"
Thus Attis, as an embodiment of the corn-spirit, annually slain in
the person of his representative, might be thought to be ultimately
identical with Lityerses, the latter being simply the rustic
prototype out of which the state religion of Attis was developed. It
may have been so; but, on the other hand, the analogy of European
folk-custom warns us that amongst the same people two distinct
deities of vegetation may have their separate personal
representatives, both of whom are slain in the character of gods at
different times of the year. For in Europe, as we have seen, it
appears that one man was commonly slain in the character of the
tree-spirit in spring, and another in the character of the
corn-spirit in autumn. It may have been so in Phrygia also. Attis
was especially a tree-god, and his connexion with corn may have been
only such an extension of the power of a tree-spirit as is indicated
in customs like the Harvest-May. Again, the representative of Attis
appears to have been slain in spring; whereas Lityerses must have
been slain in summer or autumn, according to the time of the harvest
in Phrygia.
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