the honour of cutting it, several handfuls of standing corn being concealed under sheaves. – (From the information of Archie Leitch. See note on p. 345).

1213

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 19 sq.

1214

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 20; Panzer, Beitrag zur deutschen Mythologie, ii. 217.

1215

Above, p. 346 sq.

1216

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 22.

1217

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 22.

1218

Ib. p. 22 sq.

1219

Ib. p. 23.

1220

Ib. p. 23 sq.

1221

Ib. p. 24.

1222

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 24.

1223

Ib. p. 24.

1224

Ib. p. 24 sq.

1225

Ib. p. 25.

1226

Witzschel, Sagen, Sitten und Gebräuche aus Thüringen, p. 223.

1227

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 25 sq.

1228

C. A. Elliot, Hoshangábád Settlement Report, p. 178, quoted in Panjab Notes and Queries, iii. Nos. 8, 168.

1229

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 31.

1230

Ib. p. 334.

1231

W. Mannhardt, Myth. Forsch. p. 330.

1232

Ib.

1233

Ib. p. 331.

1234

Ib. p. 335.

1235

Ib. p. 335.

1236

Above, pp. 335, 341, 350.

1237

W. Mannhardt, Korndäm., p. 26.

1238

Above, p. 343.

1239

W. Mannhardt, M. F. p. 50.

1240

Ib. p. 50 sq.

1241

See above, pp. 286 sq., 333, 337, 340, 341.

1242

W. Mannhardt, op. cit. p. 32 sqq. Cp. Revue des Traditions populaires, iii. 598.

1243

W. Mannhardt, Mythol. Forsch. p. 35 sq.

1244

Ib. p. 36.

1245

For the evidence, see ib. p. 36, note 2. The idea which lies at the bottom of the phrase seems to be explained by the following Cingalese custom. “There is a curious custom of the threshing-floor called ‘Goigote’ – the tying of the cultivator's knot. When a sheaf of corn has been threshed out, before it is removed the grain is heaped up and the threshers, generally six in number, sit round it, and taking a few stalks, with the ears of corn attached, jointly tie a knot and bury it in the heap. It is left there until all the sheaves have been threshed and the corn winnowed and measured. The object of this ceremony is to prevent the devils from diminishing the quantity of corn in the heap.” C. J. R. Le Mesurier, “Customs and Superstitions connected with the Cultivation of Rice in the Southern Province of Ceylon,” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, N.S., xvii. (1885) 371. The “key” in the European custom is probably intended to serve the same purpose as the “knot” in the Cingalese custom.