148 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XII. 



the names of Greek Divinities," says the same his- 

 torian *, *' came from Egypt, or at least the greater 

 part; for, with the exception of Neptune, the Dio- 

 scuri t, Juno, Vesta, Themis, the Graces, and Ne- 

 reids, the names of all the Gods have been always 

 known in Egypt. In stating this, I only repeat 

 what the Egyptians themselves acknowledge to be 

 the case ; and the names of deities unknown to 

 them I suppose to have been of Pelasgic origin, 

 with the exception of Neptune, which is from 

 Libya, where that Deity has always been held in 

 particular veneration. With regard to Heroes, theij 

 receive no funereal ho7iours from the Egyptians. 

 The Greeks, indeed, borrowed from the Egyptians 

 the religious rites used among them, many of which 

 I shall have occasion to notice ; but it is not from 

 them, but from the Pelasgi, that the Athenians, and 

 after them the other Greeks, derived the custom 

 of giving to the statues of Mercury a phalhc atti- 

 tude, the religious reason of which may be found 

 explained in the mysteries of Samothrace." He- 

 rodotus states that the Egyptians were strangers to 

 the names t of the above-mentioned Deities; but 

 we are not thence to infer that the Deities them- 

 selves were unknown to them ; and there is direct 

 evidence of three, Juno, Vesta, and Themis, hold- 

 ing a distinguished position in the Pantheon of 

 Egypt. Juno was called Sate, Vesta Anouke, and 

 Themis was doubtless derived from the Egyptian 



* Herodot. ii. 53. 



f Castor and Pollux, the reputed sons of Jupiter. 

 J But surely tliey were not strangers even to the 7ia»ie of Themis, 

 being so closely allied to the Thmci of Egypt. 



