CHAP. XIII. CHARACTERS OF TTHAH. ^51 



sufficient.' The beetle was also an emblem of 

 the Sun, being chosen, according to Horapollo*, 

 * from its having thirty fingers, equal to the num- 

 ber of days in an (ordinary solar) month ; ' and 

 the frog was another symbol of Pthah, because, 

 as Horapollo says, * it was the representative of 

 man in embryo,' that is, of the being, who, like the 

 world, was the work of the creative power, and the 

 noblest production of his hands." 



"There are other characters t of Pthah, as 

 Pthah-Sokari-Osiris, and Pthah Tore ; but since 

 they are represented by the Egyptians as different 

 and separate Divinities, I have thought it better 

 to keep them apart from the God of whom they 

 were, perhaps, originally emanations," and treat of 

 them as distinct Deities. It is also possible, that 

 to Pthah, the creative power, were ascribed four or 

 more different offices, each being a separate form 

 of that Deity, as, 1. The creator of the universe 

 generally; 2. The creator of the world we inhabit ; 

 3. The creator of all animal and vegetable life ; 

 and, 4. The creator of mankind. 



The Greeks, as I have already stated, considered 

 the Pthah of Egypt the same as their Vulcan or 

 Hephaestus, and it is more than probable that their 

 idea of this Deity w-as derived from the Demiurge 

 in the Egyptian Pantheon ; the error they made 

 in the character of the opifex, or framer of the 

 world, proceeding from their degrading him to the 



* Horapollo, nierog. i. 10. ; ani.1 Porplivry says, " Cantharuiii i>oli 

 acconniiociatum." 



f The passages between inverted connnas are extracted from my 

 Materia Hieroglyphica. 



