CHAP. XV. TOKENS OF RELIGIOUS HOMAGE. 



379 



tion * seems seldom to have been required in the 

 temple. We only find two instances of a votary in 

 this attitude, both of which are in the sculptures at 

 Philset, of Ptolemaic date, where the king, pros- 

 trate upon the ground, worships the Goddess Isis, 

 apparently as a preliminary ceremony previous to 

 his being admitted to the presence of Osiris. 



No. 490. 1 2 Philce. 



King Ptolemy prostrate before Isis, wlio says, " I give you all the lands of the foreigners." 



It is not a subject seen in any Egyptian temple 

 of Pharaonic time ; and this extraordinary show of 

 devotion in the Greek king was probably intended 

 to flatter the priesthood, and obtain an influence 

 which those foreigners often found it prudent to 

 court. 



The system of rendering religion subservient 

 to ambitious or interested views is of all eras, and 

 every country. But pretended sanctity generally 

 betrays its real motive ; and we frequently dis- 



* In the presence of superiors they " bowed the knee," and even 

 prostrated themselves on the ground. Vide Vol. II. p. 24. Gen. xli. xliii. 

 and xlii. 6. Conf. Matthew, xviii. 26. 



f The same occurs in the Ptolemaic sculptures at the Great Oasis. 



