Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Upon The Antiquity Of The Arabians, Their Language And Letters, And The Origin Of The Chinese A^'D Their Empire.
chin or round his arm , and is sometimes represented as sitting upon a cray-fish , holding his caduceus in one hand , and in the other the claws of the fish ; sometimes he rests his foot upon a tortoise . In Egypt , his statues represented him with the head of a dog , whence he was often confounded with Anubis , and received the sacrifice of a stork . Offerings of milk ancl honey were made , because he was the god of eloquence , whose powers were sweet and persuasive . The Greeks and Romans
offered tongues to him , by throwing them into the fire , as he was the patron of speaking , of which the tongue is the organ . Sometimes his statues represent him without arms , because , according to some , the power of speech can prevail over everything , even without the assistance of arms . Trismegistus , a priest and philosopher of Egypt , who taught his countrymen how to cultivate the olive , to measure their lands , ancl to understand hieroglyphicsis said to have lived in the age of Osiris
, , and to have written forty books on theology , medicine , and geography , from which Sanchoniatho , the Phoenician historian , has taken his Theogonia . There are many contradictions amongst the most experienced writers of antiquity . Sanconiatho began his history with the creation , ancl ended it with placing Taautus upon the throne of Egypt . He doth not mention the delugebut he makes two more generations in Cain ' s line
, , from Protogonus to Agroverus , or from Adam to Noah , than Moses . Taaut ancl his posterity , for fifteen generations , were seated in Upper Egypt , at Thebes , which was built by the Mezrites . That letters were invented in Phoenicia , doth not depend solely upon the testimony of Sanconiatho ; for several Roman authors attribute their
invention to the Phoenicians . Pliny says , that that nation was famed for the invention of letters , as well as for astronomical observations and naval and martial arts . Curtius says , that the Tyrian nation are related to be the first who either taught or learned letters ; and Lucan says , the Phoenicians were the first who attempted to express sounds or words b y letters . To these authorities may be added that of Eusebius , who tells us , from Porphyry , that Sanconiatho studied with great application the
writings of Taaut , knowing that he was the first who invented letters , and on these he laid the foundations of his history . It is observable that the Greek writers seem to have known no older Hermes than the second Hermes , or Mercury , who is recorded to have lived about four hundred years after the Mezrite Taaut . Plato calls the second Hermes " Pheuth , " and represents him as counsellor ancl sacred scribe to King Thamus . But it is not said that he ever reigned in Egypt , whereas the Mezrite Taaut , or Athothis , as Manetho calls him , was the immediate successor of Menes , the first king of Egypt .
The Phoenician language has been generally allowed to be , at least , a dialect of the Hebrew , and though their alphabet doth not entirely agree with that of the Samaritan , yet it will hereafter appear that there is a great similarity between them . Arithmetic and astronomy were much cultivated by the Phoenicians in the earliest ages , for it is affirmed that they were from the beginning addicted to philosophical exercises of the mind , insomuch that a Sidonian , by name Moschus , is said to have taught the doctrine of Atoms before the Trojan warand Aldomenus of
, Tyre challenged Solomon , though the wisest king upon the earth , by the subtle questions he proposed to him . Phoenicia continued to be one of the seats of learning , ancl both Tyre ancl Sidon produced their philosophers ; of later ages , Boethus and Dionatus , of Sidon—ancl Antipater , of VOL . v . p j >
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Upon The Antiquity Of The Arabians, Their Language And Letters, And The Origin Of The Chinese A^'D Their Empire.
chin or round his arm , and is sometimes represented as sitting upon a cray-fish , holding his caduceus in one hand , and in the other the claws of the fish ; sometimes he rests his foot upon a tortoise . In Egypt , his statues represented him with the head of a dog , whence he was often confounded with Anubis , and received the sacrifice of a stork . Offerings of milk ancl honey were made , because he was the god of eloquence , whose powers were sweet and persuasive . The Greeks and Romans
offered tongues to him , by throwing them into the fire , as he was the patron of speaking , of which the tongue is the organ . Sometimes his statues represent him without arms , because , according to some , the power of speech can prevail over everything , even without the assistance of arms . Trismegistus , a priest and philosopher of Egypt , who taught his countrymen how to cultivate the olive , to measure their lands , ancl to understand hieroglyphicsis said to have lived in the age of Osiris
, , and to have written forty books on theology , medicine , and geography , from which Sanchoniatho , the Phoenician historian , has taken his Theogonia . There are many contradictions amongst the most experienced writers of antiquity . Sanconiatho began his history with the creation , ancl ended it with placing Taautus upon the throne of Egypt . He doth not mention the delugebut he makes two more generations in Cain ' s line
, , from Protogonus to Agroverus , or from Adam to Noah , than Moses . Taaut ancl his posterity , for fifteen generations , were seated in Upper Egypt , at Thebes , which was built by the Mezrites . That letters were invented in Phoenicia , doth not depend solely upon the testimony of Sanconiatho ; for several Roman authors attribute their
invention to the Phoenicians . Pliny says , that that nation was famed for the invention of letters , as well as for astronomical observations and naval and martial arts . Curtius says , that the Tyrian nation are related to be the first who either taught or learned letters ; and Lucan says , the Phoenicians were the first who attempted to express sounds or words b y letters . To these authorities may be added that of Eusebius , who tells us , from Porphyry , that Sanconiatho studied with great application the
writings of Taaut , knowing that he was the first who invented letters , and on these he laid the foundations of his history . It is observable that the Greek writers seem to have known no older Hermes than the second Hermes , or Mercury , who is recorded to have lived about four hundred years after the Mezrite Taaut . Plato calls the second Hermes " Pheuth , " and represents him as counsellor ancl sacred scribe to King Thamus . But it is not said that he ever reigned in Egypt , whereas the Mezrite Taaut , or Athothis , as Manetho calls him , was the immediate successor of Menes , the first king of Egypt .
The Phoenician language has been generally allowed to be , at least , a dialect of the Hebrew , and though their alphabet doth not entirely agree with that of the Samaritan , yet it will hereafter appear that there is a great similarity between them . Arithmetic and astronomy were much cultivated by the Phoenicians in the earliest ages , for it is affirmed that they were from the beginning addicted to philosophical exercises of the mind , insomuch that a Sidonian , by name Moschus , is said to have taught the doctrine of Atoms before the Trojan warand Aldomenus of
, Tyre challenged Solomon , though the wisest king upon the earth , by the subtle questions he proposed to him . Phoenicia continued to be one of the seats of learning , ancl both Tyre ancl Sidon produced their philosophers ; of later ages , Boethus and Dionatus , of Sidon—ancl Antipater , of VOL . v . p j >