Ιχναια is here used adjectively. Ιχναια Θεμις signifies Themis, or Thamuz, of [[169]]Canaan.
There was another circumstance, which probably assisted to carry on the mistake: a Canaanitish temple was called both Ca-Cnas, and Cu-Cnas; and adjectively[[170]] Cu-Cnaios; which terms there is reason to think were rendered Κυκνος, and Κυκνειος. Besides all this, the swan was undoubtedly the insigne of Canaan, as the eagle and vulture were of Egypt, and the dove of Babylonia. It was certainly the hieroglyphic of the country. These were the causes which contributed to the framing many idle legends, such as the poets improved upon greatly. Hence it is observable, that wherever we may imagine any colonies from Canaan to have settled and to have founded temples, there is some story about swans: and the Greeks, in alluding to their hymns, instead of Yκκναον ασμα, the music of Canaan, have introduced κυκνειον ασμα, the singing of these birds: and, instead of the death of Thamuz, lamented by the Cucnaans, or priests, they have made the swans sing their own dirge, and foretell their own funeral. Wherever the Canaanites came, they introduced their national worship; part of which, as I have shewn, consisted in chanting hymns to the honour of their country God. He was the same as Apollo of Greece: on which account, Lucian, in compliance with the current notion, says, that the Cycni were formerly the assessors and ministers of that Deity. By this we are to understand, that people of this denomination were in antient times his priests. One part of the world, where this notion about swans prevailed, was in Liguria, upon the banks of the Eridanus. Here Phaëthon was supposed to have met with his downfal; and here his brother Cycnus underwent the metamorphosis, of which we have spoken. In these parts some Amonians settled very early; among whom it appears that there were many from Canaan. They may be traced by the mighty works which they carried on; for they drained the river towards its mouth, and formed some vast canals, called Fossæ Philistinæ. Pliny, speaking of the entrance into the Eridanus, says, [[171]]Indé ostia plana, Carbonaria, ac fossiones Philistinæ, quod alii Tartarum vocant: omnia ex Philistinæ fossæ abundatione nascentia. These canals were, undoubtedly the work of the Canaanites, and particularly of some of the Caphtorim, who came from Philistim: and hence these outlets of the river were named Philistinæ. The river betrays its original in its name; for it has no relation to the Celtic language, but is apparently of Egyptian or Canaanitish etymology. This is manifest from the terms of which it is made up; for it is compounded of Ur-Adon, sive Orus Adonis; and was sacred to the God of that name. The river, simply, and out of composition, was Adon, or Adonis: and it is to be observed, that this is the name of one of the principal rivers in Canaan. It ran near the city Biblus, where the death of Thamuz was particularly lamented. It is a circumstance taken notice of by many authors, and most pathetically described by Milton.
[[172]]Thammuz came next behind,
Whose annual wound in Lebanon allur'd
The Syrian damsels to lament his fate
In amorous ditties all a summer's day:
While smooth Adonis from his native rock
Ran purple to the sea; suppos'd with blood
Of Thammuz yearly wounded.
It is said that the Eridanus was so called first by [[173]]Pherecydes Syrus: and that my etymology is true, may in great measure be proved from the [[174]]Scholiast upon Aratus. He shews that the name was of Egyptian original, at least consonant to the language of Egypt; for it was the same as the Nile. It is certain that it occurred in the antient sphere of Egypt, whence the Grecians received it. The great effusion of water in the celestial sphere, which, Aratus says, was the Nile, is still called the Eridanus: and, as the name was of oriental original, the purport of it must be looked for among the people of those parts. The river Strymon, in Thrace, was supposed to abound with swans, as much as the Eridanus; and the antient name of this river was Palaestinus. It was so called from the Amonians, who settled here under the name of Adonians, and who founded the city Adonis. They were by the later Greeks styled, after the Iönic manner, Edonians, and their city Edonis. [[175]]Στρυμων ποταμος εστι της Θρακης κατα πολιν Ηδωνιδα, προσηγορευετο δε προτερον Παλαιστινος. The Strymon is a river of Thrace, which runs by the city Edonis: it was of old called the river Palæstinus. In these places, and in all others where any of the Canaanites settled, the Grecians have introduced some story about swans.