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ἐοῦσα: concessive; for the beasts of Libya cf. iv. 191. Egypt is comparatively free from beasts, owing to the extent of cultivated land and the small amount of waste.

ἐόντα agrees with θήρια understood from θηριώδης. Strictly taken the words mean that all beasts were sacred everywhere in Egypt; but this is absurd, and inconsistent with H.'s own details. The respect paid varied from nome to nome; cf. Juv. xv. 36 ‘numina vicinorum odit uterque locus’. H. quite fails to distinguish the various kinds of animal worship (Sourdille, R. p. 235 seq.): (1) animals worshipped by individuals as fetiches. Of this class there is little evidence, though no doubt such worship was widely spread among the lower classes; (2) individual animals supposed to be gods incarnate. Cf. c. 46 (the goat at Mendes); iii. 27-8 (Apis at Memphis; (3) whole classes of animals sacred to a god. Strabo, 803, distinguishes these clearly, θεοὶ μὲν οὐ νομίζονται ἱεροὶ δέ. Most of H.'s details refer to (3). For animal worship in general cf. 75. 3 n.

ἀνεῖται: properly ‘are let go’; hence ἀνίημι is used either with ἱρός (as here) or without (cf. Plato, Leg. 761 C ἄλσος ἀνειμένον = ‘consecrated’).

φεύγω: cf. for this reserve 3. 2 n.

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