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be that in which mention is made of five cities in Egypt speaking the language of Canaan; where at the conclusion it is saidOne shall be called the city of destruction. The learned Scaliger has an ingenious conjecture, that Onias, to favour his purpose, made a small alteration in the words of the prophet, and instead of the City of Destruction rendered it the City of the Sun. In consequence of this he obtained a permit to found his temple, and to rebuild the city. But whether this was the real Arabian Heliopolis may not be easy to ascertain; though there is good reason to suppose it. it. He called it from his own name Onium; which had a great similitude to v, On, of the Egyptians. And of this he seems to have availed himself; and accordingly gave out, that the prophecy was fulfilled. The city appears to have been the commonresort, not only of Jews, but of merchants and travellers who came to Egypt. Dr3 Pocock, and some others, have supposed it to

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Scaliger Animadversiones in Euseb. Chron. p. 144. ad numerum MDCCCLVI.

* See the Connection of the Old and New Testament by Dean Prideaux, vol. 2. p. 206, 7.

3 Egypt, p. 23.

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have been Heliopolis, and the same also as the place called now Matarea. This opinion is countenanced by the account given by ' Abulfeda, and by the Nubian geographer, who says, that by the Arabians it was called Ain-Shems, or Fountain of the Sun, analogous to On. The name of Matarea is supposed by Mons. ' D'Anville to signify eau fraiche, fresh water: but I know not any authority for such a supposition. It is remarkable, that among some Oriental languages Matarea signifies the Sun. This may be proved from the Malayan language, and from that of the Sumatrans at Acheen. It seems to be a compound of Matta and Ree, the ancient Egyptian word for the sun, which is still retained in the Cop

' D'Anville Memoires sur l'Egypte, p. 114. Geog. Nubiensis, pars tert. climatis tertii. 3 D'Anville, ibid.

Expressed Mataharii and Matta-harri.

See Malayan

Bible and New Testament. Amsterdam, anno 1733. Mattowraye, the Sun. See Marsden's Sumatra, of Acheen,

p. 168.

Mahtah harée. Lang. of Batta. Mattoharee. Malayan. ibid.

Matta-harri and Matta-hari. See Malayan Gospels and Acts, printed at Oxford, 1677.

Matta'ree. Sumatra. Parkinson, p. 184

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tic; and with the aspirate is rendered Phree. This I have shewn in a passage from the Coptic Bible, where the city On is described, ON ETE OBAKI Mерн п¤.---Оn, which is the city of Ree the sun. We may judge, that by Matta was denoted an eye. Mr Marsden, in his very curious account of Sumatra, mentions, that among the Malayans, and among four other nations, that came under his cognizance, it has now this signification. Hence Matta-Ree, or Matarea, denoted the great eye of the world, the sun and the place probably was so denominated from a custom among the Egyptians of having an eye described over the portal of their temples. This interpretation of Matarea agrees well with the history of the place and the name was probably given by the merchants, who came from India to Egypt.

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Of this we may be certain, that a city Heliopolis, the same, I believe, as Onium, was situated in Arabia. This must have been a different city from that Heliopolis, which stood

'The people of Acheen, the Batta, Risang, and Lampoon, p. 168. In the Pampango. Mata, oios, sive oculus.

2 What they expressed Ain Shems, was probably Oin Shems, which corresponds precisely with Mata-ree, and signifies Sol Oculus, the eye of the world.—Heλios is wavt' eQoga

και πάντ' επακιές.

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upon the Sebennytic branch of the Nile, and within the limits of Egypt. Hence Harduin is unduly severe upon Stephanus Byzantinus, when he says--hinc Stephani error duas esse Heliopoles existimantis, quoniam in Arabiæ Ægyptique confinio fuit, ut docet Plinius. But Pliny does not say so. That there was a city of this name in Arabia is most certain: but there was another of far greater antiquity in Egypt, upon the centre branch of the Nile. Of this we have had sufficient evidence from Herodotus and Strabo, and from Pliny himself. Intus et Arabia conterminum, claritatis magnæ, Solis oppidum. When this city in Egypt grew by length of time to be neglected and desolate, the other city in Arabia became more noticed. Pliny speaks of the primary city as being in confinio Arabiæ, upon the confines of that country; because the upper part of the Delta was so narrow, that the cities bordered both upon Arabia on one side, and upon Libya on the other, being very few miles from either. We must therefore distinguish, and consider, that the ancient city was intus et Arabiæ conterminus, within the limits of Egypt, and only bordering upon Arabia. The

'Harduin's Notes upon Pliny, 1. 5. p. 254,

other was in Arabia; and, as will appear, in the way to the Red-sea.

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Another city, whose situation should be determined, is Letopolis, or the city of Leto, the Grecian Latona. This by mistake in the present copies of Strabo is expressed Litopolis; of which name there occurs no place in Egypt. It is also frequently expressed Latopolis; which is equally wrong. For the place so named was the city where the fish Latus was held in reverence, and stood high up the river, more than four hundred and fifty miles above the point of Delta. Whereas the city of which we are speaking, together with the nome of Letopolis, lay opposite to that point, and to the east of the Heliopolitan region. It was situated at the termination of the Arabian Mountain, and over against the pyramids; where were the quarries, from whence the stones were got for their construction. It is stiled Leto by Antoninus, Λητες πολις by

Antonini Itin. p. 160.

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