of the Assyrian Monarchy. 337 
pedon, who has in fact derived his existence from the 
place, the name of which is descriptive of a promontory. 
Laprndwy ovome xupiov, rape ro cipmn,  enucuves Thy Ipemrevny 
Etym. Mag. The interchange of o with the spiritus asper 
is very frequent in Greek, and the name dperayn or dpexavoy 
was given to a great number of promontories. See Index 
to D’Anville Anc. Geogr. What further proves the truth 
of this etymology, is, that the name Sarpedonia was given 
to a promontory of Thrace, with which the supposed king 
of Lycia could have no connexion. This instance is very 
remarkable, as proving that, even before the time of 
Homer, personages had been introduced into history, on 
no better ground than a false etymology. The object of 
producing these examples was to show the high probability 
that Ninus aad Ninyas have been invented to account for 
the name of Nineveh. The most closely analogous ex- 
ample, perhaps, is to be found in the common story of the 
foundation of Rome. The twin brothers Pwpudrcs and Papos 
who gave their name to it, were said to have been the chil- 
dren of Mars; and Romulus to have been deified by the 
name Quirinus. But Quirinus was a title of Mars (Plu- 
farch. Rom.) Whence it is evident, that the real founders 
of the city being unknown, this title of its tutelary deity 
had been given to its supposed founder, for whom a name 
was invented from that of the city. I believe it would not 
be too much to assert, that wherever we find the founder of 
a city, &c. said to have been deified, the fact has been that 
the principal deity has been changed into a sovereign. 
Dido or Elissa was worshipped at Carthage; I apprehend 
the fact to have been, that the feminine form of 5x was given 
to the great female divinity whom the Carthaginians wor- 
shipped ; whence Elissa; Sedw may have been the name 
which the Greeks gave to her, from her terrific martial at- 
tributes ; for she was the armed Juno. “Juno Tyria a Car- 
thaginiensibus colebatur quam deam czlestem yocabant, 
VOL. III, uu 
