DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1035#0424
Chap.VI.] HERMOPOJLIS MAGNA. 383
Nearly opposite El Bersheh is the village of
E' Reramoon, where the pasha has established an
extensive sugar and rum manufactory; and a short
ride from this is Oshmoonayn, the site of Hermopo-
lis Magna; but the elegant portico* of the temple
of Thoth has shared the fate of the limestone ruins
of Antinoe, and nothing now remains to induce the
traveller to visit its lonely mounds. The deity of
this city was Hermes or Thoth, "the god of letters,"
and the worship of the Cynocephalus was here in-
troduced, from its being the emblem of that divinity.
The modern name is derived from the Coptic
svhmon B or the "two svhmons," and the prefix O
or E is taken from the sound given by the accent.
This word signifies eight, f The only names in the
portico were of Philip^; and Alexander, the last
having in his nomen the title " Son of Amun."
At Gebel Toona, the mountain which skirts the
desert to the west, are several mummy pits, and a
large tablet of hieroglyphics, with statues in high
eight hours a day for a whole fortnight, with the average heat in
the shade from 112° to 116° Fah.
* It consisted of twelve columns, six in length and two in
depth.
t Probably from the title of Thoth, " Lord of the eight
regions." It should be written Eshmoonayn, but they pronounce
it Oshmoonayn.
\ The difficulty the Egyptians first experienced in writing the
names of foreigners is here evinced in a very remarkable manner,
by the introduction of a superfluity of vowels, while their own
names admitted so few. They afterwards fell into the opposite
extreme. Philippos is here written Pheeoleeopos.
Nearly opposite El Bersheh is the village of
E' Reramoon, where the pasha has established an
extensive sugar and rum manufactory; and a short
ride from this is Oshmoonayn, the site of Hermopo-
lis Magna; but the elegant portico* of the temple
of Thoth has shared the fate of the limestone ruins
of Antinoe, and nothing now remains to induce the
traveller to visit its lonely mounds. The deity of
this city was Hermes or Thoth, "the god of letters,"
and the worship of the Cynocephalus was here in-
troduced, from its being the emblem of that divinity.
The modern name is derived from the Coptic
svhmon B or the "two svhmons," and the prefix O
or E is taken from the sound given by the accent.
This word signifies eight, f The only names in the
portico were of Philip^; and Alexander, the last
having in his nomen the title " Son of Amun."
At Gebel Toona, the mountain which skirts the
desert to the west, are several mummy pits, and a
large tablet of hieroglyphics, with statues in high
eight hours a day for a whole fortnight, with the average heat in
the shade from 112° to 116° Fah.
* It consisted of twelve columns, six in length and two in
depth.
t Probably from the title of Thoth, " Lord of the eight
regions." It should be written Eshmoonayn, but they pronounce
it Oshmoonayn.
\ The difficulty the Egyptians first experienced in writing the
names of foreigners is here evinced in a very remarkable manner,
by the introduction of a superfluity of vowels, while their own
names admitted so few. They afterwards fell into the opposite
extreme. Philippos is here written Pheeoleeopos.