involved the destruction of his whole being. To introduce a nameless man to Rā or Osiris in heaven was impossible. The name of the deceased is always mentioned several times on his tomb and coffin and papyrus (when there is one), and it occurs prominently on every article of his funeral furniture. The various portions of man's material and spiritual bodies mentioned above represent different phases of psychological belief, and probably belong to different periods in the development of the Egyptians; but they were never forgotten by the people, and they appear in religious texts which were written centuries after belief in many of them had become very vague, or had entirely disappeared. As a whole the Egyptians were extremely religious, but they never troubled themselves with abstruse philosophical questions concerning their beliefs like many peoples of antiquity, for so to do was foreign to their nature and disposition, and they were probably incapable of it. They devoted most of their energies to the building of tombs to hold their own bodies, and to the worship of their ancestors; they called their tombs "houses of eternity," and they left nothing undone which would enable them to rise again and to enjoy immortality. A moment's consideration will show that only the rich could indulge in costly tombs and tomb furniture, and expensive mummification, but the poorest men hoped to enter the kingdom of Osiris and to partake of everlasting life, for the priests worked out means whereby they could safely dispense with the pomps and ceremonies which attended the burial of the rich. The righteous man, rich or poor, who was provided with words of power, could make himself independent of the ordinary limits of time and space, and obtain everything he wanted. The following extracts from Chapter CXXVI of the Book of the Dead illustrate the prayers of the Egyptians: "Hail, ye four Ape-gods who sit in the "front of the Boat of Ra, who convey Truth to the God of the "Universe, who sit in judgment on my wickedness and on my "virtue, who satisfy the gods with the flames of your mouths, "who offer offerings to the gods, and funerary food to the spirits, who live on Truth, who feed on truth of heart, in "whom is neither deceit nor fraud, who abominate wickedness, do away my evil deeds, put away my sin, and remove everything which maketh a barrier between you and me. Let me 'journey through Ammeḥet, let me enter Restau, let me pass through the secret doors of the Other World. 66 Let cakes and ale be given to me as to the Spirits, and let me go in "and come out from Restau." The Ape-gods reply: "Come, "for we have done away thy wickedness, and put away thy "sin, and we have destroyed all the evil which appertained to "thee on earth. Thou shalt enter Restau, and pass through "the secret doors of the Other World. Cakes and ale shall "be given unto thee, thou shalt go in and out at thy desire, "even as do those who are favoured of the god, and thou "shalt be proclaimed each day on the horizon." 3. Egyptian Gods. THE following is a list of the principal Egyptian gods and goddesses, with their names in hieroglyphics; at the end of it will be found pictures of 57 of them, outlined in the forms in which they most commonly occur:— ÁFU-RA ÁMEN AMEN-Rà 4mm , the Sun-god of might. Originally a local god of Thebes, he usurped the attributes of all the great gods, and when joined to Rā, he was regarded as the "king of the gods." His name is often found joined to that of AMSU, or MENU JOD A and as such he is the god of generation and fecundity. A certain kind of Ram was sacred to him. AMSET (or perhaps ÅGESET), one of the four children of Horus, to whose care were entrusted the stomach and large intestines of the deceased; he is represented with the head of a man. AM-UTS, a dog-headed god of the dead; his symbol is a pied headless bull skin attached to a rod which rests in a bowl ANI †† ANTAT ANPU a form of the Moon-god. His female counterpart was ANIT. a goddess of war and hunting; she was of Syrian origin. (Anaitis.) the divine physician, who assisted at the embainment of Osiris, and was the guardian of all mummies. He was present at the Judgment. The jackal was sacred to him. AN-HERU, a god of This, in Upper Egypt, whose position was usurped by Osiris. ĀNQET, a goddess of the First Cataract. ÅP-UAT, or UP-UAT , a god who appeared in the form of a jackal; he seems to have assisted Anubis in "opening the ways" of the dead. ASAR i.e., OSIRIS, the god and judge of the dead. The seats of his worship were at Abydos and Busiris. ASAR-HEP, SARAPIS, i.e., the deified Apis Bull, and, in late times, the god of death and of the dead. AST 1 ASTES ATMU z.e., Isis, the wife of Osiris, and mother of Horus. A companion of Thoth. a local god of Heliopolis, who personified the Sun-god as the closer of the day. He is represented in the form of a man, and the lion and lotus were sacred to him. He was the Dwarf-god from Central Africa. enjoyment of all kinds. BAST OR UBAST' Worship was Bubastis, in the Delta. the Cat-goddess, whose seat of HAPI (HEP), one of the four children of Horus, to whose care were entrusted the small intestines of the deceased; he is represented with the head of an ape. HERU A, HORUS, one of the oldest gods of Egypt; he is also said to be the son of Osiris and Isis, the young Sun-god. HERU-SHEFI, , the Sun-god of Herakleopolis. the god of taste. 2.e., Hathor, the goddess of love and beauty; a special kind of cow was sacred to her. IUSAASET OR AUSĀAS. opolis. I-EM-HETEP one of the chief on goddesses of Heli who was deified after his death he and Heruṭāṭāf, son of Cheops, were held to be the two most learned men of Egypt. the god who laid the cosmic egg, husband of Nut. KHEPERA KHNEMU the Beetle-god, a form of Ra, and the creator of the world. KHENSU or KHONSU KHENSU-NEFER-ḤETEP the goddess of right, truth, law, order, etc. MESKHENET MUT NEB-ER-TCHER a goddess who presided over the birth-chamber. ,, the mother-goddess par excellence, wife of Amen-Ra, the king of the gods. "lord of wholeness," a name of Osiris. NEBT-HET, Nephthys, sister of Osiris, and mother of Anubis. son of Ptah and Sekhmet of Memphis. NEKHEBETEgypt; she was worshipped under the probably the oldest goddess of Upper form of a vulture, and was the goddess of women about to become mothers. The Greeks identified her with Eileithyia. , i.e., NEITH, the goddess of Saïs, who existed in four aspects or forms. She was called "One," was self-produced, and was declared by her devotees to have begotten and given birth to the Sun-god. NET the god of the primeval water abyss, and "father of the gods." the female counterpart of Nu, the Sky NEHEB-KAW formed many offices for a serpent-goddess who per dead. PAKHET РТАН , a local Cat-goddess. the 8, a form of the Sun-god, and the master-craftsman Memphis of the world. He was the head of the triad of Ptaḥ, Sekhmet, Bast. |