The Gods of the Egyptians or Studies in Egyptian Mythology: Volume 1

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I

A.XWW^

THE

GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS

lONDON PRINTED BY GILBEET AND EIVINGTON, LTD. E.C. ST. JOHN'S HOtrSE, CLEKKENWELL,

THE

GODS OF THE EGYPTIANS OR

STUDIES IN

EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY

BY E. A.

WALLIS BUDGE,

M.A., Litt.D., D.Litt., D.Lit.

KEEPER OF THE EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN ANTIQUITIES IN

THE BRITISH MUSEUM

WITH

131

ILLUSTRATIONS

VOLUME

METHUEN & 36

L

CO. ESSEX STREET W.C.

LONDON 1904

I

DEDICATE THIS BOOK

ON

THE GODS AND MYTHOLOGY OF EGYPT BY PEKMISSION TO THE EIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF CROMER PRIVY COUNCILLOR,

G.C.B.,

G.C.M.G., K.C.S.L,

THE EEGENEEx\TOR OF EGYPT WITH SINCERE GRATITUDE AND RESPECT

CLE.

PREFACE

AMONG the various branches

of Egyptology which have been

^closely studied during the last twenty-five years, there are

none which are more interesting to inquire to understand fully, than the religion

tants of the Valley of the Nile.

into, or

more

difficult

and mythology of the inhabi-

When we

consider the

number

of works on these subjects which have been written and published,

both by expert Egyptologists and by competent exponents of the science of religion during that period, such a statement at first sight to be paradoxical, it

that some excuse

caustic question, "Is

religion

will

is,

for the philosopher

professor of Egyptology the

true that the

more the

and mythology are studied the

The question worker

it

appear

and many may think when reading

must certainly be made

who asked an eminent

may

however, thoroughly

less is

somewhat

subjects of Egyptian

known about them ?

justified,

"

and every honest

admit that there are at the present time

scores of

passages, even in such a comparatively well-known religious compilation as the

Booh of

scores of allusions

of a

the

Bead, which are inexplicable,

and

fundamentally important mythological

character of which the meanings are for this state of things are

still

The reasons

unknown.

many, and the chief of them may be

briefly recalled here.

The custom

of relying absolutely

upon the information about

the ancient Egyptian religion and mythology, which

Greek

historians,

is

reported by

was abandoned by Egyptologists long ago,

as soon as the native

for

Egyptian religious texts could be read,

it

PREFACE

viii

became evident that no Greek or Latin writer had any exact knowledge of these

first-hand

and that none of them

subjects,

succeeded wholly in reproducing accurately in their works the facts

concerning them which they derived from Egyptian books or from

Egyptian

This

priests.

is

hardly to be wondered

cultured Greek writers must have, and

mingled

with

and

pity,

contempt,

as

did,

and

at,

for

the

we know,

look

upon

the

ridicule,

animal cults of the Egyptians, and they had no sympathy with the

materialistic

customs

funeral

and

with the

and

beliefs

ceremonies,

more

still

materialistic

which have been, from time

immemorial, so dear to certain Hamitic peoples, and so greatly prized

by them.

The only

the educated Greek or

Roman

truly understood were those which

Aryan

characterized the various forms of polytheistic

and

and the

Egyptian religion which

beliefs of the

solar

;

religion,

namely, the

for the forms of the cults of the dead,

for all the religious ceremonies

and observances, which pre-

supposed a belief in the resurrection of the dead and in everlasting life,

and which had been in existence among the indigenous inhabi-

tants of north-east Africa from predynastic times, he

whatsoever.

The evidence on the subject now

had no regard

available indicates

that he was racially incapable of appreciating the importance of

such

beliefs to those

who

held them, and that although, as in the

case of the Ptolemies, he

was ready

purposes, to adopt them,

it

into his

life.

It is

was impossible

for

and even,

him

for state

to absorb

them

important to remember this fact when dealing

with the evidence of Greek and religion

to tolerate,

and mythology,

for

it

Roman

shows the

writers on the Egyptian futility of trying to

prove

an absolute identity in the indigenous religions of the Aryans and Egyptians.

Now, although a true decipherment hieratic

of the ancient Egyptian

and hieroglyphic texts has enabled us

to

draw our

in-

PREFACE

ix

formation on the religion and mythology of Egypt from native sources, scribes

we have

still

to contend against the ignorance of

and the mistakes of

careless copyists,

and

Egyptian

must never be

it

forgotten that the theologians at the court of the Pharaohs under the

XVIIIth and XlXth Dynasties were

just as ignorant of

connected with their religion and mythology as

In proof of

we

many

facts

ourselves are.

this it is sufficient to refer to the different explanations

of certain passages which are given along with the text in the

xviith Chapter of the Booh of the Dead, and to the childish

punning etymologies of the names of gods and of many mythological explanations

which are

set

down

in the texts inscribed

the walls of some chambers in the tomb of Seti

at Thebes,

I.

on the walls of the temple of Horus of Behutet at Edfu. satisfactory to be able to say that

and

trivial explanations

can

now be

many

It is

scribes of old

Recent researches have shown that the

royal scribes under the ISTew Empire

1700-700) were unable

(b.c.

to read correctly the hieratic characters

which formed the names of

some of the kings of the early Archaic Period, and little

and

of the absurd etymologies

which are products of the

corrected.

on

this being so,

surprise need be felt at the difficulties in religious texts

which are due to their ignorance or blunders. considerations, however, the

mythology themselves are

Apart from such

subjects of Egyptian religion

full of

unfortunately, not been lessened

inherent

difficulties,

by the manner

in

and

which have,

which some

Egyptologists have treated them.

The number B.C.

of the gods, even under the

IVth Dynasty, about

3600, was very great, and as time went on

greatly.

it

multiplied

The Pyramid Texts, which were written under the IVth,

Vth and YIth

Dynasties, supply the names of about two hundred

gods and mythological beings, but in according to the Theban Eecension

the Booh

(b.c.

of

the

Dead

1700-1200) over five

PREFACE

X

hundred gods are mentioned. all

If to these

be added the names of

the mythological beings which occur in the various Books of the

Underworld, we

number

shall find that the

recognized by the theologians of the

was about twelve hundred. from

all

certainly find that the

Egypt were

available for study,

With such a number

of gods to consider,

mind

it

was

of the Egyptian

dealing with them, and the texts prove that he found the

gods as

The

Thebes

names of hundreds of additional

impossible for confusion not to arise in the

when

Dynast}?- at

and mythological beings could be collected

local gods, goddesses,

from them.

XlXth

If all the religious texts of this period

the religious centres of

we should

who were

of the gods

difficult to

attributes of

the greater

group and

modern

classify as the

investigator.

hundreds of them were vague and shadowy, and

number

of

them were merely provincial gods,

to

whom

circumstances had given some transient importance, which resulted in their

names being recorded

Egypt found

of ancient

it

In

in writing.

fact,

the theologian

impossible to form a system of gods

which should be consistent in

all its parts,

and should assign to

earth gods, water gods, air gods, village gods, city gods, gods,

national gods, and

attributes

the

gods, the

which were their due in

modem

investigator

theologian, for he has

a rule, he

foreign

is

is

it.

nome

exact position and

From one

point of view

more fortunate than the Egyptian

more materials upon which

better equipped for his inquiry.

to work, and, as

The Egyptian knew

nothing about the study of comparative religion, and he was sadly

hampered by

Modern

his

own methods.

scientific

study of the Egyptian religion and myth-

ology

may

texts,

both hieratic and hieroglyphic, of the Heliopolitan, Theban,

be said to have begun with the publication in

full of

the

Dead (Per-em-hru), and

and Saite Recensions of the Book of

the

the cognate funeral texts, such as

"The Book

of

what

is

of

in the

PREFACE

xi

Underworld," "The Book of Breathings," "The Book of Transformations," the " Lamentations," and the " Festival Songs of Isis

and Nephthys," &c. scale a

The

up on a

to attempt to build

first

large

system of Egyptian theology and mythology from ancient

native works was the late De. Heineich Beugsch,

and published in

who

collected

his Religion unci Mythologie der alien

^gypter,

Leipzig, 1885-1888, a mass of facts of the greatest importance, and

a

summary

of the conclusions which he deduced from them.

the same year in which the

Maspero published

appeared, M. xii.,

p.

d'apres

123 les

a masterly

f.)

pyramides de

which

Heliopolitan,

contain

the

of

outline

and a

in

the

last

red ink.

oldest the

known Dead.

Recension,

In

1887,

Pyramid i.e.,

the

Signor

part of his Bizionario di Mitologia

in

In the

drawings of

criticized

many

of

them printed

in

1888 and 1889, M. Maspero, in two

Revue des Religions (La Mythologie

Egyptienne, tom. xviii., p. 253

great deal of

which he

dynastie, in

of gods, demons, spirits, etc., arranged alpha-

series of

admirable articles

and

FP

Religion Egyptienne

one of the most valuable contributions to the study

number

of a large

de la

et

La

mythology ever made, and which contains the names

of Egyptian

betically,

is

V

Booh of

Lanzone published the Bgizia, which

article, entitled

la

work

in the Revue des Religions (tom.

of the results of his study of the "

gave to the world some Texts,"

section of Dr. Brugsch's

first

In

f.,

and tom.

xix., p. 1

f.),

discussed

both the works of Beugsch and Lanzone, and shed a

new

light

upon the

To M. Maspero belongs

facts collected in both.

the

credit

of being

the

first

to

consider the Egyptian religion and mythology from the anthropological point of view,

and

all

the evidence on these subjects which

has since become available goes to prove the general correctness of the opinion which he stated some fifteen or sixteen years ago.

Beugsch,

it

must be admitted, regarded the

origin of Egyptian

PREFACE

xii

and philosophical standpoint,

religion from too lofty a metaphysical

and appealed

for

proofs

Egyptian texts

contentions to

of his

belonging to too late a period to be entirely free from the influence of

Greek culture and thought;

Egyptian

in

fact,

and

texts, ideas, doctrines,

he read into certain

beliefs

which the primitive

On

and indigenous Egyptians could never have possessed. seems to

me

that

underrated the character

of

the

other hand,

it

M. Maspero has spiritual

somewhat

conceptions

dynastic Egyptians, and that he has done so because,

wrote his great

article,

La

the

of

the

when he

Mythologie Egyjptienne, Egyptologists

had not thoroughly realized the distinction which

exists

between

the primitive or predynastic element in the Egyptian religion and

the Asiatic

This element was of

element.

a

solar

character

undoubtedly, and was introduced into Egypt by the " Followers of

who invaded

Horus," or the "Blacksmiths,"

the

country,

and

conquered the natives, and settling down there, built up the great dynastic civilization which the

correct

we

Egyptian.

This seems to be

diversity of

view of two such

call

explanation of the

eminent experts, and the opposite character of their conclusions appears to be due chiefly to the difference of the standpoints from

which they viewed the subject.

A ancient

prolonged study of the religious and mythological texts of

Egypt has convinced me

of the futility of attempting to

and

reconcile the conflicting beliefs

to

harmonize the contradictory

we regard

the

extension and principle."

It

statements which are found in them, so long as

Egyptian religion as "one in

must

first

this has

its

of all be resolved into its constituent elements,

been done,

it

and when

will probably be possible to classify,

and

arrange, and assign to their proper sources the various material

and

up

spiritual conceptions in their

and

beliefs

which the Egyptians heaped

minds and flung together

in their religious writings.

PREFACE It must,

xiii

moreover, be studied by the light which the science of

comparative religion has given us, and due regard must be paid

may be deduced

evidence on the subject that

to the important

from the remains and monuments of the Predynastic and Archaic Periods which have been unearthed during the last few years.

The primitive dwellers large

in

Egypt undoubtedly belonged

to a

and important section of the inhabitants of North-East

which

Africa, and possessed physical

and mental

were peculiar

In the earliest times they were

themselves.

to

and died

savages, and lived

world

religious belief of

;

characteristics

like savages in other parts

of the

any kind, in the modern sense of the

term, they had none, and they probably regarded the animate and

inanimate objects which they saw about them as akin to them-

At

selves.

a

much

they peopled the earth,

later period

and water with beings of various kinds, and they paid a

homage or worship

to certain stones, trees,

which they assumed that they

offerings

;

sort of

and living creatures, in

Some beings were held

lived.

be friendly and others unfriendly

sky,

air,

and

it

was thought that

gifts

to

or

would secure the continuance of the friendship of the

former and avert the hostility of the

Friendly beings

latter.

gradually became gods, and unfriendly ones were classed as devils,

and in the ceremonies which the Egyptian savage performed in their honour,

and

in the incantations

of Egypt, the forerunner of her religion, object interest

of the

recited, the

which he

had

its origin.

magic

The

chief

savage Egyptian was self-preservation, and

was the mainspring

of his actions, all of

undertaken with a view to material

becomes known to us in the

benefits.

late Neolithic

Period

which were

When we

he

is

proved by the

of food in the graves of the dead.

fact that

To prevent

first

find that

possessed a belief in an existence beyond the grave, and that of a material character

self-

it

he

was

he placed offerings

their return to this

PREFACE

xiv

world, and their consequent claim for food and other material things, the heads of the dead

and their

were often severed from their bodies,

feet cut off; thus the living

made themselves

the possession of their homes, and wives, and goods.

known

of the Egyptian religion and

but whatever they were,

them

all

was

it

is

its

secure in

Nothing

is

ceremonies at this period,

pretty certain that the object of

to secure for themselves after death a renewal of life

which should be

carnal delights and pleasures, and there

full of

is

no doubt that the ideas of a resurrection from the dead and immortality on these lines were firmly implanted in the native

mind long before the Dynasty Period began. The

of Osiris, the dead

cult

man

deified,

and the

earliest

forms of his worship, were, no doubt, wholly of African origin these

are

oldest elements

certainly the

in

the

religion

;

of the

Dynastic Period, and the most persistent, for Osiris maintained his position as the god

and judge of the dead from the Predynastic

The Followers

to the Ptolemaic Period.

them

solar religion with

into

of Horus,

Egypt from the

who brought

a

East, never succeeded

in dislodging Osiris from his exalted position,

and

his cult survived

undiminished notwithstanding the powerful influence which the priests of Pa,

Aten

respectively exercised throughout the country.

of Osiris fertile

and the worshippers of Amen, and the votaries of

was believed

to exist in a place

and well stocked with

were abundant

;

cattle,

where the

The heaven fields

were

and where meat and drink

the abodes of the blessed were thought to be

constructed after the model of the comfortable Egyptian homesteads

in

which they had lived during

Egyptian hoped to

On

live in

life,

and the ordinary

one of these with his wives and parents.

the other hand, the followers of Ra, the sun-god, believed in a

heaven of a more spiritual character, and their great hope was to

occupy a seat in the boat of the god, and, arrayed in

light, to travel

PREFACE

XV

They wished

whithersoever he went.

become bright and

to

shining spirits, and to live upon the celestial meat and drink upon

which he lived

The

as

;

materialistic

he was so they hoped to be in every respect.

heaven of

Osiris appealed to the masses in

and the heaven where Ra lived

to the priests of

Ea and

gods, and to royal and aristocratic families, and to the

the foreign section

of

the

community who

Egypt,

other solar

members

of

were of Eastern

origin.

The various waves

of religious thought and feeling, which

swept over Egypt during the

which are known Osiris,

to

five

thousand years of her history

did not seriously disturb the cult of

us,

for it held out to the people hopes of resurrection

and

immortality of a character which no other form of religion could give.

Secure in these hopes the people regarded the various

changes and developments of religious ideas in their country with equanimity, and modifications in the public worship of the gods,

provided that the religious feasts and processions were not interrupted,

moved them but

Kings and

little.

priests

from time

to

time made attempts to absorb the cult of Osiris into religious systems of a solar character, but they god, always triumphed, and at the before the religion of the

Man

failed,

last,

and

when

Osiris, the

man-

his cult disappeared

Christ, the Egyptians

who em-

braced Christianity found that the moral system of the old cult

and that

of the

new

religion

were

so similar,

resurrection and immortality in each so transferred

without

their

difficulty.

allegiance

from

Moreover,

straightway identified with

Osiris

Isis

much to

first

alike, that

Jesus

of

they

Nazareth

and the child Horus were

Maey the Virgin

the apocryphal literature of the

and the promises of

and her Son, and in

few centuries which followed

the evangelization of Egypt, several of the legends about

Isis

and

her sorrowful wanderings were made to centre round the Mother

PREFACE

xvi

Certain of the attributes of the sister goddesses of

of Cheist. Isis

also ascribed to her, and, like the goddess

were

she was declared to possess perpetual virginity.

Neith of Sais, Certain of the

Egyptian Christian Fathers gave to the Virgin the tokos," or

"Mother

of God," forgetting, apparently, that

exact translation of neter mut, of

^v\ a very ,

|

old and

no attem|)t has been made in

this

work

Egyptian religious

ence of ancient

Christianity, for such

it

was an

common

Interesting, however, as such an investigation

Isis.

"Theo-

title

would

to trace out the

beliefs

an undertaking would

title

be,

influ-

and mythology on fill

a comparatively

large volume.

From what

has been said in the preceding pages the plan

followed in the preparation of the present volumes will be evident.

In the opening chapter an attempt has been made to describe the religious beliefs of the primitive Egyptians,

their later ideas about the " gods "

and

to explain

how

and God grew up, and how they

influenced the religious writings and paintings of the Dynastic

The region which

Period.

" Underworld," and

and

its

Ra and

called

Heaven, or the

by chapters on the ancient myths

of

and the legend of the destruction of

Isis,

The hieroglyphic

mankind.

commonly

denizens are next considered at some length,

this section is followed

Ra, the legend of

is

texts of the

myths and legends are

given with interlinear transliteration and translation, so that the student

may

verify

my

statements for himself.

Of the minor gods

and demons, of which nothing but the names are known, are printed. possible,

The great gods

of

Egypt have been grouped

and they are discussed

religious centres to

lists

only

as far as

in connection with the various

which they belong,

e.g.,

Ptah,

Sekhet,

and

I-em-hetep with Memphis, Amen, Mut, and Khensu with Thebes,

and the " Great Company " of the gods with Heliopolis. generally, the first

volume of

this

work

Speaking

treats of the oldest

and

PREFACE

xvii

greatest gods and triads of gods of Egypt,

whom

gods of Heliopolis, among

are included Osiris

The hymns

of his funeral cycle.

and the second, of the

to the gods

and the

deities

have been freely

quoted, because they illustrate so clearly the views which the

Egyptians held concerning them, and the manner in which they In a chapter entitled "Miscellaneous

sought to praise them.

Gods"

will

be found several

months, winds, Dekans,

etc.,

of gods

lists

of the

which I have collected from Dr.

Brugsch's Thesaurus of astronomical and other texts facts

hours, days,

;

for the

main

given in these volumes the authorities, both ancient and

modern, will be found at the foot of the pages wherein they are first

mentioned.

Most of the portraits of the gods which appear in the coloured plates have been reproduced outlines of a few I

am

from papyri,

coffins, etc.,

but for the

indebted to Signor Lanzone's Dizionario

Mitologia Egizia, the value of which has been already mentioned. It has

been thought advisable to print the portraits of the gods

which are not taken from papyri upon a papyrus-coloured ground,

and to enclose each within a coloured border, better,

and the plan

is

consistent

for the

effect

is

with that followed by the

ancient Egyptian artists at aU periods.

My Gilbert

thanks are due

&

to

Reginald

Rivington, and to Mr. G. E.

his staff, for the care

Lake, Esq., of

Hay and

Messrs.

Mr. F. Rainer, of

and attention which they have taken in

printing this work.

E. London, September

5th, 1903.

A.

WALLIS BUDGE.

CONTENTS CHAP. I.

PAGE

The Gods of Egypt Appendix

:

1

—

Slayer and Eater of the Gods text with interlinear transliteration

Unas, the

Hieroglyphic AND translation II.

45

Conception of God and the

"Gods"

III.

Primitive Gods and Nome-Gods

IV.

The Companions of the Gods

V.

VI.

VII. VIII.

IX.

X. XI.

in

57 .

.

XV. XVI.

156 170

Hell and the Damned

263

The oldest Company of the Gods and the Creation

.

.

282

—

History of the Creation of the Gods and of the World Hieroglyphic text with interlinear transliteration and translation

308

Ea, the Sun-God, and his forms

322

The Myths of Ea The Legend of Ea and

.

Isis

— Hieroglyphic

The

and Maat and the

.359

....

—

Thoth,

t

text with inter-

Destruction op Mankind Hieroglyphic text interlinear transliteration and translation

372

with .

.

388

other Goddesses who were

associated with him

XIV.

.95

The Underworld

.

XIII.

.

....

Heaven

linear transliteration and translation XII.

.

.

400

Hathor and the Hathor-Goddesses

428

The Horus Gods

466

The Great Triad op Memphis, Ptah, Sekhet, and I-em-hetep

500

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FAQE 1.

Usertsen

2.

5.

The The The The

6.

A

3. 4.

II. receiving " life "

serekh of Barneses II.

26

serpent-headed leopard Setcha

59

eagle-headed lion Sefer

60

fabulous beast

60

Sak

61

fabulous leopard

61

18.

The The The The The The The The The The The The

19.

Sunrise

20.

35.

Book of the Underworld First Hour Book of the Underworld Second Hour Book of the Underworld Third Hour Book of the Underworld Fourth Hour Book of the Underworld Fifth Hour Book of the Underworld Sixth Hour Book of the Underworld Seventh Hour Book of the Underworld Eighth Hour Book of the Underworld Ninth Hour Book of the Underworld Tenth Hour Book of the Underworld Eleventh Hour The Oldest Company of the Gods The Cow-goddess Nut Thothmes IV. making offerings to the Sphinx Horus of Behutet armed with a bow and arrows and The double god Horus- Set

36.

Seker-Asar

37.

Ptolemy Euergetes and the Hennu-Boat Asar-Hapi (Serapis)

7.

8. 9.

10.

11. 12. 13.

14. 15. 16. 17.

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

27. 28.

29. 30. 31.

32. 33. 34.

38.

25

from the god Sept

animal Sha

Hour of the Night Second Hour of the Night Third Hour of the Night Fourth Hour of the Night Fifth Hour of the Night

179

god on the top

189

First

Eighth Hour

of the

of the

183

185

187

Steps

193

Night

Ninth Hour

of the

Night

Tenth Hour

of the

Night

Eleventh Hour

181

of the

195 197

Night

19^

...... —

gate of the Twelfth

Hour

of the

Night

— — — — — — — — — —

203 204

206 209 213 217, 219 221, 223 225, 227, 229

231, 233, 235, 236 237, 239, 240 243, 245

247, 249 251, 253

282

368 471 club

.

.

474 475

504

....

504 513

r

THE

GODS OF THE EOYPTIANS CHAPTER

I

THE GODS OF EGYPT

THE

Greek historian Herodotus affirms

^

were "beyond measure scrupulous in

" taining to religion," and he of the

observation

ance

of

was

to do

made

care which

ceremonies,

religious

that the Egyptians

matters apper-

all

this statement after personal

they displayed in the performthe

aim

and

object

of

which

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

manner

in

which

of the

will

this writer speaks it

of the is

gods.

clear

From

the

that he had no

doubt about what he was saying, and that he was recording a conviction which had become settled in his mind. conscious

the

that

Egyptians worshipped a large

He was

fully

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 64.

1

ii.

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,

B

illic

ANTIQUITY OF RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCES

2

and infatuated worship there existed a sincerity which

foolish

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

and that they possessed a very old and complicated system of religion but there is good reason for thinking that the Egyptians gods,

;

were more scrupulous than their neighbours in religious matters,

and that they always bore the character of being an extremely

The evidence

religious nation.

of the

monuments

of the Egyptians

proves that from the earliest to the latest period of their history the

observance of religious

festivals

and

performance of

the

religious duties in connexion Avith the worship of the gods absorbed

a very large part of the time and if

we

energies of the

nation,

and

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 " "

Numina

Lanatis animalibus abstinet omnis

!

" Mensa, nefas

illic

fetum ingulare capellae

" Carnibus humanis vesci licet."

That in

the crocodile, ibis,

Egypt

is

:

sanctas gentes, quibus haec Bascuntur in liortis

true enough

dog-headed ape, and ;

fish of vai-ious

—

13.

kinds were venerated

they were not, however, venerated in dynastic times as

animals, but as the abodes of gods.

attributed to the leek

:

Satire, xv. 1

and onion,

In certain

localities

peculiar

was was an

sanctity

as Juvenal suggests, but neither vegetable

and there is no monumental evidence was practised, for it is now known that even the predynastic Egyptians did not eat the flesh of the dead and gnaw their Juvenal's statements ai'e only partly true, and bones, as was once rashly asserted. 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 object of worship in the country generally

to

show that the eating

still

do

so.

of

human

flesh

;

DIVINE ORIGIN OF KINGS Egyptians were a nation of

men who were wholly

3

given up to the

worship of beasts and the cult of the dead. in a perfectly logical manner,

The Egyptians, however, acted

for they believed that they Avere a divine nation,

were

by

ruled

kings

and that they

who were themselves gods

incarnate

who did go about and up and down

their earliest kings, they asserted, were actually gods,

not disdain to live upon earth, and to

through

it,

and

to

Other ancient nations were

mingle with men.

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

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 universe,

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

was duly worshipped by men upon earth as This happy result was partly brought a god and with the gods. about by the performance of certain ceremonies, which were at

with the gods, and

first

it

wholly magical, but later partly magical and partly religious,

and by the

recital

of appropriate

prescribed tone and manner, and

by the keeping

when

the tombs at stated seasons

words uttered in the duly the

of festivals at

appointed offerings were

made, and the prayers for the welfare of the dead were

From

said.

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

regarded as meritorious as the worship of the gods. point of view

Egypt was

as

much

may be From one

from some aspects

a land of gods as of men, and

moved naturally devoted a considerable portion of their time upon earth to the worship of divine beings and of their ancestors who had

the inhabitants of the country wherein the gods lived and

departed to the land of the gods. all

that

people,"

appertains

and

thereto,

in all ages they

the

In the matter of religion, and

Egyptians were a " peculiar

have exhibited a tenacity of

belief

NUMBER AND VAllIETY OF GODS

4

and a conservatism which distinguish them from

all

other

the

great nations of antiquity.

But the Egyptians were not only renowned to

variety as for the

and

reptiles

the

much

in all ages,

the

for

fishes,

but in addiAvell

of beings with which they peopled the heavens,

moon, the

the earth, the sky, the sun, the

air,

as

Animals, birds,

they adored the great powers of nature as

number

as a large

number

famous

of their gods.

were worshipped by them

these

tion to

they were

observances,

religious

for their devotion

and

stars,

In the earliest times the predynastic Egyptians, in

the water.

common with every

half-savage

believed that

peojile,

all

the

various operations of nature were the result of the actions of beings

which were

for the

most part unfriendly

man.

to

The inunda-

tion Avhich rose too high and flooded the primitive village, and

and destroyed their stock of grain, was regarded as the result of the working of an unfriendly and and when the river rose just high enough unseen power

drowned

their

cattle,

;

to irrigate the land whicli

that

friendly

a

power,

had been prepared, they either thought

was stronger than that whicli had kept the hostile power in check,

Avhicli

caused the destroying flood,

or that the spirit of the river was on that occasion pleased with

They believed

them.

the existence of spirits of the

in

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

natural

very unfortunate that the animals, and

objects,

as

well

grouped together by

word

NETERU,

very early period in

the

powers

of

with

considerable

by " gods." their

There

between friendly gods and

all

little

hostile gods,

distinction

we

are

no doubt that at a

is

Egyptians

gods, just as they did

but either their poverty

of expression, or the inflexibility of their

it

inexactness,

predynastic history the

distinguished between great gods and

them from making a

were

nature,

of

the Egyptians and were described by the

which,

obliged to translate

as

spirits

tlie

language,

prevented

apparent in writing, and thus

happens that in dynastic times, when a

lofty conception of

monotheism prevailed among the priesthood, the

scribe

found

GOD AND ''GODS" AND ANGELS God and

himself obliged to call both

were supposed

same name,

to possess

i.e.,

the lowest of the beings that

some attribute of divinity by one and the Other nations of antiquity found a way

neter.

out of the difficulty of grouping

name by inventing

5

all classes

of divine beings

by one

of angels, to each of which

series of orders

they gave names and assigned various duties in connexion with

Thus

the service of the Deity.

God maketh

said that

Kur'an (Sura xxxv.)

in the

it

is

the angels His messengers and that they

are furnished with two, or three, or four pairs of wings, accord-

ing to their rank and importance

;

the archangel Gabriel

is

said

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

to have been seen !

appointed to take charge of hell apart to Ixix.)

:

(Sura Ixxiv.)

support God's throne on the several tear the

with violence, and their

fire

souls of the

Day

of

;

eight are set

Judgment (Sura

wicked from their bodies

several take the souls of the righteous from

with gentleness and kindness (Sura Ixxix.)

bodies

angels are ordered to accompany every

man on

;

two

earth, the one to

write do^vn his good actions and the other his evil deeds, and these will appear with

him

at the

before the Judg-e, and the against

him (Sura

1.).

Day

of

Judgment, the one to lead him

other to bear witness either for or

Muhammadan

theologians declare that the

angels are created of a simple substance of light, and that they are

endowed with

capable of

sin,

their species,

and anger

;

life,

and speech, and reason

;

they are

in-

they have no carnal desire, they do not propagate

and they are not moved by the passions of wrath Their meat is the their obedience is absolute.

celebrating of the glory of God, their drink

His holiness, their conversation their pleasure

is

His worship.

is

is

the proclaiming of

the commemorating of God, and

Curiously enough, some are said

Four of the angels are Archangels, Azrael, and Israfel, and they possess special

to have the form of animals. viz. Michael, Gabriel,

powers, and special duties are assigned to them. superior to

all

the

human

These four are

race, with the exception of the Prophets

and Apostles, but the angelic nature is held to be human nature because all the angels were commanded

inferior

to

to worship

MUHAMMADAN AND SYRIAN ANGELS

6

Adam

{Siira

might

be cited in proof that the

The above and many other

ii.).

characteristics

Muliammadans

angels of the

common with the inferior gods of the and though many of the conceptions of the Arabs on much

possess

in

Egyptians, this point

were undoubtedly borrowed from the Hebrews and their writings,

many must have descended

a great

to

them from

their

own

early

ancestors.

Muhammadan

Closely connected with these

much

theories,

though

the system of angels which was invented

by the In this we find the angels divided into nine classes and Syrians. The upper order is three orders, u|)per, middle, and lower. older,

is

composed of Cherabim, Seraphim, and Thrones the middle order and the lower order of Princiof Lords, Powers, and Rulers ;

;

Archangels,

palities,

The middle order

and Angels.

revelations from those above them,

receives

and the lower order are the

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 ministers

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 The Syrians, like the Muliammadans, borrowed largely in heaven.^ from the

Hebrews, in Avhose theological system

Avritings of the

angels played a very prominent part.

the angels possess

much

in

In the Syrian system also

common with

the inferior gods of the

Egyptians.

The

inferior gods of the

from many

Egyptians were supposed to suffer

thought to grow old and to angels were held

and the same ideas about the

die,

by Muhammadans and Plebrews.

the former, the angels will perish

made

to pass

latter,

away

at the

Day

of Judgment.

created on the fifth day of creation,

the angels which were '^

when heaven,

one of the two great classes of angels,

See

1886, pp.

and they were even

of the defects of mortal beings,

my

created

edition of the Jiook of

9-n.

tlic

is

mortal

their abode,

is

iVccording to the

i.e., ;

According to

those which were

on the other hand,

on the second day of creation Bee, by

Solomon

of Al-Basra.

Oxford,

HEBREW ANGELS OR may

endure for ever, and these

be

^'GODS"

fitly

7

compared with

the

and unvarying powers of nature which were personified of the angels which perish, and worshipped by the Egyptians fire, some from water, and some from wind. spring from some unfailing

;

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

the

all

ordering of the heavens and the their position

duties

earth,

A comparison

which describe these and

the

and they, according to

of the passages in Rabbinic literature similar

matters connected with the

Hebrew mythology with Egyptian

angels, spirits, etc., of ancient

texts shows that both the Egyptians

latter

with

and importance, became the interpreters of the Will

of the Deity.

ideas in

connected

common, and

all

the

and Jews possessed many

evidence goes to prove that the

borrowed from the former in the

earliest period.

In comparatively late historical times the Egyptians intro-

duced 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.

parative Egyptian and Semitic mythology

The subject of comis one which has yet

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 to be

languages

are

akin.

Others

again

have sought to

the mythology of the Egyptians by appeals to

and

to illustrate

religious texts

Aryan mythology^

the meanings of important Egyptian words in

by means

of

Aryan

etymologies, but the results

are wholly unsatisfactory, and they only serve to 1

explain

See the chapter "

Was

die

menger, Entdechten Judenihums,

show the

Judeu von den guten Engeln lehren

vol.

ii.

p.

370

ff.

futility

" in Eisen-

THE OLDEST GODS OF EGYPT

8

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

of the great gods worshipped

number

were Avorshipped

The

North-East Africa, and that a very large

also

by

his

by the dynastic Egyptian

jDredecessor in predynastic

conquerors of the Egyptians of the

times.

Neolithic Period who,

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

have been more or

akin to the Proto- Semites, no doubt

less

brought about certain modifications in the worship of those they had vanquished, but

they could not

whom

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 beliefs

have at present no means of knoAving how far the religious

of the

conquerors influenced the conquered peoples of

Egypt, but viewed in the light of well-ascertained facts tolerably certain that

it

seems

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

The Egyptians never forgot the ancient

were enshrined.

gods of the country, and

which they displayed

in

it

is

typical of the spirit of conservatism

most things that even in the

Roman

Period pious folk

INDIGENOUS BELIEFS

9

among them were buried with

the same prayers

and with the same ceremonies that had been employed at the The burial of Egyptians nearly five thousand years before. Egyptian of the Roman Period,

Egyptian of the Early

like the

Empire, was content to think that his body would be received in

tomb by the jackal-headed Anubis that the organs of his corruptible body AYould be presided over and guarded by animal-

the

;

headed 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

and that the beatified dead would be introduced to the 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. of

Thoth

god

;

Osiris

From

first to last

the indigenous Egyptian paid

own

events which happened outside his

little

country,

heed to the

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

stocked with cattle, where he would enjoy the parents,

and be able

adored upon earth.

homestead, well

company

to worship the local gods

The priestly and upper

whom

of his

he had

classes certainly held

views on these subjects which differed from those of the husband-

man, 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 teristics all

all

periods of her history, and gave to her the charac-

which were regarded with astonishment and wonder by

who came in contact with the Egyptians. The predynastic Egyptians in the earliest stages

the peoples

existence, like

most savage and semi-savage peoples, believed that

the sea, the earth, the

with

spirits,

of their

some of

air,

and the sky were

whom

filled to

overflowing

were engaged in carrying on the works

BELIEF IN SPIRITS

10 of nature,

and others

in aiding or obstructing

man

in the course

was upon earth. Whatsoever happened 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. in nature

of his existence

Such

spirits,

mental eyes, were very real

although invisible to

creatures in their

minds, and

to

them they attributed

passions which belong to man, and

thought possible to endow

any object with a

spirit or soul,

natural and

artificial,

and

it

provided a name was given to

which we

who

were thought

it

The

objects,

both

consider to be inanimate were

regarded by the predynastic Egyptians as animate, and in respects they

was

drawing or figure until the object

animated was broken or destroyed.

it

spirit,

a representation, or model, or figure of

this spirit or soul lived in the

which

and powers

all his faculties

Everything in nature was inhabited by a

also.

the

all

to resemble

man

himself.

infested every part of the visible world

forms, and they differed from each other in

The

many spirits

were countless 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

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 shine was

distinguished at a very early period, and the half-savage inhabitants of

Egypt must

at the

same time have made a sharp

distinc-

tion between those whose operations Avere beneficial to them, and

upon them injury, loss, or death. It how they might imagine that certain great natural

those whose actions brought is

easy to see

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 objects

period of the Inundation to ensure an abundant crop throughout

was excessive, and they drowned the and washed away the houses of the people, whether made of

the land cattle

;

but when their

rise

ANIMALS AND REPTILES mud, or when they rose

wattles or

and famine, the and

An

ample

and caused want

insufficiently

be considered unfriendly

spirit of the Nile Avould

man.

evil to

and

11

Inundation was

sufficient

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

day in Egypt among the peasant-

feeling exists to this

me

farmers, for several natives told rise of the

Nile of the

XlXth

with them, and would not

added that in

all his life

in 1899, the year of the lowest

century,^ that " Allah

come

the water

let

"

;

was angry

and one

man

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 his-

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 tory.

from the period when

in historic times, but their existence dates

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,

which they

belonged was longer than the largest python known. ^ of

was

the

great

Apep were

serpent-devil

their master to the Sun-god,

terror

by the minds

liand, there 1

The

have recently been found in the FayyCim.

vertebrae are said to indicate that the creature to

of those

s|)irits

level of tlie

normal, and in December the level at

allies

man

to

as

and they were regarded with

who had evolved them.

were numbers of

In October, 1899, the

hostile

as

The

On

the other

whose actions were friendly

water of Lake Victoria was 2

Aswan was

5

ft.

8

ins.

ft.

below the

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."

Geological Mag., vol.

viii.,

1901,

p,

438.

C.

W.

Andrews, D.Sc, in

HEAVEN AND HELL

12

and beneficial

on

to

man, and some of these were supposed

to do battle

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 goodwill, or at

all

spirits

whose

events whose inaction, could only be obtained by

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 bribes,

i.e.,

offerings,

and cajolery and

flattery

;

who were supposed

towards himself; and of a third company

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

diligently the workings

small and great.

were ahvays engaged in carrying out

i'act,

The

and evolutions of spirits

to

whom

all

natural things, both

in predynastic times the

Egyptians ascribed a nature malicious or unfriendly towards man,

and who were regarded much goblins, hobgoblins,

gnomes,

as

modern nations have regarded

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

To

greatest and most evil of their number. time, were joined the spirits of evil

these, in process of

men and women, and

the

prototype of hell was formed by assuming the existence of a place

where

By

evil spirits

and their

still

more

evil chiefs lived together.

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

immortality.

The

sufficiently to

chiefs of the

conceive the doctrine of

company of

evil spirits

subsequently

became the powerful devils of historic times, and the rulers company of beneficent and good spirits became the gods the ;

of the third company,

i.e.,

of the spirits

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 proofs of this in religious texts

and compositions.

the Sun-god, under whatsoever

name he

the greatest wonder

he

is

is

is

13

In the hymns to

worshipped,

we

find that

expressed at his majesty and glory, and that

apostrophised in terms which show forth the awe and fear of

his devout

adorer.

described, the

is

and setting

is

unfailing regularity

mentioned, reference

moment

passes in a

His triumphant j)assage across the sky

made

is

of his

rising

to the vast distance over

of time, glory

is

which he duly ascribed to him for the

great works which he performs in nature, and full recognition

men and

given to him as the creator of

animals, of birds and

of trees and plants, of reptiles, and of all created things praise of the finite

being

god

is

full

and

who appears

sufficient,

to be

yet

overwhelmed

it

is

fish,

;

the

always that of a

is

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

arrived

at,

and

it is

from the time when

clear that it dates

thought that the good and evil

spirits

greatly different from himself, and

were beings who

who could be

was

man

Avere not

propitiated with

and controlled by means of words of power and by the performance of ceremonies, and moved to action by hymns and

gifts,

addresses.

This belief was present in the minds of the Egyptians

in all ages of their history, and

the

it

Muhammadan Egyptians and

exists in a modified

Sudani

men

true that they proclaim vehemently that there

form among

to this day. is

It is

no god but God,

Muhammad is His Prophet, and that God's power is and absolute, but they take care to guard the persons of themselves and their children from the Evil Eye and from the and that infinite

assaults of malicious

kinds as zealously

and

now

evil spirits,

by means

of amulets of all

as their ancestors did in the days before

EVII. SPIRITS

14 the existence of

men

God Who

is

One was

The caravan

conceived.

Eye

protect their camels from the Evil

of the spirits of the

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 desert

power of God, they select an auspicious day on which to on a journey, and they never attempt to pass certain or ravines,

caves,

members

or

mountains, in the night

of the great family of the Jinn are to

as their equivalents

time.

them

set

out

isolated

All the

as real to-day

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

have been unconsciously j)reserved until the present day.

spirits

The modern

Egyptians

descriptions of

of certain

them by Arabic names, but

call

the

them agree well with those which might be made that appear in

genii

ancient Egyptian mytliological

works treating of the Underworld and

The peoples

its

who

of the Eastern Sudan,

have inherited many ideas and

beliefs

inhabitants. are also

Muhammadans,

from the ancient Egyptians,

wondered at when we remember that the Nubia from the beginning of the XVIIIth Dynasty civilization of to the end of the XXVIth, i.e., from about B.C. 1550 to about A B.C. 550, was nothing but a slavish copy of that of Egypt. 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

and

hills

this is not to be

and deserts

spirits,

are, according to

native belief, peopled with

which are chiefly of a disposition unfriendly to man, and

they are supposed to have the power of entering both beings and animals almost at pleasure. unfruitful,

and

cattle fall sick

human

Palm-trees die or become

through the operations of

evil spirits,

and any misfortune which comes upon the community or upon the individual

they

is

referred to the

call tarahll,

on the

hill,

same cause.

The pyramids, which

are viewed witli almost childish fear

by the natives who, curiously enough, speak of the royal personages

MODERN SUDANI SUPERSTITIONS buried therein as illdhdt, or "gods," and none of them, possibly be avoided, will go

up

after

as they call the sandstone ridge

15 if it

can

into " the mountain,"

sundown

on which they are

Tombs

built.

and cemeteries are carefully avoided at night as a matter of course, but to approach the pyramids at night

which

is

sure to bring

spirits of the kings,

down upon

is

regarded as a wilful act

the visitor the wrath of the

who have by some means acquired

a divine

When I was opening one of 1897, Muhammad wad Ibrahim,

character in the eyes of the natives.

the pyramids at Jebel Barkal in

long as daylight lasted, but after this

workmen

work as had been done for two or

the shekh of the village, tried to keep the

three evenings, several of the wives of the

at

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

cool of the evening.

came

forth to enjoy the

The same idea prevailed further south among

who lived on the river near the pyramids of Bakrawiyeh, mark which the site of the royal necropolis of the ancient city of Berua, or Marua, i.e., Meroe. The local shekh was appointed to

the people

go with

me and

pyramids at

to help in taking

this place,

measurements

of

some of the

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 ;

;

MODERN SUDANI SUPERSTITIONS

16

masonry

for the use of the

workmen

;

and when a harmless snake,

about eight feet long, which had also crawled there to drink, was

one morning by the men, their fears of impending

killed

evil

were

confirmed, for they were certain that the spirit of a king had been

and they expected that vengeance would be taken upon

killed,

them by the divine spirits of his companions. About halfway up Jebel Barkal there lived four large hawks 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 which always seemed

to be following

;

figures

still

remain sculptured and painted on the walls of the rock-

hewn 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

Their connecting the hawks with the figures of the

a past age.

gods sculptured in the sanctuary of

same

Amen-Ra

is

worthy of note,

seems to show that on such matters they thought along the

for it

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

inscribed with certain symbols, of the

meaning of which, however,

he has no knowledge, but which are due, he spirits in

protect

them.

many

Women

when

says, to the presence of

and children, especially female children,

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

we could learn from the Sudani folk the reasons which prompt them to make use of such things, we should probably on the dead, and,

if

find that the beliefs

The above

facts

which underlie the customs are

also identical.

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,

appear to be the case at

amount of information of a

large

who

first sight,

similar kind awaits the investigator,

will devote the necessary time to living in

bank

In

some of the

out-of-

dAvell

on the

and of the Blue Mle. places in Southern Nubia and the Eastern

of the Nile

many

Sudan are

may

and the writer believes that a

the-way villages of the black (not negro) peoples who eastern

as

isolated

which men regard with reverence, but

trees

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

animals,

e.g.,

when

travelling.

Still

further to the south certain

the cynocephalus ape, which plays such a prominent

part in dynastic Egyptian mythology, are supposed to be inhabited

by divine

and to possess extraordinary powers of intelligence

spirits

in consequence,

and the various kinds of scarabaei, or

thought to be animated by

spirits,

beetles, are

which the natives connect with

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 the sun.

"

Under the wide-spreading branches of an enormous heglik-tree, and on a and sprinkled with fine sand, the Bedeyat beseech an unknown god to duêct them in their undertakings and to protect them from 1

" spot beautifully clean "

" danger." 3

Slatin Pasha, Fire- and Sivord in the Sudan, London, 1896, p. 114*.

Ibrahim Rushdi, Clerk

January,

1895, that in

Benha, in Lower Egypt, told me in the beetles were boiled, and the grease

of Telegraphs at

many

districts

come off. The bodies are 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 Stick a splinter of wood through a series of beetles for twelve hours follows extracted from

them

;

as they are being boiled the shells

next roasted in olive

:

when

oil,

—

a child

is

about to be born

the last beetle, and dip

be done in the proper

C

it

in

way

;

Tcohl,

when

the child

is

and rub the eyes

born, pull the splinter out of of the child

with

the child will never suffer from sore eyes.

it.

If this

FORMS OF EVIL SPIRITS

18

with the Sun-god Ra, and in religious texts of

periods

all

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

man, of

spirits beneficent

of spirits

towards man, and of

wholly occupied with carrying out

we must now

hostile

spirits

the various

towards

which were

operations

of

manner and The commonest form in which a was believed to make itself visible to man was that of some or bird, or fish, or reptile, and at a very early period

Nature, and

which

forms in

consider the

they became visible to man. spirit

beast,

adoration, in one form or another, of the so-called inferior animals

was well-nigh universal began animals,

At

in Egypt.

the time

as well as inanimate objects,

by the inhabitants

in attributing speech

to

Primitive

man saw

worship

removed from

nothing ridiculous

inanimate objects and animals, which

were supposed to think, and reason, and act contains

this

were not considered

of the Nile Valley to be greatly

themselves in intelligence.

and the religious

when

literature of

numerous proofs of

many

this

tablets found in the ruins of the

like

human

beings

;

of the most ancient nations

fact.

Among

the baked clay

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 " Fable of the Horse and the Ox,"

dialogue

this (b.c.

did

^

and

it is

is

now known

as the

tolerably certain that

not originate in the reign of Ashur-bani-pal

668-626), although the tablet on which

not older than his time.

it

was written

Again, in the Creation

Legend the

dragon-monster Tiamat, the representative of the powers of

and darkness,

is

made

to conspire against the gods,

is

and

evil

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

Bahylonum and Assyrian Antiquities, London, 1900, p. 48 Museum, Nineveh Gallery, Table-case C. For the cuneiform tablets in the British Maseum see Nineveh

to the

the fragments are exhibited in the Biitish ~

Galler p. 1

ff.

Ibid, p. 36. ,

Table-case A.

See also L.

W.

King, Seven Tablets of Creation,

vol.

i.,

TALKING ANIMALS, TREES, From

the Bible

we

ETC.

19

Hebrews held the same

learn that the

views as their kinsmen on this matter, and

Eve by his the Lord (G-enesis

serpent beguiled and seduced

we

are told that the

made her

speech, and

break the

command

she-ass of

Balaam remonstrated with her master and asked him

why

of

iii.

he had smitten her three times (Numbers

note in passing that this animal

and that the

We may

xxii. 28).

have been able to see the

said to

is

1 ff.)?

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

we

for ''

over them

When

;

and they said unto the

which refused to leave this

olive tree,

Reign thou over

the olive tree refused, they went to the

same request, and when the on

as inanimate,

read that the trees " went forth on a time to anoint a king

its

fig tree refused,

fig tree

us."

with the

they went to the vine,

wine " which cheereth Grod and man

" ;

they applied to the bramble, which placed before them the

choice of coming and putting their trust in

burnt by the

which should come

fire

its

shadow, or of being

forth from out of

itself.

In

connexion with this idea may, perhaps, be mentioned the incident recorded in

and

Numbers

xxi. 17, wherein

we

are told that the princes

nobles digged a well " with their staves "

by the

direction of

the lawgiver, and that the Children of Israel sang this

"Spring up,

well;

Many

sing ye unto it."

might be quoted from Hebrew literature

to

song,

other examples

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 indica-

moved by motives and passions As a typical example may be similar to those of human beings. in the quoted the instance of the cow, Tale of the Two Brothers^

tions that they believed

them

to be

THE DOG-HEADED APE

20

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

took to

man having

flight,

and

;

seen the feet of his brother under the door

so saved his

Here we have another proof

life.

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.

be noted the very important part which

is

Here, too, must

played in the Judgment

Scene in the Booh of the Dead by animals. In the Story of the also we Shijnvrech are told concerning a huge serpent thirty cubits long, with a beard

the unfortunate

two cubits long, which made a long speech

man who was wrecked on

to

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

Company

Balance, which takes place in the presence of the Great of the gods,

that

who

must be

Thoth,

who

act as judges,

by

ratified

Osiris,

according to the report of the god

and secretary

acts as scribe

hoped that

and who pass the sentence of doom,

The Egyptian

to the gods.

would exactly counterbalance the

his heart

feather,

symbolic of Maat or the Law, and neither wished nor expected to outweigh

The

it,

for

he detested performing works of supererogation.

act of weighing

was

carefully

watched by Anubis the god of

the dead, whose duty was to cast to the Eater of the hearts which failed to balance the feather exactly

;

Dead

who was

the

and by the

guardian angel of the deceased, on behalf of the deceased a dog-headed ape,

it

;

and by

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 com-

panion of the god Thoth, and he was supposed to be skilled in the art of computation,

measurement of time

and in the science of numbers, and ;

his

duty at the weighing of the heart was

to scrutinize the pointer of the scales, and, having

the

beam

of the scales

the

in

was exactly

made sure

level, i.e., that the

that

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 ape seated on the

the case under consideration.

Scales belongs to a species which

now

is

pillar of the

only found in the Sudan,

but which in late predynastic or in early dynastic times might

have been found

and even

clever,

modern times

in

by the

natives,

who

order,

and that

its

The dog-headed ape

over Egypt.

all

believe that

cunning

high esteem in which

it

is

regarded with

is

its

intelligence

very

is

much

respect

of the highest

is

far superior to that of

man

;

the

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

be

also

remeriibered

that

represents the sunrise in the Booh of the

or seven dog-headed apes

is

the vignette which

in

Dead

a

company

depicted in the act of adoring the god

of day, as he rises on the eastern horizon of heaven

on their hind

of six

;

they stand

and their forepaws are raised in adoration, and

legs

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

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 of the

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

dawn were

is

not stated in the text whether the spirits of the

created afresh each day or not, or whether the

monkeys

transformed themselves into spirits daily, and so were able to

We

greet the rising sun each morning. idea

the

ancient for

may, however, connect

concerning them with that which

Hebrew

description

^

met with in an Hebrew mythology,

is

of the angels of

one group of "angels of service" from the river of

supposed to be created daily in order to sing one

Almighty and then Passing

now to

to

come

hymn

were

to Grod

to an end.

the consideration of the worship of animals

the Egyptians of the predynastic and dynastic periods, 1

fire

Compare Eisenmenger,

op.

cit.,

vol.

yh'^y\

ii.,

p.

371.

n'vw noNi

'i''^

Li

Sahii ]ahu

dr

neterii

Orion,

with

the gods.

du

^^^^^

^^^

II

-^^

i

en

7iem

u

i

i

TJnds

hJiatu

Hath repeated Unas

[his] rising

{sic)

u

^

em

jpet

in

heaven.

du

heseh

....

He

is

nef

-

He hath counted up

O

tesu

he hath eaten

•f\

du

of the gods.

nef

lord

du

livers.

r>

the hearts

-

as

A

Miut of the horizon.

thet

nef

Sô'

/VNAAAA

/l

dm

He hath

-

He hath taken possession of

518.(j^+-_

111 neteru

am

neh

heqesu

knots [and]

hdtu

du

em

the seben crown

laQC]

.

sehen

teshert

nef

-

eaten

the

Red Crown,

uatchetu

usheb

TJnds

em

the White Crown.

Feedeth

Unas

upon

smau

saau

hetepf

em-

dnkh

em

entrails

fat,

his offering

whereon

live

in [their] hearts

[is

hdtu

that]

AA/VW\

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS

54

heJcau

-

du

dsth-f

seî

Unas

words of power. Behold,

their

Unas

nesb

-

/

sebeshu

what

eateth

cast

is

out

U

1^ dmu [from]

Red Crown,

the

-^ em

dn

kz!

^\

ma-f

du

dm

[his] period of life

sdh

-

/

his sah.

U AA/VWV

•

turned back

-

eaten

A

o o

c

en

this

what

sen

words of power

±^l\

(3)

sahu

JJnds

the sahu

of

Unas

1 en

neter

neb

the intelligence

of

god

every,

[is] eternity,

])e7L

-

sda

nej

pd neheh

dhdu

in

is

em

hem

their

helm

H

He hath

from him.

em

not

his belly,

he flourisheth,

_^^^^

Jchat-f

are in

9

520.

du

uakhha -/

df

teshert

pd

tcher-f

his existence

is

everlastingness

merer -/

he

is

tchetta

pleased [to do]

dr

-

f

he doeth,

SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS mestchetch

-

an

f

[what] he hateth

not doeth he

neheh

tcJietta er

for ever

dr-nef

and

kJiu

Behold,

spirits their

er

AAWV\

I

qesu

-

I

sen

their bones,

.

(1= A/VVW\

em

[are] with

Unas,

more

ha

abundant

c±tp]

neteru

qerert

en

TJnds

The flame

of

Unas

J^^

yb

I

kher

ha-sen

behold,

their soul

(]=' AA/WV\

.â

sen

dii

is

"I

with

em

TJnds

shadows

khd

kJia

1

dru

rising, rising,

hidden,

hidden,

a sekhem

having performed

I

'^

fl

dritu ....

'

AAAAAA

AAAAAA

\^\

'I

I

1

Q Q

enen

sekhem

111

in

[is]

their

dmen

-^

em

jTci^^

with these,

is

f

his food

523.

fgy] 1^ \\

^"^

_£lF^

[is]

khaibitu-sen

Unas,

-^Pt^V ]

I

TJnds

Unas

I

T

n

I

sek

-

^

/WWV\

-

kliet

—

v

Unas,

in

[is]

dmen

1

TJnds

^-Q,

their forms.

1

dmt

sen

-

of the horizon

in

dru

are with

khut

their soul

(l

v wj

or

|

"gods;" the '

|

Jj

plural

is

^^^ common word

•

netert, which can be written T'^, or 1 ^=>,

^=>; sometimes the determinative of the word

or

,

used both as the determinative of this

an ideograph

sometimes written out in for

is

^

is

a

woman,

I

J)

,

and at other times a serpent,

"1

^=>

The

plural

is

^^^® ôw to cousidcr what object

is

e.g.

.

J)^

NETERiT, I

^^ ^4 ^ B\

'•

^®

supposed to be represented by

,

and what the word neter means.

|

In Bunsen's Egypt's Place described

(i.,

as a hatchet; in

Nos. 556, 557, 623) the late Dr. Birch

1872 Dr. Brugsch placed ^ T among

I

"objets tranchants, armes," in his classified 1

list

of hieroglyphic

Index des MeroglyjpJies pTionetiques, No. 39 i.

THE AXE A SYMBOL OF GOD

64

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 characters

;

thus

it is

clear that the

From

and fastened in a long wooden handle. the hieroglyphics are coloured

the texts wherein

tolerably clear that the axe-head

it is

by means of thongs of leather. The made of stone, or flint or chert, and later of earliest axe-heads were 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 was fastened

to its handle

was considerably modified. Recently an attempt has resembled in outline " a roll of been made to show that the axe, " yellow cloth, the loAver part bound or laced over, the upper part to the handle

,

|

" 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

" alone."

But

-^

it

wound round with

cloth

and not the cloth

need hardly be said that no evidence for the

Whether the hierowas copied from something which was a roll of cloth or

correctness of these views

glyphic

is

forthcoming.

I

a fetish matters

little,

for the only rational determination of the

made by Drs. Birch and represented by is, in the

that which has already been

character

is

Brugsch,

and the object which

writer's opinion,

Mr. Legge

is

|

an axe and nothing has

emblem

presence of the axe as an

number

a

collected^

else,

of

examples of the

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 priest

in Chaldaean

upright upon an

garb

altar.

ofl'ering

is

sacrifice

a representation of a to

an axe standing

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

" fastenings of the earlier 1

is

often represented with the peculiar

flint

Griffith, Hieroglyphs, p. 46.

weapon shows that 2

its

symbolic use

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,

could be adduced in support of this view.

end of a

formed an

stick

weapon known

earliest

man found

and many

The stone

facts

tied to the

which was probably the

effective club,

to the predynastic Egyptians,

and subse-

weapon could be made more effective still and by rubbing down one end of it The earliest axe-head had a cutting edge to form 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 quently

that this

by making the stone

flat

;

period which

is

Museum^

preserved in the British

20,792), where, however, the

forked wooden handles.

axe-heads

(Nos. 20,790,

appear to be fixed in

next form the axe-head has only one cutting edge, and the back of it is shaped for fastening to In

its

When we

a handle by means of leather thongs.

importance that the axe, whether as a weapon or primitive man,

we need not wonder

that

it

consider the tool,

became

to

was to

him

first

the symbol of physical force, or strength, and then of divinity or

By means

of the axe the predynastic Egyptians cut and slaughtered animals, in other words, the weapon

dominion.

down

trees

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

the symbol of the ceremonies themselves.

head

as given

would

easily pass into

The shape

by the common hieroglyphic |

of the axe-

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 Taking an axe, ^

Aê

See

F

my

effective than ever.

for granted, then, that the hieroglyphic

may

be sure that

History of Egypt,

vol.

it

ii.,

was used p. 10,

as a

where

it is

T

represents

symbol of power and figured and described.

THE WORD NETER

66

by the predynastic Egyptians long before the period when they were able to write, but we have no means of knowing what

divinity

they called the character or the axe before that period. dynastic times they certainly called

another difficulty presents

itself to

it

us

neter

as

when we

we have

In

seen, but

word the word it

try to find a

that will express the meaning Avhich they attached to

;

most important to obtain some idea of this meaning, for at the hase of it lies, no doubt, the Egyptian conception of divinity or is

The word neter has been discussed by many Egyptologists,

God.

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

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 ^'himself everlasting youth

^

^'

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)

word nutra (netra), and the meaning of both was

said

is

by Renouf

to be found in the Coptic rtoJUtTe or rfOJUi+, which, as

see from the passages quoted

rendered by the Greek words

by Tatham tcr^^vg,

another

we may

in his Lexicon (p. 310),

7rapdKkiqcn- ^ [v^

"lord of Barn,"

and in any case

spelt,

Mer-en-Ra

styled " son of Net,"

is

XVIIIth Dynasty

J

216,

^ "V^, and he

is

also

565); but

if

the

(line

name

of this place

is

mis-

Bakhau,

identical Avith the

^^C)untain of the Sunrise of Chapter cviii.

Booh of the Dead. The following is a principal gods mentioned in the Pyramid Texts of the

of the other

list

:

Ahu

(Pepi

II.

850) r^^^-^

Ana (Unas t\

1

Anpu Aker (Unas 498,

614, Teta 309)

Api (Unas 487)

I]

V

Ap-uat (Unas 187)

Amen

D

f^

^

An-mut-f (Pepi

772)

11.

651)

I.

^ Akhet-nen-tha (Teta 307)

(Unas 557)

^

/WV\AA

^

/wwv^

t\

iii)f

Ament (Unas

j^

(j

(Unas 71, 207, 219)

An-tcher-f (Pepi

.

H

272, 275)

mn 1

"\

n 1

557) Asar, Osiris (passim)

Am-henth-f (Pepi

I.

A

666) Ast, Isis (Unas 181)

Am-sepa-f (Pepi

I.

Asken (Pepi

666)

or

Pepi

Ahu

II.,

1.

1324)

t\

^

Min (Unas 377)

Amset (Teta 1

II.

A

xiter-asfet (Pepi II. 980)

S'ttttS

Amsu

f\

"^

60, 197)

h

|\

Ankh

appears to be identical with ^=^1320.

,

(Pepi

who

is

I.

672)

Amsu

or

f Min

-aofc-

;

see

GODS OF THE PYRAMID TEXTS

80

I-en-lier-pes

^^.

(Unas 392) variants

Ualm

(Teta 333)

Ur-sheps-f (Pepi

are

^^^^ Vi>

f{lfW I.

671)

^

Ment (Pepi

'^

°

11.

Mentef (Pepi

'

=

849)

II.

Urt-hekau (Unas 269)

(1

\

1228)

V

Urt (Unas 272)

The

"

Menth (Mer-en-Ra 784)

Meht-urt (Unas 427, 623)

^

Usert (Unas 229)

Uthes (Pepi

II.

"]

P

"T Meht-urt (Unas 427, 623)

976)

cxzzx:

fwv\/V\ "^^^^^^^ _JX_~^

A.AAAAA /VW\AA

Ba (Mer-en-Ra

784)

o^

^J

Baba (Unas 532)

J

Babi (Unas 644, 647)

J^ J

Baabu

(Pepi

I.

568)

L

569)

I.

645)

Em-khent-maati (Pepi

I.

645)

1

(]()

J "^f) J^

Babua (Pepi I. 604) J Bastet (Pepi

Em-khent-maati (Pepi

"^ J^(]'

^

-C2>-

^^

Nesert (Unas 269)

Heru-aah (Teta 365)

—

M

'—

Neti (Unas 279)

cr^lf^

Netetthab (Unas 598)

^ ^

^^

^

'

|fl

Heru-am-henu (Unas 211)

'O'

Renenut (Unas 441)

Heru-khent-peru (Unas 202)

Rurutha (Pepi H. 976, 979)

H eru-kliesbetcb-maat i(Unas3 69)

Hepath (Pepi

I.

636)

Hem-khuttha (Unas 471)

Henena (Pepi

I.

636)

Hetchhetch (Pepi

I.

^m n

ral|.;^(ji

173)

Hem-Tat (Unas

(Unas 439)

Hep (Unas

Hep

^

^ -^

187)

Hep-ur (Unas 481)

| ^

^P/\^

Heru-tesher-maati (Unas 369)

Hettenuut (Teta, 332)

Hu

Heru-Sept (Unas 465)

^

218)

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

I.)

°

(Teta 60, 197)

Her-hepes (Unas 226) Id

—> § —°*

"^

In the

Empire they occupy the place of

^f

Horus of Behutet, the modern

Edfu,

i.e.,

to have

THE GOD OF FOUR FACES

85

who

are supposed

the workers in metal, or blacksmiths,

god into Egypt, and to have assisted him establishing his supremacy at Behutet, or Edfu.

accompanied

this

by their weapons in The exploits of this god will be described treating of Horus generally. In the text of Pepi

I.

(line

who

on in the section

419) Ave have a reference to a god

with four faces in the following words "

later

:

— " Homage to thee,

hast four faces which rest and look in turn

" Kenset,^

" Pepi thy

and who bringest storm

two

fingers

thou

upon what

is

Grant thou unto

!

which thou hast given

in

this

to the goddess Nefert,

" the daughter of the great god, as messenger fs] from heaven to " earth

when

make

the gods

Thou

their appearance in heaven.

" 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 Pepi

''boat, for this

this

Pepi with thee in the cabin of thy

the son of the Scarab which

is

is

born in

" Hetepet beneath the hair of the city of lusaas the northern,

"he

is

the offspring of Seb.

It is

and

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 " thrusteth

down

is

dear to thee, thy pointed weapon which

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

gods," |p

=?^

of

*'

^

bowing low

to the

mniiTi'

that the king's bread consists of "the

IJ 1

~ ~ U

3

^-^

AAA/W\

—H— ^^

ground before the nine

^^^ ^^

^^^^

^^^

^'^ ^^^

**-*^^

word^ of Seb which cometh

•

P^-^"^

tchet

means

literally "

"matter," like the Hebrew

1^1.

word," but

it

often

is

used to express " thing,"

PAUT OR SUBSTANCE OF THE GODS

86

forth from the

mouth of the nine male

''^^^"^

A.WWV I

I

is

I

said in line

by the nine and in

we

II

I

M

by

is

1]

-\ h^J 1^^11111111,;

said to be the "chief of the nine gods,"

From

company

^^^^

'

several passages

of nine gods

^ '^

i

" ^^^®

^^^®

"the gods,"

side with

imnni

I

was

Unas 251)

(e.g.,

called the " Great,"

^"^' ^^^ ^^^* another company was called the "Little,"

TmniTI ^^ of side

.> ]

M MT

ll 11

learn that one

Tnmi

'^^^

JN^^^^v-

1

592 Ra

O ?

n '^î^

^^ J rm "^^ Seshaa,

o^^ " 382 to have been begotten by Seb and brought forth j]

gods,"

line

gods," ^°^ ^^w^

»^^^ ^^ Horns

i„

"

are

spoken

p— IH 0^^

V

whether

is

^^^^^ ^'^^^' ^^^^*

this

group

to

be connected with the Great or Little company of gods cannot be

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, said.

and

'

his .noutl.

is

v:>

and

two

;

J

P-e," ^ in

^^ ^^^^1^^^=]=1^=]^=]=]=]^T (fi]

Pepi

line 273,

I.,

where we read that the

Meri-Ra are the eighteen gods/'

lips of

mmnmmiin

'

cs::;

I

f ©

nn

n

^^^ again in Kne 407, Avhere Pepi

said to be " with the eighteen gods in

" fashioner of the eighteen gods," |

"^

K

^ ^

'

COMPANIES OF THE GODS polisj

and

find

Ave

companies

three

all

87

represented

thus

minniimnnnnimn"

The Egyptian word here rendered pautj which

may

A^

be written either D

meaning usually attached

to

it

company " v^

1^

or

has been " nine."

pauti or

is

®, and

the

found in

It is

texts subsequent to the period of the pyramids at Sakkara thus

written:

— ^^

'

yj^f^

double company of the gods pautti, or

we may have

paut neteru Little

netcheset,

company

neteru,

i^*^^*^

|

'^

jpciut

of the gods"; the

|

^ i.e.,

is

expressed by

^

^„

\\\

...T

A^ '^^ vi> ^ 7^^ X r^ ^^ ^^, paut neteru dat

"the Great company of gods and the

The

of the gods."

represented by nine axes,

ll

|

fact that a

]|

]

|

||j

company

of gods is

^^s led to the

common

company of the gods contained nine gods, and reason the word p)C(ut has been explained to mean " nine."

belief that a this is

for

It

quite true that the Egyptians frequently assigned nine gods to

the paut, as especially

we may

from

line

Unas may

this

company

see

283,

rule

of the gods,"

M Mil Mr

from such passages

where

the nine,

A ^^^

But the

last

(]

it

said,

is

and that he

^

zl

T f

^

[]

Unas 235/ and

as

" Grant thou

may °

f]]

complete the

"""§'4^ "

quoted passage proves that

the gods might contain more than nine divine beings, for that

if

to in

that

a.

paut of

it is

clear

the intent of the prayer was carried out the jxtut referred 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

Shu, Tefnutr-Seb, Nut, i.e.,

ff.)

Isis,

we Set,

see that the paiit contains

ten gods, without counting the deceased,

added to the number of the gods. (line

^^

who wished

to

be

In the text of Mer-en-Ra

205) the paut contains nine gods,^ and

-

Tem,

Nephthys, Thoth, and Horus,

it

is

described as the

COMPANIES OF THE GODS

88 " Great

Pepi

which

jja? yj ^3:7

was nf ^ Ba-neb- Tattu, ... [All &

corrupted into " Mendes

7

its

god. o

The name Tattu ... was

"

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

city

is,

The words Ba-neb- Tattu usually follow here, "House of Osiris, the Ram, lord of Tattu."

therefore the full

name

of

the

AMEN AND ATEN

104

sanctuary in the southern kingdom, but this explanation of the use of the title

is

insufficient.

as the titles " lord of

It

may

further be urged that, inasmuch

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 this be so it matters little, for

their mythological or

earthly

cities,

upon

we know that

heavenly

cities

But even

earth.

if

the Egyptians fashioned

after the

manner

and that their conceptions of things

of their

spiritual

were

based upon things material.

Returning for a moment to the adoption of gods, that from

first

to last the peoj^le of one

nome were

to offer hospitality to the gods of another,

who had come to a new god, or a new group

strangers

settle

and

among them.

Ave

may

generally ready

also to the

At

note

gods of

times, however,

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. at Heliopolis succeeded in

of gods,

Thus the priesthood of Ra or Ra-Tem making their theological system para-

mount in the country, and the whole of the religious philosophy of Until the Theban Boohs of the Dead is based upon their teaching. 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

attempt

Avas successful for

upon a priesthood and province the 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 From what

lias

been said above

it

will

105 be easy to imagine

Egypt must have presented to a who went there and found the country split up into a

the remarkable spectacle which foreigner series of

to

nomes, each possessing

by a body of

priests

its

great god,

who was

ministered

and servants who were amenable to no general

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 authority outside the nome, and

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 As far as can be their nome-gods and their divine companions. 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

suppress them, but they asserted that

all

to

the powers of the other

gods were assimilated in him, and that he was in consequence the greatest of the gods. his

In the texts of Unas and the kings

who were

immediate successors we read of the Great and Little companies

of the gods, but

we

also find

mention of the company of gods of

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

Horus and

of the double

;

^

°^^îmiinixkmmiimninni Unas,

11.

443, 444.

GODS OF HELIOPOLIS

106

same characteristic

we

hood, and

Booh of

hymns

is

observable in the texts of the Theban priest-

find that their

Dead where,

the

god

manifestly, he

in the chapters of that

one form or another, or to address :—

the following

"0

Osiris,

"

Hathor

work

had

little

Tem,

The

claim to be.

are addressed either to Ra, in

Shu,

Tefnet,

Nut,

Seb,

Heru-khuti (Harmachis),

Nephthys,

Menthu, the lord of

Khepera,

of the Great House,

into the

but in Chapter clxxi. we find

Osiris,

''

Set,

Isis,

Amen was even introduced

Amen, the lord of the thrones of the two lands, gods Little company of the gods, company of the gods, Sebek of the two Meht, "and goddesses who dwell in Nu, " Sebek in all thy manifold names in thine every j^lace wherein thy ''

Thebes,

" Great

"

Ka

(i.e.,

" north,

double) hath delight,

ye

who

" grant ye the

gods of the

gods of the south, ye

are in heaven,

who

upon the

are

garment of purity unto the perfect

spirit of

earth,

iVmen-

The greater number of the gods Avhose names are given 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 pre" hetep."

^

in the

served in them.

The Egyptians,

certainly in dynastic times, rarely

abandoned a god, and, speaking generally, little

it

remarkable

is

how

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

many much by

the writers of religious texts to introduce into their works as of the gods as possible, and they were

motives of priestly policy

and by

moved

to do this as

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

of remote towns and cities

one and kings in 1

we

nevertheless find that

had duties assigned

to them,

the gods

and that

them were supposed to minister to the deceased The reason of this is not far to seek. the Underworld. all

See

of

my

Chaj^fers of

Coming Forth by Day

(Trtinslation), p. 315.

HEAVEN

SUBDIVISIONS OF

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 through the length and breadth of heaven, and the only

at will

way

obtain this privilege was to secure the goodwill of the

to

gods of the four quarters of the sky by the recital of prayers of

and by the performance of certain ceremonies,

various kinds,

which were always of a more or

To be

magical character.

less

able to pass at pleasure along the eastern Delta of heaven and

without opposition presupposed the favour of Sept and

and

have power to drink of the waters of the

to

Temu

celestial Nile

presupposed the favour of the god Khnemu, the lord of the Island of Elephantine, close to which were situated, according to tian belief, the sources

of the

The

Nile.

texts of all periods

exhibit an almost childish anxiety to prove that

Egypt

is

every god of

interested in the welfare of the beings in the

who were once mortal men, and

it

Egyp-

was a common

Underworld

belief also in all

periods that the mere asserting in writing that the gods would

minister to the deceased would produce the assistance desired.

enjoy the power to enter into certain

was obliged

to

know

worshipped in them.

cities in

To

heaven the deceased

the various gods or

" Souls "

Thus the Souls

West were Tem, and

of the

who were

Sebek, the lord of the Mountain of Sunrise,

lady of the Evening

;

^

and Hathor, the the Souls of the East were Heru-khuti

(Harmachis), the Calf of the goddess Khera, and the Morning Star

;

H api

the

" "^

;

Souls

and Qebhsennuf Tefnet Sa,

and

of the

;

^

the

Pe were Horus, Mestha, and Nekhen were Horus, Tuamutef,

city of

the Souls of the city of

of Heliopolis were Ra,

Souls

Shu, and

and the Souls of the city of Hermopolis were Thoth,

'"

Similarly every great heavenly city was held to

Tem.*'

contain a

company

to enjoy the in the body,

it

1

Booh of

the

*

Ibid.,

of gods, and the beatified soul

duty of paying

made cxiii.

when

offerings to their earthly counterparts.

Dead, Chap,

Chap,

was thought

visits to their shrines just as,

cviii. ^

Ibid.,

^

IMd,^ Chap. cix.

Chap. cxv.

^

s

J^^V?.,

Chap.

Ibid., Chap. cxvi.

cxii.

DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD

108

In the observations already made concerning the difficulty of

meaning

assigning an exact

^

|,

we have

word

to the

God and

for

" god," neter,

seen that in dynastic times the chief attribute

which was assigned to a god was the power to renew indefinitely,

and

to live for ever,

his life

and the text of Unas has shown

us that in very early times the Egyptian thought he could obtain

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 this

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

become the counterpart or fellow of several gods, and

result he has

that he takes his place

among

company

the

persons of several of their number.

makes every member

A

still

of gods in the proper

further development

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 of the idea

of the

;

" gods watch, each in his place, and they find " the double

company

" chief like a chief,

him

"offerings to

the

company

of the gods,

See Pepi

'^k

in the

form of

words of every

and they bow down before him, and they make is

made

company

of the gods."

in the texts to stand

up

More-

^

at the

head of

of the gods as Seb, the " erpa," or hereditary chief,

and

as Osiris, the governor of the divine powers,

as Horus, the lord of

1

of the gods weighing the

as to the double

over, the deceased

him

I.,

[>-

11.

men and

317, 318.

^^

of gods.^

H

)

"11

and

His bones are the gods

^-^

'^ %\

^

"""^^ fl

/www

k innnmminii' t's ii

niiniiiinnnii.

^-ininmwiP2inj-qpi^ îp^ -^niT =

p«Fi-.i-i«6.

THE DEAD

IJEIFICATION OF and goddesses of heaven

109

his right side belongs to Horus,

^ ;

he becomes the actual son of Tern, or Tem-Ra,

his left side to Set;

and Shu, Tefnet, Seb, and Nut, and he

is

the brother of

Nephthys, Set, and Thoth, and the father of Horus.^

Horus taketh

upon him Bull

the

and

Isis,

The god

own Eye and giveth it to him,^ and he bestoweth own ha or double,^ and never leaveth him, and the JSTine ^ maketh wide his dominions among

his

his

of

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 :

;

Goose

;

^

The skull,

heaven.

is

and raiseth himself up face of Ap-uat,

up

in heaven. ?)

the

of this Pepi

....

^"^^^

is

that of the divine

I

^^^

;

Nu

The

he cometh forth

;

Pepi

this

the

is

he cometh forth and raiseth

The two eyes

at the

of

The face of

in heaven.

of Ra-meri are the great

head of the Souls of

and raiseth himself up

Khens-ur,

is

,

\/ £^ ^^ £^ v^

goddess (Hathor forth

@

he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven.

[hair] of this Pepi

himself

v^

in heaven.

Annu

;

he cometh

The mouth of

this

Pepi

he cometh forth and raiseth himself up

;

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.

in heaven.

;

;

.

1

3

4

1.

265. 5

.

.

.

See Teta,

^5P ^.

;

1.

209.

-^^^ .

Unas

— crm]^_ a:^p— 3

See

A

n

{Becueil), torn,

rCTnl

iii

,

pp. 209-211.

p'p=i->-«'-


110

The CHIN

of this Pepi

is

Khert-Khent-Sekhem,

Cometh forth and raiseth himself up this

Pepi

[the Bull]

is

up

raiseth himself

Pepi are Set

;

The [breast] forth

Sma,

^

1

r|Tj|

^ ^

;

\q cometh forth and

.

The shoulders and arms of

in heaven.

he

The backbone of

in heaven. ^Sv

^

this

he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in heaven. of this Pepi

is

^^

Baabu, J

and raiseth himself up in heaven.

^^®

cometh

The heart

of this

fl

J

y

5

he cometh forth and raiseth himself up 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

Ra-meri

is

Bastefc

;

in heaven.

;

;

himself up in heaven.

The buttocks, ® D

^"^^^ 'C? '3''

of this

Ra-meri are

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 soulthe

^

;

;

;

gods at the head of Sekhet-tcher himself up in heaven.

The

^

;


soles of the

meri are the double Maati boat

two eeet ^ of

this

Ra-

he cometh forth and raiseth The heels (?), "^ ^, of this Pepi are the he cometh forth and raiseth himself up in ;

himself up in heaven. Souls

of

Annu

;

heaven."

In the XVIIIth Dynasty versions of Avritten in

papyri containing the

this interesting text

were

of the Dead, and of these the following exhibit variant readings which appear to indicate

changes of

TJooJo

belief.

D

AAAAAA

A,WVNA

minim

XA

^

o

5

(i

DEIFICATION OF THE DEAD From the Papyrus of

Fkom the Papyrus of Nu. (Brit.

Mus., No. 10,477, sheet

111

(Brit. Mus.,

6.)

Ani.

No. 10,470, sheet 32.)

"The hair of Osiris Ani is the My hair is the hair of Nu. " hair of JSTu. My face is the face of the Disk. " My eyes are the eyes of Hathor. " The face of Osiris Ani is the " My ears are the ears of Ap-uat. " face of Ra. " My nose is the nose of Khenti- " The eyes of Osiris Ani are the

"

"

" khas.

*'My

lips are the lips of

"My

teeth ''

"

" eyes of Hathor.

My

the

are

neck

My

Anpu.

teeth

"My

backbone

is

Sai's.

My

phallus

My

"

My

My

"

My

"

back are the

My

Eye

"

My

"

[My

fingers]

and

my

" are the fino-ers

leg-bones

and

no member of

The

The

"The "

leo;-

my

the

of

Ani

Osiris

Lady

of Sais.

Ani

of Osiris

is

Ani

chest of Osiris

the

of

is

the

Lords

of

flesh of Osiris

Ani

is

the

" flesh of Aa-shefit.

reins

and back of

Ani

are

the

reins

Osiris

and

" back of Sekhet.

" bones of the Living Gods. is

is

" Kher-Aha. "

feet are the feet of Ptali.

"There

The fore-arms

" chest

hips and legs are the hips

"

is

" the backbone of Set.

of Horus.

" and legs of Nut.

Ani

of Osiris

"The backbone

and back of Sekhet.

buttocks are the buttocks

Ani

of Osiris

" are the fore-arms of the

the chest of Aa-

and

" of the "

The throat

"

belly " belly

Ani are

of Osiris

" throat of Mert.

" sheht. "

the

" the shoulder of Uatchet. "

is

is

Isis.

The shoulder

reins are the reins of the

chest

Ani

" the hands of Ba-neb-Tattu.

the phallus of

" Lords of Kher-aha.

are the

Ani are the

of Osiris

The hands

the backbone

" Osiris.

Ani

Anpu.

" neck of "

" is

are the

"teeth of Serqet.

fore-arms

Lady of

Ani

teeth of Osiris

"The neck

" of Suti.

"

" lips of

hands are the hands of

" of Neith, the

lips of Osiris

"The

Isis.

My fore-arms are the

"

The

the neck of the

is

ears of Osiris

" ears of Ap-uat.

"

" Ba-neb-Tattu.

"

The

of

Serqet.

" divine goddess "

"

"

The buttocks

of Osiris

Ani are


112

body which

member

of a

"the buttocks of the Eye

the

not

is

" of Horus.

The

god.

god Thoth shieldeth

my "The

body wholly, and Ra day by day."

am

I

is

" the phallus of Osiris.

"

^

Ani

phallus of Osiris

The

legs of Osiris

Ani

are the

" legs of Nut. "

The

Ani are the

feet of Osiris

" feet of Ptah.

"The

Ani

fino:ers of Osiris

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

" himself

up

is

god, the son of god

;

is

who cometh

Ra hath conceived

" raiseth himself up to heaven. "

who cometh forth and " word of power which

who loveth heaven. Ra hath

the son of Ra,

forth and raiseth himself up to

" sent forth this Ra-meri, " to heaven.


;

This Ra-meri

to heaven.

"him he cometh

:

forth

and raiseth himself up

this Pepi, who cometh Ra hath given birth to

raiseth himself up to heaven. is

in the

forth

and

this Pepi,

This

[is]

the

body of Ra-meri, and he cometh

"forth and raiseth himself up to heaven.

This Ra-meri

is

the

" Great " are

Power among the great company of sovereign chiefs who in Annu, and he cometh forth and raiseth himself up to

"heaven."

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 In the previous pages

the attributes of

tlie

my

has been

chief of the Heliopolitan gods

to the local nome-god,

in each other.

it

and the

identities of

were transferred

both gods were merged

It will,

however, be evident at a glance that there

CJiaj)ter$

of Coming Forth

^

See

2

Line 574,

hi/

Daij (Translation), p. 94.

THE GODS OF HERMOPOLIS were very few state the

localities

which could afford

113

to maintain in a proper

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

many members

contained as

The

as nine.

city

of

Khemennu

(Hermopolis) was famous as the sanctuary of the company of Eight Gods, indeed the

name "Khemennu,"

The names

Eight Gods."

5, means

of these gods Avere

:

—

''the city of the

Nu,

1.

AAAAAA

2-N-.°^=:i. 3.H.,.,||^|. ,.m,..,iiîi. 5.

Kekdi,

^W^-T"^-

^

Kereh,

I

.^^s.

3

8.

.

6.

Kekuit,

Kerehet,

^

^W^-j^'^. 2~~^

|

J)

?

^^^1

7.

with their

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

building, but there

is

Kharga/ and which

is

a comparatively late

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

the gods

Amen

and Ament are made

In some

to take the places of

lists

Nu

of

and

by Nenu and ISTenut; in others Amen and Anient are substituted for Kereh and Kerehet.^ Throughout Egypt generally the company of gods of a to"\vn 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 of such triad members a 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 Nut, and those of Kereh and Kerehet are

filled

1

See Brngsch, Beise nach der grossen Oase el-Khargeh, Leipzig, 1878,

2

For the

lists of

see Bragsch, Beligionimd Mythologie, p. 127. I

pi.

the ])ciiit of Thoth at Edfii, Dendera, Karnak, Philae,

14. etc.,

THE CONCEPTION OF THE TRIAD

114

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 attributes

might of the great Sun-god, which

The feminine counterpart

had absorbed.

local goddess of little or

was usually a

assumed that he

his devotees

or wife of the chief god

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

The conception of

older god had passed away.

when the

the triad or trinity

is,

in Egypt, probably as old as the belief in

seems to be based upon the anthropomorphic The views which were current in the earliest times about them. Egyptian provided the god with a wife, just as he took care to

the gods, and

it

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

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 son, even as

development of the triad. The triad contains two gods and one goddess, but the ennead contains five gods and four goddesses, The being made up of four pairs of deities, and one supreme god. ennead

is,

however, often regarded as a triad of

three enneads of Heliopolis,

of triads are

^ c^ Sebek

III

[l

:

much

(|(|

^

J ^,

^'^"^'^

Amen-R. ()

P

Isis jj

and Amen ^ ^,

p. 270).

of the ennead triad.^

^?^

,

M ^'

^ ^ ^ ^; " D

^;

(]

at

'"^^ I-^^"l^^t^P

and Horus

P^^,

exactly opposite view

is

J^,

^^*"^®^^^* a* Tcheqa,

Memphis,

Ptali

^^''^''^

5

j ^,

'O'o^'

is

Examples

k:^ ^ -^* Mut ^ ^ ^^nd Khensu^^j ^ ^

t ^^^ 5'

Nephthys, and Anubis

An

than that of the

and Heru-pa-khart

triads like Osiris, Isis,

^

The conception

—At Mendes, Ba-neb-Tattu "^ ^:z^ |l,

I

later

and the

111111111111111111111111111

as a triad of a triad of triads.

probably very

triads,

^^jj ^ ^?

IT^S^

;

and

^^^

^®*'

^^^^^"^

taken by M. Maspero (La Mythologie

^^°^"

:Egy])tienne,

POLYTHEISM AND MONOTHEISM

115

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 shipped in several places in Egypt.

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

who were

of local gods,

from among the

in turn chosen

representatives of the gods of the desert, and mountain, and earth,

and

and

water,

and sky, who had been worshipped in Thus in the great company of the gods of

air,

predynastic times.

we have Shu,

Heliopolis

god of Sebennytus

Mendes

;

Isis,

lady of Pe,"

|

;

a form of An-her

Osiris,

a form of the If]

^ L,^^^^

of a district in the fifteenth

,

hi^^=^J|> the local

the local god both of Busiris still

more

^ "p,

i.e.,

nome

Lower Egypt

of

and

ancient goddess " Uatchit,

Buto

;

Tefnet, the goddess ;

etc.

The gods

of the later jDredynastic period were, of course, developed out of

the multitude of spirits, good and bad, in

Egyptians believed, and

it

is

whom

the most primitive

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 for

him

priests in the earliest times

a recognized position.

had succeeded in establishing

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

fundamental change in the views and their gods

larger

;

country than to any

beliefs of the

Egyptians as to

the houses of the gods, or temples, became larger and

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

New

under the

nificent

early period.

But

if

will be seen that the

number

Empire, preserved the essentials of the

we examine

the religious texts carefully

it

Egyptians were always trying to reduce the

of their gods, or, in other words,

from polytheism to monotheism. classes

more mag-

must have held

were always advancing

The priesthood and the educated

religious views

identical with those of the peasant

which were not absolutely

who

cultivated the fields, but

ABSORPTION OF ANCIENT GODS

116

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

general well-being

;

it,

were regarded

the priests and

as essential for their

the educated, on the

other

hand, clung to them because their influence was not sufficiently

powerful to establish a

jôjiular

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 them

ancient gods and the ancient beliefs in

period of the highest culture in Egyj^t

we

;

possible the

hence during the

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

drawn down the Hebrews, the Greeks, and these which have

upon the Egyptians the contempt of the Romans, and even of modern skilled investigators of Egyptian It has not been sufiiciently realized that religion and mythology. the polytheism of the Egyptians had aspects which Avere peculiar to itself,

of this

and the same may be said of one jDhase of the beliefs people which appears to be, and which, the Avriter thinks,

undoubtedly

is,

monotheistic.

When

the

jî'iests

of Heliopolis

formulated their system of theogony they asserted that the god

produced the two gods that issued from himself, i.e., Shu and Tefnut, by masturbation,^ and there is little doubt that in making

Tem

this declaration

they were repeating what the half savage and

primitive Egyptians

may

really have believed; but

Q

1 11.

465, 466

P^

AA/Vv'^

^2i

it

AAA/V\A

would be

NOTION OF DIVINE UNITY utterly

wrong to

117

declare that the priests themselves believed these

a statement represented the views of any

things, or that such

educated person in Egypt on the subject of the origin of the gods. In Chapter xvii. of the Booh of the Deacl'^

which took place between Horus and

fight

who

an allusion to the

is

but no Egyptian

Set,

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,

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 and their

beliefs

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. to study the religious texts

the profound

wisdom

When, however, he began

he found that they did not breathe out

had found.

Avhich others

^'

"no one will accuse me of wishing to belittle more I familiarize myself with them, the more

says,

" the

Certainly," he

the Egyptians I

;

am persuaded

" that they were one of the great nations of the

human

" one

but at the same

of the most

original

and most

creative,

" time that they always remained half savage."

^

race,

and

In other words,

X

PnTÎ^"^^^^" ^J-^^ "

"

j'ai

•'

J'ai era,

au debout de

ma

soutenii pendant longtemps,

carriere,

il

"^ J

(11.67,68).

y a bientot viugt-cinq ans de cela, et Brugsch, que les Egyptians etaient

comme M.

" 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

NOTION OF DIVINE UNITY

118

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

easy to bring a charge of being half

is

savafje ao;ainst a ffreat nation,

founded, and

this case the charo-e

in the writer's opinion,

is,

discovery which

but in

made

is

in

Egypt

ill-

by every more we learn of the

contradicted

for the

;

is

their civilization to

more complete and far-reaching we find have been. The evidence of the monuments of

the Egyptians

however, be sufficient to exhibit the character

ancient Egyptians the

will,

of this civilization in

savage

" is at

true light, and, as the expression " half

its

best very vague,

and must vary

him who uses

to the standpoint of

it,

we

in

meaning according

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

M. Maspero believes that they did not, but on the other hand some of the greatest Egytologists that have that

He

ever lived thought that they did. possessed the greater

most savage of the

number

of their

tribes of the

thinks that the Egyptians

myths

Old and

common with

in

New

the

Worlds, that their

practices preserved the stamp of primitive barbarism, that their

same mixture of grossness and refinement

religion exhibits the

which

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, is

nor even to smooth

its

roughnesses or to soften

its outlines.^

No

" I'autre avec une siirete de

" essaye par "

Ji

reproduire

" de "

les

main incomparable. C'ctait le temps ou je n'avais pas dcchiffrement des textes religieux et ou je me bornais I'enseignement de nos grands maitres. Quand j'ai ete contraint

moi-meme

aborder,

le

j'ai

du m'avoiier

^

" of

which

^ ¥^^-

are in secret.

He

^'

^

V^ \\\V'^^'"'^

d

tcJieteiu-h

will

1

I

(^

I

thy

perform

affairs,

(3

I

v\

/WVNAA

v\

seslieiyn-\_f'\

e utemm-tuh

he will accept

thine offerings.

-21

'

e sau-tu

" In making offerings to

thy God

Jd _m Jf^ betau-tuf

things which he

abominateth.

î—a L'

1 neter-lcu

" the

kheru-fuk

^ I

I

iitennii

lifX

,

dri-f

he will hear what thou say est,

T

,

AA/VW\ U

setemu-f "

,

er

guard thou thyself against

O a

.^^ ennii

maat-h

observe [with] thine eye

er

PRECEPTS OF KHENSU-HETEP A

c^

129

(^ AAAAA^

£S

'paif

selilieru

plans.

"his

N\r\fsi\r\

qenteb

senenti-tu

Devote

thyself

to the adoration

a

[^

lit

1 ren

6771

"of

-

su

f

name.

his

he

It is

W^\\\

AAA/W\

tat

who

giveth

hell

souls

to millions

^^1

fi

^ w pa

aaru

sdaud

"of

forms,

and [he] magnifieth

p:^^^

I

i

—

ar

7iefer

Now

the god

f

" magnifieth him.

enti

whosoever

\>

I

ta

AAÂAA

pen

en

of this earth

is

^

O pa

I

haiu

en

^daua

\\

emtuh

Shim btiuu

her

" the god Shu,

hliid

du

he who is over the horizons.

mdtui

naif

His similitudes

^^ A

" [are]

upon

a

ta

tdtd-thd laia-itia

senterd sentera

em

earth,

are given [to them]

offerings of incense

with

her tep

V^s,,,

ô

Icai-set

em-ment.

" their food offerings

daily."

The group

of passages given above supplies a

new

set

of

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 attributes ascribed

CONCEPTION OF GOD AND THE GODS

130

and

and who granted to the suppliant

offerings,

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

The worshipper

identiiied with the Sun-god.

to consider His plans, or designs,

upon

who

the solar god Shu,

God and

this

^^ \

fl

is

of

clearly,

here,

God

exhorted

is

which are manifest

'

\^

pay good heed to the manner in which he makes Him, and to dedicate himself to the adoration of His

earth, to

oiferings to

name, for

it is

He

Avho giveth souls,

to millions of beings,

i.e., life,

On

the other hand, the and those who exalt Him He will exalt. 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

upon the

of this earth, are

and meat are made

There

daily.

the lofty conception of what

upon the

fact that

many

and

earth,

is

them

to

no need here

is

meet

offerings of incense

for the

to dwell

worship of God

upon ;

nor

of the phrases in the extract are identical

and almost in words, with passages in the Hebrew Scriptures, for they Avill be familiar to all, and extracts like the " Consider the wondrous following will occur to every reader

in meaning,

:

works of God

honour" Q

^

(1

n i__fl ^

H

"

(Job xxxvii. 14)

Samuel .^

ii.

30), etc.

difficult

to

—

them that honour me I will The word rendered "similitudes,"

;

"

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

consists in the fact that

.the

second

group of extracts

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

mould

book of moral precepts by which he intended

his course of life

and to be guided.

funereal character, therefore the

cannot be writer

is

of moral

God who

is

This work

his son to

is

not of a

referred to throughout

and the context proves beyond all doubt that the alluding to the same Being as were the earlier writers Osiris,

aphorisms already mentioned.

In

the

case

of

the

ONENESS OF THE GODS " Maxims," qualified

however, the word for God, neter

by the emphatic

But

article

we must

J|,

in all the passages quoted above there

no other

is

"1

is

usually

no

distinct

A^ ^^,

pa

God alluded to therein God besides Him, although

statement that the there

131

is

God

is

alone,

and that

this is clearly implied

;

therefore turn to another class of texts in which the

attribute of oneness or unity

more "great 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 and

gods,"

see

how

it

is

ascribed to one or

applied.

is

^

;

created

described as the "only

is

One"

be "lord of the gods, god

One

;*

in

Nu"

^ ;

Osiris is said to

and in a remarkable passage,

which the whole of the attributes of the Sun-a-od Ra have been Amen-Ra, we have the following statement wherein this god is said to be " the holy (or, venerable) Soul which came in

transferred to

-

1

-,-r I

A\

^% W

of Ani, sheet

If

_Zi.

1,

AAA/VV\ AAAA/V^

line 6.

^

n

H

®

I

AAftAAA

\\

/VWWK

I

j"lll'nil

5

ff

3

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

*

Ibid.,

Chap,

clxxiii.

Pfli I

/VVVVÂ

1, line

I

iiiiitnii

I

Papyrus of Hunefer, sheet

I

/wwv\

(9

ONENESS OF THE GODS

132

into being aforetime, the great

'

'

god who liveth

in (or by)

(i.e.,

^W pautti

D

P^

fepi

7U£S

G pautti

the two companies of gods,

primeval [which] gave

the paut

birth to

I

1 came

^

nete7

Icheper

"

Maat

unfailing and unvarying order and regularity),

into being

dm

7ieb

a

ud

f

through him,

every

ofod

-

I

a

w

uoui

one alone,

n

am " he

shad

linen

f

made what

when

exists

em

ta

the earth began

sep tepi

primeval time,

in

^^

\

(2

^fl

viesi

aslit

hlieperiu

an

of births,

manifold

of forms,

not

sheta.u

" hidden

im bes

-

rekhtu is

known

f ^

"his growth."

The text goes on " Power), the

to say that

god who

is

Amen-Ra,

beloved, and

is is

the "holy

Sekhem

(i.e.,

and mighty in

terrible

"his risings, lord of space, the Power, Khepera, the creator of " every evolution (or, thing) which belongeth to

" except

whom

beginning none other existed."

at the

we have Ta-tunen, Ra-Tem, and One," neter

iid,

"1

Jj

i

,

the god Osiris

and in the

Amen-Ra.

If

See Maspero,

we

consider for a

Mem. Miss.

Arch., torn

i

moment we i.,

p.

594.

existence,^

Here then "

God

we have

the

all called

extract

last

remarkable expression " God One alone," to

his

^T

3, applied

shall see that the

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 a solar god i.e.,

at the time

;

when

also

is

the above extracts were written,

under the XVIIIth Dynasty, we have abundant proof that the

Egyptians were continually adding to the attributes which they

and that such attributes were those which " The word " One belonged to some form of Ra or to Ra himself. then is applied in these cases to Ra, and to the forms of Ra, and ascribed to

to a

Osiris,

god who had come

solar god,

and

it

will be

to be regarded in

one aspect at least as a

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

god there described are attributed many of the creative which we assign to Grod Almighty. Thus he is said to

that to the qualities

who gave birth to we must understand

be the primeval Paut or divine substance

the

two companies of the gods

the

(in this case

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

company

being

of the gods of heaven

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,"

among the " angels," and in Arabic literature among the good Jinn. The text goes on to say not only in primeval times, i.e., "in the beginning," he created whatever exists upon the D\l'72;J,

or

earth, but also that in primeval time

him.

This

is

no other being existed with

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 quite certain that

Egypt

it

as Horus,

but

it

is,

in the writer's opinion,

existed in the minds of the educated classes of

in the earliest times,

and that in

all

periods

it

was the

THE GREAT SELF-CREATED GOD

134

But the text goes on

to

say that the great Paut who created the companies of the gods

is

central point of their conceptions of God.

and manifold of forms," and that " his growth This is only another way of saying (or development) is unknown." that the manner in which the beings and things produced by the " hidden of births

Paut came into being

is

We may here

forms.

Booh of

of the

Dead

the

unknown, and that he appears under many XVIIth Chapter

refer to the passage in the (line 9),

wherein

it is

said

:

ODD

1 nuk " I

^

da

neter

am

D AAAAAA

hheper tchesef

Nu

self-created,

Nu,

the great god

that

m

© qemam " who made

em

renu his

paid

/

names

the

company

neteru of the gods

neter

as

Sfod."

Concerning

this

being the question

and the following answer

is

given

is

asked, "

is

qemam who created

Ra

U kheper " and these

then

this ?

is

"

d—M

renu

en

at

names

for

his

-

em

into being

in the

form of

f

members

m

D

eneii

came

Who

:

AAAAV\

Bd pu " It

to say,

is

neteru the gods

w

ami "

who

On

Rd

hhet

are in the following

of Ra."

the creative power of the great Paut special emphasis

the extract on p. 132,

for, after

is

laid in

declaring that he created in the begin-

HENOTHETSM ning whatsoever that had

exists, the text

135

adds that he created everything

to do with his own coming into being

from the Booh of

the

Dead

it

;

and

in the passages

taught, according to one dogma,

is

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. that the

The

last text

quoted

is

of considerable importance, for

direct proof that the attributes of the

Ra was

Ra, and that

Amen, who was

means that to

were transferred to

Nu, and the

how the attributes of Ra were

originally only the local

of the fusion of the

many

Nu

identified absolutely with

text but one quoted shows to

god

two gods

into

gives us a

it

last

transferred

god of Thebes, by

Amen-Ra.

We know

gods were ascribed the attributes of Ra, and that

solar gods were, in the dynastic period at

least,

all

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

termed "henotheism" by many writers who

was a "phase monotheism. Miiller

of religious

asserted

thought"^ which was

has been that

difi'erent

According to the late Right Honourable Prof.

we have become acquainted with

this

"when

it

from

Max

phase of religious

thought " for the first time through the Veda," say that

Osiris,

and he goes on to

these individual gods are invoked they are not

conceived as limited by the power of others, as superior or

Each god

inferior in rank.

good as

all

the gods.

He

is

as supreme and absolute, in

is

to the

felt at

mind

of the suppliant as

the time as a real divinity,

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." ^

Max

It is quite true that the

Miiller, Hibhert Lectures, p. 285.

HENOTHEISM

136

Egyptian religion passed through a phase which has been identified but, assuming for a

as henotheism,

moment

we should be

that

correct in calling that phase henotheism, the Egyptian religious texts prove that

was

it

" not the

Max

henotheism of

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,

^'

absolute sovereign

^'

monotheism

^'

to

^'

godhead, are

like that of the ancient Israelites, the

is

who

worship of an This practical

exacts passive obedience.

totally different from the theoretical monotheism,

which the Aryans, with their monistic speculative idea of the

much

nearer."

These words by the applied

by him

to the

^

late Professor Tiele here

Egyptian

religion,

quoted were not

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

of

God

phenomena

united

the

to

different divinities

;

and

:

— A lively sentiment of the spirituality 1.

coarsest 2.

A

materialistic

representations

of

sentiment, not less lively, of the

unity of God, united to an extremely great multiplicity of divine

The

persons.^

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. symbolism, being misunderstood by the ignorant serious errors,

folk,

The

produced

and the forms under which the Egyptians repre-

sented 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 Hellas.

The ignorant

no repugnance

felt

to

137

monstrous representa-

tions 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

In other words, the uneducated

of which they were the coverings.

loved a plurality of gods, while the priests and educated classes

could read and understand books adopted the idea of One

who

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

Thou

me.

shalt not

make unto

" thee any graven image, or any likeness [of anything] that " in heaven above, " them, nor serve felt

.... Thou them

.

."

.

.

shalt

not

bow down

(Exodus xx.

no scruple in representing God

[is]

thyself to

3-5), the

Israelites

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

" 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 Returning for a moment to the supernatural being or beings. views of Professor Tiele, we admit that, judging from certain "

God

of gods

;

;

;

texts in

of the Dynastic Period, he

Egypt monotheism

anterior

is

asserting that

justified in

is

to

polytheism;

but judging

from the evidence of the recently discovered monuments of the ^

2

Tiele, Hist.

Comjmree, p. 138.

C£. also Dent. x. 17

;

Psalms

xiv. 3

;

Ixxxii. 1, 6;

Job

i.

6.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

138

we must admit

predynastic and archaic periods,

On

appears to be older than monotheism.

that polytheism

the other hand, the

Kaqemna and

monotheistic ideas which appear in the works of

Ptah-hetep were certainly not

which they

lived,

originated

at

and there

much

a

belonging to the

first

is

certainty as

works we created

it

God is

is

date.

earlier

compositions

literary

If

three dynasties are ever brought to light

from the tombs of Egypt, we the oneness of

during the jDeriod in

invented

every reason for believing that they

shall

probably find that the idea of

expressed with just as

much and

under the following dynasties,

shall also find

force

and

in the

same

mention of the various gods who were

by the great God who was proclaimed

be One, and

to

expected to be worshipped Avith obedience.

The

opinion of Professor Tiele on the Egyptian religion

final

was that from the beginning

it

was

developed in two opposite directions

were multiplied by the addition of

Egyptian drew nearer and nearer

We may now

;

but that

polytheistic,

in the one direction gods

and

local gods,

in the other the

to monotheism.^

consider the opinions of some of the greatest

Egyptologists on the monotheism of the Egyptians. the Bevue Arclieologique (1860, *'

unity of a supreme and

" almightiness,

p.

73) E. de

self-existent

being,

and of

"to the supreme God; the immortality of the

dogma "

Een

of punishments and rewards

;

Writing in

Rouge his

and eternal reproduction thereby

" attributing of the creation of the world

" the

it

"The

says,

eternity,

his

God

the

as

;

all

living beings

soul,

completed by

such

the sublime

is

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 ^

Yoorliistorisch.

,

De geleerden traclitten beide mit elkander overeen te breugen, onder " anderen door de vele goden voor te stellen als de openbaringen van den eenen»

" te spreken.

"ongesehapen,

verborgen

God,

zijn

leben,

Geschiedenis van den Godsdienst in de Oudheid,

door

hem

zelnengeschapen."

Amsterdam, 1893,

p. 25.

See

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

139

" and persistent base which, notwithstanding all deviations and " mythological embellishments, " ancient Egyptians a

" of antiquity."

^

must secure

all

for the beliefs of the

most honourable place among the religions

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 with

whom

God, and the belief in the unity of a supreme

the attributes of Creator of men, and Legislator of man,

he has endowed with an immortal

In his description

soul.

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

of the principal

''

in the inaccessible depths of his essence

" heavens

and of the earth

;

;

" and nothing has been made without him "

is

he

is

;

such

reserved for the initiated of the sanctuary."

was held by Chabas,^ who "

all things,

"

is

who

the creator of the

he has made everything which exists

said, "

^

is

A

the

God who

similar

view

The One God, who existed before

represents the pure and abstract idea of divinity,

not clearly specialized by [any] one single personage of the vast

" Egyptian pantheon.

Neither

nor Seb, nor Thoth, nor Ra,

Ptali,

^ " 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

"la vallee du lî\, Vliymne a VTJnite de Dieu et a V Immortalite de Vdme; et nous " 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 Mariette, Notice, Cairo, c'est le Dieu reserve ;i I'initie du sanctuaire." ;

;

;

1876, ^

p. 17.

Ccdendriev des jours fastes

et nefastes, p.

107.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

140 ''

nor

Osiris,

" times

nor any other god

a personification of

is

him

at all

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

God who was One, and eternal. At the

texts prove that the Egyptians believed in a

and was without a second, and

Avas infinite

very time, however, when the scribes were writing upon papyrus or cutting

the artists

upon stone the inscriptions Avhich affirmed this belief, were making sculptures of the gods with heads of hawks,

or rams, or crocodiles, or goddesses with the heads of lionesses,

Nevertheless the

cats, or coAvs.

One God, who

is

without a second,

One even among the company of the gods, for he has numerous names and forms, and he appears under sacred and mysterious

is

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

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 Accepting the view, meaning which has been quoted above.

set

up

in the temples.

which the Egyptians themselves

names

of the various

held,

that the gods were only

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

number of epithets and attributes ^ These which were bestowed upon them by their worshippers. and arranged grouped extracts he classified, and when they were they formed a description of God such as it would be difficult to It has been find a parallel for outside the Holy Scriptures. goddesses in various periods, a

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,

They

Le

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

will be

found in Brugsch, Religion

uiid MytJiologie, p.

96

ff.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM and was

141

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. things,

But

at the

contention

this

not well founded, because, although

is

these attributes were ascribed to a miscellaneous

we must remember

that they

number

of deities,

would not have been thus associated

unless the writers recognized such gods as phases or aspects of the

The

Great God.

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

a lasting proof of the exalted

is

character of their religion and of their conception of monotheism.

The main point

to

keep in view

that the gods of

is

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

among

by Yahweh among the Hebrews and

the Arabs, and that the gods and

goddesses

A-llah

who were

ministers of his will and pleasure find their counterparts in the angels,

of

and archangels, and

whom

proof

of

Hebrew and Arabic

the

God rfl

where

vi. 4,

(literally, gods), is I

^,

both good and bad,

literatures are full.

can be given than the well-known

this

Deuteronomy "

spirits of all kinds,

"One God,"

it is said,

" Hear,

YahAveh One,"

^

Israel,

No

passage

in

Yahweh our

and the Egyptian

as far as the application

surer

nete7-

ud

and meaning of ud

I

is

concerned,

is

Hebrew word "rnxV words, " Yahweh our

identical with that of the

in the

IT

text quoted.

We may

note, too, the

which show that Yahweh was

identified with the gods, wrib^^

when

Elohtm had come

of the

Hebrew religion it is, however, Deuteronomy was written the word great God of the Hebrews, although

polytheistic period of the ancient possible that

,

gods,"

;

the verse in

to

mean

the

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 originally

it

declaration was revealed to 1

Muhammad

Compare

St.

Mark

in answer to the people of

xii.

29.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

142

who asked him concerning the distinguishing attributes God he invited them to worship. If we had all the litera-

the Kuresh, of the

ture of the early Hebrews, and of the Arabs at the period of the

propaganda of

Muhammad we

should probably find that

many

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 local gods in Palestine

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

was polytheistic this result is due probably Speaking of the difference of to the way in which it is regarded. opinion which existed on the subject between the late Dr. Brugsch and himself, M. Maspero says that he and Brugsch considered the

unhesitatingly that

it

;

Egyptian religion in two

different Avays.

Time, he says, which has

done so much harm to other nations, has shown to the Egyptians.

It has

itself

favourable

spared their tombs, their temples, their

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 statues,

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

be looked at more nearly the point of view changes to speak quite shortly, Thothmes III. and Rameses 11. resemble Mtesa of

it

;

Central Africa more closely than they do Alexander or Caesar. It is not their fault,

was too ness.

early,

In

art,

but they arrived too soon in a period which

and they must bear the penalty of their precociousin 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

found in

all else.

most savage

Most of

tribes of the

its

myths

Old and the

it

holds in

common with

New Worlds.

is

the

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

But, M. Maspero asks, what kind of metaphysics

subtle powers.

could proceed from so naive a conception of the universe and of

He

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 things which he has revealed?

thinks

it

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

The opinion thus expressed,

himself.^

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, is

and coming from such a quarter

entitled to the greatest respect

has judged the Egyptians of

;

but

it

seems that M. Maspero

periods according to the standard

all

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 possessed

all

people,

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 suitable for giving expression to theological

and philosophical 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

is

speculations,

The mere construction of the language would

could understand.

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 Christian metaphysics of the Egyptian

everyone knows the Copts,

who

who

allusion

to

understandable, as

has taken the trouble to read the literature of

transferred ^

is

The

much

La Mythologie

of the base and degraded Egyptian

^gyptienne, p. 278.

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM

144

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

common theological terms in Greek we may note that in order to express

to the consideration of the

and in Latin.

Incidentally

Deity and the

the various ideas connected with the Christian

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

upon which other Egyptologists have moreover, no based their views about Egyptian monotheism 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 the religion itself which has cruel, ridiculous, and it is not

not set forth

all

the passages

;

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

The

Western nations.

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

former no one attempts to

deny the

existence

of

among

the

a sort

of

though he would indeed be bold who would dare to with the Christianity of such men as Canon Liddon or

Christianity,

compare

it

Cardinal

Newman

Eastern Sudan

is

;

similarly, the

monotheism of the peoples of the

universally admitted, but

it

does not prevent their

indulging in the coarsest and most fantastic beliefs and practices,

EGYPTIAN MONOTHEISM many

of which, however,

them from

their

145

must be admitted have descended

it

pagan ancestors.

Fortunately,

to

however, the

monotheistic character of the Egyptian religion rests on too firm a

and

foundation to be easily overthrown,

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,

"

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,

of

but in

Egypt

its

at least,

monotheistic idea or period.

It

form

oldest

and

it

it is

may

coeval with the dynastic civilization

well date from far earlier times.

The

not the peculiar attribute of any one people

is

may seem

unnecessary to discuss Egyptian mono-

theism at such length, but the matter

is

one of great interest and

importance because the literature of Egypt proves

it

to

have been

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 in existence in that country for ;

who worshipped the local gods that this being who united in himself the attributes of

be to persuade the people or that god was the

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 lietep,

who was proclaimed by Kaqemna,

Ptah-

Ani, and other writers of moral precepts.

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 In the

were

earliest times it

at a later period ascribed to

L

Horus the son

of

Isis,

attest the

HORUS AND RA

146

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

in the land, there

merged

were for many centuries the most important is

abundant proof that the Egyptians never

their conceptions of their great ethical

God

in their concep-

tions 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

the Egyptians recognized at an early period

any abstract conception of Hapi, the Nile-god,

we

find

life

— as

—was commoner than

his nature or existence.

hymn

In a

to

a remarkable passage in which some

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 of the chief attributes of

the hymn,

"would

''

If

upon

fall

their faces

context shows that the author the local

m

thou wert overcome in heaven the gods,

and mankind would first

j)erish."

The

pays a tribute of reverence to styles the " lord of fish,"

god of Memphis, Ptah, Avhom he

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

god

is

the abomination of his fingers,"

hate idleness.

He

i.e.,

then goes on to mention

the fingers of the

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, " use of the cattle,

who

filleth

" [corn] in the granaries, " "

who maketh

the herb to

grow

for the

the storehouses and heapeth

who payeth heed

to

up high 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

not to be seen in the images on which are set the crowns of the

is

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 shrines

not to be found out, he

is

which are inscribed with

is

texts,

not to be found in the there

is

no habitation

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

which

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

The

fact,

and of

his shrine.

however, remains that the declaration of the almighty

strength and inscrutability, and invisibility, and the impossibility of a description of the

made by man

power which moves the Nile-god being

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 gods, there

existed in the

at the root of the worship of these

minds of the Egyptians a firm and

continuous belief in the god

Osiris,

Egyptian religion which was quite

About

any other god.

who held distinct

a position in the

from that held by

his origin nothing can be said,

but there

no reason for doubting that he was a god of the indigenous

is

inhabitants of Egypt, and that his worship was firmly established in the country before the dynastic earliest times associated

He was

period.

from the

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

peoples thereof. ^

A

transcript of

his sanctuary

was much

Under the Vth Dynasty, tMs text

will be

found in

my

as

visited

we have

by the already

First Steps in Egyptian, p. 208.

seen,

LORD OF TATTU

OSIRIS,

148

he was regarded as the judge of the dead, and

he was also the god of the dead par excellence noted that the priests of

Ra formed

;

clear that

it is

but

must be

it

predominant

at that time the

priesthood of Egypt, and therefore care was taken to assign to

Ra

Osiris a position inferior to that of

Dynasty of kings came

Ra was

to

It

Dynasty, and

cult of the

god until the period of the XVIIIth

XVIIIth Dynasty nearly

Sun-god Ra were transferred to

Osiris,

joined to that of Osiris, just as in

much

Tem and

Thus

"horizon, for I

am

quite early in the

am

" I

"

mean

" Osiris

earlier times

it

is

was joined

Chapter cxxx. of the Booh of the shall not be turned back in the

XVIIIth Dynasty

110

(1.

the deceased

ff.)

when he goeth

''

It

is

to be

made

the Twin-gods,

in

this the question follows, "

which we have the answer,

to

a proof that

is

was considered

Osiris

the God-Soul which dwelleth

On ? "

and the name of Ra

Ra-Osiris," and this passage

In Chapter xvii.

a solar god. to say,

in

deceased says, " I

the

the attributes of the

all

Heru-khuti to indicate the compound gods Ra-Tem

and Ra-Heru-khuti. ^

between the Vlth and

will be sufficient to say that

it

the end of the

Dead

grew and

unnecessary to trace here step by step the

is

growth of the

the Vlth

an end the power of the priesthood of

greatly diminished, and the worship of Osiris

prospered.

to

When

in heaven.

What

does this

hath reference to

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 into Tattu

^

'•

;

illustrated

by a very

(see sheets 7-10),

interesting vignette in the

Papyrus of Ani

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 ,

form of a human-headed hawk, wearing the White

Osiris in the

Crown.

The two gods

face each other in Tattu, and, according to

the text, were absorbed or merged each in the other

obtained the attributes and

was supposed

at

characteristics of the

the same time to retain

all

;

his

own

attributes. ^

Papyrus of Nu, Chap, cxxx.,

-

Either Mendes in the Delta, or the heavenly Mendes.

1.

thus Osiris

Snn-god Ra, but

18.

peculiar

IDENTITY OF OSIRIS AND RA The view here given

is

that which Avas favoured

of Thebes who, however, only reproduced

borrowed

from

currency in

among

the

the

theological

Heliopolis,

to Osiris,

dedicated

which

is

to

the old solar gods, and

and

the

Osiris.

having

South,

A

gained spread

it

very important

god assimilated

this

how he became

said to live in Mendes, he

Ra.

to himself

His holy double {^ ka)

was the god who dwelt

Horus), the lord of Qerert

(i.e.,

priests

certainly as old as the period of the

XVIIIth Dynasty, shows us how was

of

colleges

by the

that which they had

the people to such an extent that almost every great city

possessed a sanctuary

hymn

of

priests

149

Sekhem

in

the Underworld), the holy

(i.e.,

one in Memphis, the lord of the temple of Hermopolis, the local gods of which were Thoth and his declared to be the " soul of A„^^^

^5 °^

-il

2^^=:^

Ra " and

who dared

the earth with his

own

and feathered

and

to

him belonged by

and divine body in heaven.

to vanquish the traditional fiend

hands, and fish,

right

its

winds, and

its

stablisher

He made vegetation,

and other quadrupeds, and

and

cattle

the

mountains and the desert land

The lands

throughout the world.

him upon

spirit

madt, throus-hout the world.

of rio:ht and truth,

was

the very body of this god,

wage war against Ra, and he was the

to

fowl,

or company, and he

His essence was that of the primeval

.

god Nu, and he was the great He was supposed to iight and Seba,

j^ciut,

his throne like his father

Egypt rejoiced^ to crown The Great and the Little Ra. of

Companies of the gods loved him, he was the leader of every god,

and the brother of the identity of

Ra and

Finally, as a proof of the absolute

stars.

Osiris

may

be quoted the opening lines of

—

" Homage Chapter clxxxi. of the Booh of the Dead, which read " to thee, governor of Amentet, Un-nefer, the lord of Ta-tchesert, " Verily I come to see thee and to thou who risest like Ra :

!

" rejoice at thy beauties.

"rays; his crown

is

His disk

is

thy disk

thy crown; his majesty

;

is

his rays are

thy

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,

Egyptian, p. 179

ff.

with a transliteration and translation, in

my

First Steps in

"

is

thy hall

" heir "

is

AND IMMORTALITY

OSIRIS

150

is

;

his seat

thy heir

his

;

thy command

" thy things

;

his

is

;

his throne is

mystery

knowledge

is

is

thy mystery

thy knowledge

" majesty are thy attributes of majesty " thy magical powers " not vanquished ''

by

by thine enemies

;

;

thy ^throne

ornaments are thy omaments

his

;

thy seat

;

his

;

;

;

his

his

no

and thou

evil thing befell

his

command

things are

his attributes of

magical powers are

he died not and thou shalt not die

his enemies

;

shalt not be

;

he was

vanquished

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 us to

will raise

and give us immortality

life

number

therefore invented a

led the people to believe

performed

of magical ceremonies,

which they

were identical with those which

Isis

had

bidding of Thoth, and they strung together

the

at

Their priests

also.

magical words which they declared to be those which had raised Osiris

to

and the words were recited and the ceremonies

life,

performed by priests who appear to have dressed themselves in such a

way

as to resemble the divine beings

with the resurrection of

At

who were concerned

Osiris.

a later period, however, the Egyptians put their trust in

Osiris himself,

and addressed their prayers directly to him

Being, partly divine and partly human,

who had

as the

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 incor" loved life

The Egyptians

ruptible and glorified form in heaven.

" and hated death," and they worshipped Osiris as the Great

who not

—which

after

was supposed

god

characteristic of a live

—but

to be the

What

man

;

had

Osiris

hence Thothmes

address the god in these words, "

Homage

power to

effected

made

III. is

my

to thee,

thou hast thy being with thy members.

Osiris,

life

chief distinguishing

also of giving mortals the

death in this world.

himself he could efiect for " father

own

only possessed the power of maintaining his

indefinitely

God

for

to

divine

Thou

" didst not decay, thou didst not turn into worms, thou didst not " rot away, thou didst

not become corruption, thou didst not

" putrefy.

not decay,

" putrefy. " I shall

"

it

... ...

I

shall

I shall

wake up

have

in joeace.

every

man

could rise

Osiris possessed,

i.e.,

.

and nature.

rot,

I

shall not

.

.

nor be destroyed

off this earth."

body of from the dead also, but man lacked what the divine body, soul, spirit, and nature, of Osiris rose from the dead, the

which had brought about the resurrection of spirit,

not

shall

my being, I shall live, I shall germinate, My body shall be stablished, and

shall neither fall into ruin

Because the human body

I

his

human

body, soul,

In the earliest times of the worship of the ^

Booh of

the

Dead, Cliap.

cliv.

OSIRIS

152

god the Egyptians,

as

AND IMMORTALITY

we have

seen, invented magical

ceremonies with the object of supplying the

power necessary

to raise itself

words and

human body with

from the dead, but

as time

the

went on

they realized that both words and ceremonies were incapable of giving eternal

to the dead,

life

and that only

Osiris himself could

give them that which they so earnestly desired,

i.e.,

everlasting

by supplying to their dead earthly bodies the power to rise 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." ^

life,

again, a

We who

have already seen how the attributes of the great God

created

things were ascribed to him, and

all

we now

see that

he was regarded as the god who had the power to vanquish death

by

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 conception of Osiris included the the vivifier of the dead. conceptions of every other god, but the conception of no other god raising

included that of Osiris during the period of the highest thought

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, and

civilization

of Egypt.

;

because the Egyptians were only acquainted with one Sun, and

whether the physical body of the sun

which moved matters

little,

it

or that

for "

One

as a

symbol of the power

power itself is referred to in the hymns " 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 In the texts of the of the Dead and in funeral texts generally. Vth Dynasty we find that Osiris was believed " to weigh words," i.e.,

1.

15.

to inquire into the various

words and deeds of the

lives of

OSIRIS men when

AND IMMORTALITY

153

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

when

later period,

the heart was the symbol

became associated with the examination of the words and deeds of the dead which took place in the of the conscience, this scene

In the large scenes of the weighing of the heart

Hall of Maati.

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 which were prefixed

to the finest papyri of the

Hall of Maati the Forty-Two Assessors

In both

gods. it

was

to

him

cases,

that

are

however, the great judge of

all

for

the

all is Osiris,

and

substituted

Why

Egyptians returned after death.

Assessors were forty-two in

number cannot be

said,

but

probable, as has been before suggested, that each of

it is

the

very

them repre-

Egypt in the earliest dynastic times, and that the Hall of Maati thus became a meeting place for the Assessors of It is, the whole country when Osiris sat to judge the dead.

sented a district in

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 Some selection and to their admission into the Hall of Judgment. 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

were apparently

hostile to the

deities

who, in the

dead.

Failing full information on the subject, the chief interest

which attaches they

sit,

earliest times,

to the Assessors

and the Hall of Maati, in which

consists in the fact that the vignette proves

pletely Osiris

had gained the ascendancy over

all

how com-

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 when Osiris became endowed with

the earliest times to the period

many

of the attributes

now

ascribed to

God Almighty.

There

is

DEVELOPMENT OF MONOTHEISM

154

no doubt that in predynastic times the Egyptians worshipped

and stones, and animals, and plants, and

stocks,

trees,

and that

they only arrived at the idea of gods which were partly animal and partly

man

end of a long period of what

at the

times " gross idolatry."

From

advanced to the idea of a man-god, and

finally

minds

their first

gain any

knowledge of them we find that as a people they had put

definite

the worship of stocks and stones, and most of the things

which that worship

implies, but that certain animals

sacred in certain

cities,

to savage habits

and

went

modem

called in

When we

developed the conception of monotheism.

away

is

the idea of animal-man gods they

on,

many

were held to be

and that the literature contained allusions

practices, as

we have

already seen.

As time

changes took place in the minds of the Egyptians

concerning their gods,

but

little

was made

variation

worship and ceremonial in the temples

;

in

their

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 pre-

served a great deal which no one believed in except the commonest folk,

and in

this

way

preserved and handed

traces of the lowest forms of religion

down

to posterity.

The Egyptians,

were after

the period of the IVth Dynasty, were the victims of conservatism

and conventionality, and, we might almost add, of the priesthoods but for these powerful and wealthy of Heliopolis and Thebes ;

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 confraternities the history of the religion of

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, giver of eternal

who was

also the

The Egyptians were unlike other religion and their gods were unlike the

nations,

life.

and similarly their

religion

EGYPTIAN RELIGION and the gods

155

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

of other nations

know what

;

and

as they

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 is

clear enough,

practical

;

the general outline, however, of their religion

and

it

shows us that they possessed a good,

form of monotheism and a belief in immortality which

were already extremely ancient

Pyramids were

built.*

even

in

the

days

when

the

156

(

)

CHAPTER

IV

THE COMPANIONS OF THE GODS

IN

HEAVEN

the preceding chapters, Avhich are devoted to the considera-

IN

God and the gods, no made of the habitation of these divine beings or of their companions. The texts of all periods are silent as to the exact tion of general questions concerning

mention

is

position of heaven, but it

it is

certain that the Egyptians assigned to

a place above the sky, and that they called

distinguish between the meanings oi ijet

it 2êi

note that two skies are mentioned in the texts,

and

,

sky represents a

we may assume

slab,

i.e.,

,

for

also

the day

heaven and

that the primitive Egyptians believed that each (i.e.,

two mountains)

;

out

mountain came the sun every morning, and into the other

The mountain

he entered every night.

Bakhau, «===^ c^Cb:0.

ODD

for the

each end of which rests on a support, and

end of heaven rested upon a support of one

,

We may

The hieroglyphic

the night sky.

we must

;

and nut

^

former means " heaven," and the latter " sky."

sky,

^__^

J ^^^ '^^

o-=» v\

,

of Sunrise

was

called

and the mountain of Sunset Manu,

was divided into two In the earliest times the sky ^

parts only, the East and the West, but later another division

made, and heaven was

split

up

placed under the care of a god.

into

The

four parts, latter

was

and each was

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

very ancient view concerning the sky

is

pillar, |

.

That

this is a

proved by the hieroglyphic

THE FOUR PILLARS OF HEAVEN which

'jjjy',

is

used in texts to determine words for rain, storm, and

we have

the like; here

by the four

pierced

157

a picture of the sky falling and being

pillars of

heaven.

a later period, the four quarters of heaven were believed

At

under the direction of four gods, and the four pillars of the sky were poetically described as the four sceptres which they held to be

Thus

in their hands.

in the text of Teta

" Teta goeth towards "

who stand with

" of Teta to Ra, " horizons."

it is

said, "

As

name name to Horus of the two allusion is made to the lifting up of

the sceptres of heaven, and they repeat the

and they take up

his

heaven upon its four pillars, e.g., ^ -^

and in one place the four

^ ^_^

pillars are said to

^

four heavens rest, IT||

the

233)

them they bring unto him the four gods

In several texts ^

^

(1.

^^;

-^

^ SHÎlII "**"

.

^

— ^—

p,

1351.

as

which eventually became the

II

1

1

Clj]

I

_ti

I

I

I

U

-U.

^ il^-^JL

THE FOLLOAVERS OF HORUS

158

four cardinal points, were Amset, point,

mutef, jy

y

^^^ U^, god of the southern

Hap, | D A'^='^=» the god of the northern point, Tua>ic

^\

y 2^.=^,

II

n

'^

the

,

god of the eastern

and Qebhsennuf,

point,

These four gods played

the god of the western point.

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

Tem,

^. ^^, which

on the Lake of Kha, and at another

is

they are exhorted to protect his amulets,

I

—

'^ J>

.

=im-'

I. 1.

which are assigned

duties

by

their magical

^ and finally the deceased

one of these four gods (Pepi

The

life

to

672),

them

is

^^ ^

power and

said to

1

1

1

°

become

^ 111

'

gods in the Book

as funereal

Dead will be described later on. Chief among the dwellers in heaven was the god Ra, who is to sit upon an iron throne [the sides of which were orna-

of the

said

mented] with the of bulls.^

gods

faces of lions

Round about

who were

which resembled the hoofs

feet

Ra, whether walking or sitting, were the

" in his train,"

inhabitants of heaven.

and

Next

and these formed the nucleus of the

came

to these

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 for

them

its

own

in the

gods,

we may assume

heaven of the Egyptians.

contained several classes of beings,

may

first

But

this

was reserved heaven also

and foremost among

whom

be mentioned the Shesu-Heru, or Shemsu-Heru, a name

whicli appears in the

(Pepi L,

They

that a place

Pyramid Texts under the form

fl

^^ -% -%•

%

_

166), and may be translated "Followers of Horus."

1.

are, in fact, beings

who

followed Horus, the son of

Isis,

in

heaven, where they waited upon him, and performed his behests,

|||o^=^, Pepi 2

Pepi

I.,

1.

444.

I.,

1.593. 3

lud,^

11.

309, 310.

THE ASHEMU AND HENMEMET

They occupied

and when necessary defended and protected him. a position of great importance

mentioned in such a way to the gods

thus Pepi

;

among

159

the celestial hosts, and are

as to suggest that^they were almost equal

I.

(1.

166)

is

said to " pacify them," but

on

washed him, and who recited on the other hand it was they who " his behalf the Chapter of those who come forth, and [the Chapter "

" of those who] rise up."

^ class of beings whose characteristics are

^v V 'A'^'^'

i-Tv-i

who

not known, and

Next may be mentioned the Ashemu,

^

in the text of Teta

connexion with the sehliemu.

mean

to

The word

the " form in which a god

another and an older meaning.

(1.

is

327) are referred to in

dsliem

is

but

visible,"

The Henmemet,

usually supposed it

^

\

or HAMEMET, appear to have been a class of beings

must have

^^

who

^v"^ m?^

were

either

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 to become, or

which they are mentioned have been understood

by

different scholars.

In a

hymn

it is

said of Ra, "

when he

"rational beings) live, and the hamemet, "

him

"

Kher-aha "

the

ways

in different

"

:

Osiris ;

is

ffl

^

^

called "fiord of] the hamemet,

and the deceased says

And

Dead, "

riseth the rehliit

me

do

shall

in

Chapter

Jj

i,

exult in "^

m 1\ 1\ xlii.

(i.e.,

of the

,

Booh of

hurt neither men, nor gods, | I

"nor

spirits,

^^ —^

'^^

" nor the pdt,

-^

"the hamemet." "

pany

" with

^

p.

J)

may

me

it

"

;

Compare Teta,

2

See the

1.

^

and

tlie

''

^

nor the dead (or damned), ' o V\ ^

^^^ ^^® rehhit

(i.e.,

I

r

%\'

rational beings), nor

Elsewhere the deceased prays "that the com-

of the gods

2

205.

a

i,

in

variant

hold their peace whilst the hamemet talk

seems from a passage in an inscription of

i

'v^

i

'

Yr^

I2, — "W^ —

y

95. list

of passages given in

my

Vocabulary to the Booh of

the

Dead,

THE AFAU, UTENNU, AND SETU

160

Hatshepset

had come

^

mean

to

men and women,

a class of

determined by the signs

human

word

as if in the latter part of the dynastic period the

^ 3, which

especially as

usually indicate a

it is

number

of

Thus Rameses III. speaks of " all the gods and " goddesses of the South and the North, and all men, and all the finally, that the pat, and all the rekhit, and all the hamemet" 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 beings.

'^

;

*'

of the ^ plant of

life,

_

^1 vww^ i^

îl

#

1

I

I

of the

,

characteristics of the classes of beings called

and Utennu, of Pepi IL of the

two

v\

av^âa

^^^, who

we know ^ H

Set beings, the

"

how

" having

8(1^=^^

thy divine hawk,

come

,

forth into heaven,

into

The

these beings are mentioned

mighty heaven, stretch out thy hand is

^^^

are mentioned in the text

great heaven, stretch out thy hand to

"Pepi

^^

Aea,

^^^, who were, however, divided Upper and the Lower, ^ % ^ Y^.

following extract will show "

Of the

^

nothing, and the same must be said

951),

(1.

classes,

Vi.

hamemeV

I

to

:

Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra

Pepi Nefer-ka-Ra, for

1 TT*

^^V^

^^^*^

come

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 ^^^^

^^^ when Pepi cometh forth

"

two divine

''

with him, great like Horus, son of Nut, and like the child with

utchats,

T

^S^S?

" 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, "

and the

jackals,

and the

spirits,

'

U

^

'='

i^

AA/V\AA

jCtj

n

1^1

AAAAAA

--

I

r>^\

1

I

|

l l

ll l lll

H

^ w^N

|

^

I

I

I

O

j^

ODD

|— '-I

,

/>A/vw

>

and the Set beings, both the

AJkt-lkk-^li^Tr::-! ^ w /wvws

le,,

2

E(J,

Grebaut, section

vi.

£5^

%5

THE WATCHERS OF PE AND NEKHEN ''

Upper and the Lower."

have been of

It is possible that the

Set beings may-

who was the brother and but who in later times lost

nature to the god Set,

like

Horns in the earliest times, position as a god and became the type and symbol

associate of his

161

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

^^ C3a R ^

Nekhen,"

may assume

of gods

interests in heaven.

of the Dead

and such

cîz:

fi

^

o

®

©, from which we

that certain cities were supposed to enjoy the protec-

number

tion of a

© ^^

D

We

whose duty

know from

it

was

to look after their

several passages in the

Booh

that groups of gods were called the " souls " of 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

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 The goddess Neith holds up giving birth to her son Caesarion. death, the

power

to

wander about

at will.

the queen's arms, and the midwife Netchemtchemt, | f

^

the boy in the presence of several gods and goddesses.

upper part of the

relief

were two groups of souls of

the right hand and seven on the

been present at the birth of the

Among

their protection.

I

g

child,

receives

?

Now in

cities,

who were supposed

and to

Each

has on

its

soul

is

in the

the

seven on to

have

have taken him under

the cities represented are Thebes, Ant,

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

,

etc.^

left,

III

^

,

form of a human-headed hawk, and each

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

men and women who

once lived upon this earth. To these, as well as to the divine beings, was given the name " living the righteous

ones,"

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

which reads, " Hail, Unas, behold thou hast not departed dead 1

M

See Lepsius, DenJcmdIer,

iv. pi.

60.

THE LIVING ONES

162 " ("^^ô

^1

gone to but as one living ("T J) thou hast " take thy seat upon the throne of Osiris. Thy sceptre ah " (^

fl

J

(|\

"^

^^

Y)

^^y hand, and thou givest commands unto the

"living ones; thy sceptre mehes ^^

Nehehet

^/^vaaaO

jL=.j

\^^^^^^y\)y ^^^ ^hy

are in thy hands, and thou givest thine

" orders to those whose habitations are hidden." is

in heaven the seat of his heart

is

declared to

" living ones on this earth for ever," ^^^

We

have in

ceived

it

sceptre

this latter passage a

possible for a

man

When

king Teta

"be among the

TTi V ^v "^^^

'"'

2!

proof that the Egyptians con-

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 comple-

ments each of the other, the gods of heaven were the complements of the

gods of earth, and vice versa, and the existence of the

and mental attributes of man with the gods in heaven was a complement of his continued life after death in some region spiritual

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

on

this earth.

high platform of their rather changes,

made

civilization, itself

and the result of the change, or

manifest in their religious compositions.

In the early predynastic period they thought that the death was a mere continuation of the

life

in this world,

after

life

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

cinn^ ¥"?"?-, Pepil.,

11.

545, 54G.

D

THE

AND SOULS OF THE DEAD

SPIRITS

not be like that which he possessed on earth, although

163

form

its

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 it was born with a man, it remained he gave the name ha,

might be

similar,

^

;

within him, usually inoperative, and survived

never

him

at death.

the body in the grave or tomb, and the offerings which

left

were made in the

tombs in

halls of the

all

periods were intended

Nevertheless the ha of Horus, J=^

to maintain its existence.

and

Teta

is

in heaven (Teta, line 88),

is

adjured to bring that which the king might eat with

the hau of

hau of

"

men and

" lords of

also the ha of

(line 94), it

;

^

,

which

and

as

gods lived in heaven so there lived there also the of the city of Pe,

e.g.,

cities,

and the

It

vi^Jz^J:^

(Teta, line 88),

hau praised Ra both in the dominions of Horus

and in the dominions of Set." "^

" chief of the doubles,"

King Unas

^

^^

,

and he

is

is

declared to be the

said to

''

gather together

Men and

"hearts for the great wise chief" (Unas, line 395). alike possessed shadows,

and they

after the death of the bodies to

also

gods

had an existence in heaven

When Unas

which they belonged.

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

quote examples;

the soul, ha, '^^,

is

Related

intimately to

functions, so far as

we can

word which has been " vital force

[1

^ l\

"

and

;

SI o

n

the

discover,

body,

was the

spirit, hhic,

'^^j

but with

undefined

sehJiem,

,

I

^

^,^^

9,s

9

Yj ^

translated "power," and "form," and even

finally the glorified body, to

'^

unnecessary to

usually depicted in the

form of a hawk with a human head, and the heron.

it is

Teta,

1.

192.

which had been

THE SAHU OR SPIRITUAL BODY

164

united the soul, and

had

its

was

called sdim, u

and power, and name of the deceased, This new body of the deceased in heaven

spirit,

abode in heaven. a

| v^

g and may ,

be termed the spiritual body

;

it

for all practical purposes

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 and of Great, and the Little, and the other companies of the gods ;

a large

number

of beings,

who may

for convenience be called the

who

"inferior gods," and of several orders of beings

some

characteristic

they were divine powers, hearts, this earth.

;

and

which caused the Egyptians

assume that

to

and of the shadows, doubles,

possessed

souls,

spirits,

who had lived upon the Bead (line 21) is a

spiritual bodies of those

In Chapter

Ixiv. of the Boole of

curious statement to the effect that the " spirits are four million,

"six hundred and one thousand, two hundred," ''^^ ^r

D

^ ^^

T ^

,

in

be an enumeration of the once inhabited

human

spirits of

^

'

this is intended to

heaven, or of the spirits which

Of the occupations known, but to some of them was

bodies, cannot be said.

of the denizens of heaven

assigned

number, but Avhether

® y

little is

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.

praises to

Ra

All these sang

as the king and chief of the gods, and they sang

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

hymns

life,"

to

AA/w^^ -Y-

(I'epi I., line 4o0),

which seems

to

have grown

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

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED

165

group of views which held that

to sit/ but this idea belongs to the

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

we

also

to

grow

stale or to

have mention of a heavenly

heavenly vine (u

fig-tree

spoiled,^

(^^^^ '^.

^^® fruit of which

W^)?

The bread upon which the

beatified.

become

is

J I),

and

and a

eaten by the

blessed fed themselves

was

that bread which the Eye of Horus shed upon the branches of the

'=^^=^

olive-tree,

^"^'^'^

Finally, the blessed

71)V

(Unas, line 200).

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

farm or

terrestrial

and an

estate.

olive tree, for

He wished

barley Avherewith to brew beer

he also

;

His

garments and white sandals. to be intersected

for a vine,

and a

fig-tree,

wheat wherewith to make bread, and celestial

desired

for

clean white

homestead he expected

with numerous canals, which would do away with

the necessity of laboriously drawing water from the celestial Nile

by means

of

shaduf ; the

some mechanical contrivance similar tillage

to the

modern

would, of course, be provided for in the next

world by the gods, who would take care that the crops did not This simple material

fail.

3

Teta,

1.

288, Pepi

I., 1.

heaven

442 and

1.

390.

is

very different from the

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED

166

Muhammadan

heaven of the Hebrew and

and sensuous joys of every kind, and drinks,

and

We know

delights.

writers, with its sensual

luxurious meats, and

its

from one or two passages in the

Pyramid Texts that there were women

heaven just as there

in

were goddesses, but they are not spoken of as are the Hur al-hiyun (houris),

women

the

i.e.,

who

large whites,

are mentioned in Arabic descriptions of Paradise,

and they are not made

As

with large, black pupils of the eye set in

to be one of the chief attractions of heaven.

be seen, the heaven of the Egyptians had no musical

far as can

instrument in

and the only sounds heard in

it,

it

must have

been the songs of the ministering gods and of the beatified when

What

they hymned the Great God.

the Egyj^tian gentleman

on his own land in places remote from towns

lives

Egyptian gentleman everywhere was then

;

is

who

now, the

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 corn,

and wine, and

slaves to minister to his

moved about from

He

inferiors.

loved to have

abundance, and a sufS.cient number of

oil in

wants and to maintain his dignity when he

He honoured

to villaoje.

villaofe

his mother,

and usually married a very limited number of wives, among

whom

or half-sister, or cousin, and he took

great

might be a

sister,

interest in his

the families of

nothing

is

said

Awwv^

in the

their husbands, v_7 v-? vl7 ^^^

wheresoever he pleaseth, whensoever he pleaseth.

other hand, her,

;

women from

said to carry off 1

we note

Pyramid Texts that the deceased kings are never mentioned, and that about their wives, although Unas (lines Q)2S, 629) is

male offspring

Isis

is

said to

come

to king Teta,

and the goddess having conceived

birth to

H

Horus

^

,

Sept,^

Teta,

1.

276.

and

like

in another passage

who

..

On

n

pg the

unites with

the star Sept gives

Unas

is

said to have

THE ABODE OF THE BLESSED become the husband of the goddess Mauit, and woman who brought bread to him.^

But

these beings were, after

all,

also of the

The

by

woman, and the

a literal interpretation of the text there-

fore

disappears.

was

as simple as their life

to enjoy a state

young

only the celestial waters

described under the forms of a goddess and a sensual idea conveyed

167

life

of the primitive Egyptians in heaven

upon earth, and their chief Avish was of comfortable and dignified peace, without war

and without tumult or

We

strife.

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 rivers of milk,

silver,

and

and honey, and wine, and innumerable maidens

with bodies made of pure musk, Avho hollow pearls and are free from

live in pavilions

defects of their sex.

all

made

of

The idea

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 At a later period it was thought that a ladder in some places. of the

was necessary, certainly for those who did not mountains whose tops touched heaven's floor, and

live

in

near the

many tombs

models of ladders were placed so that the deceased might use of them at the proper time. to

The god

Osiris

even was believed

have needed a ladder, and to have been helped to ascend

Ra and Horus,

or

by Horus and

Set.

The idea

in the

for

when

r=^

rO

%

"^

,

Unas,

1.

181.

P

by the

tombs ceased, they drew

AAAAAA

(SI ^ A

it

of the need of a

ladder was deeply seated in the Egyptian mind,

custom of placing models of ladders

make

^ (SI ^

P

J^

THE SEKHET-HETEP

168 pictures of

them

The model

placed in tombs/

could be

made

Book of

in the papyri of the

of the ladder,

it,

y 'vv

B

Avere

inaqet,

,

wished by reciting certain

as long as the deceased

words of power over

Dead which

the

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

and

we may judge by

at length, if

after death

upon

was regarded

Thus the

earth.

declares that the text

as nothing

prevailed,

and the

which follows

man

life

but a continuation of the

of Chapter ex. of the Boole of the

title

" doing everything even as a

man

will give a

:

— " May

Dead

As a

result

become a

I

life

the power of

doeth upon earth."

of this view the deceased prays thus " (spirit) therein,

material,

the texts, the belief in the

body

resurrection of the actual physical

more

Ichu

may I may I plough therein, may I " reap 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 i.e.,

in the Sekhet-hetep or Elysian Fields,

may I drink therein, may I fight

" eat therein,

therein,

mother, and presumably his wife and children, and also or gods of his city, but in these materialistic passages

mention of

his desire to

we

tlie

god no

find

worship and praise the gods of heaven,

or even the Great God who

is

said to

'^grow" therein.

another place in the same chapter he says, " " entered into thee, I have eaten

my

Thus

in

ITakh, I have

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

" plunged into the lakes of Tchesert " departed " I

from me.

upon the ^

;

best of them.

I

to me.

behold me, for

The Great God groweth

have found [food therein]

" I feed

;

I

all filth

therein,

have hath

and behold,

have snared feathered fowl and

...

I

have seen the

See the Papyrus of Ani^ 2nd edition,

pi.

22.

Osiris

[my

THE SEKHET-HETEP " father], and I have gazed '•

love."

upon

my

169

mother, and I have made

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 gence and better

nations which are credited with higher

civilization.

intelli-

170

(

)

CHAPTER V

THE UNDERWORLD the chapters on

IN that

God and

the gods

it

the Egyptians in the earliest times believed that the

gods were moved by the same passions as died like

has already been said

men

;

later,

men and grew

however, they believed that

it

old

and

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 writers of the relio:ious texts were not position of this place, but from first to

conceptions entertained about

This word

is

distinctly understood that the it

last,

''

The

the exact

all ao-reed as to

whatever might be the

Avas called

it, it

commonly rendered

men and women.

Tuat,

underworld," but

i(

upon

magnified

forms

the

^\\

them cakes

and

I,

1

wind

for their souls,

green herbs from

uostrils,

decrees

for

I

(S

I

I

I

God,

of

have

and

earth,

I

I

I

for their

Sekhet-Aaru,

and a place among the gods of right and

S^

truth,

of

"^

Jj

,

in the corner of the abode

the companions of the god

Ra where

The doctrine here that of Osiris, and

pass sentences of doom.

preached there

essentially

is

no wonder that the Book of Pylons

is

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 heart,"

is

and he who " Secret

guarded forms,

by

who

" goddesses

"Right of

Maa-ab, is

who

gods

called

end

Sheta-ab,

is

The

Heart."

twelve are

at the

in

" the

wall

is

mummied gods

are in this Pylon,"

and | |

©

Behind the wall

has upon ^

that

it

a

The scene

it is

row

is

|

a chamber, the wall of which

of spear heads, and inside

of the Sixth Division is so mutilated

not reproduced here.

we

see the

god

on the sarcophagus

Osiris

of Seti

I.

SIXTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

190

upon the top of a flight of nine steps, on each thus the whole company of the gods of stands a god seated

;

here represented.

hands the sceptre,

his

wears a double crown, Vi

Osiris

mummied and who may be stands a

j,

and the emblem of

who forms

figure

of

which

Osiris are

and holds in

,

Before him

"life."

the pillar of a pair of scales,

regarded as the personification of the Great

Balance with which we are familiar in the Judgment Scene as depicted in papyri. In the pan of the scales is the bird of evil, ^^ .

Near the

scales

a boat in which are an ape and a pig

is

urging the pig along with a

is

stick.

;

the ape

In the upper part of the

scene are the heads of four oryxes and a figure of the god Anubis.

The

which accompany

difficult texts

this scene tell us that

the

" enemies of Osiris are beneath his feet, the gods and the spirits " are before " enemies,

him

he

;

is

the foe of the damned, he repulses the

and he destroys them, and

their

eftects

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

(

.

The god

resteth

and giveth forth

J

"the light of Maat which he hath made."

hand over the pig

said to

says,

"

" [remember] that

it

and Anubis

ye is

to

punishment

who

The ape "

when

in the boat

is

the god riseth,"

bring words true or

false to

Thoth who weigheth them."

me

Concerning

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 Osiris

;

" of the secrets of the spirits taketh place. "

who hath made

which its

all

the beings

who

It

is

the god

are in the Tuat."

relates to the four inverted heads of oryxes

meaning, but

it

says that their dwelling-place

is

is

who

riseth

The text not clear in

the Amehet,

a district in the Elysian Fields, and that they hide or protect

We

must note in passing the position of the Sixth Division of the Tuat. Assuming that the Tuat was regarded as

the

spirits.

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 very-

near the most northerly part of the Tuat.

where

it

was intended to

be, for the

And

this is exactly

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

was ouly right to make the position of the kingdom of on earth to correspond with that of his domain in the Tuat.

it

Osiris

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,

Amen-Ra, from them was clearly the cause which made the work unpopular with all the worshippers of the great god of The position of Osiris on the top of a flight of steps Thebes. 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 or

East.

The serpent who guards the pylon of the Seventh Division Seventh Hour ^

or the

is

Akhan-maati, ^-=.

called

guardian at the end of the corridor

is

called Shepi,

but the mutilated state of the scene renders the

name

corridor.

On

111

mil

A

is

Men-sheta,

number

of

mummied

:

_

rt

t

I

2.

to

centre

is

—

;

1

.

A

made

number

to resemble a

god bending over a

staff

1

•

,

" Stablisher of

what

is

secret."

who are commanded

forms extended on couches,

These beings are

uncover themselves and to drive away darkness.

In the

the boat of the Sun-god being towed along, presumably

^

See British Museum, No. 32,650.

^

The scene

Seti I. that

usually

is

described as the " mighty spirits."

by Ra

"^^

(1(1

impossible to give

the right side of the boat of the god are a

serpent, and on the left side are

name

it

|-,

and the

of the pylon or of the guardian of the entrance to the

of beings bearing a rope, which

his

,

it is

of the

Seventh Division

not reproduced here.

is

so mutilated

on the sarcophagus

of

EIGHTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

192

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 of the

cry out to the inhabitants of this Division

weigh words and

to praise Ra, for he will

Tuat

The pylon

of the

Bekhkhi,

called

guardian,

j

J

Eighth Division or the Eighth Hour

(1 (1

1

cnn

1

Set- bra,

is

at its

end

guardian of

*^^

^ llTUHtJ

2:ods in

mummied

the god are

:

^

Hept-ta, |

is

—

forms,

^

who

" the souls of Ta-neserser," , I

"b '^^^

^

1

'î^

1

c^

h

AAAAAA

—*—

The wall

.

On

.

Twelve beings

1.

as the " sovereign chiefs

-^

1

is

and the name of the snake-god,

,

"^5

^""^^

will destroy

enemy.

their

its

who

forms

the

and the guardian protected by nine

is

riorht side of

human

in

the

form,

who

the boat of

are described

give bread, Maat, and green herbs to

a

A H

—

\j

d

^^^'^^

i

-Oi

^^—

^

^

"^

/^

2.

\\.

'

Nine

souls, in the

form of

bearded human-headed hawks, with their hands raised in adoration

;

these are the " souls of Ta-neserser," which are fed with

command

bread and green herbs by the left

hand

side of the boat of

Ra

are

:

—

1.

god Ra.

of the

On

Horus leaning on a

the

staff.

Twelve men, who represent the enemies of Osiris that have been burnt in the fire, with their arms tied together behind their Opposite the first backs, each group of four in a different way.

2.

of these

is

a huge serpent called Kheti,

a stream of fire into his face

;

^®

|1

,

which belches forth

on the back of the serpent stand

The twelve beings has been inflicted by Horus at seven gods.

are those on

the

whom

command

punishment

of Ra,

who

has

decreed the death both of their bodies and of their souls because

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 1. The of these wicked ones. In the centre of this division are:

of

what they did against

Osiris,

—

2.

"The

rectangular lake in

which

boat of the sun being towed by four gods as before. dweller in

Nu"

leaning on a

staff.

3.

A

NINTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

194

are sixteen men, four of ()

D

^

(](j

1

,

four swim,

whom

f^ J

bathe,

^"

()(]

["Q

V

QQ

r-.

^ "^

and four dive,

,

^°^^' float,

''

|

^.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.

Ra, upon thy hidden things

Rest thyself,

He who

" the hidden ones are adored in thy forms."

Nu

The pylon Aat-shefsheft,

Ab-ta, [1

who

also addresses those

X

nine

;

are in the lake.

Ninth Division

o

^^^^

AAAAAA

of the

''^-=—

"

:

The wall

.

forms,

the boat of the Sun-god are

it

is

—

^

in

1.

Four gods

^

On

.

guarded by

is

the right hand side of of the South,

man who

is

called " the master of the front,"

between the man and these four gods

is

i y?

'

|

each wearing the white crown, and grasping a rope which held by a

called

is

and the guardians of the corridor are Anhefta,

mummied

o-ods in

Ninth Hour,

or

serpent which guards

the

;

and Ermen-ta,

,

dwelleth in

is

also

v=

a pillar surmounted by a

bearded head, with a white cro^\^l on it, which is being raised by 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.

which

figure 3.

is

Four gods

Standing on his back

of the North,

i

|

also held

is

by a man who

man and

;

pillar,

which

Apu,

is

being raised by means of the rope.

^g^^ J

\\

Set.

is

called "the

these four gods

surmounted by a bearded head with a red crown on

J

holding the serpent Shemti,

heads at each end of his body. Bath,

human

^\_^ each wearing the red crown,

master of the back," f=^ ..^ between the a

a

surmounted by the heads of Horus and

and grasping a rope which

is

is

s=r=>

,

5.

4.

ciszi

A

personage called

^^^,

which has four

A personage holding the

with a head at each end of his body

stands a serpent which

is

called Tepi,

^

flfl

?

it,

;

and which

on is

serpent

his

back

provided

^

/

I !

n

'-'

—

^ '

/

111

AAAAAA AAAAAA f\ Ôv

H

AAAAAA

^-^

—— »

,

^ ^

/

/Ci

AAA/VÂ /vÂ

-^

ft

^ÂAAA

X AAAAAA

X c^^

1

^"•'''^

4

>X-

,

AAAAAA ^'VVAAA

UX

/

-

^-^ I

_fl F=^

,

I

I

AA^^Wi I

-Ci

4

H

'

'I

1^1

/I

tk

^

I

/

(J

AA/WW rV/Ayi

.

/^

^

g

Ji?^

I

I

I

Bonomi and

10.

TT\

I)

\\

H

3

I

I

I

Q

/^

AAAAAA

away Set from the pylon they themselves

JI

1

I

I

ELEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT

202

" were not allowed to enter into the heights of heaven." centre of this division

by four

of

whom

nine gods, each of

holds a

knife, ^=^~, in

"^^

:

—

along

A group

1.

'^"^^.

They

chains which are called the "gods

Four

4.

The god

5.

The goddess

apes,

aaaaaa

(l

^

Jj

i

Amenti,

of

^

annihilate Apep,"

The serpent Apep chained

2.

3.

who

who produce

of

the right hand, and

in the left; the first four are jackal-headed.

[,

are described as the " nine gods /wwv^ n

Ra being drawn

the boat of

Preceding these are

gods as usual.

its

a sceptre,

we have

In the

^

to the earth

winds,"

|Tj

1

1

1

by

-^C-^

i

^

i

five

JJ

i.

each holding before him a large hand.

,

wearing the crown of the South.

ft,

"^

of the North, Herit

crown of the North.

^.(-^

(?),

(Ifl

The god Sebekhti,

6.

gods of the Tuat say, " [This

I

wearing the

r

"^

J^

These

.

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 *'

(

^)

,

is]

the exit from

but he openeth the Tuat upwards in his trans-

What openeth

formations [which take place] in Nu.

" into heaven are the

He

i îl

i»

'

Those who are in

.

which

existeth in the darkness

and Ra cometh forth

|!|,

'

)f

III

two hands of the god whose name

[in]

it

the Tuat is

hidden.

a solid thing,

is

from the night,

this ^portion take their knives in

" 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

" god counteth his

" [arms] to the " in this scene

Eye is

gods " acclaim

members

fetters in their fingers.

hidden one hath opened his

after the

Worm

The

of Horus.

by the children

fettered

(|

^m^

i^'j

of Horus."

I

I

I

I

who

is

The other

Ka in the Eastern horizon of heaven, and the four aZ^ C:^

A

The

I

I

I

I

-J

I

I

I

^ U [Zm

t

I

A/WVAA

I

U

I

^

a

AAA^wv

A

I

I

I

I

P^=^

AAAAAA

AAAAAA

TWELFTH " apes guide liim " two on the

left,

DIVISION OF THE TUAT

who

203

created them, two on the right hand, and

to the double dtert (u

'^m'>

" I^sd-Souls," and

serpent

the two guardians of the corridor are Pai,

Sebi

In front of the wall are two

and Akhekhi, each of which

poles,

its

is

surmounted

is

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, ;

each

11(|,

guarded by the two uraei of Nephthys, one on each

Ra had

was

which

of

side

Isis

side.

and

When

passed through these doors he

emerged triumphantly from the Tuat,

and

his boat floated

Nu,

i.e.,

which

on the waters of In the scene in

in the sky.

this is depicted

we

see the boat

containing the beetle of Khepera and the disk of Ra, with the five gods Seb,

Hek

Shu,

(for

Heka), Hu, and Sa, and

the two goddesses

Isis

and Nephthys,

The god Nu,

and three gods of pylons. ,

his

is

seen holding

hands, which " come forth from

the water,

A little

and bear up

distance

formed by

way

up the boat with

Osiris,

this

god."

away from the boat is a sort of island which is the body of the god being bent round in such a

as to cause the tips of his toes to touch the

the text says that

border of the Tuat.

it

is

On

Osiris himself

back of

who forms

his

head

the encircling

the head of the god stands the goddess

BOOK OF THE UNDERWORLD

204 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

spots.

We

is

painted black, dotted everywhere Avith red

have seen that

Ra was omnipotent

in all divisions of

the underworld, except one, which was sacred to Osiris neitlier Efi

authorities for the text

See Sharpe, Egyptian

Pierret, Eecueil, torn,

Birch, Papyrus of Cairo, 1878.

v.,

consideration of the contents of

Underworld." The work are numerous/ both which have come down to us it is

and

and from the copies of 1

in this

nor his name appears.

We may now pass on to the "Book of that which is

the

;

in

the

viijnettes of this

Iii^criidioiis, 1st series, pll.

pp. 103

if;

28-32

;

2nd

series,

pU. 1-21

Lanzono, Domicile des Esprits, Paris, 1879;

NasMem, London, 1863

;

Mariette, Papi/rns ^gyptiens, torn,

ii.,

HOUR OF THE NIGHT

FIRST

205

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 consethat

clear

the

quently came into general use.

This shortened form, which

is

"

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," an " Abrege

called

^MTf^^^-^^-I^T,West"

The "horn of

means the most westerly point where the sun

the

kehu saimi,

i.e.,

the extreme end of the Tuat, which wall, dotted

sets,

and

" thick darkness," or " solid darkness," refers to

everywhere with red

is

painted to resemble a black

and which contains an

spots,

opening through which the boat of Ra emerges every morning.

The

A

work

shorter

.Jl

U

7TH

U

"Abridgment

entitled

/ww^ _a of the night is called

is

(1(1

this

book,"

Ushemet hatu khefti

Crusher of the forehead of the enemies of Ra," and the

place through which the god passes in

of

ci:^>

I

The EiRST Hour Ra,'^ i.e., "

is

,

i.e.,

it

is

described as an mi'it,

a hall, or a sort of ante-chamber of the Tuat.

when Ra

quite unlike any part of the Tuat, for

is

It

in this hall he

See " Le Tombeau de Seti I"'," in Memoires de la Miss. Arch. Franqaise, 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 1

Paris,

:

;

;

;

;

;

;

,

;

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, 3

p. 29.

See the edition of the hieroglyphic

Jequier, op.

cit.,

pp. 37 @x

with a French translation, by

text,

ff.

^

_S)

1

®

^

/^

'

/

hidden paths of Ee-stau

" sand shall eat the bread

S

Ankhet-kheperu (¥

,

and of the

who

is

on

his

mouth He who

for the

Tem.

"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 Sekher-remu]. (?) [or " Homage to thee, 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

me,

let

not the murderous fiends come after me, but

among you." The illustrated edition of the Fourth Hour shows us Ra passing through an entirely new country, in fact

" let

of

after

217

me

Avhich

live

upon sepulchral

is filled

^

offerings

the boat a region

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.

BOOK OF THE UNDERAVORLD

218

there are no fields to be distributed

and of

followers of himself

render him

to

Osiris

faithful

indeed there are so few beings

;

that he

service

by Ra among the

obliged to betake himself to

is

another kind of boat, and the god of day

compelled to glide

is

through the passages of the dark and gloomy land almost without

Ra

a following of gods.

before, but the boat itself

each end of his body

stands within a shrine in his boat as is

formed of a serpent with a head at hauled over the sandy ground of

this boat is

;

his sand "

the god "

by gods of the company of Osiris, who is upon with whom, however, are mingled the gods of the company of Ptali of

Memphis, and

Osiris himself

Osiris Seker.

Metes-mau-at, ¥\ 1k

.==^

Seker and becomes

^^

i

,

c-=-^ ''=^,

z,

^^ Y

and Metes-neheh,

^

^^>^

^|\

Q

O

5

^^^ ^y these

Ra

part the god

obeys his voice his

^==;>,.

in

road, of Re-stau has three doors,

Mates-sma-ta,

which are called

AAAAAA

merged

is

The narrow way, or

;

it is

Into one

divided into three parts.

neither enters nor travels, but the door thereof in another part

is

the body of Seker,

who

is

on

sand, the hidden form which can be neither looked at nor seen

another part

is

that through which Seker passeth, but neither the it,

and

with the souls which have been consumed by the

fire

gods, nor the spirits, nor the dead go through

it

is

filled

that comes

The region through of thick darkness, and the light

forth from the mouth of the goddess Am-mit.

which the boat of Ra travels

is full

which the god usually emits

unable to penetrate

is

it

;

in this

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 difficulty

he

is

helped upon his

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 called Hetch-nau,

(ii

each end of which

guardian of Seker

;

the ground on four

?

^H*

V'

the second

human

legs

is

The

first,

^* ^^^^ length in a boat,

^^^^

terminates in a

sizes.

human

head,

and

is

the

three-headed, and he moves over

and

feet

;

the third

is

called

Amen,


220 n

the fourth

;

growing out of

its

body

its

Menmenu, AWAAA

Hekent,

is

O

AftAAAA

and has a human head

above the

just

v\ UHt

^^^.

?

tail

and the

;

fifth

is

which has three heads, and bears on

,

and fourteen human heads surmounted by Next we have three huge serpents near the great scorpion

back fourteen

disks.

Ankhet,

^

-V-

,

stars

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 LJ

^'ww\ o

Neheb-kau,

,

^

J

their journey daily

Hour, and they

The

last hour, as

legs

and the serpent

;

we have

seen,

Seker, but the Fifth Hour, which

its

All these monsters are said to

round about

upon what they

live

and

which has two heads at one end of

body, and one head at the other.

make

feet

is

tlie

on their way.

find is

region of the Fourth

a part of the dominions of

called Semit-her-abt-uaa-s,^

The descriptive text says, "This great 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

contains his capital city. "

god

is

" Aha-neteru, "

Ament,

" the

"( "

a

(1

f .

a

" |

and the name of

'

in

members, and

" those

who

" Tuat).

Circle

is

[Here are] the secret ways of Anient, and

doors of the house of Ament,

JMK—»—

this

of the

earth of

his body, in their

are in this Circle

is

'

and the habitable house

Seker,

and

his

primeval forms.

Baiu amu Tuat

'

flesh,

and

his

The name of

(i.e..

Souls in the

The forms who are in their hours and their hidden beings upon this form of Seker himself. Whosoever

" neither see nor look

"

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 *'

And Khemit (^

with the offerings of Seker.

^^

^

(](j

J|^ shall

"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

and being towed along by seven gods and seven goddesses, who represent the gods of fourteen days of travelling in his serpent boat

month

the

before

;

H etch-met

and

mound

^

®

Her-khu, p=^

?

II

)

|,

the

are

is visible,

divine

rests the

upon

;

this

Seker, and

is

headed

god

man and

flesh

the body of a

"

it

;

the to

first

tail

is

a sphinx with

Inside this land

is

which terminates in a

;

serpents, Tepan,

him

lion.

surrounded by a

is

between the wings stands a figure of the hawkthis serpent monster represents the god Seker

watching over his own image.

two

the

described as the " hidden land of

is

a two-headed, winged serpent, with a ;

when

the god Khepera holds converse with that beneath the head is the " Land of Seker,"

wall of sand, and at each end, outside the wall,

human head

head indicates

it

which guardeth the hidden

the head of a

TT,

forepart of a beetle, only one half of

which has the shape'czzD, and " Seker

^^

surmounted by the head of a

is

symbol of the god Khepera

Immediately

god.

Her-liequi,

i.e.,

Half way through the hour Ra comes to a

.

the position of the hidden abode wherein beetle alights

sovereign chiefs,

^ =^^

An-hetep,

of sand, the top of which

woman, whereon which

these

i\

-^m^

The two sphinxes are Avatched by and Ankh-aapau,

,

^

(I

^ ^^

(© ;

serpent enters into the presence of this god, and carries

made by the living, but the and lives upon the flames which

daily the offerings which are

second never leaves his place,

proceed from his seated gods,

own mouth.

who bear on

symbols" of Seker,

i.e.,

/J,

Before the second serpent are four

their

W

,

of a lake of water called Nut,

knees the emblems of "hidden S^

,

and

\,^^^~^_-Zl

this lake its waters are like fire,

gods

v.'-hich rise

lake

is

\u,

and

rest

lor those

by the

who

side

are ni

/VywXA

and each of the heads of the four

above them bears upon

it

the symbol of

fire.

The

watched over by the company of gods of Ra, represented

FIFTH HOUR OF THE NIGHT by nine

axes,

the Fifth

and

Hour he

five gods.

claws,

is

a

before

Ra

has jD^ssed through

arrives at a large vaulted chamber, filled with

sand, and called ^^^, its

But

223

hawk

i.e., ;

"Night," and on each

from the lower part of

side, clinging by-

it

goes

forth the

224


beetle, only

one half of which

typified the

germ

on

as

it

life,

mound

to the top of the

to stop

of

This beetle, or Khepera,

is visible.

and when the boat of Ra was drawn on

of sand already described,

god and raised him up to

life.

two-headed serpent called

supposed

went to the dead This chamber Avas guarded by a

passed, and having done so,

it

Avas

it

Ter,

^^^^^

HHt

•

|

,

it

and

it

had

to

be

any one who little beyond the

jealously watched in order to prevent the entrance of

would disturb or destroy the germ of life. A 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

by the

to die

the Fifth

who

When

gods.

Hour he saw

occupied in slaying a

is

man doomed

the boat of Rri arrived at the end of

the star of the " living god,

" and journeyeth and passeth,"

T

who

^ ^^^^'^^.

journeyeth,

Dr. Brugsch,

(]

and following him M. Maspero, and

others,

have identified this

star with the planet

identification for, as

Venus, the star of the morning, and the undoubtedly correct. This is an important fact,

is

M. Jequier has pointed

tion of the beetle going forth

coupled with the representa-

out,^

from the night to

23lace itself in

the

shows us that the domain of Seker, although reduced to two hours which have been inserted in their proper geographical boat of Ra,

it

position in the Tuat, certainly at one time formed a complete hell,

and that the rising of the sun was the in

final

event which took place

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, "

" at the abyss of water, which

is

When

" he holdeth discourse with the gods

" the

command

for

"(1

)

I

r

I

'

^

them

Le %\

who

to obtain the

He

in this city.

this great

are there, and he giveth

mastery over their oiFerings

saileth in this [Field] being

Livre de ce qn'il y a dans I'Hades,

u

nil

^

II

god arriveth

the lady of the gods of the Tuat,

~j]

:^^

"^

p. 7C).

^-^

i

^^

^

i

^'

'^

^^^ t^î'ee gods whose i 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, Maa-ab-khenti-aht-f,

^==>^

;

the

fd]]

^

three are surmounted

first

'

^

by the white crowns,

Q

I

the second three uraei,

with

Tjr.

Next we have the

.

Isis,

by the red crowns, \J

and,

[,

and emitting

Het-tua-Ra

O [J ^

,

the second

is

has for

symbol,

n

crîj

its

c=^^

^

the

left

hand

from

^^

^^^ ^^g

^^ "^ O \i^

(](]

^'^, .

the

mouth.

and the third

;

£^^

Met-lira,

-^g

The

house

first

called

is

/I\

Ck2l ?

and

called Het-temtet-Ra,

is

symbol, ^, the head of a man.

Alii, (]

|

'^

|^

o

°^

UQ? Netch-atef,

(Sept-hra ^'^p),

Antheth,

^ ^_^,

monster serpent Am-khu,

J

^SSii

On

boat of the Sun-god are two gods

goddesses

back the heads of the

•>

\

the three houses

for its

of the

=., Hemt,

its

O

whose names are wanting, Ankh-hra,

^

symbol "3^, and the sign ~^^ Het-stau-Kher-aha-Rii,

and has

side

,

^

protected by a serpent god standing upon

fire

called

z^

is

\_\

£= ^^^'^ ^^^^

figure,

who keep guard over

^^:;>^,

of Ra, each of which

and the third three by

,

god Ka-hemhem,

and Horus, and the mummied

armed with

its tail

lion

,

^^ ® ^

p '

,

|

u

(j(j

Henhenith,

s=;

and the

which bears on

| four Children of Horus,

,

Netch-pautti,

n /wwsa

and Sehith,

"^ |

its

|

Mestha, Hapi,

THE SEVENTH HOUR

230

The duty of

Tuamutef, and Qebhsennuf.

the shadows and the spirits of the enemies of Ra,

The monster

thrown in the Tuat. forms of

Osiris,

^^, and Urt, , and nine

^^^

Apu,

Seb, Osiris, Horus,

\/\,

are over-

|, Enen-retui,

fl[]

fire-spitting serpents

^_ "^^^

with knives, which are Ta-thenen,

who

followed by the four earthly

is

S'^flfl, Meni-ret, r^^

Kai,

devour

this serpent is to

,

armed

Tem, Khepera, Shu,

and Hetepui,

^^.

The duty

gods consisted in destroying the enemies of Khepera,

of these

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

made them to breathe through the word of Ra. The Seventh Houe, which is called Khesef-haa-heseq-Neha-

daily

HRA,^ takes us into the region of the Tuat which contains the

abode of the god

hidden "

When

The

Osiris.

descriptive

the majesty of this great god arriveth in the hidden abode

" (Tephet

"^

^|

)

of Osiris, he addresseth

" there [suitable] words.

may

turn back the

"Apep by means

of the magical words of

" words of Ser, 1^

3

The name

.

" Avhich the god journeyeth the

name

who

are

of the

is

city

'

Gate of Osiris

is

way

for

and the magical

Isis,

of the pylon of this city through '

(

Tephet-shetat

" This great god passeth over the hidden " boat which

to the gods

This god maketh to himself other forms

"for this hidden abode, so that he

"and

text says,

way

((-,

of

8^

^ ^ IJ

j]

J

^

Amentet

^) .

in his

endowed with magical powers, and he journeyeth 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 is

" over

"

which proceed from his own mouth, and in

"Tuat he " place

is

inflicteth

this region of the

with the knife wounds upon Apep, whose

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 recites the

and he

upon

it

words

shall

earth.

among

shall be

of Isis

and Ser

231

the spirits near Ra, and he shall repulse

Apep

in

who

Amentet,

have a place on the boat of Ra both in heaven and

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

THE SEVENTH HOUR

232

"450

and

long,

cubits

it

filled

is

" portion thereof this great

with his

but over one

folds,

god joumeyeth not when he travelleth

" to the hidden abode of Osiris, for he journey eth through this city

(°^ iMi)

" under the form of the god Mehen,

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

From what

shall

(zszi)

never eat the soul of him that knoweth

said above

is

we

Ra

see that the boat of

has arrived at

a shallow place in the celestial stream where there

water to

even to allow

float the boat, or

to be

it

not enough

is

towed

moreover,

;

the serpent Neha-hra opposes the advance of the god.

bows

utters the

we

Neha-hra, as seized

see

words which make

from the

^""^

"^

transfixed to the ground

is

proceed on

its

way.

illustrated edition of the hour,

bv Serqet and Her-tesu-f,

bonds, and

it

In this

and standing

difficulty Isis, the great enchantress, enters the boat,

in the

it."

by

is

and held in

'^"==-?

six knives

;

thus Ra,

with the serpent Mehen over him in the form of a canopy, moves

on without

let or

Behind the monster serpent stand

hindrance.

four goddesses, each armed with a huge knife, whose duty

guard the tombs of the four forms of Osiris four goddesses are

Nakith,

was

^

(]

-^3^

:

—Temtith,

(j ()

s=

,

—

/

[I l\

s=3

and Hetemitet,

|

,

jj

;

it is

to

the names of the

Tenith, fjl)

^-

Their duty

away the enemies of Ra, and to hack in pieces with awful knives the fiend Apep every day. The four tombs of

to drive

their

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

passed " they eat their sight.

It was,

hears the voice of Ra, and after he has

own

forms,"

no doubt, a custom

slaves at the graves of kings

the world

it

i.e.,

the heads disappear from

in predynastic times to slay

and nobles, just as in

has been the custom to

kill

human

many

parts of

beings and to lay

their bodies beneath the foundations of buildings

which were to

THE SEVENTH HOUR

233

THE SEVENTH HOUR

234

be erected in order that the souls of the slaughtered might protect them and keep away evil spirits. The human heads on the tombs probably represent a tradition that, when Osiris was

of Osiris

buried,

human

were offered

sacrifices

tomb

at his

for this or

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 for

to

it is

wanted

human

when they they were wont to draw two

who

probably made by Horapollo,^ to represent

(jivXaKTtjpLou

says that

heads, one male and the other female, that of the male

These heads

looking inwards, and that of the female outwards.

would keep away the attack of any

evil spirit,

was placed with them. The other illustrations of

hour show us the god Af-Asar,

(^(^(î--v:\.'.-./.v.-;.v'.--v.-..-.-.t'.vu-;.

em-thehen-neteru,

is

p

;

The Eighth Hour

^

^

when Ra speaks to them they answer which resembles that of men who moan. The door of

Isis,

•.'••r ••':•'.•••»•.•.'•:

of

,

(]

,

Ba-neteru,

^

"J^ ^"^

called Tes-sheta-

shuts in the images ,

and Rem-neteru,

speaks to them they answer in a voice which

and men when they make lamentation.

—

Circle,

Nebt-semu-nefu,

^

^^

|]

The

.^L_e

"

"^ j

III

THE CIRCLES OF THE TUAT

^ ^T ^^ ^ ^M

Tes-sma-kekui,

called

is

P

in the images of Khatri, fl

I]

which These

j

\I

is

like

\\

(](j,

Affi,

and Aranbfi,

-

)

i

^^

called Tes

is

,

—»—

;^^

"^

A

-^

"^

S

^^,

%

V Qq

'

cz3i

'

^^^ shuts

'

is

,

hawk

cry of the divine Circle, Aat-setekau, ; I

jj

SJ n ^ ^Tp, Temtet, t^ ^ >

1

of

'^^

four gods

in

"^^ V^

\\

,

and shuts

Hebset

The

Horus.

'^

like

is

sekhem - aru,

^

^ ;

when Ra

the shouts of Circle,

^ ;

when Ra

like that of the

door of

the

tenth

^

(1

,

is

called Tes-khu,

in four gods in the

^^^^^

Circle,

called Tes-sept-nestu,

is


^— '^^ ® ^

- f,

voice which

The door of the ninth

Nu.

in the battle of

Sehert-baiu-s,

-

^^^ shuts in four gods


war heard

khefti

The door of the eighth

the roar of the living.

'

-

shuts in Nut, Ta, and Sebeq-hra,

when Ra speaks

Y ^ ^w

1

and

,

Ra

-

1

Hap - semu - s, "w ;^;—

^^^=-

1

1

Tes

^^^^®^

^^

form of uraei

J "J^ ^

Senket; c=î3

:],

Tebat; and

,

^^^^ "'

^

-"^

\ F=^, Keku; -21

,

Khebs-ta.

^^^^^ AAAAAA

§

M,

All

Menhi;

^ '^ < > J '

_/

i, I

Tcher-kliu;

aud

THE NINTH HOUR

242

who

upon

rest

voice which

last five

and chattering of water-fowl on Circles are shut in by a door called Tes-am-

Hour, which a country which

Ninth

The

brings us into

" Amentet

v^

speaks to them they answer in a

;^^^||.^(]i|^,=^

mit-em-sheta-f,

n <si-

when Ka

;

like the twittering

is

The

a lake.

1 1

the

;

"

IN

J'

name and

called

is

city

name

the

"hidden

called the

is

the

of

Tdatet-maket-neb-s/

is

of

Bes-aru,

pylon

its

Circle of

—«— "^y^

J

Sa-Akeb,

is

^ I

^^

orod ffl ^y^^. "When the srreat ^ arriveth in this _M^ *' Circle he addresseth from his boat the gods who are therein, and ^' The the sailors who are in his boat are content with this city."

-^*-

JSr

man who

lliiillll'

make

shall

a copy of the scenes of this Hour, and shall

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

know

the names of the gods and their places in

"^

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 in front of it are twelve divine rowers,

travelling on as before,

and

each with his paddle

among

sek-f, \\

(]

®

^ ^,

® ^^ ^

\^

unnut-f, --^^ XinS

'^^=-, (]()

1

'

;

Akhem-urt-f,

Neter-neteru,

i

]

The duty of these river

e

sailors is

-

,

Akhem-

^|^ ^, Akhem-hemi-f, \\

® ^^ ®

Hapti-ta-f,

Tcha-Tuat,

|

j

"~T

A ^

,

^^^

"^^^^

Khen-

Hetep-uaa,

and Tepi,

not only to row, but also to throw water

with their paddles upon the

to

[j

Akhem-khemes-f,

.^-Q,^^^^-,

N^ „

these are Khenu,

spirits

who

stand on each bank of the

whereon the god sails, and they have to lead the soul of Ra where he will reanimate the disk. Before these

the place

sailors, resting

on baskets, are the three gods who give abundant

m ^ i^

Jr U

1

THE NINTH HOUR

244

^ M^^^ ^ ^

Tuat

^

l]TK

^

Muti-khenti-Tuat,

offerings,

On

.

seated on

j 1^

"^ ,

Jg^

^

vv

^^sti-khenti-

^ n'

and Nebt-riu-khent-Tuat,

Ra

the right the boat of

and twelve goddesses

,

ffdl

^^

^^"^

tf^

passes twelve gods, each

these last are said to breathe

;

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 after

streno-th to rise -j:^

^ ^,

'^H,

^

I

,

y — T,

Temtu,

™

I

c^ ^

'^ ^ ii ^ rests

on

I!

I,

A/^ 1

,

^

Asti-neter, jj

ll

^ -—a

,

^^ ^|-

Aat-aatet,

%

,

Hent-nut-s,

Av

1

-n ^^|

^

Neb-pat

^

Nebt-shef-

^T ® —

()

/Wy>^rsA

U^^.)

^ c^ ^

^

^

l'^^^

j

Tesert-ant,

Ô

(](|'^, Menkhet

^

Sekhet-metu,

'

Men-a,

— Nehata

:

l^j^^"^' =^ _., Perit,

Nebt-shat,

,

1^

yU

AAA^

^,

Nebti,

,

of these are

^^

Ariti,

j

Y™™-^' ^^ "^

mat,

/,

child,

;

into being as soon as they heard the voice of

Ra, and their duty was to guard the gate of

unknown, the unseen, the

invisible,

^

^

"^^

Sai's,

^

fl (]

?

*^®

O O —fu.

'î-^-

This Circle of the Tuat through which the god travels to appear in

many wonderful

the mountain of the sunrise contains said to

it is

" the god "

them

this earth."

for a

head

from

He

the other Q.

^

Jj,

who

is

for the births of those

"on

;

and

beings,

swallow always the forms therein in the presence of

who knoweth,

giveth

it

''

Among it

is

project

these are:

and afterwards

in this city,

who

—A

come

are to

into being

god with the

solar disk

two human heads, one wearing

called Aper-hra-neb-tchetta,

"^

d

and

>/,

^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 serpent Shetu,

the

god

;

^, upon

Tchet-s,

oTTl

,

is

and

feet,

way

as to

facing

is

seated a

among a number

of stars.

the winged serpent, which

a god called Petra,

stretched out in such a

legs

the back of which

the heads of both serpents are

Standing by the side of

human

"^

[1

^^^^

,

is

called

with his arms

keep the wings wide apart

has on his head a disk, and his neck

is

between the double

;

he

iitchat,

m

THE ELEVENTH HOUR

254

^^^

^?^S' two heads

"he who

is

of

stands,

Avinged serpent

form on

have ceased

Temu

like

Shetu was to

^'

emit

no arms

disappears into

it

life

Before these march

From

in attendance

Hour

his boat

we of Ra

upon the god.

five of

upon

who

whom

and with her

^

¥• '

AA^~v^

^

M. Maspero speaks

-

The names are:

way

in such a

left

The

.

of

him

as the "

— Khnem-renit,

a

g

^^^— ,

as to

right

of

form a

in front of the

hand

feet

raised as

she grasps the body of one

^

i

,

Nert,

Rest-f,

fi

- jui-

(

282

)

CHAFPER

VII

THE OLDEST COMPANY OF THE GODS AND THE CREATION

IN

the earlier chapters of this of three

work mention has been made

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

as often as not

it

was supposed to include more than nine gods.

how-

Originally,

Helio-

the

ever,

politan

or

priests,

the authors of the

system

theological

exhibited

the

in

Pyramid Texts, tended the The Oldest Compauy

and

it

of the Gods.

in-

2)(ût

to

COUsist of uiue gods,

seems that they arrived at this decision as the result

of the addition of their pairs of deities, four

own

local

god

Tem

to a

gods and four goddesses,

group of four

whom

they had

grouped together according to the plan followed by an older school of theologians in forming

company

an older company of the gods.

of the gods last mentioned

is

probably the oldest of

the companies in Egypt, although for various reasons

seems to have attained to the popularity of the " great gods of

Annu," or

it

j>a-?it

all

never of the

to have enjoyed such a prominent position in

the minds of the religious philosophers of Egypt.

be wondered

The

at, for

whilst the Heliopolitan

This

company

is

not to

of the gods

included the Sun-god Ra-Tem, or Rc'i-Tem-Khepera, and Osiris,

THE FIRST EIGHT GODS company

the god of the dead, the older

who

283

consisted of pairs of deities

and faiths, and beliefs, long dead, and the had been which even at that remote period meaning of which had been forgotten. The very gods of the older company had been superseded, and their worship abolished, and represented religious conceptions,

the knowledge of their history and attributes was preserved only the

in

minds of

and religious experts, who probably

priests

regarded the ancient views about these gods which had come down

them

to

men

product of

as the

The

than their own.

civilization

belonging to a lower stage of older

company

of the gods here

referred to have been described as personifications of aspects, or phases,

properties

or

enumerated

primeval matter, and

of

may

be thus

:

000

^""""^

AT

S\

Kekui,

^

Kerh,

^lî-

^ "T^ ^

w

.

coo

AA/V\/\A

AA/WW

Kekuit,

^\\\'=W^ o

Keehet,

ÎZti'

The character of the first pair of gods can be readily determined by the hieroglyphics which form their names thus the ;

TTTTJT AA/WV\

K\

'^'ww.

/H

name Nu,

indicate the sound,

is

^^

and the outstretched heaven, p=^, and the

determinative for water,

show that

this deity

expressed by three vases of water which

aaaaaa

^^^^^^

3,

^

J)

,

was merely

indicate.

in the religious, mythological, is

for

" god,"

all

of which

was the god of the watery mass of the

The goddess Nut, part, as the signs,

and the sign

,

From

his female

sky.

counter-

various passages found

and funereal texts of

all

periods

it

abundantly clear that in primeval times at least the Egyptians

believed in the existence of a deep and boundless watery mass out

which had come into being the heavens, and the earth, and everything that is in them. The germs of all and every kind of of

life

were in

this

watery mass, and they were supposed to have AW^/Â

'

The

old form

is

ODD,

or

(Unas 199, 399), or

^

(Teta 78).

NU AND NUT

284 been there from the

They do not seem

beginning.

have

to

formulated any exact ideas about the position of this watery mass

and they certainly did not attempt

in the sky or heaven,

to

to assign

dimensions which could be expressed by the ordinary methods

it

of measurements

;

identified with the sky, jpet nnt^

Nu

however,

times,

later

in

was frequently

and with the heaven above

^,

it,

though, strictly speaking, he represented the watery

.

mass which was supposed to exist between the two. be noted that the ocean and also the Nile characteristics appear to

Nu, whose

^

It

must

also

were identified with

have changed during the

latter

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, part of the dynastic period.

but

it is difiicult

as the late Dr.

to see

how

in that case

it

can mean

'^

The true meaning

Brugsch suggested.^

young," 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 was regarded

here, except that she

whom

as the primeval mother, with

were identified several goddesses, Hathor, Mut, Nit, or Neith, and whose attributes were

e.g.,

in later dynastic times

assigned to

Thus he

is

them.

The forms

represented in

in

Nu

which

human form

depicted vary.

is

holding a sceptre

when he

forms one of the company of the gods of Amen, but he represented with the head of a frog, which

is

is

also

surmounted by a

and even with the head of a snake. The goddess Nut is represented in human form, but sometimes she has the head

beetle,^

also

of a uraeus, surmounted

the head of a '

disk,^

and at other times she has

cat.^

Compare Horapollo

o-rjju,atvovT€s,

by a

21

(ed.

ov KaXovaiv AlyvTTTKTTi

Now

I.

Leemans ;

;

p.

attention was

28):

— NctAow

first

drawn

by Tattam. Beligion unci Mytliologk, p. 129. ^

Lanzone, Dizionario,

'

Ibid.,

No

3.

])1.

1G7, No. 2. '

Jhid., pi. 170,

No.

2.

Se

avajSacrtv

to this passage

KEKUI AND KEKUIT The

285

characteristics of the second pair of gods,

^

Hehu,

y r^

§ §

?

According and Hehut, || >> J) î'-^Ty ^^y *^TIt^ *"^T ^TII^'

^•®"'

*^^ "primeval

*^

*^]^

,

"«#^.

,,.

«

11.

14-

W

20.

"^,'^^.

til.

t'^

wm '^~^WB^

23.

_^^^. 24.^^-^.

29.

AA

(2

^^.

See

my

paper in ArchaeoJoyla,

vol.

Aj\rv\r^

^25.

lii.,

22.

(j(je-;^—

PiankH,

tojDJ

^^

nrzj

,

by

there

he opened the doors [of the

his father

Ra

He

Het-Benbenet.

in

Matet Boat of Ra

(i.e.,

the boat of the

Tem

(i.e.,

the boat of the

then dreAV close the doors again, and having

affixed thereto the clay for a seal he

1

"^^ I

stood [on the

to the Sektet boat of

He

in the

the flowers and went

great tabernacle,'

in Het-Benbenet.

himself, he

up

flowers which are offered

/vwwn

libation,

ra

r\

V\ ^^HW 1.

,---—~^ A^yVW\

A/VVW\

AAAAAA

I

I

^^

/WWNA

stamped

^-^

nnn AAAAAA /W^ysA

n I

I

102).

the shrine or holy of holies of the temple of

Rm..

it

with the seal of AÂAAA Q ,Â/vW\ A/VW\A

Q ^

'

^

,Q,

] I

^

•

HELIOPOLIS

332

He

" the king himself.

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 and may he never come to an

(Heliopolis) be

'

and stable, end.' And the " king went into the Temple of Tem, and he performed all the " ceremonies and service connected with the worship of father " firm

" Tem-Khepera,

From

^^^

the above

|

S

it is

'

^

^^® prince of Annu."

|

Ra were

certain that the sacred boats of

kept in a sort of wooden tabernacle with two doors,

^|

could be fastened by a bolt, and from what of these boats

it is

we know from

,

that

I

I

pictures

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, "^^ trzD, was situated on the top of a flight of steps, and this is I

what we should expect, for we know that the support was intended to represent the high ground in or near the city of Khemennu,

—

z: II

AftAAAA

.C\

x\®

^

whereon Ra established himself on

(Hermopolis),

when he proceeded pillars of Shu were set

the day

fi'om the

the

up.

high ground - -

^^^

is

nn

\\

called "

^

Qaqa

^ ©.

in

watery abyss of Nu, before

In the Book of

Khemennu,"

During

the

a

period

the

Dead

^^ a ^^ of

the

this '^^-^

Persian

invasion the prosperity of the priesthood of Heliopolis declined,

Ptolemy 11. (b.c. 285247) many of its members found an asylum at Alexandria, Avhere A their reputation for learning caused them to be welcomed. visited Solon, Thales, and Plato all the great tradition says college at Heliopolis, and that the last-named actually studied there, and

and

it is

said that later, during the reign of

that Manetho, the priest of Sebennytus, Avho Avrote a history of

Egypt

in

Greek

for

Ptolemy

II.,

library of the priesthood of Ra.

collected his

Some

materials in the

time, however, before the

Christian era, the temple buildings were in ruins, and the glory of

had departed, and it was frequented only by those who went there to carry away stone or anything else which would be Heliopolis

useful in building or farming operations.

CULT OF HELIOPOLIS We

333

have now to consider briefly Avhat was the nature of the

was

which

doctrine

the

distinguishing

teaching of the priests of HeliopoHs.

claimed the absolute sovereignty of

made him

the head of every

deny divinity

older

the

to

In the

Ra among

company deities

characteristic

the priests of

Ra

so often

place

the

it

pro-

the gods, and

of the gods, but

of the

authorities for the Heliopolitan doctrine are

which allusion has

first

of

it

it

did not

The chief the Pyramid Texts, to country.

been made, and from these we see that

displayed great ingenuity and tact in absorbing

into their form of religion all the older cults of Egypt, together

with their magical

and ceremonies.

rites

attempt to abolish the

old,

Apparently they did not

indigenous gods

;

on the contrary, they

allowed their cults to be continued, provided that the local priest-

hoods would make their gods subordinate to

and

Rii.

Thus

Osiris

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.^ Isis,

Nothing

known

is

of the origin of Osiris worship, but the god

himself and the ceremonies which accompanied the celebration of his festivals suggest that

in Egypt.

who as

The

he was known to the predynastic dwellers

belief in the efficacy of worship of the

Man-god,

rose from the dead, and established himself in the underworld

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

imaginations of the refined and cultured folk of Egypt, tacitly accepted as true

religious inheritance

hand, the priests of

way

and was regarded

by the majority of the

Ra

it

the

was

as a portion of their

people.

On

the other

declared that the souls of the blessed

made

and that if they succeeded No upon it their eternal happiness was assured. 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 their

after death to the boat of Ra,

in alighting

334

CULT OF HELIOPOLIS

of the Tuat, and

when

to

wander about

the god rose each morning they were free

heaven or to

in

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

slay, the

to

souls of those

who had

failed to arrive safely in the boat.

But although the the priests of

supported by queens

who

priests of

Amen-Ra under all

Ra under

the Early Empire, and

the Middle and

New

Empires, were

the power and authority of the greatest kings and

ever sat upon the throne of Egypt, in their proclama-

tion of a heaven,

which was of a

far

more

spiritual character than

that of Osiris, they never succeeded in obliterating the belief in

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 Osiris

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

among

of passing eternity

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

Ra met with from the Egyptians generally, the doctrine of Ra contained something which

Avhich the priests of

and

was

it

seems as

if

entirely foreign

to

Heliopolis appears always to

and

its

made

situation

travellers passing

n

The city of mixed population, have contained a of the

the ideas

it

people.

a very convenient halting-place

from Arabia and Syria into Egypt and

5s^

N^

^v V

^^'

'

(•^''"^'' 'i^'^'^

-Dcat/,

cxxv. 19).

for ince

HYMNS TO RA versa;

it is,

335

then, most probable that the doctrine of

Ra

as taught

was a mixture of Egyptian and by Western Asiatic doctrines, and that it was the Asiatic element in It could not have been sunit which the Egyptians resisted. worship which they disliked, for they had been sun-Avorshippers the priests of Heliopolis

from time immemorial. The above paragraphs contain concerning the worships of deducible

fairly

from

statement

a

Ra and

Osiris

extant

religious

the

of

the

facts

which appear to be literature

the

of

hymns to these gods declare the attributes which were assigned to them during the most flourishing period of Egyptian history. More hymns were adEgyptians, but

it

is

time to

the

let

dressed 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 following hymns Hunefer, and Ani, and Nekht

the Egyptians.

^

are taken from the Papyri of

:

Homage to thee, 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 " creator of those

who

" dwell in the depths.

;

thou art the

dwell in the heights and of those

Thou

art the

God One who

didst

who 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

watery abyss, and thou dost give

"Thou

Nile), life

thou didst create the

unto

all

that therein

is.

made mankind come into being, thou hast made Worshipped be thou whom Maat

hast knit together the mountains, thou hast

" and the beasts of the field to

"the heavens and the earth. " embraceth at morn and at eve.

Thou

dost travel across the sky

the Lake of Testes becometh 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

"with heart swelling with joy; " contented thereat.

1

See

my

Chajpters of

Coming Forth ly Day (Translation), pp.

8, 36.

HYMNS TO RA

336 "

all

"

word when uttered must come

attributes]

who comest

forth

" thou heir of everlastingness,

" didst give thyself birth

Ra

from the sky.

is

he whose

thou divine Youth,

to pass.

thou self-begotten one, thou who

thou One, thou mighty [one] of King of the world, Prince of Annu eternity and ruler of everlastingness, the 1

" myriad forms and aspects, " (Heliopolis), lord of "

company

"sailest across

"boat."

when thou thou who art

of the gods rejoice

the sky,

" day

exalted in the

(From the Papyrus of Hunefer, sheet

" Hail, thou Disk, thou lord of rays,

by day

!

Homage

to thee,

" Khepera, the self-created

;

who

on the horizon

who

^'

''

"

when they behold

art the

god

on the horizon and

risest

upon the lands

of the

" of the South, thou art beautiful, yea beautiful, and

"

Sektet

1.)

risest

Heru-khuti,

when thou

" sheddest thy beams of light

and when thou

rises t

North and

all

the gods

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 The god Thoth is stablished in the bows of place before thee. rejoice

thee, the

;

;

" thy boat to destroy utterly all thy foes.

Those who are in the

and they bow

"

Tuat come forth

"

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

" ' '

"

to

meet

thee,

" view thy beauties, even as [are those of] ^'

because I

am

one of those

who worship jêd

all

in

homage

as they

thy favoured ones,

thee

upon

earth.

May

" I come in unto the land of eternity, may I come even unto the " everlasting land, for behold, my lord, this hast thou ordained " for me.

"

Homage

to thee,

thou Avho

risest in the

horizon as Ra,

Thou upon law unchangeable and unalterable. "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 " thou restest

;

;

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

"

own appointed

season,

thou endest them in thine

and the earth becometh

" settest thyself therefore before thy "

;

Thou

light.

handiwork in the likeness of

Ra [when] thou risest on the horizon. " Thou art crowned with the majesty

" mouldest thy limbs as thou dost advance,

of thy beauties

thou

;

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

May

" thy favoured ones. " holy

and

perfect,

" forth with

and into the mountain where dwell

everlasting,

them

who

I

be joined unto those shining beings,

are in the Underworld

" in the west, and "

when thou shinest at Thou dost place thyself

my

two hands are

[raised] in adoration of thee

Behold, thou art when thou settest as a living being. maker of eternity, and thou art adored when thou settest in I have given

"heavens. "

come

I

to behold thy beauties

" eventide and goest to thy mother Nu.

"

and may

;

my

thou who

risest

the

heart unto thee without wavering,

A

thou who art mightier than the gods.

" thee,

the

hymn

of praise to

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. "

thou great Light, who shinest in the heavens, thou dost

" strengthen the generations of " dost

cause

"temples. " thou

gladness in

all

lands,

the Mle-flood, and thou

and in

all cities,

makest strong thy Double with divine

make z

and

in all

Thou art glorious by reason of thy splendours, and

" mighty one of victories, thou " dost

men with

who

art the

Power

strong thy throne against evil fiends

;

foods.

of Powers,

who

thou

who

art glorious

HYMN TO RA

338

who

mighty " in the Atet boat, make thou me glorious through words which "when spoken must take effect in the UnderAvorld; and grant thou

" in majesty in the Sektet boat, and

may

" that in the nether world I

art exceedingly

be without

I

evil.

pray thee to

may be one of thy my faults behind thee " loyal servants who are with the shining ones may I be joined "unto the souls which are in Ta-tchesertet, and may I journey " put

;

grant thou that

I

;

" into the Sekhet-Aaru

by a prosperous and happy decree." (From

the Papyrus of Ani, sheet 20 f.) " Homage to thee, thou glorious "

dowered with

all attributes,

peoples.

all

thou who art

Tem-Heru-khuti, when thou

" in the horizon of heaven, a cry of joy

"the mouth of

being,

cometh forth

risest

to thee

from

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 thou illuminest the two

" thy rising in the horizon of heaven " lands with rays of turquoise light.

;

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.

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. " " o-lad

The company

when

it

of the gods rejoice at thy rising, the earth

beholdeth thy rays

;

is

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 'made

Thou

day by thy mother Nut.

each

strong

339 passest

'

through the heights of heaven, thy heart swelleth with joy

'

the

'

fallen,

Lake

is

Ra

and The Serpent-fiend hath

content thereat.

arms are hewn

his

off,

;

the knife hath cut asunder his

by Maat the beautiful. The Sektet boat cometh into port the South and the North, the draweth on and

'joints. '

of Testes

liveth

;

'West

the East turn to

and

'

substance of the earth

'

accord.

who

praise

didst

come

and Nephthys salute

Isis

thou primeval

thee,

into being of thine

thee,

own

they sing unto thee

'

songs of joy at thy rising in the boat, they protect thee with their

'

hands.

'

praise thee.

The

souls of the East follow thee, the souls of the

Thou

art the ruler of all the gods,

West and thou hast

'joy of heart within thy shrine, for the serpent fiend

'been condemned to the

fire,

and thy heart

Nak

hath

shall be joyful for

(From the Papyrus of NekJit, sheet 21.) Even more instructive, however, than these are the Seventy-

'ever."

Ra which are found inscribed on the walls of royal XlXth and XXth Dynasties at Thebes. In these we

five Praises of

tombs of the

enumerated a large number of most remarkable epithets and attributes, some idea of the meaning of which will be gathered

find

from the following rendering 1.

" Praise be to thee,

:

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.

f

c=^5i

3

"^^

,

i.e.,

" Praise be to thee, "

(S

(][)

" the Tuat,

{)?

the universal god).

Ra, exalted Sekhem, thou creative force

who

spreadest out thy wings,

who makest

who

the created things which

restest in

come

forth

" from his divine limbs, 3.

Ra, exalted Sekhem, Ta-thenen, begetter

" Praise be to thee, " 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, " earth,

Ra, exalted

and brightener of Amenti.

1

Literally,

Sekhem, looker on the Thou art he whose forms

"Power."

THE PRAISES OF RA

340 v^

i)

:

own

are his

creations,

and thou makest thy

" creations in thy Great Disk. 5.


Ra, exalted Sekhem, the Word-soul,

" that resteth on his high

Thou

place.

" tecteth thy hidden spirits ("^s v^ " in thee. 6.

he who pro-

art

^^^ they have form

')'

Ra, exalted Sekhem, mighty one, bold of


" face, the knitter together of his body. " gathereth together thy gods

when thou

Thou

art

he who

goest into thy hidden

" Circle. 7.


Ra, exalted Sekhem.

" thine Eye, and dost speak to thy head,

Thou

and dost give breath

" to the souls in their places, and they receive ''

8.

it

and have

their forms in him.


" enemies

9.

dost call to

Ra, exalted Sekhem, destroyer of thy

thou art he who doth decree destruction for the

;

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

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the illuminer

be to thee,

" of bodies in the horizons

;

thou art he who entereth into

" his Circle. 11. " Praise

" of the Circles of

12.

Ament

" Praise be to thee, *'of ''

13.

Ra, exalted Sekhem, support

be to thee,

Anpu

Khepera

°

((1

(^

life

is

thou art indeed the body of

'^^)i

(|

^)

tôu

" Praise

Temu

art

indeed

the

body of

Ra, exalted Sekhem, whose duration of

greater than that of her whose forms are hidden

be

to

)

.

" thou art indeed the bodies of 14.

M /\

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the hidden support


"

;

(

thee,

Ra,

Shu

(nsz:

exalted

][

;

M\.

Sekhem, the guide

THE PRAISES OF RA "

(r J h4

^

^^^^)

" bodies of Tefnut 15. " Praise

^^

^-^

^ ^)

(,^__

be to thee,

thou art indeed the

;

.

Sekhem thou dost make which are of Ra in their seasons,

Ra, exalted

"to be abundant the things " and thou art indeed Seb 16.

members

*^ ^^^

341

(^^ J

;

r^)

•

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the mighty one "Praise be to thee, " who doth keep count of the things which are in him thou ;

*'

art indeed the bodies of Nut.

17. " Praise

" advancest 18.

;

thou art indeed

"Praise be to thee, " shineth

Isis

j

Jj j

(

Ra,

Sekhem, whose head

exalted

more than the things which are

in front of '^

" thou art indeed the bodies of Nephthys (TT 19.

who

gathereth together

" indeed the bodies of Horus 20. " Praise be to thee,

"

who

" art indeed the bodies of

"

(

^^ rjj)

all

upon the waters

Nu

Jj

(

he in

is

thou art

of heaven

thou

;

)

Nu

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the avenger of

him

forth from

what

" bodies of the

god Remi

(^^^f]f|^^).

22. " Praise be to thee,

who bear

;

.

•

who Cometh

" Uraei

seed

him

Ra, exalted Sekhem, thou shining one

dost send forth light


3)

Ra, exalted Sekhem, united

"Praise be to thee, " members, One,

who

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the lord

be to thee,

is

in

Sekhem

Ra, exalted

their

thou art the two

;

two feathers [on their heads]; thou

" indeed the bodies of the 23. " Praise be to thee,

thou art indeed the

;

god Huaaiti (|

Ra, exalted

-f)

Sekhem

'^'^ ^^ ;

art

'^

V^)'

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


Ra, exalted

" departeth at his appointed time

O


;

Sekhem, the Soul who

thou art indeed the bodies

).

Ra, exalted Sekhem,

who

standeth up,

THE PRAISES OF RA

342

" the Soul One, ''

who avengeth

his children

thou art indeed

;

(^ \ZA)'

the bodies of Netuti


Ra, exalted Sekhem thou raisest thy " head and thou makest bold thy brow, thou ram, mightiest ;

" of created things. 27. " Praise be to thee,

" the head of ''of

Ament

Ra, exalted Sekhem, the light of "^

Akert

(h

^^^ "

)

5

Shu

at

thou art indeed the bodies

).

(()

28. " Praise be to thee, Ra, exalted Sekhem, the soul that " seeth, the governor of Ament thou art indeed the bodies ;

''

(^ ^ ^ ^

of the double Circle

29. " Praise

be

to

" the

Soul

"

^^ ^

^

Ra,

thee,

fjfl

'^^^ ^)'^

Sekhem

exalted

and

mourneth,

that

).

the

god

thou art

;

that

crieth

^^^^ ^^* indeed the bodies of

"Aakebi((j^^J(]^^|).

^


Ra, exalted

Sekhem thou makest thy ;

"

hand

"'

the bodies of the god of hidden limbs (u

to pass

and

praisest thine Eye,


Ra, exalted

Sekhem

" exalted in the double hidden place " indeed Khenti-Amenti 32. " Praise

be

to

(w

'^^^

;

^)-

thou art the Soul

;

^

(

) :

thou art

thou art indeed the bodies of

Jj).

Ra, exalted Sekhem

" thine enemies in their strong fetters, " bodies of Mati

(?

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