Note 492:3 — Chapter XXXIX
Reading edition
"Saviour was a common title of the Sun-gods of antiquity." (Wake: Phallism in Anct. Religs., p. 55.)
The ancient Greek writers speak of the Sun, as the "Generator and Nourisher of all Things;" the "Ruler of the World;" the "First of the Gods," and the "Supreme Lord of all Beings." (Knight: Ancient Art and Mytho., p. 37.)
Pausanias (500 B. C.) speaks of "The Sun having the surname of Saviour." (Ibid. p. 98, note.)
"There is a very remarkable figure copied in Payne Knight's Work, in which we see on a man's shoulders a cock's head, whilst on the pediment are placed the words: "The Saviour of the World." (Inman: Anct. Faiths, vol. i. p. 537.) This refers to the Sun. The cock being the natural herald of the day, he was therefore sacred, among the ancients, to the Sun." (See Knight: Anct. Art and Mytho., p. 70, and Lardner: vol. viii. p. 377.)