Page images
PDF
EPUB

Extract from Tzetzes' work on the Iliad.

Transla

extract.

the study of hieroglyphics, it is given here, together with the scholia on it, from the excellent edition of the Greek text, by Lud. Bachmann, Scholia in Homeri Iliadem, Lipsiae, 1835, pp. 823, § 97 and 838, with an English translation.

Ὅμηρος δὲ, παιδευθεὶς ἀκριβῶς δὲ πᾶσαν μάθησιν ἐκ τῶν συμβολι κῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν γραμμάτων, ταῦτά φησιν· οἱ γὰρ Αιθίοπες στοιχεία γραμμάτων οὐκ ἔχουσιν, ἀλλ ̓ ἀντ ̓ αὐτῶν ζῴα παντοῖα, καὶ μέλη τούτων καὶ μόρια· βουλόμενοι γὰρ οἱ ἀρχαιότεροι τῶν ἱερογραμματέων τὸν περὶ θεῶν φυσικὸν λόγον κρύπτειν, δι' ἀλληγορικῶν καὶ συμβόλων τοιούτων καὶ γραμμάτων τοῖς ἰδίοις τέκνοις αὐτὰ παρεδίδουν, ὡς ὁ ἱερογραμματεὺς Χαιρήμων φησί·

Ι. καὶ ἀντὶ μὲν χαρᾶς, γυναῖκα τυμπανίζουσαν ἔγραφον·

2. ἀντὶ λύπης, ἄνθρωπον τῇ χειρὶ τὸ γένειον κρατοῦντα, καὶ πρὸς γῆν νεύοντα·

3. ἀντὶ δὲ συμφοράς, ὀφθαλμὸν δακρύοντα·

4. ἀντὶ τοῦ μὴ ἔχειν, δύο χεῖρας κενὰς ἐκτεταμένας·

5. ἀντὶ ἀνατολῆς, ὄφιν ἐξερχόμενον ἔκ τινος ἀπῆς•

6. ἀντὶ δύσεως, εἰσερχόμενον·

7. ἀντὶ ἀναβιώσεως, βάτραχον

8. ἀντὶ ψυχῆς, ἱέρακα· ἔτι καὶ ἀντὶ ἡλίου καὶ θεοῦ·

9. ἀντὶ θηλυγόνου γυναικὸς, καὶ μητρὸς καὶ χρόνου καὶ οὐρανοῦ,

γύπα

10. ἀντὶ βασιλέως, μέλισσαν

ΙΙ. ἀντὶ γενέσεως καὶ αὐτοφυῶν καὶ ἀῤῥένων, κάνθαρον

12. ἀντὶ γῆς, βοῦν·

13. λέοντος δὲ προτομὴ πᾶσαν ἀρχὴν καὶ φυλακὴν δηλοῖ κατ' αὐτούς·

14. οὐρὰ λέοντος, ἀνάγκην·

15. έλαφος, ένιαυτόν·

16. ὁμοίως καὶ ὁ φοίνιξ·

17. ὁ παῖς δηλοῖ τὰ αὐξανόμενα

18. ὁ γέρων, τὰ φθειρόμενα·

19. τὸ τόξον, τὴν ὀξεῖαν δύναμιν· καὶ ἕτερα μυρια· ἐξ ὧν Ομηρος ταῦτά φησιν· ἐν ἄλλῳ δὲ τόπῳ, εἴπερ αἱρεῖσθε, ἰδὼν ἐκ τοῦ Χαιρήμονος, καὶ τὰς τῶν γραμμάτων αὐτῶν ἐκφωνήσεις Αιθιοπικῶς εἴπα

"Now, Homer says this as he was accurately instructed tion of the in all learning by means of the symbolic Ethiopian characters For the Ethiopians do not use alphabetic characters, but depict animals of all sorts instead, and limbs and members of these animals; for the sacred scribes in former times desired

to conceal their opinion about the nature of the gods, and therefore handed all this down to their own children by allegorical methods and the aforesaid symbols and characters, as the sacred scribe Chaeremon says."

I. "And for joy, they would depict a woman beating a Accuracy tambourine."

of Tzetzes' statements

[The drum or tambourine was used in the temples proved. for festival services, and a woman beating a tam

bourine is the determinative of the words

seker, "to beat a tambourine," and
techennu.]

A

2. For grief, a man clasping his chin in his hand and bending towards the ground."

[A man, seated, with his hand to his mouth,

is the determinative of the word

IAIVIDA

chaanau, "grief." A seated woman with head
bent and hands thrown up before her face, is the
determinative of hath, “to weep.”]

3. "For misfortune, an eye weeping."

4.

[The weeping eye

common word

is the determinative of the

rem, "to weep."]

"For want, two hands stretched out empty."

[Compare at, "not to have," "to be without."
Coptic &T.]

5. "For rising, a snake coming out of a hole."

[Compare = per, "to come forth, to risc"

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

fertility and abundance of life.]

1 But compare Horapollo, (ed. Leemans, p. 33), "Aπλaoтov de ävoρwπov

γράφοντες, βάτραχον ζωγραφοῦσιν.

Accuracy of Tzetzes' statements

proved.

8. "For soul, a hawk; and also for sun and god."

Compare ba, "soul," — neter, “god,” and
Heru, "Horus" or "the Sun-god."]

9. "For a female-bearing woman, and mother and time and sky, a vulture."

mut, "mother," is the common meaning of a vulture, and at times the goddess Mut seems to be identified with nut, "the sky." Horapollo says that the vulture also meant "year" (ed. Leemans, p. 5), and this statement is borne out by the evidence of the hieroglyphics, where we find that

[blocks in formation]

2102

[Compare suten net, "king of the North and
South."]

II. "For birth and natural growth, and males, a beetle."
[The beetle xepera was the emblem of the god
Chepera, who is supposed to have created
or evolved himself, and to have given birth to
gods, men, and every creature and thing in earth
and sky. The word
means "to become,"

and in late texts

1 cheperu may

The

be fairly well rendered by "evolutions." meaning male comes, of course, from the idea of the ancients that the beetle had no female. See infra, under Scarab.]

12. "For earth, an ox."

[aḥet means field, and ||

a means "ox";

can Chaeremon have confused the meanings of these two words, similar in sound?]

13. "And the fore part of a lion signifies dominion and

protection of every kind."

[Compare ha, "chief, that which is in front, Accuracy

duke, prince."]

14. "A lion's tail, necessity."

[Compare peh, "to force, to compel, to be

strong."]

15, 16. "A stag, year; likewise the palm."

[Of the stag meaning "year" I can give no example.

[ocr errors][merged small]

word for "year."]

17. "The boy signifies growth."

[Compare, which is the determinative of words

meaning "youth" and juvenescence.]

18. "The old man, decay."

[Compare, the determinative of

dau, "old age."]

19. "The bow, the swift power."

[ocr errors]

of Tzetzes' statements

proved.

[The Egyptian word for bow is

Compare

pet, “to run, to flee away.”]

pet.

"And others by the thousand. And by means of these

characters Homer says place, if you please, to characters in Ethiopic Chaeremon."

2

this. But I will proceed in another
explain the pronunciation of those
fashion, as I have learnt it from

from

In another place Tzetzes says, "Moreover, he was not Extract uninitiated into the symbolic Ethiopian characters, the Tzetzes. nature of which we will expound in the proper places. All this demonstrates that Homer was instructed in Egypt," ναὶ μὴν οὐδὲ τῶν Αἰθιοπικών συμβολικῶν γραμμάτων ἀμύητος γέγονε, περὶ ὧν ἐν τοῖς οἰκείοις τόποις διδάξομεν ὁποῖα εἰσί, καὶ ταῦτα δὲ τὸν "Ομηρον ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ παιδευθῆναι Taρadeικvýοvol, and upon this the scholia on Tzetzes say:Περὶ τῶν Αἰθιοπικῶν γραμμάτων Διό[δωρος] μὲν ἐπεμνήσθη, καὶ μερικῶς εἶπεν, ἀλλ ̓ ὥσπερ ἐξ ἀκοῆς ἄλλου μαθὼν καὶ οὐκ

1 Hermann, p. 123, ll. 2-29; Bachmann, p. 823, ll. 12-34.
Hermann, p. 17, ll. 21-25; Bachmann, p. 755, ll. 9-12,

Greek

translation

of Egyp.

Herma

pion.

ἀκριβῶς αὐτὸς ἐπιστάμενος [ει] καί τινα τούτων κατέλεξεν ὥσπερ ἐν οἷς διδε παῤῥησιάζεται. Χαιρήμων δὲ ὁ ἱερογραμ ματεὺς ὅλην βίβλον περὶ τῶν τοιούτων γραμμάτων συνέταξεν. ἅτινα, ἐν τοῖς προ[σφόροις] τόποις τῶν Ομηρείων ἐπῶν ἀ[κρι]βέστερον καὶ πλατυτέρως ἐρῶ. "Diodorus made mention of the Ethiopian characters and spoke particularly, yet as though he had learnt by hearsay from another and did not understand them accurately himself, although he set down some of them, as though he were talking confidently on subjects that he knew. But Chaeremon the sacred scribe compiled a whole book about the aforesaid characters, which I will discuss more accurately and more fully in the proper places in the Homeric poems." It is much to be regretted that Chaeremon's work, if he ever fulfilled his promise, has not come down to us.

2

One of the most valuable extracts from the works of Greek and Roman writers on Egypt is that from a translation tian text by of an Egyptian obelisk by Hermapion, preserved by Ammianus Marcellinus; unfortunately, however, neither the name of Hermapion's work nor the time in which he lived is known. This extract consists of the Greek translation of six lines of hieroglyphics: three lines are from the south side of the obelisk, one line from the east side, and a second and a third line from the other sides. A comparison of the Greek extract with any inscription of Rameses II. on an obelisk shows at once that Hermapion must have had a certain accurate knowledge of hieroglyphics; his translation of the lines, however does not follow consecutively. The following examples will show that the Greek, in many cases, represents Compari. the Egyptian very closely. Λέγει "Ηλιος βασιλεῖ ̔Ραμέστῃ δεδώρημαί σοι ἀνὰ πᾶσαν οἰκουμένην μετὰ χαρᾶς βασιλεύειν,

son of Greek

translation with the Egyptian

text.

του Ήλιος φιλεί = 14

[ocr errors]

ה

[merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors][merged small]

to thee all lands and foreign countries with rest of heart, O king of the north and south, Usr-maat-Ra-setep-en-Rā,

1 Hermann, p. 146, ll. 12-22; Bachmann, p. 838, 11. 31-37.

2 Liber XVII. 4.

« PreviousContinue »