he further conjectures, of Mercury, Thoth, Taaut, or [+] Phtha. It is certainly very extraordinary, and worthy of our notice, that this crux ansata should be so often found in their symbolical writings, either alone, or held in the hands, or suspended over the necks of their deities. Beetles, and such other sacred animals and symbols, as were bored through, and intended for amulets, had this figure frequently impressed upon them. The crux ansata therefore was, in all probability, the name of the Divine Being, as Jamblichus records it, that travelled through the world. We may further suppose it to be the venerable effigies of the supreme Deity, which, Apuleius † informs us, was not made in the likeness of any creature, or to be the phylactery of Isis, which, not unlike the thummim in the breast-plate of the high priest, signified, according to Plutarch ‡, the voice of truth. But the interpretation of this figure, the cross part of it at least, is recorded in Sozomen, and other Christian authors, as expressive of the life to come; being the same with the ineffable image of eternity, that is taken notice of by Suidas. The learned Herwart also in a very elaborate dissertation, has endeavoured to prove it to be the acus nautica, *Jambl. de Myst. sect. 8. c. 5. + Apul. met. 1. xi. p. 262. Plut. de Isid. p. 377-8. Sozomen. Eccles. Hist. 1. vii. c. 15. Ruffin. Eccles. Hist. 1. ii. c. 29. Suid. in Theodos. Socrat. 1. ix. Hist. tripart. Suid. in vocab. Heinos et Aayaw. Herw. Theolog. Ethnic. p. 11. nautica, or the mariner's compass, which he poses was known to the ancients *. sup But, to return to the mathematical figures. The hemispheres of the world were represented by half disks, which, according as the circular part was placed upwards or downwards, denoted the upper or the lower hemisphere. A pyramid, or obelisk, i. e. an equilateral, or an acute angled triangle, with two equal sides, denoted the nature and element of firet; but by a right angled triangle, was understood the nature and constitution of the universe, whereof the perpendicular expressed Osiris, or the male; the basis expressed Isis, or the female; and the hypotheneuse expressed Orus, i. e. the air, or sensible world, the offspring of them both. The Mundus Hylæus, as Kircher calls the material or elementary world ||, was typified by a square, each side (as in the tables of the Jewish tabernacle) representing one quarter of it. But there was not only a mystery couched under these and such like images themselves, but the very posture, dress, and matter of some of them had their meaning. For when Isis, Osiris, &c. are represented sitting, this is a type of the VOL. II. 2 A * Herw. Theolog. Ethnic. p. 60. + Porphyr. apud Euseb. Præp. Evang. p. 60. Plut. de Isid. P. 373-4. deity's Plut. in Alcinoo, c. 11, & 12. apud Kirch. Oed. Ægypt. class. vii. p. 103. Clem. Alex. Strom. 1. vi. p. 474. Jamb. sect. vii. c. 2. deity's being retired within itself, or that his power is firm and immoveable; as the throne itself, when chequered with black and white, was emblematical of the variety of sublunary things. When the deities and genii stand upright, as if ready for action, with their legs placed close together, this is to represent them gliding as it were through the air, without either let or impediment ||; but, when the world is typified by a human figure, with its legs in this posture, this is a token of its stability. No less symbolical was the dress of their deities. For the sun, being a body of pure light, his garment, according to Plutarch §, was to be of the same colour, uniformly bright and luminous; though Macrobius¶ clothes the winged statues of the sun partly with a light, partly with a blue colour, in as much as the latter was emblematical of that luminary in the lower hemisphere. Whereas Isis, being considered as the earth, strewed over with a variety of productions, being also light and darkness, &c. her dress, agreeable to these qualities, was either to consist of a leopard's skin, or else to be otherwise spotted and variegated with divers colours **. The fillets tt, which make * Porphyr. apud Euseb. Præp. Evang. p. 61. Euseb. Præp. Evang. p. 69. Macrob. Sat. 1. i. c. 19. Synt. i. p. 95. part § Plut. de Isid. p. 382. ** Vid. not. §, supra. ++ Heliod. in Æthiop. Pigh. in Muda. de Horis, p. 171. Pier. Hierogl. 1. xxxix. c. 3. part of her dress, or are held in her hands, represent the phases of the moon; as the tresses of her hair, when they are of a dark blue colour, do the haziness of the atmosphere. The rays, flames †, horns, veils ‡, &c. that are placed immediately upon the heads of these figures; the ser pents, which stand upright upon them, or issue out of their hair §; together with the globes, mitres ¶, feathers **, palm leaves ††, &c. that are tt, set above them, have each of them their symbolical meaning and design; being, in general, so many types of the power, nature, and attributes of that deity or genius upon which they are placed. The beard that is sometimes given to Osiris, has likewise its mystery, being symbolical of the summer solstice; at which time the sun having ascended to its greatest height, is, as it arrived at a state of puberty. But Silenus' bushy beard was the same symbol with the tresses of Isis' hair, denoting the haziness of the atmosphere. Nay, the very black marble, or basaltes, were, Euseb. Præp. Evang. p. 66. Philo de vita Mosis, 1. iii. p. 671. et de tabernaculi aulæis agens, apud Clem. Alex. Strom. p. 665. † Sidon. Apollin. Bacchi carm. apud Diod. 1. i. Vetus poetæ apud Aleandr. Exp. Tab. Heliacæ, p. 22. Kirch. Synt. xvii. p. 490. Val. Flac. Arganaut. 1. iv. Kirch. Synt. xvii. 1. i. p. 157. Horap. 1.i. c. 1. ** Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. iii. p. 69. Dionys. Areop. Clem. Strom. 1. vi. p. 269. Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. i. c. 7. + Apul. Met. 1. xi. p. 269. Macrob. Sat. 1. i. c. 18. tt Kirch. ubi supra, n. T. $ Euseb. Præp. Evang. p.67. basaltes, out of which some of these figures are made*, typified, by its colour, the invisibility of their essence; as in others, the head and feet being black, and the body of a lighter colour, might probably be symbolical of the Deity's lying concealed to us in his designs and actions, though he is apparent in his general providence and care of the universe. Thus have I given a short sketch, and that chiefly upon the authority of the ancients, of the symbolical and hieroglyphical learning of the Egyptians; a small portion, no doubt, of what still remains to be discovered. Kircher indeed, an author of extraordinary learning, indefatigable diligence, and surprising invention, has attempted to interpret† all the sacred characters and figures that came to his hands. But as it cannot be known certainly (the Egyptians being rude sculp tors as well as painters) whether he might not take the figures themselves for such objects as the sacred scribes did not intend them, mistaking, for instance, one animal, plant, instrument, utensil, &c. for another, all reasonings and inferences, drawn from these figures, can be little more than mere conjecture; and therefore, the remarkable boast of Isis will hold true, that no mortal has hitherto taken off her veil. *Euseb. Præp. Evang. p. 60. See his Oedipus, Obeliscus, Pamphylius, &c. SEC † ΕΓΩ ΕΙΜΙ ΠΑΝ ΤΟ ΓΕΓΟΝΟΣ, ΚΑΙ ΟΝ, ΚΑΙ ΕΣΟΜΕ ΝΟΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΝ ΕΜΟΝ ΠΕΠΛΟΝ ΟΥΔΕΙΣ ΠΩ ΘΝΗΤΟΣ AMEKAAYYEN. Plut. de Isid. et Osiride, p. 354. edit. Par. |