mus was the person, who slew the serpent [1127]at Lerna. And according
to Nonnus he contended with the giant Typhasus, and restored to Jupiter his
lost [1128]thunder. By this is meant, that he renewed the rites, and
worship of the Deity, which had been abolished. These are circumstances,
which sufficiently shew, that Cadmus was a different personage, from what
he is generally imagined. There was a hill in Phrygia of his name, and
probably sacred to him; in which were the fountains of the river
[1129]Lycus. There was also a river Cadmus, which rose in the same
mountain, and was lost underground. It soon afterwards burst forth again,
and joined the principal stream. Mountains and rivers were not denominated
from ordinary personages. In short Cadmus was the same as Hermes, Thoth,
and Osiris: under which characters more than one person is alluded to, for
all theology of the antients is of a mixed nature. He may principally be
esteemed Ham, who by his posterity was looked up to as the Sun, and
worshipped under his titles: a circumstance, however, which was common to
all, who were styled Baalim. That he was the same as Ham, will appear from
the etymology of his name. I have before shewn, that the Sun was styled
[1130]Achad, Achon, and Achor: and the name, of which we are treating, is a
compound of [1131]Achad-Ham, rendered by the Greeks Acadamus and Academus,
and contracted Cadmus. Many learned men have thought, that the place at
Athens called Academia was founded by Cadmus, and denominated from him: and
of the latter circumstance I make no doubt. [1132]Ab hoc Cadmo Eruditi
Academiam, quasi Cadmiam deducunt: quo nomine indigitari locum musis
studiisque sacratum notissimum est. The true name of Cadmus, according to
this supposition, must have been, as I have represented, Acadamus; or, as
the Ionians expressed it, Academus, to have Academia formed from it.
Herodotus informs us, that, when the Cadmians came to Attica, they
introduced a new system of [1133]Architecture; and built temples in a style
different from that to which the natives had been used. And he describes
these buildings as erected at some distance from those of the country. This
was the situation of the place called Academia, which stood at the distance
of a few furlongs from [1134]Athens. It was a place of exercise and
science; and by all accounts finely disposed: being planted with a variety
of trees, but particularly Olives, called here ([Greek: Moriai]) Moriae.
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