CHAP. Xlir. RE, THE SUN. 287 



as possible, the arrangement adopted in my Materia 

 Hierogly})liica, after I have noticed the God Re, 

 the physical Sun, wliom I had there ])laced among 

 the eight great Deities of Egypt. 



Re, or Ra, Helios, The Sun. 



The worship of Re, the physical Sun, a})pears 

 to have been universal throughout Egypt. The 

 name of this Deity, though written Re, was pro- 

 nounced Ra ; and, with the definite article Pi 

 prefixed, it was the same as Phrah, or, as we erro- 

 neously call it, Pharaoh, of Scripture, — Pire, in the 

 Theban dialect, being written at Memphis <^p75, 

 Phre. I have already noticed * the origin of the 

 title Phrah, Pharaoh, given in the Bible to the Kings 

 of Egypt, and have shown that the Hebrew word 

 nyiD Phrah is no other than the Memphitic name 

 of the sun, Phre, pronounced Phra, which is still 

 retained in the Coptic Pi-rc. I have also shown 

 that the hawk and globe, emblems of the Sun, 

 are placed over the banners or the figures of the 

 Kings in the sculptures to denote this title, and that 

 Amun and other Deities are often seen presenting 

 the sign of life or power to the Monarch under this 

 emblem. *' In every case," as I have observed, 

 " it will read Phre ; and if Hermapion, in his 

 translation of the Obelisk of Remeses (given by 

 Annnianus Marcellinus), had used the word 'Sun* 



* Materia llieroi:. Paiitlicoii, |). G. lOD., antl IJicro;^. Kxtracb', p. (5. 

 I think it rii;lit to alkulc particularly to my mention of this as early as 

 the year 1H27, as it has lately appeared as a new oi)~ervation. 



