72 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



turning him my thanks for his communication upon 

 the subject. 



I have already noticed the assertion of Plutarch, 

 that the Mendesian goat * had the same name 

 as the sacred bull Apis ; and have shown that 

 the only Deities so called were the Memphite 

 bull, the God Nilus, and one of the Genii of 

 Amenti.t Though we may find a difficulty in 

 accounting for such a misconception, it is more 

 probable that this last, which was represented with 

 the head of a Cynocephalus, should have been 

 mistaken for the animal he mentions than the God 

 Nilus. And as he doubtless speaks from a vague 

 report, originating in the ignorance of the Greeks, 

 it is possible that the form of the ape-headed 

 figure, added to the similarity of name, led to his 

 error ; which, indeed, is not more inconsistent 

 with truth than Herodotus's belief of the God Pan 

 being represented with the head and legs of a 

 goat.l: One inference may perhaps be drawn from 

 these erroneous statements, — that the name Apis 

 (Hapi) signifies a "genius" or *' emblem ;" Apis 

 being the *' Genius," or, as Plutarch calls it, '* the 

 image of the soul " of Osiris. Hapi-moou may 

 therefore be the Genius of the water, or the Nile ; 

 and the Cynocephalus-headed Plapi, the emblem 

 of the terrestrial nature of man. This conjecture, 

 however, I ofier, with great diffidence, to the opin- 

 ion of the learned reader. 



When the body of a person of quality was em- 



* Vide supra, p. 32. and 60. Pint, cic Ih. ii. 7.'i. 



-|- Vide supra, yt.bG. \ lloroilol. ii, 40. 



