18G THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



the God, neither to wear any gold about them*, 

 nor to give provender to an ass." Another su- 

 perstitious reason was also assigned by them, ac- 

 cording to Plutarch, for their contempt of the ass ; 

 — *' that Typho escaped out of battle upon that 

 animal, after a flight of seven days ; and after he 

 had got into a place of safety begat two sons, Hie- 

 rosolymus and Judgeus. t'* But this, he adds, "is 

 evidently told to give an air of fable to the Jewish 

 history." 



Some instances occur of an ass-headed Deity, t 

 He is rarely met with, and is apparently of the 

 order of Demons, or an inferior class of Gods, con- 

 nected with a future state in the region of Amenti. 

 The only place where I have seen the Onocephalus 

 is at Tuot, the ancient Tuphium§; but the head, 

 of the ass is sometimes introduced among the hie- 

 roglyphics. 



The prejudice against the ass ll appears to have 

 been universal in all ages. Egypt and the East, 

 however, seem to have looked upon it rather as an 

 emblem of perverseness than of stupidity ; and in 

 this character it is still viewed by the Arabs ^, as the 



* We cannot fail to be struck by such superstition ; but an old Egyp- 

 tian might smile at the scruples of many j)ersons who object to com- 

 mence a journey on a Friday, dine thirteen at table, or look upon a new 

 Moon without silver in their ])ockct. A modern Egyptian avoids visit- 

 ing a friend suffering from ophthalmia with "any gold about him," lest 

 he should increase the-malady. 



f Pint, de Is. s. ;}]. 



j llorapollo supposes the Onocephalus to signify one who has never 

 travelled out of his own country, i. '23. 



^1 Tuot, or Helemeeh, is in the Thcba'id, nearly opposite Hermonthis, 

 or Ennent, on the cast bank. 



II Jerem. xxii. 19. 



*| Vide the introductory tale in the Arabian Nights. 



