Classical Superstition

Mankind has in all ages been prone to the most lamentable superstitions. The enlightened nations of antiquity were no more exempted from the than the most ignorant. The Jews, as we are repeatedly informed in Scripture, could with difficulty be restrained from idolatrous and superstitious practices, and confined to the worship and service of the only true God. This remarkable tendency of the Hebrew nation was in all likelihood caused by their sojourn for the space of four hundred years among the Egyptians, whose whole system of religion was a mass of idolatrous observances. They had a number of ideal gods, to whom they erected temples of prodigious size and architectural splendor. The principal of these deities was Osiris and Isis, which are thought to have been typical of the sun and moon. But they also offered worship to various animals, as the ox or bull, hence the golden calf of the Hebrews, to which they gave the name of Apis; the dog, the wolf, the hawk, the ibis or stork, the cat and other creatures. They likewise paid adoration to the Nile, personifying it in the crocodile, to which temples were erected, and priests set apart for its service. The Egyptians, notwithstanding their learning also believed in dreams, Lucky and unlucky days, omens, charms and magic. In a word, they were grossly superstitious, and seem to have had a feeble conception, if any, of the laws which regulate the ordinary phenomena of nature. The Greeks and Romans possessed an equally insufficient idea of an omnipresent and omnipotent God, the creator and ruler of the universe. Their notions of divinity, like those of other Pagans, were groveling and contemptible. The gods whom they adored were imagined to have been at one period rulers or heroes on earth, and still had their habitations somewhere within the Grecian territory, or at no great distance from it. Besides their belief in this vain mythology, both Greeks and Romans put faith in divination, oracles, the magic power of amulets and dreams. Bees, ants, and various reptiles and beasts, were imagined to have the power of giving omens of god or bad fortune. The phenomena of the atmosphere and planetary bodies were likewise a fertile source of superstitious delusions; and so also were certain signs or marks on the intestines of victims slain as sacrifices at the altars. The mode of sacrificing in Greece is worthy of observation. Bulls, goats, sheep, pigeons, cocks and other creatures, were immolated to the gods of the country. Sometimes there was a hecatomb or sacrifice of a hundred animals at a time, to appease the manes or restless spirits of the deceased. A notion prevailed that animals to be sacrificed would show signs of satisfaction on being brought to the altars, if the gods to whom they were offered felt pleased with the oblation. On bringing forward a bull or a goat, the officiating priest drew a knife from the forehead to the tail, at which, if the victim struggled, it was rejected, as not acceptable to the gods. If it stood quietly at the altar, then they thought the gods were pleased with it. Yet a bare non-resistance was not thought sufficient, unless it gave its assent by a gracious nod. To try if it would nod, they poured water or barley into its ear. Being satisfied with the sign, the priest proceeded to pour wine, fruit and frankincense, between the horns of its victim, and afterwards struck it down and bled it to death. Great dexterity was required in striking down and bleeding a victim, if it did not fall at once upon the ground, or stamped, kicked or struggled to be loose, or did not bleed freely, or seemed to die in pain, it was thought unacceptable to the gods. All these were lucky omens. To the celestial gods, sacrifices were made in the morning about sunrise. But the deities of the lower regions, who were supposed to hate the light of day, were made at midnight. It was customary on some occasions to dance round the altars whilst they sang the sacred hymns, which consisted of three stanzas or parts. The pouring out of libations of wine to the gods, and a thousand other follies, were perpetrated and believed. The appearance of comets and eclipses were ominous of great public disasters, it being the general belief that they were special signs made to warn mankind of approaching troubles. In all which we see a lamentable proof of the follies and weakness to which even a refined people may be exposed to if ignorant to the laws of nature. The superstitious delusions of the Greeks and Romans may be said to have died out at the final dismemberment of the Roman Empire, and the overrunning of Western Europe by the Gothic nations. The introduction of Christianity also tended powerfully to root out the old superstitious usage’s, though a few survived to a later date. For these reasons, the superstitions and matters of credulous belief which afterwards affected the people of northern and western Europe, including the British islands, were in a great measure of Scandinavian and Gothic origin.