The divinity who bore the names of Amon , Amon-Re , Cneph or Cnouphis , was, as we have seen, the male generative principle of the universe. The Egyptians symbolized, in the character of Neith , the female generative principle of the whole of nature. These two principles, closely united, formed only one whole

The symbolic character , occupying the lower part of plate no. 5, is very rarely reproduced on Egyptian monuments of all periods. It is taken, as well as its legend, and the various colors which cover the varied members of which it is composed, from a fragment of a manuscript on

The image of the god depicted in this plate is very numerous on the religious buildings of Thebes and the rest of Egypt. It occupies the sanctuary of Karnac, the most magnificent of the monuments of the ancient capital; the homage and adoration of which this image is the object,

Most Eastern cosmogonies admit that water existed before the material organization of other parts of the globe, whose germs were confused and intermingled in this fluid. Several Greek philosophers have also systematically maintained that water was the principle of all things; this doctrine came, in all appearance, from the sanctuaries

The Egyptians worshipped, under the name of Ammon-Cnouphis , or Ammon -Chnoubis , the uncreated Spirit , the great Soul of the Universe, from which emanates the intellectual principle which communicates movement and life to all created beings. By the name of Amon (Ammon), the incomprehensibility of his essence was expressed; and by

The hieroglyphic names of this God often vary in their spelling, and this on the same monuments. The various forms of this name will be found on the plate which accompanies this text, and these variations were all known by the Greeks, who transcribed them in a more or less

It is among the rich decorations of a mummy's coffin, forming part of the Royal Egyptian Museum of Turin, that we found the divinity represented on this plate. The insignia which surmount his headdress, a sort of vase flanked by two green ostrich feathers, the goat's

" The Egyptian temples ," says Clement of Alexandria, "their porticoes and vestibules are magnificently constructed; the courts are surrounded by columns; precious and brilliant marbles of varied colours decorate the walls, so that everything is matched; the naos shine with the brilliance of gold, silver, electrum, and precious