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other was in Arabia; and, as will

the

way to the Red-sea.

appear, in

Of Letopolis.

Another city, whose situation should be determined, is Letopolis, or the city of Leto, the Grecian Latona. This by mistake in the present copies of Strabo is expressed Litopolis; of which name there occurs no place in Egypt. It is also frequently expressed Latopolis; which is equally wrong. For the place so named was the city where the fish Latus was held in reverence, and stood high up the river, more than' four hundred and fifty miles above the point of Delta. Whereas the city of which we are speaking, together with the nome of Letopolis, lay opposite to that point, and to the east of the Heliopolitan region. It was situated at the termination of the Arabian Mountain, and over against the pyramids; where were the quarries, from whence the stones were got for their construction. It is stiled Leto by Antoninus; Λητες πολις by

'Antonini Itin. p. 160.

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Ptolemy and Stephanus Byzantinus, and the province Λητεπολιτης νομος. It is mentioned as nearly collateral with the elder Heliopolis, and in its * vicinity; though on the other side of the river. The author of the Itinerary places it below Memphis, at the distance of twenty miles. According to Josephus it stood upon the very hill where Babylon was afterwards erected, in the time of Cambyses. He placed a garrison of Babylonish soldiers in it, as it was the key to Upper Egypt; upon this account, the hill had the name of Babylon, and the country about it Babylonia. Hence the author of the same Itinerary, describing the places downward, upon the Arabian side of the Nile, mentions among others ---Aphrodito, Scenas Mandras, Babylonia; Helio, or Heliopolis; by which is meant Heliopolis of the Desert. This Babylonian province, Extra Nilotica, was the same as the

Λήτους πολίς, πολις Αίγυπτο, εσι δε μοιρα Μεμφίδος, καθ ̓ ἣν άσ Пugaμides. See Herodotus, 1. 2. p. 106.

2 Pliny, l. 5. p. 254.
3 Antonini Itin. p. 156.

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He calls it Latopolis.

Letus. Memphi MP. XX.

Λήτες πολις, πολις Αιγυπτε, εσι δε μοιρα Μέμφιδος, καθ' ήν ότι Ivgauides. Steph. Byzant.

4 Joseph. Ant. 1. 2. c. 15. p. 111. Λήτες πολις.

5 P. 169. Iter per partem Arabicam trans Nilum.

Nomus Letopolites. And the position of Babylon is precisely marked out by Strabo; who, having mentioned the places which were near the top of ' Delta, and the Regio Letopolitis, adds, αναπλευσαντι δ' εςι Βαβύλων Φρέριον ερυμνόν. As you sail upwards (from this point of Lower Egypt), the first object is a strong garrison called Babylon.

Such was the situation of Letopolis, the City of Leto, or Latona, and of it's nome; which nome is by some later writers called Heliopolitanus; for in this respect great liberties were taken, as Pliny justly observes. Quidam ex his aliqua nomina permutant, et substituunt alios nomos, v. 1. 1. 5. p. 254. The nome was so called from Heliopolis of the Desert, which stood twelve miles to the north-east of Babylon, according to Antoninus. Itin. p. 169. This district, bordering upon the ancient and true Heliopolitan nome, from which it was only separated by the Pelusiac branch of the Nile, has caused no small confusion in the geography of Egypt. But I have endeavoured, from the best authorities, to distinguish both; which, I hope, will prevent any uncertainty for the future. The si

'L. 17. p. 1158.

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tuation of this place is of great consequence to be determined; for Josephus tells us, that the children of Israel passed close by this city upon their first setting out for Etham and the Red-sea, when they had just quitted the land of Goshen. It was nearly opposite to the ancient Heliopolis, and to the place of their departure,

Of the Ancient City Saïs, and of a secondary City of the same Name.

There is another city of which I must take notice, and ascertain its history and situation; for as yet I do not remember that it has been properly determined. This is the upper and more ancient city Saïs. Indeed the higher any cities were situated in Lower Egypt, the more ancient for the most part they must have been. For as the soil below was in great measure, dwgov T8 Toraμv, the gift of the river, the people at different times built, as they got ground. And here I must observe, that there was another city of the name of Saïs, which

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Αίγυπτος ποταμοχωτος. Diodorus, l. 3. p. 144.

must be distinguished from that with which we are principally concerned. The history of this I will first determine, as writers have been led into great mistakes, from their not properly distinguishing these two places; but speaking of them as one and the same. The Lower Saïs was in the vicinity of the sea-port Naucratis, upon the Canobic and western branch of the Nile; and was esteemed the capital of that part of Egypt. 'H Σaïs μntgoπολις της κατω χωρας. Sais was the metropolis of Lower Egypt. Again-cc* επι τω ποταμῳ

I

μητρο

Ναυκρατις. από δε τε ποταμε δισχοινὸν διεχέσα Zais. Naucratis is situated upon the river; and Saïs stands about two schoni from the same river. 3 Cellarius quotes the Notitia Ecclesiastica--in quâ Saïs primæ Ægypti provinciæ, quæ proxima Alexandriæ est, ascribitur. It lay, we find, in the first province, as people ascended the river from the coast of Alexandria; and consequently was very low in the region of Delta, and to the west. By these evidences

I Strabo, 1. 17. p. 1153.
Naucratis was near the sea-port

τιν 8 πολυ της Σχεδιας ὑπερθεν. Ibid.

2 Ibid. 1. 17. p. 1155.
Schedia.-

P. 1153.

-πολιν Ναυκρα

Aphroditis, Saïs, Naucratis. Pliny, 1. 5. p. 259.

3 P. 18. Ægyptus.

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