The kings were appointed from the priests or
from the military class, since the military class had
eminence and honour because of valour, and the
priests because of wisdom. But he who was appointed
from the military class was at once made one of the
priests and a participant in their philosophy, which,
for the most part, is veiled in myths and in words
containing dim reflexions and adumbrations of the
truth, as they themselves intimate beyond question
by appropriately placing sphinxes1 before their
[p. 25]
shrines to indicate that their religious teaching has in
it an enigmatical sort of wisdom. In Saïs the statue
of Athena, whom they believe to be Isis, bore the
inscription : ‘I am all that has been, and is, and shall
be, and my robe no mortal has yet uncovered.’
Moreover, most people believe that Amoun is the
name given to Zeus in the land of the Egyptians,2 a
name which we, with a slight alteration, pronounce
Ammon. But Manetho of Sebennytus thinks that
the meaning ‘concealed’ or ‘concealment’ lies in
this word. Hecataeus3 of Abdera, however, says
that the Egyptians use this expression one to another
whenever they call to anyone, for the word is a form
of address. When they, therefore, address the
supreme god, whom they believe to be the same as
the Universe, as if he were invisible and concealed,
and implore him to make himself visible and manifest
to them, they use the word ‘Amoun’; so great, then,
was the circumspection of the Egyptians in their
wisdom touching all that had to do wTith the gods.