Zeus : a study in ancient religion - Warburg Institute

38
The Elysian Way
The Basutos call it the 'Way of the Gods^' ; the Ojis say it is the 'Way of
Spirits,' which souls go up to heaven by^. North American tribes know it as
' the Path of the Master of Life,' the 'Path of Spirits,' ' the Road of Souls,' where
they travel to the land beyond the grave, and where their camp-fires may be
seen blazing as brighter stars l Such savage imaginations of the Milky Way fit
with the Lithuanian myth of the ' Road of the Birds,' at whose end the souls of
the good, fancied as flitting away at death like birds, dwell free and happy*.
Classical evidence of the Galaxy conceived as a Seelenpfad is not
wanting^ Ovid speaks of it as a road leading to the palace of
lupiter
1 E. Casalis The Bastitos ; or. Twenty-three Years in South Africa London 1861
p. 106 '
I have known great boys who hardly dared to look up at the stars, because they
imagined that the milky way was a monstrous collection of those transparent beings whose
imaginary appearance is so much dreaded*. (*The Basutos call the milky way, "the way
of the gods.")'
^ T. Waitz Anthropologic der Naturvolker Leipzig i860 ii. 191 'Den Odschis gilt
ebenfalls der Himmel als der Aufenthaltsort der Guten nach dam Tode :
sie steigen zu
ihm auf dem " Geisterwege," der Milchstrasse, hinauf, wogegen die Bosen im anderen
Leben zu leiden haben (Riis im Bas. Miss. Mag. 1847 iv. 251. Miiller 96).'
* S. H. Long An Expedition to the Rocky Mountains i. ^SS, H. R. Schoolcraft
Historical and Statistical Information respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of
the Indian Tribes of the United States Philadelphia 1851 i. 272 'The milky-way, they
[the Creeks, or Muscogees] believe to be the paths of the spirits ;
but the spirits of whom,
or what, they do not know.' P. le Jeune Relation de ce qui s'est passJ en la Nouvelle
France, en fantu'e 1634 Paris 1635 p. 63 ' ils [les sauvages montagnais de Kebec]
appellent la voye lactee, Tchipdi miskenau [?], le chemin des ames, pource qu'ils
pensent que les ames se guindent par cette voye pour aller en ce grand village.'
G. H. Loskiel History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians in North
America trans. C. I. La Trobe London 1794 •• 35 'When they revived, they related that
this place was to the south of heaven, and that the bright track called the milky way, was
the road to it. This led to a most glorious city, the inhabitants of which enjoyed every
possible good in great abundance.' J. G. Miiller Geschichte der Amerikanischen Urre-
ligiotten Basel 1855 p. 63 'Der siidliche Ilimmel ist iiberhaupt das Land der Verstorbenen,
und die Sterne der Milchstrasse, die angeheftete Feuer sind, sind der Weg dorthin.
Loskiel 47. Catlin 116. Vollmer I.e. Andree N.A. 247.' [See also J. F. Lafitau Mceurs
des Sauvages Ameriqtiains coinparh mix manirs des premiers temps Paris 1724 ii. 406,
E. B. Tylor Primitive Ctdture'^ London 1891 ii. 72.]
* L J. Hanusch (Hanus) Die Wissenschaft des Slawischen Mythus im weitesten, den
altpreiissischlithauischen Mythus mitumfassenden Sintte Lemberg 1842 pp. 272, 407, 415,
[Cp. W. von Schulenburg Wendische Volkssagen und Gebriiuche aus dem Spreewald
Leipzig 1880 p. 272 'die Milchstrasse teskowa droga'^ {*So in Burg, eigentlich wol ptaskowa
droga.) ' etc., J. B. Holzmayer 'Osiliana' in the Verhandliingen der Gelehrten Estnischen
Gesellschaft zu Dorpat Dorpat 1872 vii. 2. 48 ' linno rada,^ F. R. Kreutzwald and H. Neus
Alythische 7ind magische Lieder der Ehsten Saint Petersburg 1854 'linno teerada,^—cited
by H. Gaidoz and E. Rolland in Milusine 1884—85 ii. 154 f.] Infra § 3 (a) vi (\).
^ See now P. Capelle De luna, stellis, lacteo orbe animarum sedibus Halle 191
(reviewed by E. Pfeiffer in the Deutsche Litteraturzeitung 1918 p. 35
the Wochenschrift fiir klassische Philologie 1918 p. 47
f., by W. Nestle in
f-, and by O. Hofer in the Berl.
philol. Woch. April 27, 1918 p. 396 f.) p. 37 ft".
The conception of the Milky Way as an abode of souls survived into post-classical
literature and art. Paulinus (353—431 A.D.), bishop of Nola, makes Enoch, Elijah, and
other pious souls ascend to heaven via the Galaxy : Paulin. Nolan, carm. 5. 37 ff. pande