Boston University - HUB Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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18 BOSTON UNIVERSITY YEAR BOOK. That all writers upon Greek mythology, including even the latcst,1 should proceed upon the same assumptions as the professed Homeric interpreters and geographers, building upon their foundations, is only natural. And that the current conceptions of the cosmology of the ancient Greeks should profoundly aifect current interpre- tations of the cosmological and geographical data of other ancient peoples, is also precisely what the history and inner relationships of modern archaeological studies would lead one to expect. It is not surprising, therefore, that the earth of the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Indo-Aryans, and other ancient peoples, has been assumed to correspond to the supposed flat earth of the Greeks? A protracted study of the subject has convinced the present writer that this modern assumption, as to the form of the Homeric earth, is entirely baseless and misleading. He has, furthermore, satisfied himself that the Egyptians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Phoenicians, l-lebrews, Greeks, Iranians, Indo-Aryans, Chinese, Japanese, -in fine, all the most ancient historic peoples,- possessed in their earliest traceable periods a cosmology essentially identical, and one of a far more advanced type than has been attrib- uted to them. The purpose of this paper is to set forth and illustrate this oldest known conception of the uni- verse and of its parts. In ancient thought the grand divisions of the World are fourg to wit, The abode of the gods, the abode of living men, the abode of the dead, and, finally, the abode of 1 Sec. for example, Sir George W. Cox: An Introduction to thc Science of Compmwliuc Mythology and I oIl.'lore. London and New York, 1881: p. 244. Deehnrmc, Mytlmlngie cle Ia Greco Antique. Paris, 1879: p, ll. 9 It is true that Heinrich Zimmer remarks, Die Ansehanung die sich bei Grieehen und Nordgermunen flndet, dass die Erde eine Scheibe sei, uni die sich alas Meer sehlingt, begegnet in den vedischen Samhita nir- gcnds. Allhulischcs Leben. Bcrlin,1S79: p. 350. But even he does not advance from this negative assertion to an exposition of the true Vedic cosmology. Compare M. Foutane: Lcur eosuiogrnphie est enihryouuire. La ierrc est pour l'A1-ya ronde ct plate comme un disquc. Le firinmnent vedtque, concave, vien se souder A la terre, circulairuient, it l'horizon. Inde Vddique. Paris, 1881: p. 94. Q

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0 THE TRUE KEY TO ANCIENT COSMOLOGY AND MYTHICAL GEOGRAPHY? Hic vertex nobis semper sublimis, at illum Sub pedibus Styx alra vide! Manesque profundi. THE cosmology of the a11cients has been gravely mis- conceived by modern scholars. All our maps of The VVorld according to Homer represent the earth as flat, and as surrounded by a level, flowing, ocean stream. There can be no doubt, says Bunbury, 4' that Homer, in common with all his successors down to the time of Hecataeus, believed the earth to be a plane of circular form. 2 As to the sky, we are generally taught that the early Greeks believed it to be a solid metallic vault? Professor F. A. Paley aids the imagination of his readers as follows: We might familiarly illustrate the Hesiodic notion of the Hat circular earth and the convex over- arching sky by a circular plate with a hemispherical dish- cover of metal placed over it and concealing it. Above the cover Cwhich is supposed to rotate on an axis, nologj live the gods. Round the inner concavity is the path of the sun, giving light to the earth below. 994 1 Second edition. Copyright by WILLIAM F. WARREN, 1882. All rights reserved. - 2 E. H. Bunbury, History of Ancient Geography among the Greeks and Romans. London, 1879: vol. i., p. 79. Professor Bunbury was a leading contributor to Smitlfs Dictionary of Ancient Greek and Roman Geography. Compare Fricdreiuh, Die Realien in der Ilias und Odyxce. 1856, 5 19. Buch- holz, Die Ilomcrische Rcalien. Leipzig, 1871: Bd. I., 48. 8 See Voss, Ukert, Bunbury, Buohholz, and the others. 4 The Epics of Hesiod, with an English Commentary. London, 1861: p. 172. '

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KEY T0 ANCIENT c'osMoLoGY.' 19 X A , l I 1 X i I f I I n I i I I u I 553 C I I 2 I - I Cf 'Y 3 . z X an Ap A4 pI 5 e I 6 6 D I I I I I I I 7 1 1 7'7I o Q, B. denions. To locate these in -right mutual relations, one must begin by representing to himself the earth as it sphere or sphcroid, and as situated within, and concentric with, the sturry sphere, each having its axis perpc11dif:ulr1r, and ils north pole at the topi The pole-star is thus in the true zenith, and the heavenly heights centringpnhont it are the abode of the supreme god or gods. According to the same conception, the upper or northern hemisphere of the earth is the proper home of living mcug the under or southern hemisphere of the earth, the abode of disem- bodied spirits and rulers of the deadg and, finally, the