CHAP. XII. MISTAKES OF THE GREEKS. 203 



perstitious part of their creed, or to discriminate 

 between the mysterious or metaphysical, the fabu- 

 lous, and the moral. 



A remarkable instance of the perverted meaning 

 of a religious custom, by the ignorance of Greek 

 and Roman writers, occurs in the Pallacides or 

 Pellices of Amun, mentioned by Diodorus * and 

 Strabo. The former, it is true, only describes them 

 under the name of ■KaL}0^a.yM}zs (Pallacides) of Ju- 

 piter, in noticing their tombs ; but Strabo t asserts 

 that, at Thebes, " a virgin, conspicuous for birth 

 and beauty, was sacrificed to Jupiter, the Deity of 

 that city, and that a class of persons, called pellices 

 (harlots), dedicated to his service, were permitted 

 to cohabit with any one they chose." 



That certain women, of the first families of the 

 country, were devoted to the service of the God of 

 Thebes, is perfectly true, as I have had occasion t 

 already to remark; and they were the same whom 

 Herodotus mentions under the name of y^vaixag 

 ipr;<a^§, or " sacred women, consecrated to the 

 Theban Jove." The statement of Diodorus, that 

 their sepulchres were distant from the tomb of Osy- 

 mandyas ten stadia, or little more than 6000 feet, 

 agrees perfectly with the position of those where 

 the Queens and princesses were buried ||, in the 

 Necropolis of Thebes ; and is highly satisfactory, 

 from its confirming the opinion formed from the 

 sculptures, respecting the office they held. For 



* Diodor. i. 47. \ Strabo, xvii. p. 561. 



X Supra, Vol. T. p. 258. § Herodot. ii. 54. and i. 182. 



II Vide my Egypt and Thebes, p. 80. 



