DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14564#0157
140
CITIES OF EGYPT.
tical science was so mixed up in Egypt with sacred
things, that the Greek separation of the two must have
startled the conservative priests of Egypt. But in course
of time there came a change j for when Greek was
better known in Egypt, the priests' houses at Heliopolis
were opened to at least the most distinguished inquirers.
It was during the temporary independence of the
country under native kings after the first Persian rule,
that Plato the philosopher, and Eudoxus the mathe-
matician, studied at Heliopolis. The geographer Strabo,
when he visited Egypt shortly before the Christian Era,
was shown as a sight the very houses where these illus-
trious strangers were lodged. The journey of Plato is
nowhere related in any detail; but we have the story of
that of Eudoxus. He had studied under Plato, but
after he had been dismissed by him, his own friends paid
his expenses to Egypt, and gave him letters of recom-
mendation to Nectanabis, the reigning Pharaoh, who
passed him on to the priests. He shaved his beard and
conformed to their rule of life, and, after long study at
Heliopolis, came away with advanced knowledge of
astronomy. In his case we cannot doubt that Egyptian
science was of value ; rude as it was, it surpassed what the
CITIES OF EGYPT.
tical science was so mixed up in Egypt with sacred
things, that the Greek separation of the two must have
startled the conservative priests of Egypt. But in course
of time there came a change j for when Greek was
better known in Egypt, the priests' houses at Heliopolis
were opened to at least the most distinguished inquirers.
It was during the temporary independence of the
country under native kings after the first Persian rule,
that Plato the philosopher, and Eudoxus the mathe-
matician, studied at Heliopolis. The geographer Strabo,
when he visited Egypt shortly before the Christian Era,
was shown as a sight the very houses where these illus-
trious strangers were lodged. The journey of Plato is
nowhere related in any detail; but we have the story of
that of Eudoxus. He had studied under Plato, but
after he had been dismissed by him, his own friends paid
his expenses to Egypt, and gave him letters of recom-
mendation to Nectanabis, the reigning Pharaoh, who
passed him on to the priests. He shaved his beard and
conformed to their rule of life, and, after long study at
Heliopolis, came away with advanced knowledge of
astronomy. In his case we cannot doubt that Egyptian
science was of value ; rude as it was, it surpassed what the