Note 216 — RADICALS.

Fire, and likewise the God of fire, was by the Amonians styled Apthas, and Aptha; contracted, and by different authors expressed, Apha, Pthas, and Ptha. He is by Suidas supposed to have been the Vulcan of Memphis. Φθας, ὁ Ηφαιστος παρα [216]Μεμφιταις. And Cicero makes him the same Deity of the Romans. [217]Secundus, (Vulcanus) Nilo natus, Phas, ut Ægyptii appellant, quem custodem esse Ægypti volunt. The author of the Clementines describes him much to the same purpose. [218]Αιγυπτιοι δε ὁμοιως—το πυρ ιδιᾳ διαλεκτῳ Φθα εκαλεσαν, ὁ ἑρμηνευεται Ἡφαιστος. [219]Huetius takes notice of the different ways in which this name is expressed: Vulcano Pthas, et Apthas nomen fuisse scribit Suidas. Narrat Eusebius Ptha Ægyptiorum eundem esse ac Vulcanum Græcorum; Patrem illi fuisse Cnef, rerum opificem. However the Greeks and Romans may have appropriated the term, it was, properly, a title of [220]Amon: and Iamblichus acknowledges as much in a [221]chapter wherein he particularly treats of him. But, at the same time, it related to fire: and every place, in the composition of whose name it is found, will have a reference to that element, or to its worship.