The Hippopotamus

I can refer your correspondent L. (Vol. ii, p. 35.) to one more example of a Greek writer using the word ἱπποπόταμος, viz., the Hieroglyphics of Horapollo Nilous, lib. i. 56. (I quote from the edition by A. T. Cory. Pickering, 1840): "Ἄδικον δὲ καὶ ἀχάριστον, ἱπποποτάμου ὄνυχας δύο, κάτω βλέποντας, γράφουσιν." He there mentions the idea of the animal contending against his father, &c.; and as he flourished in the beginning of the fifth century, it is probable that he is the source from which Damascius took the story. I have in my cabinet a large brass coin of the Empress Ptacilia Severa, wife…