White, Joseph; White, Joseph [Hrsg.]: Aegyptiaca, or observations on certain antiquities of Egypt (Band 1): The history of Pompey's pillar elucidated (Oxford, 1801)

io8

APPENDIX. No. II.

PART I.

“ Image of Sarapis in Alexandria was brought from Si-
“ nope ; and that he is the fame with Pluto, on which
“ account a Temple was built for the Idol : to which
“ [Idol] the Egyptians, in the language of the
“ country, give the name of Rhacotis. By this
“ they mean nothing more than Pluto : and therefore
“ they built the Temple in the neighbourhood of the

“ BURYING-PLACES,”

It feems then, that, owing to fome caufe or other,
the whole bufinefs, concerning the Site of the Serapeum,
has been hitherto ftrangely perplexed and mis-ftated. To
D’Anville, however, no blame is imputable. He had at
that time no better guide to follow than Bonamy, being
himfelf totally ignorant of the Greek language : and
Bonamy, having never feen (as far as it appears) the paf-
fages we have quoted from Clemens and Cyril, might
well be bewildered by the meteor of Strabo s Rhacotis.
It ought further to be added in his excufe, that he con-
tidered the whole fubjedt, I mean the topography of an-
cient Alexandria, as a matter in itfelf not very interefting
to the public0. As fome of my readers may poffibly

° ,c-Cette difcuffion ne paroit pas fort intereflante, il eft vray ; aufli

“ li’eft-ce point le but principal que je me fuis propofe en travaillant a la
“ defcription d’Alexandrie. Ceux qui ont lu avec un peu d’attention ce
“ que Hirtius, Dion, et d’autres auteurs difent de la guerre que Jules-Cefar,
“ enferme dans le quartier des Palais d’Alexandrie, eut a fofttenir contre les
“ Egyptiens, ont du fentir qu’il n’eftoit prefque pas poflible d’entendre