310 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XV. 



merely offered sacrifices. At Papremis the rites 

 were much the same as in other places ; but when 

 the Sun went down, a body of priests made certain 

 gestures about the statue of Mars, while others 

 in greater numbers, armed with sticks, took up a 

 position at the entrance of the temple. A nu- 

 merous crowd of persons, amounting to upwards 

 of 1000 men, each armed with a stick, then pre- 

 sented themselves with a view of performing their 

 vows ; but no sooner did the priests proceed to 

 draw forward the statue, which had been placed 

 in a small wooden gilded shrine, upon a four- 

 wheeled car *, than they were opposed by those 

 in the vestibule, who endeavoured to prevent their 

 entrance into the temple. Each party attacked 

 its opponents with sticks ; when an affray ensued, 

 which, as Herodotus observes, must, in spite of 

 all the assertions of the Egyptians to the contrary, 

 have been frequently attended with serious con- 

 sequences, and even the loss of life. 



Another festival, mentioned by Herodotus t, is 

 said to have been founded on a mysterious story 

 of King Rhampsinitus, of which he witnessed the 

 celebration. 



On that occasion the priests chose one of their 

 number, whom they dressed in a j)cculiar robe, 

 made for the purpose on the very day of the ce- 

 remony, and then conducted, with his eyes 

 bound, to a road leading to the temple of Ceres. 



* Vide Vol. I. p. 350. Four-wlicclLHi cars in Ei^ypt appear to have 

 been uncommon ; but one is represented in tlie woodcut at the licad 

 of Chap. 7. Vol. II. 



I Ilerodot. ii. 122. 



