The Gods of the Egyptians; or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology, Volume I

CHAPTER I THE GODS OF EGYPT

THE Greek historian Herodotus affirms ^ that the Egyptians were "beyond measure scrupulous in all matters apper- " taining to religion," and he made this statement after personal observation of the care which they displayed in the performance of religious ceremonies, the aim and object of which was to do honour to the gods, and of the obedience which they showed to the behests of the priests who transmitted to them commands which they declared to be, and which were accepted as, authentic revelations of the will of the gods. From the manner in which this writer speaks it is clear that he had no doubt about what he was saying, and that he was recording a conviction which had become settled in his mind. He was fully conscious that the Egyptians worshipped a large number of animals, and birds, and reptiles, with a seriousness and earnestness which must have filled the cultured Greek with astonishment, yet he was not moved to give expression to words of scorn as was Juvenal,^ for Herodotus perceived that beneath the acts of apparently

3 " Quis nescit, Volusi Bithynice, qualia demens ' " Aegyptus porfcenta colat ? crocodilon adorat

" Pars liaec, ilia pavet saturam serpentibus ibin. " Effigies sacri nitet aurea cercopitheci, " Dimidio magicae resonant ubi Memnone chordae " Atque vetus Thebe centum jacet obruta portis. " lUic aeluros, bic piscem fluminis, illic

B

2 ANTIQUITY OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES

foolish and infatuated worship there existed a sincerity which betokened a firm and implicit belief which merited the respect of thinking men. It would be wrong to imagine that the Egyptians were the only people of antiquity who were scrupulous beyond measure in religious matters, for we know that the Babylonians, both Sumerian and Semitic, were devoted worshippers of their gods, and that they possessed a very old and complicated system of religion ; but there is good reason for thinking that the Egyptians were more scrupulous than their neighbours in religious matters, and that they always bore the character of being an extremely religious nation. The evidence of the monuments of the Egyptians proves that from the earliest to the latest period of their history the observance of religious festivals and the performance of religious duties in connexion Avith the worship of the gods absorbed a very large part of the time and energies of the nation, and if we take into consideration the funeral ceremonies and services commemorative of the dead which were performed by them at the tombs, a casual visitor to Egypt who did not know how to look below the surface might be pardoned for declaring that the

" Oppida tota canem venerantur, nemo Diaiiam. " Porruni et caepe nefas violare et frangere raorsu : " 0 sanctas gentes, quibus haec Bascuntur in liortis " Numina ! Lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis " Mensa, nefas illic fetum ingulare capellae : " Carnibus humanis vesci licet." — Satire, xv. 1 — 13.

That the crocodile, ibis, dog-headed ape, and fish of vai-ious kinds were venerated in Egypt is true enough ; they were not, however, venerated in dynastic times as animals, but as the abodes of gods. In certain localities peculiar sanctity was attributed to the leek and onion, as Juvenal suggests, but neither vegetable was an object of worship in the country generally ; and there is no monumental evidence to show that the eating of human flesh was practised, for it is now known that even the predynastic Egyptians did not eat the flesh of the dead and gnaw their bones, as was once rashly asserted. Juvenal's statements ai'e only partly true, and some of them are on a par with that of a learned Indian who visited England, and wrote a book on this country after his return to Bombay. Speaking of the religion of the English he declared that they were all idolaters, and to prove this assertion he gave a list of churches in which he had seen a figure of a lamb in the sculpture work over and about the altar, and in prominent places elsewhere in the churches. The Indian, like Juvenal, and Cicero also, seems not to have understood that many nations have regarded animals as symbols of gods and divine powers, and still do so.

DIVINE ORIGIN OF KINGS 3

Egyptians were a nation of men who were wholly given up to the worship of beasts and the cult of the dead.

The Egyptians, however, acted in a perfectly logical manner, for they believed that they Avere a divine nation, and that they were ruled by kings who were themselves gods incarnate ; their earliest kings, they asserted, were actually gods, who did not disdain to live upon earth, and to go about and up and down through it, and to mingle with men. Other ancient nations were content to believe that they had been brought into being by the power of their gods operating upon matter, but the Egyptians believed that they were the issue of the great God who created the universe, and that they were of directly divine origin. When the gods ceased to reign in their proper persons upon earth, they were succeeded by a series of demi-gods, who were in turn succeeded by the Manes, and these were duly followed by kings in whom was enshrined a divine nature with characteristic attributes. When the physical or natural body of a king died, the divine portion of his being, i.e., the spiritual body, returned to its original abode with the gods, and it was duly worshipped by men upon earth as a god and with the gods. This happy result was partly brought about by the performance of certain ceremonies, which were at first wholly magical, but later partly magical and partly religious, and by the recital of appropriate words uttered in the duly prescribed tone and manner, and by the keeping of festivals at the tombs at stated seasons when the appointed offerings were made, and the prayers for the welfare of the dead were said. From the earliest times the worship of the gods went hand in hand with the deification of dead kings and other royal personages, and the worship of departed monarchs from some aspects may be regarded as meritorious as the worship of the gods. From one point of view Egypt was as much a land of gods as of men, and the inhabitants of the country wherein the gods lived and moved naturally devoted a considerable portion of their time upon earth to the worship of divine beings and of their ancestors who had departed to the land of the gods. In the matter of religion, and all that appertains thereto, the Egyptians were a " peculiar people," and in all ages they have exhibited a tenacity of belief

4 NUMBER AND VAllIETY OF GODS

and a conservatism which distinguish them from all the other great nations of antiquity.

But the Egyptians were not only renowned for their devotion to religious observances, they were famous as much for the variety as for the number of their gods. Animals, birds, fishes, and reptiles were worshipped by them in all ages, but in addition to these they adored the great powers of nature as Avell as a large number of beings with which they peopled the heavens, the air, the earth, the sky, the sun, the moon, the stars, and the water. In the earliest times the predynastic Egyptians, in common with every half-savage peojile, believed that all the various operations of nature were the result of the actions of beings which were for the most part unfriendly to man. The inundation Avhich rose too high and flooded the primitive village, and drowned their cattle, and destroyed their stock of grain, was regarded as the result of the working of an unfriendly and unseen power ; and when the river rose just high enough to irrigate the land whicli had been prepared, they either thought that a friendly power, Avhicli was stronger than that whicli caused the destroying flood, had kept the hostile power in check, or that the spirit of the river was on that occasion pleased with them. They believed in the existence of spirits of the air, and in spirits of mountain, and stream, and tree, and all these had to be propitiated with gifts, or cajoled and wheedled into bestowing their favour and protection upon their suppliants.

It is very unfortunate that the animals, and tlie spirits of natural objects, as well as the powers of nature, were all grouped together by the Egyptians and were described by the word NETERU, which, with considerable inexactness, we are obliged to translate by " gods." There is no doubt that at a very early period in their predynastic history the Egyptians distinguished between great gods and little gods, just as they did between friendly gods and hostile gods, but either their poverty of expression, or the inflexibility of their language, prevented them from making a distinction apparent in writing, and thus it happens that in dynastic times, when a lofty conception of monotheism prevailed among the priesthood, the scribe found

GOD AND ''GODS" AND ANGELS 5

himself obliged to call both God and the lowest of the beings that were supposed to possess some attribute of divinity by one and the same name, i.e., neter. Other nations of antiquity found a way out of the difficulty of grouping all classes of divine beings by one name by inventing series of orders of angels, to each of which they gave names and assigned various duties in connexion with the service of the Deity. Thus in the Kur'an (Sura xxxv.) it is said that God maketh the angels His messengers and that they are furnished with two, or three, or four pairs of wings, according to their rank and importance ; the archangel Gabriel is said to have been seen by Muhammad the Prophet with six hundred pairs of wings ! The duties of the angels, according to the Muhammadans, were of various kinds. Thus nineteen angels are appointed to take charge of hell fire (Sura Ixxiv.) ; eight are set apart to support God's throne on the Day of Judgment (Sura Ixix.) : several tear the souls of the wicked from their bodies with violence, and several take the souls of the righteous from their bodies with gentleness and kindness (Sura Ixxix.) ; two angels are ordered to accompany every man on earth, the one to write do^vn his good actions and the other his evil deeds, and these will appear with him at the Day of Judgment, the one to lead him before the Judg-e, and the other to bear witness either for or against him (Sura 1.). Muhammadan theologians declare that the angels are created of a simple substance of light, and that they are endowed with life, and speech, and reason ; they are incapable of sin, they have no carnal desire, they do not propagate their species, and they are not moved by the passions of wrath and anger ; their obedience is absolute. Their meat is the celebrating of the glory of God, their drink is the proclaiming of His holiness, their conversation is the commemorating of God, and their pleasure is His worship. Curiously enough, some are said to have the form of animals. Four of the angels are Archangels, viz. Michael, Gabriel, Azrael, and Israfel, and they possess special powers, and special duties are assigned to them. These four are superior to all the human race, with the exception of the Prophets and Apostles, but the angelic nature is held to be inferior to human nature because all the angels were commanded to worship

6 MUHAMMADAN AND SYRIAN ANGELS

Adam {Siira ii.). The above and many other characteristics might be cited in proof that the angels of the Muliammadans possess much in common with the inferior gods of the Egyptians, and though many of the conceptions of the Arabs on this point were undoubtedly borrowed from the Hebrews and their writings, a great many must have descended to them from their own early ancestors.

Closely connected with these Muhammadan theories, though much older, is the system of angels which was invented by the Syrians. In this we find the angels divided into nine classes and three orders, u|)per, middle, and lower. The upper order is composed of Cherabim, Seraphim, and Thrones ; the middle order of Lords, Powers, and Rulers ; and the lower order of Principalities, Archangels, and Angels. The middle order receives revelations from those above them, and the lower order are the ministers who wait upon created things. The highest and foremost among the angels is Gabriel, who is the mediator between God and His creation. The Archangels in this system are described as a " swift operative motion," which has dominion over every living thing except man ; and the Angels are a motion which has spiritual knowledge of everything that is on earth and in heaven.^ The Syrians, like the Muliammadans, borrowed largely from the Avritings of the Hebrews, in Avhose theological system angels played a very prominent part. In the Syrian system also the angels possess much in common with the inferior gods of the Egyptians.

The inferior gods of the Egyptians were supposed to suffer from many of the defects of mortal beings, and they were even thought to grow old and to die, and the same ideas about the angels were held by Muhammadans and Plebrews. According to the former, the angels will perish when heaven, their abode, is made to pass away at the Day of Judgment. iVccording to the latter, one of the two great classes of angels, i.e., those which were created on the fifth day of creation, is mortal ; on the other hand, the angels which were created on the second day of creation

'^ See my edition of the Jiook of tlic Bee, by Solomon of Al-Basra. Oxford,

HEBREW ANGELS OR ^'GODS" 7

endure for ever, and these may be fitly compared with the unfailing and unvarying powers of nature which were personified and worshipped by the Egyptians ; of the angels which perish, some spring from fire, some from water, and some from wind. The angels are grouped into ten classes, i.e., the Erelim, the Ishim, the Bene Elohim, the Malachim, the Hashmahm, the Tarshishim, the Shishanira, the Cherubim, the Ophannim, and the Seraphim ; ^ amono; these were divided all the duties connected with the ordering of the heavens and the earth, and they, according to their position and importance, became the interpreters of the Will of the Deity. A comparison of the passages in Rabbinic literature which describe these and similar matters connected with the angels, spirits, etc., of ancient Hebrew mythology with Egyptian texts shows that both the Egyptians and Jews possessed many ideas in common, and all the evidence goes to prove that the latter borrowed from the former in the earliest period.

In comparatively late historical times the Egyptians introduced into their company of gods a few deities from Western Asia, but these had no effect in modifying the general character either of their religion or of their worship. The subject of comparative Egyptian and Semitic mythology is one which has yet to be worked thoroughly, not because it Avould supply us with the original forms of Egyptian myths and legends, but because it would show what modifications such things underwent when adopted by Semitic peoples, or at least by peoples who had Semitic blood in their veins. Some would compare Egyptian and Semitic mythologies on the ground that the Egyptians and Semites were kinsfolk, but it must be quite clearly understood that this is pure assumption, and is only based on the statements of those who declare that the Egyptian and Semitic languages are akin. Others again have sought to explain the mythology of the Egyptians by appeals to Aryan mythology^ and to illustrate the meanings of important Egyptian words in religious texts by means of Aryan etymologies, but the results are wholly unsatisfactory, and they only serve to show the futility

1 See the chapter " Was die Judeu von den guten Engeln lehren " in Eisenmenger, Entdechten Judenihums, vol. ii. p. 370 ff.

8 THE OLDEST GODS OF EGYPT

of comparing the mythologies of two peoples of different race occupying quite different grades in the ladder of civilization. It cannot be too strongly insisted on that all the oldest gods of Egypt are of Egyptian origin, and that the fundamental religious beliefs of the Egyptians also are of Egyptian origin, and that both the gods and the beliefs date from predynastic times, and have nothing whatever to do with the Semites or Aryans of history.

Of the origin of the Egyptian of the Palaeolithic and early

Neolithic Periods, we, of course, know nothing, but it is tolerably

certain that the Egyptian of the latter part of the Neolithic Period

was indigenous to North-East Africa, and that a very large

number of the great gods worshipped by the dynastic Egyptian

were Avorshipped also by his jDredecessor in predynastic times.

The conquerors of the Egyptians of the Neolithic Period who,

with good reason, have been assumed to come from the East and

to have been more or less akin to the Proto- Semites, no doubt

brought about certain modifications in the worship of those whom

they had vanquished, but they could not have succeeded in

abolishing the various gods in animal and other forms which were

worshipped throughout the length and breadth of the country,

for these continued to be venerated until the time of the Ptolemies.

We have at present no means of knoAving how far the religious

beliefs of the conquerors influenced the conquered peoples of

Egypt, but viewed in the light of well-ascertained facts it seems

tolerably certain that no great change took place in the views

which the indigenous peoples held concerning their gods as the

result of the invasion of foreigners, and that if any foreign gods

were introduced into the company of indigenous, predynastic gods,

they were either quickly assimilated to or wholly absorbed by them.

Speaking generally, the gods of the Egyptians remained unchanged

throughout all the various periods of the history of Egypt, and the

minds of the people seem always to have had a tendency towards

the maintenance of old forms of worship, and to the preservation

of the ancient texts in which such forms were prescribed and old

beliefs were enshrined. The Egyptians never forgot the ancient

gods of the country, and it is typical of the spirit of conservatism

which they displayed in most things that even in the Roman

INDIGENOUS BELIEFS 9

Period pious folk among them were buried with the same prayers and with the same ceremonies that had been employed at the burial of Egyptians nearly five thousand years before. The Egyptian of the Roman Period, like the Egyptian of the Early Empire, was content to think that his body would be received in the tomb by the jackal-headed Anubis ; that the organs of his corruptible body AYould be presided over and guarded by animalheaded gods ; that the reading of the pointer of the Great Scales, wherein his heart was weighed, would be made known by an ape to the ibis-headed scribe of the gods, whom we know by the name of Thoth ; and that the beatified dead would be introduced to the god Osiris by a hawk-headed god called Horus, son of Isis, who in many respects was the counterpart of the god Heru-ur, the oldest of all the gods of Egypt, whose type and symbol was the hawk. From first to last the indigenous Egyptian paid little heed to the events which happened outside his own country, and neither conquest nor invasion by foreign nations had any effect upon his personal belief. He continued to cultivate his land diligently, he worshipped the gods of his ancestors blindly, like them he spared no pains in making preparations for the preservation of his mummified body, and the heaven which he hoped to attain was fashioned according to old ideas of a fertile homestead, well stocked with cattle, where he would enjoy the company of his parents, and be able to worship the local gods whom he had adored upon earth. The priestly and upper classes certainly held views on these subjects which differed from those of the husbandman, but it is a significant fact that it was not the religion and mythology of the dynastic Egyptian, but that of the indigenous, predynastic Egyptian, with his animal gods and fantastic and half-savage beliefs, which strongly coloured the religion of the country in all periods of her history, and gave to her the characteristics which were regarded with astonishment and wonder by all the peoples who came in contact with the Egyptians.

The predynastic Egyptians in the earliest stages of their existence, like most savage and semi-savage peoples, believed that the sea, the earth, the air, and the sky were filled to overflowing with spirits, some of whom were engaged in carrying on the works

10 BELIEF IN SPIRITS

of nature, and others in aiding or obstructing man in the course of his existence upon earth. Whatsoever happened in nature was attributed by them to the operations of a large number of spiritual beings, the life of whom was identical with the life of the great natural elements, and the existence of whom terminated with the destruction of the objects which they were supposed to animate. Such spirits, although invisible to mental eyes, were very real creatures in their minds, and to them they attributed all the passions which belong to man, and all his faculties and powers also. Everything in nature was inhabited by a spirit, and it was thought possible to endow a representation, or model, or figure of any object with a spirit or soul, provided a name was given to it ; this spirit or soul lived in the drawing or figure until the object which it animated was broken or destroyed. The objects, both natural and artificial, which we consider to be inanimate were regarded by the predynastic Egyptians as animate, and in many respects they were thought to resemble man himself. The spirits who infested every part of the visible world were countless in forms, and they differed from each other in respect of power; the spirit that caused the Inundation of the Nile was greater than the one that lived in a canal, the spirit that made the sun to shine was more powerful than the one that governed the moon, and the spirit of a great tree was mightier than the one that animated an ear of corn or a blade of grass. The difference between the supposed powers of such spirits must have been distinguished at a very early period, and the half-savage inhabitants of Egypt must at the same time have made a sharp distinction between those whose operations Avere beneficial to them, and those whose actions brought upon them injury, loss, or death. It is easy to see how they might imagine that certain great natural objects were under the dominion of spirits who Avere capable of feeling wrath, or displeasure, and of making it manifest to man. Thus the spirit of the Nile would be regarded as beneficent and friendly when the waters of the river rose sufficiently during the period of the Inundation to ensure an abundant crop throughout the land ; but when their rise was excessive, and they drowned the cattle and washed away the houses of the people, whether made of

ANIMALS AND REPTILES 11

wattles or mud, or when they rose insufficiently and caused want and famine, the spirit of the Nile Avould be considered unfriendly and evil to man. An ample and sufficient Inundation was regarded as a sign that the spirit of the Nile was not displeased with man, but a destructive flood was a sure token of displeasure. The same feeling exists to this day in Egypt among the peasantfarmers, for several natives told me in 1899, the year of the lowest rise of the Nile of the XlXth century,^ that " Allah was angry with them, and would not let the water come " ; and one man added that in all his life he had never before known Allah to be so angry with them.

The spirits which were always hostile or unfriendly towards man, and were regarded by the Egyptians as evil spirits, were identified with certain animals and reptiles, and traditions of some of these seem to have been preserved until the latest period of dynastic history. Apep, the serpent- devil of mist, darkness, storm, and night, of whom more will be said later on, and his fiends, the " children of rebellion," were not the result of the imagination of the Egyptians in historic times, but their existence dates from the period when Egypt was overrun by mighty beasts, huge serpents, and noxious reptiles of all kinds. The great serpent of Egyptian mythology, which was indeed a formidable opponent of the Sun-god, had its prototype in some monster serpent on earth, of which tradition had preserved a record ; and that this is no mere theory is proved by the fact that the remains of a serpent, which must have been of enormous size, have recently been found in the FayyCim. The vertebrae are said to indicate that the creature to which they belonged was longer than the largest python known. ^ The allies of the great serpent-devil Apep were as hostile to man as was their master to the Sun-god, and they were regarded with terror by the minds of those who had evolved them. On the other liand, there were numbers of s|)irits whose actions were friendly

1 In October, 1899, the level of tlie water of Lake Victoria was 2 ft. below the normal, and in December the level at Aswan was 5 ft. 8 ins. below the average of previous years.

" "If the proportions of this snake were the same as in the existing Python '■'■ seboe it probably reached a length of thirty feet." C. W. Andrews, D.Sc, in Geological Mag., vol. viii., 1901, p, 438.

12 HEAVEN AND HELL

and beneficial to man, and some of these were supposed to do battle on his behalf against the evil spirits.

Thus at a very early period the predynastic Egyptian must have conceived the existence of a great company of spirits whose goodwill, or at all events whose inaction, could only be obtained by bribes, i.e., offerings, and cajolery and flattery ; and of a second large company whose beneficent deeds to man he was wont to acknowledge and whose powerful help he Avas anxious to draw towards himself; and of a third company who were supposed to be occupied solely with making the sun, moon, and stars to shine, and the rivers and streams to flow, and the clouds to form and the rain to fall, and who, in i'act, were ahvays engaged in carrying out diligently the workings and evolutions of all natural things, both small and great. The spirits to whom in predynastic times the Egyptians ascribed a nature malicious or unfriendly towards man, and who were regarded much as modern nations have regarded goblins, hobgoblins, gnomes, trolls, elves, etc., developed in dynastic times into a corporate society, with aims, and intentions, and acts wholly evil, and with a government which was devised by the greatest and most evil of their number. To these, in process of time, were joined the spirits of evil men and women, and the prototype of hell was formed by assuming the existence of a place where evil spirits and their still more evil chiefs lived together. By the same process of imagination beneficent and friendly spirits were grouped together in one abode under the direction of rulers who were well disposed towards man, and this idea became the nucleus of the later conception of the heaven to which the souls of good men and women were supposed by the Egyptian to depart, after he had developed sufficiently to conceive the doctrine of immortality. The chiefs of the company of evil spirits subsequently became the powerful devils of historic times, and the rulers of the company of beneficent and good spirits became the gods ; the spirits of the third company, i.e., the spirits of the powers of Nature, became the great cosmic gods of the dynastic Egyptians. The cult of this last class of spirits, or gods, differed in many ways from that of the spirits or gods who were supposed to be concerned entirely with the welfare of man, and in dynastic times there are abundant

ANTIQUITV OF EGYPTIAN MAGIC 13

proofs of this in religious texts and compositions. In the hymns to the Sun-god, under whatsoever name he is worshipped, we find that the greatest wonder is expressed at his majesty and glory, and that he is apostrophised in terms which show forth the awe and fear of his devout adorer. His triumphant j)assage across the sky is described, the unfailing regularity of his rising and setting is mentioned, reference is made to the vast distance over which he passes in a moment of time, glory is duly ascribed to him for the great works which he performs in nature, and full recognition is given to him as the creator of men and animals, of birds and fish, of trees and plants, of reptiles, and of all created things ; the praise of the god is full and sufficient, yet it is always that of a finite being who appears to be overwhelmed at the thought of the power and might of an apparently infinite being. The petitions lack the personal appeal which we find in the Egyptian's prayers to the man-god Osiris, and show that he regarded the two gods from entirely different points of view. It is impossible to say how early this distinction between the functions of the two gods was made, but it is certain that it is coeval with the beginnings of dynastic history, and that it was observed until very late times.

The element of magic, which is the oldest and most persistent characteristic of the worship of the gods and of the Egyptian religion, generally belongs to the period before this distinction was arrived at, and it is clear that it dates from the time when man thought that the good and evil spirits were beings who Avere not greatly different from himself, and who could be propitiated with gifts, and controlled by means of words of power and by the performance of ceremonies, and moved to action by hymns and addresses. This belief was present in the minds of the Egyptians in all ages of their history, and it exists in a modified form among the Muhammadan Egyptians and Sudani men to this day. It is true that they proclaim vehemently that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is His Prophet, and that God's power is infinite and absolute, but they take care to guard the persons of themselves and their children from the Evil Eye and from the assaults of malicious and evil spirits, by means of amulets of all kinds as zealously now as their ancestors did in the days before

14 EVII. SPIRITS

the existence of God Who is One was conceived. The caravan men protect their camels from the Evil Eye of the spirits of the desert by fastening bright-coloured beads between the eyes of their beasts, and by means of long fringes Avhich hang from their mahlufas, or saddles, and in spite of their firm belief in the infinite power of God, they select an auspicious day on which to set out on a journey, and they never attempt to pass certain isolated caves, or ravines, or mountains, in the night time. All the members of the great family of the Jinn are to them as real to-day as their equivalents were to the ancient Egyptians, and, from the descriptions of desert spirits which are given by those who have been fortunate enough to see them, it is clear that traditions of the form and appearance of ancient Egyptian fiends and evil spirits have been unconsciously j)reserved until the present day. The modern Egyptians call them by Arabic names, but the descriptions of them agree well with those which might be made of certain genii that appear in ancient Egyptian mytliological works treating of the Underworld and its inhabitants.

The peoples of the Eastern Sudan, who are also Muhammadans, have inherited many ideas and beliefs from the ancient Egyptians, and this is not to be wondered at when we remember that the civilization of Nubia from the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty to the end of the XXVIth, i.e., from about B.C. 1550 to about B.C. 550, was nothing but a slavish copy of that of Egypt. A stay of some months in the village at the foot of Jebel Barkal, which mai'ks the site of a part of the old Nubian city of Napata, convinced me of this fact, and visits to other places in the Eastern Sudan proved that these ideas and beliefs were widespread. The hills and deserts are, according to native belief, peopled with spirits, which are chiefly of a disposition unfriendly to man, and they are supposed to have the power of entering both human beings and animals almost at pleasure. Palm-trees die or become unfruitful, and cattle fall sick through the operations of evil spirits, and any misfortune which comes upon the community or upon the individual is referred to the same cause. The pyramids, which they call tarahll, on the hill, are viewed witli almost childish fear by the natives who, curiously enough, speak of the royal personages

MODERN SUDANI SUPERSTITIONS 15

buried therein as illdhdt, or "gods," and none of them, if it can possibly be avoided, will go up after sundown into " the mountain," as they call the sandstone ridge on which they are built. Tombs and cemeteries are carefully avoided at night as a matter of course, but to approach the pyramids at night is regarded as a wilful act which is sure to bring down upon the visitor the wrath of the spirits of the kings, who have by some means acquired a divine character in the eyes of the natives. When I was opening one of the pyramids at Jebel Barkal in 1897, Muhammad wad Ibrahim, the shekh of the village, tried to keep the workmen at work as long as daylight lasted, but after this had been done for two or three evenings, several of the wives of the men appeared and carried off their husbands, fearing they should either be bewitched, or suffer some penalty for intrusion in that place at the time when, in popular opinion, the spirits of the dead came forth to enjoy the cool of the evening. The same idea prevailed further south among the people who lived on the river near the pyramids of Bakrawiyeh, which mark the site of the royal necropolis of the ancient city of Berua, or Marua, i.e., Meroe. The local shekh was appointed to go with me and to help in taking measurements of some of the pyramids at this place, but when we were about half a mile from them he dismounted, and said he could go no further because he was afraid of the spirits of the gods, illdhdt, who were buried there. After much persuasion he consented to accompany me, but nothing would iaduce him to let the donkeys go to the pyramids ; having hobbled them and tied them to a large stone he came on, but seated himself on the ground at the northern end of the main group of pyramids, and nothing would persuade him to move about among the ruins. The natives of Jebel Barkal viewed the work of excavation with great disfavour from the very first, and their hostile opinion was confirmed by the appearance at the pyramids of great numbers of wasps, which, they declared, were larger than any which they had seen before ; they were convinced that they were evil spirits who had taken the form of wasps, and that evil was coming upon their village. It was useless to explain to them that the wasps only came there to drink from the waterskins, which were kept full and hung there on pegs driven into the

16 MODERN SUDANI SUPERSTITIONS

masonry for the use of the workmen ; and when a harmless snake, about eight feet long, which had also crawled there to drink, was killed one morning by the men, their fears of impending evil were confirmed, for they were certain that the spirit of a king had been killed, and they expected that vengeance would be taken upon them by the divine spirits of his companions.

About halfway up Jebel Barkal there lived four large hawks which always seemed to be following any person who ascended the mountain, but yet never came very near ; these were always regarded by the natives as the embodied spirits of the gods whose figures still remain sculptured and painted on the walls of the rockhewn sanctuary at the foot of the hill, and I never heard of any attempt being made to shoot or snare them by the people of the villages of Barkal, Shibba, or Marawi. The inhabitants could not know that the hawk was probably the first living creature which was worshipped in the Nile Valley, and therefore the respect which they paid to the hawks must have been due to a tradition which had been handed down to them throuo;h countless o-enerations from a past age. Their connecting the hawks with the figures of the gods sculptured in the sanctuary of Amen-Ra is worthy of note, for it seems to show that on such matters they thought along the same lines as their ancestors.

Concerning amulets, the Sudani man is as superstitious as were his ancestors thousands of years ago, and he still believes that stones of certain colours possess magical properties, especially when inscribed with certain symbols, of the meaning of which, however, he has no knowledge, but which are due, he says, to the presence of spirits in them. Women and children, especially female children, protect many parts of their bodies with strings of beads made of magical stones, and sometimes with plaques of metal or stone, which are cut into various shapes and ornamented with signs of magical power ; the positions of such plaques on the body are frequently identical with those whereon the dynastic Egyptians laid amulets on the dead, and, if we could learn from the Sudani folk the reasons which prompt them to make use of such things, we should probably find that the beliefs which underlie the customs are also identical. The above facts concerning the Sudani belief in spirits might be

IDEAS ABOUT THE BEETLE 17

greatly multiplied, and they are not so remotely connected with the beliefs of the dynastic, and even predynastic, Egyptians, as may appear to be the case at first sight, and the writer believes that a large amount of information of a similar kind awaits the investigator, who will devote the necessary time to living in some of the out-ofthe-way villages of the black (not negro) peoples who dAvell on the eastern bank of the Nile and of the Blue Mle.

In many isolated places in Southern Nubia and the Eastern Sudan are trees which men regard with reverence, but this may be the result of contact with the natives of Central Africa, where people pray to trees on certain occasions,^ believing that the spirits which are supposed to dwell in them can bestowgifts upon those whom they regard with favour, and ensure safety both to themselves and their animals when travelling. Still further to the south certain animals, e.g., the cynocephalus ape, which plays such a prominent part in dynastic Egyptian mythology, are supposed to be inhabited by divine spirits and to possess extraordinary powers of intelligence in consequence, and the various kinds of scarabaei, or beetles, are thought to be animated by spirits, which the natives connect with the sun. The dead bodies of these insects were, in former days, often eaten by women who wished to become mothers of large families, and to this day parts of them are cooked, and treated with oil, and made into medicines ^ for the cure of sore eyes, etc. The dynastic Egyptians believed that the scarab was connected

1 " Under the wide-spreading branches of an enormous heglik-tree, and on a " spot beautifully clean and sprinkled with fine sand, the Bedeyat beseech an " unknown god to du^ect them in their undertakings and to protect them from " danger." Slatin Pasha, Fire- and Sivord in the Sudan, London, 1896, p. 114*.

3 Ibrahim Rushdi, Clerk of Telegraphs at Benha, in Lower Egypt, told me in January, 1895, that in many districts the beetles were boiled, and the grease extracted from them ; as they are being boiled the shells come off. The bodies are next roasted in olive oil, and then steeped in myrrh, and after this they are macerated in that liquid, and strained through muslin; the liquid which runs through is believed to cure the itching which is caused by a certain internal ailment. Some men drink a few drops of it in each cup of coffee, and women drink it to make them fat. The old women have a prescription for sore eyes, which is as follows : — Stick a splinter of wood through a series of beetles for twelve hours when a child is about to be born ; when the child is born, pull the splinter out of the last beetle, and dip it in Tcohl, and rub the eyes of the child with it. If this be done in the proper way the child will never suffer from sore eyes.

C

18 FORMS OF EVIL SPIRITS

with the Sun-god Ra, and in religious texts of all periods it is said that the beetle occupied a place in the boat of this god.

We have already seen that the dynastic Egyptians, and their predecessors, conceived the existence of spirits hostile towards man, of spirits beneficent towards man, and of spirits which were wholly occupied with carrying out the various operations of Nature, and we must now consider the manner and forms in which they became visible to man. The commonest form in which a spirit was believed to make itself visible to man was that of some beast, or bird, or fish, or reptile, and at a very early period adoration, in one form or another, of the so-called inferior animals was well-nigh universal in Egypt. At the time when this worship began animals, as well as inanimate objects, were not considered by the inhabitants of the Nile Valley to be greatly removed from themselves in intelligence. Primitive man saw nothing ridiculous in attributing speech to inanimate objects and animals, which were supposed to think, and reason, and act like human beings ; and the religious literature of many of the most ancient nations contains numerous proofs of this fact. Among the baked clay tablets found in the ruins of the Royal Library of Nineveh, which contained copies of hundreds of documents preserved in the temples of the most ancient cities of Babylonia, were fragments of a dialogue between a horse and an ox, which is now known as the " Fable of the Horse and the Ox," ^ and it is tolerably certain that this dialogue did not originate in the reign of Ashur-bani-pal (b.c. 668-626), although the tablet on which it was written is not older than his time. Again, in the Creation Legend the dragon-monster Tiamat, the representative of the powers of evil and darkness, is made to conspire against the gods, and to create a serpent brood ^ in order to do effective battle with them ; and other instances might be quoted to show that the Babylonians and Assyrians attributed to the animals reason, passions, and language.

1 See Guide to the Bahylonum and Assyrian Antiquities, London, 1900, p. 48 ; the fragments are exhibited in the Biitish Museum, Nineveh Gallery, Table-case C.

~ Ibid, p. 36. For the cuneiform tablets in the British Maseum see Nineveh Galler , Table-case A. See also L. W. King, Seven Tablets of Creation, vol. i., p. 1 ff.

TALKING ANIMALS, TREES, ETC. 19

From the Bible we learn that the Hebrews held the same views as their kinsmen on this matter, and we are told that the serpent beguiled and seduced Eve by his speech, and made her break the command of the Lord (G-enesis iii. 1 ff.)? and that the she-ass of Balaam remonstrated with her master and asked him why he had smitten her three times (Numbers xxii. 28). We may note in passing that this animal is said to have been able to see the Angel of the Lord standing in the way, whilst her master could not, and we are forcibly reminded of the belief which was current among Jews and Muliammadans to the effect that dogs howled before a death because they were able to see the Angel of Death going about on his mission, to say nothing of our own superstition to the same effect, which, however, we seem to have derived not from the East, but from cognate northern European nations. We see also from the Book of Judges (ix. 8 ff.) that speech and reason were sometimes attributed to objects which we regard as inanimate, for we read that the trees " went forth on a time to anoint a king '' over them ; and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us." When the olive tree refused, they went to the fig tree with the same request, and when the fig tree refused, they went to the vine, which refused to leave its wine " which cheereth Grod and man " ; on this they applied to the bramble, which placed before them the choice of coming and putting their trust in its shadow, or of being burnt by the fire which should come forth from out of itself. In connexion with this idea may, perhaps, be mentioned the incident recorded in Numbers xxi. 17, wherein we are told that the princes and nobles digged a well " with their staves " by the direction of the lawgiver, and that the Children of Israel sang this song, "Spring up, 0 well; sing ye unto it." Many other examples might be quoted from Hebrew literature to show that animals and inanimate objects were on certain occasions regarded as beings which possessed thinking and reasoning powers similar to those of men.

Among the Egyptians animals thought, and reasoned, and spoke as a matter of course, and their literature is full of indications that they believed them to be moved by motives and passions similar to those of human beings. As a typical example may be quoted the instance of the cow, in the Tale of the Two Brothers^

20 THE DOG-HEADED APE

who tells her herd that his elder brother is standing behind the door of the byre with his dagger in his hand waiting to slay him ; the young man having seen the feet of his brother under the door took to flight, and so saved his life. Here we have another proof that animals were sometimes credited with superhuman intelligence and discernment, since but for the warning of the cow, who had perceived what her master had failed to notice, the herd would have been slain as soon as he entered the byre. Here, too, must be noted the very important part which is played in the Judgment Scene in the Booh of the Dead by animals. In the Story of the Shijnvrech also we are told concerning a huge serpent thirty cubits long, with a beard two cubits long, which made a long speech to the unfortunate man who was wrecked on the island wherein it lived.

In the pap3rri of the XVIIIth Dynasty we have representations of the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the Great Balance, which takes place in the presence of the Great Company of the gods, who act as judges, and who pass the sentence of doom, that must be ratified by Osiris, according to the report of the god Thoth, who acts as scribe and secretary to the gods. The Egyptian hoped that his heart would exactly counterbalance the feather, symbolic of Maat or the Law, and neither wished nor expected it to outweigh it, for he detested performing works of supererogation. The act of weighing was carefully watched by Anubis the god of the dead, whose duty was to cast to the Eater of the Dead the hearts which failed to balance the feather exactly ; and by the guardian angel of the deceased, on behalf of the deceased ; and by a dog-headed ape, who was seated on the top of the pillar, and who supported himself upon the bracket on Avhich was balanced the beam of the Great Scales. This ape was the associate and companion of the god Thoth, and he was supposed to be skilled in the art of computation, and in the science of numbers, and in the measurement of time ; his duty at the weighing of the heart was to scrutinize the pointer of the scales, and, having made sure that the beam of the scales was exactly level, i.e., that the heart and the feather exactly counterbalanced each other, to report the fact to Thoth, so that he in turn might make his report to tlie gods on

THE DOG-HEADED APE 21

the case under consideration. The ape seated on the pillar of the Scales belongs to a species which is now only found in the Sudan, but which in late predynastic or in early dynastic times might have been found all over Egypt. The dog-headed ape is very clever, and even in modern times is regarded with much respect by the natives, who believe that its intelligence is of the highest order, and that its cunning is far superior to that of man ; the high esteem in which it was held by the ancient Egyptians is proved by the fact that the god Thoth was held to be incarnate in him, and by the important functions which he performed in their mythology.

It will also be remeriibered that in the vignette which represents the sunrise in the Booh of the Dead a company of six or seven dog-headed apes is depicted in the act of adoring the god of day, as he rises on the eastern horizon of heaven ; they stand on their hind legs and their forepaws are raised in adoration, and they are supposed to be singing hymns to the Sun-god. In a text which describes this scene these apes are said to be the spirits of the dawn who sing hymns of praise to the Sun-god whilst he is rising, and who transform themselves into apes as soon as he has risen. It is a well known fact in natural history that the apes and the monkeys in the forests of Africa and other countries chatter noisily at dawn, and it is clear that it was the matutinal cries of these animals which suggested their connection with the spirits of the dawn. It is not stated in the text whether the spirits of the dawn were created afresh each day or not, or whether the monkeys transformed themselves into spirits daily, and so were able to greet the rising sun each morning. We may, however, connect the idea concerning them with that which is met with in an ancient Hebrew description ^ of the angels of Hebrew mythology, for one group of "angels of service" from the river of fire were supposed to be created daily in order to sing one hymn to Grod Almighty and then to come to an end.

Passing now to the consideration of the worship of animals by the Egyptians of the predynastic and dynastic periods, we have

1 Compare Eisenmenger, op. cit., vol. ii., p. 371. 'i''^("1a3 J)^!2VT )^DV b2

22 FEAR THE MOTIVE OF WORSHIP

to endeavour to find the reasons which induced the early inhabitants of the Nile Valley to pay adoration to birds, beasts, fishes, and other creatures of the animal kingdom. A careful examination of the facts now available shows that in Egypt primitive man must have worshipped animals in the first instance because they possessed strength, and power, and cunning greater than his own, or because they were endowed with some quality which enabled them to do him bodily harm or to cause his death. The fundamental motive in man for worshipping animals was probably fear. When man first took up his abode in Egypt the physical conditions of the country must have resembled those of some parts of Central Africa at the present time, and the whole country was probably covered with forests and the ground obscured by dense undergrowth. In the forests great numbers of elephants and other large beasts must have lived, and the undergrowth formed a home for huge serpents of various species and for hosts of deadly reptiles of difi'erent kinds, and the river was filled with great crocodiles similar in length and bulk to those which have been seen in recent years in the Blue Nile and in the rivers further to the south. We have no means of knowing at what period the elephant was exterminated in Egypt, but it was probably long before dynastic times, because he finds no place in Egyptian mythology. The ivory objects which have been found in predynastic graves prove that this substance was prized by the primitive Egyptians, and that it was, comparatively, largely used by them for making personal ornaments and other small objects, but whether they imported elephants' tusks from the Sudan, or obtained them from animals which they hunted and killed in some part of Egypt cannot be said. On the top of one of the standards ^ Avhich are painted on predynastic vases we find the figure of an elephant, a fact which seems to show that this animal was the symbol of the family of the man for whom was made the vase on which it is found, or of his country, or of the tutelary deity, i.e., the god of his town or tribe. On the other hand, it is cpite clear from several passages in the texts with which the walls of the chambers and corridors of the pyramid tombs of Unas and Teta, and other kings of the Early

1 See J. de Morgan, EtlmograpMe Prehistoriijne, p. 93.

ANTIQUITY OF SERPENT WORSHIP 23

Empire at Sakkara are inscribed that Egypt was infested with venomous snakes and noxious reptiles of various kinds when the original forms of those passages were written, and that they were sufficiently formidable and numerous to cause the living grave anxiety about the safety of the bodies of their dead. Thus in the text of Unas,^ a king of the Vth Dynasty, we find a series of short magical formulae, many of which are directed against serpents and fierce animals, and all are couched in terms which prove that they must have been composed long before they were inscribed on the walls inside this king's pyramid, and M. Maspero is undoubtedly correct in thinking that they must have presented serious difficulties to the king's literaH. In these formulae

Akeneh, (j ^ |^, Amen, (] ", Hau, FD (] ^ lH, Antaf,

(] ^ ^ ^, Tcheser-tep, '^ [1 v^ @ Mil , Thethu, ^ ^UR ,

allusion is made to a most " terrible serpent," 0 m^ aaa^

8 g — ) n . At the time when these formulae were composed

each of these serpents was probably the type of a class of venomous snakes, and their names no doubt described their physical characteristics and their methods of attack. The abject fear of the Egyptians for the serpent seems to have been constant in all generations, and the texts of the latest as well as those of the earliest period contain numerous prayers intended to deliver the deceased from the " serpents which are in the Underworld, which live upon " the bodies of men and women, and consume their blood." ^ Long after Egypt was cleared of snakes and when the country was in the condition in which Ave now know it, the tradition remained that a

1 Ed. Maspero, 1. 533 ff.

Dead, Chapter^iB., 1. 4.

24 WORSHIP OF URAEUS AND VULTURE

mighty serpent, some thirty cubits, i.e., about fifty feet long, lived the Sunrise, and his name was Ami-Hemf, i.e., "Dweller in his

The worship of the serpent in Egypt is of great antiquity, and shrines to certain members of the species must have existed at a very early date. In predynastic times the uraeus was held in great veneration, and the great centre of its worship was in the Delta, at a place which the Egyptians in dynastic times called " Per-Uatchet," and the Greeks " Buto." At the period when the uraeus was being worshipped in Lower Egypt, the vulture was the chief object of adoration in Upper Egypt, its principal sanctuary being situated in the city which the Egyptians called " Nekhebet," and the Greeks " Eileithyiaspolis." The uraeus goddess was called "Uatchet," or " Uatchit," and the vulture goddess "Nekhebet," worship became so important, probably in consequence of this worship, that in the early dynastic period we find it customary for kings when they wished to proclaim their sovereignty over all

Egypt to give themselves the title j^£, which may be freely

rendered by " Lord of the shrines of the Vulture and Uraeus." The equivalents of these signs are found on the now famous plaque inscribed with the name and titles of Aha, a king who is often, but without sufficient reason, assumed to be identical with Mena or Menes, and thus it is clear that the cities of Nekhebet and Per- Uatchet were important religious and administrative centres in predynastic times.

Other wild animals which were worshipped by the Egyptians about the same period were the lion, and the lynx, which they

which became the symbol of the god Set ; among amphibious creatures the crocodile and the turtle were the most important. Among domestic animals the bull and the cow were the principal objects of worship, and proof is forthcoming that they were

1 Hooli of the Dead, Chapter cviii., 1. 5.

WORSHIP OF THE BULL

regarded as deities in predynastic times. The great strength of the bull, and his almost irresistible attack in fighting and headlong rush, excited the fear and admiration of primitive man, and his fecundating powers made him at a very early period the type of the generative principle in nature. For thousands of years the kings of Egypt delighted to call themselves " mighty bull," and the importance which they attached to this title is evinced by the fact that many of them inscribed it upon their serehh, or cognizance, which displayed their name as the descendant of Horus ;

Usertsen II. receiving " life " from the god Sept. Behind him is his serehh inscribed with his Horus name.

in fact, it formed their Horus name. The figure of a bull is found sculptured upon some of the green slate objects which date from the predynastic period, and which have been erroneously called palettes, and a flint model of the head and horns of the cow, which in later times became the animal symbolic of the goddess Hathor, was found in a predynastic grave ; all these objects are in the British Museum (Nos. 20,790, 20,792, and 32,124). The warrior kings of the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties were pleased when the court scribes related in commemorative inscriptions how

WORSHIP OF THE BULL

their lords raged and roared like lions as they mounted their chariots and set out to crush the foolish enemy who had the

temerity to defy them, but they preferred to be likened to the "mighty bull," who trampled opposition beneath his hoofs, and gored and destroyed with his horns that which his hoofs had failed to annihilate. Out of the reverence which was paid to the bull in predynastic times grew the worship of two special bulls, Hap and Mer-ur, which names the Greeks modified into Apis and

1 1 ^ ■^-^ Mnevis, the sacred animals of the ancient

cities of Memphis and Heliopolis respectively. The worship of Apis is at least as old as the beginning of the dynastic period, and we know that the cult of this bull continued in Memphis until the close of the rule of the Ptolemies. In some Avay the beliefs concerning Apis were connected with those which the Egyptians held concerning Osiris, the god and judge of the dead, Avho is called in the Booh of the Dead^ the "Bull of Amentet," i.e., the "Bull of the Underworld," LJ tfiTi ^ "^ "^ : and in the Ptolemaic

period the two gods were merged into one and formed the god Sarapis, to whom were ascribed the attributes of the Egyptian and Greek gods of the Underworld.

It now seems to be generally admitted by ethnologists that there are three main causes which have induced men to worship animals, i.e., they have worshipped them as animals, or as the dwelling-places of gods, or as representatives of tribal ancestors.

Serekh of Rameses II., on which is inscribed the Horns name of this king, i.e., Ka-

NEKHT - MERI - MaaT. The

canopy of the serekh is in and from the standard on which it rests spring two human arms and hands. The right grasps a standard surmounted by the head of the king, whicTi liore repre

sents the ' ' royal ka '

:^j and

Li)

the left the symbol of Maat.

1 Chapter i., 1. 4.

APIS BULL AND RAM OF MENDES 27

There is no reason whatsoever for doubting that in neolithic times the primitive Egyptians worshipped animals as animals and as nothing more ; the belief that animals were the abodes of spirits or deities grew up in their minds later, and it was this which induced them to mummify the dead bodies of birds, and beasts, and lishes, etc., in which they thought deities to have been incarnate. We have no means of knowing exactly when this belief arose, but it is certainly as old as the time when the Apis Bull began to be worshipped, and when the Egyptians began to keep the ram and other animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fishes in sanctuaries, and to worship them as deities incarnate. In connection with it we must notice that, in the case of the Apis Bull and the Ram of Mendes, the god Apis did not take up his abode in every bull, and that the soul of Osiris, which was supposed to dwell in the Ram of Mendes, did not make his habitation in every ram. The Apis Bull, like the Ram of Mendes, had to be sought for diligently, and no bull or ram was made the object of veneration in the sanctuaries of Memphis or Mendes unless he possessed the characteristic marks by which the priests recognized him. The ordinary bulls and rams of the species to which the Apis Bull and the Ram of Mendes belonged were not regarded in the same light as the animals which by the marks upon them proclaimed themselves to be the creatures to which worship should be offered, and they were, of course, sacrificed in the performance of funeral ceremonies and killed and eaten as food by the people, even though somewhat of the deity may have been incarnate in them. When the Apis Bull or the Ram of Mendes died the deity who had been incarnate in it transferred himself to another animal, and therefore did not leave the earth.

The question as to whether the Egyptians worshipped animals as representations of tribal ancestors, or " totems," is one which has given rise to much discussion, and this is not to be wondered at, for the subject is one of difficulty. We know that many of the standards which represent the nomes of Egypt are distinguished by figures of birds and animals, e.g., the hawk, the bull, the hare, etc., but it is not clear whether these are intended to represent "totems" or not. It is pretty certain that the nome-standard of dynastic times was derived from the standards which the predynastic

28 NOME GODS

Egyptians set up in their boats, or caused to be carried in ceremonial processions, or during the performance of public functions, and there is no reason for doubting that, substantially, the same ideas and beliefs underlie the use of both classes of standards. The animal or bird standing on the top of a nome-perch or standard is not intended for a fetish or a representation of a tribal ancestor, but for a creature which was regarded as the deity under whose protection the people of a certain tract of territory were placed, and we may assume that within the limits of that territory it was unlawful to injure or kill such ahimal or bird. Thus in the Nome of the Black Bull a black bull of a certain kind would be regarded as a sacred animal, and it is certain that in predynastic times worship would be offered to it as a god ; similarly in the Nome of the Hare the hare would be worshipped ; and in the Nome of the Hawk the hawk would be worshipped. Outside these nomes, however, the bull and the hare and the hawk might be, and probably were, killed and eaten for food, and from this point of view the sacred creatures of the Egyptians may be thought to have something in common with the totems, or deified representatives of tribal ancestors, and with the fetishes of the tribes of nations which are on the lowest levels of civilization. In connexion with this matter it is customary to quote the statements of Greek and Roman writers, many of whom scoff at the religion of the Egyptians because it included the worship of animals, and charge the nation with fatuity because the animals, etc., which were worshipped and preserved Avith all care in some places were killed and eaten in others. The evidence of such writers cannot be regarded as wholly trustworthy, first, because they did not take the trouble to understand the views which the Egyptians held about sacred animals, and secondly, because they were not in a position to obtain trustworthy information. In the passage from one of Juvenal's Satires already quoted, he declares that the Egyptians ate human flesh, and it is possible that he believed what he wrote ; still the fact remains that there is not a particle of evidence in the Egyptian inscriptions to show that they ever did so, and we have every reason for believing that they were not cannibals.

His other statements about the religion of the Egyptians are,

ANIMAL WORSHIP NOT TOTEMISM 29

probably, as untrustworthy. Tliere is not enough ancient Egyptian religious literature extant to enable us to trace the history of religion in all periods of dynastic history, still less are we able to follow it back in the predynastic period, because of that time we have no literature at all; such monuments and texts as we have, however, serve to show that the Egyptians first worshipped animals as animals, and nothing more, and later as the habitations of divine spirits or gods, but there is no reason for thinking that the animal worship of the Egyptians was descended from a system of totems or fetishes, as Mr. J. F. M'Lennan believed.^ It has been assumed by some ethnologists that many primitive peoples have been accustomed to name individuals after animals, and that such animal names have in certain cases become tribe names. These may have become family surnames, and at length the myths may have gro^vn up about them in which it is declared that the families concerned were actually descended " from the animals in question as ancestors, " whence might arise many other legends of strange adventures " and heroic deeds of ancestors, to be attributed to the quasi-human " animals whose names they bore ; at the same time, popular " mystification between the great ancestor and the creature whose " name he held and handed down to his race, might lead to veneration " for the creature itself, and thence to full animal- worship." ^ This theory may explain certain facts connected with the animal- worship of numbers of savage or half-savage tribes in some parts of the world, but it cannot, in the writer's opinion, be regarded as affording an explanation of the animal-worship of the Egyptians. In dynastic times kings were, it is true, worshipped as gods, and divine honours were paid to their statues, but the reason for this was that the king was believed to be of the seed of the god Horus, the oldest of all the gods of Egypt. There is reason for believing that to certain men who were famous for their knowledo-e or for

o

some great works which they had accomplished divine honours were paid, but neither these nor the kings were held to be gods who were worshipped throughout the land as were the wellknown or natural gods of the country. In short, the Avorship which

1 See the Fortnightly Beview, 1869-1870.

2 See Tylor, Primitive Culture, vol. ii., p. 236.

30 NOME STANDARDS

was paid to kings after their death, or to ordinary men, who were sometimes deified, was quite different from that paid to the gods of the country, whether they were in animal or human form or whether they represented the spirits which concerned themselves with the welfare of men or those which occupied themselves with the direction of the operations of Nature.

We see, moreover, from the nome-standards that several objects besides animals were worshipped and regarded as gods, or that they, at all events, became the symbols of the deities which were worshipped in them. In predynastic times we know that some standards were surmounted by representations of two, three, four, or five

another by a fish, (^(, another by two arrows and a shield, y^ , etc. With the predynastic '^y^ is probably to be compared the sio-n *Qr. It is not easy at present to find a dynastic equivalent

for the two arrows (?) ^r ^, or to find the reason why the three

correct if we connect the two arrows (?) with some aboriginal god of war, and the three hills with the abode of some, at present, unknown god. The shield and the crossed arrows can, we think, be explained with more certainty. We know from the Nome- Lists that the fifth nome of Lower Egypt, ^ , which was called

Sapi by the Egyptians and Saites by the Greeks, had for its capital the city Saut or Sais, and that the great deity of this city was the goddess Nit or Neith. The dynastic pictures of this goddess represent her in the form of a goddess who holds in her hands two arrows and a bow ; she sometimes wears upon her head or two crossed arrows N(f ; in fact, such pictures prove beyond a

doubt that Nit, the goddess of Sais, was the goddess of the chase par excellence. That this goddess was worshipped in the earliest dynastic period is certain, for we find that her name forms part of

1 See my " History of Egypt " {Egypt in the Predynastic and Archaic Periods), vol. i., p. 78.

THE GODDESS NIT 31

the name of Nit-hetep, who seems to have been the daughter of king Sma, and who was probably the wife of Aha, and also part of that of the early dynastic king Mer-Nit. That the dynastic sign

to doubt, and, as the former is known to represent the crossed arrows and shield of the hunting goddess of Sais, we are justified in believing that its predynastic equivalent was intended to be a picture of the same objects, and to be symbolic of the same goddess.

We have already mentioned the predynastic standard surmounted by the figure of an elephant, which was, undoubtedly, intended to represent a god, and thus it is clear that both in predynastic and dynastic times the Egyptians symbolized gods both by means of animals and by objects connected with their worship or with their supposed occupations. In dynastic Nome-Lists we

have for the name of Matenu a knife C^, for the nome of Ten a pair of horns surmounted by a plumed disk /^i , for the nome of Uas, or Us, a sceptre r , for the nome of Sesheshet a sistrum 1 ,

etc. The first, third, and fourth of this group of examples are clearly objects which were connected with the worship of the gods whom they symbolize, and the second is probably intended to be the headdress of the god of the nome which it symbolizes. At this period of the world's history it is impossible to fathom the reasons which led men to select such objects as the symbols of their gods, and we can only accept the view that they were the product of some indigenous, dominant people who succeeded in establishing their religious customs so strongly in Egypt that they survived all political commotions, and changes, and foreign invasions, and flourished in the country until the third century of our era at least.

The cult of Nit, or Neith, must have been very general in Egypt, although in dynastic times the chief seat thereof was at Sais in the Delta, and we know that devotees of the goddess lived as far south as Nakada, a few miles to the north of Thebes, for several objects inscribed with the name of queen Nit-hetep have been found

32 THE GODDESS NIT

in a grave at that place. Of the early worship of the goddess nothing is known, but it is most probable that she was adored as a great hunting spirit as were adored spirits of like character byprimitive peoples in other parts of the world. The crossed arrows and shield indicate that she was a hunting spirit in the earliest times, but a picture of the dynastic period represents her with two crocodiles^ sucking one at each breast, and thus she appears in later times to have had ascribed to her power over the river.

It has already been said that the primitive Egyptians, though believing that their gods possessed powers superior to their own, regarded them as beings who were liable to grow old and die, and who were moved to love and to hate, and to take pleasure in meat and drink like man ; they were even supposed to intermarry with human beings and to have the power of begetting offspring like the *' sons of God," as recorded in the Book of Genesis (vi. 2, 4). These ideas were common in all periods of Egyptian history, and it is clear that the Egyptians never wholly freed themselves from them ; there is, in fact, abundant proof that even in the times wdien monotheism had developed in a remarkable degree they clung to them with a tenacity which is surprising. The religious texts contain numerous references to them, and beliefs which were conceived by the Egyptians in their lowest states of civilization are mingled with those which reveal the existence of high spiritual conceptions. The great storehouse of religious thought is the Booh of the Dead, and in one of the earliest Recensions of that remarkable work we may examine its various layers with good result. In these are jDi'^served many passages which throw light upon the views which were held concerning the gods, and the powers which they possessed, and the place where they dwelt in company Avith the beatified dead.

One of the most instructive of these passages for our purpose forms one of the texts which are inscribed on the walls and corridors of the chambers in the pyramid tombs of Unas, a king of the Vth Dynasty, and of Teta, a king of the Vlth Dynasty.

1 In the text of Unas (1. G27) the crocodile-god Sebek is cahed the son of Neith

KING UNAS AS A GOD 33

The paragraphs in general of the great Heliopolitan Recension deal, as we should expect, with the offerings which were to be made at stated intervals in the little chapels attached to the pyramids, and many were devoted to the object of removing enemies of every kind from the paths of the king in the Underworld ; others contain hymns, and short prayers for his welfare, and magical formulae, and incantations. A few describe the great power which the beatified king enjoys in the world beyond the grave, and, of course, declare that the king is as great a lord in heaven as he was upon earth. The passage in question from the pyramid of Unas is of such interest and importance that it ^ is given in the Appendix to this Chapter, with interlinear translation and transliteration, and with the variant readings from the pyramid of Teta, but the following general rendering of its contents may be useful. " The sky poureth down rain, the stars tremble, the bow- " bearers run about with hasty steps, the bones of Aker tremble, " and those who are ministrants unto them betake themselves to " flight when they see Unas rising [in the heavens] like a god who " liveth upon his fathers and feedeth upon his mothers. Unas is " the lord of wisdom whose name his mother knoweth not. The " noble estate of Unas is in heaven, and his strength in the horizon " is like unto that of the god Tem his father, indeed, he is stronger " than his father who gave him birth. The doubles (kau) of Unas " are behind him, and those whom he hath conquered are beneath " his feet. His gods are upon him, his uraei are upon his brow, " his serpent-guide is before him, and his soul looketh upon the " spirit of flame ; the powers of Unas protect him." From this paragraph we see that Unas is declared to be the son of Tem, and has made himself stronger than his father, and that when the king, who lives upon his fathers and mothers, enters the sky as a god, all creation is smitten Avith terror. The sky dissolves in rain, the stars shake in their places, and even the bones of the great double lion-headed earth-god Aker, 2^::^, quake, and all the lesser powers of heaven flee in fear. He is considered to have been a mighty conqueror upon earth, for those whom he has vanquished are

1 The hieroglypliic texts are given by Maspero, Les Inscriptions des Pyramides de Saqqarah, Paris, 1894, p. 67, 1. 496, and p. 134, 1. 319.

D

34 KING UNAS AS A GOD

beneath his feet ; there is no reason why this statement should not be taken literally, and not as referring to the mere pictures of enemies which were sometimes painted on the cartonnage coverings of mummies under the feet, and upon the sandals of mummies, and upon the outside of the feet of coffins. An ordinary man possessed one ha or " double," but a king or a god was believed to possess many Icau or " doubles." Thus in one text ^ the god Ra is said to possess seven souls {hau) and fourteen doubles (Icau), and prayers were addressed to each soul and double of Ra as well as to the god himself; elsewhere^ we are told that the fourteen Jcau of Ra,

appears in heaven with his " gods" upon him, the serpents are on his brow, he is led by a serpent-guide, and is endowed with his powers. It is difficult to say what the " gods " here referred to really are, for it is unlikely that the allusion is to the small figures of gods which, in later times, were laid upon the bodies of the dead, and it seems that we are to understand that he, Unas, was accompanied by a number of divine beings Avho had laid their protecting strength upon him. The uraei on his brow and his serpent-guide were the emblems of similar beings whose help he had bespoken — in other words, they represented spirits of serpents which were made friendly towards man.

The passage in the text of Unas continues, " Unas is the Bull ^' of heaven which overcometh by his will, and which feedeth upon ^' that which cometh into being from every god, and he eateth " of the provender of those who fill themselves with words of " power and come from the Lake of Flame. Unas is provided " with power sufficient to resist his spirits (hJm), and he riseth [in " heaven] like a mighty god who is the lord of the seat of the *'hand (i.e., power) [of the gods]. He taketh his seat and his *' back is towards Seb. Unas weigheth his speech with the god " whose name is hidden on the day of slaughtering the oldest " [gods]. Unas is the master of the offering and he tieth the "knot, and provideth meals for himself; he eateth men and he

1 Diimiclien, Tempelinscliriften, vol. i., pi. 29. " Lepsius, Denhmdler, iii., Bl. 194.

KING UNAS AS A GOD 35

" livetli upon gods, he is the lord of offerings, and he keepeth " count of the lists of the same." The dead king is next likened to a young and vigorous bull which feeds upon what is produced by every god and upon those that come from the Fiery Lake to eat words of jDower. Here we have a survival of the old worship of the bull, which began in the earliest times in Egypt, and lasted until the Roman period. His food is that which is produced by every god, and when we remember that the Egyptians believed that every object, animate and inanimate, was the habitation of a spirit or god, it is easy to see that the allusion in these words is to the green herbage which the bull ordinarily eats, for from this point of view, every blade of grass was the abode of a god. In connexion with this may be quoted the words of Sankhonyathan, the Sanchoniatho of the Greeks, as given by Eusebius, who says, " But these first men consecrated the productions of the " earth, and judged them gods, and worshipped those things, upon " which they themselves lived, and all their posterity, and all " before them ; to these they made libations and sacrifices." ^

Now the food of this bull Unas is also said to be those who came from the Lake of Fire, or the city of She-Sasa, and who are these ? From Chapter cviii. of the Book of the Dead we learn that She-Sasa Avas situated in Sekhet-Sasa,^ i.e., a district in heaven, and it is clear from the text of the Chapter that it was one of the abodes wherein the beatified dead obtained food. The deceased is made to say, " I have not lain down in death ; I have stood over " thee,^ and I have risen like a god. I have cackled like a goose, " and I have alighted like the hawk by the divine clouds and by " the great dew .... I have come from She-Sasa, which is in " Sekhet-Sasa, i.e., the Lake of Fire, Avhich is in the Field of " Fire " Towards the end of the Chapter (line 10) mention is

1 Eusebius, Praejp. Evan., lib. i , c. 10 (in Cory, Ancient Fragments, London,

36 KING UNAS AS A GOD

grew in the Field of Fire, or in the neighbourhood of it, and it is clear that it must be these which are referred to as the provender of those who come from the Lake of Fire. We are next told that Unas hath power sufficient to oppose or resist his spirits (kJiu), but it is not certain whether these are beings in the Underworld which are hostile to him, or spirits which belong to himself; in any case the meaning of the passage is not clear. Having risen in heaven Unas takes his seat with his back towards Seb, the great earth-god who was represented by the mythological goose which was supposed to have laid the great cosmic egg. In the latter part of the section of the text of Unas quoted above we have some remarkable ideas enunciated. It is asserted first of all that he " weigheth his speech Avith the god whose name is hidden," which indicates that Unas was supposed to be of equal rank and power with the god of judgment. From the Theban Recensions of the Book of the Bead ^ we know that the

the " weighing of actions," and that it is applied to the examination of the deceased which is held on the day wherein his heart is weighed in the Great Scales. The examination was conducted by Thoth on behalf of Osiris, but the words in the text of Unas show that the dead king considers himself able to judge his own actions, and to award himself happiness. The god of the hidden name is probably Osiris. Finally it is said that Unas eats men and feeds upon the gods. We have already referred to the passage in Juvenal's Fifteenth Satire in which he declares that the Egyptians ate human flesh, and it has been already said that the dynastic inscriptions aiford no proof whatsoever that the Egyptians were cannibals.

The statement here that Unas ate men is definite enough, and it is not easy to give any other than a literal meaning to the words ; we can only assume then that this portion of the text has reference to some acts of cannibalism of which a tradition had come down from predynastic to dynastic times. We gather from other passages in the texts of Unas and Teta what manner of treatment

' See my Chaj)ters of Coming Forth hi/ Day, Text, p. 18, 1. 12 ; p. 19, 1. 5; etc.

KING UNAS AS A GOD 37

was meted out to the vanquished in battle by the victors, and it seems to tind a parallel in the atrocious acts which were, and in some places still are, perpetrated by conquering tribes of Central Africa after a battle. In predynastic times all the property of those who Avere defeated in war was seized upon by the successful warriors, and all the women fell into their hands, and at times nameless abominations were committed upon the unfortunate male captives. The dead king in the texts of Unas and Teta is, naturally, described as the lord of heaven and of all the beings and things which are therein ; as such he is master of all the women, and it is said plainly of him that he is the " fecundator, and that " he carries off the women from their husbands to whatsoever place *' he pleaseth whensoever he pleaseth." ^ Thus one of his attributes was that of the bull, which, because of his fecundity and strength, became the object of worship by the early Egyptians, and he exercised the rights of a victorious tribal chief. Upon the conquered men who were allowed to live terrible indignities were perpetrated, and in the text of Teta the dead king is exhorted to rise up, " for Horus hath caused Thoth to bring unto thee thine " enemy, and he (i.e., Horus) hath put thee behind him in order " that he may not do thee an injury, and that thou mayest make " thy place upon him, so that when [thou] goest forth thou mayest "take thy place upon him, and he may not have union with " thee." ^ It is possible then that in predynastic times in addition to the wanton destruction which the Egyptians brought about after a victorious fight with their enemies, and the slaughter, and rapine, and nameless abominations which followed, they sometimes imitated the example of wild and savage beasts and ate the foes they had

A/^AAA^

line 629.

38 UNAS EATS THE GODS,

conquered. The accounts of the battles of dynastic times show that the Egyptians looted and destroyed the cities and to^vns of the vanquished, and that they cut down orchards and gardens, and carried off all the flocks and herds which they could find ; and there is abundant proof that they mutilated the bodies of their dead foes after a fight, but that they either ate them or behaved towards them in a manner contrary to nature there is absolutely no evidence to show.

We have now to consider the remaining paragraphs of the extract from the text of Unas. The gods upon whose bodies Unas fed were snared by Am-kehuu, and they were examined as to their fitness and condition by Tcheser-tep-f, a divine being who was in later times one of the Forty-Two Judges in the Hall of Maati, and is mentioned in the " Negative Confession " of the Booh of the Dead. The gods were next bound by Her-thertu, and the god Khensu cut their throats and took out their intestines ; a being called Shesemu acted as butcher and cut them up and cooked the pieces thereof in his fiery cauldrons. Thereupon Unas ate them, and in eating them he also ate their words of power and their spirits. The largest and finest of the gods he ate at daybreak, and the smaller sized ones for meals at sunset, and the smallest for his meals in the night ; the old and worn-out gods he rejected entirely and used them up as fuel in his furnace. The cauldrons in which the bodies of the gods were cooked were heated by the " Great One in heaven," who shot flame under those which contained the thighs of the oldest of the gods ; and the " Perer, who is in heaven," of Unas cast also into cauldrons the thighs of their women. Unas is then said to make a journey about every part of the double sky, or

double heaven, f=^ , i.e., the night sky and the day sky, and also

to travel about, presumably from one end to the other, through the

two at elm, (1 ei^ii j ^ "^ ' , of Egypt, i.e., the land which lies

between the mountains and the Nile on each side of the river. As a result of eating of the bodies of the gods Unas becomes the Great Sekhem, the Sekhem of the Sekhemu ; he also becomes the Ashem of Ashem, the Great Ashem of the Ashemu. The power which protects Unas and which he possesses is greater than that of all the

ABSORBS THEIR POWERS 39

sdfm in the heavens, and he becomes the eldest of all the firstborn gods and he goes before thousands and makes offerings to hundreds [of them] ; indeed, the power which has been given to him as the Great Sekhem makes him to become as the star Sahu, i.e., Orion, with the gods. " Unas can repeat his rising in the sky, for he is '' the Seben crown as lord of the heavens. He taketh count of the " knots (or, sinews) and of livers, and he hath taken possession of " the hearts of the gods. He hath eaten the Red Crown, he hath " eaten the White Crown, and he feedeth upon fat entrails ; the " offerino-s made to him are those in whose hearts live words of " power. What the Red Crown emitteth that he hath eaten, and " he flourisheth ; the words of poAver are in his belly, and his sdfm " is not turned away from him. He hath eaten the knowledge of " every god, and his existence and the duration of his life are " eternal and everlasting in any sdhii which he is pleased to " make. Whatsoever he hateth he shall never do within the limits, "or, inside the borders of heaven. Behold their soul, i.e., the " soul of the gods, is in Unas, and their spirits are with him ; " his food is more abundant than that of the gods, in whose bones " is the flame of Unas. Behold their soul is with Unas, and their " Shadows are with their Forms, or Attributes. Unas is in, or '' with, the doubly hidden Kha gods (?) [as] a Sekhem, and having " performed [all] the ordinances of the (ceremony of) ploughing " the seat of the heart of Unas shall be among the living upon this " earth for ever and ever."

The last portion of the extract is of peculiar interest because it affords some insight into the beliefs which the Egyptians held about the constituent parts of the economy of the gods. We have already seen that a /)a, or soul, has been assigned to Unas, and hau, or " doubles," and hliu, or spirits, and a sdhii, and a sekhem ; the last two words are difficult to translate, but they are rendered with approximate correctness by "spiritual body," and "power." The soul was intimately connected with the heart, and was supposed to be gratified by offerings, which it was able to consume ; the " double " was an integral part of a man, and was connected with his shadow, and came into being when he was born, and lived in the tomb with the body after death ; the spirit was the seat of

40 UNAS, THE ASHEM OF THE ASHEMU

the spiritual part of man, and gods and divine personages were credited with the possession of several spirits ; the .syTA^/, or spiritual body, was the ethereal, intangible, transparent and translucent body, which was supposed, in dynastic times at all events, to grow from the dead body, the form of which it preserved ; the seJihem was the "power" which seems to have animated the s^hu and to have made it irresistible. From the extract given above from the text of Unas we learn that the gods were composed of all these various parts, and that in fact their economy resembled that of man ; in other words, the Egyptians made their gods in their own image, only they attributed to them superhuman powers. The gods, however, preserved their existence by means of a

by hrl-au, $ *j y °? which is commonly translated "words of power " ; the aim of every Egyptian was to obtain possession of both the magical protection and the words of power, for they thought that if they once were masters of these they would be able to live like the gods. In the earliest times in Egypt men thought that the only way to obtain the strength and immortality of the gods was to eat the gods themselves, and so we read that Unas, having eaten parts of the boiled bodies of the gods, " hath eaten " their words of power (heJca), and swallowed their spirits {IcJm)." As a result of this he becomes the " Great Power," the " Power of Powers," i.e., the greatest Power in heaven. He becomes also the Ashem of Ashem, the great Ashem of the Ashemu, that is to say, the very essence of Ashem, and the greatest powers of the Ashemu beings are enshrined within him because he has within him the spirits and the words of power of the gods.

But what is the meaning of Ashem ? In the text of Teta the word has for its determinative a hawk perched upon a standard, _^, which shows that it has some meaning connected with deity or divinity, but it cannot be the name of one divine being only, for determinative, however, does not help us very much, for it proves little more than that some attribute of the Hawk-god Ileru was ascribed to the Ashemu ; the hawk was undoubtedly the first

UNAS, THE ASHEM OF THE ASHEMU 41

creature worshipped by the predynastic Egyptians, and ^ became in consequence the common determinative of all words implying the idea of deity or divinity, and of the proper names of the gods in a very large number of passages in the hieroglyphic texts inscribed on the walls of the chambers and corridors in the pyramids at Sakkara. The common name for "god," as we have already seen, is "neter," j, or | Jj, with the plural "neteru," | | |, or | i, or

be translated by " divine Ashemu," and as the first determinative is a squatting hawk, we may assume that the word ashemu means " hawks." ^ If this assum^Dtion be correct, "Ashem of Ashem, Great Ashem of the Ashemu," means " Hawk of Hawk, the Great Hawk of the Hawks," and since the hawk was not only a god to the predynastic Egyptians, but their oldest and greatest god, being in fact the spirit of that which is above, i.e., heaven, the passage " Ashem of Ashem, Great Ashem of the Ashemu,"' may very well be rendered " god of god, great god of the gods." Thus with the words of power and the spirits of the gods in him Unas becomes the habitation of the power of God, and the firstborn of the gods. He is now able to go round about heaven at pleasure, and as the Great Sekhem, or Power, his visible emblem is Sail or Orion, and he is able to repeat his rising [daily] in heaven like this constellation. It is not improbable that the identification of Orion with kings who had eaten the gods filtered doAvn in tradition to the Semitic people who lived in the Delta in dynastic times, and so became the base of the legends about Orion which are found among the Arabs and Hebrews.

1 See the text of Unas, line 209 ; in the text of Teta, line 197, the gods are

2 See my Chapters of Coming Forth by Bay, Text, p. 128, 1. 14,

Suppl., p. 279) renders it by "the symbol, or visible form of a god."

42 POWER OVER THE HEART

Modern travellers have put on record the fact that certain savage and semi-savage peoples were, even in recent times, in the habit of eating pieces of flesh of mighty wild animals or of strong men, and of drinking their blood with the view of absorbing their nature, and life, and strength into their own bodies.^ This idea also existed among the Egyptians, both predynastic and dynastic, and we find an allusion to it in the extract from Unas under consideration, for he is said to take possession of the hearts of the gods, and to reckon up the thesu and heqesu, and to feed upon fat S7nau. The importance which the Egyptians attached to the possession of the physical heart, or of having power over it, is proved by many texts, and especially by several Chapters of the Boole of the Dead, wherein we find many prayers which were specially written for the protection of the heart. Thus in Chapter xxvi. the deceased prays, "may my heart be to me in "the house of hearts, may my hdti^ be to me in the house of " hdtu " ; Chapters xxvii., xxviii., and xxix. were written to prevent the heart being carried away by those who steal hearts

was composed to prevent its death in the Underworld ; and Chapters xxx.a and xxx.b were intended to prevent a man's heart from being driven away from him there, especially at the time of the Judgment, when it was weighed in the Great Scales. For the words thesu, heqesu, and smau it is not easy to find equivalents. From the connexion in which it occurs thesu must mean either the vertebra or some internal organ of the body which resembles a tied or knotted cord, whilst of heqesu the determinative proves that it also is an internal organ. In Chapter xxx.a the deceased says, " Homage to thee, 0 my " heart {ah) ! Homage to thee, 0 my hdti (pericardium ?) ! " Homage to thee, 0 my heseh," which is probably a variant form of heqes, but curiously enough the determinative of hese/c,

1 See Robertson Smith, The Beliglon of the Semites, p. 295.

2 c=^ 1^ ^ the pericardium (?). In the ancient texts the hat, or hdti of a god

was the seat of the words of power by means of which he maintained his life.

THE HEART AND WORDS OF POWER 43

word actually means " liver." Mr. Frazer has quoted in his work^ instances which prove that savage tribes look upon the liver as the seat of the soul or life of man, and that portions of it are eaten by them with the view of acquiring the qualities of the former possessor of the liver. The words of the text of Unas do not say definitely that the king ate the thesu and livers of the gods who had been killed for him, but it is evident from the context that they were supposed to form part of his food. On the other hand, it is said definitely that he did eat their smau saau, or

or those portions of them which were the seats of the hekau,

ft Li ^ , or words of magical power, which were the source of their

life.

Now besides the spirits, and the words of power, and the internal organs of the gods, Unas, it is said, hath eaten the

life and his existence are merged into eternity and everlastingness, which he may pass in any way that pleaseth his spiritual body (sdh), and during this existence he has no need whatsoever to do anything which is distasteful to him. Moreover, the soul[s] and spirits of the gods are in and with Unas, and their souls, and their shadows, and their divine forms are with him. Thus we see that Unas has absorbed within his spiritual body all the life and power of the gods, and his portion is everlasting life, and he can do anything and everything he pleases. Here we should naturally expect the section to come to an end, but the last sentence goes on to say that Unas is with the double Kha god, who is invisible, or unknown, and that being a Power (sehhem) who hath performed [the ceremony] of ploughing, "the seat of the heart" of Unas shall " be among those who live upon this earth for ever and for ever." In this sentence we have an illustration of the difficulty of understanding and explaining the Egyptian religion and the doctrine of the gods. In the early portion of the passage from the text of

1 The Golden Bough, vol. ii., p. 357 (2nd edition).

2 The word here used is db v/.

44 THE DOUBLE LIFE OF UNAS

Unas already translated and analyzed we are told how the dead king became the god of god, immortal and invisible, with supreme power in heaven, etc., but at the end of it we read that the seat of the heart of Unas shall be among those who live upon this earth for ever and ever, i.e., Unas shall enjoy after death a continuation of the life which he began in this world ; in fact, shall have a double existence, the one heavenly and the other earthly.

APPENDIX TO CHAPTER I

UNAS, THE SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

kep

■pet

m

dhi

sebii

nem

Poureth down water heaven, tremble the stars,

go about

petchet seta

the bow-bearers, quake

I

kenemu

qes Aker ker - er - sen

the bones of Aker, those beneath

them

take to flight [when] they see Unas rising [as] a soul

em neter dnJch em ^i ~ f usTieh

like a god [who] liveth upon his fathers [and] feedeth

em

mut - f Unas pa neb

sabut

upon his mothers. Unas this [is] the lord of wisdom,

1 The text here given is from the Pyramid of Unas (Maspero, Becueil, torn, iv., p. 59) ; the variants are from the Pyramid of Teta {Becueil, torn, v., p. 48, 1. 319).

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

IcheifYi en knoweth not

milt - f ren - f

his mother his name.

ciiL sliepsu Is the noble rank

feU'l

Unas em pet du nser-f em Jchut md Tern

of Unas in heaven, is his strength in the horizon like Tern,

useru eref

su

dt-f au mes - ne^

his father ; he (i.e., Tem) begot him [and] he became stronger

than he.

die Icau Unds ha -f du hemu set-fi?)

Are the doubles of Unas behind him, the conquered [are]

kher retui-f du neteru-f tep-f du dart - t

beneath his two feet. His gods are on him. His uraei are

em d])t - f du semtu Unds em hdt-f

on his brow. The serpent guide of Unas is before him.

3 Ci

(m

• u u u

Zii

'U

SLAYEK AND EATER OF THE GODS

petret ha hliut ent hes du useru Unas

Seeth soul [his] the spirit of fiame. The powers of Unas

her meJcet -f protect him.

db-f

U

ka

ra

Unds pd ha pet en het

Unas this [is] the bull of heaven that thrusteth

em

r

anJih

em

Jcheper

en neter

with his will, living upon what coraeth into being of god

" A dm

neb dm em

QYQTj, and eating of

,^emu - sen their food

iu meh

who come to fill

khat-sen em hehau em She en Sdsd

their belly with words of power from the lake of Flame.

Unds pd apei'-d er dab Jehu - f

Unas this [is] provided with power against his spirits.

Q

D

du Unds hhd em

neb dmit dst-d

ur pu

Unas riseth like a mighty one, the lord in the seat of the

hand [of the gods].

f

A

u

ft3

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

hems -f sa -f dr Seh Unas pd

He is seated [with] his back to Seb. Unas this

AAAAAA AAAAAA

I

utclid mct-f liend

weigheth his word with

relches

csu

D

Amen ren - f hru pu

Hidden of Name on day this

of slaughtering the eldest [gods] Unas this [is] the lord

hetep tes

of the offering, tying

dqa the knot,

an

dut - f

making his meals

tchesef Unas pd dm:

for himself. Unas this eateth

em neteru

net

m

annu

remth dnkh

men [and] liveth

a

V

Jihd

apt

on the gods, the lord of the offerings, who examineth the lists of

offerings.

ra

o

D

D

V

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

an dJchem apt Am-hehuu sepeh - sen

Beliold, he who maketh to bow Am-kehuu hath snared

foreheads, them

Unas an Tcheser-tep-f

en Unas an Tcfieser-tep-j saa-nef-sen

for Unas. Behold, Tcheser-tep-f hath known them

khesef - nef sen an Her - thertu gas - nef sen

[and] he hath driven Behold, Her-thertu hath bound them,

them [to him].

metes

tchat - / sell

Behold, Khensu the slaughterer of lords hath cut the throats of

them

an Khensu

nehu

en Unas she t -nef dmt hhat - sen

for Unas, [and] he hath torn out what is in their belly.

apt pu habu - / ei' khesef

[for] he is the messenger [whom] he sent to drive [them].

®

-n " V VV

. TMs creature is mentioned in the Negative Confessioa ; see

my Chapters of Coming Forth hy Day, Text, p. 259, 1. 41

1 veJ

E

i?^-^ wanting.

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

Y — Y 1

£L

m

an Sliesemu rehhes - f sen en Unas feses - nef Behold, Shesemu hath cut them up for Unas, he hath boiled

dlchet dm - sen

o

em Jcetdt - / pieces of them in his cauldrons

meshert Unas

blazing. Unas

P

pa dm heJca - sen dam Jehu - sen

this hath eaten their words of [he] hath eaten their spirits, power.

du uru - sen en dshet-f tuat du her-dbu - sen

Their great ones are for his meal of the morning, their middle ones

are

IZSZI8

en meshert - f du shereru-sen en dsht-f

for his sunset meal, their little ones are for his meal

du da - se7i datu - sen

of the night, their old ones (male) their old ones (female) are

1 i=s:

rin

o o o

luli m^{]

o

7 rm

C)&b

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS 51

en for

kapt his furnace.

an

/ an dda em pet

Behold, the great one in heaven

/n

P

utu-nef setchet er uhatu khert-sen

hath shot flame against the cauldrons beneath them

em khepeshu nu semsu - sen du Perer - dmu - pet

with the thighs of the eldest ones. Perer-amu-pet

-Ro'

o

672, Z77^(xs shesert - ^le/

of Unas hath thro'svn [into] the cauldrons the legs of

ketdt

m

em retu nu

hemt - sen

tehen - nef

tem-thd

ail leoen - nej pet

their women. He hath gone round about the double heaven, all of it,

D

du perer - nef dfebu Unas pd

he hath gone round about the two halves of Egypt. Unas this [isj

sekhem ur sekhem

the sekhem great, the sekhem

nr SI

em sekhemu TJnds

of the sekhemu. Unas

^PkP^li

;ii

Jl 0 0 0

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

r

ur

qemi - /

jyd dshem dshem asliemu

this [is] the ashem, the ashem of the ashemu great. [What] he findeth

SurS

V.

em on

uat -f his way

dm - / nef su he eateth it

em. umu greedily.

du meket Unas em hat sdhu nebu

The protection of Unas [is] before [that of] the sahu all

dmu khut JJnds pd semes er semsu

in the horizon. Unas this is the eldest of the old ones.

Jvhau du uten - nef shdut

thousands, he hath offered hundreds.

du perer - nef He hath gone round

dti erta - nef d em sehhem ur dn

Hath been given to him the hand as the sekhem great, behold

?

D

r-vr-i

D

/

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS 53

Sahii dr neterii du 7iem en TJnds hJiatu

]ahu dr neterii du 7iem en TJnds

Orion, with the gods. Hath repeated Unas [his] rising

{sic)

u

em jpet .... sehen em neh Miut

in heaven. He is the seben crown as lord of the horizon.

du heseh - nef tesu heqesu du thet - nef

He hath counted up knots [and] livers. He hath taken possession of

hdtu neteru du dm - nef teshert

the hearts of the gods. He hath eaten the Red Crown,

du am - nef uatchetu usheb TJnds em

he hath eaten the White Crown. Feedeth Unas upon

smau saau hetepf em- dnkh em hdtu

entrails fat, his offering whereon live in [their] hearts

[is that]

54 SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

heJcau - se^i dsth-f du Unas nesb - / sebeshu

their words of power. Behold,

Unas

eateth what is cast out

U

dmu teshert df uakhha -/ du helm - sen

[from] the Red Crown, he flourisheth, their words of power

em Jchat-f dn hem em sahu JJnds

are in his belly, not is turned back the sahu of Unas

H

ma-f du dm - nej sda en neter neb

from him. He hath eaten the intelligence of god every,

dhdu pd neheh tcher-f pd tchetta

[his] period of life [is] eternity, his existence is everlastingness

em in

sdh - / his sah.

U

])e7L en merer -/ dr - f

this what he is pleased [to do] he doeth,

9 AA/VWV

• A o o c

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS 55

mestchetch - f an dr-nef dm teller khut

[what] he hateth not doeth he in the limits of the horizon

tcJietta er neheh seJc ha - sen dmt TJnds

for ever and ever. Behold, their soul [is] in Unas,

kJiu - sen kher TJnds em ha kliet - f

spirits their [are] with Unas, more abundant [is] his food

er neteru qerert en TJnds em

than [that of] the gods. The flame of Unas [is] in

qesu - sen sek ha-sen kher TJnds khaibitu-sen

their bones, behold, their soul is with Unas, their shadows

Q Q

md dru - sen dii TJnds em enen kJia khd

are with their forms. Unas is with these, rising, rising,

dmen dmen sekhem dru ' dritu ....

hidden, hidden, a sekhem having performed the ordinances

1 -^ 111 I AAAAAA I /VAAAAA

56 SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

525.^ ojp- J^O (SI

em Tchebes dst-db Unas em

of ploughing, the seat of the heart of Unas [is] among

dnJchu em ta pen tchetta er neheh

the living on earth this for ever and for ever.

CHAPTER II CONCEPTION OF GOD AND THE "GODS"

T"^HE texts in the p5rraniids of Unas and Teta and their immediate successors prove that the religious literature of the Egyptians contains a multitude of beliefs and opinions which belong to all periods of their history, and represent different stages in the development of their civilization. Their ideas about the various parts which constitute their material, and mental, and spiritual existences cannot have been conceived all at once, but it is very hard to say in respect of some of them which came first. We need not trouble about the order of the development of their ideas about the constituent parts of the gods, for in the earliest times, at least, the Egyptians only ascribed to them the attributes which they had already ascribed to themselves; once having believed that they possessed doubles, shadows, souls, spirits, hearts, (i.e., the seats of the mental life), names, powers, and spiritual bodies, they assigned the like to the gods. But if the gods possessed doubles, and shadows, and hearts, none of which, in the case of man, can exist without bodies, they too must possess bodies, and thus the Egyptians conceived the existence of gods who could eat, and drink, and love, and hate, and fight, and make war, and grow old, and die, and perish as far as their bodies were concerned. And although the texts show that in very early times they began to conceive monotheistic ideas, and to develop beliefs of a highly spiritual character, the Egyptians never succeeded in abandoning the crude opinion about the gods which their indigenous ancestors had formed long before the dynastic period of their history. It is, of course, impossible to assume that educated classes of Egypt held such opinions, notwithstanding the fact that religious texts which

58 BELIEFS IN IMMORTALITY

were written for their benefit contain as great a mixture of views and beliefs of all periods as those which were written for humbler folk.

The Book of the Dead in all dynasties proves that the rich and the poor, and the educated and the uneducated alike prayed for funeral offerings in the very Chapters in which they proclaimed their sure belief in an existence in which material things were superfluities. In the texts of the Early Empire the deceased is declared to be a god, or God, and the son of god, or God, and the oldest god of all, Horus, gives him his eye, and he sits on a great throne by the side of God ; yet in the same texts we read that he partakes of the figs and wine of the gods, that he drinks beer which lasts for ever, that he thirsts not like the gods Shu and Tefnut, and that the throne of God is made of iron, that its legs terminate in hoofs like those of bulls, and that its sides are ornamented with the faces of lions. ^ The great god Horus gives him his own " double " (ka)^ and yet there are in heaven enemies who dare to oppose the deceased ; and although he is declared to be immortal, " all the gods give him of their food that he may not " die," and he sits down, clothed in white linen and wearing white sandals, with the gods by the lake in the Field of Peace, and partakes with them of the wood (or, tree) of life on which they themselves live that he also may live. Though he is the son of God he is also the child of Sothis, and the brother of the Moon, and the goddess Isis becomes his wife ; though he is the son of God we are also told that his flesh and his bones have been gathered together, that his material body has been reconstructed ; that his limbs perform all the functions of a healthy body ; and as he lives as the gods live we see that from one point of view he and the g:ods are constituted alike. Instances of the mixture of spiritual with material ideas might be multiplied almost indefinitely, and numbers of passages containing the most contradictory statements might be adduced almost indefinitely to prove that the ideas of the Egyptians about the world beyond the grave, and about God and the gods were of a savage, childish, and inconsistent

1 The passages from the Pyramid Texts are collected in my Pajiyrzis of Ani, London, 1894, pp. Ixxi. ff.

COMPOSITE ANIMAL-GODS

character. What, however, we have to remember in dealing with Egyptian religious texts is that the innate conservatism of the Egyptian in all ages never permitted him to relinquish any belief which had once found expression in Avriting, and that the written word was regarded by him as a sacred thing Avhich, whether he believed it not, must be copied and preserved with great care, and if possible without any omission or addition whatsoever. Thus religious ideas and beliefs which had been entirely forgotten by the people of Egypt generally were preserved and handed down for thousands of years by the scribes in the temples. The matter would have been simple enough if they had done this and nothing more, but unfortunately they incorporated new texts into the collections of old ones, and the various attempts which the priests and scribes made to harmonize them resulted in the confusion of beliefs which we now have in Egyptian religious works.

Before we pass to the consideration of the meaning of the old Egyptian name for god and God, i.e., "neter," mention must be made of a class of beings which were supposed to possess bodies partly animal and partly human, or were of a composite character. Among the latter class may be mentioned the creature which has the body of a leopard and the head and neck of a serpent, and was

called " Setcha," M • J ; and that which has the body of a lion, from

which grow a pair of wings, and the head of an eagle, and is

called " Sefer," I "'; and that which has a body, the fore part

being that of a lion, and the hind part that of a horse, and the head of a hawk, and an extended tail which terminates in a flower somewhat resembling the lotus. The name of this creature

1 See Cliampollion, Monuments, torn, iv., Paris, 1845, pi. 382. 3 Ibidf See also Newberry, Beni-Hasan, ii., pi. iv.

The serpent-lieaded leopard Setcha.

COMPOSITE ANIMAL-GODS

neck, and with bars and stripes on her body, which has eight teats/ Among creatures, part animal part human, may be mentioned the leopard, with a human head and a pair of wings

growing out of his back,^ and the human - headed lion or sphinx. The winged human head which springs from the back of the leopard^ strongly reminds one of the modern conventional representations of angels in religious pictures, but as the name of this fabulous creature is unknown, it is impossible even to guess at the reasons for which he was furnished with a win2;ed man's head. In connexion with the composite animals enumerated above must be mentioned the "Devourer of Amenti," called "Am-mit, the Eater of the Dead," whose forequarters were those of a crocodile, and hindquarters those of a hippopotamus, and whose body was

that of a lion, =^

The eagle-headed lion Sefer.

at Beni-hasan, in which the figures of the Setcha, the Sefer, and the Sak are depicted, date from the Xllth Dynasty, about B.C. 2500, and there is no reason for supposing that their existence was not conceived of long before that time. Side by side with these is also depicted an animal called Sha, M^T, which has long square ears, and an extended tail resembling an arrow, and in its general appearance it much resembles the animal of the god Set.

1 See Rosellini, Monumcnti Chili, pi. xxiii., No. 4.

" Ihid., pi. xxiii., No. 6. '^ See Lepsius, Denkmdler, iii., pi. 131.

The fabulous beast Sak.

COMPOSITE ANIMAL-GODS

A fabulous leopard.

Two explanations of the existence of such composite creatures may be given. They may be due either to the imagination of the Egyptians, which conceived of the existence of quadrupeds wherein were united the strength of one animal and the wisdom or cunning of another, e.g., the Setcha which united within itself the strength of the leopard with the cunnino; of the serpent, and the nameless leopard with a man's winged head, or to the ignorance of the ancients of natural history. The human head on an animal represented the intelligence of a man, and the wings the swift flight of the bird, and the body of the leopard the strength and the lithe motions of that animal. In conceiving the existence of such creatures the imagination may have been assisted in its fabrication of fabulous monsters by legends or stories of predynastic animals which were current in certain parts of Egypt during the dynastic period. Thus, as we have said before, the monster serpents of Egyptian mythology have their prototypes in the huge serpents which lived in the country in primeval times, and there is no doubt that Apep was, originally, nothing more than a huge serpent which lived in some mountain on the western

bank of the Nile. On the other hand, it is possible that the Egyptians really believed in the existence of composite animals, and that they never understood the impossibility of the head and neck of a serpent growing out of the body of a lion, or the head

The animal Sha.

62 COMPOSITE ANIMAL-GODS

of a hawk out of the body of a lion, or a human head with the wings of a bird out of the body of a leopard. They were keen enough observers of the animals with which they came in contact daily, and their representations of them are wonderful for the accurate delineation of their forms and characteristics ; but of animals which they had never seen, and could only know from the reports of travellers and others, naturally they could not give accurate representations. Man in all ages seems prone to believe in the existence of composite animals and monsters, and the most cultured of the most ancient nations, e.g., the Egyptians and the Babylonians, form no exception to the rule. The early sealcylinders of the Babylonians reveal their belief in the existence of many a fabulous and mythical animal, aud the boundary stones, or landmarks, of a later period prove that composite animals were supposed to watch over the boundaries of kingdoms and estates, which they preserved from invasion, and the winged man-headed bulls, which the Assyrians set up in the gates and doorways of their palaces to "protect the footsteps of the kings Avho made them," indicate clearly that they duly followed the examples set them by their kinsmen, the Babylonians. From the Assyrians Ezekiel probably borrowed the ideas which he developed in his description in the first chapter of his book of the four-faced and four-winged animals. Later, even the classical writers appeared to see no absurdity in solemnly describing animals, the existence of which was impossible, and in declaring that they possessed powers which were contrary to all experience and knowledge. HorapoUo, i. 10, gravely states that the scarabaeus represents an only begotten, because the scarabaeus is a creature self-produced, being unconceived by a female, ^jiovoyeve(i fxev 6tl avToyeue(; iart to ^wov^ vTTo ^T^Xetas jxr] Kvo(^opovixevov ; and in one form or another this statement is given by ^Elian (De. Nat. Animal., iv. 49), Aristotle {Hist. An., iv. 7), Porphyry {De Ahstlnentia, iv. 9), Pliny {Nat. Hist., xi. 20 ff.), etc. Of the man-headed lion at Gizeh, i.e., the Sphinx, Pliny, Diodorus, Strabo, and other ancient writers have given long descriptions, and all of them seem to take for granted the existence of such a creature.

The second explanation, which declares that composite animals

THE WORD NETER 63

are the result of the imagination of peoples who have no knowledge, or at all events a defective one, of the common facts of natural history is not satisfactory, for the simple reason that composite animals which are jDartly animal and partly human in their powers and characteristics form the logical link between animals and man, and as such they belong to a certain period and stage of development in the history of every primitive people. If we think for a moment we shall see that many of the gods of Egypt are closely connected with this stage of development, and that comparatively few of them Avere ever represented wholly in man's form. The Egyptians clung to their representations of gods in animal forms with great tenacity, and even in times when it is certain they cannot have believed in their existence they continued to have them sculptured and |)ainted upon the walls of their temples ; curiously enough, they do not seem to have been sensible of the ridicule which their conservatism brought down upon them from strangers.

We have already said above that the common word given by the Egyptians to God, and god, and spirits of every kind, and beings of all sorts, and kinds, and forms, which were supposed to

possess any superhuman or supernatural power, was neter, ^ ,

and the hieroglyph which is used both as the determinative of this

word and also as an ideograph is | . Thus we have | or | Jj ,

for "goddess" is netert, which can be written T'^, or 1 ^=), or I ^=); sometimes the determinative of the word is a woman, J) , and at other times a serpent, e.g. "1 ^=) J)^ . The plural is

supposed to be represented by | , and what the word neter means. In Bunsen's Egypt's Place (i., Nos. 556, 557, 623) the late Dr. Birch described I as a hatchet; in 1872 Dr. Brugsch placed ^ T among "objets tranchants, armes," in his classified list of hieroglyphic

1 Index des MeroglyjpJies pTionetiques, No. 39 i.

64 THE AXE A SYMBOL OF GOD

characters ; thus it is clear that the two greatest masters of Egyptology considered l to be either a weapon or a cutting tool, and, in fact, assumed that the hieroglyphic represented an axe-head let into and fastened in a long wooden handle. From the texts wherein the hieroglyphics are coloured it is tolerably clear that the axe-head was fastened to its handle by means of thongs of leather. The earliest axe-heads were made of stone, or flint or chert, and later of metal, and it is certain that when copper, bronze, and iron took the place of stone or flint, the method by which the head was fastened to the handle was considerably modified. Recently an attempt has been made to show that the axe, | , resembled in outline " a roll of " yellow cloth, the loAver part bound or laced over, the upper part " appearing as a flap at the top probably for unwinding. It is " possible, indeed, that the present object represents a fetish, e.g., '' a bone carefully wound round with cloth and not the cloth " alone." -^ But it need hardly be said that no evidence for the correctness of these views is forthcoming. Whether the hieroglyphic I was copied from something which was a roll of cloth or a fetish matters little, for the only rational determination of the character is that which has already been made by Drs. Birch and Brugsch, and the object which is represented by | is, in the writer's opinion, an axe and nothing else,

Mr. Legge has collected^ a number of examples of the presence of the axe as an emblem of divinity on the megaliths of Brittany and in the prehistoric remains of the funeral caves of the Marne, of Scandinavia, and of America, and, what is very much to the point, he refers to an agate cylinder which was published by the late Adrien de Longperier, wherein is a representation of a priest in Chaldaean garb ofl'ering sacrifice to an axe standing upright upon an altar. Mr. Legge points out "that the axe "appears on these monuments not as the representation of an " object in daily use, but for religious or magical purposes," and goes on to say that this is proved by "the fact that it is often " found as a pendant and of such materials as gold, lead, and even "amber; while that it is often represented with the peculiar " fastenings of the earlier flint weapon shows that its symbolic use 1 Griffith, Hieroglyphs, p. 46. 2 Proc, Soc. Bihl. Arch., 1899, p. 310.

THE AXE A SYMBOL OF GOD 65

"goes back to the neolithic and perhaps the palaeoHthic age." He is undoubtedly correct in thinking that the use of the stone axe precedes that of the flint arrow-head or flint knife, and many facts could be adduced in support of this view. The stone tied to the end of a stick formed an effective club, which was probably the earliest weapon known to the predynastic Egyptians, and subsequently man found that this weapon could be made more effective still by making the stone flat and by rubbing down one end of it to form a cutting edge. The earliest axe-head had a cutting edge at each end, and was tied by leather thongs to the end of a stick by the middle, thus becoming a double axe ; examples of such a weapon appear to be given on the green slate object of the archaic period which is preserved in the British Museum^ (Nos. 20,790, 20,792), where, however, the axe-heads appear to be fixed in forked wooden handles. In its next form the axe-head has only one cutting edge, and the back of it is shaped for fastening to a handle by means of leather thongs. When we consider the importance that the axe, whether as a weapon or tool, was to primitive man, we need not wonder that it became to him first the symbol of physical force, or strength, and then of divinity or dominion. By means of the axe the predynastic Egyptians cut down trees and slaughtered animals, in other words, the weapon was mightier than the spirits or gods who dwelt in the trees and the animals, and as such became to them at a very early period an object of reverence and devotion. But besides this the axe must have been used in sacrificial ceremonies, wherein it would necessarily acquire great importance, and would easily pass into the symbol of the ceremonies themselves. The shape of the axehead as given by the common hieroglyphic | suggests that the head was made of metal when the Egyptians first began to use the character as the symbol of divinity, and it is clear that this change in the material of which the axe -head was made would make the weapon more effective than ever.

Taking for granted, then, that the hieroglyphic T represents an axe, A^e may be sure that it was used as a symbol of power and

^ See my History of Egypt, vol. ii., p. 10, where it is figured and described. F

66 THE WORD NETER

divinity by the predynastic Egyptians long before the period when they were able to write, but we have no means of knowing what they called the character or the axe before that period. In dynastic times they certainly called it neter as we have seen, but another difficulty presents itself to us when we try to find a word that will express the meaning Avhich they attached to the word ; it is most important to obtain some idea of this meaning, for at the hase of it lies, no doubt, the Egyptian conception of divinity or God. The word neter has been discussed by many Egyptologists, but their conclusions as to its signification are not identical. M. Pierret thought in 1879 that the true meaning of the word is ■" renewal, because in the mythological conception, the god assures ^'himself everlasting youth by the renewal of himself in engender- ■" ing himself perpetually." ^ In the same year, in one of the Hibbert Lectures, Renouf declared that he was " able to affirm ^' with certainty that in this jDarticular case we can accurately "determine the primitive notion attached to the word," i.e., to NUTAR (neter). Accordiug to him, " none of the explanations "hitherto given of it can be considered satisfactory," but he thought that the explanation which he was about to propose would *' be generally accepted by scholars," because it was " arrived at as " the result of a special study of all the published passages in which ^' the word occurs." ^ Closely allied to nutar (neter) is another word nutra (netra), and the meaning of both was said by Renouf to be found in the Coptic rtoJUtTe or rfOJUi+, which, as we may see from the passages quoted by Tatham in his Lexicon (p. 310), is The primary meaning of the word rfOJUi+ appears to be " strong," and having assumed that neter was equivalent in meaning to this word, Renouf stated boldly that neter signified "mighty," " might," " strong," and argued that it meant Power, " which is *'also the meaning of the Hebrew El." We may note in passing

1 " Le mot par lequel on rendait I'idce de Dieu | ^ i nuter, signifie au

*'■ propre, ' renouvellement,' parce que dans la conception mythologique, le dieu •' s'assure une eternelle jeunesse par le renouvellement de lui-meme, en s'engendrant " lui-meme perpctuellement." Essai sur la Mijthologie lEgypticnne, Pai'is, 1879, p. S. ~ ReUgioji of Ancient Egypt, p. 93.

THE WORD NETER 67

that the exact meaning of "El," the Hebrew name for God, is unknown, and that the word itself is probably the name of an ancient Semitic deity.

The passages which were quoted to prove that neter meant " strong, strength, power," and the like could, as M. Maspero has said,^ be explained differently. M. Maspero combats rightly the attempt to make "strong" the meaning of neter (masc), or NETERiT (fem.), in these words : " In the expressions ' a town " neterit,' ' an arm neteri,' .... is it certain that ' a strong city,' " ^ a strong arm,' gives us the primitive sense of neter ? When " among ourselves one says ' divine music,' ' a piece of divine " poetry,' ' the divine taste of a peach,' ' the divine beauty of a " woman ' [the word] divine is a hyperbole, but it would be a " mistake to declare that it originally meant ' exquisite ' because " in the phrases which I have imagined one could apply it as " ' exquisite music,' ' a piece of exquisite poetry,' ' the exquisite " taste of a peach,' ' the exquisite beauty of a woman.' Similarly " in Egyptian ' a town netevit ' is a ' divine town ' ; ' an arm " neteri ' is ' a divine arm,' and neteri is employed metaphorically " in Egyptian as is [the word] ' divine ' in French, without its " being any more necessary to attribute to [the word] neteri the "primitive meaning of 'strong,' than it is to attribute to [the " word] ' divine ' the primitive meaning of ' exquisite.' The " meaning ' strong ' of neteri, if it exists, is a derived and not an " original meaning." ^

The view taken about the meaning of neter by the late Dr. Brugsch was entirely different, for he thought that the fundamental meaning of the word was " the operative power which " created and produced things by periodical recurrence, and gave " them new life and restored to them the freshness of youth (die " thatige Kraft, welche in periodischer Wiederkehr die Dinge " erzeugt und erschafft, ihnen neues Leben verleiht und die " Jugendfrische zuriickgiebt." ^ The first part of the work from which these words are quoted appeared in 1885, but that Dr. Brugsch held much the same views six years later is evident

1 Etudes de Mythologie et d'Archeologie Sgyptiennes, torn, ii., p. 215.

2 Maspero, op. cit., p. 215. ^ Eeligion und Mythologie, p. 93.

68 THE WORD NETER

from the following extract from his volume entitled Die Aegyptologie (p. 166), which appeared in 1891. Referring to Renonf's contention that neter has a meaning equivalent to the Greek Bvpafxt^, he says, " Es liegt auf der Hand, dass der Gottesname in *• Sinne von Starker, Miichtiger, vieles fur sich hat, um so mehr " als selbst leblose Gegenstande, wie z. B. ein Baustein, adjek- " tivisch als nutri d. h. stark, miichtig, nicht selten bezeichnet " werden. Aber so vieles diese ErklUrung fiir sich zu haben " schient, so wenig stimmt sie zu der Thatsache, dass in den " Texten aus der besten Zeit (XVIII Dynastie) das Wort nutr als " ein Synonym fiir die Vorstellung der Verjungung oder Erneue- " rung auftritt. Es diente zum Ausdruck der periodisch wieder- " kehrenden Jugendfrische nach Alter und Tod, so dass selbst dem " Menschen in den altesten Sarginschriften zugerufen wird, er sei " fortan in einen Gott d. h. in ein Wesen mit jugendlicher Frische " umgewandelt. Ich lasse es dahin gestellt sein, nach welcher " Richtung hin die aufgeworfene Streitfrage zu Gunsten der einen " oder der anderen AufFassung entschieden werden wird ; hier " GottesbegrifF der alten Aegypter in sich schliesst und daher einen " ganz besonderen Aufmerksamkeit werth ist."

In this passage Dr. Brugsch substantially agrees with Pierrot's views quoted above, but he appears to have withdrawn from the position which he took up in his Religion und Mythologie, wherein he asserted that the essential meanins; of neter was identical with that of the Greek (^vcrt? and the Latin " natura." ^ It need hardly be said that there are no good grounds for such an assertion, and it is difficult to see how the eminent Egyptologist could attempt to compare the conceptions of God formed by a half-civilized African people with those of such cultured nations as the Greeks and the Romans.

The solution of the difficulty of finding a meaning for neter is not brought any nearer when we consider the vioAvs of such distinguished Egyptologists as E. de Rouge, Lieblein, and Maspero.

1 " Der lubegi'iff dieses Wortes deckt sich dalier vollstiiudig mit der ur- " spriinglichen Bedeutung des griechisclien physis und des lateinisclien natura."

THE WORD NETER 69

The first of these ia commenting on the passage | rjj | '^ ^-3

" devenant dieu (en) s'engendrant lui-meme," says in his excellent Ghrestomathie Egijjptienne (iii. p. 24), " One knows not exactly the " meaning of the verb miter, which forms the radical of the word " nuter, ' god.' It is an idea analagous to ' to become,' or ' renew " oneself,' for nuteri is applied to the resuscitated soul which " clothes itself in its immortal form." Thus we find that one of the greatest Egyptologists thinks that the exact meaning of neter is unknown, but he suggests that it may have a signification not unlike that proposed by Pierret. Prof. Lieblein goes a step further than E. de Rouge, for he is of opinion that it is impossible to show the first origin of the idea of God among any people hitherto known historically. " When we, for instance, take the Indo- " Europeans, what do Ave find there ? The Sanskrit word deva is " identical with the Latin deus, and the northern tivi, tivar ; as " now the word in Latin and northern language signifies God it " must also in Sanskrit from the beginning have had the same " signification. That is to say, the Arians, or Indo-Europeans, " must have combined the idea of God with this word, as early as " when they still lived together in their original home. Because, " if the word in their pre-historic home had had another more " primitive signification, the wonder Avould have happened, that " the word had accidentally gone through the same development " of signification with all these people after their separation. As " this is quite improbable, the word must have had the significa- " tion of God in the original Indo-European language. One could " go even farther and presume that, in this language also, it was " a word derived from others, and consequently originated from a " still earlier pre-historic language. All things considered it is " possible, even probable, that the idea of God has developed itself " in an earlier period of languages, than the Indo-European. The " future will perhaps be able to supply evidence for this. The " science of languages has been able partly to reconstruct an Indo- '' European pre-historic language. It might be able also to " reconstruct a pre-historic Semitic, and a pre-historic Hamitic,

70 THE WORD NETER

" and of these three pre-historic languages, whose original con- " nexion it not only guesses, but even commences to prove " gradually, it will, we trust in time, be able to extract a still " earlier pre-historic language, which according to analogy might " be called Noahitic, When we have come so far, we shall most " likely in this pre-historic language, also find words expressing " the idea of God. But it is even jDOssible that the idea of God " has not come into existence in this pre-historic language either. " It may be that the first dawning of the idea, and the word God " should be ascribed to still earlier languages, to layers of languages '' so deeply buried that it will be impossible even to excavate " them. Between the time of inhabiting ca^es in the quaternian " period, and the historical kingdoms, there is such a long space of " time, that it is difficult to entertain the idea, that it was quite " devoid of any conception of divinity, so that this should first " have sprung up in the historical time. In any case we shall not " be able to prove historically where and when the question first " arose, who are the superhuman powers whose activity we see " daily in nature and in human life. Although the Egyptians are " the earliest civilized people known in history, and just therefore " especially important for the science of religion, yet it is even " there impossible to point out the origin of the conception of the " deity. The oldest monuments of Egypt bring before us the " gods of nature chiefly, and among these especially the sun. " They mention, however, already early (in the IVth and Vth " Dynasties) now and then the great power, or the great God, it " being uncertain whether this refers to the sun, or another god of " nature, or if it was a general appellation of the vague idea of a " supernatural power, possibly inherited by the Egyptians. It is " probably this great God indicated on the monuments, from the " the IVth Dynasty, and later on, who has given occasion to the " false belief that the oldest religion of the Egyptians was pure " monotheism. But firstly, it must he observed, that he is not " mentioned alone but alongside of the other gods, secondly, that " he is merely called ' The great God,' being otherwise without " distinguishing appellations, and a God of whom nothing else is " mentioned, has, so to speak, to use Hegel's language, merely an

THE WORD NETER 71

" abstract existence, that by closer examination dissolves into " nothing."

It is necessary to quote Professor Lieblein's opinion at length because he was one of the first to discuss the earliest idea of God in connection with its alleged similarity to that evolved by Aryan nations ; if, however, he were to rewrite the passage given above in the light of modern research he Avould, we think, modify many of his conclusions. For our present purpose it is sufficient to note that he believes it is impossible to point out the origin of the conception of the deity among the Egyptians. The last opinion which we need quote is that of M. Maspero, who not only says boldly that if the word netee or netri really has the meaning of " strong " it is a derived and not an original meaning, and he prefers to declare that the word is so old that its earliest signification is unkno^v^l. In other words, it has the meaning of god, but it teaches us nothing as to the primitive value of this word. We must be careful, he says, not to let it suggest the modern religious or philosophical definitions of god which are current to-day, for an Egyptian god is a being who is born and dies, like man, and is finite, imperfect, and corporeal, and is endowed with passions, and virtues, and vices. ^ This statement is, of course, true as regards the gods of the Egyptians at several periods of their history, but it must be distinctly understood, and it cannot be too plainly stated, that side by side with such conceptions there existed, at least among the educated Egyptians, ideas of monotheism which are not far removed from those of modern nations.

From what has been said above we see that some scholars take the view that the word neter may mean "renewal," or "strength," or " strong," or " to become," or some idea which suggests "renewal," and that others think its original meaning is not only unknown, but that it is impossible to find it out. But although we may not be able to discover the exact meaning which the word had in j)redynastic times, we may gain some idea of the meaning which was attached to it in the dynastic period by an examination of a few passages from the hymns and Chapters which are found in the

1 Egyptian Beligion, by J. Lieblein, Leipzig, 1884.

" La Mytliologie jSgyptienne (iStudes cle Mythologie, torn, ii., p. 215).

THE WORD NETER

various versions of the Book of the Bead. In the text of Pepi 1. (line 191) we have the words : — " Behold thy son Horus, to whom ^' thou hast given birth. He hath not placed this Pepi at the '^' head of the dead, but he hath set him among the gods neteru,'*

U

must be an adjective, and we are clearly intended to understand that the gods referred to are those which have the attribute of neteru; since the "gods neteru," | | | | (^ "vN , are mentioned in

opposition to "the dead" it seems as if we are to regard the gods as " living," i.e., to possess the quality of life. In the text of

hawk having the quality of neter is mentioned ; and in the text of

to the Vth and Vlth Dynasties. Passing to later dynasties, i.e., the XVIIIth and XlXth, etc., we find the following examples of the use of the words neter and netri : —

hun Boy

netri

netri.

aa

O Iwli

utet se-mes su tchesef

h-eir of eternity, begetting and giving birth

to himself.

I

ta-d til em dh-d dti halcai

I am devoted in my heart Avithout feigning

w netri

0 thou netri

er neteru

more than the gods.

1 See my Chapters of Coming Forth J)y Day, Text, p. 11, 1. 10.

THE WORD NETER

tchel - tu re pen her Shall be said this chapter over

neter - hid I have become neter.

mahu en netrdt

a crown of netrdt.

e

dit - d hlid - hud I have risen up

n

w em &(i^ Tze^rz

Hefe?' - hud

hJiu

hud

I have become pure, I have become 7ieter, I have become a

spirit (hhu),

■user - hud ha - hud

I have become strong, I have become a soul (&«).

unen-f neter md neteru em Neter -hhertet

His being neter with the gods in the Neter-khertet. (or, he shall be)

du - / He shall

netrd netrd

hhat-f his body

temtu all.

1 See my Chapters of Coming Forth by JDaij, p. 80, 1. 10.

THE WORD NETER

netri u ha - h em ^;er Sehut

They make neter thy soul in the house of Sebut.

netri - / })a - h md neteru

He makes neter thy soul like the gods.

neter netri Icheper tchesef paut

God netri, self-produced, primeval matter.

Kow, in the above examples it is easy to see that although the words " strong " or " strength," when applied to translate neter or netri, give a tolerably suitable sense in some of them, it is quite out of place in others, e.g., in No. 6, where the deceased is made to say that he has acquired the quality of neter, and a spirit, and a soul, and is, moreover, strong; the word rendered "strong" in this passage is user, and it expresses an entirely different idea from neter. From the fact that neter is mentioned in No. 1 in connection with eternal existence, and self-begetting, and self-production, and in No. 11 with self-production and primeval matter, it is almost impossible not to think that the word has a meaning which is closely allied to the ideas of " self-existence," and the power to " renew life indefinitely," and " self-production." In other words, neter appears to mean a being who has the power to generate life, and to maintain it when generated. It is useless to attempt to explain the word by Coptic etymologies, for it has passed over directly rfOYTe, the last consonant, r, having disappeared through phonetic decay, and the translators of the Holy Scriptures from that language used it to express the words " God " and " Lord." Meanwhile, until new light is thrown upon the subject by the discovery of inscrip-

1 See my Chapters of Covniuj Forth hij Day, Text, p. 509, 1. 13.

2 Ibid, p. 511, 1. 13. ' ^ Ibid, p. 49, 1. 1.

THE PRIMITIVE GOD 75

tions older than any which we now have, we must be content to accept the approximate meaning of neter suggested above.

The worship of the gods (neterii), which began far awayback in predynastic times, continued through the archaic and dynastic periods, and lasted until the LVth or Vth century of our era ; it is tolerably certain that in respect of some of them the ideas of the Egyptians never changed, but, as regards others, their views did not remain as constant as some writers would have us imagine. In the earliest days every village community in Egypt had its local god, who shared the good or evil fortune of the community to which he belonged. His emblem or symbol was carried out to war, and was, of course, present at aU great public gatherings when matters connected with the welfare of his devotees were discussed. A special habitation was set apart for him, and its upkeep was provided for out of common funds. As the riches god kept pace with them, but his revenues suffered in times of scarcity, and defeat, and war ; his emblem might even be carried off into captivity and burnt, or smashed, when, of course, the spirit which dwelt in his symbol was also destroyed. The number of such early gods was legion, for many large communities possessed several gods, each of which was famed locally for some particular attribute. When a man left one villao;e and settled in another he took his god or gods with him, but he would be obliged to acknowledge the god of the village or city in which he had made his new abode, and to contribute towards the maintenance of his house and its small compound. The reduction in the number of the gods of Egypt began when man first realized that certain gods were mightier than others, for he ceased gradually to worship those who had, in his opinion, failed to justify his belief in them, and transferred his allegiance to the gods who were able to give him the most help. In process of time the god or goddess of a certain village or town would obtain a fame and reputation for power which would outrival those of the deities of the neighbouring cities, and the growth of the worship of such god or goddess would be accompanied by a corresponding decline in that of the gods in the towns round about. The gods, in the first instance, grew by

76 SELECTION OF GODS

a process of selection out of the spirits who were well disposed towards man and were helpful to him, and the ''great gods " of the Egyptians were evolved, practically, in a somewhat similar manner. It is at present hopeless to attempt to enumerate all the gods who were, from first to last, worshijDped by the Egyptians, for it will not be possible to do this until every text extant has been published. Meanwhile an examination of the earliest Egyptian religious literature known to us proves that a number of gods who were of some importance in the polytheistic system of the Early Empire dropped out from it long before the period of the New Empire, and thus it is very doubtful if Ave shall ever be able to collect the names of all the gods who have been worshipped in the Valley of the Nile between the Archaic and Roman periods, whilst to make a list of all the predynastic gods is manifestly impossible.

Future discoveries in Egypt may produce texts that will tell us which were the favourite gods in the archaic period and give us some idea as to the pronunciation of their names, for we have reason to think that during the greater part of that period the Egyptians were able to write. If ever such texts are brought to light we shall probably find that the gods who were Avorshipped during the archaic period Avere those Avho Avere popular in the predynastic period, just as we find that the gods of the Egyptians of the Middle and New Empires were to all intents and purposes the same as those of the Egyptians of the Early Empire. Speaking generally, it may be said that the Egyptians of the greater part of the dynastic period of their history invented feAv ncAv gods, and that they were Avell content to Avorship such deities as Avere known to their ancestors ; Ave know that they admitted, at times, foreign gods into the assembly of the old Egyptian gods, but the religious texts prove that they Avere never alloAved to usurp the functions of the indigenous gods. Political and other reasons might secure for them a certain amount of recognition in the country generally, and the people of the cities Avhere their emblems and statues found resting-places treated them Avith the easy toleration Avhich is so marked a characteristic of many countries in the East ; but as soon as such reasons disajDpeared the foreign gods Avere quietly ignored, and in a short time their Avorship Avas forgotten. This statement is

GODS OF THE EARLIEST DYNASTIES 77

not intended to apply to the gods who Avere introduced from one city or district of Egypt into another, for we know that the Egyptian priesthood and people of a given city were ready to show hospitality to almost any god of any town, or city, or district, provided that he belonged to the same comjniny as that of which the chief local god was a member.

We have, unfortunately, no long connected religious texts in the forms in which they must have existed under the first four dynasties, and we cannot therefore say what gods were worshipped during that period. There is, as has been shown elsewhere,^ good reason for believing that some parts of the Booh of the Dead were revised or edited during the early part of the period of the 1st Dynasty, and if this be so we may assume that the religious system of the Egyptians as revealed in the texts of a much later time closely resembled that which was in existence in the later part of the archaic period, i.e., during the first three dynasties. Under the Vth and VI th Dynasties we touch firmer ground, and we find abundant, though not complete, materials for the study of the gods of Egypt and their attributes in the lengthy hieroglyphic texts which were inscribed inside the pyramid tombs of Unas, Teta, Pejoi I., Mer-en- Ra-Mehti-em-sa-f, and Pepi II. An examination of these texts reveals the existence of an established theological system in Egypt, and we find that even at that time the literature in which it was, more or less, expounded, contained innumerable layers of religious thought and expressions of belief which belonged to periods many of which must have been separated by long intervals of time. The gods are mentioned in such a way as to prove that the writers of the texts, or at least the copyists, assumed that the reader would be well acquainted with the subject matter of the compositions, and from first to last neither explanation nor gloss is to be found in them. The texts are, of course, sepulchral, and the greater number of the gods mentioned in them are referred to in their characters as gods who deal with the souls of the dead in the world beyond the grave.

The Sun-god Ra and the gods of his cycle, and Osiris, the god and judge of the dead, and the gods of his cycle, have definite

1 See iny Boole of the Dead, London, 1901, vol. i., p. xxxiii.

78 GODS OF THE ARCHAIC PERIOD

positions and duties assigned to them, and it is very clear that both the texts which describe these and the ceremonies which were performed in connection with the words recited by the priests were, even under the Vth Dynasty, extremely ancient. Moreover, it is certain that the religious texts in use for fimeral purposes under that dynasty are substantially those which were compiled several centuries before. We may note in passing that the funeral books were edited by the priests of Annu or Ann, i.e., Heliopolis, and as a result they exhibit traces of the influence of the theological opinions of the great priestly college of that city ; but at bottom the views and beliefs which may be deduced from them, and the fundamental conceptions to which they give expression are the products of the minds of the predynastic, indigenous Egyptians. To the consideration of the Heliopolitan religious system we shall return later, and we may therefore pass on to the enumeration of the principal gods who are made known to us by the Pyramid Texts at Sakkara. Among the great gods who were certainly worshipped in the early archaic period may be mentioned : —

Ptah (Teta 88) ° | ^em,^ or Horus (Mer-en-Ra 454)

Nu (Unas 199)

Net, or Neith (Unas 67)

Ra {passim) O

Het-Heru (Hathor)

Kheper j (Unas 444) ^z^ g Kheprer) (PepiII.S56) -crib's ^ Khnemu (Unas 556) 9^

Sebek (Unas 565) [1 J

Of these gods Heru, or Horus, was the hawk-god, i.e., the spirit and personification of the "height" of heaven ; Kheper was the beetle-god ; Khnemu the ram-god ; and Sel^ek the crocodilegod ; Net or Neith was originally a wood-spirit, Ra and Ptah were two forms of the Sun-god, and Nu Avas the watery mass of heaven

2 Or, ^ (Unas, 272).

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS

in Avhicli he lived. With Ra and Kheper the priests of Heliopolis associated the form of the Sun-god which was specially worshipped in their city, and thus we have mentioned the compound gods Ra-Tem ©^ (Unas 216, 224, Mer-en-Ra 458), and Tem-

(line 626) Sebek is styled " son of Net," ^ ^ "V^, and he is also called "lord of Barn," J "J^ -(s)- ^ [v^ (line 565); but if the XVIIIth Dynasty texts be correct the name of this place is misspelt, and in any case it must be identical Avith the Bakhau, of the Booh of the Dead. The following is a list of the other principal gods mentioned in the Pyramid Texts : —

Ahu (Pepi II. 850)

Aker (Unas 498, 614, Teta 309)

Api (Unas 487) . I] D

Amen (Unas 557)

Ament (Unas 557) Am-henth-f (Pepi I. 666)

iii)f mn

Am-sepa-f (Pepi I. 666)

S'ttttS

Amsu or Min (Unas 377)

Ana (Unas 272, 275) H (j j^

Anpu (Unas 71, 207, 219) ^ An-mut-f (Pepi 11. 772)

An-tcher-f (Pepi I. 651) Akhet-nen-tha (Teta 307)

Asar, Osiris (passim) A

Ast, Isis (Unas 181) A

xiter-asfet (Pepi II. 980)

f

1 Ahu appears to be identical with Pepi II., 1. 1320.

Ankh (Pepi I. 672)

, who is Amsu or Min -aofc- ; see

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS

I-en-lier-pes (Unas 392)

Ualm (Teta 333) f{lfW Ur-sheps-f (Pepi I. 671)

Urt (Unas 272) Urt-hekau (Unas 269)

V

Usert (Unas 229) ^ "] P "T Uthes (Pepi II. 976) Ba (Mer-en-Ra 784) o^ Baba (Unas 532) J ^ J 1

Babi (Unas 644, 647) J^ J (]() Baabu (Pepi I. 568) J "^f) J^ Babua (Pepi I. 604) J "^ J^(]'

Ba-ashem-f (Mer-en-Ra 784)

° ' '^ Mentef (Pepi II. 1228)

D

I II

Pent (Unas 280) Pesetchet (Unas 417)

Maat-Khnemu(PepiI.445) ^ Q Maat (Unas 220) ^

Menth (Mer-en-Ra 784) "

Meht-urt (Unas 427, 623)

Meht-urt (Unas 427, 623)

Em-khent-maati (Pepi I. 645) Em-khent-maati (Pepi I. 645)

(A

Meskha (Unas 567) | ^ ^ ^ Meskhaat (Pepi I. 671)

Metchetat (Pepi 11. 956)

Nubt (Unas 479) f^ J ^ )^-J Nebt-het (Unas 220)

Nefer-Tem (Unas 395) J

clinic

1 This god is said to have a " red ear " ^"^ ^. ~ Var. ^ p ^

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS 81

Enen (Unas 557)) -j--j- Enenet (Unas 240)) ;].1|,

Xekhben (Unas 459) XJo

Nehebkau (Unas 559)

Nekhebet (Mer-en-Ra 762) Neht (Unas 601)

A/V)

Nesert (Unas 269)

Neti (Unas 279) cr^lf^

Netetthab (Unas 598) ^ ^ |fl 'O' Renenut (Unas 441)

Rurutha (Pepi H. 976, 979)

Hepath (Pepi I. 636)

Henena (Pepi I. 636) ral|.;^(ji Hetchhetch (Pepi I. 173)

Hettenuut (Teta, 332)

Hu (Unas 439) ^ ^ -^

Hep (Unas 187) | ^

Hep-ur (Unas 481) ^ ° Hep (Teta 60, 197)

Id

Hen-pesetchti (Teta 309)

Hent (Unas 417) ^ ^ ^ Hunt (Teta 357) | + ^ ^

Heru-am-henu (Unas 211)

Heru-khent-peru (Unas 202)

H eru-kliesbetcb-maat i(Unas3 69) Hem-khuttha (Unas 471)

Heru-tesher-maati (Unas 369)

Hem-Tat (Unas 218)

Heru-khart (Teta 301) Hra-f-ha-f (Pepi I.)

Her-hepes (Unas 226) "^ § °

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS

Hesat (Pepi II. 976)

Hesmennu (Mer-en-Ra 670)

Het-Hert (Unas 575) Heka (Pepi I. 583) Heqet (Pepi I. 570)

U

A

Khaata (Unas 536) m ^

Khebetch (Unas 434) ® J ^

Khent-Amenti (Unas 201) ^ o(&= Khent-maati (Unas 218)

Khnemu (Unas 556, Pepi I. 455)

Khensu-Sept (Unas 588)

Saa (Unas 439) [1 (1 ^ "^ k

Seb (Unas 234) "^ J

Sephu-urt (Pepi II. 976)

Sept (Unas 219) Aft

Sma-ur (Unas 280)

Smentet (Teta 355) ^

Sunth (Pepi II. 854) — ^

Seref-ur (Teta 309) p^

Serqet (Pepi I. 647) Serqet-lietu (Teta 207)

Sekhemf (Pepi II. 978)

Sekhen-ta-en-ur (Unas 281)

Sekhet (Unas 390) Sashsa (Pepi II. 975)

p

Seker (Pepi I. 641)

Seksen (Pepi I. 650)

Set (Unas 6) Sethasetha (Pepi I. 265)

Seththa (Pepi I. 259) Shu (Unas 185)

1 Var.

Pepi I., 352.

2 He is identified with rlU Ij ° ^=^ % I ^ in Pepi II., 1320.

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS

Shesmu (Unas 511)

rxn

Sheskhentet (Unas 390) ^

Kenur (Pepi II. 979)

Kasut (Pepi 11. 975)

Qebhsennuf (Teta 60) 1 1|| k^

Tait (Teta 376) ^

Teba (Unas 428)

Tefen (Unas 453)

Tefnut (Unas 453)

Tern (Unas 207)

Tem-kheprer (Pepi II. 662)

Tatet (Unas 67) D

Tuamutef (Teta 60)

Tenanu (Pepi I. 269) ^v^AAAA q

Tenten (Unas 280)

Telmti (Unas 228)

Tchent (Mer-en-Ra 773) -^ ^ Tchenteru (Teta 198)

Tchenttchenter (Pepi I. 301)

Besides the above gods are mentioned the " angel (or messenger) of the two gods," y{ | | (Unas 408) ; and the " Ashem

that dwelleth within Aru," ^

Allusions are made to the following important stars

Sah (Teta 349), f1 ^ |^ ^ , i.e., Orion.

Sehut (Pepi 11. 857), [1|^.

The Pyramid Texts show that in addition to the gods alreadyenumerated there existed certain classes of beings to whom were attributed the nature of the gods, e.g. : —

The Afu (Pepi II. 951), — The Utennu (Pepi II. 951),

ODD

84 OTHER DIVINE BEINGS

The Urshu of Pe (Pepi 11. 849), ^ oa [S

The Urshu of Nekhen (Pepi II. 849), ^ oo p

The Set beings, superior and inferior, (Pepi II. 951),

P

The Shemsu Heru (Pepi I. 166), ^ ^ ^

Of the functions of the Afu and Utennu nothing whatever is known. The Urshu, i.e., the Watchers, of Pe and Nekhen may have been groups of Avell-known gods, who Avere supposed to " watch over " and specially protect these cities ; but, on the other hand, they may only have been the messengers, or angels, of the souls of Pe and Nekhen. The Henmemet beings are likewise a class of divine beings about whom we have no exact information. In certain texts they are mentioned in connection with gods and men in such a manner that they are supposed to represent " unborn generations," but this rendering will not suit many of the passages in which the Avord occurs, and in those in which it seems to do so many other hypothetical meanings would fit the context just as well. The passage in which the Set beings are referred to must belong to the period when the god Set was regarded as a beneficent being and a god who was, with Horus, a friend and helper of the dead. The text quoted above shows that, like Horus, Set was supposed to be the head of a company of divine beings with attributes and characteristics similar to those of himself, and that this company was divided into two classes, the upper and the lower, or perhaps even the celestial and the terrestrial. Last must be mentioned the Shemsu Heru, or the "Followers of Horus," to whom many references are made in funeral literature ; their primary duties were to minister to the god Horus, son of Isis, but they were also supposed to help him in the performance of the duties which he undertook for the benefit of the dead. In the religious literature of the Early Empire they occupy the place of

THE GOD OF FOUR FACES 85

Edfu, i.e., the workers in metal, or blacksmiths, who are supposed to have accompanied this god into Egypt, and to have assisted him by their weapons in establishing his supremacy at Behutet, or Edfu. The exploits of this god will be described later on in the section treating of Horus generally.

In the text of Pepi I. (line 419) Ave have a reference to a god with four faces in the following words : — " Homage to thee, 0 thou " who hast four faces which rest and look in turn upon what is in

" Kenset,^ and who bringest storm ! Grant thou unto this

" Pepi thy two fingers which thou hast given to the goddess Nefert, " the daughter of the great god, as messenger fs] from heaven to " earth when the gods make their appearance in heaven. Thou " art endowed with a soul, and thou dost rise [like the sun] in thy '' boat of seven hundred and seventy cubits.^ Thou hast carried in " thy boat the gods of Pe, and thou hast made content the gods of " the East. Carry thou this Pepi with thee in the cabin of thy ''boat, for this Pepi is the son of the Scarab which is born in " Hetepet beneath the hair of the city of lusaas the northern, and "he is the offspring of Seb. It is he who was between the legs of " Khent-maati on the night wherein he guarded (?) bread, and on " the night wherein he fashioned the heads of arrows. Thou hast " taken thy spear which is dear to thee, thy pointed weapon which " thrusteth down river banks, with a double point like the darts of " Ra, and a double haft like the claws of the goddess Maftet."

Throughout the Pyramid Texts frequent mention is made of one group, or of two or three groups, of nine gods. Thus in Unas (line 179) we read of *' bowing low to the ground before the nine

that the king's bread consists of "the word^ of Seb which cometh

"matter," like the Hebrew 1^1.

86 PAUT OR SUBSTANCE OF THE GODS

is said in line 382 to have been " begotten by Seb and brought forth

and in line 592 Ra is said to be the "chief of the nine gods," we learn that one company of nine gods was called the " Great,"

be connected with the Great or Little company of gods cannot be said. A double group of nine gods is frequently referred to, e.g., in Teta, line 67, where it is said, " The eighteen gods cense Teta,

v:) J ; and in Pepi I., line 273, where we read that the

' two lips of Meri-Ra are the eighteen gods/' I cs::; f

© nn n K(N

said to be " with the eighteen gods in Qebhu," and to be the " fashioner of the eighteen gods," | "^ 11111111111111lil1

kdil^(EEI°^1-^±111111111111111111.

We may jDerhaps assume that the eighteen gods include the Great and the Little companies of the gods, but, on the other hand, as "male and female gods" are mentioned"-^ in the text of Teta, nine of the eighteen gods may be feminine counterparts of the other nine, who must therefore be held to be masculine. But the texts of Teta (line 307) and Pepi I. (line 218) show that there was a third company of nine gods recognized by the priests of Helio-

1 Variant 0^0^; Teta, 1. 253.

1 I ve_i J /vwwN 1 I I J^ (=2) _Hi^ -) ^ ^ '

COMPANIES OF THE GODS 87

polisj and Ave find all three companies represented thus :

minniimnnnnimn-

The Egyptian word here rendered " company " is pauti or pautj which may be written either D A^ v^ 1^ or ®, and the meaning usually attached to it has been " nine." It is found in texts subsequent to the period of the pyramids at Sakkara thus

paut neteru netcheset, i.e., "the Great company of gods and the Little company of the gods." The fact that a company of gods is belief that a company of the gods contained nine gods, and for this reason the word p)C(ut has been explained to mean " nine." It is quite true that the Egyptians frequently assigned nine gods to the paut, as we may see from such passages as Unas 235/ and especially from line 283, where it is said, " Grant thou that this Unas may rule the nine, and that he may complete the

M Mil Mr But the last quoted passage proves that a. paut of the gods might contain more than nine divine beings, for it is clear that if the intent of the prayer was carried out the jxtut referred to in it would contain ten, king Unas being added to the nine gods. Again, in a litany to the gods of the Great company given in the Unas text (line 240 ff.) we see that the paiit contains Tem, Shu, Tefnutr-Seb, Nut, Isis, Set, Nephthys, Thoth, and Horus, i.e., ten gods, without counting the deceased, who wished to be added to the number of the gods. In the text of Mer-en-Ra (line 205) the paut contains nine gods,^ and it is described as the

88 COMPANIES OF THE GODS

" Great jja?(^ which is in Annu" (Heliopolis), whilst in the text of Pepi 11. (line 669) the same ]jaut is said to contain Tern, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Osiris-Khent-Amenti, Set, Horus, Ra, Khent-maati, and Uatchet, i.e., tivelve gods. Similarly the gods of the Little paut are more than nine in number, and in Unas (line 253 f.) they are thus enumerated : — Rat, , the dweller in Annu,

Serqet, J ^ , the dweller in the divine palace, | Lj , the

dweller in Hetch-pafir, I A^ , the dweller in Orion, d, the

North, ^"^.

Thus the Little j;(X?t^ contained eleven gods, not counting the deceased who desired to be added to their number. The fact that the 2^cint contained at times more than nine gods is thus explained by M. Maspero ^ : " The number nine was the original number, " but each of the nine gods, especially the first and the last, could " be developed." Thus if it was desired to add the god Amen of the Theban triad to the jjaut of Heliopolis, he could be set at the head of it either in the place of Temu, the legitimate chief of the pant, or side by side with him. Mut, the consort of Amen, might be included in the paut, but Amen and Mut would together only count as one god. Similarly, any one or all of the gods who belonged to the shrine of Amen could be included with that god himself in the p)OAit of Heliopolis, and yet the number of that paut was supposed to be increased only by one. In other words, the admission of one god into a paut brought Avith it the admission of all the gods who were in any way connected with him, but their names were never included among those of the original members of it. This explanation is very good as far as it goes, but it must not be taken as a proof that the Egyptians argued in this manner, or that they argued at all about it.

1 La Myihologie ^gypticnne, p. 245.

SUBSTANCE OF THE GODS 89

];)aut neteru, must be translated not " N^eunheit," as Brugsch rendered tliem,^ but the " stuff of the nine gods," i.e., the substance or matter out of which the nine gods were made. Tlie word paut,

formed part of the offerings made to the dead ; similarly paut is the name given to the plastic substance out of which the earth and the gods were formed, and later, when applied to divine beings or things, it means the aggregation or entirety of such beings or things. Thus in the PajDyrus of Ani (sheet i., line 6) the god Tatunen is declared to be " one, the maker of mankind, and of the " material of the gods of the South and the North, the West and "the East."^ But there was a primeval matter out of which heaven was made, and also a [primeval] matter out of which the earth was made, and hence Khepera, the great creator of all things, is said in Chapter xvii. (line 116) of the Book of the Dead to possess a body^ which is formed of both classes of matter (pant). And again in Chapter Ixxxv. (line 8) the deceased, wishing to identify himself with this divine substance, says, " I am the eldest " son of the divine pautti, that is to say, the soul of the souls of the " gods of everlasting, and my body is everlasting, and my creations are " eternal, and I am the lord of years, and the prince of everlasting- " ness." In the words which are put into the mouth of Khepera, who is made to describe his creation of the world, the god says, '' I produced myself from the [primeval] matter [which] I made,"

1 " Der kosmogonisclie Lehre von der Ogdoas, deren aelteste Spuren sich bis " zu den Pyramidentexten verfolgen lassen, scUoss sick die Doctrin ' der Neunheit '

" (Enneas) oder der ] an. Sie umfasste die genetiscbe Entstehiing der neun

" Theile und Kriifte, welche die zukiinftige Wohnung der den Leib Gottes bildeten, " dessen Seele davon Besitz nabm, um alles niit ihr zu erfullen." Aegyptologie,

ir S^ _ii v^-B^Jr ^j 1 ^ Mix

90 THREE COMPANIES OF THE GODS

iDg which can be extracted from the Egyptian words, and the context, which the reader will find given in the section on the Creation, proves that it is the correct one. The word " primeval," which is added in brackets, is suggested by the texts wherein pautti is accompanied by ^ ^e^;, i.e., "first," in point of time, the earliest matter which was created, and the matter which existed before anything else. From the above facts it is clear that the meaning " Neunheit " must not be given to the Egyptian word ipaui.

We have now seen that, so far back as the Vth Dynasty, the priests of Heliopolis conceived the existence of three companies of gods ; the first two they distinguished by the appellations " Great " and " Little," but to the third they gave no name. The gods of the first or " Great " company are well known, and their names are : —

1 . Tem, the form of the Sun-god which was worshipped at Heliopolis.

2. Shu. 3. Tefnut. 4. Seb. 5. Nut. 6. Osiris. 7. Isis. 8. Set.
3. Nephthys. Sometimes this company is formed by the addition of Horus and the omission of Tem. The names of gods of the second or " Little " company appear to be given in the text of Unas, line 253 fi"., where we have enumerated : — 1. Rat. 2. Am-Annu.

3. Am-Antchet. 4. Am-Het-Serqet-ka-hetepet. 5. Am-Neter-liet.
4. Am-Hetch-paar. 7. Am-Sali. 8. Am-Tep. 9. Am-Het-ur- Ra. 10. Am-TJnnu-resu. 11. Am-Unnu-meht. It must, however, be noted that whereas in the text the address to the Great company of the gods as a whole follows the separate addresses to each, the address to the Little company precedes the separate addresses to each ; still there is no reason for doubting that the second group of names given above are really those of the Little company of the gods. The names of the gods of the third company are unknown, and the texts are silent as to the functions which the company was supposed to perform ; the Great and Little companies of the gods are frequently referred to in texts of all periods, but

1 See Archaeologia, vol. Hi., p. 557.

2 See my Chajiters of Coming Forth by Day, Text, p. 348, 1. 15.

THREE COMPANIES OF THE GODS 91

the third company is rarely mentioned. Thus in the text of Pepi I. (Hne 43), the king is said to sit on an iron throne and to weigh words at the head of the Great company of gods in Annu ; the two companies of the gods lift up the head of Pepi (line 97), and he takes the crown in the presence of the Great company (line 117) ; he sits at the head of the two companies (line 167), and in their boat (line 169) ; and he stands between the two companies (line 186). It has already been suggested ^ that the Great company of gods was a macrocosm of a primitive kind, and the Little company a microcosm ; this view is very probably correct, and is supported by passages like the following : — " The son of his father is come with " the company of the gods of heaven, . . . the son of his father is " come with the company of the gods of earth."

fl^fll^lZ^ 111111111 tlT-'

From numerous passages in texts of all periods it is clear that the Egyptians believed that heaven was in many respects a duplicate of earth, and, as it was supposed to contain a celestial Nile, and sacred cities which were counterparts of those on the earth and which were called by similar names, it is only reasonable to assign to it a company of gods who were the counterparts of those on earth. And as there were gods of heaven and gods of earth, so also were there gods of the Tuat, or Underworld, who

en tuat, "I^T 3 i /wwvv ® . This being so, we may assume that when the writers of the Pyramid Texts mentioned three companies of the gods, 111111111111111111111111111, they referred to the company of the gods of heaven, the company of the gods of earth, and the company of the gods of the Underworld, meaning thereby what the writer of the XXIIIrd Chapter of the Booh of the Bead meant when he spoke of "the

^ Maspero, La Mythologie Mgyptienne, p. 244. 3 Pepi I., 11. 298-300.

92 THREE COMPANIES OF THE GODS

the Pyramid Texts, however, and in the later Recensions of the Book of the Dead which are based upon them, the pautti neteru,

present the Great and Little companies of the gods, and these only ; the members of each company varied in different cities and in different periods, but the principle of such variation is comparatively simple. Long before the priests of Heliopolis grouped the gods of Egypt into companies certain very ancient cities had their own special gods whom they probably inherited from their predecessors, i.e., the predynastic Egyptians. Thus the goddess of Sai's was Nit, or Net, or Neith ; the goddess of Per-Uatchet was Uatchet ; the goddess of Dendera was Hathor ; the goddess of Nekheb was Nekhebet ; the god of Edfii was Horus ; the god of Heliopolis was Tem ; and so on. When the priests of these and other cities found that, for some reason, they were obliged to accept the theological system formulated by the priests of Heliopolis and its Great company of gods, they did so readily enough, but they always made the great local god or goddess the head or

chief, p W , of the company.

At Heliopolis, where the chief local god was called Tem, the priests joined their god to Ra, and addressed many of their prayers and hymns to Tem-Ra or Rii-Tem. At Edfu the great local god Horus of Behutet was either made to take the place of Tem, or was added to the Heliopolitan company in one form or another. The same thing happened in the case of goddesses like Neith, Uatchet, Nekhebet, Hathor, etc. It was found to be hopeless to attempt to substitute the Heliopolitan company of gods for Neith in the city of Sais, because there the worship of that goddess was extremely ancient and was very important. The fact that her name forms a component part of royal names very early in the 1st Dynasty proves that her worship dates from the first half of the archaic period, and that it is much older than the theological system of Heliopolis. But when the priests of Sa'is adopted that system they associated her with the head of the company of the gods, and gave her

THE COMPANIES OF THE GODS 93

suitable titles and ascribed to her proper attributes, in accordance with her sex, which would make her a feminine counterpart to the god Tern. The god Tern was the Father-god, and the lord of heaven, and the begetter of the gods, therefore Neith became " the " great lady, the mother-goddess, the lady of heaven, and queen of

'' the gods," ^ 1 ^ ^ ^=^ I ^ ^"j"]- Elsewhere^ she is called

"mother of the gods," and just as Tem was declared to have been self-produced, so we find the same attribute ascribed to Neith, and she is said to be "the great lady, who gave birth to Ra, who " brought forth in primeval time herself, never having been

same thing happened at the cities of Per-Uatchet in the Delta and Nekhebet in Upper Egypt, for at one place Uatchet, the ancient and local goddess, became the head of the company of gods, and the goddess Nekhebet at the other. It is interesting to note that the priests of Heliopolis themselves included Uatchet in their Great company of the gods, as we may see from the text of Pepi 11.,^ where we find that the deceased king prays concerning the welfare of his pyramid " to the great j;(X?i!^ of gods in Annu," i.e., Tem, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris, Set, Nephthys, Khent- Maati, and Uatchet.

The goddess Hathor at Dendera was treated by the priests there as was Neith at Sa'is, for every conceivable attribute was ascribed to her, and her devotees declared that she was the mother of the gods, and the creator of the heavens and the earth, and of everything which is in them. In fact, both Neith and Hathor were made to assume all the powers of the god Tem, and indeed of every solar god.

The general evidence derived from a study of texts of all periods shows that the chief local gods of many cities never lost their exalted positions in the minds of the inhabitants, who clung to their belief in them with a consistency and conservatism which are truly Egyptian. In fact, the god of a nome, or the god of the

1 D. Mallet, Le Culte de Neit a Sais, Paris, 1888, p. 47. 3 Ibid., p. 146. 3 See 11. 669 S.

94 LOCAL GODS

capital city of a nome, when once firmly established, seems to have maintained his influence in all periods of Egyptian history, and though his shrine may have fallen into oblivion as the result of wars or invasions, and his worship have been suspended from time to time, the people of his city always took the earliest opportunity of rebuilding his sanctuary and establishing his priests as soon as prosperity returned to the country.

CHAPTER III PRIMITIVE GODS AND NOME-GODS

DURING- the predynastic period in Egypt every village and town or settlement possessed its god, whose worship and the glory of whose shrine increased or declined according to the increase or decrease of the prosperity of the community in which he lived. When the country was divided into sections which the

Egyptians called hespu, fi 1 n ^ |^ , or " nomes," a certain god, or

group of allied gods, became the representative, or representatives, of each nome, and so obtained the pre-eminence over all the other gods of the nome ; and sometimes one god would represent two nomes. In this way the whole country of Egypt, from the Mediterranean Sea to Elephantine, was divided among the gods, and it became customary in each nome to regard the god of that nome as the " Great God," or " God," and to endow him with all the powers and attributes possible. We have, unfortunately, no means of knowing when the country was first split up into nomes, but the division must have taken place at a very early period, and the gods who were chosen to represent the nomes were undoubtedly those who had been worshipped in the large towns or settlements during the predynastic period. Thus in the earliest dynastic times of which we have inscriptions of any length we find that Neith was the chief deity of Sais, Osiris of Busiris, Thoth of Hermopolis, Uatchet of Per-Uatchet, Ptah of Memphis, Sebek of Crocodilopolis, Amen of Thebes, Nekhebet of Nekheb, and Khnemu of Elephantine. The number of the nomes seems to have been different in different periods, so it is not possible to say with certainty how many the early nome-gods were in number. The Egyptian lists give the number of nomes as forty-two or forty-four, but the classical writers,

96 NOME-GODS

Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny, do not agree in their statements on the subject. Strabo says ^ that the Labyrinth contained twentyseven chambers, and if each one represented a nome the nomes must have been twenty-seven in number, i.e., ten in Upper Egypt, ten in Lower Egypt, and seven in the Heptanomis. On the other hand, Herodotus says ^ that the Labyrinth contained twelve halls. Pliny (Bk. v., chap. 9) enumerates the nomes as follows: — Ombites, Apollopolites, Hermonthites, Thinites, Phaturites, CoptiteSjTentyrites, Diopolites, Antaeopolites, Aphroditopolites, Lycopolites, Pharbaethites, Bubastites, Sethroites, Tanites, the Arabian nome, the Hammonian nome, Oxyrynchites, Leontopolites, Athribites, Cynopolites, Hermopolites, Xoites, Mendesium, Sebennytes, Cabasites, Latopolites, Heliopolites, Prosopites, Panopolites, Busirites, Onuphites, Saites, Ptenethu, Phthemphu, Naucratites, Metelites, Grynaeopolites, Menelaites, Maraeotis, Heracleopolites, Arsinoites, Memphites, and the two nomes of Oasites. Diodorus Siculus (i. 54) gives the number of the nomes as thirty-six ; ^ Herodotus (ii. 164) tells us that the country of Egypt was divided into districts ^ or nomes, but he does not say how many of them there were. These facts serve to show that the number of nomes when the country was first divided was smaller than in later times, and we may assume that it was the nomes of the Delta which increased in number rather than those of Upper Egypt. The following is a list of the nomes of Egypt according to inscriptions at EdfCi and elsewhere, together with their capitals and the gods who were worshipped in them : —

UPPER EGYPT. Nome. Capital. God.

L Ta-khent ^ Abu ? O J c=£^ Khnemu Q % J

(Elephantine)

2. Thes- J^® Teb ^ J© Heru-Behutet

mp (ApollinopolisMagna) 1 xvii. 1. § 37. 2 ii. § 148.

^ Kara -yap 8r; voyuovs AlyvTTTOs airaaa SiapaLprjTai.

Nome.

NOME-GODS

Capital.

God.

3. Ten

M

Nekheb:].0j; Nekhebet:|.oJ;^

(Eileithyia)

4. Uast f Uast f " (Thebes) Amen-Ra h

-T

5. Herui

6. Aa-ta

nr

(Coptos)

Amsu, Min or ^oa^ Khem T

Ta-en- =^??= =??^ (=) Het-Heru no -q

(Denderah)

ittth (Diospolis Parva)

Het-Heru Qn^l

8. Abt TV

AbtufJ'^' An-Heij£^i|

(Abydos) Thenit aaaaaa ] ^ (This)

9. Amsu Min J^ Apu (1 D ^ © Amsu, Min or ^

or IvHEM -"^ ^ 1 Ji Khem r

(Panopolis)

10a. Uatchet Vp:, Tebut g^gl Het-Heru [

(Aphroditopolis)

10b. Neteeui JI Tu-qat . T ^ Heru (Horus)

(Antaeopolis)

11. Set ?

Shashetep

Khnemu

(Hypsele)

Dum.icheii, Geschichte, p. 143.

98 NOME-GODS

Nome. Capital. God

12 T„.^ ^ Nut-en- © O -^ K Hem ^

(Antaeopolis) Saiut

13. Atee- Vji __1^1K QAtk- Ap-uat V-JI

(Lycopolis)

?fFFF

15. Un .^. Khemennu ' ' ' ' £ Tehuti (Thoth)

(Hermopolis)

16. Meh- j^ Hebenuuno Heru ^

MAHETCH 42^ ' A ^ ^ -He

TOTF (Hipponon)

nil) ' ®

(Cynopolis)

18. Sep ^ «^t-^'it«'iQni Jl® '^°P" i □

. n. Per-Matchet

(Oxyrynchus)

20. Atee- i)ff^ Henensu 1 ^= Her-shefi ^ ™|](1^

(Herakleopolis Magna)

21 A. Atef- 0.=^ Ermen

'- V^ r.rmen- (^ ^ Khnemu fj ^

(Crocodilopolis)

'.Hill

(Apliroditopolis)

NOME-GODS 99

LOWER EGYPT. Nome. Capital. God.

1 . Aneb

^ (Memphis)

(Letopolis)

TFfFF

5. Sap-meh ^¥ Saut 1^ %. ^ Z ^'^t (Neith) ^

™e (Sais)

6. Kaset '^S Khasut T P % @ Amen-Ra [] ^vw^

(aois)

TTTTT neiert ^ w 56 o ^ ©

(Succoth) Per- cnn n ^ ^

Atem 1

(Pitliom)

9. Ati^ Per.Asar^JI;^ Osiris J|

^ (Busiris)

). 17 ; and D

1868, p. 17 ; and Diimiclien, Kalendariiischriftea, 1186, 106'cZ

100 NOME-GODS

Nome. Capital. God.

^ (Athribis)

^ (Cabasus)

^ (Sebennytus)

13. Heq-at Jj_ Annu |l g Ra

o ^ (Heliopolis, On)

(Tanis)

^ (Hermopolis)

^ Per-ba-neb-Tettn Ba-neb-

^ (Mendes) * •" "

TT ^ . Pa-khen-en-iVmen

17. Sam- |^ 1^ = fl S Amen-Raft ™

BEHUTET MT Uyh .wwva ^ ^ © 1 O I

^ (Diospolis)

19. Am-pehu r-^ Per-Uatcliet'=Y^|^| Uatcliet|^|

^ (Bnto)

20. SeptA^ Qesem 6 |x^ © Sept^J^I^'

™^ (Goshen ?)

1 The authorities to be consulted on the nomes of Egypt are Brugsch, Diet. Gcog. (see the list at the end of vol. iii.) ; Diimichen, Geographic des alt en Aegyptens (in Meyer, GescUclite des alien Aegyptens), Berlin, 1887 ; and J. de Rouge, Gtograpliie Ancienne de la Basse-lSgypte, Paris, 1891.

NOME-GODS

Thus every nome of Egypt possessed a representative god whose temple was situated in the capital city of the nome, and attached to the service of each nome-god was a body of priests who divided among themselves the various duties connected with the service of the gods, the maintenance of the buildings of the temple, the multiplying of copies of religious works, and the religious education of the community. In Upper Egypt, where the care of the dead seems to have been the principal duty of the living, the lower orders of the priesthood probably carried on a lucrative business in mummifying the dead, and in funeral papyri and amulets, and in conducting funerals. The high-priest of each great city, and sometimes even the high-priestess, bore a special title. In Thebes the high-priest was called " first servant of the " god Ra in Thebes "; Mn Heliopolis the title of the high-priest was "Great one of visions of Ra-Atem" ;^ in Memphis, "Great chief " of the hammer in the temple of him of the Southern Wall, and '' Setem of the god of the Beautiful Face (i.e., Ptah) " ; ^ in Sais, " governor of the double temple " ; ^ and similarly the high-priestess of Memphis bore the title of " Nefer-tutu " ; ^ in Sekhem the title of the high-priestess was " Divine mother";^ in Sai's, " Urt," i.e., "great one";'' in Mendes, " Utcha-ba-f " ; ^ and so on. The priests of every great god were divided into classes, among which may be mentioned " those who ministered at certain hours,"

-^W ™ ^ ; " the servants of the gods," "] f ^ j ; the " holy

accounts of the temple were kept by the "scribe of the temple,"

'Of

102 NOME-GODS

, and, in large temples, one or more scribes kept a

register of gifts to the temple and of the property of the god.^ It is impossible to say how many priests of all classes ministered to any given nome-god ; it seems that the highest permanent priestly officials were at all times and in all cities very few in number, and that the " servants of the god " were very many. The priests of each nome-god were subject to no external authority, and the highpriest of a great nome possessed a power which was hardly inferior to that of the nomarch himself.

The worship of each nome-god contained elements peculiar to itself, and the beliefs which centred in him represented all the ancient and indigenous views of the inhabitants of the nome, and these were carefully observed and cultivated from the earliest to the latest times. We may see from the list of nome-gods given above that many nomes worshipped the same god, e.g., Horus was worshipped in three nomes of UpjDer Egypt and two nomes of Lower Egypt, whilst one nome worshipped him under the special form of Horus of Behutet; three nomes of Upper Egypt worshipped Khnemu, two worshipped Amsu (or Min or Khem ?), two worshipped An]Du, and Hathor was worshipped in five nomes in Upper Egypt and one in Lower Egypt. The cults of the ram-headed god Khnemu at Elephantine, of the vulture goddess Nekhebet at Eileithyia, of the crocodile god Sebek in the district of Ta-she (Fayyum), of the dogheaded god Anpu at Cynopolis and Alabastronpolis, of the ibis-god Thotli at Hermopolis, of Horus the elder (Heru-ur) at Letopolis, and of Uatchet at Buto (Per-Uatchet), were extremely ancient, and with them are probably to be grouped in point of antiquity the cults of the wolf (?) -headed god Ap-uat, the lioness goddess Sekhet, the cat-headed goddess Bast, and the god Set. The animal which was the type and symbol of this last god has not as yet been identified ; it cannot have been the ass as was once thought, and it is hardly likely to have been the camel ; at 2Dresent, therefore, we can only tentatively assume that it belonged to some class of animal which became extinct at a very early period. The cults of the various forms of the sky-god Horus, and of the Sun-god, and of the

1 For otlier temj-tle officials see Brugsch, Aegiji)tolo(jie, p. 218.

OSIRIS 103

goddess Hathor, are the oldest of all. The goddess Neith, whose symbols were two arrows and a shield, appears to have been of Libyan origin, but, as has already been shown, the attributes of some of the oldest indigenous gods of Egypt were ascribed to her in early dynastic times. The origin of the god Osiris is obscure, but it is difficult, when all the statements made concerning him in the relio;ious texts are taken into consideration, not to think that the original seat of his worship was in the Delta. Early in the dynastic period his most important shrine was at Abydos, which became the centre of his cult and the sacred city to which his worshippers flocked for countless generations. In spite of this, however, the nome-lists show that the nome-god was An- Her, or Anhur, and notwithstanding the special honour in which Osiris was held throughout Egypt, i^n-Her was always regarded as the official god of the nome Abt and of its capital of the same name.

The Elysian Fields, i.e., the Sekhet-hetepet, were situated in the Delta where the country was fertile, and where the land was traversed by canals and streams of water running in all directions; moreover, the "House of Osiris" jpar excellence

of the god who was worshipped in the form of a ram which was said to contain the soul of Osiris, was also in the Delta. Everywhere in the texts Osiris is called the " lord of Abydos," and generally this title is followed by another, i.e., " lord of Tattu." Now Tattu is the city, and " The Ram, lord of Tattu,"

corrupted into " Mendes " by the Greeks, and in this city the great local god was worshipped under the form of a ram, which is now commonly known as the " Mendesian Ram." The frequent use of the title "lord of Tattu" suggests that the worship of Osiris was grafted on to or was made to absorb that of the local ram-god, and that in consequence Osiris became the lord of the city in his stead. It may be urged that Tattu was merely the seat of the shrine of the god Osiris in the northern kingdom, just as Abydos was his

1 The words Ba-neb- Tattu usually follow here, therefore the full name of the city is, "House of Osiris, the Ram, lord of Tattu."

104 AMEN AND ATEN

sanctuary in the southern kingdom, but this explanation of the use of the title is insufficient. It may further be urged that, inasmuch as the titles " lord of Abydos," " lord of Tattu," occur in connection with others which have reference to Osiris in his capacity as governor of the Underworld, the Abydos and Tattu here mentioned are mythological cities and not cities upon earth. But even if this be so it matters little, for we know that the Egyptians fashioned their mythological or heavenly cities after the manner of their earthly cities, and that their conceptions of things spiritual were based upon things material.

Returning for a moment to the adoption of gods, Ave may note that from first to last the peoj^le of one nome were generally ready to offer hospitality to the gods of another, and also to the gods of strangers who had come to settle among them. At times, however, a new god, or a new group of gods, was forced upon the inhabitants of one or more nomes, and even upon a whole j)rovince, as the result of conquest, or by the wish of the king, or by the supremacy of the priesthood of a given city. Thus the priesthood of Ra or Ra-Tem at Heliopolis succeeded in making their theological system paramount in the country, and the whole of the religious philosophy of the Theban Boohs of the Dead is based upon their teaching. Until the conquest of the Hyksos by the Theban princes the god Amen was a nome-god of no great importance, but when they became kings of the south and north, he immediately became the king of all the gods of the south and the north, and the titles and powers and attributes of the great gods of the country were ascribed to him by his priests. As the prince of Thebes Avas greater than any and every prince in the other nomes of Egypt, so the Theban nomegod Avas greater than any and every other god of Egypt. The extraordinary dislike Avhich Amen-hetep IV. exhibited towards this god, and the foolish attempt Avhich he made to substitute for his worship that of Aten, or the Disk, furnishes us Avith an example of the imposition of a god upon a priesthood and province ; the attempt Avas successful for a time over a limited area, but it had no chance of permanent success because the fundamental ideas of the worship of the god as Amen-hetep interpreted them Avere foreign to the religious conceptions of the Egyjotians generally.

RA AND AMEN 105

From what lias been said above it will be easy to imagine the remarkable spectacle which Egypt must have presented to a foreigner who went there and found the country split up into a series of nomes, each possessing its great god, who was ministered to by a body of priests and servants who were amenable to no general authority outside the nome, and who performed his worship when and as they jDleased, and who claimed for him powers, and rights, and privileges without fear of opposition. The stranger would find that each college of priests in each nome asserted that its god was the father of all the other gods, and the creator of the heavens and the earth, and that, generally speaking, the priests of one nome-god and his divine companions were content to allow their neighbours in other nomes to declare anything they pleased about their nome-gods and their divine companions. As far as can be gathered from the religious texts, it seems that the priests of one company of gods never attempted to suppress the gods of another company if the fortune of war gave them paramount power in the nome wherein they were worshipped. Thus when the priests of Ra attained to the great power which they enjoyed at Heliopolis under the Vth and Vlth Dynasties they did not suppress the local god Tem, but they associated their god with him, and produced the compound god Ra-Tem. Similarly, at a later period, when Amen, as the nome-god of the victorious princes and kings of Thebes, was declared to be the greatest of the gods of Egypt, his priests did not declare that the other gods of Egypt were not gods and try to suppress them, but they asserted that all the powers of the other gods were assimilated in him, and that he was in consequence the greatest of the gods. In the texts of Unas and the kings who were his immediate successors we read of the Great and Little companies of the gods, but we also find mention of the company of gods of Horus and of the double company of gods of Tem ; ^ the j)riests of Heliopolis claimed supremacy among the gods for Ra, but they took care to include as far as possible the name of every god and goddess to whom worship had been paid in past generations. The

Unas, 11. 443, 444.

106 GODS OF HELIOPOLIS

same characteristic is observable in the texts of the Theban priesthood, and we find that their god Amen was even introduced into the Booh of the Dead where, manifestly, he had little claim to be. The hymns in the chapters of that work are addressed either to Ra, in one form or another, or to Osiris, but in Chapter clxxi. we find the following address :— '' 0 Tem, 0 Shu, 0 Tefnet, 0 Seb, 0 Nut, "0 Osiris, 0 Isis, 0 Set, 0 Nephthys, 0 Heru-khuti (Harmachis), " 0 Hathor of the Great House, 0 Khepera, 0 Menthu, the lord of '' Thebes, 0 Amen, the lord of the thrones of the two lands, 0 " Great company of the gods, 0 Little company of the gods, 0 gods "and goddesses who dwell in Nu, 0 Sebek of the two Meht, 0 " Sebek in all thy manifold names in thine every j^lace wherein thy " Ka (i.e., double) hath delight, 0 gods of the south, 0 gods of the " north, 0 ye who are in heaven, 0 ye who are upon the earth, " grant ye the garment of purity unto the perfect spirit of iVmen- " hetep." ^ The greater number of the gods Avhose names are given in the Pyramid Texts are also mentioned in the religious literature, especially in the Booh of the Dead of later periods, and if we possessed copies of all the religious works of the New Empire we should probably discover that the names of all the gods, Avith perhaps the exception of Set, worshipped under the Early Empire were preserved in them. The Egyptians, certainly in dynastic times, rarely abandoned a god, and, speaking generally, it is remarkable how little the character and attributes of the gods vary in the period between the IVth and the XXVIth Dynasties. The obstinate conservatism of the Egyptians, which seems to have been inherited in an almost unaltered state by their descendants the Copts, induced the writers of religious texts to introduce into their works as many of the gods as possible, and they were moved to do this as much by motives of priestly policy and by self-interest as by feelings of reverence for the gods of Egy23t.

In the Pyramid Texts the predominant gods are those of the company of Heliopolis, but we nevertheless find that the gods of remote towns and cities had duties assigned to them, and that one and all of them were supposed to minister to the deceased kings in the Underworld. The reason of this is not far to seek.

1 See my Chaj^fers of Coming Forth by Day (Trtinslation), p. 315.

SUBDIVISIONS OF HEAVEN 107

The heaven which the Egyptian conceived in his mind closely resembled Egypt in respect of its sub-divisions, and its various cities and districts were ruled by gods whom it was necessary to propitiate, and whose friendship must be gained at any cost. A man hoped that in the next life he would be able to wander about at will through the length and breadth of heaven, and the only way to obtain this privilege was to secure the goodwill of the gods of the four quarters of the sky by the recital of prayers of various kinds, and by the performance of certain ceremonies, which were always of a more or less magical character. To be able to pass at pleasure along the eastern Delta of heaven and without opposition presupposed the favour of Sept and Temu ; and to have power to drink of the waters of the celestial Nile presupposed the favour of the god Khnemu, the lord of the Island of Elephantine, close to which were situated, according to Egyptian belief, the sources of the Nile. The texts of all periods exhibit an almost childish anxiety to prove that every god of Egypt is interested in the welfare of the beings in the Underworld who were once mortal men, and it was a common belief also in all periods that the mere asserting in writing that the gods would minister to the deceased would produce the assistance desired. To enjoy the power to enter into certain cities in heaven the deceased was obliged to know the various gods or " Souls " who were worshipped in them. Thus the Souls of the West were Tem, and Sebek, the lord of the Mountain of Sunrise, and Hathor, the lady of the Evening ; ^ the Souls of the East were Heru-khuti (Harmachis), the Calf of the goddess Khera, and the Morning Star ; " the Souls of the city of Pe were Horus, Mestha, and H api ; "^ the Souls of the city of Nekhen were Horus, Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf ; ^ the Souls of Heliopolis were Ra, Shu, and Tefnet ; '" and the Souls of the city of Hermopolis were Thoth, Sa, and Tem.*' Similarly every great heavenly city was held to contain a company of gods, and the beatified soul was thought to enjoy the duty of paying visits to their shrines just as, when in the body, it made offerings to their earthly counterparts.

• Ibid., Chap, cxiii. ^ Ibid., Chap. cxv. ^ Ibid., Chap. cxvi.

108 DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD

In the observations already made concerning the difficulty of assigning an exact meaning to the word for God and " god," neter, ^ |, we have seen that in dynastic times the chief attribute which was assigned to a god was the power to renew his life indefinitely, and to live for ever, and the text of Unas has shown us that in very early times the Egyptian thought he could obtain this power by eating his god or gods. Closely connected with this belief is another which finds expression in the Pyramid Texts, and also in the later Recensions of the Booh of the Dead which are based upon them. In many passages scattered throughout the religious texts of all periods we find it stated that the deceased has acquired the powers of such and such a god, and that as a result he has become the counterpart or fellow of several gods, and that he takes his place among the company of gods in the proper persons of several of their number. A still further development of the idea makes every member of the body of the deceased to be, first, under the protection of a god, and secondly, to become that same member of the god its protector ; hence his whole body becomes the "double company of the gods," and the "two great " gods watch, each in his place, and they find him in the form of " the double company of the gods weighing the words of every " chief like a chief, and they bow down before him, and they make "offerings to him as to the double company of the gods." ^ Moreover, the deceased is made in the texts to stand up at the head of the company of the gods as Seb, the " erpa," or hereditary chief, of the gods, and as Osiris, the governor of the divine powers, and as Horus, the lord of men and of gods.^ His bones are the gods

niiniiiinnnii.

= ^-ininmwiP2inj-qpi^ ^ip^ -^niT p«Fi-.i-i«6.

IJEIFICATION OF THE DEAD 109

and goddesses of heaven ; ^ his right side belongs to Horus, and his left side to Set; he becomes the actual son of Tern, or Tem-Ra, and Shu, Tefnet, Seb, and Nut, and he is the brother of Isis, Nephthys, Set, and Thoth, and the father of Horus.^ The god Horus taketh his own Eye and giveth it to him,^ and he bestoweth upon him his own ha or double,^ and never leaveth him, and the Bull of the JSTine ^ maketh wide his dominions among the gods.

The oldest copy of the prayer for the deification of the members of the body is found in the text of Pepi I. (line 565 ff.), and as it is very important from several points of view a version of it is here given : — " The head of this Ra-meri is in the form of [that of] the hawk ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in

heaven. The skull, ■^ v^ @ , of this Pepi is that of the divine

Goose ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The

and raiseth himself up in heaven. The face of this Pepi is the

himself up in heaven. The two eyes of Ra-meri are the great goddess (Hathor ?) at the head of the Souls of Annu ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The mouth of this Pepi

in heaven. The tongue of this Pepi is the steering-pole (?) of the boat of Maat ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The teeth of this Pepi are the Souls [of Annu] ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The lips of this Pepi are the . . . . ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven.

1 See Teta, 1. 209. 3 See Unas {Becueil), torn, iii , pp. 209-211.

DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD

The CHIN of this Pepi is Khert-Khent-Sekhem, ^ r|Tj| ^ ^ ; he Cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The backbone of raiseth himself up in heaven. The shoulders and arms of this Pepi are Set ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The heart of this Ra-meri is Bastefc ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The belly of this Ra-meri is Xut ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The [loins of this Pepi are] the Great and Little companies of the gods ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The BACK of this Pepi is Heqet ; he cometh forth and raiseth

the Semket and Mat boats ; ^ he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The phallus of this Pepi is Hap ; ^ he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The two thighs^ of Ra-meri are Nit and Serqet ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The two legs * of this Ra-meri are the twin soulgods at the head of Sekhet-tcher ; ^ he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The soles of the two eeet ^ of this Rameri are the double Maati boat ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. The heels (?), "^ ^, of this Pepi are the Souls of Annu ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven."

In the XVIIIth Dynasty versions of this interesting text were Avritten in papyri containing the TJooJo of the Dead, and of these the following exhibit variant readings which appear to indicate changes of belief.

D

A,WVNA

minim

(i

o

DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD

Fkom the Papyrus of Nu.

(Brit. Mus., No. 10,477, sheet 6.)

" My hair is the hair of Nu. " My face is the face of the Disk. " My eyes are the eyes of Hathor. " My ears are the ears of Ap-uat. " My nose is the nose of Khenti-

" khas. *'My lips are the lips of Anpu. "My teeth are the teeth of

'' Serqet. " My neck is the neck of the

" divine goddess Isis. " My hands are the hands of

" Ba-neb-Tattu. " My fore-arms are the fore-arms " of Neith, the Lady of Sai's. "My backbone is the backbone

" of Suti. " My phallus is the phallus of

" Osiris. " My reins are the reins of the

" Lords of Kher-aha. " My chest is the chest of Aa-

" sheht. " My belly and back are the " belly and back of Sekhet. " My buttocks are the buttocks

" of the Eye of Horus. " My hips and legs are the hips

" and legs of Nut.

" My feet are the feet of Ptali.

" [My fingers] and my leg-bones

" are the fino-ers and leo;-

" bones of the Living Gods.

"There is no member of my

From the Papyrus of Ani. (Brit. Mus., No. 10,470, sheet 32.)

"The hair of Osiris Ani is the

" hair of JSTu. " The face of Osiris Ani is the

" face of Ra. " The eyes of Osiris Ani are the

" eyes of Hathor. " The ears of Osiris Ani are the

" ears of Ap-uat. " The lips of Osiris Ani are the

" lips of Anpu. "The teeth of Osiris Ani are the

"teeth of Serqet. "The neck of Osiris Ani is the

" neck of Isis. " The hands of Osiris Ani are " the hands of Ba-neb-Tattu. " The shoulder of Osiris Ani is

" the shoulder of Uatchet. " The throat of Osiris Ani is the

" throat of Mert. " The fore-arms of Osiris Ani " are the fore-arms of the " Lady of Sais. "The backbone of Osiris Ani is

" the backbone of Set. " The chest of Osiris Ani is the " chest of the Lords of " Kher-Aha. " The flesh of Osiris Ani is the

" flesh of Aa-shefit. "The reins and back of Osiris " Ani are the reins and " back of Sekhet. " The buttocks of Osiris Ani are

DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD

body which is not the member of a god. The god Thoth shieldeth my body wholly, and I am Ra day by day." ^

"the buttocks of the Eye

" of Horus. "The phallus of Osiris Ani is

" the phallus of Osiris. " The legs of Osiris Ani are the

" legs of Nut. " The feet of Osiris Ani are the

" feet of Ptah. "The fino:ers of Osiris Ani are

" the fingers of Orion. " The leg-bones of Osiris Ani

" are the leg-bones of the

" Living Uraei."

The text which follows that describing the deification of the members in the inscription of Pepi I.^ is perhaps of even greater interest, for it declares that : —

" This Pepi is god, the son of god ; he cometh forth and raiseth " himself up to heaven. This Ra-meri is the son of Ra, who loveth "him ; he cometh forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. Ra hath " sent forth this Ra-meri, who cometh forth and raiseth himself up " to heaven. Ra hath conceived this Pepi, who cometh forth and " raiseth himself up to heaven. Ra hath given birth to this Pepi, " who cometh forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. This [is] the " word of power which is in the body of Ra-meri, and he cometh "forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. This Ra-meri is the " Great Power among the great company of sovereign chiefs who " are in Annu, and he cometh forth and raiseth himself up to "heaven."

In the previous pages it has been shown that the Great company of the Gods of Heliopolis contained nine or more gods, and that whenever these Avere adopted by other cities and towns the attributes of tlie chief of the Heliopolitan gods were transferred to the local nome-god, and the identities of both gods were merged in each other. It will, however, be evident at a glance that there

^ See my CJiaj)ter$ of Coming Forth hi/ Daij (Translation), p. 94. 2 Line 574,

THE GODS OF HERMOPOLIS 113

were very few localities which could afford to maintain in a proper state the worship of nine or more great gods in addition to that of the nome-god, and as a matter of fact we find that very few even of the great towns and cities adopted all the gods of the companies of Heliopolis, and that very few possessed companies of gods which contained as many members as nine. The city of Khemennu (Hermopolis) was famous as the sanctuary of the company of Eight

Gods, indeed the name "Khemennu," 5, means ''the city of the

Eight Gods." The names of these gods Avere : — 1. Nu,

5. Kekdi, ^W^-T"^- 6. Kekuit, ^W^-j^'^. 7.

leader Tehuti, or Thoth, they formed one of the oldest of the companies of gods in all Egypt. The names of the members of the pant, or company, of Hermopolis as here given are taken from the texts inscribed on the walls of the temple which Darius 11. built at Hebet in the Oasis of Kharga/ and which is a comparatively late building, but there is reason for believing that they are copied from very ancient documents, and that taken together this group of gods represents the oldest form of the Hermopolitan jj«2iL In some lists of the gods Amen and Ament are made to take the places of Nu and Nut, and those of Kereh and Kerehet are filled by Nenu and ISTenut; in others Amen and Anient are substituted for Kereh and Kerehet.^ or city were three in number, and they were formed by the local deity and two gods who were associated with him, and who shared with him, but in a very much less degree, the honour and reverence which were paid to him. Speaking generally, two members of such a triad were gods, one old and one young, and the third was a goddess, who Avas, naturally, the wife, or female counterpart, of the older god. The younger god was the son of the older god and goddess, and he was supposed to possess all the

1 See Brngsch, Beise nach der grossen Oase el-Khargeh, Leipzig, 1878, pi. 14.

2 For the lists of the ])ciiit of Thoth at Edfii, Dendera, Karnak, Philae, etc., see Bragsch, Beligionimd Mythologie, p. 127.

I

114 THE CONCEPTION OF THE TRIAD

attributes and powers which belonged to his father. The head of the triad was sometimes Ra, and sometimes a god of comparatively limited reputation, to whom were ascribed the power and might of the great Sun-god, which his devotees assumed that he had absorbed. The feminine counterpart or wife of the chief god was usually a local goddess of little or no importance ; on the other hand, her son by the chief god was nearly as important as his father, because it was assumed that he would succeed to his rank and throne when the older god had passed away. The conception of the triad or trinity is, in Egypt, probably as old as the belief in the gods, and it seems to be based upon the anthropomorphic views which were current in the earliest times about them. The Egyptian provided the god with a wife, just as he took care to provide himself with one, in order that he might have a son to succeed him, and he assumed that the god would have as issue a son, even as he himself wished and expected to have a son. In later times, the group of nine gods took the place of the triad, but we are not justified in assuming that the ennead was a simple development of the triad. The triad contains two gods and one goddess, but the ennead contains five gods and four goddesses, being made up of four pairs of deities, and one supreme god. The ennead is, however, often regarded as a triad of triads, and the

three enneads of Heliopolis, 111111111111111111111111111 , as a triad of a triad of triads. The conception of the ennead is probably very much later than that of the triad.^ Examples ^ c^ I (|(| ^ |l, and Heru-pa-khart ^ D ^ ^ ^; a* Tcheqa, Sebek [l J ^, Isis jj ^ ^, and Amen (] " ^; at Memphis, Ptali

^ An exactly opposite view is taken by M. Maspero (La Mythologie :Egy])tienne,

POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM 115

shipped in several places in Egypt. The members of many triads in Egypt varied at different times and in different places, but variations were caused chiefly by assimilating local gods and goddesses with the well-known members of the companies of the gods of Heliopolis.

The facts recorded in the preceding pages show that the great gods of the dynastic period in Egypt were selected from a large number of local gods, who were in turn chosen from among the representatives of the gods of the desert, and mountain, and earth, and water, and air, and sky, who had been worshipped in predynastic times. Thus in the great company of the gods of god of Sebennytus ; Osiris, the local god both of Busiris and Mendes ; Isis, a form of the still more ancient goddess " Uatchit, of a district in the fifteenth nome of Lower Egypt ; etc. The gods of the later jDredynastic period were, of course, developed out of the multitude of spirits, good and bad, in whom the most primitive Egyptians believed, and it is clear that in general characteristics the gods of the dynastic period were identical with those of the predynastic period, and that the Egyptians rarely abandoned any god whose priests in the earliest times had succeeded in establishing for him a recognized position. The form of the worship of the gods must have changed greatly, but this was due rather to the increase in the general prosperity of the country than to any fundamental change in the views and beliefs of the Egyptians as to their gods ; the houses of the gods, or temples, became larger and larger and more magnificent as increased wealth flowed into the country as the result of foreign conquest, but the gods remained the same, and the processions and ceremonies, though more magnificent under the New Empire, preserved the essentials of the early period. But if we examine the religious texts carefully it will be seen that the Egyptians were always trying to reduce the number of their gods, or, in other words, were always advancing from polytheism to monotheism. The priesthood and the educated classes must have held religious views which were not absolutely identical with those of the peasant who cultivated the fields, but

116 ABSORPTION OF ANCIENT GODS

such, I believe, were concerned chiefly with the popular forms of worship of the gods and with conceptions as to their nature. The uneducated people of the country clung with great tenacity to the ordinary methods of celebrating their worship, principally because the frequent festivals and the imposing ceremonies, which formed a large and imjDortant part of it, were regarded as essential for their general well-being ; the priests and the educated, on the other hand, clung to them because their influence was not sufficiently powerful to establish a j^ojiular form of religion and worship which would be consistent with their own private views.

Every change which can be traced in the religion of the country proves that the priesthoods of the various great religious centres absorbed into the new systems whenever possible the ancient gods and the ancient beliefs in them ; hence during the period of the highest culture in Egyj^t we find ideas of the grossest kind jostling ideas which were the product of great intellectuality and much thinking. Expressions which are the result of a series of beliefs in tree gods, desert gods, water gods, earth gods, and gods with human passions, abound, and it is these which have drawn down upon the Egyptians the contempt of the Hebrews, the Greeks, and the Romans, and even of modern skilled investigators of Egyptian religion and mythology. It has not been sufiiciently realized that the polytheism of the Egyptians had aspects which Avere peculiar to itself, and the same may be said of one jDhase of the beliefs of this people which appears to be, and which, the Avriter thinks, undoubtedly is, monotheistic. When the j^i'iests of Heliopolis formulated their system of theogony they asserted that the god Tem produced the two gods that issued from himself, i.e., Shu and Tefnut, by masturbation,^ and there is little doubt that in making this declaration they were repeating what the half savage and primitive Egyptians may really have believed; but it would be

NOTION OF DIVINE UNITY 117

utterly wrong to declare that the priests themselves believed these things, or that such a statement represented the views of any educated person in Egypt on the subject of the origin of the gods. In Chapter xvii. of the Booh of the Deacl'^ is an allusion to the fight which took place between Horus and Set, but no Egyptian who accepted the refined beliefs which are found even in the same chapter could have regarded this allusion as anything more than the record of an act of savagery which had crept into religious texts at a time when acts of the kind were common.

The same might be said of dozens of expressions and allusions which are scattered throughout the texts of all periods, and no just investigator will judge the Egyptians, and their religion, and their beliefs by the phases of thought and expressions which reflect the manners and customs and ideas of the primitive dwellers in the Valley of the Nile. But yet it is precisely by such things that the Egyi^tian religion is judged by many modern writers. The eminent Egyptologist, M. Maspero, says that before he began to decipher Egyptian texts for himself, and so long as he was content to reproduce the teaching of the great masters of the science of Egyptology, he believed that the Egyptians had in the earliest times arrived at the notion of divine unity, and that they had fashioned an entire system of religion and of symbolic mythology with an incomparable surety of hand. When, however, he began to study the religious texts he found that they did not breathe out the profound wisdom Avhich others had found. ^' Certainly," he says, "no one will accuse me of wishing to belittle the Egyptians ; " the more I familiarize myself with them, the more I am persuaded " that they were one of the great nations of the human race, and " one of the most original and most creative, but at the same " time that they always remained half savage." ^ In other words,

X

" •' J'ai era, au debout de ma carriere, il y a bientot viugt-cinq ans de cela, et " j'ai soutenii pendant longtemps, comme M. Brugsch, que les Egyptians etaient " parvenus, des lear enfance, a la notion de I'unite divine et qu'ils en avaient tire " un systems entier de religion et de mytbologie symbolique, agence d'un bout a

118 NOTION OF DIVINE UNITY

the Egyptians, according to M. Maspero, never attained to the idea of the unity of God, and Avere at the best of times nothing but a half savage nation. It is easy to bring a charge of being half savafje ao;ainst a ffreat nation, but in this case the charo-e is illfounded, and is, in the writer's opinion, contradicted by every discovery which is made in Egypt ; for the more we learn of the ancient Egyptians the more complete and far-reaching we find their civilization to have been. The evidence of the monuments of the Egyptians will, however, be sufficient to exhibit the character of this civilization in its true light, and, as the expression " half savage " is at best very vague, and must vary in meaning according to the standpoint of him who uses it, we pass on to consider the question whether the Egyptians attained to a conception of the unity of God or whether they did not.

.We have seen that M. Maspero believes that they did not, but on the other hand some of the greatest Egytologists that have ever lived thought that they did. He thinks that the Egyptians possessed the greater number of their myths in common with the most savage of the tribes of the Old and New Worlds, that their practices preserved the stamp of primitive barbarism, that their religion exhibits the same mixture of grossness and refinement which is found in their arts and crafts, that it Avas cast in a mould by barbarians, and that from them it received an impression so deep that a hundred generations have not been able to eftace it, nor even to smooth its roughnesses or to soften its outlines.^ No

" I'autre avec une siirete de main incomparable. C'ctait le temps ou je n'avais pas " essaye par moi-meme le dcchiffrement des textes religieux et ou je me bornais " Ji reproduire I'enseignement de nos grands maitres. Quand j'ai ete contraint

" cefcte sagesse profonde que d'autres y avaient sentie. Certes on ne m'accusera pas " de vouloir deprecier les Egyptiens : plus je me familiarise avec eux, et plus je me " persuade qu'ils ont etc un des grands peuples de I'humanite, I'un des plus originaux " et des plus croateurs, mais aussi qu'ils sont toujours demeures des demi-barbares." L(i MytholcKjie, p. 277.

1 " En art, en science, en industrie, ils ont beaucoup invente, beaucoup " produit, beaucoup promis surtout ; leur religion presente le meme melange de " grossicrete et de raffincment qu'on retrouve dans tout le reste. La plupart de " ses mythes lui sont communs avec les tribus les plus sauvages de I'Aucien et du " Nouveau-Monde ; ses pratiques gardent le cachet de la barbarie primitive, et je "crois que les sacrifices humains n'en avaient pas diaparu dans certaines circon-

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM 119

one will attempt to deny that traces of half savage ideas and customs are to be found in Egyptian religious literature, but the real question is whether such traces render it impossible for the Egyptians ever to have attained to the concejDtion of monotheism, whether the existence of such half savage ideas and customs is incompatible with it or not. Every one who is familiar with the literatures of oriental religions knows that the sublime and the ridiculous, spiritual ideas and material views, intellectuality and grossness, and belief and superstition, occur frequently in close juxtaposition, and illustrations of these statements may be found in the writings of the Arabs, and even in certain parts of the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet no one will deny that the Arabs as a people have been monotheists since the time of Muhammad the Prophet, and no one will refuse to admit that the Hebrews, after a certain date in their history, became monotheists and have remained so. The literatures of both the Hebrews and the Arabs are full of extravagances of every kind, but no competent person has denied to these nations the right to be called monotheistic, and no one in the light of modern research will attempt to judge them by the coarsest expressions and materialistic thoughts which are found in their Scriptures. On the other hand, no one expects to find either in Hebrew or in Arabic literature the lofty spiritual and philosophical conceptions which modern highly educated thinkers associate with the idea of monotheism, and the same is, of course, to be said for the literature of the Egyptians ; but it is not difficult to show that the idea of monotheism which existed in Egypt at a very early period is at least of the same character as that which grew up among both Hebrews and Arabs many centuries later.

To prove this statement recourse must be had to a number of extracts ^ from religious texts, and among such may be quoted the following': — To the dead king Unas it is said, "Thou existest at

" stances, meme sous les grands Pharaons tliebains. Elle a ete jetee au moule " par des Barbares, et elle a regu d'eus une empreinte si forte que cent generations " n'ont pu, je ne dirai pas I'effacer, mais en amollir les asperites et en adoucir les "contours." La Mythologie, p. 277.

^ See tlie group given in my Papyrus of Ant, London, 1895, p. Ixxxiii. ff.

120 EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

" He weighetli words, and behold, God hearkeneth unto the words,"

king it is said, '' God hath called Teta (in his name, etc.)," /wwNA n 1 ^ww^ r^ (j J |; to Pepi I. it is said, "Thou hast received the " attribute (or, form) of God, thou hast become great therewith I I I ; and " Thy mother Nut hath set thee to be as God to thine

j ; and of the same king it is

said, "This Pepi is, therefore, God, the son of God," [gi]^] D^ in these passages by "a god" or "the god," but this would make nonsense of the passages in most cases. There is no point in telling a dead king that he will live "by the side of a god," or that " a god " will listen to his words when he is weighing words, i.e., giving judgment upon matters in the next world ; Avhat the writer said and what he meant his readers to understand was that Unas will live with the God, or God, and that he will have such an exalted position there that he will be appointed by God to act as judge, an offic^e which belonged to God himself, and that God will listen to, i.e., obey his rulings. The above passages are taken from texts of the Vth and Vlth Dynasties, but they are only copies of older documents, for there are good reasons for thinking that even so far back as the time when they Avere made, about B.C. 3300, the texts had already been revised two or three times, and changes and additions made in them as the result of modified beliefs and ideas.

The value of such passages, however, consists in the fact that they prove conclusively that so far back as B.C. 3300 some one god had become so great in the mind of the Egyptians that he stood out from among the "gods," 111 i, and was different from the First, Second, and Third companies of the gods,

OSIRIS AS GOD 121

immimninninnmi- Anoti... view whic.

may be urged is that the neter, |, here referred to is either the

god Osiris or the god Ra, but even so it must be admitted that Osiris or Ra occupied a position in the mind of the Egyptian theologian which was far superior to that of any of the " gods." On the other hand, it must be pointed out that the Pyramid Texts are full of passages in which we are told what great things Ra will do for the deceased in the next world, and the honour which he will ^Day to him, and we must therefore conclude that the God referred to in the passages which we have quoted is not Ra, although he may be Osiris. But if we arrive at this conclusion we must admit that ia the relatively remote period about B.C. 3300 Osiris was considered to be such a great god, and to occupy such an exalted position at the head of the " gods," that he could be spoken of and referred to simply as " God." We have already seen it implied that Osiris was the judge of those who were in the Underworld, and we know from the text of Unas (line 494) that he sat on a throne in heaven ; ^ as the king is said to have become " god, and the messenger (or, angel) of God " ^ (line 175), and to " enter into the place which was more holy than any other place " ^ (line 178), it is perfectly clear that the God of the Pyramid Texts was an entirely different being from the " gods " and the " companies of the gods." The deceased is actually called " Osiris Pepi," ^ and as he is said to have become an angel of God, if Osiris be that God and judge, he must have held a similar position to that of the God of the Hebrews, who is said to "judge among the gods," ^ and must have been ministered to by "gods'

„ I csz: n J

^ ra^ (^jj (gjj]- Pepi I., 1.60. ■' Psalm Ixxxii. 1, IDJ3^) WJlbii 21^3..

122 CONCEPTION OF GOD

God of the Pyramid Texts was Osiris, the god and judge of the dead, but it is clear that the only aspects of the God which are referred to are those which he bears as the god and judge of the dead. We have, unfortunately, no means of knowing how he was described by his earliest worshippers, for the priests of Heliopolis, when they absorbed him into their theological system, took care to give him only such characteristics as suited their own views ; they have, however, shown us that he was the judge of the dead, and that he occuj^ied a unique position among the gods, and enjoyed some of the powers possessed by the God of the nations which are on all hands admitted to be monotheistic.

But Ave may obtain further information about the conception of God among the Egyptians by an examination of certain passages in the famous Precepts of Kaqemna and the Precepts of Ptahhetep. The first of these works was composed ia the reign of Seneferu, a king of the IVth Dynasty, and the second in the reign of Assa, a king of the Vth Dynasty, but we only know them from the copies contained in the papyrus which was given to the Bibliotheque Royale in Paris by E. Prisse d'Avennes in 1847.^ This document was probably written about the period of the XVIIth Dynasty, and may, of course, contain readings and additions reflecting the opinions of the Egyptians on religion and morals which were then current ; but the foundations of both works belong to an earlier time, though whether that time fell under the Xllth Dynasty, as some think, or under the IVth and Vth Dynasties as the works themselves declare, matters little for our present purpose. In both sets of Precepts we have a series of moral aphorisms similar to those with which we are familiar in the Book of Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus, and the Book of Proverbs, and they are given as the outcome of the experience of men of the world ; neither the work of Kaqemna nor that of Ptah-lietep can be said to have been drawn up from a religious point of view, and neither author supports his advice by appeals to religious

1 See Facsimile tViin papyrus ^gyptien en airacUres hieraiiques, Paris, 1847, folio.

CONCEPTION OF GOD

authority. In these works we find the following admonitions and reflections : —

an rehlientu Miepert drit neter

" Not [are] known the things which maketh Grod,"

i.e., the things which will come to pass by God's agency cannot be known, that is to say, God's ways are inscrutable.

du dm tail Jcher sehher neter

The eating of bread is according to the plan of God,

i.e., a man's food comes to him through the providence of God.

dm - h Thou shalt not

dri her put terror

em into

reth men and women

Jihesef neter

is opposed [thereto] God.

HP

ter em selchet td set

labour in the field (which) hath given

dr seka - nek

If thou hast land for ploughing

neter God.

"•^ . The author of this observation was Kaqemna ; the other ones are by Ptah-hetep.

CONCEPTION OF GOD

A

dr un - nek em sa dqer dri - h f^a

If thou wouldst be a man perfect make thou [thy] son

eih smam neter

to be pleasing unto God.

A

sehet&p dqu - h em Ihepert-neh l-Jiejyert

Satisfy thy dependants by thy actions ; it should be done

(5??. //esesu neter

by him that is favoured by God.

mertu What is loved

neter of God

D

is

setem obedience ;

an setem disobedience

en mestetu hateth

neter God.

mdk sa nefer en tat a

Verily a son good [is] of the gifts

neter of God.

And finally from the Prisse Papyrus may be quoted the exhortatation, " If having been of no account, thou hast become great, and " if, having been poor, thou hast become rich, when thou art

IDEA OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE 125

" governor of the city be not hard-hearted on account of thy " advancement, because thou hast [only] become

mer se'ptu neter

" the guardian of the provisions of God."

From this group of extracts we learn that the ways of the god referred to in the " Precepts " were inscrutable, that it was he who was supposed to give a man children, and property, and food, that he was ojDposed to any man tyrannizing over his fellow creatures ; that he loved to be obeyed and hated disobedience, i.e., those who would not hearken unto him ; that the perfect man was he who brought up his son in ways pleasing to God ; that God expected the man who had been favoured by him to do good to those who were dependent upon him ; and the writer of the " Precepts " urged the governor of a city to remember that he was only the guardian of goods and provisions which belonged to God. In all these extracts it is clear that the allusion is to some great and j)owerful being who rules and governs the world and provides according to his will for those who are in it. In the second extract we have the words

si'hlier neter, i.e., the seJcher of God. The word sehlier 1 ) , has

many meanings, among them being " thought, plan, intention, scheme, design," and the like, and when Ptah-hetep said that " the eating of bread is according to the seJcher of God," there is no doubt that he intended his readers to understand that a man obtained bread, or food, to eat according to the plan or design which God had made, or decreed beforehand. A rendering which would very well represent the words sehlier neter is " Divine providence ; " but they do not justify the translation " fate " which has been proposed for them.

Now we know that both the writers Kaqemna and Ptah-hetep lived in the neighbourhood of Memphis, because their tombs are at vSakkara, and if they lived at Memphis their great local god would be Ptah of the Beautiful Face, or Ptali of the White Wall, whose

126 PRECEPTS OF KHENSU-HETEP

feminine counterpart was Sekliet and whose son was I-em-hetep. But in the group of extracts just given there is no mention of any of these gods, and the God referred to cannot be Osiris, first, because the texts are not funereal, and secondly, because the attributes ascribed to this God are not of those which we know from later texts belonged to the god of the dead. Who then is the God whose j)ower, and providence, and government of the world are here proclaimed ? The answer to this question is that the God referred to is God, Whose power men of the stamp of Ptah-hetep discerned even at the remote period in which he lived, and Whose attributes they clearly distinguished ; He was in their opinion too great to be called anything else but God, and though, no doubt, they offered sacrifices to the gods in the temple at Memphis, after the manner of their countrymen, they knew that God was an entirely different Being from those " gods."

Passing now to the period of the New Empire we have to consider a few extracts from the famous work commonly known as the "Maxims of Ani," or the "Precepts of Khensu-hetep," which was first described^ by E. de Rouge in 1861, and was published in full fifteen years later by Chabas.^ The text ^ is written upon a papyrus which was found in a box lying upon the floor of the tomb of a Christian monk at Der al-Medinet, and from considerations of palaeography it must probably be assigned to the period of the XXIInd Dynasty, but the original composition must be a great deal older, and it may well date from the XVIIIth Dynasty. The following extracts will illustrate the conception of God in the mind of the author of the " Maxims " : —

jpa neter en saaud ren - f

The God is for making great his name.

1 See Moniteur, 15 Aout, 1861 ; and Comptes Eendus, Paris, 1871, pp.

2 See L':Egyptolo(jie, Chalons-sur-Saone and Paris, 4to, 1876-1878.

3 A facsimile was published by Mariette in Papyrus ^gyptiens du Musee de £oulaq.

PRECEPTS OF KHENSU-HETEP

pa The

netei

V

D

dput pa

God [is] the judge of the

J)

ma a right.

or, the God is the judge, the righteous one, i.e., the judge who passes sentence according to what is straight, mad, i.e., the law the canon.

du tdii Giveth

neter-hu thy God

'J unu

the means of subsistence.

4. " I have given thee thy mother," the writer says to his son, and she carried thee even as she carried thee, and took upon herself a heavy burden for thy sake, and did not lean upon me. When at length thou wast born after having been carried by her for months, she laid herself under thy yoke, and she nourished thee for three years, -^ and was never weary of thee. . . . When thou wast sent to school to be taught, she came every day without fail to thy master [bringing] bread and beer [for thee] from her house. Now thou hast become a man and hast married a wife and hast a house, set thine eye upon thy child, and bring him up as thy mother brought thee up. Wrong not thy mother lest she lift up

ddui-set en "her hands to

[and punish thee].

u

pa the

neter emtuf setemu sebhu-set

God [and] he hearken unto her prayers "

I

amma sic en

Let [a man] give himself to

pa the

neter God,

■^ Literally, " lier breasts were in thy mouth for three years."

PRECEPTS OF KHENSU-HETEP

I

saim - Jc sn em-ment en pa neter

" keep thou thyself daily for the God,

w

tuaiiu ond-qeti iki

ra

o

au tuami ma-qeii va haru

' to-morrow (?) being like the day (to-day?)."

(3 AAAAA^ I I

Ichennu en neter hetu-tuf

" The sanctuary of God its abomination

pu sehebii is much speaking.

senemehii-neh

em

ah

mert

" Make thou thy prayers with a heart of love

du metet - f all the petitions

fll , , ,

??,eZ)^ dmeiinu dri-f

" of which are in secret. He will perform

kheru-fuk thy affairs,

" he will hear what thou say est, he will accept

0 e

utemm-tuh thine offerings.

e

iitennii neter-lcu sau-tu () er

" In making offerings to thy God guard thou thyself against

lifX

betau-tuf

O

a

ennii

maat-h er

" the things which he 0 observe [with] thine eye

abominateth.

PRECEPTS OF KHENSU-HETEP

A

£S

AAAAA^

'paif "his

selilieru plans.

qenteb emtuh senenti-tu

Devote thyself to the adoration

lit I

"of

en "of

ren - f his name.

su tat It is he who giveth

haiu souls

hell to millions

aaru forms,

^daua " magnifieth him.

O Shim

f

sdaud pa enti

and [he] magnifieth whosoever

ar 7iefer ta pen en

Now the god of this earth is

hliid du naif mdtui

pa btiuu her

" the god Shu, he who is over the horizons. His similitudes

A a

tdtd-thd

senterd

her tep ta laia-itia sentera em

" [are] upon earth, are given [to them] offerings of incense with

Icai-set em-ment.

" their food offerings daily."

The group of passages given above supplies a new set of attributes ascribed by the Egyptians to God, and they show that they believed this Being to be one who judged according to right, who was jealous for the honour of his name, who received prayers

K

130 CONCEPTION OF GOD AND THE GODS

and offerings, and who granted to the suppliant all his petitions, and performed all his desires, when such petitions were made to him in secret and with a " loving heart." The seventh extract is peculiarly instructive, for in it we have a sharp distinction drawn between this God and the solar god Shu, who is here, clearly, identiiied with the Sun-god. The worshipper of God is exhorted

upon earth, to pay good heed to the manner in which he makes oiferings to Him, and to dedicate himself to the adoration of His name, for it is He Avho giveth souls, i.e., life, to millions of beings, and those who exalt Him He will exalt. On the other hand, the similitudes of the god Shu, the lord of the horizons, i.e., the skies of the South and the North, the East and the West, and the god of this earth, are upon the earth, and to them offerings of incense and meat are made daily. There is no need here to dwell upon the lofty conception of what is meet for the worship of God ; nor upon the fact that many of the phrases in the extract are identical in meaning, and almost in words, with passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, for they Avill be familiar to all, and extracts like the following will occur to every reader : — " Consider the wondrous works of God " (Job xxxvii. 14) ; " them that honour me I will honour" (1 Samuel ii. 30), etc. The word rendered "similitudes," Q ^ H n i__fl ^ .^ difficult to explain in detail though its general

meaning is clear enough, and we must understand by it " things which are in the likeness [of Shu] " ; these can, apparently, only refer to the gods to whom incense and offerings were brought daily. The great importance of .the second group of extracts consists in the fact that they emphasize and develop the difference between the Egyptian conception of God and the gods. The author of the "Maxims," like Kaqemna and Ptah-hetep, set out to write a book of moral precepts by which he intended his son to mould his course of life and to be guided. This work is not of a funereal character, therefore the God who is referred to throughout cannot be Osiris, and the context proves beyond all doubt that the writer is alluding to the same Being as were the earlier writers of moral aphorisms already mentioned. In the case of the

ONENESS OF THE GODS

" Maxims," however, the word for God, neter "1 J|, is usually

But in all the passages quoted above there is no distinct statement that the God alluded to therein is God alone, and that there is no other God besides Him, although this is clearly implied ; we must therefore turn to another class of texts in which the attribute of oneness or unity is ascribed to one or more "great gods," and see how it is applied. The god Ta-tunen is called, " One, maker of mortals, and of the company of the gods " ; ^ the god Ea-Tem is called, " lord of heaven, lord of earth, maker of " beings celestial and of beings terrestrial, God One, who came " into being in primeval time, maker of the world, creator of " rational beings, maker of Nu (the sky), creator of the Nile, " maker of whatsoever is in the waters, and giver of life to the " same, knitter together of the mountains, making to come into " being men and women, and beasts and cattle, and creator of the "heavens and the earth" ;^ the great Khu (Spirit) whom Tem created is described as the "only One in Nu" ; ^ Osiris is said to be "lord of the gods, god One" ;* and in a remarkable passage, in which the whole of the attributes of the Sun-a-od Ra have been transferred to Amen-Ra, we have the following statement wherein this god is said to be " the holy (or, venerable) Soul which came

of Ani, sheet 1, line 6.

AAftAAA

H

Pfli

Papyrus of Hunefer, sheet 1, line 5 ff .

3 JBook of the .Dead, Chap. Ixxviii. 16.

• Ibid., Chap, clxxiii.

I j"lll'nil iiiiitnii I

ONENESS OF THE GODS

' into being aforetime, the great god who liveth in (or by) Maat ' (i.e., unfailing and unvarying order and regularity),

pautti the paut

W

G

D

fepi 7U£S pautti

primeval [which] gave the two companies of

gods,

Icheper

" came into being

nete7 ofod

birth to

7ieb dm - f

every through him,

I I

ud uoui one alone,

n

am

f

linen

shad

ta

em

sep tepi

" he made what exists when the earth began in primeval time,

sheta.u " hidden

viesi aslit

of births, manifold

hlieperiu of forms,

an rekhtu not is known

im

bes - f

"his growth." ^

The text goes on to say that Amen-Ra, is the "holy Sekhem (i.e., " Power), the god who is beloved, and is terrible and mighty in "his risings, lord of space, the Power, Khepera, the creator of " every evolution (or, thing) which belongeth to his existence,^ " except whom at the beginning none other existed." Here then we have Ta-tunen, Ra-Tem, and the god Osiris all called " God

One," neter iid, "1 Jj i , and in the last extract we have the

remarkable expression " God One alone," i ^T 3, applied

to Amen-Ra. If we consider for a moment we shall see that the

See Maspero, Mem. Miss. Arch., torn i., p. 594.

ONENESS OF THE GODS 133

gods Tern and Khepera are only forms of the Sun-god Ra, and as Tatunen was concerned in the production of the Sun-god he also is a solar god ; at the time when the above extracts were written, i.e., under the XVIIIth Dynasty, we have abundant proof that the Egyptians were continually adding to the attributes which they ascribed to Osiris, and that such attributes were those which belonged to some form of Ra or to Ra himself. The word " One " then is applied in these cases to Ra, and to the forms of Ra, and to a god who had come to be regarded in one aspect at least as a solar god, and it will be found on examination of the texts that whenever a god or goddess is described as " One " it is because that deity has been endowed by the writer, whether rightly or wrongly is another matter, with some of the attributes of Ra.

It is easy to see from the hieroglyphic extract given above that to the god there described are attributed many of the creative qualities which we assign to Grod Almighty. Thus he is said to be the primeval Paut or divine substance who gave birth to the two companies of the gods (in this case we must understand the company of the gods of heaven and the company of the gods of earth, and not the Great and Little Companies of the gods of Heliopolis), and every god came into being by him or through him. Here it is quite clear that "every god " means only every inferior being who possessed something of the quality of a neter or " god," and every being who ministered to the great Paut, and who in the Hebrew Scriptures would be grouped under the name " Elohlm," good Jinn. The text goes on to say not only in primeval times, i.e., "in the beginning," he created whatever exists upon the earth, but also that in primeval time no other being existed with him. This is a definite statement of the unity or oneness of God which cannot be gainsaid, and it Avas this attribute of unity or oneness which the priests of various cities ascribed to their local god whenever they could. We have no means of saying whether this idea of oneness or unity was first applied to Ra or to some more ancient god such as Horus, but it is, in the writer's opinion, quite certain that it existed in the minds of the educated classes of Egypt in the earliest times, and that in all periods it was the

THE GREAT SELF-CREATED GOD

central point of their conceptions of God. But the text goes on to say that the great Paut who created the companies of the gods is " hidden of births and manifold of forms," and that " his growth (or development) is unknown." This is only another way of saying that the manner in which the beings and things produced by the Paut came into being is unknown, and that he appears under many forms. We may here refer to the passage in the XVIIth Chapter of the Booh of the Dead (line 9), wherein it is said : —

ODD

nuk neter da hheper tchesef

" I am the great god self-created,

/

^ AAAAAA

Nu Nu,

©

D

that is to say,

qemam renu

" who made his names

m

paid neteru

the company of the gods

neter Sfod."

em

as

Concerning this being the question is asked, " Who then is this ? "

and the following answer is given : —

Bd pu " It is Ra

qemam who created

renu names

en for

at - f his members

kheper

U

eneii

D

" and these came into being

w

ami

hhet

Rd

em in the form of

" who are in the following of Ra."

m

neteru the gods

On the creative power of the great Paut special emphasis is laid in the extract on p. 132, for, after declaring that he created in the begin-

HENOTHETSM 135

ning whatsoever exists, the text adds that he created everything that had to do with his own coming into being ; and in the passages from the Booh of the Dead it is taught, according to one dogma, that the names of the great, self-produced god Nu became the company of gods under the form of God, and according to another that the gods who were in the train of Ra were the members or limbs of Ra, and that these limbs were, in turn, the names of Ra. The last text quoted is of considerable importance, for it gives us a direct proof that the attributes of the god Nu were transferred to Ra, and that Ra was identified absolutely with Nu, and the last text but one quoted shows how the attributes of Ra were transferred to Amen, who was originally only the local god of Thebes, by means of the fusion of the two gods into Amen-Ra. We know that to many gods were ascribed the attributes of Ra, and that all solar gods were, in the dynastic period at least, held to be forms of him ; if we could identify them all we should be able to reduce the number of Egyptian gods considerably.

The attribute or quality of oneness or unity, which is ascribed first to the great God who was the creator of the heavens and the earth and all therein, and secondly to the Sun-god who was regarded as the visible type and symbol of God and his various forms, and thirdly, at a later period to the god Osiris, has been termed "henotheism" by many writers who asserted that it was a "phase of religious thought"^ which was difi'erent from monotheism. According to the late Right Honourable Prof. Max Miiller we have become acquainted with this phase of religious thought " for the first time through the Veda," and he goes on to say that "when these individual gods are invoked they are not conceived as limited by the power of others, as superior or inferior in rank. Each god is to the mind of the suppliant as good as all the gods. He is felt at the time as a real divinity, as supreme and absolute, in spite of the necessary limitations which, to our mind, a plurality of gods must entail on every single god. All the rest disappear from the vision of the poet, and he only who is to fulfil their desires stands in full light before the eyes of the worshippers." It is quite true that the ^ Max Miiller, Hibhert Lectures, p. 285.

136 HENOTHEISM

Egyptian religion passed through a phase which has been identified as henotheism, but, assuming for a moment that we should be correct in calling that phase henotheism, the Egyptian religious texts prove that it was " not the henotheism of Max Miiller or of " Hartmann, or of Asmus, but a practical henotheism, i.e., the " adoration of one God above all others as the specific tribal god or " as the lord over a particular people, a national or relative '' monotheism, like that of the ancient Israelites, the worship of an ^' absolute sovereign who exacts passive obedience. This practical ^' monotheism is totally different from the theoretical monotheism, ^' to which the Aryans, with their monistic speculative idea of the ^' godhead, are much nearer." ^

These words by the late Professor Tiele here quoted were not applied by him to the Egyptian religion, but they so well express the present writer's views about the monotheism of the Egyptians that they are adopted for that purpose. Professor Tiele was, undoubtedly, the greatest authority on comparative religion of his day, and although he was not an Egyptologist at first hand, he had discussed Egyptian religious texts with great experts like Chabas, Birch, de Rouge, and others, to such good purpose that his opinion on the subject is of peculiar value. According to him the Egyptian religion presents two apparently contradictory and irreconcilable phenomena : — 1. A lively sentiment of the spirituality of God united to the coarsest materialistic representations of different divinities ; and 2. A sentiment, not less lively, of the unity of God, united to an extremely great multiplicity of divine persons.^ The best educated priests, he thinks, who were the most vigorous promoters of religious progress, Avere as much attached to forms and traditional symbols as the people themselves, and they were most unwilling to give up any part of them. The symbolism, being misunderstood by the ignorant folk, produced serious errors, and the forms under which the Egyptians represented their gods, and which are repellent to our refined taste, answered in their minds to the idea of divinity which was purer and more spiritual than the noble and beautiful forms of the gods of

^ C. P. Tiele, in Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. xx., p. 367. 2 Histoire Comparee des Anciennes Religions, Paris, 1882.

POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM 137

Hellas. The ignorant felt no repugnance to monstrous representations because they appeared as representations having a profound and mysterious meaning ; the learned understood the meanings of the symbols, and paid their adoration through them to the truth of which they were the coverings. In other words, the uneducated loved a plurality of gods, while the priests and educated classes who could read and understand books adopted the idea of One God, the creator of all the beings in heaven and on earth who, for want of a better word, were called " gods."

The priests and theologians saw nothing incompatible in believing that God was One, and that he existed under innumerable forms. We may note the existence of the same view in the Hebrew Scriptures where, in spite of the commandments, " Thou " shalt have no other o-ods before me. Thou shalt not make unto " thee any graven image, or any likeness [of anything] that [is] " in heaven above, .... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to " them, nor serve them . . . ." (Exodus xx. 3-5), the Israelites felt no scruple in representing God in the midst of His sons, and for a very long time they continued to adore a number of divine beings side by side with Yahweh.^ Thus in Joshua xxii. 22, we read, " The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth and " Israel shall know; " in Exodus xxii. 28 is given the commandment, " Thou shalt not revile the gods nor curse the ruler of thy people ; " in Psalm cxxxvi. 2, Israel is exhorted to " give thanks unto the " God of gods ; " the " sons of God " we know from Genesis vi. 2 ; Job ii. 1 ; xxxviii. 7;^ and that "gods" in some passages mean nothing but beings possessing some characteristic of God is clear from 1 Samuel xxviii. 13, wherein we read that the witch of Endor told Saul that she " saw gods ascending out of the earth." The allusion in this last passage is clearly to some kind of supernatural being or beings. Returning for a moment to the views of Professor Tiele, we admit that, judging from certain texts of the Dynastic Period, he is justified in asserting that in Egypt monotheism is anterior to polytheism; but judging from the evidence of the recently discovered monuments of the

^ Tiele, Hist. Comjmree, p. 138.

2 C£. also Dent. x. 17 ; Psalms xiv. 3 ; Ixxxii. 1, 6; Job i. 6.

138 EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

predynastic and archaic periods, we must admit that polytheism appears to be older than monotheism. On the other hand, the monotheistic ideas which appear in the works of Kaqemna and Ptah-hetep were certainly not invented during the jDeriod in which they lived, and there is every reason for believing that they originated at a much earlier date. If literary compositions belonging to the first three dynasties are ever brought to light from the tombs of Egypt, we shall probably find that the idea of the oneness of God is expressed with just as much force and certainty as it is under the following dynasties, and in the same works we shall also find mention of the various gods who were created by the great God who was proclaimed to be One, and expected to be worshipped Avith obedience.

The final opinion of Professor Tiele on the Egyptian religion was that from the beginning it was polytheistic, but that it developed in two opposite directions ; in the one direction gods were multiplied by the addition of local gods, and in the other the Egyptian drew nearer and nearer to monotheism.^

We may now consider the opinions of some of the greatest Egyptologists on the monotheism of the Egyptians. Writing in the Bevue Arclieologique (1860, p. 73) E. de Rouge says, "The *' unity of a supreme and self-existent being, his eternity, his " almightiness, and eternal reproduction thereby as God ; the " attributing of the creation of the world and of all living beings "to the supreme God; the immortality of the soul, completed by " the dogma of punishments and rewards ; such is the sublime

^ " Een Yoorliistorisch. monotheisme onderstelt een graad van ontwikkeling " en een vordering- in liet wijsgeerig nadenken, die bij een nog barbaarscli volk " niet denkbaar zijn. Ook de egyptische godsdienst is van animisnie en magisch '• polydaemonisme uitgegaan en zoo eerst tot poljtheisme opgeklommen. Dit " polytliei'sme ontwikkelt zicli dan in twee gelieel tegen o vergestelde richtingen. " Aan den eenen kant wordt de godenwereld, door bijeenvoeging van plaatselijke " godsdiensten , een gevolg van de ondervverping der verschillende gewesten met " hun godsdienstige middelpunten aan liet gezag van een koning, en door over- " neming van vreemde godlieden, steeds rijker. Aan den anderen kant nadert " men het monotheisme meer en meer, zonder het ooithelder en ondubbelzinnig nit " te spreken. De geleerden traclitten beide mit elkander overeen te breugen, onder " anderen door de vele goden voor te stellen als de openbaringen van den eenen» "ongesehapen, verborgen God, zijn leben, door hem zelnengeschapen." See Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid, Amsterdam, 1893, p. 25.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM 139

" and persistent base which, notwithstanding all deviations and all " mythological embellishments, must secure for the beliefs of the " ancient Egyptians a most honourable place among the religions " of antiquity." ^ In an article on the " Religion of the Ancient Egyptians," written nine years later as a result of a close study of many of the great religious texts, he asserted that more than five thousand years before there existed in the Valley of the Nile the hymn to the unity of God, and the belief in the unity of a supreme God with the attributes of Creator of men, and Legislator of man, whom he has endowed with an immortal soul. In his description of the principal monuments at the Egyptian Museum at Biilak in Cairo, Mariette Bey said, " At the head of the Egyptian pantheon " soars a God who is one, immortal, uncreated, invisible and hidden '' in the inaccessible depths of his essence ; he is the creator of the " heavens and of the earth ; he has made everything which exists " and nothing has been made without him ; such is the God who " is reserved for the initiated of the sanctuary." ^ A similar view was held by Chabas,^ who said, " The One God, who existed before " all things, who represents the pure and abstract idea of divinity, " is not clearly specialized by [any] one single personage of the vast " Egyptian pantheon. Neither Ptali, nor Seb, nor Thoth, nor Ra,

^ " L'unite d'un etre suprerae existant par lui-meme, son eternite, sa toute- " puissance et la generation eternelle en Dien ; la creation du monde et de tons " les etres vivants attribuee a ce Dien supreme ; rimmortalite de ITime, completee " par le dogme des peines et des recompenses ; tel est le fond sublime et persistant " qui, malgre toutes les deviations et toutes les broderies mytbologiqnes, doit " assurer aux croyances des anciens Egyptiens un rang tres honorable parmi les

" religions de I'antiquite." " II y a plus de 5000 ans qu'a commence, dans

" voyons dans les derniers temps I'Egypte arrivee au Polytlieisme le plus effrene. " La croyance d V Unite du Dieu supreme, a ses attributs de Createur et de Legislateur " de Vhomme, qu'il a doue d'une dme immortelle ; voila les notions primitives " encliassees comme des diamants indestructibles au milieu des superfetations mytho- " logiques accumulees par les siecles qui ont passe sur cette vieille civilisation." Annules de Philosophie Chretienne, Paris, 1869, p. 336.

2 " iVu sommet du pantheon Egyptien plane un Dieu unique, immortel, incree, " invisible et cacbe dans les profondeurs inaccessibles de son essence ; il est le " createur du ciel et de la terre ; il a fait tout ce qui existe, et rien n'a ete fait sans " lui ; c'est le Dieu reserve ;i I'initie du sanctuaire." Mariette, Notice, Cairo,

^ Ccdendriev des jours fastes et nefastes, p. 107.

140 EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

'' nor Osiris, nor any other god is a personification of him at all " times ; but of these sometimes one and at other times another is "invoked in terms which assimilate these intimately with the " supreme type; the innumerable gods of Egypt are only attributes " and different aspects of this unique type."

M. Pierret, in discussing the matter, holds the view that the texts prove that the Egyptians believed in a God who was One, and was without a second, and Avas infinite and eternal. At the very time, however, when the scribes were writing upon papyrus or cutting upon stone the inscriptions Avhich affirmed this belief, the artists were making sculptures of the gods with heads of hawks, or rams, or crocodiles, or goddesses with the heads of lionesses, cats, or coAvs. Nevertheless the One God, who is without a second, is One even among the company of the gods, for he has numerous names and forms, and he appears under sacred and mysterious forms in the temples, that is to say under the figures ^ which were painted on the walls, and in the statues of the gods which were set up in the temples. The greatest supporter of the doctrine of ancient Egyptian monotheism was the late Dr. Brugsch, who assigned to the word for God, neter T Jj, the highly philosophical meaning which has been quoted above. Accepting the view, which the Egyptians themselves held, that the gods were only names of the various attributes of the One God, he searched through the religious literature and collected from the hymns, prayers, etc., which were addressed to the various gods and goddesses in various periods, a number of epithets and attributes ^ which were bestowed upon them by their worshippers. These extracts he classified, and when they were grouped and arranged they formed a description of God such as it would be difficult to find a parallel for outside the Holy Scriptures. It has been contended that as these scattered epithets are never found together the ancient Egyptians had no conception of a God who was One, and was self-produced, and had existed, and would exist, always, and was hidden and unknown of form and name, and was the Creator of heaven and the gods, and earth, and man, and all

' Pierret, Le Pdiithi'on l^]gy2)tien, Paris, 1881.

~ They will be found in Brugsch, Religion uiid MytJiologie, p. 96 ff.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM 141

things, and was at the same time merciful, and compassionate, and loving, and the protector of the weak against the strong, and the re warder and protector of those who served him.

But this contention is not well founded, because, although these attributes were ascribed to a miscellaneous number of deities, we must remember that they would not have been thus associated unless the writers recognized such gods as phases or aspects of the Great God. The fact remains that such attributes were ascribed to gods who were created by God, and that the Egyptians arrived at such ideas as those described above is a lasting proof of the exalted character of their religion and of their conception of monotheism. The main point to keep in view is that the gods of Egypt were regarded by the Egyptians generally as inferior beings to the great God who made them, and that they were not held to be equal to him in all respects. Further, we must repeat that the God referred to in the moral precepts of the Early Empire holds a position similar to that held by Yahweh among the Hebrews and A-llah among the Arabs, and that the gods and goddesses who were ministers of his will and pleasure find their counterparts in the angels, and archangels, and spirits of all kinds, both good and bad, of whom the Hebrew and Arabic literatures are full. No surer proof of this can be given than the well-known passage in Deuteronomy vi. 4, where it is said, " Hear, 0 Israel, Yahweh our " God (literally, gods), is YahAveh One," ^ and the Egyptian nete7- ud

I rfl I ^, "One God," as far as the application and meaning of ud

is concerned, is identical with that of the Hebrew word "rnx in the

IT V

text quoted. We may note, too, the words, " Yahweh our gods," polytheistic period of the ancient Hebrew religion ; it is, however, possible that when the verse in Deuteronomy was written the word Elohtm had come to mean the great God of the Hebrews, although originally it had meant a collection of sacred or divine beings. In the Kur'an, Sura cxii., the God of the Arabs is declared to be One, and from the commentaries on the Sura we know that this declaration was revealed to Muhammad in answer to the people of

1 Compare St. Mark xii. 29.

142 EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

the Kuresh, who asked him concerning the distinguishing attributes of the God he invited them to worship. If we had all the literature of the early Hebrews, and of the Arabs at the period of the propaganda of Muhammad we should probably find that many local gods in Palestine and Arabia were called One, but that only the God who had the moral aspects which were attributed to the great God of the Egyptians by the philosophers of the Early Empire succeeded in retaining it permanently.

The religion of the Egyptians has, however, always been

regarded from two distinct and opposite points of view ; a number

of scholars, among whom may be mentioned Champollion-Figeac,

de Rouge, Chabas, Mariette, Deveria, Birch, and Brugsch, have

considered it to have been monotheistic, but others have declared

unhesitatingly that it was polytheistic ; this result is due probably

to the way in which it is regarded. Speaking of the difference of

opinion which existed on the subject between the late Dr. Brugsch

and himself, M. Maspero says that he and Brugsch considered the

Egyptian religion in two different Avays. Time, he says, which has

done so much harm to other nations, has shown itself favourable

to the Egyptians. It has spared their tombs, their temples, their

statues, and the thousand small objects which were the pride of

their domestic life, and it has led us in such a way that we judge

them by the most beautiful and the prettiest of the things which

they made, and has at length caused us to place their civilization

on the same footing as that of the Romans or the Greeks. But if

it be looked at more nearly the point of view changes ; to speak

quite shortly, Thothmes III. and Rameses 11. resemble Mtesa of

Central Africa more closely than they do Alexander or Caesar.

It is not their fault, but they arrived too soon in a period which

was too early, and they must bear the penalty of their precociousness. In art, in science, in trade, they have invented much and

produced much, and have, above all, promised much ; their religion

presents the same mixture of coarseness and refinement which is

found in all else. Most of its myths it holds in common with the

most savage tribes of the Old and the New Worlds. The Egyptian

possessed the spirit of the metaphysician, a fact which he proved

when Christianity furnished him with a subject worthy of his

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM 143

subtle powers. But, M. Maspero asks, what kind of metaphysics could proceed from so naive a conception of the universe and of things which he has revealed? He thinks it must be true, at least in the main, because Brugsch depicted the Egyptian world in a manner very similar to his own, and deeming it true he cannot any longer admit the notion of the Egyptian Deity and his unity which several scholars have adopted. He takes the Egyptian religion for what it shows that it is, viz., a polytheism Avith its contradictions, and its repetitions, with its dogmas indecent sometimes, cruel sometimes, and ridiculous sometimes, according to modern ideas, and with its families of half-human gods which the worshipper cherished the more or understood the better the more closely they resembled himself.^ The opinion thus expressed, though unfavourable to the character of the Egyptian, and directly opposed to the views of some of the greatest Egyptologists of the last century, is evidently honest, and coming from such a quarter is entitled to the greatest respect ; but it seems that M. Maspero has judged the Egyptians of all periods according to the standard of religion which was in vogue in Egypt in predynastic times, when the primitive Egyptians were, no doubt, half savage.

The Egyptians, being fundamentally an African people, possessed all the virtues and vices which characterized the IS'orth African races generally, and it is not to be held for a moment that any African people could ever become metaphysicians in the modern sense of the word. In the first place, no African language is suitable for giving expression to theological and philosophical speculations, and even an Egyptian priest of the highest intellectual attainments would have been unable to render a treatise of Aristotle into language which his brother priests without teaching could understand. The mere construction of the language would make such a thing an impossibility, to say nothing of the ideas of the great Greek philosopher, which belong to a domain of thought and culture wholly foreign to the Egyptian. The allusion to the Christian metaphysics of the Egyptian is understandable, as everyone knows who has taken the trouble to read the literature of the Copts, who transferred much of the base and degraded Egyptian ^ La Mythologie ^gyptienne, p. 278.

144 EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

mythology which was current during the first few centuries of the Christian era into their newly acquired belief in Jesus Christ. The lives of the Coptic martyrs show the use which the Egyptian made of his metaphysical spirit, and the history of the early Church in Egypt illustrates what happened when he tried to apply it to the consideration of the common theological terms in Greek and in Latin. Incidentally we may note that in order to express the various ideas connected with the Christian Deity and the Persons of the Trinity he was obliged to take over the actual Greek words into his language, which was poor in abstract ideas. In the picture which M. Maspero has given of the Egyptian's conception of the universe and of the origin of gods and things he has only dwelt upon the mythological side of the question, and has not set forth all the passages upon which other Egyptologists have based their views about Egyptian monotheism ; moreover, no allowance appears to have been made for the peculiar religious and mental characteristics of the race. But when all is said against the Egyptian religion which can be said, the fact remains that it is not the religion itself which has cruel, ridiculous, and indecent dogmas, but the myths wherewith generations of foolish priests obscured the pure beliefs in monotheism and immortality which seem to have existed in Egypt from the earliest times. If modern oriental religions were judged in the adverse manner in which the religion of ancient Egypt has been judged, none would escape similar condemnation ; the same thing may be said of some of the religions of the Western nations.

The superstitions which exist among many Eastern nations professing monotheism and even Christianity are as gross as those found among so-called Pagan nations ; as examples may be quoted the Christians of St. John in Southern Mesopotamia, and many of the Arabic-speaking peoples of the Eastern Sudan, yet among the former no one attempts to deny the existence of a sort of Christianity, though he would indeed be bold who would dare to compare it with the Christianity of such men as Canon Liddon or Cardinal Newman ; similarly, the monotheism of the peoples of the Eastern Sudan is universally admitted, but it does not prevent their indulging in the coarsest and most fantastic beliefs and practices,

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM 145

many of which, however, it must be admitted have descended to them from their pagan ancestors. Fortunately, however, the monotheistic character of the Egyptian religion rests on too firm a foundation to be easily overthrown, and notwithstanding the elaborate system of symbolic ceremonials which was so prominent a feature of Egyptian worship, Egyptian monotheism always maintained its place in the minds of those who were sufficiently educated to understand the ideas which the symbols thereof represented. The Egyptian never confounded God with the gods, and it would seem that he even discriminated between God and " the god of the " city," for in the Negative Confession (No. 38) the deceased says, " 0 Utu-rekhit, who comest forth from thy house, I have not cursed " God " ; and in No. 42 he says, " Hail, An-a-f, who comest forth "from Aukert (the Underworld), I have not thought scorn of (or, " belittled) the god who is in my city." Whence came the Egyptian conception of monotheism, or when it first sprang up, cannot be said, but in its oldest form it is coeval with the dynastic civilization of Egypt at least, and it may well date from far earlier times. The monotheistic idea is not the peculiar attribute of any one people or period. It may seem unnecessary to discuss Egyptian monotheism at such length, but the matter is one of great interest and importance because the literature of Egypt proves it to have been in existence in that country for more than three thousand five hundred years before Christ ; in fact, Egyptian monotheism is the oldest form of monotheism known to us. It is easy enough to understand how anxious the priesthoods of the various cities would be to persuade the people who worshipped the local gods that this or that god was the being who united in himself the attributes of the original god of the city with those of the great cosmic god with physical aspects who created the heavens and the earth, and with those of the ethical god who was proclaimed by Kaqemna, Ptahlietep, Ani, and other writers of moral precepts.

In the earliest times it was the god Horus who was chosen in this manner, for under the form of a hawk he appears to have been the first god who was worshipped throughout the country generally, and the numerous forms of this god, and the fact that his attributes were at a later period ascribed to Horus the son of Isis, attest the

L

146 HORUS AND RA

antiquity and importance of his cult. The next god chosen to represent the great ethical God of the Egyptians was not a personification of the sky as was Horus, but the Sun-god Ril, on whom was bestowed every epithet of power and might which was known to the Egyptians, as well as the epithets and forms of the god Horus. But although his worship was common throughout Egypt, and his sanctuaries were for many centuries the most important in the land, there is abundant proof that the Egyptians never merged their conceptions of their great ethical God in their conceptions of Ra.

There seem to be traces of a belief that Ra as the spirit or god of the sun may have been a form or representative of him, but they are not very definite, and the worship of Ra's visible symbol, the sun, as the source of heat and light, and therefore of life — as the Egyptians recognized at an early period — was commoner than any abstract conception of his nature or existence. In a hymn to Hapi, the Nile-god, we find a remarkable passage in which some of the chief attributes of God are ascribed to the power which causes the Inundation and who is addressed under the names of the gods Ptah and Khnemu. To this Being it is said by the author of

m

the hymn, '' If thou wert overcome in heaven the gods, "would fall upon their faces and mankind would j)erish." The context shows that the author first pays a tribute of reverence to the local god of Memphis, Ptah, Avhom he styles the " lord of fish," and the " creator of wheat and barley," and of whom he says with reference to the well-known attribute of Ptah as the great artificer, " inactivity is the abomination of his fingers," i.e., the fingers of the god hate idleness. He then goes on to mention Khnemu, the local god of the First Cataract, wherein the sources of the Nile were at one time believed to be situated, and styles him " the bringer of " food and provisions, the creator of all good things, the lord of all " choice and pleasant meats, who maketh the herb to grow for the " use of the cattle, who filleth the storehouses and heapeth up high " [corn] in the granaries, who payeth heed to the poor and needy, " who maketh to grow crops which are sufficient for the desires of " all men and yet is not diminished thereby, and whose strength is " a shield." Now the author of the hymn goes on to declare that

THE ATTRIBUTES OF HAPI 147

the true Ha]3i, or god of the Nile, " cannot be figured in stone, he is not to be seen in the images on which are set the crowns of the south and the north with their uraei, offerings cannot be made to him, he cannot be brought forth from his secret places, his dwelling-place is not to be found out, he is not to be found in the shrines which are inscribed with texts, there is no habitation which is sufficiently large for him to dwell in, and the heart [of man] is unable to depict him." ^

The being here referred to is a physical and not an ethical god, and the simplest and, from this point of view, most natural explanation of these remarkable statements is that they are intended to describe the inaccessibility both of the Nile-god and of his shrine. The fact, however, remains that the declaration of the almighty strength and inscrutability, and invisibility, and the impossibility of a description of the power which moves the Nile-god being made by man in writing, or in drawing, or in sculpture, proves the existence in the minds of the Egyptian writers of a lofty conception of the attributes of God.

But side by side with the fundamental ideas of Horus and Ra and the conceptions which were at the root of the worship of these gods, there existed in the minds of the Egyptians a firm and continuous belief in the god Osiris, who held a position in the Egyptian religion which was quite distinct from that held by any other god. About his origin nothing can be said, but there is no reason for doubting that he was a god of the indigenous inhabitants of Egypt, and that his worship was firmly established in the country before the dynastic period. He was from the earliest times associated with the doctrine of immortality, and was, the writer believes, the symbol of monotheism in Egypt. It is impossible to say, or even to suggest, what was the original form of his worship, but we know that in the archaic period one great centre of his cult was at Abydos, and from the fact that he was included in the ixLut^ or company of gods of Heliopolis, we may conclude that he was a very important god of Tattu, or of Busiris, in the Delta, and that his sanctuary was much visited by the peoples thereof. Under the Vth Dynasty, as we have already

^ A transcript of tMs text will be found in my First Steps in Egyptian, p. 208.

148 OSIRIS, LORD OF TATTU

seen, he was regarded as the judge of the dead, and it is clear that he was also the god of the dead par excellence ; but it must be noted that the priests of Ra formed at that time the predominant priesthood of Egypt, and therefore care was taken to assign to Osiris a position inferior to that of Ra in heaven. When the Vlth Dynasty of kings came to an end the power of the priesthood of Ra was greatly diminished, and the worship of Osiris grew and prospered. It is unnecessary to trace here step by step the growth of the cult of the god until the period of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and it will be sufficient to say that between the Vlth and the end of the XVIIIth Dynasty nearly all the attributes of the Sun-god Ra were transferred to Osiris, and the name of Ra is joined to that of Osiris, just as in much earlier times it was joined to Tem and Heru-khuti to indicate the compound gods Ra-Tem and Ra-Heru-khuti. Thus in Chapter cxxx. of the Booh of the Dead ^ the deceased says, " I shall not be turned back in the "horizon, for I am Ra-Osiris," and this passage is a proof that quite early in the XVIIIth Dynasty Osiris was considered to be a solar god. In Chapter xvii. (1. 110 ff.) the deceased is made to say, " I am the God-Soul which dwelleth in the Twin-gods, On this the question follows, " What does this

" mean ? " to which we have the answer, '' It hath reference to " Osiris when he goeth into Tattu ^ and findeth there the soul of '• Ra ; there one god embraceth the other, and the divine Souls " spring into being within the Twin-gods." These lines of text are illustrated by a very interesting vignette in the Papyrus of Ani (see sheets 7-10), wherein we see a pylon-shaped building between the double ^ ft , which represents Tattu, and upon it stand the god Ra, in the form of a hawk with a solar disk upon his head, and Osiris in the form of a human-headed hawk, wearing the White Crown. The two gods face each other in Tattu, and, according to the text, were absorbed or merged each in the other ; thus Osiris obtained the attributes and characteristics of the Snn-god Ra, but was supposed at the same time to retain all his own peculiar attributes.

^ Papyrus of Nu, Chap, cxxx., 1. 18.

• Either Mendes in the Delta, or the heavenly Mendes.

IDENTITY OF OSIRIS AND RA 149

The view here given is that which Avas favoured by the priests of Thebes who, however, only reproduced that which they had borrowed from the priests of Heliopolis, and having gained currency in the theological colleges of the South, it spread among the people to such an extent that almost every great city possessed a sanctuary dedicated to Osiris. A very important hymn to Osiris, which is certainly as old as the period of the XVIIIth Dynasty, shows us how this god assimilated to himself the old solar gods, and how he became Ra. His holy double {^ ka) was said to live in Mendes, he was the god who dwelt in Sekhem (i.e., Horus), the lord of Qerert (i.e., the Underworld), the holy one in Memphis, the lord of the temple of Hermopolis, the local gods of which were Thoth and his j^ciut, or company, and he was declared to be the " soul of Ra " and the very body of this god,

god Nu, and he was the great spirit and divine body in heaven. He was supposed to iight and to vanquish the traditional fiend Seba, who dared to wage war against Ra, and he was the stablisher of rio:ht and truth, madt, throus-hout the world. He made

the earth with his own hands, and its winds, and its vegetation, and feathered fowl, and fish, and cattle and other quadrupeds, and to him belonged by right the mountains and the desert land throughout the world. The lands of Egypt rejoiced^ to crown him upon his throne like his father Ra. The Great and the Little Companies of the gods loved him, he was the leader of every god, and the brother of the stars. Finally, as a proof of the absolute identity of Ra and Osiris may be quoted the opening lines of Chapter clxxxi. of the Booh of the Dead, which read : — " Homage " to thee, 0 governor of Amentet, Un-nefer, the lord of Ta-tchesert, " 0 thou who risest like Ra ! Verily I come to see thee and to " rejoice at thy beauties. His disk is thy disk ; his rays are thy "rays; his crown is thy crown; his majesty is thy majesty;. his " risings are thy risings : his beauty is thy beauty ; the awe which " is his is the awe which is thine ; his odour is thy odour ; his hall

^ See tlie text, with a transliteration and translation, in my First Steps in Egyptian, p. 179 ff.

150 OSIRIS AND IMMORTALITY

" is thy hall ; his seat is thy seat ; his throne is thy ^throne ; his " heir is thy heir ; his ornaments are thy omaments ; his command " is thy command ; his mystery is thy mystery ; his things are " thy things ; his knowledge is thy knowledge ; his attributes of " majesty are thy attributes of majesty ; his magical powers are " thy magical powers ; he died not and thou shalt not die ; he was " not vanquished by his enemies and thou shalt not be vanquished '' by thine enemies ; no evil thing befell him, and no evil thing " shall befall thee for ever and for ever."

In such terms did the Egyptians extol the greatness and power of Osiris, but they make no mention of the aspect of the god which endeared him to countless generations of Egyptians. From hundreds of funeral and other texts we learn that Osiris was held to be partly divine and partly human, that is to say, unlike any other Egyptian god he possessed two natures, and two bodies, the one divine and the other human, and two doubles, the one divine and the other human, and two souls, the one divine and the other human, and two spirits, the one divine and the other human. The human body, according to the Egyptian tradition recorded by Plutarch,^ once lived upon earth and was put to death in a cruel manner, and was mutilated by his brother ; but his feminine counterpart, Isis, succeeded in obtaining from Thoth the knowledge of certain words and ceremonies, and having learnt from him the proper manner of reciting these words, and how to perform these ceremonies, by means of them she raised up to life the dead body of Osiris. The god Thoth was the personification of the intelligence of the whole company of the gods, and thus the words Avhich he taught Isis were divine, and they were, presumably, names by the utterance of which the gods themselves maintained their existence. Now when Osiris had been raised from the dead he did not continue his life upon earth, but passed into the region of the Underworld, where he became the judge and god of the dead and, as we have seen, was made the possessor of all the attributes of the Sungod Ra and of the great One God. But, the Egyptians in the early ages thought. Since Osiris was raised to life by the words and ceremonies which Thoth taught Isis, and since Osiris has gained ^ De Iside et Osiride, ed. Didot (Scripta Moralia, t. iii., pp. 429-469), § xii. fE.

OSmiS AND IMMORTALITY 151

immortality by means of them, these same words and ceremonies will raise us to life and give us immortality also. Their priests therefore invented a number of magical ceremonies, which they led the people to believe were identical with those which Isis had performed at the bidding of Thoth, and they strung together magical words which they declared to be those which had raised Osiris to life, and the words were recited and the ceremonies performed by priests who appear to have dressed themselves in such a way as to resemble the divine beings who were concerned with the resurrection of Osiris.

At a later period, however, the Egyptians put their trust in Osiris himself, and addressed their prayers directly to him as the Being, partly divine and partly human, who had raised himself from the dead without having seen corruption, and who had bestowed upon his own earthly body, by means of his divine nature, the gift of an everlasting life which it enjoyed in an incorruptible and glorified form in heaven. The Egyptians " loved life " and hated death," and they worshipped Osiris as the Great God who not only possessed the power of maintaining his own life indefinitely — which was supposed to be the chief distinguishing characteristic of a god — but also of giving mortals the power to live after death in this world. What Osiris had effected for himself he could efiect for man ; hence Thothmes III. is made to address the god in these words, " Homage to thee, 0 my divine " father Osiris, thou hast thy being with thy members. Thou " didst not decay, thou didst not turn into worms, thou didst not " rot away, thou didst not become corruption, thou didst not " putrefy. ... I shall not decay, I shall not rot, I shall not " putrefy. ... I shall have my being, I shall live, I shall germinate, " I shall wake up in joeace. . . . My body shall be stablished, and " it shall neither fall into ruin nor be destroyed off this earth." Because the human body of Osiris rose from the dead, the body of every man could rise from the dead also, but man lacked what Osiris possessed, i.e., the divine body, soul, spirit, and nature, which had brought about the resurrection of his human body, soul, spirit, and nature. In the earliest times of the worship of the ^ Booh of the Dead, Cliap. cliv.

152 OSIRIS AND IMMORTALITY

god the Egyptians, as we have seen, invented magical words and ceremonies with the object of supplying the human body with the power necessary to raise itself from the dead, but as time went on they realized that both words and ceremonies were incapable of giving eternal life to the dead, and that only Osiris himself could give them that which they so earnestly desired, i.e., everlasting life, by supplying to their dead earthly bodies the power to rise again, a power which he himself possessed. Beyond all doubt the Egyptians realized that Osiris was the only God who could make them to inherit life everlasting, and that he alone had the power of making " men and women to be born again." ^

We have already seen how the attributes of the great God who created all things were ascribed to him, and we now see that he was regarded as the god who had the power to vanquish death by raising up the bodies of the dead in glorified forms, and to reunite to them their souls and their spirits, and to give them eternal life in his dominions. These things were declared of no other god, and no other god united in his person the attributes of an ethical god, and an almighty, creative god, and a god who was the vivifier of the dead. The conception of Osiris included the conceptions of every other god, but the conception of no other god included that of Osiris during the period of the highest thought and civilization of Egypt. The Sun-god Ra, was called " One," a few other gods who were made to usurp his attributes were also each called " One ; " this in the earliest times was natural enough, because the Egyptians were only acquainted with one Sun, and whether the physical body of the sun as a symbol of the power which moved it or that power itself is referred to in the hymns matters little, for " One " was a suitable epithet both for the sun and its god. In connexion with this matter it is important to remember the unique position which Osiris occupies in the Booh of the Dead and in funeral texts generally. In the texts of the Vth Dynasty we find that Osiris was believed " to weigh words," i.e., to inquire into the various words and deeds of the lives of

OSIRIS AND IMMORTALITY 153

men when their souls left their bodies, in order that he might reward them according to their merits.

In later times this idea was illustrated by the vignette in which the heart of the deceased was seen being weighed in the Great Scales against the symbol of Maat, or the Law and right and truth ; at a still later period, when the heart was the symbol of the conscience, this scene became associated with the examination of the words and deeds of the dead which took place in the Hall of Maati. In the large scenes of the weighing of the heart which were prefixed to the finest papyri of the Booh of the Dead of the XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties, and which were accompanied by suitable hymns and texts, the ceremony takes place in the presence of the gods of the Great and Little companies, but in the Hall of Maati the Forty-Two Assessors are substituted for the gods. In both cases, however, the great judge of all is Osiris, and it was to him that all Egyptians returned after death. Why the Assessors were forty-two in number cannot be said, but it is very probable, as has been before suggested, that each of them represented a district in Egypt in the earliest dynastic times, and that the Hall of Maati thus became a meeting place for the Assessors of the whole country when Osiris sat to judge the dead. It is, moreover, impossible to say why certain assessors were supposed to hear confessions about the non-committal of certain sins, and we have no knowledge of the circumstances which gave rise to their selection and to their admission into the Hall of Judgment. Some of them appear to have been originally the gods of cities, and others gods of nomes, but, on the other hand, a few of them are deities who, in the earliest times, were apparently hostile to the dead. Failing full information on the subject, the chief interest which attaches to the Assessors and the Hall of Maati, in which they sit, consists in the fact that the vignette proves how completely Osiris had gained the ascendancy over all the gods of Egypt.

In the preceding pages an attempt has been made to trace the development of the conception of a supreme being in Egypt, from the earliest times to the period when Osiris became endowed with many of the attributes now ascribed to God Almighty. There is

154 DEVELOPMENT OF MONOTHEISM

no doubt that in predynastic times the Egyptians worshipped stocks, and stones, and animals, and plants, and trees, and that they only arrived at the idea of gods which were partly animal and partly man at the end of a long period of what is called in modem times " gross idolatry." From the idea of animal-man gods they advanced to the idea of a man-god, and finally their minds developed the conception of monotheism. When we first gain any definite knowledge of them we find that as a people they had put away the worship of stocks and stones, and most of the things which that worship implies, but that certain animals were held to be sacred in certain cities, and that the literature contained allusions to savage habits and practices, as we have already seen. As time went on, many changes took place in the minds of the Egyptians concerning their gods, but little variation was made in their worship and ceremonial in the temples ; in other words, the spirit of the religion changed whilst the observance of the letter remained unchanged. Thus the forms of worship and the literature preserved a great deal which no one believed in except the commonest folk, and in this way traces of the lowest forms of religion were preserved and handed down to posterity. The Egyptians, after the period of the IVth Dynasty, were the victims of conservatism and conventionality, and, we might almost add, of the priesthoods of Heliopolis and Thebes ; but for these powerful and wealthy confraternities the history of the religion of Egypt would have been very difi'erent. The conception of monotheism, which is so clearly expressed in the moral precepts of the Early Empire, would have developed rapidly, and in its growth it would have obliterated the remains of the old and obsolete faiths which had crystallized, and which existed in layers side by side with the higher doctrine. But the decay which set in after the IVth Dynasty, and which stifled the development of painting and sculpture, also attacked the religion of the country, and the noble conception of monotheism, with its cult of the unseen, was unable to compete with the worship of symbols, which could be seen and handled, until the time when Osiris was recognized as the One God, who was also the giver of eternal life. The Egyptians were unlike other nations, and similarly their religion and their gods were unlike the religion

EGYPTIAN RELIGION 155

and the gods of other nations ; and as they must not be judged by the standard of any one foreign nation belonging to any one period, so their religion and their gods must not be judged by the standard of the religion and gods of any later civilized nation. We can only know what the Egyptians thought and believed by reading and studying the texts which they wrote, and a final opinion on their beliefs cannot be obtained until all their religious literature has been published ; the general outline, however, of their religion is clear enough, and it shows us that they possessed a good, practical form of monotheism and a belief in immortality which were already extremely ancient even in the days when the Pyramids were built.*

CHAPTER IV THE COMPANIONS OF THE GODS IN HEAVEN

IN the preceding chapters, Avhich are devoted to the consideration of general questions concerning God and the gods, no mention is made of the habitation of these divine beings or of their companions. The texts of all periods are silent as to the exact position of heaven, but it is certain that the Egyptians assigned to

it a place above the sky, and that they called it 2^ei ^__^ ; we must

distinguish between the meanings oi ijet ^ and nut , for the

former means " heaven," and the latter " sky." We may also

note that two skies are mentioned in the texts, i.e., , the day

sky, and , the night sky. The hieroglyphic for heaven and

sky represents a slab, each end of which rests on a support, and we may assume that the primitive Egyptians believed that each end of heaven rested upon a support (i.e., two mountains) ; out of one mountain came the sun every morning, and into the other he entered every night. The mountain of Sunrise was called

«===^ c^Cb:0. In the earliest times the sky was divided into two

ODD ^

parts only, the East and the West, but later another division was made, and heaven was split up into four parts, and each was placed under the care of a god. The latter division was made long before the Pyramid Texts were written, for in them it is always assumed that the flat slab of iron which formed the sky, and therefore the floor of the abode of the gods, was rectangular, and that each corner of it rested upon a pillar, | . That this is a very ancient view concerning the sky is proved by the hieroglyphic

THE FOUR PILLARS OF HEAVEN 157

'jjjy', which is used in texts to determine words for rain, storm, and the like; here we have a picture of the sky falling and being pierced by the four pillars of heaven.

At a later period, the four quarters of heaven were believed to be under the direction of four gods, and the four pillars of the sky were poetically described as the four sceptres which they held in their hands. Thus in the text of Teta (1. 233) it is said, " As " Teta goeth towards them they bring unto him the four gods " who stand with the sceptres of heaven, and they repeat the name " of Teta to Ra, and they take up his name to Horus of the two " horizons." ^ In several texts ^ allusion is made to the lifting up of

heaven upon its four pillars, e.g., ^ -^ ^ ^_^ (^ ^ SH^IlII "**" ' and in one place the four pillars are said to support that on which period the idea arose that the sky needed support in the middle as well as at the corners, and the god who acted as the prop was called Hell, MM- According to one myth which represented the

heavens in the form of the head of a man, and which made the sun and the moon to be his eyes, the supports of heaven were supposed to be formed of his long flowing hair, and thus we have in the text of Unas (1. 473) an allusion to the " four elder spirits who dwell " in the locks of hair of Horus, who stand in the eastern part of " heaven grasping their sceptres." ^ The gods Avho grasped as sceptres the four pillars of heaven, which eventually became the

^m^m F=^'J^f' — ^ — Clj] — ^ il^-^JL

• See Brugsch, Worterbuch, p, 1351.

158 THE FOLLOAVERS OF HORUS

point, Hap, | D A'^='^=» the god of the northern point, Tuajy y II y 2^.=^, the god of the western point. These four gods played

a prominent part in connexion with the deceased in the Pyramid Texts, where they are called the " children of Horus," ^ for at one time they are called upon to bring him the boat of the Eye of

they are exhorted to protect his life by their magical power and amulets, I '^ J) — . ■=im-' ^ and finally the deceased is said to become one of these four gods (Pepi I. 1. 672), ^ ^ ^ 1 1 1 ° ^ 111 ' The duties which are assigned to them as funereal gods in the Book of the Dead will be described later on.

Chief among the dwellers in heaven was the god Ra, who is said to sit upon an iron throne [the sides of which were ornamented] with the faces of lions and feet which resembled the hoofs of bulls.^ Round about Ra, whether walking or sitting, were the gods who were " in his train," and these formed the nucleus of the inhabitants of heaven. Next to these came certain companies of the gods, and as the whole universe was divided into three portions, namely, heaven, earth, and the Tuat, or Underworld, and each portion had its own gods, we may assume that a place was reserved for them in the heaven of the Egyptians. But this heaven also contained several classes of beings, first and foremost among whom may be mentioned the Shesu-Heru, or Shemsu-Heru, a name

(Pepi L, 1. 166), and may be translated "Followers of Horus." They are, in fact, beings who followed Horus, the son of Isis, in heaven, where they waited upon him, and performed his behests,

|||o^=^, Pepi I., 1.593.

2 Pepi I., 1. 444. 3 lud,^ 11. 309, 310.

THE ASHEMU AND HENMEMET 159

and when necessary defended and protected him. They occupied a position of great importance among the celestial hosts, and are mentioned in such a way as to suggest that^they were almost equal to the gods ; thus Pepi I. (1. 166) is said to " pacify them," but on the other hand it was they who " washed him, and who recited on " his behalf the Chapter of those who come forth, and [the Chapter " of those who] rise up." ^ Next may be mentioned the Ashemu,

i-Tv-i ^v V 'A'^'^' ^ class of beings whose characteristics are not known, and who in the text of Teta (1. 327) are referred to in connexion with the sehliemu. The word dsliem is usually supposed to mean the " form in which a god is visible," but it must have

or HAMEMET, appear to have been a class of beings who either were to become, or had already been, human beings, but the Egyptians themselves seem to have had no very clear idea about their attributes, and the passages in the Theban Booh of the Dead in which they are mentioned have been understood in different ways by different scholars.

In a hymn it is said of Ra, " when he riseth the rehliit (i.e.,

"rational beings) live, and the hamemet, ffl ^ ^ Jj i, exult in

" Kher-aha " ; and the deceased says in Chapter xlii. of the Booh of the Dead, " And shall do me hurt neither men, nor gods, |

I I r

"the hamemet." Elsewhere the deceased prays "that the com- " pany of the gods may hold their peace whilst the hamemet talk " with me " ; ^ and it seems from a passage in an inscription of

^ Compare tlie variant i 'v^ i ' □ Yr^ "W^ — — y

2 Teta, 1. 95.

2 See the list of passages given in my Vocabulary to the Booh of the Dead,

160 THE AFAU, UTENNU, AND SETU

Hatshepset ^ as if in the latter part of the dynastic period the word had come to mean a class of men and women, especially as it is

determined by the signs ^ 3, which usually indicate a number of

human beings. Thus Rameses III. speaks of " all the gods and " goddesses of the South and the North, and all men, and all the '^ pat, and all the rekhit, and all the hamemet" ; finally, that the hamemet were believed to live upon grain is proved by the passage in a hymn to Amen-Ra wherein this god is said to be the " maker " of the green herb which giveth life to the beasts and cattle, and

*' of the plant of life, vww^ i^ _ ^il , of the hamemeV ^ Of the

of Pepi IL (1. 951), we know nothing, and the same must be said

two classes, the Upper and the Lower, ^ % ^ Y^. The

following extract will show how these beings are mentioned : — " 0 great heaven, stretch out thy hand to Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra ! " 0 mighty heaven, stretch out thy hand to Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra, for

" having come forth into heaven, and he hath penetrated Qebhu ; " Pepi hath paid homage to his father, and he riseth like Horus. " Pepi hath come to the place where he is, and he (his father) " granteth to him to rise like the sun, and he stablisheth for him his

'' with him, great like Horus, son of Nut, and like the child with " the lock of hair (i.e., Harpocrates), and smiting the crowns, and " giving orders to the gods Utennu, the Aea gods follow Pepi, and " those who are in the heavens and on the earth come to him pay- " ing homage, together with the two uraei guides, ' U ^ '=' i^ le,, ) " and the jackals, and the spirits, and the Set beings, both the

■AJkt-lkk-^li^Tr::-!

I jCtj n AAAAAA -- |llllllllH| |— I

■ 1 I I I I O j^ ODD /)A/vw

THE WATCHERS OF PE AND NEKHEN 161

'' Upper and the Lower." It is possible that the Set beings mayhave been of like nature to the god Set, who was the brother and associate of Horns in the earliest times, but who in later times lost his position as a god and became the type and symbol of all evil.

In addition to these the text of Pepi 11. (line 849) mentions the " Watchers of the city of Pe," and the " Watchers of the city of

may assume that certain cities were supposed to enjoy the protection of a number of gods whose duty it was to look after their interests in heaven. We know from several passages in the Booh of the Dead that groups of gods were called the " souls " of such and such cities, and it is clear from the inscriptions that each city and town possessed a soul which had, like the soul of a man after death, the power to wander about at will. Thus on a wall in the temple Avhich Cleopatra VII. built at Erment (now destroyed), was a scene in Avhich the great queen was depicted in the act of giving birth to her son Caesarion. The goddess Neith holds up

the queen's arms, and the midwife Netchemtchemt, | f ^ III ? receives

the boy in the presence of several gods and goddesses. Now in the upper part of the relief were two groups of souls of cities, seven on the right hand and seven on the left, who were supposed to have been present at the birth of the child, and to have taken him under their protection. Among the cities represented are Thebes, Ant,

I g , Het, ra@, Qeset, Unt, xlhet, Hetep, Uauaa, -^j^| ^ ,

etc.^ Each soul is in the form of a human-headed hawk, and each has on its head horns and a disk, X^, in the front of Avhich is a uraeus.

Want of space does not allow of the mention of many obscure beings who are called gods, and who are practically innumerable, and we therefore pass on to refer to the spirits and souls, etc., of the righteous men and women who once lived upon this earth. To these, as well as to the divine beings, was given the name " living

ones," ■¥■■¥■■?■ ^, as may be seen from the passage in Unas (line 206),

which reads, " Hail, Unas, behold thou hast not departed dead

1 See Lepsius, DenJcmdIer, iv. pi. 60. M

162 THE LIVING ONES

" take thy seat upon the throne of Osiris. Thy sceptre ah

" orders to those whose habitations are hidden." When king Teta is in heaven the seat of his heart is declared to "be among the

We have in this latter passage a proof that the Egyptians conceived it possible for a man to attain to all the attributes of a divine being, or, let us say, of an angel, and at the same time to enjoy an existence upon earth as well as in heaven. This idea probably arose because they wished to provide a future for the dead body just as they provided a habitation in heaven for the spirits and souls of the righteous. Heaven and earth were complements each of the other, the gods of heaven were the complements of the gods of earth, and vice versa, and the existence of the spiritual and mental attributes of man with the gods in heaven was a complement of his continued life after death in some region on this earth. The Pyramid Texts show that the opinion of the Egyptians about the number and functions of the constituent parts of his economy, both physical and spiritual, changed as time went on and as they ascended the various grades which led up to the high platform of their civilization, and the result of the change, or rather changes, made itself manifest in their religious compositions. In the early predynastic period they thought that the life after death was a mere continuation of the life in this world, and when they had placed some food in or on the graves of their dead they were satisfied.

But they knew that the body of a man in the new life could

■¥"?"?-, Pepil., 11. 545, 54G.

cinn^ D

THE SPIRITS AND SOULS OF THE DEAD 163

not be like that which he possessed on earth, although its form might be similar, and they therefore assumed the existence of another body. In his dreams the Egyptian saw a figure of himself or a duplicate, engaged in various occupations, and to this figure he gave the name ha, ^ ; it was born with a man, it remained within him, usually inoperative, and survived him at death. It never left the body in the grave or tomb, and the offerings which were made in the halls of the tombs in all periods were intended

to maintain its existence. Nevertheless the ha of Horus, J=^ ^ ,

is in heaven (Teta, line 88), and also the ha of Teta (line 94), which is adjured to bring that which the king might eat with it ; and as the hau of men and gods lived in heaven so there lived there also the

hau of cities, e.g., of the city of Pe, vi^Jz^J:^ (Teta, line 88),

and the " lords of hau praised Ra both in the dominions of Horus " and in the dominions of Set." ^ King Unas is declared to be the

"hearts for the great wise chief" (Unas, line 395). Men and gods alike possessed shadows, and they also had an existence in heaven after the death of the bodies to which they belonged. When Unas had eaten the bodies of the gods, and had absorbed all their souls and spirits, it is said that the " flame of Unas is in their bones, for "their soul is with Unas, and their shadows are with their forms" (Unas, line 523, Teta, line 330). The souls and the spirits of men had their abode in heaven with the gods, and the religious texts of all periods are so full of allusions to this fact that it is unnecessary to

heron. Related intimately to the body, but with undefined

word which has been translated "power," and "form," and even " vital force ; " and finally the glorified body, to which had been

164 THE SAHU OR SPIRITUAL BODY

united the soul, and spirit, and power, and name of the deceased, had its abode in heaven. This new body of the deceased in heaven

was called sdim, u a | v^ g , and may for all practical purposes

be termed the spiritual body ; it grew out of the dead body and was called into existence by the ceremonies which were performed, and the AYords which were recited by the priests on the day when the mummified body was laid in the tomb.

Thus we see that the denizens of heaven consisted of the Great, and the Little, and the other companies of the gods ; and of a large number of beings, who may for convenience be called the "inferior gods," and of several orders of beings who possessed some characteristic which caused the Egyptians to assume that they were divine ; and of the shadows, doubles, souls, spirits, powers, hearts, and spiritual bodies of those who had lived upon this earth. In Chapter Ixiv. of the Boole of the Bead (line 21) is a curious statement to the effect that the " spirits are four million,

be an enumeration of the spirits of heaven, or of the spirits which once inhabited human bodies, cannot be said. Of the occupations of the denizens of heaven little is known, but to some of them was assigned the task of directing the affairs of this world, others directed the operations of the celestial bodies, and others were attached to the trains of the great gods, and accompanied them in their triumphant courses through the heavens. All these sang praises to Ra as the king and chief of the gods, and they sang hymns to him describing his greatness and glory just as men sang songs of joy to the sun when he rose and set. The gods nourished themselves with celestial food which was supplied to them by the Eye of Horus, that is to say, they supported their existence on the rays of light which fell from the sun which lit up heaven, and they became beings whose bodies were Avholly of light. According to one myth the gods themselves lived upon a " wood, or plant of

near the great lake in Sekhet-hetep, round which they were wont

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED 165

to sit/ but this idea belongs to the group of views which held that the beatified dead lived in a beautiful, fertile region, where white wheat and red barley grew luxuriantly to a great height, and where canals were numerous and full of water, and where material enjoyments of every kind could be found. In other places we read of "bread of eternity," and "beer of eternity," i.e., bread and beer which was supposed never to grow stale or to become spoiled,^ and

beatified. The bread upon which the blessed fed themselves was that bread which the Eye of Horus shed upon the branches of the

Finally, the blessed were arrayed in apparel similar to that which was worn by the gods, but they also had white linen garments on their bodies, and white sandals on their feet.

All these details show the simple character of the heaven which the primitive Egyptian imagined, and prove that it was at first intended to be nothing but the celestial complement of a terrestrial farm or estate. He wished for a vine, and a fig-tree, and an olive tree, for wheat wherewith to make bread, and for barley Avherewith to brew beer ; he also desired clean white garments and white sandals. His celestial homestead he expected to be intersected with numerous canals, which would do away with the necessity of laboriously drawing water from the celestial Nile by means of some mechanical contrivance similar to the modern shaduf ; the tillage would, of course, be provided for in the next world by the gods, who would take care that the crops did not fail. This simple material heaven is very different from the

3 Teta, 1. 288, Pepi I., 1. 442 and 1. 390.

166 THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED

heaven of the Hebrew and Muhammadan writers, with its sensual and sensuous joys of every kind, and its luxurious meats, and drinks, and delights. We know from one or two passages in the Pyramid Texts that there were women in heaven just as there were goddesses, but they are not spoken of as are the Hur al-hiyun (houris), i.e., the women with large, black pupils of the eye set in large whites, who are mentioned in Arabic descriptions of Paradise, and they are not made to be one of the chief attractions of heaven. As far as can be seen, the heaven of the Egyptians had no musical instrument in it, and the only sounds heard in it must have been the songs of the ministering gods and of the beatified when they hymned the Great God. What the Egyj^tian gentleman who lives on his own land in places remote from towns is now, the Egyptian gentleman everywhere was then ; he loved to wash and anoint himself, and having put on clean linen to sit in the sun in the morning, and to bear himself with dignity, and to be treated with respect by his neighbours and inferiors. He loved to have corn, and wine, and oil in abundance, and a sufS.cient number of slaves to minister to his wants and to maintain his dignity when he moved about from villaofe to villaoje. He honoured his mother, and usually married a very limited number of wives, among whom might be a sister, or half-sister, or cousin, and he took great interest in his male offspring ; we note in the Pyramid Texts that the families of the deceased kings are never mentioned, and that nothing is said about their wives, although Unas (lines Q)2S, 629) is

1 Awwv^ wheresoever he pleaseth, whensoever he pleaseth. On the

other hand, Isis is said to come to king Teta, who unites with her, and the goddess having conceived like the star Sept gives birth to Horus Sept,^ and in another passage Unas is said to have

H

^ , Teta, 1. 276.

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED 167

become the husband of the goddess Mauit, and also of the young woman who brought bread to him.^

But these beings were, after all, only the celestial waters described under the forms of a goddess and a woman, and the sensual idea conveyed by a literal interpretation of the text therefore disappears. The life of the primitive Egyptians in heaven was as simple as their life upon earth, and their chief Avish was to enjoy a state of comfortable and dignified peace, without war and without tumult or strife. We hear nothing of a heaven with a floor of white flour or musk, with pearls for stones, and trees with trunks of gold, and houses covered with gold and silver, and rivers of milk, and honey, and wine, and innumerable maidens with bodies made of pure musk, Avho live in pavilions made of hollow pearls and are free from all defects of their sex. The idea of the means to be employed for reaching the heaven of the Egyptians was as primitive as that of the heaven itself, for the Egyptians thought that they could climb on to the iron floor of heaven by going to the mountains, the tops of which it touched in some places. At a later period it was thought that a ladder was necessary, certainly for those who did not live near the mountains whose tops touched heaven's floor, and in many tombs models of ladders were placed so that the deceased might make use of them at the proper time. The god Osiris even was believed to have needed a ladder, and to have been helped to ascend it by Ra and Horus, or by Horus and Set. The idea of the need of a ladder was deeply seated in the Egyptian mind, for when the custom of placing models of ladders in the tombs ceased, they drew

rO % 0 "^ , Unas, 1. 181.

168 THE SEKHET-HETEP

pictures of them in the papyri of the Book of the Dead which Avere

placed in tombs/ The model of the ladder, y 'vv B , inaqet,

could be made as long as the deceased wished by reciting certain words of power over it, and by similar means the picture of the ladders given in the papyri could be turned into real ladders.

The above mentioned facts will show that in his conception of heaven the Egyptian never succeeded in freeing himself wholly from material ideas and the wish to make sure of eternal life and happiness by means of his own acts. In the latter part of the dynastic period the conception of heaven became more material, and at length, if we may judge by the texts, the belief in the resurrection of the actual physical body prevailed, and the life after death was regarded as nothing but a continuation of the life upon earth. Thus the title of Chapter ex. of the Boole of the Dead declares that the text which follows will give a man the power of " doing everything even as a man doeth upon earth." As a result of this view the deceased prays thus : — " May I become a Ichu " (spirit) therein, i.e., in the Sekhet-hetep or Elysian Fields, may I " eat therein, may I drink therein, may I plough therein, may I " reap therein, may I fight therein, may I make love therein, may " my words be mighty therein, may I never be in a state of " servitude therein, but may I be in authority therein." He also wishes ttat he may have with him in Sekhet-hetep his father and mother, and presumably his wife and children, and also tlie god or gods of his city, but in these materialistic passages we find no mention of his desire to worship and praise the gods of heaven, or even the Great God who is said to '^grow" therein. Thus in another place in the same chapter he says, " 0 ITakh, I have " entered into thee, I have eaten my bread, I have gotten the " mastery over choice pieces of the flesh of oxen and of feathered " fowl, and the birds of Shu have been given to me. I have " plunged into the lakes of Tchesert ; behold me, for all filth hath " departed from me. The Great God groweth therein, and behold, " I have found [food therein] ; I have snared feathered fowl and " I feed upon the best of them. ... I have seen the Osiris [my

^ See the Papyrus of Ani^ 2nd edition, pi. 22.

THE SEKHET-HETEP 169

" father], and I have gazed upon my mother, and I have made '• love." In every division of the Elysian Fields the deceased, in the later period of dynastic history, found some fresh material pleasure, but, in spite of all its inconsistencies and his materialism, the heaven of the Egyptians was better and purer than that of many more modern nations which are credited with higher intelligence and better civilization.

CHAPTER V THE UNDERWORLD

IN the chapters on God and the gods it has already been said that the Egyptians in the earliest times believed that the gods were moved by the same passions as men and grew old and died like men ; later, however, they believed that it was only the bodies of the gods which died, and they therefore provided in their religious system a place for the souls of dead gods, just as they provided a place for the souls of dead men and women. The writers of the relio:ious texts were not all ao-reed as to the exact position of this place, but from first to last, whatever might be the

This word is commonly rendered '' underworld," but it must be distinctly understood that the Egyptian word does not imply that it was situated under our world, and that this rendering is only adopted because the exact signification of the name Tuat is unknown. The word is a very old one, and expresses a conception which was originated by the primitive Egyptians, and was probably unknown to their later descendants, who used the word without troubling to define its exact meaning. To render Tuat by " hell " is also incorrect, because " hell " conveys to modern peoples ideas Avhich Avere foreign to the Egyptians of most schools of religious thought. Whatever may be the moral ideas of the Tuat as a place of punishment for the wicked in later times, it is clear that at the outset it was regarded as the place through which the dead Sungod Ra passed after his setting or death each evening on his journey to that portion of the sky in which he rose anew each morning. In the XlXth Dynasty we know that the Tuat was believed to be situated not below our earth, but away beyond the

THE TUAT 171

earth, probably in the sky, and certainly near the heaven wherein the gods dwelt ; it was the realm of Osiris who, according to many texts, judged the dead there, and reigned over the gods of the dead as well as over the dead themselves.

The Tuat was separated from this world by a chain or range of mountains, and consisted of a great valley, which was shut in closely on each side by mountains; the mountains on one side divided the valley from this earth, and those on the other divided it from heaven. We may note in passing that the Hebrews separated the blessed from the damned by a wall,^ and that Lazarus was separated from Dives in hell by a " great gulf," ^ and that the Muhammadans divide heaven from hell by the great breadth because those who stand upon it are supposed to be able to hold converse both with the blessed and the damned. It is pretty certain that both Hebrews and Muhammadans borrowed their ideas of the partition between heaven and hell from the Egyptian Tuat, but there is no authority in the texts for the Muhammadan view that it is a sort of limbo or purgatory for those who are too o-ood for earth but not o-ood enouoj'h for heaven. Those who stand on Al-A'raf are said to be angels in the form of men, 23atriarchs, prophets, and saints, and those whose good deeds on earth were exactly counterbalanced by their evil deeds, and who therefore merit neither heaven nor hell. Through the valley of the Tuat runs a river, which is the counterpart of the Nile in Egypt and of the celestial Nile in heaven, and on each bank of this river lived a vast number of monstrous beasts, and devils, and fiends of every imaginable kind and size, and among them were large numbers of evil spirits which were hostile to any being that invaded the valley.

On the sarcophagus of Seti I. is a representation of the Creation, which is reproduced on p. 204, and from it we see that the Tuat is likened to the body of Osiris, which is bent round like a hoop in such a Avay that his toes touch the back of his head,

^ See Eiseumenger, " Was die Juden von der Hollen lelireii " (Entdecktes Judenthum, torn, ii., p. 322 if.

• St. Luke xvi. 26. ^ See Kur'an, Siu'a vii.

172 THE TUAT AND AMENTET

On the top of his head stands the goddess Nut, who supports with both hands the disk of the sun. From this we may conchide both that Osiris is the personification of the Tuat, and that the Tuat is a narrow circular valley Avhich begins where the sun sets in the west, and ends where he rises in the east. The Tuat was a terrible place by reason of the monsters and devils with which it was filled, and its horrors Avere increased by the entire absence of light from it, and the l3eings therein groped about in the darkness of deep night. That the Tuat should be a place of blackness and gloom is quite natural when once we have realized that it was the path of the dead sun between the sunset of one day and the sunrise of the following day. The ideas about this region, which we find reproduced in papyri of the New Empire, belong to different periods, and we can see that the Theban wi'iters who described it and drew pictures of the beings which lived in it, collected a mass of legends and myths from every great religious centre of Egypt, wishing to make them all form part of their doctrine concerning the great god of Thebes, Amen-Rri. As the j)riests of Heliopolis succeeded in promulgating their theological system throughout the length and breadth of Egypt by identifying the older gods with their gods, and by proving that their views included those of all the priesthoods of the great cities of Egypt, so the priests of Thebes endeavoured to convince the priests of other great cities of the superiority and greatness of their God Amen-Ra, and probably succeeded in so doing. The Theban writers and scribes knew perfectly well that originally every nome or great city possessed its OAvn underworld just as it possessed its own company of gods, and that each underworld was designated by a special name ; they, therefore, made the Tuat to include all these underworlds and all the various gods Avith whom they Avere peopled, and they gave it the most important of the names of the local the " hidden place," Avhich appears to have been originally the place where An-her, the local god of Abydos, ruled as god of the dead, under the title of " Khenti Amentet," that is to say, " he Avho is the chief of the unseen land." When the importance of An-her Avas eclipsed by the neAv-comer Osiris, the title of the former

THE TUAT AND ITS INHAIUTANTS 173

was assigned to Osiris, who, henceforth, was always called " Khenti Amentet." But this usurpation of An-her's title as god of the dead by Osiris must have taken place in very early times, for Amentet was a common name for the underworld throughout Egypt, and is found in texts of all periods, even in those of the Vth and Vlth Dynasties.

Yet long before even this remote period the priesthoods of certain nomes or cities must have developed the idea that the life of a man resembled the course of the sun during the day, and that setting was to the sun Avhat death was to a man ; the sun, however, reappeared each morning in apparently a neAV body, and as man wished to live again in a renewed, or new, body, the Egyptian theologians set to work to form a system of theology in which the souls of the blessed dead, i.e., those who had been buried with all the ceremonies prescribed by the religion of the period, were made to accompany the sun in his boat as he passed through the portion of the Tuat which had been assigned to them. As the sun passed through the Tuat large numbers of souls made their way into his boat, and although it was only the dead sun that was their guide and protector, and his passage was through the realms of the dead which were under the sovereignty of Osiris, the god of the dead, they were brought forth at length to renewed life and light as soon as the boat passed out from the eastern end of the Tuat into the day. This view was a very popular and widespread one, especially as it made Ra and Osiris work together, each after his own method, to secure eternal life and happiness for the souls of the dead. As soon as the priests had made up their minds that the Tuat existed, they began to people it with imaginary beings which were supposed to be hostile to the souls of the dead, and to invent descriptions of the various regions into which they declared it was divided ; such descriptions were at length committed to writing, at first in a very simple form, and after the manner of every group of texts Avhich were composed for the benefit of the dead, but finally they became more elaborate, and attempts Avere made to represent pictorially the creatures which were found in the Tuat. In fact, it was intended to compile a book which should contain such accurate descriptions of the Tuat, and such true

174 THE SHAT AM TUAT

pictures of the foes which the dead soul would have to meet there, together with lists of their names, that when a soul was once provided with a copy of it he would find it impossible to lose his way, or to be overcome by any monster which attempted to bar his way or to prevent his access to the boat of Ra.

The great work which the Egyptians called " Coming Fortli ra Ik o

words of power, and prayers, and incantations, as well as hymns, but even in the Early Empire, about B.C. 3500, many of its doctrines were antiquated, and the priests found it necessary to add new chapters and to modify old ones in order to make it a funeral work suitable for the requirements of newer generations of men. Owing to the extreme antiquity of the " Book of Coming Forth by Day," the views expressed in many of its chapters were contrary to those held by Theban priests of the New Empire, about B.C. 1050, and as a result, whilst preserving, and holding in great reverence this work which they had borrowed from the ancient priesthood of Heliopolis, they compiled two works, which may be called "The Book of that which is in the Tuat," and the " Book of the Pylons." In the first of these, the Shat am Tuat,"

by the Heliopolitan priesthood on the life of man's soul after death, and though it contained all the doctrines as to the supremacy of Ra, their great Sun-god, these were so skilfully manipulated by the Theban priests, that the compilation actually became a work which magnified the grade and influence of Amen-Ra, the great god of Thebes, and raised him to the position which the Thebans claimed for him, namely, "king of the gods, and lord of the thrones of the two lands." The thrones here referred to are not those of kings, but the shrines of all the gods on all the land on each side of the river Nile. In the Heliopolitan system of theology the god Osiris held a comparatively subordinate position in the "pauti or company of the gods, and was in fact only the greatest of the gods of the dead who were worshipped in the Delta ; in the " Book of that which is in the Underworld " he also holds a position subordinate to Ra, and his underworld is made to be a portion of

THE BOOK OF THE PYLONS 175

the Tuat through which the dead sun passed nightly. In the Shat

Pylons," the greatest god of all is the god Osiris, and the whole work is devoted to a description of the various sections of the region over which he presides, and is intended to form a guide to it whereby the souls of the dead may be enabled to make their way through it successfully and in comfort. The Shat am Tuat and the Shat en sbau were, in fact, the outcome of two distinct schools of theology ; the latter, in its most primitive form, was the older of the two, and described the life of man after death more as a continuation of his existence on this earth than as an entirely new life, while the former made the future life to be passed entirely with the Sun-god. The latter maintained the views about the Elysian Fields and their material delights, which found utterance in the " Book of Coming Forth by Day," and was to all intents and purposes an amplification of, and a companion volume to it, but it also contained doctrines which were inserted in it with the view of making it harmonize with the theories in the former which related to the absolute supremacy of Ra. The Theban priests had no wish, when once they had established the mastery of Amen-Ra, but to bring all the doctrines of the various schools of religious thought into harmony with their own, for such a course could do nothing but contribute to the material prosperity of the great brotherhood of Amen-Ra. They were tolerably sure of the offerings of the faithful of Thebes, but they were anxious to obtain a share of those of the devotees of Osiris who flocked to Abydos, which was, rightly or wrongly, celebrated as the burialplace of the god. The history of Egypt shows that the fight between the kings of the South and the kings of the North for the supremacy of the whole country was always going on, but as the fortunes of war had given victory to the kings of the South, who were the lords of all Egypt under the New Empire, the priests of the god of these kings determined that Amen-Ra should be the king of the gods. Religious ambition was helped by the success of the great warrior kings of the XVIIIth Dynasty, and thus Amen-Ra became the overlord of Osiris.

DIVISIONS OF THE UNDERWORLD

Both the " Book of that which is in the Underworld " and the " Book of the Pylons " divide the Tuat into twelve parts, each of which corresponds to one of the hours of the night, and the divisions are called ^' Field," LjJjQ "^ , selcliet, or " City," , nut, or cxliv. of the Book of the Dead, according to the Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus.,No. 10,477), the Arrets are seven in number, and each is guarded by a doorkeeper, a watcher, and a herald with the following names : —

Arret I. 1. Sekhet-hra-ilsht-aru,

2. Semetu, P '^ ^ ^ ^ J • 3. Hu-kheru, rn

Areet II. 1. Tun.pehti,^ ^ ^ |. 2. Seqet-hm.p ^ ^ f .

3. Sabes,

JP-

Arret III. 1. Am-huat-ent-peh-fi 2. Res-hra, (=

A

J ^ # J . 3. Uaau, ^

2. Ptes - ab, (:=^ P J "^ • ^- ^eteqa - hra - khesef - atu,

Arret V. 1. Ankh - em - fentu.

f

Ashebii,

ra

rm

O

J ^ . 3. Teb - her - kehaat, -=^ J f

Arret VI. 1. Aken-tau-k-ha-kheru,

2. An-her,

I

D

1 ra

3. Metes-lira-ari-she,

w

s

DIVISIONS OF THE UNDERWORLD

Arret VII. 1. Metes-sen,

3. Khesef-hra-khemiu

2. Aa-kheru,

In Chapter cxlv. of the Book of the Dead according to the Theban and Saite Recensions the domain of Osiris, i.e., Sekhet-

Aarrn,

V

or Sekhet-Aanre,

.V

I'M oUt ^U, contains Twenty-one pylons, each of which

has a name, generally a very long one, and each of which is guarded by a god. The names of the gods who guard the first ten

n|_^J|. 3. Ertat-Sebanqa, ^

TCHET-F

9. TCHESEF,

. 8. Khu- Sekhen-ur,

These names are taken from the Papyrus of

Nu already quoted (sheet 25), but the following come from the Turin Papyrus, which was edited by Lepsius so far back as 1842, and they illustrate the changes which have taken place in

1 . 5. Erta-

HEN-ER-REQAr,

7. Am-Nit,

A

e

6. Samti,

w

TCHET-F,

9. Khau-

The names of all the pylons are given in both the Theban and Sa'ite Recensions,^ but the names of the gods who guard pylons XL — XXI. are given in neither. The domain of Osiris, or Sekhet- Aarru, was, according to Chapters cxlix. and cl., divided into fifteen

Aats, which are thus enumerated : — Aat ( ) I. Sekhet Aarru ;

^ See my Chapters of Coming Forth by Day (Text), p. 334 S.

178 DIVISIONS OF SEKHET-AARRU

its ffod was Ra-Heru-khuti. Aat II. Apt-ent-khet, %J

. A

god in it is Fa-jDet, ^/ • Aat VIII. Apt-ent-qahu, ^_

i.e., the Nile. Aat XIII. Atru-she- en-nesert-f-em-shet,

wherein the gods live upon cakes and ale.

In connexion with these various divisions of the realm of Osiris here will follow naturally a brief description of the Book OF Pylons. An excellent copy of its text, with illustrations, is to be found on the famous alabaster sarcophagus ^ of Seti I., now preserved in Sir John Soane's Museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and variants of several of the passages are given on the walls of the tombs of several kings of the XXth Dynasty, Avho were buried in the Valley of the Tombs of the Kings at Thebes. Curiously enough, the work, as M. Jequier has remarked,^ seems never to have become popular, and copies of it are only found in royal tombs ; it is generally admitted that it represents an attempt on

1 See Bonomi and Shai'pe, The alabaster Sarcopliagus of Oimenepldah I., King of Egypt, London, 1864.

3 Le Livre de ce qu'il y a dans VHades, Paris, 1894, p. 13.

DIVISIONS OF THE TUAT

the part of the Theban priests to adjust the cult of Ra to that of Osiris, and if this be so there is little to wonder at if it failed. According to the Book of Pylons the Tuat is a long, narrow valley, with sandy slopes, and is divided into two equal strips by the river on which the boat of the sun sails ; it is made to contain

The First Hour of the Night.

twelve nomes or divisions, which correspond to the twelve hours of the night.

In the First Division, i.e., the First Hour, we have the its lowest part is a path which forms the entrance from this world to the Tuat. On the right-hand side is a jackal-headed standard,

180 FIRST DIVISION OF THE THAT

"^ , and on the left a ram-headed standard, V f ^ach of these is

adored by the god of the mountain, Set, '=^ , and the god of the

mountain, and on the left the twelve gods of Set-Amentet,

j I I J| I ^ (1 ^/w^A^. In the centre is the boat of the sun, and we

see in it a disk containing a beetle ; the disk is encircled by a huge serpent in folds, which holds its tail in its mouth. In the bows of the boat stands the god Sa, ^mi, and in the stern, Heka, m, the god of magical words. The boat, having moved on, approaches a pylon Avith closed doors, guarded by a huge serpent

This pylon forms the entrance to the Second Division, or Second Hour, and when the god has passed through it " those who dwell in

"their Set, ^ i , cry out."^ On the right are twenty-four human

O ^ "^"^ g^jjj ^i;^Q directed their words of power ao;ainst the archfiend Apep, '^"^ ^iM^. In the centre is the boat of the sun, in which the god stands in a shrine ; he is ram-headed, and holds in his hand a sceptre. The shrine is protected by the serpent Mehen, °^ , and a serpent stands upright on its tail before him ; the boat is being towed along by four beings of the Tuat, )ic VN cr^] J| I , and is met by the seven gods called Nepmeli, □ , iStafF. On the left hand of the divine boat ai'e : — (1) The god Tem, leaning on a staff, /^, (2) four dead men lying on their backs,

and twenty men standing with their arms tied together behind their backs. These last are, according to M. Lefebure's rendering^ of the text, " the criminals in Ra's great hall (the world), those " who have insulted Ra on the earth, those who have cursed that

1 Bonomi and Sliarpe, op. cit., pU. 5 and 4.

2 See Becords of the Past, vol. x., p. 85 ff.

182 THIRD DIVISION OF THE TUAT

" whicli is in the Egg, those who have frustrated justice, those who "have uttered blasphemies against Khuti." The pylon which the god now approaches is quite different from the first, but it resembles all the others which have to be passed through. The opening is protected like a fortress by some advanced work, and through the wall is an entrance to a corridor which runs between two walls crowned with a series of spear heads. This corridor bends at right angles, and in each angle is a uraeus, from the mouth of which drop balls of fire that fill the whole length of it ; at each end of the corridor is a god in the form of a mummy, one

Sekhabsenfunen, ^ J ^ ™ ^ ZI- The pylon itself is called Septet-uauau, I ^-^-^(11, and the name of the snake The entrance to the pylon is also protected by nine gods, in mummied form, who represent the " Second Company " of the

ffods, ^ 1 1 1 y

The door of the pylon is opened towards the Third Division OF THE TuAT, or the Third Hour. The gate is called Septet UAUAu setet-sen-Ra, n ° ^ X^jQ n I n^ |1 ^wCvAA %^ Qji the

right hand of the boat of the god are twelve holy gods of the Tuat, each in his shrine, with the doors open, and twelve gods of the lakes of fire ; a huge snake lies along the tops of all the shrines, and before each god of the basins of fire is an ear of corn. On the left hand are: — 1. The god Tem ; 2. the serpent xipep ; o. the nine gods who are called the " chiefs who drive back Apepi,"

through this division by eight gods of the Tuat, and the middle of the rope is fastened to a long pole or beam, each end of which terminates in the head of a bull. This pole is supported by eight gods in mummied form, and upon it are seated seven gods ; in front and behind these stands a bull, and at the end of the division stand four shrouded mummy forms. The gods who are

184 FOURTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

on the left hand of the boat of the sun, and are under the direction of Tern, form two companies, whose special duty it was to carryout the commands of this god in respect of the slaughter of the arch-fiend Apepi. This monster was first of all to be enchanted by the incantations which were recited over him, and then his head was to be cut off, and his body to be hacked in pieces at the joints. As the god passes out of the Third Division and the door closes, all the beings who are fated to remain in it lift up their voices and weep.

The pylon of the Foukth Division or Fouhth Hour is called

Nebt-s-tchefau, ^ "i^ i , and the name of the serpent which

in mummied forms who stand one at the beginning and one at the end of the corridor are called ISFenuerbesta, , and

the wall are the " the third company of the great god," ^ in i

I 3 nK^ • . On the right side of the boat of the god are

twelve gods, who are described as the "bringers of their doubles," ^ V AA.WW Lj 1 A^A^AA ^ and twelve jackal-headed figures, who are

walking on the Lake of Life,^ and ten uraei, who rise out of the Lake of uraei ; ^ to all these the Sun-god addresses words of comfort, and they respond suitably. The uraei, Avho are called

their flames and fire for use against the enemies of Ra, and they answer the god, saying, " Come to us, unite thyself to Tanen,"

the god is Horus the Aged, who follows eleven human forms as

which the god Osiris, wearing the crown of the South, stands upon a serpent. Behind Osiris are the twelve gods, ''who are behind the shrine," and four gods, who preside over pits in the earth, and the "prince of destruction," who holds a sceptre in his left

186 FIFTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

hand and ■¥■ in his right. In the middle is the boat of the sun

being towed along the river of the Tuat by four gods as usual, and it is made to approach a long low sepulchral building in which are nine chapels, each containing a mummied god lying flat on his back ; these are called " the gods who are in the train of Osiris in

end of this building are two groups, each containing six women, who are the personifications of the twelve hours in the Tuat ;

between them is the serpent Herert, | (=), with multitudinous

coils and windings, and he is said to give birth to twelve young ones to devour the hours. In this division, as in the others, Ra addresses the beings who are in it, and makes arrangements for their supply of food, and reminds them of their duties to him their creator.

The pylon of the Fifth Division or Fifth Hour is called

Arit, (1 •(2)- (1(1 ^ • , and the serpent who guards it bears the name of Teka-hra, i^a "^ ; the jackal-headed mummy at one end of the

corridor is Aau, □ '^i^ V:^ , and he at the other is Tekemi,

forms who represent the fourth company of the gods. On the right hand of the boat of the god are : — 1. The twelve worshippers

in the Tuat ; 2. Twelve bearers of cord, ^ %^ i O % § ^ ;

and 3. Four gods Avith sceptres. These beings are said to be those who knew Ra upon earth, and who made offerings to him, and in return for this Ra awarded them meat and drink in the most holy place in Amentet, and said to them, "I am satisfied " with what you did for me, whether I was shining in the Eastern

" heaven, or whether I was in the temple, M "^ , of my eye."

Therefore they feed upon the food which Ra eats, and offerings are made to them upon earth on account of the praise which they ascribe to Ra in Amenti. The beings who carry the cords are

and their cords are supposed to represent the cord of law, i.e.,

»i»ia»eta»g»-MM

liil

S2

iin)c

iin)o

anx)

in)o

188 FIFTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

the measuring cord by which law and justice are represented, and " Ra says to them, Their law is the cord in Amentet,"

of the boat of the sun are: — 1. Horus the Elder leaning upon a and four are Libyans, | V '' ^- Twelve men, called "those

A7ho bear ladders (?) in Ament, ^ "V ^ ' f ° ^ ° ^

[1 , and who are holding a long serpent ; and 4. Eight

divine sovereign chiefs in Ament. To these four classes of men, whom Horus describes as being in the Tuat of Egypt and the Red

" tears from my Eye,"

I

k(c) ^ — VQi I , and the Negroes and the Libyans that he has addresses those who hold the ladder (?), and bids them take measurements of the souls that are appointed for destruction, and destroy the souls that have to be destroyed ; in the hands of these beings was the power of determining the length of the period which had to be passed by souls in Amentet, and it is undoubtedly passages like these which have given rise to the idea that the Egyptians believed in purgatory. In the centre of this Division the boat of the sun is being drawn along by four gods belonging to it as before. Before these are nine gods with projecting elbows and covered shoulders called " holders of Ennutchi,"

rope ; these gods follow tAvelve men who are described as the "souls of the men who are in the Tuat," and both groups of beings proceed towards a god who holds a sceptre, and is called

Her-qenbet-f, f=^ '^ 11 "^ '^-=— • The duty of this god was to

/www (iU l_ I

SIXTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

call the souls of the i4ghteous and put them in their dwellings, by the corner of those who lived near him. Ra, addresses the gods who tow his boat along, and bids them to pull with vigour, and to be strong of arm and firm of limb, and swift of foot, and bold of soul to make a prosperous way for him to the hidden shoulders who bear the serpent Ennutchi, ^ and bids them to draw him along ; and then praises those who have spoken truth,

magnified

the forms of God,

(S

upon earth, and have

1 I I, and decrees for

them cakes for their souls, wind for their uostrils, green herbs from Sekhet-Aaru, and a place among the gods of right and truth, S^ "^ Jj , in the corner of the abode of Ra where the companions of the god pass sentences of doom. The doctrine here preached is essentially that of Osiris, and there is no wonder that the Book of Pylons was not popular with the priests of Amen.

The name of the pylon of the Sixth Division ^ or the Sixth Hour is Nebt-aha,

? ^ , the guardian at the entrance to

the corridor is Maa-ab,

"Right of

heart," and he who is at the end is Sheta-ab,

" Secret Heart."

guarded

The wall is

by twelve gods in mummied forms, who are called " the gods and " goddesses who are in this Pylon," | | |

©

Behind the wall is a chamber, the wall of which

has upon it a row of spear heads, and inside we see the god Osiris

^ The scene of the Sixth Division is so mutilated on the sarcophagus of Seti I. that it is not reproduced here.

190 SIXTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

seated upon the top of a flight of nine steps, on each of which stands a god ; thus the whole company of the gods of Osiris are here represented. Osiris wears a double crown, Vi , and holds in

his hands the sceptre, j, and the emblem of "life." Before him

stands a mummied figure who forms the pillar of a pair of scales, and who may be regarded as the personification of the Great Balance with which we are familiar in the Judgment Scene as Near the scales is a boat in which are an ape and a pig ; the ape is urging the pig along with a stick. In the upper part of the scene are the heads of four oryxes and a figure of the god Anubis. The difficult texts which accompany this scene tell us that the " enemies of Osiris are beneath his feet, the gods and the spirits " are before him ; he is the foe of the damned, he repulses the " enemies, and he destroys them, and eftects their slaughter. " The bearer of the hatchet, and the supporter of the scales " protect him who is in Amenti, who resteth in the Tuat, and who " passeth through darkness and shadow. Above is Joy, and below

" are Right and Truth ( J . The god resteth and giveth forth

"the light of Maat which he hath made." The ape in the boat is said to hand over the pig to punishment " when the god riseth," and Anubis says, " 0 ye who bring words true or false to me " [remember] that it is Thoth who weigheth them." Concerning Osiris we read, " When the weighing of words taketh place he " smiteth evil ; he hath a right heart, and he holdeth the words in " the Scales in the holy place wherein the trial of the secret things " of the secrets of the spirits taketh place. It is the god who riseth " who hath made all the beings who are in the Tuat." The text which relates to the four inverted heads of oryxes is not clear in its meaning, but it says that their dwelling-place is the Amehet, a district in the Elysian Fields, and that they hide or protect the spirits. We must note in passing the position of the Sixth Division of the Tuat. Assuming that the Tuat was regarded as a nearly circular valley which curved round from the West, where the sun set, to the North, and curved round from the North to the East, where the sun rose, it follows if all the twelve divisions of

SEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT 191

the Tuat be equal in length, that the Sixth Division Avould be verynear the most northerly part of the Tuat. And this is exactly where it was intended to be, for the most northerly part of the Tuat would include the greater pai't of the Delta, where the principal shrines of Osiris, i.e., Mendes and Busiris, were situated, and it was ouly right to make the position of the kingdom of Osiris on earth to correspond with that of his domain in the Tuat. Unlike the other divisions of the Tuat, the Sixth Division contains no representation of the god Ra, and the texts belonging to it do not even mention his name ; the Book of Pylons made Osiris absolutely supreme in his own dominions, and the exclusion of Ril, or Amen-Ra, from them was clearly the cause which made the work unpopular with all the worshippers of the great god of Thebes. The position of Osiris on the top of a flight of steps explains the allusions to the "god who is on his staircase" in the Book of the Dead, and it proves that it is this god who is represented on the wooden plaque of Semti,^ and before whom the king is dancing. The Sun-god Ra, having arrived at the north of the Tuat, must now make his way towards the East.

The serpent who guards the pylon of the Seventh Division or the Seventh Hour ^ is called Akhan-maati, ^-=. , and the

but the mutilated state of the scene renders it impossible to give the name of the pylon or of the guardian of the entrance to the corridor. On the right side of the boat of the god are a number of beings bearing a rope, which is usually made to resemble a serpent, and on the left side are : — 1 . A god bending over a staff ;

■ 111 mil t rt I _ 1

his name is Men-sheta, • , " Stablisher of what is secret."

2. A number of mummied forms extended on couches, who are described as the " mighty spirits." These beings are commanded by Ra to uncover themselves and to drive away darkness. In the centre is the boat of the Sun-god being towed along, presumably

^ See British Museum, No. 32,650.

^ The scene of the Seventh Division is so mutilated on the sarcophagus of Seti I. that it is not reproduced here.

192 EIGHTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

by four gods of the Tuat as before. Marching in front of those Avho tow the boat are twelve gods with sceptres, and four mummied forms who cry out to the inhabitants of this Division of the Tuat to praise Ra, for he will weigh words and will destroy their enemy.

The pylon of the Eighth Division or the Eighth Hour is

called Bekhkhi, j J (1 (1 1 1 cnn , and the name of the snake-god,

"^5 and the guardian at its end is Hept-ta, | ^ '^i^ . The wall is protected by nine

2:ods in mummied forms, ^ 1 1 1 c^ . On the riorht side of the boat of

the god are : — 1. Twelve beings in human form, who are described as the " sovereign chiefs who give bread, Maat, and green herbs to

-^ I , ■ AAAAAA H /^

bearded human-headed hawks, with their hands raised in adoration ; these are the " souls of Ta-neserser," which are fed with bread and green herbs by the command of the god Ra. On the left hand side of the boat of Ra are : — 1. Horus leaning on a staff. 2. Twelve men, who represent the enemies of Osiris that have been burnt in the fire, with their arms tied together behind their backs, each group of four in a different way. Opposite the first

of these is a huge serpent called Kheti, ^® |1 , which belches forth

a stream of fire into his face ; on the back of the serpent stand seven gods. The twelve beings are those on whom punishment has been inflicted by Horus at the command of Ra, who has decreed the death both of their bodies and of their souls because of what they did against Osiris, whose mysteries they despised, and whose image they tore from the sanctuary. The serpent Kheti, which is commanded by Horus to consume the foes of his father Osiris, is adjured to burn up both the souls and the bodies of these wicked ones. In the centre of this division are: — 1. The boat of the sun being towed by four gods as before. 2. "The dweller in Nu" leaning on a staff. 3. A rectangular lake in which

194 NINTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

() D (](j ^ 1 , four swim, f^ J ()(] ^ | , and four dive, ^ "^ ^.T".- The gods who tow the boat say, " Let there be praise to the soul of " Ra in heaven, and adoration to his body upon earth ; for heaven " is made new by his soul, and earth is made new by his body. " Hail ! We open for thee heaven, we make straight for thee the " ways of Akert. Rest thyself, 0 Ra, upon thy hidden things ; " the hidden ones are adored in thy forms." He who dwelleth in Nu also addresses those who are in the lake.

The pylon of the Ninth Division or Ninth Hour, is called

Aat-shefsheft, o ■ ''^-=— ; the serpent which guards it is

[1 AAAAAA 0 , and Ermen-ta, " . The wall is guarded by

nine o-ods in mummied forms, ^ in ^ . On the right hand side of the boat of the Sun-god are : — 1. Four gods of the South, | ' i y? each wearing the white crown, and grasping a rope which is also held by a man who is called " the master of the front," v=

between the man and these four gods is a pillar surmounted by a means of the rope. 2. A hawk-headed sphinx with the white crown on his head, and a bearded head, with a white crown on it, resting on his hind quarters. Standing on his back is a human figure which is surmounted by the heads of Horus and Set.

and grasping a rope which is also held by a man who is called "the

master of the back," f=^ ..^ ; between the man and these four gods

is a pillar, surmounted by a bearded head with a red crown on it, which is being raised by means of the rope. 4. A personage called

heads at each end of his body. 5. A personage holding the serpent

stands a serpent which is called Tepi, ^ flfl ? and which is provided

^mmmmuimmmmu

mmmmmmam

be

196 TENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

at each end of his body with four human heads, breasts, and arms, and four pairs of human legs. 6. Two men holding a rope (?). On the left hand of the boat of the god are : — Sixteen human forms Avhich represent the (a) souls of Amentet, (h) the followers of Thoth, (c) the followers of Horus, (d) the followers of Osiris ; the first four have the heads of men, the second four the heads of ibises, the third four the heads of hawks, and the fourth four the heads of rams. These sixteen beings draw a rope to which is attached a double serpent with four heads, two at each end of his body, and one pair of legs at each end which support the of his folds is perched the hawk Heru-tuati, 2^ ^ At the other end of the rope are eight human forms called Akhmiu, the god is being towed along as before. Before him march : —

1. Six human forms, four apes, and four women, each holding a rope (?) ; and 2. Three men holding a ro^DC which is thrown over the head and held in the hands by a prostrate man Avho has the ears of an ass, and who is called Aai, (j "^ M , i.e., " Ass." Each man holds a pike which he is about to drive into the prostrate body. In front of the man are : — 1. The serpent Apep, and 2. The crocodile, with a tail which terminates in a serpent's head, called work magic for Ra on the arch-fiend Apep, and they bid him come to the place of slaughter that he may be slain ; they say, " the " slaughterino- places are against thee, and the Aai gods are

The three beings with pikes drive their weapons into Apep, and destroy utterly the serpent Sesi, || U (1 Hm^ ; and they keep fast up towards the boat of the god.

The pylon of the Tentpi Division or the Tenth Hour is called

(»nutwt»ww)|mtiimmi j (^=;i

tt»tuiitutu)iut»mumnu)m

TiiinnRyimr

198 TENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

right hand of the boat of the god are: — 1. Four beings, each holding a knife and a rope (?). 2. Four beings, similarly armed, but each having four serpents' heads ; these are called Antiu,

serpent Apep, "whose voice goeth round about in the Tuat,"

held by a chain which is grasped by four beings, Stefiu, «=^

and twelve gods, and a mighty hand called the "hidden body," [1 : il. On the chain, near Apep's head, is stretched out the scorpion-goddess Serqet. Behind the hand, and growing out which is attached the serpent Uamemti, X] / 1 1- (b) Mest,

At the end stands Khenti-Amenti, or Osiris. The beings on this side of the Tuat are engaged in destroying Apep and the foes of the sun-god so that they may not attack the boat of the sun when it comes to a narrow passage. On the left hand side of the boat

hours. 3. Four gods with sceptres. Bant, J 'wwv, i ^ Seshsha,

monkey on a standard, ^-^{t, with a star over his head, described as the "god of Rethenu" (Syria), | ^ . 5. An eye

the middle of this division the boat of the o-od is towed as usual

ft'

2. Four deities, Sekhet, Abesh, ^ — a J cisz], Serq, , and

Horus. 3. Three star gods, who tow a small boat in which are

called Besi, J I [In, pouring flame upon a standard surmounted

i

S

^tui»imi»uummm»ut:

200 ELEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

by the head of a horned animal. 6. A serpent caled Ankhi,

each side of its body. 7. Four women, with hands raised in

adoration, who are called "the adorers," [^:£i (1 (1 c=S=, . 8. The

double god Horus-Set, with two heads and two pairs of arms and hands on one body, standing upon a platform which rests on two bows ; from each end of the platform spring three uraei. All these beings are supposed to be employed in helping Ra to continue his course through the Tenth Division, and to make his way to the region of the sunrise ; it is evident that most of them are personifications of the stars which herald the approach of the

The pylon of the Eleventh Division or the Eleventh Hour

is called Shetat-besu, ^ ^ J 1 _^ i , and the serpent which

the wall are two large scejDtres surmounted by the white crown ; one of these is called Sar, ^ , i.e., Osiris, and the other Horus. On the right hand of the boat of Ra are: — 1. Four gods, called

right hands. 2. Four gods, called "bearers of stars," ^ ^ ^ '' holding stars in their right hands. 3. Four gods " who go out,"

headed. 6. Eight women, the Hours, seated on coiled up serpents and each holding a star in her hand ; these are the " protecting

All these are personifications of stars which bear along the boat of Ra towards the day-break, for they wish to see it floating once

more on the bosom of Nut, ; and when "the arms of the

ELEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT 201

" sky-god Nu receive Ra they shout praises with the stars which '' they carry, and go to him in the heights of heaven in the bosom of Nut."^ In connexion with the idea of the stars praising Ra at sunrise we may note its similarity to that expressed in Job xxxviii. 7, " When the morning stars sang together, and all the "sons of God shouted for joy." On the left of the boat of Ra

are: — 1. Four beings, Setheniu-tep, s=i v) ^ i 7, wearing white

' /www —21 u I I

croAvns. 2. Four bearded gods called Akebiu, i.e., " wallers," h -^n^ J Qfl ' • 3- ^our beings, Khnemiu, (^ ^= % 1 , wearing red crowns. 4. Four bearded gods called Renniu, ^AAAAA 0 (1 v ' •

AAAAAA I I —11 I

5. Twelve goddesses, the female counterparts of the first three groups of gods. 6. Four gods, with bowed bodies, and 7. The

cat-headed goddess Mati, x U xv ' These beings were supposed to place white crowns on the heads of the gods in the train of Ra, and though their souls rose up, they were never able to leave this Division of the Tuat or pass out of the pylon. Their duty was to weep for Osiris after Ra had passed out of Ament,^ and to be with him, as far as their souls were concerned, but their bodies had to stay in their places ; they also had to raise up Maat and to stablish it in the shrine of Ra.^ It was they who " fixed the period of the " years which those who were decreed for the Tuat should pass " there, and the period of those who were to live in heaven ; " * but they " tore their hair in grief before the great god in Amentet, " for although they drove away Set from the pylon they themselves

Sharpe, op. cit., pi. 10.

AAA/V^A

AAAAAA /I tk I g

-^ V AAAAAA ^Ov ! '-'

202 ELEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

" were not allowed to enter into the heights of heaven." ^ In the centre of this division we have the boat of Ra being drawn along by four of its gods as usual. Preceding these are : — 1. A group of a sceptre, [, in the left; the first four are jackal-headed. They are described as the " nine gods who annihilate Apep," ^ 1 1 1 ^ i chains which are called the "gods who produce winds," |Tj i -^C-^ JJ i.

3. Four apes, (l aaaaaa ^ Jj i , each holding before him a large hand.

4. The god of Amenti, ft, wearing the crown of the South.

5. The goddess of the North, Herit (?), ^.(-^ (Ifl "^ r wearing the crown of the North. 6. The god Sebekhti, I J ^ "^ . These

gods of the Tuat say, " [This is] the exit from Ament, and the " place for rest in the two divisions of Nu, and [the god] maketh " his transformations in the hands of Nu. This god doth not enter

" heaven ( ^) , but he openeth the Tuat upwards in his trans-

*' formations [which take place] in Nu. What openeth the Tuat " into heaven are the two hands of the god whose name is hidden.

He existeth in the darkness which is a solid thing,

|!|, and Ra cometh forth [in] it from the night,

' )f ' . Those who are in this portion take their knives in III ^

" their hands, and grasp their weapons, and smite Apep, and effect "his slaughter, and smash his joints which are in heaven. The " chains of this fiend are in the hands of the children of Horus, " they advance to the god with their fetters in their fingers. The " god counteth his members after the hidden one hath opened his " [arms] to the Eye of Horus. The Worm (| ^m^ i^'j who is

" in this scene is fettered by the children of Horus." The other gods " acclaim Ka in the Eastern horizon of heaven, and the four

i

i»

A I I I I I I I t I I U I AAA^wv a I

I I I (=) I -J ^ U [Zm A/WVAA ^ A I I I P^=^

aZ^ C:^ AAAAAA AAAAAA

TWELFTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

" apes guide liim who created them, two on the right hand, and

" two on the left, to the double dtert (u (^ nru nr^) of this god."

The pylon of the Twelfth Division or Twelfth Hour is

called Tesert-baiu, '^m') ^'^") " I^sd-Souls," and its serpent

god is Sebi

and Akhekhi,

poles, each of which is surmounted by a bearded head ; on one head is the disk of the god Tem, and on the other the beetle of the god Khepera, i.e., two forms of the Sun-god. Close to the pylon " Red-Souls " was the pylon of the serpent god Reri,

11(|, each side of which was

guarded by the two uraei of Isis and Nephthys, one on each side. When Ra had passed through these doors he emerged triumphantly from the Tuat, and his boat floated on the waters of Nu, i.e., in the sky. In the scene in which this is depicted we see the boat containing the beetle of Khepera and the disk of Ra, with the five gods Seb, Shu, Hek (for Heka), Hu, and Sa, and the two goddesses Isis and Nephthys, and three gods of pylons. The god Nu,

, is seen holding up the boat with

hands, which " come forth from water, and bear up this god."

the two guardians of the corridor are Pai,

In front of the wall are two

his the

A little distance away from the boat is a sort of island which is formed by Osiris, the body of the god being bent round in such a way as to cause the tips of his toes to touch the back of his head ; the text says that it is Osiris himself who forms the encircling border of the Tuat. On the head of the god stands the goddess

204 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

Nut, , with arms outstretched ready to receive E,a. Thus the

god reaches the end of the Tuat and passes by an opening through its border, which is painted black, dotted everywhere Avith red spots. We have seen that Ra was omnipotent in all divisions of the underworld, except one, which was sacred to Osiris ; in this neitlier Efi nor his name appears.

We may now pass on to the consideration of the contents of the "Book of that which is in the Underworld." The authorities for the text and viijnettes of this work are numerous/ and from the copies of both which have come down to us it is

1 See Sharpe, Egyptian Iii^criidioiis, 1st series, pll. 28-32 ; 2nd series, pU. 1-21 ; Pierret, Eecueil, torn, v., pp. 103 if; Lanzono, Domicile des Esprits, Paris, 1879; Birch, Papyrus of NasMem, London, 1863 ; Mariette, Papi/rns ^gyptiens, torn, ii., Cairo, 1878.

FIRST HOUR OF THE NIGHT 205

clear that the book was one of considerable leno;th. But Ions; before the end of the XXIst Dynasty (about B.C. 1100) the Egyptians found it impossible to obtain or to pay for complete copies with all the vignettes, and a shortened form of it consequently came into general use. This shortened form, which is called an " Abrege " by M. Maspero, and a ''Resume" by M. Lefebure, was supposed to contain all that was absolutely necessary for the dead, and it became very popular throughout Egypt. In the tomb of Seti I.-^ we find a copy of the full text, with vignettes, of the first eleven hours, and also a copy of the " Abridgment." The space at our disposal will not admit of a detailed description of the longer work, and therefore a notice of the "Abridgment" only is given here. The complete work is entitled, " The beginning " of the horn of the West, the remote boundary of thick darkness,"

the West" means the most westerly point where the sun sets, and kehu saimi, i.e., " thick darkness," or " solid darkness," refers to the extreme end of the Tuat, which is painted to resemble a black wall, dotted everywhere with red spots, and which contains an opening through which the boat of Ra emerges every morning. The shorter work is entitled "Abridgment of this book,"

The EiRST Hour of the night is called Ushemet hatu khefti Ra,'^ i.e., " Crusher of the forehead of the enemies of Ra," and the place through which the god passes in it is described as an mi'it, (=) (1(1 , i.e., a hall, or a sort of ante-chamber of the Tuat. It is quite unlike any part of the Tuat, for when Ra is in this hall he

1 See " Le Tombeau de Seti I"'," in Memoires de la Miss. Arch. Franqaise, Paris, 1886 ; First Hour, part iv., pll. 24-26 : Second Hour, part iv., pll 29-32 ; Third Hour, part iv., pll. 32-35 ; Fourth Hour, part i., pll. 23-25 ; Fifth Hour, part i., pll, 26-29 ; Sixth Hour, part iv. , pll. 39-42 ; Seventh Hour, part iv., pll. 43-46 ; Eighth Hour, part iv., pll. 47-49 ; Ninth Hour, part ii., pll. 15-18; Tenth Hour, part ii., pll. 19-22 ; Eleventh Hour, part ii., pll. 23-26 ; and see Maspero, Les Hypogees Boy mix de Thebes, p. 29.

3 See the edition of the hieroglyphic text, with a French translation, by Jequier, op. cit., pp. 37 ff.

BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

has not yet arrived in that dismal valley. But even when here he is an entirely different being from what he was in the day-time, for instead of being the sun of day, he is the sun of night, i.e., a dead god, in fact a mere dead body Avhich is called Af, 1] ooo^ i-e., " Flesh," and is represented with the head of a ram surmounted by a solar disk. In the day time he travelled in the Atet boat,

The First Hour of the Night.

^nJ, but at night he made his journey along the river of the Tuat in the Sektet boat, 1 ^ ^ (

^4tl5 , in fact, in the same boat in which he sailed over the sky from noon to sunset. In the boat

FIRST HOUR OF THE NIGHT 207

celestial personage changed every hour, for she represented the local goddess of one hour who was supposed to be the appointed guide of the god through one portion of the Tuat only ; knowing the way through her own district, she was able to instruct the captain of the boat how and where to sail over difficult reaches of the river.

The dwellers in the First Hour of the night appear to have been the apes who opened the doors of the drrit to the god, and the beings who were necessary for the singing of songs of praise to Ra, and for piloting his boat through this hall to the Tuat, and a large number of celestial beings who are mentioned in the text, but who are otherwise unknown, and the souls of the dead who had passed from the earth to this intermediate place and who were waiting for the opportunity of entering into the boat of Ra, wherein they would fain continue their journey. Why the last-named were here cannot be said, but it is probable that such souls belonged to men and women who, when living upon earth, were unable to avail themselves of all the costly and complicated ceremonies prescribed by the priests, and the numerous amulets which were thought to be necessary for the welfare of the soul in the Tuat. The descriptive text of the First Hour reads : — " This "god entereth from the earth into the drrit of the horizon of "the West, and he must travel one hundred and twenty dtru

" country of the Tuat. Ra giveth fields to the gods who are in his " following, and he beginneth to pass decrees and to give commands " concerning the things which are done in the Tuat by the gods of " this country. Whosoever shall do these things according to this " similitude of the hidden things of the Tuat, and shall recognize " that they are similitudes of the great god himself, shall find them " of benefit to him on the earth, and they shall do him good in the " great Tuat." The fact that this region is called " country " shows that it was regarded almost as a part of this world, and it is definitely stated that it is 120 dtru in length; now, the dtric is

208 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

said to be the equivalent of the Greek ct)(oivo%, i.e., about an English furlong, and thus the region of the sunset traversed by Ra in his first hour would be fifteen miles in length. It is probable, however, that 120 dtru were intended to be a greater distance than fifteen miles, for the second hour brought Ra into the domain of Osiris, which is more than fifteen miles from Thebes.

The name of the Second Hour is Shesat maket neb-s, i.e., " She who knoweth how to protect her lord." ^ The country

Birch compared with, and believed to be equivalent to, the Greek

ovpav6(; ; this name, however, seems to be that of the Nile in the

second region of the Tuat, and in any case it is not applied to any

other division or hour except by accident.^ The descriptive text

says, "This great god next arriveth in Ur-nes, which is three

' hundred and nine dtru in length, and one hundred and twenty

' dtru in width (i.e., this division measures about 50 miles by 15

' miles). The name of the gods who are in this country is ' Souls

' name shall be with them. This great god will give to him fields, ' the situation of which shall be in the country of Ur-nes ; he shall ' stand up with the gods who stand up, and he shall follow after ' this great god. He shall make his way through the Tuat, he ' shall see the tresses of the gods who wear long flowing hair, he

' and after the division of the unoccupied land hath been made,

' he shall eat bread in the Boat of the Earth (% I] '^v UnS ),

' and there shall be given to him of the first things of Tatuba

of these Souls of the Tuat and make ofterings to them upon earth will gain benefit therefrom a million fold after death; moreover, it will be extremely useful to them in the Tuat if they know what words are addressed by the gods to the great god.

)k

2 See Jequier, op. cit. , p. 49, note 2.

210 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORT.D

The gods with long flowing hair are the four children of Horus, Mestha, Hapi, Tuamutef and Qebhsennuf, each of whom wore a lock or tress of hair, which became a pillar-sceptre, and supported one of the four corners of heaven ; these four gods became at a later period the gods of the cardinal points and the lords of the four quarters of heaven. The Eater of the Ass is, of course, the great serpent of darkness, probably Apepi, and the Ass is a form of the Sun-god, between whom and the serpent was continual war ; the Ass was connected with the Sun-god by reason of his great virile powers. According to M. Maspero,^ the Boat of the Earth is a name given to the Boat of Ra when it reaches the earth ; Tatuba was probably an earth god.

The illustrated version of the Second Hour shows that the boat of Ra was preceded by four boats. The first of these had a human head on each end, and on its side were the picture of a pedestal, and behind it is the god who sets up the feather of Maat. This is the boat of Osiris as the Moon, who is one of the Souls of the Tuat. The second boat has a ]mman head surhuge sistrum, the emblem of Hathor ; on each side of it is a ooddess. In the bows is a beetle, S. This is the boat of Isis as

Hathor, who is one of the Souls of the Tuat. The third boat has the white crown at the bows, and the red crown at the stern ; in it, between the two standards, which are the symbols of the gods Anpu (Anubis) and Apuat, is a huge lizard,' out of the back of which spring a human head and the Avhite crown. This is the boat of the god who opens the ways, and who is one of the Souls of the Tuat. The fourth boat has a uraeus at the bows and stern. In the centre is a kneeling woman Avithout arms, and on each side of her stands a woman also armless ; at each end of

the boat is a plant, or shrub. This is the boat of Nepr, □ | J] , the god of grain and of vegetation, and a form of Osiris, and he is also one of the Souls of the Tuat. The "^ods who minister to

^ Les llypogecs, p. 46.

SECOND HOUR OF THE NIGHT 211

goddesses, Mest-tcheses, |T| -^1 , Amam-mitu,

Amet-tcheru, /=: ^ Vi. , Ament-nefert, (I /vaaaaa rv^-vn T (ci:=) , and Nit-tep- Ament, )/ ^ ^ (1 /ww^ . On the other side of the boat of

a Jl Y , Nepen, D , Ar-ast-neter, (1 (=^ jj "^ T I , Amu-aa,

Heru-khabit, ^. ^— J (](] ^ df)? Anubis, Osirisr=vi

these gods worship the great god, and guide him on his way, and weep when he has left them ; some of them bear to him the prayers of those who are upon earth, and also lead disembodied souls to the forms which belong to them ; others apparently mark the seasons of the year. When Ra addressed the beings there, they came to life at the sound of his voice, and they breathed

212 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

again ; he gave them food in abundance, and the gods gave water to the spirits to drink at his command, and the hearts of the rebels of Ra were burnt in the fire. It is, however, clear from the texts that although Osiris was the Lord of the Second Hour Ra was the overlord of Osiris, and that it was he who, like Osiris, made gifts to the dead. On the other hand, the followers of Osiris had to perform service for Ra, and one of their chief duties consisted in keeping in check his enemies, who were always attempting to prevent the progress of his boat ; in a way the service of these followers was unrewarded, for they were condemned to remain always in the same place, and to perform the same duty.

From the above paragraph the reader will gain some idea of the difference between the illustrated version of the Second Hour and the abstract of it which is found in the '' Abridgment." As the short version makes no attempt to supply the souls which were supposed to make use of it Avith the names of the various gods and beings in it, we can only assume that they learnt them when on earth in the body. The larger version of the Second Hour is extremely interesting in showing Avhat a subordinate place the priests of Amen-Ra made Osiris occupy in respect of Ra when passing through the Tuat.

The descriptive text of the Third Hour, which is called Tent-baiu,^ says : — " This great god next arrives in the Country

' the Stream of Osiris ( aaaaaa H j] I, a space three hundred and "nine dtru long,^ and one hundred and twenty dtru wide (i.e., "this portion of the Tuat measured about SS^ miles long by 15 "miles wide). This great god giveth commands to the gods who " are in the following of Osiris concerning this city, and he assigns " to them estates from this country. The name of the gods who "knoweth their name shall ascend to the place where Osiris is,

~ A variant given by Jcquier gives 480 dtru as the lengtl), i.e., about sixty miles.

•214 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

"and Avater shall be given unto him for ihis Field. The name

"^ AAAAA^ 1^ i — 1

'^ Hidden Souls together with a representation of the hidden " things of the Tuat — beginning the same from the West — it shall "be of great benefit not only to him upon earth, but in the Under- " world, and indeed always. Whosoever knoweth them shall pass " [unhurt] by them as they roar, and shall not fall into their " cauldrons. Whosoever knoweth these things, being attached to "his place, shall have his bread with Ra. Whosoever, being a " soul and a spirit, knoweth these things shall have the mastery " over his legs, and he shall never enter into the place of destruc- " tion, and he shall come forth in his forms and smell the air at his " appointed hour." The illustrated version of the Third Hour represents the boat of Ra sailing over the "Stream of Osiris" preceded by three boats, each of which is moved onwards by two men with paddles ; the beings in these boats are all forms of the god Osiris, and the gods who stand on each side of the stream belong to his cycle, or company. These latter had their bodies of flesh, to which their shadows had been re-united, and their souls talked in them, as soon as Ra had spoken to them ; they made answer to the god, and sang his praise whilst he was with them, but their cries of joy changed to lamentations when he left them. They could not go with him, because it was their duty to guard their district, and to destroy the enemies of Ra, and to support the life of Ra, and to make the Nile to flow.

Amons; the o-ods in this Hour were the nine forms of the o-od

i ftltll? Osiris the Throne, I] jl^-!!; Osiris, conqueror of Osiris-Sahu, Jj 1_1- The duties of the beings who are grouped with these are clear from their names, for these refer to destruction

THIRD HOUR OF THE NIGHT 215

in one form or another, and the explanatory text tells us that they are employed in "hacking and cutting souls, in shutting up the " shadows of the dead, and in dragging the occupants of tombs to " their place of slaughter ; " moreover, they shoot out flames, they cause fires to come into being, and the heads of the enemies of Ra are cut off by their swords. The master of the region traversed

in the Third Hour is called Khatra, ^ [1 , and we learn from the

speech of Ra that the inhabitants of the mythological district over which he presides were created by Ra specially to follow and to protect Osiris. To these he says, " 0 ye whom I have hidden, whose souls I have put in a secret place, Avhom I have set in the following of Osiris to defend him ; to accompany his images, to make an end of those who attack him (even as the god Hu is behind thee, 0 Osiris, to defend thee, to accompany thy images, to destroy those who attack thee, even as Hu is to thee, 0 Osiris, and even as Sa is to thee, 0 Khenti Amentet), ye souls whose forms are stablished, ye souls whose magical powers make certain your coming into being, who breathe the air [through your nostrils, who look] with your faces, who listen with your ears, who are apparelled in your raiment, who are clothed with your swathings, who have ofl^erings made to you at stated seasons by the priests of God, who have estates set apart for your own behoof and benefit, whose souls are not cast down, whose bodies are not overthrown : [0 Hidden Souls, I say] open ye your circles, and set ye yourselves in your own places, for I have come to see my bodies, and to look upon the similitudes of myself which are in the Tuat, and it is you who have brought me along and have given me the opportunity of coming to them. And now I lead thy soul to heaven, 0 Osiris, and thy soul to earth, 0 Khenti Aukert, with thy gods behind thee, and thy spirits before thee, and thy being and thy forms [about thee]. And thy spirit hath its word of power, 0 Osiris, and you, ye spirits who are in the following of Osiris, have your Avords of power. I go up on the earth and the day is behind me ; I pass through the night, and my soul rejoins itself to your forms during the day, and I fulfil the ceremonies of the night which are needful for you. I

216 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

" have created your souls for mine own use, so that they may be " behind me, and what I have done for them will preserve you " from falling down to the place of destruction." ^

The Fourth Hour of the night, which is called Sekhemus," conducts the boat of the Sun-god through a region of a very different character froin the earlier divisions. The descriptive text says, " The majesty of this great god next arriveth in the hidden " Circle of Amentet, and he performeth the designs of the gods "who are therein by means of his voice without seeing them.

"and the name of the pylon of this Circle is Ament-sthau

" hidden pylons which are in the Land of Seker, he who is on his " sand shall eat the bread which hath been prepared for the mouth " of the living gods who are in the temple of Tem. He who "knoweth these things shall [know] the paths rightly, and shall "have power to journey along the roads of Re-stau, and to see "the forms (or guides) in the Ammehet." The Circle Ammehet is, as we learn from Chapter cxlix of the Book of the Dead, the Sixth Aat, or district of the domain of Osiris which is presided over by the god Seker ; the deceased addresses it thus :— " Hail, "thou Ammeliet which art holy unto the gods, and art hidden " for the spirits, and art baleful unto the dead ; the name of the " god who dwelleth in thee is Sekher-At (?) [or Sekher-remu]. " Homage to thee, 0 Ammehet, I have come to see the gods who " dwell in thee. Uncover your faces and put off your head-dresses " when ye meet me, for, behold, I am a mighty god among you, " and I have come to prejDare provisions for you. Let not Sekher- " At (?) have dominion over me, let not the divine slaughterers

1 See Maspero, Les Hiqjogees, p. 64.

FOURTH HOUR OF THE NIGHT

" come after me, let not the murderous fiends come after me, but " let me live upon sepulchral offerings among you." ^

The illustrated edition of the Fourth Hour shows us the boat of Ra passing through an entirely new country, in fact a region

Avhich is filled with huge and fearsome snakes, and represents the region over which the god Seker presides. Here there is no river with banks lined with the gods and the souls of the dead, and here

See my Chapters of Coming Forth hy Day (Translation), p. 267.

218 BOOK OF THE UNDERAVORLD

there are no fields to be distributed by Ra among the faithful followers of himself and of Osiris ; indeed there are so few beings to render him service that he is obliged to betake himself to another kind of boat, and the god of day is compelled to glide through the passages of the dark and gloomy land almost without a following of gods. Ra stands within a shrine in his boat as before, but the boat itself is formed of a serpent with a head at each end of his body ; this boat is hauled over the sandy ground of the god " who is upon his sand " by gods of the company of Osiris, with whom, however, are mingled the gods of the company of Ptali of Memphis, and Osiris himself is merged in Seker and becomes Osiris Seker. The narrow way, or road, of Re-stau has three doors,

AAAAAA Q 0

part the god Ra neither enters nor travels, but the door thereof obeys his voice ; in another part is the body of Seker, who is on his sand, the hidden form which can be neither looked at nor seen ; another part is that through which Seker passeth, but neither the gods, nor the spirits, nor the dead go through it, and it is filled with the souls which have been consumed by the fire that comes forth from the mouth of the goddess Am-mit. The region through which the boat of Ra travels is full of thick darkness, and the light which the god usually emits is unable to penetrate it ; in this difficulty he is helped upon his way by the light of the flames of fire which issue from the mouth of the serpent which forms the body of his boat. Among the gods who march in front of the boat are Thoth and Horus, who stand facing each other with outstretched hands in which they hold an Utchat, '^J, which is here to be identified with the god Seker. The serpents which are passed by the god are of various kinds and of diiFerent sizes. The first,

each end of which terminates in a human head, and is the guardian of Seker ; the second is three-headed, and he moves over the ground on four human legs and feet ; the third is called Amen,

220 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

growing out of its body just above the tail ; and the fifth is

AWAAA AftAAAA

its back fourteen stars and fourteen human heads surmounted by disks. Next we have three huge serpents near the great scorpion

Ankhet, -V- ^ , and a huge uraeus, to which Hbations are being

poured out by a man ; and a three-headed serpent, with wings, which moves along on four human feet and legs ; and the serpent

body, and one head at the other. All these monsters are said to make their journey daily round about tlie region of the Fourth Hour, and they live upon what they find on their way.

The last hour, as we have seen, is a part of the dominions of Seker, but the Fifth Hour, which is called Semit-her-abt-uaa-s,^ contains his capital city. The descriptive text says, "This great " god is drawn along over the actual roads of the Tuat, and over " the hidden Circle of Seker, the god who is on his sand, and he "neither seetli nor looketh upon the hidden figure of the land " which containeth the flesh of this god. The gods who are with " this god hear the voice of Ra-Heru (?), and they adore him at " the seasons of this god. The name of the pylon of this city is

" Aha-neteru, a f a | " ' and the name of this Circle is

" Ament, (1 . [Here are] the secret ways of Anient, and

" the doors of the house of Ament, and the habitable house "( JMK— »— in of the earth of Seker, and his flesh, and his " members, and his body, in their primeval forms. The name of " those who are in this Circle is ' Baiu amu Tuat ' (i.e.. Souls in the " Tuat). The forms who are in their hours and their hidden beings " neither see nor look upon this form of Seker himself. Whosoever " maketh a picture of these things which are in Ament in the Tuat, " to the south of the hidden house, and whosoever knoweth these "things, his soul shall be at peace, and he shall be satisfied

222 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

"not hack his. body in pieces, and he shall go to her in peace. " Whosoever shall make offerings to these gods upon earth shall " [find] them of benefit to him in the Tuat."

The illustrated version of the Fifth Hour shows us Ra travelling in his serpent boat and being towed along by seven gods and seven goddesses, who represent the gods of fourteen days of the month ; before these are the divine sovereign chiefs, i.e., and H etch-met ? II . Half way through the hour Ra comes to a mound of sand, the top of which is surmounted by the head of a woman, whereon rests the forepart of a beetle, only one half of which is visible, symbol of the god Khepera ; this head indicates the position of the hidden abode wherein is Seker, and when the beetle alights upon it the god Khepera holds converse with that god. Immediately beneath the head is the " Land of Seker," which has the shape'czzD, and is described as the " hidden land of " Seker which guardeth the hidden flesh ; " it is surrounded by a wall of sand, and at each end, outside the wall, is a sphinx with the head of a man and the body of a lion. Inside this land is a two-headed, winged serpent, with a tail which terminates in a human head ; between the wings stands a figure of the hawkheaded god Seker ; this serpent monster represents the god watching over his own image. The two sphinxes are Avatched by

the first serpent enters into the presence of this god, and carries to him daily the offerings which are made by the living, but the second never leaves his place, and lives upon the flames which proceed from his own mouth. Before the second serpent are four seated gods, who bear on their knees the emblems of "hidden

_-Zl /VywXA

this lake its waters are like fire, and each of the heads of the four gods v.'-hich rise above them bears upon it the symbol of fire. The lake is watched over by the company of gods of Ra, represented

FIFTH HOUR OF THE NIGHT

by nine axes, and five gods. But before Ra has jD^ssed through the Fifth Hour he arrives at a large vaulted chamber, filled with

its claws, is a hawk ; from the lower part of it goes forth the

224 BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

beetle, only one half of which is visible. This beetle, or Khepera, typified the germ of life, and when the boat of Ra was drawn on to the top of the mound of sand already described, it Avas supposed to stop on it as it passed, and having done so, it went to the dead god and raised him up to life. This chamber Avas guarded by a

jealously watched in order to prevent the entrance of any one who would disturb or destroy the germ of life. A little beyond the chamber of sand is a group of seven gods, whose duty it was to inspect the slaughter of the dead in the Tuat, and to consume their bodies by the flames of their mouths in the course of each day; and a little further on is the goddess who "lives upon the blood of the dead," and who is occupied in slaying a man doomed to die by the gods. When the boat of Rri arrived at the end of the Fifth Hour he saw the star of the " living god, who journeyeth,

and following him M. Maspero, and others, have identified this star with the planet Venus, the star of the morning, and the identification is undoubtedly correct. This is an important fact, for, as M. Jequier has pointed out,^ coupled with the representation of the beetle going forth from the night to 23lace itself in the boat of Ra, it shows us that the domain of Seker, although reduced to two hours which have been inserted in their proper geographical position in the Tuat, certainly at one time formed a complete hell, and that the rising of the sun was the final event which took place in it.

The Sixth Hour, which is called Mesperit-arat-maatu,^ brings us to the neighbourhood of the shrines of Osiris in the Delta. The descriptive text says, " When this great god arriveth " at the abyss of water, which is the lady of the gods of the Tuat, " he holdeth discourse with the gods who are there, and he giveth " the command for them to obtain the mastery over their oiFerings ) in this city. He saileth in this [Field] being

I I r

' Le Livre de ce qn'il y a dans I'Hades, p. 7C).

THE PITS OF THE TUAT

" provided with his boat, and he commandeth them [to have] their "fields for their offerings, and he giveth them water for their " streams as they go about the Tuat each day. The name of the

). The

"pylon of this city is Sept-metu ( ° A ^

" hidden path of Amentet, on the stream of whicli this great god Q

226 THE SIXTH HOUR

' journeyeth in his boat to perform the affairs of the gods of the " Tuat, and the collecting of their names, and the manner in which " their forms rest, and all that appertaineth to their hidden hours, " and the hidden similitude of the Tuat, are unknown .... The " majesty of this god uttereth words, and he giveth divine offerings " to the gods who are in the Tuat, and he standeth near them ; " they see him, and they have the mastery over their fields and ''over the gifts which are made to them, and they have their "beings through the command which this great god, who is " mighty of words, giveth unto them. The name of this district

third paragraph of the text promises to those who make pictures of the Sixth Hour a participation in the offerings which have been made to the gods in the train of Osiris, and also that offerings shall be made to them by their kinsfolk on earth.

The illustrated edition of the Sixth Hour shows us that Ea has no longer any need of the boat which was made of the body of a serpent wherein he passed through the realm of Seker, and that he is once again in his old boat and sailing over the waters of the stream in the Tuat. In front of his boat are: — 1. Thoth, who is called Khenti-Tuat, and who is represented by a dog-headed god holding an ibis on his out-stretched right hand ; and 2. the goddess

Ament-semu-set, [j /^ -^ ' ' ^ • Beyond these is a large house with sixteen divisions, in each of which is a god in mummied form; these represent the mansions of Osiris, and four contain kings of the South, four contain kings of the North, four contain Heteptiu, ^ ^ ^ i , and four contain Spirits. All these form the

the body of which is bent round into an irregular oval in such a way that his tail almost touches one of his heads. Lying on his back within this oval is a god who is called 7Vfu, o:, i.e., "Flesh," and as he is touching with his right hand the leg of a beetle which he holds on his head, we may assume that he represents the dead body of Khepera, and is the opposite of the Sun-god in his boat, who is called "Flesh of Ra," Iq, The sixteen gods mentioned

228 THE SIXTH HOUR

above are addressed by Ra, who commands them to be happy with their offerings, and to protect him, and to slay the serpent Apepi ; they hearken to his voice, and the text goes on to say that it is the voice of Ra which will make the god within the folds of the serpent Ash-hrau and the beetle upon his head to move. With these must be mentioned the double company of the gods of Osiris, one company being de|)icted in human form sitting on invisible thrones; these are: — Hetep-Henti-Tuat, ^, Ast-amhit, ji

names are not given. The second company of nine gods is represented by nine sceptres, each of which has a knife fixed at its base, ^==)^ I ; the first three are surmounted by the white crowns, Q ,

of Ra, each of which is protected by a serpent god standing upon its tail and emitting fire from its mouth. The first house is called

Het-tua-Ra O [J ^ , and has for its symbol "3^, and the sign ^SSii ;

the left hand side of the boat of the Sun-god are two gods whose names are wanting, Alii, (] |^ UQ? Netch-atef, °^ | u "^ , Ankh-hra, ^'^, Met-lira, | '^ (Sept-hra ^'^p), Netch-pautti,

back the heads of the four Children of Horus, Mestha, Hapi,

230 THE SEVENTH HOUR

Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf. The duty of this serpent is to devour the shadows and the spirits of the enemies of Ra, who are overthrown in the Tuat. The monster is followed by the four earthly

of these gods consisted in destroying the enemies of Khepera, and in cutting up their shadows; they lived in Nu and in the water of Ta-thenen, and Khepera by means of his magical power daily made them to breathe through the word of Ra.

The Seventh Houe, which is called Khesef-haa-heseq-Neha- HRA,^ takes us into the region of the Tuat which contains the hidden abode of the god Osiris. The descriptive text says, " When the majesty of this great god arriveth in the hidden abode " (Tephet ^ | "^ ) of Osiris, he addresseth to the gods who are " there [suitable] words. This god maketh to himself other forms "for this hidden abode, so that he may turn back the way for "Apep by means of the magical words of Isis, and the magical

" words of Ser, 1^ 3 . The name of the pylon of this city through " Avhich the god journeyeth is ' Gate of Osiris ' ((:) ^ ^ IJ j] ^) '

"and the name of the city is Tephet-shetat ((-, 8^ ^ J.

" This great god passeth over the hidden way of Amentet in his " boat which is endowed with magical powers, and he journeyeth " over it when there is no stream in it, and when there are none to " tow him. He per forme th this by means of the words of power " of Isis and of Ser, and by means of the mighty words of power " which proceed from his own mouth, and in this region of the "Tuat he inflicteth with the knife wounds upon Apep, whose " place is in heaven." The man who shall make a picture of the things which are to the north of the hidden house of the Tuat shall find it of great benefit to him both in heaven and on earth ; and

THE SEVENTH HOUR

he who knows it shall be among the spirits near Ra, and he who recites the words of Isis and Ser shall repulse Apep in Amentet, and he shall have a place on the boat of Ra both in heaven and

upon earth. The man who knows not this picture shall never be able to repulse the serpent Neha-hra.

The text continues, " The shallows of the land of Neha-hra are

232 THE SEVENTH HOUR

"450 cubits long, and it is filled with his folds, but over one " portion thereof this great god joumeyeth not when he travelleth " to the hidden abode of Osiris, for he journey eth through this city " under the form of the god Mehen, (°^ iMi) • Neha-hra shall "never drink the water of him that knoweth this, and the " soul which knoweth it shall never be given over to the violence " of the gods who are in this Circle ; and the crocodile Ab-she

" ( Q I "X (zszi) shall never eat the soul of him that knoweth it."

From what is said above we see that the boat of Ra has arrived at a shallow place in the celestial stream where there is not enough water to float the boat, or even to allow it to be towed ; moreover, the serpent Neha-hra opposes the advance of the god. In this difficulty Isis, the great enchantress, enters the boat, and standing in the bows utters the words which make it proceed on its way. Neha-hra, as we see from the illustrated edition of the hour, is

seized bv Serqet and Her-tesu-f, "^ ^""^ '^"==-? and held in

bonds, and is transfixed to the ground by six knives ; thus Ra, with the serpent Mehen over him in the form of a canopy, moves on without let or hindrance. Behind the monster serpent stand four goddesses, each armed with a huge knife, whose duty it is to guard the tombs of the four forms of Osiris ; the names of the

Nakith, ^ (] -^3^ (j () s= , and Hetemitet, | jj fjl) ^- Their duty

was to drive away the enemies of Ra, and to hack in pieces with their awful knives the fiend Apep every day. The four tombs of Osiris are rectangular buildings, and inside each is a bed or small mound of sand Avhereunder lie the dead souls of the god, which are known by the names Tem, Khepera, Ra, and Osiris. At each end of each tomb is a human head, which is said to come forth from the tombs whenever it hears the voice of Ra, and after he has passed " they eat their own forms," i.e., the heads disappear from sight. It was, no doubt, a custom in predynastic times to slay slaves at the graves of kings and nobles, just as in many parts of the world it has been the custom to kill human beings and to lay their bodies beneath the foundations of buildings which were to

THE SEVENTH HOUR

234 THE SEVENTH HOUR

be erected in order that the souls of the slaughtered might protect them and keep away evil spirits. The human heads on the tombs of Osiris probably represent a tradition that, when Osiris was buried, human sacrifices were offered at his tomb for this or for some similar purpose/ This view has been well discussed by M. Lefebure, who has done so much to illustrate the religious and funeral customs of the ancient Egyptians,^ and some allusion to it is probably made by Horapollo,^ who says that when they wanted to represent (jivXaKTtjpLou they were wont to draw two human heads, one male and the other female, that of the male looking inwards, and that of the female outwards. These heads would keep away the attack of any evil spirit, even if no inscription was placed with them.

The other illustrations of this hour show us the god Af-Asar,

(^(^(^(^(^(^(^ (1 ^.^ ^ J , i.e., ''Flesh of Osiris," seated under a

canopy made by the body of a form of the serpent Mehen called

behind him ; a little further behind is the god Shepes, —*— ,

a form of Thoth. Before the god kneel three figures, whose heads have been cut off by a cat-headed god, and lying on the ground are three beings who have been fettered by the god Anku,

been plucked out, and whose shadows have been hacked in pieces because they rebelled against the lord of the Tuat. Before these are three human-headed hawks wearing double crowns, and they represent the souls of the "living;" and on a serpent near is seated

Tem." Among the other gods in this hour is "Horus on his throne," and before him are a company of gods who have been

1 See Maspero, Les Hypogees, p. 104 ; Jequier, op. cit., p. 94,

" Bites J^ayptiens, pp. 4 ff., 18 ff.

^ ^vXaKTrjpiov 8k ypacf)eLV jioyXofxtvoi, Zvo Kc^aAas avdpioirwv t,(oypa(f)ov(n, Tr]V fxev icfyaxj/eTai, eTretSr/ kol ^wpis ypafxixaTOiV, k.t.X. Ilteroglyplnca, i. 24.

THE EIGHTH HOUR

joined to their stars, and the goddesses of the twelve hours. Facing these companies is the crocodile " Ab-sha-am-Tuat,"

and of what is in it. When Ra passes by the crocodile, which is described as " Osiris, the Eye of Ra," this beast is fascinated and made helpless by the words so long as the god is speaking to him, and the dead Osiris, who is in the ground under the crocodile, puts up his head that he also may look at the Sun-god ; the

The Seventh Hour of the Night.

followers of Osiris also seize the opportunity of gazing upon Ra, and do so without risk of being devoured by the monster which is temporarily enchanted.

The Eighth Houk, which is called Nebt Ushau,^ brings us into a very interesting division of the Tuat ; the name of its pylon

238 THE CIRCLES OF THE TUAT

city is Tebat-neteru-s, c^? 11 "J^ f 1 ,!,Il^- Ra passes through

this division in his boat under the protection of Mehen, and its gods tow him at the command of this mighty snake ; he sees all the gods in their various Circles, and those " who are on their sand," and he addresses words to them. They come out of their secret abodes when the god passes by, and the doors thereof open of their own accord. In this Hour only gods and spirits who have been mummified and buried with appropriate rites are to be found, and, though dead, they quickly come to life again at the words of Ra, who exhorts them to put an end to all the enemies of his who are to be found in that region. The illustrated edition of the Hour shows us the boat of the god being towed along, and in front of it are nine large signs, the forms of which are based upon the hieroglyphic character n shesu or shemsuy i,e.,

" follower " or " servant." From the top of seven of these is suspended a human head, which shows that we are actually dealing with beings who are in the following of Osiris, and before

each is the hieroglyphic for " linen," JJ^. These nine remarkable

objects represent beings who have been mummified in the manner prescribed by Horus, and who are suitably provided with funeral bandages ; they are described as beings whose whole life is in their heads, and when Ra calls to them by their names they immediately seize his enemies everywhere and cut off their heads with their knives. Before these are the four forms of the

described as " form one," O, "form two," S^? "form three,"

QQ^, and " form four," ^S^M- On each side of the way

by which Ra journeys are five Circles.

The door of the first Circle, Sesheta, is called Tes-neb-terer.

and Shu ; Avlien Ra speaks to them they answer in a voice which resembles the hummins; of bees. The door of the second Circle,

THE CIRCLES OF THE THAT

Tuat, ^, is called Tes-aha-Ta-thenen, and shuts in the images of Tefnut, Seb, and Nut ; when Ra sjDeaks to them they answer in a voice Avhich resembles that of weeping women. The door of the third Circle, As-neteru, (] ^ p crz: | i , is called Tes-khem-baiu,

,^ , and shuts in the images

of Osiris, Isis, and Horus ; when Ra speaks to them they answer in a voice which resembles that of men who moan. The door of

The Eighth Hour of the Night.

the fourth Circle, Aakebi, (jl em-thehen-neteru, '

S J (1(1 "H^ , is called Tes-shetai^T , and shuts in the images

is like that of bulls and men when they make lamentation. The

— " ■ .^L_e III

THE CIRCLES OF THE TUAT 241

in the images of Khatri, ^ (](j, Affi, (] ^ M (©(«, and Aranbfi,

which is like unto that of him that maketh suppHcation in terror. These five Circles are shut in by a door called Tes-khaibit-tuatiu,

whose attributes are not yet all clearly defined ; when Ea speaks to them they answer in a voice which is like that of male cats when they mew. The door of the seventh Circle, Hetemet-khemiu,

o

I J A V. '^; when Ra speaks to them they answer in a voice which is like the roar of the living. The door of the eighth Circle,

D

speaks to them they answer in a voice which is like the shouts of war heard in the battle of Nu. The door of the ninth Circle,

speaks to them they answer in a voice which is like that of the cry of the divine hawk of Horus. The door of the tenth

Temtet, t^ ^ ,

^ -"^ -21 AAAAAA All ■( ) _/ J I

, Khebs-ta.

242 THE NINTH HOUR

who rest upon 1 1 ; when Ka speaks to them they answer in a voice which is like the twittering and chattering of water-fowl on a lake. The last five Circles are shut in by a door called Tes-am-

The Ninth Hour, which is called Tdatet-maket-neb-s/ brings us into a country which is called the "hidden Circle of

" Amentet " ; the name of the city is Bes-aru, J — «— "^y^

n (si- v^ IN I ^ J' and the name of its pylon is Sa-Akeb,

JSr _M^ ^ lliiillll' ^

*' Circle he addresseth from his boat the gods who are therein, and ^' the sailors who are in his boat are content with this city." The man who shall make a copy of the scenes of this Hour, and shall know the names of the gods and their places in Amentet shall attain to a position in Amentet, and he shall stand up in the presence of the lord of affairs and shall enjoy the power of making

what he says to come to pass with the divine assessors, J | p "^ 3 i ,

on the day of reckoning up accounts by Per-aa (Pharaoh). The illustrated edition of this Hour shows us the boat of the god travelling on as before, and in front of it are twelve divine rowers,

each with his paddle ; among these are Khenu, N^ „ , Akhemsek-f, (] ® ^ ^, Akhem-urt-f, [j e ^|^ ^, Akhem-hemi-f,

The duty of these sailors is not only to row, but also to throw water with their paddles upon the spirits who stand on each bank of the river whereon the god sails, and they have to lead the soul of Ra to the place where he will reanimate the disk. Before these sailors, resting on baskets, are the three gods who give abundant

244 THE NINTH HOUR

l]TK ^ . On the right the boat of Ra passes twelve gods, each seated on j 1^ , and twelve goddesses ; these last are said to breathe after he has saluted them, and after they have heard his voice, and their duty is to utter words of power Avherewith they are to surround the hidden soul, and thereby to cause life and streno-th to rise up in Osiris. The names of these are : — Nehata

-j:^ ^ ^, Teba, === J %. |, Ariti, ^ ^ (](|'^, Menkhet '^H, Hebs, y — T, Nebti, ^, Asti-neter, jj ^ c^ ^ ^ I , Temtu, c^ ^ ^ , Men-a, =^ ll _., Perit, ^

Shemat-khu, ™ ^ '^ j , Nebt-shat, ^ -— a ^ ^ ^ , Nebt-shef-

1 Av /Wy)^rsA

'^ ^ ii ^ ' Sekhet-metu, ^ ^ | ^ |. Netert-en-khentet-Ra,

"i (:^ AAA^ A/^ ^ O ^ Qj2 the left are twelve uraei, each of whom

rests on I! 1 , and sends out fire through his mouth ; they are said to kindle the fire for the god who is in the Tuat with the fire which is in their mouths, and when the god has passed on his way they eat up the fire which they poured forth before Ra went by. The object of the fire was, of course, to show light on his path. Before these uraei come the nine gods of cultivation and of husbandry, who are under the direction of a god in mummified form ; these nine are the sekhtiu, jl^tlfl ^ ^ i , or " field-labourers,"

and they perform all the works connected Avith the ploughing and watering of the fields.

246 THE TENTH HOUR

The Tenth Houe, which is called Tentit-uhesqet-khat-ab/ brings Ra in his boat to the city called Metchet-qat-utebu,

The boat of the sun travels on as before, but Ra again holds a serpent in his hand after the manner of a staff. Immediately in

H— 1 I

of his body ; on one head is the white crown, and on the other the red crown ; he has two pairs of human legs, one pair turned towards the right, and the other pair towards the left. His body is bent in the form of a pair of horns, and in the curve stands Khent-Heru, ^ p==^, in the form of a black hawk ; on the left is

the goddess of the north, Neith, with her two bows, | |, and on

the rio;ht is the sroddess Hert-ermen, . Next comes a boat

containing the serpent Ankh-ta, and before it are three groups, each containing four gods. The gods of the first group have solar disks for heads, and are armed with arrows, and are called

Tepthera, ^ n , Shesera, — «— (1 , Temau, (^ ^ , and Utu,

v:^ cis^ v^. The gods of the second group carry each a javelin,

bow, and are called Pesthi, , Shemerthi, ^ w , Thesu,

as he goes towards the east, and they slay all his enemies who live in the darkness, and wreak special vengeance on the serpent Neha-hra ; they escort the god to the very limits of the Hour, and form part of his train in the eastern part of the sky. The name

of the region traversed by Ra in this Hour is Akert, u ^ '^ '.

As the boat of Ra passes the god sees the "living beetle," ■¥•,

born in the presence of the god P-ankhi, n aaaw. M , and sees how he

IPCn^-^?l)*

w

248 THE TENTH HOUR

pushes before him his zone, . Next Ave have the two

holding on their bent necks a solar disk ; and two seated personifications of the South and North ; and the two goddesses, Netheth,

and the other the solar disk, which rests upon it, h . From the serpents go forth two goddesses, those of the East and West ; and the East and West also ; i.e., these goddesses are the souls of the serpents and of the axe, which come forth to look upon the Sungod, and as soon as he has passed they return into their material bodies.

Next Ra sees eight ^ goddesses advancing to a seated dogtheir duty is to see that it is in good condition, and to take care of

great god, was to wreck the bodies and scatter the swathings of the enemies of Ra. On his left hand Ra passed in his journey through this Hour Horus, and twelve beings who dive and swim and perform evolutions in tanks of water. These are said to beat the water in their attempts to recover their breath, and Ra calls upon them to fill themselves with the water of the celestial Nile, and promises that their members shall not suffer corruption, and that their bodies shall not perish ; he decrees that they shall

1 I.e., Sekhet, V ^ , Menkert, (z^ , Huntheth, Q JL , Usit,

and Themath,

THE TENTH HOUR

be masters of their own arms in their water because they are the denizens of Nu, and that their souls shall live. Beyond these are

four goddesses, each with a serpent hanging down her back with its head above her own, and with them is a standard surmounted

250 THE ELEVENTH HOUR

by the head of Set, If. This god was the guardian of the Tenth

Hour, and when Ra was about to pass from it into the eastern part of the sky, Set was believed to rouse himself and to make the journey with him. The four goddesses " who lived by their heads," shed light on the path of Ra.

The Eleventh Hour, which is called Sebuit-nebt-uaa- KHESFET-SEBAU-EM-PERT-F,^ brings US to a city called Re-qerert-aptthe texts and the illustrations which accompany it was to enable the spirits of the dead to become participators with the gods, and to provide them witli such things as were necessary for their equipment both in heaven and upon earth. Ra stands as usual in his boat, but he has changed the serpent which he held in his hand

as a sceptre for the ordinary sceptre, 1 , and on the bows of the boat we see a solar disk, surrounded by a serpent ; the name of this

connected with some well-known star Avhicli rose heliacally at certain seasons of the year. The duty of the disk was to guide the boat of the great god along the paths which led to that part of the Tuat, at the end of the Eleventh Hour, where the darkness faded away ; the texts call the darkness at this point keku keskesu,

filled the greater part of the Tuat. Before the boat of Ra are twelve gods, who carry upon their heads the serpent Mehen to the

252 THE ELEVENTH HOUR

Before these are : — 1. A uraeus wearing the crown of the North and a human head ; and, 2. A uraeus from the back of which emero^es the white crown, with a human head on each side of it.

The first of these is called Sem-shet, '^ , and the second Sem-Nebt-het, "^]T; the human heads on the white crown onlycome forth when Ra is passing by, and when he has departed they disappear. Next we have figures of the four forms of the goddess Neith, two of them wearing the white crown, and two the red ;

they are called Neith the fecundator, ^ , in allusion to the belief that this goddess begat herself, Neith of the red crown, ^ )/,

Neith of the white crown, r), and Neith the child, ;

these goddesses came into being as soon as they heard the voice of

unknown, the unseen, the invisible, ^ ^ '^i-^- O O — fu. (=)

This Circle of the Tuat through which the god travels to appear in the mountain of the sunrise contains many wonderful beings, and it is said to '' swallow always the forms therein in the presence of

" the god who knoweth, ^ Jj, who is in this city, and afterwards

" it giveth them for the births of those who are to come into being "on this earth." Among these are: — A god with the solar disk

for a head ; from it project two human heads, one wearing )/, and

the other Q. He is called Aper-hra-neb-tchetta, d "^ ^1 , and

stands facing a god having two heads, but without crowns, whose name is Tepui, @@. In the space between we see a serpent provided with a pair of wings and four human legs and feet, facing

the serpent Shetu, ^, upon the back of which is seated a

god ; the heads of both serpents are among a number of stars. Standing by the side of the winged serpent, which is called

stretched out in such a way as to keep the wings wide apart ; he has on his head a disk, and his neck is between the double iitchat,

m

254 THE ELEVENTH HOUR

two heads is "he who stands, of p^ , by Ra," ^ and that he

never leaves his place in the Tuat. The god who stands by the Avinged serpent is Temu, who springs out of the reptile's back when Rii addresses it; but as soon as the words cease Temu disappears into the serpent. The second serpent is the constellation Shetu, i.e., the Tortoise, and its soul appears in human form on its back as soon as Ra addresses it, but when the words have ceased like Temu it disappears into its body. The duty of Shetu was to ^' emit life for Ra every day."

Before these march Khnemu and ten gods, five of whom have no arms ; from the neck of one of these project the heads of two serpents.^ From the descriptive text we learn that the souls of these gods lived on the hidden light of Ra ; that the breath of his mouth gave them life, and that their souls fed upon the provisions which were stored in his boat ; their chief duty was to be with and in attendance upon the god. Besides these gods we also have in this Hour four goddesses, each of whom sits upon the bodies of two uraei, which are bent upwards in such a way as to form a seat ; the heads of each pair of uraei are reared up in front of the knees of the goddess, who is sitting on their backs, and whose feet rest upon their necks. Each goddess has her right hand raised as if to hide her face, and with her left she grasps the body of one of the uraei. It is possible that the uraei are only four in number, and that they are two-headed ; the goddesses are called Nebtarms of these beings are on earth, and their feet in the thick

^ M. Maspero speaks of him as the " agathodemon " of Ra.

A/wysA

kha-nef , a , Apt-taui, %J """ , Mer-en-aaui-f, o , Aunaauif,

and Hepa, fi

THE PITS OF THE TUAT 255

darkness, and as long as tlie god is speaking to them they utter cries and acclaim him ; they never move from their places, and their souls live upon the voices of the uraei which go forth from their feet daily. When the shadows depart the winds which arise in the Tuat are diverted from the faces of the four goddesses by their hands, Avhicli they hold up. In this statement we seem to have an allusion to the keen, fresh wind of dawn with which all travellers in the desert are well acquainted, and which usually blows about one hour before sunrise.

In the region on the left hand side of Ra we see how punishment is inflicted upon the enemies of Ra, and in it we have a country of blazing fire. At one end stands Horus with a disk, surrounded by a uraeus, upon his head, holding in his left hand a boomerang, one end of which terminates in the head of a serpent ; the idea here suggested is that the weapon held by the god is a real serpent, which when thrown at an enemy will suddenly attach itself to his body after the manner of the vicious uraeus. The right arm of Horus rests on a staff wherewith the god usually supports himself, and before him rears itself a huge serpent called

^' Set of millions of years," ^ , the duty of which was to

devour any of the enemies of Ra, i.e., the dead, who succeeded in making their escape from the fires of the country of the Eleventh Hour. In front of these were the five awful chambers, or pits in the sky, which were filled with the red-hot materials of blazing fires, and employed to consume the enemies of Ra.

The first chamber or pit, Hatet, "w e^:^, was fiUed Avith the bodies of fiends who were dashing out their own brains with axes,

belched fire into it through her mouth ; when the fire had done its work on the wretched creatures they were hacked to pieces by the hu2:e knife which she held in both her hands. The second chamber or pit was also filled with the bodies of fiends, and was

who spat fire upon them and who was armed with a monster knife.

256 THE ELEVENTH HOUR

of the fiends, and was under the charge of a woman called Hertsimilarly armed. The fourth and fifth chambers, which were under the charge of similar women, called H ert-Nemmat-set, ^ [^ m '

and heads, @®@, of the damned. Passing by these chambers we come to the " Valley of those who are cast down headlong," four men are standing on their heads, 'ii'i'i; next to this are four goddesses of the desert, each of whom has upon her head the emblem of desert; their names are Pesi, (1(1, Rekhit,

Her-sha-s, f=^ a—*-, and Sait, ^00^. Each

name has a meaning something like " fiery," and refers to the goddesses in their character of mistresses of the blazing desert. Finally, behind these comes the god Her-ut-f, p=q J^ , who

was in some way connected with the embalming of the dead. The descriptive text which accompanies these scenes makes the great god Ra command " his father Osiris to hack in pieces the bodies of " the enemies and of the dead who are cast down headlong."

Then, addressing the enemies themselves, he tells them that when his father Osiris hath smitten them for destruction, and hath cut in pieces their spirits and souls, and hath rent asunder their shadows, and hath cut off their heads in such a way that existence in the future will be impossible for them, they will be cast down headlong into burning furnaces from which there is neither escape nor deliverance, and Set the everlasting snake will drive his flames against them, and the Lady of furnaces, and the Lady of fiery pits, and the Lady of slaughtering blocks, and the Lady of swords, will drive against them the flames which come forth from their mouths, that they will hack them in pieces in such wise that the wretched beings will never again see those who live upon the earth. The slaughter of the enemies is ordered to be performed by Horus, the god of those who are in the Tuat, and it is curious to note that the

THE TWELFTH HOUR 257

gods his companions are said to live upon the voices of the enemies who are slain, and on the shrieks and cries of the souls and shadows which are cast down into the blazing, fiery pits.

The Twelfth Hour, Maa-nefert-Ra,^ brings the god Ra into the Circle which is on the confines of thick darkness, and to a city

called Khepert-kekui-khaat-mest, v^ i ^ i (f| "^ ,

and Hehut, O y '^ rlj ? come into the Circle when he is born, and when he goeth forth from the Tuat and resteth in the Mantit,

Ra journeys in his boat, as before, but the solar disk which was at the bows in the Eleventh Hour is no longer there, and its place is occupied by the beetle of Khepera, the forerunner of the rising sun.^ Twelve gods tow the boat, not over a river or over the back of a serpent or serpents, but completely through a serpent ; in front the tow-rope is held by the hands of twelve women. This serpent is called Ka-en-Ankh-neteru, IwLi ■¥• T , i.e., " the life of the gods," and the gods who draw Af, that is to say, Ra, through it are his " loyal servants," -^, I , Amhhiu. The boat enters the serpent at his tail in deep darkness, and passing through his body emerges through the mouth into the light of day ; the god in his boat enters the snake in the form of a dead, old Sun-god, and he comes forth not only alive, but made young again, and appears in the sky under the form of Khepera. The " loyal servants " of Ra are the souls of the blessed which have been so fortunate as to obtain admission into his boat ;„ they were his devout adorers when upon earth, and the reward which they

I

2 IJ fi )) : ^ word sometimes rendered by vulva, pubis, andflanJi ^ See Lanzone, Domicile des Esprits, pi. v.

258 THE TWELFTH HOUR

obtain for their fidelity is renewed youth and a new birth upon the earth. What they are to do upon earth is not made clear, but it is evident that they cannot remain there for an indefinite period, for since their master needs to be re-born daily they also must need re-birth each day. It is doubtful, if we judge by some passages, if they came to the earth at all, and it is far more likely that their enjoyment consisted in journeying about at will through the sky and looking down from some portion of it upon the scenes of their old life than in making hurried visits to the earth daily.

When the boat of Ra has passed through the serpent the twelve women or goddesses, mentioned above, take the rope from the gods and haul it on to the paths of the sky. The god is accompanied through the Twelfth Hour by: — 1. Twelve goddesses, each bearing a serpent on her head and shoulders, and 2. Twelve gods, or men, with their hands raised in adoration ; all these are on the right hand side. Each deity has a name, which is Avritten in front of his or her figure. The uraei of the goddesses are said to proceed from them, and the flames which drive away Apep come forth from their mouths. The goddesses travel with the god until he rises on this earth, but after this they return to their places. The duty of the twelve gods is to praise Ra. On the left

of the boat we have the gods Nu, 000, Nuth, , Hehu,

II v^, Hehut, II y^j these gods are "in their o^vn bodies,"

this great god as he cometh forth to them in the eastern part of heaven daily. They live in their drrit, i.e., hall of the horizon,

Next we have two human-headed gods, a bird-headed god called Nehui, ppi ^ IJiJ, a god with two birds heads called Ni, (j [j , gods ; all these carry paddles on their right shoulders. The duty of the gods is to raise up, £=» "I , the disk of the sun daily, but the serjDent Nesmekhef slaughters the enemies of Ra ; they

OSIRIS, GOVERNOR OF AMENTl 259

Circle. Before these are ten gods, with hands raised in adoration/ Avho are described as the kentiu, ^ ^ ^ g i , of the forms of Tw^"!^, and they say to him, "Live, thou Governor of thy " darkness ! Live, 0 thou who art great in all things ! Live, 0 " thou Prince of Amentet, Osiris, thou Governor of those who are " in Amenti ! Mayest thou live, mayest thou live, 0 thou who " art Governor of the Tuat, the wind of Ra is to thy nostrils, " the breath of Khepera is with thee, thou livest and they live. " Hail, Osiris, lord of the living ones ; the gods who are with " Osiris are those who were with him at the first time," etc.

The allusion here is to the death and burial of Osiris, when Horus carried out the arrangements which had to be made for the performance of the general ceremonies, and when every detail connected with mummification, etc., was thought out by the loving care of the son of Osiris. In the illustrated version of the Twelfth Hour, published by Signor Lanzone (tav. vii.), we have represented the semi-circular wall of thick darkness which forms the end of the Tuat and the division between it and this world. Against this wall, in the lower part of it, lies a mummied form, representing " Af " ; this is the object of the praises which the last two groups of gods lavish upon him. The descriptive text says concerning the mummy, " He who is in this picture in the hidden form of Horus of " thick darkness is the secret image which Shu makes to be under " Nut, and which cometh forth from Keb-ur on earth in this form."^

U ^ J V' Sekhenu, ^ ^ , Ermenii, „ , Klienmi, ^ ^ , Bunau, ^_fl, Aura, £;n ^ , Atliep, (J ^ , and Am , -[J-.

260 THE SUN S NEW BIRTH

In the middle of the wall of thick darkness is a red disk, from which proceeds a human head ; this is the " image of Shu," "^)^ R , who extends his arms along the vaulted wall, and of whose body one part is in the Tuat and the other in this world. Immediately above the head of the god is the beetle of Khepera,

here spelt ® Q, which makes its way into this world through the

opening which the head and shoulders of Shu have made in the wall of thick darkness. Through this opening the boat of Ra also was enabled to pass into this world, and the god continued his journey with the help of the deities who towed him along ; there is no doubt about this because the tow-line is prolonged to the wall of thick darkness. As Af, the dead body of Ra, passes into our world, his new life begins, and for men and women the night passes away, and a new day is born.

We have now traced the passage of the Sun-god through the

Tuat as it was imagined by those who believed in the absolute

supremacy of Osiris, and as it was described by the author of the

Book of Pylons, and we have briefly passed through its divisions

ag described in the Book of that which is in the Tuat,

throughout which the absolute supremacy of Ra is maintained. It

is now easy to see that these two works represent two opposite

and conflicting theories as to the future life. The heaven of the

devotees of Osiris was originally most materialistic, and the life

which was led in it by the beatified was, to all intents and

purposes, merely a continuation of the life led by men and women

upon earth ; the heaven of the priests of Ra was of a more refined

character, and it lacked the grosser characteristics of the dwellers

in the Elysian Fields of Osiris. Some have argued from the facts

about the Tuat given above that the Egyptians beheved in the

existence of purgatory, and in the everlasting punishment of the

wicked in a hell of fire, and in the reincarnation of souls, and in

many other things which would presuppose the holding by them

of doctrines which are commonly thought to be the products of

the minds of modern nations ; but the facts do not support these

beliefs. Whichever doctrine of the future life we take, whether

that of Osiris or that of Ra, we find no room in it for a purgatory.

DESTRUCTION OF THE WICKED 261

In the Judgment which took place before Osiris only the righteous were permitted to enter into the Elysian Fields, and the wicked were destroyed immediately ; in other words, annihilation was the punishment for sin. The Egyptians believed largely in the efficacy of works, and in addition to the deeds of love and charity which they performed in all periods, strict care concerning the ceremonies of religion, worship, and of the funeral, and a proper respect and reverence for words of power, and amulets, and sacred writings, and figures were demanded from them by priests and religious teachers at all times. There was, of course, a large class of people who could not afford costly burials, and who were too poor to buy even cheap amulets, but they Avere not condemned in the Judgment because of their poverty ; on the contrary, they escaped annihilation and were admitted by Osiris into the first division of the Tuat, where, however, they were compelled to stay because they did not know the words of power which would enable them to continue their journey through the remaining divisions of the Underworld. But there was no punishment inflicted upon them because they had been both poor and ignorant in this world ; they merely remained in the place to which their religious qualifications enabled them to attain, and each evening, or each night, they were made glad by the sight of the great god Ra as he sailed through the Tuat in his boat, and they rejoiced in his daily visit.

The beings in the Tuat of Osiris upon whom punishment was inflicted were the " enemies of Osiris," and these were usually the " enemies of Ra " ; but in no text is it said that the punishment which they had to endure there ever obliterated their guilt, whatever it might be, or that when the proper time had arrived they would be allowed to proceed into another division of the Tuat where their punishment would be lighter, or where they would undergo none at all. Though a man could earn happiness in the realm of Osiris or in that of Ra by his good works on earth, and by ceremonies performed at his funeral by duly qualified priests, and by the presence of copies of religious texts which were buried with him, there is no reason to think that when once his soul reached the Underworld it could ever better its position there either by suffering punishment or by the performance of good

262 OFFERINGS TO THE DEAD

works. The offerings made at the tombs of the dead were for the benefit of the ha or double, and perhaps for the animal soul which was at one time believed to exist in the human body, but neither the offerings nor the prayers which accompanied them seem to have been able to remove the spirits and souls of the dead from one division of the Tuat into another, or to modify the state or condition which had been decreed for them. Similarly, there is no evidence that prayers for the dead or offerings would ameliorate the condition of those who had successfully passed the ordeal of the Judgment, and had been sent by Osiris into one or other of the habitations of his kingdom.

CHAPTER VI HELL AND THE DAMNED

F we examine the doctrine concerning the future life according

I to the priesthoods of Ra we find still less room for a purgatory in their theological system. According to this the souls of the dead assembled in Amentet, i.e., the "hidden" region, the Egyptian Hades, where they waited for the boat of Ra to pass by. When the god appeared those who had been his worshippers and adorers on earth, and who were fortunate enough to have secured the words of power which would enable them to enter the boat did so, and they made their journey with him through the Tuat. Under his protection they passed through all the dangers which threatened to destroy them, and continued their journey through the realms of Osiris and Seker, and at length appeared with Ra in the eastern horizon of heaven at daybreak. Once there they were able to wander about heaven at will, and they did so, presumably, until the time of sunset, when they rejoined the god in his boat, and again made the journey through the Tuat with him. Each division of the Tuat, apparently, contained a host of beings who wished to enter the boat of Ra, but could not do so, either for want of the necessary words of power, or because they had reached the place to which their qualifications entitled them ; these all, however, received great benefit from the nightly visit of Ra, and as he left each division to enter the next they were filled with great sorrow, and many of them ceased to exist until the following night, when they renewed their life for a brief period. Many divisions of the Tuat contained enemies of Ra, who were, of course, destroyed without mercy by the followers of the god ; but there is no reason whatsoever for the view that these enemies were the

264 HELL AND THE DAMNED

damned, or that they were doomed to eternal punishment. At the end of the Tuat was a region where certain goddesses presided over pits of fire and superintended the destruction of the bodies, and spirits, and shadows, and heads of numbers of such enemies, and it would seem, judging by the knives in their hands, that they hacked the bodies to pieces before they were burnt. But even these were not punished eternally, for as soon as the god had passed through their region the fires went out, and the mere fact that he was able to appear in the eastern sky proved that all his enemies were destroyed. Each night and morning Ra destroyed the hosts of enemies who attempted to bar his progress, for such enemies perished instantly by the flames which went forth from the divine beings whom he had created.

Originally, too, such enemies were only the personifications of the powers of nature, such as twilight, darkness, night, gloom, the blackness of eclipses, fog, mist, vapour, rain, cloud, storm, wind, tempest, hurricane, and the like, which were destroyed daily by Ra and his fiery beams. Many, in fact the greater number of such personifications, were endowed by Egyptian artists with human forms, and the pictures of the scenes of their destruction by fire were supposed by many to represent the burning of the souls of the damned. The ignorant and the superstitious did not understand that the Sun-god slew and burned with fire the enemies of each night and morning during that same night and morning; each rising of the sun was the result of the annihilation of his foes of that day. It may be urged that these foes were always the same because they were always of the same kind, but the Egyptians did not think so, and they believed that a new host of foes appeared to attack Ra each night and morning. But even had they thought so, the punishment was only intermittent, and it was only renewed during that part of each night which immediately preceded the dawn, and during the interval between dawn and sunrise. The souls of the damned could have done nothing to hinder the progress of Ra, and the Egyptians never imagined that they did, but it is possible that in late dynastic times certain schools of theological thought in Egypt, being dissatisfied Avith and unconvinced of the accuracy of the theory of

HELL AND THE DAMNED 265

the annihilation of the wicked, assigned to evil souls dwellingplaces with the personifications of the powers of nature alreadymentioned in the Tuat. The spears which pierced the enemies of Ra were the fiery rays of the sun, and the knives which hacked their bodies in pieces were his flames of fire ; and the lakes and pits of fire were suggested to the minds of the primitive Egyptians by the fiery splendour which filled the eastern heavens at sunrise. They certainly did not believe in everlasting punishment, and there is nothing in the texts which will support the view that they did ; in fact, the doctrines of purgatory and hell which were promulgated during the Middle Ages in Europe with such success find no equivalents in the ancient Egyptian religion. Apart from the general characteristics of their religion the Egyptians were too practical to entertain the idea of repeated destructions or consumings by fire of the same body, but had they done so we should certainly have found some texts which had been composed to avert such an awful doom. They mummified the bodies of their dead in the earliest times because they expected them to rise again, and they did so in later times because they believed that a spiritual body would grow out of them ; they never expected to obtain a second physical body in the Underworld, and therefore they took the greatest care to preserve, by means of magical ceremonies and words, the bodies in which they lived in as complete a form as possible. The destruction of the body involved the ruin of the ha, or double, and of the shadow, and of many of the mental and spiritual constituents of man ; and the Egyptians regarded the death of the body with such dismay that, fearing lest the spiritual body which sprang from it after death might be in danger of dying, they caused prayers to be composed for the purpose of averting from it the " second death " and the possibility of its dying a second time.

We may see, however, that although the Egyptians had no hell for souls in the mediaeval acceptance of the term, their fiery pits, and fiends, and devils, and enemies of Ra formed the foundations of the hells of later peoples like the Hebrews, and even of the descendants of the Egyptians who became Christians i.e., the Copts. Many proofs of this fact may be found in Coptic

266 OUTER DARKNESS

literature as the following instances will show. In " Pistis Sophia," ^ we have the Virgin Mary asking Jesus, her Lord, to give her a description of " outer darkness," ^ and to tell her how manyplaces of punishment there are in it. Our Lord replies, " The " outer darkness is a great serpent, the tail of which is in its " mouth, and it is outside the whole world, and surroundeth the " whole world ; in it there are many places of punishment, and it " containeth twelve halls wherein severe punishment is inflicted. " In each hall is a governor, but the face of each governor difFereth " from that of his neighbour. The governor of the first hall hath " the face of a crocodile, with its tail in its mouth. From the " mouth of the serpent proceed all ice, and all dust, and all cold, *' and every kind of disease and sickness ; and the true name by " which they call him in his place is Enkhthonin. And the " governor of the second hall hath as his true face the face of a cat, " and they call him in his place Kharakhae. And the governor " of the third hall hath as his true face the face of a dog, and " they call him in his place Arkharokh. And the governor of the " fourth hall hath as his true face the face of a serpent, and they " call him in his place Akhrokhar. And the governor of the fifth " hall hath as his true face the face of a black ox,^ and they call " him in his place Markhour. And the governor of the sixth hall " hath as his true face the face of a goat, and they call him in his " place Lamkhamor. And the governor of the seventh hall hath " as his true face the face of a bear, and they call him as his true " name Lonkhar. And the governor of the eighth hall hath as " his true face the face of a vulture, and they call him in his place " Laraokh. And the governor of the ninth hall hath as his true " face the face of a basilisk, and they call him in his place " Arkheokh. And in the tenth hall there are many governors, " and there is there a serpent with seven heads, each head having " its [own] true face, and he who is over them all in his place they " call Xarmarokh. And in the eleventh hall there are many

^ See Pistis Sophia. Opus Gnosticum Valentino atljucli cation, ed. Schwartze, Berlin, 1851.

THE HELL OF THE GNOSTICS 267

*' governors, and there are there seven heads, each of them having " as its true face the face of a cat, and the greatest of them, who is " over them, they call in his place Rhokhar. And in the twelfth " hall there are many great governors, and there are there seven " heads, each of them having as its true face the face of a dog, and " the greatest, who is over them, they call in his place Khremaor. " These twelve governors are in the serpent of outer darkness, and " each of them hath a name according to the hour, and each of " them changeth his face according to the hour." ^

It is quite clear that in the above extract from the famous Gnostic work we have a series of chambers in the outer darkness which has been borrowed from the twelve divisions of the Egyptian Tuat already described, and the reader has only to compare the vignettes to Chapters cxliv. and cxlv. of the Booh of the Dead with the extract from " Pistis Sophia" to see how close the borrowing has been. An examination of another great Gnostic work, generally known as the "Book of leu,"^ proves that the Underworld of the Gnostics was nothing but a modified form of the Amentet or Amenti of the Egyptians, to which were added characteristics derived from the religious systems of the Hebrews and Greeks. The Gnostic rivers and seas of fire are nothing but equivalents of those mentioned in the Booh of the Bead, and the beings in Amenti, and Chaos, and Outer Darkness are derived, in respect of form, from ancient Egyptian models. The great dragon of Outer Darkness and his twelve halls, and their twelve guardians or governors who change their names and forms every hour are, after all, only modifications of the old Egyptian system of the Twelve Pylons or Twelve Hours which formed the Underworld- The seven-headed serpent of the Gnostic system has his prototype

"the gods," and has "seven serpents on his seven necks,"

[

^ nil

^ Pistis Sophia, Coptic text, p. 319 ff.

^ See Schmidt, Gnostische Scliriften in Koiitisclier SpracJie, Leipzig, 1892.

3 Teta, 1. 307.

268 AMENTET AND THE TUAT

had authority over seven archers, or seven bows, | ^ 1

Of Amentet and the Tuat in general we find many traces in the martyrdoms of Coptic saints, but, as was to be expected, the writers have made the demons and the pits of fire of the Egyptian Underworld instruments of punishment for the souls of those who did not embrace Christianity when upon this earth. Thus the writer of the Martyrdom of George ^ of Cappadocia makes the saint to raise up from the dead a pagan called Boes, who had been dead two hundred years, and who told Dadianus, the governor, that he had been on earth a worshipper of the " stupid, dumb, deaf, and " blind Apollo," and that when he departed this life he went to live in " a place in the river of fire until such time as I went to " the place where the worm dieth not." According to another writer, Macarius of Antioch restored to life a man who had been dead for six hours, and who stated that his miseries during that short time had been greater than those which he had endured throughout all his life upon earth. He confessed that he had been a worshipper of idols, and then went on to say that when he was dying the fiends crowded upon him, and that these had the faces of serpents, lions, crocodiles, and, curiously enough, of bears. They tore his soul from his body with great violence, and fled with it to a great river of fire wherein they plunged it to a depth of four hundred cubits ; then they drew it out and set it before the Judge of Truth,^ who passed sentence upon it. After this was done they took it to a " place of darkness, wherein there was no " light whatsoever, and they cast it down into the cold where " there was gnashing of teeth. Here," said the wretched man, " I " saw the worm which never slumbereth, and his head was like " unto that of a crocodile. He was surrounded by serpents of " every kind which cast souls before him, and wlien his own mouth

' Teta, 1. 306.

• See my St. George of Cappadocia, p. 20.

which is commonly rendei'ed by " law, right, ti'uth, true, just," and the like.

RA AND APEP 269

" was full he allowed the other creatures to eat ; in that place " they tore us to pieces, but we could not die. After that they " took me out of the place and carried me into Amenti, where I " was to stay for ever." ^ In another work ^ a nameless mummy is made to tell how before he died the avenging angels came about him with iron knives and pointed goads, which they thrust into his sides, and how other angels came and tore his soul from his body, and having tied it to the similitude of a black horse they carried it off to Amentet. Here he was tortured in a place filled with noxious reptiles, and having been cast into the outer darkness he saw a pit more than two hundred feet deep, which was filled with reptiles, each of which had seven heads, and had its body covered with objects like scorpions. In this place were several other terrible serpents, and to one of these, which had teeth like iron stakes, the poor soul was given to be devoured ; this monster crushed the soul for five days of each week, but on Saturday and Sunday it had respite. This last sentence seems to suggest that the serpent respected the Sabbath of the Jews and the Sunday of the Christians.

In all these examples, and even in the words of Isaiah, who says (Ixvi. 24), '' their worm shall not die, neither shall " their fire be quenched," we have a direct allusion to the great serpent of the Egyptian Underworld, which was, in all periods of history, the terror of the worshippers of the Sun-god, and which was known by many names. The allies and companions of this serpent were serpents like itself, and to nearly every power which was hostile to the dead or the living the form of a snake or serpent was attributed. The type and symbol of all enmity to Ra, whether of a physical or moral character, was the arch-serpent Apep or Apepi, which attacked him daily, and was overcome daily. To this monster we have several allusions in the Boole of the Bead, but these do not adequately convey an idea of the terror with which he was regarded, at all events in the latter part of the dynastic period.

^ Hyvemat, Les Actes des Martyrs de I'jSgypte, p. 56 f.

^ Amelineau, Monuments pour servir a VHistoire de VEgypte Chretienne, p. 167.

270 RA AND APEP

From a papyrus preserved in the British Museum ^ we learn

that a special service was in use in Upper Egypt for the purpose

of destroying the power of Apepi and of making his attacks on the

sun to have no effect. This service consisted of a series of chapters

which were to be recited at certain times of the day during the

performance of a number of curious ceremonies of a magical

character. Thus one rubric orders that the name of Apepi shall

be written in green colour upon a piece of new papyrus, and

that a wax fiorure of the fiend shall be made and his name inlaid

upon it with green colour. Both papyrus and wax figure were to

be burnt in the fire, the belief being that as the wax figure melted

and as the sheet of papyrus burnt, the fiend Apepi would also

decay and fall to pieces. Whilst the wax figure was melting in

the fire it was to be spit upon several times each hour, and when it

was melted the refuse of it was to be mixed with dung and again

burnt. It was imperative to do this at midnight, when Ra began

his return journey in the Tuat, towards the east, and at dawn, and

at noon, and at eventide, and in fact at any and every hour of the

day. This might also be done with advantage whenever storm

clouds appeared in the sky, or whenever the clouds gathered

together for rain. The following extract will give an idea of the

general import of the service for the destruction of Apepi. The

deceased says : " Apepi hath fallen into the flame, a knife is stuck

' into his head, his name no longer existeth upon this earth. It is

' decreed for me to inflict blows upon him, I drive darts into his

' bones, I destroy his soul in the course of every day, I sever his

' vertebrae from his neck, cutting into his flesh with a knife and

' stabbing through his skin. He is given over to the fire which

' obtains the mastery over him in its name of ' Sekhet,' and it

' hath power over him in its name of ' Eye burning the enemy.'

' Darts are driven into his soul, his bones are burnt with fire, and

' his limbs are placed therein. Horus, mighty of strength, hath

' decreed that he shall come in front of the boat of Ra ; his fetter

' of steel tieth him up and maketh his limbs so that they cannot

' move ; Horus repulseth his moment of luck during his eclipse,

' and he maketh him to vomit that which is inside him. Horus

^ See Archaeologia, vol. lii.

RA AND APEP 271

" fettereth, bindeth, and tieth up, and Aker taketh away his " strength so that I may separate his flesh from his bones ; that I " may fetter his feet and cut off his two hands and arms ; that I " may shut up his mouth and lips, and break in his teeth ; that I " may cut out his tongue from his throat, and carry away his " words ; that I may block up his two eyes, and carry off his ears ; " that I may tear out his heart from its seat and throne ; and that " I may make him so that he existeth not. May his name never " exist, and may what is born to him never live ; may he never " exist, and may his kinsfolk never exist ; may he never exist, and " may his relatives never exist ; may he never exist, and may his " heir never exist ; may his offspring never grow to maturity ; " may his seed never be established ; moreover, may his soul, and " body, and spirit, and shade, and words of power, and his bones, " and his skin, never more exist."

The Rubric runs : " This Chapter is to be said over a figure " of Apepi, inscribed upon new papyrus with green ink, and " placed inside a covering on which his name hath been written, " and thou shalt tie these round tightly with cord, and put such a " figure and covering into the fire every day. Thou shalt stamp " upon it and defile it with thy left foot, and thou shalt spit upon " it four times during the course of every day, and when thou " hast placed it upon the fire thou shalt say, ' Ra triumpheth over '' ' thee, Apepi, and Horus triumpheth over his enemies, and P-aa " ' (i.e., the deceased) triumpheth over his enemies.' Next thou " shalt write down the names of all the male and female devils of " which thy heart is afraid, the names of all the enemies of P-aa, " in death, and in life, and the names of their father, mother, and " children, [and place the papyrus] inside the covering, together " with a wax figure of Apepi. These shall then be placed in the " fire in the name of Apepi, and shall be burnt when Ra riseth in " the morning ; this thou shalt repeat at noon and at evening " when Ra setteth in the land of life, whilst there is light at the " foot of the mountain. Over each figure of Apepi thou shalt recite " the above chapter, in very truth, for the doing of this shall be " of great benefit [for thee] upon earth and in the Underworld." ^

^ On the Hieratic Papyrus of Nesi-Arnsu, p. 52 (Arcliaeologia, vol. Hi.).

272 SERPENTS AND SNAKES

To destroy the fiends which were associated with Apepi it was necessary to make figures of them in wax, and having inscribed their names upon them to tie them round with black hair, and then to cast them on the ground, and kick them with the left foot, and pierce them with a stone spear. To obtain the full benefit of all the names of Apepi a man had to make the figure of a serpent with his tail in his mouth, and having stuck a knife in its back, and cast it down upon the ground, to say, " Apep, Fiend, "Betet." The faithful follower of Ra is also bidden to "make " another serpent with the face of a cat, and with a knife stuck in " his back, and call it Hemhem. Make another with the face of " a crocodile, and with a knife stuck in his back, and call it " Hauna-aru-her-hea ; make another with the face of a duck, " and with a knife stuck in his back, and call it Aluti. Make " another with the face of a white cat, and with a knife stuck in " his back, and tie it up and bind it tightly, and call it ' Apep " the Enemy.' " The papyrus which contains these interesting passages was written about B.C. 312-311, though the compositions in it are very much older, but it shows that, even at that period, when the Macedonians had begun to reign over Egypt, and Greek influence was making itself supreme in the country, the old beliefs still held sway over the minds of the Egyptians. In^fact, in this matter as in nearly all others, they clung most tenaciously to the views and opinions of their forefathers.

The primitive Egyptians feared snakes and propitiated them, and the earliest dynastic people of the country employed charms, and incantations, and magical formulae to keep snakes, and serpents, and reptiles of every kind from their dead ; the priests of Heliopolis respected the prevailing views of their countrymen, and ancient formulae against snakes were copied into their funeral texts. Every Recension of the Booh of the Dead contained Chapters which were written to preserve the dead from the attacks of snakes ; it is tolerably certain that some of them contain formulae which are not older than dynastic times, and these show that the fear of serpents was as great as ever, although these reptiles cannot have been so numerous as formerly. The priests of Amen made snakes to play very prominent parts in the Under-

TUAT AND GEHENNA 273

world, and, curiously enough, they thought that the dead Sungod, or the " Flesh of Ra," was re-born into the life of a new day, only after he had been drawn in his boat through the body of a serpent. The Egyptians usually had some reason for the things they said, and wrote, and depicted, and although it is not easy to find the reason in every case, there is, fortunately, little doubt about it here. They observed that snakes sloughed their skins from time to time, and that their bodies were much improved in appearance as the result, and it is pretty certain that they had this habit of snakes in their minds, when they made their god Ra as a new being to emerge in his boat out of the great serpent which lay in deep undulations between the end of the Tuat and this world.

Reference has already been made to the influence upon the hell of the Copts of the old Egyptian mythology about the Tuat, and it is right here to point out that the Hebrews appear to have borrowed from it many of their ideas concerning the abodes of the dead in the Underworld. It is quite certain that the hell of which they conceived the existence was not derived from the Babylonians, for we know from the story of Ishtar's descent into the " land of no return " that, although it had Seven Gates, it contained no pits of fire or monster serpents. Ishtar, we are told, found it to be a place of darkness, and she saw that the beings in it were dressed in garments of feathers, and that dust and mud were their food.^ The commonest of the names which the Hebrews gave to the abode of the damned is Ge Hinnom,^ or Gehenna, which was originally the Valley of Hinnom, that lay quite near to Jerusalem,^ where children were sacrificed to the god Moloch ; * this name passed into the New Testament under the form Feewa, and into Arabic literature as " Jahannam." ^ The portion of the Valley of Hinnom where the sacrifices were burnt was called " Topheth." According to the Rabbis " Gehenna " was created on the second day of creation, with the firmament and the angels, and just as there were an Upper and a Lower Paradise so there were also two

^ See L. W. King, Bahijlonian BeUgion, p. 179 f.

2 DJnnil 3 ]sI"q^ generally ideatified with the Wadi er-Rababi,

T

274 HALLS OF GEHENNA

Gehennas, one in the heavens and one on the earth. As to the size of Gehenna we read that Egypt was 400 parassangs ^ long and 400 parassangs wide, i.e., about 1,200 miles long by 1,200 miles the world was sixty times as large as Nubia, and that it would require 500 years to travel across either its length or its breadth ; that Gehenna was sixty times as large as the world ; and that it would take a man 2,100 years to reach it.^

In Gehenna, as in Paradise, there were seven " palaces " (D^byn), and the punishments which were meted out to their inhabitants varied both in kind and in intensity. In each palace there are 6,000 houses, or chambers, and in each house are 6,000 boxes, and in each box are 6,000 vessels fitted with gall. Gehenna is so deep that it would take 300 years to reach -the bottom of it ; according to another opinion it is 300 miles long, 300 miles wide, 1,000 miles thick, and 100 miles deep. The fire in each palace is fiercer and more destructive than that in the palace preceding, and the flames of the deepest portion of it are able to consume human souls utterly, which fire upon earth can never do. Each palace is, according to one view, under the command of an angel, who is subservient to Dumah, the prince of Gehenna, and who has with him tens of thousands of angels who are occupied in judging sinners and sealing their doom ; but according to another the seven mansions are ruled, under Dumah, hdm, by three angels called Mashkhith, Af, and Khema. The voices of the beings in Gehenna rise up to heaven mingled with the cries of the wicked. Dumah, the prince of Gehenna, seems to have been of Egyptian origin, for we read, " At the time when Moses said, 'I will perform "'judgments on all the gods of Egypt,' Dumah, the prince of " Egypt, went 400 miles and God said unto him, ' This decree is " ' decreed by me, even as it is written, I will visit the host of the " ' height in the height ; ' ^ and in that same hour sovereignty was " taken away from him, and he was appointed prince over " Gehenna, and some say that he was set over the dead."

^ The parassaBg = 30 stadia, and the stadion = 202 yards, " Eisenmeiiger, EntdecTctes Jiidenthum, part ii., p. 328. '* Isaiah xxiv. 21.

HALLS OF GEHENNA 275

Another prince of Gehenna was called Arsiel, and his duty was to stand before the souls of the righteous to prevent them from praying to God on behalf of the wicked. Opinions vary as to the number of gates or doors which are in Gehenna, some saying there are 50, others 8,000, and others 40,000 ; but the writers who followed the best traditions fixed the number at seven, and this agrees with the best Muhammadan tradition also. Finally, as a river runs through the Tuat so a river or canal flows through Gehenna. The first division of Gehenna is 100 miles long and 50 miles wide, and it contains several pits wherein fiery lions dwell ; when men fall into the pits the lions consume parts of them and the fire devours the remainder, but soon afterwards they come into being again and have to pass through the fire which is in the second division, when they are again consumed and again come to life. In this way they have to pass through the fire of all the seven divisions. According to another opinion one half of Gehenna is fire and the other half hail, and the ang-el who is in charg-e drives the souls of the damned from the fire into the hail and from the hail into the fire without ceasing. Another writer says that each of the seven divisions of hell contains seven streams of fire and seven streams of hail, and that each division is sixty times as large as that which is immediately above it. In each division are 7,000 small chambers, and in each chamber 7,000 clefts, and in each cleft 7,000 scorpions, and in each' scorpion seven joints, and in each joint 1,000 vessels of gall; through it flow seven rivers filled with deadly poison, and the damned have to pass one half of the year in the fire, and the other half in the hail and snow, which are far more terrible than the fire. Moreover, from under the throne of God Almighty there goes forth a river of fire which empties itself upon the heads of the wicked, but most of these have a rest from their punishment for one hour and a half three times a day, i.e., at the times of morning, mid-day, and evening prayer, and they have rest the whole of each Sabbath and of each festival of the new moon. Some of the Rabbis believed that the punishment of the wicked would last for ever, but others thought that a period of punishment six or twelve months in length would suffice for their purification.

276 TUAT AND GEHENNA

Those who are damned shall not remember the names which they bore upon earth, and although the angels beat them and call upon them to declare their names, they shall not be able to do so ; this view was clearly held by the Egyptians, for we are specially told in the text of Pepi I. (line 169), " Pepi is happy with his

recorded above it is easy to see how much the Hebrews were indebted to the Egyptians in the construction of their Gehenna, and how closely they fitted native beliefs into a framcAvork of foreign conceptions. Some of their writers seem to have possessed a better insight into such matters than others, whilst a few of them unconsciously reproduced the original conception of the Tuat as the place of destruction for the enemies of the god, and believed that Gehenna, or hell, would be abolished. These thought that at some future time God would remove the sun from its place and would place it in the second firmament, in a hollow place or chamber specially prepared for it, and that having judged and condemned the wicked He would send them into this chamber, where the burning heat of the sun would consume them.^ The Kabbis generally took no pains to say either how the fires of Gehenna were started, or how they were maintained, but Rabbi Yannai and Rabbi Shim'on ben-Lakish evidently thought it out, and so reduced Gehenna, unintentionally, to the place where a physical sun supplied the consuming fire, and did for the damned among the Hebrews exactly what it did for the enemies of Ra among the Egyptians.

It must be noted that the Gehenna of the Hebrew lacked the serpents of the Egyptian Tuat, but when we consider the difference between the physical characteristics of Egypt and those of Syria and Palestine this is not to be wondered at. In and the terror which they inspired lived in the minds of the people of dynastic times long after the country had been practically cleared from these reptiles. In Palestine and Syria snakes were never very plentiful, but in the region of Southern

• Eisenmenger, op. cit., p. 366.

APEP AND TIAMAT 277

Babylonia, whence came Abraham and his companions, they must have existed in large numbers. It is a curious fact that the Hebrews, who borrowed so largely in their cosmogony from Babylonian sources, did not also borrow in some form or other the monster Tiamat, which played in their mythology the same part that Apep or Apepi played among the Egyptian gods. The Babylonian Tiamat waged war against Marduk, the champion chosen by the gods, and was held to be the incarnation of all evil, both physical and moral ; and although the Hebrews assigned to the serpent cunning and guile, and declared that he was " more ^' subtle than any beast " (Gen. iii. 1), they hardly considered him to be a great physical power which waged war against the sun daily. Tiamat, as we learn from a cuneiform text,^ was 50 kashu long, and the height of its undulations was 1 haslm ; its mouth was onehalf a gar, or six cubits wide, and it moved in water 9 cubits deep. Three other measurements are given, viz., 1 gar, 1 gar, and 5 gar, but as the text following them is broken it cannot be said to what they refer. Now, the hashu was the distance usually passed over in a journey of two hours, and the cubit may be considered to be about 20 inches. Reckoning the hashu at six miles we thus have a monster 300 miles long, which had a mouth 10 feet wide, and which moved in undulations six miles high ! The measurements of 5 gar probably refers to its girth, and if this be so the creature was 100 feet round its body.

When Tiamat had been slain we are told that its blood flowed from its body for three years, three months, and one day, and we are able to obtain an idea of its huge size from the statement that when Marduk had smashed in its skull with his club, and had slit the channels of its blood, he split it, like a flat fish, into two halves, one of which he made use of to form the " covering of the '^ heavens." ^ There is no doubt that originally the Babylonian Tiamat was nothing but the rain clouds, and the mist and fog which lie over the Tigris and Euphrates in the early morning at certain seasons of the year, and which when j looked at from the

^ See King, Cuneiform Inscriptions from Babylonian Tablets, etc., pai't xiii., pi. 33 f., London, 1901 ; and King, Seven Tablets of Creation, vol. i., p. 119. ^ King, Babylonian Religion, p. 77.

278 APEP, TIAMAT, LEVIATHAN

desert appear like a huge serpent stretched along the length of the stream, both up and down the river. The Hebrew Scriptures contain several allusions to a great nature serpent,^ though he finds no place among the Seven Mansions of their hell. Thus the prophet Amos (ix. 3) refers to the serpent at the bottom of the sea, which Yahweh would command to bite the wicked if they attempted to hide there ; in Psalm Ixxiv. 13 f. God is referred to as the breaker of the heads of Leviathan and of the dragons in the waters ; in Isaiah (li. 9).we have, " Awake, awake, put on strength, '' 0 arm of Yahweh ! Awake, as in the ancient days, in the " generations of old ! Art thou not it that did slay the monster " Rahabh, and wound the serpent (tannin) ? " Rahabh may here, as some have argued, refer to Egypt, but if so, it is to Egypt as the home of the great serpent monster which we now know as Apepi, and which was to the prophet Isaiah the type and symbol of the country, and not to the judgments which Yahweh meted out to that land.

The Hebrew writers refer to the nature serpent under several names, e.g., tannin, 7id]chdsh, rdhdbh, but the monster referred to under them is, in reality, one and the same, i.e.. Leviathan {]D'^'h livydthdn), " the serpent of many twistings or folds," and both Nebuchadnezzar II. and the " King of Assyria" are identified with him (see Jeremiah li. 34 ; Isaiah xiv. 29). According to the Rabbis he was created on the fifth day of the week of creation,^ and was hunted for slaughter by Gabriel, and with the assistance of Yahweh was slain by him ; here we have a series of close resemblances to the history of Tiamat, for Gabriel is in every way the counterpart of Marduk, and Yahweh takes the place of Anshar as the head of the gods. Finally, Leviathan was slain by Gabriel, just as Tiamat was killed by Marduk, and out of the skin of Leviathan Gabriel made a tent wherein the righteous might dwell,^ and a covering for the walls of the city of Jerusalem. This

' See Goldziher, Mythology of the Hehreu-s, pp. 27, 28; King, Bahylonian Religion, p. 115.

• Eisenmenger, op. cit., p. 877.

menger, op. cit., p. 888.

SEVEN-HEADED SERPENT 279

covering was bright and shining, and it emitted light which was so strong that it coukl be seen from one end of the world to the other. The last statement recalls the words of the Fourth Tablet of the Creation Series, which tell how Marduk made a canopy in the heavens of one-half of the body or skin of Tiamat. In the Hebrew version of the story it is said that the righteous feed upon the body of Leviathan, but there is no equivalent passage in the cuneiform texts at present known. From the passage in the Psalm already quoted (Ixxiv. 13) it would appear that Leviathan had many heads, but this view is not supported by any known description of Tiamat, and in the absence of any evidence on the subject we must assume that the idea of a plurality of heads came from Egypt. In the Book of Revelation (xii. 3 ; xiii. 1) mention is made of a " great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven " crowns upon his heads," which appeared in heaven, and of a beast having seven heads and ten horns, with ten crowns upon his horns, which came up out of the sea, but the idea of these also was not derived from Babylonia. All the available evidence goes to show that whilst the Hebrew conception of Leviathan was of Babylonian origin that of a hell of fire was borrowed from Egypt.

Similarly, the seven-headed dragon and beast of the Book of Revelation, like the seven-headed basilisk serpent mentioned in " Pistis Sophia," ^ have their origin in the seven-headed serpent which is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In Revelations ix. 19, horses are referred to which had tails " like unto serpents, and had heads," and here again we have an idea suggested by a monster which inhabited one of the Pylons of the Tuat, and which had the body of a crocodile and a tail formed of a writhing serpent's body with a serpent's head for the tip of it.

But although the Hebrews borrowed the framework of their hell from Egypt they appear to have made no use of the means by which the Egyptians hoped to escape from Amentet and the Tuat, that is to say, there is no evidence to show that they had in early

ciT ft goq epe c(^cyqe rt (s.ne epoq ; ed. Schwartze, pp. 136,

280 GNOSTIC MAGICAL NAMES

times any equivalent for the system of words of power which played such an important part in the magical side of the Egyptian religion. On the other hand, the Copts, at least those of them who belonged to Gnostic sects, retained the beliefs concerning the efficacy of magical words and names, and they introduced them into their writings in a remarkable manner. Thus in " Pistis Sophia " we are told ^ that after His resurrection Jesus stood up with His disciples by the sea, and prayed to His Father, whom He addressed by a series of magical names, thus : — Aeeiouo, Iao, Aoi, OiAPSiNOTHEK, Thernops, Nopsitek, Zagoure, Pagoure, Neth- MOMAOTH, Nepsiomaoth, Marakhakhtha, Thobarrabau, Thar- NAKHAKHAN, ZoROKOTHORA, Ieou, Sabaoth.^ Whilst He was saying these names Thomas, Andrew, James, and Simon the Canaanite stood in the west with their faces towards the east; and Philip and Bartholomew stood in the south with their faces towards the north. In another passage '^ Jesus addresses His Father in these words and by these names : — Iao Iouo, Iao, Aoi, Or a, Psinother, Theropsin, Opsither, Nephthomaoth, Nephiomaoth Marakhakhtha, Marmarakhtha, Ieana menaman, Amanei tou ouranou, IsRAi Hamen Hamen, Soubaibai appaap Hamen Hamen, deraarai Hapahou Hamen Hamen, Sarsarsartou Hamen Ham£n, Koukiamin MiAi Hamen Hamen, Iat, Iai, Toua Hamen Hamen Hamen, Main- MARi, Mari^:, Marei Hamen Hamen Hamen.^ In another place ■'

Ed. Scliwartze, p. 357.

■' Ed. Schwartze, p. 375.

' Ihid., p. 375.

GNOSTIC MAGICAL NAMES 281

He addresses those Avho forgive sins by their names thus : — SiPHiREPSNiKHiEu, Zenei, Berimou, Sokhabeikh£ie, Euthari, Nanai Dieisbalm^rikh, Meunifos, Khirie, Entair, Mouthiour, Smour, Peukher, Oouskhous, Minionor, Isokhobortha ; ^ and immediately afterwards He calls upon the Powers of His Father by these names : — Auer, Bebro, Athroni, Eoureph, Eone, Souphen, Knitousokhreoph, Mauonbi, Mneuor, Souoni, Khokheteoph, Khoehe, Eteoph, Memokh, and Anemph.^ An examination of the books of " Pistis Sophia" will show that many of the details of the "mysteries" which are there described are based upon ancient Egyptian beliefs, and that the whole of the doctrine of spiritual light which is expounded therein only represents a spiritualized conception of the far-reaching character of the powers of the light of the sun upon both the living and the dead, which the dynastic Egyptians recognized and described centuries before the Christian era. This was expressed in the terms of a highly artificial system wherein words of power, magical names, emanations, ranks of angels, gates, watchers, and purely Christian conceptions were mixed up together, with the Lord Christ as the central Figure. Much has yet to be done before all the comparisons and connections out, but the facts quoted above will, perhaps, suggest the importance of the study.

jLioYeioYp* cjuioYP" neY^Hp" ooYc^oYc* jumiortop' icoxo Rope-s. (p. 376).

^ AYHp' RERpcju' Aoponr HOYffecl)* Hcjuite" coYc|)erf Krfi- 'T0YC0^p6ajcJ)- jui(^YcjurrRr JuirfeYujp' coYcum ^cjux6T"ecxjcl)- X^X^' £T"eujcj)' xi^xjLUJX' (^rfHJuicI) (p. 376).

CHAFPER VII

THE OLDEST COMPANY OF THE GODS AND

IN the earlier chapters of this work mention has been made of three companies of gods, the existence of which was formulated by the priests of Heliopolis, and it has been shown that a company of gods usually consisted of four pairs of deities, four gods and four goddesses, and a president or chief of the same. We have also shown that a jmiit or company of gods did not necessarily contain nine deities only, and that it as often as not was supposed to include more than nine gods. Originally, however, the Heliopolitan priests, or the authors of the theological system exhibited in the Pyramid Texts, intended the 2)(^ut to

The Oldest Compauy of the Gods. COUsist of uiue gods,

and it seems that they arrived at this decision as the result of the addition of their own local god Tem to a group of four pairs of deities, four gods and four goddesses, whom they had grouped together according to the plan followed by an older school of theologians in forming an older company of the gods. The company of the gods last mentioned is probably the oldest of all the companies in Egypt, although for various reasons it never seems to have attained to the popularity of the " great j)a-?it of the gods of Annu," or to have enjoyed such a prominent position in the minds of the religious philosophers of Egypt. This is not to be wondered at, for whilst the Heliopolitan company of the gods included the Sun-god Ra-Tem, or Rc'i-Tem-Khepera, and Osiris,

THE FIRST EIGHT GODS 283

the god of the dead, the older company consisted of pairs of deities who represented religious conceptions, and faiths, and beliefs, which even at that remote period had been long dead, and the meaning of which had been forgotten. The very gods of the older company had been superseded, and their worship abolished, and the knowledge of their history and attributes was preserved only in the minds of priests and religious experts, who probably regarded the ancient views about these gods which had come down to them as the product of men belonging to a lower stage of civilization than their own. The older company of the gods here referred to have been described as personifications of aspects, or phases, or properties of primeval matter, and may be thus enumerated : —

AA/WW

Kerh, ^l^i- Keehet, ^IZti'

o

The character of the first pair of gods can be readily determined by the hieroglyphics which form their names ; thus the

indicate the sound, and the outstretched heaven, p=^, and the determinative for water, aaaaaa , and the sign for " god," all of which show that this deity was the god of the watery mass of the sky.

part, as the signs, 3, indicate. From various passages found

in the religious, mythological, and funereal texts of all periods it is abundantly clear that in primeval times at least the Egyptians believed in the existence of a deep and boundless watery mass out of which had come into being the heavens, and the earth, and everything that is in them. The germs of all and every kind of life were in this watery mass, and they were supposed to have

' The old form is ODD, or (Unas 199, 399), or ^ (Teta 78).

284 NU AND NUT

been there from the beginning. They do not seem to have formulated any exact ideas about the position of this watery mass in the sky or heaven, and they certainly did not attempt to assign to it dimensions which could be expressed by the ordinary methods of measurements ; in later times, however, Nu was frequently

identified with the sky, jpet ^, and with the heaven above it,

nnt^ . though, strictly speaking, he represented the watery

mass which was supposed to exist between the two. It must also be noted that the ocean and also the Nile ^ were identified with Nu, whose characteristics appear to have changed during the latter part of the dynastic period. The name of this god has been compared with the Coptic word rfOYft " abyss," " deep," and the like, and it is possible that it may have some connection with it, but it is difiicult to see how in that case it can mean '^ young," as the late Dr. Brugsch suggested.^ The true meaning is much more likely to be suggested by the play on the words Nu and nen which we have on p. 309 in the passage, " I raised them up from out of the watery mass {nu) out of inactivity" {nen), i.e., Nu was the inert mass of watery matter from which the world was created. Of Nut, the female counterpart of Nu, little need be said here, except that she was regarded as the primeval mother, with whom in later dynastic times were identified several goddesses, e.g., Hathor, Mut, Nit, or Neith, and whose attributes were assigned to them. The forms in which Nu is depicted vary. Thus he is represented in human form holding a sceptre when he forms one of the company of the gods of Amen, but he is also represented with the head of a frog, which is surmounted by a beetle,^ and even with the head of a snake. The goddess Nut is also represented in human form, but sometimes she has the head of a uraeus, surmounted by a disk,^ and at other times she has the head of a cat.^

' Compare Horapollo I. 21 (ed. Leemans ; p. 28): — NctAow Se avajSacrtv o-rjju,atvovT€s, ov KaXovaiv AlyvTTTKTTi Now ; attention was first drawn to this passage by Tattam.

■ Beligion unci Mytliologk, p. 129.

^ Lanzone, Dizionario, ])1. 1G7, No. 2.

' Ibid., No 3. ' Jhid., pi. 170, No. 2.

KEKUI AND KEKUIT 285

The characteristics of the second pair of gods, Hehu, § § y r^ ? and Hehut, || )) ^ J) ? ^i'(3 not easy to determine. According to Signor Lanzone they are personifications of male and female elements of fire/ and from the ancient pictures of them Ave see that the Egyptian artists regarded them from different points of view. Thus in one group of the eight primeval gods Hehu is represented in one of the forms of Nu, i.e., frog-headed, already described, and Hehut in the form of Nut ; ^ and in another group Hehu has the head of a serpent, and Hehut that of a cat. According to the late Dr. Brug^sch ^ the name Heh is connected with the word which indicates an undefined and unlimited number, i.e., heh, Mm ; when applied to time the idea suggested is "millions of years," and Heh is equivalent to the Greek alayv. In several passages quoted by Dr. Brugsch mention is made of a god Heh, who seems to be a personification of the atmosphere which exists between heaven and earth, and to be identical with Shu, and that distinguished Egyptologist went so far as to compare his functions with those which were exercised by xlion, Eros, and Pneuma in Greek systems of philosophy. In a small scene reproduced by Signor Lanzone* we see the

god Harpocrates in his usual attitude, ^, just above what appears

to be a smaU tree. On the right kneels the goddess Hehut, who is making her outstretched hand and arm a support for the left hand of the young god which rests upon it ; on the other side kneels Hehu, who is represented in the act of raising or supporting the feet of the god, above whose head are the beetle and disk.

The characteristics of the third pair of gods, Kekui, determine, and it is tolerably certain that these deities represent the male and female powers of the darkness which was supposed to cover over the primeval abyss of water ; they have been compared by Dr. Brugsch with the Erebos of the Greeks. In some aspects they appear to represent both the night and the day, that is to

^ Lanzone, Bizionario, page 685. ^ Ihid., pi. 168 ff.

=* Beligion, p. 132. " Op. cit., p. 685.

286 KERH AND KERHET

say, Kekui is called " the raiser up of the light," and Kekuit " the " raiser up of the night." It is not difl&cult to see how these deities obtained these names, for Kekui represents that period of the night which immediately precedes the day, and Kekuit is that period of the night which immediately follows the day. At one period Kekui and Kekuit were considered to be gods of Elephantine, and their attributes were identified Avith those of the Nubian god Khnemu and his female counterpart Sati ; but this, no doubt, was a result of regarding Kekui and Kekuit as personifications of the Nile-god Hapi, whose hidden fountains lay beneath the rocks at some part of the Island of Elephantine. According to another view the crocodile-god Sebek, one of whose chief seats of worship was at Kom Ombo, was a personification of the old primeval god Kekui, and in any case Sebek was certainly considered to be one of the principal forms in which the soul of the primeval darkness loved to array itself.^ In the scenes in which the forms of the oldest paut or company of the gods are represented Kekui is usually given the head of a serpent, but Kekuit has the head either of a frog or a cat.^ In one scene Kekui and Kekuit are identified with Ka and Kait, LJr^, U (]() ^j *^® former being called the " grandfather of all the gods," and the latter this scene Ka or Kekui has the head of a frog surmounted by a beetle, and Kait or Kekuit the head of a serpent surmounted by a disk. The characteristics of the fourth pair of gods, Kekh,

and the texts in some places give quite different names where we should expect to find theirs ; thus we have Ni, () [) Jj HHL , or

/V)AAAA

The common meaning of the word kerh is " night," and according

Brugsch, Beliylon, p. 142. ' Lanzone, op. cit., pi. 168 ff.

THE FIRST EIGHT GODS 287

to this the deities Kerh and Kerhet would represent the male and female powers of night; on the other hand, the determinative (t-~-2^, which occurs in each name, shows that these gods were regarded as personifications of some apparently inactive powers of the primeval watery abyss, and we may, therefore, regard them as types of powers of nature in a state of repose either before or after a state of activity. In the scenes in which the forms of the oldest company of the gods are represented, Ni, that is to say, Kerh, has the head of a frog, with or without a beetle upon it, or the head of a snake, and Ennit, that is to say, Kerhet, has either the head of a frog or that of a cat.

It is not easy to reconcile the various views which Egyptologists have held about the above four pairs of deities, and it certainly appears as if the ancient Egyptians themselves had no very clear ideas as to their functions. As to their antiquity there is no room for doubt, for although the oldest pictures of their forms do not date from a period anterior to the reign of Seti I., it is quite clear, from the way in which they are mentioned, that they represent traditional ideas of an extremely ancient character. One proof of this is the careful mention of the female counterparts of the four great primeval gods, for it was usual in the case of gods who were the product of the purely dynastic period to pay small attention to the goddesses who were regarded as their wives.

Thus Ra and Amen possessed female counterparts called Eat, ® J) ,

and Ament, [1 a/wwn JO ^ but they play no prominent parts in

Egyptian mythology, and are rarely mentioned in the texts. Man always has fashioned, and probably always will, fashion his god, or gods, in his own image, and he has always, having reached a certain stage in development, given to his gods wives and offspring ; but the nature of the position taken by the wives of the gods depends upon the nature of the position of women in the households of those who write the legends and traditions of the gods. The gods of the oldest companv in Egypt were, the writer believes, invented by people in whose households women held a high position, and among whom they possessed more power than is usually the case with Oriental peoples. Nut, Hehut, Kekuit, and

288 APZU-RISHTU, MUMJNIU-TIAJMAT

Kerhet are the equals of the gods Nu, Heh, Kekui, and Kerh, and not merely the bearers of offspring as were the later goddesses. The general drift of the texts wherein the four pairs of gods are mentioned indicates that three pairs were qualities, or characteristics, or attributes of the fourth pair personified, although some would make the four pairs represent the male and female elements of the Four Elements, Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, and others would make them stand for the primeval Matter out of which all things have been made, and primeval Space, and primeval Time, and primeval Power. To say definitely and exactly what they represent is in the present state of Egyptological knowledge impossible, for the evidence which would enable us to arrive at a final decision in the matter is not forthcoming.

Before we pass on to the consideration of the events which resulted in the creation of the sun and later of the world, it will be interesting to compare with the above four pairs of gods the group of gods that we meet with in the " Seven Tablets of Creation," ^ which are Avritten in cuneiform, and contain the views and beliefs of the Assyrians as to the origin of the gods, and of the world, and of mankind. The old company of primeval gods mentioned in these Tablets are also eight in number, and they fall readily into four pairs. The first pair consisted of Apzu - EiSHTtr, word mummii is unknown,^ but Tiamat is the name of the female counterpart of Apzu-rishtii, and she became the mother of offspring by him. These two deities, then, represent the male and female powers of the watery mass which contained the germs of all life, and of every kind of life, and they existed at a time " when of the " gods none had been called into being, and none bore a name, and " no destinies [were ordained]." When " their waters were

^ The best copies of the cuneiform texts hitherto issued will be found in the publication of the Ti'ustees of the British Museum, entitled Cimeiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, part xiii., Loudon, ]901. These, with many additional texts, are given in Mr. L. W. King's Seren Tablets of Creation with transliterations, translations, notes, etc., London, 1902. (Vol. I.)

• Mummu = the Mwv/xis of Damascus, and probably means " chaos."

LAKHMU AND LAKHAMU 289

" mingled together " then the work of creation began. We thus see that Apzu-rishtu and Mummu-Tiamat are the exact equivalents in the Babylonian cosmogony of Nu and Nut in the Egyptian, and that they are the originals of the Greek forms 'Airaacjv and TavOe, which are given in the scheme of Damascius. ^

The next pair of gods in the Assyrian texts are Lakhmu, functions we know nothing, any more than we do of the Egyptian primeval gods Heh and Hehut. The names of the third and fourth deities in the list of Damascius (ed. Kopp, p. 125) are Jaxos and ^ocxTJ, but these are clearly mistakes for Aaxos and AaxQ, i.e., Lakhmu and Lakhamu.

According to the First Tablet of the Creation Series " ages increased,"^ and then two more gods came into being, viz., Anshak, ^ i^, and Kishar, )-)-y (]^ i^, i.e., the 'Ja-acopos and Ki(T(TapYi of Damascius. Now up to this point the three pairs of gods of the Assyrians agree exactly with the first three pairs of gods of the oldest Egyptian company of the gods, and the points of resemblance are striking. We see from the table printed by Brugsch^ that the Egyptian authorities differed as to the names of the god and goddess of the fourth pair of gods, some giving Kerh and Kerhet, others giving Amen and Ament, and others giving Enen and Enenet-hemset, and others Ni and Ennit ; all, however, agreed that a fourth pair of deities were necessary to complete the company, and that one must be a god and the other a goddess.

The First Tablet of the Creation Series mentions a seventh deity called Anu, ►^y yf *:/-, who is clearly to be identified with the "Avoq of Damascius, and an eighth deity called Nudimmud, '^y »/- ^ly *^II4i., which is a title of the god Ea ; the context which would probably have supplied us with the name of a ninth god is broken away, and at present there is no means of restoring

^ He was born in Syria, probably at Damascus, in tbe last quarter of the Vth century of our era. He studied at Alexandria and at Athens, and was a pupil of Marinus and Zenodotus, and when Justinian closed the schools at Athens he went to the court of the Persian king Khusrau (Chosroes). The best edition of his work on " Fii'st Principles" is that of Kopp, published in 1828.

" King, Bahrjlonian Religion, p. 61. ^ Religion, p. 127.

U

290 ANU, EA, BEL

the passage. Both these deities are masculine, whereas one should be masculine and one feminine. In the list of the primeval gods given by Damascius following Kicrcrapr) we have "Avo^;, 'IXXti^o?, and '^ds ; the first of these is, as we have said, Anu ; the second is the god Enlil, )^]][ t^]] ; and the third is Ea, ^ tjiyj ]}. But all these are gods, and there is no goddess among them, and it is difficult not to think that in making the recension of the story which is preserved in cuneiform the Assyrian editors substituted the three gods Anu, Bel, and Ea, who represented heaven, and earth, and the abyss respectively, for those who were in the older recension. The Assyrian copy which we now have was made during the reign of Ashur-bani-pal, king of Assyria from B.C. 668 to B.C. 626, presumably from a Babylonian archetype, but it is impossible to say to what period the actual version which it represents is to be assigned. The Seven Tablets of Creation contain several Assyrianized forms of ancient Sumerian words, a fact which proves that the original traditions incorporated in the work must be of Sumerian origin, and must have been formulated in remote antiquity. It is surprising therefore to find so much similarity existing between the primeval gods of Sumer and those of Egypt, especially as the resemblance cannot be the result of borrowing. It is out of the question to assume that Ashur-banipal's editors borrowed the system from Egypt, or that the literary men of the time of Seti I. borrowed their ideas from the literati of Babylonia or Assyria, and we are therefore driven to the conclusion that both the Sumerians and the early Egyptians derived their primeval gods from some common but exceedingly ancient source. The similarity between the two companies of gods seems to be too close to be accidental, especially as there is every possibility that the Sumerian system was taken into Egypt by the same people who carried into the country the art of making bricks, the use of the cylinder seal, and the like.^ Be this as it may, it is certain that the company of primeval gods, which, as we have seen, was common to the Sumerians and Egyptians, was quite different from the companies of gods of which Osiris and Ra-Tem were the heads in Egypt, and also from those which Avere formed

1 Sec my E(jiji)t in the Fredynastic and Archaic Periods, p. 41.

THE PRIMEVAL SPIRIT 291

in Babylonia and Assyria when these countries were inhabited by Semitic populations.

Now the First Tablet of Creation gives us to understand clearly that the work of creation began when the waters, or essences, of the first pair of primeval gods, Apzu and Tiamat, were mingled together, and that the offspring of this union were Lakhmu and Lakhamu, Anshar and Kishar, etc. What the views of the ancient Egyptians on this subject were we do not know, but it is quite clear from the allusions in many texts that the second, third, and fourth pairs of the gods already mentioned were the offspring of the union of the first pair Nu and Nut, i.e., that they were their attributes. We may also conclude that Nu and Nut were the male and female powers of the vast and inert watery mass, with its male and female counterparts Ni and Ennit, and that the second pair of gods, Heh and Hehut, represented their eternal nature. The third pair of deities are nothing but the male and female counterparts of Darkness personified, and thus we have as the primeval material from which everything was made an eternal, boundless, watery mass wherein are the germs of life, male and female ; this watery mass is, however, enveloped in thick darkness. The late Dr. Brugsch, basing his opinion upon certain statements made in the Egyptian texts, declared that the primeval spirit (Urgeist) felt the desire for creative activity, and that his word awoke the world to life in a form in which it had already been mirrored in his mind, and that the first act of creation began with the formation out of the primeval watery mass of an egg, wherefrom issued the light of day, i.e., Ra, which was the immediate cause of all life in the earthly world. In this light, that is to say, in the Rising Sun, the almighty power of the divine spirit incorporated itself in a brilliant form.^

1 "Der gottliche Urgeist, unzertrennlich von dem Urstoff des Urwassers, " f iiKlte das Verlang-en Bach schopferisclier Thatigkeit und sein Wort erweckte die " Welt zum Leben, deren Gestalt nnd formenreiclie Gebilde sich in seinem Auge " vorher abgespiegelt batten, Ibre korperlicben Umrisse und Farben entspracben " nack ibrer Entstehnng der Wabrbeit d.b. der Urvorstellungen des gottlichen " Geistes iiber sein kiinftiges Werk. Der erste Scbopfungsact begann mit der " Bildung eines Eies aus dem Urgewasser, aus dem das Tageslicht (Ra), die un- "mittelbare Ursacbe (ra) des Lebens in dem Bereiche der irdiscben Welt beii-aus- " bracb. In der aufgebenden Sonne verkorperte sicb die Allmacbt des gottlicben " Geistes in ibrer glanzvollsten Gestalt" (Beligion, p, 101),

292 THOTH AND HIS PAUT

The opinion of the great Egyptologist is of great weight on all matters of this kind, but it must be remembered that we have no authority in the texts for all the details of his narrative of the events which are supposed to have taken place before the appearance of the sun in the heavens, and that for many of the ancient Egyptian views on the subject of the Creation our only authorities are compositions which, in the forms in which we know them, are not older than the period of the end of the Middle Empire and that of the beginning of the New Empire, and many of the views and opinions expressed in them date from the same periods. That the sun was the product of the primeval watery mass of Nu the Egyptians believed beyond doubt, because they declared repeatedly that Ra came forth from Nu, but they did not, as far as we know% make it to be the dwelling-place of a primeval spirit (Urgeist) which designed and planned the future world in its mind before it beo:an to create it, and which carried out the various works of creation on the lines which it had evolved in its consciousness long before the darkness which lay on the watery mass was pierced by the light of the sun. We know that the priesthood of Hermopolis, the Khemennu of the Egyptian texts, i.e., the " city of the Eight Gods," where Nu, Nut, Hehu, Hehut, Kekui, Kekuit, Kerh, and Kerhet were worshipped, placed at the head of their divine company the god Thoth, to whom certainly in later times were ascribed many of the attributes which Dr. Brugsch's "Urgeist" possessed. But J;here is no proof whatsoever that Thoth was the original leader of this company of gods ; on the contrary, there is reason for thinking that if the Eight ever had a leader in the beginning of their existence he must have been a form of the Sun-god. The fact is that as the priests of Heliopolis formed their companies of gods from systems already in existence, and placed their own local gods at the head of them, so the priests of Hermopolis for some reason unknown to us adopted the primeval company of Eight, and appointed their own local god Thoth to be their head. The attempt to find any equivalent of the " spirit of Elohim," which, according to the Book of Genesis, moved, or brooded, on the face of the waters before the creation of light, has nothing to support it in the Egyptian texts.

PAPYRUS OF NES-AMSU 293

But although we do not know what the primitive Egyptians imagined to be the means by which the Sun came into being, we have a very good idea of what they thought about the creation of the gods, and of the world, and of the animals, birds, trees, fish, reptiles, etc., which are in it, and by wliose agency it was brought about. We owe our knowledge of these things to a papyrus preserved in the British Museum (No. 10,188), which was written for a priest of Panopolis (the modern Akhmim), of high rank and lineage, called Nes-Amsu, or Nes-Min, during the thirteenth year of the reign of " Alexander, the son of Alexander," i.e., about B.C. 312. This remarkable document contains, among other valuable compositions, a series of Chapters of a long magical work which was written with the object of effecting the destruction of the arch-fiend Apepi and his fiends and devils of darkness, and of keeping storms and hurricanes out of the sky ; many of the Chapters are followed by rubrics which, as we have already shown in the description of the Tuat given above, contain directions for the performance of the ceremonies which were to accompany the recital of the words. Where the Chapters were to be recited is not clear, but as two out of three works in the papyrus were chanted in the temple of Amen-Ra, the king of the gods, at Thebes, we shall not be far wrong if we assume that the third was a service which was performed in the temple from time to time. The first work, the " Festival Songs of Isis and Nephthys," was a very important service, and the second, the " Lamentations of Isis," was probably a supplement to it ; two priestesses, who dressed in the characters of Isis and Nephthys, and personified these goddesses, sang the sections, or "houses," of the Festival Songs in turn on the great commemorative festivals of Osiris, and as the "Lamentations" were rhythmical they were probably sung at the same service.

The rubric of the "Festival Songs " orders that they be sung in the temple of Amen-Ra, and as the third work, the "Book of Overthrowing Apepi," was devoted to the protection of the Sungod Ra, the great lord of the temple, provision must have been made for reciting it there. Be this as it may, our present interest in the papyrus centres in the fact that it contains two copies of

the story ^ of the Creation which are of the greatest interest. Curiously enough, each copy is inserted among the Chapters in the main body of the work, and it seems as if they represent two distinct versions, although in many places the text in each is identical. Each copy is entitled, " The Book of knowing the Evolutions of Ra, and of Overthrowing Apepi." The word here from the root hheioer^ )||, which means "to make, to fashion,

" to produce, to form, to become," and in a derived sense " to roll," so that the title might be translated the " Book of knowing the " Becomings of Ra," i.e., the things which were made, or created, or came into being through Ra. In the text the words are placed in the mouth of the god Neb-er-tcher, ^ 3 , the lord of the

universe and a form of the Sun-god Ril, who says, " I am he who " and I was the creator of that which came into being, that is to " say, I was the creator of everything which came into being ; now '' when I had come into being myself, the things which I created " and which came forth from out of my mouth were very many." In these words Neb-er-tcher, or Ra, says that he took upon himself the form of Khepera, i.e., that he was the god who was most intimately connected with the creation of things of every kind. Khepera was symbolized by a beetle which belonged to the class of " Coprophagi," or " dung- eaters," which having laid its eggs in masses of dung rolled them about until they became circular in form. These balls, though made of dead, inert matter, contained the germs of life, which, under the influence of warmth and heat, grew, and in due course developed into living creatures which could move about and seek their food. At a very early period in their history the Egyptians associated the sun's disk with the dung ball of the beetle, partly on account of its shape, and partly because it was the source of heat, and light, and life to man, even as the dung ball was to the young beetles. Having once got the idea that the disk of the sun was like the ball of the beetle, they went a step farther, and imagined that it must be pushed across the sky

^ The first copy is in column xxvi. and the second in column xxviii.

by a gigantic beetle just as the dung ball was rolled over the ground by a beetle on earth, and in pictures of the sunrise we actually see the disk being pushed up or forward into the sky by a beetle. Gradually the ideas of new life, resurrection, life in a new form, and the like, became attached to the beetle, and the god with the attributes of the beetle, among which in later days was included the idea of self-production, became one of the most important of the forms of Ra, and the creator of heaven, and earth, and the Tuat and all that is in them.

Having declared under what form he had come into being Khepera goes on to say that his power was not exhausted by one creative act, but that he continued to create new things out of those which he had already made, and he says that they went forth from his mouth. The word "mouth" may be here a figurative expression, but judging from other parts of the text we are probably intended to understand it literally. The god continues his narrative thus : — " Heaven did not exist, and earth had not " come into being, and the things of the earth (plants ?) and " creeping things had not come into existence in that place (or, at " that time), and I raised (or, built up) them from out of Nu from " a state of inactivity." Thus it is clear that Khepera himself was the one thing besides the watery abyss of Nu which was then in existence, and it is evident that we are to understand that he performed the various acts of creation without the help of any female principle, and that Nu had nothing to do with them except to supply the primeval matter, the "Urstoff " of Brugsch, from which all things were made. The word rendered above by

things which Khepera says he raised up out of Nu, in which case we must understand that everything in heaven and in earth was at that time existing in a quiescent state in the watery mass of Ku.

The narrative continues : "I found no place there whereon I " could stand. I worked a charm upon my own heart (or, will), " [and] I laid a foundation in Maa, [and] I made every form (or, " attribute). I was one by myself, [for] I had not emitted from " myself the god Shu, and I had not spit out from myself the goddess

296 MAAT AND HOKHINIAH

" Tefnut ; there was no other being who worked with me." The things made clear by this passage are that Khepera alone was the creator, and that he had no place to stand upon in performing the various acts of creation. The words, Khut-nd em dh-d, here rendered " I worked a charm upon my heart," present difficulty, but this or something very like must be their meaning. The word

in texts of the kind generally means " to " perform a magical rite or ceremony," and the author of the story of the creation before us found himself obliged to make the god resort to magical powers to get himself out of a difficulty ; that Khepera worked in some way and by some means upon his heart or will is clear, and as a result he laid a foundation for himself and the work which he was about to do in Maa. The name f) Jj may be read either as Maa or Shu, but Shu cannot be the reading here because in the next sentence Khepera tells us that he had not at that time emitted Shu from himself. From the texts of all periods we learn much about the conceptions which the Egyptians had arrived at concerning Maa, and it is clear that the word primarily meant ''what is straight," and that it also came to mean " straightness, rectitude, uprightness, right, law, order, " regularity, justice," and other significations of like character ; the

The idea which the text is intended to convey here is that Khepera laid the foundation of the future world according to a clear, welldefined, and unalterable plan, wherein there was no error ; Mad was with Khepera exactly what Hokhmah, riDDn (a word somewhat inadequately rendered "wisdom" in Proverbs viii. 2 fF.), was to Yahweh. Wisdom says that she was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, when there were no depths, before the mountains were settled, and before the hills was she brought forth when as yet Yahweh had made neither the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the earth, and that she was there when he prepared the heavens and placed a circle upon the face of the depth (Proverbs viii. 23 ff.).

The narrative continues : "I made a foundation in (or, by) " my own heart, and there came into being multitudes of things,

TEM, SHE, TEFNUT 297

" of things from the things of what was produced from the things " which they produced." This sentence is both involved and redundant, but about its meaning there is fortunately no difficulty, for the writer only makes the god assert in an emphatic manner that everything that is came into being as a result of the act of the god in laying a foundation in his own heart, and that when once the creative processes had been set in motion they continued their operation of their own accord, apparently without any direct interference from the original creative power. In the next sentence we have a reference to a curious belief which was already current in the Vlth Dynasty, but at that period it had reference to the god Tem and not to Khepera, and occurs with the following context : — " This Pepi washeth himself in the Lake of Aaru wherein " Ra washeth himself; Horus hath brought the back of this Pepi, '' and Thoth hath brought his legs, and Shu hath lifted him up '' to heaven ; 0 Nut, stretch out thy hand to Pepi. Tem hath " departed to Annu to satisfy his love of pleasure ; he hath thrust " his member into his hand, and hath performed his desire, and " hath produced the two children Shu and Tefnut,^ and these two " children put Pepi between them, and they set him among the " gods which are in Sekhet-hetepet." In the story of the creation Khepera is made to say, " I had union with my hand, and I " embraced my shadow in a love embrace ; I poured seed into my " own mouth, and I sent forth from myself issue in the form of " the gods Shu and Tefnut." Now a myth of this character can only be the product of a people at a low level of civilization, and it is difficult to understand the character of the mind of an author who in one sentence helps Khepera out of a difficulty by ascribing to him the possession and use of magical powers, and in another reduces him to the necessity of committing an act of masturbation in order to begin the generations of the gods, and yet assigns to

298 APPEARANCE OF RA

him at the same time many of the powers which are assigned by Christian nations to God. The only possible way of accounting for this gross passage is to assume either that it was copied into the papyrus of Nesi-Amsu, or Nesi-Min, by the scribe simply because he found it in the archetype from which he was working, or that the author, knowing that Shu and Tefnut were held to be the children of Khepeni, and that this god was unaccompanied by any female counterpart, explained the origin of his children in the manner described above. But in any case this brutal example of naturalism was not intended to be obscene, and it must be regarded as a survival in literature of the dynastic period of one of the coarse habits of the predynastic Egyptians, that is to say, of one of the indigenous African tribes from which dynastic Egyptians were partly descended.

The next section of the narrative is diflScult to translate and explain, for it contains words which Khepera puts into the mouth of his "father" Nu, who says that his eye, i.e., the Sun, was covered up behind Shu and Tefnut, but that after henti periods,

gods instead of one, and after he had come into being in this earth, Shu and Tefnut were raised up from out of the watery mass wherein they were, and they brought his eye in their train. The general meaning of these words seems to be that when Khepera was existing in Nu by himself the sun, in which he afterwards incorporated himself, was hidden in the watery deep ; but as soon as Khepera had produced Shu and Tefnut the sun emerged from the deep and followed in their train. In other

words, we learn that the Eye, 3 , of Nu was unable to make

itself seen until after Shu and Tefnut had come into being. We need not tarry to consider all the various attributes of these twin gods, and it will be sufficient to say here that Shu represents the daylight and, in some cases, the atmosphere which supports the heavens and keeps them above the earth, whilst Tefnut, the female

1 The hea period = 60 years, but when two such periods are referred to the writer does not mean necessarily 120 years, but some long, indefinite period of time.

CREATION OF MAN 299

counterpart of Shu, represents rain, dew, and moisture. We have akeady seen that these twin gods proceeded from Khepera, and the words which are used to express the idea of emission, i.e.,

which they came into being as separate entities. The creation of Shu made a space between the heavens and the earth into which the Eye of Nu could rise from out of the waters and shine, and because the sunlight immediately followed the creation of Shu that god is sometimes identified with light, and is regarded as its personification. The general sense of the passage under discussion makes it necessary to assume that Nu is identified with Khepera, and vice versa.

The next passage refers to the creation of man, and the god, presumably Khepera, says, " Now after these things, I united my " members, and I wept over them, and men and women came into " being from the tears which came forth from my eye." Of this passage there are two interpretations possible. We may either assume that the tears which fell from the Eye of Nu, or Khepera, are the rays of light which fell from the sun, and that men and women are the offspring of the light, or what is far more probable, that men and women are the product of the tears of water which fell from the eye of the god upon his members,^ and that they turned into human beings straightway. Meanwhile the god Nu or Khepera had made another Eye, by which we are, no doubt, to understand the Moon, and it is said that when the first Eye found that a second had been made it raged at the god ; now when the god saw this he endowed the second Eye with some of the power (or, splendour) which he had made, and having made it take up its position in his face it henceforth ruled the whole earth. After this the god brought about the creation of plants, and herbs, and reptiles, and creeping things. Finally, the gods Shu and Tefnut produced the gods and goddesses Seb and Nut, Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys, and Heru-khent-an-maati, i.e., the " Blind Horus," one after the other at one birth, and these deities multiplied

J I

Q. I

300 KHEPERA AND OSIRIS

offspring in this earth. Thus we have a complete account of how a male god who existed alone in the watery abyss of Nu produced from himself by unnatural means a pair of deities, one male and one female, and how this pair produced three other pairs, i.e., three gods and three goddesses, and one male deity in addition, in fact the ])aut or company of the great gods of Heliopolis, which in this instance was made to include ten gods. It is interesting to note the order in which the acts of creation took place. The selfexistent god who had lived for ever created : 1. The light. 2. The firmament, or home of moisture, i.e., clouds and rain. 3. Mankind. 4. The second (?) Eye, i.e., the Moon (?). 5. Plants, and herbs, and reptiles, and creeping things. 6. Seven deities, four being male and three female.

In the second version of the story of creation which we shall now describe some interesting variants will be found, and we shall see that the god Osiris is made to usurp the position which in the first version is occupied by the god Khepeni. The ojDening words are : — Neb-er-tcher saith, " I am the creator of what hath come " into being, and I myself came into being under the form of the " god Khepera, and I came into being in primeval time. I came " into being in the form of Khepera, and I was the creator of what " came into being, that is to say, I formed myself out of the " primeval matter, and I formed myself in the primeval matter.

" primeval matter of primeval matter. I have done all my will in " this earth, I have spread abroad therein, and I have made strong " (or, lifted up) my hand." In this passage we have Neb-er-tcher, who came into being in the form of Khepera, identifying himself

^S. _^ ^ 'm^ ^ ' 5 i-6.j the very essence of primeval matter, and the source of all created things. This is a remarkable attribute to ascribe to the god of the dead, and it is only understandable when we remember that it was a common belief of the Egyptians that life rose out of death. The narrative continues, " I was alone, for "they (i.e., the gods) were not born, and I had emitted from " myself neither Shu nor Tefnut. I brought my name into my

POWER OF THE NAME 301

" own mouth, that is to say [I uttered it as] a word of power, ' 0 ■ Mv ^ Sh ' 'f'^fi/^rt^, and I forthwith came into being under

" the form of things which were created and under the form of " Khepera."

Here we have an interesting statement, for the god tells us how he came into being, and he is not content with merely saying that he existed. We know from the literature of Egypt how great a part words of power played in its magical and religious systems, and how the believer hoped to obtain all his desires by the utterance of special names, or words, or formulae. Here, however, we have the god Osiris transforming himself from the essence of primeval matter into the active principle of creation by merely uttering his own name. The belief in the potency of certain names is very old in Egypt, and rests upon a still older idea that no creature, animate or inanimate, could be said to have an existence until it possessed a name, an idea with which every one is familiar from Genesis ii. 19 f., where we read that Adam gave names to every beast of the field and to every fowl of the air, and to all cattle. Every god and goddess and supernatural being were believed to possess a hidden name by, and through, and in which he and she lived. The man who could find out these names was able to command the help of the gods who bore them, and the man who could obtain by any means a hidden name for himself thought he would be the equal of the gods. On the other hand, to destroy or " blot out " a name was to wipe out of existence the being who bore it, and it was for this reason that in the earliest days of civilization in Egypt services in which the name, or names, of the dead were commemorated, and were mentioned with laudatory epithets, were established. We may note in passing that one of the greatest gifts which was to be given to the true believers of the Church of Pergamos was " a white stone, and in " the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving; he " that receiveth it" (Revelation ii. 17). Here is a direct allusion to the old belief in the ef6.cacy of an amulet which was made of a certain stone, and inscribed with a name, by and through and in which its owner would enjoy life and happiness.

Returning to our narrative we find that the god continues, " I came into being from primeval matter, and I appeared under " the form of multitudes of things from the beginning. Nothing " existed at that time, and it was I who made whatsoever was " made. I was alone, and there was no other being who worked " with me in that place. I made all the forms under which I " appeared by means (or, out of) the god-soul which I raised up " out of Nu, p^ J|, out of a state of inertness (or, out of the

" inert mass)." In this passage we have a new element introduced,

possessed the quality of neter, and was existent in a quiescent

state in the inactive watery mass of Nu. When we consider the

general ideas of the Egyptians about the soul this statement need

not surprise us, for we know that they endowed every object in

nature with a soul, and if they assumed the existence of a mass of

primeval matter they were bound, logically, to give it a soul.

Thus we have in the second version of the story of the creation an

idea which is wholly wanting in the first. We next read, " I

' found there (i.e., in Nu) no place wherein I could stand. I

' worked a spell on my heart, and I laid a foundation before me,

' and I made whatsoever was made. I was alone. I laid a

' foundation in (or, by) my heart, and I made the other things

' which came into being, and the things of Khepera which were

' made were manifold, and their ofi'spring came into existence

' from the things to which they gave birth. It was I who emitted

' Shu, and it was I who emitted Tefnut, and from being one god

' (or, the one god) I became three, that is to say, the two other

' gods who came into being on this earth came from myself, and

' Shu and Tefnut were raised up from out of Nu wherein they had

' bring to me (or, I brought to them) after a double hen period ' [had passed since] they went forth from me. I gathered ' together my members which came forth from my own person ' after I had union with my hand, and my heart (or will) came ' unto me from out of my hand. The seed fell into my mouth, ' and I sent forth from myself the gods Shu and Tefnut, and from

'' being one god (or, the one god) I became three, that is to say, " the two other gods who came into being, m

" on this earth came from myself, and Shu and Tefnut were raised " up from out of Nu wherein they had been. "

The repetitions in the above passage are due to the fact that the scribes possessed many variant readings of portions of it, these representing, no doubt, the opinions of different schools, and the scribe of the papyrus of Nes-Amsu, with characteristic reverence for what was written, incorporated them all into his text.

The next passage contains a very interesting addition and variant reading, which makes " father " Nu declare that his Eye, i.e., the sun, was covered over with large numbers of " bushes " for an indefinite number of periods, each containing sixty years ; now "bushes," otherwise called "hair," is the name given to the clouds which hang round the sun at sunrise, and obscure his rays, and it seems as if the god intends to complain that his sight was impeded by them for centuries. The words following seem to indicate that vegetation and reptiles, including worms or serpents, proceeded from the god Rem, and that they were the product of the tears which fell from Khepera, but this rendering is not wholly certain. The vegetation and worms here mentioned are forms of mist and cloud which wholly or partially hide the sun, and the line is probably added to the text to account for the " bushes " of which

we know nothing, but as the word rem means " to weep," and an

the line in which the name of the god occurs, we may assume that he was the personification of Ra's tears. Mention is made in the Booh of the Dead (Ixxxiii. 4) of a god called Remi,

have been identified in some way with Sebek, the personification of Nu, but it is not clear that Rem and Remi are one and the same god. We next arrive at the description of the making of man, and each version of the story of the creation gives a different account. According to the first, Khepera joined, or united, his members and

304 FOUR RACES OF MEN

wept upon them, and men and women came into being from these tears ; according to the second, Khepera wept with his Eye, and men and women came into being forthwith. It is impossible to say decidedly which is the older view, but it is probably the former. The difference between the methods employed in creating gods and men must be noted ; the gods are the seed of Khepera, and they came forth from his mouth, whilst men are only the tears of the god, and they came forth from his Eye. The older version makes the tears of Khepera to fall upon his genital organs, and it is only after they have been in contact with the god's virility that they turn into human beings. In late dynastic times the Egyptians divided mankind into four classes, namely, the Egyptians, the Aamu, the Nehesu, and the Themehu. Thus in the Book of Pylons ^ Horus says to the " chiefs of Ra," | (=) v^ i ^ ^ who are in the Tuat of the Black Land and the Red Land (i.e., Egypt and the deserts to the South), '' Ye are the tears made by

(i.e., the Semitic nomad tribes of the Eastern Desert), were created by Horus and Sekhet, Y jj , and this goddess protected their

by Horus and Sekhet, and the goddess protected their souls. Of " masturbated for you, and I have been content at the millions " who have come forth from me in your name of Nehesu ; Horus " hath created you, and it is he who hath protected their souls." ^ This last statement is of interest, for it connects the idea of masturbation with the Negroes, that is to say, with the dark or black-skinned races of Nubia who lived on the banks of the Nile

1 See Bonomi and Sharpe, Sarcophagus of Oimeuejjthah, pll. 7 and 6d.

so far south as the Sixth Cataract, and, as we have ah-eady said, the legend as to the origin of the gods Shu and Tefnut is far more likely to have been the product of some indigenous dark-skinned race than of the group of mixed peoples whom we call Egyptians. It will be noticed that only the EgyjDtians, or offspring of Ra, are said to have been produced by the tears of Ra, which are the same as the tears of the Eye of Horus, i.e., the sun.

According to one version of the story of the creation, men and women were created after the gods Shu and Tefnut, and before the plants and reptiles, but according to the other, they were created after the plants and reptiles ; neither version mentions the creation of beasts and cattle. A point of interest is that men and women were not fashioned by Khepera, or Neb-er-tcher, himself, and that they seem to have come into being almost, as it were, by accident ; in making the gods Khepera showed both will and design, but men and women were only the tears which fell, apparently without volition, from his Eye. But it must also be noted that in both versions of the Egyptian creation legends it is Ra the Sun-god, the Eye of Temu, who is in reality the creator of man, and this is exactly what we find in the Mesopotamian creation legends. After Marduk had defeated Tiamat and her eleven fiends, and had split up her body, like a fish, and made heaven out of one half of her skin, he conversed with Ea, the lord of the great deep, and declared his intention of making man, in the following words : — " My blood will I take, and bone will I build up, and I will make ' ' man, that man may . . . . ; and I will build up man who " shall inhabit [the earth]." This very important passage proves that the statement of Berosus to the effect that man was made out of the blood of Bel, i.e., Marduk, was based upon a genuine Assyrian tradition; unfortunately the cuneiform text,^ which was

1 The tablet is No. 92,629 (obv. 11. 5-7). The text reads :— ^yy(^t

ET ESS -fclTTl M I{ ® TH- gU [ ] M -^ :?F ET E3S

lu-ush-ziz-maa amelal^al lu a-me-lu [....] lu-tib-ni-ma amelaTa'] a-shib trsitim. See L. W. King, The Seven Tablets of Creation, vol. i., pp. 86 ff,, and vol. ii., pi. xxxv. X

306 THE CREATION OF MAN

first identified by Mr. L. W. King, is incomplete, but when the inevitable duplicate is found we shall probably find the equivalent of the rest of the story according to Berosus, who says that the blood of which man was made was obtained from Bel himself after his head had been cut off.

The passage which follows the mention of the creation of man in the Egyptian story refers to the Eye of Nu. which, Khepera says, he endowed with power or splendour, or with the serpent

raged at him when it found " another growth " in its place, by which, apparently, the moon is referred to, and it made an onslaught upon the " bushes," i.e., the light clouds, which Khepera had placed over it to adorn it, or to keep order in it ; but finally it took up its position in the god's face, and henceforth ruled the whole earth. The text concludes with the statement that Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Seb, Nut, Osiris, Heru-khenti-an-maati, Set, Isis, and Nephthys, and that their ofi'spring increase and multiply in the earth, and that they invoke the name of Khepera and so overthrow their enemies, and that they create words of power,

summarize briefly the results of the two versions, and Ave shall find that the Egyptians thought that a self-begotten and selfexistent god lived alone in a primeval watery mass, which was itself part male and part female., and which was the abode of two living powers, the one male and the other female, and also of a soul, and that this mass was of unlimited extent, and was eternal, and was enveloped in thick darkness. The self-existent god, at some unknown time and for some unknown reason, uttered his own name as a word of power, and he straightway came into being under the form of the god Khepera. He next roused the soul of the watery abyss out of inactivity, and then having brought some influence, probably by the utterance of certain words, to bear upon his heart, he produced some material place, probably the earth, whereon he could stand. From this place he produced the gods Shu and Tefnut, which act resulted in the immediate creation of light and in the dispersion of darkness, and in the formation of the

THE CREATION OF MAN 307

sky or firmament. These acts were followed either by the creation of men and women, or by the creation of vegetation and creeping things and reptiles of every kind ; of the creation of stars and of birds and beasts nothing is said. The above statement represents one of the earliest of the opinions of the Egyptians about the creation in its simplest form, the one in fact which was first adopted by the priests of Heliopolis, and was then modified to suit the theological system which they formulated. The texts on which it was based are transcribed into hieroglyphics with interlinear transliterations and translations in the following chapter.

CHAPTER VIII

THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE GODS AND OF THE WORLD. VERSION A.

xxvi. 21.

Shed The Book

enti of

a

rehh

O

hheperiL nu

knowing the evolutions of

oi

Bd Ra,

sekher

[and] of overthrowing

em-khet

D D Apep

tchettu The words of

Neh-er-tcher Neb-er-tcher

tchet -f

[which] he spake

kheper - / nuk ])u kheper

after he had come into being. I am he who came into being

em Kheperd kheper-nd kheper kheperu

in the form of I was (or, became) the creator of what came into Khepera, being,

kheper kheperu neh em-khet kheper-d dsht

the creator of what came into all; after my coming into many being being

hheperu em ])er em re-d an

[were] the things which coming forth from my mouth. Not came into being

s:

hhe'per pet an Ichejper ta an qemam

existed heaven, not existed earth, not had been created

J

satat

tchetfet

the things of the earth, and creeping (i.e., plants) things

bet

em in place

pui that

thes - nd dm - sen

em

Nu

I raised up them from out of Nu (i.e., the primeval abyss

of water)

(v^ n ran /vvvwx n

A/VW

em enen dn qem-nd bet dhd-nd

from a state of Not found I a place I could stand

inactivity.

w

I

ami wherein.

Jchut-nd I worked a charm

em upon (or, with)

dbt-d my heart.

A/VSAAA

I

senti-nd em Mad dri-nd dru nebt

I laid a foundation in Maa [and] I made attribute every.

a

ud-Jcludl dn dshesh-nd em Shu

I was alone, [for] not had I spit in the form of Shu,

an not

tef-nd had I emitted

em Tefiiut Tefnut,^

an not

Jcheper existed

hi another

/vwv

senti-nd

em

dht-d tches-d

dri-nef liend-d

who worked with me. I made a foundation in my heart my own,

(or, by means of my own will)

hheper

^ III dsht

hheperu

D

mi

Til

hheperu

[and] there came the multitudes which came of the things which into being of things into being came into being

e

II

em from out of

hheperu

the things which came into being

I

nu

of

M

mesu

births,

hheperu

O

nu

I I I I I

mesu-sen

dnuJi

ra

the things which of their births. I, even I,

em from out of

hat-d had union

came into being

em

hhefd-d

tatadt-nd

I

Col. xxvii. 1.

with my clenched hand, I joined myself in an

embrace

em with

hhaihit-d my shadow

il

hher-nd I poured seed

em

re- a

into my mouth

tches-d my own,

1 I.e., I had not sent forth from my body the emanation which took the form of Shu, nor the moisture which took the form of Tefnut.

i

dshesh-nd I sent forth issue

em /S/m tefnet-nd

in the form of Shu, I sent forth moisture

e?7z- T of nut an

in the form of Saith my father Tefnut.

dtef-d

Nu Nu,

satet-se7i

" They make to be weak

I I I I I

maat-d em-sa-sen tcher

henhenti

uaii-sen

my eye behind them, because for double henti they proceeded

periods

er-d em-hhet Jcheper-d em neter ud neter hhemt

from me after I became from god one gods three,

D

D

I s

Izll

er-a

Ichejper-nd em ta pen

had

that is from out of [and after] I came in earth this. Were raised up

myself,

dref therefore

hi

Shu Shu

into being

Tdfnut [and] Tefnut

fJW'.AA

em in

enenu the inert watery mass

I I I I 1

w

A^vVvAA ^-AAA/VA

un-sen dmi - f

wherein they were,

an- sen na

brought they to me

maat-d my eye

em hhet-sen

in their train.

em-hhet After

dref sam-nd dt-d

therefore I had united my members

^AAAA/^A

rem-nd her-sen l-heper reth ]}u em

I wept over them, [and] came into men and from

being women

Q

re77??t per em maat-d khdru-s

the tears [which] came forth from my eye, [and] it raged

er-d em Jchet is qemi-s dri-nd het

against me after it came [and] found [that] I had made another

rvV-AAA

em dst-s tebi-s em hliut dru-nd

in its place. [I] endowed it with the power I had made.

(or, splendour) which

AAAA/VN

?l

selchenti dref dst-s em, hrd-d em-hhet

Having made to approach therefore its place in my face, afterwards

A

dref heq-s ta pen er tcher - f hher

therefore it ruleth earth this to its whole extent. Fall

o ■ I I

en at-sen du uahu-sen tehui-nd

their moments (or, seasons) upon their plants, I endowed it

thet-s dmi-s per-nd em ucibu

with what it hath in it. I came forth from (or, in the plants, taken possession of the form of)

tchetfet neht hheper nebt dm-sen

creeping things all, [and] things which all [are] in them.

came into being

m± hit^.M '■ rz t:zi

mes2i an Shu Tdfnut lienci Nut mesu an

Give birth Shu [and] Tefnut [Seb] and Nut. Give birth

Seh Nut Asdr Her Khent-dn-maa Set Ast

Seb and Nut to Osiris, Horus-Khent-an-maati, Set, Isis,

I I

Nebt-het em khat ud em-sa ud dm-sen

Nephthys from the womb, one after the other of them,

III c 1 I I I I I _M^ I S /WVWV

meS'Sen dshtsen em ta pen

they give birth [and] they multiply in earth this.

THE HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE GODS AND OF THE WORLD. VERSION B.

xxviii. 20.

a

Shdt ent rekh kheperu nu R

The Book of knowing the evolutions of Ra

sekher Apep tchettu Neb-er-icher tchet-f

[and] of over- Apep. The words of Neb-er-tcher. He says : — throwing

kheper-d hheper kheperu

" I was (or, the creator of what came became)

into being.

e

I came into being in

D

kheperu en EJieperd klieper em sep tepi

the forms of Khepera coming into being in primeval time.

(S

kheper-kud em kliepem en Kheperd kheper-d

I came into in the forms of Khepera. I was (or,

became)

being

D

I

kheper kheperu pu en pa-nd

the creator of what came into being, that is to say, I produced myself

du

pautet

dru-nd

I

p)a-na

from the primeval matter [which] I made. I produced myself

em pautet

from primeval matter.

j:)ft ren-d Ausdres

My name is Osiris,

e

pcLutet pautit dri-d mertu-d nebt

the primeval matter of primeval matter. I have done my will all

usekht-nd

I c=co«a /wwv

em /5a pen usekht-nd dm - / thes-nd

in earth this, [and] I have spread abroad in it ; I raised up

tet-d udu-hud an mes-sen an

my hand. I was alone ; not born [were] they. Not

dshesh-nd em Shu dn tdf-nd em Tdfnut

had I spit in the form of Shu, not had I emitted Tefnut

dn-nd re-d tches-d ren-d pit

I brought [into] my mouth my own my name, that is to say,

hehau dnuh 'pu Mieper - nd em

a word of power, and I, even I, came into being in the form

hheperu hhe^per-hud em kheperu en Kheperd

of things which and I came in the forms of Khepera. came into being, into being

'®l?i

hheper-nd em pautti Icheper

I came into being from the primeval matter, coming into bein^

dsht Jcheperu em tep-a dn klieper

[in] multitudes of forms from the beginning. Not existed

I ^ _Mi^ I S AAAAAA i! W 1 1

hheperu neht em ta pen dri-nd dri

created things any in land this ; I made whatsoever was made

M

everything. I was alone, not existed [any other] who worked

hend-d with me

J

em in

bet place

w

put that ;

art- a I made

Jcheperu-d what I made

w

w

I

dmi em ha piii thes-nd

therein by means of divine soul that [which] I raised up

w

AA/VUVN

ami

em

Nu

em

enen an

therein out of Nu (i.e., the primeval from a state of not

abyss of water) inertness,

w

/WW

I

qemi-na found I

bet

dhd-nd

ami

hhut-nd

a place whereon I could stand. I worked with the

spirit [which] was

w

W

em db-d

senti

nd em hrd-d dri-nd

an

in my heart, I laid a foundation before me, I made whatsoever

was made

I

all. I was alone, I laid a foundation in my heart,

I

(jemam-na I made

Jci Jiheperu dsht hlieperu nu

other things which and manifold were the things of

came into being,

Klteperd. Khepera

which came into being

rtiPiP.T, k ^TMi ? m^

hheper an mesu-sen em Jcheperu nu mesu-sen

Came into what they gave out of the creations of their offspring, beinsr birth to

dnuk pu dshesh-iid em Shu tdf-nd

1, even I, spat in the form of Shu, [and] I emitted

.0^ w^ I k II !!^ Isil ■"

em Tdfnut kheper-nd em neter ud neter hhemt

Tefnut, [and] I became from god one gods three,

jpu er-d hheperiut em ta fen

that is to say, from myself two gods came into being on earth this.

had dref Shu Tdfnut em Nu

Were raised up therefore Shu and Tefnut in Ku (i.e., the

primeval watery abyss)

unen-sen dmi dn maat-d dn-nd sefi

wherein they were. Behold, my eye brought to me they

em-hhet henti uau-sen er-d

in the train of a henti period, they proceeded from me.

sam-nd em dt-d per-sen dmi tches-d em-hhet

I collected my members, they came forth from myself after

ra

hat-nd I had union

w

em hliejd-d

with my clenched hand,

i-nd came to me (?)

fet-d

®

db-d em fet-d dada Jcher em

my heart (or, will) out of my hand. The seed [which] fell into

r-rr-il

7'e-d dshesh-nd

my mouth, I spat

Col. xxix. 1. ^ R (3

em Shu

tdf-nd

in the form of Shu, I emitted water

e??i Tdfnut hhefer-nd em neter ud neteru

intheformofTefnut, I became from [being] god one gods

I I

t'm

hhemt pu er-d kheperiut

three, that is to say, from myself two gods came into being on

ta pen

earth this.

-HI

had Were raised up

Mr

dref therefore

Shu Tdfnut Shu and Tefnut

em

AAAA/NA

A"'W

I I I I 4

W 1

unen-sen

ami

from out of Nu (i.e., the inert wherein they were, primeval watery abyss)

an Saith

is repeated, apparently by inadvertence, in the papyrus.

dtef-d my father

uahu

Nu

^ ktP

ati-sen maat-d em-sa sen

Nu, ''They covered up my eye after them [or, made weak]

A /www U U ^5=^0 0 1 J^ Jl III

Sep sen lientiu uabu

[with] bushes, twice, for hen periods.

Vegetation

hefi em Rem em rem-th

and reptiles [came] from the god Rem, from the tears

O

er-d ha en maat-d hheper ret

[falling] from me. Cried my eye, came into being mankind.

D

pu fehu-nd sii em khut hhdru-nes er-d

I endowed it with power. It raged at me

w

em-Jchet after

Jcher Fell

crz2 em khennu en dst-s

i-s Jcet ret

it came [finding] another growth within its place.

)WWAA AAAAAA

en ten-ten-s du uahu-s her

its vigorous power upon its bushes, upon

uahu tehui-nd dm

the bushes [which] I placed there to make adornment in it.

se-ndd dm-s

S'

Tl

Zl

hlienti dref dst-s hrd-d heq-nes ta tcher - /

Ruling therefore [on] its seat in my face it ruleth the whole earth.

mes en Shu Tdfnut Nut Asdr Heru-lchenti-dn-maati

Gave birth Shu [and] Tefnut to Nut, Osiris, Heru-khenti-an-maati,

n

I 1

flNP

I I

Set Ast Neht-het dn mesu-sen

Set, Isis, Nephthys, [and] behold, their children

I I

s

qemam-sen they create

hheperu beings

dsht em ta manifold in earth

D

©

I 1

pen em kheperii nu mesu em

this from the heinous of children, from

INP

I I

fi

mesu-sen their children.

Icheft-sen their enemies.

shent-sen They invoke

ren-a my name.

hheperu nu the beings of

seJcher-sen they overthrow

U

e

I A^AAAA

qemam-sen they create

hehau en

words of power for

sehher Apep du-f her

i

e

©

X— /I

J]

I ddui

sau her

the overthrow of Apep, who is to be bound by the two hands

671 AJcer an un ddui - f an im retui -/

of Aker, not may be his two hands, not may be his two feet,

i

^ l^oJl'

satet - f en dst ud md Jm Rd setchebu-f

may he be chained to one place even as inflicteth Ra his blows

sekhev'tuf her sati-f

W Cr£l til

utu-nef du sefcfiev'tuf tier sati-J pui

decreed for him. He is overthrown on his back wicked,

I

w

I

Q.

senpu hrd-f her dri-nef meni sib

slit is his face for what he hath done, and he remaineth

1 w

du

sati - f

pui

fu

upon

his back

evil

CHAPTER IX

RA, THE SUN-GOD, ""^Oi), AND HIS FORMS

RA is the name which was given by the Egyptians of the dynastic period to the god of the sun, Avho was regarded as the maker and creator of everything which we see in the visible world around us, and of the gods in heaven, as well as of heaven itself, and of the Tuat or underworld and the beings therein ; the original meaning of his name is unknown, but at one period of Egyptian history it seems to have been thought that the word rd indicated " operative and creative power," and that as a proper name it represented in meaning something like " Creator," this epithet being used much in the same way and with the same idea as we use the term when applied to God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth and of all things therein. The worship of the sun in Egypt is extremely ancient and appears to have been universal ; at a very early period adoration of him was associated with that of the hawk-god Heru, who was the personification of the " height " of heaven, and who appears to have been a type and symbol of the sun. The worship of the hawk-god

Heru, § "^ % ^? is the oldest in Egypt, and, strictly speaking, he should have been discussed before Ra, but as Ra and the personifications of his various forms are the greatest of the gods of the Egyptians, he must be regarded as the true " father of the gods," and his attributes, and the myths which grew up round him must be considered before those of Horus. The god Ra is usually depicted with the body of a man and the head of a hawk, but sometimes he is represented in the form of a hawk ; on his head he wears his symbol, ^, i.e., the disk of the sun encircled by

BOATS OF THE SUN 323

made. When he has a human body he holds the emblem of life, ■¥",

in his right hand, and a sceptre, |, in his left, and from the belt of

his tunic hangs down the tail, which is a survival of the dress of men in predynastic times, and probably later. Viewed from a practical point of view Ra was the oldest of all the gods of Egypt, and the first act of creation was the appearance of his disk above the waters of the world-ocean ; with his first rising time began, but no attempt was ever made to say when, i.e., how long ago, his first rising took place. When the Egyptians said that a certain thino- had been in existence " since the time of Ra " ^ it

was

equivalent to saying that it had existed for ever.

The Egyptians, knowing that the sun was a fire, found a difficulty in assuming that it rose directly into the sky from out of the watery mass wherein it was brought forth, and they, therefore, assumed that it must make its journey over the waters in a boat, or boats, and as a matter of fact they believed that it passed over the first half of its course in one boat, and over the second half in another. The morning boat of the sun was called Matet,

^. :) — c Q^lj^, i.e., "becoming strong," and the name of

weak"; these are appropriate names for the rising and the setting sun.^ The course which Ra followed in his journey across the sky was thought to have been defined at creation by the goddess called Maat, who was the personification of the conceptions of rectitude, straightness, law, order, unfailing regularity, and the like, and there is no doubt that it was the regular and unfailing appearance of the sun each morning, as much as its light and heat, which struck wonder into primitive man, and made him worship the sun. In passing through the Tuat, or underworld, at night Ra was supposed to be obliged to leave his boat at certain places, and to make use of others, including even one which was formed by the body of a serpent ; according to one opinion he changed his

O .^ a ^. 2 See Unas, 1. 292.

324 MYTHOLOGICAL FISH

boat every hour during the day and night, but the oldest belief of all assigned to him two boats only. Ra was accompanied on his journey by a number of gods, whose duties consisted in navigating the boat, and in helping it to make a successful passage from the eastern part of the sky to the place where the god entered the Tuat; the course was set by Thoth and his female counterpart Maat, and these stood one on each side of Horus, who acted as the steersman and apparently as captain also. Before the boat of Ra, one and mythological texts which have come down to us, not all the power of Ra himself, nor that of the gods Avho were with him, could ward off the attacks of certain fiends and monsters which endeavoured to obstruct the passage of his boat.

Sebau, p JH^mh, and Nak, I] -^3:^ »h, and of these the

greatest and most wicked was Apep. In dynastic times Apep was a personification of the darkness of the darkest hour of the night, against which Ra must not only fight, but fight successfully before he could rise in the east in the morning ; but originally he was the thick darkness which enveloped the watery abyss of Ku, and which formed such a serious obstacle to the sun when he was making his way out of the inert mass from which he proceeded to rise the first time. In the Booh of the Dead he is frequently mentioned,^ but rather from a moral than a physical point of view. Thus in the xxxixth Chapter the deceased says : " Get thee back, " Fiend before the darts of his beams. Ra hath overthrown " thy words, the gods have turned thy face backwards, the Lynx '* Scorpion goddess, § ^ W^ , hath cast fetters upon thee, and " Maat hath sent forth thy destruction. Those who are in the "ways have overthrown thee; fall down and depart, 0 Apep,

1 Boole of flic Dead. {Papyrus of Ami, pi. 1, line 15.)

2 See the Vocabulary to my Chaiyters of Coming Forth by Day, under Apep (p. 61).

RA AND APEP 325

" thou Enemy of Ra." A little further on the deceased says : " I " have brought fetters to thee, 0 Ra, and Apep hath fallen because " thou hast drawn them tight. The gods of the South, and of the " North, of the West and of the East have fastened chains upon " him, and they have fastened him with fetters ; the god

" Enemy of Ra, thou shalt never partake of the delights of love, " thou shalt never fulfil thy desire ! He maketh thee to go back, '' 0 thou who art hateful to Ra ; he looketh upon thee, get thee " back. He pierceth thy head, he slitteth up thy face, he divideth " thy head where its bones join and it is crushed in thy land, thy "bones are smashed in pieces, thy members are hacked off thee,

" upon thee."

From the '' Books of Overthrowing Apep," ^ we obtain further information as to the destruction of the monster, and we find, that this work was recited daily in the temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes. The first Book was divided into Chapters, which were entitled: — 1. Chapter of spitting upon Apep. 2. Chapter of defiling Apep with the left foot. 3. Chapter of taking a lance to smite Apep. 4. Chapter of fettering Apep. 5. Chapter of taking a knife to smite Apep. 6. Chapter of putting fire upon Apep. The following Books describe with great minuteness the details of the destruction which was to fall upon Apep, and they are insisted on to a wearisome degree ; according to these the monster, which is referred to at one time as a crocodile and at another as a serpent, is first to be speared, then gashed with knives, and every bone of his body having been separated by red-hot knives, and his head, and legs, and tail, etc., having been cut ofi', his remains were to be scorched, and singed, and roasted, and finally shrivelled up and consumed by fire. The same fate was to come upon Apep's confederates, and everything which formed parts of him and of them, i.e., their shadows, souls, doubles, and spirits, were to be

1 See Archaeologia, vol. Hi. {The Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu).

326 NAMES OF APEP

wiped out of existence, including any offspring which they might possess. Not content with reciting the words of power which would have the effect of destroying Apep and his fiends, great care was taken to perform various ceremonies of a magical character, which were supposed to benefit not only Ra, but those who worshipped him on earth. Apep was both crafty and evil-doing, and like Ra, he possessed many names ; to destroy him it was necessary to curse him by each and every name by which he was known. To make quite sure that this should be done effectively the Papyrus of Nesi-Amsu adds a list of such names, and as they are the foundation of many of the magical names met with in later papyri they are here enumerated: — 1. Nesht. 2. Tutu. 3. Hau-hra. 4. Hemhemti. 5. Qettu. 6. Qerneru. 7. Iubani. 8. Amam. 9. Hem-taiu. 10. Saatet-ta. 11. Khermuti. 12. Kenememti. 13. Sheta. 14, Serem-taui. 15. Sekhem-hra. 16. Unti. 17. Karau-anememti. 18. Khesef-hra. 19. Seba-ent- SEBA. 20. Khak-ab. 21. Khan-ru .... UAA. 22. Nil. 23. Am. 24. Turrupa(?) 25. Iubau. 26. Uai. 27. Kharubu, the

FOUR TIMES WICKED. 28. SaU. 29. BeTESHU.^

In the Egyptian texts we have at present no account of the

W

wm

RA AND APEP 327

first fight which took place between Ra and Apep, but it is clear from several passages in the " Books of Overthrowing Apep " that such a thing must have occurred, and that the means employed by the Sun-god for destroying his foe resembled those made use of by Marduk in slaying Tiamat. The original of the Assyrian story is undoubtedly of Sumerian origin, and must be very old, and it is probable that both the Egyptians and the Sumerians derived their versions from a common source. In the Assyrian version^ Marduk is armed with the invincible club which the gods gave him, and with a bow, spear, net, and dagger ; the lightning was before him, and fierce fire filled his body, and the four-fold wind and the seven-fold wind went with him. Marduk grasped the thunderbolt and then mounted his chariot, drawn by four swift and fiery horses which had been trained to beat down under their feet everything which came in their way. "When he came to the place where Tiamat was, Kingu, whom she had set over her forces, trembled and was afraid, but Tiamat "stood firm with unbent neck." After an exchange of words of abuse the fight began, and Tiamat pronounced her spell, which, however, had no effect, for Marduk caught her in his net, and drove the winds which he had with him into her body, and whilst her belly was thus distended he thrust his spear into her, and stabbed her to the heart, and cut through her bowels, and crushed her skull with his club. On her body he took his stand, and with his knife he split it " like a flat fish into two halves," and of one of these he made a covering for the heavens. With the exception of the last, every detail of the Assyrian account of the fight has its equivalent in the Egyptian texts which concern Ra and Apepi. An allusion to the fight is found in the apocryphal work of " Bel and the Dragon," wherein we are told that both the god and the monster were worshipped in Babylon ; but the narrative says that the dragon was destroyed by means of lumps of pitch, and fat, and hair seethed together, and that these having been pushed into the creature's mouth he burst asunder. In Egyptian papyri Apep is always represented in the form of a serpent, in each undulation of which a knife is stuck,

1 See King, Babylonian Beligion, p. 71 fE.

328 THE CITY OF THE SUN

fastened by the neck with a chain (along which is stretched the scorpion goddess Serqet}, the end of which is in the hands of a god, and also chained to the ground by five chains.

It has already been said that Ra was the " father of the gods," and we find that as early as the Vth Dynasty a female counterpart, who was the mother of the gods, was assigned to him. This

goddess is called in the text of Unas (1. 253) Rat, ® , and in later

times her title appears to have been " Rat of the two lands, the

" lady of heaven, mistress of the gods," — n '" ^ f=^ 111'

she is also called " Mistress of Heliopolis." Her full name was,

perhaps, Rat-taiut, (=?=' ^ JJ, i.e., "Rat of the world." She is

depicted in the form of a woman who wears on her head a disk with horns and a uraeus, and sometimes there are two feathers above the disk ; ^ the attributes of the goddess are unknown, but it is not likely that she was considered to be more important than any other great goddess.

The home and centre of the worship of Ra in Egypt during

dynastic times was the city called Annu, [1^, or An by the

Egyptians, On by the Hebrews, and Heliopolis by the Greeks ; its site is marked by the village of Matariyeh, which lies about five miles to the north-east of Cairo. It was generally known as Annu meht, i.e., Annu of the North, to distinguish it from Annu Qemau, i.e., Annu of the South," or Hermonthis. Among the early Christians great store was set upon the oil made from the trees which grew there, and in the famous " Fountain of the Sun " the Virgin Mary is said to have washed the garments of her Son ; the ancient Egyptians also believed that Ra bathed each day at sunrise in a certain lake or pool which was in the neighbourhood. Of the origin and beginnings of the worship of Ra at Heliopolis we know nothing, but it is quite certain that under the Vth Dynasty, about B.C. 3350, the priests of Rfi had settled themselves there, and that they had obtained great power at that remote period. The

1 See Lanzone, op. cit., pi. 186, Nos. 1-4.

RA WORSHIP 329

evidence derived from the Westcar Papyrus ^ indicates that Userka-f, the first king of the Vth Dynasty, was the high-priest of Ra, and that he was the first to add " son of the Sun " to the titles of Egyptian monarchs. Up to that time a king seems to have possessed : — 1. A name as the descendant or servant of Horus. 2. A name as the descendant or servant of Set. 3. A name as lord

of the shrines of Nekhebet and TJatchit, ^£. 4. A name as king

second cartouche, and it was adopted by every succeeding king of Egypt. According to the Westcar Papyrus User-ka-f and his two immediate successors Sahu-Ra and Kakaa were the sons of the god Ra by Rut-tetet, the wife of a priest of the god Ra of Sakhabu,

[q] I ^-^ J|y) © j these were brought into the world by the

goddesses Isis, Nephthys, Meskhenet, and Heqet, and by the god Khnemu, and it was decreed by them that the three boys should be sovereigns of Egypt.

This legend is of importance, not only as showing the order of the succession of the first three kings of the Vth D3masty, but also because it proves that in the early Empire the kings of Egypt believed themselves to be the sons of Ra, the Sun-god. All chronological tradition affirms that Ra had once ruled over Egypt, and it is a remarkable fact that every possessor of the throne of Egypt was proved by some means or other to have the blood of Ra flowing in his veins, or to hold it because he was connected with Ra by marriage. The bas-reliefs of Queen Hatshepset at Der al-Bahari, and those of Amen-hetep III. at Luxor, and those of Cleopatra VII. in the temple at Erment (now destroyed, alas!) describe the process by which Ra or Amen-Ra became the father of the kings and queens of Egypt. From these we see that whenever the divine blood needed replenishing the god took upon himself the form of the reigning king of Egypt, and that he visited the queen in her chamber and became the actual father of the child who was subsequently born to her. When the child was born it

^ See Brman, Westcar Papyrua^ p]. ix. ft.

330 RA AND RA-TEJM

was regarded as a god incarnate, and in due course was presented, with appropriate ceremonies, to Ra or Amen-Ra, in his temple, and this god accepted it and acknowledged it to be his child. This clever priestly device gave the priests of Ra great power in the land, but their theocratic rule was not always the best for Egypt, and on one occasion they brought about the downfall of a dynasty. The first rise to power of the priests of Ra took place at the beginning of the Vth Dynasty, when the cult of Ra became dominant in the land. About the time of Userkaf we find that a number of shrines, which united the chief characteristics of the low rectangular tomb commonly known by its Arabic name of

honour of the god ; ^ but, according to Prof. Sethe, the custom of building such only lasted for about one hundred years, i.e., from the reign of Userkaf to that of Men-kau-Heru. Be this as it may, the priesthood of Heliopolis succeeded in making their worship of Ra to supersede generally that of almost every other god of Egypt, and in absorbing all the local gods of importance throughout the country into their theological system, wherein they gave them positions subordinate to those of Ra and his company of gods.

Originally the local god of the city was Tem, who was worshipped there in a special temple, but they united his attributes

1. 222). With the close of the Vlth Dynasty the power of the priests of Ra declined, and it was not until the reign of Usertsen I., about B.C. 2433, that the sanctuary at Heliopolis Avas rebuilt, or perhaps entirely refounded. This king dedicated the temple which he built there to Ra and to two forms of this god, Horus and Temu, who were supposed to be incarnate in the famous Bull of Mnevis, which was worshipped at Heliopolis as Apis was worshipped at Memphis. In front of the temple he set up two massive granite obelisks, each 66 feet high, the pyramidions of which were covered with copper; these were still in situ about a.d. 1200. BetAveen the XTIth and the XXth Dynasties we hear little of Heliopolis, but

1 See an interesting paper on this subject by Sethe in Ae(iyj)tische ZeitscJni/t, 1889, p. Ill ff. (i),'e IleillgtMl uer des Be' hn alten Eeich).

HELIOPOLIS 331

a further restoration of the temple buildings took place under Rameses III., who set apart large revenues for the maintenance of the worship of Ra and the dignity of his priests and servants. When Piankhi invaded Egypt, about B.C. 750, he visited Heliopolis after the capture of Memphis, going by way of the

certain ceremonial ablutions in the "Lake of cold water," fO,

I s (A

and washed his face in the " milk of Nu wherein Ra was wont to " wash his face ;" ^ this " Lake " is clearly the fountain of the sun which we have already mentioned.

At a place called Shai-qa-em-Annu ^ he " made great offerings at Sha-qa-em-Amen to Ra at sunrise, viz., white oxen, milk, dnti unguent, incense, and sweet-smelling woods, and then he passed into the temple of Ra, which he entered bowing low in adoration to the god. The chief kher heb priest, r|j '^ ® , offered up prayer on behalf of the king, that he might be able to repulse his enemies, and then having performed the ceremony connected with the ' Star-room,' , , he took the seteb girdle, and purified himself with incense, and poured out a libation, when one brought to him the flowers which are offered up in the Het-Benbenet,^ r J /vwwn J |. He took the flowers and went

to see Ra in Het-Benbenet. He stood [on the tojDJ there by himself, he pushed back the bolt, he opened the doors [of the tabernacle], and he saw his father Ra in Het-Benbenet. He made adoration to the Matet Boat of Ra (i.e., the boat of the rising sun), and to the Sektet boat of Tem (i.e., the boat of the setting sun). He then dreAV close the doors again, and having affixed thereto the clay for a seal he stamped it with the seal of

(Stele of PiankH, 1. 102). ^ I.e., the shrine or holy of holies of the temple of Rm..

332 HELIOPOLIS

" the king himself. He then admonished the priests [saying], ' I " have set [my] seal here, let no other king enter herein [or] stand " here.' And they cast themselves on their bellies before his " majesty, saying, ' May Horus who loveth Annu (Heliopolis) be " firm and stable, and may he never come to an end.' And the " king went into the Temple of Tem, and he performed all the " ceremonies and service connected with the worship of father

From the above it is certain that the sacred boats of Ra were

kept in a sort of wooden tabernacle with two doors, ^| , that

I I

could be fastened by a bolt, and from what we know from pictures of these boats it is equally certain that the Matet boat contained a hawk-headed figure of Ra, and that the Sektet boat contained a man-headed figure of Ra. The text says that the tabernacle,

what we should expect, for we know that the support was intended to represent the high ground in or near the city of Khemennu,

the day when he proceeded fi'om the watery abyss of Nu, before the pillars of Shu were set up. In the Book of the Dead this

invasion the prosperity of the priesthood of Heliopolis declined, and it is said that later, during the reign of Ptolemy 11. (b.c. 285- 247) many of its members found an asylum at Alexandria, Avhere their reputation for learning caused them to be welcomed. A tradition says Solon, Thales, and Plato all visited the great college at Heliopolis, and that the last-named actually studied there, and that Manetho, the priest of Sebennytus, Avho Avrote a history of Egypt in Greek for Ptolemy II., collected his materials in the library of the priesthood of Ra. Some time, however, before the Christian era, the temple buildings were in ruins, and the glory of Heliopolis had departed, and it was frequented only by those who went there to carry away stone or anything else which would be useful in building or farming operations.

CULT OF HELIOPOLIS 333

We have now to consider briefly Avhat was the nature of the doctrine which was the distinguishing characteristic of the teaching of the priests of HeliopoHs. In the first place it proclaimed the absolute sovereignty of Ra among the gods, and it made him the head of every company of the gods, but it did not deny divinity to the older deities of the country. The chief authorities for the Heliopolitan doctrine are the Pyramid Texts, to which allusion has so often been made, and from these we see that the priests of Ra displayed great ingenuity and tact in absorbing into their form of religion all the older cults of Egypt, together with their magical rites and ceremonies. Apparently they did not attempt to abolish the old, indigenous gods ; on the contrary, they allowed their cults to be continued, provided that the local priesthoods would make their gods subordinate to Rii. Thus Osiris and Isis, and their companion gods, were absorbed into the great company of the gods of Heliopolis, and the theological system of the priests of Osiris was mixed with that of the priests of Ra.^ Nothing is known of the origin of Osiris worship, but the god himself and the ceremonies which accompanied the celebration of his festivals suggest that he was known to the predynastic dwellers in Egypt. The belief in the efficacy of worship of the Man-god, who rose from the dead, and established himself in the underworld as judge and king, was indelibly impressed on the minds of the Egyptians at a very early period, and although the idea of a heaven of material delights which was promised to the followers of Osiris did not, probably, commend itself in all particulars to the imaginations of the refined and cultured folk of Egypt, it was tacitly accepted as true and was regarded as a portion of their religious inheritance by the majority of the people. On the other hand, the priests of Ra declared that the souls of the blessed made their way after death to the boat of Ra, and that if they succeeded in alighting upon it their eternal happiness was assured. No fiends could vex and no foes assail them successfully, so long as they had their seat in the " Boat of Millions of Years; " they lived upon the food on which the gods lived, and that food was light. They were apparelled in light, and they were embraced by the god of light. They passed with Ra in his boat through all the dangers

334 CULT OF HELIOPOLIS

of the Tuat, and when the god rose each morning they were free to wander about in heaven or to visit their old familiar habitations on earth, always however taking care to resume their places in the boat before nightfall, at which time evil spirits had great power to injure, and perhaps even to slay, the souls of those who had failed to arrive safely in the boat.

But although the priests of Ra under the Early Empire, and the priests of Amen-Ra under the Middle and New Empires, were supported by all the power and authority of the greatest kings and queens who ever sat upon the throne of Egypt, in their proclamation of a heaven, which was of a far more spiritual character than that of Osiris, they never succeeded in obliterating the belief in Osiris from the minds of the great bulk of the population in Egypt. The material side of the Egyptian character refused to be weaned from the idea of a Field of Peace, which was situated near the Field of Reeds and the Field of the Grasshoppers,^ where wheat and barley grew in abundance, and where a man would possess a vine, and fig trees, and date palms, and be waited upon by his father and his mother, and where he would enjoy an existence more comfortable than that which he led upon this earth. The doctrine of a realm of light, where the meat, and drink, and raiment were light, and the idea of becoming a being of light, and of passing eternity among creatures of light did not satisfy him. The result of all this was to create a perpetual contest between the two great priesthoods of Egypt, namely, those of Ra and Osiris ; in the end the doctrine of Osiris prevailed, and the attributes of the Sun-god were ascribed to him. In considering the struggle which went on between the followers of Ra and Osiris it is difficult not to think that there was some strong reason for the resistance Avhich the priests of Ra met with from the Egyptians generally, and it seems as if the doctrine of Ra contained something which was entirely foreign to the ideas of the people. The city of Heliopolis appears always to have contained a mixed population, and its situation made it a very convenient halting-place for travellers passing from Arabia and Syria into Egypt and ince

n

HYMNS TO RA 335

versa; it is, then, most probable that the doctrine of Ra as taught by the priests of Heliopolis was a mixture of Egyptian and Western Asiatic doctrines, and that it was the Asiatic element in it which the Egyptians resisted. It could not have been sunworship which they disliked, for they had been sun-Avorshippers from time immemorial.

The above paragraphs contain a statement of the facts concerning the worships of Ra and Osiris which appear to be fairly deducible from the extant religious literature of the Egyptians, but it is time to let the hymns to these gods declare the attributes which were assigned to them during the most flourishing period of Egyptian history. More hymns were addressed to these two than to any other gods, a fact which proves that they were considered to be the chief means of salvation for the Egyptians. The following hymns are taken from the Papyri of Hunefer, and Ani, and Nekht ^ : —

" Homage to thee, 0 thou who art Ra when thou risest, and " Temu when thou settest. Thou risest, thou risest, thou shinest, " thou shinest, thou who art crowned king of the gods. Thou art " the lord of heaven, thou art the lord of earth ; thou art the " creator of those who dwell in the heights and of those who " dwell in the depths. Thou art the God One who didst come " into being in the beginning of time. Thou didst create the earth, " thou didst fashion man, thou didst make the watery abyss of the " sky, thou didst form Hapi (the Nile), thou didst create the " watery abyss, and thou dost give life unto all that therein is. "Thou hast knit together the mountains, thou hast made mankind " and the beasts of the field to come into being, thou hast made "the heavens and the earth. Worshipped be thou whom Maat " embraceth at morn and at eve. Thou dost travel across the sky "with heart swelling with joy; the Lake of Testes becometh " contented thereat. The serpent-fiend Nak hath fallen, and his " two arms are cut off. The Sektet boat receiveth fair winds, and " the heart of him that is in the shrine thereof rejoiceth. Thou art " crowned prince of heaven, and thou art the One dowered [with

1 See my Chajpters of Coming Forth ly Day (Translation), pp. 8, 36.

336 HYMNS TO RA

" all attributes] who comest forth from the sky. Ra is he whose " word when uttered must come to pass. 0 thou divine Youth, " thou heir of everlastingness, thou self-begotten one, thou who " didst give thyself birth 1 0 thou One, thou mighty [one] of " myriad forms and aspects, King of the world, Prince of Annu " (Heliopolis), lord of eternity and ruler of everlastingness, the " company of the gods rejoice when thou rises t and when thou "sailest across the sky, 0 thou who art exalted in the Sektet "boat." (From the Papyrus of Hunefer, sheet 1.)

" Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of rays, who risest on the horizon " day by day ! Homage to thee, 0 Heru-khuti, who art the god " Khepera, the self-created ; when thou risest on the horizon and " sheddest thy beams of light upon the lands of the North and " of the South, thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and all the gods ^' rejoice when they behold thee, the King of heaven. The goddess " Nebt-unnut is stablished upon thy head ; and her uraei of the '' South and of the North are upon thy brow ; she taketh up her " place before thee. The god Thoth is stablished in the bows of " thy boat to destroy utterly all thy foes. Those who are in the " Tuat come forth to meet thee, and they bow in homage as they " come towards thee to behold thy beautiful form. And I have " come before thee that I may be with thee to behold thy Disk ' ' every day. May I not be shut up in [the tomb], may I not be " turned back, may the members of my body be made new when I " view thy beauties, even as [are those of] all thy favoured ones, ^' because I am one of those who worship j^ed thee upon earth. May " I come in unto the land of eternity, may I come even unto the " everlasting land, for behold, 0 my lord, this hast thou ordained " for me.

" Homage to thee, 0 thou Avho risest in the horizon as Ra, " thou restest upon law unchangeable and unalterable. Thou "passest over the sky, and every face watcheth thee and thy " course, for thou hast been hidden from their gaze. Thou dost " show thyself at dawn and at eventide day by day. The Sektet " boat, wherein is thy Majesty, goeth forth with light ; thy beams " are upon all faces ; the [number] of thy red and yellow rays " cannot be known, nor can thy bright beams be told. The lands

HYMN TO RA 337

" of the gods, and the lands of Punt must be seen, ere that which " is hidden [in thee] may be measured. Alone and by thyself thou " dost manifest thyself when thou comest into being above Nu. " May I advance, even as thou dost advance ; may I never cease to " go forward as thou never ceasest to go forward, even though it be " for a moment ; for with strides thou dost in one little moment " pass over the spaces which would need millions and millions of " years [for men to pass over ; this] thou doest and then thou dost " sink to rest. Thou puttest an end to the hours of the night, and " thou dost count them, even thou ; thou endest them in thine " own appointed season, and the earth becometh light. Thou " settest thyself therefore before thy handiwork in the likeness of " Ra [when] thou risest on the horizon.

" Thou art crowned with the majesty of thy beauties ; thou " mouldest thy limbs as thou dost advance, and thou bringest them " forth without birth-pangs in the form of Ra, as thou dost rise " up into the upper air. Grant thou that I may come unto the " heaven which is everlasting, and into the mountain where dwell " thy favoured ones. May I be joined unto those shining beings, " holy and perfect, who are in the Underworld ; and may I come " forth with them to behold thy beauties when thou shinest at " eventide and goest to thy mother Nu. Thou dost place thyself " in the west, and my two hands are [raised] in adoration of thee " when thou settest as a living being. Behold, thou art the " maker of eternity, and thou art adored when thou settest in the "heavens. I have given my heart unto thee without wavering, " 0 thou who art mightier than the gods. A hymn of praise to " thee, 0 thou who risest Uke unto gold, and who dost flood the "world with light on the day of thy birth. Thy mother giveth " thee birth, and thou dost give light unto the course of the Disk. " 0 thou great Light, who shinest in the heavens, thou dost " strengthen the generations of men with the Mle-flood, and thou " dost cause gladness in all lands, and in all cities, and in all "temples. Thou art glorious by reason of thy splendours, and " thou makest strong thy Double with divine foods. 0 thou " mighty one of victories, thou who art the Power of Powers, who " dost make strong thy throne against evil fiends ; who art glorious z

338 HYMN TO RA

" in majesty in the Sektet boat, and who art exceedingly mighty " in the Atet boat, make thou me glorious through words which "when spoken must take effect in the UnderAvorld; and grant thou " that in the nether world I may be without evil. I pray thee to " put my faults behind thee ; grant thou that I may be one of thy " loyal servants who are with the shining ones ; may I be joined "unto the souls which are in Ta-tchesertet, and may I journey " into the Sekhet-Aaru by a prosperous and happy decree." (From the Papyrus of Ani, sheet 20 f.)

" Homage to thee, 0 thou glorious being, thou who art " dowered with all attributes, 0 Tem-Heru-khuti, when thou risest " in the horizon of heaven, a cry of joy cometh forth to thee from "the mouth of all peoples. 0 thou beautiful being, thou dost " renew thyself in thy season in the form of the Disk within thy " mother Hathor ; therefore in every place every heart swelleth " with joy at thy rising for ever. The regions of the North and " South come to thee with homage, and send forth acclamations at " thy rising in the horizon of heaven ; thou illuminest the two " lands with rays of turquoise light. 0 Ra, thou who art Heru- "khuti, the divine man-child, the heir of eternity, self-begotten " and self-born, king of earth, prince of the Tuat, governor of " the regions of Aukert ; thou comest forth from the water, thou " hast sprung from the god Nu, who cherisheth thee and ordereth " thy members. 0 thou god of life, thou lord of love, all men live "when thou shinest; thou art crowned king of the gods. The " goddess Nut doeth homage unto thee, and Maat embraceth thee "at all times. Those who are in thy following sing unto thee " with joy and bow down their foreheads to the earth when they " meet thee, thou lord of heaven, thou lord of earth, thou king of " Right and Truth, thou lord of eternity, thou prince of ever- " lastingness, thou sovereign of all the gods, thou god of life, thou " creator of eternity, thou maker of heaven wherein thou art firmly " established.

" The company of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth is " o-lad when it beholdeth thy rays ; the peoples that have been " long dead come forth with cries of joy to see thy beauties every " day. Thou goest forth each day over heaven and earth and art

THE PRAISES OF RA 339

'made strong each day by thy mother Nut. Thou passest ' through the heights of heaven, thy heart swelleth with joy ; and ' the Lake of Testes is content thereat. The Serpent-fiend hath ' fallen, his arms are hewn off, the knife hath cut asunder his 'joints. Ra liveth by Maat the beautiful. The Sektet boat ' draweth on and cometh into port ; the South and the North, the 'West and the East turn to praise thee, 0 thou primeval ' substance of the earth who didst come into being of thine own ' accord. Isis and Nephthys salute thee, they sing unto thee ' songs of joy at thy rising in the boat, they protect thee with their ' hands. The souls of the East follow thee, the souls of the West ' praise thee. Thou art the ruler of all the gods, and thou hast 'joy of heart within thy shrine, for the serpent fiend Nak hath 'been condemned to the fire, and thy heart shall be joyful for 'ever." (From the Papyrus of NekJit, sheet 21.)

Even more instructive, however, than these are the Seventyfive Praises of Ra which are found inscribed on the walls of royal tombs of the XlXth and XXth Dynasties at Thebes. In these we find enumerated a large number of most remarkable epithets and attributes, some idea of the meaning of which will be gathered from the following rendering : —

1. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem,^ lord of the hidden " circles [of the Tuat], bringer of forms, thou restest in secret " places and makest thy creations in the form of the god Tamt

2. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, thou creative force " (S (=) (][) {)? who spreadest out thy wings, who restest in " the Tuat, who makest the created things which come forth " from his divine limbs,

3. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Ta-thenen, begetter " of his gods. Thou art he who protecteth what is in him, and " thou makest thy creations as Governer of thy Circle.

4. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, looker on the " earth, and brightener of Amenti. Thou art he whose forms

1 Literally, "Power."

340 THE PRAISES OF RA

v^ : i) are his own creations, and thou makest thy

" creations in thy Great Disk.

5. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the Word-soul, " that resteth on his high place. Thou art he who pro-

" in thee.

6. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, mighty one, bold of " face, the knitter together of his body. Thou art he who " gathereth together thy gods when thou goest into thy hidden " Circle.

7. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem. Thou dost call to " thine Eye, and dost speak to thy head, and dost give breath " to the souls in their places, and they receive it and have '' their forms in him.

8. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, destroyer of thy " enemies ; thou art he who doth decree destruction for the

9. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the sender forth " of light into his Circle ; thou art he who maketh the " darkness to be in his Circle and thou coverest those who are " therein."

10. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the illuminer " of bodies in the horizons ; thou art he who entereth into " his Circle.

" of the Circles of Ament ; thou art indeed the body of Temu

12. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the hidden support '' Khepera (^ (=) (| ^) .

13. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, whose duration of " life is greater than that of her whose forms are hidden ;

14. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the guide

THE PRAISES OF RA 341

" bodies of Tefnut (,^__ ^ ^) .

15. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou dost make "to be abundant the things which are of Ra in their seasons,

16. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the mighty one " who doth keep count of the things which are in him ; thou *' art indeed the bodies of Nut.

17. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the lord who

" advancest ; thou art indeed Isis ( j Jj j .

18. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, whose head " shineth more than the things which are in front of him ;

" thou art indeed the bodies of Nephthys (TT '^ 3) .

19. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, united is he in " members, One, who gathereth together all seed ; thou art

20. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, thou shining one " who dost send forth light upon the waters of heaven ; thou " art indeed the bodies of Nu ( Jj ) .

21. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the avenger of Nu " who Cometh forth from what is in him ; thou art indeed the

22. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the two " Uraei who bear their two feathers [on their heads]; thou art

23. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou goest in " and comest out and thou comest out and goest in to thy " hidden Circle, and thou art indeed the bodies of Aatu

24. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the Soul who " departeth at his appointed time ; thou art indeed the bodies

25. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, who standeth up,

342 THE PRAISES OF RA

" the Soul One, who avengeth his children ; thou art indeed

26. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou raisest thy " head and thou makest bold thy brow, thou ram, mightiest " of created things.

27. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the light of Shu at

" the head of Akert (h "^ ) 5 thou art indeed the bodies

28. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, the soul that " seeth, the governor of Ament ; thou art indeed the bodies

'' of the double Circle (^ ^ ^ ^ ).

29. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art " the Soul that mourneth, and the god that crieth

30. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou makest thy " hand to pass and praisest thine Eye, and thou art indeed

"' the bodies of the god of hidden limbs (u ' | (?(?(? ^)-

31. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the Soul " exalted in the double hidden place ( ^ ) : thou art

" indeed Khenti-Amenti (l^J = %,t^J)-

32. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, of manifold " creations in the holy house ; thou art indeed the bodies of

33. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou placest " thine enemies in their strong fetters, and thou art indeed the

34. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou givest forth " light in the hidden place, and thou art the bodies of the god

35. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; thou art the '' vivifier of bodies ; thou makest throats to inhale breath, and

THE PRAISES OF RA 348

Praise be to thee, 0 Ka, exalted Sekhem ; thou assemblest bodies in the Tuat, and they gain the form of life, thou destroyest foul humours, and thou art indeed the bodies of thegodSerqi (^()(]y).

Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Hidden-face (STI)' S««l^«-N«tt«rt (^l^ng;); thou art indeed the bodies of Shai (M^T '^ M ^ r^).

Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, lord of might ; thou embracest the Tuat and thou art indeed the bodies of

Sekhen-Ba ("i" il o^ "i^ J).

Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou hidest thy body in that which is within thee, and thou art indeed the

bodies of Amen-khat (f] " | "^ "^ ^ j ^ ) • Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, more strong of heart than those who are in his following ; thou sendest fire in the house of destruction, and thou art indeed the bodies

of the Fire-god Rekhi (^ I fjfj Q, ^)- Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou sendest forth destruction, and thou makest beings to come into existence in thy creations in the Tuat, and thou art the bodies of

W))' governor of his Eye; thou sendest forth light into

the hidden place, and thou art indeed the body of Shepi

Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Temt-hatu,

of Temt-hatu (g||;^|).

Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, creator of hidden

344 THE PRAISES OF RA

" things, generator of bodies ; thou art indeed the bodies of " the god Seshetai (m (]l) ^).

45. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou providest " those Avho are in the Tuat with what they need in the

" hidden Circles, and thou art indeed Aper-ta (A ^_^ " 3j.

46. " Praise be to thee, 0 Pta, exalted Sekhem ; thy limbs rejoice " when thou enterest thy body, and thou art indeed the bodies "ofHaid^jlj).

47. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, aged one of the " makest full thy splendour, and thou art indeed the bodies of "Thenti (^;y).

48. " Praise be to thee, 0 Rfi, exalted Sekhem ; thou makest •' straight ways in the Tuat, and openest up roads in the " hidden place, and thou art indeed the bodies of Maa-uat

49. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the Soul " who mo vest onwards, and thou hastenest thy steps, and

" thou art indeed the bodies of Akhpa (u n 4 'f^)*

50. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou sendest " forth thy stars and thou ilium inest the darkness in the " Circles of those whose forms are hidden, and thou art indeed

51. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; thou art the " maker of the Circles, thou makest bodies to come into being " by thine own creative vigour. Thou, 0 Ra, hast created " the things which exist, and the things which do not exist,

"the dead ( n, and the gods, and the spirits; thou art

" into being.

THE PRAISES OF RA 345

52. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the "doubly hidden and secret god (™|® fj"']']^)' and " the souls go where thou leadest them, and those who follow " thee thou makest to enter in ; thou art indeed the bodies of

53. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art Uben- " lock of hair on thee . . . . ; thou art indeed the bodies of " the god Uben.

54. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the " Aged One of forms who dost go about through the Tuat, to " whom the souls in their Circles ascribe praises ; and thou

" art indeed the bodies of Then-aru (aa^ -c2)- "^ In i rv) )•

55. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; when thou dost " unite thyself to the Beautiful Ament, the gods of the Tuat " rejoice at the sight of thee ; thou art indeed the bodies of

"Aai(l)_.J£j).

56. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; thou art the " Great Cat, the avenger of the gods, and the judge of words, " and the president of the sovereign chiefs (or, assessors), and " the governor of the holy Circle ; thou art indeed the bodies

" of the Great Cat (| tj ^ |^ ^ |)-

57. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; when thou fillest " thine eye, and speakest to the pupil thereof, the divine dead " bodies shed tears ; thou art indeed the bodies of Metu-

58. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the Soul " on high and thy bodies are hidden ; thou sendest forth the " light, and thou lookest upon thy hidden things (or, places) ;

" thou art indeed the bodies of Her-ba (| "^ S^ ^ "J^" J).

59. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, exalted of "Soul; thou destroyest thine enemies, thou sendest fire on

346 THE PRAISES OF RA

60. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Auaiu the mastery over the souls of the gods, and thou art indeed the bodies of Auai.

61. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Oldest one

one (©(=)(](]; 3)', thou didst create the two Setchet C'^ ^ ^pl 3Y and thou art indeed the bodies of the two

Setchet gods (^ 2^ |)^ I).

62. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem, Mighty One of journey ings ; thou orderest thy steps by Maat, thou art the Soul that doeth good to the body, thou art Senk-hra

bodies of Senk-hra.

63. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou dost protect (or, avenge) thy body, and thou dost hold the balance

[among] the gods as the hidden Ama (^"^ ^= (j ^), [and]

as Am-ta ([] - - ""' ^), and thou art indeed the bodies of

the double god Ama-Amta ("^ ^=z (j ^ (j _ _ =^ ^).

64. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the lord of the fetters of thine enemies, the One, the Prince of the

65. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou sendest cuttest off the heads of those who are to be destroyed of the two gods Ketuit (^ ^ ^1 ^ ^)-

66. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the offspring, thou art One, thou stablishest the two lands by

THE PRAISES OF RA 347

" of the god Ta-Thenen (^ s=5 ;|.I|. ^).

67. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou stablishest " the gods who watch the hours (^ oa ^ ^ 1) on their " standards, and who are invisible and secret, and thou art " indeed the bodies of the Watcher gods (^g no (]() ,„ ^)-

Q8. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; thou art the

" of Besi. "

69. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; . thou art the

"Apes (II °M1 I) , and thou art the true creative

" thou art indeed the bodies of the Ape-god in the Tuat.

70. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou makest new " the earth, and thou openest a way for that which is therein, " thou that art the Soul which giveth names unto his limbs,

71. "Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem; thou art Nehi " thou art indeed the bodies of Nehi ('wwvn A § (]f] ^ ^)-

72. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the god " who travelleth, thou makest the darkness to come into " being after thy light, and thou art indeed the bodies of " Shemti.

73. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the lord

" thou art the chief of the gods who are supreme in their

348 THE PRAISES OF RA

74. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the " double Sphinx-god, the Double obelisk-god (? ^ 1)1] , , S " J AAAAAA I AA/w^A (] (] ^ 3V HiB Great God who lifteth up his

two Eyes, and thou art indeed the bodies of the double Sphinx god Huiti (I^H^y).

75. " Praise be to thee, 0 Ra, exalted Sekhem ; thou art the lord " of light and declarest the things which are hidden, and thou " art the Soul that speaketh with the gods who are in their

Circles, and thou art indeed the bodies of Neb-Senku An impartial examination of the above translation will show the reader the lofty conceptions which Avere associated by the Egyptians with Ra the Sun-god, and there is not room for any reasonable doubt that they ascribed to the god, whose symbol was the sun, all the attributes which modern nations are wont to regard as the properties peculiar to God Almighty. He was One, and the maker of " gods " and men ; he was the creator of heaven, earth, and the underworld ; he was self-begotten, self-created, and self-produced ; he had existed for ever and would exist to all eternity ; he was the source of all life and light ; and he was the personification of right and truth, and goodness, and the destroyer of darkness, night, wickedness, and evil. There is scarcely an attribute of importance ascribed to our God for which there is no equivalent in the hymns and texts which relate to Ra and describe his greatness and power, for he was not only the god of the living but also the god of the dead, and the god of everything unborn. His relations with Osiris, who was part god and part man, and was the cause and type of immortality for man, were at once those of a god, a father, and an equal, and when we consider that Osiris was a king who reigned over Egypt, and that every king was an

1 For the hieroglyphic texts from the tombs of Seti I., Seti II., and Rameses IV., and a French translation, see Naville, La Litanie da Soleil, Leipzig, 1875.

TEM OF HELIOPOLIS 349

incarnation of Ra, it is easy to understand how he came to have the power to rise from the dead, and to act as the judge of the dead on behalf of his father Ra.

Tem, or Temu, or Atem, was originally the local god of the city of Annu, or Heliopolis, and in the dynastic period at all events he was held to be one of the forms of the great Sun-god Ra, and to be the personification of the setting sun. In the predynastic period, however, he was, as M. Lefebure has pointed out,^ the first man among the Egyptians who was believed to have become divine, and who was at his death identified with the setting sun ; in other words, Tem was the first living man-god known to the Egyptians, just as Osiris was the first dead man-god, and as such was always represented in human form and with a human head. It is important to note this fact, for it indicates that those who formulated the existence of this god were on a higher level of civilization than those who depicted the oldest of all Egyptian gods, Horus, in the form of a hawk, or in that of a hawk-headed human body. In the papyri and on the monuments he usually wears 'U, the crowns of the South and North, upon his head, and he holds -9- , the emblem of life, in his right hand, and the sceptre, j[ , in his left. In the boat of Ra he is depicted in human form even when Ra is symbolized by a disk which is being rolled along by a beetle, and the god Khepera is represented by a beetle, and the rising sun Heru-Khuti is shown under the form of a hawk's head, from which fall rays of light.^ Tem was, in fact, to the Egyptians a manifestation of God in human form, and his conception in their minds marks the end of the period wherein they assigned animal forms to their gods, and the beginning of that in which they evolved the idea of God, almighty, inscrutable, unknowable, the maker and creator of the universe. It is useless to attempt to assign a date to the period when the Egyptians began to worship

1 Trans. Soc. libl, Arclu, ix., p. 175. " Lanzone, op. cit., pi. 398.

350 TEM OF HELIOPOLIS

God in human form, for we have no material for doing so ; the worship of Tern must, however, be of very great antiquity, and the fact that the priests of Ra in the Vth and Vlth Dynasties united his worship was wide-spread, and that the god was thought to possess attributes similar to those of Ra.

The Pyramid Texts show that the attributes of Temu were confounded with those of Ra, and that the protection and favour of this god were all essential for the well-being of the deceased in the Underworld ; indeed, it is Tem the father who stretches out his hand to Pepi I. and sets him at the head of the gods, where he judges the great and the wise.^ This passage shows that Tem was regarded as the father of the human race, and as he was also divine his powers to help the dead were very great. In many respects he was held to be the equal of Ra, and the prayers and hymns which were addressed to him frequently show that the Egyptians were very anxious to propitiate him. This is not difficult to understand if we remember the dogmas of the Heliopolitan priesthood about the means by which the souls of the blessed departed from this world. They taught that souls when they left this world went to the region which lay between the earth and the beginning of the Valley of the Tuat, and which was called Amentet, and that they waited there until the Boat of the Setting Sun, i.e., the boat of Ra in his form of Temu, made his appearance there ; as soon as it arrived the souls flocked to it, and those who had served Ra upon earth and whose bodies had been buried with the orthodox rites, and ceremonies, and prayers of the priesthood of Ra, and were, therefore, provided with the necessary words of power, were admitted to the boat of Tem, where they enjoyed the protection and favour of the god in his various forms to all eternity.

There was, moreover, another aspect of Tem which gave the god a position of peculiar importance in the minds of the Egyptians,

RA-TEM OF HELIOPOLIS 351

i.e., he was identified not only with the god of the dead, Osiris, but

also with the young Horus, the new and rising sun of the morrow.

All these ideas are well expressed in a hymn to Tern which is found

in the Papyrus of Mut-lietep (Brit. Mus., No. 10,010, sheet 5), and

which was composed to enable every spirit who recited it to " come

forth by day " and in any form he pleased and to have great power

in the Tuat. The lady Mut-hetep says, " 0 Ra-Tem, in thy

" splendid progress thou risest, and thou settest as a living being

" in the glories of the western horizon ; thou settest in thy

" Thy uraeus is behind thee, thy uraeus is behind thee. Homage

" to thee, 0 thou who art in peace ; homage to thee, 0 thou who

" art in peace. Thou art joined unto the Eye of Tem, and it

" chooseth its powers of protection [to place] behind thy members.

" Thou goest forth through heaven, thou travellest over the earth,

" and thou jonrneyest onward. 0 Luminary, the northern and

" southern halves of heaven come to thee, and they bow low in

" adoration, and they do homage unto thee, day by day. The

" gods of Amentet rejoice in thy beauties, and the unseen places

" sing hymns of praise unto thee. Those who dwell in the Sektet

" boat go round about thee, and the Souls of the East do homage

" to thee, and when they meet thy Majesty they cry : ' Come,

" come in peace ! ' There is a shout of welcome to thee, 0 lord

" of heaven and governor of Amentet ! Thou art acknowledged

" by Isis who seeth her son in thee, the lord of fear, the mighty

" one of terror. Thou settest as a living being in the hidden

" place. Thy father [Ta-]tunen raiseth thee up and he placeth

" both his hands behind thee ; thou becomest endowed with divine

" attributes in [thy] members of earth ; thou wakest in peace and

" thou settest in Manu. Grant thou that I may become a being

" honoured before Osiris, and that I may come to thee, 0 Ra-Tem !

" I have adored thee, therefore do thou for me that which I wish.

" Grant thou that I may be victorious in the presence of the

" company of the gods. Thou art beautiful, 0 Ra, in thy western

" horizon of Amentet, thou lord of Maat, thou being who art

" greatly feared, and whose attributes are majestic, 0 thou who art

" greatly beloved by those who dwell in the Tuat ! Thou shinest

352 KHEPERA-RA-TEMU

" with thy beams upon the beings that are therein perpetually, " and thou sendest forth thy light upon the ]Dath of Re-stau. " Thou openest up the path of the double Lion-god, thou settest " the gods upon [their] thrones, and the spirits in their abiding- '' places. The heart of Naarerf (i.e., An-rut-f, a region of the *' Underworld) is glad [when] Ril setteth ; the heart of Naarerf is " glad when Ra setteth. Hail, 0 ye gods of the land of Amentet " who make offerings and oblations unto Ra-Tem, ascribe ye glory " [unto him when] ye meet him. Grasp ye your weapons and " overthrow ye the fiend Seba on behalf of Rii, and repulse the " fiend Nebt on behalf of Osiris. The gods of the land of Amentet " rejoice and lay hold upon the cords of the Sektet boat, and they " come in peace ; the gods of the hidden place who dwell in " x4.mentet triumph." In the opening words of another hymn Tem is addressed as " Ra, who in thy setting art Tem-Heru-khuti " (Tem-Harmachis), thou divine god, thou self-created being, thou " primeval matter," ^ from which we see that the attributes of selfcreation, etc., which, strictly speaking, belonged to Khepera, were ascribed to Tem.

In the Myth of Ra and Isis Ra is made to say, " I am Khepera " in the morning, and Ra at noonday, and Temu in the evening." ^ From which we may understand that the day and the night were divided into three parts, each of which was presided over by one of the three forms of Ra here mentioned. In the time of the Middle Empire Tem is often mentioned with Heru-khuti, Ra, and Khepera, and the priests of Heliopolis always attempted to prove that he was the ancestor of all the other forms of the Sun-god.

In the Book of the Dead (xvii. 5 ff.) the deceased is made to identify himself with Tem as the oldest of the gods, and he says, " I am Tem in rising ; I am the only One ; I came into being in " Nu. I am Ra who rose in the beginning." The statement is followed by the question, " Who then is this ? " and the answer is,

1 Naville, Todtenbuch, Bd. i., pi. 19.

i

^ ^ gO Ojjj ^-fj^ ^ ¥^ e

SHRINES OF TEM 353

"It is Ra when at the beginning he rose in the city of Suten- " lienen, crowned like a king in rising. The pillars of Shu were " not as yet created when he was upon the high ground of him " that dwelleth in Khemennu" (i.e., Thoth). Thus it is clear that the Heliopolitans made out that it was Tem who was the first god to exist in primeval matter, and they consistently coupled him with Harmachis, ^ ^ ^ 5^ ^i^,l^||, and with

Khepera, W (=) [1 Jf , as forms of the rising sun ; on the other

hand, they often, with fine inconsistency, identified him with the setting sun, and made the wind of evening, which gave refreshment to mortals and breath to the dead, to go forth from him.

It is difficult to say definitely where the original shrine of Tem was situated, but it appears to have been in the Eighth

Nome of Lower Egypt/ v^, Nefer Abt, the Heroopolites of

the Greeks), at the place which is called both Thuket, ^ , and

Pa-Atemt, [ ^ ^ , and it is described as the " gate of the

East." Under the form " Pithom " the sacred name of the city Pa-Atemt is familiar to all from the Bible. The site of Pa-Atemt or Pithom was long thought to be buried beneath the ruins called by the Arabs Tell al-Maskhutah/ which are situated close to the modern village of Tell el-Kebir, and the excavations made on the spot by M. Naville prove that this view is correct. The inscriptions prove beyond all doubt that the great god of Pithom was Tem, and from the allusions which are made in them to the " Holy serpent " therein, and from the fact that one part of the temple buildings was

that is, "the house of the snake-god Qerliet," it is tolerably certain that one of the forms under which Tem was worshipped was a huge serpent. A town situated as Pithom was on the large canal joining the Red Sea and the Nile, and on the highway from Arabia to Heliopolis must have contained a very mixed population, which would include a number of merchants and others from Western Asia. These probably brought in with them a number of strange

A a

354 lUSAASET AND NEBT-HETEP

practices connected with the worship of their own gods, which having been adopted by the indigenous peoples in the district modified their worship. From a passage in the Pyramid Texts already quoted it seems that the original form of the worship of Tem was phallic in character, but if it was nothing is known about it ; some scholars have regarded obelisks as phallic emblems, and have pointed to their earliest forms, in which their tops were surmounted by disks, in proof of the correctness of their view.

Attached to the god Tem were two female counterparts '^Vrs, and they formed members of the company of the gods of Heliopolis, being mentioned with Tem, lord of the two lands of Annu, Ra, and Heru-khuti.^ Iusaaset, the ^awcrt? of Plutarch, is called the ''mistress of Annu," and the " Eye of Ra,"

of Tem according to the requirements of the texts ; ^ as the wife of Tem she is said to be the mother of Shu and Tefnut. She is

depicted ^ in the form of a woman who holds the sceptre, j , in her

right hand, and " life," •¥-, in her left ; on her head she wears the

vulture head-dress surmounted by a uraeus, and a disk between a pair of horns. In this form she is called the " mistress of Annu,"

2, and was the wife of Tem-Heru-khuti. The

goddess Nebt-lietep appears to have been nothing but a form of Iusaaset, for in the scene in which she is represented in the form of a cow she is called " mistress of the gods, lusaaset-Nebthetep."

According to Brugsch ^ Tem was joined to the god Osiris under the phase Tem-Asar, and formed with Hathor of Annu, or Ant, AAAAAA AAAAAA ^ aud H cru- sma'taul, wv x •) the head

of the triad of Heroopolis. As local forms of the god Tem-Ra he enumerates Khnemu in Elephantine, Khnemu-Heru-shefit in Heracleopolis Magna, and Khnemu-Ba-neb-Tettet in Mendes.

^ Great Harris Papyrus, sheet i., line 4. ~ Brugsch, Religion, p. 284.

•^ Lanzone, op. cit., pi. 51. * Op. cit., p. 290.

KHEPERA 355

Khepera Q (i=) (1 3 .

The third form of Ra, the Sun-god, was Khepera kheper- TCHESEF, fi (cz) 1] cfj ^ (=) -i^ , i.e., Khepera the self-produced, whose type and symbol was a beetle ; he is usually represented in human form with a beetle upon the head, but sometimes a beetle takes the place of the i human head. In one scene figured by Lanzone he is represented seated on the ground, and from his knees projects the head of the hawk of Horus, which is surmounted by -r, " life." ^ In the section which treats of the Creation we have already translated and discussed the text which tells how the Sun-god Ra came into being under the form of Khepera from out of the primeval watery mass of Nu, and how by means of his soul, which lived therein with him, he made a place whereon to stand, and straightway created the gods Shu and Tefnut, from whom proceeded the other gods. The worship of the beetle was, however, far older than that of Ra in Egypt, and it is pretty certain that the identification of Ra with the beetle-god is only another example of the means adopted by the priests, who grafted new religious opinions and beliefs upon old ones. The worship of the beetle, or at all events, the reverence which was paid to it, was spread over the whole country, and the ideas which were associated with it maintained their hold upon the dynastic Egyptians, and some of them appear to survive among the modern inhabitants of the Nile valley. The particular beetle which the Egyptians introduced into their mythology belongs to the family called Scarabseidae (Coprophagi), of which the Scarahaeus sacer is the type. These insects compose a very numerous group of dung-feeding Lamellicorns, of which, however, the majority live in tropical countries ; they are usually black, but many are adorned with bright, metallic colours. They fly during the hottest hours of the day, and it was undoubtedly this peculiarity which caused the primitive Egyptians to associate them with the sun. Thus as far back as the Ylth Dynasty the dead king Pepi is said "to fly like a bird, and to alight like a

1 Lanzone, op. cit,, pi. 329.

356 KHEPERA

" beetle upon the empty throne in the boat of Ra." ^ According

to Latreille ^ it was the species of a fine green colour [Ateuclius

Aegy])tioTum) which was first identified with the sun. The insect

lays a vast numbers of eggs in a mass of dung, which it proceeds to

push about with its legs until it gradually assumes the form of a

ball, and then rolls it along to a hole which it has previously dug.

A ball of dung containing eggs varies in size from one to two

inches in diameter, and in rolling it along the beetle stands almost

upon its head, with its head turned away from the ball ; in due

course the larvae are hatched by the heat of the sun's rays beating

down into the hole wherein it has been placed by the beetle, and

they feed upon the covering of dung which protected them. The

mind of the primitive Egyptian associated the ball of the beetle

containing potential germs of life with the ball of the sun, which

seemed to be rolled across the sky daily, and which was the source

of all life. The beetle shows great perseverance in conveying the

egg-laden balls of dung to the holes in which the larvae are to be

hatched, and they frequently carry them over rough ground on

the broad, flat surface of their heads, and seek, when unable singly

to complete the work, the assistance of their fellows. It is this

habit of the beetle which is represented in mythological scenes

where we see the disk or ball of the sun on the head of the beetle,

O

^. A curious view was held by the ancient writers Aelian,^

Porphyry,^ and Horapollo ^ to the eff*ect that beetles were all males (Kdvdapo^ ya? 77as appiqv), and that as there were no females among them, the males were, like the Sun-god Ra, self-produced. This erroneous idea probably sprang up because the male and female scarabaeus are very much alike, and because both sexes appear to divide the care of the preservation of their offspring equally between them, but in any case, it is a very ancient one, for in the Egyptian story of the Creation the god, whose type and symbol

i

z:^ O (Unds, 1. 477).

2 Cailliaud, Voyage, torn, ii., p. 311. ^ J)q j^at. Animal., x. 15.

4 Be Abstinentia, iv. 9. ^ Ed. Leemans, p. 11.

THE FATHER OF THE GODS 357

was a beetle, not only produced himself, but also begot, conceived, and brought forth tAvo deities, one male (Shu), and the other female (Tefnut).

In the Egyptian texts Khepera is called the " father of the

deceased addresses him, saying, " Hail, Khepera in thy boat, the " double company of the gods is thy body," but the form of the Sun-god with which he is most closely allied is that of Heru-khuti, or Harmachis. In the Booh of the Dead Khepera plays a prominent part in connection with Osiris ; he is called the "creator of the gods" (Ani, 1, 2); " Heru-khuti-Temu-Heru- Khepera " (Qenna, 2, 15), and whatever forms he takes, or has taken, the deceased claims the right to take also. Moreover, the god Khepera becomes in a manner a type of the dead body, that is to say, he represents matter containing a living germ which is about to pass from a state of inertness into one of active life. As he was a living germ in the abyss of Nu, and made himself to emerge therefrom in the form of the rising sun, so the germ of the living soul, which existed in the dead body of man, and was to burst into a new life in a new world by means of the prayers recited during the performance of appropriate ceremonies, emerged from its old body in a new form either in the realm of Osiris or in the boat of Ra. This doctrine was symbolized by the germs of life rolled up in the egg-ball of the beetle, and the power which made those to become living creatures was that which made man's spiritual body to come into being, and was personified in the god Khepera. Thus Khepera symbolized the resurrection of the body, and it was this idea which was at the root of the Egyptian custom of wearing figures of the beetle, and of placing them in the tombs and on the bodies of the dead ; the myriads of scarabs which have been found in all parts of Egypt testify to the universality of this custom. As to its great antiquity there is no doubt whatsoever, for the scarab was associated with burial as far back as the period of the IVth D5masty. Thus in the Papyrus of Nu (Brit. Mus., No. 10,477, sheet 21) we are told in the Rubric that Chapter Ixiv. of the Booh of the Dead was found inscribed in letters of

358 KHEPERA AND THE HEART

real lapis-lazuli inlaid in a block " of iron of the south " under the feet of the god (i.e., Thoth), during the reign of Men-kau-Ra (Mycerinus), by the prince Heru-ta-ta-f in the city of Khemennu.

At the end of the second paragraph this Chapter is ordered to be recited by a man " who is ceremonially clean and pure, who " hath not eaten the flesh of animals or fish, and who hath not had " intercourse with women." Tiie text continues, " And behold, "thou shalt make a scarab of green stone, with a rim of gold, and " this shall be placed in the heart of a man, and it shall perform " for him the ' Opening of the Mouth.' And thou shalt anoint it " with cinti unguent, and thou shalt recite over it the following "words of power." The "words of power" which follow this direction form Chapter xxx b. of the Book of the Dead, wherein the deceased addresses the scarab as " my heart, my mother ; my " heart, my mother ! My heart whereby I came into being." He then prays that it will not depart from him when he stands in the presence of the " guardian " of the Balance wherein his heart is to be weighed, and that none may come forward in the judgment to oppose him, or to give false or unfavourable evidence against him, or to " make his name to stink." Curiously enough he calls the scarab " his double " (ka). Another Rubric makes the Ixivth Chapter as old as the time of Hesepti (Semti), the fifth king of the 1st Dynasty, and the custom of burying green basalt scarabs inside or on the breasts of the dead may well be as old as his reign. Be this as it may, scarabs were worn by the living as protective amulets, and as symbols of triumjohant acquittal in the Judgment Hall of Osiris, and as emblems of the resurrection which was to be effected by the power of the god Khepera whom they represented, and the words of power of Chapter xxx b made them to act the part of the Jca or double for the dead on the day of the " weighing of words " before Osiris, and his officers, and his sovereign chiefs, and Thoth the scribe of the gods, and the two companies of the gods. If scarabs were placed under the coffin no fiend could harm it, and their presence in a tomb gave to it the protection of the " father of the gods."

CHAPTER X THE MYTHS OF RA

IN the preceding pages it has been shown how among theologians and thoughtful Egyptians Ra was regarded as God, but among certain classes, that is to say magicians, and astrologers, and soothsayers, quite other views were held about his nature and attributes. It will be remembered that among such men in ancient times it was customary to prescribe as antidotes to poison and sicknesses the recital or wearing of certain magical texts ; the power of such texts was thought to be very great, especially if it contained a narrative of how some god or divine being had been delivered by the power of a great being from death by poison or by a sickness caused by poison. We may note in passing that such beliefs were not confined to the Egyptians, and that we find exactly the same ideas existent in Babylonia and Assyria ; this is illustrated by the following interesting extract from a Babylonian tablet recently published by Mr. R. Campbell Thompson.^ The text reads : — " From Anu [came the heavens], the heavens created [the earth], the earth created the rivers, the rivers created the canals, the canals created the marshes, and the marshes created the Worm. Then came the Worm before Shamash, the Sun-god, weeping, and before Ea came up her tearful plaint, [saying], ' What wilt thou give me to eat ? What wilt thou give me to gnaw?' [The gods said], 'I will give thee dry bones [to eat], ' and the pungent hhashJchar wood.' [The Worm said], ' What ' are thy dry bones to me ? Or, what is thy JchashJchar wood to me? Let me drink among the teeth [of men], and give me my place in [their] gums, that I may suck the blood of the teeth^

^ Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets, part xvii., pi. 50; and see E. C, Thom-pson, The Devils and Evil Spirits of Babylonia, vol. i., Introduction, attlieend.

i. i

" * and that I may tear asunder the flesh of the gums. In this wise " ' I shall have power over the bolt of the door ' (i.e., the mouth of a " man). Therefore, 0 sick man, shaltthou say the following words, " ' 0 Worm, may Ea smite thee with all his might.' " Following these words come the rubrical directions which order the patient to mix together a prescription compounded of beer, oil, and the juice of a certain plant, and when the incantation has been recited over the man with the toothache three times, the mixture is to be rubbed on the tooth. In the one case the object of the narrative was to cure the man who had been bitten by a venomous serpent, and in the other to ease the pain in the teeth and the inflammation of the gums which were supposed to be caused by a worm, a descendant of the original Worm which claimed before Ea the right to make teeth decay and to suck the blood of the gums.

The Egyptian texts which were written for magical purposes have preserved for us some very curious and interesting myths of Ra, and among these may be quoted the following story about him and the goddess Isis.^ The title reads : — " The Chapter of the divine " god, the self-created being, who made the heavens and the earth, " and the winds which give life, and the fire, and the gods, and men, " and beasts, and cattle, and reptiles, and the fowl of the air, and the " fish of the sea ; he is the king of men and of gods, he hath but " one period to his life, and with him a double hen period (i.e., one " hundred and twenty years) is as a single year ; his names are " manifold and unknown, the gods even know them not." The story runs : — " Now Isis was a woman who possessed words of " power ; her heart was wearied with the millions of men, there- " fore she chose the millions of the gods, but she esteemed more '' highly the millions of the spirits. And she meditated in her " heart, saying, ' Cannot I by means of the sacred name of God " ' make myself mistress of the earth and become a goddess of like " ' rank and power to Ra, in heaven and upon earth ? ' And

1 The hieratic text will be found in Pleyte and Rossi, Ze Papy7-us de Turin, 1869-1876; pll. 31-37, and 131-138; and a transcript into hieroglyphics with a transliteration and translation in my First Steps in Egyptian, 1895, pp. 241-256. A French translation by Lefebure was published in Aeg. Zeit.^ 1883, pp. 27 ff. ; and for English renderings see my Papijriis of Ani, 1895, p. Ixxxix., and Egyptian Magic, p. 137.

RA IS POISONED 361

" behold, each day Ra entered at the head of his holy mariners " and established himself upon the throne of the two horizons ; " but the divine one (i.e., Ra) had grown old, he dribbled at the " mouth, his spittle fell upon the earth, and his slobbering dropped " upon the ground. And Isis kneaded [some] thereof with earth " in her hand, and formed therewith a sacred serpent in the form *' of a dart ; she did not set it upright before her face, but let it " lie upon the ground in the path whereby the great god went " forth, according to his heart's desire, into his double kingdom. " Now the holy god arose, and the gods who followed him as "though he were Pharaoh went with him; and he came forth " according to his daily wont ; and the sacred serpent bit him. " The flame of his life departed from him ; and he who dwelt " among the cedars was overcome. The holy god opened his " mouth, and the cry of his majesty reached unto heaven ; his "company of the gods said, *What hath happened?' and his " gods exclaimed, " What is it ? ' But Ra could not answer, for " his jaws trembled and all his members quaked, the poison spread " swiftly through his flesh just as Nile rusheth through all his " land. When the great god had stablished his heart, he cried " unto those who were in his train, saying, ' Come unto me, 0 ye " ' who have come into being from my body, ye gods who have " ' come forth from me, make ye known unto Khepera that a dire " ' calamity hath fallen upon me. My heart perceiveth it, but my " ' eyes see it not ; my hand hath not caused it, nor do I know " ' who hath done this unto me. Never have I felt such pain, " ' neither can sickness cause more woe than this. I am a prince, " ' the son of a prince, the sacred essence which hath proceeded " * from God. I am the great one, the son of the great one, and " ' my father planned my name ; I have multitudes of names, and " ' multitudes of forms, and my being is in every god. I have " ' been proclaimed by the heralds Temu and Horus; and my father " ' and my mother uttered my name ; but it hath been hidden " ' within me by him that begat me, who would not that the words " * of power of any seer should have dominion over me. I came " ' forth to look upon that which I had made, I was passing through '' ' the world which I had created, when lo ! something stung me,

362 THE HOLY NAME OF RA

' but what I know not. Is it fire ? Is it water ? My heart is ' on fire, my flesh quaketh, and trembling hath seized all my

• limbs. Let there be brought unto me my children, the gods ' who possess the words of power and magical speech, and mouths ' which know how to utter them, and also powers which reach ' even unto the heaven.'

" Then the children of every god came unto him uttering cries of grief. And Isis also came, bringing with her her words of magical power, and her mouth was full of the breath of life ; for her talismans vanquish the pains of sickness, and her words make to live again the throats of those who are dead. And she spake, saying, ' What hath come to pass, 0 holy Father ? What hath happened? Is it that a serpent hath bitten thee, and that a thing which thou hast created hath lifted up his head against thee ? Verily it shall be cast down by my effective words of power, and I will drive it away from before the sight of thy sunbeams.' The holy god opened his mouth and said, ' I was passing along my path, and I was going through the two regions of my lands according to my heart's desire, to see that which I had created, when lo ! I was bitten by a serpent which I saw not. Is it fire ? Is it water ? I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire. All my flesh sweateth, I quake, mine eye hath no strength, I cannot see the sky, and the sweat rusheth to my face even as in the time of summer.' Then said Isis unto Ra, ' 0 tell me thy name, holy Father, for whosoever shall be delivered by thy name shall live.' And Ra said, ' I have made the heavens and the earth, I have knit together the mountains, I have created all that is above them, I have made the water, I have made to come into being the goddess Meht-urt, and I have made the Bull of his mother, from whom spring the delights of love, I have made the heavens, I have stretched out the two horizons like a curtain, and I have placed the souls of the gods within them. I am he who, if he openeth his eyes, doth make the light, and, if he closeth them, darkness Cometh into being. At his command the Nile riseth, and the gods know not his name. I have made the hours, I have created the days, I bring forward the festivals of the year, I

ISIS THE ENCHANTRESS 363

' create the Nile-flood. I make the fire of life, and I provide ' food in the houses. I am Khepera in the morning, I am Ra at ' noon, and I am Temu at even.' Meanwhile the poison was not taken away from his body, but it penetrated deeper, and the great god could no longer walk.

" Then said Isis unto Ra, 'What thou hast said is not thy ' name. 0 tell it unto me, and the poison shall depart ; for ' he shall live whose name shall be revealed.' Now the poison burned like fire, and it was fiercer than the flame and the furnace, and the majesty of the great god said, ' I consent that ' Isis shall search into me, and that my name shall pass from me ' into her.' Then the god hid himself from the gods, and his place in the Boat of Millions of Years was empty. And when the time had arrived for the heart of Ra to come forth, Isis spake unto her son Horus, saying, ' The god hath bound himself by ' oath to deliver up his two Eyes (i.e., the Sun and the Moon).' Thus was the name of the great god taken from him, and Isis, the lady of words of magical power, said, ' Depart, thou poison, ' go forth from Ra. 0 Eye of Horus, go forth from the god, and ' shine outside his mouth. It is I who work, it is I who make to ' fall down upon the earth the vanquished poison, for the name ' of the great god hath been taken away from him. Let Ra live, ' and let the poison die ! Let the poison die, and let Ra live ! ' These are the words of Isis, the mighty lady, the mistress of the gods, who knew Ra by his own name." The above text was to be recited over figures of Temu, " the Bull of his mother," and Horus, and Isis and Horus, and there is little doubt that these figures were made to represent the various scenes which took place when Ra was poisoned, and when the goddess Isis succeeded in taking from him his name.

Another myth of Ra of considerable interest is that which describes the destruction of mankind, and tells how men scorned the great Sun-god because he had become old ; ^ the text of this,

1 For the hieroglyphic text see Lefebure, Tombeau de Seti I., part iv., pll. IS- IS ; Brugsch, Die neue Weltordnung, Berlin, 1881 ; Naville in Trans. Soc. Bihl. ArcJi., iv., pp. 1 ff . ; viii., pp. 412 ff. ; Bergmann, Hist. Inschrift., pll. 75-82; and my Fii'st Stejjs in Egyptian, pp. 218-230.

364 REVOLT OF MEN AGAINST

in a mutilated condition, is found inscribed upon the walls of the tombs of Seti I. and Rameses IV. at Thebes, and from it the following is clear. " [Ra is] the god who created himself after he had risen in sovereignty over men, and gods, as well as over things, the One. And mankind was uttering words of complaint, saying, ' Behold now, his Majesty, life, strength, and health [to ' him] ! hath become old, his bones are like silver, his limbs are ' like gold, and his hair is like unto real lapis-lazuli.' Now his majesty heard the words which mankind spake [concerning him], and he said unto those who were following him, ' Cry out, ' and bring ye unto me mine Eye, and Shu, and Tefnut, and ' Seb, and Nut, and the fathers and the mothers who were with ' me when I was in Nu, together with my god Nu. Let him ' bring his ministers with him, and let them be brought silently, ' so that mankind may not perceive it and take to flight with ' their hearts. Come thou with them to the Great House, and ' let them declare their plans, for I will go forth from Nu unto ' the place wherein I performed creations, and let those [gods] be 'brought unto me there.' Now the gods were on both sides of Ra, and they bowed down even to the ground in presence of his Majesty, and he spake his words in the presence of the father of the firstborn gods, the maker of men, and the king of those who have knowledge. And they spake before his Majesty, [saying], ' Speak unto us, for we are listening'; and Ra spake unto Nu, saying, ' 0 thou firstborn god, from whom I came into being, 0 ' ye gods [my] ancestors, behold ye what mankind is doing, they ' who were created by mine Eye are uttering murmurs against ' me. Give me your attention, and seek ye out a plan for me, ' and I will not slay them until ye shall say [what I am to do] ' concernino; it.'

" Then the Majesty of the god Nu, the son of Ra, spake [saying], ' Thou art the god who art greater than he that made " thee, and who art the sovereign of those who were created by ' him, thy throne is set, and the fear of thee is great ; let ' then thine Eye be upon those who have uttered blasphemies ' against thee.' And the Majesty of Ra spake [saying], ' Behold ye how they have taken flight into the mountain !

THE SUN-GOD RA 365

' Their hearts are afraid because of what they have said.' ' Then the gods spake before his Majesty, saying, ' Make ' thine Eye to go forth, and let it destroy for thee those who ' utter evil words of blasphemy against thee. There is not an ' eye upon all this earth Avhich can resist thine when it ' descendeth in the form of Hathor.' And the goddess [Hathor] went forth and slew the people on the mountain, and the Majesty of this god spake, [saying], ' Come, come in peace, Hathor, the ' work is accomplished.' And the goddess said, ' Thou livest for ' me. When I had gained the mastery over men it was well ' pleasing to my heart.' And the Majesty of Ra spake, [saying], ' I will gain the mastery over them as king, and [I] will destroy ' them ' ; and it came to pass that Sekhet waded about in the night season in their blood, beginning at Suten-henen (Herakleopolis Magna). Then the Majesty of Ra spake, [saying], 'Cry out ' and fetch me swift and speedy messengers who can run like the ' wind ' ; and straightway one brought these messengers. And the Majesty of this god spake, [saying], ' Let them go to Abu ' (Elephantine), and bring me mandrakes in great number ' ; and one brought to him these mandrakes, and the Majesty of this god gave them to Sekhet who [dwelleth] in Annu (Heliopolis) to crush. And behold, when the women were crushing the barley to [make] beer, he placed these mandrakes in the vessels which were to hold the beer, and some of the blood of the men [who had been slain]. Now they made seven thousand vessels of beer.

" Now when the king of the South and North, Ra, had come with the gods to look at the beer, and the daylight appeared after the goddess had slaughtered mankind in their season as she sailed up the river, the Majesty of Ra said, ' It is doubly good, ' but I must protect mankind against her,' And Ra spake, [saying], ' Let them take up the vases and carry them to the ' place where men and women are being slaughtered.' Then the Majesty of the king of the South and North, Ra, commanded them to pour out from the vessels during the [time of the] beauty of the night the beer which made [men] wish to lie down, and the regions of the four heavens were filled therewith even

366 REVOLT OF MEN AGAINST

according to the Will of the Majesty of this god. Now when the goddess Sekhet came in the morning and found the regions flooded, her face beamed with joy, and she drank of the beer and blood, and her heart was glad, and she became drunk, and she took no further heed of mankind. And the Majesty of Ra spake unto this goddess, [saying] ' Come, come in peace, 0 fair and gracious ' goddess ; ' [and henceforth] there were young and beautiful women in the city of Amen.-^ Then the Majesty of Ra said unto this goddess, ' There shall be prepared for thee vases of drink ' which shall make thee wish to sleep at every festival of the New ' Year, and the number thereof shall be in proportion to the ' number of my handmaidens ; ' and from that day until this present men have been wont to make on the occasions of the festival of Hathor vases of beer which will make them sleep, in number according to the number of the handmaidens of Ra. And the Majesty of Ra spake unto this goddess, [saying], ' Behold, the pain of the burning heat of sickness hath come ' upon me ; whence cometh [this] pain ? ' Then the ^Majesty of Ra said, ' I am alone, but my heart hath become exceedingly ' weary of being with them (i.e., with men) ; I have slain [some ' of] them, but there is a remnant of worthless ones, and the ' destruction which I wrought among them was not commensurate ' with my power.' And the gods who were in his train said [unto him], ' Tarry not in thy weariness, for thy might is in ' proportion to thine own will.' Then the Majesty of this god said unto the Majesty of Nu, ' For the first time my limbs have ' lost their power, and I will never permit this thing to happen ' a second time.' "

At this point the inscription becomes much broken, and it is difficult to make out the general meaning which is to be attached

and on the name of the city Amen, ^(|§ ©, i.e., the capital of the nome,

Mill: Ament, where the goddess Hathor was worshipped. The city is also called

THE SUN-GOD RA 367

to the scattered words ; according to the late Dr. Brugsch/ the myth ends somewhat as follows: — When Ra had described his weariness to Nu, this god commanded Shu to perform the work of Rci and to take the place of his Eye, and directed the sky goddess Nut to help Ra. Nut asked Nu how this was to be done, and he told her to take Ra upon her back ; thereupon Nut took the form of a cow, and Ra seated himself upon her back. In due course mankind saw Ra on the back of Nut, and they were filled with remorse at their former behaviour towards him, and they wished to see slain his enemies who had blasphemed him, but his Majesty did not tarry, and he went on into the temple. On the following day as soon as the morning had come, men went forth armed with bows and spears in order to do battle Avith the enemies of Ra, and as soon as the god saw this he said to them, " Your sins are " forgiven you, for the sacrificial slaughters which ye have made " have done away with the murders [which mine enemies have " committed]." Then Ra raised himself from the back of the goddess Nut into the sky, where he made for himself a kingdom in which all people were to be assembled. Finally he ordered a

Field to come into being, l|„i)^l| hetep seMiet, and straightway the Field of Hetep (" Peace "), l)^[]j "^ "^ Sekhet-hetep,^c8i.me into being, and the Majesty of the god said, "I will plant " green herbs therein," and straightway there came into being

" it with objects which sparkle,* that is to say with stars." Thereupon the goddess Nut quaked in all her members, and Ra declared that he would make supports to come into existence to strengthen her, and straightway supports appeared. Ra next

1 Die Neue Weltordnung nacli Veniichtung des siindigen MenschengescJdecJites, von H. Brngsch, Berlin, 1881, p. 23.

" Note the jingle in tlie words sekhet and hetep.

3 Note the play on the verbal aarat-d and the noun aaru.

^ Note the jingle in ■ i JcJiet, " objects," and (1 ^ [1 ^ )lc i " things which sparkle."

THE COW-GODDESS NUT 369

ordered his son Shu to place himself beneath the goddess Nut, who was trembling, in such a way as to suf)port her body, and he ordered him to take heed to the supports, or pillars, whereon the goddess rested, and to protect them, and to keep Nut stayed upon his head.

Near this place in the text we have a representation of the great cow-goddess Nut, i.e., the heavens and the sky (see opposite). Along the belly of the cow, which is emblematic of the sky, and is supported by the god Shu, are thirteen stars, and immediately below are the two boats of the Sun-^od. In the Matet boat stands a fisfure of Ra as god of the day, with a disk upon his head, and in the Sektet boat we see the god seated in a shrine ; the former boat is between the fore-legs of the cow of Nut, and the latter by her udders. Each leg of the cow is supported by two gods, one in front and one behind, and each god who is with the cow has a special name, which is duly set forth in the text which runs in vertical columns on each side of the scene. ^

When the narrative recommences (line 56) we are told that the Majesty of the god Ra commanded Thoth to give the order

should come into his presence forthwith, and when he had done so, and Seb had appeared before him, Ra told him that strife had

were in his (i.e., Seb's) territory, and, he added, " May they fear me as long as I am alive." Ra also told him to find out what their plans were, and then to go to the place wherein was his father Nu, and to warn him to be careful about what was on the earth and in the water. The text which immediately follows is full of difficulty, but its general meaning seems to be that Ra expects Seb to keep watch on the serpents in the earth, and that although he is about to betake himself to the uppermost regions of heaven his light will find them in their holes, and will watch them. Moreover, Ra promises that he will give the men who have knowledge of words

^ See Lefebure, Tomheau cle Seti I., part iv., pi. 16, 11. 47 ff. B b

370 THOTH, VICAR OF RA

will furnish them with spells and charms which shall draw them from their holes. After these things the Majesty of the god Ra ordered that Thoth should come into his presence speedily, and when he had arrived he said to him, " Come, let us depart " from heaven, and from my place, because I am about to create

" a thing of light (^: °) of the god of light (^ ® ^ ^ J) ,

" And there thou shalt write down for punishment among the " dwellers therein those who have committed deeds of rebellion, " and those whom my heart hateth. And thou shalt be in my

"place ([ ^_ dst), and thou shalt be called Asti ( r ^ i(^?i)'

" that is to say, the deputy of Ra. And it shall be permitted to

" of Thoth, came into being." Ra next tells Thoth that he will give him the power to lift up his hand before the great companies

he also promises to make Thoth to embrace (1 ^x fi ,^ "^ — ° dnh,

the two heavens with his beauties, and straightway the Moon,

dndn, of the god came into being ; and finally Thoth is to be wholly the representative of Ra upon earth.

From the observations which follow the words of Ra we can see how holy these words were considered to be. Any one who wished to repeat them must anoint his face with oil, and rub his hands and the places behind his ears with incense, and cleanse his mouth with natron, and wash his new apparel in Nile water, and put on white sandals, and lay a figure of Maat upon his tongue ; and he must cleanse himself with a sevenfold cleansing each day for three whole days. Finally, the king (Seti I.) for

THE KING'S SOUL 371

whom these texts were written declares that his soul is the soul of Shu, and [Khnemu], and Neheli, 'vww^ |^ O | PQ^ 3 , and Kek,

the Crocodiles, and the soul of every god in the form of a serpent,

CHAPTER XI

THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS

HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT WITH TRANSLITERATION AND

TRANSLATION

Be en neter netevti hheperu tchesef dri

Chapter of the god divine (?) self-produced, the maker

I s

t

pet fa mdu en

of heaven, [and] earth, [and] the breath of

dnkh Met life, of fire,

neteru of gods,

reth dut

of men, of beasts

I till unit

menmen of cattle.

apt

remu

suten

reth

ci I I I tche/fet

of reptiles and creeping things,

mi k

neteru em

of the fowl [and] of fishes, the king of men [and] of gods, in of the air,

U I

I

I I

Idler ud henti er renput dslti renu

form one, [to whom] periods [are] as years, of many names, of 120 years

w

S=f2

AAAAAA 'Ss'

(in rekh

w

inii

an relch pefi an rekh pefi neteru

not known is that [god], not known is that [god to] the gods.

dstu Ast em set saa en

Behold, Isis was in the a woman [who was] skilled in form of

set

tclietu khak-db-s er hehu em

words (i.e., matters). Her heart rebelled at the millions of

I I

n

reth setep eres hehu em neteru apt-set

men, she chose rather the millions of the gods, and she esteemed

hehu em

khu

IcsTT I

an khem set em pet

the millions of the spirits " Could she not be in heaven [of more value].

ma Ba

S

I IS

ta

ta ma Ba dri kert

[and] earth like Ra [and] make herself mistress of the earth

netert

ka-set and a goddess," she meditated

em db-set in her heart.

er rekh by knowing

ren neter shepsi

the name of the god holy ? "

A

o

o

I

dstu ciq en Bci hru neb em hat qet - [/]

Behold, came in Ra every day in front of [his] sailors,

I AAAAAA ■ill

smen-thd

and was stablished

daut Had become old

I

her

upon

nest the throne

hhuti of the two horizons.

w

T

he poured out

the divine one,

nebdut - / his exudations

e^wi-M. - nef re - f he dribbled at his mouth,

er ta

the ground,

upon

pekas en su sehher her sat

and his spittle fell upon the earth.

Pja

sek-nes Ast Isis she kneaded [it]

hi

em tet-set hena ta unenet her-set qet-nes-set

in her hand with earth which was on it, she fashioned it

e7n tchetfeti

in the form of a serpent

W

shepsi dri en set em

sacred, [and] she made [it] in

A

qad

heti

an

nemunemud-s

the form

of a dart.

Not

did it move along

dnhli-thd alive

er hheft-set khad-set

before her, [and] she left [it]

uat

D D

I

hamu lying

her on

djpep neter aa hers er aha - /

the path whereon journeyed the great god according to his desire

em khet

taui - f

through his two lands.

neter The god

shepsi holy

Q

hhd - f rose up,

er ha behind

neteru the gods

em Aa-perti dnJch utcha senb em Jchet- f

in the great double house, life, strength, health! [were] folio wing him.

seftseft - f

O

m(i ^-7^1^ ?2e5 unhhu-set em

[and] he marched on as [he did] every day [when] bit [him]

w

w

f

tchetfeti shepsi khet dnkhet per-thd

the serpent sacred ; the fire of life was coming out

i

w

dm - f tchesef ter-nes dmi na dshu

from him himself, it destroyed the dweller in the cedars.

neter netri

The god divine

his Majesty L. S. H. ! reached unto heaven.

he ojDened

re - f hheru en

his mouth, the voice of

Paut The company

niJi

(3 III

neteru tiif her md ])u-u neteru - f

of the gods was for [saying], " What is it ? " His gods [were]

her petrd-u

for [saying] " What is the matter ? "

an

Not

mettu words

J

er to

X 1 usheht answer

I

her -f about it.

qeyri - f found he

drti-fi His two jaws

/i-er Ichethhet at - f rattled, his limbs

neb all

W

WW

dstiti trembled

y^ AAAAA^

metu the poison

n

AAftAAA

V

thetet-nef em dufi

took possession of his body

md thetet Hdjp

as taketh possession the Nile

em khet - f of his river bed.

neter

aa

The god great

smen-nef db -f

stablished his heart.

Ijnds'] - f er he [cried] out to

W

dmiu hhet - f

those in his train

I i I

mdi-ten nd

" Come to me.

I I I Jii^ A ^ ^ I ^

kliepert em hdt-d

0 ye who have come into being from my members,

neteru [ye] gods

nrz2 e

peru who have proceeded

A □

AAAAA^

khejperd-set what hath happened

em-a from me,

temu-entii

tat rekh-ten and I will make you to know

! I I

(2 Ci

hhet

meru

I am wounded by something deadly,

rekh-set db-d dn maa su maa-d dn

knoweth it my heart. Not have seen it my eyes, not

dri set tet-d dn rekh-set em dri-nd neht

made it my hand, not know [I] it who hath done [this] to me

anyone,

i:P'

dn teptu-d ment mdtet-set dn meru

not have I tasted pain like it, never was deadly [anything]

er-s more than it.

dnuk I am

ser a prince,

sa ser

the son of a prince,

e

mu hheperit em neter

the divine issue produced by a god.

dnuh I am

ur a great one,

so- ur maid en dtef-d ren-d

the son of a great one, thought out my father my name.

III 0 (^

(S

a?i-?J(^ «s/i2i rennu dsht kheperu du

I am of many names, of many forms (or, existences) is

hheperd-d tmu em neter neh nds-d-tu

my form (or existence) living in god every. I have proclaimed

C^innr

Temu Hern hehennu Temu and Heru Hekennu.

du tchet Have uttered

dtef-d my father

C5

l-J I AAAAAA ' (£il I

iniit-d ren-d dmen-set em Jchat-d er

and my mother my name, hidden was it in my body by

mes-a en men

my begetter who wished

tern erf at kheperu pehti

not to let have power

hehau-d en heJcai er-d

him Avho would enchant me by enchantments over me.

peru-h er

1 had come forth from

I

ha the abode

er maa ari-na

to see what I had made

sutet em taui qemamu-nd

[and] was being led through the lands [which] I had created,

(S

em tchetem kher-d an rekh-d su

when [something] aimed a blow at me [and] I know not Avhat it is.

an Jchet ds pit an mu as pu

Behold it is not fire, behold it is not water.

m w

db-d kheri

My heart contains

w w dstiti

fire, my limbs [are] trembling, [my] members contain

mesu hesiu

the children of quakings.

dmmd dntu-nd I pray you let be brought to me

mesu-d neteru

my children, the gods

khui

) I

mighty

metet of words,

A I I I I

rekhi skilful

with their mouths.

sart-sen their powers,

peh-sen her

they reach to heaven.

A

iu-eref mesu neter neh dm

Came to him [his] children, god every there

/H w

Jvheri with

q-J

dkebu-nef his cries of weeping.

iu en Ast Jcheri

Came Isis with

Jihnt-set her power

i

T III

t

as^ 'j'^-se^ em tii/w e?^ dnkh thes-set

and her skilled mouth, with the breath of life, her incantations

I s — -fl '^ III 4 S her ter ment mettu-set

n

s

sdnhh

ka

heti

destroy diseases, her word maketh to live stinking throats

(i.e., throats of the dead).

e III

ism.

tchet-set md pu-u dtef neter petrd tchetji

She said, What is this, 0 father god ? What is it ? A snake

Q D (3

ten mennii dm-h iid mes-k fa

hath shot sickness into thee. A thing made by thee hath lifted up

tep -/

erek

its head against thee.

hekaiu words of power

ka Verily

sekher-set it shall be overthrown

em

by

menkhiu beneficent.

td-d khetkhet - f er

I will make it to depart from

sati-h

netei

matt sati-iv neter tcheseri

the sight of thy rays. The god holy

X

dpu~nef re - / opened his mouth :

D

dnuk ])u shemi I was passing

W

taui the two lands

I

her over

uat the way

sutut em

going through

tJI

set-d of my country,

dha en db-d er

wished my heart to

o o

maa

see

y

AAA/VNA /VWVNA

V

em

qemamu-nd khunen-nd

what I had created [when] I was bitten by

w w tchetfi

a snake

invisible.

D

(X7i- A;/ie)5 as pu Behold it is not fire.

(x?i- 77izi as J)'^' behold it is not water,

A

JJ

qehehh-kiid I am colder

than water.

(S

shemem-kud I am hotter

er than

X

seshet fire.

hdt-d my limbs

w w dstiti

tremble,

neb all

m w

er kheri are full of

III

fetet sweat,

tild

I

maat-d dn smen dn qemhu-d

my eye is without stability, I cannot see

/VWVW

V

-WVWN /^S AVvVNA

pe^ Ml mu her hrcl-d em shemu

the heavens, bursteth out water on my face [as] in summer.

tchet an Said

cltef father

Ast Isis

en to

Ed Ra,

d tchet-nd 0 tell me

li f

neter god;

diikh liveth

ren-Ju thy name.

sa the person

(E

temu-tu her

who hath declared

ren - f his name.

s

(xm/7(^ art pet fa

(S(3 III ^

thes tuu qemamu unnet

theknitter together of the mountains, the creator of what exists

her - f upon it.

0 v{i

nuh

1 am

Meht-ur Meht-ur,

a7't the maker

U

mu of the water

/W^AAA AA^AAA

acting [as]

bull of

Jthepertu making to exist

■mut -f his mother,

Icheperu the creator

D

X

sesheta

netchem netcltemiu nuk dri pet

of the joys of love. I am the maker of heaven and have covered over

? mil -

/t/?w^t f«-(i /)a nu neteru em-khemiu-set

the two horizons, I have set the soul of the gods within them

O

iiiiiiiii

hhe]3eru

dnuh un maati-f khejjeru hetchetcMu

I am he who openeth his eyes, becometh the light ;

akliennu maati-f klieperu keJmi

shutteth [he] his eyes, becometh the dark.

=v

hu mu

Riseth the flood

OAAAAAA

Hap of Hap (Nile)

}(| AAAAAA

rekh en neteru know the gods

khefl when

utu-iief he pjiveth the command.

O

an not

ren - / his name.

khepeno

mile dri imnu

I am the maker of hours,

(T

renpit

(2 o I

Jiru nuk dpu hebu

the creator of days, lam the opener of the festivals of the year,

z

qemamu the creator

T=t.

V

dtru of streams of water.

O

nuk I am

an the maker

e

U

I I

khet dnkhet er sekhejperu kat en amu

of flame of life making to be performed works in the houses.

hiauu

G O Rd

nuk Klie])erd em I am Khepera in the morning, Ra

em in

dhdu-f his noontide.

W

Temii Temu