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158 158 Memnon* niately connected together. The gods accompanied their worshippers into the foreign lands to which they were led by the pursuit of gain, and their successive stations were marked by new temples, altars, and rites. " The Indian commerce carried the worship of Bacchus from the Ganges to Thrace and thence farther southward : so Serapis was transported from Egypt to Colchis, and thence to Sinope, whence he returned to his native home : so the Phoenician Hercules travelled to Gades, and the Astaroth of the same people was mtroduced by them into all the islands and coun- tries visited by their fleets and caravans.''^ And as the nu- merous birthplaces of Bacchus, his Nysas, in Ethiopia and India, Arabia and Thrace, plainly indicate so many seats of his worship, so the Memnonia may be regarded as traces of the progress of the Ethiopian god. We find his sway permanently established in several cities : and it may be fairly conjectured that it was not confined to the compa- ratively few spots in which we happen to have heard of it. The chief difficulty that stands in the way of a his- torical interpretation of the legend of Memnon, arises from the great number of sepulchral monuments that laid claim to his remains from Meroe to the ^sepus. But the* hy- pothesis now proposed affbrds a complete explanation of this singular fact, which is in perfect accordance with the oriental genius, and especially with that of Egyptian anti- quity. The religion of Egypt was as gloomy and melan- choly, as that of the Greeks was cheerful and gay. It filled life with images of death, and even dashed the pleasures of the banquet with recollections of the grave. The gods themselves die and are buried and bewailed. Many cities in the valley of the Nile contested the possession of the remains of Osiris; and the sepulchre of Isis was shewn at Memphis, and at Philae, near the borders of Ethiopia. Her festival was celebrated with mourning, like many others in the East. And there can be no doubt that Amenophis was honoured with similar rites. We learn from PhUostratus that the Ethiopians mourned over Memnon's untimely death (Vit. Ap. VI. 4.); and Oppian (Cyneget. ii. 151) says the same of the Assyrians. This agrees perfectly with the Greek legend about the yearly contests of the birds at the Memnonian