Bulfinchs Mythology | Page 6

oracle.
The circular disk of the earth was crossed from west to east, and
divided into two equal parts by the SEA, as they called the
Mediterranean, and its continuation the Euxine.
Around the earth flowed the RIVER OCEAN, its course being from
south to north on the western side of the earth, and in a contrary
direction on the eastern side. It flowed in a steady, equable current,
unvexed by storm or tempest. The sea, and all the rivers on earth,
received their waters from it.
The northern portion of the earth was supposed to be inhabited by a
happy race named the Hyperboreans [this word means "who live
beyond the north" from the word "hyper," beyond, and boreas, the
north wind], dwelling in everlasting bliss and spring beyond the lofty

mountains whose caverns were supposed to send forth the piercing
blasts of the north wind, which chilled the people of Hellas (Greece).
Their country was inaccessible by land or sea. They lived exempt from
disease or old age, from toils and warfare. Moore has given us the
"Song of a Hyperborean," beginning
"I come from a land in the sun-bright deep, Where golden gardens glow,
Where the winds of the north, becalmed in sleep, Their conch-shells
never blow."
On the south side of the earth, close to the stream of Ocean, dwelt a
people happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans. They were named the
AEthiopians. The gods favored them so highly that they were wont to
leave at times their Olympian abodes, and go to share their sacrifices
and banquets.
On the western margin of the earth, by the stream of Ocean, lay a
happy place named the Elysian Plain, whither mortals favored by the
gods were transported without tasting of death, to enjoy an immortality
of bliss. This happy region was also called the "fortunate fields," and
the "Isles of the Blessed."
We thus see that the Greeks of the early ages knew little of any real
people except those to the east and south of their own country, or near
the coast of the Mediterranean. Their imagination meantime peopled
the western portion of this sea with giants, monsters, and enchantresses;
while they placed around the disk of the earth, which they probably
regarded as of no great width, nations enjoying the peculiar favor of the
gods, and blessed with happiness and longevity.
The Dawn, the Sun, and the Moon were supposed to rise out of the
Ocean, on the western side, and to drive through the air, giving light to
gods and men. The stars also, except those forming Charles' Wain or
Bear, and others near them, rose out of and sank into the stream of
Ocean. There the sun-god embarked in a winged boat, which conveyed
him round by the northern part of the earth, back to his place of rising
in the east. Milton alludes to this in his "Commmus."

"Now the gilded car of day His golden axle doth allay In the steep
Atlantic stream, And the slope sun his upward beam Shoots against the
dusky pole, Pacing towards the other goal Of his chamber in the east."
The abode of the gods was on the summit of Mount Olympus, in
Thessaly. A gate of clouds, kept by the goddesses named the Seasons,
opened to permit the passage of the Celestials to earth, and to receive
them on their return. The gods had their separate dwellings; but all,
when summoned, repaired to the palace of Jupiter [Or Zeus. The
relation of these names to each other will be explained on the next
page], as did also those deities whose usual abode was the earth, the
waters, or the underworld. It was also in the great hall of the palace of
the Olympian king that the gods feasted each day on ambrosia and
nectar, their food and drink, the latter being handed round by the lovely
goddess Hebe. Here they conversed of the affairs of heaven and earth;
and as they quaffed their nectar, Apollo, the god of music, delighted
them with the tones of his lyre, to which the muses sang in responsive
strains. When the sun was set, the gods retired to sleep in their
respective dwellings.
The following lines from the Odyssey will show how Homer conceived
of Olympus:--
"So saying, Minerva, goddess azure-eyed, Rose to Olympus, the
reputed seat Eternal of the gods, which never storms Disturb, rains
drench, or snow invades, but calm The expanse and cloudless shines
with purest day. There the inhabitants divine rejoice Forever.:" Cowper
Such were the abodes of the gods as the Greeks conceived them. The
Romans, before they knew the Greek poetry, seem to have had no
definite imagination of such an assembly of gods. But the Roman and
Etruscan races were by no means