Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

382 The Ram and the Sun in Egypt

traditionally identified with the Fountain of the Sun1. It measures
about no paces in circumference, and is enclosed by an early

wall still in excellent repair2. The
ancients believed that its temperature
E? pVj&S varied inversely with the height of the
sun3—an error refuted by modern
r>y& thermometers4 and due to the fact that

f**5?*|» the observers were themselves warmer

9 # <* by day than by night. G. Rohlfs took

Ain el hammam to mean 'the Fountain

V f

T of the Doves ' ; but G. Steindorff points

out that it is rather ' the Fountain of
the Bath'—he himself saw women and
children bathing in it. I may add that
%^ r hammam, 1 bath,' is in reality the same
word as that which forms the second
element of Ba'al-kamman, so that the
"^^^SSfffE^fkf name of Zeus Amnion still haunts the

'J^^^^-^^^l^^ * Oasis at least in this modified and un-
* *$jflf^r * ' recognised shape.

?f y^'-^^^y^S:^ a' Agermi, containing the chief temple of

11

?*-'$Ms£f?*l& r Amman

^-^(^S^^^^^- Umma beida, ruins of the second temple of

**^^lil§ll§£ c, c, c. Remains of the precinct-wall.

*y^*-V8\^ d. Ain el hammam, the ancient Fountain of

,-^V%**J^^ the Sun.

e- Ain Miesa, the Fountain of Moses.

•we*

* F—M , I ----■ A 03^ ^*-»»»*

Fig. 290.

To the north of Ain el hammam is
Umma beida (fig. 290)5, where remains of

1 Supra p. 368 f.

2 G. Rohlfs Few Tripolis nach Alexandrien2, ii. 115.

8 P- 368. ^fJTd I) c\,

4 The temperature of the water is constant—840 5W*J»-
Fahrenheit (Bayle St John), 850 Fahrenheit (J. Hamil- * %, '<t \i V' **
ton), 290 Centigrade (G. Rohlfs, whose observations % « ^
were taken at all times of day and night, and G. *
Steindorff, who made repeated experiments always
with the same result).

8 H. von Minutoli Reise etc. p. 372 Atlas pi. 6, 1 : « = the village Agermi, £ = the