434 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



apparent resemblance between this Deity and a re- 

 presentation of Pthah the creative power.* These 

 groups are, I believe, of late date — of Ptolemaic 

 or Roman time ; and it is generally observable, 

 that similarly complicated subjects are of a period 

 when the religion of Egypt was overgrown with 

 fanciful speculation, which the simplicity of earlier 

 sculptures had not adopted. 



May this Deity have been Besa, whose oracle 

 is placed by ancient writers in the vicinity of Aby- 

 dus or of Antinoe ? His name in some of the hie- 

 roglyphic legends resembles that of the unknown 

 Besa ; and if his character appears little likely to 

 justify the notion of his possessing an oracle, it 

 will cease to present an objection, when we re- 

 collect that, in Greece, even the monster Geryon, 

 slain by Hercules, was deemed worthy of a similar 

 honour. Professor Reuvenst gives an invocation 

 to Typhon Seth, *'who destroys and renders de- 

 sert, and is surnamed ' he who agitates, and is 

 invincible ;*** which seems to suit the character 

 of this destroying Deity, and to account for his 

 presumed connection with Typho. The fact of 

 his being thus invoked corresponds with his am- 

 biguous title and appearance ; and the learned 

 Professor's X opinion, that he was derived from 

 Pthah, (or from Cneph,) is sufficiently plausi- 

 ble. But I should exclude the name of Cneph, 

 and for Pthah should substitute that of the pigmy 

 Pthah-Sokari- Osiris, to which I have already al- 



* Vide Plate 2+. a. fig. 2., and PI 43. figs. 1. 2. 



-j- Reuvens, lettre i. p. 39. J Lettre iii. p. 78, 79. 



