ere liable to be entangled among the rocks, and shelves of the deep:
and I mentioned the expedients of which they made use to obviate such
difficulties, and to render the coast less dangerous. They built upon every
hill, and promontory, where they had either commerce or settlement,
obelisks, and towers, which they consecrated to some Deity. These served in
a twofold capacity, both as seamarks by day, and for beacons by night. And
as people in those times made only coasting voyages, they continually went
on shore with offerings, in order to gain the assistance of the God,
whoever there presided; for these towers were temples, and oftentimes
richly furnished and endowed. They were built sometimes on artificial
mounds; but generally on natural eminences, that they might be seen at a
great distance. They were called by the Amonians, who first erected them,
[230]Tar, and Tor; the same as the [Hebrew: TWR] of the Chaldees, which
signified both a hill and tower. They were oftentimes compounded, and
styled Tor-Is, or fire towers: on account of the light which they
exhibited, and the fires which were preserved in them. Hence came the
turris of the Romans; and the [Greek: turis, turrhis, tursis, tursos], of
the Greeks. The latter, when the word Tor occurred in antient history,
often changed it to [Greek: tauros], a bull; and invented a number of idle
stories in consequence of this change. The Ophite God Osiris, the same as
Apollo, was by the Amonians styled Oph-El, and Ope-El: and there was upon
the Sinus Persicus a city Opis, where his rites were observed. There seems
likewise to have been a temple sacred to him, named Tor-Opel; which the
Greeks rendered [Greek: Tauropolos]. Strabo speaks of such an oracular
temple; and says, that it was in the island Icaria, towards the mouth of
the Tigris: [231][Greek: Neson Ikarion, kai hieron Apollonos hagion en
autei, kai manteion Tauropolou.] Here, instead of Osiris, or Mithras, the
serpent Deity, the author presents us with Apollo, the manager of bulls.

One of the principal and most antient settlements of the Amonians upon the
ocean was at Gades; where a prince was supposed to have reigned, named
Geryon. The harbour at Gades was a very fine one; and had several Tor, or
Towers to direct shipping: and as it was usual to imagine the Deity, to
whom the temple was erected, to have been the builder, this temple was said
to have been built by Hercules. All this the Grecians took to themselves:
th