Saturn, or KroiiOS, was a principal deity in Greek and Roman mythology. Tiie old Italic Saturn, whose name indicates that he was a god of harvests, and the old Grecian Kronos, a thoroughly symbolic being, which, like his brothers, the Titans, is suggestive of the pri- meval and uniform forces of nature, and has a probable though partial connection with the Phoenician Moloch (q. v.), are deities of two religions which often diverge from each other; and a modern learned mythology, which everywhere intermixes Greek and Roman ele- ments, has met with but indifferent success in the en- deavor to combine the two gods into one. Kronos, the son of franus and Giva, was the most cunning of the Titans. His mother had given birth to the Centimani and the Cvclops, and L'ranus had confined them in the underworld on account of their monstrous shapes and i strength. Enraged by this action, Giea proposed to her younger children to avenge their brothers; but they all shrank from laying violent hands on their father, with the exception of Kronos, who hid himself, and at night emasculated Uranus and threw the generative organs down upon the earth, thereby fructifying it. Kronos then married the Titaness Rhea, from whom sprang the entire race of the gods who ruled the world. To avoid a prophecj' b_v his parents which foretold that one of his children should dethrone him, he swallowed all his chil- dren immediately after their birth, excepting Jupiter, whom Rhea saved by giving Kronos a stone wrapped in cloths instead. The child grew rapidly, and attained in a single year to extraordinary size and strength. Metis (cunning) now gave him an emetic, which he adminis- tered to Kronos, with the result that he cast up all the children he had swallowed, together with the stone. The latter was placed for a memorial at the foot of Mount Parnassus, and Jupiter conspired with his broth- ers and sisters to dethrone their father, whom he muti- lated as Uranus had been ; but when he sought to se- cure the throne for himself the Titans resisted, with the result that after ten j-ears' war Jupiter released the Cen- timani and the Cyclops, and with their aid overcame the Titans, whom he imjirisoned in the dungeon where the Cyclops had lain. The division of authority was then determined among the Kronidre by lot, Pluto re- ceiving the earth, Xeptune the sea, and Jupiter the heavens and supreme authority over all. The de- throned Kronos or Saturn, it is said, now fled to Italy and inaugurated the golden age. Men lived, like the gods, without care, in uninterrupted happiness, health, and strength ; they did not grow old ; and to them death was a slumber which relieved them of their present nature and transformed them into da-mons. The earth yielded every kind of fruit, and gave up all its treasures without cultivation and labor. Under the reign of Sat- urn men lived the life of paradise. To keep alive the recollection of this primitive life of innocence, freedom, and equality, the festival of the Saturnalia was insti- tuted at Rome, wliich began on Dec. 17, and contin- ued, first a single day, but afterwards for longer periods, until in the time of the cmjierors it extended over an j entire week. During its continuance all business was interrupted ; all distinctions between masters and slaves \ were laid aside, so that slaves sat at the sumptuous tai)le and masters waited on them, and every form of recrea- tion was allowed. In Greece Kronos or Saturn possess- ed temples of extremely ancient date. His temple at Rome stood at the foot of the Capitol, and served as an archive of the State and also as its treasury. Tiie god is usually represented as bearing a sickle. The scythe, wings, and hour-glass, which are likewise often intro- duced in such representations, are added notions of more
recent date, and resulted from a change in the mode of conceiving of the god. The Persians gave this deity an almost wholly animal representation : the lower parts of the body resemble those of swine, a human body with arms is added, and an animal head with crown completes the figure. — VoUmer, Wiji-terh. d. Mythol. s. v. See Smith, Diet, of Or. and Rom. Mythol. s. v.
Figure of Siituru.
Saturn, the planet, seems to be named as an ob- ject of worship in Amos v, 2G, under the title Khjun', ")^*3, where it is said of the Israelites in the wilderness, "Ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chi- nn, your images," etc. ; for a similar word is the name of this star in both Syriac and Arabic (comp. Aben-Ezra, ad loc.), and it is known that the ancient Arabians strove to propitiate Saturn as a star of evil influence (see Po- cocke. Spec. Hist. A rah. p. 103, 120, ed. nov. ; comp. Nor- berg, Onomast. Cod. Nas. p. 78 sq. : Ephrem Svr. 0pp. ii, 458; Propert. iv, 1, 104; Lucan, i, 652 ; Juvenal, vi, 569). On account of its distance from the sun it was considered by the ancient astronomers as having a cold nature (Pliny, ii, C, p. 75 ed. Hard.), and they ascribed to it heavy storms of rain (ibid, ii, 39; see Harduin, fld/oc; see also, on its evil influence, Macrobius, Saturn, i, 19, p. 95, 97 Bip. ; see also Moloch). The Sept. has 'Pnt- (pav ; comp. Acts vii, 43, where the MSS. vary much (see Griesb. ad loc. ; comp. O. Jliiller, in the Bibl. Luhec. vii, 469 sq.), but the best read 'l''i]<pav. This is a Cop- tic word, as Kircher has shown from an Arabico-Cop- tic inscription {Ling. JE(j. Kestit. p. 49 ; (Edip.yEff. p. 1, 386 sq.). Seyffarth would derive it from Pe, to make or be, and ovoiiv, light, i. e. shining (comp. Tatius Isag. in .1 rati Pluen. c. 17). Jablonski, however (liemph. yEgypt. Deus [Frankfort and Leips. 1731], also in his Opusc. ii, 1 S(i., and in Ugolini Thesaur. xxiii), would deny that this and the other names of planets associated with it in the inscription are Egyptian, and renders the word as Ethi- opic, king of heaven, i. e. sun (comp. Opusc. i, 230 sq.), from 7-0, " king," and pheh, " heaven." [Hence the true reading would be 'Po/i^ri.] Then we must understand the passage in Amos to refer to the worship of Osiris. But there is little evidence for the reading with /(. Ign. Rossi {Etyntol. ^Kgypt. [Rome. 1808] p. 176) explains 'PifKpd as meaning inhabitant of heaven, from ]>heh, "heaven," and rem, "inhabitant" (comp. Coptic version of 1 Cor. XV, 48 sq.). But this is not striking. More recently, Hengstenberg agrees with Jablonski in re-