Page:Ancient India as described by Megasthenês and Arrian.djvu/131

112 Fbaqm. XLVII. Arr. Ind. V. 4-12. (See the translation of Arrian's Indilca.) Fragm. XL VIII. Josephus Contra Apion. I. 20 (T. II. p. 431, Haverc). Of Nahuckodrosor, (Cf. Fragm. XLVI. 2.) Megastbenes also expresses the same opinion in the Aili hooJc of his hidika, wbere lie endeavours to show that the aforesaid king of the Baby- lonians (Nabouchodonosor) surpassed Herakles in courage and the greatness of his achieve- ments, by telling us that he conquered even Iberia. Fragm. XLVIII. B. Joseph. Ant Jud. X. ii. 1 (T. I. p. 538, Haverc). [In this place (Nabouchodonosor) erected also of stone elevated places for walking about on, some slight resemblance between the attributes of the two deities, and between the names belonging to the mythic conception of each. Nor was anytiiing easier, after Euripides had originated the fiction that Dionysos had roamed over the East, than to suppose that the god of luxuriant fecundity had made Ins way to India, a country so remarkable for its fertility. To confirm this opinion they made use of a sHeht and accidental agreement in names. Thus Mount Meru seemed an indication of the god who sprang from the thigh of Zeus (ck 8i6s firfpov). Thus they thought the KydraksB (Oxydrukai) the offspring of Dionysos because the vine grew in their country, and they saw that their kings displayed great pomp in their proces- sions. On equally slight grounds they identified Kpshna, another god whom they saw worshipped, with Herakles ; and whenever, as among the Sibae, they saw the skins of wild beasts, or clubs, or the like, they assumed that Hera- kles had at some time or other dwelt there."— Schwanb. p. 43. Digitized by Google