444 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XVI. 



pears to be quite consistent with the opinions of the 

 Egyptians, mentioned by Herodotus * ; and not 

 only, says the historian, *' have the Greek poets 

 adopted many of their doctrines," but the origin 

 of most of the religious speculations of Greece may 

 be traced to the Egyptians ; who *' have invented 

 more prodigies than all the rest of mankind.'* 



The Egyptian notion that the soul, after its series 

 of migrations, returned to the same human body in 

 which it had formerly lived on earth, is in perfect ac- 

 cordance with the passage of the Roman poet above 

 alluded to, and this is confirmed by Theophrastus, 

 who says, *' The Egyptians think that the same soul 

 enters the body of a man, an ox, a dog, a bird, and 

 a fish, until having passed through all of them it re- 

 turns to that from which it set out." There is even 

 reason to believe that the Egyptians preserved the 

 body in order to keep it in a fit state to receive the 

 soul which once inhabited it, after the lapse of a 

 certain number of years ; and the various occupa- 

 tions followed by the Egyptians during the lifetime 

 of the deceased t, which were represented in the 

 sculptures ; as well as his arms, the implements he 

 used, or whatever was most precious to him, which 

 were deposited in the tomb with his coffin, might 

 be intended for his benefit at the time of this re- 

 union, which at the least possible period was fixed 

 at 3000 years. -On the other hand, from the fltct 

 of animals being also embalmed (the preservation 

 of whose bodies was not ascribable to any idea 



* Herodot. ii. 82. f Vide supra, p. 393. and 395. 



