382 



EGYPT. 



of Alexandria; an intermixture of Greek and Egyptian rites and 

 ceremonies, religious usages, and language, became very common 

 under the Ptolemies in Egypt ; and about the time of Alexander 

 and his first successors, the Athenians, and probably other Greek 

 states, began to shew a religious regard to Isis in employing her 

 name in adjurations.* 



As soon as the custom of burning bodies ceased in the different 

 parts of the Roman empire f, the Pagans buried their dead in 

 catacombs ; but in Egypt the practice of placing them in such 

 repositories must have been at all times more frequent than that of 

 burning, on account of the scarcity of wood in that country. 

 Mr. Davison remarks that the paintings in the catacombs appeared 

 to him to be of ordinary execution ; they probably belong to the 

 period when the arts were declining, and might have been the 

 works of the pagan inhabitants of the city in the sixth century; for 

 at that time paganism was not altogether abolished, as we learn from 

 a curious passage in Cyril. $ It is probable that these catacombs have 

 also been in Alexandria, the place of resort for Christians, where, as 

 in the crypts of Italy, they celebrated their Agapse§; but none of 

 the Christian symbols, the palm branch, the monogram of XP., or 

 other devices similar to those found in the cemeteries of Italy, appear 

 in the tombs of Alexandria. 



Some sketches of the paintings found on the walls of the catacombs, 

 are among Mr. Davison's papers ; and we may observe in them the 

 ornament of the festoon very clearly traced. This is the nuyxd^inoQ 

 arTefiuvcc, (Cuper, M. A. 238.) which we find on sarcophagi and other 

 sepulchral monuments; Dr. Hunt observed it on the huge granite 

 Latomia at Assos. As these paintings were only seen by the light 



* Diod. S. vol. i. p. 34. — Wessel. note. 



f After the time of Theodosius. — Montfauc. An. Ex. vol. v. part i. p. 20. 

 \ In Esaiae, cap. 18. Opp. torn. xi. See the description of the Adonian Festival. Meur- 

 sius in speaking of the Adonia has omitted to refer to this passage. — Valck. Theoc .193. 

 § Aringhi. Roma Subterr. lib. vi. c. 27- 



