DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0383
342 THE BAHH YOOSEF. [Chap. VI.
the works of the Eyoobite Soltan, this canal is com-
monly supposed to have been called after the
patriarch Joseph. Though in reality it commences
a little to the south of Dahroot e'Shereef, and ter-
minates partly in the Fyoom, and partly in those
canals to the northward which receive its divided
stream, the name is still applied to the largest canal
that skirts the cultivated land in the direction of the
pyramids of Geezeh, and sometimes even to those
in the southern parts of Egypt.
The principal deities of Memphis were Pthah,
Apis,* and Bubastis; and the goddess Isis had a
magnificent temple in this city, erected by Amasis,
who also dedicated a recumbent colossus,f seventy-
five feet long, in the temple of Pthah or Vulcan.
This last was said to have been founded by
Menes, and was enlarged and beautified by suc-
ceeding monarchs. Mceris erected the northern
vestibule; and Sesostris, besides the colossal statues
above-mentioned, made considerable additions with
enormous blocks of stone, which " he employed his
prisoners of war to drag to the temple." \ Pheron,
his son, also enriched it with suitable presents, § on
* The soul of Osiris was said to have migrated into the hull
Apis; and the priests, says Plutarch, affirm " that Apis ought to
be regarded as a fair and beautiful image of the soul of Osiris."
De Is. s. 29. It is needless to remind the reader that Osiris
never lived on earth, and that his history is an allegory.
t This is singular, as there is not an instance of an Egyptian
recumbent statue of the time of the Pharaohs.
\ Herod, ii. 108.
§ Herodotus says he sent presents to all the principal temples.
the works of the Eyoobite Soltan, this canal is com-
monly supposed to have been called after the
patriarch Joseph. Though in reality it commences
a little to the south of Dahroot e'Shereef, and ter-
minates partly in the Fyoom, and partly in those
canals to the northward which receive its divided
stream, the name is still applied to the largest canal
that skirts the cultivated land in the direction of the
pyramids of Geezeh, and sometimes even to those
in the southern parts of Egypt.
The principal deities of Memphis were Pthah,
Apis,* and Bubastis; and the goddess Isis had a
magnificent temple in this city, erected by Amasis,
who also dedicated a recumbent colossus,f seventy-
five feet long, in the temple of Pthah or Vulcan.
This last was said to have been founded by
Menes, and was enlarged and beautified by suc-
ceeding monarchs. Mceris erected the northern
vestibule; and Sesostris, besides the colossal statues
above-mentioned, made considerable additions with
enormous blocks of stone, which " he employed his
prisoners of war to drag to the temple." \ Pheron,
his son, also enriched it with suitable presents, § on
* The soul of Osiris was said to have migrated into the hull
Apis; and the priests, says Plutarch, affirm " that Apis ought to
be regarded as a fair and beautiful image of the soul of Osiris."
De Is. s. 29. It is needless to remind the reader that Osiris
never lived on earth, and that his history is an allegory.
t This is singular, as there is not an instance of an Egyptian
recumbent statue of the time of the Pharaohs.
\ Herod, ii. 108.
§ Herodotus says he sent presents to all the principal temples.