or HERTHUS, a great deity of the ancient Germans. Her name is doubtless the root of the modern English earth, and the German Erde, over which part of the world she was believed to preside. Tacitus in his Germania, states that she was worshipped with great solemnity by the Suevi, and that her temple stood in an island of the ocean, where her service was performed by a single priest. On great occasions, regulated by this priest, the covered chariot of the goddess was drawn forth from the sanctuary by the sacred cows and led in triumph throughout the country. Those districts was held to be peculiarly favoured through which the chariot passed; arms were laid aside; peace was proclaimed, and the time was spent in universal merry-making, till the priest declared that it was the will of the goddess to return to her shrine. Her image was then washed in a sacred spring; and as all who witnessed the ceremony of the ablution were drowned, the rites of the goddess Hertha were always associated in the minds of the vulgar with feelings of the most reverential awe. The island of Rügen was long regarded as being the sacred island of Hertha, but the honour has also been claimed for Heligoland and Zetland. Recent researches avail no further than to limit the choice to one of the Danish islands. The whole subject of Hertha and her worship is fully discussed by Grimm in his German Mythology.

HERULI, a nomad and warlike German tribe who made their appearance in various and widely separate parts of the Roman empire. They first occur in history on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Under the reign of Valentinian, they are associated with the Batavi as allies of the Romans against the Alemanni. They occur also in Britain. When Attila, king of the Huns, made his descent upon Western Europe, he was joined, amongst other tribes, by the Heruli, who subsequently, however, helped to destroy the power of the Huns. But the most memorable event in the history of this tribe was their overthrowing the Roman empire, A.D. 476. Their leader, at this time, was Odoacer, who is called King. Shortly subsequent to this, the Heruli established themselves into a more permanent body, near the banks of the Danube. Here they became a powerful nation, and the Ostrogoths sought their assistance against the Franks. Amongst the tribes which the Heruli had reduced to subjection, shortly after their establishment near the Danube, were the Longobardi, who succeeded in throwing off the Herulian yoke in the beginning of the sixth century. Of the dispersed Heruli, some proceeded to Scandinavia, and others got a settlement in Pannonia. These latter were troublesome neighbours to the western emperors. In Justinian's time they embraced Christianity. Under Tiberius, a large party of them joined the Gepidæ in the wars against the Eastern empire, so that the Heruli fought against each other. As a warlike nation they were bold and hardy, and as being perpetually in motion, the helpless, whether from age or sickness, were put to death or left to perish.