260 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



E'Khmim. * Indeed, the name of the God appears 

 from the hieroglyphics to have been Chemmo or 

 Khemot, and when in the character of Amunre- 

 Generator, the title of Khemo is added to that of 

 Amun. 



Plutarch sayst that " the leaf of the fig tree re- 

 presented both their King Osiris, as well as their 

 native country ;" and it is possible that this notion 

 was founded upon the circumstance of the fig 

 tree itself being the symbol of Egypt ; but from 

 what he afterwards says of the Priapean character 

 of Osiris, we may conclude he has confounded that 

 Deity with the God Khem. If this be true, the 

 tree above mentioned may be the fig, or more pro- 

 bably the Ficus sijcomoriis ; and the conventional 

 form adopted by the Egyptians for this and all 

 trees, excepting the palm, D6)n, pomegranate, and 

 a few others, appears to justify this conjecture. 



The sycomore was particularly sacred to the 

 Goddess Netpe, as the Persea to Athor ; but these 

 I shall have occasion to mention hereafter. 



The assertion of Herodotus §, that the Eg_y|)tians 

 represented the God Pan, like the Greeks, with 

 the head and legs of a goat, applies neither to the 

 God Khem, nor to any other Deity in the Egyptian 



* It is singular, that this town should have had the name given to 

 the whole country of "Kfiemi;" and another, Coptos (Koft or Kebt), 

 have retained that of '• Egi/pt,^' which is (lypt with a prefixed letter or 

 diphthong. 



J M;iy not the name Ok-iai.ir]c, said by Diodorus originally to have 

 been siven to the Nile, be taken from the word ya/if, black? The river 

 in earlv times also bore the name of Egypt. Vide supra. Vol. I, p. 8. 

 Diod.'i. 19. 



X Plut. de Is. s. 36. $ Herodot. ii. 46. 



