The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules: Translated into English rhyme and blank verse; with a dissertation on the life and æra, the poems and mythology of Hesiod, and copious notes.Hesiod
General
The Remains of Hesiod the Ascræan, Including the Shield of Hercules: Translated into English rhyme and blank verse; with a dissertation on the life and æra, the poems and mythology of Hesiod, and copious notes.
Hesiod
Heracles (Greek mythological character) -- Poetry; Hesiod -- Translations into English
supposed to have had a renewal of life: they therefore described Perseus
as enclosed in an ark and exposed in a state of childhood on the waters,
after having been conceived in a shower of gold. BRYANT.
[173] _The great Chrysaor._] Chus by the Ægyptians and Canaanites was
styled Or-chus, and Chus-or: the latter of which was expressed by the
Greeks by a word more familiar to their ear Chrusor; as if it had a
reference to gold. This name was sometimes changed into Chrusaor: and
occurs in many places where the Cuthites were known to have settled. They
were a long time in Ægypt: and we read of a Chrusaor in those parts, who
is said to have sprung from the blood of Medusa. We meet with the same
Chrusaor in the regions of Asia Minor, especially among the Carians: in
those parts he was particularly worshipped, and said to have been the
first deified mortal. The Grecians borrowed this term, and applied it
to Apollo: and from this epithet, Chrusaor, he was denominated the god
of the golden sword. This weapon was at no time ascribed to him, nor is
he ever represented with one either on a gem or marble. He is described
by Homer in the hymn to Apollo, as wishing for a harp and a bow. There
is never any mention made of a sword, nor was the term Chrusaor of
Grecian etymology. Since, then, we may be assured that Chus was the
person alluded to, we need not wonder that so many cities, where Apollo
was particularly worshipped, should be called Chruse, and Chrusopolis.
Nor is this observable in cities only, but in rivers. It was usual in
the first ages to consecrate rivers to deities, and to call them after
their names. Hence many were denominated from Chrusorus: which by the
Greeks was changed to χρυσορροας, _flowing with gold_: and from this
mistake, the Nile was called _Chrusorrhoas_, which had no pretensions to
gold. In all the places where the sons of Chus spread themselves, the
Greeks introduced some legend about gold. Hence we read of a _golden_
fleece at Colchis: _golden_ apples at the Hesperides: at Tartessus a
_golden_ cup: and at Cuma in Campania a _golden_ branch. But although
this repeated mistake arose in great measure from the term Chusus being
easily convertible into Chrusus, there was another obvious reason for
the change. Chus was by many of the Eastern nations expressed Cuth; and
his posterity, the Cuthim. This term, in the ancient Chaldaic and other
Amonian languages, signified _gold_: and hence many cities and countries
where the Cuthites settled were described as golden. BRYANT.
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