3'S8 ALEXANDRIA. 
^vn^* I^ proved to be an immense monolithal ;iarco^ 
-^ phagus, or, according to the name borrowed by 
the Greeks from the antient language of Egypt, 
a SOROS ' ; converted, in ages long posterior to 
its formation, into a cistern, according to a cus- 
tom which has been universal in the East, 
wherever such receptacles for the dead have 
been discovered. The nature of the stone, and 
the testimonies concerning its history, have 
been already before the public ^ : some repeti- 
tion has therefore now occurred ; but to repeat 
the whole of a detail which was then unavoid- 
ably elaborate, would be considered not only as 
tedious, but altogether as a work of superero- 
gation. The Soros is now placed where it is 
open to the observation of any one who may 
deem it an object of curiosity. All that the 
author wishes to insist upon, as conveying in- 
disputable evidence concerning it, is the corre- 
sponding testimony afforded by the remarkable 
been for several months in the hold, and was intended to be sent to 
Prance the first opportunity. Tiiis monument was resigned to us 
not without much regret, as it had long been considered one of the 
most valuable curiosities in Alexandria." Hamilton's /Egyptiaca, 
p. 403. Lond.l&09. 
(1) See Jablonski, Bochart, Kircher, &c. 
(2) See" The Tomb af Alexander," as [mbiished by the author in 
1605. 
