12 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



year." Of the two last, the former was probably 

 Anubis, whom, in his mysterious office connected 

 with Osiris and the final judgment of the dead, it 

 may have been unlawful to mention* ; and the 

 latter, the Ibis-headed Deity Thoth, in his cha- 

 racter of the dispenser of intellectual gifts to man, 

 and the God of Letters. 



Hermes Trismegistus. 



The epithet Trismegistus, " thrice great," has 

 been applied by some to Thoth ; but the Deity 

 here represented is shown by numerous Greek 

 inscriptions upon his temple at Pselcis to have been 

 distinguished from the God of Letters by this name, 

 with the additional title, *' Lord of Pautnouphis." 



Much confusion has arisen in consequence of 

 these two Deities having the name Hermes ; many 

 having ascribed to Trismegistus the honour of in- 

 venting letters, which in reality belongs to Thoth 

 alone, as the monuments of Egypt prove beyond 

 the possibility of doubt. 



The temple of Pselcis t, now Dakkeh, in Nubia, 

 was erected by the Ethiopian king Ergamun, a 

 contemporary of Ptolemy Philadelphus, and com- 

 pleted by the Lagidae, in honour of this Hermes. 

 On the towers of the area, and in the portico, 

 are numerous Greek inscriptions; the general 



♦ Or even Thoth, as scribe of Ameiiti. Vide supra, Vol. I. (2tl Series ) 

 p. 441. 



i Pselcis was probably called m. ^,^y^ __^ n ^wvna rZI 

 from the (loddess Selk, if we ^ v-^JK ; 'j' — M | — i rl 



may jndjj;e Irom a legend given ^ r^^ | | tu I ' I 



in 1)1. 15. of M. Champollion's ., ,,, ., ,_, . , ,.. i i m o .i. .i 



' ' » No. 4.')7. " The tomplc of the land of P-Selk. ' 



Pantheon. 



