UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

The same can be said of Bacchus, whom the Greeks recognized as being the same as the famous Egyptian Osiris. This Osiris is the one whom all scholars have confirmed to be the sun, the primary divinity of Egypt.

(1) Diodorus Siculus, Book 1, Chapter 22, page 26.

(2) Ibid, Chapter 23.

Diodorus Siculus tells us (1) that the Greeks borrowed the worship of Bacchus and the Orphic festivals or ceremonies from the Egyptians. They had dedicated the active symbol of generation in their mysteries, for which the sun or the Egyptian Osiris was the primary agent (2).

He adds that those who claimed this God was born in Thebes in Boeotia were deceiving themselves. It was Orpheus who, having come to Egypt and being initiated into the mysteries of Osiris or the Egyptian Bacchus, wished to please the Boeotians. He did this by suggesting that this God was born in Thebes in Boeotia. The ignorant multitude was jealous for this God to be seen as Greek in origin. Therefore, they enthusiastically welcomed his mysteries and his worship. He then explains the pretext Orpheus used to attribute the birth of this God and the origin of his mysteries to Greece.

(3) Herodotus, Euterpe, Chapters 49 and 51.

(4) Ibid, Chapter 48.
(5) Ibid, Chapter 15.

Herodotus (3) attributes the introduction of Bacchus-worship in Greece to Melampus, as well as the knowledge of this divinity's name. He adds that Melampus established it based on the ideas he had taken from the Egyptians, among whom it had been instituted since the most remote antiquity. He argues there was too much resemblance between the practices in Egypt and Boeotia during the festivals of Osiris and Bacchus not to admit the lineage of the Greek Bacchus from the Egyptian Bacchus. He says the same was true of Pan, who was worshipped at Mendes (4). In general, these rites and ceremonies, and many others, says Herodotus (5), which I will

report, were borrowed from the Egyptians by the Greeks.

(6) Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, Book 1, Chapter 6. Ibid, page 52.

(7) Diodorus, Book 1, Chapter 23, page 27.
(8) Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel, Book 10, Chapter 8, pages 480 and 483.
(9) Ibid.

Eusebius (6) thinks exactly the same, both regarding the origin of Bacchus and that of the other divinities worshipped in Greece. He claims that in this entire long list of Gods, the Greeks have nothing of their own invention. Instead, they adopted the religious fictions, statues, and mysteries of foreign nations. They especially adopted the rites and Gods of Egypt, as Diodorus remarks (7), just as they received the Egyptian colonies that wished to settle among them. It is from Egypt, the same author observes, that all the most distinguished scholars and philosophers of Greece borrowed their theological dogmas and philosophical opinions.

"All their
» mystic doctrine comes from there (8),
» as well as their Orgies secret, ecstatic religious rites and the fable of the
» Underworld. The Gods are the same;
» Osiris is Bacchus, Isis is Ceres: there
» is only a difference in the names.
» The battles of the Gods (9) and their
» tragic adventures are so many
» Egyptian fables brought to Greece
» by Melampus, along with the sacred
» rites and ceremonies."

(10) Athenagoras, Embassy for the Christians, page 129.

Athenagoras (10) similarly recognizes that the Greeks borrowed all the names of their Gods from Egypt.

It follows from all we have just said about the lineage between Greek and Egyptian worship that if the Egyptians and Phoenicians, their masters in religion, had no other Gods but the natural Gods, as we believe we have proven through more than one authority, it will follow that Greek worship did not change its nature, but only its form, at

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UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

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the moment when the Greeks were civilized by the Orientals. For, once again, these Orientals could only give the Gods they themselves revered. These were all the parts of the visible universal cause, the first and only one that the Egyptians and Phoenicians ever admitted.

(1) Abulfarage, History of Dynasties, page 62.

(2) Augustine, City of God, Book 4, Chapter 23.
(3) Dionysius, Roman Antiquities, Book 2, page 114.
(4) Ibid, Book 1, page 44.
(5) Zosimus, Book 1, page 383.
(6) Suetonius.

We will therefore conclude with Abulfarage (1) that Sabism the veneration of stars formed the principal basis of Greek religion. This conclusion will have its full force regarding the Romans, and generally all peoples among whom Greek divinities are found. Let us add more direct testimonies for the Romans that confirm the existence of the same worship among them. Augustine and Dionysius of Halicarnasse (2), in his Roman Antiquities, ensure that Tatius, coming to Rome to share the scepter of Romulus (3), built temples to the sun, the moon, Saturn, and to light, fire, or the tutelary divinity of that element. Everyone knows the famous temple of Tellus Earth consecrated in Rome, which often served for the august assemblies of the senate. The same Dionysius of Halicarnasse (4) speaks of a fountain consecrated to the sun in Latium, near which two altars were built. One faced the east and the other the west. It was on these altars that Aeneas, arriving in Italy, offered his first tributes of gratitude to the Gods. (5) Aurelian had the temple of the sun built in Rome, which he enriched with gold and precious stones. Before him, Augustus had brought the images of the sun and moon there, which he took from Egypt (6) during his triumph over Antony and Cleopatra. Romulus had originally instituted the circus games in honor

(7) Alexandrian Chronicle, page 25.

(8) Macrobius, Saturnalia, Book 1, Chapter 19.

of the Sun God (7) and of the four elements that he modifies by his all-powerful action. On the seventeenth day before the calends of May, sacrifices were made to the earth. On the fourth, they were made to Flora, or to the vegetative force that makes flowers grow, as can be seen in the Roman calendar. Thus, one cannot doubt that the Romans, like all other peoples, paid tribute to the divinity of Nature and its principal parts.

If we look toward the westernmost region of the ancient continent, toward Spain, we will find the religion of the sun and the worship of Nature. The Phoenicians carried these to all the coasts of the Ocean. The sun, or the Phoenician Hercules, had its temple in Cadiz from the most remote antiquity. The Accitanians, a people of Spain (8), honored the same Sun God under another name. The statue of this divinity, adorned with rays like that of Apollo, revealed the nature of the God worshipped under this emblem.

(9) Strabo, Book 3, page 140.

(10) Cicero, Against Verres, On Statues, Chapter 44.
(11) Diodorus Siculus, Book 5, Chapter 71, page 387.
(12) Varro, On the Latin Language, Book 4, Section 10.

The peoples of Baetica (9) had built a temple to the morning star and the twilight. The inhabitants of the city of Assorus in Sicily worshipped the river Chrysas that flowed beneath their walls. This river had its temple (10) and its statue, as can be seen in Cicero. The Cretans, in their Theogony origin of the gods, suggest that one of their ancient kings named Jupiter (11), preparing for battle, sacrificed to the sun, the sky, and the earth. These last two divinities were considered the great Gods or Cabiri mysterious deities of fertility and protection of the island of Samothrace (12). They were seen as uniting the active and passive principles of the visible and universal cause. Their names were also consecrated among the Romans in the books of the Augurs religious officials who interpreted omens under the title