On the Early Kings of Attica. 357 first ; the true avro^Owv from whom according to the popular faith the Attic people had their origin. The story of his being ^icpvtj^^ half man half serpent, is only an expression of his autochthonia Herod, i. 78. where the explanation given by the Telmessians of the serpents devoured by horses at Sardes is ocpiv elvai yrj^ Trai^a^^. The story of his leading a colony from Sais in Egypt to Athens and the Egyptian origin of the Athenians, notwithstanding the firm footing which it has gained in our histories is a comparatively late invention. In the time of Solon ^^ indeed the priests of Sais maintained that the Minerva of Athens and their Neith were the same, but instead of referrino; this identitv to a Saitic colony under Cecrops, they told him a romantic tale respecting the Atlantians and the aid which the Athenians had given to the Egyptians when in danger of falling under subjection to them, Theopompus called the Athenians colonists of the Saitans or settlers among the Saitans, for there is a doubt whether ettolkol or airoiKOL is the true reading ^^; Callisthenes and Phanodemus made Sais the colony ; Diodorus Athens. There is then an entire absence of proof of even a legend of Egyptian origin existing among the Athenians themselves. The name Ke/C|Oo|/^ (KjOe/co|/) appears to me to be no- thing else than a synonyme of avToyQiJdv. It is well known that the t€tti^ or cicada, being supposed to be produced from the earth, was a symbol of autochthonia among the Athenians. Schol. Arist. Nub. 971. As the eggs of this animal fall to the ground from the stalks on which they are deposited, Arist. H. An. 5, 24 and are hatched in great numbers in showery weather, it was natural that the vulgar should consider the earth as producing them. The forms KepKooirr] and KepKWTriov are common, being derivatives from KepKcoyf/^ one of the names of the cicada enumerated by ^lian H. A. 10, 44. Schneider supposes the name to be derived from KcpKo^y the instrument by which the perforation was made to deposit the egg : but it seems more probable that the name was originally KpeKoyj/.
- ^ A variety of hypotheses to account for the epithet Sicpvij^ may be seen in
Eudoc. Viol. KeKpoxJ/. he spoke two languages Greek and Egyptian ; or he changed the nature of men from savage to civilized, or by institutmg marriage he gave chil- dren two parents instead of one, «&c. '^ Plat. Tim. § 6. >5 Heffter Athenadienst auf Lindus, p. 141.
