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Anher, "the leader of the celestial regions,” which Shu supports, is usually represented wearing plumes , and holding a dart; he is at times called neb mab, "lord of the dart." The British Museum possesses a glazed faïence pendant, No. 11,335, upon which this god is represented in relief, standing upright and wearing plumes;

in his right hand he holds and in the left the sceptre ). This sceptre is usually composed off, and arranged perpendicularly one above the other. He is sometimes called An-her Shu se Ra, " An-her Shu, the son of Rā."

Bes, a god whose worship in Egypt dates from a very remote period, seems to have possessed a double character. He is represented as a grotesque person with horns and eyes on a level with the top of his head, his tongue hangs out, and he has bandy legs. He wears a crown of

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The various aspects of

Bes.

Worship

of Bes of

foreign origin.

feathers on his head, and a leopard's skin thrown round his body. As a warrior, or the god of war, he is armed with a shield and sword, and sometimes he has a bow; he was also the god of music and the dance, and in this character he is represented as a tailed creature, half man, half animal, playing a harp, or striking cymbals together and dancing. It is thought that he symbolized the destructive power of nature, and in this capacity he is identified in the Book of the Dead with Set; as the god of joy and pleasure figures of him are carved upon the kohl jars, and other articles used by Egyptian ladies in their toilet. The worship of this god seems to have been introduced into Egypt from

Neter ta, i.e., the land which was situated by the eastern bank of the Nile, supposed by the Egyptians to be the original home of the gods. Figures of this god in bronze and faïence are very common, and they represent him as described above. Faïence figures were made as much as fourteen inches long,

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and were sometimes in relief and sometimes "in the round."
The British Museum possesses a large mould (No. 20,883)
used for making flat figures, presented by F. G. Hilton
Price, F.S.A., who obtained it from Bubastis; it also possesses
a beautiful figure in the round in blue glazed faïence
(No. 28,112), about fourteen inches high. A remarkable
example of the use of the head and face of this god is
furnished by a bronze bell in the British Museum (No. 6374).
The plumes on his head form the handle, and the head,
hollowed out, forms the bell. Bronze and faïence statues
of this god, to which have been added the distinguishing
characteristics of many other gods,
also exist. B.M. No. 17,169 is a
bronze ithyphallic bird with two pairs
of outstretched wings and the legs of
a man, from the knees of which spring
serpents, the arms of a man, and the
head of Bes. Above the wings is a
second pair of outstretched arms, with
clenched fists, and on each side of his
head, in relief, are the heads of a ram,
a dog-headed ape, a crocodile, and a
hawk (?). Above the head are two
pairs of horns, two pairs of uræi and
two pairs of plumes, between which
is a disk. In this figure are united
the attributes of Amen-Ra, Amsu,
Horus, Chnemu, Sebek, and other
gods. No. 1205, a bronze cast from
a genuine bronze, makes this poly-
theistic figure stand upon crocodiles; the whole group is
enclosed within a serpent having his tail in his mouth.
A
very interesting example of a similar kind of figure in faïence
is described by Lanzone in his Dizionario, p. 211, tav. lxxx.,
and compare B.M. No. 11,821. It need hardly be said that
such figures belong to a very late period, and they are found
imitated on gems inscribed for the Gnostics; see B.M. Nos.
G. 10, 11, 12, 151, 205, etc. On the Metternich stele Bes is
represented in much the same way as in the bronze figures,

Bes.

Various forms of Bes.

Bes in
Baby-

but in the pair of outstretched arms and hands he holds

sceptres off,,, knives,

which hang by his side he holds

\,etc., and in those

and; he has on his

head in addition eight knives and the figure "myriads of years." He stands on an oval in which are a lion, two serpents, a jackal, crocodile, scorpion, hippopotamus and tortoise. This scene is repeated very accurately on a Gnostic lapis-lazuli plaque in the British Museum, No. 12, on the back of which is an address to IAW ZABAWO = nis with whom this polytheistic deity was identified. Figures of the god Bes are common on gems and seals other than Egyptian, and on a small Babylonian cylinder in the possession of Sir Charles Nicholson he is represented in the form in which he ordinarily occurs On a red carnelian

49

lonian art. cylinder in the British Museum (Reg. No. 623) he is en

graved, full face, wearing plumes, and holding a lotus flower in each hand; on each side of him is a male bearded figure, with upraised hands and arms, supporting a winged disk. This seal was inscribed for Arsaces, and belongs to the Persian period.

Sechet, also written also written, was the wife of Ptaḥ, and was, in this capacity, the mother of Nefer-Atmu and I-em-hetep; she was the second person of the triad of Memphis. She represented the violent heat of the sun and its destroying power, and in this capacity destroyed the souls of the wicked in the underworld. In bronze and faïence figures she has the head of a lion, upon which she wears the

disk and uræus, and she holds in her right hand and s

in her left; she is sometimes scated, when her hands are laid upon her knees.

Bast represents the heat of the sun in its softened form as the producer of vegetation. She has often the head of a lion, but, properly speaking, the head of a cat is her distinguishing characteristic; in her right hand she holds a

of Bubas

sistrum, on her left arm she carries a basket, and in her left hand she holds an ægis. She was chiefly worshipped at The Lady Bubastis, Pa-Bast, where a magnificent temple was built in tis. her honour. Bronze figures of this goddess are tolerably numerous, and she is reprcsented, both sitting and standing, wearing the disk and uræus on her head. In faïence, standing figures hold a sceptre (B.M. No. 236), or (B.M. No. 233), or an ægis (B.M. No. 11,297); when seated she often holds a sistrum, B.M. No. 272; a fine large example of the goddess seated is B.M. No. 277. Such figures are sometimes inscribed with the prayer, "may she grant all life and power, all health, and joy of heart,"

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, or, "I am Bast, the lady

of life,"

185

Menḥit

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represented the

Bast.

power of light or heat, or both; in faïence

she is represented as an upright woman,

walking, having a lion's head, upon which she wears a disk and uræus ; in her right hand is, and in her left

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universal

Mut, the "mother," was the wife of Åmen, and the The second member of the Theban triad; she is called the "lady mother. of Asher," the name given to a district to the south of the great temple of Amen-Rā at Karnak, where her temple was situated. She symbolized Nature, the mother of all things. In bronze and faïence figures she is represented as a woman, seated or standing, wearing a head-dress in the form of a vulture, surmounted by the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt; she holds in her right hand, and in her left.

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of Saïs.

Net or Neith, the "Weaver" or "Shooter," was a The Lady counterpart of the goddess Mut, and was also identified with

B. M.

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