238

Beyond are villas, canals, and the Nile.

CHAP. 155.

TEMPLE OF BUTO.

239

they dwelt originally, before they were removed by Amasis. Such was the mode by which Psammetichus became master of Egypt.

2

155. I have already made mention more than once of the Egyptian oracle, and as it well deserves notice, I shall now proceed to give an account of it more at length. It is a temple of Latona, situated in the midst of a great city on the Sebennytic mouth of the Nile, at some distance up the river from the sea. The name of the city, as I have before observed, is Buto; and in it are two other temples also, one of Apollo and one of Diana. Latona's temple, which contains the oracle, is a spacious building with a gateway ten fathoms in height. The most wonderful thing that was actually

2 Supra, chs. 83, 133, and 152. There were several other oracles, but that of Buto, or Latona, was held in the highest repute. (See ch. 83.)

a Herodotus says that this goddess was one of the great Deities (ch. 156). She appears to be a character of Maut, and may, in one of her characters, be Thriphis the Goddess of Athribis, where the Mygale or shrew-mouse, which was sacred to Buto, was said by Strabo to have been worshipped. I have seen a small figure of a hedgehog with the name of Buto upon it. Buto, as Champollion supposed, was probably primeval darkness. (See notes 2 and on B. ii. ch. 59, and App. CH. iii. § 2, Maut.) Lucian (De Dea Syria, s. 36) says there were many oracles in Egypt, as in Greece, Asia, and Libya, the responses of which were given "by priests and prophets." The principal ones in Egypt were of Buto, Hercules (Gem), Apollo (Horus), Minerva (Neith), Diana (Bubastis), Mars (Honurius, or more probably Mandoo, see note on ch. 63), and Jupiter (Amun, at Thebes; see chs. 54, 57, 83, 111, 133). That of Besa was also noted, which was said by Ammianus Marcellinus to have been at Abydus, or, according to others, near the more modern Antinoopolis; but it is uncertain who that Deity

was. Heliopolis had also its oracle (Macrob. Satur. i. 30); but the most celebrated was that of "Ammon" in the Oasis. The position of the city of Latona, near the Sebennytic mouth, was on the W. bank, between that branch of the Nile and the lake, about 20 miles from the sea. The isle of Chemmis was in that lake. Herodotus is supposed to have been indebted to Hecatæus for the mention of this island. (See Müller's Fragm. Hist. Græc. vol. i.)-[G. W.]

This is the height of the pyramidal towers of the propylæum, or court of entrance. The 10 orgyiæ, or 60 feet, is the full height of those towers, which seldom exceed 50. In front, on either side of the entrance, was usually a colossus of the king, before which stood two obelisks terminating an avenue, or dromos, of sphinxes. Clemens confounds the propylæum with the pronaos. Pylon, pylôné, and propylon are applied to the stone gateway, when standing alone before the temple; and the same kind of entrance is repeated between the two towers of the inner court or propylæum, imme. diately "before the door" of the actual temple, or at least of its portico. A stone pylon is also placed as a side entrance to the crude brick enclosure of a temenos.-[G. W.]

5

BOOK II.

to be seen about this temple was a chapel in the enclosure made of a single stone, the length and height of which were the same, each wall being forty cubits square, and the whole a single block! Another block of stone formed the roof, and projected at the eaves to the extent of four cubits.

156. This, as I have said, was what astonished me the most, of all the things that were actually to be seen about the temple. The next greatest marvel was the island called Chemmis. This island-lies in the middle of a broad and deep lake close by the temple, and the natives declare that it floats. For my own part I did

Herodotus says, "the most wonderful thing that was actually to be seen," because he considers that the wonder of the floating island, which he "did not see" (ch. 156), would, if true, have been still more astonishing.

According to these measurements, supposing the walls to have been only 6 feet thick, and the material granite, as in other monoliths, this monument would weigh upwards of 6738 tons, being 76,032 cubic feet, without the cornice, which was placed on the roof. The reigns of the Psammetichi and other kings of this 26th dynasty were the period of the renaissance or revival of art in Egypt; both for the size and beauty of the monuments; and though the sculptures are not so spirited as during the 18th and 19th dynasties, they have great elegance, sharpness of execution, and beauty of finish. It is singular that though the sculptures and paintings in the tombs near the pyramids are inferior to those of the best age, and though progress is perceptible in different times, there is no really rude or archaic style in Egypt; there are no specimens of a primitive state, or early attempts in art, such as are found in other countries; and the masonry of the oldest monuments that remain, the pyramids, vies with that of any subsequent age, particularly in their exquisitely wrought granite. The art of Egypt

was of native growth, and was original and characteristic; but the Egyptians, like all other people, borrowed occasionally from those with whom they had early intercourse; and as the Assyrians adopted from them the winged globe, the lotus, and many other emblems or devices, the Egyptians seem also to have taken from Assyria certain ornaments unknown in Egypt before and during the 12th dynasty. Among these may be mentioned vases with the heads of a horse, a cock, a vulture, or an eagle (such as is given to the supposed Assyrian deity Nisroch), the knot, and the feather patterns, and perhaps some of the trappings of the horse, an animal apparently introduced from Asia. Even the Typhonian monster with feathers on his head, so common under the 22nd dynasty, seems to have some connexion with Asia, as well as with Libya. Those devices first occur on monuments of the 18th and 19th dynasties, whose kings came much in contact with the Assyrians; and it was perhaps from them that the pointed arch of that time was copied, which, though not on the principle of the true arch, appears to have been cut into the stone roof, in imitation of what the Egyptians had seen, as the round one was in imitation of the brick arches they had themselves so long used (see n. ch. 136).-G. W.]

1

CHAP. 156.

ISLAND OF CHEMMIS.

241

not see it float, or even move; and I wondered greatly, when they told me concerning it, whether there be really such a thing as a floating island.' It has a grand temple of Apollo built upon it, in which are three distinct altars. Palm-trees grow on it in great abundance, and many other trees, some of which bear fruit, while others are barren. The Egyptians tell the following story in connexion with this island, to explain the way in which it first came to float:-"In former times, when the isle was still fixed and motionless, Latona, one of the eight gods of the first order, who dwelt in the city of Buto, where now she has her oracle, received Apollo as a sacred charge from Isis, and saved him by hiding him in what is now called the floating island. Typhon meanwhile was searching everywhere in hopes of finding the child of Osiris." (According to the Egyptians, Apollo and Diana are the children of Bacchus and Isis;" while Latona is their nurse and their preserver. They call Apollo, in their language, Horus; Ceres they call Isis; Diana, Bubastis. From this Egyptian tradition, and from no other, it must have been that Eschylus, the son of Euphorion, took the idea, which is found in none of the earlier poets, of making Diana the daughter of Ceres.) The island, therefore, in consequence of

7 Hecatæus had related the marvels of this island, which he called Chembis, without any appearance of incredulity. (Fr. 284.) There is a tacit allusion to him in this passage.

Apollo was Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris (Ceres and Bacchus); but he had no sister in Egyptian mythology, and Diana was Bubastis or Pasht, who appears to be one of the great deities, and was the second member of the great triad of Memphis, composed of Pthah, Pasht, and NofreAtmoo. The Diana of the Greeks was daughter of Latona; and Herodotus and Plutarch say that Eschylus was the only one who mentions her as Ceres, in imitation of the Egyptians.

VOL. II.

Aroeris and even Hor-Hat were also supposed by the Greeks to answer to Apollo, from their having a hawk's head like Horus. They therefore called the city of Hor-Hat Apollinopolis Magna (Edfoo), and that of Aroeris Apollinopolis Parva (Koos).-[G. W.]

Pausanias reports this also (VIII. xxxvii. § 3), but seems to be merely following Herodotus. It is not a happy conjecture of Bähr's (not. ad loc.) that it was for revealing this secret (?) that Eschylus was accused of violating the mysteries. The mention of Eschylus is important, as showing that Herodotus was acquainted with his writings.

R

SIEGE OF AZOTUS. — ACCESSION OF NECOS.

this event, was first made to float. Such at least is the account which the Egyptians give.

157. Psammetichus ruled Egypt for fifty-four years, during twenty-nine of which he pressed the siege of Azôtus' without intermission, till finally he took the place. Azôtus is a great town in Syria. Of all the cities that we know, none ever stood so long a siege.

158. Psammetichus left a son called Necôs, who succeeded him upon the throne. This prince was the first to attempt the construction of the canal to the Red Sea,2-a work completed afterwards by Darius the Per