CONTENTS.
5
Supreme Being They point to an original monotheism The female deities mere modes of the male ones Baal Ashtoreth Melkarth Dagon Adonis or Taminuz El The sun-worship Shamas Molech Baaltis Sadyk Eshtnun The Kabiri Foreign deities Licentious rites Human sacrifice No images in the temples Asherahs General tendency of the worship to lower and debase men. . IOC ity of the
THE RELIGION OF THE ETRUSCANS. Known
to us chiefly from references in Greek and Latin -writers Etruscan languages not yet mastered Religion held a leading place in the thoughts and feelings of the nation Twofold objects of worship, deities and Lares Three classes of deities, of heaven, of earth and of the infernal regions Chief deities of Heaven Tina or Tinia Cupra Menrva or Menrfa Usil and Losna The three elemental gods The Novensiles The prominent place assigned to the gods of the infernal regions Mantus, Mania, and Charun Attributes of these deities and their attendants Etruscans sought to learn the will of the gods in three ways: 1, by thunder and lightning; 2, by the flight of birds; and 3, by the inspec,
tion of entrails
The priesthood a race
of soothsayers
Sacri-
were both animal and human The true temple was the home, the real object of worship the Lares Etruscan tombs The Etruscan a depressing, superstitious, and debasing paye 12C worship fices
CHAPTER
VII.
THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS. In what sense a worship of Nature Multitudinous character of the polytheism Classes of gods Gradations in rank and power The six gods of the first order Zeus PoseidonApollo Ares Hephaestus Hermes The six female OlyniHera, Athene, Artemis, Aphrodite?, Hestia, pic deities Demeter Worship of Dionysus Leto Persephone CharThe dark side acteristics of Greek worship The festivals 131 The Furies Human sacrifice The "mysteries" ;
:
...
CHAPTER
VIII.
THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT ROMANS. The Roman
quite distinct from the Greek religion Mars : Jupiter Juno Minerva
Di majores
The twelve
Bellona Ceres Saturnus Ops Hercules Morcurius Neptrunus Five groups of subordinate deities The worship supported by the state Several orders of priests The three
Vesta