Listed 3 sub titles with search on: Information about the place for wider area of: "ILIOPOLIS Ancient city EGYPT" .
Heliopolis Aegypti (Helioupolis, Steph. B. s. v.; Ptol. iv. 5. § 54;
Herod. ii. 3, 7, 59; Strab. xvii. p. 805; Diod. i. 84, v. 57; Arrian, Exp. Alex.
iii. 1; Aelian, H. A. vi. 58, xii. 7; Plut. Solon. 26, Is. et Osir. 33; Diog.
Laert. xviii. 8. § 6; Joseph. Ant. Jud. xiii. 3, C. Apion. i. 26; Cic. Nat. Deor.
iii. 21; Plin. v. 9. § 11; Tac. Ann. vi. 28; Mela, iii. 8: Eth. Helionpolires:
the Semitic names Beth-Schemisch and On Gen. xli. 45, Ezech. xxx. 17., as well
as the Arabic Ainshems or Fountain of Light, corresponded with the Greek appellation
in signifying the City of the Sun). Heliopolis was a city of Lower Egypt, 12 miles
from the Egyptian Babylon (It. Anton. p. 169), on the verge of the eastern desert,
and at the SE. point of the Delta, a little NE. of its apex at Cercasorum, lat.
30° N. It stood on the eastern side of the Pelusiac, arm of the Nile, and near
the right bank of the Great Canal, which, passing through the Bitter Lakes, connected
the river with the Red Sea. In Roman times it belonged to the Regio Augustamnica.
Its population probably contained a considerable Arabian element. (Plin. vi. 34.)
Heliopolis, however, the On, Rameses, or Beth-Schemesch of the Hebrew Scriptures,
- for it has claims to be regarded as any one of the three, - was long anterior
even to the Pharaonic portion of this canal, and was, indeed, one of the most
ancient of Egyptian cities. Its obelisks were probably seen by Abraham when he
first migrated from Syria to the Delta, 1600 years B.C.; and here the father-in-law
of Joseph filled the office of high priest. It may be regarded as the University
of the land of Misraim: its priests, from the most remote epochs, were the great
depositaries of theological and historical learning; and it was of sufficient
political importance to furnish ten deputies, or one-third of the whole number,
to the great council which assisted the Pharaohs in the administration of justice.
At Heliopolis Moses probably acquired the learning of the Egyptians, and the prophet
Jeremiah wrote his Lamentations over the decline of the Hebrew people. From Ichonuphys,
who was lecturing there in B.C. 308, and who numbered Enudoxus among his pupils,
the Greek mathematician learned the true length of the year and month, upon which
lie formed his octaeterid, or period of eight years or ninety-nine months. Solon,
Thales, and Plato, were reputed each to have visited its schools, - the halls,
indeed. in which the latter studied were pointed out to Strabo: while in the reign
of the second Ptolemy, Manethon, the chief priest of Heliopolis, collected from
its archives his history of the ancient kings of Egypt. Alexander the Great, on
his march from Pelusium to Memphis, halted at this city (Arrian, iii. 1); and,
according to Macrobius (Saturn. i. 23), Baalbek, or the Syrian City of the Sun,
was a priest-colony from its Egyptian namesake.
The Heliopolite none, of which this city was the capital, contained,
after the decline and dispersion of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, a Hebrew
population almost equal in numbers to that of the native Egyptians. (Joseph. Antiq.
Jud. xiii. 3.) But, even so early as the invasion of Cambyses, B.C. 525, Heliopolis
had much declined; and in the time of Strabo, who visited it during the prefecture
of Aelius Gallus, B.C. 24, its ruins had nearly vanished.
The sun, as the name of the city proves, was the principal object
of worship at Heliopolis; and the legends of the Phoenix, the emblem of the solar
year, centred around its temples. It was also the seat of the worship of the bull
Mnevis, the rival of Apis in this region of Aegypt. In all respects, indeed, it
merited the distinction ascribed to it by Diodorus of Sicily, who calls Heliopolis
polis epiphanestate.
The ruins of Heliopolis occupy a quadrangular area of nearly 3 miles
in extent, and were described by Abd-Allatif, an Arabian physician, who wrote
his account of Egypt about the close of the 12th century A.D. He speaks of its
surprising colossal figures cut in stone more than 30 cubits high, of which some
were standing on pedestals and others were in sitting postures. He saw the two
famous obelisks called Pharaoh's Needles, one standing and the other fallen and
broken in two by its own enormous weight. The name of Osirtesen I., king of Thebes,
of the xiith dynasty, who was lord of both the Upper and Lower country, was inscribed
on them. The standng obelisk is still erect, and is even now studied as the earliest
known specimen of Egyptian architecture. (Plin. xxxvi. 9.) Zoega (de Obeliscis,
p. 642) supposes that the obelisk which was transported. to Rome and set up in
the Campus Martins, by order of Augustus, came also from Heliopolis. (Comp. Ammian,
xvii. 4.) The obelisks of Osirtesen were each 60 feet high, and consisted of a.quadrangular
column or cone, rising out of a square base 10 feet high. The pointed top of the
column was once covered with a copper cap, shaped like a funnel, and 3 cubits
in length. These structures formed the most conspicuous figures in the centre
of converging avenues of smaller obelisks.
The hamlet of Matarieh, about 6 miles NE. of Cairo, covers a portion
of the ancient site of Heliopolis, and is still distinguished by its solitary
obelisk of red granite, and contains - no common privilege in Egypt - a spring
of sweet and fresh water. Some remains of sphinxes, with fragments of a colossal
statue, indicate the ancient approaches to the Temple of the Sun. Heliopolis,
from its position on the verge: of the desert, must have been contiguous to, and
may have overlooked, the pastures of Goshen, where the Children of Israel were
allowed to settle by the priest-kings of Memphis; and earlier still, the city,
if not indeed Abaris itself, was probably one of the last fortresses held by the
Shepherd Kings before their final evacuation of Egypt.
This text is from: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854) (ed. William Smith, LLD). Cited September 2004 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
(Helioupolis). A famous city of Egypt, situated a little to the east of the apex of the Delta, not far from modern Cairo. In Hebrew it is styled On or Aun. In the Septuagint it is called Heliopolis, or City of the Sun; in Jeremiah, Beth Shemim--i. e. domus solis. Herodotus also mentions it by this name, and speaks of its inhabitants as being the wisest and most ingenious of all the Egyptians. According to Berosus, this was the city of Moses. It was also a place of resort for all the Greeks who visited Egypt for instruction. Hither came Herodotus, Plato, Eudoxus, and others, and secured much of the learning which they afterwards disseminated among their own countrymen. Plato, in particular, resided here three years. Manetho, the historian, was also here as a priest. The city was built, according to Strabo, on a long, artificial mound of earth, so as to be out of reach of the inundations of the Nile. It had an oracle of Apollo and a famous Temple of the Sun. In this temple was fed and adored the sacred ox Mnevis, as Apis was at Memphis. This city was laid waste with fire and sword by Cambyses, and its chapter of priests all slaughtered. Strabo saw it in a deserted state and shorn of all its splendour. Heliopolis was famed also for its fountain of excellent water, which still remains, and gave rise to the subsequent Arabic name of the place, Ain Shems, or the Fountain of the Sun. The modern name is Matareieh, or cool water. A solitary obelisk of red granite is all that remains at the present day of this once celebrated place; and the two obelisks known as "Cleopatra's Needles" were originally brought from Heliopolis to Alexandria.
This text is cited Oct 2002 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
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