I shall not, like Jablonski, dwell on the fituation of the antient temple of Serapis, which appears to me of little confequence, but shall just observe, Sir, this learned man, to whom I render homage, and whose most eftimable enquiries have aided me greatly, is deceived, when he places this edifice in the isle of Raouda, where the present Mekias is fituated, the only remaining one of the numerous Nilometers of Egypt. I might fend you a long differtation on this fubject, and add to the knowledge of the place the testimony of the antients, but I fear to abuse your patience; my purpose was to discover the origin of the terrestrial Serapis, which I believe I have accomplished.

I have the honour to be, &c.

Dd4

LETTER

LETTER XXXIII.

OF ANUBIS, A SYMBOLICAL DEITY.

Anubis had temples, priefts, and a city built in his honour: his ftatue bore a dog's head, which animal, bis living image, was confecrated to him: reprefented the Horizon, wherefore, was held to be the infeparable companion of Ifis and Ofiris, and called their illegitimate fon; because, not luminous himself, be fhone only with borrowed light.

To M. L. M.

Grand Cairo.

ANUBIS, regarded in Egypt as the faithful companion of Ifis and Ofiris, received divine honours, had temples confecrated tohim, and priests, and his image was borne in all religious ceremonies. Lucian makes Socrates fay, "See you not with what respect "the Egyptians adore the god Anubis ?"His ftatue was emblematic, having the head

of

1

of a dog, on a human body (p); wherefore Virgil and Ovid call him the barker Anubis (q). Lucian, whofe wit is exercised on all fubjects that fall beneath his notice, and who, in his farcafins, fpared neither heroes nor gods, makes Momus fpeak thus: "Oh thou, whom Egypt reprefents with the "head of a dog, fpeak, who art thou? And, fince thou barkeft, wherefore haft "thou fuffered them to place thee among "the immortals?"

Cynopolis (r), now Minieh, fituated in the lower Thebais, was built in honour of Anubis. His temple no longer fubfifts, where the priests celebrated his festivals with great pomp, and confecrated the dog to him, as his living emblem. "Anubis is revered in

"the city of the dogs, the capital of the "Cynopolitan Præfecture, where thofe ani"mals are fed with facred food, and religion "has appointed them worship (s).” An event, related by Plutarch, fomewhat, how

(p) Diod. Sic. lib. 1.

(9) Æneid. lib. 8. Metamorph. lib.

(r) The city of the dog.

(s) Strabo, lib. 17. Stephanus Byzantinus adds Cyno polis is a city of Egypt, where Anubis is adored.

ever, difcredited them in the minds of the people. Cambyfes having killed the god Apis, and caft his body in a field, all animals refpected him, except the dog, which eat his flesh this impiety diminished the veneration in which dogs had been held.

Cynopolis was not the only city that burnt incenfe on the altars of Anubis; he had chapels in most of the temples, which occafioned Juvenal to fay, how many cities venerate the dog (t). His image always accompanied thofe of Ifis and Ofiris, in their folemn feafts, and, Rome having adopted the ceremonies of Egypt, the Emperor Commodus (u), celebrating the Ifiac feftivals, had his head fhaved, and bore, himself, the god Anubis. His ftatue was of gold, or gilt, as well as the accompanying emblematic attributes. In this the antients agree, and Lucian, relating the crime committed by a Syrian flave, confirms their opinion: this flave, fays he, joined fome facrilegious robbers, who, entering the fanctuary of Anubis, stole the god, two vafes, and the golden caduceus, with cynocephali of filver. The very name

(t) Sat. 15.

(u) Lamprid. cap. 9. Spartian cites the fame fact.

of

It was myf

of Anubis fignifies gilded (x). terious, and the pricfts, as we fhall fee, did not bestow it without a reason.

Plutarch will inform us what this emblematical deity meant. "The circle which "bounds and divides the two hemispheres, "and, therefore, is called horizon, is named Anubis, and is pictured in the form of a

dog because that animal watches day and night." (y) Clemens Alexandrinus, well inftructed in the mystical theology of Egypt, favours this explanation. "The two dogs

(the two Anubis) are symbols of the two

hemifpheres, which furround the terref "trial globe" (*). In another place, he adds, fome pretend that these animals, the faithful guardians of men, are types of the tropics, which, like centinels, watch the fun on the north and south.

If, Sir, we adopt the first of these interpretations, we shall find the priests, regarding Anubis as the horizon, gilded his statue to

(x) Jablonski Panth. Egypt. tom. II. fays Anubis comes from Nub, gold, and from Annub, gilded, whence the Greeks have derived Anubis.

(y) De Ifide et Ofiride.

(z) Stroma 5.

indicate