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Such Egyptians as possess a temple of the Theban Jove, or live in
the Thebaic canton, offer no sheep in sacrifice, but only goats; for
the Egyptians do not all worship the same gods, excepting Isis and
Osiris, the latter of whom they say is the Grecian Bacchus.
Those, on the contrary, who possess a temple dedicated to Mendes,
or belong to the Mendesian canton, abstain from offering goats, and
sacrifice sheep instead. The Thebans, and such as imitate them in
their practice, give the following account of the origin of the
custom: "Hercules," they say, "wished of all things to see
Jove, but Jove did not choose to be seen of him. At length, when
Hercules persisted, Jove hit on a device - to flay a ram, and,
cutting off his head, hold the head before him, and cover himself with
the fleece. In this guise he showed himself to Hercules."
Therefore the Egyptians give their statues of Jupiter the face of a
ram: and from them the practice has passed to the Ammonians, who are
a joint colony of Egyptians and Ethiopians, speaking a language
between the two; hence also, in my opinion, the latter people took
their name of Ammonians, since the Egyptian name for Jupiter is
Amun. Such, then, is the reason why the Thebans do not sacrifice
rams, but consider them sacred animals. Upon one day in the year,
however, at the festival of Jupiter, they slay a single ram, and
stripping off the fleece, cover with it the statue of that god, as he
once covered himself, and then bring up to the statue of Jove an image
of Hercules. When this has been done, the whole assembly beat their
breasts in mourning for the ram, and afterwards bury him in a holy sepulchre.
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