Plutarch
At Saïs in the vestibule of the temple of Athena was carved a babe and an aged man, and after this a hawk, and next a fish, and finally an hippopotamus. The symbolic meaning of this was: ‘O ye that are coming into the world and departing from it, God hateth shamelessness.’ The babe is the symbol of coming into the world and the aged man the symbol of departing from it, and by a hawk they indicate God, by the fish hatred, as has already been said, because of the sea, and by the hippopotamus shamelessness; for it is said that he kills his sire and forces his mother to mate with him. — 32
neosalexandria 