The learned Gebelin faw plainly that the ancient and original Hercules was a navigator and a philofopher, and that all his names tended to prove this; yet allegory got fo much the better of his ideas, that this voyaging hero was the Sun; we fhall rectify this mistake hereafter;-pourquoi eft il appellè Thebain? fays this allegorift,-Thèbes par example étoit un mot Oriental qui fignifioit une Arche, un Vaiffeau-mais les Orientaux faifoient voyager le foleil dans un vaiffeau, i en etoit le pilote.-Le Soleil, Hercule, etoit donc apellè avec raifon dans ce fens le Thebain, c'eft a dire le Navigateur.-Our Irish history informs us, that the hero Siim 'Breac, fon of 'Stairn, (i. e. Efs-Tiarna, Dux navis, - Si-torn) fon of Nemed, made an expedition to Greece, and from thence carried off a number of veffels and barks, probably the veffels of Minos.-Our hero's ship was probably named the Sun, or one of the Phocean fhips might have that appellation, and others were made of wicker covered with bolg or cow-hides ;-the name of the Sun in Irifh is Grian, hence he is called Ogham Grianach; and from this circumftance arofe the Greek fable of carrying off Geryon's cows. Hence Erythea is faid to be the daughter of Geryon ;-Erythia infula Geryonis in Oceano, fic dicta ab Erythea Geryonis filia, ex qua & Mercurio Morax natus eft. (Stephanus.) (r) (r) Hercules himself was named Erythrus, that is, Arthrach, in Irish, the Navigator-no, fay the Greeks, the name was given him from a temple which he had at Erythræ in Achaia;-the God, fays Paufanias, is upon a kind of Raft, and they fay it was brought Nimirum Poetæ omnium fcriptorum nugacifimi, Herculis expeditionem in infulas fortunatas extenderunt, quo illum Scypho, quem a Sole accepit, trajeciffe fabulantur apud Apollodorum in Bibliotheca, L. 2.-And when the Greeks fet up their Hercules (for every nation had their Hercules) their poets could not do lefs, than figure out an expedition for him to Tarteffus, to carry off our Grian fhip, (or Geryon) and his bolg, or cowhide boats.-Hence the confusion of the two Geryons, one in Spain and one in Greece.-In the next chapter, we find Siim Breac feizes on the Grecian fhips and carries them off. Geryonis regnum in continenti fuiffe circa Ambrociam & brought from Tyre into Phænicia by fea-it was drawn on shore by a cable made of the hair of the heads of the Erythræan women. But from an ancient Greek infcription preferved in the proceedings of the Etrufcan academy, we find, that the wife of Hercules was alfo named Erytha. The verfe contains fix lines, and concludes thus. Νυμφογενης Ερυθη δὴ τόδ ἔδωκα πίδον, Erytha de genere Nympharum hoc facrari folum, Contiene due verfi efametri, con quattro pentametri, ed è in From the Ship being named the Sun, i. e. Grian, he is called Ogham-Grianach in Irish hiftory, and is faid to be Mac Ealathan or Ealahan, i. e. the fon of the fciences; in Arabic, Elahet is the Sun; and Elahioun fignifies the Divines, Philofophers, and they give this epithet to Socrates, Plato and Ariftotle :-it is plain from whence the Greeks borrowed the fable of Hercules the Sun. Am Amphilochos, indeque Herculem boves abegiffeillius provincia Regi Geryoni nomen fuiffe; præfertim cum Hifpanorum nemo fit, qui id nomen fciat regibus fuis fuiffe, aut lætas in ea provincial boves gigni. (Arrian L. 2.) Hence the story of Euryftheus obliging the Grecian Hercules to bring back the cows of Geryon from the coasts of Iberia. "It is plain, fays the learned author of Efpana Primitiva, that Hercules was neither an Egyptian, Tyrian, or Grecian. The army he led to Africa, and thence to Spain, was compofed of Dorians, Medes, Armenians, and Perfians, i. c. Scythians, as is well attested in history. The name of his fhip was Apolló, or the Sun; the Greeks have wrapped this up fo clofe in their mythological fables, it is almoft impoffible to come at the truth. Atheneus tells us, that Pherecides, defcribing the Ocean, fays, that Hercules penetrated that quarter, like an arrow fhot from a bow. Sol ordered him to ftop: terrified, he obeys. Sol, pleased with this fubmiflion, gave him a patera or cup, by which he fteered his fteeds, in the dark nights, through the Ocean, to return again to Aurora. In that cup or fcyphus Hercules failed to Erythræa. But Oceanus, to vex him and try his ftrength, dafhed with all his might against the patera. Hercules bent his bow, and directed a dart at Oceanus, which obliged him to defift ;what does this mean, but that Hercules navigated to Spain in a fhip named the Sun; and being forced into the Ocean by a ftorm, he, by the help of the magnet, fteered fafe into port: hence the North or Cardinal-point is ftill marked with a dart. Many authors have proved the ancients had the use of the compafs: the properties of the magnet were known to them; and in honour of the discoverer, it was called the Heraclean ftone, and the place abounding with it was named Heraclea. Refert Stefichorus, Solem in eodem poculo per Oceanum navigaffe, quo & Hercules trajecerit. (Atheneus.)-See alfo Macrobius, Belonius, Salmuthus, Bononius, Calieus, &c. "Hence from patera and poculum, i. e. Scyphus, we derive the word vessel, fignifying a ship, and from Scyphus we form the word fhip. "From the general conftruction of thefe veffels with the hides of animals, come the various names of Bulls, Rams, Cows, given to fhips. Sunt Lybicæ naves, quas Arietes, & Hircas: talem navem verifimile eft, & taurum fuiffe navem, qui Europam tranfportavit. (Jul. Pollux.) "Hence the Cows of the Sun, the Horfes of Achilles; what were they but ships ?-The Horses of Hector, loaded with corn and wine, were no other than victualling fhips (s). The leguas (mares) of Diomedes, which paffed from Thrace to Peleponefus and ate human flesh, were armed pyrates, as Eustatius has proved. The fame were the horses of Rhefus of Thrace, and the 3000 mares of Ericthonius, defcribed by Homer. The celebrated horse of Belerophontes called Pegasus was a fhip, as we learn from Palephatus. Belerophontes Phrygius vir erat genere quidem Corin (s) Hence his Phrygian name Ekator, Dominus navis. Eka navis; (Ihre).-Eak in Erfe fignifies a horfe, he has therefore been taken for a horse-breaker by a modern translator of Homer. Eka is a corruption of the Irish Uige, the Ægyptian Ogoi, Chald Dugia; whence the Latin Hucha and the present Hooka or Hu ker of the Irish. thius, thius, bonus, pulcherque fatis: hic cum navigium fibi preparaffet, maritima circumquaque loca deprædabatur. Nomen autem navis, Pegafus erat. The fame, fays Palephatus, were the horses of Pelopes, which the Romans often understood in a literal fenfe, and their poets worked into fables. "From this mixture of Mythology, Allegory, and Theology, arise thofe abfurd fables of the Greeks; and without reading a number of authors, not admitted at this day in our fchools, it is impoffible to understand the writings of Hefiod and of Homer. Who but an Orientalist can tell, that the fhip of Hercules, called by fome the Apollo, is the fame named Leibte by Atheneus." Leibte is derived from 2 lahab, inflammare, whence lehabat, inflammatio, an epithet of the Sun; hence N Albon, Aurora. We may now readily account why all mariners give the names of animals, not only to their fhips, but to rocks and headlands or promontories; as, the Stags, the Bull, Cow, Calf Rocks; the promontories of Ram-head, Dog-nose, Sheephead, Sheep-haven, &c. &c. &c. A figurative expreffion of a fimilar nature has been used by the ancient hiftorians of Ireland. When a colony of our Magogian navigators fettled in Egypt, lands were affigned them on the fhore of the Red Sea. Pharaoh embraced this opportunity of manning his fleet with them, and affigned to their care inge Scutha, i. e. many No Sacutha, natationes, or fhips. Our hiftorians converted this paffage to ingean Scata, that is, his daughter Scota, and infift that our Niul, or Cad |