sculptures show it to have been connected with more than one Deity of the Egyptian Pantheon.* It enters into the name of Maut, though it does not appear to be an emblem of that Goddess, signifying only, as the word maut (or tmau) implies, "mother." Æliant supposes that "vultures were all females," as if to account for their character as emblems of maternity. He even believes that a black vulture of Egypt was produced from the union of an eagle and a vulture; and he reports other tales with equal gravity. Another Deity, to whom it was particularly sacred, was the Egyptian Lucina ‡; and as her emblem, it seems to protect the Kings, whom it is represented over-shadowing with its wings, whilst they offer to the Gods in the temples, or wage war with an enemy in the field of battle. Under this form the Goddess is portrayed with outspread wings on the ceilings of the temples, particularly in those parts where the monarch, and the officiating priests, were destined to pass, on their way to celebrate the accustomed rites in honour of the Gods. For this reason the vulture is introduced on the ceiling of the central avenues of the portico, and the under side of the lintels of the doors, which lead to the sanctuary. Sometimes in lieu of its body is placed a human eye, with the same outspread wings. The Goddesses and Queens frequently wear the vulture with outspread wings in lieu of a cap, * Vide Plate 27. part i. Plates 52. and 53. part i. Ælian, ii. 46. the heads projecting from their forehead, and the wings falling downwards on either side to their neck. * Mummies of this vulture have been found embalmed at Thebes. The vulture Percnopterus was probably regarded with great indulgence by the Egyptians; but though frequently represented in the sculptures, there is no evidence of its having been worshipped, or even considered the peculiar emblem of any Deity. Tradition, however, seems to record its having enjoyed a considerable degree of favour, in former times, by one of the names it now bears, "Pharaoh's hen." Even the Moslem inhabitants of Egypt abstain from ill-treating; it in consequence of its utility, together with the kites and other birds of prey, in removing those impurities which might otherwise be prejudicial in so hot a climate. It is generally known in Arabic by the name Rákham, which is the same it bore in Hebrew, on, translated in our version of Leviticus gier-eaglet; where it is comprised among the fowls forbidden to be eaten by the Israelites. EAGLE, HAWK. Diodorus and Strabo § tell us that the eagle was worshipped at Thebes. But it is evident that they ought to have substituted the hawk, which *Conf. Ælian, x. 22. Vide Plate 20. 2d fig. The Goddess Maut. Pl. 27. part i., and Plate 53. part i. &c. + Levit. xi. 18. Strabo, 17. Diodor. i. 87. the sculptures, as well as ancient authors, abundantly prove to have been one of the most sacred of all the animals of Egypt. Diodorus, indeed, shows the connection he supposes to have subsisted between the latter bird and that city, when he says, "The hawk is reputed to have been worshipped, because augurs use them for divining future events in Egypt; and some say that in former times a book (papyrus), bound round with (red) purplet thread, and containing a written account of the modes of worshipping and honouring the Gods, was brought (by one of those birds) to the priests at Thebes. For which reason the hierogrammats (sacred scribes) wear a (red) purple band and a hawk's feather in their head. ‡ The Thebans worship the eagle because it appears to be a royal animal worthy of the Deity." But though the eagle was not worshipped, it frequently occurs in the hieroglyphics, where it has the force of the letter a, the commencement of the word akhóm, its name in Coptic. Plutarch§, Clemens ||, and others, agree in considering the hawk the emblem of the Deity; and *Diodor. loc. cit. The words poivikoç and purpureus are translated purple, but it is evident that they originally signified fire colour, or red; and the “purpureus late qui splendeat unus et alter assuitur pannus" of Horace will translate very badly a "purple patch;" though it is evident, from the "certantem et uvam purpuræ," that the Latin as well as the Greek word signified also the colour we call purple. (Hor. Ars Poet. 18. ; and Epod. ii. 20.) The purple continued to change in colour at different times till it arrived at the imperial hue, and that adopted by the modern cardinals. Vide Clem. Strom. vi. p. 196.; and vide infrà, on the Ceremonies. the sculptures clearly indicate the God to whom it was particularly sacred to be Re, or the Sun. Other Deities also claimed it as their emblem; and it is shown by the monuments to have belonged to Pthah-Sokari-Osiris; to Aroeris; to the younger Horus; to Mandoo; to Khonso; to HorHat; and to Kebhnsnof, one of the four Genii of Amenti; all of whom are represented with a hawk's head. There is also a Goddess who bears on her head a hawk seated upon a perch, supposed to be the Deity of the west bank of the Nile.* The same emblem is given to Athor; and the name of the Egyptian Venus is formed of a hawk in a cage or shrine. The boat or ark of Pthah-Sokari-Osiris is covered by the hawk; and several of those birds are represented rowing it, while others stand upon the pillars which support its canopy: and the hawk is frequently introduced overshadowing the King while offering to the Gods or engaged in battle, in lieu of the vulture of Eilethyia, as an emblem of HorHat or Agathodæmon. Æliant says "the hawk was sacred to Apollo, whom they call Horus." The Tentyrites §, he also states, have them in great honour, though hated by the Coptites; and it is probable that in some ceremonies performed in towns where the crocodile was particularly revered, the presence of the hawk was not permitted, being Vide suprà, Plate 53. part ii. + Vide Plate 36., and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 387. Ælian, vii. 9. and An. x. 14. He makes them live 700 years. Elian's account of the two hawks being deputed by the others to go to certain desert islands near Libya, recalls the modern Arab story of the Gebel e'Tayr or "mountain of the bird," near Minieh. Vide Æl. ii. 43. § Ælian, x. 24. the type of Horus, whose worship was hostile to that animal. But this did not prevent the hawkheaded Aroeris and the crocodile-headed Savak from sharing the same temple, at Ombos. The hawk was particularly known as the type of the Sun, and worshipped at Heliopolis as the sacred bird, and representative of the Deity of the place. It was also peculiarly revered at the island of Philæ*, where this sacred bird was kept in a cage, and fed with a care worthy the representative of the Deity of whom it was the emblem. It was said to be consecrated to Osiris, who was buried at Philæ; and in the sculptures of the temples there the hawk frequently occurs, sometimes seated amidst lotus plants. But this refers to Horus, the son of Osiris, not to that God himself, as the hieroglyphics show, whenever the name occurs over it. The hawk of Philæ is the same kind as that sacred to Re, and not, as some have imagined, a different species. It is therefore difficult to account for Strabo's assertion † that the bird worshipped at Philæ, though called a hawk, appeared to him unlike those he had been accustomed to see in his own country, or in Egypt, being much larger and of a different character. The only mode of accounting for his remark is to suppose he alludes to the hawk I have named Falco Aroeris‡, which is larger than the ordinary kinds of Europe and For some reason, which I have in vain endeavoured to discover, some persons write this name Philoe, though ancient writers, as well as the Greek inscriptions there, have it Þiλai (Þiλaç). + Strabo, xvii. p. 562. Vide suprà, p. 121., and infrà, p. 209. |
