ναιοις ἐς: Πεντελικον-και Πάρνης-Εν Παρνηθι Παρνηθιος Ζευς Χαλκες εσί, και βωμος Σημαλες Διος. Εςι δε εν τη Παρνηθι και άλλος βωμος θυασι δε επ' αυτό, τότε μεν Ομβριον, τοτε δε Απημιον καλέντες Δια. In Attica is the mount Pentelicus-also another, called the mountain of Parnes-Upon the latter stands a statue of Zeuth Parnethius in brass; and an altar to the same God, styled Sama El, or Semaleos. There is also another altar: and when they sacrifice upon it, they invoke, sometimes the God of rains; sometimes the Deity, who escaped, or rather who averted the evil; styling him Annos. This writer mentions also, upon the mountain Hymettus, 4ο Ομβρια Διος βωμοι, και Απολλωνος Προοψιε : altars to Zeuth Pluvius, and to Apollo, surnamed the looker-out, or looking forwards.

40

If we consider the histories of Danae, Danaus, and the Danaïdes, we shall find them to be fragments of history, which relate to the same event. Danäe is said to have been the mother of Perseus, who was conceived in showers, exposed in an ark; and at last a king of Argos. She is likewise represented as the mother of Argus, who founded in Italy," Ardea, and Argiletum: the true history

Acrisioneis Danäe fundâsse colonis. Virg. Æn. 1. 7. v. 409.

of which places amounts to this, that they were founded by people styled Arkites. Danaus, who came into Greece, is said to have come over in the first long ship which was constructed: but the more antient account is, that he was the first builder of a ship; which he designed and finished under the direction of Minerva, or divine wisdom: 4 TODEμένης Αθηνας αυτῷ, Ναυν This is πρωτος κατεσκευασε. the same story which is told of Argus, the supposed son of Inachus and Niobe. It is likewise said of Danaus, when he came to Greece, that he came over nave biprorâ, called by Greeks auguuvais; and that he built the Acropolis at Argos. But the navis biprora was not a vessel commonly made use of to pass the seas: it was a copy of the sacred ship of Isis; and I have shewn the history to which it alluded. I should therefore think, that this story does not relate to the arrival of any particular person from " Egypt, but to the

She was supposed to have given name to Daunia; and to have settled there with her two sons, Argeos and Argos, Servius in Virg. Æn. 1. 8. v. 345.

Tibur Argeo positum colono. Horat. 1. 2. Od. 6. v. 5.

42 Apollodor. 1. 2. p. 63.

43 It is said that Danaus came from the Thebaïs of Egypt, where stood Chemmis, near the city Noa. Perseus was worshipped here. Herodot. l. 2. c. 91. He calls the city Nen. The person alluded to under the character of Danaus was far prior to the

first introduction of rites from that country; and especially the memorial of the Argo, from whence the place took its name. And that there was such an introduction of rites, appears from Hypermnestra, the supposed daughter of Danaus, being esteemed the priestess of Juno at that place. If, as I have imagined, the words vnus and vaus are derived from П, Nau, and Noah; the name of Danaus relates not to a man, but is in reality 45 da Näus, and signifies literally the ship. The æra therefore of Danaus is the æra of the ship: being the precise time when some model of this sacred vessel was introduced, and the rites also and mysteries with which it was attended. The fifty daughters of Danaus were fifty priestesses of the Argo, who bore the sacred vessel on festivals.

I

æra allotted him in the Grecian history. He is said to be the son of Belus, the son of Neptune: also the brother of Sesosis, the same as Seth and Zuth.

The name of the ship was Danaïs. Δαναον διωκόμενον υπο Αιγυπτο πρώτον κατασκευασαι (Ναυν). όθεν και Δαναϊς εκλήθη. Schol. in Apollon. Rhod. 1. 1. v. 4.

The daughters of Danaus are supposed to have introduced the θεσμοφορία from Egypt: την τελε την ταυτην εξ Αιγυπτε εξαγάγεσαι. Herod. 1. 2. c. 171.

* Εν Αργει ἱερατεύσεν Ὑπερμνητρα Δανα. Euseb. Chron. p. 29. 1. 40.

457, Da, Chaldaïcè, hæc, ista, hoc, illud. See Daniel. c. 4. v. 27, and c. 7. v. 3. Of this I shall treat hereafter at large.

46

have mentioned that there was a temple in Egypt, called Ca Nobus, erected to the God of seas; to whom the element of water in general was sacred. Throughout the whole history of Danaus and his daughters, there will be found allusions to the rites of this God. The Danaïdes are said to have been sent in quest of water: to have brought water to Argos: to have invented dias, or ύδριας, 47 vessels for water: and, lastly, were supposed to have been doomed in the shades below to draw water in buckets, which were full of holes. Every circumstance of this history is from Egypt. The natives of that country were very assiduous in conveying water from one place to another. They likewise had particular jars, which were sacred to the God, whom the Greeks called Canobus; and were formed with a representation of him. These Canobic vessels were sometimes made of 48 porous stone; at other times of earth, manufac

46 Danaus is said to have founded Argos.

Δαναος

Έλθων ες Αργος ωκισεν Ιναχε πολιν. Euripid. in Archelao apud Strabon. 1. 5. p. 339.

47 Αργος ανυδρον τον Δανακι θεσαν Αργος ενυδρον. Strab. 1. 8. p. 570. All Greeks in the time of Homer seem to have been called Danäi.

43 They were called Στακτικα-αγγεια διυλίζοντα Νειλωον ύδως. Hesych. Στακτικόν,

tured in such a manner, as to have small holes in the bottom, through which they used to filter the water of the Nile, when it was either turbid or saline. 49 Ύδριαι EV τοις μέρεσι της Αίγυπτε ειώθασι γίνεσθαι οςρακιναι, τρήσεις έχεσαι λεπτας συνέχεις, ώσε δια των τρήσεων εκείνων το τεθολωμένον ύδωρ διυλιζομενον απο δίδοσθαι καθαρωτατον. This practice of filling vessels, which could not hold the water put into them, seemed such a paradox to the Grecians, that, when they came to consign some of their priests and deities to the infernal mansions, they made. this the particular punishment of the Danäides, on account of their cruelty.

Among the various personages under which the Patriarch was represented, the principal seems to have been that of Dionusus. He was by the mythologists supposed to have had a second birth, and a renewal of life in the Theba or Ark. Hence he was termed Onaryens; which the Greeks interpreted a Theban born, and made him a native of Boeotia: but he was originally only worshipped there; and his rites and mysteries came from Egypt. This injustice of the Greeks, in taking

49 Suidas. Kavwπos.

Ipsum Canobi simulacrum, pedibus perexiguis, attracto collo, et quasi sugillato, ventre tumido, in modum hydriæ, cum dorso æqualiter tereti formatur. Ruffin. Hist. Eccles. 1. 11. c. 26.