16 LOTUS OF THE ANCIENTS. 



another and more magnificent Water-Lily the Ne- 

 lumbhmi speciosum of botanists is the true Lotus 

 of the ancients that " Mythic Lotus," as Lindley 

 says, "which so often occurs on the monuments of 

 Egypt and India." Indeed, it has been suggested 

 that the name originally belonged to some kind of 

 bean, or other leguminous plant, common in Greece, 

 and was subsequently applied to the Nelumbium and 

 other Water-Lilies, on account of the similarity of 

 their seed, just as our English voyagers give the 

 names of Apples, Pears, and Gooseberries, to such 

 tropical fruits as bear an apparent resemblance to 

 the produce of their own country, and as Herodotus 

 had long before, in describing the same plant, called 

 it a rose-coloured Lily. Certain it is, that various 

 Water-Lilies, but chiefly the Nymphsea Lotus and 

 Nelumbium speciosum, were recognised by the name 

 of Lotus, and held in great esteem by the ancient 

 Egyptians, for we find that the blossoms " crowned 

 their columns, were sculptured on their temples, and 

 associated with their gods." The Egyptian Bean of 

 Pythagoras is generally referred to the fruit of the 

 Nelumbium. 



This plant, although once abundant on the Nile 

 (from its association with which it derived its be- 

 coming name of " Rose of the Nile "), and describ- 

 ed by Theophrastus as occurring spontaneously, 

 as well as where cultivated, is not now an inhabi- 

 tant of the " father of rivers." It is supposed to have 



