e people are to
be found in the most extreme parts of the east; where we may observe the
same rites and ceremonies, and the same traditional histories, as are to be
met with in their other settlements. The country called Phenicia could not
have sufficed for the effecting all that is attributed to these mighty
adventurers. It is necessary for me to acquaint the Reader, that the
wonderful people to whom I allude were the descendants of Chus, and called
Cuthites and Cuseans. They stood their ground at the general migration of
families; but were at last scattered over the face of the earth. They were
the first apostates from the truth, yet great in worldly wisdom. They
introduced, wherever they came, many useful arts, and were looked up to as
a superior order of beings: hence they were styled Heroes, Daemons, Heliadae,
Macarians. They were joined in their expeditions by other nations,
especially by the collateral branches of their family, the Mizraim,
Caphtorim, and the sons of Canaan. These were all of the line of Ham, who
was held by his posterity in the highest veneration. They called him Amon:
and having in process of time raised him to a divinity, they worshipped him
as the Sun; and from this worship they were styled Amonians. This is an
appellation which will continually occur in the course of this work; and I
am authorised in the use of it from Plutarch, from whom we may infer, that
it was not uncommon among the sons of Ham. He specifies particularly, in
respect to the Egyptians, that when any two of that nation met, they used
it as a term of honour in their[4] salutations, and called one another
Amonians. This therefore will be the title by which I shall choose to
distinguish the people of whom I treat, when I speak of them collectively;
for under this denomination are included all of this family, whether they
were Egyptians or Syrians, of Phenicia or of Canaan. They were a people who
carefully preserved memorials of their ancestors, and of those great events
which had preceded their dispersion. These were described in hieroglyphics
upon pillars and obelisks: and when they arrived at the knowledge of
letters, the same accounts were religiously maintained, both in their
sacred archives, and popular records. It is mentioned of Sanchoniathon, the
most antient of Gentile writers, that he obtained all his knowledge from
some writings of the Amonians. _It was the good fortune of Sanchoniathon_,
says [5]Philo Biblius, _to lig