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I grant that the variety of her attributes renders it more than probable that Athene was greatly indebted, perhaps to the "Divine Intelligence," personified in the Egyptian Naith perhaps also, as Herodotus asserts, to the warlike deity of Libya nor less, it may be, to the Onca of the Phoenicians , from whom in learning certain of the arts, the Greeks might simultaneously learn the name and worship of the Phoenician deity, presiding over such inventions.
The Phoenician remains give us no such name; but as Philo Byblius has an "Athene" among his Phoenician deities, whom he makes the daughter of Il, or Kronos, and the queen of Attica, it is perhaps best to allow Onca to retain her place in the Phoenician Pantheon.
Naith in the Doric dialect. If Onca, or Onga, was the name of the Phoenician goddess! The Phoenicians evidently had a deity correspondent with the Greek Minerva; but that it was named Onca, or Onga, is by no means satisfactorily proved; and the Scholiast, on Pindar, derives the epithet as applies to Minerva from a Boeotian village. De Mundo, c. 7. The Egyptians supposed three principles: 1st.
Then there were the wild beasts too. Lions from Abyssinia, from Atlas, tigers from Bengal, from Persia, jaguars, panthers, leopards, all the big cat family, lynx, onca, tiger cat. Bears of all kinds, grizzly, grey, black, and white. Then came wolves, foxes, coyotes, in fact the whole series of the dog tribe with every possible domestic variety.
Strength of the religious sentiment among the Phoenicians Proofs First stage of the religion, monotheistic Second stage, a polytheism within narrow limits Worship of Baal of Ashtoreth of El or Kronos of Melkarth of Dagon of Hadad of Adonis of Sydyk of Esmun of the Cabeiri of Onca of Tanith of Beltis Third stage marked by introduction of foreign deities Character of the Phoenician worship Altars and sacrifice Hymns of praise, temples, and votive offerings Wide prevalence of human sacrifice and of licentious orgies Institution of the Galli Extreme corruption of the later religion Views held on the subject of a future life Piety of the great mass of the people earnest, though mistaken.
There are no lions or tigers in America, but Europeans have loosely given these names to other species of the same genus, such as the felis onca, or jaguar; F. discolor or jaguarate; and F. concolor, or puma; which last is often called the American lion, and the jaguar is the Mexican tiger.
The other principal Phoenician deities were El, Melkarth, Dagon, Hadad, Adonis, Sydyk, Eshmun, the Cabeiri, Onca, Tanith, Tanata, or Anaitis, and Baalith, Baaltis, or Beltis. El, or Il, originally a name of the Supreme God, became in the later Phoenician mythology a separate and subordinate divinity, whom the Greeks compared to their Kronos and the Romans to their Saturn.
"Gently, friend Jaime," said he; "nothing for nothing is a good motto to grow rich upon. This shining onça, and more of the same sort, may be yours when you have done service for them." "And what do you require of me?" said the gipsy, with a quick eagerness that contrasted strongly with his previous apathetic indifference. "I will tell you," said Paco, "but in some more private place than this."
Several Greek writers speak of a Phoenician goddess corresponding to the Grecian Athene, and some of them say that she was named Onga or Onca.
The information contained in the above paragraph relative to the range of some of the animals mentioned may well be viewed with surprise by naturalists. To begin with, the jaguar or panther, by which vernacular names the Felis onca is presumably meant, is not only found in Northern Mexico, but extends its range into the United States and appears as far north as the Red River of Louisiana.
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