earth, followed him by pairs: all which he received into the ark; and experienced no evil from them : for there prevailed a wonderful harmony throughout, by the immediate influence of the Deity. Thus were they wafted with him, as long as the flood endured. After this he proceeds to mention that, upon the disappearing of the waters, Deucalion went forth. from the ark, and raised an 49 altar to God: but he transposes the scene to Hierapolis in Syria; where the natives pretended to have very particular memorials of the Deluge.

Most of the authors, who have transmitted to us these accounts, at the same time inform us, that the remains of the ark were in their days to be seen upon one of the mountains of Armenia. Abydenus particularly says in confirmation of this. opinion, that the people of the country used to get some small pieces of the wood, which they carried about by way of amulet. And Berosus mentions, that they scraped off the asphaltus, with which it had been covered, and used it in like manner for a charm. And this is so far consonant to truth, as there was originally about the ark some ingredient of this nature. For when it

4 Lucian speaks of altars in the plural: Δευκαλίων δε επει ταδε EYEVETO, CWμYS TE Ebero. What is here alluded to, is plain. See Gen. c. 6. v. 20.

was completed by Noah, he was ordered finally to secure it both within and without with pitch or 50 bitumen. Some of the fathers, how truly informed I cannot say, seem to insist upon the certainty of the fact, that the ark in their time was still in being. Theophilus "says expressly that the remains were to be seen upon the mountains of Aram, or Armenia. And Chrysostom appeals to it, as to a thing well known: 52 Do not, says he, those mountains of Armenia bear witness to the truth? those mountains, where the Ark first rested? and are not the remains of it preserved there even unto this day?

Such was the Gentile history of the Deluge: varied indeed, and in some measure adapted to the prejudices of those who wrote; yet containing all the grand circumstances with which that catastrophe was attended. The story had been so inculcated, and the impressions left upon the minds of men were so strong, that they seem to have referred to it continually; and to have made

59 Genes. c. 6. v. 14. The Seventy make use of the same term as Berosus: Και ασφαλτωσεις αυτην εσωθεν και εξωθεν τη ασφαλτῳ.

51 Της Κιβωτο τα λειψανα μεχρι το δευρο δείκνυται είναι εν τοις Αραβικούς (lege Αραμικοις) ορεσιν. Ad Autol. l. 3. p. 391.

5 Ουχι και τα ορη μαρτυρεί της Αρμενιάς, ενθα η Κιβωτος ίδρυθη; όχι και τα λειψανα αυτης έως νυν εκεί σώζεται, προς ημετεραν ὑπομνησιν. De perfectâ Charit. v. 6. p. 748. Edit. Savil.

it the principal subject of their religious institutions. I have taken notice of a custom among the priests of Amon, who at particular seasons used to carry in procession a boat, in which was an oracular shrine, held in great veneration. They were said to have been eighty in number; and to have carried the sacred vessel about, just as they were directed by the impulse of the Deity. 53 Ὑπο νεως περιφέρεται χρυσης ύπο Ιερεων ογδοηκοντα (ὁ Θεος). Ουτοι δε επι των ωμων φεροντες τον Θεον προαγ σιν αυτομάτως, όπε αγο το τ8 Θε8 νεύμα την πορείαν. I mentioned at the same time, that this custom of carrying the Deity in an ark or boat was in use among the Egyptians, as well as the people of Ammonia. Bishop Pocock has preserved three specimens of antient sculpture, wherein this ceremony is displayed. They are of wonderful antiquity; and were found by him in upper Egypt. Two of them he copied at Luxorein in some apartments of the temple, which Diodorus Siculus so much celebrates.

Part of the ceremony in most of the antient mysteries consisted in carrying about a kind of ship or boat; which custom, upon due examination, will be found to relate to nothing else but

63 Diodor. Sicul. I. 17. p. 528. See vol. 1. p. 252. and Plate.

54

Noah, and the Deluge. The ship of Isis is well known; and the celebrity among the Egyptians, whenever it was carried in public. The name of this, and of all the navicular shrines was Baris : which is very remarkable; for it was the very name of the mountain, according to Nicolaus Damascenus, on which the ark of Noah rested; the same as Ararat in Armenia. 55 Εσιν ύπερ την Μινυαδα μεγά όρος κατά την Αρμενίαν, Βαρις λεγόμενον, εις ὁ πολλές συμφύγοντας επι τε κατακλυσμε λόγος έχει περισωθηναι, και τινα επι λάρνακος οχέμενον επι την ακρώρειαν οκειλαι, και τα λειψανα των ξύλων επι πολυ σωθήναι. There is a large mountain in Armenia, which stands above the country of the Minya, called Baris; to this it was said, that many people betook themselves in the time of the Deluge, and were saved: and there is a

54 See Lexicon Petisci. Iamblichus. Sect. 6. c. 5. p. 147. and notes. p. 285.

55 Apud Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1. 9. c. 11. p. 414.

་

See also Nic, Damasc. apud Joseph. Jud. Antiq. 1. 1. c. 3. §. 6. Το μεν διακομιζον τα σώματα πλοιον Βαριν καλείσθαι. Diodor. Sic. 1. 1. p. 87. of the sacred boat, in which the dead were transported to the Charonian plains.

Strabo, 1. 11. p. 803. mentions a Goddess Baris in Armenia, who had a temple at mount Abus.

Herodotus speaks of Baris, as the Egyptian name of a ship. 1. 2. c. 96. See Euripides Iphig. in Aulis. v. 297. and Æschyli Pers. p. 151. Αιγυπτίαν δε Βαριν ουκ υπερθορη. Αυταργότευκτον Rag. Lycophron. v. 747,

tradition of one person in particular floating in an ark, and arriving at the summit of the mountain. We may be assured then that the ship of Isis was a sacred emblem: in honour of which there was among the Egyptians an annual festival. It was in aftertimes admitted among the Romans, and set down in their 56 Calendar for the month of March. The former in their descriptions of the primary deities have continually some reference to a ship or float. Hence we frequently read of 57 DEOL DUTIλOUTEs. They oftentimes, says 58 Por phyry, describe the sun in the character of a man sailing on a float. And Plutarch observes to the same purpose, that they did not represent the sun, and the moon in chariots 59 αλλά πλοίοις σχήμασι Xgwuevas tegitλeiv, but wafted about upon floating machines. In doing which they did not refer to the luminaries; but to a personage represented

56 Calendarium Rusticum mense Martio habet Isidis navigium, quod est Ægyptiorum festum, a Romanis admissum. Marsh.Can. Chron. Sect. 14. p. 356.

See Gruter's Inscript. p. 138.

57 Iamblich. de Myster. Sect. 7. c. 2.36

55 Ήλιον δε σημαινεσι ποτε μεν δι' ανθρώπει συμβέβηκοτος πλοιο. Porphyry apud Euseb. P. E. I. 3. p. 115.

59 Isis et Osiris. p. 364. See also Euseb. Præp. Evang. 1.3. c. 11. p. 115. Clemens Alexand. Strom. 1. 5. p. 670. 'Hλof