that of other animals, and it is the largest of all oxen."

Macrobius relates the same of the sacred bull of Hermonthis, but gives it the name of Bacchis. "In the city of Hermonthis," he says, "they adore the bull Bacchis, which is consecrated to the Sun, in the magnificent temple of Apollo. It is remarkable for certain extraordinary appearances, according with the nature of the Sun. For every hour it is reported to change its colour, and to have long hairs growing backwards, contrary to the nature of all other animals; whence it is thought to be an image of the Sun shining on the opposite side of the world." +

The real name of this bull appears, from the hieroglyphic legends, to be Bash‡, easily converted by the Greeks into Bach §, and thence into Bacchis, Basis, and Pasis.

Strabo mentions the sacred bull of Hermonthis, but without stating its name; and the Onuphis, mentioned by Ælian, appears rather to have been a title, signifying "the opener of good," or Ouonnofri, which properly belonged to Osiris. If, indeed, this name was really given to the bull Basis, we may conclude that, like Apis, it was sacred to, or an emblem of, Osiris; as was Mnevis, according to Plutarch and Diodorus**; and thus the

Some MSS. read Bacis, and Pacis.

+ Macrob. Saturn. i. 26.

The similarity of the name of the black bull Basis and the black bulls of Basan is, no doubt, merely accidental.

§ The Greeks, having no sh, generally substituted x. Strabo, xvii. p. 361.

The Omphis of Plutarch (de Is. s. 42.) is evidently this name. Vide also s. 20, 21. ** Diodor. i. 88.

three, instead of being emblems of the Sun, as Macrobius supposes, were consecrated to Osiris.

The other bulls and cows mentioned by Strabo* did not hold the rank of Gods, but were only sacred: and this distinction may be applied to other animals worshipped by the Egyptians.

BUFFALO, AND INDIAN OR HUMPED Ox.

I have met with no representation of the buffalo; though, from its being now so common in the country, and indigenous in Abyssinia, it was probably not unknown to the ancient Egyptians.

The Indian or humped ox was common in former times, and is abundant in Upper Ethiopia, though no longer a native of Egypt. Like other cattle, it was used for sacrifice as for the table; and large herds were kept in the farms of the wealthy Egyptians, by whom the meat, particularly the hump on the shoulder, was doubtless esteemed as a dainty. It is sometimes represented decked with flowers and garlands on its way to the altar; but there is no appearance of its having been emblematic of any Deity, or of having held a post among the sacred animals of the country.

THE DOLPHIN.

The dolphin, a native of the sea, was not likely to command the respect of the terrestrial, or, if

* Strabo, xvii. p. 552. He applies his remark only to Apis and Mnevis. Vide supra, p. 195.

they adopted the same epithet as the modern Chinese, the celestial Egyptians. It is, indeed, difficult to account for its selection by the Greeks as the companion of Venus. For, however little we may object to its presence with her statue, under the guise of white marble, and the classical name of dolphin, it recalls too strongly our ideas of the porpoise, to appear to us a suitable attendant on the Goddess of Beauty.

Pliny, Senecat, and Strabo ‡ speak of the contests of the dolphin and the crocodile; in which the former, wounding the crocodile with the spine of its dorsal fin in the abdomen, gained an easy victory over it, even in its own river. But its credit seems principally indebted to fable: its weapons, like its beauty, being imaginary; and, whatever may have been the prestige in its favour among the classic writers of Greece and Rome, the Egyptians do not appear to have noticed it so far as to give it a place in their paintings or their alphabet.

SPHINX.

The most distinguished post amongst fabulous animals must be conceded to the Sphinx. It was of three kinds, the Andro-Sphinx, with the head of a man and the body of a lion, denoting the union of intellectual and physical power; the Crio-Sphinx, with the head of a ram and the body of a lion; and the Hieraco-Sphinx, with the same body and the head of a hawk. They were all types or repre

* Plin. viii. 26.

+ Seneca, Nat. Qu. iv. p. 886. Strabo, xvii. p. 567. Vide suprà, Vol. III. p.74. note.

sentatives of the king. The two last were probably so figured in token of respect to the two Deities whose heads they bore, Neph and Re; the other great Deities, Amun, Khem, Pthah, and Osiris, having human heads, and therefore all connected with the form of the Andro-Sphinx. The king was not only represented under the mysterious figure of a Sphinx, but also of a ram, and of a hawk; and this last had, moreover, the peculiar signification of "Phrah," or Pharaoh, "the Sun,” personified by the monarch.

The inconsistency, therefore, of making the Sphinx female, is sufficiently obvious.

Sphinxes were frequently placed before the temples, on either side of the dromos, or approach to the outer gate. Sometimes lions, and even rams, were substituted for them, and formed the same kind of avenues; as at the great temple of Karnak, at Thebes; a small figure of the king being occasionally attached to them, or placed between their paws. When represented in the sculptures, a Deity is often seen presenting the Sphinx with the sign of life, or other divine gifts usually vouchsafed by the Gods to a king; as well as to the ram or hawk, when in the same capacity, as an emblem of a Pharaoh. Instances of this occur on several of the obelisks and dedicatory inscriptions.*

Pliny mentions Sphinxes and other fabulous monsters, who were supposed to live in Ethiopia; and the Egyptian sculptures, as I have already

* Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 288. Woodcut, No. 448. + Plin. viii. 21.; Strabo, xvii. p. 533. Ælian considers it fabulous.

shown, are not behindhand in relating the marvellous productions of the valley of the Nile. Plutarch and Clemens† are satisfied with the enigmatical intention of these compound animals; the former saying that Sphinxes were "placed before the temples as types of the enigmatical nature of their theology;" the latter supposing them to signify that "all things which treat of the Deity must be mysterious and obscure."

The Egyptian sculptures also represent cows with human heads ; lions with the heads of snakes and hawks, or with wings; winged crocodiles with hawks' heads; and other monsters'; some of which occur on monuments of the early period of the 17th dynasty.§ One of these, with the winged body of a quadruped and the head of a hawk, was called Sefr; and one named Sak united a bird, a quadruped, and a vegetable production in its own person. It had the head of a hawk, the body of a lion, and a tail terminating in a full-blown lotus; and, being a female, threatened to produce other monsters as horrid as itself, with a facility unknown to ordinary hybrids.

BIRDS.

VULTURES.

The large vulture of Egypt was said to have been emblematic of Neith, or Minerva; and the

*Plut. de Is. s. 9.

+ Clem. Strom. v. p. 156.

Vide suprà, Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 394.

Vide Vol. III. p. 23.

Horapollo (i. 11.) says, "of Minerva, or of Juno, or heaven (Urania), a year, a mother," &c.