The earliest annals of the most ancient nations gene rally contained a rude system of cosmogony and thco gony. Of these, however, if we except the writings of the sacred historian, NIoses, but few, and these very im perfect fragments, have been preserved. The Cnaldeans were undoubtedly one of the most ancient nations iri thc world. Their history, we are told, had been written by four authors—Berosus, Ahydenus, Apollodorus, and Alexander Polyhistor. Of their works, however, We have only some fragments preserved in Joscphus, Euse bius, and Syncellus. In the last, we find a small piece of Berosus upon their theogony ; in which we are told that a monster, half man and half fish, rose from the Red Sea, and made his appearance near a place in the neigh bourhood of Babylon. This man, or monster, abode with men by day, without food, and taught them the know ledge of letters and sciences, and whatever could con tribute to civilize their manners. At stm-set, he with drew into the sea, and spent the night in the waters.
This monster, Chimes, is said to have written a hook about the origin or things, in which he taught that there was a time when all was water and darkness, and that all animals were of a monstrous and irregular make, like the representations to be seen of them io the tem ples of 13elus. It was added, that a t% oman, named Om croca, (probably the sea.) was mistress of the universe, and that. Belus clove her asunder, formed earth of the one part, and heaven of the other, and put all those monsters to death. Then this god divided the darkness, separated earth front heaven, and ranged the uhiverse in order; and seeing the world desolate, he ordered one of the gods to cut off his head, to mix with earth the blood that flowed from the wound, and of it to form men and animals ; after which he Framed the stars and pla nets, and thus finished the production of all beings. This gross sistem of cosmogony may be traced, we think, to some corrripted tradition respecting the Noachic deluge, and the Mosaic account of the creation. In other traditions of the Chaldeans, we have an enumeration of the first ten generations, and an account of the deluge, which, in many particulars, coincides wonderfully with that given by Moses.
The Pheincians also had their cosmological traditions; and their mythological system, which was nearly the same with that of the Egyptians, seems to have been the source from whence the theogony of the Greeks was derived. Sanchoniathon, priest of Berytha, had written upon the cosmogony and theogony of the Phenicians, but his work perished in the wreck of time. It was extant, however, in the first ages of Christianity; for about the reign of the Antonines, Philo of Byblos translated it into Greek. In his preface, Philo remarks, that Sanchonia
then had made an exact scrutiny into the writings of Thaautus, the Plienician Mercttry, the same with the Thoth of the Egyptians.* This translation, which ap pears to have been interpolated by Philo, ancl adapted to the ideas of the Greeks in his time, has also perished: All that we have of it is a long fragment preserved by Eusebius. But Eusebius also appears to have mixed up his own reflections with those of the Greek transla tor; so that this fragment cannot now be regarded as an authentic document.
In the theogony of this author, however, we may trace the original of that system of mythology which appears to have been afterwards transplanted into Greece. We find there the traditions relative to the Dioscuri or Ca biri, Uranus and Ge, Chronos or Saturn, Jupiter, Apollo, Minerva, Hermes, &c. The theogony and cosmogony of the Egyptians were pretty nearly the same with those of the Phenicians; and both were evidently derived from the same source. I3esides the original divinities of that ancient people, Osiris and Ibis, (the Sun and Moon.) we again find, among their great gods, Saturn, Rhea, Jupi ter, Juno, 'Vulcan, Vesta, Mercury, &c. We have al ready observed that the Greeks derived their mythology from Egypt and Phenicia. They, however, appear to have corrupted the traditions which they have received, to have adapted them to their own manners ancl ideas, and applied them to their own history. It would be superfluous in us to give any farther account of a sys tem of mythology which is familiar to us from our early years.
The Chinese lay claim to great antiquity as a nation. Their labulous records are said to reach to many myri ads of years before the AIosaic era of the creation. The missionaries, who are the only sources or our informa tion respecting the earliest periods of the history of this people, represent them as having retained the religion of Noah many centuries aRer the foundation of their empire by Fo-hi; and in their ancient books, nu vestiges of an idolatrous worship are to be found. The emperor Fo-hi, whose birth is said to have been miraculous, is represented as possessed of immense intellectual pow ers. He taught his countrymen the whole art of agri culture; invented boats and nets for fishing, the art of fabricating porcelain, the management or silk worms, the manufacturing of silk, Eac. In short, the invention or all the useful arts is ascribed to Fo-hi. But theit religion seems to have gradually degenerated into a species of atheism.