250 



THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. 



CHAP. XIV. 



It is singular that the Oxyrhinchus should be com- 

 monly figured amongst the fish caught by tlie Egyp- 

 tians, in the paintings of Thebes, of Beni Hassan, 

 and of Memphis. This would seem to confine its 

 worship to the nome and city of Oxyrhinchus, 

 where, as already stated, the people were so scru- 

 pulous, that they could not be induced to eat any 

 other fish which had been taken by a hook *, lest 

 it should at any time have been defiled by catching 

 their favourite. *' Even when many different kinds 

 were taken by them in a net, they looked most care- 

 fully for any Oxyrhinchus that might accidentally 

 be caught, preferring to have none rather than the 

 most abundant draught, if a single one were found 

 in it." But it is probable that many other places 

 extended to this fish a feeling of veneration ; small 

 bronze figures of it being often discovered in Egypt, 

 some of which have the horns and globe of Athor. 



N0.4G4. 



The Oxyrhinchus fish, in bronzo. 



In the temple of the Great Oasis is also a repre- 

 sentation of this fish, accompanied 

 by the name of the Goddess, which 

 Leaves no doubt of its having been 

 licr emblem ; and this is the more 

 No.4ci.a. At the Oasis, rcmarkablc, as it coincides with the 



sr^ra 



the dorsal fin like that of tlic M. oxijrliinclnis, and a less pointed no.se ; 

 whicii last in the M. (•i/pr'mo'idc.s is abrupt or round. 

 * Lilian, Nat. An. x. IG. l*lut. dc Is. s. 7. 



