the animals of Egypt. But it is now confined to the upper parts of Ethiopia; being seldom known to come into Nubia, or that part lying between the second and first cataract; and if ever it is seen in Egypt, its visit is purely accidental, and as contrary, as I have already had occasion to remark*, to its own expectations, as to those of the astonished natives who witness its migration. I have also mentioned the mode of catching it, and the uses to which its hide were applied, both in ancient and modern times.t Herodotus says, that though the Hippopotamus is sacred in the Papremitic nome, they have not the same respect for it in the rest of Egypt; and, according to Plutarch, "it was reckoned amongst the animals emblematic of the Evil Being. At Hermopolis," he adds, "is shown a statue of Typho, which is a river-horse with a hawk upon its back, fighting with a serpent; the river-horse signifying Typho, and the hawk that power and sovereignty which he frequently gets into his hands by violence, and then employs in works of mischief, both to his own annoyance and to the prejudice of others. So, again, those sacred cakes offered in sacrifice upon the seventh day of the month Tybi, when they celebrate the return of Isis from Phoenicia, have the impression of a river-horse bound stamped upon them." From the representations of this animal in the sculptures both in Upper and Lower Egypt, it is evident that the respect paid * Suprà, Vol. III. p. 74. + Suprà, Vol. III. p. 69 to it was far from being general in the country; and figures of a Typhonian character in religious subjects on the monuments are frequently portrayed with the head of a hippopotamus.* Even the Cerberus, or monster of Amenti, is sometimes represented under the form of this animal. I have nowhere found a male Deity with the head of a hippopotamus, or accompanied by it as an emblem, in any of the sculptures of Egypt; and the only instances of a hippopotamus-headed God are in some figures of blue pottery, probably from the vicinity of Papremis, to which, as Herodotus observes, its worship was confined. According to Plutarch, the "river-horse" was the emblem of "impudence."+ This he endeavours to show by a hieroglyphic sentence in the porch of the temple of Saïs, composed of an infant, an old man, a hawk, a fish, and a hippopotamus, which he thus interprets, "Oh! you who are coming into the world, and who are going out of it (that is, young or old), God hateth impudence." And, indeed, if the reason he gives ‡ for its having been chosen as this symbol were true, or even believed by the Egyptians, we ought not to be surprised that he was considered sufficiently unamiable to be a Typhonian animal. Clemens substitutes the crocodile for the hippopotamus in this sentence, which he gives§ from * Vide suprà, 88.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 429, 430. + Plut. de Is. s. 32. Conf. Elian. An. vii. 19. Clem. Strom. v. p. 159. a temple at Diospolis; and Horapollo assigns to the claws of the hippopotamus the signification of “injustice and ingratitude," as to the whole animal the force of “time,” or “an hour." The injury done by this animal to the cornt fields might suffice to exclude it from the respect of the agricultural population; and the Egyptian peasants were probably called upon to frighten it out of their fields on many occasions with brass saucepans and other utensils, in the same manner as the modern Ethiopians. But it probably never abounded in that part of the Nile south of the first cataract; and its worship was confined to places beyond the reach of its intrusion. The hippopotamus was also said to have been a symbol of the Western pole, or the region of darkness,- distinct, of course, from that primeval darkness which covered the deep, and from which sprang the light, supposed to have been typified by the Mygale, the emblem of Buto. I have already § explained the opinions of the Egyptians on this point; and on the supposed analogy of the West, which buried the Sun in darkness, and the gloomy mansions of the dead; the former being termed Ement, and the latter Amenti. I have also noticed the resemblance between Eréb (or Gharb), the West, of the Hebrews, and the Erebus of Greece.T * Horapollo, i. 56. and ii. 20. Vide Euseb. Præp. Evang. iii. 12. Ælian, v. 53. Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 273, 274. Mummies of the hippopotamus are said to have been found at Thebes, and one is preserved in the British Museum. PIG, AND WILD BOAR. * The horror in which the pig was held in Egypt, I have had occasion to mention. According to Herodotust, the same aversion extended to the people of Cyrene, who abstained from the meat of swine, as well as "of the Cow out of respect to Isis." Herodotus says it was unlawful for the Egyptians to sacrifice the pig to any Gods but to the Moon and Bacchus, which was only done at the full Moon,-a sacred reason forbidding them to offer it on any other festival.§ It was on the former occasion alone that the people were permitted to eat its flesh,—a wise sanatory regulation having made it unclean in the hot climate of Egypt. A similar prohibition was denounced against it by the Jewish legislator, and the Abyssinian Christians continue to think it a religious duty to abstain from this unwholesome food. From the aversion felt by the Egyptians to the pig, we can readily account for their choosing it as an emblem of uncleanness, and a fit abode for the souls of wicked men. The prejudices of other people have to the present day followed its name, * Suprà, Vol. II. p. 17.; Vol. III. p. 33. &c. + Herodot. iv. 186. Herodot. ii. 47. The celebration of this rite I shall mention in treating of the Ceremonies. Horapollo, ii. 37. Elian, x. 16. even to a proverb, however welcome its meat may be at table; and though we may not enter into all the horror of an Egyptian on seeing the great predilection of a Greek for the pig, we may ourselves feel surprised at Homer's respect for a feeder of pigs, who had the title "divine," and "prince of men."+ In the fête of Bacchus, the historian tells us, they did not eat the pig, which was sacrificed before their door, but gave it back to the person of whom it had been purchased. Plutarch§, however, says that "those who sacrifice a sow to Typho once a year at the full Moon, afterwards eat its flesh; giving as a reason for the ceremony, that Typho, being in pursuit of that animal at this season, accidentally found the chest wherein was deposited the body of Osiris." But it does not appear whether he had in view the festival of Bacchus (Osiris), or that of the full Moon previously mentioned by Herodotus; and it is possible that both writers intended to confine the custom of eating swine's flesh to one single day in the year. Ælian, indeed, affirms, that they only sacrifice the sow (which they consider an animal most hateful to the Sun and Moon) once a year, on the festival of the Moon, but on no other occasion either to that or any other Deity." * Cicero does not pay a compliment to pigs, when he says they have "animam pro sale ne putrescant." Nat. Deor. lib. ii. Ælian, on the authority of Agatharcides, gives the pigs of Ethiopia horns, v. 27. † Hom. Od. xiv. 48. and 22.—“ Atos voopßoc,” and “Evbwins, opXapoç avopov." Vide also, xv. 350. 388. &c. Herodot. ii. 48. § Plut. de Is. s. 8. |