It has been thought possible indeed to assign definitely each god of the Egyptians to one of the twelve zodiacal signs. The Ram was consecrated to Jupiter Ammon, who was represented with a ram's head and horns. The Bull became the god Apis, who was worshipped under that similitude. The Twins correspond to Horus and Harpocrates, two sons of Osiris. The Crab was consecrated to Anubis or Mercury. The Lion belonged to the summer sun, Osiris; the Virgin to Isis. The Balance and the Scorpion were included together under the name of Scorpion, which animal belongs to Typhon, as did all dangerous animals. The Archer was the image of Hercules, for whom the Egyptians had great veneration. The Capricorn was consecrated to Pan or Mendes. The Waterer--or man carrying a water-pot--is found on many Egyptian monuments. This process of deification was rendered easier by the custom they had of celebrating a festival each month, under the name _neomenia_. They characterised the neomenias of the various months by making the animal whose sign the sun was entering accompany the Isis which announced the _fete_. They were not content with a representation only, but had the animal itself. The dog, being the symbol of Cannulus, with which the year commenced, a living dog was made to head the ceremonial of the first neomenia. Diodorus testifies to this as an eye-witness. These neomenias thus came to be called the festival of the Bull, of the Ram, the Dog, or the Lion. That of the Ram would be the most solemn and important in places where they dealt much in sheep. That of the Bull in the fat pasture-lands of Memphis and Lower Egypt. That of Capella would be brilliant at Mendes, where they bred goats more than elsewhere. We may fortify these opinions by a quotation from Lucian, who gives expression to them very clearly. "It is from the divisions of the zodiac," he says, "that the crowd of animals worshipped in Egypt have had their origin. Some employed one constellation, and some another. Those who used to consult that of the Ram came to adore a ram. Those who took their presages from the Fishes would not eat fish. The goat was not killed in places were they observed Capricornus, and so on, according to the stars whose influence they cared most for. If they adored a bull it was certainly to do honour to the celestial Bull. The Apis, which was a sacred object with them, and wandered at liberty through the country, and for which they founded an oracle, was the astrological symbol of the Bull that shone in the heavens." [Illustration: PLATE IV.--THE ZODIAC AND THE DEAD IN EGYPT.]