priests in each were recluse, and given to celibacy. They alike used the tonsure, and wore a garment of linen: and they used to carry in their hands a sceptre, or staff, which at the top had TUTTAV agoτgoεion, the representation of a plough; undoubtedly in memorial of their ancestor, a OgwTos yns, the great husbandman. Their bonnets, θρωπος γης, as well as those of their kings, were ornamented with figures of serpents; for they held the serpent as sacred, and were addicted to the Ophite worship. Among the cities which the Cuthites built in Egypt, there was one in the nome called Men El Ai (Mevans), or Provincia Dei Luni, This city was called Canobus, and was opposite to the island Argæus. The Grecians ascribed the building of this city to Menelaus of Sparta: but Aristides assures us, that it was far prior to the æra, when that personage was supposed to have been in Egypt. 43 I was told, says this writer, from a priest of consequence at Canobus, that this place had its name many ages before the arrival of Me 43 Εγωγε ηκέσας εν Κανωβῳ των Ιερεων ου τε φαυλότατε, ότι μυρίοις ετεσι πρότερον η Μενέλαον εκείσε προσχειν, το χωριον έτως ωνομάζετο. και εκ αντικρυς μεν ελεγε τ' όνομα τετ' αυτό, ως απογραφαι γράμμασιν Ελληνικοις, αλλ' (εκ) ην μεν ώσπερ εμφερομενον, και περιτροχον, Αιγυπτιον δε και δυσγραμματον μαλλον τοδ ̓ ἐν ἡμετέρα φωνή δηλοί Xfucour adapos. Aristid. Oratio Egypt. vol. 3. p. 608. εν nelaus. He did not mention the name of the place so articulately, as to give me an opportunity of expressing it in Grecian characters. Besides, it did not correspond with our idiom: nor was it round and smooth, but quite of the Egyptian cast, and hard to be uttered. Thus much I learned from him, that it signified a golden foundation. I make no doubt but the term, upon which the priest founded his notion, was Cuthim; which undoubtedly signifies gold: but at the same time it it is the plural of Cuth, and relates to the Cuthites. The later Egyptians did but very imperfectly understand their original language, and misinterpreted their traditions. The original terms certainly signified a Cuthite foundation. They related not to gold, but to the Cuthim, who founded the city Canobus upon the lower and most western part of Delta. The sacred emblems in use among this people were at first innocent, but in time proved the source of much superstition. Many of these were taken from the forms of animals, by which they distinguished both the titles and attributes of their 4+ The terms were probably na 178, Adon Cuthim. They may be interpreted a golden foundation, or a Cuthite foundation, indifferently. Adon Cuthim may also refer to Canobus, the God of the Cuthites. Adon Cuthim, Deus Cuthæorum. reverence. Gods. By these means the Deity and the animalhad the same name; and the latter, in consequence of it, was entitled to much honour and As all their cities were denominated from some God, they seem to have made use of these animals as so many devices, by which their cities were distinguished. Hence we read of Lycopolis, Leontopolis, Latopolis, and the city of Mendes, the goat. The hawk, the ibis, the crocodile, the dog, were all used for sacred marks of distinction. After the Cuthites had drained Lower Egypt, and had there built cities, it is probable that every city had some one of these sacred emblems represented in sculpture, either upon the gates, or upon the entablature, of their temples. This characteristic denoted its name, as well as the title of the Deity, to whom the place was sacred. And the Deity in those cities was often worshipped under such particular symbol. This is plainly alluded to in some of the poets. They have represented the dispersion of the sons of Chus from Babel, as the flight of the Gods into Egypt; where they are supposed to have. sheltered themselves under the form of these sacred animals. Ovid, in particular, describes this flight; and though he has in some degree confounded the history, yet the original purport may, I think, be plainly discerned. What I allude to is to be found in the song of the Pica, when she contends with the Muses. 45 Bella canit Superûm; falsoque in honore Gigantas Ponit, et extenuat magnorum facta Deorum. Emissumque imâ de sede Typhoëa narrat Cœlitibus fecisse metum ; cunctosque dedisse Terga fugæ donec fessos Ægyptia tellus Ceperit, et septem discretus in ostia Nilus. Huc quoque Terrigenam venisse Typhoëa narrat, Et se mentitis Superos celàsse figuris. Duxque gregis, dixit, fit Jupiter: unde recurvis Delius in corvo, proles Semeleïa capro, Ovid distinguishes between the Giants and the Gods, through mistake. The Giants, or Titans, were the Deities, who fled; and Typhon, the same as Typhoeus, by which is meant divine vengeance, pursued them. The solution of the history is obvious. It amounts to this; that the 45 Metamorph. 1. 5. v. 319. Cuthites fled from Typhon, or Typhoeus, and betook themselves to Egypt, where they sheltered themselves. Here they built many cities, where they instituted the religion of their country; and where their exiled Deities were in aftertimes worshipped under different symbols; such as a ram, a lion, a 4 goat, and the like. Of these Deities I have before taken notice, and shewn, that they were the chief ancestors of the Cuthites; from some of whom the Egyptians were equally descended. Hence they also looked upon themselves as the offspring of the Gods. 47 Οι σοφωτ 46 τατοι Αιγύπτιοι, θεων απογονοι. It is extraordinary that Manethon, in speaking of the Cuthites, should describe them as ro yεvos aonuos, people of an obscure and ignoble race. This cannot be rendered consistent with their general character. They were the descendants of persons well known, who were represented even by their enemies as a race of superior beings. They were styled Gods, and Demigods, and the children of Heaven. The Egyptians, who hated their tyranny, yet, in some degree, revered their memory. They are called by Manethon the Royal Shep 46 See Antoninus Liberalis from Nicander, concerning the changes, which the Gods underwent upon their flight from Typhon into Egypt. Fab. 28. p. 145. * Callisthenes apud Fabricium. vol. 14. p. 148. |