In how many instances did the Greeks lay the honors due to some forgotten mortal at the feet of a god or a semi-divine hero? To them Inachus, who about 1800 B.C. founded the kingdom of Argos, was not the leader of a band of adventurous emigrants from Egypt, but a child of the sea over which he came, a son of Oceanus and Tethys. It was only when Gelanor, the last of the race of Inachus, was deposed by Danaus, that we find a Greek recognition of the early connection of that country with Egypt. Danaus was the son of Belus, and brother of Ægyptus, jointly with whom he occupied the throne of Egypt. Quarrelling with his brother, Danaus set sail, and, arriving at Argos, rose to the throne by the means above indicated. These statements are only of value to our present purpose as showing the close connection between Greece and Egypt, and pointing to the conclusion that Egypt dropped the germs of that art which Greece cultivated to such perfection that it won the admiration of the world. If we turn to the origin of pottery accepted by the Greeks themselves, we are confused by the liveliness of their teeming imagination. The exercise of fancy takes the place of an undeveloped historical sense. When Jupiter wished to punish the rash impiety of Prometheus by giving him a wife, Vulcan made Pandora, the first of mortal women, out of clay. Prometheus is one of the strangest figures in Greek mythology. He laughed at the whole Pantheon, cheated the great Jove himself, and was yet a benefactor of mankind, after he had created the species; for to him also is ascribed the creation from clay of the first man and woman. Thus the gods and heroes were potters, and the art was practised by them before mortal life began. To two Corinthians, one Athenian, and one Cretan, the invention of the plastic art has been attributed; but, passing these by, let us turn, for philological reasons, to the legend of Keramos. The story of the adventures of Theseus is pretty well known. By the help of Ariadne, he killed the Minotaur of Crete, and escaped from the Labyrinth, and, having subsequently abandoned his fair assistant on the island of Naxos, she is said by some to have hanged herself in despair. Others, however, assert--and to their tale we must listen--that in the arms of Bacchus she found solace for her sorrows. Their son Keramos was the patron of potters, and to his name we owe our word “keramic” or “ceramic.” When the Argives pointed out the tomb of Ariadne, her ashes were deposited in an urn in one of their temples, so that by means of the art attributed to the son, the mother’s remains were preserved.