Page 17.—For the importance attached to dreams by the ancients, see
_Jortin_, Remarks on Ecclesiastical History, vol. 1. p. 90.
Page 22.—“_The Pillar of Pillars_”—more properly, perhaps, “the column of
the pillars.” v. _Abdallatif_, Relation de l’Egypte, and the notes of _M.
de Sacy_. The great portico round this column (formerly designated
Pompey’s, but now known to have been erected in honour of Dioclesian) was
still standing, M. de Sacy says, in the time of Saladin. v. _Lord
Valentia’s Travels_.
Page 23.—Ammianus thus speaks of the state of Alexandria in his time,
which was, I believe, as late as the end of the fourth century:—“Ne nunc
quidem in eadem urbe Doctrinæ variæ silent, non apud nos exaruit Musica
nec Harmonia conticuit.” Lib. 22.
Page 25.—From the character of the features of the Sphinx, and a passage
in Herodotus, describing the Egyptians as _μελαγχροες και ουλοτρικες_,
Volney, Bruce, and a few others, have concluded that the ancient
inhabitants of Egypt were negroes. But this opinion is contradicted by a
host of authorities. See _Castera_’s notes upon _Browne’s Travels_, for
the result of Blumenbach’s dissection of a variety of mummies. Denon,
speaking of the character of the heads represented in the ancient
sculpture and painting of Egypt, says, “Celle des femmes ressemble encore
à la figure des jolies femmes d’aujourd’hui: de la rondeur, de la volupté,
le nez petit, les yeux longs, peu ouverts,” &c. &c. He could judge, too,
he says, from the female mummies, “que leurs cheveux étoient longs et
lisses, que le caractère de tête de la plupart tenoit du beau style”—“Je
raportai,” he adds, “une tête de vieille femme qui étoit aussi belle que
celles de Michel Ange, et leur ressembloit beaucoup.”
In a “_Description générale de Thèbes_” by _Messrs. Jollois et
Desvilliers_, they say, “Toutes les sculptures Egyptiennes, depuis les
plus grands colosses de Thèbes jusqu’aux plus petites idoles, ne
rappellent en aucune manière les traits de la figure des nègres; outre que
les têtes des momies des catacombs de Thèbes presentent des profils
droits.” See also _M. Jomard_’s “Description of Syene and the Cataracts,”
_Baron Larrey_, on the “conformation physique” of the Egyptians, &c.
De Pauw, the great depreciator of every thing Egyptian, has, on the
authority of a passage in Ælian, presumed to affix to the countrywomen of
Cleopatra the stigma of complete and unredeemed ugliness. The following
line of Euripides, however, is an answer to such charges:—
_Νειλου μεν αἱδε καλλιπαρθενοι ροαι._
In addition to the celebrated instances of Cleopatra, Rhodope, &c. we are
told, on the authority of Manetho (as given by Zoega from Georgius
Syncellus), of a beautiful queen of Memphis, Nitocris, of the sixth
dynasty, who, in addition to other charms and perfections, was (rather
inconsistently with the negro hypothesis) _ξανθη την χροιαν_.
See, for a tribute to the beauty of the Egyptian women, Montesquieu’s
Temple de Gnide.
Page 35.—“_Among beds of lotus flowers._”—v. _Strabo_.
Page 36.—“_Isle of the golden Venus._”—“On trouve une île appelée Venus‐
Dorée, ou le champ d’or, avant de remonter jusqu’à Memphis.” _Voyages de
Pythagore._
Page 39.—For an account of the Table of Emerald, v. _Lettres sur l’Origine
des Dieux d’Egypte_. _De Pauw_ supposes it to be a modern fiction of the
Arabs. Many writers have fancied that the art of making gold was the great
secret that lay hid under the forms of Egyptian theology. “La science
Hermétique,” says the Benedictine, Pernetz, “l’art sacerdotal étoit la
source de toutes les richesses des Rois d’Egypte, et l’objet de ces
mystères si cachés sous le voile du leur pretendu Religion.” _Fables
Egyptiennes._ The hieroglyphs, that formerly covered the Pyramids, are
supposed by some of these writers to relate to the same art. See _Mutus
liber, Rupellæ_.
Page 40.—“By reflecting the sun’s rays,” says _Clarke_, speaking of the
Pyramids, “they appeared white as snow.”
Page 41.—For Bubastis, the Diana of the Egyptians, v. _Jablonski_, lib. 3.
c. 4.
Page 43.—“_The light coracle_,” _&c._—v. _Amuilhon_, “_Histoire de la
Navigation et du Commerce des Egyptiens sous les Ptolemées_.” See also,
for a description of the various kinds of boats used on the Nile,
_Maillet_, tom. i. p. 98.
Page 44.—v. _Maurice_, Appendix to “Ruins of Babylon.” Another reason, he
says, for their worship of the Ibis, “founded on their love of geometry,
was (according to Plutarch) that the space between its legs, when parted
asunder, as it walks, together with its beak, forms a complete equilateral
triangle.” From the examination of the embalmed birds, found in the
Catacombs of Saccara, there seems to be no doubt that the Ibis was the
same kind of bird as that described by Bruce, under the Arabian name of
Abou Hannes.
Ib.—“_The sistrum_,” _&c._—“Isis est genius,” says _Servius_, “Ægypti, qui
per sistri motum, quod gerit in dextra, Nili accessus recessusque
significat.”
Page 48.—“_The ivy encircled it_,” _&c._—The ivy was consecrated to
Osiris. v. _Diodor. Sic._ 1. 10.
Ib.—“_The small mirror._”—“Quelques unes,” says _Dupuis_, describing the
processions of Isis, “portoient des miroirs attachés à leurs épaules, afin
de multiplier et de porter dans tous les sens les images de la Déesse.”
_Origine des Cultes_, tom. 8. p. 847. A mirror, it appears, was also one
of the emblems in the mysteries of Bacchus.
Page 49.—“_There__ is, to the north of Memphis_,” _&c._—“Tout prouve que
la territoire de Sakkarah étoit la Necropolis au sud de Memphis, et le
faubourg opposé à celui‐ci, où sont les pyramides de Gizeh, une autre
Ville des Morts, qui terminoit Memphis au nord.” _Denon._
There is nothing known with certainty as to the site of Memphis, but it
will be perceived that the description of its position given by the
Epicurean corresponds, in almost every particular, with that which M.
Maillet (the French consul, for many years, at Cairo) has left us. It must
be always borne in mind, too, that of the distances between the respective
places here mentioned, we have no longer any accurate means of judging.
Page 49.—“_Pyramid beyond pyramid._”—“Multas olim pyramidas fuisse e
ruinis arguitur.” _Zoega._—_Vansleb_, who visited more than ten of the
small pyramids, is of opinion that there must have originally been a
hundred in this place.
See, for the lake to the northward of Memphis, _Shaw’s Travels_, p. 302.
Page 57.—“_The Theban beetle._”—“On voit en Egypte, après la retraite du
Nil et la fécondation des terres, le limon couvert d’une multitude de
scarabées. Un pareil phénomène a dû sembler aux Egyptiens le plus propre à
peindre une nouvelle existence.” _M. Jomard._—Partly for the same reason,
and partly for another, still more fanciful, the early Christians used to
apply this emblem to Christ. “Bonus ille scarabæus meus,” says St.
Augustine “non eâ tantum de causâ quod unigenitus, quod ipsemet sui auctor
mortalium speciem induerit, sed quod in hac nostrâ fæce sese volutaverit
et ex hac ipsa nasci voluerit.”
Ib.—“_Enshrined within a case of crystal._”—“Les Egyptiens ont fait aussi,
pour conserver leurs morts, des caisses de verre.” _De Pauw._—He mentions,
in another place, a sort of transparent substance, which the Ethiopians
used for the same purpose, and which was frequently mistaken by the Greeks
for glass.
Page 58.—“_Among the emblems of death._”—“Un prêtre, qui brise la tige
d’une fleur, des oiseaux qui s’envolent sont les emblemes de la morte et
de l’âme qui se sépare du corps.” _Denon._