amental
importance as demonstrating in detail that these ['a simple form of the
palmette pillar, approaching a fleur-de-lys in outline,' in association
with its guardian monsters] are in fact taken over from the cult of
Mentu-Ra, the Warrior Sun-god of Egypt, of Hathor, and of Horus"
(p. 52).

[437: So far as I am aware the fact that these objects were intended to
represent cowries does not appear to have been recognized hitherto. I am
indebted to Mr. Wilfrid Jackson for calling my attention to the figures
685 and 832 in Schliemann's "Ilios" (1880), and for identifying the
objects.]

[438: See Perry, "Megalithic Monuments and Ancient Mines," _Proceedings
and Memorials of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_,
1916; also "War and Civilization," _Bulletin of the John Rylands
Library_, 1918.]

[439: "Danae pregnant with immortal gold."]

[440: See Laufer, "The Diamond," also Munn, "The Ancient Gold Mines of
Hyderabad," paper now being published in the _Proceedings of the
Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society_.]

Aphrodite as the Thunder-stone.

As a surrogate of the Great Mother, the Eye of Re, the thunder-weapon
was also identified with any of her varied manifestations.

The thunderbolt is one of the manifestations of the life-giving and
death-dealing Divine Cow, and therefore is able specially to protect
mundane cows.[441]

There are numerous hints in the ancient literature of other countries in
confirmation of the association of the Great Mother with "falling
stars". "In a fragment of Sanchoniathon, Astarte, travelling about the
habitable world, is said to have found a star falling through the air,
which she took up and consecrated."[442]

Aphrodite also was looked upon as a meteoric stone that fell from the
moon. In the "Iliad," Zeus is said to have sent Athena as a meteorite
from heaven to earth.[443]

The association of Aphrodite with meteoric stones and the ancient belief
that they fell from the moon serve to confirm the identification of
these life-giving and death-dealing objects with the pearl and the
thunderbolt. In Southern India the goddesses may be represented either
by small stones or by pots of water, usually seven in number. During the
ceremony around the stone-form of the goddess the _kappukaran_ runs
thrice around the stone, as the mandrake-digger does around the plant.
The _pujari_ who represents the goddess is painted like a leopard
(Hathor's lioness) and kills th