styled An, and Anis. Hence many places were called Titanis and "Titana, where the worship of the Sun prevailed: for Anes, and Hanes, signified the fountain of light, or fire. Titana was sometimes expressed Tithana, by the Ionians rendered Tithena and as Titea was supposed to have been the mother of the Titans, so Tithena was said to be their 12 nurse. But they were all uniformly of the same nature, altars raised of soil. That Tith-ana, the supposed nurse, was a sacred mound of earth, is plain from Nonnus, who mentions an altar of this sort in the vicinity of Tyre; and says, that it was erected by those earth-born people, the Giants. 14 αῤῥαγεεσσι δε πετραις, * Αγχι * Τυρε παρα ποντον, εν αῤῥαγεεσσι δε Γηγενέες βαθυκολπον εδώμησαντο Τιθήνην. "At Sicyon was a place called Titana. Steph. Byzant. also a temple. Pausan. 1. 2. P. 138. Euboea called Titanis. Hesych. 12 Τίθηνας τροφες, τιτθας. Hesych. So Tith-On was like Tith-Or, ματος : whence was formed a personage, named Tithonus, beloved by Aurora. 13 Nonni Dionys. 1. 40. p. 1048. 14 Bel, and Belus, was a title bestowed upon many persons. It was particularly given to Nimrod, who built the city Babel or Babylon. Hence Dorotheus Sidonius, an antient poet, calls that city the work of Tyrian Belus. VOL. IV. Upon the coast of Tyre, amid the rocks, Tuph also, in the antient language, was an hill; and Typhoeus is a masculine compound from Tuph-aia, and signifies a mound of earth. Typhon, Tupwv, was in like manner a compound of Tuph-On; and was a mount, or altar, of the same construction, and sacred to the sun. I make no doubt but both Typhon and Typhoeus were names by which the tower of Belus was of old denoted. But out of these the mythologists have formed personages; and they represent them as gigantic monsters, whom the earth produced in defiance of heaven. Hence Typhon is, by Antoninus Liberalis, described as " rns vos 10105 Γης ύιος εξαισιος Αρχαιη Βαβυλων Τυρια Βηλοιο πολισμα. This term Tupios has been applied to the city Tyre. But Tugos here is from In, Turris; and Belus Tupios signifies Belus of Babel, who erected the famous tower. This leads me to suspect, that in these verses of Nonnus there is a mistake; and that this Tithena, which the Giants built, was not in the vicinity of the city Tyre: but it was an high altar, ayx Tugs, near the tower of Babel, which was erected by the Titanians. Nonnus, imagining that by Tur was meant Tyre, has made the Tithena to be situate waga worrov, by the sea; from which, I believe, it was far removed, 5 Typhon, Terræ filius. Hyginus. fab. 152. Axpwv, the offspring of the earth, a baleful Dæmon. The tower of Babel was undoubtedly a Tuphon, or altar of the sun, though generally represented as a temple. For in those early times we do not read of any sacred edifices which can be properly called temples, but only of altars, groves, and high places. places. Hesiod certainly alludes to some antient history concerning the demolition of Babel, when he describes Typhon, or Typhoeus, as overthrown by Jove. He represents him as the youngest son of the Earth. 17 10 Οπλοτατον τεκε παιδα Τυφωεα τη Γαια Πελωρα. Th' enormous Earth, Produc'd Typhoeus last of all her brood. The poet speaks of him as a deity of great strength, and immense stature; and says, that from his shoulders arose an hundred serpent heads, and that from his eyes there issued a continual blazing fire. And he adds, what is very remarkable, that had it not been for the interpo 16 Theogon. v. 821. 17 Typhoeus was properly Tasa Ishara, a Pelorian mound of earth; being, as I said above, a masculine from Tuphoa, which is a compound of Tuph-aia, a mound of earth. sition of the chief God, this Dæmon would have obtained an universal empire. 18 γαια Και νυ κεν επλετο έργον αμηχανον ήματι κεινώ, Αυταρ έπει δε μιν δάμασε πληγησιν ίμασσας, That day was teeming with a dire event; 19 Hesiod. supra. v. 836. Resounded with his thunder. mov'd, Heaven was And the ground trembled underneath his feet, Still with fresh vigour Jove renew'd the fight; With lightnings keen, and smouldering thunderbolts, Press'd on him sore; till by repeated wounds Typhon was the same personage as Typhoeus; and Antoninus 20 Liberalis describes him as a Giant, who was thunderstruck by Jupiter. But he fled to the sea, into which he plunged, and his deadly wounds were healed, The like has been said of Bacchus, that upon his flight he betook himself to the sea. And when Vulcan is cast down from the tower, he is supposed to fall into the same element. Juno is accordingly made to say, Ριψ' ανα χερσιν έλεσα, και εμβαλον ευρεῖ ποντῳ, I seiz'd him in my arms, And hurl'd him headlong downward to the sea, 20 Ο τυφων έκρυψεν έαυτον, και ηφάνισε την Ελογα, εν τη θαλάσσης Fab. 28. |