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the protectors of the several sovereigns, or connected with the names of private individuals.

One leading observation, however, I think myself justified in making, and that is, that we are not to borrow from the Greeks our notions of the Egyptian deities, because the Greeks, either through pride or ignorance, or both, endeavoured to find some kind of similarity between the Egyptian gods and goddesses, and their own, when, in point of fact, there is not the least degree of similarity between them. The Egyptian gods were originally but the representation of the several attributes of the Deity; such as his truth, his justice, his mercy, his omnipotence, his power of creation, and his power of destruction, all expressed symbolically, under the signs of those objects which were thought either to possess some great power, or exhibit a remarkable degree of strength, affection, good-nature, impartiality, and the like; although, perhaps, in progress of time, and after the lapse of ages, the ignorant people might have taken them as different distinct beings, actually existing. For it appears to me as clear as possible, that the inventor of the Egyptian theogony admitted and held out but one God, who governed the world by means of his several attributes. In the description, therefore, that I shall give you of some of the principal gods and goddesses of the Egyptian Pantheon, you will always find, that they were but a representation of the attributes, the Démiurgos of this Supreme Being, infinite and omnipotent, the

Creator of every thing, the merciful but just avenger of wrongs, whose power continued to be felt by the soul of man, even after death. On the contrary, in the Grecian system the attributes were converted into distinct deities, that no longer appeared to be derived from Jupiter, the supreme god, but exercising distinct and independent functions of their own. Thus Horace, after describing Jupiter, observes:

Proximas illi tamen occupavit

Pallas honores.

He was the god of the

This Démiurgos of the Egyptians, this supreme god, the god creator of the world, was Ammon; he was also called Ammon-ré, the same as the Zeus of the Greeks, the Jupiter of the Latins. The Egyptians believed him to have been the Spirit which pervades all things; the creating Spirit which brought to light all things. Ethiopians and Egyptians, who carried his name and his worship, by their emigration, into Lybia, from the most remote antiquity. The principal places in which he was most particularly worshipped were, the city of Meroe, in Ethiopia, the Oasis, in Lybia, and the cities of Thebes and Memphis, in Egypt. His images cover the magnificent monuments of this ancient city, which, in the Egyptian theology, was called the city of Ammon, which the Greeks have faithfully translated by Diospolis, that is, the city of Zeus, or Jupiter. It is, in fact, to Ammon, or Ammon-ré, that the principal re

ligious buildings of Thebes are dedicated. His image lies on the Pyramidion, that is, the top of the largest obelisks, such as those of Louqsor and Karnac, as well as those superb monuments, the work of the earliest Pharaohs, which the Romans carried to Italy. The basso relievos still existing, both inside and outside the walls, and round the columns of the temples and palaces of Thebes, represent, in some instances, this god in the act of receiving the prayers and offerings of the Egyptian sovereigns; in others, the Pharaohs themselves, who are presented to him either by the god Phré alone, which is the sun; or by the god Phré and another god, representing the power of Ammon over his enemies, which the Greeks have compared to their Mars. On other occasions he is exhibited as presenting the Egyptian heroes with the sign of divine life, and occasionally welcoming the victorious princes, who are leading before his throne the prisoners they have made, to pay him the proper homage of adoration. It is for this reason that, amongst their titles, the Pharaohs have assumed that of child of Ammon, beloved, approved, or purified by Ammon; as we shall hereafter see.

The name of this god is represented in several ways; first, phonetically, [Table 4, fig. 1.] in which the first three signs preceding the image of the god, are letters spelling Amn, leaving out, as usual, the intermediate vowel. Sometimes even the middle letter, that is, the M, is left out, which seems, very anciently, to have been pronounced

A

Amen, or Emon. The second mode of exhibiting his name is figuratively, that is, representing simply the image of the god, without any other sign [fig. 2.] The third mode is symbolically, and this is done either by a human figure, having the head of a ram, or simply by a ram, holding between his horns a circle, or the image of the sun [fig. 3.] Or, lastly, by an obelisk, [fig. 4.] which, being the generic emblem of the Deity, is particularly applied to Ammon, the chief of all the gods. Under the form and with the attributes of a ram, he obtained the name of Neb, Cneph, Cnouphis, and, by abbreviation, Nef. He was then considered as one of the modifications, or rather an emanation, of the great Démiurgos, the primitive cause of all moral and physical blessings. He was then called the good genius; the male origin of all things; the spirit which, by mixing itself in all its parts, animated and perpetuated the world. For this reason, in some inscriptions he is represented as presiding over the inundation of the Nile, because this phenomenon, to which Egypt owed all its greatness and prosperity, was considered as a special benefit of the good genius. Sometimes we find Cnouphis, as the good genius, represented by a serpent, a very large reptile, with a beard, which the Greeks called Agathodæmon.

The worship of this god seems to have been principally established in the Thebaid, that part of Egypt which was most anciently inhabited. It is to Cnouphis that the great temple at Esné is dedi

cated, where the image of this god is seen engraved on the walls and the different columns, receiving the homage and adoration of the sovereigns of Egypt. The small but elegant temple of Elephantina was equally consecrated to this god by one of the most illustrious of the Pharaohs, Amenophis II. son and successor of Thouthmosis, who lived nearly 1800 years before our æra, according to the common computation. This temple, mentioned by Strabo, is still in existence, and almost untouched. The several basso relievos exhibit Amenophis sometimes alone; at others, followed by his queen, Taia, presenting her rich offerings before the symbolical arch; there welcomed by the god, who receives him in his arms; and, further on, presenting him to the other gods of his family, who are equally gracious towards this Pharaoh.

But you will remember, that whether phonetically, figuratively, or symbolically, the name of this god Ammon may be exhibited, the meaning and expression of the sign or signs, is always the same, explaining fully the names of the several forms or modifications under which he was worshipped, as Ammon, Ammon-ré, Nub, or Mendes.

Another great personage is the god Phtha, or Ptha, whom the Greeks have compared to Vulcan, but who is a very superior being to this blacksmith of the gods of mythology. The Phtha of the Egyptians was another emanation of the Démiurgos; he was a god to whom the priests attributed the organization of the world, and, conse

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