learned from this person the secret history of the country; and, among other things, that after Hephaistus, or Vulcanus, succeeded the offspring of Zeuth. These were deified men, to whom divine honours were paid; and who were the Dæ23 Alexander mones and Ἡμιθεοι of after ages. ille magnus, Macedo, insigni volumine ad matrem suam scripsit, metu suæ potestatis proditum sibi de Diis hominibus, a sacerdote secretum. Illic Vulcanum facit omnium principem; et postea Jovis gentem.

However they may have degenerated afterwards, their religion at first was the purest Zabaïsm. They worshipped the sun and the moon, and other celestial bodies: but had no images; nor admitted any resemblance by way of adoraration. The Egyptians seem to have been quite the reverse; and were lapsed into a gross species of idolatry. This was the reason, when the Cuthites came among them, that they ruined their temples, and overthrew their altars; not being able to bear the baseness of their superstition. They were however of great service to this people, and compensated for the evil which they are said to have brought upon them. Their history is continually alluded to by antient writers,

23 Minucii Felicis Octavius. 163.

who point out the country from whence they caine. Eusebius takes notice of a tradition of the Ethiopians arrival in these parts; and says, that they came from the river 24 Indus. I have shewn, that the Tigris was the original river called Indus that the Choaspes, a branch of it, was said, & έλκειν Ινδον ύδωρ, to furnish an Indic stream: and this name came from the sons of Chus; who both in these parts, and in others, where they settled, were peculiarly styled Indi. Stephanus Byzantinus, speaking of the antient names of Egypt, among others mentions, that it was called 2 Musara, and Aëtia; which last it received from one Aëtus, an Indian. I have taken notice, that the name Ægyptus was from the same quarter; and that it was conferred by a son of Belus of Babylonia. Eustathius gives a like account of the antient names of Egypt; and says, that it was called Aëtia from one Aëtus, an

20

24 Αιθίοπες απο Ινδε ποταμε αναπαντες προς τη Αιγυπτῳ ᾤκησαν. Euseb. Chron. p. 26. Syncellus. p. 151.

Αιθίοπας τοινυν ἱσοεσι πρωτὸς ἁπαντων γεγονέναι, και τας αποδειξε εις τούτων εμφανεις ειναι-Φασι δε και της Αιγυπτιες αποικες ἑαυτων Diodorus Sic. 1. 3. p.

ὑπαρχειν, Οσίριδος ήγησαμένω της αποικίας.

143, 144.

25 Dionys. wegnyns. v. 1074.

25

Μιαρα (read Μυσαρά) και Αετία, απο τινος Ινδα Αετώ. See

also Scholia in Dionys. v. 239.

27

Indian, He adds, that it was also called Ethiopia, from a body of Ethiopians who settled there, ὧν πολλοι των παλαιων ιςορεσι : of whom many of the antient historians make mention. They might well take notice of them, for their arrival was a wonderful æra, and much to be remembered in the annals of Egypt. Though they behaved in a tyrannical manner, yet they performed mighty works, and benefited the coun, try greatly. Their very oppression obliged the Mizraim to exert themselves, and afforded them an opportunity of improving both in literature and arms. Hence the latter were of necessity enriched with much knowledge, to which otherwise they had been strangers.

At the time when the Cuthite Ethiopians arrived, Lower Egypt was in great measure a morass: but under their direction it was drained by numerous canals, and rendered the most beautiful country in the world. They carried a sluice with vast labour from the Pelusiac branch of the

Eustath. in Di

27 Εκληθη δε ποτε κατα την ισοριαν ἡ τοιαυτη χωρα, και Αερία, και Ποταμια, και Αιθιοπία δια τες εκει Αιθίοπας, κτλ. onys. ad v. 239. See Eusebii Chron. p. 29.

28 Καθόλυ γαρ την νυν εσαν Αίγυπτον λεγεσιν 8 χωραν, αλλά θα λατταν γεγονεναι κτλ. Diodor. 1. 3. p. 144.

Πασα ἡ χωρα ποταμοχωτος. Ibid.

Θαλασσα γαρ ην ἡ Αιγυπτος.

Plut. Is. et Osiris. p. 367.

31

Nile to the western gulf of the Red Sea. Part of it remains at this day, and passes through Grand Cairo towards Matarea, and is kept up with 29 great care. The chief of the pyramids at Cochome were erected by them. Herodotus mentions a tradition of their being built in the time of the Shepherd 30 Philitis, when Egypt was under great calamities; when princes reigned whose names were held by the people in abomination. The modern Arabs have accounts of their being built by "Iän Ebn Iän. By this is signified, that they were constructed by the Iönim, the sons of that Iön, called Ionas, and Ionichus, of Babylonia. Juba in his history took notice, that the city Heliopolis was not the work of the native Egyptians, but of Arabians: by which name the sons of Chus are continually distinguished. They raised the most antient obelisks in Egypt; which were formed of one piece, yet of an amazing size: and the granate, of which they consist, is so hard, that scarcely any tool now-adays can make an impression. Hence it is matter of wonder, how they were originally framed and

29 See Pocock, and Norden's Travels in Egypt.

30 Herod. 1. 2. c. 128.

31 Herbelot Biblioth. Oriental.

32 Plin. 1. 6. p. 343.

engraved. They were full of hieroglyphics, riously wrought; which, as we learn from Cassiodorus, were antient " Chaldaic characters. These were the sacred characters of Egypt, known only to the "priests; which had been introduced by the Cuthite Ethiopians.

take

I have often taken notice of a common misamong the Greek and Roman writers; who, when the sacred terms grew obsolete, supposed the Deity of the temple to have been the person by whom it was built. Thus it is said of the Chaldaïc God Mithras, that he first erected the obelisks in Egypt. "Primus omnium id (obeliscorum erectionem) instituit Mitres, qui in Solis Urbe regnavit, somnio jussus. Mitres was no other than Mithras, the same as Arez, and Osiris, who was greatly reverenced in the eastern world.

33 Obeliscorum prolixitas ad Circi altitudinem sublevatur: sed prior Soli, inferior Lunæ dicatus est: ubi sacra priscorum Chaldaicis signis, quasi literis, indicantur. Cassiodorus. 1. 3. Epist. 2. and Epist. 51.

They had two sorts of letters. Διφασίοισι Herod. 1. 2. c. 36.

34 Plin. 1. 36. c.8.

35

γραμμασι χρέωνται.

By this, however, is pointed out the nome in which the Cuthites settled: the same as Zoan, of which Goshen was a part.