CHAP. XIV. THE I'HAGRUS. 251 



metamorphosis of Venus, who was said to have 

 changed herself into a fish*, and shows tlie Egyp- 

 tian origin of that fable. 



Its reputed sanctity was perhaps owing to its 

 being thought less wholesome than other kinds ; 

 and it is still an opinion in Egypt that smooth- 

 bodied fish are less proper for food than those with 

 scales. It is, likewise, possible that the prejudice 

 in its favour was in some way connected with the 

 careful maintenance of the canal, which took the 

 water from the river to the city where it was par- 

 ticularly worshipped. 



The Phagrus or eel was sacred at Syenet and 

 the Cataracts. It also gave its name to the nome 

 and city of Phagroriopolis, near to Herocipolis ; 

 where its worship was doubtless introduced with a 

 view to secure the preservation of the canal t of 

 fresh water ^ which passed from the Nile to the 

 Red Sea. The eel is once represented at Beni 

 Hassan among the fish of the Nile; but I have 

 not seen it in the sculptures as a sacred fish. 

 There is, however, no reason to doubt the assertion 

 of Plutarch and other writers §; and it is probable 

 that the Egyptians generally abstained from eating- 

 it on account of its unwholesome qualities. 



The name of Lepidotus (which, from the 

 meaning of the word, is showai to have been '*a 

 scaly fish") has been given to the Kelb el Bahr 



* " Pisce Venus latiiit." Vide supra, p. 168. note. 

 -)- Clemens, Orat. Adhort. p. 17. Euenitse shoulj cvidcntlv be Sue- 

 nitas. iElian, Nat. An. X. 19. 



X Vide supra, p. 234. Straho, lib. xvii. p. 533. and jG6. 

 ^ Vide sujv'd. Vol. I. (2d Series) p. IGI. 



