32 



" tliey disclaim any knowledge, are all, except Neptune, of 

 " Pelasgian derivation; and they were informed of his name 

 " by the Africans." Yet it is evident, the names of the 

 principal Grecian deities have not the least resemblance 

 to Egyptian names, nor the Egyptian names of the divinities 

 they principally adored, to the names of those the Greeks 

 adored. What resemblance has Thot to Hermes, or Osiris 

 and Isis to Zeus and Here, or Neith to Athene? What 

 Herodotus therefore must have meant, is that the Greeks 

 found in Egypt Gods whose principal functions were the 

 same as those of the deities they themselves adored ; 

 and as he knew that these deities were not in the most 

 ancient times known in Greece, for instance, in the time 

 of Cecrops, he supposed the knowledge of them must have 

 been imported from Egypt ; but it is certain they were not, 

 i'or the histories of the Grecian divinities are totally diffe- 

 rent from those of the Egyptian, Avhereas they must resem- 

 ble those of the Phenician, as will presently be seen. 

 The Egyptian priests, it is true, among other extravagant 

 tales, told the historian Diodorus, that the Athenians were 

 a colony from Sais in Egypt, than which nothing can be more 

 distant from the truth ; both the language and the customs 

 and manners of Egypt and Athens were totally different : as 

 to their language the difference is enormous, and so by every 

 account was that of their customs and manners. 'J'he 

 Egyptians were circumcised ; the Greeks held that practice 

 in contempt and derision. The Egyptians indulged them- 

 selves 



