Some fabulous insects may also be cited, as well as fabulous quadrupeds, which were chiefly emblems appropriated to particular Gods, or representative of certain ideas connected with religion, the most remarkable of which were scarabs with the heads of hawks, rams, and cows. Of these, many are found made of pottery, stone, and other materials, and the sculptures represent the beetle with a human head. This change did not render them less fit emblems of the Gods: the Scarabæus of the Sun appears with the head of a ram as well as a hawk; and the God Pthah was sometimes figured with the body of a Scarabæus, and the head and legs of his usual human form. Having now stated the name of the Deity to whom they were consecrated, and the town where divine honours were particularly paid to them, it remains to add a few remarks on the comparative claims of each, in order to distinguish the animals worshipped as Deities, those held sacred throughout Egypt, those whose worship was confined to particular districts, and those which were revered merely out of respect to the Gods of whom they were emblems. MONKEYS. The Cynocephalus Ape, which was particularly sacred to Thoth, held a conspicuous place among the sacred animals of Egypt, being worshipped as the type of the God of Letters, and of the Moon, which was one of the characters of Thoth. It was even introduced in the sculptures as the God himself, with "Thoth, Lord of Letters," and other legends, inscribed over it*; and in astronomical subjects two Cynocephali are frequently represented standing in a boat before the Sun in an attitude of prayer, as emblems of the Moon. † Their presence in a similar boat with a pig probably refers to them as types of the Divinity, in whose honour that animal was sacrificed; "the Moon and Bacchus," according to Herodotus‡, being the sole "Deities to whom it was lawful to immolate swine, and that only at the full moon."§ But their presence was not confined to Thoth or the Moon. On two sides of the pedestals of the obelisks of Luxor, four Cynocephali stand in the same attitude, as if in adoration of the Deity to whom those monuments were dedicated; a balustrade over the centre doorway of the temple of Amun at Medeenet Haboo is ornamented with figures of these animals; and a row of them forms the cornice of the exterior of the great temple dedicated to Re at Aboosimbel. Sometimes a Cynocephalus, placed upon a throne as a God, holds a small Ibis in its hand; and in the judgment scenes of the dead it frequently occurs seated on the summit of the balance, as the emblem of Thoth, who had an important office on that occasion, and registered the account of the actions of the deceased. * Vide Plate 45. Herodot. ii. 47. Plutarch says, + Vide also Horapollo, i. 14, 15. a sow was sacrificed to Typho once a year, at the full moon." De Is. s. 8. Horapollo states some curious reasons for Cynocephali being chosen as emblems of the Moon. Iamblichus also speaks of certain physical analogies common to them and to that luminary; and the former supposes that they were brought up in the temples, in order to enable the priests to ascertain from their habits the exact instant of the conjunction of the Sun and Moon. Several equally ridiculous reasons are given for their relation to Thoth, and to other hieroglyphic symbols. The place where this animal was particularly sacred was Hermopolis, the city of Thoth. Thebes and other towns also treated it with the respect due to the representative of the Egyptian Hermes; and in the Necropolis of the capital of Upper Egypt, a particular spot was set apart as the cemetery of the sacred Apes. Mummies of the Cynocephalus are put up in a sitting posture, which is that usually given to the animal in the sculptures, when representing the God Thoth; and its head forms one of the covers of the four sepulchral vases deposited in the tombs of the dead. † It was then the type of the God Hapi, one of the four Genii of Amenti, who was always figured with the head of a Cynocephalus. Many of this species of ape were tamed and kept by the Egyptians, and the paintings show that they were even trained for useful purposes, as I have already had occasion to observe.‡ *Horapollo, i. 14.; and Plin. viii. 54. Vide Vol. II. p. 150. It was a native of Ethiopia, as Pliny * and other authors state, where it is still common; and many are brought down to Cairo at the present day, to amuse the crowds in the streets, by exhibiting the antics they are taught, to the sound of drums and other noisy instruments; but the constant application of the stick shows the little respect now paid in Egypt to the once revered emblem of Hermes. Strabo agrees with other writers †, in stating that the Hermopolitans worshipped the Cynocephalus. He afterwards mentions the Cepus, which was sacred in Babylon ‡, near Memphis; but from his description of that animal, "with a face like a satyr, and the rest between a dog and a bear," we may suppose he had in view the sacred Ape of Thoth, as no animal worshipped in Egypt answers his description so well as the Cynocephalus. § Indeed, it is possible that he mistook the Cynocephalus of Hermopolis for one of the smaller kind of monkeys, and applied the name Cepus to the sacred type of the Egyptian Hermes. This is further confirmed by the account given by Pliny || of "the Cepus, whose hind feet resembled human feet and thighs, and the fore feet were like human hands," and by its being "a native of Ethiopia.” Some might suppose that he had in view the Ty * Plin. viii. 54., and vii. 2. + Strabo, xvii. p. 559. The modern town of Old Cairo stands on the site of Babylon, of which the principal remains are the Roman station mentioned by Strabo (xvii. p. 555.). Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 309. S. Passalacqua mentions a monster resembling a Cynocephalus found at Hermopolis. Vide Pettigrew on Mummies, p. 184. ; and Passalacqua's Catalogue, p. 149. || Plin. viii. 19. Vide Elian. Nat. An. xvii. 8. phonian figure which occurs so often in the astronomical subjects; but this is generally represented with the head of a hippopotamus and the body of a bear, or of some fanciful monster.* The green monkey of Ethiopia was frequently brought to Egypt with the Cynocephalus by those who paid tribute to the Kings of Egypt; there is, however, no evidence of its having been sacred to any Deity. Some writers mention the Cercopithecus, which, from the expression "Si mihi cauda foret cercopithecus eram," seems to have been remarkable for the length of its tail. This might even apply to the green monkey of Ethiopia. Indeed, Pliny's description of the Cercopithecus with a black head accords with one species still found there. They seem to have been embalmed at Thebes and other places, and may therefore have some claim to a rank among the animals revered by the Egyptians; and, if we may believe Juvenal ‡, the Cercopithecus was worshipped in the capital of the Thebaïd. It was frequently represented as an ornament in necklaces, in common with other animals, flowers, and fanciful devices; and the neck of a bottle was sometimes decorated with two sitting monkeys. * Vide Plate 40.; and suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 429. † Pliny (viii. 21.) does not place the Cercopithecus among the monkey tribe. Juv. Sat. xv. 4. |