Ohfervations on the Lotus of Egypt. 261 



that of the poppy, may be diftinguifhed on the Egyptian 

 monuments. In my ojiitiion, this refenihlance has made 

 the IVait of the lotus, delineated on feveral Egyptian medals, 

 to be confounded wiih that of the poppy. The fruits repre- 

 fented on thefe medals are the fame as thofe fculptured on 

 the Egyptian monuments anterior to thofe of the Greeks, 

 It does not appear from any hirtorical teftimony that the 

 Egyptians ever made much ufe of the poppy ; and they ra- 

 ther placed the fruits of the lotus among the attributes of Ifis, 

 with ears of corn, as a fiirn of abundance and fertility, fince 

 thev were long accullomcd 10 make a fort of bread with the 

 feeds of that plant. The Egyptian lotus was very little known 

 to the Greeks and the Romans, who compared it to the mo(l 

 common plants. Herodotus calls the lotus a lily; Theo- 

 phratlus compared it to the poppy, and Pliny calls its flowers 

 poppies *. Another caufe which may have occafioned the 

 lotus to be confounded with the poppy, is the refemblance 

 which exilts between the attributes of Ifis and thofe of Ceres, 

 to whom the poppv was confecrated f . 



The nymphiea lotus and the nympha;a nelumbo are the two 

 fpecies of lotus defcribcd by FJerodotus and Theophraftus. 

 Eoth grew naturally in lLgyj)t, and were cultivated in that 

 coimtrv. It was the fruit of the cultivated njmphcsa lotus to 

 which Pliny gives the name oi iotovietra %■ 



A padage in Alhenfeus proves that the }ijmphiea c^erulea 

 is a third fpecies of lotus. This author relates that Antino- 

 ian § crowns were made at i\Iexandria with the rofe lotus, 

 and ihat-the blue were interwoven with the'e crowns. The 

 flowers of thefe different kinds of loUis are very odoriferous, 

 have great fplendour and freflnicfs, and niuft have been fe- 

 lected for making crowns. Heliodorus relates, that couriers 

 who announced a viclorv in Meroe were crowned with 

 lotus I). W'lien Plutarch fpeaks of a crown of melilot which 

 fell from the head of Ofirisf, and when he clailes that plant 

 among ihofe which grow in the Nile, he alludes to a crown 

 of lotus. Athenieus relates, that the lotus was alfo called me- 

 lilol**, and that it was formed into melilotinegarhinds. The 

 fame hiltorian tells us alfo why the rofe lotus Mas called the 

 Antiuoian. A poet prefented the emj)eror Adrian, during 



* riiii. Hift. Is'at. lib. xiii. rap. 17. 



i Virt;il. Ceorg. i. ver. 21a. Oviil. Fall. lib. iv. T!icoc. Idyll, vii. 

 ver. nj. ClIiiDHch. Hymn. Ccr. vcr. 45. 

 X I'iiii. Hid. Niit. lii>. xxii. CA\>. ?. I. 

 § Athtiiai DLi|jiio(ojil). lib. xv. p. 677, 

 11 H'-lioclor. Ethioi<. lib. x. tup. zS. 

 ^f Ticatifc on His iml Dlins. 

 •• Atlicjufci Diii'iiol'.pti. lib. iii. p- 73. 



S 3 his 



