appear at any time to have been points of religion, at least as regards the position of their sacred buildings, no two of which are made to face exactly in the same direction. Nor does his assertion*, that temples were formerly styled tombs, apply to those of the Egyptians.

THE ASSESSORS.

The number of the Assessors who attended at the final judgment was forty-two. They frequently occur in funereal rituals, on sarcophagi, tombs, and papyri. I have also found them complete † in the side adytum of a temple at Thebes, which, from the subjects there represented, appears to have been appropriated to funereal purposes. Diodorus speaks of "Osiris and the Assessors seated below him," whose approbation King Osymandyas hoped to obtain after death by his piety, in senting to the Gods of Egypt such offerings as were peculiarly acceptable to them; and the fortytwo judges he mentions §, at the sacred lake of the dead, were a type of those who, in the region of Amenti, pronounced their acquittal or condem. nation of the soul, when it sought admittance to the Regions of the Blessed.

pre

These Assessors were similar to the bench of judges who attended at the ordinary tribunals of

* Clem. Orat. Adhort. p. 19.

+ Sometimes only a few are given, as 3, 9, and 12.

One reading gives " δυσι πλείω των τεσσαρακοντα,” 1. 92.

the Egyptians*, and whose president, or archjudge, corresponded to Osiris. They may perhaps call to mind the four-and-twenty elders mentioned in Revelations †, as the four Genii of Amenti appear to bear some analogy to the four beasts who were present with them before the judgment seat.

The Assessors were represented in a human form with different heads. The first had the head of a hawk, the second of a man, the third of a hare, the fourth of a hippopotamus, the fifth of a man, the sixth of a hawk, the seventh of a fox, the eighth of a man, the ninth of a ram, the tenth of a snake, and the others according to their peculiar character. But, to avoid a tedious detail, I refer the reader to the Plate, from which it will be seen that they varied in different rituals, though the number, when complete, was always the same.

They are supposed to represent the forty-two crimes, from which a virtuous man was expected to be free when judged in a future state, or rather the accusing Spirits, each of whom examined if the deceased was guilty of the peculiar one which it was his province to avenge. They were distinct from the thirty-six Dæmons mentioned by Origen. These presided over the human body, which was divided into the same number of parts, each appropriated to one of them; and they were often invoked to cure the infirmities of the peculiar member immediately under their protection.

* Vide Vol. II. p. 24.

+ Rev. iv. 4., and xix. 4. &c.

CERBERUS.

This animal is supposed to be the guardian of the Lower Regions, or the accusing Spirit. It is more probably the former, being seated near the entrance to the abode of Osiris, and called Ouom. n-Amenti*, "the Devourer of Amenti," and "of the wicked." It has the form of a hippopotamus, a peculiarly Typhonian animal; sometimes with the head of a fanciful creature, partaking of the hippopotamus and the crocodile; and it is frequently represented as a female.

Seated at the entrance of Amenti, it watches the arrival of those who present themselves for judgment, and turning its hideous head with angry looks, appears to menace the wicked who dare to approach the holy mansion of Osiris. This monster was the prototype of the Greek Cerberus; but the lively imagination of the Greeks improved upon or exaggerated the deformity: its neck was said to bristle with snakes; it was represented with three, or with fifty heads; and Virgil‡ and others describe its rapacity, and the terror it was supposed

to cause.

* Plate 63. Part 2. figs. 1. and 3.

+ The sign "wicked" is a man killing himself, by beating his own head with a hatchet or club, according to Champollion's ingenious interpretation. Vide Plate 63. Part 2. fig. 2.

Virg. Æn. vi. 421.

"Melle soporatam et medicatis frugibus offam
Objicit: ille fame rabidâ tria guttura pandens,
Corripit objectam."

UNCERTAIN DEITIES.

TOSES? (Pl. 64. Part 1.)

I now proceed to examine the form or attributes of those Deities whose names are unknown.

The first of these is a Goddess, whose hieroglyphics appear to read Toses. She wears the globe and horns of Athor, and is styled the Daughter of the Sun; but her office is not defined. She is found in the old temples of a Pharaonic age.

The two next figures of this Plate contain the figures of two Deities, who seem, from their hieroglyphic legends, to have the same name, — - Toses or Tosos, written with different characters.

HOн, HOHP? (Pl. 64. Part 2.)

The name of this Deity appears to read Hoh, or Hohp. His form and office are unknown. He occurs in temples of a Pharaonic age, the annexed figure being from Medeenet Haboo at Thebes.

(Pl. 64. Part 3.)

The name of this God is unknown, owing to the imperfect preservation of the hieroglyphics, and the uncertainty respecting the first letter in his legend. I have only met with him in temples of a late date, as at Dendera.

SMOT? A FORM OF THOTH? (Pl. 65. Part 1.) This Deity is represented in hieroglyphics by a statue, in Coptic Smot, which should be his name. He has the title "Ruler of the Eight Regions of No," which seems to imply some connection with Thoth; and he bears on his head the disk and crescent given to the Moon.

Ao? (Pl. 65. Part 2.)

The bull-headed Deity appears to have the name Ao; which probably signifies a "bull,” since it frequently occurs over oxen, as the word Ehe over cows. I do not, however, suppose him to be connected with the God Ao, previously mentioned. *

SPOT? SOPTET? (Pl. 65. Part 3.)

Spot, Sopt, or Soptet, appears to be the name of this Deity. His office is uncertain. This figure is from one of the tombs of the Kings at Thebes. His hieroglyphics call to mind those which follow the name of the God Toré †, the seal and the spirits or rulers of the land. ‡

(Pl. 65. Part 4.)

This Goddess is represented nursing a child; not as Isis and Athor, but merely holding it on

* Vide suprà, p. 15.

+ Vide Plate 25. Part 2. fig. 2.

"Of Phut?" or "the West?" Vide infrà, p. 82.