Mrtin; the
different
parts, were adhered to at the
|sleil as at the earliest periods.
|sleil as at the earliest periods.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
f animals is made to assume a regular fonn, and
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? -EGYPTUS.
^EGYPTUS.
science, certain practices which resulted merely from
peculiarity of situation. Hence, on the one hand, the
diversity of animals adored by the communities of
Egypt. Had these been merely pure symbols, would
the priests, who sought to impart a uniform character to
their institutions, have ever introduced them 1 These
varieties in the objects of worship are only to be ex-
plained by the yielding, on the part of a sacerdotal or-
der, to the antecedent habits of the people. (Vogel,
Rcl. der AZg. , p. 97, scqq. ) Hence, too, on the other
hand, those numerous allegories, heaped up together
without being connected by any common bond, and
forming, if the expression be allowed, so many layers
of fable. Apis, for example, at first the manitou-pro-
totype of his kind, afterward the depository of the
soul of Osiris, is found to have >> third meaning, which
holds a middle place between the other two. He is
the symbol of the Nile, the fertilizing stream of Egypt;
and while his colour, the spots of white on his front,
and the duration of his existence, which could not ex-
ceed twenty-five years, have a reference to astronomy,
the festival of his reappearance was celebrated on the
day when the river begins to rise. The result, then,
of what we have here advanced, is simply this: The
animal-worship of the Egyptians originated in feti-
chism. The sacerdotal caste, in allowing it to remain
unmolested, arrayed it in a more imposing garb, and,
while they permitted the mass of the people to indulge
in this gross and humiliating species of adoration, re-
served for themselves a secret and visionary system of
pantheism or emanation. (Constant, de la Religion, 3,
62, seqq. --Prichard's Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,
p. 330, seqq. )
12. Egyptian Castes.
Among the institutions of Egypt, none was more
important in its influence on the character of the na-
tion, than the division of the people into tribes or fam-
ilies, who were obliged by the laws and superstitions
of the country to follow, without deviation, the profes-
sions and habits of their forefathers. Such an institu-
tion could not fail of impressing the idea of abject ser-
vility on the lower classes; and, by removing in a great
measure the motive of emulation, it must have created,
in all, an apathy and indifference to improvement in
their particular profession. Wherever the system of
castes has existed, it has produced a remarkably perma-
nent and uniform character in the nation ; as in the ex-
ample furnished by tho natives of Hindustan. These
people agree in almost every point with the description
given of them by Megasthenes, who visited the court of
an Indian king soon after the conquest of the East by
the Macedonians. "We have no very accurate and cir-
cumstantial account of the castes into which the Egyp-
tian people were divided, and of tho particular customs
of each. It appears, indeed, that innovations on the
old civil and religious constitution of Egypt had begun
to be introduced as early as the time of Psammetichus,
when the ancient aversion of the people to foreigners
was first overcome. The various conflicts which the
nation underwent, between that era and the time when
Herodotus visited Egypt, could not fail to break down
many of the fences which ancient priestcraft had es-
tablished for maintaining the influence of superstition.
Herodotus is the earliest writer who mentions the
castes or hereditary classes of the Egyptians, and his
account appears to be the result of his personal obser-
vation only. Had this historian understood the native
? ? language of the people; had he been able to read the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? --EGYPTUS
^EGYPTUS.
And yet, even in the statements which we obtain from
this quarter, traces may easily be found of what the
Egyptian hierarchy once was; so that from these,
when taken together, we are enabled to form a tolera-
bly accurate idea of" the earlier power which this re-
markable order had enjoyed. The sacerdotal caste
was spread over the whole of Egypt; their chief places
of abode, however, were the great cities, which, at one
time or other, had been the capitals of the land, or else
had held a tush rank among the other Egyptian cities.
These were Thebes, Memphis, Sais, Heliopolis, &c.
Here, too, were the chief temples, which are so often
mentioned in the accounts of Herodotus and other
writers. Every Egyptian priest had to belong to the
local patron or deity of the adjacent country The
priests of Memphis were always styled (according to
the nomenclature of the Greeks) priests of Vulcan ?
those of Thebes, priests of the Theban Jovo; those of
Sais, priests of the Sun, &. c. Theso head-temples
mark the first settlement of the sacerdotal colonies as
they gradually descended the valley of the Nile. The
number of deities to whom temples were erected, in
Upper Egypt at least, seem to have been always very
limited. In this quarter we hear merely of the tem-
ples of Ammon, Osiris, Isis, and Typhon. In Middle
and Lower Egypt, the number appears to have been
gradually enlarged. --The next subject of inquiry has
reference to the revenues of the sacerdotal order Here
service of some particular deity, or, in other words, to also we must dismiss the too common opinion, that the
be attached to some temple. The number of priests
for any deity was never determined; nor could it in-
deed have been subjected to any regulations on this
head, since priesthood was hereditary in families, and
these must have been more or less numerous accord-
ing to circumstances. JNot only was the priestly caste
hereditary in its nature, but also the priesthoods of in-
dividual deities. The sons, for example, of the priests
of Vulcan at Memphis, could not enter as members
into the sacerdotal college at Heliopolis; nor could
the offspring of the priests of Heliopolis belong to the
college of Memphis. Strange as this regulation may
appear, it was nevertheless a natural one. Each tem-
ple had extensive portions of land attached to it, the
revenues of which, belonging as they did to those
wh6se forefathers had erected the temple, were receiv-
ed by the priests as matters of hereditary right, and
? liiic those who tilled these lands be regarded as their
dependants or subjects. Hence, as both the temple-
lands and revenues were inherited, the sacerdotal col-
leges had of consequence to be kept distinct. The
priesthood, moreover, of each temple was carefully
organized. They had a. high-priest over them, whose
office was likewise hereditary. It need hardly be re-
marked, that there must have been gradations also
. n ';i_- the various hiph-priests, and that those of
Thebes, Memphis, and the other chief cities of the coun-
try, must have stood at the head of the order. These
? mere, in a certain sense, a species of hereditary princes,
who stood bv the side of the monarchs, and enjoyed al-
most equal privileges Their Egyptian title was Pi-
rvmys, which Herodotus translates by icnXoc ndya0o(.
i, e. , " noble and good," and which points not so much
to moral excellence as to nobility of origin. (Com-
pare Welker, Tfieognidis Rcliqma, p. xxiv. ) Their
statues were placed in the temples. Whenever they
are mentioned in the history of the country, they ap-
pear as the first persons in the state, even in the Mo-
? ? aie ace. When Joseph was to be elevated to power,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? jEGYPTUS.
jEGVFfljS.
cient writers have left us only a few hints, more or less
obscure, which scarcely afford anything beyond a mere
foundation for conjectures. The President de Goguet,
relying on a statement of Scrvius, supposes that the
Egyptians embalmed their dead for the sake of main-
taining the connexion between the soul and the body,
and preventing the former from transmigrating. (Or-
igin of Laics, &c, vol. 3, p. 68, Eng. transl. ) Ac-
cording to the Egyptian doctrine of transmigration, as
explained by Herodotus (2, 127), the soul of a man
passed through the bodies of living creatures, and re-
turned to inhabit a human form at the expiration of
three thousand years The cycle, however, docs not
commence until the body begins to perish, and the sec-
ond human habitation of the soul is a new one The
pains and torments, therefore, of passing through this
cycle of three thousand years, and through animals in-
numerable, might be reserved for those whose actions
in life did not entitle them to be made into mummies,
and whose bodies would therefore bo exposed to de-
cay. In a seconil trial in the world, the unfortunate
penitent might avoid his former errors. Hence, say
the advocates for this opinion, the body of a father or
ancestor was often given as a pledge or security, and it
was one that was valued more highly than any other.
It was the most sacred of all the obligations which a
man could bind himself by, and the recovery of the
pledge, by performing tho stipulated condition, was an
indispensable duty. (Long's Ancient Gcogr. , p. 61. )
Others have imagined, that the views with which the
Egyptians embalmed their dead bodies were more
akin to those which rendereJ the Greeks and Romans
so anxious to perform the usual rites of sepulture to
their departed warriors, namely, an idea that these so-
lemnities expedited the journey of the soul to the ap-
pointed region, where it was to receive judgment for
its former deeds, and to have its future doom fixed ac-
cordingly. This, they maintain, is implied by the pray-
er, said to have been uttered by the cmbalmers in the
name of the deceased, entreating the divine powers to
receive his soul into the regions of the gods. (Por-
phyr. , dc Abstinent. , 4, 10. --Prichard's Analysts of
Egi/plian Mythology, p. 200. ) Perhaps, however, the
practice of embalming in Egypt was the result more of
necessity than of choice, and, like many other of the
customs of the land, may have been identified by the
priests with the national religion, in order to ensure its
continuance The rites of sepulture in Egypt grew
out of circumstances peculiar to that country. The
scarcity of fuel precluded tho use of the funeral pile;
the rocks which bounded the valley denied a grave;
and the sands of the deserts afforded no protection from
outrage by wild beasts; while the valley, regularly in-
undated, forbade it to be used as a charnel-house, un-
der penalty of pestilence to the living. Hence grew
the use of antiseptic substances, in which the nation
became so skilled, as to render the bodies of their dead
inaccessible to the ordinary process of decay.
15 Arts and Manufactures of the Egyptians. ,
The topics on which we intend here to touch, derive
no small degree of elucidation from the paintings dis-
covered in the tombs of Egypt Weaving appears to
have been the employment of a large majority of the
nation. According to Herodotus (2, 35), it was an
occupation of the men, and, therefore, not merely a do-
mestic employment, but a business carried on also in
large establishments or manufactories. The process
? ? of weaving is frequently the subject of Egyptian paint-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? --EGYPTUS.
be Ibe oxyde of iron. \Vc may hence conclude, that
theereenpigmerxt, is a mixture ofalittlc ochre, with a
pulverulent glaj&st, made by vitrifying theoxjdes of cop-
per and iron with sand and sodii. 2. The blue pigment
isapulverulent blue glass, of like composition, without
the ochreou* adrni-xturc, brightened with a little of the
chalky maxtet used in the diBtemper preparation. 3.
The red pigment is merely a red earthy bole. 4. The
black is bone black, mixed with a little gum, and con-
taining some traces of iron. 5. The white is nothing
but a very pure chalk, containing hardly any alumina,
ind a mere trace of iron. 6. The yellow pigment is
a yellow iron ochre. " ( Wilkinson, vol. 3, p. 301. )
Next in importance to -weaving must be ranked Metal-
lurgy. As far as we can judge from the colour, which
is always green, brass seems to have been constantly
employed where in other nations iron would be. The
war-chariots appear to be entirely of the former metal.
Their green colour, as well as their shape, and the
lightness and elegance of their wheels, are thought
dearly to indicate this. The arms, moreover, of the
Egyptians appear to be entirely all of brass, and not
only the swords, but the bows also, and quivers are
male of it. These, together with the instruments for
cutting that are found depicted among the hieroglyph-
ics, are always green. In the infancy of the arts and
sciences, the difficulty of working iron might long
withhold the secret of its superiority over copper or
bronze; but it cannot reasonably be supposed that a
nation so far advanced, and so eminently skilled in the
art of working metals as the Egyptians, should have
remained ignorant of its use, even if we had no evi-
dence of its having been known to the Greeks and
other people; and the constant employment of bronze
arms and implements is not a sufficient argument
igainst their knowledge of iron, sinco wo find tae
Greeks and Romans made the same things of bronze,
long after the period when iron was universally known.
If we reject this view of the question, we must come
at ones to the conclusion that the Egyptians possessed
an art of hardening copper and bronze which is now
lost to the world- The skill of the Egyptians in com-
r. (. :;n tin'. ' metals is abundantly proved by the vases,
mirrors, arms, and implements oi bronze discovered at
Thebes; and the numerous methods they adopted for
varvinir'the composition of bronze by a judicious mix-
tare of- alloys, are shown in the many qualities of
the metal. They had even the secret of giving to
bronze or brass blades a certain degree of elasticity,
as may be seen in the dagger of the Berlin museum.
Another remarkable feature in their bronze is the re-
sistance it offers to the effects of the atmosphere;
some continuing smooth and bright, though buried for
awes, and since exposed to the damp of European
climates. ( WUktnaon, vol. 3, p. 253. ) Other lost arts
in metallurgy may be evidenced by the well-known
fact, that the Hebrew legislator inferentially ascribes
to the E-jyptian chemists the art of making gold liquid,
ami of retaining it in that state. This we have not
toe power to do. Still, however, it must be confessed,
that the Egyptians cannot properly be considered as at
iv time acquainted with the science of chemistry;
though they were early made aware of various chemi-
cal tacts, and many and indubitable proofs of this have
;n collected in one or two not inconsiderable works
devoted to the subject. Their progress in the manu-
facture of not only white but coloured glass may also
y instanced. Seneca informs us that they made arti-
? ? ficial gems of extraordinary beauty. (Epist. , 00. )
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ^EGVPTUS.
iEGYPTUS.
16. Trade of Egypt.
Nature hag destined Egypt, by its products, its gen-
eral character, and its geographical position, for one of
the principal trading countries of the gk'je. Neither
the despotism under which it has groaned for centu-
ries, nor the bloody feuds and wars of which it has so
often been the scene, have operated, for any length of
time, to deprive it of these advantages; the purposes
of Nature may be impeded, but they cannot be wholly
destroyed. The situation of Egypt, a fertile district,
abounding in the first necessaries of life, between the
arid deserts of Asia and Africa, has in all ages given
it a value which, in another position, it could not have.
From the time of Jacob to tho present day, it has been
the granary of the less fertile neighbouring countries.
The natural facilities for internal communication were,
at an early period, increased by the formation of canals,
which united the various arms of tho river that bound
or flow through the Delta. From Syenc to about lat.
31? north there is one uninterrupted boat-navigation,
which is seldom impeded for want of water. The con-
veyance of articles up the stream is favoured at cer-
tain seasons by the steady winds from the north. A
description of the Nile-boat, called Baris, is given by
Herodotus (2, 96). One of the great national festivals,
that of Artemis at Bubastis, was celebrated during the
annual inundation; the people, in boats, sailed from
one town to another, and their numbers were increased
by the inhabitants of every town that was visited. As
it was an idle time for the agriculturists, like the winter
of other climates, it was spent in carousing and drunk-
enness. The quantity of wine consumed was immense,
and the whole of it was procured by giving in exchange
Egyptian commodities. The Egyptians were never a
nation of sailors, for their country furnished no mate-
rials for building large vessels. Till the time of Psam-
metichus, foreigners, though allowed to trade there,
were subject to many strict regulations, and were
regarded as suspicious persons. Egypt, being a
grain-country, would be more likely to receive the
visits of foreigners, than to make, herself, any active
commercial speculations. The later Pharaohs, after
Psammetichus, as also the Ptolemies, could only then
build fleets when tho woods of Phoenicia were under
their control; and it is well-known what bloody wars
were carried on for the possession of these regions be-
tween the Ptolemies and Seloueidie. It may he easily
imagined, too, that the Tyrians and Sidonians were
never anxious to make tho Egyptians a maritime peo-
ple, even if the latter had possessed the inclination to
become such. The true reason why the Egyptians
forbade all foreigners to approach their coast, is to be
found in the peculiar character of early commerce.
All the nationB that trafficked on the Mediterranean
were at that time pirates, with whom the carrying
away the inhabitants from the coasts and selling them
for slaves had become a lucrative branch of commerce.
It was natural, then, that a people who had no ships
of their own to oppose such visitants, should forbid
them, under any pretext, to approach their coasts.
Passages occur, it is true, in the ancient writers,
which render it doubtful whether there were not some
exceptions to what has just been remarked. Homer
makes Menelaus to have sailed to Egypt, and Diodo-
rus Siculus mentions a maritime city, named Thonis,
to which he assigns a great antiquity. The colonies,
too, that are said to have sailed from Egypt to Greece,
? ? as, for example, those of Danaus and Cecrops, suppose
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
?
Mrtin; the different parts, were adhered to at the
|sleil as at the earliest periods. No improvements,
Bsulfagfrom experience and observation, were admit-
ted in the mode of drawin g the figure; no attempt was
jade to copy nature, or to give proper action to the
Us. Certainrules, certain models, had been cstab-
falBd by law, and the faulty conceptions of earlier
times were copied and perpetuated by every successive
aftisl Egyptian bas-relief appears to have been, in
in origin, a mere copy of painting, its predecessor.
The first attempt to represent the figures of the gods,
acred emblems, and other subjects, consisted in paint-
ing simple outlines of them on a flat surface, the details
being afterward put in with colour. But, in process of
time, these forms were traced on stone with a tool, and
Ihe intermediate space l>etween the various figures
being afterward cut away, the once level surface as-
sumed the appearance of a bas-relief. It was, in fact,
> pictorial representation on stone, which is evidently
thi character of all the haa-reliefs on Egyptian monu-
ments, and which readily accounts for the imperfect
arrangement of their figures. Deficient in conception,
tad. above all, in a proper knowledge of grouping, they
were unable to form those combinations which give
hue expression. Every picture was made up of iso-
laled parts, put together according to some general
notions, but without harmony or preconceived effect.
The human face, the whole body, and everything they
introduced, were composed, in the same manner, of
leparale members, placed together one by one, accord-
ing to their relative situations: the eye, the nose, and
other features, composed a face; but the expression
of feelings and passions was entirely wanting; and the
countenance of the king, whether charging an enemy's
phalanx in the heat of battle, or peaceably offering in-
ceose in a sombre temple, presented the same outline,
and the same inanimate look. The peculiarity of the
front view of an eye, introduced in a profile, is thus ac-
counted for; it was the ordinary representation of that
feature added to a profile, and no allowance was made
fcr any change in the position of the head. It was the
same with drapery. The figure was first drawn, and
the drapery was then added, not as a part of the whole,
bot as an accessory. They had no general conception,
MJ previous idea of the effect required to distinguish
the warrior or the priest, beyond the impression re-
ceived from costume, or from the subject of which they
formed a part; and the same figure was dressed accord-
iaz to the character it was intended to perform. Every
portion of a picture was conceived by itself, and in-
serted as it was wanted to complete the scene; and
when the walls of a building, where a subject was to
he drawn, had been accurately ruled with squares, the
figures were introduced, and fitted to this mechanical
arrangement. The members were appended to the'
body, and these squares regulated their form and dis-
tribution, in whatever posture they might be placed.
In the paintings of the tombs, greater license was al-
lowed in the representation of subjects relating to pri-
vate hie, the trades, or the manners and occupations
of the people; and some indications of perspective in
the position of the figures may occasionally be ob-
served; but the attempt was imperfect, and, probably,
to an Egyptian eye, unpleasing; for such is the force
of habit, that, even where nature is copied, a conven-
ti'onaJ style is sometimes preferred to a more accurate
representation. In the battle scenes on the temples
ofTbfbes, some of the figures representing the mon-
3Tch pursuing the flying enemy, despatching a hostile
? ? chief with his sword, and drawing his bow, as his:
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? . EGYPTUS.
. ELI
cities. Such artificial mounds are still to be seen
forming the basis of all the important ruins that exist.
When we consider the remarkable skill exhibited by
the Egyptians in the art of stone-cutting, manifested,
too, at the most remote period to which we can trace
them historically, we cannot but ascribe this charac-
teristic taste to something in their original habits.
The first necessities of their ancestors must have given
this impulse to the national genius, and determined the
character which their architecture manifests, down to
the latest period of their existence, not merely as an
independent nation, but as a separate people. In the
same way that the Tyrians. and the inhabitants of Pal-
estine, owed to their cedar forests their taste and skill
in the workmanship of wood, the Egyptians derived
from their original mode of life, from their abundant
quarries, and from the facility they found in excavating
the rocks into dwellings, the taste for the workmanship
of stone which distinguishes them; and this taste ex-
plains the high degree of perfection they attained in
this art. In inquiring into the origin and principles of
Egyptian architecture, certain prominent characters
strike us at once that cannot be mistaken. The plans
and great outlines of their buildings are remarkable
for simplicity and sameness, however diversified they
may be in decoration and ornament. Openings arc
extremely rare, and the interior of their temples is as
dark as the primitive caverns themselves; so that,
when within them, it is difficult to distinguish between
an excavation and a building; the pillars arc of enor-
mous diameter, and resemble in their proportions the
masses left to support the roofs of mines and quarries.
Nay, their hypostyle halls arc almost similar in appear-
ance to this kind of excavation; the portals, porticoes,
and doors are enclosed in masses, in such a way as to
present the appearance of the entrance of a cave; and
the roofs of vast stones, lying horizontally, could have
been imitated from no shelter erected in the open air.
All the buildings yet existing between Dendcrah and
Syenc arc constructed of a kind of sandstone, furnished
in abundance by the quarries of the adjacent country.
This stone is composed of quartzose grains, usually
united by a calcareous cement. Its colours arc gray-
ish, yellowish, or even almost white; some have a
slight tinge of rose colour, and others various veins of
different shades of yellow. But when forming a part
of the mass of a building, they produce an almost uni-
form effect of colour, namely, a light gray. One great
advantage connected with this species of stone is the
case with which it can be wrought; and the mode of
its aggregation, and the uniformity of its structure, so
far from resisting, offerthe greatest facilities for the ex-
ecution of hieroglyphic and symbolic sculptures. The
obelisks and statues, on the other hand, which adorned
the approaches and entrances of the sandstone struc-
tures, were made of a more costly and enduring sub-
stance, the granite of Syene, the Cataracts, and Ele-
phantine. The most important of the rocks of this
species is the rose-granite, remarkable for the beauty
of its colours, the largo size of its crystals, its hardness
and durability. A part of the monuments which have
been made of it have been preserved almost uninjured
for many centuries. The mode of building among the J
Egyptians was very peculiar. They placed in their I
columns rude stones upon each other, after merely
smoothing the surfaces of contact, and the figure of J
the column, with all its decorations, was finished after
? ? it was set up. In their walls, the outer and inner
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? nation. Its chief claim to attention rests on its having
ptwened from oblivion sonic fragments of authors, the
rest of whose works are lost. It is to be regretted
lint . Elian, instead of gi ving these extracts in the lan-
gaage of the writers themselves, has thought fit to ar-
ray them in a garb of his own. . Elian composed also
> pretended history of animals, Ilf/M fuuv (<J(oYi? ror,
ia seventeen book*, each of which is subdivided into
uaili chapters. This zoological compilation is full of
iburd uories, intermingled occasionally with inter-
esting notices. To this same writer are also ascribed
twenty epistles on rural affairs ('AypoMticai ImoTo'Aai)
whichpossess very little interest. . Elian led a life of
celibacy, and died at the age of 60 years or over. The
best editions of the Various History arc, that of Gro-
novms, Aoist. , 4to, 1731, 2 vols. , and thatof Kuhnius,
Lips. , 8ro, 1780, 2 vols. The best edition of the His-
tory of Animals is that of ! ? ". Jacobs, Lips. , 8vo, 1784.
--fit,IT. (Vie/. Supplement. )
Dili's, a name common to many Romans, and mark-
ing also the plebeian lion. se 'of the . tlii. ( Vt<l. . Klia
L) The most noted individuals that bore this name
were, I. Publius, a quaestor, A. U. C. 346, the first year
that the plebeians were admitted to this office. (Lir. ,
4, 54. )--II. C. Stalcnus, a. Judge, who suffered him-
self to be corrupted by Statius A linns. (Cic. pro Scxt. ,
81. )--III. Sextus -Elius Cains, an eminent Roman
Iwyer, who lived in the sixth century from the foun-
<Uuon of the city. Pie filled in succession the offices
of edile, consul, and censor, and gave his name to a
pat of the Roman law. "VV"hen Cncius Flavius, the
derk of ^ppius Claudius Csecus, had made known to
the people the forms to be observed in prosecuting
lawsiiiu. and the days upon which actions could be
brought, the patricians, irritated at this, contrived new
(mm of process, and, to prevent their being made pub-
fir, opnaied them in -writing by certain secret marks.
These forms, however, were subsequently published
br . ? /iu* Catus, and his book, was named Jus JElia-
IMW, as that of Flavius was styled Jtts Flatianum.
Ennuis calls him, on, account of his knowledge of the
ci>>U law, cgrcgic eordatus homo, "a remarkably wise
man. " (Cic. , de OrtU. , 1, 45. ) Notwithstanding live
opinions of Grotius and Bertrand, . Elius must be re-
garded as the author of the work entitled TripartUa
? lu, which is so styled from its containing, 1st. The
text of the law. 2d. Its interpretation. 3d. The le-
gii actto, or the forms to be observed in going to law.
-Elms Catus, on receiving the consulship, became re-
markable for the austere simplicity of his manners, eat-
ing from earthen vessels, and refusing the silver ones
which the . Etolian deputies offered him. When cen-
sor, with M. Cethegus, he assigned to the senate at
the public games separate seats from the people. --IV.
Lucius, surnameJ Lamia, the friend and defender of
Cicero, was driven out of the city by Piso and Ca-
bining. (Cic. in Pis. , 27. )--V. Gallus, a Roman
knight, and the friend of Strabo, to whom Virgil dedi-
cated his tenth eclogue. ( Vid. Gallus III. )--VI. Seja-
nus. (Yid. Sejanus. ) VII. An engraver on precious
(tones, who lived in the first century of our era. A
gem exhibiting the head of Tiberius, engraved by him,
is described by Bracci, tab. 2. --VIII. Promotus, an an-
cient physician. ( Vid. Supplement. )--IX. Gordianus,
an eminent lawyer, in the reign of Alexander Severus.
--X. Serenianus, a lawyer, and pupil of Papinian.
He flourished during the reign of Sevcrus, and is high-
ly praised by Lampridius. (Lamm. , Vit. Scv. )
ASLLO ('AePJUi), one of the Harpies. (Vid. Har-
? ? m'e ) Her name is derived from ue/Ua, a tempest,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? . ENEAS.
^ENEAS.
the Roman people. It was this individual to whom a
civic crown was given when a youth of 15, for having
saved the life of a citizen, an allusion to which is made
on the medals of the . Emilian family. (Lit. , 41,42.
Epit. 48. )--VIII. Lepidus, the triumvir. (Vtd. Le-
pidus. )
yEmonia. Vid. Hffimonia.
tExabia, an island off the coast of Campania, at the
entrance of the Bay of Naples. Properly speaking,
thero are two islands, and hence the plural form of the
name which the Greeks applied to them, al Ri0tikov-
aai (Pithccusn). This latter appellation, according to
Pliny (3, G), was not derived from the number of apes
(mdi/KOi) which the islands were supposed to contain,
but from the earthen casks or barrels (ttiBukiov, dotio-
lum) which were made there. The Romans called
the largest of the two islands Mnaria, probably from
the copper which they found in it. . /Enaria was a
volcanic island, and Virgil (. En. , 9, 716) gives it the
name of Inarime, in accordance with the old traditions
which made the body of Typhoeus to have been placed
under this island and the Phlegreean plain. Homer,
however (77. , 2, 783), describes Typhocu-i as lying in
Arima (eiv 'Api/iotc). The modem name of . Enaria
is Isehia.
jEnea or yEneia, a town of Macedonia, on the
coast of the Sinus Thermaicus, northwest from Olyn-
thus, and almost due south from Thcssalonica. It
was founded by a colony of Corinthians and Potidaa-
ans. The inhabitants themselves, however, affected
to believe that /Eneas was its founder, and conse-
quently offered to him an annual sacrifice. yEnea
was a place of some importance in the war between
the Macedonians and Romans. Soon afterward, how-
ever, it disappeared from history. (Scymnus, v. 627.
--Lie. , 40, 4, and 44, 10. --Strabo, evil. 7.
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? -EGYPTUS.
^EGYPTUS.
science, certain practices which resulted merely from
peculiarity of situation. Hence, on the one hand, the
diversity of animals adored by the communities of
Egypt. Had these been merely pure symbols, would
the priests, who sought to impart a uniform character to
their institutions, have ever introduced them 1 These
varieties in the objects of worship are only to be ex-
plained by the yielding, on the part of a sacerdotal or-
der, to the antecedent habits of the people. (Vogel,
Rcl. der AZg. , p. 97, scqq. ) Hence, too, on the other
hand, those numerous allegories, heaped up together
without being connected by any common bond, and
forming, if the expression be allowed, so many layers
of fable. Apis, for example, at first the manitou-pro-
totype of his kind, afterward the depository of the
soul of Osiris, is found to have >> third meaning, which
holds a middle place between the other two. He is
the symbol of the Nile, the fertilizing stream of Egypt;
and while his colour, the spots of white on his front,
and the duration of his existence, which could not ex-
ceed twenty-five years, have a reference to astronomy,
the festival of his reappearance was celebrated on the
day when the river begins to rise. The result, then,
of what we have here advanced, is simply this: The
animal-worship of the Egyptians originated in feti-
chism. The sacerdotal caste, in allowing it to remain
unmolested, arrayed it in a more imposing garb, and,
while they permitted the mass of the people to indulge
in this gross and humiliating species of adoration, re-
served for themselves a secret and visionary system of
pantheism or emanation. (Constant, de la Religion, 3,
62, seqq. --Prichard's Analysis of Egyptian Mythology,
p. 330, seqq. )
12. Egyptian Castes.
Among the institutions of Egypt, none was more
important in its influence on the character of the na-
tion, than the division of the people into tribes or fam-
ilies, who were obliged by the laws and superstitions
of the country to follow, without deviation, the profes-
sions and habits of their forefathers. Such an institu-
tion could not fail of impressing the idea of abject ser-
vility on the lower classes; and, by removing in a great
measure the motive of emulation, it must have created,
in all, an apathy and indifference to improvement in
their particular profession. Wherever the system of
castes has existed, it has produced a remarkably perma-
nent and uniform character in the nation ; as in the ex-
ample furnished by tho natives of Hindustan. These
people agree in almost every point with the description
given of them by Megasthenes, who visited the court of
an Indian king soon after the conquest of the East by
the Macedonians. "We have no very accurate and cir-
cumstantial account of the castes into which the Egyp-
tian people were divided, and of tho particular customs
of each. It appears, indeed, that innovations on the
old civil and religious constitution of Egypt had begun
to be introduced as early as the time of Psammetichus,
when the ancient aversion of the people to foreigners
was first overcome. The various conflicts which the
nation underwent, between that era and the time when
Herodotus visited Egypt, could not fail to break down
many of the fences which ancient priestcraft had es-
tablished for maintaining the influence of superstition.
Herodotus is the earliest writer who mentions the
castes or hereditary classes of the Egyptians, and his
account appears to be the result of his personal obser-
vation only. Had this historian understood the native
? ? language of the people; had he been able to read the
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? --EGYPTUS
^EGYPTUS.
And yet, even in the statements which we obtain from
this quarter, traces may easily be found of what the
Egyptian hierarchy once was; so that from these,
when taken together, we are enabled to form a tolera-
bly accurate idea of" the earlier power which this re-
markable order had enjoyed. The sacerdotal caste
was spread over the whole of Egypt; their chief places
of abode, however, were the great cities, which, at one
time or other, had been the capitals of the land, or else
had held a tush rank among the other Egyptian cities.
These were Thebes, Memphis, Sais, Heliopolis, &c.
Here, too, were the chief temples, which are so often
mentioned in the accounts of Herodotus and other
writers. Every Egyptian priest had to belong to the
local patron or deity of the adjacent country The
priests of Memphis were always styled (according to
the nomenclature of the Greeks) priests of Vulcan ?
those of Thebes, priests of the Theban Jovo; those of
Sais, priests of the Sun, &. c. Theso head-temples
mark the first settlement of the sacerdotal colonies as
they gradually descended the valley of the Nile. The
number of deities to whom temples were erected, in
Upper Egypt at least, seem to have been always very
limited. In this quarter we hear merely of the tem-
ples of Ammon, Osiris, Isis, and Typhon. In Middle
and Lower Egypt, the number appears to have been
gradually enlarged. --The next subject of inquiry has
reference to the revenues of the sacerdotal order Here
service of some particular deity, or, in other words, to also we must dismiss the too common opinion, that the
be attached to some temple. The number of priests
for any deity was never determined; nor could it in-
deed have been subjected to any regulations on this
head, since priesthood was hereditary in families, and
these must have been more or less numerous accord-
ing to circumstances. JNot only was the priestly caste
hereditary in its nature, but also the priesthoods of in-
dividual deities. The sons, for example, of the priests
of Vulcan at Memphis, could not enter as members
into the sacerdotal college at Heliopolis; nor could
the offspring of the priests of Heliopolis belong to the
college of Memphis. Strange as this regulation may
appear, it was nevertheless a natural one. Each tem-
ple had extensive portions of land attached to it, the
revenues of which, belonging as they did to those
wh6se forefathers had erected the temple, were receiv-
ed by the priests as matters of hereditary right, and
? liiic those who tilled these lands be regarded as their
dependants or subjects. Hence, as both the temple-
lands and revenues were inherited, the sacerdotal col-
leges had of consequence to be kept distinct. The
priesthood, moreover, of each temple was carefully
organized. They had a. high-priest over them, whose
office was likewise hereditary. It need hardly be re-
marked, that there must have been gradations also
. n ';i_- the various hiph-priests, and that those of
Thebes, Memphis, and the other chief cities of the coun-
try, must have stood at the head of the order. These
? mere, in a certain sense, a species of hereditary princes,
who stood bv the side of the monarchs, and enjoyed al-
most equal privileges Their Egyptian title was Pi-
rvmys, which Herodotus translates by icnXoc ndya0o(.
i, e. , " noble and good," and which points not so much
to moral excellence as to nobility of origin. (Com-
pare Welker, Tfieognidis Rcliqma, p. xxiv. ) Their
statues were placed in the temples. Whenever they
are mentioned in the history of the country, they ap-
pear as the first persons in the state, even in the Mo-
? ? aie ace. When Joseph was to be elevated to power,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? jEGYPTUS.
jEGVFfljS.
cient writers have left us only a few hints, more or less
obscure, which scarcely afford anything beyond a mere
foundation for conjectures. The President de Goguet,
relying on a statement of Scrvius, supposes that the
Egyptians embalmed their dead for the sake of main-
taining the connexion between the soul and the body,
and preventing the former from transmigrating. (Or-
igin of Laics, &c, vol. 3, p. 68, Eng. transl. ) Ac-
cording to the Egyptian doctrine of transmigration, as
explained by Herodotus (2, 127), the soul of a man
passed through the bodies of living creatures, and re-
turned to inhabit a human form at the expiration of
three thousand years The cycle, however, docs not
commence until the body begins to perish, and the sec-
ond human habitation of the soul is a new one The
pains and torments, therefore, of passing through this
cycle of three thousand years, and through animals in-
numerable, might be reserved for those whose actions
in life did not entitle them to be made into mummies,
and whose bodies would therefore bo exposed to de-
cay. In a seconil trial in the world, the unfortunate
penitent might avoid his former errors. Hence, say
the advocates for this opinion, the body of a father or
ancestor was often given as a pledge or security, and it
was one that was valued more highly than any other.
It was the most sacred of all the obligations which a
man could bind himself by, and the recovery of the
pledge, by performing tho stipulated condition, was an
indispensable duty. (Long's Ancient Gcogr. , p. 61. )
Others have imagined, that the views with which the
Egyptians embalmed their dead bodies were more
akin to those which rendereJ the Greeks and Romans
so anxious to perform the usual rites of sepulture to
their departed warriors, namely, an idea that these so-
lemnities expedited the journey of the soul to the ap-
pointed region, where it was to receive judgment for
its former deeds, and to have its future doom fixed ac-
cordingly. This, they maintain, is implied by the pray-
er, said to have been uttered by the cmbalmers in the
name of the deceased, entreating the divine powers to
receive his soul into the regions of the gods. (Por-
phyr. , dc Abstinent. , 4, 10. --Prichard's Analysts of
Egi/plian Mythology, p. 200. ) Perhaps, however, the
practice of embalming in Egypt was the result more of
necessity than of choice, and, like many other of the
customs of the land, may have been identified by the
priests with the national religion, in order to ensure its
continuance The rites of sepulture in Egypt grew
out of circumstances peculiar to that country. The
scarcity of fuel precluded tho use of the funeral pile;
the rocks which bounded the valley denied a grave;
and the sands of the deserts afforded no protection from
outrage by wild beasts; while the valley, regularly in-
undated, forbade it to be used as a charnel-house, un-
der penalty of pestilence to the living. Hence grew
the use of antiseptic substances, in which the nation
became so skilled, as to render the bodies of their dead
inaccessible to the ordinary process of decay.
15 Arts and Manufactures of the Egyptians. ,
The topics on which we intend here to touch, derive
no small degree of elucidation from the paintings dis-
covered in the tombs of Egypt Weaving appears to
have been the employment of a large majority of the
nation. According to Herodotus (2, 35), it was an
occupation of the men, and, therefore, not merely a do-
mestic employment, but a business carried on also in
large establishments or manufactories. The process
? ? of weaving is frequently the subject of Egyptian paint-
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? --EGYPTUS.
be Ibe oxyde of iron. \Vc may hence conclude, that
theereenpigmerxt, is a mixture ofalittlc ochre, with a
pulverulent glaj&st, made by vitrifying theoxjdes of cop-
per and iron with sand and sodii. 2. The blue pigment
isapulverulent blue glass, of like composition, without
the ochreou* adrni-xturc, brightened with a little of the
chalky maxtet used in the diBtemper preparation. 3.
The red pigment is merely a red earthy bole. 4. The
black is bone black, mixed with a little gum, and con-
taining some traces of iron. 5. The white is nothing
but a very pure chalk, containing hardly any alumina,
ind a mere trace of iron. 6. The yellow pigment is
a yellow iron ochre. " ( Wilkinson, vol. 3, p. 301. )
Next in importance to -weaving must be ranked Metal-
lurgy. As far as we can judge from the colour, which
is always green, brass seems to have been constantly
employed where in other nations iron would be. The
war-chariots appear to be entirely of the former metal.
Their green colour, as well as their shape, and the
lightness and elegance of their wheels, are thought
dearly to indicate this. The arms, moreover, of the
Egyptians appear to be entirely all of brass, and not
only the swords, but the bows also, and quivers are
male of it. These, together with the instruments for
cutting that are found depicted among the hieroglyph-
ics, are always green. In the infancy of the arts and
sciences, the difficulty of working iron might long
withhold the secret of its superiority over copper or
bronze; but it cannot reasonably be supposed that a
nation so far advanced, and so eminently skilled in the
art of working metals as the Egyptians, should have
remained ignorant of its use, even if we had no evi-
dence of its having been known to the Greeks and
other people; and the constant employment of bronze
arms and implements is not a sufficient argument
igainst their knowledge of iron, sinco wo find tae
Greeks and Romans made the same things of bronze,
long after the period when iron was universally known.
If we reject this view of the question, we must come
at ones to the conclusion that the Egyptians possessed
an art of hardening copper and bronze which is now
lost to the world- The skill of the Egyptians in com-
r. (. :;n tin'. ' metals is abundantly proved by the vases,
mirrors, arms, and implements oi bronze discovered at
Thebes; and the numerous methods they adopted for
varvinir'the composition of bronze by a judicious mix-
tare of- alloys, are shown in the many qualities of
the metal. They had even the secret of giving to
bronze or brass blades a certain degree of elasticity,
as may be seen in the dagger of the Berlin museum.
Another remarkable feature in their bronze is the re-
sistance it offers to the effects of the atmosphere;
some continuing smooth and bright, though buried for
awes, and since exposed to the damp of European
climates. ( WUktnaon, vol. 3, p. 253. ) Other lost arts
in metallurgy may be evidenced by the well-known
fact, that the Hebrew legislator inferentially ascribes
to the E-jyptian chemists the art of making gold liquid,
ami of retaining it in that state. This we have not
toe power to do. Still, however, it must be confessed,
that the Egyptians cannot properly be considered as at
iv time acquainted with the science of chemistry;
though they were early made aware of various chemi-
cal tacts, and many and indubitable proofs of this have
;n collected in one or two not inconsiderable works
devoted to the subject. Their progress in the manu-
facture of not only white but coloured glass may also
y instanced. Seneca informs us that they made arti-
? ? ficial gems of extraordinary beauty. (Epist. , 00. )
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? ^EGVPTUS.
iEGYPTUS.
16. Trade of Egypt.
Nature hag destined Egypt, by its products, its gen-
eral character, and its geographical position, for one of
the principal trading countries of the gk'je. Neither
the despotism under which it has groaned for centu-
ries, nor the bloody feuds and wars of which it has so
often been the scene, have operated, for any length of
time, to deprive it of these advantages; the purposes
of Nature may be impeded, but they cannot be wholly
destroyed. The situation of Egypt, a fertile district,
abounding in the first necessaries of life, between the
arid deserts of Asia and Africa, has in all ages given
it a value which, in another position, it could not have.
From the time of Jacob to tho present day, it has been
the granary of the less fertile neighbouring countries.
The natural facilities for internal communication were,
at an early period, increased by the formation of canals,
which united the various arms of tho river that bound
or flow through the Delta. From Syenc to about lat.
31? north there is one uninterrupted boat-navigation,
which is seldom impeded for want of water. The con-
veyance of articles up the stream is favoured at cer-
tain seasons by the steady winds from the north. A
description of the Nile-boat, called Baris, is given by
Herodotus (2, 96). One of the great national festivals,
that of Artemis at Bubastis, was celebrated during the
annual inundation; the people, in boats, sailed from
one town to another, and their numbers were increased
by the inhabitants of every town that was visited. As
it was an idle time for the agriculturists, like the winter
of other climates, it was spent in carousing and drunk-
enness. The quantity of wine consumed was immense,
and the whole of it was procured by giving in exchange
Egyptian commodities. The Egyptians were never a
nation of sailors, for their country furnished no mate-
rials for building large vessels. Till the time of Psam-
metichus, foreigners, though allowed to trade there,
were subject to many strict regulations, and were
regarded as suspicious persons. Egypt, being a
grain-country, would be more likely to receive the
visits of foreigners, than to make, herself, any active
commercial speculations. The later Pharaohs, after
Psammetichus, as also the Ptolemies, could only then
build fleets when tho woods of Phoenicia were under
their control; and it is well-known what bloody wars
were carried on for the possession of these regions be-
tween the Ptolemies and Seloueidie. It may he easily
imagined, too, that the Tyrians and Sidonians were
never anxious to make tho Egyptians a maritime peo-
ple, even if the latter had possessed the inclination to
become such. The true reason why the Egyptians
forbade all foreigners to approach their coast, is to be
found in the peculiar character of early commerce.
All the nationB that trafficked on the Mediterranean
were at that time pirates, with whom the carrying
away the inhabitants from the coasts and selling them
for slaves had become a lucrative branch of commerce.
It was natural, then, that a people who had no ships
of their own to oppose such visitants, should forbid
them, under any pretext, to approach their coasts.
Passages occur, it is true, in the ancient writers,
which render it doubtful whether there were not some
exceptions to what has just been remarked. Homer
makes Menelaus to have sailed to Egypt, and Diodo-
rus Siculus mentions a maritime city, named Thonis,
to which he assigns a great antiquity. The colonies,
too, that are said to have sailed from Egypt to Greece,
? ? as, for example, those of Danaus and Cecrops, suppose
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
?
Mrtin; the different parts, were adhered to at the
|sleil as at the earliest periods. No improvements,
Bsulfagfrom experience and observation, were admit-
ted in the mode of drawin g the figure; no attempt was
jade to copy nature, or to give proper action to the
Us. Certainrules, certain models, had been cstab-
falBd by law, and the faulty conceptions of earlier
times were copied and perpetuated by every successive
aftisl Egyptian bas-relief appears to have been, in
in origin, a mere copy of painting, its predecessor.
The first attempt to represent the figures of the gods,
acred emblems, and other subjects, consisted in paint-
ing simple outlines of them on a flat surface, the details
being afterward put in with colour. But, in process of
time, these forms were traced on stone with a tool, and
Ihe intermediate space l>etween the various figures
being afterward cut away, the once level surface as-
sumed the appearance of a bas-relief. It was, in fact,
> pictorial representation on stone, which is evidently
thi character of all the haa-reliefs on Egyptian monu-
ments, and which readily accounts for the imperfect
arrangement of their figures. Deficient in conception,
tad. above all, in a proper knowledge of grouping, they
were unable to form those combinations which give
hue expression. Every picture was made up of iso-
laled parts, put together according to some general
notions, but without harmony or preconceived effect.
The human face, the whole body, and everything they
introduced, were composed, in the same manner, of
leparale members, placed together one by one, accord-
ing to their relative situations: the eye, the nose, and
other features, composed a face; but the expression
of feelings and passions was entirely wanting; and the
countenance of the king, whether charging an enemy's
phalanx in the heat of battle, or peaceably offering in-
ceose in a sombre temple, presented the same outline,
and the same inanimate look. The peculiarity of the
front view of an eye, introduced in a profile, is thus ac-
counted for; it was the ordinary representation of that
feature added to a profile, and no allowance was made
fcr any change in the position of the head. It was the
same with drapery. The figure was first drawn, and
the drapery was then added, not as a part of the whole,
bot as an accessory. They had no general conception,
MJ previous idea of the effect required to distinguish
the warrior or the priest, beyond the impression re-
ceived from costume, or from the subject of which they
formed a part; and the same figure was dressed accord-
iaz to the character it was intended to perform. Every
portion of a picture was conceived by itself, and in-
serted as it was wanted to complete the scene; and
when the walls of a building, where a subject was to
he drawn, had been accurately ruled with squares, the
figures were introduced, and fitted to this mechanical
arrangement. The members were appended to the'
body, and these squares regulated their form and dis-
tribution, in whatever posture they might be placed.
In the paintings of the tombs, greater license was al-
lowed in the representation of subjects relating to pri-
vate hie, the trades, or the manners and occupations
of the people; and some indications of perspective in
the position of the figures may occasionally be ob-
served; but the attempt was imperfect, and, probably,
to an Egyptian eye, unpleasing; for such is the force
of habit, that, even where nature is copied, a conven-
ti'onaJ style is sometimes preferred to a more accurate
representation. In the battle scenes on the temples
ofTbfbes, some of the figures representing the mon-
3Tch pursuing the flying enemy, despatching a hostile
? ? chief with his sword, and drawing his bow, as his:
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? . EGYPTUS.
. ELI
cities. Such artificial mounds are still to be seen
forming the basis of all the important ruins that exist.
When we consider the remarkable skill exhibited by
the Egyptians in the art of stone-cutting, manifested,
too, at the most remote period to which we can trace
them historically, we cannot but ascribe this charac-
teristic taste to something in their original habits.
The first necessities of their ancestors must have given
this impulse to the national genius, and determined the
character which their architecture manifests, down to
the latest period of their existence, not merely as an
independent nation, but as a separate people. In the
same way that the Tyrians. and the inhabitants of Pal-
estine, owed to their cedar forests their taste and skill
in the workmanship of wood, the Egyptians derived
from their original mode of life, from their abundant
quarries, and from the facility they found in excavating
the rocks into dwellings, the taste for the workmanship
of stone which distinguishes them; and this taste ex-
plains the high degree of perfection they attained in
this art. In inquiring into the origin and principles of
Egyptian architecture, certain prominent characters
strike us at once that cannot be mistaken. The plans
and great outlines of their buildings are remarkable
for simplicity and sameness, however diversified they
may be in decoration and ornament. Openings arc
extremely rare, and the interior of their temples is as
dark as the primitive caverns themselves; so that,
when within them, it is difficult to distinguish between
an excavation and a building; the pillars arc of enor-
mous diameter, and resemble in their proportions the
masses left to support the roofs of mines and quarries.
Nay, their hypostyle halls arc almost similar in appear-
ance to this kind of excavation; the portals, porticoes,
and doors are enclosed in masses, in such a way as to
present the appearance of the entrance of a cave; and
the roofs of vast stones, lying horizontally, could have
been imitated from no shelter erected in the open air.
All the buildings yet existing between Dendcrah and
Syenc arc constructed of a kind of sandstone, furnished
in abundance by the quarries of the adjacent country.
This stone is composed of quartzose grains, usually
united by a calcareous cement. Its colours arc gray-
ish, yellowish, or even almost white; some have a
slight tinge of rose colour, and others various veins of
different shades of yellow. But when forming a part
of the mass of a building, they produce an almost uni-
form effect of colour, namely, a light gray. One great
advantage connected with this species of stone is the
case with which it can be wrought; and the mode of
its aggregation, and the uniformity of its structure, so
far from resisting, offerthe greatest facilities for the ex-
ecution of hieroglyphic and symbolic sculptures. The
obelisks and statues, on the other hand, which adorned
the approaches and entrances of the sandstone struc-
tures, were made of a more costly and enduring sub-
stance, the granite of Syene, the Cataracts, and Ele-
phantine. The most important of the rocks of this
species is the rose-granite, remarkable for the beauty
of its colours, the largo size of its crystals, its hardness
and durability. A part of the monuments which have
been made of it have been preserved almost uninjured
for many centuries. The mode of building among the J
Egyptians was very peculiar. They placed in their I
columns rude stones upon each other, after merely
smoothing the surfaces of contact, and the figure of J
the column, with all its decorations, was finished after
? ? it was set up. In their walls, the outer and inner
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? nation. Its chief claim to attention rests on its having
ptwened from oblivion sonic fragments of authors, the
rest of whose works are lost. It is to be regretted
lint . Elian, instead of gi ving these extracts in the lan-
gaage of the writers themselves, has thought fit to ar-
ray them in a garb of his own. . Elian composed also
> pretended history of animals, Ilf/M fuuv (<J(oYi? ror,
ia seventeen book*, each of which is subdivided into
uaili chapters. This zoological compilation is full of
iburd uories, intermingled occasionally with inter-
esting notices. To this same writer are also ascribed
twenty epistles on rural affairs ('AypoMticai ImoTo'Aai)
whichpossess very little interest. . Elian led a life of
celibacy, and died at the age of 60 years or over. The
best editions of the Various History arc, that of Gro-
novms, Aoist. , 4to, 1731, 2 vols. , and thatof Kuhnius,
Lips. , 8ro, 1780, 2 vols. The best edition of the His-
tory of Animals is that of ! ? ". Jacobs, Lips. , 8vo, 1784.
--fit,IT. (Vie/. Supplement. )
Dili's, a name common to many Romans, and mark-
ing also the plebeian lion. se 'of the . tlii. ( Vt<l. . Klia
L) The most noted individuals that bore this name
were, I. Publius, a quaestor, A. U. C. 346, the first year
that the plebeians were admitted to this office. (Lir. ,
4, 54. )--II. C. Stalcnus, a. Judge, who suffered him-
self to be corrupted by Statius A linns. (Cic. pro Scxt. ,
81. )--III. Sextus -Elius Cains, an eminent Roman
Iwyer, who lived in the sixth century from the foun-
<Uuon of the city. Pie filled in succession the offices
of edile, consul, and censor, and gave his name to a
pat of the Roman law. "VV"hen Cncius Flavius, the
derk of ^ppius Claudius Csecus, had made known to
the people the forms to be observed in prosecuting
lawsiiiu. and the days upon which actions could be
brought, the patricians, irritated at this, contrived new
(mm of process, and, to prevent their being made pub-
fir, opnaied them in -writing by certain secret marks.
These forms, however, were subsequently published
br . ? /iu* Catus, and his book, was named Jus JElia-
IMW, as that of Flavius was styled Jtts Flatianum.
Ennuis calls him, on, account of his knowledge of the
ci>>U law, cgrcgic eordatus homo, "a remarkably wise
man. " (Cic. , de OrtU. , 1, 45. ) Notwithstanding live
opinions of Grotius and Bertrand, . Elius must be re-
garded as the author of the work entitled TripartUa
? lu, which is so styled from its containing, 1st. The
text of the law. 2d. Its interpretation. 3d. The le-
gii actto, or the forms to be observed in going to law.
-Elms Catus, on receiving the consulship, became re-
markable for the austere simplicity of his manners, eat-
ing from earthen vessels, and refusing the silver ones
which the . Etolian deputies offered him. When cen-
sor, with M. Cethegus, he assigned to the senate at
the public games separate seats from the people. --IV.
Lucius, surnameJ Lamia, the friend and defender of
Cicero, was driven out of the city by Piso and Ca-
bining. (Cic. in Pis. , 27. )--V. Gallus, a Roman
knight, and the friend of Strabo, to whom Virgil dedi-
cated his tenth eclogue. ( Vid. Gallus III. )--VI. Seja-
nus. (Yid. Sejanus. ) VII. An engraver on precious
(tones, who lived in the first century of our era. A
gem exhibiting the head of Tiberius, engraved by him,
is described by Bracci, tab. 2. --VIII. Promotus, an an-
cient physician. ( Vid. Supplement. )--IX. Gordianus,
an eminent lawyer, in the reign of Alexander Severus.
--X. Serenianus, a lawyer, and pupil of Papinian.
He flourished during the reign of Sevcrus, and is high-
ly praised by Lampridius. (Lamm. , Vit. Scv. )
ASLLO ('AePJUi), one of the Harpies. (Vid. Har-
? ? m'e ) Her name is derived from ue/Ua, a tempest,
Generated for (University of Chicago) on 2014-12-26 09:04 GMT / http://hdl. handle. net/2027/uva. x001045523 Public Domain, Google-digitized / http://www. hathitrust. org/access_use#pd-google
? . ENEAS.
^ENEAS.
the Roman people. It was this individual to whom a
civic crown was given when a youth of 15, for having
saved the life of a citizen, an allusion to which is made
on the medals of the . Emilian family. (Lit. , 41,42.
Epit. 48. )--VIII. Lepidus, the triumvir. (Vtd. Le-
pidus. )
yEmonia. Vid. Hffimonia.
tExabia, an island off the coast of Campania, at the
entrance of the Bay of Naples. Properly speaking,
thero are two islands, and hence the plural form of the
name which the Greeks applied to them, al Ri0tikov-
aai (Pithccusn). This latter appellation, according to
Pliny (3, G), was not derived from the number of apes
(mdi/KOi) which the islands were supposed to contain,
but from the earthen casks or barrels (ttiBukiov, dotio-
lum) which were made there. The Romans called
the largest of the two islands Mnaria, probably from
the copper which they found in it. . /Enaria was a
volcanic island, and Virgil (. En. , 9, 716) gives it the
name of Inarime, in accordance with the old traditions
which made the body of Typhoeus to have been placed
under this island and the Phlegreean plain. Homer,
however (77. , 2, 783), describes Typhocu-i as lying in
Arima (eiv 'Api/iotc). The modem name of . Enaria
is Isehia.
jEnea or yEneia, a town of Macedonia, on the
coast of the Sinus Thermaicus, northwest from Olyn-
thus, and almost due south from Thcssalonica. It
was founded by a colony of Corinthians and Potidaa-
ans. The inhabitants themselves, however, affected
to believe that /Eneas was its founder, and conse-
quently offered to him an annual sacrifice. yEnea
was a place of some importance in the war between
the Macedonians and Romans. Soon afterward, how-
ever, it disappeared from history. (Scymnus, v. 627.
--Lie. , 40, 4, and 44, 10. --Strabo, evil. 7.
