.358 
EGYPT. 
zodiac is an irrefragable proof of their deep knowledge 
in agronomy. It is enveloped by two large human fi- 
gures, which are fuppofed to reprefent the year. A 
winged emblem placed before thei* mouth, may reprefent 
eternity, or elfe the pafl'age of the fun to the folftices ; 
the diIk. at the joining of the thighs of the figure, is the 
fun, whence proceeds a beam of light that falls on the 
head of a crowned Ids, which reprelents either the earth, 
or the moon ; the fun, fituated in the fign cancer, which 
is depidted and crowned at the joining of the thighs of 
the oppofite figure, may perhaps fhew the period of the 
erection of the temple ; the figures joined to, or between 
the refpedtive figns, may mean the fixed ftars ; and thofe 
handing in the boats below the revolving heavenly bo¬ 
dies, the planets, and comets. The figures are all fculp- 
tured and painted in a large fize, completely filling the 
broad plat-bands of the portico ; and the characters are 
reprefented of their natural colour, on a blue ground, 
fiudded with yellow ftars. One fmall part is entirely de¬ 
faced. 
The apartment which contains the planifphere, if we 
may judge by the fubjedts which are there fculptured, 
mull have been devoted to aftronomy, and was probably 
attached to an obfervatory, where the fcience was taught. 
The entrance to this building was through a fmall orna¬ 
mented door; the firft room has no roof, and appears to 
be a fmall clofed court, but decorated with the fame care 
as the other apartments ; agaifift the fide wall on the 
right is reprefented a mummy reclined, under which is a 
long infcription : from this open court a door leads into 
the afironontical room, which receives light through two 
large cafements ; and on the ceiling of this apartment is 
fculptured the planifphere of the heavenly bodies, toge¬ 
ther with another fubjedt, apparently afironontical, which 
is feparated fronvthe firft by the tall figure of Ifis,above- 
mentioned. The innermoft room is almoft entirely dark, 
receiving neither air nor light from any quarter, except 
the fmall door ; its ceiling is decorated with two appro¬ 
priate bas-reliefs, one of which reprefents an altar, upon 
which feems to reft the ark of the covenant,.over which 
are two doves, with their wings united. Thefe inge¬ 
nious decorations plainly indicate that the Egyptians had 
a planetary fyftem, and that their knowledge of the hea¬ 
vens was reduced to fixed principles. The exadt fimila- 
rity between the figns here depidted, and thofe of our 
zodiac, (hew how the Greeks have firft borrowed them 
from Egypt, and the Romans from Greece, whence they 
have reached our own times :• and the more the importance 
of thefe curious figures is confidered, the more will it in¬ 
fluence the learned in Europe to inveftigate and explain 
them. 
At Tentyra is to be feen an infcription in large and 
beautiful Greek characters, placed on the liftels to the 
right and left of the top of one of t he outer gates, to the 
fouth of the great temple. The following is the infcrip¬ 
tion, with a tranflation: 
T7T6£ uvroy.paropoq Ka.H7u.poi; ©eu vm Aio$ EhevSepm crunn^uq 
pr etti IIowAia Oztosis Yiyiy.ovoq xui Mupxa KAw&ta nos-npm 
iTnq-pur'/iye T pv(pitivoq crpaT/iyavroq oi aito r r,q peeTpo'jroXeuq 
npuauii eh vopj.§ to 'TO'poTruAo; I C7i$i ©eui (ie/irdt nut Toiq 
cvvjxoiq Qioiq eraq A .a Kaiaapcq ©avS at&aq-rji. 
“ On account of the emperor Caefar, God, the fon of 
Jupiter the Deliverer, when Publius Odtavius being go¬ 
vernor, Marcus Claudius Poftumus commander in chief, 
and Tryphon genera^, the deputies of the metropolis con- 
fe era ted, in virtue of the law, the propylaeum to Ifis, the 
greateft of the goddeftes, and to the alfociated gods of 
the temple, in the thirty-firft year of Caefar.” Thefe 
few Greek characters, in the midft of innumerable 
Egyptian inferiptions and hieroglyphics, form an extra¬ 
ordinary and ftriking contrail. 
Haw, or Diofpolis Purva, is feated a few miles below 
Tentyra, and on the fame fide of the river. It is a fine 
military fituation, but it pofleLfes no antiquities. 
Between Diofpolis Parva, and Girgeh, is the ancient 
Abydus, where Ofymandyas had ereCted a temple, and 
where Memnon had a palace : but the ruins are now prof- 
trate, and the whole an immenfe heap of rubbifh. 
Nagadi, an ancient town on the contrary fide of the 
Nile, is fituated at the entrance of the defert, on one of 
the roads which lead to Coftir. Here is a large ruin, 
which had been converted into an entrenched convent 
inhabited by Copts, and afterward became a mofque; 
but a greater part confifts of an ancient vaulted burial 
place, containing the tombs of the dead; and which 
ferved for fome time as miferable quarters to the French 
army in Upper Egypt; and where the merchants and 
Arabs taken in the defert were brought as prifoners, to 
undergo examination. Nagadi is a place of importance, 
and will eventually become the moft frequented route of 
the defert, fince it is the ftiorteft by a journey of one whole 
day. This road alfo leads by the Kittah, a very fingular 
fountain, fince it is fituated on a higher level than all the 
furrounding ground. This fountain confifts of three 
wells fix feet in depth ; the ftrata of'which are, firft, a 
bed of fand, and beneath, a free-ftone rock, through which 
the water filtrates, and flowly fills the holes that are dug. 
Here is a fmall mofque, or caravanlary, which ferves for 
Ihelter to the way-worn traveller deftined to traverfe the 
dry and dreary defert. And here we may be convinced 
of the great importance of thofe wells fo often mentioned 
in the Old Teftament, as abfolutely neceflary to fatisfy 
the moftpreffingof all wants in this burning climate, third. 
In defeending the Nile, we next approach Girge or 
Girgeh, the nominal capital of Upper Egypt: it is a mo¬ 
dern town that contains nothing remarkable. The name 
of Girgeh, or Djergeh, is derived from a large monaftery 
built previoully to the town, and dedicated to St. George, 
which is pronounced Girgeh in the language of the coun¬ 
try. The Nile razes its walls, and is conftantly waffling 
away a part of them ; and it would require a confiderable 
expence to make here but an indifferent harbour for 
boats. This town is therefore interefting only as being 
fituated half way between Cairo and Syene, and in a very 
rich territory. 
Small and infignificant are now the remains of Aphro- 
ditopolis, and Ptolemais, cities which once populated and 
enriched this diftridl; and of which we are furniffled with 
very unfatisfa&ory -accounts. Herodotus himfelf has 
only deferibed their ruins from the falfe reprefentations 
which were given to him, and which modern travellers 
have only been able to notice fuperficially, furrounded 
by every caufe of anxiety, without daring to lofe fight 
of the river, plundered on every pretence by the reis, by 
their,interpreter, by every fheik, baffla, kiachef, and wan¬ 
dering Bedouine, into vvhofe hands they might happen to 
fall. Thefe travellers, under fuch circumftances, cannot 
be blamed in tranfmitting very imperfedt accounts of 
countries fo curious, but at the fame time fo dangerous 
to vifit. Aphroditopolis is but little better than a moun¬ 
tainous ruin of bricks; and Minchieh, the ancient Pto¬ 
lemais, is quite annihilated. The only remains of this \ 
large Greek city is a quay, in but an indifferent ftate of 
prefervation, though of a better conftrudtion than the 
Egyptian works of this kind : of the ruins is built a large 
village, inhabited chiefly by Chriftians. Ptolemais was 
the port of Arfinoe, which concurred to form the Nomos 
Heracleotes. The Ptolemais deferibed by Strabo, is the 
prefent Ptolometa, built by the Greek prince Ptolemy Plii- 
ladelpints, where are the remains of an Ionic temple, 
fuppofed to be done in the moft ancient manner of exe¬ 
cuting that order, and which was delineated and deferibed 
by Bruce. The Ptolemais which is now called Acca, or 
Acre, in Syria, and which was twice rendered celebrious 
by the glory of the Britifh arms, in the time of the croi- 
fades under Richard I. and in the late Egyptian war, 
under the fuperior generallflip of fir Sidney Smith, was 
not founded by any of the Ptolemies, but was lo named 
