F. Schlegel ("Phil. of History," p. 138) says--"The Greeks, who described India in the time of Alexander the Great, divided the Indian religious sects into Brachmans and _Samaneans_.... But by the Greek denomination of _Samaneans_ we must certainly understand the Buddhists, as among the _rude nations of Central Asia_, as in other countries, the priests of the religion of Fo bear _at this day_ the name of _Schamans_." Compare Professor Rawlinson, "Ancient Monarchies," i. 139, 172. (_Vide infra_, p. 163, 164, 205.) CHAPTER VIII. _MYTHOLOGY._ Since all antediluvian traditions meet in Noah, and are transmitted through him, there is an _à priori_ probability that we shall find all the antediluvian traditions confused in Noah. I shall discuss this further when I come to regard him under the aspect of Saturn. As a consequence, we must not expect to find (the process of corruption having commenced in the race of Ham, almost contemporaneously with Noah) a pure and unadulterated tradition anywhere; and I allege more specifically, that whenever we find a tradition of Noah and the Deluge, we shall find it complicated and confused with previous communications with the Almighty, and also with traditions of Adam and Paradise. But inasmuch as the tradition is necessarily through Noah, and in any case applies to him at one remove, it does not greatly affect the argument I have in hand. There is a further probability which confronts us on the outset, that in every tradition, with the lapse of time, though the events themselves are likely to be substantially transmitted, they may become transposed in their order of succession. We shall see this in the case of Noah and his posterity. The principal cause being, that the immediate founder of the race is, as a rule, among all the nations of antiquity, deified and placed at the head of every genealogy and history. "Joves omnes reges vocârunt antiqui." Thus Belus, whom modern discovery seems certainly to have identified with Nimrod, in the Chaldean mythology appears as Jupiter, and even as the creator separating light from darkness (Rawlinson, "Ancient Monarchies," i. 181; Gainet, "Hist. de l'Anc. et Nouv. Test.," i. 120). But Nimrod is also mixed up with Jupiter in the god Bel-Merodach. In more natural connection Nimrod--("who may have been worshipped in different parts of Chaldea under different titles," Rawlinson, i. 172)--_Nimrod_ appears as the _father_ of _Hurki_ the moon-god, whose worship he probably introduced; and, what is much more to the point, he appears as the father of Nin (whom I shall presently identify with Noah); whilst in one instance, at least, the genealogy is inverted, and he appears as the _son of Nin_. Thus, too, Hercules and Saturn are confounded, just as we find Adam and Noah confounded ("many classical traditions, we must remember, identified Hercules with Saturn," _vide_ Rawlinson, i. 166).