i. 83) says--"Les Argiens avoient encore une autre fête

pendant laquelle ils précipitoent dans un abîme un agneau.... ils étoient armés de javelines, ils appelloient _Bacchus_ au son des trompettes et l'invitoient _à semontrer hors de l'eau_; cette apparition n'arrivoit pas fréquemment sans doute" (comp. _supra_, 197, and 237). "Plutarque remarque que lors qu'ils précipitoient l'agneau, ils avoient soin de cacher leurs trompettes et leurs javelines. Nous ne prétendons point expliquer tous ces mystères." Is it that they feared, with armed weapons in their hands, to evoke the apparition of the old man "whose conquests were all peaceful" (p. 216), and who, as Manco Capac (p. 326), "shut his ears when they spoke to him of war."

Let us now turn to his reduplication, as I conceive, in Nin, or Ninip, who is said to be "the true fish god."

"His names, Bar and Nin, are respectively a Semitic and a Hamitic term, signifying 'Lord,' or 'Master,'" (p. 166). Astronomically Nin "should be Saturn." However, a set of epithets which _seem to point_ to his stellar character are very difficult to reconcile with the notion that, as a celestial luminary, he was (the dark and distant) Saturn. We find him called, "the light of heaven and earth," "he who, _like_ the sun, the _light_ of the _gods_, irradiates the _nations_." All this is very difficult to reconcile with legends arising out of the simple worship of a celestial luminary, but perfectly consistent with the supposition of the patriarch Noah, after deification, being located in the planetary system. The phrase, "he who, like the sun, the light of the gods, irradiates the nations," is perfectly applicable to him who, as Oannes, we have ever regarded as "the god of science and of knowledge;" and who "taught astronomy and letters to the first settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris." Let us glance at the other epithets applied to Nin in the inscriptions. He is the "lord of the brave," "the champion," "the warrior who subdues foes," "_he who strengthens the hearts of his followers_." [The Scripture mentions the repeated assurances of the Almighty to Noah, that there should not be another Deluge; and the above is in keeping with the tradition that the early inhabitants long hesitated to quit the mountains for the plains, and only did so incited by the example of the patriarch.] "The destroyer of enemies," "_the reducer of the disobedient_," "the exterminator of rebels," "he whose sword is good." Like Nergal, or Mars, he is a god of battle and the chase. (I shall refer later on to these warlike epithets as applied to Noah.) At the same time he has qualities which seem wholly unconnected with any that have been hitherto mentioned. He is the true "fish-god" of Berosus, and is figured as such in the Scriptures. (I hope I may persuade some reader, who may be interested in this inquiry, to compare the figure of Nin, in Rawlinson, i. 167, with figure 23, Dupaix's "New Spain" in Lord Kingsborough's "Mexico," representing an emblematic figure with fish[160] (as in the representation of Nin) over a human head, which also has inverted tusks. Compare also with representations of Neph, associated with snake and ram's head, and also with "History of the Fish," _supra_, p. 197.) To continue--in this point of view he (Nin) is called the "god of the sea," "he who dwells in the deep;" and again, somewhat curiously, "the opener of the aqueducts." Now, as applied to Noah, this is not at all strange, and corresponds to the Scriptural phrase, "He opened the fountains of the deeps." Subsequently to deification we cannot be surprised to find all that was done by the Almighty attributed to the individual to whom it was done; as in Prometheus we have a double legend of the Creator, who created man with the vital spark, and of Prometheus, the man who was so created. "Besides these epithets he has many of a more general character, as 'the _powerful chief_,' 'the supreme,' 'the _favourite_ of the _gods_,' 'the chief of the spirits,' and the like."

[160] This closely corresponds to the description of Oannes given by Sanchoniathon, "Ap. Euseb." (Bryant, ii. 301), _i.e._ with two heads (comp. _infra_, p. 220), the human head being placed below the head of a fish:--"[Greek: allên kephalên hypokatô tês tou ichthyos kephalês]."

I must, moreover, request attention to the following from Rawlinson, i. 168,--"Nin's _emblem_ in _Assyria_ is the _man-bull_, the impersonation of strength and power. He guards the palaces of the Assyrian kings, who reckon him their tutelary god, and gives his name to their capital city. We may conjecture that _in Babylonia_ his _emblem_ was the _sacred fish_, which is often seen in different forms upon the cylinders."[161]

[161] _Vide_ similar traditions of the man-bull in India and Japan. Bryant, iii. 589, who adds, "We shall find hereafter that in this (Parsee) mythology there were two ancient personages represented under the same character, and named L'Homme Taureau; _each_ of whom was looked upon as the _father_ of mankind." Compare pp. 158, 189, the two Menus and the two Osiris.

I turn to Gainet, i. 198, and I find this legend concerning the man-bull from Bertrand's "Dict. des Religions," 38, i. ii.[162]

[162] The prayer used in the worship of Dionysos at Elis, preserved by Plutarch, ended with "[Greek: Axie Taure--Axie Taure]," worthy bull! (_vide_ Bunsen's "Egypt," iv. 446.) Compare p. 215 with Dionysius = Bacchus = Noah; also of the three Samothracian names of the Kabiri--viz., Axieros, Axiokerse, Axiokersos. Bunsen says, "the syllable Axi or Axie which is found in all three, cannot be anything but the Greek word 'Axios,' which was used in the worship of Dionysos at Elis" (_id., vide infra_).

On this symbol of the bull in connection with Noah and the Ark _vide_ Bryant (ii. 416, _et seq._ 439). He says, "Every personage that had any connection with the history of the Ark was described with some reference to this hieroglyphic ... that the Apis and Mnenis (Menes) were both representations of an _ancient personage_ is certain; and who that personage was may be known from the account given of him by Diodorus. He speaks of him by the name of Mnenes, but confines his history to Egypt, as the history of Saturn was limited to Italy; Inachus and Phoroneus to Argos; Deucalion to Thessaly ... the same person who in Crete was styled Minos, Min-nous, and whose city was Min-Noa; the same who was represented under the emblem of Men-taur, or Mino-taurus (_Minotaur_). Diodorus speaks of Mnenes as the _first lawgiver_," &c., &c.... [Mnenes or Menes may embody traditions of Noah and Misraim, as Osiris does of Adam and Noah.] At p. 422-435 [plate], we find Menes represented as a bull _with the sacred dove_.... Plutarch (Isis and Osiris) says the bulls, Apis and Mnenes, were sacred to Osiris ... and Eustath. (in Dion. v. 308) says of the Tauric Chersonese, "that the _Tauric_ nation was so named from the animal Taurus or bull, which was looked upon as a memorial of _the great husbandman_ Osiris, who first _taught agriculture_, and to whom was ascribed _the invention_ of the _plough_." ... Lycophron (v. 209 and scholia) says, [Greek: Tauros], [Greek: Dionysos]. Plutarch says Dionusus (_vide supra_, p. 203) was styled [Greek: Bougenês], or the offspring of a bull, by the people of Argos, who used to invoke him as a _resident of the sea_, and entreat him _to come out of the waters_. The author of the Orphic hymns calls him "Taurogenes." [Greek: Taurogenês Dionysos euphrosunên pore Thnêtois]. [Greek: Taurogenês], is precisely of the same purport as [Greek: Thêbaigenês] [ark-born], and the words of this passage certainly mean "that the ark-born deity Dionusus restored peace and happiness to mortals." [Noah's name in Scripture signifies "peace and consolation"--[Greek: Nôe hebraïsianapaysis] (rest), Hesychius.]... The title given to Diana--viz. _Taurione_, is remarkable, for "Taurus was an emblem of the Ark, and by Taurione was signified the arkite _dove_." _Taurus_, and _ione_ from [Greek: Oinas] of the Greeks, and Ionas of the eastern nations = _dove_, and curiously in an inscription in Gruter, Diana is at _the same time_ called "Regina _undarum_," and "decus _nemorum_" (Bryant, ii. 434). The connection of Diana, Juno, and Venus with _the dove_ and _rainbow_ is very striking, but would lead to too long a digression. So, too, would a discussion as to how Noah or the Ark (secondarily) came to be associated with the bull, as a hieroglyphic. Compare the above with the ox-heads and bull dance in the Mandan commemoration of the Deluge, _infra_, ch. xi.

"D'après les livres Parsis, le souverain Créateur sut que le mauvais génie se disposait à tenter l'homme. Il ne jugea pas à propos de l'empêcher par lui-même; il se contenta d'envoyer des anges pour veiller sur l'homme. Cependant le mal augmenta; l'homme se perdit; Dieu envoya un Deluge, qui dura dix jours et dix nuits et détruisit le genre humain. L'apparition de Kaioumons (_l'homme-taureau_), le premier homme, y est aussi précédée de la creation d'une grande eau." Here, in a confused tradition, with Adam--just as Nin is confused with Hercules and Saturn--the man-bull is apparently associated with a great flood.

In the curious Etruscan monument commemorative of the Deluge--discovered in 1696--and to which Cardinal Wiseman draws attention in his "Conferences" (_vide_ Gainet, i. 190), being a vase supposed to represent the ark, and containing figures of twenty couples of (12) animals, (6) birds, (2) serpents, &c., and several human figures represented in the act of escaping from an inundation, there were also discovered certain signets and amulets. These consisted of hands joined, _heads_ of _oxen_, and olives. Now the olive in connection with the Deluge will speak for itself,--the hands joined are the symbol of Janus (_vide_ next chapter), and heads of oxen--here unmistakably connected with the Deluge--may also be conjectured to have allusion to the man-bull above referred to.

Thus Nin, through both his emblems (bull and fish), is brought into contact with the Noachic tradition.[163] It is also said (Rawlinson, i. 174) of Nergal, _vide supra_, who is clearly identified with Nimrod,--"Again, if Nergal is the man-lion, his association in the buildings with the man-bull would be exactly parallel with the conjunction which we so constantly find between him and _Nin_ in the inscriptions."

[163] Since writing the above I have found the following note in Rawlinson's "Herodotus," i. 623, on Ninip:--"There is, however, another explanation of the name Bar-sam or Bur-shem, of which some notice must be taken. It has been already stated that if the _Noachid_ triad be compared with the Assyrian, Ana will correspond with Ham, Bel-Nimrod with Shem, and Hoa with Japhet."

The following passage, also from Rawlinson's "Herodotus,"