DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4372#0093
77
i. e. Aroeres and Nephthe, in the mazes of their intricate mytho-
logy; or at least our ignorance of its minuter details leads us
ever to confound the beneficient qualities and attributes of the
former with those of Osiris, and Nephthe with Isis. Scaliger thinks
Aroeres to have been the same with Anubis; and Bishop Cum-
berland is of opinion that in Phoenicia he was worshipped under
the name of Agroerus, or Agrotes, as the deity presiding over hus-
bandmen and agriculture.
As to Nephthe, Plutarch, in another part of the same treatise,
has added that the Egyptians gave this name to the extreme
parts of the land, to promontories, and the sea shores; this has
given rise to the opinion of some, that the same word is the origin
of the Neptune of the Greeks. However this may be, it is evi-
dent from the inscription at Ombos, that Aroeres did con-
tinue to be considered as one of the great gods, even after the
conquest of Alexander, and that he was held synonymous with
the Apollo of the Greeks; so that the native Egyptians and the
naturalized Greeks would meet in his sanctuary to perform the
ceremonies of a superstition, in which an artful priesthood had
contrived to reconcile the worship of the Son of Latona, with that
of the guardian of Orus the son of Osiris*. The other sanctuary
may have been dedicated to the more popular worship of the
Crocodile.
Towards the North-west angle of the inclosurc, close to the
precipice above the river side, is a small temple of Isis : the capi-
tals of this building are square, and on each of the four sides is
represented the front face of thatdeit}'; the sculptures on the
walls are very numerous, and still, at the end of above two thou-
sand years, preserve the brilliancy of their first colouring.
* The omission of the verb in this as in other similar inscriptions leaves it doubtful
whether upon this occasion the Secos was built, repaired, 01 dedicated anew.
The
i. e. Aroeres and Nephthe, in the mazes of their intricate mytho-
logy; or at least our ignorance of its minuter details leads us
ever to confound the beneficient qualities and attributes of the
former with those of Osiris, and Nephthe with Isis. Scaliger thinks
Aroeres to have been the same with Anubis; and Bishop Cum-
berland is of opinion that in Phoenicia he was worshipped under
the name of Agroerus, or Agrotes, as the deity presiding over hus-
bandmen and agriculture.
As to Nephthe, Plutarch, in another part of the same treatise,
has added that the Egyptians gave this name to the extreme
parts of the land, to promontories, and the sea shores; this has
given rise to the opinion of some, that the same word is the origin
of the Neptune of the Greeks. However this may be, it is evi-
dent from the inscription at Ombos, that Aroeres did con-
tinue to be considered as one of the great gods, even after the
conquest of Alexander, and that he was held synonymous with
the Apollo of the Greeks; so that the native Egyptians and the
naturalized Greeks would meet in his sanctuary to perform the
ceremonies of a superstition, in which an artful priesthood had
contrived to reconcile the worship of the Son of Latona, with that
of the guardian of Orus the son of Osiris*. The other sanctuary
may have been dedicated to the more popular worship of the
Crocodile.
Towards the North-west angle of the inclosurc, close to the
precipice above the river side, is a small temple of Isis : the capi-
tals of this building are square, and on each of the four sides is
represented the front face of thatdeit}'; the sculptures on the
walls are very numerous, and still, at the end of above two thou-
sand years, preserve the brilliancy of their first colouring.
* The omission of the verb in this as in other similar inscriptions leaves it doubtful
whether upon this occasion the Secos was built, repaired, 01 dedicated anew.
The