TAR, TOR, TARIT. I Have taken notice of the fears and apprehensions, under which the first navigators must necessarily have been, when they traversed unknown seas; and were liable to be entangled among the rocks, and shelves of the deep and I mentioned the expedients of which they made use to obviate such difficulties, and to render the coast less dangerous. They built upon every hill,' and promontory, where they had either commerce or settlement, obelisks, and towers, which they consecrated to some Deity. These served in a twofold capacity, both as seamarks by day, and for beacons by night. And as people in those times made only coasting voyages, they continually went on shore with offerings, in order to gain the assistance of the God, whoever there presided: for these towers were temples, and oftentimes richly furnished and endowed. They were built sometimes on artificial mounds; but generally on natural eminences, that they might be seen at a great distance. They were called by the Amonians, who first erected them, 'Tar, and Tor; the same as the n of the Chaldees, which signified both a hill and tower. They were oftentimes compounded, and styled Tor-Is, or fire towers on account of the light which they exhibited, and the fires which were preserved in them. Hence came the turris of the Romans; and the τυρις, τυῤῥις, τυρσις, τύρσος, of the Greeks. The latter, when the word Tor occurred in antient history, often changed it to taugos, a bull; and invented a number of idle stories in consequence of this change. The Ophite God Osiris, the same as Apollo, was by the Amonians styled OphEl, and Ope-El: and there was upon the Sinus Persicus a city Opis, where his rites were observed. There seems likewise to have been a temple sacred to him, named Tor-Opel; which the Greeks rendered Tavgoroños. Strabo speaks of such an oracular temple; and says, that it was in the island Icaria, towards the mouth of the Tigris: Naror Ικαριον, και ἱερον Απόλλωνος άγιον εν αυτή, και μαντείον Taugh. Here, instead of Osiris, or Mithras, the serpent Deity, the author presents us with Apollo, the manager of bulls. One of the principal and most antient settle 'Bochart Geog. Sacra. 1. 1. c. 223. p. 524. of vn. ments of the Amonians upon the ocean was at Gades; where a prince was supposed to have reigned, named Geryon. The harbour at Gades was a very fine one; and had several Tor, or Towers to direct shipping: and as it was usual to imagine the Deity, to whom the temple was erected, to have been the builder, this temple was said to have been built by Hercules. All this the Grecians took to themselves: they attributed the whole to the hero of Thebes: and as he was supposed to conquer wherever he came, they made him subdue Geryon ; and changing the Tor, or Towers, into so many head of cattle, they 'describe him as leading them off in triumph over the Pyranees and Alpes, to Hetruria, and so on to Calabria. From thence, for what reason we know not, he swims them over to Messana in Sicily and after some stay he swims with them through the sea back again, all the while holding by one of their horns. The bulls of Colchis, with which Jason was supposed to have engaged, were probably of the same nature and original. The people of this country were Amonians, and had once a mighty trade; for the security of which they erected at the entrance of the Phasis towers. 3 Diodorus Siculus. 1. 4. p. 231. * Strabo. I. 11. p. 762. These served both as light-houses, and temples; and were sacred to Adorus. They were on this account called Tynador, whence the Greeks formed Tyndarus, Tyndaris, and Tyndaridæ. They were built after some, which stood near the city' Parætonium of Egypt; and they are alluded to by the geographer Dionysius: * Παρ δε μυχον Ποντοιο, μετα χθονα Τυνδαρίδαων, Κολχοι ναιεταεσιν επήλυδες Αιγυπτοιο. Colchis was styled Cutaia, and had been early occupied by the sons of Chus. The chief city, whence the country has been in general denominated, was from its situation called Cal-Chus, and Col-Chus, the hill, or place of Chus. This by the Greeks was rendered Colchis: but as travellers are not uniform in expressing foreign terms, some have rendered what was Colchian, Chalcian, and from Colchus they have formed Xaλxos, brass. The Chalcian towers being moreover interpreted Taugo, bulls, a story took its rise about the brazen bulls of Colchis. Besides this, Terdapioi onowed. Ptolemæus. p. 122. See Strabo. 1. 17. p. 1150. 6 Dionysius. v. 688. Pliny styles them oppida. Oppida-in ripâ çeleberrima, Tyndarida, Circæum, &c. 1. 6. C. 4. there was in these towers a constant fire kept up for the direction of ships by night: whence the bulls were said to breath fire. We however sometimes meet with sacred towers, which were really denominated Tauri from the worship of the mystic bull, the same as the Apis, and Mneuis of Egypt. Such was probably the temple of Minotaurus in Crete, where the Deity was represented under an emblematical figure; which consisted of the body of a man with the head of a bull. In In Sicily was a promontory Taurus, mentioned by Diodorus Siculus; which was called also Tauromenium... He acquaints us, that Hanno the Carthaginian sent his Admiral with orders παραπλείν επί τον λόφον καλέμενον Ταυρον, to sail along the coast to the promontory named Taurus. This Taurus, he thinks, was afterwards named Taupopviov, Tauromenium, from the people who settled, and remained there: as if this were the only place in the world where people settled The Minotaur was an emblematical representation of Menes, the same as Osiris; who was also called Dionusus, the chief Deity of Egypt. He was also the same as Atis of Lydia, whose nites were celebrated in conjunction with those of Rhea, and Cybele, the mother of the Gods. Gruter has an inscription, M. D. M. ID.E, et ATTIDI MINOTAURO. He also mentions an altar of Attis Minoturannus. vol. 1. p. xxviii, n. 6. * Diodor. Sicul. l. 16. p. 411. |