Note 309 — TIT and TITH.

The same story is told of Prometheus, who is said to have been exposed upon Mount Caucasus, near Colchis; with this variation, that an eagle is placed over him, preying upon his heart. These strange histories are undoubtedly taken from the symbols and devices which were carved upon the front of the antient Amonian temples; and especially those of Egypt. The eagle and the vulture were the insignia of that country: whence it was called Ai-Gupt, and [309]Aetia, from Ait and Gupt, which signified an eagle and vulture. Ait was properly a title of the Deity, and signified heat: and the heart, the centre of vital heat, was among the Egyptians styled [310]Ait: hence we are told by [311]Orus Apollo, that a heart over burning coals was an emblem of Egypt. The Amonians dealt much in hieroglyphical representations. Nonnus mentions one of this sort, which seems to have been a curious emblem of the Sun. It was engraved upon a jasper, and worn for a bracelet. Two serpents entwined together, with their heads different ways, were depicted in a semicircular manner round the extreme part of the gem. At the top between their heads was an eagle; and beneath a sacred carriage, called Cemus.