282 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII 



The idea of a connection existing between Pasht 

 and Hecate seems to be in some degree authorised 

 by the sculptures of the Egyptian temples, since 

 we find the hieroglyphical name of the latter at- 

 tached to the Goddess before us * ; and the cha- 

 racter and title of Hecate were also applied to 

 Maut and Isis. 



Another reason that the Moon in the Egyptian 

 mythology could not be related to Bubastis, is, 

 that it was a male and not a female Deity, per- 

 sonified in the God Thoth. This was also the 

 case in some religions of the West. The Romans 

 recognised the God Lunus ; and the Germans, 

 like the Arabs, to this day, consider the Moon 

 masculine, and not feminine, as were the Selene 

 and Luna of the Greeks and Latins. 



Neith, Minerva. 



Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, was particularly 

 worshipped at Saist, in the Delta ; Pausanias pre- 

 tends tliat Minerva at Thebes was styled Onka, 

 as in Phoenician, and Sais in other parts of Egypt ; 

 but it is evident that she was called Neith, both in 

 the Upper and Lower Country ; and Plato t and 

 Eratosthenes are correct in stating this to be her 

 Egyptian name. "There is," says the former, "a 



* Plate 27. Part 2. Hierog. No. 2. 



f Cicero is correct in saying, " Minerva secunda, orta Nilo, quam 

 ^gyptii Saitae colunt." Nat. Deor. iii. p. 248. 



J " noXfiof (/. c. Sais)3-fof apx']7^<^ e<T-iv, Aiyv-TKrri ^ifi' rovi'o^ia yirjiO, 

 'EWijvtffTi di, loij o tKHi'on' Xoyoc, AOtp'o." Plato in Tiniaeo, p. 1043. ed. 

 Franc. 



