vast extent, in which the mummies, or embalmed bodies of the poorer classes, are piled with great care and regularity, and in incredible numbers. Others are family vaults, which have been prepared expressly for individuals and their connexions, belonging to the wealthy and privileged orders of the priesthood and the military. These also are very extensive in some cases; consisting of a succession of chambers with galleries leading to them, having the walls everywhere stuccoed and covered with paintings representing scenes partly relating to the funeral, or to their mythological belief regarding death, but principally to the operations of common life. The deceased is represented surrounded by his family, banqueting, listening to music, observing the evolutions of dancing girls, or the feats of activity and dexterity of tumblers and jugglers. Then, again, he is in the open country, amusing himself with hunting, fowling, or fishing. In another place, he is in the fields, superintending the various operations of agriculture, or taking the account of his herds and flocks. The tombs of other individuals have preserved the representations of various processes in the mechanical arts. The making of wine, weaving, tanning, and other similar arts, are all in actual progress. The forging of arms, the building of chariots and ships, the arts of sculpture and painting, are depicted with every appearance of minute fidelity. There is scarcely an art of common life which is not represented on the tombs; all these representations being accompanied by explanatory inscriptions in hieroglyphics. The contents of these tombs are also of a character equally interesting and important. The mummies are sometimes inclosed in sarcophagi, or stone coffins, made of granite, basalt, or alabaster, and covered with figures and hieroglyphic inscriptions engraved in intaglio, that is, hollow, like the cutting of a seal. But one wooden case, or several fitting into each other, and superbly decorated with painting or gilding, are more frequently the receptacles of the mummies found in these splendid tombs. These are by no means the most valuable part of their contents. It would seem to have been a custom with the Egyptians to deposit with their dead the tools or utensils of which they had made use when living, or any articles of luxury upon which they had set a particular value. Such objects are of very frequent occurrence in the tombs. Elegantly shaped vases of granite, alabaster, metal, and earth abound in all great collections of Egyptian antiquities. The chairs, tables, couches, and wooden pillows; the pallets used by the sacred scribes, with the colours in cakes, and the reeds or brushes; the models of boats, houses, and granaries, which give so much interest to these collections, and with which the British Museum is so richly supplied, have all been taken from the tombs. Books in the ancient form of rolls are also not unfrequently discovered; and, when their contents. are well understood, they will probably form the most valuable part of these remains. The tombs of the kings which were excavated in Biban-el-Malook, a secluded valley to the west of Thebes, far surpass those of private individuals in the magnificence of their decorations. The study of these paintings and inscriptions has already made some valuable additions to our knowledge of the history and arts of ancient Egypt. Sixteen of these tombs are now known, all of which have long ago been pillaged of their contents.

In the article EGYPT we have already noticed the most striking features of the antiquities of the country, and therefore need do no more here than briefly enumerate the chief places where they are met with. In Lower Egypt are the catacombs of Alexandria; in Central Egypt those of Cairo; the Pyramids, the sphinx, sepulchral caves, (those in particular at Beni Hassan,) and

the site of Memphis; but it is in Upper Egypt that we meet with the ruins of Anteopolis, Denderah, Thebes, Apollinopolis, Eilithya, Elephantina, Philoe, &c. Sepulchral caverns, too, abound, as those at Thebes and El-Kab. Those of Thebes have been the longest known, but the others are found to rival them both in beauty and in importance. These remains have furnished the materials whence the history of Egypt has been already greatly elucidated by the successful labours of Young, Denon, Champollion, Cailliaud, Belzoni, Wilkinson, Rosellini and others, and will probably before long, from the progress of hieroglyphical discovery, be, to a considerable extent, restored; and we already know more of the minute details of common life among its inhabitants than perhaps of any other nation of antiquity.

MOON,

yariach. (Gen. 37. 9; Deut. 4. 19.) God created the sun and the moon on the fourth day. (Gen. 1. 15,16.) As the sun presides over day, so the moon presides over night; the sun regulates the length of the year, the moon the length of the month. The moon was appointed for the distinction of seasons, of festival days, and days of assembling. (Gen. 1. 14; Psalm 104. 19.)

"Next to the sun, the moon is to us the most interesting of all the celestial orbs. She is the constant attendant of the earth, and revolves around it in twentyseven days eight hours, but the period from one new moon to another is about twenty-nine days twelve hours. She is the nearest of all the heavenly bodies, being only about two hundred and forty thousand miles distant from the earth. She is much smaller than the earth, her diameter being only two thousand one hundred and eighty miles, while that of the earth is about seven thousand nine hundred. Her surface, when viewed through a telescope, presents an interesting and variegated aspect, being diversified with mountains, valleys, rocks, and plains, in every variety of form and position. Some of these mountains form long and elevated ridges, while others, of a conical form, rise to a great height from the middle of level plains; but the most singular feature of the moon is those circular ridges and cavities which diversify every portion of her surface. A range of mountains, of a circular form, rising three or four miles above the level of the adjacent districts, surrounds, like a mighty rampart, an extensive plain; and in the middle of this plain or cavity, an insulated conical hill rises to a considerable elevation. Several hundreds of these circular plains, most of which are considerably below the level of the surrounding country, may be perceived with a good telescope on every region of the lunar surface. They are of all dimensions, from two or three miles to forty miles in diameter; and if they be adorned with verdure, they must present to the view of a spec tator, placed among them, a more variegated, romantic, and sublime scenery than is to be found on the surface of our globe. An idea of some of these scenes may be acquired by conceiving a plain, of about a hundred miles in circumference, encircled with a range of mountains, of various forms, three miles in perpendicular height, and having a mountain near the centre, with its top a mile and a half high, from which the plain, with all its variety of objects, would be distinctly visible, and the view would appear to be bounded on all sides by a lofty amphitheatre of mountains, rearing their summits to the sky. From the summit of the circular ridge, the conical hill in the centre, the opposite circular range, the plain below, and some of the adjacent plains which encompass the exterior ridge of the mountains, would form another variety of view; and a third variety would be obtained

from the various aspects of the central mountain, and the surrounding scenery, as viewed from the plains below.

"The lunar mountains are of all sizes, from a furlong to five miles in perpendicular elevation. Certain luminous spots, which have been occasionally seen on the dark side of the moon, seem to demonstrate that fire exists in this planet. Sir William Herschel and several other astronomers, suppose that they are volcanoes in a state of eruption. The bright spots on the moon are the mountainous regions; the dark spots are the plains, or more level parts of her surface. There may probably be rivers, or small lakes, on this planet; but there are no seas or large collections of water. It appears highly probable, from the observations of Schroeter, that the moon is encompassed with an atmosphere, but no clouds, rain, or snow seem to exist in it. The illuminating power of the light derived from the moon, according to the experiments made by Leslie, is about one hundred thousandth part of the illuminating power of the sun.

"The moon always presents the same face to us; which proves that she revolves round her axis in the same time that she revolves round the earth. As this orb derives its light from the sun, and reflects a portion of it upon the earth, so the earth performs the same office to the moon. A spectator on the lunar surface would behold the earth like a luminous orb, suspended in the vault of heaven, presenting a surface about thirteen times larger than the moon does to us, and appearing sometimes gibbous, sometimes horned, and at other times with a round full face. The light which the earth reflects upon the dark side of the moon, may be distinctly perceived by a common telescope, from three to six or eight days after the change. The lunar surface contains about sixteen millions of square miles, and is therefore capable of containing a population equal to that of our globe, allowing only about fifty-three inhabitants to every square mile. That this planet is inhabited by sensitive and intelligent beings, there is every reason to conclude, from a consideration of the sublime scenery with which its surface is adorned, and of the general beneficence of the Creator, who appears to have left no portion of his material creation without animated existence; and it is highly probable that direct proofs of the moon's being inhabited may hereafter be obtained, when all the varieties on her surface shall have been more minutely explored." Dick.

Among the Orientals in general, and the Hebrews in particular, the idolatrous worship of the moon was more extensive than that of the sun. In Deuteronomy 4. 19; 17. 3, Moses warns the Israelites, when they see the sun, the moon, the stars, and the host of heaven, not to pay them any idolatrous worship, because they were only creatures appointed for the service of all nations under heaven. Job (ch. 31. 26,27,) also speaks of the same worship: "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand," as a token of adoration.

As the sun was called the lord or the king, so the

מלכת השמים,moon was called the queen of heaven

Mileketh ha-shamayim, (Jerem. 7. 18; 44. 17,19,) to whom the Hebrews offered cakes, poured out libations, and burnt incense. The moon is termed the goddess of the Zidonians, (1Kings 11. 5; 2Kings 23. 13,14;) also niny Ashtoreth; and in Judges 2. 13; 10.6; 1Sam. 7. 3,4, Ashtaroth. As the word N Ashiroth, which properly means groves, occurs in Judges 3. 7, for hiny Ashtaroth; and in Judges 2. 13, is found in connexion with Baal, the inference is clear that groves were consecrated to this goddess; and she is accordingly

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denominated in 2Kings 21. 7, No Pesel ashirah, the image or idol of the groves. Wherever, therefore, a grove, or Ashtaroth, is mentioned in connexion with Baal, Baalim, or the host of heaven, we have reason for concluding that reference is had to the moon, as an object of worship. (Judges 6. 23-28; 1Kings 16. 33; 2Kings 13. 6.) It is the moon, otherwise called Ashtaroth, which appears to be intended by the "idol in a grove," in 1Kings 15. 13; 18. 19; 2Chronicles 15. 16.

Philo Biblius remarks that Astarte was the Venus of the Phoenicians; and adds further that the effigy of the goddess was the head of an ox with horns, probably in resemblance of the crescent. This statement throws

Ashlaroth עשתרות קרנים some light on the expressions

karnaim, Ashtaroth of horns. (Gen. 14. 5.) The Syrians also called Venus MNDY Astaroth. The worship of this goddess, as well as of the god Baal, was common in Palestine before the time of Moses; and hence the command to cut down the groves. (Exod. 34. 13; Deut. 7. 5.)

Mr. Christmas, in his Universal Mythology, observes, "This goddess [Astarte] was, for the most part, worshipped in sacred groves; though she had her peculiar temples in other places, as at Ascalon, which is considered as the most ancient, in the islands of Cyprus and Cythera, and doubtless in many other places. She is continually mentioned in the Bible under the name of Ashtaroth; and we find a melancholy record therein of the deceitfulness of the human heart in the case of the wisest of mankind, who was drawn away to the worship of this lascivious deity.

"As Astarte represented the deity of the moon, we find her worship continually joined with that of Baal or the sun. What a rage the Israelites had for these gross superstitions we learn from the fact that Ahab entertained in Samaria four hundred and fifty priests of Baal, and his wife Jezebel four hundred priests of the groves, or of Astarte. The secret groves of Ashtaroth were beside the temples of Baal, and when cattle were offered to this god, they brought cakes, and drink-offerings, and incense to the goddess. To these they added the practice of those shameless vices which they considered as acceptable service to this divinity, in bowers entwined for that purpose in her sacred groves, or, as the Scripture hath it, 'under every green tree.' The worshippers of this goddess caused themselves to be marked or tattooed on the skin with the figure of a tree, whence they received the name of Dendrophora, or tree-bearers.

"It was also the custom to place tables on the roofs of the houses, in the vestibules, at the doors, and in the cross-ways, on which, every new moon, they spread a feast in honour of Astarte. This was among the Greeks called the feast of Hecate. A like feast was also held in honour of Adonis. Baal and Astarte were differently represented according to the fancy of the various people by whom they were worshipped. Sometimes Baal or the sun was clothed as a woman; on the contrary, Astarte, or the moon, appeared in complete armour, with a beard, but generally under the form of a woman, who, for head gear, wore an ox's head with the horns, like the Egyptian Isis. On the Tyrian coins of Demetrius, the second king of Syria, we see the Tyrian Venus, or Astarte, in long clothes, over which she has a mantle, thrown back over her left arm; she stretches out one arm in the posture of command, and in the other holds a short cruciform staff." Sir John Gardner Wilkinson informs us, "The Egyptians represented their moon as a male deity, like the German Mond and Monat, or the Lunus of the Latins; and it is worthy of remark that the same custom of

calling it male is retained in the East to the present day, while the sun is considered female, as in the language of the Germans. Thoth is usually represented as a human figure with the head of an Ibis, holding a tablet, and a pen or palm-branch in his hands; and in his character of Lunus he has sometimes a man's face, with the crescent of the moon upon his head, supporting a disk, occasionally with the addition of an ostrich feather; which last appears to connect him with Ao or with Thmei.

"The circumstance of the god Lunus being the dispenser of time, and represented noting off years upon the palm-branch, appears to argue that the Egyptians in former times calculated by lunar instead of solar years; and the hieroglyphic of a month, which is a lunar crescent, shows their months to have been originally regulated by the course of the moon."

The Feast of the New Moon, or the beginning of the month, (as the Hebrews termed it,) was celebrated on the first appearance of the moon. (Exod. 12. 2; Numb. 10. 10; 28. 11; Isai. 1. 13,14.) It seems to have been observed long before the time of Moses, who, by the Divine command, prescribed what ceremonies were then to be observed. It was proclaimed by the sound of trumpets, (Numb. 10. 10; Psalm 81. 3,) and several additional sacrifices were offered. (Numb. 28. 11-15.)

In symbolical language, the sun, moon, and stars, denote different degrees of rank, power, and authority, in a family or state. Thus, in Joseph's dream, the sun represented Jacob the head, the moon his wife, as the next in order, and the stars his sons. When spoken of as a kingdom, the sun is the symbol of the king himself, and the moon of the next to him in power, whether it be the queen, the prince royal, or the prime minister. If kings are sometimes called stars, like the king of Babylon, (Isai. 14. 13,) it is when they are not compared with their own nobles or princes, but with other kings.

In Revelation 8. 12, it is said, "The third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon." In figurative language, the darkening of any of the heavenly bodies denotes a defect in government, a downfal of power, a revolt or political extinction. And if the pagan Roman empire be here meant, then it is a third portion of the primary powers devoted by the sun, and of the secondary powers signified by the moon, that is to be extinguished: similar imagery occurs in Isaiah 13. 10,11; Jeremiah 13. 16; Ezekiel 32. 7,8. This is supposed to have been fulfilled between the years 536 and 556, when Belisarius and the Goths alternately besieged

and took Rome.

"A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet," (Rev. 12. 1,) is understood to be a symbolical representation of the church, clothed with sunbeams, expressive of high honour and dignity; and standing on the moon, as being above the low condition of this sublunary world.

MORDECAI, 77 Sept. Mapdoxalos, the son of Jair, of the tribe of Benjamin, was descended from one of the captives who were carried to Babylon, and resided at Shushan. He was the foster-father of Esther, through whose influence with Ahasuerus, on the fall of Haman, he became vizier or prime minister to the Persian monarch: this is all so fully detailed in the Book of Esther that it is only necessary to refer to the inspired narrative; but we may notice one or two isolated particulars, which will serve to show the unchangeable nature of things in the East. Gesenius is of opinion

that the name Mordecai, like that of Esther, is of Persian origin.

In Esther 2. 11 we read, "And Mordecai walked before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her." The apartments of the women are considered sacred and inviolable in the East; it is even a crime to inquire what passes within the walls of the harem, or house of the women. Hence it is extremely difficult to be informed of the transactions in those sequestered habitations; and "a man," says Sir John Chardin, "may walk a hundred days, one after another, by the house where the women are, and yet know no more what is done there than at the farther end of Tartary." This sufficiently explains the reason of Mordecai's conduct, who "walked every day before the court of the women's house, to know how Esther did, and what should become of her."

Also in ch. 5. 9, "Then went Haman forth that day joyful with a glad heart; but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king's gate, that he stood not up, nor moved for him, he was full of indignation against Mordecai." Roberts says, "This is indeed a graphic sketch of Eastern manners. The colours are so lively and so fresh, that they might have been but the work of yesterday. See the native gentleman at the head of his courtly train: he moves along in pompous guise, and all who see him arise from their seats, take off their sandals, and humbly move in reverence to him. To some he gives a graceful wave of the hand; to others, not a word nor a look. Should there be one who neither stands up nor moves to him, his name and place of abode will be inquired after, and the first opportunity eagerly embraced to glut his revenge. The case of Muttoo-Chadde-Appa, modeliar of the Dutch governor Van de Graff's gate, is illustrative of this disposition. A Moorman of high bearing and great riches had purchased the rent of the pearl fishery of the bay of Ondachy, and, in consequence, was a person of great influence among the people. The proud modeliar was one day passing along the road where was seated on his carpet the renter of the pearl fishery. He arose not, moved not to him, when passing by, and the modeliar's soul was fired with indignation. He forthwith resolved upon his ruin, and, by deeply formed intrigues, too well succeeded. The rent was taken from the Moorman; the money he had advanced to the headmen, the officers, the boatmen, the divers and others, was lost; his estates were sold; and, to make up the deficiency, he himself was disposed of by auction for four hundred and twenty-five rix-dollars, and the modeliar became the purchaser."

Sir John Malcolm tells us that the sepulchre of Mordecai and Esther stands near the centre of the city of Hamadan. It is a square building, terminated by a dome with an inscription in Hebrew upon it, translated and sent to him by Sir Gore Ouseley, late ambassador to the Court of Persia; it is as follows: "Thursday, fifteenth of the month Adar, in the year 4474 from the creation of the world, was finished the building of this temple, over the graves of Mordecai and Esther, by the hands of the good hearted brothers, Elias and Samuel, the sons of the deceased, Ishmael of Kashon." A full description of the tomb will be found under the article ACHMETILA.