ABATOS, Egyptian island in the Palus of Memphis. [1]

1. A palus is a marsh or swamp. Abatos is described in exactly these terms on page 8 of the first volume of Le Grand Dictionnaire géographique et critique by Bruzen La Martinière (The Hague: P. Gosse, R.C. Alberts, P. de Hondt; Amsterdam: Herm. Uytwerf & Franç. Changuion; & Rotterdam: Jean Daniel Beman, 1726). This was one of the most substantial geographical works of the 18th century, appearing in ten volumes from 1726 to 1739; it was reprinted in Venice (1737-1741). It was likely Diderot’s source for this entry. The text of La Martinière’s article reads: “ABATOS, Isle d’Egypte ( Corn, etc.) dans le Palus de Memphis ou Lac Moeris. Le Tombeau d’Osiris qu’on y voioit, la rendoit recommandable aussi bien que le lin qui y croissoit ; & l’Arbrisseau nommé Papyrus dont l’écorce servoit à faire des tablettes pour écrire. Le nom Abatos signifie dans la langue Grecque inaccessible. Ce qui se raporte à ce que Mr. Lucas dans son troisiéme Voiage (T. 2. 13) dit qu’étant au bord de ce Lac il trouva deux Pêcheurs qu’il pria de vouloir bien le conduire dans l’Isle. Il esperoit d’y avoir les debris des Pyramides dont parle Herodote, & qui du temps de cet Historien s’élevoient de cinquante toises par-dessus la surface de ce Lac, quoi qu’il y en eût encore autant de caché sous l’eau ; mais ces pêcheurs dont les barques étoient fort mauvaises l’assurerent que s’il s’élevoit le moindre vent, ils seroient en danger de périr. Du bord de ce Lac on aperçoit de loin une espece d’Isle qui doit être la même que celle dont il s’agit dans cet article.ʺ Translation : ʺABATOS, Egyptian island in the palus of Memphis or Lake Moeris. The tomb of Osiris that was to be seen there made it as well-known as the flax that grew there; and the bush named Papyrus whose bark is used to make writing tablets. The name Abatos means inaccessible in Greek, which accords with what Mr. Lucas says in his third voyage, that while on the shore of this lake he found two fishermen whom he wanted to take him to the island. He was hoping to see there the remains of the pyramids spoken of by Herodotus, and which in that historian’s time rose 50 toises [circa 300 feet] above the surface of the lake, though even more was hidden beneath the water; but these fishermen whose boats were very poor assured him that if the slightest wind arose their lives would be at risk. From the shore of the lake could be seen from afar a sort of island which must be the same one discussed in this article.ʺ Bell’s New Pantheon; or Historical Dictionary of the Gods, Demi-Gods, Heroes, and Fabulous Personages of Antiquity, etc. (London: J. Bell, 1790) also seems to take La Martinière’s dictionary as his source for some of its brief article, the beginning of which resembles both La Martinière’s and Diderot’s articles: “ABATOS, an island in the palus of Memphis or lake Moeris, famous amongst other things for the tomb of Osiris, which was afterwards carried to Abydos. This island hath been by some confounded with a rock of the same name” (p. 2). Because the word abatos meant ‘inaccessible,’ it was also applied to other sites, e.g. “a rock near the island of Philae in the Nile, called the Abatos (the inaccessible )” (Edward Greswell, Fasti Temporis Catholici and Originies Kalendariae [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1852], Vol. III, p. 191); indeed, this may be the origin of the notion that the tomb of Osiris had been moved. In any case, brief, vague, unreliable mentions of Abatos like the one offered by Diderot were common in geographical gazetteers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.