1802. } 
the fegment of a circle, or the figure of 
the ark itfelf. It was pofleffed alio of a 
multitude of additional appellations, upon 
which I cannot enter in the prefent paper: 
nor can I (for the fubject would become too 
Jong “for difcuffion) into that part of 
this ingenious fyftem, which reprefents al- 
moft all the mythic deities of the Greeks, 
all their traditionary princes and heroes to 
be nothing more than different types of 
Noah, or Theuth as he was denominated 
by the Chaldeans, or of his defcendants ; 
or elfe mere AvroyOoves or Tayevesc, deified 
hills or elevations, affording generic deno- 
minations alone to the different Ammo- 
nian tribes, who wandered from Egypt 
towards Attica. Icannot, however, quit 
this fubjeét without obferving, that here, 
at leaft, Mr. Bryant and Mr. Allwood 
feem to indulge themfelves in. a moit un- 
warrantable difplay of fancy. Admitting 
that Erectheus was originally a mere term 
for Noah him(felf(Erech- Theus oz Theuth 
of the Ark), it by no means follows, that 
there might not have been a chief of this 
very name, who led forth a colony of 
Hellenifis from Egypt towards Greece, 
‘who gave them his own appellation of 
‘Erechtheidz, and was elected their king. 
Danaus and Cadmus are, in like manner, 
fuppofed to be different terms for Noah or 
Theuth, and confequently identifitd with 
Erectheus: but, allowing that thefe were 
all of them terms originally applied to this 
patriarch, it is more rational to fuppofe 
that there were many heroes and chiefs of 
thefe very names in different ages, whofe 
hiftories tradition has intermixed ; and 
that the wandering tribes who arrived in 
Greece, under the generic denominations 
of Danaide and Cadmiaris, were expref{s- 
ly conduéted by princes or rulers, from 
whofe names fuch denominations were de- 
rived, than to conceive that no perfon but 
Noah him(elf, or the arkite deity, and his 
immediate votaries, are hereby referred 
to. Cecrops, in ‘its original etymology, 
may be interpreted, ‘* the temple or re- 
fidence of the folar ferpent:’” but it does 
not follow, that no hero may ever have 
poffeffed {uch a name as well, and that it 
muft neceflarily, and in every inftance, re- 
fer to fome mountain or eminence dedicat- 
ed to Ophite idolatry. In reality, fuch 
“Mountains themfelves, initead of being 
nothing more than hills confecrated to the 
‘worfhip of fome fabulous Inyems, or Ti- 
tan, may, in many initances, have been 
the real tombs or barrows of celebrated 
‘and aétual chiefs. We have immente fe- 
pulchres of this defcription exifting at the 
prefent day, in almo& every country ol 
Mr. Good on the Origin of the Greek Alphabet. 
487 
Europe ; and that fuch did exift from the 
remoteft antiquity, and of an equal mag- 
nitude, we know from the concurrent tef- 
timony of the moft authentic hiftorians<— 
fuch were the tumuli, or fepulchral hills, 
erected on the plains of Troy, in honour 
of feveral.of the Grecian heroes, who fell. 
in the courfe of this obftinate controverfy: 
tumul!, which Alexander vifited with fen- 
timents of religious awe, and which were 
traced, and even’ meafured, with confide- 
rable accuracy, fo late as the period of 
Dr. Chandler’s Voyage to the Troad. He- 
rodotus, however, gives us a very explicit 
account of a more immenfe barrow, or fu- 
neral mountain, ftill; it was the fepulchre 
of Halyattes, the father of Croefus, who 
was interred in Lydia, and had a monu- 
ment thrown over his remains, more ftu- 
pendous, obferves the Greek hiftorian, 
than any thing of the kind, excepting the 
Jabours of the Egyptians and Babylonians. 
The circumference of this tumulus was 
fix ftadia and two plethra, which is more 
than three-quarters of an Englifh mile. 
If the etymological meaning of names 
be to be folely attended to, in the de- 
velopement of the hiftory of the perfons 
to whom they appertain; there is juft as 
much reafon to deny the exiftence of Cain 
and Abel, as of Cadmus and Cecrops ; 
the former implying, etymologically, a 
mere fountain (Ca’-ain ** the place” or 
“« dwelling of the fpring’’) ; and the lat- 
ter referring to the Almighty himfelf (Ab- 
el, ** God the Father or Creator’). Who 
is there, however, who does not inftanta-~ 
‘neoufly perceive, that both thefe appel- 
lations are figurative? that the former 
ought to have the interpretation of <¢ the 
Permanent Fountain ;” and the latter of 
“¢ the Divine Progenitor?” The fame 
degree of fancy, which could annihilate 
the Theban or the Trojan war, and reduce 
the hiftories of them to mere poetic fables, 
‘might as readily, a century or two hence, 
if the fact fhould not be protetted by 
written and concurrent annals, reprefent 
the whole of the Jaft expedition to Egypte 
as a fable; and pretend to reafon upon the 
fubject from the names of Menou and 
Abercrombie, who were the antagonift 
-commanders ; the former of which might, 
with much facility, be deduced from the 
Aammonian Mén, whence we obtain our 
appellation’ for the zoom; and the latter 
from the compound Ab-ur ¢’r-om-pi, in 
Jiteral Englifh, ** the emanation of Ham, 
the glorious and creative fun.” The 
whole, in few words, might be refolved 
into a folar eclipfe:—The temporary 
power of the moon over the fun might be 
3R2 admi- 
