Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IVToy, Crawford Howell
HistoryHistory
Introduction to the History of Religions: Handbooks on the History of Religions, Volume IV
Toy, Crawford Howell
Mythology; Religion -- History; Religions -- History; Rites and ceremonies
+517+. It will be sufficient to mention a few examples of the beliefs
and usages that appear to point to an original totemism.[864] Names of
clans and tribes derived from animals or plants are not uncommon: Hebrew
Raḫel (Rachel, ewe), perhaps Kaleb (dog) and Yael (Jael, mountain
goat);[865] Greek Kunnadai (dog), and perhaps Myrmidon (ant); Roman
Porcius (hog), Fabius (bean); Irish Coneely (seal); Teutonic clan-names
like Wolfing and the like. Belief in a general kinship of men and
animals existed among Semites, Greeks, and Romans. On the other hand,
belief in the descent of a clan from an animal rarely appears: it is
apparently not found in the Semitic area; the Ophiogeneis of Parium (in
Asia Minor) are said to have regarded themselves as akin to snakes and
to have traced their genos (family or clan) to a hero who was at first a
snake;[866] the Myrmidons, according to one tradition, were transformed
ants, and some of the Irish Coneely clan are said to have been changed
into seals. Transformations of men into animals are common in Greek
mythology. Taboos of certain foods were observed abundantly in the
ancient world: by Egyptians,[867] Hebrews,[868] Greeks,[869] and
Romans,[870] and by Celts.[871] Among the various omen-giving animals
some may have been totems. Solemn annual sacrifices, followed by
mourning for the victims, were performed in Egypt,[872] and the slaying
of the sacrificial animal was treated as murder in various Greek
cities.[873] Living animals were worshiped in Egypt, and everywhere in
antiquity gods assumed animal forms, and certain animals were sacred to
certain gods. Worshipers clothed themselves in the skins of sacrificed
animals in Egypt, Cyprus, and Rome.[874] Tribal marks and ensigns were
sometimes derived from figures of animals.[875] Finally, there are
traces, in the early history of the ancient civilized peoples, of the
form of social organization with which savage totemism is found
associated.[876]
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