The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with NotesStrabo
History
The Geography of Strabo, Volume 3 (of 3): Literally Translated, with Notes
Strabo
Geography -- Early works to 1800
[832] The Canobic mouth was situated in the bay of Aboukir; the
Bolbitine is the Rosetta mouth; the Sebennytic is the Burlos mouth; the
Phatnitic, the Damietta mouth; the Mendesian is that at Dibeh; the
Tanitic, that at Omm. Faregeh; the Pelusiac, that at Terraneh.
[833] The watch-tower of Perseus was at the western end of the Delta,
according to Herodotus, ii. 15.
[834] The horned Pan.
[835] The people of Busiris worshipped Isis, and at one epoch, according
to Hellenic tradition, sacrificed red men, who came over the sea, i. e.
the nomades of Syria and Arabia.
[836] Od. iv. 481.
[837] In this nome tradition affirmed that the Hebrew legislator was
born and educated.
[838] καὶ is omitted in the translation, as Groskurd proposes.
[839] Memphis was the residence of the Pharaohs, who succeeded
Psammitichus, B. C. 616. The Memphite Nome rose into importance on the
decline of the kingdom of Thebaïs, and was itself in turn eclipsed by
the Hellenic kingdom of Alexandria. The village of Mitranieh, half
concealed in a grove of palm trees, about ten miles south of Gizeh,
marks the site of the ancient Memphis. The successive conquerors of the
land, indeed, have used its ruins as a stone quarry, so that its exact
situation has been a subject of dispute. Major Rennell, however, brings
incontestable evidence of the correspondence of Mitranieh with Memphis.
Its remains extend over many hundred acres of ground, which are covered
with blocks of granite, broken obelisks, columns, and colossal statues.
The principal mound corresponds probably with the area of the great
temple of Ptah. _Smith._
[840] The Egyptians say that the ox Mneyis is sacred to the sun, and
that Apis is dedicated to the moon. Ælian de Nat. Animal. ii. 11.
[841] Saïs stood in lat. 30° 4′ N., on the right bank of the Canopic arm
of the Nile. The site of the ancient city is determined not only by the
appellation of the modern town Sa-el-Hadjar, which occupies a portion of
its area, but also by mounds of ruin corresponding in extent to the
importance of Saïs, at least, under the later Pharaohs. The city was
artificially raised high above the level of the Delta to be out of the
reach of the inundations of the Nile, and served as a landmark to all
who ascended the arms of the river, from the Mediterranean to Memphis.
Its ruins have been very imperfectly explored, yet traces have been
found of the lake on which the mysteries of Isis were performed, as well
as of the temple of Neith (Athene) and the necropolis of the Saïte
kings. The wall of unburnt brick which surrounded the principal
buildings of the city was 70 feet thick, and probably, therefore, at
least 100 feet high. It enclosed an area 2325 feet in length by 1960 in
breadth. Beyond this enclosure were also two large cemeteries, one for
the citizens generally, and the other reserved for the nobles and
priests of the higher orders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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