Chapter 262

3486Evidently intended to be derived from the Greekἱμὰς“a thong,” andπόδες“the feet.” It is most probable that the name of a savage people in the interior bore a fancied resemblance to this word, upon which the marvellous story here stated was coined for the purpose of tallying with the name. From a statement in the Æthiopica of Heliodorus, B. x., Marcus suggests that the story as to the Blemmyæ having no heads arose from the circumstance, that on the invasion of the Persians they were in the habit of falling on one knee and bowing the head to the breast, by which means, without injury to themselves, they afforded a passage to the horses of the enemy.

3487It must be remembered, as already mentioned, that the ancients looked upon Egypt as forming part of Asia, not of Africa. It seems impossible to say how this supposition arose, when the Red Sea and the Isthmus of Suez form so natural and so palpable a frontier between Asia and Africa.

3488It is not improbable that these numbers are incorrectly stated in the MSS. of our author.

3489Parisot remarks that Pliny is in error in this statement. A considerable part of Lower Egypt lay both on the right and left of the Delta or island formed by the branches of the Nile. It must be remembered, however, that our author has already included a portion of what was strictly Egypt, in his description of Libya Mareotis.

3490By reason of its triangular form,Δ.

3491The Ombite nome worshipped the crocodile as the emblem of Sebak. Its capital was Ombos.

3492This nome destroyed the crocodile and worshipped the sun. Its capital was Apollinopolis Magna.

3493It worshipped Osiris and his son Orus. The chief town was Thermonthis.

3494Probably the original kingdom of Menes of This, the founder of the Egyptian monarchy. It worshipped Osiris. Its capital was This, afterwards called Abydos.

3495The nome of Thebes, which was its chief town.

3496Its capital was Coptos.

3497Its chief town was Tentyra. This nome worshipped Athor or Venus, Isis, and Typhon. It destroyed the crocodile.

3498Perhaps the same as the Panopolite or Chemmite nome, which had for its chief town Chemmis or Panopolis. It paid divine honours to a deified hero.

3499It probably worshipped Typhon. Its capital was Antæopolis.

3500Probably an offshoot from a nome in the Heptanomis of similar name.

3501Dedicated to the worship of the wolf. Its chief town was Lycopolis. It should be remarked that these names do not appear to be given by Pliny in their proper geographical order.

3502Some of these nomes were inconsiderable and of little importance. The Bubastite nome worshipped Bubastis, Artemis, or Diana, of whom it contained a fine temple.

3503Its chief town was Tanis. In this nome, according to tradition, Moses was born.

3504Its capital was Athribis, where the shrew-mouse and crocodile were worshipped.

3505The seat of the worship of the dog-headed deity Anubis. Its capital was Cynopolis; which is to be distinguished from the Deltic city and other places of that name, as this was a nome of the Heptanomis or Middle Egypt, to which also the Hammonian nome belonged.

3506The border nome of Upper and Middle Egypt.

3507Its capital was Pachnamunis. It worshipped a goddess corresponding to the Greek Leto, or the Latona of the Romans.

3508Its capital was Busiris. It worshipped Isis, and at one period was said to have sacrificed the nomad tribes of Syria and Arabia.

3509Its chief town was Onuphis.

3510Its chief city was Sais, and it worshipped Neith or Athene, and contained the tomb and a sanctuary of Osiris.

3511Its capital was Tava.

3512Its chief town was Naucratis on the coast, the birth-place of Athenæus, the Deipnosophist. By some authors it is made part of the Saitic nome. The names given by Pliny vary very considerably from those found in others of the ancient writers.

3513The capital of this nome was Heracleopolis, ‘The city of Hercules,’ as Pliny calls it, situate, as he says, on an island, at the entrance of the nome of Arsinoïtes, formed by the Nile and a canal. After Memphis and Heliopolis, it was probably the most important city south of the Thebaid. Its ruins are inconsiderable; a portion of them are to be seen at the modern hamlet of Amasieh.

3514He probably means Arsinoë or Arsinoïtis, the chief town of the nome of that name, and the city so called at the northern extremity of the Heroöpolite Gulf in the Red Sea. The former is denoted by the modern district of El-Fayoom, the most fertile of ancient Egypt. At this place the crocodile was worshipped. The Labyrinth and Lake Mœris were in this nome. Extensive ruins at Medinet-el-Fayoom, or El-Fares, represent its site. The modern Ardscherud, a village near Suez, corresponds to Arsinoë on the Red Sea. There is some little doubt however whether this last Arsinoë is the one here meant by Pliny.

3515Memphis was the chief city of this nome, which was situate in Middle Egypt, and was the capital of the whole country, and the residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded Psammetichus,B.C.616. This nome rose in importance on the decline of the kingdom of Thebais, but was afterwards eclipsed by the progress of Alexandria under the successors of Alexander the Great.

3516At which Middle Egypt terminates.

3517They are more generally looked upon as forming one nome only, and included under the name of Hammonium.

3518Its chief town was Heroöpolis, a principal seat of the worship of Typhon, the evil or destroying genius.

3519The same as the nome of Arsinoïtes, the capital of which, Arsinoë, was originally called Crocodilopolis.

3520Now known as Birket-el-Keroum. This was a vast lake on the western side of the Nile in Middle Egypt, used for the reception and subsequent distribution of a part of the overflow of the Nile. The supposition that it was formed by artificial means is now pretty generally exploded, and it is regarded as of natural formation. It was situate in the nome of Arsinoïtes or Crocodilopolites. Its length seems to be overstated by our author, as at the present day it is only thirty miles in length and five in breadth at the widest part.

3521And it is generally supposed that they are so up to the present day. The ethnographer Jablonski is of opinion that this river derives its name from the Coptish wordtneialei“to rise at stated times.” Servius, the commentator on Virgil, says that it is derived from the two Greek wordsνέα ἰλὺς“fresh mud,” in allusion to the fresh mud or slime which it leaves after each inundation. Singularly enough, Champollion prefers this silly etymology to that suggested by Jablonski.

3522An interesting disquisition on the probable sources of the Nile, as viewed by the ancients, is to be found in the Ninth Book of Lucan’s Pharsalia. The Indian word “nilas,” “black,” has also been suggested as its possible origin.

3523What spot is meant under this name, if indeed it is anything more than the creation of fancy, it is impossible to ascertain with any degree of precision. It is possible however that the ancients may have had some knowledge of Lake Tchad, and the Mountains of the Moon, or Djebel-Kumri, though at the same time it is more than doubtful that the Nile has its source in either of those localities, the former especially.

3524Perhaps a kind of river lamprey. As to the Coracinus, see B. ix. c. 24, 32, and B. xxxii. c. 19, 24, 34, 44, and 53; and as to the Silurus, B. ix. c. 17, 25, and B. xxxii. c. 31, 36, 40, 43, 44, &c.

3525The modern Vacur in Northern Africa.

3526A district which in reality was at least 1200 or 1500 miles distant from any part of the Nile, and probably near 3000 from its real source.

3527“Spargit.” It is doubtful whether this word means here “waters,” or “divides.” Probably however the latter is its meaning.

3528This is the third or eastern branch of the river, now known as the Tacazze. It rises in the highlands of Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′ north lat. and 39° 40′ east long., and joins the main stream of the Nile, formed by the union of the Abiad and the Azrek, in 17° 45′ north lat. and about 34° 5′ east long.; the point of junction being the apex of the island of Meroë, here mentioned by Pliny.

3529Possibly by this name he designates the Bahr-el-Abied, or White River, the main stream of the Nile, the sources of which have not been hitherto satisfactorily ascertained. The Astapus is supposed to have been really the name of the Bahr-el-Azrek, or Blue River, the third branch of the Nile, the sources of which are in the highlands of Abyssinia, in about 11° 40′ north lat. and 39° 40′ east long.

3530Or “side of the water that issues from the shades.” As Hardouin says, this does not appear to be a very satisfactory explanation.

3531Said by Tzetzes to have been derived from the Greekτρίτος, “the third,” because it had three times changed its name: having been called, first, the Ocean; secondly, Aëtus, or the Eagle; and thirdly, Ægyptus.

3532Or the “Cataracts,” for which it is the Greek name. The most northerly of these cataracts, called the First Cataract, is, and always has been, the southern boundary of Egypt. According to the most recent accounts, these Cataracts are devoid of any stupendous features, such as characterize the Falls of Niagara.

3533The one now called the First Cataract.

3534Seven mouths in ancient times, which have now dwindled down to two of any importance, the Damietta mouth on the east, and the Rosetta on the west.

3535The Etesians are periodical winds, which blow steadily from one quarter for forty days each year, during the season of the Dog-days. The opinion here stated was that promulgated by Thales the philosopher. Seneca refutes it in B. iv. c. 2. of his Quæst. Nat.

3536This was the opinion of Democritus of Abdera, and of Agatharchidas of Cnidos. It is combated by Diodorus Siculus, B. i., but it is the opinion most generally received at the present day. See the disquisition on the subject introduced in the Ninth book of Lucan’s Pharsalia.

3537And that the high tide or inundation would be consequently continuous as well.

3538The principal well for this purpose was called the “Nilometer,” or “Gauge for the Nile.”

3539On this subject see Pliny, B. xviii. c. 47, and B. xxxvi. c. 11.

3540Seneca says that the Nile did not rise as usual in the tenth and eleventh years of the reign of Cleopatra, and that the circumstance was said to bode ruin to her and Antony.—Nat. Quæst. B. iv. c. 2.

3541He means dense clouds, productive of rain, not thin mists. See what is said of the Borysthenes by our author, B. xxxi. c. 30.

3542Syene was a city of Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile just below the First Cataract, and was looked upon as the southern frontier city of Egypt against Æthiopia. It was an important point in the geography and astronomy of the ancients; for, lying just under the tropic of Cancer, it was chosen as the place through which they drew their chief parallel of latitude. The sun was vertical to Syene at the time of the summer solstice, and a well was shown there where the face of the sun was seen at noon at that time. Its present name is Assouan or Ossouan.

3543If this word means the “Camp,” it does not appear to be known what camp is meant. Most editions have “Cerastæ,” in which case it would mean that at Syene the Cerastes or horned serpent is found.

3544One of these (if indeed Philæ did consist of more than a single island, which seems doubtful) is now known as Djeziret-el-Birbe, the “Island of the Temple.”

3545This island was seated just below the Lesser Cataract, opposite Syene, and near the western bank of the Nile. At this point the river becomes navigable downward to its mouths, and the traveller from Meroë or Æthiopia enters Egypt Proper. The original name of this island was “Ebo,” Eb being in the language of hieroglyphics the symbol of the elephant and ivory. It was remarkable for its fertility and verdure, and the Arabs of the present day designate the island as Djesiret-el-Sag, or “the Blooming.”

3546This is a mistake of Pliny’s, for it was opposite to Syene. Brotier thinks that Pliny intended to write ‘Philæ,’ but by mistake inserted Syene.

3547Artemidorus, Juba, and Aristocreon.

3548They were probably made of papyrus, or else of hides, like the British coracles.

3549The last king of the line of Psammetichus,B.C.569. He succeeded Apries, whom the Egyptians put to death. He died just before the invasion by Cambyses, having displayed great abilities as a ruler.

3550There was the Greater Apollinopolis, the modern Edfoo, in the Thebaid, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 25° north, about thirteen miles below the lesser Cataract: its inhabitants were enemies of the crocodile and its worshippers. The remains of two temples there are considered second only to the temple of Denderah as specimens of the sacred structures of Egypt. A Lesser Apollinopolis was in Upper Egypt, on the western bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° north. Another Lesser Apollinopolis was a town of the Thebaid in the Coptite Nome, in lat. 26° north, situate between Thebes and Coptos. It was situate at the present Kuss.

3551Its site is unknown. Hardouin suggests that it is the Eilethuia of Ptolemy, the modern El-Kab.

3552“City of Jupiter,” the Greek name for Thebes, the No or No Ammon of Scripture. It stood in the centre of the Thebaid, on both banks of the Nile, above Coptos, and in the Nomos Coptites. Its ruins, which are the most magnificent in the world, enclose within their site the four villages of Carnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gournou.

3553Its hieroglyphical name was Kobto, and its site is now occupied by the modern town of Kouft or Keft. It was situate in lat. 26° north, on the right bank of the Nile, about a mile from its banks. As a halting place or rather watering-place for the caravans, it was enriched by the commerce between Libya and Egypt on the one hand, and Arabia and India and Egypt on the other, the latter being carried on through the port of Berenice on the Red Sea, founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus,B.C.266. In the seventh century of the Christian era, it bore for some time the name of Justinianopolis. There are a few remains of Roman buildings to be seen on its site.

3554Also called Aphrodite or Aphroditopolis. Of this name there were several towns or cities in ancient Egypt. In Lower Egypt there was Atarbechis, thus named, and a town mentioned by Strabo in the nome of Leontopolites. In the Heptanomis or Middle Egypt there was the place, the ruins of which are called Aftyeh, on the east side of the Nile, and the capital of the nome of Aphroditopolites. In Upper Egypt or the Thebais there was the present Tachta, on the west side of the Nile, between Ptolemais and Panopolis, capital of another nome of Aphroditopolites, and that one the ruins of which are now called Deir, on the west bank of the Nile, higher up than the former, and, like it, some distance from the river. It was situate in the nome Hermonthites.

3555Another Diospolis. Great Diospolis is mentioned in the preceding page.

3556Or Tentyra. The modern Dendera of the Arabs, called Dendôri or Hidendôri by the ancient Egyptians.

3557In ancient times called This, and in Coptic Ebôt, the ruins of which are now known as Arábat-el-Matfoon. It was the chief town of the Nomos Thinites, and was situate in lat. 26° 10′ north and long. 32° 3′ east. In the Thebaid it ranked next to Thebes itself. Here according to general belief was the burial-place of Osiris. In the time of Strabo it had sunk into a mere village. Its ruins, though nearly buried in the sand, are very extensive. There is, however, some uncertainty as to the exact identity of This with Abydus.

3558The ruins of these places are still to be seen at Abydus.

3559He calls the whole of the country on the western bank of the Nile by this name.

3560Called Absou or Absaï by the Arabs, and Psoë by the ancient Egyptians. It has been suggested that it was the same place as This, more generally identified with Abydus.

3561Its site is now called Ekhmin or Akhmin by the Arabs, Khmim being its ancient Egyptian name. It was the chief town of the nome of Panopolites, and the deity Phthah was worshipped there under the form of Priapus.

3562Another Aphroditopolis, the present Tachta, mentioned above, in Note3554in the last page. Pliny distinguishes it from that now called Deir, mentioned above.

3563Now known as Es-Siout.

3564Or Hermopolis—the modern Esh-moon or Ash-mounion, on the eastern bank of the Nile, in lat. 27° 54′ north. It was the capital of the Hermopolite nome in the Heptanomis. It was a place of great opulence and densely populated. The deities Typhon and Thoth were principally worshipped at this place. The latter, the inventor of the pen and letters, nearly corresponded with the Hermes of the Greeks (the Mercury of the Romans), from which the Hellenized name of the place. Its ruins are very extensive.

3565This town was no doubt connected with the alabaster quarries of Mount Alabasternus, now Mount St. Anthony, and the hill of Alabastrites, now the Côteau Hessan.

3566Or Cynopolis, the chief place of the Cynopolite nome. The Dog-headed deity Anubis was worshipped here. The modern Samallus occupies its site. This place was in the Heptanomis, but there were several other towns of the same name, one of which was situate in the Delta or Lower Egypt.

3567In C.9, when speaking of the nome of Heracleopolites; of which nome, this place, called Heracleopolis, was the capital. It was situate at the entrance of the valley of the Fayoum, on an island formed by the Nile and a canal. After Memphis and Heliopolis it was probably the most important city north of the Thebaid. It furnished two dynasties of kings to Egypt. The ichneumon was worshipped here, from which it may be inferred that the people were hostile to the crocodile. Its ruins are inconsiderable; the village of Anasieh covers part of them.

3568The capital of the nome of Arsinoïtes, seated on the western bank of the Nile, between the river and Lake Mœris, south-west of Memphis, in lat. 29° north. It was called under the Pharaohs, “the City of Crocodiles,” from the reverence paid by the people to that animal. Its ruins are to be seen at Medinet-el-Fayoom or El-Fares.

3569Its magnificent ruins, known by the name of Menf and Metrabenny, are to be seen about ten miles above the pyramids of Gizeh.

3570This lay beyond Lake Mœris, or Birket-el-Keroun, at a short distance from the city of Arsinoë. It had 3000 apartments, 1500 of which were underground. The accounts given by modern travellers of its supposed ruins do not agree with what we have learned from the ancients respecting its architecture and site. The purposes for which it was built are unknown. Its supposed site is called Havara.

3571If this is not an abbreviation or corruption for Crocodilon, as Hardouin suggests, it may probably mean the “town of Rams,” from the worship perhaps of that animal there.

3572Heliopolis or Rameses. In Scripture it is called by the names of On and No—Gen. xli. 45 and Ezek. xxx. 15. It stood on the eastern side of the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, near the right bank of the Great Canal which connected the river with the Red Sea, and close adjoining to the present overland route for travellers to India. It was one of the most ancient of the Egyptian cities; here the father-in-law of Joseph exercised the office of high-priest, and here the prophet Jeremiah is supposed to have written his Book of Lamentations. Its priests were the great depositaries of the theological and historical learning of Egypt. Solon, Thales, and Plato were reputed each to have visited its schools. According to Macrobius, Baalbec, the Syrian City of the Sun, was a colony from this place. It was the capital of the nome Heliopolites, and paid worship to the sun and the bull Mnevis, the rival of Apis. From Josephus we learn that after the dispersion and fall of the tribes of Judah and Israel, great numbers of the Jews took refuge at this place, forming almost one-half of its population. The ruins, which were extremely magnificent, occupied in the twelfth century an area nearly three miles in extent. Pliny speaks of the great obelisk there, which is still standing. (See B. xxxvi. c. 9.) The village of Matarieh occupies a part of its site, and besides the obelisk of red granite, there are a few remains of the Temple of the Sun.

3573Now called Birk-el-Mariout.

3574Or Dinocrates. He was the architect of the new temple of Diana at Ephesus, which was built after the destruction of the former one by Herostratus. It was this architect who formed a design for cutting Mount Athos into a statue of Alexander, with a city in the right hand and a reservoir of the mountain streams in the left.

3575Holland seems to think that the word “laxitate” applies to chlamys.

3576Thechlamyswas a scarf or cloak worn over the shoulders, and especially used by military persons of high rank. It did not reach lower than the knees, and was open in front, covering only the neck, back, and shoulders.

3577Its real dimensions were something less than 300 stadia, or thirty geographical miles long, and rather more than 150 stadia wide.

3578Or “Pseudostomata.” These were crossed in small boats, as they were not navigable for ships of burden.

3579In the Pharaonic times Canopus was the capital of the nome of Menelaïtes, and the principal harbour of the Delta. It probably owed its name to the god Canobus, a pitcher full of holes, with a human head, which was worshipped here with peculiar pomp. It was remarkable for the number of its festivals and the general dissoluteness of its morals. Traces of its ruins are to be seen about three miles from the modern Aboukir.

3580Corresponding to the modern Raschid or Rosetta. It is supposed that this place was noted for its manufactory of chariots.

3581The town of Sebennys or Sebennytum, now Samannoud, gave name to one of the nomes, and the Sebennytic Mouth of the Nile.

3582Or the Pathinetic or Bucolic Mouth, said to be the same as the modern Damietta Mouth.

3583The capital of the Mendesian nome, called by the Arabs Ochmoun. This mouth is now known as the Deibeh Mouth.

3584Now called Szan or Tzan. The Tanitic Mouth, which is sometimes called the Saitic, is at the present day called Omm-Faredjé.

3585Its ruins are to be seen at the modern Tineh. This city in early times had the name of Abaris. It was situate on the eastern side of the most easterly mouth of the Nile, which, after it, was called the Pelusiac Mouth, about two miles from the sea, in the midst of morasses. Being the frontier city towards Syria and Arabia it was strongly fortified. It was the birth-place of Ptolemy the geographer.

3586Butos or Buto stood on the Sebennytic arm of the Nile near its mouth, on the southern shores of the Butic Lake. It was the chief seat of the worship of the goddess Buto, whom the Greeks identified with Leto or Latona. The modern Kem Kasir occupies its site.

3587Called Harbait by the Arabs, and Farbait by the ancient Egyptians.

3588In the Delta. It was the capital of the nome of Leontopolites, and probably of late foundation, as no writer previous to Pliny mentions it. Its site is uncertain, but Thall-Essabouah, the “Hill of the Lion,” has been suggested.

3589The chief town of the Athribitic nome in Lower Egypt. It stood on the eastern bank of the Tanitic branch of the Nile. This nome and town derived their name from the goddess Thriphis, whom the inscriptions there and at Panopolis designate as the “most great goddess.” The ruins at Atrieb or Trieb, at the spot where the modern canal of Moueys turns off from the Nile, represent the ancient Athribis. They are very extensive, and among them are considerable remains of the Roman era.

3590This was situate near the city or town of Busiris in the Delta. The modern village of Bahbeyt is supposed to cover the ruins of the temple of Isis.

3591The modern Busyr or Abousir, where considerable ruins of the ancient city are still to be seen. It was the chief town of the nome of Busirites, and stood south of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth, on the western bank of the Nile. This was also the name of a town in Middle Egypt, in the neighbourhood of Memphis, and represented by another village of the name of Abousir. Pliny, B. xxxvi. c. 16, speaks of the Catacombs in its vicinity.

3592The place of that name in the Delta is here meant.

3593Probably the town of that name, otherwise called Aphroditopolis, in the nome of Leontopolites.

3594The ruins of which are now called Sa-el-Hajjar. It was situate in the Delta, on the east side of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt and contained the palace and burial-place of the Pharaohs. It was the chief seat of the worship of the Egyptian goddess Neith, also known as Sais. It gave its name to the nome of Saïtes.

3595It was situate in the Delta of Egypt and in the nome of Saïtes, on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was a colony of the Milesians, founded probably in the reign of Amasis, aboutB.C.550, and remained a pure Greek city. It was the only place in Egypt in which, in the time of the later Pharaohs, foreigners were permitted to settle and trade. In later times it was famous for the worship of Aphrodite or Venus, and rivalled Canopus in the dissoluteness of its manners.

3596Ptolemy the geographer does this.

3597Arabia Petræa; that part of Arabia which immediately joins up to Egypt.

3598Called Arabia Felix to the present day.

3599The part of Arabia which joins up to Egypt, Arabia Petræa namely.

3600Strabo places this people as far south as the mouth of the Red Sea,i. e.on the east of the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb. Forster (in his ‘Arabia,’ vol. ii.) takes this name to be merely an inversion of Beni Kahtan, the great tribe which mainly peoples, at the present day, central and southern Arabia.

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