MAFTET, the Lynx-goddess. BAST, the Cat-goddess; the word for "cat" was Mau ANPU, the Dog, or Jackal-god. APUAT , the Wolf-god. KHATRU the Ichneumon-god. The following birds were sacred: The phoenix, Bennu ; the vulture, Neràu the hawk, en the hawk of gold, Bak nub ; the ibis, Habu there were several kinds; etc. The following reptiles and insects were sacred: the turtle, ; the grasshopper, Saneḥemu, Kheprera the beetle, Scarabaeus sacer, writers mention the Oxyrhynchus, the Phagrus, the Latus, the Lepidotus, the Silurus, the Maeotes, etc., but authorities differ in their identifications. Number of the gods.-As every district, city, town, and village possessed a god, with a female counterpart and a son, and also a being of evil, or devil, to say nothing of the creatures who, in modern times, would be called vaguely "spirits," or "fairies," it follows that the "gods" of the Egyptians must have been very numerous. The names of a great many have been lost, but about 200 gods are mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, about 480 in the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead, and about 1,200 in the various works which deal with the Other World; a total of about 2,200 names has been noted. The Egyptians tried to reduce the large number of their gods by declaring that their gods were merely forms of the great Sun-god Ra, who was said to have "created the names of his members, which became the gods who are in the "following of Ra" (Book of the Dead, xvii, 11). The Egyptian system of Polytheism (not Pantheism) appears to have been well suited to the early conditions of the country, but several facts make it certain that attempts were made by the priests to give their religion a distinctly monotheistic character. The results of their endeavours in this respect find expression in many texts. Under the Ancient Empire we read in the Pyramid Texts of a God who was the lord of heaven, who gave life to the dead, and who was entirely different in every way from the "gods." In Moral Precepts we have such phrases as: "The things which God doeth cannot be known." "The eating "of bread is according to the plan of God," ie., a man's food comes to him through the Providence of God. “Labour in "the field which God hath given thee." "God loveth obedience "and hateth disobedience." "Verily a good son is the gift of "God." "God is the righteous Judge.' "Wrong not thy "mother lest she lift up her hands to God, and He hear her 1 1 From the Precepts of Ptaḥ-hetep and the Maxims of Khensu-hetep, "complaints (and punish thee)." "The multiplying of words "is an abomination to the sanctuary of God." And the official Paḥeri says in his Biography (line 42): "I never told lies to "another man, for I knew that God dwelt among men, and I "recognised Him": In funerary texts the god referred to may possibly be Osiris, god and judge of the dead, but in the Moral Precepts quoted above this is impossible, and it follows that the Egyptians believed in a God Who was wholly apart from the "Companies "of Gods," and in His wise, inscrutable, and kindly Providence. The doctrine of Oneness, or Unity, we find in connection with the great God who created the universe and all that is in it, by whatsoever name he be called, Rā, or Tem, or Kheperȧ, or Ptaḥ, or Khnemu, or Åten. Thus Rā is the "Lord of heaven, lord of earth, maker of beings celestial, and "of beings terrestrial, the One God, who came into being in "primeval time, maker of the world, creator of men, maker "of the sky, creator of the Nile, fashioner of whatsoever is in "the waters, and creator of their life, maker of mountains, creator of men, and women, and beasts, and cattle, and the "heavens and the earth" (Book of the Dead, Chapter CLXXII). In another passage it is said of this same god: "He is the "divine matter which produced the Two Companies of Gods, every god came into being through him, God One alone, He made what is when the carth began in "primeval time, his births are hidden, his transformations. "are multitudinous, and his similitude cannot be known." It has been argued that the Egyptian idea of the Oneness of a god is a totally different thing from Monotheism, but, taking the facts as they stand, we are justified in saying that when the Egyptian declared that his god was One, neter uă his meaning was identical with that expressed by the Hebrew in the words, "The Lord our God is one" (Deuteronomy vi, 4), and by the Arab in his declaration, "God, He is one" (Kur'ân, Surah cxii). The principal religious beliefs of the Egyptians may be summarized thus: The Creation. In the beginning there existed an immense mass of water wherein lived the god Nu. He felt the desire to create this universe, and his heart, or intelligence, who was called Thoth, spake a word expressing this desire, and the world came into being. The first act of creation was the appearance of the sun from out of the water; the light separated the heavens from the earth, and the sky was placed upon four pillars, which marked the cardinal points. The god Khnemu fashioning a man on a potter's wheel which he works Creation of gods.-According to the priests of On, the god Kheperà, a form of Ra, who was self-begotten and self-produced, fashioned a god and a goddess out of the matter of his own body, and these became the parents of a number of other gods and goddesses, e.g., Osiris and Isis, Set and Nephthys, Horus and Anubis, etc. The priests of Hermopolis declared that Thoth was the primeval god, and that the gods he created were Nu and Nut, Hehu In funerary texts the god re The doctrine of Onenes "primeval time, his "are multitudin It has been ar of a god is a taking the fac when the Eg d. D HY |