CHAP. XIII. THE RAM-HEADED GOD. 24<1 



Vulcan of the Greeks ; " and, indeed, this cannot be 

 apphed to any Deity of the Egyptian Pantheon. 



The figure of Neph was that of a man with tlie 

 head of a ram, frequently of a green colour ; sheep 

 were particidarly sacred to him ; and with Sate 

 (Juno), and Anouke (Vesta), he formed one of the 

 great triads of Upper Egypt. 



His worship, as I have already observed, was 

 very generally admitted in the cities of Ethiopia, 

 particularly above the second cataract, where the 

 ram's head, his emblem, was used as a common or- 

 nament, or as an amulet by the devout; and in that 

 part of the country lying between the first cataract 

 and the modern Shendy, the ram-headed Neph, or 

 Cnouphis, was the principal God. One Deity alone 

 shares with him equal honours, but this is in the two 

 temples of VYady Owateb and Wady Benat alone*, 

 where the lion-headed God appears to be the prin- 

 cipal object of worship. At Napata, the capital of 

 Tirhaka (now Gebel Berkel) Neph received the 

 highest possible honours ; and it may not be unrea- 

 sonable to conclude that Napata, Noubat, and the 

 Nobata3 were called from this Deity, whose name 

 has the varied sound of Kneph, Neph, Cnouphis, 

 Chnoubis, Noub, and apparently even of Nou, in 

 some of the hieroglyphic legends of the Thebaid. 



Herodotus states, that in consequence of sheep 

 being sacred to the Theban Jupiter t, the people of 

 that nome never sacrifice them, but always select 



* Vide infrd. Chap, xiv., on tlie Lion. 

 -|- Some have derived this from Noub, " sold." 



X Ilerodot. ii. A2. More ]ir()|)oily to Neph, who was represented 

 with the head of a ram, and not Anuni, as lie supposes. 

 VOL. I. — Second Series, II 



