DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14563#0222
CORRESPONDENCES WITH THE BIBLE. 187
Egypt that constituted the strength and glory of the land.
Of the thirteen cities of Egypt mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment, eight of which are enumerated by Ezekiel in the
thirtieth chapter of his prophecy, the sites of all, or nearly
all, can be identified, with the exception of " No," which
seems to have been the most important. The city is
referred to also by Jeremiah (chap. xlvi. 25), and by
Nahum iii. 8. In the margin it is called "Ainun No."
Upon this name Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks, " This
passage from Nahum is very interesting. ' Art thou better
than populous No, that was situate among the waters, that
had the waters round about it; whose rampart was the sea,
and her wall was from the sea ? Ethiopia and Egypt were
her strength; Putv and Lubin were thy helpers.' The word
Iarim, ' the rivers,' is the Hebrew plural of the Egyptian
word iaro, 1 river,' applied to the Nile. The word sea is,
in the Hebrew, water or waters, and does not apply ex-
clusively to the sea. ' Populous No' should be No or
Na-Amun, taken from the Egyptian HI N A M 0 V N, or
A M 0 V N-H I, < the abode of Amun,' or Diospolis." *
Amun, the Egyptian Jupiter, was the chief deity wor-
shipped at Thebes; and if we suppose Thebes to have stood
for all Egypt, as Jerusalem sometimes stands for the land
of Palestine, Rome for the Empire, Athens for Greece,
Paris for France, then the description of Nahum well ap-
plies to it. The prophet seems to have taken the capital for
the country when he speaks of Ethiopia and Egypt as the
strength of Amun-No, and adds that it was " infinite;" and
so Jeremiah seems to use interchangeably the names No,
Pharaoh, and Egypt, to denote the same powrer. Here was
a city of vast wealth and power, from which probably Solo-
mon received the horses, and the chariots, and the linen,
* Ancient Egytians, vol. 1, p. 12.
Egypt that constituted the strength and glory of the land.
Of the thirteen cities of Egypt mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment, eight of which are enumerated by Ezekiel in the
thirtieth chapter of his prophecy, the sites of all, or nearly
all, can be identified, with the exception of " No," which
seems to have been the most important. The city is
referred to also by Jeremiah (chap. xlvi. 25), and by
Nahum iii. 8. In the margin it is called "Ainun No."
Upon this name Sir Gardner Wilkinson remarks, " This
passage from Nahum is very interesting. ' Art thou better
than populous No, that was situate among the waters, that
had the waters round about it; whose rampart was the sea,
and her wall was from the sea ? Ethiopia and Egypt were
her strength; Putv and Lubin were thy helpers.' The word
Iarim, ' the rivers,' is the Hebrew plural of the Egyptian
word iaro, 1 river,' applied to the Nile. The word sea is,
in the Hebrew, water or waters, and does not apply ex-
clusively to the sea. ' Populous No' should be No or
Na-Amun, taken from the Egyptian HI N A M 0 V N, or
A M 0 V N-H I, < the abode of Amun,' or Diospolis." *
Amun, the Egyptian Jupiter, was the chief deity wor-
shipped at Thebes; and if we suppose Thebes to have stood
for all Egypt, as Jerusalem sometimes stands for the land
of Palestine, Rome for the Empire, Athens for Greece,
Paris for France, then the description of Nahum well ap-
plies to it. The prophet seems to have taken the capital for
the country when he speaks of Ethiopia and Egypt as the
strength of Amun-No, and adds that it was " infinite;" and
so Jeremiah seems to use interchangeably the names No,
Pharaoh, and Egypt, to denote the same powrer. Here was
a city of vast wealth and power, from which probably Solo-
mon received the horses, and the chariots, and the linen,
* Ancient Egytians, vol. 1, p. 12.