Part 7

This inscription is sculptured on a round-topped stela of serpentine (?), fixed in a square pedestal. It was found at Alexandria at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and was presented to Prince Metternich by Mohamed Ali in 1828.

The front, back, and sides of both stela and pedestal are sculptured with horizontal and vertical lines of inscription and with mythological figures. The stela belongs to a class of amuletic objects, usually called Cippi of Horus, which are inscribed with magical spells against all animals "biting with their mouths or stinging with their tails." This stela is the largest Cippus of Horus known. On the front is sculptured in high relief the figure of Horus represented as a naked child, standing on two crocodiles, and holding a lion, a gazelle, scorpions, and snakes in his hands. He stands within a shrine, which is surmounted by the head of Bes. Isis and Thoth, the goddesses of the South and North, and other mythological figures and emblems are within and without the shrine. Above this scene are horizontal registers filled with figures, possibly representing scenes from legends which are now lost.

The text which preserves the story of the scorpions of Isis is inscribed on the back of the tablet, ll. 48-70. The date of the stela is about 370 B.C., in the reign of Neotanebo I. of the xxxth dynasty.

VII. THE BLACK PIG

Published: Naville, _Das Aegyptische Todtenbuch_, pl. cxxiv.

Translated: Budge, _Book of the Dead_, ch. cxii.

The so-called Book of the Dead is a compilation of texts which are found, written on papyri or on coffins, in the tombs. No copy containing all the chapters is known; the order has therefore been arranged from a comparison of many examples.

The ancient name of these texts is "Chapters of Coming forth to the Day"; the modern name is "Book of the Dead," as it is evidently a manual for the use of the dead. It consists of a series of prayers, hymns, magical formulae, and allusions to mythological stories, a knowledge of which was considered necessary in order to escape the perils and dangers of the life hereafter. It is obviously very ancient, for even in the earliest known examples, the Pyramid Texts of the vith dynasty, the text is often very corrupt. The Pyramid Texts show traces of very primitive usages and cults, many of which are lost in the later forms of the Book of the Dead.

The story related under the name of the Black Pig refers to an incident in the war between Horus and Set, and is not known elsewhere. Probably many such legends were current in ancient Egypt, but few have been preserved to us intact. Horus was the great hero-god, and, like the heroes of other countries, he absorbed all the legends of local champions. Some of his exploits and adventures seem to have been so well known that a mere allusion was sufficient to recall them to the mind of the reader. Sometimes a short and, to us confused account is given, as in chapter cxiii of the Book of the Dead, where the restoration to Horus of his hands and arms, which have been lost in a swamp, is related in a manner which conveys very little to the modern reader.

A great number of legends have been preserved in magical papyri, but even among these the quantity of tantalising allusions is larger than the number of complete legends. Thus, in the Demotic Papyrus of London and Leyden, a charm against fever begins "Horus was going up a hill at midday in the verdure season, mounted on a white horse." He finds the gods eating, and they invite him to join them, but he refuses as he has fever. This is all that is said, but it is evidently an allusion to a well-known story.

VIII. THE BATTLES OF HORUS

Published: Naville, _Mythe d'Horus_ (with French translation).

Translated: Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, p. 69.

The account of the war between Horus and Set is sculptured on the inner part of the west side of the girdle-wall of the temple of Edfu. The whole temple is dedicated to Horus; though undoubtedly an early foundation, the present structure dates only to the Ptolemaic period. It was begun by Ptolemy III Euergetes I, and took 180 years to build and decorate. The girdle-wall, on which these scenes and inscriptions were sculptured, was built and decorated about 100 B.C., either by Soter II or Alexander I.

The temple was excavated by Mariette, and is the most perfect in condition of all the temples in Egypt, for with the exception of the wanton mutilation of the faces, probably by Christian fanatics, both building and sculpture are untouched save by time.

The inscription appears to give in legendary form a fairly accurate account of tribal battles of a very early period. Though the actual inscription is of a late date, many primitive ideas are preserved, especially in the hymns of the women to Horus. "Eat ye the flesh of the vanquished, drink ye his blood," is not a sentiment of the civilisation of Ptolemaic times. Human sacrifice, however, appears to have been practised in Egypt at all periods. Harvest victims were burnt at Eleithyapolis (El Kab). Amasis II of the xxvith dynasty put an end to human sacrifice at Heliopolis; Diodorus says that red-haired men were offered up at the sepulchre of Osiris; as the king was the incarnate Osiris, this would mean that human sacrifices were made at the royal graves, probably during the funeral ceremonies. The Book of the Dead also continually alludes to human sacrifice. At Edfu an altar was found sculptured with representations of offerings in which human beings are the victims. Small figures, carved in the round, are known, which are in the form of bound captives; and show probably the method of binding the victim; the legs are bent at the knees, and the feet bound to the thighs; the arms are bent at the elbows and securely lashed to the body. This is not the ordinary way of binding a prisoner, but is a special method reserved probably for a human victim. The figures represent sometimes men, sometimes women.

Judging by the representations and scenes on the girdle-wall, a "mystery-play" was acted in the temple of Edfu, the Pharaoh playing the principal part, that of Horus. In early times it seems more than probable that Set, or the Ally of Set, was played by a human being, who was actually killed during the performance. When the custom of human sacrifice begins to die out, the human victim is often replaced by an animal. This is the case at Edfu, where Set is called a hippopotamus and represented as a pig.

IX. THE BEER OF HELIOPOLIS

Published: Léfébure, _Tombeau de Sety Ie_, pt. iii, pls. 15-18 (_Annales du Musée Ouimet_, ix).

Translated: Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, p. 62. (For a description of the tomb of Sety I see the Notes on Legend xi).

This story is sculptured on the walls of a side-chamber off one of the inner halls of the tomb of Sety I (room xii of the guide-books). On one of the walls is a representation of a cow standing under the star-sprinkled vault of heaven. This is Nut, the sky-goddess; she is raised on the uplifted hands of the god Shu, and each leg is supported by two gods; planets, and Boats of the Sun travel across her body. The connection between this representation and the legend is quite uncertain.

The tale occurs only in this one place, but every excavator hopes that he may one day find a tomb with a complete copy of the story sculptured on the walls.

X. THE NAME OF RA

Published: Pleyte and Rossi, _Papyrus de Turin_, pls. 31, 77, 131-138.

Translated: Wiedemann, _Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_; p. 54.

This tale is found in a hieratic papyrus of the xxth dynasty (about 1200-1100 B.C.). It is written on both sides; the handwriting on one side differs from the handwriting on the other, showing that it is the work of two scribes. The writing is in black ink with occasional sentences in red. Hieratic is the running hand, derived from the hieroglyphs; the earliest example occurs in the first dynasty; it was superseded by demotic in the latest period of Egyptian history.

This papyrus is not quite complete, but the part containing the legend is fortunately uninjured. The text consists of magical formulae against the bites of serpents. In healing by magic, the magician recited an event in the career of some deity in which the god suffered from the same malady as the human patient then seeking relief. The words which cured the divine patient would also cure the human invalid. The same idea prevails in the legend of the Scorpions of Isis.

XI. THE REGIONS OF NIGHT AND THICK DARKNESS

Published: Léfébure, _Tombeau de Seti I_. (_Annales du Musée Guimet_, ix).

Translated: Jéquier, _Livre de ce qu'il y a dans l'Hadès_; Budge, _Egyptian Heaven and Hell_.

The description of the Journey of Ra through the Other World is sculptured on the walls of the tomb of Seti I at Thebes. This is the great tomb discovered by Belzoni in October 1817. The length is 330 feet, and it consists of long corridors, pillared halls, and side-chambers, hewn out of the solid rock. The Book of Am Duat is sculptured on the walls of corridor iii, halls v, vi, and x, and side-chambers xi and xiii. Eleven hours only are given; the twelfth hour, though frequently found on papyri, is rare in sculpture.

There are two versions of the Sun's journey through the Duat. One was called by the Egyptians themselves the Book of that which is in the Other World (Am Duat); the other has no Egyptian name, but is now called the Book of Gates, for in it the gates are more important than the countries which they divide. (For a comparison of the two books, see Budge, _Egyptian Heaven and Hell_.) The Book of Gates is rarer than the Book of Am Duat, and is found sculptured on sarcophagi; the finest example being the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, now in the Soane Museum in London.

The Book of Am Duat is found both in papyri and on tomb walls, the earliest example of the latter being the tomb of Amenhotep II of the xviiith dynasty. It is a compilation by the theologians of that period; an attempt to combine into one homogeneous whole several distinct ideas of the next world and the life hereafter. The fourth and fifth countries of the Duat are obviously one complete kingdom, ruled by the god Sokar, the Memphite god of the dead. As Memphis was a very important religious centre, its god of the dead and his kingdom had to be included in the Duat of Ra, in spite of the fact that it was a waterless desert, and that it ended with the Morning Star. It was a region totally different from any other kingdom of the hereafter; no river ran through it; it was inhabited by neither gods nor spirits, but by enormous and horrible reptiles. The ingenuity of the compilers of this Book in turning the Boat of Ra into a serpent, which could dispense with the river and glide over the sand, is certainly remarkable.

Another Morning Star appears also in the tenth hour, and the breeze of morning seems to be felt by the goddesses in the eleventh hour, for they raise their hands to shelter their faces from it. Budge (_Egyptian Heaven and Hell_) suggests also that the Egyptians looked upon the red clouds of the dawn as being tinged with the reflection from the pits of flame. These indications of morning appearing in the wrong place point clearly to the fact of the book being a compilation, more or less clumsy.

The first hour seems to have been added in order to make a good introduction to the compilation. The last hour is evidently a compromise. The most ancient idea with regard to the sunrise was that the Sun was born anew every morning of the Sky-goddess Nut. This theory does not fit with the dogma of the Sun's nightly journey through the Other World in a Boat; therefore the last hour is represented as a dark and tortuous passage symbolising the womb of the goddess. The birth of the Sun was the most important event of the day to his worshippers, consequently the account of the last hour is found frequently on papyri, buried in the graves.

The Duat, or Other World, was generally supposed to be the region lying to the north of Egypt; the delta by the Egyptians of the South; the Mediterranean and its islands by the delta-people.

The Egyptians had an abridgment or summary of this long account of Ka's night-journey. It was always written on papyrus in vertical columns, with all the scenes and long speeches omitted. It gives the name of each gate and country and of the goddess of every hour; sometimes, though not always, the names of the gods who live in the different regions; and always the magical words of Ra to the inhabitants of each land. Felicitous results here and hereafter are promised to all who know the words and scenes thoroughly.

The hymn to Ra is a paraphrase of hymns which are still extant.

INDEX OF NAMES OF GODS

_Abtu-fish_.--A mythological fish which accompanies the Boat of Ra at sunrise.

_Amemt_.--The mythical animal which devours the hearts of the wicked at the Judgment of Osiris.

_Amon_.--God of Thebes. In and after the xviiith dynasty he became the supreme deity of Egypt under the name of Amon-Ra.

_Ant-fish_.--A mythological fish which accompanies the Boat of Ra at sunrise.

_Anubis_.--A jackal-headed deity who presided over the embalming of the dead. He was said to be the illegitimate son of Osiris and Nephthys, and, in the form of a dog, to have protected Isis in her wanderings.

_Apep_.--The enemy of Ra in the Duat.

_Astarte_.--A Syrian goddess, whose name is found occasionally in Egyptian inscriptions.

_Atmu_.--An early name of the solar deity worshipped at Heliopolis. In later times, the name of the setting sun.

_Bee_.--A bandy-legged dwarf with horns. God of music and pleasure, and protector of children. Possibly also a god of birth.

_Besa_.--A spirit of the corn.

_Geb_.--The earth-god, father of Osiris.

_Harmakhis_.--Horus on the Horizon, i.e. the sun at its rising and setting.

_Harpocrates_.--Horus the Child, son of Isis and Osiris.

_Hathor_.--Goddess of love and beauty; often identified with all the other goddesses, including Sekhmet.

_Hekt_.--The frog-headed goddess of birth.

_Her-desuf_.--A form of Horus.

_Horakhti_.--The Horizon-Horus. The same as Harmakhis.

_Horus_.--The hawk-headed god is, properly speaking, the brother of Isis and Osiris; but is constantly confused with Horus the Child, and is called Avenger or Protector of his Father.

_Isis_.--The greatest of Egyptian goddesses, wife of Osiris, and mother of Harpocrates.

_Khepera_.--The rising sun, god of resurrection.

_Khnum_.--The ram-headed god of the cataract, who creates man upon the potter's wheel.

_Khonsu_.--The moon-god at Thebes.

_Mehen_.--The serpent who protects Ra in the Duat.

_Mentu_.--God of war.

_Meskhent_.--Goddess of birth.

_Min_.--Father of gods and men. God of Koptos.

_Neith_.--Goddess of Saïs. Identified by the Greeks with Athena.

_Nekhbet_.--The vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt.

_Nephthys_.--Sister of Isis and Osiris.

_Nepra_.--A spirit of the corn.

_Nun_.--God of the primaeval waters.

_Nut_.--The sky-goddess, mother of Osiris.

_Osiris_.--One of the chief gods of Egypt. Murdered and torn to pieces by his brother Set, re-vivified by Isis and Horus.

_Ra_.--The Sun-god, one of the chief gods of Egypt. Heliopolis (the On of the Bible) was the principal centre of his worship.

_Sekhmet_.--The lioness-headed goddess of Memphis.

_Selk_.--The scorpion-goddess.

_Set_.--Brother and murderer of Osiris. Looked upon, in late times, as the Author of Evil.

_Shu_.--Twin-brother of Tefnut. He holds up the sky above the earth.

_Sokar_.--The hawk-headed god of the dead. When fused with Ptah (Ptah-Sokar) he appears in the form of a misshapen dwarf, and is then looked upon as a god of resurrection.

_Tatanen_.--An obscure god, generally fused with Ptah of Memphis as Ptah-Tatanen.

_Ta-urt_.--The hippopotamus goddess of birth.

_Tefnut_.--Lioness-headed. Twin-sister of Shu. The two form the constellation Gemini.

_Tepu-yn_.--A spirit of the corn.

_Thoth_.--The ibis-headed god of all learning and magic. Chief centre of worship Khemennu or Hermopolis, now called Eshmunen.

_Uazet_.--Goddess of Lower Egypt.

_Up-uaut_.--The jackal-god of Siut.

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