ASrSSINIA. 243 



tlie sciences. Josephus, in his " Antiquities of Judea," 

 calls them Meroetes, or inhabitants of Meroe (Atbara), 

 an island situated between the Astaboras and the 

 Nile. 



The fragments of the colossal statues of the constel- 

 lation of Sirius, which are still to be seen at Axoum, 

 show that this people possessed some astronomical 

 knowledge. Seir, in the language of the Chussites or 

 Troglodytes and in that of the land of Meroe, means 

 " dog," which explains why this province was named 

 Sire and the large river which skirts it the Siris. 



In the plain between the Fazoglou and Sennaar the 

 river is named Nile, that is to say, Hue. The ancients 

 knew it by this name and also by that of Egyptus, but 

 they more generally designated it by that of Siris. 

 Pliny says that it bore this name above its junction 

 with the other branch, that of the White Nile : " Sic 

 quoque etiamnunc Siris, ut ante nominatus per aliquot 

 millia et in Ilomero Egyptus." 



The name of Egyptus, which Homer gives to the 

 stream, was known in Ethiopia long before his time ; 

 and Egypt in Ethiopian is called Y Gypt, while an 

 Egyptian is Gypt. Y Gypt signifies the country of 

 ditches or canals. 



Thebes was built by a colony of Ethiopians who 

 came from Sire, the city of Seir or of the dog-star, and 

 of Meroe. Diodorus of Sicily says that the Greeks, 

 by putting an o before Siris had made the word 

 unintelligible. Siris then was Osiris, but he was 



