MYTHOLOGY, (from Mu.90c, a fable, and Aoyo;, discourse)) is a term which is generally applied to that branch of historical science, which trcats of those early traditions upon which the Pagan worship of the ancient nations of the v.orld was founded.
Tills is a subject which is involved in much intricacy. Fi (An the great length of time, indeed, which has elapsed since the origin of Pagan worship, and the obscut ity in which the cal), history of all nations is shrouded, it is extremely difficult to trace the origin of their various relipious iites, even with all the assistance that can be derived florn a knowledge of what may be called the primitive languages, and the utmost etymological acu men. One point, however, in the midst of this general obscurity. appears to have been pretty satisfactorily made ow, by thc laborious researches of those learned and in genious men, who have devoted their attention to this subject ; viz. That the mythology of the most ancient Pagan nations, bow much soevcr it may have been cor rupted in subsequent times, had an obvious reference to the traditions which bad heen preserved tespecting the antediluvian period of the world, to the deluge itself, and to the Sabian idolatry, which seems to have been one of the earliest corruptions of the true religion.
Long after the dispersion of mankind, and the confu sion of tongues, the memory of the deluge, and of the Noachites, who survived that divine judgment, was still preserved by their posterity. In the course of time, these arkites, the common parents of all the subsequent races of mankind, came to be considered as divinities ; and when, at length, the tradition became more and more obscure, their names and attributes were transferred to, or rather associated with, some more sensible objects of worship. Of these, the great luminary', the sun, was the most obvious ; then the moon, and the rest of the host of heaven. This mixture of the arkite and Sabian worship appears to have constituted the essential cha racteristic of the primitive Pagan idolatry. It is but im perfectly preserved in the fragments still extant of the mythological atid cosmological writings of Sanconiathon, Berosus, and other early authors ; but enough remains, WC think, to satisfy us respecting. the sources from which it was derived, and to justify us in relerring it to the one principle which we have just stated. This idolatry, ori ginally prevalent in the east, gradually spread from thence over nearly the whole of the globe, having been carried to the remotest quarters hy the migratory tribes who went in search of new settlements ; and, however diveisificd by the peculiar genius and character of the various nations, it still continued to exhibit manifest in dications of the original fountain from which it had /lowed.
The symbolical imagery, however, which was so very much in use among the ancients, and which will be found to pervade the who:e of their heterogeneous mythology, soon came to supersede almost entirely the remembrance or the things signified. So it was, at least, among the vulgar. The myslerious doctrines, indeed, which were thus repiesented in their symbolical worship, were for a time carefully preserved by the priesthood; but even these sacred depositaries themselves seem to have gra dually lost sight of tne application of the symbols which they employed. Hence, amidst the multiplicity of cha racters, and ariety symbols. it is extremely difficult to trace the origh)..:: detivatie- f the pagan deities, or the meaning of the idolatrous wot ship which was paid to them.
The mythology of Greece, s:.ys Mr. Bryant, is a vast assemblage of obscure traditions, which have been trans mitted front thc earliest times. They were described in hieroglyphics, and have been veiled in allegory. ; and the same history is often renewed under a different system and arrangement. A great part of this intelligence has been derived to us front the poets ; by which 'mans it has been rendered still more extravagant and strange. 'We find the whole, like a grotesque picture, blaznned high, and glaring with colours, and filled with groups or fantastic imagery, such as we see upon an Indian screen, where the eye is painfully amused, but where little can be obtained which is satisfactory and of service. The same author observes, that the Grecians were so pre possessed with a notion of their own excellence and anti quity, that they supposed every ancient tradition to have proceeded from themselves. Hence their mythology is founded upon the grossest mistakes; as all extraneous history, and every foreign term, is supposed by them to have been of Grecian original. For this reason their ety mologies are always fanciful ; and it is not unusual for them to deduce the origin of places, founded long before they themselves wet e known as a nation, from some ar bitrary analogy with certain terms in their own language. The native Helladians, indeed, were very limited in their knowledge. They had taken in the gross whatever was handed down by tradition, without making any farther inquiry ; and they assumed to themselves every history which was imported. They, moreover, held every nation but their own as barbarous; so that their insufferable va nity rendered it impossible for them to make any great advances in historical knowledge.