Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with TranslationsBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
General
Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English; Mythology, Egyptian
X. And this is still farther evinced from those voyages which have
been made into Egypt by the wisest men among the Greeks, namely, by
Solo, Thales Plato, Eudoxus, Pythagoras, and, as some say, even by
Lycurgus himself, on purpose to converse with the priests. And we are
also told that Eudoxus was a disciple of Chnouphis the Memphite, Solo
of Sonchis the Saite, and Pythagoras of Oinuphis the Heliopolite. But
none of these philosophers seems either to have been more admired and
in greater favour with the priests, or to have paid a more especial
regard to their method of philosophising, than this last named, who has
particularly imitated their mysterious and symbolical manner in his own
writings, and like them conveyed his doctrines to the world in a kind
of riddle. For many of the precepts of Pythagoras come nothing short
of the hieroglyphical representations themselves, such as, "eat not in
a chariot," "sit not on a measure (choenix)," "plant not a palm-tree,"
and "stir not the fire with a sword in the house." And I myself am of
the opinion that, when the Pythagoreans appropriated the names of
several of the gods to particular numbers, as that of Apollo to the
unit, of Artemis to the duad, of Athene to the seven, and of Poseidon
to the first cube, in this they allude to something which the founder
of their sect saw in the Egyptian temples, or to some ceremonies
performed in them, or to some symbols there exhibited. Thus, their
great king and lord Osiris is represented by the hieroglyphics for an
eye and a sceptre,[FN#286] the name itself signifying "many-eyed," as
we are told by some[FN#287] who would derive it from the words
os,[FN#288] "many," and iri,[FN#289] an "eye," which have this meaning
in the Egyptian language. Similarly, because the heavens are eternal
and are never consumed or wax old, they represent them by a heart with
a censer placed under it. Much in the same way are those statues of
the Judges at Thebes without hands, and their chief, or president, is
represented with his eyes turned downwards, which signifies that
justice ought not to be obtainable by bribes, nor guided by favour or
affection. Of a like nature is the Beetle which we see engraven upon
the seals of the soldiers, for there is no such thing as a female
beetle of this species; for they are all males, and they propagate
their kind by casting their seed into round balls of dirt, which afford
not only a proper place wherein the young may be hatched, but also
nourishment for them as soon as they are born.
[FN#286] The oldest form of the name is As-Ar, ####; the first sign,
####, is a throne, and the second, ####, is an eye, but the exact
meaning represented by the two signs is not known. In late times a
sceptre, #### took the place of the throne, but only because of its
phonetic value as or us. Thus we have the forms #### and ####.
[FN#287] This is a mistake.
[FN#288] In Egyptian, #### ash, "many."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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