Olavi Rudbeckij Atlanticae, seu Manheimij, Pars Tertia. In qua Vetustissima Majorum Nostroram Atlantidum Lapidibus, Fago, aeri, Sive cortici Runas Suas Incidendi Ratio, una cum Tempore, Quo illa Primo caeperit, Exponitur. Necnon Aurei Numeri Singulis annis Tributi, & Signorum Coelestium, Quae Abhinc ad Graecos & Latinos sunt Translata, Vera origo & Significatio traditur. Et illae a diliuvio Noachi primae aetates, atque in illis prima Atlantidurn nostrorum forma describuntur; quae migrationes & bella sub Boreo, seu Saturno, ejusq; filio Thoro seu Jove gesta sunt, recensentur; & Denique Scytharum, Phoenicum & Amazonum His ducibus in Indo-Scythiam & Phoeniciam seu Palaestinam e Sueonia factae expeditiones enarrantur. Quibus omnibus mythologiae perplures, quarum sensus in hunc usque diem incognitus, hic Demum detectus prodit, jucundae sane & perquam utiles adjunguntur. Upsalae in fol. 1698

IV. Olavi Rudbeckij Atlanticæ, seu Manheimij, Pars Tertia. In qua vetustissima majorum nostrorum Atlantidum lapidibus, fago, æri, sive cortici Runas suas incidendi ratio, una cum tempore, quo illa primo cæperit, exponitur. Necnon Aurei numeri singulis an- nis tributi, & Signorum Cælestium, que abhinc ad Græcos & Latinos sunt translatæ, vera origo & sig- nificatio traditur. Et illæ a diliuvio Noachi primæ ætates, atque in illis prima Atlantidum nostrorum forma describuntur: quæ migrationes & bella sub Bo- teo, seu Saturno, ejusq; filio Thoro seu Jove gesta sunt, recensentur: & denique Scytharum, Phœnicum & Amazonum his ducibus in Indo- Scythiam & Phœniciam seu Palæstinam e Sueco- nia factæ expeditiones enarrantur. Quibus omnibus mythologiae perplures, quarum sensus in hunc usque diem incognitus, hic demum detectus prodit, jucundæ sane & perquam utiles adjunguntur. Upsalæ in fol. 1698. This Learned Author divides this Third part of his Atlantica into thirteen Chapters. The first Chapter treats of the most Ancient Writings of the Hyperboreans, and the Custom of the Greeks, and other Nations, of taking some things from them. Here the Author, be- fore he gives us an account of the Antiquity of their Runick Letters, tells us of a fragment of an ancient Writing Writing on Velom, seen by Ericus Schroderus, An. 1637, and inserted by him in his Preface to his Lexicon Latino-Scandicum, as follows. It happen'd An. Christi 1001, that Olaus, Monarch of the Northern World, well seeing the Runick Letters were the chief cause that the Christian Religion had made no progress for about 185 years; when Bero the Third, King of Sweden, began to transplant it into the Kingdoms of Scandia, he call'd his Nobles together, and consulted with them concerning a total abolishing of the Runick Letters, and substituting the Latin Letters in their stead; and it was carried in the Affirmative, those Letters having maintain'd Idolatry, and the enormous Doctrine of the Gentiles, concerning the Gods of the Barbarians. Thus the Runick Letters being thrown by, together with a world of Monuments and Manuscripts, no Tomb was set up after the ancient manner, nor no Monument erected, but all long neglected for several Centuries, till John Burans, a Swede, and fortunate enquirer into the Swedish Antiquities, began An. Christi 1598, laboriously to gather them from Astronomical Staffs, and the most ancient Rocks of Sweden, and some way to restore them to their ancient glory. The Author having given us this fragment concerning the suppression, and restitution of the Runick Letters and Monuments, he proceeds to give an account of the Antiquity of them, and tells us that the said Schroder in his foresaid Preface said the Runes were Invented by Magog the Scythian, and communicated to Tuisco, chief Governour of the Germans, An. M. 1799. And he thinks it remarkable, that Magog is there mention'd Inventer of the Runes, at that particular time that himself has shewn, in his precedent Volume, from Pliny, Wormius, and their own Writings, that Atlas was one of the first Inventers of the Runick Calendars, from whom they are call'd Atlas's Calendars, or Runstaffs; whom he makes also Inventer of the true Golden Number, betwixt the year of the World 1800 and 1900, which Number stands an un- undoubted argument for the true age of the Runick Calendars, and the sixteen Runick Letters, us'd by their Ancestors in writing, and being more ancient than the Letters of most other Nations, especially European, as many as have been seen to this day: And these Letters he says were formerly rightly call'd by the name of Golden Apples, kept by Atlas, till he communicated them to Hercules. And in answer to those who pretend that the Runick Letters were a late Invention, he proves that the Greeks did not only use the Letters of their Ancestors, but likewise took from them their common way of writing the same in the flexures, or windings of Dragons or Serpents, and often their common ways of Speaking. And to shew that their Ancestors neither receiv'd their Runes from those Goths, that came to them from Pont Euxine (as Conringius thought) where, formerly, going from them, they had seated themselves; nor from the Greeks, Latins, or Hebrews; he here presents us with a Table of the Letters of all these People, in which he has caus'd to be set down the Figure, Power, Order, Number, and Signification in numbring of each, which clearly sets before the Eye what difference or similitude there is betwixt them: And concludes it as a certain and undoubted truth, that there is no Nation in the whole World, known to us, or heard of, which by unanswerable Reasons and Monuments now in being, is able to shew, or produce Letters more ancient than theirs. On the contrary, he concludes the Greeks and Phoenicians to have receiv'd their Letters from them; Ancient Writers testifying that Ops, in former Ages, carry'd the Runick Letters; cut in Brass, to the Greeks; which the Author, in his first Volume, has shewn to have been before the time of Moses. Speaking of Sepulchral Monuments, plac'd on Hillocks where Men were Buried, and having Dragons and Epitaphs cut in those Monuments, the Treasures of the persons deceas'd being Buried with the Ashes of them in the said Hillocks; he says it was from this Custom of their Ancestors, that came that solemn story of Dragons lying on Gold; the Greeks and Latins also, by a common consent, affirming the Genius of a place to be worshipp'd under the form of a Serpent. So Servius on the fifth Æneid, No place is without a Genius, which is commonly shown by a Serpent: And so Pers. Sat. i. Pinge duos angues; pueri Sacer est locus. As to the time that Letters began first to be commonly cut on the Spires of Serpents cut in Rocks, and of the report of dead men being turn'd into Dragons, he says we must look back to the times of Cadmus, whom he has prov'd to have liv'd in the time of Moses, and to have been descended of a Scythian Race; and who, with his Wife Hermione (as Bochartus tells us) were reported to have been turn'd into Snakes, because they had two Snakes of Stone erected in honour of them, by the Phœnicians. And if they are said by others to have been turn'd into Lyons, we must note, that in the Runick Monumental Stones, within the forms of Dragons and Serpents cut towards the outsides of them, there were also wont to be cut in them by their Ancestors the Images of Lyons, Horses, Griffins, Dogs, Hawks, and other Animals; and this to denote the dead persons Warlike Valour, Skill in Horsemanship, Pyracy, Robbing, Hunting, &c. So he says Ships are also vulgarly said to be turn'd into Stones; because in honour of persons deceas'd, who had been famous for Sea-fights and Pyracy, a Stone was erected, with the Image of a Ship cut in it; of which Stones they have great plenty. And hence he thinks it easie to see that the Fables, Ænigma's, or Ancient Acts of the Syrians, Egyptians, Greeks and Latins can scarce be understood by any Man, unless he has first got good skill in their Tongue, and their peculiar ways of Speaking and Writing, and of their Ancient Monuments, and other things of that kind. Having Having told us, that their Ancestors were wont to cut their Runick Letters on Stones and Brass (as Plato also testifies from the Tables of Isis or Disa, carried from the Hyperboreans to the Isle of Delos, belonging to the Greeks) he says, as for the Wood, which their Ancestors chiefly us'd for cutting their Laws on, and making their Runstaffs, and delineating their Sea-Charts, it was of Beech, or the Service-Tree: Even Kircher, a Foreigner, testifying it concerning the former, and saying that thence even to this day in the Northern Countries they call a Book Buech, a Beech being call'd Buechans: As for the Service-tree, it's call'd in the Gothick, Roon, Runebarstra, taking its name from the Runes themselves, and is much esteem'd, as having a peculiar property for that use, as may be seen in the Author. From what he has said concerning cutting in a Beech the Spires of Serpents, Letters, and Sea-Charts, he says we have an easy Sense of a passage in Orpheus concerning a Speaking-Beech, and of the Speaking Beeches at Dodona, the latter implying no more, but that the Flamines Diales, or Priests cut Letters on Tables of Beech, in the form of a Serpent, by which future things were told to those that consulted the Oracle: Whence also Serpents were said to give Answers, or Oracles, instead of Gods. He adds one thing here, to corroborate what he said in his first Volume, viz. that the Letter I, in nature of a prop, is the first of all the rest of the Letters, the rest being form'd of it, with Knees (Knan) being added to it. Now he says the Bird Ibis, call'd by them a Stork, by reason of his subtilty in finding out and devouring Serpents, is wont to be Pictured with his long Bill, holding a Serpent winding itself about it, after the same manner as it's seen in Mercury's Caduceus: As therefore this Bird is called Ibis, so by this same Mercury would teach the Egyptians that the Letter I, which is the first in the word Ibis, denotes I to be the prop to all the other Letters, in their Runick Learning. By the long Bill of that Bird, Mercury would denote the Letter I's having the figure of a Staff, and the Serpent winding itself about the said Bill, denotes only the formation of the rest of the Letters; so that as the divers flexures and curvities of the Serpent are in regard to the Bill, so is I in regard of all the Letters, form'd by the various Knees (Kna) in the prop I. Moreover, by the Serpent itself, that common way of their Ancestors of cutting Letters in the figures of Serpents is intimated. From what he has intimated from the flexures of Serpents, and Runes cut in them, he says a man may also easily understand, why Atin, that is, Minerva, who is also called Pallas, wore Serpents on her Garments, viz. it being well known that Minerva is the President of Sciences and Letters, which the Author has shewn more than once to have been wont to be cut on the Spires and Skins of Serpents; she was accounted a Goddess by the Learned. Therefore it's worthy observation, that in her Helmet a Serpent is seen, markt as it were with Runick Letters; this only denoting, that from the Brain Judgment and Knowledge is drawn, for expounding memorable things. He tells us also, that from several Monuments taken from the Sepulchres of their Ancestors, he finds it was usual with them to frame in the Bosses of their Bucklers, made of Brass, one or more Heads of Medusa, appearing frightful from the twisted Serpents about it, and Runick Characters cut on it, whereby they render'd themselves Invincible against any force of Weapons: And he says, their Heroes, who went from their Country Eastward, pleas'd themselves in carrying such; among whom he counts the Valiant Agamemnon, descended, as the Author makes out, from their Ancestors. Proceeding to give an account of the Writings of their Ancestors on Parchment, he says they can scarce find any Writer of theirs more ancient than him mention'd in ancient Histories, call'd sometimes Zennoner, sometimes Semunder, &c. being born in Island, about the year of Christ 1057. 1057. His Works consisting of meer Rhimes involv'd in obscure Fables, that he is now scarce understood by the late Island Poets, by whom the ancient Island Tongue by degrees has been deprav'd, by introducing new words: The Author, considering the Writings of this Semnothes, or Semundur, and the form of Words, especially that part of his Writings, which is call'd Volupa, expounding things done near the times of the Destruction of Troy, agrees in judgment with Resenius, viz. that Saxo had another Edda, more ancient, and fuller of fabulous relations, than the Edda of Semundus, or Snorro, Olavus Magnus owning such an one to have been, and of which the present Edda is a sort of Compendium: And concludes that this Semundus, who liv'd about the year 1050, drew what he writ from another more ancient than himself, and is wholly of opinion that there once was one of the most antient of their Predecessors in the North usually stil'd King, or God, call'd Semnon, or Sem, from whom (as he has shewn elsewhere) the Royal Family, and all the most ancient and noble persons were call'd Semungar (Semnones) and whose Verses were celebrated by the Traditions of many: And others after him upon reading his Writings have got much Wisdom, and encreasing them with the Histories of their Times, and keeping his form of Writing, either assum'd his Name, or were given it by the People. Now, he says, if we diligently look over all the Writings ascrib'd to the Semnones, we shall find no small diversity betwixt the form of that most ancient Semundus, or Semnon, and the rest of the Semundi that follow'd him; beside that the first of them compos'd his History a long while before the Trojan War; the second came near the Age of the Trojans; a third brought his Writings to the times of Alexander the Great; the last, which the Author has seen, reaches the first years of Christianity: And therefore he willingly subscribes to the opinion of these Islanders, who conclude the Edda of the most ancient Semundus was writ by the Afa's, that is, by the Gods, viz. their God, or King Semnon and his Progeny; which Opinion is strengthen'd by the Testimony of Laertius, saying, that among the Celtæ and Gauls Philosophy had its rise from the Druids, or those are call'd Semnothei: And as for the first places of abode of the Celtæ, Gauls, Semmons and Druides, he has intimated before. In his second Chapter he treats of the force of the Golden Number, in foretelling various things, which in his second part of his Alantica he had promis'd to give an account of here. Which having done, he concludes this Chapter thus; the things I have related here, observ'd by our Ancestors, concerning the Golden Number, are not therefore brought, that I think there is in it a greater force in foretelling future things, or more secret efficacy, than in the other conjunctions of the Planets; but simply to set forth what our Ancestors thought concerning the motion of the Heavens and the Stars, on which account they were much celebrated by the Greeks. The Third Chapter treats of the Celestial Signs, whereof the chief, he says, owe their first rise to Sweden. Here he sets forth, that Atlas, an Inhabitant of their Northern Lybia, was the Inventer of Astrology, and of the Sphere, or motion of the Heavens; and that where Hercules is said to have taken away the Golden Apples, there kept by a Dragon, he learnt this Skill of Astrology from Atlas; and as for the Dragon, he says it's worth noting that their Ancestors were wont to describe the keeping of the Golden Apples in the North by a Dragon, in a threefold respect; for they call'd their Runick Stones by the name of Golden Apples, as being cut with Letters, the preservers of Immortality; which Letters they said were kept within the Spires of Serpents. 2. They represented the whole Baltick, as a Dragon winding himself about all the Island, and keeping these Golden Apples. 3. The range of Stars, compassing about both the Bears in Heaven, had the name and form of a Dragon given them by their Ancestors, which which they circumscrib'd within the space betwixt the 51 and 53 degrees of elevation, within which Dragon Sweden, together with the Baltick Sea, extends itself in an equal space. As for those that would see the form of their Baltick Sea, set forth under the figure of Hercules and a Dragon, he refers them to that ancient Monument set forth in Begerus's Spicilegium Antiquitatis; where Hercules appears clad with a Lyons Skin, and holding in one hand a Club, and in the other a Golden Apple, having a Dragon under it, from whose Belly and Feet a vast River flows, by which artifice their Baltick Sea is denoted, going under the name of a Dragon. As for the Signs of the Zodiack, he says neither the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Greeks nor Latins have assign'd any cause why the Names and Images of Aries, Taurus, Gemini, &c. are given them, rather than those of Kings and Valiant Heroes: Nor can the account of these be adjusted to any Country so well as to their North: Having regard to their way of computing the Year, he begins with Capricorn: By this he says their Ancestors would denote nothing but their Juul Goat, Juul soocken; and therefore in their Runick Calendar at the beginning of the Year they have pictur'd the Horn of this Goat, which they us'd in their drinkings as a peculiar Symbol of Joy for the revolution of the Sun. Then also they were wont to call Councils for undertaking Wars, which also was intimated by the figure of a Goat, or Capricorn, and so the Names of Goat and Horn gave the Name of Capricorn. Now neither the Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks nor Latins, in the first times began their Year from Capricorn; but borrowed this Custom from the North a long time after. Next Capricorn comes Aquarius, which is wont to be painted Emptying a great Pot of Water: for while the Sun is in this Sign the cold relaxes, and the Snow melts on the thirteenth day of the Feast Juul, and the Earth in the month of February produces great Rains. or deep Snows; upon dissolving of which by the growing warmth, towards the end of Aquarius, many Rivers are everywhere discover'd. The Egyptians cannot claim this Sign to themselves, because the Inundation of the Nile begins with the Ingress of the Sun into Cancer, and is completed in 100 days; nor have they any Rains, or very rarely. In other Countries towards the South, viz. Greece, Syria, Italy and Spain, wherever Snow falls, it presently melts, while the Sun is in Capricorn. The Sign Pisces is most aptly plac'd next, because as soon as the fattish fruitful moisture of the melted Snow, from various Places of the Lands, subsides and flows to the Ponds and Torrents, the Fishes, drawn by its sweetness, betake themselves to the Shores, and growing lustful, there engender: and their ancient Country-men observ'd this time of the year as most proper for Fishing; whereas the Egyptians take Fish chiefly when the Nile overflows, viz. in the months of June and July, and especially in November: therefore they could not be the Inventers of this Sign. The fourth place is given to Aries, which Sign denotes the time, when the Snows being melted, Sheep, Goats, Swine and the like, are put to feed abroad. Now, this reason can scarce hold in any other Country, especially Southern; for in Germany Cattle feed abroad almost all the Winter, and so in Assyria, Egypt, &c. Taurus is aptly made the fifth Sign, answering to the midst of April, and the midst of May, because Cows and the like cannot be sent out to Pastures till the Grass is pretty high, which in their Country is not till the said months, near the Summer. Nor can the Southern Countries claim this reason, for with them, from February and March, and in Greece, Italy, Spain, Judea and Egypt, all kinds of Herds may live abroad all the year. And by this Sign of the Bull, Antiquity would intimate, that at this time the Earth is Plowed and Sown with Barley, which in Germany is usually done in the month of March; and in Judea and Egypt it's now in Ear. The sixth Sixth Sign is the Naked Twins, denoting that when the Sun is come to this Sign, the Water is so warm, that Children may then freely wash themselves in Rivers and Lakes, also that Saylors may then night and day set to Sea; for by these Twins they chiefly denoted Castor and Pollux (Gastor ock Boldur) those most skilful Masters of Sea Affairs, of whom the former kept watch by Night, the latter by Day. Nor can any Southern Man, with solid Reason, say that those things belong to them. The Ethiopians and Egyptians may wash themselves in Rivers all the year, and in other parts of the World, Sailers may set to Sea as well in Winter as Summer: But in his Country it's very rarely the Seas or Lakes are open to Sailers, before the Sun enters this Sign. The Seventh Sign is Cancer, in which the Sun is said to turn his course, and go backward like a Crab. Now, tho with other Nations the Sun goes away and returns, yet with them the Sun never is in a degree of Latitude in Heaven, to enlighten whole Nights with his Rays, nor going away does he cause so lasting darkness, as to seem wholly as it were to be held under; so that his going Crab-like and return are more sensible to them. The eighth Sign is called the Lyon or Dog, chiefly for this reason; that at this time of the year, when the Sun is in Sirius, whatsoever Animals are killed, and are not presently preserved, either by Boyling, Roasting or Baking, for Humane use, they are presently corrupted or consum'd by the heat of the Sun, as by a Lyon or Dog, the most voracious and fiery of Animals; and tho in other Countries Flesh at this time rots and consumes, yet there the heat of the Sun is more lasting than to answer but to one Sign; for with some it lasts 3, with others 4, nay, and 5 months, whereas in the Northern Countries it scarce presses but while the Sun stays in that Sign; wherefore this month with them is peculiarly called Rotemanem. Rotmonth. The ninth Sign is express by the Image of a Virgin, holding in her hand an Ear of Corn, intimating that then is the time of of Harvest, viz. in their August. Now this cannot be assigned to Egypt or Assyria, they gathering their Harvest in April, May and June; and the Greeks, Italians and Spaniards do it a whole month before the North. Libra, the tenth Sign is aptly joined to the foregoing, answering to the months of September and October, because after Husbandmen had gathered a plentiful Harvest, and Thrash't out some Corn, they commenc'd Fairs, and changing their Goods, get Salt, Flesh and Fish for their Corn, all which things are done by the Balance, or Scales, as may be seen in the most antient Laws of their Country. And therefore at this day in the Metropolis of Sweden, Stockholm, and elsewhere, the greatest Fairs throughout the Kingdom are yearly kept about this time, for such changes; whereas in other Countries he scarce thinks such a Merchandizing, by change of Corn, proper at this time, their Harvests being gather'd long before. The eleventh Sign is the Scorpion, an Animal infamous for stinging and killing: By this the Ancients would intimate, that the power of the Sun and Earth was now wholly become dead; the Sun in the farthest parts of Sweden lying hid under the Horizon for many whole days and nights together, the Earth being Frozen, and cover'd with Snow, producing no Fruits, and so lying as a dead Carcass. Now, with the Egyptians and Assyrians Fruits, and Plants are at this time at their chief growth, for in January or February their standing Corn begins to shoot forth into Ears. The Twelfth Sign is Sagittarius, because that time in the North is fittest for Hunting, the Snow there fallen at that time being but thin and unfrozen, so that they clearly show the footsteps of wild Beasts, and give a free passage to Hunters in the Woods: Whereas in the months of January and February, so great Snows fall, that they make Hunting very uneasy and difficult. Nor can the Egyptians, or Assyrians assert the Invention of this Sign to themselves, Snows being in a manner unknown to them, and rare in Italy and Greece, and fall fell not but in January, and lye secure without melting: The Sun also being entred into another Sign, viz. Capricorn. From all these things the Author thinks it clearly appears that the nature of the Signs, and the Names and Images given them, are so order'd, that they shew what must be duly and orderly done by Husbandmen in each part of the year in their Oeconomical affairs, and this according to the nature of the Country: And as their Ancients thought nothing more necessary for the support of Mortals than the Cultivation of the Earth, so they thought nothing more conducing to that, than a diligent observation of the Sun and Stars, as they act on these Sublunary Bodies. The Author next proceeds to give an account of certain Monuments of Stone, of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans; from which he strengthens what he has said concerning the 12 Coelestial Signs, and the Oeconomical Reasons of them: And next considers the later Almanacks, both those that were written on Parchment by Monks, or others, us'd in their Country when Christianity was first introduc'd there, about the year 800: the use of the Runstaffs being then by degrees taken away. And also the late printed Almanacks, introduc'd with Printing, and shews what is retain'd in them of the Coelestial Signs of their Ancestors, together with their explication, thereby to confirm what he had said before. From the Signs of the Zodiack he passes to the other Celestial Signs, and says he has shewn in his precedent Volumes, that many of them had a Northern Original. As for the time that the knowledge of the Celestial Bodies, under the likeness and feign'd figures of Men and other Animals, came to the Greeks, Chaldeans and Egyptians, some think Hercules, the Son of Thor or Jupiter and Alcmena carried it to them: But Lucian in his Tract of Astrology says this Knowledge is ancient, and the Invention of the Ancient Kings, whom the Gods Gods lov'd: And that the Greeks heard nothing of Astrology from the Ethiopians or Egyptians; but Orpheus, the Son of Oleagrus and Calliope, first deliver'd those things to them, tho he did it not clearly and openly, but cover'd them under certain mystical Veils. In the fourth Chapter, and the five following, the Author treats of the six Ages of the World. In this fourth he treats of the Golden Age, or the first Age from the beginning of the World. Here the Author says, he thinks those of the Learned Christians did well, who endeavour'd to induce the Gentiles to a belief of the Scriptures, from the Writings of the Gentiles themselves, they containing a relation of many famous facts, which are confirm'd by the Scriptures: But, he says, if those Doctors had began from the Genealogies of the ancient Pagan Kings, and shewn from the beginning, how these answer'd, Race by Race, to the Genealogies of the Jews, they would have made the Coelestial Doctrine more clear to them; since thence they might have collected, that he, to whom the fact of another was imputed, liv'd at the same time with him whose fact it was. And because as far as he knows, no man has throughly handled this, he here proposes to shew, beginning with the first Age after the Creation of the World, how, both their Ancestors, and other Pagans, with respect to Posterity, from one Generation to another, have propagated many things agreeing to Sacred Writ: For performing which, in his Accounts of the second, third and fourth Age, he has given us three Chronological Tables. And in his Account of the Golden Age in this Chapter, he thinks it appears from the words of Hesiod, concerning that Age, joyn'd with the Voluspa, and the Scriptures well consider'd, that their Ancestors were the first known for Empire in the World, and for their singular Wisdom, Justice and Fortitude. The fifth Chapter treats of the second, or Silver Age, which he says was ended at the Deluge, by reason of Men's Crimes. The sixth Chapter treats of the third Age, call'd Rocky or Stony, mention'd in the Voluspa: Which Age Hesiod seems to have made the Brazen; tho the rest of the Ancient Greek and Latin Poets make some mention of it, call'd Rocky, because Noah's Ark rested on a Mountain, whence by the Northern Histories and the Scalds the Men of this Age are said to be sprung or descended from Mountains: And whereas Deucalion and his Wife are said to have thrown Stones over their Heads, whence Men and Women sprung up, this he says denotes Noah's Descent with his Family from Mount Ararat, leaving the Mountain behind them. The seventh Chapter treats of the fourth, or Brazen, or Ashen Age; and began, he says, with their King Maderus, or Mannus; because, by reason of his Strength and brawny Limbs, he was said to be made of Ash; or because in his time their Ancestors began to use Darts and Clubs of Ash; the Destruction of Thebes or Troy putting an end to this Age. The eighth Chapter treats concerning the fifth Age, or the Age of the Heroes. Here he says it's worth noting, that Hesiod says the Heroes that remain'd after this Age and the Trojan War, took their Seats in the most remote parts of the World, and in the Elysian Fields, meaning their Atlantica. And this, he says, is most worthy to be noted, that after the destruction of Troy, and the return of the remaining Heroes, we can find none of the Greek and Latin Writers calling any King or Great Men of their own or other Nations by the Title of Jupiter, Neptune, Hercules, or Pluto: But as these were of the stock of their Saturn, Jupiter, Atlas, so these were only call'd by those Names of the Gods. Some of those Heroes marrying with foreign foreign Mortal Women, had Children, which therefore were call'd Demi-gods: Their chief Heroes being said to be Immortal, not that they did not dye, but because they were thought to revive under the form of other Men. It's observ'd that after Jupiter return'd with the six Gods that accompany'd him from Troy, the use of his Name vanished also with the Greeks; whence the Greek Writers conclude, that after that time Jupiter cohabited no more with natural Women: He observes, it was the custom of their ancient Kings and Giants not to marry with Women of a low stature, least the Race should expire, which custom continued till the time of Alexander the Great; and this Custom, he says, continued among the Helsingi till the beginning of the last Age (as he was told by the Governor of that Province) for which reason perhaps, they are seen, for the most part, to excel the rest of the Inhabitants of Sweden, in bulk and stature to this day; whence if a Man be seen to exceed the common stature, it passes as a common Proverb, to call him a Long Helsinger. The ninth Chapter treats of the Sixth or Iron Age. Here the Author quotes the Voluspa and Hesiod, giving an account of this Age, in which all things were in confusion, and by the words of the Voluspa, this Age seems to be confounded in part with the former Age, and to end with the Trojan War. The tenth Chapter treats of the first form of Government among the Northern Nations. Here the Author gives an account of the most Ancient of their Ancestors that settled themselves in Sweden; and this chiefly from the Scripture, and shews they were the Sons of Japheth, among whom the chief was Gog, which name he says, among them was a Title of Honour given to Kings, Heroes and Giants; and therefore the first of their Ancestors being a Giant, was honour'd with that Title, and from the Posterity of this Gog, many places of Sweden have drawn their their names; of which he gives many instances: So the name of Magog or Mangog, in the Swedish Tongue, signifies a Valiant and Stout Man; from whence many other places in Sweden have their names. So he says, Meshecus, another of the Sons of Japheth, was the Progenitor of the Finlanders, who are most Northerly, whence they are still called Mesar. As for the name of Finlanders, they have it from the Swedes; and he mentions several places in Finland that have their name from Meshecus: And so from other Sons of Japheth other places in Sweden have their names. He tells us, Greece, Asia, India and Egypt took the word Pygmy from their Country, chiefly from the Finlanders; for these and the Swedes call Boys from the 7th or 8th to the 11th or 12th year Pyckior and Poikar, and Girls Pigor and Pikar; and Men by the Swedes are called Man, by the Finlanders Mias: Hence therefore Pygman, or Pygmias, or Poikmias signify one in Stature a Boy, but in Age a Man; and so from the Laplanders and Finlanders the word πυγμαίος came to the Greeks. He observes, that as no Nation in the World has been so prone to Parables and obscure description of things, as the Swedes; so they are now most tenacious of their ancient Custom, which, both a common Book fill'd with Enigmatical questions, and in a manner all the Epithalamia that come forth, sufficiently prove. He tells us from Scroder, that Magog was the Inventer of the Runes; and says there is no room for doubting, but Atinus, Atlas and Magog were one and the same person. And after having given a large account of the extent of the ancient Dominions belonging to the Northern Inhabitants, he says, as for the Sons and Grandchildren of Magog, or their first Atlas, their Names writers do not well agree; yet in the sixth Generation they do much differ: For he that by Hesiod and Apollodorus is called Cælius, is the same that his Country-men and the Islanders call call Kelins, Uran-kolle, Bune, Bariki; and this is the first to whom their Ancestors ascribe the first form of Swedish Government. Being convinced of a Gigantick Race of Men, by many vast Skeletons he had found in Sepulchral Monuments, he gives instances of several Giants of a vast Stature, who about the time of Alexander the Great grew less, the Goths about that time returning from South Scythia, or Turkey and Asia, being men of a lesser stature, and causing a mixture of divers Nations; and he thinks he may safely say, that before the times of Christ, the Men of their Country were 5 or 6 of their Ells in height, which he confirms by many Testimonies. Speaking of their Cume, which lies beyond the Baltick, over against Phlaegra, he says it was known formerly for horrible Magick, and the Impostures of Witches; where Ulysses and Aeneas were seduced, consulting the old Fate-telling Cumean Sibyl, call'd the Prophetess of Hell, because she liv'd in the remotest part North, as it were in a Subterraneous place: This Sibyl being different from the Cumean Sibyl of Italy. Having shewn in his former Volumes, that the Cross was in use in the first times, and cut in most of their Runick Monuments; this he says Intimated to Posterity, that in those Tombs were laid the Bones of Commanders, and Men famous for Valour both by Sea and Land, who, while alive, with a vigorous Arm manag'd the Club of Thor or Jupiter, made like a Cross. The eleventh Chapter treats of the form of Government of the Atlanticks, under Saturn, and his Expedition. Here the Author, after a long search into the origin of the word Chetim, finds that as some call'd the Goths, Gothi, Gytha, Getæ, so they call'd their Land Gutheim, Gythiam, Chetim; whence he thinks he has made it plain that Chitim, the Son of Javan, Grandson of Japheth, and Great Grandson Grandson of Noah, chose that Country for his Seat, and gave it his Name: He had a Son whose Name was Cælius, or Uranus, who had Saturn or Boreus, under whom was the Golden Age. This Saturn had many Children and Grand-children, whom he made Petty Kings, and carried some with him in his Expeditions, and made them Kings abroad over the Nations he conquer'd, hence they were called Tiodanar, Titans, that is, Kings of People; which Celebrated Name past to the Greeks, Pherecydes calling them Hyperborean Titans, and the Poet Subterraneous Gods, or who possess the Seats of the Inferi, in the farthest parts North. Now tho Sweden had many Titans, yet the House of Atimus or Neptune had this Prerogative, that all Sweden was divided into ten Countries, according to the number of his Sons, and the chief Empire was in them and their Progeny, and one of them was chosen as Monarch; whence they were called Kurar, Electors. Those petty Kings or Cures at first being ten, were afterward increased to twelve, with a presiding Monarch. When these 12 Gods with their President were to sit in Judgment, they chiefly made choice to sit under an Ash, by reason of the wonderful order of its Leaves, there being six Leaves on each side the Stalk, and one on the top, fitly answering to that Session of the Gods: He also notes that Ships with them were call'd Askar, because built of Ash, and says the name of this Tree is taken from As, a Divine Title, because it gives a refreshing shade to the Gods, as they sit to dispense their Laws. He tells us also, they made their Tribunals on the tops of Mountains and Hills, and guarded them with Stones set in a Circle about them, of which Circles there are still many to be seen in his Country. Speaking concerning the recourse of Foreigners to Sweden, to consult the Gods concerning past and future things, he gives us some of the chief of their Customs, agreeing with what the Greeks and Latins write. The Golden Apples, restoring the Gods themselves to life, that is, which set forth the Acts of their Ancestors, and incitements to Virtue, and dissuasives from Vice, are interpreted by him of Letters, which were cut on Stones or Wood, or writ on Parchment. And these Stones, Tables, Parchments and Lapland Tympana, from their oblong figure, have got the Name of Pine Apples, Apples and Eggs: And those Letters that were writ on Parchment or Magical Tympana, were cover'd with a Gold colour, from the Bark of an Alder: Therefore that Alder was much esteem'd by their Ancestors, and is now by the Laplanders; since from its Inward Bark, ground with the Teeth, they get a Gold colour, wherewith they Paint all kinds of Letters and figures on their Tympana. Now, as for what some are said to descend into Hell carried on Alder Sticks, it is from thence, that in their Divinations they use those kinds of Sticks, in the Barks of which they had cut Letters and Circles, compassing about the Stick, like the various Spires of Serpents. As for the God they call upon in these Divinations, he says it's Saturn, and his Worshippers using the Drum are call'd Saturnines. Therefore he that by the help of the Drum would seek counsel of the Gods, takes in one hand a Golden Apple, in the other a Hammer made like a Crofs of Alder, or Horn, he ought also to have a Serpent, made of Copper, as not much differing from Gold in colour, which upon the beat of the Hammer on the head of the Drum, leaps in and out, till it settles on some Letter or Figure, shewing that to be it, from whence the Answer is given. Moreover, the Saturnine, upon beating the Drum a while, fell into a Trance, as tho he were dead; and the Laplanders then, by mistake, thought the Soul went out of the Body, and having learnt many things, return'd again; whereas their Ancestors, with Plutarch, thought the Soul did not go out of the Body, but some time yielded, and gave a loose to the Genius, which having roll'd about about inwardly, told it many things it had seen and heard without. Now the things they desire to see are of various kinds, either the Souls of the Dead, or the Actions of Men at a great distance, or past or future things. And he gives instances of some persons who came from other Countries to theirs, to see the Ghosts of their Ancestors rais'd after this manner. And Plato owns that all the Tradition concerning the Elysian Fields and Hell owes its rise to their North, which being cut on a Table of Brats, was carried by Ops from the Hyperboreans to Delos, belonging to the Greeks. The twelfth Chapter treats of Jupiter, and his form of Government, and Expeditions at several times about the year of the World 2100. The Author having prov'd by many strong Arguments in his precedent Volumes, that Jupiter was the Son of Saturn in Sweden, and held his Empire there; he undertakes to shew here that he went thence to other Countries and subdued them, which has been the occasion various Nations and Cities claiming his place of Birth and Sepulchre to themselves; among whom he first numbers those of Crete. Besides what he has said in his precedent Volumes to prove Jupiter to have been of their Country, he says many Names given him by his Country-men as well as Foreigners prove it. As 1. The name of Thys and Thysson. 2. Dian, which name was also common to the 12 Gods or Druids constituted by him to judge the People, and take care of Sacred Rites. 3. Thor, from which name various Cities, Villages, Places of Judicature, Groves, Lakes, Kings and other Illustrious Persons afterwards drew their Names. And their Ancestors conveyed this Royal Name of Thor to the Greeks and Latins, of which he gives several instances. So he says the Town Thordona or Tortona in Greece, called by the Greeks Dodona, was built by Thor; so that the most ancient Oracle of the Greeks, in which Thorus or Jupiter was worshipt, was called Tortona or Dodone, the Origin of which name the Greeks could not find; and no wonder, since they consulting the Oracle concerning the names to be given the Gods were answered, that they must use the barbarous names. Thor, he says, among other names given him, was call'd Fluge-guden, from his driving away Magical Flies with his Hammer; the name Fluge-guden being the same with Belzebub, mentioned in the Scriptures. As for the Magical Flies, they were Demons in the Shape of Blue Flies, which the Finlanders kept in a Magical Pouch or Satchel, they being call'd by them Gan, that is Spirits, which they daily sent forth for their Magical uses, viz. to bring them news from all parts of the Universe, and to do things destructive to Men, &c. And these Flies were driven away by sacrificing to Thor, tho the Victims offer'd by the Jews in the Temple at Hierusalem were freed from Flies, by reason of the Jews Faith in God. He gives us other Titles of Thor, and teaches us many other things from the Etymology of Names, too long for me to set down. The thirteenth Chapter treats of the migration of the Atlantiques under Jupiter, Bacchus, Inachus and others, to divers parts of the World, as Thracia, Bactra, Egypt, but especially into Phoenicia. Here the Author sets forth, that Jupiter having got a notable Victory over the Giants and Amazons, mentioned in the precedent Chapter, this struck a terror into other Nations; and therefore the remaining Giants, and all of the Royal Family, whom he had driven out of Sweden, fortify'd themselves abroad; and as they opprest all men by Sea and Land, Jupiter being call'd to the assistance of the opprest, at length subdued them, whereupon his Fame grew throughout the World: And he undertook many Expeditions, causing two Goats (Bacchi) to be made, whereof one was like a Roman battering Ram, to batter down their Fortifications, which were made of Stones without Mortar, or of Wood and Dirt: The other was for casting Fire out of it, whence he conceives the Greeks made their Monster Chimera; and of which two Engines he gives a particular description. And tells us, Jupiter, or Thor, Osiris and Bacchus, are but divers appellations of one and the same Son sprung from Saturn. And the sole reason why Bacchus is pictur'd with Horns, is that he was formidable both by Land and Sea to Enemies, for his most sharp and strong Horns. And their Ancestors call'd Ships by the Names of Cattle, Bulls and Cows, and such were the Cattle of Gerion, which Hercules took from him. He says he has shewn before that Neptune by them was call'd Oggur, Aggerus, Hacon, Ake, &c. And the Kingdom of Sweden, Ogyheim, Ogygia (Ogygia) and that under him, and in the times of his Brethren and Ancestors those great Expeditions were made throughout the World with Ships, for the most part by Rivers, Seas and Lakes, which by the Writers of the Gentiles were call'd Inundations of Waters. From the Phoenician Language he conceives we may draw a most firm Argument that they are a Colony of theirs: what he has said before concerning the race of the Phoenicians, and the greatness and colour of their Bodies, confirming the same. And therefore, lest any people in the North, or neighbouring to the Phoenicians, should claim this Glory to themselves, he adds here for a close a Table of some words in the Chief and Mother Tongues of the rest; that these being compared with the Russian or Phoenician Words, it may clearly appear how close an Alliance there is between the Scythian or Swedish, and the Phoenician Languages. Now those most Ancient Tongues, to which in a manner all the rest owe their Birth, are these; the Scythian or Swedish, the Russian or Phoenician, the German. man, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Sclavonian and Finnick. Many words of each of which he has given us in a Table, which being compar'd together, the Phœnician Language appears to be in a manner the same with the Scythian or Swedish. Moreover, by considering the Divine Worship, Customs and Letters of the Phœnicians, he finds they owe their rise to the Scythians. As for the time of this Expedition of Thor and Bacchus, whom, as well as his chief Deputies, Mercurius, Inachus, and the rest, the Poets call by the Names of Hercules, Panesius, Dionysius and Titan, he concludes it to have fallen in with the times of Abraham, and his Great Grandfather Saruck, with which he finds the Scriptures to agree. London, Printed for Sam. Smith and Benj. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, at the Princes Arms in St Paul's Church-yard, 1705.