CHAPTER VL The Egyptian Religion.^ — The Dwellers on the Nile: Chapters on the Life, History, Religion, and Literature of the Ancient Egyptians (E. A. Wallis Budge (1885))

The number of gods which went to form the Egyptian Pantheon is at once surprising and confusing. Every nome possessed its god, and of course supported a number of priests to carry on its worship. In some places triads of gods existed ; for example, at Thebes the triad was composed of Amen, Mut, and Chonsu ; and at Abydos, of Osiris, Isis, and Horus. Often too Ave meet with groups of nine gods, and some texts in speaking of the gods repeat the sign for ' god ' eighteen times, to indicate a double group of nine, or the entire company of the greater and lesser cycles of the gods. Frequently the same god has different titles in different places ; and the god of a certain town has generally a title given to him which shows that he inhabits that town, or is lord of it. The names of one god are at times very numerous, for example, in one inscription the Sun-god Ra is addressed under seventy-two different names, and a whole chapter of the Book of the Dead is given up to the

^ The authorities to he consulted on this subject are Renouf, ' Hibbert Lectures ;' Wilkinson, ' Ancient Egyptians,' 2nd edition, with Dr. Birch's notes ; Brugsch, ' Religion und Mythologie der alten Aegypter, Part I., and Lanzone, ' Dizidnaris di Mitologia Egizia,' Turin, i8Si.

I30 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

names of Osiris. In such lists we often find one god identified with another, and indeed with several others ; so then it is at once evident that a large number of the minor deities are merely forms of the great gods ; and the same statement applies even to the great gods themselves. For example, the god Ra when he rose in the morning was called Harmachis, i.e., Har on the horizon ; at mid-day he was called Ra, and in the evening he was Atum or Tmu. The gods were supposed to eat and drink, and to have every attribute of man physical and mental. The Egyptian word for god was mitdr, which word Renouf considers to mean 'power.' It has been explained by Brugsch as meaning the * operative power which engenders and makes things in a regular recurrence, which endows them with new life, and gives back to them their youthful freshness.' The Egyptian called every god nictcir ; but in addition to this he seems to have had an idea of God which will bear some comparison in sublimity with our own. For example, let us take an extract from a hymn : —

God is One and Alone, and there is none other with Him.^

God is the One, the One who has made all things.^

God is a Spirit, a hidden Spirit, the Spirit of Spirits, the

great Spirit of Egypt, the divine Spirit.^ God is from the beginning, and has existed from the

beginning.^

Compare —

^ Deut. vi. 4 ; 2 Sam. vii. 22; Is. xlv. 5, 2i ; Mai. ii. lo ; i Cor. viii. 6 ; Eph. iv. 6. 2 John i. 3 ; Col. i. 16,

3 John iv. 24 ; Heb. xii. 9. "• Gen. i. i ; John i. i ; Col. i. 17.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 131

He is the primeval One, and existed when as yet nothing existed : He existed when as yet there was nothing, and whatever is, He made it after He was.^ He is the Father of beginnings.^ God is Eternal,^ He is everlasting, and without end, Perpetual, Eternal : He has endured for endless time, and will exist henceforward for ever.*

God is hidden, and no one hath perceived His form, no one hath fathomed His likeness,^ He is hidden in respect of gods and men, and is a mystery to His creatures.^

God is the Truth,^ He lives by Truth, He lives upon Truth, He is the King of Truth.

God is Life, and man lives through Him alone.^

He blows the breath of Life^ into their nostrils.

God is Father^" and Mother ; the Father of fathers, and the Mother of mothers.

God begets, ^^ but he is not begotten, He gives birth to, but is not given birth to.

He begets Himself, and gives birth to Himself, He makes, ^* but is not made. He is the Creator of His own form, and the Fashioner of His body. God is the Creator

Compare —

1 Rev. iv. II. 2 Rev j g^ 3 DexLt. xxxiii. 27 ; I Tim. i. 17.

* Ps. X. 16 ; xc. 2 ; cii. 25-27 ; Jer. x. 10.

^ Ex. xxxiii. 20 ; John i. 18 ; i Tim. vi. 16.

^ Job xxxvii. 23.

7 Ps. XXV. 10 ; xxxi. 5 ; Ivii. 3 ; Ixxxix. 14 ; xci. 4 ; c. 5 ; cxlvi. 6 ; Jer. X. 10 ; John xiv. 6.

^ Acts xvii. 28.

^ Gen. ii. 7 ; Job. xii. 10 ; xxxiii. 4 ; Ps. xxxiii. 6 ; Dan. v. 23 ; Acts xvii. 25.

•® Deut. xxxii. 6 ; Ps. xxvii. 10 ; Ixviii. 5 ; Is. ix. 6 ; Mai. ii. 10.

" Ps. ii. 7 ; John i. 14, 18 ; iii. 16, 18 ; compare the 112th Surah of the Koran. '^ Prov. xvi. 4; Is. xlv. 12; Jer, xxvii. 5.

I 2

132 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

of heaven and earth, the deep, the water, and the mountains. God stretches out the heavens, and makes firm the earth beneath.^ That which emanates from (i.e., the desire of) His heart is performed immediately, and when He has once spoken, it actually comes to pass and endures for ever and ever." God is the father of the gods, and the progenitor of all

deities.^ God is compassionate to those that fear Him^ and hears those who cry unto Him.^ He protects the weak against the strong.^ God knows those who know Him,7 He rewards those who serve Him,^ and protects those who follow Him.^ In these sentences we see at once that the Egyptians had recognized the unity, eternity, and infinity of the Deity, as well as His loving-kindness. Moreover, in the moral maxims laid down by the Egyptians it is very evident when they used the word God, they referred to a being with such attributes as have been stated above. As for example : —

To obey is to love God, but to disobey is to hate Him.^®

Compare —

* Ps. civ. 5 ; Prov. viii. 28 ; Is. xl. 12 ; xlii. 5 ; Amos iv. 13. 2 Ps. cxlviii. 5, 6.

' Deut. X. 17 ; Ps. Ixxxvi. 8; cxxxv. 5. "^

* Ex. xxxiv. 6 ; Num. xiv. 18 ; 2 Chron. xiii. 9 ; Lam. iii. 22 ; Rom. ix.is. ^ Num. XX. 16 ; Ps. xxxiv. 17.

® Ps. XXXV. 10; Prov. xxii. 22, 23 ; Mai. iii. 5. " Ps. i. 6 ; Nah. i. 7.

^ Ps. Iviii, II ; Is. xl. 10 ; Luke xix. 12-27.

^ For the full German translation, see Brugsch, ' Religion und Mythologie,' p. 97. ^^ I Sam. XV. 22, 23.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION.

Let not thy voice become loud in the temple of God, for

such things He abominates.^ God knows the wicked ; He smites the wicked even to

blood.3

The most important of the Egyptian gods were : — Male.

Amen-Ra

Ptah ...

Harmachis

Mentu Ra

Seb ...

Osiris ...

Asar-hapi or Serapis

Horus ...

Harpocrates ...

Bes ...

Anubis...

Set ...

Compare -

Eccles. V. I, 2, 6 ; Matt, vi

1 AAA/V\A I \ I

"^'^^ o

6,7-

2 Ps. Iviii. 10; cxxix. 4; Prov. iii. 33; xiv. II.

THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

Thoth ... Shu ... Chnum Chonsu Tmu ,.. Sebak ...

... s = f

Female.

Mut

Sexet

Bast

Neith

Nut .

Isis .

Nephth

Ta-ur (' Tv/r^

rhoueris)

Ma Hapi (t

he Nile)

Jo.rt.AtI

■n^

II /VWAAA

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION.

THE GENII OF THE DEAD.

Amset... Hapi ... Tuaumutef Kebhsenuf

THE ENEMY OF RA

Apap ...

D D

Ptah was the chief god, and was called the Mord of truth.' He made the egg from which the sun and moon came forth, was the father of the gods, who came forth from his eye, and of men, who came forth from his mouth. His seat was Memphis, and he is represented as a mummy holding the symbols of life, stability and power,

T" ^ 1. He was worshipped at Memphis under the form of Ptah-Socharis-Osiris, and under this form he was connected with Hades and the dead.

Sepulchral figures of Ptah-Socharis-Osiris are found with a box attached to them, to hold mummied objects. The animal sacred to Ptah was the Apis.

After Ptah came the great Sun-god Ra. He was the great god of Heliopolis, the ' city of the sun ; ' his father was Nu or the sky, across which he sailed in a boat InJ. His children were called Shu and Tefnut; and he waged war against the demon of darkness called Apap. In the morning the sun was called Harmachis

THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

C\^, at mid-day Ra, and at evening Turn. The Sungod Ra died every night, but created himself anew each morning. The hawk and the Mnevis bulls were the animals sacred to him.

Osiris was the eldest child of Nut, 'the heaven,' and Seb,

' the earth.' Before he was born he married his sister Isis, and they had a son called Horus. A brother and another sister of his, Set and Nephthys, also married each other. Osiris and Isis lived together very happily ; but their brother Set conspired against him, and at a feast induced him to go into a box ; it was immediately closed, carried to the Nile, thrown in, and borne away by the river. Isis, distracted with grief, searched everywhere for the

Figure of Ptah-Socharis-Osiris, and Box for holding Mummied Object.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 1 39

body of her husband, and at last finding it she hid it, and went to fetch her son Horus, to help her to avenge his father. When out hunting one day. Set found the body of Osiris, cut it in pieces, and strewed them everywhere. The faithful Isis hearing this, gathered together the fragments and buried them ; and then she built a sepulchre over each. Osiris, however, still lived, and was king of the infernal regions. Now, the meaning of the story is this : Osiris and Isis are the offspring of the sky and the earth, Nut and Seb. Seb is represented as

a goose '^^, and, as such, laid the golden egg, the sun,

or Osiris. Isis was the dawn, and Horus her son by Osiris was the sun in his full strength. The wicked brother and

sister that conspired against Osiris were Set pvl the

Darkness, and Nephthys 3, the Sunset. So the victory

of Set over Osiris is the victory of night over day, or of darkness over light. On the following day Horus, or the sun in his strength, would arise and spread light over the wliole world, and so his father Osiris would be revenged through his (Horus') victory over Set.

Osiris was called the * good being,' and was the judge of the souls of the dead. In religious texts the deceased person is always called Osiris.

Anubis, the god of the dead, was the son of Nephthys and Osiris. He is called the * Chief of the mountain,' i.e., of the western hills where the dead were buried. Anubis is represented in a picture as the embalmer of

I40

his father Osiris ; and a common title of his was 'lord of embalming.'

The Egyptian god of writing and presiding deity of libraries was called Thoth, or in Egyptian Tahuti. He was the inventor of the arts, sciences, and astronomy, and he is usually represented ibis-headed. He was scribe in the infernal regions, and was supposed to keep

Thoth.

a record of the actions of the dead. In one hand he holds a palette, and with the other he traces with a reed the destiny of the deceased. He also represents the moon ; and as a lunar god he wears either the disk of the full moon or the horns of the crescent moon upon his head. As the god of the moon he measured months, seasons, and years.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 141

Tmu was another form of the Sun-god, and was the setting sun. He was considered to be the creator of men and things, and gave the ' cool breeze of the north wind ' to mankind.

Nephthys n , neb kei, ' the lady of the house,' was the

wife of Set, the demon who fought against and conquered Osiris. She is represented on coffins and other sepulchral objects standing or kneeling at the bier of Osiris, and beating her head for grief at the death of her husband and brother.

Horus, or the ' young sun,' was the son of Osiris and the god who waged war with Set. He was the god called 'avenger of his father,' and his battles against darkness are the favourite theme of compositions in the later days of the Empire. The bird sacred to Horus was the hawk.

Mut, a goddess represented by a vulture, was one of the forms of the feminine creative principle.

Isis was the wife of Osiris, and had many forms. She gave life to and suckled the youthful Horus : hence a very large number of statues of this goddess represent her seated with Horus upon her knees and wearing a disk and horns upon her head.

Hathor or Athor is supposed to be a form of Isis. She is represented at times as a standing figure with a cow's head, upon which are a disk and horns ; in her

right hand she carries the symbol of life "y, and in her

left a sceptre J. At other times she is depicted as a

142 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

young and beautiful woman, with a vulture's head on her forehead, and wearing a disk and horns. Her name het Her, means the 'house of Horus,' for it was

supposed that he took refuge and grew up under the fostering care of this loving and protectful goddess.

Sekhet and Bast were the deities to whom the cat and lion were sacred. They are represented by standing figures having the head of a cat or lion, and wearing the disk of the sun and a uraeus upon their head.

The god Chnumis was a form of the Sun-god. He is called the 'creator of mankind,' and is represented as having made man out of clay on a potter's wheel. He was also the original father of all the gods ; and when Osiris had been hacked to pieces by Set, he it was who reconstructed the body.

Amen-Ra, together with Mut and Chonsu, formed the great trinity at Thebes. Amen-Ra is represented as a man coloured blue, wearing two long feathers on his head, while in one hand he holds the symbol of life and in the other a sceptre. The word Amen means 'concealer,' and this god is often invoked as the 'concealer of his name.' He was a solar deity, and was styled ' lord of the thrones of the earth ; ' and in him the attribute of every other deity was believed to be found.

The Egyptian was a firm believer in immortality, and it is not an uncommon thing to find the title Hiving^ given to the deceased, indicating that his relatives considered him to be enjoying everlasting life.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 1 43

During the festivals the gods were arrayed in sacred vestments, the colour and style of which were all prescribed by the sacred canons on this subject. The offerings to the gods consisted of incense, wine, oil, ointment, flowers, and sacred animals. The incense was made into small balls, and then thrown into a censer in the shape of a cup with a long handle. The sacrificing of sacred animals was a most important ceremony. Plutarch says that the most acceptable offering to the god was a red ox, which calls to mind the command to 'bring a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke.'^ The law on this point was so strict, Plutarch says, that a single black or white hair rendered the beast unfit for sacrifice. With the Egyptians the heifer was sacred ; and it is most probable that the Jews remembered this when they asked leave of Pharaoh to go a distance of three days in the wilderness to sacrifice to their God. The monuments, however, represent white and black oxen being sacrificed on the altars of the different gods, thereby showing that a red ox was not absolutely necessary for propitiating the gods. Among the offerings of plants the onion was a very favourite gift, and it seems to have been as great a favourite with the Egyptians as it was with the Hebrews. Ointment was presented in jars with the name of the deity for whom the ointment was intended inscribed upon it. When a king laden with rich booty returned from an

* Num. xix. 2.

THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

expedition into foreign countries, the sanctuaries of the gods were enriched with enormous gifts of untold value as thanksgivings for the victory. In the great Harris Papyrus we are told that Rameses III. (among other things) gave 10,047 cattle of different sorts, 73,800 cakes, 2,396 jars of dry dates, 4,339 waterfowl, 2,366 jars of onions, 41,980 living birds, 2,396 bottles of grapes, 825,840 crystal beads, and 353,919 geese to the temples of his land.

The priests of the gods formed the most important caste in the land of Egypt. A certain number of them were always by the side of the king, and from this caste Pharaoh always chose his ministers and judges. They offered sacrifices, and by their great knowledge they were considered to be able to foresee coming events, and hence to warn the king of the failure of an expedition, or to foretell its success. Dr. Birch considers the following to be the principal orders of the priests : — ^

mitcir hen prophet.

7mtdr atf divine father.

db purifier.

mitar meri ' god beloved.'

fa nutdr sentra incense-bearer.

ker heb prayer-reciter.

hesi bard or poet.

net

SU:

of J

^ Wilkinson's ' Ancient Egyptians,' i. p. 169.

THE EGYPTIAN RELIGION. 145

Queens and women of high rank took part in the worship of the temples, and tlie principal dignities

held by such were | ^ mitar hernt, or 'divine wife,'

I nutcir tuat, -=^ r]4 qema, and U fi^ (j U Tl ahi,

' sistrum-bearen'

The most important order of the priests was that of * prophet.' They were the authorities on every point connected with the worship of the gods and the ritual of the temple. The priests were most scrupulously clean in their habits and dress, and we are told that they bathed four times during the twenty- four hours, and shaved the whole body every three days. Their food was sufficient, but no more, and the utmost care was taken by them that nothing forbidden entered into it. They used wine sparingly, and in common with the Jews they hated the flesh of the pig, and were accustomed to eat mutton. All vegetables were not allowed to be eaten, but there can be no doubt that they enjoyed Such things as were offered to the gods. In addition to their strict mode of life, they were compelled to study much, and to be skilled in all the sciences known in Egypt at that time. Their dress was usually made of linen, and very simple. The chief priest, however, wore a panther skin when he went to offer up sacrifice, or to take part in the different processions at a festival, and all the priests put on adornments during the service in the temples. In common with a large

146 THE DWELLERS ON THE NILE.

number of the people, they practised the rite of circumcision, and this was considered a distinctive mark between the Egyptians and the barbarians.

The power of the priests in Egypt must have been enormous, for not only did they belong socially to the highest caste in the land, but by their knowledge of profane sciences and their direction of the ceremonies and worship of the gods, whose representatives they were, they acquired such a power and hold over the king and people, that it would be exceedingly difficult to perform anything of national importance without their aid. Moreover, the right understanding of the beliefs and dogmas of the religion of the land was locked up in their breasts, and the knowledge of the mysteries of the gods was their peculiar property. Little by little, too, everything connected with the administration of the land fell under the directing influence of their authority. They took a very prominent part in the processions of the gods, and a certain number of them carried the arks of their gods in the festivals. Festivals were very frequent in Egypt, and the mere enumeration of the most important of them takes up several lines on the sepulchral tablets. The Egyptian's belief in the immortality of the soul, and matters of a kindred nature, we shall consider in the chapter relating to the mummy.