Canaan, near the fords of Jordan, were
some celebrated waters; which, from their name, appear to have been, of
old, sacred to the Sun. The name of the place was [196]AEnon, or the
fountain of the Sun; the same to which people resorted to be baptized by
John: not from an opinion that there was any sanctity in the waters; for
that notion had been for ages obliterated; and the name was given by the
Canaanite: but [197]_John baptized in AEnon, near to Salim, because there
was much water there: and they came, and were baptized_. Many places were
styled An-ait, An-abor, Anabouria, Anathon, Anopus, Anorus. Some of these
were so called from their situation; others from the worship there
established. The Egyptians had many subordinate Deities, which they
esteemed so many emanations, [Greek: aporrhoiai] from their chief God; as
we learn from Iamblichus, Psellus, and Porphyry. These derivatives they
called [198]fountains, and supposed them to be derived from the Sun; whom
they looked upon as the source of all things. Hence they formed Ath-El and
Ath-Ain, the [199]Athela and Athena of the Greeks. These were two titles
appropriated to the same personage, Divine Wisdom; who was supposed to
spring from the head of her father. Wherever the Amonian religion was
propagated, names of this sort will occur; being originally given from the
mode of worship established[200]. Hence so many places styled Anthedon,
Anthemus, Ain-shemesh, and the like. The nymph Oenone was, in reality, a
fountain, Ain-On, in Phrygia; and sacred to the same Deity: and, agreeably
to this, she is said to have been the daughter of the river [201]Cebrenus.
The island AEgina was named [202]Oenone, and Oenopia, probably from its
worship. As Divine Wisdom was sometimes expressed Ath-Ain, or [Greek:
Athena]; so, at other times, the terms were reversed, and a Deity
constituted called An-Ait. Temples to this goddess occur at Ecbatana in
Media: also in Mesopotamia, Persis, Armenia, and Cappadocia; where the
rites of fire were particularly observed. She was not unknown among the
antient Canaanites; for a temple called Beth-Anath is mentioned in the book
of [203]Joshua. Of these temples, and the Puratheia there established,
accounts may be seen in many parts of Strabo.

I have mentioned, that all springs and baths were sacred to the Sun: on
which account they were called Bal-ain; the fountains of the great Lord of
Heaven; from whence the Greeks formed [Greek: Balaneia]: and the