THE RELIGION AND GODS OF

ANCIENT EGYPT.

The religion of the ancient Egyptians is one of the most difficult problems of Egyptology, and though a great deal has been written about it during the last few years, and many difficulties have been satisfactorily explained, there still remain unanswered a large number of questions connected with it. In all religious texts the reader is always assumed to have a knowledge of the subject treated of by the writer, and no definite statement is made on the subject concerning which very little, comparatively, is known by students today. For example, in the texts inscribed inside the pyramids of Unȧs, Tetȧ, and Pepi (B.C. 3300-3233), we are brought face to face with religious compositions which mention the acts and relationships of the gods, and refer to beliefs, and give instructions for the performance of certain acts of ritual which are nowhere explained. It will be remembered that Ptolemy II. Philadelphus instructed Manetho to draw up a history of the religion of the ancient Egyptians. If such a work was needed by the cultured Greek who lived when the religion of ancient Egypt, though much modified, was still in existence, how much more is it needed now? The main beliefs of the Egyptian religion were always the same. The attributes of one god were applied to another, or one god was confused with another; the cult of one god declined in favour of another, or new gods arose and became popular, but the

fundamentals of the religion of Egypt remained unchanged. Still, it is asserted by some that the religion of the dynasties of the Early Empire was simpler and more free from speculation than that of the Middle and New Empires, in which the nature and mutual relationships of the gods were dis cussed and theogonies formulated. Speaking generally, the gods of Egypt were the everlasting and unalterable powers of nature, i.e., 'day and night,' 'light and darkness,' etc. The great god of the Egyptians, Rā, or Àmen-Rā, as he was called in the Middle Empire, was said to be the maker of all things; the various gods Horus, Atmu, etc., were merely forms of him. Rā was self-begotten, and hymns to him never cease to proclaim his absolute and perfect unity in terms which resemble those of the Hebrew Scriptures. It will be seen from the translation of a hymn given in the following pages that he is made to possess every attribute, natural and spiritual, which Christian peoples ascribe to God Almighty, and there is no doubt that long before this hymn was written, the Egyptians had formulated a belief in One God, who was almighty and was self-existent. The material symbol of God was the sun, who was personified under the form of Rā, or later Åmen-Rā; Rā is declared to have been the father of Osiris, and Osiris was his only son. This Osiris was of divine origin, and he came upon earth and reigned wisely and well, and did good to all men; but at length he was put to death, and suffered mutilation at the hands of evil men, who were instigated by Set, the personification of the powers of darkness. But the death of his body did not put an end to him, for he rose from the dead, and became the god of the underworld and of the beings who were therein. Because he suffered, died, and rose from the dead, he became the type of the Resurrection to the Egyptians, who based all their hopes of everlasting life upon the belief that Osiris rose from the dead. When, where, or how this belief arose cannot be said, but, however

far back we go in historic times in Egypt, we find evidences that the belief in the resurrection and in a life beyond the grave was universal. During the earliest dynasties beautiful and enduring tombs * were built in order that the bodies which were placed in them might be preserved until such time as the resurrection of the body should take place. It is clear from the papyri that man was supposed to possess a body,khat, a soul, ba, a “double" ka, an

intelligence,

sekhem, a heart,

ab, a name,

ren, and a spiritual

body,

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The body, freed from all its most corruptible portions, was preserved by being filled with bitumen, spices, and aromatic drugs, and having been bandaged in many a fold of linen, lay in its tomb, ready to take part in the life which was inherited by those who were deemed worthy of it.

Of the funeral procession we are able to gain some idea from the vignettes which are given in hieroglyphic copies of the Book of the Dead. In the centre of p. 147 the dead man is seen lying on a bier in a chest mounted on a boat with runners, which is drawn by oxen. In the rear is a sepulchral ark or chest surmounted by a figure of Anubis, the god of the dead. In front of the boat are a group of

"Les belles tombes que l'on admire dans les plaines de Thèbes et de Sakkârah ne sont donc pas dues à l'orgueil de ceux qui les ont érigées. Une pensée plus large a présidé à leur construction. Plus les matériaux sont énormes, plus on est sûr que les promesses faites par la religion recevront leur exécution. En ces sens, les Pyramides ne sont pas des monuments de la vaine ostentation des rois'; elles sont des obstacles impossibles à renverser, et les preuves gigantesques d'un dogme consolant." (Mariette, Notices des Principaux Monuments, P. 44.)

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women (p. 148) beating their faces and wailing, and a youth carrying the staff, chair, and box of the deceased. At the head of the procession is the kher heb or master of funereal ceremonies, who reads from an open roll of papyrus the funereal service. The scene on page 148 represents the ceremony of "opening the mouth," which takes place at the door of the tomb. Before the tomb stands the mummy of Hu-nefer to receive the final honours; behind him, and embracing him, stands Anubis, the god of the dead, and at his feet in front kneel his wife Nasha and her daughter to take a last farewell of the body. By the side of a table of offerings stand three priests: the sem priest, who wears a panther's skin, holding in his right hand a libation vase, and in the left a censer; a priest who offers vases of unguents to the deceased; and a priest who holds in one

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hand the instrument ur-ḥeka with which he is about to touch the eyes and mouth of the mummy, and in the other the instrument for "opening the mouth." On the rounded stele: at the door of the tomb, is inscribed :-" Hail, Osiris, chief of Amenta, the lord of eternity, spreading out in everlastingness, lord of adorations, chief of the cycle of his gods; and hail, Anubis [dweller] in the tomb, great god, chief of the divine dwelling. May they grant that I may go in and come out from the underworld; that I may follow Osiris in all his festivals at the beginning of the year; that I may receive cakes, and that I may come forth in the presence of [Osiris], I the ka of Osiris, the greatly favoured of his god, Hu-nefer."

a vase

In the lower register are a cow and calf, a priest holding A, a priest carrying a haunch of a bull, a table of offerings, a sepulchral box, and a table upon which are arranged the instruments employed in the ceremony of