HELIOPOLIS. 153 
'• explained the symbol; and declared that it t^ii-^i'- 
signified * life to come.' " RuJJinus mentions 
the same fact\ Kirchers ingenuity had guided 
him to an explanation of the Cmx ansata, as a 
monogram, which does not militate against the 
signification thus obtained. He says, it con- 
sisted of the letters <I>T, denoting Ptha, a name 
oi Mercury^ ; and the name of this deity, as a 
conductor of the souls of the dead, might well be 
used with reference to a state of existence after 
death. But as every Egyptian monogram had its 
archetype in some animal, or instrument of 
common use, and the original of the Crux ansata 
seems to have been a key^ we may perhaps, by 
attending to this curious circumstance, arrive at 
the origin of those allegorical allusions to a key, 
which, with reference to a future state of existence, 
are introduced into the Holy Scriptures. Such 
an illusion is made in the prophecies of Isaiah, 
concerning the kingdom of Christ'^. Our Saviour 
docuerunt." Sncrat. Schulast. Hisior. Ecctesiast. lib. v. c. 17. p- 27fj. 
Paris, 1668. — The reader will do well to consult the whole chapter, 
which c<)iitaiii>, ler}' curious inl'orination. 
(4) Ihiffin. Hirt. Eccl. lib. ii. c. 20. See also Ifeliod. .Ethiop. 
lib. iii. p. 148. 
(5) Kircher. Prod. Copt. p. 169. See also a former Note upon tiie 
Crux ansatiji. 
(G) " The hey of the house of Dai'id wH) I lay upon his shoulder." 
/saiah xxii. 2'2. 
