A New System; or, an Analysis of Antient Mythology | Page 6

trial, they were admitted, or
refused. They were denominated Caph-El, and Cahen-Caph-El, from
the academy where they received their first instruction; and this place,
though sacred, seems to have been of a class subordinate to others. It
was a kind of inferior cloister and temple, such as Capella in the
Romish church; which, as well as Capellanus, was derived from Egypt:
for, the church, in its first decline, borrowed largely from that country.
That there was some particular place of this sort situated upon a rock or
eminence, may, I think, be proved from Martianus Capella; and,
moreover, that it was a seminary well known, where the youth of Upper
Egypt were educated. For, in describing the sciences, under different
personages, he gives this remarkable account of Dialectica upon
introducing her before his audience. [57]Hæc se educatam dicebat in
Ægyptiorum Rupe; atque in Parmenidis exinde gymnasium, atque
Atticam demeasse. And Johannes Sarisburiensis seems to intimate that
Parmenides obtained his knowledge from the same quarter, when he
mentions [58]"in Rupe vitam egisse. In this short detail we have no
unpleasing account of the birth of science in Egypt, and of its progress
thence to Attica. It is plain that this Rupes Ægyptiaca could be nothing
else but a seminary, either the same, or at least similar to that, which I
have before been describing. As the Cunocephali are said to have been
sacred to Hermes, this college and temple were probably in the nome of
Hermopolis. Hermes was the patron of Science, and particularly styled
Cahen, or [59]Canis: and the Cunocephali are said to have been
worshipped by the people of that [60]place. They were certainly there
reverenced: and this history points out very plainly the particular spot
alluded to. Hermopolis was in the upper region styled Thebaïs: and
there was in this district a tower, such as has been [61]mentioned. It

was in aftertimes made use of for a repository, where they laid up the
tribute. This may have been the Rupes Ægyptiaca, so famed of old for
science; and which was the seat of the Chancephalim, or
Cunocephalians.
It is said of the Cunocephali, that when one part was dead and buried,
the other still survived. This can relate to nothing else but a society, or
body politic, where there is a continual decrement, yet part still remains;
and the whole is kept up by succession. It is an enigma, which
particularly relates to the priesthood in Egypt: for the sacred office
there was hereditary, being vested in certain families; and when part
was dead, a residue still [62]survived, who admitted others in the room
of the deceased. [63][Greek: Epean de tis apothanêi, toutou ho pais
antikatistatai.] The sons, we find, supplied the place of their fathers:
hence the body itself never became extinct, being kept up by a regular
succession. As to the Cunocephali giving to Hermes the first hint of
dividing the day into twelve parts from the exactness, which was
observed in their [64]evacuations, it is a surmise almost too trifling to
be discussed. I have shewn that the Cunocephali were a sacred college,
whose members were persons of great learning: and their society seems
to have been a very antient institution. They were particularly addicted
to astronomical observations; and by contemplating the heavens, styled
Ouran, they learned to distinguish the seasons, and to divide the day
into parts. But the term Ouran the Greeks by a strange misconception
changed to [Greek: ourein]; of which mistake they have afforded other
instances: and from this abuse of terms the silly figment took its rise.
The Cunocephali are not to be found in Egypt only, but in India
likewise; and in other parts of the world. Herodotus [65]mentions a
nation of this name in Libya: and speaks of them as a race of men with
the heads of dogs. Hard by in the neighbourhood of this people he
places the [Greek: Akephaloi], men with no heads at all: to whom, out
of humanity, and to obviate some very natural distresses, he gives eyes
in the breast. But he seems to have forgot mouth and ears, and makes
no mention of a nose: he only says, [66][Greek: Akephaloi, hoi en
stêthesin ophthalmous echontes.] Both these and the Cunocephali were
denominated from their place of residence, and from their worship: the

one from Cahen-Caph-El, the other from Ac-Caph-El: each of which
appellations is of the same purport, the right noble, or sacred [67]rock
of the Sun.
Similar to the history of the Cunocephali, and Acephali, is that of the
Cunodontes. They are a people mentioned by Solinus and Isidorus, and
by them are supposed to have had the teeth of dogs. Yet they were
probably denominated, like those above, from the object of their
worship, the Deity Chan-Adon; which the Greeks expressed