Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical DevelopmentGoldziher, Ignác
Religion
Mythology among the Hebrews and Its Historical Development
Goldziher, Ignác
Jewish mythology; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
Cain is accordingly the same mythological figure as Hephaestus and
Vulcan with the Greeks and Romans. But there are some other points which
determine his Solar character. First, there is the characteristic that
after the murder of his brother he built the first city, and called it
Enoch (Chanôkh, Gen. IV. 17). We have seen above, and I shall show still
more clearly in the treatment of the Myth of Civilisation, that in the
myths of all peoples the Solar heroes are regarded as the founders of
city-life, and that a fratricide often precedes the building of the
city. The agricultural stage, which is connected with the Solar worship,
overcomes the stage of nomadic life, which holds to the dark sky of
night or clouds; and, after conquering the herdsmen, the surviving
agriculturists build the first city. It will not surprise us if the
solution of the question raised by F. Lenormant, ‘pour en suivre toutes
les formes depuis Cain bâtissant le première ville Hanoch après avoir
assassiné Abel, jusqu'à Romulus fondant Rome dans le sang de son frère
Remus,’[319] proves the consistency and universality of the ideas of
mankind at the mythic stage in reference to this point. Whether the
connexion of the zodiacal figure of the Twins with this feature of the
myth is so close as this acute French scholar imagines, is an
independent question. The account of Cain as the first builder of a city
is accordingly a testimony to his Solar character. But far more
important testimony is afforded by the characteristic feature in the
story of Cain, that after the commission of the crime that fratricide,
laden with the curse of Jahveh, has to be ‘a fugitive and a vagabond in
the earth’ (Gen. IV. 11). We will pause a little at this mythic feature,
and passing beyond Cain, consider it in connexion with a larger group of
myths which exhibit the same.[320]
§ 5. The word which preeminently denotes the Sun in the Semitic
languages, and which, when the abundant synonyms produced by mythology
to designate the Sun had vanished, drove all other names of the Sun into
the background, viz. the Hebrew shemesh and the corresponding words in
the cognate languages, has been proved to descend from the etymological
basis of the idea of rapid motion, or busy running about. This original
sense gives the point of connexion with the Aramaic terms shammêsh ‘to
serve’ and shûmshemânâ ‘an ant.’[321] The same function which language
exhibits in the most prominent name of the Sun is also repeatedly shown
in mythology.
The myth views the Sun from the point of view of his rapid course,
hastening and continuous motion, or steady march forwards.
Like a bridegroom coming out of the bridal chamber,
Who exults like a hero to _run a course_.
Ps. XIX. 6 [5].
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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