Cox, George - Aryan Mythology Vol 2.pdf

BOOK
II.
MYTHOLOGY OF THE ARYAN NATIONS.
The eastern myth then begins with incidents precisely
parallel to those which mark the birth and childhood of
Dionysos, Telephos, Oidipous, Romulus, Perseus, and many
others. Before he is born, there are portents of the ruin
which, like Oidipous, he is to bring upon his house and
people. His mother Hekabe dreams that her child will be a
torch to set Ilion in flames ; and Priam, like Laios, decrees
that the child shall be left to die on the hill side. But the
babe lies on the slopes of Ida (the Yedic name for the earth
as the bride of Dyaus the sky), and is nourished by a she-
bear. 1 The child grows up, like Cyrus, among the shepherds
and their flocks, and for his boldness and skill in defending
them against the attacks of thieves and enemies he is said to
have been called Alexandros, the helper of men. In this his
early life he has the love of Oinone, the child of the river-god
Kebren, 2 and thus a being akin to the bright maidens who,
like Athene and Aphrodite, are born from the waters. Mean-
while, he had not been forgotten in Ilion. His mother's
heart was still full of grief, and Priam at length ordered that
a solemn sacrifice should be offered to enable his dead son
to cross the dark stream of Hades. The victim chosen is a
favourite bull of Paris, who follows it in indignation, as the
men lead it away. In the games now held he puts forth his
strength, and is the victor in every contest, even over Hektor.
His brothers seek to slay the intruder, but the voice of
Kasandra his sister is heard, telling them that this is the
very Paris for whose repose they were now about to slay the
victim,—and the long-lost son is welcomed to his home.
At this point the legend carries us to the Thessalian
myth. When Thetis rose from the sea to become the bride
of Peleus, Eris, who alone was not invited with the other
deities to the marriage-feast, threw on the banquet -table a
golden apple, 3 with the simple inscription that it was a gift
for the fairest. Her task of sowing the seeds of strife was
1 The equivocal meaning of the name
Arktos, the bear, has already come before
us in the myths of the seven arkshas
and the seven rishis ; and probably
all the animals selected to perform
this office of nourishing exposed children
will be found to have names which, like
the Greek Xvkos, a wolf,
denote the
glossiness of their coats.
2 That this name Kebren is probably
the same as Severn, the intermediate
forms leave little room for doubting.
3 See Campbell's Tales of the West
Highlands, i. lxxxii. &C