most clearly to identify themselves with one supreme head and ruler- the god of the sun. It was never possible, however, to divorce the Egyptian mind entirely from the notion that there had to be other gods, less important to be sure, but still provided with functions which could not be neglected. And the result is that, while Egypt may in the long run have worshipped Ammon-Ra, the shining one, she still had a theology which generally consisted of a superior trinity heading what is commonly called an "ennead," or ninegod system. This is as true of the gods of the dead, through whose realms the sun passed at night on his way back to the east. If Ammon-Ra, or Horus, or some equivalent sun-god, is supreme in the visible world, Osiris is as supreme in the invisible.

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That the sun-god should be the chief was, of course, perfectly natural and to be expected. In a country where the sun is seldom hid by clouds, where his heat is of impressive potency, where his northward march and southward retreat seem not entirely unconnected with the rise and fall of the life-giving river, Herodotus himself observed,-what more natural than that men should ascribe to him the supreme power? But their conception was not so much of an Apollo as of a Zeus, and indeed of a Zeus who was even more nearly supreme than the Cretan, or Grecian.

With the early confusion of myths which necessarily prevailed during the disjointed days of Egypt one would best have nothing to do. Naturally in that time each "nome," or district, had its local ideas of theological problems and its own nomenclature. But on the emergence of the nation as a bi-partite kingdom consisting of the South and the North, or of Valley and Delta, something like a coherent form begins to be discerned, with the sun-god as the central figure and generally known as Ra, esteemed by the mythologists to be the creator of gods and men.

Confusion, however, is certain to arise in one's mind on discovering that Horus, another conception of the sun-god, so far from being creator of gods and men, was the son of Isis and Osiris. And in the course of time, owing to the ingenuity of the priests of Horus in spelling out an identity between him and the various forms of Ra, one finds ultimately a new form called Ammon-Ra, seemingly regarded as a sort of amplified Horus, though not supplanting him. How this was done, by means of an intermediate conception called Re-Harakhte, "the Horus who is on the horizon," let the books tell. The confusion of the sunmyths is so great that it would be unprofitable to enter upon it here, and happily it is by no means essential to one's peace of mind to untangle it. It is enough that one shall recognize the worship of the sun-god,

whatever his name or sign, as the supreme worship of Egypt.

Entire consistency is not to be sought in the Egyptian mythology. Ptah, for example, "the artificer," the Egyptian Vulcan, a favorite deity in Memphis, is not without his special claim to be the "father of the gods." But his rôle in the national theology was not much more than local save as an equivalent symbol for the Greek idea of Hephaistos. Similarly, Khnum, the god of birth, or of "the moulding of mankind," seems also on occasion to have usurped a part of the creative functions of Ra.

The great Theban triad, the most important trio of gods at the most stirring epoch of Egyptian history, consisted of Ammon, the supreme sun-god; Mut, the fostering mother; and Khonsu, the timemeasuring moon. Add to these three, Horus and Hathor, the latter near akin to Venus, and for all practical purposes you have sufficient unto the day.

Of course the attempt to identify these gods with the more familiar Greek and Roman deities is inexact and often muddling. Hathor, for example, is not really very much like Venus, although that is her common description. Perhaps it would be more exact to describe her as standing for the female power of nature, whence her attributes shade off into those of

Mut, the fostering mother. Moreover, it is sometimes difficult to know whether she belongs more appropriately with the goddesses of the living or those of the dead. For you will see a representation of her in the Cairo museum in the form of a cow, giving the needful milk to the happy dead who have been justified before Osiris and are thus restored to life everlasting. She is much too important a goddess to ignore, although she is not one of the Theban triad. And she divides with Horus the honor of possessing at this day the finest temples surviving in the upper valley of the Nile.

The gods of the dead cannot be dismissed in any briefer measure. Indeed, they are likely to seem even more important than the gods of the living, as befitted a country where the preparation for eternity was the all-absorbing passion. Of them all, Isis and Osiris are naturally the most important; and the legend concerning them may well be related here, though in brief.

Isis and Osiris, though brother and sister, were also husband and wife-a happy family arrangement in high favor among the human monarchs of their time. They had a son, Horus, and they were constantly at war with another pair of their kindredtheir brother Set and his wife. At last Set overcame Osiris by a stratagem. He caused to be prepared a

beautiful chest, covered with gold and jewels and carved in the exact form of a man-taking for his model the body of Osiris which he had privily measured. At a convenient banquet he displayed the treasure and declared that he would bestow it upon the one who, on lying down in it, should find it to fit him most accurately. Various of the guests made trial of the chest, but it fitted none but Osiris. Whilst, therefore, he was lying in it, conspirators rushed from every side, clapped the cover upon it, sealed it with molten lead, and cast it into the Nile whereon it floated to the Delta.

Queen Isis, who was away at the time, learned of what had occurred and immediately set out through the land in search of the body of her lord. She ultimately discovered the precious chest hidden away in the heart of an enormous tree which had grown up miraculously around the stranded casket and which the Northern king, ignorant of the contents, had employed as the central pillar of his house. Isis secured the pillar, cleft it, abstracted the coffin and brought her husband's body once more to the light of day. But her troubles were not ended. During a brief absence of Isis, the wicked Set discovered the casket and the body of his brother. He forthwith fell upon the body and chopped it into fourteen fragments which he scattered over the country, obliging Isis to