60 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



manner, and deposit it in the sacred sepulchres. 

 No one, not even a friend or relation of the de- 

 ceased, is allowed to touch it : the priests of the 

 Nile alone have this privilege ; and they bury it 

 with their own hands, as if it were something more 

 than a human corpse." 



Tap, Ape, Tapj:, Thaba, Thebes. 



The frequent occurrence of the name of Thebes 

 in the hieroglyphic legends of its temples, led to 

 the discovery of the Goddess of the city ; and 

 during my stay there in 1828, while examining 

 the various contemplar Deities in the Temple of 

 Amun at Karnak, I observed that Thebes had 

 a guardian Genius or Goddess of the same name. 

 She was called *' Ap (or Ape), the potent Mo- 

 ther of the Gods." The name Ap (Aph, or 

 Ape), written phonetically, is followed by a 

 symbolic character, of the same sound, which is 

 no other than the demonstrative sign of the pre- 

 ceding word ; and the Goddess sometimes wears 

 this last on her head, together with the globe and 

 horns of Athor, her usual head-dress. Sometimes 

 she holds in her hands the staff of purity, some- 

 times the water-plant sceptre common to all the 

 Goddesses. 



The symbolic character above mentioned fre- 

 quently occurs inlhe names of individuals, as in Pe- 



himmwj), or Fet-dmuuoph ; . B I Jv^Ws \4 

 and is also put alone for Thebes, followed by the 



