54 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



The Egyptian Asclepius was called the *' son 

 of Pthah ; " he was therefore greatly revered 

 at Memphis, and, indeed, throughout the whole 

 country. The Egyptians acknowledged two of 

 this name ; the first, the grandfather of the other, 

 according to the Greeks, and the reputed inventor 

 of medicine ; who received peculiar honours on " a 

 certain mountain on the Lybian side of the Nile*, 

 near the City of Crocodiles," where he was re- 

 ported " to have been buried." 



Ammianus Marcellinust says, that "Memphis 

 boasted the presence of the God ^sculapius ; " 

 and the sculptures show that he held a post 

 amongst the contemplar Gods of Upper and Lower 

 Egypt, from Phila3 to the Delta. He occurs 

 more frequently in temples of a Ptolemaic than of 

 a Pharaonic epoch. 



Damascius, in the Life of Isidorus, says, " the 

 Asclepius of Berytus (of Syria) is neither Greek 

 nor Egyptian, but of Phoenician origin ; for sons 

 were born to Sadyk, called Dioscuri and Cabiri, 

 and the eighth of these was Esmun t, who is in- 

 terpreted Asclepius.'* But it is highly impro- 

 bable that the Egyptian Deity was borrowed from 

 Phoenicia : and the only point of resemblance (if 

 we may believe the authority of Herodotus in so 

 difficult a question) is the fact of Ascle])ius being 

 the son of Pthah, and the Cabiri being, according 

 to Herodotus, sons of Vulcan. S 



* Vide ivj'vd, on the Crocodile, chap. 14. 



-{• Ainni. Marc. xxii. J I. '\. Which signifies <7ji;///. 



<j Vide supra. Vol. I. {'.id Scries) p. 181. 



