[346] Heliopolis is known in Hebrew as _On_, which is an Egyptian word meaning _Sun_. It is mentioned in Gen. xli. 45, 50; xlvi. 20. In Ezek. xxx. 17, it is called _Aven_, which is the same word in Hebrew as On, with a variation of the vowels. In Jer. xliii. 13 it is called _Beith-Shemesh_, which in Hebrew means _House of the Sun_, a translation of the Egyptian name. The Greeks called it Heliopolis, _City of the Sun_. The great temple of the Sun and its priesthood are described by Herodotus and Strabo. There are still remaining a beautiful obelisk of red granite nearly 70 feet high, and the brick wall of the temple 3,750 feet long by 2,370 feet broad. Cf. _Apollodorus_, ii. 4. [347] The word Nile never occurs in the Hebrew Bible; but that river is called _Yeor_ (river). In Amos viii. 8 it is called _Yeor Mitsraim_, the river of Egypt; but it is usually called simply _Yeor_, the river. In Isa. xxiii. 3 the corn of Egypt is called the _harvest of Yeor_, or the Nile. In like manner Avon, Ganges, Rhine, mean _river_. The Greek name _Neilos_, or Nile, means a _bed with a stream_, and was originally applied to the land of Egypt, as the valley of the Nile. It rises in the lake Victoria Nyanza, and has a course of 3,300 miles. In Isa. xxiii. 3 and Jer. ii. 18 the Nile is called _Shichor_ (turbid). In Homer (_Odys._, iv. 477, etc.) the river is called Egypt as well as the country. Cf. _Ammianus_, xxii. 15. [348] The Bull of Memphis, sacred to _Ftah_, the god of fire. See _Herodotus_, iii. 27, 28; _Strabo_, xvii. 1; _Ammianus_, xxii. 14; Ovid (_Met._, ix. 690). [349] Now Aboukir, about 13 miles north-east of Alexandria, near the westernmost mouth of the Nile. Cf. Aeschўlus (_Supp._, 311; _Prom._, 846); _Strabo_, xvii. 1, 17; Tacitus (_Ann._, ii. 60). [350] Usually called Lake Mareotis, now Mariût. Cf. Vergil (_Georgic_, ii. 91). [351] We learn, from _Curtius_ (iv. 33), that Alexander at first resolved to build the city on the island of Pharos, but finding it too small, built it on the mainland. [352] A goddess representing the moon, and wife of Osiris the sun-god. [353] Cf. _Strabo_ (xvii. 1); Plutarch (_Alex._, 26); _Diodorus_ (xvii. 52); _Curtius_ (iv. 33); _Ammianus_ (xxii. 16). [354] We find from _Valerius Maximus_ (i. 4) and _Ammianus_, l.c., that his name was Dinocrates. [355] Krüger substitutes ἐπενόει for ἐποίει, comparing iv. 1, 3, and 4, 1 infra. [356] See _Arrian_, ii. 2 supra. [357] Methymna was, next to Mitylene, the most important city in Lesbos. [358] Chares was an Athenian who had been one of the generals at the fatal battle of Chaeronea. _Curtius_ (iv. 24) says that he consented to evacuate Mitylene with his force of 2,000 men on condition of a free departure. [359] On an island in the Nile, of the same name, opposite Syene. It served as the southern frontier garrison station.