situated extrinseciis, or without the inclosure, in which stood the
principal temple of Ammon.
The water of the Fountain of the Sun was, at different periods of
each twenty-four hours, successively hot and cold: “ Aquam enim
habet, cum horis diei miris subinde vicibus re varlantem. Nam sub
lucis ortum tepidam emittit. Die hinc progrediente pro horarum suc-
cedentium ratione, frigescit. Sub æstum vero meridianum frigedo
ejus summa est. Ouæ rursùs parili modo remittit usque ad vesperam.
Tunc appetente nocte rursùs incalescit, ad mediam usque noctem,
ubi exæstuat. Exinde calor sensim deficit : donee unà cum exortâ
luce pristinam teporis vicem recuperârit.” Diod. Sic. Tom. II. edit.
Wesseling, p. 199.
Mr. Horneman appears to have made no inquiries on this curious
subject; but tells us, that having asked, “ if there was any spring
of fresh water near ?" he was shewn to the one he describes, undoubtedly
the nearest, and probably the same as seen by Mr. Brown,
who says, (p. 24 of his Volume of Travels), “ that one of the springs
which rise near the ruins described, is observed by the natives, to
be sometimes cold and sometimes warm.” Mr. Brown does not
appear to have considered the Oasis of Siwah-as that of Ammon.
He had no favourite discovery to set forth and confirm by particular
remarks and circumstances: he had not an interest in his
account of the changeable temperature of this spring, but that of
truth. The periodical variation from hot to cold, and from cold
to heat, may rather, therefore on his relation, be assumed as fact,
and be taken as a matter of proof concurrent with the grove, the
spring itself, thé distance from the ruins, and the beauty of the
situation, all answering to the descriptions‘of the Fountain of the
Sun, given by anci.ent writers* and, in reference to the ruins, rendering
the conjecture more probable, that they are those of the
Temple of Ammon.
Fifthly, Mr. Horneman says, “ that the material of which the
building is constructed, is a limestone, containing petrifactions of
shells and small marine animals; and that such stone is to be found
and dug up in the neighbourhoodso too Strabo tells us, p. 49,
that sea fossils and shells were spread on the Oasis of Ammon;
x/xla'Jyv fj.scroyai.av o^a]ai sroXXax« koxXIov ogfrn km x^ocfjiSuv irXvfroG,
Kui XifcvoQaXoilroi Kahaoro^ Cfrnjiri Jo I tsgov 7« ”Afj.fj.avoG. Strabo, p. 50,
further noticing the marine substances scattered on the Oasis of
Ammon, cites Eratosthenes, supposing that the sea once reached
to that interior spot of Africa, and supporting his conjecture by observing,
that the oracle could not anciently, and in the first instance,
have been so renowned-and visited, if difficult of access, by being
far inland., Casaubon’s version expresses it, “ fortassis etiam Am-
moms templum, aliquando in mari jacuisse, quod nunc maris effluxu
sit in media terra; ac conjicere se, oraculum illud optima ratione
tam illustre ac celebre factum, esse quod in mari esset situm, neque
ejus gloriam probabile esse tantam potuisse existere, quanta nunc est,
si tam longe fuisset a mari dissitum.” P. ,50. The poet follows the
geographer's idea, and derives a fine sentiment for the mouth of Cato.
Numen ---------------------— ,_______ ,______
------------------------------- steriles nec legit arenas,
Ut caneret paucis, mersitque hoc pulvere verum.
Pharsal. lib. ix. v. 576.
Now, taking the simple fact, the stones with which the Temple
of Ammon was built, might be supposed to contain fragments of
marine animals and shells, such as those mentioned by Horneman.
For the rest, Strabo’s 'or rather Eratosthene’s) conjecture is scarcely
admissible.