370 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



when he says *, "Aiuibis seems to be of the same 

 power and nature as the Grecian Hecate, a Deity 

 common both to the celestial and infernal regions.** 

 She is sometimes figured under the form of a 

 Scorpion, the emblem of the Goddess Selk, with 

 the legend " Isis Selk ; " but this is only in some 

 inferior capacity connected with the mystic rites, 

 or the region of Amenti. t 



The greater number of the characters given to 

 Isis by Greek writers, appear to be mere fancies of 

 a late time, unsupported by the authority of the 

 monuments ; and some are in direct opposition to 

 the known sentiments of tlie Egyptians t ; as an 

 instance of whicli, I may mention her supposed 

 identity with the jNIoon, which was represented by 

 the God Thoth, and in no instance considered a 

 female Deity. 



I do not stop to examine, or even to enume- 

 rate, the idle tales which the Greeks repeated con- 

 cerning Isis. I have already observed, that both 

 Osiris and his sister Isis were not deified persons 

 who had Uved on earth, but fabulous beings, whose 

 history was founded on metaphysical speculation ; 

 and adapted to certain phaenomena of nature, as in 



* Plut. de Is. s. 44. 



t Vide Plate 43. a. 



j Modern writers have till lately been in the habit of citing the 

 Isiac or Bembine table as authority respecting this Goddess, and 

 various Egyptian rites ; but I need scarcely state the well-known 

 fact of its being the most palpable forgery w hich ever obtained a place 

 in any museum. The discovery of hieroglyphics has enabled us to 

 ascertain, what was shrewdly suspected long ago by Warburton and 

 others. The authority of the Isiac table has ceased to be mentioned ; 

 and it only appears in the museum of Turin, to show how much labour 

 and expense could be incurred for the unworthy object of deceiving 

 the world. 



