1804.) Decree of the Egyptian Priefts in Honour of Ptolamy V. *413 
their mitra; fimilar to what we find in 
Clemens Alexandrinus, segoyeapmarevs 
eDuy whee ems trys xeDarns. Figures of 
whom may be alfo feen upon Egyptian 
monuments. 
L. 31. aerafns; the Artabe, {poker of 
by Herodotus, is particularly mentioned 
by the ancieats as a Perfian meafure; and 
M. Ameilhon hazards a conjecture that it 
was impofed on the facred lands and de- 
pendencies of the temple, immediately. 
after the conqueft of Egypt by Cambyfes. 
L.3r. cw ve Ages uar to Mveves. Apis 
had-a magnificent temple at Memphis, 
and was confecrated to the moon; Mzewis 
had another at Heliopolis, and was facred 
to the Sun. There was alfo another facred 
Ox (but of inferior confequence) called 
Onuphis, who refided at Hermunthe on 
the Nile. Being in‘erior in celebrity-to 
Apis and Mnevis, he is without-dount 
confounded among the reft of the facred 
animals in the fame line; tose wArross Cwots 
rots ev Aivyyxlw: whofe names could not 
poflibly have been {pecified in a Decree. 
L. 33. The Temple of Apis, mention- 
ed in the former note, appears to have 
been called the Apeieum (Acrsesov), like the 
Atheneum (ro A€nvasov), or the Serapeum, 
2 temple of Serapis, at Alexandria. The 
Apeteum is mentioned by different authors 
of antiquity as a place of very great mag- 
nificence. 
1.36. Ayala Toxns, with good Fortune, 
with which the Decree 1s opened, is a 
formule of expreffion frequently found 
among the Greek infcriptions ; and claf- 
fical readers will recollect its adoption by 
the Romans. 
L. 43. yevous Baoireras dene.’ Strabo 
fays, (|. xviii.) that the Thebais, the firft 
regton:over whicn the kings of Egypt 
reioned, was divided into tem nomes or 
diitriéts ; which may polfibly have fome 
connedtion with the ten crowns here men- 
tioned, ais meorxeiceTas acoric. That the 
diadems of ancient Egypt, were adorned 
with figures of the 4/p, we have various 
authorities ; and it is particularly noticed 
by Elian, in his Trea ife on Animals: 
Teo BactAes anova Tov Asyuntsav emp Twp 
LLOnLaT wy QDogery DemosnrAmevacc aor ns. 
L, 54. The particular mjunétion men: 
tioned in the Jaft line, that the Decree 
fhould be put up in the Temples of the 
firft, fecond, and third, Order, appears to 
to have been perfecily agreeable to the 
ancient ufage. In the treaty made by the 
people of Smyrna with Seleucus the Firtt, 
piven among the Oxford Marbles, we find 
an injunttion very nearly fimilar: +o oO: 
dndiruan vo de aveyeurlas ese res snnws 
Monruory*Mac. No, 115. 
avarclnoomevocs ev Toss segoss- = (Marm., 
Oxon. xxi.'part IT. p.57.) And this De- 
cree fhall be engraven on stem (fmall 
pyramids or obelifks) erefed in the Tem-, 
ples. Laftly, De Sacy, fays M. Ameilhon, 
is of opinion, that theeyywera yeawmuater, 
mentioned at the clofe of the Decree, does 
not allude to the vernacular language of 
the whole of Egypt, but only to the dia- 
lect of the particular nome in which the 
copy of the Decree was to be ereéted; and 
luppofes, that fhould another copy be dif- 
covered, we might exvect to find the ver- 
nacular portion in a different idiom to the 
one in queftion. ''" 
Such are the remarks we have ventured 
to offer on this curious relic. The Hiero- 
glyphic fyftem being the fruit of a fuccef- 
five, and more than ordinary, applicarion, 
on the part of the Egyptian prietts, to the 
particularities of their home-bred animals, 
and to the fecret myfteries of other torms, 
there are few reafons to fuppofe that we 
can ever attain a thorough knowledge of 
this part of the Decree: alohabetical ana- 
lyfis can doubilefs give no aid to the dif- 
covery. But of the Vernacular portion, 
our hove of dlucidation is increafing; and 
Mr. Akerblad has fhewa in-one initance, 
already quo'ed, how much afliftance may 
be expected from it in filling the chafms 
of the Greek. The Vernacular and Greek 
parts of the infeription reciprocally throw 
light upon ‘each other ; but little affiftance 
mult be expexed trom either of them in 
illuRration of the Hieroglyphic, fince acute- 
nefs of judgment was -confefledly exerted 
to its utmoft ftretch in keeping that Jan. 
guage perfectly remote from common ap- 
prehenfion. : In this Decree the worfhip of © 
the Egypto-Macedonians appears to have 
been blended with that of the Egyptians; 
a mealure probably diG@ated beth by po- 
licy and neeceffity. The inauguration of 
ProLomy Philemetor, when the inferip- 
tion was fet’ up, was in the 168th year 
previous to the Carittian cra, 
In an early Number of the Monthly Ma- 
_kaxine, tt is intended to infert az engraving 
of the great Sarcophagus, commonly cailed 
the Tomb of Alexander the Great, which 
bas lately been-~depofited ia the Britifb 
Mufeum. The plate witl be accompanigd 
awith other particulars, befides thofe which 
bawe already been publifbed im this wore, 
Thefe iwo fubjects, the Triple Infcription, © 
and the Sarcophagus, are ibe met ti- 
rious fpecimens of antiquity lately breught 
From Egypt, and the only ones which ap- 
pear to deferve the particular notice of the 
ublic. : 
p *,H To 
