238 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

"for whom the sixth day and the middle day of the month are
honoured" (cf. p. 90). With endless repetitions it describes
his crowns and emblems. After a time, however, the account
of his activity as creator and sustainer resumes a modern,
pietistic tone.

"The only one who made what is,
Creator of all men, who made what doth exist!
Men proceeded from his eyes,
The gods sprang from his lips.
Who maketh grass for the herds.
The life-bearing trees for men;
Who permitteth the fish to live in the river.
The birds to touch (?) the sky.
He giveth breath to that which is in the egg;
He sustaineth the grasshopper
And keepeth alive (even) the gnat,^^
The creeping and the flying things alike;
Who maketh food for the mice in their holes
And feedeth the flying (creatures) on every tree.

Hail to thee for all these things !
The one, the only one, with many hands,^^
Who lieth awake for all men when they sleep.
Seeking what is best for his animals!"

It is clear that the Egyptian conception of the gods In the New
Empire meant a great advance beyond the low, primitive Ideas
which we have described on pp. 16, 202-04, ^^c. The deities of
these later religious hymns have not only gained unlimited
power over all nature, but appear as great moral forces, as the
principles of love, thought, and justice — at least in the figure
of the supreme divinity whom the religious thinkers and poets
seek. If we could cleanse these Egyptian descriptions from
polytheistic and pantheistic traits, their conception of a fa-
therly and omnipotent deity would seem at times to approach
the Biblical Idea of God.

On the other hand, we must constantly query how far the
masses could follow so lofty an advance. Not even the priests
had that ability, for they were unable to free the mythology



EGYPTIAN RELIGION 239

from the old objectionable traditions which described the gods
as very weak and imperfect beings, both in morality and in
power. ^^ In the magic of all periods the deities appear still
more fallible. The late sorcerers are even particularly fond
of preserving and emphasizing the traditional weaknesses of
the divinities, as in the retention of objectionable myths in
magic rites (p. 80). Sometimes they actually endeavour by
threats to draw the gods from their celestial abodes (p. 201).
Nevertheless they never completely return to the concep-
tion of the local spirits which was current in the primitive age,
and similar conflicts between higher and lower ideals of the
gods can be found to continue in other religions than that of
the Nile-land.

Foreign influences cannot be discovered in any of the de-
velopments which we have thus far considered. The borrowing
of Asiatic motifs by Egyptian mythology (p. 153) could never
revolutionize Egyptian thought, nor could this be done by a
few Asiatic deities which enjoyed worship in Egypt at one
period (pp. 154-57). These foreign cults existed side by side with
the ancient Egyptian worships, neither mingling with them nor
aflFecting them. In later times the intrusion of many inas-
similable elements of this kind only made Egyptian religion more
conservative. This is equally true of the Greek period, when
even the official Serapis cult (p. 98) advanced very slowly
among the native Egyptians. It was only magic that was al-
ways open to foreign influence (p. 207). In the Roman period,
when the religion of Greece and Rome had been strangely
Egyptianized, and when the spread of Christianity threatened
every type of paganism alike, we perceive a certain amount of
intermingling of the Egyptian and Grseco-Roman systems in the
popular mind. This influence, however, was less strong in
the temple cults, which still endeavoured, as best they could, to
copy the most ancient models. The sun-god, once pictured at
Philae as an archer, is one of the rare adaptations to Greek
mythology; ^^ and the same statement holds true of a curious



240



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY



change of the old type of the god Antaeus (p. 130) to that of Sera-
pis with a non-Egyptian halo, the dress and armour of a Roman
soldier, etc. Anubis and Ophois, guarding a tomb near Alexan-
dria, are represented in similar fashion; one of them, with the
lower part of his body in the form of a serpent, may possibly be

explained as a curious reminiscence
of the serpent in the underworld
(p. 105); it is again quite a new liberty.
The strange degeneration of the
sacred uraeus serpent on the same
tomb is equally non-Egyptian. Still
bolder innovations can be found
among the terra-cotta figures which
adorned private houses of this period
(see Plate II, i, 2 for specimens), but
we know little about the meaning of
such strange fancies.

The influence of the Egyptian re-
ligion on neighbouring countries was
strongest in Nubia, where such Egyp-
tian divinities as were recognized
throughout Egypt (i. e. the Theban
and Osirian circles) were rendered
popular by conquest, colonization,
and the imposition of the official cults
on the dark-skinned subject races.
Amon especially, as being the highest divinity in the state
cult, became the official god of Napata and Meroe, and of all
the great Ethiopian Empire as well when it won its independ-
ence. The Egyptian priests of the Greek period actually
looked southward with envy and described the Ethiopians as
the best, most pious, and, consequently, happiest men on
earth. ^^ In particular the employment of oracles to direct
politics and even to choose kings continued in Ethiopia until
the Persian period, as it had in Egypt in days gone by




Fig. 218. Antaeus-Serapis



EGYPTIAN RELIGION



241




(p. 197). As the supreme official divinity of the conquering
Egyptian empire between the Eighteenth and Twentieth Dy-
nasties, the ram-headed Amon also became known as the high-
est god in Libya, west of
Egypt, as is shown by the
name of the "Oasis of
Amon" and its famous
oracle in the Libyan Des-
ert. The influence as
manifested in Asia and
earlier Europe was less
direct, although Egyptian
art imported many Nilotic
motifs thither. Since Phoe-
nician art was always much
more strongly influenced
by the Egyptian style

*u u ^1- -u r TD u 1 • Fig. 219. Guarjjian Deities on the Tomb of
than by that of Babylonia, k6m-esh-Shugafa near Alexandria

we may assume that the

religion of Phoenicia likewise borrowed liberally from Egypt.

Thus Tammuz-Adonis was worshipped atByblos like Osiris with
Egyptianizing forms of cult (Ch. V, Note 84),
the Phoenicians gave the name of Taaut to the
inventor of writing (Ch. Ill, Note 2), etc. In
like manner we find, for example, the sacred
musical instrument of Egypt, the sistrum, or
rattle (p. 41), used in religious ceremonies in
Crete as early as Minoan times, when it is
1^ pictured on the famous vase of Phaistos. Thus

Fig. 220. Guardian "^e are not Surprised that distinctly Egyptian
Symbol from the traits are numerous in Greek mythology,

Same Tomb . 111

and some seem to have wandered even to
northern Europe.

Despite all this, the Egyptians never propagated their re-
ligion abroad by missionaries. After the time of Alexander

xn — 17




242 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the Greeks, who had always been somewhat attracted by the
mysterious worship of the Nile-land, began to imitate some
of its cults in their entirety, even outside Egypt itself; in the
Roman period these cults spread to Italy, and thence through
the whole Roman Empire as far as Brittany. As we have al-
ready seen (p. 121), this propagation of the Egyptian religion
was almost exclusively restricted to the deities of the Osirian
cycle, the most popular of the Egyptian divinities, and to the
Graeco-Egyptian Serapis. In the dispersion the cults sought
to imitate as closely as possible — though not always with
success — the ancient traditions of the Nile-land. The archi-
tecture and the hieroglyphs of the temples, the obelisks and
sphinxes before the shrines, the strange linen vestments of the
priests with their shaven heads and faces, the endless and
obscure ritual, and the animal forms of some of the idols every-
where filled the Classical world with peculiar awe, and
wonderful mysteries were believed to be hidden under these
Incomprehensibilities. It mattered not that some free-thinkers
always scoffed at the animal worship and other strange features
of this barbarous cult; the proselytes only clung to its mysteries
with the greater zeal, and the "Isiac" religion proved a formi-
dable competitor of rising Christianity.^^

The principal reason for this success must have been the
strong impression which the tenacious conservatism of Egypt
made on that skeptical age. While the ancient Grseco-Roman
religion had lost all hold on the people and could be mocked
with impunity, while the deities of old had become meaning-
less names or shadowy philosophical abstractions, the Egyp-
tians, in childlike faith, showed all the miraculous trees, lakes,
rocks, etc., of mythology, the abode of the gods In their temples
on this very earth, and the divinities themselves actually em-
bodied In statues and in sacred animals. This staunch faith,
combined with the mysterious forms of worship, gave strangers
the conviction that Egypt was the holiest country in the world
and that "in truth the gods dwelt there." A pilgrimage to the



EGYPTIAN RELIGION 243

Nile was always thought to bring marvellous revelations and
spiritual blessings, and the pilgrims, returning with freshened
zeal, spread at home the conviction that the profoundest reli-
gious knowledge had its home in the gloom of those gigantic
temples which, in their largely intact condition, impressed the
Roman traveller even more than their ruins now affect the
tourist from the West.

Nevertheless the Classical world, though longing for new
religious thought, was unable to copy that same conservatism
which it admired in the Egyptians. Even in Egypt the more
popular divinities, especially of the Osirian cycle, had been in-
vested, as we have already noted, with some non-Egyptian
ideas in the cities with a larger Greek population; and in Eu-
rope amalgamation with Greek and Asiatic names and myth-
ologies, and with philosophic speculations, reduced them to
vague, pantheistic personalities. At last Isis and Osiris-Sera-
pis, as they were worshipped abroad in the mystic cult of secret
" Isiac societies," retained little more of their Egyptian origin
than their names and forms of worship. Strange new myths
were also invented. The picture of Harpokrates, or "Horus
the Child" (p. 117), putting his finger to his lips as a
conventional sign of childhood (cf. Figs. 45, 48, and Plate II),
was misinterpreted as commanding the faithful to be silent
concerning the deep religious mysteries of Egypt, an interpre-
tation which strongly appealed to proselytes to that faith.
The so-called "Hermetic literature" blended Greek and
Egyptian religion with great freedom. ^^ Even the specula-
tions which Plutarch, in his treatise "On Isis and Osiris"
(p. 92), sought to read into the names of the divinities of the
Nile-land are Egyptian only in part. On the other hand,
the masses, especially the women of the Roman world, clung,
as we have said, at least to the outer forms of the Egyptian
religion to the best of their ability, as when, for instance, the
representation of the great mother Isis always retained the type
which we can trace to the Pyramid Period.



244 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

In Egypt itself, for the first three centuries of the Christian
era, the temples saw the old creed, the old cults, and the pious
throngs of worshippers without revolutionary change. After
that time Christianity spread far more rapidly, and when,
near the end of the fourth century, the famous edict of Theo-
dosius ordered the closing of the pagan shrines, the masses had
abandoned the ancient faith so thoroughly that the populace
even turned against the heathen priests and their few followers.
The scanty remnants of Egyptian and Greek religion, much
disfigured by amalgamation during this bitter period, as we
have repeatedly stated, died in wild riots during the fifth cen-
tury. It was only on the beautiful little island of Philae (p. 99)
that the cult of Isis and her associates continued undisturbed
and uncorrupted. The wild, brown, nomadic tribes of the
Blemmyans and Nobadians, east and south of Egypt, still
refused to accept Christianity, and by clinging to the old
faith they forced the Roman government, which feared the
raids of these barbarians and even paid tribute to keep them
quiet, to tolerate a few priests of Isis in the temple at Philae,
at the southern frontier. In the beginning of the sixth cen-
tury, however, the powerful Emperor Justinian suppressed
these remnants of paganism, closed the temple, imprisoned
the priests, and propagated the preaching of the Christian
religion among the Nubians. With the death of the last priest
who could read and interpret the "writings of the words of
the gods," as the hieroglyphs were called, the old faith sank
Into oblivion. It was only In popular magic that some super-
stitious practices lingered on as feeble and sporadic traces of
what had been, a couple of centuries before, a faith which
bade fair to become the universal religion; or a statue of Isis
and Horus, which had escaped destruction, was Interpreted as
a representation of the Madonna and Child. A vague senti-
ment of admiration and of awe for this strangest of all pagan
religions still survived, but from the very Incomplete inform-
ation given by the Classical writers no clear idea of the van-



EGYPTIAN RELIGION 245

ished faith could be constructed, and when the thunder of
Napoleon's cannon awoke knowledge of Egypt to new life,
her religion proved the hardest task for the scholars who
strove to decipher her inscriptions and papyri (pp. 8-9). Yet
despite all difficulties which still remain, we venture to hope
that our survey, unprejudiced and unbiassed, has shown that
though the Egyptians can in no wise furnish us edification or
be compared with the philosophic Greeks and Indians, or even
with the more systematic Babylonians, the extremely primi-
tive character of their faith makes it a most valuable and in-
dispensable source of information for those who wish to study
the origin and the growth of religion.




NOTES



EGYPTIAN



Introduction

1. For a collection of monotheistic expressions, which often,
however, are only fallacious, see Pierret, Mythologie, viii; Brugsch,
Religion, p. 96; Budge, Gods, pp. 120 ff. For the real approaches to
monotheism, cf. Ch. XIII.

2. "Der agyptische Fetischdienst und Gotterglaube," in Zeit-
schrift fur Ethnologie, x. 153-82 (1878). He had a predecessor
in the work of the famous French scholar, C. de Brosses, Du culte
des dieux fetiches, Paris, 1760.

3. If these factors were Asiatics who entered Egypt in consider-
able numbers, we could understand that such conquerors or immi-
grants would leave the religion of the natives absolutely untouched,
as is shown by repeated parallels in the later history of Egypt. This
explanation for the rapid development of Egypt is, however, at
present merely a hypothesis which lacks confirmation from the
monuments.

4. In similar fashion the costume of the kings affords reminiscences
of primitive times, e. g. in such adornments as the long tail tied to
their girdles, or the barbarous crowns.

Chapter I

1. See G. Maspero, The Dawn of Civilization, London, 1894,
p. 121. Generally speaking, all serpents were supposed to embody
spirits (pp. 166-67) or the one mentioned in the present connex-
ion might be regarded as a manifestation of the harvest-goddess
Renenutet (p. 66).

2. In many instances the phrase "souls of a city" is used instead
of "its gods," especially for some of the very oldest cities, as for the
two most ancient capitals, Buto and Hierakonpolis (Pe-Dep and
Nekhen). It seems to be an archaic expression which was used with
special reverence, or possibly it had a more general meaning than
"gods." Pyr. 561 substitutes the word ka for "the souls of Pe," i. e.
a word which is more distinctly used of defunct souls. Otherwise
the divine nature of all departed souls is not so clear as in other
animistic religions (cf. pp. 15-17).



362 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

3. Each Egyptian nome also had one or two tabus of its own.
Thus in one place honey was the local "abomination," while in
others a special piece of meat, such as the liver or even the hind
quarters of all cattle, was tabu. In many places the head or the
blood is mentioned as forbidden; but since both of these seem to
have been avoided throughout Egypt, this may merely imply that
the prohibition was more strictly observed in certain places, and the
same statement probably holds true of some sexual sins mentioned
in the lists of the nome tabus. Many prohibitions must have origi-
nated from tabus of holiness, as that of hurting a sheep, which was
forbidden in one district; certainly the abhorrence of the hawk, re-
corded in one locality, does not denote its uncleanness, especially as
the bird was sacred in all parts of Egypt. Other instances, as those
in connexion with the hippopota mus, gazelle, etc., however, are to be
understood as the consequences of curses. "Making light in day-
time" is also declared to have been a local sin. The whole subject
is thus far involved in much obscurity.

4. The religion of Babylonia likewise shows unmistakable evi-
dences of an original animistic basis, although it was earlier adapted
to cosmic theories and better systematized than was the religion of
Egypt. Scholars have often tried to find traces of totemism in the
symbols of the gods, the cities, and the districts of Egypt. Such an
interpretation is especially tempting when these emblems, carried
on a standard as the coat of arms of the nomes, represent an animal
or a plant. The only statement which we can positively make is
that the Egyptians in historic times were not conscious of a totem-
istic explanation of these symbols. Their application was divine
or local, never tribal like the totemistic symbols of primitive peoples.
The interpretation of totemism in general is at present in a state of
discussion and uncertainty.

5. Such triads were the rule in Babylonia as well. It is quite
wrong to call the Egyptian or Babylonian triad a trinity in the Chris-
tian sense,

6. Sometimes the Theban triad was Amon, Amonet, and Mut. In
this instance the minor male god Kh6ns(u), who usually took the
place here occupied by Amonet, was set aside to avoid exceeding the
traditional number three.

7. This is always the meaning of the orthography in the Old Em-
pire; it was only at a later period that the name was held to signify
"Master of the West" (i. e. the region of the dead, amentei) or "the
One before his (!) Westerners" {Pyr. 285). On the assimilation of
Khent(i)-amentiu to Osiris see p. 98.

8. It is quite improbable that awe of pronouncing the sacrosanct
name caused it to fall into desuetude. We do not find such fear in

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 219

most part they show the priests quite as fettered by tradition-
alism as were the people. The best illustration is the strange
commentary and supercommentary contained In the seven-
teenth chapter of the Book of the Dead^ which seems to have
been considered a masterpiece of theological thought. Some-
times it seems reasonable enough, as when the departed says,^
"I am the great god who became by himself," on which the
commentary remarks, "What does this mean? It Is the water
[according to other manuscripts, "the abyss, the father of the
gods"]; another interpretation: it is the sun-god" (see pp. 44,
48, on the question who was the oldest god). We can at least
follow the thought when the words, " I know the yesterday and
the tomorrow," are glossed, "What is thls.^" The yesterday is
Osiris, and the tomorrow is Re'," thus distinguishing the dead
sun-god from the one who is reborn every day. Then, however,
we find the text declaring, "I am Min at his appearance, my
two feathers are given me on my head." These simple words
the commentators endeavour to render more profound by the
gloss: "MinisHorus, who avenged his father [cf. p. 117]; his
appearances are his birth; his two feathers on his head are Isis
and Nephthys, who went and placed themselves on his head
when they were two birds [cf. p. 115], at the time when his head
ached. Another interpretation: the two uraeus serpents [p. 29]
are they before his father. Another interpretation: his two
eyes were the feathers on his head." We perceive how difhcult
It was for such minds to rise above a very shallow symbolism,
and we are not surprised that wisdom of this type moved in a
circle for several thousand years. Nevertheless here also we
see the constant tendency toward a syncretistic comparison
and identification of divinities. Thus we read again in a similar
commentary:^ "The soul of Shu is Khnum, the soul of end-
less space [Heh, p. 44] Is Shu (.''), the soul of (primeval) dark-
ness Is night, the soul of Nuu is Re', that of Osiris is the
Mendes, the souls of the Sobks are the crocodiles, the soul
of every god Is In the serpents [cf. p. 166], that of 'Apop is



220 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

In (the land of) Bekh,^° that of Re' is over the whole earth."
Here once more we note the endeavour, which gained ground
In the New Empire, to identify the abyss (Nuu) with the sun
(Re') and thus to explain the latter as "self-begotten" (p. 50)
and as the essence of the whole world. In opposition to earlier
doctrines (p. 50). We likewise observe that "soul" or "force"
approximates the sense of "manifestation" or "antitype."

More detailed In Its syncretistic speculations Is a document
which claims to have been found on a worm-eaten and partially
Illegible papyrus about 720 b. c. and which was then incised on
a block of stone as a very wonderful specimen of ancestral
thought.^^ It daringly reconciles the Memphltic and Hello-
polltan doctrine. Ptah, the local deity of Memphis, was the
earliest of all gods. He existed in eight forms, the oldest of
which were Ptah-Nuu as the father and Ptah-Nekhbet as the
mother (!) of Atum.^^ When this sun-god Atum propagated
the rest of the ennead, as described on p. 216, these divinities
were not only descendants of Ptah, but were In fact mere
manifestations of him. In other words, as our text explains,
Ptah, "the Great One," Is the heart and tongue of the ennead,
and thought and speech (on whose mutual relations some
speculations are added) represent the activity of every god.
Consequently Ptah is the universal power. Then the "little
ennead" of Heliopolls Is considered. Horus and Thout — the
latter the organizer of the present pantheon — likewise "came
from Ptah" both directly and Indirectly, and thus the whole
universe has emanated from him and is ruled by him.^^

Such pantheistic tendencies are elsewhere attached to Re',
to his parallels, Amen-Re' and Osiris, "the master of all things"
(p. 96),^'* etc., but especially, from the Nineteenth Dynasty
onward, to the Memphltic deity Ptah-Tatunen (whom we
have mentioned above) and to his variant, Sokarl-Oslris. When
Ptah is called "he who standeth on the earth and toucheth
the sky with his head, he whose upper half Is the sky and whose
lower half Is the underworld," etc.,^^ or when Osiris-Sokari



EGYPTIAN RELIGION 221

( = Ptah) is described not merely as the earth-god who gives
life to plants, etc., or as ruler of the lower world, and at the
same time producer of the air, but even as possessing solar
faculties, ^^ we have the development of a conception of deity
as the cosmic universe which cannot but end in a pantheistic
belief in one god, though he manifests himself in a hundred
forms and names. A clear expression of this doctrine is found
in a late hymn ^^ in which the supreme god Amen-Re' is treated
as the sun and thus is identified with such solar manifestations
as Min, Atum, Khepri, Montu, and Har-shaf, perhaps even
with androgynous combinations like Shu-Tefenet and Mut-
Khonsu (line 37), and repeatedly with the universalized Ptah-
Tatunen-Sokari. Consequently

"Thy forms are Nile and Earth,
Thou art the eldest, greater than the gods.
Thou art the abyss when it stretched itself over the ground;
Thou didst return in thy ripples (.'').

Thou art the sky, thou art the earth, thou art the underworld,
Thou art the water, thou art the air between them."

It would be a mistake to see Iranian influence in this text
merely because it chances to be preserved in a temple dating
from the reign of Darius I; it was evidently written several
centuries before, and its thoughts can be traced to a time even
more remote. As early as the Nineteenth Dynasty the Litany
of the Sun ^^ declares that the solar deity Re'-Hor manifests
himself in practically all gods. Not only are all divinities who
admit of solarization identical with him as his "power," but
he is one with Nuu (the abyss), Qeb (the earth), Shay ("Des-
tiny," see p. 52), the new "furnace-deity" (Ketuiti) which
represents hell and the lower world (Ch. X, Note 21), and
even with such female forces as Isis and Nephthys.

All this enables us to understand a hymn to a mysterious
cosmic god in which a magician wishes to express his idea of
an unknown god greater than anyone had hitherto been able
to imagine.^^



222 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

"O thou dwarf of heaven (f),^''
Thou big-faced dwarf
With high back,
With weakly legs,

The great pillar which (reacheth) from heaven (to) the lower world!
O lord of the corpse which resteth in Heliopolis,

great lord of life who resteth in Dedet! ^^
N. N., son of N. N., guard him by day,
Watch him by night;

Protect him as thou hast protected Osiris against [Seth?] ^^
On that day of (his) burial in Heliopolis! ^^

1 am the lion in the ship ( ?) ^* of the Phoenix.
Thy form is that of a monkey ^^

With the face of an old man.

There were ( ?) witnesses when thou didst send (a message) to me,
(When?) a resting-place was taken in the wall (i.e. of Memphis.^).
Thus: may a chapel of one cubit be made for me!

'Art thou not a giant of seven cubits.'"

I said to thee, 'Thou canst not enter into this chapel of one cubit;
Art thou not a giant of seven cubits.?'
(But) thou didst enter it and rest in it.

[Fall (?), O flames which know (!) not the abyss! ^6

Thou chapel, open, open thyself!

Thou who art in it with thy monkey face,

Woe! Woe! Fire! Fire!

Thou child of the maiden (?),2'

Thou baboon!"]

The last strophe seems to have no connexion with what
precedes, and it has the appearance of an incongruous magic
addition like the one translated on p. 83. Yet in the first part
of the hymn we find the idea of a god who, like Osiris-Re' (i.e.
the Heliopolitan god), represents the entire universe and has
the outward form partly of the dwarf or giant Bes, and in
greater degree that of his Memphitic variant, Ptah-Nuu-
Sokari, as a dwarf (p. 64). Obviously the magician again re-
gards the latter as the god of all nature, both infant and old
man, the beginning and the end, the smallest and the greatest
principle of nature, etc. Osiris, elsewhere the deity of universal



EGYPTIAN RELIGION



223



nature, is here merely subordinate to this all-god and is, it would
seem, only one of his manifestations.

Thus we can also understand the origin and meaning of
magic representations, dating from the latest period, of a
mysterious, nameless deity. His pictures unite the portrayals



^:0:)°^<^=^«





mjl^i^'^^w



:^^\^\KK\^^\M^^^



Fig. 214. Late Nameless God of the Universe

of the hawk Horus, and sometimes of the crocodile Sobk, the
phallic divinity Min, and the similar picture of the "self-be-
gotten" Amen-Re', etc.; but the principal source is Bes, who,
as above, is the same as Sokari, who in turn equals Nuu-Ptah.
The representation with innumerable eyes covering his body,
somewhat like the Greek Argos,^^ has a forerunner in a deity
who is described ^^ as having seventy-seven eyes and as many
ears. The shoes are those of the primeval ogdoad (p. 48) ; the
feet tread the abyss (in serpent-form; p. 104) and his helpers;



224 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the surrounding flames shield this mysterious being from the
profane world.^° It is an amalgamation of the greatest cosmic
powers, as being all identical, into one new god of the universe.

The hymn which we have translated above, with its striv-
ing after a mysterious, nameless, all-embracing divinity of the
entire universe, is found in a papyrus of the Twentieth
Dynasty (twelfth century b. c), but the text has been copied
from earlier sources. As we have repeatedly stated, the clear
doctrinal formulation of pantheism, as in the- texts which we
have quoted, seems to appear about the beginning of the New
Empire, in the Eighteenth Dynasty.

If the growth of pantheistic ideas in this epoch, the time
after 1600 b. c, betrays a struggle against traditionalism, a
groping for a new and larger conception of the godhead, and a
tendency toward a solar explanation of the origin of all nature,
we can understand how, not much later, an effort could be
made violently to reform the religion of Egypt — the famous
revolution of Pharaoh Amen-hotep (Amenophis) IV, about
1400 B. c. The pantheistic striving of scholars had at least
prepared the way for the revolution. At all events this very
interesting movement, the only violent religious reform of
which we know, not only in Egypt, but in the entire pre-Chris-
tian Orient outside Israel, must not be explained as due to
Asiatic influences. Neither can it be understood as coming
from the old Heliopolitan theology, as some scholars have
supposed; contrary to Egyptian traditionalism, it did not seek
to support itself by that most venerable school of tradition,
but desired to be an entirely new doctrine.

Like so many other religious revolutions, this also seems to
have had a political basis. The King, being the son of a woman
who was not of royal blood (Teye, the daughter of an ordinary
priest), probably encountered opposition from the Theban
hierarchy as not being quite legitimate, and he punished the
priests by deposing Amon from his position as the official chief
god. Wishing to suppress entirely the worship of Amon, the



EGYPTIAN RELIGION



225



Pharaoh tried to bring oblivion on the divinity by erasing the
deity's name and that of his consort Mut from all earlier monu-
ments, even those of a private nature, such as old tombs. He
himself moved from Amon's city of Thebes to a place in Middle
Egypt near the site of the modern Tell Amarna, where he built a
new capital. Thus breaking with all tradition and finding ready
to hand the concept that the sun-god was the master or, in real-
ity, the only deity of
the whole universe, the
King was unwilling to
employ any of the old
names and representa-
tions for this supreme
divinity, but rational-
istically called him
simply Aten ("the
Disk") and portrayed
him in an entirely new
manner as a plain disk
with rays ending in
hands (a symbolism
indicative of activity.'*).
To this new god he
built a magnificent

temple in the new capital, which he called "Horizon of the
Disk" in Aten's honour (see Fig. 195 for a picture of the front
of this sanctuary), and he even changed his own name from
Amen-hotep ("Amon is Satisfied") to Akh-en-aten ("Splendour
of the Disk").^^ Parallel with these innovations free scope
was given to a certain realistic modernism in art, etc. These
violent reforms met with much opposition, and after the
King's death so strong a reaction set in that his successors
were constrained to return hurriedly to the old faith and to
re-establish the worship of the Theban triad. The memory of
the heretic and of his god was persecuted as mercilessly as he

XII — 16




Fig. 215. Amen-hotep IV and his Wife Sacrific-
ing TO THE Solar Disk



226 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

had repressed the religion of Amon, and in particular the
schismatic temple of the sun was razed to the ground. Thus
we know little about Amen-hotep's new "doctrine" to which
his Inscriptions proudly allude; few texts have survived con-
cerning it, and these documents are only hymns which vaguely
extol the sun as the benefactor of all animate nature.

The revolution does not seem to have been quite so radical a
solar monotheism as modern writers often state. We have no
evidence that any cults outside the divine triad of Thebes were

persecuted. Some old names and
forms of solar deities were still re-
tained in the new royal worship (es-
pecially Horus and Har-akhti), or
at least were tolerated (Atum). Thus
the system may have been henothe-
istic or monolatristic rather than
monotheistic. Neither was It icono-
clastic to the extent of strict avold-
FiG. 216. Profile of Amen- ^nce of the human or animal types

of the deities who were retained or
tolerated. Nevertheless It remains a very remarkable rational-
istic attempt, and it reveals independence of thought by re-
fusing the support of the pantheistic amalgamations of old
names and forms which we have described above.^^

It is quite true that the only motive of Amen-hotep in
avoiding this pantheism seems to have been, not philosophical
thought, but simply the fear that he might be compelled to
retain all the traditional names and cults, and thus to admit
Amon also as a manifestation of the universal god of the
free-thinkers. Yet we must give him credit for breaking
away from the crude old beliefs which, after theoretically re-
moving the deities to heaven, had In reality kept them on
earth within the touch of man and In the human and animal
forms of primitive tradition. Although the thought was far
from new, nevertheless It was a radical step actually to remove




EGYPTIAN RELIGION 227

the supreme divinity to the sky and to worship him only in the
form in which the sun appears daily to every eye. This break
with traditionalism, however, was the fatal difficulty. The
conservative mind of the masses was unable to abandon the
time-hallowed names and cults of the forefathers. We may
admire the great boldness of the King's step, may view it with
sympathy, and may regret its failure, yet Amen-hotep IV
must not be overrated and compared with the great thinkers
and reformers in the world's history.

As an illustration of his doctrine and of the literature
developed at his court we here quote his famous hymn to the
sun.^^

"The praise of the sun-god [by the King N. N.j:
Thou appearest beautiful in the horizon of the sky,

O living Disk, beginning of life! r \:;:^ J\ ^^ jlj

When thou risest in the eastern horizon, >AJV*>— *• vj/^frv^jk^ \MJi>/\
Thou fillest every land with thy beauty.
Thou art beautiful, great,
Resplendent and exalted over every land.
Thy rays encompass the lands
To the extent of all things which thou hast made;
(Since) thou art Re', thou bringest them all.
Thou subjectest them to thy beloved son (i. e. to the Pharaoh).
(Though) thou art afar, thy rays are on earth;
Thou art on their faces [and thus they feel.^] thy steps.

(When) thou goest to rest in the western horizon,

The earth is in darkness, in the condition of death.

(Men) lie in their chambers with their heads wrapped up;

One eye seeth not the other.

Their belongings are stolen (even when) lying under their heads.

And they notice it not.

Every lion cometh from his den,

All serpents bite.

Darkness [is their protection.^],

The earth (resteth) in silence

(While) he who made them is in his horizon.

The earth is bright when thou risest on the horizon,
Resplendent as the sun-disk in day-time.



228 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Thou removest darkness

(When) thou sendest thy rays.

Both lands (i. e. Egypt) are in festival joy,

Awakening and standing on (their) feet;

Thou hast raised them up.

Their limbs being bathed, they take (their) clothing;

Their arms are (lifted) in worship at thy rising;

(Thereupon) all the land perform their toil.

All cattle rejoice in their grass;

Trees and herbs are greening; ^*

The birds are flying from their nests {seshu),

Their wings are (lifted) in worship to thy being;

All (wild) animals skip on their feet;

The birds and all things fluttering

(Feel) alive when thou hast arisen for them.

The ships sail (on) the stream up and down alike;

Every way is open when thou arisest.

The fish in the rivers leap {!) before thee;

Thy rays are (even) in the innermost of the great ocean.

Creator of issue in women,

Maker of seed in men.

Who preserveth alive the son in his mother's womb

And keepeth him quiet that he weep not,

A nurse (for him even) in the (maternal) womb.

Who giveth breath to keep alive all that he maketh;

(When) it descendeth from the womb, [thou showest care for it.''] on

the day of its birth;
Thou openest its mouth, giving it voice;
Thou makest what it doth need.

The young bird crieth in the shell

(Because) thou givest it breath within to preserve its life.

When thou hast given it strength ^^ to open ^^ the &^^,

It Cometh from the egg

To cry with full strength.

It runneth on its feet

When it cometh forth from it.

How manifold are (the things) which thou hast made!

They are mysteries before [us.''].

Thou only god.

Whose place none else can take!

200 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

The calendars of lucky and unlucky days^ plainly belong
to the category of useful religious knowledge even more than to
that of witchcraft. They set forth which days are propitious
and which are so unlucky that on them it is advisable for one
not to leave his house at all, or on which certain occupations
should be avoided, e. g. the making of a new fire, which al-
ways remains an especially important action.^ Often the
mythological reasons are given. Children born on certain un-
lucky days will die a violent death; birth on one specified day,
for example, condemns the individual In question to be killed
by a crocodile. Lucky dates of birth bring long life and luxury,
the most enviable death predicted being one In Intoxication.
Astrological oracles and horoscopes, on the other hand, are
known only In the latest period and follow Babylonian models.^

Considering the usefulness of magic In so many respects and
bearing In mind its religious character, it is no cause for wonder
that the gods also rule the world by magic, I. e. by hidden
wisdom (see pp. 44, 151 for some of these deities who are called
"magicians" or "great in magic"). The master of sorcery
among the male divinities Is Thout. Among the goddesses
his counterpart is not the stern "book-goddess" Sekha(u)It
(pp. 52-53), whom we should expect, but rather Isis, who even,
according to a myth which we have translated on pp. 80-83,
wrested the secret name, and thus omniscience (which practi-
cally means supreme power), from the aged and Infirm sun-god
by a cruel ruse which shows that honesty was not an essential
characteristic of the divinities.

If the deities themselves were not particularly scrupulous
In the acquisition and use of such power, we need not wonder
that the Egyptian theologians were not content to learn the
will of the gods or to Implore their aid, but that they often
sought to force the divinities to lend their power to the magi-
cian. From promises of sacrifices the sorcerer goes on to threaten
that the offerings will be withdrawn, so that the gods will be
hungry.^" If the magician speaks In the name of a certain deity,



MAGIC 20I

or claims to be Identical with him, then the other gods cannot
refuse his request without endangering the whole divine order
of things. Thus the Incantation may warn them that the entire
course of nature will stop. The sun and the moon will be dark-
ened, and the Nile will dry up; heaven will be turned Into
Hades; and the divinities will lose all their power and exist-
ence. When the magician can speak In the name of a higher
god, the lower pantheon must obey, and hence the sorcerer
constantly desires to learn the hidden, real names of the very
highest gods. This secret is so profound that none has ever
heard it; the owner of the name alone knows It, and even his
mother may be ignorant of It. When the deity has revealed
this wonderful name, it means power over the whole universe
for him who can pronounce the marvellous word. Thus in the
story of Isis and the old ruler of the universe, the sun-god
(pp. 80-83), we see how the betrayal of the name divests the
formerly mysterious deity of his power and subjects him to the
will of the sorcerer. Generally speaking, the name is the essence
of everything. Many materials or objects in ordinary life have a
hidden force which comes under the control of him who can
call them by their true name, unknown to the ordinary man.
Accordingly it Is the highest aim of the scholars to know the
real name of everything in the whole world, first of each super-
natural being, and then of all forces of nature. The endeavour
to accomplish this brings the sage in touch with every depart-
ment of science. Thus the word and the thought of man can
rule the universe and can accomplish more than some gods
can do, possibly transcending even the power of the greatest
divinities.

Such a desire to surpass the deities themselves is not impiety,
and If a scholar acquires such wonderful knowledge, he feels no
scruples In applying it. The very gods rule the world by their
power rather than by their holiness, as we have already seen;
although emphasis is often laid on the opposite conception of
the divinities as representing absolute morality.



202 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

A section of the Pyramid Texts ^^ describes the apotheosis
of the king and his advancement to the highest power among
the gods In the following fanciful hymn which Is very Instruc-
tive for the light which It casts on the low Egyptian view of the
gods and of religion (cf. also p. i6).

"The sky Is darkened by clouds,

The stars by rain (?);^^

The constellations become disordered,

The bones of the earth-god ^^ tremble.

The carriers (?) shut their mouth

When they see King N. N.,
, When (his) ^^ soul ariseth as a god,
1 Living on his fathers,
I Feasting on his mothers.
i

N. N. Is a lord of wisdom

Whose mother (even) knoweth not his name;

His glory is in the sky,

His might is in the horizon,

Like Atumu, his father who begat him.

After he had begotten N. N.,

N. N. was stronger than he.

N. N. Is the bull of the sky,

Fierce in hisTieart,

Living on the essence of every god

And eating their intestines,

When they come, having filled their bellies

With magic from the Island of flames. ^^

He judgeth the word together with the one whose name is hidden

On the day of slaughtering the eldest ones.

N. N. is a master of sacrifices

Whose offerings are prepared (f) by himself.

N. N. is one who eateth men and liveth on gods,

A master of tribute

Who graspeth (?) presents sent by messengers.

The 'Grasper of Locks' ^^ in Kehau,

He lassoeth them for N. N.

The serpent 'Wide (Reaching) Head' it Is

Who watcheth them and driveth them back (into the fold) for him.



MAGIC 203

The 'One on the Willows' (?) ^^ bindeth them for N. N.

The 'One Hunting All Knife-Bearing (Spirits)'*^ strangleth (?)

them for N. N.;
He taketh out their entrails,

He is the messenger whom N. N. sendeth for punishment (?).
Shesmu ^^ cutteth them up for N. N.,
He cooketh a part of them
In his kettles as supper [or, in his supper-kettles].

N. N. eateth their magic qualities

And devoureth their illuminated souls.

Their great ones are for (his) morning portion,

Their middling ones for his evening meal,

Their little ones for his night meal.

Their old ones, male and female, for his burning.

At the north pole of the sky the great ones '^^

Put fire to kettles full of them

With the legs of their oldest ones.^^

Those that are in the sky run around (?) ^- for N. N.;

With the legs of their women the kettles are filled for him.

N. N. hath encircled the two skies together.

He hath gone around the two regions (i. e. Egypt).

N. N. is the great, the mighty one

Who is powerful among the powerful [or, overpowereth the power-

full;
N. N. is the great, the strong one.

Whomsoever he findeth on his way

He eateth up immediately (?).

His safe place is before all the noble (dead)

Who are in the horizon.

N. N. is a god, older than the oldest.

Thousands (of sacrifices) come for N. N.;

Hundreds are off^ered to him (as sacrifices).

A position as 'the great, the mighty one'

Is given him by Orion, the father of the gods.

N. N. ariseth again in the sky.

He shineth like a star (?), as master of the horizon.

He hath counted the joints (?) of . . .,
He hath taken away the hearts of the gods;
He hath eaten the red (blood);
He hath swallowed the fresh (juice?);
He hath feasted on lungs (?);



204 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

The sacrifice of N. N. to his satisfaction

Meaneth living on hearts and their magic power.

Their magic is in his belly.

His wisdom ^^ is not taken away from him.

He hath swallowed the knowledge of every god.

The lifetime of N. N. is eternity,

His end is everlasting time in this his dignity

Of the one who doth what he will,

And doth not what he will not,

Who liveth in the limits of the horizon

Forever and for eternity.

Their (soul-) force (is) in his belly,
Their souls are with him;
V/More abundant is his portion than that of the gods.
His fuel is of their bones;
Their (soul-) force is with N, N.,
Their shadows are with their companions."

This strange hymn seems to betray its great antiquity by the
difficulties which it apparently presented to the scholars of the
Fifth Dynasty and by its many repetitious accretions. It harks
back again and again to the crude fancy of a new divinity who
will show his power over the old pantheon in a barbarous fash-
ion, recklessly depriving the gods of their magic potencies. It
looks, indeed, like a survival from the most primitive age, from
the purely animistic religion whose deities were lurking spirits
rather than gods (p. i6), and which held very pessimistic views
concerning the souls of the dead.^^ On the other hand, it is re-
markable that this old text still appealed to the Egyptian mind
after 3000 b. c, a fact which again shows the lack of a moral
basis for the divinities of the Egyptians and is significant of
their inclination toward a magic conception of religion, as we
have said on p. 198. Other passages of these ancient funeral
texts in the Pyramids (p. 180) are somewhat parallel, such as
the one which wishes the king to have unlimited power in
heaven "so that at his heart's desire he may take any woman
away from her husband." The Pharaoh's royal power on



MAGIC 205

earth may have been despotic enough, but the inscriptions
would scarcely" boast of this particular ability; when such
wishes were reduced to writing, they were preferably hidden
in the obscure burial chamber and may be regarded as
approximating magic.

Here we enter the realm of true black art, i. e. forbidden
magic. We must remember that sorcery in itself was not held
to be wrong. Even the most ordinary Egyptian layman was ex-
pected to wear a number of amulets for his health and good
fortune, to protect his home against dangerous animals and
spirits by other charms, and to do many more things which
often cannot well be termed religious ceremonies, although, as
we have said on p. 199, the Egyptians may still have felt them
to be such. Spells of this character came under a ban only
when they were used to injure others. The wicked brought
disease and death on their enemies by torturing and killing
them in efRgy, a custom which is traceable throughout the
world. Thus we read of a terrible criminal who wished to
murder his benign sovereign, the Pharaoh, by making wax
figures which represented the King, and then piercing them;
to increase the heinousness of this offence he had stolen from
the royal library itself a magic book. This book evidently con-
tained awful formulae to accomplish the end at which he aimed,
but in the divine hands of the king their use meant no wrong.
Evil effects could be obtained by merely cursing one's adver-
sary, whence such maledictions were considered sinful, es-
pecially if they were directed against the gods or the king.
The "evil eye" was much dreaded, and "He Who Averts
(seta) the Evil Eye" was a popular personal name.

Though cruel punishment was meted out for all such abuses
of magic, we may be sure that they were extremely common.
Above all, love-charms and love-philtres were not treated with
as much severity by public opinion as by strict theology.^^
The extant magic papyri prove that the sorcerers collected
useful knowledge of all kinds without drawing a line between



2o6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

medicine and magic, between the forbidden and the beneficent.
The largest of all these papyri,^^ e, g., contains the most harm-
less medical prescriptions, like the treatment of warts, gout,
dog bites, etc., and notes about medicinal plants and minerals,
mixed with subjects of a forbidden character, e.g. numerous
erotic charms and prescriptions (with their antidotes), advice
for separating man and wife, and even more dangerous matters,
such as sending madness on an enemy, as well as many
methods of divination for consulting gods or spirits, for dis-
covering a thief, etc. Again we see that in ancient times all
sciences formed a unity and centred in religion (p. 201).

It was, of course, believed that magic could accomplish
practically everything. Thus some famous sages, according to
a popular story, once made a living crocodile of wax which
caught an evil-doer, kept him living seven days under water,
set him free, and became wax again; a lake was rolled up like
a blanket; a head was cut off and replaced, etc.^^ Such
scholars possess books written by the gods themselves. Ac-
cording to another Egyptian tale, one of these volumes was
discovered in the Nile, enclosed in six boxes of metal and
defended by monsters. He who read it "enchanted heaven,
earth, the underworld, the mountains, the seas; he under-
stood all that the birds of the heaven, the fishes of the sea,
and the wild animals spoke; he saw the sun manifesting him-
self in heaven with his cycle of gods, the moon appearing,
and the stars in their forms," etc.^^ The extant magic papyri
do not, of course, furnish quite such miraculous knowledge.
Their most serious portions reveal the beginnings of hypno-
tism, as when oracles are obtained by the sorcerer gazing,
either directly or through a medium (usually an innocent boy),
into a vessel filled with some fluid (especially oil) or into the
flame of a lamp, as is still done in the Orient.^^ That the be-
ginnings of natural science can be traced to such books has
been mentioned above.

The language of the magic formulae is, as we should natu-



MAGIC



207



rally expect, one of stilted obscurity. Accordingly it likes to
borrow from foreign languages and names, and especially from
Asiatic sources. It plays on such words and sacred names by
endlessly repeating, inverting, varying, and mutilating them
(Note 32), and thus often degenerates into mere galimatias, yet
for the most part we can still recognize invocations of deities
in this seeming nonsense. There are no
special gods for the sorcerers; it is only
In the later period, when Seth is becom-
ing a kind of Satan (p. 109), that his name
readily lends itself to forbidden magic.
As we have noted above, Asiatic deities
were very popular in this black art, e. g.
such Babylonian goddesses of the lower
world as Ningal and Ereskigal, while in
the latest period the highest rank as a
divinity of this nature was taken by the
strange and mysterious God of the Jews,
who jealously allowed no god beside Him.
Ethiopic deities do not seem to have been
popular, although the Southland held
mystic attractions (p. 91). The principal
divine assistants of the magician were
the forgotten and neglected divinities of whom there were
so many. Such a god, whose temples have disappeared, and
who has not received a sacrifice for a thousand years, must be
more grateful for a cup of milk and a cake than a popular
divinity may be for a holocaust of a hundred oxen; the for-
gotten deity is, after all, a god and able to be useful. It was,
therefore, considered wise, especially after 700 b. c, to collect
all possible divine names and pictures from earlier monuments
and to unite their reproductions; they might as a body prove a
powerful aid for the man who had such a gallery of gods, or a
single one of their number might show himself to be especially
potent and grateful for having his forgotten picture reproduced.




Fig. 212. A Section of

THE MeTTERNICH StELE




2o8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Such a monument Is the famous Metternich Stele, a small sec-
tion of which is here shown; this stone, covered with hundreds
of minute divine figures and magic incantations, must have
protected some very rich house against all evil influences
(Fig. 214). Thus magic again returns to the purely religious
basis from which it once started.

A great many features of this complicated and difficult sub-
ject still require further examination. We do not know, for
example, the mode of use of the magic wands of bone which
date from the period subsequent to 2000 b. c. and which are
covered with many pictures of gods, sometimes unusual and

frequently astral in
origin.^" Yet they, too,
show once more how all
magic has a religious
foundation to which it

Fig. 213. Fragment of a Magic Wand

ever reverts.
To illustrate the character of Egyptian magic we give here
a few specimens of texts of this nature, beginning with a

"SPELL FOR BRINGING A BONE FORTH FROM THE THROAT." «i

*' I am he whose head reacheth the sky,
And whose feet reach the abyss,

Who hath awakened the crocodile of wax (.'') in Pe-zeme of Thebes;
For I am So, Sime, Tamaho,^^
This is my correct name.
Anuk, anuk! '^

For a hawk's egg is what Is In my mouth,
An ibis's egg is what is in my belly.^*
Therefore, bone of god.
Bone of man,
Bone of bird,
Bone of fish.
Bone of animal.
Bone of anything,
None being excepted;
Therefore, that which is in thy belly,
Let it come to thy chest!



MAGIC 209

That which is in thy chest,

Let it come to thy mouth !

That which is in thy mouth,

Let it come to my hand now!

For I am he who is in the seven heavens,

Who standeth in the seven sanctuaries,

For I am the son of the living god."

This must be said seven times over a cup of water; and when
the patient drinks it, the bone will come out.
Still more gibberish appears in a

"SPELL UTTERED OVER THE BITE OF A DOC'^s

"The spell of Amon and Triphis thus:
I am this strong messenger (?),^^
Shlamala, Malet,

The mysterious one who hath reached the most mysterious one,'^
Greshei, Greshei,

The lord of Rent, Tahne, Bahne.^*
This dog, this black one,
The dog, the mysterious one,
This dog of the four (bitch?) pups, ^^
The wild dog, son of Ophoi's,
Son of Anubis,
Relax *^ thy tooth.
Stop *^ thy spittle!

Thou actest as the face of Seth against Osiris, /
Thou actest as the face of 'Apop against Re'.
Horus, the son of Osiris, born by Isis,
Is he with whom thou didst fill thy mouth; ^
N. N., son of N. N.,

Is he with whom thou didst fill thy mouth.
Listen to this speech,
Horus, who healed burning,''^
Who went to the abyss.
Who founded the earth; .
Listen, O Yaho-Sabaho, j
Abiaho*^ by name!"

The reader will recognize in the closing lines an especially
clear invocation of " Jehovah of Hosts " (Hebrew YHVH
S^bhdoth), the God of the Jews (cf. Note 32).

XII — 15

LIFE AFTER DEATH



179




lace. Thus "followers of Horus" (or of Re' or Osiris) ^^ quickly
came to mean simply "the blessed dead," although primarily
it seems to have been restricted to the kings, who alone had
a right to be ad-
mitted to the
solar bark. On
the other hand,
side by side with
these extrava-
gant desires we
are told that the

hopes of some Fig. 186. The Dead before Osiris, the Balance of Jus-
r ^1 1^1 tice, the Lake of Fire, and "the Swallower"

or the wealthy

would be satisfied if their souls might dwell in their spacious
and comfortable tombs, sit on the green trees without, and
drink from the artificial lake that lay there; nor were the very
modest expectations of the peasants forgotten whose highest
longing was to dig the grounds in the fields of Osiris (p. 177).
The Book of the Dead describes all these hopes and desires that
each and every one of them may be realized.

These pleasant promises are only for the worthy. The souls
of the wicked are soon annihilated by the multitude of demons
who inhabit the underworld or by the stern guardians who
watch the roads and gates to the kingdom of Osiris. If they
reach his tribunal, they are condemned to a second death.
^^^ ^ The forty- two terrible

•. Livvv^^j^ ...yj ^'^^?^^^ /y judges themselves may

A 'n l\ 1 // \ A 1 // ^^^^ them to pieces im-

/ V * ''^^^t^y^jy v!r^^^ mediately; or the mon-

' • ;;v^ - ;^-v;-i.i- \v strous watch-dog of

Fig. 187. The^C^^demned ""before t^^^o^ OsirIs,"the swallower," ^8

or "swallower of the
west" — a mixture of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus — may
devour them; or they may be cast before a fire-breathing dragon
who seems to be none other than the dragon 'Apop; or Anubis



i8o



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




Fig. i88. Shades Swimming in
THE Abyss



or the baboon of Thout will lead them, sometimes in the de-
grading form of a pig (apparently usually female), to the place
of punishment, "the place of slaughter." The doom of these

sinners is a hell filled with flames and
biting serpents, or the depths of the
abyss in which they will be drowned, ^^
or lakes of flames (or of flames in the
form of fiery serpents) or of boiling
water, or ovens in which we see the
burning of heads (as the seats of life)
or of the shades (as in the accompanying picture; cf. p. 174);
or swarms of evil spirits, armed with knives (p. 175) to behead
or dissect the souls, will execute the wicked. At the place of
torture Thout, as the god of justice, has his four baboons ^° who
watch the lake of fire or catch the souls of the condemned in a
net to deliver them to torment (for the net cf. p. 109). These
punishments mean instantaneous annihilation or long agony,
as does also life with one's head hanging downward, although
eternal torture is nowhere so clearly stated as eternal bliss. ^^

The view that only virtue and piety toward the gods free
man from such an evil fate and secure him bliss can be traced
in its beginnings to
the Pyramid Period,
and officially it pre-
dominates in gen-
eral after the Mid-
dle Empire. Even
kings are subject to
it and expect to re-
cite tne INegailve p^^ ^g^ ^ Female Guardian with Fiery Breath
Confession" before Watches Souls, Symbolized by Shades and Heads,
,, ^ r r\ • IN the Ovens of Hell

the tribunal 01 Usi-

ris, although in our chapter on magic we shall find some strange
passages which place the Pharaoh beyond all justice and above
the gods themselves, thus forming a marked contrast to the




LIFE AFTER DEATH



i8i



general teaching. This ethical theory, however, was never able
entirely to displace the more primitive view that bliss for the
dead could be mechanically secured after death by sacrifices,
prayers, and religious ceremonies which might be considered
magical from the point of view of a more advanced religion.
The equipment of the dead with endless amulets and with
writings and pictures of a semi-magic character, such as we
have described on p. 175, is likewise quite essential for every
one. In later times embalmment also was counted among
these mechanical means (p. iii), for It had been forgotten that
the only object of the mummification
of the body and the preservation of
the most important viscera In canopic
vases (p. 112) was to keep an abode for
the soul. It was then believed that
Osiris was the first to be mummified,
and that embalmment by the fingers
of Anubis had secured for him eternal
life. This seems likewise to have been
the purpose of a strange and diamet-
rically opposite custom which was ir-
regularly applied to the dead from prehistoric times to the
Pyramid Period and according to which the corpse was cut
into a larger or smaller number of pieces. The Idea seems to
have been that If Osiris met such a fate, and if the fragments
of his body were afterward put together for a blessed life (pp.
1 14-15), it was wise to imitate this feature of the Osiris-tradi-
tion and thus to provide perfect Identity with the king of the
dead.^^ At the funeral the priest and the sacred scribe may
have appeared to the popular mind mostly as sorcerers whose
paid services were more important for the future of the de-
parted than his past virtues. Thus when with a strange hook
the priest touched the mouth of the dead "to open it," it was
wrong to doubt that he gave the mummy power to speak In the
other world, etc. It is quite possible that all these mechanical




Fig. 190. Thout's Baboons
Fishing Souls



l82



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




means were even considered capable of cheating the divine
judges of the dead, although their omniscience was affirmed
with sufficient clearness. Such a conflict of ideas can, however,

be found in many other
religions as well.

The details of the
cult of the dead cannot
be described here. The
ceremonies at the burial
were endless and were

Fig. 191. Dancers and a Buffoon at a Funeral ^ery complicated in

character, frequently
representing the thought and the customs of very difi^erent
ages. Thus at funerals of the wealthy in the sixteenth cen-
tury B. c. companies of wailing women, beating their breasts
and filling the air with their cries, accompanied the funeral pro-
cession, together with male dancers, tumblers, and bufl"oons,
some of them in strange costume. Equally endless were the
preparations for the comfort of the dead in their tombs or in
the other world. As we have already said (p. 172), however,
the leading idea of the entire cult of the dead was merely
the feeding and com-
fort of the souls, not
worship of the ances-
tors as divine. This
also accounts for the
heartless neglect of
the dead who did not
belong to the family.
Households of wealth

could not do enough ^^^- ^9^- Large Sacrifice Brought before a

Sepulchral Chapel in the Pyramid Period

for their members,

e. g. by sumptuous burial and by the erection of costly tombs
decorated by the best efi"orts of painters and sculptors, and
filled with furniture, ornaments, etc., for the use of the de-




LIFE AFTER DEATH 183

parted;^' at certain festivals the altars of the memorial chapels
seem to have been heaped with food, and for the maintenance
of these cults large foundations of fields, money, and slaves
were often established. Yet when all had died who took a
personal interest in these particular departed, no one was
ashamed to appropriate the unprotected tomb for his own
dead, to replace the name of the first proprietor by new
inscriptions, and to use certain parts of the funerary outfit
a second time. It is less surprising that most tombs con-
taining valuables were plundered in antiquity and that even
great numbers of police were unable constantly to protect the
jewellery in royal tombs; there was too much poverty in
the ancient Orient. Even kings showed piety only toward the
buildings of their nearest ancestors and were not ashamed to
efface the names of earlier monarchs from their ancient monu-
ments to replace them by their own titles, or to pull down the
older buildings and to use the stones, though they thus aban-
doned the victims of their recklessness to oblivion, a most
dreadful fate which entailed neglect and hunger for their souls
(p. 177). Sooner or later sequestration was the fate of founda-
tions for sacrifices to souls, even those of the Pharaohs of past
dynasties. This proves that there was no really serious fear of
the dead and that the deification of the departed to which we
have repeatedly alluded must not be overestimated. In this
also we again recognize the crude animism from which the
religion had developed.



CHAPTER XI
ETHICS AND CULT

THIS chapter may be connected with the preceding by a
hymn which, according to the Book of the Dead^ the de-
parted is supposed to address to Osiris and his tribunal when
he is brought before them.

"Hail to thee, O great god, lord of the judges!
I have come to thee, my lord;
I have been brought to see thy beauty.
I know thee and the names of the forty-two gods
Who are with thee in the court of judges.
Who live cutting the sinful in pieces,^
Who fill themselves with their blood

On that day of taking account of words before Unen-nofer (p. 97)
Near his [variant: thy] two daughters, (his) two eyes.^
Lord of Justice is thy name.
I have come to thee,
I have brought justice to thee,
I have removed wickedness away for thee.
I have not done wrong to men,
I did not oppress [variant: kill] relatives,
I did not commit deceit in the place of justice,
I did not know transgression [variant: worthless things]."

The text then rambles on in an enumeration of special sins
which the deceased declares that he has not committed, one
of the so-called "Negative Confessions" (see p. 176 and below).

It is very difficult to judge the morality of a nation from
a distance of several thousand years and from scanty material
derived chiefly from cemeteries. Such inscriptions create an
exaggerated impression of piety by which we must not be de-
ceived, just as we must not permit ourselves to be misled by
the elaborate preparations for life after death. This latter



ETHICS AND CULT 185

feature did not make the Egyptians a nation of stern philos-
ophers, as modern people so often believe. On the contrary,
their manners were gay to the point of frivolity, and their many
superstitions were but a feeble barrier to their light-hearted-
ness. The most popular song at banquets^ was an exhortation
to use every day for pleasure and to enjoy life "until the day
shall come to depart for the land whence none returns." It is
better to use one's means for luxuries than for the grave; even
the tombs of the greatest and wisest, like the deified I-m-hotep
(p. 171), are now deserted and forgotten. This contradiction of
the dominant view of the value of care for the dead is no more
flagrant than the conflict between the rules for the conduct of
life, as laid down in the books of the wise,^ and the actual ob-
servance of these rules. All the sages, for example, warn against
drunkenness from a practical point of view, yet drunkenness
seems to have been the most common vice in ancient Egypt; ^
and similar conditions may be proved to have existed in many
things forbidden by the moral as well as by the religious books.
On the other hand, the code of morals of these sources is
theoretically of the very highest type. Thus the "Negative
Confessions" of the Book of the Dead ^ include among cardinal
sins even falsehood, slander, gossip, (excessive.?) grief, cursing,
boasting, unkindness to animals (even to harmless wild ones),
extinguishing the fire (when needed by others.?), damming
water (for private use), polluting the river, etc. Other texts
inform us that it was considered (by some.?) sinful to destroy
life even in the egg. Formal restrictions about clean and
unclean things seem to have been numerous, although we
know little about them. When, for instance, we read in
Genesis xliii. 32 that "the Egyptians might not eat bread with
the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians,"
this probably means that all foreigners were held to be cere-
monially unclean. It is strange that the prohibition of pork
does not seem to have developed until later, probably after
1600 B. c. (for the reasons see Ch. V, Note 33) ; but subsequently



1 86 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the pig was the most unclean animal imaginable, completely
defiling whatever it touched. Greek writers state that cows
were not killed, evidently because of the celestial cow (p. 37)
and the goddesses identified with her. Many kinds of fish
were forbidden (p. 169) — in some localities all fish — and then
(in most places?) the heads of killed animals were prohibited,
not because they were unclean, but because, as the seat of life,
they belonged to the gods, so that the head was regularly
offered at sacrifices. Blood was, perhaps, only locally unclean
for the Egyptians. At present it is difficult to decide which
of these rules for clean and unclean were really local in origin,
and which sprang from tabus of holiness rather than from
tabus of abhorrence (see Ch. I, Note 3). Special laws of clean
and unclean existed for the sacrificial animals. Some rules,
e. g. for the uncleanness of women at certain times, are
general. Circumcision existed in Egypt from time imme-
morial, but had no religious character and was merely a
preparation for marriage; it applied to girls as well as to boys.
Restrictions of marriage because of kinship seem scarcely to
have existed. Marriage with a sister was a very common
custom (p. 119), and Ramses II appears to have taken his
own daughter, Bent-'anat, to wife. Polygamy was unlimited
in theory, though not very extensive in practice.

If we may believe the epitaphs, charity to the needy —
"giving bread to the hungry, water to the thirsty, clothing to
the naked, a ship to the stranded" — protection of the weak,
honesty, etc., were observed in a manner which would satisfy
even the highest moral demands.^ Unfortunately, however,
we also read of many crimes, especially of wicked and op-
pressive officials; and among the nations the reputation of the
Egyptians was never brilliant. Practically they appear, as
we have already stated (p. 185), to have been of rather lax
morality in many respects.

One of the reasons for this may be found in the dry formalism
of the religion. Being too strongly fettered to the imperfect



ETHICS AND CULT



187




Fig.



193. Temples of the
Earliest Period



beliefs of crude ancestors by the bonds of traditionalism, re-
ligion could not attain sufficient spiritual development, and
thus failed to emphasize the ethical side as seriously as some
other pagan faiths. It is quite true
that, as we have already seen (p. 180),
the belief that the soul's salvation de-
pends principally on a moral life is old,
and that after 2000 B.C. it was formu-
lated with increasing clearness. Yet
the earliest forerunner of the "Negative Confession," a passage
in the Pyramid Texts, which claims that a man's soul can as-
cend to heaven because of his morality, still rests on a purely
formal righteousness.

"He hath not cursed the King;
He hath not mocked (?) the goddess Ubastet;
He hath not danced at the tomb of Osiris (?)." '

When, therefore, we learn that the ferryman of the gods will
transport to heaven only the "just dead," we must not think
of justice in the sense of the New Testament (for the funerary
formalism which conflicts with the idea of ethical justice see
p. 181). Some development toward higher ethical ideals and a

more personal piety

^,— >. ^ ' r\ r^ ^^^Y^ however, be

*" '^ *^ " ' * traced after 1500

B.C., as we shall see
in our concluding
chapter.

The temples of

Fig. 194. Guardian Statues and Guardian Serpents prehistoric times
OF A Temple ^^^^ ^^^^ j^^^g ^f

primitive form and light material (mats, wicker-work, or straw)
enclosing an Idol. A fence and, perhaps, a small court pro-
tected the entrance, which one of our pictures represents
decorated with horns above and with poles at the sides. Later




EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY



the wonderful development of architecture made the temples
large buildings of stone; only the outer courts usually had
walls of mud bricks. The road leading to the temple was gen-
erally spacious, well kept for processions, and lined with statues
(principally sphinxes and other sacred animals) to guard the
entrance against evil powers (cf. pp. 166-67 on the guardian
serpents). The front wall formed two high, tower-like buildings,

the so-called pylons, which,
decorated with flagstaffs and
pictures of large dimensions,
flanked the entrance. Before
them usually stood two obe-
lisks of granite, whose most
important part was the py-
ramidal point, the benben, or
pyramidion, which was some-
times made of metal (for the
cosmic signification of the obe-
lisk, which was probably re-
peated in the pylon, see p. 31).
Behind the pylons generally
Fig. 195. Front of a Temple accorjjing came a large court where the

TO AN Egyptian Picture , • . , ^ 1 1 , .

laity might assemble and wit-
ness sacrifices, next there was a dimly lighted, columned hall In
which the priests gathered, and finally the holiest place of all,
a dark chamber (the adytum), accessible to the higher priest-
hood alone. Here the principal Idol or the sacred animal
dwelt, often housed In a chapel-like shrine, or naos, which, if
possible, was cut from a single stone. Round the adytum
were small magazines in which some of the divine outfit and
ceremonial utensils and books were kept. In larger temples
the number of rooms might be greater, but those which we
have just mentioned were the essential parts. Where several
gods were worshipped In one temple, each divinity might have
a special adytum, so that practically several parallel shrines

Next in reputation was the Mnevis (Egyptian Nem-uer,
"Great Wanderer"), the sacred animal of Heliop-olis, who was
explained as "the living sun-god Re'" or "the (living) repro-
duction of Re'" and also of Osiris. His name reveals the
early comparison with celestial phenomena. He was a black
and white bull, somewhat similar to Apis. In later times the
black sacred bull of Montu, which was called Bekh or Bokh
(the Bax^'i, Ba«:;)j^i?, or, better, Bovxi^, of the Greeks) at Her-
monthis,^ was likewise called "the living soul of Re'" or of
Osiris (whence he also took the name Osorbuchis); he is pic-
tured much like Apis. Regarding the (white.?) bull of Min
(p. 139), the cow of Momemphis, the bull (perhaps of Osiris-
Horus) at Pharbaethos,^" etc., we know little. ^^




Fig. 168. BucHis



164



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




Fig. 169.
TheMendes
Ram and his
Plant Sym-
bol



A very curious problem is presented by the sacred ram (?) of
the city of Mendes in the Delta, called Bi-neb-ded(u) (muti-
lated in Greek as Mev8r]<, i. e. "Soul of the Lord
of Busiris." Thus he was understood to embody
the soul of the god Osiris of the neighbouring city
Busiris ;^^ occasionally he was also called "soul of
Re'." ^^ The divine incarnation in him likewise
was manifested by bodily marks "as described in
the sacred books," which the priests "recognized
according to the holy writings." He seems to
have been worshipped as a god of fecundity like
Osiris; and accordingly his
emblem also was an ear of grain. The
Classical stories about sexual intercourse
of these sacred animals with women are
probably due to misunderstandings of
the interpretation of Mendes as a sym-
bol of fertility or to errors regarding
ceremonies relating to such symbolism.
Strangely enough, all Graeco-Roman
sources agree in describing Mendes as a
he-goat. This contradiction to every
Egyptian representation has not yet been explained in a satis-
factory way.^^ The ram of other gods, e. g. of
Khnum(u), does not enjoy any prominence;
and although in later times Amon had a ram
instead of his earlier goose (p. 129), its worship
was not very marked.

A lion was kept, we are told, at Leontopolis
for Shu (p. 44) ; a she-cat was probably honoured
at Bubastos (cf. p. 150); and a baboon, in
Fig. 171. Atum of all likelihood, represented Thout at some place

Heliopolis , \ A 1- 1 1

(pp. 33-34). Accordmgly we may assume the
existence of many other sacred animals, arguing from the repre-
sentations of gods in animal form or with the heads of animals.




Fig. 170. Amon as a Ram




WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN



i6s




None of these creatures, however, gained a prominence com-
parable with the importance of the animal gods which have
been mentioned above. At Denderah we find,
not a single cow of Hat-hor, but a whole herd of
kine, the Tentet.

Among rarer mammals of smaller size the
most interesting is the ichneumon, which once
embodied the god Atum of Heliopolis. This
deity, who so very quickly assumed solar func-
tions and a human form (p. 27), nevertheless Fig 172 "Atum
appears in animal guise in some pictures from the Spirit of
which we see that the later artists were in doubt
as to what this creature was; e.g. one statue, carrying weap-
ons, has a weasel-like head, or he is shown as an enigmatic
^yfi^rx. animal in the interesting picture of the evening
sun, reproduced in Fig. 11. "Atum, the spirit
ika) of Heliopolis," is clearly an ichneumon.^^
The like statements apply to a god Shed (more
probably to be pronounced Shedeti, "the One
from the City of Shedet" in the Fayum); i. e.,
analogously, we later find incorrect pictures of
him like Fig. 174 besides the ichneumon type (Fig. 173)? which
was probably original. After 2000 B.C., curiously enough,
this deity bears a Semitic name, Khaturi, or Khatuli ("the
Weasel [i*]-Like").^^ Mummies of Ichneumons
have also been found at various places in the
Delta, and in later times the whole species
seems to have been sacred.
The shrew-mouse Is said
to have been dedicated to
the Horus of Chemmis.

Among sacred birds the
most important apparently was the phoe-
nix {benu; read bin, boin) ^'' of Heliopolis, a species of heron
with long crest feathers. It symbolized the sun-god under the



-=^^2



Fig. 173. Shedeti





Fig. 174.
Khatuli-Shedeti



Fig. 175. The
Phoenix



1 66



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY



r<*r




names of Re' and Osiris (p. 95) and in later times was also their
embodiment in the planet Venus (p. 54). In the morning,
according to Egyptian belief, the heron, "creating himself,"

rises in a fragrant flame (p. 28)
over the celestial sycamore (or
its local representative, the Per sea
of Heliopolis), or as "the soul of
Osiris" it rests (at night?) on this
tree above the sarcophagus of
Osiris, as in the accompanying
picture. This forms the transition
to the fanciful Greek stories ^^
T, r >.T- c n " ,„ that the phoenix came from

Fig. 176. The Soul of Osiris in ^

A Sacred Tree Overshadowing Arabia (i. e. the region of SUnrise)
HIS Sarcophagus-like Shrine ^ ^1 ^ 1 r tt i- i*

to the temple or Jrieliopolis, em-
balmed his father (i.e. Osiris) in an ^^% (the sun?), and then
burned himself. The Greek misunderstanding of his appear-
ance in Egypt only at the end of a long calendric period —
variously given as 500, 540, 654, 1000, or 1461 years — seems
to show that no heron was kept at Heliopolis in Classical times;
but this proves nothing whatever for the earliest period, which
was more materialistic in outlook,^®

The tame crocodile of Sobk-Suchos which was
honoured at Arsinoe has become especially famous
through the graphic description which Strabo ^° gives
of its feeding by pious visitors. According to this
author, "it is called Suchos," so that it was regarded,
at least by the laity of Roman times, as a real in-
carnation of the local deity Sobk.

Serpents, which are considered demoniac creatures
in so many countries, were objects of especial awe In
Egypt as well. Numerous goddesses were worshipped in the
form of snakes, or could at least assume this shape, and the
serpent was even used as the general hieroglyph for "goddess."
It was probably for this reason that pictures of "erect ser-




WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN 167

pents," standing free or In chapels, protected the entrance to
the temples, and the geographical lists give the names of the
principal "erect snake" kept alive, perhaps In a cage, at each
Important shrine of the nome, evidently because a tutelary
spirit of this form was thought to be necessary for every sacred
place, exactly as each had to have a sacred tree. The temple
of Denderah even had eight sacred serpents with carefully
specified names, although It Is not clear whether these were
living reptiles or mere Images. ^^ Mummified frogs, fish, and
scarabs may be due rather to the sacredness of an entire
species, on which we shall speak below.

Granting that the Egyptians of the historic period had little
understanding of the fragments of primitive religion preserved
In these remnants of animal worship, we may nevertheless
assume that their explanation of this phenomenon by incarna-
tion of gods contains an Idea which Is partly correct. If stripped
of cosmic theories. The unsatisfactory material at our com-
mand, however, renders it difficult to determine why we cannot
prove a worship of a living Incarnation for every deity who is
represented on the monuments In a form either wholly or par-
tially animal. We must wonder why, for example, the sacred
hawk or hawks of Horus at Edfu (who never has human form)
are scarcely mentioned. We might try to explain this by the cos-
mic role which this Important god assumed at a very early time,
so that he accordingly withdrew from earth; and thus we might
suppose that the dog of Anubis and the wolf of Ophoi's lost
some of their dignity when these deities were attached to the
cosmic Ideas of the Osirian circle. On the other hand, Nekhbet
and Heqet, for example, never became cosmic divinities to a
degree which would enable us to explain why we hear nothing
positive concerning the cult of their Incarnation in a vulture
and in a frog. Thus it Is difficult to say why numerous local
animal cults left only half-effaced traces, while others survived
in rather primitive form. It would be wrong to distinguish
between such modernized or half-forgotten cults and the few



1 68 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

sacred animals which, through the greater importance of their
cities, attained high prominence and later enjoyed worship
throughout Egypt; this would be a repetition of the error of
Strabo,^^ who regarded the obscurer animals as merely sacred,
not divine. We have already seen (p. i6i) that a distinction
between sacred, symbolic animals and those which claimed to
be real Incarnations of a divinity was too subtle for the Egyptian
mind. Neither do the cosmic Interpretations of the prominent
animals constitute a general difference. These explanations,
as we have seen above, are suspiciously uniform and thus be-
tray the Influence of the more advanced period. ^^ This epoch,
seeking the gods In nature and In heaven, must have allowed
many places to lose their animal cults, though the old pictures
and names still revealed the barbarous origin of the local gods.
It was only here and there. It would seem, that local tradition
proved strong enough to maintain the ancestral cult without
too much modernization.

A different problem presents Itself when we consider the
sacredness of a whole species of animals as contrasted with the
Individual sanctity of which we have thus far spoken. It may
be either local or universal. The Classical writers describe with
sarcasm how a species of animal — the crocodile, for example
— was venerated in one nome, while in the one adjoining it
was even cursed and persecuted. In most Instances of this
character we can see that the original sacredness of an individual
animal had been extended to the species; a god's relatives also
seemed to deserve worship. This explains the case of some
creatures, whether wild or domesticated as pets, which were
treated with more or less veneration throughout the whole
country. Thus, for instance, the Greeks state that the ibis (of
Thout), the hawk (of Horus), and the cat (of Bubastis) were
everywhere so inviolable that even unintentional killing of
them was punished by death (the mob usually lynching the
offender), that they were fed by the population or by official
keepers, and that after death they were embalmed and burled



WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN 169

in collective tombs,^^ some being laid in central tombs at the
capital of the nome, while the mummies of others were sent
from the whole country to the most important place of wor-
ship. Cats, for example, were usually interred in an immense
cemetery devoted especially to them at Bubastos. It is quite
true that these animals were considered to be merely sacred,
and not divine, so that they could not receive prayers and
offerings, but the popular mind often failed to observe this
subtle distinction and actually termed such sacred creatures
"gods." This cult of whole species attained this degree of
prominence only in the latest period and seems to have devel-
oped gradually from a local veneration of less intense char-
acter; on the other hand, it again marks a reversion to some
primitive ideas. In like manner, when the K,(7a,>

snakes inhabiting a house are fed by the ^^W^

owner, the wish to gain protection through /A~~~-\r<f^<^
such demoniac beings rests on a most primi- \b^ « «
tive animistic conception. When we learn, Fig. 178. Egyptian
however, that various kinds of fish might
not be eaten, it is not always clear whether this prohibition
was based on their sacredness or on a curse. ^^ Mummified
species of fish prove their sacredness only for later times.

Fabulous beings which were believed to populate the desert
belonged, of course, to the realm of the supernatural and
formed the transition to the endless number of strangely mixed
forms which more obviously were part of the divine world,
inhabiting the sky or the lower regions. We may suppose,
moreover, that earthly creatures which fanciful hunters imag-
ined that they had seen in the desert or in the mountains, ^^
such as the griffin, the chimera (a winged leopard with a human
head projecting from its back), and the lion or leopard with a
serpent's neck, which was so popular in the prehistoric period
(pp. 64-65), were indistinct recollections of representations which
were once worshipped, as well as the double-faced bull (Fig. 2 (d))
and the double lion (p. 43). Indeed, we find all these fabulous



lyo

143



days she, as "daughter and eye of the sun-god," was compared
with the celestial divinities. The Greeks and Romans Identi-
fied her with Eileithyia-Lucina, the lunar goddess who pro-
tected birth, possibly because she later watched over Osiris
and his resurrection; but distinct connexion of this deity with
the moon cannot be proved from Egyp-
tian sources. Her role as wife of the
Nile-god (p. 46) is evidently in accord
with a very old tradition which made
the Egyptian course of that river begin
at the capital, situated very near the
southern frontier, since the two southern-
most nomes must at that time have
been populated by Nubian tribes. This
seems again to explain her connexion
with the birth of Osiris as the Nile.
Whether a Greek transcription S/ii^t?
referred to the name Nekhbet is open
to question (see under Semtet).

Nemanus: see Nehem(t)-'auit.

Nesret ("the Flaming, Fiery [Ser-
pent]"; p. 26) was a deity whose local-
ization is doubtful, but who was later
identified with the serpent-goddess Buto.

Onuris (Egyptian An-horet, "Guiding Fig. 146. Late Type of
[on] the Highway") was localized in

This, Sebennytos, and elsewhere, and was usually represented
as a man In a standing posture, holding a spear In his raised
hand (or in both hands), and wearing four high feathers on
his head. Since he was regarded as a warrior (whence the
Greeks Identified him with Ares) who aided the sun-god In his
struggle, his picture later protected the house against noxious
animals and other evils. Thus he was regarded as the same as
Horus and was likewise represented occasionally with the head
of a hawk. The prevalent Identification, however, was with





144 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Shu, the god of the air (p. 44), because of the similar head-
dress of four feathers, so that it is possible that, like those
feathers, "the highway" was interpreted celestially.

Ophois (Egyptian Up-ua(u)t, "Opener of the

Way"), the wolf-god of Lykopolis (Assiut),

This, and Sais, was frequently confused with

Anubis(pp. iio-ii). The Egyptians of the Greek

^ period explained his animal as a wolf, perhaps

^ .. because it was represented standing, whereas the
Fig. 147. Ophois ^ ^ _ °'

jackal (?) of Anubis was recumbent. The war-
like features of Ophois may be derived from his worship at the
capital This, or from the weapons which decorate the bases
of his pictures, or from celestial interpretations of his name.
The Ophois of SaTs "follows the King of Lower Egypt," ^^ as
the older form is the "jackal of the South."

Opet ( .'') (Greek 'flc^t?) was the goddess of a quarter of east-
ern Thebes, whose hieroglyph she bears in the accompanying
picture, together with celestial symbols.

Pekhet (Pakhet, once erroneously Pekhet?) was a lioness
who was worshipped in Middle Egypt in the desert valley near
Speos Artemidos, a name which shows that the Greeks iden-
tified her with Artemis, probably because she was a huntress
and roved in the desert. ^^

Peyet: see Note 19.

Ptah (Greek ^da), the god of Memphis (Egyp-
tian Hat-ka-Ptah, "Place of the Soul of Ptah"),
was pictured as a bearded man of unusually light
(yellow) '^^ colour and as clad in white, close-
fitting garments, a tassel from his neck holding
his collar in position. His head is usually bare,

though later various royal crowns are worn by him, ' ^

. . . Fig. i^

and a sceptre is generally held in both his hands.

The feet, ordinarily united as though the deity were mummi-
fied, reveal the very primitive antiquity of the artistic tradi-
tion (cf. Figs. 136-37 for equally primitive, pillar-like statues of




THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS



145



Mm, and the archaic divine types, p. 12). His cult is, indeed,
declared to be the oldest in Egypt, and he is called "the
Ancient," ^^ while "the age of Ptah" and "the years of Ptah"
are proverbial phrases. The divinity stands on a peculiar
pedestal which was later explained as the hieroglyph of jus-
tice,''^ and this pedestal is generally represented within a small
chapel. Coming into prominence when the pyramid-builders
moved their residence near his temple, he was called "the
first of the gods," "the creator of the gods and of the world."
He was the divine artist "who formed works of art" and was
skilful in all material, especially in metal, so that
the Greeks compared him to Hephaistos, and his
high-priest had the title of "chief artificer." '^^
Therefore on a potter's wheel Ptah turned the
solar and the lunar eggs (or, according to others,
the cosmic egg, though this is doubtful). In his
special capacity of creator he bears the name Ptah-
Tatunen, being Identified with a local deity Tatu-
nen, who appears in human form, wearing feathers
and a ram's horn (cf. pp. 47, 150); and later he ^^' ^'*^' ^^^
is equated with the abyss (Ptah-Nuu) or with the Nile,'^® but
also with the sun (Ptah-Aten, "Ptah the Solar Disk"), or with
the air (Ptah-Shu), so that he becomes a god of all nature.
When plants are said to grow on his back, this may come
quite as well from his identification with Sokari, and from the
subsequent blending of Ptah-Sokari with Osiris (p. 98), as from
comparison with Qeb (p. 42). Sokhmet and Nefer-tem were
associated with him as wife and son.'^^

Qebhet (Qebhut) was a serpent-goddess, and as "the
daughter of Anubis" was localized near that divinity In the
tenth nome. Her name ("the Cool One") gives rise at an
early date to myths which connect her with sky or water. ^^

Qed was a deity with the head of an ox ^^ (cf. the decanal
constellation Qed(u.^), which, however, has no human repre-
sentation elsewhere).




146 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Qerhet, a serpent-goddess, protected the eighth nome of
Lower Egypt, the later land of Goshen,

Re'et: see Ch. II, Note 20.

Renenutet (Remenutet, Remutet): see pp. 66, 116.

Repit (Greek Tptcj)i<i; "Youthful One," "Maiden") was a
very popular goddess in the latest period. She is often repre-
sented as wearing on her head the hieroglyphic sign of a palm-
branch, symbolizing fresh vegetation and youth (p. 89), which
renders it difficult to separate her from the personification of
time and the year (Ronpet.^), who has a similar symbol. ^^

Ronpet: see the preceding paragraph. For the Sothis-star,
called "the year-goddess" as the regulator of time, cf. p. 56.

Ruruti: see Ch. Ill, Note 31.

Satet^^ (Greek 'Eari^) was worshipped at the First Cataract
and was associated with Khnum. She is represented in human
form and wears a high conical crown with the horns of a cow
(cf. the picture given on p. 20); later she was occasionally
compared with such celestial divinities as Isis and Hat-hor.
Her name denotes "the Thrower, the Shooter," and hence she
carries bow and arrows, although the original meaning referred,
rather, to the falling waters of the Cataract.

Seb (.?) was a little-known deity who was worshipped in the
form of a flying hawk.

Sebit (Sebait) was a goddess of whom little is known ^^
(identical with Asbet?).

Sekha(i)t-hor ("the One Who Thinks of Horus") was
depicted as a recumbent cow and was worshipped in the third
nome of Lower Egypt.^^ On account of her name, she was
often identified with Isis.

Sekhmet ^® ("the Powerful"), a leontocephalous goddess,
was adored at Memphis (cf. supra on Ptah and Nefer-tem
as her associates) and at some other places, chiefly in the
Delta, as well as in the thirteenth nome of Upper Egypt.
Generally she wears the solar disk on her head, and the texts
speak of her as a warlike manifestation of the sun, a solar




THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 147

eye (p. 29), "the fiery one, emitting flames against the
enemies" of the gods (cf. p. 75). She is often compared with
the neighbouring cat, Ubastet, who is termed her friendly
manifestation.

Selqet (Greek SeX^t?) was symbolized by a scorpion, al-
though in later times she was usually represented in human
form (see p. 60 and Fig. 60). Her name is abbreviated from
Selqet Ehut ("Who Cools Throats")," one of the four god-
desses who assist Nuu, the deity of the abyss, and protect or
represent the four sources which he sends to the upper world.
This confirms the tradition that Pselchis, in northern Nubia
near the mythological sources of the Nile, was her original
home.^^ With her sting she later protects the dead
Osiris and the nursing Isis (with whom she is occa-
sionally identified), so that some of the entrails of the
embalmed, etc., are placed under her guardianship.
As the patroness of magic power she is also called
"mistress of the house of books," so that she seems Fig. 150.
to have been felt to be analogous to the goddess of
fate (p. 53) as dwelling, like her, in the extreme south, i. e.
in the underworld. Accordingly she is associated with the sub-
terranean serpent Neheb-kau.^^ Later she is sometimes termed
the wife of Horus, a fact which corresponds with her occasional
celestial and solar insignia. ^°

Sema-uer ("Great Wild Ox") was an old name of the
celestial bull (Ch. Ill, Note 10).

Semtet is a goddess who reminds us of Smithis, but her name
cannot be read with certainty. ^^

Sepa: see Sop.

Seqbet: see Note 100.

Ser ("Prince") was usually explained in later times as
Osiris ^^ and was localized at Heliopolis.

Shemtet, a goddess mentioned only on rare occasions, had
the head of a lioness. ^^

Shenet, whose name likewise seldom occurs, was pictured



148



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




Fig. 151. SoKARi Hidden
IN HIS Boat or Sledge



in human form, with long tresses like a child. ^* She was

probably" identical with the following divinity.

Shentet (later forms Shentit, Shentait) was a goddess whose
earliest representation seems to have been
a long-haired girl (holding a child }) . Later
she Is treated as a variant of such celes-
tial goddesses as Isis, and also appears In
the form of a cow.^^ Her seat of worship
was Hellopolis or Abydos (?). Cf. the
preceding paragraph.

Shut (Shuet; "the One of Shu") Is a
rare name for the lioness Tefenet.^^ Cf.
names like Amonet, Anupet, etc.
Smentet was a little-known goddess who was treated as

parallel to Isls.®^

Smithls : see under Nekhbet and Semtet.
Sobk (Greek 'Eov'xo'i) ,^^ a crocodile-god,

seems originally to have ruled over the lake

and the country of the Fayum in the west- ^

ern part of Middle Egypt, whose capital IT

was Shedet(i)-KrokodIlopolIs. He was also

the lord of some other places along the

western frontier of the Delta (see p. 142

for his association with Neith) and likewise

enjoyed worship at an early period in Upper

Egypt at Ombos (where he was associated

with Hat-hor), Ptolemais, Her-monthis, etc.

Later he became, especially at Ombos, a

form of the solar deity Sobk-ReV^ ^nd at

other places still more strange attempts

were made to identify him with Osiris,

perhaps because crocodiles dwell in the

darkest depths of the water. ^°°
Sobket: see Note 100.
Sokar(i) (Greek '2oxapi<i)y a deity of a place near Memphis




Fig. 152. SoPD as an
Asiatic Warrior




THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 149

(whence the modern name Saqqarah may perhaps be derived)
"at the bend {pezut) of the lake," ^°^ was at first regarded as
a manifestation of Horus, the sun, and thus was represented as
a hawk or falcon sitting in a strange bark on a sledge (henu)
which was drawn around his temple at festivals as a solar
bark.^°2 When this place became the necropolis of the great city
of Memphis, "Sokari in his crypt {shetait) " was made a god of
the dead and was identified with Ptah and Osiris, so that his
temple Ro-setau ("Gate of Corridors") was explained as the
entrance to the passages which led to the underworld. Thus,
as the revived Osiris, ^°^ "Sokar, the lord of the ground "(!),
became the earth-god as well (cf. p. 98 and above rrA

on the deity Ptah), M

Sonet-nofret (modernized form T-sonet-nof ret; "the
Fine Sister"), a deity at Ombos, was identified with
Tefenet, whence she was sometimes represented with
the head of a lioness, though she usually appeared as p^'^' ^^^'
human, resembling Hat-hor. Her husband was the Type of
Horus of Ombos, and her son was (P)-neb-taui (p. 140).

Sop (earlier Sepa), a god who was worshipped in and near
Heliopolis, was later identified with Osiris. This and the later
pronunciation are shown by Osarsyph, the alleged Egyptian
name which Manetho ascribes to Moses. ^°^

Sopd(u), "the lord of the east, the one who smites the
Asiatics," was the deity of the twentieth nome of the Delta
(later termed "the Arabian Nome") at the western entrance
to the valley of Goshen, with the capital Pe(r)-sopd(u) ("House
of Sopd"; also called "House of the Sycamore"), the modern
Saft el-Hene. This warlike divinity is usually represented as a
man wearing two high feathers on his head, and sometimes, as
master of the Asiatics, he appears in an Asiatic type and
bearded. He is also shown as a falcon In the archaic type
(cf. Ch. V, Note 27), a fact which results in comparing him
with Horus. Later he Is also pictured like a winged Bes
(p. 61).^*'^ Khenset is his wife.



ISO



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




Fig. 154. Tait Carrying Chests of
Linen



Tait ("Mistress of Linen") was the goddess of weaving,

perhaps in Busiris, although this may be an artificial connexion

with Osiris, the divinity swathed in linen, whence she is also

called Isis-Tait.106

Tatunen (Tetenen, etc., perhaps

also Tanen, Tenen) was usually

identified with Ptah, and then

also with Nuu (pp. 47, 145). He

had human form and wore two

ostrich-feathers and two ram's

horns on his head.

Tebi was a name of a solarized

god.i"

Tekhi, a goddess in human

form, wore a pair of high feathers

(like Amon) and was patroness of the first month instead of

Thout, with whom she was likewise interchanged elsewhere. ^°^

This identification seems to be based principally on the vague

similarity of the name and does not appear to be ancient.

Temhit ("the Libyan") was a goddess who was worshipped

in Hellopolis {?).

Tenenet (later Tanenet) received adoration at Her-monthis,

where she was identified with Isis and Anit. Like the latter, she

wears two royal crowns or bending antennae (p. 130) on her head.

Triphis: see Repit.

Ubastet 1°^ ("the One of the City of Ubaset" [p. 21]) was

the cat-goddess of Bubastos, the Pi-beseth of Ezekiel

XXX. 17, but she also had an ancient sanctuary at

Thebes on the Asheru Lake near Karnak which was

later appropriated byMut. She is often identified with

Sekhmet (see, e. g., under Nefer-tem), whence her

head is frequently that of a lioness, as in the accom- .t'^' '^^'
^ •' ' Ubastet

panying cut, where the asp characterizes her as a
"daughter of the sun-god" (p. 29). As an alleged huntress,
the Greeks called her Artemis, like the lioness Pekhet (p. 144).




THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 151

Ung (Ungi; "Sprout" [?]), a "son of the solar deity" or his
messenger,^^" treated like Shu, was later identified with Osiris.

Unut (Unet) was a goddess said to have been worshipped
at Unut (?), Hermopolis ("Hare-City"), Menhet, and Den-
derah; she is not to be confused with "the hour-goddess"
Unut (p. 66). A picture shows "the Unet of the South" in
human form and lying on a bed as though dead, and "the
Unet of the North" like Isis suckling Horus.^^^ The later
Egyptians inferred from her name that she was a female hare,
but we suspect that originally the name meant simply "the
Heliopolitan" (see p. 31 on On-Heliopolis and cf. Note 37).

Upset was identified with Tefenet, Isis, and
similar solar and celestial goddesses at Philae, etc.

Ur-heka ("Great in Magic") was a god in the
form of a man (or of a serpent?).

Urt-hekau, a leontocephalous goddess, was called

"wife of the sun-god," possibly because she was

compared with Isis as a sorceress (p. 82). She is

also represented with a serpent's head, and is then ^^^- ^56-

Unut
not easily distinguished from a male divinity of the

same name. Urt-hekau is likewise an epithet of Isis, Neith,

Nephthys, Epet, etc., so that this goddess is often confused

with them.

Usret ("Mighty One") was applied as an epithet to many
goddesses, but in its special sense it was the name of a very
popular divinity of the earlier period, who was, perhaps, in the
shape of a serpent. She is described as "residing on the western
height," ^^^ in the fifth nome of the Delta. Later she was
little known, although once ^^^ she is called, curiously enough,
"mother of Min."

Utet was a deity who possibly had the form of a heron. ^^^

Uzoit: see Buto.

Zedet (Zedut) : see Note 20.

Zend(u) (Zendr(u); "the Powerful One," "the Violent One")
was a very ancient deity who, like Sokari, sat in a sacred sledge-




152 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

ship and, again like him, was compared with Osiris at an early
date.ii^

The ambiguity of hieroglyphic letters makes the reading of
some names especially doubtful, as in the following examples.

Igay (Egay) was the leading god of the Theban nome in
earliest times. ^^^

lahes (Eahes), "the patron of the South," must have been
worshipped near the southern frontier.^^^

lamet (Eamet) was a goddess who is described as nursing
young divinities. ^^^

Ukhukh(.?), a god worshipped near the site of the modern
Me'ir, was symbolized by a staff decorated with two feathers
and two serpents."^

SOME TEXTS REFERRING TO OSIRIS-MYTHS 123

(But) thou doest not hear my voice.

I am thy sister who hath loved thee on earth.

None loveth thee more than I,

The sister, the sister!'

Nephthys saith:

'O good king, come to thy home!

Make glad thy heart; all thy foes are not (longer in existence).
Thy two sisters are beside thee
Protecting thy funeral bed,
Calling thee in tears.
Thou art prostrate on thy funeral bed.
Thou seest (our) tenderness;
Speak with us, O king, our lord!
Expel all grief which is in our hearts!
Thy courtiers among gods and men,
When they see thee, (exclaim) :
"Give to us thy face,
O king, our lord!

It is life for us when we behold thy face.
May thy face not turn from us !
Joyful are our hearts when we behold thee,

good king, [joyful are] our hearts when we behold thee."
I am Nephthys, thy sister who loveth thee.

Thine enemy is overthrown,
He is no more.

1 am with thee

Protecting thy members for ever and in eternity.'"

The hymn goes on in endless repetitions from which we select
the following : ^

"Shine ^ for us in the sky, every day.
We cease not to behold thy rays;
Thout is thy protection;
He establisheth thy soul in the bark of night
In this thy name, 'Divine Moon.'"

Thus Osiris is here called both sun (like Re' and Atum) and
moon, the latter being merely another manifestation of the
ruler of the day. Accordingly he is termed "master of the sixth
day" (p. 90), and of him it is said not only that "thou comest
to us as a little child every month" (i. e. as the crescent moon),



124 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

but also that "thy picture (?) is glorious in Orion (and?) the
stars in the sky," i. e. all heavenly bodies are his manifestation.
He represents all good in nature and appears principally in
vegetation and in the Nile (p. 95).

"Thy glorious emanation proceeding from thee
Keepeth alive gods and men.
Reptiles and (four-footed) animals
Live from it.

Thou approachest us from thy (dark) cave at thy season,
Pouring out the water of thy soul-force ^
To increase sacrifices for thy double (i. e. soul),
To nourish gods and men alike.

Hail to (our) lord!
There is not a god like thee;
Heaven holdeth thy soul,
The earth thy figure;
The underworld is fitted out with thy mysteries." *

H. THE PIG IN THE SUN'S EYE

The myth which tells how a black pig penetrated into the
eye of Horus, temporarily making him half blind, is the
earliest trace of the identification of the pig with Seth (Ch. V,
Note 33). Otherwise it is only a new version of the myth of
the lost solar eye (p. 90), although the writer tries to distin-
guish both ideas. So far as we can understand the very cor-
rupt text of this remarkable story,^ it runs thus:

"Re' said to Horus: 'Let me look at what is in thine eye
[today].' He looked at it. Re' said to Horus: 'Look, pray, at
that black pig yonder.' He looked [at it]; behold, his eye was
hurt with a great disturbance.

"Horus said to Re': 'Behold, mine eye (feeleth) like that
stroke which Seth hath done against mine eye.' Behold, he felt
grieved. Re' said to the gods: 'Put him on his bed; may he
become well again! It is Seth who hath changed his form into
a black pig. Behold, the wound in his eye burneth him.' Re'
said to the gods: 'The pig is an abomination to Horus.'"

The text then becomes confused, but it would seem that



SOME TEXTS REFERRING TO OSIRIS-MYTHS 125

advice is given to cure (?) Horus by "a sacrifice of his oxen,
his small cattle, his sheep." The name of "Horus on his green
(plant)" ^° arose, according to line 13 of this same chapter,
because Horus expressed the wish, "Let the earth be green, and
let the heavenly disturbances (i. e. the thunder-storms) be
quenched"; in other words, the old interpretation of Seth as
the storm-clouds obscuring the sun is clearly applied here to a
myth which originally, in all probability, referred to eclipses.

III. THE TEARS OF ISIS

Reference has already been made (p. 90) to a magic formula
which describes the result of the tears of Isis when they fall
in the Nile. The text itself runs as follows : "

"Isis struck with her wing,
She closed the mouth of the river,
She made the fish lie still on the surface {?); ^^
Not a wave moistened it.
(Thus) the water stood still, (but) it rose
When her tear fell on '^ the water.

Behold, Horus violated his mother-

Her tear fell into the water,

A cubit among the uz-fish.

(And.'') in the mouth of the baboon;

A cubit of shrubs reported (?) ^* in the mouth of Qeb (.^).^^

It is Isis who demanded it.

No crocodile doth (anything.^).

Magic protection is coming, protection!"

The meaning seems to be that water and vegetation rise In
a parallel way through the tears of Isis, exactly as Osiris Is
visible in both forces of nature (p. 95). The uz- or zvoz-fish,
to which a curse is attached, according to the Osiris-myth
allude to the sin for which Horus-Osiris had to die (p. 119), and
the baboon Thout seems to be a reference to the flight of Isis
(as the lost solar eye) to Nubia (p. 90), whence the wise god
brought her back, another explanation of the rising of the Nile



126 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

after the season of low water. The last three lines seek to turn
these blended myths into a magic spell for safe travel on the
river.

IV. ISIS IN THE COMBAT OF HORUS AND StTW

"The thirteenth day of the month Thout/^ a very bad day. Thou
shah not do anything (7) on this day. It is the day of the combat
which Horus waged with Seth.

Behold, they struck each other, standing on their soles together,
( Making their shape that of two hippopotami,
(At?) the temple (?) of the masters of Khar-'ahaut.^^
Then they spent three days and three nights thus.

Then Isis let fall (9) their ^^ metal on them.

It fell toward (?) Horus.

He cried aloud, 'I am thy son Horus.'

Isis called to the metal thus,
'Break away! break away (iii. i) from my son Horus!'
She let another fall toward ( ?) her brother Seth.
He cried aloud, 'Have pity (?)!'

(2) She called to the metal thus, ['Stop!'].^''

He said to her many times,

'Have I [not] ^^ loved and honoured the son of my mother?'

Her heart was filled with compassion for her elder brother.
She called to the metal thus, 'Break away, break away,
Because he is my elder brother!'

The metal loosened itself from him;

They stood there as two persons who would not speak^^ to each other

The Majesty of Horus grew wroth with his mother Isis like a

panther from the south;
She fled (?) before him.
This is the ordering (?) of a combat of (?) a storm.^^

He struck off the head of Isis;
Then Thout gave (it) its form by magic,
Fixing it upon a cow.^^

Let a sacrifice be brought to her name and to that of Thout on this
day."

We may note here that Plutarch ^^ also knew the story of how
Horus tore off his mother's head because she had released



SOME TEXTS REFERRING TO OSIRIS-MYTHS 127

Seth (p. 118), a legend which was very offensive to the Greek
writer.



V. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE DRAGON 'APOP ^e

"The god ^^ great of magic saith:
'My soul {ka) is magic.
I sent them ^* forth to annihilate my enemies with the best (words)

on their lips.
I sent those who arose from ^^ my limbs
To conquer that wicked enemy.'"

After this lame attempt to connect the text with the creation-
myth which has been translated on pp. 68-69, the hymn begins :

"He hath fallen by (?) the flame;
A knife is in his head;
His ear is cut off (.^);

His name is not (any longer) on this earth.
I ordered him stricken with wounds;
I annihilated (?) his bones;
I destroy his soul every day;
I cut the vertebrae of his neck asunder,
Opening with (my) knife,
(And) separating his flesh,
Cutting off (?) 3" his hide.
He was given to the flame.

Which overpowered him in her name, 'the Powerful One';^^
She hath lit on him in her name of 'the Lighting One.'
(I?) have burned the enemy;
I have ^2 annihilated (?) his soul,
I have incinerated his bones;
His members passed into the fire.

Then I commanded Horus, the one great of strength.

At the prow of the boat of Re' ;

He fettered him.

He fettered him with metal;

He made his members

So that he could not struggle at his time after his malice.

He forced him to vomit what was in his stomach. ^^

He is guarded, fettered, bound;

Aker took his strength away.^^



128 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

I separated his members from his bones;

I cut (?) his feet;

I cut off his hands;

I shut his mouth and his lips;

I blunted (?) ^^ his teeth;

I cut his tongue from his throat;

(Thus) I took away his speech.

I blinded his eyes;

I took his hearing from him;

I cut his heart from its place.

I made him as though he never had been.

His name is not any more (in existence);

His children are not;

He existeth no more,

Nor his kindred. ^^

He existeth not, nor his record ;^^

He existeth not, nor his heir.

His egg cannot grow,

Nor is his seed (?) raised;

His soul or body is not (longer in existence),

Nor his spirit, nor his shadow, nor his magic (power)."

The hymn, which was to be repeated during the rite of burn-
ing a wax or papyrus figure of 'Apop,^^ after trampling it and
spitting on it, wanders along in endless, jejune repetitions.
It evidently dates from a much later time than the creation-
myth (pp. 68-69), because the legend is here so lifeless. That
the most contradictory views on the fate of the dragon are
mentioned side by side, is, however, a phenomenon which is
neither late nor unusual (see pp. 69, 71, etc.).

An interesting fragment referring to Osiris and Seth has
already been translated on p. 72.



CHAPTER VII
THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS



BESIDES the Egyptian divinities who have been con-
sidered in the preceding chapters, there were many others,
whose names and characteristics are here given in alphabetic
order.^

Ahi: see Ehi.

Ahu (?), Ahuti (?) : see Note 40 on Khasti.

Amon (earhest pronunciation Amonu, Amanu; In the Middle
Empire rarely Amoni ^) was the chief god of Thebes. When he
is represented in human form, he has blue skin
and wears two very high feathers on his head.
He was also called "Master of the Head-Band"
from the fillet which holds these feathers straight
and hangs down his back. Numerous pictures
show that his earliest statues exactly Imitated
those of Min, being blue-black and ithyphalllc,
having one arm upraised, and with the same
chapel and tree (or trees) behind him, etc.; his
very name shows that he was a local dissimi-
lation of the latter ancient god.^ At first his
sacred animal was a goose, but after 1600 b. c.
it became a ram, whence Amon himself is often
represented in the shape of that animal or with
its head."* He was then associated with Mut and Khonsu; and
his early consort, Amonet, became a very obscure personality.
Amon is an especially clear instance of solarization; and as a
sun-god he became the highest divinity of the Egyptian pan-
theon in the New Empire (p. 19), so that the Greeks called




Fig. 123. Amon



I30



EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY




Fig. 124.

Amonet



him Zeus, which caused him to be misinterpreted as the god

of air.^ His temporary persecution will be considered in our

last chapter (pp. 224-26),

Amonet (Amenet), the earlier consort of Amon, was, as we

have just seen, almost forgotten in the days of her husband's
greatness. Her name seems to mean merely "the One
of Amon, Amon's Wife." Curiously enough, she always
wears the crown of Lower Egypt.^ She is also called
Nebt-taui, or "Mistress of Both Countries." ^

'Anezti, an ancient god wearing two ostrich-feathers
on his head and carrying a royal flagellum and a
crooked staff in his hands, was called "the one before

the eastern districts" and (because of his insignia.'') was iden-
tified with Osiris at an early date.^
An-horet: see Onuris.
Anit (Enit), the spouse of Montu, was represented in human

form, often wearing a symbol like the "antennae" of Mes-

khenet (p. 52).

Antaeus (Antaios) is known only by this classical name,

though he can scarcely have shown much similarity to the

wrestling giant of the Greek myth of

Herakles. He was worshipped at Antai-

opolis in Middle Egypt, where he was

associated with Nephthys and some-
times compared with Horus.^ Our only

pictures of him date from the Roman

period, when he was represented as a

warrior or hunter of gazelles (reminding

us of the Syrian god Reshpu, for whom

see p. 155), with high feathers on his

head and clad in very modern armour.

For a remarkable picture of him see

the Classical concept in Fig. 218.^°

'Anti was identified with Osiris at the temple on the site of

the modern Gurna.




Antaeus



THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 131

Anupet, once termed "the female greyhound," was the
consort or female form of Anubis at Kynopolis (cf. the parallel
Instance of Amon-Amonet) .

'Anuqet, a goddess of the Cataract region, and thus associ-
ated with Khnum(u) (see Fig. i), is characterized by a
feather crown of unusual shape and on rare occasions appears
as a vulture." Why the Greeks compared her with Hestia,
their divinity of the hearth, is obscure.

Ari-hems-nofer : see Eri-hems-nofer.

Asbet ("the Flaming One") was a goddess, perhaps in
serpent-shape,^^ and possibly was the same as Sebit.

Ash was a god in human form who was worshipped in the
west of the Delta (?).^^

Babi (Babai, Bebi, Bibi[?]) must have been worshipped
extensively in Upper Egypt from the earliest times, since
his name is sometimes written with the white crown and
the royal whip, O [y symbols of dominion over the whole
southern country. / / \\ Accordingly his name still seems to
have been used ^4 extensively as a proper name in the
Middle Empire. The Pyramid Texts " term him "master of
darkness" and compare him to a bull, as though he had once
been a rival of Osiris or had been understood as another name
for Osiris or Bati. Thus the Book of the Dead mentions him
as "the first-born son of Osiris," ^^ though it usually describes
him as a terrible persecutor and butcher of souls who guards
the entrance to the lower world. ^^ A later passage of the same
book already makes him a fiend somewhat parallel to Seth;
and in the Greek period Bebon (or Babys) becomes synony-
mous with Seth. For the confusion between Babi and Bati
see the paragraph on the latter.

Bast(et) : see Ubastet, which is the correct reading.

Bati, another deity of the earliest period, was later wor-
shipped only in the obscure town of Saka, where he received
honour beside Anubis (Ch. V, Note 60) and Ubastet. The
author of the Tale of the Two Brothers^ therefore, regards




132 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Bati (not to be read Bata or Batau) as a celestial and solar
divinity synonymous with Osiris. Manetho seems to refer to
him as a mythical king Bytes. ^^ He appears to have been
confused to a considerable extent with Babi.^^

Behdet, i.e. "the goddess of Edfu," as the con-
sort of the Horus of that city (pp. 21, loi) was neces-
sarily, according to later theology, like Hat-hor (pp.
39, 102).

Bi-n-ded(u): see Mendes (p. 164).
Breith: see Note 55 on Merui.
Fig. 126. Buto (Egyptian Uazit, Uzoit) was the serpent-

^"™ shaped goddess of Pe(r)-uzoit, the Buto of the
Greeks and the earliest capital of Lower Egypt. Accordingly,
whether represented in serpent-form or as a woman, she usu-
ally wears the crown and holds the sceptre of that region. She
and the vulture-goddess Nekhbet, as two serpents (cf. pp. 26,
29), frequently symbolize Lower and Upper Egypt.^^

Dedet, "the One of Busiris," was worshipped at Busiris
and at Mendes (at Sebennytos as well.^) and was later regarded
as a celestial goddess like Isis-Hat-hor, though originally she
was probably distinct from Isis.^°

Depet: see Note 19.

Dua(u) ("the Worshipper," or "Rising One"[.^]) was a deity
whose name was written with a symbol closely resembling the
one for Khons which has been discussed on p. 34, except that
in the old passages the piece of meat which it seems to represent
hangs down behind from the standard. If this god was adored
at Herakleopolis, we have an inexplicable Greek comparison
with Herakles, as in the case of Khons. ^^

Dua[-uer] ("the [Great] Worshipper" [.?]) was called, because of
his hieroglyph, a bearded chin,^^ / \ /^"^ "the barber of
the gods" or "the washer of ^H^ |J their faces." ^^
When termed "husband of the ^^ ^^ Sothis star," ^^
he seems to be confused, because of the similarity of names,
with the morning star ("the Divine Worshipper") and with



THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 133

Orion-Horus. (The accompanying symbol of a full face ,
with a long beard ^^ appears to refer to a different deity.)
Ehi (Ahi) was associated with the Hat-hor of Den-
derah as her little son (p. 20), whence he was repre-
sented like Horus; he often bears musical instruments.

Ekhutet ("the Resplendent "[?]), an ancient goddess, was
a deity of whom little was known.^^
Emesti: see p. 112.

Enit: see Anit.