222 Chepera in the morning, Ra at noon, Tmu in the eve- Another text says, "I am yesterday, I am to-day, . "Hail to thee, O Ptah-tanen, great god who concealeth his form, thou art watching when at rest; .. Watcher, the father of all fathers and of all gods. who traversest the endless ages of eternity. The heaven was yet uncreated, uncreated was the earth, the water flowed not; thou hast put together the earth, thou hast united thy limbs, thou hast reckoned thy members; what thou hast found apart, thou hast put into its place; O God, architect of the world, thou art without a father, begotten by thine own becoming; thou art without a mother, being born through repetition of thyself. Thou drivest away the darkness by the beams of thine eyes. Thou ascendest into the zenith of heaven, and thou comest down even as thou hast risen. When thou art a dweller in the infernal world, thy knees are above the earth, and thine head is in the upper sky. Thou sustainest the substances which thou hast made. It is by thine own strength that thou movest; thou art Thou raised up by the might of thine own arms. weighest upon thyself, kept firm by the mystery which is in thee. The roaring of thy voice is in the cloud; thy breath is on the mountain-tops; the waters of the inundation cover the lofty trees of every region. Heaven and earth obey the commands which thou hast · ... given; they travel by the road which thou hast laid down for them; they transgress not the path which thou hast prescribed to them, and which thou hast opened to them. . . . . Thou restest, and it is night; when thine eyes shine forth, we are illuminated. . . . . O let us give glory to the God who hath raised up the sky, and who causeth his disk to float over the bosom of Nut, who hath made the gods and men and all their generations, who hath made all lands and countries, and the great sea, in his name of 'Let-the-earth-be!' . . . . The babe who is brought forth daily, the ancient one who has reached the limits of time, the immovable one who traverses every path, the height which cannot be attained." A beautiful hymn (written, it is expressly stated, for the harp), preserved in two MSS. now in the British Museum, identifies the Nile with Ra, Amon, Ptah and other gods, and even with the maker and creator of all things. "Bringer of food! great lord of provisions, creator of all good things. Lord of terrors and of chicfest joys! all are combined in him. He produceth grass for the oxen; providing victims for every god. . . He filleth the granaries, enricheth the storehouses; he careth for the state of the poor. He causeth growth to fulfil all desires-he never wearies of it. He maketh his might a buckler. He is not graven in marble as an image bearing the double crown. IIe is not beheld; 224 he hath neither ministrant nor offerings; he is not adored in sanctuaries; his abode is not known; no shrine [of his] is found with painted figures. There is Unknown is no building that can contain him. . . . . his name in heaven; he doth not manifest his forms! Vain are all representations." Yet the last of these passages, which would seem to have reference to the purest worship of one God, is preceded by lines which speak simply of the Nile inundation and of the offerings made to it, oxen slain and great festivals celebrated. But it is chiefly in honour of Amon1 that we find hymns full of expressions closely approaching the language of Monotheism. This pre-eminence which Amon enjoys in the literature we have recovered, arises no doubt chiefly from the fact of his being the principal divinity at Thebes, and consequently of the great capital of Egypt during its most splendid period. Amon himself, according to the popular mythology, was not without a beginning. His legend relates that every year he left his temple at Karnak, and paid a visit to the valley of the dead, and poured a libation of lustral water upon a table of propitiation to his father and mother. Yet he is identified with the supreme and uncreated Being in hymns such as that (now in the "the Lord of 1 He is called in the temple of Seti at Qurnah lords, King of the gods, the father of fathers, the powerful of the powerful, the substance which was from the beginning." Denkm. iii. 150. Museum at Bulaq) from which the following extracts are made. "Hail to thee, Amon Ra, Lord of the thrones of the earth, ... the ancient of heaven, the oldest of the earth, Lord of all existences, the support of things, the support of all things. The ONE in his works, single among the gods; the beautiful bull of the cycle of the gods; chief of all the gods; Lord of truth, father of the gods; maker of men, creator of beasts, maker of herbs, feeder of cattle, good power begotten of Ptah, . . . . to whom the gods give honour. Maker of things below and above, enlightener of the earth, sailing in heaven in tranquillity; king Ra, triumphant one, chief of the earth. Most glorious one, Lord of terror, chief maker of the earth after his image, how great are his thoughts above every god! Hail to thee, Rā, Lord of law, whose shrine is hidden, Lord of the gods; Chepra in his boat, at whose command the gods were made. Atmu, maker of men, giving them life, listening to the poor who is in distress, gentle of heart when one cries to him. Deliverer of the timid man from the violent, judging the poor, the poor and the oppressed. Lord of wisdom, whose precepts are wise; at whose pleasure the Nile overflows: Lord of mercy, most loving, at whose coming men live: opener of every eye, proceeding from the firmament, causer of pleasure and light; at whose goodness the gods rejoice; their hearts revive when they see him. O Rā, adored ૨ ... X 226 in Thebes, high crowned in the house of the obelisk (Heliopolis), sovereign of life, health and strength, sovereign Lord of all the gods; who art visible in the midst of the horizon, ruler of the past generations and the nether world; whose name is hidden from his creatures; in his name, which is Amon. . . . . eyes "The ONE, maker of all that is; the one, the only mankind one, the maker of existences; from whose proceeded, from whose mouth are the gods; maker of grass for the cattle (oxen, goats, asses, swine and sheep); of fruitful trees for men of future generations; causing the fish to live in the river, the birds to fill the air; giving breath to those in the egg; feeding the bird that flies; giving food to the bird that perches, to the creeping thing and the flying thing alike; providing food for the rats in their holes; feeding the flying things in every tree. "Hail to thee for all these things-the one, alone with many hands, lying awake while all men sleep, to seek out the good of his creatures, Amon, sustainer of all things: Tmu and Horus of the horizon pay homage to thee in all their words; salutation to thee because thou abidest in us, adoration to thee because thou hast created us. "Hail to thee, say all creatures: salutation to thee from every land; to the height of heaven, to the breadth of the earth, to the depth of the sea: the gods adore thy majesty, the spirits thou hast created |