The grotesque Egyptian images worshipped on the Nile before the building
of the pyramids, are, judging from the best preserved antiquities, not
very much inferior to the gilded deities to be seen to-day in the
thousand pagodas of heathen lands.
Take for example a Chinese idol of modern make: while it is less angular
and more elaborately finished than the ancient monstrosities found in
Egypt, still, so far as perfection of form or beauty of expression is
concerned, there is little to choose between the two. Each is a fitting
type of the degree of civilization and soul culture of the peoples that
produced them. It must not be urged that the success of sculpture in
Greece and Rome disproves the proposition that the art could not develop
itself among a strictly idolatrous race.
The splendid mythologies of the Greeks and Romans must not be considered
as the highest forms even of the worship of idols or inanimate things.
The gods and goddesses of these mythological systems were principally
the powers that were supposed to preside over the different forces and
elements of nature, and were invested with the celestial attributes of a
higher order of beings. Neptune ruled the sea, Pluto was director of
ceremonies in the infernal regions, while Jupiter was emperor of the sky
and king of all the lesser gods.
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