"[I] have come to build thee up; I will not allow thee

to be overthrown (?). I have come to hurl missiles; I will not let missiles be hurled at thee. I am protecting the Osiris Ḥent-meḥit.”

FIGURES OF EGYPTIAN GODS

THE gold, silver, bronze, wooden and faïence figures of gods in Egyptian collections may be reckoned by thousands, and they vary in size from inch to 15 inches or more. Bronze statues were usually cast in moulds in one or more pieces, the core being made of sand or earth. When cast in pieces the limbs were soldered together and the edges smoothed with a file or scraper. The core is frequently found inside the statue, where it was left by the workmen to strengthen the casting. Figures of gods in gold are comparatively few, the gods most often represented in this metal being Amen-Rā, Rā, Khensu, and Nefer-Atmu; figures of these gods were also made of silver and plated with gold, and a figure of the god Set, made of bronze plated with gold, is also known (B.M. 18191). Bronze figures of gods were sometimes inlaid with gold, and the eyes were made of gold or silver with obsidian pupils. Glazed faïence figures of gods are very common, and certain gods were made of this substance, which up to the present have rarely been met with in bronze. They were usually cast from moulds, and follow fairly closely the design and patterns of the bronze figures; they do not occur much earlier than the XXVth or XXVIth dynasty, and although wretched copies of them were made for hundreds of years after, they do not appear to have continued in use among all classes of people in Egypt. It may be mentioned in passing that the natives of Egypt at the present day make use of the old moulds, found chiefly in Upper Egypt, to cast figures of the gods in gold and silver, which they sell to the traveller as genuine antiquities.

Figures of the gods of Egypt are found among the ruins of houses and in temples and tombs. According to M. Mariette1 those found among the ruins of towns are of two kinds: (1) Those that were placed in a niche, cut in the form of a shrine, and that represented the divinity to the service of which the inhabitants of the house were attached, and before which, on certain days, offerings

1
1 Catalogue Général des Monuments d'Abydos, p. 1.

were laid; (2) those that were placed in cavities of the walls of the inner chambers of the house, and that were supposed to be able by magical influence to protect the inhabitants of the house from spells and the results of incantations, and from other malignant influences. The use of this latter class of statuettes, or small figures, is as old as the XVIIIth dynasty, at least. The figures of gods found in temples are very numerous and are votive. The Egyptians seem to have believed that the gods inhabited statues or figures, made in their honour, and on this account they often made them very beautiful, so that they might form worthy habitations for them. On certain days prayers were said before them, and offerings were made to them. As figures of many different gods are found in the same temple, it follows that a worshipper wishing to place a figure of a god in a temple was not bound to offer one of the god to whom the temple was dedicated; supposing the temple to be one of Ptaḥ, he could offer a figure of Rã, or Khnemu, or of any god he pleased. Figures of gods were supposed to answer questions, for it will be remembered that when Khensu was asked if he would go to the land of Bekhten to cure a daughter of the prince of that land of her sickness, he inclined his head in assent. When he arrived in that land, he held a conversation with the demon that possessed the maiden, and when the demon agreed to come out from her, provided that a feast were made in his honour, the god, through his priest, assented. Figures of gods other than Osiris, Isis, and Nephthys are not commonly found in tombs; it is true that many examples in faïence are found in the wrappings of mummies, but in these cases they were simply used as amulets like the Tet of Isis, the Tet of Osiris, the pillow, and many others. Figures of gods made of every sort of material were also buried in the sand around temples and tombs with the view of guarding them from every evil influence. The following is a list of the most important of the gods and goddesses of whom figures were made in bronze and glazed faïence :—

Tmu,

A, or Atmu, -, the "Closer"

of the day or night, usually represents the sun at sunset. He wears the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt; in the right hand he holds

f, and in the left. Nefer-Åtmu, the son of Ptaḥ and Sekhmit

or Bast, represents the power of the heat of the rising sun. Figures of this god were made in gold, silver, bronze, and faïence. In metal, he stands upright, wearing lotus flowers and plumes on

his head ; in his left hand he holds ], and in his right. Sometimes each shoulder is inlaid in gold with an Utchat (B.M. 22921). In faïence he has the same head-dress, but stands on a lion; in faïence, too, he is often accompanied by his mother Sekhmit or Bast (B.M. 250b, 260a).

Set.

Her-pa-khart, i.e., Horus the Child,

, represents

the morning sun. During the night he was supposed to be engaged in fighting Apep, the serpent, who, at the head of a large army of fiends, personifications of mist, darkness, and cloud, tried to overthrow him. The battle was renewed daily, but the Sun-god always conquered, and appeared day after day in the sky. Bronze and faïence figures of this god represent him hawk-headed and wearing disk and uraeus.

Horus, the morning sun, son of Isis and Osiris, is usually called " the avenger of his father," in reference to his defeat of Set. Figures in bronze and in faïence represent him hawk-headed and wearing the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt. This god was distinguished in name only from Her-ur, the elder brother of Osiris.

Rā, , the Sun-god, was also the creator of gods and men; his emblem was the sun's disk, and he represents the sun at noonday. His worship was very ancient, and the Heliopolitan theologians said that he was the offspring of Nut, or the sky. He assumed the forms of several other gods, and is at times represented by the lion, cat, and hawk. In papyri and on bas-reliefs he has the head of a hawk, and wears a disk, in front of which is a uraeus ·

headed, and wears the disk, in front of which are two uraei, and plumes; at times figures have two hawks' heads on a single body. Menthu was the old War-god of Hermonthis.

Menu or Min,,, formerly read Khem and Åmsu, represented generation" or the productive power in Nature: figures of him, ^^, in bronze and faïence, are tolerably

numerous.

Khnemu,, the "Moulder," the Xvoúpus, Xvoúßis, Χνούβι, Κνήφ or Κνούφις of the Greeks, is one of the oldest gods of Egypt, and was especially worshipped in Nubia, at Philae, where he is represented making man out of clay on a potter's wheel, and at Elephantine. Like Amen-Ra he is said to be the father of the gods,1 and with this god and Ptaḥ and Kheperȧ he shared the

1 Father of the fathers of the gods and goddesses, the lord who evolveth from himself, maker of heaven, earth, the underworld, water, and mountains