Des mihi sacrificos, caliturasque ignibus aras, &c.
He was turn’d into a bird, and a flock of the same birds, call’d Aves Memnoniæ, arose from the same funeral pile, which immediately divided into two companies, and fought till they destroy’d each other. And that a like flight of the same birds came on the same day every year from Ethiopia, went thrice round his monument, and then divided and fought in honour of their ancestor.
What can we understand by this, but an assembly of his people and descendants to celebrate his anniversary, as was the custom of antiquity toward great men. The story is entirely of a piece with that told of Cadmus, and must be interpreted in the same way.
In this sense we are treating of, are we to understand authors when they tell us, that Cadmus built a temple to Neptune in the island of Rhodes. This was not a cover’d temple with elegant pillars, nor an idolatrous one, which were matters of after-times; but one of our alate temples. Phut had built a Dracontium there before.
Antoninus Liberalis XII. speaks of the lake Canopus, which I suppose had its name from a Cneph or alate temple near it, built by a hero, Cygnus, son of Phut, “who, the fable says, was turn’d into a bird there,” and Phylius his sepulchral monument was by it.
In this sense, Strabo II. speaks of Hercules being call’d Canopeus, from building such a temple. And we may now understand that hitherto abstruse Egyptian antiquity called Canopus, a vase which they us’d for preserving of water in their temples and in their families, with a cover to it. In order to insure the blessing of heaven to this most necessary element, they frequently consign’d it with the sacred prophylactic character of the Kneph or circulus alatus, which is the greek Neptune, the dominator aquarum. Many of these vases are still remaining in the cabinets of antiquarians. Such a one pictur’d in Kircher.
And, by the by, I may mention that some of these vases are adorn’d with a scarabeus with expanded wings, and this is entirely of the same meaning as the alate circle. But this is not a place to discourse larger on these matters.
I suspect Geneva and Geneffa have their names from such temples. As Gnaphalus a bird mention’d by Aristotle. Simias the Rhodian celebrates our Cneph, in his poem compos’d in the form of wings: as the author of motion and creation: hence the word Nebula, νεφέλη and perhaps Nebulo.
In the year 1725, the next year after I found out this Humber temple, and the last year of my travels, I found another of these alate temples, on Navestock-common in Essex, which seems to be of a later date than the other, and when perhaps the original doctrine concerning these theological speculations was somewhat forgotten; Because this temple is situate on a dry common, not near water; but the figure is the very same.
What is exceedingly remarkable as to this noble antiquity on Navestock-common, is, that the name should remain to this time, and which confirms all that we said before concerning them, as to their name and meaning: for Navestock must have been so call’d from some old and remarkable tree, probably an oak, upon or by the CNEPH, or winged temple; Navestock. Our English word Knave, which had no ill meaning at first, signifies the same thing, alatus, impiger; the latin word Gnavus the very same: and Knap a Teutonick word the like: all from the hebrew original.