A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume 2 (of 6)Bryant, Jacob
History
A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology. Volume 2 (of 6)
Bryant, Jacob
History, Ancient; Mythology
But there is no reason to think, that the city Hupereia was in Sicily; or
that the Pheacians came from that country. The notion arose from a common
mistake. All the Greek and Roman Poets, and even Strabo, with other
respectable writers, have taken it for granted, that the Cyclopians of
Homer were near Ætna in Sicily. Others except to their being near Ætna; and
insist, that they were in the vicinity of Eryx upon the opposite part of
the island. But Homer does not once mention the island during his whole
account of the Cyclopes: nor does Ulysses arrive in Sicily, till after many
subsequent adventures. That there were Cyclopians near Ætna is certain: but
those mentioned by Homer were of another country, and are represented as
natives of the continent though his account is very indeterminate and
obscure. There were probably people of this family in many parts of Sicily,
especially about the city Camarina. They seem to have been of the Anakim
race, and worshippers of the Sun. Hence they were styled Camarin, and their
chief city Camarina, which was so called from a city of the same name in
[555]Chaldea, the Ur of the Scriptures. Polyphemus is mentioned as a
musician and a shepherd; but of a savage and brutal disposition: which
character arose from the cruel rites practised by the Cyclopians. According
to [556]Bacchylides it was said, that Galatus, Illyrius, and Celtus were
the sons of Polyphemus. By this was certainly signified, that the Galatæ,
Illyrii, and Celtæ, were of Cyclopian original, and of the Anakim race; all
equally Amonians. Lycophron mentions the cave of this personage, by which
was meant an antient temple; and he calls it [557]μονογληνου στεγας
Χαρωνος: _the habitation of Charon, a personage with one eye_. But here, as
I have often observed, the place is mistaken for a person; the temple for
the Deity. Charon was the very place; the antient temple of the Sun. It was
therefore styled Char-On from the God, who was there worshipped; and after
the Egyptian custom an eye was engraved over its portal. These temples were
sometimes called Charis, [558]Χαρις; which is a compound of Char-Is, and
signifies a prutaneion, or place sacred to Hephastus. As the rites of fire
were once almost universally practised, there were many places of this
name, especially in [559]Parthia, Babylonia, and Phrygia. The Grecians
rendered Char-Is by Χαρις, a term in their own language, which signified
grace and elegance. And nothing witnesses their attachment to antient terms
more than their continually introducing them, though they were strangers to
their true meaning. The Arimaspians were Hyperborean Cyclopians; and had
temples named Charis, or Charisia, in the top of which were preserved a
perpetual fire. They were of the same family as those of [560]Sicily, and
had the same rites; and particularly worshipped the Ophite Deity under the
name of [561]Opis. Aristeas Proconnesius wrote their history; and among
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