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The words, ‘a man of Memphis,’ imply that Proteus was of a different family from the previous kings. Homer (Od. iv. 126) makes Polybus king in Egyptian Thebes at the time of the Trojan War, and Manetho (F. H. G. ii. 581) identifies him with the last ruler of the nineteenth dynasty, whom he calls Θούωρις. Diodorus (i. 62) follows H. Perhaps H. has confused an Egyptian title, Proutî, with the familiar ‘Proteus’. It is suggested that, as Proteus is a sea-god in Homer (Od. iv. 385), H. may have identified him with the fish-god (Dagon) of the Τυρίων στρατόπεδον (112. 2). At any rate, H. does not commit the absurdity of Diodorus (u. s.), who explains the famous transformations of Proteus as a myth due to the Egyptian custom of the king wearing lion skins and other articles on his head, to inspire terror and reverence.

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