108 



and ntok nehai are Coptic for " thou (art) Lord." My own 

 knowledge of the Coptic is very limited, and its remains are 

 scanty, but I doubt not that other legends of the Gnostic gems 

 which have been considered unintelligible would furnish a 

 meaning, if examined by a Coptic scholar. It is true that 

 some of their combinations appear to have no significance, 

 having been made for some mystical, arithmetical, or cabalis- 

 tical reason ; but these generally betray themselves at once. 



Among the titles of Amun, the chief and primary god of the 

 old Egyptian theology, one of not unfrequent occurrence is 

 " Lord of the gods."* It is expressed hieroglyphically by 

 characters of well known import, the lower half of the 

 circle, and the sacrificial hatchet, tripled to denote the plural. 

 Other titles of similar import, as " king of the gods," " ruler 

 of the gods," " lord of heaven," " lord of the worlds," are 

 also ascribed to him. " Lord of the gods," expressed in the 

 Coptic language, would be PH-NEB-N-NOUT, Ph being the 

 Coptic articlef the (as in Phra, Pharoah the king) Neh, lord, n 

 the sign of the genitive and nout, god. To whom this title 

 was meant to be applied, whether to Jehovah, to Christ, or to 

 the god to whom it properly belonged, I will not undertake to 

 decide. The three first characters in the upper line bear some 

 resemblance to an abbreviation of xoicrra, but it is not usual to 

 find on these Gnostic remains any direct recognition of Chris- 

 tianity. 



Nor is it easy to say what was the precise use to which this 

 curious relic was meant to be applied. Some of the Gnostic 

 gems were certainly used as amulets, that is as protections 

 against the power of disease, an evil eye or an evil daemon. 

 Thus we find on one a prayer to " keep the stomach of Proclus 

 sound ;" on another to " guard Vibia Paulina from all evil dae- 

 mons."J The Egyptian religion had degenerated into astrology 



• See Rosellini Mon. Stor. iii. p. 1. p. 145, 146. The example there given is 

 from the obelisk of Karnak. See also Champollion's Diet. Hierog. 



+ P, the more common form, becomes Ph before B, M, N, and B. See Peyron 

 Lex. Copt. 



+ Matter, Planche x. 6, 2a, 8. 



