ruins at Matarich, giving name to the district Helionites, which stretched into Arabia, a city of Egypt, near the apex of the Delta, and near the eastern bank of the Nile, twelve miles from Babylon of Egypt (Anton. Itin., sacred to the worship of the Sun (Macrobius, Sat. i. 21; Herodot. ii. 59), whose priests were considered as the most learned of the land (ii. 3), particularly in astrology, which they acquired from Actis, son of Helios, who was founder of the city (Diodor. v. 57). It is situated on a considerable eminence to the south of some lakes, probably now Birket-el-Hadgy, which were furnished with water from the canal which ran towards the Red Sea. The city was in ruins in the time of Strabo, and the temple in which the ox Mnevis used to be kept exhibited marks of the destructive visit of Cambyses. He saw the remains of the magnificent edifices in which the college of priests used to reside; but that learned body had dwindled away, and was then represented only by a few individuals, who explained to strangers the antiquities of the temples. The reputation of this college had at one time been so high that it attracted the presence of Plato and Eudoxus, who are said to have resided many years under the tuition of the priests (Strab. xvii. 805, 806; Plin. v. 9). It is supposed to be the On of the Scriptures.