89. The opet square, occurring in HABITATION as well as in temple, must probably have meant house or building ; or possibly stone only.
90. The THRONE, or chair of state, occurs in a great variety of tablets. It evidently bears its most natural signification in the character denoting sta.
toe, it 102, and in some other instances ; but it ap pears to bear, in some inscriptions, the metaphorical sense of a residence or habitation.
91. The comma, or pillar, is too much like the object it dmiotes, to allow us by doubt respecting its meaning, considering the sense of that part of the inscription of Rosetta in which it occurs.
92. The characters denoting a DIADEM are suffi ciently determined by the first inscription of the stone; and they so much resemble the correspond ing passages of the enchorial text, that we can scarce ly hesitate to admit the intimate connexion of the two modes of writing, without seeking for any fur.. ther proofs.
98. The sacred ORNAMENTS are expressed by three feathers, fixed to a bar, which appears to be held by two arms. The remaining part of the cha racter occurs very frequently as a sort of termination, and .seems to answer to .. mesas.
94 .. 99. The boat or SHIP, the SPEAR, the Bow, the ARROW, the CENSER, and the BIER, are suffi ciently identified, by the comparison of various ta blets with their inscriptions. The ship occurs fre quently as denoting the sacred boats, in which the representations of the deities are conveyed ; though they are not always accompanied by water.' But it has been observed, that the 'Egyptians attributed ships rather than chariots to the sun and moon, as gliding smoothly through the skies. The first part of the enchorial word, which has been supposed to be a a, is evidently identical with the character al ways found in the manuscripts written in the run ning hieroglyphics, as the first part of the delineation of a ship. It is remarkable, that, in the inscription at Esne, as copied by the French, the point of the ar row is turned towards the back of the bowman, in stead of being directed towards the enemy.
100. The TEAR, in some of its representations, is very clearly expressive of the thing intended ; and this resemblance, together with its frequent attend ance on a corpse and a, bier, is sufficient to explain its sense. • It occurs also sometimes within a border, as a peculiar deity; but it seems to be much more commonly emblematical of Osiris, of Apis, or of Mneuis. It is not unfrequently found as a detached figure, in a kind of pottery, with a green glazing; and may perhaps have been worn, instead of a mourn ing ring, as a memorial of a departed friend. It has most commonly been called the equi sectio, and sup posed to represent a horse's head, or the rostrum of a ship, while the ingenious Kircher has made it a phallus mule:tut. Among the antiquities collected by Lord Mountnorris in Egypt, is an eye seen in front, and apparently shedding a tear.
101. The character for an ilium seems to mean a wrought max; the hands, connected with an eye, appear to be holding an oar, as an emblem of labour. The same character, with a alight variation in the form of the eye, means a rower, (n. 1S6.) • 102. The Sitting STATUE has no character to ply wrought; but it is followed by a bent line, which seems to be a term of, and may possibly an- swer to osis, " great." bent line occurs on the great sarcophagus of green breccia, as a per sonification of one of the qualities of Osiris, proba bly his mvaificence. It is often exchanged m the manuscripts for the' divided staff; and both are re presented in the running hand by a figure like a 9 or a 4. In the enchorial text this character seems sometimes to be expressed by a single line, either straight, or bent sideways into an angle, like part of a a. A similar " divine statue" is decreed to " King Nancoreus, the son of Sesostris," on Mr Montagu's frize. Hierogl. 7 S 1.