from the Site ofdnt'ient Bahjlon. 2SI 



in Greek 'HXieTroXif, the version of the LXX will prove : 

 r-N, r £r<v 'HxisTToA;?. (Exod. i. 2.) This city was built on 

 a considerable hill in honour of the 5?/??, (Strabo, lib. xvu. 

 p. 1 15S,) who had there also a celebrated temple. Kemains 

 of these are still extant on their oris^inal site, now named 

 Matarea, two hours N.N.E. of Cairo, consisting, as Shaw, 

 Niebuhr, and later travellers relate, of a sphinx, obelisk, 

 and fiao-ments of marble, granite, &c. This temple is 

 mentionai, not onlv bv Strabo, but Herodotus, who also 

 records, that an ann'md assembly was holden in it in honour 

 of the presiding divmity (lib. li. § 59). Oi the city aud- 

 its sacred monuments, the destruction by the king of Ba- 

 bylon, Nebuchadnezzar, Jeremiah expressly foretold (xhu. 

 8_i3) —He shall Ircak also the images of Beth-shemesh, 

 (or, the temple of the Sun) that is iv the land of EgT/pf. 

 JnJow, that Ileliopolis received its original name troin the 

 Sun IS indisputable, inasmuch as that, m anticnt Lg)^pt^ 

 he was denominated ON. This is evident from Jablonski 

 (Panth. Ecvpt. 1. 137), Georgi (Alphabet, libctan. p. 87), 

 and expressly from Cyril (in Hoseam, p. 145) who, on 

 reciting the Kiivptian fable which makes Apis the son of 

 the Moon and\itlspring of the Sun, adds, « thai the Sun 

 teas called ON b>f the Egyptians :"-V.N fe .n xar a.r,f 

 •O'HAlOS.in pertect analogy with the Coptic oeiH, wiiicn, 

 in the language of Upper Egypt, signified LIGHT, and the 

 Arabic J^4,^ ^-a^ the eye ov fountain of light. 



In perfect accordance with the inscription are the hiero- 

 Clvphieal figures on the brick. That Siiuus, the chiet of 

 the «lars, was symbolized by a Dog, a thousand monu- 

 ments will evince, independently of the name K^my.vxv, or 

 Do<y-star, which to this day he retains. Ihc origin and 

 anrriieation of this symbol are in themselves sufticicntly 

 plain. The vigilance' of a dog was significantly cxpressiye 

 of the star, which, by its heliacal appearance, gave certain 

 notice that the sun had arrived at its greatest elevation. 

 Hence the Latkator Anubis in Egypt, which, accordmg 

 to the rabbins, was the same with Nihchaz, the Larking 

 vatch^dog of the Avitks. In 2 Kings, xvu. 24, we read 

 that « tlfe king of Assyria brought from Babylon, Cutha, 

 Jva, and othc° cities, colonies to repeople the empty cities 

 <,f Samaria, whose inhabitants this conqueror had carriea 

 uaav captive." In verse 31 it is added that, as these nn- 

 ti.n.s, in their new settlements, set up their gods, so tliu 

 pods of the Aviles were Nilchaz and Tartak. 1 he precipe 

 Imn of the latt. r is hitherto unascertained ; but comnienta- 



