Note 780 — OMPHI,

We may perceive, from what has been said, that the word Amphi was a term of long standing, the sense of which was no longer understood: yet the sound was retained by the Greeks, and used for a customary exclamation. In respect to the more antient exordia above quoted, especially that of Terpander, I take the words to be an imitation, rather than a translation, of a hymn sung at Delphi in the antient Amonian language; the sound of which has been copied, rather than the sense, and adapted to modern terms of a different meaning. I make no doubt but that there were many antient hymns preserved in those oracular temples, which were for a long time retained, and sung, when their meaning was very imperfectly known. They were, for the most part, composed in praise of Ham, or the Sun; and were sung by the Homeridæ, and Iämidæ. They were called after his titles, Ad, Athyr, Amphi, which the Grecians expressed Dithyrambi. They were strains of joy and exultation, attended with grand processions: and from the same term, dithyrambus, was derived the θριαμβος of the Greeks, and the triumphus of the Romans. We are informed that triumphs were first instituted by [780]Bacchus, who was no other than Chus: the history, therefore, of the term must be sought for from among the Cuseans. That it was made up of titles, is plain, from its being said by Varro to have been a [781]name; and one that was given by the Amonians among other personages to Dionusus: for they were not in this point uniform. Diodorus takes notice that it was a name, and conferred upon the person spoken of: [782]Θριαμβον δε αυτον ωνομασθηναι φασι: They say, that one of the titles given to Dionusus was Thriambus. Ham, in the very antient accounts of Greece, is called Iämus, and his priests Iämidæ. His oracle, in consequence of this, was styled Iämphi, and Iämbi, which was the same term as Amphi, of which we have been treating. From the name Iambi came the measure Ιαμβος, Iambus, in which oracles were of old delivered. Ham, among the Egyptians, was called [783]Tithrambo, which is the same name as the Ditherambus of Diodorus. There is a remarkable passage in the Scholia upon Pindar concerning Ham, under the name of Iamus, and also concerning his temple, which is represented as oracular. [784] Μαντειον ην εν Ολυμπιᾳ, ὁυ αρχηγος γεγονεν Ιαμος, τῃ δια εμπυρων μαντειᾳ, ἡ και μεχρι του νυν ὁι Ιαμιδαι χρωνται. There was in Olympia an antient temple, esteemed a famous seat of prophecy, in which Iamus is supposed to have first presided; and where the will of the Deity was made manifest by the sacred fire upon the altar: this kind of divination is still carried on by a set of priests, who are called Iamidæ. Ιαμος αρχηγος was in reality the Deity; and his attendants were [785]Iamidæ, persons of great power and repute. Εξ ὁυ πολυκλειτον καθ' Ἑλλανος γενος Ιαμιδων. Pindar. Iämus was immortal, and was therefore named αθανατος.