242 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIIT. 



goats for their altars ; and this is confirmed by 

 the sculptures of Tliebes, by which we find that 

 sheep were never immolated for the altars of the 

 Gods, nor slaughtered for the table. The large 

 flocks of sheep in the Thebaid were kept for their 

 wool alone ; and the care bestowed upon them, so 

 that they might have lambs twice a year, and be 

 shorn twice within the same period; the number of 

 persons employed there in making w^oollen cloths ; 

 and the consequence which the sculptures show to 

 have been attached to those animals ; testify the 

 importance of the wool trade in Egypt, and serve 

 as an additional proof of the advancement of this 

 people in manufactures. 



At Esneh, Latopolis, Neph is represented under 

 the form of a ram, from between whose horns rises 

 the Sacred Asp : and in some of the legends, the 

 name over it is followed by those of Osiris, Re, Ao, 

 and another God with whom Neph is connected on 

 this occasion. He is also figured as a man having two 

 or four rams' heads; but this is of rare occurrence, 

 except on monuments of a late date, or in subjects 

 relating to the dead and the mysteries of a future 

 state. At Esneh instances occur of Neph with the 

 additional title Re, which then connects him with 

 the Sun, and may perhaps be an argument in sup- 

 port of the opinion I have mentioned of the early 

 Sabaean worship of Egypt. 



To Neph were given not only the ordinary horns 

 of the sheep, curving* downwards, but also the long 



* Owing to the error respecting Amun, they have been the origin of 

 the name of the Ammonite ; and thus has this misnomer been perpe- 

 tuated in stone. 



