Canobus

or Cano'pus (Κάνωβος or Κάνωπος), according to Grecian story, the helmsman of Menelaus, who on his return from Troy died in Egypt, in consequence of the bite of a snake, and was buried by Menelaus on the site of the town of Canobus, which derived its name from him. (Strab. xvii. p.801; Conon, Narrat. 8; Nicand. Ther. 309, &c.; Schol. ad Aelian. V. H. 15.13; Steph. Byz. s.v. Tac. Annual. 2.60; Dionys. Perieg. 13; Amm. Marcell. 22.16; Serv. ad Virg. Georg. 4.287.) According to some accounts, Canobus was worshipped in Egypt as a divine being, and was represented in the shape of a jar with small feet, a thin neck, a swollen body, and a round back. (Epiphan. Ancorat. § 108; Rufin. Hist. Eccles. 2.26; Suid. s. v. Κάνωπος.) The identification of an Egyptian divinity with the Greek hero Canobus is of course a mere fiction, and was looked upon in this light even by some of the ancients themselves. (Aristid. Orat. Aegypt. vol. ii. p. 359, &c. ed. Jebb.) On the Egyptian monuments we find a number of jars with the head either of some animal or of a human being at the top, and adorned with images of gods and hieroglyphics. (Déscription de l'Egypte, i. pl. 10, ii. pl. 36, 92; Montfaucon, l'Antiquité eapliq. vol. ii. p. 2, pl. 132-134.) Such jars are also seen on Egyptian, especially Canobian, coins. (Vaillant, Hist. Ptolem. p. 205.) They appear to have been frequently used by the Egyptians in performing religious rites and sacrifices, and it may be that some deities were symbolically represented in this manner; but a particular jar-god, as worshipped at Canobus, is not mentioned by any writer except Rufinus, and is therefore exceedingly doubtful. Modern critics accordingly believe, that the god called Canobus may be some other divinity worshipped in that place, or the god Serapis, who was the chief deity of Canobus. But the whole subject is involved in utter obscurity. (See Jablonsky, Panth. Aegypt. iii. p. 151; Hug, Untersuchungen über den Mythus, &c.; Creuzer, Dionysius, p. 109, &c., Symbol. i. p. 225, &c.) [L.S]

CANO´BUS or CANO´PUS (Quint. Inst. Or. 1.5.13; Κάνωπος, Steph. B. p. 355 s. v.;Hdt. 2.15, 97, 113; Strab. 16. p. 666, 17. p. 800 seq.; Scylax, pp. 44, 51; Mel. 2.7.6; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 5.13; Aeschyl. Supp. 312; Caes. B. Alex. 25; Virg. Georg. 4.287; Juv. Sat. 6.84, 15.46; Senec. Epist. 51; Tac. Ann. 2.60; Ammian. 22.41, &c.: Eth. Κανωβίτης; Adj. Κανωβικός, fem. Κανωβίς), a town of Egypt, situated in lat. 31° N. upon the same tongue of land with Alexandreia, and about 15 miles (120 stadia) from that city. It stood upon the mouth of the Canobic branch of the Nile [NILUS], and adjacent to the Canobic canal (Κανωβικὴ διῶρυξ Strab. 17. p. 800). In the Pharaonic times it was the capital of the nome Menelaïtes, and, previous to the foundation of Alexandreia, was the principal harbour of the Delta. At Canobus the ancient geographers (Scylax; Conon. Narrat. 8; Plin. Nat. 5.34; Schol. in Dict. Cretens. 6.4) placed the true boundary between the continents of Africa and Asia. According to Greek legends, the city of Canobus derived its name from the pilot of Menelaus, who died and was buried there on the return of the Achaeans from Troy. But it more probably owed its appellation to the god Canobus--a pitcher with a human head--who was worshipped there with peculiar pomp. (Comp. Nicand. Theriac. 312.) At Canobus was a temple of Zeus-Canobus, whom Greeks and Egyptians held in equal reverence, and a much frequented shrine and oracle of Serapis. (Plut. Is. et Osir. 27.) As the resort of mariners and foreigners, and as the seat of a hybrid Copto-Hellenic population, Canobus was notorious for the number of its religious festivals and the general dissoluteness of its morals. Here was prepared the scarlet dye--the Hennah, with which, in all ages, the women of the East have been wont to colour the nails of their feet and fingers. (Hdt. 2.113; Plin. Nat. 12.51.) The decline of Canopus began with the rise of Alexandreia, and was completed by the introduction of Christianity into Egypt. Traces of its ruins are found about 3 miles from Aboukir. (Denon, Voyage en Egypte, p. 42; Champollion, l'Egypte, vol. 2. p. 258.)

• Paus. 2.4.6
• a town in Egypt, giving its name to the adjacent mouth of the Nile: Hdt. 2.15, Hdt. 2.17, Hdt. 2.97, Hdt. 2.113, Hdt. 2.179