antient Goddess of the sea, was nothing else but an old tower upon a mount; of the same shape, and erected for the same purposes, as those above. On this account it was called Tith-Is, μαστος πυρος. Thetis seems to have been a transposition of the same name, and was probably a Pharos, or Fire-tower, near the sea. These mounts, λοφοι μαστοειδεις, were not only in Greece; but in Egypt, Syria, and most parts of the world. They were generally formed by art; being composed of earth, raised very high; which was sloped gradually, and with great exactness: and the top of all was crowned with a fair tower. The situation of these buildings made them be looked upon as places of great safety: and the reverence in which they were held added to the security. On these accounts they were the repositories of much wealth and treasure: in times of peril they were crowded with things of value. In Assyria was a temple named Azara; which the Parthian plundered, and is said to have carried off ten thousand talents: [284]Χαι ηρε παλαντων μυριων γαζαν. The same author mentions two towers of this sort in Judea, not far from Jericho, belonging to Aristobulus and Alexander, and styled [285]Γαζοφυλακια των Τυραννων: which were taken by Pompeius Magnus in his war with the Jews. There were often two of these mounds of equal height in the same inclosure; such as are described by Josephus at Machærus, near some warm fountains. He mentions here a cavern and a rock; [286]σπηλαιον--τῃ πετρᾳ προυχουσῃ σκεπομενον· ταυτης ανωθεν ὡσανει μαστοι δυο ανεχουσιν, αλληλων ολιγῳ διεστωτες: _and above it two round hills like breasts, at no great distance from each other_. To such as these Solomon alludes, when he makes his beloved say, [287]_I am a wall, and my breasts like towers_. Though the word חומה, Chumah, or Comah, be generally rendered a wall; yet I should think that in this place it signified the ground which the wall surrounded: an inclosure sacred to Cham, the Sun, who was particularly worshipped in such places. The Mizraïm called these hills Typhon, and the cities where they were erected, Typhonian. But as they stood within inclosures sacred to Chom, they were also styled Choma. This, I imagine, was the meaning of the term in this place, and in some others; where the text alludes to a different nation, and to a foreign mode of worship. In these temples the Sun was principally adored, and the rites of fire celebrated: and this seems to have been the reason why the judgment denounced against them is uniformly, that they shall be destroyed by fire. If we suppose Comah to mean a mere wall, I do not see why fire should be so particularly destined against a part, which is the least combustible. The Deity says, [288]_I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus. [289]I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza. [290]I will send a fire on the wall of Tyrus. [291]I will kindle a [292]fire in the wall of Rabbah_. As the crime