13. ARUERIS, the Apollo of the Egyptian mytho logy, is sufficiently identified by the comparison of various inscriptions with the fragment of Hermapion, preserved by Ammianus Marcellinus, as the trans lation of the inscription on a particular obelisc, with which, however, it does not exactly agree, although its style completely resembles that of the Egyptian inscriptions in general, and the beginning corres ponds perfectly well to the beginning of almost all the obeliscs in existence, supposing only the hawk to be part of the name of Am i Amens; which is, besides an inference extremely probable, from the tablets of several of the obeliscs, representing a deity charac terized by a hawk with two bars, and styled the son of another personage who seems to be the sun, as Apollo is called by Hermapion, and Arueris by Plu tarch. Mr Hamilton has also given us a Greek in scription at Ombos, in which Arueris is made syno nymous with Apollo • although the hieroglyphics which have been copied from this temple, afford us no assistance in the inquiry. The sort of ladder, which occurs as a second name of Arueris, is found prefixed to the hawk in its usual form, on the obeliac at Wanstead figured by Gordon, and on the frize of Montagu and Ficoroni (Iiierogl. Eg. Soc. 7 Eo p • 9 Lk); and it follows it on a statue of Pococke (Vol. I. p. 212). Arueris is commonly represented either with a human head, or with that of a hawk, bearing a disc, as that of the sun is also generally depicted; and in Plate 188 of Denon, the two deities seem in sonic measure confounded. The Egyptian mute may be interpreted " evening sun," as, emblematic of the repose of victory ; ER RUM RE.
14. Isis, the sister and wife of Osiris, is very natu rally denoted by the throne with the female termi nation; and, in more than one instance, the female figures, which have been long recognised as represent tationsof Isis by other attributes, are distinguished by bearing the throne on the head, which is &COMM= mode of characterising the different personages of the tablets. The manuscripts, again, enable us to discover the connecting link between the sacred and enchorial characters, and to supply the defects of the stone of Rosetta; though the resemblance is somewhat too imperfect to have satisfied us without their assist ance. The goddess, thus distinguished, is very generally represented as standing f at the head or feet of a corpse, with another female figure op posite to her; and we find the same personages at the opposite ends of several of the sarcophagi ; so that the analogy of Isis to Proserpine, and her cha meter as the guardian of the remains of the dead, are sufficiently consistent with these representations. On a scarabaeus, brought from Egypt by Mr Legh, and in a hieroglyphic inscription at Philae, she ap pears to be called the offspring of Phthah. She often bears in her hand a sceptre forked at the foot, with a lotus for its head, while Osiris has more com monly a similar sceptre with the head of an animal; but these attributes are sometimes assigned to other deities. In one of the boats on the green sarcopha
gus, and on Letheuillier's mummy, both in the Bri tish Museum, she is personified as a hasilisc. Mr Hamilton has published some Greek inscriptions from Philae, and from the small temple at Dendera, which show that Isis was the principal deity of these temples ; and the hieroglyphics, as far as they have been copied, are precisely of the same import. The great temple at Karnak seems also to have been dedicated to Isis, and probably the small southern temple. On a medal, of Greek workmanship, in the Borgian Museum, we have a figure of Isis, with the word rigs', which may probably have been intend ed for vest, the Egyptian name with the feminine article.
15. The constant companion of Isis can be no other than NEPHTHE; her name somewhat resembles that of Isis, with a scale or basin annexed to it, but the square surrounding the throne is completed, and the scale is sometimes detached from it, with a circle interposed; and, in this form, the name com prehends one of the characters denoting a temple. (N. 87.) It seems also to be a head of Nephthe that is found at Dendera and elsewhere, supporting a little temple or shrine, in the place of the capital of a column; nor is it improbable that the great temple at Dendera was dedicated to Nephthe; for the Greek inscription has Aphrodite, which is men tioned by Plutarch as a synonym of Nephthe. It is true that the birth of Isis is represented on one of the ceilings; but it does not, therefore, follow that Isis was the principal goddess of the temple. A head bearing a shrine is not an uncommon orna ment of a sistrum; and this agrees perfectly with the remark of Plutarch, that the head of Nephthe, as well as that of Isis, was sometimes represented on these instruments.
16. The emblem of a bird in a cage, which is of ten found in the manuscripts, accompanied by the figure of a child, seems to indicate the character of a nurse, and may without inconvenience be inter as relating to the goddess Btdo, the nurse of and Bubastis; though it would perhaps have been more correct to engrave the namem smaller let ten, as denoting some degree of Uncertainty. On the sarcophagus called the Lover's Fountain, in the Bri tish Museum, she is delineated with a hawk's bead; in the western temple at Philae she has a human head with a horned head dress, and she sits near Isis and Horus ; a circumstance which strongly confirms the proprie0' of the denomination.
17. The enchorial name of Horses seems to be de rived from the figure of a hawk followed by the cha racter denoting Isis i, an arrangement which agrees very well with the supposition that his usual deno mination was HORSIt81. The figure of the infant (N. 138), the chain, and the knot, clearly form a part of the name on a Horns engraved by Montfacon (Ant. Expl. II. p. 302), and on an obelisc from Bose in the Supplement of the same work. In some cases a feather, following the infant, seems to supply the place of the bird, as in Caylus, Recueil, IV. Pl. 13.