The false gods mentioned in the New Testament and some of those referred to in the Old Testament, will be spoken of further on in describing the religions to which they severally belonged. CHAPTER VIII. GREECE. There, where now, as we’re by sages told, Whirls on high a soulless fiery ball, Helios guided then his car of gold, In his silent majesty o’er all. Oreads then these heights around us filled, Then a dryad dwelt in yonder tree, From the urn of loving naiads rilled Silver streamlets foamingly. FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER. The religious system of the Greeks is the embodiment of beauty. No other worship that has ever existed so encouraged the taste for art as this. Its literature, its mythological stories, its idols and its temples still control and, to a great extent, shape the art ideas of the world. Its devotees have above all other people possessed a perception of beauty of form and a fondness for representing it. The people of Greece appear to have originally come from the north-western part of Asia Minor. They were called the Hellenes. The worship which they brought from Asia was the worship of the “Heaven-Father,” the unseen one who dwells in ether, whose temple is the sky, and whose altar is properly placed upon the mountain-top. The Hindus called the same being Dyaus-pitar; the Romans, Diovis-pater or Jupiter; the Greeks, Zeus-pater. One can readily see the resemblance between these names, and the evidence they bear to the fact that these nations all came originally from one common stock. As the primal Greek race separated into various parts of Greece different forms began to arise. As sailors from other lands arrived on their shores, they brought their own gods with them, and thus many new gods were introduced into Greece. The lively imagination of the Greeks and the out-door life of their primitive state produced a number of tales and legends about the gods. Some of these were based on the tales with which their forefathers were familiar in their early home in Asia. The people lived in separate villages. Wandering minstrels and merchants carried these tales of gods and heroes from village to village. Poets then caught them up and adorned them with the touches of a livelier fancy. Thus soon a rich and luxuriant system of legendary lore was in possession of the whole people. Just as is the case with other nations, the beings called gods by the Greeks are but the personifications of the powers and objects of nature, and the legends but represent the courses of nature and its operations. To these primitive notions imagination afterwards added, and poetry clothed the whole with a warm glow. Thus was formed the popular Greek faith. ORIGIN OF THE WORLD AND OF THE GODS.