212 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV. 



But neither the swallow, sparrow, raven, crow, nor 

 upupa, received divine honours among the Egyp- 

 tians ; and though the Moslems distinguish the 

 raven by the name of "Noah's crow," and often 

 consider it wrong to kill it, no peculiar respect 

 appears to have been paid it in ancient times. 



According to Horapollo *, tlie Egyptians repre- 

 sented Mars and Venus by two hawks, or by two 

 crows ; and the latter were chosen as the em- 

 blems of marriage. The same author assigns to the 

 representation of a dead crow the idea of a man 

 who has lived a perfect lifet, and to young crows t 

 the signification of a man passing his life in move- 

 ment and anxiety, ^lian pretends that this bird 

 was sacred to Apollo, two only which belonged to 

 his temple being seen in the vicinity of Coptos. § 

 The naturalist adds, that the Romans employed at 

 the emerald mines observed the same number there 

 also, — a remark which originated in the circum- 

 stance of ravens H being almost the only birds seen 

 in that tract ; and their habit being to live in pairs. 

 They go a very short distance from their usual 

 haunts ; but different valleys are visited by a dif- 

 ferent couple. 



j^^lian % also states that the sepulchre of a raven 

 was shown in the vicinity of Lake Myris (Mceris) ; 



* Horapollo, i. 8, 9. and ii. 40. 



-j- Horapollo, ii. 89. Wiiat he sa3'.s of its living thirteen years, and 

 the Egyptian year being equal to four years, is obscure. 



J Horapollo, ii. 97. § yElian, vii. 18. 



II 1 le calls them crows, but I believe that both ^f-'^lian and Herodotus 

 mean ravens ; the I'lgyptian being the Itoyston crow, or Corvus cornix. 

 I believe the latter to be sometimes rci)resented in the Egyptian paint- 

 ings, and even on papyri. 



II 71^:iian, vi. 7. 



