MYTHO'LOGY (ovOoxcryfa). The mythology of a people may be said to consist of those legends and traditions which have been, at some period or other, usually believed by the majority of the nation, but which cannot be regarded as historical truths on principles of sound criticism. The term therefore, although chiefly referring to them, is not confined to the religious systems of the Pagan nations ; it includes everything that has been an object of popular belief, not merely respecting the origin, attributes, and adventures of the gods, but also concerning the early heroes, migrations, and exploits of a people. The historical inquirer has frequently great difficulty in determining at what time the mythology of a nation may be said to cease, and its history to begin ; and in fact it is impossible to determine the exact time, since the transition from mythology to history must be neces sarily" gradual ; and many traditions, which appear at first sight entirely mythological, may, upon further examination, be proved to contain some great historical truths.
Though a mythological event may be fictitious, it appears that mythology differs from fiction or fable, in having been once generally believed by a people as an account of events which actually took place. That which is regarded by us as mythological, may therefore be con sidered by another people as an historical or religious truth ; and in the same manner as the exploits and adventures of the gods and heroes in the Mahabharata and Ram1yana are viewed by us as mythological, so the exploits and adventures of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, in many respects as extraordinary and wonderful as those of the gods and heroes in the great Hindu poems, may be looked upon by,the Brahmans as the mythology of the Christian religion.
On few subjects perhaps has more learning been than in investigating the history and origin of the mythology of the principal nations of antiquity. Among the various theories that have been pro posed on this subject, the four following appear to have met with the greatest number of supporters : 1. The Scriptural theory, according to which all mythological legends are derived from the facts contained in the narratives of Scripture, though the real facts have been disguised and somewhat altered. The
supporters of this theory maintain that all mythic personages may be found in the Scripture; that Deucalion is only another) name for Noah, Hercules for Samson, Anion for Jonah, &c. This hypothesis has been supported with a profusion of learned ingenuity and absurdity by Jacob Bryant, in his 'Analysis of Ancient Mythology,' who saw the patriarchs in every minute event of heathen mythology. Sir William Jones, in his dissertations, in the Asiatic. Researches,' on the Hindu gods, applied Bryant's arguments to the Hindu mythology, though his good sense preserved him to a great extent from the follies which distinguished Bryant's work. Most of the Christian Fathers maintained that the principal deities in the ancient mythology were in reality devils, and that their worship and history had been taught to man kind by the devils themselves. This theory has been adopted by Milton, in the first book of his Paradise Lost,' in those lines beginning with 2. The Historical theory, according to which all the personages mentioned in mythology were once real human beings, and the legends and fabulous traditions relating to them are merely the additions and embellishments of later times. This mode of accounting fo rthe origin of mythology appears to have been in some measure adopted by the Egyptian priests, and was maintained by many of the Greek writers. The Egyptian priests told Herodotus (ii., 144) that their deities origi nally reigned upon the earth, and that the last who reigned was Orus, the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks called Apollo. An instance of this mode of accounting for the origin of mythology may be seen in the explanation which the Egyptian priests gave to Herodotus of the myth respecting the foundation of the oracles of Dodo= and Anunon, accord ding to which the two black pigeons which came from Thebes, In Egypt, and commanded that the oracles 'should be established, were In reality two Egyptian priestesses, who had been carried away from Egypt by the Phoenicians, and brought respectively to 1)odona and the Libyan desert. Livy also attempts, in a somewhat similar manner, to give an historical explanation of the myth respecting the suckling of Romulus and Remne by a she-wolf (L, 4).