the flower of the lotus, the head of the palm-tree, 
and the branches of the fan palm-tree united with 
the bark of the lotus. One of the colossal sculp- 
tures represents a giant, who seizes in his left 
hand thirty men by the hair, while in his right 
he brandishes a battle-axe over his devoted vic- 
tims. From the figure of the hawk sculptured 
on the walls, the great temple appears to have 
been consecrated to Osiris, whose sepulchre was 
in this island. By Osiris in Philce^ was the most 
solemn oath of the ancient Egyptians.* As many 
of the monuments in this island are constructed 
of masses of stone, sculptured with hieroglyphics, 
the French philosophers, by whom they were ex- 
amined, conjecture that they indicate a class of 
monuments anterior to those of the Thebaid or 
of any other district of Egypt.t Norden sup- 
poses Philge to be excavated into subterraneous 
recesses and passages, a conjecture by no means 
improbable, as it was the exclusive habitation of 
the priests, every other Egyptian being prohibi- 
ted from entering it under the penalty of death. 
From this circumstance, it seems to have receiv- 
ed from Seneca the epithet of The Inaccessible ; 
and we are informed by Norden, that its rocky 
* Tzetzes in LycophroH, Alex. 212. 
f Ripaud'g Report on the Antiquities of Upper Egypt;, 
p. 20. 
4^ 
