We also read of salt in the Iliad of Homer, and as he did not flourish till about B.C. 850,[4] we must give the honour of marking it indelibly on the pages of history to Moses the Jew, who lived, if the above date is correct, 670 years anterior to the illustrious Father of epic poetry, and, if the Cashmerians are correct in their calculation, 188 years before Gotama gave to the world his eight hundred volumes, pointing out the path towards individual extinction or “Nirwana.” We may likewise conclude that as it was known to the sagacious Hebrew, the æsthetic Greek, and the imaginative Asiatic, it was no doubt equally well known to the Egyptians, and probably amongst the neighbouring African tribes, long before the arrival of Joseph in the land of the Pharaohs, and centuries before the Oracle of Delphi was instituted.[5] From the following lines we may justly conclude that the Greeks looked upon salt as sacred, and used it as a thank-offering, and that it even was an absolute necessity to go through the ceremony of washing their hands before touching it; such extreme care and scrupulous observance indicates that it was a substance held in the highest reverence: “At this the Sire embraced the maid again, So sadly lost, so lately sought in vain. Then near the altar of the darting King, Dispos’d in rank their hecatomb they bring; 585 With water purify their hands, and take The sacred off’ring of the salted cake; While thus with arms devoutly rais’d in air, And solemn voice, the Priest directs his pray’r.” POPE’S _Homer’s Iliad_, book i. “And Menalaus came unbid, the last. 485 The chiefs surround the destined beast, and take The sacred off’ring of the salted cake: When thus the King prefers his solemn pray’r.” _Ibid._, book ii. “Achilles at the genial feast presides, The parts transfixes, and with skill divides. Meanwhile Patroclus sweats the fire to raise; The tent is bright’ned with the rising blaze: Then, when the languid flames at length subside, He strows a bed of glowing embers wide, 280 Above the coals the smoking fragments turns, And sprinkles sacred salt from lifted urns.” _Ibid._, book ix.