initiated into the rites of Tithrambo, which is interpreted Hecate; others into those of Nephthys; and some into those of Thermuthis."* But the Deity Tithrambo seems rather to be connected with the Evil Being Ombte, or Ambo, already mentioned, and distinct from the Egyptian Hecate.† MENHAI. The form and attributes of the Goddess Menhai are similar to those of Hekte: a lion's head surmounted by a solar disk, and the Uræus. The figure in the accompanying Plate is taken from the temple of Esneh, which is of a Roman period. But Menhai was not a Deity of late introduction, since she appears at Thebes on monuments of an early Pharaonic age. From her name being attached to that of Pasht or Bubastis‡, we may conclude she sometimes assumed the character of the Egyptian Diana, though at Esneh she was one of the forms of Neith or Minerva. ANOTHER CHARACTER OF PASHT, OR BUTO?. This Goddess§ appears to be another character of Pasht she has the head of a cat; and her name is of frequent occurrence in Upper and Lower Egypt, particularly in the vicinity of the Pyramids, on monuments of the earliest date. She may * Prichard, p. 144., who quotes Jablonski. + Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 441. - Vide Plate 27. Part 2. Hierog. 4. Plate 51. Part 4.; and suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 276. possibly be Buto; and future discoveries will no doubt enable us to settle this question, and decide respecting the reading of her name. EILETHYIA, ILITHIA, ILITHYIA, SOVEN?, SEBN?. Though there is reason to believe that Netpe held an important station as the protectress of mothers, the fact of the Goddess before us presiding over the city of Eilethyas, and her attendance upon Isis while nursing Horus, assert her claim to the name of Lucina. † It also seems in some degree confirmed by her emblem, a vulture ‡, the hieroglyphical representative of a "mother." Though the monuments show her to have performed the duties of Lucina, she is more usually the protectress of the Kings; and she does not appear, like the Greek Lucina, to be connected with the Moon, or with Bubastis the Egyptian Diana. At Eilethyas, she was worshipped under the name of Seneb or Soven; and there, as in other places, she had the office of Lucina. Netpe, as already stated, had also a claim to that character, being the "protectress of childbirth, and of nurses;' and the monster Goddess Typho (who appears to represent childbearing or gestation), Isis, and even * Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 314. "Rite maturos aperire partus, Has Horapollo in view Eilethyia or Juno-Lucina, when he says Juno and Minerva are both represented by a vulture? (i. 11.) Ranno, Athor, and other Deities, shared with her the duties of Lucina. Here, as in many instances, we observe the characters of some of the Egyptian Deities to be as closely allied as those of the Greek Pantheon; and the occasional transfer of the attributes of one God to another, and the gradual blending of minute shades of distinction, tend to make their mythology obscure and uncertain. Thus we have the Goddess Soven, or Eilethyia: Netpe, who was Rhea, the protectress of mothers in childbirth : Typho, the emblem of childbearing or gestation: Ranno, the nurse of infant princes and Isis, Athor, and other Goddesses, who assisted with Lucina, or acted as the nurses of children.* The Romans, in like manner, had several Goddesses who presided over parturition and young children, as Partunda and others; and so numerous did their Deities become by this subdivision of their nature or attributes, that Petronius observes," Italy is now so holy, that it is easier to find a God than a man." The hieroglyphic legend of the Egyptian Lucina reads Seneb, Sebn †, or Soven; and she is styled "Lady of the Land of Seneb, or Sebn" (Eilethyas), which is represented by, and appears to be derived * Vide infrà, p. 46.; and on Ranno. + Some might see in this origin of the name of Sebennytus. Vide suprà, p. 18. from, a "leg," CHỔI, Oг CERIпp&Tq (tibia, or tibia cruris). It is to this place that Diodorus* alludes when he says that the Goddess Eilethyia, one of the ancient Deities of Egypt, founded a city called after her; as did Jove, the Sun, Hermes, Apollo, Pan, and many others; and this assertion of the historian accords well with the antiquity of that city, which contains some of the oldest remains existing in Egypt. The same credit cannot be attached to a statement of Plutarch, that men were formerly sacrificed in this city, as I shall have occasion to observe in speaking of the rites of the Egyptians. + Soven may also be the Genius of the Upper Country, or the South, opposed to the Genius of the Lower Country, given in the following Plate §; though I do not trace that connection of the former with Neith, and the latter with Saté, which Horapollo might lead us to expect. However inconsistent may be the assumption of two characters by the same Goddess, we find that the Greek Eilethyia was in like manner confounded with other Deities, as Juno and Diana, though said to be daughter of Jupiter and of Juno, or, according to some, of Latona. She is usually represented as a Goddess with the cap and two ostrich feathers of Osiris, or with the cap of the Upper Country, and occa *Diodor. i. 12. ‡ Vide infrà, chap. 15. Now destroyed by the Turks. Horapollo, i. 11., says Minerva rules the Upper, and Juno the Lower Hemisphere; and the vulture is the emblem of Urania, the God sionally with the globe and horns of Athor; and she frequently appears under the form of a vulture, which, with outspread wings, hovers over the King as if to protect him. This confirms the statement of Eusebius*, who observes that the image of the Deity worshipped at the Egyptian city of "Eilethyas had the form of a flying vulture, whose wings were inlaid with precious stones." She has also the form of an asp, which, like the vulture, wears the head-dress of Osiris, -the crown of the Upper Country with two ostrich feathers. This asp is frequently winged. It wears the Pshent, or crown of the two regions; or the crown of Upper Egypt only, when opposed to the Genius of the Lower Country, who, under the same form of an asp, has that of Lower Egypt. The water-plants chosen as the initials of the respective names of these two Goddesses agree with the crowns they wear; one signifying Upper," the other "Lower Egypt," which are thus written in hieroglyphics . 66 › or in addition the bowl or basket, signifying "Lord." Indeed, it is not altogether improbable that the Goddess Eilethyia may have had the name Sarest, "the South," which her hieroglyphic, sometimes written thus or 2}b}"] * Euseb. Prepar. Evangel. iii. 12. , appears + Upper Egypt was called Marés, whence the Arabic name Marées or Maréesee applied to the south wind. |