CHAP. XIV. THE CROCODILE. 231 



Athribis*, noted for the peculiar honours paid to 

 its presiding Deity Thriphis, the contemplar com- 

 panion of Khein. f 



Strabot speaks of the great respect shown to 

 the crocodile in the nome of Arsinoe, or, as it was 

 formerly called, Crocodilopolis.§ He states that 

 one was sacred there, and kept apart in a particular 

 lake, which was so tame that it allowed itself to be 

 touched by the priests. They called it Souchos, 

 or Suchus. It was fed with bread, meat, and wine, 

 which were brought by those strangers who went 

 to see it. Strabo's host, a man of consideration, 

 when showing the geographer and his party the 

 sacred curiosities of the place, conducted them to 

 the brink of the lake, having taken with him from 

 table a cake, some roast meat, and a cup of wine. 

 The animal was lying on the bank ; and while 

 some of the priests opened its mouth, one put in 

 the cake, and then the meat, after which the wine 

 was poured into it. The crocodile upon this, 

 taking to the water, passed over to the other side : 

 and another stranger, having come for the same pur- 

 pose, made similar offerings to it as it lay there. 



The Suchus of Strabo appears to agree with, and 

 to be taken from, the name of the God Savak|| ; 

 and it was probably applied exclusively to those 

 which were sacred. Herodotus says the Egyptians 

 called crocodiles Champses ; a corruption of the 

 Coptic or Egyptian name Msah, or Emsooh, from 

 which the Arabs have derived their modern ap- 



* Vide supra, p. 54. and 135. ; and Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 265. 

 ■}- Vide supra. Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 2G5. % Strabo, xvii. p. 558. 

 ^ Vide supra, p. 3T. || Vide supra, p. 37. 



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