BABYLON AND PERSIA

54 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.family, severed a man's connection with it.Each in¬dividual family honored its own Pitris, assembling atstated times to commemorate their earthly lives, byspeaking of them, calling to mind their deeds andgood qualities, invoking their j)rotection, and settingout for them offerings of simple foodmilk, andhoney, and cakes.Families on these occasions par¬took of a common meal, to which the supposed in¬visible presence of the Pitris lent a mysterioussolemnity. These commemorative festivals werethe strongest possible bond between the membersof each particular family, and the right to assist inthem was strictly limited and determined by customso sacred, that it became law and the standard forthe regulation of the right of succession.The Pitriswere supposed to be very powerful to do good orevil to their Descendants, but, on the other hand, todepend for their own happiness and comfort on theaffectionate remembrance of the living.23. It stands to reason that the remote ancestorsof a group of families connected by blood relation¬ship, i. e., of a clan or tribe, must have been reveredby all the branches of the clan ;that festivals on alarger scale must have beenkept in their honor,which were the occasions of general meetings of theclans, and kept alive the feeling of kinship and fellow¬ship. Such ancestors frequently became tribal heroes,fit subjects for story and song, which eked out what¬ever tradition had preserved of their real exploitswith mythical traits, the true import of which wassoon lost sight of.Such is the origin of most ofthose demigods, beings mortal yet more than human,