Page:Miscellaneous Pamphlets (miscellaneouspam00rossrich).djvu/62

 ZOOTHEISM: TALES OF DIVINE ANIMALS.

Whenever animals have had unnatural characteristics attributed to them, they have always attained prominence in religion, and, in many instances, the lower the beast the grosser were its godly pretensions.

Varro estimated that more than 30,000 different gods have existed, and that most of them originated from the  animal kind. He also adds, that they were responsible for abominable crimes such as are found only in the vilest of men. And although these gods were declared to be eternal and immortal, every one of them has its  history of birth, death, and burial.

The earliest and most popular animal-deity appears to have been the Ox, and of this specie, according to  Pliny and Herodotus, there were two first prize ones among the bovine herd. These were Apis and Mnevis, and they commanded the largest share of patronage. Apis had its temple in Memphis, facing due East, while Mnevis chewed its divine cud at Heliopolis, the City of  the Sun, which the Jews called ON, where Joseph's father-in-law, Potipherah, was its high priest (Gen. 41.)

The ox-god Apis was a black beast. It was miraculously conceived by the lightning entering a beautiful cow. Even its tongue and tail were different from those of other oxen. There was a white square patch upon the forehead, and its back was marked with the figure of an eagle. During the seven days feast devoted to its birthday celebration, the high priest plunged a  silver cup into the Nile, and it was believed that as long  as this cup remained in the river, the crocodiles would  not bite; but as soon as the cup was withdrawn and  replaced in the temple, those crocodiles became rapacious again.

Both Apis and Mnevis were ridiculously alike in prophesying. This they did either by nodding their heads, wagging their tails, or using dancing children as mediums.

When a god died (as all gods must) the priests, being magicians, had no difficulty in producing another god,