286 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



Mother," though distinct from Maut; and Porphy- 

 ry, as quoted by Macrobius*, considers her ** that 

 virtue of the Sun which administers prudence to the 

 human mind." Clemens mentions t a pecuUarity 

 in her worship, — **that the wisest of the Egyptian 

 priests estabhshed the sanctuary of Minerva in the 

 open air, as the Jews made their temple without any 

 image ;" which, if true, might appear to have some 

 connection with the statement of Horapollo, that 

 this Goddess "presided over the upper, as Juno over 

 the lower, hemisphere." Diodorust thinks, that 

 she was a deified personification of the "«?V," "the 

 daughter of Jove, and deemed a virgin because air 

 is of an incorruptible nature." He also derives the 

 fable of her being "produced from Jupiter's head, 

 from her elevated position above the world ; as 

 her name Tritogenia from her thrice changing her 

 nature, — in spring, summer, and winter," the three 

 seasons of the Egyptian year. Lions were said 

 to be sacred to her, as to the Cybele of the Phry- 

 gians ; and the vulture is supposed by some to 

 have been emblematic of the Egyptian Minerva, 



GODS OF THE SECOND AND OTHER ORDERS. 



In mentioning the remaining Gods, it is not my 

 intention to point out the order of the twelve se- 

 condary Deities, and thence proceed to those of 

 the third order. I shall therefore follow, as nearly 



* Macrob. Saturn, i. If). 



-j- Clem. Strom, v. p. 155. Compare tliis with the constriiction of 

 the Parthenon. 

 ■^ Diodor. i. 1 5^. 



