Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/809

Rh brought out of the temple, destroyed human life (compare the description of the birth of Athene in l’indar, 01., vn. 65 ﬁ'., which strongly suggests the phenomena of the thunderstorm). Here we have preserved t0 usa relic from the very earliest thought among the Indo-European race. When a phenomenon in the heavens attracted their attention, they naturally spoke of it as of an animated being. The storm appeared to act out its own natural course, to live its own life. But afterwards the phenomenon was conceived with reference to human needs: beneﬁcent and hostile deities worked in nature 5 a hostile power denies to men what a friendly power after a conﬂict grants. Among the Greeks this opposition appears in the antithesis of Olympian and older or Chthonian gods. The goddess who ruled the storm for man was set in opposition to the actual thundercloud—Athene to Gorgo (see ). Accordingly the usual Greek account is that the yopyémov or ‘yop‘yet’ﬂ K64)0.)\'Ii, a terror-striking countenance, is ﬁxed in the middle of the aegis of Zeus. Zeus gives the aegis (Iliad, v. I 736 ff, comp. fEsclL, Emm, 825) to Athene, the goddess of the air. The Gorgoneion is always said to have been won in battle, viz., in the conﬂict of the beneﬁcent gods against the older nature-powers, who would scorch the earth with heat and deny the needed rain. Zeus then assuming the aegis (the shield of the storm-cloud) overthrows the Titans or the Giants in the aerial battle ; the rain descends, and a clearer and cooler sky succeeds. Or in other accounts the whole array of gods engages in the battle ; Athene then ap- pears naturally as yopyodgdm, z'.e., she clears the atmosphere, her own special domain, from the terrible cloud, which she keeps on her shield threatening death to all her foes. The Attic tradition was that the Gorgon was a monster produced by Earth to aid her distressed sons the Giants, and was slain by Pallas (Eur., Ion, 1002). In Homer Gorgo appears also in connexion with Apollo, Agamemnon, Hector, and Perse- phone, a connexion which might be justiﬁed by an exami- nation into the mythological ideas that underlie these names. Later accounts, beginning from Hesiod (Theog., l.c.), mention three Gorgons ; but Medusa alone inherits the character and history of the older Gorgo, while two sisters are added to make tip the sacred number, in analogy with the Moirze, Grzeze, Erinyes, (be. The Argive story has established itself in all later literature as the standard account of the Gorgons. Perseus, the light-giving hero, aided by Athene and the other gods, goes to the abode of the Gorgons beside Oceanus far away in the dark “'est, and cuts off the head of Medusa. Then from the streaming neck sprang Chrysaor and Pegasus, her two sons by Poseidon. This head, which, like the lightning, had the power of turning into stone all that looked on it, was given to Athene, who placed it in her shield. According to another account, Perseus buried the head in the Agora of Argos. Beside it was buried his daughter Gorgophone, who is obviously a mere impersonation of the old epithet of the Gorgon-slaying goddess. These ideas of sun and storm give only the starting point for the myths; the history of their further growth inVolves the whole subsequent history of the nation. Just as in Germany, after Christianity was introduced, many old myths and customs lived on applied to Christ and his apostles instead of the old gods, so must the Greek myths as we know them bear traces of the historical vicissitudes of the race. Hence Bettiger (szst-J/yt/L, i. 369) has possibly some ground for referring the Perseus tale to the extinction of Phoenician human sacriﬁces by the Greeks. The gradual development in art from the old hideous and terrible representation of the Medusa head to the calm repose of a beautiful dead face is described in detail by )liiller, History of Ancient Art, and Dalian/[162‘ der .llten Ii'unst. See also Rosenberg, Die .Erinyen.  GORI, in Georgia, an ancient fortress, is now the chief town of a district of the same name in the government of Tiﬁis, and a station on the Poti-Tiﬂis railroad. It is built at the foot of an isolated hill crowned by the old fortiﬁ- cations, in a luxuriantly fertile plain on the left bank of the Kour, at the junction of the Bleejah’va and Medjoura, 48 miles west of Tiﬂis. The population, about 5000, is almost exclusively Armenian, engaged in commerce. The women are noted for their beauty. This town, at one time cele- brated for its silk and cotton stuffs, is now famous for corn, reputed the best in Georgia; the wine is also esteemed, 5200 acres being laid out in vineyards. The climate is excellent, delightfully cool in summer, owing to the refresh- ing breezes from the mountains of the great Caucasian range, which, however, are at times disagreeably felt in winter. Gori was founded by David II., “ the Restorer,” for the Armenians who ﬂed their country in the Persian invasion. The earliest remains of the fortress are Byzantine, but it was thoroughly restored in 1634~58, during the reign of Rustam, and destroyed by Nadir Shah. Besides the Armenian and Georgian churches, and some good schools, there is a church constructed in the 17th century by C'apuchin missionaries from Rome. Gori was the birthplace (1773) of Stephan Peshanegishvyly, a distinguished and popular poet. Eight miles from Gori is the remarkable rock-cut town of Ouplytz-tzykhe, consisting of several large dwellings having their interiors ornamented with mouldings, imitation beams, and designs sculptured in relief, and innumerable smaller habitations, the majority being divided into chambers with doorways, openings for light, and sundry provisions for domestic comfort. The 'whole have been hewn out of the solid rock, the groups being separated by streets, where steps for facilitating com- munication and grooves for water courses are cut. This “ Fortress of Ouplytz ” was projected and completed, according to the annals of Georgia, by Ouphlis, an immediate descendant of Noah (see ). It was a fortress in the time of Alexander of Macedon, and an inhabited city in the reign of Bagrat III. (–).  GORILLA. See,.  GÖRITZ. See.  GÖRLITZ, a town in the Prussian province of Silesia, capital of a circle in the govemment district of Liegnitz, is situated on the left bank of the Neisse, and at the junction point of several railways, 55 miles east of Dresden. The Neisse at this point is crossed by a railway bridge half a mile long and 120 feet high, with 32 arches. The town is the seat of a provincial ofﬁce, a. circle court, and a chamber of commerce. It is surrounded by beautiful walks and ﬁne gardens, and although its old walls and towers have now been demolished, many of its ancient build- ings remain to form a picturesque contrast with the signs of modern industry. From the hill called Landskrone, about 1500 feet high, an extensive prospect is obtained of the surrounding country. The principal buildings are the ﬁne church of St Peter and St Paul, dating from the, with a famous organ and a very heavy bell ; the church of Our Lady erected about the, and possessing a ﬁne portal and choir in pierced work; the Catholic church, founded in 1853, in’the Roman style of architecture, with beautiful glass windows and oil- paintings; the town house, containing the arms of King Matthias of Hungary, and having at its entrance a ﬁne ﬂight of steps; the old bastion, named Kaisertrutz, nowused as a guardhouse and armoury; the gymnasium buildings in the Gothic style erected in 1851 ; the ﬁne new middle school, the real school, the provincial trade school, the theatre, and the barracks. Near the town is the chapel of the Holy Cross, in connexion with which there is a model of the Holy Grave at Jerusalem. In the public park there