388 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



Hermonthis, which was said to belong to Pathyris 

 of the Thebai'd. * 



It was into her arms that the setting Sun, as it 

 retired behind the mountain, was thought to be 

 received t; and in this character she answered to 

 Night, who presided over the West, — though, as 

 ah'eady observed, she was distinct from that prim- 

 aeval night or primitive darkness, from which all 

 things proceeded into existence. 



While mentioning this subject, I cannot but pay 

 a just tribute to the diligent inquiry of tlie learned 

 Jablonski, who, though wrong in his etymology of 

 Athor, and in not observing the distinction between 

 the two Nights of their mythology, claims the 

 greatest credit for that research and accurate per- 

 ception, which, without the aid of hierogiyphical 

 discovery, enabled him to ascertain one of the most 

 important characters of the Egyptian Venus. 



We may also see in the name of the Cow, " Ehe," 

 the origin of the Greek lo, who, according to the 

 mythological tales of the ancients, was supposed 

 to have visited Egypt in her wanderings t, and 

 to have been "changed into Isis §, in the city 

 of Coptos, where she was worshipped under that 

 name." The third Egyptian month was called 



* In a papyrus mentioned by Reuvens (lettreiii. p. 30.), " tp Ep/iajv- 

 0ti Tov HaOvpirov ti](; Brj^aiCoc." 



f Fide supra, p. 275. and 296. ; and Plate 29. fig. 4. 

 j Vide Jablonski, iii. 1. p II., and ii. 1. p. vii. 

 § Vide Diodor. i. 24. Conf. Ovid. Met. i. and Propeit. ii. Eleg 

 xxviii. 17. 



" lo versa caput primos niugiverat annos ; 

 Nunc Dea, qu<TB Nili flumina vacca bibit." 

 Of lo, see Herodot. i. 1. J'ide infra, on the Moon. 



