were often placed in aGtual fortresses. The Temple of Minerva
at Syracuse, was in the Ortygia; the Parthenon of Athens, in -the
Acropolis; the Roman Temple of Jupiter, in the Capitol; and the
Editor, when in Sicily, remarked the circumvallatioris inclosing the
temples at Selinunté, and the almost impregnable situations of those
_ at Agrigentum and Segesté.
The foundations of ancient circumvallation at Siwah may thus be
considered, in some degree, as indications of the origin and purpose
of the building within the inclosure.
The Ammonian temple was -certainly surrounded by a strong
wall ; | triplici muro circumdatum,” as Diodorus, lib. xvii. and
Q. Curtius, lib. iv. cap. 7, both inform us. Curtius uses the word
munitio, and the 'Av-scrrcï.tç, or arx of Diodorus, answers in description
to the mount of Siwah itself ; and the temple of Ammon
b e in g represented as being erected within the third or more distant
inclqsure o f wall, its distance from the citadel may well correspond
with that of the ruins in question, from the town of Siwah.
Horneman further informs us, that the ancient building which
he describes, stood in the centre o f the area, and partly on a rock ;
and at the same time observes, that the ground generally throughout
the area was broken and dug up in search of treasure ; from which
may be inferred that formerly there were other buildings within
the inclosure. On this head it is almost unnecessary to cite ancient
"authorities ; it will appear from a view of the well known ruins in
Greece, Sicily, and the Magna Græcia, &c. that the ancients often
availed themselves of one and the same circumvallation, and erected
different temples within the general inclosure ; so, in the Achaicis of
Pausanias, cap. cxx. the temples of Minerva and of Diana Laphia
are within the same boundary of wall, without enumerating the
many other instances in that curious journal ; or to the three temples
actually remaining at Pæstum, &c. within the inclosure of one and
the same wall. In reference to the subject more immediately under
consideration, the Ammonian temples of Juno and Mercury were in
high repute with'the Greeks, as mentioned in the Eliacis, p. 4,16,
edit. Kuhn : and these temples were probably within the same inclosure
as that of Ammon. The temple of Ammon being the principal,
might be supposed to be erected in the centre and on the rock,
which strong foundation may have iq part yet preserved it, whilst
the foundations of the others more easily dug and broken up, have
brought those edifices low to the ground ; and hence the very materials
(as we are told) have been carried away, and no vestiges remain
but of the area of the earth having been disturbed and heaped, as the-
work of search,, dilapidation,, and pillage was carried on.
Fourthly, Mr. Horneman-was shewn, at the distance of half a
mile from the ruins; “ a spring of fresh water, zvhich takes its rise in
a grove of date trees, and. in a most romantic and beautiful situation."
This description precisely answers to that o f the Fountain of the
Sun, mentioned by ancient writers ; and the distance from the chief
temple too, seems to agree. “ Haud procul arce extrinsecus alterum
Hammonis fafium jacet, quod-multæ. arbores prooeræ inumbrant, et
fons proximus est, ¿vopxgopAvri’iixie mgfaii Diod. Sic. Tom. II. p. igg„
So too Curtius, “ Est etiam aliud Hammonis nemus ; in medio habet
fontem ; Aquam Solis vocant.” Lih. iv. cap. 7,
Thus far the merely descriptive accounts agree. If a further point-
can be ascertained, it will be conclusive, and the beautiful spot visited
by our traveller, be identified as that, of the Fountain of the Sun,
N 2.