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CHAPTER VII.

EGYPTIAN RELIGION. EARLY BELIEF IN SPIRITS, FETISHES, COMPANIES OF GODS. THE WORD FOR GOD AND "GOD." LIST OF GODS. POLYTHEISM. ONENESS Of God. LEGENDS OF THE GODS. OSIRIS AND THE RESURRECTION. THE JUDGMENT. THE OTHER WORLD. DOCTRINE OF RETRIBUTION. AMU

LETS.

Predynastic Religion.-From the evidence derived from a number of Predynastic graves it is perfectly clear that the Predynastic Egyptians believed in a future life; .for otherwise they never would have buried with the dead food and flint weapons, etc., for the chase in the Other World. Whether they believed that the future life would be cternal cannot be said; but they certainly hoped that it would resemble the life on this earth.

Dynastic.—The religion of the ancient Egyptians was of African origin, and in the earliest times had much in common with that of many of the peoples and tribes who live in Equatorial Africa at the present day. Earth, air, sea and sky were believed to be filled with spirits, some of whom were occupied in carrying on the works of nature, and others in aiding or injuring man upon earth. Every object, both animate and inanimate, was inhabited by a spirit, which could assume any form it pleased, and occupy the body of any man, woman, quadruped, bird, fish, insect, reptile, tree, etc. incarnations of certain of these spirits became gods at a very early period, eg., the hippopotamus, crocodile, lion, bull, ram, dog-headed ape, dog, wolf, jackal, ichneumon, hawk, vulture, ibis, swallow, dove, and heron, certain kinds of snakes, uraeus, frog, beetle, grasshopper, mantis, and several kinds of fish. All the above were regarded as powers of good from the earliest to the latest times. On the other hand, certain animals, e.g., gazelle, the animal which is the symbol of Set, N. , or, the hyaena, the lynx, the scorpion, the turtle, were incarnations of powers of evil. The heavenly bodies were regarded as powers of good, probably, in the

See the flint hippopotami, crocodile, cow's head, fish, etc., in Tablecase M (Third Egyptian Room).

earliest times; but the scorching heat of the sun, lightning, hurricanes, storms, flood, darkness, mist and fog were regarded as manifestations of spirits hostile to man.

In addition, the primitive Egyptians fashioned symbols of spirits, much in the same way as the native of Central Africa makes "fetishes." All these they worshipped because they admired some quality or attribute in them, or because they feared them; and the religion of the earliest period consisted of the performance of rites and ceremonies which had for their object the propitiation of them. Men gave gifts to the incarnations of the spirits to persuade them to withhold the evils which they might inflict upon them, and to protect them from every calamity; moreover, they appealed to them as possessing the same feelings and passions as human beings. The dead were assumed to enjoy a renewed existence in the Other World, probably with benevolent spirits; it is quite certain that this belief was current among the primitive Egyptians, at least among those who lived during the latter half of the Neolithic Period. Every district and every large city or town had its own spirit or object of worship, and most of the gods of Egypt of the Dynastic Period were selected from them; often, no doubt, their names were changed, and their attributes added to.

At a very early period an attempt was made to group the gods into families containing husband, wife, and son; these are usually called triads, examples of which are: Amen-Ra, Mut and Khensu at Thebes; Ba-neb-Tet, Hat-mehit and Heru-pa-khart at Mendes; Ptaḥ, Sekhet and I-em-hetep at Memphis. Another attempt to group the gods resulted in the Ennead or Company of nine or more gods.

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1 The word "fetish" is derived from the Portuguese feitiço, “a charm.”

Asar-Hap (Serapis).

Åtmu.

Bennu.

Bes.

Нарі (Nile-god).

Häpi. Horus. Heru-pa-khart Kheperȧ. Khnemu.

(Harpokrates).

Khensu.

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At Heliopolis, the On of the Bible, the priests proclaimed the existence of three Companies of the gods. The first Company

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gods of heaven,

When all three

title; these Companies represented the earth, and the Other World respectively. companies were invoked they were represented thus:

ררר

The gods of the

Great Company were: Temu, Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut, Osiris,
Isis, Set, Nephthys; Khenti-Amenti, Rā,
Rā, Horus, and
Uatchit were sometimes added. The gods of the Little
Company were: Rā, Am-Annu, Am-Antchet, Am-Het-
Serqet, Am-neter-het, Am-hetch-paar, Am-Saḥ, Am-Ṭep,
Am-Het-ur-Ra, Am-Unnu-resu, and Am-Unnu-meḥt.

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The common Egyptian word for God and god is NETER

which is symbolized by the sign; goddess is

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