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3b3 

Mar 






302121788W 



ASHMOLEAN LIBRARY, OXFORD 

This book is to be returned on or before 
the last date stamped below. 



27 SEP 1988 

*^7 NOV 

rl Jul \% 



9 



^3 ViOV W 

5 etc 200^ 



<y"'"./ 1..,' /I 



ON THE 



CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



OF 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



ft 



DISSERTATION 



ON THE 



CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



OP 



ANCIENT EGYPT ; 



WITH 



REMARKS ON THE FIRST INTRODUCTION AND USE OF 
THE ZODIAC AMONG THE GREEKS. 



BT 



W. MURE, Esq. 



EDINBURGH : 

BELL & BRADFUTE ; W. & D. LAING ; 

AND 

C, J., G. & F. RIVINGTON, 
LONDON. 



MDCCCXXXII. 




I 



EDIKBUBGH .* 



PRINTKD BY A. BALFOUR AND CO- NIDDRY STREET. 



PREFACE. 



As the chronology of ancient Egypt has of late ex- 
cited considerable attention among those who attach 
interest to the history of the primaeval world, it ap- 
peared to the author of the following pages, that some 
service might be rendered to this branch of study, by 
a careful inquiry into the .first elements of the chrono- 
graphical art among the inhabitants of that country ; 
that is to say, their methods of computing and divid- 
ing time by months, years, or other periods. 

The first of the five sections into which this disser- 
tation is distributed, treats generally of the peculiari- 
ties of the form of year used by the Egyptians ; more 
' especially as regards, the influence which those pecu- 
liarities may have exercised, or have been supposed 
to exercise, oh their modes of calculating and record- 
ing the dates of their civil history. As the ancient 
authorities on these points are neither few nor unim- 
portant, and as they have already been examined often 



VI PREFACE. 

and at great length by the most distinguished chrono- 
logers of modern times, little new matter could here 
be expected. But I have endeavoured to collect and 
arrange in as simple and concise a form as the nature 
of the inquiry permitted, every thing of moment that 
has hitherto been asserted or conjectured by my pre- 
decessors in the same investigation ; drawing, how- 
ever, my own conclusions, and oflfering such illustra- 
tions, as may serve either to correct the errors into 
which foregoing writers may appear to me to have 
fallen, or to throw additional light on our general 
subject. 

The three following sections are devoted to a more 
minute analysis of the primitive form and probable 
origin of the egyptian calendar, astrological and 
civil ; and of the effect produced on the superstitions 
and other habits of the people, by the early connexion 
and subsequent separation of these two departments 
of the same institution. The system which I have 
here ventured to propose is, I believe, entirely new. 
It was first suggested during a course of inquiry into 
other points of egyptian antiquity, by observation of 
certain curious coincidences, ' which, though not in 
themselves enough to justify any conclusions, were 
yet sufficient to provoke farther researches i the result 
of which has been to augment the number of these 
coincidences so considerably as to impress on my mind 
the belief, that they could not be the effect of mere 
chance ; and I have no hesitation in declaring my 
own conviction, that in these three sections have been 
pointed out not only the real origin of the zodiac, but 



PREFACE. Vll 

the primitive form and mysterious import of at least 
one half of its signs. Those to which I would refer 
more particularly, are Aries, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, 
Virgo, and Libra. 

That a system combining and resting upon so many 
obscure and enigmatical details, should be restored at 
once complete in all its parts, was not to be expected, 
for Several obvious reasons ; among others, for this 
very simple one, that the department of antiquarian 
science to which this inquiry belongs is still in its 
in&ncy ; many of the facts or monuments which have 
affdrded the most striking illustrations of our subject 
having only been brought to light within these few 
years — some even since these researches were first 
undertaken ; and at this moment others are, or may 
be, in course of publication, which may help to fill 
the remaining gaps in the circumference of the egyp- 
tian astrological sphere. 

Hie fifth and concluding section has been devoted 
to the examination of the probable period and cir- 
cumstances of the first introduction of the zodiac into 
Greece— a question essentially connected, as shall be 
shown, with our previous analysis of its egyptian 
origin. 

Some general elucidations of our subject, or of 
matters of critical interest connected with it, the dis- 
cussion of controverted points, &c* which could not 
convenientiy be inserted in the pages of the text, have 
been added in an appendix. 

As much of what is new in the following work 
rests upon the evidence of the recent discoveries in 



« 



VIU PREFACE. 

hieroglyphic literature, which have excited so much 
interest of late ; and as the reality of a portion' of 
those discoveries, at least to the full extent claimed 
by their authors, has been questioned, and in some 
instances perhaps justly ; it might be thought neces- 
sary, that whoever attempts to ground any argument 
on their authority, should enter into some preliminary 
explanation how far he : considers them entitled to 
confidence, and of the motives which have induced 
him to form his opinion. As this, however, would 
open a field of discussion far too wide to be com^ 
prehended within the plan of this essay, I shall be 
contented with stating my conviction, that the system 
of hieroglyphic interpretation chiefly developed by 
Mons. J..F. ChampoUion, in his Precis du Syst^me 
Hieroglyphique, is substantially correct. With r^^ard 
therefore to the appeals which I may have occasion 
to make to individual portions of that system, where 
there occurs no reasonable ground of doubt, I shall 
not hesitate, according to the usual principle of cita- 
tion of authority, to quote them as matter of fact ; 
where the case is not so clear, I shall either in the 
text or annotations state my reasons for agreeing or 
diffiering. 

Not having been able to procure a supply of Coptic 
types, where I have had occasion to introduce words 
of that language, I have made use of greek capitals 
as a substitute. Of these, the greco-egyptian or coptie 
characters are, as is well known, merely a corruption ; • 
with the exception of five or six added to convey 
certain sounds to which there is nothing correspond- 



PREFACE. IX 



ing in the greek tongue, and the representatives of 
which, in the ancient written language of Egypt, 
have therefore been retained, and transferred to the 
modern alphabet. Of these supplementary characters, 
I have caused a number sufficient for present use to 
be cut. 

Upon all occasions numerous references have been 
given to the most esteemed authors who have already 
treated, in many instances separately, and more at 
length than was consistent with the limits of my 
text, the various subjects on which I have had occa- 
sion to touch, in as far as my opportunities of procur- 
ing their works, often from their very nature scarce, 
would permit. This I trust the candid reader will 
attribute not to any anxiety on the part of the author 
to display reading, but to a desire, however valueless 
his own labours may prove, of rendering at least some 
service to those who may be entering on the same 
line of pursiut, by pointing out the sources from 
whence materials for more extensive and successful 
investigations are to be derived. 



• • 



' . 



^ 



CONTENTS. 



SECTION I. 

Page 

General remarks on the egyptian year and canicular cycle 1 



SECTION 11. 

Concerning the twelve egyptian calendar months, and the twelve 
fdgns of the zodiac Analysis of their original positions with re- 
spect to the seasons^ and to each other 34 



SECTION III. 

Continuation of the same subject. Inquiry into the pristine form 
and signification of the signs 67 



SECTION IV. 
Conclusion of the same subject 143 

SECTION V. 

Remarks on the first introduction and use of the zodiac among the 
Ghreeks 161 

APPENDIX 207 

INDEX 263 

PLATES. 



SECTION h 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE EGYPTIAN YEAR AND 

CANICULAR CYCLE. 



Those who have devoted any attention to the anti- 
quities of Egypt, will be aware, that a cycle of 1460 
years, formed upon a difference of a quarter of a day, 
between the length of the civil year in use among its 
inhabitants, consisting of three hundred and sixty-five 
days, and the more nearly accurate tropical or Julian 
year of three hundred and sixty-five days and a quar- 
ter, occupies a prominent place in all discussions rela-» 
tive to the early history and chronology of that em* 
pire, and has given rise to a considerable deal of con- 
troversy among the learned of modem times j the 
investigation of the details of its primitive formatioii* 
and use, involving an inquiry into all the minor points 
of the very obscure history of the egyptian calendar,* 

» The following are the principal authors, ancient and modem, on thor 
subject of the egyptian year. Geminus, Elementa Astronomiie, c vi* 
apud Petavium in op. De doctrina temporum, toL iii. ed. 1705. Censo-^ 

B 



2 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

A few observations on the origin and general proper- 
ties of this cycle, will therefore form the basis of the 
ensuing illustrations. For although it may in itself, 
strictly speaking, be considered as the whole or sum- 
mary, of which the remaining portions of our subject 
are merely parts or elements, yet, as will readily ap- 
pear in the sequel, the peculiar character of this in- 
vestigation renders the* analytical mode of inquiry 
preferable. 

There have been some, who, adopting an exagger- 
ated view of the antiquity and extent of the astrono- 
mical science of the Eg}^tians, as well as of the fide- 
lity of their historical annals, seem to have held, that 
if the dates of events of remote and fabulous ages be 
recorded in years of this cycle, they ought, admitting 
the good faith of the authors by whom they have been 



rittus. de die ilatali, «. IS. sqq. Theon Alexandra ad oaleem DodwelL 
append, ad Dissertationes cyprianicas. Scaliger, de Emendatione tern- 
ponim,p. 179. sqq. ed. 159S. Petavius, de Doctrina temporum, vol. i. 
lib. iii. G. d. ; voL ill. Var. Diss. y. 3. sqq. Bainbridg. Canicalaria, Ox- 
1648. Marsbam, Cbronicufl canon, Lond. 1672, pp. 9. 235. 295. Dod- 
welly append, ad Dissert Cj^riaa* Desyig^noles, de Annis fsgyptiac. 
MiscelL Berolinens. t. iy. p. 3. Sir L Newton, Chronology, pp. 30. 79. 
4to. It2d. De la Nauze, Histoire du Calendrier Egyptien. Mem. Acad. 
Iftscf. t. xiy. p. 334. xyi. p. 170. sqq. Fr^ret, op. cit. t zyL p. 306. 
D^fens^ d^ la cbrom^oigie. p* S85. sqq. 4to^ 1758. Jackson, Chronolo* 
gical antiqnitiee, yol. ii. initio. 4to. 1752. Court de Gebelin. monde pri- 
mitif. t. iy. c 5. p. 126. sqq. 4to. 1773-82. Hales, Analysis of Chrono- 
logy, ed. 1830, yd. i. p. 31. sqq. Fourrier Recberdies sur les sciences, 
4cc. de Ti^ypte, M^mmres de la DIscript. de I'lEgypte, Antiq* t i. p. 
805. sqq. Ideler, Historiscbe Untersucbungen iiber die astronomiscben 
Beobacbtungen der Alten. BerL 1806, 8». s. 64* ff. Id. Techniscbe Cbro- 
nologie, Bd. i. «. 93. Berl. 8. 1825* (The first mentioned work of tUs 
distinguished German cbronologer and mathematician has been publish- 
ed in Frendi by HaLaui at the end of his translalion of Ptolemy, which 
I regfet not haying been abSe to see.) Biot, Recherchee sur ploaieim 
poistB de ra^oAomte ^yptieniie» Pw*. 1823^ p. 148^ sqq. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I* S 

trahsmittedy to be assumed as fixed atid diandard 
epdchs, by which the remainder should be regulated^ ' 
as by a true test of correctness ; somewhat as events 
of obscute and doubtful periods of later history, if 
recorded in connexion with eclipses, or other pheno- 
mena of the heavenly bodies, are assumed by prefer-* 
ence as chronological pivots. The following example 
may serve for illustration. The first strictly histori- 
cal epoch of the egyptian annals, is that of the expul- 
sion of certain Asiatic tribes, called Pastors or Shep- 
herds, who, in the early ages of the world, had occu- 
pied, to the prejudice of the aboriginal inhabitants, 
the whole or greater part of the country. This de- 
liverance was effected by the victorious arms of i^ 
native prince commonly called Amosis, by some 
Thoutmosis, who forced the strangers to abandon 
their last hold, a strong city called Avaris on the 
frontiers of Arabia, and finally established the Mi^s- 
raimite sway over the whole valley of the lower Nile j 
hence honoured by his native historians with a place 
at the head of a dynasty, the eighteenth in their lists. 
This was an event of the highest importance, and 
such as must have formed a standard historical sera; 
and been likely, above all others, had the chronologi- 
cal art been as far advanced at the time as some 
would suppose, to have been accurately recorded bv 
every knWn method, astronomical or ciyU. 

But on consulting the various extant fragments of 
^rjrptian history, even amid all their uncertainties, 
And the corruptions of the texts of the authors in 
whose works they have been preserved, we have suf- 
ficient proof that a very considerable difference must 
have existed, in the relative antiquity assigned by 



4 ON TH^ CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

different native annalists to this epoch. According 
to the text of Manetho, a celebrated historian of this 
country, as preserved by Africanus, the accession of 
the eighteenth dynasty would be dated about the year 
1670 B* c. According to a different version of the 
same author given by Eusebius, it would fall about 
1725 B. c. And in another national document, called 
*t the old ISgyptian Chronicle," it is placed about 
1748 B. c.'' But Clemens Alexandrinus,*" himself an 
Egyptian, and well versed in the antiquities of his 
own country, fixes, apparently on the authority cf 
Ptolemy the Mendesian, (another native historian of 
equal celebrity with Manetho,) this same epoch of the 



^ The numbers of the years contained in the dynasties np to the nine^- 
teenth inclusive, according to these various authorities, are given in my 
Remarks on the chronology of the egyptian d3masties ; and may also be 
seen in a note to p. 142 of the 85th Number of the Quarterly Review. 
For the eighteenth dynasty, we must add to the lists of Atricanus 263 
years ; to those of Eusebius and the Old Chronicle, 348. The same dyn- 
asty, with Josephus, (contr. Ap. L § 15. ed. Haverc. t. ii. p. 446.) who 
has affected to preserve its details, after Manetho, with a scrupulous de- 
gree of accuracy, assigning the fractional months of each reign, compre- 
hends 333 years. Several modem authors, (Larcher, Herod, t viL p. 
153. edit* 1786. Faber, Pagan Idolatry, vol. iii. p. 534. Hales, Analys. of 
Ohronol. vol. iv. pp. 419. 422. edit. 1830) misled, it would appear, by an 
-error in the Latin version of Havercamp, have stated the numbers of the 
Jewish historian at 340 years 7 months. These M. Champollion Figeac 
(Lett. i. sur le Mus. de Turin, p. 95) has adopted, as the basis of an at- 
tempt to reconcile the discrepancies in the statements of the ancients 
concerning this point of egyptian chronology. Theophilus of Antioch 
([Ad. AutoL ad obIc. Justin. M. edit. 1743, p. 392) has also given, after Ma- 
netho, a list of the eighteenth dynasty, similar, in as far as the corrupt 
state of his text will permit of our judging, to that preserved by Jose^ 
phus, from whom he has apparently copied it. The most important of 
these texts on eg3rptian chronology, are to be found in the useful collec- 
tion of Mr. Cory, entitled, Antient Fragments — Lond. Pickering, 1828, 
p. 47, sqq. 

' Strom, lib. i. p. 335. conf. p. 320, edit. 1688. 



OF ANCIENT EGTPT. SECT. .1.'^ S 

expulsion of the Shepherds and the commencement' of 
the eighteenth dynasty, to the S46th year before the 
lapse of the sothiac cycle. This is the cyde above 
alluded to ; which terminated, as shall be seen, in the 
year 1322 b. c. Now, upon the principle above men- 
tioned, that dates attached to years of this cycle, are 
to be considered as not only historically, but as- it 
were astronomically recorded; and supposing that 
Ptolemy the Mendesian, or Clemens, it matters not 
which, had really, as there is no reason to doubt, 
drawn his information from trust-worthy original re- 
cords ; it ought, amid the conAision and contradiction 
which prevails among these authorities, to. have the 
preference ; and consequently, the sera of the acces- 
sion of Amosis, and of the expulsion of the Shepr 
herds, would be placed about 1668 b. c. 

A very few observations, however, in the course of 
the ensuing analysis, wilU I trust, be sufficient to 
show, that dates of this nature, in years of the cycle; 
are in themselves ao better than any others ; being 
to all appearance merely proleptic ; matter 6t after 
calculation, not of contemporary observation or re- 
cord ; as well as that the very history of the cycle 
itself affords proof, that the learned men of Egypt 
were much less advanced in. either chronological or 
astronomical science than their more enthusiastic ad- 
mirers have imagined, at the remote period to which 
their historical records or their celestial observations 
.have been supposed to extend* 

I shall endeavour to bestow upon this point, and 
others of equal or greater difficulty and obscurity 
connected with it, as close, and at the same time as 
impartial an investigation as I am able. The anti- 
quities of this celebrated nation, in spite of all the 



O OK THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

learning and ingenuity which have been devoted to 
them, have been destined seldom to obtain a fair and 
unprejudiced examination from the historical critic of 
modem times. This is not very difficult to account 
for ; when we consider the paucity of original docu- 
ments, the meagemess and obscurity of those which 
exist, and the extreme vagueness and imperfection of 
the information derived at second hand from the 
classical authors of Greece and Rome. On all sub- 
jects of great ei^tent or interest, the extravagance of 
conjecture or of system is usually in proportion to 
the slendemess of our means of accurate information. 
Hence one need feel little surprise, if some, dazzled 
by the splendour of the monuments still existing on 
t^e banks of the Nile, or influenced by too servile a 
deference to the vain-glorious traditions of the Egyp^* 
tians themselves, and the exaggerations of credulous 
Greeks, have been willing to give this people credit 
for a degree of perfection in art and science of every 
description, equal if not superior to any hitherto 
attained by the most polished nations of christian 
Europe, at a period when, according to all reasonable 
probability, the human species, if already created, 
could scarcely have advanced beyond the first steps 
in civilization. Others, in combating these visionary 
theories, have fallen into an opposite extreme of para- 
dox ; advancing opinions, and endeavouring to esta- 
blish systems, altogether derogatory, as well to the 
real antiquity of this wonderfitl race, as to their just 
rank in the intellectual scale of nations. 

In the present inquiries I shall make every effort 
to avoid the Scylla as. well as the Chary bdis, which 
have proved fatal to so many voyagers in the straits 
of egyptian research i and in attempting to throyr 



i 



OF ANCISNT BGYPT. SBCT* I. 7 

light on the calendar and the elements of the dsuron^ 
ology of this ancient people, by, combining and coUatt 
ing all the more important fragments of cla^ical an^ 
tiquity bearing on the subject, with the evidenoe of 
existing monuments, and more especially of that m^m 
of valuable material, which the enterprise of the 
traveller or the labour and ingenuity of the learned 
have, for the most part within the last thirty years^ 
added to this department of antiquarian science,— ^it 
shall be my endeavour to banish all feeling of prf^ 
judice, either favourable or adverse to the nation it- 
self, and all system but that of a careful investigation 
. of truth. 

The Egyptians having, at an early period of their 
history, established an imperfect solar year of three 
hundred and sixty-five days, soon found out that its 
revolution did not produce the returns of the corres^ 
ponding seasons, but anticipated them by nearly a 
quarter of a day annually. This anticipation they 
fixed by inaccurate observations at six hours precisely^ 
and hence it was easy to calculate that in 1461 revo^ 
lutions of their own year, equal to 1460 of the tropical 
year, their Thot or new-yearWay would, (accordiog 
to their own computation,) have retrograded from a 
given point through the tropical year, so that after 
the completion of that period, it would again coin- 
eide with the same day and season as it had done at 
.starting. If thi^ was their notion of the cycle, as 
there is little reason to doubt it was, it is hardly ne- 
cessary to observe that they were mistaken ; they 
calculated that every fim year# they lost a quarter of 
a day ; whereas they only lost five hours and nearly 
forty-nine minutes ; since the true solar year really 
contains upwards of eleven minutes less than the 



$ ON THE CALENDAR. AND ZODIAC 

Julian year of 3651 days ; so tliat the first day of the 
egyptian year, after 1461 of its revolations, instead of 
having retrograded completely through the seasons, 
would coincide with the corresponding day of the 
Julian year, when the sun was in a point of the zodiac 
about twelve degrees in advance of that which it 
occupied at the commencement of the period: Thus 
the twentieth of July, O. S. of the year 1322 b. c, 
on which day, as shall be seen below, a cycle began, 
was fourteen days after the summer solstice ; but in 
A. b. 139, when that cycle ended, the same day of the 
Julian year fell on the twenty-sixth day after the 
solstice.** 

This excess of a quarter of a day, which they assigned 
the true solar year above their own, they either bor- 
rowed from, or connected with, the heliacal rising of 
Sirius or the Dogstar, which they supposed recurred 
at intervals of three hundred and sixty-five days and 
a quarter } and in this they seem to have been right ; 
for although the true sidereal year exceeds the Julian 
time nearly as much as the tropical year falls short of 
it, yet it would appear from the calculations of modem 
astronomers,^ that the intervals between the heliacal 
rising of Sirius, in the latitude of Egypt, during the 
flourishing ages of the empire, that is for upwards of 
two thousand years before our Saviour, by a certain 
-concurrence in the positions of the heavenly bodies, 
really were what the Egyptians supposed them to be. 
The periods of the cycle were regulated by the coin^ 

d Ideler, Unters. iib. die a^tr. Bepb. .s. '79, Sl.-r-Ed. Halma p. 38, 
Techn. Chron. Bd. i. s. 129. 

• Petav. Var. diss. V. 6. Bainbr. Canic. Conf. Graev. ad calc. op. 
Kircliius ap. Desvign. de Ann. Mgypt Misc. Berol. tom^ iv. p. 3. Idel. 
Unters. iib, d. Astron. Beob. d. Alt. s. 88. Id. Techn. ChronoL Bd. i, 
». 129 ff/ 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I. 9 

tidence of this phenomenon with the first day of Thot, 
the first month of their year ; which coincidence, ac- 
cording to historical data, took place on the ^Oth of 
July, in the year of Christ 139/ That .year was 
therefore the end of a cycle. Counting back 1460 
years, we have the 20th of July of the year 1322 b. Cr 
for its commencement ; and if we count back other 
1460 years, we shall have the year 2782 as the com- 
mencement of that which terminated in 1322. . The 
D<^tar was called in Egypt the star of Isis, or Sothis ^ 
hence the name of sothiacj or canicular cycle. 

The explanation given by the Egyptians, or rather 
by the Greeks for them, of this discrepancy between 
their civil year and the true reckoning, on which their 
cycle was grounded, — namely, that it was a point of 
their national religion that every feast should fall suc- 
cessively on every day of each season of the year, 
which was thus effected by their being attached to 
certain days of their own calendar,^ — ris evidently a 
mere after-excuse, invented to palliate an uninten- 
tional defect, rather than a reason for what was, in 
itself, from the first, an intentional institution ; for, 
besides that thev would have overshot* their mark, as 
their feasts, instead of taking the days of the tropical 
year in regular succession, would have fallen, during 
four years, on the same day, an'd then passed on to 
the next, it were in itself inconceivable that any people 
should originally have established their festivals upon 
such a principle ; for, as among all superstitious na- 



' Cen§orin de die nat c. xxi. Conf. Petav* Var. diss. y. 6. De la 
Nauze Mem. de TAcad. des Inscr. xiv- p. 343* sq. Ideler, Unters. Ub. 
die astr. Beob. s. 74- Techn. Chron. Bd. ii. s. 127 sq. 

s Gemin. Element. Astron. o* vi. apud Petav. Uranolo^. iu op. de duct. 
temp. vol. iii. p. 19. 



10 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

ttons, and more especially those whose BUperstitionisk 
were so evidently founded on the phenomena of the 
physical world, religious rites must, in their origin, 
have borne reference to the yarious phases of the hea- 
venly bodies, as well as the necessary periodical ope-> 
rations of agriculture, they must, from their very na* 
ture, have been essentially connected in their institu-> 
tion with certsun seasons. And that this holds good 
of Egypt above all other states, must be obvious to 
every person who has bestowed the least attention on 
either the natural or civil history of the country. So 
that to have celebrated the death of Osiris, which, ac- 
cording to themselves, was figurative of the low state 
of the waters of the Nile and the decline of the sun 
in the zodiac, in the month of May, when the sun wa^ 
rapidly advancing to the zenith, and the Nile just be^ 
ginning to swell, would have been such an anomaly, 
as might, indeed, have been brought about by a con- 
fusion of circumstances, and the obstinacy of a bigotted 
people, but never could have been the effect of design* 
It would, however, appear that some of their more 
important solemnities did remain fixed to certain sea^ 
sons, and, consequently, could not have been attached 
to particular days of any month ; such were the har- 
vest-home of Isis, described by Diodorus,** at which 
the first-fruits of certain vegetables, were offered, and 
the sacrifice of hogs at fiiU moon, mentioned by He- 
rodotus.* To these might, perhaps, be added th^ 
Niloa, or festival of the inundation, described by Se*- 
neca*" and Heliodorus,' and apparently also noticed by 



h Bib. hist. 1. i. c. 14. ^ L. ii. c. 47, conf. Plut de Is. et Os. c, 8. 
k Qusest nat. L iv. C 2, p. 726. A- Edit Lipsii, 1715. 
1 ^thiop. 1- ix- p. 423, Ed. ConameL Ciuit. 1598. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. t. ll 

the father of grecian history ."^ Other examples might 
possiUy be adduced ; but as the writers on whose au- 
thority they rest flourished after the introduction of 
the Julian year into Egypt, and as their illustrations 
of the egyptian mysteries are given very confusedly, 
partly with reference to the dates of the new calendar, 
partly to those of the ancient year still in use among 
th6 aboriginal inhabitants, the less attention is due to 
them.'' The instances here quoted, however, are suf« 
£cient, for the present, to show, that some' at least of 
their feasts were originally assigned to certain seasons; 
and the same may, from the very nature of egyptian 
superstition, be inferred concerning the remainder. 
Afterwards,, amid the irregularities of th^ir calendar^ 
those festivals whose ceremonies were so necessarily 
dependent on the seasons, with respect to which they 
were first instituted, that they could not possibly be 
performed at any other, the harvest-home, for example, 
or the Niloa, remained fixed, while others, where the 
connexion was of less importance, -continued'attaohed 
to their respective days of the national months,, and 
not to the degrees of the ecliptic ; and the priesthood, 
finding the year; of three hundred and sixty-five days 
a simpleand convenient method of reckoning in other 
respects, and unwilling to make any farther alteration 
in their civil institutions, so repugnant to the feeling 
it>f the nation at all times, sanctified this defect of the 
calendar as a religious peculiarity, which distinguished 
their national solemnities from those of their neigh- 
bours ; the motive of their primeval institution being 
still kept in view among the priests themselves, and 

"* IL 60, conf. auct. apud Jablpnsk* Panth. segf. lib- iv* c 1, ^ 16 ; and 
Heeren Ideen iiber die Politik, &c. der Alten. Edit 1826. IL Th. IL 
Abth. p. 375. ^ See note to p. infr. 



12 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

forming probably, as we sl^all have occasion to observe 
farther hereafter, an important part of those mysterious 
significations so much celebrated as contained in all 
the superstitious rites of this people. 

Farther proof, if indeed any be required, that it 
could not have been the original intention of the 
egyptian legislators, in establishing their civil year, to 
make its revolution fall short of the true solar time, 
exists in the circumstance, admitted by themselves, 
and proved by the whole tenor of their tradition, that, 
in early periods of their history, they, like other na- 
tions in the infancy of civilization, used a year of three 
hundred and sixty days, divided into twelve months 
of thirty days each,° which formed the basis of their 
calendar as afterwards permanently settled, and which, 
if adhered to without occasional correction, would, no 
doubt, have caused their feasts to retrograde through 
the seasons, but would have been far from making 
^ them fall* successively on each day of the solar year. 
Now, as many of their superstitious rites may safely 
be considered at least as ancient as their civil chrono- 
logy, it is clear, upon their own admission, that those 
jites could originally have been established on no such 
principle as that which we have just been examining. 
As to the real nature of this year of three hundred 
and sixty days ; whether, as some have supposed, it 
was allowed, like its successor, to anticipate the tro- 
pical time, so that its commencement falling back five 
days and a quarter each revolution, would shift through 
the seasons in about seventy years ^ or whether it was 
a lunisolar year, rectified occasionally by embolic 
months, it would be in vain minutely to inquire, as 

o See Appendix, No. I. 



jOF ANCIEN'T EGYPT. SECT. I. IS 

we liave few or no historical dalta concerning it ; but 
the latter opinion is certainly the most reasbnable, 
since it can hardly be supposed that any nation would 
long submit to so very inconvenient an irregularity 
as must otherwise have been the result. It was, how- 
.ever, in order to obviate permanently, as they ima- 
gined, the perpetual fluctuation of the seasons, which 
must have been consequent on a strict adherence to 
•their ancient mode of reckoning, that they established 
their new form of year, by adding five supernumerary 
days at the end pf the twelve months. This additional 
number of days they borrowed from rude observation 
of the courses of the stars, as a more accurate guide 
than the changes of the moon, which had been the 
foundation of their primitive reckoning, calculating 
these courses, in round numbers, at three hundred and 
sixty.five days. And it is not to be believed that they 
*would, after once venturing upon such an innovation 
pn their ancient institutions, have been contented thus 
only to reform their civil calendar by halves, substi- 
tuting a lesser for a greater error, had they at that 
period known any more exact approximation to the 
truth. There can, therefore, be no reasonable doubt 
but that the Egyptians, in instituting their year of 
three hundred and sixty-five days, believed, or hoped^ 
that its revolution would bring about the return of 
the seasons, and that the sothiac cycle is, in fact, the 
result of their disappointment. 

The epoch at which these five days were perma- 
nently added is also mere matter of conjecture, not 
being recorded by any trustworthy document, and the 
statements of the classical authors concerning it being 
vague and contradictory. SyncellusP ascribes the im- 

P Chronogr. p. 123, D. inter Script Bystant t vi. Par. fol. 1652. 



14 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

provement to a king called Aseth, whom some^ on 
grounds of a very unsatisfactory nature, have identi*^ 
fied with one of the shepherd kings. Ceifisorinui^*> ap-^ 
pears to consider as its author one Arminon ; which 
name, however, does not occur in the lists of egyptiatt 
sovereigns. The opinions of modern fchronologers dfl 
this point have been, as might be expected, much di- 
vided ; but those who have taken the most reasonable 
view of the subject are agreed in supposing the insti-^ 
tutton to have befeu of no very extreme antiquity, pro- 
bably not prior to the exodus, as there is much reason 
to believe that the Jewish legislator, who wasleamed 
in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, was unacquaitited 
with any such institution. Sir Isaac Newton' would 
place it about nine hundred years before the christian 
era ; biit, as his opinion is grounded" on a Ifeystem of 
chronology which, however ingenious, is now getie^ 
rally admitted to be fallacious, little weight can be ati- 
tached to it. Dodwell* carried his contempt of the 
astronomy of the Egyptians so far as to maioitaiu that 
their solar year was no invention of their own, but 
borrowed from the Persians, on the conquest of their 
country by CambyseS. On ihe other hand, Zoega's* 
admiration of the science of his favourite among the 
nations of antiquity led him to deny that this imi^er^ 
feet or moveable year was ever really in u^ athong 
them, but that they had the Julian or tropicd year 
from time immemorial ; and hence he supposes, like 
Dodwell, though on different grounds, that the other 
was an institution of their conquerors^ falsely attri**^ 
buted to themselves by the Greeks, who first became 

4 De die nat c. 19. ' Chronol pp- 30, 79, sq* 

* D« vet. cycl* diss. ii. sect* 6, p* 70 ; diss* iii. sect 4, 6, p. 134f 

t Nmnni. Mgyj^t Mus* Borg* addend, p. 396* 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I. 15 

acquainted with it in their country after the conquest. 
The fallacy of both these opinions, eminent as is the 
authority by which they are supported, is too obvious 
to require to be pointed out minutely. Gatterer as- 
serts, that the year of threa hundred and sixty-five 
days must have been used in Egypt in the seventeenth 
century before Christ, because Cecrops brought it 
with him ifdo Attica."^ The learnt chronologer does 
not say how he ascertained this last fact, but I conceive 
it would be somewhat difficult to discover authority 
for it.^ The most plausible opinion, perhaps, is that 
which supposes that the reform of the egyptian calen- 
dar took place in that same celebrated year 1322, 
which was the period of the sothiac cycle, atid that 
they then transferred their new year's* day from the 
position in the seasons which it previously occupied 
to the day whereon Siritis rose heliacally,^ — a pheno- 
menon of great importance in their mythology, as well 
from their general superstitious - reverence for that 
brilliant star, * as from its appearance coinciding with 
the inundation of the Nile, and being supposed to eso- 
ercise a physical influence on the rise of its waters. 
The very circumstance that the cycle of 1460 years, 
formed upon the deficiency of their new calendar, was 
afterwards regulated by the coincidence of the Thot 
with that particular day, is certainly strong ground 
of belief, as has been observed by De la Nauze and 
others,'' that the reform itself was accompanied by that 

« Weltgeschichte, B* I. p. 579, ft GotHng. S© 1785. 

▼ See Append. No* II. 

^ De la Naii2e, Mem. de TAcad. des Tnscr. t. ziv. p. 343. Gognet 
erig. des lobe, torn. iv. p. 479, £d. Par. 1758. Ideler Unters. Uber die 
aatr. Beob. &c. s. 70, ff. Techn. ChronoL Bf L s. 131. JPlayfair, ChroaoL 
p. 13. Encyc Brit. art. Chronology, No* 21. Under the goTemment 4tf 
a tovereign called Menophris, If we may trust a fragment o/ Theou Akx. 



16 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

coincidence ;^ and, if so, without taking an extrava- 
gant view of egyptian chronology, we can hardly as- 
sign it to any other epoch than 1322 b. c, as the year 
2782, on which the commencement of the previous 
cycle would fall, reaches^ too remote a period of anti- 
quity to justify the belief that even the egyptian statd 
was as far advanced in, civilization as the existence of 
such an institution would lead us to infer. It is, how- 
ever, by no means inconsistent with probability, that, 
the calendar having been reformed some time previous 
to the year 1322, its Thot, or first day, being fixed at 
a more advanced season, may, by retrograding towards 
the solstice, have coincided with the heliacal rising of 
Sirius in that year ; and this interesting coincidence 
having been observed and recorded by the Egyptians, 
may afterwards have aided them in regulating the pro- 
portion between their own and the tropical year, and 
so have equally formed the basis of their cycle. This 
seems to have been the view taken of it by Jackson,^ 
who supposes the Thot, on the addition of the epago- 
menee, to have been fixed about the autumnal equinox, 
which opinion, we shall have occasion to notice more 
particularly in treating of the egyptian zodiac. Sir 
Isaac Newton,' on the same principle, supposed the 
Thot of the improved year to have been fixed about 
the vernal equinox of the year 887 b. c, so that it 
would have retrograded to the 26th of February in 
the first year of Nabonassar, or 7^6 years before the 

cited from the Paris MS. by Biot Rech. sur Tastron. ^^pt, p- 303, Lar- 
cher Herodot. torn, ii* ed. 2, p. 553. Cbampoll. l^ Lett* sur le miis* de 
Turin. Notice chronoL p. 100. Volney, however, rejects, but apparent- 
ly without reason, the interpretation of this passage adopted by these au<» 
thors; see his Recherches nouvelles sur I'hist. ancienne, torn. iiL p. 216v 

» See Append. No. III. 

y Chron. Ant vol. ii. p, 7. f Chronol. pp. 31, 79. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I. 17 

christian era, and have first coincided with the rising 
of Sirius in a. d. 139, That is, however, as already 
observed, much too low an estimate of this important 
point of egyptian antiquity. 

Diodorus* mentions a golden circle, of three hun- 
dred and sixty-five cubits in circumference, by a cubit 
in breadth, as having been formerly shown in a theban 
edifice, among which cubits were distributed the days 
of the year, with the proper risings and settings of the 
stars attached to each, and their mystical import, ac- 
cording to the egj'ptian astrologers. It is not very 
easy to say what degree of faith is here due to the de- 
scription of Diodorus, which he professes to have de- 
rived from Hecataeus of Abdera, or other greek writ- 
ers on Egypt of the days of the Ptolemies ; yet, im- 
mediately afterwards, he informs us that this sphere 
was carried off by Cambyses, two hundred years be- 
fore their time. Admitting, however, the tradition to 
be correct, there would be much reason to believe that 
the sphere was constructed at the time the new calen- 
dar was established, as a monument of the institution ;i» 
certainly, it may be presumed, if Diodorus* account be 
correct, not after they had observed the real discre- 
pancy between the civil and the sidereal year, other- 
wise it would have been quite vain to have fixed the 
risings and settiijgs of the stars, and their prognosti- 
cations, to particular days of the months, as they must 
have known that in a few years the use of their sphere 

» Lib. L J 49. 

** " From this monument I collect," says Sir Isaac Newton, (Chron. p. 
30,) '^ that it was Amenophis" (that is the person by whom he supposed 
it to have been erected) ** who established this year, fixing the beginning 
thereof to one of the four cardinal points of the heavens. For had not the 
beginning thereof been now fixed, the heliacal risings and settings of the 
stars could not have been noted on the days thereof*'* 

C 



18 ON THE CALENDAR AMD 20DIAC 

would have been at an end. The building in which 
DiodoruB states this golden calendar to have been 
placed, seems to have been a monument of the reign 
of Sesostris, (first king of the nineteenth dynasty,) 
which the historian or his authorities mistook for the 
sepulchre of a more ancient king, Osymandyas,^ of 
Whom there may have been some memorial in the 
neighbourhood. The reign of Sesostris, according to 
the most moderate estimate of his native historians, 
cannot be brought down lower than about the middle 
of the fourteenth century b. c. ; but as the egyptian 
emperors w^re much in the habit of adding to, and 
embellishing the edifices of their predecessors, and as 
this sphere was a mere piece of ornamental furniture, 
not necessarily connected with the structure itself, its 
existence there might be eridence of its having been 
framed at a period posterior to the accession of tlii3 
nineteenth dynasty, though it would be none of its 
being of equal antiquity with the reign of the sove- 
reign abovementioned. It might naturally suggest 
itself, that a satisfactory mode of deciding the contro- 
versy respecting the institution of the epagomense, or 
five additional day^, would be to ascertain whether, 
among the dates which recent discoveries in egyptian 
literature enable scholars to interpret from the ancient 
records, there be any marked in those days at remote 
periods of antiquity. But it is singular enough, that 
although a great number of historical dates, both of 
the ancient dynasty of the Pharaohs, and of the greek 
and roman sovereigns have been brought to light,** 

^ Upon this curious point of antiquity, vid. Champol. 11. Lettro-siur lo 
Mns. de Turin, p. 1 1. Conf. Let 14^ from Egypt, Lit Guz. Nov. 2), 1S99. 
f. 762. Heeren Ideen iL die Potitik, &c. ii. Th. ii. Abth. s. 233. ff. 

d Vid. ap. Young, -aooount of recent diseov. in hierogl. Lond. 182S. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT* SECT, I. 19 

in the egyptian langvLBge and characters as well as in 
greek, yet all, I helieve without exception^ refer to 
days of the months, and not one to the embolic days. 
This may be the result of accident, or possibly these 
days may have been in a certain degree nefdstiy and 
hence less likely to occur connected with dates of 
civil or religious solemnities ; though I am not aware 
that there is any authority to justify such Ck belief ; 
indeed the very constitution of the calendar, which 
caused the greater number of feasts to take the days 
of the year in succession, seems to render it inadmis- 
sible ; besides which, royal deaths, births, accessions, 
and other public events of an unexpected, nature, 
irhether joyful or calamitous, might require to be re- 
corded on the epagomenae, as. well as the days of the 
months. 

But at whatever epoch the egyptian calendar was 
finally established, it is clear that the first notioti of 
the canicular cycle must date from the subsequent 
period, when they had not only experienced how in- 
correct it still was, but had fixed their error at a 
quarter of a day ; and connected the deficiency with 
the corresponding excess of the interval betweien the 
heliacal risings of their favorite star, over their civil 
year. Having calculated, therefore, that they lost a 
day every four revolutions, it was .a very simple mat- 

KoMgarton de prise 2B^[j^t, litteratura. Vimar. 1828. ChampoL IR 
Lett snr le Mus. de Turin. The representative marks of the \*mycft.%vat 
baye, it appears, not hitherto been discovered in the hieroglyphic, or any 
other native egyptian character ; which is surprising, considering that 
most of the other signs for the reckoning of tinie, such as year, day, the 
twelvemonths, and the numerals from one to a thousand, have. been 
identified, as might be expected from their nature, with greater £Eu;ility, 
and more mathematical certainty, than almost any other hieroglyphic 
cyphers. 



20 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

ter to regulate a cycle of 1461 of their own years 
upon this prindiple ; for as there are just so many 
quarters of a day in the Julian year, at the end of that 
period, their Thot, that is the first day of their first 
month, must have retrograded through it to the point 
from whence it set out. 

It is equally clear, that this anticipation of the 
seasons having been once so fixed, a cycle of this na- 
ture could be dated from any given day of any given 
year, to a. corresponding day after 1 46 1 revolutions ; 
from the year, for instance, on which Sirius rose 
heliacally on the 'first of the month Phamenoth, as 
well as from that on which it rose heliacally on the 
first of Thot. Thus the Phoenix, according to some,* 
was fabled to appear in Egypt at intervals of 1461 
years, which might be called the cycle of the Phoenix; 
and in the same way national revolutions, the acces- 
sion of favorite sovereigns, or other remarkable events, 
might in partial chronological systems become the 
4)asis of sothiac cycles. Of this we shall have occa- 
sion priesently to notice an example of considerable 
importance to the elucidation of our subject. 

With regard to the period, when the discrepancy 
between the civil and the tropical year was first ob- 
served and defined ; it naturally suggests itself, that 
the discovery would take place, in consequence of 
their having remarked, that the interval between the 
heliacal risings of Sirius, which they had assumed as 
equal to the solar year, exceeded their own by about 
six hours. . This, accordingly, has been the opinion 
of those who suppose that the new calemlar was esta- 
blished in 1322 B. c, its first day being fixed to that 

e Tacit Ann. vi. c. 28. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I. 21 

whereon Sirius rose heliacally ; among others of 
Professor Ideler ;^ who adds, that on account of the 
great difficulty of observing with any degree of nicety 
in the climate of Egypt the exact days on which the 
stars were disengaged from the rays of the sun,*^ a very 
considerable time might have elapsed, before they could 
have ascertained that Sirius appeared precisely a day 
later in their calendar every four years. This same 
difficulty has led other experimental astronomers^ to 
doubt or to deny, that the true length of the Julian 
year could have been originally regulated by any re- 
ference to the phases of the Dogstar at all ; and 
rather to suppose that having been calculated by some 
other itieans, such as the observation of the shadow, 
or of the points of sunrise, it may afterwards have 
been identified with the heliacal year of Sirius. These 
are matters which fall within the province of practical 
astronomers, and where they differ, the historical 
critic cannot pretend to decide. Some authors of 
eminence* have indeed, in the heat of controversy, or 
under the influence of system, even gone the length 
^f doubting whether the rsragrov ^iJuigug of excess 
had been thus ultimately defined, at the period of 
the first familiar acquaintance of the Greeks with 
Egypt ; an opinion of which I conceive no person 
who takes an impartial view of egyptian antiquity, 
will be inclined to approve. Its supporters appeal to 

^ Unters. U. die astr. Beob. &c* p> S5. 

i For this see Nouet ap. Volney recherches nouvelles sur Thist. anc. 
torn. iii. append' p. 332. 

^ Delambre ap. Cuvier on the revoi. of the surf, of the globe, p. 140, 
EngL trans. Lond. 1S29. Conf. Biot Recherches sur TAstroo. ^ypt p. 
224v 

^ Goguet Origiue des loix, torn. v. p. 171. Dupuis, Hist, de I'Acad. 
des Insc. t. xxix. p. 1 13. Dehimbre, Hist, de Tastr. anc. t> i. p. xlriii. 
additions, &c* Cuvier op* sup. cit. p. 142. 



22 ON THE CALENDAJEl AND ZODIAC 

Herodotus, who, it is asserted, is so far from betrajr^- 
ing any suspicion of the additional quarter of a day- 
having been known to the Egyptians in his time, that 
he commends that people,^ because ^^ they first of all 
men had discovered the true year, distributing it into 
twelve portions according to the seasons ; and in this 
respect show themselves so much the wiser than the 
Greeks in his opinion, as the Greeks intercalate every 
second year, to keep pace with the seasons ; but the 
Egyptians, counting twelve months of thirty days 
each, Add to each year five days extraordinary, and 
thus the seasons are kept to their proper places.** 
Here, as elsewhere, the father of Grecian history does 
indeed show how unwise he himself was in these mat- 
ters, and utters at the same time an unintentional sa> 
tire upon that wisdom which was the object of his 
admiration ; the system he eulogizes being founded 
on the very defect which his countrymen took pains 
to rectify by their cycles of lunar years. But what 
conclusion are we entitled to draw from this respect- 
ing the astronomical i^ience of the Egyptians ? ' This, 
it is evident, is merely the opinion of Herodotus him-, 
self, who, finding a year of only three hundred and 
sixty-five days in civil use among them, which his 
profound admiration for their wisdom led him igno- 
rantly to fancy must be the true length of the solar 
revolution, makes his observations accordingly ; af- 
fording one, among other strong proofs, of his super- 
ficial acquaintance with several important points of 
egyptian custom, on which his authority is so often 
and confidently appealed to by modern critics. The 
priests rtay surely have admitted the extra six hours 

^ II. § 4. 

^ See Append. No. IV. 



OF ANCIJJNT Eay?T. SECT. U ^ 

into their aatronomical qoBip\itfktion in the day^ of 
HeJfodotusa although they werQ uot at paiii@ to com- 
muiucate their knowledge to that curious though sim- 
ple inquirer, of whose honest credulity they seem not 
unfrequently to have made a jesf It is however 
added> that Thalea, who visited Egypt i^everal gene- 
rations prior to Herodotus, and was admitted to a 
participation of the mysteries of the learned men of 
that country, obtained from them no nearer approxi- 
mation to the true time than his countryman. Our 
acquaintance with the philosophy of Thalea is by for 
too vague and imperfect, to justify any positive infer- 
ence respecting his doctrines, either moral or physi- 
cal, much lesa with regard to those borrowed by him 
from Egypt. But under any circumstances, if we ad- 
mit that ^e ymr of 365 days was established in that 
country, a» there can be no reasonable doubt it was, 
many centuries before the days of either of the Greek 
sages above mentioned, it were hardly credible that a 
people in the habit of observing the heavens, as the 
Egyptians unquestionably did with some attention, if 
not with very excellent instruments, and among 
whom, from the very nature of their climate, the cal- 
culation of the returns of the seasons was a matter of 
considerable importance, and at the same time of 



^ 8ee, among other examples that might be adduced^ the accooDt 
given him by the hiero^rammatist of Sais, who may be presomied to 
have been among the dignitaries of the sacerdotal order most distin- 
guished for learning and gravity, concerning the rise of the Nile in a 
pool between two lofty peaks at Syene ; whence issuing, its waters were 
divided, part flowing to the north, part to ^e south, (L, ii. § 28.) ; also 
concerning the signification of the word Piromi, attached to the images 
of departed priests, as of other mortals, to distinguish them from those of 
the gods ; and conf. Young art. Egypt, Supp. Encyc* Brit. p« 46. Cham- 
poL Pi'ecis du syst. hi6r. tab. gen. No. 153, sqq. 



24 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

greater facility than in most other countries, — ^it is 
hardly credible that such a people should have been 
-so stupid as not to have perceived, that in a hundred 
and twenty years the periodical returns of seed-time 
and harvest, of the rise and fall of their river, of the 
risings and settings of their favourite stars, had al- 
tered their positions in the calendar by about a month ; 
and if so, it required no very profound astronomical 
science to fix the excess of the tropical year in round 
numbers at a quarter of a day. If their astronomers 
had not made this discovery before the days of Hero- 
dotus, we must altogether deny them the merit of 
ever having made it at all ; for it is not to be sup- 
posed, that amid the anarchy, oppression, and national 
distress, which followed the Persian conquest, the de- 
graded priesthood should in a few years have advanced 
more rapidly in astronomical discovery, than during* 
ten centuries of the more brilliant ages of national 
prosperity and independence. We should therefore 
be reduced to the necessity of supposing, that they 
acquired their knowledge of the Julian year from the 
Greeks ; which is as inconsistent with probability, as 
with the unanimous testimony of the Greeks them- 
selves." 

The silence however of the travellers of this last- 
mentioned nation on these ppints, though not suffi- 
cient to justify so low an estimate of egyptian learn- 
ing, is certainly somewhat surprising. Plato and 
Eudoxus are indeed stated by Strabo,° to have been 

^ Larcher, in as far as I know, is the only critic who has gone the 
length of advancing even this paradox. Memoire sur le Phoenix, &c. 
Hist, et Mem. de I'lnst. royal, vol. i. p. 220. Classe d'hist. et de litt 
anc. Apud Idel. Techn. chron. Bd. i. s. 137, note. 

o P. 1 143, ed. Falcon. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. T. 25 

made acquainted by the theban priests with the addi* 
tional quarter of a day ; but amid the multitude of 
learned and inquisitive men who are said to have de- 
voted so much attention and so many years* study to 
egyptian history, it is remarkable that no notice should 
be taken of its application to the cycle prior to the 
days of Manetho j'^ and this, added to the meagerness 
of the allusions to the cycle itself, contained in his 
works, as well as in those of other native annalists, 
must be considered as strong proof how recent and 
imperfect its use really was in their chronology. 

It would be quite superfluous, after what has beea 
already observed, to enter upon any lengthened ar- 
gument to show, that this celebrated sothiac period,, 
at whatever epoch the first notion of it may have oc- 
curred, need be considered, in its application to remote 
ages, as nothing more than a matter of calculation, 
resembling the Julian period of Scaliger, or other si- 
milar chronological fictions. This is indeed self- 
evident, and has been so fully explained and illustrated 
by various authors, more especially by M. Biot in his 
valuable Researches on several points, of Egyptian 
astronomy, that it will be sufficient to refer the reader 
who may be curious to inquire farther to his work, 
where the subject has been exhausted in a section ex- 
pressly devoted to its investigation.** It may therefore 
safely be asserted, that it were as unreasonable to as- 
sume, that because in a system of chronology the date 
of some event of remote antiquity is assigned to such 
or such a year of this cycle, the knowledge of the cy- 
cle itself must necessarily have existed in Egypt at 



P See Append. No. V. 

<i P. 148, sqq. conf. Idel. Unters. ub. di astr. Beob, &c. s. 83. 



S6 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

the same period, as it would be to awort, tbat the 
Julian year was used hj the Gre^ on the first esta^ 
blishment of the olympiads^ because that event, in our 
chronology, is assigned to a certain year of the Julian 
period. It is surprising, however, to what an extent 
this error has prevailed among autiiors who ought to 
have known better : thus Freret,' and altter him 
Bailly,' have assumed the knowledge of this mode of 
reckonii^ among the Egyptians, in the year 278^ 
B. c, merely on account of an apparent allusion by 
Manetho to a vague date of his native history, given 
as they supposed in years of the cycle terminating in 
1322, and which ought therefore to have commenced 
in 2782. And Baiily has gone the still greater 
length of inferring, that the year of S65i days waa 
known to the Egyptians at that remote period^ Had 
Manetho, as he might accidentally have done, ascribed 
to some still more ancient event of his fiibuloua hisr 
tory its date in years of a former cycle, it would, upon 
this principle, be equally incumbent on us to admit 
the knowledge of the solar year in 4242 b. c*, and so 
on ad infinitum, or at least up to a period of near 
37000 years before our Saviour ; for it will be seen 
presently, that the native historians claimed twenty** 
five such cycles for the fabulous duration of their em** 
pire, counted back from the year 350 b. c, the actual 
existence and use of which among the antediluvian, 
or rather antemundane Egyptians, must also be ad- 
mitted upon the premises of the above mentioned 
authors. Sir Isaac Newton* having, in his Chrono* 
logy, placed the period of the reform of the calendar 

r Defense de la Chronologie, pp. 25. 246. 414. 
« Hist de Tastr. anc L. y. $ 10. p. 402. 
t Pp. 30. 79. sqq. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT* SECT. I. 9!^ 

about the 900 b. c, Freret,"" in his confutation of that 
system, adyanced as proof of the prior existence of the 
egyptian year certain passa^s of Manetho, and other 
historians of the age of the Ptolemies, where dates of 
remote events are assigned in years of the cycle ; in- 
ferring, as a necestory consequence, the existence in 
those days of the form of year of which the cycle was 
composed.. Newton did not condescend to enter 
upon a serious exposure of this sophistry, but merely 
observed, that his critic had misunderstood him, as 
his argument referred merely to the ^^yptian year, 
and had nothing to do with the cycle/ This answer 
hi» antagonist himself quotes, somewhat piqued," and 
in his reply formally states, that he is unable to com-* 
prehend how Newton distinguished between the egyp* 
tian year and the cycle composed of that year, or 
how the one could exist without the other. The 

4 

learned academician might as well have said, that he 
was unable to comprehend hpw .barbarians could rec« 
kon time by days and nights without the knowledge 
of the Julian yeat ; or how Julius Ciaesar could have 
established his calendar, without being acquainted 
with the Julian period. It is surprising that so acute 
a genius as fr^ret unquestionably was, should have 
been so blinded by the effect of prejudice or system, 
as. thus to have persisted in that very sophistry him- 
self which be saw and pointed out so acutely and 
convincingly in others. 

u Defense de la Chron. p. 4l4. 

▼ PhiL Trans, vol* xxxiii. p. 320* '' I meddle not with that cycle, hut 
speak of the egyptian year of 365 days.*' 

^ Defense de la ChronoL p« 414. Je ne puis comprendre comment 
M. Newton distingue entre Fannie ^yptienne et le cycle compose de ces 
anuees. Ces deux choses me semhlent tellement liees qui Tune ne peat 
aller sans Tautre. 



28 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

A still farther illustration we have of the influence 
on historical criticism, of this error of assuming date» 
of calculation for epochs of contemporary observation 
or record, in its application to the celebrated aera of 
Nabonassar, which falls to be noticed here, as having 
been, from certain circumstances, closely connected 
and mixed up with the chronology of Egypt. This 
was a chaldee period, commencing in 74? b. c, dated, 
^s is usually supposed, from the accession of a Meso- 
potamiam prince of the name of Nabonassar ; and the 
greek astronomers, Hipparchus, and after him Pto- 
lemy, having adopted the celestial observations of the^ 
Chaldees by preference, as the basis of their own as- 
tronomical systems, assumed this aera as the limit,, 
within which such of those observations as they con- 
sidered worthy of their attention were comprised. 
But finding it convenient, according to their own 
principle of computation, to reduce the babylonian 
reckoning of time, in. common with that of all other 
states to whose scientific records they had occasion to 
appeal, into the year in civil use in Alexandria, (at 
that time the chief seat of learning,) which, from its 
familiarity and great convenience, they had adopted 
as a standard — we have thus in their works a series of 
egyptian years, dating from the twenty-sixth of Feb- 
ruary 747 »• c., (on which day the moveable Thot 
fell at that epoch), called the aera of Nabonassar ; and 
hence modern chronologers have been misled, as 
above stated, to assume, some"" that the Chaldees had 
adopted the use of the solar years of 365 days from 
the Egyptians at that period ; others^ that this is 

• 

^ Newton, Chronol. pp. 80. 252. De la Nauze, Mem. de TAcad. des 
Inscr. t. xiv. p. 338. 
y Scalig. de Emend, temp. p. 189* 



/. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I, 29 

merely an egyptian sera, but dated from a conquest of 
the country by Nabonassar the Assyrian ; and Dod- 
well* and others, as already observed, have even gone 
the length of supposing that the year of 365 days was 
originally an invention of the Chaldeeis, first intro- 
duced into Egypt by the Persian conquerors. All 
which opinions are equally un^pported by any au- 
thority but the conjecture of their supporters, as has 
been pointed out by Petavius,* and still more fully 
and satisfectorily by Freref andJackson/ 

The sothiac cycle being therefore, like the Julian 
period, or the egyptian year of Nabonassar, merely 
proleptic, the dates of remote events of egyptian his- 
tory recorded in years of that cycle, putting the gene- 
ral fabulousness of the early annals of the nation out 
of the question, can be in themselves no better than 
any others ; as not being necessarily, nor probably, 
connected with any observation made at the time it- 
.self. Had the cycle been known at the period of the 
expulsion of the Shepherds, and the accession of 
Amosis ; and this important epoch of the national 
history been so noted at the time in the sacerdotal 
records ; and established as it were on an astronomi- 
cal basis, according to actual observation of Sirius ; 
there could hardly have been any dispute among those 
who afterwards compiled the same records, with re- 
gard to so positive and standard a point of chronology ; 
and consequently the wide discrepancy which we find 
between the statements of Ptolemy the Mendesian — 

> De yet cycL Diss. ii. § 6. conf. Zoiig. Num. Egfypt. Mas. Bor^. p. 
395. 

a De doct. temp. L. iii. c. 6. 

^ Mem. de TAcad. des Inscr. t. xvi. p* 205, sqq. 

^ Chronol. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 80. conf. infr. Append. No. VI. 



30 ON THE CALENDAR AND 20DIAC 

of the Old Chronicle-^nd those of Josephus, Afri- 
canus, and Eusebius, each professing to be derived 
from Manetho — could never have existed. This date 
therefore, of three hundred and forty-five years before 
the lapse of the cycle, can merely give us to under*- 
stand, that according to Ptoiemy'«e view of the egyptian 
annals, the expulsion of the Shepherds took place as 
many years before his own time, as were contained 
in the intervening period ; or about the 1668 b. c. 
according to our reckoning j and may have been a 
computation"^ made by himself, from observation of 
the place in the tropical year which the Thot occu« 
pied, as cotnpared with the day of the egyptian year 
on which Sirius rose heliacally, at the epoch when he 
himself wrote. Had the Old Chronicle fixed the 
date of this event in years of the cycle, it would have 
placed it in the four hundred and twenty-sixth year 
before its lapse ; Manetho, taking his numbers accord- 
ing to Africanus, woiild nearly have coincided witik 
Ptolemy ; according to Eusebius he would have fixed 
it four hundred and three years before its lapse ; and 
according to Josephus would probably have differed 
from all the others. 

There can* be no doubt but that chronological 
tables, formed upon this cycle on the principle^ of 
calculation above alluded to, would have been found 
by the egyptian annalists a very convenient and use- 
fill method of establishing the relative dates of re- 
markable events ; some sort of standard aera or period 
of this kind being a desideratum in the annals of every 
nation, more especially when of so great extent and 
antiquity as those of Egypt. But there are various 

^ See Append. No. VI !• 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. !• 31 

circumstances which tend to show that this mode of 
calculation, as here described, never was in familiar 
use among the chronologers of that country. First, 
the extreme paucity, or rather total want of dates so 
recorded ; that of Ptolemy or Clemens above quoted^ 
being, as we shall ^ee, the only palpable one upon 
record, as far at least as my researches go. Secondly, 
that although among the native historians of the age 
of the Ptolemies, mention occurs of a period of 1461 
years as a measure of their annals, real or fabulous, the 
cycle which they used seems to have been very differ- 
ently regulated from that concerning which we have 
hitherto been inquiring ; for the Old Chronicle already 
quoted^ makes the egyptian empire last twenty-five 
cycles, containing 365^ years, and terminating with 
Nectanebo their last native monarch ; whose attempt 
to re-establish the independence of his country was 
crushed by Darius Ochus in the year 350 b. c. These 
cycles therefore differed in their periods by upwards 
of four hundred and eighty years, from those which 
terminated in 132S B. c. and a. d. 139* I have 
formerly had occasion to obse^ve,^ on the authority 
of Africanus and Syncellus, that there is much reason 
to believe, that, orf^ihis point, Manetho tind the na- 
tive annalists in general, followed the same method 
of computation as the Old Chronicle ; and that opin^ 
ion has been since confirmed by a passage of Jam- 
blichiis,' who expressly states, that according to Ma- 
netho, Mercury (or Thot) had illustrated the sacred 
history of Egypt in 30595 volumes ; which, as Gale 
justly observes in his note to the passage,' can refer 

* Brief remarks on the Chrotiol. of the Egypt. Dynasties, p. 22. 

f De in3r8t segyptiac. sect. viii. c. 1, edit. Gale. 1678. p. 157« 

e Conf. Marsh. Chron. Can* p. 10. 

3 



32 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

to nothing else than the fsLbulous 36525 years, or 
twenty.five cycles of duration, assigned to this empire. 
All this is sufficient proof thiat the historical cycle 
commonly used by the egyptian annalists differed from 
the astronomical cycle, regulated by the coincidence 
of the Thot with the heliacal rising of Sirius. It is 
however evident, as has been shown by Bainbridge,^ 
Ideler,* and by myself elsewhere,'' from the general 
tenor of their records, and the comparative chrono- 
logy of other nations, that the date preserved by 
Clemens Alexandrinus is given in years of the cycle 
terminating in 1 322 b, c. That this date is borrowed 
by him from the pagan historian Ptolemy, to whom 
he appeals as to the best authority, there can be little 
doubt ; as the method of computation it^lf, limited as 
it is among the egyptian annalists, was yet peculiar to 
them* The only occasion where the name of Manetho 
occurs connected with a date of this nature, is a pas- 
sage of Syncellus ;' which some have interpreted as 
stating, that Manetho had placed the occupation of 
Egypt by the Shepherds in the seven hundredth year 
of a canicular cycle. Of this, however, as the text of 
Syncellus is now read, no sense whatever can be 
made ; and unless we suppose dither that the passage 
is corrupt, or that Syncellus himself has misquoted or 
misunderstood Manetho, we must admit that Manetho 
.computed his cycles in a manner different from any 
hitherto mentioned.™ For as the seven hundredth 



h Canic. p. 35. i Techn. Chronol. Bd. i. s. 134. 

^ Brief remarks on the chronoL &c. p. 32. note. 

1 Chrongr. p. 103. 

™ This confused passage of Syncellus, which has been the basis of so 
many erroneous and discordant systeins relative to egyptian history, has 
been analyzed in my Brief remarks on the chronology of the egyptian 



OP ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. I. 33 

year spokenof by Syncellus in connexion with the cycle 
of Manetho, is also, according to the same christian 
chronologer, the seven hundredth year after the disper- 
sion of Babel, and as the dispersion of Babel is placed 
by him in the year 2724 b. c*, the cycle itself would 
have terminated in 1264 b. ۥ ; which would harmo- 
-nijze with no method of computation hitherto deve- 
loped. Although Marsham*" has clearly pointed out 
this discrepancy, yet Freret,° and after him ChapapoU 
lion Figeac,^ have founded their respective systems 
of egyptian chronology upon the basis of the date of 
Syncellus, as, alluding to seven hundred years of a 
cycle terminating in 1322 ; and Pezron** has also ad- 
mitted it into his calculations, but on the. supposition 
that it referred, in a confused sort of way, to the cycle 
of the Old Chronicle ; which suited his views better. 
The results of their, respective theories are as incon^ 
gruous and unsatisfikctory, as. might .ihe expected from 
the common error on which. they are founded. What 
is perhaps still less excusable, Bailly.has, with oth^r 
critical fallacies of Freret, adopted also. this, imaginary 
date, and assigned it considerable importaiice. in, his 
history of ancient astronomy.' 

dynasties ; where the principal misinterpretations to which it has. been 
subjected have been pointed out. 
Chr6n. Can. p. 296i 

o M^m. de F Acad, des Insc. t xlvii., p. ao. sgq.^and JM. de la ChconpL 
pp. 25, 407. 

P Prem. Lett, sur le mus^e de Turin, notice chronoL p. 99. 

4 L'antiquit^ des terns defend. &c. 4to. p.^ 16S* 

' Hist deJ'astron. aac. pp.. 173. 402. 



(M on TH£ CALENDAK AND ZODIAC 



• / 



SECTION II. 



CONCERNING THE TWELVE EGYPTIAN CALENDAB: 
MONTHS, AND THE TWELVE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC^ 
ANALYSIS OF THEIR ORIGINAL POSITIONS WITH R& 
SFBCT TO THE SEASOKSb AND TO EACH OTHER. 



-SB 



Having thus examinedy in as &r as our soaaty mute- 
liab will permit, the true nature aaod historf of the 
canicular crcle, and of Uie form of year on which it 
was grouniad, we shaU now proceed to inquire more 
minutelf into the origiii, and primitire arrangement 
with respect to the seasons, of the egyptiaa calendar 
Iteelf ; <L is to say. of the twelve ^nths which eon* 
Uitated the elements of diat year and cycle. The in* 
i,<«B%a«ion of these matters will, beddaB its o^ im. 
mediate results, also tend naturally to throw addi*^ 
tional light on others previously treated of. And on 
entering upon this obscure and difficult portion of our 
subject, I shall at once lay distinctly and concisely be- 
fore the reader the basis, and at the siune time the 
summary, of those researches to which the remainder 
of this essay will be deroted, by observing : that a 
careful examination of the namea and hieroglypfaieal 
emblems of the twelve egyptian months, as referred 
to the twelve corresponding seasons of the climate of 
the banks of the Nile, and illustrated by the general 
details of egyptian tradition and mythology, have led 



Of ANCIENT K6YPT. SECT* lU 35 

me to infer: First, that these emblems were originaUjr 
. adapted to a year, whose Thot, or first day, was fixed 
about the autumnal equinox ; Secondly, tiuit on the 
basis of feueh a year, there etxirts between the namieB' 
and characters of the months, and the signs of th« 
zodiac considered as mythological symbols or faiet q» 
glypliies^ so dose a correspondence and analogy, ac 
not only afforda additional proof of die correctness of 
this basis, but tends to explain and elucidate, in a new 
and unexpected manner, that great mystery, the ori« 
gin and primitire use of the zodiac itself* 

I am well aware how very strongs and indeed rea* 
sonable^ an inclination there may be, to consider dia* 
cuasiona of thia hind as useless or Tisionary, and nMnra 
especially all speculations connected with the history 
of the zodiac, — a nam^ which, donsidering the extras 
yagancaes into which this subject has led many learned 
and ingenious persons during the last thirty years^ 
m^ht be supposed sujBBoient in itself to call forth a- 
blush on the dieek of ey&ty egyplian antiquary, for 
1^ errors of his brethren, if not for hia own* Con- 
vinced^ however, of the reasonableness^ I will not say 
the conclusiveness,, of the system which I am about to 
propose, I shall not be deterred by any such consider^ 
ations from offering those remarks which may, I con- 
ceive^ whether correct or erroneous, he calculated ei^* 
ther in themselves to throw light on an obscure point 
of antiquity, or lead to farther inquiries illustrative 
thereof. 

It will readily be admitted, that any people, in 
whatever s^kte of barbarism or civilization they may, 
be supposed, who established a form of year, divided* 
into twelve months, according to the seasons^ must 
have intended that its revolution should bring about,, 



36 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

more or less accurately, the returns of those seasonis 
to the corresponding months. Some, when they dig. 
covered that their computation was defective, may 
have been willing, from indifference, superstition^ or 
other causes,' to submit to the inconvenience of. a mut- 
able year, while others were careful, by occasional 
correction or intercalation, to keep its commenc^ent 
more or less steady to its original point ; but none 
could ^have meant to establish, in the first instance, as 
a positive institution, so very useless or even perni- 
cious an irregularity. ThaA the Egyptians, at least, 
had no such intention, we appear .to have convincing 
proofs in the hieroglyphic signs of their months, em- 
blems handed down from very remote aiitiquity, hav- 
isig been observed in dates of records, which may rea- 
sonably be assigned to a period not less than fifteen 
hundred years prior to the christian era, as has been 
shown in a satisfactory manner by M. ChampoUion 
the younger, in his letters on the museum of Turin.* 
These emblems I have caused td be engraved, for the 
convenience of reference,^ and in order that the reader 
may judge for himself, how far I am justified in sup- 
posing that they represent the portion of the year to 
which I am about to assign them. 

The characters . here given are borrowed from the 
work of Professor Kosegarten"" on the ancient language 



» Lettres I. II. ^ M. le due de Blacas d Aulps, relatives au Masi^ ^gyp*^* 
de Turin, Par. 1824, 1^26. 

^ Vid. Plate No. 1. In the names of the months I \uLre there 
adhered to the vulgar greek orthography, as adopted hy Professor Kose- 
garteri, which differs in some instances from what I have in the sequel 
))een induced to prefes, as the more genuine Coptic or eg^tian forms. 

^ De prise, egj-pt li^terat. Comment. I. p. 50, tah. D. , Also-apl Young, 
Kudimeiits of aa eg3rpt dictionary, p. 5, append, to Tatham*s Egyptian 
grammar, Lond. 1830. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. II. 37 

and literature of Egypt, being derived originally from 
lahe papyri of the museum of Turin ; and many .oif 
them may> be seen iii the plates to^ the Jotters, on. that 
museum/ above mentioned, occupying their places in 
the dates of the* hieroglyphic inscriptions, which form 
the material of those learned, and ingenious. illustra- 
tions. I have seen another set of similar . characters 
compiled by some of our '. own countrymen, in the 
course of their researches in Egypt, and forming part 
of a valuable collection of hieroglyphic and other re- 
mains, engraved in lithography at Cairo.* The sym- 
hoh of the months are, with little variety, the same, 
to all essential purposes, as far as our present jnquiry 
is concerned, in both collections ;. but I have pre- 
ferred those. of Professor Kosegarten, as well from 
thcdr indisputable antiquitv as from their greater sim^- 
pKcity. The principal variations in the other set are, 
first, a sign of water or moisture under the numeral 
of each month, possibly an emblem of the general in- 
flifence which the phenomena of the Nik exercised on 
the regulationof the calendar, as on most other na- 
tional institutions of the Egyptians; and, . secondly, 
that the idea month is designated by a star, in addi- 
tion to the more familiar and ancient emblem, the in- 
verted half-moon. We shall have occasion farther to 
notice this last peculiarity in a subsequent page. 

The year, it will be observed by a reference to the 
plate, is divided into three portions, each containing 
four months ; which arrangement corresponds to the 
statement of Diodorus,^ that the Egyptians . acknow- 
ledged but three seasons, spring, summer, and autumn, 

<* Vid. Atlas k la 2^^ lett. 

• e Materia hieroglyph: pi. vi. conf. Young, Snppl. Enc. Brit art- Egypt, 
pL Ixxvii. No. 179. ^ / Diod. i. c. 11, 16. 



3S ON THE CAUSNDAR AND ZODIAC 

and may be the foundation of the tradkioa ineoittoiittd 
by that author, and fiimiliar among the aacients^' tiiat 
thrir year itself formeiiy consisted of only four months. 
The notion, however, that such a computatioii erer 
was in actual use, thou^ admitted by many chroiic^ 
Rogers, in common with years of one, two» and three 
months, for the accommodation of fimcifill systems^ 
appears destitute of historical proof, as wdl as of i«e»- 
ismiable probability. 

The first four months, or tiie first season, Th4t» 
Paophi, Athyr, ChotdL, are r^reaehted, firsts by the 
ooeimon sign of month, an inrerted half moon ; se- 
condly, by the peculiarly characterislie sign of the 
season, a group of lotus flowers and buds, symbols of 
vegetation &miliar to those conrersairt in hieroglyw 
phic lore,'^ but more especially of the fteA and vigoiv 
ous VT^B^etation caused by the fertilizing influence of 
the waters of the Nile ; thirdly, by their respective 
numbers, I, II, III, IV. The emblems^ of these £t>ur 
^monllis denote therefore the season commencing wilh 
the firat subsiding of the inundation, when the egyp- 
tian ,rfain buret forth, as it waa gradtudly ymcovered 
by the waters, into the most brilliant verdure ; partly 

8 Biod. i. c. 26. Plttt in Nute. a, IB. CeDaoriii. de die nat o. 19. 
August, de civit Dei. xii. 10, xv. 12. Plin. H. N. yii. 49. Solin. Polyh. 
c. 1, p. 3, ۥ edit. Salin. ProcL in Tim. Plat p. 31. 

^ This sign is idso the phonetic letter VJ, (SH) <^ the egyptina hiero- 
glyphic alphabet M. ChampoUion (precb da Syst lii^rogL 2de ^dit p. 
1 16.) calls it an espdce dejardin, because it is the first letter of the word 
P^NH, which bears that sense in Coptic, (ibid. p. 361. It is however 
eridenliy but an abbreviated variety o£ lihe group of wateivplants, liiid 
syndiol of the iower region, that is, of lower Egypt, so remarkaUe tar 
that species of vegetation, (vid. ChampoL Pantheon, pi. 7. A. 7. B.) So 
that the word ly API, the egyptian generic name for water-plants, would 
perhi^s furnish a more appropriate derivation, (vid. Hossi. Etym. Copt. 
and Croze. Lexic. ffigypt. in voce). 



OF ANCIfNT ilOYPT* aECX. II. 39 

nalural, ansin^ from the spring of the lotu9t ttnd the 
midtitude of other plants, as well aquatic aa of apon-. 
taneous growth, for which Egypt was so celebrated 
that Plinyt supported by Herodotus*' asserts they 
would ahnost sii^ce for the sub^stence of the mha* 
bitantSy without toil or tillage of any kind ; partly^^— 
i£ one may be allowed to use such a term — artificial ; 
for the sowing conunenced as the flood subsided, and 
the youi^ blade, during this season, rapidly springing 
up^ contributed still more to deck the fertile plain 
with luxuriant green. These four months, therefore, 
have been not inappropriately named in the Cairo 
collection, the season of water plants. 

Of the next four, Tobi, Mediir, Phamenodi, Phar- 
mouthi, the precise sense of the symbol is not so ob- 
vious. The hieroglyphic legend, read phonetiaiUy, 
gives us £r- or Hir, or H-r-t ; which syllables, Cham- 
polHon, from the analogy of the Rosetta inscription, 
interprets, though on somewhat questionable grounds,*^ 
** brilliant or resplendent.'' Admitting, however, 
the correctness of the rendering, it would be dijBScult 
to see the propriety of the application of this epithet 
to the four months in question, which from their po- 
sition must have been the season of drought and ari« 
dity, without being that in which the sun was at his. 
greatest height and brilliancy. In the Cairo collec- 
tion they are called the season of ploughing ; but I 
question whether there be sufficient authority, from 
the history of ancient egyptian husbandry, to justify 
such a description. The season of harvest would, I 
conceive, be a more appropriate appellation, for rea- 

i Plin. H. N. L. xxL c. 15. Herod, ii. 92. 

^ Precis, du Syst hi^rogl. 2d ed. p. 20S. Tab. gen. No. 395. oonf. 
Kkproth Ck»llect. d'antiqvit^ ^Syp^ ^^' ^^* ^^^' Observat. crit p. 7. 



40 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

sons whicfa shall be given when we come to examiner 
the months in detail. The position, however, which 
these four occupy, renders the sense of their hiero- 
glyphic name of less importance; since the characters 
of those which precede, and of those which follow 
them, iBuiBiciently vouch for their own. 

The four last, Pachon, Paoni, Epiphi, Mesori^ are 
rightly named in the work just quoted, the seasoh ,of 
waters; that is, of the increase or overflow of the 
Nile, dB expressed by the hieroglyphic of water, and 
more especially of the water of -the Nile, thrice .re?^ 
peated, and forming the most important feature of the 
group. This emblem is almost too well known, .and 
its sense too obvious, to require much comment ; 
being one of the most common and tamiliar, and oc- 
curring constantly, not only as the hieroglyphic. sign, 
but as the picture as it were of water. Thus, in bt 
scene given in the Cairo collection,^ where a body .of 
prisoners is led across a river, probably the Nile, or 
one of its branches, the water is represented by a 
number of these zigzags, among which are also drawn 
fish, and round their edges leaves, denoting the water 
plants on its banks. The boats in the river scene of 
the grotto of Elithya are also drawn ; on .a »milar 
ground. The same figure is applied to the pouring 
of water, the fluid being represented by a' zigzag line 
issuing from a vase ; and is also the sign Aquarius of 
the zodiak. 

Professor Ideler, in allusion to certain passages of 
the ancients above quoted, concerning the ancient 
subdivision of the egyptian year, while yet unac- 
quainted with the discoveries on which the present 

y Mater. hierogL pi. xxxyi. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. lU 41 

pbservations ar^ grounded, expresses himself as fol- 
lows:" ** It is very probable that the Egyptians, on 
the first establishment of theii^ solar year, subdivided 
it into periods of four months, as nature herself sub- 
divides the seasons in their climate in a similar man- 
ner ; namely, into the period of the inundation, that 
S>f the bursting vegetation, and that of dry and un- 
<wholesome heat/' This is so apt and true a descrip- 
ttion of what has since turned out to be the fact, that 
,one might almost have suppbsed, that instead of basing 
.merely *an ingenious conjecture, it hp^d been written 
as a commentary on the hieroglyphic calendar itself. 

<C)n the supposition, then, that these emblems de- 
note the peculiar character of the respective seasons 
or months, as^originally fixed in the primitive Egyp- 
tian calendar ; it remains, before .we c^n be led to any 
^further conclusions, to assign these months their pro- 
per position in the solar or tropical year, correspond- 
ing to thei^r characters. And here we can have little 
.hesitation in fixing the commencement of the first 
^ month to the autumnal equinox ; as well from the 
. probability that the Egyptians, in common with other 
• neighbouring nations, in the early ages of their his- 
-tory,, really did so reckon, as shall be seen,— as from 
the fact, that at this period precisely, with the subsid- 
ing of the inundation, commenced that luxuriant 
growth of water-plants, and that florid vegetation in- 
dicated by. the hieroglyphic of the season. " The 
, lotus,'* says Pliny," " springs up as the waters of the 
Nile begin to. subside ; its stalk and luxuriant leaves 
. not unlike those of a bean, but shorter and . more 

™ Techn. ChronoL Bd. L 8. 94. 
. ° Hist nat. L. xiii. c. 17. oonf. Herod<«t. ii. 92* Theophr. Hist plant. 
IV. c. 10. conf. Prosp. Alp. not. ad loc 



42 OK THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



slender^ crowned with a flower like a poppy .^ This 
last is a tolerably accurate description of tbe flower of 
the symbol, as represented in the more finished hier- 
oglyphic texts. To the above we may add the ele- 
gant description of the same phenomenon by our own 
geographer Pinkerton :^ *' Tlie lotus is a species of 
nymplttea or water lily^ which at the retreat of the 
inundation covers all the canals and shallow pools 
with its broad round leaves^ among which are its 
cup-shaped blossoms of pure white and cerulean blue» 
reposing with inimitable grace on the surfisice of the 
water.'' And the French memorialises remark,^ that 
at this period the Nile rapidly retiringi ^^ the earth is 
all of a sudden covered with abundant vegetation.'* 
With reqiect to the remaining months, and the gene, 
ral rapidity of growth of all kinds which is ike cha- 
racter of title season, Maillet'* observes^ that *^ during 
November, December and January, the vegetation is 
so powerful, that an ox reposing on the grass woidd 
find sufficient pasture for a day by browsing around 
him without rising from his place." This fi^t season 
therefore comprehends the four months dated from 
the end of our September, during which the sun tra- 
verses the signs of Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Ca- 
pricorn. The next season, the four months of 
drought, from the end of January to the end of May.; 
and the season of water, or of the increase of the 
Nile, the remaining four, from the end of May to the 
end of September* It might perhaps be objected, 

• 

c Modern Geogr. 4to. voL ii. p. 786, €oiif. Heereiiy Ideen* &o. ii. Th. 

ii. Abth. 8. 357> ff. 
P Mem. relative to Egypt, &c. EngL trans. 1800, p* 12. • 

4 Descript. de TEgypte, ed. 1740, Yok I Let i* p. 30* ooiif. Savary 

Lett. 8ur TEg. 8o. 1786, torn. ii. p. 7. 



OF ANCIfiNT S6YPT; SECT. II* 43 

dttt the swell of the river does not b^n until about 
Idle summer solfirtice, towards the end of June ; suid 
tiiere is no doubt but that the greater number of au« 
thorS) both ancient and modenii are used to date the 
augmentation of its wateis in general terms from 
that epoch. But that this must be understood* 
not of the first perceptible influence of the rains 
of Ethiopia upon its stream, but either of the pe- 
riod when it became so visibly affected as to ex- 
cite the attention of the vulgar* or when the first 
observation of the increase was made on the nilo- 
meter, end promulgated to the public, may be pre* 
sumed, as wdl from the testimony of those travellers 
who have had the best opportunities of judging, as 
from the ascertsuned facts respecting the fall of the. 
periodical rains, which commence when the sun is 
perpendicular to the climate of Abyssinia, about a 
month after the equinoj^ and constantly increasing, 
produce a perceptible alteration in the waters of the 
river about the end of May or the beginning of June.' 
The statements of egyptian travellers on this point 
are so various as almost to be contradictory, some 
pladng the first visible increase at the solstice, others 
a month before, others not for some days afterwards j 
which discrepancy must be accounted for by the fact, 
admitted by intelligent observers, that the phenome- 
non itself is not strictly regular in its periodical re- 
turns. The followii^ is the account of Maillet,' whose 
opinion, from his long residence in the country, added, 
to his general good sense and accuracy, is deserving 
of greater attention than that of the mere occasional 

r Poncet. ap. Pinkert. ColL of Voyag. vol. xy. p. S3. Brace, Travels, 
vol. V. p. 333, so Edin. 1805. 
* Descnp. de TEg. vol. i. lett. S.'p. 70. 



44 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

and hasty traveller, who must necessarily be a partial 
and superficial observer. He remarks, . that though 
some asserted that the river began to increase as soon' 
as the sun had crossed the line, no such augmentation 
was perceptible, and that, in general, there can hardly 
be said to be any difference Until the last days of Apnl 
or the beginning of May. The waters first become 
muddy, and then increase, but so slowly, that, during 
a considerable part of the month of Jfune, there is 
hardly a cubit of rise ; but that, about the solstice, 
it is already very considerable. And, in coiiformify 
with the above, in his account of the nilometer or 
mikias,* he states, that the first examination tak^ 
place about the end of April, the second about ■ the 
end of June, at which time the Nile has risen eight 
or nine cubits, and adds, that it was a wise regulation 
to place the first announcement of the increase of the 
waters at this advanced season, in order to spare the 
people anxiety concerning their progress. This may 
account for the circumstance that so many authors, 
without inquiring into details, assign the solstice, in 
round terms, as the fixed date of the commencement 
of the inundation. The testimony of Maillet is sup- 
ported by several others of the most respectable writ- 
ers on Egypt, and the minutest observers of the phy- 
sical peculiarities of its climate. " The river Nile,^* 
says Thevenot," " begins commonly to swell iii the 
month of May, and on St. Peter's day, the 28th of 
June, they begin to cry about the streets how much 
its waters have risen/* " In the first days of June,'* 
says Savary,^ " the Nile begins to increase, but the 

t Op. tit. p. 83. 

" Travels, Engl, trang. 1687, pt. i; b. ii. c. 22, p; 158. 

^ Lett, sur TEg. torn. ii. p. 179. ' 



' OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. 11. 45 

augmentation firist becomes remarkable about the sum- 
mer solstice.** Shaw,'' too, states, that, in the middle 
of June, in his time, the waters had risen very consi- 
derably. 

It will farther be observed, that the hieroglyphic of 
water attached to the third season is to be considered 
as denoting, not so much the inundation itself, as the 
space between the 'first perceptible rise of the river 
and the period when its waters began again to de- 
crease ; first, because the actual overflow of the Nile 
scarcely lasts three months, commencing at soonest in 
thl^ middle of July, and terminating suddenly in the 
beginning of October ; secondly, because the season 
of vegetation, or of water plants, setting in at once 
with the subsiding of the flood, (as illustrated by the 
above passages of Pliny, and other authors, collated 
with the hieroglyphic of the first four months,) can- 
not admit of the new year*s day being fixed at any 
other epoch than the equinox of autumn, or towards 
the end of our September, when the Nile, according 
to the unanimous testimony of both geographers and 
travellers, regularly begins to uncover the land, its 
stagnating waters to send forth their luxuriant growth, 
and the whole face of nature is renewed ; all which 
coincidences combined formed an epoch which could 
hardly fail to present itself to the first simple fraiaers 
of a calendar in this climate, as the natural and ob- 
yious commencement of their year. As, therefore, 
the Nile does, in fact, begin to alter its appearance, 
almost invariably, many days before the solstice, it re-: 
mains an evident consequence, that, consistently with 
the quadrimestrial partition of the year, the month 

" Travels, Ed. 1808, 8o vol. ii. p. 224, c. 2, sect. 3. 
1 



46 ON THE CAL'^DAR AND ZODIAC 

preceding that epoch must necessarily be the first of 
the' season of waters, or of the rise of the river. But, 
besides this, although we certainly have the statem^it^ 
of many respectable authorities among the Greeks, 
that they themselves were the first to discover the 
true cause of the inundation of the river, I confess I 
am unable to look upon the opinion, that the Egypt- 
ians, during the flourishing ages of their empire, were 
totally unacquainted with this important point of the 
natural history of their own country, in any other 
light than as an egregious paradox. There can be no 
doubt but that the Egyptians and the Ethiopians of 
the upper Nile were a people of the same origin and 
of similar manners, and in habits of fi-equent commu- 
nication, both civil and military, with each other ; so 
that the report of a single traveller, or emancipated 
prisoner of war, would have sufiiced to establish the 
truth. And if we admit, what has long been the ge- 
neral opinion of the learned, that Abyssinia is the pa- 
rent land of the Mizraimite race,^ the notion that the 
Egyptians should, in the infancy of their civil institu- 
tions, and for some thousand years afterwards, never 
have had a tradition of the periodical rains which 
swelled their river, becomes quite inadmissible. Here, 
as usual, Herodotus is appealed to, whose testimony 
I reject at once, as the priests most unquestionably 
made game of him in their answers to his inquiries 
respecting the Nile. The next authorities are Eu- 
doxus and Plato. These two distinguished men vi- 
sited Egypt about the same time, and have transmitted 

> Diod. Inl $ 2, 3. Pmiw. Kedi. siir les Egypt, vol K pp. S3, S^ 
Murray, app. to Bnioe*8 travels, vol. ii. p. 479, Ed. 1805. Zoeg. de Obe- 
lise, p. 577. Heeren, Ideen, &c. II* Th. I. abth. p. 439. ChamjIoL Pre- 
CIS, &c p. 455. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. Ii; 47 

two difibrent, though uppar^ntly perfectly correct, ao« 
counts of the real opinions of the priesthood concern* 
ing the phenomena of their river, and which are also 
jointly stated and confirmed by HorapoUo. That of 
Plato shall be mentioned in another place. But Eu* 
doxus^ was infomied that the inundation was caused 
by the periodical fell of the tropical rains. Now, as 
they must have known that these rains, falling with 
greatest violence during the months of May and June, 
ware immediately followed by the at first almost im* 
perceptible alteration of the state of the river, they 
would find it the more reasonable to comprehend the 
month immediately preceding the solstice in the sea* 
son of waters, although the visible rise of the river 
might not commence until nearly the solstice itself. 
The faieroglypfaical seasons may therefore be distri* 
buted, as to their more immediate reference to the 
phenomena of the Nile itself, which influenced all the 
institutions of this country, into four months of the 
Hsa, four months of the fall, and four months of the 
lowest or stationary condition of its waters. Lest, 
however, it should be thought that too much reliance 
has bare been placed on conjecture, and too little on 
aocient authority, I shall produce very convincing and 
satis&ctory testimony to prove that this division of the 
seasons is as conformable to the familiar opinion of 
antiquity as to the truth. The following is the result 
of the investigations of Aristides, who states that he 



T Plutarch, de plac phil. iv. i. Eustath. Comm. ad Odyss. p. 1505. 
£dit. Horn, coflil LibelL de liist pbilofik iater Galen, opp. 6. SS. Before 
Eudoxus however, Democritus, among the Oreeks, had assigned the true 
cause, (Diod. i. § 39,) whose knowledge, if we maj trust his own account, 
as quoted by Clemens Alex., was also derived directly from Egypt* 
(Strom. lib. i. p. SM*, A. conf. Diod. i. § 98.) 



48 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

had traversed Egypt four times, as far as Ethiopia^ for 
the express purpose of examinii^ the peculiarities of 
the Nile. " When the proper season arrives,** says 
he,' ^' the river begins to increase, but so slowly, that 
at first the augmentation is not perceptible, but, set- 
ting out with a few inches, it gradually gains force, 
so that in about ^bz^r months the waters reach their 
greatest height at Memphis.** " They subside in a 
similar manner, dud require about as long to return 
to their pristine state as they did to reach their full 

• height.**' Precisely the same account is given by Se- 
neca : ^^ Nilus per quatuor menses liquitur, et ilU 
aequalis accessio est,** — " The Nile subsides during 

four monthSy and the increase of its waters occupies 
an equal time ',** all this too agrees exactly with the 
distribution of the egyptian year by Diodorus, as 
above mentioned, into three seasons ; spring, summer, 
and autumn — ^winter being omitted altogether, and 
justly, as there is in fact no such season in Egypt. 
The arrangement that would appear most natural in 
the opinion of a Greek, would probably be February, 
March, April, May, for spring ; June, July, August, 
September, for summer ; October, November, De- 

. cember, January, for autumn ; but it is to be supposed 
that the Egyptians, in conformity with the peculiarities 
of their climate, reversed this order ; the four last 
mentioned months, the first of their calendar, being 
in fact their season of spring, seed-time, atid opening 
vegetation. 

Now the symbols which we have just been ex- 
amining, being peculiarly figurative of certain seasons, 

« Orat. £§:ypt. Ed. Ox. 1730, torn. ii. p. 336. ' 

* p. 338. b QiuBst. nat. iv. 2, p. 725, A. 



OP ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. II. 49 

• 

it results indisputably, that it could not be the inten- 
tion of the Egyptians when they invented them, that 
the months whose names they represented should 
shift their places in the year ; no nation could have 
been willfully guilty of such an absurdity. It is 
equally plain, that the year to which they were origi- 
nally adapted, commenced, not with the heliacal rising 
of Sirius, and the overflow of the Nile, as some sup- 
pose was the : case on the first establishment of the 
calendar,*" but with the subsiding of the waters about 
the autumnal equinox. Nor is this view of the primi^- 
tive arrangement of the Calendar of the Egyptians* 
by any means new ; several distinguished writers have 
been of opinion, that their ancient year began in 
autumn ; among whom it were sufficient to mention 
Calmet, Jackson, and Playfair.* None of these how- 
ever state their reasons in detail. But the celebrated 
Zoega, who, in profoundness of learning and acute- 
ness of conception, is second to no egyptian antiquary, 
not only was cofivinced, but had actually, as he him- 
self informs us, composed a dissertation to prove that 
the That or commencement of the year, in its original 
form, was fixed precisely as I have stated it ; that is, 
" ab incipiente retrocessu Nili,'' " from the first sub- 
siding of the inundation of the river.**® His reasons 
for holding this opinion he also does not give at length, 
and it must be admitted that his views of ciertain other 

c See Appendix, No. VIIL 

^ Calmet Diet de la Bib. v. Monde. Playfair^ ChronoL p. 11 . Jacks, 
Ohron. Antiq. yol. i. p. 23. ii. p. 5. It must be admitted, however, that 
this learned chronologer's ideas are here somewhat confused* 

* NunL Mgypt, Mus. Borg^. addend, p. 395, I have since observed that 
Dr. Hales (Analys. of ChronoL vol. i. p. 31.) supports the same opinion* 
by reasons drawn from the natural history of Egypt, similar to those hero 
advanced. 

E 



50 ON THE CALENDAR AND. ZODIAC 

collateral points of egyptian chronology, as stated ift 
the passage referred to, are far from correct ; indeed, 
his own diffidence of their soundness, as he himself 
informs us, prevented him from publishing his essay ; 
there are however various circumstances, as shall be 
observed in another place, which lead to a belief that 
some of the arguments which have been, or shall be, 
here o£Fered in support of this opinion, were among 
those which induced him to adopt it ; but owing to 
the comparatively backward state of this department 
of antiquarian science in his time, many others of a 
more forcible nature could not have occurred to him. 

It will now be necessary to turn our attention to 
another essential portion of our subject, the history 
of the egyptian zodiac. We shall -first have occasion 
to inquire generally into the real nature and origin of 
that institution, and its primitive connexion with the 
civil reckoning of time ; and afterwards endeavoiur 
to illustrate both conjointly, by pointing out the re- 
markable correspondence and analogy which exists 
between the signs of the astronomical, and the months 
and seasons of the civil calendar, on the basis of the 
positions already laid down, with reference to the 
traditional mythology, and ancient language and no- 
menclature of the country. 

It is, I believe, universally admitted to be an erro- 
neous opinion that the twelve positions of the celestial 
zone called the zodiack, were originally divided, or 
received their names, in consequence of certain groups 
of stars which it traverses, being supposed really to 
resemble in their form or disposition, the figures of 
human or brute creatures, monsters, or other objects. 
Such resemblances may have been imagined in later 
times, and adapted to the ancient names of the signs 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. II. 51 

by fanciful astrologers ; who^ in the delineation of a 
sphere, naturally endeavoured, though unsuccessfully 
enough, to group the stars in the neighbourhood of 
the ecliptic, into constellations corresponding in their 
forms to the physical emblems, whose names were 
attached to certain portions of that circle. But those 
visionary images can, and ought to be, no guide to 
us in our researches into the real history of the signs 
or symbols which represented the twelve divisions of 
the sun's annual course in the heavens ; or into the 
origin of their various appellations. 

The Egyptians or any other nation, who instituted, 
in the infancy of their civilization, an imperfect year 
of twelve months, supposing that the revolution of 
the seasons would be completed during their course, 
would naturally, as they advanced in science, divide 
the heavens also into the twelve portions, which the 
sun was supposed to occupy during each of those 
months respectively ; and both the names of their 
months, and of the corresponding divisions of the 
sphere would be connected with their mythology, and 
the titles or attributes of the various deities whose 
celestial emblems they may have discovered in par- 
ticular points of the heaven, or seasons of the year, 
or to whom certain stars or seasons were especially 
dedicated. Such an institution seems to have been 
common, under certain varieties, to almost all the 
ancient nations, Chaldees/ Egyptians, Chinese, or 
others, who made any progress in astrological science ; 
and might have suggested itself to each separately, 
without any immediate connexion with their neigh- 

^ That this was the case with the Chaldees^ Diodorus assures us : 
X*yf»iMff ^m^imt Id «^nfu»ei» Lib* ii. § 30. 



5Q OS THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

hours, from its obvious correspondence to the twelve 
months and three hundred and sixty days, into which 
the same tribes seem originally to have agreed in 
dividing their year. Yet the zodiac of the western 
nations,^ to which alone our present observations are 
confined, affords even in its present form the strongest 
internal evidence, that though corrupted or altered, 
as it is admitted to have been to a certain esttent in 
passing through the hands of the Greeks, it is origi- 
nally an egyptian invention ; as well from the pecu- 
liar turn of that people, to represent by material 
emblems every thing capable of being so represented, 
as from the palpable connexion of some of these 
emblems with their figurative mythology. Each sign 
of the zodiac, therefore, appears to have been a mere 
hieroglyphic of the season of the year to which it 
corresponded, or of the deity to whom that season 
was specially sacred* This has been well pointed out 
by Warburton^ and others, and is indeed very gener- 
ally admitted, though the efforts made since the days 
of Macrobius* up to the present century, to analyze 
more closely the origin of the institution itself, by a 
reference to the climate or mythology of the banks 
of the Nile, having been directed upon false principles, 
have not been successful.^ The hieroglyphical zodiac 

8 See Appendix, No. IX. 

h Div. Leg. 4to, vol. ii. p. 471. 

) Saturn, lib. i. c. 21. 

^ Kirch. (Edip. JEg* torn. iii. p. 153, sqq. (whose interpretations ap- 
pear to me to have come much nearer the truth, than those of others 
who have made it their business to vilify both hLs labours and himself.) 
Schmidt de zod. orig. aegypt in opusc Carolsr. 1765. Pluche Hist du 
ciel, tom, i. lib* i. Court de Gebelin. Mond. prim. t. iv. p. 65* Dupuis, 
orig. de tout les cultes, torn. vi. pt* i* p« 390, sqq. M. Remi Raige ift a 
memoir inserted in the Description de I'Egypte, (Antiquity voL of M«ni. 
p. 169*) undertook, as I have done, to investigate the origin of the zodiac, 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT, lU 53 

therefore, represented the seasons mythologicajly or 
fignratiirely, and had no connexion with imaginary 
forms or creatures in the heaven itself.* All this will 
be put in a more clear point of view, when we come to 
trace the correspondence between the signs and the 
names and characters of the twelve months, according 
to the position they occupied in the civil year at its 
first establishment. Thus Cancer or the Scarabee re- 
presented the solstitial month of summer, that is the 
sun when highest in the heaven, and his heat and in- 
fluence most felt ; Libra the month of the autumnal 
equinox, Aries that of the vernal equinox, and so of 
the rest ; afterwards, when the signs were . attached 
by the Greeks to particular groups of stars, embodied 
into fantastical forms, the ancient terms became un- 
meaning, and the origin and history of the whole 
system was confounded and obscured. 

That the twelve divisions of the zodiac, among the 
ancient nations, (whether chaldee or egyptian,) with 

on tbe supposition of an ancient connexion between the forms and sym- 
bolic significations of the signs, and the sense of the names of the Coptic 
or ancient egyptian months. Thus far our two systems agree ; but they 
di^r in this, that the memorialist adopted as the groundwork of his, first 
that the egjrptian zodiac was constructed 15000 years ago, about 8000 
before the creation, on a moderate computation ; the sign Capricorn which 
is now January, then representing July, Cancer corresponding to Capri- 
^m, and so of the rest ; 2dly, That the etymology of the names of the 
months is to be sought in the arable tongue, which he supposed the most 
ancient dialect of egyptian. The conclusiveness of the ingenious essay- 
ist's arguments, is in proportion to the reasonableness of the postulates 
on which they are based. 

1 It is no doubt possible, however, that the appearances in certaih por- 
tions of the sphere, may have suggested modifications or alterations of 
the emblems; as in the case of the sign Oemini, which, as we shall here* 
after have occasion to observe, seems to have been consecrated to two 
kindred or twin deities, irwyeut 4ioi, perhaps from the remarkable appear- 
ance of two brilliant stars close to each other, in an otherwise not ver^ 
brilliant part of the heaven which it represented. 



54 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

whom the institution originiated, were, from the first, 
signs or i&lbvcocrfjiJbogiit, and not constellations — portions 
of the sun's course in the heavens, corresponding, more 
or less accurately, to the seasons, not imaginary forms 
in the celestial sphere — we have strong proof in the 
tradition preserved of the manner in which the astro- 
nomers of those nations subdivided the ecliptic, I 
shall not go into the minute details of their method, 
as described by Macrobius of the Egyptians, and by 
Sextus Empiricus of the Chaldees,"* and quoted and 
illustrated by various popular authors among the mo- 
derns." It will be sufficient to observe, that, by a 
species of clepsydra, they first measured the diurnal 
revolution of the heavens, noting the departure and 
return of a particular star to and from the same point 
of the horizon, and then pointing off twelve equal por- 
tions of the circle of the equinoctial, commencing from 
th?s star ; which portions, transferred to the ecliptic, 
constituted the zodiac, and were therefore quite dif- 
ferent in their nature from the fanciful constellations 
of unequal size into which the Greeks afterwards dis- 
tributed the same zone. The method here alluded to 
is so vague, as to have excited the ridicule of some,** 
who nevertheless have not ventured to deny the va- 
lidity of the substance of the tradition, however they 
may have been inclined to criticise its details. It 
would appear also, as well from this mode of division 
as from the correspondence of the signs to the twelve 
months of the year, that the cardinal points of the 



m 



Macrob. Somn. Scip. lib. i. c. 21. Sext. Empir. adv. Mathemat. lib. 
V. c. 24, p. 342, Ed. Fabric. Lips. 1713, fol. conf. Theon. ad Ptolem. 
Magn. constr. lib. y. p. 261. 

n Petav. Var. Diss. lib. ii. c. 1. Goguet, Orig. des Loix, Par. 1758, 
torn. ii. p. 503, sqq. Fergusson, Astron. Ed. Brewster, vol. i. p. 307. 

^ Goguet, sup. cit. p. 507. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. II. 55 

sun's course could hardly have been placed elsewhere 
than at the commencement of the signs. That such 
was the case, is still farther evident from the circum- 
stance, that the zodiac, on its introduction into Eu- 
rope, and first application by the Greeks to their ca- 
lendar, was, in fact, so constituted. I know well how 
little this assertion is in unison with the favourite 
theories upon this subject ; but those theories are al- 
together of modern invention, and grounded on what 
is, I am convinced, a &llacious view of the history of 
the institution, totally unknown to the ancient au- 
thors, from whom our first notions of it are, or ought 
to be, derived, and altogether repugnant to their tes- 
timony. This we shall have occasion to inquire into 
farther, when we come to treat of the use of the zo- 
diac in Greece. In proof of the correctness of the 
opinion here advanced, I shall be contented, for the 
present, to quote Hipparchus, who is, beyond a doubt, 
the highest authority in these matters, and who, when 
criticising the works of certain of his own country- 
men, who followed a different arrangement, positive- 
ly asserts, that almost all the early astronomers fixed 
their cardinal points in the beginning of the signs : kou 

r^f, r9vro¥ rov rgoroif 6 ^afiiC6xog KvxKoq hfigrjroJ^ Now, as 
the coincidence of the first star of Aries with the equi- 
noctial colure, which is usually supposed to have given 
rise to the present arrangement, did not take place 
until the days of Hipparchus himself,"^ it is evident 

P Hipp, in Arat Phenom. lib. ii. c. 3, in Petay. Uran. app. ad op. de 
doot temp. toL iii. p. 120, conf. p. 119. 

4. Until after the days of Hipparchus, the greek astronomers reckoned 
their long^itude on the equinoctial, and not on the ecliptic. It is essen- 
tial that this should be borne in mind, in all references to the statements 
of Eudoxus, Meton, and other ancient observers, concerning the positions 



56 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

that the ancient mathematicians to whom he alludes 
must either be the Egyptians or Chaldees themselves, 
or those among his owii countrymen who first adopt- 
ed the use of the zodiac from them, about the age of 
Thales probably. If, therefore, preceding astrono- 
mers, of different ages, were in the habit of placing 
the cardinal points at the commencement of the signs, 
it is evident that the use of the institution among 
them must have been precisely as above stated, name- 
ly, that. a sign represented rather a season than a par- 
ticular group of stars. Accordingly, we learn from 
Achilles Tatius, that Euctemon, one of the most an- 
cient greek philosophers recorded to have used the 
zodiac, and who flourished three hundred years be- 
fore Hipparchus, placed the autumnal equinox in the 
first of Libra, the winter solstice in the first of Capri- 
corn. Calippus, about one hundred years after Euo- 
temon, arranged his cardinal points in the same man- 
ner. Others there were, no doubt, who followed a 
different method ; but almost all those concerning 
whose astronomical opinions we have any authentic 
tradition, agreed in making their divisions equal, that 
is, consisting of thirty degrees each. It is evident, 
therefore, on the authority of Hipparchus himself, 
supported by that of the other classical authors on 
this point of the history of science, that the distinc- 
tion between signs and constellations, supposed to be 
an invention of that philosopher, is much more an- 
cient, and, in fact, coeval with the origin and primi- 
tive use of the zodiac itself ; and that the arrangement 
of the egyptian symbols into the irregular and fantas- 
tical constellations now visible on our globes, was 

of the heavenly bodies for their respective ages. This matter has been 
fully explained by Petaviiis, Var. Dissert, lib. ii. cap. 1, sq. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT* SECT. II, ' STf 

probably an innovation of the Greeks, in the days, it 
-would appear, of Cleostratus of Tenedos, not long af. 
ter the introduction of the institution into Asia minor. 
But this arrangement, as shall be shown hereafter, 
seems to have been little attended to by the early 
practical astronomers of Greece. 

As it can hardly be supposed that the complicated 
process, the details of which have been preserved by 
Macrobius and Sextus Empiricus, relates merely to 
^ne single and original distribution of the dodecate- 
moria, in the infancy of the civilization of each of the 
two nations to whom they ascribe it, it may be farther 
inferred, from the terms of their description, as well 
as from the real nature of the zodiac itself, as shewn 
above, that this division of its signs took place from 
time to time, in order that the symbols might conti- 
nue to correspond to their respective seasons or por- 
tions of the sun's course, from whence they would 
otherwise have varied owing to the precession of 
equinoxes. This would necessarily imply an acquaint- 
ance on the part of the Egyptians with that pheno- 
menon; which most of those who have treated of 
their astronomical science have been inclined to doubt 
or to deny. As I have, throughout these remarks, 
endeavoured to combat what appear to me the exag- 
gerated opinions entertained by some, on the subject 
of the antiquities of Egypt, I trust I shall not be con- 
sidered as falling into a similar error, when I state, 
that it seems almost inconceivable, that any nation 
among whom such an institution as the zodiac exist- 
ed, and who were in the habit of observing the hea- 
vens by a reference to its divisions, during perhaps 
upwards of a thousand years, should have failed during 
so long a period to discover the variation of the tro- 



5S ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

pical and equinoctial points with respect to ' the fixed 
stars. Ptolemy appears to ascribe to Hipparchus the 
merit of having been the first who made thisobserva^ 
tion/ and though his language is somewhat ambigu- 
ous, yet this opinion, as if upon his authority, had 
been very generally adopted by the modems. Upon 
this point I shall be contented .to appeal to Hippar- 
chus himself, whose evidence must I conceive be su^* 
perior to that of any other person ; and whose words, 
in the following passage, not only furnish sufficient 
proof that the fact was known, or at least suspected, 
long before his time, but afford reasonable ground of 
belief, that the Egyptians themselves were not unin- 
itiated into the mystery. The celebrated Eudoxus 
of Cnidos, generally considered by the Greeks as the 
greatest genius among their early astronomers, wrote 
two works ; one called the Enoptron or Mirror, the 
other the Phsenomena : from the first of these Hip- 
parchus quotes in the following terms : '^ Eudoxus 
in his Enoptron observes, that ^ the tropical points of 
the sun's course appear to be subject to variation, but 
so slight as to be scarcely perceptible.**" These 
words of Eudoxus, which seem to have been misunr 
derstood by his less enlightened countrymen, as Atta- 
ins, and even Hipparchus, at the time when he wrote 
the work from whence the above is an extract, speak 
for themselves, and prove that the truth had in this 
instance not escaped him ;^ and as the advances made 
by him in astronomical science, beyond his ignorant 

' Magn* constr. Ed. BasiL 1538, p. 59. L. iii. init. 

* Hipp. ad. Phsen. lib. i. p. 112. Asyw yat^ h h rS hiwr^af irtii* 

Adri^Av il X0AA« tcau vetvrt ^ug tfA/yilv. 
t See Appendix, No. X. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. 11. 59 

countrjrmen of the day, are invariably attributed to 
his haying studied a considerable time in Egypt, it is 
not unreasonable to suppose, that whatever informa- 
tion he may have possessed on this point, was derived 
from the schools of Thebes or Heliopolis. As to what 
use the Egyptians may have made of this discovery, 
even supposing them to have made it, or how far they 
may have applied it to the regulation of the difference 
between the sidereal and the tropical year, that is an- 
other question, concerning which we have no data to 
justify any satisfactory conclusion. 

This opinion concerning the real use of the zodiac 
among the Egyptians has, I find, been stated, and I 
conceive judiciously and correctly, by Kircher, after 
a learned Copt called Michael Schatta ; and on the 
authority of the evidence of astronomical monuments, 
preserved among the ruins which cover the banks of 
the Nile, whether those recently brought to light by 
european travellers, or perhaps others still more im- 
portant, now no longer in existence. " The images," 
says he, speaking of the egyptian sphere, " represent- 
ed under hieroglyphical symbols, do not exactly cor- 
respond to their places in the heaven, but^for the most 
part differ considerably ; nor need we be surprised at 
this, since the object of the Egyptians in constructing 
these hemispheres was not so much to delineate aste- 
risms, as the stations of their deities in the vast firma- 
ment. Nor did they, like the Greeks, suppose that 
the figures of their objects of worship were made out 
by certain groups of stars, but they denominated such 
or such a group the station of a certain divinity, who 
was supposed to preside over a certain portion of the 
heaven.'*" The correctness of the first part of this 

" CEdip. segypt. t. iii. p. 205. Figurae hieroglyphicis adumbratse synir 
bolis non exacte suis locis correspondent^ sed at plurimum diffemnt; 



60 ON THE CALENDAR AN0 ZODIAC 

* 

remark, that the constellations figured on the hiero* 
gljphical sphere do not always correspond to their 
true places in the heaven, has been, as relates to the 
planisphere of Dendera, admitted by all, and satisfac- 
torily shewn by M. Biot,"" in his dissertation on this 
and the other greco-egyptian"^ astronomical monu- 
ments. The second part coincides with the opinion 
above advanced respecting the true nature of the 
egyptian zodiac. It is clear also, upon this principle, 
that however consistent it may be with the phraseo- 
logy of modern science, to speak of a certain cardinal 
point of the sun's course, having been at such or such 
an sera in the sign of the Ram, Bull, or so forth, it 
would be altogether incompatible with that of ancient 
hierpglyphical learning. The Ram being merely an 
emblem of the vernal equinox, that season was always 
in the Ram, the autumnal equinox always in Libra ; 
so that, in fact, the zodiac among the Egyptian^ would 
be precisely what it now is among us, and has, in 
truth, with little variety, always been in civilized Eu- 
rope, as has been stated above, and shall be pointed 
out still more distinctly hereafter, by reference to the 
most unimpeachable testimony of antiquity* 

Deque hoc cuipiam mirum yideri debet, cum ^yptii hisce hsemisphseriis, 
non tain* Stellas, quam stationes numinum in vasta ilia firmamenti fkcie 
ezprimere sint conati ; neque enim uti Orseci, figuras numinum stella- 
rum coacervatione componi putabant, sed certam quandam stellarum con- 
geriem talis et talis numinis stationem yocabant, quod tali aut tali loco 
ckU dominari credebant. 

V Rech. sur PAstr. Bgypt. sup. cit. 

^ This term, for the sake of brevity, must be understood as referring 
to the monuments both of the greek and roman period. The science of 
the roman empire was in fact greek science ; and the manners and lan- 
guage of this counti^, in as far as derived from Europe, continued to be 
greek. The hieroglyhical inscriptions of the roman emperors on these 
monuments are couched, partly at least, in greek ; as is evident from the 
interpreted titles AvT«itg«T«>j, ZfC«f«f, &c. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. S^CT. II. f)l 

- Oil the present hypothesis, that the twelve egjptian 
months and. the twelve signs of the zodia<^ formerly 
corresponded — ^the one as a vulgar or civil, the other 
as an astronomical or mythologicq.1 calendar — ^to each 
other, and to a form of year commiencing in autumn, 
the inquiry naturally suggests itself,— How and when 
this correspondence existed ? whether was that form 
of year the ancient reckoning of three hundred and 
sixty days occasionally corrected, as I presume it must 
have heen, by some rude method of intercalation ? 
or, was it the reformed calendar of three hundred and 
sixty-five days, in which the five additional days, or 
epagomense, were annually and permanently supplied ? 
This is a matter of great obscurity, connected inti- 
mately with the question at what period the reform 
of the calendar itself and the addition of the epago- 
mense took place ; the difficulty of which we have al- 
ready had occasion to notice, as well as the variety of 
discordant opinions to which it has given rise among 
the most celebrated chronologer$ of modern times. I 
shall venture, in the sequel, to offer a few observa* 
tions on this head, although all that can be said, from 
the great want of historical data, must necessarily re- 
solve itself into conjecture. As, however, this inquiry 
does not essentially bear on the portion of our subject 
with which we are at present engaged, I shall delay 
entering farther upon it for the present, and proceed 
in my endeavour to amplify and corroborate the sys- 
tem, which I have here ventured to propose and de- 
velop, by some close critical and etymological illus- 
trations of the names and characters of the individual 
months of the calendar, in connexion with the signs 
of the zodiac, derived from the mythology, language, 
and general antiquities of Egypt. In so doing, I shall 



6i ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

I 

take pains to avoid all far-fetched analogies, and re- 
sist all temptation to strain, at the expense of quibble 
or subtlety, any connexion between the two systems, 
where not in itself reasonable or probable ; but shall, 
in analyzing the seasons in their order, content myself 
with pointing out certain obvious and striking coinci- 
dences of a most unequivocal nature, comprehending 
more than one-half of the signs, and offering a few 
conjectures, to which I attach less weight, with re- 
spect to some others. That, with our still limited 
sources of knowledge, we should be enabled at once 
to clear up every portion of so enigmatical a system, 
hinging upon the nicest adaptation* to each other, of 
various points of mysterious physical doctrine or local 
superstition, is hardly to be expected ; but, consider- 
ing how much new and unexpected light has been 
thrown on other portions of the symbolic mythology 
of Egypt by the discoveries of the last thirty years, it 
may be permitted to hope that something yet remains 
behind calculated still farther to elucidate our present 
subject. There are, too, various circumstances which 
render it improbable that more than a certain number 
of the emblems of the zodiac familiar to us should be 
of pure egyptian original, the Greeks having, it would 
appear, in adapting it to their own figurative astro- 
nomy, made some very important alterations in its 
primitive form, by substituting, for instance, the claws 
of the Scorpion for the egyptian sign of Libra, and 
the Crab for the Scarabee. As no complete speci- 
mens of egyptian zodiacs have yet been brought to 
light, but what are ascertained to have heeh executed 
under the Romans after their occupation of the coun- 
try, we have but slender means of ascertaining what 
other changes of a similar nature may have taken 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. II, 63 

..place. But, even such as they are, the monuments of 
the Thebais,"" apparently a mixture of egyptian and 
^eek astrology, will be of great assistance in our re- 
searches into the original form and signification of the 
signs. 

There exists, however, one very important monu- 
ment among the ruins of Thebes, evidently of an as^ 
tronomical nature, and which, as it belongs to one of 
the celebrated tombs of the theban kings, must, I pre- 
sume, be referred to a period of antiquity far prior to 
the greek or even the persian conquest. This curious 
relic is published in the great french work on Egypt ;^ 
and, as I shall have occasion frequently to refer to it, 
as confirming or illustrating my views, I have -caused 
a sketch of the most essential portion of it to be en- 
graved.' It contains a number of symbolic figures ; 
among others, a procession headed by a figure bearing 
an ear of corn, or some such object, followed at some 
little distance by the god Thot, with his ibis-head ; a 
scarabee supporting the disc of the sun ; another pro- 
cession, headed by a somewhat similar figure, of whose 
hieroglyphic title the chief feature is a new-born in« 
fant i a lion couchant ; a bull standing on another 

^ See the zodiacs : of Esne, Description de Tcgypte. Antiquites, voL i, 
pL Izxiz. Izxxvi. Ixxxvii. Of Dendera, vol. ii. pL xx. xxL Denon, 
Voyage. Atlas* pL cxxx. sq., and EngL trans. 1S03, 8<> yoL ii. p. 316. vol. 
iii. p. 272. The circular planisphere in the plates to Biot, Recherches sur 
Tastronom. Eg3rpt. My illustrations have heen dra\i^ chiefly from the 
two monuments of Denderah, where the signs are complete, and arranged 
in their usual order. On those of Esne some signs are omitted, others 
repeated, and the whole appear under so many varieties of form and po- 
sition, as to suggest rather the idea of astrological enigmaff than zodiacs. 

y Antiquit6s, voL ii. pi. Ixxxii. 

' See Plate II. I have here only given what appeared to hear im- 
mediate reference to the zodiac, occupying two opposite sides of the 
quadrangular tablet, which the reader, if necessary, may consult in full 
in the work whence I have copied. 



64 ON THE CALENDAR AMD ZODIAC 

emblem resembling tbe zodiacal sigii libra ; a non* 
descript animal, on whose back rides a crocodile ;' a 
vase, a scorpion, &c. These figures, several of which 
-are repeated on each side of the tablet or planisphere, 
are unquestionably, in great part at least, astronomi- 
cal symbols, and most of them, it can hardly be doubt- 
ed, signs of the zodiac, although the irregularity of 
their arrangement bears little or no reference to the 
<K)rresponding seasons. This last circumstance leads 
to infer some mysterious signification ; any attempts, 
however, to throw light upon that, whatever it may 
be, have hitherto been, and will probably continue to 
be, vain and inconclusive ; from all such, therefore, I 
shall abstain. Other fragments there are, also con- 
nected With astrology, and probably of equal antiquity, 
engraved in the same splendid work, where similar 
figures occur singly or in lesser groups. There is an- 
other piece of egyptian art, of a mysterious and appa- 
rently astronomical nature, copies of which are not 
uncommon in collections ; it is a small stela, sculptur- 
ed in relief, representing a naked male figure with a 
fantastical headdress, standing upon two crocodiles 
facing right and left ; in his left hand he holds two 
snakes, a scorpion, and a lion — in his right, two 
snakes, and a ram or goat. On the ground of the 
relief are other emblematic figures, much mutilated, 
in the only examples which I have seen. The back 
and sides are covered with hieroglyphics. One of 
these stelse is given in the plates to Bruce's travels,* 
the original of which, the enterprising author informs 
us, was found at Axum in Abyssinia ; and is probably 



* PI. X. conf. vol. ii. p. 342, edit 1S05, 8<>. Edin. It is now in the 
collection of my friend Mr. Charles Cummingf Bruce of Kinnaird* 



i 



OF ANCIENT EQYPT. $ZCf, tU \6S 

^ remnanit of the expeditioas pf tijx^ Ptohmim into 
that cpuntry^ or of th^ asj^cient coimnpnicatiiQia /oivtl 
or m^tary, betw:een tl^e tribjeip of the upper a^d low- 
er Nile.^ The traveller adds^ that there are five or 
six precisely similar in the British Museum ; aad 
several are engraved hy Kircher^ an4 Montf^ucon/ 
Other relics of egyptiam or egyptio-greek astrology, 
to which we shall have occasion to appeal in the 
course of the enduing inquiri^, will be noticed in 
their proper places. A few illustrations of no uniin- 
portant nature, will he derive^ fitioin a comparison .of 
the niiodejrn orab or {)i€irsisMi sp^ieres, with tho$^ pf 
Greece and Egypt. All being palpably deiived 
from tlie same s<K)ck, it is not i^i^ireasonable to sujp- 
pose, that traces of the prijqiitive common or^gmalf 
which have Jbieen oblitera^ted by the hand of time or 
of innovation in one, may have been preserved more 
entire in another. 

As ji;t may safely be assumed, that many of the 
favQwite superstitions of the Egyptians are as ancient 
as the first formation of their cale^dar, it will appear 
evident, th$i.t if we would ajttempt to explain at all 
the mysterious ipipprt of tho^ ob^cur^e and enigijiati- 
cal ceremonies, which were attached to p$^ticular 
days of their months, o^n the supposition which will 
hardly be disputed, that they bore refe^rei^ce in tih^r 
origin to particular seasons of the year, or pheiio- 
mei^a of the heayenly ]i)o4ies, — ^we casU o^ily hope for 
success, by going back to the original position of the 
months in the early ages of their civilization, when 

^ See Append. No. XI. 
^ (Edip. aegypt torn. iiL p. 259. 

^ Antiq. expliq. t ii. pt ii. pi. clxvii. and SuppL t. i. p. 186. eonf. JoU 
lois et Devillien, Descr. de I'Egypte. Antiq. M^m. pL B. 

F 



66 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

those feasts were first established ; and I shall have 
occasion below to point out, on the basis of a year 
commencing in autumn, how closely some of the 
periodical solemnities, the particulars of which have 
been transmitted to us by the Greeks, correspond to 
their ancient places in the seasons. There can in- 
deed be little doubt, but that the regular shifting of 
the feasts, which formed the essential peculiarity of 
the reformed calendar, gave rise to a portion at least 
of the mysterious significations ascribed by the 
egyptian priests to many of their religious rites, which 
to an ordinary observer appeared fanciful or unmean- 
ing. Take for example the death of Osiris, which 
was celebrated towards the end of the month Athyr, 
and was accompanied by certain solemnities signifi- 
cant of the distance of the sun from the zenith, and 
the low state of the Nile ; this month we shall find, 
at its primeval institution, to have been that immedi- 
ately preceding the winter solstice ; when such rites 
were peculiarly appropriate. But seven hundred 
years afterwards, the same ceremonies, though strictly 
adhered to, were apparently altogether unmeaning ; 
and therefore the knowledge of their true import be- 
came what is called a mystery ; namely a hidden or 
esoteric doctrine attached to the solemnity, and only 
familiar to the priests themselves, or those to whom 
they were pleased to communicate it under strict 
pledge of secrecy. But more of this in its proper 
place. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. &J 



SECTION III. 

COKTINUATION OF THE SAME SUBJECT.— INQUIRY INTO 
THE PRISTINE FORM AND SIGNIFICATION OF THE 
SIGNS. 



The names of the egyptian months, which we now 
proceed to analyze, have been preserved in the works 
of greek authors of various ages ; as well as in the 
idioms of the native Copts, and Egyptio-arabs, among 
whom they continued to be used in modem times. 
That they are the primitive egyptian appellations is, 
I believe, not disputed ; and indeed is placed beyond 
a doubt, as well by the internal evidence which they 
themselves afford of their connexion with the ancient 
language and religion of the country, as by the con- 
stancy and harmony of the tradition, by which they 
have been handed down through ages as such. I have 
given below,' in the notes, references to the authors 
in whose works the most important varieties of these 
names have been preserved, as well in the . greek as 
the Coptic idiom.* To the coptic orthography the 

^ According to the greek orthography : see generally, Ptolem. de Ap- 
parent, ap. Petav. Uranol. in op. de doct. temp. voL liL p. 42. Antholog. 
graec. L i. c 91. Fabricii Menolog.. p. 22. According to the Coptic ortho^ 



6S 0]!t rUfi ^ALEKlDAlt AND ZODIAC 

greatest weight is in most instances to be attached, as 
representing the pronunciation of the old ^di^l^ct of 
Egypt, for the most part it may reasonably be assum- 
ed, pure and unaltered. Occasional allusion has also 
been made to the analogy of the Copto-arabic. 

These names, as the egyptian scholar will, see at 
once, though of various characters, are for the most 
p^t derived from tine mythological nomenclature; 
each nionth, as Hier^dotus^^ has loiig' since observed, 
being peculiarly sacred to a certain deity. They may 
be classed under three distinct heads. First, those 
which are called simply by the names or titles of 
deities ; such are Thot, Athor, Epiphi, Mesori. Se- 
condly, those which are not directly synonymous with 
their patron divinities, but dedicated to them by the 
common possessive pa^ or phUf prefixed to their 
names or titles ; as Paophi, Phamenoth, Pharmouthi, 
Pachon, Paoni. Thirdly, those of obscure or doubt- 
fiil import, perhaps of a miscellaneous, figurative 
nature ; Choiak, Tobi, Mechir. With respect to 
these last, I repeat as before, that where nothing 
obvious occurs in the way of illustration, I shall re- 
frain from entering at large into speculations, which 
might "be liable to the reproach of being farfetched or 
visionary. 

}gtaphj; Kivcher, litn^. sgfjrpt. restitut Scala magna, p. 63, et Prodrom. 
CopM;* p. 140. Tukiy Rudim. lin^. copt p. 391. sqq. Oroze, Lexic. a^gi^t. 
in yy. Jablonski, CoUectio yocam legjrptiarum, in y. y. Opusc. yoL i. 
et ap. Steph. Thes. lingf. gnec. edit. Valpy, yoL i. initio. Youngs, append. 
'«d Tatfaam. Bg^ptt gcamm. p. d. Crox. Thesaurus epistolicus, pt iii. p. 
1S3.. 
to It s. S2. 



OF ANCIENT ^GYPT. SBOTi IH^ ^ 



Thot,* (Libra J 

According to the hieroglyphic emblem^ the fir^t man^]| 
of vegetation, dating from, about the autumnal equi- 
nox, wh^n the Nile retired from th^ Und. The 
name speaks for itself, being that of the deity repre* 
seated with the head of an Ibis, whcHn the Gr^el;^ 
identified with their Hermes, and who, as th^ p^lfoi^ 
of art, science, and literature in the egyptiata pan- 
theon,*^ naturally takeapreeed^fice in the civil calendw, 
which was fabled his own inventioi^ ; bis feast we ^p 
learA from Plutarch was celebrated during this month/ 

That Libra, of the egyptian ZKidis^c, bore some re* 
ference to the equal balance of day and night at the 
equinox, there is no reason to doubt ; but that b^« 
sides this, there was also a mysterious connexion, be* 
tween the emblem, and the god of the month tp 
which it belonged, we have very curious proof. 

Among the most remarkable symbols or attributes, 
by which this deity is usually attended in the figur^tiye 
xnythology, are the egyptian ape or cyno<^phalu9, 
and the scales or balance* These s^ttributes of Thot 
are chiefly observable in the funereal papyri/ In the 

• • • 

c Memphit. 0aOTT, theb. 0OOTT. Tuki, Rudim. ling, oopt p. 39». 
Kirch. ScaL mag. p. 50. These are unquestionably the ancient eg3rptiau 
forms. ^««^. Rosett Inscr. line 50. ap. Kosegsurt p. 64. and Inscript. ap. 
Letronne Rechercfaes pour servir a Thist. de I'Egypte, &c. Pbris, 1823. p. 
155. sq* Conf. Plato, edit Serran. t iii. p. 274. Euseb. Praep. ey. i. c. 
9...oy AiyvirrUt ptlt hcuXto-etv Oa>v^, 'AM^ecvi^Ui il 0d^^. Conf. Clem. Alex. 
Strom, i. p* 303. c. The etymology and signification of this name has 
been inquired into in the Appendix No* VIII. 

^ Plato, loc. sup. cit. Cic- de nat. Deor. iii. c 22. Diod. i,§§ 15, 16, 43. 
Strab. p. 1156. 

e De Is. et Os. c 68. ' 

f De$cript de Vtg. Antiq. vol. ii. pi. Ix, Ixii, Ixir, Ixvii, Lxxii. Deuon, 



70 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

principal scene of those extraordinary pictures, repre- 
senting the last judgment, Thot in his capacity of 
secretary or chief minister, of Osiris in his character 
of Serapis or judge^ of the infernal regions, invari- 
ably appears attended by his subordinate divinities, 
presiding over the scales in which are weighed the 
souls of departed mortals, and presenting his report 
of their merits or demerits to his chief. On the 
cemtre of the beam sits a cynocephalus, and helps to 
adjust the balance ; and in the upper compartment of 
the same figurative representation, the line of mytho- 
logical emblems, Tt^hich forms as it were a frieze or 
cornice of the porch of Amenthes where the judg- 
ment is held, is terminated at each end by a sitting 
figure of a cynocephalus holding a balance in his 
forepaws, in alludon to the awful ceremony below.^ 

Horapollo, in the first and most valuable part of his 
work, which is now generally admitted to contain the 
best extaiit commentary on the hieroglyphic literature 
of Egypt, informs iisV not only that the cynocephalus, 
(as we learn also from other authors) was sacred to 
Thot, but that a sitting cynocephalus was the emblem 
of the equinox ; as an attendant then on the patron 
deity of the ancient equinoctial month he is quite in 
in his place. But besides, this animal, as sacred to 
Thot, was also a favourite personification of the deity 

Atlas, pL cxlj. Hieroglyphics of Egypt. Society, pi. v. Mai, Catalogo dei 
papiri egiziani deila Biblioteca Vaticana. Koma, 1825. Tav. i. The same 
in german, .Sgyptischen Papyrus der Vatic. Bibl. ubers. v. Ludw. Bach- 
mann. Leipzig, 1827, to this last I here refer, not having been able to pro- 
ciore the italian ,- and from it Plate III. No. i. (which see) is copied. 

« 2JEP-2,An. There can be little doubt but that this is the true ety- 
mology of the name Ser-ap-is^ mighty judge ; deducting the greek termi- 
nation. 

^ See Plate III. No. 2. * Hicrogl. 1. i c. 14. c. 16. 



1 

OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. m. 71 

himself, who is frequently represented under the 
figure of a cjnocephalus,^ as Ammon under that of 
a Ram, Horus of a Sparrowhawk, &c. So that here 
we have in fact Thot himself emblematic of the same 
season. The scales which he holds in his hand, and 
which are not only an attribute of Thot, but a symbol 
of the equinox to this day, require little farther com- 
ment. 

We shall have occasion to observe in the sequel, 
how closely egyptian superstition connected the mi- 
gration of souls, and the mythology of the world of 
spirits or Hades, with astrology, the sun's course in 
the heavens, and the vicissitudes of the seasons. Of 
the connexion between the infernal balance of Thot, 
and th& Scales of the zodiac, we have farther inci- 
dental proof in the circumstance, that immediately 
in front of the deity in the papyri,^ and beneath the 
tablet on which he is writing, is an infant or jur 
venile human figure mounted on a staff, evidently 
bearing some mysterious reference to the peculiar 
ofiice of the god ; and accordingly we find that the 
figure of the Balance on the zodiacs of Denderah, is 
invariably accompanied by a medallion containing 
such a juvenile form, crouching in a similar attitude 
between the scales. But besides the scene of the 
funereal papyri, to which, as most common and fami- 
liar, I have here referred more particularly, we find 
/rhot appearing with the same attributes, on other 
occasions which bear a most unequivocal reference to 

^ Vid. Num. Hermop. ap. Zoeg. Num. Mus. Borg. p. 124«. No. 122. 
Champol. Panth. pi. 30 F. A very curious group, where Thot in this 
form is supplicated by a soul to be favorable in the ordeal of the Balance^ 
couf. pi 30. g. 

1 Pap. der Vat Bibl. Tab. i. 



7^^ ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

«he cadeifidte. In plate* xxxv. vol. iu of the A«ti- 
qiiiites of the Description de TJ^gypte," he is repre- 
£(eiited standing as above belbfe his divine master ; 
behind him the scales stirmcmnied by the cynocepha- 
lus, HiiA derved by the saYne ttvo subordinate divini- 
• ties as in the papyri. Here, however, another em- 
blem, probably connected with the calendar, is substi- 
tuted in the scale for that of the soul, and Thot holds 
in his hand, hot, as before, the tablet and style^ to 
cast Up the accdtitit of human good and evil, and strike 
the f>£d^tice of t'eWard or punishment^ but in his left 
hdiid he grasps a long rod or wand, gradually beilding 
toVards the upper extremity, with notches cut regu- 
larly oii the exterior curve from top to bottom ; of 
these notches, with an index which he holds in his 
hand, he points off a certain number. A precisely 
similar rod, when marked with only one notch, has 
beeii ascertained to be the symbol or hieroglyphic of 
t/etif ;^ hence it is reasonable to suppose, that, when 
notched in its whole lengthy it denotes a number of 
years, and that the pointing off a certain number de^ 

» See PLAtE IV. 

n Yoang, Art. Egypt, p- 70, pi. Ixxvii. No. 180. Champ. Pr6eis. p. 
214, pi. xiii. No. 5. To this symbol I understand Horapollo to allude 
(lib. i. c. 3) ^hei'e he t^lls us, that, to represent a year, the/ drew a jm/m, 
b^€«iUsQ that trefe shot forth a branch every month. He probably means 
&palm branch or sapling, as the hieroglyphic rod is not unlike such an 
object, rudely or conventionally delineated; and, if so, the additional 
shoots must be understood as of years, not months. Dr. Young, (loc. sop. 
ci^.), who first identified this symbol, observed that it resembled a plant, 
and the notch in its centre an annual shoot or bud. Horapollo also in- 
forms us, (L c. 4), that^ to denote a month, they drew a palm branch, or 
an inverted half-moon. This last is the sign of month in professor Kose- 
garten's calendar. Of the palm branch for the same sign I know of no 
example ; which confirms me in the opinion, that Horapollo's description 
is, here as elsewhere, however valuable, not minutely correct, BX\d that 
he has confounded the respective symbols of year and month. 



OS ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. ^5 

notes a special number of yeard set apart for some pe« 
euKar purpose. This, it may be presumed, was the 
hieroglyphical use of %e rod, the number of notches 
actually cut in it having no pmlicular dbron(>iogical 
meaning, but denoting years in general ; but the num« 
ber pointed out or indicated by the bearer cannot but 
admit of some mysterious signification, connected with 
the adjustment of the calendar, civil or astronomical. 
Various other monuments, where this same figura- 
tive rod occurs, with the ceremony of marking off or 
subdividing its notches, have been examined by M* 
ChampoUion,'' who supposes the ceremony to dUude 
to the regulation of the national festivals or xo^pfiyvgiig 
at stated intervals; This interpretation, there can be 
little doubt, is as accurate as it is ingenious, with re* 
gard to several, at least,. of the monuments illustrated 
by that distinguished critic, which seem to belong 
chiefly to the greek or roman periods, and where the 
rods are held by various deities or other personages. 
But, in the one to which our observations have been 
directed^ there is this distinctive peculiarity, that the 
rod is not only held by Thot, but the Cynocephalus 
and Scales form an important feature of the group, 
which is wanting on all others of a similar nature that 
I have had an opportunity of seeing. Whatevjer may 
be the preci&e signification of this mysterious cere- 
mony, we have, at least, here Thot with his scales 
and cynocephalus, as the regulator of the calendar ; 
and the scales and cynocephalus being symbols of the 
equinox, and the hieroglyphic of the month of Thot 
being also a symbol of the autumnal season, we have 
confirmation strong of the opinion here advanced, 

^ Precis du Syst. hier. p. 215, sqq. 



74 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

that the equinox of autumn was the place in the year 
originally occupied by that month, for all these coin- 
cidences could hardly be the r ffult of chance. 

In the painting of the theban tomb»^ as above ob- 
served, there is a procession, headed by a figure, bear- 
ing an ear of corn, or a sprig of some other vegetable 
production, in its hand, doubtless symbolic of the con- 
stellation Spica, or Virgo of our sphere. In front is 
the Lion. This figure is followed by three others, 
whose persons are marked by no distinctive attributes, 
probably subordinates or companions of the leader with 
the Spica ; but immediately in their rear marches the 
god Thot, between the very same two lesser deities, 
who act as his ministers in the ceremony of adjusting 
the balance. May not we conjecture that we have 
here Leo, Virgo (Spica), Libra ? 

All this receives light from a passage of Julius Fir- 
micus,^ an author who appears to have preserved many 
genuine remains of the old judicial astrology of the 
Egyptians, according to the celebrated chiefs of that 
school, Nechepsos and Petosiris, and who, in treating 
of the influences of the signs on human destiny or cha- 
racter, makes Libra produce : Sacerdotes, et quibus 
deoruro. secreta credantur, musicos, regumque scribas, 
vel quibus dictandi committant officium ; medicos, 
geometras, mathematicos, negotiator es, templorum 
ministros, &c. &c. ; every one of which qualities or 
occupations were under the special patronage of Thot. 

It might, perhaps, be objected by some, that on the 
more ancient greek sphere there is no such sign as 
Libra, its place being occupied by the claws of the 
Scorpion, and, therefore, that the symbol itself was a 

P See Plate II. "? Astronomic, lib. viii. c. 25. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT. III. ^S 

recent iimovation on the orio^inal zodiac ; and Pluche/ 
probably after Hyginus,' asserted that it was an inven- 
tion of the Romans, about the age of Augustus. No 
great deference is, indeed, due to this authority, which 
I was surprised to find has also been adopted by the 
judicious Goguet,^ and other critics, who usually go 
deeper into their subject. It will, however, be worth 
while to point out shortly the error of this opinion, 
as, by so doing, we shall be enabled to advance still 
farther evidence, that Libra was the primitive sign of 
this season in the egyptian zodiac, and, by inference, 
that both that sign and the zodiac itself are of egypt- 
ian invention. 

The oldest extant greek author, professedly treat- 
ing of the signs of the zodiac, of whom we have more 
than an incidental fragment, is Aratus, who certainly 
never mentions Libra ; with him this sign is always 
Chelse, or the Claws. Hipparchus," however, who 
flourished upwards of a century and a half before the 
christian era, once calls it Libra; and with Geipinus,"" 
who lived about eighty years afterwards, it is the fa- 
miliar and ordinary term. Both these authors wrote 
before Augustus was born ; the opinion, therefore, of 
Goguet falls to the ground at once. As the Romans 
were indebted for all their scientific institutions to 
their more highly civilized neighbours, whether greek 

' Hist, du Ciel, lib. i. $ 3. * Poet. Astron. ii. 26. 

t Orig. des loix, t. iv. p. 779. Fonteuelle, ap. Court de Gebelin Monde 
prim. t. iv. p. 598. The only additional foundation for this opinion is an 
obscure passage of Virgil, (georg- i. v. 32), whichj however, his scholiasts 
have not so understood. The utmost that can be inferred from it is, that 
the Ilomans, having hitherto, like the more ancient Greeks, used the 
Claws, Augustus, in imitation of the alexandrian Greeks, first substituted 
the Balance. 

« Ad. Arat. Phsenora. lib. iii. c. 2, in Petav. Uran. p. 134'. 

^ Elem. Astron. Uranol. snp. cit. p. I, sqq. 



76 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

or oriental, it is not very likely, in iteel^ that, in 
adopting their zodiac^ in other respects entire, they 
should hare been at pains to make an alteration in 
this particular point ; still less is it to be conceived, 
that, in the days of the Ptolemies, when Alesandi^ia 
was the central seat of learning* and civilization, and 
Rome herself had hardly begun to turn her attention 
to. the sciences, the greek mathematicians shoidd have 
sought for new technical terms in the rude almanacks 
ofLatium. 

Libra occurs on all the extant egyptian zodiacs ad 
the sign of the equinoctial month of autumn, as ^ell 
as on those of the Arabs and other oriental nations, 
who, i% may be conjectured, borrowed, either directly 
or indirectly, from Egypt. The present hieroglyphic 
of the sign, of which there is some trace in the picture 
of the theban tomb, is also, apparently an abbreviated 
representation of a portion of a balance. But, what 
is still more decisive, Achilles Tatius,"' an author of 
considerable weight in matters of astronomical his* 
tory, positively asserts Libra to be peculiarly andxlis^ 
tinctively egyptian : " The sun,'* says he, " in his 
course througn the zodiac, when he enters the Ram, 
or the Claws,. which the Egyptians call the Balance, 
makes the days and nights equal." Tatius was him- 
self a native of Egypt, and therefore must have had 
good opportunities of ascertaining the fact. The 
same is stated equally positively by Servius,* in his 
commentary on a line of the first Georgic, where Vir^ 
gil (as the latin poets seem to have done by prefer- 
ence) calls the sign by its greek name of Chelae or 
Claws : " The Egyptians affirm that there are twelve 

^ Fra^menta, apud Petav. Uran. p. 96. 
» Ad Virg. Georg. i. 32. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. lU. 77 

signs^ but the Chaldaes eleven, for they make Libra 
and iScorpio on^, assigning' to Libra the claws of the 
Scorpion/' By Chaldee, be it observed, mixst bere 
be und^fitood, according to the ordinary phrauBeology 
of this and other contemporary authors, the professed 
astrologers of the day, who being chiefly Greeks, pro^ 
baUy nsed the old greek form ; for there is no reason 
to believe, that the pristine Chaldee zodiac bore any 
resemblance in this respect to that of Greece. There 
is indeed an astrological poem which passes under the 
name of Manettio,^ where it is as^rted that the 
Egyptians also used the Claws in early times, which 
emblem the priests afterwards changed into the Scales. 
But to this wo^k we can grant no claim to authorky, 
being a wretched piece of trifling, full of all sorts of 
corruptions ; and if really the production of the eele* 
brated historian of the dynasties, can only $how liiat 
leas deference is due to his testimony in matters of 
science thatt of civil history. 

The opinion here advanced respecting the superior 
aniiquity of Libra, has, I find, also been preferred by 
:the most distinguished historians of ancient astro- 
nomy.* 

From the details above given, it appears probable^ 
that the Greeks, on first adopting the egyptian zo- 
diac, corrupted this and the following sign, dividing 
Scorpio into two, and substituting its claws for the 
original Libra, for what reason it is not worth while 

7 Manethonis Apotelesnuittica, Gronov. Lu^d.. Bat» 1698, 4to« lib. ii. 
Y. 136. 

> Bailly, Hist de Fastr^tiL aac. p. 4^7, sq. who, in Gonformity with his 
favourite systems however, would have it ^n inventiou of the Indians. 
Dekmbre, Hist, de Tastr. anc. t. i. p. 8i. Addit. p. zi. Ideler, Unters. 
Uber die astr. Beob, &€. s. 272. 



78 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

here to inquire.' Afterwards, when Alexandria be- 
came the seat of learning, the ancient figure, being- 
observed on the egyptian monuments by greek au- 
thors, who wrote under the auspices of the Ptole- 
mies, was restored to its place in their sphere, which 
it afterwards enjoyed conjointly with their own Che- 
lae, The Romans preferred the pure egyptian em- 
blem. 



Paophi, (Scorpio.) 

Written by the modern Copts IIAnril, or n-AOIII ;* 
but to judge by the analogy of the greek, (too^/), 
and of other similar compounds in the Coptic lan- 
guage, probably, according to the old etymology : 
HAaOfl, or nAOTS:i, the month of the Agatho- 
dsemon, or sacred snake, so celebrated in the egyptian 
pantheon. The word HOI or OT^L is apparently 
a variety of the egyptian JSOfI, Snake, and occurs as 
an element of the appellations of both sovereigns and 
private individuals ; according to the well known cus- 
tom of conferring upon mortals the names or titles of 
deities, either simply, or combined as patronymic or 

■ There is a dissertation on this point by the gcerman hellenist Batt- 
mann, inserted in the work of Professor Ideler, (sup. cit. s. 373.) The 
alteration is supposed by him to have originated in a confusion of the 
various primitive senses of the greek term x%^iy xnXeti, assumed in its 
origin from the analogy of x>^^^^ x^A«»d, &c. to have anciently denoted 
not only Claws, but shell, or scale ; german, Scbale, Wagschale. The 
solution .is ingenious, though resting too much upon mere conjecture to 
be quite admissible. See also Jollois et Devilliers. Descript. de I'E- 
gypte. Antiquity. Memoires, p. 456. 

b Tuki. Rudim. p. 391, conf. Croz. Thes. Epist. Pt. iii. p. 133. 

c Vid. Schow, Cart. Pap. Mus. Borg. Rom. 1788, p. 89, conf. Croze 
Lex. in v. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 79 

dedicatory compounds.^ Thus, in the fourth dynasty 
of Manetho, we find the second and third kings called 
Souphis, or son of Ouphi ; as also the fifth king of the 
third dynasty. Plutarch* mentions a priest of Helio- 
polis, in the days of Solon, called Psenophis, the sense 
of which is similar ; and in a catalogue of egyptian 
proper names, in a. papyrus of the Borgian museum, 
we have nETOTqi, nAOT^I;^ this last maybe 
considered as precisely the same compound as the 
name of the month, and is by ChampoUion justly ren- 
dered uyu^oiuti/fOvtog.^ 

During this month, as we learn from Plutarch,^ 
was celebrated a feast called the Staff of the sun ; the 
mysterious sense of which referred to his course mid- 
way between the equinox, and the most distant point 
of the lower hemisphere, at which period he was 
fabled to require support or assistance, to sustain him 
on his journey ; 

We can here trace no connexion between the name 
of the month, and the corresponding symbol of the 
zodiac, of so satisfactory a nature as in the case of 
Thot. There can however be no doubt, but that the 
scorpion, though little noticed in the vulgar mytholo- 
gy of the Egyptians, must have played a cUstinguished 
part in their scientific mysteries ; as it constantly oc- 
curs on their astrological monuments, not only- on 
those of greco-egyptian art, but in the pictures of the 



^ For thi^. custom, to which we have frequent occasion to allude, see 
Koseg. de prise. JEg, lit p. 28, sqq. 

• In Vit. SoL 

' Schow. Cart. pap. sup. cit. pp. 6. 42- 89. 

i L'Egpypte sous les Pharaons, yoL i. p. 109. This etymology, for the 
name of the month also, suggested itself to Count de Gebelin. Mond* 
prim. vol. iv. p. 90. 

h De Is. et Os. c. 52. 



HO ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

■ 

royal, twi^i ]i^oi|gfl^ of email size and apparently in a 
8ub6rdinai;e capacity ;^ on the stelaa of Bruce and 
Montfaucon ( as well as on various gems a^d . scar^- 
bees.^ Before therefore a^y satisfactory illustration 
of this sign of the zodiac ca^ be expected, we mu^jb 
acquire more distinct notions of the figurative attri- 
butes or properties, which the priests in their wisdpqci 
di^coverod in the naftural history pf tbiB animal, with 
reference to their climate ; concerning which we Iwe 
at present no historical data whatever. Sevjeral con- 
jectures indeed offer themselves, respecting the pro- 
bability that some mysterious combination of the 
Agathodsemon and Scorpion, may have b^n the pri- . 
mitiye symbol of this month in the .egyptian ^diac. 
To these however I am unwilling to ^tach much 
weight, not having yet been able, to corroborate them 
by a reference to either authorities or monuments . 
illustrative of the pure egyptian astrological fable* 

It may yet jbe remarked, that a veiy important con- 
stellation of the greek sphere, called Ophiuchus, or 
the Serpent-bearer, occupies a portion of the division 
of the zodiac assigned to the Scorpion ; which reptile 
he was feigned by the greek astrojogers to t^rample 
under foot : 

\J<pi^ • • • • 0$ p« /rf fce^'ovy 

i See Plate II. 

^ Klaproth, Collection d'antiquites egyp^ Pa^- ^ol- 1829, pi. xi. 
xxviiL &c. 

1 Phseoom. y. 83. Fest Avien. v. 238. See the fig^iwe of the ancient 
xodiac engraved by Grotius in his edition of the Aratwa. ad German. 
Pheenom. p. 8. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT, im 81 

The Serpentarius, as the Latins call him, was by some 
commentators identified with Triptolemus," by others 
urith Esculapius ;° both which heroes, and their atten- 
dant snakeis, are mere counterparts of the egyptian 
Agathodsemon', who is sometimes represented on the 
monuments as a serpent mounted on the lower partq 
of a man ;** which curious figure, I feel tempted to 
suspect, is the original of the Ophiuchus of the greek 
sphere, where so many images are evidently borrowed 
from Egypt. This might justify the suspicion at least, 
that both the reptiles above mentioned may have en*-' 
tered into the composition of this symbol among the 
Egyptians. It will appear beyond a doubf in the se- 
quel, that the emblems, in the zodiac of that peoplci 
were not so strictly limited to one figure as in the 
corresponding signs of that of the Greeks. The ex- 
ample which we shall adduce of this below, in the ca£[0 
of the sign Leo, where we find the Lion trampling 
upon the evil genius of the season, might, by its ana* 
logy, lead to some inference respecting the probable 
form of the original sign Scorpio.^ 

^ Hygfin^ Poet. Astron. ii. 14. Fest. AvieniiB, Phamom. ▼. 205^ 

^ Eratosth. Catast 6. Scholiast, ad Germanic, v. 72. Serv. ad JEn, 
X. V. 260. Ovid. Fast vi. v. 735. 

^ ChampoL Panth. pL 3. bis. 

P That the scorpion was figoratiye among the Egyptians of the 
typhonic influences, appears probable, as well from the very nature 
of the animal, as from the circumstance, that on the zodiac be is 
sometimes accompanied by an hippopotamus, which monster, as is well 
known, was the familiar emblem of Typhon, and is hixnself here re- 
presented with the tail of a scorpion. See the sig^n Scorpio of the qua^- 
drangubr zodiac of Denderahy and conf. Horap-HierogL L ii. c. 35. 
^lian, (Hist. Anim. 1. x. c. 23.) describes a ceremony practised at fune- 
rals by the people of Coptos, where it was customary for enthusiasts to 
trample upon Scorpions, as symboUc of the most noxious and dangerous 
of objects, without receiving any hurt. The Ag^thodjemon, as figurative 
of the sun, trampling upon a scorpion as Typhon, would be an apt enough 

G 



82 ON THE' CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



The sacred month of the goddess of the s^me name, 
written, by the Greeks, Athor, Athyr, and Athyri ; 
by the Copts invariably Athor or Hathor ;' a deity 
irhose influence and attributes were closely connected 
with the lower hemisphere, whether, in a mythologi- 
cal sense, as referred to Hades, or the shades of after 
life, that isj the lower portion of the celestial regk>n, 
where the souls of departed mortals were supposed to 
dwell ;• or, in, a merely astronomical or physical sense, 
as denoting the lowest position of the sun or planets 
in the zodiac. . The Greeks, for reasons which it is 
unnecessary to explain at length, called her, in com- 
mon with other analogous divinities of the neighbour- 
ing oriental nations. Aphrodite or Venus. It is well 
known that the Aphrodite of the greco-orieiital my- 
thology "^s both a celestial and infernal goddess, both 
Urania and Hecate ; and such also (in as &r as the 
peculiar character of the egyptian pfmtheon will per- 
mit the analogy) appears to have been Athor, and in 
this respect to have cbrrespbnded both to the Astarte 
of the Phenicians and the Alilat of the 'Arabs. Hence, 
among the Greeks themselves, we find an 'Ap^o^irti 

type of the struggle between the powers of light and of darknen at thb 
season, alluded to in the festiiral mentioned aboye as celebrated during 
this month. 

<i Vid. Orion* ap. Etynt. M. y» AH^ Hesych. ead. y. 

' Memph. AOnP. Theb. &A0aP. Tuki, Rudim. p. 391, ^q. 

* In the egyptian mythology* it appears that the souls were not feigned 
to descend under ground into a Tartarus, as among the Greeks, but to 
dwell in the lower hemisphere of the oelestiid regions. Hence it is that 
Athyr, and other deities of the infernal world, even while invested with 
funereal attributes, are yet frequently, in inscription^^ styled celestial dip 
vinities. . 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT- SECT. III. 8S 

^tksx^if^ irtrujit^^u'^ ataong' the- Latins, Libitinsi/ or 
Venus sepulchralis* There can, however, be no jdoubt 
but that Athor was, like other lesser goddesses, mere- 
ly a personificatioQ of certain fittrifoutes of Isis, and 
may be considered a3 that essence of the female god- 
head in her capacity oi Hecate or Proserpine."' Plii- 
tarch assures us, thf^ the name Athor or Atfayri was, 
in fact, a title or epithet of Isis ;* and we shall fiiid 
that th^ feast celebrated during this month in honoiir 
of AthoF was also called the Isia or feast of Isis. Plu- 
tarch^ farther informs us, that Aphrodite was the same 
as Nephthe, and that Nephthe represented Tekevrnu, 
the JEnd, or to v^i yn^ kou o^am^ that is, the lower 
hemisphere, either physically or mythoiogically ; and 
Diodorus* also calls this Nephthe, Aphrodite, or Ve- 
nus, which shows the correspondence of the three in. 
person and attribute to each other, and to the charac- 
ter of Hecate ; hence the egyptian ^Apgo^'rji is called 
axoriu by Hesychius,* the same, no doubt, as the* ^xa- 
r/a. 'Excirn. of Diodorus,^ and the Ni)| yintrig wvrm 1^ 
teat KvTgiv xukiaoffitsv of the orphic cosmogony/ Ao 
cordingly, Athor, with her hieroglyphic titles append- 
ed, appears chiefly on egyptian monuments, connected 
with the mythology of the lower regions, Amenti, or 
Hades. In Belzoni's tomb,"^ for example, the figure 
receiving the hero in the shades, represented with a 

t Pausan. Cor. c. 2, § 4. Arcad. c. 6, § 2, Bceot. €. 87, § 4k Att c^ 
19, § 2. Athenieus, Ifeiph. ££t. Casaub. xiii. p. 5SS. 

u Plutaroh. Qamt rom. 23- 

▼ Plutarch, loc. cit. Dion, Halic Ant rom. L iy^ c. 15. Ed. Hnds^ pv 
213. Horat L iiL od. 30, v. 6. Sueton. vit» Neron. c. 39. 

^. Plut de U. et Os. c. 27. ^ lab. dt c. 56. 

y Lib. cit. ccp 12, 44. » Lib. i. § 13. » V. 2«»t^. 

^ 1, § 96. ^ Orpheus, Hymn. ii. See Append. No. XIL 

d PLxviii. 



84 ON Tll£ CALENDAR ANI) ZODIAC 

black head-dress, crowned with black horns, betTireeti 
which is the disc of the moon, is Athor. 

It will appear, then, with \V^hat propriety this sea- 
son, during which the sun descended to the greatest 
distance from the zenith, and dwelt the greater por- 
tion of the twenty-four hours beneath the horizon, 
would be dedicated to the deity whose name it bears. 
A striking illustration of this we haVe in the religious 
rites celebrated during this month* Athor, as we 
learn from the testimony of the ancients, confirmed 
by that of the monuments,^ was frequently represented 
under the form of a heifer ;• and we find accordingly, 
that, in the feast called by Plutarch' the Death or Loss 
of Osiris, which commenced on the seventeenth of 
-this month, a gilded heifer, (which may either denote 
. a gilded image, or a living animal of a gold colour, or 
with golden ornaments,) covered with black cloth, 
was led in procession, figurative of the fall of the year, 
the descent of the sun in the zodiac, and the lolv ebb 
of the water of the Nile. Plutarch asserts that this 
heifer was the image of Isis ;' and we have observed 
already, and shall amply prove in the sequel, that 
Athor WHS here merely a personification of Isis. 

« Hesych. y. 'a0v(, conf. Strab. p. 1139. ^lian. de An. x. c« 37. 
Hence, probably, the reason why the bones of the sacred cattle were bu» 
ried in Atarbechis, or the city of Athor. Herodot ii. § 4fi, conf. Jab- 
lonsk. Panth. i. p. 4, 5, and Collect, voc. a^Tpt in voce 'Attt^Zn^is. 

' De Is. et Os. c 39, Conf. cc 13, 42. 

K In the passage referred to, Wyttenbach and others, after tmst-nrorthjr 
MSS', instead of the vulgarly edited /Sovy y«i^ 'O^f^ti^ tiicifd ««/ yiiy vo- 
f^i^cvrtf^ have restored Mf y^^ "l0-<}«; uium, »• r. A. which is unques- 
tionably the true reading; for Osiris could. not be led in search of himself, 
still less as chief mourner at his own funeral. That the 0ov« is here fe- 
male, appears also evident from the passage of c. 52^ where she is again 
introduced. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. $ECT. Ill, 85 

Messrs. Salt^ and Champollion^ have identified the 
hieroglyphic name attached to the figure of the heifer, 
which appears commonly at the end of the funereal 
papyri, and in the more secret adyta of the tombs ^ as 
that of Athor ; and we have before had occasion to 
point out, as indeed every egyptian antiquary is aware, 
how close a mysterious connexion there was between 
the lower regions, in a spiritual sense, as the abode of 
departed souls, and the lower portion of the sun^s 
course in the heavens. Hence, in the papyri, the 
souls are made to travel to Amenti in the descending 
bark of the sun and moon,^ which intimates that their 
descent into the lower world took place under the 
guidance of those luminaries as they sunk beneath the 
hori;zon. Again, Eusebius informs us, that the Hip- 
popotamus was one of the emblems of the south pole, 
or lower hemisphere, where the sun became invisible; 
^nd; accordingly, we find, that a chief attribute of 
Osiris, as lord of Amenti or Hades, in the funereal 
rituals, is an hippopotamus, who sits in front of the 
deity, while Athor stands behind him."^ The abbre- 
yiated symbol of this goddess, according to Cbampol- 
lion,* was a woman's head with the ear^ of a co\f • 
This also forms the capitals of the polumns of her 
temple at Denderah, which contains the celebrated 
remains of egyptio-greek astrology. And, besides thQ 

b Essay on phonet l^erog^. p. 42, pL iii. F. 

i Paoth. pi. 17, conf. I^recis du syst hi|r. tab. gep* Np. 102. 

k This is the expression u^ed by Salt, whose statement is corroborated 
by the circumstance, that, in the funereal rituals of the Vatican Papyri, 
described by Mai, aftef Chainpollion, we find that Athor, pr the sacred 
heifer, is almost invariably the last of the deities of Hades to whom the 
soul is presented, or to whom it addresses its supplications. 

1 ChampoL in Papyr. der Vat. fiibl. s. 5. 

"> See the funereal papyri, p^im ; and conf. Belzoni, pi. xix. 

nPanth. pi. 18 a. .17 a. 



I 



86 ON TttE GAI/fiNOAR ANO ZODIAC 

heifer, with the Mme Athor annexed, we find an^^ 
other"* of a bright yellow or gold colour, appearing 
with the title of mother of the s^n, also in the depul^ 
chral papyri, and in the same portion as Athor her- 
self, and which is, no donbt^ merely another personi- 
fication of the same dimity, as ^e wears the symbol of 
Athor, above described, round her neck< The red or 
yellow disc is also among her prim^ipal ornamentB, 
which she bears som^titneft between her horns, sonie^ 
times it ki deposited on the prow of the mysterious 
bark in which she travels. From the correspondence 
ci the colour, it is probable that this is the very golden 
heifer described by Rutardi as led in procei^ion in the^ 
mournful ceremonies of the feast of Athor. 

Plutarch, like others of the later greek authors who- 
treat of egyptian superstition, ignorantly or arbitrarily 
explains the mysterious rites of this festival, as of se-** 
veral others^ by a confusion between ancient tradition, 
and the positions of the iegyptian months in the seasons 
at the titne he wrote ; according to the double reckon-* 
ing of the alexaudrian or Julian y^ar recently iiltro*- 
duced into Egypt, and the ancient moveable year, 
which continued for long after to be iti use among 
the aboriginal inhabitants.^ In quoting, therefore^ 

® ChampoL Panth. pi. 23 d. 23 e. conf. Papyr. der Vat Bib. in fine. 
Rabmen iii. A. 9.-^viii. 6. — ^xv. B, 4. 

P After tbe final settlement of Egypt by Augustus as a province of the 
roman empire, tbe use of tbe Julian form of computation was established 
in Alexandria, the first day of tbe new calendar being fixed to tbe 29tii 
of August, tbe Thot of tbe year in which the innovation took pkce ; 
from which period, six, instead of five, supplementary days were added 
at tbe end of every fourth year ; so that tbe form of the alexandrian yeair 
was as follows : 

Tbot 29 August, 

P^opbi 28 September, 

Athyr 2S October, 

Choiak 27 November, 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. Ill, 87 

fiom hiui, m well as other wthors of the sai&e stamp, 
we mu^ be cautious, while ^e extraict from them va* 
luable facts, not to allow ourselves tp be misled by 
too great a deference to their fanciful commentaries. 
This leads us to some impqrtant ob^rvaifcioBs on the 
history aad mysterious significatioa of this festival of 
the death' of Osiris, the result of whicb will, I trust, 
a£brd strong evidence that the month Athor, to which 
it was appointed, originally occupied the place we 
have assigned it at the establishmait of the primitive 
6gyptian calendar* 

Achilles Tatius,"* in treating of the zodiac^ observes, 
that *^ the Egyptians formerly, perceiving the descent 
e£ the sun from Cancer upon Capricorn, and the 
nights prolonged, were wont to mourn> as if fearing 



Tybi .V. ; 27 December,. 

Mechjr .n ..26 Januaiy, 

Phamenoth 25 February, 

Phannouthi 27 March^ 

Pachon 26 April, 

Paoai ., , 26 May, 

Epiphi 25 June, ^ 

Meson ..•• .....25 Jidy, 

Ep.g«.e»» ...24A4mi. 

The aocieut moveable year, however, 'maintained ifs ground among the 
aboriginal natives iii vulgar use, and as the regulator of the returns of 
their religious solemnities, up to a very late period. (Dodw, App. ad 
diss. cyp. § iv. Theon. ap. eund. in fin.) 6o t^t we have tiius two ca- 
lendars of precisely similar form in use at the same time, in the same 
country, differing only in the circumstance, that the year of the one, by 
means of the qimdrennial intercalation, was fixed, while that of the other 
retregraded a day in the seasons every four revolutions. About th^ se- 
cond century after the christian era, the relative points of the two in the 
tropical year diSered considerably, which has been the source of a cousi- 
' derable deal of error in the writings of Plutarq^i, and other authoiHs of 
tliat ^riod, who confound the dates of \the two in tireatdng of egyptiaii 
matters. (Conf. Scaliger, de Emend, temp., p. 222. Ideler Unters. Ub. 
die astr. Beob. s. 127. Techu. Chronol. B4 i. s. 150.) . 
,<i Isagog. c. ^3i ap. Petav. Uran. p. P5. 






88 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

lest he should leave them altogether, and this is the 
time of what they call the Isia ; a^in, when he be- 
gan to reascend, they put on gay clothes, and deck^ 
themselves with garlands." That these Isia are pre- 
cisely the same with the festival called by Plutarch the 
death of Osiris, which began on the seventeenth of 
Athor, is, I believe, admitted by both chronologers 
and mythologists, and is proved as well by the great 
similarity in the description of the two solemnities, as 
by other collateral evidence. For example ; Geminus/ 
in illustration of the peculiarities of the egyptian ca- 
lendar, mentions, that it was a vulgar error among 
the Greeks to suppose that the Isia fell on the winter 
solstice, as fixed by Eudoxus ; " for, indeed, an hun- 
dred and twenty years ago,*' says he, " that was the 
case ; but as the egyptian feasts, in consequence of 
the deficiency of their calendar, go back a day in the 
seasons every four years, there has arisen in one hun- 
dred and twenty years a deference of a full month ; 
so that those who suppose them still to be celebrated 
at the winter solstice show very gross ignorance.'* 
Now we find by calculation, that, in the year 195 
B. c, the seventeenth of Athor, the first day of the 
solemnity described hj Plutarch, coincided with the 
twenty-sixth of December old style, which was fdsp 
the winter solstice as fixed by Eudoxus ; deduct from 
these 120, and we have 75 b. c, which ought, upon 
our hypothesis that the two feasts are the same, to be 
the epoch about which Geminus wrote : accordingly 
we find that this i^ in fact the aera assigned him by 
the best chronologers, partly on the authority of the 
0.bove coincidence, partly from its being amply justi- 

T Elem. Astron, c. vi. ap. Petav. op. cit p. IflU 



OF ANCIEirr EGYPT. SECT. III. 89 

fied by the internal evidence of his own writings/ 
And here it will be remarked, that this same vulgar 
error of the Greeks, noticed by Geminus, leads to an 
inference of some importance to our subject; for as 
this feast) as both he and Eratosthenes^ i*ightly ob^ 
serve, wandered through the year, falling successively 
en spring, summer, autumn and winter, it is not like- 
ly that their countrymen of different ages should thus 
so curiously agree in connecting the mysterious signi- 
ficatidn of its rites with the sun's motion at the winter 
tropic, unless the period of its celebration, to which 
those rites bore reference, at its original institution, 
really had coincided with that season. 

A comparison of the respective descriptions of 
Achilles Tatius and Plutarch, will tend still farther 
to prove the identity between the Isia and the Death 
or Loss of Osiris, as well as to throw light on the 
original signification of the feast. Tatius, as we have 
seen, divides it into two parts ; the first was grief for 
the rapid decline of the luminary, some time before 
the solstice ; the second, joy for his return, after he 
had well passed the tropic. Accordingly, from Plu- 
tarch" we learn, that the first or mournfiil ceremony 
lasted four days, from the seventeenth to the twen-^ 
tieth inclusive, many days before the actual soU 
stice, according to the ancient position of this month ; 
the joyiul ceremony was not for many days after-* 
wards, probably well on in the next month f when, 
according to the same author, " going forth towards 
the sea, the priests and ministers brought out the sa- 

f Petay. dQ doct. temp. lib. ji. c. 7. vol. i. p. 53, sqq. conf. vol. iii< 
not. ad loc. Gemin. sup. cit. See Appendix, No. XIII. 
t Ap. Gemin. loc. sup. cit. ^ De Is. et Os. c. 39. 

^ See Append. No. ^IV. 



90 ON THE CALENPAR ATiD ZODIAC 

cred chest, contaihing a golden casket, ioto .n^faicii 
pouring fresh water, all present raised a cry that Osi- 
ris was found*'' This arrangement, it will be ob- 
served, is not without its meaninj^, but highly appro«> 
priate, and consistent with the vulgar opinion re£|)ect- 
ing the motion of the sun, which remains to all ob* 
servation stationary, during many days before and afr 
ter that of the actual tropic. In the time of Gemi- 
nus,"" who is high authority in these matters, the po- 
pular notion of the day extended this period to about 
twenty days before, and as many after the solstice. 
Nor does the opinion, that the feasts of the ancients 
were distributed with reference to the seasons upon 
this principle, rest on mere conjecture ; we have on 
this subject a curious passage of the emperor Julian,^ 
who, if any man, was well informed in the history 
and antiquities of pagan superstition, whether egyp- 
tian, greek, or roman. It is a description of certain 
festivals of the roman calendar, corresponding in a 
very striking manner to the egyptian Isia. ^^ Imme-- 
diately after the completion, of the month of Saturn 
(December), we celebrate magnificent games to the 
sun, called the feast of the Invincible Sun, in whic^ 
it is not permitted to introduce any of those unseem* 
ly though necessary rites, which belong to the previ- 
ous month ; but the Saturnalia being at an end, the 
feast of the Sun comes next in succession ; nor was it 
the intention of the ancients, that this solemnity 
should be fixed to the very day on which the god 
passes the ^ tropic, but to that on which his return 
from south to north first becomes perceptible to all ; 
for they knew not yet the nice mode of observation, 

V Op. sup. cit. c. v. p. Ht 15. > Orat. iv^ p. 156 £d^ Spaiinb. 



OF ANCIEKT EGYPT. SECT. III. 91 

idPbetwards discovered by the Chaldees and Egyptians^ 
and perfected by Hippardius and Ptolemy.'^ 

The account given by Apuleius' of the Isia as ce- 
lebrated at Corinth, still more distinctly shovrs theii^ 
identity with the Feast of Athor ; as he mentions the 
^sane two acts of the mythological drama, described 
by Plutarch as usual in that feast ; first, the carryit^ 
in procession a heifer the image of the goddess ; and 
secondly, the ceremony of going down to the sea with 
the sacred bark^ followed by rejoicings. 

Plutarch'^ in another place states, that at the solstice 
itself they led the heifer seven times round the tem-^ 
pie ; which was called the Search of Osiris* It may 
be a question, whether this inaccurate author means 
to assert that this was a fixed feast ; or whether, as is 
more probable, according to the vulgar error stigma^ 
tized by Geminus, he has confounded in this, as in 
other instances, the mysterious origin of the ceremony 
with the period of its actual celebration ; but in eithei^ 
case, its connexion with the other rites of Athor is 
very obvious. It may have been originally a supple-^ 
mentary ^lemnity at the solstice itself, the search na- 
turally intervening between the losing and finding of 
the god. The Arabs to this day call the sev^i days 
of the winter solstice Aiam Alagiuz, the days of the 
old woman, or Uie lame and impotent days ;^ which 

y This descHption odh:^poiids sufficiently with the positions of thtf 
festivals of the Saturnalia and of Phsebus, in the extant roman calendars | 
(Ap. Graey. Thes. Antiq. romap. torn. viii. init Court de GebeL Mond, 
Prim. toin. iv. p. 40.) the one being fixed some days before, the other as 
many after the solstice. 

I Metam. 1. ix. edit. Paris, 12<> 1796, torn. iii. p. 160. 169. 

* De Is. et Os. c. 52. 

^ Herbelot. Bibl. orient, v. Agiuz. couf. Golii Lexic. arab. vv. -^ *%dE* 
Vid, Append. No. XV. ^^ ^-'^^ 



92 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

figui'ative expression is evidently derived from the old 
egyptian fable, that the Sun at this period of the year 
was feeble and impotent, and on his reapproach to the 
zenith was gradually renovated into childhood and 
youth. 

There can be no doubt but that the commemorar 
tion of the birth or finding of Harpocrates at the 
winter solstice, so celebrated by latin authors, was 
merely another name under which the Isia were 
known among the Romans, when introduced into 
their familiar mythology ; both festivals comprising 
the like alternate mournful and joyful ceremonies', 
typical of the declining, stationary, and ascending 
condition of the solar orb. This Harpocrates is der 
scribed as a son of Isis, and amid the general con- 
fusion of persons which forms the distinctive peculi- 
arity of the egyptian pantheon,^ seems, like Osiris 
and his own brother Horus, under some of their at* 
tributes, to have been merely a personification of the 
sun. The best method of illustrating this, will be to 
quote a few passages of those authors where his rites 
are described. " Isis,'' says Plutarch,* " brought forth 
Harpocrates about the winter solstice, unformed and 
tender." Now Macrobius says, that the various posi- 
tions of the sun were typified among the Egj'^tian^, 
by the childhood, youth, manhood, and old age of the 
human body, and that at the winter solstice he was 
likened to an infant, " in which form he is brought 
by the priests out of the sanctuary on a certain day ;** 
" Haec aetatum diversitates ad solem referuntur, ut 
parvulus videatur hyemali solstitio, qualem JEgypti^ 

c See Append. No. XVI. 
^ De Is. et Os. c. 65. 



ot Ancient egy^t. sECt. ilr. 93 

proferunt ex adyto certo die, quod tunc brevissimo 
die veluti parvus et infans videatur."* Macrobius, 
be it remarked, does not say that this ceremony took 
place at the winter solstice, but that it bore a myste- 
rious allusion to that season, being attached to a cer^- 
tain day, that is of the egyptian year, no doubt the 
very same on which the finding of Osiris took place } 
both being ill fact the same solemnity. Accordingly^ 
both seem to be ridiculed Conjointly by Minutius 
Felix,^ in the following powerful language : " Isis 
perditum filium, cum Cynocephalo et calvis sacerdo*. 
tibus, luget, plangit, inquirit ; mox, invento parVulo, 
gaudet Isis, exultant sacerdotes, nee desinunt omni- 
bus annis, vel perdere quod inveniunt> vel invenire 
quod perdunt, Isis, with her Cynocephalus and 
bald priests, wailing and lamenting, seeks her lost 
son ; presently the infant is found, Isis rejoices, the 
priests exult ; nor do they fail every year either to 
lose what they find, or to find what they lose/* The 
same is stated with little variety by Lactantius :* 
" The rites of the egyptian Isis consist in the losing 
and finding of her infant son ; first the priests beat 
their breasts and lament, as she is feigned to have 
done when she lost him ; then the child is brought 
forth, as if found, and their mourning is turned into 
joy ; for they are always either finding or losing.** 

The identity of this feast and of the rites of Athor 
appears to be farther confirmed by the evidence of a 
greco-egyptian tablet, published by Kircher*" and Mont- 
faucon,^ sculptured in relief on both sides, and repre-» 

SatumaL i. c. 18. 

' In Octavio. Edit. Heraldi, 1613. p. 29. 
. K Instit. 1. i. c. 21. 
^ (£dip. Mg, t iv. p. 426. 
* Antiq. expl. t. ii. pt ii. pi. oxvi. p. 286. There is another group 



9* ON THE CALENDAR AWD ZODIAC 

denting two distinct acts of the mysteries of Isb* 
On one compartment we haye a figure of a taw or 
heifer, borne in procession on a staff ; on the other 
we have a similar procession, where, however, a new 
born infant is substituted for the heifer. This aUudes, 
without doubt, to the substitution of the joyflil for 
the mournful ceremonies, as in the foregoing descrip^ 
tions^ and throws light upon the mysterious title 
conferred on the heifer representing Athor, noticed 
in the first part of this article, namely Mes Re, Mo^ 
ther of the sun ; as, in her present capacity, she was 
in fact Isis mother of Harpocrates, the symbol of the 
sun at this season, distinct, as shall be shown, from 
Isis mother of Horus,'' 

I have formerly had occasion to observe generally, 
that it is probable some of the esoteric doctrines, 
which the old Egyptians affected to attach to. these 
periodical solemnities, may have borne reference to 
their mystical import, as connected in their origiji 
with certain seasons, which remark appears amply 
confirmed by the foregoing details respecting the 
Isia. On the decline of the national character and 
institutions, after the permanent subjection of the 
country to the Greeks and Romans, these mysterious 
significations, such as they were, gradually became 
trite and public, as is evident from all that has been 

somewhat similai', ap. Spon. Rei antiq. select qiuest. in Poleni SuppL ad 
Grsev. Thes. t. iv. p. 1260. and Montf. sup. cit. pL cxv. 

^ These solstitial solemnities seem to have been common, as might be 
expected from their very nature, to many nations. ( Vid. Court de Oe- 
belin. Hist du Calendr. Monde prim. t. iv. p. 285.) Besides the Sa- 
turnalia of the Romans above noticed, Hyde describes a feast among the 
ancient Persians of a like nature ; and to a similar association of ideas he, 
perhaps reasonably enough, would refer some of the old rites of Twelfth 
night in England. (Relig. vet Pers. 2d edit. p. 2^3, 256.) 



DF ANCIENT EGYPt- feEGT. HI. 95 

said above. But in the days of Herodotus^ the case 
was different. That author describes this festival 
somewhat in the same terms as the others, but does 
not venture upon any explanation of its meaning ; 
observing, that he was not at liberty to disclose the 
real motive of the lamentations, with which it was 
accompanied. Herodotus may have yjsited Egypt 
about 450 fi. c, at which time the seventeenth of 
Athor fell on the twenty-seventh of February old 
style, when it is clear the mournful ceremonies of 
the Isia, could only have had a mysterious connexion 
with the circumstances of their institution. 

The foregoing illustrations sufficiently confirm the 
remark already made, that Athor, like several other 
egyptiah deities, was, in reality, merely one of the 
personifications of Ms, the essence of the female god^ 
head, whom she represented in that capacity of infer- 
nal deity which entered into her attributes, as well as 
into those of her husband Osiris. Accordingly, Plu- 
tarch informs us°* that Isis was sometimes called Mout, 
sometimes Athyri, The first of these titles or epi- 
thets shall be examined in the sequel ; as for Athyri, 
("A^fi,) it is evidently one of the synonymes or va- 
rieties of Athor, and denoted, according to the same 
ailthor, literally, the mundane habitation ofHorusJ" 

1 iL 61. ra De Is. ^t Os, c 66. 

" OixAv '1C2(«tf xorfCMv, rendered mandanam Hon domum by almost ajl 
the commentators, Croze, (Thes. Epist. pt iii. p. 150) Jablonsky, (Panth* 
1. ill. c. 5, § 2, fin.) Squire, (in loc.) Wyttenbach, (in loc.) Champollion. 
(Panth. pL 18, a.) This sense I have therefore been willing to adopt, as 
being certainly most in unison with the general tenor of the subject Yet 
it must be admitted that the adjective »«V^/«f hardly, if ever, so far as I 
know, occurs in any other classical greek author but as the deriratiye of 
K9o-fM^ in its signification of ordo, ornatus; x^TfiixU being the adjective of 
»iafL0fj mundus. Old Amyot gives, la belle ipaisou do Horns. Squire 
endeavours to show that the name of Osiris would here be more appro- 



96 dN THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

That he was right in this interpretation, has been 
abundantly proved by recent discoveries, the figura- 
tive emblem of this goddess having been observed 
by Messrs. Champollion° and Salt** to be a square, the 
hieroglyphic of House^ in which sits a sparrow-hawk, 
the common symbol of Horus. This curious emblem 
occurs, among other instances, in the plates of the 
tomb of the theban king, published by Bekoni ;** where 
the female figure who stands behind the throne of the 
egyptian Pluto is Athor, with her name and titles af- 
fixed. In Champollion's Pantheon' we have a figure 
of the goddess wearing as a crown this hieroglyphical 
house, decked with a fringe of lotus flowers, the em- 
blem of the lower regiorij of which I conceive Athor 
as olxog "^D^gou to be typical. The symbol suggests at 
once the etymology of the word, the principal ele- 
ments of which are evidently the Coptic Hi or AI, 
House, and the name of the god its inhabitant.' It 

priate than that of Horus, and has even gone the length of substituting it 
in his english version. It would, however, require many more and 
stronger arguments than any adduced by him to justify so strange a li- 
berty, even if the emendation were not nullified by the clear testimony 
' of the hierogljrphic monuments. 

o Precis du syst. hi^r. tab. gen. No. 101. 

P Essay on phonet* Hierog. p. 42, pi. iii. No. 47. 

<i Plates xviii. xix. 'PI. 17, a. 

B That this was the true sense of the name, occurred to Lacreze (Thes. 
Epist. pt. iii. p. 159,) who supposes it to be compounded of HI, house, 
©O, the world, and the name of the god. This would give HI 0' HP, 
which is not inadmissible, and would render very closely, and to the let- 
ter, the mysterious signification of the word, according to the interpreta- 
tion of the passage of Plutarch adopted by that critic. I should, how- 
ever, prefer a more simple form, HI0-nP, the 'House of Horus, the ar- 
ticle being postfixed to the governing substantive. The word HI, I am 
aware, is masculine in modern Coptic ; but in the hieroglyphic texts it is 
usually accompanied by the feminine article, or, at least, by the semicircle 
denoting the feminine gender, (Champol. Precis, tab. gen. No. 278, 279, 
280,) which justifies the conjecture,' that> in the ancient sacerdotal dia- 
lect, the noun itself was feminine. Besides, it is evident, that, in the pre- 

8 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT. III. 97 

• 

iV not difficult to guess the allusion contained in this 
mysterious appellation ; for the Sun, who enters ihto 
the sacred character and attributes of several egyptian 
deities, and more especially of Horus, the sparrow- 
hawk god, by the united testimony of antiquity, d6s* 
cending, during this month, on that point of the zo- 
diac where he appeared, when visible, lowest in the 
heaven, and remained the greater number of hours 
beneath the horizon, might well be said to take up 
his abode with that deity of the lower hemisphere or 
region (to vto y^p kgl) ii/po^ki) to whom the season was 
especially dedicated. 

From all this it may be collected, that Isis, as mo-^ 
ther of Harpocrates, and Athor, as the house of Ho- 
rus, at this season, were merely symbolic representa- 
tives of the same deity, in an almost precisely similar 
capacity. The name Harpocrates means literally^^ 
Horus lame in the footj allusive to the embarrassed 
motion of the sun at the solstice ; for these two ju- 
venile deities, Horus and Harpocrates, were but two 
different personifications of the same emblematic ori- 
g'inal, the one born of Isis at the winter solstice, called 
Harpocrates, or Horus lame, the other produced at a 

seat case, even a masculine noun, when adopted as the proper name of a ;. 
femsale goddess, might become feminine in composition ; the female House 
of Horus, 

This form of the genitive case in simple rc^men^ as in the idiom of the , 
Semitic languages, is very common, and, indeed, prevalent in old egypt- 
ian, as appears from the traditional remains of that tongue in its pure 
state transmitted by the Greeks, and the eoptic proper names, 2X-H2}! 
2^EMNOTTC, &c., as TV ell as the interpreted hieroglyphic texts. In 
modem Coptic, it is, I believe, rare or obsolete, the genitive case beipg 
jbrmed by a servile prefix or preposition. Thre postfixing of the article^ , 
so common in the ancient, is also unknown or unusual in the modern 
dialect, (cf. Champ. Precis, p. 127.) , 

The et3rmology above proposed has, I find, occurred, in part at least, to 
Alberti. (Not. ad Hesych. v. *Atfv^ ) 

H 



98 ON THB CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

different season from the same female deityi called 
Horns simply, or Horud sound or perfect, as shall be 
shown in its proper place. 

With respect to any connexion between this month 
Itndthesign Sagittarius ; — theGreeks, there is no doubt, 
identified Horus with their Apollo, whose emblem is 
a bow and arrow ; and we have authority to believe 
that such an attribute also belonged to the egyptian 
deity, according to the primitive mythology. It may 
be observed, tlmt the figure of the Sagittarius, on the 
circular planisphere of Denderah, has a janus or 
double-headed bust ; one of the faces is that of a spar- 
row-hawk ; the animaPs body is that of the coW spe- 
cies, with cloven feet j the head-dress is that peculiar 
to Osiris in his character of Pluto ; all which seems 
to hint at some connexion between the season and the 
deities into whose influences thereon We have just 
been inquiring. On the quadrangular Zodiac, the em- 
blems, though somewhat varied, are analogous. In 
the janus, the head of a lion is4ndeed substituted for 
that of the sparrow-hawk,* but the bird itself k repre- 
sented entire, sitting on the back of the cIoven*footed 
animal. There is, however, another mysterious re«- 
presentation iit the same compartment, which consti- 
tutes a principal portion of th§ emblem of the sign ;^ 
a human figure with the head of a sparrow-hawk, evi-« 
dently Horus, transfixes with a dart or arrow a hi- 
deous nondescript, probably one of the personifications 
of Typhon, or the evil genius, whose tail or train is 

' ^ This substitution niaj receite light from a comparison of the siga 
Leo, as will be seen presentij ; the lion^ Of lion's head, being but another 
type of the sun combating the typhonic influences- He is also support- 
ed by the sparrow-hawk. 
« See Plat» III. No. 3. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 99 

held hy another monster, usually supposed, and, I 
conceive, with justice, to be the hippopotamus, which, 
we learn from the ancients, was the ordinary emblem 
of Typhon or of the south pole. In the picture of 
the theban tomb'' the sign Sagittarius seems to be re- 
presented by the same symbolic adventure. The fi- 
gure of Horus appears there also combating sometimes 
a crocodile, one of the common emblems of the lower 
hemisphere,"* sometimes a nondescript monster, not 
unlike that pourtrayed as engaged with the same deity 
in the zodiac of Denderah. The classical commenta- 
tors of the zodiac inform us, that the real meaning of 
the symbol Sagittarius was doubtful ; but, according 
to Eratosthenes'" and others, the arrows he bore were 
the same with which Apollo had destroyed the Cy- 
clops, in revenge of the death of Esculapius. It is 
obvious how naturally the Greeks would connect or 
confound this fable, with the egyptian tradition of the 
war of Typhon against Osiris, and his defeat and death 
by the hand of Horus. And the analogy between 
this mysterious combat, ai^l the struggle of the deities 
of light against the evil influences of the lower hemi- 
sphere in the tropic, during the month of Athor, is very 
palpable. All this may be elucidated by the following 
passage of Eusebius :^ — " The light of the moon is 
consecrated in the city of Apollinopolis. Its symbol 
is a man with the head of a sparrow-hawk, attacking 
with a dart' Typhon, in the form of a hippopotamus.^ 

^ See Plate II. ^ Horapol. i. c 69, 70. 

^ Ap. Hygin. Poet. Astr. ii. 15, conf. Scholiast, ad Germanic, v. 305. 

y Pnep. ev. p. 1 16. Ed. Pto. 1628. 

z ^St^TjvTif whick denotes precisely the same sort of instrument as tbaf; 
with which the figure of the god combats on the zodiac, namely, a light 
feathered dart, or arrow used as a javelin. Vid. commentat. ad Hesych. 
vv. Zv^Qrivny ZiCuvtj, S/Cwi^tj. 

^ So also Damasc. apud Phot. cod. ccxlii. Ed. Schott. 1611, p. 1043. 



/ 



\ .. ... / 



100 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

The image is light in its colour, as denoting the bor- 
rowed light of the moon. The head of the sparrow- 
hawk shows that its light is derived from the sun, for 
the sparrow-hawk is sacred to the sun, as the symbol 
of light and spirit ; but the hippopotamus denotes the 
lower hemisphere. The god who is worshipped in 
this city is Horus/* Tlie moon combined with Ho- 
rns, whilst he combats with an arrow the hippopota- 
mus, or Typhon of the lower hemisphere, can denote 
nothing else but the united forces of the divinity of 
light, combating the typhonic influences which oppose 
his progress in the winter tropic, during the month of 
Athor, with whom he then takes up his habitation. 
This mystical junction of the two luminaries at this 
season, and in this position, in the physical mythology, 
may be connected with the figure already mentioned 
of the spiritual mythology, that the souls descended 
into Amenti in the bark of the Sun and Moon. We 
certainly have here a striking enough analogy between 
the symbols of the deities of this month, and those of 
the corresponding division of the zodiac. 



Choiak, ( Capricornus.) 

The name of this month is very obscure. The 
only word in the egyptian mythological vocabulary to 
which it bears any resemblance, is the name of the 
god Sevek, or Souak, of which we may perhaps be 
permitted to conjecture Choiak to be a variety or cor- 
ruption ; the guttural being substituted for the sibi- 
lant, as these two sounds are very commonly con- 
founded in Coptic : thus we find the month Pachon 
written also Pashon ; Mechir, Meshir ; besides many 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT, lit. 101 

other examples.^ This deity is personified under the 
form of a crocodile,'' the name of the animal being 
the same as that of the god, according to Strabo'^ and 
Damascius.® 

. We have already remarked, that among t&e zodia- 
jcslI symbols of the royal tomb, is a crocodile riding on 
the back of another animal, apparently an hippopotor 
nius, the hieroglyphic of the lower hemisphere. A 
similar group is not uncommon on scarabee gems; 
.on. several published in Count Pahlen's collection,^ 
the crocodile - is represented mounting on ^ a goat- ; 
which infers a mystical union between Mendes or 
Pan and Sewek.^ This might be merely a variety of 
the symbol of the tomb, and approaches as nearly as 
C£|,n well be imagined to CaipriGorn of the greek zor 
diac, a nondescript, half goat half fish. ' HorapoUo* 
mentions a crocodile, or the tail of a crocodile, which 
may be the hinder part of Capricorn in its combined 
^tate, among the embLems^of the, lower hemisphere or 
south pole. The position of this month in the seasons 
would render the figure equally appropriate as applied 
to itp These coincidences justify at least the conjee-, 
ture, that the crocodile of the tomb may be the pro? 
totype of the greek Capricorn.^ 

• • • 

b See Klaproth, Lettr« I. a M. de Giulianoff, p. 21, 
W^Z^ pour XAg ; iUimine. 
gjOBT ... XOBT; chaog^er, &c. &c. 

c Cbampol Papth. pL 22. * P. 1150. 

« Ap. Phot. <Bod. ccxiii. p. 1043. ' ' 

1. ' ldapco% CoU. d'Autiq. ^gyj^U pL xxviiL No. 1521. 1524<, conf.^ pi 
JUL, No. 1089. 1090, pL xxvii No. 1449. 

« Hieix^. i. C.69- 70. 

b The conjecture that this is the month of Sewek, or the crocodile god, 
nputy receiy.e ^n^e corfobpii&tion from the circumstance, that the Lattni^ 
identified that deity >vith their own Satan| ; (vid. Champ: Panth. pi. 22. > 
for what possible reason (since he certainly was not the father of Am- 



10^ Off THE CALSNDAfi AND ZODIAC 



ToBi,* (Aquarius). 

The first montli of drought, or of harvest ; for that 
these significations, one or both, belong to the hiero- 
glyphic of this, the Second season, there can be little 
doubt. 

According to Plutarch,^ this was the montli in 
'which took pUtce the return of Isis from Phenicia. 
Without paying too implicit a deference to his account 
of the journey and adventures of the goddess, which 

mon or Jove in the Egyptian Pantheon) it were difficult to iuiderstui4» 
unless we derive it from the correspondence of the two in character and 
attribute, as referred to the ph3rsical mythology. Among the Latins, the 
solstitial season was dedicated to Saturn ; who, after his expulsion frcMft 
Olympus, became one of the principal divinities of the lower regions : 

T^»«im-* •St 4tnft9a-^ /S«^W H ti T^^^^ ifitfis* (JL #. 479.) 

The tradition that Saturn Hed from Greece to the west, or to Latium, as 
a hiding-iplace, whence Vir^l : Latiumque vocari maluit ; his quoniam 
tutus latuisset in oris: (JBn. viii. Vt 3d^8.).-and Ovid: Dicta iuit Lsti«n 
terra latente Deo :' (Fast i. v. ^38.) is l>ut a variety of Homer'a accouDt 
of his being thrust into the Shades. The ideas of West, Sunset, ^vrt^. 
Darkness, and the lower regions in a spiritual sense, are inseparable in 
the primitive greek iMe ; wh^re, as in that of Egypt, l^e astronondeai and 
funereal mythology, by an obvious and^tural association of ideas, were 
closely connected; as is clear from the whole Nf«^«|w«frf/« of the Odyssey, 
and the phoenicogreek names "£^1^0$, Erebus, from ^*13^ Ereb, the W^t, 
Evening, or Dusk ; and Zo^«f , Z«^«9 'nt^tfretf from zaphun, the north, 
or *< Hidden from" the sun. Vid. Buzt Lex. hebr, v. ]^^* In the 
egyptio-greek medals, the figure of Saturn appears in company with 
the sign Capricorn of the zodiac. Zoeg. Nmn. Egypt Mus. boi^. p. 183, 
No. 170. 

i Memph. TQBU Theb. TaB£. Tuki, Rud. p. 391, sq. Jablonsk. Lex; 
in V. With the Greeks usually Tv^t* 

i^ De Is. et Os. c. 50. 



OF ANCIENT EOYPT. aECT. 111^. lOS 

tsavours little of the pure egj^tian mythology, we hav6 
at least enough to suggest the etymology of the name 
of the month, and possibly the sense in which it was 
applied. Tobi in Coptic means to return, repay, or 
restore. This was the season in which it would 
seem that, according to the ordinary course of egyp- 
tian agriculture, as influenced by the peculiarities of 
the climate, the blade shot forth its full ear, and the 
early crops began to ripen for the harvest;' from 
which period the earth returned, in rapid succession, 
the various deposits committed to her breast by the 
husbandmail, since the period of the first subsiding of 
the Nile ; so that there could not be a more appro- 
priate appellation of the season, than the return of 
Isis, the Demeter or Ceres of Egypt. The probabi- 
lity of this etymolog}' has occurred to the learned 
Rossi,*" who has assigned it a place in his lexicon,! 
though without entering into any analysis of the mys-» 
terio^s signification of the word. We have an appo- 
site illustration of this in the Chinese calendar,"^ where 
the first month after the winter solstice, for a different 
reason, though by a precisely similar analogy, is called 
Fou or Return ; by which, says De Guig'ues, they 
denote the return of yang, that is, the principle of 
heat, which since mid-summer had constantly de- 
clined, but from the opposite tropic began gradually 
to resume its vigour. 

Some authors would refer, and not without appa- 
rent reason, the sign Aquarius or the Water-carrier, 
to certain old customs connected with the state of 

K 

V 

1 Pococke, Travels, fol. 1745, vol. i. p. 204. Sonnini, Travels, Eng, 
trans. 4to. ISOO, p. 393, sqq. conf. Zoega, de Obelise, p. 166, note. 
™ Etymology. Bsgypt. Rom. 4to. p. 277. sq. 
^ Deguignes, Mem. de TAcad. des iiisc. U xlvii. p* 384. 



104f ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



the river at this season, which are said still to main* 
tain their ground among the natives of Egypt ; ieind 
we shall adduce some evidence from the remains of 
^yptian tradition, as well as from the natural history 
'of the climate, in fitvour of the plausibility, at least, of 
the conjecture.. 

The inhabitants of the banks of the Nile were 
accustomed, as is well known, to depend almost sole- 
ly on the river water for all purposes to whjqh that 
fluid can be applied ; for besides their superstitious 
regard for the Nile itself, its stream was considered, 
when properly purified and preserved, not only the 
most wholesome, but the most invigorating of bever-r 
ages.^ The Egyptians, says Aristides,^ are the only 
people who preserve water in jars, and calculate its 
age as other nations do that of wine. Deguigaes 
asserts "^ on the authority of Arab writers, tlmt during 
the months of Tybi and Mechir of the Alexandrian; 
calendar, a custom prevails in Egypt to this day, o$ 
preparing the vessels and cisterns^ and laying in the 
supply of drinking water for the season ; the rivei^ 
having now reached its lowest, and to a certain de^ 
gree stationary condition, and its stream being per^; 
fectly pure, and unadulterated by alluvia of any kind. 
The months Tybi and Mechir of the alexandrian year,' 
correspond to Cboiak and Tybi of the ancient calen- 
dar, which we are now endeavopring to elucidate. 
The chief of the emblems which we have conjectured 
to represent the month Choiak on tihe zodiac, the 
croQodile, is closely connected with the water of the 
Nile ; and the festivals mentioned by the ancients as 

o Pint, de Is. et Os. c. 5. 

P Orat. egypt. vol. ii. p. 363. ed. Oxon. 173P. 

n Lib. sup. cit. pi 387» 



• OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 105 

celebrated during this month Tybi, however obscure 
their precise meanings all bear reference to something 
^peculiar in the state of the river, and most probably 
to the lowness of its waters ; and one of them alludes 
most unequivocally to the very custom mentioned by 
,De Guignes. On the seventh day of the month 
Tybi, says Plutarch/ they bake cakes with the figure 
of an hippopotamus bounds stamped on them ; and 
in the city of Apollinopolis, the whole day was de-- 
voted to hunting the Crocodile ; when having de- 
stroyed as many as they were able, they feasted on 
them in great ceremony before the temple ; it being 
incumbent on every person, on that day, to taste the 
flesh of this animal. The above ceremonies there is little 
reason to doubt were in honour of the river to which 
these animals were peculiar. On the eleventh day 
of Tybi, we learn from Epiphanius,' it was customary 
for every Egyptian to draw a certain quantity of 
water from the Nile. This ceremony the worthy 
father supposes to contain some mysterious reference 
to our Saviour's miracle of converting water into 
wine, but it bears sufficient marks of pagan origin ; 
and suggests at once the idea of Aquarius, the sign of 
the zodiac for the season. May not the fable, that 
during the reign of one of the early king? of Egypt, the 
Nile flowed eleven days with honey, figurative of the 
sweetness and excellence of its waters,* be connected 
with the above number of the day of the month, to 
which this rite was attached. According to Mr. 
Salt," the emblem of the river itself,' was a figure 

' De Is. et Os. c 50. ■ Haeres. li. 30. ed. P^tav. p. 451. 

^ Manetho, Djnast. 2d. ap. Syncel. Chronogr- p. 54. et Euseb. in Tbcs. 
temp. Scalig. p. 14. 

^ Essay on phon. hier. p. 48. pi. iii. q. 



106 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

crowned with lotus, pouring water, precisely similar 
to the figure of Aquarius on the greco-egyptian zodi- 
acs, which We may therefore presume to have been a 
personification of the Nile in its lowest state, when 
the value of its waters rendered them an especial 
object of superstitious veneration, though of a difierent 
nature from that attached to them during the inun- ^ 
dation. ChampoUion has also given in his Pantheon"" 
a figure of Ammon in the character of Nilus, pouring 
water out of a vase; In the hierogljrphic inscriptions, 
We sometimes find three vases assigned the river god 
as ah attribute, sometimes only one."' The first 
number is an emblem of the inundation, as we learn 
from HorapoUo ;* any thing thrice repeated denoting 
abundance or a great quantity of the object/ The 
single vase probably refers to the lowest state of the 
river. It is well known tiiat the vases for filtering 
or preserving the Nile water, called Canopi by the 
Greeks, played a distinguished part in the egyptian 
mythology.* Immediately below the group of the 

^ PL 3. ter. 

^ Ibid. Gonf. Precis da s^st M^r. tab. gfen. no. 241, 248. 

^ HierogL lib. i. c. 21. HorapoHo in the same passage observes, that 
the inundation of the riyer was called Noun. ML ChampoUion in tho 
second edition of his Preds (loc. sup. cit.) has affixed to this group in 
his vocabukry, the word NOTB— -either, I presume, as supposing that 
-Horapollo's text is incorrect, or that the two words are synonymous. Be 
that as it may, NOTN certainly is a pure coptic word denoting a flood or 
mass of waters; and as such occurs frequently in the Coptic version of 
scripture; as in Ps. xli. 7. <I>NOTN AqMOTTI OTBE ONOTN— 
J>eep calleth unto deep. Conf. Deut viii. 7. Luc. viiL 31. It is clear 
^hat in the text of Horapollo, as has been frequently observed, we must 
read hf ^^wo-t, for et tc«Xova-t. (Yid. Jablonsk. ColL voc segypt. in v.) 
The sai^ie nppiber of signs of water is, as we have seen, the symbol of 
the season of the rise of the river, in the calendar. 

y Young, Art EgypI* p. 70*. No. 204. Champol. Prec. tab. gen. No. 
227. 

> Plut de Is. et Os. c. 36. Montf. Ant. ezpL t. ii pt. ii* f* 320. pi. 
cxxxii. sqq. Jablonsk. Panth. 1. v* c. 4. § d* 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 107 

crocodne and hippopotamus in the theban tomb, is a 
vase, on which the monster rests" one foot. This 
the french illustrators ci that monument have, I 
conceive, justly conjectured to be the sign of Amphora 
or Aqu&rius. 



Mechie. (Pisces.) 

Concerning this month or its name no observa- 
tions of a satis&cloiy nature present themselves ; 
in the coptic vocabulary it occurs written also 
Meshir, arabice >A^t Amshir.^ Kircher"" asserts, 
but without giving his authority, that during this 
month, it was customary to fumigate and purify the 
temples and sanctuaries. If he be right, it might 
give the etymology of the name, as Amshir in Egyp- 
tian means a censer, or oblation of incense. Being, 
however, here destitute of any guide to our re- 
searches, we shall pass on to the next month, which 
will afford more pointed! illustrations of our views. 



Phamenoth. (Aries.) 

The sense of this word is obvious ; namely the 
month of ABK)n or Amen, the patron deity of Thebes, 
whose name evidently constitutes its principal ele^ 
ment. It is nearly the same as the appellation of some 
of the most celebrated theban sovereigns, Ainenoph, 



* Jomard, m Descr. de TEg. Antiq* M^. p. 256. 

^ Tidd; Kircher ; looc. citt. adf, 67. supn « (£d. Kgjpt t. iu. p, 2621. 






108 ON TH£ CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

or with tke prefix, Phamenoth/ which means literally 
dedicated or devoted to Amon. It corresponds stiH 
more closely to the proper names of private individiu 
fBils, Phamenothes, or Amenothes/ common in papyri^ 
and really synonymous with the other ; the termina^ 
tions oth or oph^ being merely varieties of pronun- 
ciation of the Coptic HTn to devote or dedicate j' 
so that there can be no question respecting its import ; 
this being evidently the month of the chief of the 
thebaii pantheon, commonly called in inscriptions^ 
Amon, ruler or director of the gods ; identified by 
the Greeks with their Jupiter. 

There seems among many nations, at whatever 
period of the seasons the civil commencement of their 
year may b^ fixed, to be a natural tendency to date its 
first montb» in an astronomical sense, from the vernal 
equinox ; as the epoch when the sun, having renewed 
his vigour, completely overcomes the ascendency of 
the lower hemisphere, and advances rapidly towards 
the zenith. This may account for the Egyptians 
having dedicated this month by preference, to the 
prince of their pantheon, Amon Ra, himself an em- 
blem of the luminary, and whose hieroglyphical symr 
bol, it is scarcely necessary to observe, was a Ram,^ 
the sign of this division of the zodiac ; thereby in« 
vesting him with the supremacy of their astronomical 
calendar, while Thot presided over that in. civil uise. 
There can be little doubt, but that the practice of 
counting the signs from Aries was originally an egyp* 

d As in the celebrated greek inscription on the theban statue* Gob£ 
Pausan. Att. c. 42. § 2. 
e Papyr. ap. Young, account of recent discov* p. 77, 78. sqq. 
f Champol. Pr^is p. 168. Koseg. de prise* iEgfypt lit p. 32. ^ 

If See the splendid figure ap. ChampoL Panth. pL 2. bis, 2. qutftei?. 

8 



6F ancient EGYPT. SECT. III. 109 

tian custom, which only became general among the 
L^uropeans in later ages ; for the moi'e ancient Greeks, 
on their first adoption and use of the zodiac, seem to 
have adapted its signs to their civil calendar, reckon- 
ing from Cancer, as 4;he commencement of their own 
olympian year.** That the other was the' peculiarly 
egyptian arrangement, we are led to conjecture from 
its own internal evidence ; but besides this,* Theon of 
Alexandria, an author sufficiently Well versed in the 
mythological astronomy of Egypt, positively asserts 
it to have been so. In his commentary on a passage 
of Aratus, where that poet in enumerating the signs 
begins With Cancer, he observes :* " But why does he 
begin with Cancer, while the Egyptians always reckon 
from the sign of the Ram ? because it is his usual 
practice to reckon from the north, atid Cancer is the 
most northerly sign ; but the Egyptians with equal 
I'eason commence from • the Ram, arranging their 
emblems according to the analogy of their physical 
qualities/ Hence, say they, ihe Ram is the chief, as 
being by nature princely and commanding, since the 
Ram is leader and guide of the flock ; as also because 
in this sign the equinox takes place/' 

Plutarch^ informs us, that on the first day of Fha- 
menoth they celebrated the " entrance oi Osiris into 
the moon,** as being, 6(tgog afjc^, " the beginning of 
springy*^ (according to the sense of the expression 
as referred to the vulgar idiom.) The first part of 
this description is not very intelligible ; there can 
howevei: be little doubt, from the second, but that 

^ Arat. PhaBDom. v. 545, sqq. Hipparch. ad Arat lib. iii. ap« Petav. 
Uran. p. 136. sqq. Calend. Grsec. ap. Gemin. Elein. c. xvi. conk Petay. 
Uran. p» 142. 

^ Ad Arat Phsenbm. v. 5H. ^ De Is. et Os.c. 43. 



1 10 ON TH£ CALENDAR AN0 ZODIAC 

the feast here alluded to was nothing more than an 
ancient solemnity first instituted in honour of the 
vernal equinox, or first day of Jupiter's month ; 
which remaining, like other rites, attached to the 
month, and not to the sign, may.have been confound- 
ed or misunderstood by Plutarch. This appears to be 
proved by the circumstance that the expression htgo^ 
iffxh* ^^^^ used by that author, commonly denotes 
with astronomers, not literally the commencement of 
the season called spring, but the vernal equinox itself^ 
the chief point or acme of the season. So Theon *2 
Mo^y ya^ i» Kf idi Cwm aifrw^ iago^ ug^^if 7^^flf ifAoUj^ 
$uu ix) tS¥ "KoixUff* ^* for when you know that the sun 
is in the Ram, you will reckon that it is lag^ o^, 
the acme of spring, and the same holds good of the 
other . cardinal points ;" and accordingly in another 
place:" a^ XS'/^w^i •^a*' i» ^S ^ytxigeifn ywitcu i 
^Ijog^ rm yof ap^^ um¥ i ^sipkiy. *^ The agxpi yf^ 
fMwo^, or acme of winter, is when the sun enters Ca^ 
pricom ; for then is the severity of winter.** 



Fharmouthi, (Tauru^.y 

We may trace a connexion between this name and 
the egyptian pantheon, iii the resemblance qf its radi^ 
cal syllables to those of Hermouthis or Thermouthis^ 
the title of a female personage of some celebrity among 
the ancient expounders of egyptian mythology. 
. That the month Fharmouthi took its name from 
this divinity, has occurred to Jablonski,'' who has, 

1 Ad Arat. r. 59». « Ad r. 886, 

n Pimtb. lib. i. c. ▼. $ 10. conf, Scbow, Cart pap. pp. 46, 47. .^ckaon, 
Cbron. Ant toL it p. 4^ 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT* SECT, III. Ill 

however, aseiigiied a eharactei* to herself, and an ety* 
mology to her name, neither of which appear very 
plausible, namely, EPMOTT, catmng death, or with 
the article 0EPMOTT, Thermouthis, t?he causer or 
goddess of death ; identiiying her with Hecate or Tith- 
rambo, an evidence which ought, in refison, to lead to 
a conclusion the reverse of that which he has formed. 
Epiphanius, in treating of egyptian superstition, ob- 
sierves, that ^^ some are initiated into the mysteries of 
Tithrambo, who is also called Hecate, others inta 
those of Nephthys, others into those of Thermouthis ^" 
whence the learned critic infers, that Tithrambo or 
Hecate, and Thermouthis, are the same, apparently 
because it suited his argument ; but the sense of the 
passage leads to the more just inference, that they 
were different, as an express distincticm is made be- 
tween their rites. 

Tn the existing remains of hieroglyphic antiquity, 
{here occurs no distinct proper name of a divinity re- 
sembling Hermouthis or Thermouthis ; but there is a 
familiar title so nearly corresponding to it, as to leave 
little doubt but that it is the same, considered by the 
Greeks as that of a separate goddess, namely, MOTT, 
mother ; or commonly with the epithet !)££P mighty 
prefixed, 2CEPMOTTI, mighty or powerful mother.** 
This, with the usual prefix Ilia, might give us the name 
of the month ; the first letter of the second or longer 
name, being a liquid or aspirate of uncertain sound in 
the egyptian language, may possibly have been supV; 
pressed or slurred over in composition, more ei^ci- 
ally by the Greeks anxious on all occasions to reduce 
the pronunciation of foreign tongues to their own 

9 Champol* PrMs. du lyst. hi^r. p. 1S2, sqq- 



112 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

standard of euphony. Among Coptic proper names, 
we find Patermouthis ;^ which, (as in the case of ^ 
Paophi, Phamenoth, and other months,) seems to be. 
merely the same dedicatory compound, applied ac- 
cording to familiar custom to private individuals ; and 
where the proiymciation of the initial radical appears 
to have been preserved entire. Without insisting 
upon the rigid exactness of this etymology, we may 
be permitted to assume, that in whatever .way the 
name is compounded, it contains the signification of * 
sacred to Mouth, or Zermout ; as Phamenoth con- 
tains that of sacred to Amon. We shall, in another 
place, adduce farther confirmation of this opinion, 
from the close connexion between this deity herself, 
and those who preside over the months, which pre- 
cede and follow her own in the calendar. 

We find this title of Mouth, Zermout, or Ther-* 
mouthis, applied by the ancients, or appended in the 
hieroglyphic inscriptions, to various female person-* 
ages of the pantheon, Isis, Neit, Buto ; who thus be-' 
come more especially invested with the attributes of 
maternity or female productiveness.** The principal 



p Schow, Cart pap. pp. 12. 24. 2S. 

4 We have seen (supra, p« 9S<) that Plutarch mentions Moat, which 
ivord is rendered by himself mother, among the titles of Isis, that is, of 
the female essence of the egyptian divinity in general. This is confirmed 
by iBlian, (Hist. Anim. x. 22.), who also observes (x. 31.) that a parti- 
cular species of snake, one of the sacred emblems of Isis, and her favour- 
ite head ornament, was called Thermouthis. Horapollo assigns the same 
cnaracter to Neit (Minerva), as he informs us that a vulture was the 
emblem of both that deity and of the idea mother. (HierogL i. c. 11, 12.) 
Eusebius (Pnep. £v. L iiL c. 11.) states that Isis was also so represented.: 
In M. Champollion's Pantheon the title Mout or Zermout (Thermouthis) 
is applied to various other female deities. 

According to Josephus (Ant. Jud. II. ix. 5), the Pharaoh's daughter 
who saved Moses from the waters of the Nile, was called Thermouthis ; 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 113 

component part of the hieroglyphic name is a vulture, 
the sign of the idea mother. ^ In fact, this mysterious 
idol appears to have been merely a symbol of the ma- 
ternal essence or principle of the creation, the mother 
or mighty mother of the world. She was considered 
as the wife of Ammon, whom we find invested with 
the character of male generative principle, or Priapus. 
Horapollo^ asserts that the Bull of the zodiac was 
consecrated to a female deity whom he calls the 
Moon ; a description not incompatible with the vari- 
ed properties of Mout. According to the unani- 
mous testimony of antiquity, the moon was a§(rB»66fj\i/g 
in the egyptian cosmogony ;* that is, one of those 
physical objects of the creation which partook both of 
the male and female essence. Thermouthis also fre- 
quently appears with very unequivocal marks of the 
double sex." " The moon was considered female,'* 
says Plutarch,^ " as impregnated through her junction 
with the sun, male as herself redistributing the same 
generative or creative principles throughout the 



wliicli may have been either a title of honour peculiar to herself, or as- 
sumed according to the prevailing fashion in honour of some favourite 
deity. Heliodorus, however, in his romance (^thiop. L i. p. 54, sqq.) 
gives the same name to a man, with whom, as a professed warrior or sol- 
dier of fortune, it may have borne reference to Neith as goddess of war, 
if indeed she can be so considered in the egyptian pantheon. This, how- 
ever, might still &rther corroborate what has been observed in the text 
concerning the sex of the divinity. One of the branches of the Nile, 
called Thermuthiac or Pharmuthiac by Ptolemy, (Geogr. IV. 5.) and 
Pharmuthis, a small town of the Delta, also, it may be presumed, derived 
their name from this deity. 

' Champol. Precis du syst. hier. p. 122. 

s Hierog. lib. i. c. 10. 

t Plut. de Is. et Os. c. 43. Spartian. in vit. Carac. c. 7. aBbf. Orph. 
Hymn. 8. Macrob. Sat. iii. c. 8. Selden, De diis syr. Synt. ii. c. 2. 
See Appendix No. XVII. 

^ See Champ. Panth. pi. 6. bis- ^ De Is. et Os. c. 43. 

I 



114 ON TH£ CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

world/' In the same passag'e he observes, that ^^ this 
was the reason why the Egyptians called the moon 
the mother of the worJd!^ i/o kou (iffjriga r^i' ^ekrjpfiif roD 
xotrijuov zocKovffi. This corresponds with the descrip- 
tion given of her by Horapollo."' " This goddess 
produces and nourishes every thing useful in the uni- 
verse ;'* r^g 6zov aurijg wvtgs, yspvaKTTjg zou ocv^aifowrfjg offcc^ 
Kara top xaefjbou gcW xs^^f^^ C)Til, confirmed by Plu- 
tarch, states that the issue of this mystical union be- 
tween the two deities, was the bull Apis :^ the same 
no doubt alluded to by Horapollo above quoted, and 
which we learn from many testimonies^ was especially 
sacred to the moon. On the greco-egyptian zodiacs, 
and elsewhere,^ Taurus appears accordingly with the 
disk of the moon between his horns. Eusebius,"" it 
may be added, asserts* that the moon in one of her fe- 
male characters was personified by a goddess with the 
head of a vulture, which bird we have already seen 
was the symbol of Mout, or Mother. This mysteri- 
ous union of the two luminaries, to whom these two 
contiguous months, Fhamenoth, Pharmouthi, were 
respectively dedicated, namely, Ammon, the male 
principle of the sun, and Mout, the female essence of 
the moon, may possibly be hinted at in the obscure 
fable of the passage of Plutarch, quoted in the preced- 
ing article. 

^ Hierog. I. c. 4&. 

* Cyril, ad Hos. x. 3. p. 145. TtXim filv ya^ tiKfot, acyavov 3« 'HA<©o, 
'Tcv'^Amv Aiy vvrm fcv$ o^X»^ov9Tti iXty^u conf. Plut. Sympos* viii. qu. 1. 
Be. Is. c. 43. 

y Ap. Jablonsk. Panth. I. iy. c. 1. $ 3. 

> Passe[|||Gemm. astrifer. vol. i. No* xxii. &c. 

a Pnep. ev. 1. iii. c. 12. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 115 



Pachon, (Oemini.) 

This word, which among the Copts admits of con- 
siderable variety of orthography, Pachon, Pachons, 
Pashons ;^ denotes literally the month of Chon, or 
Chons, the egyptian Hercules, whose name occurs in 
the ancient authors under corresponding varieties. 
From the Etymologicum magnum*" we have, " Chon ; 
among the Egyptians Hercules j*' and ChampoUion"^ 
has identified the name Chons accompanying the 
figure of the god on the monuments. The same is 
common as an element of the appellations of indivi- 
duals in the papyri, and other inscriptions ; as Pete-* 
chonsis, Psenchonsis, Devoted to Chons, Son of 
Chons, &c.* In the list of theban kings given by 
Eratosthenes, the name of this deity occurs under the 
form of Som or Sem, as an element of that of king 
Semphoucrates, or Hercules Harpocrates, according 
to the greek translation appended to it ; and in Ma- 
netho's twenty-third dynasty, in a note attached to 
the name of king Psammus, it is said that he was 
called by the Egyptians Hercules. This, deducting 
the greek termination, is the same word with the ar- 
ticle prefixed.' Hence there can be no doubt, as has 

* Vid. auctores sup. cit. ad p. 67. ^ y. Xwvs^. 
d Precis Tab. gen. No. 49. 193. 

* Papyr. ap. Young, account of discov. p. 70. 75, alib. conf. Append, to 
same work. No. I. Rosegart. de prise. Mg, Ut. p. 68. 

' Enseb. Chron. ap. ScaL Thes. temp. p. 16. conf. Champol. Free. p. 
252. M. Klaproth (Collect. d'Ant. egypt p. 23.) has indeed denied the 
justness of this etymology, so ingeniously deducedbyMons. C, and asserted 
that the article was never prefixed to proper names in Egyptian. Here 
however, as in some other instances, this acute critic, in the ardour of 
his controversy, seems to have overshot his mark. Egyptian proper 



116 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

been often observed by egyptian antiquaries/ but that 
this name Chon or Chons, under its numerous ♦varie- 
ties, is originally no other than the coptic radical 
2COM, or 2CnN2, — strength or power ;^ the sound 
of the first letter of the word being, as we have seen 
above, uncertain, or such as cannot be conveyed ex- 
actly in the idiom of any foreign language, but par- 
taking it would appear of the varieties of guttural, 
aspirate, and sibilant. 

The reasons which have induced me to assign this 
position in the year to Pachon, or the first water 
month according to the hieroglyphic, have been given 
above ; and in still farther corroboration of them, it 
will be easy to show how closely its patron deity was 
connected with this season in the egyptian mythology. 

If any attention be due, on the one hand, to the 
joint testimony of Eudoxus and HorapoUo,* — on the 
other hand, to that of Solon and Plato, ^ two among" 
the sages of Greece who are supposed to have been 
most intimately acquainted with the doctrines of the 
theban priesthood, confirmed by Porphyry^ and Ho- 

names, especially wlien significant of some quality or attribute, do un- 
questionably occur very frequently with the article prefixed. For ex- 
ample, that of the god Sun, PH and ^PH, on medals, gems, Abraxas, Sec. 
AMENHO), a>AIVtENa4) ; supr. p. 108. 2EN020P, HSENOSOP, Ko- 
segart. pp. 29. 37. MAT, Mother; MATT, or TMAT, Plutarch ; vid- 
sup. p. 111. conf. Lex. Copt, in vv. IlinP, Schow Cart. Papyr. Mus. 
Borg. p. 88. niAMOTN; id. ibid. Phthah, I hold to. be HTAft, 
(the) Establisher; as here nXOM, (the) Strength or Might, &c. &c. 

« Jablonsk. Coll. voc. ieg. v. XflN. Te Water, ad loc. p. 200. Id. 
Jablonsk. Panth. lib. ii. c 3. § 3. Young, Art. Eg. p. 45. No. 18. Cham- 
pol. Precis, p. 249. 

*» We find traces of the same primitive root in the hebrew 1^5, per- 
sian khan, german konig, (king), kuhn, konnen, all referable to the same 
original source of human language. 

* Vid. auctores, cit. ad p. 47. supr. conf. Horap. i. c. 21. 

^ Edit. Serran. t. iii. p. 22 i Ap. Procl. ad Tim. Plat. p. 37. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT. Ill, 117 

rapoUo ;" — the most ancient recorded doctrine of that 
fraternity respecting the rise of the Nile was twofold ; 
the phenomenon being ascribed, partly to the rains of 
jiEthiopia, partly to an ebullition or oozing of water 
from the lower parts of the earth, a peculiar blessing 
bestowed by the gods on their favourite land, for the 
purpose of fertilizing its soily without exposing it to 
those natural convulsions, or other calamities, to 
which, according to the same priests, all countries 
were, subject that were dependant on the water of 
their own atmosphere alone for the moistening or ir- 
rigation of their fields. 

• It will be seen, then, with what propriety the first, 
and as it were laborious, augmentation of the waters 
of the river, was dedicated to Hercules ; who was in 
the egyptian mysteries the active or physical power of 
the deity, or of nature ; Virtus deorum,*" Avyoi/jifig rijg 
(pvfTicjg.'' We have traces of a title of this deity, pre- 
cisely corresponding to the above epithets, in the 
name of the city of Sebenn}i;us, called by the 
Copts 2CEMNOTTI, Semnouti ;P which means lite- 
rally Strength or Power of God ; and that it really 
was the sacred city of Hercules, may be inferred from 
the circumstance, that on the greek and roman coins 
of Sebennytus,*^ the common device is a figure of Mars 
or of Hercules, (these two deities being one with the 
greek interpreters of egyptian theogony), namely, a 

™ Hierogl. loc. sup. cit conf. Aristid. orat. iEgypt. p. 363, sq. ed> 
Oxon. 1730. 

n Macrob. Sat i. c. 20. 

o Jamblich. yita Pythag. Ed. Kuster. c. xxviii. sect. 155, p. 13 1> 

p Kircher, Scala mag. p. 208. Croze. Lexic in v. Jablonsk. Pauth. 
L ii. c. 3. § 4. Champol. L'fgypte sous les Phar. torn. ii. p. 192. 

q Zoeg. Num. segypt. Mus. Borg. p. 117, No. 187. p. 187, No. 212. 



118 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

man armed at all points. And we hear^ of a native 
author, ApollonideSy also called HorapiuSj (probably 
the same as the celebrated Horapollo), who wrote a 
work under the same title of Semnuthis, in which he 
described the exploits of the gods against the giants. 
That the title of the work was the same as that of the 
god, appears from Macrobius in the passage already 
alluded to, where Hercules is described as the power 
of the gods (virtus deoruiii) by which they overcame 
the giants. Ipse creditur et gigantes interemisse, cum 
caelo propugnaret, quasi Virtus deorum* The prin- 
ciple of drought, or unwholesome aridity, was a chief 
element of the Typhon of the physical world, of 
whose evil influences the giants were considered as 
personifications. To these the principle of moisture, 
figurative of the waters of the Nile, or the vapours 
arising from them, was in perpetual hostility. Dio- 
dorus expressly invests the egyptian Hercules with 
the power of controlling or influencing the inunda- 
tion of the Nile ;" of this we have also traces in the 
fables,^ apparently of native origin, wheire that hero, 
when afflicted with thirst in crossing the deserts of 
Lybia, is relieved, by Minerva according to some, 
according to others by Jupiter in the form of a ram, 
that is Ammon ;* who suddenly caused tepid springs 
to issue from the bowels of the earth for his supply. 
A figure of Hercules striking the ground, from 
whence issues forth a stream of water, is common on 
egyptian medals." 

' TheophiL Antioch. ad AUtolyc. lib. ii< g. 6. ad calc. Justmi Martyr. 
ed. Paris, 1742, p. 352. 

8 BibL hist. 1. c. 19. 

t Hesych. v. 'H^uxMiet Advtjff . Suid. v. 'H^Mt^^uos 4'4»{«. Serv. in 
Virg. Mn. iv. 196. 

" Zoeg. Num. Mus. Borg. p. 117. No. 118; p. 191. No. 238; p. 192. 
No. 243; p. 211. No. 445. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. 111. 119 

The Twins, emblems of this season on the zodiac, 
have at first sight no apparent connexion with the my- 
thology of Egypt ; but most of my readers will probably 
be aware, that one of these twins, the Pollux of the 
Greeks, is called on the arab zodiac Hercules -^ and 
one of the two most brilliant stars of the constellation 
was also named Hercules by the Greeks ;"' which 
star, as well as the twin to whom it belongs, is still 
called Hercules on our globes. There exists, more- 
over a fragment of an egyptio-greek zodiac, sculp- 
tured on marble, and which has been frequently en- 
graved and illustrated,"" where the sign of Gemini 
is occupied by two figures, one of whom, the largest 
and most prominent, is the greek Hercules with his club; 
the person of the other lesser figure has no such dis- 
tinctive marks, but appears to be a female. On the zo- 
diac of Dendera, the constellation Gemini is also repre- 
sented by two figures, the one male, and the other 
female.^ The latter has the head of a lion, which pecu- 
Uarity, it is well known, belongs to an egyptian goddess, 
whose name M. ChampoUion' has identified as Tafne. 
The same distinguished critic, in his first letter on the 
museum of Turin* has observed, that this very lion- 
headed goddess, whom he considers as a personifica- 
tion of the attributes of Neit, in her character of 
Minerva bellica, the defensive deity of Egypt, " ap- 
pears among the female divinities of second class, 

V Hjrde, ad Ulugh Beigk p. 33. Scalig. ad Manil. p. 480. ed. 1600. 
Kiroh. CEd. M^^^X, torn. iii. p. 154. 

^ PtoL Tetrab. L c. 8. Procl. Paraplir. in Ptolem. Tetr. p. 33. Elzev. 
1635. Hy^n. Poet astron. ii. c. 22. 

> Bailly, Hist de Tastr. anc. pi. iii. p. 504. Court de Gebelin, Monde 
prim, t iv. pL viiL Conf. Grot. imag. ad Germanic. P^sen. p. 18. in Arat. 
Phsen. edit 1600, 4to. 

y See Plate IIL No. 4. » Precis du syst hier. tab. gen. No. 53, 72. 

a P. 44. Conf. Precis tab. gen. No. 53. 



I 
120 ON THE CALENDAR AND 20DIAC 

associated under the name of Tafne to the egyptian 
Hercules." This god therefore ought to be her 
companion in the sphere ; and in fact on the quad- 
rangular zodiac of Denderah, he appears in his place 
in the same attire as the figure of the god Chon 
given in the Pantheon of the french author.*" This 
fact concludes a chain of circumstantial evidence, 
which can leave no reasonable doubt, respecting the 
original connexion between the month Pachon and 
the zodiacal sign of the Twins ; while it shows, that 
the constructors of the egyptio-greek astronomical 
monuments of later times, have, in some instances, 
adhered with much fidelity to the pristine mythology 
of the banks of the Nile ; of this, equally striking 
examples will occur in the following months. 

M. ChampoUion's opinion, that Tafne, as an atten- 
dant on Hercules, was a personification of Neith or 
Minerva, appears to be justified by the close connex- 
ion which we find between that goddess and her com- 
panion, in the vulgar mythology. Of this we have 
already given an example ; another occurs in the 
Orphic poems, which contain so many mysterious al- 
lusions to egyptian fable ; where we are told that 
Hercules was conducted up to heaven by Pallas : 



*» PL 25. See our Plate III. No. 5, conf. No. 4, sup. cit. In Chainpol- 
lion's Pantheon the figure of the god is seated. I have therefore only 
copied the head, to show the identity with the zodiacal deity. This the 
feather that crowns his cap sufficiently establishes, being observable on 
the head of the same god, in the tableau general of the Precis du syst. hi^r. 
of the french critic, (No. 71.) while Chons,or Hercules, is the only male 
deity, either in that collection, in the Pantheon of the same author, or 
on the zodiac, distinguished by this ornament. 

Mons. C. has offered in his Precis the variety S6ou of the name of this 
god. I know not on what authority it rests ; but if genuine, it might be 
connected with a corresponding variety in the name of the month, given 
by Tuki, IIAjJnETS, which the critics have usually considered as an 
error of impression for IIA^^NS. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 121 

IlaXXa^ 'A^pcuTi XdQffffoov 'Hfa«?i?a.c 

This harmonizes aptly enough with the position of 
the two figures on the zodiacs, where with joined 
hands they occupy their place in the midst of the 
celestial train. 

The custom of associating deities in pairs, as to 
especial points of worship or of attribute, like the 
(rvvvaoi ^soi of the Greeks, is familiar in egyptian su- 
perstition. It is obvious, how naturally the Greeks, 
in transferring this figurative couple to their own 
pantheon, might metamorphose them into their own 
national twins. Castor and Pollux. 

In mentioning above, the correspondence of the 
opinion of Zoega respecting the ancient form of the 
egyptian year, with that which I have here ventured 
to offer, I observed, that I had been led to suspect, 
that among the reasons which had induced him to 
adopt it, were some not dissimilar to those here ad- 
yanced. In confirmation of that remark, I shall quote 
the following passage from his work on the medals of 
the Borgian Museum. In a note to a coin of Seben- 
nytus,"* where, as already stated, we have for device a 
figure of Hercules, or a man armed at all points, he 
observes : " The name of this city has been excellent- 
ly, interpreted by Jablonski, !^EMNOTTI, Robur 
Dei, the power of the divinity. It would appear, 
that in the egyptian mythology there were two chil- 
dren of Jove, whether called Cabiri, Pataeci, Hercules, 
Martes, or Castores, matters not ; for they all sprung 
originally from the same source. The essential point 

« Lithic. in Pro9em. v. 9, sqq. ** No. 99. p. 74f. conf. Note to p. 176. 



12^ ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

is, that by two vigorous youths, sometimes represented 
with joined hands side by side, at others posted by 
the throne of the deity, was figured the arm of the 
Almighty, the protecting and all-conquering power 
or virtue of the divinity. Hence, according to He- 
sychius,* ytyviv^ yiyZr TlaraiKog iTtrgocmZfog' AlyvTrioig 
'HguKTJjg* hence the Patseci and Cabiri of Herodotus, 
who, when he rejects the Dioscuri from the egyptian 
mythology, must be understood to refer to the lace- 
daemonian Castores, not the celestial Twins. For 
those deities who in the old egyptian cosmogony 
were called Cabiri^ or Nidsjom, (NDCOM) the same, 
in their heroic fable, were styled Horus and Harpo- 
crates ; the latter corresponds to the Hercules of the 
Greeks, the former to their Mars. But Horus being 
conjoined with Aroeris became their Apollo, where- 
fore, in the egyptio-greek zodiac we find Hercules 
and Apollo combined." These observations, inexact 
as some of them may be, are yet fraught with the 
genius of the profound and acute critic from whom 
they emanate. Zoega being convinced, that 2COM 
or Hercules was the representative of the twins 
of the zodiac, could not, had he treated of the cal- 
endar on the basis proposed by himself, of a year 
commencing in autumn, have failed to observe, how 
exactly Pa-chon, or the month of Hercules would 
be in its place. He had only to substitute d|e 
female Tafne with the lion's head, as the secohd 
of the mythological twins* protectors, and his 



• Voce. Ttyfifu 

^ So Nigidios, the old roman commentator on the sphcera barlMurica or 
egyptia, (apud Schol. German, v. 146.) calls the twins : Cabiros, deos 
Samothraoes, quoniin ai^g^umentum nefts est numerarer Ck>ii£ 4wphic 
hymn, xxxvii. v. 23. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 123 

theory would have been correct ; for in fact, as we 
have already seen, and shall still farther prove in the 
sequel, Chons and his companion of the lion's head 
were the true Cabiri, or essential personifications, 
male and female, of strength or power, in the egyp- 
tito pantheon. Nor, indeed, is it altogether impro- 
bable, that some other male deity of lesser rank, si- 
milar to the one whom he describes, may occasionally 
have occupied the place of Tafne by the side of Chons ; 
since, on the sphere of the Arabs,* who in this in- 
stance have no doubt copied more or less accurately 
from the greco-egyptian astrology, the Twins are to 
this day Hercules and Apollo ; which variety has 
been adopted on our globes ; and appears on the 
ancient images of the zodiac illustrated by Grotius ; 
these names having been also preferred by several of 
the classical commentators.^ 



Paoni,* (Cancer.) 

The month of the Sun by pre-eminence, that is, of 
the greatest height and brilliancy of the luminary, 
corresponding to our July ; which season, the rapid 
approach of the Nile to its full tide, and the rise of 
the Dqgstar, rendered the most important and joyous 
of the year ; hence its dedication by preference to 
the splendid orb itself, which influenced and reign- 
ed supreme over their calendar, as well as their my- 
thology. 

s Vid. auctores sup. cit. p. 1 19. 

1" Hygin. Poet. astr. ii* 22. Ptolem. Tetrab. i. 8. Senrius in iBn* xL 
¥. 260. 
i Memph. OAaNI. thebaic HAllNE. 

3 



124 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

On, as we know from Scripture, was an ancient 
name of the godhead of the Sun.^ Hence Pharaoh's 
officer Petephre, or Potiphera, whose name means 
literally in the coptic language dedicated or devoted 
to the Sun,* is called by Moses"" priest of On. Al- 
though in the existing remains of that tongue, there 
is little appearance of the name having been in fami- 
liar use, yet CyriP knew it as an egyptian word ; and 
there are plentiful traces of its application to the Sun 
in a religious or mysterious sense at least. The true 
appellation of the city of the Sun, called by the Greeks 
Heliopolis, was On, or the city of On ; a name it has 
retained in the coptic language ;** whence it may be 
presumed, that, in the above mentioned passage of 
Genesis, the term applies as well to the place of the 
deity's worship as to himself ; corresponding to the 
version of the Copts, where it is rendered HN- 
TIBAKI, and by the Septuagint 'H^jovTroKsg.^ The 
same city seems to have been styled by Ptolemy the 
metropolis of On ;** and the Arabs still call it Ain 
shemsh, or Ain of the sun ;' although the first part of 
this name, from its resemblance to another word in 
their own language denoting a fountain, they have 
referred to a spring among the ruins of the city. 
Plutarch* informs us, that the priest of Heliopolis, 
under whom Pythagoras studied, was called Onon- 
is Bonjour, Mon. Copt. Mus. Vatic, p. 20. Jablonsk. Panth. lib. ii. 
c. i. 5 8. Young, Encycl. brit. Supp. art. Egypt, p. 44?. 

1 Cbampol. Precis, p. 177. 

" Gen. xli. v. 45. xlvi. v. 20. 

n Ad Hos. c. X. V. 3. p. 145. "I2i» 3s lf< xar 'etvrws i "HAioj. 

o ChampoL L'Egypte sous les Phar. torn. ii. p. 40. 

P Conf.£xod. i. II. 

*i D*Anville, M^m. sur I'Egypte, p. 113. 

. ' Michaelis, ad Abulfed. Descript. Mgy^t p. 125, sqq. Gott. 1776, 8°. 

« De Is. et Os. c 10. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 125 

phis ; which is evidently nN-nXII, devoted or de- 
dicated to On or the Sun ; by the same analogy as 
Amenoph, sacred to Amon, and other similar titles ; 
and is in fact nearly synonymous with Petephre, the 
name of the same minister in the days of Joseph. 
Onouphis was also a title of one of the sacred oxen 
of the Sun.* The Coptic for light is to this day OEIN 
or OTONI," which is doubtless merely the same 
word under slight varieties of orthography, the last 
of which corresponds, in respect to the euphonic pa- 
ragoge of the last vowel, to that adopted in the name 
of the month. In the hebrew Aven, which EzekieF 
uses for On, we have a similar variety of the pronun- 
ciation of the first syllable. The word Phe-on, . the 
article being prefixed, occurs on the gems of the Ba- 
silidians, as an appellation of their Abraxas, or Sun- 
god, in common with Phre, Chnoubis, and others 
borrowed from the mythology of Egypt."^ The name 
Ouenephre, in Manetho's first dynasty, appears to 
contain both those of the deity combined ; it might 
be rendered Lux solis.* 

The sign of this season on the greek zodiac is a 
crab ; an unmeaning emblem as referred to egyptian 
mythology. But on the greater number of egyptio- 
greek astronomical monuments, we find a scarabee 

t iElian. Hist. An. xii. 11. 

^ Croze. Lexic. dialect. Sahid. in v. Jablo&sk. ColL voc. segypt. v. ON. 

V C. XXX. V. 17. 

^ Montf. Ant. exp» t. ii. pt. ii. pi. cxlvi. conf. Gorlsei. Dactylothec, pt 
ii. No. 404?. 

^ Verosimile mihi fit, says Jablonski, memsem hunc sic dictum fuisse 
ab OTHINI vel XIINI, luce, quod in antiquissimo dialecto thebaico eflfe- 
rebatur OEIN ; rationem autem denominationis hujus nondum perspexi. 
I have however no doubt but that the foregoing considerations would 
have satisfied the learned author of the correctness of his opinion, ColL 
voc. segypt. v. nATNI. 



126 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

instead of a crab/ as the emblem of the solstitial 
month ; and it is hardly necessary toobserve, that the 
scarabee is the symbol of the Sun, or On, in his no- 
blest capacity, as Lord of the universe, first source 
and origin, and continual preserver of the created 
world. In this respect the scarabee was a represen- 
tative, not only of the solar orb itself, but by analogy 
of certain deities of distinguished rank, whose loftier 
attributes comprehended those of the brilliant Lord 
of the physical world ; as of Phtha,' the Demiurgus 
or creative power, whom the Greeks identified with 
their Hephaestus or Vulcan, probably as combining 
with his other properties that of god of fire. In the 
ancient astronomical picture of the tomb of the kings, 
the scarabee, with the red disk of the sun in his claws, 
occupies a conspicuous place among the zodiacal em- 
blems. The same insect also occurs in an astrologi- 
cal gem of Count .Pahlen's collection,* accompanying 
Libra and Scorpio ; and we seem to have farther cu- 
rious evidence, that it was the original symbol of this 
division of the ancient egyptian zodiac, in the circum- 
stance, that the cypher of the same division, still in 
vulgar use, is apparently but an abbreviated form of 
the hieroglyphic " Scarabee;" the hieratic contrac- 
tion of which contains precisely the same elements, 
under trifling varieties of arrangement, as the modem 
sign, namely, two curves or hooks placed trans- 
versely.** 

y On the quadrangrular zodiac of Denderah, and one of those of Esne, 
(Desc. de TEg. Antiq. y. i. pi. 87.) we have the Scarabee ; on another 
of Esne, an animal of doubtful form (ibidem, pi. 79.) ; on the circular of . 
Denderah, apparently a crab. 

« Champol. Pantb. pi. 12, 13. 

a Klaproth, ColL d'antiq. pi. xi. No. 602. 

^ See Plate V. No. 5, These cyphers are copied from ChampoL 2de 
Lett, sur le Mus. de Turin, pi. ix. and xiii. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 127 

The Greeks, in adopting the zodiac, may either 
have mistaken this insect for a crah, to which on 
some of the monuments it hears a close enough re- 
semblance ;* and on the gems of the Abraxas the sea- 
rabee, crab, and other shell-fish, are frequently con- 
founded ;^ or possibly, as they did not attach the same 
veneration as the Egj^ptians to its symbolic character, 
they may have converted the reptile of the land into 
the reptile of the sea, as a figure more congenial to 
their ideas and taste as a maritime people ; ^ A per- 
son ignorant of egyptian theology," says Porphyry, 
** would feel nothing but disgust for the scarabee, but 
the Egyptians adore it as the living image of the Sun."* 
The opposite character of this nation, whose abomi- 
nation of every thing connected with salt water is 
proverbial,^ were in itself sufficient proof, in the ab- 
sence of all other, that this odious shell-fish. could ne- 
ver have originally obtained so distinguished a place 
among the noblest of their figurative emblems. 

There is however in one respect a remarkable 
enough analogy between' the two symbols, which may 
tend still farther to shew, that the one is the egyptian 
original, the other the greek copy. Classical authors 
have asserted that the crab was chosen to represent 
the solstice, because of the correspondence of its pro- 
verbially retrograde motion to the sun's course about 
the tropic ;* an interpretation which has been adopted 

^ I have myself observed persons little fiuniliar with egyptian monu- 
mentSy on being shewn hieroglyphic drawings, mistake the scarabee for a 

crab. 

d Mont Ant expL t. ii. pt ii. p* 365, and plates ibid. 

« De Abst. iv. § 9. and ap. Euseb. prep. ev. p. 94, c 

' Pint de Is. et Os. cc. 7. 32. Id. Sympos, viii. qu. 8. Porphyr. de 
Abst. iy. § 8. 

s Macrob. Saturn, i. c. 2h 



128 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

by the greater number of modem expositors, with 
what degree of justice I shall not presume positively 
to decide. This however, we find, is the very same 
reason given by the ancients, and among others by 
Clemens Alexandrinus^ in the famous passage on 
hieroglyphic symbols so often quoted, for the scarabee 
having been adopted by the egyptian mystics as a re- 
presentative of the sun's motion. " The oblique 
course of the other heavenly bodies," says the learned 
father, " is represented by a snake, but that of the 
sun by a scarabee." Those who are familiar with the 
natural history of this singular animal, or who have 
ever observed its habits, will not be at a loss to divine 
the reason. Clemens himself assigns it : " because, 
shaping a piece of dung into a circular form, he rolls 
it backwards, his face being turned in a contrary di- 
rection to his course." And Plutarch :* " The scara- 
bee depositing his seed in a piece of dung made into 
a circular form, rolls it backwards, as the sun appears 
to turn the heavens round in a contrary direction, 
himself being borne from west to east." Porphyry :^ 
" The scarabee making a piece of dung into a round 
ball, pushes it with his hind legs backwards, as the sun 
does the heaven." Here therefore we have the sca- 
rabee, with his globe, as an emblem of the retrograde 
motion of the sun ; probably both as regards his sup- 
posed annual course from west to east, contrary to his 
diurnal motion from east to west ; and his retrograde 
motion from the solstice. This beetle is a very sin- 
gular insect, although its peculiarities, which are of a 

l» Strom, iv. p. 556, B. 
* De Is. et Os. c. 74. 

^ De Abst. iv. § 9. et ap. Euseb. sup. cit. conf. Horap. i. c. 10. Plin. 
H. N. XXX. 11. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. . J29 

striking enough description, and a pfoper knowledge 
of which is of the highest importance to the study of 
egyptian antiquity, have heen strangely overlooked 
by those who have devoted their attention to thafi 
study. The scarabee, in conformity to the ahove 
authorities, as an eye-witness can attest, shaping a 
piece, usually of horse, mule, or cow dung, into a 
perfectly circular form, turns himself on his fore claws, 
so as to stand as it were on his head, and with his 
hind claws raised against his ball, he thus pushes it 
before, or rather behind him, in the most indefatiga^ 
ble manner, until he reaches his destination. This is 
the chief, and indeed reasonable cause, why the egyp- 
tians attached so great a sanctity to the animal, as the 
symbol of the divinity or godhead of the sun, whose 
globe he is generally represented on the monumental 
holding in his claws. Another motive of a secondary 
nature may have been the circumstance, .also alluded 
to by classical authors, and well known to naturalists, 
that the animal depositing its eggs in this ][)all, buries 
it several feet deep in the earth, where, as in a na-» 
tural womb, the foetus ripens for the birth. In this 
respect, his globe might also be symbolic of the all-? 
generative powers of the luminary. As for the other 
traditions concerning it,^ such as that the species was 
composed entirely of males, that they dwelt six months 
below, and six months above ground, they may be 
partly founded on fact, partly mere fictions of sophists, 
egyptian or greek.''* 

1 P]ut de Is. et Os. cc. ip. 74> iBlian. fie An. x. 15. Horap. loc. 
sup. cit. 
^ See AppenOi:^, No. XVIII. 

K 



130 . OJf THE CALEVDA& AND ZODIAC 



m 

Is written by the Copts £pep, EIIHII f a name which 
has also been identified hj M. ChampoUion in. pho- 
netic hieroglTphios, attached to the figure of an egyp- 
tian divinitj, called by him"* " Apap-^Apop— Apoph, 
represented und^ the form of a gigantic snake, com- 
batted and corered with wounds by various deitieSki 
This is the Apophis, or Apopis, the enemy of the sun, 
wliom Plutarch mentions in his treatise on Isier and 
Osiris/' Plutai^^ farther observes, that Apopis was 
the brother of the sun, which may account, among 
other caujaes, for his proximity to him in the calendar. 
It may be observed, that of the hieroglyphic elements 
of this and other egyptian names, the consonants alone 
are of importance ; the vowel which M. Champpllion 
renders A denotes equally £,^ and consequently ap- 
plies as well to the Coptic orthography as to that of 
Hutarch. 

Jablonski' has rightly supposed this Apophis to be 
one of the personifications of Typhon, the evil genius ; 
and that by his enmity to the Sun was figured the 
principle of vapour: or darkness, which was fedbled to 
oppose the god of light in his efibrts to ascend, or 
maintain himself in the upper hemisphere. His po- 

n UsiuOly Ennn. Xuki, &c. EHHra, WQk. Diss, de lin^. copt 
ad calc. Cumberland. Orat Doxmn. p. 102. In Eplgr. Aiitholog. *^i^i or 
iim^l. conf. Salmas. ad SoL -p. 304. A. 

• Plr6ci8. dtt syst. hi6r. tab. ^n. No. 66, a. 

P De Is. et Os. c. 36. 

9 Yid. Champol Precis, pp. 111. 113. 114. conf. Tatfaam, IlemiEU*k8 on 
the alphabet in Egypt grammar, c. 2. 

» Panth. lib. t. c. ii. } 22. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. ISl 

sition in the seasons, according to the general tenor 
of the physical mythology of Egypt, is therefore high.^ 
ly appropriate ; as presiding over the month, in which 
the sun, after having reigned in all his glory ahout 
the tropic, descends visibly and rapidly in the ecliptic* 
The etymology, or rather original meaning of the 
name, suggested by the same Jablonski/ to whose la* 
bours Coptic literature and egyptian antiquity in ge-r 
neral are so much indebted, appears unquestionable ; 
namely, A<I>ri<I> or £nn<I>, ^ giant, in the scriptur 
ral sense of the term ; a violent and outrageous per- 
6on. The same occurs under the variety of Aphobis, 
as the appellation of one of the Shepherd kings in 
Manetho's dynasty ;^ that the Egyptians were accus- 
tomed to confer titles of reproach or abhorrence on 
their tyrants, or foreign oppressors, is well known ; 
thus the ferocious Ochus was called by them the 
Sword ; and the same, or another equally brutal per- 
sian despot, the Ass.^ 

\ That the Lion was the egyptian symbol of this sea^ 
tson there can be no doubt, as it occurs on all the as* 
tronomical monuments, including that of the royaj 
tomb. But that it was so, not alone, but combined 
with the emblem of the month or god Apophis or 
Epep, we have very convincing proof. M. Champol* 
lion,^ as already observed, has identified a large noxif 
ous serpent as the personification of this deity ; and 
on the greco-egyptian zodiacs the figure of the Lion 
is remarksible for the peculiarity, that it tramples upon 



■ Loc. sup. cit. p. 100. 

* Joseph, contr. Ap. i. c. 14. conf. Enseb. in Scalig. Thes. temp. p. 16. 
Syncell. ChroiK^. loc. parall. 
u Plut. de Is. et Os. cc. 11. 31. 
▼ Precis, tab. gen. No. 66. 



132 ON THE CALENDAa AND ZODIAC 

a monstrous snake, which forms as it were the boat 
in which he is borne on his celestial voyage/ Now 
the same distinguished antiquary has also discovered 
among the monuments, and caused to be engraved 
in his pantheon,^ a group consisting of a female 
deity with a lion's head crowned with the disk of 
the Sun, who combats and tramples upon this same 
serpent, standing over him in an attitude not dissimiT 
lar to that of the Lion on the zodiac ; the head and 
tail of the reptile which she grasps, rising in front and 
rear. This deity M. ChampoUion calls Neith Casti- 
gatrice ; the snake he has recognised as Apophis. 
His description of the aenigma, as illustrative of our 
subject, requires little comment. *^ Sa tete de lion 
est ornee du disque et de Turaeus ; elle saisit de ses 
deux mains, et foule en meme temps aux pieds, une 
eiiorme couleuvre, le grand serpent ennemi des dieux 

nomme Apop, ou Apoph, dans les textes 

. hieroglyphiques.'' In the hierogl}T)hic legend attach- 
ed to the figure, the most remarkable emblems are 
the disk of the sun, an eye, and the forepart of a lion. 
According to M. ChampoUiou's interpretation, she is 
there described as: oeil du soleil, souveraine de la 
force, chatiant les impurs. It cannot be doubted, 
but that this group and Leo of the zodiac, are mere- 
ly varieties of the same aenigma. In the zodiacal em- 
blem, it may also be remarked, that the figure of the 
lion is supported, and as it were backed and encour-r 
aged, by a female d^ity ; which is evidently but an- 

^ See Platb V. No. 1. copied from Biot's sphere of Denderah ; on the 
Quadrangular monument the ^mbjem is apparently; tl^e i^am^, though ^he 
hinder part of the group is damaged.' 

* PI. 6. septies. See our Plate V. JTo. 2. . 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. Ill; 133 

Other type of the mystical combination of the two in 
the monument of Champollion. 

This is a noble enough symbol of the combat be- 
tween the powers of light, and the typhonic influences 
by tvhich they were assailed at this season ; and still 
farther illustrates the connexion already pointed out, 
between the lion-headed heroine, and Chons or Her- 
cules. He was the especial representative of the 
strength or prc^wess of the gods, whereby they sub- 
dued the giants^ The lion's liead was the egyptian 
symbol of strelngth.^ The war therefore between his 
comrade, and the giant Apoph, is quite in character. 
The disk of the sun on her head denotes the strength 
of the Sun. Macrobius, in the following passage of 
his Saturnalia,' while treating of the character of the 
^un in the egyptian asti'ological fable^ appears to de- 
scribe this point of physical superstition to the letter. 
" Ipse creditur et Oigantes interemisse, cum coelo 
propugnaret .... horum pedes in drdconum volumi- 
na desinebant, quod significat, nihil eos rectum nihil 
superum eogitasSe ; totius vitas eorum. gressu atque 
processu in infema mergente^ Ab hac gente, Sol 
pcenas debitas vi pestiferi caloris exegit." On one of 
the astrological medals of the egyptian Abraxas, pub- 
lished by Montfaucon, we have a deity with a lion's 
head, armed with sword and shield ; on the reverse, 

T Homjp. 1. is. > Lib. i. c 20. 

* Ant. expl. t ir. pt. ii. pi. cL oonf. Gorbei Dactylothec pt ii. Ko* 364f* 



134 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



Mesori^ (Virgo.) 

Written by the Greeks usually (Attrogi, sometimes 
|M,g<rfl;fi? but by .the Copts ME2nPI or ME2nPH,* 
with the accent and quantity on the second syllable^ 
denotes the month of Isis, in her peculiar and dis« 
tinctive character of mother of Horus; the name 
being compounded of ME^S, the prefix denoting ge- 
neration or maternity, and HP, the name of the 
deity her son ; as already pointed out by the learned 
Rossi/ Of the extra yowel attached, for the sake of 
euphony, by the Egyptians to the end of the word, we 
have many apposite examples ; as in the name Athyr, 
the latter part of which, being precisely the same 
element as that of Mesori, is written with a similar 
variety, Athyri ; also in the names of the foregoii^ 
months, Pharmouthi, Paoni, Epiphi ; and of Osiris, 
sometimes written Osir, sometimes Osiri, Scc.^ This 
inclination to soften the endings of their words by 
the addition of vowels, is in general very perceptible 
in the egyptian idiom/ How properly this title be- 
longed to Isis, appears ferther from the circumtances, 
that Si-esi, or son of Isis, is in like manner the common 



' ^ Jablonsk. Collect, too. «g, v. Mwt^i. ^ot. Te Water acL lot. Btbrio. 

MenoL p. 23. 

^ Tuki, loc. snp. cit. Croze Lex. in t. et Thes. epistoL pt. iiL p. 133. 
also ME20TFI, Jabl. Tuk. locc citt Rossi, infr. cit 

<i Etym, .^Igypt. y. ME20TPH. Concerning the syllable MES as a 
component part in diyine titles, oonf. Cbampol. Precis, p. 18S, sqf. lab. 
gen. No. 346, s^. Possibly the title Methuer ascribed by Plutarch (De 
Is. et Os. c* 56.) to Isis, may be a Tariety of this same Mesor ; the aspi- 
rate being substituted for the sibilant, by a common antithesis. Plutarch 
however gives it another sense. 

® Koseg. de prise, seg. litt p. 37. 

' Akerblad* Lettre snr I'lnscr. de Rpsette, p. 9. 



OF. ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IH. 1S5 

epithet of Horus. His name appears written hietti^ 
gtypktcaily, Qr-si-efiit on the Hmrgiot of the.cinraldE 
Planisphere of 'Dende|*a» immediately below the image 
, €i the moth^ herself, whose positioii ampn^ tiie %u<* 
ratire characters of .that monument ^all be pointed 
out. immediately. The -same epithet indeed^ with the 
addition occaaionallj of the &tlter Osiris^ is an idjnost 
inyaHable appendage' of the name of Horus in hiefQ- 
glyphic mscriptions ; in that of Rosetta it is lieyef 
omitted, and ia aldo very familiar in both ancienf and 
modern egyptian literature, as a Inunan appellation; 
trahsfenrjed like others from tiie sfod to the mortaL^ 

The Isis of the' egyptian pan^eon ^presented, in 
her behest and noblest capacity,, the essence of the 
female godhead ;: hence, according to the principles 
of that system, we find her ;iame or familiar qtmlities 
firequehtly mi^ed. up or. confounded with thoa^ of 
other lesser goddesses, . Buto, Bubastia^ Neit, Athor^ 
who w;ere.iii &ct little more than personifications of 
her .varied attributes; But .here she appears in that 
character which.belanged exclusively to her or^iial 
and distinct person, namely, as the mother of Homi 
or the good genius of the earth, perpetual enemy vnd 
victor of Typhon, and other noxious influences of the 
physical world* This was the season m which the 
inundation of <he river becatne stationa^y^ or even 
beginning to subside, deposited its .fertilizii^ alWio 
on the plain ; hence the probable motive of dedicate 
fi^ it to.. the parent deity of the terrestrial riches 
and prosperity of the land of f^pt; allegorised ion the 
person of her son Horus. 

From th^ remnants of egyptian antiqnfty may he 

• m 

f • 

g GhampoL Precis, p. 130. Koseg. op. cit p. 41. ' * 



136 ON THE CALENDAR AND. ZODIAC 

gathered Tarious proofe of the correctness of the above 
etjmologj, as well, as of the fact, that Isis was fabled 
to have produced Horus at this season, in the primi- 
tive tradition. This goddess, according to the unani-' 
inous testimony of the ancients, dei^oted physicallj 
the earth fertilized hj the inundation of the Nile ^ 
Osiris her husband, the Nile, or the inundation itself. 
Thus Heliodorus :^ ** Isis is mystically the eairthy 
Osiris the Nile ;'' and Plutarch J " The Nile is 
Osiris, who is united with Isis, that is, the earth ;** 
for ** the body of Isi)» is not the whole earth, birt 
that portion of it which is impregnated through it» 
coitidn with the Nile. The issue of this union is 
Horus," the emblem of the fertility and wealth o£ 
Egypt. Isis was the primeval matter, the slime or 
soil; which, according tq Jamblichus,^ contained in 
itself the generative or nutritive faculty, that is, ^^ the 
capability of receiving or containing the rivep of 
generationJ* This river was Osiris, the male prin- 
ciple^ and emblem of th^ Nile.* It is impossible to 
overlook the evident connexion which all this esta- 
blishes between Horus^ the ofispring of Isis, and the 
fertility produced by the rich alluvial deposit of the 
river at this season. 

Some, however, hate held the in£a,nt Horus and 
Harpoerates to be the same ; and as we have already 
shown the latter to have been produced about the 
winter solstice, that opinion, if admitted, would very 
much interfere with our present views. / I «hall not 
attempt to go into all the details, etymological or 

» ^thiop. K. p. 434. . , 

i I)e Is. et Os. c. 38. Conf. Euseb. Pnep. eu. III. c. \\. 
k De myst Egypt Sect VIL c. 2, p. 150. Ed. Gale. oanf. Plut de 
fa. et Os. c. dS. 



ar ANCIENT EGYt>T. SECt. lU. IS']?^ 

mythological, which offer themselves respecting the 
names and properties of these two figurative beings ; 
but merely observe, that although they were very 
closely connected, and, in fact, little more than two 
varied personifications of the same deity, it is y^t 
very certain that there is a marked difference in their 
attributes, however those attributes may have becfn 
blended or confounded by superficial authors. This 
difference has been well pointed out by Plutarch,' 
who has given us the history of these mythological 
persons, both parent and offspring, in great detail, 
ftnd who makes Horus and Harpocrates brothers, 
both sons of Isis ; the one born during the life of 
Osiris, the other after his death ; which corresponds 
exactly to our account of the matter. Osiris, as the 
living husband of Isis, was the Nile in all its glory 
at the inundation, when Horus was bom.; Osiris 
dead is, as we have ^een, Osiris at the winter solstice, 
when the Nile was nearly at the lowest, and when, 
as we have shown in our account of that season, 
Harpocrates was bom. The last is said by Plutarch* 
to have been produced ** out of season, and mutilated 
in his lower members.'"' The other is called by the 
same author ^* Horus, symmetrical and perfect.'^ 
Here we find an equally positive and apt allusion to 
their two characters, according to the two reasons. 
The emblem of .the deity at the winter solstice was 
represented mutilated, because of the defective state 
of the river, besides the figurative lameness or em- 



1 De Isi et Os. c. 19. Conf. Young, Art. Egypt p. 46. 
™ De Is. «t OS. ^c. 19. d^. 66. 

B Henoe the admitted etymology of his name, Har-poch^rat^ Horns 
lame in the foot Jablooaki, Panth. T. I. p. 246, sq. 
^ Op. cite 56. 



138 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIACT 

barrassment of the course of the. sun at. that season. 
The perfect season, represented hjr'a perfect emblem, 
was the full inundation of the Nile. 

Plutarch, having informed us that Horus was the 
issue of the connexion between Osiris and Isis at the 
inundation, continues : ^* But this Horns is the pre- 
se^yi^g and nourishing property of tiie atmosphwe, 
fostered in the marshes about the city of- Buto, be- 
cause the land, flooded and ii^igfadted, chiefly . esmito 
those vapours, which are opposed to &e influences of 
drought and aridity.*'^ These last were the Typhon, 
against whom Horus waged war. « By Typfcodi,'' 
says the same author,'* « they signify every thing dry 
or fiery that promotes aridity, or is opposed to mois^ 
ture ^" and accordingly in another place,' he states, 
that ^^ Isis nourished Horus with exhalations and 
vapours, whereby gaining strength, he was enabled to 
obtain the mastery of Typhon." . Here then we have 
Horus, born when, the inundation was at its height, 
nursed and fostered among the vapours which rose 
from thq water, gradually subsidii^ ai^d retiring ftom 
the land. Hence it is that the infant deity is so often 
represented* sitting on a lotus flower, the faieFoglyphi- 
eal emblem of the season of his childhood ; aasd pos- 
sibly the* juvenile figure, which, as we have above 
noted, is an attendant of Libra or. That onr both 
fiii^ereal a^d astronomical monuments, may contain 
an allusion to the childhood, or fostering of Horus 
during the month ' of Thot, the Beascm of opening 
vegetation.* 

» 
« 

PC. 38. qC. 33. Coixf.39. 'C,40. 

* la the egjq^tian lueroglyphicTOcsbobyT;' the idea chUd is repcesented 
by a small croaching human %ure, with its hand raised to its-moutlii 
The propriety of this symbol will be eyident to those who ha^e bteen 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 139 

Nigidius, an old roman commentator of tbe egypu 

tian sphere, gives us to understand, as quoted by 

Servius/ that Horus was born or nursed under the 

sign Virgo, which corresponds to this month in our 

calendar. The symbol so called by the Greeks, there 

can be no doubt, as observed by Eratosthenes and 

others,^ originally represented Isb, Ceres, or Deme- 

ter, being a female figure holding ears of com in her 

hand, which can apply to no other personage of the 

greek pantheon ; whence the name of the most eele* 

brated star of this constellation, Spica virginiB. The 

constellation Virgo of the greek sphere is of conside* 

rable extent, and may, in fact, be divided into two» 

Virgo and Spica virginis ; as the Arabs call the whole 

indiscriminately by both names. But' on the greco- 

Egyptian sphere of Denderah, the usual zodiacal mga 

of Virgo, namely, a female figure bearing an ear of 

corn, is somewhat confined; immediately below it^ 

however, is another large female figuire, sitting on a 

throne, holding a new bom infant on her lap ; the 

whole precisely similar to the. group of Isis in hw 

character of mother of Horus, so common on medals, 

gems, and other monuments/ This group is evi- 



in tbe liabit of olMerving^ new bom infuitflf, with whom this is a comnum 
and &Toiirite altitude. The in&nts Horus and Harpocrates were ao- 
cordingly both so depieted ; and this seems to be the whole claim of the 
latter to the mystical character of god of silence, with which the later 
greek and roman mythologists have inyested him, and which has become 
with modern iUoBtrators of egyptian fable, his ch^f title to celd)ri<7» 

t Ad. Virgil. Oeorg. I. 19. 

« Eratostfa. Catast IX. Sphnr. Empedpc. y. 10. apud Fahr. Bib» gr. 
L. IL e, 12. Fest Avion. Ph»nom» v. 282. 

▼ Montf. Ant. ezpL T. I. Pt. IL PL zxxviii. lib. vL e. 4. Descript 
de TEgypte. Antiq. vol. I. PL xzii. xcv. xcvi. and pasda. Zoeg. Num- 
«eg. Mas. B» No.. 96. p. 108 note, p. 1S4» Conft Biusch. Lexic, rei n«m. 
Tomu IV. p. 976, v. Isis. 



140- OK THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC ' 

dently connected with the circle of the zodiac itself, 
on the boiind^ies of which it encroaches, close to the 
figure holding the ear of corn."" The whole, there- 
fore, may be considered as emblematic of the com- 
plete constellation, Virgo and Spi(» yirginis of our 
globes. The mothet with the new born child is 
Mesori. This was also the view taken of the mean^ 
faig of this group by Mess. JoUois and Devilliers, in 
their excellent and comprehensive memoir on the 
greco-egyptian zodiacs, inserted in the collection of 
the Description de PEgypte."" The same sitting 
figure with the infant, they observe, was, though 
nearly effaced, distinguishable on the greater zodiac 
of the portico of the same ruins. On the persian 
sphere, as given by Scaliger,^ we find in this sign 
'^ a beautiful young woman, with long hair, bearing 
two ears of corn in her hand, sitting on a throne^ 
and tenderly fostering an infant.'' And the same 
was gathered by Selden' and Kircher* from Arabic 
or rabbinical authorities, who, after old egyptian 
astrologers, describe the sign in precisely similar 
terms. Among the relies of egyptio^^gnostic supersti- 

^ See Plate V. No. 3. These figures are copied from the sphere as 
engraved uuder the auspices of M. Biot, Recherches, &c. PL dern. The 
dotted segments of circles represent the two tropics and the equatoiv 
the ohiique line the ectiptic^ upon his projection. The most easterly- 
portion of Leo's snake appears above the head of the mother and child. 

^ Antiq. M^m. T. L p. 492. 

y Gomm. in ManiL Astron. p. 377. 

* De DS^. Syr.'Synt. I. c 2. p. 30. Ed. 16S1 : who has preserved 
some curious notices of this symbol, tending to show how fiuniliar it was 
in the lower and middle ages, having been identified at a very early 
period with the group of the Viigin and child, the fiivourite object if 
roman catholic adoration ; a notion adopted among others by Roger 
Bacon, in his letter to Clement IV. 

* (Edip. iEgypt vol. III. p. 203. Conf. Jollois et Devill. Mem. sup. 
cit p. 448 sqq. PI* A. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. III. 141 

tion given by Montfaucon,^ we find a gem contain- 
injg a female figure sitting on a cloud nursing an 
infant, and holding ears of corn in one band ; on her 
forehead a star ; the whole no doubt emblematic of 
this season, or Mesori. 

The ingenious firench memorialists above noticed 
were led by their analysis of the monuments which 
form the subject of their dissertation'' to conclude, 
that Virgo of the egyptian sphere originally co];isiste4 
of two different constellations ; the one represented 
by the goddess of harvest or productiveness,* the 
other by Isis nursing 'Horns ; which two asteri^ms 
were confounded into one in the sphere of the Greeks. 
These judicious remarks, which I quote in corrobora- 
tion of my own opinion with the greater satisfaction, 
that having been made without reference to any sys- 
tem, they are beyond the suspicion of partiality, 
appear to be confirmed, not only by the evidence of 
the greco-egyptian monuments, but by that of the 
astronomical picture of the theban tomb. In it, as 
we have formerly remarked, are two processions; 
the one, whose leader bears an ear of corn or some- 
thing similar, we have above conjectured to be indi- 
cative of the position of Spica, between Leo, and Libra 
or Thot. The other procession occupies an exactly 
parallel position on the opposite side of the picture, 
and is apparently a mere duplicate of the first, with 
this exception, however, that while its leader wants 
the distinctive mark of the eox or branch, the princi- 
pal feature of the hieroglyphic inscription appended, 
and substituted, as it were, for the Spica, is a new- 

* Ant. expl. T. IL Pt. II. PI clviii. See our Plate V. No. 4. 

^ Joll. et Devill. Men^. sup. cit p. 452* ^ See Appendix, No. XIX. 



14« 



ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 



born in&nt. It has already been remarked, that in 
this monument the signs are not arranged in their 
usual order, being apparently discomposed and varied 
for some mysterious purpose. Yet it were reasonable 
to conclude, that these two figures are symbolic of 
die dign of this season in a twofold capacity, as at Den. 
derah, and according to the form which the french 
e«iayists haye assigned it on the pristine egyptiau 
^faere* 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 143 



SECTION IV. 



CONCLUSION OF THE SAME SUBJECT. 



The foregoing analysis of the names and characters 
of the individual months has, I trust, been sujGcient 
to justify the reasonableness of our primary hypo- 
thesis, grounded on the internal evidence of their 
•hieroglyphic symbols, that the year to which they 
w6re originally adapted commenced in autumn, and 
that this pristine arrangement of the civil calendar 
coincided with that of the signs of the zodiac, or 
corresponding divisions of the astronomical calendar. 
I «hall now add a few remarks on these months in 
generdy more especially on those- whose positions 
stand in iihmediate relation to the cardinal points of 
the. tropical year, in order still farther to show the 
appropriate nature of their astronomical emblems, as 
well as of the proper feasts* assigned to each with 
respect to their positions. 

Thus we find that the first month, or Thot, being 
fixed to the season of the year when night obtained 
the ascendency of day, the symbols of its patron 
deity chosen to represent it were not the most com- 



144 OM THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

mon or familiar, but such as appeared to beloqg to 
him more especially in his character of minister of 
Osiris, and superintendent of the transmission of souls 
from the upper tp the lower regioi^s, in conformity 
with the admitted principle of a connexion or analogy 
between the egyptian fable relative to the celestial 
spheres and that concerning the regions of departed 
spirits. Another obvious motive for adopting by pre- 
ference the scales as the symbol of the month of Thot, 
would be the very palpable allusion i^ contains to the 
balance of day and i^ight at the equinox. The position 
and rites of the month Athyr, a» regards the deity to 
whom it was dedicated, and the emblems by which it was 
represented, have been amply illustrated above. The 
equinoctial month Phamenoth was dedicated .to Anir 
mon, or Amon-ra, whom egyptian mythologists agre^ 
in supposing to have been a personification of the Sun, 
more peculiarly at the vernal equinox;, in.tbechvactQr 
where he finally triumphs over night, and rieassume« 
his ascendency in the hemisphere. Again, the month 
succeeding the solstice we find devoted to the Sun 
himself simply, for reasons already assigned. ,And 
here it will be remarked how appropriately the season 
chosen for the mournful rites of their astrological my- 
thology was that which preceded the winter, solstice, 
because those lamentations, as we have seen, were 
only in character during the visible decline of the so- 
lar orb ; after he became stationary, or began. to ree 
ascend, all canse of grief or fear was ^.t an end* But 
the proper month of the Sun was that which stwcee^" 
ed the summer solstice, because, as it is well . known, 
the god previous to that period does not attain h^ 

* Jablonsk. Pi^th. lib. ii. c. 2, § 5, part 1, p. 166, sq. Champol. Panth« 
pl». 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 145 

greatest power, nor the inundation, supposed to de- 
pend on his influence, any considerable height. 

All this will be found in close harmony with the 
assertion of Porphyry, Proclus, and others,** that the 
more important signs of the egyptian zodiac were no- 
thing more than figures of the influence of the sun in 
various parts of his orbit. The substance of their 
statements is condensed into two verses of an epi- 
gram, which, though attributed by Macrobius** to the 
oracle of Apollo Clarius, is evidently a fragment of 
the gnostic or basilidian school of mystics, usually 
called christian heretics, but who may more properly 
be considered a pagan sect, their doctrines being a 
fanciful combination of those of the various religions 
in vogue under the roman empire, among which were, 
as might be expected, many borrowed, or rather cor- 
rupted, from both Judaism and Christianity. But the 
sect originated in Egypt, and the basis of its mysteries 
was the ancient paganism of that country, as is clearly 
evinced by the character of the devices which occur 
on the gems and other extant relics of their supersti- 
tion.* Their principal deity was the Sun, typified by 
various monstrous symbols, partly derived from thie 
egyptian pantheon, partly the pure fruit of gnostic 
imaginations. These are usually accompanied on the 
monuments by greek or coptic inscriptions, containing 

^ Porph. in epist. Jambl. myst. prsefix. et ap. Euseb. Prep. ev. p. 19S, 
C. Ed. Par. 162S. Proclus, in Tim. Plat. p. 33, Ed. Bas. 1534, oonf. 
Jablonsk. Panth. lib. ii. c. 2, p. 157, sqq. 

' This receives light from the etymology of the egyptian word Rompe, 
Year; Pfl'M'IIE, Face of the heaven; which shows the intimate con- 
nexion between the ideas year and zodiac^ and consequently month and 
^ign in the infaiicy of these institutions. 

^ Sat. lib. i. c. 18. 

• Vid. Montfaucon. L'antiq. expliq. tom. ii. p*. 2, p. 353, sqq. 

L 



146 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

the namesf Phre, Chnoubis, Thoout, but most fre- 
quently AbraxaB,' or Jao, which last is the mysterious 
subject of the following ode : 

<PgdiZ,sorov Toiyrm vTrarop ^eov i(Lyi*iv 'loo;, 
"yLiSfJbari [dth r ^AtifiVy Ala i' eXa^g ag^ofJi^miOy 

" Know that Jao is the supreme god, in winter Hades 
or Pluto, in the opening spring Jove, the Sun in sum- 
mer, in autumn the tender Jao/* Here we have the 
deity of the seasons, in winter in a character corres- 
ponding to that of Horus in the month Athyr his 
subterranean dwelling place, or of • Osiris when lost 
at the solstice. In spring he is Jove or Ammon, the 
Ram-god of the month Phamenoth, or the vernal 
equinox. In summer the sun himself, or the Scarabee 

^ Bfontfanc. lib. cit pL cxlix. 

8 This w«rd Abraxas, or Abraaax, may be oonridered jm the priiut^^ 
and ordinary proper name of the baailidian Sun-god, to which the others 
were frequently added as titles or epithets ; and its sense (in addition to 
the evidence derived firom the astrological eharacter of all the monnmeiili 
of the sect) shows that their Jirhole superstition was founded upon the 
mysteries of the egyptian calendar, Abrasax being composed of the six 
letters which represent the number of days in the egyptian year : 

A 1 

B ^ 2 

P 100 

A : I 

2 200 

A 1 

S 60 

' 365 
Vid mict ap. Mentf. op. cit p. 355> sq. Jablonak. Diss, de nom. Abraxas, 
^ 9, 12. Opusc t iv. p. 96, sqq. Michaelis supposes this name to be 
older than the days of the Basilidians, and of pure gTeoo*«gypttan, pagan 
origin. (Apud Te Water, not. ad Jablonsk. lib* cit. p^ 80.) Jao is the 
sacred hebrew tetragnunmaton, adopted among other titles of the deity by 
these mystics. 



OF ANCIENT eOYPT^ SKOT. *V. 147 

of Paoni the mottth of tbe sun. Whj Autumn should 
be attributed to J(W properlt^ so called^ is not so 
clear ; but the epithet k^gSg^ apparently allusive to 
the luxuriant bursting vegetation of the season, seems 
to indicate that the whole figure refers to the climate 
of Egypt, .where alone such a description pf autumn 
would be in character ; and probably to the birth and 
infancy of Horus in the months of Mesori and Thot. 

In an equally appro]»riate manner we find that 
Thot, as the patron or author of all literary or scien- 
tific, diseov^riets or institutions, is placed at the head 
of the civil calendar, fabled his own pe(mliar inven- 
tion ; while Ammon, the greatest wad most glorious 
of tbe popular divinities^ takei» precedence in the 
mythological calendar ; where he also appears attend- 
ed by his chief favourites or companionigr in the pan- 
theon i for M, ChampoUion,.^. it seems, has identified 
among the monuments of Thebes three principal di* 
vinitiesy almost invariably connected in office or in 
attribute, whom he therefore calls the theban triad 
or trinity, Ammon, Mouth, and Chons ^ now in our 
calendar we hftve found lliese very three divinities 
following each other in regular succession, in the 
montibs and sigpos of the zodiac ; Phamenoth, Phar- 
mouthi, Pachons. 

All these coincidences form a mass of eircumstan- 
tial evidence in favour of the system here proposed, 
which may be the result of chance ; but if so, it must 
be admitted 'to be a chance of a very extraordinary 
and unaccountable nature. 

We shall now devote some little attention to a 



* See L'ettei-s from Egjpt, No. 7; in Lit. Gaz. Feb. 28, 1829, p. He. 
No. 14, in Lit. Gaz. Nov. 14, 1829, p. 745; Nov. 21, p. 672. 



1*8 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

question already noticed in a former pag^e, as being 
to a certain degree connected with our present sub- 
ject, namely : whether the form of calendar, and the 
combination of symbols, which we have just been 
examining, were originally adapted to the ancient 
year of three hundred and sixty days, or to the re- 
formed year of three hundred and sixty-five. Upon 
this point I shall not presume to express a decid- 
ed opinion, but content myself with offering such 
observations as occur with respect to either view of 
the subject, in the shape of conjecture merely ; for 
to such all our endeavours to throw light on so very 
obscure and doubtftil a matter, concerning which we 
have no satisfactory historical data, must ultimately 
be reduced. 

I. We have already remarked,* that a considerable 
degree of plausibility attends the opinion originally 
advanced by; De la Nauze, and adopted by many 
other chronologers, that the reform of the calendar 
coincided with the commencement of a Sothiac cycle, 
and as they have supposed, of that of 1322 b. c. 
Admitting its correctness ; since the Thot, or first day 
of the egyptian year of three hundred and sixty-five 
days, would, upon their hypothesis, have originally been 
appointed to the twentieth of July, in order to find a 
year whose Thot was fixed to the autumnal season, we 
should be obliged to go back to the more ancient mode 
of reckoning. Some authors, indeed, have been of 
* opinion, that the zodiac must necessarily kt its original 

i Supra p. 15. Those who are inclined to assign a more extensive 
antiquity to the chronological science 'of the Egyptians, will obserre, 
that these vtmmakji apply, for the most part, equally well to any other 
previous cycle ; although, for the sake of arrangement, and consistently 
with my own view of egyptian history, I have adopted as their basis the 
cycle of 1322. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT. IV. 149 

institution, have been adapted to the year of 360 
days, from the correspondence of the number of these 
days with that of the degrees of the ecliptic ; but if 
so, we can hardly doubt but that the Egyptians, if 
they used this form of year in conjunction with their 
zodiac, during any considerable time, were careful to 
keep its commencement more or less accurately to 
the seasons, by some rude method of intercalation^ 
perhaps by the addition of a supplementary month 
from time to time ; as a substitute for which mode 
the five epagomensB were afterwards permanently 
added ; otherwise the rapid fluctuation of the seasons 
would scarcely have admitted of the twelve months 
bearing even a remote correspondence to the twelve 
signs, beyond the period of a single year. That such 
was really the case seems to be implied in the tradi- 
tion,^ that the ancient egyptian sovereigns, after the 
final establishment of the calendar, were obliged to 
swear at their consecration, that they would neither 
intercalate months nor day beyond the five appointed 
by law. What degree of authenticity this tradition 
may possess, I shall not venture to decide ; but it 
certainly derives an air of probability, from the con- 
geniality of such a practice with the habits of a bigot- 
ed and superstitious people, strongly attached to ex- 
isting customs, and who, having already submitted to 
one important alteration in their method of comput- 
ing time, were averse to any more such innovations. * 
Admitting its validity, as the greater number of 
chronologers have done ;' it mu8t be obvious, that 

k Ap< Scholiast, in Germanic, v. 284. 

1 Among others, Freret, Def. de hi Chr. p. 395 j who however, to serve 
some particukir system, supposes that the sovereigns sulgected to this 
ordinance, were not those of the old dynasties, but the native princes, 



150 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

the expression Hionth or day could have little mean- 
ing, unless we suppose, that the Egyptians in remote 
ages really had been in the practice of intercalating 
months, as well as days ; had such a practice been 
totally unknown. It is not likely that it would have 
been thus specifically guarded against ; and if it be 
admitted to have existed, it can • be referred to no 
other than the year of three hundred and sixty days. 
II. On the other hand, we might suppose with 
Jackson," that the Thot of the reformed calendar was 
4 originally fixed at the autumnal equinox j from whence 
gradually retrograding, it coincided with the heliacal 
rising of Sirius on the twentieth of July of the year 
1322 f which coincidence being observed and re- 
corded as a remarkable epoch, became the standard 
for regulating the proportion between the length of 
the civil and tropical year, and consequently the cal- 
culation of the cycle of 1460 years. There is unques- 
tionably a considerable deal of speciousness attached 
to this view of the matter ; for the date of. egyptian . 
history, to which it would refer both the institution 
of the new form of year, and probably the final ar- 
rangement of the corresponding points of the zodiac, 
namely, the early part of the eighteenth dynasty, is 
not only a brilliant and flourishing period of the mo- 

if)io r^igaed during the short intervals of freedom whioh occurred after 
• the first subjection to the Persians;, the priests being afraid, that the in- 
tercalation of months in use among their oriental oppressors, might be 
forced upon diemselves. This hypothesis howeyir rests on no aiithaiity» 
and V in itself extremel)* improbable ; asther^is no ground of belief 
that any attempts were made, either by the persian or native princes in 
later times, to innovate on this department of the national institutions. 
Such partial interpretations, of allusions made by authors generally to 
the customs of the ancient Egyptians, cannot be admitted unless npon 
very strong evidence. 
"> Cfaron. Ant. vol. ii. p. 7. conf. supr. p. 16. 
» See Append. No. XX. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 151 

narchy, but precisely that when the nation, not long 
after the expulsion of the Shepherds, being restored 
to its independence, may be supposed to have reor- 
ganized and consolidated all its civil institutions, and 
from whence it appears to have made new and ra- 
pid strides in all the arts and sciences ; a vast pro- 
portion of the splendid works of architecture, sculp- 
ture, and painting, the remains of which still adorn 
the banks of the Nile, being monuments of the mag- 
nificence of the distinguished family of princes,^ who 
then sat on the j;hrone of the Pharaohs* Upon this 
principle, it were not difficult to ascertain the date of 
the original coincidence of the month Thot with the 
sign of Libra. For the first day of the calendar of 
36^ days, if fixed to the autumnal equinox, would 
have retrograded between the year in which it was 
60 fixed and the 13^2 b. c, as many days as intervene 
between that on which the equinox fell on the former 
year, and the 20th of July of the latter year. These 
tlays multiplied by four, would therefore give us, on 
the principle of calculation formerly noticed, the num- 
ber of years of interval between the two dates."" > The 
autumnal equinox in the seventeenth century b. c. 
fell on the 8th of October ; between which day and 
the twentieth of July are 80 days, which, multiplied 
by four, produce 320 ; aiid these, added to 132^ 
would give 1642 b.-c. as the epoch of the establish- 
ment of the year of 365 days. We have seen already, 
that the accession of the eighteenth dynasty fluctuates 
in the chronology between 1668 and 1748 :^ suppos- 

^ Snpr. p. 30. conf. Append. No. 

P Supra, p. 3, sq. Professor Heeren (Ideen iiber den Handel, &g. 
der alien Welt, ii. Th. ii. Abth. s. 310) has also been led to place the 
probable date of that event between 1600 and 1700 b. c, by a eoUatioa 



15Q ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

ing it to have taken place in round numbers about 
the 1700, we should have the final arrangement of 
the calendar not many years afterwards ; an hypothe- 
sis which^ as already observed, is sufficiently plausible, 
and consistent with the general tenor of the history 
of egyptian civilization. 

Ill* This inquiry necessarily involves to a certain 
extent a much agitated chronological question, name- 
ly, the period of the Jewish Exodus. To enter at 
lei^h upon that point, would lead into a maze of 
controversy which I am here anxious to avoid. We 
shall therefore be contented to bestow upon it one or 
two brief observations. Josephus informs us that the 
hebrew year, previous to the departure from Egypt, 
commenced in autumn ; and his evidence is fully cor- 
roborated by the testimony of scripture. The words 
of Josephus are as follows, in speaking of the flood : 
" This calamity," says he, " happened in the second 
month, which is called by the Macedonians Dius** 
(November),** " but by'the Hebrews Marsewan ; for 
so they reckoned their months in Eg}rpt. But Moses 
ordained that Nisan, which is Xanthicus" (April), 
** should be the first month in respect to religious 
rites, as in it he brought the Hebrews out of Egypt. 
But although this was looked upon as the first of the 
year in every thing relating to divine matters, yet 
with respect to buying, selling, and all civil transac- 

of the general details of egyptian history, though upon principles differ- 
ent from those here laid down. Jackson (Chron. Ant. p. 193) places it 
in 1722. Hales (AnaL of Chron. vol. iy. p. 418) in 1648. My reasons 
for rejecting the system of M. Champollion Figeac, which carries the 
eighteenth dynasty much farther back, have been given; in part at least, 
in my Brief Remarks on the chronology of the egyptian dynasties. 

4 Usser. de Maced. ann. soL c. iv. Id|eler, Untersuch. Uber die astr. 
Beob. &c. s. 246. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 153 

tions, the ancient mode of reckoning was retained.*' 
Of the correctness of this statement of Josephus, it is 
not necessary to say much, as it has been generally 
admitted by both chronologers and theologians ;' 
being confirmed by the testimony of Moses himself 
in various passages of his works. Now, consistently 
with what appears to me the most correct view of the 
connexion of sacred and profane chronology for this 
period, (an opinion not hastily adopted, but resting 
on solid reasons derived from the comparative history 
of the two nations, which this is not the place to de- 
velop), the Exodus ought not to be dated much ear- 
lier than about the commencement of the sixteenth 
century before our aera. If therefore the Jews then 
used a year commencing in autumn, in confor- 
mity with the practice of the country, it must have 
been the ancient form of year of 360 days ; as the 
Thot of the year of 365 days, supposing it to have 
been already in use, would then have fallen consider- 
ably above a month prior to that season. Some chro- 
nologers however, who place the Expdus much ear- 
lier, have been of opinion, that the new-year's day 
of the Jews fell on the autumnal equinox, merely 
in consequence of the Thot of the egyptian year, 
which they had hitherto used, happening to coincide 

' M. Ideler (Techn. Chron. Bd. i. s. 493) indeed appears to doubt this, 
and, in as far as I know, is the first chronologer who has yentured to do 
so ; but I have not been able to discover the slightest reasonable ground 
for his scepticism. Matters of this kind are seldom capable of mathe- 
matical proof; but if the united testimony of trust- worthy authors and 
reasonable tradition justify the admission of a fact, there can be no 
solid reason for impugning the correctness of the .statement of Josephus. 
See, among others who have examined this point, Sca%. Can. Isag. p. 
284. Meyer de temp. sacr. part. i. c. i. ap. Ugolini. Thes. ant sacr. tom. 
i. Fr^ret, Def. de la chron. p. 402, sqq. Jackson, Chron. Ant vol* ii* 
p. 16. 

5 



1^4 ON THE CALENDAH AND ZODIAC 

with the same season at the period of their depar* 
ture from £^pt, and on this basis have attempted to 
calcuhite the date of that event. Neither the words 
of Josephus, however, nor the general tenor of bibli- 
cal tradition, seem to be in favour of such an hjrpo- 
thesis ; nor, if we admit their authority in this matter 
at all, ought we reasonably to limit their evidence 
with respect to the ancient patriarchal new-year's day 
to the mere observation of a temporary and accidental 
coincidence. The more ancient tradition of the Jews, 
indeed, referred the origin of this primitive calendar 
to the creation itself,' which they supposed to have 
taken place in autumn^ and that the pristine. egyptian 
mythology corresponded here also to a certain e:a^tent, 
I see little reason to doubt, as it is an admitted fact, 
that the egyptian cosmogonists followed the mosaic 
principle of creation, namely, that of a chaos or flood 
of waters, which gradually subsiding, caused the dry 
land to appear. It is also certain that they connected 
this tradition, and very naturally, with the subsiding 
of the flood of their own river, which both displayed 
to view, and renovated with fresh vegetative .power, 
the land of Egypt. There are, it is true, various pas- 
sages of popular authors, as of Porphyry, Macrobius, 
Julius Firmicus, and others, which refer the creation 
of the world, according to the Egyptians, to about 
midsummer. But there is reason to believe that these 
statements are merely grounded . on the knowledge 
that the revolution or ie^TroKarwrroung of the sothiac 
cycle, (and with it the proper commencement of the 
egyptian year in its more recent form,) was connect- 
ed with that season. Of this the very vagueness 

• Vid. Scalig. de Emend, temp. p. 345, sq. Can. Isag. p. 2S4, conf. 
Calmet, Diet de la Bib. vr. Ann^e, Monde. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 153 

and dkcrepancy of the statements themselves afford 
strong proof* With Porphyry, both the creation and 
the commencement of the egyptian year took place in 
Cancer, becatise the Dog-star was situated in or near 
that constellation ;^ which expression can only be un- 
derstood as alluding to the circumstance, that this star, 
during the whole period of its connexion with the egyp- 
tian year, rose heliacally in the latitude of Egypt, when 
the sun was in the sign Cancer. Of the value of the 
testimony of Porphyry in this instance, we may judge 
by his assertion, contained in the same passage, that 
the roman year dated from the sign Aquarius, where- 
as it commenced nearly with Capricorn. Macrobius" 
places the creation, according to the Egyptians, in the 
sign Leo, apparently on a precisely similar principle, 
because the reappearance of Sothis in his age and cli« 
mate coincided nearly with the entrance of the sun 
into the Lion. As for Julius Firmicus,^ whose works 
appear to contain considerable traces of the pure egypt- 
ian astrology', in one place he seems to agree with 
Macrobius, where he states, that the world was created 
in the forty-fifth day after the solstice, that is, in the 
middle of the sign Leo ; but in another place^ he in* 
forms us, that the earth was finally arranged and or- 
dered in the latter part of the sign Libra, which is 
more favourable to our hypothesis. The apparent 
contradiction between the two passages may be re- 
conciled, either upon the principle that the egyptian 
mythologists made a distinction between the creation 

t De Antr. Kymph, p, 265. Ed. Cantab. 1655. 
V Sdmn. Scip. L c. 21. 
^ Astronom. lib. iii. c> 1. 

^ Lib. viii. c. 3, conf. Scalig. ad Manil. p. 32. De Emend. Temp, 
p. 3-k). ^ 



156 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

of the world or universe, and the formation of our 
habitable terrestrial globe ; or by supposing, what is 
perhaps more probable, that the one tradition refers 
to the more recent, the other to the ancient calendar.'' 

Although the old Jewish cosmogonists placed the 
creation of the world in autumn, yet there were not 
wanting some among the rabbis^ who assigned it to 
spring. And it is curious enough, that the argument 
advanced by the authors of the new system tends to 
prove, that the other opinion was connected with 
egyptian tradition; because, say the new school, 
and plausibly enough, it is not probable that the crea- 
tion should coincide with the decline or fall of the 
year, but rather with the opening season/ Now, this 
very motive would lead the egyptians to place both 
the creation and their new-year's day at the autumnal 
equinox, which was in their climate the opening sea- 
son or natural spring, as March and April were in 
Palestine. 

IV. The evidence of the monuments, which are, 
no doubt, the most valuable guides in egyptian re- 
search, might perhaps assist our inquiries into the pe- 
riod of the first establishment of the year of three 
hundred and sixty-five days. We have seen above, 
that, in the very ancient papyri, whence M. Champol- 
lion has derived his hieroglyphic calendar, the sign of 
month is merely an inverted half-moon, as described 
by HorapoUo. But in the Rosetta inscription, and 

X M. Champollion asserts, (Panth. pL 2,) that, according to the egypt- 
ian cosmogony, the world was created hy Ammon at the vernal equinox. 
He has not, however, produced any authority for that statement, nor am 
1 aware that any exists. 

y Vid. Scalig. de £mend. temp. p. 345, sq. 

> Scalig. loc. sup. cit. Philo Jud. de Septen. et fest. p. 1 190. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT, IV, 157 

other monuments,^ which have served as authorities 
for the Calendar of the Cairo collection, we find a star, 
in addition to the original symbol, forming portion of 
the group. Whether this peculiarity be confined to 
inscriptions of a later date than 1322, or to those of 
any particular period whatever, we have no means of 
judging ; but the additional mark itself can hardly re- 
fer to any thing else but the connexion of the calendar 
with some star, and that star cannot well be any other 
than Sirius. This emblem may have been attached to 
the seasons at the reform of the calendar, to denote 
ttat the length of the year was in future to be regu- 
lated by the supposed motions of the stars, more es- 
pecially of Sirius ; not of the moon, as in former 
times. Might not this be alluded to by an obscure 
remark of HorapoUo,^ contained in a passage, part of 
which has already been quoted, where that author ap- 
pears to state, that the Egyptians denoted a year, among 
other symbols, by the star IsiSy or Sothis : 'Ewayrov 
he ^ovK6fji*BPO$ ifjT^Skruiy "Itnvy roSrsffri yvvouKcc ^Gjygocpovffiif* 
Tci ie ocvtS Kcci r^p 6zov (Tfjfiumvffiif. 'Itr/^ $e xug ccvroig 
iffriv affTfjgf ouYvxriffTi Kockovfiepog ^Zdig^ iKhjviffr} is ourrgo- 
icvm^ 0^ Kou ioKsT ^ocffiKsvssif rZv KoixSv Mrsg&fv . . • 'in ii 
xcu hoTi Kara rfjv rovrov rov atrrgov aifccroTjjif fffifLeiovfJifefia 
^Bgi 'jrdvrm rSv h rZ hiavrZ fjbeXkovratv rskehiar hoT^g ovk 
oLkoyoiq rov iviavrop "Iffiu Xiyovaiv. " When they would 
denote a year, they draw Isis, that is, a woman, as 
they also represent the goddess ; but Isis is a star, 
called in egyptian Sothis, in greek Dog-star, which 
appears to reign over the other stars • . • also be- 
cause, by observation of this star, we prognosticate 

a Young, SuppL to Encyc. Brit. art. Egypt, plate 77, No. 179. Mate- 
ria hierogl. Cairo, pi. 6. 
*» HierogL 1. i. c. 3. 



158 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

all that is to take place during the year. Hence it i^ 
not without reason that the year is called Isisl'* 

But at whatever period, or under whatever cir- 
cumstances, this primeval coincidence of the ^yptian 
new year's day with the sign Libra may have taken 
place, the question may perhaps occur, how came 
the zodiacal signs which were origlnaUy attached to 
the twelve months to remain fixed, when the posi- 
tions of the months with respect to the seasons under- 
went an alteration? and why, if it was originally 
meant that a conneicion should subsist between the 
civil and the astrological calender, was that intention 
so completely lost sight of? These and other ques- 
tions of a similar nature, our imperfect acquaintance 
with the early history of eg}rptian dcience puts it oat 
of our power to answer ; it is sufficient to be able 
to judge, on plausible grounds^ that such wiaus the 
case. The twelve months even with the epagomenaa 
were soon found* to be imperfect^ but the divisioii of 
the heavens into twelve portions of thirty degrees 
each, was found to be very perfect, * and highly con- 
ducive to the facility of computing time, and of ob- 
serving the heavenly bodies. The imperfection of 
the one system was no reason ' for abandoning the 
other ; on the contrary, the effects produced by the 
separation of the two on the national superstition 
were in close barmony, as we have shown above, 
with the proverbial taste of the egyptian priesthood 
for mystery and enigma. If we admit the opinion 
of De la Nauze .respecting the first establishment of 
the year of 365 days, we should be equally ^t a loss 
to know the precise motive which induced them to 
date its commencement, not as before from the 
equinox, but from the rising of the dog-star ; or why. 



OP ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. IV. 159 

in fixing' the Thottothe period of the rapid rise of the 
Nile, they should have retained, as its hieroglyphic, 
a symbol denoting the subsiding of the waters, which 
necessarily produced a corresponding' irregularity 
throughout the remainder of the calendar ; but that it 
must have been so is obvious. The best method of 
throwing light on any obscure matter of this kind is by 
analogy ; and we should have one of a very curious 
natilre in the history of the roman year, the first day 
of which was fixed, in early times, on or about the 
vernal equinox, March being the first month, and 
February the last ; whence the seventh, eighth, ninth, 
and tenth) were called September, October, Novem- 
ber, December ; their names in the latin tongue 
Uterally denoting their places. Subsequent altera- 
tions, the details of which are almost as doubtful as 
of those which took place in the egyptian calendar, 
caused these months to become the ninth, tenth, 
eleventh, and twelfth ; yet they still retained their 
former names, which does not seem to have shocked 
ibe delicate ear of the latin grammarian, though 
quite as great a paradox, in point of idiom, as would 
have been the retaining the hieroglyphic of vege- 
tation for the month Thot, after it was become the 
season of the full flood of Nile. The incongruity 
between the emblems of the months and their 
new positions in the egyptian year was, it may be 
farther observed, by no means so striking in the 
eyes of the vulgar, as that between the names of 
the roman months and their new position in the 
roman calendar; for the pure hieroglyphic, which 
alone preserved the original type or symbol, was 
appropriated to the sacred records and the use of the 
priests ; and the existence of this very anomaly, com- 



160 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

bined with the knowledge of its real cause, would 
add to their stock of mysteries. On the other hand, 
in the enchorial character, which was alone in popular 
use, the original form had totally disappeared, or 
degenerated into a mere sign,*^ denoting with the 
vulgar nothing more than the simple names, Thot, 
Paophi, &c. The new calendar being too, after all, 
defectire, and the months in a short time discovered 
to be still unsettled, the impropriety of the emblems, 
according to the new positions, would soon have 
become of little importance. When we find such 
strange anomalies, during the most civilized period 
of the egyptian empire, sanctioned both by custom 
and law, we can feel the less surprised at any others 
of a similar nature which may present themselves, 
in the course of our investigations into the chrono- 
logy of its remote and obscure ages. 

We shall now willingly take leave of these dark 
and intricate matters, all attempts to elucidate which 
can only end in conjecture of a sufficiently vague ^ 
and unsatisfactorv nature, and extend our observa- 
tions to the history of the first introduction and use 
of the zodiac among the Greeks. 

c Vid. Kosegfart de prise, ^gypt. lit. p. 50, tab. E. F. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT, SECT. V. l6l 



SECTION V. 

REMARKS ON THE FIRST INTRODUCTION AND USE OP 
THE ZODIAC AMONG THE GREEKS. 



The inquiry to which the present section is devoted, 
though belonging to a department of critical research, 
of a somewhat diflferent nature from that in which 
We have hitherto been engaged, is yet closely con- 
nected with our previous subject in more ways than 
one. First, from the interest we may naturally take, 
in following up our endeavours to investigate the re- 
mote origin of this celebrated institution, by tracing 
its progress across the mediterranean, and adoption 
by the most anciently civilized people of the western 
world ; from whom its use has been propagated 
Among almost all the nations of modern times, who 
have paid any attention to astronomical science. Se« 
condly, because several authors of eminence having 
been of opinion, that the zodiac is of hellenic rather- 
than egyptian origin; others, that its constellations 
in their present form, as delineated on oiir globes, 
were familiar at least to the remotest ages of fabulous 
greek antiquity ; and having made these opinions, 
respectively, the basis of their endeavours to illustrate 

M 



l62 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

its history, and of conclusions widely discrepant from 
those to which we have been led by the foregoing 
researches, — it becomes of importance to investigate, 
on this head, as much of the truth as the nature of 
existing testimonies will permit* 

A careful examination of the comparative history 
and antiquities of the two countries, has led me to 
the conviction, that the accounts of the direct impor- 
tation of egyptian science into Greece during its he- 
roic ages, by colonies transplanted from the banks of 
the Nile to the coasts of the JSgean, are destitute of 
any reasonable probability. Still less credible are the 
legends of the voyages up the Nile, undertaken by the 
early sages of barbarous Hellas, the purely mythical 
OrpheuS) Mus^eus, Triplolemus, or the semi-historical 
Jlomer,* Hesibd, Lycurgus, and their initiation into 
the mysteries of the priests of Heliopolis or of Thebes. 
The first real connexion between the two countries 
ought to be dated from the reign of Psammeticbus, 
who overcame or violated the ancient prejudices of 
his subjects, and admitted the Greeks freely to the in* 
terior of the country, as visitors, as settlers, or as 
mercenari^. From this period we can first trace histo- 
rically the direct and positive influence of the manners 
and mythology of Egypt, on those of their european 
neighbours. The force of early association will per- 
hq)s raise up difficulties against the admission of this 
as a general rule, nor is this the place to support it by 
anj lengthened argument ; but in as far as our pre-* 
sent question is immediately concerned, it will be 
found I trust nearly capable of demonstration. 
Although the early poets Qf Greece, diu*ing many 

* See Appendix, No. XXI. 



OF ANCIENf EGYPT. 'SECT. V: l68 

ages the only authors she possessed, m'dke frequent 
allusion to the heavenly bodies and theit motions, 
both as connected with theif mythology, dnd as serv- 
ing as guides to the rustic in his labours, of beacons 
to the navigator in his course j and though they seem 
to have been in the habit, like all other barbarous 
nations, of combining certain remarkable stars into 
constellations, with names significant of their forms, 
positions, or supposed influences ; it will be remarked, 
that among these names, those of the signs of the 
zodiac never occur. Yet it were natural to infer, had 
they been known, as has been so often gratuitously 
supposed^ long before the trojan war, that they might 
have been considered by Homer, Hesiiod, and other 
old poets, (as they ever have been since they became 
familiar,) among the most important, and most worthy 
of notice, whether in an astronomical or poetical 
point of view. Homer says that Vulcan, among 
other decorations of the shield of Achilles, distributed 
around its circumference all the images which adorn 
the heaven : 

'El' ie roi rg/fga Toivra rA r ovpocvog iffrepoimrocr^ 

After this, although we could hardly expect him to 
give us a literal catalogue of all the constellations, 
yet one might reasonably suppose that in mentioning 
the most remarkable, he would not overlook the 
twelve celebrated emblems of the zodiac, or at least 
the nobtest and most poetical among their number, 
had he known them ; but he continues : 

*> II. 0-. V. 4*83. sqq. 



164 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

I 

t 

Hhj'idiag ^' 'ToXa^ rg, ro re (r6i»og 'Clgiofvogf 
"A^KTov ^\ fjp Kou "AfdfO^uu I'jcixhiaiv Koikiovtnvj 

and elsewhere he mentions o-v/zg Ivoncc Bo<^?jv/ and 
the dog-star, 

'^Op Tg xvu 'iTlgtmog iTtxhjffiu xoO^ovaiv.^ 

and the planet Venus, sometimes as the morning-star^ 

sometimes as the evening star : 

"E^Tgf Off og xuKkiarog h ovgotvZ iffrurai affrfjg.^ 

Here indeed we have the Pleiads, and Hyads, por- 
tions of the BulPs head and neck, but no allusion to 
the \wna{jr/p(x, ravgop himself; no Tra^dmv ouhoiriv^ no 
<£i6m(t Xmrocy no 

■ 
although each of these heroes or animals furnishes 

material, upon other occasions, for the most beautiful 

imagery of his poem, or the most elegant periods of 

his measure. He enters in the course of his fable 

into considerable details concerning the apotheosis of 

the Tyndaridae ; had he known them as promoted 

to heaven under the celestial emblem of the twins, 

he could hardly have failed to allude to it.*" The well 

« Lib. cit V. 486. ^ Odyss. i. v. 272. • H. >;. v. 29. 

' n. >^. 226. conf. Od: v, v. 93. « U. x- 318. 

^ It appears indeed very doubtful whether Castor and Pollux ever had 
in the greek astrological mythology, any peculiar claims on the coor 
stellation of the Twins ; since, as already noticed, some held these to be 
Hercules and Apollo, others Amphion and Zethus ; others Cabiri, or 
Samothracian deities of unknown or mystexious character. Vid. auctor. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. l65 

known peculiarities attending the grant of divine 
honours to the lacedaemonian brothers at their death, 
are in themselves strong proof that in its origin the 
tradition had no connexion with astrology, or the 
constellation over which they were afterwards fabled 
to preside ; for they are said to enjoy life on alternate 
days, the one being visible in the upper regions, of 
light, while the other was confined to the shades be- 
low : 

but the two brilliant stars called Castor and Pollux, 
being close to each other in the heavens, the one 
cannot well be visible without the other.'' Hesiod' 
adds to the catalogue of his predecessor the names 
of Sirius and Arcturus, the first another title of the^ 
Dog-star, the second of Bootes j and frequently enters 
into minute definitions of the proper divisions of the 
seasons, according to the rustic calendar, with reference 
to the rising, setting, and culminating of certain favour-p 
ite stars ; but without betraying the slightest know- 
ledge of such a thing as a zodiac or its signs ;™ and 
the same may be said of the early writers of Greece, 
almost without exception ; up even to the very period 
when we find the institution in familiar use, among 
the practical astronomers who flourished towards the 
commencement of the peloponnesian war. 

The above then are the only constellations men- 
tioned in the heroic greek mythology ; and of these 

sup. pit ad p. 122, sq.' Scholiast ad German, v. 146. and Nigid. de Sphacr. 
ap. ennd. Orph. Hymn, xxxvii. t. 23. 

i ddyss. A. 299, sq. ^ See Appendix, No. XXII. 

i-E^y. 566, 610. 572, 619, &c. °» See Appendix, No- XXIIl. 



166 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

there is hardly a single one of which the name is not 
either according to a palpably hellenic etymology, 
significant of its form or supposed influences^ or 
directly referable to pure greek or grecophenician . 
fable. Thus, where Hopaer calls the bear, "A^ktw^ 
ny Kcci "Afitce^oiv . . . the name afJifCf^^j or w^in, which 
is common to many ancient nations, is sugge^teid at 
once by the form of the asteri^m ;" for it i$ evi4ent, 
as Hipparchus" also assures us, that the old rustic 
astrologers comprehended, in this constellation, not 
the whole space occupied by the monstrous %ure to 
which the same name is now applied, according to 
the more recent division of the sphere, but the seven 
bright stars alone which compose its. rump or tail. 
The appellation of bear^ however, can hardly be 
derived from any thing in the arrangement qf the 
stars themselves, but seems to imply some collusion to 

" A<« ri ixttf oxnf*-a «/kci{ii«. (Schol. ad. Arat. Phaen. ▼.* 27.) In 
the East, Agala^ nb:)^^, the chariot; (Hyde ad Ulugh Beigh. p. 9. 
11. Buxt. Lex. Chald. in t.) corrupted apparently ap. Hesych* into 
Ayaewae, thongh some suppose this to be a primitive greek appella- 
tion also bearing the sense of chariot, (Ideler. Unters. iiher den Urspr. 
&c. der Sternn. s. 7.) ; as from the root ^Jtytt, (whence also «^«{«^ 
«5r« rov ufiot ecyuv, according to some), and connected with the teutonic 
wagen, waggon, Wa-n. The word nb:jr, like the greek fiA/icu applied to 
the same constellation, denotes also any thing revolved or rolled, 
allusive to its whirliog motion round the pole. The Arabs also call the 

lesser Bear, Arracyba ^j^StJ^? which, from the analogy of the chaldee 
or hebrew, may denote either a chariot, or the upper millstone, as the 
primitive root ll^^l admitsi both significations. The last mentioned 
figure (the force of which will be apparent to those who are acquainted 
with the structure of the old oriental or classical mill) seems to have been 
familiar to the Arabs. Vid. Cazwini ap. Idel. op. cit. p. 375 ; whose 
Gditor,»^owever, seems to have misunderstood the sense of the passage. 

The latin appellations, Plaustnim, Septemtrio (the team of oxen), 
correspond to the greek »^<v|<«. The Arabs also call both constellations, 
by a similar analogy as referred to their motions or appearance, the 
Bier or Litter. Golius, ad Alforgan, p. 64. Lex. Arab. p. 2405. Cazwini, 
c. 1, 2. 

o Ad. Arat. L. L c. 10. Petav. Uran. p. 101. 



QF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V, iGj 

their, northerly position, and the connexion of the 
animal with the extreme cold towards the pole,^ 
which the Greeks, or the phenician navigators, from 
whom they borrowed their notions of geography, 
may hare had occasion to observe during their 
voyages. This ^asterism, we are positively assured 
by the ancients, whose testimony is confirmed by that 
of the monuments, bore a totally different appellation 
among the Egyptians, being dedicated to their Ty- 
phon,** who accordingly appears in his place undet 
the form of an hippopotamus, in the greco-egyptian 
planispheres,' where no figure resembling a bear is 
visible. The Pleiads took their name either from 
their number," or, as some suppose, from their being 
likened to a flight qf pigeons." The oriental astro*^ 
nomers, by a similar analogy, call them the hen and 
chicken^ and terms of like import are applied to them 
in the vulgar idiom of various nations.* The Hyads 
were named, most probably, from their supposed 
influence on the seasons, as promoters of rain." The 
same are called by the Latins, apparently by a 'mis- 
translation of the greek term, Sucute, or the litter of 

^ The same name has been observed by trayellers to be common ia 
the savages of N<M*th America from a somewhat similar assodation of 
ideas. Qogxiet Ong. des Loix, vol. IV. p. 741, 757. 

4 AchiU. Tat Isag. in fine. Uranol. p. 94. Pint de Is. et Os. c* 31. 

' Biot. op. cit. p. 87. sqq. 

" Btjrm. M» nxfitf^, «$ l» vXtUfMt atrri^vf oSvm. Ion. et poet. 
Il^«dfs.« According to the form FIsAfM^fis, whicli does not occur in Homer 
^r Hesiod, but is preferred bj later poets*— as Pindar, i^uZv y% niXf<«)«y. 
(N^m. II. I7,j And iEschylus, (apud Athen. p. 491. A.) uwrt^t 
^tXHtiiiii, The derivation ^^c t*v 5rX«i', because at the season of their 
'rising it was usual to undertake voyages, seems worthy of no attention. 

^ Hyde ad. Ulugh Beigh. p. 42. Ideler. Uuters. Uber den Urspr. &g> 
der Stemn. p. 148. 

" A plucndo ; vuv enim est pluerc. Cicer. de Nat. Deor. lib. II. c. 
^^> Conf. Not Davis, ad loc. 



IC6 * ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

pigs ; although this name is not in itself inconsistent 
with the character of the rustic mythology of Italy,'' 
hor is it ill adapted to the appearance of the constel- 
lation. Bootes with Homer is the waggoner or driver 
of the oxen of the Amaxa. With Hesiod his title of 
Arcturus corresponds to the variety of his office, as 
keeper or guardian of the bear. Orion is a well 
known hero of greek fable, famous for his beauty* 
and his skill in the chace. The brightest star in the 
heaven, which rises immediately behind him, is his 
dog.'' The name Sirius for the dog-star, in use, as 
we have seen, as early as the days of Hesiod, is 
apparently of boeoto-phenician origin,* and an ancient 
Epithet for any very brilliant or sparkling heavenly 
body, as Eratosthenes^ assures us ; and Hesiod* also 

^ This same most unpoetical group acts a distinguished part in the 
most popular latin fable, as narrated in the noblest of latin poems, ( Virg. 
^n. III. V. 389, sqq.; VIII. v. 42, 81, sqq.) It happens, too, curiously 
enough with reference to the legend of Virgil, that the roman tradition 
also connected the phases of the constellation with the foundation of 
the city. (PUn. L. XVIII. c. 26.) 

^ A most natural figure, also familiar to the Arabs. Abderrahman 
Suphi (ap. Hyde ad. Ulugh. Beigh. p. 51) says, that Canis major is called 
Kelb-algebbar, or the dog of tite giant, because it continually follows 
Orion, which constellation was named the giant among them. And 
Cazwini, (Ideler. uber d. Ursp. d. Stemn. s. 400, 237), ^' This star fol- 
lows the constellation of Orion, hence called the D<^." 

^ Possibly from 'l')1V, principatum gerere ; the probability of which 
etymology receives incidental force from passages of various authors, 
tending to show how naturally this idea presented itself to the pagan 
astrologers. Thus Horapollo, among the reasons for this star being 
consecrated to Isis, remarks, *' that it appears to reign over all the other 
stars" oi Jutt iotat raff ^oi^cHv urri^anf pua-tXivity. (Hierog. L. I. c- 3.) 
And Cazwini : *' This star was worshipped in the days of heathenisnii 
because its path through the heaven is more illustrious than that of the 
other stars." (Ap. Ideler. ilber d. Urspr. d. Sternn. &c« s. 400, 237.) 
Add Homer, (U. x* v. 27, 30. 

Accfi7r^i<ruro$ ^Iv oy ia-rht ufi^nXci H el uvyott 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. l69 

applies the term^ ^sigiog aariig, to the sun himself. 
This star was called by the Egyptians Isis, or the star 
of Isis. Hence the name Sothis in the feminine 
gender, while those of the dog star^ xvofv^ affr^oKvm, 
^Bigiogj are masculine. In the egyptian mjrthology^ 
Sothis was adored as the most beneficent of the 
heavenly bodies, while with the greek poets its in- 
fluences are proverbially blasting and noxious. 

Now in all these remnants of the primitive hellenic 
astrology, we cannot discover the least trace of egyp- 
tian fable, or egyptian figurative imagery, which in 
the zodiac and its signs it is equally impossible to 
overlook ; and this, besides the silence of antiquity, 
is sufficient proof that the knowledge of these last 
was comparatively recent in Greece. 

The only account of the precise period of the 
first use of the zodiac in that country, which seems 
worthy of any attention, is preserved by Pliny,* who 
assigns the division of its constellations to Cleostratus 
of Tenedos, about 536 b. c. ;^ this may, I presume, 
be understood of his having first distributed the stars 
in the neighbourhood of the ecliptic, among the twelve 
ioGiaginary creatures whose names were contained 
in the original symbols, when first imported from 
Egypt. The first attempt at a more accurate obser- 
vation of the sun's course, after the method of the 

Suidas has the variety ^u^» The Arabs, besides the appeUation Dog, 
have another, pronounced Shira ; probably corrupted from thfe Xu'^tof of 
the Greeks; though some, on the other hand, would have this to be the 
primitive oriental name, whence the Grreeks have borrowed theirs; and 
ip signify hairy or bristly (cfj^)j which is not unreasonable, as the 
remarkable sparkling or twinkling of Sirius really gives it such an ap 
pearance. (Ideler. op. cit. p. 240.) 

y Catast 33. 

■ "E^y. V. 4-15. conf. Archiloch. ap. Hcsych, v. 26<g/W. 

a Hist. Nat. H. c. 8. * See Appendix, No. XXiV. 



170 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

egyptian zodiac, may perhaps be hinted at la the 
tradition, that Pythagoras* according to some, Ana- 
ximander according to others,* first observed the 
obliquity of the ecliptic ; which cannot allude to any 
thing else but a more accurate measurement of that 
circle, and of the distance of the tropic from the 
equator ; for the mere variation of the sun's course 
from the equinoctial must have been self-^erideat 
even to the simplest contemplator. This observation 
was, according to Pliny, what suggested to Cleos- 
tratus the construction of his zodiac, rerum fores 
aperuit/ All these efforts towards the advancement 
of science were made not long after Thales, and other 
enterprising sages, had brought the knowledge of 
several scientific institutions of the Egjrptians, and 
other ancient and highly civilized nations, into Asia 
minor. The use of the new method of regulatings 
the calendar seems, however, not to have been for n 
considerable time afterwards either popular orfanodliar^ 
but to have been confined almost entirely to astro- 
nomers and mathematicians ; for not one of the extant 
classical authors, who are ascertained to have flou«* 
rished previous to the days of Meton, makes the 
slightest allusion to the zodiac or its signs. Hero-* 
dotus especially, if we may judge from his silence, 
appears to have been ignorant of them. The sanxe 
may be said of the writings of Plato, and the older 
attic poets. The first extant work, if we admit its 
title to be authentic, where we find any distinct 
account of the signs of the zodiac, is the sphere attri-^ 
buted to Empedocles, published by Fabricius in his 

r • 

« Plut de Plac. Thil. II. c. 14 ; IV. c. 12. 

^ Plin. II. N. II. c. 8. Obliqiiitatcm ejus intellcxisse. 

« Loc, cit. 



OF ANCIENT EjGYPT, Sj:CT. V. I7I 

Bibliotheca graeca/ Whether it really be the pro- 
duction of that celebrated philosopher is more than 
doubtful ; but from it§ style and language, there can 
be no objection to assigning its author nearly an equal 
antiquity with AratuB, who wrote his poem called 
the Ph^enomena about the year 9^/0 b, g*, the earliest 
positively authenticated work of a popular nature 
where the zodiac is inentioned* That its use, how- 
ever, was familiar to practical astronomers long before 
this period is evident from the fragments of Eudoxus, . 
and the testimony of later mathematicians, who quote 
big; authority, and that of other philosophers of a still 
older date* 

The earliest mathematicians on record, who fixed 
tjie cardinal points of the sun's course, from observa- 
/ tion, in degrees of the ecliptic, according to the twelve 
signs or constellations, are Euctemon and Meton* 
Euctemon^ placed the winter solstice and the autum- 
nal equinox in the first degrees of Capricorn and Li- 
bra. Meton,** however, about the same time, is said 
to have fixed the same points in the eighth degrees. 
Eudoxus,* who flourished not long after, and was rec- 
koned a better astronomer than either, placed his car- 
dinal points in the sixteenth degrees of Aries, Cancer, 
Libra, and Capricorn, Calippus, and after him Ara* 



f Lib. II. c. n, 

s Gemin. Element. Astron. c. 16. Uran. p. 36, sqq. 

^ Colum. De re irust lib. ix. c. 14. conf. Achil. Tat. Isag-. c. 23. Uran. 
p: 85. 

. i Hipparch. ad Arat. lib. i. cc. 27. 29. Uran. p. 1 16, sq. conf. lib, ii. c. 3, 
p. 1 19. Hipparchus says tbe middle of the signs. This has been usually 
interpreted the fifteenth degrees ; which is erroneous. The central point, 
fiilr«en decrees or half a sign to the eastward of the first, must be consi- 
dered as the sixteenth ,- as Mill be clear from the text of Hipparchus, 
below. 



172 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

tu8 and Hipparchus, re-established them in the first,'' 
where they have with little exception ever since re- 
mained; and from thence is supposed to date the 
more accurate distinction between signs and consteU 
lations ; the first thirty degrees of longitude, counted 
on the ecliptic from the vernal equino:i^ for the time 
being, having been ever since considered as Aries, 
and so of the other cardinal points ; although the pre^ 
cession of equinoxes has carried them far from their 
original positions, with respect to the constellations 
whose names they bear. By constellation I would 
be understood to mean the well known groups of 
stars, comprehended within the outline of certain ima^ 
ginary forms of living or inanimate objects, as still de- 
lineated on our globes ; by signs, the dodecatemoria^ 
or equal portions of thirty degrees of the ecliptic, as 
subdivided for the purpose of astronomical calcula- 
tion. Where it is doubtful which of these methods 
was followed by different astronomers in recordings 
their observations, I have used both designations. 

To whom we may be originally indebted for the 
precise outline of the imaginary figures of the con- 
stellations of the greek zodiac, according to the ar- 
rangement which has been generally adopted in both 
ancient and modern times, whether to Cleostratus 
himself, or to succeeding astrologers, is unknown. 
But the above mentioned strange variety in the defi- 
nitions of the three first mathematicians, who are re- 
corded to have noted their observations' according to 
the twelve divisions of that circle, can only be reason- 
ably accounted for, by supposing that they distribut- 
ed those divisions, whether as constellations or signs^ 

^ Gemin. Elem. c. 16. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 173 

differently ; or, in other words, that the constellation 
or sign of the Ram with Eudoxus, comprehended a 
different portion of the heaven about the ecliptic, 
from that assigned it by Euctemon and those who 
followed his method. And that such was really the 
case w^ are assured by Hipparchus, who, in his trea- 
.lise on the Phsenomena, gives convincing examples o£ 
the existence and effect of this variety, and of the 
confusion which it produced, in all attempts to recour* 
cile the observations of different greek astronomers, 
as compared with each other. Some of these exam- 
ples we shall have occasion to adduce in a subsequent 
page. This singular vagueness and incongruity, how- 
ever, of the methods of distributing the signs or con- 
jstellations, followed by the earliest greek sages who 
are reported to have used the zodiac, affords another 
strong proof in addition to those already advanced, 
how very recent and imperfect the knowledge of the 
institution really was in Greece in their days ; and 
shews at the same time, that with the greater number 
of the early astronomers of that country, the divisions 
of the ecliptic, as alreadj remarked, must be consi- 
dered as signs rather than as constellations ; each 
having adopted that mode of arrangement which best 
suited his system, or appeared to him, with reference 
to the remainder of the sphere, to afford the greatest 
facilities of celestial observation* 

Some authors have however attempted to account 
for these varieties in a different manner. Setting out 
with the presupposition, that the constellations of the 
zodiac, as delineated in the greek sphere, were really 
of hellenic invention, or at least had been familiar to 
the Greeks from time immemorial, they have assumed, 
that those among tlie above mentioned astronomers, 



174 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

who placed their equinoctial or solstitial poiilts to the 
eastward of the first degrees of the constellations 
Aries, Libi;a, Cancer, Capricorn, followed certain an- 
cient calendars, still in use among the rustics of 
Greece, formed at a period when the colui*es really 
did occupy the eighth or fifteenth degrees of the con- 
stellations in their present form, from which, owing 
to the precession of equinoxes, they had gradually re- 
ceded. Thus no less a man than the great Sir L 
Newton,^ having assumed that the zodiac was invent- 
ed by the fabulous centaur ChirOn for the use of th^ 
Argonauts^ and that the supposed old calendar, fot 
lowed by Eudoxus, which placed the Colures in the 
middle of the constellations, was the same originally 
constructed by that allegorical personage, and finding 
that Meton fixed the same colures in the eighth de- 
grees ; he inferred, that they had receded seven de- 
grees in the intermediate period j whence, by calcu- 
lating the precession of equinoxes at a degree in se- 
venty-two years, and adopting such an arrangement 
of other principal constellations of the sphere, as was 
most favourable to his own vie\i^s, he concluded that 
Chiron must have flourished 504 years before Meton, 
or 935 B. c, ; at which epoch therefore he places the 
expedition of the Argonauts,'* and on this basis erects 
his system of chronology. 

How fallacious such a method rhust be, is evident 
from the circumstance already mentioned, that Euc- 
temon, who observed at the same time as Meton, and 
Calippus, who flourished not long after, placed their 
cardinal points in the first, and not in the . eighth de- 
grees ; so that a chronologer, who found it suited his 

» 

^ Chronol. p. 25. 82. Sqq. ' *» Clironol. p. 93. 



OF ANCIENT-EGYPT. SECT. V. 175 

system, might equally, upon this principle^ assume, 
that, in the days of Euctemon, the colures had reced- 
ed fifteen degrees since the time of Chiron, and as- 
sign, accordingly, the argonautic expedition to a much 
more remote period of antiquity. 

Such, in factj has been the method of Freretj" who, 
in combating with considerable success the antiquarian 
mistakes of our great countryman, has himself fallen 
itito others of a similar but still more flagrant nature. 
Assuming, like Sir Isaac, that the zodiacal constella- 
tions had been in use in Greece time out of mind, he 
has adopted the very hypothesis above alluded to, viz. 
that, in the days of Euctemon, the cardinal points, 
which had been originally fixed at a much more ad- 
vanced point of the constellations, had retrograded to 
their commencement; that M^on, in placing them 
in the eighth degrees, followed an old rustic ca^ 
lendar, constructed in the tenth century b. c* ; that 
Eudoxus, in like manner, in fixing them at the six- 
teenth,^ conformed to a still more aiicient calendar^ 
constructed in the fifteenth century b. c. j^ that is to 
say, that Meton and Budoxus, though perfectly awiu*e 
that the cardinal points really weii^e nearly in the first 
d^rees of their respective constellations, out of defe- 
venoe to the rustics of Cnidos or of Attica, among 
whom these calendars were still in use, placed them^ 
in their respective works, the one about eighty the 
other fifteen degrees out of their true positions* Of 
this theory, which its author has developed at great 
detail, in his celebrated controversial work, entitled^ 

» Defense de la Chronol. p. 6, sqq., 417, sqq. 
' o With Freret, the fifteenth. 8ee Note to p. 171, supra. 
P At p. 14, he makes the date 14 GS n. c. ; at v, .'39, after Whiston^ 
1353. 



176 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

Defense de la Chronologie, and which has been ver jr 
generally adopted by succeeding writers on these sub- 
jects, I shall endeavour shortly to point out the fal- 
lacy. 

In the first place, it must be observed, that the 
whole of the above system, plausible as it has appear- 
ed to many, is contrary to the express testimony of 
the ancients, more especially of Hipparchus and Ca* 
lumella, to whose works the learned academician and 
his followers have principally appealed in support of 
their hypothesis, but who, instead of justifying, con- 
fute it, as shall be shown, in the most positive terms. 
But, besides this, it were in itself most extraordinary, 
and indeed almost incredible, that Meton and Eu« 
doxus, who pretended to be correct practical astrono- 
merSy after the fashion of the time, and who have al- 
ways been considered, if not as the fathers of the 
science, at least as its first great reformers and im* 
provers among the Greeks, should intentionally have 
composed complete theories of the heavens upon the 
basis of a wilful error of not less than fifteen degrees 
of longitude in the position of the cardinal points of 
the sun's course, and that merely to gratify the rustic 
prejudices of the time. ** On ne s'embarrassait pas 
beaucoup,'' says Freret,** " de placer les points car- 
dinaux hors de leur veritable lieu ; on songeait seul^ 
ment a se faire entendre des gens de la campagne, 
pour lesquels on ecrivait, et dont il fallait respecter 
les prejuges/* That the first philosophers of Greece 
wrote merely for the peasantry, whose prejudices it 
was necessary to respect, is surely a most unwarrant- 
able supposition. If men of science were to conform 

q Op. cit p. 10. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 177 

thus servilely to all the vulgar errors of the day, their 
labours would comparatively be of little value. Their 
object ought to be, and we may be sure that of Meton 
and Eudoxus was, by their discoveries to correct and 
root out, not to confirm, the ignorance and b^otry 
of the lower orders of their countrymen. We shall 
first turn our attention to the method of Eudoxus, 
which, as described by Hipparchus, has formed the 
principal groundwork of the speculations of Freret, 
and those who have adopted his views ; and in the 
course of our inquiries into it, we shall be led to a 
few observations upon that of Meton. 

Hipparchus, in his commentary on the Phsenomena 
of Aratus,' sets out by observing, that the poet, in his 
description of the heavenly bodies, had for the most 
part imitated, or even closely copied, the sphere of 
Eudoxus, frequently doing little more than transcribe 
his words in verse. When, however, he comes to 
institute a close comparison between the two authors, 
he thus expresses himself:' " First of all, it must be 
considered, that Aratus so divided his zodiac, that the 
tropical and equinoctial points should form the com- 
mencement of the signs ; but Eudoxus so, that the 
same points should be the middle of Cancer, Capri- 
corn, Aries, and Libra." Having then quoted cer- 
tain statements of Aratus in proof of his first asser- 
tion, he adds, " and in this way almost all the old 
astronomers divided their zodiac ;** which passage, 
as we have before had occasion to remark, is of great 
ilnportance, as showing the superior antiquity of this 
method, originally borrowed, it may be presumed, 
from the Egyptians or Chaldees ; and that the prac- 

' Lib. i. c. 2, p. 98. » Lib- ii. c. 3, p. 119. 

N 



178 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

tice of assigning the cardinal points to various other 
parts of the signs or constellations, is comparatively 
a recent innovation. Hipparchus then proceeds to 
prove the truth of the second part of his statement, 
in the words of Eudoxus himself. " He himself/' 
says he/ ^' bears witness, that he placed the solstitial 
points in the middle of the signs, in the following 
words : * The second circle is that in which the sum- 
mer conversions are e£Pected ; in it is the middle of 
Cancer. The third circle is that in which the equi- 
noxes are effected ; it passes through the centre of 
Aries and of Libra. The fourth, in which is the win- 
ter tropic, is in the middle of Capricorn.* *' Had Eu- 
doxus meant to say that all this took place in Chiron's 
time, or about 900 years before his own ; or, that 
these were not the true cardinal points, but merely 
what the rustics of Cnidos considered as su9h, it were 
surprising that he should have expressed himself in 
such a manner ; but still more so, that neither Hip- 
parchus, one of the acutesf critics that ever exist- 
ed, nor any succeeding commentator, should have 
had a suspicion of his true meaning. But, in truth, 
according to the actual arrangement of the zodiacal 
constellations, as supposed to have existed in the days 
of Chiron, (namely, that still followed on our globes,) 
it is impossible that the colures coiild have fallen in 
the middle of the four constellations, Aries, libra. 
Cancer, and Capricorn, since these occupy unequal 
and very irregular portions of the eclip£ic ; so that 
such a correspondence never could have existed." 
This were in itself sufficient proof that Eudoxus dis« 



t Lib. ii. c. 3, p. 120. 

u Vid. Delambre, Hist* de Tastroii. anc torn. L p. xli. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT, V. 179 

tributed his zodiae, and platted his cardinal points, af- 
ter a method of his own, without reference to the 
sphere of Chiron or any other such ^ionary system. 

Btit, hesides all this; Hippiiithus has, fortunately,- 
iii nuinerous illustrations 'of the positions of the hea-^ 
venly foodies, as refefred to*their lon^ude, according 
to the ahore various methods of dividing the zodiac, 
left us convincing and unequivocal proof, that although 
£udoxus placed the same cardinal points in the middle 
of the signs which Aratus and he Umself fixed at their 
commencement, yet' both j making allowances for trif- 
ling errors or discrepancies consequent on their im- 
perfect mode of observation, assigned j or meant to as- 
sign thism precisely the same position in the ecliptic. 
I shall quote nearly his own Words, confining myself 
to examples drawn from great and important constel- 
latiofis^ concerning whose real form and position there 
C5an be no diflFerence of opinion ; for -as to majiyofthe 
other more obscure oi* less well-defined iteterisms^ there 
can be little doubt but that in the sphei-e of Eudoxus 
tliey differed as much in their precise extent and figure 
from those which Hipparchus designated by the same 
flames, as did the signs of the zodiac- themseltes.- I 
have also selected such examples aa are least charge- 
able with that confusion and inconsistency from which 
many portions of the work' of Hipparchus j in itS' pre- 
sent state, great as is its general merit, are not ex- 
empt. 

'^ The last and inost easterly star in th^ tail of the 
great Bear, on a circle parallel to the equator, would 
be .situatfed in the fourth degree of Librae the solsti- 
tial and equinoctial points being fixed at the com- 
mencement of the signs ; btit if, with Eudoxui^,* we 
place those points in the middle of the signs, the same 



180 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

star will be situated in the nineteenth of Libra/'^ If 
the fourth degree of the Libra of Aratus or Hippar- 
chus corresponds with the nineteenth degree of the 
Libra of Eudoxus, it follows, that the first degree of 
the same sign with Hipparchus must correspond with 
the sixteenth according to Eudoxus ; consequently 
their equinoctial colures were in the same point of the 
ecliptic. 

Again, according to the method of Aratus,*" " the 
most southerly of the four stars which form the quad- 
rangle of the great Bear, occupied about the twenty- 
fifth degree of Leo ;" but, according to the other sys- 
tem, "the same star coincided with the tenth of Virgo.** 
The result answers precisely to that obtained from the 
foregoing example. The first degree of the Virgo of 
Aratus would be equivalent to the sixteenth with Eu- 
doxus ; the first of Leo to its sixteenth ; and the com- 
mencement of each sign to the centre of the same, 
according to the arrangement of each respectively. 

Again */ " the last and brightest star of the lesser 
Bear is situated in the eighteenth degree of Pisces, 
but as Eudoxus divides his zodiac in the third of 
Aries.** Consequently the sixteenth of Pisces with 
Aratus corresponded to the first of Aries with Eu- 
doxus ; the first of Aries with Aratus to the sixteenth 
with Eudoxus ; so that, as in the previous instances, 
their cardinal points, though nominally different, oc- 
cupied the same position in the true ecliptic.^ 

This is farther illustrated by the discrepancy be- 
tween their ffvpttvotrdkaty and ffvyzaro^vtrugy or the de- 
scription of the stars or constellations, which rose or 

▼ Hipparch. in Phnn. Arati. lib. i. c. 10, p. 104, sq. ^ Loc. dt. 

* Lib. 1. c. 12. in fine, p* 106* 

y Conf. Petay. Var. diss, ad Uran. lib. ii. c 5. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT.' SECT. V. 181 

set together with particular portions of the zodiac, 
according to the two systems ; which also shews, not 
less pointedly, that the corresponding signs were fixed 
by Eudoxus, many degrees of longitude west of those 
of Aratus. 

" Aratus," says his commentator,* " having sup- 
posed the commencement of Cancer to be on the 
eastern horizon, observes, that the (lower*) half of 
the Crown had set ; the southern Fish as far as the 
back fin ; Ingeniculus up to the belly ; Ophiuchus as 
far as the shoulders, &c. But Eudoxus asserts, that 
the whole of Ingeniculus is still visible when Cancer 
begins to rise ; the (lower) half of the Crown ; the 
heads of Arctophylax and Ophiuchus, &c." It would 
appear, by a reference to our globes, that several of n 

the constellations mentioned in this passiage were dif- 
ferently arranged in the sphere of Eudoxus from what 
they are now. ; but it is equally clear, as well from the 
description of those which correspond, as from the 
remarks of Hipparchus, that as they were visible to a 
much greater extent above the western horizon on 
the rising of Cancer, according to Eudoxus, than ale- 
cording to Aratus, the Cancer of the one must have 
commenced much farther west in the ecliptic than 
that of the other. And accordingly Hipparchus con- 
tinues :^ " Concerning the Crown Aratus is right, as 
in the latitude of Greece it begins to set when the 
twenty-third degree of Gemini rises, and goes down 
altogether when the fourth of Cancer rises. Sut the 
method of Eudoxus is palpably different^ since the 
beginning of Cancer is placed hy him in the middle 

^ L. ii. c. 5. p. 120* 

* So it must be rendered, consistently with the general sense of the 
passage. ^ P* 121. 



182 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

of Gemini; mo that. let it be observed once for. aUj 
that, as they portioned . their signs differently 9 it is 
impossible that the relative phenomena can corres^ 
pond in the descriptions of each J* Thi&is sufficient* 
ly explicit. If therefore Eudoxus placed the. como 
mencement of his Cancer in the middle of the Ge- 
mini of Aratus, the sixteenth of Cancer with the one, 
would correspond to the. first of Cancer with the 
other, their solstitial points being da before precisely 
the same in the true ecliptic. 

I have dwelt on these convinci^ examples at the 
greater length, because Freret himself^ has noticed 
several of them, admitting that their evidence is con*- 
elusive. But. by some, most unaccountable confusion 
of ideas, he has advanced them as proof of the cor- 
rectness of his own theory ; whereas it must be clear 
to every person who compirehends them, and . could 
scarcely have escaped his own acute judgment, had it 
not been blinded by system, that their direct tendency 
is on the contrary to subvert and destroy it altoge- 
ther. It is no less surprising that he should, through^ 
out his argument, have formally referred the reader 
to Petavius, for farther proof and illustration of his 
views ;'^ calling him justly a great man, and appear#- 
ing to pay the greatest deference to. his opinion. If, 
however, the authority of Petavius were to be final, 
the question would indeed be decided, but in a very 
different manner from what he supposed ; for on re* 
ferring to the works of that profound calculator, I 
find that he not only held precisely the same opinion 
as that here supported, but has devoted several chap* 
ters to the careful examination and confutation of the 

<^ Def. de la Chron. p» 449. ^ Op. cit. pp. 7. 450. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 183 

very system of which the french academician profess- 
ed himself an advocate. To him, therefore, I shall 
in my turn refer the reader .• 

t am well aware that this theory, propounded I be- 
lieve first by Scaliger, justified to a certain extent by 
Sir I. Newton, and more fully developed by Freret, 
has obtained great popularity among modern critics, I 

and been adopted by many distinguished authors be- ^ 

sides those above mentioned.' But authorities can- 
not prevail against facts ; and those which have been 
here brought forward are too unequivocal to be mis- 
understood. Whiston, who like Freret combieited 
the system of Sir L Newton, admitting, with that 
great man, that Chiron was the inventor of the zo- 
diac, but differing from him merely with respect to 
the period of invention, composed a dissertation, in- 
serted by Freret in his work,' to prove that the car- 
dinal points, as constituted by Eudoxus, relate to near- 
ly the same remote period of antiquity ieissumed by 
the french antiquary. I shall not attempt to follow 
him through his argument, which both in as far as re- 
gards his attempt to confute Newton, as his endeavour 
to establish his own position, appears fallacious and 
inconclusive. I shall merely mention the principal 
drift of it. He, like Sir Isaac, lays dovm as a basis, 
the description giveii by Eudoxus, as quoied by Hip- 
parchus, of the line of constellations through which 

« Var. Diss. u. g. d. p. 44. Haec non obscure testantur, aequinoctia et 
solstitia Dunquam alibi ab antiquioribus astrohomis, quam in mutuis cir- 
culorum sectionibus et taction] bus coliocata fuisse ; quas octavie yei de- 
cimaequintse signorum parti vel aliis imputabant ; neo octavas illas Cfetei^ 
asve partes ab aequinoctialibus aut solstitialibus punctis esse numeratas. 

' Playfair, ChrpnoL p. 37. Lalande, &c. ap« eund. Ideler, Unters. 
iiber die astr. Beob. der Alt s. 336. 

s Defease de la Cbron. p. 420. 



184 • ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

the colures passed from north to south ; and then en- 
deavours to shoW) thaty consistently with a certain ar- 
rangement of these constellations, partly with refer- 
ence to their form as now delineated on our globes, 
partly to that in which he supposes they may have 
.appeared on those of the aboriginal Greeks, the same 
colures would have passed toward fifteen degrees to the 
eastward of their true positions for the days of £u- 
doxus himself. Whatever plausibility his argument 
may possess, seems to be derived chiefly from the dis- 
crepancy in the accounts given of the constellations 
by the various authors who have transmitted any de- 
tails concerning their ancient form, upon which va- 
rieties he naturally enough puts a private interpreta- 
tion most favourable to his own views ; the changes 
which he has found it necessary to make in several of 
them, in order to accommodate them to his own sys- 
tem, being quite as inadmi^ible as those with which 
he reproaches Sir Isaac. The description given by 
Eudoxus of the constellations through which the co- 
lures passed, is indeed, as must be evident to any one 
who impartially examines it, totally irreconcilable up- 
on any system, or by a reference to any age of the 
world, with their actual arrangement on the tables of 
Bayer, or upon our globes. 

Freret^ has also with a similar view, instituted a 
comparison between the line of Colures according to 
their description by Eudoxus, and their true position 
in the days of that philosopher ; more especially with 
reference to the strictures of Hipparchus on the 
errors that description contains. The result, however, 
he himself, as well from the difficulty of ascertaining 

^ Op. sup. cit. p. 4^1, sqq. 



OF ANCIENt EGYPT, SECT. V. 185 

the precise form of the ancient asterisms, as from 
other causes, appears to have found so little satisfac- 
tory, that he admits the principal weight ought to 
belong to the striking illustrations above adduced, from 
the comparative positions of those heavenly bodies, 
concerning the form of which there can be no dis- 
pute ; and in so doing, he has, as already observed, 
unintentionally brought forward the most conclusive 
arguments against his own system. He has, farther, 
collated the respective delineations of the tropical 
and equinoctial circles, by Eudoxus, Aratus,^ and 
Manetho, in order to show, that they bore reference 
to the positions for the same remote period, but here, 
as before, in spite of a very arbitrary mode of deduc- 
tion, the just inference appears to be far from favour- 
able to his own views. 

There can be no stronger proof of the little reli- 
ance to be placed on any evidence, derived from par- 
tial illustration of the supposed form and positions of 
fanciful groups of stars, concerning which, as defined 
in the spheres of the more ancient astronomers, we 
have so few precise data, than the circumstance, that 
such men as Petavius, Newton supported by Halley,^ 
and Whiston, have each arrived by that method at 

i That any appeal should here be made to Aratus is the more surpris- 
ing, since Hipparchus (L. iL c. 3. p. 1 19.) expressly states that although 
that poet agreed with Eudoxus in his real positions, yet he placed his 
cardinal points in the commencement of the signs ; and this he also proves 
yery clearly by the following passage of the Phsenomena, descriptive of 
the arc of the horizon within which the zodiac rises and sets* (v. 537, 

^ Phil trans, vo. xxxiv. p. 205. vol. xxxv. p. 296. 



186 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

conclusions favourable to their own views, though 
totally irreconcilable with each other. There is 
however this difference in the value to be attached to 
the speculations of these great calculators, that while 
the inquiries of english astronomers were co|ifined to 
one point, and that for the purpose of establishing 
particular systems, the learned Jesuit extended his 
views over the whole circuit of the astronomical 
chronology of the ancients ; and without any favour* 
ite theory to support, has elucidated these obscure mat* 
ters, with such a vast deal of profound learning and 
solid argument, as must carry conviction to every un- 
prejudiced mind. 

With regard to the strictures of Hipparchus him- 
self on the position of Eudoxus, on which Freret lays 
considerable stress, as confirming his views, it maybe 
remarked, that although the distinguished commenta- 
tor of Aratus criticises and condemns with much 
bitterness, and frequently with undue severity, the 
views of his predecessor, yet he never betrays the 
slightest suspicion, that Eudoxus had either wilfully 
or unintentionally misplaced his real cardinal points 
to any considerable extent ; but finds fault, partly 
with actual errors in his positions, chiefly, however, 
with what he considers a confiised or unusual arrange- 
ment of certain constellations. To this his principal 
censures are directed; and it were inconceivable, had 
the whole theory of Eudoxus been grounded on a 
wilful error of fifteen degrees in the positions of the 
Colures, that so acute a genius as Hipparchus, when 
carefully reading and commenting his work, should 
never have had a surmise of his real intention ; but 
should merely have supposed, that in the division of 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 187 

the ecliptic, he had made the commencement of his 
signs anticipitte the usual position hj fifteen degrees. 
To examine all these matters minutely would not 
only exceed our present limits, but require a know- 
ledge of practical astronomy to which the author of 
this essay has no pretensions. We shall therefore be 
contented to rest our argument on the testimony of 
Hipparchus himself, who had read and criticised the 
works of EudoKus, which we only know from second 
hand, and by imperfect quotations ; on that of Peta- 
viu9, who has edited, carefully studied, and profound- 
ly commented the text of Hipparchus ; on the im- 
portant examples above cited, the evidence of which 
the chief supporter of the opposite system has admitted 
to be decisive ; but^ above all, on the extreme impro^- 
bability, that the most distinguished astronomer of his 
day should have been guilty of such a puerile defe« 
rence to the prejudice and bigotry of a small body of 
greek rustics, as to have intentionally constructed a 
whole theory of the heavens on so absurd a basis. 
How is so strange an admission to be reconciled with 
the reputation which Eudoxus obtained as an improver 
of science throughout the civilized world ? Are we 
to suppose that the celebrated Octoeteris which he 
composed lor the use of Greece was founded on a fix- 
ing of the solstice fifteen days after that on which it 
really fell ? Freret supposes that the barbarians of 
Hellas, in the fourteenth or fifteenth centuries before 
our era, had a well-regulated zodiac and calendar ; 
that, in the little less rude age of Hesiod, this sup- 
posed sphere of Chiron received a correction propor- 
tioned to the alteration which had tietken place in the 
positions, the cardinal points being transferred from 
the-sixteenth to the eighth degrees ; that, in the days 



188 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

of Euctemon, it received a still farther correction, the 
same points being transferred to the commencement 
of the constellations ; and yet we are to believe that 
Eudoxus (as well as Metoii) obtained a fame far sur- 
passing that of all preceding astronomers, merely by 
going back to the old system of his bfurbarous forefa- 
thers, the fallacy of which his countrymen had been, 
during ages, endeavouring to show. Was this the 
fruit of his long study in Egypt, that, on his return 
to Greece, he should be more willing to confirm his 
fellow-countrymen in error and bigotry, than impart 
to them the benefit of his lessons among the theban 
priesthood ? The highest praise which poetical hy- 
perbole could devise for the author of the Julian ca- 
lendar was, that his merit equalled that of Eudoxus :^ 
and did such glory belong to the mere reproduction 
of a method which had been corrected or exploded as 
erroneous during ten centuries ? Geminus, who lived 
about three hundred years after Eudoxus, speaks™ of 
the solstice, as regulated by his observations, assisted 
by those of the Egyptmns. as having been a standard 
of correctness with his countrymen for long after- 
wards. This solstice, Petavius," for sound reasons, 
has fixed, not far from the true time, towards the end 
of December ; but, upon the other system, we must 
transfer it to the second week in January, — a compu- 
tation which never could have been a subject of any 
thing but ridicule to Geminus. This author, how- 
ever, furnishes us with farther evidence that Eudoxus 



. 1 Lucan. PharsaL x. y. 187. 

Nee meus Eudoxi vincetur fiutibiis annus. 

^ Elem. c. 6, p. 19. 

° De doct temp. 1. ii. c. 7, voL i. p. 53, conf. not ad loc. Gemin. sup. 
cit 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V, 189 

was guilty of no such absurdity, who, according to 
him," placed the spring equinox in the sixth of Aries, 
the winter solstice in the fourth of Capricorn. How 
is this to be reconciled with the above designation of 
the sixteenth degrees? Fr^ret would suppose an-: 
other rustic calendar, of which he has a supply ready 
to help him out of all difficulties. As there is, how- 
ever, not the least evidence that Eudoxus ever con- 
structed but one sphere or calendar, or ever assigned 
but one real position to the cardinal points, this very 
circumstance shows that the variety of his zodiac 
consisted but in terms. Had Eudoxus, in one of his 
works, fixed his colures in the sixth, in another in the 
sixteenth, of Aries, it is not to be believed that Hip- 
parchus, in his commentary on them, should have 
omitted to mention so important a circumstance. 
The statement of Geminus, therefore, rightly inter- 
preted, might clear up the difficulty. He, no doubt, 
means here to assign what he considered the true po- 
sition of the colures of Eudoxus, according to the re- 
ceived division of the constellations, which that as- 
tronomer had recomposed as signs after a form of his 
own. Accordingly, Petavius^ has observed, that, con- 
sistently with the method of the ancients, who count- 
ed their degrees of longitude on the equator, and not 
on the ecliptic, the sixth of Aries and the fourth of 
Capricorn (as constellations) would be as near an ap- 
proximation to the true positions, for the time of Eu- 
doxus, as could well be expected from the rude me- 
thods of observation in those days. 

It was not until after the foregoing observations 
were nearly prepared for publication in their present 

o Elem. c. 16. p Var. diss. 1, ii. c. 4. 



190 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

form, that I discovered that the celebrated M. De- 
lambre had devoted a long article of his History of 
ancient astronomy to this very point, where, by a fitr 
more scientific, but not more impartial, analysis of the 
same authorities here appealed to, he has been led to 
a precisely similar conclusion. I shall quote at some 
length the passage containing the summary of his re- 
marks ; for, having naturally felt somd diffidence in 
venturing to oppose my ^opinion td that of distinguish* 
ed astronomers in a matter any way connected with 
their own science, it is gratifying to be able to adduce 
in its support testimony of at least ^ual weight, as 
far as the present question is concerned^ M. Delam* 
bre attributes more, perhaps, than I have done to the 
extreme rudeness of the methods of observation in 
the days of -Eudoxus, and less to the discrepanciids in 
the arrangement of the constellations ; but the result 
is the same. After examining very minutely the de- 
scriptions of Hipparchus,*^ which form the basii^ of the 

» • « ■ • 

<l Histoire de TastroiL ailoieiiiie^ torn, i ^ 122, sq. Dans tonte» oes 
remarques sur le tropique d'Eudoxe on ne trouve pas one seole position 
un pen praise. Sa sphere devait done avoir et^ faite k rue et sans 
aucun i]i8tniinent....Mai8 les donndas d'Eudoxe ne s'acoordent pas entre 
elles ; c'est qu'il n'a point regard^ le ciel, qu'il » receuilli les obserratioBs 
grossieres faites a vue, peut-etre en differens terns et en differens pays, 
n n'est pas ^tonnant qu' avec des ^^mens anssi imparfaits, il ait donn^ 
des discordances dnormes ; ce qui ^tonne dayantage, c*est la peine in- 
utile que se sont donn^ quelques modemes* pour expliquer tout cela» en 
supposant des observations fidtes a des ^poques eloi^^es les unes des 
autres. U faudrait autant dMpoques diffc^rentes qu* Eudoxe a nomm^ 
d'^toUes. On s'est acoorde a prendre pour id^e fondamentale que les 
observations ^taient bonnes. U etait bien plus .naturel de les supposer 
mauvaises; mais alors on n'aurait pu b&tir aucun syst^me. 

Enfin on ne verra qu'une inani^e diff^rente de compter les signes et 
les degr^ entre Hipparque et Eudoxe ; le premier mettait les pointi 
6quinoxiaux et solsticiaux dans le milieu des signes. U ^tend le signe 
d*^t^, oelui des plus longs jours, ^t^rmr»f comme dit Aratus, ik 15^ de 
part et d*autre du point solsticiaL... Hipparque, au oentraire, qui avait 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 



191 



theories of Newton, Whiston, and Freret, he ob- 
serves : '^ In all these remarks on the sphere of 
Eudoxusy we do not find a single position tolerably 
correct. His sphere, therefore, must have been con- 
structed by the naked eye, without any instrument. 
;....But his statements do not even agree with each 
other, which arises from his not having studied the 
heavens, but merely put together rude observations, 
made at sight, perhaps at different times, and in dif* 
ferent countries. It is not (Surprising that with such 
imperfect elements the whole should be so discordant ; 
but what is really surprising, is the useless trouble 
which the moderns have taken to explain all this, by 
supposing observations made at different epochs, and 
in countries far distant from each other. We should 
require as many different epochs as Eudoxus has men- 
tioned stars. These authors have set out with the 
fundainental idea that the observations were correct ; 
it had been more reasonable to have supposed them 
erroneous. But then there would have been no l*oom 

for the construction of a system It will be seen, 

that Eudoxus and Hipparchus differed but in their 
method of reckoning the degrees and signs. The 
former placed the equinoctial and solstitial points in 
the middle of the signs ; extending the sign of sum- 
mer, or of the longest days, ^egsirocrop as Aratus calls 
it, to fifteen degrees on each side of the solstitial point. 
..••..Hipparchus, on the other hand, saw the propriety 

jmagine tm perfectionn^ la trigonometrie, avait senti le besoin de* placer 
le point da zodiaque et de ]'6quateur, ^ Tintersection de ces deux 
eordes....ainsi les 15 degr^ d'Eudoxe ne signifient pas qu' Hipparque 
«t lui eussent placd le solstice en des points reellement diffilrens. Le 
point etait le meme, le chifire seal etait change. Voila ce que n'ont pas 
YU les chronologistes, qui avaient ^ peine quelques notions d'astronomie, 
et ce qae n'out pas youlu Toir les astronomes ik systeme. 



192 ON THE CALENDAR. AND ZODIAC 

of placing the point zero of the zodiac, and of the 

equator, at the intersection of these two circles 

so that the fifteen degrees of Eudoarus^ do not denote 
that HipparchuSy and he himself really assigned to 
the solstice essentially different positions. The 
position wa^ the same^ in the cypher alone lay the 
difference. This is what chronologers^ who had 
scarcely a notion of asironomy^ have not been able^ 
and aMronomerSy under the influence ofsystem^ have 
not been willing^ to ^ee.** Thus far Delambre ; and 
whoever takes the trouble to compare his illustrations 
with those of Whiston and Freret, and with the text 

« 

of the original authors, which forms the groundwork 
of the whole, will no doubt arrive at the same con- 
clusion. 

It remains now to offer a few observations on a 
passage of Columella, which Freret,' and those who 
adopt his views, are accustomed to quote confident* 
ly in favour of their argument, that the ancients were 
careless of nicety in the calculation of the seasons, 
and more willing to humour than to correct ' the prcf- 
judices of the vulgar ; but which, I shall endeavour 
to shew, they have either never read at all in the 
original work of Columella, or have altogether mis- 
conceived its import ; as it not only, when rightly 
understood, bears a totally different sense from what 
they have assigned it, but, like the parallel texts of 
Hipparchus, is altogether at variance with their 
theory. The passage, or rather the portion of it 
usually adduced, is as follows :* Nee me fallit Hip- 
parchi ratio, quae docet, solstitia et sequinoctia non 
octavis, sed primis partibus signorum confici. Verum 

' D^f. de la chron. pp. 10, 472, sqq. ■ Colum. de Re rust ix. c. 14. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 193 • 

in hac ruris disciplina, sequor nunc Eudbxi et Me- 
tdnJSy antiquorumque fastos astrologorum, qui sunt 
aplliti publicis sacrificiis, quia et notior est ista vetus 
agricolis concepta opinio ; nee tamen Hipparchi sub- 
tilitas pinguioribus, ut aiunt, rusticorum Uteris neces- 
saria est/* That is, as these critics have understood 
him : " that instead of folio v^ing the corr.ect calen- 
dars of his own time, regulated upon the principles of 
Hipparchus, according to whom the cardinal points 
were fixed at the first degrees of the signs ; he pre-^ 
ferred adhering to the old vulgar or rustic calendar, 
regulated according to observations of ancient^ greek 
astronomers, where the equinoxes and solstices were 
placed seven degrees beyond their proper places for 
the time at which he wrote.'** This observation, if the • 
above were the real import of his words, (which we« 
shall hereafter see it was not,) would, in as far as! 
regards Meton, be tolerably correct ; for as that phi- 
losopher lived towards five hundred years before Co- 
lumella, the precession of equinoxes amounted be- 
tween the age of the two, very nearly to seven degrees. ♦ 
As for the coupling the name of Eudoxus with that 

^ Freret, p. 469, sqq. — This is in fact the interpretation given, not only 
by Freret generally throughout his observations, but more especially by 
Professor Ideler, (Untersuch. liber die astr. Beob. &c. s. 335, ff.) who 
adopts his views, and makes Columella say : that " the colures of the old 
calendars of Meton and Eudoxus, differed eight (seven) degrees of longi- 
tude from the correct reckoning of his own time ;" bezieheu sich auf eine 
Lage der sequinoctial und solstitial punkte, welche um acht grad ostlich 
Ton der jetzigen abweicht. fiut in the very next page it is stated, that 
Meton must have followed a calendar constructed for the tenth century 
B. c, wherein the cardinal points were placed in the eighth degrees of 
the constellations according to their actual arrangement Now that' 
would make a difference, as observed in our text, of fourteen, and not 
seven degrees, between the calendar of Meton and the true positions in 
the days of Columella. How the learned professor reconciles these two 
statements I am at a loss to understand. 

O 



IQi ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

of Meton, it can here be nothing but a confusion of 
ideas on the part of Columella, for the best auth^- 
ties do not, as we have already seen, admit of the ^- 
lief that he ever followed such an arrangement. But, 
in the case oi Meton ; would not this very statement, 
even as here interpreted, afford sufficient proof of the 
correctness of the opinion above advanced, reapecting 
his method of dividing the zodiac ? namely, that he 
made the commencement of the signs anticipate the 
colures by seven degrees. For if he had placed his 
cohires, as Freret supposed, seven degrees out of their 
proper place in the heavens for his own age, and Co- 
lumella in his rustic calendar placed them where 
Meton did, then Columella would have differed four- 
teen, and not seven degrees only, from the correct 
calendar of his own time. If, therefore, in conform- 
ity with the sense of the passage adopted by these 
critics, the difference between the calendar of Meton 
and the correct reckoning for the days of Columella, 
amounted to only seven degrees, nearly what it ought 
to have done according to the laws of precession, it 
were clear that Meton must have fixed his cardinal 
points, as nearly as his means of observation permit- 
ted, to their proper positions in the sphere. 

But the fact is, that this very rustic reckoning of 
Columella himself, as opposed to the improved method 
of Hipparchus, relates, like the corresponding varieties 
of Meton and Eudoxus, not to a wilfully erroneous 
calculation of the cardinal points of the year, but 
merely to the preference of an old fashioned arrange- 
ment of the signs themselves ; according to which those 
points were fixed at the eighth, instead of the first 
degrees. This is evident from the remainder of the 
text of Columella, which has been generally only 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 195 

quoted by halves ; and where he mentions not only 
the degree^ of the zodiac, but the days of the months, 
to which the equinoxes and solstices were fixed. 
Speaking of the management of bees with respect to 
the various seasons of the year, he observes ;" that 
the vernal equinox takes place in the month of March, 
VIII Calend* April., in the eighth degree of Aries; 
Mense Martico circa viii Cal. Apr,, in octava partd 
Arietis conficitur. A little lower down he fixes the 
autumnal equinox in the . viii Gal. Oct. The winter 
solstice in the viii Cal. Jan., about the eighth degree 
of Capricorn ^ brumam qua^ fere conficitur circa viii 
Cal. Jan. in octava parte Capricorni. After which he 
adds as above : nee me fallit Hipparchi ratio, &o» 
The eighth Caleiids of April was the twenty-fifth of 
March, to which day the equinox was fixed in the 
Julian calendar. The true equinox, according to the 
correct computation of modern astronomers, fell 
somewhat earlier, but the constructor of the Julian 
calendar supposed his reckoning to be right,"" and so 
did Columella; there iia no wilfiil error on either 
side. Columella therefore, instead of differing seven 
degrees from the accurate standard of the day, coin- 
cided with it exactly. He differed only from Hip- 
parchus, in following an old and vulgar arrangement 
of the signs, instead of the improved system recom- 
mended by that astronomer. His countrymen of the 
same period did precisely the sam«, as is clear from a 
multitude of passages of Ovid, Pliny, and others,^ 

u Cap. sup. eit. 

^ Petay. de doct. temp. 1. iy. c. 27. Ideler^ op. cit. p.. 368. 

^ PUb. H. N. xyiu. c. 25. conf. ii. c. 19. Qyid. Fast 1. iii. y. 877. yi. 
v. 725, sq. 790. Martian. Capella, de nupt. PhiloL 1. yiii. Conf. Petay. 
de doct. temp. iy. c. 27. Var. diss. iiL c. 2. et Calend. Rom- ap. eund. 
TJran. p. 60. Slee also fn^^mpnts of roman calendars, ap. Graey. Thes. an- 
tiq. rom. torn. yiii. init. 



196' ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

which assign the equinoxes and solstices to their pro- 
per days according to the Julian reckoning, but to the 
eighth degrees of the signs. Indeed ther'e is no rea- 
son to doubt, but that Sosigenes constructed the new 
roman or Julian calendar on that principle ; finding 
that it harmonized with the ancient usage of Latium, 
borrowed, it may be supposed, from Greece in the 
hsLrly ages of the republic. 

Freret has followed up his remarks upon this pas- 
sage of Columella by a long catalogue of the errors 
and inconsistencies of that author, and of the calen- 
dars in use among the Italian peasantry in his day, 
ascribing most of them to a bigoted adherence to the 
supposed fasti of Meton, adapted, as he conceives, to 
the positions in the age of Hesiod, about ten cen- 
turies B. c. ; the cardinal points being in those days 
in the eighth degrees of the constellations. As how- 
ever Columella, in the only passage where he men- 
tions Meton, happens to be right in his computation 
of the seasons, it is hardly fair to assume that all his 
mistakes rest on the authority of that philosopher. 
Accordingly, in a subsequent page,^ where the critic 
notices the circumstance that the Parapegma of Meton 
was engraved in letters of gold, and posted up at 
Olympia for the public use of Greece, he admits that 
the vulgar calendar, which he supposes Columella to 
have considered as emanating from Meton, must have 
been falsely ascribed to that astronomer. It would 
indeed be surprising if the public authorities of the 
greek confederacy had recorded in letters of gold, as 
a new discovery, a system which was as old as Hesiod, 

and had been no better than a vulgar error ever since 

1 

^ P. 4S3. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT.^ SECT. V. 197 

the days of that poet. Yet this very golden para- 
p^ma was the same which Meton regulated by the 
eighth degrees of the signs or constellations, at least 
we hear of no other ascribed to him. Of the actual 
degree of merit it possessed, we may judge from the 
statement of Ptolemy,^ whose authority will not be 
disputed, that Metpn*s observation of the solstice, 
though rude, was accurate enough to be of some 
assistance to Hipparchus in making his celebrated 
computation of the precession of equinoxes. The 
same Ptolemy' assigns it to the morning of a day of 
the era of Nabonassar, identified by Petayius with the 
twenty-seventh of June, who has also shown the ob- 
servation itself to be sufficiently correct.* Unless, 
therefore, we suppose that Meton was guilty of the 
absurdity of fixing his cardinal points to the just day 
of the year, while he placed them seven degrees out 
of their positions in the heavens, we must admit that 
the method of this astronomer is as inconsistent with 
the argument of Freret, as that of Eudoxus has been 
shown to be.** 

The whole proof, therefore, as resting on the above 
theory, of the use of the zodiac, or of its constellations 
according to the received division, being known 
among the heroes, rustics, or poets of the early and 

7 Magn. C0118..L in. p. 62, sq. Freret (op. at p. 13) has, in quot- 
ing this passage of Ptolemjr, as on so manjr other occasions, given a most 
unfair interpretation of his author; as if the expression iXog^tpm^Wf 
applied hy the astronomer to the ohsenration of Meton, were intended 
to signify, that it was incorrect hy several days ; whereas it is clear that 
he applies it only to inaccuracies of minutes, or at the most, hours, as 
compared with the greater precision of Hipparchus. 

> ibid. 

^ According to the mean motion of the sun by which the calculations 
of the ancient astronomers were regulated. De doct. temp. L. IV. c. 26. 

b See Appendix, No. XXV. 



198 ON TM£ CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

barbarouB ages of Greece, as well as of the Uind 
deference of the philosophers of her drilized ages to 
these imaginary ancient calendars, and of their wil- 
lingness to sacrifice the interests of science to the 
superstition and prejudice of the vulgar, falls to the 
ground ; or even resolves itself into evidence of the 
very reverse of all this, namely, of an arbitrary and 
presumptuous spirit of innovaticm in those very sages, 
who were not contented with the old and simple 
method borrowed from the Egyptians or Chaldees, 
and sanctioned by the earliest astrologers of their 
own nation, in conformity with which, as we learn 
from the express testimony of Hippardius, the car«- 
dinal points were placed at the commencement of the 
signs ; but each, according to his own fancy, thought 
pr^e; to construct his ^here and portion his zo£. 
in such a way as he found most convenient, or was 
most congenial to his own taste. Nor can we have 
stronger evidence of the recent introduction o£ the 
zodiac into Greece than this very fact, that the dis* 
tribution of its signs or constellations, it matters not 
which, was, in the age of Euctemon, Meton, and 
Eudoxus, so yery arbitrary ; had these constellations 
been accurately defined and familiar to all ranks of 
men, to the rustic or the navigator as to the sage, 
during ten centuries, it is not likely that these most 
popular authors of the day should so strangely have 
confounded them. It would appear, then, that though 
the Greeks, about the time of Thales, adopted the 
astronomical symbols of the twelve divisions of the 
seasons from their more ancient neighbours, they 
did not at first understand their exact use. All that 
seems to have been known was, that the ecliptic con- 
tained twelve parts, equal perhaps according to some. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT* V. 199 

• 

unequal according to others ; which, under the name 
of gods, animals, or other objects, bore a certain 
reference to particular seasons ; but the more exact 
arrangement of the gods, animals, &c. themselves, 
with raspect to the three hundred and sixty degrees, 
previous to the dmys of Hipparchus, depended very 
much upon the fiemcy of individual astrologers* 

Unless, therefore, some very important facts or 
authorities, unknown to me, as well as to those who 
have advocated the opposite opinions, have been 
omitted in the foregoing inquiry, it will hardly be 
denied, in spite of the force of association or of pre- 
judice, that the internal evidence, both negative aiiid 
positive, of primitive greek tradition, as well as the 
testimony of the most reasonable and trustworthy of 
the clas^cal authors who have treated of these mat^ 
ters, and who are seldom backward in assigning a 
due share of antiquity to their own ii^titutions, is at 
direct variance with the belief, that the constellations 
of the zodiac of Greece were either of native inven^ 
tion, or known in that country at any v^ry remote 
period. 

Having thus examinjed, to the best of our ability, 
the probable origin and primitive form of the egy^ 
tian zodiac,' and the period and circumstances of its 
first introduction into Europe, I shall conclude this 
essay with a few remains on lihe signs or cyphers by 
which its twelve portions are still represented, and 
which are in &ct mere hieroglyphics of the seasons, 
as were those of the Egyptians of old, and appear to 
be of very consideriable antiquity* Salmasius,*" Mont<- 
faucon,"* and other learned men distinguished for their 

<" la Sdin. p. 872, sqq. "^ Paloeog. f mc p. 373. 



OXFORD 



^OP QN THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

knowledge of ancient codices, state that they occur 
familiarly in both greek and latin manuscripts ; and 
Du Cange has inserted them among the Sigla vetenim 
.appended to his glossary of the middle and lower 
greek idiom,* M, Delambre^ observes that the only 
greek work where he had observed these symbols 
is the commentary of Proclus on the Apotelesmata 
attributed to Ptolemy ; they occur, however, in other 
published greek authors, as in the treatise of Ptolemy 
himself; in the old preface to which, a table of 
the signs of the zodiac, with their influences, is also 
offered for the convenience of the reader, " accord- 
ing to the method transmitted by Ptolemy as the 
most accurate.** Hence we may infer that Ptolemy 
himself, or whoever may be the author of the tetra- 
biblion, also used them. They are to be seen in the 
Elementa of Geminus,^ attached to various diagrams 
.whereby that mathematician illustrates the argument 
of his text, and which are clearly his own, as he 
expressly refers to them. That his editor Petavius 
should have inserted cyphers different from what 
existed in the original, there is the less reason to 
suppose, since some of them differ considerably in 
their forms from those in modern use. That of 
Capricorn especially, consisting of two distinct por- 
tions, seems to refer to what I have above conjec- 
tured to be the original egyptian form of the symbol, 
namely, two different animals, combined by the Greeks 
into one amphibious monster. This variety also 
appears in the cyphers of Ptolemy, and is stated by 
Salmasius^ to be usual with greek authors, while the 

e Vol. II. Suppl. II. p. 2, 5. 

f Hist, de TAstron. Ajic torn, II. p. 544. 

< Cap. L Uran. p. 4>, sq. ^ In. Solio. p. 783, A. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 201 

Latins employ the ordinary figure, which would 
imply the superior antiquity of the former. The 
zodiacal cyphers are also attached to geometrical 
figures in Theon's commentary on the Almagest. 
Macrobius* expressly refers to them under the name 
of notsB or marks, as distinct from the alphabetic 
letters, in his illustrations of a similar diagram, where 
both are used. They appear also on the Abraxas, 
or basilidian gems, published by Mont&ucon. ^ Bailly 
gives, in his History of andent astronomy,^ a firagment 
of a zodiac sculptured on marble, also published by 
Kircher,*" which, if it be faithfully represented in his 
engraving, may, from its form and execution, be con- 
adered as not of the most barbarous age of roman 
art, where we have, as emblems of some of the con- 
steUations, apparently the same images represented 
in full, of which we have the abbreviations in our 
own cyphers; as the horns of the Ram, the head or 
front of the Bull ; while in some of the other divi- 
sions are groups, which have no apparent connexion 
with either greek or egyptian mythology. The Twins, 
for instance, are two sitting figures of animals resem- 
bling apes. Cancer contains the head of a bird, and 
the tail of some reptile or insect. Libra and Aquarius 
are the same as our own. Virgo consists of three 
ears of com united by a fillet ; the same number is 
common on ancient monuments as an emblem of fer- 
tility or plenty, and as an attribute of Isis, as, for ex- 
ample, in the figure of Mesori, or Isis nursing Horns, 
formerly alluded to ;"" and in a picture belonging to an 

' Sonm. Scip. L I. c^ 21. 

^ Antiq. Ezpliq. torn. II. pt. II. pL cxx. 

I PL I. p< 487. "> CBd. .£gypt torn. IIL p. 182. 

^ Sup. p. 141, ooDf. Plate V. No. 4. 



W2 ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC 

ancient manuBcript of Hyginus, according to Saima- 
sius,"' the figiire of Virgo is represented bearing an 
equal number in her hand; Of these the modem sign 
of Vii^o b doubtless an abbreviation. The only edit- 
ed work of arabic astrology where I haye had oppor- 
tunity to observe the zodiacal cyphers, is the Globus 
ocBlestis cuficoarabicus, published by Aissemanni. Scar 
liger asserts that the signs of the planets are also com- 
mon in the most andent manuscripts. They occur, 
too, in gems/ with the exception of that of the orb 
which we inhabit. 

It seems very doubtful how &r these symbob, in 
their present form, hieroglyphics as they are, ought 
to be considered, as they frequently have been, of pure 
egyptian origin. Aquarius, among those of the zo- 
diac, is evidently so ; to which we may, perhaps, add 
Libra, from its resemblance to one of the figures of 
the theban tomb. The sign Cancer, too, as stated in 
our remarks on that portion of the zodiac, seems to 
be an abbreviation of the hieratic character Scao'ahee^ 
Among the planets, the Sun and Moon are certainly 
the egyptian hieroglyphics of those luminaries ; but 
the globe and crescent sugg^est themselves so natural- 
ly to the human imagination, as concise methods of 
representing those familiar objects, that hardly any 
inference can be drawn from that circumstance re- 
specting their origin. It must, however, be observed, 
that the sign of the terrestrial globe, which does not 
appear to have been in use among the more ancient 
greek or roman astrologers, is the same as that which 

"* In Solin, p. 873, G. See also the figure of Vii^go, a^ Grot, lo Gciv 
mail. ph»nom. p. 14. 
V Montfouc Ant ejspl. torn* ii« pt ii. pi. olix. clxviii. dxiz. 



OF ANCIENT EGYPT. SECT. V. 203 

Porphyry"* states to have been the egyptian symbol of 
region^ country^ earth ; whose testimony has also 
been confirmed by recent discoveries/ Salmasius^ 
however, states, that it occurs in old mathematical 
works as the representative of Sphere, Circle.' The 
sign of Venus ( 9 ) is the well-known egyptian em- 
blem of life, the globe and cross. Salmasius^ supposes 
it to be a corruption of 4>, the initial of (p^tHrp6gog^ one 
of the titles of the planet, a notion more fanciful than 
plaudble. That of Saturn is precisely the same as 
the modem coptic letter T}, the representative of the 
old hieratic j^* Salmasius would have it a contrac- 
tion of the Kf . of Kfwo$. Mercury ( 5 ) is apparently 
the caduceus, which may more reasonably be suppos- 
ed « greek than an egyptian emblem, being an inva- 
riable attribute of this deity in the greek mythology, 
while there is no trace of its connexion with the Thot 
of the banks of the Nile. The same author mention- 
ed above supposes this cypher to represent the St of 
Sr/X&vv, an epithet of Mercury, which is still less ad** 
missible than his other derivations, the more since, as 
he himself observes, it presupposes a latin and not a 
greek S. There is more speciousness in his supposi- 
tion, that Mars ( * ) is a contraction of the 6g of 0oS- 
f 0^, and Jupiter ( V ) of the radical letters of the word 
Zevg^ as in ancient manuscripts their respective forms 
frequently show traces of such an origin." Scaliger's 
derivations'" are, for the most part, very imaginary. 

4 Ap. Euseb. Pnep. Ev. p. 41, D. et Procl. in Tim. Plat p. 216. 

' Young, EncycL art Egfypt, No. 85. ChampoL Precis, du syst hi^rog. 
tabl. g^ner. No. 240. 

* In Solin. p. 874. ^ Loc. sup. cit. 

u Vid. Dn Cange. and Ptol. Tetrab. sup. cit. 

V Ad. Manil. p. 506. There i» an essay on this subject, by Frisch, in- 
serted in the MisceL Berolin. torn. iv. p. 65, which contains a number of 



204f ON THE CALENDAR AND ZODIAC, ftc. 

Saturn, with him, is the scythe of its patron deity ; Ju- 
piter, the thunder of Olympus ; Mars, the shield and 
spear of the god ; Venus, the looking-glass of the 
goddess ; Mercury, the caduceus. Goguet'' would 
hare the signs of the planets to be of arabic origin, 
because they are the same as the chemical cyphers 
of that nation ; but it were more reasonable to sup- 
pose, that they were transferred in later times from 
the astrology of the Arabs to their alchymy ; from 
the more ancient mystical or magical science to the 
more modern ; as it can hardly be supposed that the 
chemical studies of this people preceded the age of 
the manuscripts above noticed, or of the gems where 
these characters occur, given by Montfaucon, some 
of which, being of no hielegant workmanship, must 
be of a comparatively flourishing period of roman art. 

other conjectures respecting the origin of these cypher^, but resting on 
no authority, and very arbitrary and fancifuL 

^ Origine des loix, torn. iv. p. 799, conf. Bailly, hist de Fastr. anc. 
p. 518. 



APPENDIX. 



APPENDIX. 



No. I.— Page 12. 

There appears to be an inclination in some quarters to doubt, 
or to deny altogether, the existence of such a thing as a year 
of three hundred and sixty days, among the Egyptians, or 
any other nation of antiquity ; but not having been able to 
perceive any reasonable ground for this scepticism, I have 
been willing to adhere to the commonly received opinion. This 
mode of reckoning certainly seems such as would offer itself 
instinctively to the human understanding, when making the 
first advances in the arts of civilised life. After the computa- 
tion bynights and days, the firs^step towards a more artifidai 
division of time would be the observation of the courses of the 
moon. The synodic month is twenty-nine days and a half; 
but as it is not to be supposed that barbarians would calculate 
fractions of days, they would therefore reckon their month in 
round numbers at thirty days* In the same way they would 
observe that the moon changed twelve times in the course of 
the year. They would therefore naturally assign their year 
twelve months. This account of the first rude formation of 
a calendar seems so simple and obvious,'^ that one mi|^ feel 
surprised that its accuracy should be questioned, even were it 

* Vid. Sca%. de Emend, temp. p. 12, sq. Sir I. Newton, ChronoL 
p* 71. Jackson, Chrenol. Antiq. vol. ii. p. 1, sqq. 



208 APPENDIX. NO. I. 

not supported by a mass of tradition and authority, both 
greek and barbarian, such as can hardly be brought^ to bear 
on any other equally remote point of antiquity. That any 
people should be willing long to adhere to so imperfect a form 
of year, without correction of any kind, is no doubt highly 
improbable. Those who were anxious that its revolutions 
should correspond with the changes of the seasons, would en- 
deavour to effect this, in as f«r as their imperfect means of 
calculating these changes would permit, by some vague and 
irregular mode of intercalation, by months or days, as judged 
necessary from time to time. As they advanced in politeness, 
they would fall upon more accurate and sett|^ methods : those 
who, like the Egyptians, preferred a purely solar year, by the 
permanent addition of the five epagomense, or days extraor- 
dinary,, attached to no month ; others, whose habits led them 
to regulate their feasts with reference to the phases of the 
moon, as well as of the sun, might, like the Greeks, make 
their months alternately of thirty and twenty-nine days, their 
year of three hundred and fifty-four, and keep it to its posi- 
tions by lunisolar cycles. This, accordingly, has been the 
opinion generally entertained by the learned concerning the 
gradual progress made by these two nations respectively to- 
wards the final settlement of their calendar. 

Professor Ideler^ is the only chronologer, as far as I know, 
who has declared himself decidedly, and in detail, against the 
existence, at any period, of this form of year of three hundred 
and sixty days ; and yet his authorities, which he adduces, as 
upon all other occasions, with great fidelity and impartiality^ 
appear to me altogether in favour of, rather than adverse to, 
the opinions which he endeavours to confute. With respect 
to the egyptian calendar, after entering at some length into 
the inquiry at what time it may reasonably be supposed to have 
been finally arranged by the addition of the epagomenae, he 
appears to decide in favour of the date assigned by De la 
Nauze, namely, the year 1322 b. c.^ But, in another place, 
with something which looks like inconsistency, while contro- 

to Techn. ChronoL Bd. i. s. 187. ^ Vid. Sup. p. 15. 



APPENDIX. NO. I. 209 

verting the views of Desvignoles, a strenuous supporter of the 
year of three hundred and sixty days, he adduces the well- 
known egyptian fable, that the five epagomensB were the birth 
days of five principal deities, as proof that ^' the supplement- 
ary days were introduced before all historical ages, at a period 
concerning which only a dim tradition has been preserved.^^^ 
But, even admitting this, the question would be only with re- 
spect to the period, as they were still supplementary days to 
an older and deficient reckoning. What that reckoning was, 
the subsequent form of the egyptian . calendar itself seems to 
declare, namely, a year of three hundred and sixty days. This, 
however, M. Ideler does not admit ; but, from some confu* 
fiion or inaccuracy in a passage of Plutarch, where the fable 
is narrated, would have the ancient measure of time to have 
been a lunar year. The account of Plutarch® is, that ^^ Rhea 
having fallen with child to Saturn, the Sun inflicted the curse 
upon her, that she should produce neither on month nor year ; 
but Mercury, playing at dice with the Moon, gains from her 
the seventieth part of her light, out of which he formed five 
days, which were added to the three hundred and sixty, and 
called epagomense, and honoured as the birth-days of five dei^ 
ties ; on the first was bom Osiris, on the second Arueris, om 
the third Typhon, on the fourth Isis, on the fifth Nephthys.''^ 
Five, however, are the seventy-second, not the seventieth part 
of three hundred and sixty ; and, accordingly, Scaliger^ reads 
iCdofAfptfOrhv hlmffx» for the edited iCdo^sixotft^v of Plutarch ; and 
there can be litde doubt that this was at least the sense of the 
author. M. Ideler, however, supposes Plutarch to mean a 
lunar year, which would consist of three hundred and fifty 
days, five being the seventieth part of three hundred and fifty. 
But have we any better authority for a lunar year of three 
hundred and fifty days in antiquity, than for a lunisolar year 
of three hundred and sixty ? Have we, indeed, a shadow of 
authority for any such mode of computation ? and is the ex- 
istence of such an one more credible than of that which the 
professor rejects? Besides, the five added to the old year would, 

* Tecfan. Chron. B* i. 8.J90. • D^Is. et Os. c 12. 

f De Emend, Temp. p. 185. 



210 APPENDIX. NO. I. 

upon this principle, have made it consiBt o£ only three hun- 
dred and fifty-five, not three hundred and sixty-five days. In 
no case can the tradition be reasonable or intelligible, unless 
it be understood as of an addition of the five epagomenae to an 
original three hundred and sixty. Diodorus informs us, that 
in the city of Acanthus were three hundred and sixty priests^ 
whose office, according to ancient usage, was, one on each daj 
of the year to bring water frdm the Nile, and pour it into a 
Vessel perforated with holes ; and we find superstitions of a 
somewhat similar nature, with an equal number of ministers, 
established in other places.^ Why the number of these priests 
should have been limited to three hundred and sixty, rather 
than three hundred and sixty-five, unless at the remote period 
of antiquity, when the rite was instituted, the egyptian year 
had consisted of the former rather than the latter number of 
days,-^or why they should have omitted five days in a custom 
which, as Diodorus remarks, was meant to comprehend every 
day in the year^— I am unable to see. 

With respect to the greek year, this argument appears 
equally unsatisfactory. There exists a great mass of unques- 
tionable evidence, that, according to the unanimous voice of 
the most ancient tradition, twelve months, consisting of thirty 
days each, formed the basis of the primitive hellenic calendar, 
the only attempt ever made to invalidate which resolves itself 
into an hypothesis, that the sum three hundred and sixty, or 
twelve times thirty, was adopted iri vulgar language as a con- 
venient mode of reckoning years and months in round num- 
bers, though unknown in practical use at any period, — a con- 
jecture which is as inadequate to explain away the positive 
terms in which the year of three hundred and sixty days is 

« Bibl. histor. i. § 97, conf. § 22, not. Wess. ad loc. It would appear 
that modern travellers have observed traces of these curious rites still 
existing in Egypt, as transferred to the superstitions of the Coptic churcli. 
" Vers la fin du siede passe," says the satirical Pauw, " Feveque d'lme 
yille connue sous le nom de Siout, qu'on sait etre la Lycopolis des an- 
ciens, montra au voyageur Vansleb les debris d'un monastere copte, oii 
trois cent soixante religieux cherchaient sans cesse la pierre philosophale.'* 
Recherches sur les Eg}*>t. Berl. 1773, torn. i. p. 299. 



APPENDIX. NO. I. 



211 



spoken of as an Ustoribal reality, as to account for the con- 
stancy^ and universality of the tradition itself, even after the 
greek reckoning became purely lunar of three hundred and 
fifty-four days, with months alternately of thirty and twenty- 
nine.^ 

M. Ideler^s general and most forcible objections appear to 
refer, not so much to the existence of this form of year among 
any people, as to the improbability that any should long have 
adhered to it without intercalation, which was a part of the 
system of Desvignoles^^ to confute whom his arguments have 
chiefly been directed. I regret not having had ait opportunity 
of referring to the work of Desvignoles here alluded to ; in 
tliis respect, however, I feel inclined to agree with his oppo- 
nent, but dilFer only in supposing that the year of three hun- 
dred and sixty days is, as well with reference to tradition as, to 
its own internal evidence, more likely to have been the basis 
of the improved calendar of the Egyptians, than the lunar 
year proposed by himself; and that, with this original simple 
form, a people in the infancy of civilization might, in feeUng 
their way to improvement, have tried various modes of inter- 
calation to adapt it to the seasons, and a considerable time 
might have elapsed before they established the five epago- 
mense as a substitute for all others. 

As for the argument in favour of the transcendant an- 
tiquity of this last-mentioned institution, derived from the 
circumstance that the five days themselves were fabled 
the birth-days of Osiris, Isis, and other distinguished dei- 
ties, I confess it appears to me altogether fallacious. It 
can only be valid on the supposition, that the year of three 
hundred and sixty-five days is as ancient in Egypt as the 
worship or knowledge of the deities themselves, which would 
involve a very great paradox. The worship of Osiris and 
Isis, the very elements or essence of the egyptian godhead, 
may safely be supposed as ancient as the religion of the Egypt- 

^ Vid. Scaliger, de Emend, temp. p. 22, sqq. Petav. de Doctr. temp, 
lib. i. c. 6, and Var. Diss. lib. iv. c. 2, sqq. 
i Chronolog^ie de Fhistoire sainte, I. vi. c. 1, torn. ii. p. 651, sqq. 



212 APPENDIX. NO. I. 

ians, and, consequently, more ancient than their first adoption 
of the habits of civilised life, since the superstitions of every 
people, if of native growth, (as there can be no doubt those of. 
Egypt were,) originating in their barbarism, are afterwards 
transferred and engrafted on their political institutions. But 
who can doubt that the year of three hundred and sixty-five 
days is the work of an already advanced state of civilization, 
when the egyptian pantheon (as shall be made evident from 
the names of the months, in the sequel of the text) existed in 
all its integrity ? and it were the height of extravagance to 
maintain, that, at this epoch, the godhead of Osiris and Isis, 
the very basis of that pantheon, and of whom all its members 
were little more than personifications, could be unknown on 
the banks of the Nile. The celebration, therefore, of the na- 
tivity of the five deities on the epagomenae can only be rea- 
sonably understood as of some form of consecration of the new. 
days, or commemoration of their introduction, at whatever 
period that introduction may have taken place. Similar feasts 
were common in the egyptian calendar, as the birth of Har- 
pocrates, the birth of the eyes of Horus,^ the death of Osiris. 
How unreasonable it were to take this sort of tradition by the 
letter, as involving allusions to real events, we may judge by 
examining the details of the above fable, as related by Plu- 
tarch.^ We have seen that Rhea having become pregnant 
by Saturn, the Sun cursed her ; but, by the good offices of 
Mercury, she was enabled to bring fofth her five children, 
Osiris, Aroueris, Typhon, Isis, Nephthys, on five successive 
days. Yet, in the same chapter, we are told, that Osiris and 
Aroueris were the sons of the Sun, Isis of Hermes ; and that, 
while yet in their mother^s womb, Isis and Osiris had con- 
nexion, the fruit of which was Aroueris, who just before was 
called brother of Osiris, and offspring both of Saturn and of 
the Sun ! ^ Who does not see that all these legends are ob- 
scure enigmas, bearing reference to no historical facts, but to 
physical or astronomical phenomena, and so confusedly repeated 
by Plutarch,, as to have become still more dark and mysterious 
than from their very nature they must originally have been. 

k Plut. de Is. et Os. c. 52. ^ De Is. et Os. c. 12. 



APPENDIX. NO. II. 213 

Diodorus also gives this fable, but more briefly, and in 
somewhat different terms. According to him,"* Saturn, hav- 
ing married his sister Rhea, begat Osiris and Isis, or, as others 
asserted, Jupiter and Juno, from whom were bom the same 
five deities mentioned by Plutarch. And both authors agree 
in stating," that no sooner was Osiris bom, than he set about 
preventing men frpm eating each other ; and Isis contributed 
her share towards raising them from a level with the brutes, 
by teaching them the art of cultivating com. So that, if his> 
torical value be assigned to the tradition, it would, if it prove 
the antiquity of the egyptian year at all, also prove that the 
people by whom it was established were cannibals, barbarians 
of the lowest and most degraded caste ! 



No. U.-^Page 16. 



It is singular enough that this author, one of the most dis- 
tinguished chronologers of a nation, among whose failings a 
disregard of truth is by no means conspicuous, should, through- 
out his otherwise leamed and valuable works, so often broadly 
and positively advance as acknowledged facts, statements to- 
tally devoid of all reasonable probability, if not utterly and 
palpably false. According to him, previous to the arrival of 
Gecrops, the Athenians had a year of three hundred and sixty 
days ; after his improvements, it consisted of three hundred 
and sixty-five, that is, twelve months, and five epagomenae, as 
among the Egyptians. Thales introduced the tropical year of 
three hundred and sixty-five days and a quarter, which was 
again altered by Solon into a lunar year of three hundred and 
fifty-four days. The year of three hundred and sixty-five, 
similar to that of Attica under Gecrops, was, he asserts, also 
established at Rome by Numa. Upon all this one observa- 
tion will be sufficient : Fides sit penes auctprem. 

m Lib. i. § 13. n piut. op, cit c. 13. Died. lib. i. $ 14. 



214 APPENDIX* NO. IV. 



No. Ill— Page 16. 

The language of some of the ancient commentators seems 
also to hint at this, who assert that the rising of Sothis was 
the new-yearVday of the Egyptians ; as Porphyry,** ^ouiifpSa 
l» avroTi fi Sw^m; avaroTJ}' which may allude to a tradition con- 
cerning the position it occupied at its original institution. 
Some authors, however, and among them De la Nauzei* him- 
self, have inferred from this and other vague passages of the 
ancients, that the Egyptians had two forms of year, one move- 
able and sacred, dating from the first of Thot for the time 
being ; the other fixed, and in civil use, commencing with the 
day on which Sinus rose heliacally. The falsehood of this 
opinion has been amply shown by Ideler'^ and Biot ;^ and be- 
fore them by Petavius,^ Jackson,^ and Freret," although this 
last author, with an unfairness which I have found in .too 
many instances characteristic of his mode of criticism, contra- 
dicts himself in his controversy with Newton,'' when he finds 
it suit his argument, and advocates the same opinion in dis- 
proof of which he had before written a long dissertation. On 
this the honest Court de Gebelin^ remarks : M. Fr6ret contte 
Newton accorde done des choses, que nie M. Freret centre 
De la Nauze. Est ce precipitation ? est ce oubli ? 



No. IV.— Page 22. 
Dupuis, in the same essay above quoted, where he supports 

o De Autre nymph, p. 256, edit. Cantab. 1655. 

P Mem. Acad. Inscr. xiv. p. 351. Scalig. de Emend, temp. pp. 186, 
368. Bainbr. Canic. p. 26. 

4 Uutersucb. Ub. d. astron. Beob. &c. s. 96. Techn. ChronoL B*^ i. 
8. 174. ' Recbercbes sur Tastron. egypt p. 310. 

" De Doctr. temp. lib. iii. c. 2. Var. diss. v. 4. 

t Chrono). antiq. voL ii. p. 78. " Mem. Acad. Inscr. zyi. p. 308. 

^ Defense de la Chron. p. 393. ^ Monde prim. tom. iv. p. 132. 



APPENDIX. NO. V. 215 

this opinioiiy states,* that the Egyptians were in error in sup- 
posing that the coincidence of the first of Tbot with the helia- 
cal rising of Sirius took place after 1461 revolutions of their 
civil year ; according to him, it would only have required 1424. 
The error is the critic's own, who supposes the visible heliacal 
year of the star in that age and latitude to have been 365^ 6^ 
9' 11". An antiquary of a thousand years hence might quote 
the testimony of Dupuis as proof of the backwardness of ma- 
thematical science in the eighteenth century, with as much 
xeason as he himself appeals to Herodotus as evidence of the 
ignorance of the Egyptians. 



No. v.— Page 25. 



The attempt of Idelfer^ to discover an allusion to the so- 
tbiac cycle in the fable of Herodotus concerning the rising of 
the sun in the west, is not fortunate ; and the less so that it 
is grounded on an uncritical interpretation of the grammatical 
structure of the passage in which that fable is contained. So 
that, as Biot has observed,^ concerning another equally un- 
successful attempt : " Si Tenigme propos^e a Herodote n'est 
pas une de ces forfanteries, dont les memes pretres* se mon- 
traient si prodigues envers lui et les autres voyageurs, elle 
reste encore a interpreter.^ The same author has shown in a 
satisfactory manner, that all similar endeavours to assign mys- 
terious significations to this fable must be vain ; since* ^^ le 
nombre que Ton pretend interpreter, n^est pas dans T^nonce 
egyptien, et qu'il r6sulte seulement du mode arbitraire d^evalu- 
ation qu** Herodote y applique." The truth of this remark 
will be apparent to whoever collates the egyptian chronology of 
Herodotus, the basis of which is his own computation of a hun- 
dred years to three generations, with the dynasties, as given 
by the native authorities, Manetho and the Old Chronicle. 

« P. 117. y Techn. chronoL Bd. i. s. 138. 

> R«ch. sur Tastr. e^pt. p. 318. » Ibid. p. 226, 314. 



216 APPENDIX. NO. VI. 

Dr. Hales^i* interpretotioii of the riddle is btill less plaurible. 
After reproving preceding chronologers tor having '* idly taxed 
the relation of the priests, as a falsehood, a dream, or a fable,*" 
he himself, without any ceremony, reduces thethree hundred and 
forty-one generations of this most veradous hierarchy to about 
fifty, and the eleven thousand three hundred and forty years 
of Herodotus to seventeen hundred, and then applies the so- 
thiac cycle to the result, in a manner which, to me at least, is 
not very intelligible. It is evident, however, that by this 
arbitrary mode of proceeding, any &1sehood, any dream, or 
any paradox however absurd, may be constituted an ingenious 
riddle and solved accordingly. 

For my part I am ait a loss to see, how the statement that 
the .sun had risen where he now sets, and set where he now 
rises, can by any exercise of subtilty be made to bear reference 
to the anomalies of the cycle. As the seasons shifted their 
position in the egyptian year, the sun.might be said to effect 
his summer where formerly his winter conversions, and to pro- 
duce autumn where formerly spring. But the sun rose in the 
east and set in the west, at one period of the cyde as at an- 
other, and by no ingenuity can the contraiy statement be 
shown to be any thing but a gross fakehood. 

I confess I feel inclined to believe with Scaliger, Stilling- 
fleet, and other sagacious critics, whose opinion Dr. Hales 
treats so lightly, that here, as in other similar instances noticed 
above,^ the priests were merely endeavouring to amuse them- 
selves, at the expense of the credulity and simplicity of their 
greek admirers. 



No. VI.— Page 29. 



The opinion of De la Nauze, which I had imagined to have 
few or no supporters, has however lately acquired importance, 

*» Analys. of Chron. vol. i. p. 39. vol. iv. p. 412, sqq. 
^ Sup. pa^e 23, Note m. 



APPENDIX. NO. VI. 217 

from its having been adopted by the distinguished german 
chronologer mentioned in the foregoing note ;^ who is inclined 
to the belief, that the ancient mode of calculation, used by the 
astronomers of Chaldaea, since about the year 2240 b. c, which 
he assigns as the date of their earliest celestial observations, 
having been found deficient and imperfect in ^4t^ b. c, had 
then been abandoned ; and the egyptian solar year substituted 
as a more simple and convenient mode of computation. My 
reasons for preferring the opinion stated in the text are as 
follows. 

First ; the great improbability that the Chaldees, who were 
much better astronomers than the Egyptians, (as seems dear 
from the very fact that Hipparchus and Ptolemy made the 
babylonish observations the basis of their improved systems, 
while those of the Egyptians are not so much as hinted at,) 
should, after no less than fifteen hundred years of their own 
experience, have been reduced to the necessity of adopting 
from their less scientific neighbours, a new form of computa- 
tion. Still less, had they even been reduced to this necessity, 
is it likely, that they would have found it expedient also to 
fix the commencement of their new year on the same day, and 
to call their months by the same names as the Egyptians. 
The very circumstance that the regulator of the nabonassa- 
rean sera is the Thot of 7^7 ^' ^'9 ^^ ^^ twenty-sixth of Fe- 
bruary Julian, appears in itself strong evidence that the whole 
system is of alexandrian, rather than of chaldee original. - It 
is scarcely credible, that a proud and superstitious hierarchy 
should at so advanced a period of their own civilization, not 
only servilely adopt a foreign calendar, with foreign names of 
the months ; but those names the titles of strange gods, mem- 
bers of the pantheon of their ancient and national eiiemies. 
This were the more improbable, since, as Hyde^ has shown, 
their subjects the Persians had used from a remote period of 
antiquity the year of three hundred and sixty-five days ; so 

^ Ideler, Untersuch. iiber die astron. Beob. &c. s. 145, sqq. Techn. 
chronol. Bd. i. s. 205, sqq. 
« Dc relig. vet Pers. c. xiy. 



/ 



218 APPENDIX. NO. VI, 

that it would have been unnecessary to trayel to a far distant 
and foreign country, in search of so simple an institution. 

Secondly ; the terms of the text of Ptolemy, from whom 
all our information respecting this era is derived, appear in- 
consistent with such a belief. That author, (or rather Hip- 
parchus whom he follows) invariably distinguishes between 
the era as that of Nabonassar, d^rh Na^ovatftfa^, and the year 
as that peculiar to the Egyptians, »ar Alyufrrloug' and in so 
pointed a manner, as can hardly admit of a suspicion, that 
the latter was common to both nations. Had the astronomical 
reckoning of the Chaldees been attached to this form of year, 
with the same names of the months, in their corresponding 
positions with respect to the sun^s course, during nearly six 
centuries, it would in fact have become, in as far as Hippar- 
chus was concerned, in an astronomical point of view, equally, 
or rather by preference, the chaldee year ; for there is not a 
single observation of the Egyptians themselves recorded by 
either Hipparchus or Ptolemy. So that the expressions ttar 
AtyvTrioug^ SO often repeated by them, might have been omit- 
ted or changed into «ara XcO^kug/ That this was merely a 
standard reckoning, adopted fpr its convenience by the alexan^ 
drian Greeks, appears, &om its being applied by them pre- 
cisely in a similar manner, to the calendars and periods of all 
the other nations without exception, whose observations of the 
heavens they quote. Besides the egyptian dates, we not un- 
frequently find those of the athenian archons, and attic lunar 
months, added for farther illustration ; but the old babylonian 
civil calendar being no way familiar to the Greeks^ and having 
been supplanted by that of the macedonian conquerors long 
before the days of Hipparchus, it had been quite useless for 
him, who wrote merely for hi» own countrymen, (still more so 
for Ptolemy,) to have assigned dates to the babylonian eclipses 



' It will be observed, tbat the term xar' Aiyvrrtougf bas more force than 
that of sTuv aJyv^TtaxuVy also frequently employed by Ptolemy. The 
egyptian year, if adopted by the Chaldees, might reasonably continue to 
be named STog a/yu^rr/ax^v, as distinct from their old vulgar and national 
reckoning. But the computation, »^t Alyu'jrriwg^ or according to the 
Egyptiansy must refer to something peculiar to themselves. 



APPENDIX. NO. VI. 219 

according to that obsolete mode of computation. Ptolemy ^ 
quotes two observations of the roman mathematician Mene- 
laus, assigning them their dates according to the egyptian 
year, without the least hint at either month or year of the 
roman calendar ; but we cannot infer from this that the egyp- 
tian year was in use in Rome. 

The history of the chaldean calendar is itself so excessively 
obscure, that on these points miich must be left to conjecture ; 
but, at least, the mere existence of the nabonassarean sera is 
not sufficient, without farther evidence, to justify our admis- 
sion of so important a fact in the history of ancient civilization, 
as the servile adoption of the egyptian year, with its months, 
their names, and positions in the seasons, by the Gh^ld^es, in 
the year 7*7 b. c. 

In as far however as modem authorities are concerned, it 
may be observed, that M. Ideler is mistaken in supposing, as he 
does,^ that Fr6ret was th,e first or only chronologer^who held the 
opinion here adopted, having overlooked (not to mention 
our own Jackson^) no less a person than Petavius,^ the prince 
of modem chronologers, who condemns, in strcmg terms, the 
contrary sentiment entertained by Scaliger. Nam oSB^'gyptiorum 
propria fuit ilia sequabilis annorum forma,, quae ab sera Na- 
bonassari tempora deducebat ; quorum titulus solus chaldaicus 
fuit, anni descriptio u^gyptiorum propria ; cum enim ^gyptii 
mathematicas omnes observationes ex Chaldoeorum commen- 
tariis didicissent, ubi illse Nabonassari aerse consignatse lege- 
bantur, cum epocha Nabonassari ad anni sui formam appli- 
carunt ; similiter ac si quis Saracenorum Arabumque res gestas 
ex nostris in historiam redigens, ab initio Mahommedis annos 
numeret ; aut quemadmodum chronologi vulgo anni juliani 
formam, ad orbis conditi, et nationum omnium iempus accom- 
modant. ^ 

c Ma^. CoDstr. 1. vii. p. 170, 171. 

^ Untersuch* s. 146. Techn. chronoL loc. cit. 

i Chronolog. antiq. vol. ii. p. 80, sqq. whose remarks are extremely 
sound and conclusive ; though he seeuis also to have claimed the credit 
which Ideler gives Freret, of having been the first who took the yiew 
of the nabonassarean sera here supported. 

^ De Doct temp. L iii* c. 6* 

3 



220 APPENDIX. NO. VII. 



No. VII.— Page 30. 

As the year of three hundred and sixty-five days falls short 
of the heliacal year of Sirius at the regular rate of six hours 
each revolution, consistently with the visible motion of the 
heavenly bodies, Sirius would rise four years successively on 
the same day of the egyptian year, as, for instance, on the 
first of Thot, and then pass on to the next. In framing a 
cycle, therefore, for the purpose of chronological computation, 
it would be necessary to establish one of the four years on 
which Sirius so rose on the first of Thot, as the fundamental 
epoch or first year of the period, say the first of the four. In 
order to find the year of the cycle elapsed at any particular 
time, we should then multiply by four the number of days 
counted from the first of Thot for the time being, itself in- 
cluded, to the day on which Sirius rose heliacally in the year 
for which the calculation was made, itself not included, adding 
to the product a number equal to the times which Sirius had 
already risen heliacally on that day. The sum will be the 
year of the cycle required. 

For example, if Sirius rose for the third time on the tenth 
of Phamenoth, the seventh egyptian month, what was the 
year of the cycle ? 

30 X 6 + 9 = 189 days, x 4 = 766 + 3 = 769 years. So 
that the date required was the seven hundred and fifty-ninth 
year of the cycle. 

Hence at the moment when Sirius rose heliacally for the 
third time on the tenth of Phamenoth, there would have 
elapsed of this cycle 768 full Julian years, and 768 ^yptian 
years, six jaonths, nine days. 

According to the most accurate calculations,^ Sirius rose 
heliacally on the first of Thot, in the years b. c. 1326, 1324, 
1323, 1322 ; and consequently in a. d. 136, 137, 138, 139. 

^ See Dodwell, append, ad diss. cypr. $ 17. Desvign. de ann> segypt 
in Misc. Berol. t iv. p. 14. Ideler, Techn. chronol* bd. i. s. 128. 



APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 221 

It seems more probable that the Egyptians would choose the 
first year of the coincidence as the epoch of their cycle, in 
"which case we ought to prefer 1325 b. c. as the basis of any 
chronological computation grounded on its revolution. But 
as Censorinus, the first author from whom we have any authen- 
tic details respecting the canicular reckoning, assumed the 
year 139, and consequently 1322, as a standard, and has been 
followed in this by most of the modems, I have not been 
willing to depart &om the received method. 



No. VIII.— Page 49 and 69. 

I must not here overlook the circumstance, that many 
authors,™ assuming that Sotfais the star and Thot the deity 
were originally connected in name and attribute, have inferred, 
that the commencement of the egyptian year was, at its early 
institution, or at least from the period of its first month having 
received the name of Thot, fixed to the heliacal rising of 
Sirius ; an opinion which, if admitted, would interfere very 
much with those advanced in this dissertation ; but which, 
I am convinced, is altogether false. It appears to rest chiefly 
upon the supposition, that Sothis, like the greek appellation 
of the same star, meant dog in the egyptian language ; and 
that Thot or Mercury being also represented among the 
Egyptians in the form of a dog, the two terms, Sothis and 
Thot, must be considered as synonymous, the star being 
merely a celestial representative of the god ; from whence it 
is farther inferred, that the same name and mythological 
character having been applied to the first day of the year, 
as to the star, the one must necessarily, in the infancy of the 
calendar, have coincided with the heliacal rising of the other. 

*" De la Nauze, M^m. de TAcacl. des Inscr. torn. xiv. p. 347. Fr^ret, 

Def. de la Chron. p. 407, sq. Gatterer, Weltgesch. B^ i. s. 214. Bailly, 

Hist, de TAstron. anc. p. 269. Ideler, Untersuch. &:c. s. 71. Techn. 
Chron. bd. i. s. 126, &c. 



222 APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 

Not one of these assumptions, however, rests on any satis- 
factory evidence. On the contrary, each one of them appears 
to be repugnant to the spirit, as well of the pure mythology 
as of the figurative language of Egypt. That the names 
Sothis, and Thot or Thooiit, as written by the Egyptians, are 
the same, or that either of them denoted dog will, I conceive, 
hardly be maintained by any Coptic scholar of the present 
day ; nor is there a single ancient authority for such a belief. 
Kircher, as is well. known, interpolated several articles out of 
his own imagination into the copto-arabic lexicon edited by 
him, and among others, nicioeic, or iiicinei was inserted 
with the signification dog attached to it ; a fraud suggested 
by the above mentioned fallacious inference, that because 
Sirius is called the ddgstar by the Greeks, and Sothis by the 
Egyptians, Sothis must therefore denote dog in Egyptian. 
Several learned men° have been led into error by the cheat, 
whicli was however detected, and exposed by Jablonski.'' 
Yet M . KlaprothP has recently advanced this word, as the 
egyptian name of the animal. He admits that it rests on the 
sole authority of Kircher, and that it has been surreptitiously 
inserted by him in the Scala Magna ; but observes, that as 
Jablonski had not .proved, in opposition to Kircher, that it 
was not really an egyptian word, he is willing to adopt it. 
But surely this is a strange method of criticism. Is the fiat 
of Kircher sufficient to establish a word as pure egyptian, for 
which there is no other authority, at the very moment when 
he is found guilty of a fraud ? At this rate, any le^cographer 
who wished to fill up space, might insert as many words out 
of his own head as suited his convenience, and when called 
to account, has only to challenge his critics to show them to 
be spurious. The onus probandi lay not on Jablonski, but 
the Jesuit and his followers. The learned orientalist, however, 
does not seem to insist on the genuineness of the word,"^ and 

n Frdret, et al. sup. cit Bochart, Hic^roz. p. 691* £d. 1712. 
o Fanth. lib. iii. -cap. 2. $ 9. 

P Prem. Lettre a M. de Giulianoff suf les Hierog^. Acrolog^ques, pp* 
17. 43. 
^ Lett. II. sur les Hier. Acrol. p. 31. 



APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 223 

» 

is too sound a critic not to be i^U aware of ite real inadmis- 
sibility, though he may carelessly have quoted it for the sake 
of argument. 

The name Sothis, according to Plutarch/ signified concep- 
tion or pregnancy, which, if the etymology were admitted, 
would contain a very palpable allegorical allusion to its sup- 
posed influence on the inundation, big with the fertility and 
prosperity of Egypt. The valu€ of his interpretation, how- 
ever, is destroyed by an attempt (not unusual with him in 
such cases) to strain, by a silly pun, some analogy between 
the egyptian sense of the tern}, and the idiom of his own. lan- 
guage ; for «ug/y, says he, in greek, means to conceive, aa 
ffoidl in egyptian ; hence the greek name »vw of the star. The 
falsehood of this conceit, if not in other respects palpable, it 
were easy to show by a reference to the most ancient of greek 
fabulists, who thus describes the dog star : 

• • . ^gri^a . * . 
'Oi ^ T h'JFiii^g sh/v, «^/^9jXoi ds 6i avyai 

*'Oy re kw 'Xl^io/fo^ WUKn^if/v Ka7^<nj<ftv.^ 

Orion was a great hunter of the early greek tradition, 
transferred by the fable at his death into a brilliant constella-^ 
^on ; and another very bright star in his neighbourhood was 
naturally enough called his dog. Greek mythologists are 
unanimous on this point. But the noxious influences ascribed 
by the poet to the star still farther disproye any connexion^ 
not only between the two names, but between > greek and 
egyptian superstition in general, in as far as it is concerned. 
For, on the banks of the Nile, its reappearance was hailed 
as the attendant of the inundation, the most joyful and agree- 
able season of the year, and as the forerunner and guarantee 
of divine favour and a productive harvest. Whereas the greek 
poet describes it merely as '^ an evil omen announcing scorch- 
ing heat to wretched mortals f^ 

' De Is. et Os. c. 61. « Homer, U. %. 27. 



224 APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 

Aofiv^arog fiiv 8y ff<rr/, xan^ ds re fff^fiM Tgrtmrou, 
Kai n pi^i mD^hv iru^Hv buKHfit ^^otSi,^ 

That Sothis signified dog-star of dog^ or had any original 
connexion with Thot, is still farther disproved by the terms 
in which it is mentioned, as well by Plutarch himself in 
various passages, as by a multitude of other classical illustra- 
tors of egyptian antiquity. *^ The Egyptians,'^ says Damas- 
dus,*^ ** assert that Sothis is Isis^ while the Greeks consider 
this star as the same with Sirius, and Sirius is the same as 
the Dog of Orion.'" Horapollo :^ " When they would denote 
a year, they draw Isis, that is, the iigure of a woman, by 
which they also represent the goddess. But Isis is toith them 
a star, called by the Egyptians Sothis, but by the Grreeks 
Dog-star, which seems to reign over the other stars, and by 
the rising of which they regulate the prognostications of their 
calendar.*" Plutarch :^ ^^ The Egyptians consider the Dog- 
star as sacred to Isis.^' It were needless to accumulate quota- 
tions, but many other authorities might be adduced, whose 
evidence corresponds with those above cited. From all this 
it appears, first, that the star which the Greeks called D(^- 
'star, was indeed the same which the Egyptians knew by the 
name of Sothis, but there is no trace of this name itte^ de- 
noting a dog, or any thing of the kind. Secondly, That 
Sothis was a representative of Isis, or at least consecrated to 
that goddess, and not to Thot ; whose name, as far as I know, 
is never mentioned in connexion with this star by any author 
worthy of notice ; which would be unaccountable considering 
the multitude there are who have treated minutely of both, 
if the star were, I wQl not say dedicated to him, but actually 
himself, the two names being synonymous. Thirdly, That 
Sothis being Isis, or consecrated to Isis, was a female star; 
hence the name. also is with the Greeks, as might be expect- 
ed, feminine, fi Iu6ts; whereas Thot is a male deity, and 
the greek i&r^xvoj¥ or kvcov '^n^/wvo; is also masculine. It will 

t II. X' 30. 

"i Apud Phot. cod. ccxlii. p. 1043. Ed. Schott. 1611. 

^ Hierog. lib. i. c. 3. ^ De Is. et Os. c- 61. 



APPENDIX. NO. VIII* 225 

hardljr be supposed that the Egyptians gave either their 
deity Isis, or her favpurite celestial orb, the name of she-dog. 
On this point we have still a passage of Plutarch* more ex- 
plicit than any hitherto quoted, and totally incompatible with 
such a supposition. The Egyptians, he informs us, supposed 
that the bodies of certain deities were preserved among them- 
selves upon earth, " while their souls were translated to heaven, 
there to shine forth as so many stars. Thus the soul of Isis 
is what the Greeks call Dog-star, but the Egyptians Sothis.**^ 
That Sothis was sacred to Isis may farther be gathered from 
the egyptian zodiacs, where this star or constellation is repre-> 
sented as a heifer, one of the sacred emblems of that deity : 
the identity is not to be questioned, as the figure occurs regu- 
larly in its place in the sign Cancer, accompanied by acces- 
saries whose signification cannot well be misunderstood. But 
in no one of these astronomical monuments, or any others 
which I have seen, is there the appearance of a dog, or any 
animal in the least resembling one, still less of Thot, or his 
attributes or emblems, occupying a place in the portion of the 
sign Cancer devoted to the constellation Sothis. Traces of 
the egyptian character of the star we have also in the later 
greek or roman mythology; as in a gem given by De la 
Chausse,^ where we have a female bearing ears of com in one 
hand, and a plate of fruits or vegetables in the other, with the 
legend C£I. for Sc/jp/o;, as justly interpreted by the ingcniou 
author of the compilation* 

All this seems to be confirmed by the following passage of 
Salt's Essay on Phonetic Hieroglyphics,* which, if the value 
attached by him to his cyphers be admitted, would seem to 
put the matter beyond controversy ; ^* The phonetic name of 
Sothis is very frequent, but it is generally found accompany- 
ing a figure of Isis ... it is composed of a star 2, the upper 
half of a circle 0, and an egg 2.'' 

The true etymology of the word Sothis is very doubtful. 
That suggested by Plutarch is in itself not devoid of speciousr 

» De Is. et Os. c. 21. 

7 Gemme antiche figiirate, No. 109. Romis 170P, 4t9. 

* P. 48, pL iii. Q. 

Q 



226 APPENDIX. KO. VIH. 

I168S, and has been ingeniously enough referred to di^ ooptic 
haxgnage by Jablonski,* who, however, in support of some 
fuTourite system, prefers another of a much less plausible 
description. I should be disposed, from the positiye way in 
which HorapoUo** and others assert that the star was called 
Isis^ or the star of Iris, to consider it as the compound sot- 
eH£l, literally, the star Iris, or the star of Isis« contracted by 
the Greeks into 22^ts^ On the other hand, the pristine rig- 
nification of the name Thot or Th6out as written by the 
Egyptians, appears very obvious, from a comparison of the 
attributes of this god of science and all civil institutions, with 

* Panth. lib. iii. c. 2. § 10, pt 2, p. 48. 

^ Lib. cit. § 10. p. 52. 

^ The variety Xif^ of the name, which might appear at v^biance with 
this deriyation, rests on the sole testimony of Vettius Yalens, an author 
of little weigfhti frequently quoted from MS*, but not yet published. 
(Scalier. Can. hag. p. 275. £d. 1658. Marsh. Chron. Can. p. 9.) Plu« 
tarch, on the other hand) (de Is. c 41. 49. 62.) asserts, that Seth, 2,||, 
was an egyptian name of Typhon, denoting violence, wHch is much 
more probable ; the word is apparently the same primitive radical as the 

arabic I^Lm Sat, to bum up or destroy, (this being the peculiar occupation 
of Typhon); whence the nanie of Satan^ whose character in the orien- 
tal mythus answers to that of the egyptian dnmoui the fiery fiend, or 
evil genius. Both are also occasionally personided as serpents. The 
greek Tv^uivt (the archaic form of the word) corresponds exactly in 
name as in attribute; this appellation being of pure hellenic origina 
from rvp^y Tt^ej, signifying fiery or unwholesome vapours. The at- 
tempts to force an egyptian etymology upon it ar^ worthy of no atteft- 
tion. 

The identity of these mysterious personages, as typical of the eml 

principle in the common legend of the primaeval human race, appears 

farther, from their having each been held to have been precipitated by 

the deity into the abyss* Concerning the tm« Satan, the prototype of 

• ail, we need cite no pagan authority. Mahomet calls the arabian dsmon 

. Satan radjim ^i\^j Satan stoned, lapidibus obrutos. (Kor. Sur. xv. 17. 
conf. Not. Maracij et GoL Lex. in v.) Concerning the egyptian Typhon, 
see Herodotus (iiL 5.) Concerning the greek, Horn. IL j3. 782. Hesiod. 
Theog. 821, sqq. Find. Ol. iv. 12. Pyth. i. 31. 

As it is not very probable that Typhon, the evil genius, and Sothis, 
the good genius, should be designated among the Egyptians by the same 
name, the form Seth, as applied to the latter, cannot be admitted on such 
indifferent authority. 



APPENDIX. NO. VIII* ^27 

tbe sense of the Coptic roots of similar sound and orthography. 
©nOTT in Coptic means an assembly, meeting, or council,^ 
On the monuments, the deity is frequently represented bear- 
ing in jhifl hand the hieroglyphic symbol^ denoting Assembly, 
Senate, 'jravtr/v^igy &c., as evidently exercising an influence over 
iheir proceedings or periodical meetings ; and we have autho^ 
rity to believe, that in a mysterious sense, assembly or Thoout, 
the egyptian Mercury, and scientific invention or improvement, 
of which he was patron, were nearly synonymous. ^^ The 
god Mercury,^^ says Jamblichus,^ in his work on the egyptian 
mysteries, ^^ was considered as the cbmmon genius of the 
priesthood, since the patron deity of science is one and the 
same in all. Hence the ancients dedicated the inventions of 
their own wisdom to Mercury, inscribing all their treatises 
with his name.^ " In Egypt,'** says Galen,« ^^ it was neces- 
sary that every new discovery in the arts should be approved 
of and sanctioned by the common council of the learned ; after 
which it was inscribed, without the name of the author, on 
the sacred columns, and deposited in the archives. Hence 
80 great a number of books ascribed to Mercury.^ Here then 
Mercury, and the assembly of the learned, or college of priests, 
as public and ostensible authors of all inventions, are one and 
the same ; Thoout therefore was merely a figure of the inven^ 
tive and intellectual faculties of humanity. Proclus relates 
nearly the same thing of the P)rthagoreani9, whose school was 
formed on the egyptian model : r^v »oimvi(tv ^o^di^ovTo r^v h roug 

quoting these authorities, Jablonski observes :b «< Sponte 
consequitur, Thot proprie Aiisse numen sacerdotale, quod 
sacerdotibus eorumque coliegiis omnibus, itidem eoruin inven- 
tis, ac scientiis cunctis preess^ cnederetur.'*' He then, how- 
ever, as too commonly happens with him, passes over with 
neglect the more simple and obvious sense of the name of the 

' Croze. Lex. iEgypt. in v. 

® Champol. Precis da Syst. Hier. p. 213^ sq. 

^ De myst. tRgy^tisLC. iuitio. 

s Vid. Gale, not. ad JambL loc. sup. eit 

^ Panth. lib. y. c 6, { U . pt 3, p, 170. 



228 APPENDIX. NO. VIII. 

deity, to exercise his learning or his ingenuity in farfetcbed * 
and less pointed illustrations. 

It is evident, then, that the opinion now under examina- 
tion, is far from being justified by any connexion between the 
names of Thot and Sothis. Another cause of error has been 
the notion, suggested by a superficial view of egyptian 
superstition, that Thot was the same person as Anubis, the 
dog-headed deity, which has gone much to confirm the 
belief that he was the same as the dogstar. This opinion is 
however also inconsistent with the pure egyptian doctrine. 
The greek, or rather the latin authors of the lower ages of 
classical antiquity, amid the confiision introduced by them 
into the ancient mythology, by their attempts to identify the 
gods of all the neighbouring nations with their own, were 
no doubt in the habit of calling both Thot and Anubis, 
and perhaps several other egyptian divinities, by the name of 
Hermes or Mercury. But these two, in the original pan- 
theon, were distinct persons. The first was a deity of high 
rank and dignified office, as above described ; and represented 
with the head of an ibis, or sometimes by the bird itself The 
other was represented with the head of a dog, or rather, as 
M. Champollion,^ I conceive justly, observes, of a jackal, 
mistaken by the Greeks for a household dog. His precise at- 
tributes are little known, but he seems to have been a \&j 
subordinate divinity, a drudge (or lUm^s-profcider as it were) 
of Thot, in his capacity of secretary or chief minister of Osiris 
and Isis. The distinction between the two is laid down indeed 
accurately enough by several of the classics ; who inform us 
that the sacred animals of the one were the ibis, and cynoce- 
phalus or egyptian ape; of the other, the dog or jackal.^ 
The one was worshipped at Hermopolis, the sacred dty of 
the Cynocephalus ; the other at CynopoUs, the sacred city of 
the Dog.^ Here accident opened a wide door to error ; the 
ape called dqgheaded by the Greeks being the emblem of the 

i Pk'ec. da syst. hier. p. 155. The household dog, however, firora the 
general testimony of authors, seems to have been also sacred to him. 
^ Auctor. apud Jablonsk. Panth. lib. v. c. 1. $ 3. c. 5. § 0. sqq. 
^ Strabo, p. 1151. Ed. Falo. ^lian. Anim. z. 29. &c. 



APPENDIX. NO. IX. 229 

one deity, the dog that of the other, naturally led to a confu- 
sion of the two ; and it is clear how obvious it was, for such 
fanciful interpreters farther to confound both with their Dog- 
star ; which, after all, none of the more profound or discreet 
illustrators of egyptian tradition have done, JablonsM," al- 
though for the sake of arrangement he calls both these deities 
•Mercury, in conformity with the old classical phraseology, has 
yet judiciously classed them as quite distinct personages of 
his pantheon. ^ 



No. IX.— Page 52. 



Under the term weste$n^ I would be understood to include 
certain* oriental nations of modern times, whose zodiacs, from 
their close resemblance to that of Egypt or Greece, cannot 
but be considered as borrowed directly or indirectly, in the vi- 
cissitudes of the history of science, from one or other of those 
countries. That such is the case with respect to the sphere 
of the Arabs and Persians is generally admitted ; which 
makes it the more surprising, that a person usually so well 
informed on these subjects as De la Nauze'^ should assert, that 
>^ no connexion can be traced between the names of the signs 
which we have adopted from the Greeks, and those by which 
they are known among the Arabs, and other oriental nations, 
who are supposed to have best preserved the remains of the 
ancient egyptian sphere C a statement disproved in the most 
jdistinct and positive manner, by almost every author, oriental 
or european, who has treated of these matters.^ 'Sir William 
Jones,!^ it is true, strenuously asserts the claims of the Hin^ 

m Panth. lib. v. c. 1. J 11. p. 25. 

^ Mem. de TAcad. des Inscr. t. xiv. p. 360. 

** Scalig. ad ManiL p. 480, ed. 1600. Maracci, Not ad alcoran, Sur. 
XV. V. 16. GoL ad Alfergp. p. 16. Hyde ad Ulugh Beigh. p. 4, &c. &c. 
conf. Joilois et Devilliers. M^m. sur les bas reliefs astron. in Descr. de 
TEgr. p. 445, 446. PI. A. 

P Asiat Res. .vol. ii. p. 289, sqq, artic XVI. 



230 APPENDIX. NO. IX. 

dvLBy if not to the ori^nal inyention, at least to the knowledge 
and use of the twelve signs, from the remotest periods of an- 
tiquity. But as the zodiac, which he^ and other illustrators 
of Indian astronomy' have given us, is precisely the same as 
that of the Greeks, it is impossible to suppose but that the one 
is borrowed from the other ; and that the Greeks have bor- 
rowed from the Indians is hardly to be conceived. Sir Wil- 
liam appeals to the vast antiquity of indian science ; to the 
contempt of the Hindus for every thing foreign ; and the scorn 
and ridicule with which their sages treat the notion of their 
having been indebted, directly or indirectly, to the Javans or 
Greeks, for any of their institutions. Yet, after all, he sums up 
with the conclusion,* that " the practice of observing the stars 
began in Chaldaea, from whence it was propagated into Egypt, 
India, Greece, &c. before the reign of Sisac or Sacya, who by 
'Conquest spread a new system of re%ion and philosophy from 
the Nile to the Ganges, about a thousand years b. c."" It is 
not easy to reconcile ^this admission of a new system from 
Egypt in the tenth century b. c. with the immense antiquity 
of their astronomical science, and abhorrence of foreign inno- 
vation. If Sir William Jones eould, consistently with his 
system, believe the paradox, that the egyptian Sisac conquer- 
ed all Asia, and introduced a civil as well as a political revo- 
lution into India in the tenth century 'b. c, may we not be 
permitted to suppose, that the zodiac was borrowed from the 
Greeks, successors of Alexander^ or the arab conquerors of the 
middle ages ; and that Sir William^s indian authorities who 
assert the contrary, are as fallacious as those on whom he rests 
his belief of the empire of Sisac. 

Mr. Bentley, a writer of equal authority on these points, 
has founded on the same evidence a very different opinion ; 
treating very lightly both the antiquity of the astrono^ 
my of the Indians, and the genuineness of their supposed 
primeval records.^ " The most candid part of the Hindus," 

4 Lib. Git. pw 303. 

' Conf. Philosoph. trans, vol. bEii. an. 1772. BatUy, Hist, de PastrW' 
anc. PL I. p. 487. 

■ P. 306. t Asiat Res, vol viii, p. 20a 



APPENDIX. NO. IX. 231 

fiays be, *^ acknowledge that literary forgeries are frequently 
committed, in consequence of the depravity of the age ve live 
in, which can relish nothing but what is supposed to bear the 
atamp of antiquity. Hence learned men are under the neces- 
sity of fathering their works on the sag^s of early times ;^^ and 
h^ adds, that on account of the great ignorance and supersti-. 
tion of the hindu reading public, " every species of literary, 
imposition may be committed without the smallest danger of 
detection.*^ 

Captain Wilfwft" informs us, after his Pundit, that tlm 
constellations of Cassiopea, Cepheus, Perseus, and Androme- 
da, were also in the Indian sphere. He, too, with the natural 
partiality of an oriental antiquary, refers the origin of the 
names of these asterisms, as well as of the fables attached to 
them, to the tradition of the gymno-sophists. The impartial 
mythologist will perhn)s judge differently. 

" The Hindus'' says Mr. Colebroke,^ another acute and 
laborious inquirer into the history of indian astrology, *^ have 
adopted the division of the ecliptic into twelve signs or con- 
stellations, agreeing in figure and designation with those of 
the Greeks... >That they took the hint of this mode of dividing 
the ecliptic from the Greeks is not altogether improbable.'*^ 
And in another place, treating of the correspondence of the 
Daresh' canas with the Decani of the egyptian, greek, and 
roman astrologers ; after adopting the opinion of Huet the 
commentator of Manilius, that the word Decanus was corruptly 
formed by the astrologers of Alexandria, from the greek nu- 
meral dsKUy he observes:^ *'The Sanscrit name apparently 
comes from the same source. I do not suppose it to be originally 
Sanscrit, since in that language it bears no etymological signi- 
fication. For the same reason it is likely that the astrological 
doctrine itself may be exotic in India. One branch of astro-* 
logy> entitled Tijaca, has been confessedly borrowed from the 
Arabians ; and the technical terms used in it are, as I am in- 
formed by hindu astrologers, arable. The casting of nativities, 

" Asiat. Res. vol. iii. p. 433. ^ 

^ Asiat. Res. vq|. ix. No. 6. p. 347. 
^ Ibid. p. 375, sq. 



^Q APPENDIX. NO. X* 

though its practice is of more ancient date in India, may also 
have been received firom western astrologers; Egyptians, 
Chaldeans, or even Greeks.^ He also states, that one of their 
highest authorities^ ^^ Var^a Mihira himself, as interpreted 
by his commentator, quotes the Yavanas, (meaning perhaps 
grecian authors) inia manner which indicates that' the descrip- 
tion of the Dr6shcdnas is borrowed from them." One of these 
was called Yavani ch&rya — ^probably a greek philo8(^her of 
the name of Chares. All this is sufficient answer to the re-^ 
marks of Sir William Jones on the contempt of the Bramas 
for the science of western nations.' 



No- X.— Page Sa 



That this was the true raeuiing of Eudoxus appears from 
the peculiar tenor of the passage itself, fragment as it isv which 
evidently bears reference to a comparison drawn by that philo- 
sopher, between the motions of the sun, and those of some 
other heavenly body, whose retrograde course in the ecliptic 
was much more remarkable ; and from the general context of 
Hipparchus it would appear that that heavenly body was the 
moon. The moon^s nodes, or the points at which she crosses 
the ecliptic in her orbit, have a retrograde motion of 19^ de- 
grees every year ; so that they shift through all the signs and 
degrees of the ecliptic in eighteen years, two hundred and 
twenty-iive days. It would appear then probable, that Eu-t 
doxus, having just before remarked this great variation of the 
orbit of the moon, adds ;^ ^{vsrai ds hia^o^v ruv xara t^oq toww 
x&i 6 iXtOi ^oiovfiivoiy u^XoTs^ov ds ^oXX^ X0L4 vavTiXui hXlyfiv literally ; 
^ but the sun also appears to vary his tropical points, though 
much less perceptibly and in a very slight degree.*" The 
commentators have however understood him to say, that the 
sun one year effected its conversions farther to the north, an- 

^ Conf. Delambre, Hist, de Fastr. anc. torn. i. L iuc. 3. p. 446. 
y Hipparch. in Phaenom. L i. c. 21. p. 112. 



APPENDIX. NO. XI. 283 

i>tlier farther to the south ; that is, that its orbit was one year 
more, another less inclined to the equator ; a sense which is 
far from being implied in his own words. Eudoxus may have 
expressed himself obscurely, as being really little familiar with 
the true nature of the phenomenon ; and Hipparchus, who is 
admitted to have been ignorant of it, at the time when he com* 
posed the treatise where this passage occurs, may have misun- 
derstood him ; but there is no reasonable ground to doubt, 
that the words of the cnidian philosopher contain «n allusion, 
however vague, to the precession of equinoxes. 



No. XL— Page 66. 

Bruce calls this stela « a Tot'' (Thot) « or calendar ^ 
•both which appellations may be to a certain extent correct ; 
AS the human figure which it contains, from a comparison 
with other monuments, I conjecture to be the god Lunus or 
Moon, who, there seems little reason to doubt, is the deity of 
jfche egyptian pantheon frequently represented with a similar 
horn, and standing upon two crocodiles ;' itnd a lunar reckon- 
ing being the primitive foundation of the egyptian, as of all 
other calendars, the divinity of the moon might not improba* 
bly be fabled to exercise an influence over it. It would ap- 
pear also that the same luminary was not unfrequently person- 
ified by the god Thot,^ who was unquestionably the patron 
,^ty of the calendar as of all other scientific institutions. 
There can therefore be little doubt but that the physical sym- 
bols which this deity holds, or by which he is surrounded, are 
connected with the zodiac. The orphic sage, the fragments 
lof whose works contain so many traces of egyptian mythology, 
4q[>pears to make, as quoted by Proclus ad Hesiod. dies, p. 
168, very unequivocal allusion to this single horn of the god 

« ChampoL Panth. pi. 14*, H. 14, F. ter. 14>, D. Conf. Montf. ant 
«xpl. t ii. pt ii pL cxxvii. 

* ChampoL op* cit. ibid, et alibi. 



234 APPENDIX^ NO. xn. 

Lunus, 'O M^ff h aUfi {rfl i^) m^* *0^it^utu^{>erat Mvt&u^ 



No. XII.— Page 83. 

Jftblonski^ has analysed tlie character and properties of this 
goddess with much learning and acuteness, though some of 
his conclusions may not perhaps be in strict harmony with 
the pure spirit of egyptian mythology. His etymology is 
certainly false : yet I incline to believe, that the influence 
which he assigns Athor in the cosmogony, as primeval princi- 
ple of dusk or darkness, whence springs light and the sun, 
according to the orphic tradition, is justified by the general 
tenor of the testimony of both authorities and raonumoits. 
M. ChampoUion, while advocating a different opinion, has 
here, as on other occasions, treated the views of this valuable 
liuthor with |i degree of contemptuous severity, which was 
neither necessary nor warranted by any new light hitherto 
thrown on the properties of Athor by his own researches. 
The internal evidence even of those monuments which he him- 
aelf has published and illustrated, appears to me very much to 
confirm the views of Jablonski. The french critic in his Pan- 
thecm^ describes a goddess as, ^^ Bouto nourrice des dieux, em- 
bUme de Tantique nuit ou des t^nebres primitives. On donnait 
avec raison le sumom de mere des dieux a la d^esse Bouto, puis«- 
que unie aux dieu Phtha elle avait enfant6 Phr^ ou le sdeil, 
desquels naquirent ensuite tons les autres dieux.'' Compare this 
with the following passage of his description of Athor :^ <* Phtha 
6tant le pere de tous les dieux, la d^sse Hathor sa compagne 
fidele, d{it passer sinon pour leur mere, du moins pour leur 
nourrice.^ It appears then quite clear according to this ac- 
count, that Athor and Bouto are merely different personifies^ 

^ See Fragfoi. zxxvi. Edit. Gessn. p* 307. 

• Paoth. lib. i. initio. PL 23, 23, ft. 

• Op. cit pi. 18. 



APPENDIX, NO. XIII. 235 

tions of the same primeval Night, spouse of Phtba ; which i9 
precisely the system of JabloQski/ In another place however^ 
M. ChampoUion in his ardour to confute his brother antiquary, 
has I fear contradicted himself. '^ Jablonski/^ says be,^ ^^ en-» 
train6 par Tesprit de systeme, a voulu conclure que la deesse 
egyptienne Athor, etait la nuit et le principe de toutes choses. 
...mais ce principe inconnu u'est autre que le grand ^tre d^ 
miurgique Ammon,^ 8?c. ! * Surely this is not very consistent. 
At this rate Ammon (himself la nuit), being in common with 
the sun and all the other gods, descended from Bouto (also la 
nuit) or Athor, and Phtha, would be the principe inconnu of 
his own grandfather and grandmother. 



No. XIIL— Page 89. 



Jackson^ however disagrees with Petavius, and is of opinion 
that Geminus must have lived before Hipparchus, that is he^ 
fore the year 160 b. c. in which that astronomer flourished ; 
assigning as a reason, that neither the works of Hipparchus, 
nor of any other equally recent author, are alluded to in the 
treatise of Geminus. He has therefore been induced to place 
that mathematician about 246 b. c. ; chiefly by a misinterpret 
tation, as we shall see, of a passage of his work,^ where mention 
is made of Eudoxus ; as if we were there given to understand 
that he himself, (Geminus) lived only a hundred and twenty 
years after the philosopher of Gnidos. But that our chronolo- 
ger is egregiously mistaken is clear ; since it so happens, that 

' Panth. loc. sup. cit oonf. L iii. c 4. $ 7. * Op, dt. pi. 17. 

^ Chron. Ant. toL ii. p. 26. Note. Bonjour, in a Dissertation entitled, 
De nomine patriarchae Josephi a Pharaone imposito. Appendix de tem- 
pore Isiorum. Rom. 1696 ; places Geminus in 137 b. c. I have not seen ' 
the work itself; but his argument, as stated by his reviewers, (Acta 
Erudit. Ups. 1697. p. 9.) does not seem to be deserving- of much atten- 
tion. 

* Elem, Astron. cap. secund. 



236 APPENDIX. NO. XIII. 

Geminus mentions Hipparchus no less than three times in one 
chapter. Whence it would appear, that the learned critic had 
not read the work he quotes with any care ; but has probably 
been misled by Petavius,*^ who by a curious enough oversight, 
although himself the editor of the Elementa of Geminus, has 
fallen into the same error. Fabricius' has also omitted the 
name of Hipparchus in his list of the authors cited by Gemi- 
nus. This is a singular instance of three men of such pro- 
found research, following as it were the steps of each other in 
so strange a blunder ; and shows the danger of admitting ap- 
peals to authority, without careful collation of the original 
text. But even had Jackson been right in this respect, there 
are other points of internal evidence contained in the work of 
Geminus, amply sufficient to confute his views. In the first 
place, Geminus quotes, not only Eratosthenes™ who flourished 
towards the end of the third century b. c. and Gratis" the ho- 
meric critic of the age of Philometor, which comes down as low 
as 145 B. c.,but Posidonius,"" who lived nearly about the same 
period which we have assigned himself. Secondly, his style 
and language prove him to be more recent than Hipparchus, 
especially his constant use of the term ^uyoV, or libra, for yfi^^ 
or the claws of the Scorpion, the ancient name of the seventh 
sign of the zodiac among the Greeks, with whom the term 
X^k came only recently into general use, being unknown to 
Aratus, used once by Hipparchus, but supplanting Chela? al- 
most altogether with Geminus. Petavius^has also remarked that 
the calculation of the degrees of longitude on the ecliptic, and 
not on the equinoctial, was familiar to this mathematician ; 
whereas it was unknown or little practised before the days of 
Hipparchus. Thirdly, the name Geminus being evidently 
latin, though pronounced Tsfinog by the Greeks, implies a con- 
nexion with Rome, which could hardly be presumed in the 

k De Doct. temp, li .ii. c. 7. vol. L p. 54. 

1 Bib. gr, 1. iii. ci 5. vol. iL p. 98, 99. 

"* £lem. Astr. c. 6. p. 19. " Op. cit. c. 5. p. 14, 

• Vid. Simplic. in Aristot Phys. lib. ii. p. 65. 

P Var. Diss. 1. ii. c 2. 



APPENDIX. NO. XIII. 237 

case of a rhodian philosopher of the period to vhich Jackson 
would assign him, namely the first punic war. 

Under all these circumstances, taken in connexion with his 
statement concerning the Isia, the epoch assigned him by 
Fetavius appears unexceptionable. Zoega^ has run into the 
opposite extreme from Jackson, and found so little proof of 
antiquity in the Elementa, that he was inclined tahave brought 
their author down to a much lower period ; for reasons how- 
ever, which he does not state, and the soundness of which he 
himself distrusted. 

The following is the passage of Geminus above alluded to, 
on which the conclusion of Jackson is grounded : vin^i^Xyiv oux 
diro\vTov<fiv dymagf 0/ diaXaw^dyovTBg sv rots ^Icfintg xar' Ajyumoui, xaJ 
xar Ew^o^oy, ra^ ^ajM^/va^ r^dig iJvai. This the learned chrono- 
loger has understood, as if Geminus had said, that ^^ those 
were in error/ who thought the Isia were celebrated at the 
winter solstice in the days of Eudoxus ;" in which case the 
literal interpretation of the latter part of the passage would be, 
<^ that the winter solstice coincided with the Isia, in the day a 
of the Egyptians and of Eudoarus ;''\ which is evidently non- 
sense, unless we suppose the whole race of native Egyptians 
extinct in Geminus^ time. Fetavius^ on tl^e other hand under- 
stands it, ^^ that they erred in supposing the celebration of the. 
Isia to be fixed to the winter solstice, as constituted accord^ 
ing to the ohsenmtions of the Egyptians and Etcdowus ;^' 
namely, towards the end of December ; whioh is both better 
grammar, and plain sense; Eudoxus having studied under the 
theban priests, and being supposed to be indebted to them 
for the improvements which he made in the calendar of his 
countrymen. 

4 Num. Egypt. Mas. Boiig'. p. 395. 

' In this error, Jablonski (De tab. bembin. Diss. ii. $ 11. MisceL Bert 
olin. t. vii. et Opusc. t. ii. p. 254.) persists, in a manner not very cout 
sistent with his usual research or judgment. In spite however of his 
l^eneral learning, this author's ideas on the subject of the egyptian calendar 
were somewhat crude and undigested ; as appears not ouly from the weak 
passage here referred to, but the whole tenor of his writings ou ejfj^yp- 
tian antiquity, 

* De Doct. temp. lib. iL c. 7, p. 53. 



238 APPENDIX. NO. XIV. 



No. XIV.— Page 89. 

Plutarch,^after describing the four days of mourning, from 
the seventeenth to the twentieth of Athyr inclusive, (Ti<f<fa^ 

adds : ^^ but on the nineteenth at night, they go down towards 
the sea, and the priests and ministers bring forth the sacred 
chest, containing the gilded shrine, into which they pour fresh 
water, and immediately a cry is raised by all present that Osi- 
ris is foimd ;" followed by other agreeable ceremonies. This 
day, however, cannot be the nineteenth of Athyr, devoted, as 
above stated, to lamentation. Accordingly, t% commentators 
are nearly unanimous, that there is some error^ither in the 
text or the description, or that the name of the month has 
fallen out. Kircher" supposes the day alluded to belonged to 
the next month, Choiak ; with whom I have no hesitation in 
agreeing ; referring it either to the nineteenth of that month, 
or to the nineteenth day from the commencement, of the cere- 
mony, which would be the fifth of Choiak. Jablonski,^ who 
also saw that there was an error, and agreed with Kircher 
that it lay in the omission of the name of the month, would 
rather supply Tybi; and upon this basis has grounded bis 
attempt to illustrate the mysteries of the Isia. His whole 
argument is however from the first fallacious, resting or^ 
nally on the fallacious hypothesis, that the festival was ap- 
pointed to a season of the fixed alexandrian year ; adopted 
from too great a deference to the careless and superficial lan« 
guage of Plutarch, though contrary to the testimony of Era- 
tosthenes, Geminus, and the whole tenor of egyptian tradition. 
Besides, it is evident from the joint testimony of the authors 
quoted in our text, that these ceremonies, however varied, 
were yet in a certain degree continuous, forming portions of 
one mythological drama; which would hardly be consistent 

t De Is. et Os. c. 39. u (Edip, aegypt. t, iii. p. 262. 

▼ De tab. bcmbin. diss. ii. § xiv. See Miscel. BeroL torn. vii. p. 309, 
and Opu8€ul. t ii. p. 259* 



APPENDIX. NO. XV. 239 

with the notion of their being extended over three months. 
It would appear indeed, from the description of Apuleius^ 
quoted in the text, that these solemnities, when adopted by 
the Greeks, were completed in one day. It was not to be 
expected that such lively imitators would, in transferring the 
new rites to their own calendar, adhere very closely to all the 
characteristic details of the original egyptian usage* This 
v^ circumstance, however, tends still farther to shew the 
correctness of the sense we have assigned to the text of Plu-* 
jtarch. It is probable that the going out to the sea with the 
aacred chest or ark, as described by that author, is connected 
with the ceremony, which the Greeks considered (whether 
rightly or no may be doubtful) as the annual mission of a 
messenger by water to Byblos in Phenicia, annouQcing the 
proper season tor celebrating the feast of the Adonia ; which 
they held to be derived from the Isia or death of Osiris in 
JEgypt, and supposed could not be commented, until the rites 
of its prototype were concluded.^ To this ceremony the pro- 
phet Isaiah has been supposed to allude in the passage : Woe 
to the land shadowing with wings, which is beyond the rivers 
of Gush, that sendeth ambassadors to the sea, even in vessels 
of bullrushes upon the waters, saying, go ye swift; messengers, 
&c.* 



No. XV.— Page 91. 

The seven days of the Saturnalia ot solstitial feast of an- 
cient Rome, offer a curious enough coincidence. *< Apud 
veteres opinio fuit,'^ says Macrobius,^ *^ s^tem diebus peragi 
Saturnalia ; si opinio vocanda est quae idoneis firmatur aucto- 

^ Lucian, de dea syr. edit Bourdelot*1615, p. 1058. 

X C. xviii. y. 1. sqq. vid. Procop. et CyriL in loc conf. Bocbart. 
Geogr. dac. p. 212, sqq. Ed, 1712. ScldeD> de DIs. syr. SyDt ii. c. 11. 
p. 258, sqq. edit 1681. 

y Saturn, i. c 10. 



240 APPENDIX. NO. XV» 

nbus. Novius enim probatissimus Atellanarum scriptor ait : 
elim ewpectata vefiiitmt septem Saturnalia. Menimius quo- 
que, qui post Novium et Pomponium diu jacentem artem 
atellanam suscitavit, < Nostri/ inquit, ^ majores velut bene 
multa instituere, Hoc optima ; a frigore fecere summo dies 
septem Saturnalia.'* ^ 

Many circumstances combined to render seven a sacred 
number among the Egyptians. The pbmets were seven, in- 
cluding the sun ; whence the Nile : irrumpens, imitatus sidera 
mundi, per fauces septem,^ is called by Heliodorus,* dvrir/fioc 
$b^vov. We hear also of seven vowel sounds having been 
sanctified as metrical elements peculiar to the hymns in praise 
of the gods.^ The nation itself according to Herodotus^ 
was divided into seven castes. Lucian*^ describes the theban 
Memnon when uttering his oracles, as dw^^o^ rh arSfia h iv&oif 
Wrd. And, with Apuleius,^ Lucius purifies himself before 
partaking of the Isia by seveii ablutions. See also Plutarch 
Hie Is. et Os. c. 31. and Eusebius Praep. ev. ix. 6. 



No. XVI.— Page 92, 



From Porphyry^ we learn, that Osiris was the husband, 
brother, and son of Isis ; a remark which however proble- 
matical, is confirmed by the whole tenor of egyptian tradition* 
He was in fact the male principle of nature, of which many of 
his sons or subordinat^divinities were merely portions or pro- 
perties personified* In the same way Isis, as the female prin- 
ciple, was also Neith, Bouto or Latona, Athor, &c. To treat 
this subject at length would require a dissertation of itself. 

s Manil. iii. r. 453. ^ ^thiop. ix. p. 423. 

^ Demetr. Phaler. ap. Jablonsk. Paoth. prolog, p. 55. Quatremeri^ 
Becherches sur la lit^rat de I'Egypte, p. 268. 
« IL c. 164. •> Philops. Ed. Bourdelot, 1615. p- 842. 

* Metam. xi. torn. iiL p. 144. 
' Ap. Euseb. Pr»p. ev. lib. iii. c. 1 1, in fine. 



APPENDIX. NO, xvir, 241 

I have however all along admitted as the basis of my endea* 
vours to illustrate egyptian mythology, the fundamental 
principle formally laid down and recognised by the ancients, 
that Isis and Osiris were respectively the female and male 
essence of the godhead. This canon is first established by 
Herodotus,^ (the earliest greek author who treats of the su* 
perstitions of this country and who visited it when the national 
institutions still existed in their purity,) in the passage where 
he tells us, that while the worship of the other deities was 
chiefly confined to the city or nome under their peculiar pa- 
tronage, that of Isis and Osiris was common to the whole na- 
tion. It has continued through successive ages to be admitted 
as unquestionable, and beyond the pale of controversy, and 
has formed the groundwork of the most celebrated treatiiSes 
ancient or modem on the subject of egyptian mythology ; and 
I have seen no soUd reason for questioning its accuracy^ 

I have been led to this observation, from having perceived, 
or fancied I perceived, a disposition in some quarters, to de« 
grade these two celebrated elements of ancient superstition, 
into deities of inferior rank in the modern pantheon. 



No. XVII.— Page 113. 



Mons. ChampoUion^ has indeed asserted, that the moon 
among the Egyptians was a male deity, and a male deity only. 
This opinion however appears to me to rest on no authority 
but his own ; being in express contradiction to the united 
testimony of the ancients, who formally state that the luminary 
entered in a feminine capacity into the character of several 
female personages of the pantheon. Of this the disc between 
bulFs horns, worn by these female deities, was, as we learn 
from Diodorus,^ Orpheus,^ and all the most respectable 

« II. 42. h Panth. eg. pi. 14. A. i Bill. hist. i. J 11. 

^ Hymn viii. conf. xviii. v. 11. Conf. Plut. de Is. et Os. c. 52. Ovid. 
Met ix. V. 687, &c. 

R 



242 APPENDIX. NO. XVIII. 

authors, a natural and obvious symbol. And the firench critic 
has advanced no evidence calculated, in my opinion, to out- 
weigh their authority. The passages of Plutarch, Spartianus, 
and Ammonitts, which he quotes in favour of his own system, 
and which I have consulted in the original, appear to me alto- 
gether adverse to it. As they distincdy admit the moon to 
have been affft96hiku€ among the Egyptians. 



No. XVIII.— Page 129. 

The author of these remarks has occupied himself for hours 
together, in observing the motions of diese singular insects, 
which are more or less common on all the sandy coasts of 
the Mediterranean, at least on those of Sicily and Calabna. 
He has not unfrequently seen two, apparently male and fe- 
male, engaged with one ball ; which would seem to confute at 
once the fanciful opinion of the Greeks concerning the sex of 
the species. Among other claims which they have to be con- 
sidered as typical of the god of day, is the constancy with 
which they continue their course, and their boldness and per- 
severance in trundling their orb along, in spite of all obstacles 
which may occur to hamper their retrograde movement ; as if 
still farther to emulate, in one of his noblest attributes, the 
unwearied aun^ 'RsXiov dxapbawa. I have sometimes amused 
myself with scraping a small trench in the sand across the 
path of the traveller, into the bottom of which he and his 
globe tumbled backwards together* He would then look round 
for some part of the side of the abyss, so little precipitous, as 
to permit of his rolling it out again ; and finding none, would 
set to work, and scrape a gap sufficiently wide and smooth for 
the purpose, and then turning round on his head again, grasp 
his precious burden in his thighs, and resume his retrograde 
journey. Once I deprived him of his ball altogether, and 
having removed him to a position at some considerable dis- 
tance, where he could not observe my proceedings, buried it 

1 



APPENDIX. NO. XVIII. 24*3 

to some depth in the sand. Immediatdy however on being 
set free) he rushed back to the spot where he had been separat- 
ed from his bit of dung, and not finding it, began to hunt the 
ground in the neighbourhood like a pointer ; until suddenly 
stopping over the place where it was buried, he commenced 
burrowing in the sand until he reached it, and whisking round 
again upon his head rolled it off in triumph. It was impos- 
sible ilot to feel surprise, and at the same time admiration, at 
the boldness, constancy, and skill, with which the little crea- 
ture maintained his own against a superior force, without the 
slightest appearance of personal fear, or of any othier feeling 
but anxiety for the safety of his beloved orb ; nor certainly, 
if egyptian piety admitted that the sun could, under any cir- 
cumstances, be appropriately represented by a nasty reptile, 
cotdd they have selected one, more Worthy of his high sym- 
bolic; office, than this beetle. The joiirney seemed to be long 
and tiresome, as I never had either time or patience to see 
where or how it ended. Such are the facts that have come 
under my observation respecting the sCtoi^b^e, to which ndther 
commentators nor travellers appear to have paid mtich attention. 
Even those who qilote the well-known passages of Clemens 
Aleiandrintia &nd others, seem sddom to have understood their 
import. Tdy as "HX/oy, says that learned fathet, rtf! roD noM^u^ 

AvTiw^oifoiirot xxikiv^i. This Warburtoft* renders : "but the sun 
they likened to a scarabee, because this insect makes a round 
ball of beasts dung, and rolls it dircularly with his fiice op- 
posed to that luminary.'^ What he means by " rolling it cir- 
cularly"^ it is difficult to understand. • A round ball, if rolled 
at all, must, in a certain sense, no doubt be rolled circularly ; 
but if his meaning be, that the scarabee and his ball describe 
a circle in their retrograde course, that is neither true in itself 
nor the sense contained in the text of Clemens. The word 
aiT/ff-^oVw^rof he has also misunderstood ; as it refers to the posi- 
tion of the face of the anihial, not with respect to the -sun, but 
to the ball of duug, or to his own course. 

* Div. Leg. 4to, vol. ii. p. 415. 



244 APPENDIX. NO. XVIII. 

* 

The following description of this species of scarabee is ex- 
tracted from the Encyclopiedia britannica,"^ which the reader 
may compare with what I have given above from personal ob- 
servation. ^^ The Scarabaeus camifex, which the Americans 
call the iumhle-dumg^ particularly demands our attention. It 
is all over of a dusky black, rounder than those animals are 
generally found to be, and so strong, though not much larger 
than the common black beetle, that if one of them be put 
under a brass candlestick, it will cause it to move backwards 
and forwards, as if it were by an invisible hand, to the admira- 
tion of those who are not accustcyned to the sight. But this 
strength is given it for much more useful purposes than those 
of exciting human curiosity ; for there is no creature more 
laborious, either in seeking subsistence, or providing a proper 
retreat for its young. They are endowed with sagacity to dis- 
cover subsistence by their excellent smelling, which directs 
them in flights to excrements just fallen from man or beasts, 
on which they instantly drop, and fall unanimously to work 
in forming round balls or pellets thereof, in the middle of 
which they lay an egg. These pellets, in September, they 
convey three feet deep in the earth, where they lie till the 
approach of spring ; when the eggs are hatched, and burst 
their nests, and the insects find their way out of the earth. 
They assist each other with indefatigable industry, in rolling 
these globular pellets to the place where they are to be buried. 
This they are to perform with the tail foremost, by raising up 
their hinder part, Mid shoving along the ball with their hind 
feet. 



No. XIX.— Page 141. 

The history of the Sibyl of the greek and rwnan mytho- 
logy idFords curious proof of the antiquity of this emblem on 

"» In voce, voL xvi. p. 693. 



APPENDIX. NO. XIX. 245 

the sphere of the Phenicians, Arabs, and other oriental na- 
tidns. An old name of the constellation Virgo among these 
vas Spica, in the Semitic tongues Shibbula,'' Shibboleth, 

nbi^u;, Mbi^u;, aXaJum, from the ear of com she held in her 
hand, a part being taken for the whole, as in the modem 
cyphers of this and other signs of the zodiac. Virgo is still 
commonly represented on the arable sphere by the ear of com 
alone. Among many ancient nations, both hellene and bar* 
barous, the gift of prophetic inspiration, though common to 
both sexes, seems yet to have been considered, more than any 
other divine attribute, as peculiarly conferred upon females. 
Most of the greek oracles were served by women ; and of 
prophetesses by profession in the east we have, among other 
examples, that of the witch of Endor. As divination in all 
ages of the world was connected with observation of the stars, 
it was natural enough that the celestial maid, or shibbula, 
(should become the embleth or type of the science. Hence, 
as Hyde observes :'' *< Among the chaldee and phenician 
Bdystics, was feigned a certain sup^matural virgin, by name 
Sibylla, or as Tacitus has it, SibuUa, which name became 
common to every female who had pretensions to enthusiastic 
inspiration or prophetic fire.'* , A mysteriorum cusoribus, 
Chaldaeis et Phcenicibus, prsetendebatur miraculosa qusedam 
viigo, nomine Sibylla, seu, ut Tacitus, SibuUa ; unde factum 
est ut qusevis enthusiastica fcemina et extatico furore acta 
vaticinatrix, eodem nomine vocaretur. This same supersti- 
tion we find transferred from east to west, imder the mys- 
terious character of Sibylla ; a name certainly not of greek or 
latin origin, and of which there can be no doubt but the above 
is the true etymology. As proof of this it may be remarked, 
that several of the most celebrated of these Sibyls are referred 
, to Asia, as Sibylla persica, babylonia, ery thrsea-P The attempt 
to pve the word a greek etymology : " ut sit (rfCuXXa, quasi 
f/oD ^?XXa, seolice pro %ou PovyJi^"" is far from' plausible. That 

n Hyde, de relig. vet Pera. c. xxxii. Scalig. ad ManiL p. 473. 

« Op. cit. p. 394. 

P Suid. y. £/^vAA«f. U^ttTn cSr n UttXixU n nai Ds^o-/;. 



246 APPENDIX. NO. XXI. 

of Sahnasiujs :^ (T/Cij quod aeolicum est pro ^tdn, whence as a 
diminutiye sKvXKuy ia mere triffing; beaides othos equally 
fandfid. 



No. XX.— Page 150. 



Jackson, however, it must be observed, errs grossly in sup- 
posing, that not only the heliacal rising of Sirius, but the 
sununer solstice of the year 1322, fell on the 22d of July ct 
the Julian calendar ; whereas this last really fell on the sixth 
of diat month; and the error has been transferred to his 
calculation of the epoch at which the coincidence is made to 
take place between the Thot and the equinox. Dr. Hales,' 
in adopting and repeating his mistake, quotes Petavius, who, 
he observes, made the 20th* of July 1322 the day of the 
summer solstice ; but Petavius was never guilty of such an 
oversight. I find a very different statement in his Yar. 
Dissert, ii. 4. Jackson' is farther of opinion, that the ^yp- 
tian names of the months were not invented uiitil afiter the 
Exodus, because Moses did not adopt them as his cpuutiy- 
man did those of the Ghaldees after the babylonish captivity. 
A previous remark of his own might have furnished him with 
a better solution of this difficulty, namely, that the months of 
the Egyptians were called afte^ their gods. .W^s it likely 
that Moses would have dedicated the seasons of his saored 
year to Thot, Athyr, Ammon, the ajbomiuations of the 
Egyptians P 



No. XXL— Page 162. 

In spite of the vain attempts of travellers or critics to 
identify among the ruins of Thebes the hundred gates of the 

4 Ad. Solin. p. 56. Conf. Hoffinann.^ Lexic. in v. 
' Analys. of Chronol. vol i. p. 40. 
■ Ghrcinol. ant. vol. ii. pp. 4. 7. sqq. 



APPENDIX. NO. XXI. S47 

Iliad, which evea the most curious of the ancients could not 
make out to be ^any thing more than a poetical hyperbole ;* 
or to prove by the authority of the Odyssey, that lower Egj^t, 
which existed in the days of Moses, was a bay of the sea in 
those of Menelaus; still, the poet^s own descriptions of this 
country, when fairly examined, bear in themselves the strong- 
est internal evidence, that he had no personal acquaintance 
with its interior, and that what little he knew of it was derived 
6om heassay, or possibly from a piratical expediuon to its 
coast, similar to those described by himself, and by Herodotus, 
as usual among their countrymen in early ages.^ Sir I. New- 
ton^ assumed that the pyramids were not built in Homer^s 
time, because the bard, having been in Egypt, does not nven* 
lion them ( and the conclusion is just, as referred to the pre- 
mises ; since a poetical imagination could hardly fail to be 
smitten with those prodigious monuments; and a poet, so 
minute in his description of localities as Homer, were still less 
likely to have passed them over imnoticed, in treating of the 
wonders of the banks of the Nile. But were it not more 
reasonable to infer, that he does not mention them because he 
had never seen them ? Others go the length of asserting, 
that Homer knew the true cause of the inundation, which re- 
mained a mystery to the most curious of his countrymen for 
many centuries after his day, because he applies the epithet of 
ditmrrie to the Nile. ^t^tTtis, it is said, means falling or pro- 
ceeding from. Jove, that is, figuratively, swoln by rains, ^ths 
ifiQ§(fi' but the inundation was owing to the rains of Ethiopia, 
therefore Homer knew its cause. These critics have over* 
looked the circumstance, that dt'/^r^i is a familiar epithet with 
the poet for any river, when it happens to suit his metre ; those 
of his own country being little more than mountain torrents, 
frill in winter, but nearly dry in summer, unless when swoln 
by showers, on which occasions they frequently overflowed theit 
banks, and committed great ravages; and these visitations 

^ Diod. lib. i. c. 4)5. Pomp. MeL L 9. conf, Heyn. Var. obs. ad II. ix. 
383. 

" Odyss, ^. V. 246, sqq. Herod, lib. ii. c. 152. ^ ChronoL p. 32. 



248 APPENDIX. JSO. XXI. 

being ascribed by the supenUtionB inhabitants of their valleys 
to the anger of the deity »^ the expression dMrer^Cy both in a 
moral and physical sense is highly appropriate. It occurs 
seven times ; twice applied to the Nile,^ twice to the Scaman- 
der,y once to the Sperchaeus,' once to a river of the island of 
Scheria,* and once in a meie poetical simile to a river in gene- 
ral ;^ to suppose then that it contains any mysterious or spedal 
allusion in the case of the Nile, is altogether gratuitous. The 
more, as the supposed allusion itself would have been unin- 
telligible to his countrymen, to whom his descriptions of that 
river were addressed, and who could merely have inferred firom 
it, that the Nile was such a torrent as the Scamander or the 
Sp^rchaeus. Might we not then more fairly argue, &om the 
▼ery fact of the poet^s applying this ordinary and common- 
place epithet to the Nile, that he was really ignorant of the 
little resemblance which existed between that great stream, and 
the mountain torrents of his own country ; and consequently, 
of the general peculiarities for which the climate of Egypt was 
celebrated in the vulgar tradition of both Egyptians and 
Greeks ; namely, that rain never fell on its soil, unless as a 
prodigy, and that the river, instead of being replenished accord- 
ing to the ordinary course of nature, was made to overflow its 
banks by mysterious and supernatural means. Had Homer, 
like Hecataeus or Herodotus, ever really travelled in Egypt, 
these are the wonders for which he would probably, like them, 
have celebrated that country on his return home. 

Antiquaries are surely very inconsistent, who in one place 
tell us, what is most true, that the Egyptians in early timefi 
hated navigation or foreign travel, and were jealous of admit- 
ting strangers, especially uncircumcised barbarians like the 
Greeks, to the interior of their country ; and in another, de- 
scribe the same E^ptians as establishing maritime colonies 
over the whole coast of the segsean sea, and the same european 
barbarians as sailing up and down the Nile 1200 years, b. c, 
with as much freedom as their descendants do, under the 
auspices of Mohammed Ali. 

^ II. X. 493. * Odyss. ^. 477, 581. v U. ^ 268, 326. 

» U. X. 174. a Od. « 284. b II. ^. 263. 



V 



APPENDIX. NO. XXII. 249 

The best version of the tradition concerning the colonists, 
Danaus, &c. is that given by Diodorus ;^ "who makes them 
arab or phenician occupants of lower Egypt, driven out by 
the aboriginal natives to seek refuge, partly in Palestine, 
partly on the coasts of Hellas ; an account both probable in 
itself, and highly consistent with the general tenor of the 
history of all tlyree nations. The antiquities of the heroic age 
of Greece are replete with traces of the influence of phenician 
commerce and settlement; while between the language and 
primitive manners of its inhabitants, and those of the Egyp- 
tians, little else than fanciful analogies can be traced, and such 
as would hold equally good between Greece and Hindostan. 



No. XXII.— Page 166. 

It has been said, that the mere circumstance of certain con- 
stellations not having been mentioned by Homer, is not suffi- 
cient proof that he was ignorant of them. The remark though 
reasonable enough as referred to the old sophistical dogma, 
that nothing which the poet has not noticed could be known 
to him, can yet hardly apply here ; considering his compre- 
hensive language in various passages, and the opportunities 
he had of adding to his catalogue. He himself however 
affords positive as well as negative proof, how very limited the 
number of constellations was in his age and country. As he 
describes the great bear as the only one of the sphere that 
never set : 

Hence the dragon and the lesser bear, so remarkable both as 
regards their appearance and their position with respect to the 

c Eclog. ex lib. W*. ap» Phot cod. ccxliy. et Diod* Ed. Wessel. 
vol. ii* p. 542, sq. 

d IL if. 489, Od. 1. 275. 



250 APPENDIX. NO. xxin. 

pole, were unobsenred by tbe QtcAb in die mge of Homer. 
Accordingly it is admitted, that while the more scientific Fhe- 
nicians guided their course by observation of the lesser astensm, 
hence called, "Afux^a ^ xXiouff/ ^chmg;^ the Greeks merely 
looked to the larger and more brilliant image. As Ulysses by 
advice of Calypso : 

T^y ya^ d^ /uv &m ye KcLkuy\fU Sta ^seiSjVf 

Hence Ovid— 

Magna minorque fene quanmi regis altera Graias, 
Altera Sidonias utraque sicca rate&ff 



No. XXIIL— Page 165. 



I allude here to the Theogony and Works and days alone, 
to which may, in as far as the present subject is concerned, 
be added the Shield of Hercules ; all these poems, whether 
by the same author or no, being unquestionably of considera- 
ble antiquity. As for the Poetical Astronomy, which, with 
a multitude of other works now lost, by obscure or doubtfiil 
authors, was vulgarly attributed to Hesiod, there is no reason, 
from the internal evidence of the fragments, to suppose it of 
much earlier date than the days of Pindar or i^schylus. For 
instance, we find Hesiod quoted as mentioning the fall of 
Phaeton into the Eridanus or Po, and his adventures with a 
a king of Liguria called Gycnus, which are clearly recent 
fables of greco-italian or etruscan character, and no way con- 
nected with heroic greek mythology.'^ 

« CSallim, ap. Diog. Laert vit. Thaletis. AchilL Tat. Jsag". c. 1. cf. 
Arat Ph»n. v. 37, sqq. 

f Od. u 876, « Trist iv. 3. 

^ Schol. German, v. 366. Hesiodns aatem dicit eum inter astra col- 
locatum propter Phaetonta solis et Clymenes filiom, qid dicitor comim 
patris aaoendisse ; cumque a terra altius levaretor, pre tbnore in Eri- 



APPENDIX. NO. XXIII. 251 

The history of the constellatiens Orion and Scorpio afford 
appoedte illustration of the changes made by the introduction 
of the signs of the zodiac on the primitive ihythology of 
Greece. The former, as ahready obseryed, was a hero cele* 
brated for his beauty and love of the chace ; who having, in 
consequence of an amour with the rosy fingered Aurora, 
incurred the displeasure of the deities, and, among others, of 
the chaste Diana, was slain by the arrows of the virgin god- 
dess in her own island of Ortygia. 

. . .or' 'n^iW .ilXsr« ^adodtUruXog 'Hcu^, 

"^Ems fnv lv'Ofruy/j|}, ^i^vc^^mi''Agfyus ayvii, 

This may allude to the sudden death, or mysterious disappear* 
ance of the hero ; since 'an important ofEce of the twin archer 
deities, in the primitive greek mythology, was that of angels 
or ministers of fate ; sudden death, without disease or apparent 
cause, being assigned to their influence, or to their arrows^ 
as might be shown by a multitude of passages of Homer. 
Probably Orion wais in the habit of going fo^th to the chace 
at daybreak, and having one fatal morning disappeared, and 
never more been heai^d of, it might be fabled, that, in conse- 
quepce of his love for Aurora, h6 had been slain by the arrows 

danum flavium, qui et Padus dicitur, cecidisse, &c. This the real Hesiod 
contradicts in th^ following verses : 

Ti$tiyft y 'Hat? tixi Mtf^fofti jcecXx6K6^vrriip, 
Al6t6xttf fiteo'tX'iiH, xeci 'Hiutt9ttif€t Hfetxru 

Toy ftt Hof rifsv uyBcf ijc*rr l^ucvUdt ijSnf, 
TIetii' ceff-tfAi^ ^^ofUrra, ^iX6ftfiuin$ 'A^^tihiif 

. Nms-oAav fitxi^w ^«<ii«'4ir« imifM^tt )7*r. (Theog. 984.) 

Such are all the adventures of this hero mentioned by Hesiod. As he 
is here made son of Cephalus and Aurora^ and not of Sol and Olymene, 
it is clear that Ovid's whole fable of his fatal accident in the chariot of 
his father was unknown to the author of the Theogony. 



252 APPENDIX. NO. XXIII. 

of Artemis. Tb^ homeric tradition is followed by Apollodonis^ 
and Horace.*^ But, in the later mytbology of the oFphic 
hymns, Eratosthenes, and others,^ who appear to quote one of 
these Pseudo-hesiods, (whose accounts must have been very 
contradictory, as Diodorus,"^ on similar authority, tells quite a 
different story), we find that Orion having been guilty in the 
island of Crete, Chios, or any other which suited the fancy of 
the fabulist, of an attempt to ravish Diana, or of some such 
impiety, Terra enraged sent forth a scorpion from her bosom, 
which stung him on the heel ; and the wound having caused 
his death, both the hero and his executioner were transferred 
by Jupiter to the skies. Aratus^ and others assure us that 
the mysterious signification of all this was, that Orion sets 
when Scorpio rises, hence the death of the one was attributed 
to the birth of the other ; which is very likely ; but the sting 
of a scorpion is a very different thing from the gentle darts 
of Homer^s Diana, and the new version of the fable is as 
lame and unmeaning as the old heroic tradition is simple, 
elegant, and poetical. 

The question, where or what this island of Ortygia may 
have been, where Diana slew Orion, is very obscure ; and has 
been treated in a very unsatisfactory manner by the commen- 
tators. The name is much celebrated in the early mytholo- 
gy, although it does not appear to have been the ordinaiy 
appellation of any island of the greek seas in historical ages. 
Homer mentions it in one other place, as situated in the 
JEgea,n not far from Syros :** 

^ Biblioth. lib. i. c. 4. § 5. Ed. Heyn. p. 24<. 

^ Lib. iii. od. iv. v; 71. 

1 Orph. Lithic. 13. Eratosth. Catast. 32. Arat. Pfaoenom. v. 636. 
SchoL ad German, y. 327» Palcephat. De iiicredib«5» &c. Conf. Heyn. 
not. ad loc. ApoUod. sup. cit 

™ Lib. iv. c. 85. 

n PhoBuom. T. 645. Serv. ad Virg. ^n. i. 539. 

o Odyss. •. 402. 



APPENDIX, NO, XXIII. 253 

These verses prove at least that Homer's Of tygia was one of 
the Cyclades. Later mythologists, from its being connected 
by the poet with the twin deities, have supposed it to be the 
saine as Delos, which opinion has been adopted by the greater 
number of modem commentators ; but that they are in error 
appears, as well from Homer himself, who distinguishes De- 
los elsewhere by its proper name, as from the two next most 
ancient testimonies concerning both islands ; that of the au- 
thor of the hymn to Apollo ascribed to Homer, in the follow- 
ing passage :^ 



Xou^ (/Anjai^ oi A^jro?, lies} lixsg dyhxA rtxvay 
'AiroXKuvti r avaxra xai "A^/miv lo^sat^Vy 
T^v fMv iv '0§Tvytfi rhv Si xfavafi hi A^X^. 

and the orpbic hymn :^ 

■ 

Tii¥ afjawi ^^6v ra xa/ "A^fiiv /o^eai^v^ 
T^v fiJkv iv 'OgTuytfi rb ds TCQotvafi hi A^X^. 

Here we have the express distinction, that Apollo was born in 
Delos, Artemis in Ortygia ; Delos then and Ortygia cannot be 
the same ; but the two localities, being so closely connected 
as the birth-places of twin deities, cannot be far distant. This 
suggests the probability, that the Ortygia of Homer and of 
the ancient poets, being evidently one of the Cyclades, may 
have been Rhensea, an island situated so close to Delos, as to 
be in fact the twin isle of that celebrated sanctuary of Apollo, 
to whom, as to his sister Diana, it was, with its more celebrate 
ed neighbour, jointly consecrated. Hence both are called 
now-a-days, by the modern greeks, Dili, or the two Delos ;^ 
being separated by a channel of scarcely half a mile in 
breadth, and in ancient times connected by a bridge. In 
fact, Strabo, the oldest and most authentic writer who identi- 

P v. 14, sqq. ^ xxxiv. rv. I. 4. 5. 

' Spon. Voyage du levant. 12? 1678, torn. i. p. 172, sqq. Tourne- 
fort, Voyage au levant, Ed. Amst. 4to. 1718, toL i. p. 1 10« 



254 APPENDIX. NO. xxtrir 

fies Ortyg^ as one of the Gydades, and who had made the 
poems of Homer his peculiar study, expressly informs us that 
Rhensea was anciently called Ortyg^. The following is the 
description of the island given by him :* *P4w/a S" I^i^mv vn^n 

ouSk xitvu h Afi\(ff r^finr imfuAZ/^ro df tujJ ^OgrvySa r^6n^. ^ Rhe- 
nsea is a desert island, about four stadia from Delos, where 
are the delian cemeteries ; since in Delos itself it is not per- 
mitted to bury, or to bum a corpse, nor so much as to keep a 
dog ; but it was formerly called also Ortygia.^ This text has 
been misunderstood by the commentators, who under the in- 
fluence of the old prgudice that Delos and Ortygia were the 
same, have supposed the latter part of the passage to relate to 
the first of these islands. But those who co&sider it impar- 
tially will see, that the geographer, having finished his des- 
cription of Delos, had proceeded in his circuit of the Cyclades 
to the neighbouring island of Rhensea, and that to Rhenaea 
alone can the words dmfibd^iro dk xai 'Oftvyia nr^iffn apply ; the 
mention of Delos having been introduced only incidentaUy, 
to account for the circumstance of its burying ground being 
in Rhensea. Add to this that Pliny asserts Rhensea to have 
been anciently named Artemitis, or. the island of Diana, and 
no doubt can remain thai this is really the original Ortygia of 
Homer, and of the goddess, where she slew Orion. The only 
modem author who seems to have had a suspicion of this, 
among many who have devoted pages to the illustration of 
this obscure name, is the learned and accurate Toumefort ;^ 
who, after stating that both islands were called Delos by the 
modem Greeks, adds : ^^ Les cailles avaient fait donner le 
nom d^'Ortygia aux deux Delos."" 

In later times this name seems to have been common to se- 
veral sanctuaries of Diana, as to a grove near her temple of 
Ephesus,^ and to the famous Syracusan citadel'' sacred to 

• P. 709, Ed. Falcon. t Lib. cit p. 119. 

"^ Strab. Ed. Falc. vol. iL p. 916, aq. 

V Pindar, Nem. i. 1. Diod. lib. v» c. 3. Pindar, in the passage 
quoted, by a natural figure, calls the Sicilian Ortyipa, AaXou zastyvi^ ; 



APPENDIX. NO. XXIII. ^5 

that goddess, where the niins of her temj^le still exist. To 
these the title was doubtless transferred by the greek colon- 
ists, from her more ancient rifAsm among the Cydades ; and 
the superior celebrity of these new Ortygias in after a^es, 
may have been among the causes, why so little tRce of the 
appellation as applied to the twin islet of Delos remained. 

Delos seems afterwards to have engrossed the worship of 
both Apollo and Diana to itself, as well as the honours and 
emoluments accruing from their patronage; while Rhensea 
was degraded to be the cemetery of its more holy neighbour* 
whose soil it was not permitted to pollute with the corruptioit 
of a dead body. Rhenaea, however, though called by Strabo 
i^Tifio vfjtrtdtov, probably from its being completely occupied as a 
burying ground before his time, is yet much the best island of 
the two, and many times larger than its neighbour.^ The 
name Ortygia was no doubt applied to it from the number of 
quails that frequented it. Rhenaea may be from *P^y, cattle ; 
hence *P^v6/a, the island of pasturing, from the nature of its 
soil, as opposed to that of Delos, which was in spite of its 
sanctity but a dreary rock. Accordingly, Toumefort states, 
that in his time the inhabitants of the neighbouring isles used 
Rhenssa as a sheepwalk, while Delos was quite barren and 
deserted. 

But to return from this digression; That the fundamental 
claims of the hero Orion to distinction, in the primitive greek 
mythology, were, as we have hitherto assiimed, partly his 
surpassing beauty of person, which even attracted the love of 
Aurora, but chiefly his skill in the chace and fondness for 
that diversion, appears from the testimony of Homer, which 
in these matters must be admitted as superior to all others ; 
and who describes him as alone among the heroes in the realms 
of Pluto, engaged in his fiivourite occupation ; pursuing, even 
on the asphodel meadow of that dreary land, the s/do^Xa of 
the same wild animals, which he himself had slain on the 
mountains of the upper-earth : 

whence, it is not very probable, that the name Ortygia was also known 
to him as an appellation of Delos itself. 
"^ Toumef. p. 120, sq. 



256 APPENDIX. NO. xxiii; 

T^ ft yxT 'Xl^/ftwa ^rsXcd^ioy licvtiafiWy 

Tout avrbs juvnwt^nf h oiwrokuiSn 2^0V/y,^ 

a r^markMe passi^ in several respects, and proving, at 
least, how vitally and essentially the character of Oiioh in the 
ancient mythology was that of Hunter. Hence the bright 
star Siritts, which rises immediately behind his own constel- 
lation ih the heavens, was considered as his dog, following at 
his heels. And with respdct to his personal advantages, the 
poet, speaking of the twin giants Otus and Ephialtes, says : 

Ow ^ fAtpUanvf df f>)/f ^€ld6^ &^v^ 

Such is the description of Homer ; and, taken in connexion 
with the account of his death in the island^ and by the hand 
of Diana, is consistent and characteristic. Ideler,^ however, 
who would have the appellation Dogstar to be of egyptian 
ori^n, asstunes in conformity with that opinion, that the cha- 
racter of Orion, while on earth, was that of a mere warlike 
adventurer, remarkable for strength, violence and ferocity, (a 
capacity in which, strictly speaking, he does not appear even 
in the later mythology) ; and thiat his celebrity as a hunter 
was altogether adventitious, derived from the neighbourhood 
of the constellatidn which bore his name to the egyptian Dog- 
star. Of this interpretation, all that can be said is, that being 
contrary to reasonable analogy, and the most ancient authori- 
ties, it is as inadmissible as we have already shewn the basis 
to be on which it rests, namely, the supposed signification (% 
of the egyptian word Sothis. 

X Odyss. K 571. y tOdyss. ;l. 308. 

> Uuters. Ub. den Urspr. &e. der Sternn. s. 219* 



APPENDIX. NO. XXIV. 257 



No. XXIV.— Page 169. 

As for the invention of the zodiac by the centaur Chiron, 
of which Sir Isaac Newton (followed by Whiston and others) 
speaks with as much confidence, as we can do of his own dis- 
covery of the true system of the world ; great as is the weight 
of his name, it may safely be classed among those paradoxes, 
which will hardly be seriously maimtained by either astrono- 
mer or antiquary of the present day. The whole hypothesis 
rests on the evidcQce of an obscure and nameless poet, who, 
as quoted by Clemens Alexandrinus,^ states, that Chiron de- 
lineated a^Titiara, 'OXvfiTou; whence our great mathematician 
concludes,^ that the centaur was a practical astronomer, '^nd 
constructed a sphere for the use of the Argonauts in their 
voyage. :^x,^fmra *OXvfi^ov have however very little to do with 
the dcabtxarrifiS^ia of the ecliptic ; Homer and Hesiod also 
speak familiarly of certain constellations and their forms, but 
that they were totally ignorant of the signs of the zodiac is 
perfectly clear. But even admitting that this expression ne- 
cessarily referred to the constellations of the zodiac, what 
faith is due to so vague and unauthentic a fragment ? Pre- 
cisely the same astronomical discoveries, which Sir Isaac^s 
author ascribes to Chiron, are attributed by Sophocles to Pa- 
lamedes, by Euripides to Atreus, &c. ;^ each fabulist select- 
ing as the author of popular inventions, such of the early na- 
tional heroes, as in his opinion were most distinguished for 
wisdom or ingenuity ; but are we hence to conclude that these 
were all practical astronomers and constructors of spheres ? ' 

Achilles Tatius,^ after recapitulating the various contradic- 

• Strom, i. p. 306. ««i « t«i» Tirci,^ofUiy(Jiuv y^d-^ctf ^ij^/r «; TF^airc^ 

r ^ 

>» Chronol. p. 83. 

c Ap. Achil. Tat. c. L p. 73, 74. ^ Loc. cit. 

S 



258 APPENDIX. NO. XXIV. 

tory statements of mythologists on this point, very wisely 
concludes that none of them are entitled to much credit ; and 
having observed that Apion, the celebrated critic, maintained, 
than so sublime a genius as Homer could not fail to be an 
astronomer, he adds the following remark ; which is worthy of 
notice, as well on account of its great beauty and simplidty, 
as because it contains, in a few words, nearly the sum total 
of the astronomical science, which can reasonably be attributed 
to the sages of barbarous antiquity. ^' Nor need it be matter 
of wonder, that the human mind should by nature be strongly 
bent on this species of contemplation ; for as every soul, 
being immortal, came down originally from heaven, looking 
up wistfully to the skies, it beholds nought but kindred and 
congenial objects, and feels attracted toward that place, whi- 
ther it is destined ultimately to return.^ Oy^sv Ss im^ddi^w 
itir avfi^yroiiv roAzunjv ev^iffrivat ^scaoiav ^{/u;^^ ySt^ x&ffa d^dvaros ^xarsX" 



No. XXV.— Page 197- 



Fr6ret, in his elaborate dissertation* on the rustic calendars 
of the ancients, has no doubt shown, in a satisfactory manner, 
that there was a vast deal of prejudice and bigotry among the 
lower orders of both Greece and Italy, as of all other parts of 
the world, in all ages ; and that the constructors of almanacks 
for vulgar use, as well as the popular writers on agriculture, 
were not unfrequently under the influence of these prejudices 
themselves, or willing to humour them in others ; but, that 
the most celebrated astronomers of Greece, in those great works 
on which their future fame was to rest, permitted their calcu- 
lations to be influenced by such motives, he has altogether 
failed to show, as, with regard to Meton, he himself seems to 

c Defense de la Chrou. p. 469. 



APPENDIX. NO. XXV. 259 

have admilted. It must be ackDOT?ledged, however, that he 
has carried his system to an extravagant extent. Many of his 
illustrations are derived from confused accounts of the obser- 
vations of old astronomers, of various ages and countries, con- 
tained in occasional passages of careless or ignorant authors, 
or in certain fragments, some of them ascertained to be spu- 
rious, and most of them of very questionable authenticity ; and 
in each of these statements the slightest variation which he de- 
tects from what ought to be the exact reckoning for the age of 
the author with whose name the observation is connected, he 
accounts for at once, by assuming the observation itself to have 
been derived from some ancient rustic calendar, constructed for 
the true period to which it ought to relate, as the age of Chi- 
ron, Hesiod, Thales, or others as it happens; all these calendars 
of the barbarous ages being supposed to be correct to a year, 
while those of the first philosophers of civilized Greece are as- 
sumed to be wrong. It is asserted by modem experimental as- 
tronomers, and, indeed, must be self-evident, that the precise 
period of the heliacal rising of a star, owing to the vicissitudes 
of climate, or the refraction of the atmosphere, can seldom be 
ascertained exactly to a few degrees ; and yet a discrepancy of 
a few days between two recorded statements of this nature is 
sufficient, with the french academician, to estabHsh an inter- 
val of several centuries between the epochs of the construction 
of the imaginary rustic calendars, whence they are supposed 
respectively to be derived. In the adjustment of his system, 
he takes in a range of climate from the tropic to the Danube ; 
he flies from Syene to Thebes, from Thebes to Alexandria, 
from Egypt to Greece, Italy, Thrace, Scythia, in quest of 
these calendars and their authors. All this sotinds very learn- 
ed and ingenious, and has passed current with many persons 
of both learning and ingenuity, and exercised a very consi- 
derable influence on chronological criticism ; but to those who 
take the trouble carefully to analyze the proofs, it will also 
appear very fallacious and inconsistent. Were it not more 
reasonable to account for many of these discrepancies and 
self-contradictions by real errors in the observations, — by the 
oversights of quoters, who have misunderstood the sense of 



260 APPENDIX. NO. XXV. 

their authors, — or by the carelessness of transcribers and copy- 
ists, than to accuse the first men of science of antiquity of such 
puerile inconsistencies ? In one instance^ he has created an 
egyptian calendar for the fifteenth century b. c out of a state- 
ment contained in a latin firagment, which has passed under 
the name of a translation from Ptolemy, but was admitted by 
its editor, Petavius,' and has been still farther shown by suc- 
ceeding critics to be sadly corrupt, if not altogether spurious.^ 
Ideler^ has pointed out the fallacy, but cites Bailly as its au- 
thor, who has'^, however, in this instance, as in several others, 
merely copied Fr^ret. As he was not, apparently, much of a 
scholar himself, many of those illustrations contained in his 
history of ancient astronomy, which* involve to a certain ex- 
tent classical criticism, are borrowed from the works of the 
learned secretary of the Academy of Inscriptions, a great part 
of whose argument rests on the authority of this very frag- 
ment, where he has mistaken for observations made at widely 
remote periods, certain varieties of data, which, in as far as 
they are intelligible at all, really refer to different climates. 
Once or twice, however, he has found observations attributed 
to greek phOosophers which would be inexact as to the latitude 
of Greece for a period of not less than five hundred years after 
the age in which they flourished ; as where Euctemon places 
the rising of Sirius thirty-two days after the solstice.' Ought 
we not, on Freret^s own principle, tp conclude, that Euctemon 
followed a calendar constructed as many centuries after he 
was in his grave ? The difiiculty he escapes at once, by sup- 
posing the observation to relate to the latitude of Scythia ; les 
pays septentrionaux du pont Euxin, ou les Grecs avaient alors 
un grand commerce. In another place,™ Eudoxus makes the 
Pleiads set fifteen days after their true time for his own lati- 
tude. Here, again, Freret makes the observation refer to the 

' Lib. cit. p. 487. 

> UranoL ia yoL iii. de Doct. temp. Pnef. ad lect. 
^ Usser. de Maced. anno solar, c. tL DodweU, append, ad Diss. cjpr. 
$ 16. Fab. Bib. gr. lib. iy. c ziy. $ 7. torn. iii. p. 421. 

* Untersuch. s. 91. * Hist, de I'Astn anc. lib. i. J 7, p. 11. 

1 Defense de la Chron. p. 487. » p. 493. 



APPENDIX. NO. XXV. 26 1 

extreme north of Greece. Why not have applied the same 
method to reconcile other discrepancies in the statements of 
Eudoxus, many of which might be accounted for in an equally 
simple way by supposing observations made in the various 
countries in which he studied, from southern Egypt to the 
Hellespont, instead of an appeal to the spheres of Chiron or 
of Hesiod ? But then, as Delambre says, On n'aurait pu ba. 
tir aucun systeme. 



■1^ 



INDEX. 



Abraxas — si^ificationof tlie word, 

pa^e 14«6, note. 
A^thodnmon-^^tian deity, 78. 
Amoa-— egyptian deity, his month 

and sign of the zodiac, 107. 
Amosis or Thoutmosis— egyptian 

king, 3. 
Anubis— egyptian deity, 228. 
Apophis—see Epiphi. 
Aquarius — sign of the Bodiap, 102. 
Aratus — 171, 177, sq. 
AriA — Hgn of the zodiac, 107. 
Athor — goddess, and third egyptian 

month, 82, 234— name illustrate 

ed, 95. 

Basili$ans or Gnostics— religious 

sect, 145. 
Bear — constellation, 166. 



Chon — Chons — 8om or Sem — 
eg}rptian deity (Hercules) — his 
month and sign of the zodiac, 115. 

Cleostratus of Tenedos, 169. 

Columella — his text illustrated, 
192, sq. 

Cycle — sothiac or canicular, 1, sq. 
why so called, 8 — when first cal- 
culated, 19. Its use in egyptian 
chronology, 25, 30— date of, no- 
ticed by Clemens Alexandrinus, 
4— date of, noticed by Manetho, 
and erroneous interpretations of 
his text, 32, sq. — yarious modes 
of computing, 8, 20, 31, 220 — 
twenty-five cycles of fabulous 
egyptian annals, 31. 

Cynocephalus — its symboUc office, 
70. 



Cslendars of Greece— erroneous 

opinions concerning, 1 73, sq., 258. 
Calippus — his observation, 171. 
Cancer — sign of the zodiac, 123. 
Capricomus — sign of the zodiac, 

100. 
Chiron — ^his supposed sphere, 174, 

257. 
Choiack — ^fourth egyptian month, 

100. 



Dogstar — see Sothis. 
Dynasty— eighteenth of eg3rptian 
empire, important era, 3, sq. 150. 

Epagomense — when added to egyp- 
tian year, 13, sq.— ^fable concern- 
ing them, 211. 

Epiphi — Epep— orApophis— eg3rp- 
tian deity — eleventh month — and 
sign of the zodiac, 130. 



264 



INDEX. 



Euctemon — his observation, 171. 
Eudoxns — 171, 174, sq. 187, sq. — 

opinion of DeUunbre concerning' 

him, 190. 

Teasts— of egyptian calendar, 9, sq. 
Freret — his theory concerning the 
zodiac of Greece, 175, sq. 

Geminus— epoch when he flourish- 
ed, 88, 235. 

Gemini — ^sign of the zodiac, 115, 
119, sq. 

Gnostics — see Basilidians. 

Harpocrates— egyptian deity — ^fes- 
tival of his birth, 92 — significa* 
tion of the name, 97. 

Hercules — see Chon. 

Hesiod — ^his astrology, 165, 250. 

Hipparchus — 172, 177, sq. 

Hippopotamus — its symbolic cha- 
racter, 85, 100. 

Homer — ^his astrology, 163— know- 
ledge of Egypt, 246, sq. 

Horus — Egyptian deity, 96, 134, sq. 

Hyads— constellation, 167. 

Isis — 135, sq. 240. 
bia, or feasts of Isis — 10, 87» sq. 
102, 238. 

Leo-Hsign of the zodiac, 130. 
Libra — ^sign of the zodiac, 69. 
Lotus plant — 38, 41, sq. 

Mechir — sixth egyptian month, 

107. 
Mercury — see Thot. 
Mesori — twelfth egyptian month, 

134. 
Meton — his observations, 171, 174, 

193. 

Minerva — see Neit 
Month — hieroglyphic symbol of, 
36 



Moon — ^how personified, 1 13, 233, 
241. 

Nabonassar, era of — its connexion 
with egyptian chronology, 28, 
216, sq. 

Neit (Minerva)—- egyptian goddess, 
^119, sq. 

Newton, Sir Isaac — ^his theory ood- 
ceroing the greek zodiac, 174 

Nile— its inundation, 43, sq. 117^ 
how represented, 106— other pe- 
culiarities — and honours paid it, 
104, sq. 

Niloa^fe6tival of, 10. 

^""^STP^^ deity, 124. 

Ophiuchus or Serpentarius—con- 
stellation, 80, sq. 

Orion— 223, 251, 255. 

Ortygia, island of — ^its geognpbjr 
illustrated, 252. 

Osiris— 136, 240— his rites, 84, 87, 
91. 

Osymandyas egyptian king- 
sphere attributed to him, 17, sq. 

Pachon— ninth egyptian m#th, 
115. 

Paoni — ^ntfa egyptian month, 123. 

Ptoplu— second egyptian month, 
78. 

Pastors, or Shepherds — ^their dy- 
nasty, 3. 

Phamenoth-'— seventh Egyptian 
month, 107 

Pharmuthi-eighth eg3^tian month, 
110. 

Pisces — sign of the zodiac^ 107. 

Pleiads — constellation, 167. 

Sagittarius — sign of the zodiac, 82, 

98. 
Saturn — see Sewek. 
Saturnaliar— illustrated, 239. 
Scarabee — ^in egyptian astrology 



n 



^^. 



INDEX. 



265 



125— its natural peculiarities, 
127, sq. 242, 

Scorpio— sigpi of the zodiac, 78. 

Sebeanytus — see Semnouthis. 

Semnouthis — egyptian city < Seben- 
nytus) 117, 121— title of egyp- 
tian mythological work, 118. 

Serpentarius — see Ophiuchus. 

Seth — egyptian name of Typhon, 
226, note. 

Sewek — egyptian deity (Saturn) 
100. 

Shepherds — see Pastors. 

Sibyll — her connexion with the 
zodiac, 244*. 

Sirius — see Sothis. 

Som or Sem — see Chon. 

Sothis — Sirius, Canis major, or 
Dogstar, 8, 15, 157, 168, 221, sq. 

Sun — in egyptian mythology, 87. 
108, 123, 130, 144, &c. fable con- 
cerning his rise in the west, 215* 

Tafne-^egyptian goddess, 119. 

Taurus — sign of Uie zodiac, 110. 

Thermouthis — egyptian deity, 110. 

Thot or Thoout — egyptian deity — 
and first month, 9, 38, 69— ety- 
mology of the name, 226 — ^first 
day of egyptian year so called — 



its original position, 35, 41, 148, 

221. 
Thoutmods — see Amosis. 
Tobi — fifth egyptian month, 102. 
Typhon— 99, 118, 138, 167— «ee 

Seth. 

Virgo— sign of the zodiac, 134, 
139, sq. 

Year — principal authors on egyp- 
tian year, 2, note — ancient year 
of 360 days, 12, 148, 207— egyp- 
tian year of 365 days, 7, sq. — 
year of 365J days in Egypt — 
error concerning it, 213, sq. — 
alexandrian or Julian year, 86, 
note— Jewish year in Egypt, 
152, sq. 

Zodiac — its origin and primitive 
use, 50, sq. — first introduction 
and use among the Greeks, 161, 
sq. — zodiac of the oriental na 
tions, 65, 229— of India, 229, sq. 
—of the cyphers or signs of its 
divisions still in common use, 
119, sq.— zodiacs of the Thebais, 
63. 



THE END. 



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