Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

The position of Heliopolis, and of the places near to that city, in Arabia, are by no means doubtful; since they are always mentioned together, and in the clearest manner, by Herodotus, by Strabo, by Josephus, by Ptolemy, and by Antoninus, in his Itinerary. Cellarius places Phacusa, Bubastus, and Heliopolis, in ARABIA ; upon the authority of PTOLEMY. Bryant censures him for so doing; and knowing nothing of the rich borders of Arabia, accuses him3 of stationing provinces "in the deserts." The authority of Cellarius ought not to be superseded by the mere opinion even of such a scholar as Bryant; especially if opinion be unsupported by matter of fact: and in this instance, the principle of the "malim errare" is very admissible. The evidences for the position of Heliopolis, as deduced from Herodotus, Strabo, Ptolemy, and the Itinerary of Antoninus, are as follow.

"To one going upwards from Heliopolis," says Herodotus," EGYPT is narrow, owing to the

(3) See Observations, p. 112. Note 7.

(4) ̓Απὸ δὲ Ηλιουπόλιος ἄνω ἰόντι, στεινή ἐστι Αἴγυπτος. τῇ μὲν γὰρ τῆς ̓Αραβίης ὄρος παρατέταται, κ. τ.λ. ἐν τῷ καὶ λιθοτομίαι ἔνεισι, αἱ ἐς τὰς πυραμίδας κατατμηθεῖσαι τὰς ἐν Μέμφι. Herodoti Euterpe, c. viii. pp. 92, 93. Lond. 1679.

[blocks in formation]

Mountain of Arabia. In this mountain are the quarries whence the stones were taken for building the Pyramids of MEMPHIS." The mountain, mentioned by Herodotus in this passage, is evidently Mokatam: and Letopolis, Latopolis, or Litopolis, which Bryant thinks' derived its name from those quarries (q. d. ^100ñoдix), being near to it, is mentioned with Heliopolis by other writers. We may now consider the circumstances of association under which Heliopolis is noticed by Strabo2:-"These places (Phacusa and Phithom) are near to the vertex of the Delta: there is the city of Bubastus and the Bubastus Nome; and beyond this3 the Nome of Heliopolis, where the City of the Sun is situate." After describing the temple and the antiquities of the city, he continues by giving a description of the Nile beyond the Delta; speaking of Libya as being upon his right, and Arabia upon his left. Then he adds this remarkable observation: "Wherefore the Heliopolitan Nome is in Arabia."

After this he introduces the Lito

(1) See Observ. upon Ant. Hist. p. 123. Note 5. Lond. 1767.

(2) Οὗτοι δ' οἱ τόποι πλησιάζουσι τῇ κορυφῇ τοῦ Δέλτα. Αὐτοῦ δὲ καὶ

Strabon.

ἡ Βουβαστὸς πόλις, καὶ ὁ Βουβαστίτης νομός· καὶ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ὁ Ἡλιοπολίτης νομός. Ενταῦθα δ ̓ ἐστὶν ἡ τοῦ ἡλίου πόλις, κ. τ. λ. Geog. lib. xvii. p. 1141. edit. Oxon. 1807.

(3) 'Yπèр avтou. Sic MS. Par. Med. iv. Vid. p. 1141. ed. Oxon.

politan Nome and the Babylonian fortress, as next in succession to the Heliopolitan upon the Arabian side of the river.

This position of the Nomes in Lower Egypt is equally authorised by Ptolemy. He enumerates them as they occurred ftom north to south, after Strabo's method of description; giving them in this order;-" the Bubastic Nome, and its metropolis BUBASTUS: the Heliopolitan Nome, and its metropolis HELIOPOLIS." These, together with Aphroditopolis, he places in Arabia3.

The same position is assigned to them by the Itinerary of Antoninus :

[merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

Other evidence to the same effect, if necessary, may be deduced from Diodorus Siculus, and from Josephus.

[blocks in formation]

Ηλιούπολις. Ptolem. Geog. lib. iv. p. 212. Paris, 1546.

In the observations upon Alexandria, some additional remarks will be found concerning the Soros of Alexander the Great, so fortunately added to the trophies of our victories in EGYPT, in the very moment when it was clandestinely conveying to Paris. Since the original publication of the Testimonies respecting this most interesting monument, the Editors of the Edinburgh Encyclopedia have considered the evidence as decisive; and have, by means of their valuable work, given it a passport to the notice of pos terity, which the writings of the author were little likely to afford. Occasionally, indeed, it has been urged, that some unknown personage, belonging to the British Museum, does not concur in the opinion thus maintained concerning this remarkable relic. The author has been sometimes asked, Why it is not called the Soros of Alexander, in the Catalogue of Antiquities put into the hands of strangers who visit that stately repository? How shall he venture to answer so formidable an interrogation? May he not also propose another, equally redoubtable? it is this: Why has even the historical evidence, touching its discovery, been so unaccountably omitted? Wherefore has the circumstance been withheld from notice, that the Arabs held it in traditionary veneration, as the TOMB OF ALEXANDER ?

The reason why it has not received the appellation of a Soros is easily explained. The meaning of this word had never been duly understood', when the Tomb arrived in England; although this be precisely the name given by Herodian to the conditory of Alexander's body; neither had it then been heeded, that what Herodian termed a SOROS, Juvenal, according to a custom of the Romans, mentioned by Augustinus, had himself alluded to under the appellation of Sarcophagus: nay, so remarkable was the ignorance of a few persons who opposed the opinion now entertained of this Soros, that because it had, at a later period, served as a cistern in Egypt, they doubted its original sepulchral use; and some even ventured to deny, in direct contradiction of all history, that Alexander was buried in Alexandria1. When the Catalogue appeared, in which the Antiquities are enumerated, finding that it had not been deemed

(1) This can only be disproved by shewing that in some publication dated anterior to 1805 this word had its real signification. (2) "Quia enim arca in quâ mortuus ponitur, quod omnes jam Zapkopáуov vocant, Zopòc dicitur Græcè." Augustin. de Civitate Dei, lib. xviii. c. 5.

(3)

[blocks in formation]

Juvenal.

(4) For the removal of the body from Memphis to Alexandria, see Quintus Curtius, Pausanius, fc. Καὶ τὸν ̓Αλεξάνδρου νεκρὸν οὗτος ὁ καταγαγὼν ἦν ἐκ Μέμφιδος. Pausan. Attica, c. vii. p. 17. edit.

Kuhnii. Lips. 1696.

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »