(

Another remarkable instance, in which diluvian and paradisaical traditions were intermingled, we have in the account given by Herodotus of the famous Egyptian oracle.* “It is "sacred," says he, "to Latona, and situated in "a large city, called Butos, at the Sebennitic "mouth of the Nile, as approached from the "sea. In this city stands a temple of Apollo and Diana; that of Latona, whence the ❝oracular communications are made, is very

magnificent, having porticos forty cubits high. "What most excited my admiration was the "shrine of the goddess: it was of one solid "stone, having equal sides; the length of each "was forty cubits; the roof is of another solid "stone, no less than four cubits in thickness. "Of all the things which here excite attention, "this shrine is, in my opinion, the most to be "admired. Next to this is the island of Chem“mis, which is near the temple at Butos, and "stands in a deep and spacious lake; the

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*

Egyptians affirm it to be a floating island; I "did not witness the fact, and was astonished "to hear that such a thing existed. In this "island is a large edifice sacred to Apollo, "having three altars, and surrounded by palm

Euterp. cap. 156.

I

“ trees, the natural produce of the soil. There “are also great varieties of other trees, some of “which produce fruit, and others are barren. "The Egyptians thus explain the circumstance "of this island's floating: It was once fixed "and immoveable, when Latona, who has been "ever esteemed one of the eight primary diviį“nities, dwelt at Butos. Having received

Apollo in trust from Isis, she concealed and "preserved him in this island, which, according "to their account, now floats; this happened "when Typhon, earnestly endeavouring to dis"cover the son of Osiris, came hither."

Now the name of this sacred island is undoubtedly to be derived from Cham, the father of postdiluvian idolatry; for Chemmis is a compound of an Cham, and Is, the Hebrew title for fire; and to the adoration of the sacred fire, the island and temple were in one sense dedicated. The circumstance of its floating, like Delos, and other consecrated places of the same nature, represented the wanderings of the ark over the waters of the deluge; and as in that machine, the “eight 'primary divinities" of Egypt and the heathen world, who were in fact none other than the Noetic family, were preserved; the idea thence arose, that they “dwelt at Butos,” which is one

Thus far the

of the titles of the ark itself.
tradition is manifestly diluvian; but here, how-
ever, we find that Apollo, the intercessor, and
destroyer of the serpent, was thought to have
been concealed, and his altars were surrounded
by palm trees, the emblems of life and immor-
tality. The other trees, "some fruitful and
"some barren," shew that the whole was, in fact,
a floating paradisos, one of those enclosures
which exhibited memorials of Eden, and derived
its origin from the most ancient traditions
handed down by Cham to so many branches of
his posterity. The monster Typhon may {
either allude to the deluge, which caused the
ark to float; or, it may, with a slight variation
of its elemental characters, as has been before
mentioned, mean the Python or serpent which
Apollo overcame. Most probably, the allusion
is to both these traditions blended together.

We may further observe the striking similarity that appears between the Egyptian oracle described by Herodotus, and that of Gades mentioned by Philostratus. The Butos of the one, and the Boetis of the other, are doubtless the same title, being a name derived from the

* Bryant. Anal. Anc. Myth. vol. iii. p. 73.

arkay beat & boot

+ The Arabs, at this day, express the general deluge by The greek Tows. the term Al-Tufan. Univ. Anc. Hist. vol. i. p. 200.

and land

ark, (or the sacred heifer, which typified that machine,) and which was called Butos, Bætis, or sometimes Budo, or Buddha. The temple and island at Gades, dedicated to Hercules, were of the same kind as those consecrated to Apollo in Egypt. The two deities are also one and the same, while their mythological history is precisely analogous. In both shrines the identical number of altars were consecrated with trees around them, palms and others, as was the case in all places of this nature. The Typhon or Python, moreover, of the latter, answers to the monster Geryon of the former; so that it is manifest that the whole worship had but one original source, although, by the emigration of mankind, it found its way to places the most distant and wide of each other.

There was another of these diluvio-paradisaical islands in the midst of a sacred lake of great depth, at Cotyle, in Italy, to which the nation of the Pelasgi* were directed by an

* Dionys. Halicarn. Ant. lib. i. cap. 2. p. 12. The historian mentions a very remarkable and ancient oracle as having existed in these parts, “like that at Dodona,” but sacred to Mars. It was, in fact, a grove of trees, with an oracular symbol "in the midst," and not far off, the usual floating VJ island. See also cap. xiv. for the account of Cotyle.

oracle. It is mentioned by Varro and Pliny, and fully described both by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Macrobius.† The last writer tells us as follows: "Pelasgi sicut Varro memo"rat, cum sedibus suis pulsi diversas terras "petissent, confluxerunt plerique Dodonam, et "incerti quibus hærerent locis, ejusmodi accepere responsum,

Στείχετε μαιομενοι Σικελων Σατορνιαν αιαν
Ηδ' Αβοριγενεων Κοτυλην - νασος έχειται
Αις αναμιχθεντες δεκατην εκπεμψατε Φοίβω,
Και κεφαλας ΑΔΗ, και τω πατρι πέμπετε φωτα.

"acceptâque sorte, cum Latium post errores

66

plurimos appulsissent, in lacu Cutuliensi ena"tam insulam deprehenderunt. Amplissimus "enim cespes sive ille continens limus seu

66

paludis fuit coactâ compage, virgultis et arbo"ribus in silvæ licentiam comptus jactantibus

per amnem fluctibus vagabatur; ut fides ex "hoc etiam Delo facta sit, quæ celsa montibus, "vasta campis, tamen per maria ambulabat." The Pelasgi, accordingly, when they had seized the country, dedicated a tenth of the spoil to Apollo, and instituted at the same time human

* Mac. Saturn. lib. i. cap. 7. p. 187. Plin. Nat. Hist. lib. iii. 12.