. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . d by Homer, > 634, as a terrible monster of the Nether World ; it was used as an amulet to avert evil, and became therefore a favorite de- GREECE AND ITALY. 209 As a symbol which destroys evil iniluences, theAledusa-head frequently appears on shields and coins. Bellerophon is another solar hero. He rides onPegasus, a mj^thological representation of the thunder-cloud,* and slays the Chimasra, a monster half lion, halfgoat, representing barbarism and savagery, or some sim-ilar evils. Some of the tale
. The history of the devil and the idea of evil; from the earliest times to the present day . d by Homer, > 634, as a terrible monster of the Nether World ; it was used as an amulet to avert evil, and became therefore a favorite de- GREECE AND ITALY. 209 As a symbol which destroys evil iniluences, theAledusa-head frequently appears on shields and coins. Bellerophon is another solar hero. He rides onPegasus, a mj^thological representation of the thunder-cloud,* and slays the Chimasra, a monster half lion, halfgoat, representing barbarism and savagery, or some sim-ilar evils. Some of the tales of divine saviours may be ulti-mately founded upon local Greek traditions, but manyfeatures of these religiousmyths indicate that theywere introduced earlyfrom the Orient whosereligions began to influ-ence the occidental na-tions at the very dawn oftheir civilisation. ThusHercules is the TyrianBaal Melkarth, probablyidentical with the Baby-lonian Bel,— the con-queror of Tiamat; andhis twelve labors are the deeds of the sun-god in thetwelve months of the year. Phoenix-like, lie dies by. The Lion-Killing Hero of vice on shields. The original of the upper illustration on p. 207 is colored,—whichadds to the frightful appearance of this picture found on the Acropolis at Athens, *The statue reproduced on p. 208 belongs to an older period of Greek art. andthe horse Pegasus is not as yet endowed with wings, which became very soon itsnever-missing attributes. The modern notion that Pegasus is the symbol of poet-ical enthusiasm only dates back to the fifteenth century of our era, and was foreignto the Greek f Figures of the lion-killing saviour are also found on Asiatic coins and on As-syrian cylinders. 210 THE HISTORY OF THE DEVIL. self-combustion and rises in a transfigured shape fromthe flames of the pyre. The Jews also appropriated thefigure of this solar hero in the shape of Sampson whosestrength is conditioned by his hair, as the power of thesun lies in his rays.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubje, booksubjectdemonology
