108 
Inter finitimos vetus atque antiqua si- 
multas, 
Immortale odium et nunquam sanabile 
{ vuinns, ; , 
Ardet adhuc, Ombos et Tentyra. 
An irreconcilable hatred, of ancient 
‘date, subsists between the neighbour- 
ing cities of Ombos and Tentyra. 
At Sibilis, the two chains of moun- 
tains that compose the valley of the 
Nile approach» so near, that they 
hardly leave a passage for the river. 
In Arabic, Sibilis has a name denoting 
‘the mountain chain, A tradition is 
accredited, that an iron chain between 
the opposite mountains formed a line 
of communication for passengers. It 
was from the quarries of Sibilis that 
all those masses of freestone were ex- 
tracted which appear in the Egyptian 
buildings from Syene to Denderah. 
The village of Edfou is the modern 
representative of Atho, called by the 
‘Greeks and Romans, Apollinopolis 
Magna. It appears from Herodotus, 
Diodorus, and PJutarch, that the 
Egyptian divinity Horus was consi- 
milar with Apollo. 
_ Apollinopolis»was the chief place of 
"a name or district, and one of the 
principal cities of the Thebais. In the 
time of Adrian, a medal was struck 
there in honour of that emperor. 
‘Towards the close of the fourth cen- 
‘tury, this city was on the decline. 
According to Ammianus Marcellinus, 
the chief cities at that-time were Cop- 
tos, Hermopolis, and Antinoée. 
' Most of the honses that compose the 
village of Edfou are grouped, with no 
regard to order, on the terrace of the 
temple, which is one of the finest in 
Egypt. These wretched hovels seem 
unfit for the dwellings of any human 
being. As to the temple, a glance 
over its dimensions will display a 
spectacle the mosf grand and sublime. 
‘The plan is surprisingly regular, the 
sculptures are beautiful, and theawhole 
appears uniformly lofty, like the 
majesty of the sea, when contempla- 
tion fixes on it. The temple is about 
424. feet in length; the shaft of its 
largest columns measures, at the lower 
part, near twenty feet in circumfer- 
ence. The stones in the ceilings are 
of singular magnitude; in the grand 
portico they -are eighteen feet in 
length. The exterior facade of the 
edifice is about 212 feet. 
A number of compartments must be 
‘traversed to enter the sanctuary,which 
is detached from the building, and 
Skeiches of detached Parts of Egypt. 
[Sept. 1, 
unlike it in its construction ; a gloomy 
light enters it from the ceiling. Among 
the sculptures is the image of a 
phoenix, which, with the ancient 
Egyptians, as Solinus and Pliny relate, 
was an emblem of the Great Year or 
Sothic Period. ‘Tacitus gives 1460 
years to the life of the phoenix, exact- 
ly that of the Sothic Period. ‘The 
renewal of this term was marked by 
the heliacal rising of Sirius, when the 
fixed and the vague year met in 
Egyptian astronomy. 
Near the great building is another 
monument, on a less extensive scale: 
it was a Typhonium, or Temple of 
Typhon, the genius of evil. 
About two leagues to the north, on 
the right bank of the Nile, stood the 
ancient city of Elythia; there are re- 
mains of two walls, and various build- 
ings, but not comparable to those of 
Apolinopolis. Elythia was a Grecian 
goddess, presiding over women in la- 
bour, like the Lucina of the Latins. 
The antiquities of Egypt have in all 
ages been thought a proper subject of 
attention; and the acquisitions, scien- 
tific and literary, of voyagers, in their 
several expeditions. in the interior, 
with the particular details of the ob- 
‘servations they have made and’ col- 
lected, are likely to become of much 
future consequence. Among other 
useful notes, containing the modern 
geography, and exhibiting views of 
the pristine state of Egypt, some short 
account has been given relative to 
the island of Phile. 
It is situated on the confines of 
Nubia, beyond the last cataract, about 
two leagues above Syene, and fourteen 
on this side the tropic. As it is one 
of the principal points of Egypt, it bas 
numerous remains that serve to show 
its quondam importance. The Egyptian 
priests appear to have had a just sense 
of its position, and under the Pharaohs, 
in the time of their national power 
and prosperity, in the case of Phile, 
were for making political interest and 
religion compatible and subservient to 
each other. It was one of the gafes 
of Egypt, and they exerted their skill 
and policy in acquiring superior 
strength for the island, in proportion 
to the means it possessed. Egypt was 
surrounded on three sides by the Me- 
diterranean and by Deserts ; and, till 
the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, the 
arts and operations of war were most 
liable to be called forth and employed 
on the side of Nubia. It was from this 
. f circumstance, 
