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Nile in N. Lat. 26o, and where there are considerable ruins. This deity, commonly called Jupiter Ammon, was in a measure identified with Kneph, the ram-headed and demiurgic type of the supreme Amen, and was represented horned. An inscription of the elder Darius still extant on the walls of the temple at El Khargeh says "thy horns are pointed, twisted are thy horns;" and describes the God as "horned in all his beauty." The fossils called Ammonites derive their name, curiously enough, from a fancied resemblance to the horns of this God. Ibid. L. 8. their wounded Thammus-a Syrian mythological hero, son of a Syrian King, and beloved by Astarte (see preceding note). He was fabled as dying of a wound received from a wild boar, and as reviving for the six months of spring and summer in each year. Thammuz is better known as Adonis, under which name he came eventually to be worshipped in nearly all countries bordering upon the Mediterranean. The cult of Thammuz is in fact the worship of the revival of nature in spring and summer, and is of purely Phoenician origin. Verse 23. L. 1. Sullen Molocha brazen idol fashioned in the form of a man with the head of a calf, worshipped with sacrifices of living children by the Hebrews in the valley of Tophet. Verse 23. L. 8. Isis and Orus and the dog Anubis Isis, the wife and sister of Osiris, is represented crowned with the sun-disk and horns, and is sometimes figured under the form of a cow. She was the mother of Horus, whose name Milton has spelt without the H. Horus is usually represented in the form of a hawk Anubis was the God who presided over the offices of embalming and the rites of sepulture. He is represented with the head not of a dog, but a jackal. Verse 24. L. 1. Osiris - the God of the lower world, and judge of the dead. Mr. Palgrave says: "Osiris, the Egyptian God of Agriculture (here, perhaps by confusion with Apis, figured as a Bull), was torn to pieces by Typho and embalmed after death in a sacred chest."-See Notes to Page 47, Book II. Golden Treasury. This definition, however, is not altogether satisfactory. Osiris, in so far as he is identified with Dionysus, the friend, benefactor, and instructor of man, may certainly be described as the Egyptian God of Agriculture; but he is primarily and principally the Deity of the Lower World, the Judge of the Dead, the Great Spirit of the life to come, to whom the justified dead are re-united, and in whose essence they are absorbed. Apis could scarcely, from any point of view, be "confused" with Osiris. The bull Apis was, in fact, Osiris in the flesh. In other words, he was the outward and visible manifestation of Osiris upon earth; the temporary, but chosen, dwelling of the divinity. Philosophically defined, Osiris is the nocturnal sun; i. e. the sun below the horizon; he who dies each evening, descends into the shades, and rises again at morn. He plays in fact the chief part in the great Solar myth which underlies the whole religious system of ancient Egypt. Ibid. L. 2. Memphian grove-Every Egyptian Temple had its temenos, or consecrated enclosure, within which was planted the sacred grove. Ibid. L. 3. the unshowered grass-an allusion to the dryness of the Egyptian climate. It is a mistake, however, to suppose that it does not rain in Lower and Middle Egypt. Showers are frequent in the Delta, and by no means rare at Cairo. It is probable, indeed, that when Memphis was a great city surrounded by gardens, groves, and cultivated lands, rain may have fallen even more frequently 19

Elder Poets.

290

than now.

NOTES.

Ibid. L. 8. The sable stoled sorcerers bear his worshipt arkThese sable stoled priests are a picturesque device of the poet. The monumental evidence all goes to show that the priesthood were clothed in white robes, over which, when engaged in the celebration of high religious ceremonies, they wore a panther skin upon the shoulders. The sacred ark was made in the form of a boat and adorned with a central shrine supported by winged genii. This shrine, which contained the image, or symbol, of the God, was covered by a veil; and the boat was generally decorated at prow and stern with carved rams' heads, emblematic of Kneph the creative, or primal deity. This ark was carried on men's shoulders by means of poles and rings. See the Mosaic description of the ark of the Covenant, which was unquestionably modelled on the sacred arks of the Egyptians. Verse 25. L. 6. Typhon huge ending in snaky twine.-The Typhon of the Egyptians was usually represented under the form of an animal resembling an ass, with pointed ears and a long sharp muzzle. In later times—that is, during the period of Roman rule-he appears as a dragon, and Horus, who slew him, takes the form of a hawkheaded warrior in Roman costume. In these representations, M. Clermont Ganneau has recognised the origin of the myth of St. George and the Dragon. St. George, it should be added, is the patron saint of the Coptic Christians, as Horus was the favorite warrior-deity of their pagan forefathers. Here, then, as in so many other instances, we see conversion made easy by the translation of a local God into a Christian saint. The Etruscan Typhon is represented as a man to the waist, with twisted snakes for legs. Milton had probably seen some antique Etruscan gem engraved with this type. Verse 27. I.. 8. bright harnesd angels-i. e. bright-armoured. In old French, harnois was man's armour, harnais was horse's armour; which latter, with an altered application, survives as harness in the English of to-day.

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