CHAP. XIII. WORSHIP OF THE COW. 393 



patroness of ornaments and dress, symbolically 

 designated by a necklace. A peculiar neck orna- 

 ment is sometimes surmounted by a head of Athor ; 

 being a form of tluit placed on tlie neck of sacred 

 Cows and Bulls, and worn by some Deities. 



The worship of the Cow in Egypt has led many 

 persons to suppose an intimate connection between 

 the reHgions of India and of that country ; and the 

 fact of some Sepoys in our Indian army, who crossed 

 from the Red Sea to the Nile, having, on a visit to 

 the temple of Dendera, prostrated themselves before 

 the Cow of Athor*, has been considered a decisive 

 proof of their resemblance. The mere circumstance, 

 however, of a Cow being sculptured t on the walls 

 of an Egyptian temple, and respect being paid to 

 it by those strangers, proves nothing beyond the 

 accidental worship in two countries of the same 

 animal. Had it been an arbitrary emblem of some 

 peculiar form, which only existed in the imagin- 

 ation, the case might have been different ; but the 

 Cow being chosen by two agricultural people, as 

 the sword or any other arm by two military 

 nations, as a fit emblem of the Deity, does not 

 imply the necessity of any intercourse between 

 them. Nor was it as a mere emblem that the cow 

 and ox were selected by the Egyptians, in con- 

 sequence of their utility in the tillage of the land ; 



* Vide Plate 35. a. Part 2. fig. 1. 



f Had the Sepoys visited the Cathedral of Durham, they might have 

 looked with e(]ual rcs[)ect ii|)on a sculptured group on the exterior of 

 that building, and luive conckuled that \vc worshijipetl a God of their 

 country. A Hindoo auti{|uary might even have written a learned paper 

 to announce to his compatriots so remarkable a discovery. 



