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Macedonian followers, who were too well acquainted with his 
weaknesses to be deceived, he made a joke of the honours paid 
to his divinity. Allusions occur in the hymn to the sacred 
fountain, which was supposed to restore the bathers in it to 
health, if not to youth, — a fallacy fondly repeated in the Middle 
Ages, and the belief in which led to the discovery of the 
Bahama Isles by Juan Ponce de Leon.* This fountain was 
probably a mineral spring in the oasis; but it seems to have 
dried up, and the temple of Amen also itself to have fallen 
into comparative neglect before the time of Darius and 
Alexander, who invokes the protection of the god against his 
enemies. The inscription occurs on the south-western wall of 
the second chamber of the temple, and is preceded by a represen- 
tation of the spirits of the four elements arranged as male and 
female couples, f snake-headed and frog-headed alternately, hold- 
ing up their hands in adoration to Amen Ra. After this the 
hymn commences as follows : — 
1 Said by the adorers in praying to their father Amen Ea, Lord of Hab, J 
great god, powerful with the scimitar, § 
5 in his type of Ea || to self-produced, ^[ his bones of silver, 
his skin of gold, his head of real lapis, his joints of turquoise, a 
perfect god, making his body, giving birth to 
6 it. He has not come out of a womb, he has come out ** of cycles ; he has 
given light to the world ,ff [and] the circle of the gods is adoring before 
him ; they proclaim him to the height of heaven, [they] adore the 
one giving birth to his birth. He has passed 
* See The Companions of Columbus, by Washington Irving, 
t They are as follow : — 
Nu ... water, male. 
Nut ... water, female. 
Hehu ... fire, male. 
■ Hehu t ... live, female. 1 
. Kakiu ... earth, male. 
Kakiu t ... earth, female. 
Karh ... air, male. 
Karh t ... air, female. 
J The Oasis. 
§ The Kbopesh, or curved sword, which was given by Amen Ea to 
Eameses II. as a symbol of his victory over the Hittites. 
|| The Sun. 
*j[ Grebaut, ITymne a Ammon, p. xiii., “ self-transformed.” 
** Or, “ Thou art from everlasting.” 
ft This is not contradictory to the phrase in the preceding hymns, 
as it simply means no physical generation produced the god. 
