SATURN, a Pagan Deity, whom they make Father to Jupiter. The Scripture no where mentions this false God, but several Interpreters think he is insinuated under the Name of Remphan, Acts vii. 43. where St. Stephen quotes Amos v. 26. See before the Article REMPHAN.
The Mythologists, and Fable-Writers, make Saturn to be the Son of Cælus and Vesta, or Heaven and Earth. He made his Father an Eunuch, that he might have no more Children. He married Cybele, or Rhea, by whom he had several Children; and knowing that one of ‘em was to deprive him of the Government, he devoured them all as soon as they were born. Rhea being desirous of preserving her Son Jupiter, that was newly born, instead of the Child, gave to Saturn a Stone wrapt up in a Cloth, which he swallowed. When Jupiter grew up, he made War with his Father, overcame him, loaded him with Irons, and threw him into Hell, with all the rest that had assisted him in that War.
Saturn had three Sons by Rhea; Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto; and a Daughter called Juno, a Twin-Sister, and the Wife of Jupiter. Some add to these Ceres and Vesta. ‘Tis said that Saturn governed in Italy after Janus, that there he set up a Community of Goods, and Equality of Conditions. Hence it was, that at the Feasts called Saturnalia, which were kept in the Month of December, Servants were used to sit at Table with their Masters, or even the Masters waited at the Table of their Servants. ‘Twas this Reign of Saturn which was called the Golden Age. Saturn was painted heretofore as a crooked old Man, having a Scythe in his Hand. The Dominion over the Times and Seasons was imputed to him, and in Greek they gave him the Name of Chronos, which signifies Time.
The Name of this false Deity has no Right to be admitted into a Dictionary of the Bible, which naturally should receive no other Names, but such as are consecrated to us by being mentioned in Holy Writ: But as Saturn has several Strokes of Resemblance with the Patriarch Noah; and as several false Gods, mentioned in Scripture, are the same as Saturn, according to the Opinion of several learned Men, the Reader will not think much to find this particular Account of him. It has been thought, that Baal, that Moloch, that Remphan, were the same as Saturn; that the Custom of sacrificing human Victims was derived from Saturn; that he was confounded with Abraham, or with Israel. The Antients speak of Saturn the Phenician, of Saturn the African or Carthaginian, of Saturn the Egyptian. See what has been said of BAAL, MOLOCH, and of the sacrificing of human Victims.
As to those Marks of Resemblance between Noah and Saturn, they are very evident. He is represented with a Scythe, as the Inventor of Agriculture. Noah in Scripture Gen. ix. 20.is called Vir Agricola, and it is said he began first to Till the Ground. The Saturnalia that were celebrated with Wine and Licentiousness, and wherein Masters became equal to their Servants, shew the Drunkenness of Noah, and the Curse that made Canaan subject to his Brethren, tho’ he was their Equal by Birth. Saturn is said to have devoured all his Children, except only Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto. Noah saw the Waters of the Deluge destroy all the Men of his Time, many of which were his Relations, and younger than himself. In the Style of Scripture a Man is often said to do a Thing which he does not hinder to be done, or even what he foretells shall be done.
Jupiter, they say, made his Father an Eunuch, because Ham saw Noah’s Nakedness, and did not cover him. Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the Sons of Noah, are very plainly Typhon, or Pluto, Jupiter, and Neptune. Ham or Jupiter had Africa for his Portion; Japheth or Neptune had the Sea, or the Islands; Shem, or Pluto, had Asia. Shem had the greatest Privileges of all his Brethren, in respect of the True Religion. He was firm to the Lord, and always faithful to him; he dwelt with his Father. This Attachment made him odious to his Brethren, and their Posterity. Such great Prerogatives provoked their Hatred and Jealousy; for this Reason they feigned that he was God of Hell.