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CANOPUS, or CANOBUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 203 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CANOPUS, or CANOBUS , an See also:ancient See also:coast See also:town of See also:Lower See also:Egypt, a See also:hundred and twenty stadia, or 15 M. See also:east of See also:Alexandria, the See also:principal See also:port in Egypt for See also:Greek See also:trade before the See also:foundation of Alexandria, situated at the mouth of the westernmost (Canopic or Heracleotic) See also:branch of the See also:Nile, on the western See also:bank. The channel, which entered the Mediterranean at the western end of the See also:Bay of See also:Aboukir, is entirely silted up, but on the See also:shore at Aboukir there are extensive traces of the See also:city with its quays, &c. Excavation has disclosed See also:granite monuments with the name of See also:Rameses II., but they may have been brought at a See also:late See also:period for the adornment of the See also:place. It is not certain that Canopus was an old See also:Egyptian town, but it appears in See also:Herodotus as an ancient port. In the 9th See also:year of See also:Ptolemy Euergetes (239 B.c.) a See also:great See also:assembly of priests at Canopus passed an honorific degree, inter alia, conferring the See also:title Evepyirns " Benefactor " on the See also:king. Two examples of this See also:decree are known, inscribed in hieroglyphic, See also:demotic and Greek. From it we learn that the native See also:form of the name of Canopus was Karob. A See also:temple of See also:Osiris was built by Euergetes, but very near to Canopus was an older See also:shrine, a temple of Heracles mentioned by Herodotus as an See also:asylum for fugitive slaves. The decree shows that Heracles here stands for See also:Ammon. Osiris was worshipped at Canopus under a See also:peculiar form, a See also:vase with a human See also:head, and was identified with Canopus, the See also:pilot of See also:Menelaus, who was said to have been buried here: the name canopic has been applied, through an old misunderstanding, to the vases with human and See also:animal heads in which the See also:internal See also:organs were placed by the Egyptians after See also:embalming. In the See also:Roman See also:epoch the town was notorious for its dissoluteness. Aboukir means " See also:father See also:Cyrus," referring to a Coptic See also:saint of that name.

(F. LL.

End of Article: CANOPUS, or CANOBUS

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