e "host of heaven."
The aether, the sun, the moon, and still more the five planetary gods,
are something above and beyond those parts of nature. Like the classical
Apollo and Diana, Mars and Venus, they are real persons, with a life and
a history, a power and an influence, which no ingenuity can translate
into a metaphorical representation of phenomena attaching to the air and
to the heavenly bodies. It is doubtful, indeed, whether the gods of this
class are really of astronomical origin, and not rather primitive
deities, whose character and attributes were, to a great extent, fixed
and settled before the notion arose of connecting them with certain parts
of nature. Occasionally they seem to represent heroes rather than
celestial bodies; and they have all attributes quite distinct from their
physical or astronomical character.

Secondly, the striking resemblance of the Chaldaean system to that of the
Classical Mythology seems worthy of particular attention. This
resemblance is too general, and too close in some respects, to allow of
the supposition that mere accident has produced the coincidence. In the
Pantheons of Greece and Rome, and in that of Chaldaea, the same general
grouping is to be recognized; the same genealogical succession is not
unfrequently to be traced; and in some cases even the familiar names and
titles of classical divinities admit of the most curious illustration and
explanation from Chaldaean sources. We can scarcely doubt but that, in
some way or other, there was a communication of beliefs--a passage in
very early times, from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the lands washed
by the Mediterranean, of mythological notions and ideas. It is a
probable conjecture that among the primitive tribes who dwelt on the
Tigris and Euphrates, when the cuneiform alphabet was invented and when
such writing was first applied to the purposes of religion, a Scythic or
Scytho-Arian race existed, who subsequently migrated to Europe, and
brought with them those mythical traditions which, as objects of popular
belief, had been mixed up in the nascent literature of their native
country, and that these traditions were passed on to the classical
nations, who were in part descended from this Scythic or Scytho-Arian
people.

The grouping of the principal Chalda an deities is as follows. At the
head of the Pantheon stands a god, Il or Ra, of whom but little is known.
Next to him is a Triad, _Ana, Bil_ or _Belus,_ and