Ancient emblems of Irrigation.

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Chap. 14.]

ment which contributed so greatly to produce them. The manner inwhich this deity was sometimes represented, appears to have had directreference to agriculture and irrigation. She was seated on rocks, (em-blems of sterility ?) the wheel by her side and a river at her feet, (to sig-nify irrigation 1) and she held wheat ears, and flowers in her hand. Butwhether the ancient Egyptians adopted the noria or not, as the emblemof wealth and irrigation, one of their most favorite Symbols has directreference to the latter, and indirectly to the foriner : viz. the sphinx ;figures of which have been found among the ruins, from one end of thecountry to the other. This figure consists, as is universally known, of thethe head and breasts of a woman, United to the body of a lion, and wassymbolical of the annual overflow of the Nile, which occurred whenthe sun passed through the zodiacal signs, Leo and Virgo —hence thecombination of these signs in the Sphinx, as an emblem of that generalirrigation of the land once a year, upon which their prosperity so greatlydepended. This was the origin of passing streams of water through themouthsof figures of lions, and sometimes, though more rarely, of virgins, asin the figures below—which are taken from Rivius’ translation of Yitruvius.

No. 52. Orifices of Pipes , &c. symbolical of Irrigation.

The analogy between the form and Ornaments of an object and its uses,seems to have always been kept in view by the ancients ; although, fromour imperfect knowledge of them, it is difficult and sometimes impossibleto perceive it. That they displayed unrivaled skill in some of their de-signs and decorations is universally admitted. There is certainly no na-tural analogy between a lion and a fountain, and no obvious propriety inmaking water to flow out of the mouths of figures of these animals ; onthe contrary, they appear to be very inappropriate; but when we learnthat the lion as an astronomical Symbol, was intimately associated with agreat natural hydraulic Operation, of the first importance to the welfareof the Egyptians, we perceive at once their reasons for transferring figuresof it to artificial discharges of the liquid, and hence the orifices of cocks,pipes, and spouts of gutters, fountains, &c. were decorated as above. Insome ancient fountains, figures of virgins, as nymphs of springs, leanedupon urns of running water. In others, vases overturneä, (with figuresof Aquarius, Oceanus, &c.) a beautiful device. Lions ’ heads for spoutsare very common in Pompeii .

There is another ancient emblem, and one that is universally admired,which may here be noticed, as its origin is associated with artificial irri-gation —the Cornucopia, or ‘Horn of Abundance.’ This elegant Symbolis probably of Egyptian origin, for Isis was sometimes represented withit, and Isis, in the Egyptian language, signified the ‘cause of abundance.’We have already seen that irrigation was and still is, the principal sourceof plenty in Egypt ; and water in the scriptures is repeatedly used in thesame sense. To understand the allegory, it must be borne in mind thatnvers were anciently compared. to bulls; the reasons for which at this re-mote period, are not very obvious ; perhaps among others, from the noise