130 
THE HARMONY BETWEEN THE 
[Nature and Art, May 1, 1867. 
ceived to be by all the ancient world ; and so, in 
Psalm xxiv., it is said to be “ founded on the 
seas and established on the floods ; ” and (in 
Psalm cxxxvi. 6) “To him that stretched out 
the earth above the waters.” Other quotations, 
both from the Bible and Apocrypha, might be 
made, all tending to convey, respecting the earth, 
the idea set forth in this ancient document. 
In further confirmation of this notion of the 
earth, namely, as being surrounded by water, I 
will refer to a map of the world as known to the 
Israelites before the time of Solomon (Fig. 2). It 
is enlarged from a woodcut in a little book called 
“ Texts from the Holy Bible Explained.” * * * § * 
The Garden of Eden is represented at the sources 
of the Tigris and Euphrates. Josephus (Ant. i. 13) 
considers the Gihon as the Nile, and the Pison as 
the Ganges; and Yirgil (Geor. iv. 288) makes the 
Nile rise in India, as if it were the same as the 
Ganges. Thus, says the author, the ancients 
thought that the Gihon flowed round the western 
half of the world into one branch of the Nile, and 
the Pison flowed round the eastern half, through 
the Ganges, into the other branch of the Nile. It 
was not before the reign of Darius that it was 
discovered that the Persian Gulf was joined by 
water to the Bed Sea, or that there was any ocean 
to separate the Ganges from the Nile. That the 
earth was believed to be circular we learn from 
Isaiah, f That this circle was thought to be 
bounded by water we learn from Job.;}; Homer 
called this boundary-water the river Oceanus 
(Odyssey, xi. 638). In the map, Jerusalem would 
be supposed — though this is not indicated — to 
stand very nearly in the middle of this circular 
earth, and Ezekiel (xxxviii. 12) describes his nation 
as dwelling in the very middle spot of the earth. § 
I recollect being shown by a Greek priest a stone 
in the Greek Church of the Holy Sepulchre, as 
marking the very centre point of the earth. 
To be quite sure, however, that the ancient 
designer of the diagram (Fig. 1) meant the curved 
figure to represent the earth, we will turn the 
picture and view it from the opposite side. 
As it is now placed, a little figure of a woman (d) 
will be perceived standing on the head of the 
convolved figure; that is to say, in this pictorial 
language, standing on the top or highest point of 
the earth, and holding up the sun (e), and as we now 
view the picture, holding up the sun above the 
earth, in that plain part, which thus acquires an 
additional claim to be considered the firmament, and 
* “ Texts from the Holy Bible Explained by the Help of 
the Ancient Monuments.” By Samuel Sharpe. Day & Son, 
Limited. 1866. 
f Isaiah xl. 22 : “ It is he that sitteth upon the circle of 
the earth.” 
J Job xxvi. 10: “He hath compassed the waters with 
bounds, until the day and night come to an end.” Other- 
wise, literally rendered, “ He drew the circle on the face of 
the waters, as a boundary between light and darkness.” 
§ At Delhi there is a high iron pillar of great antiquity, 
which is believed to be the centre of the earth ; and this iron 
column is considered the spindle upon which it turns. Delhi 
si Dilhi, from dil, the heart or centre. 
at the same time certifies the intention of the artist 
respecting the meaning of the convolved figure. 
That the ancient contriver of this picture of the 
universe intended it should be contemplated from 
the present point of view is rendered perfectly 
certain, because the hieroglyphics accompanying the 
two figures can only be read in this position. 
Moreover, that we should not be mistaken as to 
the quality of the person who holds up the sun 
above the earth, the ancient scribe has written 
her name Neith or Netpe in front of her. The 
name is composed of the first three hieroglyphics, — 
the vase, which is an N ; the half-circle, which is a 
T ; and the horizontal bar with a pointed deflection 
at each end, which is a P. This last sign is an 
emblem of the heavens, and may be taken as a 
determinative; that is to say, as determining the 
quality of the thing named, as Neith, the heavens. 
We find both the first and last characters of 
this goddess’s name amplified in the hieroglyphics 
over the head of the large figure engraved on the 
floor of the sarcophagus. (See Plate 16 of “The 
Alabaster Sarcophagus of Oimenepthah I.,” now in 
Sir John Soane’s Museum, Lincoln’ s-Inn Fields. 
Longman, Green, & Longman : London, 1864.) There 
she is in the act of spreading her arms to receive 
the body of the king, which was deposited in the 
coffin. More usually, however, this goddess is in 
the attitude of stretching over the earth, as in the 
cover of the Hartwell sarcophagus ;* in the zodiac 
on the ceiling of the temple of Edfu and other 
temples; and in that stone sarcophagus in the 
British Museum, where she is represented likewise 
as mother of the planets. Here, however, she is in 
the character of su stainer of the sun in the firma- 
ment. 
Within the contour of the figure representing 
the earth the first two hieroglyphics — viz., the seat 
and the eye — are those which stand for Osiris. The 
rest of the sentence intimates that from this place 
the spirits — that is to say, the souls — of the human 
race depart and return; in allusion, probably, to 
the doctrine of the Metempsychosis, which is illus- 
trated in another part of this interesting monument. 
And now, to contemplate the rest of the diagram, 
we must restore it to its former position. The 
presence of the deities here figured in the boat I 
take to be good circumstantial evidence that the 
plain part in the midst of the waters was meant 
for the firmament, and that is, because the artist 
has represented the gods as dwelling and moving 
therein. These figiu’es and the scarabseus in this 
part of the diagram refer particularly to an Egyptian 
dogma respecting the soul, and bear no further 
reference than that just stated to the subject under 
consideration. 
Now, as the picture stands, from the base rises 
the upper part of the figure of a man (f), gigantic as 
compared with the other figures. He is extending 
his wide-spread arms to sustain the sacred papyrus 
boat of the gods in the firmament. The Greeks 
* “The Triple Mummy-Case of Aroeri Ao.” London: 
Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans. 1858. 
