Page:The Mythology of the Aryan Nations.djvu/9



purpose of this work is to exhibit clearly and with sufficient fulness the general characteristics of Aryan mythology, as a system which has grown up from words and phrases denoting not one or two objects only, as the sun or moon, but all the phenomena of the sensible world, as they impressed themselves on the minds of primitive men. It has not been my object to give an exhaustive account of the myths of every branch of the Aryan race. To ascribe equal value and interest to the traditions of all the tribes included within the great Aryan family would indeed be absurd. But in the present edition I have given to the Slavonic mythology, and to some other subordinate topics, as much space as the conditions of my subject enabled me to afford.

During the twelve years which have passed since the publication of the first edition, a large amount of solid work has been done within the domain of Comparative Mythology. Of the results so gained probably the most important is the clearer light thrown on the influence of Semitic theology on the theology and religion of the Greeks. This momentous question I have striven to treat impartially; and for my treatment of it I have to acknowledge my obligations to Mr. Robert Brown's valuable researches in the field of the great Dionysiak Myth.