having been the creator, thus accounting for the fact of 

 the early copies of the Samaritan Pentateuch commenc- 

 ing with the following words : " At the commencement 

 the goat (t3Jn) renovated the heavens and the earth " 

 (Genesis i. i). Here we meet with a very good example 

 of the patchwork style in which the Bible was compiled. 

 In Egypt the new year reckoned from December 2ist, 

 and the creation was supposed to date from the same 

 time of the year, and consequently in all records ema- 

 nating from the Nile district the celestial goat was 

 honoured for the occasion with the chief godship ; but 

 in Persia the new year commenced on March 2ist, the 

 date of the creation being fixed at the same point of 

 the zodiac, so that the chief godship was assigned to the 

 celestial lamb or ram and its five fellow signs of the 

 summer hemisphere. Therefore, as the Hebrews derived 

 their creation fable from the Persians, using also the 

 Egyptian mythology with which to embellish their newly- 

 made cosmogony, the two fables became mixed some- 

 what in the minds of these ignorant wanderers, the 

 consequence being that in some of their MSS. the crea- 

 tion was said to have been the act of the goat (t^H), 

 while in others it was attributed to the ram-sun, Elyah 



(rV /N), or the six summer signs commencing with the 

 ram-sun, and called on that account the Elohim (OYl 7N), 

 this word being the plural form of Eloh (HlvM) or 

 Elyah (5T7N), a compound word made up of Yah (PP), 

 the Hebrew name for the sun-god, and El (vM), the 

 celestial lamb or ram. 



Not only were the three principal signs the bull, the 

 ram, and the goat held in great veneration by the 

 Egyptians, but all the zodiacal signs were worshipped in 

 various degrees ; indeed, each figure of the zodiac can 

 be easily assigned to one of the principal gods of Egypt, 

 as they were known prior to B.C. 2188. The ram was 

 Amen, the Egyptian Jupiter, called Zeus Amen (Zevs 

 AfJLr)v) by the Greeks and Jupiter Ammon by the Romans, 

 who was represented with a ram's head and horns. The 

 bull was Apis, or Serapis, worshipped as a living bull, 

 the incarnation of the principal deity at the vernal 

 equinox. The twins were the Greek Castor and Pollux, 



