Page:The Natural History of Pliny.djvu/455

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Chap. 11.] ACCOUNT OF COUKTEIES, ETC. ' 421 Pharbsethos^ Leontopolis^, Athribis^, the town of Isis^, BuFiris^, Cynopolis®, Aphrodites^, Sais^, and Naucratis®, from which last some M'riters call that the Naucratitic Mouth, wliicb is hj others called the Heracleotic, and mention it instead^" of the Canopic Mouth, which is the next to it. ^ Called Harbait by the Arabs, and Farbait by the ancient Egyp' tians. " In the Delta. It was the capital of the nome of Leontopolites, and probably of late foiuidation, as no writer previous to PHny mentions it. Its site is uncertain, but Thall-Essabouah, the " Hill of the Lion," has been suggested. 3 The chief town of the Athribitic nome in Lower Egypt. It stood on the eastei'n bank of the Tanitic branch of the IS^ile. This nome and town dei'ived their name from the goddess Tlu'ipliis, whom the inscrip- tions there and at PanopoUs designate as the " most great goddess." The ruins at Atrieb or Trieb, at the spot where the modem canal of Moneys turns off from the IS^ile, represent the ancient Athribis. They are very extensive, and among them are considerable remains of the Eoman era. ■♦ Tliis was situate near the city or town of Busii-is in the Delta. The modem village of Bahbeyt is supposed to cover the ruins of the temple of Isis. ^ The modem Busyr or Abousir, where considerable ruins of the an- cient city are still to be seen. It was the chief town of the nome of Busirites, and stood south of Sais, near the Phatnitic mouth, on the western bank of the Nile. This was also the name of a town in Middle Egypt, i:a the neighbourhood of Memphis, and represented by another village of the name of Abousir. Phny, B. xxxvi. c. 16, speaks of the Catacombs in its vicinity. ^ The place of that name in the Delta is here meant. 7 Probably the town of that name, otherwise called AphroditopoHs, in the nome of Leontopolites. ^ The ruins of which are now called Sa-el-Hayar. It was situate in the Delta, on the east side of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It was the ancient capital of Lower Egypt and contained the palace and burial-place of the Pharaohs. It was tlie chief seat of the worship of the Egyptian goddess Neith, also known as Sais. It gave its name to the nome of Saites. 3 It was situate in the Delta of Egy]")t and in the nome of Saites, on the eastern bank of the Canopic branch of the Nile. It Was a colony of the Milesians, founded probably in the reign of Amasis, about B.C. 550, and remained a pure Greek city. It was the only place in Egypt in which, in the time of the later Pharaolis, foreigners were permitted to settle and trade. In later times it was famous for the worship of Aplirodite or Venus, and rivalled Canopus in the dissolute- ness of its manners. ^o Ptolemy the geographer does tliis.