Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt: Lectures Delivered on the Morse Foundation ...

Google

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on Hbrary shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project

to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the

publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at |http : //books . google . com/|

DEVELOPMENT OP

RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN

ANCIENT EGYPT

THE MORSE LECTURES

PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBIVBR'S SONS

THE CRITICISM OF THE FOX7RTH GOSPEL.

By William Sandat, D.D., LL.D. Svo net $1.75

THE PLACE OF CHRIST IN MODERN THEOL-
OGY. By A. M. Fairs AiRN, D.D., LL.D. Svo $2.50

THE REUGIONS OF JAPAN. By WiLUAM

Elliot Griffis. 12mo $2.00

THE WHENCE AND THE WHITHER OF MAN.

By Professor John M. Ttlsr. 12mo . • . $1.75

THE CHRISTIAN CONQUEST OF ASIA. By

John Henrt Barrows, D.D. 12mo • net $1.50

DEVELOPMENT OF RELIGION AND
THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT. By James
HsNST Bseastbd, Ph.D. 12mo • . net $1.60

DEVELOPMENT OF
RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN

ANCIENT EGYPT

LECTURES DELIVERED ON THE MORSE FOUNDATION
AT UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

BT

JAMES HENRY BREASTED, Ph.D.

FBOFESSOB OF EGTFTOLOOT ilND ORIENTAL BISTORT IN THE UNIVEB-

BITT OF CHICAGO — COBBEBFONDINQ MEMBER OF THE

BOTAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF BEBUN

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

1912

COPTBIOHT. 191f, BT

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

Published September, 1912

TO

ADOLF ERMAN

IS GBATirUDE AND AFFECTION

PREFACE

CoNTRAKY to the popular and current impression, the
most important body of sacred literature in Egypt is not
the Book of the Dead, but a much older literature which
we now call the "Pyramid Texts." These texts, pre-
served in the Fifth and Sixth Dynasty Pyramids at Sak-
kara, form the oldest body of literature surviving from the
ancient world and disclose to us the earliest chapter in the
intellectual history of man as preserved to modern times.
They are to the study of Egyptian language and civiliza-
tion what the Vedas have been in the study of early East
Indian and Aryan culture. Discovered in 1880-81, they
were published by Maspero in a pioneer edition which will
always remain a great achievement and a landmark in
the history of Egyptology. The fact that progress has
been made in the publication of such epigraphic work is
no reflection upon the devoted labors of the distinguished
first editor of the Pyramid Texts. The appearance last
year of the exhaustive standard edition of the hieroglyphic
text at the hands of Sethe after years of study and arrange-
ment marks a new epoch in the study of earliest Egyptian
life and religion. . How comparatively inaccessible the
Pyramid Texts have been until the appearance of Sethe's
edition is best illustrated by the fact that no complete
analysis or full account of the Pyramid Texts as a whole
has ever appeared in English, much less an Enghsh ver-
sion of them. The great and complicated fabric of life
which they reflect to us, the religious and intellectual

vu

PREFACE ix

hardly to be overlooked, but no systematic efiFort has yet
been made to trace from beginning to end the leading
categories of life, thought, and civilization as they succes-
sively made their mark on religion, or to follow religion
from age to age, disclosing especially how it was shaped by
these influences, and how it in its turn reacted on society.
I should have been very glad if this initial effort at such
a reconstruction might have attempted a more detailed
analysis of the basic documents upon which it rests, and if
in several places it might have been broadened and ex-
tended to include more categories. That surprising group
of pamphleteers who made the earliest crusade for social
justice and brought about the earliest social regeneration
four thousand years ago (Lecture VII) should be further
studied in detail in their bearing on the mental and relig-
ious attitude of the remarkable age to which they be-
longed. I am well aware also of the importance and
desirability of a full treatment of cult and ritual in such
a reconstruction as that here attempted, but I have been
obliged to limit the discussion of this subject chiefly to
mortuary ritual and observances, trusting that I have not
overlooked facts of importance for our purpose discerni-
ble in the temple cult. In the space and time at my dis-
posal for this course of lectures it has not been possible
to adduce all the material which I had, nor to follow down
each attractive vista which frequently opened so tempt-
ingly. I have not undertaken the problem of origins in
many directions, Uke that of sacred animals so prominent
in Egypt. Indeed Re and Osiris are so largely anthro-
pomorphic that, in dealing as I have chiefly with the Solar
and Osirian faiths, it was not necessary. In the age dis-
cussed these two highest gods were altogether human and
highly spiritualized, though the thought of Re displays oc-

PREFACE xi

preface. Under these circumstances little effort to corre-
late the phenomena adduced with those of other religions
has been made. May I remind the reader of technical
attainments also, that the lectures were designed for a
popular audience and were written accordingly?

Although we are still in the beginning of the study of
Egyptian reUgion, and although I would gladly have car-
ried these researches much fiuther, I believe that the re-
construction here presented will in the main stand, and
that the inevitable alterations and differences of opinion
resulting from the constant progress in such a field of
research will concern chiefly the details. That the general
drift of the reUgious development in Egypt is analogous to
that of the Hebrews is a fact of confirmative value not
without interest to students of Comparative Religion and
of the Old Testament.

I have been careful to make due acknowledgment in the
foot-notes of my indebtedness to the labors of other
scholars. The obligation of all scholars in this field to
the researches of Erman and Maspero is proverbial, and,
as we have said, in his new edition of the Pyramid Texts
Sethe has raised a notable monument to his exhaustive
knowledge of this subject to which every student of civil-
ization is indebted. May I venture to express the hope
that this exposition of religion in the making, during a
period of three thousand years, may serve not only as a
general survey of the development in the higher Ufe of a
great people beginning in the earliest age of man which
we can discern at the present day, but also to emphasize
the truth that the process of religion-making has never
ceased and that the same forces which shaped religion in
ancient Egypt are still operative in our own midst and
continue to mould our own religion to-day?

xii PREFACE

The reader should note that half brackets indicate some
uncertainty in the rendering of all words so enclosed;
brackets enclose words wholly restored, and where the half
brackets are combined with the brackets the restoration
is uncertain. Parentheses enclose explanatory words not
in the original, and dots indicate intentional omission in
the translation of an original. Quotations from modern
authors are so rare in the volume, and so evident when
made, that the reader may regard practically all passages
in quotation marks as renderings from an original docu-
ment. All abbreviations will be intelligible except BAR,
which designates the author's Ancient Records of Egypt
(five volumes, Chicago, 1905-07), the Roman indicating
the volume, and the Arabic the paragraph.

In conclusion, it is a pleasant duty to express my in-
debtedness to my friend and one-time pupil. Dr. Caroline
Ransom, of the Metropolitan Museum, for her kindness in
reading the entire page-proof, while for a similar service,
as well as the irksome task of preparing the index, I am
under great obligation to the goodness of Dr. Charles
R. Gillett, of Union Theological Seminary.

James Henrt Breasted.

The Vniversiiy qf Chicago^
April, 1912.

EPITOME OF THE DEVELOPMENT

Nature furnishes the earliest gods — ^The national state
makes early impression on religion — Its forms pass over
into the world of the gods — ^Their origin and function in
nature retire into the background — ^The gods become ac-
tive in the sphere of human affairs — ^They are intellec-
tualized and spiritualized till the human arena becomes
their domain — ^The gods are correlated into a general
system — ^In the conception of death and the hereafter
we find a glorious celestial realm reserved exclusively for
kings and possibly nobles — Herein, too, we discern the
emergence of the moral sense and the inner life in their
influence on religion — Recognition of futility of material
agencies in the hereafter and resulting scepticism — ^Ap-
pearance of the capacity to contemplate society — Recog-
nition of the moral unworthiness of society and resulting
scepticism — ^The cry for social justice — The social forces
make their impression on religion — Resulting democrati-
zation of the formerly royal hereafter — Magic invades
the realm of morals — ^The Empire (the international state)
and political universalism so impress religion that the
"world-idea" emerges and monotheism results — Earliest
manifestation of personal piety growing out of paternal
monotheism and the older social justice — ^The individual
in religion — ^The age of the psalmist and the sage — Sacer-
dotalism triumphs, resulting in intellectual stagnation, the
inertia of thoughtless acceptance, and the development

zm

xiv EPITOME OF THE DEVELOPMENT

ceases in scribal conservation of the old teachings — The
retrospective age — A religious development of three thou-
sand years analogous in the main points to that of the
Hebrews.

CONTENTS

LECTURE I

Nature and the State Make Their Impression
ON Reugion — ^Earliest Systems .... 3

Natural sources of the content of Egsrptian religion chiefly two: the sun
and the Nile or vegetation — The Sun-myth and the Solar theology — The
national state makes its impression on religion — Re the Sun-god becomes
the state god of Egypt — Osiris and his nature: he was Nile or the soil and
the vegetation fructified by it — The Osiris-myth — Its early rise in the
Delta and migration to Upper Egypt — Correlation of Solar and Osirian
myths — ^Early appropriation of the Set-Horus feud by the Osirian myth —
Solar group of nine divinities (Ennead) headed by the Sun-god early de-
vised by the priests of Heliopolis — Early intimations of pantheism in Mem-
phite theology — The first pilhosophico-religious system — Its world limited
to Egypt.

LECTURE II
Life after Death— The Sojourn in the Tomb —

Death Makes Its Impression on Religion 48

(Period: earliest times to 25th century B. O.)

Earliest Egyptian thought revealed In mortuary practices — The con-
ception of a person: ka (or protecting genius), body and soul — Reconstitu-
tion of personality after death — ^Maintenance of the dead in the tomb^-
Tomb-building — ^Earliest royal tombs — Tombs of the nobles — Earliest
embalmment and burial — Royal aid in mortuary equipment — Tomb en-
dowment — Origin of the pyramid, greatest symbol of the Sun-god — The
P3rramid and its buildings — Its dedication and protection — Its endow-
ment, ritual, and maintenance — Inevitable decay of the pyramid — Survival
of death a matter of material equipment.

LECTURE III

Realms of the Dead — ^The Pyramid Texts— The
Ascent to the Sky 70

(Period: 30th to 25th century B. C.)

The Pyramid Texts — The oldest chapter in the intellectual history of
man — ^Earliest fragments before S4O0 B. O. — ^Pyramid Texts represent a

XV

CONTENTS xvii

hereafteop — ^Moral Justlflcatloii not of Osirlan but of Solar origin — ^The limi-
tations of the eariiest moral sense — ^The triumph of character over material
agencies of inmiortality — The realm of the gods begins to become one of
moral values — ^Ruined pyramids and futility of such means — Resulting
scepticism and rise of subjectiye contemplation — Song of the harper — ^The
problem of suffering and the unjustly afflicted — The "Misanthrope,** the
earliest Job.

LECTURE VII

The Social Forces Make Their Impression on
Religion — ^The Earliest Social Regenera-
tion 199

(Period: 22d to 18th century B. O.)

Appearance of the capacity to contemplate society — Discernment of the
moral unworthlness of society-~Scepticism — ^A royal sceptic — ^Earliest
social prophets and their tractates — ^Ipuwer and his arraignment — The
dream of the ideal ruler — ^Messianism — The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant
and propaganda for social justice — ^Maxims of Ptahhotep — Righteousness
and official optimism — Social justice becomes the official doctrine of the
state — ^The *' Installation of the Vizier" — Dialogue form of social and moral
discussion and its origin in Egypt — ^Evidences of the social regeneration of
the Feudal Age — ^Its origin in the Solar faith — Deepening sense of moral
responsibility in the hereafter both Solar and Osirian.

LECTURE VIII

Popularization op the Old Royal Hereafter —
Triumph op Osiris — Conscience and the
Book of the Dead — ^Magic and Morals . 257

(Period: 22d century to 1360 B. O.)

Material equipment for the hereafter not abandoned — ^Maintenance of
the dead — The cemetery festivities of the people illustrated at Slut — Ephem-
eral character of the tomb and its maintenance evident as before — ^Value
of the uttered word in the hereafter — The " Ooffin Texts, " the forerunners
of the Book of the Dead — ^Predominance of the Solar and celestial hereafter
— Intrusion of Osirian views — Resulting Solar-Osirian hereafter — Democ-
ratization of the hereafter — Its innumerable dangers — Consequent growth
in the use of magic — Popular triumph of Osiris — His "Holy Sepulchre"
at Abydos — ^The Osirian drama or "Passion Play" — Magic and increased
recognition of its usefulness in the hereafter — ^The Book of the Dead —
Largely made up of magical charms — Similar books — The judgment in
the Book of the Dead — Conscience in graphic ssnnbols — Sin not confessed
as later — Magic enters world of morals and conscience— Resulting degen-
flratloiL

CHRONOLOGY

Beginning of the Dtnasties with Menes, about
3400 B. C.

Eably Dynasties, I and II, about 3400 to 2980 B. C.

Old Kingdom or Pyramid Age, Dynasties III to VI,
2980 TO 2475 B.C., roughly the first five hundred

YEARS of the THIRD MILLENNIUM B. C.

Middle Kingdom or Feudal Age, Dynasties XI and
XII, 2160 TO 1788 B. C.

The Empire, Dynasties XVIII to XX (first half
only), about 1580 to 1150 B. C.

Decadence, Dynasties XX (second half) to XXV,
about 1150 TO 660 B. C. *

Restoration, Dynasty XXVI, 663 to 525 B. C.

Persl^n Conquest, 525 B. C.

Greek Conquest^ 332 B. C.

Roman Conquest, 30 B. C.

CORRIGENDA

Page 345, footnote, last line, " Ikhnaton,** should read " Tutenkhamon."
Page 363, line 21. "twenty-fifth century." should read "twenty-eighth cen-

tury.
Page 366, line 8. " which now received its last redaction." should read " still

undergoing further redaction."

DEVELOPMENT OF

RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN

ANCIENT EGYPT

LECTURE I

THE origins: nature and the state in their mPRES-

SION ON REUGION — EARLIEST SYSTEMS

The recovery of the history of the nearer Orient in the
decipherment of Egyptian hieroglyphic and Babylonian
cuneiform brought with it many unexpected revelations,
but none more impressive than the length of the develop-
ment disclosed. In Babylonia, however, the constant
influx of foreign population resulted in frequent and vio-
lent interruption of the development of civilization. In
Egypt, on the other hand, the isolation of the lower Nile
valley permitted a development never seriously arrested
by permanent immigrations for over three thousand
years. We find here an opportunity like that which the
zoologist is constantly seeking in what he calls "un-
broken series," such as that of the horse developing in
several millions of years from a creature little larger than
a rabbit to our modern domestic horse. In all the cate-
gories of human life: language, arts, government, society,
thought, religion — ^what you please — ^we may trace a de-
velopment in Egypt essentially undisturbed by outside
forces, for a period far surpassing in length any such
development elsewhere preserved to us; and it is a matter
of not a little interest to observe what humankind becomes
in the course of five thousand years in such an Island of
the Blest as Egypt; to follow him from the flint knife
and stone hammer in less than two thousand years to the

3

THE ORIGINS 5

or a domain of the spirit where the gods shall be supreme,
is not yet perceived. Such divinities as these were local,
each known only to the dwellers in a given locality/

As the prehistoric principalities, after many centuries
of internal conflict, coalesced to form a united state, the
first great national organization of men in history (about
3400 B. C), this imposing fabric of the state made a pro-
foimd impression upon religion, and the forms of the
state began to pass over into the world of the gods.

At the same time the voices within made themselves
heard, and moral values were discerned for the first time.
Man's organized power without and the power of the
moral imperative within were thus both early forces in
shaping Egyptian reUgion. The moral mandate, indeed,
was felt earUer in Egypt than anywhere else. With the
development of provincial society in the Feudal Age there
ensued a ferment of social forces, and the demand for
social justice early found expression in the conception of
a gracious and paternal kingship, maintainmg high ideals
of social equity. The world of the gods, continuing in
sensitive touch with the political conditions of the nation,
at once felt this influence, and through the idealized king-
ship social justice passed over into the character of the
state god, enriching the ethical qualities which in some
degree had for probably a thousand years been imputed
to him.

Thus far all was national. As the arena of thought
and action widened from national limits to a world of
imperial scope, when the Egyptian state expanded to em-
brace contiguous Asia and Africa, the forces of imperial
power consistently reacted upon the thought and religion

^ These remarks are in part drawn from the writer's History of
Egupt, p. 53.

THE ORIGINS 7

upon his religion and his thought for three thousand
years will constitute the survey presented in these lectures.

The fact that a survey of exactly this character has
not been undertaken before should lend some interest to
the task. The fact that objective study of the great
categories mentioned has ranged them chronologically in
their effect upon thought and religion in the order above
outlined^ disclosing a religious development in the main
points analogous with that of the Hebrews, though with
differences that might have been expected, should also
enhance the interest and importance of such a recon-
struction. Indeed one of the noticeable facts regarding
the religious and intellectual development of the Hebrews
has been that the Oriental world in which they moved
has heretofore furnished us with no wholly analogous
process among kindred peoples.

It will be seen that such a study as we contemplate
involves keeping in the main channel and following the
broad current, the general drift. It will be impossible,
not to say quite undesirable, to imdertake an account of
all the Egyptian gods, or to study the material appurte-
nances and outward usages of reUgion, like the ceremonies
and equipment of the cult, which were so elaborately de-
veloped in Egypt. Nor shall we follow thought in all its
relations to the various incipient sciences, but only those
main developments involved in the intimate interrela-
tion between thought and reUgion.

One characteristic of Egyptian thinking should be
borne in mind from the outset: it was always in graphic
form. The Egyptian did not possess the terminology for
the expression of a system of abstract thought; neither
did he develop the capacity to create the necessary ter-
minology as did the Greek. He thought in concrete pict

THE ORIGINS 9

tian relipon at the close of the fifth century of the Chris-
tian era. He who knows the essentials of the story of
this long rivalry, will know the main course of the history
of Egyptian reUgion, not to say one of the most important
chapters in the history of the early East*

The all-enveloping glory and power of the Egyptian sun
is the most insistent fact in the Nile valley, even at the
present day as the modem tourist views hun for the first
time. The Egyptian saw him in different, doubtless orig-
inally local forms. At Edtu he appeared as a falcon, for
the lofty flight of this bird, which seemed a very comrade of
the sun, had led the early fancy of the Nile peasant to
believe that the sun must be such a falcon, taking his daily
flight across the heavens, and the sun-disk with the out-
spread wings of the falcon became the conunonest sym-
bol of Egyptian religion. As falcon he bore the name
Hor (Horus or Horos), or Harakhte, which means "Horus
of the horizon." The latter with three other Horuses
formed the four Horuses of the eastern sky, originally,
doubtless, four different local Horuses.^ We find them

1 These four Horuses are: (1) ''Harakhte/' (2) "Horus of the
Gods," (3) "Horus of the East," and (4) "Horus-shesemti." On
their relation to Osiris, see infra, p. 156. Three important Utter-
ances of the Pyramid Texts are built up on them: Ut. 325, 563, and
479. They are also inserted into Ut. 504 (§§ 1085-6). See also
i 11Q5 and f 1206. They probably occur again as curly haired youths
in charge of the ferry-boat to the eastern sky in Ut. 520, but in Ut.
522 the four in charge of the ferry-boat are the four genii, the sons
of the Osirian Horus, and confusion must be guarded against. On
this point see infra, p. 157. In Pyr. § 1258 the four Horuses appear
with variant names and are perhaps identified with the dead; they
are prevented from decaying by Isis and Nephthys. In Pyr. § 1478
also the four Horuses are identified with the dead, who is the son of
Re, in a resurrection. Compare also the four children of the Earth-
god Gd[> (Pyr. §§ 1510-11), and especially the four children of Atum
who decay not (Pyr. §§ 2057-8), as in Pyr. { 125$.

THE ORIGINS 11

earth and sky had been accomplished by Shu the god of
the atmosphere, who afterward continued to support the
sky as he stood with his feet on earth. There, like Atlas
shouldering the earth, he was fed by provisions of the
Sun-god brought by a falcon.^

Long before all this, however, there had existed in the
beginning only primeval chaos, an ocean in which the
Sun-god as Atum had appeared. At one temple they said
Ptah had shaped an egg out of which the Sun-god had
issued; at another it was affirmed that a lotus flower had
grown out of the water and in it the youthful Sun-god
was concealed; at Heliopolis it was believed that the Sun-
god had appeared upon the ancient pyramidal ''Ben-stone
in the Phoenix-hall in Heliopolis" as a Phoenix.* Every
sanctuary sought to gain honor by associating in some
way with its own early history the appearance of the Sun-
god. Either by his own masculine power self-developed,'
or by a consort who appeared to him, the Sun-god now
begat Shu the Air-god, and Tefnut his wife. Of these
two were born Geb the Earth-god, and Nut the goddess
of the sky, whose children were the two brothers Osiris
and Set, and the sisters Isis and Nephthys.

In the remotest past it was with material functions that
the Sun-god had to do. In the earliest Sun-temples at
Abusir, he appears as the source of life and increase.
Men said of him: "Thou hast driven away the storm,
and hast expelled the rain, and hast broken up the
clouds." * These were his enemies, and of course they
were likewise personified in the folk-myth, appearing in
a tale in which the Sun-god loses his eye at the hands of

1 Pyr. § 1778. « Pyr. § 1652.

* Pyr. § 1818 and § 1248, where the act is described in detail.

* Pyr. § 600.

THE ORIGINS 13

for thou art he who overlooks the gods; there is no god
who overlooks thee";^ he was likewise at the same time
supreme over the destinies of men.

This fundamental transition, the earliest known, trans-
ferred the activities of the Sun-god from the realm of
exclusively material forces to the domain of human affairs.
Already in the Pyramid Age his supremacy in the affairs
of Egypt was celebrated in the earliest Sun-hynm which
we possess. It sets forth the god's beneficent mainte-
nance and control of the land of Egypt, which is called
the "Horus-eye," that is the Sun-god's eye. The hynm
is as follows:

"Hail to thee, AtumI
Hail to thee, Kheprerl
Who himself became (or 'self-generator').
Thou art high in this thy name of 'Height,'
Thou becomest (hpr) in this thy name of 'Beetle' (bprr).
Hail to thee, Horus-eye (Egypt),
Which he adorned with both his arms.

"He permits thee (Egypt) not to hearken to the westerners.
He permits thee not to hearken to the easterners.
He permits thee not to hearken to the southerners.
He permits thee not to hearken to the northerners.
He permits thee not to hearken to the dwellers in the midst of the

earth,
But thou hearkenest unto Horus.

i€

It is he who has adorned thee.

It is he who has built thee.

It is he who has founded thee.

Thou doest for him everything that he says to thee

In every place where he goes.

1 Pyr. § 1479.

THE ORIGINS 15

under his fingers." ^ Such was his prestige that by the
twenty-ninth century his name appeared in the names of
the Gizeh kings, the builders of the second and third
pyramids there, Khafre and Menkure, and according to
a folk-tale circulating a thousand years later, Khufu the
builder of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh, and the prede-
cessor of the two kings just named, was warned by a wise
man that his line should be superseded by three sons of
the Sun-god yet to be Jbom. As a matter of fact, in the
middle of the next century, that is about 2750 B. C, the
line of Eluf u, the Foiui:h Dynasty, was indeed supplanted
by a family of kings, who began to assume the title
"Son of Re," though the title was probably not un-
known even earlier. This Fifth Dynasty was devoted to
the service of the Sun-god, and each king built a vast
sanctuary for his worship in connection with the royal
residence, on the margin of the western desert. Such a
sanctuary possessed no adytum, or holy-of-holies, but in
its place there rose a massive masonry obelisk towering
to the sky. Like all obelisks, it was surmounted by a
pyramid, which formed the apex. The pyramid was, as
we shall see, the chief symbol of the Sun-god, and in his
sanctuary at HeUopoUs there was a pyramidal stone in
the holy place, of which that surmounting the obelisk in
the Fifth Dynasty sun-temples was perhaps a reproduc-
tion. It is evident that the priests of Heliopolis had be-
come so powerful that they had succeeded in seating this
Solar line of kings upon the throne of the Pharaohs.
From now on the state fiction was maintained that the
Pharaoh was the physical son of the Sun-god by an
earthly mother, and in later days we find the successive
incidents of the Sun-god's terrestrial amour sculptured

1 Pyr. § 1837.

THE ORIGINS 17

religion. The qualities of the earthly kingship of the
Pharaoh were easily transferred to Re. We can observe
this even in externals. There was a palace song with
which the court was wont to waken the sovereign five
thousand years ago, or which was addressed to him in the
morning as he came forth from his chamber. It began:

"Thou wakest in peace.
The king awakes in peace.
Thy wakening is in peace." *

This song was early addressed to the Sim-god,^ and
similarly the hymns to the royal diadem as a divinity
were addressed to other gods.' The whole earthly con-
ception and environment of the Egyptian Pharaoh were
soon, as it were, the "stage properties" with which Re
was "made up" before the eyes of the Nile-dweller.
When later on, therefore, the conception of the human
kingship was developed and enriched under the trans-
forming social forces of the Feudal Age, these vital changes
were soon reflected from the character of the Pharaoh to
that of the Sun-god. It was a fact of the greatest value
to religion, then, that the Sun-god became a kind of celes-
tial reflection of the earthly sovereign. This phenomenon
is, of course, merely a highly specialized example of the
universal process by which man has pictured to himself
his god with the pigments of his earthly experience. We
shall later see how this process is closely analogous to the
developing idea of the Messianic king in Hebrew thought.

^ The character and origin, and the later use of this song as a part
of temple ritual and worship, were first noticed by Erman, Hymnen
an daa Diadem der Pkaraonen, Abhandl. der Kgl. Preuas, Akad.j Ber-
lin, 1911, pp. 15 #.

« Pyr. §§ 1478, 1518. a See Ebman, ibid.

THE ORIGINS 19

place of peace, with green fields, that is in the horizon.
Unis makes the verdure to flourish in the two regions of
the horizon";^ or "it is Unis who inundates the land." ^

Likewise the deceased king Pepi I is addressed as Osiris
thus: "This thy cavern,' is the broad hall of Osiris, O
King Pepi, which brings the wind and Tguidesl the north-
wind. It raises thee as Osiris, O King Pepi. The wine-
press god comes to thee bearing wine-juice Those

who behold the Nile tossing in waves tremble. The
marshes laugh, the shores are overflowed, the divine offer-
ings descend, men give praise and the heart of the gods
rejoices." * A priestly explanation in the Pyramid Texts
represents the inundation as of ceremonial origin, Osiris
as before being its source: "The lakes fill, the canals are
inundated, by the purification that came forth from
Osiris";^ or "Ho this Osiris, king Mernere! Thy water,
thy Ubation is the great inundation that came forth from
thee " (as Osiris).*

In a short hymn addressed to the departed king, Pepi II,
as Osiris, we should discern Osiris either in the life-giving
waters or the soil of Egypt which is laved by them. The
birth of the god is thus described: "The waters of life
that are in the sky come; the waters of life that are in the
earth come. The sky burns for thee, the earth trembles
for thee, before the divine birth. The two mountains
divide, the god becomes, the god takes possession of his
body. Behold this king Pepi, his feet are kissed by the
pure waters which arose through Atum, which the phallus
of Shu makes and the vulva of Tefnut causes to be.

1 Pyr. §§ 507-8. * Pyr. § 388.

' The word used is tpht, the term constantly employed in later re-
ligious texts for the cavern from which the Nile had its source.
* Pyr. §§ 1551-4. ^ py^. 5 848. « Pyr. § 868.

THE ORIGINS 21

Osiris was identified. It is water which brings life to the
soil; and when the inundation comes the Earth-god Geb
says to Osiris: "The divine fluid that is in thee cries out,
thy heart Uves, thy divine limbs move, thy joints are
loosed," in which we discern the water bringing life and
causing the resurrection of Osiris, the soil. In the same
way in a folk-tale thirteen or fourteen hundred years later
than the Pyramid Texts, the heart of a dead hero, who is
really Osiris, is placed in water, and when he has drunk
the water containing his heart, he revives and comes to
life.i

As we have seen in the last passage from the Pyramid
Texts, Osiris is closely associated with the soil likewise.
This view of Osiris is carried so far in a hymn of the
twelfth century B. C. as to identify Osiris, not only with
the soil but even with the earth itself. The beginning is
lost, but we perceive that the dead Osiris is addressed as
one "with outspread arms, sleeping upon his side upon
the sand, lord of the soil, mmmny with long phallus. . . .
Re-Khepri shines on thy body, when thou liest as Sokar,
and he drives away the darkness which is upon thee, that
he may bring light to thy eyes. For a time he shines upon
thy body mourning for thee. . . . The soil is on thy arm,
its comers are upon thee as far as the four pillars of the
sky. When thou movest, the earth trembles. ... As for
thee, the Nile comes forth from the sweat of thy hands.
Thou spewest out the wind that is in thy throat into the
nostrils of men, and that whereon men live is divine. It
is '^alike in^ thy nostrils, the tree and its verdure, reeds —
plants, barley, wheat, and the tree of life. When canals
are dug, . . . houses and temples are built, when monu-
ments are transported and fields are cultivated, when

*The Tale of the Two Brothers; see infra, pp. 367-360.

THE ORIGINS 23

Osiris, I have come forth as thou (that is "being thou")>
I have entered as thou . . . the gods live as I, I Uve as
the gods, I live as 'Grain/ ^ I grow as 'Grain.' ... I am
barley." With these early statements we should compare
the frequent representations showing grain sprouting
from the prostrate body of Osiris, or a tree growing out
of his tomb or his coflSn, or the effigies of the god as a
mummy moulded of bruised corn and earth and buried with
the dead, or in the grain-field to insure a plentiful crop.
It is evident from these earliest sources that Osiris was
identified with the waters, especially the inundation, with
the soil, and with vegetation. This is a result of the
Egyptian tendency always to think in graphic and con-
crete forms. The god was doubtless in Egyptian thought
the imperishable principle of life wherever found, and this
conception not infrequently appears in representations of
him, showing him even in death as still possessed of gen-
erative power. The ever-waning and reviving life of the
earth, sometimes associated with the life-giving waters,
sometimes with the fertile soil, or again discerned in
vegetation itself — ^that was Osiris. The fact that the
Nile, like the vegetation which its rising waters nourished
and supported, waxed and waned every year, made it
more easy to see him in the Nile, the most important
feature of the Egyptian's landscape, than in any other
form.* As a matter of fact the Nile was but the source

^Here personified as god of Grain (Npr). The passage is from
the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, published by Lacau, Recueil da
irav. See also " Chapter of Becoming the Nile " (XIX) and qf, XLIV.

* The later classical evidence from Greek and Roman authors is in
general corroborative of the above conclusions. It is of only secon-
dary importance as compared with the early sources employed
above. The most important passages will be found in Fbazer's Ado^
nis AUia Osins, London, 1907, pp. 330-345.

THE ORIGINS 25

loyally at his side; she "protected him, driving away
enemies, warding ofiF ^danger,^ taking the foe by the ex-
cellence of her speech — she, the skilful-tongued, whose
word failed not, excellent in command, Isis, effective in
protecting her brother." * The arch enemy of the good
Osiris was his brother Set, who, however, feared the good
king.* The Smi-god warned him and his followers:
''Have ye done aught against him and said that he should
die? He shall not die but he shall live forever." *

Nevertheless his assailants at last prevailed against
him, if not openly then by stratagem, as narrated by
Plutarch, although there is no trace in the Egyptian
sources of Plutarch's story of the chest into which the
doomed Osiris was lured by the conspirators and then
shut in to die.*

The oldest source, the Pyramid Texts, indicates assas-
sination: "his brother Set felled him to the earth in
Nedyt'Y or "his brother Set overthrew him upon his
side, on the further side of the land of Gehesti";* but
another document of the Pyramid Age, and possibly
quite as old as the passages quoted from the Pyramid
Texts, says: "Osiris was drowned in his new water (the
inundation)." ^

When the news reached the unhappy Isis, she wandered
in great affiction seeking the body of her lord, "seeking

1 Bib. Nat. No. 20, 11. 13-14.

' Pyr. § 589. The same intimations are discernible throughout this
Utterance (357).

' Pyr. § 1471. The Pharaoh's name has been inserted in place of
the last pronoun. In the variants of this text (§ 481 and § 944) the
enemy is in the singular.

* See ScHAEFER, Zeitachrift fUr aegypt. Sprcu:he, 41, 81 ff,

» Pyr. § 1266. • Pyr. § 972.

' British Museiun, Stela 797, 11. 19 and 62. On this monument
see infrGf pp. 41-47.

THE ORIGINS 27

brought him to the land." ^ Nephthys frequently ac-
companies her sister in the long search, both of them being
in the form of birds. "Isis comes, Nephthys comes, one
of them on the right, one of them on the left, one of them
as a het-bird, one of them as a falcon. They have found
Osiris, as his brother Set felled him to the earth in Nedyt." ^
"^I have found (him),' said Nephthys, when they saw
Osiris Gying) on his side on the shore. . . . 'O my brother,
I have sought thee; raise thee up, O spirit.'"' "The
het-bird comes, the falcon comes; they are Isis and Neph-
thys, they come embracing their brother, Osiris. . . .
Weep for thy brother, Isisl Weep for thy brother,
Nephthys! Weep for thy brother. Isis sits, her arms
upon her head; Nephthys has seized the tips of her breasts
(in mourning) because of her brother." * The lamenta-
tions of Isis and Nephthys became the most sacred ex-
pression of sorrow known to the heart of the Egyptian,
and many were the varied forms which they took until
they emerged in the Osirian mysteries of Europe, three
thousand years later.

Then the two sisters embalm the body of their brother
to prevent its perishing,^ or the Sun-god is moved with
pity and despatches the ancient mortuary god "Anubis
. . . lord of the Nether World, to whom the westerners
(the dead) give praise ... hun who was in the middle
of the mid-heaven, fourth of the sons of Re, who was
made to descend from the sky to embalm Osiris, because
he was so very worthy in the heart of Re." • Then when
they have laid hun in his tomb a sycomore grows up and

1 Brit. Museum, 797, U. 62-63. « Pyr. §§ 1255-6.

» Pyr. §§ 2144-5. * Pyr. §§ 1280-2. ^ Pyr. § 1257.

'Cofl^ of Henui, Steindorff, Grabfunde des MitUeren ReichSf

n, 17.

THE ORIGINS 29

The imaginatioii of the common people loved to dwell
upon this picture of the mother concealed in the marshes
of the Delta, as they fancied, by the city of Khemmis,
and there bringing up the youthful Horus, that "when
his arm grew strong" he might avenge the murder of his
father. All this time Set was, of course, not idle, and
many were the adventures and escapes which befell the
child at the hands of Set. These are too fragmentarily
preserved to be reconstructed clearly, but even after the
youth has grown up and attained a stature of eight cubits
(nearly fourteen feet), he is obliged to have a tiny chapel
of half a cubit long made, in which he conceals himself
from Set.* Grown to manhood, however, the youthful
god emerges at last from his hiding-place in the Delta.
In the oldest fragments we hear of "Isis the great, who
fastened on the girdle in Ehemmis, when she brought her
'^censer'^ and burned incense before her son Horns, the
yoimg child, when he was going through the land on
his white sandals, that he might see his father Osiris." *
Again: "Horus comes forth from Khemmis, and (the
city of) Buto arises for Horus, and he purifies him-
self there. Horus comes purified that he may avenge
his father." »

The filial piety of Horus was also a theme which the
imagination of the people loved to contemplate, as he
went forth to overthrow his father's enemies and take
vengeance upon Set. They sang to Osiris: "Horus hath

emergit in earn." Pyr. § 632, and again less clearly in Pyr. § 1636.
At Abydos and Phike the incident is graphically depicted on the
wall in relief.

^ See ScHAEFEB, Zeitachr. /. aegypt. Sprache, 41, 81.

» Pyr. § 1214.

» Pyr. § 2190. There was also a story of how he left Buto, to
which there is a reference in Pyr. § 1373- § 1089.

THE ORIGINS 31

them, remove their heads, wade thou in their blood.
Count their hearts in this thy name of ^Anubis coimter
of hearts.'"^

The battle of Horus with Set, which as we shall see was
a Solar incident, waged so fiercely that the young god
lost his eye at the hands of his father's enemy. When
Set was overthrown, and it was finally recovered by
Thoth, this wise god spat upon the wound and healed it.
This method of healing the eye, which is, of course, folk-
medicine reflected in the myth, evidently gained wide
popularity, passed into Asia, and seems to reappear in the
New Testament narrative, in the incident which depicts
Jesus doubtless deferring to recognized folk-custom in em-
ploying the same means to heal a blind man. Horus now
seeks his father, even crossing the sea in his quest,^ that
he may raise his father from the dead and offer to him
the eye which he has sacrificed in his father's behalf.
This act of filial devotion, preserved to us in the Pyramid
Texts (see above, p. 12), made the already sacred Horus-
eye doubly revered in the tradition and feeling of the
Egyptians. It became the symbol of all sacrifice; every
pft or offering might be called a "Horus-eye," especially
it offered to the dead. Excepting the sacred beetle, or
scarab, it became the commonest and the most revered
symbol known to Egyptian religion, and the myriads of
eyes, wrought in blue or green glaze, or even cut from
costly stone, which fill our museum collections, and are
brought home by thousands by the modem tourist, are
survivals of this ancient story of Horus and his devotion
to his father.

A chapter of the Pyramid Texts tells the whole story of
the resurrection. " The gods dwelling in Buto 'approach^ ,

1 Pyr. §§ 1285-7. » Pyr. §§ 1505, 1508.

THE ORIGINS 33

thee, thy two great and mighty sisters, who have put to-
gether thy flesh, who have fastened together thy limbs,
who have made thy two eyes to shine (again) in thy
head." '

Sometimes it is Horus who puts together the limbs of
the dead god,^ or again he finds his father as embalmed by
his mother and Anubis: "Horus comes to thee, he sepa-
rates thy bandages, he throws ofiF thy bonds; " ' "arise, give
thou thy hand to Horus, that he may raise thee up."
Over and over again the rising of Osiris is reiterated, as
the human protest against death found insistent expres-
sion in the invincible fact that he rose. We see the tomb
opened for him: "The brick are drawn for thee out of the
great tomb," * and then "Osiris awakes, the weary god
wakens, the god stands up, he gains control of his body." ^
"Stand upl Thou shalt not end, thou shalt not perish." •

The malice of Set was not spent, however, even after his
defeat by Horus and the resurrection of Osiris. He en-
tered the tribimal of the gods at Heliopolis and lodged with
them charges against Osiris. We have no clear account
of this litigation, nor of the nature of the charges, except
that Set was using them to gain the throne of Egypt.
There must have been a version in which the subject of
the trial was Set's crime in slaying Osiris. In dramatic

1 Pyr. Ut. 670, §§ 1976-82, as restored from Ut. 482 (a shorter
redaction), and the tomb of Harhotep and the tomb of Psamtik.
(See Sbthb, Pyr., vol. II, pp. iii-iv, Nos. 6, 10, 11).

« Pyr. i§ 617, 634. » Pyr. §§ 2201-2.

< Pyr. § 572. « Pyr. § 2092.

• Pyr. § 1299. Commonly so in the P3nramid Texts. It became a
frequent means of introducing the formulas of the ritual of mortuary
offerings, in order that the dead might be roused to partake of the
food offered; see Pyr. § 654 and § 735, or Ut. 413 and 437 entire.
The resurrection of Osiris by Re was doubtless a theological device
for correlating the Solar and Osirian doctrines (Pyr. § 721).

THE ORIGINS 35

The verdict rendered in favor of Crisis, which we trans-
late "justified," really means "true, right, just, or right-
eous of voice." It must have been a legal term already
in use when this episode in the myth took form. It is
later used in frequent parallelism with "victorious" or
"victory," and possessed the essential meanmg of "trium-
phant" or "triumph," both in a moral as well as a purely
material and physical sense. The later development of the
Osirian litigation shows that it gained a moral sense in
this connection, if it did not possess it in the beginning.
We shall yet have occasion to observe the course of the
moral development involved in the wide popularity of this
incident in the Osiris myth.

The gods rejoice in the triumph of Osiris.

"All gods dwelling in the sky are satisfied;
All gods dwelling in the earth are satisfied;
All gods southern and northern are satisfied;
All gods western and eastern are satisfied;
All gods of the nomes are satisfied;
All gods of the cities are satisfied;

with this great and mighty word that came out of the
mouth of Thoth in favor of Osiris, treasurer of life, seal-
bearer of the gods." ^

The penalty laid upon Set was variously narrated in the
different versions of the myth. The Pyramid Texts several
times refer to the fact that Set was obUged to take Osiris
on his back and carry him. "Hoi Osiris! Rouse thee!
Horus causes that Thoth bring to thee thy enemy. He
places thee upon his back. Make thy seat upon him.
Ascend and sit down upon him; let him not escape thee";*
or again, "The great Ennead avenges thee; they put for

1 Pyr. §i 1522-3. ^ Pyr. §§ 651-2; see also §§ 642, 649.

THE ORIGINS 37

places of Anubis.* Every one hearing it, he shall not live/"
It was a subterranean kingdom of the dead over which
Osiris reigned, and it was as champion and friend of
the dead that he gained his great position in Egyptian
religion.

But it will be discerned at once that the Osiris myth ex-
pressed those hopes and aspirations and ideals which were
closest to the life and the affections of this great people.
Isis was the noblest embodiment of wifely fideUty and
maternal solicitude, while the highest ideals of filial devo-
tion found expression in the story of Horus. About this
group of father, mother, and son the affectionate fancy of
the common folk wove a fair fabric of family ideals which
rise high above such conceptions elsewhere. In the Osiris
myth the institution of the family found its earliest and
most exalted expression in religion, a glorified reflection of
earthly ties among the gods. The catastrophe and the
ultimate triumph of the righteous cause introduced here in
a nature-myth are an impressive revelation of the pro-
foundly moral consciousness with which the Egyptian at
a remote age contemplated the world. When we consider,
furthermore, that Osiris was the kindly dispenser of plenty, .
from whose prodigal hand king and peasant alike received
their daily bounty, that he was waiting over yonder be-
hind the shadow of death to waken all who have fallen
asleep to a blessed hereafter with him, and that in every
family group the same affections and emotions which had
found expression in the beautiful myth were daily a.nd
hourly experiences, we shall understand something of the
reason for the universal devotion which was ultimately
paid the dead god.

The conquest of Egypt by the Osiris faith was, however,

^ An old god of the hereafter. ^ Pyr. § 1335.

THE ORIGINS 39

"Thou art on the throne of Osiris,
As representative of the First of the Westerners." *

As "Lord of Abydos," Osiris continued his triumphant
career, and ultimately was better known under this title
than by his old association with Busiris (Dedu). All this,
however, belongs to the historical development which we
are to follow.

In spite of its popular origin we shall see that the Osirian
faith, like that of the Sun-god, entered into the most in-
timate relations with the kingship. In probably the oldest
religious feast of which any trace has been preserved in
Egypt, known as the "Heb-Sed" or "Sed-Feast," the
king assumed the costume and insignia of Osiris, and un-
doubtedly impersonated him. The significance of this
feast is, however, entirely obscure as yet. The most sur-
prising misunderstandings have gamed currency concern-
ing it, and the use of it for far-reaching conclusions before
the surviving materials have all been put together is pre-
mature.

One of the ceremonies of this feast symbolized the
resurrection of Osiris, and it was possibly to associate the
Pharaoh with this auspicious event that he assumed the
r61e of Osiris. In the end the deceased Pharoah became
Osiris and enjoyed the same resuscitation by Horus and
Isis, all the divine privileges, and the same f eUcity in the
hereafter which had been accorded the dead god.

Some attempt to correlate the two leading gods of Egypt,

*Pyr. §2021; see also §1996. Eduard Meyer (iMd.y p. 100)
states that Osiris is never identified with Khenti-Amentiu in the
Pyramid Texts, and it is true that the two names are not placed side
by side as proper name and accompanying epithet in the Pyramid
Texts, as they are so commonly later, but such a parallel as that
above seems to me to indicate essential identity.

THE ORIGINS 41

commonly represented as taking the South and Horus the
North. The oldest royal monuments of Egypt represent
the falcon of Horus and the strange animal (probably the
okapi) of Set, side by side, as the symbol of the kingship of
the two kingdoms now ruled by one Pharaoh. It is not
our purpose, nor have we the space here, to study the ques-
tion of Set, further than to demonstrate that he belonged
to the Solar group, on full equality with Horus.

By what process Set became the enemy of Osiris we do
not know. The sources do not disclose it. When this
had once happened, however, it would be but natural
that the old rival of Set, the Solar Horus, should be
drawn into the Osirian situation, and that his hostility
toward Set should involve his championship of the cause
of Osiris. An old Memphite document of the Pyramid
Age unmistakably discloses the absorption of the Set-
Horus feud by the Osirian theology. In dramatic dia-
logue we discern Greb assigning their respective kingdoms
to Horus and Set, a purely Solar episode, while at the same
time Greb involves in this partition the incidents of the
Osirian story.

"Geb says to Set: *Gro to the place where thou wast
bom.'"

"Greb says to Horus: 'Go to the place where thy father
was drowned.' "

"Geb says to Horus and Set: 'I have separated you.'"

"Set: Upper Egypt."

"Horus: Lower Egypt."

"[Horus and Set]: Upper and Lower Egypt."

" Greb says to the Divine Ennead : ' I have conveyed my
heritage to this my heir, the son of my first-born son. He
is my son, my child.' "
^ The equaUty of Horus and Set, as in the old Solar

THE ORIGINS 43

original connection with the Solar myth. As Horus had
no place in the original ennead, it was the more easy to
appropriate him for the Osirian theology. As the process
of correlation went on, it is evident also that, like Osiris, the
local gods of all the temples were more and more drawn
into the Solar theology. The old local Smi-gods had
merged, and we find five Solar divinities in a single list
in the Pyramid Texts, all addressed as Re.^ A distinct
tendency toward Solar henotheism, or even pantheism,
is now discernible. Each of the leading temples and
priesthoods endeavored to establish the local god as the
focus of this centralizing process. The political prestige
of the Sun-god, however, made the issue quite certain.
It happens, however, that the system of a less important
temple than that of Heliopolis is the one which has sur-
vived to us. A mutilated stela in the British Museum,
on which the priestly scribes of the eighth century B. C.
have copied and rescued a worm-eaten papyrus which was
falling to pieces in their day, has preserved for two thou-
sand seven hundred years more, and thus brought down
to our time, the only fragment of the consciously con-
structive thought of the time, as the priests endeavored
to harmonize into one system the vast complex of inter-
fused local beliefs which made up the religion of Egypt.

It was the priests of Ptah, the master craftsman of the
gods, whose temple was at Memphis, who are at this junct-
ure our guides in tracing the current of religious thought
in this remote age. This earliest system, as they wrought
it out, of course made Ptah of Memphis the great and
central figure. He too had his Memphite ennead made
up of a primeval Ptah and eight emanations or mani-
festations of himself. In the employment of an ennead

1 Pyr. §§ 1444-9.

THE ORIGINS 46

heart. It is he (the heart) who brings forth every issue,
and it is the tongue which repeats the thought of the heart.
He* fashioned all gods, even Atum and his ennead. Every
divine word came into existence by the thought of the
heart and the commandment of the tongue. It was he
who made the kas and [created^ the qualities;^ who
made all food, all offerings, by this word; who made that
which is loved and that which is hated. It was he who
gave life to the peaceful and death to the guilty."

After this enumeration of things chiefly supermaterial,
of which the mind and the tongue were the creator, our
Memphite theologian passes to the world of material
things.

; "It was he who made every work, every handicraft,
which the hands make, the going of the feet, the move-
ment of every limb, according to his command, through
the thought of the heart that came forth from the
tongue."

"There came the saying that Atum, who created the
gods, stated concerning Ptah-Tatenen: 'He is the fash-
ioner of the gods, he, from whom all things went forth,
even offerings, and food and divine offerings and every
good thing! And Thoth perceived that his strength was
greater than all gods. Then Ptah was satisfied, after he
had made all things and every divine word."

^ Heart and tongue have the same gender in Egjrptian and the pro-
noun may equally well refer to either. I use '^he'' for heart and
"it" for tongue, but, I repeat, the distinction is not certain here.

• Qmswt, which, as Brugsch has shown (Woerterbiich SuppL, pp.
996^.), indicates the qualities of the Sun-god, here attributed, in
origin, to Ptah. These are: "Might, radiance, prosperity, victory,
wealth, plenty, augustness, readiness or equipment, making, intelli'
gence, adornment, stability, obedience, nourishment (or taste)."
They appear with the kas at royal births, wearing on their heads
shields with crossed arrows. So at Der el-Bahri.

TEE ORIGINS 47

conceived in his "heart," then assumed objective reality
by the utterance of his "tongue." The utterance of the
thought in the form of a divine fiat brought forth the
world. We are reminded of the words in Genesis, as the
Creator spoke, "And God said." Is there not here the
primeval germ of the later Alexandrian doctrine of the
"Logos"?

We should not fail to understand in this earliest phil-
osophico-religious system, that the world which Ptah
brought forth was merely the Egyptian Nile valley. As
we shall discover in our further progress, the world-idea
was not yet bom. This Memphite Ptah was far from
being a world-god. The world, in so far as it was possible
for the men of the ancient Orient to know it, was still un-
discovered by the Memphite theologians or any other
thinkers of that distant age, and the impression which the
world-idea was to make on religion was still over a thou-
sand years in the future when tliis venerable papyrus of

with a better light than it is possible to get in the museum gallery,
more could in places be gotten out. " At the same time I ventured
to publish a preliminary "rapid sketch" of the content which was un-
doubtedly premature and which dated the early Egpytian original
papyrus of which our stone is a copy at least as early as the Eigh-
teenth Dynasty, adding that ''some points in orthography would
indicate a much earlier date. " Professor Erman has now published a
penetrating critical analysis of the document {Ein Denkmal memr
phitischer Theologie, Sitzungsber, der Kgl. Preuas, Akad.y 1911, XLIII,
pp. 916-950) which places it on the basis of orthography in the Pyra-
mid Age, to which I had not the courage to assign it on the same
evidence. With a better knowledge of the P3n:amid Texts and Old
Kingdom orthography than I had twelve years ago, I wholly agree
with Erman's date for the document, surprising as it is to find such
a treatise in the P3rramid Age. From Lepsius's squeeze of the stone,
Ebman has also secured a number of valuable new readings, while
the summary of the document given above is largely indebted to his
analysis. The discussion in my History of Egypt, pp. 356-8, as far
as it employs this document, should be eliminated from the Empire.

48 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

the Pyramid Age was written. The forces of Kfe which
were first to react upon religion were those which spent
themselves within the narrow borders of Egypt, and es-
pecially those of moral admonition which dominate the
inner world and which had already led the men of this
distant age to discern for the first time in hmnan history
that God ''gave life to the peaceful and death to the
gmlty."

LECTURE n

UFE AFTER DEATH — THE SOJOURN IN THE TOMB —
DEATH MAKES ITS IMPRESSION ON RELIGION

Among no people ancient or modem has the idea of a
life beyond the grave held so prominent a place as among
the ancient Egyptians. This insistent belief in a hereafter
may perhaps have been, and experience in the land of
Egypt has led me to believe it was, greatly favored and
influenced by the fact that the conditions of soil and cli-
mate resulted in such a remarkable preservation of the
hiunan body as may be found under natural conditions
nowhere else in the world. In going up to the daily task
on some neighboring temple in Nubia, I was not infre-
quently obliged to pass through the comer of a cemetery,
where the feet of a dead man, buried in a shallow grave,
were now uncovered and extended directly across my path.
They were precisely like the rough and calloused feet of
the workmen in our excavations. How old the grave was
I do not know, but any one familiar with the cemeteries of
Egypt, ancient and modem, has found numerous bodies or
portions of bodies indefinitely old which seemed about as
well preserved as those of the living. This must have been
a frequent experience of the ancient Egyptian,^ and like
Hamlet with the skull of Yorick in his hands, he must often
have pondered deeply as he contemplated these silent
witnesses. The surprisingly perfect state of preservation
in which he found his ancestors whenever the digging of a
new grave disclosed them, must have greatly stimulated

1 See also Prop. G. Elliot Smith, The History of Mummification
in Egypt, Proceedings of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glas-
gow, 1910.

49

LIFE AFTER DEATH 51

3000 B. C, we have before us the complicated results of
a commingling of originally distinct beliefs which have
long since interpenetrated each other and have for many
centuries circulated thus a tangled mass of threads which
it is now very difficult or impossible to disentangle.
«4^ertain fundamental distinctions can be made« however.
The early belief that the dead lived in or at the tomb,
which must therefore be equipped to furnish his necessities
in the hereafter, was one from which the Egyptian has
never escaped entirely, not even at the present day. As
hostile creatures infesting the cemeteries, the dead were
dreaded, and protection from their malice was necessary.
Even the pyramid must be protected from the malignant
dead prowling about the necropolis, and in later times a
man might be afflicted even in his house by a deceased
miember of his family wandering in from the cemetery.
His mortuary practices therefore constantly gave expres-
sion to his involuntary conviction that the departed con-
tinued to inhabit the tomb long after the appearance of
highly developed views regarding a blessed hereafter else-
where in some distant region. We who continue to place
flowers on the graves of our dead, though we may at the
same time cherish beliefs in some remote paradise of the
departed, should certainly find nothing to wonder at in
the conflicting beliefs and practices of the ancient Nile-
dweller flve thousand years ago. "^Side by side the two be-
liefs subsisted, that the dead continued to dwell in or near
the tomb, and at the same time that he departed else-
where to a distant and blessed realm.»V
■?t^In taking up the first of these two beliefs, the sojourn in
the tomb, it will be necessary to understand the Egyptian
notion of a person, and of those elements of the human per-
sonality which might survive death. These views are of

LIFE AFTER DEATH 53

separated from its protSgS by more than the mere distance
to the cemetery, for in one passage the deceased "goes to
his ka, to the sky." * Similarly the sojourn in the here-
after is described as an association with the ka,^ and one
of the powers of the blessed dead was to have dominion
over the other kas there.' ^In their relations with each
other the ka was distinctly superior to his mundane com-
panion.) In the oldest texts the sign for the ka, the up-
lifted arms, are frequently borne upon the standard
which bears the signs for the gods. "Call upon thy ka,
like Osiris, that he may protect thee from all anger of the
dead," * says one to the deceased; and to be the ka of a
person is to have entire control over him. Thus in ad-
dressing Osiris it is said of Set, "He (Horus) has smitten
Set for thee, bound; thou art his (Set's) ka." ^ In the
hereafter, ^ least, a person is under the dominion of his
own ka. fihe ka assists the deceased by speaking to the
great god on his behalf, and after this intercession, by in-
troducing the dead man to the god (R^ He forages for
the deceased and brings him food that they both may eat
together,^ and like two guests they sit together at the
same table.*/But the ka is ever the protecting genius./
The dead king Pepi "lives with his ka; he (the ka) ex-
pels the evil that is before Pepi, he removes the evil that
is behind Pepi, like the boomerangs of the lord of Letopolis,
which remove the evil that is before him and expel the
evil that is behind him." ^ Notwithstanding their inti-
mate association, there was danger that the ka might fail

1 Pyr. § 1431.

' "How beautiful it is with thy ka (that is, in the company of thy
ka =a in the hereafter) forever, " Pyr. § 2028.
« Pyr. § 267 and § 311. * Pyr. § 63.

» Pyr. § 587. See also § 1609 and § 1623. • Pyr. Ut. 440.

»Pyr. §564. 8Pyr. §1357. »Pyr. §908.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 55

his protection.^ As we stated above, however, the ka was
not an element of the personality, and we are not called
upon to explain him physically or psychologically as such.
/4le is roughly parallel with the later notion of the guardian
angel as found among other peoples, and he is of course
far the earUest known example of such a beiiyf. It is of
importance to note that in all probability the ka was orig-
inally the exclusive possession of kings, each of whom thus
Uved under the protection of his individual guardian
genius, and that by a process of slow development the
privilege of possessing a ka became universal among all
the people/^
^'Trhe actual personality of the individual in hfe consisted,
according to the Egyptian notion, in the visible body, and
the invisible intelligence, the seat of the last being con-
sidered the "heart" or the "belly," ^ which indeed fur-
nished the chief designations for the intelligence^ Then
the vital principle which, as so frequently among other
peoples, was identified with the breath which animated
the body, was not clearly distinguished from the intelli-
gence. The two together were pictured in one symbol, a

* Pyr. Texts. A later example is found in the temple of Seti I, latter
half of the fourteenth century B. C, in a relief where the ka is de-
picted as a woman, with the ka sign of uplifted arms on her head,
embracing the name of Seti's Guma temple. Champollion, Monu-
merUa, pi. 151, Nos. 2 and 3.

* I owe this last remark to Stbindorff, who has recently published
a reconsideration of the ka (Zeitschriftfur aegypL Sprachej 48,151 ff.)t
disproving the old notion that the mortuary statues in the tombs,
especially of the Old Elingdom, are statues of the ka. He is un-
doubtedly right. After the collection of the above data it was grati-
fying to receive the essay of Steindorff and to find that he had
arrived at similar conclusions regarding the nature and function
of the ka, though in making the ka so largely mortuary in function I
differ with him.

' * See above, pp. 44-45; and my essay, Zeitsch, fur aegypt, Sprache,
39, pp. 39 ff.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 57

' In harmony with these conceptions was the desire of
the surviving relatives to insure physical restoration to
the deady Gathered with the relatives and friends of the
deceased, on the flat roof of the massive masonry tomb,
the mortuary priest stood over the silent body and ad-
dressed the departed: "Thy bones perish not, thy flesh
sickens not, thy members are not distant from thee. " ^
Or he turns to the flesh of the dead itself and says: "O
flesh of this king Teti, decay not, perish not; let not thy
odor be evil. " ^ He utters a whole series of strophes, each
concluding with the refrain: "Bang Pepi decays not, he
rots not, he is not bewitched by your wrath, ye gods." ^
However effective these injunctions may have been, they
were not considered suflBcient. The motionless body must
be resuscitated and restored to the use of its members and
senses. This resurrection might be the act of a favoring
god or goddess, as when accomplished by Isis or Horus, or
the priest addresses the dead and assures him that the Sky-

and in the Pyramid Texts are frequently spoken of as the " glori-
ous " just as we say the '' blessed." The fact that they later spoke
of " his y'few," that is " his glorious one," does not mean that the
y'bw was another element in the personaUty. This is shown in the
reference to Osiris when he died, as " going to his y'few " (Pyr. § 472)^
which is clearly a substitution of y'b^ for ka, in the conmion phrase
for dying, namely, " going to his ka." The use of y'^w with the
pronoun, namely, " his y'few," is rare in the Pyramid Texts, but came
into more common use in the Middle Kingdom, as in the Misan-
thrope, who addresses his soul as his y'^w. Similarly the '' shadow "
18 only another symbol, but not another element of the personaUty.
There is no ground for the complicated conception of a person in
ancient Egypt as consisting, besides the body of a ka, a ba (soul), a
y'bw (spirit), a shadow, etc. Besides the body and the ba (soul),
there was only the ka, the protecting genius, which was not an element
of the personality as we have said.

iPyr. §725. »Pyr. §722.

'Pyr. Ut. 576; see also preservation from decay by Isis and
Nephthys, Pyr. § 1255.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 59

of his senses and faculties, nor the power to control and
use his body and Umbs. His mourning friends could not
abandon him to the uncertain future without aiding him
to recover all his powers. "King Teti's mouth is opened
for him, king Teti's nose is opened for him, king Teti's ears
are opened for him,*' ^ says the priest, and elaborate cere-
monies were performed to accompUsh this restoration of
the senses and the faculty of speech.^

All this was of no avail, however, unless the unconscious
body received again the seat of consciousness and feeling,
which in this restoration of the mental powers was reg-
ularly the heart. "The heart of king Teti is not taken
away,*' * says the ritual; or if it has gone the Sky-goddess
"brings for thee thy heart into thy body (again)."*

^Several devices were necessary to make of this imre-
sponsive mummy a living person, capable of carrying on
the life hereafter. He has not become a ba, or a soul
merely by dying, as we stated in referring to the nature of
the ba. It was necessary to aid him to become a soul.
Osiris when lying dead had become a soul by receiving
from his son Horus the latter's eye, wrenched from the
socket in his conflict with Set. Horus, recovering his eye,
gave it to his father, and on receiving it Osiris at once be-
came a soul. ^Trom that time any offering to the dead
might be, and commonly was, called the "eye of Horus,"
and might thus produce the same effect as on Osiris.

1 Pyr. § 712.

* See also Pyr. §§ 9, 10, and for the opening of the mouth, especially
Ut. 20, 21, 22, 34, 38; for the opening of the eyes, Ut. 638, 639; for
the opening of eyes, ears, nose, and mouth, see Pyr. § 1673.

» Pyr. § 748.

* Pyr. § 828= §835; the heart may also be restored to the body by
Horus, Pyr. Ut. 695, or by Nephthys, Ut. 628.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 61

intended to give the dead ability to confront successfully
the uncanny adversaries who awaited him in the beyond.
It was so characteristic of the dead, that they might be
spoken of as the "mighty" as we say the "blessed/* and
it was so tangible a part of the equipment of the departed
that it imderwent purification together with him.^ This
"power" finally gave the deceased also "power" over all
other powers within him, and the priest says to him,
"Thou hast power over the powers that are in thee." ^

From these facts it is evident that the Egyptians had
developed a rude psychology of the dead, in accordance
with which they endeavored to reconstitute the individual
by processes external to him, under the control of the sur-
vivors, especiaUy the mortuary priest who possessed the
indispensable ceremonies for accomplishing this end. We
may summarize it all in the statement that after the re-
suscitation of the body, there was a mental restoration or
a reconstitution of the faculties one by one, attained es-
pecially by the process of making the deceased a "soul"
(ba), in which capacity he again existed as a 'person, pos-
sessing all the powers that would enable him to subsist
and survive in the life hereafter. It is therefore not cor-
rect to attribute to the Egyptians a belief in the immortality
of the soul strictly interpreted as imperishability or to
speak of his "ideas of inmiortality." *

1 Pyr. § 837. « Pyr. § 2011.

* The above does not exhaust the catalogue of qualities which were
thought valuable to the dead and were communicated to him in the
P3n:amid Texts. Thus they say of the deceased: "His/earfuinessCbV)
is on his head, his terror is at his side, his magical charms are before
him" (Pyr. §477). For "fearfulness" a variant text has "lion's-
head" (Pyr. § 940), which was a mask placed over the head of the de-
ceased. With this should be compared the equipment of the deceased
with a jackal's face, not infrequently occurring (e. g., Pyr. § 2098),
which of course is a survival of the influence of the ancient mortuary

LIFE AFTER DEATH 63

of Osiris to the dead, which is discernible in the Pyramid
Texts, represents him as hostile to them, but this is an
archaic survival of which only a trace remains.^ As a
son of Geb the Earth-god, it was altogether natural to
confide the dead to his charge.^

It was the duty of every son to arrange the material
equipment of his father for the Ufe beyond — a duty so
naturally and universally felt that it involuntarily passed
from the life of the people into the Osiris myth as the
duty of Horus toward his father Osiris. It was an obli-
gation which was sometimes met with faithfulness in the
face of difficulty and great danger, as when Sebni of Ele-
phantine received news of the death of his father, Mekhu,
in the Sudan, and at once set out with a military escort to
penetrate the country of the dangerous southern tribes
and to rescue the body of his father. The motive for such
self-sacrifice was of course the desire to recover his father's
body that it might be embalmed and preserved, in order
that the old man might not lose all prospect of life beyond.
Hence it was that when the son neared the frontier on his
return, he sent messengers to the court with news of what
had happened, so that as he re-entered Upper Egypt he
was met by a company from the court, made up of the
embahners, mortuary priests, and mourners, bearing
fragrant oil, aromatic gums, and fine linen, that all the
ceremonies of embalmment, interment, and complete
equipment for the hereafter might be completed at once,
before the body should further perish.'

The erection of the tomb was an equally obvious duty
incumbent upon sons and relatives, imless indeed that
father was so attached to his own departed father that he
desired to rest in his father's tomb, as one noble of the

» Ut. 634. a Ut. 692. » BAR, I, 362-374.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 65

tomb of Debhen, one of his favorites, who may have pre-
simied upon a moment of royal complaisance to call atten-
tion to its imfinished condition. The king at once details
fifty men to work upon the tomb of his protSge, and after-
ward orders the royal engineers and quarrymen who are
at work upon a temple in the vicinity to bring for the
fortunate Debhen two false doors of stone, the blocks for
the facade of the tomb, and Ukewise a portrait statue of
Debhen to be erected therein.^ One of the leading nobles
who was flourishing at the close of the twenty-seventh
century B, C. tells us in his autobiography how he was
similarly favored: "Then I besought . . . the majesty
of the king that there be brought for me a limestone sar-
cophagus from Troja (royal quarries near Cairo, from
which much stone for the pyramids of Gizeh was taken).
The king had the treasurer of the god (= Pharaoh's treas-
urer) ferry over, together with a troop of sailors under his
hand, in order to bring for me this sarcophagus from
Troja; and he arrived with it in a large ship belonging
to the coiui: (that is, one of the royal galleys), together
with its lid, the false door . . . (several other blocks the
words for which are not quite certain in meaning), and
one oflfering-tablet. " ^

In such cases as these, and indeed quite frequently, the
king was expected to contribute to the embalmment and
biuial of a favorite noble. We have already seen how the
Pharaoh sent out his body of mortuary officials, priests, jand
embalmers to meet Sebni, returning from the Sudan with
his father's body.' Similarly he despatched one of his
commanders to rescue the body of an unfortunate noble
who with his entire military escort had been massacred by
the Bedwin on the shores of the Red Sea, while building

1 BAR, I, 210-212. « BAR, I, 308. » See above, p. 61.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 67

of the royal domain should bring a coffin of wood, festival
perfume, oil, clothing, two hundred pieces of first-grade
linen and of fine southern linen . . . taken from the
White House (the royal treasury) of the court for this
Zau."i

Interred thus in royal splendor and equipped with sump-
tuous fmmiture, the maintenance of the departed, in theory
at least, through all time was a responsibility which he dared
not intrust exclusively to his surviving family or eventu-
ally to a posterity whose solicitude on his behalf must con-
tinue to wane and finally disappear altogether. The
noble therefore executed carefully drawn wills and testa-
mentary endowments, the income from which was to be
devoted exclusively to the maintenance of his tomb and
the presentation of oblations of incense, ointment, "food,
drink, and clothing in Uberal quantities and at frequent
intervals. The source of this income might be the rev-
enues from the noble's own lands or from his offices
and the perquisites belonging to his rank, from all of which
a portion might be permanentiy diverted for the support
of his tomb and its ritual.^

In a number of cases the legal instrument establishing
these foundations has been engraved as a measure of
safety on the wall inside the tomb-chapel itself and has
thus been preserved to us. At Siut Hepzefi the count and
baron of the province has left us ten elaborate contracts on
the inner wall of his tomb-chapel, intended to perpetuate
the service which he desired to have regularly celebrated at
his tomb or on his behalf.^

The amotmt of the endowment was sometimes surpris-

1 BAR, I, 382.

» BAR, I, 200-9, 213-222, 226-230, 231, 349, 378, 63&^93.
• BAR, I, 535-593. They will be found in substance infra^ pp.
259-269.

LIFE AFTER DEATH 69

joyous occasions among his friends in the temple just
as he once had been wont to do, and to accomplish
this he had a statue of himself erected in the temple court.
Sometimes the king, as a particular distinction granted to
a powerful courtier, commissioned the royal sculptors to
make such a statue and station it inside the temple door.
In his tomb Ukewise the grandee of the Pyramid Age set
up a sumptuous stone portrait statue of himself, concealed
in a secret chamber hidden in the mass of the masonry.
Such statues, too, the king not infrequently furnished to
the leading nobles of his government and court. It was
evidently supposed that this portrait statue, the earliest
of which we know anything in art, might serve as a body
for the disembodied dead, who might thus return to enjoy
a semblance at least of bodily presence in the temple, or
again in the same way return to the tomb-chapel, where
he might find other representations of his body in the
secret chamber close by the chapel.^

We discern in such usages the emergence of a more
highly developed and more desirable hereafter, which has
gradually supplanted the older and simpler views. The
common people doubtless still thought of their dead
either as dwelling in the tomb, or at best as inhabiting
the gloomy realm of the west, the subterranean kingdom
ruled by the old mortuary gods eventually led by Osiris.
But for the great of the earth, the king and his nobles at
least, a happier destiny had now dawned. They might
dwell at will with the Sun-god in his glorious celestial
kingdom. In the royal tomb we can henceforth discern
the emergence of this Solar hereafter {cf, pp. 140-1).

* The supposition that these statues were intended to be those of
the ka in particular is without foundation. Ka statues are nowhere
mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, nor does the inscription regularly
placed on such a statue ever refer to it as a statue of the ka. Later
see also Steindorpf, ZeUschr, fur aegypt, Sprachej 48, 152-9.

REALMS OF THE DEAlh-PYRAMID TEXTS 71

of its height. Thus the shaft appears as a high base,
upon which the surmounting pyramid is supported.
This pyramidal top is the essential part of the monument
and the significant symbol which it bore. The Egyptians
called it a beriben (or benbenet), which we translate "pyra-
midion," and the shaft or high base would be without
significance without it. Thus, when Sesostris I proclaims
to posterity the survival of his name in his Heliopolis
monuments, he says:

" My beauty shall be remembered in his house.
My name is the pyramidion and my name is the lake." ^

His meaning is that his name shall survive on his great
obelisks, and in the sacred lake which he excavated. The
king significantly designates the obelisk, however, by the
nanfie of its pyramidal summit. Now the long recognized
fact that the obeUsk is sacred to the sun, carries with it
the demonstration that it is the pyramid siu*mounting the
obelisk which is sacred to the Sun-god. Furthermore, the
sanctuary at HeliopoUs was early designated the "Benben-
house," that is the "pyramidion-house." ^ The symbol,
then, by which the sanctuary of the Sun-temple at Heli-
opolis was designated was a pyramid. Moreover, there
was in this same Sun-temple a pyramidal object called a
"ben,'* presumably of stone standing in the "Phoenix-
house"; and upon this pyramidal object the Sun-god in
the form of a Phoenix had in the begmning first appeared.
This object was already sacred as far back as the middle
of the third millennium B. C.,^ and will doubtless have

1 BAR, I, 603.

* BAR, III, 16, 1. 5; Cairo Hymn to Amon, V, U. 1-2, VIII, U. 3-4;
Piankhi Stela, 1. 105-BAR, IV, 871.

• Pyr. § 1662.

REALMS OF THE DEAD-PYRAMID TEXTS 73

pyramidal block of polished granite, found lying at the
base of Amenemhet Ill's pyramid at Dahshur, is, however,
unquestionably the ancient apex of that monument, from
which it has fallen down as a result of the quarrying by
modern natives.^

On the side which undoubtedly faced the east appears
a winged sun-disk, surmounting a pair of eyes, beneath
which are the words "beauty of the sun," the eyes of
course indicating the idea of beholding, which is to be
understood with the words "beauty of the sun." Below
is an inscription 2 of two lines beginning: "The face of
king Amenemhet III is opened, that he may behold the
Lord of the Horizon when he sails across the sky." ^

Entirely in hannony with this mterpretation of the sig-
nificance of the pyramid form is its subsequent mortuary
use. A large number of small stone pyramids, each cut
from a single block, has been found in the cemeteries of
later times. On opposite sides of such a pyramid is a niche
in which thedeceased appears kneeling with upraised hands,
whUe the accompanying inscriptions represent him as sing-
ing a hynm to the Sun-god, on one side to the rising and
on the other to the setting sun. The larger museums of
Europe possess numbers of these small monuments.

^ It was published, without indication of its original position, by
Masfero, Annates du Service dea arUiquiUa, III, pp. 206 ff. and
plate; see Schabpbr, ZeUschrift fur aegypL Sprachey 41, 84, who
demonstrates its original position. This had also been noted in
the author's History of Egypt, Fig. 94.

'The same inscription is found accompanying the eyes on the
outside of the Middle Eangdom cofi&n of Sebek-o at Berlin. (See
Steindorff, Grabfunde des Mittleren Reichs, II, 5, 1.)

' It is evident that the identification of Osiris with the pyramid and
temple in Pyr. §§ 1657--S is secondary and another evidence of his
intrusion in the Solar faith of which the P3rr. Texts furnish so many
examples.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 75

in the front of the temple, with whose masonry it engaged.
The lower end of the causeway was adorned with a sump-
tuous colonnaded entrance, a monumental portal, which
served as a town or residence temple of the pyramid and
was probably within the walls of the royal residence city
below. These temples were of course the home of the
mortuary ritual maintained on behalf of the king, and were
analogous in origin to the chapel of the noble's tomb
already discussed (p. 62). The whole group or com-
plex, consisting of pyramid, temple, causeway, and town
temple below, forms the most imposing architectural con-
ception of this early age and its surviving remains have
contributed in the last few years an entirely new chapter
in the history of architecture. They mark the culmina-
tion of the development of the material equipment of the
dead.

Each Pharaoh of the Third and Fourth Dynasties spent
a large share of his available resources m erecting this vast
tomb, which was to receive his body and insure its pres-
ervation after death. It became the chief object of the
state and its organization thus to insiu*e the king's sur-
vival in the hereafter. More than once the king failed to
complete the enormous complex before death, and was
thus thrown upon the piety of his successors, who had all
they could do to complete their own tombs. When com-
pleted the temple and the pyramid were dedicated by the
royal priests with elaborate formulae for their protection.
The building was addressed and adjured not to admit
Osiris or the divinities of his cycle, when they came, " with
an evil coming," that is of course with evil designs upon
the building. On the other hand, the building was charged
to receive hospitably the dead king at his coming. The
priest addressmg the buUding said: "When this king

REALMS OF THE DEAD-PYRAMID TEXTS 77

and created the other gods. This then is a special reason
why he should preserve the pyramid of the king forever.
"Thou wast lofty/' says the priest, "on the height; thou
didst shine as Phoenix of the ben in the Phoenix-hall in
Heliopolis. That which thou didst spew out was Shu;
that which thou didst spit out was Tefnut (his first two
children). Thou didst put thy arms behind them as a
ka-arm, that thy ka might be in them. O Atum, put thou
thy arms behind king Memere, behind this building, and be-
hind this pyramid, as a ka-arm, that the ka of king Memere
may be in it enduring for ever and ever. Ho, AtumI
Protect thou this king Mernere, this his pyramid and this
building of king Memere." ^ The priest then commends
the pyramid to the whole Ennead, and finally proceeds to
another long Utterance, which takes up the names of all
the gods of the Ennead one after the other, affirming that,
"as the name of the god so-and-so is firm, so is firm the
name of king Memere; so are firm this his pyramid and
this his building likewise for ever and ever." ^

Resting beneath the pyramid, the king's wants were
elaborately met by a sumptuous and magnificent ritual
performed on his behalf in the temple before his tomb.
Of this ritual we know nothing except such portions of it
as have been preserved in the Pyramid Texts. These
show that the usual calendar of feasts of the living was
celebrated for the king,' though naturally on a more splen-
did scale. Evidently the observances consisted chiefly in
the presentation of plentiful food, clothing, and the like.
One hundred and seventy-eight formulae or utterances,
forming about one-twentieth of the bulk of the Pyramid
Texts,* contain the words spoken by the royal mortuary

1 Pyr. Ut. 600. * Pyr. Ut. 601.

» Pyr. § 2117. * Ut. 2^203.

REALMS OF THE DEAD--PYRAMID TEXTS 79

for ever and ever."^ Again in oflFering ointment the
priest assuming the oflSce of Horus says: "Horus comes
filled with ointment. He has embraced his father Osiris.
He found him (lying) upon his side in Gehesti. Osiris
filled himself with the eye of him whom he begat. Ho!
This king Pepi II! I come to thee steadfast, that I may
fill thee with the ointment that came forth from the
Horus-eye. Fill thyself therewith. It will join thy bones,
it will unite thy members, it will join to thee thy flesh, it
will dissolve thy evil sweat to the earth. Take its odor
upon thee that thy odor may be sweet like (that of) Re,
when he rises in the horizon, and the horizon-gods delight
in him. Ho I This king Pepi II ! The odor of the Horus-
eye is on thee; the gods who follow Osiris delight in thee." ^
The individual formula in the long offering-ritual are
very brief. The prevailing form of offering is simply:
"O king XI Handed to thee is the Horus-eye which was
wrested from Set, rescued for thee, that thy mouth might
be filled with it. Wine, a white jar."^ The last words
prescribe the offering which the formula accompanies.
Similarly the method of offering or the accompanying acts
may be appended to the actual words employed by the
priest. Thus through the lengthy ritual of six or eight
score such utterances, besides some others scattered
through the Pyramid Texts, the priest lays before the
dead king those creature comforts which he had enjoyed
in the flesh.* In doing so he entered the mysterious

1 Pyr. Ut. 453. « Pyr. Ut. 637. » Pyr. Ut. 54.

* The ritual of offerings, properly so called, in the Pyramid Texts,
begins at Ut. 26 and continues to Ut. 203. This ritual as a whole has
received an Osirian editing and only Ut. 44 and 50 are clearly Solar.
E^h Spruch, or Utterance, contains the words to be used by the
priest, with some designation of the offering, sometimes no more than
the words " Horus-eye. " Not infrequently directions as to the place

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 81

tury B. C. evidently looked confidently forward to indefi-
nite life hereafter maintained in this way. In a lament
for the departed Pharaoh, which the priest as Horns re-
dted, Horus says : " Ho I king Pepi I I have wept for thee 1
I have mourned for thee. I forget thee not, my heart is
not weary to give to thee mortuary ofiPerings every day, at
the (feast of tiie) month, at the (feast of the) half-month,
at the (feast of) *Putting-down-the-Lamp,' at the (feast
of) Thoth, at the (feast of) Wag, at the period of thy
years and thy months which thou livest as a god."^
But would the posterity of an Oriental sovereign never
weary in giving him mortuary offerings every day? We
shall see.

Such maintenance required a considerable body of
priests in constant service at the pyramid-temple, though
no Ust of a royal pyramid priesthood has survived to us.
They were supported by liberal endowments, for which
the power of the royal house might secure respect for a
long time. The priesthood and the endowment of the
pyramid of Snefru at Dahshur (thirtieth century B. C.)
were respected and declared exempt from all state dues
and levies by a royal decree issued by Pepi II of the Sixth
Dynasty, three hundred years after Snefru's death.
Moreover, there had been three changes of dynasty since
the decease of Snefru. But such endowments, accumulat-
ing as they did from generation to generation, must in-
evitably break down at last. In the thirtieth century
B. C, Snefru himself had given to one of his nobles "one
himdred loaves every day from the mortuary temple of
the mother of the Idng's children, Nemaathap." ^ This
queen had died at the close of the Second Dynasty, some

1 Pyr. !f 2117-18, restored from Pap. Schmitt.
« BAR, I, 173.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 83

pyramid-temple that he might divert it to his own temple
near by. The result was that the mortuary priests of
Neferirkere, unable longer to live in the valley below,
moved up to the plateau, where they grouped their sun-
dried brick dwellings around and against the f a9ade of the
temple where they ministered. As their income dwindled
these dweUings became more and more like hovels, they
finally invaded the temple court and chambers, and the
priests, by this time in a state of want, fairiy took posses-
sion of the temple as a priestly quarter. Left at last with-
out support, their own tumble-down hovels were forsaken
and the ruins mingled with those of the temple itself. When
the Middle Kingdom opened, six hundred years after Ne-
f erirkere's death, the temple was several metres deep under
the accumulation of rubbish, and the mounds over it were
used as a burial ground, where the excavations disclosed
burials a metre or two above the pavement of the temple.
The great Fourth Dynasty cemetery at Gizeh experienced
the same fate. The mortuary priests whose ancestors had
once administered the sumptuous endowments of the
greatest of all pyramids, pushed their intrusive burials
into the streets and areas between the old royal tombs of
the extinct line, where they too ceased about 2500 B. C,
four himdred years after Khuf u laid out the Gizeh ceme-
tery. Not long after 2500 B. C, indeed the whole sixty-
mile line of Old Kingdom pyramids from Mediim on the
south to Gizeh on the north had become a desert solitude.^
This melancholy condition is discernible also in the reflec-
tions of the thoughtful in the Feudal Age five hundred
years later as they contemplated the wreck of these
massive tombs. (See pp. 181-4.)

What was so obvious centuries after the great Pharaohs
* Confer Reisner, Boston Mils, of Fine Arts Bulletin, IX, 16.

REALMS OF THE DEAD—PYRAMID TEXTS 85

undertake the systematic study of these remarkable docu-
ments.^

Written in hieroglyphic they occupy the walls of the
passages^ galleries^ and chambers in five of the pyramids
of Sakkara: the earliest, that of Unis, belonging at the
end of the Kf th Dynasty in the latter half of the twenty-
seventh century B. C, and the remaining four, those of
the leading kings of the Sixth Dynasty, Teti, Pepi I,
Memere, and Pepi II, the last of whom died early in the
twenty-fifth century B. C. They thus represent a period
of about one hundred and fifty years from the vicinity of
2625 to possibly 2475 B. C, that is the whole of the twenty-
sixth century and possibly a quarter of a century before
and after it.

It is evident, however, that they contain material much
older than this, the age of the copies which have come
down to us. The five copies themselves refer to material
then in existence which has not survived. We read in
them of "the Chapter of Those Who Ascend," and the
"Chapter of Those Who Raise Themselves Up," which
purport to have been used on the occasion of various in-
cidents in the myths.* They were thus regarded as older
than our Pyramid Texts. Such older material, therefore,
existed, whether we possess any of it or not. We find
conditions of civilization also in the Pyramid Texts which
were far older than the Fifth and Sixth Dynasties. In

^ Mabpbbo's edition appeared in his journal, the Recueil, in vol-
umes 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 14; it later appeared in a
single volume. Sethe's edition of the hieroglyphic text in two vol-
umes (Die AUaegyptischen Pyramidentexte von Kurt Sethe, Leipzig,
1908-10) will be accompanied by further volumes containing trans-
lation and discussion of the texts, and with palseographic material

by H. SCHABFEB.

^ <Fyr. § 1245; see also § 1251.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 87

"he has eaten the Red (crown), he has swallowed the
Green" (Buto goddess of the North) ; ^ and in the hereafter
he is crowned with the White (southern) Crown.^ There
too he receives the southern (Upper Egyptian) district of
the blessed Field of Rushes,' and he descends to the south-
em district of the Field of Offerings.* As priest of Re in
the hereafter the king has a libation jar " which purifies the
Southland."* Finally, "it is king Unis who binds with
lilies the papyrus (the two flowers of North and South) ; it
is king Unis who reconciles the Two Lands; it is king Unis
who imites the Two Lands. " * It is evident therefore that
the Pyramid Texts contain passages which date from before
the imion of the Two Lands, that is before the thirty-fourth
century B. C; and also others which belong to the early
days of the union when the hostilities had not yet ceased,
but the kings of the South were nevertheless maintaining
control of the North and preserving the united kingdom.
All these are written from the southern point of view. It
should not be forgotten also that some of them were com-
posed as late as the Old Kingdom itself, like the formulae
intended to protect the pyramid,' which of course are not
earlier than the rise of the pyramid-form in the thirtieth
century B. C. Within the period of a century and a half
covered by our five copies also, differences are noticeable.
Evidences of editing in the later copies, which, however, are
not found in the earlier copies, are clearly discernible. The
processes of thought and the development of custom and
belief which brought them forth were going on until the
last copy was produced in the early twenty-fifth century
B. C. They therefore represent a period of at least a

1 Pyr. § 410. « Pyr. Ut. 524. » Pyr. § 1084.

*Pyr. §1087. » Pyr. §1179. 'Pyr. §388.

» Pyr. Ut. 599-^00; see infra, pp. 75-76.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 89

the noble sitting by the pool in his garden beneath the
shade of the reed booth; ^ these pictures and many others
are alive with the life of the Nile-dweller's world. The
life of the palace is more fully and picturesquely reflected
than that of the world outside and around it. We see
the king in hoiu^ heavy with cares of state, his secretary
at his side with writing kit and two pens, one for black and
the other for the red of the rubrics; ^ again we discern him
in moments of relaxation leaning familiarly on the shoul-
der of a trusted friend and counsellor,' or the two bathe
together in the palace pool and royal chamberlains ap-
proach and dry their limbs.* Often we meet him heading a
brilliant pageant as he passes through the streets of the
residence with outnmners and heralds and messengers
clearing the way before him; ^ when he ferries over to the
other shore and steps out of the gUttering royal barge, we
see the populace throwing off their sandals, and then even
their garments, as they dance in transports of joy at his
coming; * agai^ we find him surrounded by the pomp and
splendor of his court at the palace gate, or seated on his
gorgeous throne, adorned with lions' heads and bulls'
feet.^ In the palace-hall "he sits upon his marvellous
throne, his marvellous sceptre in his hand; he Ufts his
hand toward the children of their father and they rise be-
fore this king Pepi; he drops his hand toward them and
they sit down (again)." * To be sure these are depicted as
incidents of the life beyond the grave, but the subject-
matter and the colors with which it is portrayed are drawn
from the life here and the experience here. It is the gods
who cast off their sandals and their raiment to dance for
joy at the arrival of the king, as he crosses the heavenly

1 Pyr. i 130. « Pyr. § 954. » Pyr. § 730. * Pyr. Ut. 323.
•Pyr., poMim. "Pyr. §1197. ^ Pyr. §1123. » Pyr. §1663.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 91

words, too, there is a deal of difficult construction, much
enhanced by the obscure, dark, and elusive nature of the
content of these archaic documents; abounding in allu-
sions to incidents in lost myths, to customs and usages
long since ended, they are built up out of a fabric of life,
thought, and experience largely unfamiliar or entirely un-
known to us. j

We have said that their function is essentially to insure
the king's felicity in the hereafter. The chief and domi-
nant note throughout is insistent, even passionate, protest
against death. They may be said to be the record of
humanity's earliest supreme revolt against the great
darkness and silence from which none returns. The
word death never occurs in the Pyramid Texts except in
the negative or applied to a foe. Over and over again
we hear the indomitable assurance that the dead lives.
''King Teti has not died the death, he has become a
glorious one in the horizon";^ "Hoi King UnisI Thou
didst not depart dead, thou didst depart living"; ^ "Thou
hast departed that thou mightest live, thou hast not de-
parted that thou mightest die";^ "Thou diest not";*
"This king Pepi dies not"; « "King Pepi dies not by reason
of any king . . . (nor) by reason of any dead";* "Have
ye said that he would die? He dies not; this king Pepi
lives forever";^ "Live! Thou shalt not die";* "If thou
landest (euphemism for "diest"), thou livest (again)";'
"This king Pepi has escaped his day of death"; ^® — such
is the constant refrain of these texts. Not infrequently
the utterance concludes with the assurance: "Thou livest,
thou livest, raise thee up"; " or "Thou diest not, stand up,

^ Pyr. § 350. « Pyr. § 134. ^ pyr. § 833. * Pyr. § 775.

» Pyr. § 1464 c. • Pyr. § 1468 c-d. ^ Pyr. § 1477 b. » Pyr. § 2201 c.
• Pyr. § 1975 b. " Pyr. § 1453 a-h. " Pyr. § 1262.

REALMS OF THE DEAlh-PYRAMID TEXTS 93

constituent strands, without reference to the time ele-
ment. Our question is, what is the content of the Pyramid
Texts?
It may be said to be in the main sixfold:

1. A funerary ritual and a ritual of mortuary offerings
at the tomb.

2. Magical charms.

3. Very ancient ritual of worship.

4. Ancient religious hynms.

5. Fragments of old myths.

6. Prayers and petitions on behalf of the dead king.
There is of course some miscellaneous matter and some

which falls under several of the above classes at once.
Taking up these six classes we find that the priestly
editors have arranged their materials in sections often of
some length, each section headed by the words: "Utter
(or Recite) the words.*' Each such section has been called
by Sethe in his edition a "Spruch," and we call them
"Utterances." Of these the first of the five pyramids,
that of Unis, contains two himdred and twenty-eight,
while the others contain enough additional "Utterances"
to make up a total of seven hundred and fourteen. In their
modem published form, including the variants, they fill
two quarto volumes containing together over a thousand
pages of text.^

With the exception of the funerary and offering ritual,
which is at the head of the collection, and with which we
have already dealt in the preceding lectures, the material
was arranged by the successive editors almost at hap-
hazard. If such an editor had the materials before him
in groups he made no effort to put together groups of like
content, but he copied as he happened to come upon his

1 Exactly 1051.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 95

Pharaoh from being deprived of his charm or his magical
power.^

The distinction between a charm and a prayer in these
texts is diflBcult for the reason that a text of a character
originally in no way connected or identified with magical
formulae may be employed as such. We find a Sun-hynm*
called a "charm" in the Pyramid Texts. Again the
archaic hymn to Nut,' a fragment of ancient ritual, is
later employed as a household charm.* The question is
not infrequently one of function rather than one of con-
tent. The serpent-charms are distinguishable as such in
the Pyramid Texts at the first glance in most cases; but
the question whether a hymn or a prayer may not be de-
signed to serve as a charm is sometimes not easily decided.
The question is an important one, because some have
averred that the whole body of Pyramid Texts is simply
a collection of magical charms, and that therefore the
repetition of any Utterance was supposed to exert magical
power. Such a sweeping statement cannot be demon-
strated. An ancient hymn supposed to be repeated by
the dead king, when it is accompanied by no express
statement that it is a charm, may have served the same
function with regard to the god to whom it is addressed,
which it served in the ancient ritual from which it was
taken; and because some such hymns have been inserted
in charms is no sufficient reason for concluding that all
such hymns in the Pyramid Texts are necessarily charms.
The Pyramid Texts themselves are one of the most im-
portant documents in which we may observe the gradual
invasion of mortuary religious beliefs by the power of
magic, but when the last of the Pyramid Texts was edited

1 Pyr. Ut. 678. » Pyr. Ut. 456. « Pyr. Ut. 429-435.

* Erman, Zavberspr, fUr Mutter und Kind, 5, 8-6, 8.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 97

. is happily more easily disposed of. Among the oldest
literary fragments in the collection are the religious hymns,
and these exhibit an early poetic form, that of couplets
displaying parallelism in arrangement of words and
thought— the form which is f amiUar to all in the Hebrew
psalms as '' parallelism of members." It is carried back
by its employment in the Pyramid Texts into the fourth
millennium B. C, by far earlier than its appearance any-
where else. It is indeed the oldest of all literary forms
known to us. Its use is not confined to the hymns men-
tioned, but appears also in other portions of the Pyramid
Texts, where it is, however, not usually so highly devel-
oped.

Besides this form, which strengthens the claim of these
fragments to be regarded as literature in our sense of the
term, there is here and there, though not frequently, some
display of literary quality in thought and language.
There is, for example, a fine touch of imagination m one
of the many descriptions of the resurrection of Osiris:
"Loose thy bandages I They are not bandages, they are
the locks of Nephthys," ^ the weeping goddess hanging
over the body of her dead brother. The ancient priest
who wrote the line sees in the bandages that swathe the
silent form the heavy locks of the goddess which fall and
mingle with them. There is an elemental power too in
the daring imagination which discerns the sympathetic
emotion of the whole universe as the dread catastrophe of
the king's death and the uncanny power of his coming
among the gods of the sky are realized by the elements.
"The sky weeps for thee, the earth trembles for thee" say
the ancient mourners for the king,^ or when they see him
in imagination ascending the vault of the sky they say:

* Pyr. § 1363. * Pyr. § 1365.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 99

of texts address the dead king in the second person clearly
shows that they were uttered by the priest or some one on
the king's behalf. In one case the speaker is the living
and still reigning king who ofiFers eye-paint to his departed
royal ancestor.^

On one other question in this connection there can be no
doubt. These mortuary texts were all intended for the
king's exclusive use^ and as a whole contain beliefs which
apply only to the king.^ This is not to say, however, that
some archaic texts in use among the people have not here
and there crept into the collection. To these may possi-
bly belong the addresses to the dead as if buried in the
desert sand, or a few others like simple serpent charms, or
passages according the king hereafter a destiny not strictly
peculiar to him and one which ordinary mortals already
believed attainable by them. It is a significant fact that
the nobles of the age made practically no use of the Pyra-
mid Texts in their own tombs.

While the Pyramid Texts have not been able to shake
off the old view of the sojourn at the tomb, they give it
little thought, and deal almost entirely with a blessed life
in a distant realm. Let it be stated clearly at the outset
that this distant realm is the sky, and that the Pyramid
Texts know practically nothing of the hereafter in the
Nether World. Echoes of other archaic notions of the
place of the dead have been preserved here and there.

1 Pyr. Ut. 605.

*The presence of the word "mn"-"so and so" instead of the
king's name (Pyr. § 147) does not necessarily indicate the use of the
passage by ant/ one, but simply shows that the priestly copyist, when
first recording this text in his manuscript, did not know for what king
it was to be employed. Then in copying it on the wall the draughts-
man by oversight transferred the ''so and so" from his manuscript
to the wall, instead of changing it to the king's name.

REALMS OF THE DEAD^-PYRAMID TEXTS 101

should fare. Indeed he is explicitly cautioned against the
west: "Go not on those currents of the west; those who
go thither, they return not (again)." ^ In the Pyramid
Texts it may be fairly said that the old doctrine of the
"west" as the permanent realm of the dead, a doctrine
which is later so prominent, has been quite submerged by
the pre-eminence of the east.

This "east," therefore, is the east of the sky, and the
realm of the dead is a celestial one, using the term with
none of its frequent theological significance in EngUsh.
-^IfTwo ancient doctrines of this celestial hereafter have been
commingled in the Pyramid Texts: one represents the
dead as a star, and the other depicts him as associated
with the Sun-god, or even becoming the Sun-god himself.
It is evident that these two beliefs, which we may call the
stellar and the Solar hereafter, were once in a measure in-
dependent, and that both have then entered into the
form of the celestial hereafter which is found in the
Pyramid Texts. In the cloudless sky of Egypt it was a
not unnatural fancy which led the ancient Nile-dweller
to see in the splendor of the nightly heavens the host of
those who had preceded him; thither they had flown as
birds, rising above all foes of the air,^ and there they now
swept across the sky as eternal stars.* It is especially
those stars which are called "the Imperishable Ones" in
which the Egyptian saw the host of the dead. These are
said to be in the north of the sky,* and the suggestion that
the circumpolar stars, which never set or disappear, are
the ones which are meant is a very probable one.^ While
there are Utterances in the Pyramid Texts which define

1 Pyr. § 2175. * Pyr. i 1216.

» See the author's History of Egypt, p. 64. * Pyr. § 1080.

' BoRCHARDT, in Erman, Handbuch der aegypt. ReL, p. 107.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 103

So powerful was it that Osiris himself is necessarily ac-
corded a celestial and a Solar hereafter in the secondary
stage, in which his myth has entered the Pyramid Texts,
i'^he prospect of a glorious hereafter in the splendor of
the Sun-god's presence is the great theme of the Pyramid
Texts. Even the royal tomb, as we have seen, assumed
the form of the Sun-god*s most sacred symbol. The
state theology, which saw in the king the bodUy son and
the earthly representative of Re, very naturally con-
ceived him as journeying at death to sojourn forever with
his father, or even to supplant his father, and be his suc-
cessor in the sky as he had been on earth. The Solar
hereafter is properly a royal destiny, possible solely to a
Pharaoh; it is only later that ordinary mortals gradually
assume the right to share it, though, as we shall see, this
could be done only by assuming also the royal character
of every such aspirant.

Passmg as the king did to a new kingdom in the sky,
even though the various notions of his status there were
not consistent, he was called upon to undergo a purifica-
tion, which is prescribed and affirmed in the texts with
wearisome reiteration. It may take place after the
king's arrival in the sky, but more often it follows directly
upon his resuscitation from the sleep of death. It may
be accompUshed by libations or by bathing in the sacred
lake in the blessed fields, with the gods even officiating at
the royal bath with towels and raiment, or by the fumes
of incense which penetrate the limbs of the royal dead.^
Sometimes it is the water of the traditional Nile sources
at Elephantine which, as especially sacred and pure,
should be employed,^ or the dead king appears there and
the goddess of the cataract, Satis, performs the ceremonies

.1 Pyr. §§ 27-29, 275, 920-1; Ut. 323. » Pyr. § 864.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 105

When the deceased Pharaoh turned his face eastward
toward this sacred region he was confronted by a lake
lying along the east which it was necessary for him to
cross in order to reach the realm of the Sun-god. It was
on the further, that is eastern, shore of this lake that the
eye of Horus had fallen in his combat with Set.^ It was
called the "Lily-lake," and it was long enough to possess
"windings," ^ and must have stretched far to the north
and south along the eastern horizon.* Beyond it lay a
strange wonder-land, alive with imcanny forces on every
hand. All was ahve, whether it was the seat into which
the king dropped, or the steering-oar to which he reached
out his hand,* or the barque into which he stepped,^ or
the gates through which he passed. To all these, or to
anything which he found, he might speak; and these un-
canny things might speak to him, like the swan-boat of
Lohengrin. Indeed it was a wonder-world like that in
the swan-stories or the Nibelungen tales of the Grermanic
traditions, a world Uke that of the Morte d' Arthur, where
prodigies meet the wayfarer at every turn.

To the dweller along the Nile the most obvious way to
cross the Lily-lake is to embark in a ferry-boat. We find
it among the rushes of the lake-shore with the ferryman
standing in the stem poUng it rapidly along. To do so
he faces backward, and is therefore called "Face-behind,"
or "Look-behind."* He rarely speaks, but stands in
silence awaiting his passenger. Numerous are the pleas
and the specious petitions by which the waiting Pharaoh

iPyr. §595b. «Pyr. §2061c.

' Pyr. §§ 802, 1376-7. On the eastern position of this lake see also
Pyr. Ut. 359. The chief references on the subject are Pjnr. §§ 469 a,
543 b, 802 a, 1102 d, 1138 d, 1162 d, 1228 d, 1376 c, 1345 c, 1441a,
1084 b; Ut. 359.

* Pyr. § 6021. » Pyr. § 926. • Pyr. §§ 1201, 1227.

REALMS OF THE DEAD-^PYRAMID TEXTS 107

Thou who art in the fist of the ferryman," ^ and if his
words are powerful enough, the oar brings in the boat
for the king. Sometimes it is on the opposite shore in
charge of four curly haired guardians. These four are
peremptorily summoned to bring it over to the king: "K
ye delay to ferry over the ferry-boat to this king Pepi,
this king Pepi will tell this your name to the people,
which he knows; ^ . . . king Pepi will pluck out these locks
that are in the middle of your heads Uke lotus flowers in
the garden." ^

Again, as so frequently in these texts, an unknown
speaker in the king's behalf stands forth and threatens
the boatman: "If thou dost not ferry over king Unis,
then he will place himself upon the wing of Thoth. He,
(even) he will ferry over king Unis to yonder side of the
horizon."* There is also another ferryman of a boat
bearing the remarkable name of "Eye of Khnum," * who
may be called upon in emergency; and should all other
means fail the sceptres of the Imperishable Stars may serve
as ferryman^ or the two sycomores in the east may be pre-
vailed upon to perform the same oflSce for the kingJ
Even Re himself is not unwilling to appear and ferry the
dead king across.^ In any case the dead cannot be left
without a ship, for he possesses the cunning charm which
brings them all together: "The knots are tied, the ferry-
boats are brought together for the son of Atum. The

1 Pyr. Ut. 616.

' To know the name of a god is to be able to control him.
» Pyr. § 1223. See also: Pyr. §§ 697, 699, 697, 926, 946, 999, 1091,
1441, 1769, 1429, and Ut. 310, 616-622, 616.
*Pyr. §387; see also §§596-7, 1489, 1175.

• This is of course parallel with the designation, "Eye of Horus,"
which may also be applied to the boat. See Pyr. §§ 946, 446, 1769.

• Pyr. § 1432. ' Pyr. § 1433. »Pyr. § 363.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 109

king Urns that he may ferry over therewith to the horizon
toRe."i

But even these many devices for crossing the eastern
sea might f aU and then the king must commit hunself
to the air and make the ascent to the sky, "Thy two
wings are spread out like a falcon with thick plumage^ like
the hawk seen in the evening traversing the sky," says
the mysterious speaker to the king.^ "He flies who flies;
this king Pepi flies away from you, ye mortids. He is
not of the earth, he is of the sky. . . . This king Pepi flies
as a cloud to the sky, like a masthead bird; this king
Pepi kisses the sky like a falcon, this king Pepi reaches the
sky like the Horizon-god (Harakhte)/'' The variant
text has Uke a grasshopper, and in accordance with this
we find that the dead king was bom with the back of a
grasshopper.'* As the Egyptian grasshopper flies like
a bird to vast heights, the back of a grasshopper was un-
doubtedly an appropriate adjunct to the royal anatomy.
But it was the falcon, the sacred bird of the Sun-god, whose
lofty flight was especially desired for the king. He is
"the great falcon upon the battlements of the house of
him of the hidden name.'' ^ "Thy bones are falconesses,
goddesses dwelling in the sky," say they to the king;*
or again, "Thou ascendest to the sky as a falcon, tiiy
feathers are (those of) geese." '^ The speaker also sees
him escaping from the hands of men as the wild goose
escapes the hand of the fowler clutching his feet and flies
away to the sky; * "the tips of his wings are those of the

^ Pyr. § 337. The floats were a favorite means of crossing ; they are
found frequently in the Pyramid Texts. See besides the above pas-
sages also §§ 342, 361, 358, 464, 926-7, 932-5, 999-1000, 1085-6,
1103, 1705.

« Pyr. § 1048. » Pyr. §§ 890-1. * Pyr. § 1772.

» Pyr. §1778. 'Pyr. §137. ^ Pyr. §913. « Pyr. §1484.

REALMS OF THE DEAD-PYRAMID TEXTS 111

tant ones, twenty-six in number, are enumerated by name,
beginning with the crown of his head and descending
through face, eyes, nose, mouth, etc., to his toes, each
member being identified with a different god, "when he
ascends and lifts himself to the sky. " This canny device
is of irresistible magical potency, so that "every god who
shall not lay steps for this king Pepi when he ascends"
shall suffer loss of all his offerings. Moreover, the gods
are bidden to remember that " It is not this king Pepi who
says this against you, it is the charm which says this
against you, ye gods." On the other hand, "every god
who shall lay steps for king Pepi when he ascends" is
promised all offerings, and if he extends a helping hand to
the king as he climbs up, this god's "ka shall be justified
by Geb." 1

Again the broad sunbeams slanting earthward seem
like a ladder to the imagination of this remote people and
they say, "King Unis ascends upon the ladder which his
father Re (the Sun-god) made for him."* Indeed we
find the Sun-god making the ladder: "Atum has done
that which he said he would do for this kmg Pepi II, bind-
ing for him the rope-ladder, joinmg together the (wooden)
ladder for this king Pepi II; (thus) this king is far from
the abomination of men. " ' Again it is the f oyr sons of

^ All the preceding from Pyr. Ut. 539. It seems impossible to sep-
arate these primitive means of reaching the sky from the similar
or identical means employed in later astral theology in the Mediter-
ranean. They have survived in the grotesque tale of the ascent of
Alexander in ihe late western (Latin) version of Pseudo-CaUisthenes,
from which they passed even into art. See Burlington Magazine,
vol. VI, pp. 395 ff. The ladder of the next paragraph was a common
device in astral mortuary theology. (See Cumont, Astrology and
Religion, p. 184.)

' Pyr. § 390; similarly the ladder is associated with Heliopolis in
Pyr. §978. 'Pyr. §2083.

REALMS OF THE DEAD—PYRAMID TEXTS 113

arms under him. They make a ladder for king Pepi that
he may ascend upon it to the sky. " ^ The spectacle of
the ascending king calls forth the admiration of the gods:
"'How beautiful to see, how satisfying to behold/ say
the gods^ 'when this god (meaning the king) ascends to
the sky. His fearfulness is on his head, his terror is at his
side, his magical charms are before him.' * (Jeb has done
for him as was done for himself (Geb) . The gods and souls
of Buto, the gods and souls of Hierakonpolis, the gods in
the sky and the gods on earth come to him. They make
supports for king Unis on their arm(s). Thou ascendest,
O king Unis, to the sky. Ascend upon it in this its name
'Ladder.' "3

Men and gods together are called upon in mighty
charms to lift the king. "O men and gods I Your arms
under king Pepi I Raise ye him, lift ye him to the sky, as
the arms of Shu are under the sky and he raises it. To
the sky I To the sky I To the great seat among the
gods I" * Or the daughter of the ancient mortuary Anu-
bis oflFers him her shoulder: "Kebehet places him on her
shoulder, she puts him down among the gardens (like)
the herdmen of the calves, " * a picture which we often
see in the mastaba reliefs, as the cowherd wades cautiously
across the canal, immersed to the waist, with a calf borne
tenderly upon his shoulders, while the solicitous mother
beast follows anxiously behind licking the flanks of the
calf. Should all other means fail, Isis and Nephthys will
offer their hips upon which the king mounts, while his
father Atmn reaches down and seizes the arm of the Pha-
raoh;® or the earth itself may rise under the feet of the

» Pyr. §i 1473-4.

^ For the interpretation of this equipment, see p. 61, note 3.

» Pyr. §§'476-9. * Pyr. § 1101. » Pyr. § 1348. • Pyr. §§ 379-380.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 115

firmament are thrown open to this king Pepi. " * In the
same way the approaching king is identified with the four
eastern Horuses one after the other, after which Re may
be appealed to as his father: "O father of king Pepi, O
Re! Take thou this king Pepi with thee for life to thy
mother Nut, who opens the double doors of the sky to
this king Pepi, who throws open the double doors of the
firmament to this king Pepi. " ^

The diflBculty of the gates and the ascension might, how-
ever, be met by an appeal of men directly to the Sun-god:
" *Ho Re,' say men, when they stand beside this king Pepi
on earth while thou appearest in the east of the sky, 'give
thy arm to king Pepi; take thou him with thee to the east
side of the sky.' " *

It will be seen that in spite of the conviction of life,
abounding life, with which the Pyramid Texts are filled,
they likewise reveal the atmosphere of apprehension
which enveloped these men of the early world as they
contemplated the unknown and untried dangers of the
shadow world. Whichever way the royal pilgrim faced
as he looked out across the eastern sea he was beset with
apprehensions of the possible hostility of the gods, and
there crowded in upon him a thousand fancies of danger
and opposition which clouded the fair picture of blessed-
ness beyond. There is an epic touch in the dauntless
courage, with which the sohtary king, raising himself like
some elemental colossus, and claiming sway over the gods
themselves, confronts the celestial realm and addresses the

1 Pyr. § 1408.

' Pyr. §§ 1479-80. There are four Utterances which are built up
on the four Horuses: 325, 563, and 479, which are of the same general
structure; and 573 of different structure, in which the identification
of the king with the four Horuses perhaps takes place. On the latter
see also infra, pp. 154-6. » Pyr. § 1496.

REALMS OF THE DEAD— PYRAMID TEXTS 117

the two shores of the lake, . . . the drinking-plaee of
every glorious one by reason of his equipped mouth."
Then they challenge the new arrival and the king replies:
"I am a glorious one by reason of his equipped mouth."
" 'How has this happened to thee/ say they to king Pepi,
. . . Hhat thou hast come to this place more august than
any place? ' ' Pepi has come to this place more august than
any place, because the two floats of the sky were placed,'
says the morning-barque, 'for Re'";^ and at the story
of his successful crossing as Re had crossed, the celestials
break out into jubilee.^ Thereupon the Pharaoh lands,
takes up their manner of Ufe, and sits before the palace
ruling them.^ Again we hear a solitary voice issuing from
the world of the dead and challenging the king as he
ascends and passes through the gates of the sky, led by
Geb: "Hoi Whence comest thou, son of my father?"
And another voice answers : " He has come from the Divine
Ennead that is in the sky, that he may satisfy them with
their bread." Again comes the challenge: "Hoi Whence
comest thou, son of my father?" and we hear the reply:
"He has come from the Divine Ennead that is on earth,
that he may satisfy them with their bread." The ques-
tioner is still unsatisfied: "Hoi Whence comest thou,
son of my father? " " He has come from the Zenedzender-
barque." And then we hear the question for the last
time: "Hoi Whence comest thou, son of my father?"
"He has come from these his two mothers, the two vult-
ures with long hair and hanging breasts, who are on the
mountain of Sehseh. They draw their breasts over the
mouth of king Pepi, but they do not wean him forever."
Thereafter the challenging voice is silent* and the Pharaoh
enters the kingdom of the sky.

»Pyr.§§ 930-2. *Pyr.§935. »Pyr. §§936-8. *Pyr.§§ 1116-19.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 119

gods are silent before thee, the Nine Gods have laid their
hands upon their mouths," says the herald voice.^

It may be, however, that the king finds himself without
any messenger to despatch to Re, and in this ease the
ferryman may be induced to announce his. coming.*
Otherwise, as he approaches the gate the gate-keeper is
called upon to perform this office. " Ho, Methen I Keeper
of the great gatel Annoimce this king Pepi to these two
great gods " (Re and Horus) .' He may even be obliged to
intrust his case to the good offices of Re's body servant,
affording an interesting side-light on the possible methods
of gaining the royal ear in this distant age. "0 ye who
are over the offering and the libation I Conmiit king
Unis to Fetekta, the servant of Re, that he may conmiit
him to Re himself." * More often the gods themselves,
who have greeted him with acclamation, or have stood in
awed silence at his coming, proclaim it far and near, after
they have announced him to Re: "O Re-Atum! This
king Unis comes to thee, an imperishable glorious-one,
lord of the affairs of the place of the four pillars (the sky).
Thy son comes to thee. This king Unis comes to thee."
Then Set and Nephthys hasten to the south, where they
proclaim his coming "to the gods of the south and their
spirits": "This king Unis comes indeed, an imperishable
glorious-one. When he desires that ye die, ye die; when
he desires that ye live, ye live." To the north Osiris and
Isis say: "This king Unis comes indeed, an imperishable
glorious-one, like the morning star over the Nile. The
spirits dweUing in the water praise him. When he desires
that he live, he lives; when he desires that he die, he dies."
Thoth hastens to the west with the words: "This king

»Pyr. §§253-5. *Pyr. §597.

«Pyr. §952. *Pyr. §120.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 121

Re."* Again we find the dead Pharaoh serving as a
priest "before Re, bearing this jar, which purifies the
Southland before Re, when he comes forth from his
horizon." ^ He may even appear as Uneg, the son and
body-servant of Re,* and we behold him as "a star . . .
long of stride, bringing the provisions of the (daily)
journey to Re every day." *

More often the greatest intimacy and familiarity now
develop between the Sun-god and the newly arrived king;
"every beautiful place where Re goes, he finds this king
Pepi there." * Should there be any difficulties in the way,
the dead king recites a magical hymn* in praise of the
Sun-god, which smoothes the way to perfect fellowship
with Re. The priestly editor has added the assurance:
"Now he who knows this chapter of Re, and he doeth
them, (even) these charms of Harakhte (the Horizon-god),
he shall be the familiar of Re, he shall be the friend of
Harakhte. King Pepi knows it, this chapter of Re; king
Pepi doeth them, these charms of Harakhte. King Pepi
is the familiar of Re, king Pepi is the companion of
Harakhte."^ Thus the departed Pharaoh may "sit at
his (Re's) shoulder, and Re does not permit him to throw
himself upon the earth (in obeisance), knowing that he
(the king) is greater than he (Re)."® In the quaint
imagination of the priestly editor, the king may even
become the lotus flower, which the god holds to his nose."

But that association with Re in which the Egyptian took
the greatest delight was the voyage with him across the
sky in his daily journey to the west. As the cool Nile
breezes and the picturesque life of the refreshing river

1 Pyr. § 267. « pyj.. § 1179. s Pyr. § 952.

* Pyr. § 263. » Pyr. § 918. • See above, pp. 13-14.

» Pyr. §§!85&-6. » Pyr. § 813. » Pyr. § 266.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 123

of incense, at his interment.^ Even without encroaching
upon the position of Re the dead Pharaoh is pictured as
divine, and his divinity is proclaimed to the denizens of
the other world. "Lift up your faces, gods dwelling in
Dewat.^ King Unis has come that ye may see him be-
come a great god. . . . Protect yourselves all of you.
King Unis commands men; king Unis judges the Uving
in the court of the region of Re. King Unis speaks to
this pure region which he has visited, that he may dweU
therein with the judge of the two gods. King Unis is
mighty beside him (Re). King Unis bears the sceptre;
it purifies king Unis. King Unis sits with them that row
Re; king Unis commands good that he may do it. King
Unis is a great god." »

This divinity is unmistakably defined more than once.
"King Teti is this eye of Re, that passes the night, is
conceived arid born every day." * "His mother the sky
bears him living every day Uke Re. He dawns with him
in the east, he sets with him in the west, his mother Nut
(the sky) is not void of him any day. He equips king
Pepi II with Ufe, he causes his heart joy, he causes his
heart pleasure."* "Thou camest forth as king Pepi,
king Pepi came forth as thou." • The dead king does not
merely receive the office and station of Re, he actually
becomes Re. "Thy body is in king Pepi, O Re; preserve
alive thy body in king Pepi, O Re." ^ " King Teti is thou
(Re), thou art king Teti; thou shinest in king Teti, king
Teti shines in thee." * He is even identified with Atmn
limb by limb,® or with Atum and the Solar gods, who are
themselves identified with Atum.^° Thus he becomes king

iPyr. §25. *See'p. 144, n. 2.

» Pyr. Ut. 252. * Pyr. § 698; also § 704.

» Pyr. §§ 1835-^. « Pyr. § 1875. *, ^ Pyr. § 1461 b.

» pyr. § 703-4. • Pyr. § 135. » Pyr. §§ 147-9.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 126

thus the king appropriates to himself all the homage and
oflFerings received by the Sun-god from Egypt.

But the imagination of the priests does not stop here.
Equality or identity with Re is not enough, and we behold
the translated Pharaoh a cosmic figure of elemental vast-
ness, even superior to the Sun-god in the primeval dark-
ness. The mysterious voice cries : " Father of king Teti !
Father of king Teti in darkness! Father of king Teti,
Atum in darkness I Bring thou king Teti to thy side that
he may kindle for thee the light; that he may protect
thee, as Nun (the primeval ocean) protected lliese four
goddesses on the day when they protected the throne,
(even) Isis, Nephthys, Neit, and Serket."^ The dead
king sweeps the sky as a devouring fire as soon as ''the
arm of the sunbeams is lifted with king Unis." * Again
we see him towering between earth and sky: "This his
right arm, it carries the sky in satisfaction; this his left
arm, it supports the earth in joy." » The imagination
runs riot in figures of cosmic power, and the king becomes
"the outflow of the rain, he came forth at the origin of
water";* or he gains the secret and the power of all things
as "the scribe of the god's-book, which says what is and
causes to be what is not." * He came forth before the
world or death existed. "The mother of king Pepi be-
came pregnant with him, O Dweller in the ^nether sky^;
this king Pepi was bom by his father Atum before the
sky came forth, before the earth came forth, before men
came forth, before gods were bom, before death came
forth. This king Pepi escapes the day of death as Set

croflsee the Lily-lake, the king crosses; the god is purified, the king
is purified; the god sails the sky, the king sails the sky, etc., etc.

1 Pyr. Ut. 362. » Pyr. § 324.

» pyr. i 1156. * Pyr. S 1146. » Pyr. { 1146.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 127

This fellowship thus mystically symbolized is in sharp
contrast with a dark and forbidding picture, surviving
from vastly remote prehistoric days, in which we see
the savage Pharaoh ferociously preying upon the gods
like a blood-thirsty hunter in the jimgle. The passage
begins with the terrifying advent of the Pharaoh in the
sky:

it

Clouds darken the sky,

The stars rain down.

The Bows (a constellation) stagger,

The bones of the hell-hounds tremble.

The '^porters^ are silent,

When they see king Unis dawning as a soul,

As a god living on his fathers,

Feeding on his mothers.

King Unis is lord of wisdom.

Whose mother knows not his name.

The honor of king Unis is in the sky.

His might is in the horizon.

Like Atum his father who begat him.

When he begat him, he was stronger than he.
1

King Unis is one who eats men and lives on gods,

Lord of messengers, who l^despatches^ his messages;

It is *Grasper-of-Forelocks' living in Kehew

Who binds them for king Unis.

It is the serpent * Splendid-Head '

Who watches them for him and repels them for him.

It is 'He-who-is-upon-the- Willows'

Who lassoes them for him.

It is *Punisher-of-all-Evil-doers'

Who stabs them for king Unis.

He takes out for him their entrails.

He is a messenger whom he (king Unis) sends to '^punish^

* The passage omitted is an obscure description of the equipment
of the dead king, which, however, contains an important statement
that the king ^^ lives on the being of every god, eating their organs
who come with their belly filled with charms.''

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 129

He hath swallowed the knowledge of every god.

The lifetime of king Unis is eternity.

His limit is ev^lastingness in this his dignity of:

' If-he- wishes-he-does,

If-he-wishes-not-he-does-not/ ^

Who dwells in the limits of the horizon for ever and ever.

Lo, their (the gods') soul is in the belly of kii^g Unis,

Their Glorious Ones are with king Unis.

The plenty of his portion is more than (that of) the gods.

Lo, their soul is with king Unis." *

In this remarkable picture the motive of the grotesque
cannibalism is perfectly clear. The gods are hunted down,
lassoed, bound, and slaughtered like wild cattle, that the
king may devour their substance, and especially their in-
ternal organs, like the heart where the intelligence had
its seat, in the belief that he might thus absorb and ap-
propriate their qualities and powers. When "he has
taken the hearts of the gods,'* "he has swallowed the
knowledge of every god," and "their charms are in his
belly '^; and because the organs of the gods which he has
devoured are plentifully satisfied with food, the king
cannot hunger, for he has, as it were, eaten complete
satiety.

This introduces us to a subject to which the Pyramid
Texts devote much space — ^the question of the food
supply in the distant realm of the Sun-god. To explain
the apparently aimless presentation of food at the tomb,
where, in the Solar belief the dead no longer tarried, it
was assumed that the food offered there was transmitted
to the dead in various ways. Sometimes it is Thoth who
conveys the food from the tomb to the sky and delivers

^ This is a name or rank expressed in a couplet.
« Pyr. Ut. 273.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 131

incident exhibits more of the naturally and warmly human
than anything else in the Solar theology.

Besides this source of nourishment, and the very bodies
of the gods themselves/ there were also the oflFerings of
all Egypt, as we have seen in the ancient Sun-hynm, where
the dead king receives all that is oflFered by Egypt to Re
(pp. 13-14). It is taken for granted that the celestial
revenues belong to the king, and that they will meet all
his wants. We hear the voice calling for the mortuary
revenues in his behalf: "An oflFering which the kmg gives!
An offering which Anubis gives! Thy thousand of young
antelope from the highland, they come to thee with bowed
head. An offering which the king gives! An offering
which Anubis gives! Thy thousand of bread! Thy
thousand of beer! Thy thousand of incense, that came
forth from the palace hall! Thy thousand of everything
pleasant! Thy thousand of cattle! Thy thousand of
everything thou eatest, on which thy desire is set!"*
The Pyramid Texts delight to picture the plenty which
the king is to enjoy. "Plenty has extended her arm
toward king Teti. The two arms of king Teti have em-
braced fisher and fowler, (even) all that the field furnishes
to her son, the fisher-fowler." * We even see him going
about with sack and basket collecting quantities of food,*
food of the gods which cannot perish, "bread which cannot
dry up" and "beer which cannot grow stale." ** For the
voice prays to the Sun-god: "Give thou bread to this
king Pepi from this thy eternal bread, thy everlasting
beer," ^ and we read that "this king Pepi receives his

^ As above (pp. 127-9) . The phrase " Whom he finds in his way he
eats him for himself," referring to divine victims whom he devours
as food, is found no less than three times (Pyr. §§ 278 a, 407, 444 e).

* Pyr. §§ 806-7. » Pyr. § 555. * Pyr. § 556.

»Pyr. §859. 'Pyr. §1117.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 133

"Hunger! Come not to king Teti. Hasten to Nun (the
primeval flood), go to the flood. King Teti is sated; he
hungers not by reason of this bread of Horus which he
has eaten> which his eldest daughter made for him. He is
satisfied therewith, he takes this land therewith. King
Teti thirsts not by reason of Shu; he hungers not by
reason of Tefnut. Hapi, Dewamutef, Kebehsenuf, and
Imset (the four sons of Horus), they expel this hunger
which is in the body of king Teti, and this thirst which is
in the lips of king Teti." ^

Finally one of the most, if not the most, important of
the numerous sources from which the departed Pharaoh
hoped to draw his sustenance in the realm of Re was the
tree of life in the mysterious isle in the midst of the Field
of Offerings, in search of which he sets out in company
with the Morning Star. The Morning Star is a gorgeous
green falcon, a Solar divinity, identified with "Horus of
Dewat." He has four faces, corresponding to the four
Horuses of the East, with whom he is doubtless also
identified.^ We find him standing in the bow of his celes-
tial barque of seven hundred and seventy cubits in length,
and there the voice addresses him: "Take thou this king
Pepi with thee in the cabin of thy boat. . . . Thou takest
this thy favorite harpoon, thy staff which '^piercesl the
canals, whose points are the rays of the sim, whose barbs
are the claws of Mafdet. King Pepi cuts off therewith
the heads of the adversaries, dwelling in the Field of Offer-
ings, when he has descended to the sea. Bow thy head,
decline thy arms, O Sea! The children of Nut are these

^ Pyr. Ut. 338; see also Ut. 339, 340, 400, 438. The chann quoted
above may be Osirian, in view of ''the bread of Horus," but the dis-
tinction between Osirian and Solar elements is here of slight con-
sequence. * Pyr. § 1207.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 135

Charms, as we have already shown, were among the equip-
ment furnished by the Pyramid Texts, and not a few of
these are of a protective character. The enemy against
which these are most often directed in the Pyramid Texts
is serpents. It was of course natural that the dead, who
were buried m the earth, out of which serpents come
forth, should be especially exposed to this danger. In the
case of the king also, there was another reason. In the
myth of Re, he was stung by a serpent and forced to re-
veal his name to Isis. The departed Pharaoh who is
identified with Re must necessarily meet the same danger,
and from it he is protected by numerous serpent charms
in the Pyramid Texts. In such charms it is quite in ac-
cordance with the Solar tale to find Re invoked to exor-
cise the dangerous reptile. "O serpent, turn back, for
Re sees thee" were words which came very naturally to
the lips of the Egyptian of this age.^ While all the great
goddesses of Egypt are said to extend their protection
over the king, it is especially the Sky-goddess Nut who
shields him from all harm.^

The men in whose hands the Pyramid Texts grew up
took the greatest delight in elaborating and reiterating
in ever new and different pictures the blessedness enjoyed
by the king, thus protected, maintained, and honored in
the Sun-god's realm. Their imagination flits from figure
to figure, and picture to picture, and allowed to run like
some wild tropical plant without control or guidance,
weaves a complex fabric of a thousand hues which refuse

1 Pyr. § 226; see also § 231 and other serpent channs in Ut. 226-237,
240 242 et oZ.

« Pyr. Ut. 443-7, 450-2, 484, 689, 681, and § 2107. Many of
these are strongly colored by Osirian theology; indeed Ut. 443-7
are largely Osirian, but the original character of Nut's functions in
the celestial and Solar theology is clear.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 137

he b clothed by the Imperishable Stars," * To Re and
Thoth (the sun and the moon) the voice cries: "Take ye
this king Unis with you that he may eat of that which ye
eat, and that he may drink of that which ye drink, that
he may hve on that whereon ye live, that he may sit in
that wherein ye sit, that he may be mighty by that
whereby ye are mighty, that he may sail in that wherein
ye sail. The booth of king Unis is plaited (erected) in
the reeds, the pool of king Unis is in the Field of QflFerings.
His offering is among you, ye gods. The water of king
Unis is wine like (that oO of Re. King Unis circles the
Sky Uke Re, he traverses the sky hke Thoth." « The
voice summons the divine nourishment of the king: "Bring
the milk of Isis for king Teti, the flood of Nephthys, the
circuit of the lake, the waves of the sea, life, prosperity,
health, happiness, bread, beer, clothing, food, that king
Teti may live therefrom," ' "Lo, the two who are on the
throne of the Great Grod (Re), they summon this king
Pepi to life and satisfaction forever; they (the two) are
Prosperity and Health." * Thus "it is better with him
to-day than yesterday," ^ and we hear the voice calling
to him: "Hoi King Pepi, pure one! Re finds thee
standing with thy mother Nut. She leads thee in the
path of the horizon and thou makest thy abiding place
there. How beautiful it is together with thy ka for ever
and ever." •

Over and over again the story of the king's translation
to the sky is brought before us with an indomitable con-
viction and insistence which it must be concluded were
thought to make the words of inevitable power and effect.
Condensed into a paragraph the whole sweep of the king's

1 Pyr. §§ 1180-2. * Pyr. §§ 128-130. • Pyr. § 707.

«?yr. 81190. »Pyr. S122. • Pyr. §2028.

TEE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 139

abides, the beautiful seats of king Teti abide. He re-
ceives to himself his pure seat that is in the barque of
Re. The sailors who row Re, they (also) row king Teti.
The sailors who carry Re around behind the horizon, they
carry (also) king Teti around behind the horizon." ^ " O
king Neferkere! the mouth of the earth opens to thee,
Geb (the Earth-god) speaks to thee: 'Thou art great like a
king, mighty like Re.' Thou purifiest thyself in the
Jackal-lake, thou cleansest thyself in the lake of Dewat.
'Welcome to thee,' say the Eighteen Gods. The eastern
door of the sky is opened to thee by Yemen-kau; . Nut has
given to thee her arms, O king Neferkere, she of the long
hair and pendent breasts. She guides thee to the sky,
she does not put king Neferkere down (again) to the earth.
She bears thee, O king Neferkere, like Orion; she makes
thy abiding place before the Double Palace (of Upper and
Lower Egypt transferred to the sky). King Neferkere
descends into the barque like Re, on the shores of the
Lily-lake. King Neferkere is rowed by the Unwearied
Stars, he commands the Imperishable Stars." *

Such in the main outlines were the beliefs held by the
Egyptian of the Old Kingdom (2980-2475 B. C.) concern-
ing the Solar hereafter. There can bo no doubt that at
some time they were a fairly well-defined group, separable
as a group from those of the Osirian faith. To the Osirian
faith, moreover, they were opposed, and evidences of
their incompatibility, or even hostility, have survived.
We find it said of Re that "he has not given him (the king)
to Osiris, he (the king) has not died the death; he has
become a Glorious One in the horizon";^ and still more
unequivocal is the following: "Re-Atum does not give
thee to Osiris. He (Osiris) numbers not thy heart, he

1 Pyr. Ut. 407. « Pyr. §§ 2160-73. » Pyr. § 350.

THE EARLIEST CELESTIAL HEREAFTER 141

should begin with a primitive belief in a subterranean
kingdom of the dead which claimed all men. As an ex-
clusive privilege of kings at first, and then of the great
and noble, the glorious celestial hereafter which we have
been discussing, finally emerged as a Solar kingdom of
the dead. When the growing prestige of Osiris had dis-
placed the older mortuary gods (like Anubis) Osiris be-
came the great lord of the Nether Worid, and Osiris and
his realm entered into competition with the Solar and
celestial hereafter. In the mergence of these two faiths
we discern for the first time in history the age-long struggle
between the state form of religion and the popular faith
of the masses. It will be the purpose of the next lecture
to disengage as far as may be the nucleus of the Osirian
teaching of the after life, and to trace the still undeter-
mined course of its struggle with the imposing celestial
theology whose doctrine of the royal dead we have been
following.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 143

not given him to Osiris." ' It is perhaps due to an effort
to overcome this diflSculty that Horus, the son of Osiris,
is represented as one "who puts not this Pepi over the
dead, he puts him among the gods, he being divine." ^
The prehistoric Osiris faith, probably local to the Delta,
thus involved a forbidding hereafter which was dreaded
and at the same time was opposed to celestial blessedness
beyond. To be sure, the Heliopolitan group of gods, the
Divine Ennead of that city, makes Osiris a child of Nut,
the Sky-goddess. But his father was the Earth-god Geb,
a very natural result of the character of Osiris as a Nile-
god and a spirit of vegetable life, both of which in Egyptian
belief came out of the earth. Moreover, the celestial
destiny through Nut the Sky-goddess is not necessarily
Osirian. It is found, along with the frequent and non-
Osirian or even pre-Osirian co-ordination of Horns and
Set, associated in the service of the dead.^ The appear-
ance of these two together assisting the dead cannot be
Osirian.* To be protected and assisted by Nut, therefore,
does not necessarily imply that she is doing this for the
dead king, because he is identified with Osiris, her son. It
is thus probable that as a Sky-goddess intimately associ-
ated with Re, Nut's functions in the celestial life here-
after were originally Solar and at first not connected with
the Osirian faith.

When Osiris migrated up the Nile from the Delta, we
recall how he was identified with one of the old mortuary
gods of the South, the "First of the Westerners" (Khenti-
Amentiu), and his kingdom was conceived as situated
in the West, or below the western horizon, where it merged
into the Nether Worid. He became king of a realm of

iPyr. §350. *Pyr. §969.

» Pyr. Ut. 443. * See infra, pp. 152-3,

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 145

As there was nothing then in the myth or the offices of
Osiris to carry him to the sky, so the simplest of the
Osirian Utterances in the Pyramid Texts do not carry
him thither. There are as many varying pictures of the
Osirian destiny as in the Solar theology. We find the
dead king as a mere messenger of Osiris annomicing the
prosperous issue and plentiful yield of the year, the
harvest year, which is associated with Osiris.^ That
group of incidents in the myth which proves to be espe-
cially available in the future career of the dead king is
his relations with Horus, the son of Osiris, and the filial
piety displayed by the son toward his father. We may
find the dead king identified with Horus and marching
forth in triumph from Buto, with his mother, Isis, before
him and Nephthys behind him, while Upwawet opened
the way for them.^ More often, however, the dead king
does all that Osiris did, receiving heart and limbs as did
Osiris,' or becoming Osiris himself. This was the favorite
belief of the Osiris faith. The king became Osiris and
rose from the dead as Osiris did.* This identity began at
birth and is described in the Pyramid Texts with all the
wonders and prodigies of a divine birth.

"The waters of life that are in the sky come;
The waters of life that are in the earth come.
The sky burns for thee.
The earth trembles for thee,
Before the divine birth.
The two moimtains divide.
The god becomes,

iPyr. §§1195#.

> Pyr. §§ 1089-90; §§ 137^-5. Both these passages merge into an
ascension of Solar character.

> Pyr. § 364, followed by celestial ascent and association with Re.
* Pyr. Ut. 373.

THE 08IRIANIZATI0N OF THE HEREAFTER 147

attentions which Osiris had once enjoyed at the hands of
his son Horus now likewise become the king's portion.
The litigation which the myth recounts at Heliopolis is
successfully met by the aid of Horus, as well as Thoth,
and, like Osiris, the dead king receives the predicate
"righteous of voice," or "justified," an epithet which was
later construed as meaning "triumphant."^ Over and
over again the resiurection of Osiris by Horus, and the
restoration of his body, are likewise affirmed to be the
king's privilege. " Horus collects for thee thy limbs that
he may put thee together without any lack in thee."*
Horus then champions his cause, as he had done that of
his father, till the dead king gains the supreme place as
sovereign of all. "O Osiris king Teti, arise! Horus
comes that he may reclaim thee from the gods. Horus
loves thee, he has equipped thee with his eye. . . . Horus
has opened for thee thy eye that thou mayest see with it.
. . . The gods . . . they love thee. Isis and Nephthys
have healed thee. Horus is not far from thee; thou art
his ka. Thy face is gracious unto him. . . . Thou hast
received the word of Horus, thou art satisfied therewith.
Hearken unto Horus, he has caused the gods to serve
thee. . . . Horus has found thee that there is profit for
him in thee. Horus sends up to thee the gods; he has
given them to thee that they may illuminate thy face.
Horus has placed thee at the head of the gods. He has
caused thee to take every crown. . . . Horus has seized
for thee the gods. They escape not from thee, from the
place where thou hast gone. Horus counts for thee the
gods. They retreat not from thee, from the place which
thou hast seized. . . . Horus avenged thee; it was not
long till he avenged thee. Ho, Osiris king Teti I thou art

1 Pyr. Ut. 260. See above, p. 36. « Pyr. § 636.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 149

nection with Osiris, and was, as far as any indication it
contains is concerned, written before the priestly theology
had made Osiris the son of the Sky-goddess.^ Similarly
Anubis, the ancient mortuary god of Siut, "comits
Osiris away from the gods belonging to the earth, to the
gods dwelling in the sky";^ and we find in the Pyramid
Texts the anomalous ascent of Osiris to the sky: "The
sky thunders (lit. speaks), earth trembles, for fear of thee,
Osiris, when thou makest ascent. Ho, mother cows
yonder 1 Ho, suckling mothers (cows) yonder 1 Go ye
behind him, weep for him, hail him, acclaim him, when he
makes ascent and goes to the sky among his brethren,
the gods."' His transition to the Solar and celestial
destiny is eflFected in one passage by a piece of purely
mortuary theologizing which represents Re as raising
Osiris from the dead.* Thus is Osiris celestialized until
the Pyramid Texts even call him "lord of the sky," ^ and
represent him as ruling there. The departed Pharaoh is
ferried over, the doors of the sky are opened for him, he
passes all enemies as he goes, and he is announced to
Osiris in the sky precisely as in the Solar theology. There
he is welcomed by Osiris,^ and he joins the "Imperishable
Stars, the followers of Osiris," '' just as in the Solar faith.
In the same way he emerges as a god of primeval origin
and elemental powers. "Thou bearest the sky in thy
hand, thou layest down the earth with thy foot." * Ce-
lestials and men acclaim the dead, even " thy wind is in-
cense, thy north wind is smoke," • say they.
While the Heliopolitan priests thus solarized and celes^

^ The protection and assistance of Nut are further elaborated in
Ut. 444-7 and 450-2.
«Pyr. §1523. »Pyr.Ut.337. «Pyr. §721.

» Pyr. §§964, 968. • Pyr. §2000.

» ?yr. § 749. » ?yr. §2067. • Pyr. §877.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 151

head of the Utterance, but not where it is found in the
body of the text. Evidently the Osirian editor ran hastily
and mechanically through the sections, inserting "Osiris'*
at the head of each one which began with the king's name,
but not taking the trouble to go through each section
seeking the king's name and to insert "Osiris" wherever
necessary in the body of the text also.^

In this way the whole Offering Ritual was Osirianized
in Unis's pyramid, but the editor ceased this process of
mechanical insertion at the end of the ritual. A similar
method may be observed where the same Utterance hap-
pens to be preserved in two different pyramids, one ex-
hibiting the mechanical insertion of "Osiris" before the
king's name, while the other lacks such editing. This is
especially significant where the content of the Utterances
is purely Solar.^

But the Osirianization of the Pyramid Texts involves
more than such mechanical alteration of externals. We
find one Utterance^ in its old Solar form, without a single
reference to Osiris or to Osirian doctrine, side by side with
the same Utterance in expanded form filled with Osirian
elements. The traces of the Osirian editor's work are evi-
dent throughout, but they are interestingly demonstrable

^ "Osiris Unis" occurs in the body of the Utterance in 18 c (once)
and 30 b (once) ; but the following references will show how regu-
larly it is found at the head of the Utterance and not in the body
of the text in the pjrramid of Unis. In Ut. 45-49, once each at
beginning; in Ut. 72-76 and 78-79, once each at beginning; omitted
in Ut. 77, 81, and 93, where Unis's name does not begin the Utter-
ance. In Ut. 84, 85, 87-92, 94, 108-171, and 199 "Osiris-Unis"
heads each Utterance. After Ut. 200 "Osiris-Unis" does not occur
at all. It is evident that this mechanical method of Osirianization
did not extend beyond the Offering Ritual, which also terminates
at this place.

» Pyr. Ut. 579 and 673. » Pyr. Ut. 671.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 153

had, of course, nothing to do with the Osirian ritual, but
when the ritual introducing this ceremony was Osirian-
ized, we find "King Osiris, this Pepi" inserted before the
formula of purification, thus assuming that Osiris was
purified by his arch-enemy, the foul Set! ^ Similariy, Set
may appear alone in old Solar Utterances on familiar and
friendly terms with the dead king, so that the king may
be addressed thus: "He calls to thee on the stairway of
the sky; thou ascendest to the god; Set fraternizes with
thee," even though the king has just been raised as Osiris
from the dead 1^

The ladder leading to the sky was originally an element
of the Solar faith. That it had nothing to do with Osiris
is evident, among other things, from the fact that one ver-
sion of the ladder episode represents it in charge of Set.'
The Osirianization of the ladder episode is clearly trace-
able in four versions of it, which are but variants of the
same ancient original.* The four represent a period of
nearly a century, at least of some eighty-five years. In
the oldest form preserved to us, in the pyramid of Unis,^
dating from the middle of the twenty-seventh century,
the Utterance opens with the acclamation of the gods as
Unis ascends. "'How beautiful to see, how satisfying to
behold,' say the gods, 'when this god ascends to the
sky, when Unis ascends to the sky. . . .' The gods in
the sky and the gods on earth come to him; they make
supports for Unis on their arm. Thou ascendest, O Unis,

1 Pyr §§ 848-850. » Pyr. § 1016.

'Pyr. §478; compare also "Set lifts him (the dead) up" (Pyr.
§ 1148). In Pinr. § 1253 we find "ladder which carried the Ombite
(Set)."

< Pyr. Ut. 306 (Unis, Memere, Pepi II), 480 (Teti), 572 (Pepi,
Memere), 474 (Pepi).

» Pyr. Ut. 306.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 155

of ferrying over, of purification and the like, was to have
all these things first done for each of the four Horuses in
succession, and then by sympathetic inevitability also for
the dead king. Four considerable Utterances are built
up in this way, each containing an account of the things
done by each of the four Horuses, and then likewise by
the king.^

In the oldest form of these Utterances, as found in the
pyramid of Teti, the quartette comprise the following:

1. Horus of the Gods.

2. Horus of the Horizon (Harakhte).

3. Horus of the Shesmet.

4. Horus of the East.^

The exclusively Solar character of each of these Ho-
ruses is evident from the connections in which they ap-
pear in the Pyramid Texts, while in the case of two of
them (Horus of the Horizon and Horus of the East) the
name renders it evident. Indeed, in the Teti pyramid
the four appear as heralds announcing the name of Teti
to the Sun-god, in a passage which is hostile to Osiris, and
affirms that the Sun-god "has not given him (the king)

^ These Utterances are 325, 563, 479, and 573. In Ut. 573 variant
forms of their names appear. In 1085-6 the four Horuses appear
fenying over on the two floats of the sky; they are found again in
1105 and in 1206, 'Hhese four youths who stand on the east side of
the sky" bind the two floats for Re and then for the dead. We
should doubtless recognize them also in the four curly haired youths
who are in charge of the ferry-boat to the eastern sky in Ut. 520.
(But in Ut. 522 the four in charge of the ferry-boat are the four
genii, the ''sons of Horus," and confusion must be guarded against.)
The four Horuses in 1258 (Ut. 532), who are identified with the
dead and kept from decay by Isis and Nephthys, are treated above.
For the sake of completeness, compare the four children of Geb in
Pyr. §§ 1510-11, and especially the four children of Atum who decay
not (Pyr. §§2057-8), just as in 1258.

« Pyr. Ut. 325 and 563.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 157

seen (p. Ill), and they make it together with Atum, the
primeval Sun-god. Similariy we find them all in a list
of Solar gods/ and they appear also in charge of the
Solar ferry-boat/ in which they ferry over the dead.'
The four Horuses also have much to do with the celes-
tial ferry, and it would appear, though this is merely a
conjecture, that the four genii are an artificial creation
parallel with the four Horuses, and perhaps their sons.*
In any case the dead may be identified with one of them
as with the four Horuses.*^ The four genii were, however,
fully Osirianized, they avenge Osiris and smite Set,® and
they carry the body of the dead king as Osiris.^ In the
later mortuary ritual of the Osirian faith they played a
prominent r61e, and are especially well known as the four
genii who had charge of the viscera of the dead, which
they protect in the hereafter in the four so-called "Ca-
nopic" jars, each one of which is surmounted by the head
of one of the fom* genii. This function in the Osirian
faith is foreshadowed in the Pyramid Texts in a passage
where we find them expelling hunger and thirst from the
belly and lips of the dead.®

As the four Horuses and the four genii, who had so
mush to do with the ascension and the celestial ferry, were
Osirianized, so eventually was the ancient Solar ferry-
man "Face-Behind-Him,*' who receives the title "Door-
keeper of Osiris'' and the Solar ferry becomes the prop-

y Pyr. §§ 147-9. » Pyr. Ut. 622. » Pyr. § 1092.

* I am aware that the four genii are called "the offspring of Horns
of Letopolis" (Pyr. §2078).

» Pyr. § 1483. « Pyr. Ut. 541.

"^ IVr. Ut. 544r-6, 645, 648. We find them bringing to the dead
his name "Imperishable," at which time they are called the "souls"
of Horus(Pyr. §2102).

8 Pyr. § 552.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 159

same Pyramid Texts contain formulae for exorcising Osiris
and his kin (see p. 75).^

An important Unk between the celestial and the Osirian
doctrine of the hereafter was the fact that the Smi-god
died every day in the west. There was at Abydos, as
we have already seen (p. 38), an old mortuary god
known as "First of the Westerners," who was eariy ab-
sorbed by Osiris, so that "First of the Westerners" be-
came an epithet appended to the name of Osiris. Before
this conquest by Osiris took place, however, the "First of
the Westerners" as a local god of Abydos had already be-
come involved in the celestial hereafter. An ancient Aby-
dos oflFering formulary preserved in the Pyramid Texts
addresses the dead thus: "The earth is hacked up for
thee, the offering is placed before thee. Thou goest upon
that way whereon the gods go. Turn thee that thou
mayest see this offering which the king has made for
thee, which the First of the Westerners has made for
thee. Thou goest to those northern gods, the Imperish-
able Stars." 2 It is evident that the First of the West-
erners is closely associated with the celestial hereafter in
this passage. Later, when Osiris was identified with the
First of the Westerners, the latter's connection with the
celestial hereafter will have assisted in celestializing the
Osirian mortuary beliefs.

Now, while all this also resulted in Osirianizing the ce-
lestial and Solar mortuary teachings, they still remained
celestial. When the dead Osiris is taken up by Re,* it
is evident that Re's position in these composite mortuary
doctrines is still the chief one. The fact remains, then,
that the celestial doctrines of the hereafter dominate the
Pyramid Texts throughout, and the later subterranean

1 Pyr. §§ 1266-7. « Pyr. Ut. 441. » Pyr. § 819.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 161

command the gods. For thou art Re who came forth
from Nut, who begets Re every day. This Mernere is
bora every day like Re." Then follows a picture of en-
thronement and felicity in the realm of Re, in which there
is no reference to Osiris. It then proceeds: "They (the
*two great gods who are in charge of the Field of Rushes*)
recite for thee this chapter which they recited for Re-
Atmn who shines every day. They put this Memere
upon their thrones before every Divine Ennead, like Re
and like his successor. They cause this Mernere to be-
come like Re in this his name of Kheprer (Sim-god) . Thou
ascendest to them like Re in this his name of Re. Thou
wanderest away from them like Re in this his name of
'Atmn.^ The two Divine Enneads rejoice, O king Osiris
Mernere. They say, *Our brother here comes to us,' say
the two Divine Enneads concerning Osiris Memere, O king
Osiris Mernere. 'Oae of us comes to us,* say the two
Divine Enneads concerning thee, O king Osiris Memere.
'The first-bom of his motiierl' say the two Divine En-
neads concerning thee, O king Osiris Memere. 'He to
whom evil was done by his brother Set comes to us,'
say the two Divine Enneads. 'But we shall not permit
that Set be delivered from bearing thee forever, O king
Osiris Memere,' say the two Divine Enneads concerning
thee, O king Osiris Memere. Lift thee up, O king Osiris
Memere. Thou livest."* It will be noticed that the
Osirian passage which follows so abruptly upon the Solar
is Osirian in content, and its Osirian character does not
consist in the simple insertion of the name of Osiris be-
fore that of the king.

^ " Ascendest '' and "wanderest" are in Egyptian puns on the
names of Re and Atum.
« Pyr. Ut. 606.

THE OSIRIANIZATION OF THE HEREAFTER 163

customed to do among the Glorious^ the Imperishable
Stars."

"Thy son stands on thy throne equipped with thy
form. He does what thou wast accustomed to do for-
merly before the living, by command of Re, the great god.
He ploughs barley, he ploughs spelt, he presents thee there-
with.''

"*Ho, this Pepil All satisfying life is given to thee,
eternity is thine,' says Re. Thou speakest thyself; re-
ceive to thee the form of the god wherewith thou shalt
be great among the gods who are in control of the lake."

"Ho, this Pepil Thy soul stands among the gods,
among the Glorious. The fear of thee is on their hearts."

"Ho, this Pepi! This Pepi stands upon thy throne be-
fore the living. The terror of thee is on their hearts."
; "Thy name lives upon earth, thy name grows old upon
earth. Thou perishest not, thou passest not away for
ever and ever." ^

While there is some eflFort here to correlate the func-
tions of Re and Osiris, it can hardly be called an attempt
at harmonization of conflicting doctrines. This is prac-
tically unknown in the Pyramid Texts. Perhaps we may
regard it as an explanation of Osiris's presence in the sky
when we find a reference to the fact that "he ascended
. . . to the sky that he might join the suite of Re."^
But the fact that both Re and Osiris appear as supreme
kings of the hereafter cannot be reconciled, and such
mutually irreconcilable beliefs caused the Egyptian no more

1 Pyr. Ut. 422.

* Pyr. § 971 e. The only passage which may fairly be called an
effort to harmonize conflicting doctrine is that on p. 102, where the
place of the Imperishable Stars in the north is pushed over toward
the east to harmonize with the doctrine of the eastern sky as the
place of the abode of the celestial dead. P3rr. § 1000.

164 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

discomfort than was felt by any early civilization in the
maintenance of a group of religious teachings side by
side with others mvolving varying and totaUy incon-
sistent suppositions. Even Christianity itself has not
escaped this experience.

There is a marked difference between Osiris and Re.
Osiris is in function passive. Rarely does he become an
active agent on behalf of the dead (as, e. g., in Pyr. Ut.
559). The blessedness of the Osirian destiny consisted
largely in the enjoyment of the good oflSces of Horus,
who appears as the son of the dead as soon as the latter
is identified with Osiris. On the other hand, Re is a mighty
sovereign, often directly interposing in favor of the dead,
while it is the services of others on behalf of Osiris (not
by Osiris) which the dead (as Osiris) enjoys. Osiris is
a god of the dead; Re, on the other hand, is the great
power in the affairs of living men, and there we behold
his sovereignty expanding and developing to hold sway
in a more exalted realm of moral values — a realm of which
we shall gain the earliest glimpses anywhere vouchsafed
us as we endeavor to discover more than the merely ma-
terial agencies, and the material ends, which we have
seen dominating the Egyptian conception of the here-
after.

LECTURE VI

THE EMERGENCE OP THE MORAL SENSE— MORAL WORTHI-
NESS AND THE HEREAFTER — SCEPTICISM AND THE
PROBLEM OP SUFFERING

Nowhere in ancient times has the capacity of a race
to control the material worid been so fully expressed in
surviving material remains as in the Nile valley. In the
abounding fulness of their energies they built up a fabric
of material civilization, the monuments of which it would
seem time can never wholly sweep away. But the mani-
fold substance of life, interfused of custom and tradition,
of individual traits fashioned among social, economic, and
governmental forces, ever developing in the daily opera-
tions and functions of life — all that made the stage and
the setting amid which necessity for hourly moral decisions
arises — all that creates the attitude of the individual and
impels the inner man as he is called upon to make these
decisions — all these constitute an elusive higher atmos-
phere of the ancient world which tomb masonry and
pyramid orientation have not transmitted to us. Save
in a few scanty references in the inscriptions of the Pyra-
mid Age, it has vanished forever; for even the inscrip-
tions, as we have seen, are concerned chiefly with the
material welfare of the departed in the hereafter. What
they disclose, however, is of unique interest, preserving as
it does the earliest chapter in the moral development of
man as known to us, a chapter marking perhaps the most

165

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 167

influence. In the Feudal Age, a thousand years after
the rise of the Old Kingdom, at the installation of the
vizier, that official used to be referred to the example of
an ancient vizier who had already become proverbial in
the Pyramid Age. The cause of his enduring reputation
was that he had decided a case, in which his relatives
were involved, against his own kin, no matter what the
merits of the case might be, lest he should be accused
of partial judgment in favor of his own family.^ A simi-
lar example of respect for moral ideals in high places is
doubtless to be recognized in the Horus-name of king
Userkaf (twenty-eighth century B. C). He called him-
self "Doer-of-Righteousness" (or Justice).
Among the people the most common virtue discernible
^ by us is filial piety. Over and over again we find the
massive tombs of the Pyramid Age erected by the son
for the departed father, as well as a splendid interment
arranged by the son.* Indeed one of the sons of this age
even surpasses the example of all others, for he states in a
passage of his tomb inscription: "Now I caused that I
should be buried in the same tomb with this Zau (his
father), in order that I might be with him in the same
place; not, however, because I was not in a position to
make a second tomb; but I did this in order that I might
see this Zau every day, in order that I might be with him
in the same place." '
^ It is especially in the tomb that such claims of moral
worthiness are made. This is not an accident; such
claims are made in the tomb in this age with the logical
purpose of securing in the hereafter any benefits accruing
from such virtues. Thus, on the base of a mortuary

* Sethe, UrUersuchungenf V, 99.

« BAR, I, 382. « BAR, I, 383.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 169

of his tomb: "O ye living, who are upon earth, who pass
by this tomb ... let a mortuary oflFering of that which
ye have come forth for me, for I was one beloved of the
people. Never was I beaten in the presence of any
oflScial since my birth; never did I take the property of
any man by violence; I was a doer of that which pleased
all men." ^ It is evident from such addresses to the
living as this that one motive for these affirmations of
estimable character was the hope of maintaining the good-
will of one's surviving neighbors, that they might present
mortuary oflFerings of food and drink at the tomb.

It is equally clear also that such moral worthiness was
deemed of value in the sight of the gods and might in-
fluence materially the happiness of the dead in the here-
after. An ethical ordeal awaited those who had passed
into the shadow world. Both the motives mentioned are
found combmed in a single address to the living on the
front of the tomb of the greatest of early African explorers,
Harkhuf of Elephantine, who penetrated the Sudan in
the twenty-sixth century B. C. He says: "I was . . •
one (beloved) of his father, praised of his mother, whom all
his brothers loved. I gave bread to the hungry, clothing
to the naked, I ferried him who had no boat. O ye Uving
who are upon earth, [who shall pass by this tomb whether]
going down-stream or going up-stream, who shall say,
*A thousand loaves, a thousand jars of beer for the
owner of this tomb!' I will intercede for their sakes in the
Nether World. I am a worthy and equipped Glorious
One, a ritual priest whose mouth knows. As for any
man who shall enter into (this) tomb as his mortuary
possession, I will seize him like a wild fowl; he shall be
judged for it by the Great God. I was one saying good

1 BAR, I, 279.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 171

God, lord of the sky." ^ It is hardly possible that any
other than Re can be meant. To be sure, the celestial-
izing of Osiris has in one or two rare instances brought
even him the title "lord of the sky" (see above, p. 149),
but the unprejudiced mind on hearing the words "Great
God, lord of the sky" would think of no other than Re, to
whom it was and had been for centuries incessantly ap-
plied; and this conclusion is confirmed by all that we
find in the Pyramid Texts, where, as we shall see. Re is
over and over again the lord of the judgment. It is he
who is meant when Inti of Deshasheh says: "But as for
all people who shall do evil to this (tomb), who shall do
anything destructive to this (tomb), who shall damage
the writing therein, judgment shall be had with them for
it by the Great God, the lord of judgment in the place
where judgment is had." ^

, We have already followed the elaborate provision for
all the contingencies of the hereafter which we find in
the Pyramid Texts, and we recall how indispensable was
the purification of the dead at some point in his transition
from the earthly to the celestial realm. We stated in
reference to that purification that its significance was not
exhausted in purely physical and ceremonial cleansing.
That to some extent it signified moral purification is evi-
dent from the fact that when the dead king in one pas-
sage is washed by "the Followers of Horus," "they recite
the 'Chapter of the Just' on behalf of this king Pepi
(whom they are washing); they recite the 'Chapter of
Those Who Have Ascended to Life and Satisfaction* on
behalf of this king Pepi."« The "Followers of Horus"
who perform this ceremony are of course Solar, and thus
moral purity in the hereafter is associated with the Sun-

1 BAR, I, 338. « Pbteib, Deahaaheh, pi. vii. » Pyr. § 921.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 173

what is evidently a building, of uncertain character, to
which is appended the phrase "of righteousness." ^ Re
has two barques of "Truth" or "Righteousness,"* and
we remember that the goddess of Truth or Righteousness,
a personification of one of the few abstractions existent
in this early age, was a daughter of Re.

Similarly, the Morning Star, a Solar deity, takes due
note of the moral status of the dead Pharaoh. "Thou (O
Morning Star) makest this Pepi to sit down because of
his righteousness and to rise up because of his reverence." »
Sometimes his guiltlessness applies to matters not wholly
within the moral realm from our modem point of view.
Having become the son of Re, rising and setting like Re,
receiving the food of Horus (son of Re), ministering to
Re and rowing Re across the sky, it is said of the king:
"This Pepi blasphemes not the king, he ^defames^ not
Bastet, he does not make merry in the sanctuary." *

The moral worthiness of the deceased must of course,
in accordance with the Egyptian's keen legal discernment,
be determined in legal form and by legal process. We
have seen that the nobles refer to the judgment in their
tombs, and it would seem that even the king was subject
to such judgment. Indeed not even the gods escaped it;
for it is stated that every god who assists the Pharaoh to
the sky "shall be justified before Geb."^ In the same
way the punishment of a refractory god is "that he shall
not ascend to the house of Horus that is in the sky on
that day of the (legal) hearing." • In a series of three
Solar Utterances concerning the two celestial reed floats,^

1 Pyr. § 816. » Pyr. § 1785:b. » Pyr. § 1219 a.

* Pyr. Ut. 467. Does the blaspheming refer to Re? For Pepi is
himself the king!
» Pyr. § 1327. • Pyr. § 1027. » Pyr. Ut. 263-6.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 175

j^s. is a quality which is associated with several gods in
the Old Kingdom, but none of the others approaches the
prominence of Re in this particular. We find the four
genii, the sons of Horus, who, as we have seen, were not
improbably Solar in origin, though later Osirianized, called
"these four gods who live in righteousness, leaning upon
their sceptres, guarding the Southland." ^ These gods are
once associated with Letopolis,* and it is perhaps a con-
nected fact that officiating before Khenti-yerti of Letop-
olis we find a god called " Expeller of Deceit," using the
word for "deceit" which is correlated with "Truth or
Righteousness" in the Pyramid Texts as its opposite.*
These four sons of Horus are mortuary gods, and one of
the old mortuary gods of Memphis, Sokar, possessed a
barque which was called the "Barque of Truth (or Rights
eousness)." * To this barque or its presiding divinity the
dead king is compared: "The tongue of this king Pepi
is (that of) *The-Righteous-One (a god) -Belonging-to-
the-Barque-of-Righteousness.' " * The Osirian Horus once
receives the epithet "the justified" in the Pyramid Texts;*
and Osiris likewise is, though very rarely, called " Lord of
Truth (or Righteousness)." '' In connection with the Osi-
rian litigation at Heliopolis three statements regarding
the legal triumph of the king are made which, because
of the legal character of the victory, may not be exclu-
sively ethical. The passage says of the king: "He is
justified through that which he has done." * Again, he
"comes forth to the truth (or 'righteousness* in the
sense of legal victory), that he may take it with him";'
and finally the king "goes forth on this day that he may

iPyr. §1483. «Pyr.§2078. »Pyr. §2086.

*Pyr. §1429 0. »Pyr.§ 1306 c. •Pyr.§ 2089a.

» Pyr. § 1520 a. • Pyr. § 316. » Pyr. § 319.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 177

amid the tangle of a host of obscuring influences into which
we cannot enter here; it was, as it were, through the dust
of an engrossing conflict that he had caught but faintly
the veiled glory of the moral vision. Let us not imagine,
then, that the obligations which this vision imposed were
all-embracing or that it could include all that we discern
in it. The requirements of the great judge in the here-
after were not incompatible with the grossest sensuality.
Not only was sensual pleasure permitted in the hereafter
as depicted by the Pyramid Texts, but positive provision
was made for supplying it.^ The king is assured of sen-
sual gratification in the grossest terms, and we hear it
said of him that he "is the man who takes women from
their husbands whither he wills and when his heart de-
sires.

Nevertheless that was a momentous step which re-
garded felicity after death as in any measure dependent
upon the ethical quality of the dead man's earthly life;
and it must have been a deep and abiding moral con-
sciousness which made even the divine Pharaoh, who was
above the mandates of earthly government, amenable to
the celestial judge and subject to moral requirements.
This step could not have been taken at once. It is pos-
sible that even in the brief century and a half covered
by the Pyramid Texts we may discern some trace of the
progress of ethical consciousness as it was involving even
the king in its imperious demands. We have already
noted above the statement regarding the king, "This
king Pepi is justified." Now, it happens that the Utter-
ance in which this statement occurs is found in a variant

^ In Pyr. § 123 the Pharaoh is supplied with a mistress in the here-
after.
« Pyr. § 510.

<

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 179

likewise the silent but eloquent expression of a supreme
endeavor to achieve immortality by sheer physical force.
For merely physical reasons such a colossal struggle with
the forces of decay could not go on indefinitely; with
these reasons political tendencies too made common cause;
but combined with all these we must not fail to see that
the mere insertion of the Pyramid Texts in itself in the
royal tombs of the last century and a half of the Pyramid
Age was an abandonment of the titanic struggle with ma-
terial forces and an evident resort to less tangible agen-
cies. The recognition of a judgment and the requirement
of moral worthiness in the hereafter was a still more
momentous step in the same direction. It marked a tran-
sition from reliance on agencies external to the personality
of the dead to dependence on inner values. Immor-
tality began to make its appeal as a thing achieved in
a man's own soul. It was the beginning of a shift of
emphasis from objective advantages to subjective qual-
ities. It meant the idtimate extension of the dominion
of God beyond the limits of the material world, that he
might reign in the invisible kingdom of the heart. It
was thus also the first step in the long process by which
the individual personality begins to emerge as contrasted
with the mass of society, a process which we can discern
likewise in the marveUous portrait sculpture of the Pyra-
mid Age. The vision of the possibilities of individual
character had dimly dawned upon the minds of these
men of the early world; their own moral ideals were
passing into the character of their greatest gods, and
^with this supreme achievement the development of the
five hundred years which we call the Pyramid Age had
reached its close.
When Egypt emerged from the darkness which fol-

<

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 181

of the reverential awe with which they oppressed us
when we first looked upon them. Do we ever realize
that this impression was felt by their descendants only
a few centuries after the builders had passed away? and
that they were already ancient to the men of 2000 B. C?
On the minds of the men of the Feudal Age the Pyramid
cemetery made a profound impression. If already in the
Pyramid Age there had been some relaxation in the con-
viction that by sheer material force man might make con-
quest of inunortality, the spectacle of these colossal ruins
now quickened such doubts into open scepticism, a
scepticism which ere long found effective literary ex-
pression.

Discernment of moral requirements had involved sub-
jective contemplation. For the first time in history man
began to contemplate himself as well as his destiny, to
"expatiate free o'er all this scene of man." It is a ripe
age which in so doing has passed beyond the unquestion-
ing acceptance of traditional beliefs as bequeathed by
the fathers. Scepticism means a long experience with
inherited beliefs, much rumination on what has hereto-
fore received unthinking acquiescence, a conscious recog-
nition of personal power to believe or disbelieve, and thus
a distinct step forward in the development of self-con-
sciousness and personal initiative. It is only a people of
>C^ ripe civilization who develop scepticism. It is never
found under primitive conditions. It was a momentous
thousand years of intellectual progress, therefore, of which
these sceptics of the Feudal Age represented the culmina-
y tion. Their mental attitude fiinds expression in a song
^ of mourning, doubtless often repeated in the cemetery,
and as we follow the lines we might conclude that the
author had certainly stood on some elevated point over-

t(

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 183

(Words) greatly celebrated as their utterances.
Behold the places thereof;
Their walls are dismantled,
Theb places are no more,
As if they had never been.

"None cometh from thence
That he may tell (us) how they fare;
That he may tell (us) of their fortunes,
That he may content our heart,
Until we (too) depart
To the place whither they have gone.

Encourage thy heart to forget it.

Making it pleasant for thee to follow thy desire.

While thou livest.

Put myrrh upon thy head,

And garments on thee of fine linen,

Imbued with marvellous luxuri^.

The genuine things of the gods.

Increase yet more thy delights.

And let [not] thy heart languish.

Follow thy desire and thy good.

Fashion thine affairs on earth

After the mandates of thine (own) heart.

(Till) that day of lamentation cometh to thee,

When the silent-hearted hears not their lamentation.

Nor he that is in the tomb attends the mourning.

"Celebrate the glad day.
Be not weary therein.
Lo, no man taketh his goods with him.
Yea, none retumeth again that is gone thither."

i€

Such were the feelings of some of these men of the Feudal
Age as they looked out over the tombs of their ancestors
and contemplated the colossal futility of the vast pyramid

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 185

Here is bared a scepticism which doubts aU means,
material or otherwise, for attaining felicity or even sur-
vival beyond the grave. To such doubts there is no
answer; there is only a means of sweeping them tempo-
rarily aside, a means to be found in sensual gratification
which drowns such doubts in forgetfulness. "Eat, drink,
and be merry, for to-morrow we die."

The other version of the song, from the tomb of the
"divine father (priest) of Amon, Neferhotep," at Thebes,
is hardly as efiPective as the first, and unhappily is very
fragmentary. It contains, however, some valuable lines
which should not be overlooked.

it

How rests this just princel

The goodly destiny befalls.

The bodies pass away

Since the time of the god.

And generations come into their places.

''Re shows himself at early mom,
Atum goes to rest in Manu.^
Men beget and women conceive,
Every nostril breathes the air.
Morning comes, they bear numerously.
They (the new-bom) come to their (appointed) places.

"Celebrate the glad day, O divine father.
Put the finest spices together at thy nose,
Garlands of lotus flowers at thy shoulder, at thy neck*
Thy sister who dwells in thy heart,
She sits at thy side.
Put song and music before thee,
Behind thee all evil things.
And remember thou (only) joy.

^ These two lines merely recall the ceaseless rising and setting of
the sun. Manu is the mountain of the west.

i

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 187

Songstresses [weep^ . . .

Their mummies are set up before Re,

Their people are in lamentation without (ceasing).

^ . . comes in her season;
Fate numbers his days.
Thou hast waked • . .

ft

The song continues with reflections on the vanity of
riches, as if in expansion of the single line in the other
version referring to the fact that no man may take his
goods with him when he departs. Wealth is fruitless, for
the same fate has overtaken

"Those who had granaries,
Besides bread for offerings.
And those [who had none] likewise."

Hence the rich man is admonished:

"Remember thou the day
When thou art dragged
To the land of . . .
[Follow thy desu*e] wholly.
There is none that returns again." *

It is evident that the men of this age were reflecting
deeply on the human state. The singer of this second
version finds no hope in the contemplation of death, but
suggests that it is well in any case to leave an enduring
good name behind; not because it necessarily insures the
good man anything in the world to come, but rather that
it may abide m the minds of those who remain behind.
Indeed, the obligation to a moral life imposed by the

^ The upper ends of the remaining six lines are too fragmentary to
yield any certain or connected sense.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 189

of the facts which it must have contained, setting forth
the reasons for the reflections offered by the book, can
be drawn from these reflections themselves. Our unfort-
unate (we never learn his name) was a man of gentle
spirit who nevertheless was overtaken by blighting mis-
fortimes. He fell sick only to be forsaken by his friends,
and even by his brothers, who should have cared for him
in his illness. No one proved faithful to him, and in the
midst of his distress his neighbors robbed him. The good
that he had done yesterday was not remembered, and
although a wise man, he was repelled when he would
have plead his cause. He was unjustly condemned, and
his name, which should have been revered, became a
stench in the nostrils of men.

At this jimcture, when in darkness and despair he de-
termines to take his own life, the document as preserved
to us be^ns. Then, as he stands on the brink of the
grave, his soul shrinks back from the darkness in horror
and refuses to accompany him. In a long dialogue which
now sets in, we discern the unfortimate man discoursing
with himself, and conversing with his soul as with an-
other person. The first reason for his soul's unwilling-
ness is apprehension lest there should be no tomb in whidi
to dwell after death. This, at first, seems strange enough
in view of the scepticism with which such material prep-
aration for death was viewed by just such men as our
unfortunate proved himself to be. We soon discover,
however, that this, like another which follows, was but
a literary device intended to offer opportimity for ex-

(Denkmader, VI, Taf ., 111-112) . Its content is so difficult that it re-
mained unintelligible until republished by Erman in 1896, "(?e-
spraech eines Lebensmueden mU seiner SeeU" AbharuU, der koenigl.
Preu88, Akad.f Berlin, 1896. From Ebman's treatise the above
presentation draws substantially. *

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 191

tombs of the great, whose offering-tables are as empty
as those of the wretched serfs dying like flies among the
public works, along the vast irrigation dikes, and who
he there exposed to heat and devouring fish as they await
burial. There is but one solution: to Uve on in forget-
fulness of sorrow and drown it all in pleasure.

Up to this point the Dialogue, with its phUosophy of
"Eat, drink, and be merry, for to-morrow we die," has
gone no further than the Song of the Harper. It now pro-
ceeds to a momentous conclusion, going far beyond that
song. It undertakes to demonstrate that life, far from
bemg an opportunity for pleasure and unbridled indul-
gence, is more intolerable than death. The demonstra-
tion is contained in four poems which the unhappy man
addresses to his own soul. These constitute the second
half of the document,^ and are f ortimately much more in-
telligible than the first half .^ The first poem portrays the
unjust abhorrence in which our unfortunate's name is
held by the world. Each three-line strophe begins with
the refrain, "My name is abhorred," and then, to enforce
this statement, adduces for comparison some detestible
thing from the daily life of the people, especially the no-
torious stench of fish and fowl so common in the life of
the Nile-dweller.

THE UNJUST ABHORRENCE OF mS NAME

^(^

^Lo, my name is abhorred,

Lo, more than the odor of birds

On smnmer days when the sky is hot.

» Lines 85-147.

* In structure these poems are as follows:

The first has eight three-line strophes.

The second has sixteen three-line strophes.

The third has six three-line strophes.

The fourth has three three-line strophes.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 193

THE CORRUPTION OP MEN

u

To whom do I speak to-day?

Brothers are evil,

Friends of to-day are ^not of love\

*'To whom do I speak to-day?
Hearts are thievish.
Every man seizes his neighbor's goods.

**To whom do I speak to-day?
The gentle man perishes,
The bold-faced goes everywhere.

"To whom do I speak to-day?
He of the peaceful face is wretched.
The good is disregarded in every place.

"To whom do I speak to-day?
When a man arouses wrath by his evil conduct,
He stirs all men to mirth, (although) his iniquity is wicked.

"To whom do I speak to-day?
Robbery is practised,
Every man seizes his neighbor's (goods).

To whom do I speak to-day?

The pest is faithful,

(But) the brother who comes with it becomes an enemy.

To whom do I speak to-day?
Yesterday is not remembered.
Nor is ... in this hoiu:.

"To whom do I speak to-day?
Brothers are evil.

it

i€

To whom do I speak to-day?

Faces pass away,

Every man with face lower than (those of) his brothers.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 195

•

of Socrates; nor is it comparable to the lofty pessimism
of the afflicted Job; but as the earliest utterance of the
unjustly afflicted, as the first cry of the righteous sufferer
echoing to us from the eariy ages of the worid, it is of
unique interest and not without its beauty and its wist-
ful pathos. It is remarkable that it contains no thought
of God; it deals only with glad release from the intolerable
suffering of the past and looks not forward. It is char-
acteristic of the age and the clime to which the poem be-
longs, that this glad release should appear in the form of
concrete pictures drawn from the daily life of the Nile-
dweller.

DEATH A GLAD RELEASE

a

Death is before me to-day

[Like] the recovery of a sick man,

Like going forth into a garden after sickness.

Death is before me to-day

Like the odor of myrrh,

Like sitting under the sail on a windy day.

** Death is before me to-day
Like the odor of lotus flowers,
Like sitting on the shore of drunkenness.

"Death is before me to-day
Like the course of the freshet.
Like the return of a man from the war-galley to his house.

"Death is before me to-day
Like the clearing of the sky,
Like a man ^fowling therein toward^ that which he knew not.

tt

Death is before me to-day

As a man longs to see his house

When he has spent years in captivity.

EMERGENCE OF THE MORAL SENSE 197

Earlier in the struggle with his soul, the sufferer had
expressed the conviction that he should be justified here-
after.^ He now returns to this conviction in this fourth
poem, with which the remarkable document closes. It
therefore concludes with a solution likewise found among
those discerned by Job — an appeal to justification here-
after, although Job does not necessarily make this a rea-
son for seeking death, thus making death the vestibule to
the judgment-hall and therefore to be sought as soon as
possible.

THE mOH PRIVILEGES OF THE SOJOUBNEB TONDEB

"He who is yonder
Shall seize (the culprit) as a living god,
Inflicting punishment of wickedness on the doer of it.

"He who is yonder
Shall stand in the celestial barque,

Causing that the choicest of the offerings there be given
to the temples.

"He who is yonder
Shall be a wise man who has not been repelled.
Praying to Re when he speaks."

Thus longing for the glad releaise which death aflFords
and confident of the high privUeges he shall enjoy beyond,
the soul of the unhappy man at last yields, he enters the
shadow and passes on to be with "those who are yonder."
In spite of the evident crudity of the composition it is
not without some feeling that we watch this unknown go,
the earliest human soul, into the inner chambers of which
we are permitted a glimpse across a lapse of four thousand
years.

^ Lines 23-27.

LECTURE VII

THE SOCIAL FORCES MAKE THEIR IMPRESSION ON RELIGION
— THE RISE OF SOCIAL REFORMERS — THE EARLIEST
SOCIAL REGENERATION

The story of the Misanthrope, although that of an
irtdmdvxd experience, nevertheless involves contempla-
tion of society to whose failings this individual experience
of the writer was largely due. But the subject himself
remained the chief or exclusive concern. On the other
hand, concern for social misfortune, the ability to con-
template and discern the unworthiness of men, lie calam-
ities that befall society, and the chronic misery which
afflicts men as a body also appear as the subject of dark
and pessimistic reflections in this remarkable age of grow-
ing self-consciousness and earliest disillusionment. A
priest of Heliopolis, named Khekheperre-sonbu, bom
under Sesostris II (1906-1887 B. C), gave expression to
his sombre musings on society in a composition which
was still circulating some four hundred years later when
a scribe of the Eighteenth Dynasty copied it upon a
board now preserved in the British Museum.^ It is of
especial interest, as indicating at the outset that such men
of the Feudal Age were perfectly conscious that they were
thinking upon new lines, and that they had departed far

^ British Museum, 5645. Although long exhibited, its content was
first discerned and published by Gardiner, in his Admonitions of an
Egyptian Sage, as an Appendix, pp. 95-112 and pis. 17-18. The
above rendering is chiefly that of Gardiner.

199

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 201

turns back again to what has been (formerly). When I
would speak ^thereof!, my limbs are heavy laden. I am
distressed because of my heart, it is suffering to hold my
peace concerning it. Another heart would bow down,
(but) a brave heart m distress is the companion of its
lord. Would that I had a heart able to suffer. Then
would I rest in it. I would load it with words of . . .
that I might dislodge through it my malady.'"

"He said to his heart: 'Come then, my heart, that I
may speak to thee and that thou mayest answer for me
my sayings and mayest explain to me that which is in
the land. ... I am meditating on what has happened.
Calamities come in to-day, to-morrow '^affictions^ are not
past. All men are silent concerning it, (although) the
whole land is in great disturbance. Nobody is free from
evil; all men alike do it. Hearts are sorrowful. He
who gives commands is as he to whom commands are
given; the heart of both of them is content. Men awake
to it in the morning daily, (but) hearts thrust it not away.
The fashion of yesterday therein is like to-day and re-
sembles it '^because of^ many things. . . . There is none
so wise that he perceives, and none so angry that he
speaks. Men awake in the morning to suffer every day.
Long and heavy is my malady. The poor man has no
strength to save himself from him that is stronger than
he. It is painful to keep silent concerning the things
heard, (but) it is suffering to reply to the ignorant man.
To criticise an utterance causes enmity, (for) the heart
receives not the truth, and the reply to a matter is
not endured. All that a man desires is his own utter-
ance. ...

"*I speak to thee, my heart; answer thou me, (for)
a heart assailed is not silent. Lo, the affairs of the ser-

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 203

"He saith, while distinguishing righteousness,
For his son

Hearken to that which I say to thee.

That thou mayest be king of the earth,

That thou mayest be ruler of the lands,

That thou mayest increase good.

[Harden] thyself against all subordinates.

The people give heed to him who terrorizes them*

Approach them not alone,

Fill not thy heart with a brother.

Know not a friend,

Nor make for thyself intimates.

Wherein there is no end.

When thou sleepest, guard for thyself thine own heart;

For a man has no people

In the day of evil.

I gave to the beggar, I nourished the orphan;

I admitted the insignificant as well as him who was of great account.

(But) he who ate my food made insurrection;

He to whom I gave my hand aroused fear therein."

This IS all followed by the story of the attempt on his
life, an incident which accounts to some extent for the
disillusionment of the embittered old king.

The unrelieved pessimism of the Misanthrope^ of our
HeUopolitan priest, and of Amenemhet I was not, how-
ever, universal. There were men who, while fully recog-
nizing the corruption of society, nevertheless dared dream
of better days. Another moral prophet of this great age
has put into dramatic setting not only his passionate
arraignment of the times, but also constructive admoni-
tions looking toward the regeneration of society and the
golden age that might ensue. This, perhaps the most
remarkable document of this group of social and moral
tractates of the Feudal Age, may be called the Admoni-

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 206

of the language employed make a continuous translation,
even with copious conmientary, quite out of the question.*

With searching vision the sage sweeps his eye over the
organized life of the Nile-dweUers and finds all in con-
fusion. Government is practically suspended, "the laws
of the judgment-hall are cast forth, men walk upon
[them] in the pubUc places, the poor break them open
in the midst of the streets. Indeed, the poor man (thus)
attains to the power of the Divine Ennead; that (old
and respected) procedure of the Houses of the Thirty
(Judges) is divulged. Indeed, the great judgment-hall is
^thronged^ poor men go and come in the Great Houses
(law-courts)" (6, 9-12). "Indeed, as for the ^^splendid^
judgment-hall, its writings are carried away; the private
oflSce that was is exposed. . . . Indeed, departmental
offices are opened, their writings 'are carried away,*
(so that) serfs become lords of Tserfsl. Indeed, officials
are slain, their writings are carried away. Woe is me
for the misery of this time. Indeed, the scribes of the
Tproducel, their writings are rejected; the grain of Egypt
is any comer's" (6, 5-9). "Behold, the district councils
of the land are expelled from the land, the • . . are
expelled from the royal houses" (7, 9-10).

This disorganization of government is due to a state
of violence and warfare within the land. "A man smites
his brother of the same mother. What is to be done?"

^ The above translations fire chiefly those of Gabdineb, who has
been commendably cautious in his renderings. Besides his own
thorough work on the document, he has incorporated the proverbi-
ally penetrating observations and renderings of Sethb.

* This was particularly heinous from the orderly Egyptian's point
of view; the withdrawing of writings and records from the public
offices for purposes of evidence or consultation was carefully regu-
lated. The regulations governing the vizier's office have survived;
see BAR, II, 684.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 207

vest knows naught of it; he who has not ploughed [^fiUs
his granaries. When the harvest^] occurs, it is not re-
ported. The scribe ['^idles in his bureau, there is no work
for^] his hands therein'' (9, 6-8). "Indeed, when the
Nile overflows, no one ploughs for him (the Nile). Every
man says, * We know not what has happened in the land' "
(2, 3). "Behold, cattle are left straying; there is none
gathering them together. Every man brings for himself
those that are branded with his name" (9, 2-3). As
meat thus disappears, men eat "of herbs washed down

with water Indeed, grain has perished on every

side. Men are deprived of clothing, '^perfumes^ and
ointments. All men say, 'There is none.' The store-
house is laid waste; its keeper is stretched on the ground"
(6, 1-4). "Civil war pays no taxes. Scanty are '^grain^
charcoal, . . . ^ the labor of the craftsmen. . . . For
what is a treasury without its revenues?" (3, 10-11).

Under such economic conditions at home, foreign com-
merce decays and disappears. "Men sail not northward
to [Byb]los to-day. What shall we do for cedars for
our mummies, with the tribute of which priests are
buried; and with the oil of which [princes] are embalmed
as far as Keftyew.^ They return no more. Scanty is
gold, ended are the ... of all crafts. . . . What a great
thing that the natives of the oases (still) come bearing
their festal produce 1" (3, 6-9) .«

Such conditions might be expected, for the public safety
of men and merchandise has vanished. "Although the

* Three sorts of wood follow.

* Vocalize Kaftoyew, Caphtor (as first suggested by Spibgelbbrq),
that is Crete.

'This last remark is of course ironical in reference to the fact
that the only traffic with the outside world left to Egypt is the scanty
produce of the oases which still filters in.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 209

(from his own granary)" (9, 3-5). "Behold, the owner
of wealth (now) passes the night thirsting (instead of ban-
queting) ; and he who used to beg for himself his dregs is
now owner of ^overflowing^ bowls. Behold, the owners of
robes are (now) in rags; and he who wove not for him-
self is (now) owner of fine linen" (7, 10-12). Thus the
sage goes on with one contrast after another. In such a
state as this society is perishing. "Men are few; he who
lays away his fellow in the earth is everywhere" (2, 13-14).
"There is dearth of women and no conception (of chil-
dren); Khnum (creator of man) fashions not (men) by
reason of the state of the land."

In the general ruin moral decadence is, of course, in-
volved, though it is not emphasized as the cause of the
universal misery. "The man of virtues walks in mourn-
ing by reason of what has happened in the land" (1, 8);
others say, "If I knew where the god is, then would I
make offerings to him" (5, 3). "Indeed, [righteousness]
is in the land (only) in this its name; what men do, in
appealing to it, is iniquity" * (5, 3-4). Little wonder that
there is universal despair. "Indeed, mirth has perished,
it is no longer made; it is sighing that is in the land,
mingled with lamentations" (3, 13-14). "Indeed, great
and small [say], 'I would that I might die.' Little chil-
dren say, 'Would there were none to keep me alive'"
(4, 2-3). "Indeed, all small cattle, their hearts weep; the
cattle sigh by reason of the state of the land" (5, 5).
The sage cannot view all this dispassionately; he, too, is

* The restoration of "righteousness" is due to Sbthb, and in view
of its frequent occurrence, as the opposite of the word here used as
"inquity" (ysft), from the Pjrramid Texts on, the restoration fits
the context admirably, but Gardiner states that the traces in the
lacuna do not favor the restoration. The original hieratic of the
passage is not included in his publication.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 211

ally involved in ever-increasing obscurity as the f ragmen*
tary condition of the papyrus grows worse. Out of a
large lacuna at last ^ there emerges the most important
passage in the entire speech of the sage, and one of the
most important in the whole range of Egyptian literature.

In this remarkable utterance the sage looks forward
to the restoration of the land, doubtless as a natural con-
sequence of the admonitions to reform which he has just
laid upon the hearts of his countrymen. He sees the
ideal ruler for whose advent he longs. That ideal king
once ruled Egypt as the Sun-god, Re, and as the sage re-
calls that golden age, he contrasts it with the iniquitous
reign under which the land now suffers. " He brings cool-
ing to the flame. It is said he is the shepherd* of all
men. There is no evil in his heart. When his herds are
few, he passes the day to gather them together, their hearts
being fevered.* Would that he had discerned their char-
acter in the first generation. Then would he have smit-
ten evil. He would have stretched forth his arm against
it. He would have smitten the *^seed^ thereof and their
inheritance. . . . Where is he to-day? Doth he sleep
perchance? Behold his might is not seen" (11, 13-12, 6).

While there is no unquestionably predictive element
in this passage, it is a picture of the ideal sovereign, the
righteous ruler with "no evil in his heart," who goes about
like a "shepherd" gathering his reduced and thirsty herds.

^ Latter part of p. 11.

'Or '^herdman.'' The Sun-god is called "a valiant herdman
who drives his cattle" in a Sun-hymn of the Eighteenth D3masty
(see below, p. 316), and this, it seems to me, makes quite certain
Gardiner's conclusion (on other grounds) that this passage is a
description of the reign of Re.

'This probably means thirsty, perhaps a S3rmbol for afllicted.
Compare the hearts of the cattle ^'weeping" above, p. 209.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 213

In the mind of the sage the awful contrast between the
rule of the ideal king and that of the living Pharaoh in
whose presence he stands now calls forth the fiercest de-
nunciation of his sovereign. Like Nathan^ with his bit-
ing words, "Thou art the man/' he places the responsi-
bility for all that he has so vividly recalled upon the
shoulders of the king. "Taste, Knowledge, and Right-
eousness are with thee," he says, (but) " it is strife which
thou puttest in the land, together with the soimd of tu-
mult. Lo, one makes attack upon another. Men con-
form to that which thou hast commanded. If three men
go upon a road, they are found to be two, (for) they who
are many slay the few. Is there a herdman who loves
death, (that is, for his herds)? Wherefore thou com-

Ipuwer are prophecy throughout (see infra, p. 215). With refer-
ence to the '^ Messianic'' passage above, its Messianic character
does not in the slightest depend upon its predictive character. Gar-
DiNEB is surely right (against Langs) in making the long arraignment
not prediction, but a description of actually existent conditions.
The admonitions which follow, however, definitely look to the future,
in which the sage expects the people to carry out his injunctions.
The '' Messianic" passage follows directly upon these admonitions,
and itself is followed by a rebuke to the king merging into a picture
which, in Gardiner's words, describes "the joy and prosperity of
the land in a happier age" (ibid., p. 87). Indeed in Gardiner's own
opinion the "Messianic" passage concludes with a "return to a con-
sideration of the future prospects of Egypt," so that at the end "we
touch firm ground in three sentences that clearly refer to the looked-
for (but not necessarily prophesied) redeemer: * Where is he to-day?
Doth he sleep perchance? Behold ye, his might is not seen'"
(ibid., p. 80). The parenthesis is Gardiner's, and what he means is,
of course, that the "redeemer" is looked for, but not necessarily
predicted. It is solely this entirely insufficient conception of Hebrew
prophecy as "prediction" which eventuates in Gardiner's conclu-
sion, "that there is too much imcertainty about the matter for it to
be made the basis of any far-reaching conclusions as to the influence
of Egyptian upon Hebrew literature" {ibid., p. 15). The "imcer-
^ The similarity was noticed by Gardiner.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 215

it appears. A brief reply of Ipuwer ensues, beginning,
"That which Ipuwer said when he replied to the majesty
of the sovereign." It is very obscure, but seems to re-
mind the king ironically that he has but done what the
inertia and indifference of a corrupt generation desired,
and here, as Gardiner shows, the tractate probably ended.
In recognizing the depths to which a degenerate and
corrupt society and government have descended, our sage
has much in conunon with the Misanthrope. The latter,
however, found his individual fortunes so fatally involved
in the general catastrophe that there was no hope, and he
desired death as the only solution. Ipuwer, on the other
hand, quite unmistakably looks toward a future redemp-
tion of society. The appearance in this remote age of
the necessary detachment and the capacity to contemplate
society, things before unknown in the thought of man, is a
significant phenomenon. Still more significant, however,
is this vision of the possible redemption of society, and the
agent of that redemption as a righteous king, who is to
shield his own and to purge the earth of the wicked. This
is but the earliest emergence of a social idealism which
among the Hebrews we call "Messianism." Such a con-
ception might go far in the early East. After centuries
of circulation in Egypt, the tale picturing the trial of the
virtue of a good youth, as we have it in the Story of the
Two Brothers, passed over into Palestine, to be incor-
porated in the mosaic which has descended to us as the
story of Joseph. How such materials migrated among
the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean has been demon-
strated by the recent recovery of the Aramaic original of
the Story of Akhikar. Under these circumstances it is
more than possible that the imagination of the literary
prophets of the Hebrews was first touched by some knowl-

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 217

peasant of the Fayum region in the Natron district, living
in a village called the Salt-Field, loads a small train of
donkeys with the produce of his village and goes down to
Heracleopolis, near the mouth of the Fayum, to trade for
grain. On the way thither he is obliged to pass the es-
tablishment of one Thutenakht, a subordinate official
among the people of Rensi,^ who was grand steward of
the Pharaoh himself, Heracleopolis being the royal resi-
dence at the time in which the action is placed (Ninth or
Tenth Dynasty). Now, when Thutenakht sees the donkeys
of the peasant approaching, he at once devises a plan for
seizing them. Sending a servant hastily to the house, he
secures thence some pieces of linen, which he spreads out
in the highway so as to fill it entirely from the edge of the
grain-field on the upper side to the water of the canal on
the lower. The unsuspecting peasant approaches, as the
tale, with a discernible touch of the writer's indignation,
states, "on the way belonging to every one," whidi
Thutenakht has thus blocked. Fearing the water below,
the peasant turns upward to skirt the edge of the grain-

10274, redOy containing only forty lines); and two in the Amherst
collection (consisting of fragments belonging to Berlin, P. 3023 and
P. 3025). The Berlin papyri, P. 3023 and P. 3025, were published
by Lepsixts, Denkmaeler, VI, 108-110. A final standard publication,
including all three of the Berlin pap3rri, was issued by the Berlin
Museum in 1908 {Die Klagen des Batterrif bearbeitet von F. VooEi/-
BANG und Alan H. Gardiner, Leipzig, 1908). It contains a careful
translation. See also Gardiner, Eine neue Handschrift dea Sinur
hegedichies (SUzungsher, der KgL Preuaa. Akad., 1907, p. 142), on the
discovery of Berlin P. 10499. Papyrus Butler was pubMied by
Griffith in Proceedinga of the Soc. of BibL Arch,, XIV, 1892, pp.
451 #. The Amherst fragments were published by Newberry in
The Amherat Papyri, London, 1899.

^ This name was formerly read " Meruitensi." The proper read-
ing, '^Rensi,'' was established by Sethe, ZeUachr, fUr aegypt.
Sprache, 49, 95 #.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 219

Their reply is the author's skilfully created occasion for
bringing before the reader, without comment, the current
and conventional treatment of such complaints of the
poor in official circles. The colleagues of the grand
steward at once range themselves on the side of their
subordinate, the thievish Thutenakht. They reply to
Rensi, with much indifference, that the case is probably
one of a peasant who has been paying his dues to the wrong
superior officer, and that Thutenakht has merely seized
dues which rightfully belonged to him. They ask with
indignation, "Shall Thutenakht be punished for a little
natron and a little salt? (Or at most) let it be commanded
him to replace it and he will replace it." It is character-
istic of their class that they quite ignore the asses, the
loss of which means starvation to the peasant and his
family.

Meantime the peasant stands by and hears his fatal
loss thus slurred over and ignored by those in authority.
The grand steward meanwhile stands musmg in silence.
It is a tableau which epitomizes ages of social history in
the East: on the one hand, the brilliant group of the great
man's sleek and subservient suite, the universal type of
the official class; and, on the other, the friendless and
forlorn figure of the despoiled peasant, the pathetic per-
sonification of the cry for social justice. This scene is
one of the earliest examples of that Oriental skill in set-
ting forth abstract principles in concrete situations, so
wonderfully illustrated later in the parables of Jesus.
Seeing that the grand steward makes no reply, the
peasant makes another effort to save his family and him-
self from the starvation which threatens them all. He
steps forward and with amazing eloquence addresses the
great man in whose hands his case now rests, promising

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 221

Rensi interrupts with threats. The peasant, like Ipuwer
in his arraignment of the king, is undaunted and con-
tinues his reproof. The third speech reverts to praises
like those of his first appeal to Rensi. "O grand steward,
my lord! Thou art Re, lord of the sky together with thy
court. All the affairs of men (are thine). Thou art like
the flood (inundation), thou art the Nile that makes green
the fields and furnishes the waste lands. Ward ofiF the
robber, protect the wretched, become not a torrent
against him who pleads. Take heed, (for) eternity draws
near. Prefer acting as it is (proverbially) said, 'It is the
breath of the nostrils to do justice' (or 'right, righteous-
ness, truth'). Execute punishment on him to whom
punishment is due, and none shall be like thy correctness.
Do the balances err? Does the scale-beam swerve to one
side? . . . Speak not falsehood, (for) thou art great (and
therefore responsible). Be not light, (for) thou art
weighty. Speak not falsehood, for thou art the balances.
Swerve not, for thou art a correct sum. Lo, thou art at
one with the balances. If they tip (falsely) thou tippest
(falsely). . . . Thy tongue is the index (of the balances),
thy heart is the weight, thy two lips are the beam thereof"
(11. 140-167).

These comparisons of the grand steward's character
and functions with the balances appear repeatedly in the
speeches of the peasant.^ Their lesson is evident. The
norm of just procedure is in the hands of the ruling class.
If they fail, where else shall it be found? It is expected
that they shall weigh right and wrong and reach a just
decision with the infallibility of accurate balances. They
form a symbol which became widely ciu'rent in Egyptian

^ It is a comparison which the great nobles of the Feudal Age
were fond of using on their tomb stelsB; e. g., BAR, I, 745, 631.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 223

warm those who suffer cold; like fire that cooks what is
raw; like water that quenches thirst." ^

As Rensi remains unresponsive to this appeal, the
wretched peasant is again goaded to denunciation. "Thou
art instructed, thou art educated, thou art taught, but
not for robbery. Thou art accustomed to do like all men
and thy kin are (likewise) ensnared. (Thou) the recti-
tude of all men, art the (chief) transgressor of the whole
land. The gardener of evil, waters his domain with iniq-
uity that his domain may bring forth falsehood, in order
to flood the estate with wickedness." ^ Even such de-
nunciation seems now to leave the grand steward en-
tirely indifferent and the peasant approaches for his
seventh speech. He begins with the usual florid enco-
mium in which the grand steward is the "rudder of the
whole land according to whose command the land sails," *
but turns soon to his own miserable condition. "My
body is full, and my heart is burdened," he complains;
"there is a break in the dam and the waters thereof rush
out. (Thus) my mouth is opened to speak." Then as
the indifference of this man of just and benevolent repu-
tation continues, the unhappy peasant's provocation is
such that the silence of the grand steward appears as
something which would have aroused the speech of the
most stupid and faltering of pleaders. "There is none
silent whom thou wouldst not have roused to speech.
There is none sleeping whom thou wouldst not have wak-
ened. There is none unskilled whom thou wouldst not
have made efficient. There is no closed mouth which
thou wouldst not have opened. There is none ignorant

1 Ibid,, 11. 240-8.

« Ibid,, 11. 260-5 = Berlin, P. 3025, U. 14-20.

« Ibid., 11. 267-8.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 225

the mouth of Re himself: 'Speak the truth, do the truth.*
For it is great, it is mighty, it is enduring. The reward
thereof shall find thee, and it shall follow (thee) imto
blessedness hereafter.'" ^

No response from Rensi follows these noble words.
The peasant lifts up his voice again in a final despairing
plea, his ninth address. He reminds the grand steward
of the dangers of consorting with deceit; he who does so
"shall have no children and no heirs on earth. As for
him who sails with it (deceit), he shall not reach the land,
and his vessel shall not moor at her haven. . . . There is
no yesterday for the indifferent. There is no friend for
him who is deaf to justice. There is no glad day for the
avaricious. . . . Lo, I make my plea to thee, but thou
hearest it not. I will go and make my plea because of
thee to Anubis." In view of the fact that Anubis is a
god of the dead, the peasant doubtless means that he
goes to take his own life. The grand steward sends his
servants to bring him back as he departs, and some un-
intelligible words pass between them. Meantime, Rensi
"had conmiitted to a roll every petition (of the peasant)
imto [this] day." It is supposably a copy of this roll
which has descended to us; but, unfortunately, the con-
clusion has been torn off. We can only discern that the
roll prepared by Rensi's secretaries is taken by him to
the king, who found "it more pleasant to (his) heart
than anything m this whole land." ' The king commands

^ In such an utterance as this it is important to remember that
"truth" is always the same word which the Egyptian emplojrs for
"right, righteousness, justice," according to the connection in which
it is used. In such an injunction as this we cannot distinguish any
particular one of these concepts to the exclusion of the rest.

*/&ui., 11. 307-322. The word rendered "blessedness hereafter"
means "reverence," the state of the revered dead.

' The same words are used regarding the vizier's wisdom in Pap.
Prisse (2, 6-7). See below, p. 228.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 227

social tractate of the official class, did not enjoy the same
popularity. It is not so clearly cast in the form of a tale,
though it does not lack dramatic setting. Like the Elo-
quent Peasant, the action is placed under an earlier king.
Indeed, the most important manuscript of Ptahhotep pur-
ports to contain also the wisdom of a still earlier sage
who lived a thousand years before the Feudal Age. The
composition attributed to the earlier wise man preceded
that of Ptahhotep in the roll and probably formed its
beginning and first half. All but a few passages at the
end have been torn ofiF, but its conclusion is instructive
as furnishing part of the historical setting of earlier days
in which this school of sages were wont to place their
teachmgs. Following the last fourteen lines of his m-
struction, all that is preserved, we find the conclusion
of the imknown sage's life:

"The vizier (for such he purports to have been) caused
his children to be smnmoned, after he had discerned the

papyrus igyptien, Paris, 1847). It was republished, together with
all the other manuscripts (except B. M., 10500), by G. Jequier (Le
Papyrus Prisse, et sea varianlea, Paris, 1911). The Carnarvon
tablet was published in transcription, with discussion of its relation
to the Papyrus Prisse by Maspbro, in Recueil de travaux, XXXI,
146-153, and afterward by the Eabl of Carnarvon in his beau-
tiful volume, Five Years* Excavations at Thebes, Oxford Univ. Press,
1912 (discussed by Griffith, pp. 36-37, and reproduced pi. xxvii).
The five columns contained in Brit. Mus. Pap., No. 10509, were
published by BudgEi Facsimiles of Egyptian Hieratic Papyri in
the British Museum, London, 1910, pis. xxxiv-xxxviii, pp. xvii~xxi.
This reached me too late to be employed above. lAe the other
Wisdom literature, or semi-philosophical tractates discussed above.
Papyrus Prisse is excessively difficult. The old translations, as their
divergences from each other show, are too conjectural to be used
with safety. An exhaustive study on the basis of modem gram-
matical knowledge would undoubtedly render much of it intelligible,
although a large proportion of it is too obscure and too corrupt in
text ever to be translated with certainty.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 229

^feebleness^ is renewed, strength perishes because of the
languor of the heart (understanding). The mouth is
silent and speaks not; the eyes wax small, the ears are
dulled. The languid heart sleeps every day. The heart
forgets, it remembers not yesterday. . . . That which is
good becomes evil. All taste departs. That which old
age does to people is evil in everything. The nostrils
are ^stopped up, they breathe not. It is evil whether one
stands or sits. Let thy servant be commanded to furnish
the stafiF of old age.^ Let my son stand in my place, and
let me instruct him according to the word of those who
have heard the manner of the ancestors, that (word)
which the forefathers served, (variant: "which the gods
have heard")* May they do likewise for thee; may re-
volt be suppressed among the people (of Egypt), may the
Two Lands serve thee.'"

"Said his majesty: 'Instruct him after the word of
old. May he do marvels among the children of the
princes. . . .'"

The Wisdom of Ptahhotep then purports to have been
uttered by a historical personage on a particular occasion.
In the Fifth Dynasty, to which king Isesi belonged, there
was indeed a line of viziers named Ptahhotep, who trans-
mitted the office from father to son. The reign of Isesi
fell about five hundred years earlier than the Feudal
Age in which we find his wise vizier's wisdom in circula-
tion. Ptahhotep petitions the king to appoint his son to
the vizierial office in his place, because of advancing old
age, the ills of which he graphically enumerates. In order

* Literally "old man's staff," which is a technical term for son and
heir or successor. See BAR, I, 692, and Griffith in the notes on
Bershehf I, pi. xxxiii. What is meant is, that the vizier, as the nar-
rative shows, desires to be commanded to instruct his son as his
successor.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 231

profitable thing for him who is obedient to it, and as an
evil thing for him who transgresses it." ^

The introduction concludes with a short paragraph on
the desirability of humility in wisdom in spite of its high
value. Then begin the forty-three paragraphs into which
the Wisdom of Ptahhotep is divided. There is not space
here either for the entire text of this excessively difficult
tractate or for the commentary necessary to make it
intelligible to the modern reader. Nor even so, on the
basis of our modern knowledge of the language, is it pos-
sible to render the document as a whole.*

The following table of the rubrics heading the para-
graphs and suggesting in each case the subject discussed
will serve, however, to indicate the ground which the
wise man endeavored to cover. Where distinctly ethical
problems are involved I have added to the rubric as much
of the text as I found intelligible.

1. ''If thou findest a wise man in his time, a leader of
understanding more excellent than thou, bend thy arms
and bow thy back" » (5, 10-12).

2. "If thou findest a wise man in his time, thy equal,
• . . be not silent when he speaks evil. Great is the ap-
proval by those who hear, and thy name will be good in
the knowledge of the princes" (5, 13-14).

3. "If thou findest a wise man in his time, a poor man

^The Carnarvon Tablet ends here. It furnishes some valuable
variants which have been incorporated above.

* We very much need an exhaustive treatment of the text, with
careful word studies such as Gardiner has prepared for the Admoni-
tions of Iputuer. The summary offered above makes no pretension
to rest upon any such study of the text, but perhaps presents enough
for the purposes of this volume. See also Grifffth, in Wamer^a
Library of the World* a Best Literature,

' These references include the entire paragraph in each case. All
refer to Pap. Prisse.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 233

time thereof. ^^Take^ no ^care^ daily beyond the main-
tenance of thy house. When possessions come, follow
desire, (for) possessions are not complete when he (the
owner) is ^harassed!" (7, 9-10).

11. "If thou art an able man" (give attention to the
conduct of thy son) (7, 10-8, 1).

12. "If thou art in the judgment-hall, standing or sit-
ting" (8, 2-6).

13. "If thou art together with people" (8, fr-ll).

14. " Report thy procedure without l^reservationl. Pre-
sent thy plan in the council of thy lord" (8, 11-13).

15. "If thou art a leader" (or "administrator")
(8, 14-9, 3).

16. "If thou art a leader (or 'administrator'), hear
'^quietly^ the speech of the petitioner. He who is suffering
wrong desires that his heart be cheered to do that on ac-
count of which he has come. ... It is an ornament of
the heart to hear kindly" (9, 3-6).

17. "If thou desirest to establish friendship in a house,
into which thou enterest as lord, as brother, or as friend,
wheresoever thou enterest in, beware of approaching the
women. ... A thousand men are undone for the enjoy-
ment of a brief moment like a dream. Men gain (only)
death for knowing them" (9, 7-13).

18. "If thou desirest that thy procedure be good,
withhold thee from all evil, beware of occasion of avarice.
... He who enters therein does not get on. It corrupts
fathers, mothers, and mother's brothers. It ^dividesl wife
and man; it is plunder (made up) of everything evU; it
is a bundle of everything base. Established is the man
whose standard is righteousness, who walks according to
its way. He is used to make his fortune thereby, (but)
the avaricious is houseless" (9, 13-10, 5).

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 235

30. "Bend thy back to thy superior, thy overseer of
the king's house, and thy house shall endure because of
his (or 'its') possessions and thy reward shall be in the
place thereof. It is evil to show disobedience to a supe-
rior. One lives as long as he is gentle" (13, 9-14, 4),

31. "Do not practise corruption of children" (14, 4-6).

32. "If thou searchest the character of a friend, . • .
transact the matter with him when he is alone" (14, 6-12).

33. "Let thy face be bright as long as thou livest. '^As
for what goes out of the storehouse, it comes not in again;
and as for loaves (already) distributed, he who is con-
cerned therefor has still an empty stomach^" ("There is
no use crying over spilt milk?") (14, 12-15, 2).

34. "Know thy merchants when thy fortunes are evil"
(15, 2-5).

35. Quite uncertain (15, 5-6).

36. "If thou takest a wife" (15, 6-8).

37. "If thou hearkenest to these things which I have
said to thee, all thy plans will progress. As for the matter
of the righteousness thereof, it is their worth. The memory
thereof shall ^circulate^ in the mouths of men, because of
the beauty of their utterances. Every word will be car-
ried on and not perish in this land forever. ... He who
understands ^discretions is profitable in establishing that
through which he succeeds on earth. A wise man is ^sat-
isfied^ by reason of that which he knows. As for a prince
of good qualities, ^they are in^ his heart and his tongue.
His lips are right when he speaks, his eyes see, and his
ears together hear what is profitable for his son. Do
right (righteousness, truth, justice), free from lying"
(15, 8-16, 2).

38. "Profitable is hearkening for a son that hearkens.
... How good it is when a son receives that which his

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 237

mouth." "Let thy attention be steadfast as long as thou
speakest, whither thou directest thy speech. May the
princes who shall hear say, *How good is that which comes
out of his mouthl'" (18, 12-19, 3),

43. "So do that thy lord shall say to thee, 'How good
is the instruction of his father from whose limbs he came
forth! He has spoken to hun; it is in (his) body through-
out. Greater is that which he has done than that which
was said to him.' Behold, a good son, whom the god gives,
renders more than that which his lord says to him. He
does right (righteousness, etc.), his heart acts according
to his way. According as thou attainest me ('what I
have attained'), thy limbs shall be healthy, the king shall
be satisfied with all that occurs, and thou shalt attain
years of life not less [^than^] I have passed on earth. I
have attained one hundred and ten years of life, while
the king gave to me praise above (that of) the ancestors
(in the vizierial oflBce) because I did righteousness for
the king even unto the place of reverence (the grave) " ^
(19, 3-8).

In the Wisdom of Ptahhotep we have what purports
to be the ripe worldly wisdom of a seasoned old states-
man and courtier, with a long life of experience with men
and affairs behind him. Nor do they in any way belie
their assumed authorship. It is easy to picture a self-
satisfied old prince looking back with vast complacency
upon his long career, and drawing out of his wide experi-
ence, with no attempt at arrangement, the precepts of
conduct, official and personal, which he has foimd valu-
able. As a matter of fact, however, it is evident that

1 This is the end of the original, for the scribe's docket in red fol-
lows, reading as usual: ''It is finished from its beginning to its end
according to what was found in writing" (19, 9).

240 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

"Regulation laid upon the vizier X.^ The council was
conducted into the audience hall of Pharaoh, life! Pros-
perity! Health 1 One (= the king) caused that there be
brought in the vizier X, newly appointed.'*

"Said his majesty to him, ^Look to the oflSce of the
vizier; be watchful over all that is done therein. Behold
it is the established support of the whole land.'

"'Behold, as for the vizierate, it is not sweet; behold,
it is bitter, as ^he is named\ [Behold], he is copper en-
closing the gold of his [lord's] house. Behold it (the vi-
zierate) is not to show respect-of-persons to princes and
councillors; it is not to make for himself slaves of any
people.'

"'Behold, as for a man in the house of his lord, his
'^conduct^ is good for him (the lord). (But) lo, he does
not the same for another' (than the lord).*

have been placed in the Middle Kingdom by any unbiassed critic.
It shows particularly close affinity to the Wisdom of Ptahhotep
(Papyrus Prisse), duplicating not a few of its ideas, and even em-
ploying also the same form in some cases. For example regarding
proper and kind treatment of a petitioner the two texts say:

''A petitioner desires that his utterance be regarded rather than
the hearing of that on account of which he has come" (Installation,
1. 17).

''He who is suffering wrong desires that his heart be cheered to do
that on accoimt of which he has come" (Wisdom of Ptahhotep,
Prisse 9, 5; see paragraph 16, above).

There is not space here to array the parallel materials, but I hope
to do this elsewhere in a special study. I may call attention to
Prisse 11, 12-13, and 10, 6-7 as containing doctrines identical with
those in the Installation. Perhaps the most conclusive evidence is
the social policy of Ameni C'l did not exalt the great above the
small"), almost an epitome of the Installation address, and of un-
questionable Middle Kingdom date.

^ Here of course was the name of the vizier, varying from incum-
bent to incumbent.

^ The meaning of course is that the vizier is to be loyal to his lord,
the king, to whose house he is attached.

SOCIAL FORCES AND RELIGION 241

€(t

Behold, when a petitioner comes from Upper or
Lower Egypt (even) the whole land, equipped with . . .
see thou to it that everything is done in accordance with
law, that everything is done according to the custom
thereof, [giving] to [l^every man^] his right. Behold a
prince is in a conspicuous place, water and wind report
concerning all that he does. For behold, that which is
done by him never remains unknown.'

" ' When he takes up a matter [for a petition]er according
to his case, he (the vizier) shall not proceed by the state-
ment of a departmental officer.^ But it (the matter under
consideration) shall be known by the statement of one
designated by hun (the vizier), saying it himself in the
presence of a departmental officer with the words: "It is
not that I raise my voice; (but) I send the petitioner
[according to] his [case to ^^another court^] or prince."
Then that which has been done by him has not been
misunderstood.'

"'Behold the refuge of a prince is to act according to
the regulation by doing what is said' (to him).* A peti-
tioner who has been adjudged ['^shall not say^]: 'My
right has not been given to- [me].'

"'Behold, it is a saying which was in the Mzierial in-
stallation^ of Memphis in the utterance of the king in
urging the vizier to moderation • . . "[Bewarje of that
which is said of the vizier Kheti. It is said that he dis-
criminated against some of the people of his own kin
[in favor of] strangers, for fear lest it should be said of
him that he [favored] his [kin dishon]estly. When one of

^ That is, an officer belongiDg to the staff of the vizier who has heard
the matters reported at second hand, lest misunderstanding should
result, when the vizier handles or acts on cases from another court.

* Compare Pbisse, 7, 9.

242 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

them appealed against the judgment which he thought
fto make^ him, he persisted in his discrimination/' Now
that is more than justice.'

"'Forget not to judge justice. It is an abomination of
the god to show partiality. This is the teaching. There-
fore do thou accordingly. Look upon him who is known
to thee like him who is unknown to thee; and him who
is near the king like him who is far from [his house].
Behold, a prince who does this, he shall endure here in
this place.'

"'Pass not over a petitioner without regarding his
speech. If there is a petitioner who shall appeal to thee,
being one whose speech is not what is said,' dismiss him
after having let him hear that on account of which thou
dismissest him. Behold, it is said: "A petitioner desires
that his saying be regarded rather than the hearing of
that on account of which he has come.'"

"'Be not wroth against a man wrongfully; (but) be
thou wroth at that at which one should be wroth.'

" ' Cause thyself to be feared. Let men be afraid of thee.
A prince is a prince of whom one is afraid. Behold, the
dread of a prince is that he does justice. Behold, if a
man causes himself to be feared a multitude of times,
there is something wrong in him in the opmion of the
people. They do not say of him, "He is a man (indeed)."
Behold, the ffear^ of a prince ['^deters^] the liar, when he
(the prince) proceeds according to the dread of him. Be-
hold, this shalt thou attain by administering this office,
doing justice.'

"'Behold, men expect the doing of justice in the pro-
cedure [of] the vizier. Behold, that is its (justice's) cus-

^ Meaning either what is said and thus proven by witnesses, or
what should not be said, impropriety of speech.

244 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

injustice shall be shown those who may be of high sta-
tion, as in the famous ease of the ancient Memphite vi-
zier Kheti, who made a decision against his own kin in
spite of the inherent merits of the case. This is not just^pe.
On the other hand, justice means strict impartiality, treat-
ing without distinction, known and imknown, him who is
near the king's person and hun who enjoys no connection
with the royal house. Such administration as this will se-
cure the vizier a long tenure of office. While the vizier
must display the greatest discretion in his wrath, he must
so demean himself as to ensure public respect and even
fear, but this fear shall have its sole basis in the execu-
tion of hnpartial justice; for the true "dread of a prince
is that he does justice." Hence he will not find it neces-
sary repeatedly and ostentatiously to excite the fear of
the people, which produces a false hnpression among
them. The administration of justice will prove a suffi-
cient deterrent. Men expect justice from the vizier's of-
fice, for justice has been its customary law since the
reign of the Sun-god on earth, and he whom they prover-
bially call "him who shall do justice before all the people"
is the vizier. A man's success in office depends upon his
ability to follow instructions. Therefore let there be no
delay in the dispensation of justice, remembering that
the king loves the timid and defenceless more than the
arrogant. Then with a reference to the lands which prob-
ably formed the royal fortune, and the inspection of the
officials in charge of them, the king concludes this veri-
table magna charta of the poor with the words: "Be-
hold the regulation that is laid upon thee."

It should be noted that this programme of social kind-
ness and justice, in which the king loves the timid and
defenceless more than the powerful and arrogant, is dis-

264 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

the gods lead." ^ When the dead man entered those
righteous paths of the gods, it was with a sense of moral
miworthiness left behind. "My sin is expelled," he said,
"my iniquity is removed. I have cleansed myself in those
two great pools which are in Heracleopolis." * Those cere-
monial washings which were so conmion in the Pyramid
Texts have now become distinctly moral in their signifi-
cance. " I go upon the way where I wash my head in the
Lake of Righteousness," says the dead man.' Again and
very often the deceased claims that his life has been blame-
less: "I am one who loved righteousness, my abomination
was evil." * "I sit down justified, I rise up justified." *
"I have established righteousness, I have expelled evil." •
"I am a lord of offering, my abomination is evil." ^

A number of times the Osirian Horus appears as the
moral champion of the dead, to whom he says : " I am thy
son Horus, I have caused that thou be justified in the coun-
cil." ^ This of course means the identification of the dead
with Osiris, and the enjoyment of the same justification
which had been granted Osiris. Hence Horus says to the
dead: "O Osiris X! I have given to thee justification
against thy enemies on this good day." » This justifica-
tion was of course not that granted by Osiris, but by the
Sun-god, as shown by such utterances of Horus as this:
"I put righteousness before him (the deceased) like
Atum" (the Sun-god). ^° Now, the justification before the
Sun-god was accomplished by Thoth, as advocate of the

^ Rec, 31, 22; see similar important references to '' righteousness"
on p. 21, but they are obscure.

^ Lbpsius, AeUeste TexUy pi. i, 11. 9-10 (Book of the Dead, 17th
chap.). ' Ibid.f pi. i, 1. 12= pi. xvi, U. 10-11 (Book of the

Dead, 17th chap.). * Annates du Service^ V, 237.

« Rec. 31, 28, 1. 62. « Rec, 31, 25. ' Rec. 30, 69.

» Rec. 33, 34. » Rec. 33, 36. " Rec. 33, 36.

LECTURE VIII

POPULARIZATION OP THE OLD ROYAL HEREAFTER—TRI-
UMPH OP OSIRIS — CONSCIENCE AND THE BOOK OP THE
DEAD — ^MAGIC AND MORALS

• The scepticism toward preparations for the hereafter
involving a massive tomb and elaborate mortuary fumi-
ture, the pessimistic recognition of the futility of material
equipment for the dead, pronoimced as we have seen these
tendencies to be in the Feudal Age, were, nevertheless, but
an eddy in the broad current of Egyptian life. These
tendencies were undoubtedly the accompaniment of un-
reUeved pessimism and hopelessness, on the one hand, as
well as of a growing belief in the necessity of moral worthi-
ness in the hereafter, on the other; they were revolutionary
views which did not carry with them any large body of the
Egyptian people. As the felicity of the departed was
democratized, the common people took up and continued
the old mortuary usages, and the development and elabora-
tion of such customs went on without heeding the eloquent
silence and desolation that reigned on the pyramid
plateau and in the cemeteries of the fathers. Even Ipu-
wer had said to the king: "It is, moreover, good when the
hands of men build pyramids, lakes are dug, and groves
of sycomores of the gods are planted." ^ In the opinion
of the prosperous official class the loss of the tomb was
the direst possible consequence of unfaithfulness to the
king, and a wise man said to his children:

* Ipuwer, 13, 1^-13.
257

260 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

tomb likewise he had placed a third statue of himself,
mider charge of his mortuary priest. He had but one
priest for the care of his tomb and the ceremonies which
he wished to have celebrated on his behalf; but he had
secured assistance for this man by calling in the occasional
services of the priesthoods of both temples, and certain
of the necropolis officials, with all of whom he had made
contracts, as well as with his mortuary priest, stipulating
exactly what they were to do, and what they were to re-
ceive from the noble's revenues in payment for their ser-
vices or their oblations, regularly and periodically, after
the noble's death.

These contracts, ten in number, were placed by the
noble in bold inscriptions on the inner waU of his tomb-
chapel, and they furnish to-day a very suggestive picture
of the calendar of feasts celebrated in this provincial city
of which Hepzefi was lord — ^feasts in all of which living
and dead alike participated. The bald data from these
contracts will be found in a table below (pp. 268-9), and
on the basis of these the following imaginative reconstruc-
tion endeavors to correlate them with the life which they
suggest. The most important celebrations were those
which took place in connection with the new year, be-
fore its advent, as well as at and after its arrival. They
began five days before the end of the old year, on the
first of the five intercalary days with which the year
ended. On this day we might have seen the priests of
Upwawet in procession winding through the streets and
bazaars of Siut, and issuing at last back of the town as
they conducted their god to the temple of Anubis at the
foot of the cemetery cliff. Here a bull was slaughtered
for the visiting deity. Each of the priests carried in his
hand a large conical white loaf of bread, and as they

266 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

people, who have already reached the cemetery to plant
them before the statues and burial-places of their dead.
The guards climb to Hepzefi's tomb as they had done the
night before and deliver torches and white bread to Hep-
zefi's waiting priest. Thus the dead noble shares in the
festivities of the New Year's celebration as his children
and former subjects were doing.^

Seventeen days later, on the eve of the Wag-feast, the
"great priest of Anubis" brought forth a bale of torches,
and, heading his colleagues, they "illuminated" the statue
of Hepzefi in the temple court, while each one of them
at the same time laid a large white loaf at the feet of the
statue. The procession then passed out of the temple
enclosure and wound through the streets chanting the
"glorification" of Hepzefi till they reached another statue
of him which stood at the foot of the stairs leading up
the cliflF to his tomb. Here they found the chief of the
desert patrol, or "overseer of the highland," where the
necropolis was, just returning from the magazines in
the town, having brought a jar of beer, a large loaf,
five hundred flat cakes, and ten white loaves to be deliv-
ered to Hepzefi's priest at the tomb above.^ The next
day, the eighteenth of the first month, the day of the
Wag-feast, the priests of Upwawet in the town each pre-
sented the usual large white loaf at Hepzefi's statue in
their temple, followed by an "illumination" and "glori-
fication" as they marched in procession aroimd the tem-
ple court.^

Besides these great feasts which were thus enjoyed by
the dead lord, he was not forgotten on any of the periodic
minor feasts which fell on the first of every month and

^ Contracts 9, 2, 5 and 7. ' Contracts 7, 8 and 10.

• Contract 4.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 267

half-month, or on any "day of a procession." On these
days he received a certain proportion of the meat and
beer offered in the temple of Upwawet.^ His daily needs
were met by the laymen serving in successive shifts in
the temple of Anubis. As this sanctuary was near the
cemetery, these men, after completing their duties in the
temple, went out every day with a portion of bread and
a jar of beer, which they deposited before the statue of
Hepzefi "which is on the lower stairs of his tomb."*
There was, therefore, not a day in the year when Hepzefi
failed to receive the food and drink necessary for his
maintenance.^

Khnumhotep, the powerful baron of Benihasan, tells
us more briefly of similar precautions which he took before
his death. " I adorned the houses of the kas and the dwell-
ing thereof; I followed my statues to the temple; I de-
voted for them their offerings: the bread, beer, water,
wine, incense, and joints of beef credited to the mortuary
priest. I endowed him with fields and peasants; I com-
manded the mortuary offering of bread, beer, oxen, and
geese at every feast of the necropolis: at the Feast of the
First of the Year, of New Year's Day, of the Great Year,
of the Little Year, of the Last of the Year, the Great
Feast, at the Great Rekeh, at the Little Rekeh, at the
Feast of the Five (intercalary) Days on the Year, at
^ . .1 the Twelve Monthly Feasts, at the Twelve Mid-

^ Contract 6. * Contract 8.

^ The preceding account has attempted to indicate to some extent
the place of the dead in the celebration of the calendar of feasts as
they were in the life of the people. Perhaps imagination has been
too liberally drawn upon. The bare data as furnished by the
contracts of Hepzefi will be found in the table on pages 268 and
269; the contracts themselves may be found tnmslated in my
Ancient Records, I, 535-593.

268 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

H

M
M

H
«

ll

03,

P.

Sslo

1

I

n

I

•I

ll

a

I

I

at

OS

M O

M O

S "

O >>

I

s

•SgS

C4C4 ^

I

A

is

o

M

a

o

o

^

"B

I

I

fc4

e

M

g

O

5

1

I
I

« «

o

o
4

QQ

O
1^

I

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS

269

I

0*3

CO

(d

OQ

I

Jill

It

.d

49

.-5

m

I

«-4 gOQ

i

pd

OQ

pd
.d

I

I

J

268 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

H

M
M

o

M
«

II

I

H

IS

It

I

P

m

m

M

O

o

M

M
H
l«

O

O

g

A

13

g

o
o

m
o

i

I

iS

%li

S5|

0) 0)

^1a til

SB

O

o

o

I

2

to

I

M

%

O

to

5
g

i

§

s

"S

I

CQ

O
1^

1g 1g

e o

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS

269

I

(d

OQ

I

I

03

4

OQ OQ

Pi

1

J*

GQ

OQ

I I

OQ OQ

Is

.^1

1^

I

.a ^
2 2

^ p S O S $QQ

@ d o

s
II

3 -ts
U 14 F

^

°° d ^
- o © •■

©s © ^
•^ d^ a o B

© go

U «M

^

5

OQ

c 3

bo °

"If

00 ■

© O

^

o

^

^

43
OQ

43

00

^ (8

o °

,d

QQ 4^ t^ 43

iH d ,H d

S 3

43

.d

OQ

I

i

4»

i

O

3

43

s
i

OQ

43

I

f

270 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

monthly Feasts; every feast of the happy living and of
the dead.^ Now, as for the mortuary priest, or any per-
son who shall disturb them, he shall not survive, his son
shall not survive in his place.'* * The apprehension of
the noble is evident, and such apprehensions are conmion
in documents of this nature. We have seen Hepzefi
equally apprehensive.

That these gifts to the dead noble should continue in-
definitely was, of course, quite impossible. We of to-day
have little piety for the grave of a departed grandfather;
few of us even know where our great-grandfathers are
interred. The priests of Anubis and Upwawet and the
necropolis guards at Siut will have continued their duties
only so long as Hepzefi's mortuary priest received his in-
come and was true to his obligations in reminding them of
theirs, and in seeing to it that these obligations were met.
We find such an endowment surviving a change of dynasty
(from the Fourth to the Fifth), and lasting at least some
thirty or forty years, in the middle of the twenty-eighth
century before Chirst.^ In the Twelfth Dynasty, too,
there was in Upper Egypt great respect for the ancestors
of the Old Kingdom. The nomarchs of El-Bersheh, in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries before Christ, re-
paired the tombs of their ancestors of the Pyramid Age,
tombs then over six hundred years old, and therefore in
a state of ruin. The pious nomarch used to record his
restoration in these words: "He (the nomarch) made (it)
as his monument for his fathers, who are in the necropolis,
the lords of this promontory; restoring what was found

* Lit. "every feast of the happy one in the (valley-) plain, and of
the one on the mountain;** those who are on the plain still live, but
those on the mountain are the dead in the cliff tombs.

« BAR, I, 630. » BAR, I, 213.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 271

in ruin and renewing what was found decayed, the an-
cestors who were before not having done it." We find
the nobles of this province using this formula five times
in the tombs of their ancestors.^ In the same way, Intef,
a baron of Hermonthis, says: "I found the chapel of the
prince Nekhtyoker fallen to ruin, its walls were old, its
statues were shattered, there was no one who cared for
them. It was built up anew, its plan was extended, its
statues were made anew, its doors were built of stone, that
its place might excel beyond that of other august princes." *
Such piety toward the departed fathers, however, was
very rare, and even when shown could not do more than
postpone the evil day. The marvel is that with their an-
cestors' ruined tombs before them they nevertheless still
went on to build for themselves sepulchres which were in-
evitably to meet the same fate. The tomb of Khnumho-
tep, the greatest of those left us by the Benihasan lords
of four thousand years ago, bears on its walls, among the
beautiful paintings which adorn them, the scribbUngs of
a hundred and twenty generations in Egyptian, Coptic,
Greek, Arabic, French, Italian, and English. The earliest
of these scrawls is that of an Egyptian scribe who entered
the tomb-chapel over three thousand years ago and wrote
with reed pen and ink upon the wall these words: "The
scribe Amenmose came to see the temple of Khufu and
found it like the heavens when the sun rises therein." *
The chapel was some seven hundred years old when this
scribe entered it, and its owner, although one of the great-
est lords of his time, was so completely forgotten that the
visitor, finding the name of Khufu in a casual geographical
reference among the inscriptions on the wall, mistook the

1 BAR, I, 688-9. • Berlin, 13272; Erman, Rd., pp. 143/.

' Newberry, Benihasan, I, pi. xxviii, 3.

274 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

In so far as these Coffin Texts are identical with the
Pyramid Texts we are already familiar with their general
function and content.^ The hereafter to which these
citizens of the Feudal Age looked forward was, therefore,
still larg ely celestial and Solaris in the Pyraniid Age.
But even these early chapters of the Book of the Dead
disclose a surprising predominance of the celestial here-
after. There is the same identification with the Sun-god
which we found in the Pyramid Texts. There is a chap-
ter of "Becoming Re-Atum," ^ and several of "Becoming
a Falcon." ^ The deceased, now no longer the king, as in
the Pyramid Texts, says: "I am the soul of the god, self-
generator. ... I have become he. I am he before whom
the sky is sUent. I am he before whom the earth is f. . . 1
... I have become the limbs of the god, self-generator.
He has made me into his heart (understanding), he has
fashioned me into his soul. I am one who has '^breathed^
the form of hun who fashioned me, the august god, self-
generator, whose name the gods know not. ... He has
made me into his heart, he has fashioned me into his soul,
I was not born with a birth." * This identification of
the deceased with the Sun-god alternates with old pictures
of the Solar destiny, involving only association with the
Sun-god. There is a chapter of "Ascending to the Sky
to the Place where Re is,"^ another of "Embarking in

g^Sral . , , du Miisee du Caire, Cairo, 1904, pp. vi/. An ex-
haustive comparison and study of this entire body of mortuary texts
is very much needed, and the work of Lacau is a valuable contribu-
tion to this end.

^ See above, pp. 84r-141. ^ Lacau, LII, Rec, 31, 10.

» A Solar symbol. Lacau, XVI, Rec. 27, 54 /. ; Lacau, XXXVIII,
Rec. 30, 189/.; Lacau, XVII, Rec, 27, 55/. The last is largely
Osirian, but Re-Atum is prominent.

* Annates du Service, V, 235.

' Lacau, VI, Rec. 26, 225.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 275

the Ship of Re when he has Gone to his Ka; ^ and a " Chap-
ter of Entering Into the West among the Followers of Re
Every Day." ^ When once there the dead man finds
among his resources a chapter of "Reing the Scribe of
Re." ^ He also has a chapter of " Becoming One Revered
by the King," * presumably meaning the Sun-god, as the
chapter is a magical formulary for accomplishing the
ascent to the sky. In the same way he may become an
associate of the Sun-god by using a chapter of "Becoming
One of ^the Great^ of Heliopolis." ^

The famous seventeenth chapter of the Book of the
Dead was already a favorite chapter in this age, and
begins the texts on a number of coffins. It is largely an
identification of the deceased with the Sun-god, although
other gods also appear. The dead man says:

((

1 am Atum, I who was alone;

I am Re at his first appearance.

I am the Great God, self-generator,

Who fashioned his names, lord of gods.

Whom none approaches among the gods.

I was yesterday, I know to-morrow.

The battle-field of the gods was made when I spake.

I know the name of that Great God who is therein.

'Praise-of-Re' is his name.

I am that great Phoenix which is in Heliopolis."

Just as in the Pyramid Texts, however, so in these early
Texts of the Book of the Dead, the Osirian theology has

1 Lacau, XXXII, Rec. 30, 185/.

* Lacau, XLI, Rec, 30, 191 /.

« Lacau, LIII, Rec, 31, 10/. But the text is Osirian; see below,
p. 277.

* Lacau, XV, Rec, 27, 63/.

6 Lacau, XL, Rec. 30, 191. Cf, Book of the Dead, chaps. LXXIX
and LXXXII.

276 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

intruded and has indeed taken possession of them. Al-
ready in the Feudal Age this ancient Solar text had been
suppUed with an explanatory commentary, which adds to
the line, "I was yesterday, I know to-morrow," the words,
" that is Osiris." The result of this Osirianization was the
intrusion of the Osirian subterranean hereafter, even in
Solar and celestial texts. Thus this seventeenth chapter
was supplied with a title reading, "Chapter of Ascending
by Day from the Nether World." ^ This title is not
original, and is part of the Osirian editing, which involun-
tarily places the sojourn of the dead in the Nether World
though it cannot eliminate all the old Solar texts. The
titles now commonly appended to these texts frequently
conclude with the words, "in the Nether World." We
find a chapter for "The Advancement of a Man in the
Nether World," ^ although it is devoted throughout to
Solar and celestial conceptions. In the Pyramid Texts,
as we have seen, the intrusion of Osiris did not result in
altering the essentially celestial character of the hereafter
to which they are devoted. In the CoflSn Texts we have
not only the commingling of Solar and Osirian beliefs
which now more completely coalesce than before, but the

^ The word which I have rendered "Ascending" is commonly ren-
dered "going forth." A study of the use of the word (pr't) in mor-
tuary texts shows clearly that it means to ascend. The following
are some decisive examples of its use in the Pyramid Texts: of the
rising of the sun (§§ 743 b, 800 a, 812 c, 919 a, 923 c, 971 e); of the
rising of a star (§§ 871 b, 877c) (compare the "Rising of Sothis");
of the ascent of a bird to the sky (§ 913 a); with the words "to the
sky" added, not infrequently (e. g.j § 922 a); on a ladder (§§ 974-5);
in opposed parallelism with "descend" (§§821 b-c, 867 a, 922 a,
927 b). There is indeed in the Cofl&n Texts a "Chapter of Ascend-
ing ijyr't) to the Sky to the Place where Re is" (Rec. 26, 225).
These examples might be increased ad infinitum, and there can be
no question regarding the rendering "Ascending."

« Lacau, XIII, Rec. 26, 232^.

278 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

which, of course, involved belief in a transformation,
the Coffin Texts also enable the deceased to ^'become
the blazing Eye of Horus." ^ By the aid of another
chapter he can accomplish the '' transformation into an
ekhet-bird"* or "into the servant at the table of
Hathor." »

It is difficult to gain any coherent conception of the
hereafter which the men of this age thus hoped to attain.
There are the composite Solar-Osirian pictures which we
have already found in the Pyramid Texts, and in which
the priests to whom we owe these Coffin Text compila-
tions allow their fancy to roam at will. The deceased
citizen, now sharing the destiny of Osiris and called such
by Horus, hears himself receiving words of homage and
promises of felicity addressed to him by his divine son:

"I come, I am Horus who opens thy mouth, together
with Ptah who glorifies thee, together with Thoth who
gives to thee thy heart (understanding); . . . that thou
mayest remember what thou hadst forgotten. I cause
that thou eat bread at the desire of thy body. I cause
that thou remember what thou hast forgotten. I cause
that thou eat bread . . . more than thou didst on earth.
I give to thee thy two feet that thou mayest make the
going and coming of thy two soles (or sandals). I cause
that thou shouldst carry out commissions with the south
wind and shouldst run with the north wind. ... I cause
that thou shouldst ferry over ^Peterui^ and ferry over
the lake of thy wandering and the sea of (thy) sandal
as thou didst on earth. Thou rulest the streams and
the Phoenix. . . . Thou leviest on the royal domains.
Thou repulsest the violent who comes in the night, the

1 Lacau, LXXX, Rec. 31, 166. * Lacau, XXX, Ree. 30, 71.
» Lacau, XXXI, Rec. 30, 72/.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 279

robber of early morning.^ . . . Thou goest around the
countries with Re; he lets thee see the pleasant places,
thou findest the valleys filled with water for washing
thee and for cooling thee, thou pluckest marsh-flowers
and heni-blossoms, lilies and lotus-flowers. The bird-
pools come to thee by thousands, lying in thy path; when
thou hast hurled thy boomerang against them, it is a
thousand that fall at the sound of the wind thereof.
They are ro-geese, green-fronts, quails, and kunuset.^ I
cause that there be brought to thee the young gazelles,
•^bullocks^ of white bulls; I cause that there be brought
to thee males of goats and grain-fed males of sheep.
There is fastened for thee a ladder to the sky. Nut
gives to thee her two arms. Thou sailest in the Lily-
lake. Thou bearest the wind in an eight-ship. These
two fathers (Re and Atum) of the Imperishable Stars
and of the Unweariable Stars sail thee. They command
thee, they tow thee through the district with their im-
perishable ropes." 3

In another Solar-Osirian chapter, after the deceased is
crowned, purified, and glorified, he enters upon the Solar
voyage as in the Pyramid Texts. It is then said of him:
"Brought to thee are blocks of silver and ^masses^ of
malachite. Hathor, mistress of Byblos, she makes the
rudders of thy ship. ... It is said to thee, 'Come into
the broad-hall,' by the Great who are in the temple. Bared
to thee are the Four Pillars of the Sky, thou seest the
secrets that are therein, thou stretchest out thy two legs
upon the Pillars of the Sky and the wind is sweet to thy
nose." *

^ Thus far the picture is Osirian; it now becomes Solar.

« Varieties of wild fowl. » Lacau, XXII, Rec. 29, 143 #.

* Lacau, XX, Rec, 27, 221-6.

282 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

''Becoming a Magician/' addressed to the august ones
who are in the presence of Atum the Sun-god. It is, of
course, itself a chann and concludes with the words, "I
am a magician." ^ Lest the dead man should lose his
magic power, there was a ceremony involving the "at-
tachment of a charm so that the magical power of man
may not be taken away from him in the Nether World." *
The simplest of the dangers against which these charms
were supplied doubtless arose in the childish ima^nation
of the common folk. They are frequently grotesque in
the extreme. We find a chapter "preventing that the
head of a man be taken from him." ' There is the old
charm found also in the Pyramid Texts to prevent a man
from being obliged to eat his own foulness.* He is not
safe from the decay of death; hence there are two chap-
ters that "a man may not decay in the Nether World." *
But the imagination of the priests, who could only gain
by the issuance of ever new chapters, undoubtedly contrib-
uted much to heighten the popular dread of the dangers
of the hereafter and spread the belief in the usefulness
of such means for meeting them. We should doubt-
less recognize the work of the priests in the figure of a
mysterious scribe named Gebga, who is hostile to the
dead, so that a charm was specially devised to enable
the dead man to break the pens, smash the writing outfit,
and tear up the rolls of the malicious Gebga.® That men-

1 Lacau, LXXVIII, /2ec. 31, 164 #. » Lacau, VII, Ree. 26, 226.

» Lacau, VIII, Rec, 26, 226-7; also Annales, V, 241.

* Lacau, XXII, Rec. 29, 150; XXIV, Rec, 29, 156/. Similar pas-
sages will be found in the Book of the Dead, LI, LIII, LXXXII,
CII, CXVI, CXXIV, CLXXXIX. C/. Pyr. §§127-8, and BD,
CKXXVIII. References from Lacau.

» Lacau, XXV, XXVI, Rec, 29, 157-9.

• Lacau, IX, X, Rec, 26, 227 ff. He occurs also in the tomb of Har-
hotep, Mim, de la Miss, frang. au Caire, I, 166.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 283

acing danger which was also feared in the Pyramid Texts,
the assaults of venomous serpents, must likewise be met
by the people of the Feudal Age. The dead man, there-
fore, finds in his roll charms for " Repulsing Apophis from
the Barque of Re" and for "Repulsing the Serpent which
'^Afficts^ the Kas," ^ not to mention also one for "Re-
pulsing Serpents and Repulsing Crocodiles." * The way
of the departed was furthermore beset with fire, and he
would be lost without a charm for " Going Forth from the
Fire," ^ or of " Going Forth from the Fire Behind the
Great God." ^ When he was actually obliged to enter
the fire he might do so with safety by means of a "Chap-
ter of Entering Into the Fire and of Coming Forth from
the Fire Behind the Sky." ^ Indeed, the priests had de-
vised a chart of the journey awaiting the dead, guiding
him through the gate of fire at the entrance and showing
the two ways by which he might proceed, one by land
and the other by water, with a lake of fire between them.
This Book of the Two Ways, with its map of the
journey, was Ukewise recorded in the coflSn." In spite of
such guidance it might unluckily happen that the dead
wander into the place of execution of the gods; but from
this he was saved by a chapter of "Not Entering Into the
Place of Execution of the Gods;^ and lest he should sud-
denly find himself condenmed to walk head downward, he

1 Lacau, XXXV, XXXVI, Rec. 30, 187-8.

« Lacau, LXXIII, Rec, 31, 29.

» Lacau, XXXVII, Rec, 30, 188/.

< Lacau, XLIX, Rec, 30, 198. » Lacau, XLVIII, Rec, 30, 197.

• Berlin Coffin, Das Buck von den zwei Wegen des aeligen Toten, by
H. ScHACK-ScHACKENBURG, Leipzig, 1903; also three coffins in
Cairo, see Lacau, Sarcophages antirieures au Notvoel Empire^ vol. I,
Nos. 28083 and 28085, pis. Iv., Ivi, Ivii; vol. II, No. 28089. C/. also
Grapow, Zeitschr, fUr aegypt. SprachCf 46, 77 #.

7 Lacau, LXIll, Rec, 31, 20.

284 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

was supplied with a " Chapter of Not Walking Head Down-
ward." ^ These unhappy dead who were compelled to
go head downward were the most malicious enemies in
the hereafter. Protection against them was vitally neces-
sary. It is said to the deceased: "Life comes to thee, but
death comes not to thee. . . . They (Orion, Sothis, and
the Morning Star) save thee from the wrath of the dead
who go head downward. Thou art not among them.
. . . Rise up for life, thou diest not; lift thee up for life,
thou diest not." * The malice of the dead was a danger
constantly threatening the newly arrived soul, who says:
"He causes that I gain the power over my enemies. I
have expelled them from their tombs. I have overthrown
them in their (tomb-) chapels. I have expelled those who
were in their places. I have opened their munmiies, de-
stroyed their kas. I have suppressed their souls. . . .
An edict of the Self-Grenerator has been issued against my
enemies among the dead, among the Uvmg, dweUing in
sky and earth." * The belief in the eflBcacy of magic as
an infallible agent in the hand of the dead man was thus
steadily growing, and we shall see it ultimately dominat-
ing the whole body of mortuary belief as it emerges a few
centuries later in the Book of the Dead. It cannot be
doubted that the popularity of the Osirian faith had much
to do with this increase in the use of mortuary magical
agencies. The Osiris myth, now universally current, made
all classes familiar with the same agencies employed by
Isis in the raising of Osiris from the dead, while the same
myth in its various versions told the people how similar
magical power had been employed by Anubis, Thoth,
and Horus on behalf of the dead and persecuted Osiris.

I Lacau, XLIV, Rec, 30, 193. « Lacau, LXXXV, Bee. 32, 78.

» Lacau, LXXXTV, Bee, 31, 175.

286 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

is the god Osiris, First of the Westerners, Lord of Eternity,
Ruler of the West, (the place) to which all that is flees,
for the sake of the benefit therein, in the midst of the fol-
lowers of the Lord of Life, that I might eat his loaf and
'ascend by day'; that my soul might enjoy the ceremonies
of people kind in heart toward my tomb and in hand
toward my stela." ^ Another under Sesostris I says: "I
have made this tomb at the stairway of the Great Grod, in
order that I may be among his followers, while the sol-
diers who follow his majesty give to my ka of his bread
and his '^provision^ just as every royal messenger does
who comes inspecting the boundaries of his majesty." *
The enclosure and the approach to the temple of Osiris
were filled with these memorials, which as they survive
to-day form an important part of our documentary
material for the history of this age. The body of a power-
ful baron might even be brought to Abydos to undergo
certain ceremonies there, and to bring back certain things
to his tomb at home, as the Arab brings back water from
the well of Zemzem, or as Roman ladies brought back
sacred water from the sanctuary of Isis at Phite. Khnum-
hotep of Benihasan has depicted on the walls of his tomb-
chapel this voyage on the Nile, showing his embalmed
body resting on a funeral barge which is being towed
northward, accompanied by priests and lectors. The in-
scription calls it the "voyage up-stream to know the
things of Abydos." A pendent scene showing a voyage
down-stream is accompanied by the words, "the return
bringing the things of Abydos." ' Just what these sacred

1 BAR, I, 613. « BAR, I, 628.

» Lepsiub, DenkmaeleTf II, 126-7; Newberry, Benihasan^ I, pi.
xxix, also p. 68, where both scenes are stated to depict the voyage to
Abydos. It is clear, both from the inscriptions ("voyage up-stream "
and ''return") and from the scenes themselves, that the voyage to

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 287

"things of Abydos" may have been we have no means of
knowing/ but it is evident that on this visit to the great
god at Abydos, it was expected that the dead might per-
sonally present himself and thus ensure himself the favor
of the god in the hereafter.

The visitors who thus came to Abydos, before or after
death, brought so many votive offerings that the modem
excavators of the Osiris tomb found it deeply buried under
a vast accumulation of broken pots and other gifts left
there by the pilgrims of thousands of years. There must
eventually have been multitudes of such pilgrims at this
Holy Sepulchre of Egypt at all times, but especially at
that season when in the eariiest known drama the incidents
of the god's myth were dramatically re-enacted in what
may properly be called a "passion play.'* Although this
play is now completely lost, the memorial stone of Ikher-
nofret, an officer of Sesostris III, who was sent by the king
to undertake some restorations in the Osiris temple at
Abydos, a stone now preserved m Berlin, furnishes an out-
line from which we may draw at least the titles of the most
important acts. These show us that the drama must
have continued for a number of days, and that each of
the more important acts probably lasted at least a day,
the multitude participating in much that was done. In
the brief narrative of Ikhernofret we discern eight acts.

Ahydoa and return are depicted. The vessel going up-stream shows
canvas set as it should for sailing up-stream, while the other (the
''return") shows the mast unstepped, as customary in coming down-
stream at the present day. Moreover, both hoots a/AuaUy face to and
from Abydos as they now stand on the tomb vxiU, This device is not
unknown elsewhere, e, g., the ships of Hatshepsut, on the walls of the
Der el-Bahri temple, face to and from Pmit (BAR, II, 251 and p. 105).
^ The word employed (^r't) is one of the widest latitude in mean-
ing. Its original meaning is 'Hhat which belongs to" (a thing or
person), then his ''being, state, concerns, needs," fuid the like.

288 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The first discloses the old mortuary god Upwawet issuing
in procession that he may scatter the enemies of Osiris
and open the way for him. In the second act Osiris him-
self appears in his sacred barque, into which ascend cer-
tain of the pilgrims. Among these is Ikhemofret, as he
proudly tells in his inscription. There he aids in repelling
the foes of Osiris who be^t the course of the barque, and
there is undoubtedly a general meUe of the multitude,
such as Herodotus saw at Papremis fifteen hundred years
later, some in the barque defending the god, and others,
proud to carry away a broken head on behalf of the cele-
bration, acting as his enemies in the crowd below. Ikher-
nofret, like Herodotus, passes over the death of the god
in silence. It was a thing too sacred to be described.
He only tells that he arranged the "Great Procession" of
the god, a triumphal celebration of some sort, when the
god met his death. This was the third act. In the fourth
Thoth goes forth and doubtless finds the body, though
this is not stated. The fifth act is made up of the sacred
ceremonies by which the body of the god is prepared for
entombment, while in the sixth we behold the multitude
moving out in a vast throng to the Holy Sepulchre in the
desert behind Abydos to lay away the body of the dead
god in his tomb. The seventh act must have been an
imposing spectacle. On the shore or water of Nedyt,
near Abydos, the enemies of Osiris, including of course
Set and his companions, are overthrown in a great battle
by Horns, the son of Osiris. The raising of the god from
the dead is not mentioned by Ikhemofret, but in the
eighth and final act we behold Osiris, restored to life,
entering the Abydos temple in triumphal procession. It
is thus evident that the drama presented the chief inci-
dents in the myth.

290 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

cidents of the Osiris myth made a powerful impression
upon the people. The ''passion play" in one form or
another caught the imagination of more than one com-
mimity, and just as Herodotus found it at Papremis, so
now it spread from town to town, to take the chief place
in the calendar of festivals. Osiris thus gained a place
in the life and the hopes of the common people held by
no other god. The royal destiny of Osiris and his tri-
umph over death, thus vividly portrayed in dramatic
form, rapidly disseminated among the people the belief
that this destiny, once probably reserved for the king,
might be shared by all. As we have said before, it needed
but the same magical agencies employed by Isis to raise
her dead consort, or by Horus, Anubis, and Thoth, as they
wrought on behalf of the slain Osiris, to bring to every
man the blessed destiny of the departed god. Such a
development of popular mortuary belief, as we have al-
ready seen, inevitably involved also a constantly growing
confidence in the efficiency of magic in the hereafter.

It is difficult for the modern mind to understand how
completely the belief in magic penetrated the whole sub-
stance of life, dominating popular custom and constantly
appearing in the simplest acts of the daily household
routine, as much a matter of coiu^e as sleep or the prepara-
tion of food. It constituted the very atmosphere in which
the men of the early Oriental world lived. Without the
saving and salutary influence of such magical agencies
constantly invoked, the life of an ancient household in
the East was imthinkable. The destructive powers
would otherwise have annihilated all. While it was es-
pecially against disease that such means must be employed,
the ordinary processes of domestic and economic life were
constantly placed under its protection. The mother

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 291

never hushed her ailing babe and laid it to rest without
invoking unseen powers to free the child from the dark
forms of evil, malice, and disease that lurked in every
shadowy comer, or, slinking in through the open door as
the gloom of night settled over the house, entered the tiny
form and racked it with fever. Such demons might even
assume friendly guise and approach under pretext of
soothing and healing the little sufferer. We can still hear
the mother's voice as she leans over her babe and casts
furtive glances through the open door into the darkness
where the powers of evil dwell.

"Run out, thou who comest in darkness, who enterest
in '^stealth^ his nose behind him, his face turned back-
ward, who loses that for which he came."

"Run out, thou who comest in darkness, who enterest
in '^stealty, her nose behind her, her face turned back-
ward, who loses that for which she came."

"Comest thou to kiss this child? I will not let thee
kiss him."

"Comest thou to soothe (him)? I will not let thee
soothe him.

"Comest thou to harm him? I will not let thee harm
him.

"Comest thou to take him away? I will not let thee
take him away from me.

"I have made his protection against thee out of Efet-
herb, it makes pain; out of onions, which harm thee; out
of honey which is sweet to (living) men and bitter to those
who are yonder (the dead) ; out of the evil (parts) of the
Ebdu-fish; out of the jaw of the meret; out of the back-
bone of the perch." ^

1 Berlin Papyrus, P 3027 (I, 9 to II, 6). It belongs to the
early Empire, or just before the Empire, aJt>out the sixteenth or

292 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

The apprehensive mother employs not only the uttered
charm as an exorcism, but adds a delectable mixture of
herbs, honey, and fish to be swallowed by the child, and
designed to drive out the malignant demons, male and
female, which afflict the baby with disease or threaten to
carry it away. A hint as to the character of these demons
is contained in the description of honey as "sweet to men
(meaning the living) and bitter to those who are yonder
(the dead)." It is evident that the demons dreaded were
some of them the disembodied dead. At this point the
life of the living throughout its course impmged upon
that of the dead. The malicious dead must be bridled
and held in check. Charms and magical devices which
had proved efficacious against them during earthly life
might prove equally valuable in the hereafter. This
charm which prevented the carrying away of the child
might also be employed to prevent a man's heart from
being taken away in the Nether World. The dead man
need only say: "Hast thou come to take away this my
Uving heart? This my Uving heart is not given to thee; "
whereupon the demon that would seize and flee with it
must inevitably slink away.^

Thus the magic of daily life was more and more brought
to bear on the hereafter and placed at the service of the
dead. As the Empire rose in the sixteenth century B. C,
we find this folk-charm among the mortuary texts in-
serted in the tomb. It is embodied in a charm now en-
titled "Chapter of Not Permitting a Man's Heart to be
Taken Away from Him in the Nether World," ^ a chapter

seventeenth century B. C. Published by Ebman, Zavbersprueche
fur Mutter und Kind {Ahhandl, der KgL PreusB, Akad, der Wiaa, zu
Berlin, 1901).

1 Erman, ibid.f 14-15.

2 British Museum Papyrus of Ani, pi. xv, chap. XXIX.

294 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

was gradually introduced. Itwill be seen, then, aswe have
said, that, properly speaking, there was in the Empire no
Book of the Dead, but only various groups of mortuary
chapters filling the mortuary papyri of the time. The
entire body of chapters from which these rolls were made
up, were some two hundred in number, although even the
largest rolls did not contain them all. The independence
or identity of each chapter is now evident in the custom
of prefixing to every chapter a title — a custom which had
begun in the case of many chapters in the Cofl^ Texts.
Groups of chapters forming the most common nucleus of
the Book of the Dead were frequently called "Chapters
of Ascending by Day," a designation also in use in the
Coffin Texts (see p. 276) ; but there was no current title
for a roll of the Book of the Dead as a whole.

While a few scanty fragments of the Pyramid Texts
have survived in the Book of the Dead, it may neverthe-
less be said that they have almost disappeared.^ The
Coffin Texts reappear, however, in increasing numbers
and contribute largely to the various collections which
make up the Book of the Dead. An innovation of which
only indications are found in the Coffin Texts is the in-
sertion in the Empire rolls of gorgeous vignettes illus-
trating the career of the deceased in the next world.
Great confidence was placed in their efficacy, especially,
as we shall see, in the scene of the judgment, which was
now elaborately illustrated. It may be said that these
illustrations in the Book of the Dead are another example
of the elaboration of magical devices designed to ameliorate
the life beyond the grave. Indeed, the Book of the Dead it-
self, as a whole, is but a far-reaching and complex illustra-
tion of the increasing dependence on magic in the hereafter.

^ Later, especially in the Saitic Age, they were revived.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 295

The benejSts to be obtained in this way were unlimited,
and it is evident that the ingenuity of a mercenary priest-
hood now played a large part in the development which
followed. To the luxurious nobles of the Empire, the
old peasant vision of the hereafter where the dead man
might plough and sow and reap in the happy fields, and
where the grain grew to be seven cubits (about twelve
feet) high,^ did not appear an attractive prospect. To be
levied for labor and to be obliged to go forth and toil, even
in the fields of the blessed, no longer appealed to the pam-
pered^ grandees of an age of wealth and luxury. Already
in the Middle Kingdom wooden figures of the servants
of the dead were placed in the tomb, that they might
labor for him in death as they had done in hfe. This
idea was now carried somewhat further. Statuettes of
the dead man bearing sack and hoe were fashioned, and a
cimning charm was devised and written upon the breast
of the figure: "O statuette,^ coimted for X (name of de-
ceased), if I am called, if I am counted to do any work
that is done in the Nether World, . . . thou shalt count
thyself for me at all times, to cultivate the fields, to
water the shores, to transport sand of the east to the
west, and say, *Here am I.'*' This charm was placed
among those in the roll, with the title, "Chapter of Caus-
ing that the Statuette Do the Work of a Man in the
Nether World." ' The device was further elaborated by
finally placing one such little figure of the dead in the
tomb for each day in the year, and they have been found
in the Egyptian cemeteries in such numbers that museums

1 Book of the Dead, chap. CEX.

^ The word used is that commonly rendered ''Ushebti,'' and trans-
lated '^ respondent." It is, however, of very obscure origin and of
uncertain meaning.

' Book of the Dead, chap. VI.

296 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

and private collections all over the worid, as has been
well said, are "populated" with them.

With such means of gain so easily available, we cannot
wonder that the priests and scribes of this age took ad-
vantage of the opportunity. The dangers of the here-
after were now greatly multiplied, and for every critical
situation the priest was able to furnish the dead with an
eflfective charm which would infallibly save him. Be-
sides many charms which enabled the dead to reach the
world of tibe hereafter, there were those which prevented
him from losing his mouth, his head, his heart, others
which enabled him to remember his name, to breathe,
eat, drink, avoid eating his own foulness, to prevent his
drinking-water from tiuming into flame, to turn darkness
into light, to ward oflf all serpents and other hostile mon-
sters, and many others. The desirable transformations,
too, had now increased, and a short chapter might m each
case enable the dead man to assume the form of a falcon
of gold, a divine falcon, a lily, a Phoenix, a heron, a swal-
low, a serpent called "son of earth," a crocodile, a god,
and, best of all, there was a chapter so potent that by
its use a man might assume any form that he desired.

It is such productions as these which form by far the
larger proportion of the mass of texts which we term the
Book of the Dead. To call it the Bible of the Egyptians,
then, is quite to mistake the function and content of
these rolls.^ The tendency which brought forth this mass
of "chapters" is also characteristically evident in two
other books each of which was in itself a coherent and

^ The designation '^ Bible of the old Egyptians" is at least as old
as the report of the Committee of the Oriental Congress, which sat
in London in 1874 and arranged for publishing the Book of the
Dead. See Navillb, Todtenbuchf Einleitung, p. 5.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 297

connected composition. The Book of the Two Ways,
as old, we remember, as the Middle Kingdom,^ had already
contributed much to the Book of the Dead regarding the
jSery gates through which the dead gained entrance to
the worid beyond and to the two ways by which he was
to make his journey.^ On the basis of such fancies as
these, the imagination of the priests now put forth a
"Book of Him Who is in the Nether Worid," describing
the subterranean journey of the sun during the night as
he passed through twelve long cavernous galleries be-
neath the earth, each one representing a journey of an
hour, the twelve caverns leading the sun at last to the
point in the east where he rises.* The other book, com-
monly called the " Book of the Gates, " represents each
of the twelve caverns as entered by a gate and concerns
itself with the passage of these gates. While these com-
positions never gained the popularity enjoyed by the
Book of the Dead, they are magical guiderbooks devised
for gain, just as was much of the material which made
up the Book of the Dead.

That which saves the Book of the Dead itself from
being exclusively a magical vade mecum for use in the
hereafter is its elaboration of the ancient idea of the
moral judgment, and its evident appreciation of the bur-
den of conscience. The relation with God had become
something more than merely the faithful observance of
external rites. It had become to some extent a matter
of the heart and of character. Already in the Middle
Kingdom the wise man had discerned the responsibility
of the inner man, of the heart or understanding. The

* See above, p. 283.

" See Gbapow, ZeUachr, fOr aegypt, Sprcuihe, 46, 77 Jf.

' See J^QXTiER, Le livre de ce qu'U y a dans V Hades, Paris, 1894.

298 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

man of ripe and morally sane understanding is his ideal,
and his cowisel is to be followed. ''A hearkener (to
good comisel) is one whom the god loves. Who hearkens
not is one whom the god hates. It is the heart (mider-
standing) which makes its possessor a hearkener or one
not hearkening. The life, prosperity, and health of a man
is in his heart." ^ A court herald of Thutmose III in
recounting his services Ukewise says: "It was my heart
which caused that I should do them (his services for the
Idng), by its guidance of my affairs. It was ... as an
excellent witness. I did not disregard its speech, I feared
to transgress its guidance. I prospered thereby greatly,
I was successful by reason of tiiat which it caused me to
do, I was distinguished by its guidance. 'Lo, . . . ,*
said the people, 'it is an oracle of God in every body.*
Prosperous is he whom it has guided to the good way of
achievement,' Lo, thus I was." ' The relatives of Paheri,
a prince of El Kab, addressing him after his death, pray,
"May est thou spend eternity in gladness of heart, in the
favor of the god that is in thee," * and another dead man
similarly declares, "The heart of a man is his own god,
and my heart was satisfied with my deeds." * To this
inner voice of the heart, which with surprising insight
was even termed a man's god, the Egyptian was now
more sensitive than ever before during the long course of
the ethical evolution which we have been following. This

* See above, p. 236.

* Or "belly," meaning the seat of the mind.

' Louvre stela, C. 26, 11. 22-24. ZeUschr, fUr aegypt. Sprache,
39, 47.

* Egypt Expl. Fund, Eleventh Mem., pi. ix, 11. 20-21. Zeitschr.
fur aegypt. Sprache, 39, 48 .

* Wrbczinski, Wiener In^chriften, 160, quoted by Ebman, Rel.,
p. 123.

TRIUMPH OF 0SIRT8 299

sensitiveness finds very full expression in the most im-
portant if not the longest section of the Book of the Dead.
Whereas the judgment hereafter is mentioned as far back
as the Pyramid Age, we now find a full account and de-
scription of it in the Book of the Dead.^ Notwithstand-
ing the prominence of the intruding Osiris in the judgment
we shall cleariy discern its Solar origin and character
even as recounted in the Book of the Dead. Three dif-
ferent versions of the judgment, doubtless originally inde-
pendent, have been combined in the fullest and best rolls.
The first is entitled, " Chapter of Entering Into the Hall
of Truth (or Righteousness)," ^ and it contains "that
which is said on reaching the Hall of Truth, when X (the
deceased's name) is purged from all evil that he has done,
and he beholds the face of the god. 'Hail to thee, great
god, lord of Truth.' I have come to thee, my lord, and
I am led (thither) in order to see thy beauty, I know
thy name, I know the names of the forty-two gods who
are with thee in the Hall of Truth, who live on evil-doers
and devour their blood, on that day of reckoning char-
acter before Wennofer (Osiris).* Behold, I come to thee,
I bring to thee righteousness and I expel for thee sin.
I have committed no sin against people. ... I have not
done evil in the place of truth. I knew no wrong. I did
no evil thing. ... I did not do that which the god abom-

^ It is commonly known as chap. CXXV.

* The word "truth" here is conmionly written in the dual, which
grammatically equals "the two truths." This strange usage is
perhaps merely an idiom of intensification, as "morning" is written
in the dual for "early morning."

'In the dual as above, and for the most part throughout this
chapter.

* An important variant has, "Who live on righteousness (truth)
and abominate sin." Some texts also insert here the name of
Osiris, "Lo, the 'two beloved daughters, his two eyes of Truth' is
thy name."

300 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

inates. I did not report evil of a servant to his master.
I allowed no one to hunger. I caused no one to weep.
I did not murder. I did not conunand to murder. I
caused no man misery. I did not diminish food in the
temples. I did not decrease the offerings of the gods.
I did not take away the food-offerings of the dead (liter-
ally "glorious")* I did not commit adultery. I did not
commit self-pollution in the pure precinct of my city-
god. I did not diminish the grain measure. I did not
diminish the span.^ I did not diminish the land measure.
I did not load the weight of the balances. I did not de-
flect the index of the scales. I did not take milk from
the mouth of the child. I did not drive away the cattle
from their pasturage. I did not snare the fowl of the
gods. I did not catch the fish in their pools. I did not
hold back the water in its time. I did not dam the run-
ning water.2 I did not quench the fire in its time.* I
did not withhold the herds of the temple endowments. I
did not interfere with the god in his payments. I am
purified four times, I am pure as that great Phoenix is
pure which is in Heracleopolis. For I am that nose of
the Lord of Breath who keeps alive all the people/ " *
The address of the deceased now merges into obscure
mythological allusions, and he concludes with the state-
ment, "There arises no evil thing against me in this land,
in the Hall of Truth, because I know the names of these
gods who are therein, the followers of the Great God."
A second scene of judgment is now enacted. The

^ A measure of length.

^This refers to diverting the waters of the irrigation canals at
time of inundation at the expense of neighbors, still one of the com-
monest forms of corruption in Egypt.

• The text is clear, but the meaning is quite obscure.

«Book of the Dead, chap. CXXV; Navu^le, Todienbuch^ I,
CXXXIII, and II, 275-287.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 301

judge Osiris is assisted by forty-two gods who sit with
him in judgment on the dead. They are terrifying
demons, each bearing a grotesque and horrible name,
which the deceased claims that he knows. He therefore
addresses them one after the other by name. They are
such names as these : " Broad - Stride - that - Came - out -
of-Heliopolis," " Flame-Hugger-that-Came-out-of-Troja,"
" Nosey-that-Came-out-of-Hermopolis," " Shadow-Eater-
that-Came-out-of-the-Cave/' " Tum-Face-that-Came-out
of-Rosta," " Two-Eyes-of-Flame-that-Came-out-of-Letop-
olis," " Bone - Breaker - that-Came-out-of-Heracleopolis,"
"White - Teeth - that - Came - out - of -the-Secret-Land/*
" Blood - Eater-that-Came-out-of-the-PIace-of -Execution,"
"Eater-of-Entrails-that-Came-out-of-Mebit." These and
other equally edifying creations of priestly imagination the
deceased calls upon, addressing to each in turn a declara-
tion of innocence of some particular sin.

This section of the Book of the Dead is commonly called
the "Confession." It would be difficult to devise a term
more opposed to the real character of the dead man's
statement, which as a declaration of innocence is, of course,
the reverse of a confession. The ineptitude of the desig-
nation has become so evident that some editors have
added the word negative, and thus call it the "negative
confession," which means nothing at all. The Egyptian
does not confess at this judgment, and this is a fact of the
utmost importance in his religious development, as we
shall see. To mistake this section of the Book of the
Dead for "confession" is totally to misunderstand the
development which was now slowly carrying him toward
that complete acknowledgment and humble disclosure of
his sin which is nowhere found in the Book of the Dead.

It is evident that the forty-two gods are an artificial

302 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

creation. As was long ago noticed, they represent the
forty or more nomes, or administrative districts, of Egypt.
The priests doubtless built up this court of forty-two
judges in order to control the character of the dead from
all quarters of the country. The deceased would find
hhnself confronted by one judge at least who was ac-
quainted with his local reputation, and who could not be
deceived. The forty-two declarations addressed to this
court cover much the same ground as those we have al-
ready rendered in the first address. The editors had some
difficulty in finding enough sins to make up a list of forty-
two, and there are several verbal repetitions, not to men-
tion essential repetitions with slight changes in the word-
ing. The crimes which may be called those of violence
are these: "I did not slay men (5), I did not rob (2), I did
not steal (4), I did not rob one crying for his possessions
(18),^ my fortune was not great but by my (own) property
(41), I did not take away food (10), I did not stir up fear
(21), I did not stir up strife (25)." Deceitfulness and
other undesirable qualities of character are also disavowed:
"I did not speak lies (9), I did not make falsehood in the
place of truth (40), I was not deaf to truthful words (24),
I did not diminish the grain-measure (6), I was not ava-
ricious (3), my heart devoured not (coveted not?) (28), my
heart was not hasty (31), I did not multiply words in
speaking (33), my voice was not over loud (37), my mouth
did not wag (lit. go) (17), I did not wax hot (in temper)
(23), I did not revile (29), I was not an eavesdropper (16),
I was not puffed up (39)." The dead man is free from
sexual immorality: "I did not conmiit adultery with a

* The vaxiants indicate "I did not "^take possession^ of my (own)
property," or "I did not take ^possessions except of just (or true)
possessions."

304 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

the dead. Save ye me; protect ye me. Enter no com-
plaint against me before the Great God. For I am one of
pure mouth and pure hands, to whom was said 'Welcome,
welcome' by those who saw him." ^ Wth these words
the claims of the deceased to moral worthmess merge into
affirmations that he has observed all ceremonial require-
ments of the Osirian faith, and these form more than half
of this concluding address to the gods of the court.

The third record of the judgment was doubtless the
version which made the deepest impression upon the
Egyptian. Like the drama of Osiris at Abydos, it is
graphic and depicts the judgment as effected by the bal-
ances. In the sumptuously illustrated papyrus of Ani *
we see Osiris sitting enthroned at one end of the judgment
haU, with Isis and Nephthys standing behind him. Along
one side of the hall are ranged the nine gods of the Heli-
opolitan Ennead, headed by the Sun-god.' They after-
ward announce the verdict, showing the originally Solar
origin of this third scene of judgment, in which Osiris has
now assumed the chief place. In the midst stand "the
balances of Re wherewith he weighs truth," as we have
seen them called in the Feudal Age; ^ but the judgment in
which they figure has now become Osirianized. The bal-
ances are manipulated by the ancient mortuary god
Anubis, behind whom stands the divine scribe Thoth,
who presides over the weighing, pen and writing palette

*Book of the Dead, chap. CXXV; Navillb, Todtenbuch, I,
CXXXVII, U. 2-13; II, pp. 310-317.

* British Museum Papyrus 10470. See Faosimile of the Papyrus
of Anif in the British Museum, Printed by order of the Trustees,
London, 1894, pis. iii-iv.

' The number has been adjusted to the exclusion of Osiris, who
sits as chief judge. Isis and Nephthys are placed together and
counted as one.

* See above, p. 253.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 305

in hand, that he may record the result. Behind him
crouches a grotesque monster called the "Devouress/*
with the head of a crocodile, fore quarters of a lion and
hind quarters of a hippopotamus, waiting to devour the
unjust soul. Beside the balances in subtle suggestive-
ness stands the figure of "Destiny" accompanied by
Renenet and Meskhenet, the two goddesses of birth,
about to contemplate the fate of the soul at whose com-
ing into this world they had once presided. Behind the
enthroned divinities sit the gods "Taste" and "Intelli-
gence." In other rolls we not infrequently find standing
at the entrance the goddess "Truth, daughter of Re,"
who ushers into the hall of judgment the newly arrived
soul. Ani and his wife, with bowed heads and depreca-
tory gestures, enter the fateful hall, and Anubis at once
calls for the heart of Ani. In the form of a tiny vase,
which is in Egyptian writing the hieroglyph for heart,
one side of the balances bears the heart of Ani, while in
the other side appears a feather, the symbol and hieroglyph
for Truth or Righteousness. At the critical moment Ani
addresses his own heart: "O my heart that came from
my mother! O my heart belonging to my being! Rise
not up against me as a witness. Oppose me not in the
council (court of justice). Be not hostile to me before
the master of the balances. Thou art my ka that is in
my body. . . . Let not my name be of evil odor with the
court, speak no lie against me in the presence of the god."
Evidently this appeal has proven effective, for Thoth,
"envoy of the Great Ennead, that is in the presence of
Osiris, " at once says: "Hear ye this word in truth. I have
judged the heart of Osiris [Ani] ^ His soul stands as a
witness concerning him, his character is just by the great

^ Omitted by the scribe.

308 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

It was inevitable that the priests should now take the
momentous step of permitting such agencies to enter also
the world of moral values. Magic might become an
agent for moral ends. The Book of the Dead is chiefly a
book of magical charms, and the section pertaining to the
judgment did not continue to remain an exception. The
poignant words addressed by Ani to his heart as it was
weighed in the balances, "O my heart, rise not up against
me as a witness," were now written upon a stone image of
the sacred beetle, the scarabeus, and placed over the
heart as a mandate of magical potency preventing the
heart from betraying the character of the deceased. The
words of this charm became a chaptef of the Book of the
Dead, where they bore the title, "Chapter of Preventing
that the Heart of a Man Oppose Him in the Nether
World." ^ The scenes of the judgment and the text of
the Declaration of Innocence were multiplied on rolls by
the scribes and sold to all the people. In these copies
the places for the name of the deceased were left vacant,
and the purchaser filled in the blanks after he had se-
cured the document. The words of the verdict, declar-
ing the deceased had successfully met the judgment and
acquitting him of evil, were not lacking in any of these
rolls. Any citizen whatever the character of his life might
thus secure from the scribes a certificate declaring that
Blank was a righteous man before it was known who
Kank would be. He might even obtain a formulary so
mighty that the Sun-god, as the real power behind the
judgment, would be cast down from heaven into-the Nile,
if he did not bring forth the deceased fully justified be-
fore his court.2 Thus the earliest moral development which

^ Book of the Dead, chap. XXX.

* Book of the Dead, ed. Naville, chap. LXV, U. 10-16.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 309

we can trace in the ancient East was suddenly arrested, or
at least seriously checked, by the detestable devices of a
corrupt priesthood eager for gain.

It is needless to point out the confusion of distinctions
involved in this last appUcation of magic. It is the old
failure to perceive the difference between that which
goeth in and that which cometh out of the man. A jus-
tification mechanically applied from without, and freeing
the man from punishments coming from without, cannot,
of course, heal the ravages that have taken place within.
The voice within, to which the Egyptian was more sensi-
tive than any people of the earlier East, and to which the
whole idea of the moral ordeal in the hereafter was due,
could not be quieted by any such means. The general
reliance upon such devices for escaping ultimate respon-
sibility for an imworthy life must have seriously poi-
soned the life of the people. While the Book of the
Dead discloses to us more fully than ever before in the
history of Egypt the character of the moral judgment in
the hereafter, and the reality with which the Egyptian
clothed his conception of moral responsibility, it is like-
wise a revelation of ethical decadence. In so far as the
Book of the Dead had become a magical agency for se-
curing moral vindication in the hereafter, irrespective of
character, it had become a positive force for evil.

So strong was the moral sense of the Egyptian, how-
ever, that he did not limit the value of a worthy Ufe to
its availability in rendering him acceptable to Osiris in
the next life. Herein lies the limitation of the Osirian
ethics which bade a man think only of moral consequences
beyond the grave. After all, Osiris was a god of the
dead. The old social philosophers of the Feudal Age
had preached the righteousness of Re, the Sun-god, and

310 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

demanded social justice here because Re demanded it.
They were not without their descendants in the Empire —
men who found in the Solar faith an obUgation to right-
eous living here and now, and who discerned earthlv
rewards in so Uving. The Sun-god was not chiefly a god
of the dead. He reigned in the earthly affairs of men,
and during the earthly life men felt the moral obligation
which he placed upon them hourly. One of the archi-
tects of Amenhotep III, addressing a hymn of praise to
the Sun-god, says: "I was a valiant leader among thy
monuments, doing righteousness for thy heart. I know
that thou art satisfied with righteousness. Thou makest
great him who doeth it on earth. I did it and thou didst
make me great." ^ Similarly, when the Pharaoh made
oath he swore, "As Re loves me, as my father Amon
(long ance identified with Re) favors me;" ^ and the con-
queror Thutmose III in making this oath to the truth of
what he says, and affirming his respect for the truth in
the sight of his god, refers to the Sun-god's presence thus:
"For he knoweth heaven and he knoweth earth, he seeth
the whole earth hourly." * While it is true that the sub-
terranean hereafter of the Osiris faith depicts the Sun-
god as journeying from cavern to cavern beneath the
earth, passing through the reahn of Osiris and bringing
light and joy to the dead who dwell there, this is a con-
ception unknown to the early Solar theology as foimd in
the Pyramid Texts.* In the Empire the Sun-god is pre-
eminently a god of the world of Uving men, m whose af-

* British Museum Stela, No. 826, published by Birch, Transao
lions of the Soc, of Bib. Ardfi,, VIII, 143; and in Pierbet's RecueUf I.
I had also my own copy of the original.

« BAR, II, 318, 570. » BAR, II, 570.

* It is not likely that the "caves" referred to in Pyr. § 852 have
any connection with the subterranean caverns of the Osirian faith.

TRIUMPH OF OSIRIS 311

fairs he is constantly present and active. Men feel their
responsibiUty to him here and now, and that dominion
deepening constantly in the hearts of men is now also
to expand with the expanding horizon of the imperial
age until, for the first time in history, there dawns upon
the eyes of these eariy Nile-dwellers the vision of the
worid-god.

LECTURE IX

THE IMPERIAL AGE — THE WORLD-STATE MAKES ITS IM-
PRESSION ON REUGION — TRIUMPH OP RE — ^EARLIEST
MONOTHEISM — IKHNATON (aMENHOTEP IV)

In the Feudal Age the social realm had made its un-
pression upon religion as in the Pyramid Age the Egyp-
tian state, the apolitical realm had done. Both these were
limited to the territory of Egypt. The Pyramid Age
had gained a dim vision of the vast extent of the Sun-god's
domain, and had once addressed him by the sounding
title "Limitless." ^ But this remained, as it were, a mo-
mentary glimpse without effect upon the Solar theology
as a whole. The Sun-god ruled only Egypt, and in the
great Sun-hymn of the Pyramid Texts * he stands guar-
dian on the Egyptian frontiers, where he builds the gates
which restrain all outsiders from entering his inviolable
domain. In the Pyramid Age, too, the Sun-god had al-
ready begun the process of absorbing the other gods of
Egypt, a process resulting even at so remote a date in a
form of national pantheism, in which all the gods ulti-
mately coalesced into forms and functions of one. But
even this process, though it did not cease, had left the
supreme god's dominion still restricted to Egypt. He
was very far from being a world-god. The Egyptians
indeed had not as yet gained the world-idea, the world-
empire over which they might install the world-ruler.
The influences of an environment restricted to the limits

1 Pyr. i 1434. « See above, pp. 13-14.

312

316 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Ui^que in his qualities, traversing eternity;

Over ways '^with^ millions under his guidance.

Thy brilliance is like the brilliance of the sky.

Thy colors gleam more than the hues of it.^

When thou sailest across the sky all men behold thee,

(Though) thy going is hidden from their sight.

When thou lowest thyself at morning every day,

. . . under thy majesty, though the day be brief.

Thou traversest a journey of leagues.

Even millions and hundred-thousands of time.

Every day is under thee.

When thy setting '^comes^

The hours of the night hearken to thee likewise.

When thou hast traversed it

There comes no ending to thy labors.

All men, they see by means of thee.

Nor do they finish when thy majesty sets,

(For) thou wakest to rise in the morning.

And thy radiance, it opens the eyes (again).

When thou settest in Manu,

Then they sleep like the dead.

Hail to thee I O disk of day.

Creator of all and giver of their sustenance.

Great Falcon, brilliantly plumaged.

Brought forth to raise himself on high of himself.

Self-generator, without being bom.

First-bom Falcon in the midst of the sky.

To whom jubilation is made at his rising and his setting likewise.

Fashioner of the produce of the soil.

Taking possession of the Two Lands (Egypt), from great to small,

A mother, profitable to gods and rnen,

A craftsman of experience, . . .

Valiant herdman who drives his cattle,

Their refuge and giver of their sustenance.

Who passes by, running the course of Khepri (the Sun-god),

^ The word "hues" is the word commonly meaning "skin." That
it has the meaning "hue" or similar is shown by similar passages
in Naville, Mythe d'Horus, pi. xii, 1. 2; Amama Hymn of Tutu,
L 2, oadiAmama Hymn of Api^ U. 2-3.

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 317

Who determines his own birth,

Exalting his beauty in the body of Nut,

Illuminating the Two Lands (Egypt) with his disk^

The primordial being, who himself made himself;

Who beholds that which he has made.

Sole lord taking captive all lands every day.

As one beholding them that walk therein;

Shining in the sky '^a being as the sun\

He makes the seasons by the months.

Heat when he desires,

Cold when he desires.

He makes the limbs to languish

When he enfolds them.

Every land is in rejoicing

At his rising every day, in order to praise him.'

ft

It is evident in such a hymn as this that the vast sweep
of the Sun-god's course over all the lands and peoples of
the earth has at last found consideration, and the logical
conclusion has also followed. The old stock phrases of
the earlier hynms, the traditional references to the fal-
con, and the mythological allusions involved have not
wholly disappeared, but the momentous step has been
taken of extending the sway of the Sun-god over all lands
and peoples. No earlier document left us by the thought
of Egypt contains such unequivocal expression of this
thought as we find here:

Sole lord, taking captive all lands every day,
As one beholding them that walk therein."

It is important to observe also that this tendency is con-
nected directly with the social movement of the Feudal
Age. Such epithets applied to the Sun-god as

"Valiant herdman who drives his cattle.
Their refuge and the giver of their sustenance,''

318 KELIOION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

of course carry us back to the address of Ipuwer and his
"shepherd of all men." ^ The other remarkable epithet,

"A mother, profitable to gods and men/'

carries with it the idea of similar solicitude for mankind.
The humane aspects of the Sun-god's sway, to which the
social thinkers of the Feudal Age chiefly contributed, have
not disappeared among the powerful political motives of
this new universalism.

This hymn of the two architects is, however, likewise a
revelation of one of the chief difiiculties in the internal
situation of the Pharaoh at this time. The hymn bears
the title: "Adoration of Amon when he rises as Harakhte
(Horus of the Horizon) "; that is to say, the hymn is ad-
dressed to Amon as Sun-god. Amon, the old obsciu^ local
god of Thebes, whose name is not to be found in the great
religious documents of the earlier age like the Pyramid
Texts,^ had by this time gained the chief place in the
state theology, owing to the supreme position held by
the ruUng family of his native town in the Empire. The-
ologically, he had long succumbed to the ancient tendency
which identified the old local gods with the Sun-god, and
he had long been called " Amon-Re." His old local char-
acteristics, whatever they may have been, had been sup-
planted by those of the Sun-god, and the ancient local
Amon had been completely Solarized. In this way it
had been possible to raise him to the supreme place in
the pantheon. At the same time this supremacy was

* See above, p. 211.

' His name occurs four times in the Tm'in Book of the Dead, pub-
lished by Lepsius. It does not occur at all in the Pyramid Texts,
unless the reference in Pyr. § 1095 is to him, which seems to me not
entirely certain.

320 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

curs twice in the hymn of the two architects of Amenho-
tep III, translated above, and it had already gained some
favor under this king, who named one of his royal barges
" Aton-Gleams." ^ There was an effort made to make the
name "Aton" equivalent in some of the old forms to the
word "god"; thus the traditional term "divine offering"
(lit. "god's offering") was now called "Aton offering." ^
Not only did the Sun-god receive a new name, but the
young king now gave him a new symbol also. The most
ancient symbol of the Sun-god, as we have seen, was a
pyramid, and as a falcon the figure of that bird was also
used to designate him. These, however, were mteUigible
only in Egypt, and Amenhotep IV had a wider arena in
view. The new symbol depicted the sun as a disk from
which diverging beams radiated downward, each ray ter-
minating in a human hand. It was a masterly symbol,
suggesting a power issuing from its celestial soiurce, and
putting its hand upon the world and the affairs of men.
As far back as the Pyramid Texts the rays of the Sun-god
had been likened to his arms and had been conceived as
an agency on earth: "The arm of the sunbeams is lifted
with king Unis," ^ raising him to the skies. Such a symbol
was suited to be understood throughout the world which
the Pharaoh controlled. There was also some effort to
define the Solar power thus symbolized. The full name
of the Sun-god was "Harakhte (Horizon-Horus), rejoicing
in the horizon in his name 'Heat which is in Aton.'" It
was enclosed in two royal cartouches, like the double
name of the Pharaoh, a device suggested by the analogy
of the Pharaoh's power, and another clear evidence of the
impression which the Empire as a state had now made on

^ BAR, II, 869; see also the author's History of Egypt, p. 360.
2 BAR, II, 987. » Pyr. § 334.

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 321

the Solar theology. But the name enclosed in the car-
touches roughly defined the actual physical force of the
sun in the visible world, and was no political figure. The
word rendered "heat" sometimes also means "light." It
is evident that what the king was deifying was the force
by which the Sun made himself felt on earth. In harmony
with this conclusion are the numerous statements in the
Aton hymns, which, as we shall see, represent Aton as
everywhere active on earth by means of his "rays."
While it is evident that the new faith drew its inspi-
ration from HeUopolis, so that the king assuming* the
oflSce of High Priest of Aton called himself "Great
Seer," the title of the High Priest of Heliopolis, never-
theless most of the old lumber which made up the exter-
nals of the traditional theology was rejected. We look
in vain for the sun-barques, and in the same way
also later accretions, like the voyage through the subter-
ranean caverns of the dead, are completely shorn away.^
^ To introduce the Aton faith into Thebes, Amenhotep IV
erected there a sumptuous temple of the new god, which,
of course, received liberal endowments from the royal
treasury. If the Aton movement was intended as a com-
promise with the priests of Amon, it failed. The bitterest
enmities soon broke out, culminating finally in the deter-
mination on the king's part to make Aton sole god of the
Empire and to annihilate Amon. The effort to obliterate
all trace of the existence of the upstart Amon resulted in
the most extreme measures. The king changed his own
name from "Amenhotep" ("Amen rests" ro "is satisfied")

* The decree for the burial of the sacred bull of Heliopolis, Mnevis,
at Amama (Daviss, Amama, V, p. 30) is clearly a compromise with
the Heliopolitau priests, but of course does not mean " animal wor-
ship."

322 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

to "Ikhnaton/' which means ''Aton is satisfied/' and is a
translation of the king's old name into a corresponding
idea in the Aton faith.^ The name of Amon, wherever it
occurred on the great monuments of Thebes^ was expunged,
and in doing so not even the name of the king's father,
Amenhotep III, was respected. These erasures were not
confined to the name of Amon. Even the word "gods'*
as a compromising plural was expunged wherever found,
and the names of the other gods, too, were treated like
that of Amon.*

Finding Thebes embarrassed with too many theological
traditions, in spite of its prestige and its splendor, Ikhnaton
forsook it and built a new capital about midway between
Thebes and the sea, at a place now conmionly known as
Tell el-Amarna. He called it Akhetaton, "Horizon of
Aton." The name of the Sun-god is the only divine name
found in the place, and it was evidently intended as a
centre for the dissemination of Solar monotheism. Here
several sanctuaries' of Aton were erected, and in the
boundary landmarks, imposing stelse which the king set
up in the eastern and western cliffs, the place was formally
devoted to his exclusive service. A similar Aton city
was founded in Nubia, and in all likelihood there was
another in Asia. The three great portions of the Empire,
Egypt, Nubia, and Syria, were thus each given a centre

^ See Sethb, Zeitachr, far aegypL Sprache, 44, 115-118, where this
new rendering of the name is demonstrated. The rendering in the
author's history, p. 364, is to be changed accordingly.

'Jt has been widely stated that the hostility of Ikhnaton did not
extend beyond his erasure of Amon; but this is an error. I found
other gods expunged in Nubia. See also my remarks in Zeiiackr,
fur aegypL Sprache^ 40, 109-110.

' There were at least four. The earlier Boundary StelsB give five
(Davibs, Amama, V, p. 30), but one is evidently a dittography oi
the preceding in the ancient scribes copy.

324 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

associates lifting up their eyes and endeavoring to dis-
cern God in the illimitable sweep of his power — Grod no
longer of the Nile valley only, but of all men and of all
the world. We can do no better at this juncture than to
let these hymns speak for themselves. The longest and
most important b as follows:^

UNIVERSAL SPLENDOR AND POWER OF ATON

"Thy dawning is beautiful in the horizon of the sky,
O living Aton, Beginning of life I
When thou risest in the eastern horizon,
Thou fillest every land with thy beauty.
Thou art beautiful, great, glittering, high above every land.
Thy rays, they encompass the lands, even all that thou hast made.
Thou art Re, and thou carriest them all away captive; '
Thou bindest them by thy love.
Though thou art far away, thy rays are upon earth;
Though thou art on high, thy [footprints are the day].

NIGHT

"When thou settest in the western horizon of the sky.
The earth is in darkness like the dead;
They sleep in their chambers.
Their heads are wrapped up.
Their nostrils are stopped.
And none seeth the other.
While all their things are stolen

*The best text is that of Davies, Amamaj VI, pi. xxix. Full
commentary will be found in my De hymnis in solem svb rege Ame-
nophide IV. conceptia, Berlin, 1894, though unfortunately based on
the older text of Bouriant. Some changes in the above translation,
as compared with that in the author's History , are due to a few new
readings in Davies's text, as well as to further study of the docu-
ment also. The division into strophes is not in the original, but is
indicated here for the sake of clearness. The titles of the strophes
I have inserted to aid the modem reader.

^ There is a pim here on the word Re, which is the same as the
word used for "all."

THE IMPERIAL AOE AND MONOTHEISM 325

Which are under their heads.

And they know it not.

Every lion cometh forth from his den,

All serpents, they sting.

Darkness . . .

The world is in silence,

He that made them resteth in his horizon.

((

DAY AND liiAN

Bright is the earth when thou risest in the horizon.

When thou shinest as Aton by day

Thou drivest away the darkness.

When thou sendest forth thy rays.

The Two Lands (Egypt) are in daily festivity.

Awake and standing upon their feet

When thou hast raised them up.

Their limbs bathed, they take their clothing.

Their arms uplifted in adoration to thy dawning.

(Then) in all the world they do their work.

DAY AND THE ANIMALS AND PLANTS

"All cattle rest upon their pasturage,
The trees and the plants flourish.
The birds flutter in their marshes.
Their wings uplifted in adoration to thee.
All the sheep dance upon their feet.
All winged things fly.
They live when thou hast shone upon them.

DAY AND THE WATERS

"The barques sail up-stream and down-stream alike.
Every highway is open because thou dawnest.
The fish in the river leap up before thee.
Thy rays are in the midst of the great green sea.

CREATION OF MAN

"Creator of the germ in woman,
Maker of seed in man,
Giving life to the son in the body of his mother.

326 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Soothing him that he may not weep,

Nurse (even) in the womb.

Giver of breath to animate every one that he makethi

When he cometh forth from the body . . . on the day of his birth.

Thou openest his mouth in speech,

Thou suppliest his necessities.

' CREATION OF ANHiAIA

"When the fledgling in the egg chirps in the shell,
Thou givest him breath therein to preserve him alive.
When thou hast '^ brought him together \
To (the point of) bursting it in the egg.
He cometh forth from the egg
To chirp [with all his might\
He goeth about upon his two feet
When he hath come forth therefrom.

THE WHOLE CBEATION

"How manifold are thy worksl
They are hidden from before (us),
O sole God, whose powers no other possesseth.^
Thou didst create the earth according to thy heart *
While thou wast alone:
Men, all cattle large and small.
All that are upon the earth.
That go about upon their feet;
[All] that are on high.
That fly with their wings.
The foreign countries^ Syria and Kush,
The land of Egypt;

^ The shorter hymns follow the phrase "sole God," with the addi-
tion, '^ beside whom there is no other" (see Davies, Amama, I,
XXXVI, 1. 1, and HI, XXIX, 1. 1).

This use of the word sp for "quality" or "power" will be found
also in the hymn of Suti and Hor translated above (Brit. Mus. Stela
826, 1. 3); Great Hymn to Amon (1, 5), and similarly on the late
statue of Hor (Louvre 88, Brugsch, Thes.f VI, 1251, 1. 1).

*The word "heart" may mean either "pleasure" or "under-
standing" here.

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 327

Thou settest every man into his place.

Thou suppliest their necessities.

Every one has his possessions.

And his days are reckoned.

The tongues are divers in speech.

Their forms Ukewise and their skins are distinguished.

(For) thou makest different the strangers.

WATERINa THE EARTH IN EGYPT AND ABKOAD

"Thou makest the Nile in the Nether World,
Thou bringest it as thou desirest.
To preserve alive the people.^
For thou hast made them for thyself.
The lord of them all, resting among them;
Thou lord of every land, who risest for them.
Thou Sun of day, great in majesty.
All the distant countries.
Thou makest (also) their life.
Thou hast set a Nile in the sky;
When it falleth for them.
It maketh waves upon the mountains,
Like the great green sea.
Watering their fields in their towns.

"How excellent are thy designs, O lord of eternity!
There is a Nile in the sky for the strangers
And for the cattle of every country that go upon their feet.
(But) the Nile, it cometh from the Nether World for Egypt.

THE SEASONS

iti

'Thy rays nourish* every garden;

When thou risest they live.

They grow by thee.

Thou makest the seasons

In order to create all thy work:

Winter to bring them coolness.

And heat that ^they may taste^ thee.

^ The word is one used only of the people of Egypt.

' The word used implies the nourishment of a mother at the breast.

328 RBLIOION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Thou didst make the distant sky to rise therein,

In order to behokl all that thou hast made,

Thou alone, shining in thy form as living Aton,

Dawning, Ottering, going afar and returning.

Thou makest millions of forms

Through thysdf alone;

Cities, towns, and tribes, highways and rivers.

All eyes see thee before them.

For thou art Aton of the day over the earth.

REVEIATION TO THE KING

"Thou art in my heart.
There is no other that knoweth thee
Save thy son Ikhnaton.
Thou hast made him wise
In thy designs and in thy might.
The world is in thy hand.
Even as thou hast made them.
When thou hast risen they live.
When thou settest they die;
For thou art length of life of thyself.
Men live through thee,
While (their) eyes are upon thy beauty
Until thou settest.
All labor is put away
When thou settest in the west.

Thou'didst establish the world,

And raise them up for thy son.

Who came forth from thy limbs.

The king of Upper and Lower Egypt,

Living in Truth, Lord of the Two Lands,

Nefer-khepru-Re, Wan-Re (Ikhnaton),

Son of Re, living in Truth, lord of diadems,

Ikhnaton, whose life is long;

(And for) the chief royal wife, his beloved.

Mistress of the Two Lands, Nefer-nefru-Aton, Nof retete.

Living and flourishing for ever and ever."

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 329

This great royal hymn doubtless represents an excerpt, or
a series of fragments excerpted, from the ritual of Aton,
as it was celebrated from day to day in the Aton temple
at Amarna. Unhappily, it was copied in the cemetery in
but one tomb, where about a third of it has perished by
the vandalism of the modem natives, leaving us for the
lost portion only a very inaccurate and hasty modem
copy of thirty years ago (1883). The other tombs were
supplied, with their devotional inscriptions, from the cur-
rent paragraphs and stock phrases which made up the
knowledge of the Aton faith as understood by the scribes
and painters who decorated these tombs. It should not
be forgotten, therefore, that the fragments of the Aton
faith which have survived to us in the Amarna cemetery,
our chief source, have thus filtered mechanically through
the indifferent hands, and the starved and listless minds
of a few petty bureaucrats on the outskirts of a great re-
ligious and intellectual movement. Apart from the Royal
Hymn, they were elsewhere content with bits and snatches
copied in some cases from the Royal Hymn itself, or other
fragments patched together in the form of a shorter hynm,
which they then slavishly copied in whole or in part from
tomb to tomb. Where the materials are so meagre, and
the movement revealed so momentous, even the few new
contributions furnished by the short hynm are of great
value.^ In four cases the hymn is attributed to the king
himself; that is, he is represented as reciting it to Aton.
The lines are as follows:

^ The short hymn was put together in a composite text of all ver-
sions in the second (unpublished) portion of my De hymnia in 8olem,
and this was later supplemented by my own copies. Dayies has
also put together a composite text from five tombs in his Amarna,
IV, pis. xxxii-xxxiii. The above translation is based on both
sources.

330 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

"Thy rising is beautiful, O living Aton, lord of Eternity;
Thou art shining, beautiful, strong;
Thy love is great and mighty,
Thy rays ^are cast^ into every face.
Thy glowing hue brings life to hearts.
When thou hast filled the Two Lands with thy love.
O Grod who himself fashioned himself.
Maker of every land.
Creator of that which is upon it:
Men, all cattle large and small.
All trees that grow in the soil.
They live when thou dawnest for them,
Thou art the mother and the father of all that thou hast made.
As for their eyes, when thou dawnest.
They see by means of thee.
Thy rays illuminate the whole earth.
And every heart rejoices because of seeing thee.
When thou dawnest as their lord.

''When thou settest in the western horizon of the sky,
They sleep after the manner of the dead.
Their heads are wrapped up,
Their nostrils are stopped.
Until thy rising comes in the morning,
In the eastern horizon of the sky.
Their arms are uplifted in adoration of thee.
Thou makest hearts to live by thy beauty.
And men live when thou sendest forth thy rays.
Every land is in festivity:
Singing, music, and shoutings of joy
Are in the hall of the Benben^house,
Thy temple in Akhet-Aton, the seat of Truth,
Wherewith thou art satisfied.
Food and provision are offered therein;
Thy pure son performs thy pleasing ceremonies^
O living Aton, at his festal processions.
All that thou hast made dances before thee.
Thy august son rejoices, his heart is joyous,

* See above, p. 71.

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 331

O living Aton, bom in the sky every day.

He begets his august son Wanre (Ikhnaton)

Like himself without ceasing,

Son of Re, wearing his beauty, Nefer-khepru-Re, Wanre (Ikhnaton),

Even me, thy son, in whom thou art satisfied,

Who bears thy name.

Thy strength and thy might abide in my heart,

Thou art Aton, living forever. . . .

Thou hast made the distant sky to rise therein.

In order to behold all that thou hast made,

While thou wast alone.

Millions of life are in thee to make them live.

It is the breath of life in the nostrils to behold thy rays.*

All flowers live and what grows in the soil

Is made to grow because thou dawnest

They are drunken before thee.

All cattle skip upon their feet;

The birds in the marsh fly with joy.

Their wings that were folded are spread.

Uplifted in adoration to the living Aton,

The maker . . ."«

In these hymns there is an inspiring universalism not
found before in the religion of Egypt. It is world wide
in its sweep. The king claims that the recognition of the
Smi-god's universal supremacy is also universal, and that
all men acknowledge his dominion. On the great boun-
dary stela likewise he says of them, that Aton made them
"for his own self; all lands, the MgsesLUS bear their dues,
their tribute is upon their backs, for him who made their
life, him by whose rays men live and breathe the air." •

^ Variant: ''Breath, it enters the nostrils when thou showest thy-
self to them."

* The remainder of the line is lost. Only one of the five texts
which exist from the beginning goes as far as this point. It also
stopped at this place, so that only part of a line has been lost.

' Stela E, Davies, Amama, V, pi. xxix, 1. 7.

332 KEUQION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

It is dear that he was projecting a world religion, and en-
deavoring to displace by it the nationalism which had
preceded it for twenty centiuies.

Along with this universal power, Ikhnaton is also
deeply impressed with the eternal diuration of his god;
and although he himself calmly accepts his own mortality
and early in his career at Amama makes public and i>er-
manently records on the boundary stete instructions for
his own burial, nevertheless he relies upon his intimate re-
lation with Aton to insure him something of the Sun-god's
duration. His official titulary always contains the epithet
after his name, "whose lifetime (or duration) is long/*

But in the beginning of all, Aton called himself forth
out of the eternal solitude, the author of his own being.
The king calls him "My rampart of a million cubits, my
reminder of eternity, my witness of the things of eternity,
who himself fashioned himself with his own hands, whom
no artificer knew." ^ In harmony with this idea, the
hynms love to reiterate the fact that the creation of the
world which followed was done while the god was yet
alone. The words "while thou wert alone" are almost
a refrain in these hymns. He is the universal creator
who brought forth all the races of man and distinguished
them in speech and in color of the skin. His creative
power still goes on calling forth life, even from the in-
animate egg. Nowhere do we find more marked the
naive wonder of the king at the Sun-god's life-giving
power than in this marvel, that within the egg-shell,
which the king calls the "stone" of the egg — within this
lifeless stone, the sounds of life respond to the command
of Aton, and, nourished by the breath which he ii^ives, a
living creature issues forth.

^ Boundary Stela K| tbid., V, pi. xxix, 1. 9.

334 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

in like solicitude for other lands has made a Nile for them
in the sky.

It is this recognition of the fatherly solicitude of Aton
for all creatures which lifts the movement of Ikhnaton
far above all that had before been attained in the
religion of Egypt or of the whole East before this time.
"Thou art the father and the mother of all that thou hast
made" is a thought which anticipates much of the later
development in religion even down to our own time.
The picture of the lily-grown marshes, where the flowers
are "drunken" in the intoxicating radiance of Aton,
where the birds unfold their wings and lift them "in adora-
tion of the living Aton," where the cattle dance with de-
light in the simshine, and the fish in the river beyond leap
up to greet the light, the imiversal light whose beams are
even "in the midst of the great green sea" — all this dis-
closes a discernment of the presence of God in nature, and
an appreciation of the revelation of God in the visible
world such as we find a thousand years later in the Hebrew
psalms, and in our own poets of nature since Wordsworth.

It is evident that, in spite of the political origin of this
movement, the deepest sources of power in this remark-
able revolution lay in this appeal to nature, in this ad-
monition to "consider the lilies of the field." Ikhnaton
was a "God-intoxicated man," whose mind responded
with marvellous sensitiveness and discernment to the visi-
ble evidences of God about him. He was fairly ecstatic
in his sense of the beauty of the eternal and universal
light. Its beams enfold him on every monument of his
which has survived. He prays, "May my eyes be satis-
fied daily with beholding him, when he dawns in this
house of Aton and fills it with his own self by his beams,
beauteous in love, and lays them upon me in satisfying

338 KELIQION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

to interpret the phrase exactly, it is evident that the con-
ception of Truth and Right, personified as a goddess, the
daughter of the Sun-god at a remote age, occupied a
prominent place in the Aton movement, and not least in
the personal faith of the king. The new capital was
called the "seat of truth" in the short hymn, and we fre-
quently find the men of Ikhnaton's court glorifying truth.
One of his leading partisans. Eye, says: "He (the king)
put truth in my body and my abomination is lying. I
know that Wanre (Ikhnaton) rejoices in it (truth)." ^
The same man affirms that the Sun-god is one " (whose)
heart is satisfied with truth, whose abomination is false-
hood."^ Another official states in his Amama tomb: "I
will speak truth to his majesty, (for) I know that he lives
therein. ... I do not that which his majesty hates, (for)
my abomination is lying in my body. . . . I have reported
truth to his majesty, (for) I know that he lives therein.
Thou art Re, begetter of truth. . . . I took not the reward
of lying, nor expelled the truth for the violent." * Re was
still the author of truth or righteousness at Amama as
before, and if we hear of no judgment hereafter in the
Amarna tombs, it was clearly only the rejection of the
cloud of gods and demi-gods, with Osiris at their head,
who had been involved in the judgment as we find it in
the Book of the Dead. These were now banished, and
the dramatic scene of the judgment seems to have dis-
appeared with them, although it is clear that the ethical
requirements of the Solar faith, the faith in which they
emerged and developed, were not relaxed in Ikhnaton's

fur aegypL Sprachef 49, 51.) The chapter is a magical charm to
force the Sun-god to justify the deceased. It was doubtless such
materialistic notions of ethical concepts which led the priests to
employ magic in the realm of ethics and ethical values.
1 BAR, II, 993, 1002. ^ BAR, II, 994. » BAR, II, 1013.

340 RELIQION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

nihilate it. The new faith has but one name at Amama.
It is frequently called the "teaching/* and this "teaching"
is attributed solely to the king. There is no reason to
question this attribution. But we should realize what
this "teaching" meant in the life of the Egyptian people
as a whole.

Here had been a great people, the onward flow of whose
life, in spite of its almost irresistible momentum, had been
suddenly arrested and then diverted into a strange
channel. Their holy places had been desecrated, the
shrines sacred with the memories of thousands of years
had been closed up, the priests driven away, the offerings
and temple incomes confiscated, and the old order blotted
out. Everywhere whole conununities, moved by in-
stincts flowing from imtold centuries of habit and custom,
returned to their holy places to find them no more, and
stood dumfounded before the closed doors of the ancient
sanctuaries. On feast days, sanctified by memories of
earliest childhood, venerable halls that had resounded
with the rejoicings of the multitudes, as we have recalled
them at Siut, now stood silent and empty; and every day
as the funeral processions wound across the desert margin
and up the plateau to the cemetery, the great comforter
and friend, Osiris, the champion of the dead in every
danger, was banished, and no man dared so much as utter
his name.^ Even in their oaths, absorbed from childhood
with their mothers' milk, the involuntary names must not

^In mortuary doctrines this Amama movement was unable
wholly to eradicate the old customs. The heart scarab is mentioned
above; "ushebti" statuettes were also known. There is one in
Zurich, see Wiedemann, Proceed, of the Soc. of Bib, Arch,, VII,
200-3; also one in Cairo, see Maspbbo, MiLsee egyptien, III,
pi. xxiii, pp. 27-28. They contain prayers for sustenance at the
tomb, in the name of Aton. Osiris is not named.

342 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

hood; to drive away from their little ones the lurking
demons of the dark. In the midst of a whole land thus
darkened by clouds of smouldering discontent, this mar-
vellous young king; and the group of sympathizers who
surrounded him, set up their tabernacle to the daily light,
in serene unconsciousness of the fatal darkness that en-
veloped all around and grew daily darker and more
threatening.

In placing the movement of Ikhnaton against a back-
ground of popular discontent like this, and adding to the
picture also the far more immediately dangerous secret
opposition of the ancient priesthoods, the still uneon-
quered party of Amon, and the powerful military group,
who were disaffected by the king's peace policy in Asia
and his lack of interest in imperial administration and
maintenance, we begin to discern something of the power-
ful individuality of this first intellectual leader in history.
His reign was the earliest age of the rule of ideas, irre-
spective of the condition and willingness of the people
upon whom they were to be forced. As Matthew Arnold
has so well said, in commenting on the French Revolu-
tion: "But the mania for giving an immediate political
application to all these fine ideas of the reason was fatal.
. . . Ideas cannot be too much prized in and for them-
selves, cannot be too much lived with; but to transfer
them abruptly into the world of politics and practice,
violently to revolutionize the world at their bidding —
that is quite another thing." But Ikhnaton had no
French Revolution to look back upon. He was himself
the world's first revolutionist, and he was fully convinced
that he might entirely recast the world of religion, thought,
art, and life by the invincible purpose he held, to make
his ideas at once practically effective. And so the fair

THE IMPERIAL AGE AND MONOTHEISM 343

City of the Amama plain arose, a fatuous island of the blest
in a sea of discontent, a vision of fond hopes, bom in a
mind fatally forgetful that the past cannot be annihilated.
The marvel is that such a man should have first arisen in
the East, and especially in Egypt, where no man except
Ikhnaton possessed the ability to forget. Nor was the
great Mediterranean world which Egypt now dominated
any better prepared for an international religion than its
Egyptian lords. The imperial imagination of Ikhnaton re-
minds one of that of Alexander the Great, a thousand years
later, but it was many centuries in advance of his age.

We cannot wonder that when the storm broke it swept
away almost all traces of this earliest idealist. All that
we have to tell us of him is the wreck of his city, a lonely
outpost of idealism, not to be overtaken and passed till
six centuries later those Bedouin hordes who were now
drifting into Ikhnaton's Palestinian provinces had coa-
lesced into a nation of social, moral, and religious aspira-
tions^ and had thus brought forth the Hebrew prophets.

LECTURE X

THE AGE OP PERSONAL PIETY— SACERDOTALISM AND

FINAL DECADENCE

The fall of Ikhnaton is shrouded in complete obscurity.
The ultimate result was the restoration of Amon by
Tutenkhamon, one of Ikhnaton's feeble successors. The
old regime returned. Tutenkhamon's account of his res-
toration of the gods is an interesting revelation of the
religious and intellectual attitude of the leading men of
affairs when Ikhnaton had passed away. The new king
refers to himself as "the good ruler, who did excellent
things for the father of all gods (Amon), who restored for
him that which was in ruin as everlasting monuments;
cast out for him sin in the Two Lands (Egypt), so that
righteousness endured • . .; and made lying to be the
abomination of the land, as in the beginning. For when
his majesty was crowned as king, the temples of the gods
and goddesses were [desolat]ed from Elephantine as far as
the marshes of the Delta ^ . . . (hammered out). Their
holy places were ^forsaken^ and had become overgrown
tracts, . . . their sanctuaries were like that which has
never been, and their houses were trodden roads. The
land was in an evil pass, and as for the gods, they had for-
saken this land. If people were sent to Syria to extend

^ '^ Marshes of the Delta" (hVt ydhw) is not in the published edi-
tion of the text, but close study of a large-scale photograph shows
that it is still discernible, though with great difficulty, on the stone.

344

346 RELIQION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

But he who assails thee falls.

Fie upon him who transgresses against thee in every lancL

The sun of him who knows thee not goes down, O Anuml

But as for him who knows thee, he shines.

The forecourt of him who assailed thee is in darkness.

But the whole earth is in light

Whosoever puts thee in his heart, O Amon,

Lo, his sun dawns." ^

This very hymn, however, betrays its connection with
the old Solar faith and the paternal interpretation of Re,
as it goes on to the praise of Amon as the " good shepherd "
and the " pilot," ideas which, we recall, arose in the social
movement of the Feudal Age. Indeed, notwithstanding
the restoration of Amon, the ideas and the tendencies
which had given birth to the revolution of Ikhnaton were
far from disappearing. It was not possible to carry them
on, under a monotheistic form, involving the annihilation
of the old gods; but the human and beneficent aspects of
Aton, in his care for all men, had taken hold upon the
imagination of the thinking classes, and we find the same
qualities now attributed to Amon. Men sang of him:

"Lord of truth, father of gods.
Maker of men and creator of animals.
Lord of that which is,
Creator of the tree of life.
Maker of herhs, sustaining the cattle alive." '

The hymn from which these lines are quoted does not
hesitate to call the god thus praised Re or Atum, showing

^Ostrakon 5656 a in the British Museum, published in Birch,
Inscriptions in the Hieratic Character, pi. xxvi. The historical con-
nection of the passages cited was first noted in a brilliant interpreta-
tion by Erman, Zeitschr, fur aegypL Sprache, 42, 106 Jf.

* Great Hymn to Amon, Cairo Papyrus, No. 17 (Maribtte, II,
pis. 11-13).

THE AOE OF PERSONAL PIETY 347

that the Aton movement had left the traditional prestige
of the Heliopolitan Re miblemished. Another passage
contains evident echoes of the Aton faith:

"Hail to theel Re, lord of Truth,
Whose sanctuary is hidden, lord of gods,
Khepri in the midst of his barque.
Who commanded and the gods became;
Atum, who made the people,
Who determined the fashion of them.
Maker of their sustenance.
Who di^nguished one color (race) from another;
Who hears the prayer of him who is in captivity.
Who is kindly of heart when one calls upon him.
Who saves the timid from the haughty,
Who separates the weak from the Wong^,
Lord of Knowledge, '^in^ whose mouth is Taste;
For love of whom the Nile comes.
Lord of sweetness, great in love.
At whose coming the people live."

Even the old monotheistic phrases have here and there
survived, and this hymn employs them without compunc-
tion, though constantly referring to the gods. It says:

"Sole 4ikeness\ maker of what is.
Sole and only one, maker of what exists.
From whose eyes men issued.
From whose mouth the gods came forth.
Maker of herbs for the cattle.
And the tree of life for mankind,
Who maketh the sustenance of the fish ^] the stream,
And the birds that ^traverse^ the sky.
Who giveth breath to that which is in the egg.
And maketh to live the son of the worm.
Who maketh that on which the gnats live.
The worms and the insects likewise,
Who supplieth the needs of the mice in their holes.
Who sustaineth alive the ^birds^ in every tree.

348 BELIOION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Hail to thee, who hast made all these.

Thou sole and only one, with many arms.

Thou sleeper waking while all men sleep.

Seeking good things for his cattle.

Amon, enduring in all things,

Atum-Harakhte,

Praise to thee in all that they say.

Jubilation to thee, for ^thy tarrying with us\

Obeisance to thee, who didst create us,

'Hail to thee,' say all cattle;

'Jubilation to thee,' says eveiy country.

To the height of heaven, to the breadUi of earth.

To the depths of the sea."

A hymn to Osiris of the same age says to him: ''Thou
art the father and the mother of men, they Uve from thy
breath." ^ There is a spirit of hmnane solicitude in all
this, which, as we have seen, appeared as early as the
social teaching of the Feudal Age. Especially the pref-
erence for the "timid" as over against the "haughty"
and overbearing, and the discerning "taste" and "knowl-
edge," which are the royal and divine prerogatives, we
have already discovered in social tractates like Ipuwer,
and even in a state document like the Installation of the
Vizier in the Twelfth Dynasty. That God is the father
and mother of his creatures was, of course, a doctrine of
the Aton faith. Such hymns also still preserve the imi-
versalism, the disregard for national lines, which was so
prominent in the teaching of Ikhnaton. As we look
further into the simpler and less ecclesiastical professions
of the thirteenth and twelfth centuries before Christ, the
two centuries after Ikhnaton, the confidence of the wor-
shipper in the solicitude of the Sun-god for all, even the
least of his creatures, has developed into a devotional

^ Zeitschr. fUr aegypt. Sprachef 38, 31.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 349

spirit, and a consciousness of personal relation with the
god, which was already discernible in Ikhnaton's declara-
tion to his god: "Thou art in my heart." The surviving
influence of the Aton faith and the doctrines of social jus-
tice of the Feudal Age now culminated, therefore, in the
profoundest expression or revelation of the devotional re-
ligious spirit ever attained by the men of Egypt. Further-
more, although rooted in the teaching of an exclusive few
heretofore, these beliefs in an intimate and personal rela-
tion between the worshipper and his god had now, with
the lapse of centuries and by slow and gradual process,
become widespread among the people. An age of personal
piety and inner aspiration to God now dawned among the
masses. It is a notable development and, like so many
of the movements which we have followed in these lect-
ures, the earliest of its kind as yet discernible in the
history of the East, or for that matter in the history of
man. We are able to follow it only at Thebes, and it is
not a little interesting to be able to look into the souls of
the common folk who thronged the streets and markets,
who tilled the fields and maintained the industries, who
kept the accounts and carried on the oflScial records, the
hewers of wood and the drawers of water, the men and
women upon whose shoulders rested the great burden of
material life in the vast capital of the Egyptian Empire
during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries before Christ.
A scribe in one of the treasury magazines of the Theban
necropolis prays to Amon, as to him

"Who Cometh to the silent,
Who saveth the poor,
Who giveth breath to every one he loveth.

Give to me [thy] hand,

<

350 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Save me.

Shine upon me.

For thou makest my sustenance.

Thou art the sole god, there is no other.

Even Re, who dawneth in the sky,

Atimi maker of men.

Who heareth the prayers of him who calls to him.

Who saveth a man from the haughty,

Who bringeth the Nile for him who b among them.

Who leadeth — for all men.

When he riseth, the people live.

Their hearts live when they see him

Who giveth breath to him who is the egg,

Who maketh the people and the birds to live.

Who supplieth the needs of the mice in their holes.

The worms and the insects likewise." ^

To a god, the least of whose creatures are the object of
his care, these men of Thebes might bring their misfortunes
and their daily cares, confident in his kindness and be-
neficence. A painter of tomb scenes in the necropolis
erected a stela in one of the necropolis sanctuaries, telling
how Amon, in gracious mercy, had saved his son from
sickness.^ Amon is to him the "august god, who heareth
petitions, who cometh at the cry of the afflicted poor, and
giveth breath to him who is bowed down," and the story
of Amon's goodness he tells thus:

*'Praise to Amon!
I make hymns in his name,
I give to him praise,
To the height of heaven,

1 Berlm Statuette, No. 6910.

' Berlin, No. 23077, published by Erman, Sitzungsher, der KgL
Preu88, Akad,, 1911, XLIX, pp. 1087 #. Erman first called atten-
tion to the character of this group of necropolis votive stelse in an
essay, Denksieine avs dem thebaniscken Grdberstadtj ibid., pp. 1086 Jf.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 351

And the breadth of earth;
I tell of his prowess
To hun who sails down-stream.
And to him who sails up-stream.

"Beware of him I
Repeat it to son and daughter.
To great and small,
Tell it to generation after generation.
Who are not yet bom.
Tell it to the fishes in the stream.
To the birds in the sky,
Repeat it to him who knoweth it not
And to him who knoweth it.
Beware of him.

t€

Thou, O Amon, art the lord of the silent.

Who cometh at the cry of the poor.

When I cry to thee in my affliction.

Then thou comest and savest me.

That thou mayest give breath to him who is bowed down.

And mayest save me lying in bondage.^

Thou, Amon-Re, Lord of Thebes, art he.

Who saveth him that is in the Nether World,

When men cry unto thee.

Thou art he that cometh from afar.''

"Nebre,' painter of Amon in the necropolis, son of Pai,
painter of Amon in the necropoUs, made this in the name
of his lord, Amon, Lord of Thebes, who cometh at the
cry of the poor; making for him praises in his name, be-
cause of the greatness of his might, and making for him
prayers before him and before the whole land, on behalf
of the painter Nakht-Amon,^ when he lay sick unto death,
being [in^ the power of Amon, because of his sin."

^ So Erman. * The son of Neb-Re, whose life Amon saves.

352 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

" I found that the lord of gods came as the north wind,
while fragrant air was before him, that he might save the
painter Nakht-Amon, son of the painter of Amon in the
necropolis, Nebre, bom of the housewife, Peshed."

*'He salth, 'Though the servant be wont to commit
sin, yet is the lord wont to be gracious. The lord of
Thebes spends not the whole day wroth. If he be wroth
for the space of a moment, it remaineth not . . . turns
to us in gradousness, Amon turns '^with^ his breath.''' ^

''By thy ka, thou wilt be gracious, and that which is
turned away will not be repeated."

"He saith, 'I will make this stela in thy name, and I
wiU record this hymn in writing upon it, if thou wilt save
for me the painter Nakht-Amon.' Thus I spake to thee,
and thou hearkenedst to me. Now behold I do that
which I said. Thou art the lord of the one who calls upon
him, who is satisfied with righteousness, the lord of
Thebes."

"Made by the painter, Nebre and [his] son EHiai."

Similarly in a year of unseasonable weather and result-
ing distress a man prays: "Come to me, O Amon, save
me in this year of distress. As for the sun, when it hap-
pens that he shines not, then winter comes in sunmier-
time, the months are '^retarded^ and the days are belated.
The great cry out to thee, O Amon, and the small seek
after thee. Those who are in the arms of their nurses say,
'Give us breath, O Amon/ Then is Amon foimd coming
in peace with the sweet air before him. He transfonns
me into a vulture-wing, like a barque manned, '^saying^,
'Strength to the shepherds in the field, the washers on
the dike, the '^guards^ who come forth from the district^ '
the gazelles in the desert."

^ So Ebman.

354 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

'Bring witnesses;' Amon-Re who judgeth the'Varth with
his finger, whose words are before the heart. He assigneth
him that sinneth against him to the fire, and the just [to]
the West." ^ Rich and poor alike may suffer the dis-
pleasure of the god aroused by sin. An oath taken
lightly or falsely calls down the wrath of the god, and he
smites the transgressor with sickness or blindness, from
which relief may be obtained as we have seen, if rej^ent-
ance follows and the offender humbly seeks the favor of
his god.* Now for the first time conscience is fully eman-
cipated. The sinner pleads his ignorance and proneness
to err. ''Thou sole and only one, thou Harakhte who
hath none other like him, protector of millions, savior of
hundred-thousands, who shieldeth him that calleth upon
him, thou lord of Heliopolis; punish me not for my many
sins. I am one ignorant of his own body, I am a man
without understanding. All day I follow after my own
dictates as the ox after his fodder." * This is in striking
contrast with the Book of the Dead, in which the soul
admits no sin and claims entire innocence. But now in
this posture of unworthiness and hunulity there is inner
communion with God night and day. "Come to me, O
Re-Harakhte, that thou may est guide me; for thou art
he that doeth, and none doeth without thee, but thou art
he who doeth it. Come to me, Atum, thou art the august
god. My heart goes out to Heliopolis. . . . My heart
rejoiceth and my bosom is glad. My petitions are heard,
even my daily prayers, and my hymns by night. My
supplications shall flourish in my mouth, for they are
heard this day." *

* Papyrus Anastasi, II, 6, 5-7.

» Erman, ibid., 1102-3, 1104, 1098-1110, 1101-2, 1107.
' Papyrus Anastasi, II, 10, 5-11, 2.

* Ibid., II, 10, 1-10, 5.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 355

In the old hymns, made up of objective descriptions,
quotations from the myths, and allusions to mythical in-
cidents, all matters entirely external to the life of the wor-
shipper, every man might pray the same prayer; but now
prayer becomes a revelation of inner personal experience,
an expression of individual communion with God. It is a
communion in which the worshipper discerns in his god
one nourishing the soul as a shepherd feeds his flock.
"O Amon, thou herdman bringing forth the herds in the
morning, leading the suffering to pasture; as the herd-
man leads the herds [to] pasture, so dost thou, O Amon,
lead the suffering to food, for Amon is a herdman, herding
him that leans upon him. . . . O Amon-Re, I love thee
and I have filled my heart with thee. . . . Thou wilt
rescue me out of the mouth of men in the day when they
speak lies; for the Lord of Truth, he liveth in truth. I
will not follow the anxiety in my heart, (for) that which
Amon hath said flourisheth." ^ There are, to be sure, ex-
ternal and material means which will further this spiritual
relation with the god. The wise man sagely admonishes
to" celebrate the feast of thy god, repeat his seasons; the
god is wroth [with] him who transgresses [against] him." *
Nevertheless, even in the opinion of the sages, who are
wont to compromise with traditional customs, the most
effective means of gaining the favor of God is contempla-
tive sUence and mner communion. "Be not of many

words, for in sUence shalt thou gain good As for

the precinct of God, his abomination is crying out; pray
thou with a desiring heart whose every word is hidden,

^Inscriptions in the Hieratic Character^ XXVI, British Museum
Ostrakon, No. 5656 a, 11. 6-7, 14-15, verso 11. 1-3 (after a collation
by Erman. Cf. Zeitschr, fur aegypt. Sprache, 42, 106).

* Mdximes d^Ani, 2, 3-5.

356 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

and he will supply thy need, and hear thy speech and
ceive thy offering." ^ It is in such an attitude as this
that the worshipper may turn to his God as to a fountain
of spiritual refreshment, saying, "Thou sweet Well for
him that thirsteth in the desert; it is closed to him who
speaks, but it is open to him who is silent. When he who
is silent comes, lo, he finds the well." * This attitude of
silent conununion, waiting upon the gracious goodness of
God, was not confined to the select few, nor to the edu-
cated priestly communities. On the humblest monu-
ments of the common people Amon is called the god
"who Cometh to the silent," or the "lord of the silent,"
as we have already observed.* It is in this final develop-
ment of devotional feeling, crowning the religious and
intellectual revolution of Ikhnaton, and also forming the
culmination of the doctrines of social justice emerging in
the Feudal Age, that the religion of Egypt reached its
noblest and most exalted period. The materials for the
age of the decadence which followed are too scanty to
reveal clearly the causes of the stagnation which now
ensued, a decline from which the religious life of Egypt
never recovered.

In morals and in the attitude toward life the sages
continued to maintain a spirit of wholesome regard for
the highest practical ideals, an attitude in which we dis-
cern a distinct advance upon the teachings of the fathers.
Reputation was strictly to be guarded. "Let every place
which thou lovest be known, " says the sage; * and drunk-
enness and dissolute living are exhibited in all their dis-
astrous consequences for the young. To the young man
the dangers of inunorality are bared with naked frank-.

1 Ibid., 3, 1-4. * Papyrus SaUier, I, 8, 2-3.

• See above, pp. 349, 351. * Maximes d^Anij 3, 12.

358 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

B. C. expresses in graphic form the thought of the people
concerning these complicated and elusive matters. It is
now commonly known as the Tale of the Two Brothers.^
The two gods who appear as the chief characters in the
tale are pictured in the naive imagination of the folk as
two peasants^ whose names, Anubis and Bata, have dis-
closed them as gods of the town of Kasa,* who had a place
in the religion of Egypt at an enormously remote date.'
Anubis, the elder brother, is married; Bata, the younger,
lives with them almost as their son, when the idyllic
roimd of picturesque rustic life is forever ended by an
attempt on the part of the wife, enamoured of the younger
brother, to establish improper relations with him. The
youth indignantly refuses, exemplifying the current wisdom
of the wise man as we have already met it. The incident
later found place in the Hebrew tradition of Joseph in
Egypt. Deceived by his wife into believing a perverted
version of the aSsir foisted upon him by the false woman,
Anubis lies in wait to slay his brother. Warned by his
cattle, however, the youth flees, and his brother's pursuit

^ Preserved in a papyrus of the British Museum called Papyrus
D^Orhiney; published in Select Papyri , , . in the British Museuniy
London, 1860, part II, pis. ix-xix. It has been often translated. A
good rendering by Grippith will be found in Pbtrib's Egyptian Tales,
London, 1895, Second Series, pp. 36-65.

* See Gardiner, Proceedings of the Soc, of BtbL Arch., XXVII,
1905, p. 185, and Spieqelberg, Zeitschr. fUr aegypt, Sprache, 44,
pp. 98-99.

< NAvnjiB has called attention to the probable occurrence of Bata
in the Pyramid Texts (Zeitschr. fUr aegypt. Sprache, 43, 77-83).
Nayillb seems to have overlooked the fact that Bata occurs as
early as Menes's time. Indeed he is to be found on a tablet of Menes
published by Naville in the very article in question (p. 79, fig/ 3) ;
for the bird represented there perched on the building or sanctuary
has before him a "t." The bird is to be read "B*," which with the
'H" gives us the reading Bata.

360 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

that he must assume the form of a sacred bull, and going
in this guise to the court, he will reckon with the faithless
beauty whom the gods gave him. But the court beauty
compasses the death of the bull, and from his blood which
spatters the door-posts of the palace two beautiful persea-
trees spring up, one on either side of the doorway. When
the Pharaoh's favorite induces him to cut these down, a
chip from one of them flies into her mouth, and as a result
she bears a son, who proves to be Bata himself. The
Pharaoh makes him heir to the throne, to which Bata
finally succeeds, and after a long and happy reign is fol-
lowed as king by his brother, the faithful Anubis.

It is easy to discern in the imperishable life of Bata, as
it emerges in one form after another, especially in the
cedar and the persea-tree, a folk version of some of the
Osiris incidents interwoven with the myth of the Sun-god.
But it will be noticed that Bata is alternately the persea
of Osiris and the bull of the Sun, who still remains, as he
has been throughout its history, the great god of Egypt.
"The god of this land is the Sun in the horizon, (while)
his statues are on earth," says the sage;^ but the other
gods have now in the thought of the time completely
coalesced with him. This Solar pantheism now took defi-
nite form in the thought of the theologian, and we ulti-
mately find an "Amon-Re-Wennofer (Osiris)" as king
of Egypt, with his name inclosed in a cartouche like
an earthly ruler.^ Amon as Sun-god becomes the all-
pervasive, life-giving air. "He emits air, refreshing the
throat, in his name of 'Amon,' who abides (nm) in all
things, the soul of Shu (god of the air) for all gods, the
substance of life, who created the tree of life, . . . flood-

* Maximea d'Anif 6, 16.

* Bbugsch, Bei8e nach der grossen Oaae, pi. xvii.

362 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

Thus those pantheistic speculations which we found as
far back as the Pyramid ^e, after two thousand years of
slow development have finally resulted in identifying the
world with Grod.

In form all the old faiths went on as before, maintain-
ing all the old externals. This was especially true of
mortuary practices, which developed under the Empire as
never before. All men of whatever dass, no matter how
poor and needy, desired and received some mortuary
equipment, when laid away in the grave, which might
enable the departed to share in the blessed destiny of
Osiris. The material equipment of the dead for eternity,
in spite of the impressive demonstration of its futility
furnished by the desolate pyramid cemeteries, had now
become a vast industry which all classes of society called
into requisition. The sages cautioned even the young to
make ready their tombs. " Say not ' I am (too) young to
be taken.' Thou knowest not thy death. Death comes
and takes the child who is in his mother's arms, like the
man who has reached old age." * "Adorn thy seat which
is in the valley, the tomb which shall hide thy body.
Put it before thee in thy affairs, which are made account
of in thy eyes, like the very old whom thou layest to rest
in the midst of their ^dwelling\ There is no blame to
him who doeth it, it is good that thou be likewise equipped.
When thy messenger comes "^to take thee he shall find thee
equipped^" ^ Neither should a man forget those who
already lie there: "Put water for thy father and thy
mother who rest in the valley. . . . Thy son shall do
likewise for thee." ^

Under such influences as these grew up the vast cem-
etery of Thebes, in which myriads of the conunon people

^Maximea d'Ani, 4, 2-4. */Wd., 3, 14-4, 2. »/&id., 3, 4r-6.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 363

of a class who had never before enjoyed Osirian burial
were now laid away. The great mass of material remains
from such cemeteries, however, reveals only the popular-
ization of tendencies and beliefs long before observable
among the higher and the educated classes. It is rarely
that such tendencies were more than mechanically and
thoughtlessly followed by the conmion folk, and seldom
do we find such important developments among them as
those manifestations of personal piety among the poor,
to which we have already given attention.

With the decline of the Empire from the thirteenth cen-
tury onward, the forces of life both within and without
were exhausted and had lost their power to stimulate
the religion of Egypt to any further vital development.
Stagnation and a deadly and indifferent inertia fell like
a stupor upon the once vigorous life of the nation. The
development which now ensued was purely institutional
and involved no progress in thought. The power of the
priesthood as a political influence is observable as far back
as the rise of the Fifth Dynasty, in the middle of the
twenty-fifth century B. C. In the Empire, however,
vast temples, richly endowed, became an economic menace.
Moreover, the great Pharaohs of this age began to recog-
nize oracles of Amon as mandatory. Thutmose III was
seated on his throne by a conspiracy of the priests of
Amon, supported by an oracle of the great god recognizing
him as king.^ When Thutmose III, therefore, made the
High Priest of Amon primate of all the priesthoods of
Egypt, the chief sacerdotal oflBdal of the state, he was but
paying his poUtical debts. This Amonite papacy suffered
severely at the hands of Ikhnaton, as we have seen.
After his overthrow, however, it recovered all it had lost

1 BAR, II, 131-149.

364 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

and much more. Ramses II even allowed an oracle of
Amon to guide him in the appointment of the god's high
priest/ and under such circumstances it was easy for the
high priests of Amon to make the office hereditary. Un-
able to resist the political power of this state within the
state, a constant victim of its economic encroachments,
Egypt rapidly degenerated into a sacerdotal state, and
by 1100 B. C. the Pharaoh had yielded the sceptre to
the head of the state church. It was in the course of this
long development which placed the sacerdotal party in
control of the throne, that the outward and official mani-
festations of religion took on those forms of dignity and
splendor such as no Oriental religion had before displayed.
The sanctuaries of this age will always form one of the
most imposing survivals from the ancient world. Not
only in their grandeur as architecture, but also in their
sumptuous equipment, these vast palaces of the gods
lifted the external observances of religion to a plane of
splendor and influence which they had never enjoyed
before. Enthroned in magnificence which not even the
sumptuous East had ever seen, Amon of Thebes became
in the hands of his crafty priesthood a mere oracular source
for political and administrative decisions. Even routine
legal verdicts were rendered by the nod of the god, and
such matters as wills and testaments were subject to his
oracles.^ The old prayer of the oppressed, that Amon
might Jbecome the vizier of the poor man, was receiving
a very literal fulfilment, and with results little foreseen
by the men who had framed this prayer. As Thebes de-
generated into a sacerdotal principality after 1000 B. C,

* Sethb, ZeUschr, jUr aegypL Sprache, 44, 30 J^.
' For the most important of such oracles as yet known, see BAR,
IV, 650-8, 725-8, 795, etc.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 365

and the great cities of the north, especially of the Delta,
eclipsed the splendor of the old imperial capital, Amon
slowly lost his pre-eminence, although he was not wholly
neglected. Even the venerable supremacy of the Sun-
god was encroached upon by the other gods of the north.
On the other hand, it is evident that Osiris, who was more
independent of state patronage and support, rather gained
than lost in popularity.

When the decadence, which had continued for five
hundred years, was slowly transformed into a restoration,
after 700 B. C, the creative age of inner development was
forever past. Instead of an exuberant energy expressing
itself in the spontaneous development of new forms and
new manifestations, as at the beginning of the Empire,
the nation fell back upon the past, and consciously en-
deavored to restore and rehabilitate the vanished state of
the old days before the changes and innovations intro-
duced by the Empire.^ Seen through the mist of two thou-
sand years, what was to them ancient Egypt was endowed
with the ideal perfection of the divine regime which had
preceded it. In the endeavor to reconstitute modern
religion, society, and government upon ancient lines, the
archaizers must consciously or unconsciously have been
constantly thwarted by the inevitable mutability of the
social, political, and economic conditions of a race. The
two thousand years which had elapsed since the Pyramid
Age could not be annihilated. Through the deceptive
mantle of antiquity with which they cloaked contemporary
conditions, the inexorable realities of the present were
discernible. The solution of the difficulty, when per-
ceived, was the same as that attempted by the Hebrews

^ These and the following remarks largely after the author's
History of Egypt, pp. 570 #.

366 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

in a similar dilemma: it was but to attribute to the modem
elements also a hoary antiquity, as the whole body of
Hebrew legislation was attributed to Moses. The theoret-
ical revival was thus rescued.

The ancient mortuary texts of the pyramids were re-
vived, and although frequently not understood, were
engraved upon the massive stone sarcophagi. The Book
of the Dead, which now received its last redaction, shows
plain traces of this influence. In the tomb-chapels we
find again the fresh and pleasing pictures from the life
of the people in marsh and meadow, in workshop and
ship-yard. They are perfect reproductions of the relief
scenes in the mastaba tombs of the Pyramid Age, so per-
fect indeed that at the first glance one is not infrequently
in doubt as to the age of the monument. Indeed a man
named Aba, at Thebes, sent his artists to an Old Kingdom
tomb near Siut to copy thence the reliefs for use in his
own Theban tomb, because the owner of the ancient tomb
was also named Aba.

There is a large black granite stela in the British
Museum,^ a copy, dating from the dawn of the Restora-
tion, of an ancient papyrus book of the Old Kingdom, a
*'work of the ancestors, which was eaten of worms."
Thus the writings and sacred rolls of bygone days were
now eagerly sought out, and, with the dust of ages upon
them, they were collected, sorted, and arranged. The
past was supreme. The priest who cherished it lived in
a realm of shadows, and for the contemporary world he
had no vital meaning. Likewise in Babylon the same
retrospective spirit was now dominant in the reviving
empire of Nebuchadnezzar. It was soon to take possession

^ No. 797. See my essay in ZeUachr. fur aegypt. Sprache, 39,
Tafel I, II, and infraf pp. 41-47, especially p. 46, note.

368 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

the Sun-god's glorious celestial kingdom of the dead,
passed over into the Roman world. The imposing mllSe
of thought and religion from the most remote and racially
divergent sources, with which the historian is confronted
as he surveys the Mediterranean world at the beginning
of the Christian era, was not a little modified by the
current which constantly mmgled with it from the Nile.
It has not been the purpose of these lectures to include
this period of far-reaching syncretism of the Grseco-
Roman world; but as we stand at the close of the long
religious development which we have been endeavoring
to trace, we may ask ourselves the question whether the
ancient religion of Egypt, as we have found it in old
native sources long antedating Greek civilization, now
passed out unalloyed into the great Mediterranean world.
It has of course long since been evident that the religions
of the Mediterranean, from the fourth century B. C. on-
ward, or beginning perhaps even earlier, were gradually
Orientalized, and in this process of Orientalization the
progress of Christianity was but a single phenomenon
among others like it. We all know that it was not the
Christianity of Judea in the first decades after the cruci-
fixion which conquered the Roman world. It seems
equally evident that it was the religion of Egypt as viewed,
interpreted, and apprehended by generations of Greeks,
it was this Hellenized composite of old Egyptian religion
and Greek preconceptions^ which passed out into the
Mediterranean world to make Isis a household word in
Athens, to give her a sanctuary even in such a provincial
city as Pompeii, and to leave such monuments in Rome

^ Perhaps we should also add here the astrological elements which
had invaded Egypt from Syria, and after being Egyptianized passed
on to Rome. See Cumont, i6id., pp. 76-77.

THE AGE OF PERSONAL PIETY 369

as Hadrian's obelisk on the Monte Pincio, which in
Egyptian hieroglyphs still proclaims to the modem worid
not only the deification of the beautiful Greek youth,
Hadrian's favorite, as "Osiris-Antinous," but at the same
time the enthronement of the ancient mortuary god of
Egypt in the palace of the Caesars.

I believe it was Louis Agassiz who, after studying the
resistless action of the Swiss glaciers and watching the
massive boulders and fragments of rock brought down in
the grip of the ice, to be dropped at the bidding of the
summer sim in a w^andering rampart of tumbled rocks
skirting the mouth of the valley, at length realized that
this glacial action had been going on for ages, and the
imposing truth burst upon him that the geological proc-
esses of past fleons which have made the earth are still
going on at the present day, that they have never ceased,
that they will never cease.

We have been tracing in broad lines the development
of the religion of a great people, unfolding in the course
of over three thousand years as the forces within and the
forces around this ancient man wrought and fashioned
his conception of the divine powers. God as discerned
everywhere in the ancient Oriental world was a human
experience. The ancient ideas of God are but the expres-
sion of the best that man has felt and thought embodied
in a supreme character of which he dreamed. What was
intended by IngersoU, I suppose, as a biting gibe, "An
honest god is the noblest work of man," is nevertheless
profoundly true. We have seen the Egyptian slowly
gaining his honest god. We gained ours by the same
process, beginning among the Hebrews. It would be
well if we of the modern world as we look back over these
ages lying behind us might realize with Agassiz in the

370 RELIGION AND THOUGHT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

geological world/ that religion is still in the making, that
the processes which brought forth inherited religion have
never ceased, that they are going on around us every day,
and that they will continue as long as the great and com-
plex fabric of man's life endures.

^ It is, however, a remarkable fact in this oonnection, that Agassis
never accepted evolution in the organie world.

INDEX

Aba: proper name, 366
Absorption of divine qualities. 129
Abusir, 11, 70, 74, 78. 82
Abydos, 26, 38, 39, 64, 86. 96. 100.

159, 179, 256, 259. 285. 286. 287,

288. 289. 341
Administration. 238
Admonitions of an Egjrptian sage.

199
Admonitions of Ipuwer. 204 if.. 213,

230, 243 n., 245. 249, 257, 318, 348
Akhetaton: Tell el-Amama, 322/..

330
Akhikar, story of, 215, 247
Alexander the Great, 16
Amamu, coffin, 273 n.
Amenemhet I : king, 202. 203
Amenemhet II: king. 285
Amenemhet III: king. 73
"Amenhotep": meaning. 321
Amenhotep III: king. 52. 310, 315.

319. 320. 322
Amenhotep lY: king, 319 if.
Amenl of Benihasan. 240 n.. 248.

252
Amenmose: scribe, 271
Amon: god, 310, 318. 321. 322. 342.

344. 345. 346. 349. 350. 351. 352.

353. 360. 363. 364
Amon-Re: god, 318
Amon-Re-Wennofer: Osiris. 360
Ancestors, respect for, 270
Ani and wife: scribe, 306/.
Anubis: god of the dead, 27. 33. 37.

62. 100. 113. 131. 149. 225. 259.

260. 261. 266. 270. 284. 290. 304,

358/.
Api. Amama hymn of, 316 n.
Apophis: deity. 283
Art as affected by Aton faith. 336
** Ascendest": use of word. 161
'* Ascending " : meaning. 276 n.
Ascending by Day: Chapters of.

276.294
Ascent of the sky. 109. 154
Atlas: Greek deity. 11
Aton as universal creator, 332
Aton faith. 322 if.. 347

Aton, fatherly solicitude. 334

Aton. source of life. 333

Atiun: Sun-god. 8. 9. 11. 13. 18. 19.

36. 42. 44. 45. 76. 96. 107. 108.

Ill, 112, 113, 123, 125. 127. 154.

157, 161, 185, 254, 275, 279, 282.

319 #.. 346/., 350. 354. 361

Ba: soul. 56. 57, 59. 61, 62. 265 n.

Ba. soul, began to exist at death, 56

Babi: demon. 303

Barque of Osiris, 288

Bastet: goddess, 173

Bata: god in folk-tale. 358/.

Beetle, sacred, 308

Beliefs, archaic, 50

Ben (ben-ben) at Heliopolis. 11. 76.

330
Blessedness hereafter. See Felicity
Bodily members enumerated. 110
Body, part of personality. 55
Body, permanent survival, 70
Body, resuscitation of, 57, 61
" Book of him who is in the Nether

World," 297
Book of the Dead. 22. 34. 134. 253 n..

272, 273. 274. 277. 281. 284. 293,

294. 295. 296. 297. 299. 301. 308.

309. 318 n.. 337 n.. 338. 341. 354
Book of the Dead: genesis of. 293/.
"Book of the Gates." 297
"Book of the Two Ways." 283. 297
Busiris: Dedu. 39

Buto: capital of Delta. 86, 118, 145
Byblos: place name, 26

Caubndab of festivals, 68, 77, 260,

267 n., 290
Cartouches: use of. 320
Celebrations, religious. 68
Celestial hereafter, 101, 159. 274,

276
Celestial hereafter not Osirian, 142,

148
Celestial Nile. 122
Celestial ocean. 10
Celestial revenues of Pharaoh. 131
Ceremonial transgressions. 303

371

372

INDEX

CeremonUl waahliigi, 254

Chapel, tomb-. 62

Character, peraonal. 179. 288. 302.

336
Charm: quoted, 133
Charm to open gates of sky, 114
Charms. 93, 94, 136. 292. 307
Charms against dangers of here-
after, 296
Charms, collections of, 281
Charms in mortuary texts, 292
Charms in Pyramid Tests. 80 n.
Charms. Pyramid Texta Uised as. 94
Charms: Ushebtis. 295
Coffin Texts. 23 n.. 253, 255. 273.
274. 276. 277. 278. 280. 281. 293.
294
Coffins, inscribed. 272
Conmierdal relations. 314
Communion with god. 354. 355
Concrete forms of thought, 246
"Confession," negative, 301
Conscience, 198. 297. 354
Crimes denied. 302
Cult. 7

Dahshur, pyramid. 73, 81

Daily life, pictured in Pyramid

Texts. 88
Dangers of hereafter. 282
Dead, designations of, 56 n.
Dead, dreaded as demons, 292
Dead lived near the tomb, 51
Dead, malice of, 284
Dead, place of the. 99
Dead, realms of the, 70#., 118#.
Dead, required restoration of senses,

68/.
Dead, sojourn in Nether World, 276
Dead, transformations of, 277. 296
Dead, two beliefs as to abode. 51
Death, protest against. 91
Death, views of. 190
Debhen: official, 65
Declaration of innocence. 301 #..

308
Dedication of psrramid and temple.

75
Der el-Bahri: Thebes. 16. 287 n.
"Devouress": demon, 306
Dewamutef, son of Horus, 112, 133
Dewat. 122. 136. 139, 144
Dialogue form of discourse, 247
Dialogue of a Misanthrope, 188#.,

199, 203, 215. 230. 238. 245. 246,

250. 358 n.

Bast: place of Moeot of dqr. 116
**Bast*': place of the dead, 101. 102
** East of the sky '* more sacred than

West, 104
Bast of the Sky . place of liviDs again.

102
BdfU: place name, 9
Bditors of Pyramid Teste, 93
BgypUan thinking, graphic, 7. 219/..

246
Eloquent Peannt. tale of the. See

Tale
Endowments, testanwDtary, 87. 81.

270
"Ennead**: meaning, 42
Equipment of the dead, material.

75,84
"Equipped": meaning, 169
"Equipped" mouths. 94
"Equipped" one, 60
Ethical decadence, 309
Ethical ordeal, future. See Judg-
ment
Ethical requirements, 338
Ethical significance of Oshris. 265
Ethical teaching In Ostrian faitb,

176
Ethics, 336
Exorcism, 292
"ExpeUer of Deceit," 175
Eye of Horus. See Horus-Eye
Eye of Khnum, 107

Facultibs, reconstitution of, 61

Falcon, 133, 274, 320

Falcon, sacred bird of Sun-god. 109

Falcon, symbol of Horus, 9

Feast, oldest religious, 39

Feasts, calendar of. See Calendar

Feasts, list of, 267

Felicity in hereafter, 135, 177, 257

Felicity, not dependent on material

means, 84
Ferry-boat over Lily-lake, 105 /.
Ferrying over, 155, 157
Ferryman, 119, 130, 157
Ferryman of Re, 172
Festivals, Osirian. 289
Fetekta. servant of Re. 119
Field of Life. 136
Field of Offering. 133. 137
Field of Rushes. 161. 172
Filial piety. 167
" First of the Westerners." 38, 100,

104 n., 143, 159, 162. 258, 286. 289
Floats of reeds, two. 108, 158

INDEX

373

Folk-rellglon: Ostrian, 285

Folk-tales. 10. 46

"Followers of Horus," 171. 306

"FoUowers of Osiris." 158

Food supply in hereafter. 129. 281

Forty-two gods of judgment. 299 ff.

Funeral barge, 286

Funerary furniture, prehistoric. 50

Funerary ritual. 93

Future, ultimate. 196

Gasuti, bull of the sky (Saturn). 112
Gates of celestial country opened.

114
Geb: Earth-god. 9. 11. 18. 21. 22. 24.

30, 34. 36. 41. 42. 58. 63. 111. 113,

117, 118 n., 139, 143. 172, 173, 280
G^bga: mysterious scribe, 282
Genii of the dead, four. 156. 157
Gizeh: place name, 258
Gizeh, cemetery, 83, 84
Gizeh, pyramids of. 15
"Glorious." 56 n.
" Glorious." dead called. 94
"Glorious one." 60. 148. 162. 265 n.
"Gods." 322

Gods, poGBible hostility of, 115
Graphic forms of thought, 7. 219 /.,

246
" Grasper of Forelo<dos." 127
"Great God. Lord of the Sky." 171

Hamm uBABi. laws of. 246
Hapi. son of Horus. 112. 133
Hapu: vizier. 239 n.
Hapuseneb: High-priest of Amon,

319 n.
Harakhte: Horus of Horizon. 9. 109.

121. 155. 156. 318. 320
Hardedef : son of Khufu, 182. 184
Harhotep. tomb of. 256 n.
Harhotep: tomb inscriptions, 273 n..

282 n.
Harkhuf of Elephantine. 169
Harmhab: king. 345
Harsaphes: god, 361
Hathor, the eye of Re: goddess. 124.

253, 278, 279
Hatshepsut: queen, 287 n.. 319 n.
" Heart" : seat of intelligence. 44. 55.

59
Heart scarab. 308, 339, 340 n.
Heliopolis. 10. 11, 15. 28. 33. 34. 40,

43. 44, 71, 72, 76, 110, 116, 118 n.,

147, 148. 152. 175. 176. 199. 250.

251. 275, 281. 303. 321. 354, 361

HellopoUtan theology, 149, 336
Hepzefl of Siut. 67, 259. 270. 280
Hereafter as a plaoe of dangers. 281
Hereafter, conception of. 278
Hereafter, continuation of life in,

49/.. 81. 280
Hereafter, dangers of. 296
Hereafter, democratization of. 252,

257
Hereafter, glorious. 103
Hereafter, material welfare in. 165
Hereafter. Osirian. 285
Hereafter. Osirian doctrine, 159
Hereafter, royal felicity in. 88
Hereafter, royal survival in. 75
Hereafter, sojourn in. 53
Hereafter. Solar and Osirian concep-
tions, 140
Hereafter, views of. 295
Heralds announcing the king. 118
Herodotus. 277. 288. 290. 367
High Priest of Amon. 319
Hor: architect. 315. 326 n.
Horus: god. 8. 9. 10. 18. 26. 28. 29.

30. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36, 37. 39, 40.

41. 42. 53. 57. 59. 62. 63. 78. 81.

86. 100. 105. 108. 112. 118. 119.

120. 122. 133. 140. 143. 145, 147.

148. 152. 154. 160. 162. 164. 166.

172. 173, 175, 236, 254, 255. 278.

284. 288. 290. 303. 306. 345
Horus. battle with Set, 31
Horus. filial piety of. 29
Horus. good offices to the king. 146
Horus of Dewat. 133
Horus of the Bast. 155/.
Horus of the Gods. 155/.
TLoma of the Horizon. 155/.. 318
Horus of the Shesmet. 155/.
Horus. Solar. 41
Horus. sons of. Ill, 112 n., 183. 156.

175
HoruB-Bye. 12. 13. 31, 59, 78, 104.

107 n.. 162. 278
Horuses. four. 9, 114. 124. 133, 154,

155. 156, 157. 172
Hostile creatures to dead. 51
Hymn, magical, to Sun-god. 121
Hsrmn to Amon. 345 /.. 349. 350
Hymn to Aton. royal, 329
Hymn to Osiris, 348
Hymn to Osiris as Nile, 96
Hymn to Sun, earliest, 13
Hymn to Sun-god. 124. 310. 312.

315
Hymn to the Sky-goddess. 96. 148

374

INDEX

Hymn to the Sun, 05. 00, 08. 211 n.

Hymns, andent religiouB, 03

Hymns not necessarily charms, 05

Hynms, old. 355

Hymns, religious. 07

Hymns to Aton. 321. 323, 836, 861

Hymns to the gods, 17

loBALB, practical. 356
Ilchemoflret: officer. 287 ff.
"Uchnaton": meaning* 322
Ikhnaton: Idng. 344. 345 n.. 363
Imhotep: architect of Zoaer, 182,

184
Immorality, 856
Immortality, 170, 184
*' Immortality " not an Egyptian be-
lief. 61
Imperialism, eflfect on religion, 313
Imperial power, roBM^on on

thought, 5
" Imperishable Ones " : the dead, 101
Imperishable Stars, 02, 107. 130.

134. 136. 137, 138, 130, 140. 158.

150. 163. 270
Imset. son of Horus. 112. 133
Incense, significance of. 126
Inmutef : priestly title. 14
Innocence, declaration of, 301if., 308
Innocence of evil-doing. 168
Installation of the Vizier. 230, 246,

248. 240. 348
Instruction of Amenemhet, 247,

240 n.
Intef : baron. 271

Intelligence, part of personality. 55
Inti of Deshasheh, 171
Ipuwer. Admonitions of. 204 ff., 213,

230, 243 n.. 245. 240. 257. 318, 348
Irreconcilable beliefs. 163 /.
Isesi: king. 228
Isis: goddess. 0, 11. 24. 26, 27. 20. 30,

32. 34, 37. 38. 30, 57, 104 n.. 113.

110. 125. 135. 137. 145. 147, 154,

156. 162, 286, 200. 304. 306. 368

Jackal, a god of the west. 120
Judge in the hereafter, 176
Judgment, future, 160. 173, 170.

253. 256. 204. 207. 200 #.. 300. 338
Judgment: Osirian, 307
"Justice," 174 n.
Justice. 238, 242. 244, 252. 253
Justice to the poor. 226
Justification of the dead. 54. 178,

107, 254. 255. 330

Justification, Solar, 174
Justification through magic, 300
** Justified.'* 33. 147. 175. 256 n.

Ka (kas), 45, 52/.. 55, 57 n., 60 n., 76,

77, 111, 112, 122. 130. 134, 137,

174. 267. 275. 283. 284. 286. 305.

352
Ka a superior genius. 52
Ka. exclusive possession of king. 55
Ka. not an element of personality.

55
Kebehet. daughter of Anubia, 112,

113. 116. 136
Kebehsenuf. son of Horus, 112, 133
Kegemne: vizier, 228
Kerkeru: scribe of Osiris, 277
Khafre: king, 15. 68
Khai: proper name. 352
Khekheperre-sonbu: priest, 100.

200. 230. 238. 247. 250
Khenti-Amentiu: "First of the

Westerners." 38. 143
Khepri: Sun-«od. 0. 10. 13. 112. 161.

316
Kheti: vizier, 241, 244
Khnumhotep of Benlhasan. 267,

271.286
Khufu: khig. 15. 182. 184. 271
King. See also Pharaoh
King as counsellor of Re. 120
King became Osiris, 145/.
Khig identified with god. 160
King not exempt firom judgment.

172. 177
Kingship, conception of. 17
Kingship, relation of Osiris to. 30
Kingship, the idealized, 251

Ladder to sky. 111. 112, 116. 153.
156. 158

" Landing" : euphemismfor "death."
02

Laws of Egypt. 248

Lexicography of Pyramid Texts, 90

Life after death, 40 /. iSee also Here-
after

Life-giving power of Aton. Sun-god.
333

Life hereafter, indefinite. 81

"Lily-lake," 105/. 116. 125 n., 130.
270

Literary quality of Pyramid Texts.
07

" Look-behind. " the ferryman. 105/.

Luxor. 16, 52

INDEX

375

Mafdbt: deity, 133

Magic, 284, 309. See also Charms

Magic and magic power, 94, 95

Magic in hereafter, 290, 292, 307

Magic jar, 106

Magical agencies, 281, 339

Magical charm, 338 n.

Magical charms, 93

Magical devices, 132

Magical equipment, mortuary, 60

Magical formulae, 291

Magical hymn to Sun-god, 121

Magical power, 116

Mastaba reliefs, 113

Mat: goddess of truth, 173, 255, 338

Material equipment of the dead, 62,
362

Medum, pyramids, 83

Memphis, 43, 241. 361

Memphite theology, 46, 166

Menkure: king, 15

Meri: architect, 258

Merire: Pepi I, 172

Memere: Idng, 19, 77, 84, 85, 108,
160, 172

Messianic kingdom, 251

Messianism, 212 ff.

Methen, keeper of gate of sky, 119

"Mighty": used of the dead, 61

Migration of literary materials, 215

Mnevls: sacred bull, 321 n.

Mohammed, 234 n.

Monotheism, 6, 315

Monotheistic phrases, 347

"Mooring" : euphemismfor "death,"
92, 186

Moral aspirations limited, 176

Moral consciousness, 37, 306, 336

Moral decadence, 209

Moral distinctions, 309

Moral earnestness, 238

Moral ideals. 238

Moral ideas, 8

Moral life obligation to, 187

Moral obligations, 250, 251

Moral ordeal in future. See Judg-
ment

Moral requirements, 253

Moral responsibility. 170, 253. 307,
309

Moral sense, 33, 309

Moral sense, emergence of, 165

Moral thinking, 252

Moral unworthiness, 251

Moral unworthiness of society, 202

Moral values, 6

Moral worthiness, 173, 304
Moral worthiness, claims of, 167
Morning Star, 133, 134, 138. 173,

284
Mortuary belief dominated by

magic, 284
Mortuary contracts, 260
Mortuary gifts. 258, 270
Mortuary inscriptions, 248, 285
Mortuary literature, 272
Mortuary magical equipment, 60
Mortuary maintenance, 78
Mortuary paintings, 56
Mortuary practices, 259, 362
Mortuary practices, Osirian, 62
Mortuary priest, servant of the ka.

54
Mortuary priests, 98, 270
Mortuary processions, 260, 266
Mortuary statuettes: Ushebtis, 295
Mortuary texts, 253, 273, 366
Mortuary texts for king only, 99
Mortuary texts on rolls, 293
Mummy, devices to make it a living

body, 59
Mythology of Egjrpt, 46
Myths, 12, 85, 355
Myths, fragments of old, 93
Myths, lost, 91
Myths, old, 96

Nakht-Amon: painter, 351
Name. 107, 116, 134, 301
Name, good, on earth, 188
National organization, first, 5
Nebre: painter, 351
Neferhotep: priest, 182, 185
Neferhotepes, queen, 82
Neferirkere, king, 16, 78, 82
Neferkere: Pepi II, 139. 146, 174
"Negative confession," 301
Neit: goddess, 125
Nekheb, 130
Nekhtyoker: prince, 271
Nekure, prince, 68
Nemaathap: royal mother, 81
Neper: harvest god. 277
Nephthys: goddess, 9, 11, 26, 27, 30,

32, 34, 38, 59 n., 97, 104 n., 113.

119. 125. 137. 145. 147. 154. 156.

162. 304
Neshmet barque, 289
Nether World, 99, 144, 160, 276, 281
Nether World the domain of Osiris.

36
New Year celebrations. 261

376

INDEX

NUe. 21

NUe M Otirte, 883

NUe, Influenoe on Egyptian relig-
ion, 8

NUe-god. 52

Nun: god. 34. 126. 133

Nuaerre: king. 82

Nut: Sky-godden. 11. 24. 00. 123.
133. 135. 136. 137. 139. 148. 148.
161. 162. 270. 317

Obelisk. 15

Obellak: symbol of Sun-god, 70

Offering ritual, 70. 00 n.. 150. 151.
150

Offerings for king. 78

Offerings for the dead, 62

Offerings to the dead: Horus-eye, 50

Official conduct. 238

Onkhu: priest, 200

Ophir of the Old Testament. 66

Orion: the sky. 128. 130. 144. 277.
284

Osirian editing of texts. 172 n.. 276

Osirian ethics. 300

Oslrlan faith. 37 /.. 78, 102. 130.
157, 176. 274. 285, 304. 307, 310.
367

Osirian faith: popular religion. 140.
142

Osirian litigation at Hellopolis. 175

Osirian "passion play." 26. 287.
290. 341

Osirian point of view, 42

Osirian theology, 43, 148

Osirianization of Egyptian religion.
142 jf.. 176

Osirianization of hereafter, 276

Osirianization of Pyramid Texts.
160 #.

Osiris: god, 8, 9, 11, 18#., 25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39,
40, 42, 63, 67 n., 69, 62, 73 n., 74,
75, 76, 96, 97, 100, 104 n., 119,
139. 140. 143, 144. 145. 147. 148,
149, 160, 163, 164, 166, 166, 167,
168, 169, 160, 161, 162, 163, 164,
170, 171, 174, 176, 188, 260, 261.
252. 263. 264, 266, 266, 268, 269,
276. 277, 278, 284, 285, 286, 288,
289, 290, 299, 301, 304. 305, 306.
309. 310. 337. 338. 340. 341. 348.
360, 362, 366, 367

Osiris, a mortuary god, 64

Osiris and Set, correlation of. 40

Osiris as judge, 265

Osiris as Nfle. 18. 146

Osiris as sea or ocean. 20

Osiris. asMXiated with iregetable

life. 22
Osiris barque, 256 n.
Osiris oelestlalized. 140
Osiris, charges against. 82
Osiris, identifications of, 23
Osiris, identified with aoQ or earth,

21
Osiris. lord of Dewat. 150
Osiris myth. 24. 37. 63. 145. 152. 251.

284. 287. 288. 200
Osiris receives the kingdom. 36
Osiris Solarized, 160
Osiris, source of fertiUty. 20
Osiris, the principle of life, 23
Osiris, triumph of. 33
Osiris- Apis: Serapis, 367
Osiris- Wennofer: god. 306

Pahbbi: prince. 208
Pai: pahiter. 351
Pantheism. 312. 357
Pantheistic speculations. 362
Papremis: place name. 288. 200
"Passion play": Osbian. 287, 200.

341
Pepi: khig. 53, 57. 58. 76. 78. 81. 88,

80. 01. 02. 04. 102. 106. 107. 108,

109. 110. 111. 113. 114. 115. 116.

117. 118. 126. 130. 131. 132. 133,

134. 136. 137. 150. 153. 158. 162.

163. 171. 172. 173. 174, 175. 177.

178
Pepi I: Ung. 19. 84. 85. 154. 158
Pepi I. addressed as Osiris. 19
Pepi II. khig. 19. 66. 76. 70. 81. 85.

111. 112
Pepi II. as Osiris. 10
Persen: noble. 82
Personal aspiration to god. 349
Personal relation to god. 340
Personality. Egyptian conc^tion.

61. 66, 61. 70, 179, 181
Personality never dissociated ftx>ni

body, 66
Pessimism. 203, 216. 240. 257
Pharaoh. 15, 16. 17. 64. 70. 76. 81,

100. 103. 105. 114. 117. 130 n.,

136, 164, 173, 240, 272. 310. 318.

319, 320, 364
Pharaoh a cosmic figure. 125
Pharaoh as priest before Re. 121
Pharaoh as son of Sun-god. 122
Pharaoh becomes a great god, 128

INDEX

377

Pharaoh, deceased, as scribe of Re,

120
Pharaoh, entrance to sky, 149
Pharaoh, identified with Re, 122
Pharaoh on Sun-god's throne, 124
Pharaoh preying on the gods, 127
Pharaoh receives homage as Sun-
god. 125
Pharaoh. See also King
Phoenix, 11. 71, 72, 77, 274, 278, 296,

300
Physical restoration of dead, 57
Pilgrimages to Abydos, 285
Pleasure, life of, 194
Plutarch, 25, 28
Poetic form of the Psrramid Texts,

97
Poor, complaints of the, 219
Popularization of mortuary cus-
toms, 272
Portrait statues, 65, 168, 179, 259,

267
Prayer, 355
Prayer for the dead: effectiveness,

272
Prayers for dead king, 93
Prayers in Pj^ramid Texts, 80 n.
Prayers used as charms, 95
"Prepared" one, 60
Priesthood, 179. 309. 342
Priesthood of Amon. 319, 321
Priesthood, political, 363
Priesthood, state, 142
Priests, maintenance of, 81
"PrimsBval," title of Osiris, 22
Privileges accruing ftom endow-
ments, 68
Procession, Osirian. 289
Psychology of the dead, 61
Ptah: god, 11, 43, 44, 45 n., 47, 278,

361
Ptah-tatenen: god, 45, 46
Punt: Ophir, 66
Purification of the dead, 103, 155,

171
Pyramid, 15, 140
Pyramid causeway, 74
Pyramid complex, 74
Pyramid residence city, 75
Pyramid, sacred ssrmbol, 70
Pyramid, symbol of Sun-god. 320
Pyramid temple. 74
Pyramid Texts. 10. 12. 18. 19. 20.
25. 26, 31, 33 n., 34, 35. 38. 40. 52,
56, 57, 60, 61, 63, 69 n., 72, 73 n.,
77, 79. 84. 86. 87. 97. 101, 102,

103. 104. 114. 115, 122, 124, 126,
131, 135, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148,
149, 150, 155, 158, 159, 163, 171,
172. 175, 176 n.. 177, 178, 209,
250. 251. 254, 272, 273, 274, 275,
276, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 282.
285, 294, 310, 312, 318, 320, 358

Pyramid Texts: a compilation, 92

Pyramid Texts: a terra incognita, 90

Pyramid Texts: function to insure
Idng felicity in hereafter, 88, 92

Pyramid Texts not a coherent whole,
135/.

Pyramid Texts not used by nobles.
99

Pyramid Texts Osirianlzed, 150 if.

Pyramid Texts recited, 98

Pyramid-tomb, 72, 74

Pyramidion (ben-ben), 71

Pyramids. 178. 179

Pyramids, inscribed. 84

Pyramids: material equipment, 84

Ramses II: king, 364
Ramses IV: king. 18
Rationalism of Ikhoaton, 333
Re: Sun-god. 8. 9. 10. 17. 18. 24. 33,

36, 43, 53, 66, 78. 79. 87, 102, 103.

106, 107, 108, 109, 110. Ill, 115,

117, 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123,

124, 125, 126. 131. 132. 133, 134,

135, 136, 137, 138. 139. 140. 148.

149. 152, 154. 159. 160. 161, 162,

163, 164, 170. 171. 172. 174. 175.

185. 187. 196. 211. 221. 225. 245.

250. 251. 252. 253. 274. 275. 277.

279. 281. 285. 304. 305. 310. 324,

328. 337, 346, 350
Re-Atum: Solar god, 10, 119, 120.

139, 160. 161. 274
Re-Harakhte: god. 354
Re-Khepri: god. 21
Reed floats, two. 108. 158
Rekhmire: vizier. 239 n.
Religious development instltutioiial.

363.
Religious faculty, the, 4
Religious literature, ancient, 96
Renaissance, 365
Responsibility, personal. 297
Resurrection of Osiris, 31 /., 39, 160,

288. 341
Resurrection the act of a god. 57
" Righteousness," 174-5. 253. 254 n.,

310
Ritual at Abydos, 96

378

INDEX

Ritual for benefit of king. 77
Ritual, funerary and offering, 03
Ritual of Aton. 329
Ritual of offerings. 79 n.
Ritual of worship. 93
Royal cemetery, Abydoe, 04

Sahubb. king. 82. 108

Sakkara: pyntmids at, 84

Satis, goddess of cataract, 103

Scarab. 31

Scepticism. 179, 185. 257

Sebek-o: coffin of, 73 n.

Sebni of Elephantine, 02, 05

Sed-Feast. 39

Sehetepibre: stela, 258 n.

Sehpu: herald of king, 118

Sekhem: son of Osiris, 152

Sekhmet: goddess, 82

Self-consciousness, 198

Serapis: Osiris, 307

Serket: goddess, 125

Serpent-charms, 95. 135

Sesenebnef : official. 253

Sesostris I: king. 71. 202. 258. 280

Sesostris II: king. 199

Sesostris III: king. 287

Set: god, 14. 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33. 34.

35. 30. 40, 41, 53, 59, 78, 79. 104,

105, 112, 118 n., 119. 125, 143,

152, 153, 154. 157. 101, 100, 288
Set, enemy of Osiris, 41
Set, symbol of darkness, 40
Set-Horus feud, Osirian absorption

of, 41
Seti I: king, 20
Shesha. 112
Shesmu. 128 /
Shu: god, 11, lflC34. 77, 113. 114,

133.300
Sky, east of, place of living again,

102
Sky, place of future blessedness, 99
Snefru: king, 81. 82. 228
Social classes. 240
Social conditions. 208
Social ethics, 228
Social forces, 199 ff.
Social ideals. 212, 214/.
Social justice. 5. 210. 220. 243, 244,

240, 249, 252. 349. 353. 350
Society, redemption of, 215
Sokar: god, 21, 175
Solar barque. 122. 130, 253, 283
Solar faith, 74, 102, 170, 310, 319,

338, 340

Solar faith: state theology, 140, 142

Solar henotheism. 43

Solar hereafter. 139. 145

Solar monotheism. 322

Solar pantheism, 300

Solar theology. 43. 148. 149. 100,
250, 312. 313. 321. 330. 337

Solar universalism. 319

Solarization of Osiris. 250

"Son of Re": title of kings, 15

Song of mourning, 179 /.

Song of the Harper. 180/., 185, 191.
194, 250

Song, palace, 17

Soped: Solar god, 74 n.

Sothis. star of Isis, 22, 284

Sovereignty of Re, 174

Speculation among common people.
357

State religion: Soljar, 285

Statues, portrait funerary, 09

Status of dead king, 120

StelsB erected at Abydos, 285

Subterranean hereafter, 159-100.
270, 277, 310, 307

Subterranean journey of tile dead.
297

Subterranean kingdom of the dead,
37

Sun as Re, 10

Sun, influence on Egyptian relig-
ion. 8

Sun's disk: symbol of Aton, 320

Sun-god. 8. 10. 11. 12, 13. 14, 10. 25,
39, 40, 45 n.. 02. 70. 71. 72. 70. 78,
100. 101, 103, 105, 100, 109, 111.
112, 115, 110. 120. 121. 122, 129,
131, 142. 165, 157, 158, 159, 171.
170, 188. 190, 211, 245, 251, 263,
274, 275, 304, 308, 309, 310, 312.
313. 317. 319. 320. 322, 323, 331.
337. 353. 359. 300, 305

Sun-god and Osiris, correlation of, 39

Sun-god, identification with, 274

Sun-god supreme. 12

Sim-god's realm, 315

Sun-gods, old local, 43

Sun-hymn, earliest, 13

Sun-hymn used as charm. 98

Suti: architect. 315. 320 n.

Symbol of god Aton, 320

Talb of the Eloquent Peasant.

228 n., 230, 239, 245, 249, 250
Tale of the Two Brothers, 21. 26.

130 n., 215, 210,358/.

INDEX

379

"Teaching" of Ikhnaton, 340
Tefiiut: goddess, 11, 19, 77, 114, 133
Tell el-Amama, 322 /.
Tetl: king, 57, 59, 85, 106, 114, 123,

133, 137, 138, 142, 147. 164, 155,

158, 178
Thoth: god, 12, 34, 35, 45, 81, 107,

119, 129, 137, 147, 224, 254, 255,

278, 284. 288. 289, 290, 304. 305,

306
Thutenakht: official, 217 ff.
Thutmose I: king, 313
Thutmose III: king, 239 n., 298,

310, 313. 314, 318, 363
Thutmose lY : king, 239 n.
Tomb, 257

Tomb at Abydos, 285
Tomb-building, 258
Tomb decoration, 262, 366
Tomb: duty of son to provide, 63
Tomb, monumental, 62
Tomb, royal, 75, 103
Tomb, royal, of sacred significance.

72
Tombs. 178. 259. 362
Tombs of First Dynasty, 64
Tombs, restoration of, 270
Tombs: Tell el-Amama, 323
Translation of king to dcy, 137 /.
Transmigration of souls, 277
Tree of life, 133
"Triumphant," 33
Troja: quarries, 65, 258
"Truth," 166. 225 n.. 299 n.. 304.

337
Tutenkhamon: king. 344/.
Tutu. A mama hymn of. 316 n.
"TwoTmths." 34

Unis: king. 18, 58. 85, 87, 91, 93. 98.

100. 107. 109. 110. 111. 113. 116.

119. 120. 123. 126. 128. 129. 130.

132, 137, 146, 150, 151, 153, 154.

158, 174, 178, 320
Unis, king, identliaed with Nile, 18
Universalism, 314, 315, 348
Universalism, Solar, 331
Unweariable stars, 279
Upwawet: god, 32, 145. 259. 260.

264. 266. 270. 288. 289
Urseus. 110
Usages of religion. 7
Userkaf : king. 68. 167
Ushebtis: Respondents. 295. 340 n.
'^Utterances": Pyramid Texts. 93. 98

"VicroMOus." 33

Vignettes in Book of Dead. 294

Vital principle identified with breath,

55
Vizier: vizierate, 240. 243
Vocabulary of Pyramid Texts. 90
Votive offerings. 287
Voyage with Be across the sky. 121

WAG-rBAST, 266

Wealth, 357

Wennofer: Osiris, 289. 299, 306

Weshptah: vizier. 66

"West" the place of dead. 100. 101

Wisdom literature. 227 n.

Wisdom of Ptahhotep. 216. 226 #.,

240. 245. 246. 252. 339
World-religion. 332
Woser: vizier, 239 n.

YXMBN-XAU. 139

Unbo: son and body-servant of Be.
121

Zau: name, 64, 66, 167
Zoser: king, 182. 184

I

?

i

r ■

J.

■;, 'f

SPR'NG 1979