rt of his name gave _us_ the word _Deity_.

According to Egyptian mythology, Isis was also the Earth.[477:6] Again,
from the union of Seb and Nut sprung the mild Osiris. Seb is the
_Earth_, Nut is _Heaven_, and Osiris is the _Sun_.[477:7]

Tacitus, the Roman historian, speaking of the Germans in A. D. 98, says:

"There is nothing in these several tribes that merit
attention, except that they all agree in worshiping the
goddess _Earth_, or as they call her, _Herth_, whom they
consider as the common mother of all."[477:8]

These virgin mothers, and virgin goddesses of antiquity, were also, at
times, personifications of the _Moon_, or of Nature.[478:1]

Who is "God the _Father_," who overshadows the maiden? The overshadowing
of the maiden by "God the Father," whether he be called Zeus, Jupiter or
Jehovah, is simply the _Heaven_, the _Sky_, the "_All-father_,"[478:2]
looking down upon with love, and overshadowing the maiden, the broad
flushing light of _Dawn_, or the _Earth_. From this union the _Sun_ is
born without any carnal intercourse. The _mother_ is yet a _virgin_.
This is illustrated in Hindoo mythology by the union of Pritrivi,
"_Mother Earth_," with Dyaus, "Heaven." Various deities were regarded as
their progeny.[478:3] In the Vedic hymns the _Sun_--the Lord and
Saviour, the Redeemer and Preserver of Mankind--is frequently called the
"_Son of the Sky_."[478:4]

According to Egyptian mythology, Seb (the _Earth_) is overshadowed by
Nut (_Heaven_), the result of this union being the beneficent Lord and
Saviour, Osiris.[478:5] The same thing is to be found in ancient Grecian
mythology. Zeus or Jupiter is the _Sky_,[478:6] and Danae, Leto,
Iokaste, Io and others, are the _Dawn_, or _the violet light of
morning_.[478:7]

"The _Sky_ appeared to men (says Plutarch), to perform the
functions of a _Father_, as the _Earth_ those of a _Mother_.
The sky was the father, for it cast seed into the bosom of the
earth, which in receiving them became fruitful, and brought
forth, and was the mother."[479:1]

This union has been sung in the following verses by Virgil:

"Tum pater omnipotens fecundis imbribis aether
Conjugis in grenium laetae descendit."

(Geor. ii.)

The _Phenician_ theology is founded on the same principles. _Heaven_ and
_Earth_ (called Ouranos and Ghe) are at the head of a genealogy of aeons,
whose a