came. They built the city Elana, and were called "Hellenes, from the great luminary which they worshipped, and to which their city was sacred. In the days of Moses the whole world seems to have been infected with the rites of the Zabians: and Jethro, the Cuthite, was probably high-priest of this order, whose daughter Moses " married. The very first idolatry consisted in worshipping the luminary El Ain, which worship was accordingly styled Hellenismus. El Ain signifies Sol Fons, the fountain of light; and Ulpian upon Demosthenes seems to have had some intimation of this etymology; for he explains the term

тaтV by 33 καθαρώτατον and ειλικρινέςατον, something very pure and clear, like a fountain. Hesychius also intimates, that the name related to the 34 fountain of day; and in a secondary sense to the fountain of wisdom, Έλληνες, δι απο τε Διος τε Ἑλληνος· η φρονιμοι, ήτοι σοφοί. The people styled Hellenes are the descendants of Hellen, the son of Zeuth; and by this title are denoted people of intelligent and

31 The people still retain their primitive name Ellanes. Dr. Pocock expresses it Allauni. The Arabs about Acaba are called Allauni. Pocock's Egypt. p. 138.

32 Exodus. c. 2. v. 16.

33 P. 118.

34

Numbers. c. 12. v. 1.

Ειλη, η τε ήλιο αυγη. Hesych,

.

enlightened minds. Hellen was the same as Ion; the same also as Helius, Osiris, and Apollo; by which titles was signified the Deity of light and of science.

From Babylonia the Hellenes came into Egypt; and were the same as the Auritæ, those Cuthite shepherds who so long held that country in subjection. Hence we read of 35 ПOEVES EXλnves, and 36 Barthes Exλnves, Hellenic shepherds, and Hellenic princes, who reigned in the infancy of that nation. They were what I term collectively Amonians, being the descendants of Ham, who by the Gentile writers was reputed the first-born of Deucalion, or Noah. 37 Γίνονται δε εκ Πύρρας Δευκα λιωνι παίδες, Έλλην μεν πρωτος, εν εκ Διος ενιοι γεγενησθαι λεγεσι-θυγάτηρ δε Πρωτογενεια. Hellen was the firstborn of Deucalion by Pyrrha, though some make him the son of Zeuth, or Dios.-There was also a daughter Protogeneia, so named from being the

Απο Έλληνος το Δευκαλίωνος Ἕλληνες. Syncellus. p. 157. Ελλας, ἦν ὁ Διος Ελλην εκτισεν. Dicæarchus. Geog, Gr. Vol. p. 22. Strabo, 1.8. p. 587. Ehh т8 Aevnadiaros. Thucyd. l. i. c. 3. Προμηθέως Thuppas Exan. Schol. in Apollon. 1. 3. v. 1086. Strabo mentions the tomb of Hellen; ταφον τα Ελληνος το Δευκαλίωνος ύσω, και Пvijas. 1. 9. p. 660. Πυῤῥας.

και

He was also said to have

38

first-born of women. been the son of Prometheus; but in this there is no inconsistency, for they were all titles of the same personage, whose son was Ham, represented both as Hellen and Helius. The Cuthite Hellenes, who came into Egypt, introduced their arts and learning, by which that country was benefited greatly. Hence the learning of Egypt was styled Hellenic, from the Hellenic shepherds; and the antient theology of the country was said to have been described in the 39 Hellenic character and language. This had no relation to the Hellenes of Greece, being, as I have before observed, far prior to that nation. The Grecians, it is true, were both Iönim and Hellenes, but by a long descent, being the posterity of the people here spoken of. This theology was said to have Been derived from 4 Agathodæmon, that benign deity, the benefactor of all mankind. He was supposed to have had a renewal of life, and on that account was represented under the figure of a serpent

49

39 Manethon apud Euseb. Chron. p. 6.

4° Syncellus. p. 40. The history was supposed to have been by him translated after the deluge, μετα τον κατακλυσμον, εκ της Ιερας διαλεκτά εις την Ελληνίδα φωνην, from the sacred language into the Hellenic; by which must be meant the antient Chaldaïc.

crowned with the lotus, and styled "Noë Agathodæmon. The Grecians supposed, that by the Hellenic tongue was meant the language of Greece, and that the Hellenic characters were the letters of their own country. But these writings were in reality sculptures of great antiquity; and the language was the Cuthite, styled by Manethon the sacred language of Egypt.

42

Philo Judæus not being apprised of this, has been guilty of a great mistake in his Life of Moses. For, mentioning how that great personage had been instructed in his youth, and that. he was skilled in all the learning of Egypt, in numbers, geography, and hieroglyphics, he adds, that the rest of the circle of sciences he learned of the Hellenes, or Grecians: 43 тnv de aλλnv eyxuxτην δε αλλην εγκυκ λιον παιδείαν Έλληνες εδιδασκον: as if the circle of sciences had been established, and the Greeks were adepts in philosophy so carly as the time of Moses. The Hellenes, who were supposed to have instructed the Patriarch, were undoubtedly

41 The name of Noe the Greeks transposed, and expressed it Neo Ayabodaipar. See vol. iii. p. 182. in the plate where the Patriarch is described under the symbol of a serpent, with the emblems of plenty and peace. Agathodæmon was the same as Cneph. Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. 1. c. 10. p. 41.

an order of priests in Egypt; which order had been instituted before the name of Hellas, or the Helladians, had been heard of. Stephanus mentions, from Aristagoras, a place called Hellenicon (EAAnxo) at Memphis; and says, that the persons, who resided there were stiled HellenoMemphitæ. Clemens Alexandrinus has transmitted the same account concerning Moses, as has been given above by Philo. 4 Την δε αλλην εγκυκλιον παιδείαν Έλληνες εδίδασκον εν Αιγυπτῳ ὡς αν βασιλικον waidior. The Hellenes educated him in Egypt as a princely child; and instructed him in the whole circle of sciences. These writers have certainly mistaken the history, from whence they borrowed. It did not relate to Greece, but to the Hellenes of Egypt; those Helleno-Memphite of Stephanus and Aristagoras. When Clemens therefore tells us concerning Moses, Οι Έλληνες εδίδασκον εν AYUTT, The Hellenes taught him in Egypt: it should be rendered, Οι Έλληνες εν Αιγύπτῳ εδίδασκον, The Hellenes of Egypt taught him; for such, we may be assured, was the purport of the original and true history; and this may be proved by the account given of Osiris, of whom it is said, that

44 ̔Ελληνικον και Καρικον τόποι εν Μεμφιδί, αφ' ὧν Ελληνομεμφιται και Καρομεμφιται, ὡς Αρισαγόρας. Steph. Byzant.

45 Strom. 1. 1. p.

413.