A Comparative View of Religions | Page 7

of the divine. The passage from the earlier poetical
nature-worship to the worship of the divine in human form seems to be
indicated in the war which Olympian Zeus waged with Cronos and the
Titans. The origin and development of the various elements and powers
of nature, Chaos, Eros, Uranus, Gæa, the Giants, Styx, Erebus, Hemera,
Æther, &c, became, with the poets and philosophers after Homer,

matters of speculation, of which the theogonies of Hesiod, Orpheus,
Pherecydes, and others furnish proof.
4. THE ROMANS.
In the religion of the Greeks, the æsthetic and moral character of the
Grecian people was deified, and in the Romans also we see how that
which men value most exerts an influence upon their worship of the
divine. The primitive religion of the Romans, borrowed from the
Sabines and Etruscans, bears everywhere, in distinction to that of the
Greeks, the marks of the practical and political character of the Roman
people. The oldest national divinities are, first, Jupiter or Jovis, the god
of the heavens, Mars or Mavors, the god of the field and of war,
Quirinus (Janus?) the protector of the Quirites, afterwards, together
with Juno (Dione) and Minerva, worshiped in the Capitol, (Dii
Capitolini); second, Vesta, and the gods of the house and family, the
Lares and Penates; third, the rural divinities, Saturnus, Ops, Liber,
Faunus, Silvanus, Terminus, Flora, Vertumnus, and Pomona; fourth
and last, personifications, in part of the powers of nature, Sol, Luna,
Tellus, Neptunus, Orcus, Proserpina, in part of moral and social
qualities and states, such as Febris, Salus, Mens, Spes, Pudicitia, Pietas,
Fides, Concordia, Virtus, Bellona, Victoria, Pax, Libertas, and others.
Peculiarly Roman also is the conception of the manes, or shades of the
departed, who hover as protecting genii about the living. Afterwards,
along with the culture of the Greeks, their gods also were taken,
although rather outwardly than inwardly, into the spirit of the people,
and the original character of the gods of Latium was modified after the
new mythology. Notwithstanding this, however, the worship of the
Romans retained its political and practical character. The priests
(sacerdotes) Flamines, Salii, Feciales, the Pontifices with the Pontifex
Maximus at their head, the Augurs, were likewise officers of the state,
and did not form a hierarchy apart from the state and alongside of it.
5. THE CELTS.
Among the Celtic tribes in Brittany, Ireland, and Gaul, and on both
banks of the Rhine, out of an aboriginal life of nature characterized by
wildness and license, religion developed itself in the form of the

worship of two chief divinities, a male divinity, Hu, the begetting, and
a female, Ceridwen, the bearing, power of nature. The priesthood
busied itself with speculations about the divine, the origin of the world,
and the continued existence of man after death, conceived in the form
of the transmigration of souls. Nor did the people's faith lack the
conception of good and evil spirits, fairies, dwarfs, elves, which to the
still childish fancy are objects of fear or superstitious veneration. To the
service of these divinities the priesthood, the Druids, were consecrated,
and beside them the bards, or poets, held a more independent place.
6. THE GERMANS AND SCANDINAVIANS.
More developed intellectually is the nature-religion of the ancient
Germans (Teutons) and Scandinavians, which betrays thereby the
character of the Aryan race to which these nations, like the Celts,
originally belonged. The highest god of the Germans is Wodan, called
Odhin among the Norsemen, the god of the heavens, and of the sun,
who protects the earth, and is the source of light and fruitfulness, the
spirit of the world, and the All-father (Alfadhir). From the union of
heaven and earth, there springs the god Thunar or Donar among the
Germans, Thor among the Norsemen, the bold god of thunder who
wages war against the enemies of gods and men. Besides these there
are the sons of Wodan, Fro (German), Freyx (Norse), the god of peace,
Zio (German), Tyx (Norse), the god of war, Aki (German), Oegir
(Norse), god of the sea, Vol (German), Ullr (Norse), god of hunting,
and others, to whom are joined female divinities, such as Nerthus
(German), Jördh (Norse), the fruitful goddess of the earth, Holda
(German), Freiya (Norse), the goddess of love, Nehalennia, goddess of
plenty, Frikka (German), Frigg (Norse), the wife of Wodan, mother of
all the living, Hellia (German), Hel (Norse), the inexorable goddess of
the lower world. Opposed to these divinities (Asen and Asinnen) stands
Loko (German), Loki (Norse), enemy of the divine. In addition to these
there appear in the Norse and German Sagas, besides the heroes, a
multitude of spirits, good and hostile, giants, elves, Elfen (German),
Alfen (Norse), white spirits of light, and black dwarfs, house, forest,
and water spirits. The worship was most simple, and, as was the