Part 14

Another instance we have in the Kingdom of _Byblus_. In the [291] Reign of _Minos_ King of _Crete_, when _Rhadamanthus_ the brother of _Minos_ carried colonies from _Crete_ to the _Greek_ islands, and gave the islands to his captains, he gave _Lemnos_ to _Thoas_, or _Theias_, or _Thoantes_, the father of _Hypsipyle_, a _Cretan_ worker in metals, and by consequence a disciple of the _Idæi Dactyli_, and perhaps a _Phœnician_: for the _Idæi Dactyli_, and _Telchines_, and _Corybantes_ brought their Arts and Sciences from _Phœnicia_: and [292] _Suidas_ saith, that he was descended from _Pharnaces_ King of _Cyprus_; _Apollodorus_, [293] that he was the son of _Sandochus_ a _Syrian_; and _Apollonius Rhodius_, [294] that __Hypsipyle_ gave _Jason_ the purple cloak which the _Graces_ made for _Bacchus_, who gave it to his son _Thoas__, the father of _Hypsipyle_, and King of _Lemnos_: _Thoas_ married [295] _Calycopis_, the mother of _Æneas_, and daughter of _Otreus_ King of _Phrygia_, and for his skill on the harp was called _Cinyras_, and was said to be exceedingly beloved by _Apollo_ or _Orus_: the great _Bacchus_ loved his wife, and being caught in bed with her in _Phrygia_ appeased him with wine, and composed the matter by making him King of _Byblus_ and _Cyprus_; and then came over the _Hellespont_ with his army, and conquered _Thrace:_ and to these things the poets allude, in feigning that _Vulcan_ fell from heaven into _Lemnos_, and that _Bacchus_ [296] appeased him with wine, and reduced him back into heaven: he fell from the heaven of the _Cretan_ Gods, when he went from _Crete_ to _Lemnos_ to work in metals, and was reduced back into heaven when _Bacchus_ made him King of _Cyprus_ and _Byblus_: he Reigned there 'till a very great age, living to the times of the _Trojan_ war, and becoming exceeding rich: and after the death of his wife _Calycopis_, [297] he built Temples to her at _Paphos_ and _Amathus_, in _Cyprus_; and at _Byblus_ in _Syria_, and instituted Priests to her with Sacred Rites and lustful _Orgia_; whence she became the _Dea Cypria_, and the _Dea Syria_: and from Temples erected to her in these and other places, she was also called _Paphia_, _Amathusia_, _Byblia_, _Cytherea_ _Salaminia_, _Cnidia_, _Erycina_, _Idalia_. _Fama tradit a Cinyra sacratum vetustissimum Paphiæ Veneris templum, Deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc appulsam_: _Tacit. Hist._ l. 2. c. 3. From her sailing from _Phrygia_ to the island _Cythera_, and from thence to be Queen of _Cyprus_, she was said by the _Cyprians_, to be born of the froth of the sea, and was painted sailing upon a shell. _Cinyras_ Deified also his son _Gingris_, by the name of _Adonis_; and for assisting the _Egyptians_ with armour, it is probable that he himself was Deified by his friends the _Egyptians_, by the name of _Baal-Canaan_, or _Vulcan_: for _Vulcan_ was celebrated principally by the _Egyptians_, and was a King according to _Homer_, and Reigned in _Lemnos_; and _Cinyras_ was an inventor of arts, [298] and found out copper in _Cyprus_, and the smiths hammer, and anvil, and tongs, and laver; and imployed workmen in making armour, and other things of brass and iron, and was the only King celebrated in history for working in metals, and was King of _Lemnos_, and the husband of _Venus_; all which are the characters of _Vulcan_: and the _Egyptians_ about the time of the death of _Cinyras_, _viz._ in the Reign of their King _Amenophis_, built a very sumptuous Temple at _Memphis_ to _Vulcan_, and near it a smaller Temple to _Venus Hospita_; not an _Egyptian_ woman but a foreigner, not _Helena_ but _Vulcan's Venus_: for [299] _Herodotus_ tells us, that the region round about this Temple was inhabited by _Tyrian Phœnicians_, and that [300] _Cambyses_ going into this Temple at _Memphis_, very much derided the statue of _Vulcan_ for its littleness; _For_, saith he, _this statue is most like those Gods which the _Phœnicians_ call _Patæci_, and carry about in the fore part of their Ships in the form of Pygmies_: and [301] _Bochart_ saith of this _Venus Hospita_, _Phœniciam Venerem in Ægypto pro peregrina habitam._

As the _Egyptians_, _Phœnicians_ and _Syrians_ in those days Deified their Kings and Princes, so upon their coming into _Asia minor_ and _Greece_, they taught those nations to do the like, as hath been shewed above. In those days the writing of the _Thebans_ and _Ethiopians_ was in hieroglyphicks; and this way of writing seems to have spread into the lower _Egypt_ before the days of _Moses_: for thence came the worship of their Gods in the various shapes of Birds, Beasts, and Fishes, forbidden in the second commandment. Now this emblematical way of writing gave occasion to the _Thebans_ and _Ethiopians_, who in the days of _Samuel_, _David_, _Solomon_, and _Rehoboam_ conquered _Egypt_, and the nations round about, and erected a great Empire, to represent and signify their conquering Kings and Princes, not by writing down their names, but by making various hieroglyphical figures; as by painting _Ammon_ with Ram's horns, to signify the King who conquered _Libya_, a country abounding with sheep; his father _Amosis_ with a Scithe, to signify that King who conquered the lower _Egypt_, a country abounding with corn; his Son _Osiris_ by an Ox, because he taught the conquered nations to plow with oxen; _Bacchus_ with Bulls horns for the same reason, and with Grapes because he taught the nations to plant vines, and upon a Tiger because he subdued _India_; _Orus_ the son of _Osiris_ with a Harp, to signify the Prince who was eminently skilled on that instrument; _Jupiter_ upon an Eagle to signify the sublimity of his dominion, and with a Thunderbolt to represent him a warrior; _Venus_ in a Chariot drawn with two Doves, to represent her amorous and lustful; _Neptune_ with a Trident, to signify the commander of a fleet composed of three Squadrons; _Ægeon_, a Giant, with 50 heads, and an hundred hands, to signify _Neptune_ with his men in a ship of fifty oars; _Thoth_ with a Dog's head and wings at his cap and feet, and a _Caduceus_ writhen about with two Serpents, to signify a man of craft, and an embassador who reconciled two contending nations; _Pan_ with a Pipe and the legs of a Goat, to signify a man delighted in piping and dancing; and _Hercules_ with Pillars and a Club, because _Sesostris_ set up pillars in all his conquests, and fought against the _Libyans_ with clubs: this is that _Hercules_ who, according to [302] _Eudoxus_, was slain by _Typhon_; and according to _Ptolomæus Hephæstion_ [303] was called _Nilus_, and who conquered _Geryon_ with his three sons in _Spain_, and set up the famous pillars at the mouth of the _Straits_: for _Diodorus_ [304] mentioning three _Hercules_'s, the _Egyptian_, the _Tyrian_, and the son of _Alcmena_, saith that _the oldest flourished among the _Egyptians_, and having conquered a great part of the world, set up the pillars in _Afric__: and _Vasæus_, [305] that _Osiris_, called also _Dionysius_, _came into _Spain_ and conquered _Geryon_, and was the first who brought Idolatry into _Spain__. _Strabo_ [306] tells us, that the _Ethiopians_ called _Megabars_ fought with clubs: and some of the _Greeks_ [307] did so 'till the times of the _Trojan_ war. Now from this hieroglyphical way of writing it came to pass, that upon the division of _Egypt_ into _Nomes_ by _Sesostris_, the great men of the Kingdom to whom the _Nomes_ were dedicated, were represented in their Sepulchers or Temples of the _Nomes_, by various hieroglyphicks; as by an _Ox_, a _Cat_, a _Dog_, a _Cebus_, a _Goat_, a _Lyon_, a _Scarabæus_, an _Ichneumon_, a _Crocodile_, an _Hippopotamus_, an _Oxyrinchus_, an _Ibis_, a _Crow_, a _Hawk,_ a _Leek_, and were worshipped by the _Nomes_ in the shape of these creatures.

The [308] _Atlantides_, a people upon mount _Atlas_ conquered by the _Egyptians_ in the Reign of _Ammon_, related that _Uranus_ was their first King, and reduced them from a savage course of life, and caused them to dwell in towns and cities, and lay up and use the fruits of the earth, and that he reigned over a great part of the world, and by his wife _Titæa_ had eighteen children, among which were _Hyperion_ and _Basilea_ the parents of _Helius_ and _Selene_; that the brothers of _Hyperion_ slew him, and drowned his son _Helius_, the _Phaeton_ of the ancients, in the _Nile_, and divided his Kingdom amongst themselves; and the country bordering upon the Ocean fell to the lot of _Atlas_, from whom the people were called _Atlantides_. By _Uranus_ or _Jupiter Uranius_, _Hyperion_, _Basilea_, _Helius_ and _Selene_, I understand _Jupiter Ammon_, _Osiris_, _Isis_, _Orus_ and _Bubaste_; and by the sharing of the Kingdom of _Hyperion_ amongst his brothers the _Titans_, I understand the division of the earth among the Gods mentioned in the Poem of _Solon_.

For _Solon_ having travelled into _Egypt_, and conversed with the Priests of _Sais_; about their antiquities, wrote a Poem of what he had learnt, but did not finish it; [309] and this Poem fell into the hands of _Plato_ who relates out of it, that at the mouth of the _Straits_ near _Hercules_'s Pillars there was an Island called _Atlantis_, the people of which, nine thousand years before the days of _Solon_, reigned over _Libya_ as far as _Egypt_; and over _Europe_ as far as the _Tyrrhene_ sea; and all this force collected into one body invaded _Egypt_ and _Greece_, and whatever was contained within the Pillars of _Hercules_, but was resisted and stopt by the _Athenians_ and other _Greeks_, and thereby the rest of the nations not yet conquered were preserved: he saith also that in those days the Gods, having finished their conquests, divided the whole earth amongst themselves, partly into larger, partly into smaller portions, and instituted Temples and Sacred Rites to themselves; and that the Island _Atlantis_ fell to the lot of _Neptune_, who made his eldest Son _Atlas_ King of the whole Island, a part of which was called _Gadir_; and that _in the history of the said wars mention was made of _Cecrops_, _Erechtheus_, _Erichthonius_, and others before _Theseus_, and also of the women who warred with the men, and of the habit and statue of _Minerva_, the study of war in those days being common to men and women_. By all these circumstances it is manifest that these Gods were the _Dii magni majorum gentium_, and lived between the age of _Cecrops_ and _Theseus_; and that the wars which _Sesostris_ with his brother _Neptune_ made upon the nations by land and sea, and the resistance he met with in _Greece_, and the following invasion of _Egypt_ by _Neptune_, are here described; and how the captains of _Sesostris_ shared his conquests amongst themselves, as the captains of _Alexander_ the great did his conquests long after, and instituting Temples and Priests and sacred Rites to themselves, caused the nations to worship them after death as Gods: and that the Island _Gadir_ or _Gades_, with all _Libya_, fell to the lot of him who after death was Deified by the name of _Neptune_. The time therefore when these things were done is by _Solon_ limited to the age of _Neptune_, the father of _Atlas_; for _Homer_ tells us, that _Ulysses_ presently after the _Trojan_ war found _Calypso_ the daughter of _Atlas_ in the _Ogygian_ Island, perhaps _Gadir_; and therefore it was but two Generations before the _Trojan_ war. This is that _Neptune_, who with _Apollo_ or _Orus_ fortified _Troy_ with a wall, in the Reign of _Laomedon_ the father of _Priamus_, and left many natural children in _Greece_, some of which were _Argonauts_, and others were contemporary to the _Argonauts_; and therefore he flourished but one Generation before the _Argonautic_ expedition, and by consequence about 400 years before _Solon_ went into _Egypt_: but the Priests of _Egypt_ in those 400 years had magnified the stories and antiquity of their Gods so exceedingly, as to make them nine thousand years older than _Solon_, and the Island _Atlantis_ bigger than all _Afric_ and _Asia_ together, and full of people; and because in the days of _Solon_ this great Island did not appear, they pretended that it was sunk into the sea with all its people: thus great was the vanity of the Priests of _Egypt_ in magnifying their antiquities.

The _Cretans_ [310] affirmed that _Neptune was the man who set out a fleet, having obtained this Præfecture of _his father_ Saturn; whence posterity reckoned things done in the sea to be under his government, and mariners honoured him with sacrifices_: the invention of tall Ships with sails [311] is also ascribed to him. He was first worshipped in _Africa_, as _Herodotus_ [312] affirms, and therefore Reigned over that province: for his eldest son _Atlas_, who succeeded him, was not only Lord of the Island _Atlantis_, but also Reigned over a great part of _Afric_, giving his name to the people called _Atlantii_, and to the mountain _Atlas_, and the _Atlantic Ocean_. The [313] outmost parts of the earth and promontories, and whatever bordered upon the sea and was washed by it, the _Egyptians_ called _Neptys_; and on the coasts of _Marmorica_ and _Cyrene_, _Bochart_ and _Arius Montanus_ place the _Naphthuhim_, a people sprung from _Mizraim_, _Gen._ x. 13; and thence _Neptune_ and his wife _Neptys_ might have their names, the words _Neptune_, _Neptys_ and _Naphthuhim_, signifying the King, Queen, and people of the sea-coasts. The _Greeks_ tell us that _Japetus_ was the father of _Atlas_, and _Bochart_ derives _Japetus_ and _Neptune_ from the same original: he and his son _Atlas_ are celebrated in the ancient fables for making war upon the Gods of _Egypt_; as when _Lucian_ [314] saith that _Corinth_ being full of fables, tells the fight of _Sol_ and _Neptune_, that is, of _Apollo_ and _Python_, or _Orus_ and _Typhon_; and where _Agatharcides_ [315] relates how the Gods of _Egypt_ fled from the Giants, 'till the _Titans_ came in and saved them by putting _Neptune_ to flight; and where _Hyginus_ [316] tells the war between the Gods of _Ægypt_, and the _Titans_ commanded by _Atlas_.

The _Titans_ are the posterity of _Titæa_, some of whom under _Hercules_ assisted the Gods, others under _Neptune_ and _Atlas_ warred against them: _for which reason_, saith _Plutarch_, [317] _the Priests of _Egypt_ abominated the sea, and had _Neptune_ in no honour_. By _Hercules_, I understand here the general of the forces of _Thebais_ and _Ethiopia_ whom the Gods or great men of _Egypt_ called to their assistance, against the Giants or great men of _Libya_, who had slain _Osiris_ and invaded _Egypt_: for _Diodorus_ [318] saith that _when _Osiris_ made his expedition over the world, he left his kinsman _Hercules_ general of his forces over all his dominions, and _Antæus_ governor of _Libya_ and _Ethiopia__. _Antæus_ Reigned over all _Afric_ to the _Atlantic Ocean_, and built _Tingis_ or _Tangieres_: _Pindar_ [319] tells us that he Reigned at _Irasa_ a town of _Libya_, where _Cyrene_ was afterwards built: he invaded _Egypt_ and _Thebais_; for he was beaten by _Hercules_ and the _Egyptians_ near _Antæa_ or _Antæopolis_, a town of _Thebais_; and _Diodorus_ [320] tells us that _this town had its name from _Antæus_, whom _Hercules_ slew in the days of _Osiris__. _Hercules_ overthrew him several times, and every time he grew stronger by recruits from _Libya_, his mother earth; but _Hercules_ intercepted his recruits, and at length slew him. In these wars _Hercules_ took the _Libyan_ world from _Atlas_, and made _Atlas_ pay tribute out of his golden orchard, the Kingdom of _Afric_. _Antæus_ and _Atlas_ were both of them sons of _Neptune_ both of them Reigned over all _Libya_ and _Afric_, between _Mount Atlas_ and the _Mediterranean_ to the very Ocean; both of them invaded _Egypt_, and contended with _Hercules_ in the wars of the Gods, and therefore they are but two names of one and the same man; and even the name _Atlas_ in the oblique cases seems to have been compounded of the name _Antæeus_ and some other word, perhaps the word _Atal_, cursed, put before it: the invasion of _Egypt_ by _Antæus_, _Ovid_ hath relation unto, where he makes _Hercules_ say,

_Sævoque alimenta parentis_ _Antæo eripui_.

This war was at length composed by the intervention of _Mercury_, who in memory thereof was said to reconcile two contending serpents, by casting his Ambassador's rod between them: and thus much concerning the ancient state of _Egypt_, _Libya_, and _Greece_, described by _Solon_.

The mythology of the _Cretans_ differed in some things from that of _Egypt_ and _Libya_: for in the _Cretan_ mythology, _Cœlus_ and _Terra_, or _Uranus_ and _Titæa_ were the parents of _Saturn_ and _Rhea_, and _Saturn_ and _Rhea_ were the parents of _Jupiter_ and _Juno_; and _Hyperion_, _Japetus_ and the _Titans_ were one Generation older than _Jupiter_; and _Saturn_ was expelled his Kingdom and castrated by his son _Jupiter_: which fable hath no place in the mythology of _Egypt_.

During the Reign of _Sesac_, _Jeroboam_ being in subjection to _Egypt_; set up the Gods of _Egypt_ in _Dan_ and _Bethel_; and _Israel was without the true God, and without a teaching Priest and without law: and in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the inhabitants of the countries; and nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity_. 2 _Chron_. xv. 3, 5, 6. But in the fifth year of _Asa_ the land of _Judah_ became quiet from war, and from thence had quiet ten years; and _Asa_ took away the altars of strange Gods, and brake down the Images, and built the fenced cities of _Judah_ with walls and towers and gates and bars, having rest on every side, and got up an army of 580000 men, with which in the fifteenth year of his Reign he met _Zerah_ the _Ethiopian_, who came out against him with an army of a thousand thousand _Ethiopians_ and _Libyans_: the way of the _Libyans_ was through _Egypt_, and therefore _Zerah_ was now Lord of _Egypt_: they fought at _Mareshah_ near _Gerar_, between _Egypt_ and _Judæa_, and _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not recover himself: and from all this I seem to gather that _Osiris_ was slain in the fifth year of _Asa_, and thereupon _Egypt_ fell into civil wars, being invaded by the _Libyans_, and defended by the _Ethiopians_ for a time; and after ten years more being invaded by the _Ethiopians_, who slew _Orus_ the son and successor of _Osiris_, drowning him in the _Nile_, and seized his Kingdom. By these civil wars of _Egypt_, the land of _Judah_ had rest ten years. _Osiris_ or _Sesostris_ reigned long, _Manetho_ saith 48 years; and by this reckoning he began to Reign about the 17th year of _Solomon_; and _Orus_ his son was drowned in the 15th year of _Asa_: for _Pliny_ [321] tells us, _Ægyptiorum bellis attrita est Æthiopia, vicissim imperitando serviendoque, clara & potens etiam usque ad Trojana bella Memnone regnante_. _Ethiopia_, served _Egypt_ 'till the death of _Sesostris_, and no longer; for _Herodotus_ [322] tells us that _he alone enjoyed the Empire of _Ethiopia__: then the _Ethiopians_ became free, and after ten years became Lords of _Egypt_ and _Libya_, under _Zerah_ and _Amenophis_.

When _Asa_ by his victory over _Zerah_ became safe from _Egypt_, he assembled all the people, and they offered sacrifices out of the spoils, and entered into a covenant upon oath to seek the Lord; and in lieu of the vessels taken away by _Sesac_, _he brought into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated, and that he himself had dedicated, Silver and Gold, and Vessels_. 2 _Chron._ xv.

When _Zerah_ was beaten, so that he could not recover himself, the people [323] of the lower _Egypt_ revolted from the _Ethiopians_, and called in to their assistance two hundred thousand _Jews_ and _Canaanites_; and under the conduct of one _Osarsiphus_, a Priest of _Egypt_, called _Usorthon_, _Osorchon_, _Osorchor_, and _Hercules Ægyptius_ by _Manetho_, caused the _Ethiopians_ now under _Memnon_ to retire to _Memphis_: and there _Memnon_ turned the river _Nile_ into a new channel, built a bridge over it and fortified that pass, and then went back into _Ethiopia_: but after thirteen years, he and his young son _Ramesses_ came down with an army from _Ethiopia_, conquered the lower _Egypt_, and drove out the _Jews_ and _Phœnicians_; and this action the _Egyptian_ writers and their followers call the second expulsion of the Shepherds, taking _Osarsiphus_ for _Moses_.

_Tithonus_ a beautiful youth, the elder brother of _Priamus_, went into _Ethiopia_, being carried thither among many captives by _Sesostris_: and the _Greeks_, before the days of _Hesiod_, feigned that _Memnon_ was his son: _Memnon_ therefore, in the opinion of those ancient _Greeks_, was one Generation younger than _Tithonus_, and was born after the return of _Sesostris_ into _Egypt_: suppose about 16 or 20 years after the death of _Solomon_. He is said to have lived very long, and so might die about 95 years after _Solomon_, as we reckoned above: his mother, called _Cissia_ by _Æschylus_, in a statue erected to her in _Egypt_, [324] was represented as the daughter, the wife, and the mother of a King, and therefore he was the son of a King; which makes it probable that _Zerah_, whom he succeeded in the Kingdom of _Ethiopia_, was his father.

Historians [325] agree that _Menes_ Reigned in _Egypt_ next after the Gods, and turned the river into a new channel, and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the magnificent Temple of _Vulcan_: he built _Memphis_ over-against the place where _Grand Cairo_ now stands, called by the _Arabian_ historians _Mesir_: he built only the body of the Temple of _Vulcan_, and his successors _Ramesses_ or _Rhampsinitus_, _Mœris_, _Asychis_, and _Psammiticus_ built the western, northern eastern, and southern portico's thereof: _Psammiticus_, who built the last portico of this Temple, Reigned three hundred years after the victory of _Asa_ over _Zerah_, and it is not likely that this Temple could be above three hundred years in building, or that any _Menes_ could be King of all _Egypt_ before the expulsion of the Shepherds. The last of the Gods of _Egypt_ was _Orus_, with his mother _Isis_, and sister _Bubaste_, and secretary _Thoth_, and unkle _Typhon_; and the King who reigned next after all their deaths, and turned the river and built a bridge over it, and built _Memphis_ and the Temple of _Vulcan_, was _Memnon_ or _Amenophis_, called by the _Egyptians_ _Amenoph_; and therefore he is _Menes_: for the names _Amenoph_, or _Menoph_, and _Menes_ do not much differ; and from _Amenoph_ the city _Memphis_ built by _Menes_ had its _Egyptian_ names _Moph_, _Noph_, _Menoph_ or _Menuf_, as it is still called by the _Arabian_ historians: the necessity of fortifying this place against _Osarsiphus_ gave occasion to the building of it.