Note 179 — CANAAN, CNAAN,
Reading edition
As in early times colonies went by the name of the Deity whom they worshipped, or by the name of the insigne and hieroglyphic under which their country was denoted, every depredation made by such people was placed to the account of the Deity under such a device. This was the manner in which poets described things: and, in those days, all wrote in measure. Hence, instead of saying that the Egyptians, or Canaanites, or Tyrians, landed and carried off such and such persons; they said, that it was done by Jupiter, in the shape of an eagle, or a swan, or a bull: substituting an eagle for Egypt, a swan for Canaan, and a bull for the city of [179]Tyre. It is said of the Telchines, who were Amonian priests, that they came to Attica under the conduct of Jupiter in the shape of an eagle.