se longevity is so much celebrated,
was nothing more than one of these structures, a Pharos, sacred to the sun,
as the name plainly shews. Tith-On is [Greek: mastos heliou], _the mount of
the [282]Sun_. As he supplied the place of that luminary, he is said to
have been beloved by Aurora, and through her favour to have lived many
ages. This, indeed, is the reverse of that which is fabled of the
[283]Cyclopes, whose history equally relates to edifices. They are said to
have raised the jealousy of Apollo, and to have been slain by his arrows:
yet it will be found at bottom of the same purport. The Cyclopian turrets
upon the Sicilian shore fronted due east: and their lights must necessarily
have been extinguished by the rays of the rising Sun. This, I imagine, is
the meaning of Apollo's slaying the Cyclopes with his arrows. Tethys, the
antient Goddess of the sea, was nothing else but an old tower upon a mount;
of the same shape, and erected for the same purposes, as those above. On
this account it was called Tith-Is, [Greek: mastos puros.] Thetis seems to
have been a transposition of the same name, and was probably a Pharos, or
Fire-tower, near the sea.

These mounts, [Greek: lophoi mastoeideis], were not only in Greece; but in
Egypt, Syria, and most parts of the world. They were generally formed by
art; being composed of earth, raised very high; which was sloped gradually,
and with great exactness: and the top of all was crowned with a fair tower.
The situation of these buildings made them be looked upon as places of
great safety: and the reverence in which they were held added to the
security. On these accounts they were the repositories of much wealth and
treasure: in times of peril they were crowded with things of value. In
Assyria was a temple named Azara; which the Parthian plundered, and is said
to have carried off ten thousand talents: [284][Greek: Chai ere palanton
murion gazan.] The same author mentions two towers of this sort in Judea,
not far from Jericho, belonging to Aristobulus and Alexander, and styled
[285][Greek: Gazophulakia ton Turannon]: which were taken by Pompeius
Magnus in his war with the Jews. There were often two of these mounds of
equal height in the same inclosure; such as are described by Josephus at
Machaerus, near some warm fountains. He mentions here a cavern and a rock;
[286][Greek: spelaion--tei petrai prouchousei skepomenon; tautes anothen
hosanei mastoi duo anechousin, allelon oligoi diest