f the Cardinal

an Apis bull was built a chapel, and it was the series of chapels which formed the Serapeum properly so called.

The Mnevis bull, S un , worshipped at Heliopolis, is thought by some to represent the same symbolism, and to be identical in form with Apis ; he is called the "renewing of the life of Rā.”

Mestha, Hāpi, Țuamāutef and Qebhsennuf, the four The gods children of Horus (see Canopic Jars, p. 194), are common in a glazed faïence, but rare in bronze.

points. Sati Johan J, together with Ănqet-ala and Chnemu, formed the triad of Elephantine, and she seems to resemble Nephthys in some of her attributes. She usually stands upright, holding f in her right hand, and in her left. The British Museum possesses one example, No. 110, in bronze, in which she is represented seated. On her head she wears the crown of Upper Egypt, in the front of which is an

em

Other forms of Isis.

uræus ; a pair of horns follows the contour of the white crown, and above them is a star. No. 11,143 is a fine bronze figure of a woman, standing upright upon a pedestal ; the right arm hangs by her side, but the left arm is bent, and her hand, holding an object, is laid upon her breast. She has the same head-dress as No. 110, and I believe her to be the same goddess, although she is labelled Hesi-Sept. (Isis-Sothis or the Dog Star.] Dr. Birch probably had some reason for thus labelling it, but it is unknown to me. The British Museum possesses one example also in faïence, No. 13,664, in which the goddess stands upright.

Sebek a m represented the destroying power of the sun, and his worship is as old as the XIIIth dynasty. The British Museum possesses one example of this god in bronze, No. 22,924, in which he stands upright, and has the head of a crocodile surmounted with disk, plumes and uræi, which have disks and horns 20.

esses a

Anheri

“the leader of the celestial regions," which Shu supports, is usually represented wearing plumes M, and holding a dart; he is at times called o o neb mõb,“ 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 f and in the left the sceptre 1. This sceptre is usually composed of

anged perpendicularly one above the other. He is sometimes called An-ḥer Shu se Rā, “ Ån-her Shu, the son of Rā.”

Bes 17, 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

arr

The various aspects of Bes.

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 crcature, 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 7
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,

Worship of Bes of foreign origin.

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 farence 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

Various bronze ithyphallic bird with two pairs

forms of of outstretched wings and the legs of

Bes. 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-Rā, Åmsu, Horus, Chnemu, Sebek, and other

3 Short gods. No. 1205, a bronze cast from

Bes. a genuine bronze, makes this polytheistic 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. Ixxx., 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,