s
Rhodius_ [278] and his scholiast tell us, that _Sesonchosis_ King of all
_Egypt_, that is _Sesac_, invading all _Asia_, and a great part of
_Europe_, peopled many cities which he took; and that _AEa_, the Metropolis
of _Colchis_, _remained stable ever since his days with the posterity of
those _Egyptians_ which he placed there, and that they preserved pillars or
tables in which all the journies and the bounds of sea and land were
described, for the use of them that were to go any whither_: these tables
therefore gave a beginning to Geography.

_Sesostris_ upon his returning home [279] divided _Egypt_ by measure
amongst the _Egyptians_; and this gave a beginning to Surveying and
Geometry: and [280] _Jamblicus_ derives this division of _Egypt_, and
beginning of Geometry, from the Age of the Gods of _Egypt_. _Sesostris_
also [281] divided _Egypt_ into 36 _Nomes_ or Counties, and dug a canal
from the _Nile_ to the head city of every _Nome_, and with the earth dug
out of it, he caused the ground of the city to be raised higher, and built
a Temple in every city for the worship of the _Nome_, and in the Temples
set up Oracles, some of which remained 'till the days of _Herodotus_: and
by this means the _Egyptians_ of every _Nome_ were induced to worship the
great men of the Kingdom, to whom the _Nome_, the City, and the Temple or
Sepulchre of the God, was dedicated: for every Temple had its proper God,
and modes of worship, and annual festivals, at which the Council and People
of the _Nome_ met at certain times to sacrifice, and regulate the affairs
of the _Nome_, and administer justice, and buy and sell; but _Sesac_ and
his Queen, by the names of _Osiris_ and _Isis_, were worshipped in all
_Egypt_: and because _Sesac_, to render the _Nile_ more useful, dug
channels from it to all the capital cities of _Egypt_; that river was
consecrated to him, and he was called by its names, _AEgyptus_, _Siris_,
_Nilus_. _Dionysius_ [282] tells us, that the _Nile_ was called _Siris_ by
the _Ethiopians_, and _Nilus_ by the people of _Siene_. From the word
_Nahal_, which signifies a torrent, that river was called _Nilus_; and
_Dionysius_ [283] tells us, that _Nilus_ was that King who cut _Egypt_ into
canals, to make the river useful: in Scripture the river is called
_Schichor_, or _Sihor_, and thence the _Greeks_ formed the words _Siris_,
_Sirius_, _Ser-Apis_, _O-Siris_; but _Plutarch_ [284] tells us, that the
syllable _O_, put before the word