64 A GLOSSARY OF GREEK BIRDS 



IBII (continued"). 



headed snake with ibis-heads; cf. Savigny, op. cit. p. 159, Kircher, 

 Oedip. iii. p. 96, c. : on the same zodiac an ibis-headed man rides 

 on Capricornus, under which sign Sirius rose anti-heliacally (Dupuis, 

 Orig. de tous les cultes, v. i) ; in this connexion, cf. Timoch. 3. 590 

 nS>s av o-<b(Ticv "(3is rj KVCOV. Thoth is figured as an Ibis, or with 

 an ibis-head, Plut. Symp. ix, cf. Pherecydes, Hymn. Merc. T Q 'Epufjs 

 tj3i'/nop0f, dpxnyos oftvooio, o-uyypa/^ar<oi> yevvrjrajp, /ue^o-ccos re 7100-77? : 

 Hermes, pursued by Typhon, changed himself into an Ibis, Hygin. 

 Astr. P. ii. c. 28, Ant. Lib. Met. c. 28, Ovid, Met. v. 331. Many of 

 the bird's peculiarities, real or fabulous, are mystically associated with 

 the same god: e.g. its dainty walk (Ael. ii. 38) with the inventor 

 of the dance ; its numerical constants (e. g. its intestine 96 cubits long, 

 and its pace of one cubit, Ael. x. 29) with the inventor of arithmetic ; 

 the equilateral triangle or A that its beak and legs made (Plut. Is. et 

 Osir. 381 ; or its legs alone, Pier. Valer. xvii. 18, xlvii) with the inventor 

 of letters (cf. also Kircher, Obel. Pamphil. pp. 125-131), its knowledge 

 of physic with the founder of the medical art. On the Ibis as the inventor 

 of clysters, cf. Cic. N. D. ii. 50, 126, Plut. De Sol. Anim. p. 974 C TTJS i'/3eo>s 

 TOV {iTTOKAvoTzoi/ a.\fj,rj KadaipofjLevrjs AlyvTTTLOi crvvidelv KOI p.ip.rja'ao'dai Xeyovaiv I 

 id. De Is. et Osir. p. 381, Ael. ii. 35, x. 29, Phile xvi, Plin. viii. (27)41, x. 30, 

 Galen, De Ven. Sect, i, &c. ; the same story of the Stork, Don Quixote, 

 ii. p. 63 (edit. Lond. 1749) : cf. N. and Q. (4) ix. p. 216: see also 

 Bacon, De Augm. v. 2. The opposed black and white of the Ibis' 

 plumage, as sometimes of Mercury's raiment, suggested various sym- 

 bolic parallels, the opposition of male and female, of light and darkness, 

 of order and disorder, of speech and silence, of truth and falsehood : 

 cf. Ael. x. 29, Schol. in PI. Phaedr., Plut. De Is. 381 D, Clem. Alex. Str. 

 v. 7. The Ibis is a symbol of the heart (Trtpi ou \6yos eVrt nXelaros 

 nap* Alyvnriois (^epofj-evos, Horap. i. 36), an organ under the protection 

 of Hermes ; and the bird has a heart-shaped outline (Ael. x. 29 <ap8ias 

 TO.V {.'TTOKpuxJ/^Tcu TTJV Seprjv KOI rrjv KecpaXrjV rois VTTO TO> orepvo) 

 as indeed its mummies have still ; a weight as it issues from 

 the egg equal to the heart of a new-born child (Plut. Symp. 670), 

 or a heart of its own of exceptional size (Gaudent. Merula, Memorab. 

 iii. c. 50) ; in this connexion we may compare the Eg. bahu with ba or 

 <foz the soul (Lauth, op. cit.); cf. supra s. v. j3au)6. The Ibis was em- 

 blematic of the ecliptic or zodiacal ring : dpidpov yap emvoias nal /xeVpou 

 uaXicrra T>V <*)a)v 77 ijSis apxrjv Trape^ecrdai rols Alyvirriois SoKet, <us TCOV 

 KVK\UV Xoos, Clem. Alex. Stromat. p. 671. It enjoyed freedom from 

 sickness, longevity, or even immortality (Apion ap. Ael. x. 29) ; it was 

 buried at Hermopolis (Herod, ii. 67, Ael. 1. c.). 



*IBY5. Hesych., Suid. ; vide s. v. i|3is. 

 'IAAAI'1, also eidaAiV opvts TTOIOS, Hesych. 



