Note 1080 — JUVENAL'S SATIRES. (continued 3)

Ombos, now "Koum-Ombou," lies on the right bank of the Nile, not far from Syene, and consequently a hundred miles at least from Tentyra. To avoid the difficulty, therefore, in the word "finitimos," Salmasius would read "Coptos," this place being only twelve miles distant; but all the best editions have Ombos. Tentyra, now "Denderah," lies on the left bank of the river, and is well known from the famous discoveries in its Temple by Napoleon's savans. The Tentyrites, as Strabo tells us (xvii., p. 460; cf. Plin., H. N., viii., 25), differed from the rest of their countrymen in their hatred and persecution of the crocodile, πάντα τρόπον ἀνιχνεύουσι καὶ διαφθείρουσιν αὐτούς, being the only Egyptians who dared attack or face them; and hence when some crocodiles were conveyed to Rome for exhibition, some Tentyrite keepers accompanied them, and displayed some curious feats of courage and dexterity. Aphrodite was their patron deity. The men of Coptos, Ombos, and Arsinoë, on the other hand, paid the crocodile the highest reverence; considering it an honor to have their children devoured by them; and crucified kites out of spite to the Tentyrites, who adored them. These religious differences are said by Diodorus (ii., 4) to have been fostered by the policy of the ancient kings, to prevent the conspiracies which might have resulted from the cordial union and coalition of the various nomes.