of the God Vulcan, that he was the same as Tubalcain, mentioned
Genesis. c. 4. v. 22: and it is a notion followed by many writers: and
among others by Gale. [497]_First as to the name_ (says this learned man)
_Vossius_, de Idolat. l. 1. c. 36, _shews us, that Vulcanus is the same as
Tubalcainus, only by a wonted, and easy mutation of B into V, and casting
away a syllable_. And he afterwards affects to prove from Diodorus Siculus,
that the art and office of Vulcan exactly corresponded to the character of
Tubalcain, [498]_who was an instructor of every artificer in brass and
iron_. Upon the same principles Philo Biblius speaking of Chrusor, a person
of great antiquity, who first built a ship, and navigated the seas; who
also first taught husbandry, and hunting, supposes him to have been Vulcan;
because it is farther said of him, [499]that he first manufactured iron.
From this partial resemblance to Vulcan or Hephastus, Bochart is induced to
derive his name from [Hebrew: KRSH AWR], Chores Ur, an artificer in
[500]fire. These learned men do not consider, that though the name, to
which they refer, be antient, and oriental, yet the character, and
attributes, are comparatively modern, having been introduced from another
quarter. Vulcan the blacksmith, who was the master of the Cyclops, and
forged iron in Mount AEtna, was a character familiar to the Greeks, and
Romans. But this Deity among the Egyptians, and Babylonians, had nothing
similar to this description. They esteemed Vulcan as the chief of the Gods
the same as the Sun: and his name is a sacred title, compounded of
Baal-Cahen, Belus sanctus, vel Princeps; equivalent to Orus, or Osiris. If
the name were of a different original, yet it would be idle to seek for an
etymology founded on later conceptions, and deduced from properties not
originally inherent in the personage. According to [501]Hermapion he was
looked upon as the source of all divinity, and in consequence of it the
inscription upon the portal of the temple at Heliopolis was [Greek:
Hephaistoi toi Theon Patri]. _To Vulcan the Father of the Gods_. In short,
they who first appropriated the name of Vulcan to their Deity, had no
notion of his being an artificer in brass or iron: or an artificer in any
degree. Hence we must be cautious in forming ideas of the antient theology
of nations from the current notions of the Greeks, and Romans; and more
especially from the descriptions of their poets. Polytheism, originally
vi