translation, have a very intimate connexion with one another. The return of the Phoenix is by the majority of ancient authors stated vaguely at 500 or 1000 years; but it is correctly specified by Tacitus at 1461 vague years, equivalent to 1460 Julian years. Tacitus in the same passage relates, that in the reign of the third Ptolemy of the Macedonian kings, the Phoenix returned to Egypt; or, in other words, that in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, an old cycle had expired.* Now the 25 years of the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes extend from B.C. 246 to 221. The commencement therefore of the cycle which expired in

*It is evident that he means the reign of Euergetes, the 3d Ptolemy, and not that of his predecessor, Philadelphus, who might be reckoned the third of the Macedonian kings, including Alexander; because he goes on to remark that the interval between the reign of this Ptolemy and that of Tiberius, was less than 250 years: the interval was in fact 235, and the interval between the reign of Philadelphus and Tiberius was not less than 260 years. See Tac. Ann. vj.

By

his reign, must have happened between the years 1706, the year of the descent of Israel into Egypt, and 1671, which were both within the administration of Joseph. It is asserted by Plutarch,* that Hermes added the five additional days to the Egyptian calendar. Censorinust this is said to have been effected by Arminus, which is in fact Hermes and Syncellus, from some author, shews that the regulation occurred about the same time, by asserting that the addition of the five days took place in the reign of Aseth, the 7th of the Shepherd kings. But Strabo§ says, that the improvement by Hermes was the addition of the quarter of a day at all events it is manifest that the regulation took place in the administration of Joseph, and that, as he was considered as a Hermes, he must have been the Hermes who effected it.

* Is. et Os.

'See Anc. Frag. 141.

+ C. 19.

§ Lib. xvii.

The name given to Joseph by the king of Egypt was according to the Masoretic points Zaphnath Paaneah but without the points, which have only disguised it, it was ZPhNTh PhŒENCh,* and the latter word is in all the Greek translations rendered Phanechos. From all these circumstances I have no hesitation in identifying Joseph with that Hermes, who started that cycle which expired in the reign of Ptolemy Euergetes. Thoth and Phoenich I conceive to be the original Egyptian names, and Hermes is but a Greek translation; Thoth is constantly occurring upon the monuments; but Phoenich seems to be more especially applicable to this particular incarnation of Thoth as Joseph, for Phœnich is the very name which was first applied to him by Pharaoh.

I would now draw attention to a very

.צפנת פענח *

- : T

The Septuagint gives it as

Ψονθομ φάνηχος or Ψονθον φάνηχος, and Josephus as Ψοθομφάνηχος.

singular hieroglyphical discovery. Mr. Burton, to whose indefatigable researches in Egypt we are so deeply indebted, has collected and published in the 37th plate of his Excerpta hieroglyphica a variety of records, relating to a very remarkable figure of one of the Egyptian demigods, with a beak and very peculiar square ears. Mr. Burton was the original discoverer of this, and with his permission I have copied it in the plates annexed. The head seems to be equally applied to a beast as in fig. A, and to a bird as in fig. B. The personage represented by this hieroglyphic, as in figs. D, L and M, I conceive for the following reasons to be an Avatar or incarnation of Thoth or Hermes. The Hermes, who corrected the calendar, is called the Dog by Plutarch ;* and of this perhaps fig. A is a representation but the more ordinary figure of Hermes was either a Hawk-headed, or

* Is. et Os.

Ibis-headed figure, and in figs. B, C, D, L and M, the head of the bird is more predominant. In fig. D this personage is holding in his right hand the palmbranch, a special and peculiar emblem of Hermes,* upon which he is always represented as measuring off time, such as the length of the reigns of the kings. Mr. Wilkinson has also given another figure of this personage with two heads, his own square-eared head combined with that of a hawk, the head of the first Hermes. The figure occurs as a hieroglyphic character in several ovals containing the names of kings; and if we substitute for it, in the ovals E and G, which are those of the father of Ramesses the Great, the sound of Herm or Arm, we obtain the name of Amun me Hermeen, and Phthah me Armeen for the very king,

The palm itself in Greek bears the name of Phoenix and in the ancient Coptic, the same word Beni is used both for the Palm tree and for the Stork or Ibis.