73 
anscita, or the mystical cross of life, which was always held in the 
hands of the Egyptian gods and goddesses, and which the good 
spirit applied to the lips of the mummy to bring it again to life. 
There is no inscription accompanying these figures, but their 
significance and the adaptation of Egyptian sacred emblems to 
Christian purposes is clear enough (fig. 1).* 
Another and a similar lamp, in which the double symbolism 
is more ingeniously united, is figured in by Denon.f It 
is, like the preceding, of terra-cotta; but the principal cross is 
the crux anscita, the looped portion of which surrounds the 
mouth of the lamp, and the central stem is extended upwards, 
so as to resemble a Greek cross also. The lamp was found at 
Denderali, and bears no inscription (fig. 2). 
The ideas which were indicated are positively declared in a bas- 
relief on the walls of an early Egyptian church at the Mem- 
nonium, a subject which is also figured in the great French work 
upon Egypt. J This bas-relief represents Christ sitting upon a 
throne with the horned disk of Horus, and a modification of 
the staff of Osiris; even to the characteristic features of the 
Egyptian deity, the identification is complete; and though there 
are some minor differences of detail in the dress and costume, 
they are simply those differences which would arise from the 
more natural treatment of the human figure and its vestments 
which was characteristic of Greco-Egyptian art (fig. 3). 
When we recollect the province of the deity Kneph, as 
assumed by Horus, we shall be better able to understand why 
the early Egyptian Christians contented themselves with adopt- 
ing the rock temple of Kneph, the good spirit at Abu, suited 
to the purposes of a Christian church, by simply painting a 
figure of our Lord, with a glory round His head, on the ceiling, 
in the place of that of the ancient divinity, and thus con- 
secrating the Pagan edifice. The same idea led them also to 
convert the Temple of Seboua, in Nubia, into the Church of 
St. Peter, by filling up with plaster the bas-relief of the god 
Amen, and painting over it the figure of the apostle of the 
Gentiles, with the legend AnOCT.AOY -+- nCTPOVZ, 
leaving, however, the figure of Rameses II. beside him on the 
wall uneffaced, so that the ancient monarch of the XIXth 
Dynasty appeared to be presenting the accustomed offerings 
to the Christian saint.§ 
The earnestness and simplicity of belief of the Egyptian 
Christians arose from a very natural source, but it soon led them 
•* Figured in Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, London, second 
series, vol. xv. 
t E<j Hide, vol. v. pi. 73. + Denon, Egypt c, vol. ii. pi. 36. 
§ Sharpe, Egyptian Mythology, p. 108. fig. 102. 
