Note 687 — TEMPLE RITES

One of the most antient Deities of the Amonians was named Meed, or Meet; by which was signified divine wisdom. It was rendered by the Grecians Μητις in the masculine: but seems to have been a feminine Deity; and represented under the symbol of a beautiful female countenance surrounded with serpents. The author of the Orphic Poetry makes Metis the origin of all [687]things: which Proclus expresses [688]την δημιουργικην αιτιαν: and supposes this personage to be the same as Phanes, and Dionusus, from whom all things proceeded. By Timotheus Chronographus, in his account of the creation, this divinity was described as that vivifying light, which first broke forth upon the infant world, and produced life and motion. His notion is said to have been borrowed from Orpheus: Εφρασε δε (ὁ [689] Ορφευς) ὁτι το φως ῥηξαν τον αιθερα εφωτισε πασαν την κτισιν· ειπων, εκεινο ειναι το φως το ῥηξαν τον αιθερα το προειρημενον, το ὑπερτατον παντων, ὁυ ονομα ὁ αυτος Ορφευς ακουσας εκ Μαντειας εξειπε ΜΗΤΙΣ, ὁπερ ἑρμηνευεται ΒΟΥΛΗ, ΦΩΣ, ΖΩΟΔΟΤΗΡ. Ειπεν εν τῃ αυτου εκθεσει ταυτας τας τρεις θειας των ονοματων δυναμεις μιαν ειναι δυναμιν, και ἑν κρατος τουτων Θεον, ὁν ουδεις ὁρᾳ. The account is remarkable. Hippa was another Goddess, of the like antiquity, and equally obsolete. Some traces however are to be still found in the Orphic verses above-mentioned, by which we may discover her original character and department. She is there represented as the nurse of [690]Dionusus, and seems to have been the same as Cybele, who was worshipped in the mountains of [691]Phrygia, and by the Lydians upon Tmolus. She is said to have been the soul of the [692]world: and the person who received and fostered Dionusus, when he came from the thigh of his father. This history relates to his second birth, when he returned to a second state of childhood. Dionusus was the chief God of the Gentile world, and worshipped under various titles; which at length came to be looked upon as different Deities. Most of these secondary Divinities had the title of Hippius, and Hippia: and as they had female attendants in their temples, these too had the name of Hippai. What may have been the original of the term Hippa, and Hippus, will be matter of future disquisition. Thus much is certain, that the Greeks, who were but little acquainted with the purport of their antient theology, uniformly referred it to [693]horses. Hence it was often prefixed to the names of Gods, and of Goddesses, when it had no relation to their department; and seemed inconsistent with their character. We have not only an account of Αρης Ἱππιος, Mars the horseman; but of Poseidon Hippius, though a God of the sea. He is accordingly complimented upon this title by the Poet Aristophanes.