CHAPTER XX

THE WORSHIP OF THE OAK

§ 1. The Diffusion of the Oak in Europe

[Sidenote: The Latin kings represented Jupiter, the god of the oak, the sky, the thunder, and the rain.] In a preceding chapter some reasons were given for thinking that the early Latin kings posed as living representatives of Jupiter, the god of the oak, the sky, the rain, and the thunder, and that in this capacity they attempted to exercise the fertilising functions which were ascribed to the god. The probability of this view will be strengthened if it can be proved that the same god was worshipped under other names by other branches of the Aryan stock in Europe, and that the Latin kings were not alone in arrogating to themselves his powers and attributes. In this chapter I propose briefly to put together a few of the principal facts which point to this conclusion.

[Sidenote: Why should the god of the oak be also the god of the sky, the thunder, and the rain?] But at the outset a difficulty presents itself. To us the oak, the sky, the rain, and the thunder appear things totally distinct from each other. How did our forefathers come to group them together and imagine them as attributes of one and the same god? A connexion may be seen between the sky, the rain, and the thunder; but what has any of them to do with the oak? Yet one of these apparently disparate elements was probably the original nucleus round which in time the others gathered and crystallised into the composite conception of Jupiter. Accordingly we must ask, Which of them was the original centre of attraction? If men started with the idea of an oak-god, how came they to enlarge his kingdom by annexing to it the province of the sky, the rain, and the thunder? If, on the other hand, they set out with the notion of a god of the sky, the rain, and the thunder, or any one of them, why should they have added the oak to his attributes? The oak is terrestrial; the sky, the thunder, and the rain are celestial or aerial. What is the bridge between the two?

[Sidenote: In the composite character of Jupiter the oak is probably primary, the sky, the rain, and the thunder secondary and derivative.] In the sequel I shall endeavour to shew that on the principle of primitive thought the evolution of a sky-god from an oak-god is more easily conceivable than the converse; and if I succeed, it becomes probable that in the composite character of Jupiter the oak is primary and original, the sky, the rain, and the thunder secondary and derivative.

[Sidenote: Europe covered with vast oak forests in prehistoric times.] We have seen that long before the dawn of history Europe was covered with vast primaeval woods, which must have exercised a profound influence on the thought as well as on the life of our rude ancestors who dwelt dispersed under the gloomy shadow or in the open glades and clearings of the forest.[1111] Now, of all the trees which composed these woods the oak appears to have been both the commonest and the most useful. The proof of this is drawn partly from the statements of classical writers, partly from the remains of ancient villages built on piles in lakes and marshes, and partly from the oak forests which have been found embedded in peat-bogs.

[Sidenote: Remains of oak forests found in peat-bogs.] These bogs, which attain their greatest development in Northern Europe, but are met with also in the central and southern parts of the Continent, have preserved as in a museum the trees and plants which sprang up and flourished after the end of the glacial epoch. Thus in Scotland the peat, which occupies wide areas both in the highlands and lowlands, almost everywhere covers the remains of forests, among which the commoner trees are pine, oak, and birch. The oaks are of great size, and are found at heights above the sea such as the tree would not now naturally attain to. Equally remarkable for their size are the pines, but though they also had a wider distribution than at present, they appear not to have formed any extensive forests at the lowest levels of the country. Still, remains of them have been dug up in many lowland peat-mosses, where the bulk of the buried timber is oak.[1112] When Hatfield Moss in Yorkshire was drained, there were found in it trunks of oak a hundred feet long and as black as ebony. One giant actually measured a hundred and twenty feet in length, with a diameter of twelve feet at the root and six feet at the top. No such tree now exists in Europe.[1113] Sunken forests and peat occur at many places on the coasts of England, especially on low shelving shores where the land falls away with a gentle slope to the sea. These submerged areas were once mud flats which, as the sea retreated from them, gradually became clothed with dense forests, chiefly of oak and Scotch fir, though ash, yew, alder, and other trees sooner or later mingled with them.[1114] The great peat-bogs of Ireland shew that there was a time when vast woods of oak and yew covered the country, the oak growing on the hills up to a height of four hundred feet or thereabout above the sea, while at higher levels deal was the prevailing timber. Human relics have often been discovered in these Irish bogs, and ancient roadways made of oak have also come to light.[1115] In the peat-bog near Abbeville, in the valley of the Somme, trunks of oak have been dug up fourteen feet thick, a diameter rarely met with outside the tropics in the old Continent.[1116]

[Sidenote: Former oak woods of Denmark and Scandinavia.] At present the woods of Denmark consist for the most part of magnificent beeches, which flourish here as luxuriantly as anywhere in the world. Oaks are much rarer and appear to be on the decline. Yet the evidence of the peat-bogs proves that before the advent of the beech the country was overspread with dense forests of tall and stately oaks. It was during the ascendency of the oak in the woods that bronze seems to have become known in Denmark; for swords and shields of that metal, now in the museum of Copenhagen, have been taken out of peat in which oaks abound. Yet at a still earlier period the oak had been preceded by the pine or Scotch fir in the Danish forests; and the discovery of neolithic implements in the peat-bogs shews that savages of the Stone Age had their homes in these old pine woods as well as in the later forests of oak. Some antiquaries are of opinion that the Iron Age in Denmark began with the coming of the beech, but of this there is no evidence; for aught we know to the contrary the beautiful beech forests may date back to the Age of Bronze.[1117] The peat-bogs of Norway abound in buried timber; and in many of them the trees occur in two distinct layers. The lower of these layers consists chiefly of oak, hazel, ash, and other deciduous trees; the upper is composed of Scotch firs and birches. In the bogs of Sweden also the oak forests underlie the pine forests.[1118] However, it appears to be doubtful whether Scandinavia was inhabited in the age of the oak woods. Neolithic tools have indeed been found in the peat, but generally not deeper down than two feet or so; hence one antiquary infers that in these bogs not more than two feet of peat has formed within historical times.[1119] But negative evidence on such a point goes for little, as only a small portion of the bogs can have been explored.

[Sidenote: The ancient lake dwellings of Europe were built to a great extent on oaken piles.] Unequivocal proof of the prevalence of the oak and its usefulness to man in early times is furnished by the remains of the pile villages which have been discovered in many of the lakes of Europe. In the British Islands the piles and the platforms on which these crannogs or lake dwellings rested appear to have been generally of oak, though fir, birch, and other trees were sometimes used in their construction. Speaking of the Irish and Scotch crannogs a learned antiquary remarks: “Every variety of structure observed in the one country is to be found in the other, from the purely artificial island, framed of oak-beams, mortised together, to the natural island, artificially fortified or enlarged by girdles of oak-piles or ramparts of loose stones.”[1120] Canoes hollowed out of trunks of oak have been found both in the Scotch and in the Irish crannogs.[1121] In the lake dwellings of Switzerland and Central Europe the piles are very often of oak, but by no means as uniformly so as in the British Islands; fir, birch, alder, ash, elm, and other timber were also employed for the purpose.[1122] That the inhabitants of these villages subsisted partly on the produce [Sidenote: The inhabitants of the lake dwellings subsisted partly on acorns.] of the oak, even after they had adopted agriculture, is proved by the acorns which have been found in their dwellings along with wheat, barley, and millet, as well as beech-nuts, hazel-nuts, and the remains of chestnuts and cherries.[1123] In the valley of the Po the framework of logs and planks which supports the prehistoric villages is most commonly of elm wood, but evergreen oak and chestnut were also used; and the abundance of oaks is attested by the great quantities of acorns which were dug up in these settlements. As the acorns were sometimes found stored in earthenware vessels, it appears that they were eaten by the people as well as by their pigs.[1124]

[Sidenote: Evidence of classical writers as to the oak forests of Europe.] The evidence of classical writers proves that great oak forests still existed down to their time in various parts of Europe. Thus the Veneti on the Atlantic coast of Brittany made their flat-bottomed boats out of oak timber, of which, we are told, there was abundance in their country.[1125] Pliny informs us that, while the whole of Germany was covered with cool and shady woods, the loftiest trees were to be seen not far from the country of the Chauci, who inhabited the coast of the North Sea. Among these giants of the forest he speaks especially of the oaks which grew on the banks of two lakes. When the waves had undermined their roots, the oaks are said to have torn away great portions of the bank and floated like islands on the lakes.[1126] The same [Sidenote: The oak woods of Germany.] writer speaks of the vast Hercynian wood of Germany as an oak forest, old as the world, untouched for ages, and passing wonderful in its immortality. So huge were the trees, he says, that when their roots met they were forced up above ground in the shape of arches, through which a troop of horse could ride as through an open gate.[1127] His testimony as to the kind of trees which composed this famous forest is confirmed by its name, which seems to mean no more than “oak wood.”[1128] In the second century before our era oak forests were still so common in the valley of the Po that the herds of swine which browsed on the acorns sufficed to [Sidenote: The oak woods of ancient Italy and Greece.] supply the greater part of the demand for pork throughout Italy, although nowhere in the world, according to Polybius, were more pigs butchered to feed the gods, the people, and the army.[1129] Elsewhere the same historian describes the immense herds of swine which roamed the Italian oak forests, especially on the coasts of Tuscany and Lombardy. In order to sort out the different droves when they mingled with each other in the woods, each swineherd carried a horn, and when he wound a blast on it all his own pigs came trooping to him with such vehemence that nothing could stop them; for all the herds knew the note of their own horn. In the oak forests of Greece this device was unknown, and the swineherds there had harder work to come by their own when the beasts had strayed far in the woods, as they were apt to do in autumn while the acorns were falling.[1130] Down to the beginning of our era oak woods were interspersed among the olive groves and vineyards of the Sabine country in central Italy.[1131] Among the beautiful woods which clothed the Heraean mountains in Sicily the oaks were particularly remarked for their stately growth and the great size of their acorns.[1132] In the second century after Christ the oak forests of Arcadia still harboured wild boars, bears, and huge tortoises in their dark recesses.[1133]

[Sidenote: The oak still the chief forest tree of Europe.] Even now the predominance of the oak as the principal forest tree of Europe has hardly passed away. Thus we are told that among the leaf-bearing trees of Greece, as opposed to the conifers, the oak still plays by far the most important part in regard both to the number of the individuals and the number of the species.[1134] And the British oak in particular (_Quercus robur_) is yet the prevailing tree in most of the woods of France, Germany, and southern Russia, while in England the coppice and the few fragments of natural forest still left are mainly composed of this species.[1135]

[Sidenote: In Europe acorns have been used as human food both in ancient and modern times.] Thus the old classical tradition that men lived upon acorns before they learned to till the ground[1136] may very well be founded on fact. Indeed acorns were still an article of diet in some parts of southern Europe within historical times. Speaking of the prosperity of the righteous, Hesiod declares that for them the earth bears much substance, and the oak on the mountains puts forth acorns.[1137] The Arcadians in their oak-forests were proverbial for eating acorns,[1138] but not the acorns of all oaks, only those of a particular sort.[1139] Pliny tells us that in his day acorns still constituted the wealth of many nations, and that in time of dearth they were ground and baked into bread.[1140] According to Strabo, the mountaineers of Spain subsisted on acorn bread for two-thirds of the year;[1141] and in that country acorns were served up as a second course even at the meals of the well-to-do.[1142] In the same regions the same practice [Sidenote: Acorns as food in modern Europe.] has survived to modern times. The commonest and finest oak of modern Greece is the _Quercus Aegilops_, with a beautiful crown of leaves, and the peasants eat its acorns both roasted and raw.[1143] The sweeter acorns of the _Quercus Ballota_ also serve them as food, especially in Arcadia.[1144] In Spain people eat the acorns of the evergreen oak (_Quercus Ilex_), which are known as _bellotas_, and are said to be much larger and more succulent than the produce of the British oak. The duchess in _Don Quixote_ writes to Sancho’s wife to send her some of them. But oaks are now few and far between in La Mancha.[1145] Even in England and France acorns have been boiled and eaten by the poor as a substitute for bread in time of dearth.[1146] And naturally the use of acorns as food for swine has also lasted into modern times. It is on acorns that those hogs are fattened in Estremadura which make the famous Montanches hams.[1147] Large herds of swine in all the great oak woods of Germany depend on acorns for their autumn subsistence; and in the remaining royal forests of England the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages still claim their ancient right of _pannage_, turning their hogs into the woods in October and November.[1148]

§ 2. The Aryan God of the Oak and the Thunder[1149]

[Sidenote: The many benefits received by the ancient Aryans from the oak naturally led them to worship the tree.] Thus we may conclude that the primitive Aryans of Europe lived among oak woods, used oak sticks for the lighting of their fires, and oak timber for the construction of their villages, their roads, their canoes, fed their swine on acorns, and themselves subsisted in part on the same simple diet. No wonder, then, if the tree from which they received so many benefits should play an important part in their religion, and should be invested with a sacred character. We have seen that the worship of trees has been world-wide, and that, beginning with a simple reverence and dread of the tree as itself animated by a powerful spirit, it has [Sidenote: The worship of the tree itself gradually grew into a worship of the god of the tree, but no sharp line of distinction can be drawn between the two.] gradually grown into a cult of tree gods and tree goddesses, who with the advance of thought become more and more detached from their old home in the trees, and assume the character of sylvan deities and powers of fertility in general, to whom the husbandman looks not merely for the prosperity of his crops, but for the fecundity of his cattle and his women. Where this evolution has taken place it has necessarily been slow and long. Though it is convenient to distinguish in theory between the worship of trees and the worship of gods of the trees, it is impossible to draw a hard and fast line between them in practice, and to say, “Here the one begins and the other ends.” Such distinctions, however useful they may be as heads of classification to the student, evade in general the duller wit of the tree worshipper. We cannot therefore hope to lay our finger on that precise point in the history of the Aryans when they ceased to worship the oak for its own sake, and began to worship a god of the oak. That point, if it were ideally possible to mark it, had doubtless been left far behind them by the more intelligent, at least, of our forefathers before they emerged into the light of history. We must be content for the most part to find among them gods of whom the oak was an attribute or sacred adjunct rather than the essence. If we wish to find the original worship of the tree itself we must go for it to the ignorant peasantry of to-day, not to the enlightened writers of antiquity. Further, it is to be borne in mind that while all oaks were probably the object of superstitious awe, so that the felling of any of them for timber or firewood would be attended with ceremonies designed to appease the injured spirit of the tree,[1150] only certain particular groves or individual oaks would in general receive that measure of homage which we should term worship. The reasons which led men to venerate some trees more than others might be various. Amongst them the venerable age and imposing size of a giant oak would naturally count for much. And any other striking peculiarity which marked a tree off from its fellows would be apt to attract the attention, and to concentrate on itself the vague superstitious awe of the savage. We know, for example, that with the Druids the growth of mistletoe on an oak was a sign that the tree was especially sacred; and the rarity of this feature—for mistletoe does not commonly grow on oaks—would enhance the sanctity and mystery of the tree. For it is the strange, the wonderful, the rare, not the familiar and commonplace, which excites the religious emotions of mankind.

[Sidenote: The worship of the oak tree or of the oak god seems to have been common to all the Aryans of Europe.] The worship of the oak tree or of the oak god appears to have been shared by all the branches of the Aryan stock in Europe. Both Greeks and Italians associated the tree [Sidenote: Worship of the oak in Greece; its association with Zeus.] with their highest god, Zeus or Jupiter, the divinity of the sky, the rain, and the thunder.[1151] Perhaps the oldest and certainly one of the most famous sanctuaries in Greece was that of Dodona, where Zeus was revered in the oracular oak.[1152] The thunder-storms which are said to rage at Dodona more frequently than anywhere else in Europe,[1153] would render the spot a fitting home for the god whose voice was heard alike in the rustling of the oak leaves and in the crash of thunder. Perhaps the bronze gongs which kept up a humming in the wind round the sanctuary[1154] were meant to mimick the thunder that might so often be heard rolling and rumbling in the coombs of the stern and barren mountains which shut in the gloomy valley.[1155] In Boeotia, as we have seen, the sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera, the oak god and the oak goddess, was celebrated with much pomp by a religious federation of states.[1156] And on Mount Lycaeus in Arcadia the character of Zeus as god both of the oak and of the rain comes out clearly in the rain charm practised by the priest of Zeus, who dipped an oak branch in a sacred spring.[1157]

[Sidenote: Zeus as the rain god of the Greeks.] In his latter capacity Zeus was the god to whom the Greeks regularly prayed for rain. Nothing could be more natural; for often, though not always, he had his seat on the mountains where the clouds gather and the oaks grow. On the acropolis at Athens there was an image of Earth praying to Zeus for rain.[1158] And in time of drought the Athenians themselves prayed, “Rain, rain, O dear Zeus, on the cornland of the Athenians and on the plains.”[1159] The mountains which lay round their city, and to which they looked through the clear Attic air for signs of the weather, were associated by them with the worship of the weather-god Zeus. It was a sign of rain when, away to sea, a cloud rested on the sharp peak of Aegina, which cuts the sky-line like a blue horn.[1160] On this far-seen peak Panhellenian Zeus was worshipped,[1161] and legend ran that once, when all Greece was parched with drought, envoys assembled in Aegina from every quarter and entreated Aeacus, the king of the island, that he would intercede with his father Zeus for rain. The king complied with the request, and by sacrifices and prayers wrung the needed showers from his sire the sky-god.[1162]

[Sidenote: Zeus as the god of fertility.] Again, it was a sign of rain at Athens when clouds in summer lay on the top or the sides of Hymettus,[1163] the chain of barren mountains which bounds the Attic plain on the east, facing the westering sun and catching from his last beams a solemn glow of purple light. If during a storm a long bank of clouds was seen lowering on the mountain, it meant that the storm would increase in fury.[1164] Hence an altar of Showery Zeus stood on Hymettus.[1165] Again, omens of weather were drawn when lightning flashed or clouds hung on the top of Mount Parnes to the north of Athens;[1166] and there accordingly an altar was set up to sign-giving Zeus.[1167] The climate of eastern Argolis is dry, and the rugged mountains are little better than a stony waterless wilderness. On one of them, named Mount Arachnaeus, or the Spider Mountain, stood altars of Zeus and Hera, and when rain was wanted the people sacrificed there to the god and goddess.[1168] On the ridge of Mount Tmolus, near Sardes, there was a spot called the Birthplace of Rainy Zeus,[1169] probably because clouds resting on it were observed to presage rain. The members of a religious society in the island of Cos used to go in procession and offer sacrifices on an altar of Rainy Zeus, when the thirsty land stood in need of refreshing showers.[1170] Thus conceived as the source of fertility, it was not unnatural that Zeus should receive the title of the Fruitful One,[1171] and that at Athens he should be worshipped under the surname of the Husbandman.[1172]

[Sidenote: Zeus as the god of thunder and lightning.] Again, Zeus wielded the thunder and lightning as well as the rain.[1173] At Olympia and elsewhere he was worshipped under the surname of Thunderbolt;[1174] and at Athens there was a sacrificial hearth of Lightning Zeus on the city wall, where some priestly officials watched for lightning over Mount Parnes at certain seasons of the year.[1175] Further, spots which had been struck by lightning were regularly fenced in by the Greeks and consecrated to Zeus the Descender, that is, to the god who came down in the flash from heaven. Altars were set up within these enclosures and sacrifices offered on them. Several such places are known from inscriptions to have existed in Athens.[1176]

[Sidenote: The Greek kings personified Zeus, as the Italian kings personified Jupiter.] Thus when ancient Greek kings claimed to be descended from Zeus, and even to bear his name,[1177] we may reasonably suppose that they also attempted to exercise his divine functions by making thunder and rain for the good of their people or the terror and confusion of their foes. In this respect the legend of Salmoneus[1178] probably reflects the pretensions of a whole class of petty sovereigns who reigned of old, each over his little canton, in the oak-clad highlands of Greece. Like their kinsmen the Irish kings, they were expected to be a source of fertility to the land and of fecundity to the cattle;[1179] and how could they fulfil these expectations better than by acting the part of their kinsman Zeus, the great god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain? They personified him, apparently, just as the Italian kings personified Jupiter.[1180]

[Sidenote: Jupiter in Italy as the god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain.] In ancient Italy every oak was sacred to Jupiter, the Italian counterpart of Zeus;[1181] and on the Capitol at Rome the god was worshipped as the deity not merely of the oak, but of the rain and the thunder.[1182] Contrasting the piety of the good old times with the scepticism of an age when nobody thought that heaven was heaven, or cared a fig for Jupiter, a Roman writer tells us that in former days noble matrons used to go with bare feet, streaming hair, and pure minds, up the long Capitoline slope, praying to Jupiter for rain. And straightway, he goes on, it rained bucketsful, then or never, and everybody returned dripping like drowned rats. “But nowadays,” says he, “we are no longer religious, so the fields lie baking.”[1183] And as Jupiter conjured up the clouds and caused them to discharge their genial burden on the earth, so he drove them away and brought the bright Italian sky back once more. Hence he was worshipped under the titles of the Serene, he who restores serenity.[1184] Lastly, as god of the fertilising showers [Sidenote: Jupiter as the god of fertility.] he made the earth to bring forth; so people called him the Fruitful One.[1185]

[Sidenote: The god of the oak and the thunder among the northern Aryans.] When we pass from southern to central Europe we still meet with the great god of the oak and the thunder among the barbarous Aryans who dwelt in the vast primaeval forests.[1186] Thus among the Celts of Gaul the Druids esteemed nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the oak on which it grew; they chose groves of oaks for the scene of their solemn service, and they performed none of their rites without oak leaves.[1187] “The Celts,” says a Greek writer, “worship [Sidenote: Celtic worship of the oak.] Zeus, and the Celtic image of Zeus is a tall oak.”[1188] The Celtic conquerors who settled in Asia in the third century before our era appear to have carried the worship of the oak with them to their new home; for in the heart of Asia Minor the Galatian senate met in a place which bore the pure Celtic name of Drynemetum, “the sacred oak grove” or “the temple of the oak.”[1189] Indeed the very name of Druids is believed by good authorities to mean no more than “oak men.”[1190] When Christianity displaced Druidism in Ireland, the churches and monasteries were sometimes built in oak groves or under solitary oaks,[1191] the choice of the site [Sidenote: Traces of sacred oaks in Ireland.] being perhaps determined by the immemorial sanctity of the trees, which might predispose the minds of the converts to receive with less reluctance the teaching of the new faith.[1192] But there is no positive evidence that the Irish Druids performed their rites, like their Gallic brethren, in oak groves,[1193] so that the inference from the churches of Kildare, Derry, and the rest is merely a conjecture based on analogy.

In the religion of the ancient Germans the veneration for sacred groves seems to have held the foremost place,[1194] and according to Grimm the chief of their holy trees was the oak.[1195] It appears to have been especially dedicated to the [Sidenote: The Teutonic god of the oak and the thunder.] god of thunder, Donar or Thunar, the equivalent of the Norse Thor; for a sacred oak near Geismar, in Hesse, which Boniface cut down in the eighth century, went among the heathen by the name of Jupiter’s oak (_robur Jovis_), which in old German would be _Donares eih_, “the oak of Donar.”[1196] That the Teutonic thunder god Donar, Thunar, Thor was identified with the Italian thunder god Jupiter appears from our word Thursday, Thunar’s day, which is merely a rendering of the Latin _dies Jovis_.[1197] Thus among the ancient Teutons, as among the Greeks and Italians, the god of the oak was also the god of the thunder. Moreover, he was regarded as the great fertilising power, who sent rain and caused the earth to bear fruit; for Adam of Bremen tells us that “Thor presides in the air; he it is who rules thunder and lightning, wind and rains, fine weather and crops.”[1198] In these respects, therefore, the Teutonic thunder god again resembled his southern counterparts Zeus and Jupiter. And like them Thor appears to have been the chief god of the pantheon; for in the great temple at Upsala his image [Sidenote: The worship of Thor at Upsala.] occupied the middle place between the images of Odin and Frey,[1199] and in oaths by this or other Norse trinities he was always the principal deity invoked.[1200] Beside the temple at Upsala there was a sacred grove, but the kinds of trees which grew in it are not known. Only of one tree are we told that it was of mighty size, with great spreading branches, and that it remained green winter and summer alike. Here too was a spring where sacrifices were offered. They used to plunge a living man into the water, and if he disappeared they drew a favourable omen. Every nine years, at the spring equinox, a great festival was held at Upsala in honour of Thor, the god of thunder, Odin, the god of war, and Frey, the god of peace and pleasure. The ceremonies lasted nine days. Nine male animals of every sort were sacrificed, that their blood might appease the gods. Each day six victims were slaughtered, of whom one was a man. Their bodies were fastened to the trees of the grove, where dogs and horses might be seen hanging beside men.[1201]

[Sidenote: Perun, the god of the oak and the thunder among the Slavs.] Amongst the Slavs also the oak appears to have been the sacred tree of the thunder god Perun, the counterpart of Zeus and Jupiter.[1202] It is said that at Novgorod there used to stand an image of Perun in the likeness of a man with a thunder-stone in his hand. A fire of oak wood burned day and night in his honour; and if ever it went out the attendants paid for their negligence with their lives.[1203] Perun seems, like Zeus and Jupiter, to have been the chief god of his people; for Procopius tells us that the Slavs “believe that one god, the maker of lightning, is alone lord of all things, and they sacrifice to him oxen and every victim.”[1204]

[Sidenote: Perkunas, the chief Lithuanian god.] The chief deity of the Lithuanians was Perkunas or Perkuns, the god of thunder and lightning, whose resemblance to Zeus and Jupiter has often been pointed out.[1205] Oaks were sacred to him, and when they were cut down by the Christian missionaries, the people loudly complained that their sylvan deities were destroyed.[1206] Perpetual fires, kindled with the wood of certain oak-trees, were kept up in honour of Perkunas; if such a fire went out, it was lighted again by friction of the sacred wood.[1207] Men sacrificed to oak-trees for good crops, while women did the same to lime-trees; from which we may infer that they regarded oaks as male and lime-trees as female.[1208] And in time of drought, when they wanted rain, they used to sacrifice a black heifer, a black he-goat, and a black cock to the thunder-god in the depths of the woods. On such occasions the people assembled in great numbers from the country round about, ate and drank, and called upon Perkunas. They carried a bowl of beer thrice round the fire, then poured the liquor on the flames, while they prayed to the god to send showers.[1209] Thus the chief Lithuanian deity presents a close resemblance to Zeus and Jupiter, since he was the god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain.[1210]

[Sidenote: The god of the oak and the thunder among the Esthonians.] Wedged in between the Lithuanians and the Slavs are the Esthonians, a people who do not belong to the Aryan family. But they also shared the reverence for the oak, and associated the tree with their thunder-god Taara, the deity of their pantheon, whom they called “Old Father,” or “Father of Heaven.”[1211] It is said that down to the beginning of the nineteenth century Esthonians used to smear the holy oaks, lime-trees, and ash-trees with the fresh blood of animals at least once a year.[1212] The following prayer to thunder is instructive, because it shews how easily thunder, through its association with rain, may appear to the rustic mind in the character of a beneficent and fertilising power. It was taken down from the lips of an Esthonian peasant [Sidenote: Esthonian prayer to thunder.] in the seventeenth century. “Dear Thunder,” he prayed, “we sacrifice to thee an ox, which has two horns and four claws, and we would beseech thee for the sake of our ploughing and sowing, that our straw may be red as copper, and our corn yellow as gold. Drive somewhere else all black, thick clouds over great marshes, high woods, and wide wastes. But to us ploughmen and sowers give a fruitful time and sweet rain. Holy Thunder, guard our fields, that they may bear good straw below, good ears above, and good grain within.”[1213] Sometimes in time of great drought an Esthonian farmer would carry beer thrice round a sacrificial fire, then pour it on the flames with a prayer that the thunder-god would be pleased to send rain.[1214]

[Sidenote: Parjanya, the old Indian god of thunder, rain, and fertility.] In like manner, Parjanya, the old Indian god of thunder and rain, whose name is by some scholars identified with the Lithuanian Perkunas,[1215] was conceived as a deity of fertility, who not only made plants to germinate, but caused cows, mares, and women to conceive. As the power who impregnated all things, he was compared to a bull, an animal which to the primitive herdsman is the most natural type of the procreative energies. Thus in a hymn of the Rigveda it is said of him:—

“_The Bull, loud roaring, swift to send his bounty, lays in the plants the seed for germination. He smites the trees apart, he slays the demons: all life fears him who wields the mighty weapon. From him exceeding strong flees e’en the guiltless when thundering Parjanya smites the wicked._

“_Like a car-driver whipping on his horses, he makes the messengers of rain spring forward. Far off resounds the roaring of the lion what time Parjanya fills the sky with rain-cloud. Forth burst the winds, down come the lightning-flashes: the plants shoot up, the realm of light is streaming. Food springs abundant for all living creatures what time Parjanya quickens earth with moisture._”[1216]

In another hymn Parjanya is spoken of as “giver of growth to plants, the god who ruleth over the waters and all moving creatures,” and it is said that “in him all living creatures have their being.” Then the poet goes on:—

“_May this my song to sovran lord Parjanya come near unto his heart and give him pleasure. May we attain the showers that bring enjoyment, and god-protected plants with goodly fruitage. He is the Bull of all, and their impregner: he holds the life of all things fixed and moving._”[1217]

And in yet another hymn we read:—

“_Sing forth and laud Parjanya, son of Heaven, who sends the gift of rain: May he provide our pasturage. Parjanya is the god who forms in kine, in mares, in plants of earth And womanhood, the germ of life._”[1218]

In short, “Parjanya is a god who presides over the lightning, the thunder, the rain, and the procreation of plants and living creatures. But it is by no means clear whether he is originally a god of the rain, or a god of the thunder. For, as both phenomena are always associated in India, either of the two opinions is admissible, if no deciding evidence comes from another quarter.”[1219] On this point something will be said presently. Here it is enough to have indicated the ease with which the notion of the thunder-god passes into, or is combined with, the idea of a god of fertility in general.

[Sidenote: God of thunder, rain, and fertility among the Iroquois.] The same combination meets us in Heno, the thunder-spirit of the Iroquois. His office was not only to hurl his bolts at evil-doers, but to cool and refresh the ground with showers, to ripen the harvest, and to mature the fruits of the earth. In spring, when they committed the seeds to the soil, the Indians prayed to him that he would water them and foster their growth: and at the harvest festival they thanked him for his gift of rain.[1220] The Hos [Sidenote: Goddess of lightning, rain, and fertility among the Hos.] of Togoland in West Africa distinguish two deities of the lightning, a god Sogble and a goddess Sodza, who are husband and wife and talk with each other in the sound of thunder. The goddess has epithets applied to her which seem to shew that she is believed to send the rain and to cause the plants to grow. She is addressed as “Mother of men and beasts, ship full of yams, ship full of the most varied fullness.” Further, it is said to be she who blesses the tilled land. Moreover, like the Hindoo thunder-god Parjanya, who slays demons, the Ho thunder-goddess drives away evil spirits and witches from people’s houses; under her protection children multiply and the inmates of the house remain healthy.[1221] The Indians of the Andes, about [Sidenote: Gods of thunder, rain, and fertility among the Indians of the Andes and the Abchases of the Caucasus.] Lake Titicaca, believe in a thunder-god named Con or Cun, whom they call the “lord” or “father” of the mountains (_Ccollo-auqui_). He is regarded as a powerful being, but irritable and difficult of access, who dwells on the high mountains above the line of perpetual snow. Yet he gives great gifts to those who win his favour; and when the crops are languishing for lack of rain, the Indians try to rouse the god from his torpor by pouring a small libation of brandy into a tarn below the snow-line; for they dare not set foot on the snow lest they should meet the dreadful thunder-god face to face. His bird is the condor as the eagle was the bird of the Greek thunder-god Zeus.[1222] Similarly in time of drought the Abchases of the Caucasus sacrifice an ox to Ap-hi, the god of thunder and lightning, and an old man prays him to send rain, thunder, and lightning, telling him that the crops are parched, the grass burnt up, and the cattle starving.[1223] These examples shew how readily a thunder-god may come to be viewed as a power of fertility; the connecting link is furnished by the fertilising rain which usually accompanies a thunder-storm.

[Sidenote: Traces of the worship of the oak in modern Europe.] As might have been expected, the ancient worship of the oak in Europe has left its print in popular custom and superstition down to modern times. Thus in the French department of Maine it is said that solitary oak-trees in the fields are still worshipped, though the priests have sought to give the worship a Christian colour by hanging images of saints on the trees.[1224] In various parts of Lower Saxony and Westphalia, as late as the first half of the nineteenth century, traces survived of the sanctity of certain oaks, to which the people paid a half-heathenish, half-Christian worship. In the principality of Minden young people of both sexes used to dance round an old oak on Easter Saturday with loud shouts of joy. And not far from the village of Wormeln, in the neighbourhood of Paderborn, there stood a holy oak in the forest, to which the inhabitants of Wormeln and Calenberg went every year in solemn procession.[1225] Another vestige of superstitious reverence for the oak in Germany is the custom of passing sick people and animals through a natural or artificial opening in the trunk of an oak for the purpose of healing them of their infirmities.[1226] At a village near Ragnit in East Prussia there was an oak which, down to the seventeenth century, the villagers regarded as sacred, firmly believing that any person who harmed it would be visited with misfortune, especially with some bodily ailment.[1227] About the middle of the nineteenth century the Lithuanians still laid offerings for spirits under ancient oaks;[1228] and old-fashioned people among them preferred to cook the viands for funeral banquets on a fire of oak-wood, or at least under an oak-tree.[1229] On the rivulet Micksy, between the governments of Pskov and Livonia in Russia, there stood a stunted, [Sidenote: Worship of the oak in modern Russia.] withered, but holy oak, which received the homage of the neighbouring peasantry down at least to 1874. An eye-witness has described the ceremonies. He found a great crowd of people, chiefly Esthonians of the Greek Church, assembled with their families about the tree, all dressed in gala costume. Some of them had brought wax candles and were fastening them about the trunk and in the branches. Soon a priest arrived, and, having donned his sacred robes, proceeded to sing a canticle, such as is usually sung in the Orthodox Church in honour of saints. But instead of saying as usual, “Holy saint, pray the Lord for us,” he said, “Holy Oak Hallelujah, pray for us.” Then he incensed the tree all round. During the service the tapers on the oak were lighted, and the people, throwing themselves on the ground, adored the holy tree. When the pastor had retired, his flock remained till late at night, feasting, drinking, dancing, and lighting fresh tapers on the oak, till everybody was drunk and the proceedings ended in an orgy.[1230]

[Sidenote: Ceremonial fires kindled by the friction of oak-wood.] Another relic of the ancient sanctity of the oak has survived to modern times in the practice of kindling ceremonial fires by means of the friction of oak-wood. This has been done, either at stated seasons of the year or on occasions of distress, by Slavs, Germans, and Celts.[1231] Taken together with the perpetual sacred fires of oak-wood which we have found among the Slavs, the Lithuanians, and the ancient Romans,[1232] the wide prevalence of the practice seems clearly to point back to a time when the forefathers of the Aryans in Europe dwelt in forests of oak, fed their fires with oak-wood, and rekindled them, when they chanced to go out, by rubbing two oaken sticks against each other.

[Sidenote: In the great European god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain, the original element seems to have been the oak.] From the foregoing survey of the facts it appears that a god of the oak, the thunder, and the rain was worshipped of old by all the main branches of the Aryan stock in Europe, and was indeed the chief deity of their pantheon.[1233] It was natural enough that the oak should loom large in the religion of people who lived in oak forests, used oak timber for building, oak sticks for fuel, and oak acorns for food and fodder; but we have still to explain how they were led to associate the thunder and the rain with the oak in their conception of this great divinity. From the nature of the case our solution of the problem must be conjectural; we can only guess at the [Sidenote: The clue to the development of a lightning-god out of an oak-god may have been the notion that the heavenly fire or lightning was made, like the earthly fire, by the friction of oak-wood.] train of thought which prompted our forefathers to link together things which to us seem so very different. Thunder and rain may indeed naturally be regarded as akin since the two so often occur together; but the difficulty is to understand why the oak should be joined with them. Which of the three elements was the original nucleus about which the others afterwards clustered? In our ignorance of the facts, this question amounts to asking whether, on the principles of savage thought, it is easier to suppose that an original god of thunder and rain should afterwards add the oak-tree to his attributes, or that, on the contrary, an old god of the oak should annex to himself the thunder and the rain? In favour of the first of these suppositions it may be said that a god of thunder and rain might in time be regarded as a god of the oak, because thunder and rain come from the sky, and the oak reaches skyward and is often struck by lightning.[1234] But this train of thought is hardly likely to carry conviction even to the mind of a savage. On the other hand, it is not difficult to imagine how early man in Europe might suppose the thunder, or rather the lightning, to be derived from the oak. Seeing that fire on earth was regularly kindled by the rubbing of oaken sticks together, he might readily infer that fire in heaven was produced in like manner; in other words, that the flash of lightning was the spark elicited by some one who was lighting his fire in the usual fashion up aloft; for the savage commonly explains natural phenomena by ideas drawn from the circle of his own daily life. Similarly, people who are accustomed to make fire by means of flints sometimes suppose that lightning is produced in the same way. This is reported of the Armenians,[1235] and it may be inferred of the many peoples who believe that the flint implements of prehistoric races are thunder-bolts.[1236]

[Sidenote: When an oak-god had once grown into a lightning-god, he would easily develop into a god of the rain and the sky.] Thus it is easy to conceive how a god of the oak, viewed as the source of earthly fire, should come to be regarded as a god of the lightning, and hence, by an easy extension of ideas, as a god of thunder and rain. Accordingly we may provisionally assume that the great Aryan gods who combine these various functions have been evolved in this fashion. A further step in their promotion would be taken when the whole sky was assigned to their dominion. The Greeks and Italians certainly advanced their Zeus and Jupiter to this lofty position;[1237] but there seems to be no evidence that the Aryans of the north ever raised their corresponding deities to the rank of sky-gods in general. It is commonly indeed assumed that the sky was the original province of all these deities, or rather of the single Aryan god from which they are descended. But on this theory it is hard to see why the god of the sky should have taken up with the oak, and not only that, but should have clung to it even after he had, in some places at least, begun to sit very loose to his old home, the vault of heaven. Surely his fidelity to the oak from the earliest to the latest times among all the different families of his European worshippers is a strong argument for regarding the tree as the primary, not a secondary, element in his composite nature.

Footnote 1111:

See above, pp. 7 _sq._

Footnote 1112:

J. Geikie, _Prehistoric Europe_ (Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 420 _sq._, 482 _sqq._, 495.

Footnote 1113:

R. Munro, _Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings or Crannogs_ (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 266, quoting Alton’s _Treatise on the Origin, Qualities, and Cultivation of Moss Earth_.

Footnote 1114:

J. Geikie, _op. cit._ pp. 432-436.

Footnote 1115:

J. Geikie, _op. cit._ pp. 461-463.

Footnote 1116:

A. von Humboldt, _Kosmos_, i. (Stuttgart and Tübingen, 1845) p. 298. The passage is mistranslated in the English version edited by E. Sabine.

Footnote 1117:

Sir Charles Lyell, _The Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man_ 4th ed., (London, 1873), pp. 8, 17, 415 _sq._; Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury), _Prehistoric Times_ 5th Ed., (London, 1890), pp. 251, 387; J. Geikie, _op. cit._ pp. 485-487.

Footnote 1118:

J. Geikie, _op. cit._ pp. 487 _sq._

Footnote 1119:

J. Geikie, _op. cit._ p. 489.

Footnote 1120:

R. Munro, _Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings_, p. 20, quoting the article “Crannoges” in _Chambers’s Encyclopædia_.

Footnote 1121:

R. Munro, _op. cit._ p. 23. For more evidence of the use of oak in British crannogs, see _id._, _op. cit._ pp. 6-8, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 _sq._, 37, 38, 39, 41, 42, 51 _sq._, 53, 61, 62, 97, 122, 208, 262, 291-299; _id._ _The Lake Dwellings of Europe_ (London, Paris, and Melbourne, 1890), pp. 350, 364, 372, 377.

Footnote 1122:

F. Keller, _The Lake Dwellings of Switzerland and other Parts of Europe_ 2nd Ed., (London, 1878), i. 37, 48, 65, 87, 93, 105, 110, 129, 156, 186, 194, 201, 214, 264, 268, 289, 300, 320, 375, 382, 434, 438, 440, 444, 446, 465, 639.

Footnote 1123:

F. Keller, _op. cit._ i. 332, 334, 375, 586.

Footnote 1124:

W. Helbig, _Die Italiker in der Poebene_ (Leipsic, 1879), pp. 12, 16 _sq._, 26. The bones of cattle, pigs, goats, and sheep prove that these animals were bred by the people of the Italian pile villages. See W. Helbig, _op. cit._ p. 14.

Footnote 1125:

Strabo, v. 4. 1, p. 195.

Footnote 1126:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 5.

Footnote 1127:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 6 “_Hercyniae silvae roborum vastitas ... glandiferi maxime generis omnes, quibus honos apud Romanos perpetuus._”

Footnote 1128:

H. Hirt, “Die Urheimat der Indogermanen,” _Indogermanische Forschungen_, i. (1892), p. 480; P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_ (Göttingen, 1896), p. 81; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der Indogermanischen Altertumskunde_, _s.v._ “Eiche,” p. 164. This etymology assumes that _Hercynia_ represents an original _Perkunia_, and is connected with the Latin _quercus_. However, the derivation is not undisputed. See O. Schrader, _op. cit._ pp. 1015 _sq._

Footnote 1129:

Polybius, ii. 15. Compare Strabo, v. 1. 12, p. 218.

Footnote 1130:

Polybius, xii. 4.

Footnote 1131:

Strabo, v. 3. 1, p. 228.

Footnote 1132:

Diodorus Siculus, iv. 84.

Footnote 1133:

Pausanias, viii. 23. 8 _sq._ For notices of forests and groves of oak in Arcadia and other parts of Greece, see _id._ ii. 11. 4, iii. 10. 6, vii. 26. 10, viii. 11. 1, viii. 25. 1, viii. 42. 12, viii. 54. 5, ix. 3. 4, ix. 24. 5. The oaks in the Arcadian forests were of various species (_id._ viii. 12. 1).

Footnote 1134:

C. Neumann und J. Partsch, _Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland_ (Breslau, 1885), p. 378.

Footnote 1135:

_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 9th Ed., xvii. 690.

Footnote 1136:

Virgil, _Georg._, i. 7 _sq._, 147-149; Lucretius, v. 939 _sq._, 965; Tibullus, ii. 1. 37 _sq._, ii. 3. 69; Ovid, _Metam._ i. 106; _id._, _Fasti_, i. 675 _sq._, iv. 399-402; Juvenal, xiv. 182-184; Aulus Gellius, v. 6. 12; Dionysius Halicarnas. _Ars rhetorica_, i. 6, vol. v. p. 230, ed. Reiske; Pollux, i. 234; Poryphry, _De abstinentia_, ii. 5.

Footnote 1137:

Hesiod, _Works and Days_, 232 _sq._

Footnote 1138:

Herodotus, i. 66.

Footnote 1139:

Pausanias, viii. 1, 6. According to Pausanias it was only the acorns of the _phegos_ oak which the Arcadians ate.

Footnote 1140:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 15.

Footnote 1141:

Strabo, iii. 3. 7, p. 155.

Footnote 1142:

Pliny, _l.c._

Footnote 1143:

C. Neumann und J. Partsch, _Physikalische Geographie von Griechenland_, p. 379.

Footnote 1144:

C. Neumann and J. Partsch, _op. cit._, p. 382, note.

Footnote 1145:

Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, part ii. ch. 50, vol. iv. p. 133 of H. E. Watts’s translation, with the translator’s note (new edition, London, 1895); Neumann und Partsch, _op. cit._ p. 380; P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, i. (Wurzen, 1891) p. 35. The passage in _Don Quixote_ was pointed out to me by my friend Mr. W. Wyse.

Footnote 1146:

_Encyclopædia Britannica_, 9th. Ed., xvii. 692.

Footnote 1147:

H. E. Watts, _loc. cit._

Footnote 1148:

_Encyclopædia Britannica_, _l.c._

Footnote 1149:

To avoid misapprehension, I desire to point out that I am not here concerned with the evolution of Aryan religion in general, but only with that of a small, though important part of it, to wit, the worship of a particular kind of tree. To write a general history of Aryan religion in all its many aspects as a worship of nature, of the dead, and so forth, would be a task equally beyond my powers and my ambition. Still less should I dream of writing a universal history of religion. The “general work” referred to in the preface to the first edition of _The Golden Bough_ is a book of far humbler scope.

Footnote 1150:

For examples of such ceremonies, see above, pp. 18-20, 34-38.

Footnote 1151:

For evidence of these aspects of Zeus and Jupiter, see L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, i. 4th ed., 115 _sqq._; _id._, _Römische Mythologie_, 3rd Ed., i. 184 _sqq._ In former editions of this book I was disposed to set aside much too summarily what may be called the meteorological side of Zeus and Jupiter.

Footnote 1152:

See my note on Pausanias, ii. 17. 5; P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, ii. (Berlin, 1891), pp. 2 _sqq._; A. B. Cook, “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) pp. 178 _sqq._

Footnote 1153:

Aug. Mommsen, _Delphika_ (Leipsic, 1878), pp. 4 _sq._

Footnote 1154:

Strabo, Frag. vii. 3; Stephanus Byzantius, _s.v._ Δωδώνη; Suidas, _s.vv._ Δωδωναῖον χαλκεῖον and Δωδώνη; Apostolius, _Cent._ vi. 43; Zenobius, _Cent._ vi. 5; Nonnus Abbas, _Ad S. Gregorii orat. ii. contra Julianum_, 19 (Migne’s _Patrologia Graeca_, xxxvi. 1045). The evidence on this subject has been collected and discussed by Mr. A. B. Cook (“The Gong at Dodona,” _Journal of Hellenic Studies_, xxii. (1902) pp. 5-28). The theory in the text is obviously consistent, both with the statement that the sound of the gongs was consulted as oracular, and with the view, advocated by Mr. Cook, that it was supposed to avert evil influences from the sanctuary. If I am right, the bronze statuette which, according to some accounts, produced the sound by striking the gong with a clapper would represent Zeus himself making his thunder.

Footnote 1155:

On the natural surroundings of Dodona, see C. Carapanos, _Dodone et ses ruines_ (Paris, 1878), pp. 7-10.

Footnote 1156:

Above, pp. 140 _sq._

Footnote 1157:

Above, vol. i. p. 309. On the oak as the tree of Zeus, see Dionysius Halicarn. _Ars rhetorica_, i. 6, vol. v. p. 230 ed. Reiske; Schol. on Aristophanes, _Birds_, 480. On this subject much evidence, both literary and monumental, has been collected by Mr. A. B. Cook in his articles “Zeus, Jupiter, and the Oak,” _Classical Review_, xvii. (1903) pp. 174 _sqq._, 268 _sqq._, 403 _sqq._, xviii. (1904) pp. 75 _sqq._, 327 _sq._

Footnote 1158:

Pausanias, i. 24. 3.

Footnote 1159:

Marcus Antoninus, v. 7.

Footnote 1160:

Theophrastus, _De signis tempestatum_, i. 24.

Footnote 1161:

Pausanias, i. 30. 4.

Footnote 1162:

Pausanias, ii. 29. 7 _sq._; Isocrates, _Evagoras_, 14; Apollodorus, iii. 12. 6. Aeacus was said to be the son of Zeus by Aegina, daughter of Asopus (Apollodorus, _l.c._). Isocrates says that his relationship to the god marked Aeacus out as the man to procure rain.

Footnote 1163:

Theophrastus, _De signis tempestatum_, i. 20, compare 24.

Footnote 1164:

Theophrastus, _op. cit._ iii. 43.

Footnote 1165:

Pausanias, i. 32. 2.

Footnote 1166:

Theophrastus, _op. cit._ iii. 43 and 47. Compare Aristophanes, _Clouds_, 324 _sq._; Photius, _Lexicon_, _s.v._ Πάρνης.

Footnote 1167:

Pausanias, i. 32. 2.

Footnote 1168:

Pausanias, ii. 25. 10. As to the climate and scenery of these barren mountains, see A. Philippson, _Der Peloponnes_ (Berlin, 1891), pp. 43 _sq._, 65.

Footnote 1169:

Joannes Lydus, _De mensibus_, iv. 48.

Footnote 1170:

Paton and Hicks, _The Inscriptions of Cos_ (Oxford, 1891), No. 382; Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_, 2nd Ed., No. 735. There were altars of Rainy Zeus also at Argos and Lebadea. See Pausanias, ii. 19. 8, ix. 39. 4.

Footnote 1171:

Ἐπικάρπιος μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν, Aristotle, _De mundo_, 7, p. 401 a, ed. Bekker; Plutarch, _De Stoicorum repugnantiis_, xxx. 8.

Footnote 1172:

_Corpus Inscriptionum Atticarum_, iii. No. 77; E. S. Roberts, _Introduction to Greek Epigraphy_, ii. No. 142, p. 387; Ch. Michel, _Recueil d’inscriptions grecques_, No. 692; L. R. Farnell, _Cults of the Greek States_, i. 66 and 172.

Footnote 1173:

Hesiod, _Theogony_, 71 _sq._; L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 119.

Footnote 1174:

Pausanias, v. 14. 7; H. Roehl, _Inscriptiones Graecae antiquissimae_ (Berlin, 1882), No. 101; Fränkel, _Inschriften von Pergamon_, i. No. 232; Joannes Malalas, _Chronographia_, viii. p. 199, ed. L. Dindorf.

Footnote 1175:

Strabo, ix. 2. 11, p. 404.

Footnote 1176:

Pollux, ix. 41; Hesychius, _s.v._ ἠλύσιον; _Etymologicum Magnum_, p. 341. 8 _sqq._; Artemidorus, _Onirocrit._ 11. 9; Pausanias, v. 14. 10; Dittenberger, _Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum_, 2nd Ed., No. 577, with Dittenberger’s note.

Footnote 1177:

See above, p. 177.

Footnote 1178:

See above, vol. i. p. 310.

Footnote 1179:

See above, vol. i. p. 366.

Footnote 1180:

For more evidence that the old Greek kings regularly personified Zeus, see Mr. A. B. Cook, “The European Sky-god,” _Folk-lore_, xv. (1904) pp. 299 _sqq._

Footnote 1181:

Virgil. _Georg._ iii. 332, with Servius’s note; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xii. 3.

Footnote 1182:

As to the oak of Jupiter on the Capitol and the god’s oak crown, see above, p. 176. With regard to the Capitoline worship of Thundering Jupiter, see Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ ii. 21, xxxiv. 10 and 79, xxxvi. 50. He was worshipped in many places besides Rome as the god of thunder and lightning. See Festus, p. 229, ed. C. O. Müller; Apuleius, _De mundo_, xxxvii. 371; H. Dessau, _Inscriptones Latinae selectae_, Nos. 3044-3053.

Footnote 1183:

Petronius, _Sat._ 44. That the slope mentioned by Petronius was the Capitoline one is made highly probable by a passage of Tertullian (_Apologeticus_ 40: “_Aquilicia Jovi immolatis, nudipedalia populo denuntiatis, coelum apud Capitolium quaeritis, nubila de laquearibus exspectatis_”). The church father’s scorn for the ceremony contrasts with the respect, perhaps the mock respect, testified for it by the man in Petronius. The epithets Rainy and Showery are occasionally applied to Jupiter. See Tibullus, i. 7. 26; Apuleius, _De mundo_, xxxvii. 371; H. Dessau, _Inscriptiones Latinae selectae_, No. 3043.

Footnote 1184:

H. Dessau, _op. cit._ No. 3042; Apuleius, _l.c._

Footnote 1185:

Apuleius, _l.c._, “_Plures eum Frugiferum vocant_”; H. Dessau, _op. cit._ No. 3017.

Footnote 1186:

On this subject see H. Munro Chadwick, “The Oak and the Thunder-god,” _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, xxx. (1900) pp. 22-42.

Footnote 1187:

Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 249.

Footnote 1188:

Maximus Tyrius, _Dissert._ viii. 8. H. D’Arbois de Jubainville supposed that by Celts the writer here meant Germans (_Cours de la littérature celtique_, i. 121 _sqq._). This was not the view of J. Grimm, to whose authority D’Arbois de Jubainville appealed. Grimm says that what Maximus Tyrius affirms of the Celts might be applied to the Germans (_Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 55), which is quite a different thing.

Footnote 1189:

Strabo, xii. 5. 1, p. 567. As to the meaning of the name see (Sir) J. Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 221; H. F. Tozer, _Selections from Strabo_, p. 284. On the Galatian language see above, p. 126, note 2.

Footnote 1190:

G. Curtius, _Griech. Etymologie_, 5th Ed., pp. 238 _sq._; J. Rhys, _op. cit._ pp. 221 _sq._; P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griech. Sprache_, p. 81. Compare A. Vanicek, _Griechisch-lateinisch. etymologisches Wörterbuch_, pp. 368-370. Oak in old Irish is _daur_, in modern Irish _dair_, _darach_, in Gaelic _darach_. See G. Curtius, _l.c._; A. Macbain, _Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language_ (Inverness, 1896), _s.v._ “Darach.” On this view Pliny was substantially right (_Nat. Hist._ xvi. 249) in connecting Druid with the Greek _drus_, “oak,” though the name was not derived from the Greek. However, this derivation of Druid has been doubted or rejected by some scholars. See H. D’Arbois de Jubainville, _Cours de la littérature celtique_, i. (Paris, 1883), pp. 117 _sqq._; O. Schrader, _Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde_, pp. 638 _sq._

Footnote 1191:

See above, p. 242.

Footnote 1192:

The Gael’s “faith in druidism was never suddenly undermined; for in the saints he only saw more powerful druids than those he had previously known, and Christ took the position in his eyes of the druid κατ’ ἐξοχήν. Irish druidism absorbed a certain amount of Christianity; and it would be a problem of considerable difficulty to fix on the point where it ceased to be druidism, and from which onwards it could be said to be Christianity in any restricted sense of that term” (J. Rhys, _Celtic Heathendom_, p. 224).

Footnote 1193:

P. W. Joyce, _Social History of Ancient Ireland_, i. 236.

Footnote 1194:

J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 55 _sq._ Tacitus often mentions the sacred groves of the Germans, but never specifies the kinds of trees of which they were composed. See _Annals_, ii. 12, iv. 73; _Histor._ iv. 14; _Germania_, 7, 9, 39, 40, 43.

Footnote 1195:

J. Grimm, _op. cit._ ii. 542.

Footnote 1196:

Willibald’s _Life of S. Boniface_, in Pertz’s _Monumenta Germaniae historica_, ii. 343 _sq._; J. Grimm, _op. cit._ i. pp. 58, 142.

Footnote 1197:

J. Grimm, _op. cit._ i. 157. Prof. E. Maass supposes that the identification of Donar or Thunar with Jupiter was first made in Upper Germany between the Vosges mountains and the Black Forest. See his work _Die Tagesgötter_ (Berlin, 1902), p. 280.

Footnote 1198:

Adam of Bremen, _Descriptio insularum Aquilonis_, 26 (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. col. 643).

Footnote 1199:

Adam of Bremen, _l.c._

Footnote 1200:

E. H. Meyer, _Mythologie des Germanen_ (Strasburg, 1903), p. 290.

Footnote 1201:

Adam of Bremen, _op. cit._ 26, 27, with the Scholia (Migne’s _Patrologia Latina_, cxlvi. coll. 642-644).

Footnote 1202:

J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 142 _sq._; L. Leger, _La Mythologie slave_ (Paris, 1901), pp. 54-76.

Footnote 1203:

L. Leger, _op. cit._ pp. 57 _sq._, translating Guagnini’s _Sarmatiae Europaeae descriptio_ (1578). The passage is quoted in the original by Chr. Hartknoch (_Alt- und neues Preussen_, Frankfort and Leipsic, 1684, p. 132), who rightly assigns the work to Strykowski, not Guagnini. See W. Mannhardt, in _Magazin herausgegeben von der Lettisch-Literarischen Gesellschaft_, xiv. (1868) pp. 105 _sq._

Footnote 1204:

Procopius, _De bello Gothico_, iii. 14 (vol. ii. p. 357, ed. J. Haury).

Footnote 1205:

Matthias Michov, “De Sarmatia Asiana atque Europea,” in Simon Grynaeus’s _Novus Orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_ (Paris, 1532), p. 457; _id._, in J. Pistorius’s _Polonicae historiae corpus_ (Bâle, 1582), i. 144; Martin Cromer, _De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum_ (Bâle, 1568), p. 241; J. Maeletius (Menecius, Ian Malecki), “De sacrificiis et idolatria veterum Borussorum, Livonum, aliarumque vicinarum gentium,” _Scriptores rerum Livonicarum_, ii. (Riga and Leipsic, 1848) p. 390; _id._, in _Mitteilungen der Litterarischen Gesellschaft Masovia_, Heft 8 (Lötzen, 1902), p. 187; Chr. Hartknoch, _Alt- und neues Preussen_ (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1684), pp. 131 _sqq._; S. Rostowski, quoted by A. Brückner, _Archiv für slavische Philologie_, ix. (1886) pp. 32, 35; M. Töppen, _Geschichte der preussischen Historiographie_ (Berlin, 1853), p. 190 (“_Perkunos ist in allen andern Ueberlieferungen so gross und hehr, wie nur immer der griechische und römische Donnergott, und kein anderer der Götter darf sich ihm gleich stellen. Er ist der Hauptgott, wie nach andern Berichten in Preussen, so auch in Litthauen und Livland_”); Schleicher, “Lituanica,” _Sitzungsberichte der philosoph.-histor. Classe d. kais. Akademie d. Wissen._ (Vienna), xi. (1853 pub. 1854) p. 96; H. Usener, _Götternamen_ (Bonn, 1896), p. 97.

Footnote 1206:

M. Praetorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_ (Berlin, 1871), pp. 19 _sq._; S. Rostowski, _op. cit._ pp. 34, 35. On the sacred oaks of the Lithuanians see Chr. Hartknoch, _op. cit._ pp. 117 _sqq._; Tettau und Temme, _Volkssagen Ostpreussens, Litthauens und Westpreussens_, pp. 19-22, 35-38.

Footnote 1207:

M. Praetorius, _l.c._; S. Grunau, _Preussische Chronik_, ed. M. Perlbach, i. (Leipsic, 1876) p. 78 (ii. tract. cap. v. § 2). The chronicler, Simon Grunau, lived as an itinerant Dominican friar at the beginning of the sixteenth century in the part of Prussia which had been ceded to Poland. He brought his history, composed in somewhat rustic German, down to 1529. His familiar intercourse with the lowest classes of the people enabled him to learn much as to their old heathen customs and superstitions; but his good faith has been doubted or denied. In particular, his description of the images of the three gods in the great oak at Romove has been regarded with suspicion or denounced as a figment. See Chr. Hartknoch, _op. cit._ pp. 127 _sqq._; M. Toeppen, _op. cit._ pp. 122 _sqq._, 190 _sqq._; M. Perlbach’s preface to his edition of Grunau; H. Usener, _Götternamen_, p. 83. But his account of the sanctity of the oak, and of the perpetual sacred fire of oak-wood, may be accepted, since it is confirmed by other authorities. Thus, according to Malecki, a perpetual fire was kept up by a priest in honour of Perkunas (Pargnus) on the top of a mountain, which stood beside the river Neuuassa (Niewiaza, a tributary of the Niemen). See Malecki (Maeletius, Menecius), _op. cit._, _Scriptores rerum Livonicarum_, ii. 391; _id._, _Mitteilungen der Litterarischen Gesellschaft Masovia_, Heft 8 (Lötzen, 1902), p. 187. Again, the Jesuit S. Rostowski says that the Lithuanians maintained a perpetual sacred fire in honour of Perkunas in the woods (quoted by A. Brückner, _Archiv für slavische Philologie_, ix. (1886) p. 33). Malecki and Rostowski do not mention that the fire was kindled with oak-wood, but this is expressly stated by M. Praetorius, and is, besides, intrinsically probable, since the oak was sacred to Perkunas. Moreover, the early historian, Peter of Dusburg, who dedicated his chronicle of Prussia to the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights in 1326, informs us that the high-priest of the nation, whom the Prussians revered as a pope, kept up a perpetual fire at Romow, which is doubtless the same with the Romowo or Romewo of Grunau (_Preussische Chronik_, pp. 80, 81, compare p. 62, ed. M. Perlbach). See P. de Dusburg, _Chronicon Prussiae_, ed. Chr. Hartknoch (Frankfort and Leipsic, 1679), p. 79. Martin Cromer says that the Lithuanians “worshipped fire as a god, and kept it perpetually burning in the more frequented places and towns” (_De origine et rebus gestis Polonorum_, Bâle, 1568, p. 241). Romow or Romowo is more commonly known as Romove. Its site is very uncertain. See Chr. Hartknoch, _Alt- und neues Preussen_, pp. 122 _sqq._ Grunau’s account of Romove and its sacred oak, with the images of the three gods in it and the fire of oak-wood burning before it, is substantially repeated by Alex. Guagnini. See J. Pistorius, _Polonicae historiae corpus_ (Bâle, 1582), i. 52; _Respublica sive status regni Poloniae, Lituaniae, Prussiae, Livoniae_, etc. (Leyden, 1627), pp. 321 _sq._ I do not know whether the chronicler, Simon Grunau, is the same with Simon Grynaeus, editor of the _Novus Orbis regionum ac insularum veteribus incognitarum_, which was published at Paris in 1532.

Footnote 1208:

S. Rostowski, _op. cit._ p. 35.

Footnote 1209:

D. Fabricius, “De cultu, religione et moribus incolarum Livoniae,” _Scriptores rerum Livonicarum_, ii. 441. Malecki (Maeletius) also says that Perkunas was prayed to for rain. See _Mitteilungen der Litterarischen Gesellschaft Masovia_, Heft 8 (Lötzen, 1902), p. 201.

Footnote 1210:

According to Prof. H. Hirt, the name Perkunas means “the oak-god,” being derived from the same root _querq_, which appears in the Latin _quercus_ “oak,” the _Hercynian_ forest, the Norse god and goddess _Fjörygn_, and the Indian _Parjanya_, the Vedic god of thunder and rain. See H. Hirt, “Die Urheimat der Indogermanen,” _Indogermanische Forschungen_, i. (1892) pp. 479 _sqq._; _id._, _Die Indogermanen_ (Strasburg, 1905-1907), ii. 507; P. Kretschmer, _Einleitung in die Geschichte der griechischen Sprache_, pp. 81 _sq._ The identity of the names Perkunas and Parjanya had been maintained long before by G. Bühler, though he did not connect the words with _quercus_. See his article, “On the Hindu god Parjanya,” _Transactions of the (London) Philological Society_, 1859, pp. 154-168. As to Parjanya, see below, pp. 368 _sq._

Footnote 1211:

Fr. Kreutzwald und H. Neus, _Mythische und magische Lieder der Ehsten_ (St. Petersburg, 1854), pp. 16, 26, 27, 56, 57, 104; F. J. Wiedemann, _Aus dem inneren und äusseren Leben der Ehsten_, pp. 427, 438. Sometimes, however, a special thunder-god Kou, Koo, Piker or Pikne is distinguished from Taara (Tar). See F. J. Wiedemann, _op. cit._ p. 427; Kreutzwald und Neus, _op. cit._ pp. 12 _sq._

Footnote 1212:

Boecler-Kreutzwald, _Der Ehsten abergläubische Gebräuche, Weisen und Gewohnheiten_ (St. Petersburg, 1854), p. 2.

Footnote 1213:

J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 146.

Footnote 1214:

F. J. Wiedemann, _op. cit._ p. 427.

Footnote 1215:

See above, p. 367, note 3.

Footnote 1216:

_Rigveda_, Book v. Hymn 83, R. T. H. Griffith’s translation (Benares, 1889-1892), vol. ii. pp. 299 _sq._

Footnote 1217:

_Rigveda_, Book vii. Hymn 101, Griffith’s translation (vol. iii. pp. 123 _sq._).

Footnote 1218:

_Rigveda_, Book vii. Hymn 102, Griffith’s translation (vol. iii. p. 124). On Parjanya see further G. Bühler, “On the Hindu god _Parjanya_,” _Transactions of the (London) Philological Society_, 1859, pp. 154-168; _id._ in _Orient und Occident_, i. (1862) pp. 214-229; J. Muir, _Original Sanscrit Texts_, v. 140-142; H. Oldenberg, _Die Religion des Veda_, p. 226; A. Macdonnell, _Vedic Mythology_, pp. 83-85.

Footnote 1219:

G. Bühler, _op. cit._ p. 161.

Footnote 1220:

L. H. Morgan, _League of the Iroquois_ (Rochester, 1851), pp. 157 _sq._

Footnote 1221:

J. Spieth, _Die Ewe-Stämme_ (Berlin, 1906), pp. 424-427.

Footnote 1222:

E. J. Payne, _History of the New World called America_, i. (Oxford, 1892) pp. 407 _sq._

Footnote 1223:

N. Seidlitz, “Die Abchasen,” _Globus_, lxvi. (1894) p. 73.

Footnote 1224:

P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, ii. (Berlin, 1891) p. 37.

Footnote 1225:

J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 59.

Footnote 1226:

P. Wagler, _Die Eiche in alter und neuer Zeit_, i. (Wurzen, 1891) pp. 21-23. For many more survivals of oak-worship in Germany see P. Wagler, _op. cit._ ii. 40 _sqq._

Footnote 1227:

M. Praetorius, _Deliciae Prussicae_ (Berlin, 1871), p. 16.

Footnote 1228:

J. G. Kohl, _Die deutsch-russischen Ostseeprovinzen_ (Dresden and Leipsic, 1841), ii. 31; compare 33.

Footnote 1229:

Schleicher, “Lituanica,” _Sitzungsberichte der philos.-histor. Classe der kais. Akademie der Wissenschaften_, xi. (1853, pub. 1854) p. 100.

Footnote 1230:

James Piggul, steward of the estate of Panikovitz, in a report to Baron de Bogouschefsky, _Journal of the Anthropological Institute_, iii. (1874) pp. 274 _sq._

Footnote 1231:

The evidence will be given later on, when we come to deal with the fire-festivals of Europe. Meantime I may refer the reader to _The Golden Bough_, Second Edition, iii. 347 _sqq._, where, however, the statement as to the universal use of oak-wood in kindling the need-fire is too absolute, exceptions having since come to my knowledge. These will be noticed in the third edition of that part of _The Golden Bough_.

Footnote 1232:

See above, pp. 186, 365, 366.

Footnote 1233:

The only positive evidence, so far as I know, that the Celtic oak-god was also a deity of thunder and rain is his identification with Zeus (see above, p. 362). But the analogy of the Greeks, Italians, Teutons, Slavs, and Lithuanians may be allowed to supply the lack of more definite testimony.

Footnote 1234:

It is said to have been observed that lightning strikes an oak twenty times for once that it strikes a beech (J. Grimm, _Deutsche Mythologie_, 4th ed., iii. 64). But even if this observation were correct, we could not estimate its worth unless we knew the comparative frequency of oaks and beeches in the country where it was made. The Greeks observed that a certain species of oak, which they called _haliphloios_, or sea-bark, was often struck by lightning though it did not grow to a great height; but far from regarding it as thereby marked out for the service of the god they abstained from using its wood in the sacrificial rites. See Theophrastus, _Histor. plant._ iii. 8. 5; Pliny, _Nat. Hist._ xvi. 24.

Footnote 1235:

M. Abeghian, _Der armenische Volksglaube_, p. 90.

Footnote 1236:

E. B. Tylor, _Early History of Mankind_, 3rd Ed., pp. 223-227. For more evidence of this wide-spread belief see M. Baudrouin et L. Bonnemère, “Les Haches polies dans l’histoire jusqu’au XIXe siècle,” _Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris_, Ve Série, v. (1904) pp. 496-548; Lieut. Boyd Alexander, “From the Niger, by Lake Chad, to the Nile,” _The Geographical Journal_, xxx. (1907) pp. 144 _sq._; A. B. Ellis, _Ewe-speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast_, pp. 37 _sq._; H. Seidel, “Der Yew’e Dienst im Togolande,” _Zeitschrift für afrikanische und oceanischen Sprachen_, iii. (1897) p. 161; H. Klose, _Togo unter deutscher Flagge_, pp. 197 _sq._; L. Conradt, “Die Ngumbu in Südkamerun,” _Globus_, lxxxi. (1902) p. 353; Guerlach, “Mœurs et superstitions des sauvages Ba-hnars,” _Missions Catholiques_, xix. (1887) pp. 442, 454; J. A. Jacobsen, _Reisen in die Inselwelt des Banda-Meeres_ (Berlin, 1896), pp. 49 _sq._, 232; C. Ribbe, “Die Aru-Inseln,” _Festschrift des Vereins für Erdkunde zu Dresden_ (Dresden, 1888), p. 165; E. Thurston, _Ethnographic Notes in Southern India_, p. 351; Rev. P. O. Bodding, “Ancient Stone Implements in the Santal Parganas,” _Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal_, lxx. Part iii. (1901) pp. 17-20; E. M. Gordon, _Indian Folk-tales_ (London, 1908), p. 75; _County Folk-lore, III. Orkney and Shetland Islands_, collected by G. F. Black (London, 1903), p. 153; P. Hermann, _Nordische Mythologie_, pp. 339 _sq._, 352; M. Toeppen, _Aberglauben aus Masuren_ 2nd Ed., (Danzig, 1867), pp. 42 _sq._ Dr. E. B. Tylor has pointed out how natural to the primitive mind is the association of spark-producing stones with lightning (_Primitive Culture_, 2nd Ed., ii. 262).

Footnote 1237:

L. Preller, _Griechische Mythologie_, 4th ed., i. 116 _sq._; _id._, _Römische Mythologie_, 3rd Ed., i. 184 _sqq._ As to Jupiter see in particular Augustine, _De civitate Dei_, vii. 19, “_Coelum enim esse Jovem innumerabiliter et diligenter affirmant_”; and Ennius, quoted by Cicero, _De natura deorum_, ii. 25, 65, “_Aspice hoc sublimen candens, quem invocant omnes Jovem_.”