CHAP. XIV. EAGLE AND HAWK. 205 



the sculptures, as well as ancient authors, abun- 

 dantly prove to have been one of the most sacred 

 of all the animals of Egypt. Diodorus, indeed, 

 shows the connection he supposes to have sub- 

 sisted between the latter bird and that city, when 

 he says*, "The hawk is reputed to have been 

 worshipped, because augurs use them for divining 

 future events in Egypt ; and some say that in 

 former times a book (papyrus), bound round with 

 (red) purplet thread, and containing a written 

 account of the modes of worshipping and honouring 

 the Gods, was brought (by one of those birds) to 

 the priests at Thebes. For which reason the hiero- 

 grammats (sacred scribes) wear a (red) purple band 

 and a hawk's feather in their head, t The Thebans 

 worship the eagle because it appears to be a royal 

 animal worthy of the Deity." But though the 

 eagle was not worshipped, it frequently occurs in 

 the hieroglyphics, where it has the force of the 

 letter a, the commencement of the word akhonrit 

 its name in Coptic. 



Plutarch§, Clemens ||, and others, agree in con- 

 sidering the hawk the emblem of the Deity ; and 



* Diodor. loc. cit. 



•|- The words (i>oiviKog and purpureus are translated purple, but it is 

 evident that they originally signified fire colour, or red ; and the " pur- 

 pureus late qui splendeat unus et alter assuitur pannus " of Horace will 

 translate very badly a " purple patch ;" though it is evident, from the 

 " certantem et uvam purpura," that the Latin as well as the Greek word 

 signified also the colour we call purple. (Hor. Ars Poet. 18. ; and 

 Epod.ii. 20.) The pui'ple continued to change in colour at different 

 times till it arrived at the imperial hue, and that adopted by the 

 modern cardinals. 



+ Vide Clem. Strom, vi. p. 196.; and t^ide infra, on the Ceremonies. 



^ Plut. de Is. s. 32. |1 Clem. Strom, v. p.l59. 



