Athor surmounted by two ostrich plumes; and her name Ehe, "the cow," is followed by its figurative hieroglyphic, or demonstrative sign.* The name Ehe was evidently the origin of the Greek Io, though I am inclined to think that persecuted wanderer to be derived from the history and emblem of Athor, or from Isis, rather than from the Goddess before us. t

Hår, fornor, THE HOURS OF DAY AND NIGHT.

The consecration of every month and day to a particular Deity, mentioned by Herodotus, is more than confirmed by the fact of our finding the hours themselves treated as Divinities. But it is possible that the statement of the historian may only refer to the almanacs, where, according to Chæremon, the names of the Gods appeared affixed to each day, in the same manner as those of saints in modern calendars. ‡

According to the Egyptian system, the hours were not merely dedicated to particular Deities, -each was considered a peculiar Genius in itself, a minute fraction of the divine essence which pervaded it; and, if not worshipped with the same honours as the superior Gods, prayers were addressed to them with the hope of rendering them favourable to the individual who invoked their aid. The hours are frequently found in tombs and on

* Vide Plate 60. Part 2.

+ Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 388. Eustathius says, " Io, in the language of the Argives, is the Moon." Vide Iablonski, ii. c. 1.

p. 7.; and suprà, p. 5., on Thoth.

Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 218.

sarcophagi, where the deceased is represented either praying or making an offering to each in succession, beginning with the 1st and terminating with the 12th hour, both of day and night. From not finding them in any temple, I suppose that their introduction implies a review of the hourly occupations of the individual during his life, and that these Deities or Genii were principally connected with the final ordeal of the dead.

The name in the hieroglyphics is Hor, or Hår, followed by the female sign, which agrees well with the Coptic H&r or onor, the former having the masculine, the latter the feminine article (п&r, and forror); and it is remarkable that in the same language the word signifying "present time" is По, which cannot fail to call to mind the voy of the Greeks, the German nun, and our own now.

The first of those here introduced is the 8th hour of day,-No. 2. the 12th hour, No. 4. the 10th hour, and No. 3. the 10th hour of night; which last is written phonetically egôrh, the Coptic eXwp2*, "night." night." Macrobiust supposes that Apollo, being called Horus by the Egyptians, gave his name to the 24 hours of day and night, as to the 4 seasons, during which he completes his annual course;" and the same is stated by Diodorus to be the opinion of some of the Greeks.

* The Coptic letter X genga is a hard g, and not dj; and from this the Cairenes have probably derived their hard pronunciation of the Arabicgim, or g, which, in Arabia and other places, is always soft. It is, however, supposed that it was originally hard in Arabic, like the Hebrew gimel.

† Macrob. Saturn. lib.i. c. 26.

Diodor. i. 26.

HAWK AND JACKAL-HEADEd Deities.

These three figures of hawk and jackal-headed Deities are common in the tombs of Thebes, but I do not know their office. Two large figures of the hawk-headed Deity, with similar hieroglyphic legends, are conducting, together with the jackalheaded and other Deities, Remeses III. into the presence of the God of the temple, at Medeenet Haboo. These kneeling figures seem to be beating themselves in the manner the Egyptians are said by Herodotus to have done (in honour of Osiris), and as Athenagoras tells us was the custom at all the great festivals celebrated in the temples. They are sometimes represented in the same attitude before the God Atmoo; and from their hieroglyphic legend, we may suppose them to be the Spirits who pervaded the Earth.

THE FOUR GENII OR GODS OF AMENTI.

These four Genii of the lower regions perform a conspicuous part in the ceremonies of the dead. They are present before Osiris while presiding in judgment, and every individual who passed into a future state was protected by their influence.

When a body was embalmed, the intestines were taken out and divided into several portions, each being dedicated to one of these Deities; and they were either deposited in vases*, which bore their re

* These vases have been improperly styled canopi.

spective heads, or were returned into the body accompanied by these four figures. Amset, Hapi, Smautf (or Smof), and Kebhnsnof (or Netsonof) were their names. The first had the head of a man*, and was sometimes represented holding the staff and having the form of the other Deities, but only in the tombs ; the second had the head of a Cynocephalus ape, the third of a jackal, and the fourth of a hawk; and, though differing from them in form, they cannot fail to call to mind the four beasts of the Revelations. They were generally in the form of mummies; but they sometimes occur as human figures walking, and even carrying the body of the dead, as in the chamber of Osiris, at Philæa, where they bear the Deity to his tomb, under the form of Sokari.

To Amset were dedicated the stomach and large intestines; to Hapi the small intestines; to Smautf the lungs and heart; and to Kebhnsnof the liver and gall-bladder. This point was long a desideratum; and though it was known that the four vases, placed in the Egyptian tombs with the sarcophagi, each of which bore the head of one of these Genii, contained the intestines of the dead, no one had examined them with sufficient care to ascertain the exact portion in each. To Mr. Pettigrew we are indebted for this interesting fact; and in introducing it I have much pleasure in paying a just tribute to the patience and zeal with which he conducted the examination, and in re

I have found one instance of Amset in the form of a woman, on a mummy case in the British Museum.

+ Rev. iv. 7.

turning him my thanks for his communication upon the subject.

I have already noticed the assertion of Plutarch, that the Mendesian goat had the same name as the sacred bull Apis; and have shown that the only Deities so called were the Memphite bull, the God Nilus, and one of the Genii of Amenti. Though we may find a difficulty in accounting for such a misconception, it is more probable that this last, which was represented with the head of a Cynocephalus, should have been mistaken for the animal he mentions than the God Nilus. And as he doubtless speaks from a vague report, originating in the ignorance of the Greeks, it is possible that the form of the ape-headed figure, added to the similarity of name, led to his error; which, indeed, is not more inconsistent with truth than Herodotus's belief of the God Pan being represented with the head and legs of a AYME $ One inference may perhaps be drawn from these erroneous statements, that the name Apis (Hapi) signifies a "genius" or "emblem;" Apis being the "Genius," or, as Plutarch calls it, "the image of the soul" of Osiris. Hapi-môou may therefore be the Genius of the water, or the Nile; and the Cynocephalus-headed Hapi, the emblem of the terrestrial nature of man. This conjecture, howover, I offer, with great diffidence, to the opinTon of the learned reader.

When the body of a person of quality was em

• Fak gud, p 32 and 56. Plut, de Is. ii. 73.

Herodot. ii. 46.