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A SECOND SERIES

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS,
INCLUDING
THEIR RELIGION, AGRICULTURE, &c.
DERIVED FROM A COMPARISON OF
THE PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES, AND MONUMENTS STILL EXISTING,
WITH THE ACCOUNTS OP ANCIENT AUTHORS.

By sir j. GARDNER WILKINSON, F.KS.
F.E,.G.S. M.R.S.L. 'm.LB.A. &c.
AUTHOR OF " A GENERAL VIEW OF EGYPT, AND
TOPOGRAPHY OF THEBES," ETC.

TWO VOLUMES, AND A VOLUME OF PLATES.
VOL. L
LONDON:
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET.
MDCCCXLI.

London :
Printed by A. Spottiswoode,
New- Street- Square.

PREFACE.

In the previous portion of this work I was under
the necessity of omitting certain subjects, which,
though intimately connected with the manners and
customs of the ancient Egyptians, could not have
been introduced without increasing it to a dispro
portionate size. But, in order to fulfil my original
intention of giving a summary view of the most
striking usages of that people, I have now put to
gether those which were omitted in the previous
volumes ; and if there appears any want of con
nection in the agriculture and religion, it will be
explained by the reason already stated. It may
also occur to the reader, that I have repeated some
remarks previously introduced ; but this I have
sometimes thought preferable to a too frequent re
ference to the preceding part of the work, espe
cially when they were directly connected with the
present subjects.
It has been thought better to arrange the plates
in a separate volume, many of which, from their
size, might be inconvenient with the letter-press ;
and thus the necessity of publishing volumes of
A 2

IV PREFACE.
larger dimensions has been avoided, and the uni
formity of the two sets has been thereby main
tained. I have much pleasure in acknowledging the kind
assistance of Mr. Burton and Mr. Pettigrew while
writing the accompanying volumes, to the former
of whom I am indebted for the Plates 85 and 86,
which are copied from his drawings in the tombs
of Thebes.
In offering any remarks on so abstruse and mys
terious a subject as the religion of the Egyptians,
I must observe that my view has been rather to
present the result of observations derived from the
Monuments, than to suggest my own opinion re
specting it ; feeling persuaded that the progress of
discovery in hieroglyphical literature will at length
explain the doctrines of that people without the
necessity of unsatisfactory and doubtful conjecture.
Whatever statements I have ventured to make are
open to correction, and await the sentence of more
matured opinions derived from the experience of
future discoveries.
Many interesting comparisons might be brought
forward of the religious notions of the Greeks,
Hindoos, and others, with those ofthe Egyptians;
but a minute examination of them would lead to
a lengthened disquisition, which neither the limits
of this work (already too long), nor the taste of
the generality of readers, would permit. Those

PREFACE. V
who are interested in the subject will find their
curiosity amply repaid by a reference to the va
luable work of Dr. Prichard, and to the various
pubUcations which treat of the religions of other
nations. They will find some striking analogies
in most of them, which appear to connect them
in a greater or less degree with each other ; and
which, by proclaiming a common origin at a most
remote period, tend, like the discoveries in lan
guage and other modern investigations, to point
out the important truths of the Mosaical history
ofthe world.

London, July 1840.

View of the modern town of Manfaloot.

A 3

CONTENTS OF
THE FIRST VOLUME.
(SECOND SERIES.)

CHAPTER XI. Page
Richness of Egypt. Shepherds, or Hycsos, a Tartar Race 2
Rich Countries exposed to Invasion. Duration ofthe Power
of Egypt - - - - - - 3
Attention paid to Agriculture. Resources and Army of
Egypt ------- 4
Egypt famed for Agriculture and Manufactures - - 5
Agricultural Representations. Origin of Geometry - 6
Measuring Land to ascertain the Extent of the Possessions
of each Individual. Survey ofthe Country, and Deter
mination of the Levels - - - 7
Menes turned the Course of the Nile. Dykes, Sluices, and
mechanical Inventions connected with the Inundation.
Nilometers - - - - 8
The Introduction of the Water by Canals into the Fields.
Propitiation of the God of the River - - 9
The Inundation. Rain rare in Egypt - - 10
Early Study of Astronomy connected also with the In
undation - - - - --11
Books of Hermes. Ages of Civilisation even before Menes.
Calculation of the Return of the Seasons - - 12
Division ofthe Year, originally into Lunar Months. Sub
stitution of Solar for Lunar Months. The Five Days - 13
A 4

VlU CONTENTS. Page
The Twelve Months, and the Three Seasons - - 14t
Intercalation. Sothic Period - - - - 15
Sothic Year. Thoth the Name of the first Month. The
early Intercalation ofthe Five Days. The Quarter Day.
Doubts respecting its first Adoption - - - 16
Flocks and Herds, Breed of Horses, Wool. Egypt united
the Advantages of an Agricultural and Manufacturing
Country. Export of Linen - - - - 20
Manufactures. Important Discoveries arising from their
Agricultural Pursuits - - . . - 21
Their Style of Building. Excavations under Ground.
Temples not imitated from excavated Monuments - 22
Abundance of Grain. Export. Many sold their Corn,
and lived on Doura Bread, — Esculent Roots - - 23
Three and Four Crops a Year. Profit to Government on
Exportation of Corn. Egyptian Land Measures. The
Aroura, Schcene, Cubit, Stade - - 24
Plethrum. Measurements of the Pyramid, by Herodotus
and others, uncertain - - - 25
The Cubit, supposed to vary at different Periods - 27
The Cubit appears to have been always of the same Length 28
Cubit of the Nilometer at Elephantine. Wooden Cubit of
M. Jomard. Division of the Cubit - - 29
M. Jomard's Calculations. Cubit ofthe Nilometer of Ele
phantine rudely divided - - - 31
Royal Cubit. Double Cubit recently found at Thebes - 32
The Aroura, how divided. Modern Fedddn. The Stade of
uncertain Length - - - - 33
Cultivation of the Land. Governors of Provinces. The
Peasants sowed what Crops they chose - 34
Rented Land from the Rich. Water of the Inundation
managed diiferently, according to Circumstances 35
Canals. Agricultural Scenes in the Sculptures - - 36
Subsiding of the Nile. The Nile rises now as high as for
merly, varying in different Years - 37
The Land sowed as soon as the Water had retired. Some
times previously prepared by the Plough and Hoe, some
times only dragged with Bushes, or the Seed trodden in
by Anim.ils - - - . 39

CONTENTS. IX
Page
Simple Process of Tillage. Slight Furrows of the Plough.
The modern Khonfud, a sort of Harrow. Plough of
Wood - - - - . . -41
Parts of the Plough. Yoke. Driver - - 42
Two different Animals not yoked together - 44
Plough and Hoe. Axe - - 45
Felling Trees with an Axe. Admission of Swine into the
Fields. Opinion of Larcher - - - - 46
The Duties of the Ploughman arduous. Barrel placed in
the Field, probably holding Seed. Seed put into a
Basket. Scattered with the Right Hand - 47
Cultivation of Land. Harrow and Rake unknown. Arti
ficial Irrigation. Dressing of Nitrous Soil - 49
Component Parts of the Alluvial Deposit 50
Nature ofthe Two Branches ofthe Nile. Other Kinds of
Dressing - - - 51
The Edge of the Desert cultivated. Vestiges of ancient
Cultivation in the Fyoom - - - 52
Quality of the Crops. Productions of the Winter Sea
son - .... 53
Carthamus tinctorius, an ancient Plant - - 54
Oil extracted from various Plants - 55
Castor-berry Tree. Mode of extracting the Oil - 56
Oil of Bitter Almonds. Length of Time to raise different
Crops. Plants of the Summer Season. — (Note.) Nature
of some Ointment at Alnwick Castle, and Analysis of a
Bronze Chisel found at Thebes - - - 58
Great Use of Vegetables. Names of some Roman Families
derived from certain Pulse - - 60
Names of Plants known to be grown in Ancient Egypt 61
Indigenous Plants of Egypt. Desert Plants. Herbarium
of Egypt. Those mentioned by Pliny - - 63
Trees of Ancient Egypt from the Paintings, and the Fruit
or seeds of others discovered in the Tombs - 76
Seeds and Fruits of India or Africa found there. Flowers
represented not very intelligibly. Little Attention to the
Growth of Plants and Trees in Modern Egypt - - 78

X CONTENTS. Page
The Sont still grown for its Pods, which are used in tan
ning. Groves occupying their ancient Sites - - 80
Bees. Hives require much attention in Egypt - - 8 1
Woods used by the Egyptians. Tools. Cabinet-work.
Woods, Ivory, and other Things brought by Foreign Tri
butary People - ... - 82
Wild Plants cultivated for medicinal Purposes. Their
Use still known to the Arabs - - - - 83
The Rhamnus, or Holy Thorn - - - - 84
Cultivation of Wheat and Barley. Mode of Reaping.
Cropped a little below the Ear - - - 85
Threshing by Oxen. Song of the Threshers - - 88
The Tritura, or treading out the Grain by Cattle - 91
Two Scribes to check the Accounts - - - 92
Oxen unmuzzled while treading out the Grain, as with the
Jews. Jewish Threshing Instruments - - 92
The modern Noreg, or Corn Drag. Wheat bound in Sheaves,
not generally the Custom. Mostly carried in Rope Nets,
or Baskets. Modern Egyptians cut the Wheat close to
the Ground - - - - 93
Sometimes, though rarely, the Oxen driven round the Heap
of Corn placed in the Centre of the Threshing-floor. The
modern Noreg - - - - - 94
The Tribulum. Horses fed on Straw. Cut up, as with the
Jews, for Provender - - - - - 95
Stall.fed Cattle. Land prepared for a Second Crop. Artificial
Irrigation .... 96
Avoided Repetition of similar Crops. Wheat and Dooru
represented : the latter plucked up by the Roots - 97
Stripped off the Grain by a Machine. Flax. The Return
of the Inundation anxiously looked for - - 98
Inundation. Its Commencement. The Water then bad.
Previously laid up in Jars - - 100
Colour of the God Nilus. Water entering the Canals.
Flocks and Herds rescued from the Inundation. Care
ofthe Dykes. Watched by Guards 101
Cavalry and Infantry to protect them. Management ofthe
Water to render a deficient Inundation available. Height
of the Rise. Villages overflowed - 103

CONTENTS. XI
Page
Pliny's Statement of its Rise. The Nile rises still in the
same Proportion.* Elevation ofthe Bed and Banks - 104
Land about Elephantine and Thebes. Extracts from a
Memoir presented to the Geographical Society - 106
Difference in the Height of the immediate Bank and the
Interior. Section of the Land - - - 107
The Dykes : perpendicular Elevation of the Land, in con
sequence of which the Inundation extends farther E.
and W. now than formerly ; proved by Examination of
the Colossi at Thebes, and other Monuments - 108
Encroachments of the Sand partial, and much exagge
rated ._---- 113
Sand Drifts in some Places, as in other Countries. The Ba
lance in favour of the Advance of Alluvial Deposit. The
Nature of the Desert. Its Mountains - - 115
Sections ofthe Desert between the Nile and Red Sea - 116
Other Sections. Sandstones and Granites cross the Nile.
Quarries of Silsilis. Valley of Nubia very narrow - 117
Libyan Desert. Lake Moeris. Fyoom. High Table Land of
Africa. The Oases Depressions in this Mountain Plain.
Character of the Oases - - - - 118
Fancied Dangers from the Sand. The Simoom. Abrupt
Separation of the most fertile and most barren Land - 120
The Hdger cultivated. Good Soil for some Productions.
The Vine. Remains of Canals there - - 121
Roots of Vines, and Vestiges of once cultivated Fields.
Festivals of the Peasants during the Inundation, and
other Seasons - - - - - 122
Feast of First Fruits of Lentils, when instituted. Festival
of Hermes. Rearing of Animals - - - 125
Pastors, represented deformed - - 126
The Peasant who tilled the Land responsible for the Cattle
feeding there. Stall-fed Oxen - - 127
The Head Shepherd gave an Account ofthe Stock of Cattle
and the Flocks on the Estate. Shepherds chosen by
the Steward. Jews set over the Herds of Pharaoh - 128
Cattle brought into a Court to be counted - 129
* The last inundation carried away several villages from the plain.

XU CONTENTS. Page
Sculptures with Numbers inscribed over the Animals. An
tiquity ofthe Tombs at the Pyramids - 131
Geese numbered, as well as the Eggs - - 132
All done by Writing. Veterinary Art. Artificial Mode of
Hatching Eggs of Hens and Geese . . - 133
The modern Ovens for Hatching Eggs ; and the Process - 134
Sheep twice shorn and twice produced Lambs in one Year.
The Veterinary Surgeons - - - 138
Wild Animals treated in the same Manner - - 140
CHAP. XII.
Religious Opinions of the Egyptians - - 141
Sacred Institutions of other Countries borrowed from Egypt.
A particular Deity for each Month and Day. Astrology
from Egypt - - - - 142
Supposed themselves the first who taught Man the proper
Mode of approaching the Deity. Study of Omens 143
Divination of Children. Superstitious Notions. Sacrifices
of Meat-Offerings of very early Use in Egypt - 144
The Opinions of Proclus and Macrobius of early Sacrifices.
The Israelites. Victims. Passover - 145
Earliest Sacrifices of Animals. The first Offering - 146
Oxen and Geese offered in Egypt to the Gods. Oracles of
very old Date. Origin of different Deities in Greece
a new Idea - - - - 147
Borrowed from Egypt. Some not Egyptian. No Heroes
among the Gods of Egypt. Statues of Mercury. Gods
known in Egypt, though under other Names - 148
Gods of Pelasgi without Names. Adopted from Egypt.
Worship of Bacchus introduced by Melampus. Phallic
Mercury - - - - 149
Oracle of Dodona of Egyptian Origin. Oracles of Egypt.
Besa. Its Answers given, as at Heliopolis, in Writing,
and sealed - 150
Different Forms in consulting different Oracles. At Aphaca,
the Presents sinking or swimming gave a good or bad
Omen. Oracle of Ammon. ( Firfe wj/ra, p. 248, 249.) - 151

CONTENTS. XIU Page
Oracles consulted on all Occasions. To discover Theft.
Predictions from Astrological Calculations ; not very un
like our Moore's Almanac - - - 153
Offerings of the Jews of various Kinds - - - 154
Offerings for various Occasions. With the Egyptians, also,
they varied according to Circumstances. The Pig only
offered to " the Moon and Bacchus." Different Animals
sacrificed in different Parts of Egypt - - . 157
Certain Rites in some Provinces. The great Gods wor
shipped every where, though more respect was paid to
the presiding Deity - - - 158
The same Sacred Animals not respected in different Places 159
Reasons for some being sacred, that they might abstain
from eating them. Prejudice iu favour of old Customs,
as for the supposed Poems of Isis. The original Motive
forgotten in Process of Time - - 160
Greeks derided the Religion of Egypt, particularly their
Animal Worship - - - 161
Plutarch's Observation on the Remark of Xenophanes - 163
Unjust to mislead the People while the Priests had a Creed
peculiar to themselves - - 164
The Religion originally more simple, corrupted in Time.
The Emblems often appeared ridiculous - 165
The Explanations not to be taken literally. Certain Secrets
confined to the Priests to prevent Perversion. Ignorance
of the Uninitiated - - - - 166
No Egyptian Gods once Human Beings 167
Ignorance of the Greeks respecting their own Religion.
Derived from Egypt - - 168
The Greeks considered by the Egyptians Children in point
of Antiquity (conf. Joseph, contra Apion. lib. 1.). They
ridiculed the Greeks for deriving their Origin from Gods 169
The Word Piromi, and Remark of the Egyptians to Hero
dotus. Manifestation of Osiris on Earth, a different Idea 170
The Images of the Gods not intended to represent real
Beings. Corruption of the Symbols. Adoration of them
in lieu of the Original - - - 171
Various Forms of the One sole God under different Names.

XIV CONTENTS. Page
An abstract Idea. The Folly of the Greeks in calling
themselves the Descendants of "Strength" (Hercules) 172
Many abstract Ideas made Into Gods. Strange Gods of
Greece and Rome. Physical Deities of Egypt - 173
Animals' Heads given to Gods served to distinguish them
more clearly than any conventional Features. Too nu
merous for this. Greek Gods and Christian Saints dis
tinguished by certain Emblems - - 174
The Priests aware of the Nature of their Gods, which was
concealed from the People. The Character ofthe Greek
Vulcan degraded - - - - - 1 75
Egyptian Gods not reduced to the Level of Men. The
Egyptian Religion based on theBelief in One Omnipotent
God .... .176
Notion of some of the early Greeks. An ancient Theogony 177
Question if the Egyptians made any Representation of the
Unity of the Deity. Many allegorical Figures supposed
to be adopted for this Purpose. Snake with its Tail in
its Mouth - - - - - 178
Osiris not the Unity of the Deity. He became a Member
of a separate Triad after his Death. Many Names of
Osiris and Isis. The Divinity himself not represented.
The Great Gods Characters ofthe Divinity himself - 179
Various Grades of Deities. Degraded Offices of some
Greek and Roman Gods. The Twelve Great Gods of
Rome and Greece called Consuentes or Consentes - 180
The Eight Selecti, and the Dii Semones. Arrangement of
the Greek Gods according to Cicero and others 181
The Cabiri. Division of Pythagoras and Plato - - 184
Eight Great Gods of Egypt. The Triad - - 185
Trinity. Elohim of the Bible. The Creative Power as a
Trinity - - - 186
Elohim " Gods." First Mention of Jehovah (Ihoah).
The Trinity obscurely noticed in the Old Testament - 187
Connection between Truth and the Creative Power - 188
Osiris the Deity manifested on Earth. His curious History
in a Chamber at Philae . 189

CONTENTS. XV
Page
The Monad or One Deity above and apart from the Triad.
The Three Intellects, the Three Kings of Plato - -190
Triple Nature of the Deity under different Names - 191
Intelligence, Matter, and Kosmos. Plato's Nuptial Diagram.
The Triangle of Osiris, Isis, and Horus (Orus) - 192
Pythagorean Numbers, and those of Egypt - - 193
Pythagoras borrowed them from Egypt. His Numerical
System now appears evidently to agree with theirs.
Egyptian Hieratic Numbers - - - 197
Speculations of later Times have attached other Meanings
to Numbers - - - - 198
Manifestation of the Deity on Earth borrowed from early
Revelation. Other Traditions, as of the Deluge, Ark, &c.
Altered by Speculations of later Times - - 200
Much corrupted by the Greeks and Romans; bringing
Discredit on the Egyptians. The Religion at Alexandria
much degraded from that of the Ancient Egyptians - 201
Errors of the Greeks respecting Egypt. The Pallacides of
Amun - - - - - - 203
Little Dependence to be placed on the Theogony of Greece
as illustrative of that of Egypt. Some Traces of their
Connection discernible. Mistake respecting the Principles
ofthe Egyptian Religion. Greek Fables, of various Kinds - 205
Rule of Egyptian Gods on Earth, explained to be that of
the Hierarchy - 206
The early Portion of History fabulous. Old Tales still
believed to a late Time, though no one would credit them
if not sanctioned by Antiquity - - - 207
Greek Religion founded on popular Legends, with an Ad
dition of Metaphysical Speculation in after Times. Incon
sistency in the History of some Deities. Foreign Notions
altered. Mythological Tales in the Religion of Greece 208
Historical Fable not Part of Egyptian Belief Ground
work of their Religion. Sun and Moon - 209
Sun, Chief of Heavenly Bodies. A Physical and Meta
physical Deity. Allegorical Portion of the Religion.
Moral Emblems - ... 210

XVI CONTENTS. Page
The Religion in early Times more simple. Sabsean Wor
ship. Belief in Future State, when introduced - 211
The Religion the same in the Time of the Erection of
the oldest Monuments. Changes in the Number of the
Gods, and in the Accessories of the Religion, but not in
the Religion itself. The Alteration of the Name of
Amun, and the Worship of the Sun at Tel-el-Amarna,
not Changes in the Religion - - - - 212
Opinions of the Greeks on the Theogony of Egypt - 213
Erroneous Notion of the Planets and Stars being the real
Gods of the Egyptians. Porphyry's Description of
« Kneph" - - . . 214
Some correct Notions to be gleaned from Plato and others.
Hermetic Books. Cosmogony of Egypt from lamblichus 215
Another Division, Emeph (Kneph), and the One before all 216
Sun and Moon. Heavens divided into certain Parts. The
One ... - - 217
Principle of all Things, God and Intellect, Nature, Matter,
Energy, Fate, Conclusion and Renovation. Cheraemon
relates only the lowest Principles. Almanacs - 218
Doctrines of Plato - - - - 219
Opinions ofthe Egyptians according to Plato. The Great
Year. Deluge ; several Deluges. Atlantic Island - 221
Daemons employed in the Creation. Middle Order of Beings
subject to Punishment - - - 222
Pythagorean Doctrines, Idea or Form, Matter, and the
World. Matter the Receptacle of Form; Mother -223
Idea, Matter, and God, existed before the World - 224
The Monad preceded the Triad or Trinity of the Creative
Power, according to lamblichus. The different Characters
of the Deity. The Sun and Moon. Other Rulers of
Heaven ... 225
The Chaotic Egg. Masculo-feminine Being. Distortions
ofthe new Platonists - - . 226
Authority of Plato and Pythagoras. Herodotus. The
Eight Great Gods ... . 227
Re, Physical and Intellectual Sun. Offspring of Re. Grades
of Deities ... 228

CONTENTS. XVU Page
Roman Gods. Children of Seb and Netpe. Manetho's
Dynasties of Gods .... 229
Names of Egyptian Gods. Neptune and the Dioscuri.
Error respecting Pan and Diana - - 230
Triads of Egyptian Towns - - - - 231
Funereal Triad. Stone with a Triad. Bait - - 232
Great Triads. King introduced in some of them - 233
CHAP. XIII.
Egyptian Pantheon. Eight Great Gods. Neph, Nef
the Spirit of the Deity . . . „ 235
Idea handed down from the Sons of Ham - 236
Division of the Attributes of the Deity. Form of Neph.
Error respecting Amun - - - 237
Cneph, or Cnuphis, of Elephantine. Jupiter of Ethiopia.
A Theban Deity - - - - 238
Asp of Neph and Ranno. Asp, Emblem of Dominion 239
Asp opposed to the Vulture. The Uraeus Asp. De
scription of " Kneph," by Porphyry - - -240
Form and Colour of Neph. Worshipped in Ethiopia. Sheep
sacred to Neph - - - - - 241
Large Flocks of Sheep in the Thebaid. Neph at Esneh.
A Ram's Head given to the God 242
The Ram and Goat in Hieroglyphics. Amun-re - 243
Alteration in the Name of Amun - - 244
Gods assumed each other's Attributes - 245
Rank of Osiris. Great Triad of Thebes. Amun of a blue
Colour. Error respecting Amun and Anubis. Jupiter.
Union of Amun and Re. Amun-re and Atin-re 246
Amun-re and Amunre-Generator. Tv/o Theban Triads.
Meaning of the word Amun - - 247
Horned Snake. Meaning of Amun, Maut, and Khonso.
Oracle of Thebes - - - - 248
Oracle of the Oasis. Pthah, the Creator 249
Accompanied by Truth. The Beetle belonged to iiim - 250
Other Characters of Pthah. The Greek Vulcan - 251
Name Hephaestus. Form of Pthah - • 252
VOL. I. — Second Series. a

XVIU CONTENTS. Page
Emblem of Stability. Pthah Toses. Pthah-Sokari-
OsiRis, the God of Memphis - 253
Boat of Sokari. The Hearse of Osiris. Deformed Figure
of this God ... 255
Called also Sokari-Osiris. Pthah Tore, with a Scarabaeus
on his Head. Frog-headed God, probably a Form of
Pthah. - - . . 256
Frog-headed Goddess. Khem. Pan, God of Pano-
polis ...... 257
Priapus. Hermes Statues - - 258
Name of Egypt. Represented by a Tree. Egypt called
Khemi ... 259
The Fig Tree. Error of Herodotus respecting Pan - 260
Mendes. Ham. Ham and Mizraim Egypt - - 261
Progeny of Ham and of Cush. Ethiopia - 262
Memnon. Chemi black. Pan of Thebes - 263
Khem, the Generative Power, a very ancient God - 264
Thriphis. Inscription at Athribis - 265
Sate, Juno. Greatly worshipped at the Cataracts - 266
The Heaven considered Masculine by the Egyptians.
Errors of the Greeks from accidental Analogies in the
History of the Gods of Egypt. Many Forms given to
Juno ..... 268
Human Sacrifices to Juno. The Great Goddesses of
Egypt - - - - - 269
Amenti and the West. The East the Beginning of the
World ... . . 270
Maut, Nature? Buto. Oracle of Buto - - 271
Temple of Latona at Buto. Floating Island - - 272
Not certain that Maut and Buto were the same. Thriphis.
The Mygale. Primeval Night ... 273
Night older than Day. Darkness. Niglit the Origin of
all Things. Not the same as Evening . . 274
Custom of clothing Mysteries in the Guise of popular
Tales - - - - - 275
Dress of Maut. Hieroglyphical Name of Buto, or of Bu-
bastis - . . . . 276
Pasht, Bubastis, Diana. City of Bubastis. The Temple
there - - . - . 277

CONTENTS. XIX
P.ige
Bubastis had the Head of a Lioness, or of a Cat. The
Speos Artemidos. Bronzes - - 278
Festival of Bubastis. Women striking Crotala. -279
Error respecting Bubastis or Diana. Not related to Isis.
Story in Ovid of Diana and the Cat - -280
Error of Juvenal. Different Characters of the Greek
Diana. Cicero's Remark on the Uncertainty respecting
the Gods . - 281
The Name of Hecate applied also to Pasht. The Moon a
Male Deity. Neith, Minerva. Called Onka. Wor
shipped at Sais - . - 282
The Word Sais not the Olive. Town of Sais or Ssa - 283
The Olive not believed by the Egyptians to be given by
Minerva. Athena. Name of Neith in Hieroglyphics - 284
It is confounded with another. Form of Neith. Armed
as was Minerva. - ... 285
Supposed to be Air. Gods of the Second and other
Orders - - ... 286
Re the Sun, Phre, Phrah, Pharaoh - 287
The Sun, the Chief of Heavenly Bodies ; as the King, the
Chief of all on Earth - - - -288
Re in the Names of Kings. Early Worship of Heavenly
Bodies probable .... 289
Diodorus supposed Isis and Osiris to be the Moon and Sun.
Macrobius calls Osiris the Sun, and Isis Earth, or
Nature --.... 290
Early Sabaean Worship. Importance of Re - - 291
A Star connected with the Idea of Prayer. The principal
Deities of Egypt not Physical Objects - . 292
Planets dedicated to, and called after, certain Deities - 293
Study of Astronomy unconnected with the Worship of
Heavenly Bodies. Obelisks supposed to be always de
dicated to the Sun . . . . ^ 294
Form of Re. Hawk and Scarabaeus Emblems of the Sun 295
Re of a Red Colour. Atin-re - - . 296
Lions Solar Animals. Sun and Horus. Atin-re 297
Grottoes of Tel-el-Amarna. Emanations of Re. Characters
of the Sun separated - - - - . 298
a 2

XX CONTENTS. Page
Baal. Several Deities made of the Sun - - " 299
Heliopolis. On. Wine not used by the Priests of the Sun 300
Potipherah, a Priest of On, or Heliopolis ; his Name in Hie
roglyphics answering to Heliodotus - - - 301
The Learning of the Priests of Heliopolis. Greeks studied
there. The Colleges and Learning transferred to Alex
andria ; with its Obelisks - - - - 302
The Phoenix. Story of its Death - 303
Represented in the Sculptures. Emblem of a Traveller - 304
Phcenix and Star, in Attitude of Prayer. Name of Phoe
nix. ( Vide infra, vol. ii. p. 228.) Rising from its Ashes 305
Periodical Return ofthe Phoenix, probably the Sothic Period 307
Seb, Saturn, or Chronos. Differed from the Saturn of
Greece, whose Temple was not admitted within an Egyp
tian City - 308
Early Offerings. Lawful in Egypt to sacrifice Animals - 309
Children of Seb and Netpe. The Five Days of the Epact - 310
The Goose the Emblem of Seb, who was called the Father
of the Gods. Netpe, or Rhea, his Wife, the Mother of
Osiris and Isis - - - - - 312
The Sycamore Fig Tree sacred to her - - - 313
Netpe bears some Analogy to Lucina. Osiris, Judge of
the Dead - - - - 314
Souls of Men Emanations of the Divine Soul. Metempsy
chosis - - - - .316
Numerous Characters of Osiris and Isis. Manifestation of
the Deity under a Human Form. Osiris not a Human
Being deified ..... 317
Doctrine of Emanations. The Origin of Animal Worship
supposed to be the Portion of the Divine Essence each
possessed - - 318
Osiris, Manifester of Good. Onuphis, or Ouon-nofre, called
also " President of the West," &c. 320
Other Titles. Supposed Figure of Osiris in the British
Museum . 321
Name of Osiris applied to Men and Women after Death.
Osiris, why called a God of the Third Order - - 322
Gods imparted Knowledge of various Kinds to Men. Osiris

CONTENTS.. XXI
Page
identified with Bacchus, and Pluto. In this Character
spoken of with great reserve .... 324
Also identified with other Deities ... 325
The Names of Minos and Rhadamanthus have an Egyptian
Character. Existence of Osiris on Earth an Allegory - 326
Mysteries of Osiris unknown. Origin of those of Eleusis.
Ceremonies on the Lake of Sais. Herodotus scrupulous
in mentioning them - - - 327
The Thesmophoria brought from Egypt. Sepulchre of
Osiris at Sais. Fete of Lamps. Fete of Busiris. Burial-
places of Osiris - - - - 328
The allegorical Tales of Osiris, and his fabulous History.
Compared to the Nile ; Isis, the Land of Egypt ; and Ty-
pho, the Sea. Story of the Life of Osiris - 329
Typho's Conspiracy. The Chest in which Osiris was car
ried away - .... 330
The 17th Day of Athyr. His Age Twenty-eight Years.
Pans and Satyrs. Koptos (Coptos). Nephthys, and the
Melilot Garland {vide infra, Vol. II. p. 266., note).
Anubis - - - 331
The Chest carried to Byblos. The Tamarisk Tree. Found
by Typho. The scattered Members of Osiris. Many
Sepulchres - - - - - - 332
The Three Fish. Battle between Horus and Typho. Har-
pocrates. Osiris the Inundation, Isis the Land, and
Horus their Son, born from these two - 333
Other Explanations of this Story - - 334
The Details of the Story explained summarily - - 336
An Allegory, and not a real Event. The early Notion of
a God who lived on Earth, and was the King and Father
of Mankind - - - - - 339
Colour of Osiris. The Leopard Skin answering to the
Nebris of Bacchus. Emblem of Stability ; not a Nilo
meter - - - - - 341
Osiris in White Dress. Isis in many-coloured Robes.
Osiris as Sokari. ( Vide also a form of Osiris, infra,
Vol. II. p. 477., note on last page but six.) Phallic Cere
monies. Paamylia - - 342
a S

XXll CONTENTS. Page
Puppets now used in Egypt. Name of Osiris in an Oval.
Triad. Osiris and Isis admitted into every Temple - 344
Sepulchre of Osiris at Philae. His Temple at Abydus.
Persons buried there from distant Towns. Apis at
Memphis ...... 346
Names of Memphis, Busiris, and Taposiris. Apis the Bull
of Memphis ; an Image of the Soul^of Osiris - - 347
Apis, or Epaphus, known by certain Marks. His Colour.
How produced - _ . 348
All clean Oxen belonged to Apis. Hapi his Egyptian Name.
Kept at Memphis. Considered a God - - 350
Death of Apis. Said to be sometimes put to death - 352
Rites of Bacchus supposed to be very similar to the Cere
monies at his Funeral. Whence this Idea. Funeral of
Apis ; its Expense _ . _ . . 353
Public Lamentation. Re-appearance of the Deity. A new
Apis sought, and discovered by certain Marks - - 354
Children inspired by him. Anger of Cambyses. Favour
able or unfavourable Omens derived from the Actions of
Apis - - . - - - 356
Crocodiles awed by Apis. His Two Stables. Care taken
of him. Nile Water not given him, to prevent his be
coming fat - - - - . . 358
A Bull with Globe and Feathers. A black Bull on the
Coffins a Representation of Apis. ( Vide infra. Vol. II.
p. 315.) - - " - 359
A White Bull. Sakapis. His Worship, when introduced
into Egypt ...... 360
The Name of Sarapis the Union of Osiris and Aipis ; the
Sarapis of old Time being no other than Osiris - 364
Sarapis not really an Egyptian Deity, but attached by the
Greeks to the Pantheon of Egypt. Isis confounded
with other Deities - - 366
Thermuthis. The Asp. Names of Isis . 367
The Nuptial Diagram of Plato. Anubis and Hecate 369
Isis-Sothis. The Dog-Star. Legends of Osiris and Isis - 371
The Two Egyptian Years; the Sothic Period of 1460
Years - - 372

CONTENTS. XXlll Page
The Egyptians had the Solar and Sidereal, or Sothic Year - 374
The Quarter Day, or Intercalary Day every Four Years, of
Egyptian Origin. The Heliacal Rising of Sothis an im
portant Time in Egypt .... 375
The Twelve Months at the Memnonium. Isis-Sothis. Isis
the greatest of Goddesses, in her mysterious Character - -378
Fete of Isis at Busiris. The Votaries beat themselves. The
Carians cut themselves, showing they were not Egyptians.
Heifers not allowed to be sacrificed in Egypt, being sa
cred to Isis _..-.. 380
Abhorrence felt for the Greeks. Bulls and Heifers, how
buried. Atarbechis the City of Venus. Connection of
Isis and A thor ..... 381
Forms and Titles of Isis. Nursing the Infant Horus - 384
Married her Brother Osiris. This Custom in Egypt. Great
Temple of Isis at Philae. Coptos. Festivals of Isis - 385
An Address to Isis. Athor .... 386
Her Name. Her Title in a Papyrus. Represented under
the Form of a Cow. Comes from the Mountain, perhaps
as the Morning Star. Name of Pathyris a Part of
Thebes - - - - - - 387
Athor answered to Night ; not theoriginal Night, or primeval
Darkness. Notion of Jablonski on the Two Nights. The
Cow Ehe, lo - - - - - 388
The Month Athor. Death of Osiris. Worshipped at
Aboosimbel or Aboshek. Cow of Momeraphis - 389
Aphroditopolis, Chusae, Atarbechis, Tentyris - - 390
Her Dress. President of the West. The Persea Tree sa
cred to her. Persea and Peach confounded - - 391
Patroness of Dress. Worship of the Cow, and the Indian
Sepoys. No Argument to be drawn from their Respect
to its Figure in Egypt. Reason of the Worship of the
Cow, or Bull - - - - - 393
Horus, the Son of Isis and Osiris. Identified with Apollo.
Slew the Serpent, corresponding to the Pytho of the
Greeks and the Caliya of the Hindoos - 395
The Aphophis of Plutarch. The War of the Gods and
Giants. The Hawk of Horus. Aroeris, or the Elder
a 4

XXIV CONTENTS. Page
Horus, supposed to be Apollo, and therefore usurping
the Character of the younger Horus - - - 396
Other Deities claim the same Character ; and the Two
Horuses are confounded. Peculiar Title of the younger
Horus " the Defender of his Father Osiris " - - 398
Horus the Type of Majesty. The Steersman ofthe Sacred
Boats  399
Notions respecting Horus, his Colour and allegorical Cha
racter ...... 400
Mistaken for Priapus. Duties of Horus. The Hawk on
Tablets and Mummy Cases of Horus - - 401
Horus and Ar^s. Horus was Apollo. Warlike Weapons
given to several Deities. The Horm - - 402
Horus and Ouro. Pharaoh or Phrah the Sun. Re and Horus
both the Types of Majesty. Aroeris, the elder Horus,
and Brother of Osiris. ( Vide infra, xxvi., the name of
Aroeris) - ... 403
Aroeris, perhaps the Light or Splendour ofthe Sun. Har-
pocrates, the Infant Horus. Born of Isis after her Hus
band's Death. Fable of his being the tender Shoots of
Pulse - - - - - - 405
Supposed to indicate Silence. The First Fruits of Lentils
offered to him. The Peach Tree. Form of Harpocrates
an Infant - - . 406
Other Infant Deities. Wears the Emblem of Truth. May
represent Youth in general. Resuscitation or New Birth.
Dissolution the Cause of Reproduction - - 407
Triad of Isis, Nephthys, and Harpocrates. Harpocrates
seated on a Throne supported by Lions. Called Horus - 408
Notion of his being the God of Silence erroneous. His
Finger to his Mouth does not indicate this. Eh6ou, the
Day ; in Form similar to Harpocrates - - 409
Athor his Mother. The Rising Sun. The Deity Ehoou
may be the Day or Morning, answering to Aurora, dis
tinct from Venus or the Morning Star - 410
Ehoou and Eos. The Lotus a Nymphaea ; and not the Ne-
lumbo, as in India - - - - - 41 1
Hor-Hat or Agathodaemon. His Offices - 412

CONTENTS. XXV Page
His Form. The Good Genius, distinct from Ranno. The
winged Globe - - . . - 413
The Gpd of ApoUinopolis Magna. Ombte, Ablaut, or
Ombo, the Evil Being. His Duties - - 414
His Name, related to Tithrambo. He was a Son of Netpe,
and one of the Family of Seb in the Place assigned to
Typho - . - . . .4,15
His peculiar Head of a fabulous Animal*, not of an Ass.
Confusion ofthe Greeks respecting the Name of Typho 417
Two Deities who answered to Typho. The Figure of
Ombte always erased. Sacrifices offered to him though
the Evil Being . . . . 419
His Resemblance to Antaeus . . . 420
The Good and Bad Principles ... 422
Period when the Erasure of his Name and Figure took place.
This Aversion, whence derived - . 424
Distinction between the positively Good and the positively
Bad ...... 42g
Birthday of Typho inauspicious. Evil Being propitiated.
Conclusion respecting the Erasure . . 427
Supposed to be Joseph. Typho Gestation ? not the Son of
Seb, but a Female Deity - - . . 428
Her Name appears to read Typho, which has probably, by
mistake, been given to Ombte by the Greeks. Her Form.
Worshipped. Her Character and Office - . 429
Has even the Name Isis over her. Hippopotamus and Cro
codile the Emblems of Typho. Typho and Mars - 430
Buildings called Typhonia. Mammeisi, where the Third
Member of theTriad was born. Death ? in a bad Sense 431
Character of this Deity. Where represented - . 432
Resemblance to Hercules. Connection of Death and In
fancy, or Horus. These Two sometimes united under
one Form. An allegorical and mythological Subject - 433
Perhaps the same as Besa. Invocation of " Typhon Seth."
Opinion of Professor Reuvens - - 434
• The two heads, of the hawk and this animal, given to one figure (in
Plate 38. ), may allude to the fact of Aroeris and Typho (or Ombte) being
twins.

XXVI CONTENTS. Page
Aph6phis, the Serpent. The Name signifies a Giant. The
Fable of Pytho, and of the Giants - - - 435
Horus destroying the Serpent Aphophis. A Snake pursued
Thueris. Nephthys supposed to have been the Wife of
Typho - - - - - - 436
Opposed to her Sister Isis as the End, not in a bad Sense.
Two Triads of Amenti. Her Character in the fabulous
History of Osiris. Employed like Isis about the Dead.
Her Name how composed .... 437
Her Office and Resemblance to other Deities - - 438
The Termination of Lifenot Annihilation. She was distinct
from Death. Perhaps she was the End of the Year, op
posed to Isis as the Beginning ... 439
Anubis, the Son of Osiris and Isis. Error of the Greeks
in giving him the Head of a Dog ... 440
Explanation of his Character by Plutarch. Hecate. Time.
Office of Anubis - ... 441
Corresponded to Mercurius Psychopompos. Represented
with a Corpse. The Soul and the Symbol of Transmi
gration. Answered to Death in a good Sense - - 442
Whence thought to signify Time. Thoth and Anubis, their
separate Offices. Story of Anubis accompanying Osiris
in his Expedition. Anubis and Macedo Sons of Osiris - 443
Macedo. His Form uncertain - . . 444

No. 4.56. a. The name of Aroeris, Hor-Oeri. Vhilce.
The word oeri signifies " beautiful," " precious," '* fine," &c. ; and
is applied to women, v<^luable gifts, and monuments. It readily calls
to mmd the Greek word ai^onof, which is of similar import.

LIST AND EXPLANATION OF THE
WOODCUTS AND VIGNETTES.

Device on the Cover of the Book, . . . the Ark of Neph. — The
rams' heads are emblematic of that God ; the sphinx of the
king. The centre of the upper part is intended to repre
sent a transverse section of the Great Hall of Assembly.
(The Hall of the Assemblies or Panegyrics, infra, Vol.11.
p. 288., and PL 54., are in like manner sections of tbe cen
tral and lateral colonnades.) The column on the left is the
centre avenue; that on the right is the side colonnade of
lower columns, with its attic above, in which were windows,
as at Karnak, the Memnonium, &c. The inner lines repre
sent the section of the Sekos or sanctuary, in which are the
holy emblems, with the veil partially drawn aside. This
stands in a boat ; and the whole having been borne by the
priests by means of the staves at the side of the sledge, is
placed on a table. Vide iyfrd, Vol. II. p. 271. 275.
CHAP. XI.
Page
1. Vignette K. Machine used as a harrow after the land is
ploughed. — Heliopolis.
14. Woodcut, No. 420. The twelve Egyptian months.
32. (not numbered) The two cubits (in note).
38. No. 421. Goats treading in the seed when sown in the
mud, after the retiring of the waters.
40. No. 422. Ploughing and hoeing.
42. No. 423. Yoke of an ancient plough.

XXVIU EXPLANATION OF WOODCUTS, ETC.
Page 44. Woodcut, No. 424. Hoes.
46. No. 425. Hoeing, sowing, and felling trees.
47. No. 426. Ploughing, sowing, and reaping.
78. No. 427. Plants from the sculptures.
86. No. 428. Harvest scene.
87. No. 429. The tritura, with oxen.
88. No. 430. Song of the threshers to the oxen.
89. No. 431. Harvest scene.
90. No. 432. Tritura, and winnowing.
93. No. 433. Wheat bound in sheaves.
94. No. 434. Oxen sometimes driven round the heap, to
tread out the grain.
98. No. 435. Gathering the doora, and wheat.
99. No. 436. Stripping off the grain of the doora.
102. No. 437. Cattle rescued from a sudden inundation.
126. No. 438. A deformed ox-herd.
128. No. 439. Giving an account ofthe cattle on the estate.
129. No. 440. Herdsman giving an account of the cattle.
130. No. 441. Cattle, goats, asses, and sheep, with their
numbers over them.
132. No. 442. Geese brought and numbered.
135. No. 443. Modern ovens for hatching eggs.
139. No. 444. Herdsmen and poulterers treating sick animals.
140. No. 439. (repeated.)
CHAP. XIL
141. Vignette L. The two colossi of Thebes before the temple
built by Amunoph III., with the ruins of Luxor in the
distance, during the inundation.
232. M'^oodcut, No. 445. Stone representing a triad.
CHAP. xin.
235. Vignette M. Pavilion of Remeses III.
253. Woodcut, No. 446. Pthah under the form of Stability.
276. No. 447. A name probably of Buto, or of Bubastis.

EXPLANATION OF WOODCUTS, ETC. xxix

Page
288.
292. 301.321.
Ibid. 349.
350.374. 384. 401.
404.

Woodcut, No. 448. The king, under the form of a hawk
and a sphinx, to whom the God is giving " life."
No. 449. Figures praying, accompanied by a star.
Name of Potipherah, Pet-re.
Titles of Osiris.
Supposed figure of Osiris in the British Mu-

No. 450.
No. 451.
No. 452
^cum.
No. 453.
No. 454.

The bull Apis.
Hieroglyphic name of Apis.
Tne square year.
No. 455. A Head-dress of Isis.
No. 456. Wooden hawk of the tombs.
No. 456. a. Name of Aroeris (omitted).
p. xxvL

Vide supra.

The two colossi of Thebes.

ERRATA, ADDENDA, etc.
Vol.. I.
Page 194. line 27., for " strait," read " straight."
208. note *, for " supra, p. 3.," read " supra, p. 148."
253. line 13., after " make," insert " Pthah was worshipped with
particular honours at Memphis, and he held a distinguished
post in the temples of all Egypt."
305. add, note on the name of the Phoenix, " Vide infra. Vol. II.
p. 228."
331. and 334., for Mellilot," read " Melilot."
324. line 1., for " Neph shows them," read " Neph and Pthah show *
them." And add as note*, " At Philae, these two Gods are
moulding the clay of which Osiris was to be formed, when
he visited the world in a human shape."
327. last line but 6., for " Themophoria," read " Thesmophoria."
403. cut omitted, — the name of Aroeris or Hor-oeri; put into Con
tents, p. xxii. (j. V.)
Plates 73. and 74. have been omitted, or rather transferred to another
place, and numbered 24a. and 26a.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS

OF THE

ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

Vignette K. Machine used as a harrow after the land is ploughed.
Heliopolis — Cairo in the distance-

CHAPTER XL
Richness of Egypt. — An Agricultural and Manufacturing
Country. — Origin of Mensuration and Geometry. — ¦ As
tronomical Calculations connected with the Rise of the Nile.
— Year of 365 Days. — Sothic Year of 365^ Days. —
Flocks. — Sheep kept for their Wool. — Former Advantages
of Egypt in Manufactures. — Abundance of Produce. —
Land Measures. — Weights. — Irrigation. — The Inun
dation. — Mode of cultivating the Land. — Plough. — Hoe.
— Swiiie and Cattle to tread in the Seed. — Sowing. — Soil
of Egypt. — The Nile, its Branches. — Dressing of Lands.
— Different Crops. — Cultivation of Wheat, gatliering the
Corn, and threshing. — Inundation, — Different Levels of
Egypt. — Edge of Desert cultivated. — Harvest Home and
other Festivals of the Peasants. — Care of Animals, Vete
rinary Art. — Eggs hatched hy artificial Means.
In a country like Egypt, whose principal riches
consist in the fruitfulness of its soil, it is reason-
VOL. I. — Second Series. B

2 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
able to suppose that agriculture was always one
of the principal cares of the inhabitants ; and a
subject to which their attention was directed at
the earliest period of their existence as a nation.
The richness of the valley of the Nile was pro
verbial ; and this had no doubt induced the con
quering tribe, who, as already observed*, were the
ancestors of the afterwards powerful Egyptians, to
migrate from Asia and settle in that fertile country ;
and the same continued to be an inducement to
other people in later times to invade and possess
themselves of Egypt.
The Pastor race, called Hycsos or Shepherd
Kings, appear to have been the first to follow the
example of the early Asiatic invaders ; and though
the period and history of their conquest are involved
in obscurity, it is evident that they entered Egypt
from the side of Syria, and that they obtained for
some years a firm footing in the country, possessing
themselves of Lower Egypt, with a portion of the
Thebaid, and perhaps advancing to Thebes itself.
I at first supposed them to have come from
Assyria ; but on more mature consideration have
been disposed, as already stated t, to consider them
a Scythian tribe, whose nomade habits accord more
satisfactorily with the character of a pastor race,
and whose frequent inroads at early periods into
other countries show the power they possessed, as
well as their love of invasion, which were continued
till a late time, and afterwards imitated by their
successors, the Tartar hordes of Central Asia.
* Vol. I. p. 3. + Vol. I. Introduction, p. viii.

CHAP. XI. THE SHEPHERDS. 3
This inroad of the shepherds was followed, after
a long interval, by the successive occupations of
Egypt by the Persians, the Macedonians, and the
Romans ; and Egypt, after having passed under
the dominion of the Arabs, and at length o£ihe
Turks, still continues, in spite even of the injuries
it has received from the misrule of these last, to be
coveted for the richness and capabilities of its pro
ductive soil.
It is an old and true remark, that the inhabit
ants of a rich country are ever exposed to the
aggressions of powerful neighbours, whose soil is
less productive, whilst the destiny of these last is
rather to be conquerors than conquered ; and this
has been fully proved by experience and the his
tory of the world. We are therefore more surprised
at the great duration ofthe power of Egypt, which,
to calculate only from the reign of Osirtasen to the
Persian conquest, continued without interruption
through a period of twelve hundred years.
So remarkable a circumstance can only be attri
buted to the rigid discipline of the Egyptian consti
tution, and the stern regulations ofthe priesthood,
which, by scrupulously watching over the actions
of the monarch, and obliging him to conform to
certain rules established for his conduct both in
public and in private, prevented the demoralising
effect of luxurious habits, with the baneful exam
ple of a corrupt court, and by a similar attention
to the conduct of all classes, exercised a salutary
influence over the whole community. And the
successful promotion of industry, the skill of their
B 2

4 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
artisans, and the eflliciency of their army, were
owing to the same well-ordered system.
Particular attention was always given to the agri
cultural classes ; grain was looked upon as the
staple commodity of the Egyptian market, and the
memorial of this was maintained to a late time,
after Egypt had arrived at an unrivalled celebrity
as a manufacturing country, in some of the reli
gious ceremonies, and above all, at the festival of
the coronation. Such, indeed, was the respect paid
in Egypt to the pursuits of husbandry, that the
soldiers, a class inferior only to the priesthood, and
from which alone the king, when not ofthe priestly
order, could be chosen, were permitted and even
encouraged to occupy their leisure time in the
tillage ofthe lands * allotted them by government;
and every priest and noble of the country was ex
pected to use his utmost endeavours to encourage
the industry of the agricultural population.
Of the three states of society, the hunter, the
shepherd, and the agriculturist, the last, as has
been already observed t, is the most capable of ar
riving at and advancing in civilisation ; and those
countries, where agriculture is successfully encou
raged, speedily rise to opulence and power. To
this was Egypt indebted for its immense resources,
which, even from so confined a valley, maintained
a population of seven millions, supplied several
neighbouring countries with corn, supported an
army of 410,000 men besides auxiliaries, extended
its conquests into the heart of Asia, and exercised
* Vol. I. p. 284. f Vol. I. p. 14.

CHAP. XI. AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES. 5
for ages great moral influence throughout a large
portion of Asia and Africa.
In the infancy of her existence as a nation,
Egypt was contented with the pursuits of agri
culture ; but in process of time, the advancement
of civilisation and refinement led to numerous in
ventions, and to improvements in the ordinary
necessaries of life, and she became at length the
first of nations in manufactures, and famed amongst
foreigners for the excellence of her fine linen, her
cotton and woollen stuflPs, cabinet work, porce
lain, glass, and numerous branches of industry.
That Egypt should be more known abroad for her
manufactures than for her agricultural skill might
be reasonably expected, in consequence of the
exportation of those commodities in which she ex
celled, and the ignorance of foreigners respecting
the internal condition of a country, from which
they were excluded by the jealousy ofthe natives ;
though, judging from the scanty information im
parted to us by the Greeks, who in later times had
opportunities of examining the valley ofthe Nile, it
appears that we have as much reason to blame the
indifference of strangers who visited the country,
as the exclusiveness of the Egyptians. The
Greeks, however, confessed the early advance-
mem of the Egyptians in agricultural as well as
mechanical pursuits ; and Diodorus is evidently
of opinion, that with colonisation, the knowledge
of husbandry and various institutions were carried
from Egypt into Greece.*
* Diodor. i. s. 20. 23. 28. 96. &c., and v. 58.
B 3

6 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
There are fortunately other sources of informa
tion, which explain their mode of tilling the land,
collecting the harvest, and various peculiarities of
their agriculture ; and, independent of what may
be gleaned from Herodotus and Diodorus, nume
rous agricultural scenes, in the tombs of Thebes and
Lower Egypt, give full and amusing representations
of the process of ploughing, hoeing, sowing, reap
ing, threshing, winnowing, and housing the grain.
In considering the state of agriculture in Egypt,
we do not confine its importance to the direct and
tangible benefits it annually conferred upon the
people, by the improved condition of the produc
tions of the soil ; the influence it had on the manners
and scientific acquirements of the people is no less
obvious, and worthy our contemplation ; and to
the peculiar nature of the Nile, and the effects of
its inundation, has been reasonably attributed the
early advancementof the Egyptians in geometry and
mensuration. Herodotus, Plato, Diodorus*, Strabot,
Clemens of Alexandria t, lamblichus, and others,
ascribe the origin of geometry to changes which
annually took place from the inundation, and to the
consequent necessity of adjusting the claims of each
person respecting the limits of the lands ; and,
though Herodotus may be wrong in limiting the
commencement of those observations to the reign of
Sesostris, his remark tends to the same point, and
confirms the general opinion that this science had
its origin in Egypt.
* Diodor. i. 81. f Strabo, xvii. p. 542.
¦j- Clem. Strom i. p. 20.

CHAP. XI. ORIGIN OF MENSURATION. 7
It is reasonable to suppose that as the inundation
subsided, much ligitation sometimes occurred be
tween neighbours respecting the limits of their un
enclosed fields ; and the fall of a portion of the bank,
carried away by the stream during the rise of
the Nile, frequently made great alterations in the
extent of land near the river side ; we therefore
readily perceive the necessity of determining the
quantity which belonged to each individual, whether
to settle disputes with a neighbour, or to ascertain
the tax due to government.* But it is difficult to
fix the period when the science of mensuration
commenced; if we have ample proofs of its being
known in the time of Joseph, this does not carry
us far back into the ancient history of Egypt ;
and there is evidence of geometry and mathematics
having already made the same progress at the
earliest period of which any monuments remain, as
in the later era of the Patriarch, or of the Great
Remeses. Besides the mere measurement of superficial
areas, itwasof paramount importance to agriculture,
and to the interests ofthe peasant, to distribute the
benefits of the inundation in due proportion to each
individual, that the lands which were low might
not enjoy the exclusive advantages ofthe fertilising
water, by constantly draining it from those of a
higher level. For this purpose, the necessity of as
certaining the various elevations of the country, and
of constructing accurately levelled canals and dykes,
* Herotlot. ii. 109.
B 4

8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
obviously occurred to them ; and if it be true,
that Menes, their first king, turned the course
of the Nile into a new channel he had made for
it, we have a proof of their having, long before
his time, arrived at considerable knowledge in this
branch of science, since so great an undertaking
could only have been the result of long experience.
These dykes were succeeded or accompanied by
the invention of sluices, and all the mechanism
appertaining to them ; the regulation of the supply
of water admitted into plains of various levels, the
report of the exact quantity of land irrigated, the
depth of the water and the time it continued
upon the surface, which determined the pro
portionate payment of the taxes, required much
scientific skill ; and the prices of provisions for the
ensuing year were already ascertained by the un
erring prognostics of the existing inundations. This
naturally led to minute observations respecting the
increase of the Nile during the inundation : Ni
lometers, for measuring its gradual rise or fall,
were constructed in various parts of Egypt, and
particular persons were appointed to observe each
daily change, and to proclaim the favourable
or unfavourable state of this important pheno
menon. On these reports depended the time
chosen for opening the canals, whose mouths were
closed until the river rose to a fixed height *,
* Pliny says, " Nilus ibi coloni vice fungens, evagari incipit, ut dixi-
raus, a solstitio aut nova Luna, ac prinio lente, deinde vehementius,
quamdiu in Leone sol est. Mox pigrescit in Virginera transgresso,
atque in Libra residet. Si duodecim ciibita non excelsit fames certa
est : nee minus si sedecim exsuperavit." . . . . " Vulgo credebatur ab

CHAP. XI. THE INUNDATION. 9
upon which occasion grand festivities were pro
claimed throughout the country, in order that
every person might show his sense of the great
benefit vouchsafed by the Gods to the land of
Egypt. The introductions of the waters of the
Nile into the interior, by means of these canals,
was allegorically construed into the union of Osiris
and Isis ; the instant of cutting away the dam of
earth, which separated the bed of the canal from
the Nile, was looked forward to with the utmost
anxiety ; and it is reasonable to suppose that many
omens were consulted in order to ascertain the
auspicious moment for this important ceremony.
Superstition added greatly to the zeal of a
credulous people. The Deity, or presiding Ge
nius, of the river was propitiated by suitable ob
lations, both during the inundation, and about the
period when it was expected ; and Seneca * tells us,
that on a particular fete the priests threw presents,
and ofterings of gold into the river near Philae, at a
place called the Veins of the Nile, where they first
perceived the rise of the inundation. Indeed, we
may reasonably suppose that the grand and won
derful spectacle of the inundation excited in them
feelings of the deepest awe for the divine power.

ejus decessu serere solitos, mox sues impellere vestigiis semina depri-
mentes in madido solo, et credo antiquitus factitatum. Nunc quoque
non multo graviore opera ; sed tamen inarari certum est, abjecta prius
semina in limo digress! amnis, hoc est, Novembri mense incipiente,
postea pauci runcant, quod botanismon vocant. Reliqua pars non nisi
cum falce arva visit paulo ante Calend. Aprilis : peragitur autem messis
Maio, stipula nunquam cubitali." Lib. xviii. 18. The canals are now
generally cut about the 10th of August.
* Seneca, Nat. Quasst. IV. ii. p. 886.

10 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
to which they were indebted for so great a blessing :
and a plentiful supply of water was supposed to
be the result of the favour of the Gods, as a defi
ciency was attributed to their displeasure, punishing
the sins of an offending people.
On the inundation depended all the hopes of
the peasant ; it affected the revenue of the go
vernment, both by its influence on the scale of
taxation, and by the greater or less profits on the
exportation of grain and other produce; and it in
volved the comfort of all classes. For in Upper
Egypt no rain fell to irrigate the land; it was a
country, as ancient * writers state, which did not
look for showers to advance its crops ; and if, as Pro
clus t says, these fell in Lower Egypt, they were con
fined to that district, and heavy rain was a prodigy
in the Thebaid. There is, however, evidence that
heavy rain did occasionally fall in the vicinity of
Thebes, from the appearance of the deep ravines
worn by water in the hills, about the tombs of the
Kings, though probably, as now, after intervals of
fifteen or twenty years ; and it may be said from
modern experience, that slight showers fall there
about five or six times a year, in Lower Egypt
much more frequently, and at Alexandria almost
as often as in the South of Europe.
The result of a favourable inundation was not
confined to tangible benefits ; it had the greatest
effect on the mind of every Egyptian by long anti
cipation ; the happiness arising from it, as the regrets
* Mela, i. c. 9. calls Egypt " terra expers imbrium."
¦f Proclus in Tim. lib. i.

CHAP, XI. EARLY STUDY OF ASTRONOMY. 11
on the appearance of a scanty supply of water,
being far more sensibly felt than in countries which
depend on rain for their harvest, where future
prospects not being so soon foreseen, hope con
tinues longer ; the Egyptian, on the other hand,
being able to form a just estimate of his crops even
before the seed is sown, or the land prepared for
its reception.*
Other remarkable effects may likewise be par
tially attributed to the interest excited by the
expectation of the rising Nile ; and it is pro
bable that the accurate observations required for
fixing the seasons, and the period of the an
nual return of the inundation, which was found to
coincide with the heliacal rising of Sothis, or the
Dog-star, contributed greatly to the early study of
astronomy in the valley of the Nile. The precise
time when these and other calculations were first
made by the Egyptians, it is impossible now to de
termine ; but from the height of the inundation
being already recorded in the reign of Moeris t, we
may infer that constant observations had been made,
and Nilometers constructed, even before that early
period; and astronomy t, geometry, and other sciences
are said to have been known in Egypt in the time of
the hierarchy which preceded the accession of their
first king, Menes.
* Seneca says, " Nemo aratrorum " (in .iEgypto) " adspicit coelum;"
and quotes this from Ovid, " nee pluvio supplicat herba Jovi." He
adds, " Quantum crevit Nilus, tantum spei in annum est, nee compu-
tatio fallit agricolam ; adeo ad mensuram fluminis respondet, quam fer-
tilem facit Nilus;  majorque est lEetitia gentibus, quo minus
terraruni suarum vident." Qusest. Nat. iv. 2.
f Herodot. ii. 13.
X Diodor. i. 16., and Clem. Alex. Strom. 6.

12 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
We cannot, however, from the authority of Dio
dorus and Clemens of Alexandria, venture to assert
that the books of Hermes which contained the
science and philosophy of Egypt, were all composed
before the reign of Menes ; the original work, by
whomsoever it was composed, was probably very
limited and imperfect, and the famous books of Her
mes were doubtlesscompiledat different periods, in
the same manner as the Jewish collection of poems
received under the name of David's Psalms, though
some were composed after the Babylonish captivity.
Nor was Hermes, or Mercury, as I have elsewhere
observed, a real personage, but a deified form ofthe
divine intellect, which being imparted to man had
enabled him to produce this effort of genius ; and
the only argument to be adduced respecting the
high antiquity of any portion of this work is the
tradition of the people, supported by the positive
proof of thegreatmathematical skill ofthe Egyptians
in the time of Menes, by the change he made in the
course of the Nile. It may also be inferred, from
their great advancement in arts and sciences at this
early period, that many ages of civilisation had pre
ceded the accession of their first monarch.
At all events, we may conclude that to agricul
ture and the peculiar nature of the river, the ac
curate method adopted by the Egyptians in the
regulation of their year is to be attributed ; that
by the return of the seasons, so decidedly marked
in Egypt, they were taught to correct those inac
curacies to which an approximate calculation was
at first subject ; and that the calendar, no longer

CHAP. XI. THE OLD EGYPTIAN YEAR. 13
suffered to depend on the vague length of a solar
revolution, was thus annually brought round to a
fixed period.
It is highly probable that the Egyptians, in their
infancy as a nation, divided their year into twelve
lunar months* ; the twenty- eight years of Osiris's
reign being derived, as Plutarch observes t, from the
number of days the moon takes to perform her course
round the earth ; and it is worthy of remark that the
hieroglyphic signifying "month" was represented
by the crescent ofthe moon, as is abundantly proved
from the sculptures and the authority of HorapoUo.
From this we also derive another very important
conclusion ; that the use of hieroglyphics was of a
far more remote date than is generally supposed,
since they existed previous to the adoption of solar
months. The substitution of solar for lunar months
was the earliest change in the Egyptian year. It
was then made to consist of twelve months of
thirty days each, making a total of 360 dayst: but
as it was soon discovered that the seasons were
disturbed, and no longer corresponded to the same
months, five additional days were introduced at
the end of the last month, Mesore, in order to
* The moon's revolution round the earth is evidently the origin of
this division of the year into months. The German monat signifies
both moon and month, from which our own words are derived; the
Greek firiv and iirivi], a 'month' and the 'moon,' the Latin mensis, and
the Sanscrit ma.s, 'month,' mas or masa, 'moon,' are from the same
origin. Fide Plut. Tim. p. 498. Transl. Taylor.
t Plut. de Is. s. 42.
I The 360 cups filled daily with milk at the tomb of Osiris at
Philse, appear to show that the year once consisted of 360 days. Die-
dor, i. 22.

14

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

remedy the previous defect in the calendar, and to
insure the returns of the seasons to fixed periods.
The twelve months were Thoth, Paopi, Athor,
Choeak, Tobi, Mechir, Phamenoth, Pharmuthi,
Pachons, Paoni, Epep, Mesore : and the year being
divided into three seasons, each period comprised
four of these months. That containing the first
four was styled the season of the water plants, the
the next of the ploughing, and the last season was
that of the waters. The 1st of Thoth, in time of
Julius Csesar, fell on the 29th of August; and Me
sore, the last month, began on the 25th of July ;
as may be seen in the accompanying woodcut.

NO. 420.

The 12 Egyptian Months.

m

nil id
/vVW>.

W'

• ill ^

Mr-

_ II Vc
9 ^^ /WVA

LLJ'

. /wvv\

Egyp. 7
Name. 5
Coptic )
Name. J

Keealc.
27 Nov.

Hatoor. 28 Oct.

Paopi.
Babeh. 29 Sept.

Thoth. Toot.
began 29 Aug. O.S.

Season of the Water Plants.

III! iC

III )l(

II ic
/WV>A

I i<

Egjp. 1
Name.j Coptic J
Name. S

Baramoodeh. 27 March.

Baramh^t. 26 Feb.

Mechir. Imsheer. 20 J'i^^y.

Toobch. 27 Dec.

Season of Ploughing.

A

/^ws 111 y(

 II >k

a/vstA . . i . .

Egyp. 7
Name. 3
Coptic \
Name, j^

Mesore.Mesoree.

25 July.

Kpep. Ebib.
2^1 June.

Baooneh. 26 May.

Pachons.
Beshens. 26 April.

Seaso7i ofthe Waters.

CHAP. XI. INTERCALATION. 15
where I have introduced the modern names given
them by the Copts, who still use them in preference
to the lunar months ofthe Arabs; and, indeed, the
Arabs themselves are frequently guided by the
Coptic months in matters relating to agriculture,
particularly in Upper Egypt.
A people who gave any attention to subjects
so important to their agricultural pursuits, could
not long remain ignorant of the deficiency which
even the intercalation of the five days left in the
adjustment of the calendar ; and though it required
a period of 1460 years for the seasons to recede
through all the twelve months, and to prove by
the deficiency of a whole year the imperfection of
this .system, yet it would be obvious to them, in the
lapse of a very few years, that a perceptible alter
ation had taken place in the relative position ofthe
seasons ; and the most careless observation would
show, that in 120 years, having lost a whole month,
or thirty days, the rise of the Nile, the time of
sowing and reaping, and all the periodical occupa
tions of the peasant, no longer coincided with the
same month. They therefore added a quarter day
to remedy this defect, by making every fourth year
to consist of 366 days; which, though still subject
to a slight error, was a sufficiently accurate ap
proximation ; and, indeed, some modern astrono
mers are of opinion, that instead of exceeding the
solar year, the length of the sidereal, computed
from one heliacal rising ofthe Dog-star to another,
accorded exactly in that latitude (in consequence
of a certain concurrence in the positions of the

16 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
heavenly bodies) with the calculation of the
Egyptians.* " This sidereal or Sothic year," says
Censorious, "the Greeks term 'huvixov,' the Latins
' canicularem,' because its commencement is taken
from the rising of the Dog-star on the first day
of the month called by the Egyptians Thoth t ; "
which, while it accords with the observations of
Porphyry, that "the first day ofthe month is fixed
in Egypt by the rising of Sothis," fully confutes
the opinion of those who suppose that the name
Thoth was applied to the first day alone, and not
to the month itself.
That the five days, called of the Epact, were
added at a most remote period, may readily be
credited; and so convinced were the Egyptians
of this, that they referred it to the fabulous times
of their history, wrapping it up in the guise of
allegory ; and it is highly probable that the in
tercalation of the quarter day, or one day in four
years, was also of very early date.
On this subject, much controversy has been
expended, without, as usual on such occasions,
arriving at any satisfactory result ; many doubting
that it was known to them before the late time of
the Roman conquest, some confining it to the
period of the Persian conquest, and others assign
ing to it the year 1322 before our era, which
was the beginning of a Sothic period, when the
solar year of 365 days coincided with the Sothic
* Mure's " Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt," p. 8.
¦\- Censorin. de Die Nat. c. 13. Porphyry and Soiinus say the Egyp
tians considered this period to commence at the beginning of the world.

CHAP. XI. THE QUARTER DAY. IJ
of 365^ days, or which, in other words, in
tercalated an additional day every fourth year.
For the Egyptians, finding by observation that
1460 Sothic were equal to 1461 solar years, the
seasons having in that time passed through every
part of the year, and returned again to the same
point, established this as a standard for adjusting
their calendar, under the name of the Sothic
period ; and though for ordinary purposes, as the
dates of their Kings and other events, they con
tinued to use the solar or vague year of 365 days,
every calculation could thus be corrected, by com
paring the time of this last with that of the Sothic
or sidereal year. The sacred was the same as the
solar or vague year ; and an ancient author, cited
by Jablonski*, asserts that the Egyptian Kings
took an oath in the adytum that they would not
intercalate any month or day, but that the sacred
year of 365 days should remain as instituted in an
cient times. If this be true, it argues that interca
lation of the additional day was coeval with the era
of the Pharaohs, since the prohibition could only
have been directed against this innovation. But
without pretending to give a decided opinion re
specting the period of its first introduction, I may
observe, that the positive testimony of Diodorus t
shows it to have been in use before the Roman con
quest, that historian having lived, and, as he says,
" visited Egypt, under Ptolemy Neus Dionysus "t ;

* Jablonski, Panth. Egypt, lib. iv. c. 2. p. 210.
f Diodor. i. 50. t Diodor. i. 44.
VOL. I. — Second Series. C

18 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
and the ignorance of Herodotus on the subject,
who speaks * of the Egyptian year of 365 days
having the effect of keeping the seasons in their
proper places, is readily accounted for by the fact
of the Egyptians only using this solar year for
their ordinary calculations, the knowledge of the
sidereal one being confined to the priests. For it
is more reasonable to suppose the father of history
to be mistaken in this, as he is on so many points
relating to Egypt, than that so important a disco
very, which had escaped them whilst their astro
nomical skill was at its zenith, during the flourish
ing period of the Pharaohs, should be made at a
time when "the wisdom" of Egypt had already
declined, and, above all, during the confusion
consequent upon the occupation of the country
by the Persians, Nor does the circumstance of
the Hebrews neglecting to adopt the Sothic year
argue that it was introduced subsequently to
the Exodus and the age of Moses : the Arabs,
who conquered Egypt long after its universal
adoption, persisted and still persist in the use
of their imperfect lunar months ; as some Euro
peans are indifferent to the introduction of the
Gregorian calendar ; but both these are not the
less known, because unadopted, and no argument
can fairly be derived from similar omissions. I
do not, however, assert that the Sothic year was
invented before the time of Moses,"and it will, pro
bably, long remain uncertain when the Egyptians
first introduced so important an innovation.
* Herodot. ii. 4.

CHAP. XT. MANUFACTURES. 19
The examination of the astronomical subjects
in the tombs of the Kings and on other monu
ments may, perhaps some day tend to decide
this question, when the complete interpretation
of hieroglyphics does away with the necessity of
conjecture ; in the mean time, I feel less regret in
abstaining from the mention of many arguments
which might be adduced to maintain the antiquity
of the intercalation of the quarter day, as the
learned M. Letronne has already prepared an
elaborate essay on the subject, and is supported in
his opinion by the authority of a Greek papyrus
in the collection of the Louvre. And whilst men
tioning this, I must not omit my tribute of praise
to another excellent work, in which this question
is treated with great candour and learning; many
valuable remarks being embodied in Mr. Mure's
" Calendar and Zodiac of Ancient Egypt."
I have also introduced some remarks on the
adoption of the Sothic year, in another part of this
work, extracted from a previous publication in the
year 1828.*
The pursuits of agriculture did not prevent the
Egyptians from arriving at a remarkable pre-emi
nence as a manufacturing nation ; nor did they
tend to discourage the skill of the grazier and
the shepherd ; though the office of these last was
looked down upon with contempt, and the occupa
tion of persons engaged in manufactures and all
handicraft employments was, to the soldier at least,
* Vide infra, Chap, xiii., on the Goddess Isis.
C 2

20 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
ignoble and unmanly.* Large flocks and herds
always formed part of the possessions of wealthy
individuals ; the breed of horses was a principal
care of the grazier, and besides those required for
the army and private use, many were sold to fo
reign traders who visited the country t ; and the
rearing of so many sheep in the Thebaid, where
mutton was unlawful foodt, proves the object to
have been to supply the wool-market with good
fleeces, two of which, owing to the attention they
paid to its food, were annually supplied by each
animal. That the Egyptians should successfully unite the
advantages of an agricultural and a manufacturing
country is not surprising, when we consider that
in those early times the competition of other ma
nufacturing countries did not interfere with their
market ; and though Tyre and Sidon excelled in
fine linen and other productions ofthe loom, many
branches of industry brought exclusive advantages
to the Egyptian workman. Even in the flourish
ing days of the Phoenicians, Egypt exported linen
to other countries, and she probably enjoyed at all
times an entire monopoly in this, and every article
she manufactured, with the caravans ofthe interior
of Africa.
Now, indeed, the case is widely diflPerent.
The population of Egypt is so reduced as not to

* Vide supra. Vol. I. p. 286.
f I Kings, X. 28, 29.
j Strabo says sheep were only sacrificed in the Nitriotic nome,
lib. xvii. p. 652.

CHAP. XI. MANUFACTURES. 21
suffice for the culture of the lands ; an over-grown
military force has drained the country of able-bo
died men, who ought to be employed in promoting
the wealth of the community, by increasing the
produce ofthe soil ; and a number of hands is con
tinually withdrawn from the fields to advance ma
nufactures, which, withoutbenefiting the people, are
inferior (especially for exportation) to those of other
countries. Add to this the great cost for machinery,
which is quickly injured by the quantity of fine
sand that constantly clogs the wheels and other
parts, causing additional mischief from the nitre
with which it is impregnated ; and it must be evi
dent that modern Egypt, with a population of not
one million and a half, and with the competition of
European manufacturing countries, is no longer in
the same position as Egypt of the Pharaohs, with
upwards of four times the population, less com
petition, greater variety of manufactures, and no
comparative local disadvantages unexperienced by
their rivals.
I have attributed the early advancement of the
Egyptians in land surveying, levelling, and various
branches of geometry, to their great attention to
the agricultural interests of the country ; and as
it is reasonable to suppose the knowledge they thus
acquired led to many other important discoveries,
we are not surprised to find them at a very early
time well versed in numerous operations indicative
of mathematical science and mechanical .skill.
Of these the most remarkable instances occur in
the construction of those ancient and magnificent
c 3

22 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
monuments, the pyramids of Geezeh (where the
beauty of the masonry ofthe interior has not been
surpassed, and I may even say has not been
equalled, in any succeeding age) ; in the transport
and erection of enormous masses of granite ; and
in the underground chambers excavated in the solid
rock at Thebes and other places ; where we admire
the combined skill of the architect, the surveyor,
and the mason.
The origin of these subterraneous works was
derived from the custom of burying the bodies of
the dead in places removed beyond the reach of
the inundation, and not, as some have supposed,
from the habit of living in caves, ascribed to the
fabled Troglodytae ; and it is a remarkable fact, that
the excavated tombs and temples bear direct evi
dence of having derived their character from built
monuments, in the architrave reaching from column
to column, which is taken from the original beam
supporting a roof, — a feature totally inconsistent
with a simple excavated chamber.
These feelings, derived from architecture, are
carried still further ; we find them extended to
statues, which are supported from behind by an
obelisk, or a stela; and the figure of a king is ap
plied to a square pillar, both in built and exca
vated temples.
The abundant supply of grain and other produce
gave to Egypt advantages which no other country
possessed. Not only was her dense population
supplied with a profusion ofthe necessaries of life,
but the sale of the surplus conferred considerable

CHAP. XI. ABUNDANCE OF THE CROPS. 23
benefits on the peasant, in addition to the profits
which thence accrued to the state ; for Egypt was
a granary where, from the earliest times, all people
felt sure of finding a plenteous store of corn * ;
and some idea, as I have already had occasion to
observe t, may be formed of the immense quantity
produced there, from the circumstance of "seven
plenteous years " affording, from the superabun
dance of the crops, a sufficiency of corn to supply
the whole population during seven years of dearth,
as well as " all countries " which sent to Egypt
" to buy " it, when Pharaoh by the advice of
Joseph t laid up the annual surplus for that pur
pose. The right of exportation, and the sale of super
fluous produce to foreigners, belonged exclusively
to the government, as is distinctly shown by the
sale of corn to the Israelites from the royal stores,
and the collection having been made by Pharaoh
only ; and it is probable that the landowners were
in the habit of selling to government whatever
quantity remained on hand, at the approach of each
successive harvest. Indeed, their frugal mode of
living enabled the peasants to dispose of nearly all
the wheat and barley their lands produced, and
they may frequently, as at the present day, have
been contented with bread made of the Doura §
flour ; children, and even grown persons, according
to Diodorus 11, often living on roots and esculent
* Gen. xii. 11. and xiii. 2. f Vol. I. p. 231'.
J Gen. xii. 29. et seq.
§ The Holcus Sorghum.
II Diodor. i. 80. 31. and 43., and Herodot. ii. 92.
C 4

24 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
herbs, as the papyrus, lotus, and others, either raw,
toasted, or boiled. At all events, whatever may
have been the quality of bread they used, it is certain
that the superabundance of grain was very consi
derable, Egypt annually producing three, and even
four, crops; and though the government obtained a
large profit on the exportation of corn, and the
price received from foreign merchants far exceeded
that paid to the peasants, still these last derived
great benefit from its sale, and the money thus cir
culated through the country tended to improve the
condition of the agricultural classes.
EGYPTIAN MEASURES.
The Egyptian land measure was the aroura,
which, according to Herodotus and HorapoUo *
being a square of 100 cubits, covered an area of
10,000 cubits, and, like our acre, was solely employed
for measuring land. The other measures of Egypt
were the schcene, equivalent t to 60 stades in length,
which served, like the Greek stade, the Persian
parasang, and the more modern mile, for measuring
distance, or the extentof a country; and the cubit,
which Herodotus considers equal tothat of Samost;
for though the stade is often used by Greek writers
in giving the measurements of monviments in Egypt,
it was not really an Egyptian measure, as Herodotus
plainly shows by ascribing its use to the Greeks,
and the schoenus to the Egyptians. § They also
* HorapoUo, Hierog. i. 5. f Herodot. ii. 6. Vide also infra, p. 33.
{ Herodot. ii. 1C8. J Herodot. ii. 6, and 149. Vide infra, p. 32.

CHAP. XI. EGYPTIAN MEASURES. 25
mention the plethrum in giving the length of some
buildings, as the pyramids; but this was properly
a Greek square measure, double the Greek aroura,
and containing, according to some, 10,000 square
feet, or, as others suppose, 1"444. When used as a
measure of length, it was generally estimated at
100 feet; though, if Herodotus's measurement of
the great pyramid be correct, it could not complete
100 of our feet, as he gives the length of each face
8 plethra. But little reliance can be placed on his
measurements *, since in this he exceeds the true
length ; and to the face of the third pyramid he
only allows 3 plethra, which, calculating the ple
thrum at 100 feet, is more than half a plethrum
short of the real length, — each face, according to
the measurement of Colonel Howard Vyset, being
^54 feet.
In former times, the difficulty of measuring
the exterior dimensions of the pyramid was much
less than at present ; and owing to the mound of
broken stone, earth, and sand, which has accumu
lated about the centre of each face, it is so difficult
to ascertain their exact extent, that no two persons
agree in their measurements ; and all attempts to
calculate the value of ancient measures from this
monument are hopeless ; as well from the inaccuracy
and disagreement of Greek and Roman writers

* "We may forgive Herodotus and other writers for an error in the
height of the pyramid. He makes it equal to the length of the face ;
Strabo says the side is a little less than the height (xvii. p. 555.).
-|- The importance of the discoveries made by Col. Howard Vyse, at
the Pyramids, can only be appreciated on referring to the valuable work
he has pubHshed.

26 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
upon the subject, as from the variation of modern
measurements. Of my own I shall only say, that
the mode I adopted in measuring the face of the
great pyramid appeared to me as little liable to
error as any I could devise, which was, of ascend
ing to the tier above the level and encumbrance of
the mound of earth in the centre of the face, and
measuring along that uninterrupted horizontal line,
from whose end having let fall a perpendicular
(easily determined by the eye) to the base, in order
to ascertain the additional portion at each corner, I
completed the whole measurement, by adding the
bases of those two right angles. This made the total
length of the present face 732 feet, agreeing to
within one foot of the measurement of Mr. Lane,
who gives it 733 feet : an approximation highly
satisfactory, from the well-known accuracy of his
observations. The total length when entire I
believe to have been 755 or 756 feet, which would
be exactly 440 cubits, according to the length I
shall presently show to have been that of the
Egyptian cubit.
I do not, however, pretend to derive (or even
to require) any authority from this monument, re
specting the length of the cubit ; the measure
ments are not sufficiently accurate for this pur
pose, and the cubit is too small a measure to be
defined by the proportionate parts of so long a
line. Nor are the courts of different temples suited
to guide us in so delicate a calculation; and even
the small dimensions of colossi may mislead, as it
is not certain (and, indeed, there are evident proofs

CHAP. XI. THE CUBIT. 27
to the contrary) that they were measured to a
decimal number of cubits. The vocal statue of
Thebes and its companion are little more than
60 feet high (including the pedestal), which make
35 cubits ; but this leads to no conclusion, because
we are uncertain whether a fixed measurement was
assigned to the whole statue with its pedestal, or
to the figure alone, and neither this part nor the
pedestal bear an exact proportion to the cubit. It
is, indeed, probable that a monument of such mag
nitude, and of such consequence, as the pyramid
was measured by a decimal number of cubits, and
the exact length of its faces was doubtless divisible
by such a number ; but, as I have already stated,
the accurate determination of its original dimen
sions is still a desideratum, and no conclusion can
thence be formed ofthe length ofthe Egyptian cubit.
Happily other data of a less questionable nature
are left us for this purpose, and the graduated cubit
in the Nilometer of Elephantine, and the wooden
cubits discovered in Egypt, suffice to establish its
length, without the necessity of uncertain hypo
theses. Some have supposed that the Egyptian cubit
varied at different periods, and that it consisted at
one time of 24, at another of 32 digits ; or that there
were two cubits of different lengths *, — one of 24
digits or 6 palms, the other of 32 digits or 8 palms,
employed at the same period for different purposes.
Some have maintained, with M.Girard, that the cubit
* The Jewish cubit was 1 ft. 8-24 in., or 1 ft. 9'888 in.

28 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
used in the Nilometer of Elephantine consisted of
24 digits, others that it contained 32*; and nume
rous calculations have been deduced from these
conflicting opinions, respecting the real length of
the cubit. But a few words will suffice to show
the manner in which that cubit was divided, the
number of its digits, and its exact length in English
inches ; and respecting the supposed change in
the cubit used in the Nilometers of Egypt, I shall
only observe, that people far more prone to inno
vation than the Egyptians would not readily tolerate
a similar deviation from long-established custom ;
and it is obvious that the greatest confusion would
be caused throughout the country, and that agri
culture would suffer incalculable injuries, if the
customary announcement of a certain number of
cubits for the rise ofthe Nile were changed, through
the introduction of a cubit of a different length.
The peasant would no longer understand the quan
tity of water, the proportionate height of the river,
or the proper time for admitting it from the canals;
in short, all the system of irrigation would be de
ranged, and this without any result, without any
advantage to compensate for this arbitrary change
in the standard of measurement. Indeed, the very
few alterations made by the Ptolemies, beyond the
precincts of Alexandria, in the habits and customs
of the Egyptians, are a strong argument against the
probability of their interference in a matter of so
much importance, and involving so many interests,
as the change in the mode of measuring the inun-
* Vide Mem. de I'Acad. vol. vi. p. 105. et seq.

CHAP. XI. DIVISION OF THE CUBIT. 29
dation of the Nile; and the ancient wooden cubits
found in Egypt are the same measure as the gra
duated scale at Elephantine. To these I now invite
the attention ofthe reader.
The Nilometer in the island of Elephantine is a
staircase between two walls descending to the Nile,
on one of which is a succession of graduated scales
containing one or two cubits, accompanied by in
scriptions recording the rise ofthe river at various
periods, during the rule of the Caesars. Every
cubit is divided into fourteen parts, each of 2 digits,
giving 28 digits to the cubit ; and the length of
the cubit is 1 ft. 8^ in., or l65 eighths, which is
1 ft. 8-625 in. to each cubit, and 0736 in. to each
digit. The wooden cubit, published by M. Jomard, is
also divided into 28 * parts or digits, and therefore
accords, both in its division, and, as I shall show,
very nearly in length, with the cubit of Elephan
tine. In this last we learn, from the inscriptions
accompanying the scales, that the principal divisions
were palms and digits ; the cubit being 7 palms or
28 digits : and the former in like manner consisted
of 7 palms or 28 digits. The ordinary division,
therefore, of the cubit was.

The Cubit in the Nilometer of Elephantine. |

I digit

1 palm

1 cubit - - - - .

Feet. 0 01

Inches. 0-736 2-946
8-625

4

28

7

* M. Jomard represents one with 29 divisions, which he computes at
a total of 0-5235 raiUimetres.

30

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

In the cubits of M. Jomard the divisions, or digits,
commence on the left, with 1, 2, 3, and 4 digits or
1 palm ; the latter indicated by a hand (sometimes
with, sometimes without, a thumb) : next to this is
the whole hand, or 5 digits (with the thumb) ; then
the fist, or, as the Arabs call it, the kubdeh (the hand
closed, with the thumb erect), making 6 digits ; after
which may perhaps be traced the dichas, or 2 palms,
of 8 digits ; thefitr, or span with the forefinger and
thumb ; and the shibr, or spithame, the entire span ;
the former of 11, the latter of 13 digits. But there
is no indication of a foot, and the 15 last digits are
solely occupied with fractional parts, beginning
with a l6th and ending in ^ a digit : from which
we may conclude that the smallest measurement
in the Egyptian scale of length was the l6th of a
digit, or the 46th of an inch.
From this may be constructed the following scale
and division of the Egyptian cubit : —

Parts of the Cubit.

Tg of a digit

16

1 digit

1 condyle ?

1 palm 1 hand 1 kuhdeh

1 dichas, or 2 palms
\fitr

1 skibr, spithame,
or span

Inches English.
0-04603

1-7366 -4732
r9464¦6830 -4196
i-8928 -1026 -5768
-6250

Cubit of Mem.
phis according
to Jomard.

Inches English.
0-04669

1-73115 -4G23
!-92471-6657 -3869
i-8494,-0428 -5051

In the foregoing table I have compared the cubit
of the Nilometer, according to my measurements.

CHAP. XI. DIVISION OF THE CUBIT. 31
taken from that monument, and the wooden cubit
found at Memphis, described by M. Jomard*, which
he reckons at 520 millimetres, or 20*47291 En
glish inches.
That in the Museum
at Turin he states
to be - - 5223-\j millimetres, or 20-57869 English inches.
Another - - 523 — or 20-61806 —
Another - - 524 — or 20-65843 —
And he computes
that of the Nilo
meter at - 527 — or 20-74840 —
which last far exceeds my calculation.
The careless manner in which the graduation
of the scales of the Nilometer at Elephantine has
been made by the Egyptians, renders the precise
length of its cubit difficult to determine ; but as
I have carefully measured all of them, and have
been guided by their general length as well as by
the averages of the whole, I am disposed to think
my measurement as near the truth as possible ; and
judging from the close approximation of different
wooden cubits, whose average M. Jomard estimates
at 523*506 millimetres, we may conclude that they
were aU intended to represent the same measures,
strongly arguing against the supposition of dif
ferent cubits having been in use, one of 24 and
others of 28 and 32 digits ; and indeed, if at any
time the Egyptians employed a cubit of a different
length, consisting of 24 digits, it is not probable
that it was used in their Nilometers, for architec
tural purposes, or for measuring land.
* Vide Jomard's E'talon raetrique, and Lettre aj M. Abel Rerausat
sur une nouyelle Mesure de Coudee.

32 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
If it really existed, the name of Royal Cubit*,
inscribed on these wooden measures, was doubt
less applied exclusively to that of 28 digits (which
I have shown to be the usual length ofthe wooden
measures, and of the cubit of Elephantine), and
the simple cubit may have contained only 24 ;
but there is no authority for that of 32 digits above
alluded to ; nor, indeed, is it at all certain that a
smaller one of 24 was actually used by the Egyp
tians. Since writing the above, I have received from
Mr. Harris, of Alexandria, an account of a measure
which has been discovered at Karnak, on the re
moval of some stones from one of the towers of a
propylon, between which it appears to have been
accidentally left by the masons, at the time of its
erection, at the remote periodt ofthe 18th Dynasty.
It is divided into 14 parts, but each part is dou
ble in length those of the cubit of Elephantine,
and therefore consists of 4 digits ; and the whole
measure is equal to 2 cubits, being 41^ inches
English. Thus then one of these contains 20*6500
inches, which suffices to show that the cubit of

•=>——' ThedifFerenceinlengthofthe.se
'AWv\

two cubits was perhaps taken from the measurement at the upper side
ofthe arm A toB, , . , , ,^M .- and the under or outside from
A to C, which would be a difference of about four fingers.
-j- These towers were erected by Horus or Amun-men ? 9th King of
the 18th Dynasty, who reigned from 1408 to 1395 B.C., and who used
stones from older monuments, bearing the ovak of the King whose
name occurs at Tel el Amarna (vide pi. 5. of my Materia Hierog.
V. and W.), who had also erased the name of an Amunoph.

CHAP. XI. A CUBIT LATELY DISCOVERED. 33
Elephantine was employed for ordinary purposes
(differing from it only in '0250 decimal parts), and
confirms my opinion respecting the general use of
one and the same measure.
This double cubit has the first division in its
scale of 14 parts subdivided into halves, and the
next into quarters, one of these last being equal
to 1 digit.
It is highly probable that the aroura, or square
land mea.sure, was divided into poles, answering to
the kassobeh (reed) now used in Egypt, by which
the fedddn is measured ; and in the absence of any
explanation of the ancient land measure, it may
not be irrelevant to notice the mode of dividing
the modem fedddn. Till lately, it was a square
of 20 keerdt (carrots), or 400 kassobeh (reeds)
or rods ; and each kassobeh was divided into
24 kharoobeh or kubdeh. But various alterations
have taken place in the modern land measure of
Egypt ; and even supposing the ancient aroura to
have been divided in a similar manner, nothing can
be obtained respecting the real contents of it, be
yond what we learn from Herodotus, of its being
a square of 100 cubits.
There is also much uncertainty respecting the
length of the stade. It is generally estimated
at 600 feet or 606*875 ; though, from Herodotus
at one time specifying " a stade of six plethra *,"
it would seem that on ordinary occasions he uses
another of a different length ; and the propor
tionate value of the measures, and of the dimen-

* Herodot. ii. 149.
VOL. I. — Second Sekies.

34 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
sions of the monuments he describes in Egypt, are
far from satisfactory. Nor is the schoene accu
rately defined ; and Strabo *, on the authority of
Artemidorus, states that the length ofthe schoene
varied among the Egyptians.
CULTIVATION OF THE LANDS.
Of the nomes, or provinces, of Egypt I have al
ready treated t ; and have shown that the nomarchs,
who were similar to " the officers appointed over
the land " by Pharaoh t, and answered to the bei/s
of the present system, superintended all the agri
cultural regulations, established for the interests
of the peasant, or connected with the claims of
government. I do not believe that the govern
ment interfered directly with the peasant respect
ing the nature of the produce he cultivated, or
that any of the vexations of later times existed
under the Pharaohs. The peasants were natu
rally supposed to have obtained, from actual observ
ation, the most accurate knowledge on all subjects
connected with husbandry ; and, as Diodorus ob
serves §, " being from their infancy brought up to
agricultural pursuits, they far excelled the hus
bandmen of other countries, and had become ac
quainted with the capabilities ofthe land, the mode
of irrigation, the exact season for sowing and reap
ing, as well as all the most useful secrets connected
with the harvest, which they had derived from
* Strabo, xvii. p. 553. f Vol.11, p. 7-2. 75.
t Gen. xii. .34. j Diodoi-. i.72.

CHAP. XI. IRRIGATION OF THE LANDS. 35
their ancestors, and had improved by their own
experience." " They rent," says the same histo
rian, " the arable land belonging to the kings, the
priests, and the military class, for a small sum, and
employ their whole time in the tillage of their
farms;" and the labourers who cultivated land for
the rich peasant, or other landed proprietors, were
superintended by the steward or owner of the es
tate, who had authority over them, and the power
of condemning delinquents to the bastinado ; and
the paintings of the tombs frequently represent a
person of consequence inspecting the tillage ofthe
field, either seated in a chariot, walking, or leaning
on his staff, accompanied by a favourite dog. *
Their mode of irrigation I have already noticed.!
It was the same in the field of the peasant as ii\
the garden of the villa ; and the principal difference
in the mode of tilling the former consisted in the
use ofthe plough.
The water of the inundation was differently ma
naged in various districts. This depended either
on the relative levels of the adjacent lands, or on
the crops they happened to be cultivating at the
time. When a field lay fallow, or the last crop had
been gathered, the water was permitted to overflow
it as soon as its turn came to receive it from the
nearest sluices ; or, in those parts where the levels
were low, and open to the ingress of the rising stream,
as soon as the Nile arrived at a sufficient height ;
but when the last autumn crop was in the ground,
* Vol. II. p. 136. t Vol. n. p. 1. 137. 139.
D 2

36 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
every precaution was taken to keep the field from
being inundated; and "as the water rose gradually,
they were enabled," says Diodorus*, " to keep it
out by means of small dams, which could be opened
if required, and closed again without much trouble."
In the sculptures of the tombs are sometimes
represented canals conveying the water of the in
undation into the fields ; and the proprietor of the
estate is seen, as described by Virgil t, plying in a
light painted skiff or papyrus punt, and superin
tending the maintenance of the dykes, or other
important matters connected with the land. Boats
carry the grain to the granary, or remove the flocks
from the lowlands; and as the water subsides, the
husbandman ploughs the soft earth with a pair of
oxen, and the same subjects introduce the offering
of firstfruits to the Gods, in acknowledgment of
the benefits conferred by " a favourable Nile." t
These subjects, however, give little insight into
the actual mode of laying out the canals, being
rarely more than conventional pictures ; though we
may infer from their general character, that the
main canal was usually carried to the upper or
southern side of the land, and that small branches
leading from it at intervals traversed the fields in
straight or curving lines, according to the nature
or elevation ofthe soil.
* Diodor. i. 36.
f Virg. Georg. iv. 289.
" Adcolit effuso stagnantem flumine Nilum,
Et circum pictis veliitiir suarura phaselis."
:|; This is a ti-anslation of the expression used in Egypt for a favour
able inundation : where they always speak of " the time of the Nile,"
or " a good Nile" — meaning the inundalion.

CHAP. XI. IRRIGATION OF THE LANDS. 37
As the Nile subsided, the water was retained
in the fields by proper embankments ; and the
mouths of the canals being again closed, it was
prevented from returning into the falling stream.
By this means the irrigation of the land was
prolonged considerably, and the fertilising effects
of the inundation continued until the water was
absorbed. And so rapidly does the ardent sun of
Egypt, even at this late period of the season, —
in the months of November and December, — dry
the mud when once deprived of its covering of
water, that no fevers are generated, and no ill
ness visits those villages which have been entirely
surrounded by the inundation. For though some
travellers pretend that the Nile ceases to rise to
the same height as in the days of Herodotus, and
assert that the villages no longer present the ap
pearance he describes *, of islands resembling the
Cyclades in the .^gean Sea, it is not less certain
that the great inundations have precisely the effect
he mentions ; and I have seen the villages perfectly
isolated, as in olden times. But this, as may be
reasonably supposed, does not happen every year ;
and, as in all ages of Egyptian history, the Nile
sometimes rises to a great height, and at others
falls short ofthe same limit ; and a casual observer,
judging only of what he witnessed during a short
stay in the country, may form too hasty an opinion,
and draw conclusions which longer experience
would prove to be erroneous.
As soon as the canals were closed, the quantity of
* Herodot. ii. 97.
D 3

38

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

CHAP. XI. SOWING THE LAND. 39
fish collected in them afforded an abundant supply
to the neighbouring villages ; and, as already ob
served*, the advantages arising from these fisheries
were of the greatest importance both to the people
and the revenue.
The land being cleared of the water, and pre
senting in some places a surface of liquid mud, in
others nearly dried by the sun and the strong N.W.
winds (that continue at intervals to the end of au
tumn and the commencement of winter), the hus
bandman prepared the ground to receive the seed ;
which was either done by the plough and hoe, or by
more simple means, according to the nature ofthe
soil, the quality of the produce they intended to
cultivate, or the time the land had remained under
water. When the levels were low, and the water
had continued long upon the land, they often dis
pensed with the plough t, and probably, like their
successors, broke up the ground with hoes, or
simply dragged the moist mud with bushes t after
the seed had been thrown upon the surface ; and
then merely drove a number of cattle, asses, pigs,
sheep, or goats into the field to tread in the grain. §
"In no country," says Herodotus 11, " do they
gather their seed with so little labour. They are
not obliged to trace deep furrows with the plough,
* Vol. III. p. 63.
f To this, perhaps, the 10th verse of Deut. xi. refers, where mention
is made of the simple process of sowing the seed in Egypt " as a garden
of herbs."
J A sort of harrow seems to have been used as early as the time of
• Job (ch. xxxix. 10.).
§ Diodor. i. 36. Plin. xviii. 18. F/rft? woodcut. No. 421.
II Herodot. ii. 14.
1) 4

40

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. xr.

to break the clods, nor to partition out their fields
into numerous forms, as other people do ; but when

CHAP. XI. PLOUGHING. 41
the river of itself overflows the land, and the water
retires again, they sow their fields, driving the pigs
over them to tread in the seed; and this being done,
every one patiently awaits the harvest."
On other occasions they used the plough, but
were contented, as Diodorus* and Columella t
observe, with " tracing slight furrows with light
ploughs on the surface of the land ;" and others
followed the plough with wooden hoes t to break
the clods of the rich and tenacious soil.
The modern Egyptians sometimes substitute for
the hoe a machine §, called khorfud, " hedgehog,"
which consists of a cylinder studded with projecting
iron pins, to break the clods after the land has been
ploughed ; but this is only used when great care is
required in the tillage of the land : and they fre
quently dispense with the hoe; contenting them
selves, also, with the same slight furrows as their
predecessors, which do not exceed the depth of a
few inches, measuring from the lowest part to the
summit of the ridge. This mode of ploughing was
called by the Romans scarijicatio.
The ancient plough was entirely of wood, and
of very simple form, like that still used in Egypt.
It consisted of a share, two handles, and the pole
or beam ; which last was inserted into the lower

* Diodor. i. 36.
f Columella de Re Rust. ii. 25.
J Of this instrument, dedicated to the God of Gardens, I have
given a remarkable instance in my Materia Hierog., Plate 6., and in
PI. 6. of the Pantheon, in this volume. Vide, also, woodcuts. No. 422.
and 424.
§ Vide the Vignette K. at the beginning of this Chapter.

42

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

end of the stilt, or the base ofthe handles, and was
strengthened by a rope connecting it with the heel.
It had no coulter, nor were wheels applied to any
Egyptian plough : but it is probable that the point
was shod with a metal sock, either of bronze or
iron. It was drawn by two oxen ; and the plough

man guided and drove them with a long goad,
without the assistance of reins, which are used by
the modern Egyptians. He was sometimes accom-

CHAP. XI. THE YOKE. 43
panied by another man, who drove the animals*,
while he managed the two handles of the plough ;
and sometimes the whip was substituted for the
more usual goad.
The mode of yoking the beasts was exceedingly
simple. Across the extremity of the pole, a wooden
yoke or cross bar, about fifty-five inches or five feet
in length, was fastened by a strap (the ^oyo^Bo-fxov
ofthe Greeks), lashed backwards and forwards over
a prominence (ojxipaT^ov) projecting from the centre
of the yoke, which corresponded to a similar peg,
or knob, at the end of the pole ; and occasionally,
in addition to these, was a ring passing over them,
as in some Greek chariots, t At either end of the
yoke was a flat or slightly concave projection, of
semi-circular form, which rested on a pad placed
upon the withers of the animal; and through a
hole on either side of it passed a thong for suspend
ing the shoulder pieces, which formed the collar.
These were two wooden bars, forked at about half
their length, padded so as to protect the shoulder
from friction, and connected at the lower end by a
strong broad band passing under the throat.
Sometimes the draught, instead of being from
the shoulder, was from the head, the yoke being
tied to the base of the horns t; and in rehgious
• Vide instances of both in woodcut, No. 123. Vol. II. p. 136.
+ The parts, according to Homer, were called pn/ios, the pole; ivyos,
the yoke; o/i^aXov, a prominence in the centre ofthe yoke, corresponding
with a peg or knob, larwp, at the end of the pole; to which it was con
nected by a ring, Kptsof, and then bound by the Ivyohofiov, or strap.
II. Q. 268., and supra. Vol. I. p. 383.
% Vide supra, woodcut, No. 422. p. 40.

44 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
ceremonies oxen frequently drew the bier, or the
sacred shrine, by a rope fastened to the upper part
ofthe horns, without either yoke or pole.*
From a passage in Deuteronomy t, " Thou shalt
not plow with an ox and an ass together," it might
be inferred that the custom of yoking two different
animals t to the plough was common in Egypt ;
but since no representation of it occurs in the
sculptures, we may conclude, if it ever was done
there, that it was of very rare occurrence ; and it is
probable that the Hebrew lawgiver had in view a
practice adopted by some of the people of Syria,
whose country the Israelites were about to occupy,
rather than the land of Egypt they had recently
quitted.

No. 424. Wooden hoes.
Fig. 1. From the sculptures. Fig. 2. Found in a tolnb.
The name of the plough was &H.S.I § ; ploughed
land appears to have been apr, a word still traced
* Firfe in/r-a, the Funeral Ceremonies. ¦)- Deut. xxii. 10.
J I have often seen it done in Italy. The cruelty of the custom is
evident, the horn of the ox wounding its companion.
§ This being the name of the capital of the Great Oasis, the plough
was adopted as the hieroglyphic for that city.

CHAP. XI. PLOUGH AND HOE. 45
in the Arabic hart, which has the same import; and
the Greek apyjTpov, and Roman aratrum, appear to
indicate, like the ccpovpa, an Egyptian origin.
The hoe was of wood, and in form not unlike our
letter A, with one limb shorter than the other, and
curving inwards : the longer limb, or handle, being
of uniform thickness, round, and smooth ; and the
lower extremity of the other, or the blade, being of
increased breadth, and either terminated by a sharp
point, or rounded at the end. The blade was fre
quently inserted into the handle *, and they were
bound together, about the centre, with a twisted
rope. They are frequently represented in the
sculptures ; and several, which have been found in
the tombs of Thebes, are preserved in the museums
of Europe, t
The figure of the hoe in hieroglyphics is well
known : its alphabetic force is an M, though the
name of this instrument was in Egyptian, as in
Arabic, Tore. It forms the commencement of
the word Mai, " beloved," and enters into numerous
other combinations.
I have found no instance of hoes with metal blades ;
nor is there evidence of the ploughshare having
been sheathed with metal ; though, as I have already
observed, probability suggests that on some occa
sions the Egyptians may have adopted this simple
improvement in their implements of husbandry.
The axe had a metal blade, either bronze or
iron ; and the peasants are sometimes represented
* Vide woodcut. No. 424. f Vide supra, Vol. 111. p. 248.

46 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
felling trees with this implement ; while others are
employed in hoeing the field preparatory to its

No. 425. Hoeing and sowing the land, and felling trees.' Thebes.
being sown, — confirming what I before observed,
that the ancient, as well as the modern, Egyptians
frequently dispensed with the use ofthe plough.
There has been some doubt respecting the admis
sion of swine into the fields after the inundation,
and considerable criticism has been expended on
the statement of Herodotus above quoted.* Some
have objected, that their voracious habits were more
likely to injure than to benefit the cause of the
husbandman, and that many other animals might
be chosen for the purpose of treading in the grain,
without the fear of their destroying what they were
intended to preserve : but the learned Larcher
very properly suggests, that muzzling them would
eflFectually obviate this inconvenience, and that the
historian may allude to their admission into the
fields previous to the sowing of the grain, for
the purpose of clearing the land of roots and
noxious weeds, whose growth was favoured by
the water of the inundation : an opinion which is
strengthened by the representation of some pigs
given in a previous part of this work, from a tomb
-# Snprd, p. 39.

CHAP. XI. CULTIVATION OF THE LANDS. 47
at Thebes *, where the introduction of water plants
seems to indicate the use for which they were
employed. Nor, indeed, considering how unclean
those animals were considered by the Egyptians, —
the swineherd being deemed unworthy to inter
marry with other persons t, — is it likely that they
were kept for any but agricultural purposes ; and
no one has a greater appearance of probability than
that to which I have alluded.
The heat of the climate rendered the duties of
the ploughman particularly arduous, and care was
taken to provide a supply of water, which was
sometimes kept cool by suspending the skin that
held it in a tree. At Beni Hassan, a barrel is
represented placed at the extremity of the furrows,
which calls to mind the description given by
Homer t of the ploughing scene on the shield of
Achilles, where, as soon as each ploughman arrived
at the end of the field, a man presented him with a
cup of wine ; but, as already observed §, it seems
more probable that it contained the grain intended
for sowing the field after the plough had passed.
Like the Romans, they usually brought the seed
in a basket II, which the sower held in his left hand,
or suspended on his arm, (sometimes with a strap
round his neck,) while he scattered the seed with
his right IF; and, judging from the paintings of
* Vol. HI. p. 34. t Supra, Vol. I. p. 239.
t Hom. II. E. 541. Vide woodcut. No. 422.
§ Vol.m. p. 182. 184.
II The Roman basket of seed contained three pecks or modii. Colum.
ii. 9.
H Conf. Plin. xviii. 24.

00

^=^«^^^55I|||S5^,.,

1 2 3
^'*' 2.' sCing ftfllnrate thfplough has passed. The handle of the plough has a peg at the side like the modern Egyptian
plough, which may be seen in the Vignette K.

No. 426.

Ploughing, sowing, and reaping.
Fig. 1. plucking up the doora by the roots.
2. reaping wheat.

Tombs qfthe Kings— Thebes,

M > OH H Qk! H HI > en

O >

CHAP. XI. CULTIVATION OF THE LANDS. 49
the tombs, the sower sometimes followed the plough,
in those fields which required no previous prepara
tion by the use of the hoe, or from their elevated
level were free from the roots of noxious herbs.
The mode of sowing was what we term broadcast,
the seed being scattered loosely over the surface,
whether ploughed or allowed to remain unbroken ;
and in no agricultural scene is there any evidence
of drilling, or dibbling. Nor were the harrow*
or rake known in Egypt ; and the use of the spade
was supplied by the hoe, as it still is throughout
the valley of the Nile.
Corn, and those productions which did not stand
in need of constant artificial irrigation, were sown
in the open field, as in other countries : but for
indigo, esculent vegetables, and herbs, which re
quired to be frequently watered, the fields were
portioned out into square beds like our salt pans,
surrounded by a raised border of earth to keep in
the water, which was introduced by channels from
the shadoof, or poured in with bucketst; and it is
probably to this method of sowing the land and
turning the water from one square to another, by
pushing aside the mud to open one and close the
next with the foot, that reference is made in a pas
sage of Deuteronomy, already noticed, t
Sometimes, as we are informed by Pliny §, they
used a dressing of nitrous soil, which was spread over
* Vide supra, p. 39. note % .
-j- These square beds are represented in woodcut. No. 356. Vol. II.
p. 137.
X Vol. II. p. 5.
5 Plin. hb. xix. c. 5.
VOL. I. — Second Series. E

50 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
the surface ; a custom continued to the present day :
but this was confined to certain crops, and principally
to those reared late in the year ; the fertilising pro
perties ofthe alluvial deposit answering all the pur
poses ofthe richest manure. * Its peculiar quality
is not merely indicated by its eflTects, but by the
appearance it presents ; and so tenacious and sili-
cious is its structure, that when left upon rock,
and dried by the sun, it resembles pottery, from
its brittleness and consistence. Its component
parts, according to the analysis given by Regnault
in the "Memoires sur I'Egypte*," are —
11 water.
9 carbon.
6 oxide of iron.
4 silica.
4 carbonate of magnesia.
18 carbonate of lime.
48 alumen.

100

the quantity of silica and alumen varying ac
cording to the places whence the mud is taken,
which frequently contains a great admixture of sand
near the banks, and a larger proportion of argil
laceous matter at a distance from the river.
The same quality of soil and alluvial deposit
seems to accompany the Nile in its course from
Abyssinia to the Mediterranean ; and though the

^t5'

-* Coiif, Plin. xviii. 18. " Nilus ibi coloni vice fungens.'' Macrobius
attributes the use of manure to Saturn. Lib. i. c. 7.
t Tomei. p. 331.

CHAP. XI. ALLUVIAL SOIL. 51
White River is the principal stream, being much
broader, bringing a larger supply of water, and pro
bably coming from a greater distance than the Blue
River, or Abyssinian branch, which rises a little
beyond the lake Dembea, still this last claims the
merit of possessing the real peculiarities of the Nile,
and of supplying those fertilising properties which
mark its course to the sea. The White River, or
western branch, likewise overflows its banks, but
no rich mud accompanies its inundation ; and
though, from the force of its stream (which brings
down numbers of large fish and shells at the com
mencement of its rise, probably from passing
through some large lakes), there is evidence of its
being supplied by an abundance of heavy rain, we
may conclude that the nature of the mountains
at its source diflFers considerably from that of the
Abyssinian ranges.
Besides the admixture of nitrous earth, the
Egyptians made use of other kinds of dressing
for certain produce ; and in those places where
the vine was cultivated on alluvial soil, we may
conclude they found the addition of gravel be
neficial to that valuable plant, — a secret readily
learnt from its thriving condition, and the supe
rior quality of the grape in stony soils ; and some
produce was improved by a mixture of sand. Nor
were they neglectful of the advantages offered
by the edge ofthe desert for the growth of certain
plants, which, being composed of clay and sand,
was peculiarly adapted to such as required a light
soil ; and the cultivation of this additional tract,
E 2

52

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

which only stood in need of proper irrigation to
become highly productive, had the advantage of in
creasing considerably the extent ofthe arable land
of Egypt. In many places, we still find evidence of
its having been tilled by the ancient inhabitants,
even to the late time of the Roman empire ; and in
some parts ofthe Fyoom, the vestiges of beds and
channels for irrigation, as well as the roots of vines,
are found in sites lying far above the level of the
rest ofthe country.
The occupation of the husbandman depended

English Name.

Botanical Name.

Wheat

.

Triticum sativum.
(Arab. Kumh.)

Barley

- - -

Hordeum vulgare.
(Arab. Shayeer.)

Beans

- - -

Vicia faba.
(Arab. Fool.)

Peas ? -

- - -

Pisum arvense.
(Arab. Bisilleh.)

Lentils
- - -
Ervum lens.
(Arab. Ads.)
Vetches
- - -
(Hommos) Cicer arietinum.
(Arab. Hommos.)
Lupins
- - -
Lupinus Termis.
(Arab. Termus.)
Clover
Trifolium Alexandrinum.
(Arab. Bersim.)
Trigonella fcenum-graecum.
(Arab. Helbeh.)
Lathyrus sativus.
(Arab. Gilbdn.)
A sort of French Bean -
Doliehos lubia.
(Arab. Loobieh.)
CHAP. XI. FIRST CROPS. 53
much on the produce he had determined on rearing.
Those who solely cultivated corn, had little more
to do than to await the time of harvest ; but many
crops required constant attention, and some stood
in need of frequent artificial irrigation.
In order to give a general notion of the quality
of the crops, and other peculiarities relating to
their agriculture, I shall introduce the principal
productions of Egypt in the two following tables ;
of which the first presents those raised after the
retirement of the inundation : —

Remarks.

Sown in November ; reaped in beginning of April, a month later than
barley ; conf. Exod. ix. 32.
Sown at same time ; reaped, some in 90 days, some in the 4th month.*
Sown in October or November; cut in about 4 months.
Sown in the middle of November ; ripen in 90 or 100 days.
Sown in the middle or end of November ; ripen in 100 or 110 days.
Id. Called Bapfioe in Coptic, which is still retained in the modern Arabic
name Termus.
Sown in beginning of October ; first crop after 60 days, second after
50 more days, third left for seed ; if a fourth crop is raised by irriga
tion, it produces no seed.
The Helbeh, or Trigonella fcenum-grsecum, sown in November; cut in
about 2 months.
Lathyrus sativus, a substitute for clover, gathered in 60 days; seed
ripens in 110.
Sown at same time as wheat in November, ripens in 4 months. A crop
raised by the Shadoof in August, gathered in about 3 months ; its
beans for cooking in 60 days.
* Pliny says in the sixth, and wheat in the seventh, month after sowing, xviii. ¦;
E ,3

54

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

English Name.

Botanical Name.

Safflower

Carthamus tinctorius.

Lettuce

(Arab. Korlum.)
Lactuca sativa.
Flax
(Arab. Khus.)
Linum usitatissimum.
Coleseed
(Arab. Kettdn.)
Brassica oleifera.
Hemp? Cummin Coriander
-
(Arab. Selgam.)
Cannabis sativa.
(Arab. Hasheesh.)
Cuminum Cyminum.
(Arab. Kammoon.)
Coriandrum sativum.
Poppy
Water Mel
Dn, and several
(Arab. Kooshera.)
Papaver somniferum.
(Arab. Aboondm.)
Cucurbita citrullus.
other Cucurbitee.
(Arab. Bateekh.)
Cucumber,
and other Cu-
Cucumis sativus.
cumis.
Doora.
-
Holcus Sorghum.
(Arab. Doora Say fee.)
All these, the ordinary productions of modern
Egypt, appear to have been known to and cultivated
by the ancient inhabitants : and according to Dios-
corides, from the Helbeh, or Trigonella, was made
the ointment, called by Athengeus* ' Telinon.'
The Carthamus tinctorius is now proved, by the
discovery of its seeds in a tomb at Thebes, to have
been an old Egyptian plant ; and there is reason to
believe the coleseed to be an indigenous production,
though it may be doubted if peas and hemp were
formerly grown in the valley of the Nile.
The Carthamus was not only cultivated for the
* Athen. lib. v. p. 195.
CHAP. XI, PRODUCTIONS OF THE WINTER. 55

Remarks.

The flowers used for dyeing : the seeds giving an oil. Sown middle of
November; seeds ripen in 5 months.
Cultivated for oil. Sown in middle of November; seeds ripen in 5
months.
Sown middle of November ; plucked in 110 days.

Yields an oil. Sown middle of November; cut iu 110 days.

Sown middle of December ; cut in 4 months.
Sown end of November ; seeds ripen in April. The Arabic name sig
nifies father (of) sleep.
Sown middle of December; cut in 90 days.
Cut in 60 days.
Independent of the crop raised by the Shadoof, and that during the in
undation ; sown middle of November ; ripens in 5i months.

dye its flower produced, but for the oil extracted
from its seeds. The ancient, as well as the modern
Egyptians, also obtained oil from other plants, as
the olive, simsim or sesamum, the cici or castor-
berry tree, lettuce, flax, and selgam or coleseed.
This last, the Brassica oleifera of Linnsus, appears
to be the Egyptian raphanus mentioned by Pliny *,
as " celebrated for the abundance of its oil," unless
he alludes to the seemga, or Raphanus oleifer of
Linnaeus, which is now only grown in Nubia and
the vicinity ofthe first cataract. The seeds ofthe
sim,mn also aflforded an excellent oil, and they were
* Plin. xix. 5., and xv. 7.
E 4

56 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI'
probably used, as at the present day, in making a
peculiar kind of cake, called by the Arabs, Koosbeh,
which is the name it bears when the oil has been
previously extracted.* When only bruised in the
mill, and still containing the oil, it is called
Taheeneh ; and the unbruised seeds are strewed
upon cakes, or give their name and flavour to a
coarse conserve, called Haloweh simsemeSh. The
oil of simsim (called seerig) is considered the best
lamp oil of the country ; it is also used for cooking,
but is reckoned inferior in flavour to that of the
lettuce, t
The castor-berry tree is called by Herodotus t
Sillicyprion, and the oil kiki (cici), which he says is
not inferior to that of the olive for lamps, though it
has the disadvantage of a strong unpleasant smell.
Pliny§ calls the tree cici, which, he adds, "grows
abundantly in Egypt, and has also the names of
croton, trixis, tree sesamum, and ricinus." The
mode he mentions of extracting the oil by putting
the seeds into water over a fire, and skimming the
surface, is the manner now adopted in Egypt;
though he says the ancient Egyptians merely pressed
them after sprinkling them with salt. The press,
indeed, is employed for this purpose at the present
day, when the oil is only wanted for lamps || ; but by

* Plin. xviii. 10.
\ Pliny shows it was inferior to the oil of the cypros, since they were
in the habit of " adulterating the cyprine with the sesamine oil." xiii. I.
X Herodot. ii. 94.
§ Plin. XV. 7.
II Pliny evidently had an aversion to castor oil, in which he cannot
be considered singular. He calls it " cibis foeduni, lucernis utile." Conf.
Strabo, xvii. p. 5G6.

CHAP. XI. THE RICINUS AND OTHER OILS. 57
the other method it is more pure, and the coarser
qualities not being extracted, it is better suited for
medicinal purposes. Strabo says, " Almost all the
natives of Egypt used its oil for lamps, and work
men, as well as all the poorer classes, both men
and women, anointed themselves with it," giving
it the same name, kiki, as Pliny, which he does not
confine, like Herodotus, to the oil : and of all those
by which it was formerly known in Egypt or
Greece, no one is retained by the modern Egyptians.
It grows in every part of Upper and Lower Egypt ;
but the oil is now little used, in consequence of the
extensive culture of the lettuce, the coleseed, the
olive, the carthamus, and the sim.sim, which afford
a better quality for burning: it is, therefore, seldom
employed except for the purpose of adulterating
the lettuce and other oils ; and the Ricinus is rarely
cultivated in any part of the country.
Herodotus tells us the ancient Egyptians adopted
both method.s, of pressing and boiling the seeds,
which is much more probable than the statement
of Pliny ; the choice ofthe two depending, as I have
observed, on the quality of the oil they required.
•' The cnicon, a plant unknown in Italy, according
to Pliny *, was sown in Egypt for the sake of the
oil its seeds afforded ; " the chorticon, urtica, and
amaracust were cultivated for the same purposet,
and the cypros, "a tree resembling the ziziphus
in its foliage, with seeds like the coriander, was
noted in Egypt, particularly on the Canopic branch
* Plin. xxi. 1.5. t P''"- xxi. 11. 22.
X Plin. XV. 7., and xxii. 13.

58 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
ofthe Nile, for the excellence of its oil."* Egypt
was also famed for its "oil of bitter almonds t ;" and
many other vegetable productions were encouraged
for the sake of their oil, for making ointments, or
for medicinal purposes, t
In the length of time each crop took to come to
maturity, and the exact period when the seed was
put into the ground, much, of course, depended
on the duration of the inundation, the state of the
soil, and other circumstances ; and in the two
accompanying tables I have been guided by ob
servations made on the crops of modern Egypt,
which, as may be supposed, differ in few or no
particulars from those of former days ; the causes
that influence them being permanent and un
varying. " The plants of the summer season," as I have

English Name.

Botanical Name.

Rice II
Doora

Oryza sativa.
(Arab. Rooz or Aroos.)
Holcus Sorghum.
(Arab. Doora Kaydee.)

* Plin. xii. 24., xiii. 1., and xxiii. 4. Athen. xv. p. 688.
f Plin. xiii. 1.
X Vide supra, No\.ll. p. 214., and Vol. III. p. 378. In the former
place, I have mentioned some ointment preserved in a vase at Alnwick
Castle, upon which I have lately received some observations by Dr.
Ure, who says, " In consistence, this unguent is intermediate between
tallow and hog's lard. It has an orange yellow colour. Its specific gravity
is 0"991 ; and this density would seem to indicate the presence of rosin.
It gives a greasy stain ou paper, not removable by heat. It is soluble
in hot oil of turpentine and in hot alcohol, but it precipitates from the
latter in the cold. From these results I am of opinion, that it is ofthe
nature of a fixed fat, which may have been flavoured with an essence or
volatile oil; but it does not belong to the class of stearopteries, like otto
of rose, or the precious oriental perfumes." I may also here introduce

CHAP. XI. PRODUCTIONS OF THE SUMMER. 59
elsewhere observed §, " which succeed the above
mentioned, either immediately or after a short in
terval, are produced solely by artificial irrigation."
" But the use of the shadoof is not confined to
the productions of summer ; it is required for some
in spring, and frequently throughout the winter, as
well as in autumn, if the inundation be deficient ;"
and the same system was, of course, adopted by
the ancient Egyptians.
The chief productions sown the half year before,
and during the inundation, are enumerated in the
table eblow.
Herbs and esculent roots were cultivated in
great abundance by the Egyptians; experience
having taught them, that a vegetable diet was
highly conducive to health in their climate ; and
the sculptures, the authority of Pliny ^, the fact of

Remarks.

Cut in 7 months : in October. Grown in the Delta.
Sown in beginning or end of April ; cut at rise of Nile in 100 days. Its
seed sown as Byood.
the analysis which Dr. Ure has favoured me with of a bronze chisel,
alluded to in Vol. IIL p. 252.
Of 100 parts, 94'0 are copper.
5'9 till.
O'l iron.
JOO'O
$ Topography of Thebes and General View of Egypt, p. 263.
II It is not certain that rice was cultivated formerly in Egypt.
IT Conf. Plin. xxi. 15. " Herbae sponte nascentes, quibus pleraeque
gentium utuntur in cibis, maximeque jEgyptus, .... tanta est ciborum
ex herbis abundantia."

60

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

English Name

Botanical Name.

Byood or autumn Doora -

Holcus Sorghum.

(Arab. D. Byood, or Dimeeree.

Yellow Doora

Id.

(Arab. D. Saffra )

Millet

Holcus saccharatus.

(Arab. Dokhn.) '\._

Cotton

Gossypium herbaceum.

(Arab. Koton.)
Simsim, Sesame
Sesamum orientale.
(Arab. Simsim.)
Indigo
Indigofera argentea.
(Arab. Meleh.)
Henneh
Lawsonia spinosa et inermis.
Water Melon
And other Cucurbitse.
(Arab. Bateekh, &c.)
Onion (Leek, and Garlic) -
Allium Cepa, &c.
(Arab. JBussal.)
Bdmia ...
Hibiscus esculentus, or perhaps only
the H. praecox.
four thousand persons being engaged in selling ve
getables at Alexandria when that place was taken
by Amer, and the habits of the people at the pre
sent day, show how partial they always were to
their use. The same may be remarked of the
Italians ; and it is a curious fact, that several
Roman families of note received their names from
the cultivation of certain pulse, t
* Pliny says, "All kinds of pulse appear above the ground, in Egypt,
on the third day." xviii. 7.
-j- As the Lentuli, Fabii, Pisones.
CHAP. XI. KNOWN PLANTS OF ANCIENT EGYPT. 6l

Remarks.

Sown middle of August ; cut in 4 months ; but its seed, no longer prolific,
is all used for bread.
Sown when the Nile is at its height, in middle of August, and banked up
from the inundation: ripens in 120 days.
Only in Nubia and the Oases : sown at same time as the Doora.
Planted in March, and summer. In good soil, some is gathered the 5th
month.
Gives an oil. Ripens in about 100 days. Sown 10 days after the
Doora Byood.
Sown in April : the first crop in 70 days ; second in 40 ; third in 30 ;
fourth in 25, in the first year : it is then left without water all the
winter, and watered again in March. Then the first crop is cut after
40 days ; second in 30 ; third in 30 ; and the same in the third year.
After three years it is renewed from seed. The first year's crop is
the best.
Used for the dye of its leaves.
During the rise of the Nile, and in March, on the sandbanks of the
river.
Sown in August.
Mostly in gardens. Gathered in 50 or 60 days, in September and
October. Many other vegetables were raised at diff'erent seasons, by
artificial irrigation.*

Having, in the preceding tables, shown the
seasons when the principal productions of Egypt
were raised, I proceed to enumerate those which
appear from good authority to have been grown
by the ancient Egyptians. Wheat', barley', doora^,
peas^?, beans ^ lentils ^ hommos'', gilbdn''?, cartha-
1 Exod. ix. 31, 32., and the seed found in the tombs.
2 The seeds found in the tombs.
3 Said to be found in the tombs.
4 Herodot. ii. 37. Diodor. i. 89. Plin. xviii. 12.
5 Virg. Georg. i. 228. Plin. xviii. 12. " Duo genera ejus in Egypto."
Plut. de Is. s. 68. Aul. Gell. xvii. 8., and in the tombs.
6 Cicer arietinum.
7 Lathyrus sativus.

62

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

mus^ lupins^ bamia^, figV^, simsim}'^, indigo'^
sinapis or mustard '^ origanum'^, succory", flax '^
cotton'^, cassia senna'^ colocinth'", cummin^", co
riander^', several Cucurbitse, "cucumbers, melons,
leeks, onions, garlic^^" lotus^^ nelumbium^^, cy-
perus esculentus^'', papyrus^", and other Cyperi^',
are proved to have been cultivated by them ; and
the learned Kircher^^ mentions many productions
8 Found in the tombs.
0 Hibiscus esculentus.
10 Raphanus sativus, var. edulis, of Linnaeus. Herodot. ii. 125.
Plin. XV. 7., and xix. 5.
11 Plin. XV. 7.
1- Cloths found dyed with it.
13 Plin. xix. 8. " Semen (sinapis) optimum jEgyptium."
11 Plin. xix. 8.
'!• Phn. xix. 8., XX. 8., and xxi. 15. Cichorium intjbus, Linn. Phny
calls it " Erraticum intubum."
le Exod. ix. 31. &c.
17 Plin. xix. 1. &c.
18 An indigenous plant, called by the Arabs Senna mekkeh : the best
is brought from Ethiopia and the interior of Africa.
1.5 An indigenous plant.
20 Phn. XX. 15. Seedsused on bread in Egypt, as at the present day.
Plin. xix. 8.
21 Plin. XX. 20. In Numbers, xi. 7., the manna was compared to
coriander seed, which the Israelites had seen in Egypt. The name of
Manna, properly men or min, signifies " what: " for '• when the children
of Israel saw it, they said to one another,'Jf'7;ai (is) this ?' (it is manna)
for they wist not whatit was." Exod. xvi. 15. "And the house of
Israel called the name thereof wAai (manna)." Ver. 31.
92 Numbers, xi. 5.
93 Buds found in the tombs. Herodot. ii. 92. &c. PHn. xiii. 7.
94 Herodot. ii. 92. It now only grows in India. It is called by Phny
Colocasia as well as Cyamon. (xxi. 15.)
94 The seeds found in the tombs.
96 Plin. xiii. 11. Herodot. ii. 92. Isaiah, xix. 7., and found dried in
the tombs.
97 Indigenous. Vide Plin. xxi. 18.
98 Antiamas, or minor Centaurea. A.mut, or Plantago major. Mene,
or Satyrion, called Panion. Ortchioke, or Ophitebioca, Pentaphyllum.
Nemenestphe, or Nesphe, Chamsepythys. Anesen, or Artemisia. Sapht,
or Hyoscyamus. Sephseph, or Sophosph, (Arab. Zarawend,) Aristo-
lochia? Linn. Semmebri, or Samur, Chamaelea. Eminion, or Ascle-
pias, probably the Osher, or Asclepias gigantea. Pemptempht, Verbena ?.
Antonerm'bons, Lingua bovis, (Lissan-e'lor,) Borrago officinalis? Linn.

CHAP. XI. INDIGENOUS PLANTS OF EGYPT. 63
of the country, principally on the authority of
Apuleius, and early Arab writers. But the greater
part of these last are wild plants : and, indeed, if
all the indigenous productions of Egypt (which
unquestionably grew there in ancient as well as
modern times) were enumerated, a large catalogue
might be collected, those of the desert alone
amounting to nearly 250 species. For though the
Egyptian Herbarium is limited to about 1300, the
indigenous plants constitute a large proportion of
that number, and few countries have a smaller
quantity introduced from abroad than Egypt, which,
except in a few instances, has remained contented
with the herbs and trees of its own soil ; and the
plants of the desert may be considered altogether
indigenous, without, I believe, one single ex
ception. It is true, as I have observed, that these
last belong to ancient as well as modern Egypt,
but I do not think it necessary to enter into any
description of them in the present work ; and
shall content myself with a brief enumeration of
those mentioned by Pliny, together with the most

Asterope, or Marrubium, or Prasion (Phraseeon,) Marrubium Alyssum,
lAnn. Suletho, or Squill, Scillamaritima, (Bussalelfar). Seniet, or Nastur
tium?. TaionM, (Chamomile,) (Arab. Baioo«i?g,)Santolinafragrantissima,
Forsk. Stempht, (Sanguinaria,) Polygonum. Palalia, or Cyclaminus.
Ethooui, or Venus's Hair, Adianthum Capillus Veneris, Linn. Nisine,
or Heliotrope. Menipht, or Dictamnus. Lotometra, or Lotus, Nym
phaea Lotus, Linn. Soumonas, or Mint, {Naanaa,) Mentha Kahirina,
Forsk. Somi, or Absynthium Marinum, or Seriphium. Aphlophoi,
or Mercurialis Herba. Ttibdon, or Bryonia, Vitis alba. Phepre, or Sco-
lopendra. Agathosdemon, or Cyclaminus. Pantagatha, or Origanum.
Aimeos, or wild Myrtle. Dentorobon, or Coscuta. Motmoutin, or
Portulaca, (Oleracea?). Iratbria, or Betonica. Ochebn, or Coriander.
Anysi, or Salvia. Vide Kircher, Prod, et Lex. Sup. c. 8., and
Qidipus.

64

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

striking characteristics or properties he ascribes to
them. I have arranged them in the order in which
they are given by the naturalist, not according
to their botanical classification, some being un-

Name from Pliny.

A plant producing
ladanum.
Tree producing My
robalanum, Myro
balanus
Palma -|- called A dip
SOS.
Sphagnos, Bryon, or
Sphacos

:]

Cypros
Maron( 

i

lib.

12. 17.

12.
23.

21. 5.

12. 22.

-)

Elate (Abies?),Palma, f
or Spathe - \
Amygdalus, Almond

Palma, Palm -
Myxa
Ficus .^Egyptia
(Ceraunia siliqua)

12.
24. 13.
12.
13.
23. 12.

23. 6. I.
24. 1.
4.
24.

{
}
}

Botanical Name.

12. 25.

12.
23.13.

28. 5. 1.

¦{

Cistus ladaniferus.
Moringa aptera ? *
(Arab. Yessur, fruct.
Hdb-ghdlee.)
 ?
Parmelia parietina ?
(Arab. Shegeret
e'neddeh.)
Lawsonia spinosa et iner
mis.(Arab. Henneh.)
Teucrium Iva?
(Arab. Miskeh 9)
Amyris Opobalsamum.
(Arab. Belisdn.)
 7

Amygdalus communis.
(Arab. Loz.)
13. 4. Phcenix dactylifera.
(Arab. Nakhl.)
13. 5. Cordia Myxa, Sebestena
domestica, Alpin.
(Arab. Mokhdyt.)
13. 7. 1 Ficus Sycomorus.
23. 7. J (Arab. Gimmayz.)
13. 8. Ceratonia Siliqua.
I (Arab. Kharoob.)
* There appears more reason to suppose it the moringa than the Balanites
jEgyptiaca, or Myrobalanus Chebulus ( Arab, arbor, Egleeg, fruct. Lalob). They
both grow in the Egyptian desert. The former is called Yessur : the seeds, con
tained in a long pod, are called Hab-ghali. This and the Balanites are very
different ; but Pliny's description is very indefinite, and might apply to one or the
other. Theophrastus and Dioscorides neither agree with each other, nor with
Pliny.

CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 65
known ; and in assigning the botanical names, I
have received much assistance from the Paris edition
of Pliny, by M. Desfontaines, from whom I have
in few instances found reason to dissent.
Remarks.

" The plants which produce ladanum, introduced into Egypt by the
Ptolemies." Plin.
" Producing a fruit from which an oil or ointment was extracted. Grow
ing in the Thebaid." Plin,
" Gathered before ripe : that which is left is called Phcsnicobalanus,
and is intoxicating." Plin.
" Said to grow in Egypt." Plin. A sort of lichen growing on trees.
Oil extracted from it. Plin. 13. 1.
" Bearing leaves like the Zizyphus. Cooked in oil to make the ointment
called Cyprus. The best grown about Canopus. Leaves dye the hair."
Plin.
There are four or five other species of Teucrium in Egypt.
Balsam in Egypt, according to Dioscorides and Strabo, till lately culti
vated at Heliopolis.
" Of use for ointments." Plin. It is supposed to be the sheath of the
palm flowers. Vide Dioscor. 1. 150. (Arab. Sabdt, conf. Spathe.)
" Oil of bitter almonds made in Egypt." Plin.
« Vide supra, Vol. II. p. 176. " Thebaic palms." Plin. 23. 4.
" Wine made from the fruit in Egypt." Plin.

" Fruit growing on the stem itself." Plin. and Athen. Deipn. ii. p. 5J.
(Locust tree, or Kharoob, said by Pliny not to grow in Egypt. ] t is
now an Egyptian tree.)
f Pliny appears to mention two trees which produced myrobalanum, the
myrobalanus, and the "palma quae fert myrobalanum." (Lib. xxiii. 5.) The fruit
of this last being without any stone, " nullo intus ligno," or " ossa non habens,"
was owing to their gathering it when young. When full grown, it was called Phoe-
nico-balanus. VOL. I. — Second Series. F

66

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

Persica or Peach* - <
Cuci - - -

Quercusf, Oak
(Pers6a)

13. 9.
15. 13.
13. 9.

13
24, 13.

. 9. 11. \
. 11. 12. J

13. 9.

Amygdalus Persica.
(Arab. Khokh.)
Cucifera Thebaica.
(Arab. D6m.)

Mimosa Nilotica.
(Arab. Sont.)
Quercus 

{

Oliva, Olive

{

13. 15.

9. 3.

Prunus iEgyptia

-

13.

10.

Papyrus or Biblus

13.
24.

11. 12
11.

Lotus

-¦

13.§
24.

17. 2.

Punicum malum

or

13.

19.

Granatum, Pome

granate.

-

Balanites jEgyptiaca.
(Arab. Egleeg. fruct.
Lalob.)
Olea Europsea.
(Arab. Zaytoon.)
Rhamnus % Spina Christi
or R. Nabeca, Forsk.
(Arab. Nebk.)
Cyperus papyrus.
(Arab. Berdi?)
Nymphaea Lotus.
(Arab. Beshnin.)
Punica Granatum.
(Arab. Boomdn.)
* Pliny appears to have confounded the Peach and Persea together in lib. xii.
9. In lib. XV. 13. he is evidently speaking of the peach.
-j- In this sentence, " Circa Thebas ha;c (spina) ubi et quercus, et Persica et oliva,"
on the authority of Theophrastus (who says, lib. iv. 3. "Silva ingens circa agrum The-
banum est, ubi etrobur, et Persea, et olea,") the Persica should be Persea ; supposed
to be the Balanites .35gyptiaca. The trees now growing at Thebes are principally the
Mimosa Nilotica, Tulh, Sellem, and Albida ; Ochradenus baccatus ; and sycomore.
The wood Pliny mentions was at some distance from the Nile : but there must
be an error in his expression, 300 stades (about 37 miles) from the river. I
have introduced the Persea as well as the Peach. The former, if it be really the
Egleeg, is now only found in Southern Ethiopia, and in the deserts south of the
latitude of Ombos and Esouan ; and indeed it appears, even in the time of the
CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 67

Remarks.

" Pliny rejects the idle tale of the peach being a poisonous fruit intro
duced by the Persians into Egypt." Vide lib. xv. 13.
" Like to a palm, but with spreading branches. Fruit fills a man's hand ;
of a brown yellow colour. That within large and hard ; turned and
made into pulleys or sail rings. The nucleus within it eaten when
young; exceedingly hard when dry (and ripe)." Vide suprh. Vol. II.
p. 178.
" Seed pods used for tanning.'' " Produces gum." Plin. Vide Athen.
XV. p. 680. Groves of it at Thebes, Memphis, and Abydus : the tvi^o
last still remain.
" About Thebes, where the Persica, olive (and spina) grow." Plin.
The oak is now unknown in Egypt.
Grows in the Eastern desert ofthe Thebaid. Vide Descr. de TEgypte. Bot.
pi. 28. fig. 1.
" The olives of Egypt very fleshy, but with little oil." Plin. xv. 3.
This is very true. Strabo says " the Arsinoite nome alone (excepting
the gardens of Alexandria) produces the olive. The oil is very good
if carefully extracted ; if not, the quantity is great, but with a strong
odour." Lib. xvii. p. 556.
" Near Thebes."
Vide supra, Vol. III. p. 146. Strabo, xvii. p. 550.
Vide supra. Vol. II. p. 183. 215. 217.
" The flower called Balaustium." Plin. It is the ancient rodo7i or
rose, which was used for its dye, and gave its name to the Island of
Rhodes. It is therefore on the reverse of the coins of that island.
Romans, that care was required for its preservation in the valley of Egypt, since
a law was made by them against cutting down the Persea; " de Persetis per
^gyptum non excidendis vel vendendis."
X Pliny's description does not altogether agree with the Rhamnus, as he says
the Prunus resembles the Spina or Acacia, especially in its feathery leaves, which
when touched fall, and rise again. This calls to mind the sensitive plant, or Mi
mosa sensitiva ; but it is unknown in Egypt. I thought Phny might have had in
view the Sodada decidua, or Tonthob ; but I am inclined to refer his prunus to the
Nabeca. § In lib. xiii. c.l 6. Pliny mentions the Thya tree growing in the Oasis of Ammon,
and the Cyrenaica, on the authority of Theophrastus, which he says was known
to Homer ; its wood was very durable, and was used for rafters in temples.
F 2

68

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

Name from Pliny.

Tamarix, Myrice, J
Tamarisk - \
Ferula - - \
Capparis Sari

Vitis, Vine - -I
Cici, Croton, Trixis,
or wild Sesamum.

Raphanus

Chorticon, a Grass
Sesama -
Urtica, called Cneci-
mum, or Cnidium
Pyrus Alexandrina,
Pear of Alexandria
Ficus, Fig

Myrtus, Myrtle

lib.

13. 21.
24. 9.
13. 22.
20. 23.
13. 23.
13. 23.

14.

3.7

16.

18.

15.

3.

15.

7.

19.

5.

15.

7.

15.

7.

15.

7.

22.

13.

15.

1.5.

15.

18.

15.

29.*

21.

11.

}

Botanical Name.

Tamari.x Gallica.
(Arab. Tarfa.)
Ferula communis ? or
Bubon tortuosum ?
(The Crythmum Pyre-
naicum of Forskal.)
(Arab. Shebet e Gebel.)
Capparis spinosa.
(Arab. Lussuf.)
Cyperus dives ? or C. fas-
tigiatus ?
(Arab. Dees.)
Vitis vinifera.
(Arab. Eneb.)
Ricinus communis.
(Arab. Kharwah.)
Raphanus oleifer, or the
Brassica oleifer.
(Arab. Seemga, or the
Selgam ?)

.Sesamum orientale.
(Arab. Simsim.)
Urtica pilulifera.
(Arab. Fiss el Keldb.)
Pyrus communis ?
(Arab. Koomittree.)
Ficus Carica.
(Arab. Ti)i.)

Myrtus communis.
(Arab. As, or Mersia.)

' * According to Pliny, " the cherry tree could not be produced in Egypt, by
any means." Lib. xv. c. 25. It is not grown there now.
¦\ Pliny contradicts himself, when he says, "in Egypto minime odorati
flores, quia nebulosus et roscidus aer est a Nilo flumine," having before stated
(lib. v. 9.) that the same river alone, of all others, " nullas expirat auras ; "
and (lib. xvii. 2.) " calidus semper aer est in Egypto : " and the reason he assigns

CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 69

Remarks.

" Called also Myrice, or wild brya, very abundant in Egypt and Syria."
" Brya, or bryonia, commonly called Arbor infelix." Plin.
" Knotted and hollow stem, very light, good for matches. Some call
the seed ThapsiaP Plin. Two kinds, like the anethum. A large
umbelliferous plant, supposed to be a sort of wild fennel.

The Caper. The fruit of the Egyptian caper, or Lussuf, is very large,
like a small cucumber, about 2^ inches long, which is eaten by the
Arabs.
Vide Theophr. iv. 9. " It grows on the banks of the Nile, with a head
(coma) like the papyrus, and is eaten in the same manner." Plin.
Vide supra. Vol. II. 143. Pliny says that no trees, not even vines, lose
their leaves about Memphis and Elephantine. Lib. xvi. 21.
Castorberry tree, or Palma Christi. " Oil extracted from it, abounds in
Egypt." Plin.
" Oil made from its seeds in Egypt. Plin. It is probably the Seemga
or Raphanus oleifer, and not the sativus^ that he alludes to. He
may perhaps have had in view the Selgam (Brassica oleifer,) or cole
seed, so common throughout Egypt. The seemga is now confined
to Nubia and the southern extremity of the Thebaid.
" Oil extracted from it." Plin.
" Cultivated for its oil." Vide supra, p. 54.
" Giving an oil." " The Alexandrian the best quality." " Used also
medicinally." Plin. Supposed to be a nettle.
Perhaps of Greek introduction.
It is a singular fact, that the small fruit of the wild fig of the Egyptian
desert, and of Syria, is called by the Arabs Kottayn, since Pliny says,
" the small Syrian figs are called Cottana." Lib. xiii. c. 5. The tree
is called Hamdt.
" The myrtle of Egypt is the most odoriferoi.s." Plin. and Athen. 15.
It is only now grown in gardens. Pliny ir another place says, " the
flowers of Egypt have very little odor," xxi. 1.-\, probably on the au
thority of Theophrastus. Hist. Plant, vi. 6. ; De Caus. Plant, vi. 27-
for the deficiency of scent, in Egyptian flowers, would rather tend to increase than
diminish it. Herodotus (ii. 19.) and Diodorus (i. 38.) say the same of the
Nile. The words of the former are, " the Nile is the only river which does
not produce cold winds ; " of the latter, " the Nile is the only river about which
clouds never collect, cold winds never blow, and where the air is not thickened
(by fogs) : " but these statements are not borne out by fact. Some flowers in
F 3

70

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

Name from Pliny.

lib.

c.

Botanical Name.

-

Calamus, Reed

16.

36.*

Arundo Donax, and

Arundo Isiaca.

(Arab. Kussub, and
Boos.)
Hordeum, Barley
18.
7.
Hordeum vulgare.
(Arab. Shayir.)
Triticum, Wheat - 18.
8.
Triticum sativum.
(Arab. Kumh.)
Zea
18.
8.
Triticum Zea ?
Olyra
10.
Holcus Sorghum ?
(Arab. Doora.)
Tiphe
11.
Triticum Spelta?
Faba, Beans
18.
12.
Vicia Faba.
(Arab. Fooi:)
Lens, Lentils -
18.
12.
Ervum Lens.
(Arab. Atz or Adduz.)
Linum, Flax
19.
1.
Linum usitatissimum.
(Arab. Kettdn.)
Gossipion, Cotton
19.
1.
Gossypium herbaceum.
(Arab. Koton.)
Aron
19.
5.
16.
Arum Colocasia ?
24.
(Arab. Kolkds.)
Aris - - .
24.
16.
Arum Arisarum ?
Allium, Garlic -
19.
6.
Allium sativum.
(Arab. Tom.)
Cepa, Onion
19.
6.
Allium Cepa.
(Arab. Btissal.)
Porrum, Leak
19.
6.
Allium Porrum.
(Arab. Korrdt.)
Cuminum Cyminum, and
Cuminum, Cummin - •
19.
20.
8.
15.
Nigella sativa
(Arab. Kammoon-
abiad, and Kammoon-
aswed.)
Origanum - -i
19.
20.25.
8.
17. 4.
Origanum iiigyptiacum.
(Arab. Bardakoosh.)
Egypt, in certain situations particularly, have a very strong scent, as the bean,
which is much more powerful than in Europe. Those of the class Pentandria
(a very extensive one in nature) may be considered as having less scent than in
Europe ; but this pjass, it is true, does not contain the most fragrant species
of plants; and many of the Syngenesia (as well as Didynamia) have a very
CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 'Jl

Remarks.

" Used by many nations for arrows, so that half the world has been
conquered by reeds." Pli?i.

Vide supra, p. 51. note.
Vide supra. Vol. II. p. 397. " The Egyptians make a medicinal decoc
tion of olyra for children, which they call Athara." Plin. xxii. 25.
" With a prickly stalk." Plin.
" Two kinds of lentils in Egypt." Plin.
" Four kinds, the Tanitic, Pelusiac, Butic, and Tentyritic." Plin.
" Called Gossipion, or Xylon: the cloths made from it hence named
Xylina." Plin.
" About the size of a squill ;" " with a bulbous root." Plin.
" Like the Aron, but smaller ; the root being the size of an olive." Plin.
" Both ranked by the Egyptians among gods, in taking an oath." Plin.
" The best kind is in Egypt." Plin.
Pliny speaks of two, one whiter than the other, used for the same pur
pose, and put upon cakes of bread at Alexandria. The white and
black Cuminum are called by the Arabs Kammoon abiad and
Kammoon aswed : the latter is the Nigella sativa. Vide supra,Yol. II.
p. 386.
Heracleotic.

powerful scent, particularly the Arteraisias, the Santolina, and the Robl^ a kind
of Inula. . ' •
* Lib. xvi. 40., Pliny says, " cedar wood was used by thg^ings of Egypt and
Syria for want of fir (abies) :" but he does not state that it'grew in Egypt.
F 4

72

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

Name from Pliny.

Sinapis, Mustard
Cichorium, or Intubus f
erraticus \
Seris ...
Anisum, Aniseed
Coriandrum

Buceros, or Fosnum
Graecum

¦{

(Helenium)Amaracus
Melilotus
Rosa, Rose
Viola, Violet -
Colocasia, or Cyamua,
or Faba .(Egyptia.
AnthaliumCEtum

¦{

lib.

19. 8.

20. 21.20.20. 20.

21.24.21.21.21.21.

15. 8.
17.
20.

7.
19.
10.
21. 11.
22.

21. 11.

21. 21. 21.21.

\l. 11.
15. 15.
29.

21. 15.

{

Botanical Name.

Sinapis juncea.
(Arab. Khardel, or
Kubbr.)
Cichorium Intybus.
(Arab. Shik&rieh.)
Cichorium Endivia ?
(Arab. Hendebeh.)
Pimpinella Anisum.
(Arab. Yensodn.)
Coriandrum sativum.
(Arab. Kuzber, or
Koozhareh.)
Trigonella Foenum Gree-
cum.
(Arab. Helbeh.)
Teucrium Creticum ? \

Origanum Majorana,
Trifolium Melilotus In-
dica.
(Arab. Rekrak or Na-
fal?)
Rosa centifolia.
(Arab. Werd.)
Viola odorata.
(Arab. Benefsig.)
Nymphaea Nelumbo, or
Nelumbium.
Supposed to be the Cy
perus esculentus ? ?
(Arab. Hab el dzeez.)
Supposed to be the
Arachis hypogaea ? *

{

* I do not believe this to be a native of Egypt.

CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 73

Remarks.

" The best seed is theEgvptian. Called also Napy, Thaspi, and Saurion."
Plin.

" In Egypt, the wild endive is called Cichorium ; the garden endive,
Seris." Plin.
" The Egyptian is the best quality after the Cretan." Plin.
" The best is from Egypt." Plin.

" Without any scent." Plin.
Vide supra, p. 52.
(Helenium (according to Dioscorides), a native of Egypt. This and four
other species of Teucrium now grow there.)
" What is called by Diodes, and the Sicilians, Amaracus, is known in
Egypt and Syria as the Sampsuchum." . " An oil made from it."
Plin. Athenaeus (xv. p. 676.) says, " the Amaracus abounds in
Egypt;" and in lib. v. he mentions Amaracine ointment.
" Grows every where." Plin.

If by "In iEgypto sine odore haec omnia," Pliny means that all the
flowers mentioned in this chapter are Egyptian, many others might
be here introduced.
" Growing in the Nile : " " one of the wild plants, which abound so
plentifully in Egypt." Plin. Athen. iii. p. 72. Strabo, xvii. p. 550.
" Grows some distance from the Nile. " " Fruit like a medlar, without
husk or kernel. Leaf of the Cyperus. No other use but for food."
Plin. Some suppose it the Cyperus esculentus, which is very doubt
ful.
" Also eaten in Egypt. Few leaves ; large root." Plin. Theophrastus
says, it has a long root, gathered at the time of the inundation, and
used for crowning the altars. Lib. i. c. 1. 11.

74

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

Name from Pliny.

Arachidna
Aracos* CondryllaHypocherisCaucalis -
Anthriscum

Scandix, or Trago-
pogon.

Parthenium

Strychnum, orStrych-
nus, or Trycho
Solan um

-{
Strych- r
ihos, or-!

Corchorus - -i
Aphace - . -
Acinos - - -J
EpipetronCnicus, or Atractylis -
Tribulus -
Perdicium Ornithogale
Juncus -

Ub.

21.21.

15.
15.

21. 15.

21.
21. 21.

15.
15. 15.

21. 15.

21.
22.25. 21.21. 27. 21.21.
21.
21.
21.

15. 30.
17. 5.
15.
31. 13. 15.
32. 15.
15.
27.

21. 15.

Corchorus olitorius.
(Arab. Melokheeh.)
Leontodon Taraxacum.
Thymus Acinos, or Ocy-
mum Zatarhendi.
(Arab. Zdtar.)
Sedum confertum.
(Arab. Heialem.)
Carthamus tinctorius?
(Arab. Koortum.)
The other is perhaps the
Carthamus Creticus ?
Trapa natans ?
Ornithogalum Arabi-
cum ?
Juncus acutus ?
(Arab. Sumdr.)
* Some have supposed these two to be of the genus Lathyrus : I think er
roneously.

21.21.

21.
22.21.22.
21.

15.
32.

16.10. 17.
17.
17.

2J. 18.

Botanical Name.

Lactuca sativa ?
(Arab. Khuss.)
Hyoseris lucida.
Caucalis daucoides?
Caucalis anthriscus.
(Arab. Gezzer
e'shaytdn.)
Tragopogon picro-
ides ?
(Amh. Edthbdh?)
Matricaria Parthe
nium, or M. Cha-
momilla.
Solanum Dulcamara,
Solanum nigrum.
(Arab. Eneb e deeb

}

)

CHAP. XI. PLANTS FROM PLINY. 75

Remarks.

" These two have spreading and numerous roots ; but no leaf, nor any
thing above the ground." Plin.
Lettuce ?

" Leaves like a crocus." Plin.
Dioscorides describes its flower with a white circuit and yellow within.

" Used in Egypt for chaplets : the leaves like ivy : of two kinds ; one
has red berries (in a sort of bladder) full of grains, and is called Hali-
cacabus, or Callion, and, in Italy, Vesicaria : the third kind is very
poisonous." Nightshade.
" Eaten at Alexandria." Plin.
" Flowers all the winter and spring, till the summer." Plin. Dandelion.
" The Egyptians grow the Acinos for making chaplets and for food.
It appears the same as the Ocimum, but its leaves and stalks are more
hirsute." Plin.
" Never flowers." Plin. Some editions of Pliny make this and the
Acinos the same ; but they are generally believed to be different.
Supposed to be the Carthamus. " Unknown in Italy. Oil extracted
from the seeds, and of great value. Two kinds ; the wild and the
cultivated ; and two species of the former. Remedy against the poi
son of scorpions and other reptiles." Plin. It is supposed that the
Cnicus and Atractylis are not the same plant.
" Grows about the Nile in marshes, and is eaten. Leaf like the elm."
Plin.
" Eaten by other people, as by the Egyptians. " " Grows on walls and
tiles of houses." Plin.

" Sieves made of it in Egypt." Plin.

76

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

Name from Pliny.

lib.

U.

Botanical Name.

Cypirus - - -

21.

18.

Gladiolus communis.

Cyperus - - -

21.

18.

Cyperus Niloticus, and
many other species.

Heliochrysum, or

21.

25.

Gnaphalium Stoechas.

Chrysanthemum.

Persoluta -

21.

33.

^

Lotometra

22.

21.

A large kind of cultivated
lotus, or Nymphaea
Lotus.

(Rhus) -

24.

11.*

Rhus oxyacanthoides-
(Arab. Errin.)

Egyptian Clematis, or

24.

15.

Vinca major et minor ?

Daphnoides, or Po-

lygonoides.
OphiusaStratiotis
24.
17.
18.
24.
Pistia Stratiotes.
(Arab. Heialem elma.)
Nepenthes
25.
21.
2. r
21. J
Perhaps the Bust or Ha
sheesh, a preparation
of the Cannabis sativa.
Absinthium marinum^ J
or Seriphium - \
27.
7. 1
21. j"
Artemisia Judaica ?
21.
(Arab. Bytherdn.)
Myosotis
27.
12.
Myosotis arvensis.
The trees of ancient Egypt have been already
mentioned. t I shall therefore only add, in con
firmation of their having been known in the early
times of the Pharaohs, that the paintings of the
tombs represent the date, dom, sycomore, pomegra
nate t, ])eisea, tamarisk §, and Periploca Secamone:
1-- In the same chapter Pliny says ebony is not produced in Efypt
' Vol. II p. 181. et seq., and IIL 168.
Conf. Numb. xx. 5. "of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates."
Vide infra on the sacred plants in Chap. XIV.
CHAP. XI. TREES FROM THE PAINTINGS. 77

Remarks.

" With a bulbous root." Plin.
" A triangular rush." Plin.
Gods crowned with it; a custom particularly observed by Ptolemy,
King of Egypt." Plin.
" Grown in gardens in Egypt, for making chaplets." Plin.
" Coming from the garden lotos, from whose seed, like millet, the
Egyptian bakers make bread." Plin.
("Rhus: leaves like myrtle, used for dressing skins." Though Pliny
does not mention it as an Egyptian plant, it is indigenous in the de
sert, and the leaves and wood are used by the Arabs for tanning.)
" Mostly produced in Egypt." Plin.

'' About Elephantina." Plin.
" Only in Egypt, during the inundation of the Nile." Plin.

Homer attributes the glory of herbs to Egypt. He mentions many
given to Helen by the wife of the Egyptian King, particularly the
Nepenthes, which caused oblivion of sorrow." Plin.
¦ The best at Taposiris in Egypt : a bunch of it carried at the fete of Isis."
Plin.
' The Egyptians believe, that if, on the 27th day of Thiatis (Thoth),
which answers nearly to our August, any one anoints himself with its
juice before he speaks in the morning, he will be free from weak
ness of the eyes all that year." Plin. 

and the fruit, seeds, or leaves of the nebk*, vine,
fig, olive, Mokhayt\, Kharoob or locust treet,
palma Christi or cici^, Sont or acanthus 1|, bay,
and Egleeg or balanites ^, have been found in the

* Rhamnus Nabeca, Forsk.
Cordia Myxa, Linn.

+ Cordia Myxa, Linn.
J Ceratonia Siliqua, Linn. Pliny calls it Ceraunia siliqua, and says
it did not grow in Egypt, xiii. 8.
§ Ricinus communis, Linn, the castorberry tree.
II Mimosa or Acacia Nilotica.
IF Balanites iEgyptiaca, supposed to be the Persea. Vide p. 61.

78

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

tombs of Thebes. * Many seeds and fruits also
occur there ; as the Areca, Tamarind, Myroba
lanus, and others, which are the produce either
of India or the interior of Africa ; but these are
not readily confounded with the actual produc
tions of Egypt. They are, however, highly in
teresting, as they show the constant intercourse
maintained with those distant countries.
The sculptures represent various trees and flowers,
some of which may be recognised, while others are
less clearly defined, and of these I submit the fol
lowing to the expert botanist, who may feel disposed
to suggest their names, or the family to which they
belong.

No. 427.

Plants from the sculptures.
Fig. 1 . to 6. inclusive, from the tomb of Remeses III.

From Thebes.

Little attention is now paid by the inhabitants
of Egypt to the cultivation of plants, beyond those
used for the purpose of food, or to the growth of
trees, excepting the palm, large groves of which
are met with in every part of the country ; and in-
» It is said that the lime and Seville orange have been found, wiiich
is singular, as they are supposed to have been first introduced from
India by the Arabs.

CHAP. XL MODERN TREES AND PLANTS. 79
deed, if the statement of Strabo* be true, that, "in
all (Lower) Egypt the palm was sterile, or bore an
uneatable fruit, though of excellent quality in the
Thebaid," this tree is now cultivated with more suc
cess in Lower Egypt than in former times, some of
the best quality of dates being produced there, par
ticularly at Korayn, near the Delta, where the kind
called A'maree is superior to any produced to the
N. of Nubia.
Few timber trees are now grown to any great
extent either in Upper or Lower Egypt. Some
sycomores, whose wood is required for water wheels
and other purposes ; a few groups of Athuls, or
Oriental tamarisks, used for tools and other im
plements requiring a compact wood ; and two or
three groves of Sont, or Mimosa Nilotica, valuable
for its hard wood, and for its pods used in tanning,
are nearly all that the modern inhabitants retain of
the many trees grown by their predecessors. But
their thriving condition, as that of the mulberry
trees (planted for the silkworms), which form, with
the Mimosa Lebbek, some shady avenues in the
vicinity of Cairo, and ofthe Cassia fistula (bearing
its dense mass of blossoms in the gardens of the
metropolis), show that it is not the soil, but the in
dustry ofthe people, which is wanting to encourage
the growth of trees.
The Egleeg, or balanites, the supposed Persea,
no longer thrives in the valley of Nile ; many
other trees are rare, or altogether unknown ;
and the extensive groves of Acanthus, or Sont,
are rather tolerated than encouraged, as the de-
* Strabo, xvii. p. 563.

80 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
scendants of the trees planted in olden times near
the edge of the cultivated land. Their value is
understood ; the sale of sont pods is a revenue to the
owner without the trouble of cultivation ; the trees
are found by a son as they were left by his father ;
but no trouble is taken to add to their number,
and this careless indifference about their growth
is confirmed by the unwise system of a govern
ment which taxes every tree, and makes it a cause
of vexation to its possessor.
But though many are gone, it is interesting to
see these few remnants of ancient groves, which
have continued to occupy the same spots, perhaps,
from the earliest times. The grove of Acanthus,
alluded to by Strabo, still exists above Memphis,
at the base of the low Libyan hills : in going from
the Nile to Abydus, you ride through the grove of
Acacia, once sacred to Apollo, and see the rising
Nile traversing it by a canal similar to that which
conveyed the water thither when the geographer
visited that city, even then reduced to the condi
tion of a small village : and groves of the same tree
may here and there be traced in other parts ofthe
Thebaid, from which it obtained the name of the
Thebaic thorn.
Above the cataracts, the Sont grows in pro
fusion upon the banks of the Nile, where it is
used for charcoal sent to Cairo for sale by the
poor Nubians ; and its place is supplied in the de
sert by the Sealeh and other of the Mimosa tribe,
which are indigenous to the soil.
Many flowers and shrubs were grown in pots
or wooden boxes in the gardens, or the walks near

CHAP. XI. BEES. 81
the houses of the ancient Egyptians ; and to the
garden department belonged the care of the bees,
which were kept in hives similar to our own.*
In Egypt, bees require great attention ; and so
few are the plants at the present day, that the
owners of hives often take them in boats to va
rious spots upon the Nile, in quest of flowers.
They are a much smaller species than our own;
and though I have met with them wild in many
parts of Egypt, I never saw them in any num
bers; but wasps, hornets, and ichneumons abound
throughout the valley ofthe Nile. The wild bees
hive mostly under stones, or in clefts of the rock,
as in many other countries ; and the expression
of Moses and of the Psalmist, " honey out of the
rock t," shows that in Palestine their habits were
the same. Virgil t mentions a mode of reple
nishing the stock of bees, practised in Egypt, by
means of the carcase of a bull, which, as M. de
Pauw supposes, is probably a story derived from
the custom of raising young swarms in the warmth
of a stable § : but neither this, nor any other secret
respecting their management, can be looked for
in the sculptures of the tombs ; and whatever skill
the Egyptians possessed in these, as in many other
matters, must continue unknown to us ; though,
from the great importance || they attached to honey
* I remember to have seen them so represented in a tomb at Thebes,
but have no copy ofthe subject.
f Deut. xxxii. 13. Ps. Ixxxi. 16.
X Virg. Georg. iv. 299. Plin. xi. 20.
§ He thinks of the sacred bulls ; but there is no necessity that they
should have been sacred. Vol. i. p. 176.
II Plut. de Is. s. Ixxxi. 68.
VOL. I. — Second Series. G

82 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
as a welcome offering to the Gods, and an article of
luxury, we may conclude that great pains were taken
in rearing bees ; and the difiiculty of procuring for
them an abundant supply of food at certain seasons,
doubtless, led to the adoption of many curious expe
dients, which, being unnecessary, were unthought
of in other countries.
The principal woods used by the Egyptians were
the date, Dom, sycomore, acacia, tamarisk, Egleeg
or balanite, ebony, fir, and cedar. The various
purposes, to which every part of the palm or date
tree was applied, have been already noticed*, as
well as of the D6m, or Theban palm.t Syco
more wood was employed for coffins, boxes, small
idols, doors, window shutters, stools, chairs, and
cramps for building ; for handles of tools, wooden
pegs or nails, cramps, idols, small boxes, and those
parts of cabinet work requiring hard compact
wood, the Sont, or Acacia Nilotica was usually
preferred ; and spears were frequently made of
other acacias, which grew in the interior, or on the
confines ofthe desert.
In tools of various kinds, the wood ofthe Tamarix
orientalis was likewise much used, and even occa
sionally in pieces of furniture, for which purpose
the Egleeg was also employed ; but the principal
woods adopted by the cabinet-maker for fine
work were ebony, fir, and cedar. The first came
from the interior of Africa, and formed, with
ivory, gold, ostrich feathers, dried fruits, and skins,
the principal object of the annual tribute brought
* Vol. IL p. 176. et seq. f Vol. II. p. 178.

CHAP. XI. WOODS AND MEDICINAL PLANTS. 83
to Egypt by the conquered tribes of Ethiopia and
the Soodan ; fir and cedar being imported from
Syria. The two last were in great demand for
ornamental furniture, for coffins, small boxes, and
various objects connected with the dead; and many
woods of a rare and valuable kind were brought to
Egypt by the people of Asia tributary to the Pha
raohs the beauty and value of which may be esti
mated by the frequent custom of imitating them,
for the satisfaction of those who could not afford
to purchase furniture or trinkets of so expensive a
material. There is reason to believe that the ancient
Egyptians encouraged, or at least profited by, the
growth of many wild plants of the desert, which
were useful for medicinal purposes. Many of them
are still known to the Arabs, as the Salvadora
Persica, Heliotropium inebrians, Lycium Euro-
pEeum, Scilla maritima. Cassia Senna, Ochradenus
baccatus, Ocimum Zatarhendi, Linaria ^Egyptiaca,
Spartium monospermum, Hedysarum Alhagi, San
tolina fragrantissima, Artemisia Judaica (mono-
sperma and inculta). Inula undulata and crispa,
Cucumis Colocynthis, &c. : and many others have
probably fallen into disuse from the ignorance of
the modern inhabitants of the country, who, only
know them from the Arabs, by whom the traditions
concerning their properties are preserved. From
what Homer tells us of "the infinity of drugs pro
duced in Egypt," the use of " many medicines "
mentioned by Jeremiah*, and the frequent al-
* Vide supra. Vol. III. p. 392.
G 2

84

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

lusion by Pliny to the medicinal plants of that
country, we may conclude that the productions
of the desert (where those herbs mostly grow)
were particularly prized ; and several were found
of great use in dyeing, tanning, curing skins,
and various other purposes. Of these, the most
remarkable were the fungi, for dyeing; the pods
of the Acacia Nilotica, the bark of the Acacia
Seyal, and the wood and bark of the Rhus oxy
acanthoides, for tanning ; and the Periploca Se
camone*, for curing skins.
The process adopted in the employment of
these plants I shall not now stop to describe,
nor shall I enter into any detail of their me
dicinal use, and the maladies they are said to
cure : this will more properly form part of a dis
sertation on the botany of Egypt, reserved for a
future work. But I may be allowed to make one
observation on the Owseg, Owshes, or Lycium Eu-
ropasum, though not immediately connected with
the subject of Egypt. This thorny shrub, called
by the Copts Ramnus, which is common in the
hills, throughout Lower Egypt and Syria, has
a better claim to the title of "the holy thorn," of
which the Saviour's crown is said to have been
made, than any other plant. The modern and
ancient Greeks agree with the Copts in giving it
the name Ramnus; and Pliny t evidently had in
view the Owshes, when he says "it is called by the
Greeks Rhamnus, and is a flowering thorny plant,
* This climbing plant appears to be represented in the tomb of
Remeses III. at Thebes, used in lieu of the ivy, which in its leaf it
slightly resembles.
-j- PHn. xxiv. I'l.

CHAP. XI. RHAMNUS.  WHEAT. 85
with spreading branches, having thorns, not curved
like other briars, but straight, and larger leaves ; "
though the name of Rhamnus has been applied by
modern botanists to a different genus.*
CULTIVATION OF WHEAT.
Of the erroneous statement made by Herodo
tus respecting the use of wheat, I have already
spoken t ; and have shown that wheat and barley
were abundantly cultivated in every part of Egypt.
The former was cut in about five, the latter in
four months t ; the best quality, according to
Pliny, being grown in the Thebaid.§ The wheat,
as at the present day, was all bearded, and the
same varieties, doubtless, existed in ancient as in
modern times |j ; among which may be mentioned
the seven-eared quality described in Pharaoh's
dream. ^ It was cropped a little below the ear **
with a toothed sickle, and carried to the threshing
floor in wicker baskets upon asses tt, or in rope tt
nets, the gleaners following to collect the fallen
ears in hand baskets. The rope net, answering to
* Linnaeus gives the name of Rhamnus Spina Christi, to a different
plant : and the Nebeca or Nebk, the Zizyphus, and others of this kind,
come under the general denomination of Rhamnus. There appears to be
some confusion between the Lycium and the Rhamnus.
t Vol. IL p. 397.
X Conf. Diodor. i. 36. " They return after four or five months to
cut the corn." Pliny (xviii. 7.) says barley in the 6th and wheat in the
7th month.
§ Plin. xviii, 18.
II Vide my General View of Egypt, p. 261.
1 Genes, xii. 22.
** Conf. Job, xxiv. 24. " Cut off as the tops of the ears of corn."
f + Vide woodcut. No. 429. Jigs. 4. and 5.
j J Vide woodcut. No. 428.}?gs. .5. and 7.
G 3

86

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

the Shenfeh of modern Egypt, was borne on a pole
by two men ; and the threshing floor was a level

Sic "S
o oc 5

a
>in

1^

No. 429. The tritura.

Fig. 1. The steward, or the owner ofthe land.
. 2. throws the ears of wheat into the centre that the oxen may pass over them and tread out the grain.
3. The driver.
4. brings the wheat to the threshing floor, in baslcets carried on asses.
The oxen are yoked together that they may walk round regularly.

Thebes.

w
tsiCOIS
O
H
2H
a

00

88 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
circular area * near the field, or in the vicinity of
the granary t, where, when it had been well sweptt,
the ears were deposited, and cattle were driven
over it to tread out the grain. While superintending
the animals employed for this purpose, the Egyp
tian peasant, as usual both in ancient and modern
times, relieved his labours by singing ; and the
ingenious Champolhon § found in a tomb at Eile-
thyas a song of the threshers, written in hierogly-

III I I I LV. A

.0 ^-'tr^^
//III 1 1 1 •¦

n

A
/vvwvv\ 1 1 1

1 1 1

m-

1 S 1 111.

1 1 •

Song ofthe threshers to the oxen.

Etlethyas.

phics over oxen treading out the grain, of which
he gives this translation: — "(l)Thresh for your
selves (twice repeated ||), (2) O oxen, (3) thresh for

* Those of the Romans were paved, or more usually formed of clay,
well laid down and smoothed by rollers. Virg. Georg. i. 178.
+ As with the Romans. Vide Colum. i. 6.
t Conf. Mafthew, iii. 12.
(f Lettres siir I'Egypte, llth and ]2th letters, p. 146. 196.
jj This sign of twice occurs at a and b.

14
Ko. 431.
Fig.l

Harvest scene.
Thc steward. 2, 3. Reapers. S. A woman gleaner. 6. carrying the wheat in the usual rope net.
Winnowers. 11. The scribe. 13, 14. carrying the grain to the granary in sacks.
The continuation of this scene, beyond the flg. 14. is given in woodcut, No. 122. Vol. II. p. 136.

7. The tritura.

OK

> <
MCO HCOn

OC
CO

90

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

yourselves (twice) (4) measures for yourselves*, (5)
measures for your masters ; " similar to which may

- P.S a
S ='•£¦£

be found other songs in the sculptured tombs t of
Upper Egypt.

* Champolhon has omitted this.
-j- Vide Rosellini, vol. i. part ii. p. 311.

CHAP. XI. THRESHING AND WINNOWING. 91
A certain quantity was first strewed in the
centre of the area, and when this had been well
triturated by the animals' feet, more was added by
means of large wooden forks, from the main heap,
raised around and forming the edge of the thresh
ing floor ; and so on till all the grain was trodden
out. This process was called by the Latins tri
tura*, and was generally adopted by ancient, as
by some modern people. Sometimes the cattle
were bound together by a piece of wood or a rope
fastened to their horns, in order to force them to
go round the heap, and tread it regularly, the
driver following behind them with a stick.t
After the grain was trodden out, they winnowed
it with wooden shovels ; it was then carried to
the granary in sacks, each containing a fixed quan
tity, which was determined by wooden measures, a
scribe noting down the number as called by the
teller who superintended its removal. Sweepers
with small hand-brooms were employed to collect
the scattered grain that fell from the measure ;
and the "immense heaps of corn" mentioned by
Diodorus t, collected from " the field which was
round about every city §," fully accord with the
representation of the paintings in the tombs ||, and
with those seen at the present day in the villages
of the Nile. Sometimes two scribes ^ were pre
sent ; one to write down the number of measures
taken from the heap of corn, and the other to check
* Sometimes by horses. Plin. xvii. 30. Virg. Georg. iii. 132.
•¦ Vide woodcut. No. 429.
X Diodor. i. 36. § Genes, xh. 48.
Kirfe woodcut. No. 428. 431. If Fjrfe voodcut. No. 428. '

92 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
them, by entering the quantity removed to the gra
nary *; but the office of the latter was probably to
take account of the sacks actually housed ; and this
shows how necessary they considered it to guard
against the artifices of a cunning people, and how
much the refinements of civilisation had tended, as
is commonly the case, to substitute deception for
the original simplicity of an infant state.
Herodotus t describes the Egyptian mode of
treading out the grain by oxen, in which he is
fully borne out by the sculptures of the tombs ;
and these inform us that they occasionally, though
rarely, employed asses for the same purpose.
This was also the custom of the Jews, and, like the
Egyptians, they sufffered the ox to tread out the
corn unmuzzled, according to the express order of
their lawgiver.t In later times, however, it ap
pears that the Jews used *' threshing instruments ;"
though, from the oflfer made to David by Oman,
of " the oxen also," and the use of the word dus,
"treading," in the sentence, "Oman was threshing
wheat §," it is possible that the tritura is here al
luded to, and that the threshing instruments only
refer to the winnowing shovels, or other imple
ments used on those occasions : though the " new
sharp threshing instrument having teeth," men
tioned in Isaiah ||, cannot fail to call to mind the
* Of the granary, vide Vol. II. p. 135.
I Herodot. ii. 14. AiroSiyjjo-os 5e rrjiri povai tov anov o'vto) ko/jiJetoi.
Deut. XXV. 4. jElian says, that to prevent the oxen eating the
grain and straw, they used in old times to rub their mouth with ma
nure. Hist. An. iv. 25.
^ Vide 1 Chron. xxi. 20. and 23.
II Isaiah, xii. 15.

CHAP. XI.

MODE OF CUTTING WHEAT.

93

noreg *, or corn drag, of modern Egypt, which
the Hebrew name "moreg" so closely resembles ;
and the same word is applied to the "threshing
instruments " of Oman, t The Jews, like the
Greeks t, bound up the wheat, when cut, into
sheaves § ; but this was not the usual custom of
the Egyptians, who were generally contented to

4
No. 433. Wheat bound in sheaves. Thebes.
Fig. 1. reaping. 2. carrying the ears. 3. binding them in sheaves put up at fig. 4.
put it into baskets or rope nets, and to carry it
loose to the threshing floor. The same was done by
the Romans ; and they either cut down the corn to
the roots, or culled the ears with a toothed sickle,
gathering the straw afterwards ||, or burning it for
manure.^ The modern Egyptians cut the wheat close
to the ground, — barley and doora being plucked
up by the roots, — and having bound it in sheaves,
carry it to a level and cleanly swept area near the
field, in the centre of which they collect it in a
* Vide Vignette, Vol. IL p. 196.
I In 1 Chron. xxi. 23. moregim.
Hom. II. xviii. 550.
^ This ancient custom is mentioned in Genesis xxxvii. 7. Vide
Levit. xxiii. 10. Deut. xxiv. 19. &c.
II Colum. ii. 21. f Virg. Georg. i. 84.

94

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

heap, and then taking a sufficient quantity, spread
it upon the open area, and pass over it the noreg
drawn by two oxen. The diflference in the modern
and ancient method being that in the former the
noreg is used, and the oxen go round the heap,
which is in the centre, and not at the circumfe
rence, of the threshing floor. Some instances,
however, occur of the heap being in the centre,
as at the present day, as in the accompanying cut.

No. 434. Thebes.
The oxen driven round the heap ; contrary to the usual custom.
The noreg is a machine consisting of a wooden
frame, with three cross bars or axles, on which
are fixed circular iron plates, for the purpose of
bruising the ears of corn and extracting the grain,
at the same time that the straw is broken up into
small pieces : the first and last axles having each
four plates, and the central one three : and at the
upper part is a seat on which the driver sits, his
weight tending to give additional effect to the ma
chine.*

» Vide Vol. II. p. 190. Vignette F.

CHAP. XI. STRAW USED AS PROVENDER. 95
The tribulum *, which was sometimes used by
the Romans, appears not to have been very dissi
milar, as we learn from Varro t, who describes it as
" a frame made rough by stones or pieces of iron,
on which the driver, or a great weight, was placed ;
and this being drawn by beasts yoked to it, pressed
out the grain from the ear."
While some were employed in collecting the
grain and depositing it in the granary, others ga
thered the long stubble from the field, and pre
pared it as provender to feed the horses and cattle ;
for which purpose it was used by the Romans t, as
by the modern Egyptians. They probably pre
ferred reaping the corn close to the ear, in order to
facilitate the trituration; and afterwards cutting the
straw close to the ground, or plucking it by the
roots, they chopped it up for the cattle ; and this,
with dried clover (the drees of modern Egypt),
was laid by for autumn, when the pastures being
overflowed by the Nile, the flocks and herds
were kept in sheds or pens on the high grounds, or
in the precincts ofthe villages. §
The straw was doubtless cut up, as at the present
day, by some contrivance answering to our hay
knife, and cleansed from the earth, dust, orotherim-
purities, previous to use; being "winnowed with the
shovel, and with the fan," in the manner mentioned
by Isaiah ||, when speaking of " provender " given
to cattle. This custom of feeding some of their

* Virg. Georg. i. 164. f Var. de Re Rustica, i. 52.
J Phn. xviii. 30. § Diodor. i. 36.
II Isaiah, XXX. 24. "n"ltO:n Dri'^"'-" Conf. Matt. iii. 12.

96 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
herds in sheds accords with the scriptural account
of the preservation of the cattle, which had been
" brought home " from the field ; and explains the
apparent contradiction of the destruction of " all
the cattle of Egypt " by the murrain, and the
subsequent destruction of the cattle by the hail * ;
those which "were in the field" alone having suf
fered from the previous plague, and those in the
stalls or " houses" having been preserved.
An instance of stall-fed oxen from the sculptures
has been given in ray account of the farmyard t
and villas ofthe Egyptians.
The first crop of wheat having been gathered,
they prepared the land for whatever produce they
next intended to rear ; the field was ploughed, and
sowed, and, if necessary, the whole was inundated
by artificial means, as often as the quality of the
crop or other circumstances required, t The same
was repeated after the second and third harvest,
for which, as I have already observed, the peasant
was indebted to his own labours in raising water
from the Nile, — an arduous task, and one from
which no showers relieved him throughout the
whole season. For in Upper Egypt rain may be
said never to fall, five or six slight showers, that
annually fall there, scarcely deserving that name ;
and in no country is artificial irrigation so indis
pensable, as in the valley ofthe Nile.
In many instances, instead of corn they reared

* Exod. ix. 6. and 19. et seq. f Vol. II. p. 134.
X Pliny says, " In /Egypto omni serunt mense, et ubicunque imbres
aestivi non .sunt, ut in India et /Ethiopia." Lib. xvii. 18.

CHAP. XI. CLOVER. 97
clover, or leguminous herbs, which were sown as
soon as the water began to subside, generally
about the commencement of October ; and at the
same time that corn, or other produce, was raised
on the land just left by the water, another crop
was procured by artificial irrigation. This, of
course, depended on the choice of each indivi
dual*, who consulted the advantages obtained from
certain kinds of produce, the time required for their
succession, or the benefit of the land : for though
no soil recovers more readily from the bad effects
arising from a repetition of similar crops, through
the equalising influence of the alluvial deposit, it
is at length found to impoverish the land ; and
the Egyptian peasant is careful not to neglect the
universal principle in husbandry, of varying the
produce on the same ground.
Besides wheat, other crops are represented in
the paintings of the tombs ; one of which, a tall
grain, is introduced as a production both of Upper
and Lower Egypt, t From the colour, the height
to which it grows, compared with the wheat,
and the appearance of a round yellow head it
bears on the top of its bright green stalk, it is
evidently intended to represent the doora, or
Holcus Sorghum. It was not reaped by a sickle,
like the wheat and barley, but men, and some
times M'omen, were employed to pluck it upt;
which being done, they struck off" the earth that
adhered to the roots with their hands, and having
* Vide Vol. II. p. 37.
f At Thebes, Eilethyas, Beni Hassan, and Saccara.
t Vide woodcuts, Nos. 435. and 436.
VOL. I. — Second Seuies. H

98

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

bound it in sheaves, they carried it to what may be
termed the threshing floor, where, being forcibly

No. 435. Gathering the doora and wheat. Thebes.
Fig. 1. plucking up the plant by the roots.
2. striking oflFthe earth from the roots.
3. reaping wheat.
drawn through an instrument armed at the summit
with metal spikes, the grain was stripped off", and
fell upon the well-swept area below, — a satisfactory
illustration of which is given in one of the agri
cultural scenes of a tomb at Eilethyas in the fol
lowing woodcut.
Much flax was cultivated in Egypt, and the va
rious processes of watering it, beating the stalks
when gathered, making it into twine, and lastly
into a piece of cloth, are represented in the paint
ings. I have already noticed them in a preceding
part of this work *, as well as the difficulty pre
sented by the name Byssus. t
At the end of summer, the peasant looked
anxiously for the return of the inundation, upon
which all his hopes for the ensuing year depended.
He watched with scrupulous attention the first

* Vol. III. p. 138, 139.

-j- Vol. III. p. 116.

CHAP. XI.

RETURN OF THE INUNDATION.

99

rise of the river ; the state of its daily increase
was noted down and proclaimed by the curators

of the Nilometers at Memphis and other places ;
and the same anxiety for the approaching in
undation was felt as on each preceding year.
H 2

100 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

INUNDATION AND STATE OF THE NILE.
About the middle of June, a gradual and conti
nuous increase of the Nile was already seen, even as
low as the vicinity of Memphis ; " its first rise being
perceived*," at the cataracts, about the end of May,
or the beginning of June ; and a change from the
previous clearness of the stream was soon observed
in its red and turbid state, caused by the rains from
the mountains of Abyssinia.t It then assumed a
green appearance t; and during this period its water
being deemed unwholesome, a supply previously
laid up in jars was used until it had reassumed its
turbid but wholesome red colour. This explains
the remark of Aristides§, that "the Egyptians are
the only people who preserve water in jars, and
calculate its age as other nations do that of wine ; "
and the reason for adopting water jars as emblems
of the inundation (on the authority of HorapoUo ||
and the sculptures) may probably be derived from
this custom of laying up the pure water ofthe Nile
in jars, about the season, or at the first approach,
of the inundation ; though the calculation of the
age of the water must be considered a Greek ex
aggeration. It was perhaps this change in the appearance of
the river which led the Egyptians to represent the
* Seneca, Nat. Qusest. iv. 2. p. 886. Vide supra, p. 9.
-j- Ammianus and others doubted the inundation bemg caused by rains
in Ethiopia, xxii. 15. p. 334.
:|: Probably from passing through some lakes or marsh lands, whence
green stagnant water mixed with the stream was brought down to
"'Egypt. Orat. Egypt, vol. ii. p. 363. |1 HorapoUo, i. 21.

Chap. XI. animals rescued from the water. 101
God Nilus * both of a red and a blue colour, — indi
cating the river during the turbid state of the inun
dation, and the clearness of the low Nile.
In the beginning of August, the canals were
again opened, and the waters once more overflowed
the plain. That part nearest the desert, being the
lowest level, was first inundated ; as the bank itself,
being the highest, was the last part submerged, ex
cept in the Delta, where the levels were more uni
form, and where, during the high inundations, the
whole land, with the exception of its isolated vil
lages, was under water. As the Nile rose, the pea
sants were careful to remove the flocks and herds
from the lowlands ; and when a sudden irruption of
the water, owing to the bursting of a dyke, or an
unexpected and unusual increase of the river, over
flowed the fields and pastures, they were seen hur
rying to the spot, on foot, or in boats, to rescue the
animalst, and to remove them to the high grounds
above the reach of the inundation. Some, tying
their clothes upon their heads, dragged the sheep
and goats from the water, and put them into boats ;
others swam the oxen to the nearest high ground ;
and if any corn or other produce could be cut or
torn up by the roots, in time to save it from the
flood, it was conveyed on rafts or boats to the next
village. Guards were placed to watch the dykes, which
protected the lowlands, and the utmost care was
* Vide infra. Pantheon, on the God Nilus,
f Diodor. i. 36. Vide the following woodcut, and Vignette B. Vol, I.
p. 40.
H 3

102

the ancient EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

taken to prevent any sudden influx of water,
which might endanger the produce still growing*

there, the cattle, or the villages. And of such
importance was the preservation of the dykes,
* Vide Strabo, xv. p. 487. ; and supra. Vol. L p. 242.

CHAP. XI. HEIGHT OF THE INUNDATION. 103
that a strong guard of cavalry and infantry was
always in attendance for their protection ; certain
oflGicers of responsibility were appointed to super
intend them ; large sums of money were annually
expended for their maintenance and repairs ; and
in the time of the Romans, any person found
destroying a dyke was condemned to hard labour
in the public works or in the mines, or to be
branded and transported to the Oasis. According
to Strabo *, the system was so admirably managed,
"that art contrived sometimes to supply what
nature denied, and, by means of canals and em
bankments, there was little diff'erence in the quantity
of land irrigated, whether the inundation was defi
cient or abundant." If, continues the geographer,
it rose only to the height of 8 cubits, the usual idea
was that a famine would ensue; 14 being required
for a plentiful harvest : but when Petronius was
praefect of Egypt, 12 cubits gave the same abun
dance, nor did they suffer from want even at 8 :
and it may be supposed that long experience had
taught the ancient Egyptians to obtain similar re
sults from the same means, which, neglected at a
subsequent period, were revived, rather than, as
Strabo thinks, first introduced, by the Romans.
In some parts of Egypt, the villages were fre
quently liable to be overflowed, when the Nile
rose to a more than ordinary height ; by which the
lives and property of the inhabitants were en
dangered; and when their crude brick houses had
been long exposed to the damp, the foundations
Strabo, Ub. xvii. p. 542.
H 4

104 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
gave way, and the fallen walls, saturated with water,
were once more mixed with the mud from which
they had been extracted. On these occasions, the
blessings of the Nile entailed heavy losses on the
inhabitants; and as Pliny observes*, "if the rise
of the water exceeded 16 cubits, a famine was
the result, as when it onl)^ reached the height of
12." In another placet, he says, "a proper inun
dation is of 16 cubits  in 12 cubits, the
country suffers from famine, and feels a deficiency
even in 13 ; 14 cause joy, 15 security, 16 delight;
the greatest rise of the river to this period being
of 18 cubits, in the reign of Claudius ; the least,
during the Pharsalic war."
From all that can be learnt respecting the rise
of the Nile, it is evident that the actual height of
the inundation is the same now as in former times,
and maintains the same proportion with the land
it irrigates ; and that, in order to arrive at great
accuracy in its measurement, the scales of the Nilo
meters ought, after certain periods, to be raised in
an equal ratio, as may be seen by any one who visits
those of Cairo and Elephantine : for the bed of the
river gradually rises from time to time ; and the
level of the land, which always keeps pace with that
ofthe river, increases in a ratio of 6 inches in 100
years in some places (as about Elephantine), and
in others less — varying according to the distance
down the stream. The consequence, and indeed
the proof, of which is, that the highest scale in
the Nilometer at the island of Elephantine, which
* Plin. xviii. 18. f Plin. v. 9.

CHAP. XI. GRADUAL RISE OF THE LAND. 105
served to measure the inundation in the reigns
of the early Roman emperors, is now far below the
level ofthe ordinary high Nile; and the obelisk of
Matareeh or Heliopolis, the Colossi ofthe Theban
plain, and other similarly situated monuments, are
washed by the waters of the inundation, and im
bedded to a certain height in a stratum of alluvial
soil deposited around their base.
The continual increase in the elevation of the
bed of the river naturally produced those effects
mentioned by Herodotus and other writers, who
state that the Egyptians were obliged from time to
time to raise their towns and villages, in order to
secure them from the effects of the inundation ;
and that the same change in the levels ofthe Nile
and the land took place in former ages, as at the
present day, is shown by the fact of Sabaco having
found it necessary to elevate the towns throughout
the country, which had been previously protected
by similar means in the reign of Sesostris, — an in
terval of about 600 years. This was done, says the
historian of Halicarnassus, by the inhabitants of
each place, who had been condemned for great
crimes to the public works. Bubastis was raised
more than any other city; and the lofty mounds
of Tel Basta, which mark its site, fully confirm
the observation of Herodotus, and show, from the
height of those mounds above the present plain,
after a lapse of 770 years, that "the Ethiopian
monarch elevated the sites of the towns much
more than his predecessor Sesostris* had done,"
* Herodot. ii. 137.

106 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
when that conqueror employed his Asiatic captives
in making the canals of Egypt.*
I have already stated t, that the land about
Elephantine has been raised about 9 feet in I7OO
years ; at Thebes, about 7 ; and in a less degree
towards the Delta and the mouths of the Nile ;
and I shall now endeavour to explain in what
manner the elevations of the land and river have
taken place, to compare the measures of the
inundation in the ancient and modem Nilometers,
and show what effect the alteration in the levels
has had on the arable land of Egypt. And as
this has been the subject of a memoir I presented
to the Geographical Society, I shall extract from
it the following remarks : —
In that part of Egypt lying to the S. of the
Delta, the banks of the Nile are much more ele
vated than the land of the interior at a distance
from the river, and are seldom quite covered
with water even during the highest inundations.
Little, however, projects above the level of the
stream, and, in some places, the peasant is obliged
to keep out the water by temporary embankments.
This may be accounted for partly by the continued
cultivation of the banks, which, being more con
veniently situated for artificial irrigation, have a
constant succession of crops ; for it is known that
tillage has the effect of raising land, from the ac
cumulation of decayed vegetable substances, the
addition of dressing, and other causes ; and the
greater depression of the plain in the interior is
» Herodot. ii. 137. and 108. f Vol. L p. 9.

CHAP. XI. DYKES. 107
probably owing, in some degree, to the numerous
channels in that direction, and to the effect of the
currents which pass over it as the water covers the
land : though they are not sufficient to account
for the great difference between the height of the
bank and the land near the edge of the desert,
which is often 12 or 15 feet, as may be seen from
the respective heights of the dykes at those two
points. These elevated roads, the sole mode of com
munication by land from one village to another,
during the inundation, commence on a level with
the bank of the river, and, as they extend to
the interior, become so much higher than the
fields, that room is afforded for the construction of
arches to enable the water to pass through them ;
though, generally speaking, bridges are only built
on those parts, where ancient or modern canals
have lowered the levels sufficiently to admit of
them. The general appearance of the dykes may
be illustrated by a section*, in which A is the
surface of the Nile during the inundation ; B, the
level ofthe low Nile ; C, the bank ; D D, the raised
dyke ; E, the beds of canals over which bridges
are built in the dyke; F, the Hdger, or slope ofthe
desert, extending from the junction of the irrigated
land at H to the limestone mountains G.
This section is given as if the dyke were in one
straight line East or West from the river ; but they
follow a tortuous course, visiting the various towns
on their way, and serving as roads, as well as an
* Plate 18. No. 1.

108 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XT.
impediment to the arbitrary overflow of the inun
dation : the general direction of a dyke, therefore,
varying according to circumstances, may be re
presented as in the accompanying plate.*
It is on a plain of about five miles in breadth.
Some dykes are even more circuitous and indi
rect than this ; but, in all cases, the principal care is
to place them so as to oppose the greatest force to
the largest body or pressure of water, and to offer
the readiest means of communication from one
village to another.
I have already observed that the perpendicular
elevation of the bed of the river, and the propor
tionate elevation of the water of the inundation,
tend to increase the extent of the arable land of
Egypt ; and that there is now a larger tract of cul
tivable soil E. and W. from the river, than at any
previous period. This I shall endeavour to illus
trate by a similar section t, in which it will be seen
that if the Nile, rising from its ancient bed A B,
inundated the country in the direction and at the
elevation EF, it would, when raised to CD, its mo
dern bed (the land being also raised in proportion
to G), extend its inundation on the line GH to a
far greater distance over the hdger, or slope of the
desert, and give an additional tract of cultivable
land from F to H.
That this has actually taken place, I have satis
factorily ascertained by excavations, and by ob
serving the quantity of alluvial deposit accumulated
round the base of ancient monuntients, and by a
* Plate 18. No. 2. t No. 3.

CHAP. XI. INCREASE OF ALLUVIAL DEPOSIT. 109
comparison of the height to which the water now
rises and formerly rose in the Nilometer of Ele
phantine. In the plain of Thebes are some co
lossal statues of Amunoph IIL, of which two still
occupy their original site, and one of these has long
been known under the name ofthe " Vocal Mem
non." They stood on either side of the dromos
leading to a temple built by that Pharaoh, and at
intervals between them and the temple were other
colossi, statues, and tablets, long since thrown down
or mutilated, and nearly covered by the alluvial
deposits of the inundation. Their relative posi
tion may be better understood from the plan *,
where it will be seen that before the temple A, are
the tablets B, C, and 420 feet beyond are the frag
ments of a colossus E ; then at a distance of 220
feet are another fallen colossus G, and, as a pendant
to it, a group of comparatively small figures, cut
out of a single block, at F ; the colossi H, I, which
are still standing, being 300 feet farther, and ap
pearing to terminate the dromos.
The temple is now surrounded by alluvial soil,
and the water and mud of the inundation extend
to the distance of 600 feet behind it. But when
erected, about the year 1420 b. c, not only the
body ofthe temple, but the dromos, or paved road
leading to it, as well as the base of the colossi H,I,
were above the reach of the inundation ; and the
statues at F, which are still erect in their original
position, were exposed to view, though now buried
to their waist in the alluvial deposit.
* Plate 18. No. 4.

110 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
Indeed, I believe this dromos to have been a con
tinuation of the " Royal street" mentioned in some
papyri found at Thebes, which, crossing the western
portion of the city, communicated, by means of a
ferry, with the temple of Luxor, founded by the
same Amunoph, on the other side ofthe river ; as
the great dromos of Sphinxes, connecting the tem
ples of Luxor and Karnak, formed the main street
in the eastern district of Thebes. The colossi H,I
are 47 ft.* high, with the pedestal 60 ; but the al
luvial deposit has accumulated around them to the
height of from 6 ft. 10 in. to 7 ft., so that they now
stand only 53 ft. above the plain. t This was ascer
tained by excavating to the base of the pedestal ;
and having penetrated beneath it, I found that it
stood, not on alluvial ground, but on the soil of the
desert, which was paved with sandstone blocks,
serving as substructions for the colossus and the
dromos. The lower side of the pedestal had not
been cut smooth, but was left of a round irregular
shape, extending 3 ft. 10 in. below the level ofthe
paved dromos ; but that was of little importance :
the main point was to ascertain whether the slope
of the dromos corresponded with that of the de
sert ; and this I proceeded to examine. I there
fore dug to the base of what I supposed to be part
of a similar colossus at F, 300 ft. behind the co
lossus H.t This, however, proved to be a group
* By sextant I make the western colossus 47 ft. ; and the other, by
actual measurement, 47 ft. 9 in. Vide Plate 18. No. 5.
\ The ground has sunk at the base, and the statue inclines a little to
one side, so that it is difficult to ascertain the exact height of the pe
destal. See Plate.
X Vide Plate 18. No. 6.

CHAP. XI. ENCROACHMENT OF INUNDATION. Ill
of statues, — a circumstance particularly fortunate
for my purpose, as they were found to be standing
in their original position. Their total height was
8 ft. 1 in. from the base of the pedestal to the top
of the shoulder, the part above that being broken
off"; they projected 2 ft. 10 in. above the level of
the alluvial deposit, so that it had accumulated in
this part only 5 ft. 3 in. This satisfactorily settled
the question I had in view, and gave, in a distance
of 300ft., a difference of 1 ft. 7in. to 1 ft. 9 in., being
an average of 20 in. in 300 ft., or a decreasing ratio
of 1 in. in 15 ft. for the talus of the sloping desert
plain, on which they were placed.
According to this ratio, the basement of the
temple itself should stand very little below the
level of the alluvial deposit, which, indeed, agrees
with fact ; though, as may be supposed, the slope
of the desert is not quite so uniform as to accord
with the mathematical calculation of an uninter
rupted Hne. It suffices for our purpose to have
ascertained that this gradual slope does exist, and
that the colossi and the temple standing upon it
are buried in alluvial deposit in an inverse ratio as
they approach the edge of the desert ; and the only
inference necessarily is, that the alluvial soil now
reaches farther inland towards the desert than it
did when those monuments were erected. We do
not know how far the outermost colossi were, at
that time, beyond the line of the alluvial deposit ;
all we can conclude is, that they were above its
level, and that the dromos, or paved street, was also
above the highest water mark : but if it is out of our

112 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
power to fix any exact point from which to calcu
late the annual increase of the perpendicular stra
tum of land, of this we may at least be certain, — that
all the deposit now existing between the colossi
H, I, and the edge of the desert behind the temple,
a total distance of 1900 feet, has been brought
there since the reign of the third Amunoph, or
within a period of 3260 years.
What has now been said, fully, I trust, demon
strates these propositions ; — that the perpendicular
rise of the bed of the Nile extends the inundation
and alluvial deposit much farther in a horizontal
direction E. and W. at the present day, than at any
previous period ; that this cause has always been in
operation ; and that therefore a wider extent of
irrigated land now exists, than in former times. I
do not, however, pretend that the same quantity of
land is cultivated as formerly : this must always de
pend on the population, the energies of the people,
the system followed by the government, and other
accidental circumstances : but it is not the fault of
the river, nor from any deficiency in the benefits it
used to bestow on the soil of Egypt, that much
land is left fallow, and overgrown with noxious
weeds ; and the modern inhabitants might profit
by the same means of cultivating the edge of the
desert by artificial irrigation, as their predecessors,
if Egypt only possessed the advantages of popula
tion, a favourable system of agriculture, and a wise
government. I have made the same observations respecting
the extent of the land in other parts of Egypt, all

CHAP. XI. ENCROACHMENT OF THE SAND. 113
confirming what I have stated, as might be reason
ably expected, since the same causes necessarily
produce the same effects ; and I now proceed to
show the origin of those erroneous notions which
proclaim that the drifting sands have curtailed the
limits of the arable land of Egypt, and that the
desert constantly encroaching on the soil threatens
to overwhelm the valley of the Nile, and already
counteracts the beneficial effects of the inundation.*
In some parts of Egypt, as at Bahnasa, at
Kerdassy, a little to the N. of the Pyramids, at
Werdan, and at a few other places, the sand of
the Libyan desert has been drifted into the valley,
and has encumbered the land with hillocks and
downs, spreading itself over the fields near the
edge of the desert, and sometimes burying trees
and buildings to the depth of several feet. This
has been particularly the case about Bahnasa ; and
Denon, who visited it and witnessed the effect of
the sand in that quarter, spread the alarm of its
invasion, which has been magnified into the anni
hilation ofthe arable land of Egypt. But this evil
is only partial, and, as M. Reynier observes, in a
memoir upon the agriculture of Egypt, published
in the great French workt, "though many have
spoken ofthe encroachments of the sand upon the
cultivable soil, it appears to be much less consider
able than is supposed ; for otherwise many places
indicated by ancient writers to have been on the
borders of the desert, would now be distant from
* Vide Vol. L p. 221.
f Memoires .sur I'Egypte, vol. iv. p. 5.
VOL. I. — Second Series.' I

114

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

the irrigated land, and the canal of Joseph, after so
many ages of bad government, would have been long
since filled up." In some places, he adds, this has
happened, as at Werdan in the province of Geezeh,
where the sand has advanced to the distance of a
league ; but the position ofthe place, — at the outlet
of a gorge in the Libyan Mountains, — is perhaps
partly the cause of this : an opinion which per
fectly coincides with my own observations. In
many places where valleys open upon the plain, the
sand is found to accumulate, and sometimes to form
drifts upon the land, which, when no precautions
are taken, by planting the bushy tamarisk, increase
so far as to prevent the overflow of the Nile from
covering a portion of the previously irrigated soil ;
but these incursions of sand are only partial, and
in particular spots, bearing a very small proportion
to the whole valley of Egypt ; and it must be re
membered that the desert, or gradual slope of the
hdger, between the limestone range and the arable
land, is not a plain of moving sand, as some have
imagined, but is composed of clay and stony ground
mixed with a proportion of sand, or an old detritus
ofthe neighbouring rocks. On the eastern side of
the valley, very few sand drifts are to be met with,
except those seen from Cairo, beyond Heliopolis
and the Birket el Hag, or the Suez road : but these
do not encroach upon the arable land, from which
they are far distant : and since I have shown that
on the W., or Libyan, side also, the places where
sand encumbers the valley are partial, it may be
readily imagined how slight an effect these must

CHAP. XI. CHARACTER OF THE DESERT. 115
have, compared with the whole extent of the
country. In the Delta, the only sandy places of
consequence are here and there on the Libyan
shore, and on the coast of the Mediterranean,
bearing an imperceptible proportion to the whole
superficies of that province ; and, indeed, the sand
on the coast is not worthy of notice, nor can it be
attributed in any way to the advance of the desert
upon the land of Egypt.
In many countries, — as in France, about Dun-
kerque, the Landes, and other places ; in Scot
land, about Nairn ; and in several parts of Europe,
— sand drifts occur of great size and extent ; but
the same theories are not formed upon their ag
gressions; and we have in this, a proof how far
opinions are influenced by the name and by the
idea of a desert.
I am far from affirming that no encroachment
of the sand takes place; my arguments are only
intended to show, that, taking into consideration
the relative advance of the sand, and of the allu
vial deposit, the balance is greatly in favour ofthe
latter ; and the result is, that whatever partial in
jury the sand may have it in its power to inflict on
certain spots, the extent of the land is constantly
increasing, and the number of square miles of in
undated arable soil is much greater now than at
any previous period.
I must also make some remarks on the nature
of the desert, which will be found to differ much
from received opinion ; as the simple mention of
ranges of primitive mountains reaching an elevation
I 2

1 16 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
of 5000 feet will suffice to show. I allude now to
the desert lying between the Nile and Red Sea ;
but in order to give a just notion of this tract, and
the nature of the mountains in various parts, I
must refer to my map*, and to the accompanying
sections in different latitudes.
The leading characteristic of the Eastern desert,
particularly in the northern part, is its gradual
ascent from the valley of the Nile to a certain dis
tance eastward, where you arrive at a plain nearly
level, and of some extent, from which all the valleys
or torrents running in a westerly direction empty
themselves into the Nile, and those to the eastward
into the Red Sea, following a descent in the op
posite direction to the coast. A section taken E.
and W., about latitude 29°, will explain the ap
pearance ofthe desert in that part.t
These are all limestone mountains. The ascent
from the Nile to A is about 30 miles ; the high
plain A B is about 16 miles broad ; the descent
then commences towards the Red Sea, which is
about 50 miles distant.
In that part where the primitive range com
mences, and joins the secondary hills, about latitude
28° 26', the section E. and W. presents the appear
ance given in the next figure of the plate, t
In latitude 28° 10', passing by the lofly Gharib,
which is the highest peak in this desert, having an
elevation of about 6000 feet, the section is of a dif
ferent character.§
* This will be published by Mr. J. Arrowsmith early next spring.
•(- Vide Plate 18. No. 7. X '''"''? ^o. 8. § Vide No. 9.

CHAP. XI. THE CATARACTS AND NUBIA. 1 17
Another section is taken in latitude 28° from
Gebel E' Zayt, on the Red Sea, to Gebel Aboo
Fayda on the Nile. *
The last of those in the Eastern desert, in lati
tude 27° t, crosses the great range of the Ummum-
fayah, which is about 5000 feet high.
From a comparison of which it appears that this
desert has one general character in its levels from
the Nile to the Red Sea.
A little above Esneh, about latitude 26° 10', the
sandstones approach the Nile on the East bank ;
a little farther South they cross the river, near
Edfoo, whence they continue on either bank ;
and at Silsilis are the quarries from which the
sandstone used in the temples of Egypt was
taken. Fourteen miles above Ombos, and on the
eastern bank, the granites appear ; and at Esouan,
14 miles farther S., they cross the river. Amidst
these are the cataracts, a succession of rapids, of
which no single fall is more than about five feet.
In Nubia, the valley is very narrow ; the rocks
ofthe eastern and western mountains often coming
close to the river, and leaving little or no space
for the deposit of alluvium : in other places on the
Libyan side, the sand covers the whole level space
between the hills and the bank ; and the character
ofthe country between the first and second cataract
is totally different from Egypt. The river about
Kalabshe rises between 30 and 40 feet during the
inundation ; and after it has subsided, in February,
* Plate 18. No. 10. f No. ] 1.
I 3

ll8 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
the stream runs at the rate of two or three knots an
hour. But I return to the deserts of Egypt.
In going to the western or Libyan desert, in the
direction of the Oasis Parva, one road passes by
the Fyoom ; which province is considerably lower
than the valley of the Nile, and the Lake Moeris
is about 100 or 120 feet below the level of the
banks at Benisooef. I have given a section across
that part of the country from the Nile to the moun
tain range lying behind the Lake Moeris*; and
thence to the Oases : from which it is evident, that
on leaving the Fyoom in a southerly direction,
or in going from the Nile westward, you gradually
ascend till you arrive at the summit of an elevated
plain, which continues on a level, or with slight un
dulations, for a considerable distance, and forms
the extensive table land of this part of Africa. The
Oases and other valleys are depressions in this lofty
plain ; and, on descending to them, you find the
level space or plain of the Oasis itself similar to a
portion of the Valley of Egypt, surrounded by steep
cliffs of limestone, at some distance from the cul
tivated land, which vary in height in the different
Oases. Those of the Southern Oases are much
higher, and consequently the level of those Oases
is much lower than of the Oasis Parva, as may be
seen from the last section, taken N. and S. t
From this it appears that the water of the Oasis
Parva does not come directly from the Nile, and that
we must look for the origin of its springs at a more
* Vuk Plate 18. No. 12. f Vide No. 13.

CHAP. XI. THE OASES. 119
southerly point. The mountains of the high plain
are limestone; the low plain of the Oases is sand
stone on clay ; and it is from this last that the water
rises, and by this it is retained. The limestone
mountains of the Thebaid rest in like manner on
clay ; and thus we may conclude that the water
is conveyed from some point to the South of, and
at a greater elevation than, the Oasis, its escape to
the surface taking place wherever the limestone
superstratum is removed ; and that a continuation
of the same bed of clay conducts it northward to
the Oasis Parva, — occasional opportunities being
afforded it for rising, as at Farafreh, and other
places on the way.
Though I have represented the mountains, as if
the tableland of their summit were perfectly level,
in order to show the comparative depressions of
the Oases, it is not to be supposed that they are
perfectly horizontal : if so, those of Lower Egypt
would be more elevated than in the Thebaid, which
is not the case ; the mountains of Thebes being
1200 feet above the Nile, which is a much greater
elevation than any in the latitude of Cairo.
From what has been said, it is evident that
the Oases are not fertile spots in the midst of
a sandy plain, but depressions in the lofty table
land of Africa, where, by the removal of the su
perincumbent limestone strata, the water has the
power of rising to the surface ; nor is the desert
a dreary plain of sand, which has overwhelmed a
once fertile country, whose only traces are the
isolated gardens of the Oases ; where the traveller
I 4

120 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
runs a risk of being overwhelmed by sand, as the
army of Cambyses was reported to have been. *
The notion is of old date, from Herodotus to the
modern traveller who confines his experience to
the valley of the Nile ; and if Strabo were listened
to, it would require some degree of courage to
visit the site of Memphis, lest, as he observes, the
imprudent stranger should expose himself to "the
danger of being overtaken by a whirlwind on his
way." t
Strabo, like other travellers, must have braved
great dangers during his voyage ; the ancients were
alarmed at the sand, and wondrous monsters ; and
we now often read of narrow escapes from the
effects of a simoom : but however disagreeable this
really is, and though caravans run the risk of losing
their way if incautious enough to continue their
route in its dense fog of dust, and consequently to
perish in this waterless region, the very unpleasant
death, it has been reported to cause, is an exagge
ration ; and, speaking from the experience of many
a violent simoom in the most sandy parts of the
desert, I can only say that it is bad enough willi-
out being exaggerated, but that it is much more
frightful in a book of travels than in the country
itself. A remarkable feature in the Valley of Egypt,
which must strike every one who crosses the edge
of the alluvial land, is the line of demarcation be
tween this and the desert, which is so strongly
* Ammon, sand, and the dust of the Pharaohs being united against it.
f Strabo, lib. xvii. p. 555.

CHAP. XI. CULTIVATION OF THE HAGER. 121
defined, that you may almost step with one foot
upon the richest, and with the other on the most
barren land ; for, as Strabo says, all is sterile in
Egypt where the Nile does not reach; but it only
requires to be irrigated by the fertilising water of
the river, to become productive ; as the flower of
the female plant only awaits the pollen of the male,
to cause it to produce, — an idea analogous to the
fable of Osiris (as the inundation) approaching the
bed of Isis (the soil it irrigates), or more properly
of Nepthys (the barren land), who also produced
a son ou being visited by Osiris.
Besides the land inundated by the Nile, the
ancient Egyptians took into cultivation a consider
able portion of the Hdger, or edge of the desert,
which, being a light soil, consisting of clay mixed
with sand or gravel, was peculiarly adapted for
certam produce, particularly bulbous plants ; and
many with long fibrous roots were found to thrive
in that soil. Those parts where a greater propor
tion of gravel prevailed, were peculiarly adapted to
the culture of the vine ; and we are not surprised
to find that the wines of Anthylla, Mareotis, and
other places situated at the confines of the desert,
were superior in quality to those from the interior
of the irrigated land. In some places, as in the
Fyoom, where little change has taken place in the
appearance of the surface ofthe land, I have fre
quently observed the traces of former cultivation :
even the vestiges of fields appear, with channels
for water, far above the level of all modern
canals ; and in the vicinity of the Lake Moeris are

122 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
several watercourses and canals, with the roots
of vines and other trees, which are distant more
than twelve miles fi'om the nearest irrigated land.
I do not pretend to affirm that these are actually
ofthe early time of the Pharaohs; but they doubt
less owe their origin to the system of cultivating
the hdger adopted by the ancient Egyptians, and
this extensive culture of the vine is at least prior
to the Arab invasion. Indeed, by the universal
confession of the inhabitants themselves, no canals
or cultivation have been maintained in this spot
within the period of Moslem records ; and tradi
tion asserts that the province of Fyoom, which now
contains about eighty villages, had once more than
four times that number, in the flourishing periods of
the Pharaonic Kings.
FESTIVALS OF THE PEASANTRY.
During the inundation, when the Nile had been
admitted by the canals into the interior, and the
fields were subjected to the fertilising influence of
its waters, the peasantry indulged in various amuse
ments which this leisure period gave them time to
enjoy.* Their cattle were housed, and supplied
with dry food, which had been previously prepared
for the purpose ; the tillage of the land and all
agricultural occupations were suspended ; and this
season was celebrated as a harvest home, with
games and recreations of every kind. They in
dulged in feasting and the luxuries of the table ;
* Diodor. i. 36.

CHAP. XI. FETES OF THE HUSBANDMEN. 123
games were celebrated in some of the principal
towns, in which the competitors contended for
prizes of cattle, skins, and other things suited to
the taste or wants of the peasant, and some amused
themselves with wrestling-matches, bull-fights, and
gymnastic exercises ; which, while they suited the
habits of an active and robust people, contributed
to invigorate them, and to prevent the baneful
effects of indolence during a period of repose from
the labours of the field. According to Julius
Pollux *, the Song of Maneros was among those
adopted by the Egyptian peasant ; and this fabled
personage was celebrated as the inventor of hus
bandry, — an honour generally given to the still
more fabulous Osiris. It is probable that many
songs and games were appropriated to certain
festivals; and this adaptation of peculiar ceremo
nies to particular occasions, and the aversion of
the Egyptians for any change in the customs of
their ancestors, are remarked by several ancient
writers.t They had many festivals connected with agri
culture and the produce of the soil, which happened
at different periods of the year. In the month
Mesore, they offered the firstfruits of their lentils
to the God Harpocrates, " calling out at the same
time, ' The tongue is Fortune, the tongue is Godt;"
and the allegorical festival of " the delivery of
Isis was celebrated immediately after the Vernal

* Jul. Poll. iv. 7  aajia oiq AiyVTrnov, " Mavepuie .... Mavepuig
yidipyiruj ivpiTijc, Mowffwf fia9i]Ti]s.'
f Vide Herodot. ii. 79. t Plut. de Is. s. 68.

124 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
Equinox*," to commemorate the beginning of har
vest. " Some," says Plutarch, " assimilate the
history of those Gods to the various changes which
happen in the air, during the several seasons of the
year, or to those accidents which are observed in
the production of corn, in its sowing and ripening ;
'for,' they observe, 'what can the burial of Osiris
more aptly signify, than the first covering the seed
in the ground after it is sown ? or his reviving and
reappearing, than its first beginning to shoot up ?
and why is Isis said, upon perceiving herself to be
with child, to have hung an amulet about her neck
on the 6th ofthe month Phaophi, soon after sowing
time, but in allusion to this allegory ? and who is
that Harpocrates, whom they tell us she brought
forth about the time ofthe winter tropic, but those
weak and slender shootings of the corn, which are
yet feeble and imperfect?' — for which reason it
is, that the firstfruits of their lentils are dedicated
to this God, and they celebrate the feast of his
mother's delivery just after the vernal equinox."
From this it may be inferred that the festival of
the lentils was instituted when the month Mesore
coincided with the end of March ; for since they
were sown at the end of November, and ripened
in about 100 or 110 days, the firstfruits might be
gathered in three months and a half, or, as Plutarch
tells us, "just after the vernal equinox," or the last
week in March. It is not stated on what day of
Mesore this festival took place ; we can, therefore,
only arrive at an approximate calculation respect-
* Plut. de Is. s. 65.

CHAP. XI. THE CARE OF ANIMALS. 125
ing the period when it was first instituted ; which,
supposing it to have fallen in the middle of the
month, will carry it back 2650 years before our
era, 330 years before the accession of Menes. " On
the 19th day of the first month (Thoth), which was
the feast of Hermes *, they eat honey and figs, say
ing to each other, ' how sweet a thing is truth ! ' "
— a satisfactory proof that the month itself, and
not the first day alone t, was called after and dedi
cated to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes ; and another
festival, answering to the " Thesmophoria of the
Athenians," was established to commemorate the
period when " the husbandmen began to sow their
corn, in the Egyptian month Athyr." t
Many of the sacred festivals of the Egyptians
were connected with agriculture ; but these I shall
have occasion to notice under the head of their re
ligious ceremonies. REARING OF ANIMALS.
I now proceed to another point connected with
the occupations of the peasantry, — the care and
rearing of animals. The rich proprietors of land
possessed a large stock of sheep, goats, and cattle ;
gazelles, and other wild animals of the desert, were
tamed and reared with great care on their estates ;
and they bestowed the greatest attention to the
breed of horses, asses, and other beasts of burthen.
The pastors, it is true, were a class apart from the
peasantry, and one which was held in disrepute
* Pint. s. 68. t Vide supra, p. 16. t P'ut. s. 69.

126 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
by the Egyptians, partly in consequence of the
nature of their occupation, and partly from the
feeling excited against them by the remembrance
of cruelties exercised upon their country by a
shepherd race*, which had held Egypt in sub
jection during a long period ; and the swineherds
were looked upon with such abhorrence, that He
rodotus affirms they could not even enter a tem
ple, or contract marriages with any other of their
countrymen, t But the denomination of pastors
did not extend to the farmers who bred sheep or
cattle ; it merely applied to those who tended the
flocks, or had their immediate care : and the Egyp
tian artists, as if to show the contempt in which
these people were held, frequently represented
them lame or deformed, dirty and unshaven,
and sometimes of a most ludicrous appearance.

No. 438. A deformed o.xlierd. Tombs near thc Pyramids.
This feeling, however, was not carried to the ex
tent mentioned by Josephust, who asserts that
" the Egyptians were prohibited to meddle with
the feeding of sheep ; " and the sculptures of
* Vide Vol. II. p. 16. f Vol. I. p. 239.
% Joseph. Antiq. ii. 7. 5.

CHAP. XI. THE CARE OF ANIMALS. 127
Thebes, and every part of Upper and Lower Egypt,
abundantly prove them to have kept numerous
flocks and herds, which were tended by native
Egyptians. Their condition was humble ; they
lived in sheds* made of reeds, easily moved from
place to place, which continued to be used by them
to the time of Diodorus, as they are by the Abab-
deh tribe, a pastoral race, in the upper part of the
Thebaid, to the present day ; and it is probable that
parts of Egypt peculiarly adapted for pasture were
inhabited by large bodies of native shepherds, dis
tinct from those employed by rich individuals upon
their own farms.
In the extensive domains of wealthy landed pro-
prietoi's, those who tended the flocks and herds were
overlooked by other persons connected with the
estate. The peasant, who tilled the land on which
they were fed, was responsible for their proper main
tenance, and for the exact account of the quan
tity of food they consumed; some persons were ex
clusively employed in the care of the sick, which
were kept at home in the farmyard ; the super
intendent of the shepherds regulated the different
arrangements connected with them, determined re
specting those which were to graze in the field, and
those which were to be stall-fed t, and attended
at stated periods to give a report to the scribes
belonging to the estate, by whom it was submitted
to the steward ; and the latter was responsible to
his employer for this as well as every other portion
of his possessions. * Diodor. i. 43. t '"'^ supra, p. 96.

128

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI

In the accompanying woodcut, the head shep
herd presents himself to give an account of the

Giving an account to the scribes of tlie stoclc on the estate.

Thebes.

Before fig. 1. is the sachel, and above fig. 2. the box for holding writing implements and
papyri. They are writing on boards : in their left hands are the inkstands with black and
red ink.
stock upon the estate, and behind him are the
fiocks committed to his charge, consisting of sheep,
goats, and wild animals belonging to the person of
the tomb, in which this subject is represented;
and the expressive attitude of this figure, with his
hand to his mouth, is well imagined to convey the
idea of his endeavour to recollect the numbers he
is giving from memory to the scribes.
The shepherds on the estate were chosen by the
steward, who ascertained their character and skill,
previous to their being appointed to so important a
trust ; as is shown to have been done in the case of
the Israelites, on their arrival in the land of Goshen;
Pharaoh expressly commanding Joseph, whom
he had made superintendent "over all the land of
Egypt," to select from among his brethren such

CHAP. XI. herdsmen's ACCOUNT OF CATTLE. 129

as were skilful in the management of the flocks or
herds, and " make them rulers over his cattle."*
The cattle were brought into a court attached

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a ° a

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to the steward's house, or into the farmyard, and
counted by the superintendent in the presence of

* Gen. xlvii. 6.
VOL. I. — Second Sekies.

K

130 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
the scribes. Every care was taken to prevent or

CHAP. XI. NUMBERS OVER CATTLE. 131
detect frauds, and the bastinado was freely* ad
ministered, whenever the peasant or the shepherd
neglected the animals entrusted to their care.
The accompanying woodcuts fully illustrate
the mode of bringing the cattle ; and the last is
particularly interesting, from the numbers being
written over the animals, answering, no doubt, to
the report made to the steward, who, in the pre
sence of the master of the estate, receives it from
the head shepherd. First come the oxen, over
which is the number 834, cows 220, goats 3234,
asses 760, and sheep 974 ; behind which follows
a man carrying the young lambs in baskets slung
upon a pole. The steward, leaning on his staflT,
and accompanied by his dog, stands on the left of
the picture ; and in another part of the tomb, the
scribes are represented making out the statements
presented to them by the different persons em
ployed on the estate. The tomb where this subject
occurs, is hewn in the rock near the Pyramids of
Geezeh, and possesses additional interest from its
great antiquity, having the namet of a king who
lived about the era of the founders of those mo
numents, as well as from the subjects it contains,
which show the Egyptians to have had the same
customs at that early time, and to have arrived at
the same state of civilisation as in the subsequent
ages ofthe 18th and later dynasties, — a fact which
cannot but suggest most interesting thoughts to an
* Vide Vol. II. p. 41., where the keepers of oxen are bastinadoed
for neglecting the animals.
f Given in Vol. III. p. 278. Woodcut, No. 380.>g. 4.
K 2

132

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.

inquiring mind, respecting the state of the world at
that remote period.
An account of the geese and other fowl was
also brought to the steward at the same time ; and
so scrupulous were they in the returns made to
him, that the number of eggs was even ascertained

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and reported, with the same care as the calves, or
the offspring of the flocks.

CHAP. XI. POULTERERS. 133
Every ihing in Egypt was done by writing.
Scribes were employed on all occasions, whether
to settle public or private questions, and no bar
gain of any consequence was made without being
sanctioned by the vouchure of a written document.
The art of curing disease in animals of every
kind, both quadrupeds and birds, was carried to
great perfection by the Egyptians ; and the au
thority of ancient writers and of the sculptures is
curiously confirmed by a discovery of the learned
Cuvier, who, finding the left humerus of a mum
mied ibis fractured, and reunited in a particular
manner, proved the intervention of human art.
The skill they possessed, says Diodorus *, in
rearing animals, was the result of knowledge in
herited from their parents, and subsequently im
proved by their own observation, their whole
lives being occupied in this pursuit ; and the in
formation handed down to them respecting the
best mode of treating cattle when ill, and their
proper food at all times, was increased not only
by the improvements arising from continued ex
perience, but by the emulation common to all
men. " What most excites our wonder," adds
the historian, "and deserves the greatest praise, is
the industry shown by the rearers of fowls and
geese, who, not contented with the course of na
tural procreation known in other countries, hatch
an infinite number of birds by an artificial process.
Dispensing with the incubation of the hens, they
* Diodor. i. 74.
K 3

134 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
with their own hands bring the eggs to maturity;
and the young chickens thus produced are not in
ferior in any respect to those hatched by natural
means."* This artificial contrivance has been handed down
to the present day, and continues to be employed
by the modern inhabitants of Egypt, particularly
the Copts, who may be considered to have the
best claim to the title of descendants of the ancient
Egyptians. I have given an account of it in a
former work t ; but as it has now an increased in
terest from being again introduced into England,
I shall insert it here in connection with the pastors
and poulterers of ancient Egypt.
The custom is for the proprietors of the ovens
to make the round of the villages in the vicinity,
to collect the eggs from the peasants, and to give
them in charge to the rearers, who, without any
previous examination, place all they receive on
mats strewed with bran, in a room about 11 feet
square, with a flat roof, and about 4 feet in height,
over which is another chamber of the same size,
with a vaulted roof, and about 9 feet high ; a
small aperture in the centre of the vault (at /")
admitting light during the warm weather, and
another (e) of larger diameter, immediately below,
communicating with the oven, through whose ceil
ing it is pierced. By this also the man descends
to observe the eggs : but in the cold season both
are closed, and a lamp is kept burning within;
* Conf. Plin. X. 54.
t Egypt and Thebes, p. 246.

CHAP. XI. EGGS ARTIFICIALLY HATCHED.

135

another entrance at the front part of the oven, or
lower room, being then used for the same purpose,
and shut immediately on his quitting it. By way
of distinction, I call the vaulted (a) the upper
room, and the lower one (b) the oven. In the

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No. 443. Modern ovens for hatching eggs.
Fig 1 Plan ofthe building, showing the form ofthe upper rooms A A, the entrance
room G G, and the passage F. At a« are the lires. ee the aperture com
municating with the oven.
2. Section of the same, showing the upper rooms A and B.
3. Flan of upper room, in which the fires are placed at a b, and cd.
4. Lower room, in which the eggs are placed.
5, 6. Sections, from the back and front of the upper and lower rooms A and ]i.
former are two fires in the troughs a b, and c d,
which, based with earthen slabs, three quarters of
an inch thick, reach from one side to the other,
K 4

136 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
against the front and back walls. These fires
are lighted twice a day : the first dies away about
midday ; and the second, lighted at 3 p.m., lasts
until 8 o'clock. In the oven, the eggs are placed
on mats strewed with bran, in two lines correspond
ing to, and immediately below, the fires a b and
c d, where they remain half a day. They are then
removed to a c and b d ; and others (from two heaps
in the centre) are arranged a.i ab and c d, in their
stead ; and so on, till all have taken their equal share
of the warmest positions ; to which each set re
turns again and again, in regular succession, till the
expiration of six days.
They are then held up, one by one, towards a
strong light ; and if the eggs appear clear, and of an
uniform coloui-, it is evident they have not succeed
ed ; but if they show an opaque substance within, or
the appearance of diff^erent shades, the chickens
are already formed ; and they are returned to
the oven for four more days, their positions being
changed as before. At the expiration of the four
days they are removed to another oven, over which,
however, are no fires. Here they lie for five days
in one heap, the apertures (e,/) and the door (g-)
being closed with tow to exclude the air ; after
which they are placed separately about one or two
inches apart, over the whole surface of the mats,
which are sprinkled with a little bran. They are
at this time continually turned, and shifted from
one part of the mats to another, during six or
seven days, all air being carefully excluded ; and
are constantly examined by one of the rearers, who

CHAP. XI. MODERN EGG OVENS. 137
applies each singly to his upper eyelid. Those
which are cold prove the chickens to be dead, but
warmth greater than the human skin is the favour
able sign of their success.
At length the chicken, breaking its egg, gradually
comes forth : and it is not a little curious to see
some half exposed and half covered by the shell ;
while they chirp in their confinement, which they
evince the greatest eagerness to quit.
The total number of days is generally twenty-
one, but some eggs with a thin shell remain only
eighteen. The average of those that succeed is
two thirds, which are returned by the rearers to
the proprietors, who restore to the peasants one
half of the chickens ; the other being kept as pay
ment for their expenses.
The size of the building depends, of course, on
the means or speculation of the proprietors : but
the general plan is usually the same ; being a series
of eight or ten ovens and upper rooms, on either
side of a passage about 100 feet by 15, and 12 in
height. The thermometer in any part is not less
than 24° Reaum. (86°Fahr. *); but the average
heat in the ovens does not reach the temperature
of fowls, which is 32° Reaum.
Excessive heat or cold are equally prejudicial to
this process ; and the only season of the year at
which they succeed is from the 15th of Imsheer
(23d of February) to the 15th of Baramoodeh
* Mr. Hamilton mentions the heat of 88°Fahr. (To reduce Reaumur
to Fahrenheit, multiply by 9, divide by 4, and add 32° — the freezing
point).

138 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XI.
(24th of April), beyond which time they can
scarcely reckon upon more than two or three in a
hundred. The great care bestowed by the shepherd on
the breed of sheep, was attended with no less im
portant results. They were twice shorn, and twice
brought forth lambs, in the course of a year * ; — a
circumstance fully proved by modern experience,
whenever sufficient care is taken by the shepherd.
But though Diodorus is perfectly correct in this
part of his statement, he seems to be in error re
specting the nature of the pasture on which they
were fed, when he suggests that the mere acci
dental produce of the land after the inundation
sufficed for this purpose ; for it is far more reason
able to suppose, that formerly, as at the present
day, they were supplied with particular food culti
vated expressly for them ; and from his referring to
the period of the inundation, we may suggest that
his remark was founded on the fact of their grow
ing clover for the flocks and herds at that season,
as is still the custom in Egypt.
Those who exercised the veterinary art were of
the class of shepherds. They took the utmost care
of the animals, providing them with proper food,
which they gave them with the hand, and pre
paring for them whatever medicine they required,
which they forced into their mouths. Their me
dical aid was not confined to oxen and sheep ;
it extended also to the oryx, and other animals of
the desert, they tamed or bred in the farmyard t;
* Diodor. i. 36. f Vol. III. p. 8. et seq. to p. 81.

X
>
y

TV;^^

^f^^

3 4 5
Herdsmen and poulterers treating sick animals and geese. Seni Hassan.
Fig. 1. feeding a sick goose.
I; feed?n.°aTo"ryx '"' ''^"' *™' "^""^ *"' ™ *' '"¦™"« *™ '^ «^"^1 ™ T^Syptian sculpture.

<ts
HI-H
>faH

OO

140

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

CHAP. XI.

and the poulterers bestowed the same care upon
the geese and fowls. Indeed, the numerous herds
of the ibex, gazelle, oryx, and other of the ante
lope tribe, show, equally with their advancement in
veterinary art, the great attention paid to the
habits of animals : the wild and timid antelopes
were rendered so tame as to be driven to the cen
sus in the farmyard, like the sheep and goats ; and
the fowlers were no less successful in their mode
of rearing the vulpanser geese, and other wild fowl
ofthe Nile.

No. 439. Giving an account to the scribes of the stock on the estate. Thebes.

CHAP. XII.

RELIGION OF EGYPT.

141

Vignette L. — The two Colossi of Thebes before the temple built by Amunoph III ,
with the ruins of Luxor in the distance, during the inundation.

CHAP. XII.
Religious Opinions of the Egyptians. — The Greeks borrowed
many of their Notions on Religion from Egypt. — The
Idea of the Deity entertained by the Priests, different from
that taught to the uninitiated. — Nature of the Gods. —
Numbers. — The Deity manifested upon Earth. — Theo
ries in Greek Writers. — The Great Gods. — Triads.
Before we examine the nature of the Pantheon,
or the attributes of the Deities worshipped by the
Egyptians, it will be proper to take a general view
of their religious opinions, intimately connected as
they were with the manners and customs of the
people. Superstitiously attached to their sacred institu
tions, and professing a religion which admitted
much outward show, the Egyptians clothed their
ceremonies with all the grandeur of solemn pomp ;
and the celebration of their religious rites was re-

142 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
markable for all that human ingenuity could devise,
to render them splendid and imposing. They
prided themselves on being the nation in whom
had originated most of the sacred institutions after
wards common to other people, who were believed
to have adopted them from Egypt ; and the mys
terious nature and attributes of the Deity, though
presented under a different form, were recognised
by the Egyptians as a direct emanation from the
metaphysical philosophy of their priesthood. They
claimed the merit of being the first, who had con
secrated each month and day * to a particular deity ;
— a method of forming the calendar which has been
imitated, and preserved to the present day ; the
Egyptian Gods having yielded their place to those
of another Pantheon, which have in turn been
supplanted by the saints of a Christian era; — and
they also considered themselves the first t to sug
gest the idea of foretelling from the natal hour
the future fortunes of each new-born infant, the
life he was destined to lead, or the death he was
fated to die, which were boldly settled by astrolo
gical prediction, t
"The Greeks," says Herodotus §, " borrowed the
science of astrology from the Egyptians, but that
people have invented more prodigies than all the
rest of mankind. They observe and note down
every occurrence, as well as whatever follows it;
* Herodot. ii. 82. f Herodot. ibid.
X Conf. lamblich. de Myster. viii. 6. " According to many of the
Egyptians, tliat which i.s in our power depends on the motion of the
stars." (J Herodot. ii. 82.

CHAP. XII. EARLY RITES IN EGYPT. 143
and then carefully watching those of a similar
£1^^ they predict the issue from analogy, being
persuaded that it will be the same." In like man
ner, observes the historian, to the Egyptians is con
ceded the honour of teaching mankind the proper
mode of appH»g,ching the Deity * ; and Lucian t as
serts, " that they were reputed the first who had a
conception of the Gods, an acquaintance with reli
gious matters, and a knowledge of sacred names;"
an opinion expressed in the words of an oracle of
Apollo quoted by Eusebius t, which declares that
" they, before all others, disclosed by infinite ac
tions the path that leads to the Gods." And lam-
blichus§ not only considers them " the first of men
who were allowed to partake of the favour of the
Gods, but that the Gods when invoked rejoiced in
the rites of Egypt."
The inspection of the entrails of victims, the
study of omens, and all those superstitious customs
which the religions of antiquity so scrupulously
observed, were deemed highly important among the
Egyptians ; and the means adopted for divining
future events, or the success of any undertaking,
were as varied and fancijjbtea^he derb e' rummel,
and other trials of chan^%Sed by Oriental people
at the present day. 11
* Herodot. ii. 58. f Lucian. de Syria Dea.
t " AiTTUvr] yap o^oQ fiaicapuiv, rjjjjxtia rs TroXXov
XaXKoSsToie ra TTpwra Swiyiiivr) ¦KvXtotaiv.
ArpaTfiroi Si taaaiv aOeafaroi eyytyavim,
Aq rjpiDTOi lispo-TTiov i-n-'airsipova TrpriS,i.v eipi]vav,
Ol TO icaXov TTivovTiQ iiSiop tJeiXidTiSos ait]s."
§ Iambi, de Myst. sect. vii. 5.
II Vide Lane's Modern Egyptians, vol. i. p. 34-1. et seq.

144 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
They even, says Plutarch *, " look upon children
as gifted with a kind of faculty of divination, and
they are ever anxious to observe the accidental
prattle they talk during play, especially if it be in
a sacred place, deducing from it presages of fu
ture events." Omens were frequently drawn from
common accidents, as tokens of good and bad luck ;
and thus the circumstance of the engineer sighing,
while he superintended the transport of a mono
lithic shrine from Elephantine to Sais, was suffi
cient to stop its further progress, and to prevent its
introduction into the sacred place intended for its
reception t; and Amasis, though a man of strong
mind, and more free from prejudices than the
generality of his countrymen, was induced to give
way to this superstitious fancy.
Sacrifices of meat offerings, libations, and incense,
were of the earliest date in their temples ; and
if the assertions of Proclus be true, that " the first
people who sacrificed did not offer animals, but
herbs, flowers, and trees, with the sweet scent of in
cense," and that "it was unlawful to slay victims,"
they only apply to the infant state of mankind, and
not to that £era, when the Egyptians had already
modelled their religious habits and behef into the
form presented to us by the sculptures of their
monuments. And when he adds, that " no animal
should be offered in sacrifice to the gods, though
permitted both to good and evil demons," we are
not to conclude that the victims slain before the
* Plut. de Is. et Osir. s. 14. f Herodot. ii. 175.

CHAP. XII. EARLY OFFERINGS. 145
altars in the Egyptian sculptures were confined to
the minor Deities, or that this typical institution
had not its origin in a very remote age. Macro
bius, indeed, affirms * that " it was never permitted
to the Egyptians to propitiate the Gods with the
slaughter of animals, nor with blood, butwith prayers
and incense alone;" an idea expressed also by Ovidt,
who says, that men in former times were reported
to have made use of milk t and whatever herbs
the earth spontaneously produced, and every one
offered for himself the sacrifice he had vowed. But
these remarks do not apply to the Egyptians, who
oflPered victims on the altars of all their Gods ;
and the privilege mentioned by Ovid, which every
individual enjoyed, of offering for himself his own
sacrifice, though permitted to the Jews before the
Exodus, seems only to have been conceded to the
Egyptians on particular occasions.
With the Israelites, the custom was to offer
fruits, the fat and milk of animals, the fleeces of
sheep, or the blood and flesh of victims ; the right
of making the offering being usually confined to
the Elders, to the head of a family, and to those
who were most esteemed for virtue, or venerated
for their age. When keeping the sacrifice of the
Passover, they were commanded to " take every
man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for an house," "a male of the first year§,"
* Macrob. Sat. i.4. He is even guilty of stating this to be the case
under the Ptolemies, when Sarapis and Saturn were introduced into
Egypt. -f Ovid. Fast. lib. V.
t Conf. Phn. xiv. 12. " Romulum lacte, non vino, libasse,''
9 Exod. xii. 3. 5.
VOL. I. — Second Series. L

146 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
either " from the sheep, or from the goats ;" and
to the head of the family belonged the honour of
slaying the victim in the name ofthe whole house.
This custom is retained in the East to the pre
sent day; and the sheikh of a tribe, or the master
of a house, is expected to slay the victim at the
feast of the Eed, which the Arabs and other Mos
lems celebrate on the 10th day of Zoolhegh, the
last month of their year. The ceremony is per
formed in commemoration of the sacrifice of Abra
ham ; and it is remarkable that this patriarchal
privilege has never been transferred by them to
the priests of the religion. Another point which
appears singular to us in this traditional custom is,
that the ram then slain is said to be a record of
the substitute presented to Abraham in lieu of his
son Ishmael, and not of Isaac.
The earliest sacrifices of animals appear to have
been holocausts ; and, as it was deemed unlawful to
eat it, the flesh of the victim was consumed by
fire : but in after times, as with the Jews, certain
portions only were burnt, and in some cases the
residue belonged to the priest who sacrificed, or
to the individual who made the offering. * And
if the fruit of the earth may be considered
the first offering made by man t, yet a " first
ling of the flock, and the fat thereof," were
the sacrifice looked upon as peculiarly acceptable
to the Deity t; and most people appear to have
adopted this method of propitiating Him, and of
* As in the peace offerings. Levit. viii. 31.
•j- Gen. iv. 3. | Gen. iv. 4, 5.

CITAP. XII. NAMES OF THE GODS. 147
expiating sin. Indeed, it always continued to be
regarded as the most suitable species of offering ;
and the descriptive formula on Egyptian tablets
dedicated to Osiris, and to some other deities, is
so worded as to leave no doubt respecting the
nature of the most important Egyptian sacrifices ;
in which we find oxen and geese, with cakes and
wine, incense and libation, invariably mentioned ;
flowers and herbs being presented as a separate
oblation. Of that primitive notion which led man to con
sider sacrifice the type of a more complete ex
piation, or of the vestiges of early revelation on this
point, it is not necessary here to treat ; but I shall
have occasion to mention some curious ideas re-
pecting the manifestation ofthe Deity upon earth,
which occur in examining the mysteries of ancient
Egypt. Oracles were of very remote date among the
Egyptians ; and the Greeks, as well as some other
people, were indebted to them for their institu
tion. " The origin of the different deities," says
Herodotus *, " their form, their nature, and their
immortality, are with the Greeks only notions of
yesterday ; and the first who have described them
in their theogony, are Hesiod and Homer, who are
only my predecessors by 400 years. They men
tioned their names, their worship, their offices in
heaven, and their general appearance ; and the
poets who are said to have preceded those two, came,
in my opinion, some time after them." " Nearly all
* Herodot. ii. 53.
L 2

148 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
the names of Greek Divinities," says the same his
torian *, " came from Egypt, or at least the greater
part ; for, with the exception of Neptune, the Dio
scuri t, Juno, Ve.sta, Themis, the Graces, and Ne
reids, the names of all the Gods have been always
known in Egypt, In stating this, I only repeat
what the Egyptians themselves acknowledge to be
the case ; and the names of deities unknown to
them I suppose to have been of Pelasgic origin,
with the exception of Neptune, which is from
Libya, where that Deity has always been held in
particular veneration. With regard to Heroes, they
receive no funereal honours from the Egyptians.
The Greeks, indeed, borrowed from the Egyptians
the religious rites used among them, many of which
I shall have occasion to notice ; but it is not from
them, but from the Pelasgi, that the Athenians, and
after them the other Greeks, derived the custom
of giving to the statues of Mercury a phallic atti
tude, the religious reason of which may be found
explained in the mysteries of Samothrace." He
rodotus states that the Egyptians were strangers to
the names X of the above-mentioned Deities ; but
we are not thence to infer that the Deities them
selves were unknown to them ; and there is direct
evidence of three, Juno, Vesta, and Themis, hold
ing a distinguished position in the Pantheon of
Egypt. Juno was called Sate, Vesta Anouke, and
Themis was doubtless derived from the Egyptian
* Herodot. ii. 53.
f Castor and Pollux, the reputed sons of Jupiter.
X But surely they were not strangers even to the 7iame of Themis
being so closely allied to the Thmei of Egypt.

CHAP. XII. WORSHIP OF GODS FROM EGYPT. 149
Thmei, the Goddess of Truth and Justice, from
whom, were borrowed both her attributes and name.
The historian then goes on to observe*, "that
the Pelasgi did not at first assign any name to their
Divinities, but merely applied to them the general
appellation of Gods, according to the order of the
different parts which constituted the universe, and
the manner in which they had organised them. It
was not till a late period that they came to know
their names, which were introduced from Egypt ;
and they learnt that of Bacchus long after those
of the other Gods. In process of time they went
to consult the oracle of Dodona upon this very
point ; and having received for answer that they
might adopt the names taken from foreigners, the
Pelasgi thenceforth used them in their sacrifices,
and the Greeks borrowed them from the Pelasgi."
If the ceremonies and worship of Bacchus were
introduced into Greece by Melampus t, and if some
trifling changes were made in them, it was only
done in order to suit the taste ofthe new votaries;
and it is evident, says Herodotus, from the great
variance that exists between their rites and Greek
manners, and from their resemblance to those of
the Egyptians, that they were derived from that
people. Other religious ceremonies introduced
from Egypt, also underwent certain changes, as in
the case of the Phallic Mercury above alluded to;
and though Herodotus X derives the form of that
deity from a Samothracian custom, there is great
* Herodot. ii. 52. + Herodot. ii. 49.
X Herodot. ii. 51.
L 3

150 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
reason to suppose that it was borrowed from the
figure ofthe Pan of Chemmis.*
The ancient oracle of Dodona was allowed, even
by the priestesses themselves, to have been of
Egyptian origin t, as well as that of the Libyan
Ammon ; and the oracles of Diospolis, or Egyptian
Thebes t, bore a strong resemblance to the former
of those two. The principal oracles in Egypt
were of the Theban Jupiter, of Hercules, Apollo,
Minerva, Diana, Mars, and above all of Latona,
in the city of Buto, which the Egyptians held in
the highest veneration ; but the mode of divining
differed in all of them, and the power of giving
oracular answers was confined to certain Deities. §
There was also an oracle of Besa, according to
Ammianus 1| in Abydus, a city of the Thebaid %,
where that Deity was worshipped with long esta
blished honours ; though others assign a diff'erent
position to his celebrated temple, in the vicinity of
Antinoe, which place is supposed to have usurped
the site of the old town of Besa. The mode of
obtaining answers was here, as at Heliopolis **,
through the medium of persons deputed for the
* Both from the office of Mercury, and from what he says of the
mysteries of the Cabiri.
-f- Herodot. ii. 55.
t Herodot. ii. 58.
§ Herodot. ii. 83. 152.
II Ammian. Marcell. lib. xix. 12. " Besaj Dei .... oraculum quon
dam futura pandebat, priscis circumjacentium regionum cseriraoniis so^
litum coli  chartulaa seu meinbranae continentes quae petebantur
post data quoque responsa interdum remanebant in fano."
M Ammianus says, " at the extremity ofthe Thebaid," which was not
the situation of Abydus. I am inclined to think he should have said
Antinoe. ** Macrob. Saturn, lib. i. 30. " Consiilunt hunc deum (Heliopoli-

CHAP. XII. ORACLES. 151
purpose, who carried the questions in writing, ac
cording to a proper formula *, and deposited them
sealed in the temple, the answers being returned
in the same secret and ceremonious manner. Zo-
simus relates, that in the time of Constantius, some
ofthe sealed answers, which, as usual, had been left
in the temple, were sent to the Emperor, and the
discovery of their contents subjected many persons
to imprisonment and exile ; apparently in conse
quence of the oracle having been applied to re
specting the fate of the empire, or the success of
some design against his life.
Different forms were required in consulting dif
ferent oracles. At Aphaca, a town between He
liopolis and Byblus, where Venus had a temple,
was a lake, into which those who went to consult
the oracle of that Goddess threw presents, of what
ever kind they chose, and derived omens from
their sinking, or swimming on the surface. If
agreeable to the Goddess, they sank, if not they
floated ; and Zosimus states, that in the year pre
ceding their ruin, the offerings of the Palmyrenes
sank, and the following year a contrary result pre
dicted the calamity which befell them.t
" On consulting the god at the Oasis of Ammon,
it was customary," says Quintus Curtius, " for the
tanum), et absentes missis diplomatibus consignatis : rescribitque ordine
ad ea quae consultatione abdita continentur."
* Pliny (xxviii. 2.), speaking of consulting oracles, says the greatest
care was taken lest a word should be omitted, or even pronounced
wrong, and all was according to a set form. Conf. Juvenal. Sat. vi. 390.
" dictataque verba
" Protulit, (ut mos est,) et aperta palluit agna."
f Vide Banier, Mytholog. tome ii. liv. 4. u. i. p. 40.
L 4

152 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
priests to carry a gilded boat, ornamented with nu
merous silver paterae hanging from both its sides,
behind which followed a train of matrons and virgins
singing a certain uncouth hymn, in the manner of
their country, with a view to propitiate the Deity,
and induce him to return a satisfactory answer."
The oracle of Ammon enjoyed for ages the high
est celebrity, and was looked upon by foreigners, as
well as Egyptians, with the most profound respect,
missions from all countries being sent to consult it,
and learn its infallible answers : but in Strabo's *
time it began to lose its former renown ; the sibyls
of Rome and the soothsayers of Etruria having sub
stituted omens drawn from the flight of birds, the
inspection of victims, and warnings from heaven, for
the longer process of oracular consultation ; though.,
according to Juvenal t, the answers of Ammon
continued in his time to be esteemed in the solu
tion of difficult questions, after " the cessation of
the oracle of Delphi."
Oracles were resorted to on all occasions of im
portance ; and sometimes messages were sent from
them spontaneously to those, whom they intended
to advise, in the form of warnings against an
approaching calamity, or as an indication of the
divine will. Mycerinus was censured for not
having accomplished the intentions of the Gods,
and received intimation of his approaching death ;
Sabaco retired from the kingdom in consequence
* Strabo, xvii. p. 559.
t Juv. Sat. vi. 554. " credent a fonte relatum
Hammonis : quoniam Delphis oracula cessant."

CHAP. XII. ASTROLOGICAL PREDICTIONS. 153
ofthe predictions and promises of an oracle*; and
Neco was warned not to continue the canal from
the Nile to the Red Sea, lest he should expose his
country to foreign invasion. t Oracles were also
consulted, like the magicians of the present day, in
cases of theft; and Amasis is reported to have be
stowed presents on those which he found capable
of returning true answers, and remarkable for dis
crimination. They predicted future events, both relative to
private occurrences, and natural phenomena ; for
which purpose, Diodorus X tells us, they took ad
vantage of their skill in arithmetical calculations ;
this last being of the highest importance to them
in the study of astrology. " For the Egyptians
most accurately observe the order and movement
ofthe stars, preserving their remarks upon each for
an incredible number of years; that study having
been followed by them from the earliest times.
They most carefully note the movements, revolu
tions, and positions of the planets, as well as the
influences possessed by each upon the birth of
animals, whether productive of good or evil. And
they frequently foretell what is about to happen to
mankind with the greatest accuracy, showing the
failure and abundance of crops, or the epidemic dis
eases about to befal men or cattle: and earthquakes,
deluges, the rising of comets, and all those phseno-
mena, the knowledge of which appears impossible
to vulgar comprehensions, they foresee by means
* Herodot. ii. 133. 139. f Herodot. ii. 158.
X Diodor. i. 81.

154 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
of their long-continued observations. It is, indeed,
supposed that the Chaldeans of Babylon, being an
Egyptian colony, arrived at their celebrity in as
trology in consequence of what they derived from
the priests of Egypt."
" The art of predicting future events, as prac
tised in the Greek temples," says Herodotus, "came
also from the Egyptians; and it is certain that they
were the first people who established festivals,
public assemblies, processions, and the proper mode
of approaching or communing with the Divinity."*
The manner of doing this depended on the object
of the votary, and a proper offering was required
for each service.
Meat and drink offerings, and oblations of dif
ferent kinds, madeby the Jews, were in like manner
established by law, and varied according to the oc
casion. " Some were free-will offerings t, others of
obligation. The firstfruits, the tenths, and the sin-
offerings were of obligation; the peace-oflTerings,
vows, offerings of wine, oil, bread, salt, and other
things made to the temple, or the ministers of the
Lord, were of devotion. The Hebrews called
offerings in general Corban ; but those of bread,
salt, fruits, and liquors, as wine and oil, presented
to the temple, they termed Mincha. Sacrifices,
not being properly offerings, w^ere not generally
included under this name. Offerings of grain,
meal, bread, cake.s, fruits, wine, salt, oil, were
common in the temple. These were sometimes
presented alone ; sometimes they accompanied the
* Herodot. ii. 58. | Vide Calmet ; " Offerings."

CHAP. XII. OFFERINGS OF THE JEWS. 155
sacrifices : but honey was never offered with sacri
fices ; though it might be presented alone, as first-
fruits.* "There were five sorts of offerings called Mincha
(Minkheh) or Corban Minchat: 1. — Fine flour or
meal. 2. Cakes of several sorts, baked in the oven.
3. Cakes baked on a plate. 4. Another sort of cakes,
baked on a plate with holes in it. 5. The firstfruits
of the newcorn ; which were offered either pure and
without mixture, roasted, or parched, either in the
ear, or out of the ear. The cakes were kneaded with
olive oil, fried in a pan, or only dipped in oil after
they were baked. The bread offered to the altar
was without leaven, for leaven was never offered on
the altar, nor with the sacrifices t; but they might
make presents of common bread to the priests and
ministers of the temple. These offerings were ap
pointed in favour of the poor, who could not affbrd
the charge of sacrificing animals ; though, when
living victims were offered, they were not excused
from giving meal, wine, and salt, as an accompani
ment to the greater sacrifices. Those who made
oblations of bread, or of meal, presented also oil,
incense, salt, and wine, which were in a manner
their seasoning. The priest in waiting received the
offerings from the hand of him who brought them,
laid a part on the altar, and reserved the rest for his
own subsistence, as a minister ofthe Lord. Nothing
was wholly burnt up but the incense, of which the
priest retained none.§ When an Israelite offered
* Levit. ii. 11, 12. f Levit. ii. 1.
X Levit. ii. II. § Vide Levit. ii. 2. 16. Numb. xv. 4, 5.

156 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
a loaf to the priest, or a whole cake, the priest divided
it into two parts, and having set aside the portion re
served for himself, he broke the other into crumbs,
poured on it oil, salt, wine, and incense, and spread
the whole on the fire ofthe altar. If these offerings
were accompanied by an animal for a sacrifice, this
portion was all thrown on the victim, to be con
sumed with it. If the offerings were ears of new
corn (wheat or barley), they were parched at the
fire, or in the flame, and rubbed in the hand, and
then offered to the priest in a vessel ; who put oil,
incense, wine, and salt over the grain, and burnt
it on the altar, first having taken his own portion.*
" The greater part of these offerings were volun
tary, and of pure devotion. But when an animal
was offered in sacrifice, they were not at liberty to
omit them. Every thing proper was to accompany
the sacrifice, and serve as seasoning to the victim.
In some cases, the law required only offerings of
corn, or bread ; as when they oflTered the firstfruits
of harvest, whether on the part of the nation, or as
a mark of devotion from private persons. As to
the quantity of meal, oil, wine, or salt, to accom
pany the sacrifices, we cannot see that the law deter
mined it. Generally, the priest threw a handful of
meal or crumbs on the fire ofthe altar, with wine,
oil, and salt in proportion, and all the incense ;
the rest belonging to himself, and the quantity de
pending on the liberality ofthe offerer. Moses ap-
pointedt an assaron (n"l'jyv ashireth), or the tenth
part of an ephah, of fine flour, for those who could
* Levit. ii. 14, 15. f Levit. viii. 11., and xiv. 21.

CHAP. XII. VARIOUS OFFERINGS. 157
not bring two turtle doves, or two young pigeons,
and had not wherewith to offer the appointed sin-
offerings. In the solemn offerings of the firstfruits
for the whole nation, they offered an entire sheaf of
corn, a lamb of a year old, two tenths of fine meal
mixed with oil, and a quarter of a hin of wine for
the libation.* In the sacrifice of jealousy, when a
husband accused his wife of infidelity, the husband
offered the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal,
without oil or incense, because it was an offering
of jealousy," " an offering of memorial t;" and the
priest pronounced a curse upon the woman, in the
event of her having committed a sin, making her
drink a cup of bitter water to prove her innocence,
or her guilt.
In like manner, among the Egyptians, a peculiar
mode of addressing a prayer, or of offering a sacri
fice, was required for different occasions, as well as
for different Deities; numerous instances of which
occur in the sculptured representations of sacrifices
in their temples. Nor do ancient authors fail to
inform us of this fact ; and it was forbidden, says
Herodotus t, to immolate the pig to any Deity ex
cept the Moon and Bacchus.
That different animals were chosen for sacrifice
in various parts of Egypt, is evident from the re
corded customs of some of the nomes and cities,
where they abstained from offering such as were
sacred ; and consequently, the same animal which
was revered and forbidden to be slaughtered for
* Levit. xxiii. 10. et seq. Numb. v. 15.
f Numb. V. 15. Vide Calmet. X Herodot. ii. 47.

158 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
the altar or the table, in one part of the country,
was sacrificed, and eaten in another. Thus the
Mendesians, who offered up sheep, abstained from
goats, which they held in particular veneration;
and the Thebans, who permitted no sheep to be
slain, immolated goats on the altars of their Gods.*
On the fete of Jupiter, a ram was slain, and the
statue ofthe Deity being clad in the skin, the people
assembled about the temple to make a solemn la
mentation, and inflict numerous stripes upon their
persons, in token of their regret for the death of
the sacred animal, whose corpse was afterwards de
posited in a consecrated case. Plutarch affirms t,
that, " of all the Egyptians, none eat sheep except
the Lycopolites ; and that because the wolf does so,
which they revere as a Deity;" and thus it was
that, in one part of the country, certain rites were
performed, which differed totally from those of the
rest of Egypt.
This, however, did not extend to the worship
of the great Gods of their rehgion, as Osiris 1:,
Amun, Pthah, and others, who were universally
looked upon with becoming reverence, and treated,
not as arbitrary emblems, but as the mysterious
representations of some abstract qualities of the
Divinity itself; and if one or other of them was
more peculiarly worshipped in certain cities or pro
vinces of Egypt, it was from his being considered
the immediate patron and presiding deity. But
* Herodot. ii. 42, 46. f Plut. de Is. s. 72.
X If Osiriswas not nominally one ofthe eight great Gods,he in reality
held a rank equal to any.

CHAP. XII. RITES IN DIFFERENT TOWNS. 159
though his protection and assistance were particu
larly invoked by the inhabitants, other Deities shared
with him the honours of the sanctuary, under the
name of Contemplar Gods, whose united favours
they did not fail to implore. With this feeling, the
dedication and votive prayers put up in the temples
were addressed to the presiding Deity and the Con
templar Gods* ; and if the former held the most
conspicuous post in the adytum and other parts of
the temple, the latter received all the respect due
to them as equally sacred, though not enjoying the
same external honours in that building. And thus,
again, we find that separate temples were raised to
various Deities in the same city.
In the worship of sacred animals the case was
different; and it frequently happened, that those
which were adored in some parts of Egypt, were
abhorred and treated as the enemies of mankind in
other provinces : deadly conflicts occasionally re
sulting from this worship or detestation of the same
animal. The arbitrary choice of peculiar emblems, and
the adoration paid to animals and inanimate ob
jects, frequently depended upon accident, or some
peculiar local reason ; and though great respect was
shown to the ichneumon, from its destroying the
eggs of the crocodile, in places where that animal
was considered an enemy of man, it obtained no
honours in those where the crocodile was a sacred
* For instance, at Ombos, where the presiding Deity was Aroeris, the
dedication says that the " Infantry and cavalry and others stationed in
the Ombite nome, dedicated the adytum to Aroeris, the great God Apollo,
and to the contemplar deities, for their benevolence towards them."

160 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
animal, as the type of a beneficent Deity. This
remark applies equally to other sacred emblems, as
I shall have occasion to show in describing the sa
cred animals. But if, in most instances, the motives
assigned for their choice appear capricious and un
satisfactory, we frequently discover some plausible
pretext derived from a sanatory notion, as in the case
of their abstinence from the meat of swine, from
beans and " most sorts of pulse *," and from certain
fish ofthe Nile ; or connected with some advantage
to mankind ; and in order to command the observ
ance of these injunctions, and to prevent the pos
sibility of their being disregarded, many forbidden
things were denominated sacred, or reputed to par
take of the nature of the Gods. " For," says Por
phyry, " the Egyptians either considered animals to
be really Deities, or represented their Gods with the
heads of oxen, birds, and other creatures, in order
that the people might abstain from eating them, as
they did from using human flesh, or for some other
more mysterious reason ; " and religious prejudice
commanded respect for them as for " their melo
dies, which were preserved through successive ages
as the actual poems of the Goddess Isis." t
In process of time, the original motive was for
gotten, and mere blind adoration took its place :
but Plutarch says X, " it is evident that the religious
rites and ceremonies of the Egyptians were never
instituted on irrational grounds, or built on mere
fable and superstition ; all being founded with a
* These and fish were forbidden to the priests. Vide Plut. de Is. s 5
t Plato, 2d Book of Laws, p. 790. f Plut. de Iside, s. 8.

CHAP. XII. RIDICULE OF THE GREEKS. l6l
view to promote the morality and happiness of those
whose duty it was to observe them."
The Greeks frequently delighted in deriding
the religious notions of the Egyptians : and, in
deed, considering the strange animals, the fish, and
even vegetables, admitted to a participation of di
vine honours, and the lamentations they uttered
when death or any accident befell them, we may
readily conceive that the lively wit of a Greek, who
looked upon this superstitious custom in a literal
point of view, would not fail to seize the points
most open to ridicule. Antiphanes *, in his Lycon,
speaking jestingly of the Egyptians, says, "Be
sides, clever as they are reputed in other things,
they show themselves doubly so in thinking the eel
equal to the Gods ; for surely it is more worthy of
honour than any Deity, since we have only to give
prayers to the Gods ; but we must spend upon the
eel at least 12 drachmas or more, merely to smell
it, — so perfectly holy is this animal ! " Anaxan-
drides t, in his play of the Cities, addressing the
same people, observes, — " I cannot agree with you ;
our customs and laws differ so widely: you adore
the ox ; I sacrifice it to the Gods : you think the
eel a very great Deity ; we look upon it as the
most delicious dainty : you abstain from the flesh
of swine ; I delight in it above all things : you
adore the dog ; I give him a good beating whenever
I catch him stealing any meat. Here a priest
t
* Athen. Deipn. vii. p. 299. ed. Cas.
¦j- Athen. loc. cit.
VOL. I. — Second Series, M

162 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
is required to be whole in every part ; with you, it
appears, they are mutilated. If you see a cat in
disposed, you weep ; I am delighted to kill it, and
take its skin : the mygale, with you, has great in
fluence ; with us, none." Timocles *, also, in his
Egyptians, says, " How could the ibis or the dog
have preserved me? for when persons irreverent
towards those, who are really confessed to be Gods,
escape immediate punishment, whose offences shall
be visited by the Altar of a Cat ? "
The favourable opportunity of indulging in sa
tire, presented by the superstitions of Egypt, could
not escape the severe lash of Juvenal, who thus
commences his Fifteenth Satire : —
" Who knows not, Bithynian Volusius, what monsters
Mad Egypt can worship ? this place adores a crocodile ;
That fears an ibis saturated with serpents.
A golden image of a sacred Cercopithecus shines
Where the magic chords resound from the half Memnon,
And ancient Thebes lies overthrown with its hundred gates.
There a sea-fish, here a river-fish, there
Whole towns worship a dog, nobody Diana.
It is a sin to violate a leek or an onion, or to break them with a bite.
O holy nation, for whom are born in gardens
These Deities! every table abstains from animals bearing
Wool ; it is there unlawful to kill the offspring of a she-o-oat.
But lawful to be fed with human flesh." f
The animal worship of the Egyptians naturally
struck all people as a ludicrous and gross supersti
tion ; but when Xenophanes and others deride their
religious ceremonies by observing, — If your Gods
are really Gods, weep not for them; if men, do not
offer them sacrifices, — the objection comes badly
* Athen. loc. cit.
t This is an exaggeration and a licence of satire.

CHAP. XII. THEIR SUPERSTITIONS. l63
from a Greek ; and, as Clemens justly remarks, that
people had little reason to criticise the religion of
the Egyptians ; for into the Pantheon of Greece a
greater number of deified men were admitted, than
into that of any ancient people ; and the legendary
tales of the deities degraded their nature by attri
buting to them the most inconsistent and disgust
ing vices.
On the superstition of the Egyptians in consider
ing animals or herbs to be Gods, and in lament
ing their death, Plutarch observes *, — " Struck
with the manifest absurdity of these things, Xe
nophanes the Colophonian, and other philosophers
who followed him, might not only have said to
the Egyptians, — 'if ye believe them to be Gods,
why do ye weep for them ? if they deserve your
lamentations, why do ye repute them Gods ? ' — ¦
but they might have added, that it was still more
ridiculous to weep for the fruits of the earth, and
at the same time to pray for them, that they would
appear again, and bring themselves to maturity,
to be again consumed, and again lamented : " and
nothing could be more open to censure than the
folly of the Egyptians in paying divine honours to
the brute creation. For whatever may have been
their original motive, the natural consequence of
its introduction ought to have been foreseen : they
may have deified some to insure their preservation,
because they were useful to the country ; others
may have been called sacred, to prevent their un
wholesome meat becoming an article of food ; and
* Plut. de Is. s. 71.
M 2

164 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
some may have been selected as emblems of certain
Deities, from various reasons : but the result ought
to have been anticipated, and an enlightened priest
hood should have guarded men's minds against so
dangerous a fallacy. For, as Plutarch observes *,
" The Egyptians, — at least, the greater part of
them, — by adoring the animals themselves, and
reverencing them as Gods, have not only filled
their religious worship with many contemptible
and ridiculous rites, but have even given occasion
to notions of the most dangerous consequence,
driving the weak and simple-minded into all the
extravagance of superstition."
It was likewise unjust and inconsistent that the
priesthood should have a creed peculiar to them
selves, and the people be left in utter ignorance of
the fundamental doctrines of their religion ; that in
proportion as their ideas were raised towards the
contemplation of the nature of a God, the other
classes, tyrannically forbidden to participate in
those exalted studies, should be degraded by a be
lief totally at variance with the truths imparted to
the initiated ; and whilst these last were acquainted
with the existence of one Deity in Unity, and the
operations of the Creative power, that the unin-
structed should be left and even taught to worship
a multiplicity of Deities, whose only claims to ador
ation were grounded upon fable.
The office of the Gods was, perhaps, in early
times more simply defined, their numbers smaller,
their attributes less complicated; but the weakness
* Plut. de Is. S.71.

CHAP. XII. IGNORANCE OF THE PEOPLE. 165
of men's minds, when untutored on religious sub
jects, soon paved the way for idle superstition ; the
belief of genii, and spirits, pervading the universe, led
to the adoration of fanciful beings ; and perverted
notions respecting the Deity, obliterating every
trace of the simple original, effectually prevented
the uninitiated from suspecting the real nature
of their religion. And so gross at length became
their ideas, that the character of the Gods they
worshipped was degraded, their supposed actions
censured, or their non-interference avenged by an
insult to their statues or their names.
It is not; then, surprising that foreigners should
be struck with the absurdities which, from outward
appearances, the religion of Egypt presented; and
the animals chosen as emblems of the Gods, or as
substitutes for the divine rulers of the world, were
frequently calculated to give a very low opinion of
the exalted personages of whom they were thought
to be proper representatives ; and however appro
priately the hieroglyphics might indicate a child
by a goose*, the God of learning could scarcely
be flattered by being figured under the form of
an Ape, or the Creator ofthe world, who made all
things perfect, under the deformed character of the
pigmy Pthah.
An Egyptian priest, it is true, might object to
his religion being judged by the standard of our
ideas ; he might insist upon the necessity of secrecy
in the mysteries, in order to prevent the dan-
* In fact, merely in consequence of its phonetic or alphabetic value.
M 3

166 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
gerous speculations of those who were not subject
to the oaths of initiation ; and he might suggest
that, in the most simple and pure religions, many
expressions had secret meanings, and that a literal
interpretation of them would offend against the
spirit ofthe religion itself.
In justice, therefore, some allowance should be
made for the allegorical religion of the Egyptians :
and when we reflect that it contained many im
portant truths, founded upon early revelations
made to mankind, and treasured up in secret to
prevent their perversion ; we may be disposed to
look more favourably on the doctrines they enter
tained, and to understand why it was considered
worthy of the divine legislator to be " learned in
all the wisdom ofthe Egyptians."
That the reasons assigned for the worship of
certain objects are highly ridiculous, cannot be
doubted, and no satisfactory motive can be disco
vered for many of the religious customs established
in Egypt ; but we may be satisfied that ancient
authors were not sufficiently acquainted with the
subject to place these points in their proper light —
much less to give any satisfactory explanation ; and
their origin and tendency becoming at length en
veloped in a cloud of fanciful speculation, few even
of the Egyptians themselves were capable of un
derstanding the intricacies of their own religion.
It is evident, indeed, that no Egyptian, who was
not initiated into the mysteries, understood the
purport of the ceremonies he witnessed, or ob
tained any notion of the nature of the theogony.

CHAP. XII. MISTAKEN OPINIONS OF THE GREEKS. 167
beyond that usually entertained by the votaries of
a polytheism : and the fabulous existence of the
Gods on earth supplied, among the uninstructed,
the place of abstract notions, which the initiated
were taught to apply to the external forms they
worshipped. It was this ignorance of the nature of the Gods
which led the Greeks to believe their positive ex
istence upon earth in a human form, and to receive
all the legendary tales of their actions as literal
truths ; bringing down the Deities, as Cicero ob
serves, to the level of men, instead of raising men
to the level of the Gods. But we find that Plutarch*
was so far acquainted with those secrets, (to a par
ticipation of which he had, in a certain degree,
been admitted,) as to deride the idea of the Deities
having been once human, or having t lived among
men ; and a remark made by the Egyptians them
selves to Herodotus and Hecatgeus, shows how ig
norant they considered the Greeks on this subject.
" For many," says Origen, " listening to accounts
they do not understand, relative to the sacred doc-
# Plut. de Is. 22, 23.
•j- Cicero^ays : " Quid absurdius quam aut res sordidas, atque defor-
raes, deorum honore afficere, aut homines jam morte deletos reponere
in Deos, quorum omnis cultus esset futurus in luctu ? " — Nat. Deor. i.
The only appearance of a man having the character of a deity occurs in
the temple built by Thothmes III. at Samneh, where Osirtasen III. is
represented performing the same offices as a God, but we do not know
how far he was assimilated to a Deity, and he merely wears a royal cap.
There are also offerings of Kings, as of other persons, to their deceased
parents ; but these are only made to them in the character they assumed
after death, when they received the name of Osiris, from being supposed
to return, after a virtuous life, to the great origin from which they were
emanations. Sometimes the King even offers to a figure of himself and
his Queen, seated on thrones, before whom he stands as an officiating
priest.
M 4

16s THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII
trines of the Egyptian philosophers, fancy that they
are acquainted with all the wisdom of Egypt, though
they have never conversed with any of the priests,
nor received any information from persons initiated
into their mysteries.
" Greece," observes the Abbe Banier *, " never
had but a confused idea of the history of her re
ligion. Devoted without reserve on this important
point to her ancient poets, she looked upon them as
her first theologians; though these poets, as Strabot
judiciously remarks, either through ignorance of
antiquity, or to flatter the princes of Greece, had
arranged in their favour all the genealogies of the
Gods, in order to show that they were descended
from them. Whenever, therefore, any heroes are
mentioned in their writings, we are sure to find
Hercules, Jupiter, or some other God at the head
of their genealogies ; and if the desire to pass for
very ancient is common to nearly all people, the
Greeks were, of all others, the most conspicuous for
this folly. It is, indeed, surprising that they, who
could not possibly be ignorant of their having re
ceived many colonies from Egypt and Phoenicia,
and with them the Gods and ceremonies of their
religion, should venture to assert that those same
Deities were of Greek, or Thracian, or Phrygian
origin ; for it is to this conclusion that their poets
pretend to lead us. But two M'ords of Herodotus,
who says that the Gods of Greece came from Egypt,
are preferable to all that their poets have put forth
* La Mythologie expliquee par I'Histoire, vol. i. liv. 2. c. 5.
¦j- Strabo, lib, x.

CHAP. XU. NO MEN DESCENDED FROM GODS. l69
on this subject;" and Plato tells us that " when
Solon inquired of the priests of Egypt about ancient
affairs, he perceived that neither he nor any one of
the Greeks (as he himself declared) had any know
ledge of very remote antiquity." " And as soon
as he began to discourse about the most ancient
events which happened among the Greeks, as the
traditions concerning the first Phoroneus and Niobe,
and the deluge of Deucalion and Pyrrha*, one of
the more ancient priests exclaimed, ' Solon, Solon,
you Greeks are always children, nor is there such
a thing as an aged Grecian among you : all your
souls are juvenile ; neither containing any ancient
opinion derived from remote tradition, nor any dis
cipline hoary from its existence in former periods
of time.' " t
Justly did the priests deride the ridiculous vanity
and ignorance of the Greeks, in deriving their
origin from Gods ; and they assured Herodotus X,
that during the long period which elapsed from the
commencement of the Egyptian monarchy, to the
reign of Sethos, (comprising 341 generations,) "no
Deity had appeared on earth, in a human form,
nor even before, nor since that time ; " and when
" Hecatasus," says the historian, " boasted of his
genealogy to the priests of Jupiter at Thebes,
claiming for his family the honour of being de
scended from a God, whom he reckoned as his
* The priests said to Solon, " You mention one deluge only, whereas
many happened." Plat, in Tim. p. 466. trans. Taylor.
•f Plat, in Tim. p. 467.
X Herodot. ii. 142.

170 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
I6th ancestor, they made the same observation to
him as to me, though I had said nothing respect
ing my ancestry. Having taken me into a large
consecrated chamber, they showed me a series of
as many wooden statues as there had been high
priests during the above-mentioned period ; for
each high priest, while yet living, had his image
placed there ; and having counted them all before
me, they proved that every one had succeeded his
father at his demise, beginning from the oldest,
and coming down to the last. The same had been
done before Hecat^us, when he boasted of his ge
nealogy ; and in opposing his pretensions by the
number of their high priests, they denied that any
man was descended from a Deity. Each statue,
they argued, represented a Piromis engendered
by a Piromis * (a 7nan engendered by a m.an) ;
and having gone through the whole number of
345, they showed that every one was the son of
his predecessor, without a single instance of any
being descended from a God, or even a hero."
Of their idea respecting the manifestation of the
Deity on earth, which the Egyptians entertained in
common with the Hindoos, but which is far more
remarkable in their mode of treating it, I shall not
speak at present. This question is totally different
from that of the existence of the Gods on earth,
alluded to by Herodotus, and must be looked upon
under a very different aspect, as the most curious
* Piromi is the Egyptian word signifying " the man," which Hero
dotus, from his ignorance of the language, has translated "good and
virtuous." The sense itself ought to have pointed out the meaning of
the word, romi, " man."

CHAP. XII. GODS WITH HEADS OF ANIMALS. I7I
mystery which has been traced in the religion of
Egypt. That the images ofthe Egyptian Deities were not
supposed to indicate real beings, who had actually
existed on earth, is abundantly evident from tlie
forms under which they were represented; and the
very fact of a God being figured with a human
body and the head of an ibis, might sufficiently
prove the allegorical character of Thoth, or Mer
cury, the emblem of the communicating medium
of the divine intellect, and suggest the impossibility
of any other than an imaginary or emblematic ex
istence ; in the same manner as the sphinx, with a
lion's body and human head, indicative of physical
and intellectual power, under which the Kings of
Egypt were figured, could only be looked upon as
an emblematic representation of the qualities of
the monarch. But even this evident and well-
known symbol did not escape perversion ; and
the credulous bestowed upon the sphinx the cha
racter of a real animal.
It signified little, in the choice of a mere emblem,
whether it was authorised by good and plausible
reasons ; and if, in process of time, the symbol was
looked upon with the same veneration as the Deity
of whom it was the representative, the cause of
this corruption is to be ascribed to the same kind
of superstition which, in all times and in many re
ligions, has invested a relic with a multiplicity of
supposed virtues, and obtained for it as high a
veneration as the person to whom it belonged, or
of whom it was the type.

172 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
This substitution of an emblem, as an animal, or
any other object, for the Deity, was not the only
corruption which took place in the religion of the
Egyptians : many of the deities themselves were
mere emblematic representations of attributes ofthe
one and sole God : for the priests who were initiated
into, and who understood the mysteries of, their
religion, believed in one Deity alone ; and, in per
forming their adorations to any particular member
of their Pantheon, addressed themselves directly to
the sole ruler of the universe, through that par
ticular form.
Each form (whether called Pthah, Amun, or any
other of the figures representing various characters
of the Deity) was one of his attributes ; in the same
manner as our expressions " the Creator," " the
Omniscient," "the Almighty," or any other title,
indicate one and the same Being ; and hence arose
the distinction between the great Gods, and those
of an inferior grade, which were physical objects, as
the Sun and Moon ; or abstract notions of various
kinds, as "valour," "strength," "intellectual gifts,"
and the hke, personified under different forms ;
and it is evident that no one, who understood the
principles on which the groundwork ofthe Egyptian
Pantheon was based, could suppose that the God of
valour, of strength, or of intellect, had ever lived
on earth ; and we may readily conceive how the
Egyptian priests derided the absurd notions of the
Greeks, who gave a real existence to abstract ideas,
and claimed a lineal descent from "strength," or
any deified attribute of the Divinity.

CHAP. XII, ABSTRACT IDEAS BECAME GODS. 173
Upon this principle it is probable, that Gods
were made of the virtues, the senses, and, in short,
every abstract idea which had reference to the
Deity or man ; and we may therefore expect to find,
in this catalogue, intellect, might, wisdom, creative
power, the generative and productive principles,
thought, will, goodness, mercy, compassion*, divine
vengeance, prudence, temperance, fortitude, fate,
love, TToQog, hope, charity, joy, time, space, infinity,
as well as sleep, harmony t, and even divisions of
time, as the year, month, day, and hours, and an
innumerable host of abstract notions.
These, in like manner, were admitted into the
Pantheon of Greece and Rome, with the addition
of some not very delicate or elegant personages ;
who were frequently permitted to supersede and
usurp the place of the more respectable divinities
of earlier times.
There were also numerous physical Deities in the
Egyptian Pantheon, as earth, heaven, the sun and
moon, and others, revered for the benefits they con
ferred on man : though the view they took of the
elements mentioned by Seneca, appears rather to
have been a metaphysical than a religious doctrine ;
and if they divided each of the four elements into
two, making one masculine, the other feminine, it
was in order to establish a distinction which ap
peared to correspond to a difference in their nature,
* The rahman, and rahim of the Arabs.
f Plutarch says Harmony was the offspring of Mars and Venus : de
Is. s. 48. This, as the idea of Minerva springing from the head of Jove,
and other similar fables, shows that many of the Greek Gods were, in
like manner, personifications of ideas, and attributes ofthe Deity.

174 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
as between the active wind and the passive mist,
or inert atmosphere ; between sea and fresh
water ; between fire which burns, and light which
shines ; between stone and rock, as part of earth,
and as cultivable land ; the former of all these being
masculine, the latter feminine.*
Different people have devised various modes of
representing the personages connected with their
religion. The Egyptians adopted a distinguishing
mark for their Gods, by giving them the heads of
animals, or a peculiar dress and form, which gene
rally, even without the hieroglyphic legends, suf
ficed to particularise them ; but they had not
arrived at that refinement in sculpture which
enabled the Greeks to assign a peculiar face and
character to each Deity. This was an effort of art
to which none but the most consummate masters
could attain : and even the Greeks sometimes de
viated from these conventional forms; the Apollo,
or the Bacchus, of one age, differing from those of
another; and the lion skin, the dolphin, the crescent,
or the eagle, were generally required to identify the
figures of a Hercules, a Venus, a Diana, or a Jove.
Indeed, in so extensive a Pantheon as that of Egypt,
it would be impossible to maintain the peculiarities
of features, even if adopted for the principal Gods •
and the Christians have found it necessary to dis-
* Vide Senec. Nat. Qusest. iii. 14. p. 870. " iEgyptii quatuor ele-
menta fecere : deinde ex singulis bina, marem et foeminam. Aiirem
marem judicant, qua ventus est, foeminam qua nebulosus et iners.
Aquam virilem vocant mare, muliebrem omnem aliam. Icnem vocant
masculam qua ardet flamma, et foeminam qua lucet innlixius tactu.
Terram fortiorem marem vocant, saxa cautesque ; foeminfe nomen assio-1
nant huic tractabih ad culturam." "

CHAP. XII. GODS KEPT DISTINCT FROM MEN. 175
tinguish the Apostles and saints by various accom
panying devices, as the eagle, the lion, a wheel, or
other symbols.
Though the priests were aware of the nature of
their Gods, and all those who understood the mys
teries of the religion looked upon the Divinity as
a sole and undivided Being, the people, as I have
already observed, not admitted to a participation
of those important secrets, were left in perfect
ignorance respecting the objects they were taught
to adore ; and every one was not only permitted,
but encouraged, to believe the real sanctity of
the idol, and the actual existence of the God
whose figure he beheld. The bull Apis was by
them deemed as sacred and as worthy of actual
worship as the Divinity of which it was the type ;
and in like manner were other emblems substituted
for the Deities they represented. But, however the
ignorance of the uninstructed may have misinter
preted the nature ofthe Gods, they did not commit
the same gross error as the Greeks, who brought
down the character of the creative power, the de
miurge who made the world, to the level of a black
smith ; this abstract idea of the Egyptians being
to the Greeks the working Vulcan, with the ham
mer, anvil, and other implements of an ordinary
forge. The Egyptians may have committed great ab
surdities in their admission of emblems in lieu of
the Gods ; they were guilty ofthe folly of figuring
the Deities under the forms of animals ; but they did
not put them on an equality with earthly beings, by

176 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
giving them the ordinary offices of men : they al
lowed them still to be Gods ; and their fault was
rather the elevation of animals and emblems to the
rank of Deities, than the bringing down ofthe Gods
to the level of mankind.
In noticing the religion of the Egyptians, it is
not my intention to enter into a detailed account
of the offices and attributes of the numerous Gods
who composed their Pantheon, nor, indeed, have we
as yet sufficient data to enable us to penetrate into
all the intricacies of this curious question ; I shall
therefore confine myself to the general forms and
characters of the Deities, and endeavour to explain
the principle on which the superstructure of their
Theogony was based.
In the early ages of mankind, the existence of a
sole and omnipotent Deity, who created all things,
seems to have been the universal belief; and tra
dition taught men the same notions on this subject,
which in later times have been adopted by all ci
vilised people. Whether the Egyptians arrived at
this conclusion from mere tradition, or from the
conviction resulting from a careful consideration of
the question, I will not pretend to decide ; suffice
it to know that such was their belief, and the same
which was entertained by many philosophers of
other nations of antiquity. Some of the Greeks,
in early times, had the same notions respecting
their theogony, as we learn from a very old author,
" if it be true," as the Abbe Banier * observes,
* Mytholog. vol. i. lib. 2. c. 5.

CHAP. XII. EARLY NOTIONS OF THE GREEKS. 177
" that Pronapides adopted them, who was the pre
ceptor of Homer, as Boccaccio* affirms, on the
authority of a fragment of Theodontius. Accord
ing to this ancient theogony, the most rational of
all, there was only one eternal God, from whom all
the other Deities were produced. It was not per
mitted to give any name to this first Being tj and
no one could say who he was. Anaxagoras thought
to have defined him, by saying that he was vovg,
understanding. However, as the most simple ideas
have been altered in after times, Lactantius, the
scholiast of Statins, calls this sovereign Being Dai-
mogorgon, as does the author above alluded to, in
imitation of Theodontius. His name signifies the
Genius of the Earth ; but, from the description
given of this God, it scarcely agrees with the idea
that the first philosophers entertained of Him ;
for it is right to observe that the poets, who were
the earliest theologians of Greece, have, as it were,
personified their ideas, and made out theogonies
according to their fancy, though they appear always
to suppose a Being really independent. Most of
them agree in an eternity, an ontogony, or gene
ration of beings, some of whom are heavenly,
others earthly or infernal ; but Daimogorgon and
Achlys, according to their system, were before
the world, even anterior to chaos. Their Acmon,
their Hypsistus, existed before the heavens, which
the Latins called Ccelus, and the Greeks Ouranos.

* Genealog. of the Gods, i. c. 3.
f Statins says, " Et triplicis niundi summum, quem scire nefastum
est, ilium sed taceo." Thebais, lib. 4. v. 316.
VOL. I. — Second Series. N

178 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
According to them, the Earth, Tartarus, and Love
preceded Coelus, since we find in Hesiod that this
last was son of the Earth * : and some considered Ac
mon to be the fatherof Coelus, and the son of Manes.
Coelus also was the parent of Saturn, who was
himself the father of the other Gods. The giants,
sons ofthe Earth, came afterwards, andTyphon was
the last of them ; after whom were the Demigods,
engendered by an intercourse between the Gods
and the inhabitants of the earth."
! It is still doubtful if the Egyptians really repre
sented, under any form, their idea of the unity of
the Deity ; it is not improbable that his name, as
with the Jews, was regarded with such profound
respect as never to be uttered ; and the Being of
Beings, " who is, and was, and will be," was perhaps
not even referred to in the sculptures, nor supposed
to be approachable, unless under the name and
form of some deified attribute, indicative of his
power, and connection with mankind.
Many allegorical figures are supposed to have
been adopted for this purpose ; and Greek writers
have imagined that the snake curled into the form
of a circle, with its tail in its mouth, and other si
milar emblems, were used by the Egyptians to in
dicate the unutterable name of the eternal Ruler
of the universe : but these are merely symbols of
his deified attributes, (if, indeed, the snake in that
form can be admitted among the number t ;) and
neither the snake, the emblem of Neph, the hawk,
* Though Saturn was said to be son of Coelus and Terra.
f It does not appear to be met with singly in the ancient temples
as the representative of any Egyptian Deity.

CHAP. XII. THE UNITY OF THE DEITY. 179
nor any other emblem, can be considered in any
way connected with the-unity of the Deity.
Even Osiris himself cannot be looked upon as
the Deity in Unity; though his character of Judge
of the dead in the region of Amenti, and his mys
terious nature as an Avatar, give him a higher and
more comprehensive rank than any other God*:
and it is not a little remarkable that he there appears
as one of two members of a separate triad, though
he had returned, after performing his duties on
earth during his manifestation, to that state from
which he was supposed to proceed. One of the
most perplexing parts of the Egyptian system is
the varied character of the same Deity ; and the
many names of Osiris, as the title " Myrionymus,"
(" with ten thousand names,") given to Isis, show
the difficulty of ascertaining their office on different
occasions. It appears then that the Divinity himself was
not represented in the Egyptian sculptures, and that
the figures of the Gods were deified attributes in
dicative of the intellect, power, goodness, might,
and other qualities ofthe eternal Being; which, in
some measure accords with the opinion of Damas-
cius, who observes, that " nearly all philosophers
prior to lamblichus asserted that there was one su-
peres.sential God, but that the other Deities had an
essential subsistence, and were deified by illumin
ations from the one." Some, which belonged to the
Divinity himself, were considered the great Gods
ofthe Egyptian Pantheon ; the next class of Dei-
ir Vide infra. Chap. xiii. on Osiris.
N 2

180 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
ties were emanations from the same source ; and
the minor divinities of various grades w^ere the re
presentatives of inferior powers, of physical objects
connected with the Creator, and of different ab
stract ideas, whose relative rank depended on the
near or distant connection they were deemed to
possess with a divine origin. Some, again, were
mere deifications of physical objects; and supersti
tion raised to a sacred rank a useful animal, or an
unwholesome plant. The same may be observed
in the religion ofthe Greeks and Romans; and to
such an extent was this carried by the latter, and
so degraded did the ofl^ce of a deity become, that
one was chosen to preside over the common sewers
of the city, and a God of coughing * was invented
as a suitable pendant to the Goddess Fever, t
The Egyptians, like the Greeks and Romans,
divided their Gods into different classes or grades.
Among the latter, they consisted of the 12 great
Gods, — the Dii majorum gentium, or Dii consu
entes, and the Dii minorum gentium ; and the
Egyptians, in the same manner, distinguished their
eight great Gods from those of an inferior rank.
The names of the twelve great Gods of the Greeks
have been preserved by Ennius in the followino-
couplet : —
" Juno, Vesta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, Mars,
Mercurius, Jovis, Neptunus, Vulcanus, Apollo ; " '
each of whom presided over one of the months
* It must be allowed that Tussis is not mentioned by any Latin
writer, and rests on mere local tradition.
\ Cicero, v. 2. " We see a temple to Fever on the Palatine Hill."

CHAP. XII. CLASSES OF GREEK GODS. 181
of the year ; and one of the follies of which Alex
ander was guilty, according to Arrian, was his
wishing to be enrolled among these, and to become
the thirteenth ofthe first class of Deities.
To the twelve great Gods, the Romans added
eight others, called Selecti, or chosen Deities, who
were Janus, Saturn, Genius, the Sun, the Moon,
Pluto, Bacchus, and the ancient Vesta, or the Earth.
After these ranked the Dii Semones or Seminomi-
nes, the demigods ; and then the Indigetes, and
those who were attached to certain localities, the
household gods, the genii of woods, or rivers,
nymphs, and other inferior beings.
"Cicero* arranges the Gods in three classes: first,
the Dii celestes, who are the same as the Dii ma
jorum gentium ; then the Demigods and the Indi
getes; and, thirdly, the Virtues, which raise man to
heaven, and have been themselves deified." "Varro
maintained," says the Abbe Banier, " that there
were known and unknown Gods ; and reduced all
the Gentile Deities to two classes. In the first were
those whose names and offices were defined, as the
Sun, Moon, Jupiter, Apollo, and others ; and in the
second were placed those of whom nothing positive
was known, and to whom it was not lawful to raise
altars, or offer sacrifices. The philosopher Albricus
considers the seven planets as the seven first Gods
of the heathen, whom he arranges in this order :
Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Apollo, Venus, Mercury,
and the Moon; Pausaniast, Cicero, Hesychius,
* De Legib. lib. ii. VideBan. Myth. 1. 5. c. 5. f In Eliacis.
N 3

182 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
and many others, speak of altars raised to unknown
Deities ; and, in the Acts ofthe Apostles, St. Paul
mentions an altar to the unknown God.
" Epemenides, the great prophet ofthe Cretans,
was the author of this notion.
" Clemens of Alexandria endeavoured to include
all the Pagan deities under seven classes. In the
first he placed the stars or heavenly bodies ; in the
second, the fruits of the earth and the Gods who
presided over them, as Ceres, Pomona, Vertum-
nus, Bacchus, and others; the third comprehended
the Furies, and other Gods of punishment ; in
the fourth he placed those of the passions and
affections, as love, modesty, and others ; the vir
tues, as Concord, Peace, and the rest, forming, ac
cording to him, the fifth class. The great Gods,
or Dii majorum gentium, occupied the sixth ; and
those of health, as Esculapius, Hygieia, Teles-
phore, and some more, constituted the seventh.
" lamblichus *, a Platonic philosopher, divided
the Gods into eight classes. In the first he placed
the great Gods, who, invisible by their nature, per
vaded the whole universe : that is, doubtless, the
universal Spirit. The higher order of spirits, whom
he called Archangels, occupied the second rank ; and
others of an inferior grade, or angels, formed the
third. In the fourth were the Demons (Jiaifjiovsg);
those whom he names greater Archontes, — that is,
genii who presided over this sublunary world and
over the elements, — constituted the fifth ; and the
' lamblichus de Mysteriis, sect. ii.c. I.

CHAP. XII. GODS OF THE GREEKS. 183
sixth was composed of the minor Archontes, whose
power extended over the gross and terrestrial mat
ter. Heroes formed the seventh ; and the souls of
men admitted to the order of Gods, occupied the
eighth and last class. Other philosophers of the
same sect included all the Deities, or we may say,
all the Genii, in two classes : those called aiiAo*,
immaterial, and WKaioi, material, occupying the first ;
and the mundane and supra-mundane, the second.
" Mercury, or Hermes Trismegistus, is said to
have admitted three classes of Gods. In the first
were those whom he called heavenly ; in the
second, the empyrean ; and in the third, the ethe-
rean. " The Gods were also divided into public and
private : the former being those whose worship was
established and authorised by law ; the latter, those
who were chosen by individuals to be the peculiar
object of their worship, as the gods Lares, the Pe
nates *, and the souls of ancestors.
" The most general division is that which classed
the Gods under the two heads of the natural and
the living Deities : the former consisting of the
stars and other physical objects ; the latter, of men
who had received divine honours. But these did
not comprehend all the Deities, since the genii of
different kinds were there omitted. Finally, the
* This word might be derived from Pi-iioute, " the God," but that
we have a difficulty in accounting for the use of an Egyptian name at
Rome. The origin of the penates is doubtful; some attributing their
introduction to ^neas, which is an idle fable : and a difference of
opinion exists about their names ; some supposing them to be Neptune
and Apollo; others, Jove, Juno, and Minerva; and others, Ccelus and
Terra.
N 4

184 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
system which we should prefer in treating of the
Deities of Greece and Rome, divides them into
Gods of heaven, of earth, and of the lower regions."
These do not seem to accord with the divisions
of the Egyptian Pantheon ; and we may find in the
Phoenician Cabiri, a stronger analogy to the great
Gods of Egypt, — being, like them, eight in number,
and their name implying that they were the gi-eat *
Gods of the country. The belief of their being the
offspring of one great father, called ' Sydik,' ' the
just,' may also accord with the presumed notion
of the Egyptians respecting the indivisible one
mentioned in the books of Hermes.
Herodotus describes the Cabiri in Egypt, as sons
of Pthah, or Vulcan, whose statuest resembled those
of the Egyptian creator, and speaks of their temple
at Memphis, which no one but the priest was allowed
to enter; but the mystery observed respecting them,
and the slight information obtained by the historian
on the subject, render his statement of little use in
forming an opinion of their character and office.
Though the Egyptians may have admitted two
general divisions of the Gods, which were adopted
by Pythagoras and Plato, under the head of vorjroi,
intelligibles , and ata-d^Toi, sensibles, or metaphysical
and physical deities, yet many other distinctions
subsisted in the members of their Pantheon ; and
the gradations, even among those of the first-men
tioned class, were marked and numerous. The
* Kabir, or Kebir, " great," the common Hebrew and Arabic word,
in use to the present day ; as is Sadek, or Sedeek, the " just."
\ Their statues were of wood, as were those of old times in Egvpt,
and in Greece, according to Pausanias (Corinth, ii. 19.).

CHAP. XII. THE GREAT GODS OF EGYPT. 185
uKrQrjTot, or sensibles, were also distinctly separated
from the emblematic types of their divinities.
The great Gods of the Egyptians * were, Neph,
Amun, Pthah, Khem, Sate, Maut, (or perhaps
Buto,) Bubastis, and Neith, one of whom generally
formed, in conjunction with other two, a triad, which
was worshipped by a particular city, or district,
with peculiar veneration. In these triads, the third
member 'proceeded from the other two ; that is,
from the first by the second, thus : the intellect of
the Deity, having operated on matter, produced
the result of these two, under the form and name
of the world, or created things, called by the Greeks
xo(r[JLogf; and on a similar principle appear to have
been formed most of these speculative combinations.
The third member of a triad, as might be supposed,
was not of equal rank with the two from whom it
proceeded; and we therefore find that Khonso, the
third person in the Theban triad, was not one of the
greatGods, as were the other two, Amun and Maut:
Horus, in the triad of Philge, was inferior to Osiris
and Isis ; and Anouke to Neph and Sate, in the
triad of Elephantine and the Cataracts.
I do not pretend to decide respecting the origin
of the notions entertained by the Egyptians of the
triad into which the Deity, as an agent, was divided ;
nor can I attempt to account for their belief in his
* Diodorus (lib. i. s. 13.) mentions eight names, but fails to inform
us if they were the eight great Deities of Egypt. They are, " Sol,
Saturn, Rhea, Jupiter, Juno, Vulcan, Vesta, Mercury." Evander says
the eight Gods of Egypt were Saturn, Rhea, Osiris, spiriUis, heaven,
earth, night, and day.
\ Vide Plutarch de Iside, s. 56.

186 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
manifestation upon earth : similar ideas had been
handed down from a very early period, and having
been imparted to the immediate descendants of
Noah, and the patriarchs, may have reached the
Egyptians through that channel, and have been
preserved and embodied in their religious system.
And this appears to be confirmed by the fact of our
finding the creative power, whilst in operation upon
matter, represented by Moses as a Trinity, and not
under the name indicative of unity until after that
action had ceased. For the name given to the
Deity by the divine legislator, when engaged in the
creation of material objects, is not Ihoah*, ("who
is, and will be,") but Elohim t, " the Gods ; "
and this plural expression is used until the seventh
day, when the creation was completed. t
That the name Elohim is not intended to refer
really to a plurality of Gods §, is shown by the use

* Written by us Jehovah, and translated in our version " the Lord,
or, when combined with Elohim, " the Lord God." Clemens says,
** arap /cat to rerpaypafifiov ovofia to hvotikov (SV\T\^ \) ^ TrepuKEivro oiq
jiovoiQ TOV aSvTov (iaaiiJLOV r)v, Kfyerai de laov, 6 fit9epfirivtvETai o o>v kcu 6
fo-o/xEvoc." Strom, lib. v. p. 240. Many are of opinion that the Phoenician
leuo, the Greek lao>, laKxoc, or Ico€aKxoe, and Javo, whence Jovis (the
ancient name of Jupiter), Janus, Diana, and others are derived from
this name. Vide Hofman's Lexicon.
-|- That this word Elohim exactly answers to our word Gods, as ap
plied to all Gods generally, is evident from Exodus, xxii. 20., and other
parts of Scripture.
X It has been supposed that the Deity then returned to his unity
under the name of Ihoah, and under that of Ihoah-Elohim he appears
in connection with Man as an intellectual being : man as a material
animal having been already noticed, "male and female," among the
creations of the first chapter of Genesis (ver. 27.), where the Deity only
occurs as Elphim ; and laeing mentioned in the next as an intellectual
being, when God for the first time has the name of Ihoah added to the
previous Elohim, under which he appeared as the creative power.
§ Some have thought to trace in this an analogy to the notion of
Plato, mentioned at the end of this chapter.

CHAP. XII. DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY. 187
of the singular verbs, " bara," created, " ira," saw,
" iamer," said, and others, following the plural
Elohim, as may be seen throughout the first chapter
of Genesis ; and the first verse of that chapter
bears the literal translation, " In the beginning ^e
the Gods created the heavens and the earth," or
more intelligibly and more closely in the Latin,
" In principio Dii crenvit * coelum et terram,"
where the plural substantive is followed by a sin
gular verb. Thus, the very first verse of the Bible
inculcates the doctrine of the Trinity ; but under
the title of "He the Gods," or "Gods Almighty,"
alone was the Deity known to the Patriarchs be
fore the time of Moses ; and the name of Ihoah
was not revealed to the Hebrew lawgiver, until
the future deliverance of the Israelites from the
hand of Pharaoh was promised, when the Deity
made a covenant with him under that sacred
name ; God saying to Moses t, " I am the Lord
(Ihoah), and I appeared unto Abraham, unto
Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God (Gods)
Almighty (Elohim Shadai X) ; but by my name
Jehovah § was I not known to them."
It may appear singular that the principle of a
Trinity should be so obscurely noticed in the Old
Testament ; but the wise caution of the divine legis
lator foresaw the danger likely to result from too
* Or in French, " Les Dieux cr^a."
f Exod. vi. 3. X Ol" Shidee.
§ Calmet observes, that when Moses uses the name (Ihoah), in
speaking of times prior to this appearance (Gen. iv. 26. &c.), he adopts
it by way of anticipation, and because at the time he wrote the Jews
were acquainted with it ; that is, he followed the custom of liis osvn
day, and not that of the patriarchs.

188 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
marked an allusion to what a people, surrounded
by idolatrous polytheists, might readily construe
into the existence of a plurality of Gods : the
knowledge, therefore, of this mystery was confined
to such as were thought fit to receive so im
portant a secret ; and thus dangerous speculations
and perversions were obviated, of which the fancies
of an ignorant people, predisposed to idolatry,
would not have failed to take advantage.
It is unnecessary to enter into the question re
specting the connection between the name of Ihoah
and the nature of man, as represented in the second
chapter of Genesis ; but I have considered it proper,
in noticing the adoption of the two, Elohim and
Ihoah, to show the possibility of the Egyptian no
tions of a Trinity having been derived from early
revelation, handed down through the posterity of
Noah ; and I now proceed to mention some other
remarkable coincidences with scriptural data.
Of these, the most singular are the character
of Osiris, and the connection between truth and
the creative power. In the latter, we trace the
notion, which occurs in the Christian belief, that
the Deity " of his own will begat us with the word
of truth*;" and not only do the sculptures of the
earliest periods express the same, and connect the
Goddess of Truth with Pthah the creative power,
but lamblichus also, in treating of the ancient
mysteries, asserts it in these words : " Whereas he
* Epistle Gen. of James, i. 18. Orpheus says, " I call to witness
the word of the father, which he first spoke, when he established the
universe by his will." — Justin Martyr, Orat. ad Gentes.

CHAP. XII. MANIFESTATION OF OSIRIS. 189
makes all things in a perfect manner, not decep
tively, but artificially, together with truth, he is
called Pthah; but the Greeks denominate him He
phaestus, considering him merely as a physical or ar
tificial agent," and not looking upon him, as they
ought, in an abstract or metaphysical light. But
the discloser of truth and goodness on earth was
Osiris ; and it is remarkable that, in this character
of the manifestation of the Deity, he was said to
be "full of goodness (grace) and truth," and after
having performed his duties on earth, and fallen a
sacrifice to the machinations of (Typho) the evil
one, to have assumed the office in a future state
of judge of mankind.
At Philse, where Osiris was particularly wor
shipped, and which was one of the places where
they supposed him to have been buried, his mys
terious history is curiously illustrated * in the
sculptures of a small retired chamber, lying nearly
over the western adytum of the temple. His
death and removal from this world are there de
scribed ; the number of twenty-eight lotust plants
points out the period of years he was thought
to have lived on earth ; and his passage from this
life to a future state is indicated by the usual at
tendance of the Deities, and genii, who presided
over the funeral rites of ordinary mortals. X He is
then represented with the feathered cap, which he
* A copy of these sculptures is given in the plates of the R. S. of
Literature, p. 66, 67, 68, and 69.
f I had made an error in the number in my former drawing.
X Conf. Plut. de Is. s. 35., "the rising again of Osiris, and his new
life."

190 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
wore in his capacity of judge of Amenti ; and this
attribute shows the final office he held after his re
surrection, and continued to exercise towards the
dead, at their last ordeal in a future state.
I have already stated that the Monad, or single
Deity, was placed above and apart from the Triads,
and that the great Gods of the Egyptian Pantheon
were the deified attributes of the '¦'one." The
same idea of a Monad, and even of a triple Deity,
was admitted by some of the Greeks into their
sy,stem of philosophy ; and " Amelius," according
to Proclus, "says, the Demiurge (or Creator) is
triple, and the three Intellects are the three kings —
he who exists, he who possesses, he who beholds.
And these are different ; therefore the First Intel
lect exists essentially, as that which exists. But
•the Second exists as the Intelligible in him, though
possessing that which is before him, and partaking
altogether of that, wherefore it is the Second : but
the Third exists as the Intelligible in the Second, as
did the Second in the First ; for every Intellect is the
same with its conjoined Intelligible ; and it possesses
that which is in the Second, and beholds or regards
that which is in the First ; for by how much greater
the remove, by so much the less intimate is that
which possesses. These three Intellects, therefore,
he supposes to be the Demiurgi, the same with
the three Kings of Plato, and with the three whom
Orpheus celebrates under the names of Phanes,
Ouranus, and Cronus, though, according to him,
the Demiurge is more particularly Phanes."*
* Procl. in Tim. 2. 93. Cory, p. 305.

CHAP. XII. TRIPLE NATURE OF THE DEITY. 191
Several others also mention the triple nature of
the Deity, and "from the different Orphic frag
ments, we find," as Mr. Cory* observes, that "the
Orphic trinity t consisted of
Metis, Phanes or Eros, Ericapffius :
which are interpreted.
Will, or Light, or Love. Life, or Life-giver.
Counsel.
From Acusilaus :
Metis, Eros, Ether.
From Hesiod, according to Damascius :
Earth, Eros, Tartarus.
From Pherecydes of Syros :
Fire, Water, Spirit, or Air.
From the Sidonians :
Cronus, Love, CloudyDarkness.
From the Phoenicians :
Ulomus, Chusorus, The Egg.
From the Chaldgean and Persian oracles of Zo
roaster :
Fire, Sun, Ether.
Fire, Light, Ether.
From the later Platonists :
Power, Intellect, Father.
Power, Intellect, Soul, or Spirit.
By the ancient theologists, according to Macro
bius, the s'un was invoked in the mysteries, as
Power of Light of the Spirit of the
the world, world, world ;

* Cory, p. 355.
-)- The Orphic ceremonies, according to Herodotus, were the same
as those of the Pythagoreans and Egyptians.

192 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
and to this may, perhaps, be added, from Sanco-
niatho, the three sons of Genus,
Fire, Light, Flame."
Plutarch* gives
Intelligence, Matter, Kosmos, beauty, or
der, or the world ;
the first being the
same as Plato's the second, and the third.
Idea, Mother, Offspring,
Exemplar, Nurse, "j
Or Father, Receptacle of V Production.
generation, J
" Of these three, intelligence, matter, and
Kosmos," he says, " universal nature may be con
sidered to be made up, and there is reason to con
clude that the Egyptians were wont to liken this
nature to what they called the most beautiful and
perfect triangle, the same as Plato himself does in
that nuptial diagram he has introduced into his
Commonwealth. Now in this triangle, which is
rectangular, the perpendicular is imagined equal
to 3, the base to 4, and the hypothenuse to 5. In
which scheme the perpendicular is designed to re
present the masculine nature, the base the femi
nine, and the hypothenuse, the oflfspring of both ;
and accordingly, the first will apply to Osiris, or
the prime cause ; the second, to Isis the receptive
power ; and the last, to Orus, or the eflfect of the
other two. For three is the first number composed
of even and odd; four is a square, whose side is equal
* Plut. de Is. s. 56.

CHAP. XII. PYTHAGOREAN NUMBERS. 1Q3
to the even number 2 ; but 5, being generated as
it were out of both the preceding numbers, 2 and
3, may be said to bear an equal relation to both,
as to its common parents. So, again, the mere
word which signifies the universe of beings, is of a
similar sound with this number (Travra, ttsvts), as
to count five* is made use of for counting in ge
neral." On the subject of numbers, the same author
makes the following remarks : " It is my opinion,
when the Pythagoreans appropriate the names of
several of the Gods to particular numbers, as that
of Apollo to the unit, of Diana to the duad,
of Minerva to the 7. and of Neptune to the
first cubet, that they allude to something which
the founder of their sect saw in the Egyptian
temples, to some ceremonies performed in them,
or to some symbols there exhibited^:" the same
" Pythagoreans also look upon Typho to have
been ofthe order of Demons, as, according to them,
'he was produced in the even number 56.' For
as the power of the triangle is expressive of the
nature of Pluto, Bacchus, and Mars ; the properties
of the square of Rhea, Venus, Ceres, Vesta, and
Juno ; and of the dodecagon of Jupiter ; so (we
* The word " itiintaaaadai " is taken from counting by the five
fingers, — a primitive method in early times. The Egyptians some
times represented the number 5 by a star, having, as usual, five rays ;
because, as HorapoUo pretends, that is the number of the planets.
Horapollo, i. 13.
+ " Simplicius, in his Commentary on Aristotle's Treatise de Coelo,
tells us that a cube was called by the Pythagoreans, harniony, because
it consists of twelve bounding lines, eight angles, and six sides ; and
twelve, eight, and six, are in harmonic proportion." Vide Taylor's
Theor. Arithm. p. 155.
X Plut. s. 10.
VOL. I. — Second Series. O

194 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.

are informed by Eudoxus) is the figure of 56
angles expressive of the nature of Typho."*
They have likewise " a great detestation for the
numbert 17," and " call the 17th day ofthe month
the day of obstruction ; " " for the middle number
17, falling in between the square 16 and the paral
lelogram 18 (the only two plain numbers whose
circumferences are equal to their areas), stops up
the way between them, divides them from each
other, and hinders them from uniting."
In another placet, he says, " The Pythagoreans
honour numbers and geometrical diagrams, with
the names of the Gods : thus they call the equi
lateral triangle, head-born Minerva, and Trito-
geneia, because it may be equally divided by three
perpendicular lines, drawn from each ofthe angles :
the Unit they term Apollo, as to the number two
they have affixed the name of Strife and Audacious
ness, and to that of three Justice ; in like manner
the number 36, their tetrakys, or sacred quaternion,
being composed of the four first odd numbers
added to the four first even ones, as is commonly
reported, is looked upon by them as the most
solemn oath they can take, and called Kosmos (the
world, or order)." " To the good principle they
give the names of ' the unit, the definite, the fixed,
the strait, the odd, the square, the equal, the
dextrous, and the lucid ;' whilst to the evil one
they give the appellation of ' the duad, the in
definite, the moveable, the crooked, the even, the
oblong, the unequal, the sinistrous, and the dark.'"§
* Plut. S.30. f lb. s. 4-^
t lb. s. 76. § lb. s. 48.

CHAP. XII. EGYPTIAN NUMBERS. 195
Without entering into all the abstruse specu
lations respecting numbers, I shall add a few obser
vations, principally in reference to the opinions en
tertained by the Egyptians.
"According to their doctrine, Thales defined
numbers to be a collection of monads ; " and
"some of the Pythagoreans said that the monad
was the confine of number and parts ; for from it,
as from a seed, and an eternal root, ratios are con-
trarily increased and diminished ; some through a
division to infinity being always diminished by
a greater number, while others being increased to
infinity are again augmented." * They also " called
the monad intellect, male and female, God, chaos,
darkness, Tartarus, Lethe, the axis, the Sun, and
Pyralios, Morpho, the tower of Jupiter, Apollo,
the prophet," and many other names ; and Da
mascius, in his treatise lisp/ Ap-)^a)v, informs us that
" the Egyptians asserted nothing of the first prin
ciple of things, but celebrated it as a thrice un
known darkness transcending all intellectual per
ception." To the duad they gave the appellation
"audacity, matter, the cause of dissimilitude, the
interval between multitude and the monad,"
ascribing it to Diana and some other Deities, to
Fate and Death ; and the triad was considered by
them to be intellect, the origin of virtue, and to
belong to Justice, Saturn t, and many other Di-
* Vide Taylor's Theoretic Arithmetic, p. 4.; and Aristotle.
\ This number is observable in the " Tria virginis ora Dianse," the
trident of Neptune, the " trifidum fulmen Jovis," the three sons of
Saturn, the three-headed Cerberus, the three Fates, the Graces, the
Furies, the three judges of Hades, and others. The expression of Virgil
o 2

196 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
vinities. According to Servius, "they assigned
the perfect number three to the Great God ; " and
the tetrad they looked upon as the greatest miracle,
a God after another manner than the triad, a mani
fold, or rather every Divinity ; peculiarly applied
to Mercury, Vulcan, Hercules, and Bacchus ; and
they held that the power of the duad subsisted in
the four. Thus Pythagoras asks, " How do you
count?" — Mercury. " One, two, three, four," —
Pyth. " Do you not see, that what are four to
you, are ten and our oath V those 1, 2, 3, 4, added
together forming ten, and four containing every
number within it. Four was particularly connected
with Mercury, as the Deity who imparted intel
lectual gifts to man ; to Vulcan it was assimilated
as the demiurge, whence the Terpaxrvg was the
mystic name of the creative power ; and three
they looked upon as " embracing all human
things." * " Know God," says Pythagoras, " who
is number and harmony ;" " the human soul," ac
cording to that philosopher, was " number moving
itself; " and some styled number "the father of
Gods and Men."
Many were the fanciful meanings attached to
numbers, by the Pythagoreans, which it is unne-

(Eel. viii. 75.) " Numero Deus impare gaudet," applies to the same
number, as is shown by the preceding verses : —
" Terna tibi htec primum triplid diversa colore
Licia circumdo, to-que hsec altaria circum
Effigiem duco : "
and by the " Necte tribus nodis ternos, . . . colores." Conf. iEn. vi. 229.
et alib.
* " UavTa Ta av9punnva trvvex^'-."

CHAP. XII. PRIMITIVE NUMBERS. 197
cessary here to introduce : I shall therefore only
observe, that the opinion respecting the 9 was,
that " there could be no number beyond it, and
that it circulates all numbers within itself, as is
evident from the regression of numbers. For
their natural progression is as far as 9 ; after which
their retrogression takes place, 10 becoming once
more the monad. Again, 9 being added to each of
the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and the rest, it will pro
duce 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, &c. : no elementary number
can therefore be beyond the ennead;" whence
the Pythagoreans called it " ocean and the hori
zon, all numbers being comprehended by, and
revolving within, it ; " but the " decad was called
heaven, being the most perfect boundary of
number ;" and some characterised numbers as the
envelopes of beings.
That Pythagoras borrowed from Egypt his ideas
on this subject, is highly probable : such appears to
have been the opinion of the ancients themselves ;
and it would be curious to ascertain if our common
multiplication table, for which we are indebted to
that philosopher, was of Egyptian origin. It is
however evident from modern discoveries in the
language and writing of that people, that the nu
merical system of the Pythagoreans tallies with
the formation of the Egyptian numbers, according
to that mode of representing them in the hieratic
character, which is applied to the days of the
month, in the sense of the 1st, 2d, 3d, &c., where
1, 2, 3, and 4 alone, are perfect numbers ; 5, 6,
7, and 8 being composed of 3 + 2, 3 + 3,
o 3

198 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
3 + 4, and 4 -}- 4*; 9, from its completing the
series, being a single and perfect number, " cir
culating," as the Pythagoreans say, "all numbers
within itself," and 10 commencing a new series,
and " becoming again the monad."
The hieroglyphic numberst are different, being
arranged in units, tens, hundreds, and thousands;
and the ordinary hieratic are partly formed from
the hieroglyphic units, the 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, being
ciphers, as is also one form of the 4. For an illus
tration of which and the former statement, I refer
the reader to the accompanying Plate, t
The speculations of later times have ascribed the
same and some other significations to the numbers,
as to 1. — Unity. Divine thought. Wisdom.
Divinity. The universal principle,
and centre of all.
2. ¦ — Will. Water. The two natures of man.
Perversity.
3. — Action. Matter. Temporal immaterial
agents who do not think.
4. — Intellect. Intellectual man. Wisdom.
All that is active. Religion. Imma
terial agents who think.
5. — The evil being. Idolatry. Self suffi
ciency. 3 + 2.
6. — Formation of the world. Radius, and
* Vide Plate 19. Part 1.
t Tt'* Plate 19. Part 2.
X For further accounts of the Egyptian numbers, see the Grammar
of ChampoUion (vol. i.), by whom the numerical system commenced
by Dr. Young was very fully demonstrated and carried out.

O

CHAP. XII. MANIFESTATION OF THE DEITY. 199
the natural division of the circle.
Piety. 3+3.
7- — Source of man's intellectual and sensible
properties. Relating to the end of
the world. Love of esteem. Intel
lectual agents (having taken the place
of man). 4 + 3.
8. — Intellectuality both in body and soul.
The divine united with the human
nature. Love. Good will. Justice.
4+4.
9. — Man not purified from sin. Physical
envelope of man. Creation of the
body, and its nature. Curiosity. The
number of every spiritual limit. In
tellect united with sin. 4 + 5.
10 — Limit of all. Man purified from sin,
returning by a new birth to unity,
whence he proceeded. Decomposi
tion of the circle, or the world.
Having now mentioned some of the numerous
meanings attached to numbers*, I return from this
digression to the consideration of the religious
doctrines of the Egyptians.
The manifestation of the Deity, his coming upon
earth for the benefit of mankind, and his expected
interposition, were ideas which, even in the patri
archal times, had always been entertained, having
been revealed to man from the earliest periods.

* It is unnecessary to point out those which so frequently occur in
the Bible, and every one must perceive that the constant occurrence of
4, 7, and other numbers is not accidental.
o 4

200 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII-
and handed down through successive ages even
to the time when that event took place ; we are
therefore less surprised to find it introduced into
the religion of the Egyptians, and forming one of
the most important tenets of their belief. Indeed,
nothing can be more satisfactory, than this addi
tional proof of its having been a tradition among
the early inhabitants of the earth ; and it was
natural that the Egyptians should anticipate the
fulfilment of this promise, and found thereon the
great mystery of the relative connection between
the Deity and mankind. The fact of this, and the
doctrine of a trinity being entertained by so many
distant nations, naturally leads to the inference
that they had a common origin ; and most persons
will admit that they appear to have been derived
from immediate revelation, or from the knowledge
imparted to the early inhabitants of the world,
rather than from accidental speculation in distant
parts ofthe globe, — a remark which applies equally
to the creation of man, the deluge, the ark or
boat, and numerous mysterious doctrines common
to different people.
From whatever source the Egyptians originally
borrowed their ideas on these subjects, it is evi
dent that they refined upon them, and rendered
their metaphysical speculations so complicated,
that it required great care and attention on the
part of the initiated to avoid confusion, and to
obtain a perfect understanding of their purport.
Hence it happened that those, who had only ob
tained a limited insight into this intricate sub-

CHAP. XII. PERVERSION OF THE RELIGION. 201
ject, speedily perverted the meaning of the very
groundwork itself; and the Greeks and Romans,
who were admitted to participate in a portion of
those secrets, fell into a labyrinth of error, which
gave to the whole system the character of an
absurd fable. Indeed, they went still further, and
taking literally certain enigmatical ceremonies, they
converted speculative and abstract notions into
physical realities, and debased the rites they bor
rowed from Egypt by the most revolting and pro
fane excesses, tending to make religion ridiculous,
and to obviate all the purposes for which it had
been instituted. For, however erroneous the
notions of the ancients were, however mistaken
in the nature of the Deity, and however much
truth was obscured by the worship of a plurality
of Gods, still the morality inculcated by religion
and practised by good men was deserving of com
mendation ; and we cannot but censure those who
degraded what was good, and added to error by
the misapplication of mysterious secrets.
This perversion of certain allegorical rites, and
the misinterpretations given by the Greeks and
Romans to some religious customs of the Egyp
tians, have, in many instances, led to the idea that
the priesthood of Thebes and Memphis, under the
plea of religion, were guilty of enormities, which
would shock the most depraved; and an erroneous
judgment has been formed from the mode in which
the worship of Osiris was conducted by his votaries
at Rome. I will not pretend to say that the
Romans did not find the ceremonies of that worship

202 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
already degraded, in the Graeco-Egyptian city of
Alexandria: this is highly probable; but the
reason of its perversion there resulted from the
same cause as at Rome — the misapplication by
foreign votaries of tenets they failed to compre
hend ; for it may be doubted if such rites were
at any time known to the Egyptians ; and if any
external ceremonies carried with them an appear
ance of indelicacy, they were merely emblematic
representations, as in the case of the phallic figures,
indicating the generative principle of nature.
Here, as usual with the Egyptians, it was the
abstract idea which alone occurred to the mind
of those who understood the religion they pro
fessed ; but the Greeks and Romans, owing to
the grossness of their imaginations, saw nothing
beyond the external form that presented itself
to the eye, and instead of the power, or abstract
cause, they merely thought of its physical cha
racter. Hence the absurd worship of the mere
agent in lieu of a first cause, and hence, in con
sequence, all those revolting scenes, by which
religion was degraded, and the human mind cor
rupted ; the more deplorable, since mankind is
ever prone to commit the greatest excesses when
their acts are believed to have the sanction of
religion. Indeed, even at a time when speculative
doctrines have not yet suffered any gross perversion
of their principles, the ignorance and credulity of
man frequently distort what is reasonable ; and
some minds are not possessed of sufficient judg
ment to separate the really religious, from the su-

CHAP. XII. MISTAKES OF THE GREEKS. 203
perstitious part of their creed, or to discriminate
between the mysterious or metaphysical, the fabu
lous, and the moral.
A remarkable instance of the perverted meaning
of a religious custom, by the ignorance of Greek
and Roman writers, occurs in the Pallacides or
Pellices of Amun, mentioned by Diodorus * and
Strabo. The former, it is true, only describes them
under the name of TraXAax/Ssj (Pallacides) of Ju
piter, in noticing their tombs ; but Strabo t asserts
that, at Thebes, " a virgin, conspicuous for birth
and beauty, was sacrificed to Jupiter, the Deity of
that city, and that a class of persons, called pellices
(harlots), dedicated to his service, were permitted
to cohabit with any one they chose."
That certain women, of the first families of the
country, were devoted to the service of the God of
Thebes, is perfectly true, as I have had occasion t
already to remark; and they were the same whom
Herodotus mentions under the name of yovainag
ipv]iag^, or " sacred women, consecrated to the
Theban Jove." The statement of Diodorus, that
their sepulchres were distant from the tomb of Osy~
mandyas ten stadia, or little more than 6000 feet,
agrees perfectly with the position of those where
the Queens and princesses were buried ||, in the
Necropolis of Thebes ; and is highly satisfactory,
from its confirming the opinion formed from the
sculptures, respecting the office they held. For
* Diodor. i. 47. f Strabo, xvii. p. 561.
{ Supra, Vol. I. p. 258. § Herodot. ii. 54. and i. 182.
II Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 80.

204 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
though we are unable to ascertain the exact duties
they performed, it is evident that they assisted in
the most important ceremonies of the temple, in
company with the monarch himself, holding the
sacred emblems which were the badge of their
office ; and the importance of the post is suffi
ciently evinced by the fact that the wives and
daughters of the noblest families of the country,
of the high-priests, and of the Kings themselves,
were proud to enjoy the honour it conferred.
Such being the case, shall we not reject with
contempt so ridiculous a story, and learn from it
how little reliance is to be placed on the Greek
and Roman accounts of the rites of Egypt ? And,
indeed, if this absurd tale were not refuted by the
sculptures of Thebes, mere reason would tell the
most credulous that a custom so revolting to human
nature, and so directly at variance with the habits
of a civilised nation, could not possibly have ex
isted in any country where morality was protected
by severe laws, or have been tolerated by the
Egyptians, who were unquestionably the most pious
of all the Heathen nations of antiquity.
To depend upon the Greek theogony for the
nature and character of the Egyptian Deities, is
equally useless ; and though in some we may trace
the same origin, and perceive the same primitive
idea which suggested their attributes, so little re-
liance can be placed upon the resemblance, and so
little certainty is there of their not having been al
tered by the Greeks, that the information obtained
from this source can seldom be admitted, unless

CHAP. XII. THEOGONY OF EGYPT. 205
confirmed in some degree by the Egyptian monu
ments. No stronger instance of this is required
than in the case ofthe God Anubis, who is repeat
edly stated by Greek and Roman writers to have
borne the head of a dog, and who is invariably re
presented by the Egyptians with that of a jackal,
or even under the form of the entire animal ; and
this, with several similar misconceptions, may serve
to give some idea of the confusion into which they
would lead us respecting the theogony ofthe Egyp
tians. However, as is sometimes the case, amidst
this confusion, slight traces may be observed of the
original system from which the Greeks derived their
notions ; and as Amun, the principal member of
the Theban trinity, and King of the Gods *, was
distinct from the Monad, or sole Deity in Unity,
so Jupiter, though considered by the Greeks to be
King of the Gods, was merely a deified attribute
of the Deity.
It is evident that the philosophers of Greece
were constantly guilty of misconceptions respecting
the very principles of the Egyptian religion, and
somet believed that " the Egyptians ignorantly
employed material fables, considering and calling
corporeal natures Divinities, — such as Isis, earth ;
Osiris, humidity; or Typho, heat ;" without dis
tinguishing between the different conditions of me
taphysical, physical, and other objects of worship.
In Greek mythology, some of the fables are al-
* Vide infra, p. 208., where I have shown the error of making Saturn,
the father of Jupiter, the same as the Egyptian Seb.
f Sallust on the Gods and the World, chap, iv., quoted by Taylor,
Introd. to Plato, p. 39.

206 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
legorical, some moral, some physical, some histo
rical, and some again are mere metaphysical spe
culations. This, however, seems only in part to
apply to the theogony of the Egyptians, whose
religion was founded on a different basis, or who,
at all events, made the physical and historical por
tions subservient to, rather than a part of, their
system ; and if they had even in early times inter
woven any events of history in their religion, they
expunged them at a subsequent period, and gave
to their religion a metaphysical character, totally
unconnected with the tales of their origin, or the
colonisation of their country. Indeed, history
seems so entirely excluded from their mythological
system, and so completely a thing apart from it,
that we may doubt if it was admitted into it even at
the earliest periods ; and if, in the chronicles of
Egypt, mention is made of the reign of certain Gods
upon earth, we may be persuaded that these are
merely an allegorical mode of stating facts which
really happened, and are totally unconnected with
the tenets of their religion. For, independent of
the positive assurances ofthe Egyptians themselves
that no Deity ever lived on earth, we are relieved
from the difficulty this appears to present, by the
simple suggestion* that the rule of the Gods refers
to that of the diflPerent colleges of priests of those
Deities, which successively held the sovereign
power, when Egypt was ruled by a Hierarchy, pre
vious to the election of a King.
* This was also the opinion of the learned Larcher.

CHAP. XII. EARLY HISTORY FABULOUS. 207
That the periods assigned for the duration of
these reigns are totally inadmissible, is evident; but
dates in the early history of many people are equally
vague and arbitrary, even where there is no reason
to doubt the truth of the events to which they are
affixed. In the history of ancient nations, the early por
tion usually consists of mere fable, either from
real events having been clothed in an allegorical
garb, or from the substitution of purely fanciful
tales for facts, in consequence of the deficiency of
real data : to this succeeds an era when, as man
ners and habits become settled, amidst fable and
allegory, some descriptions of actual events are in
troduced; and at length history, assuming the
exalted character that becomes it, is contented with
the simple narration of fact, and fable is totally dis
carded. But such is the disposition in the human
mind to believe the miraculous, that, even at a
period when no one would dare to introduce a tale
of wonder unsupported by experience, credit still
continues to be attached to the traditions of early
history, as though the sanction of antiquity were
sufficient to entitle impossibilities to implicit belief.
A pure fable is credited, allegories are taken as
real events, and no one dares to withdraw the veil
which clothes substantial facts in an almost trans
parent allegory ; as few Romans in the Augustan
age would venture to doubt the miraculous kind
ness of their founder's wolf, or the real existence
of the Egerian nymph.
The religion of the Greeks bears the evidence

208 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
of having been formed upon popular legends, or
fairy tales, to which a superstructure derived from
metaphysical speculation was afterwards added ;
and though many of their Deities were of Egyp
tian origin *, the office and character of some seem
rather attributable to accidental analogy, discovered
at a subsequent period, with those ofthe Egyptians,
and other people whose religion had been long
modelled into a systematic form, than to any posi
tive notions they previously had upon the subject.
And thus we may account for the inconsistency of
Jupiter being considered the same as Amun, one
of the eight great Gods of Egypt, and Saturn his
father as one of the second order of Deities ; an
error which originated in Seb being the parent of
Osiris and Isis, and having in Egypt the title of
"Father ofthe Gods."
Many of their popular legends may have been
the offspring of foreign notions, accidentally re
ceived from other people, and altered by time or
local prejudices; and when we recollect that the
mythology of Greece was chiefly invented, or at
least arranged, by the poets, we may readily account
for the unsubstantial texture of its construction.t
In the history of Greece, the admission of mytho
logical tales was much more resorted to than in that
of Rome, where events may be more readily traced
than in the fabulous accounts of Greek writers ;
and though the Romans sacrificed truth to their

* Vide supra, p. 3., and Banier, Mythol. vol. i. pp. 25. 28. 44 6
66, 67. 76. 80. 83, 84. 115. 118. 121. 189. 303. &c.
t Vide supra.

CHAP. XII. GROUNDWORK OF THE RELIGION. 209
excessive vanity in many statements put forth in
their early history, they did not permit the adven
tures ofthe Gods to form part ofthe actions of men,
in order to account for ordinary occurrences, or to
ennoble the pedigree of simple individuals. The
same remark applies to the history of the Egyp
tians ; and, however they may have clothed the
mysteries of their religion in allegorical fable, they
neither derived their origin from Deities, nor de
graded the nature of the Divinity by bringing it
down to the level of mankind. But if historical
fable did not form part of the belief of the Egyp
tians, and if their religious system was distinct from
the records of past events, allegory and moral
fable were admitted without reserve, and physical
emblems were used as the representatives of ab
stract notions. Indeed, though the main feature
of their religion was metaphysical speculation, we
find that physical objects entered into the system;
and it is probable that the worship of external ob
jects, as the Sun and other heavenly bodies, formed
at an early period a principal part of their religious
worship. The two main principles on which the religion
of Egypt was based, appear to be, the existence of
an omnipotent Being, whose various attributes being
deified, formed a series of Divinities, each wor
shipped under its own peculiar form, and supposed
to possess its particular office ; and the deification
ofthe Sun and Moon, from which it might appear
that a sort of Sabsean worship had once formed
part of the Egyptian creed.
VOL. I  Second Series. P

210 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
The Sun, being the chief of heavenly bodies, was
considered a fit type of dominion and power ; and
the idea of an intellectual Sun was merely the union
of the abstract notion of a primary agent with the
apparent and visible object.
For the Sun was both a physical and metaphy
sical Deity, and under these two characters were
worshipped Re and Amun-re, the real Sun, the
ruler of the world, in the firmament, and the ideal
ruler of the universe as King of the Gods.
Of the allegorical portion * of their religion we
have frequent instances, as in the story of Isis and
Osiris, whose supposed adventures, according to
one interpretation, represented the Nile and its
inundation : and numerous other natural phaeno-
mena were in like manner typified by figurative or
emblematical conceits.
The Gods had also their peculiar symbols, which
frequently stood not only for the name, but also for
the figure, of the Deity they indicated ; as the Cyno-
cephalus ape was the sign and substitute for Thoth ;
the hawk and globe indicated the Sun, and the cro
codile was the representative of the God Savak.
Nor were moral emblems wanting in the religion
of the Egyptians ; the figure of Justice with her
eyes closed purported that men were to be guided
by impartiality in their duties towards their neigh
bours ; the rat in the hand of the statue of Sethos
at Memphis recorded a supposed miracle, and
urged men to confide in the Deity ; and the tender
* Vide Banier, Mytholog. vol. i. c. 3. p. 52., on the fables of the
Greeks ; .and p. 175., on the theogony of Egypt.

CHAP. XII. EARLY RELIGION OF EGYPT. 211
solicitude of Isis for her husband was held up as
an example worthy the emulation of every wife.
Many were the allegorical and symbolical beings
who formed part of their Pantheon ; and not only
was every attribute of the Divinity made into a
separate Deity, but Genii, or imaginary Gods, were
invented to assume some office, either in relation to
the duties or future state of mankind. Even the
Genius of a town, a river, or a district, was created
in imagination, and worshipped as a God; and every
month and day, says Herodotus *, were consecrated
to a particular Deity.
It may reasonably be supposed that in early times
the religion of Egypt was more simple, and free from
the complicated host of fanciful beings who at a later
period filled astation in the catalogue of their Gods ;
and that the only objects of worship in the valley of
the Nile were, 1°, the deified attributes ofthe crea
tive power, and ofthe divine intellect; 2°, the Sun
and Moon, whose visible power has so generally
been an object of veneration among mankind in
the early ages ofthe world; and, 3°, we may add,
the president of that future state to which the souls
of the dead were supposed to pass after they had
left their earthly envelope. It is difficult to decide
whether the Egyptians had originally the belief in a
future state, or if the immortality of the soul was
a doctrine suggested at a later period, when philo
sophy had remodelled their religious notions ; suf
fice it to say that the oldest monuments which
remain bear ample evidence of its having been their
* Herodot. ii. 82.
p 2

212 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
belief at the earliest periods of which any records
exist, and Osiris the judge and president of Amenti
is mentioned in tombs belonging to cotemporaries
of the Kings who erected the pyramids, upwards of
2000 years before our era. Indeed, if at any early
period the religion of Egypt bore a different cha
racter, or if any great change took place in its doc
trines, this must have been long before the found
ation of the monuments that remain ; and, with
the exception of some addition to the catalogue
of minor Deities, and an alteration in the name of
Amun *, we perceive no change in the religion
from the earliest times to the reigns of the Ptole
mies and Casars. That several Genii, or minor
Gods, particularly those who were supposed to per
form inferior functions in a future state, and some
local Divinities, were added at various periods, is
highly probable, but no change appears to have
taken place in the form of worship, or in the main
tenets of the religion : the ceremonies of the
temple may have become more splendid, the offer
ings more rich, or the increased dimensions ofthe
temples may have admitted a larger number of con
templar Gods ; and in the time of the Ptolemies
and Caesars the rites of Osiris may have become more
generally preferred ; but no change was effected
in the religion itself, and the preference given to
any peculiar Deity was only what had always hap
pened in Egypt, where each town or district paid
the greatest honours to the God who was supposed
immediately to preside over it. Even the alter-
* I shall have occasion to mention this afterwards in Ch. 13.

CHAP. XII. RELIGION UNCHANGED. 213
ation which took place in the name of Amun, and
the introduction of the worship of the Sun with
rays, represented at Tel-el-Amarna, and some other
places, about the time ofthe 18th Dynasty, cannot
be looked upon as changes in the religion ; and
Sarapis, of foreign introduction, was obliged to
conform to the customs ofthe Pantheon, to which
he was rather attached, than admitted, by the
caprice of a foreign monarch.
Unfortunately, an impenetrable veil, concealing
from our view the earliest periods of Egyptian his
tory, forbids us to ascertain the original character
of the religion ; we are introduced to it as to the
civilisation of that people, when already fully per
fected ; and we can only speculate on its previous
condition, before metaphysical theories had mo
delled it into the form in which we now behold it
in the sculptures ofthe existing monuments.
Before we proceed to inquire into the nature
and attributes of the Gods, it may not be improper
to examine the opinions of Greek writers, re
specting the Theogony of Egypt. Diodorus*, who
seems to borrow his ideas respecting the creation
of the world from the Egyptians, says, that in
the beginning the heavens and earth had only one
form, being united in their nature ; but having
become separated afterwards, the world took the
character we now behold. By the movement of the
atmosphere, the igneous parts rose, which gave to
the Sun and other heavenly bodies their rotatory
movement ; and a soHd matter was precipitated to
* Diodor. ii. 7.
P 3

214 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
form the sea and earth, from which fish and animals
were produced, nearly in the same manner as we
still see in Egypt, where an infinity of insects and
other creatures come forth from the mud, after it
has been inundated by the waters of the Nile. *
" Eusebius," as the Abbe Banier remarks, " has
justly observed that this system, as well as that of
the Phoenicians, which is derived from the same
source, gives to the Creator no part in the form
ation of the universe. To confirm his opinion,
he quotes a passage of Porphyry, who, in his
epistle to Anebo, an Egyptian priest, writes, that
Chseremont and others had thought that nothing
was anterior to this visible world ; that the planets
and stars were the real Gods of the Egyptians, and
that the sun ought to be looked upon as the guar
dian ofthe universe ; and it may be remarked, that
the summary of Egyptian theology given by
Diogenes Laertius from Manetho and Hecateeus
is in the same spirit, which considers that matter
was the first principle, and the Sun and Moon the
first Deities, of that people. It has, however, been
shown from Eusebius, that the Egyptians believed
in an intelligent Being called Cneph, who presided
over the formation of the world. Porphyry states
that they represented him under the figure of a
man holding a girdle and a sceptre, with large
feathers on his head, from whose mouth an eo-o-
proceeded, out of which another Deity came,
called by them Phtha, and by the Greeks Vulcan :
* Conf. Ovid. Met. i. 8., v. 422. ; and Plin. ix. 58.
f Vide Cory, p. 287.

CHAP. XII. STATEMENTS OF THE GREEKS. 215
and according to their explanation of this mys
terious figure, the feathers denoted the hidden and
invisible nature of this intelligence, the] power^ it
had of giving life, the dominion over all things,
and the spirituality of its movements ; and the egg
which came from his mouth indicated the world,
of which he was the maker. This opinion is
confirmed by the testimony of lamblichus, who, in
the time of Eusebius, applied himself to the study
of Egyptian theology, and who endeavours to
prove what Chgeremon had stated, that the general
belief of the Egyptians was not that an inanimate
Being was the cause of all things, but that in the
world, as well as in ourselves, they recognised the
soul superior to nature, and the intelligence which
created the world superior to the soul."
But I have already shown how unsatisfactory are
the opinions of Greek writers respecting the religion
of the Egyptians ; and, with the exception of a few
notions, which may be gleaned from the tenets of
those who had studied, and were initiated into, the
mysteries of Egypt, little can be learnt of their
philosophy, or their religious system. lamblichus,
Plato, and some others, indeed, have contributed
to throw some light on the subject, and the former
gives the following account of the Cosmogony of
Egypt from the ancient Hermetic books.
"Before all things that essentially exist*, and
before the total principles, there is one God, prior
to the first God and King, remaining immoveable
* This" is the translation given in Mr. Cory's valuable collection of
" Ancient Fragments," p. 283.
p 4

216 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII,
in the solitude of his Unity ; for neither is the
Intelligible immixed with him, nor is any other
thing. He is established, the exemplar of the God
who is the father of himself, self-begotten, the only
father, who is truly good. For he is something
greater, and the first, the fountain of all things,
and the root of all primary Intelligible Existing
forms. But out of this one, the self-ruling God
made himself shine forth ; wherefore he is the
father of himself, and self-ruling : for he is the
first Principle, and God of Gods. He is the
Monad from the One, before essence, yet the first
principle of essence, for from him is entity and
essence ; on which account he is celebrated as the
chief of the InteUigibles. These are the most an
cient principles of all things, which Hermes places
first in order, before the ethereal and empyrean
Gods, and the celestial.
" But, according to another division, he (Hermes)
places the God Emeph *, as the ruler of the celes
tial Gods ; and says that he is Intellect, under
standing himself, and converting other intel
ligences to himself. And before this he places
the indivisible One, which he calls the first Effigies,
denominating him Eicton ; in whom, indeed, is
tlie first Intellect, and the first Intelligible ; and
this One is venerated in Silence. Besides these
other rulers are imagined to exist, which govern
the fabrication of things apparent ; for the demiurge
intellect, which properly presides over truth and
wisdom, when it proceeds to generation, and leads
* Generally supposed to be a mistake for Kvf0 (Neph).

CHAP. XII. COSMOGONY FROM lAMBLICHUS. 217
forth into light the inapparent power of the secret
reasons, is called Amon, according to the Egyptian
tongue ; and when it perfects all things not de
ceptively, but artificially according to truth, Phtha ;
but the Greeks change the word Phtha into He
phaestus, looking only to the artificial ; regarded
as the producer of good things, it is called Osiris ;
and, according to its other powers and attributes,
it has diff'erent appellations.
" There is also, according to them, another cer
tain principle presiding over all the elements in a
state of generation, and over the powers inherent in
them, four of which are male, and four female ; and
this principle they attribute to the Sun. There is
yet another principle of all nature, regarded as the
ruler over generation, and this they assign to the
Moon. They divide the heavens also into two parts,
or into four, twelve, or thirty-six, or the doubles of
these ; they attribute to them leaders more or less
in number, and over them they place one whom
they consider superior to them all. Hence, from
the highest to the last, the doctrine ofthe Egyptians
concerning the principles, inculcates the origin of
all things from One*, with different gradations to
the many ; which (the many) are again held to be
under the supreme government of the One ; and
the nature of the Boundless is considered entirely
subservient to the nature of the Bounded, and the
Supreme Unity the cause of all things. And God
produced matter from the materiality of the sepa-
* " Homer even exempts the demiurgic monad from all the mul
titude of Gods." Taylor's Introduct. to Plato's Repubhc, p. 147.

218 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
rated essence, which, being of a vivific nature, the
Demiurgus took it, and fabricated from it the
harmonious and imperturbable spheres ; but the
dregs of it he employed in the fabrication of gene
rated and perishable bodies. " *
Another idea of the origin of things is thus
explained in what are termed the modern Her
metic books. " The glory of all things is God,
and Deity, and divine Nature. The principle of
all things existing is God, and the intellect, and
nature, and matter, and energy, and Fate and con
clusion, and renovation. For these were boundless
darkness in the abyss, and water, and a subtile
Spirit, intellectual iu power, existing in Chaos.
But the holy light broke forth, and the Elements
were produced from among the sand of a watery
Essence." t
lamblichus says I, that " Chereemon and some
others, who treat of the first causes of the phae-
nomenaof the world, enumerate in reality only the
lowest principles; and those who mention the
planets, the zodiac, the dreams, and horoscopes,
and the stars termed mighty chiefs, confine them
selves to particular departments of the productive
causes. Such topics, indeed, as are contained in
the Almanacs, constitute but a very small part of
the institutions of Hermes ; and all that relates to
the apparitions or occultations of the stars, or the
increasings or wanings ofthe Moon, has the lowest

* lamblichus, sect. viii. c. 2. 3.
Serm. Sac. Hb. 3. Vic
Iambi, sect. viii. u. 4.

+ Serm. Sac. Hb. 3. Vide Cory, p. 286.

CHAP. XII. DOCTRINES OF PLATO. 219
place in the Egyptian doctrine of causes. Nor do
the Egyptians resolve all thitigs into physical
qualities; but they distinguish both the animal
and intellectual life from nature itself, not only in
the universe, but in man. They consider intellect
and reason in the first place, as existing by them
selves, and on this principle they account for the
creation of the world." He also states, that " they
rank first the Demiurge, as the parent of all things
which are produced, and acknowledge that vital
energy which is prior to, and subsists in, the
heavens, placing pure intellect at the head of the
universe ; and they allot one invisible soul to the
whole world, and another divided one to all the
spheres." I now extract a few observations respecting the
outlines of the principal dogmas of Plato, from the
Introductory Essay of his translator. * " According
to Plato, the highest God, whom in the Republic
he calls good, and in the Parmenides the one, is
not only above soul and intellect, but it even
superior to being itself. Hence, since everything
which can in any respect be known, or of which
anything can be asserted, must be connected with
the universality of things, but the first cause, being
above all things, is very properly said by Plato to
be perfectly ineffable. The first hypothesis, there
fore, of his Parmenides, in which all things are
denied of this immense principle, concludes as
follows : — The one, therefore, is in no respect. So
it seems. Hence it is not in such a manner as to
* Taylor's Trans, of Plato, Introd. p. v.

220 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
be one, for thus it would be being, and participate
of essence ; but as it appears, the one neither is
one, nor is, if it be proper to believe in reasoning
of this kind. It appears so. But can anything
either belong to, or be affirmed of, that which is
not ? How can it ? Neither, therefore, does any
name belong to it, nor discourse, nor any science,
nor sense, nor opinion. It does not appear that
there can. Hence it can neither be named, nor
spoken of, nor conceived by opinion, nor be known,
nor perceived by any being. So it seems." ....
Prior to the one, therefore, is that which is simply
and perfectly ineffable, without position, unco
ordinated, and incapable of being apprehended.
. . . From this truly ineffable principle, exempt
from all Essence, power, and energy, a multitude
of divine natures, according to Plato, immediately
proceed  He affirms (in the sixth book of
his Republic), that the good, or the ineffable
principle of things, is superessential, and shows
the analogy of the Sun to the good, that what
light and sight are in the visible, truth and in
telligence are in the intelligible world. As light,
therefore, immediately proceeds from the Sun, and
wholly subsists according to a solar idiom or
property, so truth, or the immediate progeny of the
good, must subsist according to a superessential
idiom. And as the good, according to Plato, is
the same with the one, the immediate progeny of
the one will be the same as that of the good. . . .
Self-SLibsistent superessential natures are the im
mediate progeny of the one, if it be lawful thus to

CHAP. XII. EGYPTIAN NOTIONS FROM PLATO. 221
denominate things which ought rather to be called
ineffable unfoldings into light, from the ineffable ;
for progeny implies a producing cause, and the one
must be conceived as something even more ex
cellent than this. From this divine self-perfect
and self-producing multitude, a series of self-perfect
natures, viz. of beings, lives, intellects, and souls,
proceeds, according to Plato, in the last link of
which luminous series he also classes the human
soul*, proximatively suspended from the dsemo-
niacal order ; for this order, he clearly asserts in
the Banquett, " stands in the middle rank between
the divine and human, fills up the vacant space,
and links together all intelligent nature."
According to Plato t, the Egyptians supposed
the world to be subject to occasional deluges and
conffagrations, as a punishment for the wickedness
of mankind ; and the returns of the great cata
strophe were fixed by them according to the
period of their great year, "which Aristotle calls
the greatest, rather than the great," when the
Sun and Moon and all the planets returned to the
same sign whence they had started : " the winter
of which year was the deluge, and its summer
the conflagration of the world." § The notion of
the deterioration of man, and the fables of the
golden and iron ages, were also of Egyptian origin,
and the story of the Atlantic Island || having been
* Vide also Plato's TimsEUS, p. 508. et seq.
¦\ See Vol. III. p. 500. See also a copioii's account of the nature
of daemons, in the note at the beginning ofthe first Alcibiades, Vol. I.
X Plato, Critias. § Censorin. de Die Nat.
II Plato, Tim. p. 469. Taylor's Transl. ; and Critias.

222 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
submerged, was said to have been derived by Solon
from the same source.
Plato supposed that the Deity delegated the power
of creating to beings inferior to himself, denomi
nated daemons ; perhaps, with the notion that man
alone, who was exclusively gifted with intellect, was
the work of the Deity himself* ; and Plutarcht, in
speaking of these intermediate beings, observes,
" that some suppose what is related of Isis, Osiris,
and Typho, to be the adventures of the grand
Daemons or Genii ; an order of beings, which some
ofthe wisest ofthe Greeks philosophers, as Plato,
Pythagoras, Xenocrates, and Chrysippus, agreeably
to what they learnt from the ancient theologists, be
lieved to be much more powerful than mankind, and
of a nature superior to them, though inferior to the
pure nature of the Gods, as partaking of the sensa
tions of the body, as well as of the perceptions of
the soul, and consequently liable to pain or pleasure,
and to all other appetites and affections ; which af
fections were supposed to have a greater influence
over some than others, different degrees of virtue
and vice being found in these Genii, as in man."
According to Plato, they were " a middle order
of beings between Gods and men, interpreters of
the will of the former to mankind, ministerine to
their wants, carrying their prayers to heaven, and
bringing down from thence, in return, oracles, and
all other blessings of hfe ; " and, as Empedocles
supposed, " obnoxious to punishment for whatever
* Vide snprd, p. 186. note J.
t Plut. de Is. b. 25.

CHAP. XII. PYTHAGOREAN DOCTRINES. 223
crimes they committed, until, having undergone
their distinct punishment, and thereby become
pure, they were again admitted to their primitive
situation, in the region originally designed for
them." Of the Pythagorean doctrines, which were prin
cipally borrowed from Egypt, a summary account
is given by " Timsus the Locrian. * The causes
of all things are two. Intellect, of those which are
produced according to reason ; and necessity, of
those which necessarily exist according to the
powers of bodies. Of these, the first is of the
nature of good, and is called God, the principle of
such things as are most excellent. Those which
are consequent, and concauses, rather than causes,
may be referred to necessity, and they consist of
Idea, or Form, and Matter, to which may be added
the sensible (world), which is, as it were, the off
spring of these two. The first of these is an
essence ungenerated, immoveable, and stable, of
the nature of Same, and the intelligible exemplar
of things generated, which are in a state of per
petual change ; and this is called Idea or Form,
and is to be comprehended only by Mind. But
Matter is the receptacle of Form, the mother and
female principle of the generation of the third
Essence, for by receiving the likenesses upon itself,
and being stamped with Form, it perfects all
things, partaking of the nature of genei-ation.
And this matter, he says, is eternal, moveable,
and of its own proper nature, without form or
* Cory, p. 301.

224 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
figure, yet susceptible of receiving every form ; it
is divisible also about bodies, and is of the nature
of Different. They also call matter, ' Place, and
Situation.' These two, therefore, are contrary
principles : Idea or Form is of the nature of male
and father ; but Matter, of the nature of female
and mother ; and things which are of the third
nature, are the offspring of the two. Since then
there are three natures, they are comprehended in
three different ways ; Idea, which is the object of
science, by Intellect ; Matter, which is not pro
perly an object of comprehension, but only of
analogy, by a spurious kind of reasoning ; but
things compounded of the two are the objects of
sensation and opinion, or appearance. Therefore,
before the heaven was made, there existed in
reality. Idea and Matter, and God, the demiurgus
of the better nature : and since the nature of
Elder (continuance) is more worthy than that of
Younger (novelty), and order than of disorder ;
God in his Goodness, seeing that Matter was
continually receiving form, and changing in an
omnifarious and disordered manner, undertook to
reduce it to order, and put a stop to its indefinite
changes, by circumscribing it with a determinate
figure; that there might be corresponding dis
tinctions of bodies, and that it might not be subject
to continual variations of its own accord. There
fore he fabricated this world out of all the matter,
and constituted it the boundary of essential na
ture, comprising all things within itself, one, only-
begotten, perfect, with a soul and intellect (for an

CHAP. XII. GRADATIONS OF GODS. 225
animal so constituted is superior to one devoid of
soul and intellect) : he gave it also a spherical
body, for such of all other forms is the most
perfect. Since, therefore, it was God's pleasure
to render this his production most perfect, he con
stituted it a God, generated indeed, but inde
structible by any other cause than by the God
who made it, in case it should be his pleasure to
dissolve it."
From the statement of lamblichus, we perceive
that the Monad or Deity in Unity preceded the
trinity or triad, by which all things were created,
and that what was denominated the first God, or
King of the Gods, also existed, like the Monad,
before the formation of the world. These Deities
are, therefore, 1. The God, the Monad, or Deity in
Unity ; 2. The first God, or first principle, chief
of Intelligibles : or, 1. Eicton, the first effigies, the
indivisible one ; 2. Emeph (Kneph ?) the ruler of
the Gods, Intellect understanding himself. This
Intellect, when it proceeds to generation, is called
Amun, the Demiurge Intellect ; Phthah, when
it perfects all things with truth ; or Osiris, when
regarded as the author of good ; or other names
according to its different offices and powers. There
are also the principles presiding over the elements
in a state of generation, and over the powers in
them, four of which are male, and four female ;
one of them being the Sun, and another the Moon.
Then follows another class of the rulers of the
heavens, which is divided into two parts.
Dr. Prichard thinks that Pthah " is the masculo-
VOL. I. — Second Series. Q

226 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
feminine Being of the Orphic philosophy, produced
in the Chaotic Egg and acting upon its elements;"
and quotes this passage of Horapollo* in support
of his opinion : — "The world seems to the Egyp
tians to consist of a masculine and feminine na
ture, and they designate Minerva by a vulture (and
a beetle), and Vulcan by a beetle (and a vulture) ;
for these are the only Gods which are represented
by the Egyptians as having a double nature, or as
being both masculine and feminine." He thence
concludes with Jablonski, that " the Goddess,
whom the Greeks call Minerva, and who was wor
shipped at Sais, was the counterpart of Phthas, or
the same Being in his feminine character." But
this is not supported by the evidence of the mo
numents, nor is there any relation between Pthah
and the Egyptian Minerva.
I have here, and in other places, introduced
several theories of Greek and Roman writers on the
subject of mythology, and have mentioned some
of the speculations of philosophers who studied in
or visited Egypt. But I must not omit to observe
that the opinions of late writers, as Porphyry, lam
blichus, Proclus, and all the new Platonists of
the Alexandrian school, should be admitted with
considerable caution. Though many of their .spe
culations were derived from an Egyptian source,
the original was often even more than parce dis-
torta; and no doctrine of theirs can be accepted
as illustrative of Egyptian notions, which is not
confirmed by the monuments, or expressly stated
to be taken from the philosophy, of Egypt.
* Horapollo, lib. i. c. 12.

CHAP. XII. WHAT AUTHORITIES ADMITTED. 227
The works of Plato and other more ancient writers
evidently contain much that owes its origin to the
knowledge they acquired from the Egyptians, and
Pythagoras imitated many notions of his instructors
with scrupulous precision. Such authorities are of
the greatest use in the examination of the dogmas
of this people, and they had the advantage of stu
dying them at a time and place, in which religion
was not exposed to fanciful innovations. But when
it had been encumbered with the superstructure
of arbitrary fancy, which the schools of Alexandria
heaped upon it,, the original form became distorted,
meanings were attached to various symbols which
they never possessed, and the attributes of one
Deity were ignorantly assigned to another of a to
tally different character. I have already had oc
casion to notice the misconceptions of the Greeks
and Romans on the most ordinary subjects con
nected with the religion of Egypt; and little
reliance can be placed upon their information re
specting the abstruse and recondite speculations of
the Egyptian philosophers, when they changed the
very forms of well-known Deities, and mistook the
attributes of those which were presented to them
on every monument.
I now proceed to compare the statements of
Herodotus and others with data derived from the
monuments. If it be true that the number of the
great Gods of the Egyptians was limited to eight,
we may suppose them to be —
1. Neph, or Kneph. 3. Phthah, or Pthah.
2. Amun, or Amun-Re. 4. Khem. Q 2

228 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
5. Sate. 7. Bubastis ?.
6. Maut (or perhaps 8. Neith.
Buto ?).
Re, or Ra*, the physical Sun, might also appear
to enjoy an equal claim to a rank among the great
Gods of Egypt : and in a former workt I had in
troduced that Deity instead of Bubastis ; but it is
more probable that Amun-Re and Re were not of
the same class of Deities, as the intellectual was of
a more exalted nature than the physical Sun,
From Re proceeded a number of other Deities,
and the most remarkable of those styled the off
spring of the Sun, are the Goddess of Truth or
Justice, Ao, Tafnet, Selk, and Nehimeou.
Herodotus mentions the eight great Gods, but
without giving their names. He states, however,
that Pant (Khem) and Latona § (Buto) were among
the number, and that to the eight great Gods suc
ceeded twelve others of inferior rank, who were
followed by the minor Deities, These last con
sisted of many different grades, according to their
character and office ; and besides the heavenly and
infernal Deities, were Genii of various kinds, as
well as inferior Divinities, worshipped in particular
places, or by certain individuals. Diodorus || seems
to agree in the number of eight great Gods ^ ;
giving the names of " the Sun, Saturn, Rhea,
Jupiter (called by some Ammon), Juno, Vulcan,
Vesta, and Mercury." Chaeremon thinks they
* It was written Re, and pronounced Ra.
f Materia Hieroglyphica, p. 2. X Herodot. ii. 145.
j Herodot. ii. 156. || Diodor. i. 13. Vide supi-d, p. 1S5.
H Though not directly stated, he evidently means the Gods of Egypt.

CHAP. XII.

THE GREAT GODS.

229

were ten. Twelve and eight were the numbers
applied to the Dii Consentes and Selecti of the
Romans ; but of these the twelve held the first
rank. From Seb also, who was confounded by the
Greeks with Saturn, other Gods proceeded, and
the offspring of this Deity and Netpe were Osiris,
Isis, Aroeris, Typho, and Nephthys.
According to Manetho's Chronology, given by
Syncellus, two dynasties of Gods preceded the
first Kings of Egypt; one consisting of seven Gods,
the other of sixteen Demigods.

Gods.

Years.

Days.

Demigods.

Years.

Vulcan, who reigned 724J

and 4

Horus, who reigned

- 25

The Sun

86

Mars

- 23

Agathodaemon -

- 56i

— 10

Anubis

- 17

Cronus, Saturn

40 J

Hercules

- 15

Osiris "
Isis . "

- 35

Apollo
Ammon

- 25
30

Typho

29

TithoesZosusZeus
27
- 32
- 20
The usual mode of accounting for this reign of
the Gods is by referring it to the time during
which the priests of each Deity held the supreme
authority, when Egypt was governed by a hier
archy, previous to the election of a King ; but
great doubts are thrown on the accuracy of this
list of Deities from its inconsistency, the names of
some of the great Gods being classed in the order
of Demigods.
It were to be wished that more dependance
could be placed on the accounts of Herodotus
and other Greek writers ; but when they so erro-
Q 3
230 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.
neously suppose that the statues of the Theban
Jupiter (Amun) "represented him with the head
of a ram*," and that " Pan was called Mendest
by the Egyptians," and " figured by them, as by
the Greeks, with the head and legs of a goat,"
we must despair of obtaining correct information
upon the subject before us, and only receive their
evidence after cautious investigation. That Nep
tune and the Dioscuri were not knownt to the
Egyptians is very probable ; and another remark
of Herodotus is equally consistent, that " Isis was
the greatest of all the Deities §," and that she en
joyed with Osiris the same honours throughout
every part of Egypt ; — a privilege not granted to
the other Gods. || But he has confounded Pan,
whom he allows to be one of the eight Gods^,
with Mandoo **, an inferior Deity ; and Bubastis
(Diana) was not, as he affirms, the daughter of
Isis and Osiris, tt
These instances of inaccuracy suffice to make us
careful in taking so dubious an authority ; and we
cannot even be certain that Buto held the rank he
gives her among the first class of Deities. XX
If in every town or district of Egypt the principal
temple had been preserved, we might discover the
nature of the triad worshipped there, as well as the
name ofthe chief Deity who presided in it, and thus
become better acquainted.with the character of the
* Herodot. ii. 42. f Herodot. ii. 46.
X Herodot. ii. 43. and 60. Vide infra, Chap, xiii., on Anouke.
5 Herodot. ii. 40. Infra, p. 378. || Herodot. ii. 42.
H Herodot. ii. 145. ** Herodot. ii. 46.
•ft Herodot. ii. 156. XX W.

CHAP. XII. SOME OF THE TRIADS. 231
great Gods, and of most ofthe persons composing
the numerous Egyptian triads. Few, however, can
now be ascertained ; and in Lower Egypt and the
Delta little information is offered by the imper
fect remnants of isolated monuments.
At Thebes, The great triad consisted of Amun or
Amun-Re, Maut, and Khonso.
The smaller triad, of Amun-Generator,
Tamun, and the young Harka.
At Syene, Elephantine, and the Cataracts,
Neph, Sate (Juno), and Anouke (Vesta).
At Philae, Osiris, Isis, and Horus or Harpocrates.
At (Edfoo) ApoUinopolis Magna,
Hor-Hat, Athor, and Hor-Sened-To.
At (Esneh) Latopolis,
Neph, Nebou (a form of Neith), and
Hake.
At Silsilis, Re, Pthah, and Nilus ; where also are
Typho?, Thoth, and Netpe; and Amun-
Re, Re, and Savak.
At the quarries of the Troici lapidis, near Mahsara,
Thoth, Nehimeou, and Horus (or Aroeris).
At Ombos, The great triad consisted of Savak,
Athor, and Khonso.
The lesser triad of Horus (or Aroeris),
Tson-t-nofre, and the young Pneb-to.
At Hermonthis, Mandoo, Reto, and their child Hor-pire.
Q 4

232

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.

The funereal triad, composed of Osiris, Isis, and
Nephthys, occurs in all the tombs throughout the
country ; and many others, variously combined, in
different towns and provinces of Egypt.
I have also seen a triad represented on a stone *,
consisting of Re, Agathodaemon or a winged asp,
and a Goddess apparently with a frog's head ; in a
Greek inscription upon the reverse of which men
tion is made of Bait, Athor, and Akori.

No. 445. Stone mentioning a triad, in these words : " One Bait, one Athor (one of the
Bia), and one Akori ; hail, father ofthe world ! hail, triformous God !"
Bait seems to be the Baieth of Horapollo ; but it
is not easy to assign the Greek names to each figure
on the obverse ; and as it is of late time, the authority
both of these, and of the Greek names, is of very
little weight. The inscription, however, is curious,
from the analogy it bears to some of those ascribed
to the early Christian Gnostics, and serves to show
the idea entertained by the Pagan Egyptians of a
" triformous Deity," " the father of the world,"
who assumed different names according to the triad
under which he was represented.

* In the possession of Mr. Hertz, with whose permission I have in
troduced the accompanying copy of it. The above is the real size.

CHAP. XII. MEMBERS OF THE TRIADS. 233
The great triads were composed of the principal
Deities, the first two members being frequently
of equal rank, and the third, which proceeded from
the first by the second, being subordinate to the
others ; as in the case of Osiris, Isis, and Horus,
or Amun, Maut, and Khonso. Other triads were
formed of Deities of an inferior class ; and it some
times happened that, with the unworthy feeling of
paying a high compliment to the ruling Monarch,
a sort of triad was composed of two Deities and
the King, as at Thebes, where Remeses III. is
placed between Osiris and Pthah; at Aboukeshayd*,
where the Great Remeses occurs between Re and
Atmoo ; and others in other places. At Silsilis,
the King Pthahmen offers to a triad composed of
Osiris, Isis, and Remeses the Great, the latter taking
the place of Horus, to whom the Egyptian Kings
were frequently likened ; and to such a point was
this prostitution of religion carried in the time of
the Ptolemies, that at Hermonthis a triad com
posed of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Neocesar,
their illegitimate son, took the place of the three
Deities, Mandoo, Reto, and Hor-pire t, worshipped
in that city.
With regard to the former of these combinations,
in which a King is represented as proceeding from
two Deities, and forming the third person of a
triad, some excuse may be offered, upon the plea
of their selecting the most important result of the
* On the Suez canal. A copy of the stone containing these three
figures is given in my Materia Hieroglyphica, Appendix, No. IV.
f ChampoUion, lettres 8. and 12., p. 106. and 206.

234

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII.

power of the Deity, upon this principle : the influ
ence of intellect on matter * producing the created
being in the King ; and this the noblest work of
the Creator being put forth in lieu of the whole
creation. But the same apology cannot be offered
for the latter ; and to the servile flattery of some
members of the priesthood, and to the abuses intro
duced under the Ptolemies, is to be attributed this
great profanation of the religious customs of the
Egyptians. * Vide supra, p. 185. ; and infra, p. 248.

iN/^^\

Ofl'erlngs of onions made by a priest to his deceased parents.

CHAP. XIII.

EGYPTIAN PANTHEON.

235

Vignette M.

Pavilion of Remeses IIL at Medeenet Haboo. Thebes.

CHAP. XIIL
THE EGYPTIAN PANTHEON.
Form and Attributes ofthe different Gods.

the eight great gods.
Neph, Nef, Kneph, Cnouphis, Cnoubis, Noub,
Nou?
In noticing the character and attributes of the
Egyptian Gods, I shall introduce each separately,
commencing with the eight great Deities. And as it
is useless to stop to inquire which of these held the
highest rank, I commence with Neph, who was par
ticularly worshipped in the island of Elephantine,
throughout Ethiopia, and in the southern part of the
Thebaid. In the word Neph, or Nef, we may pro
bably trace the idea of the Spirit of the Deity, if,

236 the ancient Egyptians, chap. xiii.
in his mention of Jupiter, Diodorus * had in view
the God Neph : Jupiter t, he observes, signifying,
among the Egyptians, the Spirit, " being the cause
of life in animals, and, therefore, the father of all."
The same idea may have led to the Greek and
Persian notion t, of Jupiter being the air which
surrounds the world. " If, as I have observed in a
previous work §, the sons of Ham taught their de
scendants, the early inhabitants of Egypt, the true
worship of one spiritual and eternal Being, who had
disposed the order ofthe universe, divided the light
from the darkness, and ordained the creation of
mankind, the Egyptians, in process of time, for
sook the pure ideas of a single Deity, by admitting
his attributes to a participation of that homage
which was due to the Divinity alone ;" and thus
the sole indivisible God was overlooked and be
came at length totally unknown, except to those
who were admitted to participate in the important
secret of his existence.
Kneph, or more properly Neph or Nef ||, was
retained as the idea of the ' Spirit ^ of God, which
moved upon the face of the waters.' But having
separated the Spirit from the creator of the uni
verse, and purposing to set apart, and deify each at
tribute which presented itself to their imagination,
* Diodor. i. 12.
¦f The name, Ai'c, Awg, Beoq, and the Latin Deus, are evidently from
the same origin ; the Deity par excellence.
X Herodot. i. 131. Conf. Hor. " Manet sub Jove frigido." I. Od. i. 25.
§ Materia Hierog. Part i. p. 1, 2.
II Nef, which signified spirit or breath, is still retained in the Arabic
of the present day. The Emeph of lamblichus was probably cornipted
from Kneph by the copyists. Vide p. 216. 243.
t Horapollo says, " the snake is the emblem of the Spiiit which per
vades the universe."

CHAP. XIII. THE GOD NEPH. 237
they found it necessary to form another Deity from
the creative power, whom they called Pthah,"
equal to Neph, being another character of the same
original God. " Some difference was observed be
tween the power which created the world, and that
which caused and ruled over the generation of man,
and continued to promote the continuation of the
human species: this attribute of the Divinity was
deified under the appellation of Khem ; and many
more, as his goodness, perfection, and other quali
ties, which struck them most worthy of their rever
ence, were made to participate in similar honours.
"Neph was represented with a ram's head*,
sometimes surmounted by an asp or a vase ; which
last, as a hieroglyphic, was the initial of his name.
By the Romans he was known under the names
of Jupiter-Hammon-Cenubis, and Chnoubis, as
at Elephantine; of Amenebis, as in the Oasis;
and Jupiter Hammon with the head of a ram,
' undo recurvis . . . cum cornibus Ammon,' the
reason of which error it is not necessary here to
inquire," but which is not without a parallel, as I
have already shown, in the Roman mode of re
presenting Anubis with the head of a dog. "It
seems, indeed, that the ram-headed God never had
the title of Amun, except when represented with
the attributes of Neph," a case of very rare occur
rence; "nor can I trace that distinction between
the figure before us and one of similar form, which
the learned ChampoUion has considered a diflPerent
Deity, presiding over the inundation ; since the
* Materia Hierog. Pantheon, p. 2.

238 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
God of Elephantine has the same office as that
ascribed to the one he distinguishes by the name of
Cnouphis." This is further confirmed by my having
" found an inscription in that island beginning
Xyot>^« ©SO)*," where a temple dedicated to him stood
till lately amidst the ruins of the ancient town, the
same mentioned by Strabo as that of Cnuphis. It
is, indeed, as consistent to suppose the Deity of the
inundation to be one of the characters ofthe God
Neph, as "the president of the Western Mountain"
to be one of the characters of the Goddess Athor.
Herodotus*, Diodorus, and other writers, in
speaking ofthe Jupiter of Ethiopia, evidently had in
view the God Neph ; and there is less difficulty in
accounting for the notion of his being the same as
Jupiter, since he was, if not the King, at least the
leader, of the Gods. He corresponded to no other
Deity of the Greek Pantheon ; and the triad of the
cataracts, by uniting him with Sate or Juno, appears
to give him a claim to the name of Jove. There
is not, however, she same excuse for confounding
Neph with Amun, or giving to the latter Deity
the head of a ram.
" The inhabitants ofthe Thebais, says Plutarcht,
worship their God Kneph only, whom they look
upon as without beginning so without end, and
are exempt from the tax levied for the maintenance
of the sacred animals." But this could only be true
if he alludes to the earliest inhabitants of that dis
trict; for the worship of Amun, or Amun-Re, was
* Herodotus says the only two Gods worshipped at Meroe were Ju
piter and Bacchus ; meaning Neph and Osiris. Vide p. 249. 267.
f Plut. de Is. et Osir. s. 21.

CHAP. XIII. THE ASP OF NEPH. 239
much more general throughout the Thebaid, except
at the island of Elephantine, and Syene. Eusebius
seems to confound him with Agathodaemon, but
this name applies rather to another Deity, the hawk-
headed Hor-Hat, whose emblem was the winged
globe, placed over the doors and windows of the
Egyptian temples, and overshadowing the sacred
person of the Monarch ; or to the asp, frequently
represented in the tombs of Thebes, guarding the
wine-presses and gardens of the Egyptians, which
was dedicated to another Divinity, the Goddess
Ranno*, who is sometimes figured with the head
of that snake-
The asp was also sacred to Neph ; and that
Deity is frequently represented in the tombs stand
ing in a boat, with the serpent over him ; and he is
not unfrequently seen with this emblem oii his head,
without any other ornament. At the cataracts I
have found him with the asp rising from between
his horns, and bearing the crown of the Lower
Country on its head, as if intended to indicate the
dominion of the Deity there as well as in the The
baid. This serpent was the type of Dominion ; for
which reason it was affixed to the head-dress ofthe
Egyptian Monarchs ; and a prince, on his accession
to the throne, was entitled to wear this distinctive
badge of royalty, which, before the death of his
father, he was not authorised to adopt. Many
other parts ofthe royal dress were ornamented with
* M. ChampolKon was perfectly correct in considering the Asp of
Neph different from this guardian genius. I had supposed this last to
belong also to Neph.

240 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
the same emblem; and "the asp-formed crowns,"
mentioned in the Rosetta stone, were exclusively
appropriated to the Kings or Queens of Egypt.
The Asp also signified, in hieroglyphics, a " God
dess ; " and when opposed to the Vulture, " the
Lower Country* ;" and it was given to Re, the
physical Sun, probably as an emblem of that domi
nion which he held over the Universe, and from his
character of prototype ofthe Pharaohs.
M. Champolhon has satisfactorily accounted for
the name Uraeus given to the snake, by suggesting
that the word derives its origin and signification
from ouro, in Coptic "a King," answering, as Hora
pollo tells ust, to the Greek 0ao-<A<(rxof, "royal;" and
it is from this last word that the name basilisk has
been applied to the asp. But I do not know on what
authority that ingenious savant supposes the royal
Asp to be diflPerent from the Asp " of Cnouphis." t
The description given by Porphyry§ of" Kneph
with a human head, azure black colour, bearing
a feather on his head," agrees exactly with the God
Ao, but not with Neph ; and these two Deities can
in no way be related, — the latter being one of the
great Gods, and the former always having the title
" Son of the Sun," and being of an inferior order
of Divinities. Nor does any representation occur
of " the egg proceeding from his mouth, which
Porphyry conjectures to signify the world ; and from
which proceeded another God called Phta, the
* Vide infra, on the God Ombte, and the Genius of Lower Egypt.
-|- HorapoUo, Hierog. i. 1. " The Egyptians call it Ouraius, which, in
the Greek language, signifies fSaaiXtvuog."
X ChampoUion, F'antheon, Nef. ^ Vide supra, p. 214^.

CHAP. XIII. THE RAM-HEADED GOD. 241
Vulcan of the Greeks ; " and, indeed, this cannot be
applied to any Deity of the Egyptian Pantheon.
The figure of Neph was that of a man with the
head of a ram, frequently of a green colour ; sheep
were particularly sacred to him ; and with Sate
(Juno), and Anouke (Vesta), he formed one of the
great triads of Upper Egypt.
His worship, as I have already observed, was
very generally admitted in the cities of Ethiopia,
particularly above the second cataract, where the
ram's head, his emblem, was used as a common or
nament, or as an amulet by the devout ; and in that
part of the country lying between the first cataract
and the modern Shendy, the ram-headed Neph, or
Cnouphis, was the principal God. One Deity alone
shares with him equal honours, but this is in the two
temples of Wady Owateb and Wady Benat alone*,
where the lion-headed God appears to be the prin
cipal object of worship. At Napata, the capital of
Tirhaka (now Gebel Berkel) Neph received the
highest possible honours ; and it may not be unrea
sonable to conclude that Napata, Noubat, and the
Nobatae were called from this Deity, whose name
has the varied sound of Kneph, Neph, Cnouphis,
Chnoubis, Noub, and apparently even of Nou, in
some ofthe hieroglyphic legends of the Thebaid.
Herodotus states, that in consequence of sheep
being sacred to the Theban Jupiter X, the people of
that nome never sacrifice them, but always select
* Vide infra. Chap, xiv., on the Lion.
+ Some have derived this from Noub, "gold."
J Herodot. ii. 42. More properly to Neph, who was represented
with the head of a ram, and not Amun, as he supposes.
VOL. I. — Second Series. R

242 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
goats for their altars ; and this is confirmed by
the sculptures of Thebes, by which we find that
sheep were never immolated for the altars of the
Gods, nor slaughtered for the table. The large
flocks of sheep in the Thebaid were kept for their
wool alone ; and the care bestowed upon them, so
that they might have lambs twice a year, and be
shorn twice within the same period; the number of
persons employed there in making woollen cloths ;
and the consequence which the sculptures show to
have been attached to those animals ; testify the
importance of the wool trade in Egypt, and serve
as an additional proof of the advancement of this
people in manufactures.
At Esneh, Latopolis, Neph is represented under
the form of a ram, from between whose horns rises
the Sacred Asp : and in some of the legends, the
name over it is followed by those of Osiris, Re, Ao,
and another God with whom Neph is connected on
this occasion. He is also figured as a man having two
or four rams' heads ; but this is of rare occurrence,
except on monuments of a late date, or in subjects
relating to the dead and the mysteries of a future
state. At Esneh instances occur of Neph with the
additional title Re, which then connects him with
the Sun, and may perhaps be an argument in sup
port of the opinion I have mentioned of the early
Sabaean worship of Egypt.
To Neph were given not only the ordinary horns
ofthe sheep, curving* downwards, but alsothelong
* Owing to the error respecting Amun, they have been the origin of
the name of the Ammonite ; and thus has this misnomer been perpe
tuated in stone.

CHAP. XIII^. AMUN, OR AMUN-RE. 243
projecting horns of that animal, which, from their
twisted form, being readily mistaken* for those of
the goat, have caused some difficulty respecting two
characters in the names of the Caesars, both being
supposed to represent the same animal, and also
to stand for the two letters b and s. It is, how
ever, evident that the latter was the sheep or ram
(esiou), which had the alphabetic force of * as
in Trajanus, and that the former was the goat
(baampe), which was chosen to represent the letter
b or V, as in Tiberius, Seuerus, and Seftastus.
Amun, or Amun-re — Jupiter.
It may appear singular that Amun should be
placed second to Neph ; I have, however, noticed
them in this order, not from any superiority of the
latter, but because he is said to have been the
oldest Deity of Upper Egypt ; and, since some
alteration has been made in the name of the God
known to us as Amun, it may even be supposed
that in the earliest times, he had not the same cha
racter as in the age of the last Kings of the 18th
Dynasty. Indeed, if Neph really answered to the
Spirit which pervaded and presided over the cre
ation, and was the same whom lamblichus describes
from the books of Hermes t, he may in justice
claim a rank above Amun, or any other ofthe eight
great Gods. The alteration to which I allude is
a circumstance well worthy of attention ; and, as I
* I had supposed in consequence that he united the emblem of the
generative principle with his own.
f Vide supra, p. 216 Where the name Emeph is given, as is sup
posed, in lieu of Kneph.
R 2

244 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
have elsewhere observed *, has been remarked by
me on many of the oldest monuments of Egypt,
where " the hieroglyphics or phonetic name of
Amun-re have been continually substituted for
others, the combinations of which I could never
discover, being most carefully erased, and the name
of Amun, or Amun-re, placed in their stead. The
figure of the God remains unaltered, as is also the
case with that of Khem, when in the character of
Amunre-Generator, whose phonetic hieroglyphics,
and not figure, have been changed. To make this
last observation more intelligible, I must acquaint
the reader with a fact not yet mentioned, — that
Amun-re, like most of the Gods, frequently took
the character of other Deities ; as of Khem, Re,
and Neph t ; and even the attributes of Osiris ;
but he is then known by the hieroglyphics accom
panying his figure, which always read Amunre, and
therefore diflPer from those given the Deities in
their own character."
In examining the sculptures of an early period X,
I have found that, wherever the name of Amun
occurs, the substitution has been so systematically
made, that nothing short of a general order to that
eflPect- sent to every part of Egypt, and executed
with the most scrupulous care, can account for it ;
and from this alteration § being confined to monu-
* Materia Hierog. Pantheon, p. 4. Vide also itfrd, p. 263.
¦j- But still as a member of the triad of which Amun was the chief.
I have even found him with a hawk's head, styled " Amunre Re Atmoo
Lord of Thebes."
t It may be seen on the ObeUsk of S. Giovanni Laterano, at Rome.
§ The 7iame Amun existed long before. Witness the Kings of the
17th Dynasty.

CHAP. XIII. CHANGE IN AMUN'S NAME. 245
ments erected previous to and during the reign
of the third Amunoph, we may conclude that it
dates after his accession, or about the year 1420
B.C. Another peculiarity is observable in the name
of Amun, — that the hieroglyphics which compose
it frequently face the wrong way ; that is, they
turn in a different direction from the rest of the
inscription : the reason of which it is not easy to
determine. I have stated that Amun-re and other Gods
took the form of diflPerent Deities, which, though
it appears at first sight to present some difficulty,
may readily be accounted for when we consider
that each of those whose figure or emblems were
adopted, was only an emanation or deified attri
bute of the same Great Being, to whom they
ascribed various characters, according to the se
veral offices he was supposed to perform. The
intellect of the Deity might be represented with
the emblems of the almighty power, or with the
attributes of his goodness, without in any manner
changing the real character of the heavenly mind
they pourtrayed under that peculiar foim ; and
in like manner, when to Osiris, or the goodness
ofthe Deity, the emblems of Phthah the creative
power were assigned, no change was made in
the character of the former, since Goodness was
as much a part of the original Divinity from
whom both were derived, as was the power with
which he had created the world. And if, as some
times happens, Amun-re is represented making
offerings to Osiris, it will be recollected that one
R 3

246 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
attribute might be permitted to show respect to
another, without derogating from its own dignity,
and that Osiris in his character of Judge of
Amenti, and as the object of the most sacred and
undivulged mysteries, held a rank above all the
Gods of Egypt.
Amun, or Amun-re, formed with Maut and
Khonso the great triad of Thebes. The figure of
Amun was that of a man, with a head-dress sur
mounted by two long feathers*; the colour of his
body was light blue, like the Indian Vishnoo, as
if to indicate his peculiarly exalted and heavenly
nature ; but he was not figured with the head or
under the form of a ram, as the Greeks and Ro
mans supposed, and the contortis cornibus Ammon
is as inapplicable to the Egyptian Jupiter, as the
description of the dog-headed Anubis to the Mer
curius Psychopompos of the region of Amenti.
He was considered by the Greeks the same as
Jupiter, in consequence of his having the title
" King ofthe Gods ; " and under the name Amunre
he was the intellectual Sun, distinct from Re, the
physical orb. This union of Amun and Re cannot
fail to call to mind the Jupiter Belus of the Assy
rians, Baal or Belus t being the Sun : and if it be
true that Amunti, or Amenti, signified the "giver
and receiver," the name Amun-re may be opposed
to Atin-re, and signify the Sun in the two capacities
* Q. Curtius, speaking of the Deity of the Oasis of Ammon, says,
" Id quod pro Deo colitur, non eandeni effigiem habet, quam vulgo
Diis artifices accommodaverunt, Umbriculo maxime simihs est habitus,
smaragdis et gemmis coagmentatus."
-|- " The Lord "par excellence.

CHAP. XIII. AMUNRE-GENERATOR. 247
ofthe " receiver and giver." As in most religions
the supreme Deity was represented in the noblest
form that could be suggested, that of a human
being, and Amun was therefore figured as a man,
whom Holy Writ states to have been made after
the image of his Creator.
At Thebes, "the King ofthe Gods" may be con
sidered under two distinct characters, as Amun-re,
and as Amunre-Generator ; in this last assuming
the form and attributes of Khem, the God of
Generation. It is probable that he was then
the same whom the Greeks styled the " Pan of
Thebes * ; " the chief of a second Theban triad,
the other members of which were Tamun and
Harka ; the former a character of Neith, and per
haps a sort of female Amun ; the latter the off
spring of the two first, as Khonso was of Amun-re
and Maut. According to Manetho, the word
Amunt means " concealment ;" and Hecatsus ob
serves X, that, so far from being the proper name of
the God, it was a word in common use, signifying
" come §," by which his benignant influence and
presence were invoked ; and lamblichus says, it
implies " that which brings to light ||, or mani
festation." If the observation of Manetho or of
HecatEeus be true, it is not improbable that the
name of this God was merely a mysterious title.
The word Amoni signifying to envelope, or conceal,
* npoc at Uav eijSoiv, in an inscription at the Breccia quarries, on
the Kossayr road, with the figure of Khem. Vide infra, p. 263.
f Not related to ammoun, " sand."
Plut. de Is. s. 9. . - ri •
§ The word "come," or " come ye," is afimvi in Coptic.
II Vide supra, p. 217.
R 4

248 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
(which seems to be applied in hieroglyphics to a
man enveloped in a cloak,) confirms the statement
of Manetho; as Amoini, "come," accords with that
of Hecatasus ; and the change in the hieroglyphic
legends of the God, and the introduction ofthe
word Amun throughout the sculptures, may be
explained by supposing it a title, rather than the
actual name ofthe Deity.*
We are told by Herodotus t, that the horned
snake was sacred to this Deity, and buried in his
temple at Thebes ; but the father of history was
wrong in supposing the vipera cerastes to be harm
less t; and it was fortunate he did not prove by ex
perience the fatal effects of its deadly bite. It is not
unusual to find these snakes embalmed in the tombs
of Koorna, the modern name of the Necropolis of
Thebes, and its vicinity.
Of Amun, Maut, and Khonso, consisted the
great Triad of Thebes ; and though it is difficult to
ascertain the exact character and relative offices of
these three Deities, we may suppose them to be
" demiurge intellect," mother, and created things.
The oracle of Jupiter at Thebes was celebrated,
and according to Herodotus §, the divine gift was
imparted to a priestess as she slept in the temple,
where the Deity was also believed to pass the
night. He supposes it to have been the origin of
the oracle of Dodona || ; though his story of " the
women consecrated to the service of that Deity
* Vide infra, p. 'iM. f Herodot. ii. 74.
X Diodorus is correct in placing it among poisonous reptiles, lib. i.
s.87. S Herodot. ii. 54. 58. |l Herodot. i. 182.

CHAP. XIII. NEPH, GOD OF MEROE  PTHAH. 249
having been carried o^ from Thebes by the Phoe
nicians," is too absurd to be pardoned, even on
his usual excuse of having received it from the
Egyptian priests. His statement, that the " Libyan
oracle of Ammon" was derived from the Thebaid,
-is highly probable ; though he makes the common
and unaccountable error of supposing the God of
Thebes to have had the head of a ram *, which has
led to much confusion respecting the Deity wor
shipped at Meroe. For to this place a procession,
carrying the statue of the Theban Jupiter, with a
ram's head, is said annually to have gone from
Thebes ; though the Jupiter of Thebes was Amun,
and the great Deity of Ethiopia the ram-headed
Neph.t In the legends of Thebes, Amun has generally
the title " King of the Gods," accompanying his
name, and these two are sometimes inserted in an
oval, or royal Cartouche, as are the names of
Osiris, Isis, and Athor.
Phthah, OR Pthah, Heph Justus, Vulcanus.
Pthah, or in the Memphitic dialect Phthah,
was the demiurge, or creative power of the Deity ;
the "artisan," as lamblichus styles him, "and
leader of mundane artisans, or the heavenly Gods."
The same author gives a singular confirmation of
the fact, as I have elsewhere observed t, of the
Goddess, who bears on her head a single ostrich
* Herodot. ii. 42. &c.
f Vide supra, p. 148. ; and infra, beginning of Chap. xv.
X Materia Hierog. Pantheon, p. 7.

250 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
feather, being Justice or Truth ; which I shall have
occasion more fully to notice, in speaking of that
Divinity. In the sculptures of Thebes, we find
Pthah not only accompanied by her, but bearing
the title "Lord of Truth," in his hieroglyphic
legend; and lamblichus who calls "the artisan In
tellect* the Lord of Truth," observes, "thatwhereas
he makes all things in a perfect manner, not de
ceptively, but artificially, together with Truth, he
is called Pthah," though the Greeks denominate
him Hephgestus, considering him merely as a phy
sical or artificial agent.
" Pthah is then the Lord of Truth, which was
itself deified under the form of the above-men
tioned Goddess ; and the connection between the
creative power and truth is a singular coincidence
in the Egyptian and Christian systems. He was
said to be sprung from an egg, produced from the
mouth of Neph, who was therefore considered his
father." At least, this is the account given by
Porphyry t, though the monuments of Egypt do
not tend to confirm it, nor does his description of
the form of that God agree with the ram-headed
Neph of the Egyptians. " The Scarabasus, or
beetle, was particularly sacred to him, and signified
the world, or all creation X ; and in consequence of
there being, as Plutarch § says, ' no females of this
species, but all males, they were considered fit
types of the creative power, self-acting and self-

* Vide supra, p. 189. and 217.
¦\ Firfe iMjora, p. 214. and 240.
X Conf. Horapollo, i. 12. § Plut. de Is. s. 10.

CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF PTHAH. 251
sufficient.' The beetle was also an emblem of
the Sun, being chosen, according to Horapollo*,
* from its having thirty fingers, equal to the num
ber of days in an (ordinary solar) month ; ' and
the frog was another symbol of Pthah, because,
as Horapollo says, ' it was the representative of
man in embryo,' that is, of the being, who, like the
world, was the work of the creative power, and the
noblest production of his hands."
"There are other characters t of Pthah, as
Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, and Pthah Tore ; but since
they are represented by the Egyptians as different
and separate Divinities, I have thought it better
to keep them apart from the God of whom they
were, perhaps, originally emanations," and treat of
them as distinct Deities. It is also possible, that
to Pthah, the creative power, were ascribed four or
more different offices, each being a separate form
of that Deity, as, 1. The creator of the universe
generally; 2. The creator ofthe world we inhabit;
3. The creator of all animal and vegetable life ;
and, 4. The creator of inankind.
The Greeks, as I have already stated, considered
the Pthah of Egypt the same as their Vulcan or
Hephsstus, and it is more than probable that their
idea of this Deity was derived from the Demiurge
in the Egyptian Pantheon ; the error they made
in the character of the opifex, or framer of the
world, proceeding from their degrading him to the
* HorapoUo, Hierog. i. 10. ; and Porphyry says, " Cantharum Soli
accommodatum." f The passages between inverted commas are extracted from my
Materia Hieroglyphica.

252 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
level of a mere physical agent, as lamblichus has
very properly remarked. According to Cicero,
there were several Deities who bore the name
of Vulcan, and one was reputed to be the son of
the Nile, from which we may infer his Egyptian
origin. The Greek name, according to Phurnutus,
is supposed to have been taken avo too ri^$ai, (sig
nifying to " burn ;") and other etymologies have
been oflPered by various writers ; but the word
Hephaestus, and still more the derivation suggested
by Phurnutus, sufficiently indicate the real root of
the name in the Egyptian Pthah.
The form of this Deity is generally a mummy,
not holding in his hands the flagellum and crook
of Osiris, but merely the emblems of life and
stability, with the staflp of purity; which last is
common to all the Gods, and to many of the
Goddesses, of Egypt. The absence of the fla
gellum and crook serves to distinguish him from
another Deity*, Khonso, the third member ofthe
Theban triad, even when his hieroglyphical name
is wanting; and this last has, in addition, a disk and
crescent, or short horns, on his head, which are not
given either to Pthah or Osiris.
The ordinary head-dress of Pthah, when in the
form of a mummy, is a close cap without any orna
ment ; but he occasionally wears a disk with the
lofty ostrich feathers of Osiris, and holds in each
hand a staflP of purity, in lieu of the emblems of sta
bility and life. The sculptures of the tombs also
represent Pthah bearing on his head, or clad in, the
* I have found one instance of Pthah with the flagellum and crook.

CHAP. XIII. PTHAH-SOKARI-OSIRIS. 253
symbol of stability, which is occasionally given to
Osiris ; showing how closely he is sometimes allied
to the character of that Deity. Pthah even appears
under the entire form of this emblem, which is sur
mounted by a winged scarab supporting a globe, or
Sun, and is itself supported by the arms of a man
kneeling on the heavens. I have also
met with an instance of the God * oc
cupied in drawing with a pen the figure
of Harpocrates, the emblem of youth ;
probably an allusion to the idea first
formed in the mind of the creator of
the being he was about to make.t
With regard to the adjunct Toses,
which is sometimes applied to his name,
I am inclined to believe it indicates an
attribute of the creative power, rather
than a diflPerent character of Pthah :
I have therefore preferred placing
sJfbiiity"'"™"' Pthah-Toses as one of the forms ofthe
same Deity. And, indeed, the commencement of
the word seems to relate to his office as creator
of the " world," which, in the Egyptian language,
was called " To." Pthah-Sokari-Osiris.
Pthah-Sokari-Osiris was that form of Pthah,
or Vulcan, particularly worshipped at Memphis.
* Vide Plate 23. fig. 5. Pthah is alone introduced in the plate. It is
from Dendera.
f If so they believed the first man to have commenced his career
in early youth, not as a full grown man ; like Jupiter, Hercules, and
other of the Gods of Greece.

254 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Herodotus* describes him as a pigmy figure, re
sembling the Pataikos, placed by the Phoenicians
at the prows of their vessels ; and says that Cam
byses, on entering the temple at Memphis, ridi
culed the contemptible appearance of the Egyptian
Hephaestus. Representations of this dwarf Deity
are frequently met with at Memphis and the
vicinity; and it appears that dwarfs and deformed
persons were held in consideration in this part
of Egypt, out of respect to the Deity of the
place. He usually has a Scarabaeus, his emblem,
on his head ; he sometimes holds the crook and
flagellum of Osiris ; and he frequently appears
with a hawk's head, both when worshipped in the
temples, and when placed on the sarcophagi of
the dead. I have even seen the lids of coffins
at Memphis formed in the shape of this Godt ; the
necklace, whose two extremities are surmounted by
a hawk's head, peculiarly belonged to Pthah-Sokari ;
and it is not impossible, that his name Sokar X
may be derived from the hawk. But this is merely
a conjecture. Besides the Scarabaeus and hawk, the
Capricorn also belonged to him, and the prow of his
boat or ark was ornamented with the head of that
animal. The ceremony of bearing this boat in solemn
procession was one of the most important of all
the rites practised by the Egyptians ; and the
* Herodot. iii. 37.
-j- Vide Chap. xvi. ; and PI. 24. a. figs. 2. and 5. ; and PI. 43. figs. 1.
and 2.
X The Egyptian God Soxnpis, mentioned in a verse of Cratinus, is, as
M. ChampoUion supposes, the same Deity. 1'ide Hesych. voc. Paamyles.

CHAP. XIII. BOAT OF SOKARI. 255
sanctity with which it was regarded by the whole
country is sufficiently indicated by the conspicuous
place it held in the temples of Thebes. Indeed,
I believe that it was nothing less than the hearse
of Osiris, and that this procession recorded the
funeral of that mysterious Deity ; a conjecture
strongly confirmed by the frequent occurrence of
the hawk-headed figure and name (Sokari-Osiris)
in those sculptures at Philse, which represent his
apotheosis, or rather his return from this world
to that state, whence he had come to manifest
himself for the benefit of mankind. It is, perhaps,
to this funeral ceremony that Athenagoras alludes,
when he says, " They not only show the sepulchre
of Osiris, but even his embalmed body." The
Deity under the form of Sokari is also carried
forth by the four Genii of Amenti, in the same
chamber at Philae ; where he appears to have passed
through this intermediate state, previous to his
assuming his final office of judge of the dead; and
his body being placed on a bier, within the same
boat or ark, seems to leave no doubt respecting
the truth of my conjecture.*
The deformed figure of this God probably gave
rise to the fable of the lameness of Vulcan in the
Greek mythology, who is represented to have been
thrown from heaven by Jupiter, and to have broken
his leg in falling upon the Isle of Lemnos.
Pthah-Sokari-Osiris is sometimes seated, at
tended by Isis, " the potent mother Goddess,"
who protects him with her wings ; he is then more
* Vide Plates of R. S. of Literature, PI. 68. and 69.

256 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
closely connected with Osiris than Pthah, of which
two Deities he unites the characters. He is fre
quently styled Sokari-Osiris, without the prefix
Pthah ; and it appears that he is then more par
ticularly connected with the passage of Osiris from
this life to another state, and his mysterious re
turn from his human to his divine nature.
Tore, or Pthah Tore.
Tore is another form of Pthah, to whom in this
character also the Scarabeeus was particularly
sacred. It stands for the first letter or syllable of
his name*, and may be emblematic of his office as
creator of the world, of which this insect was the
type. He was sometimes represented with the
Scarabaeus, in lieu of a head, either with closed or
outspread wings ; but his usual form was a human
figure with the head of a man, wearing the globe
of the Sun, and an asp, the emblem of kingly, or
divine Majesty. Batrachocephalus.
The frog-headed Deity is also a form of Pthah,
particularly in reference to his creation of man.
Horapollo tells us that "man in embryo was re
presented by a frog," and it was therefore con
sidered a fit symbol to form the base of the palm
branch of years, held by Thoth, as the Deity who
superintended the life of man. The arms in the
* Vide supra, p. 253.

CHAP. XIII. FROG-HEADED DEITIES.  KHEM. 257
hieroglyphic legend of the God Batrachocephalus,
also connect him with this notion ; they recal the
figure illustrative of human life which so frequently
occurs* on the monuments, and a man with arms
on his head is sometimes given as an emblem of
Pthah. Batrachocephale.
Of the peculiar office of this Goddess, I am
ignorant. She has a frog's head, without the
scarab ofthe former Deity ; and it is probable that
she is only an Emanation of Pthah, or in a sub
ordinate capacity among the Genii, or lower order
of Gods. Khem, Chemmo, Pan.
Khemt, the generative principle, particularly
worshipped at Chemmis or PanopoIis,'and, according
to the evidence of Diodorus t and the sculptures,
" treated with marked reverence by all the Egyp
tians," was another of the deified attributes of the
almighty founder ofthe Universe, and, as Herodotus
justly observes, one of the eight great Gods. His
office was not confined to the procreation and con
tinuation of the human species, but extended even
to the vegetable world, over which he presided;
whence we find his statue accompanied by trees and
plants, and Kings offering to him the herbs of the

* The same as on the cover of this book.
-{¦ Pronounced Kham. X DioJor. i. 18.
VOL. I. — Second Series. S

258 THE ancient EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
ground, cutting the corn before him, or employed
in his presence tilling the land, and preparing it to
receive the generating influence of the Deity. It
was from this circumstance, that the Greeks and
Romans assigned to Priapus the office of presiding
over their gardens * ; and the idea of his frightening
away thieves with his right handt, was probably
derived from the flagellum placed over the uplifted
arm ofthe Egyptian Khem.
It is also possible that the Hermes figures, placed
on the public roads, were borrowed from one ofthe
mummy-formed Gods of Egypt. All statues in
Greece, before the time of Dsedalus, were similarly
rude imitations of the human figure, the legs being
united, and the arms attached to the body ; but we
may reasonably suppose that some other reason be
yond the mere retention of ancient custom induced
them to give to these statues alone so remarkable a
form ; and it is evident that the Hermes figures bear
a stronger resemblance to the Egyptian mummy
than to a statue ofthe ancient Greek style. From

* Hor. Epod. ii. 17.
" Vel, quum decorum mitibus pomis caput
Autumnus arvis extulit,
Ut gaudet insitiva decerpens pyra,
Certantem et uvam purpuras.
Qua muneretur te, Priape, et te, pater
Silvane, tutor finium."
A figure of Priapus, engraved by Boissart, has this inscription,
" Hortorum custodi, vigili, conservatori propaginis villicorum." Banier
Myth. iv. p. 453.
t Conf. Hor. Sat. L viii. 3.
" Deus inde ego, furium aviumque
Maxima forraido ; nam fiires dextra coercet,
Ast importunas volucre.s in vertice arundo
Terrct fixa, vetatque novis considere in hortis."

CHAP. XIII. NAME OF KHEM. 259
their name, it might be inferred that they were pe
culiar to the God Mercury ; but this depended on
the head they bore ; those with the face of Apollo
being styled Hermapollos ; of Minerva, Herma-
thenas ; and others, according to their respective
combinations. The Hermes figure was therefore
the exclusive name given to statues of a peculiar
form, and not to those of Mercury alone. For,
besides the fact of the latter being represented in
a perfect form like the other Gods, we find from
Cicero, that these Hermes statues were forbidden
to be erected upon a tomb, which would seem to
be the most appropriate situation for a figure of
Mercury, the Deity to whom the care of the dead
was particularly confided.
In one of several groups of hieroglyphics signi
fying " Egypt," a tree is introduced as the symbol
of that country ; but whether any peculiar tree was
sacred to the God Khem, or its name resembled
the word " Chemi" (Egypt), I will not pretend
to decide ; trees of the same form, as that occur
ring in the name of Egypt*, accompany the shrine
of the Godt, and they may be emblems both of
the country, and ofthe Deity whose name it bore.
For Egypt was denominated "Chemi (Khemi), or
the land of Ham," as we find in the hieroglyphic
legends ; and the city of Khem, or Panopolis, was
called in Egyptian Chemmo, of which evident
traces are preserved in that of the modern town
* See the Rosetta stone. Vide Vol. II. p. 186. ; also. Chap, xiii..
Name ofthe Goddess Xriiit, or Egypt, and the Woodcut.
f Vide Plate 26. behind the figure of the God.
s 2

260 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
E'Khmim.* Indeed, thenameof the God appears
from the hieroglyphics to have been Chemmo or
Khemot, and when in the character of Amunre-
Generator, the title of Khemo is added to that of
Amun. Plutarch sayst that " the leaf of the fig tree re
presented both their King Osiris, as well as their
native country ;" and it is possible that this notion
was founded upon the circumstance of the fig
tree itself being the symbol of Egypt ; but from
what he afterwards says of the Priapean character
of Osiris, we may conclude he has confounded that
Deity with the God Khem. If this be true, the
tree above mentioned may be the fig, or more pro
bably the Ficus sycomorus ; and the conventional
form adopted by the Egyptians for this and all
trees, excepting the palm, Dom, pomegranate, and
a few others, appears to justify this conjecture.
The sycomore was particularly sacred to the
Goddess Netpe, as the Persea to Athor ; but these
I shall have occasion to mention hereafter.
The assertion of Herodotus§, that the Egyptians
represented the God Pan, like the Greeks, with
the head and legs of a goat, applies neither to the
God Khem, nor to any other Deity in the Egyptian
* It is singular, that this town should have had the name given to
the whole country of "Khemi; " and another, Coptos (Koft or Kebt),
have retained that of " Egypt," which is Gypt with a prefixed letter or
diphthong. f May not the name OK-fa/^jjf, said by Diodorus oi-iginally to have
been given to the Nile, be taken from the word x"/", black? The river
in early times also bore the name of Egvpt. Vide supra Vol I p 8
Diod. i. 19,
X Plut. do Is. s. 36. ^ Herodot. ii. 46.

CHAP. XIII. HAM, KHEM, MIZRAIM. 261
Pantheon *, and is as little worthy of credit as the
statement he afterwards makes respecting an occur
rence in the Mendcsian nome ; where he also states
that " the Goat and the God Pan both have the
name Mendes in the Egyptian language." The
description of the God worshipped at Panopolis,
given by Stephanos of Byzantium t, accords exactly
with the Egyptian Pan, or Khem, which the learned
Prichard has supposed to be " Osiris or Horus,"
and it is Khem, and not Mendes, to whom belong
the attributes ofthe God of Generation.
The Hebrew word Ham is identical with the
Egyptian Khem, Dn being properly written Khm,
Kham, or Khem ; and is the same which the
Egyptians themselves gave to their country, in
the sculptures of the earliest and latest periods.
The Bible also applies to Egypt the name of
Mizraim (or Mitzrim), a dual or plural word,
which, as I have before observedt, seems to refer
to the two regions of Egypt, the Upper and Lower
country, over which the Pharaohs are always said
in their regal titles to hold dominion. It is, how
ever, remarkable that the word itself does not
occur in hieroglyphics, though traced in the mo
dern name Musr or Misr, by which both Cairo
and Egypt are known at this day.
According to the scriptural account§ ofthe peo
pling of the world by the sons of Noah, it appears
* Vide infra, Mandoo.
-f Stephanus says, " Ectt-i k«i tov Geou ayaXfia f-ieya, opQumov €xov to
aiduLOv' hiraipti re iiaffnyag r^; ^e^i^ freXrjrij, ijc EidwXov ^aaiv ctvai tov
nava." Voc. Ilavoe TToXig, Vide Prichard, p. 120.
X Vide supra. Vol. I. p. 2. § Gen. x. 6.
s 3

262 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
that Ham (Khem) colonised the lands of Cush
(Ethiopia), Mizraim Lower Egypt and the Thebaid,
Phut Libya ?, and Canaan Syria ; the four being
mentioned as " sons of Ham ;" which may refer
to the migration of an Asiatic tribe to those coun
tries, and tend to confirm my opinion respecting
the Oriental origin of the inhabitants of the valley
of the Nile. Ham or Khem may have been the
original name of that tribe which settled in the
two districts called Mizraim ; and the Egyptians
may have retained the appellation which they had
as conquerors, in preference to that of the country
they occupied.
The progeny of Cush is equally remarkable.
Cush * is the name of Ethiopia, both in Scripture,
and in the hieroglyphics of the earliest periods ;
and was applied to that country lying above the
second cataracts t, inhabited, as at present, by
a copper-coloured race. After the Bible has
enumerated the sons of Cush, it mentions an
offset in Nimrod, who founded the kingdom of
" Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calmeh in
the land of Shinar," from which country the Assy
rian founders of Nineveh emigrated. X This con
nection between an African and Asiatic Ethio
pian race, is the more remarkable, as the same is
noticed by profane writers : the Ethiopian Mem-
* In Hebrew it signifies " blackness," therefore applied to the " black
country," like the word Ethiopia.
f Tirhakah was King of Cush. 2 Kings, xix. 9. The capital of Tir-
hakah's dominion was at El Bcrkil, the ancient Napata. Sulpitius
Severus calls him Tirchac.
X Genes, x. 8. 10.

CHAP. XIII. ETHIOPIANS.  CHEMI. 263
non was said * to be a general of Teutamis, the
twenty-first King of ^**2/rm after Semirami.s, and
to have been sent with a force of 10,000 Ethiopians,
and the same number of Susans, to assist Priam,
when Troy was besieged ; and the Cushites of
Africa are also called Ethiopians.
Besides the hieroglyphic group composed of the
tree above alluded to, indicating Egypt, was one
consisting of an eye and the sign land which bore
the same signification t; and, since the pupil or
black of the eye was called Chemi, we may con
clude this to be a phonetic mode of writing the
name of Egypt, which Plutarch X pretends was
called Chemmia from the blackness^ of its soil.
To the God Khem, the Egyptians dedicated
their ex-votos in the quarries of the Kossayr road ;
nor were temples and votive inscriptions put up in
honour of Sarapis till the time of the Romans, and
in a few instances during the reigns of the Ptole
maic Kings. In the Greek ex-votos he is styled
the " Pan of Thebes," but the hieroglyphic in
scriptions have not the title Amunre, though it is
probable that in this character he was the same as
Amunre-Generator. || I should not be surprised to
find that the name of Khem was that for which
Amunre was substituted ; in which case, these
would be two characters of Khem, instead of
* Diodor. ii. 22. f Vide the name of the Goddess Xrjju.
X Plut. de Is. s. .33.
J Chame is " black " in Coptic, Egypt is Chemi ; and it is remarkable
that Khom or Chom QIP) is used in Hebrew for " black " or " brown,"
as in Gen. xxx. 32, 33. 35. and 40.
II Vide supra, p. 247.
S 4

264 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Amun-re. * Either this may have been the case, or
the original legend may have contained a name of
the Deity, which in after times was deemed too sa
cred to be exposed to the eyes of the profane, when
the uninitiated had become acquainted with the
previously occult meaning of hieroglyphic writing.
Khem was considered the generating influence
of the Sun, whence perhaps the reason of his being
connected with Amunre : and in one of the hie
roglyphic legends accompanying his name he is
styled the Sun ; that is, the procreating power of
the only source of warmth, which assists in the
continuation of the various created species. I have
twice found hieroglyphic legends stating him to be
" engendered by the Sun," and in another he is
called the " Son of Isis," which might seem to
deny him a place among the eight great Gods ;
but these may refer to a distinct office he was sup
posed to bear on some occasions, and his intimate
connection with Amun-re fully establishes his claim
to the rank Herodotus has given him in the Egyp
tian Pantheon, t " The Greeks," says the historian,
" consider Hercules, Bacchus, and Pan as the most
modern of their Gods; the Egyptians, on the con
trary, look upon Pan as very ancient, holding a rank
among the first eight Deities ; Hercules they place
in the number of the twelve, called the second
order ; and Bacchus ranks with those of the third
order, who are engendered by the twelve."
It is not improbable, then, that Khem was also
* Vide supra, p. 24+, f Herodot. ii. 145.

CHAP. XIII. THE GODDESS THRIPHIS. 265
considered by the Egyptians the generating prin
ciple of nature itself; and this will accord with the
idea they entertained of his extending his imme
diate influence over all the animal and vegetable
world. On the Kossayr road I have met with a
tablet in which the God Khem is represented as a
hawk, with human legs, and an arm holding up the
usual flagellum, his head crowned with the long
feathers of Amun ; but this is an unusual form of
the Deity, and of uncertain date.
Thriphis was the favourite and contemplar com
panion of Khem, as well at Panopolis, as in the
temple of Athribis or Crocodilopolis, whose ruins
are still seen to the westward of Soohag. She
appears to be one of the Goddesses represented
with a lion's head ; but I have been unable exactly
to ascertain her attributes and office.
The Greek inscription at Athribis* designates
the town by the same name, Thriphis. It is still
called by the Arabs Atrib, and by the Copts Athrebi ;
and the honours with which the Goddess was there
worshipped may be inferred from the dimensions
of her temple, 200 feet in length and 175 in breadth.
Part of the inscription is lost, but may be easily
restored ; and the name of the Emperor mentioned
in it occurs also in the hieroglyphics, which on the
other face of the same architrave present the ovals
of Tiberius Claudius Caesar (Germanicus ?). In
the Greek is the name of the Empress Julia, the
* The Arab tradition, mentioned by the historian Macrizi, ofthe four
sons of Mizraim, — Oshmun, Atrib, Sa, and Koft, — is, like many others
which abound iu Egypt, in order to account for the names of cities.

266 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
widow of Agrippa and daughter of Augustus, with
the date of the 9th year of Tiberius, which shows
that her death could not have happened as early
as is generally supposed. The dedication to " the
most great Goddess Thriphis," and the mention
of " Apollonius prefect of the city of Thriphis,"
show them both to have borne the same name ; as
the ovals of Ptolemy the eldest son of Auletes, which
occur in another part of the building, prove that
the foundation of the temple dated before the Em
pire, and that the inscription of Tiberius was only
attached to repairs or additions made during his
reign. The Greek inscription at Panopolis is of the
time of Trajan. It has the date of his 1 2th year,
and mentions Pan and Thriphis as the chief Deities
ofthe place.
The story of Pan having been the lieutenant-
general of Osiris, in his Indian expedition, and by
the fright he caused to the enemy having given
rise to the expression "Panic terrors," is an idle
legend, which, too, cannot apply to the Pan of
Egypt. It is mentioned by Plutarch and Polyenus.
Sate, Juno.
The Goddess Sate, or Juno, always accompanies
Neph in the ex-votos at the Cataracts of Syene,
and the Island of Sehayl ; where she forms the
second member of a triad composed of Neph,
Sate, and Anouke. This triad frequently occurs
on diflPerent monuments in the vicinity of Syene,
it being customary for every town to assign a con-

CHAP. XIII. SATE, JUNO. 267
spicuouspost in their temples to the chief Deities,
and to the peculiar triad, worshipped by their
neighbours, as a mark of respect not only to the
Gods, but to the inhabitants of the adjoining
districts. And the general adoration paid to the
principal member of this triad throughout Nubia,
readily accounts for its constant occurrence in the
temples between the first and second cataracts. At
Dakkeh, the manner in which it is mentioned over
one ofthe doors is remarkable ; the Ethiopian King
Ergamun being styled, on one side, " Son of Neph,
born of Sate, nursed by Anouke," and on the other,
" Son of Osiris, born of Isis, nursed by Nephthys."
The Island of Sehayl was formerly called Sete, a
name not unlike that ofthe Egyptian Juno, — and
a Greek inscription there mentions the dedication
of a temple to the above-mentioned triad. In
another, inscribed upon a column at the granite
quarries of Caracalla, near Syene, Jupiter-Hammon-
Cenubis and Juno are said to preside over the
hill near whose summit it was erected; but these
would not have been sufficient to identify the
Goddess, had not the sculptures presented the
name of an arrow (which, piercing a standard, forms
her hieroglyphics) written in phonetic characters,
and expressing the word Sate. Horapollo affirms
that Juno (Sate) presided over the lower part of
heaven, and Neith (Athena) over the upper hemi
sphere ; but it is possible that he may have con
founded Neith with Netpe ; though some con
firmation of his remark may be derived from the
fact of the cap worn by Neith signifying, in hiero-

268 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
glyphics, " Upper Egypt," and that of Sate, the
" Lower country."
Horapollo is fully borne out by the hieroglyphics
in what he afterwards says, — that " the Egyptians
think it absurd to designate the heaven in the mas
culine TOV ovpavov, but represent it in the feminine
T-^v oupavov," "inasmuch as the generation ofthe
Sun and Moon and the rest of the stars is per
fected in it, which is the peculiar property of a
female." *
The marriage of Jupiter with his sister Juno, in
Greek mythology, was probably derived from the
story of Osiris and Isis, who were also brother and
sister and the children of Seb, considered by the
Greeks the same as Saturn ; but the confusion
caused by their judging of the identity of their own
and the Egyptian Deities from casual analogies is so
great, that to Jupiter alone are attributed legendary
tales taken from Amun, Neph, and Osiris.
The statues of the Greek Juno were not always
confined to one particular form ; and to that God
dess were sometimes given the attributes of Pallas,
of Diana, of Venus, of Nemesis, of the Fates, and
other Divinities. In this respect they resembled
many of the Deities of Egypt, who, as already
observed t, borrowed each other's attributes, and
could only then be recognised by the hieroglyphic
legend placed above them.
The Goddess Sate does not appear to have
played so important a part in Egyptian mythology

*

HorapoUo, i. 11. f Vide supra, p. 2i4:,

CHAP. XIII. GODDESSES OF THE THEBAID. 269
as the Juno of Greece. Nor will I pretend to decide
if she presided over marriages : and little is known
of her from the accounts of ancient writers. Dio
dorus *, Horapollo, and some other authors merely
make a cursory mention of the Egyptian Juno, and
little dependance can be placed on what Manetho
relates concerning her. According to Porphyry t,
the priest of Sebennytus states that three men
were daily sacrificed to the Juno of Egypt, after
having been examined like the clean calves chosen
for the altar ; which ceremony was abolished by
order of Amosis. And to this Plutarch alludes,
when he says, " We are informed by Manetho,
that they were formerly wont, in the city of Idi-
thyat, to burn men alive, giving them the name
of Typhos, and winnowing their ashes through a
sieve : which sacrifices were performed in public,
and at a stated season of the year, — in the dog-
days." If, indeed, this were ever the case, it
could only have been at a very remote period, long
before the Egyptians were the civilised nation we
know them from their monuments ; as I shall have
occasion to show in treating ofthe Sacrifices. §
According to Herodotus, the great Goddesses
of Egypt were Neith (Minerva), Buto (Latona),
Bubastis (Diana), and Isis ; the Greeks having
become acquainted with their names, from being
worshipped in Lower Egypt ; and to their igno-
* Diodor. i. 13. 15. t Porphyr. de Abst. ii. 55.
X Probably liethya or Eilethyia, the city of Lucina, a title given to
the Greek Juno. Plut. de Is. s. 73.
^ Vide infra, on Sacrifices, Chap. xiv.

270 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
ranee of the Deities of the Thebaid may be at
tributed their silence respecting Maut, the great
Goddess of Thebes, and Sate, the second member
ofthe triad of Elephantine.
Sate was represented as a female figure, wearing
on her head the cap or crown of the Upper Coun
try, from which projected the horns of a Cow: and
in her hand she holds the usual sceptre of the
Egyptian Goddesses.
Another Goddess appears also to lay claim to
the name of Sate ; but her form and character
differ from those of the Egyptian Juno ; and she
seems rather to represent the Western bank ofthe
Nile. * From her occurring frequently in tombs,
it is probable that she had some office in Amenti.
Indeed, the evident connection, and the similarity
in the name, of Amenti, " the lower regions," and
Ement, " the West," are remarkable ; and the idea
of the end of the world being in the West, as its
commencement in the East, is thus noticed by
Plutarch: — The Egyptians make "a sacred dirge
or lamentation over Osiris, bewailing him who was
born on the right side of the world, and who
perished on the left. For it must be observed
that the Egyptians look upon the East as the front
or face of the world, upon the North as its right
side, and upon the South as its left."t

* Vide Plate 53. Part 3. ; infi-d. Chap. xiii.
f Plut. de Is. s. 32. The Arabs call the North the left, being on
their left as they look towards the East, or towards Mekkeh.

chap. xiii. maut, mother. 271
Maut, Mother, Nature ?.
This Goddess was the second member of the
Theban triad. Her name Maut, or Tmau *, signifies
" mother ; " and though many Divinities, as Isis,
Netpe, and others, have the title " Mother God
dess," the name Maut was peculiarly applied to
the one before us, who may with much reason be
supposed to represent in this capacity Nature, the
mother of all. From the presence of the Vulture
in her hieroglyphics, she has been supposed the
same as Neith (Minerva) ; but that bird is merely
a phonetic character signifying " mother," and not
an emblem of the Goddess herself. For the Vul
ture, as Horapollo observes t, being the peculiar
type of a female, and of maternity, " the Egyptians,
whenever they wish to designate a mother, repre
sent this bird."
Some may be disposed to identify her with Buto,
the Latona of Egypt, and imagine that the name
she bears refers to the office she held in the creation
of the world, or to her duties as nurse of Horus.
Some indeed have confounded Buto with Minerva,
who was said to have been the tutor of Bacchus.1:
The oracle of Buto was one of the most ce
lebrated in the world, and the honours rendered
this Goddess by the Egyptians were doubtless
very great, since, as Herodotus states, they had
greater veneration for her oracle §, than that of

* Or Man, t being the female sign. f HorapoUo, i. II.
X Diodor. iii. 69. i Herodot. ii. 83.

272 the ancient Egyptians, chap. xiii.
any other Deity. " It is consecrated to her," says
the historian *, " in a large city (also called Buto)
situated near the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile.
You pass it in going from the sea by that branch
of the river. It contains several temples; — of
Apollo, of Diana, and of Latona. In this last the
oracles are delivered. It is of very great size, having
porticos 10 orgyes (fathoms) in height. But of
all that I observed within the enclosure sacred to
Latona, the chapel of the Goddess caused me the
greatest surprise. Its sides are of a single stone,
square both ways, measuring in length and breadth
40 cubits ; and another block, whose thickness is
4 cubits, forms the roof. Nothing, in fact, in the
whole of this consecrated spot is more worthy of
admiration. Next to this is the Isle of Chemmis,
situated in a deep and spacious lake near the
temple of Latona at Buto. According to the
Egyptians, it is a floating island ; but I confess I
neither saw it float, nor even move, and I was
much surprised to hear that any islands did float.
In it is a large chapel of Apollo, with three altars.
The soil produces a number of palm and other
trees without culture, some of which bear fruit.
"The following reason is given by the Egyp
tians for its floating. Latona, one of the eight
most ancient Divinities, who lived at Buto, where
her oracle now is, having been charged by Isis
with the care of Apollo, concealed him in this
island, which is now called the Floating Island,
* Herodot. ii. 155. Firfe also, ii. 75. Strabo, xvii. p. 551.

chap. xiii. buto PRIM.EVAL DARKNESS. 273
though formerly fixed and stationary. She pre
served him there in safety, while Typhon was
searching every where for the son of Osiris : for
they say that Apollo and Diana are born of Bac
chus and Isis, and that Latona was their nurse and
preserver. Apollo is called Orus (Horus) in Egyp
tian ; Ceres is Isis ; and Diana, Bubastis."
Ofthe form and attributes ofthe Egyptian Latona
we are completely ignorant. It is far from certain
that Maut and Buto are two characters of the same
Deity; and unfortunately the sculptures of her tem
ple, mentioned by Herodotus, are no longer in ex
istence to clear up the difficulty. But if Strabo be
correct in stating that the mygale or shrew mouse
was worshipped at Athribis, it is very probable that
the lion-headed Goddess Thriphis *, who gave her
name to that city, was the same as the Egyptian
Latona. The mygale is universally allowed to have
been sacred to Buto t : it was buried in the city
of that name: and if the Egyptians really assigned
the reason mentioned by Plutarch for the worship
of this animal, we may believe that the Goddess
Buto represented, as M. ChampoUion supposes, the
darkness which covered the deep. " The mygale,"
says that writer, "received divine honours by the
Egyptians, because it is blind, and darkness is more
ancient than light." X
This idea of night being older than day was

* Strabo, xvii. p. 559. Ilde supra, p, 265. ; and infra. Chap xiv., on
the Mygale.
+ Herodot. ii. 67.
X Plut. Sympos. iv. Qusest. 5. Vide Gen. i. 2. and 3.
VOL. I. — Second Series. T

274 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
very ancient, and commonly entertained. We find
in Genesis, that " the evening and the morning
were the first day ;" which is retained to the pre
sent time by the Arabs, in the expression layl oo
nahr, " night and day."
" The Egyptians," says Damascius, "celebrated
unknown darkness as the one principle of the
universe. * " According to Hesiod, from chaos
arose Erebus and black night : from night, Mthev
and day t : " and Aristotle tells us, " the theolo
gians consider all things to be born from night." t
Aristophanes makes " chaos, night, Erebus, and
Tartarus the first ;" and in the Orphean Fragments
we find, " I will sing of Night, the genitor of Gods
and men ; Night the genesis of all things." The
Anglo-Saxons also, like Eastern nations, began their
computations of time from night, and the year from
that day corresponding with our Christmas, which
they called " Mother Night § ; " and " the Otahei-
tans refer the existence of their principal Deities
to a state of darkness, which they consider the
origin of all things."
This darkness was not, however, the same as
night, or evening, in the ordinary acceptation of
the word, when the Sun withdraws its light from
the earth, but that primaeval night, or darkness,
from which all created nature had its commence
ment. And if Buto represented darkness the

* Vide Cory, p. 320.
•|- Hesiod. Theogon. V. ]23. Vidcsuprn, p. 218.
;|; Vide Metaph. xii. 0. ; and Aristoph. Birds.
j Vide Cory, p. 320.

CHAP. XIII. POPULAR TALES. 27<5
companion of chaos, or " night the genesis of all
things," another Goddess claimed the post of night,
who, under the name of Athor, received the Sun
into her arms, as he retired behind the Western
mountain, of which she was the presiding Deity.
Porphyry and others seem to confound the two,
and suppose Latona to be the atmosphere, which
appears light and dark beneath the Moon ; de
riving the name of Leto from the forgetfulness
caused by sleep during the night, over which they
suppose her to preside.
This, like many other mysteries, being clothed
by the Egyptian priests in the guise of a po
pular tale, suited to the comprehension of the
people, was placed beyond the reach of the unin
structed or the profane ; and the sanctity of the
mygale was attributed to the protection it aflPorded
to Latona, who, under its form, eluded the pursuit
of Typho.
It is this custom of explaining the nature of the
Gods in two diflPerent ways, — the one intended for
the instruction ofthe initiated, the other to satisfy
the profanum vulgus, who were excluded from
all participation in metaphysical truths, which has
been the cause of so much apparent contradiction
in the character of the Egyptian Deities ; and we
may readily conceive the labyrinth into which the
human mind was led by similar explanations. But
the object of the priests was obtained by these
means. For, since they presented no difficulties to
the comprehension of a superstitious people, they
had the appearance of truth, and effectually pre-
T 2

276 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
vented their indulging in speculation upon the
religion they were taught to obey.
Maut is represented as a female figure wearing
on her head the Pshent, or double crown, of the
Upper and Lower countries, placed upon a cap
ornamented with the head, body, and wings of a
vulture. This Pshent is not worn by her as by the
Kings, the one crown placed within the other, but
side by side, — a mode of arranging it adopted also
by Atmoo and some other Deities. Instances also
occur of Maut with the head of a lion, or of a cat.
She probably, then, has the attributes of Pasht or
Bubastis, or of Thriphis above mentioned. But it
is frequently difficult to ascertain whether these
heads are of a lion or of a cat ; even the ears are
not always a sufficient guide, though generally the
latter are erect and pointed, and the others round.
The black basalt sitting figures in the British
Museum, and other European collections, represent
the Egyptian Bubastis.
The hieroglyphical name of Buto I have as yet
been unable to determine; it may possibly be that
given in the accompanying Woodcut, which fre-
If It r^ ;t

ti

i
A name probably of Buto, or of Bubastis.

quently occurs in Lower Egypt over a Goddess
with a cat's head, unless, indeed, it be another
form ofthe name Bubastis.

chap. xiii. temple of bubastis. 277
Pasht, Bubastis, Diana.
This Goddess was principally worshipped in
the Delta and Lower Egypt. Great honours were
also paid her in the Upper Country, and at Thebes
her figure holds a conspicuous place among the
contemplar Deities. The city of Bubastis, where
she was particularly adored, stood E. of the Delta,
and at a short distance from the Pelusiac bi'anch
of the Nile, where lofty mounds, called Tel Basta,
still mark its site. " Here," sa3's Herodotus *,
" is a temple of Bubastis deserving of mention.
Other temples are larger and more magnificent,
but none more beautiful than this. The Goddess
Bubastis is the same as the Greek Diana. Her
temple stands in an island surrounded on all sides
by water, except at the entrance passage. Two
separate canals lead from the Nile to the entrance,
which, diverging to the right and left, surround
the temple. They are about 100 feet broad, and
planted with trees. The vestibule is 10 orgyes
(fathoms) high, ornamented with very fine figures 6
cubits in height. The temple stands in the centre
of the town, and in walking round the place you
look down upon it on every side, in consequence
of the foundations of the houses having been ele
vated, and the temple still continuing on its original
level. The sacred enclosure is encompassed by a
wall, on which a great number of figures are sculp
tured ; and within it is a grove, planted round the
cella of the temple, with trees of a considerable
# Herodot. ii. 138.
T 3

278 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
height. In the cella is the statue ofthe Goddess.
The sacred enclosure is a stadium (600 feet) in
length, by the same in breadth. The street which
corresponds with the entrance ofthe temple crosses
the public square, goes to the East, and leads to
the temple of Mercury ; it is about three stades
long and four plethra (400 feet) large, paved *,
and planted on either side with large trees."
Bubastis is represented with the head of a lioness
or a cat, and to her the latter was peculiarly sa
cred. On her head she bears a disk, from which
rises the Uraeus, or royal Asp, and in her hand she
holds the usual sceptre of the Egyptian Goddesses.
From the difficulty above stated of distinguishing
between the cat and lion headed figures, doubts
sometimes arise respecting the form of the Egyp
tian Diana : though it appears that she took the
head of both those animals. The Goddess of the
Speos Artemidos i is represented in the hierogly
phics by a lioness X ; and if it be true that the wolf
and jackal were dedicated to one Deity, Anubis,
we can with equal reason suppose the lion and cat
to have been emblems of the same Goddess.
In the bronze figures of Pasht, more care seems
to have been taken to distinguish between the lion
and the cat, the head of the latter being evidently
given to this Goddess. They sometimes represent
her holding a sistrum in her right hand, and in her
left the head of a lion surmounted by a disk and
asp ; sometimes with a basket upon her arm ; but
* At Dimmay or Nerba, in the Fyoom, is a paved causeway leading
through the town to the temple, though smaller than this of Bubastis"
+ Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 379.
i Vide Plate 27. Part 2. Hierog. No. 3.

CHAP. XIII. FETE OF BUBASTIS. 279
they are frequently of a late date, and the attri
butes they present are less to be depended upon
than the sculptures of the ancient monuments.
One of the principal festivals of the Egyptians
was held at Bubastis in honour of Pasht ; and He
rodotus* considers that they took a greater interest
in it than in any of the numerous fetes annually
celebrated in Egypt. " This," says the historian,
"is the nature of the ceremony on the way to
Bubastis. They go by water, and numerous boats
are crowded with persons of both sexes. During
the voyage, several women strike the crotala f,
while some menplay the flute ; the rest, both men
and women, singing and clapping their hands. As
they pass near a town, they bring the boat close
to the bank. Some ofthe women continue to sing
and play the crotala; others cry out as long as they
can, and utter reproaches against the people of the
town, who begin to dance, while the former pull
up their clothes before them in a scoffing manner.
The same is repeated at every town they pass upon
the river. Arrived at Bubastis, they celebrate the
festival of Diana, sacrificing a great number of
victims ; and on that occasion, a greater consump
tion of wine takes place than during the whole of
the year ; for, according to the accounts of the
people themselves, no less than 700,000 persons of
both sexes are present, besides children."
• * Herodot. ii. 59, 60.
-j- Vide supra, Vol. Ii. p. 317, 318. The crotala were either cymbals,
or a sort of clapper of wood or metal. Perhaps the same as the cylin
drical maces mentioned in Vol. II. p. 257. Conf. Propert. iv. Eleg. ix. 13.
" Nile, tuus tibicen erat crotalistria PhiUis."
T 4

280 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Pasht, or Bubastis, is a member ofthe great triad
of Memphis, and the usual companion of Pthah ; by
whom she is said, in the hieroglyphic legends, to be
" beloved." Herodotus considers her the daughter
of Bacchus (Osiris t) and Isis. Were this true,
she could not hold a rank among the eight great
Deities, but those of the third or even fourth order;
and his assertion is fully disproved by the exalted
character she bears in the temples of Thebes.
This error I believe to have arisen from the sup
posed identity of Horus (the son of Osiris) and
the Sun, or the Apollo of the Greeks, whose sister
Diana was reputed to be. Horus the elder, whom
they called Aroeris, was brother of Osiris, and said
to be the same as the Sun ; whence he also was
considered by the Greeks to answer to Apollo.
But it was the younger Horus who was the son of
Isis and Osiris, and he had no sister ; nor, indeed,
could Bubastis have been the sister ofthe Egyptian
Aroeris. Another mistake respecting this Goddess
arose from the idea that Isis was the same as the
Moon ; and the relationship of Isis and her brother
Aroeris confirmed the Greeks in this erroneous
fancy. Isis, however, was distinct from the Moon ;
she was in no way connected with Bubastis ; and the
latter Goddess was not the representative' of that
luminary. Ovid has reported the fabulous story ofthe Egyp
tian Diana (if, indeed, she can be called by that
name) assuming the form of a cat, to avoid the
* Herodot. ii. 156.

CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF DIANA. 281
enmity of Typho.* But Juvenal has banished her
from the Pantheon of Egypt : "Oppida tota canem
venerantur, nemo Dianam," not, as the learned
Prichard supposes, because " her worship had been
discontinued, or had sunk into obscurity, before
Egypt fell under the Roman yoke," but because
Juvenal, in common with so many other persons
who visited the country, was ignorant of the na
ture of its religion. The Greeks, indeed, gave to
Diana three different characters. As the Moon,
she was Lucina ; as Goddess of the Chace, Diana ;
as a Deity of the lower regions, Proserpine or
Hecate. Hence the poets styled her ^'trifor-
mis ;" and they sometimes represented her with
three headst, — that on the right being of a horse,
that on the left of a dog, and that in the middle
of a wild boar, — though Pausaniast thinks this
custom neither ancient nor universal. But the
form and attributes of nearly all the Greek Deities
were very uncertain ; and Cicero has shown how
confused were their genealogies and origin. He
even confesses that the mode of representing them
depended on the caprice of painters and fabulists §,
who committed the palpable absurdity of repre
senting the Gods subject to anger, lust, and other
bad passions, and exposed to the infirmities of
human nature.
* " Fele soror Phoebi . . . latuit . . . Cyllenius ibidis alis." Ovid .
Met. lib. V. 330.
f Virg. jEn. lib.iv. 511.
" Tergeminamque Hecatem, tria virginis ora Dianse."
t Pans, in Corinth, c. 30.
9 Cicero (Nat. Deor.) says, " Nos Deos omnes ea facie novimus,
qua pictores fictoresque voluerunt."

282 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII
The idea of a connection existing between Pasht
and Hecate seems to be in some degree authorised
by the sculptures of the Egyptian temples, since
we find the hieroglyphical name of the latter at
tached to the Goddess before us * ; and the cha
racter and title of Hecate were also applied to
Maut and Isis.
Another reason that the Moon in the Egyptian
mythology could not be related to Bubastis, is,
that it was a male and not a female Deity, per
sonified in the God Thoth. This was also the
case in some religions ofthe West. The Romans
recognised the God Lunus ; and the Germans,
like the Arabs, to this day, consider the Moon
masculine, and not feminine, as were the Selene
and Luna of the Greeks and Latins.

Neith, Minerva.
Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, was particularly
worshipped at Sais t, in the Delta ; Pausanias pre
tends that Minerva at Thebes was styled Onka,
as in Phoenician, and Sais in other parts of Egypt ;
but it is evident that she was called Neith, both in
the Upper and Lower Country; and Platot and
Eratosthenes are correct in stating this to be her
Egyptian name. " There is," says the former, " a

* Plate 27. Part 2. Hierog. No. 2.
•|- Cicero is correct in saying, " Minerva secunda, orta Nilo, quam
^gyptii SaitEE colunt." Nat. Deor. iii. p. 248.
X " HoXeiog (i. e. Sais)S£oc apxvyoe i^riv, Aiyv-n-TiirTi jitv rovvojia NijiO,
'E\\j)vi(rri St, wc c iKtivoiv Xoyog, AOrjva." Plato in Timteo, p. 1043. ed .
Franc.

CHAP. XIII. NEITH. — SAIS. 283
certain nome of Egypt in the Delta, called Saitic,
whose capital is the city of Sais, the birthplace
of King Amasis. The founder of this city was a
Goddess, whom the Egyptians call Neith, the
Greeks Minerva ; and its inhabitants are very much
attached to the Athenians, to whom they consider
themselves in some degree related." *
Stephanus of Byzantium, Hesychius, and others,
agree with Plutarch in saying that the Minerva of
Thebes had the appellation of Onka ; and it is
worthy of remark, that an instance occurs there of
the name of Neith with the adjunct Onk or Ank,
as is shown by the hieroglyphics of the accompany
ing Plate t, which may either be an occasional title
of the Goddess Neith, or be corrupted from the
name of Anouke, the Egyptian Vesta.
Some have supposed the word Sais to signify an
olive tree, on the assumption that Saith in Hebrew
has this meaning ; but neither was the Saite nome
famed for the growth of this tree, nor was the
olive supposed by the Egyptians to be the gift of
Minerva. Saith, indeed, is not the Hebrew word ;
it is ZMh nu, the same as the Arabic ZSt, signify
ing oil, and the town of Sais was called, in Egyp
tian, Ssa or Sai, and has not, therefore, one letter
in common with the Hebrew name of the olive.
An additional reason for this conjecture was, pro
bably, the fact of Athens having been colonised by
people from Saist, who were supposed to have
* It is amusing to observe the pretensions of the Greeks, who
fancied themselves the founders of Sais and of Heliopolis. Diodor. v.
57. &c.
f Fi(fe Plate 28. Hierog. No. 1. J Diodor. i. 28.

284 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
taken with them the worship of Minerva, and the
olive tree her emblem ; but there is no appearance
of this tree, or the owl, having been sacred to the
Egyptian Neith ; and Diodorus expressly states,
that " the Egyptians considered themselves in
debted for the olive to Mercury, and not to
Minerva, as is the opinion ofthe Greeks."*
It has been conjectured, that the Greek name
Athena or Thena was derived from the Egyptian
word Neith or Neth, by an inversion of the order
of the letters, — the Egyptians writing it from right
to left, and the Greeks from left to right ; but this
is of little moment ; nor is it important to inquire
whether Athens gave its name to Athena, or the
Goddess to the town. Some have supposed the
Minerva of Athens to be a daughter of Cecrops ;
but this notion probably originated in his intro
duction of her worship, when he led a colony from
Sais to the Athenian shore.
In hieroglyphics, the name of Neith is usually
composed of the following character, ^^^K or
^^ , accompanied by the half circle and egg, the
female signs, or by two half circles ; and an instance
occurs at Esneh ofthe word written with the bowl,
or basket ^^^ t; though this last is uncommon,
and of Roman time. Her figure is frequently
represented at Esneh, where, Strabo says, Minerva
and the Latus fish were particularly worshipped.
* Diodor. i. 16.
f In either case they read Nt, Neit, or Nith.

CHAP. XIII. FIGURE OF NEITH. 285
Plutarch* shows that he misunderstands the
character of Neith, when he attributes to Isis the
inscription in the temple of Minerva, " I am every
thing which has been, which is, and which will be,
and no mortal has yet lifted up my veil ; " for
though Isis may frequently have taken the attri
butes of Neith and of other Deities, they were al
ways kept distinct in the Egyptian Pantheon. In
another placet, he says, " Isis is frequently called,
by the Egyptians, AthenaX, signifying, in their
language, I proceeded from myself;" from which
the Greeks probably borrowed the idea of that
Goddess being born without a mother. But
Athena was not her Egyptian name ; and she was
not, as already observed, the same as Isis.
Neith was to Sais, what Amun was to Thebes.
The names of several Monarchs of the 26th Dy
nasty contained the legend of the Egyptian Mi
nerva ; and in the sacred precincts of her temple
were buried all the Kings of that Saite family.
Neith was represented as a female wearing the
crown of the Lower country, and holding in her
hand the hooked staflp of the Gods, or the usual
flower-headed sceptre of the Goddesses, sometimes
with the addition of a bow and arrows ; being, as
Proclus § tells us, the Goddess of War, as well as of
Philosophy, and bearing some resemblance in her
attributes to the Minerva of Greece. She was
styled the " Mother of the Gods," or " Goddess
* Pliit. de Is. s. 9. .j. piut_ jg ig g g2
X This may have been corrupted from one ofthe Egyptian titles of
§ Proclus in Timaeum.

286 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIIL
Mother," though distinct from Maut; and Porphy
ry, as quoted by Macrobius *, considers her " that
virtue of the Sun which administers prudence to the
human mind." Clemens mentions t a peculiarity
in her worship, — "that the wisest ofthe Egyptian
priests established the sanctuary of Minerva in the
open air, as the Jews made their temple without any
image;" which, if true, might appear to have some
connection with the statement of Horapollo, that
this Goddess "presided over the upper, as Juno over
the lower, hemisphere." Diodorus t thinks, that
she was a deified personification ofthe '¦'air," "the
daughter of Jove, and deemed a virgin because air
is of an incorruptible nature." He also derives the
fable of her being "produced from Jupiter's head,
from her elevated position above the world ; as
her name Tritogenia from her thrice changing her
nature, — in spring, summer, and winter," the three
seasons of the Egyptian year. Lions were said
to be sacred to her, as to the Cybele of the Phry
gians ; and the vulture is supposed by some to
have been emblematic ofthe Egyptian Minerva.

GODS OF THE SECOND AND OTHER ORDERS.
In mentioning the remaining Gods, it is not my
intention to point out the order of the twelve se
condary Deities, and thence proceed to those of
the third order. I shall therefore follow, as nearly
* Macrob. Saturn, i. 19.
^ Clem. Strom, v. p. 155. Compare this with the construction of
the Parthenon.
X Diodor. i. 12.

CHAP. XIII. RE, THE SUN. 287
as possible, the arrangement adopted in my Materia
Hieroglyphica, after I have noticed the God Re,
the physical Sun, whom I had there placed among
the eight great Deities of Egypt.

Re, or Ra, Helios, The Sun.
The worship of Re, the physical Sun, appears
to have been universal throughout Egypt. The
name of this Deity, though written Re, was pro
nounced Ra ; and, with the definite article Pi
prefixed, it was the same as Phrah, or, as we erro
neously call it, Pharaoh, of Scripture, — Pire, in the
Theban dialect, being written at Memphis 4>pir),
Phre. I have already noticed * the origin of the
title Phrah, Pharaoh, given in the Bible to the Kings
of Egypt, and have shown that the Hebrew word
tiyiB Phrah is no other than the Memphitic name
of the sun, Phre, pronounced Phra, which is still
retained in the Coptic Pi-re. I have also shown
that the hawk and globe, emblems of the Sun,
are placed over the banners or the figures of the
Kings in the sculptures to denote this title, and that
Amun and other Deities are often seen presenting
the sign of life or power to the Monarch under this
emblem. " In every case," as I have observed,
"it will read Phre; and if Hermapion, in his
translation of the Obelisk of Remeses (given by
Ammianus Marcellinus), had used the word ' Sun '
* Materia Hierog. Pantheon, p. 6. 109., and Hierog. Extracts, p. 6.
I think it right to allude particularly to my mention of this as early as
the year 1827, as it has lately appeared as a new observation.

288

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.

instead of 'Apollo,' the sense would have been
much better.

2 3
No. 448. TJiebes and Mem-phis.
1. 3. King under the form of a hawk, and of a sphinx.
2, in his usual form, before the God.
" It is singular that the Greeks never mention
the title Phre (or Pharaoh, as we term it) ; and I
can only account for this by supposing that they
translated it wherever it occurred, as is the case
in Hermapion's translation of the Obelisk, where
in the third column, instead of ' the powerful
Apollo,' we ought to read ' the powerful Phre
(Pharaoh *), the all splendid Son of the Sun.' " t
This adoption of the name of the Sun as a regal
title was probably owing to the idea that, as the
Sun was the chief of heavenly bodies t, he was a
fit emblem of the King, who was the ruler of all on
earth ; and it is one of the many instances of ana
logies which occur in the religious system of the
Egyptians. The importance attached to this Deity
may be readily inferred from the fact of every
Pharaoh having the title " Son of the Sun ,' pre
ceding his phonetic nomen, and the first name of
* Josephus supposes this name to be taken from Phouro, " the
King," in Egyptian ; but though Phouro has this meaning, it is not the
word used for Pharaoh either in Hebrew or Egyptian.
\ Hierog. Extracts, p. 8.
X Conf. Porphyry de Abstin. " Quorum ducem esse Solem." Vide
supra, p. 210.

CHAP. XIII. SUN AND MOON WORSHIPPED. 289
which their prgenomens was composed being that
of the Sun. In many, too, the phonetic nomen
commenced with the name of Re, as the Remeses
and others; and the expressions, "living for ever,
like the Sun," "the splendid Phre," are common
on all obelisks and dedicatory inscriptions.
The frequent occurrence of the name of R6, and
the great respect paid to the Sun, even in towns
where other Deities presided, tend to show the
estimation in which this God was held throughout
Egypt, and suggest the probability of the early
worship of the heavenly bodies, previous to the
adaptation of a metaphysical theory to the nature
of the Gods.* This, indeed, is the opinion of
several ancient writers; though they are wrong
in assigning to Osiris and Isis the characters of
the Sun and Moon.t Diodorus t says, " The first
generation of men in Egypt, contemplating the
beauty of the superior world, and admiring with
astonishment the frame and order ofthe universe,
imagined that there were two chief Gods, eternal
and primary, the Sun and Moon, the first of
whom they called Osiris, the other Isis. . . . They
held that these Gods governed the whole world,
cherishing and increasing all things ; . . . that in
their natures they contributed much to the gene
ration of those things ; the one being of a hot and
active nature, and the other moist and cold, but
both having something of the air. They also said

* Vide supra, p, 209. f ^'de supra, p. 214.
X Diodor. i. 11.
VOL. I. — Second Series. U

290 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
that every particular being in the universe was per
fected and completed by the Sun and Moon, whose
qualities were five : a spirit or quickening efficacy,
heat or fire, dryness or earth, moisture or water,
and air. . . . These five were denominated Gods : . . .
the Spirit being called Jupiter ; the fire, Vulcan ;
the Earth, Mother (as the Greek Demetra was at
first called Genmetera) ; water, Oceanus ; and the
air, Minerva, the reputed daughter of Jupiter."
That the historian is wrong, in supposing Osiris
and Isis to have corresponded to the Sun and
Moon, is evident ; and the names and character
he gives to the five Deities, as well as the idea of
their proceeding from the two former, are equally at
variance with the notions of the Egyptians. But
part of his statement may possibly be true, — that
the first Gods were the Sun and Moon ; and his
error in assigning the names of Osiris and Isis may
be accounted for by the limited acquaintance of
the Greeks and Romans with the mythology of
Egypt. Macrobius* makes a similar mistake respecting
these Deities, — the former of whom he calls "the
Sun, and the latter Earth, or Nature ; " and when
he adds, " The Egyptians show Osiris to have this
character, when in hieroglyphics they represent
him emblematically by an eye and sceptre," he
proves how little conversant he was with the reli
gious notions of that people. If the allegories
mentioned by Plutarch were really Egyptian, they
* Macrob. Saturn, i. 26. Conf Plut. s. 10. and 51.

CHAP. XIII. EARLY MODE OF WORSHIP. 291
could only be the visions of speculators (like the
many allegorical fancies, to which facts mentioned
in the Bible have been doomed to submit by the
Cabbala), forming no part of their religious belief,
and unsupported by the authority of monuments.
In my Pantheon, I had introduced Re among the
eight great Deities, in consequence ofthe important
station he holds in the temples, both of the Upper
and Lower Country ; but, as before observed*, it is
probable that Amun-re and Re were not ofthe same
class of Gods, since the Intellectual was of more
consequence than the Physical Sun, and Manetho
calls him the son of Pthah ; I have therefore placed
him among those of the second order.
If the Egyptians, like some other Eastern people,
adopted at first a Sabaean mode of worship t, and
afterwards substituted for it the deification of va
rious attributes of the Deity himself, there would be
reason to suppose that the Sun once held the first
place m their Pantheon, and was not removed from
it till they had learnt to consider the divine mind
ofthe Creator superior to the work he had created.
But it is now impossible to settle this question ;
and it will probably always remain uncertain, if
that was the primitive mode of worship in Egypt,
or if their religion was corrupted from the origin
ally pure idea communicated to them by the early
descendants of Noah, who established themselves
in the valley of the Nile. The great importance
of the name of Re may seem to argue in favour
* Supra, p. 210. 228.246.
f Supra, p. 209. 242. Vide Diodor. i. 11.
U 2

292 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
of the former opinion ; and the connection of a
star with an attitude of prayer
A may tend to confirm it. Some
rj^^ may even be disposed to see
W^ the union of the two systems
M in the name of Amun-re.
LV- But if, in former times.
No. 449. Figures praying accompanied thO Egyptians rCally adOpteu
by a star. ^ Sabsau modc of worship,
and if the worship of Re, and of Thoth in one
of his characters as the Moon, appear to confirm
this opinion, there is sufficient evidence to show
that their religion, at the time we know it, —
consequently long before the age of any writer
with whose name we are acquainted, — had already
assumed a very different character. The existence
of an early Sabaean worship in Egypt is merely
possible ; while the metaphysical nature of their
religion is proved by abundant evidence, both of
ancient writers and the monuments ; and we are
therefore bound to consider it as it presents itself
to us, rather than to be led away by conjecture.
And, however much I respect the valuable opinion
of many writers, especially the learned Dr. Prichard,
who maintains that " the principal objects of
Egyptian worship were those physical agents,
whose operative energy is the most conspicuous
in the phsenomena of nature *," I must, from the
evidence before me, deny that physical agents
constituted the principal Deities of the Egyptians.
If their metaphysical doctrines, divulged alone to
* Prichard, Egypt. Mythol. p. 27. Vide stiprd,p.2[8.

CHAP. XIII. NAMES OF STARS. 293
the initiated, are not within our reach, sufficient
is shown to convince us that the nature of the
great Gods was not derived from mere physical
objects ; and that those, which, in consequence of
certain notions respecting analogies and emanations,
were admitted to a participation of divine honours,
held a subordinate post to the deified attributes of
the Divinity.
As with the Greeks, the planets were dedicated
to, and called after, certain Deities, though the
Egyptians differed in the names they assigned to
them. The Egyptians, according to Achilles Ta-
tius, agree with the Greeks, in giving to the planet
Saturn, though the least brilliant, the title of the
"splendid;" but the latter consider it of good omen,
while the former denominate it the star of Nemesis.
The second, of Jupiter, the Phaeton of the Greeks,
is by the Egyptians assigned to Osiris. The third,
of Mars, by the Greeks denominated the fiery, they
refer to Hercules.* The fourth, of Mercury, called
by the Greeks itti'K^mv, is the star of the Egyptian
Apollo ; and Pliny and Macrobius t also state that
" the star of Mercury is given by many nations to
Apollo." According to Pliny, the planet Venus
was by some called of Isis X, (of Juno, or of the
mother of the Gods); but the learned and labo
rious Jablonski § is not authorised in supposing this
planet to have been ascribed by the Egyptians to
* Pliny (ii. 8.) says, " the third, of Mars, is by some called of Her
cules." Vide Jablonski, Panth. i. c. 5. s. 4.
+ Macrob. Saturn, i. 22.
X Isis and the Venus of Egypt are often and easily confounded to
gether. Vide infra, Isis and Athor.
} Jablonski, iii. c. 6. s. 2. and 3.
U 3

294 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Pan (whom he calls Mendes), and still less in his
assertion of the C7'ux ansata, or sign of life, having
been dedicated to that Deity.
The motions of the Planets were calculated with
great care by the Egyptians * ; but if every hiero-
grammat was required to understand all that re
lated to them, the Sun, and Moon, as well as the
ge'ography of the world, this was not with a view
to the worship ofthe heavenly bodies. Astronomy
was studied in Egypt, as in other countries, without
requiring the deification of those visible works of
the Creator, or the substitution of created things
for the Deity by whom they were created. And if
their knowledge was concealed under the guise of
a fable, in which, as Proclus says t, it was their
custom to clothe the secrets of nature, this was
only to conceal them from such as were not ad
mitted to a participation of their learning, and not
with any view connected with religion, t
It has been generally supposed that Obelisks
were dedicated exclusively to the Sun, and that
they were called by the Egyptians (according to
Jablonski) Pitebpere, "the finger of the Sun."
This, however, is a misconception not difficult to
explain. The first Obelisks removed from Egypt
to Rome were said to have come from Heliopolis,
" the City of the Sun," which stood in Lower
* Seneca, Nat. Qusest. vii. 3., says, Eudoxus primus ab .lEgypto hos
motus in Graeciam transtulit." " jEgyptios . . . quibus major coeli cura
fuit." + Proclus in Plat. Tim. lib.i.
X lamblichus says Pythagoras imitated the Egyptians in his mode
of teaching by symbols, having learnt this during his stay in their country.
Vit. Pythag. 5. Vide Pansan.Vit. Pythag., and Plut. de Is. s. 10.

CHAP. XIII. EMBLEMS OF RE. 295
Egypt, a little to the south-east of the Delta ; and
those of Heliopolis being dedicated to Re, the
Divinity ofthe place, the Romans were led to con
clude that all others belonged to the same God.*
But the Obelisks of Thebes were ascribed to
Amun, the presiding Deity of that city ; and though
several of those at Rome came from Thebes, and
were therefore dedicated to Amun, the first impres
sions were too strong to be removed, and the notion
of their exclusive appropriation to the Sun conti
nued and has been repeated to the present day.
The God Re was usually represented as a man,
with a hawk's head surmounted by a globe or disk of
the Sun, from which the Uraeus asp issued ; some
times with the head of a man, and the same disk ;
and more rarely under the form of a hawk, his em
blem. Porphyry says, "the hawk was dedicated
to the Sun, being the symbol of light and spirit,"
because of the quickness of its motion, and its
ascent to the higher regions of the air. Hora
pollo thinks it was chosen as a type of that lumi
nary, " from its being able to look more intently
towards its rays than any other bird ; whence, also,
under the form of a hawk, they depicted the Sun
as the lord of Vision." t Horapollo also sayst that
the Scarabsus was an emblem of the Sun, in which
he is borne out by the authority of the sculptures,
though he is wrong in the reason he assigns for its
adoption. He supposes it to be from a certain

* Pliny (xxxvi. 8.) says the first was raised in HeUopoUs, which was
the general idea among the Romans.
f Horapollo, i. 6. X HorapoUo, i. 10.
U 4

296 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
analogy which the species peculiarly sacred to Re
bore to the Cat, and that the Deity of Heliopolis
was figured under the form of this animal. But the
Cat was the emblem of Bubastis, not of Re ; and
the presence of her statue at Heliopolis is explained
by the custom of each city assigning to the Divini
ties of neighbouring places a conspicuous post in
its own temples ; and Bubastis was one of the
principal contemplar Deities of Heliopolis. The
Lions, said by ^lian* to have been kept in the
courts of the temple of the Sun, were perhaps de
dicated to the same Goddess ; though there is some
reason for believing his statement, as those animals
are shown by the sculptures to have been also em
blems ofthe Sun.
Re was generally of a red colour, as was the
globe of the Sun he bore upon his head. In this
form, and with the name Re written alphabetically
and followed by a figure of the Sun, or with the
hawk accompanied by two horizontal lines, he was
in the character of the Sun going through his
daily course. When at his meridian height he was
sometimes accompanied by a Scarabasus, another
emblem, as Porphyry observes, " adapted to the
Sun;" and in his resting-place he was either in
dicated by the hawk, or by the title of Atin-re. t
The same form is given to him when he set be
hind the western mountain of Thebes, and was
received into the arms of Athor, who presided over
that part of the universe, and represented night, t
* Vide infra, on the Lion. f Vide Plate 29. fig. 5.
X Vide supra, p. 275. ; and infra, on Athor ; and PI. 29. fig. 4.

CHAP. XIII. ATIN-RE. 297
He was usually accompanied by the asp, the
emblem of royalty and dominion, as well as by the
symbols of life and purity, in token of his vivify
ing influence over all the animated creation ; and
in his concave resting-place, the lower firmament of
heaven, he was sometimes supported on the backs
of lions. This calls to mind an observation of
Proclus*, that lions were considered solar animals.
It also confirms the statement of Horapollo, that
" the Egyptians place lions under the throne of
Horus, showing that the animal bears a very great
resemblance to the Sun : for the Sun is called by
them Horus.t" And though he may be wrong in
identifying the Sun with Horus, it is evident that
he alludes to a similar mode of representing the
Sun supported by lions. They were placed back
to back, seated or lying down; and when made of
stone, pottery, or other materials, they were united
together, forming one body terminated by a head on
either side. They were worn as amulets and orna
ments, — the ring by which they were attached an
swering to the Sun ; and I have found one instance
of a cow's head substituted for that of one of the
lions. t
The name Atin-re cannot fail to call to mind
Attin, or Atys, the Phrygian Sun ; and from the
ovals of the King, who was noted for the peculiar
worship of the Sun represented at the grottoes of
* Proclus de Sacrif. " Some animals are solar ... as lions."
Vide Plate 29. fig. 6.
f Horapollo, i. 17. ; and infra, on Horus.
X Vide Macrob. Saturn, i. 26.

298 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Tel el Amarna*, being always so systematically
erased, some may argue the animosity of the people
against a King, who had made an unwelcome foreign
innovation in the religion of the country, or at
least in the mode of worshipping that Deity. But
the name of Atin-re already existed at a very early
period; and though the subjects of Tel el Amarna
rarely occur t, except in those grottoes and the
vicinity, some traces may elsewhere be found of
the Sun represented with similar rays, in sculp
tures ofthe time of the great Remeses.
If, as I have already remarked t, Amenti -signifies
the receiver and giver, Amun-re may be opposed
to Atin-re, in the same sense.
Many other subdivisions or emanations of the
God Re may be traced in the characters of other
Egyptian Deities, as Aroeris, Mandooli, and others
of whom I shall have occasion to treat hereafter.
We also find Neph standing in the Sun accom
panied by the Scarab, in which character he may
bear some relation to the God Re.
It is probable that they separated the light
from the heat of the Sun, as the Greeks considered
Phoebus distinct from Apollo. The latter, too,
made a distinction between Apollo and Helios
(" the Sun"); and their mythology, according to
Cicero, admitted four Deities who bore the name
of Apollo ; one of whom, the reputed son of Vul-
* Ferfe Plate 30.
f I found some ofthe sculptures of this King at Koos, ApoUinopolis
parva, near Thebes ; and have since heard of others at the Temple of
Karnak, destroyed and built over by Amunoph HI.
X Vide supra, p. 246.

CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF THE SUN. .299
can, was supposed to be the same as the Aroeris
of Egypt.
There is reason to believe that the God Re
corresponded to the Syrian Baal (by2), a name
implying " Lord *," which was given par excel-
lence to the Sun : and the same idea of peculiar
sovereignty vested in that Deity may have led
the Egyptians to take from Re (Phra) the regal
title of their Kings. Heliopolis, in Syria, still re
tains the name of Baalbek, " the city of (the Lord,
or) the Sun ;" and the same word occurs in the
names of distinguished individuals among the
Phoenicians, and their descendants of Carthage t,
as Anmbal, Asdru6o/, and others.
If the Egyptians separated the orb from the rays
of the Sun, they were not singular in that idea ;
the same was common to the Greeks ; for, as the
philosopher Sallust says X, " it is only from esta
blished custom that we are induced to call the orb
of the Sun and its rays the Sun itself;" and they,
also, found reason to deify those two, and to make
of them two separate Divinities. Indeed, it ap
pears that the Egyptians made of the Sun several
distinct Deities : as the intellectual Sun, the phy
sical orb, the cause of heat, the author of light,
the power of the Sun, the vivifying cause, the Sun
in the firmament, and the Sun in his resting-place ;
* As Beelzebub or Baalzebub ^^2'! ^^2, " the lord of flies."
Baalim, " lords," or " idols." Judg. ii. 11.
f Servius, on these verses of Virgil —
" Implevitque mero pateram, quam Belus et omnes
A Belo soliti,"— iEn. i. 733.
says," Lingua'Punica Bal Deus dicitur, apud Assyrios autem Bel dicitur."
X In his fourth book on the Gods ofthe world.'

300 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
and many other characters of the Sun were pro
bably admitted into the Pantheon of Egypt.
HeliopolLs, (Ainshems, or Bethshemesh,) the On
of Scripture, a small but celebrated city of Lower
Egypt, was the place where the worship of Re
was peculiarly adopted. Plutarch says*, "Those
who minister to the God of Heliopolis never carry
any wine into the temple, — looking upon it as in
decent to drink it during the day, when under the
immediate inspection of their Lord and King. The
priests of the other Deities are not altogether so
scrupulous on this point ; making use of it, though
sparingly, unless at some of their more solemn
purifications, when they wholly abstain from it.
Indeed, they give themselves up wholly to study
and meditation, hearing and teaching those truths
which regard the divine nature." This, however,
does not appear to refer to the ordinary libations
made to the Sun, which were doubtless of wine t;
as the usual drink-offerings presented to the
Gods ; but to a regulation which prevented the
priests from indulging in the use of wine ; and we
find abundant proofs, from the sculptures in other
places, of its having been offered to the Sun,
Plutarch continues to observe, that " even the
Kings themselves, being of the order of priests,
have their wine given them according to a certain
measure prescribed in the sacred books, as we are
told by Hecataeus ; and it is only since the reign
of Psammetichus, that this indulgence has been
granted them ; for, before that time, they drank no
* Plut. de Is. s. 6. t Vide supra. Vol. II. p. 164. note f .

CHAP. XIII. RENOWN OF HELIOPOLIS. 301
wine at all ; and if they made use of it in their li
bations to the Gods, it was not because they looked
upon it as in its own nature acceptable, but as the
blood of those enemies who formerly fought against
them, which, being mixed with the earth, produced
the vine ; and hence they think that drinking wine
in quantities makes men mad, being filled with the
blood of their own ancestors. These things are re
lated by Eudoxus, in the second book of his Tour,
as he had them from the priests themselves." The
assertion, however, respecting the prohibition of
wine, previous to the time of Psammetichus, is er
roneous ; and I have already shown*, that the Kings
and priests were permitted its use at the earliest pe
riods, as the sculptures abundantly prove, as well as
the scriptural account of Pharaoh's butler, t
It was of Heliopolis, or On, that Potipherah t
was a priest, whose daughter Asenath was given in
marriage to Joseph; and the name of that person,
V^fl »toifl. is evidently compounded of Phre or
Phrah, " the Sun," and answers to the Egyptian
Pet-phre, or Heliodotus, which, in hieroglyphics,
would be thus written :

1^

No. 4.^0 Name of Potipherah, Pet-phre, or Pet-re.
The priests of the Sun at Heliopolis, like those
of Thebes and Memphis, were celebrated for their
learning ; and it was to this city that Plato, Eu-
* Vide Vol. L p. 253., and Vol. II. p. 165.
t Gen. xl. II. X Gen. xh. 45.

302 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
doxus, and other Greek sages repaired, in order to
study " the wisdom of the Egyptians ; " and " Py
thagoras," according to Plutarch*, " was the disci
ple of Oinuphis the Heliopolite." Astronomy and
all branches of science were studied at Heliopolis :
and the priests of the Sun enjoyed the greatest re
putation for learning. Their city, though small,
was the university of Egypt ; and near it was an
observatory, which Strabo t attributes to Eudoxus,
but which we may conclude with greater reason
belonged of old to the city, whither he had gone
from Greece to study the secrets of the Egyptian
wisdom. In the time of the geographer, the reputation
of this seat of learning had already declined; the
spacious mansions in which the priests lived were
pointed out to him as objects of bygone days ; and
the inhabitants spoke of the former sojourn of
learned men among them. The colleges, as well
as the doctrines they taught, no longer existed in
Heliopolis; nor was any one shown to him who
occupied himself in the pursuits of former times.
Alexandria was the seat of learning at that period :
philosophy seemed to have sought an abode and
patronage near the court ; even its obelisks were
removed with its learning from Heliopolis, and all
that could give it splendour or celebrity was taken
to the new city.
The hawk, as before stated, was peculiarly sacred
to the Sun. Herodotus also mentions a bird called
* Plut. de Is. s. 10. t Strabo, xvii. p. 555.

CHAP. XIII. THE PHOSNIX. 303
the Phoenix, of which he gives the following ac
count* : — "I have never seen it but in a painting,
for it seldom makes its appearance, and, if we may
believe the Heliopolitans, it only visits their country
once every 500 years, on the death of its father. If
it is like its picture, its wings are partly gold, partly
red, and its general appearance is similar to an eagle
both in form and size. They relate a peculiarity
respecting it, which to me appears incredible. It
comes, as the Egyptians say, from Arabia, bringing
with it the body of its father enveloped in myrrh,
and buries it in the temple of the Sun. For this
purpose it makes a mass of myrrh into the form of
an egg, ofthe weight which it thinks itself capable
of carrying, and having raised it and found it por
table, it proceeds to hollow out the mass ; and then
introducing the body of its father, and closing the
orifice wdth myrrh, the egg is found to be of the
same weight as when solid ; and this being done,
it brings it to Egypt and deposits it in the temple
ofthe Sun."
"The Phoenix of Arabia," says Pliny t, "sur
passes all other birds ; but I do not know if it be
a fable that there is only one in the whole world,
and that seldom seen. According to report, it is
the size of an eagle, of a gold colour about the
neck, the rest being purple, its tail blue, varied with
red feathers, its face and head richly feathered, with
a tuft on the top. Manilius observes that no man
ever saw it feeding ; that in Arabia it is held sacred
* Herodot. ii. 73. f Plin. x. 2.

304 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
to the Sun ; that it lives 660 years, and when it
grows old it builds a nest with twigs of cassia and
frankincense, and having filled it with aromatics, dies
upon it. A worm is afterwards produced from its
bones and marrow, which, having become a young
bird, carries the entire nest to the city of the Sun,
near Panchaea, and there deposits it on the altar.
Manilius also says that the revolution of the great
year agrees with the life of this bird, in which the
seasons and stars return to their first places ; be
ginning at noon on the day when the Sun enters
Aries." This imaginary bird, of which so many tales
have been handed down to a late period, is fre
quently represented in the paintings and sculptures
of the temples of Egypt, though without appearing
peculiarly emblematic of, or sacred to, the Sun.
It occurs in the ornamental details of cornices,
friezes, and other parts of buildings, at the bases of
columns, and on the sails of ships ; and sometimes a
Monarch is seen presenting it as an oflPering to the
Gods. According to Horapollo *, it was the emblem
of one who had returned home after travelling over
distant countries ; and it was, therefore, very pro
perly chosen to ornament monuments erected by
the victorious Monarchs of Egypt, after achieving
conquests, that shed a lustre over their names, and
claimed the congratulations of a grateful country
for their safe return.
The Egyptian Phoenix is represented under the
form of a bird with wings partly raised, and seated
# HorapoUo, i. 35.

CHAP. XIII. THE PHfENTX. 305
upon its open claws, having at the back of its head
a small tuft of feathers similar to that of the crested
plover, so common in Egypt ; and in front it raises
two human arms as if in an attitude of prayer.
But it may be doubted if this be the same whose
picture Herodotus mentions ; and from the slight
description he gives of it, we might rather suppose
he had in view the hawk, which was the emblem
of Re, and which is seen on obelisks and other
monuments, whether dedicated to the Sun or other
Deities. They sometimes represent the Phoenix
under the form of a man with wings, in the same
attitude of prayer, and bearing the tuft of feathers
on his head*, accompanied also by a star, which, as
I have observed, seems to have been connected
with the idea of adoration, t
Of its name in the Egyptian language we are ig
norant ; Ovid says, "the Assyrians call it Phoenix ; "
and from this bird and the palm tree having the
same name in Greek, we are sometimes in doubt to
which of the two ancient writers in that language
allude, as in the case of the i^oivixa, carried in the
hand of the Horoscopus, mentioned by Clemens.
Pliny even pretends that the bird received its name
from the palm.t
In the time of Herodotus, as the learned Larcher
observes, the notion of the Phoenix rising from its
a.shes had not yet been entertained. Suidas, who
flourished about the 10th century, states, that from

* Conf. Plin. xi. 37., and x. 2. This has even descended to the
conventional bird of our own fire-offices.
f Fide Plate 30. u.; and supra, p. 292. X PHn. xiii. 4.
VOL. I. — Second Series. X

306

THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.

its ashes issued a worm which changed itself into a
Phoenix ; and the early fathers of the Greek and
Latin Church availed themselves of this accredited
fable as a proof of the resurrection. * But though
the story of its rising from its ashes may have been
a late invention, the Phoenix itself was of very
ancient date, being found on monuments erected
about the commencement of the 18th Dynasty.
And we even find inention of this long-lived bird
in the book of Job.t This, at least, is the opinion
of Bede, who, in accordance with the Septuagint
translation ofthe word we render " sand," reads
" I shall die in my nest, and shall multiply my days
as the Ph(B7iix :" and Dr. Prichard, Gesenius, and
others, adopt the same interpretation ofthe passage.
Several ancient writers mention the periodical
return of the Phoenix : some agreeing with He
rodotus in fixing it at about 800 years ; while
others state it to have been 660, 600, 500, 340, or
1460. "Various," says Tacitus 1:, "are the opinions
respecting the number of years. They most com
monly allow 500, though some extend the interval
to 1461, and assert that the bird appeared in the
age of Sesostris, of Amasis, and the third Ptolemy."
But these two periods do not agree : that from
Sesostris (or Remeses the Great) to Amasis being

* Ainbrosius says : " Phoenix avis in Arabiae locis perhibetur ....
doceat igitur nos haec avis exemplo sui resurrectionem credere." Hex-
aemer. lib. v. c. 23. It is also celebrated by Lactantius, Gregory Na-
zianzenus, and TertuUian.
t Job. xxix. 16. The Hebrew name is ^'\X'\ Hoi or X'io/, which also
means " sand," as in our version. The Septuagint has ^oivi^.
X Tacit. Annal. vi. 28. Sen. Ep. 42.

CHAP. XIU. RETURN OF THE PHOINIX. 307
about 780 years; that from Amasis to Ptolemy III.
about 330.
Some have thought that, by the Phoenix, the
Egyptians intended to indicate the appearance of
Comets ; and I have seen a paper written to prove
that the average * number of years assigned to the
return of the Phoenix corresponded to the great
Comet of 1680. Without however assenting to the
opinion of Seneca t( who thinks, "because Eudoxus,
having studied in Egypt, and thence introduced
into Greece the knowledge of the motions of the
planets, took no notice of comets, that the Egyp
tians, the greatest observers of celestial ph^eno-
mena, had not attended to this part of the sub
ject,") I must confess that the reappearance of
the Phoenix appears rather to indicate, as Pliny,
on the authority of Manilius, supposes, the re
turn of a certain period. And the mention of
the number 1461 argues strongly in favour of
the opinion that the Sothic period was the real
Phoenix of Egypt. This, as I have elsewhere
shown t, was the number of years that elapsed be
fore the Solar year of 365 days coincided with the
Sothic or fixed year of 365^ days. It was also
called the Great Year of the Egyptians, at the
end of which all the planets returned to the same
place they occupied at its commencement.
* The average of 600 and 540 years is taken by the writer, being
575. f Sen. Nat. Qusest. lib. vii. c. 3.
X Vide supra, p. 87. ; and infra, on Isis.

X 2

308 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.

Seb, Sev, Saturn as Chronos. *
Seb, the father of Isis and Osiris, was supposed
to be the same as Saturn, probably from his having
the title "Father ofthe Gods." This, however,
referred to his being the parent of the Deities
above mentioned, and not to any resemblance he
bore to the Sire of Jove ; for the Saturn of Egypt
" the father of Osiris," was said to be " theyoungest
of the Gods." Indeed, the character of Saturn
differed essentially from that of the Egyptian Seb ;
and the rites of the former, when introduced by the
Ptolemies, were looked upon by the Egyptians to
be so much at variance with their religious notions,
that his temple, like that of Sarapis, was not ad
mitted t within the precincts of their cities; and
it was not without compulsion that the worship of
these two Deities was tolerated by the people.
Macrobius says, — ¦" Through the tyranny of the
Ptolemies they were obliged to receive those Gods
into their worship, after the manner of the Alex
andrians, by whom they were particularly adored ;"
the opposition made to their introduction being,
as he thinks, in consequence ofthe novel custom of
slaying victims in their honour. He states, that it
was not lawful for the Egyptians to propitiate the
Gods by sheep and blood, but with prayers and
incense only; and Porphyry I expresses a similar
opinion, when he says, " Those in earlier times,
* Chronos, or Time. Vide infra, on Savak.
¦]- Macrob. Saturn, i. 4.
X Porph. de Abstin. lib. ii.

chap. xiii. OFFERINGS TO THE GODS. 309
who performed sacrifices, oflPered herbs, flowers,
and trees, or incense of aromatic substances ; for
it was unlawful to slay animals."
" Among the oflPerings * made to the Egyptian
Deities, libations and incense hold, it is true, a
prominent place, as well as flowers, fruit, and other
productions of the soil ; but geese, and other birds,
gazelles, capricorns, the legs and bodies of oxen
or ofthe wild goat, and, what is still more remark
able, the head of the victim t, are also placed be
fore them:" and thus the reason given by Ma
crobius is fully disproved. Herodotus also tells us
that the oxen, after having been examined by a
priest, and marked with his seal, were led to the
altar and sacrificed ; and this is fully confirmed by
the sculptures in every part of Egypt.
I shall not here stop to inquire if really, in early
times, the Egyptians or other ancient people con
tented themselves with oflPerings of herbs, incense,
and libations, and abstained from sacrifices of
victims. This, if it ever was the case, could only
have been in their infancy as a nation ; and it is
more probable, as I have already observed X, that
the kind of oflPering considered most acceptable to
the Deity, which was " a firstling of the flock,"
had been established and handed down from the
very earliest period, as a type of the destined per
fect propitiation for sin, which man was taught to
expect. * Materia Hierog. p. 15.
¦f Vide my Materia Hierog. p. 16. ; and supra, Vol. II. p. 377.
X Vide supra, p. 144. 146.
X 3

310 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII-
The story ofthe birth ofthe children of Saturn,
mentioned by Plutarch*, abounds with contra
dictions. " Rhea," who is Netpe, " having had
intercourse with Saturn by stealth, was discovered
by the Sun, who thereupon denounced a curse
upon her, ' that she should not be delivered in any
month or year.' Mercury, however, being like
wise in love with the same Goddess, in recompence
for the favours which he had received from her,
played at tables t with the Moon, and won from
her the seventieth part of each of her illuminations.
These several parts, making in the whole 5 new
days, he afterwards joined together, and added to
the 360, of which the year formerly consisted ;
which days, therefore, are even yet called by the
Egyptians the epact, or superadded, and observed
by them as the birthdays of their Gods. For upon
the first of them, they say, was Osiris born, at
whose entrance into the world, a voice was heard,
saying, 'The lord of all the Earth is born.'/' ....
" Upon the second was Aroeris born, whom some
call Apollo, and others distinguish by the name of
the elder Horus. Upon the third, Typho came
into the world ; being born neither at the proper
time, nor by the right place, but forcing his way
through a wound which he had made in his
mother's side. Isis was born upon the fourth,
in the marshes of Egypt ; as Nephthys upon the
last, whom some call Teleute and Aphrodite, and
others Nike. Now, as to the fathers of these
* Plut. de Is. s. 12. f " IlErm."

CHAP, XIII. CHILDREN OF SEB. 311
children, the two first of them (Osiris and Aroeris)
are said to have been begotten by the Sun, Isis
by Mercury, Typho* and Nephthys by Saturn;
and accordingly the third of these superadded
days, because it was looked upon as the birth
day of Typho, was regarded by the Kings as in
auspicious, and consequently they neither trans
acted any business on itt, nor even suffered them
selves to take any refreshment until the evening.
They further add, that Typho married Nephthys ;
and that Isis having a fond affection for Osiris
while they were yet together in their mother's
womb, became pregnant by her brother, and from
this commerce sprang Aroeris, whom the Egyp
tians likewise call the elder Horus, and the Greeks
Apollo." According to this account, Osiris was the son of
Netpe (or Rhea), by the Sun ; Isis, by Mercury :
how, then, could they be twins? And " Saturn,"
we are told by Plutarch, " intrusted the care of
the child Osiris to Paamyles ; " which could not
reasonably be expected, unless he were his own son.
Were Plutarch our only guide, we might remain in
uncertainty upon the subject ; but fortunately the
hieroglyphics solve the difficulty, and establish the
claims of Seb (or Saturn) to the title of father of
Osiris. Seb is sometimes represented with a goose stand
ing upon his head, which is the initial of his pho-
* The word Typho is to be preferred to Typhon.
f An unlucky day. Some persons are equally superstitious about
unlucky day.s, even in these enlightened times.
X 4

312 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
netic name ; and, in the hieroglyphics, he has the
title " Father of the Gods." This alludes to his
being the father of Osiris, and the other Deities
born on the days of the Epact ; and the frequent
occurrence of the formula, which the Gods are
made to utter, " I give you the years of Seb,"
appears to connect this Deity with ^povog, or
Time *, the Saturn of the Greeks, distinct as he
was from the Saturn of Roman mythology. His
dress, and that of Netpe, his consort, are remarkably
simple.

Netpe, Netphe, Rhea.
"Netpe has frequently been mistaken for Neit,
but the discovery of hieroglyphics calling Osiris
the son of Netpe and Seb, leaves no room for
further doubt upon the subject, t It is not al
together impossible, that Horapollo may have
ascribed to Neith, what in reality belongs to the
wife of Seb ; since the firmament is her emblem,
or, at least, indicates the last syllable t of her name."
Another Goddess, with whom, from the similarity
of name, she might possibly be confounded, is
Nephthys ; but the sister of Isis differs entirely from
the Egyptian Rhea ; and Tpe, the Goddess of the
* Vide Macrob. Sat. i. 5.
+ Materia Hierog. p. 18. ; and Plate 13. No. 7.
'X Dr. Young was not wrong in stating, that syllables (or, at least,
the initial letter for the whole syllable) were used occasionally in
hieroglyphics, as M for ilfo/, the hare for ouoji, and others ; independent
of the omission of the intermediate vowels between consonants, as in
Arabic and Hebrew.

CHAP. XIII. NETPE, RHEA. 313
heavens, enclosing the Zodiacs, is also distinct from
her, as from Neith and Netpe."
" She is sometimes represented with a vase on her
head, the initial of her name ; and she frequently
occurs in the paintings of the tombs, standing in
the sycomore fig tree, pouring a liquid from a vase,
which the deceased and his friends, and even the
soul ofthe former under the form of a bird with a
human head, are catching in their hands. Besides
this nectar of heaven, she presents them with a
basket of fruit from the sacred tree." It is to
Netpe, and not to Athor, that the sycomore was
dedicated ; and " the number of instances I have
met with of Netpe in this tree, leave no doubt of
the fig, which gave the name of Hierosycaminon to
a town of Nubia*, being sacred to the mother of
Osiris." The representation of this tree at Hiero
sycaminon, is very rude, and of the late era of the
Roman Empire: if, therefore, the Goddess seated
beneath it has rather the character of Isis, or of
Athor, than of Netpe, the authority of such a
period is of little weight ; and we have abundant
proofs from the oldest monuments, that the syco
more was consecrated to Netpe, as the Persea to
Athor. The Athenians had a holy fig tree, which grew on
the " sacred road," where, during the celebration
of the Eleusinian mysteries, the procession which
went from Athens to Eleusis halted. This was on
the sixth day of the ceremony, called lacchus, in
* Now Maharraka, or Oofideena.

314 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII,
honour of the son of Jupiter and Ceres, who ac
companied his mother in her search for Proserpine;
but the fig tree of Athens does not appear to
have been borrowed from the sycomore of Egypt,
unless it were in consequence of its connection
with the mother of Isis and Osiris, whom they
supposed to correspond to Ceres and Bacchus.
In one of the hieroglyphic legends* given in the
Plate, Netpe appears to be identified with Lucina,
and to preside over births and nursing. Indeed,
it is probable that mothers looked to her for pro
tection, being the fabled parent of their favourite
Deities Isis and Osiris, from which she derived the
title " Mother of the Gods." Of the Egyptian
Lucina, worshipped at Eilethyas, I shall have occa
sion to speak hereafter.
OsiRi, Osiris, Pluto, Bacchus.
" Osiris, in his mysterious character, was the
greatest of all the Egyptian Deities ; but little is
known of those undivulged secrets, wdiich the an
cients took so much care to conceal. So cautious
indeed, were the initiated t, that they made a
scruple even of mentioning him ; " and Herodo
tus, whenever he relates any thing concerning this
Deity, excuses himself from uttering his name.
His principal office, as an Egyptian Deity, was
to judge the dead, and to rule over that king
dom where the souls of good men were admitted
* Plate 32. Hierog. No. 2., from Dendera.
-|- Herodot. passm. Plut. de Is. s. 21. &c.

CHAP. XIII. OFFICE OF OSIRIS. 315
to eternal felicity.* Seated on his throne, ac
companied by Isis and Nephthys, with the four
Genii of Amenti, who stand on a lotus growing
from the waters, in the centre of the divine
abode, he receives the account of the actions of
the deceased, recorded by Thoth. Horus, his
son, introduces the deceased into his presence,
bringing with him the tablet of Thoth, after his
actions have been weighed in the scales of Truth.
To Anubis, who is styled the "director of the
weight," belongs this duty ; and, assisted by Horus,
he places in one scale the feather or the figure of
Thmei, the Goddess of Truth, and in the other
a vase emblematic of the virtuous actions of the
judged. A Cynocephalus, the emblem of the
Ibis-headed God, sits on the upper part of the
balance ; and Cerberus, the guardian of the palace
of Osiris, is present. Sometimes also Harpocrates,
the symbol of resuscitation and a new birth, is
seated on a crook of Osiris, before the God of
letters, — expressive of the idea entertained by
the Egyptians and other philosophers t, that no
thing created was ever annihilated ; and that to
cease to be, was only to assume another form,
— dissolution being merely the passage to repro
duction. Some of the figures of the dead are represented
wearing round their necks the same emblem which
appears in the scales, after they have passed their
ordeal, and are deemed worthy of admission into
* Conf. Plut. de Is, s. 79.
X Vide supra, p. 218., " conclusion and renovation."

316 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
the presence of Osiris ; the purport of which is,
that they are justified by their works, weighed and
not " found wanting." To men and to women also
was given after death the name of Osiris*, — im
plying that, in a future state, the virtuous returned
to the fountain of all good, from which they origin
ally emanated ; and that the soul, being separated
from its material envelope, was pure and intellec
tual, divested of all the animal feelings which a dis
tinction of sex might indicate, and free from those
impurities or imperfections to which human nature
was in this life subject.
They also considered the souls of men to be
emanations of that divine soul, which governed
and pervaded the Universe ; each eventually re
turning to its divine origin, provided the virtuous
course of life it had led in this world showed
it to be sufficiently pure to unite with the imma
culate nature of the Deity. It was their opinion,
that those which had been guilty of sin were
doomed to pass through the bodies of diflPerent
animals, in order so to purify them that they might
be rendered worthy again to mix with the parent
Soul whence they emanated ; the number and
duration of these transmigrations, and the kind of
animals through which they passed, depending on
the extent of their impieties, and the consequent
necessity of a greater or less degree of purification.
This doctrine of the metempsychosis, or trans
migration of the soul, was afterwards adopted by
* Conf. Plut. de Is. o.28. Vide also infra, p. 322.

CHAP. XIII. TRANSMIGRATION OF THE SOUL. 317
Pythagoras, with many other opinions he acquired
during his stay in Egypt. The idea of the return
of the Spirit to the Deity seems also to have been
admitted by the Jews, in the time of Solomon ;
since we find in Ecclesiastes*, "Then shall the
dust return to the Earth as it was ; and the Spirit
shall return unto God who gave it."
The characters of Osiris were numeroust, as
were those of Isis, who was thence called Myrio
nymus, or "with 10,000 names." He was that
attribute of the Deity which signified the divine
Goodnesst ; and in his most mysterious and sacred
office, as an avatar, or manifestation of the Divinity
on earth, he was superior to any even ofthe eight
great Gods. And though, as Herodotus informs
us §, all the Egyptians did not worship the same
Gods with equal reverence, the adoration paid to
Osiris and Isis was universal, and he considers Isis
the greatest of all the Divinities of Egypt. ||
Of the manner in which the Egyptians supposed
this manifestation ofthe Deity in a human form to
have taken place, I will not pretend to decide.
This was always a profound secret, revealed only to
some of those who were initiated into the higher
order of mysteries. Suffice it to say, that Osiris
was not believed by them to have been a human
being, who after death was translated into the order
of Demigods ; for, as I have already observed, no

* Eccles. xii. 7.
f Hence confounded with other Deities. Vide Diodor. i. 25.
X Vide supra, p. \89. 211. § Herodot. ii. 42.
II Herodot. ii. 40.

318 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIIL
Egyptian Deity* was supposed to have lived on
earth, and to have been deified after death, as with
the Greeks and other people.
Pythagoras also borrowed from the Egyptians
his notion respecting emanation. He held that the
Deity was the soul which animated all nature, —
the anima mundi, or soul ofthe universe, — not an
external influence, but dwelling within it, as the
soul of man within the human body ; and from
this universal soul all other Gods, as well as the
souls of men and other animals, and even of plants,
directly proceeded. Plutarch, indeed, attempts to
show that the worship of animals in Egypt was
borrowed from this ideat, when he says, " On the
whole, we ought to approve the conduct of those
who do not reverence these creatures for their own
sakes, but who, looking upon them as the most
lively and natural mirrors wherein to behold the
divine perfections, and as the instruments and
workmanship of the Deity, are led to pay their
adoration to that God who orders and directs all
things. Concluding, on the whole, that whatever
is endued with soul and sensation is more excel
lent than that which is devoid of those perfec
tions — even than all the gold and precious stones
in the universe, though collected into one mass.
For it is not in the brilliancy of colour, in the ele
gance of form, or in the beauty of surface, that
the Divinity resides. So far from it, those things
which never had life, and have not the power of
* Vide supra, p. 167.
¦|- Vide infra, beginning of Ch. xiv., on the Sacred Animals.

CHAP. XIII. EBIANATIONS FROM THE DEITY. 319
living, are in a much lower degree of estimation
than those that once enjoyed existence, though
they may since have lost it. But whatever beings
are endued with life, and the faculty of seeing,
with a principle of voluntary motion in them, and
are able to distinguish what belongs to and is
proper for them ; all these, as Heraclitus says, are
to be regarded as the effluxes, or so many portions
of that supreme wisdom which governs the uni
verse ; so that the Deity is not less strikingly re
presented in these, than in images of metal and
stone made by the hand of man."
This doctrine is well described by Virgil, in the
following beautiful lines * : —
" Principio ccelum, ac terras, camposque liquentes
Lucentemque globum lunae, Titaniaque astra,
Spiritus intus alit, totamque infusa per artus
Mens agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet.
Inde hominum pecudumque genus, vitasque volantum,
Et qus marmoreo fert monstra sub sequore pontus.
Igneus est oUis vigor, et coelestis origo
Seminibus. ......
Quin et supremo cum luuiine vita reliquit,
Non tamen omne malum miseris, nee funditus omnes
Corporeae excedunt pestes ; penitusque necesse est
Multa diu concreta modis inolescere miris.
Ergo exercentur poenis, veterumque malorum
Supplicia expendunt.
Donee longa dies perfecto temporls orbe
Concretam exemit labem, purumque reliquit
^thereum sensum, atque aura'i simplicis ignem.
Has omnes, ubi mille rotam volvere per annos,
Lethseum ad fluvium Deus evocat agmine magno :
Scilicet immemores supera ut convexa revisant,
Rui'sus et incipiant in corpora velle reverti."
The same is mentioned by Eusebius as the
opinion expressed in the old Hermaic books called
* Virg. Mn. vi. 724.

320 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Genica*: "Have you not been informed by the
Genica, that all individual souls are emanations from
the one Soul ofthe Universe ?" and Porphyry says,
" The Egyptians perceived that the Divinity not
only entered the human body, and that the (divine)
soul dwelt not, while on earth, in man alone, but
passed in a measure through all animals."
Osiris was calledt the " manifester of good," or
the " opener of truth," and said to be "full of good
ness (grace) and truth." He appeared on earth to
benefit mankind ; and after having performed the
duties he had come to fulfil, and fallen a sacrifice
to Typho the evil principle, (which was at length
overcome by his influence, after his leaving the
world,) he " rose again to a new lifet, " and became
the judge of mankind in a future state. The dead
also, after having passed their final ordeal and been
absolved from sin, obtained in his name, which they
then took, the blessings of eternal felicity. The
title " man fester of good" accords well with what
Plutarch § says of Osiris, that he was a "good being,
and sometimes styled Omphis (Onuphis), which
signifies a benevolent and beneficent power ;" the
word Onuphis being evidently the Egyptian ap
pellation of this God Ouon-nofre, " the opener of
good."
This was his principal title. He was also fre
quently styled "President of the West," "Lord
of Abydus," (which may either be Ebdt Abydus,
or Ebt the East,) "Lord of the world," " Lord of
* F(V/c Prichard, p. 208. f Vide supra, p. \89.
X Plut. de Is. s. 35. Ji Plut. de Is. s. 42.

CHAP. XIII.

TITLES OF OSIRIS.

321

life," " the Eternal Ruler," and " King of the
Gods." These, with many others, are commonly
found in the hieroglyphic legends accompanying
his figure, as may be seen in the annexed Wood-

1

2

3

1

5

1

#

15

#

o

(9\\
UJ

1<5

^^

I^JiU

l^^%

Ml
Tk2
w
I
5i • 1 1
i
+11
Some of the titles of Osiris.
cut ; and the papyri frequently present a list of
49 names of Osiris in the funeral rituals.
In the British Museum, is
a strange figure, supposed by
some of Osiris, which ap
pears to have been intended
for holding a papyrus; a
purpose to which the small
wooden statues of that God
deposited in the tombs are
often applied. But its form
is unusual, and, until more is
rjj^^j-^^^g^l^^ known of its date and use,
~_  —  -J we may scruple to admit it as
Nc.452. Supposed figure of Osiris, a figuro of Oslr i s. T hc hio-
roglyphics, it is true, painted on the pedestal that
VOL. I. — Second Series. Y
322 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII-
supports it, are of early time, and present the name
of "Osiris" on one side, and of " Osiris, Amun-re,
Lord (of the thrones ?) ofthe world, president of
Thebes, Aroeris?" on the other; but it is evident
that this did not belong originally to the statue,
having been applied to it, probably by those who
found it at Thebes, (like some more in this and
other museums,) to increase its support, its beauty,
or its value. There is therefore great uncertainty,
both respecting its age, and the person it represents.
The custom of applying the name of Osiris both
to men and women, who were supposed to par
take sufficiently of the qualities of the good being
to be worthy that honour, appears to have some
connection with the Greek notion of Dionysus or
Bacchus (who was thought to answer to Osiris)
being both male and female.* It is also worthy
of remark, that Servius, in commenting on the
" mystica vannus lacchi," of Virgil, affirms that
" the sacred rites of Bacchus pertained to the pu
rification of souls."
If Osiris was represented as one of the Gods of
the third order t, (who, according to their extra
vagant calculation, lived 15,000 years before the
reign of Amasis, and consequently later than Her
cules, Pan, and other Deities of the second class,)
we may suppose that this was intended to show that
he visited the earth after the religion of Egypt had
been long established ; or that it was an idea intro-

* As in Aristides, p. 52. 8., and 52. 10.; and the Orphic poems,
hymn .30., and 42. 4. Vide supra, p. 316.
-f Herodot. ii. 145.

CHAP. XIII. OSIRIS OF EARLY DATE. 323
duced into their religious system subsequently to
the systematic arrangement of the other members
of their Pantheon. The sculptures, however, of
the oldest monuments abundantly prove that, if it
were of more recent introduction, the change must
have occurred at a very remote period, before the
erection of any building now extant in Egypt ; as
the tombs in the vicinity of the Pyramids, belong
ing to individuals who were cotemporary with
their founders, show that Osiris had at that time
the same offices as in the age ofthe Ptolemies and
Caesars. In an ancient inscription, this Deity is made
to say, " Saturn, the youngest of all the Gods,
was my father ; I am Osiris : " and in another,
" I am the eldest son of Saturn, of an illustrious
branch, and of noble blood ; cousin of the day ;
there is no place where I have not been, and
I have liberally distributed my benefits to all man
kind." But the character of Osiris given by
Tibullus*, —
" Primus aratra manu solerti fecit Osiris,
Et tenerem ferro solicitavit humum ;
Primus inexpertis commisit semina terrae,
Pomaque non notis legit ab arboribus," —
as the teacher of agriculture, seems to refer to
Khem rather than to the son of Seb; and the at
tributes of the Egyptian Pan have, in more than
one instance, been given to Osiris. The notion,
that the Gods imparted to men the arts of ci
vilisation, was common to the Egyptians as to
the Greeks. Ombte is represented teaching the
* Tibull. i. Eleg. 7.
Y 2

324 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Kings the use of the bow; Neph shows them
the potter's art ; and Thoth instructs them in the
mode of catching birds with the net, in the art
of writing, and in every thing connected with cal
culation, medicine, and astronomy. In all cases,
however, it was an abstract idea representing the
diflPerent means by which intellectual gifts were im
parted from the Deity to man.
The Greeks identified Osiris with Bacchus *, in
consequence of his reputed conquest of India, and
some other analogies in the attributes or charac
ter of those two Deities. " The histories," says
Plutarch t, "on which the most solemn feasts of
Bacchus, the Titania and Nuktelia, are founded,
exactly correspond with what we are told of the
cutting to pieces of Osiris, of his rising again, and
of his new life." He was also supposed to an
swer to Pluto X, from his office of ruler of Hades or
Amenti ; " a circumstance of which the priests,"
according to Plutarch §, "never speak but with the
utmost caution and reserve. For the erroneous
acceptation of this truth has given occasion to
much disturbance, — the minds of the vulgar not
being able to conceive how the most pure and
truly holy Osiris should have his dwelling under
the earth, amongst the bodies of those who ap
pear to be dead. This God is, indeed, removed
as far as possible from the earth, being free from all
* Plut. de Is. s. 37. 13. The ancient Bacchus of Greece was repre
sented with a long beard ; the youthful Bacchus, on Greek vases, dates
after the time of Alexander.
t Plut. de Is, s. 35. J Plut. de Is. et O.sir. ss. 27, 28.
j Plut. de Is. s. 79.

CHAP. XIII. OSIRIS MANIFESTED ON EARTH. 3'25
communication with such beings as are liable to
corruption and death. As, therefore, the souls of
men are notable to participate ofthe divine nature
while encompassed with bodies and passions ; so,
when they are freed from these impediments, and
remove into the pure unseen regions which are
not discernible to our senses, it is then that this
God becomes their leader and King, and they be
hold that beauty for which Isis has so great an-
affection." " Osiris," says Diodorus *, " has been con
sidered the same as Sarapis, Bacchus, Pluto, or
Ammon. Others have thought him Jupiter, many
Pan ; and some look upon Sarapis as the same
with the Greek Pluto." The historian also en
deavours to identify him with the Sun, as Isis with
the Moon ; — an opinion maintained by other an
cient writers ; but which I have already t shown
to be at variance with the authority of the monu
ments, and the well-known character of Osiris.
Many fanciful notions have been derived from his
fabled rule on earth ; and comparisons have been
made with Osiris and other Deities, which, as in
the case of Isis, are mere speculations of a late
time, totally at variance with the opinions of the
Egyptians, — at least, of those who understood
their religion and the nature of the Gods. Di
vested, then, of all the fancied connection with
the Sun and the many Deities to whom Osiris is
compared, we see in him the goodness ofthe Deity,
which was supposed to have been manifested upon
* Diodor. i. 25. f Vide supra, p. 289.
Y 3

326 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. Xlll.
earth for the benefit of mankind, and in a future
state the Judge of the world.
There were other personages in the lower regions,
according to the Greek mythology, whose names
bear the stamp of an Egyptian origin *, though
they cannot be themselves exactly traced amongst
the Deities of Amenti. These are, Minos, ^Eacus,
and Rhadamanthus, the judges of the dead ; in the
first of which the Egyptian Min or Men is easily re
cognised, and in the last the name of Amenti itself.
Numerous explanations have been given of the
mythological history of Osiris, many of which are
the result of fancy, as those of Diodorus and Ma
crobius t, already mentioned. I have stated, that
the principal character of Osiris was the goodness
of the Deity, who was supposed to have visited the
world ; but upon the story of his imaginary life on
earth were engrafted numerous allegorical fables,
and diflPerent interpretations were given to them,
according to the circumstances to which his history
appeared to be adapted.
The existence of Osiris on earth was, of course,
a speculative theory, — an allegory, not altogether
unlike the avatars of the Indian Vishnoo ; and
some may be disposed to think that the Egyptians,
being aware ofthe promises ofthe real Saviour, had
anticipated that event, recording it as though it had

• Plato, in the Gorglas, makes Jupiter say, that he " has made his
sons judges : two from Asia, — Minos and Rhadamanthus ; and one from
Europe:" and that " he will confer this additional dignity on Minos, —
that he shall decide whatever may be inscrutable to the other judges."
Taylor, Trans, vol. iv. p. 453.
-)- Macrob. Saturn, i. 21. Vide supra, p. 290.

CHAP. XIII. MYSTERIES OF OSIRIS. 327
already happened, and introducing that mystery
into their religious system.*
Of the mysteries and of the festivals in honour
of Osiris, we can obtain little or no information
from ancient authors. The former were too sacred
to be divulged ; and few of the Greeks and other
strangers were admitted even into those of the
lesser order. They were divided into the greater
and less mysteries ; and before admission into the
former, it was necessary that the initiated should
have passed through all the gradations ofthe latter.
But, to merit this great honour, much was expected
of the candidate, and many even of the priesthood
were unable to obtain it. Besides the proofs of
a virtuous life, other recommendations were re
quired ; and to be admitted to all the grades of
the higher mysteries, was the greatest honour to
which any one could aspire.
It was from these that the mysteries of Eleusis t
were borrowed. For, though celebrated in honour
of Osiris, they applied more immediately to Isis,
and to the grief she felt for the loss of her consort,
as the former recorded the lamentations of Ceres
at the fate of her daughter. The Themophoria,
in honour of the same Goddess, were also derived
from Egypt. §
Herodotus mentions a ceremony on the Lake of
Sais, in which the history of Osiris was represented.
They styled it the Mysteries. " Though," adds
the historian t, " I am well acquainted with them,
* Supra, p. 200. \ Vide Diodor. i. 29.
X Herodot. il. 171. § Vide infra, Chap. ii.\.
Y 4

328 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
I refrain from revealing any, as well as those re
lating to the institutions of Ceres, called by the
Greeks Thesmophoria ; and I shall only mention
as much of them as my religion permits. The
daughters of Danaiis brought them from Egypt,
and taught them to the Pelasgic women ; but at
length, the Dorians having expelled the ancient in
habitants of Peloponnesus, these rites were lost, ex
cept amongst the Arcadians, who, not being driven
out of the country, continued to preserve them."
" At Sai's," says the same author, " they show
the sepulchre of him whom I do not think it right
to mention on this occasion : it is in the sacred in
closure, behind the temple of Minerva, and close to
the wall of this temple, whose whole length it occu
pies." " They also meet at Sais to oflPer sacrifice *
during a certain night, when every one lights in the
open air a number of lamps around his house. The
lamps consist of small cups filled with salt and oil,
having a wick floating in it which burns all night.
This fete is called of the burning lamps. The
Egyptians who are unable to attend, also observe
the sacrifice and burn lamps at home ; so that not
only at Sais, but throughout Egypt, the same illu
mination takes place. They assign a sacred reason
for the fete celebrated on this night, and the re
spect they have for it."
Of the ceremonies during the fete of Busiris,
I shall speak in describing the Goddess Isis. It
was held in honour of her and of Osiris; Busiris,
like Philge, Abydus, Memphis, Taposiris, and other
* Herodot. ii. 62.

CHAP. XIII. FETES AT SAIS. 329
places, claiming the honour of being the supposed
burial place* of this mysterious Deity.
Having noticed the metaphysical character of
Osiris, I proceed to examine some ofthe allegories
founded upon his fabulous history ; though, as al
ready stated t, I believe them to be for the most
part mere fanciful speculations, forming no part of
their religious belief, but rather designed to amuse
the ignorant and satisfy the people with a plausible
story; while the real purport of all connected with
the Deity was reserved for those alone who were
admitted to a participation ofthe mysteries.
Of these, the principal one is that in which he is
compared to the Nile, and Isis to the land of Egypt.
"By Osiris," says Plutarch X, " they mean the Nile ;
by Isis, that part of the country which Osiris or
the Nile overflows ; and by Typho, the sea, which,
by receiving the Nile as it runs into it, does as it
were tear it into many pieces, and entirely destroy
it, excepting only so much of it as is admitted
into the bosom of the earth in its passage over it,
which is thereby rendered fertile." And the notion
of Osiris being born on the right side ofthe world,
and perishing on the left, is explained " by the
rising of the Nile in the South country, which is
the left, and running northwards till it is swallowed
up by the sea."
The story of the supposed life of Osiris is
briefly as follows. § "Osiris, having become King
of Egypt, applied himself towards civilising his
* Plut.dels. s. 21.
f Vide supra, p. 290. ; and infra, on Isis ; and Chap, xv., on the Fetes.
X Plut. de Is. s. 32. ^ Plut. de Is. s. 13.

330 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
countrymen, by turning them from their former
barbarous course of life, teaching them moreover
to cultivate and improve the fruits of the earth.
. . . With the same good disposition, he afterwards
travelled over the rest of the world, inducing the
people every where to submit to his discipline, by
the mildest persuasion. . . . During his absence
fiom his kingdom, Typho had no opportunity of
making any innovations in the state, Isis being ex
tremely vigilant in the government, and always on
her guard. After his return, however, having first
persuaded seventy-two other persons to join with
him in the conspiracy, together with a certain
Queen of Ethiopia named Aso, who chanced to be
in Egypt at the time, he contrived a proper strata
gem to execute his base designs. For, having pri
vily taken the measure of Osiris's body, he caused a
chest to be made exactly of that size, as beautiful
as possible, and set off with all the ornaments of art.
This chest he brought into the banqueting room,
where after it had been much admired by all present,
Typho, as if in jest, promised to give it to any one
of them, whose body upon trial it might be found
to fit. Upon this, the whole company, one after
the other, got into it ; but as it did not fit any of
them, last of all Osiris laid himself down in it ; upon
which the conspirators immediately ran together,
clapped on the cover, and then, fastening it on the
outside with nails, poured melted lead over it.
" After this, having carried it away to the river
side, they conveyed it to the sea by the Tanaitic
mouth of the Nile, which for this reason is still

CHAP. XIII. HISTORY OF OSIRIS. 331
held in the utmost abhorrence by the Egyptians,
and never named by them but with proper marks
of detestation.
" These things happened on the 17th day of the
month Athyr, when the Sun was in Scorpio, in the
28th year of Osiris's reign ; though others say he
was no more than 28 years old at the time.
" The first who knew the accident, that had be
fallen their King, were the Pans and Satyrs who
lived about Chemmis ; and they, immediately ac
quainting the people with the news, gave the first
occasion to the name of Panic terrors. . . . Isis, as
soon as the report reached her, cut off one of the
locks of her hair, and put on mourning; whence the
spot where she then happened to be has ever since
been called Koptos, or the city of mourning.* And
being informed that Osiris, deceived by her sister
Nephthys, who was in love with him, had unwit
tingly taken her to his embraces instead of herself,
as she concluded from the Mellilot garland, which
he had left with her, she proceeded to search out
the child, the fruit of their unlawful union. For her
sister, dreading the anger of her husband Typho,
had exposed it as soon as it was born ; and it was
not without great difficulty, that by means of some
dogs, she discovered the place of its concealment.
Having found it, she bred it up ; and it afterwards
obtained the name of Anubis." t
* It is needless to remark, that a Greek origin for this name is as in
admissible as the derivation of Isis from fiaif, knowledge, also given by
Plutarch, s. 2.
+ Like other Greek and Roman writers, Plutarch commits the error
of giving Anubis a dog's head.

332 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
" At length she received more particular news
of the chest. It had been carried by the waves of
the sea to the coast of Byblos, and there gently
lodged in the branches of a Tamarisk bush, which
in a short time had shot up into a large tree,
growing round the chest, and enclosing it on every
side, so that it could not be seen ; and the King
ofthe country, having cut down the tree, had made
the part of the trunk wherein the chest was con
cealed, a pillar to support the roof of his house. . . .
Isis, having gone to Byblos, obtained possession of
this pillar, and then set sail with the chest for
Egypt. . . . But intending a visit to her son Horus
(Orus), who was brought up at Butus, she depo
sited the chest in the mean time in a remote and
unfrequented place. Typho, however, as he was
one night hunting by the light of the Moon, ac
cidentally met with it, and knowing the body en
closed in it, tore it into fourteen pieces, disposing
them up and down in diflPerent parts ofthe country.
" Being acquainted with this event, Isis set out
once more* in search of the scattered members of
her husband's body, using a boat made of the pa
pyrus rush, in order more easily to pass through
the lower and fenny parts ofthe country. . . . And
one reason assigned for the many different sepul
chres of Osiris shown in Egypt, is, that wherever
any one of his scattered limbs was discovered, she
buried it in that spot ; though others suppose that
it was owing to an artifice of the Queen, who
presented each of those cities with an image of her
* Plut. de Is. s. 18.

CHAP. XIII. THE MEMBERS OF OSIRIS. 333
husband, in order that, if Typho should overcome
Horus in the approaching conquest, he might be
unable to find the real sepulchre. Isis succeeded
in recovering all the different members, with the
exception of one, which had been devoured by the
Lepidotus, the Phagrus, and the Oxyrhinchus ; for
which reason these fish are held in abhorrence by
the Egyptians. To make amends, therefore, for
this loss, she consecrated the Phallus, and instituted
a solemn festival to its memory."
" A battle at length took place between Horus
and Typho, in which the latter was taken prisoner.
Isis, however, to whose custody he was committed,
so far from putting him to death, set him at liberty;
which so incensed Horus, that he tore oft' the royal
diadem she wore ; but Hermes substituted in its
stead a helmet made in the shape of an ox's head.
After this, Typho publicly accused Horus of illegi
timacy ; but, with the assistance of Hermes, the
question was set at rest by the judgment of the
Gods themselves ; and at length two other battles
were fought, in which Typho was defeated.
" It is also related, that Isis had intercourse with
Osiris after his death, and, in consequence, brought
forth Harpocrates, who came into the world before
his time, and lame in his lower limbs."
Proceeding with the examination of the diflPerent
parts of this allegorical fable, Plutarch observes*,
that, " Osiris being the inundation ofthe Nile, and
Isis the land irrigated by it," from the conjunction
of these two, Horus was born, meaning thereby,
* Plut. de Is. s. 38.

334 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
that just and seasonable temperature of the cir
cumambient air, which preserves and nourishes all
things. Horus is, moreover, supposed to have been
brought up by Latona, in the marshy country
about Butus, because a moist and watery soil is
best adapted to produce those vapours and exhal
ations which serve to relax the excessive drought
arising from heat. In like manner, they call the
extreme limits of their country, their confines, and
sea shores, Nephthys (Teleute, or the end), whom
they suppose to have been married to Typho.
Now, as the overflowings of the Nile are some
times very great, and extend to the boundaries of
the land, this gave rise to the story of the secret
intercourse between Osiris and Nephthys, as the
natural consequence of so great an inundation
would be the springing up of plants in those parts
of the country, which were formerly barren.
Hence they imagine that Typho was first made
acquainted with the infidelity of his wife, by the
Mellilot garland which fell from the head of Osiris
while in her company; and that the legitimacy
of Horus, the son of Isis, may thus be explained,
as well as the illegitimacy of Anubis, who was
bom of Nephthys.
" Furthermore, by the conspiracy of Typho and
his tyranny, are to be understood the force and
power of drought, which overcome the moisture
whence the increase of the Nile proceeds. His
being assisted by the Queen of Ethiopia refers to
the southern winds, blowing from that country ;
which, when strong enough to prevail against the

CHAP. XIII. THE HISTORY EXPLAINED. 335
Etesian or annual northern ones, that carry the
clouds towards Ethiopia, prevent those showers
of rain from falling, and contributing to the in
crease of the Nile. ... As to the shutting up
of Osiris in a chest, this signifies the withdraw
ing of the Nile within its own banks, when the
Etesian winds have ceased, which happens in the
month Athyr.
" About this time, in consequence of the in
creasing length of the nights, the power of dark
ness appearing to prevail, whilst that of light is
diminished, the priests practise doleful rites, in
token of the grief of the Goddess. One of these
is to expose to public view a gilded ox, covered
with a pall of fine black linen ; this animal being
regarded as the living image of Osiris. The cere
mony lasts four days, beginning on the 17th of the
month, and is intended to represent four things : —
1st, The falling ofthe Nile, and its return within
its own channel : 2dly, The ceasing of the north
winds : 3dly, The length of the nights and decrease
of the days ; and, lastly. The destitute condition
in which the land then appears. Thus they com
memorate what they call the loss of Osiris. But
upon the 19th of the month Pachon, they march
in procession towards the sea, whither the stolistcB
and priests carry the sacred chest, containing a
vessel of gold, into which they pour some river
water, and all present exclaim, ' Osiris is found.'
Then throwing fresh mould into the water, and
mixing with it aromatics and precious incense, they
make an image in the form of a crescent, which

336 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
is dressed up and adorned, to show that these
Gods are the powers of earth and water. *
" Isis having recovered the body of Osiris, and
brought her son Horus to maturity, (whose strength,
by means of exhalations and clouds, was continu
ally increasing,) Typho was in his turn conquered,
though not totally destroyed. For the Goddess,
who is the Earth, in order to maintain a proper
temperament of heat and cold, would not permit
this enemy of moisture to be quite extinguished,
but loosed his bonds and set him at liberty, well
knowing that it was impossible for the world to
subsist in perfection, if the force of heat was to
tally extinguished."
To sum up the details of this story according to
the foregoing interpretation, we may apply to each
its distinct meaning, as follows : —
Osiris, the inundation ofthe Nile.
Isis, the irrigated portion of the land of Egypt.
Horus, their offspring, the vapours and exhal
ations reproducing rain.
Buto (Latona), the marshy lands of Lower
Egypt, where those vapours were nourished.
Nephthys, the edge of the desert, occasionally
overflowed during the high inundations.
Anubis, the son of Osiris and Nephthys, the pro
duction of that barren soil, in consequence
of its being overflowed by the Nile.
* Conf. Clem. Recogn. lib. x. 27., " Osirl aquam, Hammoni arle-
tem ;" Origen. V. in Celsum, p.' 65., " Osiris water, and Isis earth;"
or the Nile, according to Hellodorus, lib. ix. ; and Clem. Homil. vi. 9.,
" aquam terra Inferiorera. . . . Osirin nuncuparunt."

CHAP. XIII. MEANING OF EACH PART. 337
Typho, the sea, which swallowed up the Nile
water.
The conspirators, the drought overcoming the
moisture, from which the increase of the Nile
proceeds.
The chest in which Osiris's body was confined,
the banks of the river, within which it retired
after the inundation.
The Tanaitic mouth, the lake and barren lands
about it, which were held in abhorrence from
their being overflowed by the river without
producing any benefit to the country.
The 28 years of his life, the " 28 cubits to which
the Nile rises at Elephantina*, its greatest
height."
The 17th of Athor, the period when the river
retires within its banks.
The Queen of Ethiopia, the southern winds
preventing the clouds being carried south
wards.
The diflPerent members of Osiris's body, the
main channels and canals by which the in
undation passed into the interior of the coun
try, where each was said to be afterwards
buried. That one which could not be reco
vered was the generative power of the Nile,
which still continued in the stream itself; or,
as Plutarch thinks, it was said to have been
thrown into the river, because " water or
moisture was the first matter upon which the
generative power of the Deity operated, and
* Plut. de Is. s. 43.
VOL. I. — Second Series. Z

338 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
that principle by means of which all things
capable of being were produced."
The victory of Horus, the power possessed by the
clouds in causing the successive inundations
of the Nile.
Harpocrates, whom Isis brought forth about the
winter solstice, those weak shootings of the
corn produced after the inundation had sub
sided. *
According to another interpretation t, " by Ty
pho is meant the orb of the Sun, and by Osiris that
ofthe Moon ; the former being of a scorching, the
latter of a moistening and prolific, nature. When,
therefore, they say that Osiris's death happened on
the 17th day ofthe month, it means that the moon is
then at its full, and from that time is continually on
the wane. In like manner, Osiris is said to have lived
or reigned 28 years, alluding to the number of days
in which she performs her course round the earth.
As to his being torn into fourteen pieces, this is sup
posed to mark out the number of days in which the
Moon is continually decreasing from the full to its
change ; and by the war between Typho and Horus
is meant, that in this terrestrial system, sometimes
the principle of corruption prevails, and sometimes
that of generation, though neither of them is ever
able entirely to conquer or destroy the other."
For other explanations of this history, I refer
the reader to Plutarch's treatise of Isis and Osiris ;
who very properly observes, that we are not to
suppose the adventures there related to be " really
# Plut. de Is. s. 65. f Plut. de Is. s. 41.

CHAP. XIII. THE PARENT KING AND GOD. 339
true, or ever to have happened in fact."* He treats
it, as it really was, in the light of a metaphysical
question ; for, he adds, he alone is competent to
understand it, " who searches into the hidden
truths it contains, and examines the whole by the
dictates of reason and philosophy." t "And taking a
proper view of these matters, we must neither look
upon water, nor the Sun, nor the earth, nor the
heavens, simply as Osiris and Isis ; nor must we by
Typho understand either fire, or drought, or the
sea ; but, in general, whatever in these bodies is ir
regular and disorderly, or whatever is bad, is to be
attributed to Typho ; as, on the contrary, whatever
is good and salutary is the operation of Isis and
the image of Osiris. "t
Many, however, were disposed to clothe with
reality all the emblematic characters of Osiris,
looking upon abstract ideas or allegories as positive
facts. With this view, they deemed him the Deity
of humidity, instead of the abstract quality or be
nefit arising from it ; and hence " the votaries of
Osiris abstained from destroying a fruit tree, or
marring any springs of water. " § A similar notion
also induced them " to carry a water jar at the head
ofthe sacred processions in honour of this God." ||
In the fabulous history of Osiris, we may trace
a notion, common to all nations, of a God, who in
the early ages of their history^ lived on earth, and

* Plut. dels. s. 11.20.
t Plut. de Is. s. 3. X P'"t- de Is. s. 64.
§ Plut. de Is. s. 35. II Plut. de Is. s. 36.
IT The Bisharee tribe of Arabs still speak of their founder Bega,
who was their first parent, as well as God.
z 2

340 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
was their King, their instructor, and even the father
of their race ; who taught them the secrets of
husbandry, the arts of civilisation, and the advan
tages of social intercourse ; and who, extending
his dominion over the whole world, permitted all
mankind to partake of his beneficent influence.
They represent him to have been assailed by the
malignant attacks of some monster, or enemy of
man, either as an evil principle, or the type of a
destructive power. He is sometimes exposed to
the waters of the sea, (an evident allusion to the
great deluge,) from which he is saved, by taking-
refuge in a cavern, or by means of a floating
island, a lotus, or a snake, which bears him safely
to the summit of a mountain. He is frequently
aided by the interposition of some female com
panion, who is his sister, his daughter, or his
wife, and the mother, as he is the father, of the
human race, which springs from their three sons ;
like the family of Adam, repeated in that of Noah.
But though we observe some analogy between
these and the history of Osiris, it is only in par
ticular points that any positive resemblance can
be admitted : the office of Osiris was of a more
important character than that usually assigned to
the hero God and parent of man ; as the notion
of a Trinity was of a more exalted nature than
that given to the material work of its hands, — the
three sons of Noah and his prototype.
Osiris is frequently represented of a black colour,
as Plutarch observes *, but more usually green ;
* Plut. de Is. s. 33.

CHAP. XIII. FORM OF OSIRIS. 341
and when Judge of Amenti, he has the form of a
mummied figure, holding in his crossed hands the
crook and flagellum. He is clad in pure white, and
wears on his head the cap of Upper Egypt decked
with ostrich feathers ; which head-dress, if not ex
clusively, at least peculiarly, belongs to this Deity.*
In the sculptures, a spotted skin is sometimes sus
pended near him, —an emblem supposed to connect
him with the Greek Bacchus t ; and occasionally
assuming the character of " stability," he appears
with his head and even face covered with the four-
barred symbol X, which in hieroglyphics has that
signification, and which may also refer to the in
tellect of the Deity.
In former times, the four-barred symbol of sta
bility was mistaken for a "Nilometer," as the sign
of life (or crux ansata) was compelled to submit
to the unintelligible name of " Key of the Nile.
So far, however, is the latter from any connec
tion with the river, that it is less frequently seen
in the hand of the God Nilus than any Deity of the
Egyptian Pantheon ; and the former never occurs
among the numerous emblems or offerings he bears.
It is represented as a sort of stand or support in
workmen's shops, where, for the sake ofthe goods
they wished to sell, we may charitably hope it
required no graduated Nilometer to measure the
height ofthe intrusive inundation.
* Vide Plate 33. fig. 3.
-|- Vide Diodor. i. II. The skin is usually represented without the
head; but some instances where this is introduced show it to be the
leopard or panther ; which, as well as the nebris, belonged to Bacchus.
t Vide Plate 33. fig. 5. ; and supra, p. 253.
z 3

342 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Osiris also takes the character of the God Benno,
with the head of a crane, peculiarised by a tuft of
two long feathers ; and he sometimes appears as a
human figure, with a simple cap surmounted by two
ostrich plumes.* The statement of Plutarcht, that
the dress of Osiris was of one uniform shining co
lour, is confirmed by the paintings, which generally
represent him clad in white. Isis was dressed in
robes of various hues, because, according to the
same writer, " her power was wholly conversant
about rnatter, which becomes all things and admits
all, light and darkness, day and night, fire and water,
life and death,- beginning and end." Osiris also
appears, when in the character of Sokari-Osiris,
with the head of a hawk.t Under that title he has
some connection § with Pthah ; and it is then that
he is considered to have risen from the dead after
his visit to the world. ||
The Phallic ceremonies, said to have been per
formed in honour of Osiris, appear rather to have
belonged to the generative principle^ ofthe Deity
worshipped under the name of Khem ; though
Plutarch and other writers assert that they derived
their origin from the search made by Isis for the
scattered members of her husband.** Plutarch, in
another place, saystt, the festival ofthe Paamyha,
which bears a great resemblance to the Phallepho-
ria of Greece, was kept in honour of the birth of
* Plate 33. figs. 5. and 1. f Plut. de Is. s. 78.
X Conf. Pint, de Is. s. 51. § Vide infra, on Isis, ad fin. note.
11 Vide supra, p. 255.
11 Vide infra, on the Ceremonies, Chap. xv.
?* Plut. de Is. s. 18. ft Plut. de Is. s. 12.

CHAP. XIII. THE PAAMYLIA. 343
Osiris, and so called from Paamyles, to whom the
education of Osiris had been intrusted by his father
Saturn. " From the manner of celebrating it," he
adds*, "it is evident that Osiris is, in reality, the
great principle of fecundity. They therefore carry
about in procession and expose to public view a
statue of this God with the triple phallus, signifying
that he is the first principle, and that every such
principle, by means of its generative faculty, mul
tiplies what proceeds from, or is produced by, it.
The phallus being threefold merely implies a great
or indefinite number;" or it probably refers to the
action of that principle upon matter, which was
represented by the number three.
It is probably the same to which Herodotus al
ludes t, as a fete of Bacchus.t " On that occasion,
every one killed a pig before his door, at the hour
of dinner ; and then restored it to the person of
whom it had been purchased. The Egyptians,"
he adds, " celebrate the rest of this festival nearly
in the same manner as the Greeks, excepting
the sacrifice of pigs ; but, in lieu of phalli, they
make little puppets about a cubit high, which
women carry about the towns and villages, and set
in motion by means of a string. They are accom
panied by a chorus, with a flute-player § at their
head, singing the praises of the Deity." The histo
rian then describes the appearance of these phallic
figures, which he ascribes to a sacred reason; and it

* Plut. de Is. s. 36. t Herodot. ii. 48.
X Vide also, Plut. de Is. s. 8.
} Vide Chap, xv., on the Ceremonies. Z.-4

344 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
is a curious fact that similar puppets are made by
the Egyptians on the occasions of public rejoicing
at the present day.
The name of Osiris is frequently enclosed in an
oval like those of the Kings ; but the hieroglyphics
forming the name itself generally precede it, and
within is the title, " manifester of goodness and
truth." His usual appellation is " Osiris, president
of Amenti," or "Lord of Abydus;" and I have
found an instance of his being styled " King of
the Gods." He was the first member of the triad
composed of Osiris, Isis, and Horus; his worship
was universal throughout Egypt ; and every city
assigned to him a conspicuous post among the con
templar Gods it worshipped.
Each town had its protecting Deity, who pre
sided over it ; and the post of honour in the
Adytum, as in the most conspicuous parts of the
temple erected in his honour, was assigned to him.
The peculiar triad of the place also held a pro
minent station in the sculptures ; and to the con
templar Gods was assigned a post according to the
consideration they there enjoyed. But the Deities
worshipped in the towns of one nome, or province
of Egypt, did not always receive the same honours
in another ; and it frequently happened that, though
acknowledged to be Deities of their country, and
treated with every mark of respect, many of them
were omitted in the list of contemplar Gods. This
must necessarily have happened in small temples,
which could only admit a portion of the Egyptian
Pantheon, especially as the tutelary Deity of the

CH.VP. XIII. GODS DIFFERENTLY HONOURED. 345
place alone occupied many and the choicest places.
But few temples, if any, denied a post to Isis and
Osiris, " the greatest of all the Gods."* " For,"
says Herodotus, " the Egyptians do not give equal
honours to all their Gods, and the only two to
whom the same worship is universally paid are Isis
and Osiris." t With regard to the sacred animals,
they were looked upon with feelings so diflPerent
in various parts of the country, that those wor
shipped in one town were often held in abhorrence
in another ; as is shown by the civil war between
the Oxyrhinchites and the people of Cynopolis,
mentioned by Plutarcht, and by a similar contest
related in Juvenal § between the people of Ombos
and Tentyris. But, as I have elsewhere observed ||,
though the objects of their worship varied, it is
not probable that such excesses were committed in
early times, during the rule of their native Princes.
Phite and Abydus were the two places where
Osiris was particularly worshipped ; and so sacred
was the former, that no one was permitted to visit
that holy island without express permission ; and
in the temple which still remains there, his mys
terious history is recorded in the manner already
mentioned. ^ Besides the celebration of the great
mysteries, which took place at Philae (as at Sais and
Busiris), a grand ceremony was performed at a par
ticular time, when the priests in solemn procession
visited his tomb and crowned it with flowers.**

* Herodot. ii. 40. f Herodot. ii. 42.
X Plut. de Is. s. 72. § Juv. Sat. x^v. 36.
II Beginning of Chap. xiv. IT Vide sujjrd, p. 189.255.
** Plut. de Is. s. 21.

346 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Plutarch even pretends that all access to the island
was forbidden at every other period, and that no
bird would fly over, or fish swim near, this conse
crated ground. " The sepulchre of Osiris at Phi
lse," says Diodorus *, " is revered by all the priests
throughout Egypt ; and 360 cups are filled daily
with milk t by priests expressly appointed for this
purpose, who, calling on the names of the Gods,
utter a solemn lamentation ; wherefore the island
can only be approached by the priests ; and the
most solemn oath taken by the inhabitants of the
Thebaid is to swear by Osiris, who lies buried at
Philae." The temple of this Deity at Abydus was also par
ticularly honoured ; and so holy was the place itself
considered by the Egyptians, that persons living at
some distance from it sought, and perhaps with
difficulty obtained, permission to possess a sepulchre
within its Necropolis ; in order that, after death,
they might repose in ground hallowed by the tomb
of this great and mysterious Deity. This fact is
noticed by Plutarch X, and confirmed by the dis
covery of inscriptions there, which state the de
ceased were natives of Thebes and other places.
I have observed § that Memphis,Busiris, Taposiris,
and other towns also claimed the honour of beina:
the burial places of Osiris ; and the reason that
Apis, " which they looked upon as the image of
the Soul of Osiris, was kept at Memphis, seems to
have been in order to place it as near his body as
* Diodor. i. 22.
¦)- Milk was used in early times for hbations, as by Romulus.
X Plut. de Is. s. 20. § Supra, p. 328.

CHAP. XIII. BURIAL PLACES OF OSIRIS. 347
possible." * Indeed, the name of that city, which
signifies the " place of good," appears to refer to,
and perhaps to have been called from, Osiris, who
was the " Goodness" ofthe Deity; and from its
being his reputed burial place, and the abode of his
representative on earth, the bull Apis, we may find
reason to prefer this explanation to that given by
Plutarch t, who considers Memphis to mean the
"haven of good men." The name of Busiris im
plies!, as Diodorus observes §, the burial place of
Osiris ; and the same interpretation is given to
Taposiris, though the word is not Egyptian as the
former, but Greek ; as are most of the names of
towns mentioned by ancient writers.

Hapi, Apis, Apis-Osiris.
Osiris was also worshipped under the form of
Apis, the Sacred Bull of Memphis, or as a human
figure with a bull's head, accompanied by the name
" Apis-Osiris." According to Plutarch ||, " Apis
was a fair and beautiful image of the Soul of
Osiris ; " and the same author ^ tells us that
" Mnevis, the Sacred Ox of Heliopolis, was also
dedicated to Osiris, and honoured by the Egyp
tians with a reverence next to that paid to Apis,
whose sire some pretend him to be." This agrees
with the statement of Diodorus, who says. Apis

* Plut. de Is. s. 20. t Plut; de Is. s. 21.
X There were more than one place in Egypt of this name. Diodor.
i. 17.; and Phn. v. 10., and xxxvi. 12.
§ Diodor. i. 88. || Plut. de Is. ss. 29. and 20.
T Plut. de Is. s. 33.

348 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
and Mnevis were both sacred to Osiris, and wor
shipped as Gods throughout the whole of Egypt * ;
and Plutarch suggests that, from these well-known
representations of Osiris, the people of Elis and
Argos derived the idea of Bacchus with an ox's
head ; Bacchus being reputed to be the same
as Osiris. Herodotus t, in describing him, says,
" Apis, also called Epaphus, is a young bull, whose
mother can have no other offspring, and who is
reported by the Egyptians to conceive from light
ning sent from heaven, and thus to produce the
God Apis. He is known by certain marks : his
hair is black ; on his forehead is a white triangular
spot, on his back an eagle, and a beetle under his
tongue, and the hair of his tail is double." Ovid
speaks of him as " varius coloribus Apis." Strabo
describes him with the forehead and some parts of
his body of a white colour, the rest being black,
by which signs they fix upon a new one to succeed
the other when he dies." Plutarch X observes,
that, " on account of the great resemblance they
imagine beween Osiris and the Moon, his more
bright and shining parts being shadowed and ob
scured by those that are of a darker hue, they call
the Apis the living image of Osiris, and suppose
him begotten by a ray of generative light, flowing
from the Moon, and fixing upon his dam at a time
when she was strongly disposed for generation."
Pliny § speaks of Apis " having a white spot in
the form of a crescent upon his right side, and a
* Diodor. i. 21. f Herodot. iii. 28.
X Plut. de Is. s. 43. ^ PHn. viii. 46.

CHAP. XIII.

APIS AND MNEVIS.

349

lump under his tongue in the form of a beetle."
Ammianus Marcellinus * says the white crescent
on his right side was the principal sign by which
he w^as known : and ^lian mentions 29 marks by
which he was recognised, each referable to some
mystic signification. But he pretends that the
Egyptians did not allow those given by Herodotus
and Aristagoras. Some suppose him entirely black,
^nd others contend that certain marks, as the pre
dominating black colour, and the beetle on his
tongue, show him to be consecrated to the Sun,
as the crescent to the Moon. Ammianus and
others say that " Apis was sacred to the Moon,
Mnevis to the Sun ; " and most authors seem to
describe the latter of a black colour.
With regard to the accuracy or inaccuracy of
Herodotus respecting the peculiar marks of Apis,

l-n the possession qf Miss Rogers.
1. Bronze figure of Apis.
2. The marks on his back.

it is difficult to determine. There is, however,
evidence from the bronzes discovered in Egypt,

* Amm. Marc. xxii. 14.

350 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
that the Vulture (not Eagle) on his back was one
of his characteristics, supplied, no doubt, like
many others, by the priests themselves.
To Apis belonged all the clean oxen *, chosen
for sacrifice ; the necessary requisite for which,
according to Herodotus, was, that they should be
entirely free from black spots, or even a single
black hair ; though, as I shall have occasion to re
mark in treating of the Sacrifices, this statement of
the historian is far from accurate. It may also be
doubted if the name Epaphust, by which he says
Apis was called by the Greeks in their language,
was of Greek origin.
He is called in the hieroglyphic legends Hapi ;
and the bull, the demonstrative and figurative sign
following his name, is accompanied by the crux
ansata, or emblem of life. It has seldom any or-

•^^ ^1 ^^^

Hieroglyphical name of Apis.

nament on its head ; but the figure of Apis-(or
Hapi-)Osiris generally wears the globe of the Sun,
and the Asp, the symbol of divine Majesty ; which
are also given to the bronze figures of this bull.
Memphis was the place where Apis was kept,
and where his worship was particularly observed.
He was not merely looked upon as an emblem,
but, as Pliny and Cicero say, was deemed "a God
* Herodot. ii. 38.
f Herodot. ii. 28. 153., and iii. 27.

CHAP. XIII. APIS KEPT AT MEMPHIS. 351
by the Egyptians*:" and Strabot calls "Apis
the same as Osiris." Psammaticust there erected
a grand court, ornamented with figures in lieu
of columns 12 cubits in height, forming a peri
style around it, in which he was kept when exhi
bited in public. Attached to it were probably the
two stables, " delubra," or " thalami," mentioned
by Pliny §: and Strabo says, " Before the enclo
sure where Apis is kept, is a vestibule, in which
also the mother of the Sacred Bull is fed ; and
into this vestibule Apis is sometimes introduced,
in order to be shown to strangers. After being
brought out for a little while, he is again taken
back. At other times he is only seen through a
window." " The temple of Apis is close to that
of Vulcan ; which last is remarkable for its archi
tectural beauty, its extent, and the richness of its
decoration." The festival in honour of Apis lasted seven days ;
on which occasion a large concourse of people as
sembled at Memphis. The priests then led the Sa
cred Bull in solemn procession, every one coming
forward from their houses to welcome him as he
passed ; and Pliny and Soiinus affirm that children
who smelt his breath were thought to be thereby
gifted with the power of predicting future events.
Diodorus || derives the worship of Apis from the
* " Quid igitur censes ? Apin, ilium sanctum j3Egyptiorum bovem,
nonneDeum videri jEgyptiis?" Cicero, de Nat. Deor. I. Plin. viii. 46.
¦j- Strabo, xvii. p. 555. When ^han says, " they compare Apis to
Horus, being the cause of fertility," he evidently means Osiris. MX.
'X Herodot. ii. 153. § Plin. lib. viii. 46.
II Diodor. i. 85.

352 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
belief of " the soul of Osiris having migrated into
this animal, who was thus supposed to manifest
himself to man through successive ages ; though
some report that the members of Osiris when killed
by Typho having been deposited in a wooden ox,
enveloped in byssine cloths, gave the name to the
city of Busiris, and established its worship there."
When the Apis died *, certain priests chosen
for this duty went in quest of another, who was
known from the signs mentioned in the sacred
books. As soon as he was found, they took him
to the City of the Nile preparatory to his removal
to Memphis, where he was kept 40 days ; during
which period women t alone were permitted to see
him. These 40 days being completed, he was
placed in a boat, with a golden cabin, prepared
to receive him, and he was conducted in state
down the Nile to Memphis.
Pliny and Ammianus, however, affirm that they
led the bull Apis to the fountain of the priests, and
drowned him with much ceremony, as soon as the
time prescribed in the sacred books was fulfilled.
This Plutarch states to be 25 years, (the square of
5, and the same number as the letters of the Egyp
tian Alphabet,) beyond which it was forbidden that
he should live ; and having thus put him to death,
they, with great lamentations, sought another to
take his place. His body was embalmed, and a
grand funeral procession took place at Memphis,

* Plut. de Is. s. 56.
f The rest of the statement, which at most could only be hearsay, is
improbable ; unless, perhaps, in Roman times.

CHAP. XIII. DEATH OF APIS. 353
when his coffin, " placed on a sledge *, was followed
by the priests," "dressed in the spotted skins of
fawns, bearing the thyrsus in their hands, uttering
the same cries, and making the same gesticulations
as the votaries of Bacchus during the ceremonies
in honour of that God."
This resemblance, however, to the Bacchic rites
will cease to be as striking as Plutarch supposes,
when we observe that the spotted skins were merely
the leopard-skin dress worn by the Pontiffs on all
grand ceremonies, which I have had frequent oc
casion to mention. The thyrsus was probably either
their staflp of office, the long-handled censer, or the
vase for libation, — the last two being usually carried
by the high priests when about to officiate, either
at the temple or the tomb.
They relate that when the Apis died a natural
death, his obsequies were celebrated on the most
magnificent scale ; and to such extravagance was
this carried, that those who had the office of taking
charge of him were often ruined by the heavy ex
penses entailed upon them. On one occasion,
during the reign of the first Ptolemy, upwards of
50 talents were borrowed to defray the necessary
cost of his funeral t ; " and in our time," says Dio
dorus, " the curators of other sacred animals have
expended 100 talents in their burial."
As soon as he was buried, permission was given
to the priests to enter the temple of Sarapis t.

* Etti (Txtcute. Plut. de Is. s. 35.
-j- Diodor. i. 84. J Probably of Osiris or Apis.
VOL. I. — Second Sekjes. A A

354 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
though previously forbidden during the whole of
the festival.
From whatever cause the death of Apis took
place, the people performed a public lamentation *,
as if Osiris himself had died : and this mourning
lasted until the other Apis, his successor, had been
found. They then commenced their rejoicings,
which were celebrated with an enthusiasm equal
to the grief exhibited during the late mourning.
The notion entertained by the Egyptians re
specting the reappearance of the Deity under the
same form, and his entering the body of another
bull as soon as the Apis died, confirms the opinion
of Diodorus, that they believed in the transmigration
of the Soul of Osiris into the body of this animal :
and the choice of it as the representative of Osiris
was probably owing to the doctrine of emanation
already mentioned.
Of the discovery of a new Apis, ./Eliant gives
the following account. " As soon as a report is
circulated that the Egyptian God has manifested
himself, certain of the sacred scribes, well versed
in the mystical marks, known to them by tradi
tion, approach the spot where the Divine Cow
has deposited her calf, and there following the
ancient ordonnance of Hermes, feed it with milk
during four months, in a house facing the rising
Sun. When this period has passed, the sacred
scribes and prophets resort to the dwelling of

* Conf. Tibull. lib. i. Eleg. vii. 28.
" Barbara Memphitem plangere docta bovem."
t ^han, xvlli. 10.

CHAP. XIII. A NEW APIS. 355
Apis, at the time of the new Moon, and placing
him in a boat prepared for the purpose, convey
him to Memphis, where he has a convenient and
agreeable abode, with pleasure grounds, and ample
space for wholesome exercise. Female compa
nions of his own species are provided for him, the
most beautiful that can be found, kept in apart
ments, to which he has access when he wishes.
He drinks out of a well or fountain of clear water ;
for it is not thought right to give him the water of
the Nile, which is considered too fattening.
" It would be tedious to relate what pompous
processions and sacred ceremonies the Egyptians
perform on the celebration of the rising of the Nile,
at the fete ofthe Theophania, in honour of this God,
or what dances, festivities, and joyful assemblies
are appointed on the occasion, in the towns and in
the country." He then says, " the man from whose
herd the divine beast has sprung, is the happiest
of mortals, and is looked upon with admiration by
all people; " which refutes his previous statement
respecting the divine Cow : and the assertions of
other writers, as well as probability, show that it
was not the mother which was chosen to produce a
Calf with particular marks, but that the Apis was
selected from its having them. The honour con
ferred on the cow which bore it, was retrospective,
being given her after the Apis with its proper
marks " had been found " by the priests ; and this
is consistent with the respect paid to the possessor
of the favoured herd, in which the Sacred Bull had
been discovered. " Apis," continues the natu-
A A 2

356 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
ralist, " is an excellent interpretation of futurity.
He does not employ virgins or old women sitting
on a tripod, like some other Gods, nor require that
they should be intoxicated with the sacred potion ;
but inspires boys, who play around his stable, with
a divine impulse, enabling them to pour out pre
dictions in perfect rhythm."
It was in consequence of these festivities that the
anger of Cambyses was so much excited against
the people of Memphis. Supposing that they in
tended to signify their satisfaction at the defeat of
his army in the Ethiopian war *, he sent for the
priests, and asked them the reason of their re
joicings. They replied, that it was the celebration
of the manifestation of the God Apis, who had
been a long time without appearing amongst them.
Cambyses, little pleased with this reply, ordered
the pretended Deity to be brought before him ;
when, drawing his sword, he plunged it into the
animal's body; and having killed it, he ordered
the priests to be beaten, and all those who were
found celebrating the festival to be put to death.
The Egyptians not only paid divine honours to
the bull Apis, but, considering him the living image t
and representative of Osiris, they consulted him as
an oracle, and drew from his actions good or bad
omens. They were in the habit of oflPering him
any kind of food, with the hand: if he took it, the
answer was con.sidered favourable t; if he refused.

* Herodot. lil. 27.
f Plut. de Is. s. 39. Amm. Marcellin. lib. 22.
X Plin. lib. viii. c. 48.

CHAP. XIII. OMENS DERIVED FROM APIS. 357
it was thought to be a sinister omen. Pliny and
Ammianus observe, that he refused what the un
fortunate Germanicus presented to him ; and the
death of that prince, which happened shortly after,
was thought to confirm most unequivocally the
truth of those presages. The Egyptians also drew
omens respecting the welfare of their country, ac
cording to the stable in which he happened to be.
To these two stables he had free access ; and when
he spontaneously entered one, it foreboded benefits
to Egypt, as the other the reverse ; and many other
tokens were derived from accidental circumstances
connected with this sacred animal.
Pausanias * says, that those who wished to con
sult Apis, first burnt incense on an altar, filling the
lamps with oil which were lighted there, and depo
siting a piece of money on the altar to the right of
the statue of the God. Then placing their mouth
near his ear, in order to consult him, they asked
whatever question they wished. This done, they
withdrew, covering their two ears until they were
outside the sacred precincts of the temple ; and
there listening to the first expression any one
uttered, they drew from it the desired omen.
Children, also, according to Phny and Soiinus,
who attended in great numbers during the pro
cessions in honour of the divine bull, received the
gift of foretelling future events ; and the same
authors mention a superstitious belief at Mem
phis, of the influence of Apis upon the Croco-
* Pausan. lib. viii.
A A 3

358 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
dile, during the seven days when his birth was
celebrated. On this occasion, a gold and silver
patera was annually thrown into the Nile, at a spot
called from its form the " Bottle :" and while this
festival was held, no one was in danger of being
attacked by crocodiles, though bathing carelessly
in the river. But it could no longer be done with
impunity after the 6th hour of the 8th day. The
hostility of that animal to man was then observed
invariably to return, as if permitted by the Deity
to resume its habits.
Apis was usually kept in one or other of the two
stables, — seldom going out, except into the court
attached to them, where strangers came to visit
him. But on certain occasions he was conducted
through the town with great pomp. He was then
escorted by numerous guards, who made a way
amidst the crowd, and prevented the approach
of the profane ; and a chorus of children singing
hymns in his honour headed the procession.
The attention paid to Apis, and the care they
took of his health by scrupulously selecting the
most wholesome food, were so great, that even the
water he drank was taken from a particular well
set apart for his use ; and it was forbidden to give
him the water of the Nile, in consequence of its
being found to have a peculiarly fattening property.
" For," says Plutarch*, "they endeavour to prevent
fatness as well in Apis as themselves ; always stu
dious that their bodies may sit as light about their
souls as possible, in order that their mortal part may
* Plut. de Is. s. 5. Su^mi, p. 355.

CHAP. XIII. ISIS IN COMPANY WITH APIS. 359
not oppress and weigh down the more divine and
immortal." Their idea of the fecundating qualities
of the Nile water led the Egyptian shepherds to
raise it from the river for their flocks, especially for
ewes, or goats, which were not prolific* ; and to this
^lian attributes their producing five at a birth.
I have seen an instance of a bull, with the globe
and feathers between its horns, standing on a mo
nument built at the side of a mountain, — probably
the Libyan range behind Memphis, — andover it
the name " Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, the God of the
West ; " which was probably intended to represent
Apis, in the character of that Deity. On the
opposite side was a Cow, also coming from a moun
tain, with a similar head-dress, and the long horns
usually given to Athor, over which was the name
Isis. This is one of many proofs of the analogy
between the two Goddesses; the more remarkable,
from Isis being introduced with Apis, as she
usually is with Osiris.
A black bull with a white crescent on its
shoulder, or a white spot upon the shoulder, and
others on the haunch, the nose, round the eye,
and on its legs, carrying a dead body, covered
with a red pall, is sometimes represented at the
foot of a mummy case, or on a board deposited in
the tomb. This appears to be the Apis, in some
office connected with Osiris, as Ruler of Amenti.
It runs in haste over the hills, on its way to
the Western region, where Osiris presided : and
it is remarkable that the King, when running into
* jElian, ill. .33.
A A 4

360 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
the presence of the Gods, with vases or other
emblems in his hand*, is sometimes accompanied
by a bull. A "white "bull also attended in the
procession at the coronation ofthe Pharaohs.

Sarapis, Serapis.
The account given by Plutarcht of the intro
duction of this Deity into Egypt, is as follows : —
" Ptolemy Soter had a dream, in which a colossal
statue, such as he had never seen before, appeared
to him, commanding him to remove it as soon as
possible from the place where it then stood, to
Alexandria. Upon this, the King was in great
perplexity, not knowing where the statue was.
Sosibius, however, who was a great traveller, de
clared that he had seen one answering its de
scription at Sinope. Soteles and Dionysius were,
therefore, sent thither, and with much difficulty
succeeded in bringing the statue to Egypt.
Timotheust the interpreter, and Manetho the
Sebennite, as soon as it arrived and was shown to
them, concluded, from the Cerberus and dragon,
that it represented Pluto, and persuaded the King
that it was no other than Sarapis. For it was not
so called at Sinope ; but, on its arrival at Alexan
dria, it obtained the name of Sarapis, which, with
the Egyptians, answers to Pluto. The observation of
Heraclitus the physiologist, that Hades (Pluto) and
* Vide infra, on the Ceremonies, beginning of Chap xv.
t Plut. de Is. s. 28.
\ Tacitus says he was an Athenian.

CHAP. XIII. SARAPIS NOT EGYPTIAN. 36 1
Bacchus are the same, leads to a similar conclusion :
Osiris answering to Bacchus, as Sarapis to Osiris,
after he had changed his nature ; for Sarapis is a
name common to all, as those know who are ini
tiated into the mysteries of Osiris. The opinion
of those who pretend that ' Sarapis is no God, but
the mere denomination of the Sepulchral Chest,
into which the body of Apis, after death, is de
posited,' is perfectly absurd. The priests, indeed,
—at least, the greatest part of them, — tell us, that
Sarapis is no other than the mere union of Osiris
and Apis into one word*; declaring that 'Apis
ought to be regarded as a fair and beautiful image
of the Soul of Osiris.' For my own part, I cannot
but think that this word is expressive of joy and
gladness, since the festival which the Greeks call
Charmosyna, or the feast of joy, is by the Egyptians
termed Sarei."
Tacitus t gives the same account of the in
troduction of Sarapis into Egypt, which is con
firmed by Macrobius and Pausaniast ; and Cle
mens of Alexandria § states, "on the authority of
some persons, that the statue was sent as a present
by the people of Sinope to Ptolemy Philadelphus,
who had relieved their city from famine by a
supply of corn. It was a representation of Pluto,
and was placed in the promontory now called
Racotis, where the temple of Sarapis stands.
Others, however, affirm this Sarapis to be a Pontic

* Clemens (Orat. Adhort. p. 21.), also, says the name of Sarapis is
composed of Osiris and Apis.
¦ Tacit. Hist. iv. c. 83, 84. X Pausan. in Athen.
Clem. Orat. Adhort. p. 20.

t-

362 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CPIAP. XIII.
Statue, brought to Alexandria in consequence of
the great concourse of strangers in that city."
From the foregoing statement of Plutarch, it is
evident that the Sarapis, whose worship was intro
duced by the first Ptolemy from Sinope, was a new
Deity, previously unknown in the Pantheon of
Egypt; and Macrobius* affirms, that, though the
Egyptians were compelled to receive Sarapis and
Saturn into the order of Gods, and to celebrate their
rites after the manner of the Alexandrians, their
temples were never admitted within the precincts of
their towns. We therefore find no mention of Sarapis
till the time ofthe Greeks and Romans ; and that,
principally in cities founded or greatly frequented
by them, as Alexandria, Canopus, Antinoopolis,
and Berenice, in small Roman towns of the Oasis,
in the Nitriotist, or in quarries and stations in
the deserts, where he was also invoked under the
names of Pluto and Sol inferos. t The form of
Sarapis, according to the statues found at Rome,
is totally different from that assigned to him in
the Grseco- Egyptian temples of Egypt ; where he
appears to be merely a modification of Osiris
himself; and the same character is given him
in a statue lately found at Alexandria§, by Mr.
Harris, to whom I am indebted for the drawing
given in the Plate. Clemens describes the figure
of the God to be of an azure colour approaching
to black.

* Macrob. Saturn, i. 4. f Strabo, xvii. p. 552.
X These inscriptions usually begin All HAini MEPAAm SAPAIIIAI.
§ Vide Plate 31. Parts, fig. 2.

CHAP. XIII. BIADE TO ACCORD WITH OSIRIS. 363
Indeed, from what Plutarch says, that Sarapis
answered to Osiris after he had changed his nature,
(that is, when Judge of Amenti, or, as Diodorus
says, in the character of Pluto*,) and that Sarapis
was a name given to all persons after their death t ;
it is evident that he was thought to resemble
Osiris, in his character of President of the Lower
Regions. But the mode of celebrating his worship
was repugnant to the religious scruples of the
Egyptians ; he was therefore kept distinct, and
refused a place amongst the Gods of their Pan
theon. Tacitus+ tells us, that so great was the
difference of opinion respecting this Deity, that
some thought him to be ^Esculapius, others Osiris,
others Jupiter, and others Pluto. According to
Macrobius§, "the Egyptian Sarapis being asked
who he was, replied in these verses ; —
' Eijui ^tog Toiog St fiaOtiv olov Kayo} ti-Kixt"
Ovpavcog KOaiiog Kt^aKr}, yaarrjp Se ^aXaffffa,
Taia St fiot TToStg tiffi, ra S'ovara tv atOtpi Ktirai,
O^fiart TrjXavytg Xafnrpov (paog iqtXioio :' —
from which it appears that Sarapis and the Sun are
one and the same Deity ; " and hence the formulas
of so many Greek dedications to this God, which
are inscribed, " To Pluto, the Sun, the great Sa
rapis." Prichard supposes that " the rites of Escu
lapius were borrowed by the Greeks from the
worship of the Egyptian Sarapis ;" " the same
animals, the Serpent and Cock," which were
* Diodor. i. 25. t Vide supra, p. 316. 322. 325.
X Tacit. Hist. lib. iv. 83. j Macrob. Saturn, i. 25.

364 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
"appropriated to Sarapis, being the symbolical
emblems or consecrated victims of the God of
Health ; " but it must be observed that these em
blems are not given him by ihe Egyptians ; and
the cock is never represented. He also states,
on the authority " of Porphyry and Eusebius, that
he was supposed to preside over the invisible
world, and to be the Ruler of daemons, or malefi
cent spirits." *
Some, indeed, are disposed to think that Sarapis
was an Egyptian Deity of an early aera, and that
the resemblance found to exist in the attributes of
the God of Sinope shows the Egyptians recognised
in him a God already known to them ; while others
conclude that he was altogether unknown in Egypt
previous to the age of Ptolemy Soter. But I will
endeavour to reconcile these opinions. The statue
was thought to bear analogy to Osiris ; the word
Sarapis was taken from the name of that Egyptian
Deity, being a corruption of Apis Osiris t (or Osiris
Apis) ; and the new God was made a separate Divi
nity in consequence of some objection to the mode
of celebrating his worship. This is confirmed by
what Pausanias says of the worship of Sarapis
being introduced into Egypt ; and of there having
been a temple dedicated to him at Memphis, and
another at Alexandria, previous to the reign of
Ptolemy ; the latter being, according to Pau-
* Prichard, Egypt. Myth. p. 94.
f Plutarch (de Is. s. 37.) says, " Osiris and Sarapis are none other
than Epaphus (or Apis)." According to Clemens, " Arlsteas the Argive
thought that Apis was called Sarapis ;" and he has a strange idea of
the Argive King Apis being the founder of Memphis. Strom, i. p. 29.

CHAP. XIII. ANTIPATHY TO SARAPIS. 365
sanias*, "the most splendid, as the former was
the most ancient." Tacitus also states, that, " at
Rhacotist, a small temple had been consecrated to
the same Deity and to Isis before that time." The
Deity, then, to whose temple they allude, was Osiris ;
Sarapis, who was only introduced into temples
built by the Ptolemies and Caesars, was a modified
form of the husband of Isis ; and the God of Si
nope was thought or made to accord with the same
Deity. W^e may at once reject the statement
of Eustathius, that the Jupiter of Sinope was the
Deity of Memphis, as we may question the truth
of there being a hill near that city which bore the
name of Sinopion.
The endeavour, on the part of his votaries, to
discover in Sarapis a resemblance to so many dif
ferent Deities, arose from their desire to remove
that antipathy to his worship which the Egyptians
had conceived, from the moment this foreign Deity
was introduced into their country ; and every
means were resorted to which could serve to
dispel their prejudice, or induce them to perceive
in him an affinity to their ancient Gods. But the
artifice had, as might be expected, little eflPect
upon the priesthood, with the exception of those
appointed to temples erected by the Ptolemies,
in remote places, as at the Oases, Berenice,
and other towns situated in the desert. And
while few Gods were known at Alexandria, but

* Pausan. Athen.
f Rhacotis or Racotis (Racot) stood where Alexandria was built.
Tacit. Hist. lib. iv. 84. ; and Strabo, xvii. p. 545.

366 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
this intruder ; who was arbitrarily made to con
form to, or usurp the attributes of several other
respectable Divinities ; the Alexandrian Greeks
fancied, by giving him a comprehensive character
similar to that mentioned by Macrobius, that they
had united in him* the Essence of a whole as
sembly of Gods. But Sarapis was at no time
Egyptian ; he was always foreign to their worship,
and treated as an intruder by the Egyptians ; and
at most he may be considered a Graeco-Egyptian
Deity, attached to rather than belonging to the
Pantheon of Egypt.
Isis, Ceres, Proserpine, Matter, ^px^-
Isis, more frequently worshipped as a Deity in
the temples of Egypt than Osiris, except in his
mystical character, has, from the number of attri
butes given her, been confounded with many other
Deities, and has obtained the title of Myrionymus,
or " with ten thousand names." t Plutarch sup
poses her the same as Neith X, Athyr §, Proserpine ||,
the Moon ^, and " the beginning," opposed to
Nephthys, who was " the end." In the region of
* The Emperor Adrian saw in him the God of the Jews and
Christians. f Plut. de Is. s. 33. Greek inscriptions in Egypt, &c.
X Plut. de Is. s. 9. § Plut. de Is. s. 56.
II Plut. de Is s. 27.
if Plut. de Is. s. 52. The Moon was supposed by the Greeks to have
a similar diversity o f character ; and Lucian speaks of" rrjv 'S,iknvip>. . .
TToXvfiopfov Tt ^tafia, Kai aXXoTt aXXoiov ti ^av-a^o^tvov. to fitv yap
7rpu)Tov, yvvaiKtiav fiopfrjv tirtStiKVVTO, ttra /3ons tytvtro TrayKaXog, ttra
uKvXaK t^aivtTO." Vide Diodor. i. 25. Diog. Laert. de Vit. Philos. in
Proem. &c.

CHAP. XIII. ISlS WITH MANY NAMES. 367
Amenti, she corresponded to Proserpine ; where,
as the wife of Osiris, the judge of the dead, the
title Thermuthis, "the giver of death," if it really
was applied to her, might serve to indicate her
office. And if Philarchus says the latter name was
given to the sacred Asp, or basilisk, with which
they crowned the statues of Isis *, it may either
have been confined to those occasions when so
employed, or have been given it in the sense of
" deadly," from its fatal bite.
Apuleius t addresses Isis as Ceres, or heavenly
Venus, the sister of Phoebus, or Proserpine ; and
makes her say, " I am Nature, the parent of all
things, mistress of all the Elements, the beginning
of ages. Sovereign of the Gods, Queen of the
Manes, the first of heavenly beings ; . . . , My
divinity, uniform in itself, is honoured under nume
rous forms, various rites, and different names. The
Phrygians call me Pessinuntiant, mother God
dess ; the Athenian Autochthones, the Cecropian
Minerva § ; the people of Cyprus, Paphian Venus ;
the arrow-armed Cretans, Diana Dictyana ; the
Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine ; the Eleusinians,
ancient Ceres ; others, Juno, Bellona, Hecate,
Rhamnusia ; but the Sun-illumined Ethiopians,
and the Egyptians, renowned for ancient lore,
worshipping me with due ceremonies, call me by
my real name. Queen Isis."
According to Herodotus ||, "Ceres and Bacchus
* Vide infra, on the Asp. f Apul. Met. ii. 241.
X The Cybele of Pessinus.
ij Diodorus says the Athenians swore by Isis. i. 29.
11 Herodot. ii. 123. 156.

368 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
were the same as Isis and Osiris, and had sovereign
power in the lower regions." An inscription of
Arrius Balbinus, found at Capua, calls "Isis one
and all things:" and Diodorus* makes the Goddess
say, "I am Isis, Queen ofthe country, educated by
Mercury (Thoth). What I have decreed, no one
can annul. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn (Seb),
the youngest of the Gods. I am the sister and wife
of King Osiris. I am the first who taught men the
use of corn. I am the mother of Horus ; I am she
who rises in the Dog-star : the city of Bubastis was
built in my honour. Rejoice, O Egypt, which
hast been to me a nurse." The same author also
says, " There is a great question respecting this
Goddess, as well as Osiris ; some calhng her Isis,
others Ceres, Thesmophoron, the Moon, or Juno ;
and many give her all these names. t
Plutarch considers " Isis to be the Earth 1:, the
feminine part of nature §, or that property which
renders her a fit subject for the production of all
other beings " ; and he thinks 11 "that the dresses
of her statues were made with a variety of colours,
from her power being wholly conversant about
matter, which becomes and admits all things." The
notion of Isis being the Earth agrees with her
supposed resemblance to Ceres, under the name of
Demeter, or mother Earth ; and Diodorus ^ says,
that " the Egyptians, considering the Earth to be

* Diodor. i. 27. f Diodor. i. 25.
Plut. de Is. s. .38.
Plut. de Is. s. 53. Conf Athenagor. Supplic. pro Christianis, " Inv
tpvffiv atdivoQ, tt vg -jravTtg tipv<7av."
II Plut. de Is. s. 78. t Diodor. i. 12.

I

CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF ISIS. 369
the receptacle of all things that are born, call it
mother, as the Greeks in like manner denominate
it Demeter; — the word being slightly altered by
time from the ancient yriv y.r}Tspo( (mother Earth), as
Orpheus attests, ' yrj fJir^rr/p vravTcov ArjfxrjTr^p TrAoyro •
hipa.'"*
The numerous characters she bore, arose from
the various combinations into which she entered.
She was con.sidered to be matter in reference to
the Intellect ofthe Deity, which operated upon it
in the creation. And, in accordance with this idea,
Osiris and Isis were supposed to resemble the
two members of " the Nuptial diagram of Plato,
representing a right-angled triangle, whose per
pendicular side is equal to 3, the base to 4, and
the hypothenuse to 5; and in which the per
pendicular is designed to indicate the masculine
nature, the base the feminine, and the hypothenuse
the oflPspring of both. Accordingly," adds Plu
tarch, " the first of these aptly represents Osiris,
or the prime Cause ; the second, Isis, or the re
ceptive power; and the last, Orus, or the common
eflPect of the other two." t She was thought to
answer to Proserpine, because she presided with
Osiris in Amenti ; and the hieroglyphics not only
identify her with Hecate, but point out the Egyp
tian origin of that name in the legends accom
panying her name, where .she is styled " Isis, the
potent Hekte." In comparing Anubis and Hecate,
Plutarch would have been more correct if, for
the former, he had substituted the name of Isis,
* Conf. Cic. Nat. Deor. lib. ii. t Plut. de Is. s. 50.
VOL. I. — Second Series. B B

370 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
when he says *, "Anubis seems to be ofthe same
power and nature as the Grecian Hecate, a Deity
common both to the celestial and infernal regions."
She is sometimes figured under the form of a
Scorpion, the emblem of the Goddess Selk, with
the legend " Isis Selk ; " but this is only in some
inferior capacity connected with the mystic rites,
or the region of Amenti. t
The greater number of the characters given to
Isis by Greek writers, appear to be mere fancies of
a late time, unsupported by the authority of the
monuments ; and some are in direct opposition to
the known sentiments of the Egyptians X; as an
instance of which, I may mention her supposed
identity with the Moon, which was represented by
the God Thoth, and in no instance considered a
female Deity.
I do not stop to examine, or even to enume
rate, the idle tales which the Greeks repeated con
cerning Isis. I have already observed, that both
Osiris and his sister Isis were not deified persons
who had lived on earth, but fabulous beings, whose
history was founded on metaphysical speculation ;
and adapted to certain phaenomena of nature, as in
* Pint, de Is. s. 44.
f Vide Plate 43. u.
X Modern writers have till lately been in the habit of citing the
Isiac or Bembine table as authority respecting this Goddess, and
various Egyptian rites ; but I need scarcely state the well-known
fact of Its being the most palpable forgery which ever obtained a place
in any museum. The discovery of hieroglyphics has enabled us to
ascertain, what vvas shrewdly suspected long ago by Warburton and
others. Thc authority of the Isiac table has ceased to be mentioned ;
and it only appears in the museum of Turin, to show how much labour
and expense could be incurred for the unworthy object of deceiving
the world.

CHAP. XIII. ISIS THE DOG-STAR. 371
the allegory of the rising of the Nile, where she is
the land of Egypt irrigated by the waters of the
inundation. "With the same spirit, and in con
tinuation of her fabulous history, it was said that
her soul was transferred after death to Sirius or
the Dog-star, " which the Egyptians call Sothis."*
That she had the name of Isis-Sothis, and was sup
posed to represent Sirius, is perfectly true, as the
sculptures themselves abundantly prove t ; and the
heliacal rising of that star is represented on the ceil
ing ofthe Memnonium at Thebes, under the form
and name of this Goddess. It was not, however,
in consequence of a belief entertained in Egypt, —
at least, by the initiated, — that the soul of Isis had
been transferred to the Dog-star : this was looked
upon in the same light as the connection between
the God Thoth and the Moon, who in one of his
characters answered to the Lunus ofthe Egyptians ;
and in another corresponded to Mercury. In
like manner, Isis and other Deities assumed on dif
ferent occasions various characters ; and Sothis, the
Dog-star, was one of those as,signed to the sister
of Osiris. This adaptation of Isis, and other Dei
ties, to the planetary system, led to the remark of
Eusebius t, "that the Egyptians esteem the Sun
to be the Demiurgus ; and hold the legends about
Osiris and Isis, and all their other mythological
fables, to have reference to the Stars, their appear
ances and occultations, and the periods of their

* Plut. dels. ss. 21. and 61.
f Vide Plate 34. Hierog. No. 5.
J Euseb. Pr. Evan. iii. c. 4. Vide supra, p. 291.
B B 2

372 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
risings, or to the increase and decrease of the
Moon, to the cycles ofthe Sun, to the diurnal and
nocturnal hemispheres, or to the river." Plutarch*
also gives one explanation of the history of Isis
and Osiris, taken from the phaenomena of eclipses.
The great importance attached to Sothis was
owing to the peculiar period of the year when the
heliacal rising of that star took place ; and the in
fluence it was supposed to exercise upon the com
mencement of the inundation, which was typified
by Osiris, very naturally led the Egyptians to con
nect it with Isis.
I have already noticed, in a former work, the
use made of this star in their astronomical calcu
lations, in speaking of the two Egyptian years t ;
from which I shall extract a few observations.
"The conquest of Egypt by the Romans had
acquainted that people with the existence of the
arch, and its utility as a substitute for wood, to
which it probably owed its invention; nor can any
one for a moment imagine that the vanity of that
nation would have allowed to remain concealed
the name of its inventor, had he been a Roman.
The same remark applies to the intercalated year ;
and surely the Romans were at no time celebrated
for astronomical knowledge. The Roman Calendar
was, indeed, put in order by Julius Caesar, but with
the assistance of Sosigenes, an Egyptian ; who, to
supply the defect of 67 days, that had been lost
through the inattention of the Pontifices, and in
# Plut. de Is. s. 44.
-)- Materia Hierog. Appendix, No. 1.

CHAP. XIII. THE INTERCALATED YEAR. 373
order to bring the beginning of the year once more
to the winter solstice, as was instituted by Numa,
made that year consist of 15 months, whence
called the ' year of confusion.' The ensuing years
were formed of 365 days ; and every fourth, a day
was added, making 366. The 27th of August at
that time coincided with the 1st of Thoth.* The
Egyptian civil Solar year consisted of 365 days,
divided into 12 months of 30 days each, at the end
of which were added the 5 days called epact t, or
intercalated. This civil year was always used by
the Egyptians, for the common epochas, and calcu
lations of the people ; as the dates of their Kings,
ages of men, and the like. X That used by the priests
for astronomical purposes was diflPerent, and was
calculated from the heliacal rising of the Dog-star
(Sothis) to that of the ensuing year, and consisted
of 365^ days ; that is, every fourth year a day
was intercalated, as in the Julian year, making it to
consist of 366 days. Hence, as the Egyptian Solar
year, in every four years, loses a day of the Sothic ;
and the 1st of Thoth vague, or Solar Thoth, runs
through every part of that year, in the space of
1460 Sothic years, before it again coincides with
the 1st of Thoth ofthe Sothic year ; this period is
called ' the Sothic period.' The intercalated year
was afterwards adopted by the Copt inhabitants of
Egypt, as their common civil year, and the Solar

* " The Canicula regularly rises in Egypt on the 1st of Thoth." This
corresponded to the 20th of July in the year b. o. 1322, which was the
commencement ofthe Canicular period. Censor, de Die Natah.
f Vide supra, p. 310.
X Censor, de Die Natali. Vide Cory, p. 323.
B B 3

374 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
was no longer used : but as the real year merely
contains 365 days 5 hours 48 minutes 45^ seconds,
this year of 365^ days exceeds the true Solar year
by upwards of 11 minutes, amounting to a day
in about 131 years ; and as the Copts have never
corrected the year, the 1st of Thoth, at the pre
sent time*, falls on the 10th of September; on
which day they celebrate a festival, and bathe in
the waters of the rising Nile.
" The first correction for this excess ofthe Julian
year, was made in Europe by Pope Gregory XIIL,
in 1582, (a correction which was adopted in Eng
land in 1752,) and is called the New Style, as that
of the Copts and Greeks, the Old.
" To satisfy the reader that the ancient Egyptians
had two years, I shall first call his attention to the
origin and derivation of the expression, ' Sothic
period,' which I before mentioned : Secondly, to
the authority of ancient writers.
" Horapollo expressly tells us, the Egyptian So
thic year was called the squared year, from the in
tercalation of the quarter day, or one day every
fourth year, and was distinguished in hieroglyphic

writing by a square -\ m . Diodorus t says they
make their months of 30 days, and add 5 days and
a fourth to the 12th months ; but does not allow
it to have been a Roman innovation t : and Ma-

* This was written in 1828.
f Diodor. i. 50. He visited Egypt in the reign of Ptolemy Neus
Dionysus, i. 44.
X Strabo also mentions it as an Egyptian custom, when he says, (lib.

CHAP. XIII. THE QUARTER DAY. 375
crobius * actually affirms that ' Julius Caesar derived
from the Egyptian institutions the motions of the
constellations, concerning which he left some very
learned papers, and also borrowed from the same
source the mode of regulating the extent of the
year with the course of the Sun.' In another
place he says, ' Caesar, imitating the Egyptians, the
only people acquainted with all divine matters, at
tempted to regulate the year according to the
number required by the Sun, which completes its
course in 365^ days.'
Had this been due to the care and skill of
the Roman astronomers, the Romans would, with
their usual vanity, have informed us of a fact, they
could have had no object in concealing, and which
they would have been proud to acknowledge.
But the regulation of the Roman year awaited
the conquest of Egypt : and the uniform mode of
calculating the extent of the annual revolution,
adopted by the Egyptian priests, hinted the pro
priety of employing an Egyptian mathematician,
to settle the errors which, through time and the
neglect of the Pontifices, had been suflPered to ac
cumulate in the year of Numa.
"It does not appear whether the Egyptians omit-
xvii. p. 561.) " They (the Egyptians) do not divide their year according
to the course of the Moon, but of the Sun ; and to the 12 months, each
of 30 days, they add five days at the end of the year. But to make
up the complete sum ofthe whole year, which has an excess of a por
tion of a day, they put together the whole surplus of each year, until it
makes a whole day. All which calculation they attribute to Hermes."
And in another place (xvii. p. 554.) he states, that they had the same
knowledge in the early time of Plato and Eudoxus, when the year was
unknown in Greece. Vide supra, p. 15. et seq.
* Macrob. Saturn, i. 18.
B B 4

376 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIIL
ted the intercalary day every ISO years in the Sothic
system, which we might expect from the usual
accuracy of their calculations, or were contented
with the approximation of the quarter day ; for
though the Copts do not reject this increase, and
are satisfied with the regular intercalation of one
day every fourth year, this might have been from
their finding it perplexing, and that additional ac
curacy might have been rejected in later times,
when Christianity took the place of the Pagan in
stitutions of Egypt. If, however, their solar year
exactly coincided with the Sothic, every 1460
years, it is evident that neither the ancient Egyp
tians, nor the Copts, ever rejected the intercalary
day ; whence these, like the common civil years,
went forward at the increasing ratio of one day in
130 or 131 years.
" The point, however, in question is, I think,
sufficiently clear, — that the intercalary day every
fourth year was of Egyptian origin, and used by the
priests long before the conquest of Egypt by the
Romans. The name of ' the Sothic period ' would
alone prove this ; and the particularly minute ob
servations made by the priests respecting the future
state of their river, from prognostics drawn from
the aspect of the Star at rising, and the anxiety with
which the}" expected its first appearance, are well
known. Nor is at all compatible with reason to
suppose that all this was of a late time, and owed its
origin to the conquest ofthe country by the Romans.
The rise ofthe Nile had always been looked upon
as the moment of rejoicing ; the heliacal rising of

CHAP. XIII. THE RISE OF THE NILE. 377
this Star happened when it was beginning to leave
the confinement of its banks, to overflow the lands*,
and promise abundance to the inhabitants of
Egypt ; and its first appearance had always been
the signal for the priests to ascertain the favourable
or unfavourable prospects its aspect was said to
forebode. Nor could the time of its coincidence
with the Sun have been ascertained, unless the pe
riod of its return were calculated. And were all
this anxiety, all this rejoicing at the rise of their
river, and all these peculiar institutions of Egypt, to
await the late epoch of the Roman conquest ? If
we admit the accounts of every historian who has
mentioned the Egyptians and Romans, we cannot
for one moment suppose that Egypt was indebted
to her conqueror for any skill or hint in astronomy
or mathematical science."
The introduction of Isis-Sothis at the Memno
nium is remarkable, not only from its illustrating
the connection between that Goddess and the Dog-
star, — instances of which occur elsewhere, — but
in a chronological point of view. In the astrono
mical subject there introduced, the 12 Egyptian
months are represented, each in a separate com
partment, under the usual heads, of the 4 months
of the water plants, the 4 of ploughing, and the 4
ofthe waters, — making the three seasons of which
their year consisted, t In the 1st season were
Thoth, Paopi, Athor, Choeak ; in the 2d, Tobi,
* Vide MWan, x. 45. Conf. Tibull. i. Eleg. vii. 21.
" Quails et arentes cum findit Sirius agros
Fertllis sestiva Nilus abundat aqua."
f Vide supra, woodcut No. 420. page 14.

378 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Mechir, Phamenoth, Pharmuthi ; in the 3d, Pa
chons, Paoni, Epep, and Mesore. Between this
last and the first, or Thoth, a space is left, corre
sponding, as I imagine, to the five days of the epact
(introduced between the end of Mesore and the
commencement of Thoth of the ensuing year),
and beneath this is the figure of Sothis, representing
the heliacal rising of that star. This, then, must
have occurred either at the beginning of Thoth, or
in the middle of the five days ofthe epact; and it
serves to point out the period when the building
was erected. For, since the Canicular period com
menced when the 1st of Thoth fell on the 20th of
July, in the year 1322 B. c, we may assign this date
to Remeses the Great, in whose reign it was built ;
and it may not be presumption to consider that it
justifies me in fixing his accession to the year 1355
B. c, which I had already concluded from other
data previous to observing this astronomical fact.
The appearance of Isis-Sothis in a boat confirms
the statement of Plutarch *, that the heavenly bodies
" were not represented by the Egyptians drawn in
chariots, but sailing round the world in boats, inti
mating, that to the principle of moisture they owe
not only their power of moving, but even their
support and nourishment."
According to Herodotus t, Isis was the greatest
of all the Egyptian Goddesses. This remark must,
however, be limited to her mysterious character,
as husband and sister of Osiris, and attending him
* Plut. de Is. s. 34. f Herodot. ii. 40.

CHAP. XIII. WORSHIP OF ISIS IN LATER TIMES. 379
in his office of Judge of the dead : as Ceres, in
a similarly mysterious character, enjoyed greater
honours among the Greeks than other Deities
who held a far higher rank in their Pantheon. It
appears that she enjoyed a more general worship
at a late period, than in the early Pharaonic ages :
and the almost exclusive repute she obtained
among the Greeks may have been partly owing to
their attributing to her many of the honours which
really belonged to other Deities, as I have already
observed.* This last may also have been from
her mysterious character then acquiring more
general celebrity ; from the great ambition felt
by numerous individuals to be admitted to the
mysteries ; and from the readiness of the Egyptian
priests to flatter the prejudices and ignorance of
those strangers who showed a desire to uphold
the worship of their Gods, and build temples in
their honour. For since no Egyptian discouraged
the wish to erect a shrine to Isis or Osiris, on
the score of the right of other Deities, these two,
who were almost the only Deities known to the
Greeks, supplied at length the place of others ;
and few temples in late times were erected or en
dowed by the Greeks in honour of any other than
Isis or Osiris, except to some particular Deity who
had been for ages the patron ofthe city where that
monument happened to be erected.
The worship of Isis was, indeed, universal
throughout Egypt t at all times ; and, according
* Vide p. 280. 282. 289. f Herodot. ii. 42.

380 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
to Herodotus, her festival at Busiris was more
conspicuous than any, except that of Diana at
Bubastis.* " The festival," says Herodotus, " which they
celebrate at Busiris, in honour of IsLs, is magni
ficent. After having prepared themselves for it
by prayers and fasting, they sacrifice a bull. They
first take oflP the skin, and remove the intestines,
leaving the inner parts and the fat. They then
cut off the legs, the upper part of the haunches,
the shoulders, and neck ; and this being done,
they fill the rest of the body with cakes of pure
flour, honey, dried raisins, figs, incense, myrrh,
and other aromatic substances. In this state, they
burn it, pouring a quantity of oil upon the fire.
Whilst the victim is consuming," " the votaries of
the Goddess, who are assembled in great numbers,
of both sexes, strike themselves in honour of one
(Osiris) whom I am not permitted to mention t;"
and " when they cease doing this, they eat what
remains of the sacrifice." " The Carians who are
present on this occasion, make themselves very
conspicuous, by wounding their foreheads with
knives ; by which it is easy to see that they are
strangers and not Egyptians," — that civilised people
not adopting so barbarous a custom. X
" All the Egyptians offer clean bulls and calves ;
but they are not allowed to immolate heifers, be-
* Herodot. ii. 59. f Herodot. ii. 61.
X It is, therefore, evident that when the Israelites were commanded
not to cut themselves, nor make a baldness between their eyes, allusion
was not intended to an Egyptian, but to some Syrian custom. Deut.
xiv. 1.

CHAP. XIII. HEIFERS SACRED TO ISIS. 381
cause these are sacred to Isis, who is represented in
her statues under the form of a woman with horns*,
as the Greeks figure lo. All the Egyptians have
far more consideration for heifers, than any other
cattle; and there is not an Egyptian man or woman
who would consent to kiss a Greek on the mouth,
nor even to use his knife, his spit, or his boiler,
nor taste the meat of a clean bull which had been
cut by a Greek's knife. If a bull or a heifer
happens to die, their funeral is performed in the
following manner : the heifers are thrown into the
river ; and the bulls are buried in the suburbs,
with one horn or both above ground, to mark the
spot. Here the body remains till it is decomposed ;
and a boat, despatched from the Isle of Prosopitis,
comes round to each town at a particular period.
" Prosopitis is an island in the Delta, nine
.schoenes in circumference, containing several towns;
one of which, called Atarbechis, sends the boats
destined to collect the bones, and employs several
persons to go from town to town to exhumate
them, and take them to a particular spot, where
they are buried. They inter in like manner all
other cattle which die. Such is their law, for they
do not kill them. At Atarbechis t is a temple
sacred to Athor, the Egyptian Venus."
In this statement of Herodotus, the connection
between Isis and Athor is evident, both from the
description of the Goddess with cow's horns, and

* This is the usual form of Athor. Conf. jElian, x. 27.
f Bek or Bekl, " a city," is found in several words ; as Atarbechis,
the cihj of Athor ; Baalbek, the city of Baal (the Sun) ; and others.

382 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
from the mention of the city bearing her name.
^Elian*, after stating that the Cow was particularly
appropriated to Venus, says, " the Egyptians also
represent Isis with Cow's horns;" and in the
sculptures, when these two Divinities occur with
each other's attributes, they are so closely allied,
that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between
them. Athor seems even to take the place of
Isis; and Plutarcht expressly states, that "Isis is
called Athyri, signifying ' Orus's mundane habita
tion,' or, as Plato expresses it, ' the place and
receptacle of generation.' She was also styled
' Muth,' or 'Mother;' and Methuer, a name im
plying ' fulness and cause,' denoting not only
the fulness of the matter of which the world con
sists, but also its intimate conjunction with the
good, the pure, and the well-ordered principle.''
The interpretation he gives to Athyr (or Athor)
is confirmed by the hieroglyphic legend of that
Goddess, as I shall have occasion to remark :
" Muth " is the well-known word Maut, " mo
ther ; " and in Methuer we trace the Coptic JULeg^,
Meh X, signifying "full." The remainder of this
word is probably the same name of Athor, or
Thy-or ; or its termination iri, " to make," may
complete the interpretation given by Plutarch.
Herodotus § supposes that Latona, who was
Buto, performed the office of nurse to Horus (or,
as he calls him, Apollo), the son of Isis ; but the

* ^lian. Nat. An. x. 27. \ Plut. de Is. s. 56.
1 Whence, perhaps, /xtOvg, "full," in Greek.
S Herodot. 11. 156.

CHAP. XIII. ISIS AND ATHOR. 383
sculptures plainly prove that Isis nursed the child
herself* ; and when Athor is represented with the
infant, she is the member of another Triad.
The Greeks and Romans seem to have at once
adopted the emblems of Athor in their repre
sentations of Isis, and, unacquainted as they were
with the Egyptian Venus, to have assigned exclu
sively to Isis the Sacred Cow, with whose horns
she was represented in the celebrated festival in
her honour, thus described by Ovidt: —
" Cum medio noctis spatio, sub imagine somni,
Inachis ante torum, poinpa comitata suorum,
Aut stetit, aut visa est. Inerant lunaria fronti
Cornua, cum spicis nitido flaventibus <auro,
Et regale decus : cum qua latrator Anubis,
Sanctaque Bubastis, variusque coloribus Apis ;
Quique premit vocem, digitoque silentia suadet :
Sistraque erant, nunquamque satis qusesitus Osiris,
Plenaque somniferi serpens peregrina veneni."
It must, indeed, be admitted, that Isis, even in
olden times, was sometimes figured in Egyptian
sculpture with a cow's head, as well as with a head
dress surmounted by the horns of Athor ; but she
then assumed the attributes of that Goddess, —
a custom which I have shown to be common to
many Egyptian Deities, who frequently appeared
with the emblems and even under the form of
other members of the Pantheon. The general
form of Isis was that of a female with a throne
upon her head, particularly in her capacity of the
presiding Goddess of Amenti. Her office then
related principally to the souls of men in a future
* Vide Plate 35. a. Part 3.
f Ov. Met. ix. 685. The number of errors in these lines is remark
able.

384 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
state, where she formed the second member of a
triad composed of Osiris, herself, and Nephthys,
and assisted at the ordeal which took place before
the judgment-seat of her brother and husband.
Isis was also the second member of another triad,
particularly worshipped at Phite, consisting of
Osiris, Isis, and Horus. She was said to be the
" protector (or defender) of her brother*," in which
capacity they represented her covering Osiris t
with her outspread wings. She was styled the
" royal consort and sister of Osiris," " Goddess
Mother," (the Muth, of Plutarch) ; and sometimes
Hekte, — on which account she may be thought
to answer to Hecate or Proserpine, as before ob
served. She was occasionally figured with the head
of a cat, or with the attributes of Bubastis ; and
I have once found her represented with the throne
of Nephthys on her head, in the character of her
sister, t In addition to the globe and
horns of Athor, Isis has sometimes the
flowers of water plants rising from her
head, particularly when represented as
the mother of the infant Horus, and
the second member of the triad of
Philae. She often wears a cap repre
senting the sacred Vulture ; its head
No. 45.5. Ahead-dress ... r. i /> i I'jtl
of Isis. phiiai. projecting from her forehead, its body
covering her head, and its wings extending down
wards at the .side of her face to her shoulder ;
* Vide Plate 63. Part I .
f Isis protects him in this manner, both in the character of Osiris
and of Pthah-Sokari-Osiris ; which connects the two Deities Pthah
and Osiris.
X Vide fig. 2. of Plate 34..

CHAP. XIII. MARRIAGE OF ISIS AND OSIRIS. 385
though this is not confined to Isis, as J]llian sup
poses*, but is given equally to other Goddesses, and
even to the Queens of Egypt. The title " royal
wife and sister " was derived from her having mar
ried her brother Osiris ; and this fabulous notion
was supposed to have been the origin of a custom
prevalent in Egypt from the earliest to the latest
periods, which permitted brothers and sisters to
marry; such an alliance being considered fortu
nate, in consequence of the example set by Isis
and Oshis.t
Many individuals, even among the priesthood of
early Pharaonic periods, are found, from the sculp
tures of Thebes, to have married their sisters ; and
the same authorities agree with the accounts of
ancient Greek and Roman writers, in proving that
some of the Ptolemies adopted this ancient custom.
The principal temple of Isis was in the Sacred
Island of Phils, where she was worshipped as the
second member of the triad, already mentioned ;
and it is probable that the most solemn perform
ance of the great mysteries took place there, which,
as at Sai's and Busiris, had been instituted to com
memorate the important secret of Osiris's death.
Coptos also, according to .Lilian t, distinguished
her worship with peculiar rites ; which, if we may
believe Plutarch, were connected with the memory
of Osiris, and the grief of the Goddess. The
festivals of Isis were magnificent, and celebrated

* JElian, x. 22.
f Diodor. i. 27. Vide supra. Vol. II. p. 63.
X iElian. Nat. An. x. 23.
VOL. I. — Second Series. C C

386 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII-
with all the pomp which religion and superstition
could invent ; and particular ceremonies were ex
clusively appropriated to her.
An Epigram in the Anthology of Constantine
Cephalus*, mentioning certain offerings made to
Isis, thus addresses her : " O Goddess clad in linen,
who governest the fertile (black) land of Egypt,
honour these offerings with thy presence ; this
cake, this couple of geese, this ointment, these wild
figs, these dried raisins, and this incense are already
on the altar. Thou hast protected Damis from the
dangers of the sea ; if thou wilt also deliver him
fro in poverty, he will oflPer you a fawn with gilded
horns."
Athor, Hathor, Eit-hor, Thy-hor, Tei-hor,
Athyr, Venus, Evening or Night, The
Planet.
From the connection which appears to subsist
between Isis and Athor, it may not be out of place
to introduce the last mentioned Goddess, before I
proceed to mention Horus, the son of Isis and
Osiris, and the other members of the family of Seb.
Athor, Hathor, or Athyr, the Egyptian Venus
or Aphrodite, is frequently represented with the
attributes of Isis, — with whom, therefore, she is
identified by Apuleius ; and in one of her cha
racters she so nearly resembles her, that with
difficulty, as already observed, she can be distin
guished from the consort of Osiris. The analogy
* In Reiske. Given by Larcher, Herodot. vol. iii. p. 567.

chap. xiii. name of athor. 387
- between these Divinities is also strongly marked
by the name Athor, which, as Plutarch justly ob
serves, implies " Horus's habitation." Thy-hor,
Tei-hor, or Eit-hor, the house of Horus, is a literal
translation of her hieroglyphic name ; which con
sists of a hawk, the emblem of Horus, within the
character representing a house, hi or thi, the whole
group reading HT-g.op or T-Hi-g^op, "the house of
Horus." In a papyrus published by M. Champolhon, she
is said to be " Neith in the East country, and
Sme in the lotus and waters of the West;" which
calls to mind the Venus of Sparta and Cythera,
who wore the dress and arms of Minerva.
She is frequently figured under the form of a
spotted Cow, thought to live behind the Western
mountain of Thebes, from which the paintings of
the Necropolis represent it issuing. She is pro
bably then the Morning Star ; since there is every
reason to believe that the planet Venus belonged
to her*, and that from the Egyptian Athor was
borrowed the Greek Venus, the reputed daugh
ter of Coelus and Diest, distinct as this last was
from the Goddess of Beauty the wife of Vulcan.
From her presiding over the West, we may con
clude that the Western part of Thebes, or, indeed,
of the Thebaid, derived the name of Pathyris,
"belonging to Athor ;" for it was applied to the
whole district, on that bank, even to the city of
* Pliny says to Isis, but these two Deities are easily mistaken for
each other. Vide supra, p. 293.
f Cicero, de Nat. Deor. lib. iii.
C C 2

388 THE ancient EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Hermonthis, which was said to belong to Pathyris
of the Thebaid. *
It was into her arms that the setting Sun, as it
retired behind the mountain, was thought to be
received t ; and in this character she answered to
Night, who presided over the West, — though, as
already observed, she was distinct from that prim
eval night or primitive darkness, from which all
things proceeded into existence.
While mentioning this subject, I cannot but pay
a just tribute to the diligent inquiry of the learned
Jablonski, who, though wrong in his etymology of
Athor, and in not observing the distinction between
the two Nights of their mythology, claims the
greatest credit for that research and accurate per
ception, which, without the aid of hieroglyphical
discovery, enabled him to ascertain one of the most
important characters ofthe Egyptian Venus.
We may also see in the name ofthe Cow, " Ehe,"
the origin of the Greek lo, who, according to the
mythological tales of the ancients, was supposed
to have visited Egypt in her wanderings t, and
to have been "changed into Isis§, in the city
of Coptos, where she was worshipped under that
name." The third Egyptian month was called
* In a papyrus mentioned by Reuvens (lettre iii. p. 30.), " tv Epixm-.
Qti TOV HaOvpLTOv T7]g OrjSaiSog."
X Vide supra, p. 275. and 296. ; and Plate 29. fig. 4.
X Kirfe Jablonski, iii. 1. p. 11., and il. I. p. vii.
§^ Vide Diodor. i. 24. Conf. Ovid. Met. i. and Propert. ii. Eleg
xxviii. 17. " lo versa caput primos mugiverat annos ;
Nunc Dea, quae Nili flumina vacca bibit."
Of lo, see Herodot. i. I. Vide infra, on the Moon.

CHAP. XIII. WHERE CHIEFLY WORSHIPPED. 389
after Athor, in which the death * of Osiris was fa
bled to have happened ; and it was at this season
that the shrines of the Goddess (Ceres or Isis)
were carried in procession ; " the common time,"
says Plutarcht, "for the solemnisation ofthe feasts
in her honour, falling within the month, in which
the Pleiades appear, and the husbandmen begin to
sow their corn, called by the Egyptians Athyr." 1:
She was held in particular veneration at Aboc-
cis (Aboosimbel), or, as it is called in the
hieroglyphic legends, Aboshek (Abshek), where
she appears as the second member of the great
triad of that place. In the temple dedicated to
her there, she is represented under the form of
a Cow, to which the King and Queen offer fiowers
and libations, as it stands in a sacred boat sur
rounded by water plants ; and in a niche at the
upper end of the Adytum is the fore part of a Cow,
bearing on its head the globe and feathers of
Athor. In the hieroglyphic legends at the side,
she is styled, " Athor, the lady of Aboskek, the fo
reign land," — the town being out of Egypt, though
within the territories of the Pharaohs. Strabo §
tells us, that " at Momemphis, where the Egyptian
Venus was adored, a sacred Cow was kept with the
same religious feeling as the Apis at Memphis, or
the Mnevis at Heliopolis ;" and the sacred animal
of Momemphis was the same which received di-

* Plut. de Is. s. 39. + Plut. de Is. s. 69.
t Hes}chius says, "One of the months, and the Cow, are called
Athyr by the Egyptians."
} Strabo, xvii. p. 552.
c c 3

390 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
vine honours at Atarbechis, and other places de
voted to the worship of Athor. The geographer *
also speaks ofthe sacred Cow of " Aphroditopolis,
the capital of a nome of the same name on the
Arabian side of the river," which he describes of
a white colour; and .^Eliant says, that "at the
small but elegant village of Chusffi, in the Hermo-
politan nome, they worshipped Venus under the
name Urania (heavenly), and paid honours to a
Cow, which animal was thought to appertain more
particularly to that Goddess." It must, however,
be observed, that the "latuit nivea Saturnia
Vacca," of Ovid, does not suffice to establish any
analogy between Juno and the Egyptian Venus ;
and the monuments disprove the opinion of the
learned Prichard, that " the Goddess Nephthys was
sometimes called Urania, or the dark or nightly
Venus, at other times Juno or Saturnia," and
" that a white Cow was the sacred animal or living
symbol of that Goddess."!
Atarbechis, or the city of Athor, a part of
Thebes called Pathyris, already mentioned, and
several other places, vied with each other in the
honours paid to the Egyptian Aphrodite ; and at
Dendera, the ancient Tentyris, a magnificent
temple still remains, erected to her in the reigns of
the last Ptolemies, and completed under Tiberius,
where she is represented nursing her son, the third
member of the Triad of the place. This is the
temple of Aphrodite mentioned by Strabo. The
* Strabo, xvii. p. 556.
t jElian, An. x. 27. J Prichard, p. 148.

CHAP. XIII. DRESS OF ATHOR. 391
name of Tentyris may have signified the abode of
Athor, and have been corrupted from Tei-n-athor,
or Tynatyr, to Tentyra.
She is generally represented as a female with
a head-dress surmounted with long horns*, and a
solar disk ; and between the horns of the spotted
Cow, her emblem, are the same disk and two fea
thers. She sometimes bears on her head a perch,
upon which is seated a hawk, with an ostrich fea
ther before it, being the head-dress of the Genius
or Goddess of the West. She is then in the cha
racter of president of the Western Mountain, and
in an office particularly connected with the dead.
In temples of a Ptolemaic epoch, Athor is often
represented with the long feathers in addition to
the horns and globe ; but this is rarely the case
on monuments of early Pharaonic date, where that
head-dress is appropriated to the Queens, and only
given to Athor when under the form of a Cow.
The Persea was sacred to her, as the Sycomore
to Netpe ; and in the funereal subjects of the
Theban tombs, she is seen performing the same
office to the deceased and his friends, as that
Goddess, — giving them the fruit and drink of
heaven. But the title "Ladyof Het," bestowed on
Athor at Thebes, Memphis, and other places, ap
pears to signify " Lady of the tree," and not exclu
sively " of the Persea ; " the same being applied to
Netpe, to whom the Sycomore was sacred.
That the Persea and Peach were often con-

* The figure I. of Part 2. of Plate 36. a. is from a Ptolemaic temple.
C C 4

392 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
founded by ancient authors, is very evident ; and
the fact of the former being the sacred tree, on
whose fruit (which in the sculptures resemble the
human heart) the Gods inscribed the name of a
favourite King, sufficiently proves, that Plutarch *
had in view the Persea, or, at least, the sacred tree
of Athor, when he speaks ofthe fruit of the Peach
tree resembling the heart, and the leaves being
emblematic of " the human tongue." The ana
logy seems also to be increased by the circumstance
of the Goddess of Speech (Language, or Letters)
being present on the same occasion, and assisting
to write the name of the prince on the fruit.
Athor sometimes, under the form of a Cow,
gives milk to an infant King, — the hieroglyphic
legend accompanying the picture stating that
she treats him " as a mother." The female heads
with Cow's ears, which form the capitals of co
lumns at Aboosimbel, Dendera, and other tem
ples, usually ascribed to Isis, are of the Egyptian
Aphrodite; and many shrines, arks, and sacred
emblems, are ornamented with the head of Athor.
These heads are certainly the most beautiful which
the Egyptian artists have invented. They argue
in favour of Athor being the Goddess of Beauty,
like the Venus of the Greeks ; and some of the
sculptures of Dendera may show her to have been
the patron of laughter and amusements. From
some subjects represented in the sculptures, it ap
pears that this Goddess was considered to be the
* Plut. de Is. s. 68.

CHAP. XIII. WORSHIP OF THE COW. 393
patroness of ornaments and dress, symbolically
designated by a necklace. A peculiar neck orna
ment is sometimes surmounted by a head of Athor ;
being a form of that placed on the neck of sacred
Cows and Bulls, and worn by some Deities.
The worship of the Cow in Egypt has led many
persons to suppose an intimate connection between
the religions of India and of that country ; and the
fact of some Sepoys in our Indian army, who crossed
from the Red Sea to the Nile, having, on a visit to
the temple of Dendera, prostrated themselves before
the Cow of Athor*, has been considered a decisive
proof of their resemblance. The mere circumstance,
however, of a Cow being sculptured t on the walls
of an Egyptian temple, and respect being paid to
it by those strangers, proves nothing beyond the
accidental worship in two countries of the same
animal. Had it been an arbitrary emblem of some
peculiar form, which only existed in the imagin
ation, the case might have been different ; but the
Cow being chosen by two agricultural people, as
the sword or any other arm by two military
nations, as a fit emblem of the Deity, does not
imply the necessity of any intercourse between
them. Nor was it as a mere emblem that the cow
and ox were selected by the Egyptians, in con
sequence of their utility in the tillage of the land ;

* Vide Plate 35. a. Part 2. fig. 1.
+ Had the Sepoys visited the Cathedral of Durham, they might have
looked with equal respect upon a sculptured group on the exterior of
that building, and have concluded that we worshipped a God of their
country. A Hindoo antiquary might even have w ritten a learned paper
to announce to his compatriots so remarkable a discovery.

394 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
another and a more forcible reason subsisted for
the honours paid to the former, which is explained
by Porphyry.* "The utility of cattle, and the
smallness of their herds, induced the Egyptians to
prohibit the slaughter of cows ; therefore, though
they killed oxen for the altar and the table, they
abstained from the females, with a view to the
preservation of the race, and the law deemed it
a sacrilege to eat their meat." "The Egyptians
and Phoenicians," he adds, " would rather feed on
human flesh than the flesh of a heifer," in conse
quence, as St. Jerome observes, of the small stock
of cattle in Palestine and the valley of the Nile ;
and a similar motive may originally have induced
the Hindoos to venerate the Cow.
Instances sometimes occur of the Cow with a
human head, wearing the Asp and horns of Athor. t
The Goddess is also represented as a bird with a
human head, wearing her disk and horns. She
is then in a character connected with the virtuous
souls who have been admitted to the regions of
Amenti. To Athor also appears to have been
dedicated one of the sacred fish of Egypt, which
even bears her name in the hieroglyphic legend
that accompanies it. X

* Porph. de Abst. ii. 11.
I Vide infra, the Offerings, at end of Chap. xv. ; and Plate 82.
Vide infra, Chap, xiv., on the Fish.

CHAP. XIII. HORUS THE YOUNGER. 395

Hor, Horus, the Son of Isis and Osiris *, or
THE Younger Horus, Apollo, The Warmth
of the Sun.
The name of Younger Horus was given to this
Deity, to distinguish him from Aroeris, the brother
of Osiris, who was styled the Elder Horus. He
was supposed to have come into the world soon
after the birth of his parents, and on the death of
Osiris to have stood forth as the avenger of his
father ; defeating Typho in several battles, and
enabling Isis to thwart his evil intentions.
It was probably in consequence of his victories
over the enemy of mankind, that he was so often
identified with Apollo ; the story of whose combat
with the serpent Pytho is evidently derived from
the Egyptian mythology t; and, indeed, the evil
genius of his adversary is frequently figured under
the form of a snake, whose head Horus is seen
piercing with a spear. But this is not confined to
Egyptian and Greek mythology. The same fable
occurs in the religion of India, where the malig
nant serpent Caliya is slain by Vishnoo, in his avatar
of Crishna; and the Scandinavian Deity Thor was
said to have bruised the head of the Great Ser
pent with his mace. The origin of this may be
readily traced to the Bible history.
The serpent pierced by the spear of Horus is
* Vide Plate 37. Horus.
f Vide Macrob- Saturn, i. 19. p. 131. for this fable, which he ex
plains by the rays of the Sun overcoming the humidity of the earth.

396 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
evidently the Aphophis alluded to by Plutarch *,
which, from the signification it bears in the Egyp
tian language, " the Giant," appears to have been
the origin ofthe fable ofthe wars ofthe Gods and
Giants. Horus generally stands in a boat accom
panied by other Deities, while piercing the evil
Being in the water, who is sometimes represented
under the form of a man, though generally as a
long serpent ; calling to mind " the dragon in the
sea," mentioned by Isaiah, t
The hawk of Horus is sometimes perched on
the back of an oryx, whilst various -Gods approach
it in an attitude of prayer ; but this is apparently of
late date, and perhaps connected with astrological t
speculations. Aroeris, or the Elder Horus, may with
equal reason be supposed to correspond to Apollo,
if we may judge from the Greek dedications at
Ombos and ApoUinopolis parva, inscribed to "Aro
eris, the Great Apollo." But the opinion of He
rodotus §, that Horus the younger answered to that
Deity, is of greater weight, from the connection
subsisting between the Deity of the floating Isle
of Buto and Apollo, who is shown by the fabu
lous history attached to him to be the son of Isis.
" Latona," says the historian, "who lived at Buto,
where her oracle now is, having been charged by
Isis with the care of Apollo, concealed him in this
Island. She preserved him there in safety, while
* Plut. de Is. s. 36. and 25. Vide Plate 42.
-j- Isai. xxvii. 1. " Leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay
the dragon that is in the sea."
t See the upper compartment of Plate 43. «., where it also occurs.
5 Herodot. ii. 156. 144.

CHAP. XIII. THE SAME AS APOLLO. 397
Typho was searching every where for the son of
Osiris. For they say that Apollo and Diana are
born of Bacchus (Osiris) and Isis, and that Latona
was their nurse and preserver. Apollo is called Orus
(Horus) in Egyptian ; Ceres, Isis ; and Diana, Bu
bastis." This appears to have been the origin of
the fable respecting the Delos of the Greek Apollo,
which floated on the sea till it was made stationary
by Neptune in order to receive Latona, who was
on the eve of being delivered of Apollo.
Diodorus * tells us that Apollo is the same as
Horus, that the latter was taught the art of me
dicine by his mother Isis, and that he was the last
of the Gods who were fabled to have reigned on
earth ; — a figurative tale, which I have already
explained by the historical fact of the priesthood
of diflPerent Gods having ruled Egypt before the
monarchical form of government was established
in the person of Menes and his successors.
Little reliance, however, is to be placed on
what the Greeks tell us of the Deities of Egypt.
The authority of Greek inscriptions in the tem
ples should be preferred to that of Herodotus,
Diodorus, Macrobius, or any other writers ; but,
unfortunately, some difficulty arises from the un
certainty of the hieroglyphic legends themselves,
— and these even leave undecided the claims of
Horus and Aroeris to the name of Apollo.
Plutarcht would lead us to conclude that the

* Diodor. i. 25. Vid£ also, Macrob. Saturn, i. 21. jElian, x. 14. &c.
t Plut. de Is. s. 50.

398 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
city of Apollo was sacred to Horus ; since " the
solemn hunting of the crocodile, annually held
there, commemorated the escape of Typho from the
pursuit of Horus under the form of that animal."
And as there is evidence of that city having been
ApoUinopolis magna (now Edfoo), it is proba
ble that the God worshipped there, who answered
to the Greek Apollo, was another character of
Horus the son of Osiris, having the additional title
and attributes of Hat, or Agathodaemon. Such is
the uncertainty on this point, that the Deities of
the two cities of Apollo do not appear to be the
same, — one being Aroeris, and the other Hor-Hat,
or Agathodaemon : Strabo even appears to mis
take Mandoo * for Aroeris ; and there is great
confusion between the elder and younger Horus.
This last and Harpocrates are not always easily
separated, nor has Plutarch maintained a proper
distinction between the elder and younger Horus ;
and he not only gives to both of these the name of
Apollo t, but even to Harpocrates t, whom he con
founds with the elder Horus.
Horus, Aroeris, and Hor-Hat, are all represented
with the head of a hawk§ crowned with the Pshent,
or double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. But
the peculiar and distinguishing title ofthe younger
Horus is " the support or defender of his father.

* Vide infra, Mandoo.
f Plut. de Is. s. 12.
X Plut. de Is. s. 54.
§ The hawk's head is also given to Re, Mandoo, Pthah- Sokari-Osiris,
Khonso, and Rebhnsnof.

CHAP. XIII. HORUS DEFENDER OF HIS FATHER. 399
Osiris * ; " and to him the Kings of Egypt were
likened, when, in the proclamation issued at the
coronation, they were said to " put on the crown of
Egypt like Horus, the son of Isis." A similarly
complimentary formula is used in the Rosetta stone,
relative to the benefits conferred on the country by
Ptolemy Epiphanes, — the King being compared
to " Horus, who assisted his father Osiris ; " and
these, with numerous other legends, show that
Horus was the prototype of royalty, and the repre
sentative of divine Majesty.
It was this idea which obtained for him the
post of director ofthe sacred boats ; under which
form was indicated " the Governor ofthe World,"
as we are told by lamblichust; and there can be
little doubt that, from his occupation of steers
man in the baris of the dead, were borrowed the
name and office of Charon in the mythology of
Greece.! The hieroglyphic legend accompany
ing the figure of Horus is the hawk, sometimes
with a line, sometimes with the fiagellum of Osiris,
over it ; — the same signs which are given to the
child Harpocrates.
It is probable that an additional reason for sup
posing the Apollo of the Greeks the same as
Horus, was owing to his being the son of Jupiter
and grandson of Saturn, as the latter was son of
* In the fabulous interpretation of this story, Horus may be sup
posed to assist his father, the inundation, by forming the clouds car
ried to the sources of the river whence it proceeded. Vide supra,
p. 335. f Iambi, de Myst. ch. 1. "When they introduce the Deity as pilot
of a ship, they mean government, or the ruler of the world."
X Vide infra, on the Funerals, Chap. xvi.

400 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Osiris, the son of Seb ; and the connection of the
two Deities is confirmed by the name " Horapollo"
borne by individuals ; though it is true that this
might, with equal justice, apply to the elder as to
younger Horus.
Plutarch*, on the authority of Manetho, says,
"The loadstone was called by the Egyptians the
bone of Horus (Orus), as iron was the bone of
Typho:" he also tellst us, that "the constellation
of Orion was sacred to Horus, as the Dog-star to
Isis;" and in another placet, he mentions the al
legorical and fanciful notion of " Horus being of a
fair, as Typho was of a red, and Osiris of a black,
complexion." The same author states, that Horus signified that
just and seasonable temperature of the circum
ambient air, which preserves and nourishes all
things § ; and that the festival celebrated on the
30th day of Epiphi, when the Sun and Moon were
supposed to be in the same right line with the
Earth, was called the birthday of Horus's eyes, —
both those bodies being looked upon equally as
the eyes or light of Horus. || This Deity was also
reputed to have instituted the sacrifice to the Sun,
which was celebrated on the 4th day of every
month in honour of that luminary; and Horapollo
even says that Horus was the Sun.^
It is scarcely necessary to observe, that the re
mark of Suidas**, who says Horus was identical
* Plut. de Is. s. 62. f Plut de Is. s. 22.
t Plut. de Is. o. 22. § Plut. de Is. s. 8.
II Plut. de Is. s.52. 1[Horapollo, i. 317.
** Suidas, voc. UptaTros.

CHAP. XIII.

DUTIES OF HORUS.

401

with Priapus, can only apply to a character given
him at a late period ; an instance* of which occurs
at Dendera in sculptures of Roman time. But
these are of little authority respecting the real
forms ofthe Egyptian Deities ; several innovations
in the forms and attributes of the Gods having
been introduced on the monuments of that aera,
totally unauthorised by the sculptures of an ancient
Pharaonic age.
One of the principal duties of Horus was that of
introducing the souls of the dead into the presence
of Osiris, after they had passed the ordeal of their
final judgment. Ele also assisted Anubis in weigh
ing and ascertaining their good conduct during
life, previous to their admission into the august
presence of his father, in the blessed regions of
Amenti. The hawk placed on the wooden tablets
in the tombs, and sometimes on the mummy case
itself, was an emblem of Horus.

2 1
Wooden hawk of the tombs, an emblem of Horus.

VOL. I.

'^ Vide Burton's Excerpta, PI. 26.
• Second Series. D D

402 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
The warlike character, as well as the name or
Horus (or Orus), may also suggest a resemblance to
Ares, the Mars of Greek mythology ; and, indeed,
Horapollo seems to have in view either Horus or
Aroeris, when he says*, "To denote Ares and
Aphrodite, the Egyptians delineate two hawks," —
since the hawk is the emblem both of Horus and
Athor, the Egyptian Venus. This, however, could
only be a partial analogy ; since the God of War is
represented under another distinct form, with the
name Ranpo ; and the weapons put into the hand of
Horus only serve to prove his connection with the
Apollo of Greece, the patron of the bow, the
sKa.T7]^o7^og xai exoLBpyog AttoKT^odv, and the destroyer
of the Serpent. If the Greeks assigned to Mars,
Apollo, and Minerva, the use of destructive weapons,
which might appear exclusively to belong to the
Gods of War, the Egyptians in like manner ex
tended the privilege to several Deities independ
ent of their God Ranpo. The spear was given
to Horus, and to Ao ; the bow and arrows to
Neith, to Sate, and to Khemi, who also holds the
battle-axe and spear ; and the shield and arrows
were not denied as an emblem to a Goddess who
has the office of nurse, t
The fanciful notion of Diodorus, Macrobius,
Horapollo, and others t, that the (upon, horce,
"hours" and "seasons," received their name from
Horus, because the Sun was so called by the Egyp
tians, is on a par with many other Greek ety-
* HorapoUo, Hierog. i. 8. f Vide Plate 65. Part 4.
X Diodor. i. 26. Macrob. Saturn, i. 26. Horapollo, i. 17.

CHAP. XIII. AROERIS, THE ELDER HORUS. 403
mologies, with this difference, — that the Greeks
usually derived the words of other languages from
their own. The analogy between Horus and Ouro,
"King," mentioned by Salmasius*, is remarkable,
as Horus was the representative of Majesty among
the Gods, and the hawk is put to designate a
Pharaoh. But, as I have frequently had occasion
to observe, it is from Re or Phre (and not from
Horus, or, as Josephus supposes, from ouro), that
the word Phrah (Pharaoh) was derived.
The close affinity in some instances between Re
(the Sun), and Horus, makes it difficult to distin
guish between them, especially as the hawk is an
emblem of both. But the hawk bearing on its
head the Disk of the Sun belongs to Re ; and
that which wears the Pshent to Horus, the son of
Osiris, (who, like Re, was the type of Majesty ;)
though, as already stated, this crown is sometimes
appropriated by other hawk-headed Deities, as
Aroeris, and Hor-Hat.
HoR-OERi, Aroeris, the Elder Horus, the
Brother of Isis and Osiris, Phoebus, the
Light of the Sun ?.
I have noticed the difficulty which presents itself
in deciding which of these Deities, the elder or
younger Horus, corresponds to the Greek Apollo.
It is true that Aroeris is mentioned in the Greek
dedication at ApoUinopolis parva, as the Deity of
the place, answering to Apollo; and the same
* Vide Jablonski, ii. 4. p. 222.
D D 2

404 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
occurs again at Ombos, where he is figured as
Horus, though not as the son of Osiris. But the
many points of resemblance brought forward by
Herodotus, Plutarch, and others, between Apollo
and the son of Osiris, argue strongly in favour of
the opinion that the younger Horus answers to
the Greek Apollo. •
Aroeris was son of Seb and Netpe ; and in a
hieroglyphic legend at Phils he is styled son of
Netpe, and represented under the singular form
of a hieraco-sphinx. Plutarch thinks him to have
had the Sun for his father, and to have been born
on the second day ofthe Epact. Little more is re
lated concerning him, nor does he appear to have
acted a very prominent part in the mythological
history of his brother Osiris.
In a papyrus published by M. ChampoUion, he
is styled " Haroeri, Lord of the Solar Spirits, the
beneficent Eye of the Sun ;" and it is in this last
sense that he appears to bear some analogy to
Apollo, who, according to Plato, received his name
from " the emission ofthe rays of light." Apollo and
the Sun were distinct in the mythology of Greece*;
and it is probable that the Egyptians separated
the light from the heat, and perhaps even from
the splendor of the Sun ; considering it in the va
rious characters to which I have already alluded.t
Hor-oeri, or Aroeris, may be considered the eye
and lights, or the splendor and brightness of the

* Vide supra, p. 298. f Supra, p. 299.
X This cannot fail to call to mind the aor, " light," of the Hebrews ;
though not resembling the Egyptian word of the same meaning.

CHAP. XIII. HARPOCRATES. 405
Sun, like the Greek Phoebus ; and if his connection
with Re is not sufficiently obvious, the statements
of Greek writers, added to the testimony of dedi
catory inscriptions at Ombos and ApoUinopolis
parva, authorise this opinion, while the younger
Horus may enjoy an undisputed claim to the cha
racter of Apollo.
HoR-PHOcRAT ?, Harpocrates, the Infant
Horus.
Harpocrates was born of Isis after the death of her
husband, and is therefore distinct from Horus, her
elder son by Osiris, who is said at that time to have
been engaged in war with Typho. Plutarch tells
us*, that " Harpocrates, being the oflPspring ofthe
intercourse of Osiris with Isis after his death, and
having come into the world before his time, was
lame in his lower limbs." This allegorical fable
he explains t by interpreting " Harpocrates, whom
she brought forth about the time of the winter
solstice, to be those weak and tender shootings of
the corn, which are as yet feeble and imperfect;
for which reason the Egyptians dedicate the first-
fruits of their lentils to this God, and celebrate the
feast of his mother's delivery just after the Vernal
Equinox." " We must not, however," he addst,
" really look upon Harpocrates as an infant and im
perfect Deity, or as the young and tender shoots of
the pulse, but rather as the governor and rectifyer
* Plut. de Is. s. 19. f Plut. de Is. s. 65.
X Plut, de Is. s. 68.
D D 3

406 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
of those weak, incomplete notions, which we are apt
to form of the divine nature. For which reason,
we see him described with his finger pointing to
his mouth, — a proper emblem of that modest
and cautious silence we ought to observe in these
matters. So, when they offer him the first-fruits
of their lentils in the month Mesore, they at
the same time exclaim, ' The tongue is Fortune,
the tongue is God : ' and hence it is, that, of all
Egyptian plants, the peach tree is looked upon
peculiarly sacred to Harpocrates ; because of the
resemblance observed between its fruit and the
heart, and between its leaves and the human
tongue." There is, however, reason to believe that
this is one of the many errors with which the ac
counts of Greek writers abound. The peach tree
(unless it be the same as Persea) was not sacred
to any Deity ; and it is evident that he had in view
the holy tree of Athor, whose fruit, as represented
in the sculptures, so strongly resembles the heart.*
Harpocrates is represented as an infant nursed
by Isis, or with his finger to his mouth, having a
lock of hair falling from the side of his head. The
same figure is commonly employed by the Egyp
tians to indicate a child. He is generally in a
sitting posture ; instances, however, occur of his
standing upright, and walking alone, or at the side
of his mother. The lock of hair, the distinguish
ing mark of a child, though one of his principal
characteristics, is not confined to Harpocrates : it
* Vide supra, p. 392.

CHAP. XIII. OTHER INFANT DEITIES. 407
is given to the young members of other Egyptian
triads, as Ehoou, Hor-sened-to, Pneb-to, Hor-pire,
Harka, and Hake, who in form and general attri
butes are similar to the child of Isis. It is also
worn by Khonso, the offspring of Amun and Maut,
in the great Theban triad ; and the priest who of
ficiates in the leopard-skin dress, even though he
be the King himself, assumes this badge of youth,
probably emblematic of that spotless innocence
with which it became the supreme Pontiff to ap
proach the presence ofthe Gods.
I have occasionally met with Harpocrates wearing
round his neck a vase, the emblem of Thmei, the
Goddess of Truth; which probably refers to "the
amulet," said by Plutarch* to have been "worn by
Isis at the time she brought him into the world,
which was reported to mean ' speaking the truth.'"
As the child of Isis, he may represent youth in
general : and when seated in Hades before Osiris,
or in the sepulchral chambers containing the sarco
phagi of the dead, he is the symbol of resuscita
tion, or new birth. This alludes to the change of
state which every one undergoes at his death, pur
porting that dissolution is only the cause of repro
duction t; that nothing perishes which has once
existed^ ; and that things which appear to be de
stroyed, only change their natures and pass into
another form. The same idea is probably repeated
* Plut.de Is. S.68.
f Vide supra, p. 218. 315. ; and infra, p. 437. 439_.
X "evjjffKti S'ovltp TMv yiyvonivoiv," of the Chrysippus of Euripides.
Conf. Plato, Phaedo. " The living are generated from the dead, no less
than the dead from the living." p. 280. Trans. Taylor.
D D 4

408 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
in the triad (so often found in the tombs made of
blue pottery or other composition), consisting of
Isis, Nephthys, and Harpocrates, which I suppose
to signify the beginning, the end, and reproduc
tion after death. * ' It may also be traced in what
Macrobius says of the mode of representing the
Sun by an image having a lock of hair, on the
right side of its head, which was emblematic ofthe
reappearance of that luminary f after it was con
cealed from our sight at its setting ; or of the
return of the Sun to the solstice."}; But this seems
rather to apply to the God Ehoou.
In some monuments of the late date of the
Ptolemies and Caesars, Harpocrates is represented
seated on a throne, supported by lions, and even
placed upon the backs of those animals §; which
cannot fail to call to mind the remark of Horapollo ||,
that " the Egyptians put lions under the throne of
Horus, — this being their name for the Sun:"
though he is wrong in supposing the Sun to be the
same as Horus. Harpocrates is called '* Horus,
the son of Isis and Osiris ; " but there is no trace
of the termination pocrates in the hieroglyphic
legends. The notion respecting his being the God of Si
lence appears to be of Greek origin: for, as I have
* The supposed connection dn Hebrew between Mout, " death," and
Maut, " mother," is an erroneous notion; since the latter is Om or Am,
and not Maut.
-f- Macrob. Saturn, i. 26. " Rursuni emergendi uti capillos habere
substantiam." X Macrob. Saturn, i. 26. " Rursus emergens ad aestlvum haemisphEe-
rium tanquam enascens in augmenta porrigitur."
§ Fid^ Rosellini, PI. 18. || Horapollo, i. 1 7.

CHAP. XIII. EHOOU, THE DAY. 409
already observed*, the Egyptians did not indicate
it by the finger, but by placing the whole hand over
the mouth. The position of Harpocrates's finger,
therefore, appears rather to refer to a habit common
to children in all times and in every country : and
that the form of his body, with a prominent ab
domen, was aptly chosen to indicate extreme youth,
is sufficiently proved by the appearance of Egyp
tian children at the present day.
Instances occur of Harpocrates with the cap and
feathers of Amun ; but as these are bronze statues,
and unaccompanied by hieroglyphics, there is no
possibility of ascertaining the exact character he
bore when so represented.
The connection between Harpocrates, as well as
other of these infant Deities, and the God, gene
rally called Typhonian, whom I have supposed to
represent Death, is very remarkable. But I shall
treat of it more fully in another place, when de
scribing the attributes and character of that Deity.
Ehoou, the Day.
The form and attributes of this youthful Deity
are similar to those of Harpocrates, from whom the
hieroglyphic legends alone distinguish him. He
is the third member of the triad of Dendera, and
son of Athor, by whom he is nursed. This God
dess, in the character of mother of an infant, ap
pears to have borrowed the attributes of Isis ; but
the same office is assumed by other Goddesses.
» Snprd, Vol. III. p. 46.

410 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
Athor occurs again at Edfoo as the mother of
Hor-sened-to, her son by Hor-Hat ; and Nebou, a
form of Neith, is at Esneh the mother of the young
Hake. Like Harpocrates, and other of these infant
Deities, he is represented with his finger to his
mouth, the sign of extreme youth ; and he is some
times represented sitting on the flower of a Lotus.
He is then supposed to signify the Sun in the
winter solstice, or the rising Sun; and the crook
and flagellum, the emblems of Osiris, which he
sometimes carries, may be intended to indicate the
influence he is about to exercise upon mankind.
The vase from which the plant grows is a lake of
water, and the usual initial ofthe word ma or moo,
" water." "They do, indeed," says Plutarch*, "characterise
the rising Sun as though it sprang every day afresh
out of the lotus plant ; but this implies, that to
moisture we owe the first kindling of this lumi
nary." I may, however, venture to oflPer another in
terpretation, suggested both by the allegory itself,
as well as by his hieroglyphical name Ehoou, —
that he corresponds to the day or morning ; and
in this character he may answer to Aurora. Some
might perhaps apply to him the name Phosphorus,
which seems to accord with an inscription mentioned
by Jablonski, — "Bono Deo
Puero Phosphoro \ : "

* Plut. de Is. s. ) l. f Jablonski, ii. 6. p. 256.

CHAP. XIII. THE LOTUS AND NELUMBO. 411
but he was distinct from Venus, or the Morning
Star.* The resemblance, indeed, between Ehoou, or
Peho, "the day," in Egyptian, and Eos, the Greek
Aurora, is sufficiently striking : and if for the
" Sun" rising every morning from a lotus flower,
we substitute the " day," we find the remark of
Plutarch justly applies to this Deity : and we may
readily pardon his error in mistaking him for Har
pocrates, whom he so much resembles.
It may, then, be supposed that he represents
the day ; and he is with justice considered the
child of Athor, or night, from which every new
day was supposed to spring.
I must, in conclusion, make this remark on the
lotus plant on which he is represented seated, —
that it is always the Nymphaea Lotus, and in no in
stance the Nelumbo. And though this last is men
tioned by several ancient authors among the plants
of Egypt, it is never introduced into the sculptures
as a sacred emblem, nor, indeed, as a production of
the country ; a fact which goes far to disprove one
of the supposed analogies of the Egyptian and
Indian objects of veneration. With regard to the
common lotus, so frequently represented as a fa
vourite flower in the hands of the Egyptians (as
the rose or others might be in the hands of any
modern people), there is no evidence of its having
been sacred, much less an object of worship, though
it is an emblem of the God Nofre- Atmoo.
t- Vide supra, p. 387.

412 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.

Hor-Hat, Hat, Agathodaemon.
As there appears to be some connection between
this Deity and Horus, I introduce him with the
members of the family of Seb.
Hat, or Agathodaemon, was the Good Genius,
underwhose protection the persons ofthe Kings and
the temples of the Gods were placed. In the form
of a Sun supported by two asps and outspread vul
tures' wings, he occurs over the doorways and fa-
9ades of buildings. Sometimes he is represented as
a winged Scarabaeus, supporting a globe or Sun with
its fore feet ; as a hawk, he hovers over the Mon
arch while offering sacrifices in the temples, or on
other occasions ; and as a Deity of human shape,
with a hawk's head, he pours alternate emblems of
life and power over the Prince at his coronation.
In this office he is assisted by the God Nilus,
Thoth, or Ombte ; one of whom, placed opposite
him, pours a stream of similar emblems from
another vase over the King who stands between
them. His place is sometimes taken by one of
those Deities. When opposed to Ombte, he appears
to represent the Upper, as the latter the Lower,
Country. He also assists in binding the throne of
the Monarch with the stalks of water plants, in
company with Nilus, or with Thoth, — one using
those emblematic of the Upper, the other of the
Lower, Country. The ceremony itself refers to
the dominion of the King over Upper and Lower
Egypt.*
* riWc/ii/zw, the God NIhis.

CHAP. XIII. HOR-HAT, AGATHODiEMON. 413
When represented as a man, with a hawk's head,
he appears to be related to the Agathodaemon ofthe
Phoenicians ; which, according to Eusebius, was
supposed (though erroneously) to be the same as
Neph, with "the head of a hawk." In the cha
racter of the winged globe, he unites the attributes
of Re, Neph, and Maut, — the Sun, asp, and vul
ture's wings. He may then be said more particu
larly to deserve the name of the Good Genius;
though, as I have already observed, the Agatho
daemon, which presided over the aff'airs of men as
the guardian spirit of their houses, was the Asp of
Ranno*; according with another statement of Eu
sebius t, that Agathodsmon was figured under the
form of a serpent.
The winged globe may perhaps call to mind the
" land shadowing with wings X;" as the figures
kneeling at either end of the sacred arks, or boats,
recall the winged Seraphim.
The name of this Deity is written Hat, when
under the form of a hawk, and of the winged globe,
in attendance on the Kings ; and when under the
name and character of Hor-Hat, he usually wears
the Pshent, or crown of Upper and Lower Egypt,
which seems to connect him with Horus. He is
sometimes represented with wings, holding a spear,
and crowned with the Pshent of Horus ; but this is
in temples of a Ptolemaic aera.
He frequently appears at Dendera, and also in
the oldest temples, in all these characters ; and
* Vide supra, p. 239. ; and irifrd, on Ranno.
f Euseb. Prepar. Evangel, i. 10. X Isai. xviii. 1.

414 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
the temple of Edfoo, or ApoUinopolis magna, being
dedicated to him, seems to give him a claim to the
name of Apollo. * At this last place, an instance
occurs of the God Hor-Hat with the head of a Lion
and the Solar disk, holding a monkey in his hand.
He stands in a boat ; and before him Thoth, Isis,
Nephthys, and two other Goddesses, raise their
hands in an attitude of prayer, while Horus pierces
the head of Aphophis with a spear.
Ombte, Obte, Abtaut, Ombo (Tithrambo?,
Taut-ambo ?), Ambo, Embon, The Evil Being.
This Deity is sometimes represented, as already
observed, in company with, and in the same office
as, the last mentioned God, pouring the emblems
of life and power over the Kings, in the place of
Thoth ; and in teaching them the use ofthe bowt,
together with the same hawk-headed God, Hor-
Hat. It might appear that Ombte was connected
with the Lower Country t, as Hor-Hat with Upper
Egypt, to whom he was opposed. For, in the
ceremony of the Panegyrics, where the King is
represented running to the temple to perform the
accustomed rites, we find this Deity introduced
on the side of the picture, corresponding to Lower
Egypt, with all the emblems of that part of the
country, as the asp, the Northern water plant, and
the Genius of Lower Egypt; the King also wearing
the cap of that district. But Ombte generally has,
* Vide supra, p. 398. f Vide Plate 39.
X Vide Plate 79.

CHAP. XIIl. OMBTE, ABTAUT, OR OBIBO. 415
in his hieroglyphic legend, the title " Lord of the
region of the Upper Country," as is the case even
in the subject to which I have above alluded,
though accompanied by the emblems of Lower
Egypt. This, then, may be intended to indicate
the combined protection of the Deities of both
regions. In the cartouches of Osirei and other Pharaohs,
his figure is introduced as a substitute for Osiris ;
probably in consequence of his name commencing
with the same letter, O or A, but not, as some
have been disposed to think, from his being one
of the characters of Osiris. I have supposed, from
the hieroglyphics, that he was called Ombte, Obte,
Ombo, or Abtaut ; but there is some uncertainty
respecting their alphabetic value ; and the first cha
racter being the same as in the word Ombos, may
require his name to read Ombte, or Ombo. He ap
pears, both from his name and character, to be the
Deity mentioned by Jablonski under the name of
Ambo, or Embon*, the same as Tithrambo (Taut-
Ambo?), but distinct from the Egyptian Hecate.
In the hieroglyphic legends on the monuments t,
he is shown to have been the son of Netpe ; on
the Wooden Cubits found at Memphis, the names
of Seb and Netpe are followed by Osiris, Isis,
Ombte, Nephthys, and Aroeris ; and I have met
with a group of figures!, representing the family
* Tirfe Jablonski, Panth. .Slgypt. i. c. 5. s. 2. He attaches to the name
the meaning of anger, which is the sense of embon or mbon in Coptic.
+ An instance of this occurs on the Obelisk of Luxor, at Thebes.
T On a seal in the possession of Chevalier Kestner, the Hanoverian
minister at Rome.

416 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
of Netpe, in which he occurs with Osiris, Aroeris*,
Isis, and Nephthys, as the third son of that Goddess.
This agrees with the statement of Plutarcht, that
Osiris was born on the first, Aroeris on the second,
Typho on the third, Isis on the fourth, and Neph
thys on the fifth day.
Hence it is evident that the Deity before us
was one ofthe characters of Typho, and the reason
of his figure being erased on almost all the monu
ments where it occurs, was owing to the hatred
with which they viewed the Evil Being he repre
sented ; though, as I shall have occasion to show,
the good and bad principles were viewed with a
diflPerent feeling by the philosophers of early times.
He is figured under a human form, having the
head of a quadruped with square topped ears,
which some might have supposed to represent an
Ass with clipped ears, if the entire animal did not
too frequently occur to prevent this erroneous
conclusion. That it was an imaginary creature is
evident, from its form, and from being placed at
Beni Hassan with Sphinxes t and other fanciful
animals ; all conjecture is therefore useless, both
regarding its name and the reason for which it was
selected.

* This Deity wears the Pshent like Horus.
f Plut. de Is. s. 12.
X The Sphinx was chosen as an emblem of the King, and was in
tended to imply the uuion of physical and intellectual force, by its
body of a lion, and its human head ; or, as Clement of Alexandria says,
the " union of force, with prudence or wisdom," aXxrig ti av ixtra umtntwg
ri ffi^iy?, Strom. 5. He runs into the usual error of considering the
Sphinx female; the Egyptians making it invariably male, which is con
sistent with its being a representative of the King.

CHAP. XIII. THE EVIL BEING. 417
Had the head of this Deity been that of the Ass,
its adoption would have suited the character of
the Evil Being, and have accorded with the state
ment of Plutarch, who says the Egyptians consi
dered that animal emblematic of Typho. " Hence
the Coptites have the custom * of throwing an ass
down a precipice ; and the inhabitants of Busiris
and Lycopolis carry their detestation of it so far
as never to make use of trumpets, fancying that
their sound is similar to the braying of an Ass.
Indeed, this animal is generally regarded by them
as unclean, on account of its supposed resem
blance to Typho ; for which reason, the cakes
oflPered with their Sacrifices, during the two months
Paiini and Phaophi, have the impression of an Ass
bound, stamped upon them."
Even if the entire quadruped itself were not
present to decide this point, their mode of repre
senting animals was too accurate to admit of such
a misconception ; and a figure with the head of an
ass represented among the numerous Genii in the
temple of Tuot, or Tuphium, suffices to show the
marked distinction between it and the one before
us. The inaccuracy of Greek writers presents con
siderable difficulty in deciding upon any point not
elucidated by the Egyptian monuments. We are
told that Typho was the name of the Evil Being,
who was the son of Netpe, and brother of Osiris.
But, judging from the hieroglyphic legends, there is
* Plut. de Is. s. 30.
VOL. I. — Second Series. E E

418 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, CHAP. XIII.
reason to believe Typho to be a female Deity, ap
parently distinct from the Evil Being who was the
persecutor of Osiris ; and we are unable to trace in
the name of Ombte,, or Abtaut, any of the titles,
Seth, Bebo, Babys*, or Smyt, given by Plutarch
to Typho. On this last point, however, I shall
not insist, .since the force of the hieroglyphics t
composing it is not positively ascertained ; but we
may be certain that the name Typho was not ap
plied to this Deity, though he fulfilled the office
of the Evil Being opposed to the good Osiris, his
brother, and answered in every respect to the cha
racter of the third son of Netpe.
It appears that the Egyptian Mythology ac
knowledged two Deities, who answered to the de
scription given by the Greeks of Typho ; — one,
who was the son of Netpe, and was opposed to his
brother Osiris, as the bad to the good principle ;
the other bearing the name of Typho, and, an
swering to that part of his character which repre
sents him as the opponent of Horus.
From the constant and almost universal era
sure of his figure, the Egyptians seem to have
looked upon this Deity as a hateful being, the
enemy of mankind. But the offices he sometimes
bore, the presentation of prayers and oflPerings, and
the respect frequently paid to him in temples of
the oldest periods, where he occurs as one of the
contemplar Gods, show that his character was not

* Vide Athen. Deipn. lib. xv. p. 080.
+ Plut.de Is. S.62. 49.
t He sometimes seems to have a title similar to Seth.

CHAP. XIII. SACRIFICES OFFERED TO HIM. 419
always the same as ascribed by us to the wicked
Satan ; but an abstract notion of what was hurtful
and bad, acting in opposition to the good, yet still
necessary to mankind, and part of the system or
dained by the divine intellect. " For the harmony
ofthe world," as Heraclitus observes*, "like that
of a harp, is made up of discords, consisting of a
mixture of good and evil;" and Euripides says,
" Good and evil cannot be separated from each
other, though they are so tempered as to produce
beauty and order." If such was the opinion of the
Egyptians, we are not surprised to find that sacri
fices were offered to the bad principle, as though
his votaries considered themselves benefited by his
interposition. And it is probable that they so
viewed the connection between the good and bad,
as to consider that nothing injurious to mankind was
not ordained for a good purpose ; that virtue even
was a vice, when carried to an extreme ; and that
no bad quality of the mind could not be turned to
a good purpose, if properly tempered by the judg
ment and understanding. These ideas may be
obscurely hinted at, in the emblematic figure of
this Deity with the head of a hawk added to his
own, as though it represented the union of his at
tributes with those of Horus, or of Osiris.t
The same may also be traced in the office per
formed by this Deity, in company with Horus,
of placing the crown on the head of the King ; or
with Hor-Hat (Agathodaemon), of pouring over
* Pint, de Is. s. 45.
f Vide Plate 38. Part 2. fig. 2.
E E 2

420 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
him, from a vase, the emblems of life and purity.
This ceremony might imply, that during his life,
and the distinguished career he had entered upon,
even the Monarch himself could only expect, in the
ordinary course of events, an alternation of good
and bad fortune ; and that he ought, therefore, un
ceasingly to appeal to the protection of the Gods,
who alone could avert calamities and insure his
happiness. In the mythological history of Osiris, there is
one person who, from having the double character
of a friend and an enemy of the Gods, bears a re
semblance to the Deity before us. This is Antaeus.
Even his name, which, without the Greek ter
mination, is reduced to Ant^, may not appear to
disagree with the Egyptian Ombte.
According to Diodorus *, when Osiris undertook
his expedition from Egypt, in order to visit and
dispense benefits to the different countries of
the world, he left Isis in charge of the affairs of
his kingdom, aided by the counsels of Mercury.
Hercules was appointed generalissimo of Egypt;
Busiris, of the sea coast, with the parts adjacent
to Phoenicia ; and Ant^us, of the Ethiopian and
Libyan districts. After the death of Osiris, his
murderer Typho was defeated by Isis and Horus,
at a spot on the Arabian side of the river, near to
the village of Antaeus, so called from the Antaeus
whom Hercules punished during the life-time of
Osiris. Whence it appears that Typho and Antaeus
* Diodor. i. 17. 21.

CHAP. XIII. DOUBLE CHARACTER OF ANTiEUS. 421
were the enemies of the good Deities Osiris and
Hercules. Antaeus, however, was admitted into
the Egyptian Pantheon ; temples were erected to
him ; and the city of Antaeopolis, the capital of
a nome of the same name*, and the successor
of the village mentioned by Diodorus, acknow
ledged the God whose name it bore.
In this we perceive the origin of the fable re
specting the Giant Antaeus, in Greek mythology t;
of which, however, I do not stop to inquire the
meaning. It is of little moment, if Antaeus, ac
cording to one of the many allegories devised for
explaining the story of the wars of the Gods, re
presented the sand of the desert, and was thence
reputed to be the offspring of the Earth. The
only point of importance for my present object is
the double character of Antasus, like that of the
God Ombte, which I think clearly established,
and the error of the Greeks, who confounded the
latter Deity with Typho, may be readily accounted
for, by the connection between Typho and Antaeus,
in the account given by Diodorus.
At Gau, the ancient Antaeopolis, a temple, till
lately, stood on the banks of the Nile ; but the
last standing column was swept away by the river
in 1821 ; and we have now lost the only monu
ment which could decide this interesting question,
to confirm or disprove the identity of Ombte and
Antaeus.

* Plin. V. 9.
f Juv. iii. 89. Pindar, Pyth. ix. 185. Luc. Phars. iv. 615.
Strabo, xvii. p. 570. ed. Cas. Plin. v. 1.
E E 3

422 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP, XIII.
Sufficient proof exists of the possibility of the
same Deity being looked upon in two diflPerent cha
racters ; and Plutarch has given * some ofthe various
theories respecting the two principles. " Some,"
he says, " assert that there are two Gods of two con
trary offices, — one the cause of all that is good in
the world, the other of all that is evil. Others,
again, call the good principle only God, — giving
the name of Daemon to the Evil Being, — in which
number is Zoroaster the Mage, who is reported
to have lived 5000 years before the Trojan War.
That philosopher named the good principle Oro-
mazes (Ormusd), and the evil one Arimanius
(Ariman) ; between whom he supposed another
intermediate being, called Mithras, considered by
the Persians the Mediator. He also taught, that sa
crifices for future or thanks for past benefits were
to be offered to the Good Being, as those for the
purpose of averting misfortunes to the evil one.
" In the writings of Empedocles, the good prin
ciple is sometimes defined by the name of Love
and Friendship, and frequently by that of sweet-
looking Harmony ; the evil one being denominated
pernicious Enmity and Strife. By the Pytha
goreans, the good one is called 'the Unit, the
Definite, the Fixed, the Straight, the Odd, the
Square, the Equal, the Dexterous, and the Lucid;'
and the evil one, ' the Duad, the Indefinite, the
Moveable, the Crooked, the Even, the Oblong, the
Unequal, the Sinistrous, the Dark.' Anaxagoras
* Pint, de Is. s. 46. et seq.

CHAP. XIII. GOOD AND EVIL. 423
styles the one Intelligence, the other Infinity ; and
Aristotle describes them by the names of Form and
Privation. Plato, in his books of laws, observes that
' this world is not moved by one soul only, but per
haps by many, — certainly not fewer than two ; one
of whom is of a benevolent disposition, and the
author of every thing that is good ; whilst the other
is of a contrary turn of mind, and the author of
every thing that is evil.' In the Egyptian theory,
we are to understand by Osiris, the faculties of the
universal soul, such as intelligence and reason ; and
in the general system of matter, whatever is regular,
permanent, and salutary, such as orderly seasons, a
due temperament of the air, and the stated revolu
tions ofthe heavenly bodies. But those powers of
the universal soul which are subject to the influence
of passions ; and in the material system, whatever
is noxious, as irregular seasons, bad air, eclipses of
the Sun and Moon ; are ascribed to Typho." " Upon
the whole, however, Osiris, or the good principle,
has the superiority ; which seems likewise to have
been the opinion both of Plato and Aristotle." *
Looking, therefore, upon the bad as a necessary
part of the universal system, and inherent in all
things equally with the good, the Egyptians treated
the Evil Being with divine honours, and propitiated
him with sacrifices and prayers. It is not, how
ever, impossible that they may have looked upon
this Deity with diflPerent feelings in later times, and
have ceased to pay him the respect he formerly
enjoyed. During the 18th and 19th Dynasties, and
* Plut. de Is. s. 59.
E E 4

424 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, CHAP. XIII.
perhaps long after that period, he continued to re
ceive the homage of numerous votaries ; but sub
sequently a general feeling of hatred seems to have
sprung up against him, and his figure was erased
from the sculptures. This does not appear to
have been done in a systematic manner, as the re
sult of a general order given by the priesthood to
that eflPect, but in a moment of anger, as would
be the case when the people acted from sudden
impulse, or excitement. It therefore happens
that the figure sometimes escaped this indignity;
which could not have been the case, had the
careful scrutiny of the priesthood been empiloyed
to detect and deface it.
There is some difficulty in ascertaining the exact
time when the erasure took place. The monu
ments of the later Dynasties oflPer few of the sub
jects in which this Deity usually took part. It is
not, therefore, right to conclude that he had then
ceased to be worshipped as in olden times : and,
indeed, there is so much uncertainty on this head,
that we are not sure if the erasure was the work of
the Egyptians or ofthe early Christians. But this
last is far from probable, since they could have had
no reason to respect or hate any particular Deity
of a Pagan temple.
If so marked an aversion for his figure really in
dicates a change in the feelings of the Egyptians
towards this Deity, it is possible that it may have
had some connection with the invasion of Persia, —
the God having fallen into disgrace in consequence
of that event; as the Roman Deities were sometimes

CHAP. XIII. CHANGE OF FEELING TOWARDS HIM. 425
punished for their supposed neglect of the interests
of their votaries. * But it is evident that it could
not date at the early period of the Exodus, since
the temple of Remeses IIL alone suffices to show
he was in favour long after that event.
Whether owing to a change in the religious fan
cies of the Egyptians, or to any other cause, it is
not a singular instance. We have already noticed
the erasure and substitution of hieroglyphics in the
name of Amun : and though the Egyptians were
great conservatives in their religious institutions,
some innovations were introduced during the long
period of their history. Nor can any one sup
pose that the accessories of their religion under
went no modifications, that the simplicity of the
early worship had not many new ideas engrafted
upon it, and that speculative theories did not from
time to time increase the number of the Egyptian
Gods.t I am even disposed to think that a change of this
kind might proceed from another cause : that good
and bad, which were viewed abstractedly at one
period, were afterwards treated literally; nothing
then remaining but the mere opposition of Osiris
and Typho, the positively good and the positively
bad Being, — the one all that was beneficial, the
other all that was noxious to mankind. If the
one was the Nile, which fertilised the country; the
* Like the modern Italian saints. Witness San Gennaro and others.
This was also the case in Egypt, as Plutarch tells us, with the
sacred animals. Plut. de Is. s. 73. Vide infra, on the Sacred Animals,
Chap. xiv.
f Vide supra, p. 165. 212.

426 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
other was the desert, which destroyed all vegetable
life : and they no longer entertained the opinions of
those earlier philosophers, who contended that good
and bad formed part of one great principle ; that
evil proceeded from good, as good from evil ; and
that both were intended for the benefit of man
kind. It was not until men considered the bad distinctly
separate from the good, in a positive and literal
sense, that Typho was treated as the enemy of man.
Such was the idea entertained by the Roman vota
ries of Osiris. There is even reason to believe that
a similar change in the sentiments of the Egyp
tians towards this Deity is hinted at by Plutarch*,
when he says, — "It is evident they hold Typho
in great abhorrence, though they still make offer
ings to him, as if to console him for the loss of his
power, which had become less formidable than for
merly." "It was in consequence," he adds, "of
their hatred of Typho, that they treated with igno
miny those persons who, from the redness of their
complexions, were imagined to bear a resemblance
to himt;" and, "from a similar notion, they made
choice of red oxen in their sacrifices." The " Ass
was also selected as an appropriate emblem of the
Evil Deity, from its being usually of that colour."
Diodorus 1: even asserts, that " men of red com
plexions were formerly sacrificed to Osiris, in con
sequence of their supposed resemblance to Typho ; "
though this may be reasonably doubted, as so many
* Plut. de Is. s. 30.
•|- Vide infra, on the Sacrifices, Chap. xv. J Diodor. i.88.

CHAP. XIII. THE EVIL BEING PROPITIATED. 427
tales related by the Greeks respecting the customs
ofthe Egyptians.
The supposed birthday of Typho was, in like
manner, looked upon as inauspicious ; and "accord
ingly, on the third day of the Epact, the Kings nei
ther transacted any business, nor even suffered them
selves to take any refreshment till the evening." *
If it appears singular that this hatred of the
Evil Being did not prevent their propitiating him
on certain occasions, the custom is not confined to
the Egyptians ; far less speculative people have
adopted it even to the present day ; and philo
sophers have offered many conflicting opinions on
the abstract theory of the good and bad, the origin
of sin, and the power, cause, and nature of evil.
The fact of the figure of this Deity being so
generally erased, and the change in the name of
Amun, go far to prove that certain innovations
took place in the religious theories ofthe Egyptians ;
and if we could discover earlier monuments than
those which now remain, we might find the number
of Deities more limited than in the time even of
the 18th Dynasty.
From what has been said it appears, 1°. That the
Evil Being was admitted, in early times, to divine
honours. 2°. That these were discontinued from some
calamity befalling the country, or from the good
and bad being made entirely distinct.
* Pint, de Is. s. 12. Vide supra, p. 210. It is singular that the name
" Typhon " (Tiphoon) was appHed to a " sudden whirlwind " in former
times (Plin. ii. 48.), as at the present day ; and that Tuphan is the Arabic
name of the Deluge.

428 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
3. That the Evil Being, though the brother of
Osiris, had not the name of Typho ; this being given
to a diflPerent Deity, who was opposed to Horus, as
were another Typhonian monster, and the Serpent
Aphophis. Mr. Cory * is disposed to think this figure with
square ears represented the Patriarch Joseph. But
the fact that the Egyptians never admitted human
beings into the order of Gods, the improbability of
so great an honour being paid to a Hebrew stranger,
even during the reign of the King his patron,
and his being styled the son of Netpe, sufficiently
disprove this opinion. Nor would the virtuous
Joseph have had reason to feel flattered by a repre
sentative of so equivocal a character in the cata
logue of Gods.
Ta?, Tipo?, Typho?, Typhon?, Parturition?,
OR RATHER GeSTATION ?.
I have already observed, that there is reason to
consider the Evil Being, the son of Netpe, distinct
from Typho; and this last to be a female rather
than a male Deity. The former, whom, in the
uncertainty which still attends the reading of his
name, I suppose to be called Ombte or Ambo, has
evidently no office in connection with Horus t ; but
the figure in the accompanying Plate is represented
opposed to the son of Osiris, and holds a conspicu
ous place in those temples and sculptures which
refer to his mysterious history. She appears to be
* Chronological Inquiry, p. 45. f Vide supra, p. 418.

CHAP. XIII. FORM OF TYPHO. 429
the principal personage amidst the frightful and ca
priciously formed figures which appear as the Evil
Genii of the Egyptian mythology ; and in astrono
mical subjects, she may be supposed to represent,
as Plutarch says of Typho, the eclipses of the Sun
and Moon, and the occultations of the Stars, or to
preside over the birth of the Sun. Her hierogly
phics appear to read Tipo or Typho. She has the
body, apparently, of a hippopotamus, or of a bear,
with the head sometimes of a hippopotamus, some
times of a crocodile, the tail of the latter, and the
hands and breasts of a woman ; and she frequently
wears on her head the globe and horns of Athor,
with two long feathers. Her hand reposes on an
emblem not very unlike a pair of shears ; and she
sometimes rests one hand upon a crocodile's head,
standing on its tail.
At the quarries of Silsilis, she is worshipped as
a Deity, accompanied or followed by Thoth and
a Goddess, apparently Nepte, before whom, as a
triad, the Queen of Remeses the Great holds two
Sistra. She has a human head, with the usual
body of a monster standing erect on its hind legs ;
and I have met with the same Deity with a
human figure and head of a hippopotamus, on a
tablet, where she is the first person of a triad made
up of Eilethyia and Athor. She sometimes ap
pears to be connected with the idea of parturition,
or gestation, — which may account for her being
introduced with the Egyptian Lucina. Her figure
in the hieroglyphic legends of Isis * and Netpe t
* Vide Plate 34. Hierog. No. 7. f Firfe Plate 32. Hierog. No. 2.

430 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
appears to refer to her capacity of protectress of
mothers. I have also found an instance of this
Goddess with the name Isis over her, in an as
tronomical subject on a mummy case now in the
British Museum.
The hippopotamus and the crocodile were em
blems of Typho, except, perhaps, in those towns
where they happened to be worshipped ; as at Pa-
premis, the city of Mars, which held the former
among the animals dedicated to its protecting
Deity; and at Ombos, and other places, where the
crocodile was sacred. " At Hermopolis, " says Plu
tarch *, " there is shown a statue of Typho, which
is a hippopotamus with a hawk upon its back fight
ing with a serpent. By the hippopotamus is meant
Typho ; and by the hawk, the power he frequently
assumes by violence, and then employs to his own
annoyance and to the prejudice of others. So,
again, the Cakes they offer on the 7th day of Tybi,
to celebrate the return of Isis from Phoenicia, nave
the impression of a hippopotamus bound, stamped
upon them. The solemn hunt of the crocodile in
the city of Apollo, when every one is obliged to
eat of its flesh, is, in like manner, established to
show their abhorrence of Typho, whose emblem it
is. The same feeling is the origin of their hatred
of the Ass."
The connection of Typho and Mars, of both of
whom the hippopotamus was said to be an emblem,
is singular; and there appears to be a great analogy
* Plut. de Is. s. 50.

CHAP. XIII. DEATH, DESTROYER. 431
between Hercules and other of the reputed Ty
phonian figures. *
In the buildings called by some Typhonia, and
in many of the mysterious subjects above alluded
to, she is accompanied by another figure of hideous
shape, which has also been considered Typhonian.
This monster forms the ornamental part of the
capitals of the columns around the Mammeisi
Temples, formerly called Typhonia, as at Den
dera and other places.t The name of Typhonium
has been improperly applied to these monuments,
since they were not consecrated to Typho, but
are rather connected with the mysterious rites
of Harpocrates and other infant Deities, relating
to their birth, or generally to the principle of re
generation. The ingenious ChampoUion has as
signed to them the appellation of Mammeisi, the
" lying in places" where the third member of the
triad, worshipped in the adjoining temple, was born,
and nursed by the Deities, who were supposed to
perform that office in Egyptian Mythology.
Death ?, Mors ?, Besa ?.
The name of this Deity is as yet doubtful. His
appearance is of a short deformed man, with a tail,
a curly beard, and a head-dress of long feathers :
but little is known of his office and attributes, nor
have I been able to ascertain if he be the husband
of Typho. The story of Nephthys being the wife
of Typho, even if Typho were a God, is not au-
* Vide the next Deity, and Hercules. f Vide Plate 24. a. fig. 4.

432 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
thorised by the sculptures; and the origin of this
notion is probably owing to Nephthys being placed
in contradistinction to Isis, as the end to the be
ginning, and in the funereal rites being in an office
opposed to that of her sister.
I have reason to believe that he represented
' Death,' in a bad sense, as the dissolution of the
animal part of man, and the decay of all things,
applied to animals as well as to mankind ; and this
will readily account for the presence ofthe peculiar
Demonstrative sign — the hide of an animal with the
tail attached to it — which always follows the le
gends denoting ' a beast.' He is also said to " adore
his lord," — alluding to the attitude in which he
stands before Harpocrates, who in the character of
renovation, or new life, might properly be adored
by the God of Death. He occurs, as already stated,
on the columns of the Mammeisi of Dendera and
other places ; and he presents the same appearance
in some ofthe temples of Southern Ethiopia. He
is found at the distant Kermesat, in Wady Ker-
beean, beyond Wady Benat ; and in the sculptures
of the supposed hunting palace of Wady Benat,
where he is represented armed with a shield and
sword, slaying the captives he grasps in his hand.
Images of this Deity are also found at Thebes and
other places, armed in the same manner with the
emblems of War, which may argue his being death
in the sense of destruction ; and an instance occurs
of his having the dress of a Roman soldier* ; which
* Fi'l/ff Plate 41. fig. 1. The shrine he bears on his head is remark
able. But this figure is of late date.

CHAP. XIIl. DEATH AND INFANCY UNITED. 433
seems to connect him with the God of War, in the
same sense ofthe destroying power. In a papyrus
of M. Reuvens, he approaches near to the figure
of Hercules, whom I shall presently have occasion
to notice ; and we might even suppose him to be
the Deity of Strength.
If he represented Death, his frequent occurrence
in company with the infant Horus may readily be
explained by the connection supposed to subsist
between death and reproduction ; and I have seen a
statue which combines the attributes of both those
Gods, under the form of a youth with the lock of
Childhood descending from his head, and the beard
and unseemly features of this aged monster.*
Sometimes, and indeed more generally, the head
of the latter is placed over that of the youthful
Deity, who, holding in one hand two snakes with
a scorpion and Capricorn, in the other similar
snakes with a lion and scorpion, stands upon two
crocodiles, and is surrounded by the emblems and
figures of diflPerent Gods. Though most of these
are well known, I do not pretend to oflPer an ex
planation of the whole subjectt, which appears to
bear an astrological as well as a mythological sense. X
The three principal figures — the crocodile, the
young Horus, and the monster head — may signify
darkness §, the origin of all things, existence or
production, and death. They may also explain an
* Vide Plate 24. a. fig. 3. t Vide Plate 43. a.
X Vide Macrob. Saturn, i. 26. Clemens (Strom. 5.) says, " The
Egyptians sometimes represent the Sun in a boat, sometimes on a
crocodile." , , .^ n • ,..^ r,r,
§ Vide supra, 274. ; and infra, on Xvi^ ; and Horapollo, i. 69, 70.
VOL. I. — Second Series. F F

434 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS, CHAP. XIII.
apparent resemblance between this Deity and a re
presentation of Pthah the creative power.* These
groups are, I believe, of late date — of Ptolemaic
or Roman time ; and it is generally observable,
that similarly complicated subjects are of a period
when the religion of Egypt was overgrown with
fanciful speculation, which the simplicity of earlier
sculptures had not adopted.
May this Deity have been Besa, whose oracle
is placed by ancient writers in the vicinity of Aby
dus or of Antinoe ? His name in some of the hie
roglyphic legends resembles that of the unknown
Besa ; and if his character appears little likely to
justify the notion of his possessing an oracle, it
will cease to present an objection, when we re
collect that, in Greece, even the monster Geryon,
slain by Hercule.s, was deemed worthy of a similar
honour. Professor Reuvens t gives an invocation
to Typhon Seth, "who destroys and renders de
sert, and is surnamed ' he who agitates, and is
invincible ; ' " which seems to suit the character
of this destroying Deity, and to account for his
presumed connection with Typho. The fact of
his being thus invoked corresponds with his am
biguous title and appearance ; and the learned
Professor's t opinion, that he was derived from
Pthah, (or from Cneph,) is sufficiently plausi
ble. But I should exclude the name of Cneph,
and for Pthah should substitute that of the pigmy
Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, to which I have already al-
* Vide Plate 24. d. fig. 2., and PI 43. figs. 1. 2.
¦X Reuvens, lettre i. p. 39. j Lettre iii. p. 78, 79.

CHAP. XIII. APHOPHIS, THE SERPENT. 435
luded. This also calls to mind the connection
between the operation of the creator and of the
destroying power.

Aphophis, The Serpent.
Having mentioned the bad principle, and shown
the distinction between Typho and the son of
Netpe, it may not be out of place to introduce
another character of the Evil Being ; in which we
cannot fail to recognise the Serpent the enemy of
mankind, and from which the Pytho of Greek my
thology was evidently derived.
Aphophis, or Apop, which in Egyptian signifies a
" giant," yifdi?, the name given to the Serpent of which
Horus is represented as the Destroyer. From this,
the Greeks borrowed the story of Apollo's destruc
tion ofthe Serpent Pytho ; as from the name Apho
phis, the wars between the Giants, or Titans, and
the Gods. " For," as Plutarch observes*, " those
wars, which are so much spoken of by the Greeks,
the detestable actions of Saturn, and the combats
between Apollo and Pytho, the flights of Bacchus,
and the wanderings of Ceres, are of the same
nature as the adventures of Osiris and Typho."
In another placet, he speaks of " Apopis as a
prince, who was brother to the Sun, and made
war upon Jupiter, by whom he was defeated
through the assistance of Osiris," which tends to
the same point; and it is remarkable that the
* Pint, de Is. s. 25. t P'^^t- ^^ I^- s- 36.
F F 2

436 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
combat of the Gods and Giants occurs under
various forms in many religions. With regard to
the name Aphophis given to the Evil Being as a
serpent, some may be disposed to trace in it the
word Hof, Hfo, in Coptic a "snake:" but this
does not appear to be the origin of the name of
Aphophis; which is evidently the Coptic Aphoph,
the " Giant," as I have already stated.
The destruction of the Serpent by Horus, who,
standing in a boat, pierces his head with a spear,
as he rises above the water, frequently occurs in
the sculptures ; and whether it has the body of a
snake with the head of a man, or assumes the
entire human form, it appears to be the same
monster. The representation of Typho, men
tioned by Plutarch, at Hermopolis*, evidently
refers to this conflict of Horus and Aphophis.
I will not decide whether the Serpent Aphophis
has any relation to " the snake, which, when Thu
eris, the concubine of Typho, deserted to Horus,
was killed by his soldiers " as it pursued her ; " an
event," says Plutarcht, " still commemorated by
the ceremony of throwing a rope into the midst of
their assemblies, and then chopping it in pieces."
Nepthys, Nephthys, Neb-thy, The End.
Nephthys, the sister of Isis, and youngest daugh
ter of Netpe, was supposed by the Greeks to have
been the wife of Typho ; but, as I have already
* Vide supra, p. 430. f Plut. de Is. s. 19.

CHAP. XIII. NEPPITHYS OPPOSED TO ISIS. 437
observed, this notion probably arose from her being
placed in opposition to Isis, particulariy in funereal
subjects, where Isis stands at the head and Nephthys
at the feet of the deceased. She represented the
end, as Isis the beginning, of all things ; but she
was not opposed to her sister in a bad sense, as
Typho to Osiris. In the regions of Amenti, a triad
was composed of Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys ; and
another consisted of Isis, Nephthys, and Harpo
crates.* In the fabulous history of Osiris t, she may have
been considered as the sea-shore, and the confines
of Egypt, from being opposed to Isis, who was
that part of the land irrigated by the inundation
of the Nile; without the idea of her possessing
the injurious nature which was attached to Typho.
Even in this character, her inferiority might be of
a negative kind, not that of a positive agent of
evil, being merely the representative of a barren
soil, whose unproductiveness was owing to its not
having received the fertilising influence of the in
undation. Like Isis in her mysterious character,
Nephthys was principally employed in offices con
nected with the dead ; and she is represented as
sisting her sister to perform the last rites to Osiris,
when he quitted the Earth to assume his duties in
Amenti as judge of the dead. She is, therefore,
appropriately styled "rectrix ofthe lower regions."t
Her name, written Neb-thy, or Neb-tei, signifying

# Vide supra, p. 408. ; and infra, p. 439.
f Plut. de Is. s. 38. X P'^te 35. Part 2.
F F 3

438 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
"the lady of the abode," consists of a bowl or
basket, called neb, placed upon a house, answering
to ei or tei. These she wears upon her head ;
as Isis has the throne, her hieroglyphic emblem.
She is frequently styled the Sister Goddess, re
ferring to her relationship to Isis and Osiris; and
I have met with an instance of her being called
"Nephthys, the Saviour Sister Goddess, Anouke."*
This connects her with Anouke theEgyptian Vesta,
and accords with the Greek notion of Vesta being
the daughter of Saturn and Rhea, who answered
to the Seb and Netpe ofthe Egyptian Pantheon.
In another hieroglyphic inscription over a door at
Dakkeh, the Ethiopian King Ergamun is said to be
" a son of Osiris, born of Isis, and nursed by Neph
thys ; " and the two triads, of which she was a
member, frequently occur in the Egyptian tombs.
She is sometimes called " a daughter ofthe Sunt,"
though Plutarcht supposes her begotten by Saturn;
and the same author gives to her the names of
Teleute (or the end). Aphrodite, and Nike. He
considers her§, in one of her characters, " the
lower and invisible, as Isis was the upper and
visible, parts of the world;" and he says |i, that
" the Sistrum having the face of Isis on one side and
of Nephthys on the other, symbolically represents
generation and corruption." This idea, like that
previously expressed respecting the contradistinc
tion of Isis and her sister, did not convey the im-
* Plate 35. Part 2. t Plate .35. Part 2.
X Plut. de Is. s. 12. (J Plut. de Is. s. 44.
11 Plut.de Is, S.63.

CHAP. XIII. NEPHTHYS, THE END. 439
pression of a malevolent Deity ; corruption or the
termination of life not being looked upon as anni
hilation, as I have already had occasion to observe.*
All persons, therefore, who died, were thought to
pass, through the influence of Nephthys, into a
future state; and the presence of Netpe on the
coffins of the dead also purported that, being born
again and assuming the title of Osiris, each indivi
dual had become the son of Netpe, even as the great
Ruler of Amenti, to whose name he was entitled
when admitted to the mansions of the blessed.
But though Nephthys was the " End," she was
distinct from " Death," whom I have mentioned
as a separate Deity, t
I have once met with an instance of Nephthys
with the adjunct Sothis, connecting her with the
Dog-star. This is perhaps an assumption of the
attributes of her sister, or may refer to that star at
the end instead of the beginning of the year, from
which its heliacal rising was usually calculated :
but, being of rare occurrence, it is not import
ant, nor does it suffice to connect the Dog-star
with the sister of Isis. According to Hesychius,
"the Egyptians worshipped a Goddess, whom the
Greeks called K^pohrri %xrjTia, ' the dark or noc
turnal Venus,' whom Prichard supposes to be
Nephthyst;" but this rather apphes to the Egyp
tian Athor.
* Vide supra, p. 315. 407, 408.
f Vide supra,- p. 432., on the God il/ors, who was himself distinct
from Funus, infrci, p. 412.
X Prichard, p. 146.

440 the ancient egyptians. chap. xiii.
Anubis, Anepo, Mercurius Psychopompos,
Death (Funus).
The jackal-headed God was one of the principal
Deiries of Amenti. He was " son of Osiris *," not
by Nephthys, as Greek writers state, but, according
to the positive authority of the hieroglyphics, " by
Isis," as is shown in a legend given by Mr. Salt,
from a mummy case in his possession, where
" Anubis " is called " the son of Isis." This suf
fices to disprove the opinion of Plutarch t respect
ing Nephthys ; though the same author allows that
" Isis was also reputed his mother, though born of
Nephthys." 1: Another notion, which assigns to
Anubis the head of a dog instead of a jackal, is
one of the greatest and most generally accredited
errors which the ignorance of the Greeks and Ro
mans have set forth respecting the Gods of Egypt ;
and every writer, whether in poetry or prose, who
has mentioned this Deity, has described him with
the head of a dog. Even altars were erected to
him under this form by his votaries at Rome ; and
so universal was the belief in the canine character
ofthe " latrator Anubis §," that the fabulous history
of Osiris was perverted in order to accord with this
established notion.
The unquestionable authority, however, of the
Egyptian sculptures, has corrected this miscon
ception, and we there find that he was not only
represented with the head of a jackal, but also
* Plate 44. fig. 3. f Plut. de Is. s. 14. 38.
t Plut. de Is. s. 44.
I Conf. Propert. lib. iii. Eleg. xi. 41.
" Ausa Jovi nostro latrantera opponere Anubin."

chap. xiii. anubis had not a dog's head. 441
under the form of the entire animal. And lest
scepticism and the force of long received opinion
should still retain a doubt, or suppose this jackal
to be intended for a peculiar species of dog, it may
not be irrelevant to remark, that the same jackal
is introduced at Beni Hassan with the wolf and
other wild animals of Egypt, and that the dogs are
never figured in the paintings of a form which
could justify a similar conclusion.
According to the explanation given by Plutarch *
of the history of Osiris from the phaenomena of the
heavens, Anubis was supposed, in one of his cha
racters, "to represent the horizontal circle, which
divides the invisible part of the world, called by
the Egyptians Nephthys, from the visible, which
they term Isis. In short, Anubis seems to be of
the same power and nature as the Grecian Hecate,
a Deity common both to the celestial and infernal
regions." This last, however, I have shown t to
apply to Isis rather than to Anubis. "Others," he
adds, " are of opinion, that by Anubis is meant
Time, which begets all things out of itself ; but this
is one ofthe secret doctrines known only to those
who are initiated into his worship  The
universal reason, moreover, is called by them
Anubis X, and sometimes Hermanubis ; the first of
these names expressing the relation it has to the
superior, as the latter to the inferior, world."
The office of Anubis was to superintend the
passage of the souls from this life to a future state,
* Plut. de Is. s. 44. f Vide supra, p. 369.
X Plut. de Is. 8.61.

442 the ancient Egyptians, chap, xiii
in which he answered to the Mercury of the Greeks
in his capacity of Psychopompos, or " usher oi
souls."* He presided over tombs, and at the final
judgment he weighed the good actions of the
deceased in the scales of truth, and was thence
styled "director of the weight." He is frequently
introduced in the sculptures, standing over a bier
on which a corpse is deposited. He seems to super
intend the departure of the soul from its earthly
envelope, which is indicated by a small bird with
a human head and hands, holding the sign of life
and a sail, the symbol of transmigration, or of its
flight from the body.t This bird is probably the
Baeith of Horapollo, which signifies "life and soul ; "
and from it may have been derived in later times the
complicated figures ofthe Abraxas. In the group
represented in the Plate, it will be observed that
the mummy has the beard of a God, or of one
deified under the form of Osiris ; and the soul has
one of a person not yet entered into those regions
of eternity, to which it is about to take its flight.
Anubis may be considered to answer to "Death,''
in a good sense, as the departure of the soul from
the body, on its way to a better state, and applied
only to mankind ; Death in another sense, as the
decease of the animal portion of man, being figured
by the Egyptians under a diflPerent form, as I have
already shown, t It is probably from this his
* Conf. Hom. Odyss. xiv. 1., and Hor. Od. I. ix. 17.
" Tu pias Isetis animas reponis
Sedibus, virgaque levem coerces
Aurea turbam, superis Deorum
Gratus et imis."
f Vide Plate 44. fig. 3. J Supra, p. 432.

chap. XIII. character of anubis. 443
character, that Plutarch was led to the notion of
Anubis being " time," the " tempus edax rerum."
Apuleius * calls " Anubis the interpreter of the
Gods of heaven and of Hades, sometimes with a
black, at others with a golden face, . . . holding in
his left hand a caducous, and in his right shaking a
palm branch." But in this description we discover
the union of Anubis and Thoth, both of whom bear
analogy and correspond to the Mercury of Greece.
The office of interpreter in heaven and in Hades
applies to Thoth. Anubis and Thoth were both
Deities of Hades, and the former had sometimes a
black, sometimes a golden face; but the palm
branch belonged to Thoth, and the caducous to
neither of them. And if Greek and Roman has re
liefs give to Anubis a character according with the
description of Apuleius, they are at direct variance
with the sculptures, and show that they are not
taken from Egyptian authority of an ancient date.
I have once met with an instance of Anubis with
the head of a ram in lieu of the jackal ; on which
occasion he had assumed the attributes of Neph.
Diodorustrelates.that Anubis accompanied Osiris
in his Easterii expedition, together with Pan and
Macedo, who were his generals. Mercury (Thoth)
held the office of counsellor to the Queen Isis,
Hercules was viceroy during his absence, Busiris
governor of the provinces on the sea-coast to
wards Phoenicia, and Antaeus of those bordering on
Ethiopia and Libya. Anubis and Macedo, according
to Diodorus, were sons of Osiris ; and the latter is
* Apul. Metam. 11. t Diodor. i. 17.

444 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII.
described by him dressed in the skin of a wolf, as
Anubis in that of a dog. Of Macedo, I have been
unable to ascertain any thing from the sculptures ;
though it is possible that he may also have the form
of a jackal-headed Deity similar to Anubis, with
the horns and other devices as his hieroglyphic ;
and it is not impossible that these horns may in
some way refer to the idea of punishment which
Horapollo* tells us was denoted by a cow's horn.
Having now mentioned the diflPerent members
of the family of Seb and Netpe, who are Osiris,
Aroeris, the Evil Being, Isis, and Nephthys, with
their children Horus, Harpocrates, Anubis, and
Macedo, and in connection with them Typho and
the Serpent Aphophis, I proceed to notice the
remaining Deities of the Pantheon, which wiU form
a second part of this chapter. I shall not stop to
inquire respecting their rank or right to priority ;
nor shall I distinguish between those of the second
and third order, the former of whom are limited
by Herodotus to the number of twelve. And if any
preference is shown in their arrangement, it is solely
in consequence of their being of more frequent oc
currence, or represented on older monuments.
* HorapoUo, Hierog. ii. 17. Vide Plate 44. Part 2.
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME
(second series).

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