LIBRARY UNIVERSrvop .Ό -2. ΚΕΓ,ΛΤΜ PERSAMI'M DARJI ET AEKXLS TEJlFOiSliirS. HISTORY °o HERODOTUS. A NEW ENGLISH VERSION, EDITED WITH COPIOUS NOTES AND APPENDICES, ILLUSTRATING THE HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY OP HERODOTUS, FROM THE MOST RECENT SOURCES OF INFORMATION; AND EMBODYING THE CHIEF RESULTS, HISTORICAL AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL, WHICH HAVE BEEN OBTAINED IN THE PROGRESS OF CUNEIFORM AND HIEROGLYPHICAL DISCOVERY. By GEOKGE EAWLINSON, M.A., CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD ; LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE. ASSISTED BY COL. SIE HENRY EAWLINSON, K.C.B., and SIR J. G. WILKINSON, F.R.S. IN FOUR VOLUMES.— Vol. II. WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NEW EDITION. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1862. The right of 'IVamlation is resei-ved. LONDON: PRISTED BY W. ClO>VES ASP SONS, STAMFORD STREET, A^D CIIARINU CROSS. CONTENTS OF VOL. 11. THE HISTOKY OF HEEODOTUS. THE SECOND BOOK, ENTITLED EUTERPE. Accession of Cambyses — he invades Egypt (eh. 1). Description of Egypt — Antiquity (2). Seats of learning (3). Inventions, &c. (4). Description of the country (5-13). Agriculture (14). Boundaries (15-18). The Nile — Causes of the inundation (19-27). Sources (28). The Upper Nile (29-Sl). The interior of Libya (32). Comparison of the Nile and Ister (33, 34). Customs of the Egyptians — their strangeness (35, 36). Religious customs (37-48). Connexion of the religions of Egypt and Greece (49-57). Egyptian Festivals (58-64). Sacred animals (65-67). The Crocodile (68-70). The Hippopotamus (71). Otters, fish, &c. (72). The Phoenix (73). Sacred and winged serpents (74, 75). The Ibis (76). Daily life of the Egyptians (77-80). Dress (81). Divination (82). Oracles (83). Practice of Medicine (84). Funerals (85-90). Worship of Perseus (91). Customs of the marsh-men (92-95). Egyptian boats (96). Routes in the flood-time (97). Anthylla and Archandropolis (98). History of Egypt — Men (99). His successors — Nitocris — Moeris (100, 101). Sesostris — his expeditions — his works in Egypt (102-1 10). His son, Pheron (111). Proteus— story of Helen (112-120). Rhampsinitus (122). Doctrine of metempsychosis (123). Cheops — his pyramid (124-126). Chephren (127, 128). Myceriuus (129-133). His pyramid — histoi-y of Rhodopis (134, 135). Asychis (136). Anysis — Sabaco (137-140). Sethos — invasion of Sennacherib (141). Number of the kings (142, 143). Greek and Egyptian notions of the age of the gods (144-146). The Dodecarchy (147-152). Psammetiehus (1.54-157). Neco, his son (158, 159). Psammis, son of Neco (160). Apries, sonof Psammis — his deposition (161-169). Tomb of Osiris (170). Egyptian mysteries (171). Reign of Amasis (172-177). His favour to the Greeks (178-182) .. .. Page 1 APPENDIX TO BOOK II. CHAPTEE I. " THE EGYPTIANS BEFORE THE REIGN OF THEIR KING PSAMMETICHUS BELIEVED THEMSELVES TO BE THE MOST ANCIENT OF MANKIND." — Chap. 2. [G. W.] 1. The Egyptians from Asia. 2. Egyptian and Celtic. 3. Semitic character of Egyptian. 4. Evidences of an older language than Zend and Sanscrit. 5. Ba or Fa and Mva> known to the Greeks in his time. Ile/iire Se μιν AvKLTjvSe, ττόρΐν S'oye σή/αατα \vypa, Γράψοί eV πίνακί πτυκτφ θυμόφθόρα πολλά. — ίί. vi. 109. Nor is it probable that a people so well acquainted with the ' works of the Sidonians ' should have remained ignorant of the alphabet in the age of Homer, as some have supposed ; and Cadmus, or ' the East,' was reported to have taught the Greeks that secret before the Trojan War." P. 417, c. 115, note 7, Book III., 1st column, 15-16 line from bottom of the page, for ' " Arabic Kasdeer ; but the notion that it was a British word is at once disproved by Aasiira signifying 'tin' in Sanscrit;" put " Arabic A'asdco• ,• and Kastira .signifies ' tin ' in Sanscrit." Ih. 2nd column, 12th line, /or " fi-om Britain. It is however probable, from its being known by the Sanscrit name Kastira, that it went at a very remote period from the Malay Islands to India and Central Asia ; and Ezekiel mentions tin," put " from Britain. How did it obtain the name of Kastira in Sanscrit, and how did the tin itself find its way into that part of Asia ? Did it go from Phoenicia ? It was not called Kastira in the Peninsula of ^lalacca, where alone and in Banca tin abounds in Asia ; and the distance thence to the abode of the Arians was greater than from Svria. Ezekiel mentions tin." //). line 19, for " which was probably the sameTarshish on the Indian Ocean," pxit " which was the Tarshish, or Tartessus, of Spain, and not that on the Indian Ocean." [b. line 35, for " in the Periplus among the " put " in the Periplus of Arrian among the." Place the Plan of Heliopolis in the text of vol. ii. at page 8. „ the Plan of Bubastis at page 88. ,, the Plan of Sais at page 218. THE HISTORY OP HERODOTUS. THE SECOND BOOK, ENTITLED EUTERPE. 1. On the death of Cyrus, Cambyses his son by Cassandane daughter of Pharnaspes took the kingdom. Cassandane had died in the lifetime of Cyrus, who had made a great mourning for her at her death, and had commanded all the subjects of his empire to observe the like. Cambyses, the son of this lady and of Cyrus, regarding the Ionian and ^olian Greeks as vassals of his father, took them with him in his expedition against Egypt ' among the other nations which owned his sway. 2. Now the Egyptians, before the reign of their king Psam- metichus, believed themselves to be the most ancient of man- kind.^ Since Psammetichus, however, made an attempt to ' The date of the expedition of Cam- bj'ses agaiust Egypt cannot be fixed with absolute certainty. Manetho, wliose authority is of the greatest imp)ortance, gave Cambyses, according to Africanus (ap. Syncell. p. 141), a reign of six years in Egypt, which would place his invasion in B.C. 527. Eusebius, how- ever (Chron. Can. Pars i. p. 105), reports JVIanetho differently, and himself agi-ees nearly with Diodorus (i. 68), who puts the expedition in the 3rd year of the 6ord Olympiad, or B.C. 525. This date, which is the one ordinarily received, is, on the whole, the most probable. It is curious that Herodotus, whose principal object, in Books i. to v., is to trace the gradual growth of the Persian power, should say nothing directly of the first four years of Cambyses, omitting thereby so important an event as the subjection of Phcenicia, Λvhich was certainly accomplished by him. vol.. II. (See below, iii. 34, and comp. note to Book iii. ch. 19.) This period probably contained, besides the submission of Phoenicia, and of Cyprus, the reduction or submission of Cilicia, which lay in the same quarter. Cilicia which was in- dependent of the great Lydian kingdom (suprii, i. 28), and which was not re- duced, so far as ajjpears, by either Cyrus or Harpagus, — for the contrary statement of Xeuophon (Cyrop. i. i.§ 4), who ascribes to Cyrus the conquest of Cilicia, Cyprus, Phoenicia, and IJJypt (!) deserves no credit — must have been added to the empire either by Cam- byses or by Darius, and is most pro- bably a conquest of the former. Tuese events would serve to occupy Cambyses during his first four years, and exjjlaiu the reason why he deferred the Egyptian expedition, already designed by Cyrus (i. 15;;), till his fifth. - This affectation of extreme anti- quity is strongly put by Plato in his Β 2 " BECOS" STORY, liooKlI. (li.sof)vcr who were actually the primitive race,'' they have been of opinion that while they snrj)ass all other nations, the Phrygians surpass them in antirpiity. This king, finding it impossible to maivfi out by dint of inquiry wdiat men were the most ancient, contrived the following method of discovery : — He took two children of the common sort, and gave them over to a herdsman to bring up at liis folds, strictly charging him to let no one utter a Avord in their ])resence, but to keep them in a serpiestered cottage, and from time to time introduce goats to their apart- ment, see that they got their fill of milk, and in all other respects look after them. His object herein was to know, after the indis- tinct babblings of infancy were over, what Λvord they would first articulate. It happened as he had anticijiated. The herdsman obeyed his orders for two years, and at the• end of that time, on his one day opening the door of their room and gomg in, the children both ran up to liim with outstretched arms, and distinctly said " Becos." When this first happened the herdsman took no notice ; but afterwards when he observed, on coming often to see after them, that the word was constantly in their mouths, he informed his lord, and by his command brought the childj'en into his presence. Psammetichus then himself heard them say the word, njion which he proceeded to make inquiry what people there was who called anything " becos," and hereupon he learnt that " becos " was the Phrygian name for bread.^ In considera- Timscus (p. 22. B), where the Greek first king Alorus to the conquest by nation is taxed by the Egyptians with Cyrus iBeros. ap. Eiiseb. Chron. Can. i. being in its infancy as compared with p. 5-18 ; compare Brandis, Rerum Ass. tliem. According to the account which Temp. limendata, pp. Ιΰ-Π;) and the Herodotus gives below (ch. 142 ), the Indians and Chinese trace their history priests in some places would seem to for a still longer period, iiave pretended, in their discussions with The Egyptian claims to a high rehitke foreigners, to an antiquity of above antiquity had, no doubt, a solid basis of 11,000 years for their nation. The. truth. It is pi-obable that a settled entire number of years, however, as- monarchy was established in Egypt signed by Manetho to his oO dynasties earlier than in any other country. Ba- of kings did not greatly e.'cceed ."lOOO, bylonian history does not go back beyond and Syncellus reports Manetho as claim- n.c, ΊΊ'Ά. Egyptian begins nearly 500 lug for the monarchy no longer actual years earlier. duration than 3555 years before the ^ ^he disposition on the part of cantjuest by Alexander. (See Muller's Psammetichus towards scientific en- Fr. Hist. Gr., vol. ii. p. 534.) Even this quiry is noticed again in ch. 28. Per- view, however, seems to be extravagant, haps the contact with the Greeks, which for it places the accession of Meues in began in his reign (ch. 154), caused tbe B.C. 3sS'5, which is con.siderably before development of the Egyptian mind in the Deluge, according to the highest this direction. computatic'u. Still the Egj'ptiau uum- ■* The word ^e'/cos has been thought to bers are moderate compared with those connect with the German "backen" and of some other nations. The Babylo- our "bake." Lassen, however, throws nians counted 4GS,000 years froni tlieir dmibt on this connexion, and suggests Chap. 2-4. EGYPTIAN DISCOVERIES— THE SOLAR YEAR. 3 tionof this circumstance the Egyptians yielded their claims, and admitted the greater antiquity of the Phrygians. 3. That these were the real facts I learnt at Memphis from the priests of Vulcan. The Greeks, among other foolish tales, relate that Psammetichus had the children brought up by women whose tongues he had previously cut out ; but the priests said their bringing up was such as I have stated above. I got much other information also from conversation with these priests while I was at Memphis, and Τ even went to Heliopolis and to Thebes,^ expxesslyjQ^tryjyhether the priests of those places would agree in their accounts withTlie priests at Memphis. The Heliopolitans have the reputation of being the best skilled in history of all the Egyptians.^ AVhat they told me concerning their religion it is not my intention to repeat, except the names of their deities, which I believe all men Jknow egiially. If I relate anything elSe'concernrnglhese matters, it will only be when compelled to do so by the course of my narrative.^ 4. Now with regard to mere human matters, the accounts which they gave, and in which all agreed, were the following. The Egyptians, they said, were the first to discover the solar year, and to portion out its course into twelve parts. They obtained this knowledge from the stars. (To my mind they contrive their year much more cleverly than the Greeks, for these last every other year intercalate a whole month,*^ but the a formation from the Sanscrit root feminine article, became Tap^, and in the pdc, which becomes (lie saysj in Greek Memphitic dialect Thapc, pronounced, τΓί'π-ω, Latin co'/-uo, German coch-cn, as by the Copts, Thaba, whence Θηβαι our "cook," Servian pic-e>i, &c. (See in Ionic Greek. The oldest known mo- his Essay ' Ueber die Lykischen In- numents in Western Thebes were of schriften, und die Alten Sprachen Klein Amun-m-he I. at Karnak, and of his Asiens,' p. 369.) But this connexion, successor Osirtaseu I., who ruled im- whicli may be allowed, does not prevent mediately after the 6th dynasty ended at the other from being also real. See on Memphis, about n.c. 2080. — [G. ΛΥ.] this point, and on the general subject '' Heliopolis was the great seat of of the Phrygian language, the Essays learning, and the university of Egypt; appended to Book i. Essay xi., " On and that it was one of the oldest cities the Ethnic Affinities of the Nations of is proved by the obelisk of Osirtssen I. Western Asia," § 12. If the story has of the 12th dpaasty. See below note'' any truth in it, the children probably on ch. 8. — [G. W.] (as Larcher observes) were imitating ^ For instances of the reserve which the bleating of the goats. (See note in Herodotus here promises, see chapters Appendix to this Book, ch. i. § 1.) 45, 46, 47, 48, 61, 62, 65, 81, 132, 170, * The name of Thebes is almost and 171. The secrecy in mattei-s of re- al ways \vritten in the plural by the ligion,Λvhich was no doubt enjoined upon Gi'eeks and Romans — Θηβαι, Thebte — Herodotus by the Egyptian priests, did but Pliny writes, " Thebe portarum not seem strange to a Greek, who was centum nobilis fama." The Egyptian accustomed to it in the " mysteries " of name of Thebes was Ap, or Α'ρό, the his own countrymen, "head," or "capital." This, with the ^ Vide supr.a, i. 32, andseenote"adloc. Β 2 THE 'l'WKf;Vl•: (JODS. Τ,οοκ ΤΙ. Egyptians, dividing tlic yciir into tAvclvo niontlis of thirty days each, add every year a sjjace of five days besides, whereby the circnit of the seasons is made to return witli nniformity.'•') The Egyptians, tlicy Avent on to affirm, fii-st brought into use the names of the twelve gods,^" which tlio Grreeks adopted from tlieni ; and first erected altars, images, anrl temples totlie gods ; and also first engraved upon stone tlie figurtjs of animals. In most of these cases they proved to me that what they said was true. And they told me that the first man ^ who ruled over Egypt was Men,^ and that in his time all Egypt, except the " This at once proves they inter- calated the quarter day, making their year to consist of 365 J days, without which the seasons could not return to the same periods. The fact of Herodo- tus not understanding their method of intercalation does not argue (as Goguet seems to think) that the Egyptians were ignorant of it. Their having fixed the Sothic period in 1322 B.C., and ascer- tained that 14<)(i Sothic Λvere equal to 1461 vulgar or "vague" years, as well as the statements of ancient authors, decide the question. But for the date of a king's reign they used the old year of 360 days ; and the months were not reckoned from his accession, but were part of the current year. Thus, if he came to the throne on the 1 0th of the last month of the year, or Mesore, he would date in the first year, the 12th month, the 10th day; and his second year would be in the following month Tlioth, or 25 days after his accession. The Jews appear to have done the same. (See the Appendix to this Book, ch. ii.) -[G. W.] 1" Some suppose these to be the twelve Gods of Olympus, the same as the Cou- ^entes of the Romans, given by Varro, " Juno, Vosta, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, ]\Iars, Mercuiius, Jovi, Neptunus, Vulcanus, ApoUo," and that they do not refer to any ar- rangement of the Egj'ptian Pantheon ; but in ch. 145 Herodotus distinctly mentions the three orders of Egyptian Gods, the first two consisting of eight and twelve, and the third "born of the twelve." He also shows how much older some were considered in Egypt than in Greece; Pan being one of the eight oldest, and Hercules of the twelve ; and says (ii. 43) that Neptune was a " God quite unknown to the Egyptians." Again iu ch. 4 he distinctly states they had twelve Gods. The Etruscans had twelve Great Gods; the liomans pro- bably derived that number from them. — (See note in Appendix, cii. iii. § 1.) — [G. W.] ' According to the chronological tables of the Egyptians the Gods were repre- sented to have reigued first, and after them Menes the Thinite; and the same is found recorded in the Turin Papyrus of Kings, as vi'ell as in Mauetho and other writers. Mauetho gives them in this order :— 1. Vulcan ^thah); 2. He- lios (Re), the Sun; 3. Agathodicmon (Hor-Hat, or possibly Noum^; 4. Chro- nos (Sebi; 5. Osiris; 6. Typhon Cpro- perly Seth) ; and 7. Horus. In the Pa- pyrus there remain only Seb, Osiris, Seth, Horus, Thoth, Thmei ^or Mei "Truth"), and apparently Horus ''the Younger j, who was "the last God who reigned in Egypt." (See n. ^ ch. 43, n. * ch. 99, and Tn. P. ΛΥ., p. 7-11.) Menes (Menai) is represented by some to have been a conqueror; but the Egyptians did not then obtain posses- sion of the valley of the Nile for the first time ; for he was from This, and their early immigration from Asia hap- pened long before. On the establish- ment of royalty, luxury appears to have been introduced into Egypt, and Tne- phachthus 'Technatis of Plut. de Is. 8), the father of Bocchoris of the 24th dynasty, put up a curse "against Mei- nis" (Menes) in a temple at Thebes for having led the Egyptians from their previous simple and frugal habits. Dio- dorus (i. 45) says also that Menas was the first who introduced the worshiji of the Gods, and sacrifices, the use of lettei's, couches, and rich cai'pets. Cp. Cicero, Tusc. Disp. v. 35. See App. CH. viii. — [G. W.] - Herodotus does not call this king Menes, or Mena.s (as Diodorus, i. 45), but Men. The Egyptian form is 2Γηα according to Bunsen and Lepsius. Chap. 4, δ. EGYPT AN ACQUIRED COUNTRY. Thebaic canton, was amarsh,^ none of the land below lake Moeris then showing itself aboA'e the surface of the water. This is a distance of seven days' sail from the sea up the river. 5. What they said of their country seemed to me very reason- able. For any one who sees Egypt, without having heard a word about it before, must perceive, if he has only common powers of observation, that the Egypt to which the Greeks go in their ships is an accpiired country, the gift of the river.* The same is true of the land above the lake, to the distance of three days' voyage, concerning Avhich the Egyptians say nothing, but which is exactly the same kind of country. The following is the geuei-al character of the region. In the first place, on approaching it by sea, when you are still a day's sail from the land, if you let down a sounding-line you will bring- up mud, and find yourself in eleven fathoms' Avater, which shows that the soil washed down by the stream extends to that distance.^ ^ Note, besides the improbability of such a change, the fact that Menes was the reputed founder of Memphis, which is far to the north of this hxke; and that Busiris, near the coast, (the reputed burial-pUice of Osiris, ; Buto, Pelusium, and other towns of the Delta, were ad- mitted by the Egyptians to be of the earliest date. — [G. W.] * Vide infra, ch. 10, and note ad loc. The theory had been started by He- cata}us, who made use of the same ex- pression. (See Arrian. Exp. Al. v. 6.) [Herodotus observes that the same might be said of the country above for three days' sail; and exactly the same appearance might have struck him throughout the whole valley of the Nile. But though the depth of the soil has greatly increased, and is still increasing, in various ratios in different parts of tlie valley, the first deposit did not take place after man existed in Egypt; and as marine productions have not been met with in boring to the depth of 40 feet in the Delta, it is evi- dent that its soil was deposited from the very first on a space already above the level of the Mediterranean. The formation of the Delta of Egypt is not like that of some other rivers, where the land has been protruded far into the sea; on the contrary, the Nile, after pursuing its course through the alluvial soil, enters the sea at the same distance north of the Lake Moeris as it did in the age of the early kings of Egypt. The sites of the oldest cities are as near the sea-shore as when they were inhabited of old; and yet the period now elapsed since some of them were built is nearly double that between Menes and Hero- dotus. I have already in another work i explained the erroneous notion of the Pharos I. having once been distant from Egypt (At. Eg. W. vol. i. p. 7 j, by show- ing that the name ΑΪ7ΐιπτο5 in Homer sig- nified (not the country, but) the " Nile;" for the Pharos I. and the co;ist of Alexandria being both roc!:, the distance between them has always been the same. Another great reason for the Delta not encroaching on the sea is that the land is always sinking along the north coast of Egypt (while it rises at the head of the Red Sea); and there is evidence to show that the Mediterranean has encroached, and that the Delta has lost instead of gaining, along the whole of its extent from Canopus to Pelusium. — G. W.] ^ The distance you see the Mediterra- nean discoloured by the Nile during the inundation is very great, and the same takes place in a minor degree at the mouths of rivers on the Syrian coast, but without their forming any deltas ; nor is the shallow sea off the coast of Egyj)t more a pai't of the Delta of the Nile now than Λvhen sounded in Herodotus' time, about '2ο(•0 years ago; and 11 orgyies (or fathoms) at a day's sail from the coast would alarm a sailor even at the present day. For you only come 6 ITS Ι.ΕΝίίΊΊΓ. 1500K II. (). Tlio longth of tlio country along shore, according to the bounds that wc assign to Egypt, namely from the riinthinetic gulf to lake Serboiiis, which extends along tlie base of ]\Iount Casins, is sixty schojnes.'' The nations whose territories are scanty measm-e them by the fathom ; those Avhose bounds are less confined, by the furlong ; those who have an ample territory, by the parasang ; but if men have a country which is very vast, they measure it by the schoene.^ Now the length of the para- sang is thirty furlongs,^ but the schoene, which is an Egyptian measure, is sixty furlongs.' Thus the coast-line of Eg}'pt would extend a length of three thousand six hundred furlongs. 7. From the coast inland as far as Heliopolis the breadth of Egypt is considerable, the country is flat, without springs, a)id full of swamps,^ The length of the route from the sea up to into 11 fathoms water at about 12 or 13 miles off the coast, about Abookir ; and at 25 or 30 miles you have GO, 70, 80, and 90 fathoms, with sand and mud. At 5 or 6 miles from the mouth of the Nile the water on the sui'face is nearly fresh, and the bottom mostly a stiff mud. The longest day's sail, according to Herodottis (iv. 86), is 700 stadia, about 79^ Eng. m., or (infra, ch. 9) 540 stadia, about tU miles, where the sound- ings would be at least the same number of fathoms.— [G.W.] * Plinthin^ was a town near the Lake Mareotis (Strabo, xvii. p. 1133 ; Ptol.iv. c. 5; Scylax. Perip. 105). From it the lake, as well as the bay, \vas sometimes called " Pliuthinetan." Tlie name " Ara- })otes," given in Pliny (v. 10) to this lake is evidently a false reading. It should be Eacotis, and applies to Alex- audria.-[G. W.] 7 The schocue, an Egyptian measure, varied from 30 and 32 to 40 s tadia, accord- ing to Pliny (v. 10, xii. 14) ; and Strabo distinctly says (xvii. p. 1140) it was of various lengths in different parts of Egypt. Herodotus says it was equal to GO stadia, making the length of the coast 3G00 stadia, which, at GOO feet to the stadium, would be more than 400 Eng. m. The real length of the coast from the Bay of I'linthine' at Taposiris, or at Pliuthine, even to the otsfcrn end of the Lake Serbouis, is by the shore little more than 300 Eng. m. Diodorus esti- mates the breadth of Egypt by the coast at 2000 stadia ; and Strabo gives only 1770 stadia from the Temple of Jupiter Casius at the Serbonic Lake to Pharos, which, added to 200 stadia to Taposiris, make 1970 stadia. The real distance from Casius to Pharos is about 1944 stadia, and from Pharos to Taposiris or to Plinthine' nearly 2G0, being a total of about 2204 stadia.— [G. W.] * Some might imagine this to be con- firmed by modern custom; the Engli-sh measuring by miles, the French by leagues, the Germans by the " meile," of more than four times our mile in length ; but this will not hold good generally, and the Russian werst is only about two-thirds of an English mile, or 11G7 yards.— [G. W.] * See note on Book v. ch. 53. 1 This would be more than 36,000 English feet, or nearly 7 miles. The Greek σχοΤνοί, " rope," is the same word Λvhich signifies rush, of Λνΐύοΐι ropes are still made in Egypt and in other countries, and it has been singu- larly transferred to the skein of our modern measm'e for thread and silk. — [G. Λν.] - Heliopolis stood on the edge of the desert, about 4^ miles to the E. of the apex of the Delta ; but the allu\'ial laud of the Delta extended 5 miles farther to the eastward of that city, to what is now the Birket-el-Hag. The mountains to the S. of Heliopolis closing in to the westward towai-ds the Nile make the valley narrow in that part, and through- out the rest of its course from the S. The southern point of the Delta appears formerly to have extended fui-ther up the i-iver (i. e. south) than at present, and to have been nearly oj^posite the modern village of Shoobra (see M. Eg. Chap. 6, 7. BREADTH AND GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. Heliopolis is almost exactly the same as that of the road which runs from the altar of the twelve gods at Athens ^ to the temple of Olympian Jove at Pisa.^ If a person made a calculation lie W. vol. i. p. 401). At tlie time and long after Cairo was founded, the Ivile ran more to the eastward, as Mr. Lane has shown, under its western walls. The accumulation of alluvial soil at the base of the obelisk of Osirtasen at Heliopolis, as around the sitting Colossi in the plain at Thebes, has been often appealed to for determining the rise of the alluvial soil within a certain period, but as there is no possibility of ascer- taining how far it stood above the reach of the inundation when first put up, we have no base for ana c(Χ)κ II, its own accord spread itself over the fields and withdrawn a<^ain to its bctl, and then sows his plot of ground, and after sowing Romans, continued in Egypt at the pre- land Ji;iving been prepared, the sower sent day^ After the plougli followed was sent in, who threw the seed broad- the hoe to break the clodn ; and the east over the field. The land was all Chap. 14. EGYPTIAN FAKMING. 17 turns his swine into it — the swine tread in the corn ^ — after which he has only to await the harvest. The swine serve him also to thrash the grain,^ which is then carried to the garner. open, having no hedge-rows, but merely simple land-marks to define the boun- daries of a farm or field, as with the Jews (Deut. xix. 14), and sometimes an estate was separated from its neighbour by a large canal, from which smaller channels distributed the water in proper directions through the fields. When the Nile was low, the water was raised by the pole and bucket, the shcu/oof of modern Egypt, and by other means ; and this attention to artificial irrigation, instead of depending for it on rain, is alluded to in Deuteronomy xi. 10. Thei'B is one instance, and one only, of men drawing the plough in Egypt. The painting, Λvhich is from a tomb at Thebes, is preserved in the Louvre. Two men are at the end of the pole, and two others pull a rope attached to the base where the handle, pole, and share unite; another holds the plough as usual, and the rest of the scene is like that in other agricultural subjects, with the hoeing, sowing broadcast, and the harvest operations, v. Egt. imder Pha- raohs, p. 73.— [G. W.] 2 Plutarch, ^Eliau (Nat. Animal. X. 16, on the authority of Eudoxus), and Pliny, mention this custom of treading in the grain "with pigs" in Egypt ; but no instance occurs of it in the tombs, though goats are some- times so represented in the paintings. It is indeed more probable that pigs were turned in upon the land to eat up the weeds and roots ; and a painting at Thebes, where pigs are introduced with water-plants, seems to point to this fact ; their habits were ill-suited to benefit the farmer after the seed had VOL. II. been sown ; and to muzzle each pig , when goats or other animals abounded, Λvould have been lost labour. In the district of Gower, in South Wales, corn is trodden in by sheep to this day. — [G. W.] ^ The paintings show that oxen were commonly used to tread out the gi-ain from the ear at harvest-time, and occa- sionally, though rarely, asses were so employed ; but pigs not being suffi- ciently heavy for the purpose, are not likely to have been substituted for oxen. This process was performed, as it is still C 18 TREADING IN THE GRAIN Book II. '^^W^> i^5^^ in Italy, Spain, and other countries, by driving; the oxen (horses or mules) over the corn strewed upon the ground, or upon a paved area near the field ; and the Jews, Λvho also adopted it, were forbidden to muzzle the ox, when tread- ing out the com (Deut. xxv. 4). In later times the Jews appear also to have used "threshing instruments," and the word dus, " treading," in the sentence " Oman was threshing wheat" (1 Chron. xxi. 20, 23), may merely have been re- Chap. 15. WITH PIGS. 19 15. Κ then we choose to adopt the views of the lonians* concerning Egypt, we must come to the conclusion that the tained from the earlier custom of tritu- rating by oxen. Another more distinct mention of a " new sharp threshing instrument having teeth" is found in Isaiah (xli. 15), which calls to mind the Noreij, or corn-drag, of modern Egypt, a name closely resembling the Hebrew Morcij, applied to the threshing instru- ments of Oman (as in Isaiah), and the oxen he offered to David were doubt- less those that had been yoked to it. The modern Egyptian Noreij is drawn by two oxen, and consists of a wooden frame, with three axles, on which are fixed circular iron plates, the first and last having each four, the centre one three plates ; and these not only force out the grain but choji the straw as the machine is dragged over it. M. C. A. E., vol. ii. p. 55. It appears to be very similar to the tribnlum of the Romans mentioned by Varro (de Re rustica, i. 52), who describes it as " a frame made rough by stones, or pieces of iron, on which the driver or a weight was placed, and this being drawn by beasts yoked to it pressed out the grain." The "plostemum Pcenicum " was doubtless introduced into Spain by the Phoenicians. — [G. W.] •* Under the general expression of "lonians" in this passage, Herodotus has been thought to mean principally, if not solely, Hecatajus. fMiiller ad H'ecat. Fragm. Fr. 295 and 296.) Col. Mure shows satisfactorily ^ Literature of Greece, vol. iv. p. 148, note ^) that this is not the case, since the persons here spoken of divided the world into three parts (infra, ch. 1ΰ), Hecatffius into two. (See the map, note to Book iv. ch. 36.) Perhaps the allusion is to Auaximander, who as a geographer had preceded Ηθ- catajus. (Strab. i. p. 10; Agathemer. i. 1.) c2 20 NOTIONS OF THE lONIANS Book II. Egyptians had formerly no country at all. For the lonians say that nolliing is really Egypt ^ but the ]3clta, which extends along shore from the Watch-tower of Perseus," as it is called, to the Pelusiac Salt-pans,' a distance of forty schcenes, and stretches inland as far as the city of Cercasorus,* where the Nile divides into the two streams Avhicli reach the sea at Pelusium and C'anobus respectively. The rest of what is accounted Egypt belongs, they * Thei'e is no appearance of the name " Egypt " on the ancient monuments, where the country is called "Chemi," represented in hieroglyphics by the tail of a crocodile. Chemi, "the black laud," "the land of Ham," or of Khem (the Egj'ptian God Pan, or the Gene- rative principle of Nature) is said by Plutarch to have been so called from the "blackness of the soil." Khem is singularly like the Greek χαμαί. Ham (Kham), the Hebrew name of the pa- triarch, signifies also "soot," and is like the Arabic hem, hand, "hot;" and the Hebrew Ιιΰη (or kham), signifying brown (or black), a,s in Gen. xxx. 32, 40, is also " burnt up." .iEgyptus was in old times the name of the Nile, which was so called by Homer (Odys. iv. 477; xiv. 257); and Strabo (xvii. p. 691) says the same was the opinion of Nearchus. Manetho pretends that the country received the name from .ffigyptus, a surname of King Sethos (or Sethi). Aristotle thinks that "-^gypt was fonnerly called Thebes," and Hero- dotus states, in opposition to the ojjinion of the "lonians," that "Thebes {i.e. the Theba'id) had of old the name of Egypt." And if this is not confirmed by the monuments, the word "Egypt" was at all events connected with Coptos, a city of the Thebaid. From Kebt, Koft, or Coptos the modern inhabitants have been called Copts: its ancient name in hieroglyphics was Kebt-hor; and Mr. Poole is evidently right in supposing this to be the same as the Biblical Caphtor. He thinks the name " Egypt" composed of Ala, " land," and Tvirros; and is to be ti'aced in the Ai- Caphtor, "l;md (or coast) of Caphtor," in Jeremiah ( xlvii. 4). The word Cop- titic is found in a Gnostic papyi-us, supposed to be of the second century (see note ^ on ch. 83). Egypt is said to have been called originally Aetia, and the Nile Aetos and Siris. Upper Egypt, or the Thebaid, has even been con- founded with, and called, Ethiopia; perhaps too by Pliny (vi. 35; see note ^ on ch. 110) ; Nahum (iii. 9) calls Ethio- pia and Egypt the strength of No (Thebes); and Strabo says (i. p. 57) that Menelaus' journey to Ethiopia really meant to Thebes. The modem name Afusr or 3iist• is the same as the Biblical Mizraim, i. e. " the two Misrs" applied to Egypt, which corresponds to "the two regions" of the sculptures; but the word Misr does not occur on the monuments. Mr. Poole notices the meaningof the Arabic Mi.sr, "red mud," and the name Rahab, "the proud," given to Egypt in the Bible. Of Caphtor, see Deut. ii. 23; Amos ix. 7. See note^ onch. 106.— [β.ΛΥ.] ^ This tower stood to the W. of the Canopic mouth; and, as Rennell sup- poses, on the point of Aboukir, not, as Sti'abo thinks, on a sandy point at the Bolbitine mouth. The Canopic wa-s by some called the Heracleotic mouth, from the city of Hercules '^see u.^ ch. 113). The name Canopus, written more cor- rectly by Herodotus Κάνωβοί, said to signify χρύσΐον eSaK I θΜ^ΑΤνΓ]Εί^Θίν|$οΓοΓΑΜο ANlBA^o^Ao5o/oBxEΓorA5/HToAι^vΓτ/o5Δ^^f^A^'^ £'Γ/^^1'1ΞΔΑΜ£ΑΡ'ΧοΝΛΜο/β/Χ0ΚΑΐΓ/ΡΑΕ9θ50νΑΑΜφ come to Elephantine, those who were above Kerkis, to where the river rises (?) with Psamatichus, the son of Theocles, the Egyptian Amasis. The writer wi-ote this. They sailed, and came to is Damearchon the son of Amccbichas, 38 HISTORY OF THE DESERTERS. Book II. These Deserters are E<:(yptians of the warrior caste, Λvho, to the number of two hundred and forty thousand, went over to the Ethiopians in the reign of king Psammetichus. The cause of their desertion was tlie following : — Three garrisons were main- tained in Egypt at that time,'* one in the city of Elephantind against the Ethiopians, another in the Pelusiac Daphnae,^ against the Syrians and Arabians, and a third, against the Libyans, in Marea. (The verj'- same posts are to this day occupied by the Persians, whose forces are in garrison both in Daphnae and in Elephantine.) Now it happened, that on one occasion the garrisons were not relieved during the space of three years ; the soldiers, therefore, at the end of that time, consulted together, and having determined by common consent to revolt, marched away toAvards Ethiopia. Psammetichus, informed of the move- ment, set out in pursuit, and coming up with them, besought them Avith many Avords not to desert the gods of their country, nor abandon their wives and children. " Nay, but," said one of the deserters with an unseemly gesture, "wherever we go, we are sure enough of finding wdves and childi-en." Arrived in Ethiopia, they placed themselves at the disposal of the king. In return, he made them a present of a tract of land which ^belonged to certain Ethiopians with whom he was at feud, bidding them expel the inhabitants and take possession of then• and Pelephus (?) the son of Uda- it has been supposed that there was no raus" (?). (This Ph looks rather like Λ in public documents till the archon- the old Κ or Q.) In the same place are ship of Euclid, B.C. 403. But the long several other inscriptions, some of the vowels were used earlier by the Greeks of same style and time, and others written Asia Minor. The Π and 2 were changed by Phoenicians in their language, the to ω and C in the age of the later date of which is unknown. If this was Ptolemies, and were re-introduced in the 3rd, instead of the 1st Psammeti- the reign of Adrian.— [G. W.] chus, " the Egyptian Amasis " may have ■• It was always the custom of the been the general, afterwards king of Egyptians to have a garrison stationed, Egypt; for Herodotus, who only men- as Herodotus states, on the frontier, at tions one Psammetichus, may have been Elephantine, at Daphnte of Pelusium, wrong in supposing the desertion of the and at Marea ; but in the time of the troops took place under the son of victorious kings of the ISth dynasty Neco. This would bring the date of the others were stationed at Semneh, above inscription within 600 b.c. (See note ^ the second cataract, and also farther on ch. IGl, and hist, notice App. ch. south in Upper Ethiopia, as well as in viii. § 34.) There is a coin of Thrace various parts of Asia where they had of date about 550 B.C. Λvhich has the extended their conquests, which last Λ (in Milliugen), though many much were only finally taken fi-om them in later have not the long vowels. Coins the time of Neco II., the son and suc- and vases are no authorities against cesser of this Psammetichus. — [G. W.] theh' use, as the ai'chaic style was ^ Daphnre, Daplin^, or Daphnes was imitated to a late time. Some inscrip- 16 Roman miles from Pelusium, accord- tions, as that of Potidea in the British ing to the Itinerary of Antoninus. It Museum, as late as 432, have no Η nor was the Tahpanhes of Scripture. See n. The Ξ is X2, and the Ψ is Φ2; and Jer. sliii. 8 ; Ezek. xxx. 18. — [G. W.] Chap. 30-32. EXTENT OF KNOWN COURSE OF THE NILE. 39 territory". From the time that this settlement was formed, their acquaintance with Egyptian manners has tended to civilise the Ethiopians.^ 31. Thus the course of the Nile is known, not only throughout Egypt, but to the extent of four months' journey either by land or Λvater above the Egyptian boundary ; for on calculation it will be found that it takes that length of time to travel from Ele- phantine to the country of the Deserters. There the direction of the river is from west to east.^ Beyond, no one has any certain knowledge of its course, since the country is uninhabited by reason of the excessive heat. 32. I did hear, indeed, what I will now relate, from certain natives of Cyrene. Once upon a time, they said, they were on a visit to the oracular shrine of Ammon,^ when it chanced that in ^ This would be a strong argument, if required, against the notion of civili- sation having come from the Ethiopians to Egypt; but the monuments prove beyond all question that the Ethiopians borrowed from Egypt their religion and their habits of civilisation. They even adopted the Egyptian as the language of religion and of the court, which it continued to be till the power of the Pharaohs had fallen, and their dominion was again confined to the frontier of Ethiopia. It was through Egypt too that Christianity passed into Ethiopia, even in the age of the Apostles (Acts vui. 27), as is shown by the eunuch of queen Candace (see note^ on this chap- ter). Other proofs of their early con- version are also found, as in the inscrip- tions at Farras, above Aboosimbel, one of which has the date of Diocletian, though the Nobatse are said not to have become Christians till the reign of Justinian. The erroneous notion of Egypt having borrowed from Ethiopia may perhaps have been derived from the return of the Egyptian court to Egypt after it had retired to Ethiopia on the invasion of the Shepherds. — [G. W.] ^ This only applies to the white river, or western branch of the Nile. — [G. W.] ^ This was in the modem Oasis of See-wah (Siwah), Avhere remains of the temple are still seen. The oracle long continued in great repute, and though in Strabo's time it began to lose its im- portance (^the mode of divination learnt from Etruria having superseded the con- sultation of the distant Ammon), still its answers were sought in the solution of difficult questions in the days of Juvenal, •'after the cessation of the Delphic oracle." In consulting the god at the Oasis of Ammon, it was custom- ary, says Quintus Curtius, "for the pi-iests to carry the figure of the god in a gilded boat, ornamented with nume- rous silver paterae hanging from it on both sides, behind which folloΛved a train of matrons and virgins singing a certain uncouth hymn, in the manner of the country, with a view to propitiate the deity, and induce him to return a satis- factory answer." See the boat or ark of Xou ( Nef ; in the Temple of Elephantine in PI. 56, 57 of Dr. Young and the Egyptian Society. Of the appearance of the God he says, " id quod pro Deo colitur, non eandem eflEigiem habet, quam vulgo Diis artifices accommoda- verunt, umbriculo maxime similis est habitus, smaragdis et gemmis coagmen- tatus:" but the word umhriculo has per- plexed all commentators. All the cultivable spots, abounding ■with springs, in that desert, are called Wah ; the chief of which are the See- wah, the Little Oasis, the Wah sur- named e' Dakhleh, i. e., "the inner," or western, and the Wah el Khargeh, "the outer Oasis," to the east of it, which is the Great Oasis. The others, of El Ilayz, Farafreh, and the Oases of the Blacks, in the interioi-, to the west- ward, are small, and some of them only temporarily inhabited ; but those above mentioned are productive, and abound in palms, fruit-trees, rice, barley, and various productions. They are not, as often supposed, cultivated spots in the 40 LITTLE OASIS. Look IL Chap. 32, INTEEIOE OF LIBYA. 41 the course of conversation with Etearchiis, the Ammonian king, the talk fell upon the Nile, hoAv that its sources were υηΙαιοΛνη to all men. Etearchus upon this mentioned that some Nasa- monians^ had once come to his court, and when asked if they could give any information concerning the uninhabited parts of Libya, had told the following tale. (The Nasamonians are a 'Libyan race who occupy the Syrtis, and a tract of no great size towards the east.^) They said there had grown up among them some \Yild young men, the sons of certain chiefs, who, when they came to man's estate, indulged in all manner of extravagancies, and among other things drew lots for five of their number to go and explore the desert parts of Libya, and try if they could not penetrate further than any had done previously. (The coast of Libya along the sea which washes it to the north, throughout its entire length from Egypt to Cape Soloeis,^ w^hich is its furthest point, is inhabited by Libyans of many distinct tribes who possess the whole tract except certain portions which belong to the Phoenicians and the Greeks.^ Above the coast-line and the midst of an endless level tract of sand, but abrupt depressions in the high table-laud, portions of which ai'e irri- gated by running streams, and, being surrounded by cliffs more or less pre- cipitous, are in appearance not unlike a portion of the valley of the Nile, with its palm-trees, villages, and gardens, transported to the desert, \vithout its river, and bordered by a sandy plain reaching to the hills that surround it, in which stunted tamarisk bushes, coarse grasses, and desert plants struggle to keep themselves above the drifted sand that collects around them. — [G, W.] ^ This woi-d seems to be " Nahsi Ainun," or "Negroes of Ammonitis," or Northern Libya ; Nahsi being the Egyptian .name for the Negroes of Africa. See my note on ch. 182, Book iv.— [G. W.] 1 Vide infra iv, 172, 173. - This is supposed by Eennell to be Cape Cicntin, near Mogador, on the W. coast of Africa; but, with great defer- ence to so high an authority, I am in- clined to think it Cape Spartel, near Tangier, as the Persian Sataspes, con- demned by Xerxes to undertake the voyage round Africa, is said, after sail- ing through the Straits of Gibraltar (Pillars of Hercules) and doubling the Libyan promontory called Soloeis, to have steered southwards, for here the southei'ly course evidently begins (see Book iv. ch. 42). Herodotus, too, mea- sures the breadth of Libya from Egypt to the extreme end of the northern coast, not to the most westerly head- land to the south of it, which too he is not likely to have known ; and Aristotle (De Mundo, 3; shows the Greeks mea- sured the extent of Africa E. and W., only along the noi-thern coast, by saying " it extends to the Pillars of Hercules." [G. W.] ^ That is, the Cyrenaica, and the pos- sessions of the Phoenicians and Cartha- ginians, or more properly the Poeni, on the N. and "W. coasts. Pocni, Punici, and Phcenices were the same name of the race, oi, or cc, and « having the same sound in Greek. Carthaginian signified properly the people of Carthage, as Tyrians did the " Phcenicians of Tyre ;" for the Phoenicians called themselves from the name of their towns, Tyrians, Sidonians, &c. Cartha, the "city," was first applied to Tyre, from which Her- cules obtained the title of Melcarthus, or Melek-Kartha, "Lord of the City," corrupted into Melicertes or Melicartus, " who," Sanchoniatho says, " was Her- cules," and who in a Phoenician inscrip- tion at Malta is called Adonin Melkarth Baal Tzura, ΝΊ^»' hvH ΤΤ^Ώ ρΠΝ " our Lord Melkarth, Baal of Tyre." Carthagena (Carthagina, Carthage) was Kartha Yena, the "new city" (καινή ttoMs;, in opposition to the parent Tyre, 42 CROSSING THE DESERT. Book II. country inliabited by the maritime tribes, Libya is full of wild beasts ; while beyond the wild boast re^^on there is a tract which is wholly sand, very scant of water, and utterly and entirely a desert.'* The young men therefore, despatched on this errand by their comrades with a plentiful supply of water and provisions, travelled at first through the inhabited region, passing Λvhich they came to the wild beast tract, whence they finally entered upon the desert, which they proceeded to cross in a direction from east to west. After journeying for many days over a wide extent of sand, they came at last to a plain where they observed trees growing ; approaching them, and seeing fruit on them, they proceeded to gather it. While they were thus engaged, there came upon them some dwarfish men,^ under the middle height, or to Utica, i. e. Atika, the " old " (city), whicli was founded before by the PhcE- nicians on the African coast about B.C. 1520, or according to Velleius Pater- culus (i. 2), at the same time asMegara, B.C. 1131. Utica was probably not so called till after the building of Carthage (as Musr-el-Atilia received that name after the foundation of the new Musr, or Cairo). The " new town," Cartha- gena, was the " nova Carthago " of Dido (Ovid, Ep. Dido to ^n. ; Virg. ^n. i. 366); but it was founded B.C. 1259, long before Dido's supposed time. Some think it was built more than two centu- ries after Gades and Tartessus in Spain, and Velleius Paterculus says Gades was a few years older than Utica. He dates the building of Carthage by Elissa, or Dido, 60 years before Rome, or 813 B.C. (i. 6) ; but his authority is of no weight. (Cp. Justin, xviii. 5.) Cartlia is the same as Kiriath, common in Hebrew names. Some object to the above deri- vation of Carthajena, because jcna or yena, "new," is not a Semitic, but a Turk or Tartar word, and is properly yemji or ycki ; and they prefer the Greek Carchedo as the name of the city, de- riving it from Caer or Car, and heclish or hedith, " new." The latter word is found in Bezetha, " New-town " (Joseph. Bell. Jud. V. 4). But whether /ena is admis- sible or no, Cartha is the substantive, as in Melkarth, or Melek Kartha, " Lord of the City " applied to Hercules in Phoenician inscriptions, and found in Carteia and Kiriath. Tlie resemblance of the name of its citadel Byi'sa (said to have been called from the hide) to those of Borsippa, or Birs-Nimroud, and the Arab Boursa near Babylon, is singular. A record seems still to be preserved of the Phoenician trade on the western coast of Africa in the peculiar gla»ss- beads found there, which are known to be ancient, and are now highly prized. The Venetians send out a modern im- perfect imitation of them to Afiica. They are also said to have been found in Cornwall and in Ireland. — [G. W.] •* Vide infrii, iv. 181. for the division of Africa into three regions ; and for the true character of the desert, see note on iv. 180. ^ Men of diminutive size really exist in Africa, but the Nasamones probably only knew of some by report. Those to the S.W. of Abyssinia are called Dokos. Dr. Krapf says they have dark olive complexions, and live in a com- pletely savage state, having neither houses, temples, nor holy trees, like the Gallas; yet with an idea of a higher Being called Ycr, to whom they pray with their head upon the ground and their feet supported upright against a tree, or a stone. They have no laws, and no arms, but feed on roots, mice, serpents, honey, etc. They are about 4 feet high. They are not Negroes, (See Ethnological Journal, No. 1, p. 43, and No. 2.) Some have thought the Simia Sylvanus of Africa gave rise to the story, agreeing as it does with their description by Photius (Cod. iii. Bibl. p. 8) : " virh δε τριχών ζΐζασνμΐνου$ δίά iravThs τον σώματοε." The pigmies are mentioned by Homer (II. iii. 6) and others, and often represented on Greek A'ases. Homer and Aristotle 'Hist. An. viii. 1 2) place them neai• the sources of the Nile, Λvhich might f^ee with the Dokos. Pliny ^vi. igj^Philostratus (Vit. Chap. 32, 33. GREAT RIVER THOUGHT TO BE THE ΝΠ.Ε. 43 who seized them and carried them off. The Nasamonians could not understand a word of their language, nor had they any acquaintance with the language of the Nasamonians. They were led across extensive marshes, and finally came to a town, where all the men were of the height of their conductors, and black- complexioned. A great river flowed by the town,'' running from west to east, and containing crocodiles. 33. Here let me dismiss Etearchus '' the Ammonian, and his story, only adding that (according to tlie Cyi-euaeans) he declared that the Nasamonians got safe back to their country, and that the men whose city they had reached were a nation of sorcerers. With respect to the river which ran by their town, Etearchus conjectured it to be the Nile ; ^ and reason favours that view. For the Nile certainly flows out of Libya, dividing it down the middle, and as I conceive, judging the unknown from the known, rises at the same distance from its mouth as the Ister.^ This ApoU. Ty. iii. 47), and others, place them in India (see Ctesias Ind. § 11). Strabo (i. p. 50) says the fable was in- vented by Homer, who represented them living by the som-ces of the Nile, whither the cranes retiring from the winter and snows of the north brought slaughter and death on the Pygmsean race. He thinks that certain little men of Ethiopia were the origin of the fable (xvii. p. 1162), as Aristotle does (H. An. viii. 12), who calls them Troglodytie. Pomp. Mela (iii. 8) places them very far south, and speaks of their fighting, with the cranes, " pro satis frugibus." (Cp. Strabo i. p. 53; xvii. p. 1162.) jElian (Hist. An. XV. 29) has a fable of Juno tm'niug their queen " Gerana " into a crane.— [G. W.] ^ It seems not improbable that we have here a mention of the river Niger, and of the ancient representative of the modern city of Timbuctoo. See Blakesley ad loc. ' If Etearchus was not a corruption of a native name, he must have been a Greek, probably from that Oasis having been conquered by the Cyrenajans. — [G. W.] 8 This large river, which traversed the centre of Africa, and abounded in crocodiles (ch. 22), probably represented more than one of the rivers which run to the Atlantic from Central Africa ; and the marsh or lake it traversed was in like manner not confined to the Tchad, or any particular one of those regions. One of Strabo's lakes, from which the Nile comes in the East (xvii. p. 1116), as well as his large lake Pseboa, above Meroe, was evidently the modern Dembea of Abyssinia, the Coloe Palus of Ptolemy's Astapus, through which the Blue (or Black) Nile runs. See Plin. viii. 21, "Lake Nigris," and V. 9; and compare Strabo, xvii. p. 1162. — [G. W.] " The meaning of this passage has been much disputed, but Schweig- hseuser's final decision upon it (Lex. Herod, ad voc. μέτρον), which is here followed, may be accepted as fairly satis- factory. Herodotus does not intend any such exact correspondency between the Nile and the Danube as Larcher fnote ad loc), much less such as Niebuhr (Scythia, p. 40, Engl. Trans.) andDahl- mann (Life, p. 65) imagined. He is only speaking of the comparative length of the two streams, and conjectui-es that they ai-e equal in this respect. Herein no doubt he exhibits his over-love of symmetry (see note to Book iv. ch. 181) ; but it is quite unnecessary to suppose, with Niebuhr, that he considered the two streams to correspond in all points, and because the Nile made an angle in its course above the country of the De- serters (ch. 31), regarded the Danube as making a similar angle in the upper parts of Thrace. There is absolutely no indication of his having entertained any such notion. His placing the sources of the Danube in the country of the Celts, near the city Pyrene', implies no doubt a considerable error as to the 44 COMPAEISON OF THE NILE AND ISTEli. Book II. latter river has its source in the country of the Celts near the city Pyrenc, and runs through tlio middle of Europe, dividing it into two portions. The Colts live beyond the pillars of Hercules, and border on the Cynesians,^ who dwell at the extreme west of Europe. Thus the Ister flows through the whole of Europe before it finally empties itself into the Euxine at Istria,- one of the colonies of the Milesians.^ 34. Now as this river flows through regions that are inhabited, its course is perfectly well kno\vn ; but of the sources of the Nile no one can give any account, since Libya, the country through which it passes, is desert and without inhabitants. As far as it was possible to get information by inquiry, I have given a de- scription of the stream. It enters Egypt from the parts beyond. Egypt lies almost exactly opposite the mountainous portion of Cilicia,'' Avlience a lightly-equipped traveller, may reach Sinope on the Euxine in five days by the direct route. ^ Sinope lies opposite the place where the Ister falls into the sea.^ My region from which that river flows, but it is interesting as exhibiting a dim acquaintance Λvith the name and posi- tion of the Pyrenean range, of wliich not only Hecattcus, but even Scylax (Peripl. pp. 3-4), seems to have been ignorant; and which is (I believe) first mentioned by Polybius (iii. xxxix. § 4, &c.). 1 The Cynesians are mentioned again in iv. 49 as Cynetes. They are a nation of whom nothing is known but their abode from very ancient times at the extreme S.W. of Europe. Herodorus of Heraclca, a contemporary of Socrates, who appears to have possessed a fair knowledge of the Spanish peninsula, spoke of them (Fr. 20) as dwelling the furthest to the W. of all the Spanish nations, and said they were bordered upon towards the N. by the Gletes, (Γλ7)τ6ϊ, query ? Γαλάται, Celts.) By the later geographers (Strabo, Pliny, Ptolemy) they are ignored altogether, yet curiously enough they re-appear in Avienus, a writer of the fifth century after Christ, nearly in their old settle- ments, on the banks of the Anas or Gua- diana. (Ora Maritim. 202-2'23.) 2 If the Danube in the time of Hero- dotus entered the Euxine at Istria, it must have changed its course very greatly since he wrote. Istria, Ister, or Istriopolis ( as we find it variously called) Λvas situated near the modern KostciiJjc, 60 miles below the most southerly of the Danube's present mouths. The name undoubtedly remains in the mo- dern Wisteri, on the road from Kostcndje to Bahadagh, but the ancient town must have been nearer the coast — perhaps at Karaglak. CSee Strab. vii. p. 461-2 ; Anon. Peripl. Pont. Eux. p. 157 ; Ptolem. iii. 10; Itin. Ant. p. 14, &e.) It is per- haps conceivable that the Danube may once have thrown out a branch from the angle in its course near liassova to the Black Sea near Kostendje, in the line of the projected ship-canal; but if so, great alterations in the height of the land must have taken place within the his- toric period, since at present the Black Sea is separated from the valley of the Danube by a range of hills, whose ele- vation is at the lowest point 200 or 300 feet. * According to Scymnus Chius (Fr. 21) Istria was founded about the time of the Scythian invasion of Asia (B.C. 633). Pliny calls it a most beautiful city (" urbs pulcherrima," H. N. iv. 11). * Cilicia was divided into two por- tions, the eastern, or " Cilicia campes- tris," and the western, or "Cilicia as- pera." (Strab. xiv. p. 954.) Egypt does not really lie " opposite " — that is, in the same longitude with — the latter region. It rather faces Pamphylia, but Herodotus gives all Africa, as far as the Lesser Syrtis, too easterly a position. (Vide infra, iv. 179. note.) ^ Supra, i. 72, sub fin. ^ This of course is neither true, nor near the truth; and it is difficult to Chap. 33-3δ. WONDEES OF EGYPT. 45 opinion therefore is that the Nile, as it traverses the whole of Libya, is of. equal length with the Ister. And here I take my leave of this subject. 35, Concerning Egypt itself I shall extend my remarks to a great length, because there is no country that possesses so many wonders," nor any that has such a number of works which defy description. Not only is the climate different from that of the rest of the world, and the rivers unlike any other rivers, but the people also, in most of their inanners and customs, exactly re- verse the common practice of mankind. The women attend the markets® and trade, while the men sit at home at the make out in what sense Herodotus meant to assert it. Perhaps he attached no very distinct geographical meaning to the word " opposite." ' By this statement Herodotus pre- pares his readers for what he is about to relate; but the desire to tell of the wonders in which it differed from all other countries led Herodotus to in- dulge in his love of antithesis, so that in some cases he confines to one sex what was done by both (a singular in- stance being noted down by him as an invariable custom), and in others he has indulged in the marvellous at a sa- crifice of truth. If, however, Herodotus had told us that the Egyptian women enjoyed greater liberty, confidence, and consideration than under the hareem system of the Greeks and Persians (Book i. ch. 136), he would have been fully justified, for the treatment of women in Egypt was far better than in Greece. The assertion of Nymphodorus that Se- sostris, fearing the people, who had be- come very numerous, might revolt against him, obliged the men to adopt the occupations of women (in order to enervate the whole race during his reign), is too ridiculous to be worth contradicting. In many cases where Herodotus tells improbable tales, they are on the authority of others, or mere hearsay reports, for which he at once declares himself not responsible, and he justly pleads that his history was not only a relation of facts, but the result of an " Ιστορία" or " inquiry," in which all he heard was inserted. We must, however, sometimes regret that he did not use his own judgment, and discard what must have shown itself unworthy of credit and of mention. For we gladly allow that when he does offer his own reflections they are sound ; and too much credit cannot be given him for being so far above prejudice, and superior to many of the Greeks, who were too apt to claim the honour of originating things they borrowed from others, or to derive from Greece what was of older date than themselves ; as, for instance, Thoth (Mercury) having gone from Arcadia "to Egypt, and given laws and learning to the Egyptians " (Cic. Nat. Deor. iii.); and Actinus, the son of Sol, being an astronomer who went from Greece to Egypt, Λvhere he founded the city of Heliopolis. Herodotus also shows more fairness and judgment than those who claim for the Greeks many inventions and ideas evidently borrowed from the country they visited for instruction, and who forget to attribute to the Greeks some of their great merits : — as the emancipation of the human mind from the trammels of fixed and unvarying rules, which cramped genius and pre- vented improvement; tlie invention of real history; the establishment of taste in arts and literature ; and that develop- ment of the mind for which modern nations are so much beholden to them. In art, too, Greece was unrivalled, and was indebted for it to her own genius ; nor from the occasional adoption of some hints in architecture and ornamental designs, as well as certain branches of knowledge, at an early period, can the origin of Greek taste be asci'ibed to Egypt or any other country. — [G. W.] * The market-place Λvas originally outside the walls, generally in an open space, beneath what was afterwards the citadel or the acropolis; as we see in the old sites of Greek and also Roman towns, as at Rome itself, whence per- haps called Forum. The same is still the case in some countries at the pre- sent day, as at Cattaro, in Dalmatia. This first antithesis is an instance of Herodotus confining to one sex what 46 ANTITHESIS OF THE SEXES. Book II. loom ; ^ and here, while the rest of the world works the woof up the warp,^ tlie Egyptians work it down ; tlie women likewise carry burthens upon their shoulders, while the men carry them upon their heads. They eat their food out of doors in the streets,^ applies to both ; and the sculptures show that sedentary occupations \vero more followed by women than by men. — [G. W.] 1 This is one of the passages in our author where his words so closely re- semble those of Sophocles as to raise No. I. on eh. 136), and rarely on their heads, except bakers, as in other countries ; while very few instances occur of a suspicion of plagiarism on the one side or the other. ( See note ' B. i. ch. 32 ; and vide infrh,, iii. 119.) The ancients generally seem to have believed the charge of effeminacy brought by Hero- dotus against the Egyptians. Various writers repeat it, and one (Nympho- dorus) declares its ori- gin. (Seethe Scholiast on Soph. (Ed. Col. 337; and compare the ad- vice said to have been given by Croesus to Cyrus, suprk, i. 155.) " The foregoing re- mark, that a general conclusion is drawn from particular and rare cases, applies also to this, as the Egyp- tians sometimes pushed the woof upwards, sometimes down ; and also to their mode of carrying burthens, for men almost always carried them on their "^ shoulders, or on a yoke, like that now in use in Europe Tsee ■woodcut fig. 4 in note ^ woman bearing a burthen on her shoul- ders.— [G. W.] No. II. 3 That they sometimes ate in the and could not be mentioned in contra- street is not to be doxibted ; but this distinction to a Greek custom. The was only the poorer class, as in other Egyptians generally dined at a small parts of ancient and modern Europe, round table, having one leg (similar to Chap. 35. SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN. 47 but retire for private purposes to their houses, giving as a reason that Avhat is unseemly, but necessary, ought to be done in secret, but what has nothing unseemly about it, should be done openly. A woman cannot serve the priestly office,"^ either for god or the monopodium\ at which one or more persons sat, and they ate with their fingers like the Greelis and the mo- dern Arabs. Several dishes were placed upon the table, and before eating it was theh- custom to say grace. (Joseph. Antiq. xii. 2. 12; see At. Eg. W. vol. ii. p. 392 to 415.) Athenasus 'Deipn. iv. p. 150) speaks of the sumptuousness of an Egyptian feast, and says they had one kind of dinner or supper " at which thei-e was no table, the dishes being brought round." — [G. W.] •* Though men held the priesthood in Egypt, as in other countries, women \vere not excluded from certain impor- tant duties in the temples, as Herodotus also shows (chs. 54, 56 ; the queens made offerings with the kings; and the monuments, as well as Diodorus, show that an order of women, chosen from the principal families, were employed in the service of the gods. It is of these that Diodorus, and, even Herodotus (i. 182,, have told stories the absurdity of which is sufficiently evident when we consider that queens and women of the highest rank held the ofiice in the temple of Amun ; and it is probable that these were members of a sacred college, into which they entered on the death of their husbands, in order to devote them- selves to religious duties. It was per- haps then that they received the title of " divine wife,'' or "god's wife ;" which from the following formula — " the royal daughter, the royal wife, the divine (god's; wife, the god's mother," would refer to her relationship to a king ; as no office could make any one the mother of Amun. The widow of Ames, how- ever, seems to be called "Goddess wife of Amun;" which w'ould show them to .be spouses of the deity. They Λvere also styled "god's hand," and "god's (the divine) star." Their chief office in the religious ceremonies was to sing the praises of the deity, playing on va- rious instruments ; in the temple the highest of their order, as queens and princesses, held the sistra ; and at Thebes they were called the minstrels and chiefs of the women of Amun. (On the Pal- lacides, see At. Eg. W. vol. iv. p. 20.3.) A sort of monastic institution seems to have originated in Egypt at an eai-ly time, and to have been imitated after- wards when the real conventual system was set on foot by the Christians in the same country. Cp. the Vestal virgins at Rome. (See woodcut No. II, next page.) Herodotus (ii. 54) speaks of two women, belonging to the Temple of Jupiter at Thebes, who founded the oracles of Ammon and Dodona ; and priestesses are mentioned on the Rosetta stone, and in the papvrus of D'Anastasy. (See At. Eg. W. vo"l. i. p. 261.;) Nor can this be ascribed to innovations, among a people so jealous as the Egyp- tians of the interference of foreigners in their religion. It must, however, be observed that no woman, except the queen, attended in the gi-and proces- sions of a king's coronation, or on similar occasions ; and there is no ceremony in which women took the part they did at the Panathenaic festival of Athens, The monuments, however, show they did attend in processions in honour of Athor, as well as of Kubastis (infra, ch. 60); and in the funeral pageants women performed a gi-eat part, being the mourners for the dead, independently of those hired, as at the present day. Two, indeed, held an important ofBce 48 SUPPOET OF PAEENTS. Book ΙΊ. goddess, but men are priests to })otli ; sons need not support their parents unless they choose, but daughters must, whether they choose or no.'' on that occasion. (Woodcut No. III. figs. 1, 2.) There was also a ceremony performed by a woman and a man, eacli holding the end of a rope tied in a Ivnot round a wooden pillar, the pointed end of which they struck against the ground ; and this appears also to have been of a reli- gious character connected with the dead, 'No. IV.; Women were not therefore excluded from the service of religion; and the fact of queens holding the sceptre suffices to prove it, every mo- narch being privileged, and obliged, to become a member of the hierarchy, and to be initiated in the mysteries. Dio- ^ws^ivHiui^iTir-ir^Z'^ Chap. 36. PRACTICE OF SHAVING THE HAIR AND BEARD. 49 36. In other countries the priests have long hair, in Egypt their heads are shaven ; '^ elsewhere it is customary, in mourning, for near relations to cut their hair close : the Egyptians, who wear no hair at any other time, when they lose a relative, let their beards and the hair of their heads grow long. All other men pass their lives separate from animals, the Egyptians have animals always living with them ; "^ others make barley and wheat their food ; it is a disgrace to do so in Egypt,^ where the grain doru3 also describes Athyrtis, the daughter of Sesostris, so well versed in divination that she foretold to her father the future success of his arms. — [G.W.] No. IV. ^ Of the daughters being forced to support their parents instead of the sous, it is difficult to decide ; but the improbability of the custom is glaring. It is the son on whom the duty fell of providing for the services in honour of his deceased parent ; and the law of debt mentioned by Herodotus ^in ch. 136; contradicts his assertion here. — [G.W.] ^ The custom of shaving the head as well as beard was not confined to the priests in Egypt, it was general among all classes ; and all the men wore wigs or caps fitting close to their heads, except some of the poorest class. In this the Egyptians were imlike the " Ηαρ-ηκομό- (tivTas 'Αχαίού$•." but the custom of al- lowing the hair to grow in mourning was not confined to Egypt ; and Plu- tarch 'Op. Mor. p. 2G7j says that in misfortune the Greek women cut off their haii-, and the men let it grow, con- trary to their ordinary custom. He probably means liovj and negligently ; for in most states the Greeks wore their hair moderately long ; young men and VOL. II. athletes short. Beards began fii'st to be shaved in Greece in the time of Alex- ander. (Plut. Lysand. 1.) The habit of making a baldness between the eyes for the dead ( Deut. xiv. 1), which was forbidden by the Mosaic law, was not Egyptian, but Syrian. — [G. W.] ^ Their living with animals not only contradicts a previous assertion of their eating in the streets, but is contrary to fact ; and if Herodotus really associated with any who were so badly lodged, he must have kept very bad company during his stay in Egypt. — [G. W.] ^ Their considering it a "disgrace" to live on wheat and barley is equally extravagant ; and though they also cul- tivated the holcus sorghum (or doora\ and poor people may have used it, as at the present day, when they cou.ld not aSbrd wheaten bread, it does not follow that the custom was obligatoiy, or ever adopted by an Egyptian of rank; and the assertion of Herodotus is much on a par with Dr. Johnson's definition of " oats." It is not known what the olyra really Λvas ; Pliny shows it was not rice, nor the same as zea, as Herodotus supposed, and it was probably the doora of modem Egypt, which is the only grain besides wheat and barley represented in the sculptures (though this has been thought to be " flax ")• (See At. Eg. W. vol. ii. p. 397.) PHny (xviii. 7) say.s, " far in .tEgypto ex olyi-a conficitur," but not of course to the exclusion of other grain, as he notices wheat and barley there, and adds (xviii. 8), " ^gyptus similaginem conficit e tritico suo." Both Λvheat and barley are noticed in Lower Egypt long before Herodotus?' time (Exod. ix. 31, 32), and the paintings of the Thebaid prove that they were growTi extensively in that part of the country; they were among the offerings in the temples; and the king, at his coronation, cutting some ears of wheat afterwards oflfered to the gods as the staple production of Ε 50 FOOD— CLOTHING. Book II. they live on is spelt, wliich some call zea. Dough they knead with their feet f but they mix mud, and even take up dirt, with their hands. They are the only people in the world — they at least, and such as have learnt the practice from them^ — Λvho use circumcision. Their men wear two garments apiece, their women but one.^ They put on the rings and fasten the ropes to sails inside;^ others put them outside. When they write'' or calcu- Egypt, shows how great a value was set on a grain which Herodotus would lead us to suppose Λvas held in abhorrence. It is remarkable that though oats are unknown in Egypt the wild oat grows there.— [G. W.] *• That they trod the dough with their feet is true, fashioning it afterwards ΛΌ. U. with the hand into cakes; but the mud was also mixed with the feet, after having been broken up \vith the hoe, as we see in the representation of the brickmakers at Thebes. See woodcut, figs. 11, 13, in note ^ on ch. 136. — [G. Λν.] 1 Videinfi^, ch. 104. ^ The men having two dresses, and the women one, gives an erroneous im- pression. The usual dress of men was a long upper robe and a short kilt be- neath it, the former being laid aside when at woi'k; while women had only the long robe. When an extra upper garment was worn over these the men had three, the women two; so that, in- stead of limiting the latter to one, he should have given to men always one more garment than the women. See woodcuts in notes on chs. 35, 37, and 81.— [G. W.] ^ The Greek κάΧοι generally corre- sponded to our " stays " of the mast, vTTfpat to "braces," TvoSfs to "sheets," and κΐροΰχοι to "halliards;" but He- rodotus only speaks of " the ropes and rings of the sails ;" and the ancient custom of fastening the braces and sheets of the sails to rings within the gunwale fully agrees with that stiU adopted in the Nile boats. (See notes \ -, ch. 96.— [G. W.] ■• The Egyptians wrote from right to left in hieratic and demotic (or encho- rial), which are the two modes of tenting Chap. 36, 37. WRITING— SUPEESTITION. 51 late,^ instead of going, like the Greeks, from left to right, they move their hand from right to left ; and they insist, notwith- standing, that it is they who go to the right, and the Greeks who go to the left. They have two quite different kinds of writins:,^ one of which is called sacred, the other common. 37. They are religious to excess, far beyond any other race of men,^ and use the following ceremonies : — They drink out of here mentioned. The Greeks also in old times wrote from right to left, like the Phcenicians, from whom they bor- rowed their alphabet. This seems the natural mode of \vriting; for though we have always been accustomed to write from left to right, we invariably iLse our pencil, in shading a drawing, from right to left, in spite of all our previous habit ; and even our down-strokes in writing are all from right to left. The Ai-abs say "it is more reasonable to see where the pen is coming, than not to see where it is going." It was continued by the Etruscans, the early imitators of the Greeks, to a very late period. Dr. Brugsch very ingeniously observes 'Gram. Demot. pp. 15, 16), that though in Demotic the general direction of the writing was from right to left, each individual letter was formed from left to right, as is evident in the imfinished ends of horizontal letters when the ink failed in the pen. — [G. W.] ^ In writing numbers in Hieratic and Enchorial they placed the units to the left, that is last, according to their mode of WTiting from right to left. Thus 1851 would stand 1581. In 18 they would fii-st come to the ten, and in 13,432 they would begin with the thousands. The same mode of begin- ning with the ijiil I 81 '"^^?Hf -^ϊ 2 3 4 * 3 \ largest number is followed in hiero- glyphics (224. 31). whether wi-itten from right to left, or from left to right. This is like our arrangement of the thousand first and the unit last, in our writing from left to right. The Arabs, from whom we borrowed this, think we ought to have changed the arrangement, as we write in an opposite direction. But they bor- rowed their numerals from India (hence called by them "Hindee," "Indian"), and there the arrangement is as in our own, 133 being Indian, 133. which are singularly like Tthe ordinal numbers of the Hieratic in'Egypt — " '-' Hieratic, 133d. Both these resemble the Chinese, and the origin of the three numbers was evidently from simple lines, converted into Tippoo Sultan, seeing the inconsistency of following the arrangement used in a language read from left to right, altered it on some of his late coins, and placed the unit to the right. There is no repre- sentation on Egyptian monuments of an abacus for calculating, like that of the Greeks.— [G. W.] ^ See note in Appendix, ch. v. ' The extreme religious views of the Egyptians became at length a gross superstition, and were naturally a sub- ject for ridicule and contempt. Luciau makes Momus express his surprise that so many persons were allowed to share divine honours, but is indignant at the Egyptian crew of apes, ibises, bulls, and other ridiculous creatures who in- truded themselves into heaven, and wonders how Jupiter can allow himself to be caricatured with rams' horns. Jupiter gives an answer worthy of an Egyptian priest, that they were myste- Ε 2 52 CLEANLINESS. Book II. brazen cups," which they scour eveiy day : there is no exception to this practice. They wear linen garments, Avhich they are specially careful to have always fresh washed.^ They practise circumcision for the sake of cleanliness, considering it better to be cleanly than comely. The priests shave their whole body every other day, that no Hce or other imjjure thing may adhere to them when they are engaged in the service of the gods. Their dress is entirely of linen,^ and their shoes of the papyrus ries not to be derided by the uninitiated (Deor. Concil. s. 10). Juvenal and others take advantage of the same opening for ridicule. — [G. W.] ** This, he says, is the universal cus- tom, without exception ; but we not only know that Joseph had a silver driuking-cui3 (Gen. xliv. 2, 5), but the sculptures show the wealthy Egyptians used glass, porcelain, and gold, some- times inlaid with a coloured composition resembling enamel, or with precious stones. That persons who could not afford cups of more costly materials should have been contented with those of bronze is very probable ; and Hellani- cus (quoted by Ath. Deipn. si. p. 470 d) mentions the phiale (saucer), cyathus (upright handled cup), and ethanion (strainer), in Egypt of bronze ; but, as in Etruria, Greece, and Rome, many drinking-cups were also of other mate- rials. The bronze is often gilt, and long ladles (simpula) and other utensils are often found witli the gilding still visible ; and fragments of glass, porcelain, and other cups are common in Egypt as in Italy. Tlie custom then was not uni- versal either in the time of Herodotus, nor before, nor afterwards. See note ^ on ch. 151.— [G. W.] ^ Their attention to cleanliness was very remarkable, as is shown by their shaving the head and beard, and re- moving the hah• from the whole body, by their frequent ablutions, and by the strict rules instituted to ensure it. He- rodotus soon afterwards says the priests washed themselves twice every day and twice every night in cold water ; and Porphyry (de Abstin. iv. 7), besides three ablutions every day, and an occa- sional one at night, mentions a grand ceremony of purification previous to their fasts, many of which lasted forty- two days, or even longei", during which time they abstained entirely from animal food, from herbs, and vegetables, and, above all, from the indulgence of the passions. The same motive of clean- liness led them to practise circumcision, which Herodotus afterwards mentions. Nor was this confined to the priests, as we learn from the mummies and from the sculptures, where it is made a dis- tinctive mark between the Egyptians and their enemies; and in later times, when Egypt contained many foreign settlers, it was looked upon as a distinc- tive sign between the orthodox Egyptian and the stranger, or the non-conformist. None therefore were allowed to study all the secrets of Egyptian knowledge unless they had submitted to this rite : and this probably led to the notion that the priests alone were circumcised. Its institution in Egypt reaches to the most remote antiquity: we find it exist- ing at the earliest period of which any monuments remain, more than '24oO years before our era, and there is no reason to doubt that it dated still ear- lier.— [G. W.] ' The dress of the pi'iests consisted, as Herodotus states, of linen (ch. 81): but he does not say they were confined (as some have supposed) to a single robe ; and whether walking abroad, or officiating in the temple, they were per- mitted to have more than one garment. The high-priest styled Son always wore a leopard-skin placed over the linen dress as his costume of oflBce. (No. II.) Plutarch (de Is. s. 4) agi-ees with Hero- dotus in stating that their dress was of linen and not of wool ; for, he adds, it would be inconsistent in men, who take so much pains to remove the hair fi-om their body, to wear clothes made of the wool or hair of animals; and no Egyptian was allowed to enter a temple without taking off his outer woollen cloak (Her. ii. 81), nor could he be buried in clothes of that material. But though their under-garmeut was of linen, it did not prevent their wearing an upper one of cotton. Pliny (xix. 1) affii-ms that cotton di-esses were particularly agi'eeable to Chap. 37. DEESS AND SHOES OF THE PRIESTS. 53 plant : ^ it is not lawful for them to wear either dress or shoes of any other material. They bathe twice every day in cold water, No. I. the priests; and the Rosetta stone states that " cotton garments " vrere supplied No. II. by the government for the use of the temple. But these were probably the sacred robes for the statues of the Gods (Plut. de Is. s. 78) ; and the priests may only have been forbidden to wear cotton garments while in the temple. The votaries of Isis at Rome were sub- ject to the same prohibition, and linen dresses were adopted by those who had been initiated into the mysteries (Plut. de Is. s. 3; Apul. Metam. lib. xi.). The Egyptian and Jewish priests were the only ones (except perhaps those of India) whose dresses were ordered to be of linen. That Λvorn by the former was ■"of the finest texture, and the long robe with full sleeves, which covered the body and descended to the ankles, was perfectly transparent, and placed over a short kilt of thicker quahty reaching to the knees. Some wore a long robe of linen, extending from the neck to the ankles, of the same thick substance, and some officiated in the short kilt alone, the arms and legs being bare. Some again had a long thin dress, like a loose shirt, with full sleeves, reaching to the ankles, over which a wrapper of fine linen was bound, covering the lower 54 USE OF THE BATH. Book II. and twice ^ each night ; besides which they obserye, so to speak, thousands of ceremonies. They enjoy, however, not a few ad- No. lU. bearing the sacred emblems, frequently wore a long full apron, tied in front with part of the body, and falling in front long bands, and a strap, also of linen, below the knees; the hieraphoros, while passed over the shoulder to support it; and some priests wore a long smock reaching from tielow the arms to the feet, and supported over the neck by straps. (No. I. fig. 4.) Their head was frequently bare, sometimes covered with a wig or a tight cap; but in all cases the head was closely shaved. They had a particular mode of goufFreying their linen dresses (also adopted in Greece, to judge from the ancient statues and the vases, as well as in Etruria), which impressed upon them the waving lines represented in the paintings, and this was done by means of a wooden instru- ment, divided into segmental partitions 1^ inch broad on its upper face, Λvhich was held by the hand while the linen was pressed upon it. One of them is in the Museum of Florence (fig. 2 gives the real size of the divisions). The fine texture of the Egyptian linen is fully proved by its transparency, as represented in the paintings, and by the statements of ancient writers, sacred (Gen. xli. 42; and 2 Chron. i. 16) as well as profane, and by the wonderful tex- ture of a piece found near Memphis, part of which is in my possession. In general quality it is equal to the finest now made ; and for the evenness of the threads, without knot or break, it is far superior to any of modem manufacture. It has in the inch 540 threads, or 270 double threads in the warp, and 110 in the woof, — a disparity which, as Mr. Thompson observes, belonged to the Egyptian " system of manufacture." (See At. Eg. W. vol. iii. p. 120, &c.) No. IV. Pliny mentions four kinds of linen par- ticularly noted in Egypt, the Tanitic, the Pelusiac, the Butine, and the Ten- tyritic ; and the same fineness of tex- ture was extended to the nets of Egypt, which were so delicate that they could pass '.thiOugh a man's ring, and a single person could cany a sufficient number of them to surround a whole wood. (Plin. xix. 1. On the Byssus, see note ^ Chap. 37. ADVANTAGES EXJOYED BY THE PRIESTS. 55 vantages.^ They consume none of their own property, and are at no expense for anything ;^ but every day bread is baked for them of the sacred com, and a plentiful supply of beef and of ch. 86.) The transparent fineness of the linen dresses of men and women in the Egyptian paintings recalls the remark of Seneca (de Benef. vii. 9) on "sericas vestes," so thin that a woman appeared as if naked.— [G. W.] ^ Their sandals were made of the papyrus, or of other kinds of Cyperus; an inferior quality being of matted palm-leaves ; and they either slept on a simple skin stretched on the gi-ound (Eust. in Homer. II. xvi. 235), or on a wicker bed, made of palm-branches which Porphyry very justly says were called bai (de Abstin. iv. 7). On this bedstead, which was similar to the caffas of modern Egypt, made of the same materials, a mat or a skin was spread for a mattress, and their head was sup- ported by a half cylinder of wood in lieu of a pillow. These pillows are frequently found in the tombs, made of acacia, sycamore, or tamarisk wood. or sometimes of alabaster ; and they are represented among the fumitui-e of an Egyptian mansion, in the Tombs of the Kings, together with the richest sofas and fauteuils. They are still used in Ethiopia, and also in places distant from the Nile, in Japan, China, the Western Coast of Africa, in Otaheite (Tahiti), and other places. But soft pillows and lofty couches were also adopted in Egypt, to which last they mounted by steps. Cp. 2 Kings i. 4; Ps. cxxxii. 3 ; Prov. vii. 16.— [G. W.] 2 The greatest of these was the para- mount influence they exercised over the Bpiritual, and consequently over the temporal, concerns of the whole com- munity, which was secured to them through their superior knowledge, by the dependence of all classes on them for the instruction they chose to impart, and by their exclusive right of possess- ing all the secrets of religion which were thought to place them far above the rest of mankind. Nor did their power over an individual cease with his life ; it would even reach him after death ; and their veto could prevent his being buried in his tomb, and consign his name to lasting infamy. They thus usurped the power and place of the Gods, whose will they affected to be commissioned to pronounce ; and they acted as though the community had been made for their rule, and not their own office for the benefit of the community. Priestcraft indeed is always odious, but especially when people are taught to believe what the priests themselves know to be mere fable ; and the remark of Cato, " It appears strange that one priest i^ augur) can refrain from laughing when he looks at another," might well apply to those of Egypt. (Cic. de Nat. Deor. i. 26 ; de Div. ii.) It must however be admitted that they did not make a show of great sanctity, nor set themselves above the customs of society, in order to increase their power over it; they were good husbands and fa- thers, and they showed the highest regard for all social duties. Man- kind too had not then been en- lightened by Christianity ; and the Egyptian hierarchy had the merit of having enjoined, practised, and ensured morality, and contributed great- ly to the welfare of the people they so long governed. — [G. W.] ■• They were exempt from taxes, and were provided with a daily allowance of meat, corn, and wine ; and when Pharaoh, by the advice of Joseph, took all the land of the Egyptians in lieu of corn (Gen. xlvii. 20, 22), the land of the priests was exempt, and the tax of the fifth part of the produce was not levied upon it. Diodorus (i, 72j says the land was divided into three portions, one of which belonged to the king, another to the priests, and the third to the military caste.— [G. W.] 56 Fli^H AND BEANS NOT EATEN. Book II. goose's flesh is assigned to each, and also a portion of wine made from tlie grape.^ Fisli tliey are not allowed to eat ; " and Leans, — which none of the Egyptians ever sow, or eat, if they come up of their own accord, either raw or boiled^ — the priests will not even endure to look on, since they consider it an unclean kind of pulse. Instead of a single priest, each god has the attendance of a college, at the head of which is a chief priest ;** wdien one of these dies, his son is appointed in his room. ^ Herodotus is quite right in saying they were allowed to drink wine, and the assertion of Plutarch (de Is. s. 6) that the kings (who were also of the priestly caste) were not permitted to drink it before the reign of Psammeti- chus is contradicted by the authority of the Bible (Gen. xl. 10, 13) and the sculptures; and if on some occasions it really was not admitted into the temple of Heliopolis, it was not excluded from other temples, and wine was among the usual offerings made to the Gods. Herodotus tells us (ch. 39) that they began their sacrifices by a libation of wine ; and it is evident fi-om the sculp- tures that it was also admitted into the temples of the Sun, or at least at his altar in other temples. And though Hecatffius asserts that the kings were allowed a stated quantity, according to the regulations in the sacred books (Plut. de Is. s. 6), they were reported by the Egj-ptians to have exceeded those limits, as in the case of Mycerinus and Amasis. (Her. ii. 133, 174.) Of the kings and the laws respecting them, see At. Eg. W. vol. i. p. 249-255, and com- pare notes on chs. 18, 60, 63, 77. — [G. W.] * Though fish were so generally eaten by the rest of the Egyptians, they were forbidden to the priests, and when on the 9th day of the 1st month (Thoth\ •when a religious ceremony obliged all the people to eat a fried fish before the door of their houses, the priests were not even then expected to conform to the general custom, but were contented to burn theirs at the appointed time (Plut. de Is. s. 7). The principal food of the priests, as Diodorus justly states, was beef and goose, and the gazelle, ibex, oiyx, and wild-fowl were not for- bidden ; but they " abstained from most sorts of pulse, from mutton, and swine's flesh, and in their more solemn purifi- cations they even excluded salt from their meals " (Plut. de Is. s. 5). Gar- lick, leeks, onions, lentils, peas, and above all beans, are said to have been excluded from the tables of the priests. See Diod. Sic. i. 81, 89 ; Plut. de Is. s. 8; Juv. Sat. XV. 9.-[G. ΛΥ.] ^ Diodorus (i. 89) is more correct when he says that some only of the Egyptians abstained from beans, and it may be doubted if they grew in Egypt without being sown. The custom of forbidding beans to the priests was borrowed from Egypt by Pythagoras. Cicero (de Div. i. oO) thinks it was from their disturbing the mind during sleep. In like manner the prohibition against eating swine's flesh and fish was doubt- less from the desire to abstain from food which was apt to engender cuta- neous disorders in persons of sedentary habits, while the active life of other classes (having the "dura messorum ilia") enabled them to eat the same things without endangering their health. This will not, however, account for mutton being forbidden in the Thebaid, vrhieh is the most wholesome meat in Egypt ; and we can only suppose it was owing to sheep having been few in num- ber at the time the law was first made ; when they were anxious to encourage the breed for the sake of the wool, and feai-ed to lessen their number, as was the case with the cow both in Egypt and India. The name κύαμοί was also applied to the seeds of the Nelum- bium or Indian Lotus. See note i on ch. 92.- [G. W.] * This is fully confirmed by the sculp- tures. They were not, however, always replaced at their death by then- sons ; and thovigh this was often the case, a son might become a priest of another deity, and have a higher or lower grade than his father. He could also be a priest during his father's lifetime, and numerous sons could not expect the same office as their father. The son of a priest was generally a priest also ; and when an elder son succeeded to the same office held before by his father, it is very possible that he inherited the Chap. 37, 38. TESTING OF MALE KINE. 57 38. Male kine are reckoned to belong to Epaplius,^ and are therefore tested in tlie following manner : — One of the priests same dress of investiture, which was also the custom of the Jews (Exod. xsix. 29) ; but a priest's son might be a military man. The priests had various grades. The chief 23riests held the first post, and one of them had an ofSce of great import- ance, which was usually fulfilled by the king himself. He was the prophet and officiating high-priest, and had the title I Jw of " Sent," in addition to that of chief priest, and he was distinguished by wearing a leoj^ard's skin over his ordinary robes, (^ee n. ' ch. 37, wood- cut No. II.) He does not appear to have ranked above chief-priests, being men- tioned after them on the Kosetta stone, but to have been one of them in a par- ticular capacity. He might also be a chief- priest of one God, and Sein of another ; and one in a tomb at Thebes is called " chief-priest of Amun, Sem in the temple of Pthah, superior of the priests of the upper and lower country;" and his father was chief-priest without the additional office of Sem. The pro- phets Λvere particularly versed in all matters relating to the cai'emonies, the worshif) of the Gods, the laws, and the discipline of the whole order, and they not only presided over the temple and the sacred rites, but directed the man- agement of the sacred revenues. (Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. p. 758.) In the solemn processions they had a conspicuous part; they bore the holy hijdria or water-jar, which was frequently carried by the king on similar occasions, and they with the chief-priests were the first whose opinion was consulted respecting the introduc- tion of any new measure connected with religion, as we find in the decree of the Rosetta stone, which was " established by the chief priests and prophets, and those who have access to the adytum to clothe the Gods, and the pteroj3hora3, and the sacred scribes, and all the other priests .... assembled in the temple of Memphis." Some of the principal functionaries "in the solemn proces- sions " are thus mentioned by Clemens (Strom, vi. p. 757) : " The singer usually goes first, bearing the symbols of music, whose duty is Siiid to be to carry two of the books of Hermes .... he is fol- lowed by the Horoscopus, beai'ing in his hand the measure of time (hour- glass), and the palm (branch), the sym- bols of astrology (astronomy) .... next comes the Hierogi'ammat (sacred scribe) having feathers on his head (see wood- cut fig. 9, note ' on ch. 37), and in his hands a book (papyrus) with a ruler (palette) in which is ink and a reed for writing (fig. 1), then the stolistes, beai•- ing the cubit of justice (fig. 2), and the cup of libation (fig. 3) . . . and lastly the Prophet, the president of the temple, ~Ύα IliiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiHiinmiiii riiiiMiii«niiiiiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiMiiinriiiiiuiiiiiiii»iiiiiiHiniriiiiHiMMiiiiiiiiMiiiiiii»iri»iiiiiiMiiiiiiiiiiiiiMiiHMriiriiiiriiiiiiiiiiriiii»iHiiHillliiill who carries in his bosom a water-jar, followed by persons bearing loaves of bread." See procession in pi. 76 of At. Eg. W. vol. vi.; and below, note^ on ch. 58.— [G. W.] * Epaphus, Herodotus says (in ch. 153), is the Greek name of Apis, of which it is probably only a corruption (see also B. iii. chs. 27, 28). In exa- mining a bull for sacrifice, he adds, they admitted none but those which were free from black hairs ; and Maimonides states that " if oulj' two white or black hairs were found lying upon each other, the animal was considered unfit for sacrifice" (Maim, de Vacca rufa, c. 1). This calls to mind the law of the Israel- ites, commanding them to "bring a red heifer without spot, wherein was uo blemish" (Numb. xix. 2). But the sculptures show that bulls with black, and red, or white spots, were commonly 58 MANNER OF SACRIFICE. Book II. •?■->■ appointed for the purpose searches to see if there is a single black hair on the whole body, since in that case the beast is unclean. He examines him all over, standing on his legs, and again laid upon his back ; after which he takes the tongue out of his mouth, to see if it be clean in respect of the prescribed marks (what they are I Avill mention elsewhere^) ; he also inspects the hairs of the tail, to observe if they grow naturally. If the animal is pronounced clean in all these various points, the priest marks him by twisting a piece of papyrus round his horns, and attaching thereto some sealing-clay, which he then stamps with his own signet-ring.^ After this the beast is led away ; and it is forbidden, under the penalty of death, to sacrifice an animal which has not been marked in this way. 39. The following is their manner of sacrifice : — They lead the victim, marked with their signet, to the altar where they are about to offer it, and setting the wood alight, pour a libation of wine upon the altar in front of the victim, and at the same time , invoke the god. Then they^ay the animal,^ and cutting off killed both for the altar and the table, and the only prohibition seems to have been against killing heifers ; and to en- sui'e a regard for them they were held Bacred (see below, n. '' ch. 41). It was on this account that Moses proposed to go three days into the desert, lest the anger of the Egj-ptians should be raised on seeing the Israelites sacrifice a heifer (Exod. viii. 26) : and by this very oppo- site choice of a victim they were made unequivocally to denounce, and to se- parate themselves from, the rites of Egypt.— [G. W.] 1 It is not at all clear that the refer- ence is to iii. 28, as the commentators generally suppose (see Larcher, Bahr, and Blakesley ad loc.) : for Herodotus is there describing, not the animal which might be offered to Apis, but the ani- mal which Λvas regarded as an incarna- tion of Apis. Perhaps Λve have here, as in vii. 213, a promise that is unfulfilled. ^ The sanction given for sacrificing a bull Λν8^ by a papyrus band tied by the priest round the horns, which he stamped with his signet on sealing-clay. Documents sealed with fine clay and impressed with a signet ai-e very com- mon ; but the exact symbols impressed on it by the pi-iest on this occasion are not known. Castor says they consisted of a man kneeling with his hands tied behind him, and a sword pointed to his 5^1 throat, which was probably this (of woodcut), though it has not been found on a seal. Tlie clay used in closing and sealing papyri is of very fine quality. A similar kind was employed for official seals by the Greeks and Assyrians. On signet-rings see my note on B. iii. ch. 4l._[G. W.] ' AVe learn from the sculptures that the victim, having its feet tied together, was thrown on the ground ; and the priest, having placed his hand on its head (as in Levit. i. 4 ; iii. 8), or holding it by the horn, cut its throat, apparently from ear to ear, as is the custom of the Mos- lems at the present day. The skin was then removed, and after the head had been taken away, the foreleg or shoulder, generally the right (as in Levit. viii. 26), was the first joint cut off. This was considered, and called, the chosen part {Sapt), and was the first offered on the altar. (Cp. 1 Sam. ix. 24 ; Levit. vii. 33 ; viii. 25.) The other parts were afterwards cut up ; and the shoulder, the thigh, the head, the ribs, the rump, the heart, and the kidneys, were the principal ones placed on the altar. The head, which Herodotus says was either taken to the mai-ket and sold to strangers, or thrown into the river, is Chap. 38, 39. IMPRECATIONS. 59 his head, proceed to flay the body.* Next they take the head, and heaping imprecations on it, if there is a market-place and a body of Greek traders in the city, they carry it there and sell it instantly ; if, however, there are no Greeks among them, they throw the head into the river. The imprecation is to this effect : — They pray that if any evil is impending either over those Avho sacrifice, or over universal Egypt, it may be made to fall upon that head. These practices, the imprecations upon the heads, and the libations of wine, prevail all over Egypt, and extend to C^ ^ No. m. No. IV. as common on the altars as any other joint, and an instance sometimes oc- curs of the whole animal being placed upon it. We may therefore conclude that the imprecations he says were called down upon the head were con- fined to certain occasions and to one particular victim, as in the case of the scapegoat of the Jews (Levit. xvi. 8, 10, 21), and it was of that particular ani- mal that no Egyptian would eat the head. It may not have been a favourite joint, since we find it given to a poor man for holding the walking-sticks of the guests at a party ; but he was an Egyptian, not a foreigner, and this is in the paintings of a tomb at Thebes, of the early time of the 18th dynasty (woodcut No. IV.).— [G. W.] '' Homer's description of the mode of slaughtering an animal (II. i. 459-466) is veiy similar : " They drew back the head and killed it, and after skinning it they cut oS" the legs {μηρου$), which being wrapped up in the fat (caul) folded double, they placed portions of raw meat thereon ; an old man then burnt it on split wood, and poured black wine on it, while the young men beside him held five-pronged spits. When the legs (thighs and shoulders) were burnt, and they had tasted the 'inward parts,' they cut the rest into small pieces, and put them on skewers (spits), roasting them cleverly, and took all off again." — [G. W.] 60 DISEMBOWELLING AND BURNING. Book II. victims of all sorts ; and hence the Egyptians will never eat the head of any animal. 40. Tlie disembowelling and burning arc, however, different in different sacrifices. I will mention the mode in use with respect to the goddess whom they regard as the greatest,^ and * Herodotiis here evidently alludes to Isis, as he shows in chs. 59, 61, where he speaks of her fete at Busiris ; but he afterwards confounds her with Athor (oh. 41). This is very excusable in the historian, since the attributes of those two Goddesses are often so closely con- nected that it is difficult to distinguish them in the sculptures, unless their names are directly specified. It was however more so in late than in early times, and at Dendera Athor has very neai'ly the same appearance as Isis, though still a distinct Goddess, as ia Chap. 39-41. COWS SACRED TO ISIS. 61 honour with the chiefest festival. When they have flayed their steer they pray, and when then- prayer is ended they take the paunch of the animal out entire, leaving the intestines and the fat inside the body ; they then cut off the legs, the ends of the loins, the shoulders, and the neck ; and having so done, they fill the body of the steer with clean bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankin- cense, myrrh, and other aromatics.^ Thus filled, they burn the body, pouring over it great quantities of oil. Before ofiering the sacrifice they fast, and while the bodies of the victims are being consumed they beat themselves. Afterwards, when they have concluded this part of the ceremony, they have the other parts of the victim served up to them for a repast. 41. The male kine, therefore, if clean, and the male calves, are used for sacrifice by the Egyptians universally ; but the females they are not allowed to sacrifice,' since they are sacred to Isis. The statue of this goddess has the form of a woman but with horns like a cow, resembling thus the Greek representations of sliown by each of them having a temple at that place. Herodotus (in ch. 41) says that cows were sacred to Isis, whose statvies had the head of that ani- mal ; but it was to Athor, the Venus of Egypt, that they were sacred; and it is only when one adopts the attributes of the other, that Isis has the head of the spotted cow of Athor, or that this God- dess takes the name of Isis. Plutarch says Isis was called Muth, Athyri, and Methuer (de Is. s. 56). That Herodotus was really describing Athor and not Isis is shown by the city where the cattle were sent being Atarbechis. (See below note* on ch. 41.) The Ro- man poets made a double error in con- founding Isis with Athor, and even with Juno, whence "nivea Saturnia vacca." Great honours were also paid to the Cow of Athor at Momemphis, where Venus was particularly worshipped ; and wherever she had a temple a sacred Cow was kept, as Strabo says was tlie case at Momemphis as well as other places in the Delta; and at Chusse, a small vil- lage in the Hermopolite nome where Venus was worshipped under the title of Urania.— [G. W.] * The custom of filling the body with cakes and various things, and then burn- ing it all, calls to mind the Jewish burnt offering (Levit. viii. 25, 26).— [G. W.] ? In order to prevent the breed of cattle from being diminished : but some mysterious reason being assigned for it, the people were led to respect an ordon- nance which might not otherwise have been attended to. This was the gene- ral system, and the reason of many things being held sacred may be attri- buted to a necessary precaution. It is indeed distinctly stated by Poi'phyry (de Abstin. ii. s. 11), who says, "the Egyptians and Phoenicians would rather eat human flesh than that of cows, on account of the value of the animal, though they both sacrifice and eat bulls;" and the same was doubtless the origin of a similar superstition in India. In another place Porphyry (iv. 7) says the same thing, and adds "that certain bulls were lield in the same veneration, while others were preserved for labour." Some years ago no one was allowed to kill a calf in Egypt, and a permission from the government was required for the slaughter of a bull; but this soon degenerated into a mere tax, and cows and calves were permitted to be killed on the payment of a duty. In India and Thibet the veneration for the cow is as remarkable as in Egypt. Jerome also remarks, "In^gypto et Palajstina propter boum raritatem nemo vaccam coraedit" (ii. adv. Jovin. 7). Por- phyry 'de Abstin.) says the first who sacrificed did not offer animals, but herbs and flowers; and (de Sacrif. ii.) flour, honey, and fruits. — [G. W.] 62 SEPULTURE OF KINE. Book II. lo ; ^ and the Egyptians, one and all, venerate cows much more highly than any other animal. This is the reason why no native of Egypt, whether man or woman, will give a Greek a kiss,' or use the knife of a Greek, or his spit, or his cauldron, or taste the flesh of an ox, known to be pure, if it has been cut with a Greek knife. When kine die, the following is the manner of their sepulture : — The females are thrown into the river ; the males are buried in the suburbs of the towns, with one or both of their horns appearing above the surface of the ground to mark the place. When the bodies are decayed, a boat comes, at an appointed time, from the island called Prosopitis,^ — which is a ^ This name is evidently connected with Ehe, " the Cow," of the Egyptians, which was given to one of their god- desses ; but the remark of Eustathius that "lo, in the language of the Ar- gives, is the moon," is explained by its being the Egyptian name loh, " the moon," which, though quite distinct from Ehe, agi-ees well with lo being looked upon by the Greeks as the moon, and with the supposed relationship of the Egyptians and the Argives, who were said to have been a colony taken by Danaus from the Nile. lo is re- ported to have visited Egypt in her wanderings, and to have been changed into Isis, in the city of Coptos, where she was worshipped under that name. (See Diod. i. 24 ; and comp. Ovid Met. i. 588, 747; Propert. ii. Elog. 28. 17; and At. Eg. Λν. vol. iv. p. 382, 388, 390 ; vol. V. p. 195.) The story of her hav- ing given birth to Epaphus (the Apis of Egypt) was probably a later addition: but her wandering to the Nile, like the fable related by Herodotus 'Book i. ch. 5), points to the connexion between Egypt and Argos. The name loh, or Aah, written Iho, or Aha, is an in- stance of the medial vowel at the end of a word in hieroglyphics. (See below, n. -, and App. ch. v. § 16.)— [G. W.] ^ The Egyptians considered all fo- reigners unclean, with whom they would not eat, and particularly the Greeks. "The Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomi- nation unto the Egyptians" ^Gen. xliii. 32) ; and the same prejudice is continued by the Hindoos, and by many of the Moslems, to 'the present day. But the last have gradations, like the ancient Egyptians, who looked with greater horror on those who did not cut the throat from ear to ear of all animals used for food. — [G. W.] * Some suppose the town of Proso- pitis to have been also called Nicium. The island was between the Canopic and Sebennytic branches, at the fork, and on the west side of the apex of the Delta. It was there that the Athenians, who came to assist the Egyptians against the Persians, were besieged, B.C. 460-458. (Thucyd. i. 109.) It is not to be supposed that all the bulls that died in Egypt were carried to Atar- bechis to be buried ; and much less that all the bodies of heifers were thrown Chap. 41, 42. COLLECTION AND BURIAL OF THE BONES. 63 portion of the Delta, nine schoenes in circumference, — and calls at the several cities in turn to collect the bones of the oxen. Prosopitis is a district containing several cities; the name of that from which the boats come is Atarbechis.^ Venus has a temple there of much sanctity. Great numbers of men go forth from this city and proceed to the other towns, where they dig up the bones, which they take away with them and bury together in one place. The same practice prevails with respect to the interment of all other cattle — the law so determining ; they do not slaughter any of them. 42. Such Egyptians as possess a temple of the Theban Jove, or live in the Thebaic canton,^ offer no sheep in sacrifice,* but into the river. Like other animals they were embalmed and buried in the place where they died, and their mum- mies are consequently found at Thebes and in other parts of the country. The Egyptians were particular in prevent- ing anything remaining above ground, which by putrefaction could taint the air; and this was the reason of their obliging every town to embalm what- ever died there. It is probable that villages near Atarbechis sent the car- cases of bulls to that city, which led Herodotus to suppose that all places did so ; as other animals were sent from different villages in the neighbourhood to the chief city, where they Λvere sacred. To pollute the Nile with dead carcases would have been in the highest degree inconsistent in a people so particular on this point ; and the notion of Herodotus can only be explained by their sometimes feeding the crocodiles \vith them. The prejudice in favour of the river still re- mains in Egypt, and even the Moslems swear "by that pure stream." — [G. W.] 2 Athor being the Venus of Egypt, Atarbechis was translated Aphrodito- polis. It was composed of atar or athor, and hechi or hek, " city," which occurs again in Baalbek, the city of Baal, or the Sun (Heliopolis) ; Rabek, the Assy- rian name of the Egyptian Heliopolis, fi'om the Egyptian Re or Ra, " the sun." This Aphroditopolis is supposed to have been at the modern Shibbeen, in the Isle of Prosopitis, between the Cauopic and Sebennytic branches of the Nile, on an oflfset of the latter, called Thermuthiac, which foi-med the western, as the Se- bennytic did the eastern, boundary of the Isle of Natho. There were other towns called Aphroditopolis in Upper Egypt. Athor signifies, as Plutarch says, " Horiis' habitation," Thy-hor, or Teihor, THI-gOP, the origin of the name Thueris, who, however, was made into another person (Pint, de Is. s. 56, and 19). As the morning-star she issued from the mountain of Thebes under the form of a spotted cow, and as the evening-star she retired behind it at night. She also represented Night, and in this capacity received the sun at his setting into her arms as he retired behind the western mountain of Thebes. It was from this that the western part of the city was called Pathyris, "be- longing to Athor," who presided over the west. (On Athor see At. Eg. W. vol. iv. 386 to 394.) Her great im- portance is shown by the many cities dedicated to her in Upper and Lower Egypt, as well as temples in other places, from the eai'liest times to the Ptolemies and Caesars; and Venus was the great goddess of Phcenicia and other countries. — [G. W.] 3 On the cantons or nomes of Egypt see note ' on ch. 164. It has erroneously been supposed that each nome "was kept distinct from the others by the dif- ference of religion and rites." It is true there was a chief god of the nome; but cities of different nomes were often de- dicated to the same deity; and even a city might have a chief god who was not the one of the nome, as Eileithyia was in her city within the nome of ApoUinopolis. The numerous divinities worshipped throughout Egypt were also admitted as coutemplar gods in any part of the country. See note ^ on this chapter. — [G. W.] * Sheep are never represented on the altar, or slaughtered for the table, at Thebes, though they were kept there for their wool; and Plutarch says " none 64 GOATS OFFERED IN THE TIIEBAIS. Book II. only goats ; for the Egyptians do not all worship the same gods,^ exce])ting Isis and Osiris, the latter of whom they say is the Grecian Bacchus," Tliose, on the contrary, wlio possess a temple of the Egyptians eat sheep, except the Lycopolites" (de Isid. s. 72). Goats were killed, but the Theban gentry seem to have preferred the ibex or wild goat, the oryx, the gazelle, and other game. These, however, were confined to the wealthier classes; others lived principally on beef, Nile geese, and other wild fowl; and some were satisfied with fish, either fresh or salted, with an occasional goose or a joint of meat; and the numerous vegetables Egypt produced appeared in profusion on every table. Lentil porridge was, as at present, a great article of food for the poor, as well as the r<(phanus {figl) (Herod, ii. 125), "cucimibers (or gourds), melons, and leeks, onions, and garlick" (Num. xi. 5), of which the gourd (/«(s, Arabic kuz), melon {abtikh, Arabic batikh), onion {busl, Arabic busl), and garlick {torn, Arabic torn) retain their names in Egypt to the present day. They had also fruits and roots of various kinds; and Diodorus (i. 80) says that children had merely "a little meal of the coarsest kind, the pith of the papyrus, baked under the ashes, and the roots and stalks of marsh-weeds." Beef and goose, ibex, gazelle, oryx, and wild fowl were also presented to the gods; and onions, though forbidden to the priests, always held a prominent place on their altar, with the figl (raphanus, figs. 7, 8), and gom-ds (figs. 5, 6), grapes, figs (espe- cially of the sycamore, figs. 3, 4), corn, and various flowers. ( See ch. 39, woodcut No. II.) Wine, milk, beer, and a profu- sion of cakes and bread, also formed part of the offerings, and incense was pre- sented at every great sacrifice. — [G. W.] ^ Though each city had its presiding deity, many others of neighbouring and of distant towns were also admitted to its temples as contemplar gods, and none were positively excluded except some local divinities, and certain ani- mals, whose sanctity was confined to particular places. In one city Amun was the cliief deity, ;is at Thebes ; in another Pthah, as at Memphis ; in an- other Re (the sunj, as at Heliopolis; and some cities which were consecrated to the same deity were distinguished by the affix "the great," "the lesser,'' as Aphroditopolis, and Diospolis, Magna, and Parva. Many again bore a name not taken from the chief god of the place; but every city and every sanc- tuary had its presiding deity, with con- templar gods, who were members of the general Pantheon — those of a neigh- bouring town generally holding a con- spicuous post in the temple, after the chief deity of the place. Each town had also a triad composed of the great god of the place and two other members. Many local deities scarcely went be- 1 yond their own city or nome; and some animals, sacred in one province, were held in abhorrence in another. Thus, the inhabitants of Ombos, Athribis, and the Northern Crocodilopolis 'afterwards called Arsinoe), near the Lake Mceris, honoured the crocodile; those of Ten - tyris, Heracleopolis, and Apollinopolis Magna were its avowed enemies; and as the Ombites fought with the Tentyrites in the cause of their sacred animal, so a war was waged between the Oxy- rhinchites and Cynopolites in conse- quence of the former having eaten a dog, to avenge an aflfront offered by the Cynopolites, who had brought to table the sacred fish of Oxj'rhinchus, (Plut. de Isid. v. 44.) The reason of these local honours was not originally connected with religion ; and the sanc-"~1 titj' of the crocodile, and of certain fish, 1 at Crocodilopolis, Oxyrhinchus, and / other places distant from the Nile, was ,( instituted in order to induce the in- 1 habitants to keep up the canals. All, . it is true, worshipped Osiris, as well as his sister Isis, for as he was judge of the dead, all were equally amenable to his tribunal ; but it cannot be said that he and Isis were the only deities wor- shipped throughout Egypt, since Amun, Pthah, and the other great gods, and many also of the second, as well as of the third order, were universally vene- rated.— [G. W.] ^ See below, note ^ on ch. 48. " Osh-is," says Diodorus, '• has been considered Chap. 42. SHEEP OFFEEED AT MENDES. 65 dedicated to Mendes/ or belong to the Mendesian canton, abstain from offering goats, and sacrifice sheep instead. The Thebans, and such as imitate them in tlieh practice, give the following account of the origin of the custom : — " Hercules," they say, " wished of all things to see Jove, but Jove did not choose to be seen of him.^ At length, when Hercules persisted, Jove hit on a device — to flay a ram, and, cutting off his head, hold the head before him, and cover himself with the fleece. In this guise he showed himself to Hercules." Therefore the Egyptians give their statues of Jupiter the face of a ram : ^ and from them the the same as Sarapis, Bacchus, Pluto, or Ammon ; others have thought him Jupiter; many Pan:' and he endeavours to identify him with the sun, and Isis Avith the moon. But these notions were owing to similarities being traced in the attributes of certain gods of the Greek and Egyptian Pantheons, and one often possessed some that belonged to several. Thus the principal cha- racter of Osiris was that of Pluto, be- cause he was Judge of the dead, and ruler of Amenti or Hades ; and he Avas supposed to be Bacchus, when he lived on earth, and taught man to till the land.— [G. Λν.] ' The mounds of Ashmoun, on the caual leading to MenzaJeh, mark the site of Mendes. The Greeks considered Pan to be both Mendes and Khem : they called Chemmis in Upper Egypt Pano- polis, and gave the capital of the Men- desian nome to Pan, who was said by Herodotus (ch. 46) to have been figured with the head and legs of a goat. Un- fortunately no monument remains at Ashmoun to give the name and form of the god of Mendes ; but it is certain that he was not Khem, the "Pan of Thebes" {Jlav Θ-ηβων), who had the attributes of Priapus, and was one of the great gods. Maudoo again (or Munt), whose name appears to be related to Mendes, had the head of a hawk: and no god of the Egyptian Pantheon is re- presented with the head and legs of a goat. The notion is Greek ; and Ja- blonski is quite right in saying that Mendes did not signify a "goat." There is a tablet in the British Museum (No. 356) with a goat represented much in the same manner as an Apis ; but the legend over it contains no reference to Mendes. Khem, like the Greek Pan, was " universal nature ;" and as he presided over everything generated, he was the god of vegetable as well as ani- YOL. II. mal life ; and though the god of gardens had with the Greeks another name, he was really the same deity under his phallic form. -[G. W.] * This fable accords with the sup- posed meaning of the name of Amun, which Manetho says was " conceal- ment;" but the reason of the god hav- ing the head of an animal would apply to so many others, that it ceases to do so to any one in particular. Hecatseus derived Amun from a word signifying " come," in allusion to his being invoked ' Plut. de Isid. 5. 9) ; and lamblichus says it implies that which brings to light, or is manifested. Amoni means "envelope" and amoine is "come." — [G. W.] 5 See above, notes ^, ', on ch. 29. The god Noum iNou, Noub, or Nef), with a ram's head, answered to Jupiter, and he was the first member of the Triad of the Cataracts, composed of Noum, Sate, and Anouke C Jupiter, Juno, and Vesta). Amun again was also con- sidered the same as Jupiter, because he was the King of the Gods: and it was from his worship that Thebes received the name of Diospolis, " the city of Jove," answering to No- Amun or Amun- na of the Bible (Jer. xlvi. 25 ; Ezek. xxx. 14, 15, 16), . the Amun-ei (" abode 1 of Amun"), CTH or Amun-ei Na (" the great abode of Amun " or " Amunei" only ?) of ^ /ww the sculptures. Amun and Noum, having both some of the attributes of Jupiter, naturally became confounded by the Greei^s; and the custom of one god occasionally receiving the attributes of another doubtless led them into error. The greatest interchange, how- ever, was between Amun and Khem ; F 06 SACRIFICE OF A ]1A:M AT THEBES. Book IT. practice has passed to the Amnionians, Λνΐιο are a joint colony of Egyptians and Ethiopians, speaking a language between the two ; hence also, in my oi)inion, the latter people took their name of Ammonians, since the Egyptian name for Jupiter is Amun. Such, then, is the reason why the I'hebans do not sacrifice rams, but consider them sacred animals. Upon one day in the year, however, at the festival of Jupiter, they slay a single ram, and stripping off the fleece, cover Avith it the statue of that god, as he once covered himself, and then bring up to the statue of Jove an image of Hercules. When this has been done, the whole assembly beat their breasts in mourning for the ram, and after- wards bury him in a holy sepulchre. 43. The account which I received of this Hercules makes him one of the twelve gods.^ Of the other Hercules, with whom the but as this was only at Thebes, and little known to the Greeks, the same misapprehension did not take place, and Khem by the Greeks was only con- sidered to be Pan. Yet Pan again was supposed by them to be Mendes; and the two names of Amun and Amuure, given to the same god, would probably have perplexed the Gi-eeks, if they had happened to j)erceive that additional title of Amun. It is, however, only right to say that the Ethiopians fre- quently gave the name of Amun to the ram-headed Noum, and, being their greatest god, was to them what Jupiter was to the Greeks. See my note on Book iv. ch. 181.— [G. W.] ^ Here again the same confusion occurs, from the claims of two gods to the chai-acter of Hercules — Khons, the third member of the Theban Triad, and Moui, who is called " Son of the Sun." The latter was the god of Sebennytus, where he was known under the name of Gem, Sem, or Gemuouti, whence the Coptic appellation of that city Gem- nouii. There was another Heracleo- piilis, the capital of a name of the same name, which is now marked by the mounds of Anasieh, the Hues of the Copts, a little to the south of the en- trance to the Fyoom. Moui appears to be the splendour or force of the sun, and hence the god of power, a divine attribute — the Greek Hercules being strength, a gift to man. The Egyptian Hercules Λvas the abstract idea of divine power, and it is not therefore surprising that Herodotus could learn nothing of the Greek Hercules, vi'ho Avas a hero unknown in Egypt. The connexion be- tween strength and heat may be traced even in the Gi'eek appellation of Her- cules. Alcides, his patronymic 'taken from his grandfather Alcseus) and the name of his mother Alcmasna, were de- rived from α\κ-η, "strength;" and Her- cules may even be related to the Semitic har, harh, " heat," or " bui'ning " (analo- gous to the Teutonic liar, "fire"^, and perhaps to aor, "light," in Hebrew, or to the Hor (Horus) of Egypt. The Etruscans called him Herkle, or Ercle. In the Hebrew, "Samson" recalls the name of Sem, the Egyptian Hercules. Hercules being the sun, the twelve laboiu's of the later hero may haΛ'e been derived from the twelve signs of the zodiac. Hercules, as Herodotus, Ma- crobius, and others state, was particu- larly Λvorshil3ped at Tyre; " but," adds Macrobius, " the Egyptians venerate him with the most sacred and august rites, and look upon the period when his worship was first adopted by them as beyond the reach of all memorials. He is believed to have killed the Giants, when in the character of the valour of the gods he fought in defence of Heaven ;" which accords with the title of a Avork called " Semnuthis," written by ApoUo- nides or Horapius(inTheophil. Antioch. ad Autolyc. 2. 6), describing the wai-s of the Gods against the Giants, and recalls the Egyptian title of the god of Seben- nytus. Cicero mentions one Hercules Λvho wa3 ' ' Nilogeuitus ;" but Hercules was derived by the Greeks from the Phoenicians rather than from Egypt. See note" on ch. 44, and uote^ ch. 171. -[G. W.] Chap. 42, 43. GEECIAN AXD EGYPTIAN HERCULES. 67 Greeks are familiar, I could hear nothing in any part of Egypt. That the Greeks, however (those I mean who gave the son of Amphitryon that name), took the name ^ from the Egyptians, and not the Egyptians from the Greeks,^ is I think clearly proved, among other arguments, by the fact that both the parents of Hercules, Amphitryon as well as Alcmeua, were of Egyptian origin.* Again, the Eg\^tians disclaim all knowledge of the names of Neptune and the Dioscuri,^ and do not include them in the number of their gods ; but had they adopted the name of any god from the Greeks, these would have been the likeliest to obtain notice, since the Egyptians, as I am well convinced, prac- tised navigation at that time, and the Greeks also were some of them mariners, so that they would have been more likely to knoAv the names of these gods than that of Hercules- But the Egyptian Hercules is one of theii• ancient gods. Seventeen thousand years before the reign of Amasis, the twelve gods were, they affirm, produced from the eight : ^ and of these twelve, Hercules is one. 2 Herodotus, who derived his know- ledge of the Egyptian religion from the professional interpreters, seems to have regarded the word " Hercules " as Egyp- tian. It is scarcely necessary to say that no Egyptian god has a name from which that of Hercules can by any pos- sibility have been formed. The word (Ήρακληϊ; seems to be pure Greek, and has been reasonably enough derived fi'om "Ηρα, "the goddess Juno," and K\ios •' gloiy " (see Scott and Liddell's Lexicon, p. 597). 3 See the last note but one. The ten- dency of the Greeks to claim an indige- nous origin for the deities they borrowed from strangers, and to substitute phy- sical for abstract beings, readily led them to invent the story of Hercules, and e\ery diijyuis vindice nodus \\&3 cut by the interposition of his marvellous strength. Even the Ai-abs call forth some hero to account for natural phe- nomena, or whatever wonderful action they think right to attribute to man ; and the opening of the Straits of Gibraltar is declared by Edrisi to haA'e been the work of Alexander the Great; any stupendous building is ascribed to Antar; and Solomon (like Melampus in Greek fable) is supposed to have ex- plained the language of animals and birds — -a science said by Philostratus to have been learnt from the Arabs by ApoUonius Tyana;us (i. 14). In order to account for the discrepancies in the time when Hercules was supposed to have lived, the Greeks made out three, the oldest being the Egyptian and the son of Jove, another of Crete, and the youngest was the hero, also a son of Jove. Some Latin writers (as Varro) increased the number to forty-three. The Cretan Hei'cules was also related to the god of Egypt; and the latter, as Moui, was intimately connected with the funeral rites, and was generally painted black in the tombs of Thebes.— [G. W.] '' The parentage of the former was Alcaius, Perseus, Jupiter, and Danae, Acrisius, Aba-s, Lynceus (who manned a daughter of Danaus), .^gyptus, the twm-brother of Danaus, the son of Belus. Alcmena was daughter of Elec- tryon, the son of Perseus. This accords with what Herodotus mentions (ch. 91) of Perseus, Danaus, and Lynceus having been natives of Chemmis, and connects them all with the sun. — [G. W.] * Herodotus is quite right in saying that these gods were not in the Egyp- tian Pantheon. See note* on ch. 5U, and note 5 ch. 91.— [G. W.] ^ This is the supposed period from Hercules to Amasis; and 15,000 were reckoned from Bacchus to Amasis (ch. 14-5). According to Manetho, the Egyp- tians believed that the gods reigned on earth before men. The first were Vulcan, the Sun, Agathoda;mon, Chro- nos (Saturn), Osiris, Typhon (or Seth), Horus (which four last are found also F 2 68 VISIT TO THE TEMPLE AT TYRE. Book II. 44. In the wish to get the best information that I could on these matters, I made a voyage to Tyre in Phex-nicia, hearing there was a temple of Hercules at that place,^ very highly vene- in this order in the Turin Papyrus). The royal authority then continued througli a long succession to Bytis (or Bites), occupying 13.900 years 13,900 Tlien after the Gods reigned Heroes .... 1255 Other kings 1817 30 other (.') Memphite liings 1790 loThinites. .... 350 JVIanes and demigods . . 5813 Sum Total . 11,000 or really 11,025 24,925 which agrees very nearly with the sum given by Eusebius, from Mauetho, of 'J-t,9u0, from the beginning of the reign of Vulcan to Menes. Syucellus, again, on the authority of Manetho, gives the reigns of the gods thus : — Reigned years. Reduced fiom 1. Vulcan .... 727i .. .. 9000 2. Helios . . 3. Agathodffimon 4. Chronos . 5. Osiris and Isis 6. Typhon . . 7. Horus the demigod 80^ 40i 35 29 25 992 700 501 433 359 309 994 reduced from 12,294 8. Mars the demigod 9. Anubis id. 10. Hercules id. 11. Apollo id. 12. Amnion id. 13. Tithoes id. 14. Zosos id. 15. Jupiter id. Years reduced to . . . .189 from about 2338. In this list the relative positions of Osiris (Bacchus) and Hercules do not agree with the statement of Herodotus ; and in deducting the sums of 12,29i + 680 (to the end of Hercules' reign) = 12,574 from the total rule of the gods, or 24,925, we have 11,951 years; and this added to the 2799 of Manetho's lists, from Menes to the end»of Amasis, gives 14,750 years from Hercules, or 15,418 years from Osiris to the end of Amasis. But it sufficiently appears from the names in the above list that it is not even certain the Egyptians calculated in this manner ; and the Turin Papyrus gives, after Horus, Thoth (who seems to have reigned 7226 years), and Thmei, and apparently Horus (the younger) ; after whom seems to come the first King Menes ; or a summation of demi-god.s, followed by the name of Menes. It is however possible that Herodotus wa-s told of some list similar to the one above. See Tn. P. K. W., p. 7 to 11.— [G. W.] ' The temple of Hercules at Tyre was very ancieut, and, according to Hero- dotus, as old as the city itself, or 2.300 years before his time, i. e. about 2755 B.C. Hercules presided over it under the title of Melkarth, or Melek-Kartha, "king" (lord) of the city. (See note ^ on ch. 32.) Diodorus also 'i. 24) speaks of the antiquity of Hercules ; and his antiquity is fully established, in spite of the doubts of Plutarch. (De Herod. Mai.). The Phoenicians settled at the Isle of Thasos, on account of its gold mines, which they first discovered there (Herod, vi. 46, 47; Apollodor. iii. 1), as they were the first to visit Britain for its tin. Pausanias says the Thasians being of Phoenician origin, coming with Agenor and other PhcEuicians from Tyre, dedicated a temple to Hercules at Olympia. They worshipped the same Hercules as the Tyi-ians (Pausan. v. XXV. § 7), and Apollodorus (iii. 1) states that Thasos, son of Poseidon (Neptune), or, according to Pherecydes, of Cilix, going in qviest of Europa, founded the Thracian Thasus. Phoenix went to Phoenicia, Cilix to Cilicia, Cadmus and Telephus to Thrace. The Melcarthus mentioned by Plutarch (de Is. s. 15) as a king of Byblos, and his queen Astarte, were the Hercules and Astarte (Venus) of Syi-ia ; the latter called also Saosis and Nemanoun. answering to the Greek name Athenais. The Temple of Her- cules is supposed to have stood on the hill close to the aqueduct, about H mile .east of the modern town, which last occupies part of insular Tyre taken by Alexander. The temple mai-ks the site of the early city. As the Temple of Hercules at Tyre was the oldest of that deity in Syria, so that of Venus Urania, or Astarte, at Askalon, was the oldest of that goddess. In 2 Maccabees iv. 18, 20, mention is Chap. 44. THE EMERALD PILLAR. 69 rated. I visited the temple, and found it richly adorned with a number of offerings, among which were two pillars, one of pm-e gold, the other of emerald,* shining with great brilliancy at night. made of a great game every fifth year, kept at Tyre, with sacrifices to Hercules. The absurdity of connecting the name Melicertes with " honey," as in the Gnostic Papyrus, is obvious. (See note ^ on ch. 83.) The sea deity, Melicertes of Corinth, afterwards called Paltemon, was only an adaptation of a foreign god. The Tyriau Hercules was originally the sun, and the same as Baal, "the lord," which, like Melkarth, was only a title. Hercules and Venus (Astarte) were really nature deified, one representing the generating, or vivifying, and the other the producing principle ; hence the mother goddess. The sun was chosen as the emblem of the first, and the earth of the second, or sometimes the moon, being looked upon as the companion of the sun. This nature system will explain the reason of so many gods having been connected with the sun in Egypt and elsewhere ; as Adonis (Adonai, " our Lord") was the sun in the winter solstice.— [G. W.] ^ This pillar is mentioned by Theo- phrastus 'Lap. 23), and Pliny (H. N. xxxvii. 5). The former expresses an opinion that it was false. [It was probably of glass, which is known to have been made in Egypt at least 3800 years ago, having been found bearing the name of a Pharaoh of the 18th dynasty. The monuments also of the 4th dynasty show the same glass bottles (see woodcut, n.'', ch. 77) were used then as in later times, and glass- blowing is represented in the paintings from the 12th to the 2uth dynasty, and also in those of the 4th at the tombs near the Pyramids. Various hues were given to glass by the Egyptians, and this invention became in after times a great favourite at Rome, where it was much sought for ornamental purposes, for bottles and other common utensils, and even for windows, one of which was discovered at Pompeii. (Comp. Seneca, Ep. 90 ; de Benef. vii. 9 ; and de Vi§,, iii. 40.) The manufacture appears to have been introduced under the Empire. They also cut, giOund, and engraved glass, and had even the art of intro- ducing gold between two surfaces of the substance ; specimens of all which I have, as well as of false pearls from Thebes, scarcely to be distinguished from real ones, if buried the same number of years. Pliny even speaks of glass being malleable. The glass of Egypt was long famous (Athen. xi. p. 784 c), and continued so to the time of Part 1. Part 2. 70 THE THASIAN HERCULES. ErK)K TI. In a conversation which I held with the priests, I inquired how long their temple had heen bnilt, and found by their ansAver that they, too, differed from the Greeks. I'hey said that the temple was built at the same time that the city was founded, and that the foundation of the city took place t\vo thousand tliree hundred years ago. In Tyre I remarked another temple where the same god was worshipped as the Thasian Hercules. 80 I went on to Thasos,^ Avhere I found a temple of Hercules which had been built by the Phoenicians who colonised that island when they sailed in search of Europa.^ Even this was five generations the Empire. Strabo (xvi. p. 1077) men- tions its many colours, and one very perfect kind which could only be made with a particular vitreous eai-th found in that country; and the ruins of glass furnaces are still seen at the Natron Lakes. Of all stones, says Pliny, the emerald was the most easily imitated (xxvii. 12) ; and the colossus of Sarapis in the Egyptian Labyrinth, 9 cubits (between 13 and 14 feet) high and others mentioned by Pliny (xxxvii. δ) were doubtless of glass ; like the λίθινα χντα of Herodotus (infra, ch. 69. See At. Eg. W. vol. iii. p. 88 to 107.). There seems every probability that glass was first in- vented in Egypt ; and fires lighted fre- quently on the sand in a country pro- ducing natron, or subcarbonate of soda, would be more likely to disclose the secret than the solitary accident of sailors using blocks of natron for sup- porting their saucepans on the sea-shore of Syi'ia, as stated by Pliny (xxxvi. 65). Pliny's nitrum is "natron," and the natron district was called Nitriotis. — [G. W.] * Thasos, which still retains its name, is a small island οΰ the Thracian coast, opposite to the mouth of the Nestus [Karasu). It seems to have been a very early Phoenician settlement (infrii, vi. 46, 47). 1 This signifies exploring the "west- em lands," Europa being Ereb (the Arabic gharb), "the west." It is the same word as Erebus, or " darkness ; " and Europa is said to be χώρα τηί δυσβωϊ, η σκοτΐΐντ) — Εΰρωττόν, σκοτΐΐνόν. (Hesych. comp. Eur. Iph. in Taur. v. 626.) The same word occurs in Hebrew, where 3~l'y signifies "mixed," or "grey coloiu•," and is applied to the evening, and sun-setting, to the raven and to the Arabs; — "the mingled people (Arabs) that dv/ell in the desert." (Jerem. xxv. 20, 24.) The story of Europa was really Phoenician colonisation, represented as a princess, carried to Crete, their first and nearest colony, by Jupitei-, under the form of a bull, where she became the mother of Minos. Hence Europa is called by Homer (II. xiv. 321) a daughter of Phoenix, whom some con- sider her brother; and his voyage to Africa in search of Europa ("the west") points to Phoenician colonisation there also. There can be no doubt that the name of the "Arabs" was also given from their living at the icestemmost part of Asia ; and their own word Gharb, the "West," is another form of the original Semitic name Arab. The Arabs write the two i_j>*£ Gharh,^jyS.Arab ; and their ghorab, "crow," answers to the Hebrew 3"iy, "raven;" which last is called by them ghorab Nooh, "Noah's crow." The name Arab, "western," may either have been given them by a Semitic people who lived more to the East, or even by themselves. The Arabs call the North " Shemal," or "the left," i. e. looking towards sunrise ; and Yemen means " the right." The Portuguese title, "Prince of the Algarves," is from al Gharb, "the West." The Egyptians called Hades " Amenti ; " and the name for the "AVest," Emcnt, shows the same rela- tionship as between Erebus and the West. Again, " Hesperia," the Greek name for Italy, was the "West," like the fabled gardens of the Hesperides; and the Phoenicians, Greeks, and others, talked of "the UVsi" as we do of "the East." The name of Cadmus, the Phoe- nician who gave lettei-s to Greece, is of similar import; and he is a mythical, not a real, personage. His name Καώη signifies the "East," as in Job, i. 3, where Beni Kudin are "sons of the East," and Cadmus was therefore re- Chap. U, 45. HERCULES THE GOD— HEECULES THE HERO. 71 earlier than the time when Hercules, son of Amphitryon, was born in Greece. These researches show plainly that there is an ancient god Hercules ; and my own opinion is, that those Greeks act most wisely who build and maintain two temples of Hercules,^ in the one of Avhich the Hercules worshipped is known by the name of Olympian, and has sacrifice offered to him as an im- mortal, while in the otlier the honours paid are such as are due to a hero. 4o. The Greeks tell many tales without due investigation, and among them the following silly fable respecting Hercules : — " Hercules," they say, " went once to Egypt, and there the inhabitants took him, and putting a chaplet on his head, led him out in solemn procession, intending to offer him a sacrifice to Jupiter. For a Avliile he submitted quietly ; but when they led him up to the altar and began the ceremonies, he put forth his strength and slew them all." Now to me it seems that such a story proves the Greeks to be utterly ignorant of the character and customs of the people. The Egyptians do not think it allowable even to sacrifice cattle, excepting sheep, and the male kine and calves, provided they be pure, and also geese. How, then, can it be believed that thev would sacrifice men?^ And puted to be a brother of Europa. crifices, are merely emblematic repre- Kadm, or Kud^em, also signifies " old " seutations of his conquests, which there- in Hebrew, as in Arabic ; and the name fore occur also on the monuments of in this sense too might apply to Cad- the Ptolemies. It is possible that m mus. In Semitic languages the East, their earliest days they maj^ hare had old, before, to present, to i/o forward, a human sacrifices, like the Greeks and foot, &c., are all related. — [G. AV.] others ; and the symbolic group meaning - Later «Titers made three (Diod. a "\''ictim" (supra, n.-ou ch. oS) may Sic. iv. 39), six (Cic. de Xat. Deor. have been derived from that custom, iii. 16), and even a gi'eater number of Some notion maj' be had of the antiquity Herculeses. In Greece, however, temples of Egyptian civilisation, if we recollect seem to have been ei'ected only to two. the period when the Greeks first Avent (See Pausan. v. xiv. § 7; ix. xxvii. § 5, aboxit the city unarmed, and how far &c.) they had advanced before that took ^ Herodotus here denies, with reason, place. The Athenians were the first the possibility of a people mth laws, and Greeks who did this; and some Λvore a character like those of the Egyptians, arms even in the time of Thucydides. having human sacrifices. Thisveryaptly (Thucyd. i. 5.) It is not long since refutes the idle tales of some ancient modern E\u-ope discontinued the custom, authors, which, to our surprise, have and the Dalmatian peasants are still even been I'epeated in modern times, armed. If Herodotus had submitted The absurdity of Amosis having been every story of Greek ciceroni to his the first to abolish them is glaring, since οΛνη judgment, and had rejected those the Egyptians had ages before been that were inadmissible, he would have sufficiently civilised to lay aside their avoided giving many false impressions arms, and to have institutions incom- respecting the Egyptians (as in chaps, patible with the toleration of a human 46, Γ21, 126, l;il, and other places), sacrifice. The figures of captives on the On human sacrifices in old times, see facades of the temples slain by the king, note ' on ch. 119. — [G. W.] often hastily supposed to be human sa- 72 EGYPTIAN DISLIKK OF SWINEHERDS. Book TI. again, how would it liave been jjossible for Hercules alone, and, as tlicy conless, a mere mortal, to destroy so many thousands ? In saying thus much concerning these matters, may I incur no displeasure cither of god or hero ! 4G. I mentioned above that some of the Egyptians abstain from sacrificing goats, either male or female. The reason is the following : — These Egyptians, who are the Mendesians, consider Pan to be one of the eight gods who existed before the t\velve, and Pan is represented in Egypt by the j^ainters and the sculp- tors, just as he is in Greece, with tlie face and legs of a goaf* They do not, however, believe this to be his shape, or consider him in any respect unlike the other gods ; but they represent him thus for a reason which I prefer not to relate. The Men- desians hold all goats in veneration, but the male more than the female, giving the goatherds of the males especial honour. One is venerated more highly than all the rest, and when he dies there is a great mourning throughout all the Mendesian canton. In Egyptian, the goat and Pan are both called Mendes. 47. The pig is regarded among them as an unclean animal, so much so that if a man in passing accidentally touch a pig, he instantly hurries to the river, and phmges in with all his clothes on. Hence, too, the swineherds, notwithstanding that they are of pure Egyptian blood, are forbidden to enter into any of the temples, which are open to all other Egyptians ; and fui'ther, no one Avill give his daughter in marriage to a swineherd, or take a wife from among them, so that the swineherds are forced to intermarry among themselves. They do not offer swine ^ in * In the original, ' ' with the face of a this ceremony commemoi'ated the find- goat, and the legs of a he-goat," — which ing of the body of Osiris by Typhon, seems to be a distinction without a when he was hunting by the light of the difference. No Egyptian God is really moon. (De Is. s. 18.) The reason of represented in this way (At. Eg. W. the meat not being eaten was its un- i. p. 260); but the goat, according to wholesomeness, on which account it some Egyptologers, Λvas the symbol and Λvas forbidden to the Jews and Mos- representative of Ivhem, the Pan of the lems ; and the prejudice naturally ex- Egyptians. (See Bunsen's Egypt, vol. tended from the animal to those who i. p. 374, and compare notes', ", on ch. kept it, as at present in India and other 42.) parts of the East, where a Hindoo or a * The pig is rarely represented in the Moslem is, like an ancient Egyptian, sculptures of Thebes. The flesh was defiled by the touch of a pig, and looks forbidden to the priests, and to all with horror on those who tend it and eat ' initiated in the mysteries, and it seeuis its flesh. On this point a remarkable dif- only to have been allowed to others ference existed between the Egyptians once a year at the fete of the full moon, and Greeks; and most people would when it was sacrificed to the Moon, scruple to giA'e to a swineherd the title The Moon and Bacchus (supposed to " divine" (as Homer does), even though be Isis and Osiris) were the only deities they might not feel the same amount of to whom it Λvas sacrificed, if we may prejudice as the Egyptians. Pigs are believe Plutarch, who pretends that not found in the Egyptian sculptui-es Chap. 45-48. SWINE SACRIFICED TO THE MOON. 73 sacriiice to any of their gods, excepting Bacchus and the Moon, whom they honour in this way at the same time, sacrificing pigs to both of them at the same full moon, and afterwards eating of the flesh. There is a reason alleged by them for theh detestation of swine at all other seasons, and their use of them at this festival, with which I am well acquainted, but which I do not think it proper to mention. The following is the mode in which they sacrifice the swine to the Moon : — As soon as the victim is slain, the tip of the tail, the spleen, and the caul are put together, and ha\ang been covered with all the fat that has been found in the animal's belly, are straightway burnt. The remainder of the flesh is eaten on the same day that the sacrifice is offered, which is the day of the full moon : at any other time they would not so much as taste it. The poorer sort, who cannot aiford live pigs, form pigs of dough, Avhich they bake and ofi'er in sacrifice. 48. To Bacchus, on the eve of his feast, every Egyptian sacri- fices a hog before the door of his house, which is then given back to the swineherd by whom it was furnished, and by him carried away. In other respects the festival is celebrated almost exactly as Bacchic festivals are in Greece," excepting that the Egyptians befoi-e the time of the 18th dynasty; but this is no proof that they were not known in Egypt before that time. — [G. W.] 6 Plutarch (de Is. ss. 12 and 36), in speaking of the Paamylia, attributes to Osins what really belongs to the god Khem — the generative principle; and Herodotus also evidently alludes to Osiris on this occasion. The reason of this may be that the attributes of various gods were not very distinctly explained to foreigner, who were taught nothing but what was said to relate to Isis and Osiris, in whose mysteries several myths were combined, and others added which tended to mystify i-ather than to explain them : for it is evident that the Greeks did not understand the nature of the Egyptian gods, and many of the events related by them in the history of Osiris are at variance with the monuments of Egypt. Bacchus is certainly the god of the Greeks who corresponds to Osiris, and his dying and rising again, his being put into a chest and thrown into the sea, and the instructions he gave to mankind, are evidently derived from the story of Osiris ; and the ' ' histories on which the most solemn feasts of Bacchus, the Titania and Nuktelia, are founded, exactly correspond (as Plu- tarch says, de Is. s. 35) vdth what are related of the cutting to pieces of Osiris, of his rising again, and of his new life." Wreaths and festoons of ivy, or 74 CEREMONY Book IT. liave no choral dances.'' They also use instead of ])hal]i another invention, consisting of images a enbit high, pulled by strings, which the women carry round to the villages. A piper goes in front,** and the women follow, singing hymns in honour of rather of the wild convolvulus, or of the periploca sccamone, often appear at ligyptian fetes. For ivy is not a plant of the Nile, though Plutarch says it was there called chenosiris, or "plant of Osiris" (de Is. s. 37; Diod. i. 17 1, and the leaves being sometimes re- presented haii'y, are in favour of its being the secanone (fig. 4). It may have been chosen from some quality attri- buted to its milky juice, like the sonui of India, a juice extracted from the asclcpias acida, Λvhich plays a divine j)art in the Vedas, and is in the Zeud- wine-skins, and afterwards into am- phoric; but the thyrsus was also repre- sented as a spear having its point " con- cealed in ivy leaves: " " Pampineis agitat 6 Avesta of Persia. (See Jour. Americ. Or. Soc. vol. iii. No. 2, p. 299.) The thyrsus is shown by Plutarch to be the staff (fig. 1), often bound by a fillet, to which the spotted skin of a leopard is suspended near the figure of Osiris ; for it is the same that the high priest, clad in the leopard skin dress, carries in the processions (Plut. de Is. s. 35j. Another form of it is the head of a water-plant (similar to that in fig. 3), to which Atlienicus (Deipn. v. p. 196) eA'idently alludes when he speaks of some columns having the form of palm-trees, and others of the thjrsns. The adoption of the pine-cone to head the spear of Bacchus originated in the use of the resinous matter put into velatam frondibus hastam." (Ovid, Met. iii. G67; comp. xi. 27, &c. Diodor. iii. G4. Athen. Deipn. xiv. 631 A.) Thus the poets generally describe it, as well as the paintings on Greek vases ; and if the pine-cone was preferred for statues of Bacchus, that was probably from its being better suited to sculpture. The resemblance of the nelris, and the Se- mitic name of the leopard, nimr, is striking, the car of Bacchus being drawn by leopards; and Bochart points to the analogy between Nebrodes, a title of Bacchus and Nimrod, who is called by Philo-Judffius '■ Xebrod." The pine- cone was adopted by the Arabs as an ornament in architecture at an early time, and passed thence to Cashmire shawls and embroidery. — [G. W.] '' The reading χορών hei'e is jireferable to χοίρων, for the Greeks did sacrifice a pig at the festivals of Bacchus, as their authors and sculptures show. The τρίττϋα consisted of an ox, a sheep, and a pig, like the Roman suoietaurilia ; and Eustathius on Horn. Od. xx. 156, says the Ithacans sacrificed three pigs at the feast of the new moon. — [G. W.] * The instrument used was probably the double-pipe ; but some consider it the flute (properly the πλογίαυλο?, or ohliqua tibia), which was also an Egyptian instrument. It was played by men fig. 8; and woodcut in n. ', ch. 58, figs. 3, 5), but the double-pipe more frequently by women (see woodcut Xo. III. fig. 3.) The latter was a very common instrument with Chap. 48. OF THE IMAGE. 75 Bacchus. They give a religious reason for the peculiarities of the image. the Greeks, and its noisy and droning tones are still kept up in the Znnuira of modern Egypt. The flute, however, was a common instrument in Egypt on sacred occasions (see woodcut in n. ^, ch. .'58), and one or more m\i.sical instru- ments were present at every Egyptian procession. The clapping of hand?and the crutida, the tambourine, and the harp, were also commonly introduced 76 MELAMPUS TAUGHT THE GREEKS Book ΤΓ. 49. Melampus," the son of Amytlioon, cannot (I tliink) have been ignorant of this ceremony — nay, he must, I should con- on festive occasions, as ΛνβΠ as the and when soldiers attended, they had voice, which Hometimes accompanied the trumpet and drum 'woodcut No. two harj», a single pipe, and a flute: II. figs. 1, 2). A greater vai'iety of in- No. 11. struments was admitted to private parties ; the harp of four, six, seven, to tv?enty-two strings ; the guitar of three ; the lyre of five, seven, ten, and eighteen strings ; the double-pipe, the flute, the have been mostly used by the minstrels of certain deities. The lyres were of very varied sharp tone, and they may be supposed to answer to the nabl, sambuc, and " ten "-stringed ashur of the Jews. The varieties of lyres in Nos. IV. v., and VI. may serve to No. IV. square and the round tambourine, the crotala or wooden clappers, were very common there ; but cymbals appear to illustrate some of the numerous instru- ments mentioned by Julius Pollux (iv. 9), Athenieus ! iv. 25), and other ancient writei-s. The sistrum was peculiarly a Chap. 49. THE WOESHIP OF BACCHUS, 77 ceive, have been well acquainted with it. He it was who intro- duced into Greece the name of Bacchus, the ceremonial of his worship, and the procession of the phallus. He did not, however, so completely apprehend the whole doctrine as to be able to com- municate it entirely, but various sages since his time have carried out his teaching to greater perfection. Still it is certain that Melampus introduced the phallus, and that the Greeks learnt from him the ceremonies which they now practise. I therefore maintain that Melampus, who was a wise man, and had acquired the art of divination, having become acquainted with the Avorship of Bacchus through knowledge derived from Egypt, introduced it into Greece, with a few slight changes, at the same time that he brought in various other practices. For I can by no means allow that it is by mere coincidence that the Bacchic ceremonies in Greece are so nearly the same as the Egyptian — they would then have been more Greek in their character, and less recent in their origin. Much less can I admit that the Egyptians bor- No. VI. sacred instrument, and it was to the queen and prince^es that its use was entrusted, or to other ladies of rank who held the important office of ac- companying the king or the high priest, while making libations to the gods. See above, note ^ on ch. 35, and At. Eg. W. vol. ii. p. 222 to 327 on the music and instruments of the Egyptians. — [G. W.] ^ Either Melampus, as some maintain, really existed, and travelling into Egypt brought back certain ceremonies into Greece, or he was an imaginary person- age ; and the fable was intended to show that the Greeks borrowed some of their religious ceremonies from Egypt. This name " blackfoot " would then have been invented to show their origin. The name of Egypt, Chemi, signified " black.'••— [G. W.] 78 NAMES OF THE GREEK GODS FROM EGYPT. Book IT. rowed these customs, or any other, from the Greeks. My belief is that Moliunpus got his knowledge of them from Cadmus the Tyrian, and the followers whom ho brought from Phoenicia into the country which is now called Boeotia.^ 50. Almost all the names of the gods came into Greece from Egypt.^ My inquiries prove that they were all derived from a ί The settlement of a body of PhcEiii- cians in the country called afterwards BcEotia, is regarded by Herodotus as an undoubted fact. (See, besides the pre- sent passage, v. 57-8, where the Gephy- raeans are referred to this migration.) lie does not, however, seem to have had a very distinct notion as to the course by which the strangers reached Greece (compare ii. 44, with iv. 147). Some moderns, as C. 0. Miiller (Orchom. ch. iv. pp. 113-122), Welcker (Ueber eine Kretische Colonie in Theben), and Wachsmuth (Antiq. i. 1. § 11), entirely discredit the whole story of a Phoenician settlement, which they regard as the in- vention of a late era. Others, as Mr. Grote (Hist, of Greece, vol. ii. p. 357), profess their inability to determine the cjuestion. But the weight of modern authority is in favour of the truth of the tradition. (See Niebuhr's Lectures on Ancient History, vol. i. p. 80 ; Thirl- wall's Hist, of Greece, vol. i. ch. 3, pp. 68-9 ; Keurick's Phoenicia, pp. 98-100 ; Biihr, note on Herod, v. 57, &c.) The principal arguments on this side are the following: — 1. The unanimous tradition. 2. The fact that there was a race called Cadmeians at Thebes from very early times, claiming a Phoenician descent, combined with the further fact that "Cad- meian " would bear in the Phoenician tongue a meaning unintelligible to mere Greeks, but which in the early legend it was certainly intended to have, — Cadmus coming in search of Europe being clearly DTp Kedcm, " the East," seek- ing to discover 3"iy Ereb, " the West." 3. The feet that the early worship at Thebes was that of Phoenician deities, as the Cabiri i,see note 'on ch. 51), and Minerva Onca (Cf. Pausan. ix. xii. § 2, and XXV. § 6 ; .Eschj'l. S. c. Th. 153 and 49ΰ ; Euphorion ap. Steph. Byz. ad voc. Ό-γκαϊαι ; Hesych. ad voc. "Oyya, &c.). And, 4. The occurrence of a number of Semitic words in the provincial dialect of Bocotia, as 'EAiei/s for Zeis or the Supreme God (compare Heb. Pl'UX "God"'); βάννα, " woman " or "girl" (Heb. Π33 "woman " or " daughter ") ; αχάν-η 'compare the N33 of the Talmud j, a measure of capacity which the Per- sians and Boeotians seem both to have adopted from the Phoenicians ^cf Aris- toph. Acharn. 108, Hesych. ad voce. άχάνη and αχάναί, Pollux, x. 1G4), σίδα " a pomegi'anate " (comp. Arabic sidrn), &c. The name Thebes itself; is also tolerably near to |*2Π Tliehez i^Judg. ix. 50), a Canaanite town, which the LXX. call Θ-ηβη5, though this resemblance may be accidental. Bochart, however, identifies the two names, and regards Thebes as so called from its "mud," Y'2, since it was situated in a marsh. (See his Geograph. Sac. Part. II. book i. ch. 16.) The cumulative force of these arguments must be allowed to be veiy great. 2 See below, note ® on ch. 51. There is no doubt that the Greeks borrowed sometimes the names, sometimes the attributes, of their deities from Egypt; but Λvhen Herodotus says the names of the Greek gods were always known in Egypt, it is evident that he does not mean they were the same as the Greek, since he gives in other places ''chaps. 42, 59, 138, 144, 156; the Egyptian name to which those very gods agi'ee, whom he mentions in Egypt. Neptune, the Dioscuri, the Graces, and Nereids, were certainly not Egyptian deities ; but Juno was Sate', Vesta Anouke', and Themis was not only an Egyptian goddess, but her name was taken from Thmei, the Egyptian goddess of " Justice " or "Truth;" from which the Hebi'ew de- rived the word Thummim. translated in the Septuagint by ολήθίΐα. The name Nereids was evidently boiTOwed from the idea of "water ;" and though the word is only traced in j/Tjpbs, "moist," in Nereus, the Nereids, i/apbs, " liquid," and some other words in ancient Greek, it has been retained to the present day, through some old provincialism, and vepof, or vepph, still signifies "water" in the Romaic of modern Greece. Comp. the Indian name for "water," and the Chap. 49-51. EGYPTIANS PAY NO HONOURS TO HEROES. 79 foreign som*ce, and my opinion is that Egypt furnished the greater number. For with the exception of Neptune and the Dioscuri,^ whom I mentioned above, and Juno, Vesta, Themis, the Graces, and the Nereids, the other gods have been known from time immemorial in Egypt. This I assert on the authority of the Egyptians themselves. The gods, with whose names they profess themselves unacquainted, the Greeks received, I believe, from the Pelas^i, except Neptune. Of him they got their knowledge from the Libyans,* IBy whom he has been always honoured, and who were anciently the only people that had a god of the name. The Egyj)tians differ from the Greeks also in paying no divine honours to heroes.^ 51. Besides these which have been here mentioned, there are many other practices whereof I shall speak hereafter, which the Greeks have borrowed from Egypt.® The peculiarity, however, divine spirit, Νω•αμαη(α), i.e. " floating on the waters " at the beginning of time in Hindoo mythology ; also the Nerhudda, &c., and nahr, " river," in Arabic. One of the Greek Vulcans mentioned by Cicero (de Nat. Deor. iii. 22) " was the Egyptian Phthas ;" one sun was the god of Heliopolis'ibid. 21), and other deities were from the same Pantheon. — [G.W.] ^ Comp. the two deities Αςυίη, having no particular names, but called simply A(pinau, "the two horsemen," found in the Vedas of India and in the Zend- Avesta. (Jour. Americ. Or. Soc. vol. iii. No. 2, p. 322.)— [G. W.] " Cf. iv. 188. ^ Herodotus is quite correct in saying the Egyptians paid no divine honours to heroes, and their creed would not accord with all the second and third lines of the Golden Verses of Pytha- goras : Άθαι-άτους μίν πρώτα fleou? νόμω ώ? διάκεινται Τι'μα* και σίβον ορκον' εττειτ'Ήρωα? άγαυούς, Tou's Τ6 καταχθονίου? σίβί δαίμονα;, ενί'ομα ρέζων. No Egyptian god was supposed to have lived on earth as a mere man afterwards deified (infra, n. ^ ch. 143) •, and the tradition of Osiris having lived on earth implied that he was a manifestation or Avatar of the Deity — not a real being, but the abstract idea of goodness (like the Indian Booddha). The religion of the Egyptians was the worship of the Deity in all his attributes, and in those things which were thought to partake of his essence ; but they did not transfer a mortal man to his place, though they allowed a king to pay divine honours to a deceased predecessor, or even to him- self, his human doing homage to his di- vine nature. The divine being was like the Divus Imperator of the Romans and a respect was felt for him when good, which made them sacrifice all their dearest interests for his service,: he was far above all mortals, as the head of the religion and the state; and his funeral was celebrated with unusual ceremonies. (Diodor. i. 71, 72.) But this was not divine worship. They did however commit the error of assigning to emblems a degree of veneration, as representatives of deities, which led to gross superstition, as types and relics have often done ; and though the Mos- lems forbid all " partnership " with the Deity in adoration, even they cannot always prevent a bigoted veneration for a saint, or for the supposed footstep of "the Projihet."— [G. W.] ^ We cannot too much admire the candour of Herodotus in admitting tliat the Greeks borrowed from the Egyp- tians, and others who preceded them ; for, as Bacon justly observes, " the writings that relate these fables being not delivered as inventions of the writers but as things before believed and received, appear like a soft whisper from the traditions of more ancient na- tions, conveyed through the flutes of the Grecians." Diodorus fi. 96 i makes the same re- mark, and affirms that "Orpheus in- troduced from Egypt the greatest part of his mythical ceremonies, the orgies that celebrate the wanderings of Ceres, 80 GBEEK RELIGION DERIVED IN PART Book IT. which tlicy observe in their statues of Mercury they did not derive from the E θίρμτ] αναζωττυ- ρ-ησασα uehv ΐποί-ησΐν, "Εσμουνον ύττο Φοινίκων ωνομασμίνον ΐτΛ rrj Θΐρμτ; ttjs ^corjs. Οί 5e τhv'Έσμaυvov oySoov άξιοΟ- σιν ίρμ•ην€ύ(ίν, 'ότι liySoos ήν τφ 2αδυκω παΓί. Damascii Vit. Isidori (a Photio Excerpt.), 302. This mention of Esmoun with Palestine reminds us of the ac- count in the Bible that the Philistines came of an Egyptian stock. Ashmoun would thus be made a sou of Mizraim icomp. Sanchoniatho), as in Arab tradi- tion. Herodotus mentions the Egyptian Cabiri at Memphis (iii. 37), whose temple no one was permitted to enter except the priest alone: they were said to be sons of Vulcan or Pthah fas the Egyptian Asclepius called Emrph, or Aimothph, also was), and, like that god in one of his characters, were represented as pigmy figures. It is not impossible that the Cabiri in Egypt were figured as the god Pthah-Sokar-Osiris, who was a deity of Hades ; and the three names he had agree with the supposed number of the Cabiri of Samothrace. The number 8 VOL. II. might also be thought to accord with that of the eight great gods of Egypt. (See my note on B. iii. ch. 37.) Osk- moimai/n, the Coptic and modern name of Hermopolis in Egypt, signifying the "two eights," was connected with the title of Thoth or Hermes, " lord of the eight regions." — [G. W.] ' The same derivation is given by Eustathius (ad Hom. II. p. 1148-51), and by Clement of Alexandria (Strom, i. 29, p. 427), but the more general be- lief of the Greeks derived the word Oeos from θ(7ν, "currere,'' because the Gods first worshipped were the sun, moon, and stars. (See Plat. Cratyl. p. 397, C. D. Etym. Magn. ad voc. debs, Clemens. Alex. Cohort, ad Gent. p. 22, Strom, iv. 23, p. 633.) Both these derivations are pm-ely fanciful, having reference to the Greek language only, whereas Oehs is a form of a very ancient word common to a number of the Indo-European tongues, and not to be explained from any one of them singly. The earliest form of the word would seem to be the Doric and .Eolic 2δίΜ, afterwards written Zeus. This, by omission of the σ, be- came Sans. Dtjans and dera, Gk. Aivs, Aios, and S7os, Lat. Dens and divus, Li- thuanian diewas, &c. ©ebs is a mere softened form of Atvs or dens, analogous to ψίΰδοΓ, ψύθοϊ ; θάω, Sanscr. dlie ; θάρσω, d'lrc : θίρω, dri/ ; θύρα, door ; &C. With the words Ztvs and Oehs we may connect the old German God Zto, or Tins, whose name under the latter of the forms appears in our word Tacsdai/. Sanscrit scholars trace these many mo- difications of a single word to an old root dir, which they tell us means " to G 82 PELARGI ΛΌΟΓΤ THE EGYPTIAN NAMES OF GODS. Took II. of the gods came to Greece from Egypt, and the Pelasgi learnt them, only as yet they knew nothing of Bacchus, of whom they first heard at a much later date. Not long after the arrival of the names they sent to consult the oracle at Dodona about them. This is the most ancient oracle in Greece, and at that time there was no other. To their question, " Whether they should adopt the names that had been imported from the foreigners?" the oracle replied by recommending their use. Thenceforth in their sacrihccs the Pelasgi made use of the names of the gods, and from them the names passed afterwards to the Greeks. 53. Wlience the gods severally sprang, Avhether or no they had all existed from eternity, what forms they bore — these are Questions of which the Greeks knew nothing until the other day, so to speak. For Homer and Hesiod were the first to compose Theogonies, and give the gods their epithets, to allot them their several offices and occupations, and describe theii• forms ; and they lived but four huncbed years before my time,^ as I beheve. As for the poets who are thought by some to be earlier than these,^ they are, in my judgment, decidedly later writers. In these matters I have the authority of the priestesses of Dodona shine," and Di/aus, the first substantive formed from this verb, meant " light," or " the shining sun," one of the earliest objects of worship in most countries. Deva is a later formation from die, and has a more abstract sense than dtjaus, being " bright, brilliant, divine," and thence passing on to the mere idea of God. @ihs in Greek, and Deui< in Latin, are the exact equivalents of this term. (See Professor Max Miiller's article on Comparative Philology in the Edin- burgh Review, No. 192, Art. 1. pp. 334-8.) The statement of Herodotus that the Pelasgi "called the Gods 9(o\, because they had disposed and arranged all things in such a beautiful order," shows that he considered them to have spoken a language nearly akin to the Greek. * The date of Homer has been va- riously stated. It is plain from the expressions Λvhich Herodotus here uses that in his time the general belief as- signed to Homer an earlier date than that which he considered the true one. His date would place the poet about Β c. 880-830, which is very nearly the mean between the earliest and the latest epochs that are assigned to him. The earliest date that can be exactly deter- mined, is that of the author of the life of Homer usually published with the works of Herodotus, who places the birth of the poet 6.2 years before the in- vasion of Xerxes, or B.C. 1 102. The latest is that of Theopompus and Euphorion, which makes him contemporary with Gyges — therefore B.C. 724-68(5. iFor further particulars, see Clinton's F. H. vol. i. pp. 145-7 ; and Ap. p. 359.) Probability is on the whole in favour of a date considerably earlier than that assigned by our author. The time of Hesiod is even more doubtful, if possible, than that of his brother-poet. He was made befoi-e Homer, after him, and contempoi-ary with him. Internal evidence and the weight of authority are in favour of the view which assigns him a comparatively late date. (See Clinton, i. p. 359, n. °.) He is probably to be placed at least 200 or 300 years after Homer. ^ The ' ' poets thought by some to be earlier than Homer and Hesiod " are probably the mystic writei-s, Olen, Linus, Orpheus, Musoeus, Pamphos. Olympus, &c., who were generally accounted by the Greeks anterior to Homer (Clinton, i. pp. 341-4), but seem really to have belonged to a later age. (See Grote, vol. ii. p. 161.) Chap. 52-55. MYTH OF THE TWO BLACK DOVES. 83 ibr the former portion of my statements ; what I have said of Homer and Hesiod is my own opinion. 54. The following tale is commonly told in Eg}q3t concerning the oracle of Dodona in Greece, and that of Ammon in Libya. My informants on the point were the priests of Jupiter at Thebes. They said " that two of the sacred women were once carried off from Thebes by the Phcenicians,* and that the story went that one of them was sold into Libya, and the other into Greece, and these women were the first founders of the oracles in the two countries." On my inquiring how they came to know so exactly what became of the women, they answered, " that diligent search had been made after them at the time, but that it had not been found possible to discover where they were ; afterwards, however, they received the information which they had given me." 55. This was what I heard from the priests at Thebes; at Dodona, however, the women who deKver the oracles relate the matter as follows : — " Two black doves flew away from Egyptian Thebes, and while one dnected its flight to Libya, the other came to them.^ She alighted on an oak, and sitting there began to speak with a human voice, and told them that on the spot where she was, there should thenceforth be an oracle of Jove. They understood the announcement to be from heaven, so they set to work at once and erected the shrine. The dove which flew to Libya bade the Libyans to establish there the oracle of Ammon." This likewise is an oracle of Jupiter. The persons from whom I received these particulars were three priestesses of the Dodonseans,^ the eldest Promeneia, the next Timarete, and * See the next note. This cai-ryiug priestesses that Dodona was indebted off priestesses from Thebes is of covirse to Egypt for its oracle, we should at a fable. It may refer to the sending out once discredit what appears so very and establishing an oracle in the newly- improbable; but the Greeks would discovered West (Era-ope) through the scarcely have attributed its origin to a Phoenicians, the merchants and explo- foreigner, unless there had been some rers of those days, who were in alliance foundation for the story ; and Hero- with Egypt, supplied it with many of dotus maintains that there Avas a resem- the productions it required from other blauce between the oracles of Thebes countries, and enabled it to export its and Dodona. It is not necessary that manufactures in their ships.— [G. W.] the stamp of a foreign character should * The two doves appear to connect have been strongly impressed at Do- this tradition Λvith the Phoenician As- dona; and the influence of the oi-acle tarte, who appears to be the Baaltis or would have been equally great without Dione of Byblus. If the rites of Do- the employment of a written language, dona were from Egypt, they were not or any reference to particular religious necessarily introduced by any iudi- doctrines with which those who con- vidual from that country. The idea suited the oracles of Amun, Delphi, of women giving out oracles is Greek, and other places did not occupy them- not Egyptian. — [G. W.] selves. — [G. W.] * Were it not for the tradition of the G 2 84 SOLEMN ASSEMBLIES INTRODUCED Book IT. the youngest Nicandra — wliat they said was confirmed by the other Dodona^ans who dwell around the temple.' 56. My own opinion of these matters is as follows : — I think that, if it be true that the Pliconieians carried off the holy women, and sold them for slaves,^ the one into Libya and the other into Greece, or Pelasgia (as it was then called), this last must have been sold to the Thesprotians. Afterwards, while undergoing servitude in those parts, she built under a real oak a temple to Jupiter, her thoughts in her new abode reverting — as it was likely they would do, if she had been an attendant in a temple of Jupiter at Thebes — to that particular god. Then, having acquired a knowledge of the Greek tongue, she set up an oracle. She also mentioned that her sister had been sold for a slave into Libya by the same persons as herself. 57. The Dodonseans called the women doves because they were foreigners, and seemed to them to make a noise like birds. After a while the dove spoke with a human voice, because the woman, Λvhose foreign talk had previously sounded to them like the chattering of a bird, acquired the power of speaking what they could understand. For how can it be conceived possible that a dove should really speak with the voice of a man ? Lastly, by calling the dove black the Dodoneeans indicated that the woman was an Eg}'ptian. And certainly the character of the oracles at Thebes and Dodona is very similar. Besides this form of divination, the Greeks learnt also divination by means of victims from the Egyptians. 58. The Egyptians were also the first to introduce solemn assemblies,^ processions, and litanies ^ to the gods ; of all which ' The Temple of Dodona was de- ZeO άνα, Αωδωμαΐε, UiXaayiKe, τηλόθι ιαίων Stroyed B.C. 219 by Dorimachus when, ΑωΒώνης μ^Βίων ευσχ^ίμίρον άμφΐ Se 'S.eWol being chosen general of the .zEtolianS, 2ol ι-αίουσ νποφηται ά.νίΤΤτόπο&€ί, χαμαιηνα. he ravaged Epirus. (Polyb. iv. 67.) — in which impure piety they were very No remains of it now exist. It stood at nnlike the cleanly priests ' of Egypt, the base of Mount Tomarus, or Tmarus The sacred oaks of Dodona call to (Strabo, vii. p. 476; Plin. ii. 103), on miud those of the Druids. The φ■ηyhs the borders of Thesprotia, and was said is not the beech, but an oak, so called to have been founded by Deucalion, from its acorn, which was eaten. — The name Timarete' is here given by [G. W.] Herodotus to one of the priestesses. β Comp. Joel iii. 6, where the Strabo says the oracles were given out Tyrians are said to have sold Jewish by a class of priests, called Selli (the children " to the Grecians." (Beni- Helli, according to Pindar), Avho were lonim.)— [G. W.] remai-kable for their austere mode of s " Solemn assemblies " were nu- life, and thought to honour the Deity merous in Egypt, and were of various by a bigoted affectation of discomfort, kinds. The grand assemblies, or great and by abjuring cleanliness ; whence pauegyi'ies, were held in the large halls Homer says, II. xvi. 233 — of the principal temples, and the king Chap. 55-58. FROM EGYPT INTO GEEECE. 85 the Greeks were taught the use by them. It seems to me a suf- ficient proof of this, that in Egypt these practices have been presided at them in person. Their celebration was apparently yeai'ly, re- giklated by the Soth- ic, or by the vague year ; and others at the new moons, when they were continued for sevei-al successive days, and again at the full moon. There were inferior pane- gyries in honour of different deities every day diu'ing certain months. Some gi-eat panegyries seem to have been held after very long periods. Many other cere- monies also took place, at which the king presided ; the greatest of which was the procession of shrines of ^the gods, which is mentioned in the Rosetta Stone, and is often repre- sented in the sculp- tures. These shrines were of two kinds: ' one was an ark, or sacred boat, which may be called the gi-eat shrine, the other a sort of canopy. j They were attended by the chief priest, or prophet, clad in the leopard skin ; they were borne on the shoulders of several priests, by means of staves sometimes passing through metal rings at the side, and being taken into the temple, were placed on a table or stand prepared for the pur- pose. The same mode of carrying the ark was adopted by the Jews (Joshua iii. 12 ; 1 Chron. xv. 2, and 15; 2 Sam. xv. 24 ; 1 Esdr. i. 4); and the gods of Babylon, as well as of Egypt, were bonie and " set in their place " in a similar manner. (Is. xlvi. 7 jBaruch vi. 4, and 26,) Apuleius (Met. xi. 250) desci'ibes the sacred boat and the high ^^ No. Π. priest holding in his hand a lighted torch, an egg, and sulphur, after which the (sacred) scribe read from a papyrus certain prayers, in presence of the as- sembled pastophori, or members of the 86 ASSEMBLIES FREQUENT IN EGYPT. Book II. established from remote antiquity, while in Greece they are only recently known. 59. The Egyptians do not hold a single solemn assembly, but Sacred College; which agrees well with the ceremony described on the monu- ments. Some of the sacred boats or arks contained the emblems of life and stability, which, when the veil was drawn aside, Λvere partiallj' seen; and others contained the sacred beetle of the sun, overshadowed by the wings of two figures of the goddess Thmei, or " Truth," which call to mind the cheru- bim (kerubim) of the Jews. The shrines of some deities differed from those of others, though most of them had a ram's head at the prow and stern of the boat; and that of Pthah - Sokar - Osiris was marked by its singular form, the centre having the head of the hawk, his em- blem, rising from it in a shroud, and the prow terminating in that of an oryx. It was carried in the same man- ner by several priests. The god Horus, the origin of the Greek Charon, is the steersman par excellence of the sacred boats, as Vishnu is of the Indian ark. (See my note on Pthah-Sokar-Osiris, in B. iii. ch. 37, and on the ark of Isis, see note ® on ch. Gl.) The Niloa, or Festival of the Inunda- tion ; the harvest ; the fetes in honour of the gods ; the royal birthdays ; and other annual as well as monthly fes- tivals, were celebrated with gi-eat splendour; and the procession to the temples, when the dedicatory offerings were presented by the king, or by the high priest, the public holidays, the new moons, and numerous occasional fetes, kept throughout the year, as well as the many assemblies successively held in different cities throughout the country, fully justified the i-emark that the Egyptians paid greater attention to divine matters than any other people. And these, as Herodotus observes, had been already established long before any similar custom existed in Greece. -[G. W.] 1 The mode of approaching the deity and the ceremonies performed in the solemn processions varied in Egypt, as m Greece (Procl. Chrestomath. p. 381, Gd.), where persons sometimes sang hymns to the sound of the lyre, some- times to the flute, and \\-ith dances. These last were the προσόδίο, which, as well as the former (see woodcut 1 in ch. 48), are represented on the monuments of Egypt. Sometimes the harf), guitar, and flutes, were played while the high priest offered incense to the gods. The song of the Egyptian priests was called in their language Piean (Clem. Paedagog. iii. 2), which is evidently an Egyptian word, having the article Fi prefixed. -[G.W.] Chap. 58-GO. ΒΟΛΤ PROCESSION AT FEAST OF BUBASTIS. 87 several in the course of the year. Of these the chief, which is better atteuded than any other, is hekl at the city of Bubastis ^ in honour of Diana.^ The next in importance is that which takes place at Busiris, a city situated in the very middle of the Delta ; it is in honour of Isis, who is called m the Greek tongue Demeter (Ceres). There is a third great festival in Sa'is to Minerva, a fourth in H^eliopolis to the Sun, a fifth in Buto•* to Latona, and a sixth in Papremis to Mars. 60. The following are the proceedings on occasion of the assembly at Bubastis: — Men and women come sailing all to- gether, vast numbers in each boat, many of the Avomen with castanets, which they strike, while some of the men pipe during the whole time of the voyage ; the remainder of the voyagers, male and female, sing the while, and make a clapping with their - Bubastis, or Pasht, corresponded to the Greek Diana. At the Speos Artemidos (near Beni Hassan) she is i-epresented as a lioness with her name " Psht, the lady of the cave." At Thebes she has also the head of a lioness, with the name Pasht, thus written At Bubastis the name of the chief goddess whose figure remains appears to read Buto, and is thus λλ. ^^ written ^ JK and here she may have the character of Buto or Latona. They both have the same head, though it is difficult to distinguish between that of the lioness and thtj^ cat. It is indeed probable that both thesV animals were sacred to and emblems of Pasht. The notion of the cat_beingan emblem of the moon was doubTIesscTWlffg to the -Greeks siippos- iug Bubastis the same as Diana, but the moon iu Egypt was a male deity, the Ibis-headed Thotli ; and another mis- take was their considering the Egyptian Diana the sister of Apollo. Remains of the temple and city of Bubastis, the "Pibeseth " (Pi-basth) of Ezekiel xxx. 17, are still seelTlvf Tel Basta, "the ' mounds of Pasht," so called from its lofty mounds. (See below, n. ", ch. 138.) At the Speos Artemidos nu- merous cat mummies were buried, from their being sacred to the Egyptian Diana.— [G. W.] 3 Herodotus (infra, ch. 156) supposes her the daughter of Bacchus ^ Osiris) and Isis, which is, of course, an error, as Osiris had no daughter, and the only mode of accounting for it is hj suppos- ing Horus, the son of Osiris, to have been mistaken for the sun, the Apollo of the Greeks, whose sister Diana was reputed to be. The goddess Bubastis, or Pasht, is called on the monuments "beloved of Pthah," whom she gener- ally accompanies, and she is the second member of the great triad of Memphis. B\ibastis, the city, was only the Egyptian name Pasht, with the article III prefixed, as in the Hebrew Pi-basth; and the change of Ρ into Β was owing to the former being pronounced B, as iu modern Coptic. — [G. W.] * Vide infra, note ^ on ch. 1.55. The Goddess mentioned at Bubastis should be Buto ; as her name occurs tliere, and so frequently about the pyramids, which were in the neiglibourhood of Letopolis, another city of Buto, or Latona. T he cit y of Buto Herodotus here speaks of stood between the Se- bennytic and Bolbitine branches, near the Lake of Buto, now Lake Batl of the child,^ cutting off all the hair, or else half, or some- times a third part, which thoy then weigh in a balance against a sum of silver ; and whatever smn the hair weighs is presented to the guardian of the animals, who thereupon cuts up some fish, and gives it to them for food — such being the stuff whereon they ar(! fed. WTben a man has killed one of the sacred ani- mals, if he did it with malice prepense, he is punished with death ; ^ if unwittingly, he has to pay such a fine as the priests eminence of their saints and patrons " (Recli. siir les Eg. et Chinois, i. 145). But whatever may have been the original motive, there is no doubt that the effect of this sanctity of animals was only what might have been foreseen, and like the division of the deity into various foi'ms and attributes, or the adoration of any but the Supreme Being, could not possibly end in anything but super- stition and error. And though Plutarch (de Is. s. 8) thinks that "the religious rites and ceremonies of the Egyptians were never instituted on irrational grounds, or built on mere fable," he feels obliged to allow that, by adoring the animals themselves, and reverenc- ing them as gods, the Egyptians, at least the greater part of them, have not only filled their religious worship with many contemptible and ridiculous rites, but have given occasion to notions of the most dangerous consequence, driv- ing the weak and simple-minded into all the extravagance of superstition. See At. Eg. W. vol. V. p. 91-114; and com- pare note? on eh. 37.— [G. W.] ^ Though Egyptian men shaved their heads, boys had several tufts of hair left, as in modern Egypt and China. Princes also wore a long plaited lock, falling from near the top of the head, behind the ear, to the neck. This was the sign of childhood, and was given to the infant Harpocrates. To it Lucian alludes when he says (Navig. 3), "It is a sign of nobility in Egypt, for all free- born youths to plait their hair until the age of puberty." though in Greece " the hair twisted back and plaited is a sign of one not being free."' The lock worn by princes was not always real hah•, but a false one appended to the wig they wore, sometimes plaited to re- semble hair, sometimes within a covering fastened to the side of the head-dress. One of these, worn by a Prince Remeses, was highly ornamented. — [G. W.] ' The law was, as Herodotus says, against a person killing them on pur- CiiAr. 65-R7. PRODIGY OF THE CATS. 95 choose to impose. When an ibis, however, or a hawk is killed, whether it was done by accident or on purpose, the man must needs die. 66. The number of domestic animals in Egypt is very great, and would be still gi*eater were it not for what befals the cats. As the females, Avhen they have kittened, no longer seek the company of the males, these last, to obtain once more their com- panionship, practise a curious artifice. They seize the kittens, carry them off, and kill them, but do not eat them afterwards. Upon this the females, being deprived of their young, and longing to supply their place, seek the males once more, since they are particularly fond of their offspring. On every occasion of a fire in Egypt the strangest prodigy occurs with the cats. The inhabitants allow the fire to rage as it pleases, while they stand about at intervals and watch these animals, which, slipping by the men or else leaping over them, rush headlong into the flames.^ When this happens, the Egyptians are in deep afflic- tion. If a cat dies in a private house by a natural death, all the inmates of the house shave their eyebrows ; on the death of a dog they shave the head and the whole of the body. 67. The cats on their decease are taken to the city of Bubastis,' pose, but the prejvidiced populace in after times did not always keep within the law ; and Diodorus declares that if any person killed an ibis, or a cat, even unintentionally, it infallibly cost him his life, the multitude collecting and tearing him to pieces ; for fear of which calamity, if any body found one of them dead, he stood at a distance, and calling with a loud voice made every demonstration of grief, and pro- tested that it was found lifeless. And to sTich an extent did they carry this, that they could not be deterred by any representation from their own magis- trates from killing a Roman who had accidentally caused the death of a cat (Diod. i. 83). This confirms the state- ment in a previous note (ch. 65, note ^) of the change since the time of the Pharaohs. A similar prejudice exists in India in favour of their sacred ani- mals. Cicero says it was a capital of- fence in Egypt to kill " an ibis, an asp, a cat, a dog, or a crocodile "' (Tusc. Disp. Y^.27); but the crocodile was not sacre3 throughout the country. Plu- tarch mentions the ibis, hawk, cynoce- phalus, and the apis, as the animals in universal estimation throughout Egypt, to which the cat, dog, cow, vulture, and asp, should have been added. Great respect was also paid to the jackal, as the emblem of Anubis; but many others merely enjoyed local honours. — [G. W.] 2 The very measures adojDted by the Egyptians to prevent the cats being burnt frightened them (as Larcher supposes), and made them rush into the danger. — [G. W.] ^ Cats were embalmed and buried where they died, exce23t perhaps in the neighbourhood of Bubastis ; for we find their mummies at Thebes and other Egyptian towns, and the same may be said of hawks and ibises. At Thebes numerous ibis mvimmies are found, as well as in the well-known ibis-mummy pit of Sakkara ; and cows, dogs, hawks, mice, and other animals are found embalmed and buried at Thebes. They did not therefore cany all the cats "to BuFaslTs^ tTie~'sEre\v- mice and hawks to Buto; or the ibis to Hermopolis. But it is very pos- sible '. that persons whose religious scruples were very strong, or who wished to show gi'eater honour to one 96 INTERMENT OF ANIMALS. Book II. where they are embalmed, after wliicli they are buried in certain sacred repositories. The dof^^s arc; interred in the cities to which they bek)M{?, also in sacred biu-ial-places. The same practice obtains with respect to the ichneumons ; ' the hawks and shrew- mice, on the contrary, are conveyed to the city of P>uto for burial, and the ibises ^ to Hermopolis. The bears, which are scarce in Egypt,^ and the wolves, which are not much bigger of those animals, sent them to be buried at the city of the god to whom tliey were sacred, as individuals some- times preferred having their bodies interred at Abydus, because it was the holy burial place of Osiris. This ex- plains the statement of Herodotus, as Λν^Ι as the f:ict of a great number of cat mummies being found at the Speos Artemidos, and the number of dog mummies in the Oynopolite nome, and of wolf mummies at Lycopolis. In some places the mummies of oxen, sheep, dogs, cats, serpents, and fishes. were buried in a common repositoi-y ; but wherever particular animals were sacred, small tombs, or cavities in the rock, were made for their reception, and sepulchres were set apart for cer- tain animals in the cemeteries of other towns.— [G. W.] ■• The vicerra ichneumon is still very common in Egypt, particularly on the western bank, from the modern Geezeh to the Fyoom. It was supposed to be sacred to Lucina and Latona. Hera- cleopolis was the city where it was principally honoured ; and its hostility to the crocodile, in destroying its eggs, was tlie cause of the ill-will that sub- sisted between the Heracleopolites and the people of the neighbouring nome of Crocodilopolis (the modern Fyoom). Its habit of destroying eggs is well known, and this is frequently repre- sented in the paintings of Thebes, Beni Hassan, and Sakkara. It is now called :>?,.^? nims, or Got, i. e. {Kot) Pharaoon, " Pha- raoh's cat," probably from the revei•- ence it Tormerly received in Egypt. This was from its hostility to X?ats; and above all for its antipathy to^ser- pents, which it certainly has a remark- able facility of destroying. .iElian, and other ancient writei's, have overloaded the truth with so many idle tales, that the feats of the ichneumon appear alto- gether fabulous ; the destruction of the crocodile's eggs having been converted into a direct attack on the crocodile itself, and a cuirass of mud against a snake having been thought necessary to account for what is really done by its extreme quickness. See At. Eg. \V. vol. ii. p. 31, and vol. v. p. 149 to 157. — [G. W.] * These birds were sacred to Thoth, the god of letters, and the moon, who corresponded to Mercury, being the intermediate agent between the gods and man. He was particxilarly wor- shipped at Hermopolis Magna, now Oshmoonmpi, in Coptic Shmmin B, or the "two Eights," in allusion to his title of "Lord of the eight regions," common in the hieroglyphic legends. On the edge of the desert, west of that place, are many pits where the sacred ibises were buried. Hermopolis Parva, now Damanhour in the Delta, wa.s also a city named after this god. Another, called Ibeum, nearly opposite Acoris, Λvas either sacred to, or was the burial- place of, the ibis ; and ChampoUion supposed it received the name of Nibis from Ma-u-hip, or il-hip "the place (city) of the ibis," which in Egypt Λvas called Hip. fSee below, note ^ on ch. 76.) The Cynocephalus ape was also sacred to Thoth. — [G. W.] β It is vei-y evident that beai's were not natives of Egypt ; they ai"e not represented among the animals of the country ; and no instance occurs of a bear in the sculptures, except as a cu- riosity brought by foreigners. These people ai-e the Rot-n-uo (divided by the Egyptians into "upper and lower") who lived by Mesopotamia ; and the coming of the beai• from the neigh- bourhood of the Euphrates accords Λνεΐΐ with the present habitat of the Chap. 67, 68. THE CROCODILE. 97 than foxes,' they biuy wherever they happen to find them lying. 68. The following are the peculiarities of the crocodile : — During the four whiter months they eat nothing ; * they are four-footed, and live indifferently on land or in the water. The female lays and hatches her eggs ashore, passing the greater small light-coloured Ursus Syriacus. — [G. W.] <■ Herodotus is quite correct in say- ing that wolves in Egypt were scarcely larger than foxes. It is singular that he omits all mention of the hyajua, which is so common in the country, and which is represented in the sculp- tures of upper and Lower Egypt. The wolf is an animal of Upper and Lo\ver Egypt. Its Egyptian name was " Oiwnsh." — [G. W.] s If the crocodile rarely comes out of the river in the cold weather, be- cause it finds the water warmer than the external air at that season, there is no reason to believe it remains torpid all that time, though, like all the lizard tribe, it can exist a long time without eating, and I have known them live in a house for three months Λvithout food, sleeping most of the time ; in- deed, wlien the weather is warm, even in winter, it frequently comes out of the water to bask on the sand-banks, and there during the great lieats of summer it sleeps with its mouth wide open towards the wind. In Herodotus' time crocodiles frequented the lower part of the Nile more than at present, and may have remained longer under water in that latitude. Indeed for many months they have little oppor- tunity of being seen, owing to the inundation covering their favourite sand- banks. They do not now frequent the Kile below Beni Hassan, and they are seldom seen north of the latitude of Manfaloot. Their eggs, as Herodotus says, ai'e laid in the sand often under the bank, and hatched by the heat of the sun ; and the great disparity be- tween the animal when full grown, and its original size in the egg, is remark- able, since the latter only measures three inches in length and two inches in breadth (Or diameter), being less than that of the goose, which measures 3| by 2|. The two ends are exactly alike. When formed, the young croco- dile lies within with its tail turned round to its head ; and when full VOL. II. grovra it becomes nearly 70 times longer | than the egg, the crocodile' of Egypt ■ attaining to the size of 20 to 22 feet. In Ethiopia it is larger; and Herodotus \ gives it 17 cubits (—25^ feet or 29, if by the cubit of the Nllofiiefer) 'iii''Egypt, or even more. Its small eyes are long, which makes Herodotus compare them to those of a pig, and they are covered by a thin pellucid (nictitating) mem- brane, mentioned by Plutai'ch (de Is. s. 75), which passes over them from the outer corner, and continues there while it sleeps. It is perfectly true that it has no tongue, and the throat is closed by a thick membrane which is only opened when it swallows ; but the story""i of its moving its upper jaw is owing to ; its thi'owing up its whole head when it , seizes its prey, at the same time that it , really moves its lower jaw do'rramrds.^ The strength of its skin, particularly on the back, where it is covered with scales, has made it useful for shields (as Pliny says of the Hippopotamus, " Tergoris ad scuta galeasque impene- trabilis"), which are still made of it in Ethiopia. Though the scales serve to indicate the two species known in the Nile, they differ very little in their position ; and the black and green colour of the two crocodiles is a moi'e evident distinction. The notion of thi.? animal, which catches fish, not being able to see under water, is contraiy to all reason, as is the annoyance to which Herodotus supposes it subject, of^ having its mouth invaded by leechesJ The story of the friendly offices of the Trochilus appears to be derived from that bird's uttering a shrill note as it flies away on the approach of man, and (quite unintentionally) warning the cro- codile of danger. In its range of long tusks the two end ones of the lower jaw pass through corresponding holes in the upper jaw, near the nose, when the mouth is closed. These are formed by the teeth growing long, there being as yet no such holes while the animal is young.— [G. W.] Η ^ Pei> Ρ . ib*^ i~^U- i M,«r-v .ttv / 98 THE TROCHILUS. Book II. portion of the clay on dry land, but at night retiring to the river, the water of which is warmer than the night-air and the dew. Of all known animals this is the one which from the smallest size grows to be the greatest : for the egg of the crocodile is but little bigger than that of the goose, and the young crocodile is in proportion to the egg ; yet when it is full grown, the animal measures frequently seventeen cubits and even more. It has the eyes of a pig, teeth large and tusk-like, of a size propor- tioned to its frame ; unlike any other animal, it is without a tongue ; it cannot move its under-jaw, and in this respect too it is singular, being the only animal in the Avorld which moves the upper-jaw but not the under. It has strong claws and a scaly skin, impenetrable upon the back. In the water it is blind, but on land it is very keen of sight. As it lives chiefly in the river, it has~tlie inside of its mouth constantly covered with leeches ; hence it happens that, while all the other birds and beasts avoid it, with the trochilus it lives at peace, since it owes much to that bird : for the crocodile, when he leaves the water and comes out upon the land, is in the habit of lying with his mouth wide open, facing the western breeze : at such times the trochilus goes into his mouth and devours the leeches. This benefits the crocodile, who is pleased, and takes care not to hurt the trochilus. 69. The crocodile is esteemed sacred by some of the Egyp- tians, by others he is treated as an enemy.^ Those who live ' See above, note *, on ch. 42. Strabo Arsinoe, without great caution. Hero- speaks of a sacred crocodile kept at dotus says the sacred crocodiles of the Crocodilopolis (afterwards called Ar- Crocodilopolite nome were buried in sinoe) called S'lichxs, which was fed by the lower chambers of the Labyrinth the pi'iests with the bread, meat, and (infra, ch. 148). The Tentyrites, and wine contributed by strangers. This the people of Apollinopolis, Heracleo- name was evidently taken from Savak, polis, and the Island of Elephantine, the crocodile-headed god — and that men- looked upon them with particular aver- tioned by Herodotus, " Champses," was sion, and the same hatred was shown the Egyptian msah, or emso/i, which may to them whenever they were considered be traced in the Arabic temsah. The types of the Evil Being. The skill Greeks prefixed the χ as they now of the Tentyrites in destroying them change the h of Arabic into a hard k, was well known, and their facility in as '■'■ kagi" for " hagi," &c. At Croco- overpowering them in the water is at- dilopolis, and at another town of the tributed by Pliny (viii. 25) and Seneca same name above Hermopolis, at Ombos, (Nat. QuKst. iv. 2) to their courage, Coptos, Atlu'ibis (called also Crocodilo- as well as to their dexterity, the croco- polis), and even at Thebes, and some dile being " timid before the bold, and other places, the crocodile was greatly most ready to attack those who were honoured ; and Lilian (x. 24) says that afraid of it." The truth of the skill of their numbers increased so much that the Tentyrites was even tested at Rome ; it was not safe for any one to wash his and Strabo says they went after them feet, or draw water at the river near into a tank of water prepared for the those towns ; and no one could >valk purpose, and entangling them in a net by the stream at Ombos, Coptos, or di-agged them to its shelving edge and Chap. 68-70. MODE OF CATCHING THE CROCODILE. 99 near Thebes, and those who dwell around Lake Moeris, regard them with especial veneration. In each of these places they keep one crocodile in particular, who is taught to be tame and tractable. They adorn his ears^ with ear-rings of molten stone ^ or gold, and put bracelets on his fore-paAvs, giving him daily a set portion of bread, with a certain number of victims ; and, after having thus treated him with the greatest possible atten- tion while alive, they embalm him when he dies and bury him in a sacred repository. The people of Elephantine, on the other hand, are so far from considering these animals as sacred that they even eat their flesh. In the Egyptian language they are not called crocodiles, but Champsse. The name of crocodiles was given them by the lonians, who remarked their resemblance to the lizards, which in Ionia live in the walls, and are called crocodiles.^ 70. The modes of catching the crocodile ■• are many and various. I shall only describe the one which seems to me most worthy of mention. They bait a hook with a chine of pork and let the meat be carried out into the middle of the stream, Avhile the hunter upon the bank holds a living pig, Λvhich he belabours. The crocodile hears its cries, and, making for the sound, en- back again into the water, in the pre- sence of numerous spectators. Mum- mies of crocodiles have been found at Thebes and other places, but principally at the large natural cave near Maabdeh (opposite Manfaloot), near which it is probable that some town formerly stood where they were particularly honoured. -[G. W.] 1 The crocodile's ears are merely small openings without any flesh projecting beyond the head.— [cl. W.] 2 By molten stone seems to be meant glass, which was well known to the Egyptians (see note ^ on ch. 44), as it was also to the Assyrians (Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 196-7, &c.) and Babylonians (ibid. p. 503). 3 KpoK05et\os was the term given by the lonians to lizards, as the Por- tuguese (d legato "the lizard" is the origin of our alligator. The lonians are here the descendants of the Ionian soldiers of Psammetichus. The croco- dile is not the Leviathan of Job sli. as some have supposed. Isaiah, xxvii. 1, calls "Leviathan the piercing ser- pent," and " that crooked serpent," corx'esponding to the Aphophis or " great serpent " of Egypt, the emblem of sin. — [G. W.] ■* One, which is now adopted, is to fasten a little puppy on a log of wood, to the middle of which a strong rope is tied, protected to a certain distance by iron wire, and this, when swallowed by the crocodile, turns, on being pulled, across its throat. It is then dragged ashore, and soon killed by blows on the head from poles and hatchets. They have another mode of catching it. A man swims, having his head covered by a gourd with two holes for his eyes, to a sandbank where the crocodile is sleeping ; and when he has reached it, he rises from the water Λvith a shout, and throws a spear into its side, or armpit if possible, when feeling itself wounded it rushes into the water. The head of the barbed speai' having a i-ope attached to it, the croco- dile is thereby pulled in, and wounded again by the man (and his companions who join him) until it is exhausted and killed ; and the same method is adopted for catching the hippopotamus in Ethiopia.— [G. W.] Η 2 J 100 THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. Book II. counters the pork, which he instantly swallows down. The men on the shore liaul, and wlien tlioy liave got him to land, tlie first thing the Inniter does is to plaster his eyes with mud. This once accom|jlished, the animal is despatched with ease, otherwise he gives great trouble. 71. Tlie hippopotamus,•' in the canton of Papremis, is a sacred animal, but not in any other part of Egypt. It may be thus described : — It is a quadruped, cloven-footed, with hoofs like an ox, and a flat nose. It has the mane and tail of a horse, huge tusks which are very conspicuous, and a voice like a horse's neigh. In size it equals the biggest oxen, and its skin is so tough that when dried it is made into javelins.'^ 72. Otters '^ also are found in the Nile, and are considered ^ This animal was formerly common in Egypt, but is now rarely seen as low as the second cataract. The chase of the hippopotamus was a favourite amusement. It was entangled by a running noose, and then struck by a spear, to the barbed blade of which a strong line was fastened. On striking it the shaft left the blade, the line running on a reel was let out, and it was then di'agged back again to re- ceive other spear-wounds till it was exhausted, when the ropes of the va- rious blades were used to secure it. (Cp. Diodor. i. 35; see pi. xv. At. Eg. \W. vol. iii. p. 71.) The description of the hippopotamus by Herodotus is .far from correct. Its feet are divided jinto four short toes, not like the hoof 'of a bull; the teeth certainly project, /but it has no mane, and its tail, almost trilateral at the end, is very unlike , that of a horse ; nor does it neigh, , the noise being between lowing and I grunting. Its size far exceeds that of ( the largest bull, being, when full grown, from 14 to 18 ft. long. Shafts , of javelins (cp. i. 52) may possibly : have been made of the hide, but it is better siyted for whips (now called co)Mg) ancl shields, both which Λvere made of it in ancient as in modern times. Pliny justly says, "ad scuta fraleasque impenetrabilis " (viii. 25). Its Egyptian name was opt, with the article p-opt. It is said to have been sacred to Mai-s (ch. 63\ probably the pigmy deity armed with sword and shield (At. Eg. pi. xli. pt. 1). It was a Typhonian animal, and "a hippopo- tamus bound " was stamped on the cakes used in the sacrifices of the festival for the return of Isis from Phoenicia, on the 11th of Tybi CPlut. de Is. s. 50). It was probably the behemoth of Job (xl. 15) that "eateth grass like an ox," and "lieth .... in the covert of the reed and fens." See Geseuius, Heb. Lex., where the word is thought to be Egyptian, p-ehe-mo'it, " the water-ox." Shields are still made of its hide by the Ethiopians and Blacks of Africa as of old, as well as of the crocodile, gii-afife, and bull's hide. — [G. AV.] " According to Porphyry (ap. Euseb. Prsep. Ev. X. iii. p. Ii36 B. ) Herodotus transferred his accounts of the phccuix, the hippopotamus, and the mode of catching the crocodile bodily from Hecatseus, making only a few verbal alterations. It is possible that the statement may be true as regards the two quadrupeds, though one would think that Herodotus might have had equal means of personal observation with the earlier writer. In the case^ of the phoenix. Porphyry's account can- not be received, for it is evident that Herodotus drew directly from the Egj^- tian pictures. He says, moreover (in-, fra, ch. 99), that all his account of"^ Egypt is the result of his own ideas and observations. This, however, may be an exaggeration. ' The name ivvSptes is indefinite, and the otter is uukno\%Ti in Egj-pt ; but Ammianus Marcelliuus (xxii. 14; p. 336) explains it by showing that the "hydrus was a kind of ichneumon;" and though Herodotus was awai-e of the existence of the ichneumon, he Chap. 70-72. FISH OF THE NILE. 101 sacred. Only ϊλτο sorts of fisli are venerated,^ that called the may easily haTe mistaken it for the otter, as modern travellei-s are known to do, on seeing it coming out of the river. — [G. W.] s The fish particularly sacred were the Oxyrhinchus, the Lepidotus, and the Phagi'us or eel ; and the Latus was sacred at Latopolis, as the Mseotes at Elephantine. The Oxyrhinchus, which gave its name to the city where it was particularly honoui-ed, had, as its name shows, a "pointed nose," and was the same as the modern Mizdeh, the Mormyrus Oxyrhinchus. It is often found in bronze. So highly was it revered at Oxyrhinchus that a quarrel took place between that city and the people of Cynopolis, in consequence of their having eaten one; and no Oxy- rhinchite would eat any other fish taken by a hook, lest it should have been defiled by having at any time woimded one of their sacred fish (Plut. de Is. vii. 18, 22). The Lepidotus was a Ί scaly fish, but it is uncertain whether ι it was the Kelb-el-Bahr (Salmo dentex), I the Kisher (or Gisher), a name signi- I fying "scaly," the Perca Nilotica, or j the Benny (Cyprinus Lepidotus) ; and the bronze representations do not clear up the question, though they favour the claims of the last of the three (see Plut. de Is. s. 18). The Phagrus or eel was sacred at Syene and at Pha- groriopolis, and the reason of its being sacred at this last place was evidently No. II. in order to induce the people to keep up the canal. Of the habits of some fish of Egypt, see Strabo, xv. p. 486. It is uncertain what species the Latus and Maeotes were, and iElian thinks the Phagrus and Mseotes were the same fish (see At. Eg. W. vol. v. ρ 253). But all people did not regard No. ill. τη Chap. 72. THE VULPAXSER. 103 lepidotus and the eel. These are regarded as sacred to the Nile, as likewise among bii'ds is the vulpanser, or fox-goose.^ these fish ΛνϊΛ the same feelings, and all kinds are represented as caught and eaten in different parts of Egypt. The people, not priests, ate them both fresh and salted, and fishing with the hook, the bident ι At. Eg. W. vol. iii. p. 41), and the net, are among the most common representations in the paintings of Thebes and other places. and an amusement of the rich as well as an occupation of the poor. Several fish have been found embalmed in the tombs ; but it has been diSicult to ascertain their species ; though this would not prove their sanctity, as every- thing found dead was embalmed and buried to prevent its tainting the air. — [G. W.] ^ This goose of the T^ile was an emblem of the God Seb, the father of Osiris; but it was not a sacred bird. It signified in hieroglyphics a "son," and occurs over the nomens of Pha- raohs with the Sun, signifying "son of the sun." Horapollo pretends that it was so used because of its affection for its young ; but though it does display great courage and cunning in protecting them, it was not adopted on that account, but from the phonetic initial of its name, s, with a line being se, "son." As an em- blem of Seb it was con- nected with the great Mundane Egg, in which form the chaotic mass of the world was pro- duced. Part of the 26th chapter of the fu- nereal ritual translated by Dr. Hincks contains this dogma, alluded to in the Orphic Cosmogony: "I am the Egg of the Great Cackler. I have protected the Great Egg laid by Seb in the world: I grow, it grows in turn : I live, it lives in turn : I breathe, it breathes in turn." This Mr. Birch shows to be used on coffins of the period about the 12th dynasty. (See Gliddon's Otia Eg. p. 83.) On the Orphic Cosmogony and the connexion between the Egg and Chronus 'Saturn, the Seb of Egypt), see Damascius in Cory's Fragments, p. 313 ; Aristophanes (Birds, 700 ) mentions the egg produced by "black-winged night." (Cory, p. 293, and see Oi'phic Hymn to Proto- gonus, p. 294.) As Seb and Netpe answered to Saturn and Rhea, their children Osiris and Isis, being brother and sister, answered to Jupiter and Juno, though they did not really bear any other resemblance to them. Seb and Netpe were the Earth and the Heaven above. — [G. W.] 104 THE PIKENIX. Book II. 73. They have also another sacred bird called the phainix/ which I myself have never seen, except in pictures. Indeed it is a great rarity, even in Egypt, only coming there (according to the accounts of the people of Heliopolis) once in five hundred years, when the old ρΐιωηϊχ dies. Its size and appearance, if it is like the pictures, are as follows : — The plumage is partly red, partly golden, while the general make and size are almost ex- actly that of the eagle. They tell a story of what this bird does, which does not seem to me to be credible : that he comes all the way from Arabia, and brings the parent bird, all plastered over with myrrh, to tlie temple of the 8un, and there buries the body. In order to bring him, they say, he first forms a ball of myrrh as big as he finds that he can carry ; then he holloAvs out the ball, and puts his parent inside, after which he covers over the opening with fresh myrrh, and the ball is then of exactly the same Aveight as at first ; so he brings it to Egypt, plastered over as I have said, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun. Such is the story they tell of the doings of this bird. 74. In the neighbom-hood of Thebes there are some sacred serpents^ which are perfectly harmless.^ They are of small 1 This bird I formerly supposed to be the cue represented on the monu- ments with human hands, and often with a man's head and legs, in an. attitude of prayer (figs. 1, 2), but it is evident that Mr. Stuart Poole is right in considering the Benno (the bird of Osiris) the true Phojnix (fig. 3) ; and the former appears to be the "pure soul" of the king. Herodotus, Tacitus, and Pomp. Mela fix its return at 500 years, which is evidently an astronomical period ; but Tacitus says some give it 14(51 years, which points to the coincidence of the 1460 inter- calated with the 1461 vague years : and this is confirmed by its being placed at an equal distance of time between each Sothic period (or 730 years before and after the dog-star), on the ceiling of the Memnonium. — [G. W.] - The homed snake, vipera cerastes, is common in Upper Egypt and throughout the deserts. It is very poisonous, and its habit of burying itself in the sand renders it particulai-ly dangerous. Pliny N. H. viii. 23) notices this habit. He- rodotus is correct in describing it of .small size, but the hai-ml ess s nakes he mentions had doubtless been made so ; and Diodorus very properly classes them among venomous reptiles. There is no authority from the sculptures for its being sacred, even at Thebes, though the asp is shown to have been a sacred snake. The frequent repetition of the cerastes in the hieroglyphics is owing to Chap. 73-7δ. THE WINGED SERPENTS. 105 size, and have two horns growing out of the top of the head. These snakes, when they die, are buried in the temple of Jupiter, the god to whom they are sacred. 75. I went once to a certain place in Arabia, almost exactly opposite the city of Buto,* to make inquiries concerning the winged serpents.^ On my arrival I saw the back-bones and ribs its occurring so often in " he," " him," "his," and for the letter/ in other woi'ds. It is found embalmed at Thebes, like other reptiles and animals which have no claim to sanctity, and in ordi- nary tombs, but not in the temple of Amun. Diodorus even thinks the hawk was honoured on account of its hostility to these, as Avell as other, noxious reptiles ; and as Herodotus does not notice the asp, it is possible that he may have attributed to the cerastes the honour that really be- longed to that sacred snake. The asp or Xaia was the emblem of the God- dess Ranno, and was chosen to preside over gai'dens, from its destroying rats and other vermin. Altars and offerings were placed before it, as before dragons in Etruria and Rome. It was also the snake of Neph or Nou, and apparently the representative of Agathodamon. In hieroglyphics it signitied " Goddess ;" it was attached to the head-dresses of Gods and Kings, and a circle of those snakes composed the " asp - formed crowns " mentioned in the Kosetta stone. Being the sign of royalty, it was called βασιλίσκο$ (biisilisk), " royal," equivalent to its Egyptian name uncus, from oiiro, " king." It is still common in gardens, and called in Arabic Xas/ier. In length it varies from 3 to 4^ feet, and the largest I have found was 5 ft, 11 in. It is very venomous. It re- sembles the Indian cobra {λ'αϊα trijm- dians) in its mode of raising itself, and expanding its breast ; but it has no "spectacles" on its head. If Cleo- patra's death had been caused by any serpent, the small viper would rather have been cliosen than the large asp ; but the story is disproved by her having decked herself in "the royal ornaments," and bemg found dead "without any mark of suspicion of poison on her body." Death from a serpent's bite could not have been mis- taken; and her vanity would not have allowed her to choose one which would have disfigured her in so frightful a manner. Other poisons were well un- derstood and easy of access, and no boy would have ventured to carry an asp in a basket of figs, some of which he even offered to the guards as he passed, and Plutarch (Vit. Anton.) shows that the story of the asp was doubted. Nor is the statue carried in Augustus' triumph which had an asp upon it any proof of his belief in it, since that snake was the emblem of Egyptian royalty : the statue (or the crowni of Cleopatra could not have been without one, and this was probably the origin of the whole storv. — [G. W.] 3 The bite of the cerastes or horned > snake is deadly; but of the many ser- i* peuts in Egypt, three only are poisonous ' — -ITic cerastes, the asp or naia, and the common viper. Sti'abo (xv. p. 10u4) mentions large vipers in Egypt, nearly \ 9 cubits long, but the longest asp does ^ not exceed 6 feet, and that is very unusual. — [G. W.] •* This city of Buto was different from that in the Delta. Some think it was at Bclhai/s (Bubastis Agria), or at Abbaseeh. -[g: w.] " The winged serpents of Herodotus have puzzled many persons from the time of Pausanias to the present day. Isaiah (xxx. 6) mentions the "fiery flying serpent." The Egyptian sculp- tures represent some emblematic snakes with birds' wings and human legs. The Draco volans of Linnseus has wings, which might answer to the description given by Herodotus, but it does not frequent Egypt. The only flying crea- ture the ibis could be expected to ; attack, on its flight into Egypt, and for i which it would have been looked upon I as a particular benefactor to Egypt, was th e locus t; and the swarms of these I lai'ge destructive insects do come from J the east. In Syria I have seen them / just hatched in the spring still unable to fly ; and some idea of the size and destructiveness of a flight of locusts may be derived from the fact of a Κ swarm settling and covering the ground 1 for a distance of 4^ miles. It is sin- I gular that Herodotus should not have I 106 THE IBIS. Book Π. of serpents in such numbers as it is impossible to describe : of the ribs there were a multitude of heaps, some great, some smallTsome middle-sized. The place wliere the bones lie is at the entrance of a narrow gorge between steep mountains, which there ojx'n upon a spacious plain communicating with the great plain of Egypt. The story goes, that with tlio spring the winged snakes come Hying from Arabia towards Egy[)t, but are met in this gorge by the birds called ibises, who forbid their entrance and destroy them all. The Arabians assert, and the Egj^tians also admit, that it is on account of the service thus rendered that the Egyptians hold the ibis in so much reverence. 76. The ibis is a bird of a deep-black colour, with legs like a crane ; its beak is strongly hooked, and its size is about that of the landrail. This is a description of the black ibis which con- tends with the serpents. The commoner sort, for there are two quite distinct species,^ has the head and the Avhole throat bare of feathers ; its general plumage is white, but the head and neck are jet black, as also are the tips of the wings and the extremity of the tail ; in its beak and legs it resembles the other species. mentioned locusts, flights of which are seen in winter, spring, and summer; and among the many monsters, real animals, and birds represented in the Egyptian paintingn, so extraordinary a serpent could not be unnoticed. The locusts and the i-eal existence of a Draco voluns may have led to the story ; and, as Cuvier remarks, all that can be said is that Herodotus saw a heap of bones without having ascertained, be- jOnd report, how they came there. Pausanias seems to have convinced him- self of their existence by believing in a still stranger reptile, a scorpion with wings like a bat's, brought by a Phrygian (ix. 0. 21). There is, however, no doubt that the ibis destroyed snakes ; and Cuvier found the skin of one partly digested in the intestines of one of those mummied birds. Its food also consisted of beetles, which have been found in another specimen. See Herodotus, B. iii. ch. 108, where he de- scribes the winged serpents of Arabia. — [G. W.] β The first described by Herodotus as all black, was the one which fought against the (winged) serpents. It is the Ibis Falcinellus (Temm.") or glossy ibis. The colour is a reddish -brown shot with dark-green and purple ; the size 1 foot from the breast to the end of the tail. The other is the " Numenins i Ibis" or "Ibis religiosa" of modem! naturalists, the Aboo Hannes of Bruce, which is white with black pinions and tail ; the head and paxi; of the back ' being without feathers, as desci'ibed by Herodotus. This is the one so fre- quently found embalmed in Egypt. Its body measures 12 inches in length, and 4 J in diameter, and the beak 6 inches. The leg from the knee to the plant of the foot is about 4^ inches. (See Cu- vier's Theory of the Earth, Jameson, p. SnO.) Both species have a curved beak. The great services the ibis | rendered by destroying snakes and noxious insects were the cause of its being in such esteem in Egypt. The stork was honoured for the same reason in Thessaly; and even now the Turks look upon it with such good-will that it would be considered a sin to kill one; on which account it feels so secure that, in Asia Minor, it builds its nest on the walls and houses within reach of man ; and to the credit of the Turks it must be said that they treat animals in ' general much more kindly than Euro- peans. A similar regard is paid to storks in Holland. The ibis was sacred to Thoth, the Egyptian Hermes. See above, note*, on ch. 67.— [G. W.] Chap. 75-77. MODE OF LIFE OF THE EGYPTIANS. 107 The winged serpent is shaped like the water-snake. Its wdngs are not feathered, but resemble very closely those of the bat. And thus I conclude the subject of the sacred animals. 77. With respect to the Egyptians themselves, it is to be re- marked that those who live in the corn country,''' devoting them- selves, as they do, far more than any other people in the world, to the preservation of the memory of past actions, are the best skilled in history of any men that I have ever met. The fol- lowing is the mode of life habitual to them : — For three successive days in each month they purge the body by means of emetics and clysters, which is done out of a regard for their health, since they have a persuasion that every disease to which men are liable is occasioned by the substances whereon they feed. Apart from ' This is in contradistinction to the marsh-lands; and signifies Upper Egypt, as it inchides the city of Chemmis ; but when he says they have no vines in the country and only drink beer, his state- ment is opposed to fact, and to the ordinary habits of the Egyptians. In the neighbourhood of Memphis, at Thebes, and the places between those two cities, as well as at Eileithyias, all corn-growing districts, they ate wheaten bread and cultivated the vine. Hero- dotus may, therefore, have had in view the corn-country, in the interior of the broad Delta, where the alluvial soil was not well suited to the vine, and where Sebennytus alone was noted for its wine. Most of the other vineyards were at Marea, and in places similarly situated near the edge of the desert, where the light soil was better suited to them ; though grapes for the table were pro- duced in all parts of the country. Wine was universally used by the rich thi'oughout Egypt, and beer supplied its place at the tables of the poor, not because "they had no vines in their country," but because it was cheaper; and the same was their reason for eating bread made of the Holcus sorghum (or Dooni) like the peasants of modern Egypt, and not because it was "the greatest disgrace to eat wheaten bread." (See above, note^ on ch. 36.) And that wine was known in Lower as well as Upper Egypt is shown bj^ the Israelites mentioning the desert as a place which had "no figs, or vines, or pomegranates" in contradistinction to Egypt (Gen. xl. 10 ; Numb. xx. δ). Wines of various kinds were offered in the temples; and being very generally placed by the altar in glass bottles of a particular shape. η these came to represent in hieroglyphics what they contained, and to signify " wine," without the word itself " erp " being mentioned. It is remarkable that this word " erpis " is introduced by Athengeus (Deipn. ii. 39 a), quoting Sappho, as the name of " wine :" — 'Αμβροσίας μεν κρατήρ ίκίκρατο Έρμας δ' έλώΐ' ϊρττίν βεοϊϊ οϊΐ'Οχόησίΐ', unless indeed he uses it for oXiriv, " a ladle," or " small jug," which the sense seems to require, and which is in X., 425 D. (See note on chs. 18, 37, and 60.) Another reading has epnev .... οϊνοχο-ησωρ. Athenaius (i. p. 33 e) de- scriijes the Egyptians as much addicted to wine, on his own and on the authority of Dio; and says (i. p. 34• a) that Hel- lanicus fancies the vine was first dis- covered at Plinthinii, a city of Egypt. — [G. W.] 108 TIIEIK GOOD HEALTH. Book IT. any such precautions, they are, I believe, next to the Libyans," the healtliiost people in tho world — an effect of their climate, in my opinion, which has no sudden changes. Diseases almost always attack men when they are exposed to a change, and never more than during changes of the weather. They live on bread made of spelt, which they form into loaves called in their own tongue cylUstis.^ Their drink is a wine whi(!h they obtain from barley,^ as they have no vines in their country. Many kinds of fish they eat raw, either salted or dried in the sun.^ ^ Their health was attributable to their living in the dry atmosphere of the desert, where sickness is rarely known, as the Arabs show who now live there. See note ^ on ch. 84. — [G. W.] 5 Athenicus (X. p. 418 e) says the Egyptians were great eaters of bread, and had a kind called Cyllestia. This he affirms on the authority of Heca- tajus. He also speaks of a "subacid bread of the Egyptians called Cyllastis, mentioned by Aristophanes in the Da- riaids;" and adds, " Nicander men- tions it as made of barley '' (iii. p. 114). Ilesychius says, κύλλαστίϊ apTos Tis ev AiyviTTW virh ριζόον εξ όλΰραϊ.— [G. λΥ.] ' Tills is the oJvos Kpldivos of Xeno- phon. Diodorus (i. 34) mentions it as " a beverage from barley called by the Egyptians zythus" which he thinks " not much inferior to wine." Athenpeus (i. p. 34 a; X. p. 418 e) calls it " macerated bai'ley ; " and says Aristotle supposes that men drunk with wine lie on their faces, but those with beer on their backs. He cites Hecateeus respecting the use of beer in Egypt, whose words are, tos κριθαί els rb ττόμα καταλίουσι. I have found the residue of some malt at Thebes, once used for making beer. Xenophon (Anab. iv. ό) speaks of a sort of fermity of beer in Armenia drunk through reeds having no joints. — [G. W.] 2 The custom of drying fish is fre- quently represented in the sculptures of Upper and Lower Egypt. ( On the fisheries, see n. ^ ch. 149.) Fishing was a favourite amusement of the Egyp- tians ; and the skill of sportsmen was shown by spearing fish with the bident. The fishermen by trade caught them in long drag-nets, the line being confined to poor people, and to those who " cast angle " for amusement ; and a large double handled landing-net was em- ploj'ed for shoals of small fry. It is also probable tliat when the inundation retired, they used the wicker trap of modern Egypt and India. It is a basket about 2^ feet high, entirely open at the bottom, where it is about 2 feet wide, and with a smaller opening at the top about 8 inches in diameter ; and being put down into shallow water, whatever fish is enclosed within it is taken out by the man who thrusts his arm through the upper orifice. See At. Eg. W. vol. iii. p. 41 and 53-68.— [G. W.] Chap. 77. FOOD. 109 Quails^ also, and ducks and small birds, tliey eat uncooked, merely first salting them. All other birds and fishes, excepting 3 Quails were caught, both in Upper I. and ΙΙΛ, and at Rhinocolura, on the and Lower Egypt, like other birds, in edge of the Syrian desert, the culprits, large clap-nets and in traps (woodcuts banished by Actisanes to that spot, No. I. No. II. 110 FISH AND BIRDS. ΒοοκΠ. those which are set apart as sacred, arc eaten either roasted or boiled. 78. In social meetings among, the rich, when the banquet is ended, a servant carries round to the several guests a coffin, in which there is a wooden image of a corpse,* carved and painted caught tliem in long nets made of sftlit represented in the sculptures. (Wood- reeds (Diod. i. t)0). The catching, dry- cut III.)— [G. W.] ing, and salting of birds are frequently ^ The figure introduced at supper their mortality ; and the same is de- was of a mummy in the usual form scribed at the feast of Trimalchio of Osiris, either standing, or lying on (Petron. Sat.3rric. c. 34). The original a bier, intended to wai-n the guests of object of the custom -was doubtless Chap. 77-79. THE COFFIN AT FEASTS. Ill to resemble nature as nearly as possible, about a cubit or two cubits in length. As he shows it to each guest in turn, the servant says, " Gaze here, and drink and be merry ; for when you die, such will you be," 79. The Egyptians adhere to their own national customs, and adopt no foreign usages. Many of these customs are worthy ol note : among others their song, the Linus,^ which is sung under with a view to teach men "to love one another, and to avoid those evils which tend to make them consider life too long, when in reality it is too short " (see Plut. de Is. s. 15 ; and Sept. Sap. Conviv. p. 148 a); but the salutary advice was often disregarded, and the sense of it perverted by many who copied the custom ; as the " ungodly " in Judsea used it to urge men to en- joy the good things of this life, and banish the thoughts of all beyond the present. (Book of Wisdom, ii. 1, &c. ; Is. xxii. 3 ; Ivi. 12 ; Eccles. ii. 24 ; Luke xii. 19 ; and 1 Corinth, xv. 32. Cp. Anac. Od. iv. and Hor. 2 Od. iii. 13.) Some have supposed this custom proved the Egyptians to be of a serious character, though it would rather be a necessary hint for a too lively people. But their view of death was not a gloomy one, connected as it was with the prospect of a happy union with Osiris.— [G. W.] 5 This song had different names in Egypt, in Phoenicia, in Cyprus, and other places. In Greece it was called Linus, in Egypt Maueros. The stories told of Linus, the inventor of melody, and of his death, are mei-e fables ; and it is highlj' improbable that the death of Maneros, the son of the first king of Egypt, should have been recorded in the songs of Syria. Julius Pollux (iv. 7) says the song of Maneros was sung by the Egyptian peasants, and that this fabulous personage was the inventor of husbandry, an honour always given to Osiris — yecopyias evpeT7]s. Μουσών μαθη- rris. Some think the " son of the first king '" means Horus, the son of Osiris ; and the name might be Man-Hor. In- deed there appears in the hieroglyphics to be this legend, " Men-Re, the maker of hymns," Λvhich would apply to Re, the sun. Plutarch (de Is. s. 17) states that the song was suited to festivities and the pleasures of the table ; and adds that Maneros was not a name, but a complimentary mode of greeting, and a wish " that what they were engaged in might turn out fortunately." Pau- sauias (ix. 29) says that Linus and Adonis were sung together by Sappho, and thinks that Homer mentions him (II. xviii. 570j ; though othei'S refer AiVoj/ to the flaxen cords of the lyre (on the shield of Achilles) : — ταΊ.σιν S Iv μεσσοισι παϊ; φόρμιγγι Kiyeit] Ιμ£ρόίν κιθάριζΐ• λίνον δ' νπο καλοί/ oteiSeJ λετΓταλό; φωντ}' when having gathered the grapes, they danced to the air. Atheua?us (Deipn. xiv. p. 6'-Ό A , says, " Xymphis speaks of a youth having gone to fetch water for the reapers, who never returned, and was lamented by different people. In 112 THE LINUS OR MANEROS. Book II. various names not only in I'^gypt but in Phoenicia, in Cyprus, and in other places ; and which seems to be exactly the same as that in use among the Greeks, and by them called Linus. There were very many things in Egypt which filled me with astonishment, and this was one of them. Whence could the Egyptians have got the Linus? It appears to have been sung by them from the very e3.rliest times.® For the Linus in Egyptian is called J\raner5s ; and they told me that ]\raneros was the only son of their first king, and that on his untimely death he was honoured by the Egyptians with these dirgelike strains, and in this way they got their first and only melody. 80. Tliere is another custom in which the Egyptians resemble a particular Greek people, namely the Lacedaemonians. Their young men, when they meet their elders in the streets, give way to them and step aside ; '' and if an elder come in where Egypt he was called Maneros." The name Linus was related to aXXivov, an expression of grief (αίλινά μοι στοναχ^Ίτΐ, Mosch. Id. 1), partly compounded of the usual exclamation ai, and some think to the Hebrew /'m, "to complain" or "murmur." (Cp. Exod. xv. 24 ; and vielinim, " murmurings ; "" Numbers xiv. 27.) But the song of Linus, like that of Maneros, was not necessarily of grief ; and Euripides (cited by Athe- npeus, xiv. p. 619 c) says Linus and Ailiuus were suited to joy also. Linus and Maneros were probably the genius or impersonation of song. The Egyp- tians now use " ya lay lee I ya layl ! " as a chorus for lively songs, meaning " 1^^ joy! night!" alluding to the wedding-night ; " ya laylec, doos, ya hiylee! " "0 my joy, step, my joy ! " alluding to the dance. Cp. Hebr. Hallel, "singing, praising," whence hallelu-iah. -[Ο.ΛΥ.] ^ The Egyptian songs and hymns were of the earliest date, and, like then' knowledge of painting and sculp- ture, were said to be 10,000 years old ; but Porphyry hints at the rea-son of their origin being attributed to Isis, for it was in order to ensure respect for them that " they were preserved through successive ages as the actual poems of that Goddess." (Plato's liaws, book ii. p. 790.) Some have supposed their songs were of a mourn- ful kind, and the character of the Egyptians to be the same ; but the term ' ' magis moestiores " applied to them by Ammianus Marcellinus is not consistent with their habits of buffoonery, love of caricature, and natural quickness, nor with the opinion of Xenophon, confirmed by Polybius (v. 81 Ί, who says, of all people they were the most addicted to raillery. (Cp. Her. ii. 60, 121. See At. Eg. ΛΫ. ii. p. 264, 442.) This is inherited by their successors ; as well as ' ' gratitude for favours conferred on them," which Diodoms (i. 90) says was most remax'k- able in the Egj'ptians. — [G. W.] ' A similar respect is paid to age by the Chinese and Japanese, and even by the modern Egyptians. In this the Greeks, except the Laeedsemouians, were wanting, and the well-known instance at the theati-e, mentioned by Plutarch, agrees with what Herodotus says of them. The Jews were com- manded to "rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man" (Levit. xix. 32). The mode of bowing with their hand extended to- wards the knee agrees with the sculp- tures : one hand was then placed on the other shoulder or on the heart, or on the mouth, to keep the breath from the face of a superior. (See woodcut in note ^ to ch. 177.) Some even pros- trated themselves on the ground before great personages, "in obeisance bowing themselves to the earth" (Gen. xlii. 26, 28 i, and knelt or "bowed the knee" before them, as the people were ordered to do before Joseph (Gen. xli. 43^. And it is worthy of remark that the word Chap. 79-81. DRESS OF THE EGYPTIANS. 113 voimg men are present, these latter rise from their seats. In a third point they differ entirely from all the nations of Greece. Instead of speaking to each other when they meet in the streets, they make an obeisance, sinking the hand to the knee. 81. They wear a linen tunic fringed about the legs,® and " abrek" or "berek" is the name ap- up both arms, and uttered an excla- plied in Arabic to the kneeling of a mation, probably resembling the I ο camel to the present day. (Cp. ruhbeh, triumphe, and lo Bacche, of later "knee," haraka, a "blessing," from times. — [G. W.] kneeling in prayer.) Before a king, or " The great use of linen has been the statue of a God, they often held noticed above (see n. ' oh. 37). The fringes were the ends of the tkreads .37). In some women's dresses the (see woodcut Ko. I. figs. 7, 9, in ch. fringes were also left, but these were ns//J\:i No. li. VOL. II. 114 MONTHS SACRED TO THE GODS. Book IT. called calasiris ; over this they have a white woollen garment thrown on uf'terwiinls. Notliiiig of" woollen, however, is taken into their temples or buried with them, as their religion forbids it. Here their practice resembles the rites called Orphic and Bacchic, but which are in reality Egyptian and Pythagorean ; ^ for no one initiated in these mysteries can be buried in a Avoollen shroud, a religious reason being assigned for the observance. 82. The Egyptians likewise discovered to Avhich of the gods each month and day is sacred ; ^ and found out from the day of also more frequently hemmed. A shirt, given by Professor Rosellini (p. 113, No. I. fig. ]), has the fringes. The same custom was adopted by the Israelites (Num. xv. 38), who were ordered to sew a blue riband on the fringe of the border; which calls to mind the blue border dyed with indigo found on some Egyptian linen, though that of the Israelites Avas intended to prevent its tearing. The woollen upper garment was only worn in cold weather (see At. Eg. W. vol. iii. p. 344 to 3.51), and the prejudice against its use in sacred places is perhaps the reason of its not being represented in the paintings. The name Calasiris is supposed to be Klashr (κλασρ). The most usual dresses of men are those shown in No. II., p. 113. For those of the priesthood, see above n. 1 ch. 37. The " white " sandal (φαικαί), said to be worn by the Egyjj- tian (and Athenian) piiests, is perhaps of late time.— [G. W.] ^ The fact of these, the Bacchic, and the Pythagorean being the same as the Egyptian, sufficiently proves whence they were derived. See above, note *> on ch. 51.— [G. W.] 1 This may partly be traced in the names of some of the months, as Thoth, Athor, and Pachons; and on a ceiling of the Memnonium at Thebes, and on another at Edfoo, each has a god to which it belongs. Some suppose they indicate the festivals of the gods; but this would limit the festivals to twelve in the year. It is, however, singular that the months are not called by those names, but are designated, as usual, as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th months of the three seasons. (See n. on ch. 4 in the Αρ., CH. ii.) The Romans also made their twelve gods preside over the months; and the days of the week, Λvhen introduced in late times, received the names of the sun and moon and five planets, which have been retained to the present day. The names of gods were also affixed to each day in the Egyptian almanacs, according to Che- rajmon, in the same manner as those of saints in the modern calendar. The Egyptians divided the year into 12 months of 30 days, from the earliest times of which we have any record; and the fabulous reign of Osiris, 28 years, appears to have been taken from the 7 days of 4 weeks, or 4 weeks of years, as their period of Triacontaeterides, of 30 years, was from the month of 30 days. Dion Cassius (xxxvii. 18), too, distinctly states that "the practice of referi-ing the days of the week to the 7 planets began among the Egyptians." The week of 7 days fsheba, ]}'2\^) is mentioned at the period of the Crea- tion, and it continued to be used in the time of the patriarchs (Gen. vii. 4; xxix. 27). It was probably of very early use among the Egyptians also, judging from the 7 days' fete of Apis and other hebdomadal divisions ; but they generally make mention of decades or tens of days, which are still in use among the Chinese. (On the use of 7 days in Egypt, see n. on ch. 109 in Ap. CH. vii.) The Egyptians had 12 hoiu^ of night and 1 2 of day, and each had its peculiar genius or goddess, represented \\-ith a star on her head, called Nau, "hour." Night was considered older than day, as dai'kness preceded light, and " the evening and the morning Avere the first day." The expression " night and day " is still used in the East, and our "fortnight" points to an old custom of counting nights instead of days. The notion that the Egj^itians had not the 12 hours of day and of night in the time of Herodotus is eiToneous, as they occur in a tomb of the time of Psammetichus II., and in the tombs of the 2uth Dynasty at Chap. 81-83. DIVINATION. 115 a man's birth, wliat he will meet with in the course of his life,^ and how he wUl end his days, and what sort of man he will be — discoveries whereof the Greeks engaged in poetry have made a use. The Egyptians have also discovered more prognostics than all the rest of mankind besides. Whenever a prodigy takes place, they watch and record the result ; then, if anything similar ever happens again, they expect the same consequences. 83. With respect to divination, they hold that it is a gift which no mortal j)Ossesses, but only certain of the gods : ^ thus Thebes. The word " hour " is said to be found as early as the .5th Dynasty Fig. 1. or day. Fig. 2. Of night. (see Lepsius, Band iii. Abth. ii. Bl. 72, 76), and with the name of King Assa. — [G. W.] 2 Horoscopes were of veiy early use in Egypt (Iambi. 8, 4), as well as the interpretation of dreams ; and Cicero (De Div. i. 1) speaks of the Egyptians and Chaldees predicting future events, as well as a man's destiny at his birth, by their observations of the stars. This \vas done by them, as the monuments show, by obsei'ving the constellations that appeared on the eastern horizon at the moment his birth, or any event they wished to decide about, took place. The fallacy of predicting a particular death from the "ascendant" at the time of any one's birth has been well exposed by Cicero, who asks, "Were all those who fell at Cannae bom under the same constellation, for they had all one and the same death?" (De Div. ii. 47.) Interpreters of dreams were often resorted to in Egypt (Exod. xli. 8); and Diodorus (i. 25) says the prayers of the devout were rewarded in a dream by an indication of the remedies an illness requii-ed. Cicero (De Fato, 6) speaks of the belief that "any one born at the rising of the Dogstar could not be drowned in the sea." — [G. W.] 3 Yet the Egyptians sought "to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that had familiar spirits, and to the wizards " (Is. xix. 3). Herodotus pro- bably means that none but oracles gave the real answer of the deity; and this would not prevent the " prophets " and "magicians" pretending to this art, like the μάντΐΐί of Greece. To the Israelites it was particularly forbidden "to use divination, to be an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spii'its, or a wizard, or a necromancer." (Deut. xviii. 10, 11.) It is singular that the Hebrew word nahash, "to use en- chantments," is the same as the Arabic for "serpent." A Gnostic Papyrus in the British Museum, supposed to be of the 2nd century, and found in Egypt, mentions divination "through a boy with a lamp, a bowl, and a pit," very like what is now practised in Egypt and Barbary ; and the employment of boys of old is mentioned by Origen and others. It also contains spells for obtaining power over spirits, for discovering a thief, for commanding another man's actions, for obtaining any wish, for preventing anything» &c. Others in the Leyden Museum contain recipes for good fortune, for procuring dreams, for making a ring to bring good I 2 ]1Π MEDICINE. Book If. tlioy have an oracle of Hercules, one of Apollo, of Minerva, of Diana, of Mars, and of Jupiter. ]3esides these, there is the oracle of Latona at Buto, which is held in much higher repute than any of the rest. The mode of delivering the oracles is not uniform, but varies at the different shrines. 84. Medicine is practised among them * on a plan of separa- fortune and success in every enterprise, for causing separation between man and wife, giving restless nights, for making oneself loved, &c. Magical tricks were practised of old also (Kxod. vii. 11), and they probably became more general in later corrupt times. (See Publ. Cam- bridge Ant. Soc. 8vo. No. 2.) Apuleius also mentions the magic of Egypt. — [G. W.] ■* Not only was the study of medicine of very early date in Egypt, but medical men there were in such repute that they were sent fur at various times from other countries. Their know- ledge of medicine is celebrated by Homer (Od. iv. 229), who describes Polydamna, the wife of Thonis, as giving medicinal plants " to Helen, in Egj'pt, a country producing an infinite number of drugs where each physician possesses knowledge above all other men." "0 virgin daughter of Egypt," says Jeremiah (Ixvi. 11), " in vain shalt thou use many medicines." Cyrus and Darius both sent to Egypt for medical men (Her. iii. 1, 132); and Pliny (xix. 5) says post-mortem examina- tions were made in ovder to discover the nature of maladies. Doctors received their salaries from the treasury ; but they were obliged to conform in the treatment of a patient to the rules laid down in their books, his death being a capital crime, if he was found to have been treated in any other way. But deviations from, and approved additions to, the sacred prescriptions were occa- sionally made ; and the prohibition was only to prevent the experiments of young practitioners, whom Pliny con- siders the only persons privileged to kill a man with impunity. Aristotle indeed says ' ' the Egj'ptian physicians were allowed after the third day to alter the treatment prescribed by authority, and even before, taking upon them- selves the responsibility " (Polit. iii. 11). Experience gradually taught them many new remedies ; and that they had adopted a method (of no very old standing in modern practice) of stop- ping teeth with gold is proved by some mummies found at Thebes. Besides the protection of society from the pretensions of quacks, the Egyptians provided that doctors should not de- mand fees on a foreign journey or on military service, when patients were treated free of expense (Diod. i. 82); and we may conclude that they were obliged to treat the poor gratis, on con- sideration of the allowance paid them as a body by government. This has In Fig. 2 is a di'dication "to Amim-re." Chap. 83-85. SPECIAL PHYSICIANS OF EACH DISORDER. 117 tion ; each physician treats a single disorder, and no more : * thus the country swarms with medical practitioners, some under- taking to cure diseases of the eye, others of the head, others again of the teeth, others of the intestines, and some those which are not local. ^ 85. The following is the Avay in which they conduct their mournings ''' and their funerals : — On the death in any house of again become the custom in (Modern) Egypt. Herodotus (ii. 77) and Dio- dorus (i. 82) mention some methods of treatment; but poor and superstitious people sometimes had recovirse to dreams, to wizards, to donations to sacred animals, and to exvotos to the gods ; and the model of an arm, a leg, an eye, or an ear, often recorded the accidental cure and the evident cre- dulity of an individual, as in some countries at the present day. Charms were also written for the credulous, some of which have been found on small pieces of papyrus, which were rolled up and worn as by the modern Egyptians. Accoucheurs were women ; which we learn from Exodus i. 15, and from the sculptures; as in modern Egypt. The Bedouins of the desert still retain a knowledge of the properties of the medicinal plants that gi-ew there, with some of which they supply the drug- gists of the towns. It is to the Arabs, who derived it from Egy|>t and India, that Europe is indebted for its first acquaintance Λvith the science of medi- cine, which grew up in the school of Salerno ; and a slight memento of it is still retained in the Arab symbols used by our chemists. Pliny (vii. 56) says " the study of medicine was claimed as an Egyptian invention; by others attri- buted to Arahas, the son of Babylon and Apollo."— .[G. W.] * The medical profession being so divided (as is the custom in modern Europe), indicates a great advancement of civilisation, as well as of medicinal knowledge. The Egyptian doctors were of the sacerdotal order, like the em- balmers, Λvho are called (in Genesis 1. 2) " Physicians," and were " commanded by Joseph to embalm his father." They were of the class called Pastophori, Avho, according to Clemens (^Strora. lib. ti) being physicians, were expected to know about all things relating to the body, and diseases, and remedies, contained in the six last of the sacred books of Hermes. Manetho tells us that Atho- thes, the second king of Egypt, who was a physician, Λvrote the anatomical books ; and his name, translated Her- mogeues, may have been the origin of the tradition that ascribed them to Hermes, the Egyptian Thoth. Or the fable may mean that they were the result of intellect personified by Thoth, or Hermes. It is difficult to understand how their having " physicians for parti- cular members of the body, and for particular diseases, affords another proof how rigidly the subdivisions of the castes were kept separate," as Heeren ima- gines, for they were of the same class ; and our modern custom does not cer- tainly lead to such an inference. In the Hermaic books a whole chapter Λvas devoted to diseases of the eye. — [G. W.] ^ Pliny thinks the Egyptians were subject to numerous diseases 'xxvi. 1); but in this he differs from Herodotus (ii. 77). Luxury, and disregard to the regimen they followed of old, may have caused a change in later times, when leprosy, elephantiasis, and other diseases became common in Egypt; " Est Elephas morbus, qui propter flumina Nili Gignitur .Egypto in media, neque praterea usquam." — Luceet. vi. 560. for Herodotus (eh. 77) shows how care- ful they were of healtli, and Diodorus (i. 82) says " βΐραττΐνουσι τα σώματα κλυσμοΊί, κα\ vqffreiais, κα\ t^trois" as well as by abstinence ; being per- suaded that the majority of disorders proceed from indigestion and excess in eating.— [G. W.] ' The custom of weeping, an d throw - ing dust on their heads, is often repre- senie?t"on the monuments; when the men and women have their dresses fas- tened by a band round the waist, the breast being bare, as described by Hero- dotus. For seventy days (Gen. 1. ;•?), or, according to some, seventy-two days, the family mourned at home, singing the fimeral dirge, very much as is now 118 MOURNING. Book II. a man of consequence, forthwitli tlic ^vonlen of the family bo- plaster their heads, and sometimes even their faces, with ^nud ; ίίπίΤ tlien, leaving the body indoors, sally forth and wander through the city, witli their dress fastened by a band, and their bosoms bare, beating themselves as they walk. All the female relations join them and do the same. The men too, similarly begirt, beat their breasts sei)arately. When these ceremonies are over, the body is carried away to be embalmed. 80. There are a set of men in Egypt who practise the art of embalming, and make it their proper business. These persons, when a body is brought to them, show the bearers various models of corpses,^ made in wood, and painted so as to resemble done in Egypt; and during this time delicacies of the table, and rich clothing they abstixined fi'om the bath, wine, (Died. i. 91j; and even after the body No. I. had been removed to the tomb it wa-s not unusual for the near relations to exhibit tokens of grief, when the litur- gies, or services for the dead, were per- formed by the priests, by beating them selves on the breast in presence of the mummy. " Smiting themselves on tlie breast " was a common token of grief in the East (Luke xxiii. 48; which con- tinues to the present day. (See woodcut above, and in n. ^ ch. 58; and comp. At. Eg. "\V. vol. v. p. 259.^ The Egyptians did not " cut themselves " in mourning; this was a Syrian custom, and forbidden to the Jews.— [G.W.] ^ These Λvere in the form of Osiris, and not only those of the best kind, but all the mummies were put up in the same position, representing the de- ceased as a figure of Osiris, those only excepted which were of the very poor people, and which were merely wrapped up in mats, or some other common covering. Even the small earthenware and other figures of the dead were m the same form of that Deity, whose name Herodotus, as usual, had scruples about Chap. 85, 86. EMBALMING. 119 nature. The most perfect is said to be after the manner of him whom I do not think it religious to name in connexion with such a matter ; the second sort is inferior to the fii'st, and less costly ; the third is the cheapest of all. All this the embalmers explain, and then ask in which way it is wished that the corpse should be prepared. The bearers tell them, and having con- cluded their bargain, take their departure, while the embalmers, left to themselves, proceed to their task. The mode of embalm- ing, according to the most perfect process, is the following : — They take fii-st a crooked piece of iron,*^ and with it draw out inentioning, fi'om having been admitted ο a participation of the secrets of the esser Iklysteries. Diodorus says (i. 91), The most expensive mode cost a talent of silver (nearly 250/.), the second twenty -two minse (90/.), and the third was very cheap. When the price liad been agreed upon, and the body given to the embalmers, the scribe marked on the left side of the body the extent of the incision to be made, and then the ' paraschistes ' (dissector) cut open as much of the flesh as the law permitted with an Ethiopian stone (flint), and im- mediately ran away, pursued by those present "with bitter execrations, who pelted him with stones. One then introduced his hand and took out all the viscera, except the kidneys and heart ; another cleansed them with palm wine and aromatic preparations, and lastly, after having applied oil of cedar, and other things to the Λvhole body for upwards of thirty days, they added myrrh, cinnamon, and various drugs for preserving the body, and it was restored to the friends, so well preserved that every feature might be recognised." On this it may be observed, 1st, that the opening in the left side is perfectly correct ; and over it the sacred eye represented on a flat piece of lead, or wax, was placed; and through it the viscera were returned. Four wax figures, of the four genii of Amen ti, were also put in witli them, when the viscera were not deposited in the vases, which are so often found in the tombs. Of these four vases one had a lid representing the head of a man, another had that of a Cynocephalus, another of a jackal, and the fourth of a hawk ; and in these the viscera of first-class mummies were generally deposited. The first held the stomach and large intestines ; the second the small intestines ; the third the lungs and heart (showing Diodorus to be in errory ; and the fourth the gall-bladder and liver. 2ud. Herodotus and Diodo- rus are not justified in confining the modes of embalming to three, since the mummies show a far greater variety, and the prices must have varied in like manner, ord. The execrations against the " paraschistes " could only have been a form, if really uttered, which seems very doubtful. 4th. The features could not be recognised, being covered with numerous folds of cloth, and the only face seen was that of the painted mummy case. The statement of Por- jihyry that the intestines were thrown into the river, after an invocation to the sun, is unworthy of belief. Everything belonging to the body was buried, and apparently even the sawdust, used for absorbing the water that washed the intestines, which was put up into small linen bags, aud deposited in earthen- ware jars. — [G. W.] 3 The mummies aiFord ample evidence of the brain having been extracted through the nostrils ; aud the "drugs" were employed to clear out what the instrument could not touch. There can be no doubt that iron was used in Egypt, though it is not preserved there, nor in any other country, beyond a cer- , tain time. The blue colour of swords, , I and other weapons in the painted tombs of Thebes, shows that the Egyptians, used iron, or steel, as well as bronze ;i aud this last was also employed by the» Romans aud Etruscans, long after h-on implements and arms were common. Iron Λvas known in the days of Job \ (xxviii. 2); Moses mentions Tubal Cain | tTie'TnstVuctor of every artificer in brass and iron (Gen. iv. 22), aud compares Egypt to tlie " iron furnace " (Deut. iv. 20 ) ; Og King of Bashan, who lived about | 1450 B.C., had a bedstead of iron (Deut. j 120 BEST MODE OF EMBALMING. Book IT. the brain through the nostrils, thus getting ήά of a portion, while the skull is cleared of the rest by rinsing with drugs; next they make a cut along the flank with a sharp Ethiopian stone,^ and take out the whole contents of the abdomen, which iii. 11); and Homer shows the quench- ing of iron to case-harden it was well known, when he adopts it as a simile, and compares the hissing noise produced by jiicrcing the eye of Polyphemus to the effect of plunging the heated metal in w.ater. (Od. ix. 391.) Thrasyllus (Clem. Strom, i.) agrees with the Arun- delian marbles in supposing that iron was known long before the Trojan Avar; and it would be mcousistent to suppose that the most civilised nation of those days could have been ignorant of it even if the paintings of Thebes did not prove its use. We even see butchers sharpen- ing their knives on a steel fastened to their apron ; and weapons of that blue- coloured metal were represented in common use long before the Trojan war. In metallurgy the Egyptians possessed some secrets scarcely known to us ; for they had the means of enabling copper to cut stone without hardening it by an i alloy, and of giving "to bronze blades the i| elasticity of steel, with great hardness • and sharpness of edge. In Asia the Chalybes were noted for their iron works, by which they obtained great profits 'Xenoph. Anab. s.v. ,, and Pliny ': (vii. 56) ascribes the invention of steel to the Idsei Dactyli of Crete.— [G. W.] 1 Ethiopian stone either is black flint, or an Ethiopian agate, the use of which Avas the'TemuSftOT'of a very primitive custom. Flints were often employed in Egypt for tipping arrows, in lieu of metal heads. Stone knives have been found in Egypt, which many people had, a.s the Britons and others, and even the Romans. (Liv. i. 24.) The Ethiopians (Her. vii. 69) had reed ariOws tipped with agate, or pebbles, " on which seals were cut," and which, known Chap. 86. USE OF NATRUM. 121 they then cleanse, washing it thoroughly with palm wiue,^ and again frequently with an infusion of pounded aromatics. After this they fill the cavity with the piu-est bruised myrrh, with cassia, and every other sort of spicery^ except frankincense, and sew up the opening. Then the body is placed in natrum * for seventy days,* and covered entirely over. After the expiration of that space of time, which must not be exceeded, the body is washed, and wrapped round, from head to foot, with bandages of fine linen cloth,•^ smeared over with gum, Avhich is used generally by the to us as "Egyptian pebbles," are in great abundance in Dongola and other districts. (See my n. on B. vii. eh. 89.) The knife used in Egypt for sacrificing was generally of tempered iron, exactly like that of the Romans (so often repre- sented on their altars), one of which, in my possession, is 11 .j inches long, by 2 in the broadest part. (Fig• *•) — [G. W.] ^ The wine and pith {jumar, or hdb, " heart, " in Arabic) are mentioned by Xenophon. (Anab. ii. 3.) He is right in saying that when taken from it the tree withers. In the Oasis they still make this wine, which they call lowhgeh. They merely tap the centre of the date tree, where the branches grow, and the juice runs off into a vase fastened there to receive it. — [G. W.] 3 The "spiceiy, and balm, and myrrh," carried by the Ishmaelites (or Arabs) to Egypt were principally for the em- balmers, who were doubtless supplied regulai-ly with them. (Gen. xxxvii. 25.) Other caravans, like the Midianite mer- chantmen (Gen. xxxvii. 28), visited Egypt for the purposes of trade; and "the spice merchants" are noticed (1 Kings X. 15) in Solomon's time. See my n. B. iii. ch. 107.— [G. W.] * Not nitre, but the subcai-bonate of soda, which abounds at the natron lakes in the Lybian desert, and at El Hegs in Upper Egypt. This completed the usual mode of embalming; but some few appear to have been prepared with wax and tanning, by which the limbs were less rigid, and retained great flexi- bility. Dr. Granville has made some interesting experiments on preserving bodies by that process, in imitation of one brought from Egypt, probably of late time ; for a description of which I refer to his work. Mr. Pettigrew also (p. 73) mentions a child preserved with wax.— [G. W.] * Tills included the whole period of mourning. The embalming only occu- pied forty days (Gen. 1. 3); Diodorus says " upwards of thirty." Both seventy and seventy-two days are mentioned as the full number, the first being ten weeks of seven days, or seven decades ; the other 12x6 = 72, the duodecimal calculation being also used in Egypt. The name mummy is supposed to be an Arabic word, moomia, from mum, "wax." In Egyptian it is called sa/»; the bier Χλ, Gol. The origin of embalming has been ingeniously derived from their first merely burying in the sand, impregnated with natron and other salts, which dried and preserved the body ; which natural process they afterwards imitated — drugs, and subsequently bitumen, being later improvements. Bitumen does not ap- pear to have been generally used before the 18th Dynasty. The dried body of the supposed Mycerinus, however, will be no evidence that the simple salting process was retained till his time, unless the body aiid woollen dress ai-e proved to be ancient Egyptian. (See Gliddon's Horie ^gyptiacae and M. Eg. W. vol. i. p. 348.) On bitumen, see n. * on B. i. ch. 179.— [G. W.] ^ Not cotton. The microscope has decided (what no one ever doubted in Egypt) that the mummy-cloths are linen. The question arose in conse- quence of the use of the word byssus. Pausanias unequivocally describes it as cotton, and growing in Elis. On the other hand, the Hebrew shash is trans- lated Byssus in the Septuagint version, and in our own, " fine linen " (Ex. xxiv. 4). Many consider it linen, and Julius Pollux calls it a sort of Indian flax. Herodotus again speaks of the (linen) mummy-cloths as " byssine sin- don," and both he and J. Pollux call cotton "tree wool." Some indeed tliink this last was silk; but Pliny (xix. 1) ]22 THE MUMMY CARE. Book II. Egyptians in the place of glue, and in this state it is given back to the relations, who enclose it in a wooden case which they have had made for the purpose, shaped into the figure of a man. Then fastening the case, they place it in a sepulchral chamber,' up- shows that the ζύκον of Heroflotus was cotton. — " Superior pars yEgypti in Araliiam vergens giguit fruticem quern aliqui gossipion vocant, plures xylon ; et ideo lina iude facta xylina." The confusion appears to have arisen partly from the conventional use of the names of the various vlot/ts. Syidpii was the aeneral term for every' /i'te stuff; so that it was even applied to woollen fabrics. Josephus speaks of sindon made of hair, and the ark had one covering of linen, and another of sindon made of goats' hair (Antiq. 3, 5, 4). Sindon was therefore any stuff of a very fine texture (and might be applied to modei'n Cash- mere and Jerbee shawls, as well as to muslin and cambric). Byssus in its real sense was cotton^ but it was also a general terra- (li'ke "our word "linen"), and Josephus speaks of byssine sindon made of linen, i. e. " fine cotton linen." AVith Pliny, on the contrary, linen (lin- tenpi or liiium) is the general term for all stuffs, including cotton (xix. 1), and he even calls asbestus " linen." " Ko- mash," properly " linen," is used in the same Λvay by the Arabs for all stuffs. It is also reasonable to suppose that ancient, like modern people, may have been mistaken sometimes about the exact quality of the stuffs they saw, since the microscope was required to set us right. Sindon may possibly be taken from "India," or from the Egyptian " shent " (see n. ' on ch. 105). Clemens thinks byssine garments were invented in the time of Semiramis, king of Egypt (Strom, i. p. 307). The Egyptians em- ployed gum for the bands, or mummy- cloths, but not for other purposes where glue was required. They also stained them with carthamus or safflower. The custom of swathing the body with ban- dages was common also to the Jews, as well as the process of embalming it with spices (Luke xxiii. Γ)ϋ; John xix. 40). Their mode of bandaging the dead body is shown in the case of Lazai-us (John xi. 44) ; and the early Italian masters have represented it more cor- rectly than many of later time. The legs, however, were bandaged sepa- , rately, ;is in the Gi-ieco-Egyptian mum- mies, since he '• came forth " out of the tomb.— [G. W.] ' This was not in their own houses, but, as Uerodotus says, in a room made Chap. 86, 87. SECOND MODE OF EMBALMING. 123 right against the wall. Such is the most costly way of em- balming the dead. 87. If persons wish to avoid expense, and choose the second process, the following is the method pursued: — Syringes are filled with oil made from the cedar-tree, which is then, without any incision ^ or disembowelling, injected into the abdomen. The passage by which it might be likely to return is stopped, and the body laid in natrum the prescribed number of days. At the end of the time the cedar-oil is allowed to make its escape ; and such is its power that it brings Avith it the whole stomach and intestines in a liquid state. The natrum meanwhile has dis- solved the flesh, and so nothing is left of the dead body but the skin and the bones. It is returned in this condition to the relatives, without any further trouble being bestowed upon it. for the purpose, which -was attached to the tomb. In the floor of this room the pit was sunk, often to the depth of more than 40 feet, where, after certain services had been performed by a priest before the mummy, it was finally depo- sited. In the meantime it was kept [aa he says, upright) in a moveable closet, and occasionally taken out to receive those priestly benedictions ; or stood within an open canopy for the same purpose, the relations weeping before it. A less expensive kind of tomb had not the chamber, but only the pit, which was properly the place of sepultm-e, though the name '• tomb " is always ap- plied to the apartment above. The cofliu or mummy-case was placed at the bottom, or in a lateral chamber or recess, at "the side of the pit." Those who were considered worthy were buried in the tomb they had made, or purchased, at a very high price ; but wicked people were forbidden the pri- vilege, as if undeserving of burial in consecrated ground.— [G. W.] No. Π. 8 Second-class mummies without any incision are found in the tombs; but the opening in the side was made in many of them, and occasionally even in those of an inferior quality; so that it was not exclusively confined to mum- mies of the first class. There were, in fact, many gradations in each class. The TminT^tflips of Greeks may generally be | cHstinguisheilSy the limbs being each | bandaged sepai'ately. On Embalming, \ see Rouger's Notice sur les Embaume- • mens des Anciens Egyptiens ; Petti- ' grew's History of the Egyptian Mum- mies ; and At. Eg. W. vol. v. p. 451 to the end.— [G. W.] 124 ΤΙΠΤίΟ MODF. OF EMBALMING. EooK IT. 88. Tlie third method of embalming,'^ which is practised in the case o/" tlie poonn* classes, is to clear out the intestines with a clyster,' and let the body lie in natrum the seventy days, after which it is at once given to those who come to fetch it away. 89. ^rhe wives of men of rank are not given to be embalmed immediately after death, nor indeed are any of the more beau- tiful and valued women. It is not till they have been dead three or fom* days that they are carried to the embalmers. This is done to prevent indignities from being offered them. It is said that once a case of tliis kind occurred : the man was detected by the information of his fellow-workman. 90. Whensoever any one, Egyptian or foreigner, has lost his life by falling a prey to a crocodile, or by drowning in the river, the law compels the inhabitants of the city near which the body is cast up to have it embalmed, and to bury it in one of the sacred repositories with all possible magnificence.^ No one may touch the corpse, not even any of the friends or relatives, but only the priests of the Nile,^ who prepare it for burial with ^ Of these, as of the others, there were several kinds, the two principal ones being '•' 1. Those salted and filled with bituminous matter less pure than the others; 2. Those simply salted." Others, indeed, were prepai-ed in more simple ways ; some were so loosely put up in bad cloths that they are scarcely to be separated from the stones and earth in which they are buried, and others were more carefully enveloped in bandages, and arranged one over the other in one common tomb, often to the number of several hundred.— [G. W.] 1 The word used here (συρμαΐη) is the name of the modern figl, or rapha- nus sativus (var. edulis) of Linnseus (see n. ^ on oh. 125); but the liquid here mentioned seems rather to be a powerful cleansing preparation. — [G. W.] 2 The law which obliged the people to embalm the body of any one found dead, and to bury it in the most ex- pensive manner, was a jjolice, as well as a sanatory, regulatiou. It was a fine on the people for allowing a violent death, even by accident, to occur in their district; and with the same ob- ject of protecting life, they made it a crime to witness an attempt to mur- der, or even a personal attack of any kind, without endeavouring to prevent it, or at least laying an information and prosecuting the offender. It was not "because the body was something more than human;" but to ensure the proper mode of embalming, by having the money paid at once to the priests, and to prevent any evasion of the ex- pense. — [G.,\V.] * Herodotus would lead us to infer that every city had its priests of the Nile ; but this was probably only when / situated near its banks, as we do not find any of these Nile temples. The city of Nilopolis, where the god Kilus was greatly worshipped, was in Middle Egypt, in the province of Hep- tanomis (afterwards called Arcadia, from the son of Theodosius\ At Sil- silis, too, jNilus (or Hapi-moou) was greatly honoured. Silsilis is remark- able for its large quarries of sand- stone, which was used to build nearly all the temples of Egypt, and for having been the place where the Nile burst the barrier of rock, atid lowered its level throughout its course south- ward of that spot. (See n. on ch. 13, in App. CH. iv.) The Niloa, according to Heliodorus (.ilthiop. lib. ix.\ was one of the principal festivals of Egypt. It was celebrated about the winter sol- stice, when the Nile began to rise; and Libanius pretends that the rites were thought of so much importance, that. Chap. 88-91. BURIAL OF THOSE FOUND DROWNED. 125 their own hands — regarding it as something more tiian the mere body of a man — and themselves lay it in the tomb. 91. The Egyptians are averse to adopt Greek customs, or, in a word, those of any other nation. This feeling is almost universal among them. At Chemmis,* however, which is a large city in the Thebaic canton, near Neapolis,^ there is a square enclosure sacred to Perseus, son of Danae. Palm trees unless performed properly, the river would not rise to its proper height. It was celebrated by men and women in the capital of each nome; which seems to argue, like the statement of Hero- dotus, that the god Nilus had a temple in every large city ; and a wooden statue of the river god was carried in proces- sion through the villages on that occa- sion.— [G. W.] "• Khem, the god of Chemmis, or Khemmo, being supposed to answer to Pan, this city was called Panopolis by the Greeks and Romans. The lion- headed goddess Thriphis shared the honours of the sanctuary with Khem, and is mentioned in a Greek Inscrip- tion there of the l"2th year of Trajan, when the restored or newly - built temple Λvas finished {συνΐΤΐλίσθ-η). Khem was the generative principle, or universal nature. His name resembles that of " Egypt," which Plutarch tells us was called Chemi, " from the black- ness of the soil," and was the same word applied to the "black" or pupil "of the eye." (See n. ^ on ch. 1.").) Tliis is confirmed by the hieroglyphics ; Khem, Chemi, or Khemo, ']^ signifying "Egypt," and corresponding to the " land of Ham," or Khem. It is singular that this town should have had the old name of the countiy, and an- other, Coptos, have had that of Egypt, which is Koft, or Gypt, with the " Ai" prefixed. "Egypt" is not found in hieroglyphics as the name of the country; nor "Nile" as that of the river. The ancient Chemmis (or Khemi) is retained in the modern Ekhmim, the inhabitants of which were famed of old as linen manufacturei-s and workers in stone. Chemi, " Egypt," Avas the origin of the word alchemy (the black art) and of chemistry. The white bull accom- panies Khem, as in the procession at Medeenet Haboo, and this accords with the representation of the Indian god who presides over generation mounted on a white bull. (Sir W. Jones, vol. i. p. 256.)-[G. W.] ^ The " neujhbowing Neapolis" is at least ninety miles further up the river, and sixty in a direct line. It has been succeeded by the modern Keneh, a name taken from the Greek καιν)] πόλΐί, the " Newtown " of those days. All the Egyptians had an aversion for the customs of the Greeks, as of all strangers ; and it is difficult to un- derstand how the people of Chemmis should have had a different feeling towards them. The stoi-ies of the Greek Perseus having visited Egypt on his way to Libj'a, and of his having in- stituted games at Chemmis, are fables, as is that in Book vii. ch. 61, of his having given his name to the Persians. But there may have been an Egyptian god, a character of the sun, whom the Greeks supposed to be their hero ; and the monster Medusa, whose head Per- seus cut off, evidently derived its form from the common Typhonian figui'e of Egypt. (Cp. Diodorus, iii. 69.) The record of a colony having gone to Greece from Egypt ("Khemi") may have led to the story about the people of Chemmis having a friendly feeling towards the Greeks; as that of Perseus having married Astarte, the daughter of Belus, may point to some inter- course with Syria. " Perseus, accord- ing to the Persians, was an Assyrian." There is a cm'ious connexion between Perseus andPharas (faras), " the horse:" — the Pegasus sprang forth from Me- dusa when killed by Perseus, as I'epre- sented on one of the metopes ofSelinus; and Neptune, Λvho introduced the horse into Greece, and Medusa, are both Libyan. Farms signifies the " mare," and fares the " horseman," or the " Persian," in Ai-abic. In the story of Pei'seus and Andromeda, as of St. George and the Dragon, the scene is placed in Syria; the former at Jafla, the latter near Beii-oot. — [G. W.J ] 2Γ) ΤΕΜΓΤ.Ε OF PEItSEUS. Book ΤΙ. f^Tow all vouikI llio place, wliicli lias a stone gateway of an unusnai size, Hiinuoinitod by two fOlf)Ssal statues," also in stone. Inside this precinct is a t(inip](!, and in the temple an image of Perseus. The people of Chemmis say that Perseus often appears to them, sometimes within the sacred enclosure, sometimes in the open country : one of the sandals which he has worn is fre- quently found '' — two cubits in length, as they affirm — and then all Egypt flourishes greatly. In the Avorship of Perseus Greek ceremonies are used ; gymnastic games are celebrated in his honour, comprising every kind of contest, with prizes of cattle, cloaks, and skins. I made inquiries of the Chemmites why it was that Perseus appeared to them and not elsewhere in Egypt, and how they came to celebrate gymnastic contests ^ unlike the rest of the Egyptians : to which they answered, " that Perseus belonged to their city by descent. Danaiis and Lynceus were Chemmites before they set sail for Greece, and from them Per- seus was descended," they said, tracing the genealogy ; " and he, when he came to Egypt for the purpose " (Avhich the Greeks also assign) " of bringing away from Libya the Gorgon's head, paid them a visit, and acknowledged them for his kinsmen — he had heard the name of their city from his mother before he left Greece — he bade them institute a gymnastic contest in his honour, and that was the reason why they observed the practice." 92. The customs hitherto described are those of the Egyptians Avho live above the marsh-country. The inhabitants of the marshes have the same customs as the rest, as well in those * Statues on the large stone propyla, which begin with nin, not aleplt). The or towers of the Propylsca, would be grove brought out from the house of an anomaly in Egyptian architecture, the Lord (2 Kings xxiii. 6 and 7) The enclosure is the usual temenos, appeal's to be like the emblematic surrounded by a wall generally of grove, or table surmounted by trees, crude brick, within which the temple carried in procession behind the Egyp- stood. Cp. the Welsh " Llan." The tian god Khem. palm-trees constituted the grove round The word "highplace," "bemeh," Π03 the teniple, which was usually planted (1 Sam. ix. 12; 2 Kings xxiii. 15), is with other trees. Clemens therefore singularly, though accidentally, like the calls it &\σο$, and gives the name Greek βτιμα. — [G. AV.] opyas to the temenos. The courts ' The modern Egyptians show the surrounded by columns are his avXai. footstep of their prophet, in default of (See n. on ch. 155, and the woodcut his sandal, and an impression in stone there.) The court planted with trees — a petrified miracle. The dervishes seems to be the " grove " mentioned in at Old Cairo have the shoe of their the Bible; ashreh (1 Kings xv. 13'. founder, which might almost vie for as/dreh (Deut. vii. 5), plural asherotli size with the sandal of Perseus. — (2 Chron. xxxiii. 3; Judg. iii. 7) ; a [G. W.] word not related, as some think, to ^ See Note in Appendix CH. vi. Ashte/vt/i, nor to ashcr, "ten' (,both Chap. 91, 92. CUSTOMS OF THE MAESH-MEN. 127 matters which have been mentioned above as in respect of marriage, each Egyptian taking to himself, like the Greeks, a single wife ; ^ but for greater cheapness of living the marsh-men practise certain peculiar customs, such as these following. They gather the blossoms of a certain water-lily, Avhicli grows in great abundance all over the flat country at the time when the Nile rises and floods the regions along its banks — the Egyptians call it the lotus ^° — they gather, I say, the blossoms 9 There is no instance on the monu- ments of Egypt of a man having more than one wife at a time ; nor does Herodotus say, as has sometimes been supposed, that this was the custom of the other Egyptians who lived above the marsh country. Rather he implies the contrary. From the superior treat- ment of women throughout Egypt, from what we see of their social habits, and from the queens being allowed to ascend the throne, it is very impro- bable that any man had more than one wife. Diodorus (i. 80) says the priests were only allowed one, while the rest might have any number; but this is at variance with his account of the marriage contract, allowing a woman the control over her husband (i. 27) ; and, if permitted by law, we may be certain that few took ad- vantage of it, since it was forbidden to the rich aristocracy, and the poor could not afiford to enjoy the privilege. — [G. W.] ^0 This Nymphaja Lotus grows in ponds and small channels in the Delta, during the inundation, which are dry during the rest of the year; but it is not found in the Nile itself. It is nearly the same as our white water-lily. Its Arabic name is nufar, or nilofer, or heshnin ; the last being the ancient "pi-sshnn," or pi-shneen, of the hiero- glyphics. There are two varieties — the white, and that with a bluish tinge, or the Nymphiea Cocrulea. The Budd- hists of Tibet and others call it nenu- phar. Though the favourite flower of Egypt, there is no evidence of its hav- ing been sacred ; but the god Nofr- Atmoo bore it on his head; and the name nnfar is probably related to nofr, "good," and connected with his title. It was thought to be a flower of Hades, or Amenti ; and on it also Harpocrates is often seated. He was the Egyptian Aurora, or day-spring; not the God of Silence, as the Greeks supposed, but figured with his finger in his mouth, to show one of the habits of childhood of which he was the emblem. Hence he represented the beginning of day, or the rise and infancy of the sun, which was typically portrayed rising every morning from that flower, or from the water ; and this may have given rise to the notion of Proclus that the lotus flower was typical of the sun. Erato- sthenes also says this son of Isis was the " God of Day." The Egyptian mode of indicating silence was by placing " the 128 ΤΙΤΕ LOTUS AND PAPYRUS. Book IT. of this plant and dry them in tlie sun, after wliich they extract from tlie eontn; of each blossom a sn])stance like the head of a poppy, wliich they crush and maki; into broad. The root of the lotus is likewise eatable, and has a pleasant sweet taste : it is round, and about the size of an appl»;. There is also another species of the lily in Egypt,' which grows, like the lotus, in the river, and resembles the rose. The fruit springs up side by side with the blossom, on a separate stalk, and has almost exactly the look of the comb made by wasps. It i;ontains a number of seeds, about the size of an olive-stone, which are good to eat : and these are eaten both green and dried. The byblus ^ (papy- hand on the mouth." (Cp. Job xxix. 9.) The frog was also an emblem " of man as yet in embryo," as Horapollo and the Egyptian monuments show. The lotus flower was always presented to guests at an Egj'ptian party; and garlands were put round their heads and necks ; — the " multaeque in fronte corona." (Cp. Hor. Od. i. 26 and 38 ; ii. 7; iii. lO; iv. 11. Athenseus, xv. Ovid. Fast. v. Anacreon, ode iv.) It is evident that the lotus was not bor- rowed from India, as it was the fa- vourite plant of Egypt before the Hindoos had established their religion there. Besides the seeds of the lotus, poor people doubtless used those of other plants for making bread, like the mo- dem Egyptians, who used to collect the small grains of the Mesern})rianthe- mum iwdiflorum for this purpose ; and Diodorus (i. 80) says the roots and stalks of water-plants were a gi'eat article of food among the lower classes of Egyptians.— [G. W.] 1 Perhaps the Nymphcea Nelumho, or Nelumhium, which is common in India, but which grows no longer in Egypt. And the care taken in planting it for- merly seems to show it was not indi- genous in Egypt. Crocodiles and the Nelumbium are represented, with the Nile god, on the large statue in the Vatican at Rome, and in many Roman- Egyptian sculptures (see woodcut); but it is remarkable that no representation of the Nelumbium occurs in the sculp- tures of ancient Egypt, though the common Nymphgea Lotus occurs so often. Pliny calls it Colocasia, as well as Cyanon (xxi. 15). Of the plants of Egjrpt, too numerous to mention here, .see At. Eg. ΛΥ. vol. iv. p. 52 to 85, and Dr. Pickering's Phys. Hist, of Man, p. 308, &c.— [G. W.] 2 This is the Cypei-us Papyrus, which, like the Nelumbium, is no longer a native of Egypt. It now only grows in the Anapus, near Syracuse, and it is said to have been found in a stream on the coast of Syria, as in Pliny's time (xiii. 11). Herodotus is wrong in calling it an annual plant. The Chap. 92, 93. GEEGAEIOUS FISH. 129 rus), which grows year after year in the marshes, they pull up, and, cutting the plant in two, reserve the upper portion for other purposes, but take the lower, which is about a cubit long, and either eat it or else sell it. Such as Avish to enjoy the byblus in full perfection bake it fii*st in a closed vessel, heated to a glow. Some of these folk, however, live entirely on fish, which are gutted as soon as caught, and then hung up in the sun : when dry, they are used as food. 93. Gregarious fish are not found in any numbers in the rivers; they frequent the lagunes, whence, at the season of breeding, they proceed in shoals towards the sea. The males lead the way, and drop their milt as they go, while the females, following close behind, eagerly swallow it down. From this they conceive,^ and when, after passing some time in the sea, they begin to be in spawn, the whole shoal sets off on its return to its ancient haunts. Now, however, it is no longer the males, but the females, who take the lead: they swim in front in a body, and do exactly as the males did before, dropping, little by little, their grains of spawn as they go, whUe the males in the rear devour the grains, each one of which is a fish.'' A portion use of the pith of its triangulai• stalk for paper made it a very valuable plant ; and the right of growing the best quality, and of selling the papyrus made from it, belonged to the Govern- ment. It was particularly cultivated in the Sebennytic noma, and vai-ious qualities of the paper were made. It is evident that other Cyperi, and particu- larly the Cyperus dives, were sometimes confounded with the Papyrus, or Byblus hieraticus of Strabo; and when we read of its being used for mats, sails, baskets, sandals, and other common purposes, we may conclude that this was an inferior kind mentioned by Strabo; and sometimes a common Cyperus, which grew wild, as many still do, was thus employed in its stead. It is, however, evident that a variety of the Papyrus was so used ; men being represented on the monuments making small boats of it (see n. ^ ch. 96) ; and we may con- clude this was a coarser and smaller kind not adapted for paper. The best was gi'own with great care. Pliny says the papyrus wa.s not found about Alexancb-ia, because it was not culti- vated there ; and the necessity of this is shown by Isaiah's mention of " the paper reeds by the brooks .... and VOL. II. every thing sown by the brooks." (Is. xix. 7.) This prophecy is still more remarkable from its declaring that the papyrus shall no longer gi-ow in the country, that it " shall wither, and be driven away, and be no more." Theophrastus is correct in saying it grew in shallow water ; or in marshes, according to Pliny ; and this is repre- sented on the monuments, where it is placed at the side of a stream, or in irrigated lands (see woodcut, No. III. fig. 2, ch. 77, note ^ ; and the end of CH. V. of the App.). Pliny describes the mode of making the paper (xiii. 11), by cutting thin slices of the pith and laying them in rows, and these being crossed with other slices, the Λvhole was made to adhere by great pressure. — [G. W.] ^ Aristotle (de Gen. Anim. iii. 5) shows the absurdity of this statement, quoting Herodotus by name, and giving his exact words. C. Miiller has strangely seen in the passage a fragment of Jle- rodorus! (See Fr. Hist. Gr. ii. p. 32, Fr. 11.) "• The male fish deposits the milt after the female has deposited the spawn, and thus i-euders it prolific. The swallow- ing of the spawn is simply the act of Κ 130 THE ΚΙΚΙ. Book II. of tlie spawn escapes and is not swallowed by tlie males, and hence come the fishes which grow afterwards to maturity. When any of this sort of fish are taken on their passage to the sea, they are found to have the left side of the head scarred and bruised ; while if taken on their return, the marks appear on the right. The reason is, that as they swim down the Nile seaward, they keep close to the bank of the river upon their left, and retm-ning again up stream they still cling to the same side, hugging it and brushing against it constantly, to be sure that they miss not their road through the great force of the current. When the Nile begins to rise, the hollows in the land and the marshy spots near the river are flooded before any other places by the percolation of the water through the river- banks ; ^ and these, almost as soon as they become pools, are found to be full of numbers of little fishes. I think that I understand how it is this comes to pass. On the subsidence of the Nile the year before, though the fish retired with the retreat- ing waters, they had fu-st deposited their spawn in the mud upon the banks ; and so, when at the usual season the water returns, small fry are rapidly engendered out of the spawn of the preceding year. So much concerning the fish. 94. The Egyptians who live in the marshes^ use for the anointing of their bodies an oil made from the fruit of the silli- cyprium,'^ which is known among them by the name of " kiki." any hungiy fish, male or female, who rodotus vidth the inhabitants of the happens to find it. The bruised heads marsh-region is probably owing to the are a fable. — [G. W.] important position occupied by that * Percolation supplies the wells in region in the revolt of Inaros, which the the alluvial soil, even at the edge of Athenians, whom Herodotus pi-obably the desert ; but wherever there are accompanied, went to assist. ^Miile any hollows and dry ponds, these are Inaros the Libyan attacked the Pei-sians filled, as of old, by canals cut for the in the field, and with the help of the pui'pose of conveying the water of the Athenians made himself master of the inundation inland. The water would greater part of Memphis, Amyrtieus the reach the hollows and ponds by per- Egyptian, his co-conspirator, established eolation, if no canals were made ; we his authority over the mai-sh-district, know, however, that these were much the inhabitants of which were reputed more numeixjus in ancient than in mo- the most wai-like of the Egyptians, dern Egypt. Here he maintained himself even after The sudden appearance of the young the defeat of Inaros and his Athenian fish in the ponds was simply owing to allies, who seem to have made their last these being suiiplied by the canals stand in the immediate vicinity of the from the river, or by its ovei'flowing mai-sh-country. (See Thucyd. i. 109-110 ; its banks (which it only did in some Herod, ii. 140, iii. 15, &c.) Herodotus, fow places, long after the canals had if he accompanied the expedition, would been opened), and the fish naturally thus have been brought into close con- went in at the same time with the water, tact with the marsh-men. — [G. W.] 7 This was the Bicinus comm"7}is, the '' The intimate acquaintance of He- Castor-oil plant, or the Palma-Christi, Chap. 93-96. CONTKIVANCES AGAINST GXATS. 131 To obtain this they pLant the sillicyprium (which grows wild in Greece) along the banks of the rivers and by the sides of the lakes, where it produces fruit in great abundance, but with a very disagreeable smell. This fruit is gathered, and then bruised and pressed, or else boiled down after roasting : the liquid which comes from it is collected and is found to be unctuous, and as well suited as olive-oil for lamps, only that it gives out an un- pleasant odour. 95. The contrivances which they use against gnats, where- with the country swarms, are the following. In the parts of Egypt above the marshes the inhabitants pass the night upon lofty towers,^ which are of great service, as the gnats are unable to fly to any height on account of the winds. In the marsh- country, where there are no towers, each man possesses a net instead. By day it serves him to catch fish, Λvhile at night he spreads it over the bed in which he is to rest, and creeping in, goes to sleep underneath. The gnats, which, if he rolls himself up in his dress or in a piece of muslin, are sure to bite through the covering, do not so much as attempt to pass the net. 96. The vessels used in Egypt for the transport of merchan- dise are made of the Acantha (Tliorn),^ a tree which in its in Arabic Kharweh. It was known by (Plin. xv. 3; Strabo, xvii. p. 1147.) — the names of Croton, Trixis, wild- or [G. W.] tree-Sesamum, Ricinus, and (according ^ A similar practice is found in the to Dioscorides) of σίσΐΚι κΰ-κριον, which valley of the Indus. Sir Alexander was doubtless the same as the «τίλλικύ- ■ Burnes, in his memoir on that river ■πριον of Herodotus. It gi'ew abund- (Geograph. Jo urn. vol. iii. p. 113, et antly, according to Pliny, as it still seqq.), says: — "The people bordering does, in Egypt. The oil was extracted on this part of the Indus — between either by pressing the seeds, as at the Bukher and Mittun Kote — live during present day, when required for lamps, the swell in houses elevated eight or or by boiling them and skimming off ten feet from the gi'ound, to avoid the the oil that floated on the surface, which damp and insects which it occasions, was thought better for medicinal pur- . . . These bungalows are entered by poses. Pliny was not singular in his a ladder " (p. 137). taste when he says (xv. 7), " Cibis [The custom of sleeping on the flat foedum, lucernis utile." It was the roofs of their houses is still common plant that gave shade to Jonah (iv. 6) in Egypt ; and the small tower rising • — Klkion, mistranslated "gourd." The above the roof is found in the repi'esen- Egyptians had many other plants that tations of some ancient houses in the produced oil, the principal of Λvhich sculptures. The common fishing-net were the Carthamus tinctorius (or saf- would be a very inefficient protection flower), the Sesamum orientale (or against the gnats of modern Egypt, Simsim), flax, lettuce, Selgam or cole- though a net doubled will often exclude seed (Brassica oleifera), and the Ra- flies. — G. "W.] phanus oleifer (the Seemga of modern ^ This was Pliny's " Spina .^gyptia," Nubia), and even the olive; though called by Athenteus "Acantha," and this tree seldom produced fruit in described by him (xv. p. 680) with a Egypt, except about the Lake Moeris, round fruit on small stalks. It is the and in the gardens of Alexandria, modei-n Sont, or ilimosa (Acacia) Nilo- 132 VESSELS AND BOATS. Book II. growth is very like the Cyronaic lotus, and from wliich there exufles a gum. They cut a quantity of planks about two cubits in length from this tree, .and then proceed to their sliip-lniilding, arrauging the planks ^ like bricks, and attaching them by ties tica ; groves of which aro still found in Egypt, as according to Strabo, AtheuLCUs, and others, of old. Gum-arabic is pro- duced from it, as from other mimosas or acacias of Egypt and Ethiopia, parti- cularly the (Scaleh or) Acacia Seal, and the {Tulh or) A. gummifei'a, of the desert. The Acacia Famesiana (or Fitneh) and the A. lebbek (lebbehk) grow in the valley of the Nile ; the small Gil/jil (with pods like oak apples and seeds like those of the Seiileh), perhaps the A. heterocarpa, is found in the Oasis; the IJarraz (A. albida), Sellem, and Siimr, mostly in the Ababdeh desert, and a few of the two first at Thebes ; a small one, called Ombood, is found about Belbays ; and a sensi- tive acacia (the A. asperata ?) grows in Ethiopia on the banks of the Nile; perhaps the one mentioned by Pliny (xiii. 10) about Memphis. By "Aby- lus," Athenteus means Abydus. The Shittim wood of Exodus was doubtless Acacia Seal (Sayal) of the desert. " The Cyrena'ic lotus " here mentioned by Herodotus is probably the Tulh, not that of the Lotophagi, and is dif- ferent from that of Pliny (xiii. 17, 19J. See my note on Book iv. ch. 177. — [G. W.] ' The boats of the Nile are still built with planks of the sont. The planks, ari'anged as Herodotus states, like bricks, appear to have been tied to several long stakes, fastened to them internally (No. I.). Something of the Idnd is still done, when they raise an extra bulwark above the gunwale. In the large boats of burthen the planks were secured by nails and bolts, \vhich No. I. men are represented in the paintings dri\nng into holes, previou.sly drilled for them. There was also a small kind of pvmt or canoe, made entirely of the papyrus, bound together with bands of the same plant (No. II.) — the "vessels of bulrushes " mentioned in Isaiah xviii. 2 (see PUn. vi. 22 ; vii. 1 6 ; xiii. 11 ; Theophrast. iv. 9 ; Plut. de Is. s. 18; Lucan, iv. 136); but these were not capable of carrying large cai'goes ; and still less would papyrus ships cross the sea to the Isle of Taprobane (Ceylon), as Pliny supposes (vi. 22). This mistake may have originated in some sails and ropes having been made of the papyrus, but these were rarely used, even on the Nile. In one of the paintings at Kom el Ahmai• one is No. n. Chap. 96. VESSELS AND BOATS. 133 to a number of long stakes or poles till the hull is complete, when they lay the cross-planks on the top from side to side. They give the boats no ribs, but caulk the seams with papyrus on the inside. Each has a single rudder,^ which is driven represented vrith a sail, Avhich might be made of the papyrus rind, and which appears to fold up like those of the Chinese (No. III.), and the mast is double, which was tusual in large boats in the time of the 4th and other early dynasties. Tliat cloth sails, occasion- ally with coloured devices worked or painted on them, should be fo\md on the monuments at least as early as the 18th and 19th dynasties, is not sur- prising, since the Egyptians were noted at a very remote period for the manu- facture of linen and other cloths, and exported sailcloth to Phoenicia. CEzek. xxvii. 7.) Hempen (Herodot. vii. 25) and palm ropes are also shown by the monuments to have been adopted for all the tackling of boats. The process of making them is found at Beni Hassan and at Thebes ; and ropes made from the strong fibre of the palm-tree are J frequently found in the tombs. This last was probably the kind most gene- rally used in Egypt, and is still very common there, as the cocoa-nut ropes are in India.— [G. W.] - The large boats had generally a single rudder, which resembled a long oar, and traversed on a beam at the 134 VESSELS AND BOATS. Book II. Chap. 96. VESSELS AND BOATS. 135 straight through the keel. The mast is a piece of acantha- wood, and the sails are made of papyrus. These boats cannot make way against the current unless there is a brisk breeze ; they are, therefore, towed up-stream from the shore : ^ down- stream they are managed as follows. There is a raft belonging to each, made of the wood of the tamarisk, fastened together with a wattling of reeds ; and also a stone bored through the middle about two talents in Aveight. The raft is fastened to the vessel by a rope, and allowed to float down the stream in front, while the stone is attached by another rope astern.* The result is, that the raft, hurried forward by tlie current, goes rapidly down the river, and drags the " baris " (for so they call this sort of boat) ^ after it ; while the stone, which is pulled along in stem, instances of which occur in many countries at the present day ; but many had two ruddei's, one at each side, near the stern, suspended at the gunwale (see cut No. I. in n. ^, ch. 96) or slung from a post, as a pivot, on which it turned. The small-sized boats of burthen were mostly fitted with two rudders ; and one instance occurs of three on the same side. On the rudder, as on the bows of the boat, was painted the eye (a custom still retained in the Mediterranean, and in China), but the Egyptians seem to have confined it to the funeral ba>-is. The boats always had one mast at the time Herodotus was in Egypt ; but it may be doubted if it was of the heavy acantha wood, which could vsdth difficulty have been found sufficiently long and straight for the purpose ; and fir- wood was too well known in Egypt not to be em- ployed for masts. Woods of vai'ious rare kinds were imported into Egypt from very distant countries as early as the time of the 18th dynasty ; and deal was then used for all common pur- poses, as well as the native sycamore. The hulls of boats were even sometimes made of deal ; and it would have been strange if they had not discovered how much more it was adapted for the masts. In the time of the 4th, 6th, and other early dynasties the mast was double ; but this was given up as cum- brous, and was not used after the ac- cession of the 18th, or even of the 12th dynasty.— [G. W.] * The custom of tovsdng up the stream is the same at present in Egypt; but the modern boatmen make use of the stone in coming do\vn the stream, to impede the boat, which is done by suspending it from the stern, while the tamarisk raft before the head is dis- pensed with. The contrivance Hero- dotus mentions was not so much to increase the speed as to keep the boat straight, by ofi'ering a large and buoyant object to the stream. When the rowers are tired, and boats are allowed to float down, they turn broadside to the stream ; and it was to prevent this that the stone and tamarisk raft were applied. — [G. W.] * A practice almost entirely similar is described by Col. Chesney as pre- vailing to this day on the Euphrates. Speaking of the kufah, or round river- boat (of which a representation was given, vol. i. p. 268), he says: — "These boats in descending the river have a bundle of hurdles attached, which float in advance, and a stone of the weight of two talents drags along the bottom to guide them." (vol. ii. p. 640.) ^ -iEschylus had used this Λvord be- fore Herodotus as the proper term for an Egyptian boat. Cf. Suppl. 815 and 858. He had also poeticallj^ extended it to the whole fleet of Xerxes (Pers. 555). Euripides used it as a foreign term. (Cf Iph. in Aulid. 297. βαρ- βάρου$ βάρώαί.) Afterwards it came to be a mere variant for -πλοΐον. (See Blomfield's note on .^schyl. Pers. 559.) [I had supposed Baris to mean "Boat of the Sun." (At. Eg. vol. v. p. 413, note.) Baris has erroneously been derived from Bai, a " palm branch," which had certainly this meaning (and 136 VESSELS AND BOATS. I500K II. the wako of the vessel, and lies deep in the water, keeps the boat straight. There are a vast number of these vessels in which is even used in John xii. 13, τα but Oua, or Ua, a "boat," is a rlifferent jSata rwv φοινίκων, " pahn branches "), word, though a Greek Avould write it with a β, or veta. The name Bai-is is used by Plutarch (de Is. s. 18, lamblichus de Myst. 8. 6, ch. v.), and others. There was an P'gj'ptian boat with a cabin, called by Strabo thalamegus, or thalamiferus (xvii. pp. 1134-5), used by the governors of pro- vinces for visiting Up- per Egypt ; and a simi- lar one was employed in the funeral proces- sions on the sacred j^o. 1. Lake of the Dead (No. I.). There was also a No. II. Chap. 96. VESSELS AND BOATS. 137 Egypt, and some of them are of many thousand talents' burthen.^ small kind of boat, with a cabin oi• awning, in which gentlemen were towed by their servants upon the lakes in their pleasure gi'ounds (No. II.) But all their large boats had cabins, often of great height and size, and even common market boats were furnished with them, and sufficiently roomy to hold cattle and various goods (No. IV.). — [G. W.] No. III. No. IV. ^ The size of boats on the Nile varies now as of old ; and some used for carry- ing corn, which can only navigate the Nile during the inundation, are rated at from 2000 to 48o0 ardebs, or about 10,000 to 24,000 bushels' burthen. The ships of war of the ancient Egyptians were not generally of great size, at least in the early times of the 18th and 1 9th dynasties, when they had a single row of from 20 to 44 or 50 oars, and were similar to the "long ships" and π€ντη- κόρτΐροι of the Greeks, and the galleys of the Mediterranean during the middle ages. Some were of much larger dimen- sions. Diodorus mentions one of cedar, dedicated by Sesostris to the god of Thebes, measuring 280 cubits (from 420 to 478 feet) in length ; and in later times they were ' remarkable both for length and height ; one built by Pto- lemy Philopator having 40 banks of oars, and measuring 280 cubits (about 478 feet) in length, 38 in breadth, and 48 cubits (about 83 feet) in height, or 53 from the keel to the top of the poop, which carried 400 sailors, besides 4000 rowers, and near 3000 soldiers. (Plut. Vit. Demet. Athen. Deipn. v. p. 204; Pliny, vii. 56, Λvho mentions one of 40, and another of 50 banks of oars.) Athe- nfcus says Philopator built another, used on the Nile, half a stadium labouc oUU feet) long, upwards of 40 cubits broad, and nearly 30 high : and " the number belonging to Ptolemy Philadelphus ex- ceeded those of any other king (v. p. 203), he having two of 30 banks, one 138 OYEIJFLOWING OF THE NILE. Book II. 97. \Aniien the Nile ovorilows, the oouiitry is converted into a sea, and nothing appears but tlie cities, which look like the islands in the Egean.^ At this season boats no longer keep the course of the river, but sail right across the plain. On the voyage from Naucratis to IMemphis at tliis season, you pass close to the pyramids,^ whereas the usual course is by the apex of the of 20, four of 14, two of 12, fourteen of 11, thu'ty of 9, thirty-seven of 7, five of 6, seventeen quinqueremes, and more than twice that number of qua- driremes, triremes," &c. He also de- scrtbes IJiero's ship of 20 banks, sent as a present to Ptolemy (v. pp. 2u6, 207). It is singular that no Egyptian, Assyrian, Greek, or Roman monument represents a galley of more than one, or at most two tiers of oars, except a Eomau painting found in the Orti Farnesiani, which gives one \vith three, though triremes and quinqueremes were the most generally employed. — [G. W.] ' This is perfectly true ; and it still happens in those years when the in- undation 13 very high. Though Savary and others suppose the water no longer rises as in the days of Herodotu.s, and foretell the gi-adual decrea.se of the in- imdation, it has been satisfactorj' to see the villages as described by the historian, as late as a.d. 1848. Seneca says, "Majorque Iffititia gentibus, quo minus teiTarum suarum vident." (Nat. Qusest. iv. 2.) It is during these high inundations that we see the peasants rescuing their cattle from the flooded lands, as described in the old paintings. -[G. W.] s When the Nile is at that height, boats can go across country, as He- rodotus states, without keeping to the stream. As Herodotus says that in sailing to Naucratis from the Canopic TO Part 2. Chap. 97-99. AXTHYLLA — ARCHANDKOPOLIS. 139 Delta, aud the city of Cercasorus.^ Yon can sail also from the maritime town of Canobus across the flat to Naucratis, passing by the cities of Anthylla ^ and Archandropolis. 98. The former of these cities, Mdiich is a place of note, is assigned exj)ressly to the wife of the ruler of Egypt for the time being, to keep her in shoes.^ Such has been the custom ever since Egypt fell under the Persian yoke. The other city seems to me to have got its name of Archandropolis from Ai'chander the Phthian, son of Achieus/ and son-in-law of Danaus. There might certainly have been another Archander ; but, at any rate, the name is not Egyptian.** 99. Thus far I have spoken of Egypt from my own observa- tion, relating Λvhat I myself saw, the ideas that I formed, and the results of my own researches. AVhat follows rests on the accounts given me by the Egyptians, which I shall now repeat, adding thereto some particulars which fell under my own notice. The priests said that Men was the first king of Egypt,^ and mouth you pass by Anthylla and Archandropolis, it is clear that these towns stood to the west of the Canopic branch.— [G. ΛΥ.] ^ See above, note', ch. 17. 1 The neighboui-hood of Anthylla was celebrated for its wine, probably from the soil being light. It stood to the west of the Canopic branch, not at Gynsecoijolis, as Larcher supposes, but further inland. On the wines of Egj'pt, see notes on chs. 18, 37, and 60. — [G. W.] 2 Athenseus (i. p. 33 F) says " to find her in girdles" (or dress). Plato uses the same expression when he says " a territory in Persia was set apart for and called the Queen's girdle, an- other for her veil, aud othex's for the rest of her apparel." The revenues of the Lake Mceris, which were settled on the queens of Egypt for the pur- chase of ointments, jewels, and other objects connected ΛΛ'ith the toilette, amounted, as Diodorus says (i. 52), to a talent every day (see note ^ on ch. 149) ; which, added to those of An- thylla, would be a handsome allowance for *^ pin-mont'ij." But a talent could not have been i-aised daily from that one fishery, and it would more pro- bably include all those in Egypt, if it were necessary to believe that such a sum was allowed to the queens. It was the custom of the Persian kings to assign the revenues of towns as pin- money to the queens fXenoph. Anab. i. 4, 9; Plato, Alcibiad. I. p. 1-23. C), and they readily transferred those of the Egyptians to their own ; but Herodotus seems to say it was only after the Persian conquest that the revenues of Anthylla were so applied. See Cic. Verr. iii. 33, and compare Corn. Xep. Vit. Themist. 10.— [G. W.] ^ It Avould perhaps be more natural to render this passage, " Archander, the son of Phthius, and grandson of Achseus ; " but as Pausanias makes Archander the son of Achseus and a Phthian, since he brings him from Phthiotis to the Peloponnese (Achaic. i. § 3), and as the words of Herodotus will bear the meaning given in the text, it seems best to translate him in this waj^. According to Pausanias (1. s. c.) Archander married Scsea, the daughter of Danaus, and had a son whom he called Metanastes, in memory of his change of coimtry. •* Tliis remark of Herodotus is very just, and Archander was doubtless corrupted by the Greeks from some Egyptian name. — [G. W.] 5 Manetho, Eratosthenes, and other writei's, agree with Herodotus that ]\Ien or Menes (the Mna, or Menai, of the monuments) was the first Egyptian 140 MEN, THE FIRST KING OF ΕΟΥΓΤ. Book II. that it was he wlio raised tlie dyko wliich protects Memphis from the inundations of the Nile. Before his time the river flowed entirely along the sandy range of hills which skirts Egypt on the side of J^ibya. He, however, by })aiiking up tlie river at the bend which it forms about a hundred furlongs south of Memphis,^ laid the ancient channel dry, while he dug a new course for the stream half-way between the two lines of hills. To this day, the elbow Avhich the Nile forms at the point where it is forced aside into the new channel is guarded with the greatest care by the Persians, and strengthened every year ; for if the river were to burst out at this place, and pour over the mound, there would be danger of Memphis being completely overwhelmed by the flood. Men, the first king, having thus, by turning the river, made the tract where it used to run, dry land, proceeded in the first place to build the city now called Memphis," Λvhich lies in the narroAV part of Egypt ; after which he further excavated a lake outside the town, to the north and west, communicating with the river, Λvhich was itself the eastern boundary.• Besides these works,^ he also, the priests, said, built king ; and this is confirmed by the lists of the Memuouium, or Kemeseum, at Thebes, and by the Turin papyrus. The gods Λvere said to have reigned before Menes, which some explain tm by supposing them the col- I leges of priests of those I deities. Menes is called by '• Manetho a " Thinite." Af- ter his reign the kingdom appears to have been divided, and the remaining kings of the 1 st and 2nd dy- nasties reigned in Upper Egypt, while the 3rd and 4th ruled at Jlemphis ; as Dr. Hincks and Mr. Stuart Poole have suggested. See Hist. Xot. App. CH. viii. and Tn.P.K.W. pp. 29, 31, and bS. -[G. W.] β The dyke of Menes was probably near the modern Knfr el I'jat, 14- miles south of Mitrahcnntj, where the Nib; takes a considerable bend, and from which point it would (li the previous direction of its course continued) run immediately below the Libyan moun- tains, and over the site αϊ Memphis. Calculating fi-om the outside of Mem- phis, this bend agi-ees exactly with the hundred stadia, or nearly \\^ English miles, Mitrahcnny being about the centre of the old city. No traces of these dykes are now seen. — [G. W.] " The early foundation of Memphis is proved by the names of the kings of the oldest dynasties being found there ; and the precedence of the upper country may have been owing to Menes being from Tins, a city of the Thebaid near Abydus, to which Thebes succeeded as the capital of Upper Egypt. Phtah, or Vulcan, was the god of Memphis, to whom the great temple was erected by Menes. The lake was the one on which. the funeral ceremonies Avere performed, and which the dead crossed on the way to the tombs, as at Thebes ; and this, as Diodorus says (i. 92, 96), was the origin of the Acherusian Lake of the Greeks, which he seems to think was called Acherusia at Memphis. The name of Memphis was Manofre, or Men-nofr, " the place (or haven^ of good men," according to Plutarch (s. 21), or "the abode of the good one," meaning Osiris; and this has been retained in the Coptic Mefi, Memfi, Menofre, and Panouf, and in the modern Manouf of the Delta. It was .ilso called the '■ land of the pp'a- mid " and ''of the Avhite wall," or "building." See note on B. iii. ch. 13. -[G. W.] * Neither Menes nor his immediate successors have left any monuments. His name is only mentioned on those of a much later date. The names of the Chap. 99, 100. SUCCESSOES OF MEN. 141 tlie temple of Vulcan which stands within the city, a vast edifice, very worthy of mention. 100. Next, they read me from a papyrus, the names of three hundred and thirty monarchs,^ who (they said) were his suc- cessors upon the tlnOne. In this number of generations there were eighteen Ethiopian kings/ and one queen who was a native ; kings of the 4th dynasty are at the Pyramids, and of the 6th mostly in Lower and Middle Egypt ; the 3rd, 4th, and 6th being Meuiphites. Those of the Enentefs (or Ntentefs), and others of the 9th Heracleopolite dynasty, ai'e found at Thebes and elsewhere ; parti- cularly at Hermonthis. The 9 th was contemporary with part of the 5th, the 6th, 11th, and r2th ; and the monu- ments of the kings of the two last are found at Thebes. Osirtasen I., the leader of the I'ith, ruled the whole of Egypt, and it was while this Diospolite dynasty ruled that the Shepherds came into Egypt and obtained possession of Memphis. During the reign of the 13th they extended their conquests into the Thebaid, when the Egyptian kings took refuge in Ethiopia, where their names are found ; and it was not till the accession of the 18th that Amosis, the leader of that dynasty, exjjelled the Shepherds from Egypt, and made the whole country into one kingdom. (See Hist. Not. in App. ch. viii.) — [G. \V.] ^ That is from Menes to Mooris, who had not been dead 900 years, when He- rodotus was in Egypt about b. c. 455 (supi-a, ch. 13). This would make the date of Moeris less than 1350 B.C., and might correspond with the era of Men• ophres B.C. 1322, Avho seems to be the king he here calls Moeris, the Meudes of Diodorus (i. 61 and 97). The name Moeris was evidently attributed to seve- ral kings (see note on ch. 13). The Moeris here mentioned could not have lived before the founders of the Pyra- mids and the first Sesostris ; the 330 kings should therefore include all the kings of the Egyptian dynasties to the time of Menoplires, and this being the gi'eat Egyptian era will account for the reign of that king being mentioned so often as one from which they dated events. The number of 330 kings, which appears also to be given by the Turin papyrus, was evidently taken from the sum of all the reigns to the end of the 18th dynasty, or to the accession of Remeses II. Eusebius indeed gives little more than 300 kings from Menes to the end of the 1 8th dynasty, though his numbers are very uncertain, and his summation comes within four of Afri- canus. At all events it is evident that the 330 kings cannot be calculated from Menes to^Amun m-he III. (the Moeris of the Labyrinth, and the Lamaris of Ma- netho). As there are only 204 kings from Menes to Lamaris, the 4th king of the 1 2th dynasty, and far less if con- temptoraneousness be allowed for, and though Amun-m-he III. was the real Moeris of the Labyrinth, these calcula- tions of time were not made to him, but to a much later reign, — the fixed chro- nological period of Menophres, who by mistake has been confounded with. Moex'is. (See notes on chs. 13 and 124.) The Sesostris who came "after them" could not be Sesostris of the 12th dy- nasty, as he reigned before Amun-m- he III. (the real Moeris) ; and this must refer to the later (supposed) Sesostris, or Sethos, whose exjiloits, together with those of his son Remeses II., have been attributed to one king, under the name of Sesostris. See note ''on ch. 102. — [G. W.] 1 The intermarriages of the Egyptian and Ethiopian royal families may be inferi'ed from the sculptures. "The royal son of Kusli" (Gush, or Ethiopia) is also often mentioned, sometimes hold- ing the office of flabellum-bearer on the right of a Pharaoh ; though this title of "royal son" probably belonged to Egyptian princes who were viceroys of Ethiopia ; foreign princes being merely styled "chiefs." But the Ethiopians who sat on the throne of Egypt may have claimed their right either as de- scendants of those princes, or through intermarriages with daughters of the Pharaohs. The eighteen Ethiopian kings were jirobably the early Sabacos of the 13th dynasty, one of whose names is found on a statue in the Isle of Argo, and another at Semneh, in Ethiopia, who ruled there while the Shepherds were in Egypt. It was tliis right of the female members of the royal family to 142 NITOCllIS. Book II. all tlic rest wore kings and Egyptians, ^J'ho qiioen bore the same name as the ]3abylonian princess, namely, Nitocris.'-' They said that she succeeded her brother ; ^ ho had been king of Egypt, and was put to death by his subjects, who then placed her upon the throne. Bont on avenging liis death, she devised a cunning scheme by which she destroyed a vast number of Egyptians. She constructed a spacious underground chamber, and, on pre- tence of inaugurating it, contrived the following : — Inviting to a banquet those of the Egyptians whom she knew to have had the chief share in the murder of her brother, she suddenly, as they were feasting, let the river in upon them, by means of a secret duct of large size. This, and this only, did they tell me of her, except that, when she had done as I have said, she threw herself into an apartment full of ashes, that she might escape the vengeance whereto she would otherwise have been exposed. 101. The other kings, they said, were personages of no note or distinction,•* and left no monuments of any account, with the the throne that led so many foreigners who had married Egyptian princesses to assert their claims, some of which were successful. — [G. W.] 2 The fact of Nitocris having been an early Egyptian queen is proved in her name, Neitakri, occurring in the Turin Papyrus, and as the last sovereign ^0 of Manetho's 6th dynasty. There was another Nitocris of the SGth dynasty written Neitakri, with the usual name of the Goddess Neith. Eratosthenes translates Nitocris "Minerva Victrix." It is remarkable that Nitocris of the 26tli dynasty lived about the same time as the Babylonian queen. The name is perfectly Egyptian. The queen of Psammetichus III., a daughter of his predecessor, had the same name as the (supposed) wife of Nebuchadnezzar; and it is not impossible that the famous Nitocris may have been another of the same name and family, demanded in marriage by the king of Babylon on his invasion of Egypt. See note on ch. 177, and historical notice in the Appendix. -[G.W.] ^ This would seem to be Menthesoy- phis II., the fifth king of Manetho's 6th dynasty, who reigned only a year. ■• Their obscurity was owing to Egypt being part of the time under the domi- nion of the Shepherds, who, finding Egypt divided into several kingdoms, or pi'incipalities, invaded the countiy, and succeeded at length in dispossessing the Memphite kings of their territories. Their invasion seems to have originated in some claim to the throne, probably through previous marriages. This would accouut for their being sometimes in alliance with the kings of the rest of the country : for their conquest having been made " without a battle," as Ma- netho says ; and for its not having weakened the power of Egypt, which that of a foreign enemy Avould have done. They came into Egypt about the beginning of the 12th dynasty, but did not extend their dominion beyond Lower Egypt till the end of that dynasty. They then ruled contemporaneously with the 7th, 8th, 10th, 13th, and 14th dynasties, till at length the whole of the Egyptian power becoming vested in one Chap. 100-102. MCEEIS — SESOSTEIS. 143 exception of the last, who was named Moeris.^ He left several memorials of his reign — the northern gateway of the temple of Vulcan, the lake excavated by his orders, whose dimensions I shall give presently,^ and the pyramids built by him in the lake, the size of which will be stated when I describe the lake itself wherein they stand. Such were his works : the other kings left absolutely nothing, 102. Passmg over these monarchs, therefore, I shall speak of the king who reigned next, whose name was Sesostris.^ He, the native king Ames (called Amosis and Tethmosis by Manetho and Josephus), who was the first of the 18th dynasty, the Shepherds were driven out of the country, and the Theban or Diospolite kings ruled the whole of Egypt. It is still uncertain of what race the Shep- herds were. Some are called by Manetho Phoenicians. (See Historical Notice in Neptune = Libj-a. Agenor, King of Phcenicia. ^gyptus. Cepheus and Phineus were also sons of Belus and Anchiuoe. — [G. W.] * See note ^ on ch. 13, and note ^ on eh. 100. 6 Infra, ch. 149. ' The ^original Sesostris was the first king of tEeTYth dynasty, Osirtasen, or Sesortasen I., who was the first great Egyptian conqueror ; but when Osirei or Sethi (Sethos), and his son Remeses II. surpassed the exploits of their pre- decessoi•, the name of Sesostris became confounded with Sethos, and the con- quests of that king, and his still greater son , were ascinbed to the original Sesos- tris. This exj^lains the assertion of Dicajarcbus that Sesostris was the suc- cessor of Horus, mistaken for the god, but really the last king of the 18th dynasty. For those two kings did suc- ceed Horus (the i-eign of Remeses I., the father of Sethi, being so short as to be overlooked), and their union under one name Sesostris is accounted for by Re- meses II. having ruled conjointly with his father during the early and principal part of his reign. Mr. Poole very pro- perly suggests that Manetho's " SeOoir ό καϊ "Ρΐμίσσ-ηί" should be "2. . .και P. . ." This is required also by the length of their reigns (that of the 2nd the App.) Eusebius (Chron. p. 27) says Phoenix and Cadmus going from Egyp- tian Thebes reigned over Tyre and Sidon, which might apply to the expul- sion of the " Phoenician Shej^herds " from Egypt, and the relationship of Egypt and Phoenicia is pointed out by a pedigree in ApoUodorus (Bibl. ii. 1, 4); who adds that, according to Euripides, I Belus = AncbiDoe, daughter of Nilus. Danaus. Remeses being from 63 to 66 years) ; and by the age of Remeses ; and the sculptures at Karuak show that he ac- companied his father in his early cam- paigns. It seems too that in the first Sesostris two kings, Osirtasen I. and III., were comprehended ; as several v/ere under the name of Moeris. Strabo (xv. p. 978) makes Sesostris and even Tearcon (Tirhaka) both go into Europe. The great victories over the Scythians could not be attributed to the early Sesostris, though some ruins near old Kossayr (see n. ch. 158) pro\-e that in the reign of Amun-fii-he II., who reigned for a short time contemporaneously with Osirtasen I., the Egyptians had already (in his 28th year) extended their con- quests out of Egypt, having defeated the people of Pouut, with whom the kings of the 18th and 19tli dynasties were afterwards at war. The people of Pount were a northern race, being placed at Soleb and elsewhere with the Asiatic tribes. They appear to have lived in Arabia; probably in the South- ern, as well as Northern jjart; and their tribute at Thebes, in the time of Thoth- mes III., consisted of ivory, ebony, apes, and other southern productions; partly perhaps obtained by commerce. Elo- 144 CONQUESTS OF SESOSTRIS. Book II. priests said, first of all proceeded in a fleet of sliips of war from tlie Arabian ^ulf alonj; the sliores of the Erythraean sea, sub- duing the nations as ho Λvont, until he finally reached a sea which could not be navigated by reason of the shoals.' Hence he returned to Egypt, where, they told me, he collected a vast armament, and made a progress by land across the continent, conquering every people which fell in his ^vay. In the countries where the natives withstood his attack, and fought gallantly for their liberties, he erected pillars,'-' on which he inscribed his own name and country, and how that he had here reduced the inhabitants to subjection by the might of his arms : where, on the contrary, they submitted readily and without a struggle, he inscribed on the pillars, in addition to these particulars, an phants and brown bears were also brought by the northern race of Rot-n-n, or Ilot-h-uo, who come next to Meso- potamia in the list of conquered coun- tries. Osirtasen I. possessed the pen- insula of Mount Sinai, already conquered in the age of the 4th dynasty, and extended his arms far into Ethiopia, where his monuments are found ; and this may be the expedition alluded to by Diodorus as the beginning of his exploits, unless he had in view the con- quests of Sethi and Remeses II., which reached still farther south, continuing those of Amenoph III. in Ethiopia and the Soudan. Some think Osirtasen III. was Sesostris, because he is treated with divine honours on the monuments of Thothmes III. ; but this may have been from some rights to the throne being derived from him, or from his having established the frontier on the Ethio- pian side at this spot ; though it seems also to accord with Manetho's account of Sesostris being considered as "the fii-st (or greatest) after Osiris." But neither the conquests nor the monu- ments of the third Osirtasen show him to have equalled the first ; and if he fixed on Semneh as the frontier of Egypt, it was within the limits of his predecessor's conquests. That it was the frontier defence against the Ethio- pians is shown by an inscription there, and by the water-gate in both fortresses being on the Egyptian side of the works. The monuments of Osirtasen I. ai-e found from the Delta into Ethiopia. (See Hist. Xotice in App. ch. viii.) — * This is perhaps an mdication that the Egyptians in the time of Herodotus were aware of the difficulties of the navigation towards the mouths of the Indus. The waters of this river in the flood-time discolour the sea for three miles, and deposit vast quantities of mud, forming an ever-shifting series of shoals and shallows very dangerous to veseels. (See Geogi'aph. Journ. vol. iii. p. 120.) The voyage of Scylax down the Indus from Caspatp-us to the ocean, and thence along shore to Suez (infra, iv. 44), would have brought the know- ledge of these facts to the Egyptians, if they did not possess it before. The conquests of Sesostiis in this direction seem to be pvu'e fables. 8 These memorials, which belong to Remeses II., are found in Syria, on the rocks above the mouth of the Lycus (now Nahr el Kelb). Strabo says a stela on the Red Sea records his conquests over the Troglodytaj ib. xvi. p. 1093). The honour paid by Sesostris to those who resisted his arms, and fought cou- rageously, is one of many proofs of the . civilised habits of the Egyptians ; and these sentiments contrast strongly with the cruelties practised by the Asiatic conquerors, who flayed alive and tor- tured those who opposed them, as the Turks have done in more recent times. (See Layard's drawings, and the Nineveh sculptures in the British Museum.) The victories of Remeses II. are represented on the monuments of Thebes ; and it is worthy of notice that when Germanicus visited them no mention was made of Sesostris as the gi-eat conqueror, but of Rhamses, the real king, whose sculp- tures he Avas shown by the prie-sts. (^Tacit. Ann. ii. 60.) The mistake is therefore not Egyptian. — [G. W.] Chap. 102-104. CONQUESTS OF SESOSTRIS. 145 emblem to mark that they were a nation of women, that is, un- warlike and effeminate. 103. In this way he traversed the whole continent of Asia, whence he passed on into Enrope, and made himself master of Scythia and of Thrace, beyond which countries I do not think that his army extended its march. For thus far the pillars which he .erected are still visible,^ but in the remoter regions they are no longer found. Keturning to Egypt from Thi-ace, he came, on his way, to the banks of the river Phasis. Here I cannot say with any certainty what took place. Either he of his own accord detached a body of troops from his main army and left them to colonise the country, or else a certain number of his soldiers, wearied with their long wanderings, deserted, and established themselves on the banks of this stream.^ 104. There can be no doubt that the Colchians are an Egyp- tian race.^ Before I heard any mention of the fact from others, I had remarked it myself. After the thought had struck me, I made inquh'ies on the subject both in Colchis and in Egypt, and I found that the Colchians had a more distinct recollection of the Egyptians, than the Egyptians had of them. Still the 1 Kiepei-t (as quoted by M. Texier, Asie Mineure, ii. p. 306) concludes from this, that Herodotus had seen the Thra- cian stelte. But Herodotus does not say so, and such a point is certainly not to be assumed \vithout distinct warrant from his words. It is to the last degree improbable that Sesostris or any other Egyptian conqueror ever penetrated through Scythia into Thrace. The f Egyptian priests did not even advance such a claim when they conversed with Germauicus (T^icit. Ann.Ji. 60). The CaJScasus is the furthest ΐΐπίιΐ that can possibly be assigned to the Ramesside J conquests, and the Scythians subdued ' must have dwelt within that boundary. 2 If it be really true that Sesostris left a colony on the Phasis, his object may be explained in the same manner as that of the Argonautic expedition; both being to obtain a share of that lucrative trade, which long continued to flow in that direction, and was the object of the Genoese settlements on . the^ Black Sea from the thirteenth to • the fifteenth century. The trade from In^a and Arabia took various channels at different periods. In Solomon's time, the Phoenicians had already VOL. II. brought it through the Red Sea, and his offering them a more convenient road thence through the Valley of Petra, enabled him to enter into an advan- tageous treaty with, and to obtain a share of the trade from, that jealous merchant people. It was frequently diverted into different channels ; as under the Egyptian Caliphs, and at other times. But it also passed at the same periods by an overland route, to which in the earliest ages it was pro- bably confined; and if Colchis was the place to which the former was directed, this would account for the endeavour of the Egyptian conqueror to establish a colony there, and secure possession of that important point. The trade of Colchis may, however, like its golden fleece, simply relate to the gold brought to it from the interior.— [G. W.] Com- pare vol. i. Essay x. § 7, sub fin. 3 According to Agathias (ii. p. 55) the Lazis of the country about Trebi- zond are the legitimate descendants of the ancient Colchians. The language of this race is Turanian, and bears no particular resembTanee to that of ancient Egypt. (See Midler's Languages of the Seat of War, pp. 113-5.) 140 IDENTITY OF EGYPTIAiiS AND COLCHIANS. Rook II. Egyptians said tliat tlicy believed the Colchians to be descended from the army of Sesostris. My own conjectures were founded, ^ first, on the fact that they are black-skinned and have woolly ϋ i^ hair,'' M'hich certainly amounts to Tnit little, since several other nations are so too ; but furtlua• and more especially, on the cir- cumstance that the Colchians, the Egyptians, and the Ethioinans, are the only nations who have practised circumcision from the earliest times. The Phoenicians and the Syrians of Palestine ^ * Herodotus also alludes in ch. 57 to the black colour of the Egyptians; but not only do the paintings pointedly dis- tinguish the Egyptians from the blacks of Africa, and even from the copper- coloured Ethiopians, both of Λνΐιοηι are shown to have been of the same hue as their descendants : but the mummies prove that the Egj^tiana were neither black no?• wooll^-hau-ed, and the formation of the head at once decides that they are of Asiatic, and not of African, origin. It is evident they could not have changed in colour, as Larcher supposes, from tlie time of Herodotus to that of Ammianus Mar- cellinus, vv'ho after all only says they are " mostly dusky and dark" (xxii. 16), but not " black;" for though the Ethi- opians have for more than oOOO years intermarried with black women from the Soudan, who form great part of their hurcems, they still retain their copper colour, without becoming ne- groes; and indeed this may serve as a negative datum for those Λνΐιο speculate on change of colour in the human race. That the Egyptians were dark and their hair coarse, to European eyes, is true; but it is difficult to explain the broad assertion of Herodotus, especially as he uses the superlative of the same word, "most woolly,'' in speaking of the hair of the Ethiopians of the West, or the blacks of Africa (B. vii. ch. 70). The hair he had no opportunity of seeing, as the Egyptians shaved their heads and ! beards ; and blackness of colour is, and always \vas, a very conventional tei-m; foi- the Hebrews even called the Ai-abs "black," kedar, the "cedrei " of Pliny; though lip may only mean of a dark, or sunburnt hue (Plin. v. 11 : see note on Book iii. ch. 101). The negroes of Africa, in the paintings of Thebes, can- not be mistaken ; and the Egyptians did not fail to heighten the caricature of that marked race by giving to their scanty dress of hide the ridiculous addi- tion of a tail. Egypt was called Chemi, "black," from the colour of the rich soil, not from that of the people (see note* on ch. 15j. Our "blacks" and "Indians" are equally indefinite with the blacks or Ethiopians of old. The fact of the Egyptians representing their Λvomen yellow and the men red suflBces to show a gradation of hue, whereas if a black race the women would have been black also.— [G.W.] * Herodotus apparently alludes to the Jews. Palestin and Philistin are the same name. He may be excused for supposing that the Jews borrowed circumcision from the Egyptians, since they did not practise it as a regular and universal custom until afferThey left Egypt,~which~' is proved by the new generation in the wilderness not being circumcised till their arrival on the plains of Jericho (Joshua v. 5, 7), though it had been adopted by the Patriarchs and their families from the time of Abraham. Even (in John vii. Ί•!) our Saviour says, "Moses gave you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers) ; and any writer of antiquity might naturally suppose that the Jews borrowed from Egypt a rite long established there ; for it was al- J Chap. 104. IDENTITY OF EGYPTIANS AND COLCHIANS. 147 themselves confess that they learnt the custom of the Egyptians ; and the Syrians who dwell about the rivers Thermodon and Par- thenius,® as well as their neighbours the JMacronians," say that they have recently adopted it from the Colchians. ΝοΛν these are the only nations who use circumcision, and it is plain that they all imitate herein the Egyptians.® With respect to the Ethiopians, indeed, I cannot decide whether they learnt the practice of the Egyptians, or the Egjqotians of them '- — it is un- doubtedly of very ancient date in Ethiopia — but that the others derived their knowledge of it from Egypt is clear to me, from the fact that the Phoenicians, when they come to have commerce with the Greeks, cease to follow the Egj^tians in tliis custom, ^and allow their children to remain uncircumcised. ready common at least as early as the 4th dynasty, and probably earlier, long before the bh'th of Abraham, or B.C. 1996. Herodotus is justified in calling the Jews Syrians, as they were' com- prehended geographically under that name; and they were ordered to "speak and say before the Lord God : A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation " (Deut. xxvi. 5). Pausauias (i. 5) speaks of the " Hebrews who are above the Sp'ians," νιτΐρ 'Χΰρων. Syria compreheuded the whole country from the passes of Cilicia (now Adann) to Egypt, though parts of it were separate and distinct provinces. See n. on Book vii. ch. 72.— [G. W.] <• The Syrians here intended are un- doubtedly the Cappadocians (supra, i. 72, 76), in whose countiy the river Thermodon is commonly placed. (Scy- lax. Peripl. p. 80 ; Strab. xii. p. 792 ; Phn. H. X. vi. 3; Ptol. v. 6.) It is curious, however, to find in such a connexion a mention of the Parthenius, which is the modern Chati Su, or river of Bartan, a stream considerably to the W. oTTFTe Halys, ascribed by the geo- graphers either to Paphlagonia (Scylax. p. 81 ; Strab. xii. p. 787; Phn. H. N. vi. 2) or to Bithynia (Ptol. v. 1 ). He- rodotus elsewhere (i. 72) distinctly states that CappadociaTay entirely to the E. of the Halys, and that the region to the W. was Paphlagonia. The limits of the countries, no doubt, vary greatly in ancient writers (cp. Xen. Anab. V. v.-vi., with Scyl. Peripl. 1. s. c. ) ; but with so distinct an expression of his views on the part of Herodotus in one place, it seems impossible that in another he can have intended to ex- tend Cappadocia three degrees further to the W. I should therefore incline to think, either that the name is cor- rupted, or that a different Parthenius is meant — the name being one which would be likely to be given by the Greeks to any stream in the conntiy of the Amazons. ' The Macronians are mentioned by Xenophon (Anab. IV. viii. § 1) as situated inland at no great distance from Trapezus {Trehizond). Strabo (xii. p. 795) agrees with this, and informs us that they were afterwards called Sanni. They occur again, iii. 94, and vii. 78. s Circumcision was not practised by the Philistines (1 Sam. xiv. 6 ; xvii. 26; xviii. 27: 2 Sam. i. 20; 1 Chron. X. 4), nor by the generality of the Phoenicians ; for while it is said of Pharaoh (Ezek. xxxi. 18 ; xxxii. 32) that he should "lie in the midst of the uncircumcised," and Edom (xxxii. 29) "with the uncircumcised," Elam, Meshech, Tubal, and the Zidonians (xxxii. 24, 30) "go down uncircum- cised." Josephns (Antiq. viii. 20. 3) maintains that no othei-s in Syria were circumcised but the Jews. The Abys- sinians still retain the rite, though they are Christians of the Copt Church. — [G. W.] ^ It has been already shown that the Ethiopians borrowed their religious in- stitutions from Egypt. See notes ^ on ch. 29, and ^ on ch. 30.— [G. W.] L 2 148 PILLAKS EEECTED BY SESOSTRIS. Book II. 105. I will add a further proof of tlie identity of the Efryp- tians and the Colchians. These two nations weave their linen in exactly the same way, and this is a Λvay entirely unknown to the rest of the world ; they also in tlieh• whole modti of life and in their lanfruajie resemble one another. The Colchian linen ^ is called by the Greeks Sardinian, while that which comes fiOm Egy|)t is known as Ej^ptian. lOG. The pillars which Sesostris erected in the conquered countries, have for the most part disappeared ; but in the part of Syria called Palestine, I myself saw them still standing,^ with the Avritinp; above-mentioned, and the emblem distinctly visible.^ In Ionia also, there are two representations of this prince en- graved upon rocks,^ one on the road from Ephesus to PhocaBa, ' Colchis was famous for its linen. It was taken to Sardis, and being thence imported received the name of Sardian. 'SapSoviKhv, '"Sardinian," may be a mis- take for ^apSMvof. The hest linen nets for hunting pm'poses are said by J. Pollux to have come from Egypt, Colchis, Carthage, or Sardis (Onom. 5. 4. 26). It is possible that the linen of Colchis may have had the Egj'ptian name Sindon, or shent, and that this may have been converted into Sardon. (See note ^ on ch. 8ΰ). Sindon was also used sometimes to signify "Indian." (Plin. vi. 20;.— [G. W.] 2 The stelse seen by Herodotus in Syria were doubtless those on the rock near Berytus (Bcyroot\ at the mouth of the Lycus {Nahr el Kelh), engraved by Eemeses II.: one is dedicated to Amim, another to Pthah, and a third to Re, the gods of Thebes, Memphis, and Heliopolis, the three principal cities on his march through Egypt. Almost the only hieroglyphics now traceable are on the jambs of the tablets, which have one of the usual formulas — "the good god," or " Phrah (Pharaoh) the power- ful .... king of kings, Remeses, to whom life has been given like the sun;" but the lines below the figure of the king, who slays the foreign chiefs before the god, and which should contain the mention of his victories, are too much defaced to be legible. The doubts of M. de Saulcy respecting the genuineness of these stelae are extraordinary in these days. Close to them are stelaj of an Assy- rian king, who is now found to be Sen- nacherib, who built the great palace at Koyunjik. , Mr. Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 355, note) mentions colossal figures of an Egyptian sphinx and two priests carved on a rock above the city of An- tioch.— [G. W.] 3 According to the record seen by Herodotus, Sesostris considered the people of Palestine a cowardly race. To the power of Egypt they must have been insignificant ; and though the numbers of the Philistines made them troublesome to the Israelites, they are not represented as the same valiant people as the Anakim (Num. xiii. 28, 33; Deut. ii. 21; ix. 2), who, being far less numerous, were conquered by Joshua (Jo.sh. xi. 21, 23), a remnant only remaining in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod (Azotus). In Amos (ix. 7) the Philistines are said to have come from Caphtor. (See Hist. Not. App. ch. Λ -iii. Josephus (Antiq. viii. 10. 2) applies this bad compliment to the Jews, and supposes it Avas recorded by Shishak, to whom Rehoboam gave up Jerusalem without resistimce. He thinks Hero- dotus has applied his actions to Sesostris. -[G. W.] * A figure, which seems certainly to be one of the two here mentioned by Herodotus, has been discovered at Χϊηβ, on what appeal's to have been the ancient road from Sardis to Smp'na. It was fii-st noticed, I believe, by the Rev. J. C. Renouard. The height, as measured by M. Texier (Asie Mineure, ii. p. oOi) is two French metres and a half, which coiTesponds within a small fraction Λvith the measurement of our author. Its general character is decidedly Egyptian, strongly recalling Chap. 105, 106. FIGURES OF SESOSTRIS. 149 the other between Sardis and Smyrna. In each case the figure is that of a man, four cubits and a span high, with a spear in hLs the Egyptian sculptures at the mouth of the Nahr el Kelb ; yet there are points of detail, as the shape of the shoes, in which it is peculiar, and non- Egj'ptian. No figure has been found in Egypt with shoes of which the points have a tendency to turn up. Again the clash• or "calasiris" (supra, oh. 81, Rock-Sculpture at Nlnfl, near Smyrna. note *) of an Egyptian is never striped or striated, in the way that that of the Ninfi sculpture is. The hat or helmet too, though perhaps it bears a greater resemblance to the ordinary Egyptian head-dress of the kings and gods than to any other known form, yet wants a leading feature of that head-dress — the curious curve projecting in front. (See ch. 35, note ■*.) Thus tha supposed figure of Sesostris clearly difiers from all purely Egyptian types. It bears a bow and a spear exactly as described, only that the former is in the right and the latter in the left hand ; but this difierence may only indicate a 150 FIGURES OF 8ES0STRIS. Rook IT. riglit hand and a l)f)w in liis Icift,•' the rest of liis costume Ιχάη^^ likewise half Egyptian, half Ethiopian. There is an inscription across the breast from shoulder to shoulder,^ in the sacred cha- racter of ]^]μ•γ[)ί, which says, "With my own shoulders' I con- quered tliis land." The conqueror does not tell who he is, or whence he comes, though elsewhere Sesostris records these facts. Hence it has hcen imagined l)y some of those who have seen these forms, tliat they are figures of Memnon ;'' but such as think so err very widely from the truth. , defect of memory in our author. There are uot now any traces of hieroglyphics upon the breast of the figure, but as this portion of the rock is much wea- ther-worn, they may have disappeared in the lapse of ages. Some faintly- marked characters, including a figure of a bird, intervene between the spear- head and the face, in which M. Ampere is said to trace some of the titles of Rameses the Great. Rosellini and Kiepert have questioned whether the sculpture is really Egj^tian, but there seems to be at any rate no doubt that it is one of the figures seen by Herodotus, and believed by him to represent Sesostris. (See the remarks of M. Texier, Asie Mineure, vol. ii. pp. 305, 306.) * Herodotus evidently supposes that one of these is an Egyptian, the other an Ethiopian weapon. Both were used by the two people, but the bow was considered particularly Etjiiopian, as well as Libyan, and "Tosh," E- the Coptic Ethaush, was a name given to Northern Ethiopia. The land of the nine bows was a term applied to Libya, ' ' ι •' III which was also called Phit, the bow." 1 W Naphtuhim, the son of Mizraim, in Gen. X. 1 3, is the same as the Egyptian plural Niphaiat, "the bows." Phut and Lubim are placed together with Ethiopia and Egypt as the helpers of " populous No," Thebes, in Nahum (iii. 9) ; and in Ezekiel (xxx. b), "Ethiopia (Kush), and Libya (Phut), and Lydia (Lud), and all the (Ai-ab) mingled people, and Chub [Kuh), and the men of the land which is in league," are to fall with Egypt and Ethiopia. Lud is not Lydia in Asia Minor. Phut, or Phit, may have been the Libyan side of the Nile throughout Egj'pt and Nubia. It is remarkable that the Ethiopian bow is unstrung, that of Libya strung. (See note on Book iii. ch. 21.) The expression in hierogly- phics "Phut Ethosh" appears to be the western bank of Ethiopia. The bow cnrrivd by the Ethiopians in battle is like that of Egypt; that in the name of Northern Ethiopia ("Tosh") re- sembles the bow now used in India. This last is even seen in the hand of one of Sheshonk's (Shishak's) prisoners. -[G. W.]_ β This is not an Egyptian custom, though Assyrian figui-es are found with arrow - headed inscriptions engraved across them, and over the drapery as well as the body ; and the Assyrian figures close to those of Remeses at the Nahr el Kclb may possibly have led to this mistake.— [G. W.] ^ The idea of strength was often con- veyed by this expression, instead of "by the force of my arm" (cp. " os hianeros'/'ie deo similis "]•. — [G. W.] ^ Herodotus shows his discrimination in rejecting the notion of his being Memnon, Avhich had already become prevalent among the Greeks, who saw Memnon everywhere in Egypt merely because he was mentioned in Homer. A similar error is made at the present day in expecting to find a reference to Jewish histoiy on the monuments, though it is obviously not the. custom of any people to record their misfor- tunes to posterity in painting or sculp- ture. (See note i on ch. 136, and App. CH. V. p. 42.) The Egyptians seem to have taken advantage of Greek cre- dulity in pei-suading visitors that the most remarkable statue, tomb, and temple at Thebes, or Abydus, were J Chap. lOG, 107. RETURN OP SESOSTRIS TO EGYPT. 151 107. Tliis Sesostris, tlie priests went on to say, upon his return home, accompanied by vast multitudes of the people whose comi tries he had subdued,^ was received by his brother,^ whom made by the prince they usually in- quired about, and with whose history they fancied themselves acquainte4 ; though Memuou, if he ever existed, was not after ail an Egyptian, nor even from any jmrt of the valley of the Nile. According to Diodorus (ii. 22) he was sent by Teutamus, the 21st king of Assyria after Semiramis, with a force of 10,000 Ethiopians and the same number of Susans, and 200 chariots, to assist Priam (the brother of his father Tithomis), when being killed in an ambuscade by the Thessalians, his body was recovered and .hiuiit by the Ethiopians. These were Ethiopians of Asia, and those of Africa did not burn their dead. Herodotus also speaks of the j^alace of Memuon, and calls Susa a Memnonian city (v. 53, 51-, and vii. 151). Strabo and Pausauias agree with Herodotus and Diodorus in making Susa the city of Memnon. It is not impossible that the eastern Cushites, or Etiiiopians, were the original colonisers of the African Cush, from the Arabian gulf, and that the Ethiopians men- tioned by Eusebius from Manetho, " who migrated from the river Indus and settled near to Egypt" at the close of the 18th dynasty, were of the same race. (See Historical Notice in the Ajipendix. ) The resemblance of the name of . Miamun may have confirmed the mis- take respecting the stelse of Amun-mai- (or Mi-amun; Remeses, on the Lycus, as well as the temples built by him at Thebes and Abydus, attributed to Mem- non ; but the vocal statue at Thebes Λν38 of Amunoph III. The supposed tomb of Memnon at Thebes was of Remeses V., who had also the title of Mi-amun. Strabo (xvii. p. 1152) says some think Memnon the same as Is- mandes, the reputed builder of the Labyrinth, according to Diodorus (i. 61), who calls him Mendes, or Marrus. This name Ismandes seems to be retained in that of the modei'n village of Isment, near the entrance to the Fyoom, called Isment e' Gebel ("of the hdl "), to dis- tinguish it from Isment el Bahr (" of the river"), which is on the Nile near Benisoof. Ismandes and Osymandyas are the same name. One of the sons of Remeses II. was called Semandoo, or Se- munt. The mistake of Memnon cannot well have arisen from the word menmi, " buildings" or "palaces," as it would be applied to all others, and not to an excavated tomb. — [G. W.] " It was the custom of the Egyptian kings to bring their prisoners to Egypt, and to employ them in public works, as the sculptures abundantly prove, and as Herodotus states (ch. 108 j. The Jews were employed in the same way: for though at first they obtained grazing-lauds for their cattle in the laud of Goshen (Gen. xlvi. o4), or the Bucolia, where they tended the kings herds (Gen. xlvii. 6, 27), they were afterwards forced to perform various services, like ordinary prisoners of war; when their lives were made "bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field" (Exod. i. 14), in bviilding trea- sure-cities (i. 11), in brickmaking (v. 8), and pottery (Ps. Ixxxi. 6) ; in canals, and embankments, and public build- ings ; though these did not include pyramids, as Josephus supposes. To hew and drag stones from the quar- ries was also a common employment of captives; inscriptions there in late times state that the writers had furnished so many stones for a certain temple, as "We have dragged 100 stones for the work of Isis in Philfe." And the great statue at El Bersheh is represented dragged by numerous companies of foreigners (as well as of Egj^ptians), in the early time of the first Osirtasen, in the 21st century before our sera. — [G. W.] ' This at once shows that the con- queror here mentioned, is not the early Sesostris of the 12th dynasty, but the great king of the 19th dynasty ; since Manetho gives the same account of his brother having been left as his viceroy in Egypt, and having rebelled against his authority. Manetho calls his name Armais, and the king Sethosis, or Ramesses (which are the father's and son's names assigned to one person), and places him in the 18 th dynasty, though the names of Sethos and Rampses are repeated again at the beginning of the 19th, He also says 152 SEROSTTITS ESCAPES BURNING. Book II. ho had made viceroy of ]C