BROM .ROSETTA IN EGYPT TO LATIN EGA IN CYPRUS. 1§3 
also employed as the most ancient types of the Cyprian Venus.* 
A very considerable degree of illustrat ion, concerning the history 
of the idols discovered at Larneca, is'afforded' by the appear¬ 
ance of one of them, although little more of it remains 
than a mere torso. It belonged to an androgynous figure* 
represented as holding, in its right hand, a lion’s cub, pendent 
by the tail, upon the abdomen of the statue. We might in vain 
seek an explanation of this singular image, were it not for the 
immense erudition of Athanasius lurcher, whose persevering 
-industry enabled him to collect, and to compare, the innumer¬ 
able forms of Egyptian deities; while his learning qualifier] 
him for the task of exploring every source, whence indisputa¬ 
ble testimony might be derived, touching their hidden meaning. 
According to the efferent authorities he lias cited,f the rnompk - 
ia or type o {humid nature.^ (that is to say, the passive prin¬ 
ciple,) was borne by Isis in her left hand, and generally repre¬ 
sented by a lion. In her right she carried the dog Atmbis.5 
Either of these symbols separately denoted the magnet mater ; 
and may thus be explained. The leonine figure, as employed 
to signify water, was derived from the astronomical sign of the 
period for the Nile’s inund'atioti.jj Hence-we sometimes see 
ill emomphta expressed by a sitting image with the lion’s head.^ # 
Plutarch gives to Isis the epithet momphtazan.j f Her double 
sex is alluded to by Orpheus, who describes her as at once fa¬ 
ther and mother of all things. By the figure of Anubis, Isis 
was again typified as the Hecate of the Greeks. It is a sym¬ 
bol frequently placed upon their sepulchral monuments ;|§ and 
was otherwise represented by the image of Cerberus, with three 
heads, or with fifty, as allusion is intended cither to the diva 
triformis , or to the pantamorphic nature of the goddess. Among 
* CUJUS NUMEN UNI CUM, MULTIFORMI SPECIE, F1TC VARIO, NOMINE MULTI JUG 0, 
tO TVS VENERATUR ORBIS. : 
| Vid. Kircher. (Edip'. iEgypt. tom. iii. up. 98,184, 221, 323, 504. Row- 1654. 
| 11 Per Leonem, Momphta , humid® naturae presses;” Kirch.' De Diis'.Averfunds, 
Synt. 17. 
§ See the engravings in Kircher. (Edip. iEgypt. tom. iii. p. 502. Also tom. ii, 
pars 2. p. 259. 
|j “ Pingitur leonino vultu, quod Sole in Leonem incrediente incrementa Nilotica 
sen inundationes contingant.” Kircher, (Edip. iEgypt. tom. iii. p. 323. 
#£ A beautiful colossal statue of this description is now in the British museum. It 
was among the antiquities surrendered by the French, at the capitulation of Alex¬ 
andria. 
|| Plut. de Isid. et Osir. Kirch. Ob el. Sallust Syntag. 4. cap. 4. 
|| Also as Luna, according to Plutarch (De Is. et Osir. c.43..), Isis bears the same de¬ 
scription with regard to her double sex. “ They cal! the moon,” snys he, “ Mother of 
ihc World , and think it has a double sex. Ala. a a l MnrEpa frj,.v SsA^vriv rou Kocrpia 
3<a\oiicri, Hal <pucriv ayenvo^hw oiovrai. 
^ See the author’s “Greek Marbles,” p. 10. No. XII. 
s 
