GODDESS OF WAR, BELLONA? (Pl. 70. Part 1.) The first figure in this Plate appears to be the Goddess of War. She is seldom found, and I have not met with her in any temple. (Pl. 70. Part 2.) The Deity of Part 2. is from a stone tablet of the time of the 2d Osirtasen, found at the temple of Wady Gasoos, in the Desert, near Kossayr. He may be a form of Amun. (Pl. 70. Part 3.) The third figure may be a mode of representing the Dog-star, Sothis, and a character of Isis. (Pl. 70. Part 4.) The fourth has the name Mak, or Makte, which might seem to indicate the Genius of War; but her peaceable occupation of presenting two vases ill accords with that character; and we have already seen that other Deities possess the undisputed post of Mars and Bellona. Her office is therefore unknown. LEONTOCEPHALUS. (Pl. 71.) The Lion-headed God is seldom met with in the Egyptian sculptures; and never, I believe, in temples of a very early epoch. If, therefore, he be Gom, or Sem, the Egyptian Hercules, he is probably a form introduced at a late period, or the God of Physical Strength. The first figure in this Plate is from the temple of Dendera, which is of Ptolemaïc and Roman date; the second is from Dabód*, where he accompanies the God Amun, to whom a Cæsar is making offerings. He has a lion as his hieroglyphic. The third has not a lion's head, but that animal is introduced as a demonstrative sign after his hieroglyphic name, which appears to read Moui, signifying "Lion." The fourth has also a lion as the demonstrative sign, and may be the same as the last Deity. They are of late time; and being copied from monuments imperfectly preserved, the legends are uncertain. The last is a Goddess with a lion's head, whose name appears to read Rita or Erta; but I am ignorant of her character and office. She may, perhaps, be a form of Bubastis, or of Buto. GODDESS OF THE EYE. (Pl. 72. Part 1.) The name of this Goddess is uncertain. She has an eye upon her head; and she sometimes stands in an attitude of prayer, before other Deities. She occurs in temples of a Roman and Ptolemaïc date, as at Edfoo. Though her office is unknown, she may have been a Deity of some importance, and probably a character of Buto, or one of the great Goddesses of the Pantheon. The eye she bears on her head is the same t which enters into the name of Egypt, and holds a distinguished post in the ceremonies of the dead. It is frequently found in *Plate 71. Part 2. + Vide suprà, p. 48. 73., and Plate 83, 84. the tombs, made of stone or blue pottery; and is painted on sarcophagi, boats, and fancy ornaments. TOTOUON? (Pl. 72. Part 2.) This Deity is from the temple of Samneh, at the third Cataract of the Nile, of the early time of the second Osirtasen. His name may signify the opener of the hand." NEBOO, NÊBOOU. (Pl. 72. Part 3.) The name of this Goddess appears to be Nêbou. She is one of the contemplar Deities of Esneh or Latopolis, and the second member of the triad worshipped there, which consisted of Neph, this Goddess, and their son Haké. She is a form of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, like the Lion-headed Goddess Menhai already mentioned.* (Pl. 72. Part 4.) The name and character of the God in Part 4. of this Plate are uncertain. He is of late date; and though he has the title "Great God" following his name, he does not appear to hold a very important office in the Pantheon, unless, indeed, he be a character of some one of the principal Deities. The two Gods in Part 5. are forms of the youthful Deity Ehôou, the son of Athor, and the third member of the triad of Dendera, who has been already described. † HIPPOPOTAMUS-HEADED GOD. There is a God with the head of a hippopotamus, who may be one of the characters of the Egyptian *Suprà, p. 40. + Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 409. Mars, the animal itself being worshipped at Papremis, the city of that Deity.* I have only found him so represented in small pottery figures, but never in the sculptures; though the Hippopotamusheaded Goddess occurs on monuments of early date. The connection, indeed, of the God Mars and this Typhonian animal is remarkable. HERON, ANTEUS, PERSEUS, BUSIRIS, THUeris, CANOPUS. The first of these I have supposed to correspond to Atmoo, and the second to Ombte, but of Perseus I have not yet been able to form any conjecture. Nor do I know if Busiris is a character of Osiris, or a separate Deity. Of the form of Thueris, the concubine of Typho, of Canopus, and of his supposed wife Menuthis (or Eumenuth), worshipped in a town of the same name ‡, I am also ignorant; as well as of the two Deities of Winter and Summer, whose statutes are said, by Herodotus §, to have been erected by Rhampsinitus. GENII OF THE LOWER REGIONS. I have described the form and general character of the principal Deities, who compose the Pantheon of Egypt. Those minor Divinities, who held various offices in the regions of the dead, I have not introduced; their attributes and functions being as yet imperfectly ascertained, or altogether *Vide Herodot. ii. 59. 63. and 71. + Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 429. Herodot. ii. 121. unknown; and many were only inferior emanations of some of those already described. Others were Genii or Demons; and some were of that class of beings* who were thought to people every part of the universe, and to be present unseen amongst mankind, sometimes influencing their actions, and sometimes themselves acting in obedience to their commands. They were mostly represented under a human form, with the heads of different quadrupeds, birds, reptiles, or fishes; among which may be mentioned the cat, lion t, ape, fox, cow, ram, hare, hawk, duck, crane, crocodile, tortoise (generally the entire animal, in the place of a head), and the garmóot‡ fish. Some were figured as mere emblems; and one even assumed the form of the usual sceptre of the Gods. In concluding this imperfect notice of the Egyptian Deities, I must observe, that whatever opinion I have ventured to express, is offered with great diffidence, owing to the intricacy of the question, the imperfect information to be obtained from the monuments, and the doubtful authority of Greek writers. I have therefore given little more than the forms of the Gods, and their principal characters whenever they could be ascertained; and I conclude in the words of Seneca §, applied to an observation of Aristotle,-" Egregie Aristoteles ait, numquam nos verecundiores esse debere, quam cum de Diis agitur." *Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 112. 217. 221, 222. Silurus Carmuth, or Heterobranchus bi-dorsalis. |