Fragments on Egyptian Literature. J 15 



of which is reversed; and is read without difficulty ESI. It is 

 a considerable time since I have read this name in the inscrip- 

 tion copied by Mr. Salt from the little temple which he exca- 

 vated at Philoe, and published by him in his Essay. {PL v. 

 fig. 3: an obvious inaccuracy occurs in the figure.) I am not 

 aware that this name has been read by any one else ; nor have 

 I observed it elsewhere. 



The name of the Goddess is most commonly expressed by a 

 throne^ with the semicircle and oblique oval. Sometimes we 

 have a star^ a reversed feather, or a hent line (such as occurs 

 in the name of Ptolaemous on the Rosetta stone) in place of the 

 throne. All of these (as Mr. Salt has long since remarked 

 respecting the three last-mentioned) represent phonetically the 

 name SoTHiS, by which this deity was commonly known*. 

 Properly, indeed, this appears to have been the name of the 

 dog-star; but we know from Diodorus and Horapollo, that the 

 Egyptians supposed this star to be the dwelling of — or rather 

 a personification of — the goddess Isis. 



It would seem that the astronomers have confounded the 

 names of the husband and wife in speaking of this star ; it is 

 now called Sirius, in place of Sothis. Anciently., Sirius was a 

 name for the Sun, and it is so used by Hesiod, and others of 

 the Greek poets ; but Virgil applies it to the dog-star, and in 

 later times the error, for such it doubtless is, has been almost 

 universal. 



iii. Pedigree of Rameses the Great. In the present state of 

 things, that person must be considered as very rash who should 

 give an opinion, founded on merely probable grounds, respect- 

 ing any point in Egyptian history or chronology. It is hard to 

 say how soon some monument may be discovered in that 

 country which may decide the question one way or other, or 

 which may, at least, furnish additional grounds on which an 

 opinioii may be founded. In the present instance I do not 

 mean to commit the fault that I have pointed out. Suspend- 

 ing my own opinion as to the parentage of the Egyptian hero, 

 I would merely point out the un warren tablei nferences that 



* In one of the figures (37) of M. Champollion's letter to M. Dacier, there is 

 a still different variation of this name. The first S seems to be the weight or 

 roller — the character which is used in the name of Osorchon, tlie son of Shishonk; 

 and the second is the broken line or two sceptres M. ChampoUion, most unwar* 

 rantably, asserts that the signs of this name are incomplete. 



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