lous on this point, that few can be induced to eat the meat of the camel, unless certain of its having been killed when in a healthy state. The giraffe frequently occurs, both in the paintings, as a rare animal brought from Ethiopia to Egypt, and as a hieroglyphic in monumental sculptures. But there is no appearance of its having been sacred, though an instance is mentioned of its having been found embalmed. It is introduced as an emblem connected with the religion, in the sculptures of Hermonthis, where it accompanies the figure of death, some apes, and a jackal in adoration of the winged Scarabæus, the emblem of the Sun. Pliny says it was called by the Ethiopians Nabin, or Nabis. Of the antelopes, the Oryx was the only one chosen as an emblem; but it was not sacred; and the same city, on whose monuments it was represented in sacred subjects, was in the habit of killing it for the table. The head of this animal formed the prow of the mysterious boat of Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, who was worshipped with peculiar honours at Memphis, and who held a conspicuous place among the contemplar Gods of all the temples of Upper and Lower Egypt. This did not, however, prevent their sacrificing the Oryx to the Gods, or slaughtering it for their own use; large herds of them being kept by the wealthy Egyptians for this purpose*: and the sculptures of Memphis and its vicinity * Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 138. 254. ; and Vol. III. p. 7. 24. abound, no less than those of the Thebaïd, with proofs of this fact. But a particular one may have been set apart and consecrated to the Deity, -being distinguished by certain marks which the priests fancied they could discern, as in the case of oxen exempted from sacrifice." And if the law permitted the Oryx to be killed without the mark of the pontiff's seal, (which was indispensable for oxen previous to their being taken to the altar,) the privilege of exemption might be secured to a single animal, when kept apart within the inaccessible precincts of a temple. In the Zodiacs, the Oryx was chosen to represent the sign Capricornus. M. Champollion considers it the representative of Seth; and Horapollo† gives it an unamiable character, as the emblem of impurity. It was even thought" to foreknow the rising of the Moon, and to be indignant at her presence." Pliny is disposed to give it credit for better behaviour towards the Dog-start, which, when rising, it looked upon with the appearance of adoration. But the naturalist was misinformed respecting the growth of its hair§, in imitation of the Bull Basis. Such are the fables of old writers; and, judging from the important post it held in the boat of Sokari, I am disposed to consider it the emblem of a good rather than of an evil Deity, contrary to the opinion of the learned Champollion. * Herodot. ii. 38. Horapollo, i. 49. Vide Elian. An. x. 28. § Plin. viii. 53. GOAT. IBEX. According to Herodotus, the Goat was sacred in the Mendesian nome, where great honours were paid to it, particularly to the male. In that province, even the goatherds themselves were respected, notwithstanding the general prejudice of the Egyptians against every denomination of pastor. The same consideration was not extended to these animals in every part of the country; and some of the inhabitants of Upper Egypt sacrificed them; as the Mendesians offered to their God sheep, which were sacred in the Thebaïd. † Ælian states, that at Coptos the she-goat was sacred, and religiously revered, — being a favourite animal of the Goddess Isis, who was particularly worshipped there; but this feeling did not prevent their sacrificing the males of the same species. Herodotus also tells us that the goat was sacred to Pan, who was worshipped in the Mendesian nome; but he appears to have confounded that Deity, who in reality corresponded to the Khem of Egypt, with Mandoo, and to have described the God of Generation under a form which was given to no one of the Egyptian Pantheon. § When a he-goat died, the whole Mendesian nome went into mourning; and Strabo || and Diodorus also mention the veneration in which it was held, in some parts of Egypt, as the emblem of the generative principle. It is, therefore, sin * Herodot. ii. 46. Ælian, x. 23. + Herodot. ii. 42. Vide suprà, 32.; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 260. Diodor. i. 88. and 84. gular that the horns of the goat were not given to Khem, who answered to that attribute of the divine power. Plutarch pretends that the Mendesian goat was called Apis, like the Sacred Bull of Osiris ; but this is very questionable, as I have already observed t; and, unfortunately, little remains of the monuments in the Mendesian nome to guide us respecting the true character of the presiding Deity of that province. The Ibex, or wild goat‡ of the desert, was not sacred. It occurs sometimes in astronomical subjects; and is frequently represented among the animals slaughtered for the table and the altar, both in the Thebaïd and in Lower Egypt. THE SHEEP, AND KEBSH. The Sheep was sacred in Upper Egypt, particularly in the vicinity of Thebes and Elephantine. The Lycopolites, however, sacrificed and ate this animal, "because the wolf did so, whom they revered as a God §;" and the same was done by the people of the Mendesian nome; though Strabo would seem to confine the sacrifice of sheep to the nome of Nitriotis. In the Thebaïd it was considered not merely as an emblem, but ranked among the most sacred of all animals. It was dedicated to Neph, one of the greatest Deities of the Thebaïd, who was represented with the head of a ram (for, as I have already * Vide suprà, p. 56. † Suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 72. § Plut. de Is. s. 72. ¡Öservei®. zus was not gyer to Amen, as the Greeks and 3mans magned; and the inhabitants of mat district feemed ¤ miswil to eat its fesi- r 21 sacrifice in their cars. According to Berdicis. Dey serviced a ram once a year at Thebes, a me jest or Jupiter, - the only occasion on vich i was permitted to kill this sacred animai; and after having clad the statue of the God in the skin the people made a solemn lamentation, strking themselves as they walked around the tempie. They afterwards buried the body in a sacred coffe The sacred bouts or arks of Neph were ornamented with the head of a ram; and bronze figures of this animal were made by the Thebans, to be worn as amulets, or kept as guardians of the house, to which they probably paid their adorations in private, invoking them as intercessors for the aid of the Deity they represented. Their heads were often surmounted by the globe and Uræus, like the statues of the Deity himself. Strabo§, Clemens, and many other writers, notice the sacred character of the sheep; and the two former state that it was looked upon with the same veneration in the Saïte nome, as in the neighbourhood of Thebes. The four-horned sheep mentioned by Elian, which, he says, were kept in the temple of Jupiter, are still common in Egypt. * Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 237. 241. 249. Plutarch seems to think all the priests abstained from it, as from swine's flesh, s. 5. 74. Herodot. ii. 42. Clem. Orat. Adhort. p. 17. Strabo, xvii. p. 552. 559. ¶ Ælian, Nat. Hist. xi. 40. |