THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION.
THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION.
THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION.
The length of Egypt along the sea-coast is sixty schœni (450 miles) from the Plinthinetic Bay to Lake Serbonis, near whichMount Casius stretches. Men who are short of land measure their territory by fathoms; those who have some possessions, by stades; those who have much, by parasangs; and such as have a very great extent, by schœni. A parasang is equal to thirty stades, and each schœnus, which is an Egyptian measure, is equal to sixty stades. So the whole coast of Egypt is three thousand six hundred stades in length. As far as Heliopolis, inland, Egypt is wide, flat, without water, and a swamp. The distance to Heliopolis, as one goes up from the sea, is about equal in length to the road from Athens—that is to say, from the altar of the twelve gods,—to Pisa and the temple of Olympian Jupiter, or about fifteen hundred stades. From Heliopolis upward Egypt is narrow, for on one side the table-land of Arabia extends from north to south and southwest, stretching up continuously to that which is called the Red Sea. In this plateau are the stone quarries which were cut for the pyramids at Memphis. Where its length is the greatest, I have heard that it is a two-months' journey from east to west; and that eastward its confines produce frankincense. On that side of Egypt which borders upon Libya extends another rocky table-land covered with sand, on which the pyramids stand, stretching in the same direction as that part of the Arabian mountain that runs southward.
The greater part of all this country, as the priests informed me, has been reclaimed by the Egyptians from the sea and the marshes. For the space beyond the city of Memphis seems to me to have been formerly a bay of the sea; as is the case also with the parts about Ilium, Teuthrania, Ephesus, and the plain of the Mæander, if I may be permitted to compare small things with great. There are other rivers not equal in size to the Nile, which have wrought great works; amongst them one of the most remarkable is the Achelous which, flowing through Acarnania, and falling into the sea, has already converted one half of the Echinades islands into a continent. There is in the Arabian territory, not far from Egypt, branching from the Red Sea, a bay of the sea of such a length that the voyage, from the innermost part of this bay to the broad sea, occupies forty days for a vessel with oars; but the width,where the bay is widest, only half a day's passage, and in it an ebb and flow takes place daily; and I am of opinion that Egypt was formerly a similar bay; this stretching from the Northern Sea toward Ethiopia; and the Arabian Bay, which I am describing, from the south toward Syria; and that they almost perforated their recesses so as to meet each other, overlapping to some small extent. Now, if the Nile were to turn its stream into this Arabian gulf, what could hinder it from being filled with soil by the river within twenty thousand years?—for my part, I think it would be filled within ten thousand. How, then, in the time that has elapsed before I was born, might not even a much greater bay than this have been filled up by such a great and powerful river? I therefore give credit to those who relate these things concerning Egypt, when I see that Egypt projects beyond the adjoining land; that shells are found on the mountains; that a saline humor forms on the surface so as even to corrode the pyramids; and that this mountain which is above Memphis is the only one in Egypt that abounds in sand: add to which, that Egypt, in its soil, is neither like Arabia or its confines, nor Libya, nor Syria, but is black and crumbling, as if it were mud and alluvial deposit, brought down by the river from Ethiopia; whereas we know that the earth of Libya is reddish, and somewhat more sandy; and that of Arabia and Syria is clayey and flinty.
The priests relate that in the reign of Mœris, when the river rose at least eight cubits, it irrigated all Egypt below Memphis; and yet Mœris had not been nine hundred years dead when I received this information. But now, unless the river rises sixteen cubits, or fifteen at least, it does not overflow the country. It appears to me, therefore, that if the soil continues to grow in height, in the same proportion, those Egyptians below Lake Mœris, who inhabit other districts than that which is called Delta, must, by reason of the Nile not overflowing their land, for ever suffer the same calamity which they used to say the Greeks would suffer from. For hearing that all the lands of Greece were watered by rain, and not by rivers, as their own was, they said "that the Greeks atsome time or other would suffer miserably from famine." But let me state how the matter stands with the Egyptians themselves: if, as I said before, the land below Memphis should continue to increase in height in the same proportion as it has done in time past, what else will happen but that the Egyptians who inhabit this part will starve, if their land shall neither be watered by rain, nor the river be able to inundate the fields? Now, indeed, they gather in the fruits of the earth with less labor than any other people, for they have not the toil of breaking up the furrows with the plough, nor of hoeing, nor of any other work which all other men must labor at to obtain a crop of corn; but when the river has come of its own accord and irrigated their fields, and again subsided, then each man sows his own land and turns swine into it; and when the seed has been trodden in by the swine, he waits for harvest-time; then he treads out the corn with his swine, and gathers it in.
All Egypt, beginning from the cataracts and the city of Elephantine, is divided into two parts, and partakes of both names; one belongs to Libya, and the other to Asia. The Nile, beginning from the cataracts, flows to the sea, dividing Egypt in the middle. Now, as far as the city of Cercasorus, the Nile flows in one stream; but from that point it is divided into three channels. That which runs eastward is called the Pelusiac mouth; another of the channels bends westward, and is called the Canopic mouth; but the direct channel of the Nile is the following: descending from above, it comes to the point of the Delta, where it divides the Delta in the middle, and discharges itself into the sea, supplying by this channel, not by any means the least quantity of water, nor the least renowned; this is called the Sebennytic mouth. There are also two other mouths, that diverge from the Sebennytic and flow into the sea,—the Saitic, and the Mendesian. The Bolbitine and Bucolic mouths are not natural, but artificial. The Nile, when full, inundates not only Delta, but also part of the country said to belong to Libya and Arabia, to the extent of about two days' journey on each side.
At the summer solstice it fills and overflows for a hundred days;then falls short in its stream, and retires; so that it continues low all the winter, until the return of the summer solstice. In parts of Ethiopia, out of which the Nile flows, the inhabitants become black from the excessive heat; kites and swallows continue there all the year; and the cranes, to avoid the cold of Scythia, migrate to these parts as winter-quarters.
NILE BOAT.
NILE BOAT.
NILE BOAT.
With respect to the sources of the Nile, no man of all the Egyptians, Libyans, or Greeks with whom I have conversed, ever pretended to know any thing; except the registrar of Minerva's treasury at Sais in Egypt. But even he seemed to be trifling with me, when he said he knew perfectly well. His account was: "That there are two mountains rising into a sharp peak, situated between the cities of Syene and Elephantine; the names of these mountains are Crophi and Mophi. The sources of the Nile, which are bottomless, flow from between these mountains, and half of the water flows north over Egypt, and the other half to the southward over Ethiopia. That the fountains of the Nile are bottomless, he said, Psammitichus, king of Egypt, proved by experiment; for he twisted a line many thousand fathoms in length and let it down, but could not find a bottom." In my opinion, this simply proves that there are strong whirlpools and an eddy here; so that the water beating against the rocks, a sounding-line, when let down, cannot reach the bottom. As you ascend the river above the city of Elephantine, the country is so steep that it is necessary to attach a rope on both sides of a boat as you do with an ox in a plough, and so proceed; but if the rope should happen to break,the boat is carried away by the force of the stream. This kind of country lasts for a four-days' passage (or eighty miles), and the Nile here winds as much as the Mæander. After that you come to a level plain, where the Nile flows round an island named Tachompso. Ethiopians inhabit the country immediately above Elephantine, and one half of the island; the other half is inhabited by Egyptians. Near to this island lies a vast lake, on the borders of which Ethiopian nomads dwell; after sailing through this lake, you come to the channel of the Nile, which flows into it: then you have to land and travel forty days by the side of the river, for sharp rocks rise in the Nile, and there are many sunken ones, through which it is not possible to navigate a boat; you then must go on board another boat, and sail for twelve days; and will at last arrive at a large city called Meroe: this city is said to be the capital of all Ethiopia. The inhabitants worship no other gods than Jupiter and Bacchus; but these they honor with great magnificence; they have also an oracle of Jupiter; and they make war, whenever that god bids them by an oracular warning, and against whatever country he bids them. Sailing from this city, you will arrive at the country of the Automoli, in a space of time equal to that which you took in coming from Elephantine to the capital of the Ethiopians. These Automoli are called by the name of Asmak, which in the language of Greece signifies, "those that stand at the left hand of the king." These, to the number of two hundred and forty thousand of the Egyptian war-tribe, once revolted to the Ethiopians, whose king made them the following recompense. There were certain Ethiopians disaffected toward him; he bade them expel these, and take possession of their land; by the settlement of these men among them, the Ethiopians became more civilized, and learned the manners of the Egyptians.
Egyptpossesses more wonders than any other country, and exhibits works greater than can be described, in comparison with all other regions; therefore more must be said about it. The Egyptians besides having a peculiar climate and a river differing in its nature from all other rivers, have adopted customs and usages in almost every respect different from the rest of mankind. Amongst them the women attend markets and traffic, but the men stay at home and weave. Other nations, in weaving, throw the wool upward; the Egyptians, downward. The men carry burdens on their heads; the women, on their shoulders. No woman can serve the office for any god or goddess; but men are employed for both offices. Sons are not compelled to support their parents unless they choose, but daughters are compelled to do so, whether they choose or not. In other countries the priests of the gods wear long hair; in Egypt they have it shaved. With other men it is customary in mourning for the nearest relations to have their heads shorn; the Egyptians, on occasions of death, let the hair grow both on the head and face, though till then shaven. Other men feed on wheat and barley, but it is a very great disgrace for an Egyptian to make food of them; but they make bread from spelt, which some call zea. They knead the dough with their feet; but mix clay with their hands. Every man wears two garments; the women, but one. Other men fasten the rings and sheets of their sails outside; but the Egyptians, inside. The Greeks write and cipher, moving the hand from left to right; but the Egyptians, from right to left: and doingso, they say they do it right-ways, and the Greeks left-ways. They have two sorts of letters, one of which is called sacred, the other common.
They are of all men the most excessively attentive to the worship of the gods, and observe the following ceremonies: They drink from cups of bronze, which they scour every day. They wear linen garments, constantly fresh-washed, thinking it better to be clean than handsome. The priests shave their whole body every third day, that no impurity may be found upon them when engaged in the service of the gods. The priests wear linen only, and shoes of byblus, and are not permitted to wear any other garments, or other shoes. They wash themselves in cold water twice every day and twice every night, and use a great number of ceremonies. On the other hand, they enjoy no slight advantages, for they do not consume or expend any of their private property; but sacred food is cooked for them, and a great quantity of beef and geese is allowed each of them every day, with wine from the grape; but they must not taste of fish. Beans the Egyptians do not sow at all in their country, nor do they eat those that happen to grow there. The priests abhor the sight of that pulse, accounting it impure. The service of each god is performed, not by one, but by many priests, of whom one is chief; and, when one of them dies, his son is put in his place. The male kine they deem sacred to Epaphus, and to that end prove them in the following manner: If the examiner finds one black hair upon him, he adjudges him to be unclean; one of the priests appointed for this purpose makes this examination, both when the animal is standing up and lying down; and he draws out the tongue, to see if it is pure as to the prescribed marks, which I shall mention in another part of my history. He also looks at the hairs of his tail, to see whether they grow naturally. If the beast is found pure in all these respects, he marks it by rolling a piece of byblus round the horns, and then having put on it some sealing earth, he impresses it with his signet; and so they drive him away. Any one who sacrifices one that is unmarked is punished with death. Theestablished mode of sacrifice is this: they lead the victim, properly marked, to the altar where they intend to sacrifice, and kindle a fire; then having poured wine upon the altar, near the victim, they invoke the god, and kill it; then cut off the head, and flay the body of the animal. Having pronounced many imprecations on the head, they who have a market and Greek merchants dwelling amongst them, carry it there and sell it; but those who have no Greeks amongst them throw it into the river; and they pronounce the following imprecations on the head: "If any evil is about to befall either those that now sacrifice, or Egypt in general, may it be averted on this head." But a different mode of disembowelling and burning the victims prevails in different sacrifices. The practice with regard to the goddess whom they consider the greatest, and in whose honor they celebrate the most magnificent festival, is this: When they have flayed the bullocks, having first offered up prayers, they take out all the intestines, and leave the vitals with the fat in the carcass: they then cut off the legs and the extremity of the hip, with the shoulders and neck, and fill the body of the bullock with fine bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and other perfumes, and burn it, pouring on it a great quantity of oil. They sacrifice after they have fasted; and while the sacred things are being burnt, they all beat themselves; after which they spread a banquet of what remains of the victims.
All the Egyptians sacrifice the pure male kine and calves, but they are not allowed to sacrifice the females, for they are sacred to Isis; the image of Isis is made in the form of a woman with the horns of a cow, as the Greeks represent Io; and all Egyptians alike pay a far greater reverence to cows than to any other cattle. No Egyptian man or woman will kiss a Greek on the mouth; or use the knife, spit, or cauldron of a Greek, or taste of the flesh of a pure ox that has been divided by a Greek knife. They bury the kine that die in the following manner: The females they throw into the river, and the males they inter in the suburbs, with one horn, or both, appearing above theground, for a mark. When it is putrified, and the appointed time arrives, a raft comes to each city from the island called Prosopitis, in the Delta, which is nine schœni in circumference. Now in this island Prosopitis there are several cities; but that from which the rafts come to take away the bones of the oxen, is called Atarbechis; in it a temple of Venus has been erected. From this city then many persons go about to other towns; and having dug up the bones, carry them away, and bury them in one place; and they bury all other cattle that die in the same way that they do the oxen; for they do not kill any of them. All those who have a temple erected to Theban Jupiter, or belong to the Theban district, abstain from sheep, and sacrifice goats only. For the Egyptians do not all worship the same gods in the same manner, except Isis and Osiris, who, they say, is Bacchus. On the other hand, those who frequent the temple of Mendes, and belong to the Mendesian district, abstain from goats, and sacrifice sheep. The Thebans say that this custom was established among them in the following way: that Hercules was very desirous of seeing Jupiter, but Jupiter was unwilling to be seen by him; at last, however, as Hercules persisted, Jupiter flayed a ram, cut off the head, and held it before himself, and then having put on the fleece, showed himself to Hercules. From this circumstance the Egyptians make the image of Jupiter with a ram's face; and the Ammonians, who are a colony of Egyptians and Ethiopians, and who speak a language between both, have adopted the same practice; and, as I conjecture, the Ammonians thus derived their name, for the Egyptians call Jupiter, Ammon. The Thebans then do not sacrifice rams, being for this reason accounted sacred by them; on one day in the year, however, at the festival of Jupiter, they kill and flay one ram, put it on this image of Jupiter, and bring an image of Hercules to it; then all who are in the temple beat themselves in mourning for the ram, and bury him in a sacred vault.
Of this Hercules I have heard that he is one of the twelve gods; but of the other Hercules, who is known to the Greeks, I could never hear in any part of Egypt. That the Egyptians didnot derive the name of Hercules from the Greeks, but rather the Greeks from the Egyptians, I have many proofs to show. The parents of this Hercules, Amphitryon and Alcmene, were both of Egyptian descent, and the Egyptians say they do not know the names of Neptune and the Dioscuri, yet if they had derived the name of any deity from the Greeks, they would certainly have mentioned these above all others, since even at that time they made voyages, and some of the Greeks were sailors. But Hercules is one of the ancient gods of the Egyptians; and they say themselves it was seventeen thousand years before the reign of Amasis, when the number of their gods was increased from eight to twelve, of whom Hercules was accounted one. Being desirous of obtaining certain information from whatever source I could, I sailed to Tyre in Phœnicia, having heard that there was there a temple dedicated to Hercules; and I saw it richly adorned with a great variety of offerings, and in it were two pillars, one of fine gold, the other of emerald stone, both shining exceedingly at night. Conversing with the priests of this god, I inquired how long this temple had been built, and I found that they did not agree with the Greeks. For they said that the temple was built at the time when Tyre was founded, and that two thousand three hundred years had elapsed since the foundation of Tyre. In this city I also saw another temple dedicated to Hercules by the name of Thasian; I went therefore to Thasos, and found there a temple of Hercules built by the Phœnicians, who founded Thasos, when they sailed in search of Europa, and this occurred five generations before Hercules the son of Amphitryon appeared in Greece. The researches then that I have made evidently prove that Hercules is a god of great antiquity, and therefore those Greeks appear to me to have acted most correctly, who have built two kinds of temples sacred to Hercules, and who sacrifice to one as an immortal, under the name of Olympian, and paid honor to the other as a hero. The Mendesians pay reverence to all goats; at the death of a he-goat public mourning is observed throughout the whole Mendesian district.
The Egyptians consider the pig to be an impure beast, and therefore if a man in passing by a pig should touch him only with his garments, he forthwith goes to the river and plunges in; and in the next place, swineherds, although native Egyptians, are the only men who are not allowed to enter any of their temples; neither will any man give his daughter in marriage to one of them, nor take a wife from among them; but the swineherds intermarry among themselves. The Egyptians do not think it right to sacrifice swine to any deities but the moon and Bacchus. In this sacrifice of pigs to the moon, when the sacrificer has slain the victim, he puts together the tip of the tail, with the spleen and the caul, covers them with the fat found about the belly of the animal, and consumes them with fire: the rest of the flesh they eat during the full moon in which they offer the sacrifices; but on no other day would any one even taste it. The poor amongst them, through want of means, form pigs of dough, and having baked them, offer them in sacrifice.
Whence each of the gods sprung, whether they existed always, and of what form they were, was, so to speak, unknown till yesterday. For I am of opinion that Hesiod and Homer lived four hundred years before my time, and not more, and these were they who framed a theogony for the Greeks, and gave names to the gods, and assigned to them honors and arts, and declared their several forms.
The Egyptians were also the first who introduced public festivals, processions, and solemn supplications; and the Greeks learned these from them. The Egyptians hold public festivals several times in a year; that which is best and most rigidly observed is in the city of Bubastis, in honor of Diana; the second, in the city of Busiris, is in honor of Isis; the largest temple of Isis is in this city, in the middle of the Egyptian Delta. Isis is in the Grecian language called Demeter. The third festival is held at Sais, in honor of Minerva; the fourth, at Heliopolis, in honor of the sun; the fifth, at the city of Buto, in honor of Latona; the sixth, at the city of Papremis, in honor of Mars. When they are assembled at the sacrifice, in the city of Sais, they all on a certain night kindle agreat number of lamps in the open air, around their houses; the lamps are flat vessels filled with salt and oil, the wick floats on the surface and burns all night; hence the festival is named "the lighting of lamps." The Egyptians who do not come to this public assembly observe the rite of sacrifice, and all kindle lamps, not only in Sais, but throughout all Egypt.
Egypt, though bordering on Libya, does not abound in wild beasts; but all that they have are accounted sacred. Superintendents, consisting both of men and women, are appointed to feed every kind separately; and the son succeeds the father in this office. All the inhabitants of the cities perform their vows to the superintendents. Having made a vow to the god to whom the animal belongs, they shave either the whole heads of their children, or a half, or a third part of the head, and then weigh the hair in a scale against silver, and whatever the weight may be, they give to the superintendent of the animals; she in return cuts up some fish, and gives it as food to the animals; such is the usual mode of feeding them. Should any one kill one of these beasts, if wilfully, death is the punishment; if by accident, he pays such fine as the priests choose to impose. But whoever kills an ibis or a hawk, whether wilfully or by accident, must necessarily be put to death. When a conflagration takes place, a supernatural impulse seizes on the cats. The Egyptians, standing at a distance, take care of the cats, and neglect to put out the fire; but the cats often make their escape, leap over the men, and throw themselves into the fire; when this happens great lamentations are made among the Egyptians. In whatever house a cat dies of a natural death, all the family shave their eyebrows; but if a dog die, they shave the whole body and the head. All cats that die are carried to certain sacred houses, where they are first embalmed, and then buried in the city of Bubastis. All persons bury their dogs in sacred vaults within their own city; and ichneumons are buried in the same manner as the dogs; but field-mice and hawks they carry to the city of Buto; the ibis to Hermopolis; the bears, which are few in number, andthe wolves, which are not much larger than foxes, they bury wherever they are found lying.
THE TROCHILUS.
THE TROCHILUS.
THE TROCHILUS.
This is the nature of the crocodile:—During the four coldest months it eats nothing, and though it has four feet, it is amphibious. It lays its eggs on land, and there hatches them. It spends the greater part of the day on the dry ground, but the whole night in the river; for the water is then warmer than the air and dew. Of all living things with which we are acquainted, this, from the least beginning, grows to be the largest. For it lays eggs little larger than those of a goose, and the young is at first in proportion to the egg; but when grown up it reaches to the length of seventeen cubits (25½ feet), and even more. It has the eyes of a pig, large teeth, and projecting tusks: it is the only animal that has no tongue: it does not move the lower jaw, but is the only animal that brings down its upper jaw to the under one. It has strong claws, and a skin covered with scales, that cannot be broken on the back. It is blind in the water, but very quick-sighted on land; and because it lives for the most part in the water, its mouth is filled with leeches. All other birds and beasts avoid him, but he is at peace with the trochilus, because he receives benefit from that bird. For when the crocodile gets out of the water on land, and then opens its jaws, which it does most commonly toward the west, the trochilus enters its mouth and swallows the leeches: the crocodile is so well pleased with this service that it never hurts the trochilus. With some of the Egyptians crocodiles are sacred; with others not, but they treat them as enemies. Those who dwell about Thebes, and Lake Mœris considerthem to be very sacred; and they each of them train up a crocodile, which is taught to be quite tame; and put crystal and gold ear-rings into their ears, and bracelets on their fore paws; they give them appointed and sacred food, and treat them as well as possible while alive, and when dead they embalm them, and bury them in sacred vaults. But the people who dwell about the city of Elephantine eat them, not considering them sacred. They are not called crocodiles by the Egyptians, but "champsæ"; the Ionians gave them the name of crocodiles, because they thought they resembled lizards, which are also so called, and which are found in the hedges of their country. The modes of taking the crocodile are many and various, but I shall only describe that which seems to me most worthy of relation. When the fisherman has baited a hook with the chine of a pig, he lets it down into the middle of the river, and holding a young live pig on the brink of the river, beats it; the crocodile, hearing the noise, goes in its direction, and meeting with the chine, swallows it, and the men draw it to land; when it is drawn out on shore, the sportsman first of all plasters its eyes with mud, after which he manages it very easily; but until he has done this, he has a great deal of trouble. The hippopotamus is esteemed sacred in the district of Papremis, but not so by the rest of the Egyptians. It is a quadruped, cloven-footed, with the hoofs of an ox, snub-nosed, has the mane of a horse, projecting tusks, and the tail and neigh of a horse. In sizehe is equal to a very large ox: his hide is so thick that spear-handles are made of it when dry. Otters are also met with in the river, which are deemed sacred; and amongst fish, they consider that which is called the lepidotus, and the eel, sacred; these they say are sacred to the Nile; and among birds, the vulpanser.
SPEARING THE CROCODILE.
SPEARING THE CROCODILE.
SPEARING THE CROCODILE.
There is also another sacred bird, called the phœnix, which I have never seen except in a picture; for it makes its appearance amongst them only once in five hundred years, as the Heliopolitans affirm: they say that it comes on the death of its sire. If he is like the picture, he is of the following size and description: the plumage of his wings is partly golden-colored, and partly red; in outline and size he is like an eagle. They tell this incredible story about him:—They say that he comes from Arabia, and brings the body of his father, enclosed in myrrh, to the temple of the sun, and there buries him in the temple. He brings him in this manner: first he moulds an egg of myrrh as large as he thinks himself able to carry; then he tries to carry it, and when he has made the experiment, he hollows out the egg, puts his parent into it, and stops up with some more myrrh the hole through which he introduced the body, so when his father is put inside, the weight is the same as before; then he carries him to the temple of the sun in Egypt.
In the neighborhood of Thebes there are sacred serpents not at all hurtful to men: they are diminutive in size, and carry two horns that grow on the top of the head. When these serpents die they bury them in the temple of Jupiter, for they say they are sacred to that God. There is a place in Arabia, situated very near the city of Buto, to which I went, on hearing of some winged serpents; there I saw bones and spines of serpents in such quantities as it would be impossible to describe: there were heaps upon heaps, some large, some smaller, scattered in a narrow pass between two mountains, which leads into a spacious plain, contiguous to the plain of Egypt: it is reported that at the beginning of spring, winged serpents fly from Arabia toward Egypt; but that ibises, a sort of bird, meet them at the pass, and do not allow the serpents to go by, but kill them: for this service the Arabians say that theibis is highly reverenced by the Egyptians; and the Egyptians acknowledge it. The ibis is all over a deep black; it has the legs of a crane, its beak is much curved, and it is about the size of the crex. Such is the form of the black ones, that fight with the serpents. But those that are best known, for there are two species, are bare on the head and the whole neck, have white plumage, except on the head, the throat, and the tips of the wings and extremity of the tail; in all these parts they are of a deep black; in their legs and beak they are like the other kind. The form of the serpent is like that of the water-snake; but he has wings without feathers, and as like as possible to the wings of a bat. This must suffice for the description of sacred animals.
Of the Egyptians, those who inhabit that part of Egypt which is sown with corn, cultivate the memory of past events more than any other people, and are the best-informed men I ever met. Their manner of life is this: They purge themselves every month for three days successively, seeking to preserve health by emetics and clysters, for they suppose that all diseases to which men are subject proceed from the food they use. And indeed in other respects the Egyptians, next to the Libyans, are the most healthy people in the world, as I think, on account of the seasons, because they are not liable to change; for men are most subject to disease at periods of change, and above all others at the change of the seasons. They feed on bread made into loaves of spelt, which they call cyllestis; and they use wine made of barley, for they have no vines in that country. Some fish they dry in the sun and eat raw, others salted with brine; and of birds they eat quail, ducks, and smaller birds raw, salting them first. All other things, whether birds or fishes, that they have, except such as are accounted sacred, they eat either roasted or boiled. At their convivial banquets, among the wealthy classes, when they have finished supper, a man carries round in a coffin the image of a dead body carved in wood, made as perfect a counterfeit as possible in color and workmanship, and in size generally about one or two cubits in length; and showing this to each of the company, he says: "Lookupon this, then drink and enjoy yourself; for when dead you will be like this."
They observe their ancient customs and acquire no new ones. Among other memorable customs they have just one song called "Linus," which is sung in Phœnicia, Cyprus, and elsewhere; in different nations it bears a different name, but it agrees almost exactly with the same which the Greeks sing, under the name of Linus. So that among the many wonderful things in Egypt, the greatest wonder of all is where they got this Linus; for they seem to have sung it from time immemorial. The "Linus" in the Egyptian language is called Maneros; and the Egyptians say that he was the only son of the first king of Egypt, and that happening to die prematurely, he was honored by the Egyptians in this mourning dirge, the first and only song they have. In the following particular the Egyptians resemble the Lacedæmonians only among all the Greeks: the young men, when they meet their elders, give way and turn aside; and rise from their seats when they approach. But, unlike any nation of the Greeks, instead of addressing one another in the streets, they salute by letting the hand fall down as far as the knee. They wear linen tunics fringed round the legs, which they call calasiris, and over these they throw white woollen mantles; woollen clothes, however, are not carried into the temples, nor are they buried with them, as this is accounted profane—agreeing in this respect with the worshippers of Orpheus and Bacchus, who are Egyptians and Pythagoreans: for they consider it profane for one who is initiated in these mysteries to be buried in woollen garments for some religious reason or other. The Egyptians have discovered more prodigies than all the rest of the world. They have amongst them oracles of Hercules, Apollo, Minerva, Diana, Mars, and Jupiter; but that which they honor above all others is the oracle of Latona in the city of Buto. The art of medicine is divided amongst them into specialties, each physician applying himself to one disease only. All places abound in physicians, some for the eyes, others for the head, others for the teeth, others for cutaneous diseases, and others still for internal disorders.
Their manner of mourning and burying is as follows: When a man of any consideration dies, all the women of that family besmear their heads and faces with mud, leave the body in the house, and wander about the city, beating themselves, having their clothes girt up, their neck and breast exposed, and all their relations accompany them. The men, too, beat themselves in the same way. When they have done this, they carry out the body to be embalmed. There are persons who are specially appointed for this purpose; when the dead body is brought to them, they show to the bearers wooden models of corpses, skilfully painted to illustrate the various methods of embalming. They first show the most expensive manner of embalming; then the second, which is inferior and less expensive; and lastly, the third and cheapest. The relations stipulate which style they prefer, agree on the price, and depart. To embalm a body in the most expensive manner, they first draw out the brains through the nostrils with an iron hook, perfecting the operation by the infusion of drugs. Then with a sharp Ethiopian stone they make an incision in the side, and take out all the bowels; and having cleansed the abdomen and rinsed it with palm-wine, they next sprinkle it with pounded perfumes. Then they fill the belly with pure myrrh pounded, and cassia, and other perfumes, frankincense excepted, and sew it up again; this done, they steep it in natrum, leaving it under for seventy days; a longer time than which it is not lawful to steep it. At the expiration of the seventy days they wash the corpse, and wrap the whole body in bandages of flaxen cloth, smearing it with gum, which the Egyptians commonly use instead of glue. After this the relations take the body back again, make a wooden case in the shape of a man, enclose the body in it, and store it in a sepulchral chamber, setting it upright against the wall. For those who, to avoid great expense, desire the middle way, they prepare in the following manner. Charging syringes with oil made from cedar, they fill the abdomen of the corpse without making any incision or taking out the bowels, but inject it at the fundament; and having prevented the injection from escaping, they steep the body in natrum for the prescribednumber of days, on the last of which they let out from the abdomen the oil of cedar which has such power that it brings away the intestines and vitals in a state of dissolution; the natrum dissolves the flesh, and nothing of the body remains but the skin and the bones. The operation is then complete. The third method of embalming, which is used only for the poorer sort, consists in thoroughly rinsing the abdomen in syrmæa, and steeping it with natrum for the seventy days. Should any person, whether Egyptian or stranger, be found to have been seized by a crocodile, or drowned in the river, to whatever city the body may be carried, the inhabitants are by law compelled to have the body embalmed, and adorned in the handsomest manner, and buried in the sacred vaults. Nor is it lawful for any one else, whether relations or friends, to touch him; but the priests of the Nile bury the corpse with their own hands, as being something more than human.
They avoid using Grecian customs; and, in a word, the customs of all other people whatsoever.
The Egyptians who dwell in the morasses, have the same customs as the rest of the Egyptians, and each man has but one wife, like the Greeks. But to obtain food more easily, they have the following inventions: when the river is full, and has made the plains like a sea, great numbers of lilies, which the Egyptians call lotus, spring up in the water: these they gather and dry in the sun; then having pounded the middle of the lotus, which resembles a poppy, they make bread of it and bake it. The root also of this lotus is fit for food, and is tolerably sweet; it is round, and of the size of an apple. There are also other lilies, like roses, that grow in the river, the fruit of which is contained in a separate pod, that springs up from the root in form very much like a wasp's nest; in this there are many berries fit to be eaten, of the size of an olive stone, and they are eaten both fresh and dried. The byblus, an annual plant, is found in the fens. They cut off the top and put it to some other uses, but the lower part that is left, to the length of a cubit, they eat and sell. Those who are anxious to eat the byblus dressed in the most delicate manner, stew it in a hot pan and then eat it.
The Egyptians who live about the fens use an oil drawn from the fruit of the sillicypria, which they call cici: they plant and cultivate these sillicypria, which in Greece grow spontaneous and wild, on the banks of the rivers and lakes: under cultivation these bear an abundance of fruit, though of an offensive smell. Some bruise it and press out the oil; others boil and stew it, and collect the liquid that flows from it; this is fat, and no less suited for lamps than olive oil; but it emits a disgusting smell. They contrive in various ways to protect themselves from the mosquitoes, which are very abundant. Towers are of great service to those who inhabit the upper parts of the marshes; for the mosquitoes are prevented by the winds from flying high: but those who live round the marshes have contrived another expedient. Every man has a net, with which in the daytime he takes fish, and at night, in whatever bed he sleeps, he throws the net around it, and crawls in underneath; if he should wrap himself up in his clothes or in linen, the mosquitoes would bite through them, but they never attempt to bite through the net.
Their ships in which they convey merchandise are made of the acacia, which in shape is much like the Cyrenæan lotus, and exudes a gum. From this acacia they cut planks about two cubits in length and join them together like bricks, building their ships in the following manner: They fasten the planks of two cubits length round stout and long ties: when they have thus built the hulls, they lay benches across them. They make no use of ribs, but caulk the seams inside with byblus. They make only one rudder, and that is driven through the keel. They use a mast of acacia, and sails of byblus. These vessels are unable to sail up the stream unless a fair wind prevails, but are towed from the shore. They are thus carried down the stream: there is a hurdle made of tamarisk, wattled with a band of reeds, and a stone with a hole in the middle, of about two talents in weight; of these two, the hurdle is fastened to a cable, and let down at the prow of the vessel to be carried on by the stream; and the stone by another cable at the stern; and by this means the hurdle, by the streambearing hard upon it, moves quickly and draws along "the baris" (for this is the name given to these vessels), but the stone being dragged at the stern, and sunk to the bottom, keeps the vessel in its course. They have very many of these vessels, and some of them carry many thousand talents. When the Nile inundates the country, the cities alone are seen above its surface, like the islands dotting the Ægean Sea. When this happens, they navigate no longer by the channel of the river, but straight across the country.
Informer time, the priests of Jupiter did to Hecatæus the historian, when he was tracing his own genealogy, and connecting his family with a god in the sixteenth degree, the same as they did to me, though I did not endeavor to trace my genealogy. Conducting me into the interior of a spacious edifice, and showing me four hundred and forty-five wooden colossuses, they counted them over; for every high-priest places an image of himself there during his lifetime; the priests pointed out that the succession from father to son was unbroken. But when Hecatæus traced his own genealogy, and connected himself with a god in the sixteenth degree, they controverted his genealogy by computation, not admitting that a man could be born from a god; and said that each of the colossuses was a Piromis, sprung from a Piromis; until they pointed out the three hundred and forty-five colossuses, each a Piromis, sprung from a Piromis, and they did not connect them with any god or hero. Piromis means, in the Grecian language, "a noble and good man." They said that these were very far from being gods; but before the time of these men, gods had been the rulers of Egypt, and had dwelt amongst men; and that one of them always had the supreme power, and that Orus, the son of Osiris, was the last who reigned over it. Now, Osiris in the Greek language means Bacchus, and Orus is the equivalent of Apollo.
All the revenue from the city of Anthylla, which is of much importance, is assigned to purchase shoes for the wife of the reigning king of Egypt.
Thepriests informed me, that Menes, who first ruled over Egypt, in the first place protected Memphis by a mound; for the whole river formerly ran close to the sandy mountain on the side of Libya; but Menes, beginning about a hundred stades above Memphis, filled in the elbow toward the south, dried up the old channel, and conducted the river into a canal, so as to make it flow between the mountains. This bend of the Nile is still carefully upheld by the Persians, and made secure every year; for if the river should break through and overflow in this part, there would be danger lest all Memphis should be flooded. When the part cut off had been made firm land by this Menes, who was first king, he built on it the city that is now called Memphis; and outside of it he excavated a lake from the river toward the north and the west; for the Nile itself bounds it toward the east. In the next place, they relate that he built in it the temple of Vulcan, which is vast and well worthy of mention. After this the priests enumerated from a book the names of three hundred and thirty other kings. In so many generations of men, there were eighteen Ethiopians and one native queen, the rest were Egyptians. The name of this woman who reigned, was the same as that of the Babylonian queen, Nitocris: they said that she avenged her brother, whom the Egyptians had slain, while reigning over them. After they had slain him, they delivered the kingdom to her; and she, to avenge him, destroyed many of the Egyptians by this stratagem: she caused an extensive apartment to be made underground, and pretended that she was going to consecrate it, then inviting those ofthe Egyptians whom she knew to have been principally concerned in the murder, she gave them a great banquet, and in the midst of the feast let in the river upon them, through a large concealed channel. Of the other kings they did not say that they were in any respect renowned, except the last, Mœris; he accomplished some memorable works, as the portal of Vulcan's temple, facing the north wind; and dug a lake, and built pyramids in it, the size of which I shall mention when I come to speak of the lake itself.