he vague recollections of early tribal
adventures, and, notwithstanding his name (which means 'solar,' that is,
devoted to the sun), there is no good ground for supposing that his
history has been astronomically worked over. A similar remark applies to
many discussions respecting various deities, Hindu (as Indra), Egyptian
(as Osiris), Semitic (as Nergai, Marduk, Nabu), and Greek (as Apollo).
In all such cases it is necessary to inquire first whether the
explanation of the myth may not be found naturally in some ordinary
human experience or some very simple natural phenomenon, and a line of
demarcation must be drawn between original forms of the myth and later
learned constructions.

+854+. Another source of mythical narration is the history of
vegetation, which at the present time has largely supplanted the solar
theory. The amazing spectacle of the decay and revival of vegetation,
naturally referred to superhuman power, and the importance of plants for
human life, have led to the construction of stories (sometimes founded
on ritual) in which the adventures of the spirit of vegetation are
recounted. Obviously there is a sound basis for this view. The earth was
necessarily regarded as the mother from whom came the corn and wine that
supported human life. The study of the relatively modern European
ceremonies[1487] has brought out the persistence of such an idea, and
the similarity between the new ceremonies and the old may be said to
have demonstrated the existence of an early cult of the divine Power
controlling vegetation.

+855+. The Asian Magna Mater and the Greek Mother (Demeter) or Maiden
(Kore, Persephone) are identical in function with the corn maiden of
modern times, and the latter figure may be a degraded or socialized
descendant of an early deity. When we add that ancient local deities all
took account of the products of the soil, it will not seem improbable
that a great mass of stories should have arisen describing the
adventures of the Spirit of Vegetation.[1488] The descent of a hero or a
god into Hades may be explained as the passage of the sun from its
summer warmth to its winter feebleness, or as the annual death and
revival of vegetation. Which of these views shall be adopted will depend
in any case on the particular coloring of the story, on the
signification of the names involved, or on the ceremonies accompanying
the worship. It is not now possible to frame a theory that shall embrace
all possible