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H. knows his distances are approximate (μάλιστα), but he goes on as if they were precise. ἁλὸς . . . τρύφεα. H. is right as to the abundance of salt, rising ‘in masses’ above the ground, and as to the springs of fresh water in the midst of it. But his general conception of an oasis as a ‘hill of salt’ (κολωνὸς ἁλός, 182. 1) is quite absurd; no doubt he was misled by the fact that salt then, as now, is a most important article in the caravan trade; but he attempts to combine in an imaginary picture details that he has not seen, and naturally he fails. H. only knows Ὄασις as a proper name (iii. 26. 1 n.). ἀνακοντίζει, ‘shoots up.’ R. Neumann (p. 87) well points out that the springs in the oases are ‘very frequently artificially arranged’. Ἀμμώνιοι. The Oasis of Siwah (i. e. of Ammon) is twenty days' journey from Thebes (not ‘ten’), twelve from Memphis; the latter place was the usual starting-point for a caravan, and H. gives in round numbers the average length of a journey. But his religious instinct made him substitute ‘Thebes’ for ‘Memphis’, as the ‘ramheaded’ Zeus (ii. 42 nn.) is to him the god of Thebes. This is the most natural explanation of his mistake; others (Stein) suppose that a stage of the caravan journey has fallen out, the ‘Great Oasis’ (El Khargeh), seven days from Thebes. Others again (e. g. R. Neumann, p. 99, who discusses the question fully), think there is a confusion between the great shrine of Ammon at Siwah and a less important one at Dachel, which really is ‘ten days' journey’ from Thebes.
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