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We have seen mice revered, a god with a mouse-name, the mouse-name recurring in many places, the huaca, or idol, of the mouse preserved in the temples of the god, and the mouse-badge used in several widely severed localities. It remains to examine the myths about mice.
That the mice were actually held sacred in their proper persons we learn from AElian. 'The dwellers in Hamaxitus of the Troad worship mice, says AElian. The second point in our argument has already been sufficiently demonstrated. The mouse-name 'Smintheus' was given to Apollo in all the places mentioned by Strabo, 'and many others.
If there were local mice tribes, deriving their name from the worshipful mouse, certain towns settled by these tribes would retain a reverence for mice. Strabo speaks of two places deriving their name from Sminthus, or mouse, near the Sminthian temple, and others near Larissa. Here, then, are a number of localities in which the Mouse Apollo was adored, and where the old mouse-name lingered.
The mouse-name would be given locally to the god who superseded the mouse. The figure of the mouse would be associated with the god, and used as a badge, or a kind of crest, or local mark, in places where the mouse has been a venerated animal. Finally, myths would be told to account for the sacredness of a creature so undignified. Let us take these considerations in their order:
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