Tuphon Isiac, sive Βωμος Ισιακος, from the sacra Isiaca, which were performed upon it. The same Isaac or Isæac was sometimes rendered Æsacus, and supposed to have been a son of the river Granicus. [446]Æsacon umbrosâ furtim peperisse sub Idâ Fertur Alexirhoë Granico nata bicorni. The antient Arcadians were said to have been the offspring of [447]Typhon, and by some the children of Atlas; by which was meant, that they were people of the Typhonian, and Atlantian religion. What they called his tombs were certainly mounds of earth, raised very high, like those which have been mentioned before: only with this difference, that some of these had lofty towers adorned with pinnacles, and battlements. They had also carved upon them various symbols; and particularly serpentine hieroglyphics, in memorial of the God to whom they were sacred. In their upper story was a perpetual fire, which was plainly seen in the night. I have mentioned, that the poets formed their notions about Otus and Ephialtes from towers: and the idea of Orion's stupendous bulk taken from the Pelorian edifice in Sicily. The gigantic stature of Typhon was borrowed from a like object: and his character was formed from the hieroglyphical representations in the temples styled Typhonian. This may be inferred from the allegorical description of Typhœus, given by Hesiod. Typhon and Typhœus, were the same personage: and the poet represents him of a mixed form, being partly a man, and partly a monstrous dragon, whose head consisted of an assemblage of smaller serpents. [448]Εκ δε ὁι ωμων Ην ἑκατον κεφαλαι οφιος, δεινοιο Δρακοντος. As there was a perpetual fire kept up in the upper story, he describes it as shining through the apertures in the building. [449]Εκ δε ὁι οσσων Θεσπεσιῃς κεφαλῃσιν ὑπ' οφρυσι πυρ αμαρυσσε· Πασεων δ' εκ κεφαλεων πυρ καιετο δερκομενοιο. But the noblest description of Typhon is given in some very fine poetry by Nonnus. He has taken his ideas from some antient tower situated near the sea upon the summit of an high mountain. It was probably the Typhonian temple of Zeus upon mount Casius, near the famed Serbonian lake. He mentions sad noises heard within, and describes the roaring of the surge below: and says that all the monsters of the sea stabled in the cavities at the foot of the mountain, which was washed by the ocean. [450]Εν ιχθυοεντι δε ποντῳ Ἱσταμενου Τυφωνος εσω βρυοεντος εναυλου Βενθεϊ ταρσα πεπηκτο, και ηερι μιγνυτο γαστηρ Θλιβομενη νεφεεσσι· Γιγαντειου δε καρηνου Φρικτον αερσιλοφων αϊων βρυχημα λεοντων, Ποντιος ειλυοεντι λεων εκαλυπτετο κολπῳ. κτλ. We may perceive, that this is a mixed description, wherein, under the character of a gigantic personage, a towering edifice is alluded to; which was situated upon the summit of a mountain, and in the vicinity of the sea. * * * * * OB, OUB, PYTHO, SIVE DE OPHIOLATRIA.