Theologiæ Gentilis Origines Philosophicæ

the same for these reasons. Nothing is more frequent in antiquity then to make two Gods
or Goddesses of two names & to represent one the father or mother of the other & this
seems to be the case here because – – The death of Allergatis in Syria & birth of is
fabulous. ffor a[200] they tell us that Allergatis so soon as Semiramis was born was so
much ashamed of the adultery by w ch she had conceived her that she immediately threw
her self into a lake neare Askalon (a degree of modesty not suitable to Venus) & was
turned into a fish & b[201] that Semiramis was nourished &preserved by doves. Asthe great
Venus was married to Vulcan before she lay w th Mars & was accounted both male &
female so Semiramis had a husband before she lived w th chus {illeg} & Ninus, we have
shewed that she hu also all the Characters of the great Venus or De{m} Syria being
beautifull, facecious, lustful & famous above all other weomen. semiramis & feigned her
selfaman being born of syrian parents in Phænicia neare Askelon, & so being as neare
allied to the Assyrians there is no reason why the Syrians when they recived the worship
of Venus from the Assyrians should change the person & instead of a woman who was
the most famous of her sex & had all the qualifications of Venus, to substitute another not
celebrated in history for any of those qualifications nor for any thing else. Twas more for
their honour to commemorate that a Syrian reigned over the Assyrians. And c[202]
Athenagoras tells us expressely that Semiramis a lustful & bloody woman was
worshipped by the name of the Dea Syria The Assyrian Venus embraced first Chus (as
we shewed) & then Ninus or Adonis who comparatively to her is called a youth &
therefore she was old anough to be the younger daughter of Ham & wife of Canaan.
Sanchoniatho tells us out of the Assyrian theology that when Cælus that is Cham was
vanquished & banished by his son Saturn or Chus (w ch as we shall presently she{io}
happened in the end of the brazen age just before Chus & his sons went into Babylonia)
Cælus after some time sent his daughter Astarte a virgin to take away Saturn by fraud &
treachery. taken for a woman but Saturn won her to him by courtship named her & had
seven daughters of her & two sons Cupid & Love, & that Astarte according to the
Phænicians in Venus. Here Sanchoniatho is indeed mistaken in making Astarte a virgin
before she lay with Saturn whereas she had a husband & children before: but this he
discovers that Astarte was that famous Venus who lived with Chus & by his sons in
Babylonia & the regions beyond Tigris & by consequence that she isthe same with
Semiramis. And this is still further confirmed by the Atter or Aster with look from
Attyria where she was worshipped. name of Attyria or Assyria which this famous Queen
left to the region where she reigned. ffor I take her true original name to have been Astyr
or Aster in the plural number Asteroth & by contraction Astart, Astarte, Hence Ἄσηρ the
Venus & thence in general all stars & month in the feast Easter ffrom Aster came Atter,
Athara, Assyr & thence the region Attyria or Assyria Also from Assur came Súr Syriack
name of the city Tyre, & Siren a monster shaped liked Atter-gatis. For the Syrens
b [203]
were beautiful whores or Venuses which lived neare the sea & allured men to their ruin.
All the rest of the names of Venus seemed borrowed from her qualities. From fishes
sacred to her her statues made below like a fish she was calld a Archetis Atter-dag that
is Atter the fish & by corruption Atter-gatis, Dercete {Archetis} from Doves Semiramis
w ch signifies a mountain Dove, ffrom the froth of the sea Salambo by the Babylonians &
Aphrodite by the Greeks. ffrom the weomen prostituted in her temple called Succoth
Benoth by the Chaldeans (that is the temple of weomen) & Sicca Venerea by the Africans
she had the name of Venus. ffrom her dominion she had the names of Βελ-εσία & Melilla