An analysis of the Egyptian mythology: to which is subjoined, A critical examination of the remains of Egyptian chronology

Preface

The celebrated cc Pantheon iEgyptiorum " of Paul Ernest Jablonski has been so long and so justly held in the highest estimation by the learned, that any new attempt to explain the riddles of the ancient Egyptian Mythology may seem, to those who are acquainted with that work, to be a superfluous and a hopeless task. To me, at least, it appears so probable that such will be the impression with which many persons will read the title of this volume, that I feel it incumbent upon me to give some account of my motives in offering it to the Public.

The following treatise owes its existence, or at least its publication in the present form, to some observations which a late writer of distinguished learning has founded on a review of Jablonski's work. The facts which it has developed, he remarks, inevitably lead us to the conclusion " that the Egyptian religion is the produce of the country, peculiar to itself, and without any

11 PREFACE.

marks of foreign improvement or innovation. Isis, Osiris, Ammoun, Typhon, and Thoth, are natives of Egypt, receive their names from its vernacular language, and worship from its physical situation."*

If this conclusion should be adopted, and it should be allowed that the religion and philosophy, as well as the language, and all the other possessions of the Egyptian people, were peculiar to themselves, and entirely unconnected with those which belonged to other nations of antiquity, we shall perhaps be obliged to admit the inference which has been deduced respecting the origin of the Egyptian race ;-f though it contradicts the testimony of the Sacred Records, the earliest memorials of mankind, and is at variance with the general observations that result

* Travels of James Bruce, Esq. to discover the source of the Nile. Third edition, Appendix to Book ii, No. 1 (by the learned Editor.)

It must be remarked that although this is the conclusion to which Professor Murray has been led by Jablonski's work, it was by no means the opinion of that author himself. On the contrary, he regarded the Egyptian mythology as allied in its origin to the superstitions of Eastern Asia, and mentions the writings of the Brahmans among the sources whence we may expect to derive a further and most important elucidation of its doctrines. See " Pantheon iEgyptiorum," in prolegomenis.

f The author cited above seems to infer that the Egyptians were a race peculiar to Africa, and originally distinct from the posterity of Noah and of Adam.

PREFACE. Ill

from a survey of the organized world, and the distribution of species over the globe.*

I have been induced by this consideration to examine the data from which the conclusion before mentioned has been obtained; and the results of this inquiry, together with the grounds on which it has proceeded, are laid before my readers in the following pages.

In the composition of this work, and particularly in the first Book, my labour has been greatly facilitated by the ample collection of passages from the ancient writers referring to Egypt, which is comprised in the pages of Jablonski. No man can be more willing than myself to admit the high merits of this author, whose acuteness and ingenuity were equal to his profound learning; but it appears to me that he has been led into some errors, the result of his fondness for refined and erudite explanations, and for eliciting from

* I have elsewhere endeavoured to prove that the various branches of mankind form but one species, and that the Law or Method of Nature, in replenishing the earth with locomotive beings, has been the original production of one stock, or family in each species, and the subsequent dispersion of it over the globe. Researches into the Physical History of Man. London, 1813.

In the late work of Mr. Lawrence, entitled " Lectures on Comparative Anatomy, and the Natural History of Man," the unity of species in mankind has been demonstrated with great ability, and by a more comprehensive survey of facts than any former writer has attempted.

IV PREFACE.

every popular superstition a dignified and philosophical meaning. Another circumstance has been unfortunate, unless I am mistaken, for the accuracy of his conclusions : I mean the undue reliance he placed on the doubtful evidence of etymology, for which a profound acquaintance with the remains of the Coptic language and literature, joined to a great fertility of conjecture, seems to have given him a predilection.

In the following treatise I have placed no dependance on that fallacious testimony which has so often led the antiquarian astray, and have confined myself to the evidence which I have been able to collect from the ancient authors, and from some collateral sources of information that were scarcely accessible to the author of the Pantheon. It may be objected that I have transgressed the limits of my original plan, which was the comparison of the Egyptian doctrine with the Asiatic mythologies, by availing myself of these very mythologies for explaining the superstition of Egypt. But I have only applied to this resource under certain restrictions, which have, as I hope, secured me from the charge of reasoning in a circle. Having once entered upon the subject, I became desirous of presenting my readers with as complete an account as the existing materials enabled me to supply, of the Egyptian religion and philosophy ;

PREFACE. V

and, in order to elucidate, as far as possible, a subject involved in no small degree of obscurity, I found it necessary to examine the relations which this system of mythology bore to the doctrines and observances of other nations.

Although my ultimate object has been the illustration of an historical question, I have made no allusion to it in the following treatise. The inferences I wish to deduce are sufficiently obvious.

I am not without some further hope that this work, as well as every other careful research into heathen superstitions, may also tend to another and a not less important result. The more diligently we examine the moral and religious history of those nations who were destitute of the light of revelation, the stronger is our impression of their extreme debasement and mental darkness, and the more just will be our estimate of those means by which Divine Providence has been pleased to deliver us from the atrocious barbarism and unmitigated depravity, in which our pagan ancestors were involved. To this effect an attentive survey of the religious dogmas and practices of the most learned people of the primitive world will not fail to contribute its due share.

I cannot but be sensible of many imperfections in a work composed during the moments of relaxation from the duties of an active profession ; but I am aware that the tribunal of criticism is

VI PREFACE.

scarcely to be propitiated by any representations of a private or personal nature, and that I must be content to await a judgment that will depend on the degree of success which my attempt shall be thought to have attained.

Subjoined to the treatise on Egyptian Mythology is an Analysis of the Remains of the Chronology and History of the same people, of which it is necessary to give some account, as this is not closely connected with the scope of the preceding work.

The historical records of ancient Egypt have been supposed to claim a degree of antiquity, which far exceeds the duration of the human race, as deduced from the Sacred Scriptures. Various expedients have been devised for reconciling this discrepancy, of which the hypothesis of Sir John Marsham is the most celebrated. Yet, it is a mere hypothesis, and is far from having the support, as I have endeavoured to show, of historical evidence, as far as such evidence can be collected.

My readers will demand with what prospect of success I have presumed to enter upon a field which has been so often abandoned in despair? — with what hope I have solicited their attention to a disquisition on a mass of contradictory frag, ments, which so many learned men have in vain

PREFACE. Vll

attempted to reduce into order ? My reply must be, that I believe myself to have fallen by chance upon the clue by which the enigma is to be solved. In repeatedly examining the fragments of these Chronicles, I thought I perceived some phenomena that seemed to explain the principle on which they were originally constructed, and promised to connect the whole into one system. The more I investigated the matter, the more I became convinced that I was not deceived by fallacious appearances, or by merely accidental coincidences. Of this, however, my readers will now judge. I shall only premise that, if I am correct in my conjectures, there is in reality no want of harmony between the historical records of the ancient Egyptians and those contained in the Sacred Scriptures ; that, on the contrary, the antiquity assumed for the Egyptian nation, from their own archives, is far within the era assigned by the chronology of the LXX, for the second origin of mankind.

The treatise on Egyptian Chronology w r as written, for the most part, some years ago ; and I avail myself of the present opportunity of presenting it to the Public.

Table Of Contents

Preface ~Pp. i.— viii.

Introduction

ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION RESPECTING THE LEARNING AND MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT.

Four Sources of Information. 1. Facts recorded by personal observers. Writers of this class subsequent to the Macedonian Conquest — Under the Persian Era — Under the Kingdom of the Pharaohs. 2. Ancient Writers on Mythology — Plutarch, Porphyry, Macrobius, and others. Inquiry whence these writers derived their information. 3. Ancient Schools, whose founders borrowed their discipline from Egypt — Orpheus, Pythagoras, Thales. 4. Comparison of the Egyptian Fables and Doctrines with those of the Brahmans. Coptic Etymologies — fallacies , Pp. 1— -17

Section II. Reference to the Mythologies of the Greeks and Romans , 24

Section III. Testimonies of the Ancient Writers respecting the Egyptian Mythology in general : of Diodorus — Macrobins — Chseremon — Eusebius — lamblichus. Conclusion.. 27

Section IV. Attempt to penetrate further into the Meaning of the Egyptian Fables. Analysis of the Orphic^Fictions, and other mystical Representations derived from Egypt . . 36

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER I.

Note A. On the Nature of the Egyptian Gods 48

Note B. Physical Doctrine of Ocellus 51

Chapter II. Of The Worship Of Isis And Osiris, Horus And Typhon

Section I. Recapitulation of the Orphic Doctrine. Orphic Dionusus and Damater, compared with Osiris and Isis.

Legend of Osiris and Isis 53

Section II. Interpretation of the Legend of Isis and Osiris . . 62 Section III. Continuation of the same subject. General Conclusion respecting the nature of Osiris. Typhon, Horus, Egyptian Triad, Harpocrates, Serapis 75

COMMENTARY ON CHAPTER II.

Note A. On the Five Deities of the Intercalary Days 95

Note B. On Coptic Etymologies of the name of Osiris 96

Note B. On the Isiac Festival 97

Note C. Great Festival of the Persians 98

Note D. Egyptian Festivals and System of the Calendar 103

OF THE OTHER EGYPTIAN GODS.

Section I. Of some Emblematical Representations of the Sun 105 Section II. Of the hypothesis of Jablonski, and some other

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI

PAG2

writers, respecting Serapis, Harpocrates, Horus, Jupiter

Amnion, Hercules, and Pan 107

ON THE PHILOSOPHICAL DOCTRINE, COSMOGONY, ETC, OF THE EGYPTIANS.

Chapter I. Inquiry Into The Esoteric Philosophy Of The

EGYPTIANS RESPECTING THE SUPREME DEITY,

AND THE ORIGIN OF THE WORLD.

XII TABLE OF CONTENTS,

TAGK

Analysis of the Orphic and Pythagorean Cosmogonies — Fragments referring to the Egyptian Cosmogony compared with the foregoing „ f t m 1(55

Chapter II

OF THE DOCTRINE OF ALTERNATE DESTRUCTIONS AND RENOVATIONS OF THE WORLD.

Survey of this Doctrine as it occurs in the Philosophy of the Grecian Schools — Cataclysm, or destruction by Water — Ecpyrosis, or destruction by Fire. Connection of these events with Astronomical Periods, and with the Moral Corruption of the Human Race. Derivation of this doctrine from Egypt 177

SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER II.

Illustration of the foregoing Fiction, from the Fables of other Nations 189

Chapter III. Opinions Of The Egyptians Respecting The Fate Of The

DEAD.

Motives for embalming Bodies — Ultimate Allotment of the Soul—Emanation from, and Refusion into the Deity .... 195

SUPPLEMENT TO CHAPTER III.

Further illustration of the Egyptian Doctrine respecting the Soul. Comparison of the Egyptian Psychology with that of the Hindoos , 313

TABLE OF CONTENTS. X1U

Chapter III. Comparison Between The Succession Of Superstitions

IN THE EASTj AND THE HISTORY OF MYTHOLOGY

IN EGYPT.

Section I. General Resemblances between the Indian and Egyptian Mythologies in the Conception of the Divine Nature 2(55

Section II. Of the Forms of Eastern Mythology, to which the Superstition of Egypt is particularly related. Indian Iswara, or Rudra, compared with Osiris and Typhon — Comparison of Bhavani with Isis 269

XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FAGE

Section III. Indian Fables relating to Vishnu, compared with the Egyptian Mythology. Fictions respecting Vishnu resembling those that were connected with Horus , 283

Section IV 7 . Esoteric Philosophy of the Egyptians, compared with the Doctrines of the Hindoos, in the earliest periods. Egyptian and Hindoo Cosmogonies, &c 287

Section II. Of the Veneration paid to Animals in general . . 303

Section III. Of the Worship of Quadrupeds : 1. Of Oxen. 2. Of Dogs. 3. Of Cats. 4, Of the Wolf. 5. Of the Ram. 6. Of the Goat. 7. Of the Deer. 8. Of Monkeys and Apes. 9. Of the Ichneumon. 10. Of the Shrew- Mouse. 11. Of the Lion. 12. Of the Hippopotamos. 13. Of Impure Animals * « 305

Section IV. Of the Worship of Birds: 1. Of the Hawk 2. Of the Crow. 3. Of the Vulture. 4. Of the Eagle. 5. Of the Ibis. 6. Of the Goose 317

Section V. Of fabulous Birds which are traced in the Egyptian Mythology. The Phesnix 320

Section VI. Of the Worship of Reptiles, Insects, Fishes, Plants, &c. L Of the Crocodile. 2. Of Serpents. 3. Of Insects. 4. Of Fishes. 5. Of Plants. 6. Of Stones 323

Section VII. Of the Motives which led the Egyptians to the Worship of Animals and Plants. Different Opinions on this subject. Hypothesis of Diodorus and Plutarch —

TABLE OF CONTENTS. XV

PAGE

Hypothesis of Lucian and Dupuis. True Explanation, supported by the testimonies of Porphyry, Plutarch, and Diodorus — Egyptian Avatars, or Incarnations of the Gods 3

Explanation of the Worship of Plants and Stones 330

Section VIII. Of the Worship of Men 345

Section IX. Of the Antiquity of the Worship of Animals in Egypt , . c * 350

NOTE ON BOOK IV. CHAPTER I.

Confirmation of the foregoing explanation from the Fictions of the Hindoos. 1. Of the sacred Quadrupeds of the Hindoos. 2. Of their sacred Birds. 3. Of their sacred Fishes, Reptiles, and Inanimate Objects 353

Chapter II. Of Sacrifices, Festivals, And Religious Ceremonies Of The Egyptians

Notions connected with the Performance of Sacrifice. Of Human Sacrifices. Of the Sacrifices of Animals — of Swine — of Bulls — of Sheep — of Goats. Of Ceremonies relating to Typhon. Annual Festivals of the Egyptians 359

ANALYSIS OF THE FOREGOING DOCUMENTS.

PAGE

Section I. Preliminary Observations *49

Section II. Dates of the Egyptian Chronology computed upward, from the Persian conquest to the accession of Psammitiehus *51

Section III. Dates of the. Egyptian Chronology computed upwards from Psammitiehus to the period when Egypt became subject to the Ethiopian Kings *54

Section IV. Of the Four Dynasties which preceded the Ethiopian Conquest, viz. the 21st, 22d, 23d, and 24th . . *53

Section V. Of the 19th and 20th Dynasties— Of the 18th Dynasty, and the Period of the Exode of the Israelites from Egypt — History of the Hycsos from Manethon— Hycsos expelled by Tethmosis — Hycsos expelled by Amenophis, under the guidance of Osarsiph, or Moses. History of the Exode, as related by Chseremon, Lysimachus, Apollonius, Tacitus, Diodorus. Date of the Exode, as deduced from Egyptian Histories # 60

Section VI. Of the first Seventeen Dynasties in the Chronicle of Manethon. Principles on which this Chronicle was constructed. Date of the Commencement of the Egyptian Monarchy *S7

Section VII. Connection of the Earlier and Later Parts of the Egyptian Chronology. General Survey of the System of the Egyptian Chronicles *I 12

Conclusion

NOTES TO THE TREATISE ON THE EGYPTIAN CHRONOLOGY.

Note A. On the Remains of Remote Antiquity, preserved in the Book of Genesis *127

Note B. On the Scriptural Date of the building of Solomon's Temple, and of the Exode *I31

Note C. On the Date of the Trojan War *135

INTRODUCTION.

ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION RESPECTING THE LEARNING AND MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT.

There are four sources whence we may chiefly expect to derive information respecting the learning, the superstitious practices., and the religious fables,, of the ancient Egyptians.

The most important of these, since it affords us information of the most authentic description, is to be found in the works of a few ancient writers who visited Egypt, and who have described what they personally witnessed.

The power of the Egyptian hierarchy had declined from the age of Psammitichus, who first encouraged the intercourse of his subjects with foreigners, and thereby endangered the influence of those superstitions which, during some thousand years, had maintained the character impressed by ancient priestcraft on the people of Egypt. But the conquest of the whole country by the arms of Persia, the wanton tyranny of Cambyses, and the continual discountenance which the old religion sustained while Egypt was under the dominion of a nation who were disposed to persecute idolatry, must

INTRODUCTION.

have introduced many important innovations on the ancient system. It is probable that some former rites were discontinued during this period, the priests finding them no longer practicable, or the people being deterred from the performance of them.

After the Macedonian conquest, the state of things was again altered. The Greeks bore no enmity to the superstitions of Egypt: they were aware that this country had been the cradle of their own mythology. The Ptolemies were desirous of gaining the affections of the native people, and they patronised the priesthood. The idolatrous worship of Egypt recovered a portion of its former splendour; but its features now bore an impression in many respects different from that of antiquity. The rites and the fictions of the followers of Hermes were blended with the exotic customs and philosophy of their European conquerors. The aspect of the national manners and religion was less genuine and less peculiar.

From the time of the first Ptolemies, the mythological learning and superstition of Egypt underwent a gradual decline, but sustained no great catastrophe, until the period when they were doomed finally to vanish, together with all other forms of idolatry, before the increasing light of Christianity. The conquest of Egypt by the Romans introduced no sudden change, and the old religion only suffered by the decay of opulence, and the failure of local patronage, which naturally ensued, in consequence of the reduction of the country to the condition of a province. As late as the time of Strabo, there were persons who assumed the character and pretensions of the order of Sacred Scribes, the depositaries of the Hermetic learning.

The old gods of the Egyptians were still fed in their ancient temples ; nor does it appear that any attempt was made to supplant them with Grecian or Roman idols. The worshippers of serpents and crocodiles had indeed to encounter the banter and ridicule of the Greeks; but so far was this from putting them to shame, or loosening the hold of their superstition, that they bore triumphantly into the country of their conquerors the strange magical ceremonies of their native priests; and the pomps and mysteries of Isis and Osiris, even in the metropolis of the civilized world, disputed the palm with Jupiter of the Capitol.

The history of Egyptian superstition thus divides itself into three periods. Its golden age was, while the power of the hierarchy was unbroken, before the Persian conquest, or the introduction of foreign manners. The second period comprises the time which elapsed from this era till the accession of the Ptolemies. The third begins with the reign of Lagus, and ends with the extinction of Paganism.

The information to be derived from travellers in Egypt is to be prized nearly in proportion to the antiquity of the writers. The accounts of those who visited this country during the third period are less valuable than the testimonies of the few travellers who surveyed it while under the Persian sway; and the latter may be supposed to afford us less genuine information than we might have obtained from the age of the Pharaohs.

We know the names of several Grecian travellers who frequented the Egyptian colleges before the invasion of Cambyses ; such as Orpheus, Thales, and Pythagoras. The latter of these philosophers is said fk INTRODUCTION.

to have enjoyed more extensive opportunities of instruction than any of his countrymen. The greatest misfortune is, that if these travellers wrote any accounts of what they witnessed, none have survived to our times.

There is only one author who has furnished us with a record of his personal observation in the kingdom of the Pharaohs. Moses was educated in the learning of the Egyptians; his accounts are the most authentic, and the information they afford is extremely valuable, though it is limited : it was not the design of this historian to gratify the curiosity of modern philosophers.

During the reign of the, Persians, Egypt was visited by Hecataeus, Herodotus, and Plato. The works of the former have perished, with the exception of a few fragments; and the latter has left no narrative of his voyage. Herodotus is our greatest authority: we have only to regret that, either through ignorance, or influenced by prudential motives, he has concealed many circumstances relating to the Egyptian superstition, of which we might have hoped for an ample explanation. Being entirely ignorant of the Egyptian language, he was wholly dependant on the information given him by interpreters.

Diodorus Siculus, and Strabo, saw Egypt under the Csesars. These writers appear to have given us faithful accounts of all that they witnessed. From Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus, and some other Romans, we derive the knowledge of a few facts.

II. A much larger portion of information, though not altogether of so authentic a description, is

SOURCES OF INFORMATION. O

contained in the works of several writers of a different class, who flourished subsequently to the conquest of Egypt by the Macedonians. These were chiefly persons of an inquisitive turn, who, living in a more enlightened age than their predecessors, had imbibed the notion, dangerous to the established religions of the Pagan world, that its mythological tales were not to be received in their literal sense, but required a philosophical analysis, in order to develope truths which had been concealed in mysterious language by the ancient hierophants. This, however, was the last stand made by Paganism against the victorious advances of a purer faith. In this contest the advocates of the old religion turned themselves to every quarter, where they hoped to find something that afforded an excuse for former practices; and in attempting to defend the fables of polytheism, they were contented, and even anxious, to resolve them all into allegories. These pretensions, though they appear not to have been wholly without foundation, were resisted by the Christian fathers; and in the course of the controversy which ensued, many curious documents were brought to light, which would otherwise have perished in oblivion, and which contribute to throw very important light upon the history of Pagan rites and fables.

The most judicious of the apologists of Paganism, are Plutarch and Macrobius, who profess to found their interpretations of ancient fables on the remains of mystical literature and mythology. Porphyry, who lived at a period when these subjects were keenly agitated, possessed, though under the influence of strong prejudices, great discernment, and

O INTRODUCTION.

an uncommon share of erudition. Iamblichus was a strenuous votary of the occult sciences, and full of the worst mysticism of the Alexandrine school; yet his works contain valuable information respecting the prevailing opinions of the most learned Pagans of his own and of preceding ages. But the most compendious and instructive writer is Diodorus, who must be mentioned also among the authors of this class, since he has not confined himself to giving us the fruit of his own personal observation, but has collected whatever he deemed most valuable from other writers.

In the same department we may reckon several Fathers of the Church, as Clemens, Origen, Eusebius, and Augustin, who, in their writings in refutation of Paganism, have preserved many extracts from various authors, whose works are lost.

The value of most of these remains depends on the solution of the inquiry, from what quarters the authors derived their materials. Was there any original and genuine fund of ancient literature and philosophy, from which they have drawn their elucidations? or have they only given us the reveries of Grecian speculators? This is a question which it is not easy to determine satisfactorily.

It seems, indeed, to be unquestionable, that a great number of books were preserved in the Egyptian temples, composed at various times by learned men of the sacerdotal order, which treated of the different branches of philosophy and mystical learning. These were called Hermaic books, or books of Hermes ; the name importing, not that they had been all written by the sage who bore that celebrated name, but that the authors were persons favoured and inspired by the god of wisdom.* Clemens informs us that thirty-six of these books were carried by the several orders of priests in the religious processions in honour of Isis. These were the books which it was necessary for the different classes of priests to study, in order to learn their respective duties. The first contained the hymns that were to be sung in honour of the gods; the second, precepts referring to the duties and conduct of the king. Four books treated of astrology, the positions of the fixed stars, the conjunctions of the sun and moon, and the risings of the heavenly bodies, with reference, as it should seem, to the predictions founded upon them. The ten hieroglyphical books comprised cosmography, geography, the movements of the sun and moon, and five planets ; the topography of Egypt and the Nile ; a description of the instruments used in sacrifice, and the places appointed for its celebration. Ten other books described the honours to be paid to the gods, and the method of the Egyptian rites, respecting sacrifices, first-fruits, hymns, prayers, processions, festivals, and other similar matters. Ten books, which were distinguished by the term Sacerdotal, comprised the laws, the history of the gods, and the whole discipline of the priests. Besides these thirty-six books, there were six others that treated of medicine, viz. on the structure of the body, on distempers, on surgical instruments, on drugs, on diseases of the

* Iamblichus says, that Hermes was the god of all celestial science; that he inspired the priests, who, accordingly, inscribed their own commentaries with the name of Hermes. — Iamblich, de Myst, eyes, and on complaints peculiar to women. This enumeration contains the most important of the books ascribed to Hermes ; but it appears, from the expressions of Clemens, that it did not comprise the whole number.

Galen has cited an Hermaic book, relating to medicine, which seems to have been different from any of those before mentioned. He says it treated of the thirty-six herbs of the horoscopes. It probably contained a system of incantations by drugs ; for we are elsewhere informed that the Egyptians believed the human body to be distributed into thirty-six parts, each of which was under the particular government of one of the decans or aerial daemons, who presided over the triple divisions of the twelve signs. Origen adds, that when any part of the body was diseased, a cure was obtained by invoking the daemon to whose province it belonged.*

Other writers mention the Hermaic books as authentic sources of information, and as the depositories of ancient learning. Plutarch cites them by hearsay, or reports facts which were said to be derived from them. It is evident that he was unacquainted with them, and doubtless he was unable to read the sacred characters or the language of Egypt. Iamblichus says, the number ofbooks termed Hermaic amounted to thirty-six thousand five hundred and twenty-four: an incredible account.

On the whole, it seems historically certain that a great number of books were preserved in the temples of Egypt, written partly in hieroglyphics and partly in other characters, which were ascribed to Hermes.,

* Celsus apud Origen. — Lib. viii. p. 416, ed. Cantab.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION. V

or rather dedicated to him, and supposed to have been written under his spiritual superintendance; that these books contained the principal doctrines of the Egyptian priests, and the concealed interpretation of their fables, together with all that they possessed of learning and philosophy. The literature of ancient Egypt was then preserved, not only down to the age of the Macedonian conquest, but as long as the Pagan superstition survived.*

But all this was locked up and sealed under the impenetrable veil of sacerdotal mystery. We have no reason to believe that any Greek or Roman of the Ptolemaic or Imperial ages ever became acquainted with the native language of Egypt. The memorials inscribed on the pillars of Thoth, or in the books of the thrice great philosopher, were alike inaccessible to strangers, whether they were written in the hieroglyphic or in common characters. Had it depended on them, the wisdom or folly of antiquity would have passed away without leaving any discernible vestiges to later times. But the learned natives of Egypt were attracted, by the magnificence of the Ptolemies^

* It may be asked, if this were true, why the Christians, who translated the Scriptures into the Egyptian language, did not adopt the ly/woia* y^ujj^ta, or the national or epistolary character of the old Egyptians, instead of inventing a new letter. Probably the knowledge of these characters as well as that of the hieroglyphics, was confined to the priests; and if so, , they were only adopted in the ancient or sacerdotal dialect, and unknown to the Christian converts. Besides, we have as yet no proof that these characters were alphabetic letters ; and if they were founded on the hieroglyphics, they must have been so intimately connected with the old superstitions, as to be very unfit instruments for expressing the truths of Christianity.