great mechanical power, to be able to place such huge masses of stone in their proper positions, and to erect obelisks of stupendous size. It was related by Herodotus that one of the kings of Egypt, when his workmen were about erecting a huge obelisk, caused his son to be lashed to the top of it, and when the machinery was set in motion, he bade them at their peril be particularly careful that the monument was not injured, as the life of his son would in that case be endangered. Sais, like Canopus, is now in ruins; and the remarkable Monolith had been buried in the soil for ages, until it was disinterred by some Europeans, and found to be perfect.
The city of On, (Gen. xli. 45,) or Aven, (Ezek. xxx. 17,) is the same with Bethshemesh, or house of the sun, (Jer. xliii. 13,) and was called by the Greeks, Heliopolis, or city of the sun. These names are given to the place, because it was the principal seat of the Egyptian worship of the sun. It was one of the oldest cities in the world, and was situated in the land of Goshen, on the east of the Nile, about five miles above modern Cairo. Eighteen centuries ago, this city was in ruins, when visited by Strabo. Herodotus says the inhabitants were "the wisest of the Egyptians." The father-in-law of Joseph was high priest of On. This was the city of Moses, according to Berosus, and accounts for his being "learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," (Acts vii. 22.) Heliopolis was the Greek translation of Bethshemesh, "the house or city of the sun," and is called (Jer. xliii. 13,) "Bethshemesh in the land of Egypt," to distinguish it from a place of the same name in Canaan.—(Josh. xix. 38.)
According to Josephus, this city was given to the family of Jacob, when they first came to sojourn in Egypt; and we know that it was a daughter of the priest of the temple situated here who was given in marriage to Joseph. Here also, in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus, Onias, a Jew, obtained leave to erect a temple similar to the one at Jerusalem, which was for a long time frequented by the Hellenist Jews. There is an apparent reference to it by several of the prophets. [See passages above cited.]
The ruins of this ancient city lie near the modern
