9602.7 
prefs this idea than a pyramid, or afcend- 
ig flame of fire. The letter B is deno- 
minated beta, (beth-ai), which is literally 
‘¢the place of the temple 3”? or rather 
perhaps, ‘* the temple of temples ;” 
the Ammonian ai importing both a 
place and a temple. I have before ob- 
ferved, that in the Greek it is a: com- 
pound character, equally dedicated to 
ophite and arkite worfhip: in the Perfian, 
it retains nearly the fame name (b’ai), and 
3s am arkite or crefcent character alone, 
thusws. The letter r, denominated gam- 
ma or chamma (Cham-ai), is literally 
“*the place or temple of Ham.”’ 4, pro- 
nounceddelta, which is a contraction from 
Ad-el-ait-ai or ’D el-’t-ai, imports ‘* the 
great.temple of the fupreme God:” fuch 
contra¢tions are common toevery language, 
and were peculiarly fo 'among the Egyp- 
tians and Greeks: thus, the Jacred heifer 
or apis, which was denominated Méneuis, 
was curtailed inte Mneuis, and Ad-el-ais 
(‘* the. glory, cr radiance.of the fupreme 
God’’} into Adlas or Atlas. &, enunci- 
ated Epfilon, or rather Ipfilon (Ips-el-on) 
is *¢ the glorious .arkite god:’” dzp, zp, or 
ips, meaning; as I have‘ before obferved, | 
the: ark of the deluge. In. its) prefent 
form, it-is‘an ophite charaéter,. and>conies 
quently does not altogether correfpond to 
its mame: in almoft ail the old infcriptions 
it is written, however, thus € , and the 
modern Copts continue it in this:manner to 
the prefenthour. Expreffedinthis manner, 
it becomes: an arkite hieroglyphic, and is 
truly correét. Neverthelefs, in confequence 
of the intermixture of thefe three diffe- 
vent claffifications of idolatry; and their 
mutual convertibility, there is no necefity 
that the name, of every. charafter fhould 
precifely correfpond with its figure: there 
would» then, indeed, be more of fyftem 
than: we have a right»to ‘expect. 2, the 
next letter in the order of the Greek al- 
phabet, pronounced: Zeta or Saita (Sait- 
ai), is literally «¢ the place of olives.’” The 
olive-tree appears tohave beenfacred among 
the Ammonizns from a very.early pericd 
after the return of the Idn or dove to the 
ark, with a branch of this tree in its 
beak: it was therefore peculiarly confe- 
crated to Aphrodite, Venus, or Minerva, 
which are only fo many names, as Hero- 
dotus himfelf admits, for the fame deity, 
who was theamén or ark under a female 
perfonification, The whole of the upper 
part of ‘Egypt was denominated Zait, or 
Sait, a name ftill applied to the fouthern 
fide of the Nile by the Arabians, who 
eall this country Xamay (Saied) and the 
people Saita, “ the region of elives.”’ 
cad 
Mr. Good on the Origin of the Greck Alphabet. 
401 
The olive was immediately dedicated to 
Minerva, or the Goddefs of the Ark, 
Mén-ur-ph-ai, ‘ the place of the oracle of 
the glorious ark :”’. the was worfhipped, 
according to Paufanias, under the title of 
Saités, at Pontinus ; and the Athenians, 
whe eleSted her for their patrohimic god- 
defs, are well known to have been called, 
like the Egyptians, Saite. The z is ob- 
vioufly, therefore, an emblem of Minerva, 
the Goddefs of the Ark or Olive. The 
letter which follows, #, is of general im- 
port, and, excepting by its hieroglyphic 
figure, not appropriated exclufively to 
ophite worfhip : it is pronounced Eta or 
Aita (Ait-ai) ‘* the fupreme temple”’ er 
‘© temple of the fupreme god.” ©, The- 
ta, originally, perhaps, Theuta, is( Theut-, 
ai), ‘* the temple of Theut,” ‘Theuth, 
or Noah, fo denominated by the Chal- 
deans. 1, Tota, is a mere contraction 
for To-ait-ai, thus To’t-ai, and expreffes 
<‘the fupreme temple of Td, or the dove 
who returned to the ark with the olive 
branch. From Io. or Ion (tay), -the 
Greeks derived the term Owag (Oinas), 
and the Romans Venus, to whom the dove 
was peculiarly dedicated. Hence too the 
Tonians, yotaries of the dove or the arkite 
idolatry, aname which ts ufually employ- 
ed by the Arabian writers to expre{s the 
Greeks at iarge {s s5q3 (Tounans). le 
was feigned to be the daughter of Inachuss 
which Mr, Bryant very ingenioufly con- 
jectures to have been only another term 
for Noachus or Noah: in the tradition, 
theretore, that Id was given to the world 
by Inachus, we have a pure allegorical re- 
prefentation of the dove’s having been 
entrufted abread by Noah. Fhe 1 is ebvi- 
oufly, then, a character dedicated to arkize 
worfhip. _ By figure, it is an ophite hiero-. 
glyphic ; but the ark is frequently repre- 
fented under the. fymbol of the great 
mundane ege, floating on the furface of 
the mighty deep, and coiled around by the 
ferpent for its protection. An image of 
this kind will be found in Vaillant’s Coins 
of the Colonies, p. 136—14.7. The hie- 
roglyphic of the obelifk to réprefent the, 
Tora requires, therefore no comment. kK, 
Kappa or Kabba (K2 ab-ai), contraéted 
into K’.ab-ai, is ‘* the temple or refidence 
of the Sovereign Creator :”’ itis a term of 
general import; and, hy its hierogly- 
phic, is equally appropriated to the fun 
and the ferpent. A, Lambda, (El-am-pis 
ad-ai, contracted into "L-am-p*-’d ai), is 
literally ** the place of the fupreme, oracle. 
of the god Ham.” mM, Mu, originally 
Am-eus, and abreviated into "M-eu,” is 
‘* Ham the Benevolent,”’ or ** the benefi- 
ceat 
