294 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



Pan (whom he calls Mendes), and still less in his 

 assertion of the crux ansata^ or sign of life, having 

 been dedicated to that Deity. 



The motions of the Planets were calculated with 

 great care by the Egyptians * ; but if every hiero- 

 grammat was required to understand all that re- 

 lated to them, the Sun, and Moon, as well as the 

 geography of the world, this was not with a view 

 to the worship of the heavenly bodies. Astronomy 

 was studied in Egypt, as in other countries, without 

 requiring the deification of those visible works of 

 the Creator, or the substitution of created things 

 for the Deity by whom they were created. And if 

 their knowledge was concealed under the guise of 

 a fable, in which, as Proclus says t, it was their 

 custom to clothe the secrets of nature, this was 

 only to conceal them from such as were not ad- 

 mitted to a participation of their learning, and not 

 with any view connected with religion. t 



It has been generally supposed that Obelisks 

 were dedicated exclusively to the Sun, and that 

 they were called by the Egyptians (according to 

 Jablonski) Pitebpere, " the finger of the Sun." 

 Tiiis, however, is a misconception not difficult to 

 explain. The first Obelisks removed from Egypt 

 to Rome were said to have come from Heliopolis, 

 " the City of the Sun," which stood in Lower 



* Seneca, Nat. Quaest. vii. 3., says, Eudoxus primus ab iEgypto hos 

 motus in Graeciam transtulit." " -Egyptios . . . quibus major cceli cura 

 fuit." 



\ Proclus in Plat. Tim. lib. i. 



'\. lamblichiis says Pythagoras imitated the Egyptians in his mode 

 of teaching by symbols, having learnt this during his stay in their country. 

 Vit. Pythag. 5. Vide Pausan.Vit, Pythag., and Plut. de Is. s. 10. 



