f52 Explanation of the Inscription on a Brick 



tors explain it to have denoted, the stated revolution of tho 

 Sun ; whicli perfectly agrees with the import of Ntl'chaz, 

 literallv signifying the barking icatch-dog. (tnij from nin 

 to natch, and na; to lark as a dog. Kimclii.) Thus, Abar- 

 banel ; trwsi ny^-^-^D 2ti2n Minii? iii-: "iii'^i* o^U'ni, and the 

 Avites made Nibchaz, ly which is intimated the Dog 

 THAT LOUDLY HARKS. Accordingly, about three hours 

 from Bcrytus, towards Tripoli, the countrv these Avites 

 occupied, is a high mountain, upon which was erected, on 

 a column, a vast dog, which uniformly barked at the sea- 

 son. Though this monument be now overthrown, its re- 

 mains are still visible in the neighbouring sea; whilst a 

 river, that empties itself in it, still keeps the name of the 

 river of the Dog, v,.^^^=J ! ^, sbs in:. This river the 



Greeks and Latins styled Lycus, from the resemblance, as 

 is conjectured, to those that sailed by, which the dog on 

 the colimm might have born to a ivolf (Eichhorn's Si- 

 monis, p. 965) ; but rather, as is probable, from both hav- 

 ing a congruity in their hieroglyphic application ; the wolf 

 b^iiig sacred to the sun, as an animal of the dawn. Hence 

 the wolf in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and the epithet 

 Lycian, ascribed to the same god; not to omit ?that. the 

 term ATKABAS for a year, properly expresses an anniver- 

 sary procession of light. 



Nor, so far as Egyptian hieroglyphics w'iH go, is there any 

 discrepancy in respect to the Bird. The rise of the dogr 

 star, or barking of Anubis, statedly proclaimed the over- 

 flow of the Nile ; a constant concomitant of which was the 

 Ibis. This bird, as such, is frequently seen on Egyptian 

 coins ; and, to express its relation to the Nile, with two 

 lotus leaves on its head ; which were the established cha- 

 racteristics on the head of that river when pcrson'ified at the 

 time of cxundation : on the Nilometer also the same leaves 

 appear floalino; upon the high-water line. Now, as to the 

 like overflow with the Nile the Euphrates is annually sub- 

 ject, it is more than probable that Babylonia might have 

 owed its deliverance from noxious reptiles to the same, or 

 some similar bird. If so, the divine honours vouchsafed 

 to the His in Eg\'pt for its anniversary good offices would 

 afford at Babylon a sufficient reason for introducing the lird 

 at this season, along with the barking dog, discriminative 

 of it. 



The inscription itself is in two views pertinent. This 

 brick is unquestionably sun-baked, and therefore exhibited 

 an effect of the intense power of the great " Avx^ rvios •" 



bu| 



