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The truth shall set you free => Mythology => Religion => Egyptian Mythology => Topic started by: Prometheus on July 13, 2019, 04:36:43 PM

Title: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 13, 2019, 04:36:43 PM: https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra12gray/page/n22

Volume XII

EGYPTIAN

PLATE I

Hnit-ma-dawgyi Nat

This Nat is the elder sister of Min Magaye, or
Mahagiri, and is usually worshipped together with
him. After Temple, Thirty-Seven Nats of Burma,
No. 3. See pp. 347-48-

THE MYTHOLOGY
OF ALL RACES

IN THIRTEEN VOLUMES
LOUIS HERBERT GRAY, A.M., PH.D., Editor

GEORGE FOOT MOORE, A.M., D.D., LL.D., Consulting Editor

EGYPTIAN INDO-CHINESE

BY
W. MAX MtJLLER

BY

SIR JAMES GEORGE SCOTT

K.C.I.E.

VOLUME XII

BOSTON
MARSHALL JONES COMPANY
MDCCCC XVIII .

Copyright, 191 8
By Marshall Jones Company

Entered at Stationers' Hall, London

All rights reserved

Printed February, 191 8

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA BY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

BOUND BY THE BOSTON BOOKBINDING COMPANY

CONTENTS

EGYPTIAN

Author's Preface 3

Introduction 7

Chapter I. The Local Gods 15

II. The Worship of the Sun 23

III. Other Gods Connected with Nature ... 33

IV. Some Cosmic and Cosmogonic Myths .... 68
V. The Osirian Circle 92

VI. Some Texts Referring to Osiris-Myths . . 122

VII. The Other Principal Gods 129

VIII. Foreign Gods 153

IX. Worship of Animals and Men 159

X. Life after Death 173

XI. Ethics and Cult 184

XII. Magic 198

XIII. Development and Propagation of Egyptian

Religion 212

INDO-CHINESE

Author's Preface 249

Transcription and Pronunciation 251

Chapter I. The Peoples and Religions of Indo-China 253

IL Indo-Chinese Myths and Legends 263

III. The Festivals of the Indo-Chinese .... 323

IV. The Thirty-Seven Nats 339

Notes, Egyptian 361

Notes, Indo-Chinese 429

Bibliography, Egyptian 433

Bibliography, Indo-Chinese 448

ILLUSTRATIONS

FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE FACING PAGE

I Hnit-ma-dawgyi Nat — Coloured Frontispiece

II I. Greek Terra-Co tta of the Young Horus Floating in

his Boat ii6

2. Bes in the Armour of a Roman Soldier
- 3. Zeus-Serapis

III I. Amen-hotep 170

X2. I-m-hotep

3. The Zodiacal Signs

IV Shrine of the Tree-Spirit 254

V Tsen-Yii-ying 260

VI Shrine of the Stream-Spirit 268

VII I. Naga Min — Coloured 272

2. Galon

3. Bilu

VIII Shrine of the Tree-Spirit 280

IX Prayer-Spire 300

X The Guardian of the Lake 302

XI Sale of Flags and Candles 310

XII A. The White Elephant 316

B. The White Elephant 316

XIII Funeral Pyre of a Burmese Monk 326

XIV The Goddess of the Tilth 330

XV Red Karen Spirit-Posts . 336

' XVI Thagya Min Nat — Coloured 342

XVII Mahagiri Nat — Coloured 344

XVIII An Avatar Play 346

XIX Shwe Pyin Naungdaw Nat — Coloured 348

XX The Guardian of the Lake 352

XXI Min Kyawzwa Nat — Coloured 354

viii ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT

FIGURE PAGE

1 The Triad of Elephantine: Khnum, Sa|et, and 'Anuqet . 20

2 Some Gods of Prehistoric Egypt whose Worship Later was

Lost 22

3 The Sun-God Watching the Appearance of his Disk in the

Eastern Gate of Heaven 24

4 Pictures of Khepri in Human Form 24

5 Khepri as the Infant Sun 25

6 Khepri with the Sun in Double Appearance 25

7 The Sun-God Rows a Departed Soul over the Sky ... . 26

8 A Star as Rower of the Sun in the Day-Time 26

9 The Sun-Boat as a Double Serpent 26

10 The Sun-God at Night-Time 27

1 1 Atum behind the Western Gate of Heaven 28

12 Thout as a Baboon 32

13 Baboons Greet the Sun 32

14 Baboons Saluting the Morning Sun 32

15 Thout 33

16 Thout, the Scribe 33

17 Thout in Baboon Form as Moon-God and Scribe of the Gods 33

18 Khons as Moon-God 34

19 A Personified Pillar of the Sky 35

20 The Sun-God on his Stairs 35

21 The Dead Witnesses the Birth of the Sun from the Celestial

Tree 35

22 The Sun-Boat and the Two Celestial Trees 36

23 The Dead at the Tree and Spring of Life 36

24 Amon as the Supreme Divinity Registers a Royal Name on

the "Holy Persea in the Palace of the Sun" 37

25 Symbol of Hat-hor from the Beginning of the Historic Age 37

26 Hat-hor at Evening Entering the Western Mountain and the

Green Thicket 38

27 The Sun-God between the Horns of the Celestial Cow . 38

28 The Dead Meets Hat-hor behind the Celestial Tree ... 39

29 "Meht-ueret, the Mistress of the Sky and of Both Coun-

tries" (i. e. Egypt) 39

30 The Goddess of Diospolis Parva 40

31 Nut Receiving the Dead 41

ILLUSTRATIONS ix

FIGURE PAGE

32 Nut with Symbols of the Sky in Day-Time 41

33 Qeb as Bearer of Vegetation 42

34 Qeb with his Hieroglyphic Symbol 42

35 Qeb as a Serpent and Nut 42

36 Qeb Watching Aker and Extended over him 43

37 Disfigured Representation of Aker Assimilated to Shu and

Tefenet 43

38 Shu, Standing on the Ocean (?), Upholds Nut, the Sky . . 43

39 Shu-Heka and the Four Pillars Separating Heaven and

Earth 44

40 Tefenet 44

41 The Nile, his Wife Nekhbet, and the Ocean 45

42 Nuu with the Head of an Ox 47

43 "Nuu, the Father of the Mysterious Gods," Sends his

Springs to "the Two Mysterious Ones" 47

44 Two Members of the Primeval Ogdoad 48

45 Heh and Hehet Lift the Young Sun (as Khepri) over the

Eastern Horizon 48

46 Unusual Representation of the Husband of the Sky-Goddess 49

47 The Sky-Goddess in Double Form and her Consort ... 49

48 The Young Sun in his Lotus Flower 50

49 Khnum Forms Children, and Heqet Gives them Life ... 51

50 Meskhenet 52

51 Sekhait, Thout, and Atum Register a King's Name on the

Celestial Tree, Placing the King within it 53

52 The Planet Saturn in a Picture of the Roman Period . . 54

53 Sothis-Sirius 54

54 Sothis (called "Isis") 55

55 Sothis and Horus-Osiris Connected 55

56 Decanal Stars from Denderah 56

57 Early Picture of Orion 57

58 The Double Orion 58

59 The Ferryman of the Dead 58

60 Constellations Around the Ox-Leg 59

61 Three Later Types of Epet (the Last as Queen of Heaven) 60

62 An-Horus Fighting the Ox-Leg 61

63 Old Types of Bes from the Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynas-

ties 61

64 Bes with Flowers 62

65 Bes Drinking 62

X ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

66 The Female Bes 63

67 The Female Bes 63

68 A"Pataik" 64

69 Lost Stellar Divinity 64

70 The East and West Winds 65

71 The Air-God Shu-Heb with the South and North Winds 65

72 An Hour 66

73 Nepri, the Grain-God, Marked by Ears of Grain .... 66

74 The Field-Goddess 67

75 The Birth of the Sun-God 71

76 Further Symbols of the Birth of the Sun-God 71

'j'j The Heavenly Cow, the Sun-God, and the Gods Support-
ing her (Shu in the Centre) 78

78 Thout in Ibis-Form (Twice), with Shu and Tefenet as the

Two Lions 87

79 Thout Greets Tefenet Returning from Nubia 88

80 The Solar Eye In the Watery Depth 89

81 The Solar Eye Guarded In the Deep 89

82 Osiris as a Black God 92

83 Osiris Hidden in his Pillar 92

84 Osiris in the Celestial Tree 93

85 The Nile Revives the Soul of Osiris in Sprouting Plants . . 94

86 Osiris Rising to New Life In Sprouting Seeds 94

87 Birth and Death of the Sun, with Osiris as Master of the

Abysmal Depth 96

88 Osiris as Judge on his Stairs 97

89 Osiris with the Water and Plant of Life, on which Stand

his Four Sons 97

90 Isis 98

91 The Symbol of Isis 99

92 Isis-Hat-h6r 99

93 The West Receiving a Departed Soul 99

94 The Celestial Arms Receiving the Sun-God 100

95 "The Double Justice" 100

96 The Symbol of the Horus of Edfu loi

97 One of the Smiths of Horus loi

98 Oldest Pictures of Seth 102

99 Seth Teaches the Young King Archery, and Horus Instructs

him in Fighting with the Spear 103

100 Apop Bound In the Lower World 104

ILLUSTRATIONS xi

FIGURE PAGE

loi The Sons of Osiris Guard the Fourfold Serpent of the Abyss

before their Father 105

102 'Apop Chained by "the Children of Horus" 105

103 The Unborn Sun Held by the Water Dragon 105

104 The Cat-God Killing the Serpent at the Foot of the Heav-

enly Tree 106

105 "TheCat-LikeGod" 106

106 The Dead Aiding the Ass against the Dragon 107

107 The God with Ass's Ears in the Fight against Apop . . 108

108 The God with Ass's E^ars 109

109 Genii Fighting with Nets or Snares 109

no Horus-Orion, Assisted by Epet, Fights the Ox-Leg ... no

111 Nephthys no

112 Anubis as Embalmer in

113 Divine Symbol Later Attributed to Anubis in

114 The Sons of Horus in

'?' 115 The Four Sons of Osiris-Horus United with the Serpent

of the Deep Guarding Life 112

116 The Sons of Horus-Osiris in the Sky near their Father

Orion (called "Osiris") 112

/'I17 Osiris under the Vine 113

118 Isis (as Sothis or the Morning Star.'') and Selqet-Nephthys

Gathering Blood from the Mutilated Corpse of Osiris . 114

>'II9 Isis Nursing Horus in the Marshes 116

120 Osiris in the Basket and in the Boat, and Isis 117

121 Horus Executes Seth (in the Form of an Ass) before Osiris 119

122 Horus Kills Seth as a Crocodile . 119

123 Amon 129

124 Amonet 130

125 Antaeus 130

126 Buto 132

127 Ehi 133

128 Hat-mehit 133

129 Hesat .- 134

130 Kenemtefi 134

131 Old Symbol of Mafdet 135

132 Meret in Double Form 136

133 Mi-hos, Identified with Nefer-tem 137

134 Hieroglyphic Symbols of Min from Prehistoric Objects 137

135 Barbarians of the Desert Climbing Poles before Min . . 138

xii ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

136 The Earliest Sanctuaries of Min, Decorated with a Pecu-

liar Standard 138

137 Min before his Grove 139

138 Mon^u 139

139 Oldest Type of Mon^u 140

140 Mut with a Head-Dress Assimilating her to Amon .... 140

141 Nefer-tem 140

142 Emblem of Nefer-tem 141

143 Nehem(t)-'auit 141

144 Neith 142

145 Nekhbet Protecting the King 142

146 Late Type of Onuris 143

147 Ophois 144

148 Opet 144

149 Ptalj 145

150 Sekhmet 147

151 Sokari Hidden in his Boat or Sledge 148

152 Sopd as an Asiatic Warrior 148

153 Archaic Type of Sopd 149

154 Tait Carrying Chests of Linen 150

155 Ubastet 150

156 Unut 151

157 Statuette of the Museum of Turin Showing Hat-hor of

Byblos 154

158 Reshpu 155

159 Resheph-Seth 155

160 "Astarte, Mistress of Horses and of the Chariot" ... 156

161 Astarte 156

162 Astarte as a Sphinx 156

163 Qedesh 157

164 Asit 157

165 Anat 157

166 Hieroglyphs of Dedun and Selqet 158

167 Statuette of the Apis Showing his Sacred Marks .... 162

168 Buchis 163

169 The Mendes Ram and his Plant Symbol 164

170 Amon as a Ram 164

171 Atum of Heliopolis 164

172 "Atum, the Spirit of Heliopolis" 165

173 Shedeti 165

ILLUSTRATIONS xiii

FIGURE PAGE

174 KhatuH-Shedeti 165

175 The Phoenix 165

176 "The Soul of Osiris" in a Sacred Tree Overshadowing his

Sarcophagus-like Shrine 166

177 Statue of a Guardian Serpent in a Chapel 166

178 Egyptian Chimera ?. . 169

179 The Birth of a King Protected by Gods 170

180 The Ka of a King, Bearing his Name and a Staff-Symbol

Indicating Life 170

181 The Soul-Bird 174

182 The Soul Returning to the Body 174

183 The Soul Returns to the Grave 175

184 The Dead Visits his House 175

185 The Dead Wanders over a Mountain to the Seat of Osiris 176

186 The Dead before Osiris, the Balance of Justice, the Lake of

Fire, and "the Swallower" 179

187 The Condemned before the Dragon 179

188 Shades Swimming in the Abyss 180

189 A Female Guardian with Fiery Breath Watches Souls,

Symbolized by Shades and Heads, in the Ovens of Hell 180

190 Thout's Baboons Fishing Souls i8l

191 Dancers and a Buffoon at a Funeral 182

192 Large Sacrifice Brought before a Sepulchral Chapel in the

Pyramid Period 182

193 Temples of the Earliest Period 187

194 Guardian Statues and Guardian Serpents of a Temple . 187

195 Front of a Temple according to an Egyptian Picture . . 188

196 Royal Sacrifice before the Sacred Pillars of Bubastos . . 190

197 The King Offering Incense and Keeping a Meat-Offering

Warm 191

198 Temple Choir in Unusual Costume 191

199 Two Women Representing I sis and Nephthys as Mourners

at Processions I92

200 "The Worshipper of the God" 192

201 Priest with the Book of Ritual 193

202 Archaistic Priestly Adornment 193

203 A King Pulling the Ring at the Temple Door 193

204 A God Carried in Procession 194

205 A Small Portable Shrine . 194

206 Mythological Scenes from a Procession 194

xiv ILLUSTRATIONS

FIGURE PAGE

207 An Acrobat Following a Sacrificial Animal 195

208 Small Holocaustic Sacrifice on an Oven 195

209 Human Sacrifice at a Royal Tomb of the First Dynasty 196

210 Nubian Slaves Strangled and Burned at a Funeral . . . 196

211 A Ritual Priest 198

212 A Section of the Metternich Stele 207

213 Fragment of a Magic Wand 208

214 Late Nameless God of the Universe 223

215 Amen-hotep IV and his Wife Sacrificing to the Solar Disk 225

216 Profile of Amen-hotep IV . 226

217 Prayer-Stele with Symbols of Hearing 232

218 Antaeus-Serapis 240

219 Guardian Deities on the Tomb of Kom-esh-Shugafa near

Alexandria 241

220 Guardian Symbol from the Same Tomb 241

221 Nut, Aker, and Khepri 368

222 Shu with Four Feathers 368

223 Ageb, the Watery Depth 371

224 " Sebeg in the Wells " 373

225 "Horus of the Two Horizons" 388

226 The Jackal (?) with a Feather 393

227 The Harpoon of Horus 397

228 "Horus on his Green" 401

229 Symbol of Selqet as the Conqueror 412

230 Souls In the Island of Flames among Flowers and Food . 417

231 The Earliest Construction Commemorating a " Festival of

the Tail" 419

232 A Priestess Painting the Eyes of a Sacred Cow 420

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

BY
W. MAX MtJLLER

TO
MORRIS JASTROW, JR., ph.d.

OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

AND TO

ALBERT TOBIAS CLAY, ph.d., ll.d.

AND

CHARLES CUTLER TORREY, ph.d., d.d.

OF YALE UNIVERSITY

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

THIS study can hope to give only a sketch of a vast theme
which, because of its endless and difficult material, has
thus far received but superficial investigation even from the
best of scholars; its complete elaboration would require several
volumes of space and a lifetime of preparation.

The principal difficulty is to make it clear to the modern
mind that a religion can exist without any definite system of
doctrine, being composed merely of countless speculations that
are widely divergent and often conflicting. This doctrinal
uncertainty is increased by the way in which the traditions
have been transmitted. Only rarely is a piece of mythology
complete. For the most part we have nothing but many scat-
tered allusions which must be united for a hazardous restora-
tion of one of these theories. In other respects, likewise, the
enormous epigraphic material presents such difficulties and is
so confusing in nature that everything hitherto done on the
religion of Egypt is, as we have just implied, merely pioneer
work. As yet an exhaustive description of this religion could
scarcely be written.

A minor problem is the question of transliterating Egyptian
words and names, most of which are written in so abbre-
viated a fashion that their pronunciation, especially in the case
of the vowels, always remains dubious unless we have a good
later tradition of their sound. It is quite as though the abbre-
viation "st." (= "street") were well known to persons having
no acquaintance with English to mean something like "road,"
but without any indication as to its pronunciation. Foreigners
would be compelled to guess whether the sound of the word

4 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

were set, sat, seta, sota, etc., or este, usot, etc., since there is abso-
lutely nothing to suggest the true pronunciation "street." A
great part of the Egyptian vocabulary is known only in this
way, and in many instances we must make the words pro-
nounceable by arbitrarily assigning vowel sounds, etc., to them.
Accordingly I have thought it better to follow popular mispro-
nunciations like Nut than to try Newet, Neyewet, and other
unsafe attempts, and even elsewhere I have sacrificed correct-
ness to simplicity where difficulty might be experienced by a
reader unfamiliar with some Oriental systems of writing. It
should be borne in mind that Sekhauit and Uzoit, for example,
might more correctly be written S(e)khjewyet, Wezoyet, and
that e is often used as a mere filler where the true vowel is quite
unknown.

Sometimes we can prove that the later Egyptians themselves
misread the imperfect hieroglyphs, but for the most part we
must retain these mispronunciations, even though we are con-
scious of their slight value. All this will explain why any two
Egyptologists so rarely agree in their transcriptions. Returning
in despair to old-fashioned methods of conventionalizing tran-
scription, I have sought to escape these difficulties rather than
to solve them.

In the transliteration kh has the value of the Scottish or
German ch;h is a. voiceless laryngeal spirant — a rough, wheez-
ing, guttural sound; q is an emphatic k, formed deep in the
throat (Hebrew p) ; ' is a strange, voiced laryngeal explosive
(Hebrew ^); J Is an assibilated t (German z); z is used here
as a rather Inexact substitute for the peculiar Egyptian pro-
nunciation of the emphatic Semitic s (Hebrew V, in Egyptian
sounding like ts, for which no single type can be made).

For those who may be unfamiliar with the history of Egypt
It will here be sufficient to say that Its principal divisions (dis-
regarding the intermediate periods) are : the Old Empire (First
to Sixth Dynasties), about 3400 to 2500 b. c; the Middle
Empire (Eleventh to Thirteenth Dynasties), about 2200 to

AUTHOR'S PREFACE 5

1700 B. c; the New Empire (Eighteenth to Twenty-Sixth
Dynasties), about 1600 to 525 b. c.

Pictures which could not be photographed directly from
books have been drawn by my daughter; Figs. 13, 65 (b)
are taken from scarabs in my possession.

Since space does not permit full references to the monu-
ments, I have omitted these wherever I follow the present
general knowledge and where the student can verify these
views from the indexes of the more modern literature which I
quote. References have been limited, so far as possible, to
observations which are new or less well known. Although I
have sought to be brief and simple in my presentation of Egyp-
tian mythology, my study contains a large amount of original
research. I have sought to emphasize two principles more than
has been done hitherto: (a) the comparative view — Egyptian
religion had by no means so isolated a growth as has generally
been assumed; (b) as in many other religions, its doctrines
often found a greater degree of expression in religious art than
in religious literature, so that modern interpreters should make
more use of the Egyptian pictures. Thus I trust not only that
this book will fill an urgent demand for a reliable popular
treatise on this subject, but that for scholars also it will mark
a step in advance toward a better understanding of Egypt's
most interesting bequest to posterity.

W. MAX MtJLLER.

University of Pennsylvania,
September, 19x7.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 18, 2019, 06:37:20 PM: INTRODUCTION

FOR almost two millenniums the religion of ancient Egypt
has claimed the interest of the nations of the West.
When the Classical peoples had lost faith in the credence of
their forefathers, they turned to the "wise priests" of Egypt,
and a certain reverence for the "wisdom of Egypt" survived
even the downfall of all pagan religions. This admiration
received a considerable impetus when Napoleon's expedition
revealed the greatness of that remarkable civilization which
once had flourished on the banks of the Nile. Thus today
an Egyptian temple seems to many a peculiarly appropriate
shrine for religious mysticism, and the profoundest thoughts
of the human mind and the finest morality are believed to be
hidden in the grotesque hieroglyphs on obelisks and sphinxes.
Yet the only bases of this popular impression are two argu-
ments which are quite fallacious. The first has been im-
plied — the religious thought of a nation which produced
such a wonderful and many-sided civilization ought, one would
naturally suppose, to oflFer an achievement parallel to what it
accomplished in architecture, art, etc. The principal reason
for this excessive regard, however, has been the unwarranted
prejudice of Classical paganism. Modern readers must be
warned against following this overestimation blindly, for It is
largely founded on the very unlntelllgiblllty of the Egyptian
religion, which. In its hyperconservatism, absolutely refused
to be adapted to reason. Even the anxiety of dying heathenism
could not force the endless number of gods and their contra-
dictory functions Into a rational system or explain away the
crudity of such aspects of the Egyptian faith as the worship
of animals; and the missionaries of Christianity selected these

8 INTRODUCTION

very features as the most palpable illustrations of the folly or
the diabolical madness of heathen creeds. Yet the unintelli-
gible always wields a strong attraction for the religious mind,
and the appeals of the early Christian apologists to reason
alone would scarcely have annihilated all faith in Isis and
Osiris even outside the Nile valley, where that belief was not
supported by the national traditions of many thousand years.
The fact that the Egyptians themselves were so utterly unable
to reduce their religion to a reasonable system seemed the
best proof of its mystic depth to the Romans of post-Christian
times and may still impress some persons similarly. Even
after the science of the history of religion had developed,
scholars did not examine the religion of Egypt with sufficient
impartiality, but constantly sought to overrate It. Of course,
the modern student will scarcely be Inclined to treat all ab-
surdities as wonderful mystic depths and to place the Egyp-
tian religion at the acme of all religious systems simply because
of its many obscurities. Yet scholars have hesitated to treat
its crudities as real and have often tried to find more hidden
meaning in them than was seen by the Egyptians themselves,
so that considerable time elapsed before science dared to
examine the religious "wisdom of Egypt" critically and to
treat it as what it really was — a bequest of most primitive
ages and In great part a remnant of the barbarism from which
the Egyptians had gradually emerged.

The earliest Egyptologists dared not venture to explain
the Egyptian religion, whose hieroglyphic texts they under-
stood only Incompletely. The first decipherers, J. F. Cham-
pollion and Sir J. G. Wilkinson, did. little more than collect
the pictures of the gods. R. Lepslus made the first feeble
attempts at the Investigation of special chapters of the
texts. The earlier school of French Egyptologists, J. J.
ChampollIon-FIgeac, E. de Rouge, and P. Pierret, sought to
explain the religion of the Pharaohs as a kind of monotheism,
drawing this inference, strangely enough, from such epithets

INTRODUCTION 9

as "the Great One," "the Unique," or "the Eternal," even
though these titles were given to so many different gods. To
their minds a pure monotheism was disguised under the out-
ward appearance of a symbolic polytheism, which had at its
root the belief that all the different gods were in reality only
diverse manifestations of the same supreme being. It is quite
true that such views are found on some monuments,^ but it is
utterly erroneous to regard them as the general opinion or as
the original religion of the Egyptians. As additional religious
texts were discovered in course of time, the religion revealed
itself to be increasingly crude and polytheistic in direct pro-
portion to the earliness of the date of the documents con-
cerned: the older the texts, the ruder and lower are the
religious views which they set forth. All pantheistic or sup-
posedly monotheistic passages represent only the development
of Egyptian thought from a comparatively recent period.
Furthermore, they were isolated attempts of a few advanced
thinkers and poets and did not affect the religion of the
masses; and finally, they are still far removed from a real
monotheism or a systematic pantheism.

Among the apologists for Egyptian religion in an earlier
generation of scholars H. K. Brugsch endeavoured with
special zeal, but in a way which was far from convincing, to
demonstrate that Egyptian religion was originally pantheistic;
to maintain his theory he was compelled to analyse the divine
principle into eight or nine cosmic forces by means of bolder
identifications of the various divinities than even the later
Egyptians ever attempted. Previous to him Le Page Renouf
had emphasized the cosmic features of the pantheon in a
manner which was not confirmed by the discovery of the
earliest religious texts; and still earlier Lepsius had tried to
interpret Egyptian polytheism as a degeneration of a solar
monotheism or henotheism, thus taking a position intermedi-
ate between that of the earlier French scholars and that
of later investigators. In like fashion, though assuming a

lo INTRODUCTION

more complicated hypothetical development, J. Lieblein also
stressed an alleged degeneration from original simplicity;
and certain similar theories, holding that Egyptian poly-
theism was partially (or even largely) developed from mono-
theism or henotheism by local differentiation, or evincing an
erroneous tendency to discover a cosmic origin for all gods,
continue to influence more than one of the most modern
writers. But, we repeat, even if some elements of higher
thought may be gleaned from the texts, these scattered traces
did not touch the earliest form of Egyptian belief as it can
now be read from texts anterior to 3000 B.C., nor did they
affect the religion of the masses even during the latest periods
of history. The further back we go, the more primitive are
the ideas which we find, with absolutely no trace of mono-
theism; and those rude concepts always predominated in the
religion of the people to such an extent that they represented
the real Egyptian creed.

The first step toward an understanding of the fundamental
crudity of the Egyptian religion was in 1878, when R. Pletsch-
mann^ proposed to regard its beginnings as precisely parallel
to the pure animism and fetishism of Central Africa, showing
at the same time that such a religion must everywhere assume
in large part a magic character. The effect of this step has
been very great; and although it encountered much opposition
and is still denied by some prejudiced scholars and many
laymen, it has done much to develop the theory on this sub-
ject which now prevails among students of religion. The
writer who has been most energetic in the promulgation of
this theory has been G. Maspero, whose numerous essays have
been the chief factors in establishing a fuller knowledge and
understanding of Egyptian religion, although he never wrote
an exhaustive presentation of these beliefs.

The stereotyped objection against such a low view of Egyp-
tian religion is its extreme contrast to the whole civilization
of the Egyptian nation. Can It be possible that, as Maspero

INTRODUCTION ' ii

boldly stated, the most highly developed people of the ancient
Orient, a nation inferior only to the Greeks in its accomplish-
ments, held in religion a place no higher than that which is
occupied by some barbarous negro tribes? Yet the develop-
ment of civilization rarely runs quite parallel to that of re-
ligious thought. The wonderful civilization of the Chinese,
for example, is quite incongruous with the very primitive
character of their indigenous religion; and, on the other hand,
Israel, the source of the greatest religious progress, took a
very modest place in art and science before it was dispersed
among the Gentiles. Above all, religion is everywhere more or
less controlled by the traditions of the past and seeks its basis
in the beliefs and customs of early days. According to the
usual reasoning of man, his forefathers appear as more and
more happy and wise in direct proportion as history is traced
further and further back, until at last they are portrayed as
living with the gods, who still walked on earth. The ultra-
conservative Egyptians were especially anxious to tread in
the ways of the blessed forefathers, to adore the same gods to
whom their ancestors had bowed down in time immemorial,
and to worship them in exactly the same forms; so that the
religion of the later, highly developed Egyptians after 3000
B.C. remained deplorably similar to that of their barbarous
forefathers. Our present knowledge of the state of Egyptian
civilization about and before 4000 B.C. is sufficient to show
that some development had already been made, including the
first steps toward the evolution of the hieroglyphic system of
writing; but the crude artistic attempts of that age, its burials
of the dead in miserable holes or in large jars, its buildings in
straw and in mud bricks, and its temples of wicker-work and
mats still form such a contrast to the period of the Second and
Third Dynasties, when Egyptian architecture and art made the
first strides toward the perfection of the Pyramid Age, that
we do not hesitate to place the religious development of the
Egyptians of the fifth millennium on the level of ordinary

12 INTRODUCTION

African paganism. The rude carvings of that time show that
most, If not all, of the later gods, with their names, symbols,
and artistic types, existed then and that they had already been
transmitted by ancient tradition from ancestral days. Thus
we may assume that the Egyptian pantheon had Its origin in
the most remote and obscure neolithic (or, perhaps, even palse-
ollthlc) age, and we may safely consider It a product of a
most primitive barbarism. It may seem a little strange that
the swift development of Egyptian civilization somewhat
before 3000 B.C. should not have led to a better systematizatlon
of the religious traditions. Until we know what political con-
ditions produced that rapid evolution,^ we must rest content
with the explanation which we have already advanced, I. e.
that everywhere conservatism Is one of the most Important
factors in religion, and that the mind of the ancient Egyptians
was peculiarly conservative throughout their history. This
conservatism is strikingly Illustrated by Egyptian art, which,
even In the time of Its highest development, could not free
Itself from the fetters of traditionalism, but tenaciously kept
the childish perspective of primitive days, although as early
as the Pyramid Age artists were able to draw quite correctly,
and occasionally did so. In the religious art this adherence to
tradition constituted an especially grave barrier to artistic
development; accordingly the figures of the gods always pre-
served, more or less, the stiff and — In some details — child-
ishly Imperfect style of the early period. For example, all
the pictures of Ptah, one of the oldest gods, point back to a
clumsy type betraying an age when the artists were not yet
able to separate arms and legs from the body. The savage
simplicity of the age which created the Egyptian religion and
Indelibly stamped Its subsequent evolution is clearly evidenced
likewise In the barbarous head-dresses of the divinities,^ which
consist of feathers, horns, and rush-plaited crowns, as well as In
the simple emblems held in their hands. These Insignia, In the
case of male deities, are generally staves terminating In the

INTRODUCTION 13

head of the Seth animal, while the goddesses usually hold a
flowering lotus stalk; the appearance of weapons as insignia
is comparatively rare. In this same way the animal shapes of
most Egyptian divinities and the genesis of the animal cult
itself, such fetish-like receptacles as the one worshipped at
This, the strange local divine symbols which remind us of
totemistic emblems, etc., all become easily intelligible when
considered as a survival from the barbaric age, which we shall
endeavour to reconstruct in the next chapter.

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

CHAPTER I
THE LOCAL GODS

ANIMISM is a very wide-spread form of primitive religion.
It has no gods in the sense of the advanced pagan re-
ligions; it only believes that earth and heaven are filled by
countless spirits, either sedentary or wandering. These spirits
can make their earthly abode in men, animals, or plants, or
any object that may be remarkable for size or form. As soon
as man, in his fear of these primitive deities, tries to placate
them by sacrifices, they develop into tutelary spirits and
fetishes, and then into gods. Some scholars claim that all
religions have sprung from a primitive animism. Whether
this be true or not, such an origin fits the primitive Egyptian
religion especially well and explains its endless and confused
pantheon. The Egyptians of the historical period tell us that
every part of the world is filled by gods, an assertion which
in our days has often been misinterpreted as if those gods
were cosmic, and as though a primitive kind of pantheism
underlay these statements. Yet the gods who lived, for in-
stance, in the water, like the crocodile Sobk, the hippo-
potamus-deity Epet, etc., did not represent this element; for
the most part they merely inhabited a stretch of water. We
find that in general the great majority of the old local gods
defy all cosmic explanation: they still betray that once they
were nothing but local spirits whose realm must primarily
have been extremely limited. In the beginning there may
have been a tendency to assume tutelary spirits for every tree

i6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

or rock of unusual size or form or for every house and field,
such spirits being worshipped in the first case in the form of
the sacred object itself in which they abode, and in the latter
case being embodied in some striking object in the locality or
In some remarkable animal which chanced to frequent the
place. Many of these tutelary spirits never developed Into
real gods, I. e. they never received a regular cult. The transi-
tional stage appears In such Instances as when, according to
certain Theban wall-paintings, the harvesters working In a
field deposited a small part of their food as an offering to a
tree which dominated that field, I. e. for the genius inhabiting
the tree; or when they fed a serpent discovered on the field,
supposing it to be more than an ordinary creature.^ This ser-
pent might disappear and yet be remembered In the place,
which might in consequence remain sacred forever; perhaps
the picture of its feeding may thus be Interpreted as meaning
that even then the oflPering was merely In recollection of the
former appearance of a local spirit In serpent form.

Another clear Illustration of primitive animism surviving In
historic times Is furnished by an old fragment of a tale in a
papyrus of the museum of Berlin. Shepherds discover a
goddess" hiding herself In a thicket along the river-bank.
They flee in fright and call the wise old chief shepherd, who
by magic formulae expels her from her lair. Unfortunately
the papyrus breaks off when the goddess came forth with
terrible appearance," but we can again see how low the term
"god" remained In the Pyramid Age and later.

Such rudimentary gods, however, did not play any part
In the religion of the historic age. Only those of them
that attracted wider attention than usual and whose wor-
ship expanded from the family to the village would later
be called gods. We must, nevertheless, bear In mind that a
theoretical distinction could scarcely be drawn between such
spirits or "souls" (baiu) which enjoyed no formal or regular
cult and the gods recognized by regular offerings, just as there

THE LOCAL GODS 17

was no real difference between the small village deity whose
shrine was a little hut of straw and the "great god" who had a
stately temple, numerous priests, and rich sacrifices. If we
had full information about Egyptian life, we certainly should
be able to trace the development by which a spirit or fetish
which originally protected only the property of a single peasant
gradually advanced to the position of the village god, and con-
sequently, by the growth of that village or by its political
success, became at length a "great god" who ruled first over
a city and next over the whole county dominated by that city,
and who then was finally worshipped throughout Egypt.
As we shall see, the latter step can be observed repeatedly;
but the first progress of a "spirit" or "soul" toward regular
worship as a full god ^ can never be traced in the inscriptions.
Indeed, this process of deification must have been quite infre-
quent in historic times, since, as we have already seen, only
the deities dating from the days of the ancestors could find
sufficient recognition. In a simpler age this development from
a spirit to a god may have been much easier. In the historic
period we see, rather, the opposite process; the great divinities
draw all worship and sacrifices to their shrines and thus cause
many a local god to be neglected, so that he survives only in
magic, etc., or sinks into complete oblivion. In some Instances
the cult of such a divinity and the existence of its priesthood
were saved by association with a powerful deity, who would
receive his humbler colleague into his temple as his wife or
child; but in many instances even a god of the highest rank
would tolerate an insignificant rival cult in the same city,
sometimes as the protector of a special quarter or suburb.

Originally the capital of each of the forty-two nomes, or
counties, of Egypt seems to have been the seat of a special
great divinity or of a group of gods, who were the masters and
the patrons of that county; and many of these nomes main-
tained the worship of their original deity until the latest
period. The priests in his local temple used to extol their pa-
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 21, 2019, 04:02:00 PM: 1 8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

tron as though he was the only god or was at least the supreme
divinity; later they often attributed to him the government of
all nature and even the creation of the whole world, as well
as the most important cosmic functions, especially, in every
possible instance, those of a solar character; and they were
not at all disturbed by the fact that a neighbouring nome
claimed exactly the same position for its own patron. To us
it must seem strange that under these conditions no rivalry
between the gods or their priests is manifest in the inscrip-
tions. To explain this strange isolation of local religion it is
generally assumed that In prehistoric times each of these
nomes was a tribal organization or petty kingdom, and that
the later prominence given to their divine patron or patrons
was a survival of that primitive political independence, since
every ancient Oriental state possessed its national god and
worshipped him in a way which often approximated heno-
thelsm.^ Yet the quasi-henothelstic worship v/hlch was
given to the patron of these forty- two petty capitals recurred
in connexion with the various local gods of other towns in
the same nome, where even the chief patron of the nome in
question was relegated to the second or third rank in favour of
the local idol. This was carried to such an extent that every
Egyptian was expected to render worship primarily to his
"city-god" (or gods), whatever the character of this divinity
might be. Since each of the larger settlements thus worshipped
its local tutelary spirit or deity without determining his pre-
cise relation to the gods of other communities, we may with
great probability assume that In the primitive period the
village god preceded the town god, and that the god of the
hamlet and of the family were not unknown. At that early
day the forces of nature appear to have received no worship
whatever. Such conditions are explicable only from the point
of view of animism.^ This agrees also with the tendency to
seek the gods preferably In animal form, and with the strange,
fetish-like objects in which other divinities were represented.

THE LOCAL GODS 19

Numerous as the traces of animistic, local henotheism are,
the exclusive worship of its local spirit by each settlement
cannot have existed very long. In a country which never was
favourable to individualism the family spirit could not com-
pete with the patron of the community; and accordingly,
when government on a larger scale was established, in innumer-
able places the local divinity soon had to yield to the god of a
town which was greater in size or in political importance.
We can frequently observe how a chief, making himself master
of Egypt, or of a major part of it, advanced his city god above
all similar divinities of the Egyptian pantheon, as when, for
instance, the obscure town of Thebes, suddenly becoming the
capital of all Egypt, gained for her local god, Amon, the chief
position within the Egyptian pantheon, so that he was called
master of the whole world. The respect due to the special
patron of the king and his ancestors, the rich cult with which
that patron was honoured by the new dynasty, and the officials
proceeding from the king's native place and court to other towns
soon spread the worship of Pharaoh's special god through the
whole kingdom, so that he was not merely given worship at
the side of the local deities, but often supplanted them, and
was even able to take the place of ancient patrons of the
nomes. Thus we find, for instance, Khnum as god of the first
and eleventh nomes; Hat-hor, whose worship originally spread
only in Middle Egypt (the sixth, seventh, and tenth nomes),
also in the northernmost of the Upper Egyptian nomes (the
twenty-second) and in one Lower Egyptian nome (the third) ;
while Amon of Thebes, who, as we have just seen, had come
into prominence only after 2000 B.C., reigned later in no less
than four nomes of the Delta. This latter example is due to
the exceptional duration of the position of Thebes as the capi-
tal, which was uninterrupted from 2CXX) to 1800 and from 1600
to 1 100 B.C.; yet to the mind of the conservative Egyptians
even this long predominance of the Theban gods could not
effect a thorough codification of religious belief in favour of

20

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

these gods, nor could it dethrone more than a part of the local
deities.

As we have already said, the difficulty of maintaining separate
cults, combined with other reasons, led the priests at a very
early time to group several divinities together in one temple as
a divine family, usually in a triad of father, mother, and son; ^
in rarer instances a god might have two wives (as at Elephan-
tine, and sometimes at Thebes) ; ^ in the case of a goddess
who was too prominent to be satisfied with the second place

as wife of a god, she
was associated with
a lesser male divin-
ity as her son (as at
Denderah). We
may assume that all
these groups were
formed by gods
which originally
were neighbours.
The development of

Fig. I. The Triad of Elephantine: KhnOm, Satet. the ennead (perhaps

*^^'^^"^^^ a triple triad in

source) is obviously much later (see pp. 215-16).

As long as no cosmic role was attributed to the local gods,
little mythology could be attached to their personality;
even a deity so widely worshipped as the crocodile Sobk, for
example, does not exhibit a single mythological trait. Of
most gods we know no myths, an ignorance which is not due
to accidental loss of information, as some Egyptologists
thought, but to the fact that the deities in question really
possessed little or no mythology. The only local divinities
capable of mythological life, therefore, were those that were
connected with the cycle of the sun or of Osiris.

A possible trace of primitive simplicity may be seen in the
fact that some gods have, properly speaking, no names, but

THE LOCAL GODS 21

are called after their place of worship. Thus, the designation
of the cat-shaped goddess Ubastet means only "the One of
the City Ubaset," as though she had long been worshipped
there without a real name, being called, perhaps, simply
"the goddess"; and, again, the god Khent(i)-amentiu ("the
One Before the Westerners," i.e. the dead),' who was originally
a jackal (?), seems to have received his appellation simply from
the location of his shrine near the necropolis in the west of
This. These instances, however, admit of other explanations
— an earlier name may have become obsolete;^ or a case of
local differentiation may be assumed in special places, as when
the jackal-god Khent(i)-amentiu seems to be only a local
form of Up-uaut (Ophois). Names like that of the bird-
headed god, "the One Under his Castor Oil[?] Bush" ibeq),
give us the impression of being very primitive.^ Differentia-
tion of a divinity into two or more personalities according to
his various centres of worship occurs, it is true; but, except for
very rare cases like the prehistoric differentiation of Min and
Amon, it has no radical effect. In instances known from the
historic period it is extremely seldom that a form thus dis-
criminated evokes a new divine name; the Horus and Hat-hor
of a special place usually remain Horus and Hat-hor, so that
such differentiations cannot have developed the profuse poly-
theism from a simpler system. On the contrary, it must be
questioned whether even as early an identification as, e. g., of
the winged disk Behdeti ("the One of Behdet" [the modern
Edfu]) with Horus as a local form was original. In this in-
stance the vague name seems to imply that the identification
with Horus was still felt to be secondary.

Thus we are always confronted with the result that, the nearer
we approach to the original condition of Egypt, the more we
find its religion to be an endless and unsystematic polytheism
which betrays an originally animistic basis, as described above.
The whole difficulty of understanding the religion of the
historic period lies in the fact that it always hovered between

22

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

that primitive stage and the more advanced type, the cosmic
conception of the gods, in a very confusing way, such as we
scarcely find in any other national religion. In other words,

Fig. 2. Some Gods of Prehistoric Egypt whose Worship Later was Lost

(a), {b) A bearded deity much used as an amulet; (c), (d) a double bull (Khonsu?);
(e) an unknown bull-god; (/) a dwarf divinity (?) similar to Sokari, but found far in
the south.

the peculiar value of the ancient Egyptian religion is that it
forms the clearest case of transition from the views of the
most primitive tribes of mankind to those of the next higher
religious development, as represented especially in the religion
of Babylonia.

CHAPTER II
THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN

TAKING animism as the basis of the earliest stage of
Egyptian religion, we must assume that the principal
cosmic forces were easily personified and considered as divine.
A nation which discovers divine spirits in every remarkable
tree or rock will find them even more readily in the sun, the
moon, the stars, and the like. But though the earliest Egyp-
tians may have done this, and perhaps may even have ad-
mitted that these cosmic spirits were great gods, at first they
seem to have had no more thought of giving them offerings
than is entertained by many primitive peoples in the animistic
stage of religion who attach few religious thoughts to the
great cosmic factors. Was it that these forces, which were
beheld every day, appeared to be less mysterious and, there-
fore, less divine than the tutelary spirits of the town, or did
these local spirits seem nearer to man and thus more interested
in his welfare than the cosmic gods, who were too great and
too remote for the ordinary mortal.^ At any rate, we can ob-
serve that, for instance, in historic times the god of the earth
(Qeb) is described as the father of all the gods and as one of
the most important personages of the pantheon, but that,
despite this, he does not seem to have possessed temples of his
own in the New Empire; and the like statement holds true of
the god Nuu (the abyss), although he is declared to be the
oldest and wisest of all gods, etc. By their very contradictions
the later attempts to transform the old local spirits and fetishes
into personifications of cosmic powers prove that no such per-
sonification was acknowledged in the prehistoric period to

24

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

which the majority of Egyptian cults are traceable, thus con-
firming the general absence of homage to cosmic powers.
It is even doubtful whether the worship of the sun-god was
originally important; while the scanty attention paid to the
moon in historical times and the confu-
sion of three planets under one name
again make it certain that no cult of
them had been transmitted from the
days of the ancestors.

On the other hand, the first attempts
Fig. 3. The Sun-God at philosophical thought which accom-

Watching the Appear- • 1 1 1 1 r t-«

ANCE OF HIS Disk IN THE panied the development of Egyptian
Eastern Gate of civilization evidently led to a closer con-

Heaven ... , ,

templation oi nature and to a better
appreciation of it. Yet, although we find traces of various
attempts to create a system of cosmic gods, no such system
was ever carried through satisfactorily, so that a large part
of the pantheon either never became cosmic or, as has been
said above, was at best only unsuccessfully made cosmic.

The first of all cosmic powers to find general worship was
the sun, whose rays dominate Egypt so strongly. The earliest
efforts to personify it identified it with an old hawk-god, and
thus sought to describe it as a hawk which flew daily across
the sky. Therefore, the two
most popular forms of the
solar deity. Re' and Horus,
have the form of a hawk or
of a hawk-headed man (later
sometimes also of a lion with
a hawk's head). Both divini- Fig. 4.
ties had so many temples in
historical times that we cannot determine their original seats
of worship. At the beginning of the dynastic period Horus
seems to have been the sun-god who was most generally wor-
shipped in Egypt.^ Though Re' does not appear to find offi-

Pictures

OF Khepri
Form

IN Human

THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN

25

Fig. 6.

cial recognition until later, in the Second and Third Dynas-
ties, nevertheless he seems to be the older personification of
the sun since his name furnishes the popular designation of
the solar disk.

Less popular is the description of the sun as Khepri (Kheprer
in the earlier orthography), or "the Scarab-Like," i. e. as a
scarab rolling his egg (the sun) across the sky, or as a man who
wears a scarab on his head or instead of a head. Later theo-
logians endeavoured to harmonize this idea with the other
representations of the sun-god by explaining Khepri as the
weaker sun, i. e. as it appears in the morning when the solar egg
is formed, or, sometimes, in the evening, or even as the sun
in embryonic condition beneath the hori- r\
zon at night,^ when it traverses the
regions of the dead and shines on the
lower world. When the scarab draws a
second egg behind it, or carries two eggs

Fig. s. ^g j|- ^jgg athwart the sky, it symbolizes Khepri with
Khepri as . '. c

THE Infant the mommg and the evenmg sun.^ ^^ Double

At the very earliest period, however, Appear-
the sun was also described as a man whose face,
eye, or head-ornament was the solar body. In the latter in-
stance this was regularly compared to the uraeus, the fiery
asp, wound about Pharaoh's brow as a sign of his absolute
power over life and death. When, as we shall see, the sun-god
is bitten by a serpent as he walks across the sky, on the celes-
tial road, this is merely a later reversion of the myth and
blends the interpretations of the sun as an eye (which may
be lost) and as an asp. The most popular idea, however, is
that in a ship (which has perhaps replaced an earlier double
raft)^ the sun sails over the sky, conceived as a blue river or
lake which is a continuation of the sea and of the Nile. At
the prow of this solar ship we frequently find a curious detail,
sometimes represented as a carpet or mat^ on which the god
is seated, often thus duplicating a second figure of himself in

26

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the cabin. This detail still awaits explanation. The deity may
either be the only occupant of the boat, which moves by itself
or is paddled by him; or he may be accompanied by many

prominent gods, especially the nine
gods of the Heliopolitan ennead and
the personifications of wisdom, etc.
In the latter case the great ship, which
one text® describes as seven hundred
and seventy cubits in length, is rowed
Fig. 7. The Sun-God Rows a by numerous gods and souls of kings
Departed Soul over the and Other (originally especially promi-
nent) dead, the "followers of Horus,"
or "of ReV' ^ i- e. of the god to whom the ship of the sun belonged.
The Book of the Gates ^ reverts to an ancient idea by explain-
ing that "the never-vanishing stars" (i. e. again the elect souls)
become the rowers of the sun by day. Then the sun may rest
in the cabin as a disk in which the god himself may be en-
throned, or as the uraeus asp, the symbol of fire; in the latter
form he may also twine around the prow, cabin, or any other
part of the vessel. In one instance a double asp actually forms
the boat which carries the stairs of the sun, i. e. the symbol
of its daily way (see below on the double nature of the asp).
An extremely ancient idea, which occurs, for instance, as early
as the famous ivory tablet of King Menes, is the blending of
the human shape of the sun with his hawk form, so that the

Fig. 8. A Star as Rower of
THE Sun in the Day-Time

Fig. 9. The Sun-Boat as a
Double Serpent

solar bird sails in the cabin of the huge ship as though it had
no wings.

On its daily way the ship of the sun has adventures and

THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN

27

adversaries which apparently symboHze clouds and eclipses;
and its perils increase still further at night, when it passes
the western mountain ridge, the limit of the earth, and enters
hostile darkness. In the morning, however, it always emerges
victorious over the eastern mountains; the sun himself and his
brave rowers and soldiers have scattered all opponents, sailing
successfully through the subterranean course of the Nile or
crossing the abysmal ocean into which the sun dips at even-
ing.^ During the night (or part of it) the sun-god illumines
the regions of the dead, who for a time awaken from their
sleep when his
rays shine upon
them, and who
are sometimes
believed to tow
the sun's ship
through the
dead or windless
lower waters or
through espe-
cially difficult
parts of them,^" or who assist it there against its enemies. At
night the sun may also take rest in its special abode in the
nether world, in "the island of flames," ^^ where the fiery ele-
ment has its proper centre.

To speak more exactly, the sun-god has two diflFerent ships:
one — the Me'enzet — for the day, and the other — the
Semektet ^^ — for the night; sometimes he enters the "evening
ship" in the afternoon. This distinction is no more difficult
to understand than the later difi"erentiation of the sun into
three distinct personalities during the day-time, when he is
called Horus (or Har-akhti, "Horus of the Horizon") in the
morning. Re' (his ordinary name) at noon, and Atum(u)
toward evening. The latter form, taken from the local god of
Heliopolis,^^ is depicted as human, very rarely in the oldest

Fig. 10. The Sun-God at Night-Time

With "Wisdom" and "Magic" in his boat, he is drawn by
the " spirits of the underworld."

28 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

form of Atum as an ichneumon. The accompanying picture
shows this god of the evening sun in his original animal form
behind the closed western gate of heaven, built on the moun-
tain of the west. We have already seen that the name
Khepri was used for the weaker manifestations; later Re',
as the oldest name, was also employed more for the weak
and aged sun; ^^ while the dying sun of evening and the dead
sun of night were soon identified with Osiris, as we shall see
in the chapter on the Osiris-myth. The representation of the
sun with a ram's head during his nightly journey through
the lower world seems to date from the New Empire only.^^
Its obvious explanation is identification with
Khniim, the guardian of the waters coming
from the lower world and master of Hades.
The sun at night-time is lost in Khnum's
dark realm and unites with him. The de-
FiG. II. Atum be- scription of the sun as a fragrant flame of
HIND THE Western incense seems to find its explanation in the

Gate of Heaven ^ i • • • i • i
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 21, 2019, 04:02:43 PM: tact that It rises m the eastern regions whence
spices and perfumes come.

After 2000 b. c. the worship of the sun, thanks to increasing
official favour, became so dominant that identifications with
the sun or with a phase of it were tried with almost every god
who had not received a clear cosmic function at an earlier
time; and in this way most local divinities were at last explained
as difi"erent manifestations of the sun, as the "members" of
Re' or as his "souls." Attempts to systematize these mani-
festations tell us that such a great god as the sun has seven or
fourteen souls or doubles.^® The later solar identifications, of
course, far exceed these numbers.

A slightly more modest place is attributed to the sun-god
when he is parallel with the moon, each of these great lumi-
naries being an eye of the heavenly god, although this celestial
divinity still bears the name of the sun-god as master of the
sky, usually of Horus (whence he is also called "Horus of the

THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN 29

Two Eyes"), more rarely of Re' or of other identifications with

the sun.^^ The fact that this celestial deity shows only one

eye at a time is explained by the various myths which, as we

shall see later (pp. 85-91) recount how the sun-god lost an eye;

according to the belief which prevailed later, and which was

adapted to the Osirian myth, this occurred in a combat with
Seth.^8

The Egyptian word for "eye" being feminine, the disk of
the sun could also be regarded as female. A theory concerning
the sun, reaching the same general conclusion, has already been
mentioned: the solar orb is compared to the fiery asp, the
''ar^et (the uraeus of the Greeks and Romans), which Pharaoh,
the sun-god's representative on earth, wore round his forehead.
Understood as a symbol of fire, this serpent was originally
thought to deck the forehead or to occupy the ship of the
solar or celestial god, as has been described on p. 26, but it
was soon so closely identified with his flaming eye that "eye"
and "asp" became synonymous. Thus both eyes of the celestial
god were identified with asps, regardless of the milder light of
the moon; or two uraei were thought to be worn on the sun's
forehead just as they sometimes adorned Pharaoh. These two
eyes or serpents are often called "the daughters of the sun-
god," ^^ and we shall find below the myth of these two rival
daughters. (See also Fig. 9 for a picture of the double asp
as the ship which carries the sun-god's staircase.)

All these expressions furnished methods of solarizing female
divinities. The chief goddesses who were regarded as solar and
described as the daughter, eye, asp, or crown of the sun were
Tefenet, Sekhmet, and Ubastet, whose animal forms (the
lioness with the first and second, and the cat with the third)
also seem to have contributed toward associating them with
the luminary of day, because the sun-god often had a leaning
toward a lion's form (p. 24). Moreover Hat-hor, Isis, and
other celestial goddesses sometimes betray a tendency to such
a solar interpretation, precisely as male divinities like Horus

30 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

hover between solar and celestial functions (pp. 28-29). 2° We
must, however, emphasize the fact that all female personifica-
tions of the sun had no real hold on the mind of the Egyptians,
who were agreed that the sun was a male deity. These solar-
izations of female gods give us the impression of early tran-
sitory attempts whose history is not yet clear. For a myth
of the sun's eye as a daughter who wilfully deserts her father
see pp. 86 ff. as well as for other legends of the injured (or
blind) eye of the sun-god, which is euphemistically called "the
sound, intact one," {uzat, uzait), because it cannot be damaged
permanently.

Religious poetry also calls everything which is good and
useful "the eye of the sun," either because all life is due to the
rays of the great celestial body, as some hymns graphically
declare, or, perhaps, also because the eye, torn out and falling
to the earth, created life.

There was much difference of opinion as to the time when
the sun came into the world; some held that he proceeded
directly from the abyss and created (or at least organized) the
whole world, begetting all the gods, and others maintained
that, especially in the later solar form of Osiris, he was the
result of the first separation of heaven and earth, the two
greatest cosmic forces (see pp. 77-78). In any case, the sun is
always regarded as the creator of men, who "proceeded from
his eye(s)" in a way which was variously interpreted by the
Egyptians, and as the god who (alone or through his clerk
Thout) organized the world, at least in its present form.

The substance most sacred to the sun-god was the bright
metal gold. It played an important part in religious symbol-
ism,^^ and such goddesses as Hat-hor were connected with the
sun by epithets like "the golden."

The dominant worship of the sun influenced the whole
Egyptian religion and affected all the cults of the local gods,
even before it became the fashion to explain most gods as solar.
Thus the pair of monolithic red obelisks erected before the

THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN 31

gates of the Egyptian temples were originally intended merely
to symbolize the limits of the sun's course, and especially its
yearly bounds, the equinoxes. We are also told that the sun
has two obelisks on earth and two in heaven; ^^ 3.ga.'m, only
one of these pillars may be treated as actually important.
An allusion to this conception is doubtless to be found in the
huge, single obelisk-like structures on a cubic base which only
the kings of the Fifth Dynasty erected to the honour of Re',
because they seem to have claimed him for their ancestor more
literally than did the other royal families.^^ Later all obelisks
were themselves worshipped as signs of the sun's presence on
earth. ^'*

On (Un[u ?],Eun[u ?] in the earliest orthography), the most an-
cient and the most sacred city of Egypt, the "City of the Sun"
— the Heliopolis of the Greeks — was the principal seat of
the solar mythology, although the general name of the sun-
god. Re', seems even there gradually to have replaced the old
local deity, Atum(u), only after 2000 B.C. Heliopolis contained
the earthly proxy of the tree of heaven, the holy Persea, and
the sacred well which to this day is called "the Sun's Well"
('AIn Shams) and in which the sun was believed either to
bathe himself morning and night or to have been born at the
beginning of the world, when he arose from the abyss, etc.
Thus the pool was not merely a type, but a real remnant of the
primeval flood.^^ Such sacred lakes were imitated in many
sanctuaries, just as the sacred tree of Heliopolis had local
parallels.

In all sanctuaries of the sun the god's presence on earth
was indicated by single or double reproductions of the solar
ship, which sometimes were enormous constructions of stones
or bricks, although generally they were made of wood and
were portable, so that the priests could Imitate the daily and
yearly course of the sun In solemn procession as they carried
or dragged the ship around the temple or floated It on the
sacred lake near by.

32

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 12.

Thout as a

Baboon

jac

Most closely associated with the sun we find his secretary

Thout (i) (the moon), who also heals his eye when it is wounded

or torn out. When the

gods or "souls" of the

prehistoric capitals of

divided Egypt, Buto

and Hierakonpolis, ^^ ^^

who were represented V '"'^^ir::^ 7

as human figures with ^ j

the heads of hawks or Fig. 13. Baboons Greet the Sun

kals,2S and who were also (^) Over the celestial pillar; (b) in
1 r 1 j> ^^^ celestial tree.

called the souls 01 the east,

are described as saluting the sun every morning, some scholars
have attempted to see in this allusions to the cries with which

the animals of the wilder-
ness seem joyfully to hail
the rising sun. However,
the cynocephalous ba-
boons who, according to
the Egyptian view, like-
wise welcome the sun thus
with prayers and hymns
at his rising, also bid him
farewell at his setting and
even salute, accompany,
and aid the nocturnal sun
as he voyages through the
nether world. ^^ Therefore

Fig. 14. Baboons Saluting the Morning Sun their Tol^ seemS tO have

He rises in the eastern mountains from the been developed from the
symbols of the Osirian state and of life. , . , rxii 1 1

part which liiout played
as assistant to the sun-god, and the hawks and jackals already
mentioned likewise rather suggest mythological explanations.

CHAPTER III
OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE

IT is remarkable that the moon, which was so important,
especially in Babylonia, never rivalled the sun among the
Egyptians.^ At a rather early time it was iden-
tified with the white ibis-god Thout(i) (earlier
Zhouti, Dhouti), the local divinity of Khmun(u)-
Hermopolis, who thus became the deity of reck-
oning and writing and in his capacity as secretary
of the company of gods acted as the judge of di- '°* ^^' "°"^
vinities and of men.^ The reason is clear: the moon is the
easiest regulator of time for primitive man. In like manner
when Thout takes care of the injured eye of the solar or ce-
lestial god, and heals or replaces it, the underlying idea seems
to be that the moon regulates such

disturbances as eclipses;

it may, however, equally

well imply that the

moon, being the second

eye of the heavenly

god, is simply a weaker

reappearance of the sun

at night.

Some scholars formerly

sought the reason for the

^'THE^ScIfBT^' ib^S-^O^"^ in the crescent- Fig. 17. Thout in Baboon
shaped bill of the bird, J""^ ^^ Moon-God and
, . Scribe of the Gods

but such explanations fail when we find

the cynocephalus regarded as another (somewhat later.'') em-
bodiment of the same god of wisdom; so that this species of

XII — 4

34

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

baboon appears not only as a special friend of the sun-god
(p. 32), but also as the deity of wisdom, the patron of scribes
and scholars.^ Thout is sometimes de-
picted as sailing, like the sun, across the
heavenly ocean in a ship. Originally, like
the hawk-gods Re' and Horus, he was
thought to fly over the sky in his old bird-
form as a white ibis.

During the period of the Middle Empire'*
also Kh6ns(u), the least important mem-
ber of the Theban triad (Ch. I, Note 6), as-
sumed the character of a moon-god because
the union of Amen-Re' as the sun with
Mut as the sky led to the theory that the
moon was their child, ^ He is usually re-
presented In human form, wearing a side-
lock to Indicate youth; but later, like Horus,
he sometimes has the head of a hawk and
also appears very much like Ptah; although
he Is frequently equated with Thout, an
Ibis-head for him Is rare. A symbol, some-
times identified with him. Is thus ^
far unexplained (unless It belongs C y^
to another god, see the statements on Dua, p. 132); ''
and It Is rather doubtful whether he Is represented by the
double bull with a single body (Fig. 2 {d)).^ His name seems
to mean "the Roamer, the Wanderer," and It was perhaps for
this reason that the Greeks Identified him with Herakles.

We have already noted the thought that the sky Is
water and that It forms a continuation of the Nile or
of the ocean, on which the solar barge pursues Its way.
It Is not clear how this was harmonized with the parallel,
though rarer, idea that the sky was a metal roof, a belief
which may have been derived from observation of meteo-
rites. Sometimes only the centre of heaven, the throne

Fig. 18. Khons as
Moon-God

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 35

of Its master, is thought to be of metal; while other
texts speak of "the solar ship sailing over the metal" as
though this was under the celestial waters. This conception
of a metal dome explains some
expressions of later times, such as
the name of Iron, be-ni-pet ("sky-
metal"), or the later word
for "thunder," khru-bai (literally,
"sound of the metal"), I.e. thun-
der was evidently explained as
the beating of the great sheets of
metal which constituted the sky.
This heavenly roof was thought to
rest on four huge pillars, which were

usually pictured as supports forked Fig. 19. A Personified Pillar

above / V ^ ' '^^^^ rarely they were

inter \ I /preted as mountains or (in the latest period) as
four women upholding the sky.'^ The sky may
also be explained as a great staircase (mostly
double) which the sun was supposed to ascend
and to descend daily (cf. Fig. 9).

Another early concept describes the sky as a

Fig. 20. The Sun- huge tree overshadowing

God on his ^-j^g earch, the stars being
Stairs , ,

the fruits or leaves which
hang from Its branches. When "the gods
perch on its boughs," they are evidently
Identified with the stars. The celestial
tree disappears in the morning, and the
sun-god rises from Its leaves; in the even-

• ^ 1 1-1 1 • ir • • ^i_ r !• Fig. 21. The Dead Wit-

mg he hides himself again m the foliage, ^^^3^3 ^^^ g^^^^ „^

and the tree (or Its double of evening the Sun from the Ce-
^- X 1 111 LESTiAL Tree

time) once more spreads over the world,

so that three hundred and sixty-five trees symbolize the year,

or two typify its turning-points, or night and day.^ This

36

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

thought of the celestial or cosmic tree or trees, which is found
among so many nations, also underlies the idea of the tree of

life, whose fruit keeps the gods and
the chosen souls of the dead in eter-
nal youth and in wisdom in Egypt
as elsewhere. The tree of fate, whose
leaves or fruits symbolize events or
Fig. 22. The Sun-Boat and the the lives of men, represents the same

Two Celestial Trees 111 n 1

thought: the past as well as the
future is written in the stars. Osiris, as the god of heaven, is
frequently identified with the heavenly tree or with some im-
portant part of it, or is brought into connexion with its fruit
or blossom. Egyptian theology tries to determine the terres-
trial analogy of this tree. As the world-tree it is thus com-
pared to the widest branching tree of Egypt, the sycamore;
more rarely it is likened to the date-palm or tamarisk, etc.;
sometimes it is the willow, which grows so near the water
that it may easily be associated with the celestial tree spring-
ing from the abyss or the Osirian waters. In connexion with
the Osiris-myth, however, the tree is mostly the Persea or (per-
haps later) the fragrant cedar growing on the remote moun-
tains of Asia, or, again, the vine through whose fruit love
and death entered into the
world; while as the tree of
fate it is once more usually
the Persea of Osiris. These
comparisons may refer to
the inevitable attempts to
localize or to symbolize the
wonderful tree on earth.
By a transition of thought
it is described as localized
in a part of the sky. Thus
"a great island in the Field of Sacrifices on which the great
gods rest, the never vanishing stars," ^ holds the tree of life,

Fig. 23.

The Dead at the Tree and Spring
OF Life

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 37

evidently between the ocean and sky, between the upper and
the lower world, where the dead, passing from the one realm
to the other, may

find it. As we have
already seen, the
most famous of
earthly proxies was
the sacred Persea-tveo.
of Heliopolis, which
we find, e. g. in the
accompanying pic-
ture, completely iden-
tified with the heav-
enly tree; but the
central sanctuary of

every nome had a Fig. 24. Amon as the Supreme Divinity Registers
, , , . , , A Royal Name on "the Holy Persea in the

holy tree which, prob- palace of the Sun "

ably, was always

claimed to symbolize heaven; even more botanical species

were represented in these earthly counterparts than those

which we have mentioned (p. 36).

When heaven is personified, it is a female being, since the

word pet ("heaven") is feminine. Therefore the sky is com-
pared to a woman bending over the
earth (Figs. 35, 47), or to a cow whose
legs correspond to the four pillars at the
cardinal points (Fig. 27).^° The god-
dess Hat-hor " of Denderah, who was
originally symbolized by the head or
skull of a cow nailed over the door of a

Fig. 25. Symbol of Hat- temple, or on a pillar, was very early

HOR FROM the Beginning :j„„+.:i:„j vu *u i j jj

OF THE Historic Age Identified With the COW-shaped goddeSS

of heaven; and many other female di-
vinities Identified with the sky — especially Isis — indicated
their celestial nature in the pictures by wearing the horns or

38

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 26. Hat-hor at Evening
Entering the Western Moun-
tain AND THE Green Thicket

even the head of a cow. The popular symbol of Hat-hor be-
came a strange mixture of a human and a bovine face, thus

suggesting how long the human
and the animal personification must
have existed side by side. As a sym-
bol of heaven this celestial face may
claim to have the sun and the moon
as eyes (cf. p. 28), although the
goddess more frequently represents
only the principal eye of the celes-
tial god, the sun. In cow-form the
goddess is usually shown as wear-
ing the sun between her horns and
as appearing among flowers and
plants, i. e. in a thicket analogous
to the green leaves of the celestial tree which send forth the
sun in the morning and hide him at evening.^^ These plants
appear at the eastern or western mountain wall, from which
the sun-god arises at dawn or into which he retreats at even-
ing. During the day he may travel under the belly of the cow
or over her back, or may wander only between her horns,
which then symbolize the daily and yearly limits of his course,
in analogy to the two obelisks, or to
the two world-mountains, or to the
two trees, etc. (pp. 31, 35). The sun
may also be thought to hide himself
in the body of the heavenly cow
during the night; so that he enters
her mouth at evening and is born
again from her womb in the morn-
ing. Thus, by a conception through ^^^ 27. The Sun-God between
the mouth, the sun-god "begets him- the Horns of the Celestial

self" every night and is called "the

bull of his mother," i. e. his own father, a name which is much

used in hymns. As carrying the sun, Hat-hor may herself

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 39
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:35:44 PM: Fig. 28. The Dead

MEETS HaT-HOR BE-
HIND THE Celes-
tial Tree

again be regarded as a solar divinity (see p. 29 on the solari-

zations of goddesses).

As the mistress of heaven sitting amid green rays, Hat-hor

can become seated in or can be identical with the celestial

tree, from which she gives heavenly food and

drink to the souls of the dead (as in Fig. 23),

and thus she is shown as bestowing eternal

life upon them. Her four blue-black tresses

hang across the sky or form it, each tress

marking a cardinal point. Sometimes these

tresses are also attributed to Horus as a

celestial god and the male counterpart of

Hat-hor (see pp. 111-13 on the four sons of

Horus). Much mythological fancy seems to

have been attached to this network, beau-
tiful but dangerous, delicate yet strong, which surrounds the

whole world. ^^

The idea of the sky as a cow is likewise combined with one

which we have already noted, according to which the sky is

the water of a river or a continuation of the ocean; so that the

cow's body may be covered with lines representing water, and

in this form the divinity is sometimes called Meh(e)t-ueret

(Greek Medvep), or "the Great Flood." Since this name is

more suggestive than Hat-hor, the sun
is usually said to have been born on or
by "the great flood" (Meht-ueret), or
to have climbed on her back or be-
tween her horns on the day of crea-
tion; but the same process may also
take place every morning, for the daily
and the cosmogonic processes are
always parallel. Even when the sun's
primeval or daily birth is described as

being from a blue lotus flower in the celestial or terrestrial

ocean, he can be called "child of Meht-ueret." The annual

Fig. 29. "Meht-ueret, the
Mistress of the Sky and
OF Both Countries" (i. e.
Egypt)

40

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

parallel in the inundation brought Meht-ueret into connexion
with the harvest as well. The cosmic cow is likewise called
Ahet, Ahit, Ahat, or Ehat, Ehet, principally as the nurse and
protector of the new-born sun-god at the creation of the world.
As the goddess of the sky in cow-form Hat-hor assumed many
of the functions of the Asiatic Queen of Heaven, so that later
she became the special patroness of women
and the deity of love, beauty, joy, music,
and ornaments; while, again exactly like
the Semitic Astarte, she was sometimes
mistress of war. Her husband, as we have
seen, is usually Horus, the male ruler of
the sky.

This goddess has been multiplied into
the group of the "seven Hat-hors" who
foretell the future, especially of every
child at his birth. The suspicion that
these seven fates were originally the Plei-
ades, which, among certain other nations,
were the constellation of human fate (es-
pecially of ill-omened fate), and also the
foretellers of the harvest,^^ is confirmed
when we find the ' seven Hat-hor cows
with their bull"; for the Pleiades are in
the constellation of Taurus. Since this
zodiacal sign is not Egyptian, the New
Empire probably borrowed from Asia the connexion of con-
stellations which we have described, although they failed to
understand it. Various efforts were made to localize the
single forms of these seven Hat-hors in Egyptian cities. ^^

At an early period Hat-hor assimilated various other god-
desses. The name of Bat(?), the female deity of the city of
Diospolis Parva, was written with a similar symbol or with
one embodying Hat-hor's head; later this symbol was identi-
fied with the great goddess Hat-hor herself and was explained

Fig. 30. The Goddess of
Diospolis Parva

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 41

Fig. 31. Nut Receiving the Dead

as a sistrum, i. e. a sacred rattle, as It was used especially
at the festivals of the joyful goddess. ^^

The representation of the sky in human, feminine form,
which Hat-hor might also assume, led to the Identification
with many goddesses
who were originally
local, but who were
often solarized in later
times, among these
divinities being Isis
(sometimes with her
sister and rival, Neph-
thys), the Theban Mut, and the fiery Tefenet. For the noc-
turnal sky in particular, the prevalent personification Is Nut,^^
who, in conformity with her name, is generally understood to
be a celestial counterpart of the abyss Nuu (or Nun?), I. e. as
the heavenly waters which form a continuation of the ocean
ttiat flows around and under the earth. We should expect her
to be Nuu's consort, but she Is seldom associated with him in
this capacity; she is, instead, the wife of the
earth-god, by whom she gives birth to the sun
each morning; and in similar fashion, as "the
one who bore (or bears) the gods" (I. e. all the
heavenly bodies), she is the mother of all life,
or at least of the younger generation of gods
who form the transition to mankind, as we shall
see on pp. 72, 78. She is often represented as a
dark woman covered with stars, bending over the
withSymbolI earth-god as he reclines on his back (see Figs.
OF THE Sky IN 33^ 2S) 38, 39)- Funerary pictures, especially
on coffins, show her receiving the souls of the
dead into her star-decked bosom, arms, and wings. As the
counterpart of the dark abysmal depth she Is also explained
as the sky of the underworld, where the firmament hangs
permanently upside down or whence by night It ascends from

42

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the waters, to change place with the bright sky of day.

Therefore Nut, the mother of the stars, is united with the

stellar tree of heaven,
in which she is hidden,
or whose branches are
formed by her limbs.
She is, however, not
always clearly distin-

FiG. 33. Qeb as Bearer of Vegetation

guished from the sky in the day-time, and, correspondingly,
all goddesses identified with the vault of heaven may likewise
take the place of the nocturnal sky, especially Hat-hor in her
frequent function of divinity of the West and of the dead.

Nut's husband, by whom she bears the sun-god (and the
moon), is Qeb,^^ the god of the earth, who is often
depicted as a man resting on his back or his side,
and with plants springing from his body. The
goose which sometimes adorns his head when he is
pictured as standing erect is simply the hieroglyph
which forms an abbreviation of his name, but the
theologians soon misinterpreted this to mean that Fig. 34. Qeb
the earth-god was a huge gander, "the Great Cack- hierogly-
ler," who laid the solar egg.^^ He also has a ser- phic Sym-
pent's head as being the master of snakes, his
special creatures (p. 104); or on his human head rests the com-
plicated crown of the Egyptian
crown prince" as he is often
called. 2° In all probability Qeb
was originally only a local di-
vinity (near Heliopolis?) with-
out cosmic function, for the
earlier traditions know another
god of the earth, who is called

Fig. 35. Qeb as a Serpent and Nut . , . , „, rr-n • i •

Aker or Akeru.^^^ Ihis deity is
depicted as a double lion with two opposite heads (sometimes
human) on one body,^^ the one mouth swallowing the sun at

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 43

evening, when he enters the desert mountains in the west;
while from the other he comes forth in the morning, so that

Fig. 36. Qeb Watching Aker and Extended over him
To the left is seen the sun, as Khepri, in the lower world.

by night the sun-god passes through Aker's body, the earth.
Later theologians sought to reconcile the existence of the
superfluous Aker with that of his successor Qeb
by making the older god the representative
of the lower regions of the earth and depicting
him as black; then Qeb is placed over him as
a guardian,^^ so that some scholars could actu-
ally confuse Aker with the Satanic dragon Fig. 37. Disfigured
'Apop, lying in the depths of the earth.^^ Cer- Representation

. . . OF Aker, AssiMi-

tain later artists and theologians also separated latedtoShuand
the composite figure of Aker into two lions efenet
turning their backs to each other and carrying the two moun-
tains between which the sun rises. Subsequently some com-
mentaries called
these mysterious
lions "the morning"
and "yesterday,"
whereas others con-
fused them with the
"two celestial lions,"
Fig. 38. Shu, Standing on the Ocean (?), Upholds Shu and Tefenet, and
^"^'™^S^^ accordingly repre-

Four phases of the sun are represented. ^ j ^i i

sented them as seated
In bushes (i. e. the horizon; see p. 38) or as sustaining the
sky (see Fig. 37).

44

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

The latter two gods, Shu and Tefenet, were mostly under-
stood by the Egyptians as the ethereal space which separates
earth and ocean from heaven. This function is especially clear
with Shu,^^ who is often represented as a man upraising the

sky on his outstretched
hands or holding one of the
pillars of heaven; as the sup-
porter of sky and sun he can
be pictured with the sun-
disk on his head or can even
be treated as a solar god.^^
Whether he was a son of

Fig. 39. Shu-Heka and the Four Pillars the SUn-god (as was the
Separating Heaven and Earth ^ ^ ^' \

most common acceptation;,
or was an emanation from the source of the gods, the abyss,
which preceded the sun, was a theological problem. At an
early date Shu was identified with Heka ("Magic," or "the
Magician"), who thus came likewise to be regarded as the
sun; but the reason is not so clear as when he is blended with
Heh ("Infinite Space"), as in Fig. 71, or with Horns.

In pictures of his cosmic function we find an avoidance of
his leonine form, although this shape was evi-
dently original, so that his local place of worship
was called Leontopolis. Later he was identified
with several other deities in human form, e. g.
rarely with the lunarized god Khons at Thebes,
more frequently with the warrior An-horet
(Greek 'Ovovpi^) of This.^^

How the lioness Tefenet ^^ came to be associ-
ated with Shu as his twin sister and wife and
thus received the function of a goddess of the
sky 29 Is uncertain; perhaps her lion-form, which never inter-
changes with haman features, furnishes the explanation, or
the accidental neighbourhood of the two gods when they were
once only local divinities may account for it. Modern com-

F1G.40. Tefenet

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 45

parisons of Tefenet to the rain-clouds or the dew are quite
unfounded; if she and Shu are later said to cause the growth
of plants, this refers to other celestial functions than to fur-
nishing moisture, which in Egypt so rarely comes from the
sky.^" The Egyptian texts speak rather of Tefenet as send-
ing flaming heat (i. e. as solar) and describe her as a true
daughter or eye of the sun-god or as the disk on his head.

Fig. 41. The Nile, his Wife Nekhbet, and the Ocean

The pictures likewise always connect her with the sun. As a
female counterpart of Shu she can be identified with such god-
desses of the sky as Isis, whence in some places she is called the
mother of the moon; but she is also termed mother of the
sky (in other words, of Nut) and, contrariwise, daughter of the
sky (i. e. of Nut or Hat-hor). She and her brother Shu are
likewise named "the two lions " ^^ (cf. the explanation of
?f'ig- 37)- The idea of the wicked Seth as a god of thunder-
storms and clouds, which developed at a fairly early period,
will be discussed on pp. 103-04.

Turning to the element of water, we must first mention its
nearest representative, Ha'pi, the Nile, which is depicted as

46 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

a very stout blue or green human ligure,^^ wearing a fisherman's
girdle around his loins and having aquatic plants on his head.^^
Although much praised by poets, he does not enjoy such
general worship as we should expect, this being another proof
that the earliest Egyptian theology did not emphasize the cos-
mic character of the gods (pp. 23-24). From the earliest period
it was believed that the source of the Nile was on the frontier
of Egypt, between the cataracts of Assuan. There it sprang
from the nether world or from the abyss, or sometimes from
two distinct sources, and divided into two rivers, one of which
flowed northward through Egypt, while the other took a
southerly course through Nubia. The Asiatic tradition of four
rivers flowing to the four cardinal points ^^ has left a trace in
the Egyptian idea that the deeper sources of the Nile at
Elephantine were four in number,^^ so that the water of life
flows from four jars presented by the cataract-goddess Satet,
etc. For mythological explanations of the origin and rise of
the Nile according to the Osiris-myth, see pp. 94-95, 116, 125,
where we find Osiris becoming identical with the Nile.

Two water-goddesses are joined to the Nile,^^ Mu(u)t (or
Muit) and Nekhbet. In harmony with her name ("Watery
One," "Water-Flood"), in the earliest period the former was
sometimes taken to be the wet, primitive principle of the
Universe and the mother of all things, though usually she has
little prominence. Nekhbet, who is said to stand at the
entrance to the abyss,^^ is evidently connected with the prehis-
toric capital of Upper Egypt, even if she is not directly iden-
tical with the vulture-goddess of that city; and the question
arises whether the earliest theology did not make the Egyptian
course of the Nile begin there instead of at the First Cataract,
as was the belief somewhat later. Both wives of Ha'pi some-
times imitate him in being corpulent.

Occasionally the "ocean" (literally "the Great Green")
is obese like the Nile, as though he brought fertility; and
once his spouse likewise is Mu(u)t, or Mu(i)t. Usually, how-

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 47

Fig. 42. Nuu

WITH THE

Head OF AN
Ox

ever, he Is identified with Nuu (or Nun?),^^ the god of the
abyss. Originally the latter represented not only the dark,
unfathomable waters which flow under the earth and can be
reached in the south,^^ I. e. at the source of the Nile, but
also their continuation which surrounds the world
as the all-encircling ocean; the ends of the ocean,
disappearing in darkness 'and endless space, lead
back to the subterranean waters. These abysmal
floods represent the primeval matter from which
all the deities arose, so that their personification,
Nuu, is called the oldest and wisest god, who ex-
isted "when there was no heaven and no earth," ^°
the possessor of all secrets, and the father of all
gods and of the world. This cosmogonic idea
finds its parallel in the sun's daily descent into and rebirth
from the ocean. In Egypt the ocean's representative was the
Nile, which was, accordingly, largely identified with Nuu.^^
Somewhat later and more mystic conceptions, as we have
already seen, identify Osiris, as the source of the subterranean
waters, with Nuu, and thus connect him with the ocean; still
later Ptah(-Tatunen) also is directly equated with the abyss,
probably after identification with Osiris.

Nuu is ordinarily depicted in human form, though occa-
sionally he has the head
of a frog and once ^^ that
of an ox; when he is
shown with two spread-
ing ostrich-feathers on
his head, his later iden-
T^ u^r r^ ,^ ~" tification with the wise

riG. 43. Nuu, THE rATHER OF THE Mysterious

Gods," Sends his Springs to "the Two Mys- Ptah-Tatunen is implied.
TERious Ones" r\ u. ^i

One very noteworthy
mythological picture ^^ represents "Nuu, the father of the mys-
terious gods," emitting the two or four sources of all waters
from his mouth while two gods, probably the southern and

48

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

northern Nile, each receive a part of these streams and spit
them out again." For the ocean in human circular form see
Fig. 46 and p. 96; on the late attribution of the ocean to
powers hostile to the sun and its identifi-
cation with 'Apop-Seth see pp. 104 ff.

The question of the relationship and se-
quence of the principal parts of the cosmic
structure and of the four elements was
never solved in a way which met with
Fig. 44. Two Members general acceptation. At first the myth of
OF THE Primeval xh^ creation of the world may have existed

Ogdoad

in a number of local variants. That Nuu,
the abysmal water, was the primary element was, however,
one of the first agreements of earliest theology, and the next
conclusion was that the creation of the sun was the most im-
portant step in the cosmogonic process. In the New Empire
the speculations regarding the state of the world before the
creation symbolized this cha-
otic state by four pairs of gods
(an ogdoad), the males, as
aqueous creatures, being repre-
sented with frogs' heads, and
the females with the heads of
serpents.'*^ Their names were
Nuu and Nut, the abysmal
forces; Heh(u) and Hehet (or
Hehut; "Endless Space");
Kek(u) (or Kekui) and Keket
(or Kekut; "Darkness");
Ni(u)andNit(" Sultry Air").''«
On account of their number
these eight parents or ancestors
of the sun-god were connected with Khmun(u), ("the City of
Eight") in Middle Egypt (p. 33), and some priests made this
(or its "high field") the scene or beginning of creation.

Fig. 45. Heh and Hehet Lift the Young
Sun (as Khepri) over the Eastern
Horizon

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 49

Fig. 46. Unusual Representation of the Husband
OF THE Sky-Goddess

In reality only the first pair, Nuu and Nut, were the parents
of the sun-god according to the doctrine just set forth; but
it was easy to transfer the cosmic personalities of the ogdoad
to the daily birth of
the sun, as in Fig.
45, which represents
Heh and Hehet, in
the function of Shu
and Tefenet, lifting
the infant sun "in the east," i. e. every morning. There seems
to have been some uncertainty, however, whether the Nut
of the ogdoad was the same divinity as the celestial goddess
Nut, who bears the sun every day, or whether she was only
the primeval sky or merely an aspect of the watery chaos;
but the two personalities were probably identical. According
to this theory, then, with Nut as the flood, or with the old
water-goddess Mu(u)t, Mu(i)t, Nuu, the father of the gods,
begat the sun-god. As a daily event this act of creation
once represents Nut as the heaven bending over the ocean,
whose circular position seems to distinguish him from the

^ earth-god, who is pictured as
^ lying flat (see Fig. 46).

The later Egyptians do not
seem to have understood who
\ this male figure, passing the
^ sun from west to east, was; ^^
and the same statement holds
1^ true of a very similar repre-
sentation in the temple of

Fig. 47. The Sky-Goddess in Double Philae which sought tO pre-

FoRM and her Consort gent the Upper and the lower

sky as distinct personalities bending over the male principle;
It depicts the sun no less than eight times. Very soon the
belief became current that the sun, the greatest of all cosmic
forces, grew quite by himself out of the abyss as the "god
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:36:23 PM: 50 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

who begat" or "formed himself";'*^ and that he then created
the space of air between heaven and earth (Shu and Tefenet),
after whom heaven and earth (Qeb and Nut) themselves were
brought into being. From these gods came the rest of the
creation, including the new sun as Osiris, or the sun-god con-
tinued to create gods and finally produced men from his eyes,
etc. This is the old Heliopolitan doctrine of creation as re-
flected in the arrangement of the ennead of Heliopolis (see
pp. 215-16). We may thus infer that the doctrine of the ogdoad
rested on the different belief that air preceded the sun and
separated the sky (Nut) and the abyss (Nuu),
from whom the sun was born at the creation, as it
is born anew every day (cf. pp. 47, 49). The double
occurrence of the sun as Atum-Re' and as Osiris
in the Heliopolitan doctrine, and the very ancient
rjTji^yyA^ Tole of Shu as the separator of the two principal
\H V V i( parts of the world, again lead us to suppose that
w7^// variants existed according to which the sun-god
took a later place in the creation. In similar
'young Sun ^^shion we read in some texts that after growing
IN HIS Lotus in the ocean, or in the blue lotus which symbolizes
it, the sun-god climbed directly on the back of the
heavenly cow (see Fig. 27), thus implying the pre-existence of
heaven, air, and other elements, and of the earth as well.

An old variant of this creation of the world from the abyss
seems to be preserved in the tradition which makes the ram-
headed god Khnum(u) of Elephantine and his wife, the frog-
headed Heqet, "the first gods who were at the beginning, who
built men and made the gods." ^^ The underlying idea simply
seeks the origin of all waters, including the ocean, in the
mythological source of the Nile between the rocks of the First
Cataract; so that Khnum as "the source-god" is treated as a
mere localized variant of Nuu. Even in the Ancient Empire
Khnum and Heqet were transferred to Abydos for the sake
of fusion with the Osiris-myth, which found there not only the

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 51

burial-place of Osiris, but also the spring of life, the entrance
and source of the abyss, etc.

It is doubtful how long the original meaning of Khnum and
Heqet as the gods of the Cataract region was still understood
correctly after they had been located "at the cradle [more
literally, "at the birth-place," meskhenet] of Abydos." ^°

Fig. 49. Khnum Forms Children, and Heqet Gives them Life

In any case later theology no longer comprehended the
abysmal nature of Khnum when it sought to explain the tradi-
tion of his creatorship by an etymology from the root khonem,
"to form like a potter," so that he became a "potter-god"
who once had made all beings, from gods to animals, on his
potter's wheel and who still determined the shape of every
new-born child, apparently creating It, or at least Its "double,"
in heaven before the Infant's birth. ^^ In conformity with this

52

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

development Khnum's later consort, Heqet, became a goddess
of birth.

Thus Heqet sometimes is parallel to Meskhenet, a divinity
explained as the "Goddess of the Cradle" (or more literally,
"of the Birth-Seat"), another deity who governs not only
earthly birth, but also the rebirth of the dead for the new life
with Osiris. As her symbol she wears on her head an ornament
resembling two bent antennae ^ of insects. She can also

be symbolized by a brick ( \ *-\ ), or by two of them, al-
luding to the bricks on which the Egyptian woman bore chil-
dren, as described in Exodus i. i6. The sun and
Osiris have four different Meskhenets, or birth-
goddesses, a symbolism which admits of various
interpretations (with Osiris preferably of the
four sources of the Nile [p. 46]; with the sun of
the sky, symbolized by the number four [p. 39]).
The name Meskhenet can be explained as "co-
incidence, happening, omen," i. e. as the coin-
cidence of the omens accompanying birth and
thus determining destiny, so that this divinity
becomes a goddess of fate. It is not impossible
that this etymology is the original one, and that the func-
tion of birth-goddess was merely derived from it.^^ As we
shall see, Renenutet also is connected with birth and education.
For ordinary people a male principle, Shay ("Fate"),
appears in the New Empire as a male counterpart and com-
panion of the birth-goddess. He is pictured in human form;
later, identified with the Greek Agathodaimon, he takes the
shape of a serpent, sometimes with a human head.

To the cosmic deities we may also reckon, as being apparently
stellar in origin, the very interesting divinity Sekha(u)it
(or possibly Sekha(u)tet),^^ the "goddess of writings," or
Fate, whose pen directs the course of all the world. She is
termed "the one before the divine place of books," i. e. the
librarian of the gods, and in one passage ^^ she has the title of

Fig. so.
Meskhenet

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 53

*'the one before the book-house of the south," which may sug-
gest a locaHzation in the old capital Nekhbet, or may rather
be a hint at her home in the depths of the world, i. e. in the
south. A priestly costume (i. e. the leopard's skin) and pen
and inkstand (or two inkstands tied together, hanging over
her shoulder) characterize her office; while her connexion with
the subterranean sky is indicated by two horns, symbolizing
her celestial nature (p. 37), but pointing downward. ^^ The star
between the horns emphasizes this nature; but, contrary to
the custom of picturing
all stars with five rays,
this particular one has
seven, a careful indica-
tion of a symbolism which
we do not yet understand
or which may possibly
have come from Asia.^^
As a goddess of fate Se-
khait sits at the foot of the
cosmic tree, or, in other

words, in the nethermost p^^ ^^ Sekhait, Thout, and Atum Register
(southern) depths of the a King's Name on the Celestial Tree,
, . . Placing the King within it

sky or at the meetmg-

place of the upper and lower sky; and there she not only
writes upon this tree or on its leaves all future events, such as
length of life (at least for the kings), but also records great
events for the knowledge of future generations, since every-
thing, past and future, as we have already seen (p. 36), is
written in the stars.^^ Consequently she is sometimes localized
at the sacred Persea of Heliopolis. She is also identified with
the sky, e. g. as Isis, with the heavens by day, or, as Neph-
thys, with a more remote and less known personification of
the (lower?) sky; ^^ but not, as we should expect, with Nut.
At a comparatively early date the common folk lost the sig-
nificance of all this symbolism and gave her the meaningless

54 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

name Sefkhet 'Abui ("the One Who Has Laid Aside her
Horns," ^^ i. e. from her head).

Although the Egyptian priests claimed to be great astron-
omers, the planets ("the stars who never rest") did not enjoy
the prominence which they possessed in Baby-
lonia. In no place did they receive special wor-
ship; and if three (or, originally, four) of them
were called manifestations of the same god,
FiT^ Horus, In his capacity of ruler of the sky, it Is

The Planet Sat- extremely doubtful whether early times were

URN IN A Picture , j ^ j- ^' • i ^i r\ji

OF. THE Roman Hiuch concerned to distmguisn them. Ur course.
Period the momlng star (which probably was once dif-

ferentiated from the evening star) was always the most impor-
tant of the planets.^" It was male, being called "the Rising
God" (Nuter Dua). Regarded as the nocturnal representa-
tive of the hidden sun-god, it symbolized Osiris or his soul, the
Phoenix (benu, bin), or the renascent Osiris as Horus-Re';
while later it was also called "the One Who Ferries Osiris,"
or "Who Ferries the Phoenix." In the earliest texts the morn-
ing star and Orion as the rulers of the sky are often compared.
For some gods with a similar name who seem to be confused
with the morning star see pp. 132-33 on Dua and Dua-uer.
Clearly viewed as a female principle (an Idea which Is wide-
spread in Asia, where the concept of Venus as the "Queen of
Heaven" early dominated over the older Interpretation as
a male god 'Athtar or "Lucifer"),
we find Venus-Isis only In the latest
times In Egypt. In the earlier
period the comparison of Sothis
and Venus as daughter and wife of
the sun-god and mother of Osiris- ^'^- "? Sothis-Sirius

Horus Is uncertain and can have existed only vaguely.^^ The
other planets are less prominent. Jupiter's name was later
misread "Horus, the Opener of Secrets" (Up-shetau) ; the
original reading was Upesh ("the Resplendent Star"), or

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 55

"Horus, the Resplendent," ^^ and also "the Southern Star."
Saturn is "Horus, the Bull"; and Mars is "the Red Horus"
or "Horus of the Horizon" (Har-akhti). It is somewhat sur-
prising that Sebg(u)-Mercur7 has no connexion
with the wise Thout, as we should expect from
Asiatic and European analogues; and sometimes
this star is actually dedicated to the wicked
god Seth.^^

The fixed stars are all gods or "souls," and
particular sanctity attaches to "the never-van-
ishing ones," i. e. to those stars in the northern
sky which are visible throughout the year. For
these stars as the crew of the solar ship see
supra, p. 26. They also function as the body-
servants of the sun-god, carrying arms in his
service ®* and acting as his messengers. In these
"children of Nut" (p. 41) or their groups the
Egyptians fancied at the same time that they Sothis (called
recognized various fields of heavenly flowers and
plants and that these meadows formed the habitations of the
blessed dead. At the same time they called the heavenly

fields by such
names as "this
^$§)\ field which pro-

duces the gods,
on which the gods
grow according to
their days every
year." ^^ Not-
withstanding the
Egyptian belief
that the gods

Fig. 54.

Fig. 55. Sothis and Horus-Osiris Connected

manifested themselves in the appearance and wanderings of
every star, only the most conspicuous of them played a
part of much importance in religion. First stands the dog-

s6

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

star, or Sirius, which the Egyptians called Sopdet ®^ (Greek
2&)^t<?). Since the dog-star is the queen of the fixed stars and
of heaven, Sothis-Sirius was early identified with Hat-hor or
Isis, In consequence she is usually pictured as a cow reclin-
ing in a ship (like the other heavenly bodies, pp. 26, 34) to sym-
bolize her rule over the heavens (see pp. 37-40 on the cow-shape
of the sky). When portrayed in human form, she usually in-
dicates that she is the companion of her neighbour (and son,
or brother and husband, or father) Orion by lifting one arm
like him. A noteworthy representation also shows her in asso-
ciation with (or rather in opposition to) Horus as the morning

Fig. 56. Decanal Stars from Denderah

Star, and thus in a strange relation to this leader of the plan-
ets and ruler of the sky which we cannot yet explain from
the texts. This same picture further blends her with a (neigh-
bouring and later.'') constellation, an archer-goddess, because
she holds a bow and arrows.®^ This most brilliant of the fixed
stars is used as the regulator of the year, whence Sothis is
called "the year (star),"^^ and the astronomical cycle of four-
teen hundred and sixty years, in which the ordinary, uninter-
calated year of three hundred and sixty-five days coincides
with the astronomically correct year, is termed the "Sothic
cycle." The identification of Sopdet with Isis gives her an
important part in the Osiris-myth.

Neither do the constellations seem to have been the source
of quite so much religious thinking as in Babylonia. Their
description differed very widely from that of the Babylonian
constellations, so that the Egyptian Lion is not in the least

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 57

connected with the Babylonian group of the same name, as
can be seen from the picture given on p. 59; the "Giant"
or "Strong Man" (Nakht) has nothing in common with Orion,
who in Asia is called "the Hero, the Giant," etc. Even the
twelve Asiatic signs of the zodiac are entirely absent from the
sacred astronomy of Egypt before the Greek period. Allu-
sions to them in the more popular mythology, like references
to the bull of the Pleiades {supra, p. 40), or the myth of Virgo
holding Spica and Hydra (pp. 84, 153, Ch. VHI, Note 11), are
scanty and do not seem to occur as early as 2000 b. c. To di-
vide the year the Egyptians used,
in place of the zodiacal signs, the
decan-stars, marking on the sky
thirty-six sections of ten days each,
the surplus of five epagomenal days
being counted separately. This belt
of stars began with Sopdet-Sothis,
the dog-star, the "mistress of the
year." In Graeco-Roman times the
zodiacal signs became very popular,

and we find them pictured in many Fig. 57. Early Picture of Orion

richly developed representations.

Orion, the most remarkable and most beautiful of all con-
stellations, "fleet of foot, wide of steps, before the south-
land," ^^ represents the hero of the sky, exactly as in the
mythology of Asia.^° He is early identified with the victorious
sun-god Horus,. while his father Osiris (in other words, the dead
or unborn form of Horus himself, who equals Osiris), the deity
in a box or a little boat, is sought chiefly in the constellation
directly below, i. e. the ship Argo or its principal star, Canopus.
Often, however, both gods and their constellations are freely
Interchanged as manifestations of the same deity. We can
trace the representation of Orion as a man running away and
looking backward to the time before 2000 B.C. For the most
part he lifts his right arm, usually with the hand empty,

58

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

though sometimes he holds a star or the hieroglyph of life.
Later he grasps a spear, in order to connect him with the mili-
tant Horus. As we have seen, he often appears as a companion

o o o
o o o o o

^i^

of Sothis. In the New Empire we find
also the idea of the two Orions which
is so richly developed in universal myth-
ology as a year-myth; these celestial
twins appear united as in the picture
here given, ^^ or are separated. ^^ The
Egyptians do not seem to have recog-
nized that this idea corresponded with
their own myth of Osiris-Seth in many
versions of universal mythology. In
like manner the probable original iden-
tity of Orion (or his counterpart or
double, Canopus, the steersman of

the ship Argo.^), with the ferryman

Fig. 58. The Double Orion r .1 1 1 j u 1 r

^ 01 the lower world whose face is

backward" or "who looks backward" was forgotten at
an even earlier date.^^

Among the other decans the most remarkable is the six-
teenth, the principal star of the constellation Shesmu (Greek
transcription "Zea/xr]), an old deity of somewhat violent char-
acter who occasionally appears
as the lord of the last hour of
the night. ''^ From the hiero-
glyph of a press which marks
his name, later theologians in-
ferred that he was an oil-presser
and "master of the laboratory,"
a giver of ointment; but earlier
texts describe him rather as a
butcher or as a cook.^^ He is pictured in human form or with
the head of an ox or of a lion, the latter apparently being the
more original. In other words, Shesmu seems to be the com-

FiG. 59. The Ferryman of the Dead

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 59

panion of the goddess Shesemtet, who likewise was probably
lion-headed. Her members once were thought to be repre-
sented in the tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth decans.
At one time, therefore, she was a powerful divinity and was
called mistress of the sky, but she was almost forgotten even
in the Pyramid Period and later disappeared completely; as
early as 2000 b. c. her name ^^ is so corrupted in the list of
decans as to be devoid of meaning.^^

The seven-starred constellation of Ursa Major (Charles's
Wain, popularly called the Great Dipper in the United States)
was only later fully identified with the wicked god Seth-

FiG. 60. Constellations Around the Ox-Leg

Typhon, the adversary of Osiris, yet even under its old names,
*'the Ox-Leg," or "the Club, the Striker" {Mesekhti),'^^ itwsLS
an ill-omened constellation, although it belonged to the especi-
ally venerable "indestructible stars," i.e. those visible during
the whole year in the most remarkable region of the sky near
the North Pole (p. 55).

Following the picture which we here give from the temple
of King Sethos (Setkhuy) I, we can identify a few constella-
tions near the great "Ox-Leg," which here has the form of
an ox. The most prominent among them is the strange god-
dess Epet.^^ She is represented as a female hippopotamus
(perhaps pregnant) with human breasts and lion's feet. On
her back she carries a crocodile (which later she sometimes
bears in her paws), and from this association she receives
the head and tail — or only the tail — of a crocodile; later

6o

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

still she may assume also the head of a lion or of a heavenly
goddess in a human form, thus indicating her celestial nature.
At one period she must have been worshipped very widely, for
the month Epiphi is sacred to her; and accordingly she bears
the name of Ueret or, later, T-ueret (Greek Oour^/ji?), i. e. "the
Great One." Originally she seems to have been simply a local
divinity, but before the New Empire, as we see in Fig. 60, she
was identified with the constellation of Bootes as the guar-
dian of the malev-
olent "Ox-Leg."
Despite her hor-
rible appearance,
she is in reality
beneficent and is
a "mistress of
talismans." She
affords protection
against sickness
and is pre-emi-

— .„ »„ ^.^ . .

nently helpful in jP/M
child-birth, whence ' ?

she aDDears not ^'*^' ^^' "^^^^^ Later Types of £pet (the Last as
^^ ^ Queen of Heaven)

only at the birth

of the sun each morning, but, strangely enough, also at its
death at evening. Accordingly she is later called "She Who
Bears the Sun," and is, therefore, identified with Nut or has
the head of Hat-hor-Isis.

In this representation of the circumpolar stars we also see
the later attempt to discover, as further guardians of the
dangerous group of seven stars, the Nubian goddess Selqet
(to be discussed on pp. 147, 157), and the "four sons of Horus"
(see pp. 111-13). There we likewise find 'An, *Anen,^° a god
who holds a staff behind his shoulders (hence his name from
the verb 'n, "to turn back".^) and who is stellarized as another
guardian of the Great Bear, so that sometimes he even be-

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 6i
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:37:05 PM: Fig. 62.

'An-Horus Fighting the
Ox-Leg

comes a manifestation of Horus fighting the monster of the
northern sky.

The strange, ugly, serpent-strangling dwarf (or giant)
Bes ^^ may also be considered here,
since, like Epet, he was placed
among the stars at an early period.
He has the ears, mane, and tail
of some wild animal of the cat-
tribe from which he seems to de-
rive his name, although the artists
are often uncertain whether these
details do not belong rather to a
detachable skin. In the stellar
mythology he appears to corres-
pond to the serpent-strangling
constellation Ophiuchos (or Serpentarius) of the Classical
world. It is probable that this Classic localization in the sky
was borrowed from Egypt, although the later Egyptians seem
no longer to have been conscious of any stellar interpretation.
If we may judge from the numerous pictures
of Bes among the amulets, a very rich myth-
ology must have attached to this strange
personality, but since it flourished in oral
tradition only, it is left to our fancy to guess
the stories according to which,
for example, he was so fond
of dancing and music that he
became the patron of these
pleasures, as well as of other
female arts like binding flow-
ers, preparing cosmetics, etc.
As a joyous deity he is also
fond of drinking and is represented especially as sucking beer ( ?)
from large jars through a straw. He appears as amusing in-
fants, principally the new-born sun-god, whom he protects

M

#

r=

Fig. 63. Old Types of Bes from the
Twelfth and Eighteenth Dynasties

62

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 64. Bes with Flowers

and nurses, and this explains why he becomes the companion
(sometimes the husband) of Ueret-Epet as a protector of child-
birth, etc. ^2 He not only strangles or devours serpents, but also

catches boars, lions, and ante-
lopes with his hands. His image
on the wooden headrests for
sleeping, or over the door, etc.,
keeps away not merely noxious
animals, but also evil spirits.
Representations of him in Ro-
man times as brandishing knives
or as a warrior in heavy armour
(Plate n, 2), seem to show him in
this same protective function. As
his name cannot be traced be-
yond 1500 B. c, and as his exact
picture is not found with full
certainty before 2000, while his
representation en face is rather unusual in Egyptian art,^^ it
has often been supposed that he was a foreign god. Never-
theless, passages describing him as ' coming from the east,
Master of the Orient," or localizing him at Bu-gem (or Bu-
gemet) ^^ in eastern Nubia, evidently do not point to his origi-
nal local worship, but merely to myths concerning him in
Nubia or in Arabia; all the gods come, like the
stars, from the eastern sky or from the lower
world. The long tresses of his
beard and hair, and the leop-
ard's (.^) skin which he wears
(originally, as we have just
seen, a part of his body), as
well as the feather crown
which adorns him (from the Eighteenth Dynasty.?), might, in-
deed, be considered as analogous to the dress of the red and
brown African tribes on the Red Sea; but we ought to know

Fig. 65. Bes Drinking®

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 63

more about myths speaking of dwarfs in the south and
about certain dwarf-shaped gods of the earliest period, whose
models seem to be unborn or rhachitic children, to understand
these and other connexions. ^^

The earliest similar dwarf divinities of both types
are usually feminine. The nude female Bes (prob-
ably called Beset) appears not only in the latest
period, ^^ when we find a male and female deity Fig. 66. The
of this type among gods whose prevailing char- ^^'^^'''^ ^^s
acter is stellar, but also in the magic wands of the Twelfth
Dynasty,^^ from which date we here reproduce a statuette of
the female Bes, crushing a serpent and wrapped in the skin
of some one of the Felidae, while her ears likewise are those of
that animal.

We do not know why the cult of these ancient gods was
neglected in the Pyramid Period. It is not until about 2000
B. c. that we find Bes represented on magic objects, and even
later he seems to have been a deity worshipped chiefly by the
common people and without much official recognition. He
became most prominent after 1000 b. c, when his artistic
type developed such popularity that not only did many
minor gods assume his form,^^ but it very strongly
influenced Asia and Europe, so that it can be
traced, for example, in Greek art and mythology
in the types of the Satyr, Gorgo, Silenus, etc.

Thus, probably as being one of the oldest
divine forms known, Bes and his earlier proto-
types or relatives, the bow-legged, undeveloped
dwarf gods, furnished the patterns for certain
deities in whom the later pantheistic age wished
Fig. 67. The to symbolize the most universal or the most

Female Bes ... - __,, .

primitive power of nature. This mode of rep-
resentation was subsequently applied also to a divinity who
claimed to be the oldest of all, Ptah, the god of Memphis,
and his local variant, Sokari; and then was fitted to Nuu

64 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

(the abyss) when he was idenliified with Ptah-Sokarl as the
primeval god, and with Khepri, the sun while still un-
formed (p. 25). Herodotus calls the protective amulet figures
of Bes at the prow of Phoenician ships "representa-
tions of Hephaistos" (i.e. Ptah) of Memphis, giving
their Phoenician name very exactly as Pataikoi, or
"little Ptahs." ^° The dwarfed, infantile, or even
embryo-like representation of these gods then ap-
pears to have been understood as symbolizing the
beginning of all things. Tearing up and devouring
Fig. 68. serpents, which probably seemed symbols of primi-

A "PaTAIk" . , ., If • • -r.'-

tive hostile powers, they lorm a transition to rSes.
Some of these speculations may also lead back to the idea
of Bes as guardian of the young sun, while others seem to
have been earlier. The development of these thoughts and
pictures needs further investigation (see Fig. 2 (/) for a pre-
historic statuette of the dwarf type).

We know little about some other divinities who are found in
the stars, e. g. Hephep, who appears in human form and wears
royal crowns, ^^ or about Heqes,^^ who is once called a god of
fishermen and "lord of the mouth of the rivers" (in Lower
Egypt.?). The meaning and name of many such gods were lost
at an early date. Thus a deity called Sunt, who is frequently
mentioned in the Pyramid Texts ^^ as appearing or circulating
in the sky, was later forgotten completely. The same fate
befell a strange mythological being, a leopard or
lion with an enormously long, serpent-like neck

which occurs very frequently (often in pairs) on

the prehistoric monuments, then appears for a ,^^^)/j\a
short time on the magic wands of the Middle yw. 69. Lost
Empire, and finally vanishes. The special interest Stellar Di-

VINITY

of this lost divinity is that it has exact analogies
in the earliest Babylonian art. Some stellarizations, on the
other hand, appear only later. The age and the true estima-
tion of the value of these stellar speculations are often

1L

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 65

Fig. 70. The East and West Winds

uncertain. They are of special importance in some of the

earliest funerary texts which treat of the wanderings of the

dead king among the stars, where he himself becomes a star (cf.

p. 178). Later even

the astronomical

meaning of these texts

was forgotten, and

the conception of the

stars as the souls of

the dead grew less

distinct. New interest

in their groups was

awakened especially

by Greek influence when the twelve signs of the zodiac, which

the Greeks had received from the Babylonians, penetrated

into the sacred astronomy of Egypt (p. 57).^^

The four winds also were considered to be divine. The
north wind is a ram or bull with four heads, although variants
sometimes occur; the east wind is a hawk, perhaps because
the sun-god rises in the east; the south and west winds reveal
their burning character by having the head or body of a lion
and a serpent respectively. Many of these attributes are
quadrupled, four being the celestial number (pp. 39, 52); oc-
casionally they occur in even greater repetitions.^^ Frequently
all four winds have the shape or head of a ram as an allusion

Fig. 71. The Air-God Shu-Heh with the South and North Winds

to the word bai ("soul, breath"). They are usually winged.
Their names are known only from very late times.

On the analogy of the four "souls," or rams, of the winds,
the Greek period attempted to represent the gods of the four

66 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

elements also as rams, these deities being Re' (sun and fire),

Shu (air), Qeb (earth), and Osiris (water). ^^ Possibly the

sun-god with four rams' heads was another basis for this

/I idea, which may have been connected also with the

- ram of Mendes as representing all nature in Osiris,

etc., by theological speculators.

Special gods represented the twenty-four hours
of the day.^^ Though the thirty days of the month
were not personified, each was placed under the
protection of a well-known god, the first, charac-
teristically enough, under that of the moon-god
_^Thout, as the great regulator of time (p. 33).
Fig. 72. An Plant life may be personified in Osiris, so far as it
symbolizes the resurrection of the dead. As a more
special harvest-goddess the serpent Renenutet (later pro-
nunciation Remute[t]), i. e. "the Raising Goddess," was
worshipped, and the eighth month (Pha-rmuthi in later pro-
nunciation) was dedicated to her, evidently because harvest
once fell in it.®^ The "God of Grain," Nepri (or, as a female,
Nepret, who sometimes is identified with Renenutet), is more
of a poetic abstraction like the gods "Abundance"
and "Plenty" (Hu, Zefa), etc., all of whom, includ-
ing Nepri, are often pictured as fat men like the
Nile-god (p. 45), with whom they are frequently
connected. The "field-goddess" carries a green field
on her head. Tenemet seems to have been a pa-
troness of intoxicating drink,^^ and a goddess of
baked things was also known. ^°° ^ig 71

We may close our enumeration of the gods of Nepri, the

... . ~ . - , . Grain-God,

nature with the personmcations or the four senses. Marked by

who appear as men bearing on their heads the organ Ears of
connected with the sense in question and frequently
accompanying the sun-god, probably in his capacity of cre-
ator of all things. These deities are Hu ("Feeling, Wisdom,"
frequently confused with Hu, "Abundance"), Sa(u) or Sia(u)

OTHER GODS CONNECTED WITH NATURE 67

("Taste"), Maa(?) ("Sight"), and Sozem (later Sodem,
Sotem, "Hearing"). The first two also symbolize wisdom.
Heka ("Magic") is similarly personified, ^°^ as is
Nehes ("Wakefulness [?], Awakening [?]"), both
of whom often accompany the sun-god in his ship
(cf. Fig. 11). To these male abstractions we some-
times ^°^ find added the female personifications of
"Joy" (Aut-[y?]eb) and "Happiness" (Hetpet).
On the strange development of Ma'et ("Justice")
see p. 100. Countries and cities have female per- The Field-
sonifications, as is shown by Nekhbet (p. 46). Goddess
Naturally, however, these abstract deities play little part
in Egyptian mythology, and their role was quite inferior to
that which similar divinities have enjoyed in certain other
religious systems.

Fig. 74.

CHAPTER IV

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS

I. THE CREATION OF THE WORLD AND OF MEN

THE fullest text about the creation of the world is a hymn
which is preserved only in a papyrus copy written in the
reign of Alexander II ^ (310 b. c.), but which seems to go back
to originals that are considerably earlier.

THE BOOK OF KNOWING THE GENESIS OF THE SUN-GOD
AND OF OVERTHROWING 'APOP

"The Master of Everything saith after his forming:
*I am he who was formed as Khepri.^
When I had formed, then (only) the forms were formed.
All the forms were formed after my forming.
Numerous are the forms from that which proceeded from my mouth.'

The heaven had not been formed,
The earth had not been formed,
The ground had not been created
(For.'') the reptiles in that place*

I raised (myself) among them [variant: there] in the abyss, out

of (its) inertness.
When I did not find a place where I could stand,
I thought wisely (?) in my heart,
I founded in my soul (?).
I made all forms,^ I alone.

I had not yet ejected as Shu,

I had not spat out as Tefenet,®

None else had arisen who had worked (?) with me.

(Then) I founded in my own heart; ^

There were formed many (forms?),®

The forms of the forms in the forms of the children,

(And) in the forms of their children.

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 69

Ego sum qui copulavi pugno meo,
Libidinem sentivi ^ in umbra mea,^"
Semen cecidit (?) e meo ipsius ore.

What I ejected was Shu,
What I spat out was Tefenet.
My father, the abyss, sent them.^^
My eye followed them through ages of ages (?) ^^
As (they) separated from me. After I was formed as the only

(g0d),13

Three gods were (separated) from me (since?) I was on this earth.
Shu and Tefenet rejoiced in the abyss in which they were.
They brought me my eye (back) (following) after them.
After I had united my members, ^^ I wept over them.

The origin of men was (thus) from my tears which came from my
eye.
It became angry against me after it had come (back),
When it found that I had made me another (eye) in its place
(And) I had replaced it by a resplendent eye;
I had advanced its place in my face afterward,
(So that) it ruled this whole land.

Now (?) at its (?) time were their (f) plants (?).^^
I replaced what she had taken therefrom.
I came forth from the plants (?).
I created all reptiles and all that was in (?) them.'^
Shu and Tefenet begat [Qeb] and Nut.
Qeb and Nut begat Osiris, Horus (the one before the eyeless) (?),

Seth, Isis, and Nephthys from one womb.
One of them after the other;
Their children are many on this earth.'"

Like most ancient Oriental texts concerned with the prob-
lem of cosmogony, this is an attempt to use various traditions
of very contradictory character. We see, for example, that it
starts with the assumption that the abyss was occupied by
strange monsters, or "reptiles," among whom the sun-god
grew up; while another theory, evidently much more recent,
regards the solar deity as the very first being that actually
lived and as the creator of all things, so that the sun-god
created, first of all, these primeval monsters. ^'^ With the forma-
tion of the first pair of cosmic gods by the sun the poet loosely
connects the different theory that the creation of ordinary

70 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

life or of the present order of the world began by the loss of
the deity's eye. He also alludes to various interpretations
of this myth, of which we shall speak below: (a) the lost eye
of the supreme god wanders abroad as the sun; (b) it is re-
stored to its former place as the daily sun by Shu and Tefenet,
evidently in their capacity of solar or celestial divinities who
hold the sun in its place; (c) the quarrel between the roving
eye and the one which the deity had put in its place, and
the strife with their father, the great cosmic deity, give scope
for various interpretations of this legend by the course of
the sun. The poet does not try to harmonize these inter-
pretations; to him the most important point is the creation
of mankind. The oldest theory, that man originated from
a divine essence flowing from the eye which had been lost
or damaged in some adventure of the creator, is not clearly
set forth; and the hymn emphasizes, rather, the version
which attributes man's creation to a more peaceful ema-
nation from the weeping of the divine eye, a paronomasia
based on the similarity between remy, "to weep," and romet,
rdme{t), "man," which recurs very often in Egyptian literature
after 2000 b. c. and which admits of a rationalistic interpre-
tation of human and general creation by the rays of the sun.^^
In its closing lines our text gives yet another theory: men are
descendants of the later divine generations; they are, so to
say, debased gods, connected especially with Osiris, the source
of mortality and ancestor of mortal men. This efi'ort to con-
dense the various cosmogonic theories and traditions into a
few words refers to further myths as well, but we do not con-
sider these here. Our hasty examination of the text sufficiently
shows how impossible it was for the priestly poet to construct
a rational theory of creation from such contradictory material.
This constant incongruity of Egyptian myths is also illus-
trated by a remarkable series of cosmogonic pictures ^^ which
show first "the sun-god growing (in?) members" ^° in a strange
representation which seeks to indicate his embryonic condi-

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 71

tlon. Near him sit the air-gods Shu and Tefenet as little
children. This symbolizes their primeval nature and their
precedence of the sun-god, as has been stated on pp. 49-50 (in
opposition to the theory set forth in the ,^?1
hymn given on pp. 68-69). Next the sun-
god again appears in an embryonic state,
floating in an ornamented box which,

the explanation says, represents Nut, p— ^^_ ^he Birth of the
the heavenly flood, although we should Sun-God

expect the abyss or ocean as the place of the new-born sun (pp.
49-50); the chest adapts this idea to the Osiris-Horus myth
(p. 57). Then comes the cow "Ehet (p. 40), the development
of the members of Khepri," with double emblems of Hat-hor
and with the symbol of the sky, carrying the sun both on her
head and on her body.-^ Before her stands Hu, the god of
wisdom and the divine word (p. Gj), holding an egg, a sym-
bol which may be explained as an allusion to the earth-god
Qeb, whose name is sometimes written with the sign of the
Qgg (p. 42), or to the solar egg (?), or to the creation in gen-
eral. At any rate he represents quite a unique cosmogonic
symbolism which would seem to be in conflict with all the other
pictures. This is not more strange, however, than *' the sun-
god (in?) members" (p. 28) in the background as the heav-
enly face and the half-developed flower, growing from a base
which the artist made to be midway between an indication of a
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:38:05 PM: pool of water and the solar
disk. The value of these
mystic pictures, claiming to
be reproduced according to
the earliest traditions, is

Fig. 76. Further Symbols of the Birth that they again illustrate
OF THE Sun-God ,i u • ^' r

the combmation or so many
different theories about the origin of the sun and of the world;
the divergence of these views makes the mystery the more
solemn to the Egyptian mind.

72 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

In the Book of the Dead^"^ we find a cosmogonic fragment
which includes allusions to various other disconnected myths.

"Furthermore I shall ruin all that I have made.
This earth will appear (?) as an abyss,
In (or, as) a flood as in its primeval condition.
I am the one remaining from it together with Osiris.
My forming is (then) made to me among other (?) serpents
Which men never knew.
Which the gods never saw."

The text continues with an account of the distribution of
the world among the gods; the connexion with the preceding
fragment is very unintelligible:

"What I have done for Osiris is good.
I have exalted him above all gods;
I have given him the underworld [variant: as ruler];
His son Horus (shall be) his heir on his throne in the island of

flames (p. 27).
I have made his throne [variant: his substitute] in the Boat of

Eternities."

The text then loses itself in the ordinary OsIris-myth, giving
an interesting description of the fate of Osirls's enemy Seth :

"Furthermore I have sent the soul of Seth to the west,
Exalted above all gods;
I have appointed guardians of his soul, being in the boat." ^^

We are here informed that Seth's soul, after his destruction
on earth, is kept imprisoned in the west, evidently as the ocean-
serpent which lies in darkness, a confusion of Seth and 'Apop,
which shows that this part of the text, at first unconnected
with the cosmogonic fragment, is subsequent to 1600 b. c.
In like manner we cannot be quite certain that the threat to
return the world to its primeval condition was originally as-
sociated with a mythological fragment which precedes it and
which speaks of a rebellion of the gods:

"O Thout, what is it that hath arisen among the children of Nut? "^^
They have committed hostilities, they have instigated (?) disorder,
They have done sin, they have created rebellion.

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 73

They have committed murder, they have created destruction,
And they have done (it), the great one against the small
With all which I (?) have done.
Give, O Thout, an order to Atum!"^^

The compiler seems to have understood this last fragment
to refer to the rebellion of Seth and his companions against
Osiris which brought about a reorganization of the world, a
parallel to the rebellion of men against the sun-god (p. 74).
Whether the first fragment may be interpreted as an allusion
to the deluge (as Naville thought) is uncertain; it seems to
be only a threat of the sun-god, under his name of Atum.
Its interest lies in the fact that it confirms a cosmogonic theory
found in the Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu, as recorded in the hymn
quoted on pp. 68-69: the sun-god grew among the monsters
which filled the abyss and constituted the oldest generation of
divine beings, thus possibly affording a parallel to the good
gods who dwell in the abyss described in the following myth.

The Asiatizing theory that this older generation opposed
the new cosmic power and that the sun-god created the new
order of the world in a war against the abysmal powers (or at
least against some of them) does not belong to the earlier
strata of Egyptian theology, as has been noted above from the
mention of 'Apop, the serpent of the abyss, but it forms a
transition to the next collection, which is very important.

II. THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND

A document of the Middle Empire — probably from the
early part of that period — which has been preserved in a
much disfigured tradition in two royal tombs of the Nine-
teenth and Twentieth Dynasties is a compilation of various
mythological texts similar to those which we have just con-
sidered, full of contradictions and redacted with equal careless-
ness. ^^ There we find an important legend of the destruction
of the human race.

"[Once there reigned on earth Re', the god who^^j shines,

74 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

the god who had formed himself. After he had been ruler of
men and gods together, then men (2) plotted [against him] at
a time when His Majesty — life, welfare, health (to him)! —
had grown old. His bones were of silver, his members of gold,
his hair of genuine lapis lazuH. His Majesty (3) recognized
the plot which the men [had formed] against him and he said
to his followers: 'Call to me my eye and Shu (4) and Tefenet,
Qeb and Nut, together with my fathers and mothers who were
with me when I was In the abyss, and also the god ^^ Nuu.
He shall (.f") bring his courtiers (5) with himself. Bring ^^
them secretly (?); the men shall not see it, and their heart
shall not run away.^'^ Come with them to the palace that they
may speak their opinions respectfully {?), (6) and that I may
go in the abyss to the place where I was born.'

"Those gods were brought [to this god], and those gods
[placed themselves] at his side, touching the ground with their
foreheads (7) before His Majesty (that he should) make his
report before his father, the oldest god (i. e. Nuu), (he) the
maker of men, the king of human beings (.^).^^ They said
before His Majesty: * Speak (8) to us that we may hear It.'
Re' said to Nuu: 'Thou oldest god, from whom I have arisen,
and ye gods of a former age! behold, the men that have arisen
(9) from my eye, they have plotted against me. Tell me what
ye would do against this. Behold, I am undecided. I would
not slay them before I shall have heard what (10) ye say con-
cerning It.' The Majesty of Nuu said: *My son Re', the god
greater than the one who made him and more powerful than
those who created him, stay In thy place! (11) Thy fear Is
great; thine eye will be against those who plot against thee.'
Re' said: 'Behold, In terror of their hearts they have run away
to the (desert) mountains because of what they have said.'
^^(12) They said before His Majesty: 'Make thy eye go that It
/^smlte for thee those who have plotted wicked things ! Let not
the eye be in front of her ^^ to smite them for thee!' (13) (So)
It went as Hat-hor.^^

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 75

"Then this goddess came (back) when she had slain the
men on the mountains. Then the Majesty of this god said:
'Welcome, O Hat-hor, hast thou done that for which I sent
thee?' (14) That goddess said: 'By thy life for me, I have
been powerful among the men; that was pleasure for my heart.'
Said the Majesty of Re': 'Thou shalt be powerful among them
in Herakleopolis (15) by their annihilation.' ^'* This was the
origin of Sekhmet (i. e. "the Powerful One") and of the mixed
drink( ?),^^ of the night of passing over their blood, originally ( .'')
in Herakleopolis.^®

"Re' said: (16) 'Call me now speedy messengers, swift-
running like the shadow of a body.' Such messengers were
brought (17) immediately. This god said: 'Go to Elephantine
and bring me many mandrake fruits.' ^^ Those mandrakes
were brought, and [Re' appointed] (18) the miller (?)^^ who
dwells in Heliopolis to (.'*) grind those mandrakes while slave
women brewed (?) grain for beer. Then those mandrakes
were put in that mixture, and it was like (19) human blood,
and seven thousand jars of beer were made.

"Then came the Majesty of the King of Upper and Lower
Egypt, Re', with those gods to see that beer when the morning
broke (20) on which the men were to be killed by the goddess
at their ^^ (appointed) time of going southward. The Majesty
of Re' said: 'How fine this is! I shall protect (21) the men
before her.' Re' said: 'Bring this now to the place where she
said she would kill the men.'

"On that day Re' [stood up] (22) in the best part (?) of the
night ^° for causing this sleeping-draught to be poured out,
and the fields were flooded four spans high by [that] liquid
through the power of the Majesty of this god. When (23)
that goddess came in the morning, she found this causing
an inundation. Her face looked beautiful (reflected) therein.
She drank from it and liked it and she came (home) drunken
without (24) recognizing the men. Re' said to that goddess:
'Welcome, thou pleasant one!'

76 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

"Thus originated the girls in the Pleasant City.^^ Re'
said (25) to that goddess: 'Make sleeping-draughts for her
at the time of the New Year festival! Their number (shall be)
according to (?) that of my (temple) slave-girls.' Thus origi-
nated the making of sleeping-draughts for ( ?) the number of
slave-girls at the festival of Hat-hor by all men since that day."

Here we again find the story closed by learned etymologies
of divine names and by explanations of local ceremonies. The
most interesting feature of this myth, however, is the possi-
bility, as Naville first pointed out, of seeing an analogy to
Semitic deluge-traditions in the almost complete destruction
of mankind and the flood of drink which covered the land.
Egyptian fancy would thus have turned the deluge, sent for
destroying the human race, into the means of saving men from
their deserved punishment of extinction; but until we find
further texts, the analogies of the Egyptian story with the
flood-stories of other countries must remain rather problem-
atic. Similar uncertainty attaches to the mythological frag-
ment (p. 72) which presents certain parallel ideas, although It
belongs, rather, to the following myth which tells why the sun-
god departed from earth. Plato's statement ^^ that the deluge
did not reach Egypt also Implies that the Egyptians had no
distinct flood-legend. The only faint Egyptian parallel to the
deluge is the legend of Osiris or Horus, the ancestor of mankind,
floating in a chest at his birth or death, as will be told In the
following chapter. The connexion between the myth just
related and the New Year admits of various interpretations.^^

III. WHY THE SUN-GOD WITHDREW FROM EARTH

To the tradition of the destruction of mankind the same
text adds another story which seemed capable of association
with it.

"The Majesty of Re' said to that goddess: 'Is this Illness ^*
the burning of (ordinary.^) illness.^ What, then, hath befallen

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS ^'j

(me?) (27) by illness?' The Majesty of Re' said: *By my life,
my heart hath become very weary to be with them. I have
killed them, (but it is) a case as though I was not (?). Is
the stretching out of my arm a (28) failure?' ^^ The gods who
were following him said: 'Do not yield (?) to thy weariness;
thou art powerful whenever thou wilt.' The Majesty of that
god (29) said to the Majesty of Nuu: 'My limbs are weak for
the first time; I shall not come (back that) another (such case?)
may reach me.'^e

"The Majesty of Nuu said: 'My son Shu, the eye (30) of
(his?) father [who is wise at?] his consultation, (and?)^^ my
daughter Nut, put him [on thy back].' Nut said: 'How so, my
father Nuu?' Nut said: ' . . . (31) . . . Nuu.' Nut became
[a cow (?)]. [Then] Re' [placed] himself on her back. When
those men had [come] (32) [they sought the sun-god.^]. Then
they saw him on the back of the [heavenly] cow. Then those
(33) men said: '[Return] to us (that?) we may overthrow thine
enemies who have plotted [against thee].' [Although they said.-*]
this. His Majesty (34) went to his palace [in the west (.?)].
[When he was no longer] with them, the earth was in darkness.
When the earth became light in the morning, (35) those men
came forth with their bows and their [weapons] for shooting
the enemies (of the sun). The Majesty of this god said:
*Your sins are behind you.^^ The murderers (36) are (too)
remote (for their) murderous (plans).' Thus originated the
(ceremony of) murdering . . . The Majesty of this god said
to Nut: 'Put me on thy back to raise me.'"

The next lines are too mutilated for coherent translation,
but, as we see, the sun-god establishes his permanent abode
in heaven, where he creates the celestial fields "with all shin-
ing (or: verdant, growing) stars" (cf. p. 55).

"Then Nut began (41) to tremble in (?) the height" (i. e.
under the weight of these new things), and the endless space
(Heh) was created for support.'*^ Then Re' said: (42) 'My son
Shu, put thyself under my daughter Nut. Take heed for me

78 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

of the (sun-bark called) 'Millions of Millions' (which is)
there, and (?) of those who live among (or, of?) the stars (?).
Put her on thy head.'"

Thus heaven and earth were separated, and the sun-god
remained on the back of the heavenly cow. In this way human
sin had driven the gods from this earth, and no repentance
could bring them back to dwell again among mankind. This
legend is obviously a different version of the preceding myth,
though all its allusions are not yet intelligible; the "bows," for
instance, may be an astronomical term. We may also compare
the analogous collection of fragmentary myths
given on p. 72, where the rebels against the
sun-god seem to be regarded as partly divine

and are termed
"children of Nut."
After rather ob-
scure directions how
to depict the new
order of things,^"
1 this same collection

Fig. 77. The Heavenly Cow, the Sun-God, and the gives another Very
Gods Supporting her (Shu in the Centre) • ^ • 1

mterestmg explana-
tion of the sun-god's departure from the earth to the sky.

(56) "The Majesty of that god said to Thout: 'Call now for
me to the Majesty of Qeb thus: "Come, hurry immediately!"'
Then the Majesty of Qeb came. The Majesty of that god (i. e.
Re') said: 'Take care ^^ (57) with thy serpents which are in
thee! Behold, I have feared them as long as I have existed.
Now thou knowest their magic (formulae) .^^ Thou shalt, there-
fore, go to the place of my father Nuu and shalt say to him:
(58) : "Guard against the reptiles inhabiting land and water," ^'
and thou shalt make a (magic) writing for every place ^^ of
thy serpents which are there, saying namely: "Guard against
playing any tricks!" They shall know that (59) now I shall
give light for them.^^ But behold, they belong (?) to (thee,

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 79

my) father, who is (?) on this earth forever. Beware now of
these sorcerers, skilled (60) with their mouth. Behold, the
god of magic ^^ (himself) is there. Who swallows him (?), be-
hold there is not one who guards (me?) from a great thing (?).
It has happened (61) before me. I have destined them for
thy son Osiris (who will.^) guard against their small ones and
make the heart of their great ones forget. Those prosper (?)^^
who do (62) as they like on the whole earth with their magic
in their breast.'"

In great part the text is mutilated to a degree which renders
it hopelessly obscure, yet we may at least infer that, in the
opinion of the compiler of these ancient mythological frag-
ments, we have here another reason why the heavenly gods
no longer dwell on earth: serpents or a serpent drove them
away. The writer's only doubt is whether this was done by
a serpent of the earth-god after the organization of the world
or whether it refers to the primeval beings who inhabited the
abyss (p. 69) and from whom the sun-god separated himself
when he began to build this world. The writer or redactor
thus confuses two ages of the world and two theories; and he
even seems to allude to a third theory, namely, to that of the
great enemy of the gods, the cosmic serpent 'Apop, who con-
stantly threatens to swallow the sun-god and thus forces him
to be on his guard and to keep high in the heavens. This com-
bination of theories about serpents which were dangerous to
the gods seems then to have been worked into a magic incanta-
tion for protection against reptiles, at least so far as we can
understand the hopelessly obscure lines 58-61.

IV. THE SUN-GOD, ISIS, AND THE SERPENT

On the basis of the compilation of myths from which we
have thus far given four sections it is possible to gain a
better understanding of the somewhat later myth of the sun-
god and Isis.^®

8o EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

(TURIN PAPYRI, PLATE CXXXI)
Line

(12) "Chapter of the divine god who arose by himself,

Who made the heaven, the earth, the air of life, and the fire,
The gods, the men, the wild animals, and the flocks.
The reptiles, the birds, and the fish,
The king of men and of gods together,

(13) (Whose) ages are more than (human?) years, ^^
Rich in names which people here know not.
Neither do those yonder know.^°

At that time ^' there was Isis, a woman
Skilful in sorcery (?), whose heart was tired
Of living forever ^^ among men;

(PLATE CXXXI I)

(i) She preferred time forever among the gods;

She esteemed (more highly) living forever among the illuminated

spirits.
Was she not able ^^ (to be) in heaven and on earth like Re',
To become mistress of the land of gods? ^
So she thought in her heart

(2) To learn the name of the holy god.

Now Re' came every day
At the head of his followers,®^
Established on the throne of both horizons.
The god had grown old; his mouth dripped,

(3) His spittle flowed to the earth.
His saliva fell on the ground.

Isis kneaded this with her hand
Together with the earth on which it was.^'
She formed it as a holy (4) serpent;
She made it in the form of a dart
It did not wander alive before her;
She left it rolled together ( ?) on ( ?) the way "
On which the great god wandered
At his heart's desire over (5) his two countries.®^

The holy god — life, welfare, health (to him) — appeared
(from) his palace,
The gods behind ^^ following him.
He walked as every day.
(Then) the holy snake bit''" him.

A living flame came forth from (6) himself ^^
To drive away (?) the one in the cedars. ^^

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 8i

Line The b.oly god opened '^ his mouth.

The voice of His Majesty — life, welfare, health (to him) —

reached heaven.
His circle of gods (said), 'What is it?'
His gods (said), 'What is the matter?'

(7) He found not a word ^'* to answer to this (question).
His jaws trembled,

All his limbs shook,

The poison took possession of his flesh

As the Nile takes possession [of the land, spreading ^^] over it.

(8) The great god concentrated all his will-power.''^
He cried to his followers:

' Come to me, ye who have arisen from my members,

Ye gods who have come forth from me.

That I may inform you what hath happened! ^'^

(9) Something painful hath pierced me
Which my heart had [not?] noticed.
And mine eyes had not seen,^*
Which my hand hath not made.

I know not who hath done all this.
I have not (ever) tasted such suffering;
No pain is stronger than this.

(10) I am the prince, the son of a prince.
The issue of a god which became a god;

I am the great one, the son of a great one.

My father hath thought out my name;

I am one with many names, with many forms.

(11) My form is in every god.

I am called Atumu and Har-hekenu.^^

My father and my mother (however) told me my (real) name;

It hath been hidden within me since (?) my birth

(12) In order that power and magic (force) ^^ may not arise for one
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:38:45 PM: who (may desire to) bewitch me.

I had come forth to see that which I (once) made,

I (began to) walk in the two countries which I created,

(13) When something pierced me which I know not.
Neither is it fire,

Nor is it water. ^^

My heart is aglow,

My limbs tremble,

All my members shiver (14) with cold.

The children of the gods^^ should be brought to me,

XII — 7

82 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Line Those wise of words,

Skilled with their mouth,

Who with their knowledge reach the firmament.

(PLATE CXXXIII)

(i) There came the children of the god; each one
Was there with his lamentations.
There came (also) Isis with her wisdom,
The place of her mouth (full) of breath of life,
(With) her formulse expelling suffering,
(With) her words (2) quickening those deprived of breath.
She said: 'What is it? what is it, my divine father?
Hath a serpent spread pain (?) within thee?
Hath one of thy children lifted his head against thee?
Then I shall subject (3) it by excellent magic,
I shall drive it away at ( ?) the sight of thy rays.'

The majestic god opened his mouth:

'I walked on the road,

I wandered in the two countries and the desert,

(4) (For) my face (?) ^^ wished to see what I had created.
(There) I was bitten by a serpent without seeing it.
It is not fire,

Nor is it water.

I feel colder than water,

I feel hotter than fire.

(5) All my limbs are sweating;

Mine eye trembleth and cannot be fixed;
Nor can I look upward.

A flood covereth my face like (the inundation) at the time of
summer.'

(6) Isis said: 'Tell me thy name, divine father!

The man will keep alive who is worshipped ^* by his (correct)

name.'
(The sun-god replied:)
'I am the one who hath made heaven and earth, who hath

raised ^^ the mountains,
And created what is upon it.*^

(7) I am the one who hath made the water which became the Great

Flood,"
Who made the Bull of his Mother,
Who became the wanderer (?).^^

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 83

Line J am the one who made heaven as a secret and (its) two hori-
zons, ^^
In which I have placed the soul ^^ of the gods.

(8) I am the one who (only) openeth his eyes, and there is light;
When his eyes close, darkness falleth.

The flood of the Nile riseth when he hath ordered it.

(9) The gods know not his name.

I am the one who made the hours so that the days came.
I am he who made the year begin and created the rivers.
I am he who made the living fire

(10) For producing works of smithcraft. ^^

I am Khepri in the morning, Re' at his standing still, ^^
Atumu at evening time.'

The poison was not stopped as it went on;
The great god did not feel well.

(11) Isis said: 'Thy name is not in the enumeration which thou hast

made.
Tell it to me, and the poison will leave;
The man will live whose name is pronounced.' ^^

(12) The fire burned like a flame;

It became more powerful than a melting stove in flame.

The Majesty of Re' said:

'I have been searched (too much) by Isis;

My name will come forth from my bosom into thy bosom.'

(13) The god hid himself from his gods;

His place was prepared in the ship (called) 'Millions [of Years].'
In the moment in which (the name) had left (his) heart.
She (Isis) said to her son Horus:
'I have bound him by a holy oath (14) that the [great?] god

give up [to thee] his two eyes.'
[The great god, his name was betrayed to Isis, great in magic.
Leave, O spell; come forth from Re'!]."

The last two verses do not seem to belong to the original
poem, but to the application of the myth as a conjuration for
a person bitten by a snake. The story, the papyrus explains,
is to be written twice, one copy to be wrapped around the
neck of the patient, and the other to be washed off and drunk
by him in beer or wine, according to a custom to be described
in the chapter on magic (p. 199).

84 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

This myth, which is as remarkable for its poetry as for its
theology, seems to date from the beginning of the New Empire,
since its pantheistic views scarcely admit of a period more
remote. The story shows in good logical connexion the ancient
Asiatic astral myth associating the constellations Virgo, Hydra,
and Orion (= the sun) which we shall find again in our chap-
ter on foreign influences; and it gives another version of the
legend which precedes it, answering the question why the gods
dwell no more on earth : a serpent caused the sun-god to with-
draw to higher spheres. Its relation to the series of myths
which we have considered in II and III is not yet clear; the
incoherence and the language of that collection give 'the im-
pression that its legends belong to an older epoch than the
papyrus. For an earlier Egyptian idea which prepared the way
for the legend of Isis and the sun-god see p. 25 and the myth
of the lost eye of the solar deity (pp. 86-88).

V. HOW THE MOON BECAME RULER OF THE NIGHT

The compilation of myths which has told us of the destruc-
tion of mankind and why the sun-god withdrew from earth
also contains a legend of the way in which the moon was in-
stalled as lord of night.

(62) "The Majesty of this god (i. e. Re') said: 'Call Thout(i)
now to me.' He was brought directly. The Majesty (63) of
this god said to Thout: 'Behold,''^ I put thee now in the sky
(64) in my place while I (65) give light to the luminous spirits
(i. e. of the dead) (66) in the underworld and the island of
Baba.^^ {Gy) Write there thy judgement (.^) ^^ of those who
are in them (i. e. those two places) (68) (for) what they have
done (.?) committing (69) sins. Art not thou [among?] (70) my
servants in (.f') this shameful act.-* ®^ (71) Thou shalt be in
my place, my representative.^^ Now let this be said to
thee, Thout, the representative of Re': I shall let thee send
{hah) such as are greater than thou.' (Thus) originated the ibis

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 85

{hahi) of Thout. 'I shall (72) let thee stretch out thy hand
against (?) the gods of [my?] circle who are greater than thou.
My (?) khen is fine.' ^^ (Thus) originated the two wings
{tekhenui) of the ibis of Thout. 'I shall let thee surround
{enh) (75) the sky with thy beauty and with thy rays.' (Thus)
originated the moon (fo'A) of Thout. 'I shall let thee turn
back the barbarians ('(3n'««).'^°° Thus originated the cyno-
cephalus {'an'an) of Thout. '[Thou] shalt be (76) judge
(while) thou art my representative. The face of those who
see thee will be opened in (?) thee. The eyes of all men
will thank thee.'"

This installation of a vicegerent instead of the sun for the
dark night offers various interesting features. In the first place
it is connected with the judgement of the rebels : from the time
of their uprising Thout takes a more prominent place, since a
judge becomes necessary for the sinful world; but there is
only an obscure and passing allusion to the parallel thought
that the sun-god must descend to hell where the rebels are
instead of shining on earth throughout the twenty-four hours.
The most important thing, however, is to explain the origin
of the cult of Thout's animals by plays on the words by
which the sun installed him. We see here the first attempts
to interpret a piece of animal worship — a remarkable proof
that this most primitive feature of the ancestral religion began
to disturb Egyptian thinkers about 2000 b. c, the period
from which this legend would seem to date. Plays on words
always had a very deep significance to the ancient Orient,
as we can see also from the explanations of ceremonies
given on pp. 75-76.

VI. THE LOST EYE OF THE SUN-GOD

We have already had a reference (p. 70) to the myth which
tells how the sun-god once lost his eye (the sun) and how it
rebelled against him. Fuller information on this legend has

86 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

been preserved only In very late texts ^°^ in which its mean-
ing is much effaced and where it runs, in several variants, as
follows.

The sun's eye, as Tefenet or Hat-hor, had retired from
Egypt to Nubia, where it lived as a wild lioness or lynx.
As messengers to bring her back the sun-god sent Tefenet's
brother, the lion-formed Shu (or his local manifestation,
Eri-hems-nofer), and the baboon or ibis Thout (or both in
the form of two baboons or two lions). Wandering through
all Nubia, they finally discovered her in the eastern mountain
of sunrise in a place called Bu-gem(et) ("the Place of Find-
ing "),^°^ and winning her consent with some difficulty (es-
pecially by the wise speech of Thout), they finally brought her
back to Egypt. There she was received with music, dancing,
and banquets, and thus the memory of her return was cele-
brated in many temples throughout the ages that followed.
The sacred baboons, i. e. the two gods just mentioned, or else
the baboons who greet the sun each morning (p. 32), saluted
and guided the returning goddess; and in Heliopolls she was
reconciled to her father. The theologians then tried to con-
nect this myth with the battle of Re' and Hat-hor, his "eye
and daughter," against rebellious men (pp. 74-75). Thus, for
example, the temple of Ombos boasts of being

"The place of Shu at the beginning.
To which came his father Re',

Hiding himself from those who plotted against him
When the wicked came to seek him.
Then Shu made his form

(As that) of Horus, the fighter (?) with his spear; ^°^
He killed them immediately in this district.
The heart of the sun-god was glad over this,
Over that which his son Shu had done for him." ^"^

Later "came Nuu (?), the one without (?) eyes (.'*), ^°^ to this
district as a lion great of strength to avenge his father Re*
again. . . . Then came Tefenet to this place with her brother
Shu when she came from Bu-gem(et.^)." This returning god-

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 87

dess is then identified with Hat-hor and with the terrible Sekh-
met, the destructive solar force (p. 75). We have, however,
no early connexion of this myth with that revolution of sinful
men to which allusion is made in various myths already
studied, especially in the tale of the moon's installation as
ruler of night; even in the late legend just quoted this asso-
ciation looks feeble and secondary.

The old hymn of the creation, which we have considered in

Fig. 78. Thout in Ibis-Form (Twice), with Shu and Tefenet as the Two Lions

the first section of this chapter, refers to the myth of the lost
eye in another way: the eye follows Shu and Tefenet into the
abyss to bring them back; but later these air-gods themselves
make the eye return from that place (p. 69). In either version
Tefenet and the sun's eye are difi^erentiated, although it is
difficult to say whether this was the earliest form of the story.
The following reference to a myth of two eyes of the sun, the
old one which came back from the depth and its (temporary?)
substitute, describes the estrangement between the sun-god
and his one daughter or eye (pp. 29-30) as a consequence of
jealousy between the two eyes (perhaps the solar and the lunar,
or the one of day-time and the one invisible at night) and as

88 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

. subsequent to the return of the single eye.^°^ On the other
hand, the texts of the Ptolemaic period make the estrange-
ment of the "angry goddess" from her father the reason for
her departure to Nubia, though they fail to give any explana-
tion for the hostility of the pair. It Is remarkable that in all
these traditions we find no connexion with the Osiris-cycle,
and this looks like a trace of the fact that the myth in its original
form was based on a very old tradition, dating from a time
when the Osiris-cult had not yet spread through Egypt.
The ancient Pyramid Texts have, for the most part, only

Fig. 79. Thout Greets Tefenet Returning from Nubia (a Continuation
OF THE Preceding Cut)

indistinct allusions to the sun's eye, "which is born every
day," ^°^ as a fiery asp (see p. 29 for this form of the single or
double eye of the sun) ; although even they begin to connect
It with the struggle between Horus and Seth. Thus we have
mention of "the asp proceeding from Re'" and of "the asp
[of the royal crown, which Is mentioned previously in the same
passage] proceeding from Seth [!], which was taken away
and brought back." ^°^ This restoration was scarcely to Seth,
although such an asp was worn "on the head of Seth," ^"^
just as it regularly adorned the forehead of the solar deity;
It would seem rather that Seth had stolen it for a time, and
that the sun-god had accidentally found it.^^° The most

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 89

The Solar Eye in the
Watery Depth

definite allusion declares that " (the king going to heaven will)
take the eye of Horus to him(self?); (the king) is a son of
Khnum." ^^^ In other words, the lost eye disappeared in the
depths of Khnum's watery realm, in the source of the Nile
and the ocean, at the First Cat-
aract, where it lives as "the
(goddess), great in magic, of the
south." "2

All this enables us to under-
stand the mythological picture Fig
which accompanies the seven-
teenth chapter of the Book of the Dead. It represents two
subterranean lakes or springs which are guarded by two
water-gods, one of whom is portrayed as youthful or as less
fat than the other. One of them holds the palm-branch
which symbolizes time, year, renewal, fresh vegetation; and
he stretches his other hand over a hole which contains the
eye of a hawk, i. e. the eye of the hawk-shaped (p. 24) sun-
god which was lost in the underworld. Before long this rep-
resentation was misunderstood and disfigured, so that two
eyes of the sun were depicted. The Papyrus of Ani adds an
explanatory inscription to the basin holding the hawk's eye:
"The ocean; his name is 'Lake of Purification of Millions'";
and thus indicates a parallel interpretation of the legend as

the daily descent of the
sun's eye to the depths of
the ocean and its return
from it; while the deity
to the left, holding the
palm branch, is explained
as Heh (infinite space),
i.e., like Shu, an air-god (p. 44). Thus we understand why
parallel representations (see p. 43) substitute for the pictures
here given the two lions who carry the sun, i. e. the air-gods
Shu and Tefenet, who each day separate the eye of the sun from

Fig. 81. The Solar Eye Guarded in the Deep

90 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Its place in the water, and so restore it to the world. Here we
have the origin of the role of Shu and Tefenet, but we also
see, to our surprise, that their participation in the myth was
secondary and comparatively late (1500 b. c. ?), for the Papyrus
of Ani, like other early manuscripts of the Book of the Dead,
still depicts the alleged air-god as the deity of the Nile and
covers even his body with lines to represent water.

In other variants "^ we see the source-god Khnum himself,
sometimes armed like a watchman, and sometimes holding In
one hand the solar eye, while Its double (the sorely disfigured
hawk's eye) is In one of Khnum's two water-holes. The
baboon of the wise divinity Thout likewise appears, evidently
as the healer of the eye. Once Khnum stands on a lion, in
which we recognize the old earth-god Akeru (p. 43); the
crocodile which here accompanies him cannot be interpreted
with certainty (p. 109). Thus we see once more that the
place where the eye was lost is found In the mythical source
of the Nile, the ocean, and all waters of the whole world, at
the First Cataract or the region south of It.^^^ "

Next, the Nile's water is itself explained as the lost eye, since
it Is an important manifestation of Oslris-Horus, disappearing
or diminishing in winter, but brought back from Nubia In the
summer Inundations by Isis, or by her tears, or as Isis herself,
since she is another daughter of the sun. Allusions to this in-
terpretation of the myth will be found In the magic text of the
tears of Isis translated on pp. 125-26. There the wise Thout
also reappears; and this healer, reconciler, and regulator of all
solar manifestations thus leads us back to the connexion of the
lost eye with the Oslrlan myth. Like the body of Osiris, the
solar eye of the renascent Osiris, the sun-god Horus, is torn
into many parts in the combat with Seth, so that Thout must
put together its six, or fourteen, or sixty-four pieces. The
fifteenth or sixty-fifth fragment apparently had been com-
pletely lost and was restored only by the magic of the divine
physician; hence It is declared that the sixth and fifteenth day

SOME COSMIC AND COSMOGONIC MYTHS 91

of each month "fill the sacred eye." ^^^ To this restoration
and to the numerical interpretation of "the safe eye," "the
intact eye" (uzait), the priests alluded when they depicted the

solar eye in the pecuHar symbol _ j »^ which became the

most popular amulet of the Egyp- *^!r^^^ tians. Thus the
older solar myths and their sub- ^"^^ ^ sequent tendency
toward adaptation to the Osirian cycle, which was partly solar,
merged in such various ways that we can no longer separate
them.

We may infer that the myth of the eye which went to, or was
]ost in, the region of darkness and the abysmal depths existed
in endless variants, of which some day we may hope to recover
many more. The versions which are extant, especially those
of the Grseco-Roman period, as we have already said, contain
little more than a very dim recollection of this wealth. To cite
but a single instance, even the cosmic meaning of Nubia as the
corridor to the underworld, or as the underworld itself (pp. 46-
47, 86, 147), had then been completely forgotten.

Thus far it is unsafe to compare this myth with analogous
traditions in stories from other mythologies which tell how the
sky-god or the solar deity lost an eye (usually the lunar one)
which sank into a pit, etc.^^^ The study of such parallels must
be reserved for future researches.

All the legends which we have recorded show that the
mythology of the ancient Egyptians must have been one of the
richest In the world, notwithstanding the deplorable fact that
for the most part we are forced to gain our knowledge of this
wealth by gathering fragmentary allusions. We might endeavour
to reconstruct much more here, but this first necessitates the
re-establishment of a group of myths to be set forth in the
following chapter.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:39:48 PM: CHAPTER V
THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

\T a very early time a special group of gods, all local in
JTm. origin, was brought into a mutual connexion which gave
rise to an extremely rich growth of myths that overshadowed
all other mythology ^ and thus made those divinities the most
popular, not only of Egypt, but, subsequently, of
the whole ancient world. Accordingly, they are
best treated separately from the other members of
the pantheon, although their cosmic functions have
been mentioned in great part In the chapters on
the cosmic deities. Here we have the most com-
FiG. 82. Osiris pl^te grouping of divine personalities in the whole
AS A Black Egyptian religion, and yet in this very connexion
we can notice with especial clearness how little the
Egyptians cared for a systematic and logical presentation of
their religious beliefs. The only feeble attempt to describe this
cycle systematically was made by the Greek Plutarch of Chae-
ronea (about 120 a. d.) in his famous treatise "On
Isis and Osiris." Although he failed, and intro-
duced many non-Egyptian ideas, this little study
gives us some valuable information, whereas other
Grseco-Roman accounts of Egyptian religion con-
tain only fragments of truth
have occasion to refer to it in our study

Osiris 2 was originally the local god of the city of Ded(u)
(also called Dedet) in the Delta, which the Greeks termed
Busiris, i. e. "Home of Osiris," and where a strangely shaped
pillar with circular projections separating bands of various

Fig 8'i

We shall often Osiris Hidden
IN HIS Pillar

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

93

colours was his symbol,^ At a rather early date he became a
cosmic deity, and after oscillating between symbolizing either
the sun or the sky, he finally developed into the god of changing
nature in the widest sense. Thus he could become the divinity
of the most important change, I. e. death, and could be evolved
into the patron of the souls of the departed and king of the

Fig. 84. Osiris in the Celestial Tree

The deity stands between the two obelisks which symbolize time. From a ,
sarcophagus in the Museum of Cairo.

lower world, being at the same time the lord of resurrection and
of new and eternal life. The latter conception gave him great
pre-eminence over the many earlier deities of necropoles who
had nothing to do with the hope of resurrection and who,
therefore (with the exception of Anubis, an ancient Upper
Egyptian god of the departed, see infra^ p. iii), remained local
guardians of the dead. This explains his great popularity. As
changing nature, Osiris, according to the views of historic
times, may be seen in the daily and yearly course of the sun,
which dies every evening and revives in the morning, becomes

94

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

old and weak in winter and strong again in spring. Tlie dis-
persion of the god's members originally seems to have involved
a belief that the stars are scattered fragments of the dead sun.
As ruler of the sky, however, he can actually be identified with
the sky; he can sit in the celestial tree, or can be that tree itself,
or an important part of it. When he grows forth from the tree,
he shows his solar nature (p. 35). As a bull (especially of
black colour) he is also celestial.^ Three hundred and sixty or
three hundred and sixty-five lights were burned in his honour,
three hundred and sixty-five trees were said to be planted
around certain of his temples, etc., thus showing him
le god of changing time and of the year. As
master of the year his festivals were chiefly
lunar, so that he could easily assume fea-
tures of the moon, the regulator of the sky;
later he was directly
called the moon as
" renewing himself."

Fig. 85. The Nile Re- Moreover he can be
vivestheSoulofOsi- sought in many im-

Ris IN Sprouting Plants

portant stars or con-
stellations. Thus the morning star was brought into connexion
with him, or, rather, with his double, Horus; the parallel
queen of the fixed stars and of heaven, Sothis, was then asso-
ciated with him as sister-wife or as mother (p. 56). He can
be found likewise in the planet Jupiter as another ruler of the
sky.^ In the constellation Argo and its chief star, Canopus,
he appears as a child or as dead, floating in a chest,^ while in
Orion he is seen as the victorious warrior, i. e. renascent as
Horus (for the easy interchange of these constellations see
pp. S7~5^)- The rising Nile likewise reminds the faithful of
him because it is an annual calendric phenomenon of reviving
nature, side by side with other explanations of this event as
Osirian (see below).

By laying the major emphasis on the death of Osiris he

Fig. 86. Osiris Rising to
New Life in Sprouting
Seeds

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE 95

becomes the master of the underworld, the ruler of the dead.
Nevertheless he is not treated as an earth-god/ although he is
symbolized in a way quite analogous to that in which the
Asiatic god of plants and springs, Tammuz-Adonis, is typified ^
by the new life of the vegetation which springs from the ground.
Osiris can also be compared to or identified with the water of
the summer inundation because it enables the crops to grow
again, and both ideas are combined in a picture (Fig. 85)
which shows how the Nile-god awakens to life the soul (i. e.
manifestation) of the " Phoenix-Osiris " in the new plants. The
rebirth of the life-giving river reveals Osiris himself;^ or the
water flows from his wounded or dismembered body in mysteri-
ous depths, or he causes it through the tears of Isis (and
Nephthys) which flow for and over him. The modern Egyptians
still believe that a mysterious drop, falling into the river on a
spring night, causes its sudden swelling, a thought which is only
another version of the tears of Isis. When Osiris thus becomes
identical with the Nile, this applies especially to its mysterious
subterranean portion, so that Osiris is identified with the abyss,
and even with the ocean (p. 46). Even in the late period, which
understands the sea as "Typhonic," i. e. antagonistic to Osiris,
we still find it plainly stated that Osiris is the ocean. ^° Thus
he often represents the whole principle of water as the life-
giving element, whence a magician of Roman days, writing in
Greek, calls Osiris "water," and Isis "dew," because of her
falling tears. ^^ As the subterranean Nile Osiris has four birth-
genii, or Meskhenets (p. 52), a symbolism which seems to allude
to the four sources of the Nile (p. 46).^^ As the ocean which
encircles the lower world, the conception of Osiris reverts to the
idea of ruling or representing the dark realm of the dead. In
this connexion particular interest attaches to the famous
picture from the sarcophagus of King Setkhuy (Sethos) I,
This cosmic scene shows Nuu, the god of the abyss, in the
morning, lifting the solar ship from the depths; the inscription
reads, "These arms come from the water; they lift this god."

96

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

The sun as a scarab is accompanied by Isis and Nephthys,
showing that Re', Khepri, and Osiris are identified. Strangely
enough, the earth god Qeb stands next in the ship, and then
Shu, Heka ("Magic"), Hu ("Wisdom"), and S(i)a ("Knowl-
edge"), while to
[(/<• the right are three
"keepers of the
gate," evidently of
the lower world.
Mother "Nut re-
ceives the sun" at
nightfall and passes
him on to his
resting-place in the
western deep,
where the lowest
circle of the water
of the abyss is de-
picted as a god in
circular form (cf.
Fig. 46), and de-
scribed as "this is
Osiris who encircles
the underworld"
(Duat).'^ See Fig.
87.

Thus there is

Fig. 87. Birth and Death of the Sun, with Osiris as scarcely any part
Master of the Abysmal Depth r 1

OT changmg nature
in which Osiris cannot be found, which is in itself a proof that
originally he possessed no cosmic function whatever. Because
of this universal sway he seems to bear the frequent title of
Neb-er-Zer, or "Lord of Everything."

The main function of this god, however, always remained
that of ruling over the region of the departed, whence he is

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

97

Osiris as Judge
ON HIS Stairs

the

frequently pictured as black. ^^ He sits on his "throne of
metal," ^^ or on a platform (sometimes of a shape which re-
sembles a hieroglyph for justice," / I), or on lofty stairs.
The stairs in the accompanying picture,
on which the (personified) balance of jus-
tice and the gods of the divine circle of
Osiris stand, must originally have meant
the stairs on which the sun-god ascends
and descends (p. 35). The later period,
however, seeks Osiris's throne preferably
in the depths of the earth or of the sky.
From his seat he directs the occupations *
of the dead, supervising especially — Fig
since he is connected with the vegetation
which comes mysteriously from the deep — the work in
fields of Earu (the "field of sprouts "; p. 55). Under or near
his throne he guards the water and the plant of life (with both
of which, as we have seen, he is often identified) ; and since he

decides the fate of the dead in their
second life, this kind king of the de-
parted becomes a stern judge of their
past moral life. • On his divine help-
ers in this judicial function, see
p. 1 76. With the stars he and his whole
kingdom arise at night-time from
the depths,^® and in other respects
also his solar and celestial functions
mingle with those of the keeper of
the lower world. This again shows
r, o r\ \XT him as the lord of resurrection and

Fig. 89. Osiris with the Water

AND Plant of Life, on Which as the prototype of the dead who

Stand his Four Sons • ^ 1 tj- t-' 1 •

gam eternal lire, ror this reason
his name Un(en)-nofer, or Unnofru (Greek 'Ovo(f)pi^), "the
Good Being," characterizes him as the mildest and most
beneficent of all the gods.

98 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

His worship spread from Busiris over all Egypt, but its
1/ principal seat soon became Abydos in Middle Egypt, the

necropolis of the ancient capital This, where he replaced the
old wolf(?)-god Ophoi's (Egyptian Up-uaut) and his variant
Khent(i)-amentiu (p. 21). There a hole in the ground at
U-peqa (or U-peqer, Re-peqer, "the Place, the Mouth of
Peqer") was shown as the entrance to the lower world, a pond
was regarded as the celestial "Jackal Lake " or as the source of
the abyss (p. 51), a great flight of steps represented the stair-
way of the sun (pp. 35, 97), etc. Osiris himself had once been
buried there; and after the dispersion of his members
the head at least had remained behind at Abydos,
where it was worshipped as the holiest of all relics of
the "good god."^^ The tomb where his body once
had lain (or still was preserved) was found later in a
(r royal tomb of the earliest period, whose owner had
been forgotten. This nearness of Osiris made all
Egyptians wish to find immortality by being buried at
Abydos, so that an immense cemetery developed there.
Fig. 90. At Memphis he was soon identified with the local god
of the necropolis, the hawk Sokari,^^ and then with
Ptah and the deities identified or associated with him, such as
the local sacred bull Apis (Hap). This led to the name Osor-
hap ("Osiris-Apis"), the Serapis of the Greeks. ^^ His worship
at the "City of the Sun," Heliopohs, was less distinct, although
the old solar symbols of this earliest of the holy cities (p. 31)
later received explanations in great part from the Osirian
myth.

At a very early period Isis was associated with Osiris as his
wife, probably because she enjoyed a neighbouring cult and
also because her name (Eset in Egyptian) was sufficiently like
that of Osiris ^° to permit the wide-spread idea of the celestial
twins (with different sex) to be seen in this divine pair. We
do not know enough about the earliest seats of worship of Isis
in the Delta to say with any certainty whether her primitive

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

99

Fig. 91. The Symbol of
Isis

local cult was, e. g. at Per-hebet (the Iseion of the Greeks and
the modern Behbelt). It is possible that the strange amulet
(a peculiar knot of flax?) which symbolizes
Isis may be the hieroglyph for a long-for-
gotten place in which she had her original
local cult. Her most famous temple in the
latest times, on the island of Philae in the
First Cataract, was not built until near
the Greek period (see p. 244).

Parallel with the solarization of Osiris,
Isis had to represent the heaven as wife and mother of the sun,
principally in the daytime, though as mother of the stars she also
symbolized the sky of night. She is identified with
other celestial goddesses, above all with the heav-
enly cow Hat-hor, etc., and hence she often bears
the horns of a cow on her human head, as a symbol
of heaven (p. 37). Thus she is even identified with
her own mother (Nut) ,2^ with the tree of heaven
and of life (notwithstanding the fact
that Osiris also was identified with
this; see p. 94), and then likewise with Selqet,
the scorpion-goddess from the lower world, etc.
Later, as consort of the dying god, Isis is often
called "Goddess of the West" (i.e. the western
sky or the necropoles of Egypt), and thus she is
compared with "the West," that mythological
personage who wears, as a symbol of the western
regions, an ostrich-feather on her head or instead
of her missing head, or simply appears as a head-
less (i. e. lifeless) figure. This personification of
the regions of death receives the sun at evening,
stretching her arms from the sky. Later we even
find similar arms stretched from the sky (or from
the ocean, as in Figs. 87, 94) to send the sun forth in the
morning, so that they become a symbol of heaven. As a

Fig. 92.
Isis-Hat-hor

Fig. 93. The
West Receiv-

I N G A D E-

parted Soul

lOO

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

personification of the region of the dead the headless goddess
is euphemistically called "the good, beautiful west," or "the
good, fine necropolis," or, even more euphemistically, "the
good (goddess)," Nofret. This mysterious fig-
ure receives further strange Interpretations.

Since as a hieroglyph the ostrich-feather sig-
nifies both "west" and "justice," she Is soon
also called "(the goddess of) justice (or, truth),
the daughter of (the sun-god) Re'." ^^ Thus
"Justice" often stands In the boat of the sun
W/A or near his celestial throne in a function which

is never explained, but which must have meant
F1G.94. TheCeles- j^Qj.g than that the god Is righteous. Some-

TiAL Arms Re- _ _ .

cEiviNG THE SuN- tlmcs thIs daughtcr of the sun Is connected with
'^ the solar asp as his daughter (p. 29). Her

presence at Osirls's judgement of the dead and at his balance
is more In harmony with this secondary explanation as a per-
sonification of righteousness, but It still alternates there with
the original conception of the feather-wearing goddess as "the
West, the beautiful West," who introduces the dead to Osiris
and to their second life. Plutarch still knows that Isis Is
identical with "Justice or Nemesis." By a mis-
reading of the word ma'tiu, the "judges" who are
mentioned In the hall of Osiris, the theologians
of the New Empire come to the conclusion that
"the justice" of Osiris Is double; and accordingly
the pictures often represent her thus or as diff"eren-
tiated Into the headless (I. e. dead) and the com-
plete (I. e. live) form. In the mythologies of other
nations a virgin (often explained as the constel-
lation Virgo) occurs as dying at or after giving
birth to the god or gods, and frequently as being
deprived of her head. This conception seems to be traceable
to the Egyptian symbolism which we have just described.
Probably the people of the Nile-land sought thus to have a

Fig. 95.

"The Double

Justice"

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

lOI

dying goddess as parallel to the dying god Oslris.^^ When
this doctrine of the "double justice" became popular, Isis and
Nephthys ^^ were identified with these two feather-wearing
goddesses at the
judgement of Osiris.
Male deities with

^ , Fig. 96. The Symbol of the Horus of Edfu

two leathers were

referred to the same function, ^^ All this symbolism, mixed

with the Osiris-myth, remained very vague.

Isis is early connected with Sothis, the queen of the fixed
stars (see the picture on p. 55), and in the latest period she
is also associated with the planet Venus ^ as the evening star
(daughter of the sun) or the morning star (mother of the sun),
all these stellar manifestations of the queen of heaven having
Asiatic analogies (see p. 54).

The Osirian celestial triad was completed by the addition
of Horus (Egyptian Hor, Horn), a solarized deity with the
form or, at least, with the head of a hawk (more exactly, per-
haps, a falcon) and possessing, as we have
said (p. 24), too many temples for us to de-
termine his original localization. His cult at
Edfu (Greek Apollinopolis) is very old, and
that city is often supposed to have been his
original home; but the special symbol of the
Horus of Edfu (the winged disk) seems to
militate against this hypothesis, since it be-
trays the blending of several personifications
of the sun-god (Fig. 96). The mythology of
this temple has been handed down only in
very late tradition, but it contains interesting
features, such as a crowd of valiant "smiths"
(mesniu, mesentiu) as companions of Horus,
the lioness Men'et as nurse, etc. Hierakonpolis ("the City of
Hawks"), west of Eileithyiaspolis (the modern el-Kab), at or
near the oldest capital of Upper Egypt, would seem to be a

Fig. 97. One of the
Smiths of Horus

I02 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

much more ancient seat of Horus," but a temple in the Delta
would better explain his place in the triad. His worship was,
at the beginning of Egyptian civilization, so general that the
hieroglyph of a hawk or falcon came to serve as the class-sign
for all male divinities, just as a serpent stands for all god-
desses.2^ His name seems to mean "the High One," which
would point to an original function as god of the sky, and
even in the latest period he appears as such when sun and moon
are called "the eyes of Horus " (pp. 28-29) or when he is re-
garded as the morning star (p. 54) or as Orion. He was incor-
porated into the Osirian family by being interpreted as the
young rising sun in opposition to the dying evening sun as Osiris ;

a b d

Fig. 98. Oldest Pictures of Seth
{a) prehistoric; {b) and (c) from the Second Dynasty; (J) from the Third Dyiiasty.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:40:47 PM: in other words, since Horus was such an important god that
he could not be subordinate to his father, he was explained
as Osiris reborn in the morning or in the proper season (p. 94).^'
No excessive stress was laid on this interpretation, however,
for both priests and worshippers still liked to keep the two gods
as distinct and as individual as possible. The wife of Horus
is usually the goddess Hat-hor, the mistress of the sky (p. 39).
After the completion of this triad the political contrast
between two dynasties of kings and between their local gods
caused the formation of an adversary to the triad, the divinity
of the older city of Ombos in Upper Egypt (the modern
Naggadah or Naqqadah),^° the strange deity Seth.^^ This
god is often called "Lord of the South," and his worship seems
to date from a time even more remote than that of any member
of the Osirian triad.^^ He was represented in the shape of an
animal which perplexed the ancient Egyptians themselves,

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

103

so that we feel tempted to explain it as derived from one
which had perhaps become extinct in prehistoric times or
from an archaic statue of so crude a type that it defied all
zoological knowledge of subsequent artists.^^ At all events, the
later Egyptians no longer understood it. In the New Empire
Seth is sometimes represented in ordinary human form.
Originally the adversary (and brother) of Horus only, Seth
became the enemy of the whole Osirian triad, the murderer
of his brother Osiris, and the persecutor of Isis and Horus. Al-

FiG. 99. Seth Teaches the Young King Archery, and Horus Instructs him
IN Fighting with the Spear

though this made him the villain among the gods,^^ yet he
held full standing as a deity and was especially honoured by
soldiers, who considered this wild, reckless character, "the son
of Nut, great of strength," to be their most suitable patron.^^
In contrast to Horus, whose chief weapon is the spear, he is
an archer. The cosmic role ascribed to him is that of the god
of the sky and of thunder in the conception of the nations north
of Egypt, but in a degraded, harmful form, which corresponds
to the fact that thunder-storms in Egypt are rare and unprofit-
able. Thus Seth manifests himself in the thunder-storm,^^ but
this is explained as a battle between Horus and Seth, so that

I04 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

lightning is the spear of Horus, and thunder the voice of his
wounded antagonist, roaring in his pain.^^ A Greek papyrus
addresses Seth as "hill-shaker, thunderer, hurricane-raiser,
rock-shaker; the destroyer, who disturbs the sea itself."

After 2500 B. c. the Asiatic myth of the combat between the
god of heaven and light (Bel-Marduk, etc.) and the abysmal
dragon of the ocean (Tiamat) penetrated into Egypt, where it
gave rise to the story of the gigantic serpent 'Apop (Greek
' A7ro(f)i<;) ,^^ the enemy of the sun-god. Only faint traces of the
Asiatic tale of the creation of the world from the carcass of
the primeval monster, the all-covering abyss, are found in

Egypt, perhaps
in the idea that
iron represents
"Typhon's
bone." Better
preserved is the
parallel Asiatic

version that the dragon was not killed and annihilated, but
still lies bound in the depths under the earth ^^ or in the ocean,
so that an earthquake or the raging of the sea betrays its
vain struggles against its fetters. We find the idea recurring
in many variants that countless hands of gods or of departed
souls (including even those of all foreigners) must hold down
the "wriggling monster" (nuzi) in the depths of the earth.
Here belongs the accompanying picture (Fig. 100) of 'Apop,
"whose voice re-echoes in the lower world." He is bound
with chains of metal, and at his head lies the Nubian god-
dess Selqet, who appears repeatedly as guarding him (Fig. 60
and p. 60). This suggests that the four-headed watchmen are
an allusion to Khniim, the master of the four sources of the
Nile and the neighbour of Selqet. A variant shows the earth-
god Qeb (not reproduced in Fig. loi) and the four sons of
Osiris or Horus (pp. 111-13) binding four serpents, while a
fifth rises from the ground; behind them stands "Osiris before

Fig. 100. 'Apop Bound in the Lower World

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

105

the West." Here also the scene is laid in the Cataract region,

and the artist seeks mystically to express the belief that the

four sources of the Nile, rising from the lower world, may be

considered either

(according to older

traditions) as part

of Osiris (p. 95) or

as coming from an

abysmal depth

hostile to this good

god. Another

variant, shown In

Fig. 102, misses this symboHsm by making the "children of

Horus " equal to five chains.^" There the watchmen (only one of

whom Is visible here) have the heads of dogs or jackals like Anu-

bis, while the baboons, which carry four hands away, seem to hint

Fig. ioi. The Sons of Osiris Guard the Fourfold
Serpent of the Abyss before their Father

Fig. 102. 'Apop Chained by "the Children of Horus"

at Thout's wisdom as instrumental In depriving the monster
of his limbs. Although he appears in a useful and worshipful
function, we may still recognize the serpent of the abyss In
another picture where he wraps himself around the infant sun-
god Khepri, thus alluding
to Osiris as the ocean and
the Nile, or as hidden In
them ^^ (see Fig. 115 for a
parallel representation of
"the many-headed ser-
pent," whose four heads ^^ symbolize the four sources of the
Nile); while, as encircling the unborn sun, it becomes another
expression of the chest holding this god (pp. 71, 94). There

Fig. 103.

The Unborn Sun Held by the
Water Dragon

io6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

are numerous variants of such pictures, of which later artists
had scant comprehension.''^ Side by side with these applica-
tions of the myth to the Nile or to its source (i. e. the local

ocean of the Egyptians, who were little
given to sea-faring), we find the recol-
lection that in reality the wide ocean
represents 'Apop in captivity, girding
the earth in bonds and keeping it to-
gether, but at the same time threaten-

FiG. 104. The Cat-God Kill- • .1 iL*r^^ j^j^

iNG THE Serpent at the ^^g to break his fetters and to destroy

Foot of the Heavenly the world. Accordingly the sea becomes

"Typhonic," or anti-Osirian, in contrast

to its early Osirian character (p. 95). That 'Apop "is thrown

into the ocean at the new year's day" is a reminiscence of the

Babylonian doctrine that the struggle of creation is typologi-

cally repeated at the beginning of the new year in spring. At

an early time, however, the Egyptians began to interpret the

combat between light and darkness, between the sun-god and

his gigantic adversary, as a daily phenomenon. The sun is

swallowed up by 'Apop at evening when it sinks into the

ocean, or has, at least, to battle with the dragon as it journeys

by night through the underworld. There, from the dark river

or behind the mountain of sunrise, the monster raises himself

against the solar bark; but in the morning he has been cut

to pieces, and the sun reappears victorious, or at least the

monster must disgorge it (p. 27).

We also find pictures ^^ of a serpent at the foot

of the celestial tree (i. e. in the watery deep), where

it is cut into fragments by a divine cat which is

explained as symbolizing the sun. Unfortunately

we have no text which gives a full description of Fig. 105. "The
, . , , , , . . Cat-Like God"

this myth, so that we are unable to say with cer-
tainty whether the cat is connected with Mafdet, "the Lynx-
Goddess," who is sometimes described as fighting on behalf of
the sun. A male deity, called "the cat-god," or, more literally.

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE 107

"the one like a she-cat," and holding a serpent,'^^ may allude
to the same myth, which seems to represent no more than
another version of the story of 'Apop. A knife-bearing cat
is also depicted at the side of the stellar divinities men-
tioned on p. 63, so that it may once have been explained
as a constellation.

This battle may likewise be found In the sky by day when
storm-clouds darken the face of the sun, so that the myth of
the serpent and the solar deity Re' merges into the old story of
the conflict between Horus and Seth. Thus the serpent becomes
more and more identical with Seth as being an additional
manifestation of the wicked god who later is said to have
fought against Horus In
the form of other water
monsters as well, such as
the hippopotamus and the
crocodile. This confusion
of 'Apop and Seth, how-
ever, does not take place
until after the Eighteenth

Dynasty. Monuments of F^°- ^°^- ^he Dead Aiding the Ass against

THE Dragon

thatsdynasty still not only

distinguish the warrior Seth from the great serpent, but make
him fight against it In company with the gods, while In one
chapter of the Book of the Dead^^ the serpent even attacks the
ass of Seth (Fig. 106). In like manner the Harris Magic
Papyrus says of the dragon:

"The god of Ombos (I. e. Seth) sharpeneth (?) his arrows in (!) him;
He shaketh sky and earth by his thunder-storms;
His magic powers are mighty, conquering his enemy;
His battle-axe ( ?) ^'^ cutteth up the wide-mouthed dragon."

Similarly "the god of Ombos (plerceth?) the serpent with
his arrows ";^^ and In the Vatican Magic Papyrus'^^ we find a
curious passage which, somewhat parallel to the one which we
have already quoted on p. 72, seeks to rehabilitate Seth:

io8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

"Stand up, O Seth, beloved of Re' !
Stand at thy place in the ship of Re' !
He hath received his heart in justification;
Thou hast thrown down [the enemies] of thy father Re'
Every day."

, This text tries to associate the warlike Seth w^ith the bene-
ficent Re', and begins to intermingle the Osirian myth. Here,
as has been shovi^n on p. 103, the Asiatic idea, according to which
the thunder-storm is a revelation of the good god of light and of
heaven against the power of darkness and inert matter below,
conflicts with the Egyptian conception of this phenomenon. In

\)A\ 1/»1

Fig. 107. The God with Ass's Ears in the Fight against 'Apop

Egypt, therefore, the storm-clouds are Seth, but in contradiction
to this the rain which falls from them is often called another
manifestation of the good god (Osiris), as in Asia. Thus we
have conflicting views on storms quite similar to those which
we have previously found to exist regarding the ocean as
beneficent and representing Osiris, or as opposed to him and
to the whole order of the world (pp. 95, 105-06).

The beginning of the confusion of Seth and 'Apop can be
traced in the scene (Fig. 107) in which the latter attacks the
sun-god, whose head, united legs, and falling position indicate
his Osirian character. The ornament at the side of his solar disk
is here indistinct, so that we might think of the winged disk of
Horus, but doubtless it developed into the ears of an ass in such
variants as the one given in Fig. 108;^° and thus it has been
supposed that the strange name of the sun-god in this scene,
Eay, Ay, meant (or was later interpreted to mean) "ass" (20').

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

109

Fig. 108. The
God WITH Ass's
Ears

If this be true, a strange confusion of Seth (in the solar-bark?)
and Osiris must be assumed. At all events the Egyptians were
puzzled by this old picture, as its two accompanying descrip-
tions show. The "harpoon-bearers" seemingly
either drag the god along or uphold him with
their rope, but the text reads, "They guard the
ropes of Ay, not permitting this serpent to rise
against the ship of the great god." The meaning
of the strange crocodile Shes-shes above the dragon
is obscure (cf. the crocodile in the depth, with
Khnum, p. 90), like several other details of this
picture; ^^ but it is possible that the rope origi-
nally represented a net. The Asiatic idea that the
dragon was caught alive or was killed in a net
seems to be alluded to elsewhere in the represen-
tation of a huge net for catching the enemies of
the sun-god.^^ Good spirits fighting against the
monster often swing above their heads what later looks like
a rope, but originally appears distinctly as a net. The spear
of Horus, like various other details, again betrays the Asiatic
origin of this whole dragon-myth (see Note loi).

The confusion of the older tradition of Seth and the later
legend of 'Apop soon becomes complete, so that subsequently
we find Seth called "the serpent that is cut in pieces, the
obscene (.'*) serpent" {nik, neyek), etc.^^ This
contributes most toward making the old
thunder-god at last the representative of all
evil ("all red things"), a real Satan, whose
name it is best not to pronounce, but to re-
FiG. 109. Genii Fight- place by a contemptuous "that one" (pefi),

Snar™ ^^""^ ""^ °^ ^y ^ ^^^'^' °^ ^>' spitting, so that Seth
is invoked only in forbidden black art.^^

The identification of Seth with the seven stars in the con-
stellation of the Great Bear (Charles's Wain)^^ runs practi-
cally parallel to the equation of the deity with 'Apop. This

no

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

constellation, called "the Ox-Leg" In ancient Egypt (p. 59),
Is then occasionally explained as being, for example, a foot of
Seth, which must be kept chained and watched by guards.

The confusion began by
Identifying the "Ox-Leg"
with the water-dragon (pos-
sibly on the basis of Asiatic
theories), so that the schol-
ars of the New Empire
sought to find the four sons
of Horus, the guardian Sel-
FiG. no. Horus-Orion, Assisted by £pet, qet, etc.. In Stars near the

Fights the Ox-Leg (cf. Fig. 62) ,

northern monster, as is
shown by the representation given In Fig. 60.

The reasons why the obscure goddess Nephthys (Egyptian
Nebt-hot, "Mistress of the Temple") ^® was associated with
Seth as his wife are unknown, and the Egyptians themselves
were quite uncertain as to what cosmic role was to be attributed
to her. Horns and the disk sometimes symbolized her as
mistress of the sunny sky.^^ When called "Mistress of the
West," she became queen of the night and of the dead, like
IsIs-Hat-hor (p. 99), so that several times she Is Identified with
the "Book-Goddess," or Fate (pp. 52-53), and with the headless
queen of the west, the so-called "Justice" (p. 100). Thus, as the
sky of the underworld, she forms — as Plutarch also knew — a
counterpart of Isis when the latter Is understood as the sky
of day.^^ Nephthys Is never described as hostile to
her brother Osiris; notwithstanding her union with
Seth, she bewailed Osiris and cared for his body to-
gether with Isis, and she nursed the Infant Horus,^^
while according to some traditions she even bore
Anubis to Osiris, perhaps another connexion of Neph- ^^'^- "^•

Nephthys

thys with the lower world.

Anubis (Egyptian Anupu) was originally a black jackal (or
possibly a dog; often the wolf, jackal, and dog cannot easily

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

III

f-^ff£>^^t H^w

Fig. 112. Anubis as Embalmer

be distinguished), usually pictured in a recumbent position.

"On his mountain" he ruled over some local necropolis, perhaps

at Kynopolis in the seventeenth

nome ^^ or in the Delta or at

the site of the modern Turrah

near Memphis. Then, at least

for Upper Egypt, he seems to

have become the general god

of the dead, guiding their souls

on the dark ways to the lower

world.^^ This function devel-
oped even before he was associated with the Osirian cycle;

after this incorporation he was called the son (or, more rarely,
the brother) of Osiris or of the (identical) sun-god or
of Seth, and was said to have aided Isis in burying
Osiris and to have given him the embalmment which
ensured freedom from destruction, whence all the de-
parted pray that Anubis may care for their bodies.
iG. 113. p^^ assists also at the examination of the dead before

UIVINE

Symbol Osiris; evidently in earlier times he was their only

Attmb- i^^S^ (P- 93)- It ^s quite uncertain how his emblem,

uTEDTo apparently from the Middle Empire onward, came to

be the skin of a newly killed ox, spotted black and

white, hanging from a pole, and some-
times dripping blood into a vessel placed
beneath it.^^ Originally this symbol
seems to have represented an entirely
different god.

In magic an evil spirit called Maga,
or Mega(y), pictured as a crocodile,
appears as a "son of Seth" or is repre-
sented as his double.

Four genii termed "the sons of
Horus" or "of Osiris" ^^ often follow Osiris, watching his corpse
and assisting him in his judgement; accordingly they become

Fig. 114. The Sons OF Horus

112

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 115. The Four Sons of Osiris-
HoRus United with the Serpent
of the Deep Guarding Life

guardians of the embalmment of all dead, whose viscera are
placed under their protection in "canopic vases," which are
ornamented with their likenesses, i. e. a man, a baboon, a

jackal, and a hawk. The regular
order of their names was Emesti,
Hepi, Dua-mut-f ("Honouring
his Mother"), and Qebh-sneu-f
( Refreshing his Brothers").
Their interpretation as the four
sources of the Nile, which we have already noted (pp. 104-05),
appears at an early date, when they are connected with the
cataract-god Khnumu or with the extreme south, "the door of
the water region, the water of Nubia," ^'* or when they grow
from a flower (the flower of life, parallel to or synonymous
with the water of life) which springs from the throne of Osiris
(cf. Fig. 89), or swim in the water, whence the crocodile Sobk
fishes them out.^^ As coming from the abyss (i. e. Osiris) they
are symbolized in later times (Figs. 103, 115) as four heads grow-
ing from a serpent who holds the hieroglyphic symbol of life
(again a confusion of their father Osiris, as the life-giving Nile,
with the later dragon of the abyss). ^^ On the other hand, a very
old parallel interpretation considers them . .^ -^^^^-H*
to be celestial; in other words it identifies
them with the four Horuses dwelling at the
four cardinal points or in the east or south
of the sky (see Note 67), or with "the four
tresses of Horus " at the four cardinal points
(P- 39))^^ whence they "send the four
winds." ^^ Attempts were made to localize Fig. 116. The Sons of
them in the constellations, and in one pic- Horus-Osiris in the

' ^ ^ Sky near their

ture they seem to be found In the sky no Father Orion (called
less than five times.^^ They are sought es- Osiris )
pecially near their father, Orion, among the decanal stars, or
close to the celestial counterpart of the dragon of the abyss,
the dangerous "Ox-Leg," whom they guard, as they hold 'Apop
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:46:03 PM: THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

113

in Figs. 100-02. They also have an (immovable.^) place in
the eastern horizon as patrons of the first four hours of the
day. Their original meaning remains uncertain after all.

By combining the most important of the various fragmentary
and widely divergent views about the group of gods who form
the Osirian circle we can obtain the following connected myth,
using Plutarch's sketch
as a basis wherever
possible and marking
the most important
variants by brackets,

Osiris, who was es-
pecially "fine of face"
and tall, was a child
of the earth-god, Qeb,
and the sky, Nut
(p. 41), as a new im-
personation of the sun.
He was born on the
first of the five epa-
gomenal days which
closed the year and
which were regarded
as particularly sacred.^"
With him his twin sis-
ter, Isis, saw the light
[some sources, however, state that she was born on the fourth
epagomenal day]. When his birth is described as from the
ocean, like his son and double, the solar deity Horus,'^^ this is
merely another interpretation of his mother, Nut, since there
is little distinction between the ocean and Its continuation, the
sky. Osiris created all life, especially mankind, and ruled over
it. [Others later declared that he established civilization,
teaching men religion and agriculture, particularly the culti-
vation of his special plant, the vine (p. 36), etc. ,'^2 and abolish-

FiG. 117. Osiris under the Vine

114 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

ing barbarism; his reign was usually limited to Egypt, since
the countries outside aroused little interest.] ^^ He provoked
the jealousy of his [older] brother, Seth. According to the
earliest tradition, Seth waylaid Osiris when he hunted gazelles
in the desert and slew him.^^ [Later sources declare that Seth
acted with a band of seventy-two confederates '^^ or, according
to Plutarch, also with an Ethiopian queen named Aso;^^ and
the conspirators placed Osiris, either murdered or alive, in a
coffin which they threw into the river.] His faithful wife, Isis
[who, Plutarch tells us, received her first information from the
" Pans and Satyrs " of Chemmis, i. e. from the spirits who accom-
panied the birth of the sun],'^ hunted
for him, and finding him in the desert
or river, she revived him with some kind
of magic. [According to other versions,
^ , ^ she discovered that Seth had hacked

Fig. ii8. Isis (as Sothis or .

THE Morning Star?) and him mto fourteen '^^ pieccs, which she
Selqet-NephthysGather- ^^ together with great care with the as-

ingBloodfrgmthe-^^ ° °

Mutilated Corpse of sistance of Anubis Or of the wise Thout.]

^'^'^ In the belief of later times, when all

gods were represented as winged, ^^ she fanned life [for a time
only] into him with her wings. According to another (later)
version, Isis did not unite the fragments, but buried them
wherever she discovered them — a rationalistic attempt to ex-
plain the relics of Osiris which were found all over Egypt ^° in
the principal temples or special burial-places of Osiris, the so-
called Serapeums. [Where the reuniting of these members is
emphasized, the spot only is considered to be hallowed by the
finding of one of them.] ^^ According to another (later) version,
she followed the body in the coffin to the Phoenician coast,
whither it had drifted. At Byblos, Plutarch tells us, it had been
taken into the house of the royal couple, Melqart and Astarte
(i. e. the two Byblian city-gods as Asiatic doublets of Osiris
and Isis), as a beam [having been overgrown by an erica or
tamarisk, or having become such a shrub or tree; other myths

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE 115

imply a reminiscence of a cedar containing Osiris or his heart
or head^"]. On account of her sweet smell the ladles of the
court engaged Isis as nurse to the infant prince, and she nursed
him by putting her finger in his mouth, ^^ while at night she
laid him aside in a "purifying fire"^"* and in the form of a
swallow flew wailing around the wooden column which con-
tained the body of Osiris. The queen surprised her one night,
cried out when she saw the child amid the flames, and thus
deprived it of immortality.^^ Revealing her divine nature,
Isis obtained from the king the coveted column and cut the
sarcophagus or the body out of the stem of the tree; the col-
umn itself, wrapped in linen like a mummy and sprinkled
with myrrh (cf. Fig. 83 ?), remained as an object of worship at
Byblos.^^ Accompanied by her sister, Nephthys, Isis took the
body, either alone or in the cofHn, back to Egypt to bewail it;
as mourners both sisters were often represented in the form
of birds. [Plutarch makes Seth, hunting by moonlight,^^ again
find the body and cut it in pieces, which Isis Is obliged to
reunite.]

According to some versions, Horus had been bom [or con-
ceived] before his father's death [others maintained, however,
that he was begotten while Osiris and Isis were yet In the
womb of their mother, i. e. the sky]; but the prevalent theory
was that from the corpse of Osiris, [temporarily] revived [with-
out opening the coffin completely, or from the reunited body,
or even from mere pieces of It], Isis conceived him, either in a
human way, as when she Is often represented as sitting on the
coffin and usually reassuming the form of a bird, or from blood
oozing from the body, or from Its pieces (Fig. 118). [Earlier ideas
are that she conceived from the fruit of the cosmic or fatal tree
(usually the vine ^^) or from another part of this tree; these
views are, however, applied also to the birth of Osiris, who Is
after all, as we have so often observed. Identical with his son,
though he tends to represent the pessimistic side of the
myth.]

ii6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

With her son Horns [still unborn, or new-born, or very young]
Isis fled [from prison] to the marshes of Lower Egypt and [in
the form of a cow (cf. pp. 37, 99)] hid herself from the persecu-
tions of Seth in the green bushes of the jungles on an island
[or on a floating island, whose name the Greeks rendered by
Chemmis], where Horus, like other solar divinities, was born
in green thickets. ^^ Various gods and goddesses, especially her
sister, Nephthys, and the wise Thout,^° helped to protect and
nurse her and the infant god (see p. 114 on the "Pans and
Satyrs").

Some taught that to hide the child Isis placed it in a chest
or basket, which she let float down the Nile.
This conception permits the blending of the
birth, death, and revivification of the two
identified deities, Osiris and Horus, in the chest
which swims in the abyss, or in the ocean, or
Fig. 119. ijj i-j-g Egyptian counterpart, the Nile, repre-

Isis Nursing <->•' ^

Horus in the senting Osiris-Horus. This chest could also
Marshes ^^ found in the sky in the constellation Argo

(p. 58), symbolizing the dead or infant deity floating in the
ocean; and the principal star of this group, Canopus, could
be regarded as the god himself. ^^ According to Plutarch,
Horus was found in the river and was educated [at the bidding
of Kronos, i. e. the old sun or the old year ^2] by a water-
carrier [called Pamyles at Thebes, who was told to announce
to the world the birth of the great divinity]. ^^ Another
version seems to hold that the divine nurse Renenutet (Greek
@€pfiovdi<;; cf. p. 66) took care of him in the lower regions of
the sky until he could reveal himself to the world. ^^ The
birth and education of Horus are localized at or near Buto,
the earliest capital of the marshy Delta (see supra on the
island of Chemmis). Some adventures embellish this period
of his life, telling, for example, how the infant Horus was
once stung by a scorpion ^^ and healed by his mother, the
great magician, or by Thout; or narrating how, on the

PLATE II

I. Greek Terra-Cotta of the Young
HoRus Floating in his Boat

The infant god has his finger raised to his lips as a
conventional sign of childhood, though later this
was misinterpreted as an admonition to maintain
silence before divine mysteries. Cf. pp. 94, 243.

2. Bes in the Armour of a Roman
Soldier

The divinity here appears in an apotropaic func-
tion. A primitive god, and long obscure, he finally
rose to such popularity that representations of him
even influenced Classical conceptions of Silenus and
the Satyrs. See pp. 61-64.

3. Zeus-Serapis

From a local divinity at Ded, in the Delta, Osiris
became a god of changing nature in the widest sense.
Among his many identifications was that with the
bull Apis, called Hap in Egyptian; and hence arose
Osor-hap, the Serapis of the Greeks. When the cult
of Serapis became popular in the declining days of
Classical religion, Serapis was naturally equated with
the Greek Zeus as all-god and was represented in
Classical style. Cf. pp. 92-93, 98, 239-40, 242-43.

THE NEW YOHK

PU&LIC LlBrtARY

ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDBN FOU-NUATiONS

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE 117

contrary, he enjoyed the protection of seven scorpions (cf.
p. 147), etc.

In later times two forms of the young Horus were distin-
guished: Har-uer (Greek 'Apovr]pt<;, "Great [i. e. adult, or
elder?] Horus") and Har-pe-khrad (Greek 'ApiroKpart]^,
"Horus the Child, Young Horus"). [The latter, who was
the most popular form of Horus, especially in the Roman
period, was confused by Plutarch with the dwarf gods (pp. 63-
64), since he alleged that the deity had been prematurely born.]
Some regarded these two forms of Horus as two distinct
personalities born at different times, or distinguished the
elder Horus ^^ from Har-si-eset (Greek 'Apairjai^, "Horus, son
of Isis"), but the oldest myth-
ology knows only one Horus,
who is the reincarnation of his
father Osiris.

According to some sources,
Isis also took care of Anubis,
her sister's child [by Osiris, who

begat him through confusing Fig. 120. Osiris m the Basket and

Isis and Nephthys^^], and by in the Boat, and Isis

rearing him she gained a faithful companion, this legend
being a reversion of the older variant that Anubis or
Nephthys [or both] took care of the infant Horus in the
underworld. ^^

When Horus attained manhood, "putting on his girdle (i. e.
the sign of manhood) in the jungle" ^^ and resolving to be
"his father's avenger" ^°° [being exhorted by his father's
spirit], he ascended the Nile with a host [of smiths (cf. p. loi)]
and "conquered his heritage." [He fought in the form of the
winged disk of Edfu, or for the struggle he and Seth changed
themselves into men or hippopotami.^"^] At the great battle
[which lasted three days, or even longer] Seth hurt or put out
an eye of Horus, but he lost his virility and finally was con-
quered. According to most later texts, he [together with his

Ii8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

followers in the form of wild animals ^°^] was annihilated by
being burned or cut in pieces, or he was flayed [alive]. ^°^ Others
explain the repetition of the combat as due to the fact that,
being merely wounded and chained [or caught in a net (pp.
io6, 109)], he broke loose again. [Isis set him free; or at least,
according to another version which will be set forth below,
she protected him against the death-blow; Horus decapitated
his mother for this act — an explanation of the headless woman
(p. 99) as Isis. Later her human body and cow's head in some
pictures were interpreted as the result of the healing of that
wound by the god Thout, who also cured the eye of Horus
when it was injured by Seth (pp. "33, 90).] The confusion with
the dragon ' Apop in the ocean or the lower world (p. 106) made
the renewal of the struggle easily intelligible; thus it could be
understood, as we have already seen, of tempests and clouds,
of the stormy sea and the night, of the changes in the course
of the sun or .moon, and (very dimly) ^°^ of the world's be-
ginning; while in various ways it could be read in the stars
(p. no).

Rather early the struggle between Horus and Seth was made
a legal contest, an idea which evidently had its origin in the
conception of Osiris as the great judge [and Isis as Justice
(p. 100)], although the judgement is usually transferred to the
wise Thout, who not only heals the wounds of the two con-
testants, but also reconciles them after deciding their claims.
Both Osiris and Horus are called "the one just of voice,"
i. e. justified, victorious in court, an expression which is
likewise applied to the human dead to designate them as
blessed souls, vindicated by Osiris, the judge. According to
later theories, the legitimacy of the posthumous child Horus,
contested by Seth, was proved, or his claim to the throne
of Osiris was vindicated [or Thout or the earth-god Qeb
decided that Egypt should be divided between Horus and
Seth, so that the former inherited the north and the latter
became the heir of the south].

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE

119

Fig. 121. HoRus Exe-
cutes Seth (in the
Form of an Ass) be-
fore Osiris

Since Osiris was tlie type of righteousness, and thus was

worthy to initiate resurrection and eternal life, whether directly

in the lower world or indirectly in his son, the young solar

deity, the question seems sometimes to

have been asked, especially in the New

Empire, Why had he to die? Why did

death come on all humanity through

him? This pessimistic conception of

Osiris had to be explained by some wrong

deed. Wedlock with one's sister was a

general and ancient custom; therefore

it was not clear what guilt he contracted

by his marriage, except in some variants

which made Isis his daughter or mother^"^

(or, perhaps, inviolable as being "Jus-
tice"). In these variants the fault was

usually laid on his wife [or daughter, or mother], who caused
his death by her love, but the numerous diver-
gent forms of this pessimistic speculation are
only faintly preserved in more popular sources
like fairy stories and magic texts ^°^ and are
obscured in the official religion, so that we can
understand them solely by comparison with
the Asiatic myths of the Queen of Heaven,
the mistress of love and life, who nevertheless
brings death and misery to her lovers and all
humanity. Traces of such thoughts about
Osiris's death are, however, hinted at in the
very earliest religious texts of Egypt and are,
therefore, at any rate something more than
late loans from Asia.

Though all the gods once lived and reigned

on earth, ^°'^ Osiris is often regarded as the first ruler of Egypt

and thus as analogous to the Pharaohs. The idea is that he,

who brought death among the gods, and whose tomb can be

Fig. 122. HoRUS
Kills Seth as a
Crocodile

I20 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

worshipped In this world (pp. 98, 114), Is the ancestor of man-
kind, although several gods ought to have reigned again on
earth after hlm.^°^ Accordingly the later Egyptians celebrated
the jubilee of the reign of Osiris, thus treating him quite like
a human king.^°^

From 1500 B. c. onward the Egyptians themselves appeared
to be fully conscious of the similarity of the myths of Osiris
and of Adonis-Tammuz and even liked to connect the story
with romantic Asia, especially with the ancient holy city of
Byblos.^^° Quite a number of evident reciprocal borrowings
connect Osiris and the Asiatic dying god, Tammuz-Adonis
(the Babylonian Dumuzu-Duzu), and make it difficult to
decide the priority of Asia or Egypt."^ It Is probable that
the worship of Osiris and Isis remained local in the Delta
for a long time; it is even questionable whether It was officially
recognized in Upper Egypt before the Second Dynasty, although
the power with which It soon afterward spread through all
Egypt and Influenced Its whole mythology makes us suspect
that it played an important role at an earlier period, at least
in popular religion. Until we know more completely the
Babylonian form of the legend of Tammuz,^^^ It Is unsafe to
derive the Osiris-myth wholly from Asia. It is quite probable
that its primitive Ideas came from Asia; but If this be so,
they had an early, rich, and rather independent development
In Egypt, whence a portion of them wandered back to
Asia. It Is particularly noteworthy that It was only In
Egypt that Osiris fully developed Into a judge of the dead.
Isis, on the other hand, Is a rather meaningless and colour-
less character compared with her original, the Asiatic goddess
of love.

When the Egyptian rehgion spread through the whole
Classical world In the Roman period, it was almost entirely
the Osirian circle which found so much Interest and worship,
and the richly varied mythology which we have just sketched
proved one of the strongest reasons for this success. This

THE OSIRIAN CYCLE 121

subject and the very un-Egyptian character which those
Egyptian gods finally assumed in Europe will be discussed in
the concluding chapter of our study. This superficial adop-
tion of Egyptian divinities was, in reality, only a desperate
attempt to bolster up Classical paganism in its declining days;
but the spirits of Egypt and of Greece and Rome were too
unlike for any true blending. The Isiac mysteries " could
never possess the deep influence over the Classical mind
which was exercised by the other two great religious impor-
tations — the " Great Mother " of Asia Minor and the Mithra
of Iran.

CHAPTER VI

SOME TEXTS REFERRING TO OSIRIS-MYTHS

I. THE DIRGE OF ISIS AND NEPHTHYS

"Hymn sung by the two divine sisters in the house of Osiris, the
one before the west/ the great god, lord of Abydos, in the month of
Choiak,^ the twenty-fifth day."

"Isis saith:
' Come to thy home, come to thy home.

Thou pillar-god (?),^ come to thy home!

Thy foes are not (longer in existence);

Thou good king, come to thy home,

That thou mayest see me!

I am thy sister who loveth thee.

Mayest thou not separate thyself from me (again),

beautiful youth!

Come to thy home immediately, immediately!
(When) I see thee no (more),
My heart bewaileth thee.
Mine eyes seek thee;

1 search for thee to behold thee.

' How good it is to see thee, to see thee!
O pillar-god (.''), how good to see thee!
Come to thy love, come to thy love!

Un-nofer,^ thou blessed one!
Come to thy sister.

Come to thy wife, come to thy wife.

Thou god whose heart standeth still, come to the mistress of
thy house!

1 am thy sister of thy mother,
Separate not thyself from me!

Gods and men, their faces are on thee,
Beweeping thee all together when (they) see me.

I cry for thee with weeping

To the height of heaven.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:47:21 PM: 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,
(8) 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.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:48:05 PM: Eri-hems-nofer (Ari-hems-nofer, Greek ^Apeva-
vov(f)L<i; "the Companion Good to Dwell With")
was the local deity of a small cataract island
near Philae and was compared especially with
the lion-shaped Shu.^^

Esdes: see Ch. HI, Note 3.
Ha {^): see Note 40 on Khasti.
Hat-mehit ^^ was the goddess of the nome of
Mendes and, therefore, wore its hieroglyph, a
Fig. 127. Ehi ^^j^^ ^^ ^^^ head. Associated with the (Osiris-)
ram of Mendes, she became like Isis and was called the mother
of Harpokrates ("the young Horus"). Later she was also
associated with Horus as his wife.

Heka (late form Heke) was identified with Shu, as in Fig. 39.
It is a question whether he is another deity than the divinity
Heka ("Magic"; Fig. 10).

Heken was a hawk-god (identical with Har-heken "^^^^v^
[Ch. V, Note 28].?). 29 ' h \

Heknet ("the Praiseworthy"; earlier form Heknu- '
tet ^°) was a little-known goddess who was pictured Hat me^ i
in various forms, principally with the head of a vulture.

Hemen, a hawk-god ^^ of Tuphion ( ?) in Upper Egypt, was
widely known only in the Twelfth Dynasty.

Hem(.'')-hor ("Servant of Horus") was a lion-headed god.^^

Heqet,^^ a goddess with the shape or head of a frog, was

worshipped at the city of Her-uret near Edfu and later at

134 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Abydos as well (p. 50). At an early date she was associated
with her neighbour Khnum as the creator, whence she became
a protector of birth (p. 52). Her cult was politi-
cally important in the Pyramid Period.

Her-shef ("the Ram-Faced," Greek 'Apaa(f)7]'i,
I. e. evidently a wrong etymology, based on a
pronunciation which compared him with Horus)

was worshipped at Herakleopolis.
Fig. 129. Hesat 1 • 1 ,.,,.•

Hesat was early explamed as a celestial divm-

ity like Hat-hor or Isis, being a cow-goddess.^* Her local cult

seems to have been on the site of the modern Atfiyeh.^^

Hetmet (or Hetmit, "the Destroyer "[?]) is once depicted
like Epet, but with a lion's head.^®

Hu ("Taste, Feehng, Wisdom") was a god in the form of a
man or of a sphinx. He often accompanied the solar deity
in his boat (cf. Fig. 87). Hu, the divinity of plenty, cannot
well be separated from him (pp. 66-67).

lu-s-'a-s ("She Who Comes is Great") was a goddess of
northern Heliopolis ^^ and the wife of Har-akhti. She was,
therefore, treated as a celestial goddess like Hat-hor, etc.

Kenemtef(i) ("the One Who Wears His Leopard's Skin")
is usually reckoned among the four sons of Horus (p. 112),
though he is sometimes identified with Horus himself.^^ The
picture here given depicts him like a priest of the class called

Wearers of the Leopard's Skin." It is a
question whether he may not be the same
as the lost divinity Kenemt(i), who fills the
first three decanal stations.^^

Kenemt(i): see Kenemtef(i).

Khasti (.?),'"' "the lord of the west," was
adored in the city of Sheta (in the Delta.?). ^'''- '^°- Kenemtefi
Because of his symbol (three mountains, the sign of foreign
lands) he was also termed "lord of all foreign countries,"
whence his representations as a warrior arose. At an early
date he was identified with Horus.

THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS 135

Khenset (Khensit), the wife of Sopd, being treated like the
celestial goddesses, was pictured in the human shape of Hat-
hor-Isis, or wearing a feather on her head as "Justice" (p. 100),
or as a cow.

Khnemtet was usually understood to mean "the Nurse,"
whence her name was applied to the nursing goddesses Isis
and Nephthys."*^ Later she was also explained as a divinity
of bread and cakes (p. 66).'*^

Khnum(u) (Greek Xvov/Stq) ^^ was the deity of Elephantine,
the Cataract region (" Lord of the Cool Water"), and some other
places in Upper Egypt, such as Esneh, Shas-hetep, Herakleopo-
lis, etc. He is represented as a ram or as ram-headed, and later
he sometimes receives four rams' heads,
probably symbolizing the four sources of
the Nile. See pp. 28, 50-51, 89.

Ma'et, the goddess of justice, was char-
acterized by an ostrich-feather (p. 100).

Mafdet ("Lynx") was a warlike goddess

. , . I .. Fig. 131. Old Symbol

Widely known m the early dynastic period.*^ of Mafdet

Ma-hos: see Mi-hos.

Mandulis: see Note 55 on Merui.

Matet, "the portress of the sky," was a goddess who later
was nearly forgotten, but who was connected with a tree or
shrub.^^

Matit ("the One Like a Lioness" [?]), a goddess adored under
the form of a lioness in the twelfth (and fifth .'') nome of Upper
Egypt, was later compared with Hat-hor.

Ma(t)-si-s ("the One Who Sees Her Son"), worshipped in
the fifth and eleventh nomes of Upper Egypt, was later called,
like so many other goddesses, a form or an epithet of Hat-hor.

Mehen (?) (Mehnet, Mehenit [?]; see also under Menehtet,
infra) was a name for the mythological serpent which wound
about the sun-god or about his head (p. 25). In later times
"uraeus gods" (i. e. deities wearing the uraeus on their heads),
both male and female, were called "followers of Mehen." '*^

136 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Mehet was a lioness who was worshipped in the old city of

ThI

is

47

Mehi (Mehui ? '^^) was a deity of whom little was known and
who was perhaps identified with Thout.

Meht-ueret ("Great Flood") was a name of the celestial
cow (p. 39) and was perhaps localized in the fifteenth nome
of Upper Egypt.

Menehtet (Menhet,Menhit), a leontocephalous goddess, some-
times, like Sekhmet and other solarized divinities, wore the
solar disk. She was worshipped at or near Heliopolis (.'') and
was also identified with Neith and confused with the solar
serpent Mehen, mentioned above.

Men'et, the lion-headed "Nurse," is men-
tioned at Edfu and compared with Hat-hor
as the wife of Horus (p. loi).

Menhu(i), a god in human form, is men-
tioned as a special giver of food.^^ At Esneh
he was confused with Menehtet in a ser-
pent-headed form.
Fig. 132. Meret IN Menkhet ("the Kind One") was wor-
DouBLE Form shipped at Memphis and was identified with
Isis (sometimes with Nephthys as well [Ch. V, Note 59]). The
"linen-goddess" Menkhet is probably a different divinity.

Menqet, a goddess mentioned as producing vegetation and
orthographlcally connected with a tree, is later pictured as a
woman holding two pots and is often described as making beer
and other drinks.^o It is uncertain whether she was thus com-
pared to Hat-hor, who gives food and drink from the celestial
tree (pp. 36, 39).

Meret wore a bush of aquatic plants on her head, like the
Nile, and was, therefore, explained as a water-goddess.^^ Her
name usually occurs in the dual number as Merti ("the two
Merets"), or these are divided into "Meret of the South"
and "Meret of the North," whence the pair are compared to
the two Nlles (p. 46) or the two divine representatives of the

THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS

137

Fig. 133. Mi-Hos,
Identified with
Nefer-tem

two kingdoms of Buto and Nekhbet. One of them sometimes
has a Hon's head,^^ and both are described as musicians.^^
The query arises whether they are "the two daughters of the
Nile who split (?) the dragon" (i.e. divide the
water of the abyss and the Nile into an upper
and a lower course.?) ^'^ Such a conflict with
the older Osirian theology, however, would not
be unusual (pp. 95, 106).

Merhi, a divinity with the shape or the head
of a bull, was worshipped in Lower Egypt.

Mert-seger ("the One Who Loves Silence")
was patroness of a portion of the Theban ne-
cropolis and was usually pictured in the guise
of a serpent, though in rare instances she was represented also
in human form like the great goddess Hat-hor.

Merui (.''), a deity in human form, though probably originally
in the shape of a lion, was called "son of Horus" and was
worshipped at Kalabsheh in Nubia, near the First Cataract.^^
Meskhenet was the goddess of fate and birth (p. 52) and
was sometimes identified with Isis and similar deities, espe-
cially with Tefenet (as coming from the deep.? cf. p. 90).

Mi-hos (inferior reading Ma-hos ; Greek Mtwo-i?; "the Grim-
Looking Lion") was usually represented as a lion rising up in

the act of devouring a captive. He
was worshipped in the tenth nome
of Upper Egypt, and being regarded
as the son of the solar deity Re' and
the cat or lioness Ubastet, he was
t;. TT c identified with the lion-god Shu

riG. 134. Hieroglyphic Symbols °

OF MiN FROM Prehistoric (p. 44) Or with Nefer-tSm, as in
Objects t?-

Fig. 133.
Min(u),^^ one of the oldest Egyptian gods, was worshipped
at many places in Upper Egypt, where his hieroglyphic sym-
bols, looking somewhat like a thunderbolt or a double harpoon,
were wide-spread in prehistoric times; but the special sites

138

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

of his cult were at Chemmis (i. e. Khem-min, or "Sanctuary
of Min," the modern Akhmim) and at Koptos, where the

most important road to the
Red Sea branches off to the
desert. Hence he was called
the patron of the wild in-
habitants of the eastern
desert, the Aritiu tribes
(the Troglodytes, or Tro-
godytes, of the Greeks),
and even of regions farther
to the south, such as the
incense coast of Punt.
These barbarians assembled
at his festivals for a strange
ceremony — a contest in

Fig. 135. Barbarians OF THE Desert Climb- dinibinp' Doles ^^ Min's
iNG Poles before Min ° ^

oldest prehistoric statues ^^
show him standing erect, grasping his immense phallus with
his left hand, and in his hanging right holding a fiagellum,
while the back of his body is decorated with animals of the
sea and of the desert. Later pictures make this ithyphallic
god, whose colour was originally black,^^ lift his whip in his
right hand; his head is ornamented with high feathers; and a
fillet with a long pendant be-
hind serves to keep these feath-
ers upright, exactly like Amon
of Thebes, who seems to be
merely an old localized and
slightly differentiated form of
Min (pp. 21, 129). Behind
him is pictured his chapel in
various peculiar forms, or a
grove is indicated by a group of tall trees (generally three
in number) within an enclosure, or the grove and chapel

Fig. 136. The Earliest Sanctuaries
OF Mm, Decorated with a Pecul-
iar Standard

THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS

139

are combined. He is subsequently identified with Osiris, as be-
ing likewise phallic,®" and thus is called a god of the harvest,®^
whence "Min, fair of face," is associated still later with the
Asiatic goddess of love (see p. 156), Tra-
dition also regards him as son of the sun (or
of Osiris and Isis, or of Shu) and thus identi-
fies him either with the young sun or with
the moon. The Greek identification with
the Hellenic shepherd-god. Pan, seems to
depend on his pillar-like archaic statues.
His sacred animal was a (white.'') bull.

Mont(u) (Greek Mcui^^), the deity of Her-
monthis (Egyptian An-montu, the modern
Erment) and other places south of Thebes,
was also adored at Thebes in the earliest
times and regained worship there in the
latest period, when this city and its god,
Amon, had lost their importance. He is
usually pictured as a hawk or as a man ^^^- ^37- Mm before

. HIS Grove

With a hawk s head, wearmg two high
feathers (like Min and Amon.^); he is frequently adorned
with the solar disk, since he was identified with
the sun-god at a very early date, so that he is
also called Montu-Re'. His original form, however,
which was later preserved at Zeret (perhaps to be
identified with the modern Taud), had the head of
a bull; and even at Her-monthis his sacred animal
remained a black bull, called Buchis in the Roman
period (see p. 163). His hawk's head was borrowed
from the solar deity, Re'-Horus, and later Montu's
bull was actually called "the soul of Re'" (or of
Osiris).®^ All texts agree in describing Montu as terrible and
warlike, alluding, evidently, to the weapons which he holds.
At different places various goddesses were associated with him
as his wife, such as Ra't-taui (Ch. II, Note 20), Enit, and Hat-hor.

Fig. 138.
Montu

140

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 139. Oldest Type OF

MONTU

Mut ("Mother"), the later wife of Amon (pp. 129-30),
was represented either as a vulture or in human form. She is
to be distinguished from Mu(u)t "the
Water-Flood" (p. 46).

Nebet (Nebit.?), i.e. "the Golden One,"
was the name of a local form of Hat-hor
(cf. p. 30 on gold as solar).

Neb-taui (modernized as P-neb-taui), i.e.
"the Lord of Both Countries," a local deity
of Ombos, was treated as the son of Horus
and Sonet-nofret (or T-sonet-nofret) and
was depicted like the young
Horus (with a human head) or
like Khons (cf. Fig. 18).

Nebt-hotep ("Mistress of
Peace" or "Mistress of the
Lake of Peace") was later explained as a form of
the goddess Hat-hor.
Nebt-taui: see Amonet.

Nebt-uu ("Mistress of the Territory") was re-
garded as another form of Hat-hor and received Fig. 140.

1 . ^ T? 1 MuT WITH A

adoration at Lsneh. Head -Dress

Nefer-ho(r) ("Fair of Face") was a Assimilating
•ir rT~»i T\T 1-1 -1 HER to Amon

special lorm 01 rtah at Memphis, besides
being an epithet of various other divinities, especially
P of Osiris (pp. 113, 139).

Nefer-hotep ("Fine of Peace," i. e. " the Peaceful ")
was a local form of the Theban deity Khons (u),
although an independent divinity of this name also
occurs in the seventh nome of Upper Egypt.

Nefer-tem, adored at Memphis, was grouped with
Fig. 141. Ptah and Sekhmetas their son, while as the offspring

Nefer-tem r t ti i 111 • r n ^ ^ 1

01 Ubastet, the cat-headed variant 01 behkmet, he was
also connected with Heliopolls. His emblem is very unusual,
being an open lotus flower from which two tall feathers and

THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS

141

^

other ornaments project. The god, in the form either of a
man or of a lion (cf. under Mi-hos, with whom he is identified),
holds this symbol on a staff in his hand or wears it on his
head. We know nothing about his functions, rY^

except that allusions ascribe a cosmic role to
his fragrant and beautiful flower "before the
nose of Re'" (possibly implying the cosmic
flower, i. e. the ocean; pp. 39, 50), he is, ac-
cordingly, identified with Horus.^^

Neha-ho(r) : see the following paragraph.
Neheb-kau ("the Overturner of Doubles")
was originally an evil spirit in the form of a Fig. 142. Emblem
serpent ("with numerous windings ")6* who of Nefer-tem
attacked and devoured the souls of the deceased in the under-
world or on the way thither, south of the Cataracts (cf. under
Selqet, infra). Later, however, he was honoured by being
made one of the forty-two assessors in the law-court of Osiris,
exactly like a similar serpent named Neha-ho(r) ("the One
Turning the Face"), who subsequently was sometimes con-
fused with the Satanic dragon Apop.^^

Nehem(t)-'auit ("the One Who Removes Violence, Delivers
[from] Violence "[.?] ; Greek Ne/iai^ov? [.'']), a goddess
associated with Thout, the divinity of wisdom, es-
pecially at Hermopolis (and at Ba'h in Lower
Egypt .^), Is pictured in human form, wearing the
sistrum or pillar or other emblems of Hat-hor on
her head. She must have been identified with this
goddess at an early date, for she is also called "the
one who is fond of music" (cf. p. 40),^^ "daughter
of the sun," and the like.

Nehes ("Awake, Awakening"): see p. 6^ on

this abstraction as companion of the sun-god. A

similar epithet later applied to Seth seems to characterize him

as the watchful" dragon, lurking in the lower world (p. 106).

Neith (Greek pronunciation;^^ Egyptian orthography Nt,

Fig. 143.

Nehem(t)
'auit

142

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

once Nrt) was a very ancient goddess who was known through-
out Egypt even In the prehistoric period, when she extended
her Influence from Sais, her centre of worship, over the entire
western frontier of the Delta and up to the
Fayum. Accordingly the local deity of the
latter region, Sobk, was called her son
(whence she Is represented as giving the
breast to crocodiles); and she is even
termed patroness of all Libyans. She is
represented as a woman with the ordinary
yellow (sometimes light green?) skin which
characterizes her sex in Egyptian art and
she wears the red crown of Lower Egypt;
yet she often appears also as a cow, I. e. as
a celestial divinity (p. 37). Because of her
hieroglyph, two crossed arrows, she fre-
quently bears bow and arrows ;^^ but later
this sign was misunderstood as a weaver's
shuttle,^^ so that she was connected with
the art of weaving ^° and of tying magic
knots as "a great sorceress" like Isls.

Nekhbet was the vulture-goddess of the earliest capital of
Upper Egypt, the Eileithylaspolis of the Greeks and the
modern el-Kab, and was, conse-
quently, the oldest patroness of
that portion of the land, the
counterpart of Buto (p. 132).
Accordingly she is regularly rep-
resented as flying above the king
and holding a ring or other royal

emblems. She likewise appears ^ig. 145- Nekhbet Protecting the

/ . ., King

as a woman (sometimes with a

vulture's head), and since she wears the white crown of Upper

Egypt, she is termed "the white one,"^^ and her cities Nekhbet

and Nekhen (cf. p. lOi) are called "the white city." In later

Fig. 144. Neith

THE OTHER PRINCIPAL GODS
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:48:52 PM: 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."^
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:49:29 PM: CHAPTER VIII
FOREIGN GODS

THE Egyptians of the earlier period did not feel it necessary
to bring foreign gods to their country; when they went
to Syria and Nubia, they temporarily worshipped the local
divinities of those lands, without abandoning their own
deities.^ It is true that concepts of Asiatic mythology con-
stantly passed freely into the religion of Egypt,^ and, in
particular, the fairy stories of the New Empire not only
employed Asiatic motifs very liberally, but often placed their
scenes in Asia, thus frankly confessing their dependence on Asi-
atic material. Accordingly the Story of the Two Brothers (Ch. V,
Note io6) is laid largely on the "cedar mountain" of the Syrian
coast; and the Story of the Haunted Prince makes the hero
wander as a hunter to the remote East, the country of Naharina
(corresponding approximately to Mesopotamia), to win the
princess there. This prince, who is doomed to be killed by his
dog (a non-Egyptian explanation of Sirius) or by a serpent
(Hydra), represents a northern idea of the hunter Orion; and
his wife, whom he gains in a jumping-match, is clearly Astarte-
Venus-Virgo, who rescues him by restraining Hydra. ^ From
folk-lore and magic sooner or later such ideas finally passed
into the official theology; and future scholars will ultimately
recognize that a very considerable part of Egyptian religious
thought was derived from or influenced by the mythology
of Asia. Tracing such motifs to the Pyramid Period cer-
tainly does not prove that they were autochthonous. The
earliest centre of Egyptian religion, the ancient city of On-
Heliopolis (p. 31), was situated at the entrance of the great

154

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

caravan route from the East, and there we must assume a
constant interchange of ideas even in the most remote periods.
In the present state of our knowledge, however, we cannot
pass very positive judgement on the many prehistoric loans of
this nature,* and these borrowings, moreover,
consist of religious motifs alone. The actual
gods of Asia, or at least their names, could
not well be appropriated by a nation which
leaned so strongly on ancient local traditions
as did the Egyptian in the more primitive
stages of its history.

The only early exception was the goddess
of the holiest city of Phoenicia, the famous
Ba alath of Gebal-Byblos, who became known
and venerated in Egypt soon after 2000 b. c,
when she was identified with Hat-hor, the
Egyptian divinity most similar to the Asiatic
type of heavenly goddesses (p. 40), or was
worshipped simply as "the Mistress of
Byblos," a remarkable acknowledgement of
the fame of her city. Thus a statuette of
the New Empire in the museum of Turin
represents an Egyptian holding a pillar of
"Hat-hor, the mistress of peace, the mistress
OF THE Museum ^f j^^ [ordinarily Kupni, i. e. Byblos] and

OF Turin Show- *^ .

iNG Hat-hor of of Wawa [a part of Nubia]." Thus far the
^^^°^ admission of the connexion of that city with

the worship of Osiris (p. 120 and Ch. V, Note no) cannot be
traced to quite so early a date, but it may be much more
ancient; the period of the Old and Middle Empires was still
reluctant to confess loans from Asia.

In the New Empire, however, after 1600 b. c, when Egypt
underwent great changes and wished to appear as a military
state and a conquering empire on Asiatic models, and when
the customs and the language of Canaan thus spread through-

157. Statuette

FOREIGN GODS

155

Fig. 158. Reshpu

out the Nile-land, the worship of Asiatic deities became
fashionable, being propagated by many immigrants, merce-
naries, merchants, etc., from Syria. The warlike character of
the gods of Asia and the rich mythology at-
tached to them made them especially attrac-
tive to the Egyptian mind.^

Ba'al (Semitic Lord") is described as the
god of thunder, dwelling on mountains or in
the sky, and terrible in battle, so that the
Egyptians often identified him with their
warlike god Seth (see the next divinity).

Resheph, or Reshpu (Semitic "Lightning")
was represented as a man wearing a high, conical cap (some-
times resembling the crown of Upper Egypt) ,^ often tied with
a long ribbon falling over his back "^ and ornamented above
the forehead with the head of a gazelle, probably to indicate
that he was a hunter. He carries shield, spear, and club, and
sometimes has a quiver on his back. Once he is called Reshpu
Sharamana, i. e. he is identified with another Syrian god,
Shalman or Shalmon.^ As we shall see, he was associated with
Astarte-Qedesh. One form, marked by a long
tassel hanging from the top of the cap, which
we here reproduce after a monument of the
museum of Berlin, is there identified with Seth,
"the one great of strength." Thus Seth, as
the general patron of Asiatics and of warriors
(p. 103), was considered to manifest himself
in all the male deities of Asia.

Some female divinities from Asia were even
more popular.

Astarte ( Astart) had her chief temple in
Memphis,^ although she was also worshipped
in the city of Ramses and elsewhere. This " mistress of heaven "
was scarcely known as a goddess of love in Egypt, where she
was, rather, the deity of war, "the mistress of horses and of the

Fig. 159. Resheph
Seth

156

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

chariot." ^° She usually wears the conical crown of all Asiatic
divinities, with two feathers as an Egyptian addition. The
two following deities evidently constitute mere manifesta-
tions of Astarte. In Asiatlzing art she
seems to be represented also by the
non-Egyptian female sphinx, whose
head is marked by long tresses and a
peculiar kerchief, such as was worn
by Syrian women.

Qedesh (Semitic "the Holy, Awful
One") is pictured like the nude god-
desses of Babylonian art, standing on a
lion and holding flowers and a serpent
"Astarte, Mistress OF Horses which often degenerates into another
AND OF THE Chariot " fl^^^^. . u j^^ keeping with hcr title, " mis-
tress of heaven," she wears the sun and
moon on her head. Her two lovers, the
youthful Tammuz-Adonis and his warlike
rival, appear on either side of her, the
latter as Resheph-Reshpu, and the former
as the Egyptian god Min, who thus again
shows himself to be like Osiris (p. 139).

Asit always rides on horseback. The
name may be nothing more than a pop-
ular form of Astarte when pronounced
As[t]eyt, but in any case 'Asit was
treated as a separate divinity,

Anat has a similar dress

and equipment, but is not

found with the horse. Like

Astarte she is warlike and

sensual,/yet eternally virgin.

Ba'alt ("Mistress"; see p. 154 on the identical name

Ba alath) was the feminine counterpart of Ba'al, and we

also find a Ba'alt Zapuna ("Ba'alt of the North").

Fig. 161. Astarte

Fig. 162. Astarte as a Sphinx

FOREIGN GODS

157

Rarer goddesses of this kind were Atum(a), who seems to
have been the female form of the Canaanitish god Edom;
Nukara, or Nugara, i. e. the Babylonian NIngal,
the deity of the underworld; Amait, who was
worshipped in Memphis; etc. See pp. 207-09
for the numerous names of deities borrowed
from Asia by the sorcerers. We are, however,
uncertain how far those divinities really found
worship in popular circles.

The African neighbours of Egypt to the west
scarcely influenced the pantheon in the historic '^' ^ ^' ^^^^^^
period; after 1000 B.C. only one goddess, Shahdidi, seems to
have come from Libya. It is, however, a
fact which has not yet been observed by
Egyptologists that the Egyptians of the
earliest times worshipped some Nubian gods.
This was due less to Egyptian conquests of
Nubia in prehistoric days, like those of the
Fourth, Sixth, Twelfth, and Eighteenth Dy-
nasties, than to the strong cultural (and
perhaps ethnological) connexions which ex-
isted between the prehistoric Egyptians and
the tribes to the south of them, as excavations in Nubia have
recently shown. It is likewise probable that as mercenaries the
Nubians played the same important part in
the history of pre-dynastic Egypt that they
had later, when several dynasties of the Pyra-
mid Period appear to have been of Nubian
descent. Thus the goddess Selqet (p. 147 )
had her local worship south of the Cataract
region, and yet was a very important Egyp-
tian divinity, connected with the Osiris-myth.
In like fashion Dedun, a god in human form,
originally pictured as a bird on a crescent-shaped twig, was
worshipped at remote Semneh in Nubia, near the Second

Fig. 164. 'AsiT

165. 'Anat

158 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Cataract, as "the youth of the south who came forth from
Nubia," and yet it seems that kings of the Sixth Dynasty still
called themselves after this foreign god.^^ The hieroglyphs of
Dedun and Selqet appear combined on remarkable vessels of
the earliest dynastic period. ^^ Thus we
r(,.y see that the frontier of Egypt could once
be drawn rather far north of the First
Cataract, or else at this Cataract (as was
usually the case in historical times), or it
Fig. i66. Hieroglyphs could be extended far south of it, even to

OF Dedun and Selqet

the Second Cataract, according to varying
political conditions and the personal opinions of the ancient
scholars.^*

After Alexander the Great the Greek gods of the ruling
classes replaced the Egyptian divinities in some Hellenized
places, but made little impression on the Egyptian pantheon
where it was still maintained (see pp. 239-40, and for Serapis
cf. p. 98).

CHAPTER IX
WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN

FROM ancient times no feature of Egyptian religion has
attracted so much attention as the wide-spread cult of
animals.^ A few of the Classical writers viewed it with mystic
awe, but the majority of them expressed dislike or sarcasm
even before the Christians began to prove the diabolical nature
of paganism by this worst madness of the Egyptians (pp. 7-8).
Until very recently modern scholars themselves have found
this curious element inexplicable. Some of them, over-zealous
admirers of Egypt, attempted to excuse it as a later degenera-
tion of a symbolism which the alleged "pure religion" of earli-
est Egypt might have understood in a less materialistic sense.
The precise opposite Is true, for animal worship constitutes a
most prominent part of the primitive Egyptian beliefs. If we
start from the theory that animism was the basis of the begin-
nings of Egyptian religion, we have no difficulty in under-
standing the role which animals played In It. When the major-
ity of spirits worshipped by the rude, prehistoric Egyptians
were clad with animal form, this agrees with the view of the
brute creation which Is held by primitive man In general. It
Is not the superior strength or swiftness of some creatures
which causes them to be regarded with religious awe, and still
less is It gratitude for the usefulness of the domestic animals;
it is the fear that the seemingly dumb beasts possess reason and
a language of their own which man cannot fathom and which
consequently connect them with the mysterious, supernatural
world. It Is true that the lion, the hawk, and the poisonous
serpent predominate In the Egyptian pantheon, but the form

i6o EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

of the crocodile is limited to one or two gods; and the most
terrible of wild animals, the leopard, and perhaps the hippo-
potamus,^ are, possibly accidentally, wholly lacking, while,
on the other hand, the little shrew-mouse appears. We have
already explained the frequency of black bulls as belonging, in
all probability, to the advanced stage of cosmic gods (Ch. Ill,
Note lo), and the hawk may, likewise, indicate the same age in
which the hawk-shaped sun-god was dominant. Hence we must
be careful not to use these forms for explaining the primitive
meaning of that phenomenon. Where the cult of an animal
has survived in later times, it is repeatedly stated in clear words
that the spirit of some god has taken possession of it (see p. 164,
for instance, on the designation of the Mendes "ram" as the
"soul" of a deity). That the later Egyptians thought at the
same time of such divinities as residing in heaven presented
no difficulty to them, for gods were not limited to one soul;
a deity had several souls (or, rather, "forces")^ and might,
therefore, live contemporaneously both in heaven and on earth,
or might even appear in a number of earthly incarnations
simultaneously. The inconsistencies of these theories of the
incarnation of celestial beings show, however, that they were,
after all, a secondary development. We see this with especial
clearness In instances where the god, though said to be in-
carnate in an animal, is never actually represented in that
form, as is the case with Ptah, Osiris, Re', Min, etc.; or when,
as we shall see, the later Egyptians no longer understood the
connexion between the solarized god Montu and his original
bull-form, the Buchis, but tried, on the analogy of the Apis,
etc., to explain the latter animal as the embodiment of other,
more obviously celestial divinities.

The earliest Egyptians, who scarcely sought their gods out-
side the earth, must have worshipped such an animal, sup-
posed to be possessed by an extraordinary spirit, as divine in
itself. It was only the tendency of a more advanced age to
invest the gods with some higher (i. e. cosmic) power and to

WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN i6i

remove them from the earthly sphere that compelled the theo-
logians to resort to these theories of the incarnation of celestial
divinities. A similar attempt to break away from the crudest
conceptions of animal worship betrays itself likewise in the
numerous mixed representations of the old animal-gods, i. e.
with a human body and the head of an animal. Evidently
the underlying idea was that these deities were in reality not
animals, that they merely appeared (or had once appeared) on
earth in such guise, but that as a matter of fact they lived in
heaven in the form most becoming to gods, i. e. in an Idealized
human shape. This modification of the old animistic religion
can be traced to a date far anterior to the Pyramid Period,'*
The prehistoric Egyptians, as we have said above, must have
had the opposite view, namely, that the worthiest form for
the gods was that of animals.

We have no information as to how the earliest period treated
the succession of the divine animals which were adored in the
temples. The later theory that reincarnations came from
heaven in regular order, as we shall see when we consider the
Apis bull, does not seem plausible for the original local cults
of prehistoric times, since their means were so extremely lim-
ited that it must have been very difficult for them to find an-
other animal with the requisite physical characteristics. It is
possible that some sacred animals did not have such a succes-
sion. Some, like the crocodiles of Sobk, seem to have bred
in the temples. It is possible that in later times certain of the
sacred animals may primarily have been kept at the sanctuaries
merely as symbols to remind men of the god who now dwelt in
heaven after having once shown himself on earth as an animal
in the days of the pious ancestors when divinities still walked
in this world. The popular mind, however, anxious to have a
palpable sign of the god's existence, could not draw the line
between sacredness and real divinity, and soon regarded the
symbolic animal as a supernatural being in itself, thus return-
ing to the original conception of sacred animals.

1 62

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

The great difficulty In the problem under consideration is
that we know very little about the majority of the sacred ani-
mals; only the most prominent cults, which were observed
throughout Egypt, have left relatively full Information. Here
we are largely dependent on the Grseco-Roman writers, to
whom this feature of Egyptian religion seemed especially re-
markable; unfortunately, the data which these more or less
superficial observers record are not always trustworthy. The
hieroglyphic inscriptions do not have much to say concern-
ing the cult of animals, which is In itself a proof that the learned

priests could do little with this bequest
of the ancestors. It remained a mys-
tery to the generations that had out-
grown the animistic stage. This very
obscurity, however, seemed only a proof
that such cults were peculiarly vener-
able as transcending human under-
n standing and Intellect,
v,^ .<- Statuette of the ^^^ "^°^^ popular sacred animal was

Apis Showing his Sacred the ApIs (Egyptian Hp, pronounced

Hap, Hop; "the Runner") of Memphis,
a black bull with certain special white marks, "resembling an
eagle's wings," on his forehead and back, a "scarab-like" knot
under (.'') his tongue, and other signs. According to later be-
lief, he was conceived by a ray of light descending on a cow, I. e.
he was an Incarnation of the sun. His discovery, his solemn
escorting to Memphis, and his pompous installation as "the
holy god, the living Apis," at the temple called the " Apiaeum"
were celebrated throughout Egypt. He was kept In great
luxury and gave oracles by the path which he chose, the food
which he accepted or refused, etc. He was usually regarded
as the embodiment of Ptah, the chief local god, being called
"Ptah renewing himself" or "son of Ptah," but later he was
considered more as an incarnation of Oslris-Sokarl, especially
after his death. ^ He is depicted wearing the solar disk between

WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN

163

his horns and is thus connected not only with the sun (Re'
or Atum) but also with the moon, whence it is obvious that,
as we have noted above, he was originally a god himself
without any connexion with nature. The fact that he was
allowed to drink only from a well, not from the Nile, shows
that he was compared likewise — though very secondarily
— with Ha'pi, the Nile (or with Osiris in the same function?).
The anniversary of his birth was celebrated for seven (?) days
every year; when he died,^ great mourning was observed in the
whole land, and he was
sumptuously interred at
Saqqarah, where the tombs
of the Apis bulls and of
their mothers, who had be-
come sacred through the
divine birth, were found by
A, Mariette in 185 1. Soon
after the seventy days^ of
mourning over the loss of
the god, a new Apis calf was
discovered by the priests
with suspicious promptness. ^
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:51:07 PM: 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
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:51:50 PM: EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

beings pictured by magicians side by side with real gods,
whether because the sorcerers kept up old traditions, or because

Fig. 179. The Birth of a King Protected by Gods

they returned to forgotten divinities. The sphinx, originally a
picture of Hu, the god of wisdom (p. Gy), survived as an em-
blem of royalty and in its strictly Egyptian form was always
represented as male (for the foreign female sphinz
see p. 156 and cf. Fig. 162).

This brings us to the question how far men
were worshipped. The most prominent examples
of the adoration of human beings were the kings."
Every Pharaoh claimed to be a divine incar-
nation; according to the prevailing official theory
he was a "form," or "double," or "soul," or
"living representation," etc., of the sun-god, the
many souls of this deity (pp. 28, 160) facilitating
such a belief. As the living image of the sun the
king might also claim to have himself many souls
or "doubles" (ka), the number of these being as
high as fourteen. 2^ Accordingly we find such ^ o t-

o ^ •' r iG. 180. 1 HE

royal names as "Firm is the Form of the Sun- Ka of a King,
God" (Men-kheper-reS i. e. Thutmosis III), or li::^'Z,'''l
"Finest of the Forms of the Sun-God" (Nefr- Staff - Symbol

, , ^, . . , Ti 7- 1 r 1 • 1 N Indicating Life

khepru-re , i.e. Amen-hotep IV before his heresy),

etc. The pompous titles of the monarchs as "the good god,"

etc., were no mere poetic licence, but were meant to be taken

PLATE III

I. Amen-hotep

The divinization of men is by no means restricted
to Egyptian mythology. For an interesting parallel
in Indo-Chinese religion see infra, p. 260, and for the
corresponding artistic development see Plate V.

2. I-M-HOTEP

This scholar became so famous that ultimately
he was believed to be of divine ancestry and was
regarded as a son of the god Ptah.

3. The Zodiacal Signs

This picture, dating from the Roman period,
shows the blending of Egyptian and Classical con-
ceptions. See pp. 57, 65.

*>;»?-

I

\S^ V-3 ^»C> '?\2Bi*^ "/7r

PUBLIC Liii^LAliY

ASTOB, LENOX AND
TILDBN FOlANDAriiNS

WORSHIP OF ANIMALS AND MEN 171

quite literally. "Birth-temples" were erected to commemo-
rate the birth of each new king and to describe and glorify in
inscription and in picture the conception and advent of the
new divinity sent from the skies to be the terrestrial repre-
sentative of the gods and to rule that land which reproduced
heaven on earth. ^^ The full divinity of the Pharaoh was mani-
fested, however, only at his coronation, which was accordingly
commemorated similarly in memorial temples. We also find
kings sacrificing and praying to the divine spirit resident in
themselves, or to their own ka ("double," or "soul"), which
was distinguished from their earthly personality and which
was thought to follow them as a kind of guardian spirit.
After death the Pharaoh was held to be a new manifestation
of Osiris, and In some cases the worship of the dead ruler
sought to excel the honour which had been paid him while
he was alive. This was the case, e. g., with the short-lived
Amen-hotep I, who became the divine ruler of a part of the
Theban necropolis, for which his burial probably opened a new
tract of land. In similar fashion great builders might receive
divine honours near their monuments, as did "Pramarres"
(Amen-em-het III, of the Twelfth Dynasty) In the Fayum,
which he seems to have reclaimed from the lake.^° Even
private citizens of extraordinary ability might receive worship
as saints and subsequently rise to the rank of gods. The
princely scholar I-m-hotep of the Fourth Dynasty became so
famous for his learning that In the latest period he was the
patron of all scholars, and especially of physicians, whence
the Greeks explained "Imuthes" as the Egyptian Asklepios.
He is represented as a seated priest with shaven head, hold-
ing a book on his knees. Here royal blood may have con-
tributed somewhat, but we also find Amen-hotep, the son of
Hap(u), the prime minister of Amen-hotep III, worshipped as
a famous scholar at his memorial sanctuary at Der el-Medi-
neh;'^ and there were some similar minor saints, such as two
at Dandur in Nubia who were called "the genius" {shay; cf.

172 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

p. 52 for this expression) of the locality and "Osiris, much
praised in the underworld." ^^

Generally speaking, all the dead might be worshipped on the
theory that as blessed spirits they lived with the gods in a
state of illumination and sanctification. Their chapels were,
however, places to pray for them rather than to pray to them;
and the sacrifices offered there were not to win their interces-
sion, but served merely to maintain their hungry souls (p. 177).
Contrary to the usual belief, therefore, the worship of an-
cestors, as we shall see in the following chapter, was not so
clearly and strongly developed in ancient Egypt as among
some other peoples.

CHAPTER X
LIFE AFTER DEATH

THE doctrine of life after death ^ was so richly developed In
ancient Egypt that here we can sketch only a few of Its
most remarkable features. It would require an entire volume
to do justice to this chapter, for no people ever showed so much
care for the dead as the Egyptians, or so much Imagination
about the life hereafter.

Even In the earliest prehistoric times the soul was believed
to be Immortal, as Is shown by the gifts of food, drink, and
ornaments found In all graves of that period. There only a
large tray or pot placed over the bodies, which were Interred
in a crouching position, or a few stones or mud bricks show
gradual efforts to guard the dead against the animals of the
desert; but the large tombs of the kings at the beginning of the
Dynastic Period commence to betray precisely the same care
for the existence of the departed as was manifested In later
times. In the Pyramid Period embalmment begins with the
kings, increasing care Is given to the tombs of private citizens,
and rich Inscriptions reveal to us most of the views about life
after death which the later Egyptians kept so faithfully. We
see from them that in the earhest period as well as In the latest
the most contradictory views reigned concerning life after
death. In harmony with the general character of Egyptian
religion, which desired to preserve all ancestral opinions as
equally sacred without examining them too closely and with-
out systematizing them.

We may Infer that the most primitive period held that the
spirits of the dead haunted the wide desert where the graves

174 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

were situated, filling the stony mountains of this inhospitable

region by night. In consequence of their miserable abode and

hard existence such spirits were not very safe company for the

wanderer in the desert. The best wish for the soul

of one's relatives may have been that it might become

the most dangerous among all those demons, feared

and respected by the rest. The custom of placing all
Fig. i8i. ...^ ,-iiii i--

The Soul- kmds oi weapons beside the dead to protect him m

^^^^ this life of danger, in which he is hunted by the ter-
rible demons of the desert or of the underworld, also looks
like a remnant of such primitive ideas, although it survived
until the New Empire.^

The soul of man is usually depicted as a human-headed bird
fluttering from his mouth at death. An earlier term for "soul,"
ka (or kai ?),^ the hieroglyphic symbol of which is two uplifted
arms, as in Fig. i8o, seems to imply that the soul continues
to live in the form of a shadowy double of the body. In
the New Empire especially the defunct soul is distinctly
identified with the shadow, which is symbolized by the
silhouette of the body or by the hieroglyph of a parasol
(cf. Fig. 189). Some very late theologians sought to dis-
tinguish the three synonyms, "double," "soul," and "shadow,"
as different parts of the soul and occasionally even added
as a fourth element the "illuminated soul," or ikh{u). No
decision was ever reached as to whether the
soul continued to live in the corpse, returning,
some believed, from the realm of the dead
after its purification (i. e. mummification),
either forever or from time to time; or whether
it stayed in or near the grave, or roamed in the „
desert, or went far hence to the place of Osiris. The Soul Return-
The funerary texts and burial preparations of
the wealthier classes tried to take all these different views into
account, although they gave preference to the last theory, as
being the most advanced. For the first possibility all care is

LIFE AFTER DEATH

175

taken to protect and preserve the corpse;^ if, nevertheless, the
body should decay, the soul may settle In one or more portrait
statues placed in the grave. There food is prepared, either
actually (meat being sometimes embalmed), or
in imitations in stone, clay, or wood, or in pic-
tures and written magic formulae, these ma-
terial offerings being renewed on festival days.
Prayefs also express the wish that the dead may
be able to leave his tomb and to appear not
merely by night, when all spirits are freed to p^^ jg ^.^^
haunt the earth, but also by day, taking what- Soul Returns

, . , -r' ^1 • ^1 1 r TO THE GrAVE

ever form it may choose, ror this the shape 01
several birds is preferred, although even the crocodile, the
snake, the grasshopper, and the flower are considered.^ The
spirit desires to visit his home — a belief which is not always
pleasant for the superstitious inmates^ — or if it roams in
the desert, the tomb ought to open Itself to house it again.
A little ladder assists the dead to ascend to heaven, or a small
model of a ship enables him to sail to or over it, or prayer and
magic help his soul to fly up to the stars. The way to the re-
mote realm of Osiris is indeed blocked by many difficulties.
Evil spirits threaten to devour the soul; dozens of gates are
watched by monstrous guardians armed with knives (the
"knife-bearers") or with sharp teeth and claws; broad rivers

and steep mountains must be passed,
etc. Magic formulae and pictures for
overcoming all these obstacles are placed
on the walls of the tomb or on the sar-
cophagus, are later included in books
laid near the mummy or inside it (e. g.

Fig. 184. The Dead Visits in Its arm-pit), and finally are even
HIS House . , . , ,

written on the wrappings round the

mummy. Thus the rich literature of semi-magic illustrated
guide-books for the dead developed, above all the great collec-
tion which we call the Book of the Dead.''

I I L / /

I n ' / /

176 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

These texts and other magic aids assisted the dead to over-
come all obstacles, to be carried by strange ferries across the
Stygian river or the ocean, to fly to heaven in the form of a bird
or of an insect or to be transported thither on the wings of gods
or of their messengers, to climb to the celestial heights by the
heavenly tree or by a ladder or to walk to them over the moun-
tains of the west, to open the door of heaven or to descend the
long subterranean roads leading to the underworld. The last
and most serious difiiculty awaited the departed when finally
he approached the judgement hall or court of Osiris for exam-
ination of his life on earth. There he expected to be brought
M before the throne of this god and his as-
sembly of forty-two assessors,^ most of whom
were monsters of horrible aspect and ter-
rible names, such as "Blood-Drinker,"
"Bone-Breaker," or "Shadow-Swallower." ^
His heart was weighed by Thout and his
~ cynocephalous baboon (p. 33)^° and by
Wanders over a Anubis (p. Ill); and he himself read from his
Mountain to the guide-book the "Negative Confession," enu-

Seat of Osiris • r • r 1 • 1 1 1 1

meratmg forty-two sms of which he declared
himself guiltless, triumphantly exclaiming at the end, "I am
pure, I am pure." He was then admitted to the realm of
Osiris, which is described as situated in heaven or in a deep
hole {tephet) under the earth, or between sky and earth; accord-
ing to the earliest theory, it ascended and descended in the stars
(p. 97) which form the "divine fields." In the oldest texts the
ferry to that land is usually described as sailing on the dark
waters which come from the realm of Khnum (the lower
world), i. e. on the subterranean Nile and the abyss (p. 89);
the latter, however, leads to the great terrestrial ocean and its
continuation in the sky, which likewise receive description as
being the way to Osiris (p. 95), For the strange ferryman
"who looks backward, whose face is backward," see p. 58.
In company with the gods the departed lead a life of luxury,

LIFE AFTER DEATH 177

clad in fine linen and eating especially grapes and figs "from
the divine garden," " bread from the granary of the deities, or
even more miraculous food, as from the tree of life or similar
wonderful plants which grow in the various "meadows" or
" fields ";^^ sometimes they are even expected to drink milk
from the breasts of the goddesses or water from the fountain of
life (Fig. 89), which was often identified with the source of the
Nile (p. 95). Such food gives eternal life and divine nature.
More modest is the expectation of a farmer's life in prolific
fields which the dead plough, sow, and reap under the direc-
tion of Osiris. Since this still remains a laborious existence,
subsequently little proxies of wood or earthenware, the
ushehtiu (" answerers "),^^ are expected to answer for the de-
parted when Osiris calls his name, bidding him work and
wield the wooden hoe in the heavenly fields. While the
peasants will be glad to toil for Osiris as they did in their
earthly existence, the nobles desire a new life of greater leisure.
Various pastimes are considered in the other world, as when
the dead wishes to play at draughts (sometimes, according
to later texts, with his own soul).^"* In the belief of the
period from 3000 to 1800 b. c. the figures of bakers, butchers,
and other servants which were put into the grave provided
for the food and comfort of the dead, saving him from toil;
and the human sacrifices described below may have had the
same purpose of furnishing servants for the departed.

This brings us back to the fact that, after all, man dares
not depend entirely on celestial nourishment. Do not the gods
themselves, though surrounded by all kinds 'of miraculous
food and drink, need the sacrifices of man.^ From such beliefs
arise the many preparations which we have described for feed-
ing the soul in or near the grave, or for providing food even for
its life in the more remote other- world. Precautions for all con-
tingencies are advisable, since no fate of a soul is more sad
for it than to be compelled, in its ravenous hunger and thirst,

to live on oflFal and even to swallow its own excreta. Accord-
XII— 13

178 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Ingly it was the anxious wish of every Egyptian to have chil-
dren to provide sacrifices for his soul; and the first duty of each
man, according to the moral maxims of Ani, was, "Pour liba-
tions of water for thy father and thy mother, who rest In the
valley. . . . Thy son shall do the same for thee." Wretched
indeed is the soul of the childless, who has none to remember
him!

This care for the feeding of the departed seems to us, of
course. In flagrant contradiction to the condition which the
dead ought to enjoy according to the higher views. They are
not merely with the gods, but they completely share their life
of luxury. They sit on thrones in the circumpolar region of the
sky, where the highest divinities dwell (p. 55); or they perch
like birds on the branches of the celestial tree, i. e. they become
stars (p. 35), even some very prominent stellar bodies which
are usually identified with the greatest deities. As rowers or
soldiers they take a place In the ship In which the sun-god
sails over the celestial ocean, ^^ or they sit In the cabin as hon-
oured guests and are rowed by the god, as in Fig. 7. They
actually become like Osiris, the personification of resurrection,
to such an extent that they are kings and judges of the de-
parted, wherefore each one who has passed away, whether
male or female. Is addressed as "Osiris N. N." Deceased
women are later styled also "Hat-hor N. N." With Osiris
the dead may assume a solar, lunar, or stellar character and
may appear as this same deity In the other manifestations of
nature. The Book of the Dead, however, prays also that the
deceased may become In general a god and that he may be
Identified with Ptah, etc.^^

Many of these expectations were originally suitable only for
the kings, who, being divine In their lifetime, claimed an exalted
position after death; yet just as the costly burial customs were
gradually extended from the Pharaohs to the nobles and thence
to the common folk, those high hopes of future life were soon
appropriated by the nobility and finally by the ordinary popu-
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:52:37 PM: 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
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:53:16 PM: ETHICS AND CULT 189

were combined, though not always under the same roof; the
Idols of a triad (p. 20), at least, were generally united in a
single adytum. Larger temples had kitchens for the offerings
and festal meals, laboratories for the preparation of the sacred
perfumes and cakes, shops for the manufacture of the amulets
which were sold to pilgrims, etc.; and round them were houses
for the priests and granaries for their food, so that they even
formed large sacred cities.

In place of the divine statues, to whose simplicity we have
already alluded (p. 12), we sometimes find pillars with the head
of the divinity, like the Greek herms,^° or with divine emblems.
Such "sceptres" or "columns," occasionally as tall as obe-
lisks, are mentioned as objects of worship, and (Fig. 196) we find
the king bringing sacrifices to them as "gods." ^^ Their more
original meaning Is unknown, so that we cannot say to what ex-
tent they were analogous to the sacred pillars of the Semites.

The decoration of the temples was very uniform In so far as
the celling was always painted blue to represent the sky (usu-
ally with indication of the stars and sometimes with elaborate
pictures of the constellations), while the ground is green and
blue like meadows or the Nile, so that each temple Is a repro-
duction of the world, a microcosm. The outer walls represent
the deeds of the royal builder, often his wars, for the laity;
the inner walls depict the worship of the gods for the priests.

This description of the normal temple does not apply to all
religious buildings. The funerary shrines for the cult of the
souls of deceased kings present peculiarities,^^ as do those
which commemorate exclusively the birth or enthronement of a
king (p. 171) or the more extensive constructions which were
erected when a Pharaoh celebrated the so-called "jubilee of
thirty years," etc.^^ Some large sanctuaries built by the kings
of the Fifth Dynasty are quite unique: on a large base, sur-
rounded by courts with altars, stands a single obelisk, whose
proportions are too huge to be monolithic. These were erected
in honour of the sun-god, whose ship, constructed of bricks.

190

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

,0

o

o

am:^i^mn m^^ m

ETHICS AND CULT

191

was in the immediate vicinity, or as his resting-place. The
mural decorations of these sanctuaries are also unusual and
depict very worldly scenes.

The priests were divided into vari-
ous classes :^^ some officiated regularly,
while others had secular employment
and came to the temple only from
time to time, the so-called ''priests for
hours "; or their priesthood was purely
nominal, as in the case of many nobles.
In the earlier period the priesthood
and the laity were not distinctly sep-
arated. The king's position as the p,^ ,^7. ^he King Offering
highest priest of the nation was due Incense and Keeping a

, . J. . .^ / \ TT 1 Meat-Offering Warm

to his divmity (p. 170). He was the

proper intercessor with the gods, and from time immemorial
a "sacrifice offered by the king" was desired for every one
who died, since it was sure to please the deities and to secure
eternal life. Before long, however, this high-priesthood of the
Pharaoh became merely a fiction, and in the New Empire we
find sharp conflicts between the royal power and the hierarchy,
while in later times the priests formed almost as distinct a class

as was the case in ancient Israel.

Priestesses were permitted only for
female divinities, the greater number
of these women being found in the
earlier period; and their rank was in-
ferior to that of male priests of the
same cult. In the worship of male
divinities women ordinarily formed
only the choir which sang before the
god, rattled sistra and peculiar chains, and danced; in later
times noble women were fond of calling themselves "musicians
of the god N. N." Herodotus correctly observes ^^ that women
did not enjoy full priestly standing, and we must not be misled

Fig. 198. Temple Choir in U
usual Costume

192

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

by the later Greek usage of applying the name of "priest-
esses" to those who performed the services which we have
noted. ^^ A semi-priestly position was also held by the "twin
sisters" in temples of Osiris, where they prob-
ably represented the twins Isis and Nephthys.
The exact status of other women, called "the
harem of the god, the women bound" (i. e. to
the temple), is not clear. Were they temple
slaves.^ When the kings of later days dedi-
cated one of their daughters to Amon under
the title of "wife" or "worshipper of the god,"
Fig iqq ^^^^ seems to be nothing more than a pious

Two Women Rep- form for the sequestration of the excessive
AND Nephthys as ^n^ount of land held by the Theban temple of
Mourners at Amon; and thus the princess had a pleasant

Processions . . • n tt 1 • 1 • ?»

smecure tor occasionally playmg the sistrum
before the god as his "wife." The position held in the earlier
period in the temple of Amon by the solitary, fe-
male personage called "the worshipper of the god"
is uncertain.

Peculiar symbolic names were attached to the more
important priestly offices, as when the high-priest of
Heliopolis was called "the great seer" (i.e., prob-
ably, astronomer; cf. p. 54), or the high-priest of
Ptah was "the chief artificer" (p. 145). Even the
lower orders of the priesthood sometimes received
a wealth of such names, which were Intelligible only
to the local scholars; and dress and insignia likewise
had endless local variations. The incomes of the
sanctuaries varied from princely wealth, derived
from hundreds of villages of serfs with their fields, to meagre
stipends for the one or two priests who constituted the
whole staff of a little temple.

All priests were obliged to be scrupulously clean, especially
for the sacrifices. Their shaven heads and beards, their white

Fig. 200.
"The Wor-
SH ipper
of th e
God"

ETHICS AND CULT

193

linen clothing, their special lustrations, and their abstention
from certain foods, etc., were intended to prevent any defile-
ment of the sacred places and ceremonies. Besides
the washable garments, the leopard's skin played
an important part in the ritual, being the regular
vestment of some priestly classes, the ' wearers of
the leopard's skin" (p. 134), evidently as a rem-
nant of the primitive times when wild animals
abounded in Egypt. Other details of priestly
dress also date from a very early period, such as ^^ ^oi Priest
the strange side-locks of some orders which the with the Book
Egyptians of historic times retained only for small

boys, and later for royal sons. On the other hand,
the shaving of the head and beard seems, in general,
to be lacking in the Pyramid Age for priests. Cere-
monial cleanness, however, appears at all times to
have been almost more important than moral sanc-
tity. Even the layman might not enter the temples

without carefully purifying himself; but in later times
Fig. 202. 1 • 1 • 1

Archaistic this cleansmg became a per-

Priestly functory ceremony of sprink-

AdORNMENT ,. 'Ill r

Img With holy water from
vessels at the entrance to the temple,
or turning a brass wheel from which
(originally.^) water ran, or merely pull-
ing a brass ring at the gate.^^

In the temples the priests performed
endless rites from early morning, when
they broke the seals of clay which had
protected the sacred rooms during the
night, till evening fell; sometimes the
night also was celebrated with lighted
lamps, as on the eve of major festivals.
Adoration of the deities by bowing, prostration, recitation of

hymns, burning of incense, libations, etc., was practically con-
XII — 14

Fig. 203. A King Pulling
the Ring at the Temple
Door

194

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

tinuous, and groups of priests took these services by turns. At
certain times the idols had to be washed, anointed, and per-
fumed with oil and in-

cense; their eyes were
painted, ^^ and their
clothing and golden
decorations were
changed. Sometimes
they were taken out in
procession to encircle
the temple (p. 31) or
to traverse the city, or
even to visit a neigh-
bouring divinity. On
such excursions the god generally was carried on the shoulders
of the priests; and usually the portable shrine
had the form of a ship, not so much because
travelling was done chiefly on the Nile as be-
cause all the gods ought to sail on the heav-
enly ocean (p. 34). The sacred lake near the
temple (p. 31) often symbolized this ocean,
the source of life, etc.; the god sailed on it or
was bathed in it. Thus there were endless Fig
reproductions of mythological scenes, whether
quiet ceremonies in the adytum of the shrine, or long spec-
tacular performances (especially of the Osiris-myth) for the

Fig. 204. A God Carried in Procession

205. A Small
Portable Shrine

Fig. 206. Mythological Scenes from a Procession

public, frequently embellished with music, dancers, and acro-
bats. Sometimes the general public might take part in these
"miracle plays" and reproduce, for example, mythological

ETHICS AND CULT

195

Fig. 207. An Acrobat
Following a Sacrifi-
cial Animal

battles by a combat between two sides. Numerous festivals,
occasionally lasting for several days, gave the populace an
opportunity to eat and drink to excess in honour of the gods.
Sometimes the sanctuary distributed bread
to the multitude for this purpose, but the
principal banquets to the glory of the di-
vinity were held in the temple by the
priests and some guests, either from the
income of the shrine or from special
donations.

The festival days varied, of course,
according to the local cults. It would seem, however, that
the great calendric feasts were observed in all, or almost all,
sanctuaries, such as the five epagomenal days (p. 113), the New
Year, the first, sixth, and middle (fifteenth) day of every
month (pp. 90-91), etc., even when the deity worshipped in the
temple was not associated with sun, moon, or sky.

The many and richly varied sacrifices of food which the
monuments depict were evidently used for the maintenance of
the priesthood after they had been spread be-
fore the gods. Sending them to heaven by
burning was always known, but was not so
popular as in Asia, since the deities were almost
invariably thought to be present.^" The original
theory of the sacrifices seems to have been a
simple feeding of the divinities; e. g. no oracles
appear to have been sought from them. Never-
theless much symbolism attached to them. Thus
far we do not know why a sacrifice of the high-
est type consisted of four bullocks of different
colour (spotted, red, white, and black), or of
four different sorts of game; and we are equally
ignorant as to why at certain festivals a pig was offered at a
time when this animal had already come to be considered
very unclean, etc. Sometimes, as in foundation sacrifices,

Fig. 208. Small
holoc austic
Sacrifice on an
Oven

196

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Images of pottery, etc., were substituted for the expensive
sacrificial animals (cf. p. 175 for this custom of substitution,
and see infra for its use Instead of human victims). In the

symbolism dominant In the Grseco-
Roman period -^ the sacrificial ani-
mals represent the enemies of the
gods; red or brown animals or rep-
tiles In particular symbolize Seth.
Accordingly the object In killing and
Fig. 209. Human Sacrifice at burning them was simply to please
A Royal Tomb of the First the gods; the use of the meat as food

Dynasty •

is scarcely mentioned. Evidently this
Is a late development of the holocaustic offerings, dependent
principally on the transformation of Seth Into a Satan (p. 109);
and It may also transfer to the animal victims a subsequent
theory of human sacrifice. Concerning the latter type of offer-
ings we possess almost no information. Nevertheless we may
infer that It was employed in earlier times, since In the latest
period cakes In the shape of men and animals were given to
the gods as an avowed substitute for human sacrifices. We
learn, moreover, that human victims were still burned at

Fig. 210. Nubian Slaves Strangled and Burned at a Funeral

Ellelthylaspolls even In the time of Plutarch. ^^ The former Im-
portance of the offering of men is also manifest from certain
pictures which show that once upon a time slaves were killed

ETHICS AND CULT 197

and buried near their defunct owner or were burned at the
entrance to his tomb, not merely at the funeral of a king, but
even at the burial of wealthy private citizens, as In Fig. 210.^^
It is possible that we have a trace of such occasional sacri-
fices in some corpses found in the royal tombs of the Eight-
eenth Dynasty, and this permits us to infer parallel usages in
the divine cults.

The way in which oracles were given is likewise very obscure.
For a long time they seem to have played a very minor part, at
least politically. One of the earliest instances is a text in which
Ramses II describes how he nominated the high-priest of Amon
by consulting the god himself.^* The King enumerated before
Amon the names of all officials capable of filling the post and
asked the deity's assent; but "the god was not satisfied with
one of them, except when I told him the name" (of the nom-
inee). In the twelfth century b. c, however, when the priest-
hood gained greater power than ever, the priests brought before
the deity, either orally or in writing, all political questions and
many legal cases, sometimes of very minor importance. He
decided these problems, as we have just indicated, by saying
"yes" or "no"; but how he did this is not described. Later
we hear little of such direct consultations. Some prophetic
and oracular writings have been preserved; their language is,
naturally, very obscure.^^ The gods also communicated their
will to men by dreams. For the knowledge of lucky and un-
lucky days and for other practical wisdom of the theologians
see the following chapter.

CHAPTER XII
MAGIC

MAGIC played an Important role in ancient Egypt, where
it was perhaps an even more vital factor than in Baby-
lonia.^ It is, however, very difficult to state where religion ends
and magic begins; and to the Egyptian mind magic was merely
applied religion. The man who best knew the gods and under-
stood how to please them could obtain from them what he de-
sired. Great theologians were always believed to
be sorcerers as well; e.g. the famous scholar Amen-
hotep, son of Hapu,^ is reported to have been not
only a prophet, but also the author of a magical
book filled with especially unintelligible galimatias;
and the great magicians of popular stories are always
''ritual priests." This theory of the identity of
Fig. 211. witchcraft, scholarship, and theology is not specifi-
A Ritual cally Egyptian, but has its parallels in many other

Priest .

religious systems as well.
The very naive Egyptian spirit, which was so unable to dis-
tinguish between the material and the supernatural, and the
excessive formalism of the worship give us the impression that
the whole religion of the Nile-land had a strongly magic char-
acter. This is true of most religions which are based on animism
(p. lo), yet we may easily go too far, as when, for example, some
scholars brand as magic all the customs intended to secure eter-
nal life for the dead or to improve their state (p. i8i). It Is
quite true that the assertion of a funerary text that the dead
goes to heaven ^ may be understood as a prayer; but a prayer
which is sure to be efficacious, and a wish passing into reality
in vivid Imagination, indeed border on magic, a statement

MAGIC 199

which is equally true of the numerous ceremonies and amulets
which mechanically benefit the soul of the dead. The Book of
the Dead, with its directions how to find the way to Osiris, what
to say before him, what words to recite, and what mysterious
names to give to the guardians of his realm, presents a close
approximation to magic; yet, after all, it is no secret knowledge,
but is open to all who can read, and, therefore, does not fall
under the modern definition of sorcery; neither did the
Egyptians themselves consider it magical.

In similar fashion the healing art is inseparably connected
with magic and religion. No medicine will have full eff"ect with-
out certain ceremonies and an incantation, which is usually
repeated four times.'* The incantation may also be written
down, washed off into the medicine, and drunk (p. 83), as is
still done so commonly in the modern Orient. Ceremonies and
incantations accompanying the healing usually have a religious
character, and the man to apply them is the general scholar,
the priest. He summons the gods to come and to cure the
disease, or he speaks in their name, threatening or coaxing
the evil spirits which are always believed to have caused the
illness, as in every "strongly animistic religion. He often recites
a story in which an analogous trouble was healed by the
deities, and much of our mythological material is derived
from such texts. Sometimes the divinities in person (i. e. their
images) are brought to exorcize the demons, and we even hear
of idols being sent to or brought from foreign countries to heal
the illness of princes.^ Frequently, however, the medical in-
cantations also assume a character which seems to us purely
magical, and frequently they degenerate into mere gibberish;
likewise many of the amulets, such as* cords with magic
knots,^ used for expelling or preventing disease have no re-
ligious meaning whatever. Nevertheless everything employed
for controlling the supernatural world (i. e. the demons in the
present connexion) becomes religious in the hands of the
proper individual, the theologian, and is considered accordingly.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:53:57 PM: 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
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:54:44 PM: 2IO EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

As an example of a longer mythological story narrated by
the magician to form an analogy to the magic effect which he
desires we give

THE LEGEND OF ISIS AND THE SCORPION.^

"I, Isis, left the mansion in which my brother Seth had placed me.
Tljout, the great one, commander of justice in heaven and earth,

spake to me:
*Come, O Isis, O goddess, for it is good to listen,
And one liveth when another acteth as guide.
Hide thyself with thy little son !
He will come to us when his limbs have grown,
And his full strength (hath developed?).
Make him take his place then on the throne of his father.
Hand over to him the dignity of the ruler of both countries!'

I went forth at the time of evening.

Seven scorpions were my followers and furnished me aid;

Tefen and Ben were behind me;

Mestet and Mest-(yo?)tef were near me;

Petet, Tetet, and Matet prepared the way for me.

I gave orders to them aloud, my voice found access to their ears thus:

'Know that obedience in worship . . .

Distinguisheth a son of somebody from a subject.*^

Let your face be below on the road

As companions and guides seeking for me.'

We reached the city of Pso'is ^^ and the City of the Two Sisters

At the beginning of the (Delta) marshes as far as (.^) the city of Deb.

I approached the houses of the most respectable women.^^

The noblest saw me on my way;

She closed her door to me,

Suspicious of my companions.

These, therefore, took counsel.

They placed their poison all together on the tail of Tefen.

A poor woman opened her door for me,

I entered into her house.

Tefen secretly ( ?) entered under the wings of the door,

She stung the son of the rich woman.

[Fire broke forth in the house of the rich woman;

There was no water to quench it.

Neither was there rain against it in the house of the rich woman;

It was not the season for this.] ^^

This was because she had not opened to me.

MAGIC 211

Her heart was in grief,

She knew not (how to save) his life;

She roamed around (?) in her city lamenting;

There was not one who came at her voice.

Therefore my heart was grieved for the sake of the child;

(Wishing) to restore the innocent being to life,

I called her: 'To me! Come to me! Come to me!

Behold, my mouth holdeth life;

I am a daughter well known in her city.

Through whose word the bite (?) is stilled.

(The word) which my father taught me,

That should be known;

I am his true daughter.'

Isis put her hands on the child

To revive that which had no more breath ( ?) :

'O poison, O Tefen, come!

Come forth on the ground ! Go not on !

The poison shall not penetrate!

Befnet, come!

Come forth on the ground!

1 am Isis the goddess.

The mistress of magic who doth magic,
The best one to speak (?) words.

Listen to me, ye reptiles of all kinds that bite!

Fall down, thou poison of Mestet!

The poison of Mest-(yo?)tef shall run no farther.

The poison of Petet and Tetet shall not rise!

Thou shalt not enter, Matet!

Fall down, do not bite!'"

After this "Isis the goddess, greatest in magic among the
gods" (cf. pp. 82, 200), begins another address to the scor-
pions. The terms of this are very obscure,^° but the lines
which we have quoted are sufficient to show that the ma-
gician merely narrates the story to keep all scorpions away
from the house or to render their bites harmless.^^

CHAPTER XIII

DEVELOPMENT AND PROPAGATION OF
EGYPTIAN RELIGION

AT first glance it would seem that the religion of ancient
-ZjL Egypt had been successfully stereotyped in prehistoric
times, and that the priests had completely re;alized their aims of
following the same ideas, worshipping the same gods, and using
the same forms of adoration as the blessed ancestors of that
incredibly remote age from which the bulk of their religious
beliefs must date. It is perhaps true that the Egyptians present
the most extreme case of religious conservatism that we know;
yet on closer examination we observe that even they could
not entirely resist the various influences which, in course of
time, are common to religion. We may thus observe many
gradual changes in religious thought and may watch the growth
or decay of creeds and forms of worship both in smaller and in
larger circles of the ancient Egyptians. Here, however, we can
sketch only the most salient features of such developments.

The representations of the gods in sacred art are, indeed, the
most remarkable instance of conservatism. The majority of
artistic types dated from the prehistoric period and underwent
very little alteration; it was only in Roman days that slight
adaptations to Grseco-Roman types of the divinities, were to be
found (see Fig. 218).^ Beginning with the New Empire many (or
even most) gods receive wings (Ch. V, Note 58), or at least have
indications of them, wrapped Hke shawls around the body; or
some parts of the dress have feather patterns as an indication
of celestial nature (cf. the type of Onuris-An-horet as pictured
in Fig. 146). The more archaic and primitive a statue was, the

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 213

more venerable it appeared (see p. 139, on Min, and p. 144, on
Ptah). In many instances, of course, the later artists did not
understand old models, but misinterpreted them to a consider-
able degree. -

The greater part of the religious development of Egypt lies
long before historic times, as is shown by the conflicting views
which meet us in the Pyramid Texts of the Fifth and Sixth
Dynasties. These texts were taken from books which, in part,
evidently were understood only imperfectly by the Egyptians
of 2800 B.C., and they are, consequently, the most ancient
religious texts of the whole world. At the same time a warning
must be uttered against the tendency, which is now prevalent,
to overrate too strongly their general antiquity. Some por-
tions may, it is true, date even from predynastic times, but the
bulk of the texts, according to the Osirian theology which is
dominant in them (p. 120), was written in the early Pyramid
Age, about 3000 b. c. The contradictory teachings of these
texts, especially in regard to cosmic forces and the life after
death, seem, as we have just said, to imply previous millenniums
of religious thought; but thus far it would be very hazardous
to date such views from these documents according to any
impressions of crude or advanced ideas which we may receive
from them. Are we quite certain, for example, that one of the
most primitive specimens of religious fancy, that the king's
soul lives by cannibalism on other souls, even those of the gods
(p. 202), goes back to the time before 5000 b. c, when the
dwellers in the valley of the Nile may well have been real can-
nibals.^ Could not a loyal magician's fancy wander thus far
even in the age of highest civilization.^ On the other hand, it is
not safe to assume that some isolated and remarkable advances
of thought in these texts, e.g. a certain moral standard de-
manded even for the king if he is to be admitted to the realm
of the gods (p. 180), could not be much earlier than the great
development of Egyptian civilization which begins about
3000 b. c. The Egyptians themselves could not classify the

214 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

traditions. Wherever we find the theologians wrestHng with the
problem of reconciling the worst contradictions among the
religious traditions of the ancients, their thought, fettered by
the fear of losing anything derived from antiquity, could move
only in strange circles, increasing the number of inconsisten-
cies by awkward attempts to harmonize them and invariably
ending in what appears to us to be utter confusion (see, for
example, the myth of the lost eye of the sun, pp. 29, 90, or
the conflicting views on the ocean, pp. 47, 106). This helpless
attitude toward the traditions remains characteristic of
Egyptian theology in all periods.

It is clear that the purely animistic stage which we presup-
pose as the very earliest stratum of religious thought (p. 15)
was far prior to the historic period. Even in the remote days
when the first attempts were made to reduce religious poetry
to writing (i. e., probably, before 4000 b. c.) the Egyptians
must have outgrown this primitive stage of pure animism.
Nevertheless that system of thought left strong traces in the
religion of all the millenniums which followed, and its expres-
sion in so many small isolated local cults actually remained
the most characteristic feature of Egyptian religion through-
out its history (p. 18). We may suppose that the next step,
probably some time before the historic period, was marked
by a tendency which sought to remove all the old local spirits
and fetishes from this earth and to place them in heaven.^ It
would seem, therefore, that the tendency to make the gods
cosmic (i. e. to distribute the forces of nature among them)
must be dated somewhat later still, since it implies the initial
steps toward a philosophic conception of the universe.

Before any real system had developed from these attempts
at primitive philosophy, they were crippled by the exaggerated
position given to the sun in the cosmic pantheon (p. 24). No
cosmic function seemed desirable for any local deity except
that of the sun, the lord of heaven. The solarization of the
pantheon is traceable at least as early as the First Dynasty

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 215

(see p. 26 for the blending of different Ideas regarding the sun-
god which we find at that period). Re' appears to have become
solar at an earHer period than Horus, whose cosmic explanation
hovered even later between the celestial and the solar Interpreta-
tion (p. 28). The increasing emphasis laid on the official role
of these two blended solar deities as protector, type, ancestor,
and even soul of the king (p. 170) did not stop the free trans-
ference of this kind of cosmic conception, and later It proceeded
more rapidly (see e. g. p. 149 for Sokarl's solarlzation In the
Pyramid Texts). In the Middle and New Empires few deities
escaped some degree of assimilation to It. In particular Amon
of Thebes, advancing to the position of lord of the pantheon,
became an Imitation of Horus-Re' which was called Amen-Re'
(p. 129); and most goddesses were solarized as the "daughter"
or "eye" or "diadem" of the sun (p. 29). Lunarlzation of
divinities, on the other hand, remained a rare process (p. 34).
The other cosmic functions were distributed only in very in-
complete and unsuccessful fashion, as has been shown In
Ch. III. Repetitions of such functions, therefore, never caused
serious difficulty to the Egyptian theologians.

It is not easy to estimate the enormous number of divinities
in the Egyptian pantheon at the beginning of history. Fortu-
nately many deities whose popularity decreased in comparison
with the "great gods" fell Into oblivion; and this diminution,
which continued In the historic period, must have made con-
siderable progress long before the days of the pyramid-builders.
Xhe'priests never hastened this process of reduction violently;
all that they could do to bring the bewildering mass of divine
names into some degree of system was to endeavour to form
at least approximate groupings of the deities and to place them
in mutual relation on the model of a human genealogy. The
numerous triads (p. 20) may represent the beginning of this
classification and may have satisfied the smaller local centres
for a long time. At the place which was the most important
for the theological history of Egypt, Heliopolis (p. 31), a wider-

2i6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

reaching grouping of the nine most important divinities of all
Egypt was undertaken, possibly somewhat before the beginning
of the Pyramid Period. This "ennead" (perhaps a triple triad
in origin) consisted of the following genealogy: ^

Sun (Atum or Re')

A

Shu

Tefen

A

Qeb

Nut

A

_A.

Osiris and Isis Seth and Nephthys

Imperfect as this system was, It was felt to be a great step
forward. Parallel with this "great ennead," therefore, a "little
ennead" was later formed in which the other gods of the Osirian
cycle and Thout found a place, together with various minor
divinities. Sometimes the double ennead of eighteen gods was
expanded into a triple one of twenty-seven. The ennead of
Heliopolis and its duplication became known and mentioned
everywhere, but the priests could not follow it strictly if it did
not include the local divinity, or if it failed to give this deity
his proper eminence. Accordingly local imitations sprang up,
as when, for example, at Memphis one began with Ptah as the
earliest and the foremost god. Everywhere the priests tended
to ascribe nine followers to their principal deity or to make him
the chief of eight other gods. Thus the term "ennead" finally
lost its numerical meaning and became synonymous with
"circle of associated gods." The unsystematic character of the
Egyptian mind clearly revealed itself in these attempts at
some methodical arrangement.^

As for the kaleidoscopic character of the mythology, there
never was a rationalizing wish to change it. We children of an
over-rationalistic age too easily forget that most mythologies
once had this indistinctness of character and that to the ancient
mind it was not a disadvantage, but a beauty. In like manner

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 217

the Egyptians, proud of the wealth of fanciful variants which
distinguished their mythology above those of all the neigh-
bouring countries were careful not to correct this mystic
confusion, which we find so bewildering. Even in Plutarch's
systematizing account of the Osiris-myth we see how seldom
the necessity of harmonizing contradictory variants was felt.

The next mode of adapting the incoherent cults of the an-
cestors to the mind of a more advanced age was always the
comparison and identification (syncretism) of similar gods.
The assimilation of deities must have been in progress even
before the time when cosmic ideas were made to underlie the old
names. It was impossible not to compare and identify divinities
with the same animal form or with similar symbols or dress.
Thus the lionesses Sekhmet, Tefenet, and Pekhet, for example,
were treated as manifestations of one and the same personality
at an early date, and soon the cat Ubastet joined them. Next,
identical functions led to identification. When almost all fe-
male divinities assumed the character of personifications of the
sky (Ch. VIII, Note 2), it was natural to ask whether they
were not merely different forms or names of one great goddess.
The male pantheon did not lend itself to identifications quite
so easily, for more individuality was exhibited in it; nevertheless
it could be reduced to a very limited number of types. When
the solarization which we have just described was applied to
almost any of these types, it became possible to fuse them all
into one god of the universe. As the first steps rather bold in-
stances occur as early as the Pyramid Texts, where several
divinities not too similar in character are declared to differ
only in name.^ This contradiction of the theory that the name
is the most essential thing in a deity was reconciled with it by
the doctrine that all names and personifications are not alike;
some are greater, and one is the greatest, most true, original,
and essential (p. 201). This permitted the full preservation of
local names and cults; the priests of each local divinity or the
worshippers of a special patron could claim that their deity

21 8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

was the oldest and best of all "names" or manifestations of
that god whom the king officially recognized as the leader or
father of the pantheon. Side by side with such religious par-
ticularism, however, the process of assimilation and identi-
fication went on unhindered until, after 1600 b. c, it ended in
the most radical syncretism, in a pantheistic approach to
monotheism which will be described below.

It must not be forgotten, however, that all such speculations
remained the property of a few priests of the highest rank of
education who had mastered the whole realm of traditional
theology with so much success that they were able to reach
beyond it. Ordinary people said their prayers and deposited
their offerings at the local temple without speculations on the
nature of the deity whom they thus worshipped. His adora-
tion had continued from time immemorial, and this was reason
enough for following the trodden path, leaving the interpreta-
tion of the venerable traditions to the theologians. Yet, con-
trary to the opinion often held by modern writers, the teach-
ings of these learned priests were not mysteries withheld from
the laity. There was no secrecy about them; they were gener-
ally inscribed on temple walls where they might be read by all
who could do so; and they were repeated in places which were
even more easily accessible. The limited number of those who
could read difficult texts and the conservatism of the masses
sufficed to prevent the spread of ideas which might sometimes
have become dangerous to traditionalism. It was only some
funerary texts of a semi-magic character which pretended to be
"a book great in secrecy," as when we read in one later
-^chapter of the Book of the Dead^ "Allow no human eye to see
it; a forbidden thing it is to know it; hide it." Yet ultimately
any one might buy this mysterious literature for his dead
(cf. p. 199).

These speculations of learned priests, furthermore, ordina-
rily moved along strange lines, as we have stated on p. 214. It is
only in rare instances that they are philosophical, and for the
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:55:29 PM: 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::o)°^<^=^«

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!
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:56:16 PM: EGYPTIAN RELIGION 229

Thou hast created the earth according to thy heart —

Thou being alone —

Men, flocks, and all animals,

Whatsoever is on earth,

Going on feet,

Whatsoever is high in the air, flying with its wings,

The foreign lands, Syria and Ethiopia,

(And) the land of Egypt.

Thou assignest every man to his place,

Thou makest what they need.

Each one hath his food.

And his lifetime is counted.^^

The tongues are distinguished in speech;

Their forms and also their skins ^^ are differentiated;

(Thus) thou didst distinguish the strange nations.

Thou madest the Nile in the lower world.

Thou bringest him according to thy liking.

For furnishing life to mankind.

As thou hast made them for thyself,

Thou, their lord, (lord) of them all,

Resting among them,^^

Thou lord of every land

Who ariseth for them,

O sun-disk of the day, great of power!

All foreign countries, the remote.

Thou makest life for them;

(Because) thou hast placed a Nile in the sky,

It descendeth for them,

It maketh waves on the mountain like the great ocean,

Irrigating ^'^ their fields in their towns.

How excellent are thy plans, O lord of eternity!

Thou [hast established] *^ the Nile in the sky for the foreign lands

And for the wild beasts of every mountain country wandering on ^

their feet;
(But) the Nile cometh from the underworld for Egypt.

Thy rays nourish ^^ every green spot;
(When) thou risest, they live
And they grow for thee.

230 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Thou hast made the seasons

To produce all that thou makest;

The winter to cool them,

The (season of) heat (when) they (really) taste thee.

Thou didst make the sky far away to rise in it

And to behold all that thou makest.

Thou art alone, rising in thy forms as a living disk,

Appearing, shining, departing, and (again) drawing nigh.

Thou makest millions of forms from thyself alone.

Cities, villages, and tribes.

Highways and rivers;

Every eye beholdeth thee before them

(When) thou art the disk of day-time above [them]."

The text, apparently becoming corrupt after this strophe,
has some very obscure sentences whose approximate meaning
seems to be: "Thou hast not (?) gone away since (}) thine
eye hath existed (which.?) thou hast created for (?) them that
thou shouldst not see joy (.'')"; and it then continues in a
more personal prayer.

"Thou art in my heart (i.e. understanding);
None other is there who knoweth thee
Except thy son, Akh-en-aten;
Thou hast made him wise in thy plans and in thy power.^

The (whole) earth is at thy command

As thou hast made them.

When thou hast risen, they (feel) alive;

When thou hast set, they (feel) dead.

(Thus) in thyself ^^ thou art lifetime;

People live from thee;

(All) eyes (are fixed) on thy beauty until thou settest;

All work is stopped (when) thou settest in the west.

Arising, thou makest [everything good.^] grow for the king

[Who hath been a servant following thee.''],^^

For thou hast founded the earth

And raised it *'' up for thy son.

The one who came forth from thy limbs.

The king of Upper and Lower Egypt,

Living in ^^ truth, lord of both countries,

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 231

Nefer-khepru-re' [" the Best of the Forms of the Sun "; cf. p. 170],

Ua'-n-re' [" the Only One of the Sun "],
Son of the sun, living in *^ truth,
The lord of diadems, Akh-en-aten.
Long (be) his life,

And the chief royal wife, beloved of him,
The mistress of both countries,
Nefer-nefru-aten, Nefert-iti,
Who liveth and flourisheth for ever and for eternity."

There are some shorter hymns and prayers of this same
period, usually abridged from the long hymn w^hich we have
just quoted.'*^ All of them have the same character: they fol-
low a modern, lyric style of poetic description, depicting nature
with a minute observation of small details, but they present
scarcely a religious thought which cannot be found In earlier
literature. They might almost as well have been written of the
solar deities of preceding generations.

The reaction which set In after the death of Amen-hotep IV
re-established the old forms and names of the deities every-
where and even sought to emphasize them more than before.
It was easy to destroy the heresies of the schismatic Pharaoh
since his short-lived reform had nowhere penetrated the masses.
If the reformation left any trace, we might find It in the fact
that the style of religious literature did not return to the dry
formalism which had reigned before the New Empire; the
warmer, pletlstic tone was maintained, and this could be done
with Impunity since the heretical movement did not, strictly
speaking. Inaugurate this style, which had had forerunners
before the time of Amen-hotep IV. This lyric, personal tone ^^
seems to deepen even In the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Dynasties, so that the worship of the ancient deities was,
after all, not quite the same as In the days of the ancestors,
and this wholly apart from the pantheistic syncretism of
scholars. The texts reveal an increasing tendency to break
away from formalism in worship and to Inculcate a personal
devotion to the deity. They emphasize that the divinity loves

232

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Fig. 217. Prayer-Stele with
Symbols of Hearing

man, not merely the human race, but each Individual, even
the most humble; the very animals are objects of his fatherly
care. Where earlier poetry praised the divine power exclusively
and regarded It with awe alone, now the kindness of the gods

toward the poor and needy Is de-
scribed. The sick, the orphan and
the widow, and the unjustly accused
win not pray in vain for deliverance
from their misery (cf. p. 237). Such
fatherly love must be reciprocated
by a manifestation of man's love
toward the deity and by devotion to
him and to his worship. We no-
where find it stated in plain words
that sacrifices or ritual alone cannot
save; yet the wise Anl,^^ who seems
to have lived at the end of the
Eighteenth Dynasty, at least de-
nounces the belief that loud, formal, and lengthy prayers can
compel the deity to do his worshipper's bidding.

"The sanctuary of the god,^^ shouting is Its abhorrence;
Pray for thyself with a loving heart!
All his (?) words ^* are in secret;
He performeth thy cause;
He heareth thy saying;
He receiveth thy sacrifice."

With this lofty view of prayer we may contrast the con-
temporary stelae which pilgrims erected and on which they
depicted first one pair of ears to express the invocation, "May
the god hear my supplication!" and then multiplied these sym-
bols to show how intensely they desired to compel the deity to
hearken, as In the accompanying cut, whose inscription reads,
"Praise to the soul {ka) of Ptah, the lord of justice, great In
might, (who) heareth prayer!"

Other advanced thinkers departed even further from formal-

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 233

ism by urging the silent, humble prayer of the contrite heart,
as when we read:^'*

"Thou savest the silent, O Thout,
Thou sweet well of water for him who is athirst in the desert!
It is closed for the eloquent; ^^
It is open for the silent.

When the silent cometh, he findeth the well;
The one that bumeth with heat, him dost thou refresh."

This does not mean that it is not man's duty to honour the
gods by praise, for he must extol them constantly before men.

"I make praises for his name,
I praise him to the height of heaven;
As wide as the ground (of the earth) is
I describe his power to them that go southward and northward." ^^

The wise AnI certainly would not destroy all formalism, for
in his Maxims we read:^^

"Celebrate the feasts of thy god!
Observe^* his (sacred) seasons!
The god is wroth when he experienceth trespassing."

See also p. 178 for his admonition to sacrifice for the dead
in the traditional way.

The deities expect not only loving worship, but also obedi-
ence to their moral demands; if these be broken, affliction will
follow as a speedy punishment.

"Beware of him!
Tell it to (thy) son and to (thy) daughter.
To the great and to the small!
Report it t© the (present) generation
And to the generation which hath not yet come!
Report it to the fish in the deep.
To the birds in the sky!
Repeat it to him who doth not yet know it,
And to him who knoweth it!
Beware of him!" ^^

234 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

In remorse a man who seems to have sworn a false oath by
the moon-god erects a stele to confess his sin:^°

"I am a man who had wrongly said,
' (As) he remaineth' to the moon concerning (?) the barrier (?). ^^
Then before the whole country he made me see how great his might is.
I report thy power to the fish in the river
And to the birds in the sky.

They (i.e. mankind) shall say to the children of their children,
'Beware of the moon, who can turn this (away) when he is
appeased.'"

A similar case is described more pathetically.®^ A man grew
blind, attributed his affliction to perjury which he had com-
mitted, and implored the god's forgiveness in the following
words :

"I am one who swore falsely by Ptah, the Lord of Justice;
He made me see darkness in day-time.
I shall tell his power to the one who knoweth him^^ not, as well as

to the one who knoweth,
To the small and to the great.
Beware of Ptah, the Lord of Justice!
Behold, he doth not overlook a (wrong) deed of any man.
Abstain from pronouncing Ptah's name wrongly!
Lo, he who pronounceth it wrongly,
Behold, he goeth to destruction.

He made me to be like a dog on the street;
I was in his hand.

He made me to be a spectacle for men and for gods
Since I have been a man who wrought abomination against his
master.

Ptah, the Lord of Justice, is just to me;
He hath afflicted me with punishment.
Be merciful unto me!
I have seen that thou art merciful."

Another man excuses himself before the deity In a more gen-
eral way:^^ "I am an ignorant, heartless (i.e. stupid, brainless)
man who knoweth not the difference between good and evil."
Others declare that mankind as a whole is weak and helpless

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 235

before the gods. Even when no specific sin burdens the con-
science, it is well to confess this human weakness before the
divinities and to assume that they might easily discover faults
if they were not so gracious and forgiving. This is the tone of
the following hymn:^^

"Thou (art) the only one, O Har-akhti!
There is none indeed like unto him,
(Able to) protect millions
And to shield hundreds of thousands,
Thou protector of him who calleth for him!

Lord of Heliopolis, reproach me not for my many sins!

1 am one who knoweth not (anything) ,^^
Whose breast ^^ Is Ignorant;

I am a man without heart; ®^

I spend the whole time walking after my own mouth

As an ox (goeth) after the grass.

If I forget ( ?) my time, . . .

I walk . . . " «9

This pietistic tone penetrates even the oflftcial Inscriptions.
We find Pharaohs who humbly pray to the gods for divine
guidance and illumination where, according to the traditional
theory of Egyptian kingship (p. 170), they should have spoken
haughtily as being themselves incarnate divinities and masters
of all wisdom. Thus one royal prayer runs : ''^ " Suffer me not
to do that which thou hatest; save me from that which is
wicked!" Nevertheless such humble confessions of royal
fallibility and weakness are not so numerous as the parallel
assertions of the older view, according to which the Pharaoh
was too far above the level of ignorant and feeble humanity
to commit sin. After 1000 b.c. the old formalism, generally
speaking, stifled the pietistic tone more and more, especially
after 750, when mechanical copying of the earliest forms was
the prevailing tendency, and when Egyptian conservatism cele-
brated Its greatest triumph. In Increasing measure it became
the highest ambition of the theologians to search the ruins of
temples and tombs for Inscriptions and papyri, and to gather

236 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

from them old and imperfectly known texts, as well as names
and pictures of the gods whom the ancestors had worshipped,
thus bringing to light many forgotten divinities. This archaiz-
ing tendency begins with the Ethiopian kings of the eighth
century b. c. and culminates in the fourth century with the
reign of Nectanebo, a pious monarch famous in later tradition
also as a scholar and magician, who has left a surprising num-
ber of monuments illustrative of the pantheon and of the
doctrines of the remote past (see p. 207).

To demonstrate the great contrast between the pietistic style
in the religious poetry of the New Empire and the old poetic
vein we quote a specimen from a long hymn to Amen-Re'
which is preserved in a papyrus of the museum at Cairo.'^^
This hymn is composed of poetic fragments of various ages
and thus exhibits the old formalism side by side with the more
lyrical style. In it, accordingly, we find examples of the most
stilted and archaic tone:

"Awake in health, Mln-Ainon,^^
Lord of eternity.
Who hath made endless time!
Lord of adoration,
The one before . . .^^

Firm of horns,

Fair of face,

Lord of the crown,

With high feathers!

Fine with the ribbon on his head,'*

(Wearing) the white crown.

The serpent diadem and the two serpents of Buto ^^ belong to his

face.
The ornaments (.^) of the one in the palace,'^
The double crown, the royal cap, and the helmet!
Fine of face when he hath received the fourfold crown!
Who loveth the Southern as well as the Northern crown!
Master of the double crown who hath received the sceptre!
Master of the club, holding the whip,
The good ruler who appeareth with the white crown!"

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 237

Thus far the hymn merely describes the incredibly old statue
of the god Min of Koptos (p. 139), of whose mythological char-
acter the poet could say little, since he was obviously unwilling
to follow the deity's later identification with Osiris (pp. 139,
156). At this point the style becomes slightly more vivid and
modern, and passes over into a hymn to the sun.

"Lord of rays, maker of light,
To whom the gods give praises,
Who sendeth forth his arms as he will!
His enemies fall by his flame.
It is his eye which overthrew the wicked.
It sent its spear to be swallowed by the abyss,
It forced the impious dragon to spit forth what he had swallowed.^''

Hail to thee, O Re', lord of truth.

Whose shrine is mysterious, master of the gods!

Khepri In his ship,

Who uttered the command, and the gods were made!

Atumu, the creator of men.

Who distinguished their forms and made their life.

Distinguishing the form ^^ of one from (that of) the other!"

Now follows a section in the most modern, lyric vein:

"Who hearkeneth to the prayer of him that is In prison,
Kind of heart when one crieth unto him!
Who delivereth the timid from him that is violent of heart,
Who judgeth the oppressed, the oppressed and the needy!

Lord of knowledge, on whose lips is wisdom,''^

At whose pleasure the Nile cometh!

Lord of pleasantness, great of love,

Who giveth *° life to men.

Who openeth every eye!

O thou (that wert) made in the abyss.

Who created pleasure and light!

The gods rejoice at the signs of his goodness, ^^

Their hearts revive when they behold him."

The next section of the hymn reverts to a jejune style which
celebrates the deity, as worshipped In Thebes and Heliopolis,
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:56:57 PM: 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
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:57:38 PM: NOTES 363

the historic period in Egypt, where the divine name was used (and
abused) in direct proportion to its sanctity. On the other hand, the
names of certain ancient gods seem to have disappeared at a very
early time. Thus the crocodile with an ostrich-feather, which once
was worshipped in Denderah, remained on the standard of the nome,
but its name was so completely lost that later it was held to symbolize
the conquest of Seth (here boldly identified with Sobk) by Horus (in
this instance explained as symbolized by the feather; see Mariette,
Denderah, iii. 78). A divine name rendered in three contradictory
ways {Pyr. 1017, 1719, etc.), so that we must conclude that it was
unfamiliar to scholars as early as 30CX) b. c, may have many par-
allels in names of doubtful occurrence or reading in the earliest
hieroglyphic inscriptions.

9. Mariette, Les Mastaba, p. 112; Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. 279
(near Memphis.'').

Chapter II

1. On his later role in the Osiris-myth as son, re-embodiment,
and avenger of Osiris see pp. 102, 113, 11 5-1 8, where the now popular
theory is criticized that the winged disk of Edfu is the earliest form
of Horus (p. loi).

2. This interpretation is evidently based on an etymological con-
nexion with the root khoper, "to become, to be formed." This ety-
mology leads also to an explanation of the name as "the One who
Forms Himself, the Self-Begotten," as the sun-god later was called.
For the earliest orthography, Kheprer, see Pyr. 12 10, 2079.

3. A localization of Khepri at Heliopolis is scarcely original, for
Atum(u) was the earlier solarized god of this place.

4. Some texts seem to understand the two sekhnui of the sun to
be gangways, or something of the sort. Pyr. 337, for example, says,
"Throw down the two gangways {sekhnui) of the sky for the sun-
god that he may sail thereon toward the (eastern) horizon." Then
their number is doubled, and they are located at the four cardinal
points (see Pyr. 464), "These four clean gangways are laid down for
Osiris' when he comes forth to the sky, sailing to the cool place."
Later their name is transferred to the four pillars of heaven. The
original meaning of the word seems very soon to have become odscure.
In the earliest pictures (Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. Plates X-XI) it is
clearly a mat hanging from the prow of the solar ship.

5. Very late art even tries to make it a curtain of beads or an
ornament symbolizing the rays of the sun (e. g. Benedite, Philae,
Plate XLIII); or it may appear as a black tablet adorned with stars
{Ani Papyrus).

364 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

6. Pyr. 1209. The numerical symbolism is interesting.

7. Later this expression loses its original force, so that all the
righteous dead are expected to join the elect who sail in the boat of
the sun (p. 26).

8. Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah, Plate XL

9. These wars belong more properly to the later mythology; see
p. 106.

10. The earlier idea was that during the night the bark of the sun
was drawn by jackals "in the mountain to a hidden place" {Harris
Magic Papyrus, 5). This and the idea of the "jackal (lakes)" {Pyr.
1 164, 1457), or "jackal field(s)," into which the sun descends, seem to
date from the time when the dog or jackal Anudis (already possibly
identified with Ophois) was the only ruler of the nether world (see
pp. 98, iio-ii). Cf. the jackals at "the lake of life" (Bonomi and
Sharpe, Oimenepthah, Plate VIII). The rope around the neck of such
jackal-gods seems to refer to their towing of the solar ship.

11. Later, by a misreading, the "flaming island," or "island of
flames," is interpreted as the "lake of flames" or the "canal of
flames." The former becomes the place of torment for the wicked;
while the latter is evolved into that portion of the subterranean
water-way where the sun battles with its diabolical adversary 'Apop
(pp. 104-06). Theologians also seek to distinguish other parts of the
ocean where the sun sets or rises, e.g. the "lakes of growing [or of
Khepri.^], of Heqet, and of Sokari" (Virey, Tombeau de Rekhmara,
Plate XXIV). Four lakes (ib. Plate XXVII) refer to the four sources
of the Nile as the birthplace of the sun (p. 46).

12. Or Mese(n)ktet; cf. P. Lacau, in RT xxv. 152 (1903), on the
doubtful pronunciation of this name.

13. This is a strange feature, since Heliopolis, the place of worship of
this latter local form of the sun, was situated at the eastern frontier
of the Delta, so that we should expect him to represent the morn-
ing appearance. It is possible that Atum was the earliest solariza-
tion of a local god in Lower Egypt, so that he could represent the
old sun, quite as Re' did in some of the later myths (see the following
Note). On the original sacred animal of Atum see p. 165.

14. See the myths recounting why the gods withdrew from earth
(pp. 76-79). It is for this reason that very late texts equate Re'
with the feeble and dethroned Kronos of Classical mythology.

15. The special name given to this ram-headed form, Ef, Euf, can-
not yet be definitely explained. Later the sun, again like Khnum, is
often represented with four rams' heads, probably on the analogy of
the four mythological sources or subterranean branches of the Nile.

16. These numbers can be traced to the divisions of the month by
seven and fourteen, which fit both the solar and the lunar chronology.

NOTES 36s

17. See E. Lefebure, Le Mythe osirien, i. Les Yeux d'Horus, Paris,

1874-

18. For a picture of the sun-god sitting on his stairs and with a
single eye instead of a head see Mariette, Denderah, iv. 78.

19. It is difficult to determine the extent to which the Asiatic
concept of the planet Venus as a daughter of the sun (pp. 54, loi)
and the femininity of the sun in certain Asiatic languages and re-
ligious systems may have affected the Egyptian development in this
regard.

20. It is possible that the "female sun," Re'et, or "Re'et of the
two countries" {RaH taui), originated from these individualizations
of the solar eye; yet it may have been merely the tendency to divide
gods, especially those of cosmic character, into a male divinity and
his female consort, as we find Amon(u)-Amonet, Anup(u)-Anupet,
etc. At all events, the divinity Re'et, who was worshipped as a
minor deity at Heliopolis and some other places, is usually human-
headed and is treated as analogous to the celestial goddesses, as is
shown by her head-dress of horns and the solar disk; sometimes she
is also analogous to the lion-headed Tefenet.

21. The original meaning of this symbolism was sometimes
confused by the fact that Seth came from the "golden city" of
Ombos.

22. Pyr. 391; similarly 1178. The two obelisks in heaven were also
called "the two marks, or signs [i. e. limits], of power" {sekhmui), a
phrase which the later Egyptians did not understand and interpreted
mechanically as "two sceptres" (W. Spiegelberg, in RT xxvi. 163
[1904]).

23. On the divine descent and worship of all kings see pp. 170-71.

24. W. von Bissing, in RT xxxv. 167 (1902).

25. "The great (cosmic) source" in Heliopolis {Pyr. 810).

26. See the three hawks from Pe-Dep (Buto) and the three jackals
from Nekhen (Hierakonpolis), these latter animals from the "Hawk
City" forming a strange contradiction to its name (Lepsius, Denk-
mdler, iv. 26, 77, 87, etc.).

27. For the name of these baboons, Hetu (feminine Hetet; cf. Hetet,
Pyr. 505), see H. Schafer, in AZ xxxi. 117 (1893), and Lanzone,
DizionariOy p. 505. The sacred qejden (or henti) monkeys seem to be
little different. Female marmosets surround the morning star {Pyr.
286). Regarding the four baboons of Thout, especially as the judges
and guardians of condemned souls, see p. 180.

366 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Chapter III

1. The moon as the father of the heavenly god {Pyr. 1104) is an
isolated thought.

2. Thus he ought to correspond to the planet Mercury in the
mythologies of other nations (see Note 63, on Sebgu). Phoenician
mythology borrowed his name, under the form Taaut, as the in-
ventor of writing.

3. Later the baboon form of Thout was called "Esden," as at
Denderah; but this appellation seems to be merely a copyist's cor-
ruption of Esdes, the name of a god who is mentioned together with
Thout as a wise counsellor and judge (for a collection of some early
passages concerning Esdes see Erman, Gesprdch eines Lebensmilden
mit seiner Seele, p. 28), the two being subsequently blended. Esdes
is represented as having the head of a wolf or jackal (Mariette,
Denderah, iv. 21; cf. also ChampoUion, Notices, i. 417, Lepsius,
Denkmdler, i. 100, Diimichen, Patuamenap, iii. 28). It is possible
that he was an earlier god of some necropolis who once wavered
between identification with Thout and with Anubis, both being
judges of the dead. If we were certain that he originally had a
baboon's shape, we should assume that he was the god who trans-
ferred it to Thout.

4. Even as early as this period Khonsu is sometimes identified
with the clerk Thout (Erman, Gesprdch, p. 27).

5. Thus at Ombos Khons appears as the son of the solarized
Sobk and of Hat-hor, the sky.

6. The symbol of the double bull has the value khens (e. g. Pyr.
416 as a constellation connected with hunting, as also on the "Hunt-
er's Palette") and likewise seems to appear among constellations on
the magic wands (p. 208). For the other symbol see on Dua,
Ch. VII, Note 21.

7. For these female pillars see Mariette, Denderah, ii. 55; De
Morgan, Ombos, i. 254. For other interpretations of the four pillars
of heaven see p. 44 on Shu with the pillars, p. 39 on Hat-hor's tresses
in the same function, Ch. II, Note 4, on the later name of the four
pillars, and pp. 39, 111-13 on the sons or tresses of Horus. There
were various other concepts of heaven which were less popular. Thus
from the frequent idea of a ladder leading to the height of heaven
{Pyr. 472, etc.) was developed the thought thsK. heaven itself is a
great ladder (ib. 479), corresponding to the great stairway of the sun
in other texts. Many of these ideas are not yet deafly understood.
The concept of several superimposed heavens (as in Fig. 47) is rare;
but Pyr. 514, "he has united the heavens," and Pyr. 279, 541, "the

NOTES 367

two heavens," may refer to the opposed skies of the upper and lower
world.

8. Pyr. 1433, etc. For the two pillars as parallel to this idea see
pp. 30-31 and Ch. II, Note 22.

9. Pyr. 1216.

10. The oldest texts speak more frequently of the heavenly wild
bull, despite the Egyptian gender of the word pet; and this also seems
to explain why so many gods (especially deities of a celestial char-
acter) appear in the form of a black bull, since black and blue were
felt to be the same colour. In Pyr. 470, for instance, mention is
made of the heavenly bull with four horns, one for each cardinal
point. Accordingly in earlier tradition Osiris often has the form of a
bull. Thus the whole conception seems to be borrowed from coun-
tries farther north, where the lowing of heaven, i. e. thunder was
more common than in Egypt.

11. The later Egyptian theological interpretation of this name as
"the (celestial) house of Horus," i.e. the goddess who includes the
sun-god in his wanderings, is philologically impossible. Originally
the term can have meant nothing more than "temple with a face,"
i.e. with the skull of a cow nailed over its entrance to ward off evil
spirits. The head of the cow or ox as a religious symbol throughout
the ancient world may be traced partly to the Egyptian personifica-
tion of the sky and partly to earlier Asiatic motives. Later the
primary signification was no longer understood in most countries
outside Egypt, and the head of the cow or bull became a mere orna-
ment, although the "bucranium" still seems to have been used
preferably for religious decoration over the whole ancient world (see
E. Lefebure, "Le Bucrane," in Sphinx, x. 67-129 [1906]).

12. The "green ray" above the horizon has been used as an ex-
planation by modern scholars, but the daily rise and death of the sun
in the green ocean would seem to furnish a more natural interpreta-
tion. The Egyptians, however, were scarcely conscious of this origin
of "the green." We again find the idea of the green bed of the sun
in the story of Isis and the young sun in the green jungles of the
Delta (pp. 1 15-16), in "Horus on his green" (ib.), and probably also
in "the malachite lake(s)" in which the gods are sometimes said to
dwell {Pyr. 1784, etc.). Malachite powder falls from the stars {Pyr.
567), just as the blue lapis lazuli is celestial in origin (ib. 513).
Whether the goddess Hat-hor as the patroness of the malachite
mines on the Sinai'tic peninsula (and of a "Malachite City," Mefkat,
in Egypt) is intentionally thus identified with the green colour is
less certain, because Hat-hor also rules over all foreign countries. On
the other hand, the metal peculiar to the Asiatic Queen of Heaven
(Astarte, etc.) is copper, from which the green colour of the ancient

368 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Orientals was derived; but thus far we do not know whether this
explanation was primary or secondary. We are equally unable to
explain why the stars which cover the body of the heavenly cow in
Egypt usually have four rays, while all other stars are depicted with
five. Four is the special celestial or cosmic number (see e. g. Note 7,
on the pillars of heaven).

13. When a leopard's skin forms the garment of the goddess
(Mariette, Denderah, iii. 40), she is assimilated to the goddess of
fate.

14. Cf., in this connexion, Pharaoh's dream of the seven cows
proceeding from the floods and plants of the Nile to indicate the
nature of the coming harvest (Genesis xli).

15. See Brugsch, Religion, p. 318, Mariette, Denderah, iii. 59, 76,
Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 26, etc.

16. The reading Bat is furnished by Pyr. 1096, where her symbol
is clearly a cow's head on a standard, difi'ering from Hat-hor's symbol
only by the strong inward curve of the horns. The statement that
Bat had "a double face" (ib.) is thus far unique.

17. The pronunciation of this name is very uncertain; It might
also be read Nuet, Neyet, or Nunet, or in some other way contain-
ing two w's. If the name of the ocean was Nun or Nunu, we should
expect' Nunet, provided that the connexion of the goddess with the
ocean was not merely an etymological play upon words, which is
quite possible. Thus we retain a conventional error as pronuncia-
tion. For the equally doubtful pronunciation of Nuu or NQn see
infra, Note 38.

18. The earliest form of the name seems to have been Gebeb
(K. Sethe, In AZ xlill. 147 [1906]). For the reading Gebk (based on
the Greek transcription Kr?/3Kts) see W. Splegelberg, in AZ xlvi. 141-42
(1910), but cf. Note 63. The form Qeb Is here followed in harmony
with the Greek transliterations Kot/3ts, Krj/S, etc. Seb, the reading of
the early Egyptologists, is erroneous.

19. He cackles at night before he lays this eg^ {Harris Magic
Papyrus, vli. 7). The ordinary laws of sex, of course, do not apply
to the gods. See also p. 71 on the symbol of the &gg.

20. Thus as early as Pyr. 1464, etc. He is also master of snakes
in Pyr. 439 and master of magic, Ib. 477.

21. Qeb and Aker are mentioned together as early as Pyr. 796,
1014, 1713.

22. The Babylonian Nergal, the god of the lower world. Is a single
lion, but he may be, to a certain extent, parallel. Later we often
find Aker with two difi"erentlated heads or as a single Hon, as
when, for example In the accompanying picture (Lepsius, Denkmdler,
iii. 266), Nut, bearing the sun in the form of a scarab, bends over

NOTES

369

Fig. 221. Nut, Aker, and Khepri

him as over her usual husband Qeb. Again, the source-god
Khnum stands on the back of a lion, which thus represents the
depths of the earth (Mariette,
Denderah, iv. 80, etc.).

23. Champollion, Notices, ii.

584, 507-

24. See pp. 104-06. The
thought that the underworld
was a huge serpent, or that it
was encircled by one (an idea that may have been derived from the
similar representation of the ocean), seems to be still later and more
vague.

25. The pronunciation is not quite certain; it may be Shou. The
Greek renderings, 2co$, liwaos-, Swo-is, seem to presuppose also a
pronunciation Shoshu, but this may be based on an artificial ety-
mology from ashesh, "to spit out," to which allusion is made e.g.
in the creation-myth (Pyr. 1071, etc.; cf. p. 69). The lion-shaped

rain-spouts of the temples perhaps represent Shu,
although the later Egyptians were no longer conscious
of this fact, but called them simply "storm-spouts"
{shen\ Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 67, etc.).

26. When Shu is compared to the midday sun, this

seems to mean that the sun is most under his power

at noon, when the widest aerial space separates the

sun from the earth. This idea, perhaps combined

with an etymology from the verb showi, "to be dry,"

has led some Egyptologists to compare Shu to the

(dry.?) heat, the (drying.'') air; but in his prevalent

function as a god of air and wind he is often called

Fig. 222. the master of the cooling air-currents (cf. Fig. 71).

Shu with Four Whether another etymology, from shuo (or shuy ?),

Feathers u^^ I^^ empty, to empty," is the original reason for

his identification with Heh, "the empty space," or is only a secondary

etymological paronomasia like so many of the forced etymologies of

Egyptian theology (see Note 30 on Tefenet), is fully as doubtful.

His earliest cosmic function seems to have been solar (and is still

so, for example, in Orbiney Papyrus, v. 7); yielding to more recent

sun-gods, he had early to assume the inferior role of carrying these

deities.

27. The transition may frequently be seen in pictures which, as
in Naville, Deir el Bahari, Plate XLVI, represent "Shu, the son of the
sun," with four feathers. Cosmic explanations of this number easily
suggest themselves (see Notes 7, 10, Ch. II, Note 15, Ch. V, Notes
27, 67).

XII — 25
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:58:12 PM: 370 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

28. This name is not to be pronounced Tefnut, Tefnuet, and con-
sequently is not to be connected with the sky-goddess Nut.

29. At first she aids Shu in holding the sky {Pyr. 228, 1443, 1691,
etc.), a function which the later Egyptians no longer mentioned.

30. An etymological connexion with tof, "to spit," seemed possi-
ble only to the paronomasiac mind of the Egyptian scribes (cf. Note
26 on the name of Shu), although this play on words appears as early
as Pyr. 1652. Nevertheless they did not interpret it of her cosmic
function, but of her creation by the sun-god. The conclusion of
early Egyptologists that she denoted the dew rests on an erroneous
etymology of her name ("spittle of Nut"), which is not supported
by Egyptian texts (see Note 28 on the lack of a connexion with the
name Nut).

31. This, however, does not seem to be a very ancient expression.
The name is subsequently confused with an old god Ruruti (.^), who
is mentioned side by side with Atum {Pyr. 447 [like his wife?], 696,
2081, 2086; see also A. Erman, in AZ xxxviii. 25 [1900]).

32. Ha'pi is not androgynous, as Egyptologists usually state;
see p. 46 on his two wives. The pendulous breast recurs on many
Egyptian representations of fat men; and the obesity of Ha*pi
(Greek pronunciation 'fi</>i or 'fi^t; cf. the Kpcoc^t and M<2i</)t of
Herodotus, ii. 28; the earliest orthography is simply Hp) symbolizes
the fertility which is brought by the life-giving river.

33. These are usually differentiated into the plant-hieroglyphs
for "north" and "south" in conformity with the traditional con-
ception of Egypt as "the two countries," or kingdoms. Another ex-
planation of the double Nile, according to its Egyptian or Nubian
course, can also be applied to this distinction.

34. Cf. Genesis ii.

35. See e.g. Griffith, Siut, Plate XVH, 42, and passim. Four
Niles are mentioned in Mariette, Denderah, iv. 81.

36. See Lanzone, Dizionario, Plate XIV, and Borchardt, Sa'hu-re\
Plates XXIX-XXX (whence our Fig. 41 is drawn).

37. Pyr. 1229.

38. The pronunciation is quite uncertain, and it is difficult to say
how the late (but excellent) tradition Nun can be reconciled with
the earlier orthography, which looks like Niu or Nuu. Later con-
nexions with n{y[?])ny, "to be weak, inert, lazy," might seem to
harmonize both traditions, but are apparently mere etymological
plays on words, such as have been discussed in Notes 26, 30.

39. Pyr. 1 69 1, etc.

40. Pyr. 1040.

41. Cf. praises of Nuu's fertility (Champollion, Notices, i. 731).

42. Champollion, Notices, ii. 429. Did the idea come from Asia?

NOTES

371

43. ChampoUIon, Notices, n. 423.

44. The artist who copied this picture from early models evidently
did not understand the two "mysterious gods" who appear behind
Nuu, one representing the sun and the other carrying a strange sym-
bol. In the latter we now see the divinity who figures -^
among the birth-deities and for his symbol carries a '
milk-vessel on his head (Naville, Deir el Bahari,
Plate LIII; in Gayet, Louxor, Plate LXVIII, signifi-
cantly enough, a figure of the Nile takes its place).
We might think that this is no new god, but merely
the cataract-deity Khnum, whose hieroglyph (a
pitcher with one handle) later artists may not have
recognized. In the old birth-temples he would thus
appear as the creator of the king (p. 51). It is, how-
ever, possible that here we have an earlier god of
the deep. Cf. Pyr. 123, 559, 565, where Ageb ("the
Cool One"), an earlier name for the abyss, seems to
be addressed as "water-furnisher (of the gods)."
His name is there written with a similar jar, unless
this is an earlier orthography for Nuu, which later
was imperfectly understood (cf. Pyr. 1565).

45. See Lepsius, "Uber die Cotter der vier Ele-
mente," in ABAW, 1856, pp. 181-234, who did not Fig. 223. Ageb,
yet understand the true meaning of these gods, i"^"^ Watery
They were very popular in magic as being the most ^^^^
mysterious forces imaginable. We cannot yet say whether their
strange shoes, which resemble a jackal's head, connect them with
the jackals who draw the ship of the sun (Ch. II, Note 10), etc.

46. Because of the difficulty of the latter idea some monuments
substituted the vaguer names Emen and Emenet ("the Hidden," as
in Pyr. 446), terms which have no connexion with Amon; occasionally
these other names replace the third pair in the ogdoad. A sarcoph-
agus in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, has for the
consort of Niu a variant Hemset ("the Sitting, Resting Force"), and
for that of Emen the primeval cow-form of the sky, Ehet, Ahet
(p. 40). Heh(u) is understood by some texts to mean "flood" (or
"rain-water"?). The earliest tradition knows only the first two pairs
(e.g. Lanzone, Domicile des esprits, v). On the system of dividing
every principle into a male and female person cf. Ch. II, Note 20;
it seems to symbolize the creative activity of the differentiated
forces of nature.

47. See Mariette, Denderah, iv. 76. The accompanying title,
"father of the gods," may be a trace of the original interpretation
as the ocean. Yet the earth-god Qeb also sometimes bears this title,

372 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

and it is certain that the latest period tried to find him in this unusual
representation.

48. This conception of spontaneous creation was too profound
for some priests, who gave gross interpretations to it, telling how
the god "became enamoured with himself" or with his shadow, or
polluted himself, such imaginings being found as early as Pyr. 1248
(cf. also the hymn of creation on p. 69). A more philosophical specu-
lative text says, "the soul (i. e. apparition, incarnation) of Nuu is
the sun-god," i. e. the sun is only a part of primitive matter {Destruc-
tion of Men, ed. E. Naville, 1. 86). See pp. 219-20 for this pantheis-
tic idea.

49. See Hieroglyphic Texts . . . in the British Museum, ii. 5, 6,
etc., and Mariette, Denderah, ii. 37.

50. e. g. Hieroglyphic Texts . . . in the British Museum, ii. 14
(Twelfth Dynasty). Both deities appear as masters of the necropo-
lis of Abydos, etc.

51. This belief was entertained even before the New Empire (cf.
Westcar Papyrus, x. 14, Book of the Dead, xxx). For the "double,"
or ka, see p. 174.

52. See Pyr. 1183-85 for the symbol of the feelers, which seem to
furnish the etymology (from sekhen, "to meet, to touch ".^ cf. Ch. II,
Note 4). The name of the goddess is written with the sign of the
two birth-bricks (e. g. Mariette, De^iderah, iv. 27, 29, etc.) or with
the bed (Budge, Book of the Dead, Plate III). As a birth-goddess
she is sometimes identified with Epet-Tueris (Mariette, loc. cit.).

53. The exact form is doubtful; only the consonants S-kh-t are
quite certain.

54. Borchardt, Sa'hu-re\ ii. 19.

55. Similarly the name of Nut Is often written with the hiero-
glyphic sign for "heaven" turned upside down, thus denoting the
heaven of the underworld (p. 41).

56. She may once have been another personification of the seven
Pleiades (cf. p. 40) or a single star which was rarely seen above the
horizon. On the question whether the eight-rayed star of the Semitic
Queen of Heaven is to be compared, since the shaft supporting the
star of Sekhalt might be counted as the eighth ray, see the present
writer's notes in MVG ix. 170 (1904). Cf. also the seven-rayed star
as a hieroglyph (Quibell, Hierakonpolis, Plates XXVIc, XXIX). For
another symbolism of the stellar rays see Note 12.

57. In the Greek period Sekhalt was, accordingly. Identified with
one of the Muses, though a more accurate parallel would be the
Sibyl. She seems to be the Selene of Plutarch {De Iside et Osiride,
xil), whom he describes as the mistress of time, although the femi-
ninity of the moon is quite foreign to Egyptian theology (pp. 32-34).

NOTES 373

In this capacity, according to him, she yields to the wise moon-god
one seventieth of the year (i. e. the five epagomenal days) for the
birth of the great gods. Plutarch or his source seems to have mis-
taken the horns of Sekhait for the lunar crescent.

58. This identification is found as early as Pyr. 268, etc. For
assimilation with Hat-hor see Note 13.

59. This is not her original name, as is often erroneously supposed,
but is merely an epithet which replaces it.

60. e. g. Pyr. 1207, where he is called "Horus of the Star-Abode"
(i.e. abode of the dead, the underworld) and "god of the ocean"
{Pyr. 1 719, etc.). It is not quite certain whether "the single
star" means the evening star as distinguished from the morning star.
In the Roman period the planet Venus was represented with two
male heads, this being, perhaps, an allusion to the double nature of
the star (Brugsch, Thesaurus, p. 68) or to that of Orion, its parallel
among the constellations.

61. A tradition {Pyr. 820) speaks of "the duat-stSLT who has bom
Orion," but this may be a mistake for duat, "nether world, lower
firmament." Pyr. 929, 1204, are obscure allusions to the birth of or
by the morning star. In some later cosmic pictures the female figure
carrying a star on her head and standing before the sun in his morn-
ing boat evidently meant Venus. The later Egyptians copied this
without comprehending it and interpreted the figure as representing
the hour of sunrise, a misunderstanding which proves that the
original of these pictures goes back to a much older time. In other
pictures, as that of two goddesses conceiving from the blood of
Osiris (Fig. 118), it is difficult to decide, for Isis-Sothis could be
meant, not the female morning star.

62. Pyr. 362, 488, 1455, etc.

63. Sebg(u)'s name is also written Sebga, Sebagu, early Coptic
Suke (F. LI. Griffith, in J'Z xxxviii. 77 [1900]). The
explanation of his association with Seth seems to
go back to the early attribution of a dangerous
character to the planet Mercury. In Champollion,
Notices, i. 452 = Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. 206, "Se-
beg who is in the wells (.^)" appears as a dread guar- pjc. 224. "Sebeg
dian of the underworld, while in the Book of the Dead, in the Wells"
cxxxvi A, his staircase is said to be at the sky. The
explanation of this change of interpretation may be found in cer-
tain very obscure old texts (P. Lacau, in RT xxvi. 225-28 [1904]),
where the dead fear "the pen and the inkstand of Gebga." It is
probable that this name Gebga is a corruption of Sebga, so that
Mercury really appears here like the Asiatic secretary of the gods,
the deity of judgement, corresponding to the Egyptian Thout. This

374 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Gebga is there once called "the son of (the sun-god) Atumu," and
at another time he is associated with the goddess of justice, so that
we are told that he can send the soul either to the lake of flames
(i.e. hell) or to the fields of the blessed (P. Lacau, m RT xxvi. 227
[1904]). It is not likely that the earth-god Qeb was meant here;
variants of his name, like the Greek variant KrjjS/cts (Note 18), may
be derived from the texts to which we have just referred.

64. Pyr. 749, 1 144; cf. p. 26. The planets likewise are divine
messengers {Pyr. 491).

65. ib. 1 187.

66. If this name connects her with the god Sopd(u), who is usually
called "the master of the east," we may infer that the Egyptians
were not conscious of this association (to which allusion appears to
be made only in Pyr. 1534), though it seems plausible because of
the similar head-dress, etc., of both divinities.

67. She appears thus in Mariette, Denderah, iv. 80, as well. This
association may be based either on earlier tradition or on a late,
but erroneous, etymology of the Greek pronunciation Scoots, re-
adapted to Egyptian sat (older form sat), "to shoot." The position
assigned to the two spouses in the picture given in the text (De
Morgan, Ombos, p. 250, Rosellini, Monumenti del culto, p. 78) tempts
us to regard them as counterparts who interchange places like va-
rious consorts in universal mythology, especially constellations who
descend alternately into the lower world. Though it could be possible
that, as Lepsius assumed {Denkmdler, iv. 49), we here have merely
a correcting superposition of one picture over another, yet the same
detail occurs on the oldest Sothis-Orion group^ described by G.
Daressy, in Annales du service des antiquites de VEgypte, i. 80 (1900);
it seems, therefore, to have been intentional.

68. Pyr. 965.

69. ib. 959. The south is here the lower world, as on p. 46, etc.

70. "Orion, the father of the gods" {Pyr. /F. 516 = T. 328). As
early as Pyr. M. 67 Orion is identified with Osiris and is connected
with the fatal vine. The most important star of Orion is that on his
shoulder {Pyr. 882, 1480, etc.). It is remarkable that the peculiar
turban or frontal ribbon of the Asiatic types of Orion (cf. on Reshpu,
P« ISS)> which often ornaments or blinds him, appears on the
oldest Egyptian representation of him (G. Daressy, Annales du service
des antiquites de VEgypte, i. 80 [1900]). Cf. the mysterious reference
to the fillet, e. g. "of the single star" {Pyr. 1048) or "on the head
of the sun" {Pyr. N. 37, etc.). When the Book of the Dead, xxiii,
speaks of a goddess as "the female Orion" or "the companion of
Orion {sahet) in the midst of the spirits (Ch. I, Note 2) of Heliopo-
Hs," the allusion is as yet inexplicable.

NOTES

375

71. After Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii. 170.

72. See the Book of That Which is in the Lower World, reproduced
by Budge, Egyptian Heaven and Hell, i. 58. This explains the strange
pictures of the Book of the Dead, xvii (manuscript Da, etc.)- It is
possible that a remarkable representation (Rosellini, Monumenti del
culto, p. 78, De Morgan, Ombos, i. 250) gives in two figures of Orion,
drawn athwart each other, a hint of the changing or antagonistic
nature of the twins, unless, as Lepsius {Denkmaler, iv. 49) assumes,
we have merely a corrected picture. See, however. Note 67 for a
similar instance.

73. This is indistinctly considered in Pyr. 925 and perhaps also
in 2120. Cf. Note 70 on his fillet. In Pyr. 1201 he is called "the
gate-keeper of Osiris." The names Nuru (1183), Heqrer (1222),
and Hezhez (1737), given to the ferryman, cannot yet be explained.
Pyr. 493 seems to ascribe to him two faces, one looking forward,
and the other backward.

74. See Book of the Dead, xvii. 63 (.''). The passages cliii. 8, 25;
clxx. 6, are obscure.

75. Thus Pyr. W. 511; Pyr. T. 332-34; Mariette, Denderah, iv.
7, 16; Book of the Dead, xvii. 63; De Morgan, Ombos, p. 68. In
Pyr. P. 707, he seems to give water and wine; Pyr. T. 41 connects
him with a "vine-city," probably because of the hieroglyph for
"press," just as his function of butcher may be derived from a forced
etymology oi seshem ("butcher's steel").

76. See G. Daressy, in Annales du service des antiquites de VEgypte,
i. 85 (1900), where the word is written Sebshesen, etc. The name of
the goddess was discovered by P. Lacau {RT xxiv. 198 [1902]; cf.
also E. Naville, in AZ. xlvii. 56 [1910]). It was so unfamiliar to
scribes of the Fifth Dynasty, and even earlier, that they doubted
whether it was not merely the same as Sekhmet (hence the meaning-
less repetition in Pyr. 390 = Book of the Dead, clxxiv. 8). It is possi-
ble that her lion's head comes simply from this identification with
Sekhmet, yet we must not forget that Shesmu also appears to be
leontocephalous. She seems to be a companion to the deity who is
called "the Horus of Shesmet" {Pyr. 449, etc.), although this may
be an adaptation of the ancient Shesmu to the worship of Horus
which prevailed later. At all events it is certain that when the dec-
anal circle was established in the prehistoric period, the names
Shesmu and Shesemtet must have been compared, though later the
connexion became unintelligible, except in the Greek decanal list,
where both are called Secr/xrj.

77. The decanal lists mention a number of other forgotten stellar
gods whose names are incredibly mutilated. Thus we know little
about the eighteenth, Semdet(i), who had the head of some animal

376 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

(Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. 270, etc.) and who appeared both in the
northern and in the southern sky (G. Daressy, \n RT xxi. 3 [1899],
and Annales du service des antiquites de FEgypte, i. 80 [1900]). None
of these gods played a part in mythology, for the decanal system,
originating in a very early period, soon became largely unintelligi-
ble. The "four sons of Horus" do not appear regularly among the
decans (see pp. 111-13). Brugsch {Thesaurus, p. 179) claimed to
have discovered a different decanal system, which would seem to
have been purely local.

78. This constellation is also called "the Club Stars" {Pyr. 458,
etc.). The number seven, which was generally unlucky to the Egyp-
tian mind, recurs in the Pleiades, which are the constellation of fate
(p. 40). The group of "the many stars" does not seem to be iden-
tical with the latter constellation.

79. She is called Epi in Pyr. 381 (cf. Epit in Lepsius, Denkmdler,
iv. 34, etc.), and in Greek she once appears as T-y^ts (Brugsch,
Thesaurus, p. 735). Locally she was also named Sheput (perhaps to
be read Eput), and sometimes also Riret ("Sow"), because a sow
occasionally serves as her symbol instead of a hippopotamus. Since
she often leans on a peculiar piece of wood (for which the hieroglyph
for "talisman" was later substituted), she seems to be termed "the
great landing-stick" {menet) in Pyr. 794, etc., where she likewise
reappears as divine nurse (perhaps also Pyr. 658.^).

80. He is called Dua-'Anu as early as Pyr. 1098; i. e. he is identi-
fied with the morning star (who equals Horus) and is connected with
the "four sons of Horus." Accordingly his picture is sometimes
called simply Dua ("Morning Star").

81. See J. Krall, "Ueber den agyptischen Gott Bes," in Jahrbuch
der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen des allerhochsten Kaiserhauses, ix.
72-95 (1889), and also A. Grenfell, in PSBA xxiv. 21 (1902). The
earliest mention of this god seems to be Pyr. 1768, which speaks of
"the tail of Bes" (as stellar.?).

82. When Plutarch {De I side et Osiride, xix) calls Thueris the
wife of Typhon-Seth, he evidently confuses the wicked Seth with
the ugly, but benevolent, Bes.

83. It is uncertain whether the reason for this mode of repre-
sentation was that the full effect of his grinning face might frighten
evil spirits away (cf. J. E. Harrison, "Gorgon," in Encyclopcedia of
Religion and Ethics, vi. 330-32), or whether it rested on a very
archaic delineation.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:58:50 PM: 84. For Bu-gemet ("Place of Finding") as the birth-place of the
sun cf. p. 86 on the myth of the loss of the eye of the sun; for Bu-
gemet as the birth-place of Osiris see Champollion, Notices, i. 172,
etc.

NOTES

377

85. The first scarab after A. Grenfell, the second in the possession
of the author.

86. The Egyptian kings, who at a very early time repeatedly sent
expeditions to remote parts of Africa for obtaining a member of the
dwarf tribes, stated that they were impelled not only by curiosity,
but also by religious zeal, to have the dwarf "for the sacred dances."
Possibly a personage wearing a mask(.?) like Bes, and regarded, it
would seem, as coming from Wawa (i. e. Central Nubia near the
Second Cataract), appears in sacred dances and ceremonies (Naville,
Festival Hall, Plate XV). "The dwarf of the sacred dances who
amuses the divine heart" {Pyr. 11 89) seems to be placed in the sky.
We might suppose that the myths of Bes were reproduced in these
religious performances and that these legends were actually connected
with the interior of Africa. Another trace of this is possibly found
in the idea (which seems to have found its way into other mythol-
ogies as well) that dwarfs are the best goldsmiths, since the interior
of Africa furnished both dwarfs and gold. Diodorus (i. 18; cf. R.
Pietschmann, in AZ xxxi. 73 [1893]) speaks of hairy Satyrs meet-
ing Bacchus (i.e. Osiris) in Ethiopia with music, and mention is also
made of Bes-like gods (haitiu) who, together with the baboons of
the sun (p. 32), dance and play on musical instruments before solar
gods coming from the east or south (cf. H. Junker, "Der Auszug der
Hathor-Tefnut aus Nubien," in ABAW, 191 1, pp. 45, 86). We have,
however, no unmistakable connexion of these mythical ideas with
the earthly dwarfs of Africa.

87. e. g. Lepsius, Denkmdler, Text, i. 100; cf. also Borchardt,
Sa'hu-re', Plate XXII.

88. e. g. Quibell, The Ramesseum, Plate III. For dwarf-like gods
of the earliest period see, perhaps, Fig. 2, (/). This type occurs re-
peatedly (Quibell, Hierakonpolis, i. Plates XI, XVIII).

89. e.g., cf. Sopd, p. 149.

90. Herodotus, iii. 37. For Ptah-Bes as the cosmic universe and
for a magic hymn to a great god who is both dwarf and giant see
p. 222. In very late times remarkable combinations of the two
dwarf types, Bes and Khepri-Sokari, are found in which one of them
carries the other on his shoulders, probably to express their close
association.

91. Concerning him see von Bergmann, Buck vom Durchwandeln,
p. 44, where proof is found that he was originally a local god, like
most deities who were placed among the stars. The statement in
Mariette, Denderah, iv. 32, no. I, is based on a misunderstanding.

92. See G. Daressy, in RT xxx. 3 (1899), on his stellar character
and cf. Pyr. 452.

93. 1019, 1094, 1 1 52, 1250.

378 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

94. For the Egyptian names of the zodiacal signs see W. Spiegel-
berg, in AZ. xlviii. 146 (191 1). Representations of them are always
intermingled with some old pictures of decanal stars, etc., as also in

Fig- 56.

95. Some pictures of the winds are collected by Brugsch, Thesaurus,
p. 847.

96. Brugsch, Thesaurus, p. 736.

97. ib. 28-31.

98. Renenutet was also understood as a "Nurse-Goddess" who
cared for the young gods and watched the growth of men. Possibly
this was originally a distinct personality in human form, later con-
fused with the harvest-serpent (p. 16). In this capacity she and
Meskhenet (p. 52) watch the beginning of the second life in the
realm of Osiris (Budge, Book of the Dead, Plate III; cf. supra, p. 52).

.The four harvest-goddesses (Mariette, Denderah, iii. 75) seem to be
parallel to the four genii at the birth of Osiris (pp. 52, 95). In Pyr.
302 Renenutet is identified with the asp on the head of the sun-god.

99. De Morgan, Ombos, no. 65.

100. Cf. p. 135 on Khnemtet.

loi. See p. 44 for the old, irregular identification of Heka with
Shu.

102. Borchardt, Sa'hu~re', Plate XXX. There are more person-
ifications of this kind, such as the gods "Eternity" and "Endless
Time" (Neheh, Zet); cf. von Bergmann, Buch vom Durchwandeln,
line 26. "Abundance" may likewise be feminine as Ba'het {Pyr. 555).
Personifications of cities and districts are usually feminine.

Chapter IV

1. See E. A. W. Budge, "The Hieratic Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu,"
in Jrchceologia, Hi. 393-608 (1890); the original may now be found
in the same scholar's Facsimiles of Hieratic Papyri in the British
Museum, p. 14, Plate XII.

2. See Ch. II, Note 2, for the play on this name, "the One
Forming, Becoming," which is here considerably elaborated.

3. i.e. my word (or thought) began the differentiation of living
beings.

4. Hardly " (nor) the reptiles," etc., since the following line shows
them already in existence. A variant text of this line reads, "I am
he who was formed as the forms of Khepri."

5. Variant: "I created many other forms of the forming one"
(Khepri; cf. Note 2).

6. See Ch. Ill, Notes 25, 30, for the etymological paronomasias
on these two names.

NOTES 379

7. Variant: "I used my mouth for (pronouncing) my own name,
which was magical" (Budge, in Archceologia, Hi. 558 [1890]).

8. One of the many confusing repetitions of the same word seems
to be omitted.

9. Or, "Ubidinem excitavi."

10. Cf. Ch. Ill, Note 48, on this fancy (or crude lack of fancy)
which, however, is very old and widely known.

11. The manuscript is corrupt here, but some obscure word mean-
ing "kept them in rest," "kept them back," is implied. Possibly
this word was s-nyny, with a play on the name Nuu (cf. Ch. Ill,
Note 38).

12. The manuscript is again corrupt.

13. Or, "after I became a god."

14. The meaning is, apparently, "after I had replaced my eye."
If this hypothesis is correct, the subsequent story of the disappoint-
ment of the eye on its return would belong to another myth; other-
wise, the restoration of Shu and Tefenet to their father, the sun-
god, would be meant. In Egyptian theology "members" denote
the various manifestations of the same divine force (cf. p. 28).

15. This verse cannot be translated, or, rather, reconstructed
with certainty.

16. "In them" evidently means "in the plants" (a term of un-
certain signification). Cf. Book of the Dead, Ixxviii. 15, on the crea-
tion of the first beings "which Atumu himself had created, which he
formed from the plants (and }) his eye."

17. The symbolism of the plants seems to be an analogy to the
green plants which surround the heavenly beings at their rising; see
pp. 38, 116. A variant of the same papyrus (Budge, in Archceo-
logia, lii. 561 [1890]) goes so far as to make these plants and the
primeval reptiles come from the tears shed from the divine eye (pp.

30» 70).

18. Thus the creation of man can also be connected once more
with the source-god (later the potter) Khnum, who was subse-
quently regarded as the special creator of the human race (see p.
51). For the myth of the loss of the sun's eye in the realm of Khnum
see pp. 89-90. We may here note that frequently (e. g. Mariette,
Denderah, iii. JJ\ Book of the Dead, lii) we find a theological division
of mankind into three or four classes; but until we understand the
names of these categories with certainty, we cannot say whether they
refer to the creation or to the present cosmic order. PeHiu, the name
of one of these classes, means "nobles," but the explanation of
rekh{i)tiu as "the knowing ones, the wise," is very uncertain, and
one name, henmemtiu, often applied to celestial beings in the Pyramid
Texts, is quite obscure. The fourth name ordinarily means "men."

38o EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

19. Marietta, Denderah, iii. Plate LXXVIII.

20. This expression seems to mean "in development," "in primi-
tive shape." Cf. also Note 14.

21. The seeming indication of a basis on which the heavenly cow-
stands probably was in origin an indication of the ocean.

22. clxxv. 16 ff.; cf. also E. Naville, in PSBA xxvi. 81-83
(1904). •

23. The manuscript refers this to Seth as being in the boat, but
the original seems to have been, "from those who are in the boat,"
i. e. the guardians of the monster were chosen from the companions
of the sun-god (p. 26).

24. i. e. the celestial beings; see p. 41.

25. Or, perhaps, "an order of Atum is given to Thout."

26. Destruction of Men, first copied by E. Naville, in TSBA iv.
1-19 (1876) (cf. also ib. viii. 412-20 [1885]), and later by von Berg-
mann, Hieroglyphische Inschriften, Plates LXXV-LXXVII.

27. The words in brackets fill the lacunae in the original text.

28. Ms., "mygod"(.?).

29. This and the following imperative are in the masculine singular,
so that we must suspect that the original address was to Thout, the
divine messenger.

30. i. e. they shall not abandon their plan.

31. The epithets of Nuu and Re' have here been confused, but we
try to separate them again. On the expression rekhtiu for a class or
generation of men see Note 18.

32. Or, "of it" (i.e. of the eye). We should, however, expect
"before thee." It was, it would seem, not the brilliant manifesta-
tion of the sun by day, but its appearance by night, that was to pur-
sue the evil-doers to their lairs.

33. Or, perhaps, "may it go as Hat-hor."

34. Or, "fear"(?).

35. Or, "cakes" (?). The word recurs in 1. 18.

36. This sentence, which is in part obscure, both concludes the
preceding section by an etymology of a divine name and, in the
manner of a title, introduces the following story.

37. An Ethiopian fruit which could be brought only from the
southern frontier.

38. Apparently a goddess. We have here an allusion to the name
of the city On (Heliopolis; p. 31) as meaning "great stone," i. e.
either "monument" or "millstone."

39. Of the company of the gods? We should expect "her (i. e. of
the destroying goddess) time."

40. If this is correctly understood, it means the coolest part of the
night just preceding sunrise, the best time for working.

NOTES 381

41. Emu at the western frontier of the Delta, famous for the local
worship of Hat-hor.

42. TimcBus, p. 22, etc.; cf. H. Usener, Die Sintflutsagen, Bonn,

1899, P- 39-

43. The statement of Sallier Papyrus, IV. ii. 3, that on the night
of the twenty-fifth day of the month Thout "Sekhmet went to the
eastern mountain to strike the companions of Seth," seems to allude
to the same event, though in a secondary association with the Osiris-
myth. Sekhmet is frequently mentioned as a flaming destroyer
(p. 87).

44. Or, "pain" (= disgust.^). The text is obscure.

45. Thus better than "is not ... a failure" of the text.

46. This passage is very obscure.

47. The command to Shu to put himself under the heavenly cow
Nut and to support her with his hands seems to have dropped out;
but cf. the description as repeated below.

48. i. e. forgiven.

49. See p. 48 for this name of the aerial space, which is often
identified with Shu, the air, as on p. 44 and in Fig. 71, as well as
in this passage, though rather indistinctly. In Destruction of Men,
ed. E. Naville, 1. 86, Heh is equated with Shu and Knum, as is also
the case infra, p. 89.

50. The meaning of this section was first elucidated correctly by
E. Lefebure, in JZ xxi. 32 (1883).

5 1 . The text is here corrected on the analogy of the following line.

52. i. e. the formulae for repressing and avoiding them.

53. Originally hn'-y, "with me "(.''),

54. Or, "hole"(.?)-

55. This may also mean, "I shall rise on the sky," implying a re-
moval from them.

56. Heka; see pp. 44, 133.

57. This may also refer to their magic forces.

58. From a papyrus of about the thirteenth century B.C., pre-
served in the museum at Turin. The text is edited by Pleyte and
Rossi, Papyrus de Turin, Plates CXXXI ff. (reprinted by Moller,
Hieratische Lesestilcke, ii. Plates XXIX fi^.); the first translation and
correct mythological interpretation are due to E. Lefebure, in AZ, xxi.
27 (1883). The original division into verses (indicated by dots of
red ink in the papyrus) has been followed here, except in a few in-^
stances, although it does not always seem to agree with the rules for
logical parallelism. The biting of the sun-god Atumu by some mons-
ter {Pyr. 425) does not seem to be analogous.

59. We should expect "to whom an age means a year."

60. i. e. neither men nor gods.

382 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

6i. This does not fit the preceding introduction; originally the
connexion must have been different.

62. Or, "the world of men" (Lefebure).

63. I.e. [she thought:] "Could she not be.'"' We have adopted
Lefebure's correction of the manuscript, which reads, "she was not
able (to be)."

64. Manuscript, "land (of the) goddess." MoUer {loc. cit.) pro-
posed to divide, "mistress of the land. The goddess thought,"
etc.; but this has the difficulty that, according to the story, Isis Is
not yet a goddess.

65. Manuscript, "crew," as though he were In his ship(?).

66. This Is apparently the meaning, although the manuscript Is
mutilated at this point.

67. Or, "concealed on the way"(.^) or, "blocking the way"(.?).
The word is mutilated In the text.

68. I. e. Egypt, not the entire world. In 1. 2 and Plate CXXXIII,
1. I, the land of Egypt also seems to be meant, not the earth.

69. The italicized words seem to have been erroneously trans-
posed In the manuscript.

70. Correct the manuscript to psh.

71. The sun-god, breathing heavily and painfully, emits his flames.

72. Possibly an epithet of the sun-god. For the cosmic tree as a
cedar see pp. 36, 115. After emi, "being In," the manuscript has
an obscure and superfluous sign.

73. Literally, "moved, pushed."

74. Literally, "found his mouth."

75. Omitted In the manuscript.

76. Literally, "he established his heart."

77. Manuscript, "KheprI," a meaningless reading, though of
theological Interest; cf. pp. 25, 68.

78. If the manuscript reading is correct, we should translate,
"my heart hath (now) noticed It, (but) mine eyes have not seen it."

79. "The Horus of Praises," I. e. the praise-worthy (cf. Ch. V,
Note 28).

80. Or, "power (of) magic."

81. This may also be read as a question: "Is It fire.'' Is It water.''"
See, however, the repetition below.

82. The younger generations of gods who form the transition to
mankind ( pp. 69, 120).

83. We should expect, "my heart."

84. Manuscript, shed = old ushed, a remarkable archaism.

85. Manuscript, "bound together."

86. I. e. on the earth. The mention of the mountains must have
been different in the original form.

NOTES 383

87. This may also refer to the sun-god, "who became (was formed)
in the great flood." For this Great Flood (Meht-uer) as the name of
a goddess see p. 39, and for the sun-god as "bull of his mother"
see p. 38.

88. The manuscript (perhaps correctly) understands this as "the
one who created the first life."

89. Or, referring the secrecy only to the horizon, " made the heaven
and the secrets of the double horizon."

90. Literally, "the force." It must be noted that all gods are
here treated as manifestations of the same force (cf. p. 28 and Note

14).

91. Manuscript, "palaces" (.'').

92. i. e. at noontime. On the different manifestations of the sun
see pp. 27-28.

93. Alluding to the belief that a man's personality and the memory
of it live only as long as his name is in use.

94. Manuscript, "behold ye."

95. Is this the god Bebon (see p. 131), or has the word baba its
ordinary signification of "hole, cave, cave of a spring, spring "."^

96. The text is corrupt; perhaps we should read ja'[r]^, "wisdom."

97. The text is again corrupt, but seems to continue to allude to
the revolt against the sun-god as described in myth No. III.

98. Or, "proxy."

99. Corrupt text.

100. A word later used for the foreigners coming from the north,
such as the Greeks. Why the moon has this special function is very
obscure. It is not probable that it is an allusion to the dark rain-
clouds coming from the north in winter.

loi. See H. Junker, "Der Auszug der Hathor-Tefnut aus Nubien,"
in ABAW, 191 1, and W. Spiegelberg, in SBAW, 1915, p. 876.

102. See Ch. Ill, Note 84, on this place where young solar and
stellar gods "are found."

103. Shu may here be compared with the warlike An-ljoret (Onu-
ris), as is often the case; see pp. 44, 143-44.

104. Junker, p. 54.

105. Cf. Ch. V, Note 28, for a similar form of Horus. The com-
bination of gods in this passage is not clear.

106. Saltier Papyrus, IV. xxiv. 2, has an obscure reference to it:
"The sun's eye (literally, "the Intact One"; cf. pp. 30, 91), the mis-
tress who is in the sky as ... to seeking (that which 1) stood before,
which was among the wicked ones, for (.^) their ... in the Delta."
We cannot make much out of this version, which may possibly be
connected with the story of the fall of mankind.

107. Pyr. 698.

\

384 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

108. Pyr. 1 09 1, 660, etc.

109. ib. 195, etc. Cf. Pyr. 1040: "It was not the fear which arose
for (? hr) the eye of Horus" (before the world was created). Pyr.
1 147, however, speaks of "the eye of Horus, stronger than men and
gods."

no. ib. 2090.

111. Pyr. P. 455.

112. Pyr. 1832. Hence the ferry of the underworld is called "the
eye (i. e. the best activity) of Khnum" {Pyr. 1227-28). Cf. likewise
the restoration of "the eye of Khnum" {Pyr. 1769) by the ferryman
"who looks backward" (p. 58). For Khnum cf. pp. 50, 135.

113. Book of the Dead, ed. Lepsius, ch. cxlix; Mariette, Denderah,
iv. 80, etc.

114. Attempts were, however, also made to localize this place at
Heliopolis {Pyr. 2050), in the sacred well of that city (p. 31).

115. H. Junker and G. MoUer, in JZ xlviii. 100-06 (191 1). The
texts are very obscure, and the scribes seem hopelessly to confuse
the solar and lunar myths. We should expect the seventh day (cf.
also the fourteen souls — i. e. manifestations — of the sun-god),
though this number may intentionally have been avoided as unlucky
(as it appears in Asiatic systems also) by the substitution of the astro-
nomically meaningless number six. The sixth day and the middle of
the month are mentioned as festivals as early as Pyr. 716, etc.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 08:59:31 PM: 116. The explanation of the Nile flood in summer and of vegeta-
tion runs remarkably parallel to the well-known Babylonian myth of
the descent of the goddess Ishtar to the lower world and of her re-
turn to the upper earth when she is needed there. Unfortunately
the interpretation of the Nile's water which has been mentioned
above, p. 90, seems to be a somewhat secondary explanation of the
myth of the solar eye. Cf. also the pig in the sun's eye as described on
pp. 124-25, and the Vatican Magic Papyrus, iii. 8: "When the sun
was blind (and) saw (not), the goddess Nut opened the way to the
divinities." See Ch. V, Note 28, on the "blind (.?) Horus."

Chapter V

1. We must remember that the strictly localized, non-cosmic
gods of the primitive period could develop very little mythology
(p. 20).

2. The exact Egyptian pronunciation of the name is uncertain.
If it was, as is usually assumed, Usir(i) (perhaps for an original
Wesir), the connexion with the name of his wife Isis, which is
otherwise so plausible, becomes very forced (cf. p. 98). Parono-
masias associating his name with that of the sun-god Re' are as old

NOTES 385

as the Nineteenth Dynasty. The name looks very non-Egyptian,
and it may be an old misreading of hieroglyphic symbols which had
become unintelligible.

3. It is not certain whether the pillar as the hieroglyph of the
city may not have been the earlier conception, and whether the
deity may not merely have been called "the one of Ded(u)" (cf.
pp. 20—21 for such names of divinities). Later times may have re-
versed this relation of city and god. What the pillar represents is
wholly obscure; it is neither a Nilometer, nor the backbone of
Osiris. It may have been merely an old architectural experiment
without any original religious meaning. Its frequent repetition
simply means "Dedi, the (god) of Ded." In Pyr. 288 an old scholar
registers the names Zedu, Zedet, Zedut for the city.

4. See Ch. Ill, Note 10. The identifications with the sacred
bulls of 'Memphis (the Apis), Heliopolis (the Mnevis), and Her-
monthis (the Buchis) are, however, much later; and the ancient
ram (or goat.^) of Mendes, called "the soul of Ded(u)," proves that
no consistency whatever exists in the incarnations of Osiris.

5. See Brugsch, Religion, p. 615, and Book of the Dead, cxlii. 5
(where Osiris is at the same time equated with Orion).

6. The exact date of the concept of Osiris as floating in a chest
(cf. Fig. 76 and Plate II), is uncertain. For other ideas associated
with the ship Argo see pp. 57-58.

7. A rare identification with Qeb seems to occur in Lanzone,
Dizionario, Plate CLVII.

8. Plutarch (De I side et Osiride, xxxvii) mentions a special flower
which was sacred to him and which seems to have formed his
crown (cf. also Petrie, Athribis, Plate XLI). Diodorus (i. 17) ascribes
the ivy to him; for the vine connected with him as the Egyptian
Dionysos see pp. 36, 113.

9. Pyr. 589, etc.

10. e. g. in the late monument given by Mariette, Les Mastaha,
p. 448. A frequent prayer for the dead in the Eighteenth Dynasty
is, "may he drink the water at the source of the river!" This water
comes directly from Osiris or is a part of him; consequently it makes
man one with the god.

11. Greek Leyden Papyrus, Ixxv; cf. Brugsch, Thesaurus, p. 735.

12. The four birth-genii of Osiris-Horus, who are united here as
elsewhere, are explained as Tefenet, Nut, Isis, and Nephthys (Mari-
ette, Denderah, iv. 43), or, better, as Nebt-meret (i. e. Muit-Nekhbet or
Meret .''), Neith, Heqet, and Nephthys (Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 82);
elsewhere as Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, and Heqet (cf. the parallel
in Westcar Papyrus, ix. 23), and Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Selqet
{Pyr. 606).

XII — 26

386 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

13. See the god rolled up, Figs. 46, 47, which the later Egyptians
probably misunderstood. For Osiris rolled together see Champollion,
Notices, ii. 511, 601-02, 618; variants of the picture given in our text
may be found ib. ii. 541, 614.

14. Sometimes Osiris is represented as green, which is often noth-
ing but a discoloured blue; and blue, according to Oriental ideas, is
merely another hue of black (cf. Ch. Ill, Note 10); see, however,
Petrie, Athribis, p. 12, Budge, Book oj the Dead, Plate IV, 20, etc.,
for unquestionable green colouring, [which may hint at his life in
sprouting plants.

15. Cf. p. 35 on the idea underlying this detail.

16. The earliest term for his realm, Duat (or Daei\ latest tradi-
tional pronunciation in Greek letters Tiyt), really means "Rising
Abode of the Stars," and its localization, therefore, varies. The
word is best translated "underworld" because we have no corre-
sponding phrase and because, as a matter of fact, the later Egyp-
tian conception closely corresponds with this rendering as denoting
the place where the stars go to rest.

17. The old standard of the nome, a basket on a pole ornamented
with feathers, did not represent this relic, as the priests later claimed;
see e. g. Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. 19, for the original form. The name
of this old fetish was teni, "the lifted (symbol)," whence came the
name of the city Tin, the Greek This {Pyr. 627).

18. This identification is found as early as Pyr. 1256.

19. Greek writers claimed that the name and the picture of Se-
rapis came from the Greek city of Sinope on the Euxine Sea, and as
a matter of fact this god was worshipped in Egypt chiefly under the
Greek representation of Zeus (cf. Plate II, 3, and pp. 239, 242).
Nevertheless the Greek origin of Serapis is a disputed point, and
the Egyptian etymology of his name which we have given appears
as official at an early time under the Ptolemies.

20. This is suggested by the hieroglyphic orthography of both
names and by parallel paronomasias on names of mythological con-
sorts in other countries. According to the traditional pronunciations
of these Egyptian names, Usir (Wesiri? see Note 2) and Eset (rarely
written Aset; H. Grapow, in AZ xlvi. 108 [1910]), this connexion
would appear to us an artificial play on words, and clearly betrays a
poor imitation of a foreign mythological idea.

21. See Lanzone, Dizionario, Plate CLI, where Nut is shown with
the knot hieroglyph of Isis, and cf. p. 99.

22. The confusion of the two different meanings of the feather
hieroglyph, or at least the clear interpretation of the feather-bearing
personage as "Justice," does not appear to be traceable to the earliest
texts. It seems to begin with Pyr. 744, which says that "Justice

NOTES 387

before the sun-god on that day of the new year" deUghts the world.
For its development see Book of the Dead, Ixv. 12, where we read that
the solar deity "lives (i.e. feeds) on Justice." The source of the con-
fusion can be found in such euphemisms as Pyr. 1208, 1230, where
the region of death, whether on earth or in the depths of earth or
sky, is termed "the beautiful one, the daughter of the great god."
In Pyr. 282 "her beautiful tresses" plainly associate her with the
sky, Hat-hor (p. 39). The extensive worship of Ma'et ("Justice")
at the court of the Ancient Empire has nothing to do with this mis-
interpretation of "the West." "Justice" there appears as the prin-
ciple which governs state and dynasty.

23. We must, however, again remind the reader that this interest-
ing development is quite secondary. Later ages were still correct in
their interpretation of the arms stretched from the western moun-
tains, or from the symbol of the west, to receive the dead, though
they did not invariably understand the parallel meaning of the arms
stretching from the sky to the sun. Sometimes they rightly explained
these mysterious arms as "the embracer of the sun, the mistress of
the west," but sometimes they also regarded them as a special deity,
"the Embracer" (Hapet). We cannot yet explain with certainty
why this alleged new divinity received a reptile's head and was
associated with a great serpent (at the top of a flight of stairs; cf.
pp. 42, 104, on the earth-god .^) which separates Osiris from this world;
possibly it may be connected with the dragon 'Apop. Similar god-
desses are easily associated with a serpent, either in a bad sense (as
on p. 80) or in a good sense, as when the "double justice" holds
serpents (Fig. 95).

24. For Nephthys as a doublet of Isis as mistress of the west see
p. no.

25. For such pictures see Book of the Dead, xvii.

26. In the Graeco-Roman period the role of Venus-Astarte as mis-
tress of the sea and protectress of navigation was, therefore, given
to Isis (cf. Ch. Ill, Note 61).

27. Cf. Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. 36 b. The Horus of Hierakon-
polis is contrasted with Seth in Pyr. 201 1, etc. We may note that
at Hierakonpolis the principal representation of the god was an an-
cient effigy of such clumsiness that the feet were not indicated. Like
everything dating from the prehistoric period, this statue was con-
sidered the most sacred of all, and its imperfections were carefully
preserved in copies. Throughout Egypt we find such rude hawk-
figures which remind us of a mummied and bandaged bird (see Fig.
153, representing Sopd); it is possible that they are all derived from
the hawk-god of Hierakonpolis. The special name, 'akhom, given to
this peculiar hawk-form is not yet intelligible. Old texts speak of

388 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

four Horuses (see Breasted, Development, p. 155, etc.), and the same
idea recurs in a four-faced god {Pyr. 1207), apparently symbolizing
at first the four cardinal points of the sky, but later applied to the
four planets or the four sources of the Nile, etc. The four Horuses
are then variously localized in Egypt, and being also called "sons of
Horus," are identified with the four sons of Osiris-Horus, for whom
see pp. 111-13.

28. Some local forms of Horus diverge from the hawk-shape,
such as the lion-headed "Horus of Mesen (.'')" or "the fine Horus"
(De Morgan, Ombos, no. 48) or Har-tehen (" Bright Horus"), who
sometimes has a serpent's head (Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii. 35), and
whose name is erroneously explained (see Naville, Festival Hall,
Plate VH) as Har-tehenu ("Horus of the Libyans"). Many of these
gods were evidently quite independent in origin, but were identified
with Horus when he became the principal deity. Very late specula-
tion produced the strangely varying "Horus in Three Hundred"
(the number probably symbolizes the year), who was sometimes de-
picted as composed of parts of a lion, ichneumon, crocodile, and
hippopotamus. Some of the local forms of Horus are the following:
Har-akhti ("Horus of the Horizon") was worshipped at Heliopolis
and was the most popular form after the Horus of Edfu. His name
was sometimes interpreted as "Horus of the Two Horizons" (east
and west), so that he was occasionally pictured as a double-headed
god. This is also the explanation of the "resplendent" double-
headed god in Champollion, Notices, 1. 452, etc. On this name for the
planet Mars, see p. 54. Later a similar god, whose name in Greek
was 'Apjuaxts (i- e. Har-em-akhet, or "Horus in the Horizon".''),
was worshipped at the Great Sphinx. Har-merti ("Horus with Two
Eyes," i. e. sun and moon ?) was adored at Athribis. Har-shuti
("Horus with Two Feathers"). Har-hekenu ("Horus of Praises,"
i. e. praiseworthy) often has a lion's body and also
appears as astral (see p. 81). Har-sam-taui ("Horus
the Uniter of Both Countries") is mentioned espe-
|\ cially at Denderah(.^). Har-khent(i)-khet(.0 was
worshipped at Athribis or Xois; on this deity, who
is once represented with a crocodile's head, see
A. Wiedemann, in PSBA xxiii. 272 (1901). Har-
khent(i)-merti(.'') ("Horus before the Two Eyes")
received honour at Panopolis {Pyr. 1670, 2015).
"Horus of the Later, Strangely enough, the name (beginning with
Two Horizons" Pyr. JJi .^ was altered into "Horus in Front (of the
one) Without Eyes," as if through some reminis-
cence of the blind, eclipsed sun-god (pp. 29, 85 if.). When he is de-
picted as an ichneumon (Champollion, Notices, ii. 513), we may trace

NOTES 389

a similar thought, leading to identification with Atum as the evening
sun (see p. 165 and Fig. 1 1 on his original animal form). The devel-
opment of the name is not yet clear. On Horus in connexion with
the planets — e.g. "Horus the Opener of Secrets" (or, "the Re-
splendent" \upesh]) = Jupiter; "the Red Horus" = Mars; and
"Horus the Bull" = Saturn — see pp. 54-55; on a development as
master of the lower world, not only like Osiris, but even as ruler of
hell, see Ch. X, Note 21.

29. Accordingly "Qeb told Horus, 'Go where thy father swam!'"
(i.e. take his place; A. Erman, in SBJJV, 1911, p. 926). We there-
fore find "Horus in the ocean" (Pyr. 1505) and as "the star trav-
ersing the ocean" (Pyr. 1508). Thus both Horus and Osiris are
bom from the waters of the deep (pp. 95, 116). For the occasional
confusion of Horus and Osiris as both represented in the constella-
tion Orion, see p. 57, etc.

30. Pyr. 204, 370, etc. This "gold city" must not be confused
with the more southern city which the Greeks also called Ombos.

31. The later Egyptian pronunciation must have been something
like Set(e)kh. The name is written Sut(e)kh (pronounced Sotekh)
about 1400 B.C.; the earliest orthography also permits S(o)tesh.
The final aspirate of the Greek transliteration is an attempt to rep-
resent the Egyptian kh. The transcription 2771^, found once in
Greek, would imply a dialectic pronunciation Seeth. Whether the
rare orthography Suti had its origin in a misreading or in an inten-
tional mutilation for superstitious reasons is matter of doubt.

32. All male and some female deities carry a sceptre which bears
his head, as stated on p. 12 (see Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. 23, etc., and
cf. our Fig. 30, etc.), although this detail does not seem to have been
recognized by the later Egyptian artists. Consequently at some pre-
historic period he must once have been the principal god of the entire
pantheon, and he was accordingly worshipped at various places, e.g.
as nome-god in the eleventh nome of Upper Egypt and also in the
Delta.

33. After 1600 B.C. the Egyptians compared it more frequently
to a red (i. e. wild) ass; later it was also regarded in rare instances as
an antelope with straight horns. It is possible that it was likened
to a boar as well, and that the whole religious prejudice of Asia and
Africa against pork goes back to this identification (see pp. 124-25 on
the beginning of this idea in the myth which tells how a black hog
penetrated into the eye of Horus, perhaps at eclipses). Egyptologists
and naturalists have sought to find in Seth's animal the greyhound,
jerboa, okapi, oryx, giraff"e, or ant-eater, but none of these iden-
tifications agrees with the oldest pictures. The Egyptians called it
"the sha-nnimal" and as late as 2000 b. c. they believed that it was

390 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

still to be found in the desert, which, however, they peopled with
so many fabulous beings that this does not prove much for zoolo-
gists. Later the tail is often treated like an arrow (L. Borchardt, in
ATj xlvi. 90 [1910], where the body seems striped from head to tail).
In Naville, Festival Hall, Plate II, it erroneously looks as if it has
three tails; and in Borchardt, Sa^hu-re, Plate XLVIII, its skin is
yellow.

34. This he showed even at his birth, when, according to Plutarch
{De hide et Osiride, xii), he broke through the side of his mother.
Nut. Mythological fancy could thus attribute to him various moral
weaknesses and perverse inclinations, which led him to pursue the
youthful Horus and in punishment for which, according to a myth
traceable to nearly 2000 b. c, he lost his manhood (Griffith, Petrie
Papyri, Plate IV).

35. Accordingly iron was later regarded as the sacred metal of
Seth — "Typhon's bone" {Pyr. 393, 530 seems to mean rocks rather
than metals). That Seth became a god of the Asiatics was not so
much due to their warlike character or their red hair (although both
traits contributed to this patronage) as to the building of the strong-
hold and capital Auaris in the eastern Delta by the Hyksos kings,
the Asiatic conquerors of Egypt, who found him there as the old
local god and accordingly gave special honour to him. This acci-
dental connexion with the Asiatics caused him to be compared to
Ba'al, the Syrian god of heaven, and gave rise to the wide-spread
slander that the Jews (and later the Christians) worshipped an
ass, the latter idea receiving additional support in Egypt from the
similarity of the Egyptian word for "ass," i6\ to the ordinary
Hebrew pronunciation of Jehovah's name, Yahii, Yaho (see pp. 208-
09). Later the crocodile, the hippopotamus, the turtle, and the

/ griffin also became "Typhonic" animals belonging to Seth.

36. Petrograd papyrus of "The Shipwrecked Sailor," II. 32, 57,
etc. The idea occurs as early as Pyr. 298, 326, where rain is asso-
ciated with Seth; ib. 289, "the heavenly cow (Meht-ueret) is between
the two fighters." In Pyr. 418 Seth is identified with the celestial
bull (contrary to Ch. Ill, Note 10), probably because of his lowing.

37. Accordingly it is possible that originally the testicles of Seth,
which were torn from him, were found in the belemnites.

38. Or, 'Aapop, once 'Aapopi (Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah,
p. 3). The name is derived from 'op, "to fly," the reduplicated form
signifying "to move as in flight" (i. e. swiftly). Old texts frequently
state that 'Apop had legs which were cut off in the battle (see the
hymn given on pp. 127-28). As a result there are many tales con-
cerning serpents with two or with many legs.

39. The god Aker (pp. 42-43) acts as his gaoler, holding him fast

NOTES 391

and confining him in his prison {Harris Magic Papyrus, v. 9); in
another text "Qeb holds him down(?), (standing) on his back"
(A. Erman, in AZ xxxviii. 20 [1900]; cf. Fig. 36).

40. The Egyptian text which accompanies this representation is
in still greater error as to its meaning since it places the scene in
heaven. All these pictures are from the sarcophagus of Sethos I (ed.
J. Bonomi and S. Sharpe, The Alabaster Sarcophagus of Oimenepthah /,
King of Egypt, London, 1 864 ) .

41. See Diimichen, Patuamenap, Plate XV.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:00:09 PM: 42. Sometimes, by error, these heads are five in number, thus
paralleling the five sons of Osiris, of whom there are, properly speak-
ing, only four. For the origin of this change cf. Figs. 101-02.

43. Later we find, e.g., interesting connexions of Osiris with a
great serpent which has a single (sometimes human) head. In the
lower world or in the sky the god encircles or guards or carries this
monster (Lanzone, Dizionario, Plates CLIX, CLXII [?], CXCIX,
CCVIII-CCXI; in Plate CCLVII the serpent is bound by Horus).
These ideas again try to harmonize the old (Osirian) and the later
(Satanic) idea of the abyss (cf. Note 23). The placing of 'Apop
near the source of the Nile was the easier because as early as Pyr.
489 the serpent Neheb-kau was thought to block the way there at
the side of the goddess Selqet, or a serpent Qerery (Pyr. 1229) with
the monstrous "Swallower" (p. 179), who watched this entrance to
the lower world. In these old passages, however, the underlying
idea was still unlike that of the 'Apop-myth.

44. Book of the Dead, xxxix, etc.

45. Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah, Plate IX.

46. ch. xl.

47. Or, " harpoon " .'* cf . Note loi concerning this weapon, on which
various traditions existed. It is probable that the last verse confuses
Seth with Horus.

48. A. Erman, in AZ xxxviii. 20 (1900).

49. A. Erman, ib. xxxi. 121 (1893).

50. Figs. 107-08 are from Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah,
Plate XII, and ChampoUion, Notices, ii. 521.

51. The Book of the Gates, from which this picture has been taken,
goes on to vary the idea of the infernal monster, describing it as
having one body and eight heads, under each of which is a pair of
human legs to justify the name Shemti, i.e. "the One who Walks"
(as a variant of the name 'Apop, "Moving Swiftly"; see Note 38);
or it appears as an even more complicated monster. In each instance
gods of the lower world (once Khnum and "Horus in the under-
world") keep it down.

52. The net is drawn by Horus and Khnum (in allusion to the

392 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Cataract region in which the struggle usually takes place; see pp. 104-
05); or sometimes by the "Book-Goddess" (Fate; see pp. 52-54).
The genii of pictures like Fig. 109 bear distinct nets (e. g. Cham-
poUion, Notices, ii. 520, etc.).

53. The etymology is uncertain, but possibly the name is to be
explained as Neki ("the Harmful One").

54. For the confusion of Seth with the serpent Neha-hor see p. 141.
In the New Empire, when Seth was still honoured as a real god,
his name began occasionally to be avoided by euphemisms. Thus
Setkhuy (Sethos) I ("He who Belongs to Seth") changes his name
to "the Osirian" or "He who Belongs to Isis" in his funerary in-
scriptions or in places where Osiris is not to be offended. The last
king bearing Seth's name belongs to the Twentieth Dynasty, about
1200 B. c. The interesting evolution of this god into a Satan is due
to the influence of the Babylonian myth of Tiamat.

55. Seth's Greek name, Ti;0coj^, has been derived by some scholars
from the Semitic word for "north" (cf. Hebrew sdfon), supposed
to designate Charles's Wain as "the northern constellation." Ac-
cording to an older view, this constellation, here called "the
Great Club," battles against Seth (Budge, in Archceologia, lii. 548
I1890]).

56. Nebt-hot's name is scarcely derived from Hot (better Hoit),
"the Temple (City)," the capital of the seventh nome of Upper
Egypt, for the goddess worshipped there seems to have been Hat-
hor and not to have been compared with Nephthys until later, on
the basis of the similarity of the name of the city of Hot (cf. on
Hat-hor, Ch. Ill, Note 11). At Antaiopolis, in the tenth nome

' (cf . p. 130 and Note loi), Nephthys was a neighbour of Seth, and
their union would become intelligible from this proximity if we were
not compelled to assume the northern Ombos as Seth's original seat
of worship.

57. Once (Mariette, Denderah, iv. 81) she appears, strangely
.enough, with the head of a crane or ibis, like her sister Isis.

58. See also pp. 100-01 on Isis and Nephthys as becoming the
feather-wearing "double justice," though originally they were the
two divinities of the west, the region of the dead. By calling Neph-
thys TeXevT-i] ("End") Plutarch (De I side et Osiride xii, lix) likewise
makes her the sterner side of Fate. On the other hand, his identi-
fications of Nephthys with Aphrodite (= Isis-Hat-hor .^) and with
Nike ("Victory"; perhaps because of the wings on the later repre-
sentations of her, cf. e.g. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i.
Plate LIX; later, however, all Egyptian goddesses appear as winged)
are meaningless. A Greek papyrus (cf. p. 95) identifies 'Hcrtvecfivs
(i. e. Isis-Nephthys) with the springtime, but this is obviously a

%^

NOTES 393

confusion of the foreign conception of Adonis as the god of spring
with the Egyptian idea of inundation. According to Pyr. 489, Seth
has two wives, the Teti-(y?)eb, and from this obscure name seems
to be derived the idea (Pyr. 1521) that Neith also was his spouse.
All this is perhaps expUcable as due to misreadings of the name
Nephthys.

59. Perhaps this is the reason why she is called Menkhet ("the
Kind One").

60. The god of this seventeenth nome and its capital, the city of
Saka, was later identified with Anubis, and under this name he ap-
pears as the brother and rival of his neighbour
Bati in the Tale of the Two Brothers, although the
earliest inscribed monuments (Petrie, ^oya/ Tombs,

i. 30) seem to distinguish between Anubis and the /. 5 s.*^ — >

jackal (.'') with a feather (confused in Pyr. 896.''). yy

Probably the "Anubis of Saka" originally had a ^
name of his own, just as he had his own hiero- Fig. 226.

glyphic symbol (cf. Pyr. 1995). A local form of '^''^ {'"^l^^^^^^"'^
Anubis is "the one before his chapel."

61. Possibly, however, this role of guide (whence the Greeks
termed him 'Ep^avov^Ls, after Hermes, the psychopompos, or guide
of the dead; cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 194) is sec-
ondary and is derived from his identification (which may be as early
as Pyr. 1287) with the (standing) wolf Up-uaut ("Opener of the
Ways"; 'O^oi's in Greek transcription) of Assiut and Sa'is, on whom
see p. 144. The Greeks (Diodorus, i. 18) speak of a dog-god Ma/ceSajv
as companion of Osiris, which suggests some misunderstanding of
Ophois (W. von Bissing, m RT xxvii. 250 [1905]); but the Hellenic
name remains enigmatic.

62. The present writer has suggested {OL xiii. 433 [1910]) that
this symbol was first transferred to Osiris or to his myth (possibly
associating the skin with the vine of Osiris, pp. 36, 113). So, for
example, the Asianic myth of Marsyas (cf. Mythology of All Races,
Boston, 1916, i. 181), which is closely connected with that of Osiris,
derives the river (originally the Nile) from the bleeding of a sus-
pended divine skin. At all events this skin-symbol is constantly
represented before Osiris (see Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. II, where the
skin-symbol may interchange with Anubis, though it seems to be
distinguished in Petrie, Abydos, ii. 2). The title Emi-uet ("the One
[in the city of (.'')] Uet"), given to this symbol, was interpreted,
somewhat later, to mean "the Embalmer" and thus was transferred
to Anubis. Did the symbol originally designate "the one (hidden)
in the skin, the one wrapped up".^

63. In this latter case the genii are called the grandchildren of

394 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Osiris {Pyr. 1983). On the interchange of Osiris and Horus see
p. 102, etc.; on the four Horuses cf. Note 67.

64. Pyr. 1228, 1483, 2078, 1 141. Accordingly they are near the
ferryman of the lower world {Pyr. 1222), who can be found in the
constellation Argo and may be explained as Osiris (p. 57).

65. Book of the Dead, cxiii.

66. From Dumichen, Patuamenap, Plate XV.

67. Pyr. 436, 418 (.^). Thus they correspond to the four pillars of
the sky (p. 35). Their tresses indicate youth (pp. 34, 193), or they
themselves thus become another interpretation of Hat-hor's blue-
black celestial tresses (p. 39). We again recognize these four celes-
tial gods in many allusions, e. g. as four long-haired youths in the
east, watching the birth of the sun-god and preparing his ship for
his daily course (Pyr. 1205), or sitting there in the shadow of
the chapel (.?) of Qati (Pyr. 1 105). Or, they dwell in the south, "on the
water of the lower world" (Kenset; Pyr. 1141), where they guard the
blessed against storms (Pyr. 1207). Thus they are at the same time
celestial and protect the souls against the subterranean serpent Neh-
ebkau (Pyr. 340). They are also called "four spirits of Horus" (Pyr.
1092). By another blending of the celestial and abysmal localization
(Pyr. 2078) their abode is in the south, the region of the lower world,
and there they hold the heavenly ladder. When they are localized in
the city of Pe, a quarter of Buto, the ancient capital of the Delta, they
are confused with the hawk-headed "souls of Pe" (Ch. II, Note 26).
The four-headed god of the lower world (Pyr. 1207; cf. Note 27 on
the four-headed Horus) seems to be compared with them because
his faces likewise "dispel storms"; originally, like them, he may
have represented the four subterranean rivers as well (see Figs. loi,
103, 115). It would seem that, in similar fashion, the four male gods
with crocodiles' heads (cf. Sobk, p. 148) who assist at royal births
(Naville, Deir el Bahari, Plate LI) are merely another representation
of the sons of Horus as bringing Osiris (the Nile) to life.

68. A. M. Blackman, in AZ xlvii. 117 (1910).

69. Lepsius, Denkmaler, iii. 137.

70. On these days see p. 57 and Ch. Ill, Note 57. According to
Pyr. 1961, they were "the birthdays of the gods," i. e. of the most
prominent among them.

71 . On the birth of Osiris from the ocean see p. 94, etc. His identity
with Horus receives additional proof, e. g., in the fact that Osiris
also had "two nurses" (Pyr. 313). Nephthys is called the sister of
Horus in the Harris Magic Papyrus, etc., and Seth is often regarded
as his brother (pp. 103, 114), etc.

72. Connexion with music is frequent in the myths outside of
Egypt, but cannot be proved in the hieroglyphs.

NOTES 395

73. Plutarch's idea {De I side et Osiride, xiii) that Osiris preached
humanitarian views over the whole world is absolutely non-Egyptian
and probably shows some indirect influence of Christianity.

74. Pyr. 972, etc.

75. Seventy-two as a cosmic number ordinarily expresses the
circle of heaven, the number of half-decades (p. 57) which consti-
tute a year. The original meaning was, therefore, that for a whole
year Osiris regularly vanished until he reappeared in some phe-
nomenon of nature, this being, according to the version which
Plutarch chiefly follows, the swelling of the Nile (pp. 94-95).

76. This motif, which is unknown elsewhere, seems to point to
Ethiopia as the region or type of the lower world. Comparing the
Greek form of the myth of Adonis (see Mythology of All Races,
Boston, 1916, i. 198), we should think of Nephthys as the rival of
Isis and perhaps should regard it as a later variant under Asiatic
influence; see, however, p. 87 on two rival goddesses, one of whom
came from the depths. The name Aso is thus far unexplained.

77. See pp. 63-64 on the dwarf divinities connected with the
young sun and p. 32 on the parallel animal companions, who are
here confused by Plutarch.

78. The number has its parallel in the days of the half month or
the fourteen souls of the sun, and in the fourteen fragments of the
solar eye (pp. 28, 90). Originally the stars were probably regarded
as the scattered and reunited fragments of the sun.

79. On the winged deities of later times see Note 58. It is, how-
ever, possible to find here the bird-form of the mourning Isis.

80. According to some versions, only the virile organ was lost,
being eaten by a fish [or by three kinds of fish, if we follow Plutarch]
which was, therefore, considered unclean. This is a variant of the
motif oi death because of sinful love (see p. 119).

81. The Egyptian mind felt no difiiculty in duplicating relics, as
when, for example, the head of Osiris, the seat of his life, was wor-
shipped both at Abydos (p. 98) and at Memphis. The localization
of the worship of other relics shows many similar contradictions.
The appearance of the legs at the frontiers of the Delta betrays the
conception of Osiris as the Nile, particularly as the Egyptian word
for "leg" also means "branch of a river."

82. See p. 36 and Fig. 84 on Osiris in the celestial tree, and cf. K.
Sethe, in AZ xlvii. 72 (1910), where the vine, sycamore, acacia, and
other trees are also mentioned (cf. p. 36).

83. That she might not confer immortality by her milk, a detail
which contradicts the fire-story.

84. This detail of the fire around Isis, which has not yet been
found in Egypt, seems to be the Asiatic motif of the Queen of Heaven

396 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

surrounded by flames, although the most mysterious gods of the
later Egyptian magicians are Ukewise described as encircled with
fire, and the ancient gods draw their magic wisdom from "the island
of (i.e. surrounded by?) flames" {Pyr. 506; cf. p. 202 and Ch. II,
Note 11). In other respects the prince whom Isis nursed in Syria
seems to be her own son (i. e. Osiris-Horus) as worshipped by the
Phoenicians at Byblos under the name of Tammuz-Adonis. Evi-
dently some later Egyptian priests were unwilling to accord full rec-
ognition to the Asiatic parallels. For the Greek analogue of
Demeter and Demophon see Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916,
i. 228.

85. It will be noted that the question constantly recurs (although
more or less effaced in the tradition) why Osiris and (through him)
mankind lost immortality. Plutarch {De hide et Osiride, xvii) in-
terpolates a hopelessly confused story of an alleged prince Maneros,
who was killed by the angry glance of Isis; he derives this from
the Egyptian convivial Maneros-song about the brevity of earthly
existence, thus instinctively reverting to the problem why human
life is so short. The reason for this is here ascribed to Isis and her
Asiatic double, Astarte (pp. 155-56); cf. also p. 119.

86. For the pillar of Osiris, which the Phoenicians seem to have
imitated, see pp. 92-93.

87. A calendric hint (see Note 78 on the number fourteen); cf.
also p. 94 on the predominantly lunar character of the festivals of
Osiris.

88. "The (goddess of the) sky conceived by wine" {Pyr. 1082),
etc. (cf. p. 36).

89. For the green place of the birth or death of the solar god see
pp. 35, 38.^

90. On Epet-Tueris and Bes as helpers in earlier mythology see
pp. 60-62.

91. See pp. 57-58 on the star Canopus, the steersman of Argo,
and the possible interchange of Orion and Argo.

92. See Note 75 for a parallel explanation of the yearly interval.

93. The more original form of the legend must be that, as in
the Asiatic parallels, Pamyles did not know the divine nature of the
babe. From this announcement the gay and wanton festival of the
Pamylia had its origin. As yet, however, we have no Egyptian evi-
dence either for Pamyles or for the Pamylia. The Asiatic versions
that the finder of the infant was a shepherd or husbandman are
less clear in Egypt (see, however. Note iii). In Asia the water-
carrier is Aquarius, who corresponds in Egypt to the Nile-god, be-
cause Osiris himself is connected with the swelling Nile (pp. 94-95),
and because the new inundation brings Osiris. On other primeval

NOTES

397

gods who are similarly represented as floating in embryon form in a
chest in the abyss see p. 71; and the young Horus is also shown sit-
ting in a chest (e.g. Rosellini, Monumenti del culto, p. 18, etc.).

94. Hence Pharaoh's daughter, who found Moses in the Nile and
brought him up, is called QtpyLovdis by Josephus {Antiquities, II.
ix. 5-7). In the Greek period the name Menuthias ("Island of the
Nurse") was given to a mythical island in the south as being the
abode of the divine nurse, and later this was identified with Mada-
gascar as the most remote island in the south, i.e. the lower world.
Renenutet may be understood to nurse Horus in her double capacity
of goddess of harvest and of educator (p. 66).

95. See pp. 210-11 for a magic text containing a similar story.
It is perhaps a variant of the myth which tells how the sun-god
was bitten by a serpent (see pp. 79-83). The role of Isis seems simply
to be reversed.

96. This may be a recollection that "the great Horus" was an
old form of this deity which remained independent of the Osiris-
myth. As an older god he was sometimes even called "father of
Osiris" when he was associated with the latter or regarded as his
equal.

97. See p. no and cf., as a variant, Fig. 118, where both sisters re-
ceive the fertilizing blood of Osiris to bear posthumous ofl"spring.

98. Perhaps implying that he was deprived of his mother, par-
ticularly as the myth of the dying goddess (pp. loo-oi) would later
furnish a basis for such a theory.

99. Pyr. 1 214.

100. The word here translated "avenger" is also
interpreted as "the one who shakes," "awakens,"
or "takes care of."

loi. The word deb, "hippopotamus," can also
mean "bear," and in Phoenicia the enemy of the
young nature-god is a bear or a boar. Although the
Egyptians understood deb to denote "hippopota-
mus," they also substituted various other animals for
it (see Note 35). In later times Horus sometimes
appears fighting from a chariot drawn by griffins or
dragons, and in the Roman period he even fights
from horseback. For the winged disk of Edfu see p. loi. Horus
fights with a harpoon which has a strange, often practically impos-
sible head (H. Schafer, in AZ xli. 69 [1904]). Originally it must have
had three points (Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 35), this hypothesis being
confirmed by paronomasias in the texts, e.g. "the weapon (which
marks) thirty" {Pyr. P. 424, 1212, etc.), i.e. possessing three hooks,
since a hook is a sign for "ten" (and represents a month .^).

Fig. 227.
The Harpoon
Horus
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:00:54 PM: 398 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Unfortunately the word can be confused with one for " battle-ax"
(see Note 47). Even in pre-Osirian mythology the sun-god wields a
harpoon with hooks at both ends ( < ^ =|]^ ; Pyr. P. 121 2).
We can thus see that Egyptian art originally had in mind the strange
weapon carried by the Babylonian god of light, the short spear
with three points at both ends which the Greeks interpreted as the
thunderbolt of Zeus or the trident of Poseidon. When a serpent
winds around the head of the spear, this symbolizes the fiery rays of
the sun (p. 26, etc.). On the net as a weapon in this fight see p. 109.
It is not yet clear why Diodorus (i. 21) places the struggle near
Antaiopolis; the battle had many localizations.

102. For these "Typhonic" animals see Note 35 and Fig. 214. In
later times Seth himself very often appears as a crocodile (see Fig.
122).

103. This may be a reversion to the myth mentioned in Note 62
regarding the skin of the celestial divinity which is found in the
symbol standing before Osiris; on the confusion of this legend with
the myth of 'Apop, see pp. 127-28.

104. See pp. 104-06, The converse of this, i. e. the eschatologi-
cal interpretation, has not yet been demonstrated in Egyptian
mythology, where thus far we have no evidence of eschatological
speculations, although some theories on this subject probably existed.

105. Sothis is the sister of Orion {Pyr. 363 [1707]) and the "be-
loved daughter" of Osiris {Pyr. 965; an obscurer hint is found ib.
632); when Osiris is identified with Horus, she becomes his mother.

106. e.g. the Tale of the Two Brothers, the Haunted Prince, and
the myth in which Isis overcomes the sun-god by her magic (cf.
pp. 79-84). It is quite true that all of these, especially the Tale of
the Two Brothers, in which a woman, fair, faithless, and cruel, perse-
cutes the Osirian hero, being both his daughter, seducer, and mother,
are strongly influenced by Asiatic motifs, but the most characteristic
feature, the remorseful self-emasculation of Osiris or the sun-god
Re', is as old as the Book of the Dead, xvii. 29; i.e. it dates from the
Middle Empire. A variant of this myth is found in the Harris Magic
Papyrus, vii. 8, which is translated on p. 125. Here Horus (i. e. the
young Osiris) violates his mother Isis, whose tears at this outrage make
the Nile overflow, while its water is filled with the fish said to have
arisen when the virilia of Osiris were thrown into it, evidently by
himself in remorse for his sin; elsewhere these fish devour them
(Note 80). For a reverse variant, in which Horus beheads his
mother for some sin, see pp. 118, 126. The present writer has
shown {OL V. 348 [1902]) that in a magic text (A. Erman, Zau-
berspriiche, pp. 2, 7) we find an allusion to a wicked daughter of
Osiris, coming from Asia or Nubia (cf. Note 76), "who made bricks

NOTES 399

[the text should be corrected to read, 'wove a garment'] for him,"
these works of her fingers evidently being poisoned or otherwise
fatal. It is not yet clear why "she said of her father, 'May he
live on za^es-herhs and honey.'" In a story which strangely
confuses Osiris and Mykerinos, the builder of the Pyramids, Hero-
dotus (ii. 129-33) seems to regard Isis as the daughter of his hero,
whose death she causes. Cf. also the opposition of Osiris-Horus
and Sothis in Fig. 55, and see Note 85 on woman as the reason
why man forfeited immortality or failed to attain it; pp. 99-100
on Isis as united with the goddess of the region of the dead; and
p. 118 on her saving Seth and thus battling with the powers of light.

107. See the myths given on pp. 73 ff.

108. The Historical Papyrus of Turin enumerates the earthly
reigns of Qeb, Osiris, Seth, Horus, Thout, the queen Justice, and
Horus (the younger.'' cf. p. 117). The reasons for this sequence
are plain from the Osiris-myth.

109. For this jubilee see F. LI. Griffith, in AZ xxxviii. 71 ff. (1900).
no. For the myth of Adonis see Mythology of All Races, Boston,

1916, i. 198-99, and Note 112. That Byblos is really the Phoenician
city and not, as has been alleged, merely an erroneous interpretation
of the Greek word jSy/SXos, "papyrus" (referring to the papyrus thick-
ets in the Delta; p. 116), is directly asserted, at least by later texts,
as when Osiris is termed "bull of Byblos" (Lanzone, Dizionario,
p. 751). The goddess of Byblos was much worshipped in Egypt
from about 2000 b. c. onward (cf. p. 154). On the other hand, when
Osiris is said to dwell in the Oases {Book of the Dead, cxlii), this
merely characterizes him as lord of the west, the desert, and the
region of the dead.

III. Thus the killing of Adonis by the boar looks as though it
had been borrowed from a later explanation of Seth in animal form
(see Note 33 on his sacred animal); in other words, Syria appears
to have derived it from Egypt. Thus the pillar worshipped at Byb-
los (p. 154) seems to be simply the Egyptian symbol of Ded. On
the other hand, the Egyptian parallels to the "Gardens of Adonis,"
the images of Osiris made of sprouting grain to symbolize resurrec-
tion, cannot be traced before 1600 B.C., although it is in Egypt that
we find Osiris most clearly connected with the tree or plant of life
(p. 94, etc.). Tammuz as a shepherd has only rare parallels in Egypt,
e.g. in the Tale of the Two Brothers, which is manifestly Asiatized
(cf. Note 106), and in Orion watching over calves {Pyr. 1533, 1183);
but the role of Osiris as a neat-herd seems originally to have asso-
ciated him with the celestial cow, a thought which is not logically
expressed anywhere in Asia. The Tale of the Two Brothers appears,
indeed, to regard the younger, dying brother, Bati-Osiris (see Notes

400 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

60, 106, and pp. 131-32), as the shepherd, although it does not dis-
tinctly state that the elder of the pair, Anubis (i.e. the predecessor of
Osiris as the god of the dead, and consequently the fosterer of him or
of his double, Horus; cf. p. 102), is the tiller of the soil as contrasted
with the shepherd. In the Leyden-London Gnostic Papyrus (vi. 2, 7;
xiv. 28; cf. also De Morgan, Ombos, nos. 66, 114) Anubis appears as
a neat-herd, though this may merely have been derived later from the
canine form of the deity. On the other hand, Osiris as patron of
agriculture (p. 113), and especially of the vine, harmonizes with the
myth of AdoAis. Thus shepherd and field-labourer seem to inter-
change freely in Egypt. In Asia the idea of the god in the floating
chest or ship (Note 29, etc.) is much more richly developed, while
the rivalry of the hero's two wives (perhaps the upper and lower
sky or world) is obscured in Egypt (Note 76). The high, conical
head-dress of Osiris reminds us of that of the Syrian gods (p. 156) and
seems quite distinctly to betray his Asiatic character.

112. The very scanty Babylonian material on this subject now
has been most completely gathered by H. Zimmem, "Der babylo-
nische Gott Tamijz," in Abhandlungen der koniglichen sdchsischen
Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften, xxvii. 701-38 (1909). For a full dis-
cussion of analogues in other mythologies see Sir J. G. Frazer, The
Dying God (2nd ed., London, 191 1).

Chapter VI

1. Berlin papyrus of the Greek period, first translated by P. J.
de Horrack, Les Lamentations d'Isis et de Nephthys, Paris, 1866.
It claims to contain the words which restore Osiris to life and "place
Horus on his father's throne." On Osiris as "the one before the west"
see pp. 21, 98.

2. The fourth month.

3. Or, "the Heliopolitan" (?). In early times, it is true, Osiris
was not prominent at Heliopolis (but see p. 98). Others regard
this name as an allusion to the square pillars against which the figures
of Osiris usually lean. This pillar has nothing to do with the round
pillar of Ded (pp. 92-93).

4. For this title of Osiris see p. 97.

5. Page iv of the papyrus.

6. Or, "thou shinest "(.?).

7. i. e. manifestation; see p. 160 on this original etymology of
the word for " soul," and cf . Ch. IV, Note 90.

8. Page V of the papyrus.

9. Book of the Dead, cxii.

10. i.e. represented on a flower or plant, and, according to p. 50,

NOTES 401

often as a child. Here also "the green" probably meant originally
the ocean (Ch. Ill, Note 12); our text vainly tries to explain this
expression, which had become unintelligible. "Horus, the lord of the
four greens" {Pyr. 457), clearly refers to his birth in the four lakes
or sources of the Nile.

11. Harris Magic Papyrus, vii. 8.

12. We should expect "on the (dry) bottom," or "on the
bank."

13. Her, misplaced four words before.

14. Or, "again" (.?).

15. Thus Brugsch, Religion, p. 724; less probably, "Sothis."

16. From the calendar of lucky and unlucky days in the
Sallier Papyrus, IV. ii. 6, now in the British Museum (cf. Fig. 228.
Ch. XII, Note 7). This very important text seems to be an "Horus
awkward schoolboy's copy, like so many of the moFt interest- ^^ "',^
ing Egyptian manuscripts; hence it is often unintelligible.

17. The first month of the Egyptian calendar.

18. The name means "the place containing weapons," "the ar-
senal," so that the combat is localized near this city of the eastern
frontier of the Delta, not far from Heliopolis. On the hippopotamus-
shape, so contradictory to the use of weapons, see pp. 107, 118.

19. We are tempted to read "her metal." Otherwise Isis would
appear not only as the sorceress (p. 80), but also as Fate (p. 53).

20. Lacuna in the text.

21. The negative is omitted in the manuscript. Seth refers to his
former passion for Osiris (cf. Ch. V, Note 34).

22. Literally, "turning the back to speaking."

23. The phrase is obscure, but perhaps alludes to a renewal of
the combat in the sky.

24. Corrupted in the manuscript for "fixing a cow's head in its
place."

25. De I side et Osiride, xix-xx.

26. Budge, in ArchcBologia, Hi. 542 (1890); see p. 68 for the very
late manuscript from which the text is taken.

27. Manuscript, "goddess."

28. The children of the sun-god, created by him as has been de-
scribed on pp. 68-69.

29. Or, "as my limbs "(.?).

30. Thus after the analogy of other texts rather than "piercing."

31. i.e. Sekhmet; cf. p. 75 for a play on this name, and pp. 29-
30 for the sun as female.

32. Manuscript, "thou hast"(.?).

33. i.e. the sun, which he had swallowed (cf. p. 106).

34. Thus he is described as lying bound in the depths of the dry
XII — 27

402 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

land; or, by a repetition of ideas (Budge, in ArchcBologia, Hi.
562 [1890]), he is guarded by Aker (cf. p. 43).

35. More literally, "I made his teeth jagged" (?).

36. A variant adds, "nor his neighbours," probably to be corrected
to "tribe," i.e. his kin.

37. Literally, "archive."

38. Budge, in Archcsologia, Hi. 555 (1890).

Chapter VII

1. This list includes most gods of any real importance; the in-
tentional exclusions are a few names whose reading is too uncertain
(for some of these cf. Ch. I, Note 8), some dubious Graeco-Roman
traditions, and most demons and astral beings who are rarely men-
tioned and for whom we cannot prove an actual cult. Sacred animals
and foreign deities will be considered in special chapters, although
some divinities who occasionally appear in animal form cannot here
be overlooked. A few references to names previously mentioned add
details.

2. K. Piehl, in AZ xix. 18 (1881).

3. See p. 21 for this rare instance of dissimilation of one god
into two.

4. See p. 164. Connexion with the constellation Aries through
the solarization of Amon is possible for the latest period, though
the hieroglyphs nowhere state it. For the different ram-headed forms
of the solar god see Ch. II, Note 15. Later the solarized Amon also
appears as the solar hawk (p. 24), usually with a human head (very
rarely as a crocodile). For a strange local form of Amon see G.
Daressy, in Annates du service des antiquites de VEgypte, ix. 64 (1908).

5. W. Spiegelberg, in AZ xHx. 127 (191 1).

6. She is thus confused with Mut (Naville, Shrine of Saft el
Henneh, Plate II).

7. Gayet, Louxor, Plate IX, etc.

8. Pyr. 182, 220, 614, 1833, and Brugsch, Dictionnaire geogra-
phique, p. 130; in the latter passage 'Anezti is localized in the eastern
Delta.

9. See K. Sethe and A. H. Gardiner, in AZ xlvii. 49 (1910).

10. See W. Golenischeff, in AZ xx. 125 (1882), where his sacred
plant (like ivy .'') is also depicted.

11. e.g. Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate VI.

12. Mariette, Denderah, iv. 81, Pyr. 556, Lacau, Sarcophages, p.
226. Her name, "the Flaming One" (cf. aseb, "flaming," as applied
to male gods in Book of the Dead, Ixix), may refer to her serpent's
form.

NOTES 403

13. For this deity see Ch. VIII, Note i. He is scarcely identical
with the special patron of the old king Per-eb-sen (Petrie, Royal
Tombs, i. Plate XIX, ii. Plates XXI-XXIII), a god who usually has
a hawk's head and a name with many variants which possibly is to
be read "the One of the Horus-Lake."

14. Pyr. W. 644 ff. The Pyramid Texts generally write Babi {Pyr.
568) or Baibu; and the query arises whether the "Babui with red
ears and striped loins" {Pyr. 604), i.e. a striped hyena, is identical.
Even in these earliest texts the god seems to belong to the realm of
magic. Later his name is etymologically connected with baba,
"hole, cave," as is possibly the case on p. 84.

15. Ixiii. His great sexual power also harmonizes with his Osirian
character (Schack-Schackenburg, Buck von den zwei We gen, xvi. 9).
In Pyr. 419 Babi is associated with Chemmis (i. e. a comparison
with the ithyphallic Min.'' cf. p. 138).

16. xvii, cxxv, and ed. Lepsius, xxx.

17. See E. Naville, in AZ xliii. yj (1906), who identifies him with
Bat (pp. 40-41) and accordingly endeavours to see in him a double-
faced bull, like the one represented in Fig. 2 {d). A trace of a Baiti as
Osiris may be found in Book of the Dead, cxlii. 14, but the Horus-
Baiti of Pyr. 580, 767, and "the two souls" (baiui) in human form
of Pyr. 13 14 and Borchardt, Sa^ku-re', Plate XIX, seem to be different.

18. In the Book of the Gates (Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah,
Plate XII) a monstrous serpent of the underworld is called Bi^(!),
Bita, and is already confused with Seth-'Apop. The fact that on his
two heads he wears the crown of Upper Egypt again connects Bati
with Babi and strengthens the suspicion that the two names were
confused at an early date. Cf., perhaps. Fig. 2 {e), which would well
explain the mingling of a bull-deity and a serpent-god. Naville {Fes-
tival Hall, Plate X) records the orthography Batbat {sic) beside Bat.
It is uncertain whether a monkey-shaped genius Eb'ebta, Ebta,
Ebi(.^)u belongs here.

19. Vice versa, both appear as vultures (De Morgan, Ombos, no.
329). Originally Buto seems to have presided only over that quarter
of her city which was called Pe(y). "The Goddess of Pe" (Peyet)
and "the One of Dep" (Depet) (Naville, Festival Hall, Plate VII)
may be diiferentiations or divinities who earlier were distinct. Is
the leontocephalous Uazet (Naville, Shrine of Soft el Henneh, Plate
VI) a rare form of Buto.^

20. The oldest pronunciation was Zedet {Pyr. iioo), and Zedut is
found even in Mariette, Denderah, i. 6 e, as contrasted with ii. 27.
Cf. Ch. V, Note 3.

21. The pronunciation Dua(u) is given by Pyr. 480, 994, 1155,
and the connexion with Herakleopolis by Naville, Festival Hall,

404 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Plate IX, where the symbol looks more like a nose. The comparison
of Mariette, Denderah, iv. 21 and 32, now proves beyond doubt that
the reading Khonsu for the symbol (p. 34) is a later error for the
correct " Herakleopolitan."

22. Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. Plate X, Borchardt, Sa'hu-re\ Plate
XIX (where the god appears in human shape), Mariette, Les Mas-
taba, p. 366, etc. For the pronunciation cf. Pyr. 631, where possibly
we should read "the Divine Worshipper," so that assimilation with
the morning star would be complete even there. The divine symbol,
of course, has only a very remote resemblance to a bearded chin; it
must have been an old unintelligible sculpture, like the pillar of
Osiris (pp. 92-93).

23. Pyr. 1428, 2042.

24. ib. 632, 1428.

25. Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. Plate V.

26. Pyr. 198, etc.

27. See H. Junker, "Der Auszug der Hathor-Tefnut aus Nubien,"
in ABAW, 191 1, p. 37, for material regarding him. The comparison
with Shu also rests on the myth given on pp. 86-90.

28. The name may likewise mean "Mistress of the Northland"
(Emhit).

29. Mariette, Denderah, iii. 36.

30. Pyr. 288.

31. ib. 1013, etc.

32. Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate V.

33. The form Heqit appears in Book of the Dead, ed. Lepsius,
cxlii. 5.

34. "Hesat bore the celestial bull" {Pyr. 2080).

35. This is now proved for Isis-Hesat; see Petrie and Mackay,
Heliopolis, Kafr Ammar, and Shurafa, Plates XLI ff. Even by the
time of the later Egyptians the name seems often to have been
misread Hetmet (cf. the following Note).

36. Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 65. The serpent Hetmet (Mariette,
Denderah, iii. 75), or Hetmut {Pyr. 485), seems to be distinct (cf. the
preceding Note).

37. Pyr. 1210, where she is called "daughter of Qeb," apparently
associated even then with Isis. Is she identical with "the great
maiden {hunet) in Heliopolis" {Pyr. 728, 809, etc.).''

38. He was perhaps localized at or near Akhmin (see Lacau,
Sarcophages, p. 17). He is mentioned in Pyr. 1603 and appears in
Memphis (L. Borchardt, in AZ xlii. 83 [1905]). His name was mis-
read An-mutef by Egyptian scribes themselves, and in Mariette,
Denderah, iii. 36, the disfigured form Mer-mut-f is found.

39. In Pyr. 1226 the soul of the dead is endangered by Kenemti,
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:01:36 PM: NOTES 405

a demon in the form of a bird or of a leopard, or wearing a leopard's
skin. Once more we see how many forgotten gods were embodied
in the decanal stars (pp. 57, 59).

40. This is our provisional reading of the divine name, meaning
"the One from the Mountainous, Foreign, Country" (Navllle, Deir
el Bahari, Plate LXIII, Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 995, etc.), so long
as its exact pronunciation is uncertain. The name is now read Ahu
by many scholars, but the orthography Ha (Pyr. M. 1013 [= Horus],
699, etc.). Hat {Pyr. 1284; cf. also Naville, Festival Hall, Plate XH)
points at least to a pronunciation Ahuti.

41. Book of the Dead, ed. Lepsius, i. 21, etc.

42. So also von Bergmann, Buck vom Durchzvandeln, 1. 70, where
she is confused with the birth-goddess Heqet.

43. The Greek form of this divine name is based on the (later.'')
pronunciation Khnuv, which is implied also in the Ethiopian hiero-
glyphic orthography Knufi (Lepsius, Denkmdler, v. 39) and Khnf;
the Kvr](f) of Plutarch {De Iside et Osiride, xxi) is problematic.
On Khnum's wife (at Esneh .?) see Heqet (pp. 50-52, 133-34); on
his two wives at Elephantine see p. 20; on his connexion with the
abyss and the lower world and on his later function as creator see
pp. 50-52.

44. Cf. p. 106. That her symbol was usually connected with the
hieroglyph shems, " to follow," as shown in our illustration (taken from
Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. Plate VH, where a different representation is
also found), is confirmed by Pyr. M. 608 = Pyr. N. 121 3, Pyr. 280,
1 21 2. Her localization in the twelfth nome of Upper Egypt (Pyr.
1258) is questionable, and the site of her temple, "the House of Life"
(Pyr. 440, etc.), is unknown.

45. Pyr. 1440.

46. Mariette, Monuments divers, p. 46.

47. Mehit with a human head and two high feathers in Mariette,
Denderah, iv. 29, seems to be a different deity.

48. Book of the Dead, clxxx.

49. Mariette, Denderah, iv. 29. The name is written Menhiu in
Book of the Dead, xvii. 59, ed. Lepsius (Menhu, ed. Budge); the old
manuscripts, however, read Amon or Hemen.

50. Book of the Dead, xci, see also cxlii, V. 26, Mariette, Den-
derah, iv. 6, 15, De Morgan, Ombos, no. 112, von Bergmann, Buch
vom Durchzvandeln, 1. 71.

51. In this capacity she equals Muut, Muit (p. 46), and it is even
possible that her name was so read.

52. Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate IV.

53. Mariette, Denderah, ii. 66, Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 26, 74, De
Morgan, Ombos, no. 963.

4o6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

54. A. Erman, in ATj xxxviii. 20 (1900).

55. His name is also written Mnrui(?). The Greek transcription
M.avhovKi'i suggests that the ordinary orthography is abridged. A
Greek inscription from Kalabsheh, in Nubia, edited by H. Gau-
thier, in Annales du service des antiquites de VEgypte, x. 68 ff. [1910],
seems to connect him with an otherwise unknown goddess Breith.

56. The name was formerly misread Khem, Amsi, etc.

57. Our picture (after Mariette, Denderah, i. 23) seems to indi-
cate that later the mysterious rite was interpreted partly as a pil-
grimage to the god's chapel on a high rock and partly as a symbolic
striving after wealth and honour from the divinity. The earliest
representations of the ceremony, however (MiiUer, Egyptological
Researches, i. Plate XLH, Gayet, Louxor, Plate X), contain no such
speculations and do not even connect it with the ascent to Min's
chapel.

58. For these statues see J. Capart, Les Debuts de Vart en Egypte^
Brussels, 1904, p. 217.

59. Thus he appears on a relief of the Middle Empire in the Metro-
politan Museum of Art, New York. Cf. also his variant, the blue
Amon (p. 129); for the confusion of black and blue see Ch. HI,
Note 10.

60. Cf. Note 15 and Ch. V, Notes 80, 106. Hence Min is also
"the beloved one" {Pyr. 953) and later becomes associated with
Qedesh-Astarte (p. 156).

61. Perhaps this interpretation was aided by a misunderstanding
of the representation of his sacred trees as ears of grain.

62. In Pyr. 1378 he flies to heaven, i.e. is already identified with
the solar hawk.

63. So Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate II. Once he is rep-
resented with a strange animal head (Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 386).
His lion's head seems to be derived from that of his mother, Sekhmet.

64. Pyr. 1 146 (cf. ib. 483.?).

65. This identification with 'Apop occurs as early as Harris Magic
Papyrus, v. 7.

66. Mariette, Denderah, iii. 69, Lanzone, Dizionario, Plate CLXXI V.
6y. This unusual pronunciation of the feminine termination as

-th is a local and possibly non-Egyptian archaism, parallel to the
long preservation of the feminine ending -t of 'Anuqet in the semi-
Egyptian region near the First Cataract.

68. With these weapons she drives evil spirits away from sleepers
(G. Daressy, in Annales du service des antiquites de VEgypte, x. 177
([1910]).

69. Even in the Middle Empire the sign was entirely disfigured
(De Morgan, Fouilles a Dahchour, p. 104), and this was the case as

NOTES 407

early as Pyr. 489. For later misinterpretations see Mariette, Den-
derah, iv. 4, etc.

70. The famous statement of Plutarch {De Iside et Osiride, ix)
regarding an alleged mysterious inscription, "None hath ever lifted
my garment," seems to be nothing more than a fanciful misinter-
pretation of references to her good fabrics for the burial of Osiris
(see Pierret, Etudes egyptologiqiies, p. 45, Budge, Gods, p. 460, etc.)-

71. She was also called "the great wild cow" and at the same time
"long-haired" {Pyr. 728, 2003, etc.). She was likewise worshipped
at some neighbouring places, above all at Fa'get (Fa'giet) and
Herakleopolis Magna.

72. Naville, Festival Hall, Plate IX. At This-Abydos Ophois
seems to have been known in the early period principally as the
wolf (.'') -god of the necropolis. For his name "the One Before the
Westerners" and for his change of character see pp. 21, 98. A
local form, "Ophois from his Tamarisk," is mentioned in Pyr.
126, etc.

73. The vulture-goddess Pekhat {Book of the Dead, ed. Lepsius,
clxiv. 12) is probably to be distinguished from this divinity.

74. In this colour we are tempted to see a non-Egyptian character-
istic, for usually only women (who are less exposed to the sun than
are men) and some foreigners are painted yellow. The yellow skin
of Heka, the god of magic (Borchardt, Sa'hu-re', Plate XX), and
sometimes of Thout, suggests, however, other explanations for this
feature, seeming to indicate a retired, reflective nature, scholarship,
and wisdom, in that he stays diligently in his workship.

75. This epithet is found as early as Pyr. 560.

76. Hence "Ptah, resting on justice, satisfied with justice,"
sometimes appears as the god who watches over oaths; cf. p. 234
for texts referring to this function. Osiris often stands on a similar
pedestal, a like explanation being given (p. 97).

77. "Ptah opens the mouth (of the dead) with his stylus of metal"
(Virey, Tombeau de Rekhmara, p. 168), i.e. to restore his speech. In
this capacity he may perhaps already be confused with Sokari, and
as a potter, probably, with Nuu-Khnum. For the ceremony cf. p. 181.

78. Was the situation of Memphis near the great division of the
Nile one of the reasons for this identification, or was it, rather, Ptah's
claim to be the oldest of all the gods, like Nuu .''

79. See pp. 220-22 for the later, pantheistic conception of Ptah as
the god of the universe; for his later son, I-m-hotep, see p. 171, and
on his late association with Astarte see Ch. VIII, Note 9.

80. Pyr. 468, 1 180, 1348, 2153.

81. Mariette, Bender ah, iv. 55, etc.

82. "The two maidens" as mothers of Osiris {Book of the Dead,

4o8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

cxlii. 14) seem to mean Isis and Nephthys as a later interpretation
and have no association with Triphis. The earliest orthography of
Repit's name (e.g. K. Piehl, in ATL xix. 18 [1881]) appears to connect
it with a word re-pit, "statue in a small chapel," so that all the ety-
mologies cited above would be secondary.

83. The form Sept occurs in Pyr. 11 16.

84. Louvre C 15, etc. (ed. A. Gayet, Musee du Louvre: Steles de la
douzieme dynastie, Paris, 1889).

85. Pyr. 1575, etc.

86. Formerly the name was erroneously read Sekhet, Pakht, etc.
The vocalization Sokhmet is unsafe.

87. Pyr. 606, 1375, etc.

88. Cf. pp. 104, 157, Ch. V, Note 43. See also Pyr. 1274, etc.,
Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, Plate XIII f, etc.

89. Pyr. 489.

90. Naville, Festival Hall, Plate VIII.

91. If the orthography in Pyr. 1139, 1751, is really to be read
Semtet, she would seem to be "the goddess of the necropolis," this
word being written Semit in Petrie, Gizeh and Rifeh, Plate IX,
though elsewhere in the Ancient Empire it appears as St.

92. Cf. Naville, Shrine of Soft el Henneh, Plate II.

93. ib.

94. Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 11 70, Plate XV.

95. The name is written with an arm holding a sceptre {Pyr. P.
662) or a child {Pyr. M. 773), which seems to confirm the fact that
the later orthography Shenet is identical. It is doubtful whether
Pyr. 444, 681, 689 characterize her as a serpent (for the serpent as
an emblem of all goddesses see p. 166). For Shentet's identification
with Isis see Lanzone, Dizionario, p. 11 78, and Book of the Dead, ed.
Lepsius, cxlii. 17. The temple of (Per-)Shentit (von Bergmann,
Buch vom Durchwandeln, 1. 54, Mariette, Denderah, iv. 35) was
probably the one in Abydos (Lanzone, op. cit. p. 729).

96. Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate VI.

97. Pyr. 1 1 96, 2013.

98. Earlier orthographies were Sbek, Sbeuk; in the Fayum a late
local form was called Petesuchos ("Gift of Sobk"). In Pyr. 507 Sobk
wears a green feather.

99. The origin of this seems to be that the Pharaohs of the Twelfth
Dynasty built their residence in the Fayum. Thus the Sobk of the
city of Shedet became the official god of all Egypt and was neces-
sarily solarized, this being evident as early as the "Hymns to the
Diadem of the Pharaoh" (ed. A. Erman, in ABAW, 191 1, p. 24,
etc.). Accordingly he has "the solar eye of Sobk on his head" {Book
of the Dead, cxxv, ad fin.), and this solarization was furthered by

NOTES 409

the clerical error (or change) in the manuscripts of the Book of the
Dead which altered Sobk's home Ba'eru into Bekhu, i.e. the moun-
tain of sunrise. Later he was also compared on rare occasions to the
earth-god Qeb, but the reason for this is quite obscure.

100. This was the case in the city of Apis in the Delta, even at a
time which regarded the crocodile as "Typhonic" (p. 107). A (late.'*)
female form, Sobket, had to be compared with Sobk's wife or
mother, Neith, and must be distinguished from an earlier leonto-
cephalous goddess Seqbet {Book of the Dead, ed. Lepsius, cxliv. V).

loi. Pyr. 445, etc.

102. This is as early as Pyr. W. 211, which mentions "Horus in
his sledge-bark"; cf. Pyr. T. 270 and Pyr. 1429 for the explanation
of his bark as solar; in Pyr. 1824 Sokar is already the solarized
Osiris.

103. A. Erman, in AZ xxxviii. 29-30 (1900) (Twentieth Dynasty).

104. Sop is clearly one with the god Sepa {Book of the Dead, xvii;
identified with Osiris ?). In the same text, Ixix. 6, 8, where he may
be identified with Anubis, Sop's name is written with the sign of
the centipede {Pyr. M. 763, etc.), which later scribes mistook for a
backbone, etc. The latest spelling was S'ep (von Bergmann, Buch
vom Durchzvandeln, 1. 49). It is uncertain whether he was worshipped
in Hebet (see G. Maspero, "Memoire sur quelques papyrus du
Louvre, " in Notices et extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Na-
tional, xxiv. 24 [1883]). Manetho blended Joseph and Moses into
one personality, substituting Osiris for Hebrew Y6 = Yahveh (regarded
as the first component of Joseph's name), and thus reconstructing the
name as half Egyptian and half Hebrew. In his association of Sop's
name with Heliopolis he is supported by "Atum of Sep(a)" {Book of
the Dead, cxxv).

105. For this god see E. Naville, The Shrine of Saft el Henneh
and the Land of Goshen, London, 1887. The Asiatized picture given
in the text (taken from Borchardt, Sa'hu-re\ i. Plate V) is the old-
est known. His sacred kesbet-tree or kesbet-trees {Pyr. 1476, etc.)
were subsequently mistaken for sycamores {nubs), whence the later
name of his city.

106. Diimichen, Patuamenap, Plate XV. The site of her city,
Tatet, Taitet {Pyr. 737, 1642, 1794, etc.), is unknown.

107. Pyr. 290.

108. Thus A. Wiedemann, in PSBA xxiii. 272 (1901).

109. Her name Is not to be read Bast(et), as many Egyptologists
still think.

no. With greater correctness we might write this name Weng(i),
and so the following names, Wert, Wesret, etc. ; but cf . the preface on
the popularization of transliteration. For Ung see Pyr. 607, 952.

4IO EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

111. Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh, Plate VI.

112. Pyr. W. 329.

113. Petrie, Jthribis, Plate XVIII.

114. Pyr. 650 (619), 1 153.

115. ib, 631, etc.

116. ib. 662.

117. ib. 994, 1476.

118. ib. 131, 1537.

119. Ahmed Bey Kamal, in Annates du service des antiquites de
VEgypte, xiii. 170 (191 3).

Chapter VIII

1. Foreign countries in general were thought to be under the
protection of Hat-hor, the goddess of heaven; and for this reason we
find her especially in Nubia, on the coast of the Red Sea, in the
Sinaitic Peninsula (Ch. Ill, Note 12), and as the goddess of the Liby-
ans (Champollion, Notices, ii. 208). It is not safe to call divinities of
frontier districts foreign gods, because they are sometimes said to be
masters of the alien countries adjoining; thus Neith of Sai's has no
trace of a Libyan origin or character (p. 142), neither is Min of
Koptos (pp. 137-39) really a Troglodyte god, although they
are called respectively "mistress of the Libyans" and "master of
the Troglodytes." In like manner the deity "Ash, the lord of the
Libyans," who introduces these barbarians by the side of the
goddesses of the west (Borchardt, Sa'hu-re', Plate I; cf. p. 131), is
still an Egyptian divinity. See also on Sopd and Khasti, pp. 149,

134-

2. Manifest Asiatic tendencies are found even in the Pyramid
Texts; see e. g. p. 104 on the approximately datable adoption of the
myth of the cosmic serpent; Ch. Ill, Note 70, on the blind Orion-
type; p. 109 on the spear of the celestial god; p. 58 on the double
Orion, etc.; and, above all, p. 120 on the great difficulty of deciding
exactly which details of the Osiris-myth were native to Egypt and
which were received from abroad, although it is probable that it
had its roots in the myth of the dying god from countries east and
north of Egypt (p. 120). The tendency to make all goddesses
celestial runs remarkably parallel with Asiatic theology and leads
us to the prehistoric age.

3. For the raised foot of the running Orion see p. 57. We have
already found (pp. 80-83) another reason for the lifted foot of the
walking sun-god or of his representative at night, Orion, in a ver-
sion which makes Isis-Virgo wickedly use the serpent against the
god, thus showing the same Asiatic motifs inverted.

NOTES 411

4. On the general problem of relationship, especially between
the Egyptian and the Babylonian religions, see A. Jeremias, Die
Panbabylonisten, der alte Orient und die dgyptische Religion, Leipzig,
1907. This very suggestive little study, however, contains some
comparisons which are quite strained. While it is a great step in
advance no longer to consider the Egyptian religion as an isolated
growth, the claims of some zealous "pan-Babylonians " to treat it
as nothing but a mechanical reproduction of Babylonian beliefs are
erroneous. See pp. 56-57 for the remarkable fact that not even the
astronomical basis of the major part of the Babylonian religion was
reproduced in earlier Egypt, which had an astronomy that was
widely different. It is only in the Grseco-Roman period that we
find many mechanical copies of Babylonian doctrines, e. g. in astrol-
ogy or magic (see p. 200).

5. For fuller information on these deities see Miiller, Asien und
Euro-pa, p. 309.

6. This cap, plaited of rushes, is the characteristic head-dress
of most Asiatic gods. We have already noted (Ch. V, Note iii)
that its regular occurrence with Osiris, as originally a divinity of
Lower Egypt, where this type of crown would be unsuitable, may
be a bond of union between Osiris and Asia.

7. Like Orion as well. For this ribbon see Ch. Ill, Note 70.

8. See W. Spiegelberg, in Zeitschrift fiir Assyriologie, xiii. 120
(1898).

9. From this most famous temple of hers she is called "daughter
of Ptah " in fragments of a strange tale (W. Spiegelberg, in PSBA
xxiv. 49 [1902]), in which, after wandering between Egypt and Syria,
she appears sitting naked on the sea-shore like the Greek Aphrodite
or the Asiatic "daughter of the sea " (i.e. Astarte).

10. The lion's head in Fig. 160 shows Astarte confused with the
warlike Sekhmet, her neighbour in Memphis (pp. 146-47; so also
De Morgan, Ombos, no. 208 .''). For the double nature of Astarte cf.
likewise on 'Anat (p. 156).

11. This is an astral myth: Virgo stands on Leo, holding Spica
and Hydra, which recurs in the legends telling how Isis conquered
the sun-god by a serpent (pp. 79-83) or aided him (cf. p. 153).
Egyptian mythology could also consider it as a reversion of an
Egyptian mythological idea (see pp. 29, 88 on the asp as a lost
member of the solar deity).

12. The name also seems to be written Dedunti. It is rather
strange that the ancient hieroglyph is not clearly recognized in Pyr.
803, 994, 1718, and this would appear to militate against reading
this divine name in the appellation of King Menenre', Dedun(.'')-
em-sa(u)-f. Manetho read this M€domov(l>is, i.e. with the god-name

412 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Mehti. It is possible that we have here a confusion of Egyptian
divinities whose names were written similarly, or that Dedun,
when transferred to Egypt, assumed different local
designations.

13. Quibell, Hierakonpolis, Plates XIX (with

V^ J_^__^ emblems of war and conquest), XXXIV. In like

^^7 JJ^^^S manner both names occur in the tomb of Menes

K-JS^"^^^^ (Petrie, Royal Tombs, i. Plate III). Dedun is men-

tioned among Egyptian gods (Quibell, op. cit. i.

Fig. 229. Symbol pj^^g XXVI c), as is Selqet alone (ib. Plates XVII,

OF ELQET AS THE ^yjjj^ ctc.) ; both arc shown on other prehistoric

vessels (Petrie, Diospolis Parva, Plate XVI).
14. The theory that Bes was an East African or Arabian deity
must, however, now be abandoned; cf. p. 62.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:02:13 PM: Chapter IX

I. This subject has been treated especially by A. Wiedemann in
various essays (see the literature cited in his Religion of the Ancient
Egyptians, London, 1897, p. 172) and in his Tierkult der alten Aegypter,
Leipzig, 191 2. The most complete treatise is by T. Hopfner, Tierkult
der alten Aegypter, Vienna, 191 3.

2. Epet, originally a mixed form, appears as a hippopotamus
only in more recent times (p. 59). The association of this animal
with Seth belongs to the very latest period (p. 118 and Ch. V, Note

35)-

3. See Ch. IV, Note 90, on this real meaning of the ordinary

word for "soul."

4. For the earliest examples of such mixed representations of
deities see Petrie, Royal Tombs, ii. Plates XXI ff. (from the First
Dynasty f) ; cf . also the confused description of the goddess Nekhbet
(Ch. VII, Note 71). A remarkable attempt of a very advanced Egyp-
tian thinker to explain the origin of the sacred animals in his own
peculiar way has been mentioned on p. 85; this shows the difficulty
which that remnant of antiquity began to present.

5. In the Grseco-Roman period he was called Serapis, i.e. Osor-
hap (see p. 98 for this etymology). Sometimes he seems to have
been confused with Hepi, a son of Osiris-Horus (p. 112), as in Pyr.
13 13. For the etymology "the Runner" see the orthography in
Mariette, Les Mastaba, p. 183.

6. There is a tradition, though of questionable authority, that
the priests drowned the Apis when he reached the age of twenty-
five years. This drowning would again imply the explanation as
the Nile and Osiris.

NOTES 413

7. Seventy is a characteristic cosmic number; cf. Ch. V, Note
75, on the more exact number seventy-two as expressing the circle
of the year.

8. A cattle owner is denounced for having ill-treated a calf with
sacred marks (a Mnevis) and his mother (W. Spiegelberg, in ATj
xxix. 82 [1891]).

9. Hence the bull appears on the Roman coins of the nome of
Her-monthis; see p. 139 on the original form of Mon^u.

10. Ahmed Bey Kamal, in Annales du service des antiquites de
VEgypte, V. 198 (1904).

11. The black colour of most of these sacred animals seems to
confirm the suspicion that the celestial bull or cow was soon sought
in them (see Ch. Ill, Note 10, for the identity of black and blue),
although in general the beginning of their worship must have been
much earlier than this cosmic interpretation (p. 160).

12. This designation seems to show that the fusion of the pillar-
god of Busiris (p. 92) and of the Mendes-" spirit" was earlier than
the explanation of the former as the dying god Osiris.

13. See p. 28 and Lanzone, Dizionario, Plate LXVII, 2 (which
also proves that the Egyptians did not take the word b(a)i to mean
"ram," but "soul"). The Stele of Mendes (cf. E. Naville, Jhnas
el Medineh, London, 1894, pp. 20-21) and the Hibeh Hymn (1. 27;
see p. 221 for this text from the Persian period) identify this god with
"the living soul" of Shu, Qeb, Osiris, Re', etc., i.e. pantheistically
with the entire world (cf. the underlying idea of the four elements,
p. 66, and perhaps likewise the deity with the four rams' heads, ib.).

14. It might be supposed that the race of sheep with wide-spread-
ing horns could, when it had later become extinct, be misunderstood
as goats in the old pictures, or that a goat was substituted when
these sheep had disappeared, or that for superstitious reasons the
goat was not called by its correct designation; but none of these
explanations is convincing. That the Greeks were not wrong is
shown by Lanzone, Dizionario, Plate LXVII, i, where a goat ap-
pears with the inscription "the divine soul (or, "ram".''), the chief
of the gods" (cf. also the designation of the universal god as hai
["buck"] in the Hibeh Hymn, 1. 27). Mummies of goats, both male
and female, have been found in Upper Egypt as well.

15. See Mariette, Denderah, iv. 80, Naville, Shrine of Saft el
Henneh, Plate VI.

16. See the present writer's remarks on this name (first explained
by Lefebure) in MFG, xvii. 290 (1913). The best picture, repro-
duced in Fig. 172, is taken from Naville, Shrine of Saft el Henneh,
Plate VII.

17. The name means "the shining one," perhaps because of its

414 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

white feathers (cf, the paronomasia in Pyr. 1652). This explains
why at Heliopolis it could be interpreted as a symbol of light.

18. These tales begin with Herodotus, ii. 73.

19. On the goose of Amon see p. 129; on the goose later attributed
to Qeb p. 42; on the ibis of Thout pp. 33-34; on the hawk or falcon
of Horus p. loi. All these birds, however, had little prominence;
cf. pp. 167-68.

20. XVII. i. 38 (= pp. 811-12, ed. Casaubon).

21. Mariette, Denderah, iii. 28, 29, etc. A picture (ib. iv. 25)
also shows us, it is true, four lions as traditional guardians of the
temple and represents them as being fed, but these were scarcely
living animals.

22. XVII. i. 22 (= p. 803, ed. Casaubon).

23. In similar fashion cosmic types like the bull and the hawk
may have taken the place of other animals in this period (see p. 160
and Note ii).

24. See F. Preisigke and W. Spiegelberg, Die Prinz Joachim
Ostraka, Strassburg, 1914, for documents of the inspection of such
"tombs of gods," and cf. W. Spiegelberg, in Report on Some Excava-
tions in the Necropolis of Thebes, London, 1908, pp. 19 ff. On the
inability of the masses to distinguish between "divine " and "sacred "
see p. 161.

25. See Ch. I, Note 3, on the difficulty of separating these under-
lying ideas.

26. Cf. e.g. Newberry and Griffith, Beni Hasan, ii. Plate XIII,
as to what strange creatures hunters expected to see in the desert.

27. For the divinity of the kings see especially A. Moret, Du
caractere religieux de la royaute pharaonique, Paris, 1902, and S. A. B.
Mercer, in Journal of the Society of Oriental Research, i. 10 (1917)
(where references to the general literature are given).

28. Naville, Deir el Bahari, Plate LI (with an alternating syn-
onym for ka), etc.

29. Temples at Deir el-Bahri, Luxor, Edfu (ed. Naville, Gayet,
and Chcissinat respectively), etc. The theory of divine incarnation
which arti'sts and poets describe on these monuments — with an excess
of detail for modern taste — is that the sun-god (Amon), attracted
by the charms of the queen and falling in love with her, approaches
her by filling the Pharaoh with his soul. The child born of such a
union is, therei'^ore, the offspring of the god as well as of the king.

30. U. Wilcken, in AZ xlii. 11 1 (1905).

31. The staten?ent that he came from Kochome, i.e. "the City of
the Black Bull," or from Athribis looks like a later theory derived
from the name of his father (= Apis) in an effort to explain his
divinity. .

\

NOTES 415

32. Lepsius, Denkmdler, iv. 73, etc. Such cults seem to have flour-
ished especially in Nubia.

Chapter X

1. For special studies of this subject see A. Wiedemann, The
Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of the Immortality of the Soul, English tr.,
London, 1895, E. A. W. Budge, Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life,
London, 1908, G. A. Reisner, The Egyptian Conception of Immor-
tality, London, 191 2.

2. Possibly, however, this custom may have been understood as
equipment for becoming a "follower of the sun-god," a member of
his crew (pp. 26, 55).

3. That ka is merely an earlier and more carefully chosen word
for " soul " is evident from the interchange of both terms, e. g. in
cases of divine incarnation in animals (p. 165) and men (p. 170).
The original etymology of the word is disputed. The higher mean-
ing attributed to the term ka is also revealed in the prevailing idea
that in form it is a double of man's personality (cf. Fig. 180). As
another word for "soul" the term ikh is found as early as Pyr. 403,
etc.

4. Since cremation was believed to involve the complete anni-
hilation of personality, it was feared as endangering the very ex-
istence of the soul (see A, Erman, Gesprdch eines Lebensmiiden mit
seiner Seele, Berlin, 1 896); drowning, on the contrary, made one like
Osiris and was a blessed death (F. LI. Griffith, in JZ xlvi. 132 [1910]).

5. This must not be mistaken, as it often is, for the Indian doc-
trine of transmigration of souls. It is most obviously a survival of
the primitive animism described in Ch. I. Animals have no soul un-
less a human or divine soul temporarily makes its abode in them.

6. If we correctly understand the numerous invocations against
"dead, male or female," such lurking spirits were feared and seem
to have been considered the cause of Illness. A papyrus contains a
curious letter written by a widower to his deceased wife (tr. G.
Maspero, In JJ VII. xv. 371-82 [1880]), enumerating all the kind-
ness which he had shown her in her lifetime and at her burial and
begging her to leave him in peace; it does not state whether dis-
turbing dreams were meant or whether Illness was attributed to her.

7. The Egyptian title is The Book of Coming Forth by Day (I. e.
with the morning sun). It Is wholly erroneous to call It the "Bible
of the Egyptians"; although it Is a rich mine of Information, it does
not seek to formulate the creed. The text, ultimately codified after
700 B.C., was first edited by R. Lepsius (Leipzig, 1842) and better
by E. Naville (Berlin, 1886); it has been translated into English by

4i6 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

Lepage Renouf (London, 1904) and E. A. W. Budge (London, 1901).
Smaller works (in part imitations and extracts) of this kind are The
Book of Respiration (ed. H. K. Brugsch, Sdi An Sinsin, Berlin, 185 1),
The Book "That my Name may Flourish" (ed. J. Lieblein, Leipzig,
1895), The Book of Wandering through Eternity (ed. E. von Berg-
mann, Vienna, 1877), The Rituals of Embalmment (ed. G. Maspero,
in "Memoire sur quelques papyrus du Louvre," in Notices et extraits
des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale, xxiv. 14-51 [1883]), The
Rituals of Funerary Offerings (ed. E. Schiaparelli, Turin, 1881-90),
etc. Forerunners of the Book of the Dead — apart from the Pyra-
mid Texts, our oldest Egyptian religious documents — are such works
as The Book of the Two Ways (ed. H. Schack-Schackenburg, Leipzig,
1903; better ed. P. Lacau, in RT xxix. 143-50 [1907]).

8. This number corresponds to that of the nomes in Egypt
(pp. 17-18), whence the manuscripts make unsatisfactory attempts
to localize all judges in these nomes. Does the number survive in
the Ethiopic Liturgy, where the priest, after saying the Kyrie thrice,
repeats it secretly forty-two times (S. A. B. Alercer, The Ethiopic
Liturgy, Milwaukee, 1915, p. 360).?

9. Originally they were for the most part evil demons, as is ob-
vious in the case of Neheb-kau, the " Overthrower of Souls " (p. 141),
who later cannot entirely deny his evil source (cf. Ch. V, Notes

43, 54)-

10. This may perhaps show that originally, as we have suggested
(pp. 33-34), they were two distinct gods.

11. Pyr. 1 1 12, etc.

12. In the early texts the "fields of sacrifices {1 Pyr. 471 has the
variant, "of those at rest"), of sprouts {earu), of altars, of malachite"
(pp. 55, 97, Ch. Ill, Note 12), etc., were originally green pleasure-
places in heaven, with lakes and canals depicted in the stars (p. 55);
they were not yet fields for toil. Cf. also Ch. II, Note 10, for the
"jackal lake." The "lakes of the (female) worshippers" (duaut; Pyr.
P. 245) are confused with such designations as "underworld {duat;
Ch. V, Note 16) lakes," etc. "Lake" is rather synonymous with
"field" in this celestial sense. Thus we have, for example, a
"nurse(ry.'') lake" {Pyr. 343, etc.) beside a "lake of the green plant"
(khat, ib.; possibly the earlier reading for khaut, "altars"), a "lake
of plenty" (ib. 1228), etc.

13. This seems to be a later etymology for the earlier orthography
shawabtiu ("procurers of food").

14. The earlier period was especially anxious that the departed
might enjoy sexual pleasure and be protected against sexual weak-
ness. The figures of alleged "dolls " deposited in the graves simply
meant concubines for the dead.

NOTES 417

15. Pyr. 950 more modestly describes how they bail out this ship.

16. Ixxx, Ixxxii.

17. The rarer expressions occur as early as Pyr. 392, 1679; "ser-
vants of the god" are mentioned in Pyr. 754, "followers of Osiris"
in Pyr. 749, 1803, "followers of Ophois" in Pyr. 928, 1245, "followers
(from) the celestial abode" in Pyr. 306.

18. The watch-dog of Osiris has this name as early as Pyr. 1229,
where the scene of the judgement is laid near the source of the Nile
(Ch. V, Note 43). In Bonomi and Sharpe, Oimenepthah, Plate V, he
seems to be confused with the pig or sow which sometimes symbolizes
the condemned sinner (p. 180).

19. This stands in contrast to the belief that drowning confers a
blessed immortality (see Note 4).

20. These four baboons (cf. Fig. 186) interchange with the four
sons of Osiris-Horus in the Book of the Dead, cliii A and B, show-
ing once more that, as we have proved above, the scene is where
the Nile comes from the lower world in the south.

21. The idea of such a hell does not develop until the New Empire,
and then under influences which are not yet determined. The most
detailed accounts of the underworld, heaven, and hell are found in
two collections which enjoyed a certain popularity between 1500
and 1000 B.C.: the Book of That Which is in the Other World and the
Book of the Gates. The principal purpose of these collections of an-
cient pictures, which were often misinterpreted, was to describe the
nocturnal course of the sun through the realm of the dead. Originally,
as we have stated (Ch. II, Note 11), the "island of flames" was
not a hell; and the Book of the Gates, making
it the abode of blessed souls who live on its
bread and green herbs, seems to revert to
the conception of the fields and islands which
the stars form in the sky (see Bonomi and
Sharpe, Oimenepthah, Plate XIV). Other Fig. 230. Souls in the
texts, such as Lacau, Sarcophages, p. 225, like- ^^^^^0 of Flames among

^ ...i. • 1 J 1 X ur Flowers and Food

wise represent the island as a place of bliss.

A "god of cauldrons" (Ketuiti), usually pictured with the head of a

cat (cf. p. 106 .^) and once with that of an ox (cf. on Nuu, p. 47 .^), is

partially recognized as master of hell from the Eighteenth Dynasty.

Curiously enough, Horus, the god of light, is more frequently regarded

as the ruler of the place of torture. An inscription at the beginning of

the Roman period (Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden des

dgyptischen Alterthums, Plate XVI, etc.) states that all the dead, even

the good, must go to the same Hades. "The west is a land of sleep

and darkness" where all souls slumber in torpor and oblivion, and yet

(in direct contradiction to this view) they are in misery, longing in vain

XII — 28

41 8 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

even for a drink of water and regretting that they have not enjoyed
more pleasure during their earthly life. This is not, however, to be
considered as an expression of old Egyptian doctrine, but represents
foreign thought, especially Greek.

22. Thus far this is merely a hypothesis. As a survival of the same
idea, even in the New Empire, we occasionally find the genitals of
mummies cut off and wrapped with the mummy (cf. Ch. V, Note io6,
for the origin of this practice from the Osiris-myth). It is uncer-
tain why the skin was sometimes removed from the soles of the
feet, nor do we know whether a religious explanation was given to
the gilding of parts of the mummy (such as the face and the tips of
the fingers) in the later period.

23. As in many other lands, objects deposited with the dead were
often broken to "kill" them and thus to send them with the soul
of the departed, e.g. literary papyri for his entertainment were
frequently torn in pieces. As a security for gaining eternal life in
the New Empire the burial customs of the blessed earliest ancestors
(Ch. XI, Note 23) were imitated, at least symbolically or in pictures.
Thus we find allusions to the prehistoric custom of sewing the body in
a skin, or a little pyramid of stone seems to have put the departed in
the status of the early kings who rested in real pyramids, etc.

Chapter XI

1. cxxv, introduction.

2. Variant: who guard the sins (variant: the lower world); fur-
ther variant: who live on truth and abhor wrong. This passage
afi"ords an excellent example of the way In which scholars struggled
with the texts, which were often obscure and corrupt.

3. Cf. p. 29 for this Interpretation of the two eyes, which here
appear In an exceptional way as guardians of righteousness.

4. This song existed In various recensions and was claimed to
have been popular before 2000 b.c, being found In the funerary
temple of one of the Antef kings of the Eleventh Dynasty. For the
most complete discussion of It see the present writer's Liehespoesie
der alten Aegyfter, p. 29; cf. also Breasted, Development, p. 182.

5. The oldest of these moral writings Is the famous Prisse Papy-
rus, first translated by F. Chabas in his Etudes sur le papyrus Prisse,
Paris, 1887 (cf. B. G. Gunn, The Instructions of Ptahhotep, London,
1908). This prosaic and utilitarian text, which still remains very
obscure, claims to date from the time of the Third and Fourth
Dynasties. The exhortations of the wise AnI (Chabas, Les Maximes
d'Ani, Chalon-sur-Saone, 1876), written during the New Empire, have
much higher literary and ethical value (see pp. 232-33).

NOTES 419

6. Scenes of drunkenness are commemorated as good jokes even
in tombs. It is significant that the name of King Psammetichus
means "the mixer," i.e. the inventor of new mixed drinks (p-sa-n-
metk).

7. Especially cxxv. So far as the text, which is badly corrupted in
the manuscripts, can be understood, the best English translation of
this important document is by F. LI. Griffith, in Library of the World's
Best Literature, pp. 5320-22.

8. See Renouf, Religion of Ancient Egypt, pp. 73 ff.; Breasted,
Development, pp. 165 ff.

9. This interesting text was mixed by mistake with ritual formulae
for the king {Pyr. P. 164, etc.).

10. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 195.

11. The picture is drawn from Naville, Festival Hall, Plate IX.
See, further, Mariette, Denderah, iii. Plate LXIII, where we learn
that the smaller pillars were often covered with vestments to make
them look like statues. W. Spiegelberg has shown {RT xxv. 184
[1903]) that the name of these monuments was "sticks" (i.e., prob-
ably, "poles"). Our picture confirms the frequency of horned skulls
(for the meaning of which see p. 37) on the earliest of these pillars.
Obelisks and such emblems are connected in Pyr. 1178.

12. For one of very unusual character see Naville, The Eleventh
Dynasty Temple at Deir el Bahari, London, 1 894-1908.
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:02:55 PM: 13. The repetition of these festivals at intervals much shorter
than thirty years, like their curious name, which is now usually in-
terpreted as "festival of the tail" (.''), is not
yet intelligible. Petrie {Royal Tombs, i. Plates
VII, VIII) has shown that the earlier name
was different ("festival of opening" [1\), and
that the oldest buildings which commemorated
this festival were rather simple, as in the accom-
panying illustration. The first of the elaborate Fig. 231. The Earliest
structures of later times was found by Naville Construction Com-

, . , .,,.,.„ • 1 Tl 11 r r\ 7 MEMORATING A f ESTI-

and IS described m his t estivai Hall oj Usorkon ^^^ ^^ ^^^ Tail"
//, London, 1892.

14. On the orders of the Egyptian priesthood see W. Otto, Priester
und Tempel im hellenistischen Aegypten, Leipzig, 1905. This work
refers, of course, only to the latest period.

IS- ii- 35-

16. ib, 92.

17. See A. Wiedemann, in PSBA xxiii. 263 (1901), A. Erman, in AZ
xxxviii. 53 (1901), and several writers in AZ xxxix. (1902). The
vessels described by Wiedemann (op. cit., pp. 271 ff.) are, however,
water-clocks for regulating the hours of worship. The whole problem

420 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

of these purifications is still obscure, for the Greek writers gave
different explanations to the ceremony, confusing the symbolism of
lustration, a sign of presence, and the registering or dropping of
monetary gifts in brass boxes.

1 8. The application of this earlier Egyptian cosmetic usage to
the deities produced the large ornamented palettes carved from

slate, on which the green paint for
the eyes of the gods was mixed
in prehistoric and earliest dynastic
times. Even sacred (and sacrifi-
cial .?) animals sometimes had their
eyes decorated in this manner
(Borchardt, Sa'hu-re', Plate
XLVII). The priestess who thus

adorns the cow (which symbolizes
Fig. 232. A Priestess Painting the tt ^ 1 '^ j- ^ • ^

•^T^ c r^ rlat-hor, accordmg to a picture

Eyes OF A Sacred Cow •. •. ' -. ••• t,i -trr

given m AZ xxxviu. Plate V [1901])

wears only a cord around her loins, so that she represents a god-
dess and accordingly enacts some mythological scene (to which
Pyr. W. 421, etc., allude.?).

19. From Louvre C 15 (ed. A. Gayet, Musee du Louvre: Steles de
la douzieme dynasiie, Paris, 1889).

20. See Petrograd Papyrus I (Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor), I.
145, for an instance of such a sacrifice to an absent god. The burn-
ing of whole oxen is represented in connexion with the human sacri-
fices to be discussed below.

21. H. Junker, in AZ xlviii. 69 (191 1). The representations of
the king as a conqueror do not, however, refer to human sacrifice.

22. De Iside et Osiride, Ixxiii, etc. An altar for human sacrifice
found at Edfu is described by A. E. P. Weigall, in Annales du service
des antiquites de V^gypte, viii. 45 (1907). The pictures given in our
text all belong to the funeral sacrifices and may, therefore, have a
different aim (cf. Ch. X, Note 23, for the possibility that the sole
object in killing slaves was to send them with the soul of their master) ;
but they permit a certain conclusion about human sacrifice in divine
cults.

23. See G. Maspero, in Memoires puhlies par les memhres de la
mission archeologique frangaise au Caire, v. 452 (1894), and Griffith,
in Tylor, Tomb of Paheri, large ed., text of Plate VIII, where, hov/-
ever, we find no consideration of the fact that the Egyptians of the
sixteenth century B.C. no longer understood these representations,
but confused the ceremony of interring the dead in the fashion of
the blessed prehistoric ancestors — in a crouching position and sewn
in a skin — with similar burials of human sacrifices. This has been

NOTES 421

noted in part by Davies {Five Theban Tombs, p. 9), who also repro-
duces (Plate VIII) the sacrifice of Nubian slaves given in our text
(Fig. 210). In our older picture (drawn from Petrie, Royal Tombs,
ii. Plate III) the peculiar wooden sledge on which the sacrifice is
drawn to the grave appears in an unusual form. Cf. Fig. 210, where
this sledge is carefully buried after it has been used.

24. See K. Sethe, in AZ xliv. 30-35 (1907).

25. The most important of these are the demotic papyrus at
Paris, at first erroneously interpreted as a chronicle (now edited by
W. Spiegelberg, in his Demotische Studien, vii, Leipzig, 1914), and
a prophecy in a papyrus at Petrograd. A Leyden papyrus (ed.
A. Gardiner, Admonitions of an Egyptian Sage, Leipzig, 1909) is not
prophetic.

Chapter XII

1. The fullest collection of material on Egyptian magic is con-
tained in A. Erman's Egyptian Religion. In many works usages and
texts are treated as magical which should rather be classified as
purely religious.

2. See p. 171. For his magical book see G. Maspero, "Memoire
sur quelques papyrus du Louvre," in Notices et extraits des manu-
scrits de la Bibliotheque Nationale, xxiv. 58 (1883).

3. Until the Roman period this was never uttered as a wish —
"may he go!" — for to the mind of the earlier Egyptians this would
have deprived the sentence of its efficacy. It must be stated as a
fact, and then it will become a fact. On the magic effect connected
with such religious texts see Breasted, Development, p. 94.

4. Every number is sacred because the cosmic system reveals
them all, but especial value attaches to 4, 9, (14,) 18, 27, 42, no.
The number seven is usually unlucky (cf. pp. 40, 59 on constellations
of seven stars), although, on the other hand, it appears in the fourteen
souls of the sun-god (see pp. 28, 170), etc. It is only in the latest
period that three becomes especially sacred. For the dread forty-
two judges of the departed see p. 176.

5. The most famous text on this theme, telling how the
princess of an alleged Asiatic country called Bekhten was healed
by a statue of Khonsu (translated by Maspero, Contes populaires
de VEgypte ancienne, 3rd ed., Paris, 1906, pp. 161-67), is a pious
forgery; but there are historical analogues of such expeditions,
such as the sending of the idol of the Ishtar of Nineveh from
Mesopotamia to Egypt to cure the illness of Amen-hotep III.

6. The hieroglyph for "talisman" {sa, <Q.SKQnS— v^) seems to re-
present a cord with numerous magic loops © (2) ©""""^ (cf . on Neith,
p. 142). For a papyrus on the magic properties of gems see Spiegel-

422 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

berg, Demotische Papyrus aus den koniglichen Museen von Berlin,
p. 29. The symbol of the open hand, so popular in the Orient to
this day, already appears among the amulets which cannot be
traced back to a religious idea.

7. The longest calendar of this nature is contained in Sallier
Papyrus IV and has been translated by F. Chabas {Le Calendrier
des jours fastes et nefastes, Chalon-sur-Saonc, 1870). It shows very
little agreement with other texts of this character (see e. g. Budge,
Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in the British Museum, p. 41 ;
cf. also Ch. VI, Note 16). The priests must have disagreed widely
regarding these calendric systems.

8. Cf. p. 185 and Ch. I, Note 3, on this occupation, which easily
assumed a religious significance.

9. See especially the astrological handbook discussed by Spiegel-
berg, op. cit., p. 28.

10. For a collection of such passages see H. Grapow, in AZ xlix.
48 (1911).

11. Pyr. W. 496= T 319.

12. Explained in later times as "they fight among themselves,"
but perhaps originally meaning "they fall like rain."

13. i.e. Aker (see pp. 42-43); variant: "of those who live in the
depths of the earth, the folk of Aker."

14. Originally "my soul," revealing the fact that primarily the
entire hymn used the first person, thus increasing its magic character.

15. See Ch. II, Note 11, and Ch. X, Note 21, for the varying ideas
of this place.

16. A play on the similar words meaning "message, messenger"
and "locks on the top of the head."

17. Variant: "upon the colours"; but the text is corrupt. Per-
haps we should read "Shesmet" (cf. p. 59 for this goddess, who was
soon forgotten).

18. The word for "hunting" is khensu. Whether we here have an
allusion to Khonsu (cf. p. 34) is uncertain; for the "knife-bearers"
as powerful (and usually hostile) demons see pp. 175, 180.

19. See p. 58 for this butcher and cook; this seems to corrobor-
ate the suspicion that originally Shesmet was mentioned above
(Note 17).

20. The greatest sidereal gods (see pp. 54 ff., 178).

21. i.e. as fuel, because they are too tough to be eaten.

22. i.e. as his servants (so Breasted, Development, p. 128), but
perhaps the meaning is, rather, "they are under his spell" (so that
without difficulty he can choose the fattest).

23. The word also means "nourishment, fullness." A later, but
meaningless, variant has "his dignities, sign of nobility."

NOTES 423

24. See pp. 173-74. The possibility that we here have a poetic treat-
ment of the motif of the moon which grows every month by swallow-
ing the stars, or of Saturn, etc., who devours his children, as A.
Jeremias holds in his Die Panbabylonisten, der alte Orient und die
dgyptische Religion (Leipzig, 1907), following C. P. Tide's explanation
of the myth of Kronos (cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 6-
7), is very remote and in any case would not have been understood
by the scribes who copied this old text and expanded it,

25. See Miiller, Liebespoesie der alten Agypter, p. 17, where a girl
in love declares that she will defy bastinados to keep her philtre.
The "Negative Confession" (p. 185), however, enumerates this usage
among the most heinous sins.

26. This remarkable manuscript, dating from the third century
A. D., and thus constituting the latest product of pagan Egyptian
literature, has been translated by F. LI. Griffith and H. Thompson
{The Demotic Magical Papyrus of London and Leiden, London, 1904),
where other material of this kind is also mentioned.

27. Westcar Papyrus, ed. A. Erman, Die Mdrchen des Papyrus
Westcar, Berlin, 1890 (see also Petrie, Egyptian Tales, i. 9 ff., and
Maspero, Les Contes populaires de VEgypte ancienne, 3rd ed.,
Paris, 1906, pp. 25 ff.).

28. See Griffith, Stories of the High Priests of Memphis, p. 103 (also
translated in the books mentioned in the preceding Note).

29. Cf. W. H. Worrell, "Ink, Oil and Mirror Gazing Ceremonies
in Modern Egypt," in Journal of the American Oriental Society,
xxxvi. 37-53 (1917).

30. See pp. 63, 207 for their selection of gods. The inscription given
by Daressy, Textes et dessins magiques, p. 46, calls them "these gods
who come choosing protection for N. N." Such objects have been
found chiefly in tombs and are discussed by F. Legge, in PSBA
xxvii. 130-52, 297-303 (1905), xxviii. 159-70 (1906), and M. A.
Murray, ib. xxviii. 33-43 (1906).

31. Griffith and Thompson, op. cit. Plate XX, 11. 28 ff., text,
p. 133. It contains many non-Egyptian elements (see Notes 32, 44).

32. Mutilations of Hebrew Y6 (=YHVH) S'bhaoth ("Jehovah
of Hosts").

33. i.e. "I am he."

34. i.e. he possesses sun and moon.

35. Griffith and Thompson, op. cit. Plate XIX, 11. 33 ff., text,
p. 127.

36. Heber ("angel".?).

37. Literally, "the one great in secrecy."

38. The word behen ("to bark") is recognizable, so that we might
translate more freely " lord of barking."

424 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

39. Perhaps an allusion to the four sons of Horus or Osiris (see
pp. 111-13) and also to Anubis.

40. Coptic kolch, "to bend."

41. Literally, "put down."

42. The meaning is, " Let this dog-bite be as ineffective as the at-
tempts of the powers of darkness to swallow the sun" (pp. 79, 106).

43. An allusion to the burning pain of the wound, yet seeming
at the same time to refer to a cosmic conflagration. In this event it
is one of the few suggestions of eschatological or cosmogonic con-
flagration, concepts which often blend with each other (cf. Ch. V,
Note 104).

44. Cf. Note 32. Here we have an interesting variant, ab-iaho,
"Father of Jehovah," i.e. the one who preceded even the eternal
god.

45. See p. 117. The legend is given in the Metternich Stele (ed.
W. Golenisheff, Leipzig, 1877), Verso A, 11. 48 ff.

46. i. e. a man of good birth and breeding knows how to obey.

47. This "crocodile city " is not the Psoi's of Upper Egypt.

48. Literally, "women of husbands."

49. These four verses about the fire seem to be incongruous; their
insertion is perhaps due to the fact that the original text may have
stated that the sting burned like fire.

50. The text also states (1. 67) that the poor woman was rewarded
for her kindness: "She (i.e. Isis) filled the house of the poor woman
with victuals (.^), because she had opened the door of her house,
unlike the rich one, who remained grieved." This part of the legend,
however, is not essential for the sorcerer, who mentions it only in
passing.

51. For other myths used as magic incantations see pp. 79-83,
125-26, 127-28.

Chapter XIII

1. For the human figures which, at the commencement of the
historic period, began partly to replace the animal bodies, so that
strangely blended figures were the result, see pp. 160-61.

2. Cf., for example, pp. 58, 165 for such errors or uncertainties.

3. On the antiquity of the artistic expression of this tendency in
the composite, half-human figures of deities see p. 161.

4. For the cosmic system underlying this grouping see pp. 49-50.

5. For the ennead see G. Maspero, in RHR, xxv. 1-48 (1892).

6. See e. g. Pyr. 2009, where Atum is identified with Osiris.

7. ch. clxii.

8. Book of the Dead, ed. Naville, xvii. 6 ff.

NOTES 425

9. Destruction of Men, ed. E. Naville, in TSBA iv. 1-19 (1876),
vili. 412-20(1885), I. 85; cf. also pp. 73-79, 84-85 for this collection
of myths. This part is younger than the other stories taken from that
collection.

10. See Ch. VII, Note 99, for this land of sunrise. The fiend is
usually sought in the south (cf. pp. 104-05, etc.).

11. Noticed by Renouf, Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 229, copied
completely by J. H. Breasted, in AZ xxxix. 39-54 (1901) (cf. the
same scholar,. "The First Philosopher," in The Monist, xii. 321-36
[1902]), and more elaborately discussed by A. Erman, in SBAW,
191 1, pp. 925-50. In part it is still unintelligible. Its age must not
be overrated; the religious thought is not that of the Pyramid Age.

12. The argumentation is as follows: the primeval flood, mani-
fested on earth in the ocean (Nuu) and — to obtain a creative pair
(cf. p. 48) — in Nekhbet as the female Nile (p. 46), is simply a
revelation of the Memphitic god of beginnings. The sun in his
Heliopolitan designation must take second place after the principle
of water, which shows itself in every part of the creation. In other
respects the Heliopolitan system, adapted to the Memphitic idea of
cosmic beginnings, is followed. The confusion of male and female
divinities was a step which was rather rare and daring in the earlier
period.

13. The remainder of the document is concerned with the tradi-
tions of the Osiris-myth in a more conservative fashion.

14. See also p. 66 for his incarnation, Mendes, as the cosmic
god of all four elements.

15. Text given by Brugsch, Religion, p. 515. The Pyramid Texts
(2067) cannot yet rise above the concept of a god who upholds the
sky and stands on the earth.

16. A. Erman, in AZ xxxviii. 30 (1900). In earlier times Osiris is
not yet clearly understood as the deity of all nature, although he
recurs in all its changing forms (pp. 93-96).

17. Brugsch, Reise nach der gross en Oase Khargeh, Plate XXVII;
extracts are translated by Renouf, Religion of Ancient Egypt, p. 240.

18. Translated by Budge, Gods, i. 339.

19. Harris Magic Papyrus, viii. 9 ff.

20. Perhaps to be corrected to read "dwarf of gold." An abnor-
mal stature may appear either as dwarfish or as gigantic (p. 61).

21. See pp. 92-93 for this form of Busiris-Dedu.

22. A corrupted name, possibly also to be read "Maga" (p. iii).

23. This would seem to explain "Heliopolitan" as the title of
Osiris (Ch. VI, Note 3).

24. The manuscript confuses two similar words meaning "hut"
(i.e. cabin) and "ship."

426 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

25. More exactly, "long-tailed monkey, marmoset."

26. Probably corrupted and to be restored, "quenched {'akhem)
only by the abyss."

27. Or "of Triphis"; cf. p. 146, and the corresponding Note, accord-
ing to which allusion might be made to the earliest meaning of the
name, "Goddess in a Shrine."

28. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 29-30.

29. Harris Magic Papyrus, vii. 6.

30. Cf. p. 27 and Ch. V, Note 84, on the island of flames as a
possible basis of this idea.

31. The exact vocalization is doubtful, and the pronunciation
Ikhnaton in particular is quite uncertain.

32. For earlier traces of such amalgamation cf. the myth given
on pp. 80-83 ^^^ the old commentaries cited on pp. 219-20. It is
true that the tendency does not find its clearest expression until after
the heretic king, but, as we have repeatedly shown, it can be traced
long before him.

33. The best edition of the original text is by Davies, Rock Tombs
of El Amarna, vi. Plate XXVII. J. H. Breasted, De hymnis in
solem sub Amenophide IV conceptis, Berlin, 1894, was the first to
occupy himself with this important inscription, which has since
found many translators, but still presents a number of difficulties.
Despite the opinion of some scholars, the hymn cannot have been
composed by the King himself (see Note 44).

34. By implication this also means "growing."

35. Perhaps the more correct translation of red is "growth."

36. From the following words the text erroneously adds "it
from."

37. i.e. is predestined (cf. p. 52 for the older idea of predestina-
tion).

38. i.e. the colour, the complexion of the various human races.
In earlier tradition likewise Horus is the patron of these races; in
other words, the sun burned them to different hues.

39. This might also mean "weary (because) of them " (thus
Griffith, in Davies, Rock Tombs of El A mama, vi. 30), but an allu-
sion to the myth of the sun's withdrawal from earth (see pp. 76-79)
does not seem to be in harmony with the jubilant tone of the hymn.
The passage remains obscure.

40. Correct the text to tekheb.

41. The verb is omitted.

42. Correct the text to her.

43. Literally "nurse."

44. These lines show that the author of the hymn was not the
monarch himself (cf. Note 33), but a courtier of the reforming

NOTES 427

Pharaoh. He now understands the divine nature of the sun since
his gracious sovereign has instructed him in the new wisdom.

45. Literally "for thy limbs."

46. A conjectural translation which implies several corrections of
the text.

47. Text, "them."

48. Or, perhaps, "from" (cf. the parallel expression in Ch. V,
Note 22).
Title: Re: Egyptian Mythology
Post by: Prometheus on July 22, 2019, 09:03:43 PM: 49. For the longest of these see Davies, Rock Tombs of El Amarna,
iv. Plate XXXIII; it is translated by Griffith, ib. vi. 28.

50. This tendency in Egyptian literature is set forth by A. Erman,
Religion, pp. 98 ff., and in SBAW, 191 1, p. 1086. Unfortunately we
cannot determine how far this change in literary style corresponded
to a true religious awakening.

51. Mariette, Les Papyrus egyptiens du musee de Boulaq, Plate
XVII; see also Chabas, Maximes d'Jni, p. 91; and cf. Ch. XI,
Note 5.

52. Apparently alluding to the deity in his quiet and secluded
sanctuary, where he should not be disturbed more than is absolutely
necessary.

53. Possibly meaning "thoughts," or, perhaps, "its words," refer-
ring to the heart.

54. Sallier Papyrus, I. viii. 4.

55. Literally, "the one who findeth his mouth."

56. A. Erman, in SBAW, 191 1, p. 1089.

57. Plate XVI; Chabas, Maximes d'Ani, p. 31.

58. Literally "repeat."

59. A. Erman, in SBAW, 191 1, p. 1102, after G. Maspero, m RT
iv. 143 (1883).

• 60. ib.

61. i.e. in a question of property?

62. A. Erman, in SBAW, 191 1, p. iioi. Note how in all these in-
scriptions a public confession of the sin is considered necessary.

63. Or, perhaps, "it."

64. A. Erman, in SBAW, 191 1, p. 1 109.

65. Anastasi Papyrus, II. x. 5 ff.

66. Thus the corrected manuscript after the present writer's col-
lation of the original in London.

67. Literally "belly."

68. i.e. without brain, stupid.

69. The last verses, which are very obscure, may be understood
of helpless wandering in a circle. "My time" may perhaps mean
the time for returning home to the fold, following the simile of the ox.

70. See Miiller, Egyptological Researches, ii. 149.

428 EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

71. Mariette, Les Papyrus egyptiens du musee de Boulaq, No. 17
(Plates XI ff.); the text in question has been especially studied by
E. Grebaut, "Hymne a Ammon-Ra," in Revue archeologique, new
series, xxv. 384-97 (1873).

72. This part of the hymn was originally in praise of Min (see
pp. 129, 137-39), as is also shown by the stele Louvre C 30.

73. The name of some sanctuary is missing. Cf. the pictures of
chapels of Min given on p. 138.

74. Cf. pp. 138, 129 for the use of this ribbon with Min and
Amon.

75. i.e. of Buto and Nekhbet; see p. 132.

76. i.e. the king.

JJ. An important passage for showing that the monstrous enemy
of the sun is the ocean (p. 106).

78. Literally "colour" (cf. Note 38).

79. The paronomasia of the original is untranslatable in English;
the Egyptian terms here used for "knowledge " and "wisdom " also
mean "satisfaction " and "abundance " (see p. 67).

80. The manuscript has "heareth."

81. This word also means "beauty."

82. Correct the manuscript to sanehem and khnems.

. 83. Cf. p. 225 for the image of the solar disk, "who sendeth forth
his arms" (cf. p. 227).

84. See the examples given on pp. 114, 119, 126.

85. A monkey also appears as the solar archer, being perhaps
confused with Thout (Rosellini, Monumenti del culto, Plate XLII).
For the Greek view of life after death entering into an Egyptian
inscription see Ch. X, Note 21.

86. A similar view is expressed as early as the Homeric poems, as
when Iliad, 1. 423, speaks of "the blameless Ethiopians" (cf. also
Odyssey, i. 22 ff., Iliad, xxiii. 205-07).

87. Cf. Legge, Forerunners and Rivals of Christianity, ch. ii.

88. See W. M. Flinders Petrie, Personal Religion in Egypt before
Christianity, London, 1909; G. R. S. Mead, Fragments of a Faith
Forgotten, London, 1900, and Thrice-Greatest Hermes, 3 vols. London,
1906; R. Reitzenstein, Poimandres, Leipzig, 1904.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

EGYPTIAN

BY THE EDITOR

I. ABBREVIATIONS

ABAW . . Abhandlungen der Berliner Akademie der Wissen-

schaften.

AR .... Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft.

AZ . . . Zeitschrift fiir agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde,

JA .... Journal asiatique.

MVG . . Mitteilungen der vorderasiatischen Gesellschaft.

OL .... Orientalistische Literaturzeitung.

PSBA . . Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

Pyr. . . . Pyramid Texts (ed. K. Sethe).

Pyr. M. Texts of the Pyramid of Mri-n-re' I.

Pyr. N. . . Texts of the Pyramid of Nfr-k'-r' Pipi II.

Pyr. P. . . Texts of the Pyramid of Pipi.

Pyr. T. Texts of the Pyramid of Tti.

Pyr. W. . Texts of the Pyramid of Wn-is.

RHR . . . Revue de I'histoire des religions.

RP . . . Records of the Past.

RT ... Recueil de travaux relatifs a la philologie et a I'arche-

ologie egyptiennes et assyriennes.

SBAW . . Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissen-

schaften.

TSBA . . Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology.

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IIL PRINCIPAL ARTICLES ON EGYPTIAN RELIGION IN
THE ENCYCLOPiEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS

(vols, i-ix)

Baikie, J., "Confession (Egyptian)," iii. 827-29.

"Creed (Egyptian)," iv. 242-44.

"Hymns (Egyptian)," vii. 38-40.

"Images and Idols (Egyptian)," vii. 131-33.

"Literature (Egyptian)," viii. 92-95.

"Manetho," viii. 393-94.

"Music (Egyptian)," ix. 33-36.

"Nature (Egyptian)," ix. 217-20.

FoucART, G., "Body (Egyptian)," ii. 763-68.

"Calendar (Egyptian)," iii. 91-105.

"Children (Egyptian)," iii. 532-39.

"Circumcision (Egyptian)," iii. 670-77.

"Conscience (Egyptian)," iv. 34-37.

"Demons and Spirits (Egyptian)," iv. 584-90.

"Disease and Medicine (Egyptian)," iv. 749-53.

"Divination (Egyptian)," iv. 792-96.

"Dreams and Sleep (Egyptian)," v. 34-37.

"Dualism (Egyptian)," v. 104-07.

"Festivals and Fasts (Egyptian)," v. 853-57.

"Inheritance (Egyptian)," vii. 299-302.

"King (Egyptian)," vii. 7II-I5-

"Names (Egyptian)," ix. 151-55.

Gardiner, A. H., "Ethics and Morality (Egyptian)," v. 475-85.
"Life and Death (Egyptian)," viii. 19-25.

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"Philosophy (Egyptian)," ix. 857-59.

Griffith, F. Ll., "Altar (Egyptian)," i. 342.

"Atheism (Egyptian)," ii. 184.

"Birth (Egyptian)," ii. 646-47.

"Crimes and Punishments (Egyptian)," iv. 272-73.

"Law (Egyptian)," vii. 846-47.

"Marriage (Egyptian)," viii. 443-44.

Hall, H. R., "Ancestor-Worship and Cult of the Dead (Egyptian),"
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"Death and Disposal of the Dead (Egyptian)," iv. 458-64.

"Expiation and Atonement (Egyptian)," v. 650-51.

"Family (Egyptian)," v. 733-35.

"Fate (Egyptian)," v. 785-86.

Milne, J. G., " Grseco-Egyptian Religion," vi. 374-84.
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Naville, E., "Charms and Amulets (Egyptian)," iii. 430-33.
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"Art (Egyptian)," i. 862-63.

"Communion with Deity (Egyptian)," iii. 760-62.

"Cosmogony and Cosmology (Egyptian)," iv. 144-45.

"Egyptian Religion," v. 236-50.

Sethe, K., "Heroes and Hero-Gods (Egyptian)," vi. 647-52.

Showerman, G., "Isis," vii. 434-37.

Stock, St. G., "Hermes Trismegistos," vi. 626-29.

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