This country is so thickly peopled with divinities that it is
easier to find a god than a man.--PETRONIUS.
Few things are so hard to understand as the religion of an alien race.
Indeed, we have but too many illustrations before us constantly that
even among the same people, and where ideas are based upon the same
authorities, a great divergence of opinion is possible. It is little
to be expected, then, that any people should fully understand the
religious faith of another people. To add to the difficulty, all the
great religions are of Oriental origin and date from a pre-scientific
era. Now the essential characteristic both of Oriental and of
non-scientific thinking is its vagueness. The Arabic historian, even
of the present day, loves to indulge in absurd flights of rhetoric.
He sprinkles his pages with grotesque metaphors; he uses the most
hyperbolic exaggerations; nor is he particular to avoid the most
glaring contradictions; and over it all he throws the veil of hazy
mysticism.
If this be true of the Oriental style of composition when applied to
staid matter-of-fact recitals, certainly one could expect nothing
more definite when the theme is religion. It is no matter for
surprise, then, that the sacred books of all great religions are
couched in phraseology well calculated to befog the mind of any one
who approaches them in any other spirit than that of preconceived
faith. This applies no more and no less to the Egyptian than to all
other Oriental religions. On the other hand, the data supplied us for
the interpretation of the Egyptian faith are far more abundant than
are accessible in the case of most other of the great religions of
antiquity.
Despite the confusion and vagueness and seeming contradiction that
pertain to the Egyptian records, it is probably true that a reasonably
correct idea may be formed, at least in general terms, of the evolution
and development, no less than of the final status, of the faith which
was dominant with the people of the Nile for at least three thousand
years. Certainly at least a rough outline of the development of that
faith is accessible, and it is the more worthy of presentation because
it may be taken at the same time as illustrative of the probable
evolution of the faith of other peoples.
The most obvious and striking fact that appeals to the investigator of
the Egyptian religion is that enormous numbers of gods hold sway: Ra,
Horus, Osiris, Isis, Tmu, Amen, Set,--the list extends itself almost
endlessly. Moreover, there is no little confusion as to the precise
status of the various gods thus named. To casual inspection it would
seem as if the Egyptian of the later time had no very clear idea
himself as to how many gods were really included in the hierarchy, or
as to the precise identity of the more important ones. And, indeed,
such was probably the fact.
The only rational explanation of this confusion appears to be the
alleged fact that in an early prehistoric day the various communities
of Egypt, not yet consolidated under a single government, had each
its own special deity. This local deity, presiding jealously over the
interests of its own people, came naturally to have greater or less
importance in proportion to the growth or decay of the community over
which it presided. Moreover, there must have been a constant tendency,
through a shifting of portions of the population from one community to
another, to confuse the attributes of the various gods even from the
earliest time; since the person who removed from one village to another
could not well be expected quite to forget the local god who had
formerly been the chief object of his worship. Then as one community
or another became dominant after the government was centralised,
there must have been a tendency in successive ages to emphasise the
importance of one local god or another.
Thus it is clear that in the time of the New Kingdom, when Thebes
became the capital and chief centre of the empire, Amen, the local god
of Thebes, came to assume an importance hitherto denied him. At last
it was even customary to identify Amen with Ra, the greatest god of
all, or king of the gods, and the compound name, Amen-Ra, came into
use. Various other names were compounded through a similar confusion of
attributes, chiefly perhaps through the natural tendency to identify
one’s local god with a god of more widely recognised authority. A
moment’s reflection makes it clear that the tendency of all this was
towards the recognition of a most important central god, who, to a
certain extent, ruled over and controlled the hierarchy of the lesser
deities. But indeed, it seems clear that from the earliest times
the existence of such a supremely powerful god had been everywhere
recognised.
It may be doubted even whether it is possible for any religion worthy
of the name to fail of an analysis leading to this result. The human
mind naturally reaches back from effect to cause, and while it cannot
quite clearly grasp the idea of an ultimate single cause, yet neither
can it escape the analysis that leads to that idea.
In this view it might be contended that the Egyptian religion, and
indeed, every other religion, is monotheistic; certainly its trend
was towards monotheism, and certainly this conception best accords
with the natural cast of the Oriental mind. It is natural to attempt
to visualise, in the spiritual world, a state of things not widely
different from the conditions of the actual world, and a people who
had no higher conception of the body politic than the thought of an
autocracy presided over by a single supreme monarch, would have been
strangely untrue to their psychological prejudices had they failed to
conceive a like state of things existing in the hierarchy of the gods.
Side by side with this tendency towards monotheism, however, exists
always the counter tendency towards a multiplication of deities. The
founding of a new city or colony would imply, sooner or later, the
creation of a god to preside over the new community. If at first an old
god were transplanted for the purpose, local jealousy would be sure
to demand a deity whose sole interests in the local community could
be expected. Again, the deification of kings and perhaps the other
departed notables must of necessity lead to a perpetual enhancement of
the list of gods. But this multiplicity of minor deities must not be
supposed to be necessarily antagonistic to the essential monotheistic
idea in the case of the Egyptian, any more than the multiplication of
saints affects the status of the Christian religion.
Over and above all other gods, from first to last, there seems always
to have been a conception of Ra, the Uncreated, the autocrat of the
heavens. Horus the sun-god, who fought each day in the interest
of mankind against the malicious demon Set, or Sutekh, and who was
overcome each night only to revive again and renew the combat with each
succeeding morning, was a god of great and widely recognised power.
Yet it appears that he was not quite identified, as has sometimes been
supposed, with the supreme god Ra. To the latter attached a certain
intangibility, a certain vagueness inconsistent with the obvious visual
reality of the sun-god, or with the being of any other god whose
qualities could be explicitly defined. In the very nature of the case
the conception of Ra was vague. He represented the last analysis of
thought, from which the mind recoils dazed and acknowledging itself
baffled.
While we can hardly doubt that this must have been the status of the
supreme god Ra in the minds of the most philosophical thinkers of
Egypt, yet it is no less certain that there was a constant tendency to
associate the qualities of various other gods with the qualities of
the supreme deity; in other words, to elevate a lesser deity to the
kingship of the gods, somewhat as an important subject might now and
again be elevated to the earthly kingship.
The most tangible effort in this direction was made late in the
XVIIIth Dynasty by Amenhotep IV, who came afterwards to be known as
Khun-aten, “the splendour of the sun-disk,” and whom later generations
characterised as the heretic king. This monarch strove to subordinate,
if not indeed to eliminate, all the hosts of minor gods by instituting
the kingship of the sun-god alone as the supreme, perhaps as the only,
deity. The effort was not successful, and the reaction that followed
left the old religion more firmly fixed than ever, in its previous
beliefs and observances. None the less, the attempt has great historic
interest, partly because it shows that the idea of essential monotheism
underlying a superficial plurality of gods was current in Egypt, and
even attained official recognition at just about the time of the
Egyptian captivity of the Children of Israel. It is aside from the
present purpose to inquire to what extent the ideas of the latter may
have been influenced by this strong current of Egyptian thought.
It has just been said that the reaction against the sun-worship heresy
left the old faith more firmly established than before. Never again
was a prominent and conspicuous effort made to depart from the ancient
faith. Whatever details of variation may have been introduced, the
religion as a whole remained unchanged throughout the remaining course
of Egyptian history. But this fixity again, far from being peculiar to
the Egyptians, is but the history of every great theological system.
The very fulcrum of such a system is the reliance upon the authority
of the past. The abiding support of a traditional faith is that
conservatism which lies at the foundation of all civilisation, and
indeed, paradoxical though it seems, of all progress. The conservative,
his eye fixed on the past, plants himself firmly in the path of
progress, crying “Halt!” to every innovation. Yet during the time of a
nation’s vitality this attempted damming up of the stream of progress
results in, at most, a temporary stasis, since now and again the
stress of new ideas suffices to burst the bonds. But there may come a
time when the vitality of a nation is sapped, and when the power of
conservatism may avail against all progressive movements.
Such a time came in Egypt at just about the era when the nations of
Persia and of Greece were preparing to take hand in the world combat,
and from that time on traditional theology, as represented by the
priestcraft, was dominant in Egypt, and the once potent civilisation
of the Nile Valley ceased to hold its own. The records that outside
nations have given us of Egyptian conditions date solely from this
later period, and must therefore always be taken with certain
reservations. Nevertheless, as regards the more tangible things which
they describe, they perhaps are not greatly different from what they
would have been if written a thousand years earlier. They tell us
of great pyramids that were the tombs of kings, of strange customs
of mummifying the dead, and of the worship of animals, so crass in
character as to be almost inconceivable to the modern mind. The
pyramids, to be sure, dated from an ancient epoch; moreover, they
still stand, defiant of time, to testify to the truth of the Greek
recitals. The mummies have been preserved in countless numbers, and
if animal worship died out with the incoming of a new religion after
the Macedonian invasion, there is no reason to doubt the substantial
accuracy, as regards mere externals, of the accounts of it which the
Greeks preserve to us.
We shall do well, then, to turn to the pages of Herodotus and Diodorus
for a description of the external observances practised by the
Egyptians, remembering always that this is the testimony of alien,
even though sympathetic, witnesses, but scarcely doubting that it
is testimony at least as unprejudiced as any that a modern would-be
interpreter can draw from the monumental records.
The aggregate impression which one gathers, from even a casual
consideration of the subject, is that the religion of the Egyptians,
despite its very striking peculiarities of external observances,
differed singularly little from the other great religions in its
essentials. It was polytheistic, but with an underlying conception
of monotheism. Its chief observances implied an abiding faith in the
immortality of the soul. Its fundamental teachings were essentially
moral according to the best light of the time. And if, as viewed by an
outsider, it seemed to develop a grotesque ritual and a jumble of vague
theistic conceptions, in these regards, also, it can hardly claim to be
unique among Oriental religions.[a]
RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS AND OFFERINGS
Herodotus gives an interesting description of certain religious
observances as practised in his day. He says:
The priests of the gods, who in other places wear their hair long, in
Egypt wear it short. It is elsewhere customary, in cases of death, for
those who are most nearly related, to cut off their hair in testimony
of sorrow; but the Egyptians, who at other times have their heads
closely shorn, suffer the hair on this occasion to grow. Other nations
will not suffer animals to approach the place of their repast; but
in Egypt they live promiscuously with the people. Wheat and barley
are common articles of food in other countries; but in Egypt they are
thought mean and disgraceful; the diet here consists principally of
spelt, a kind of corn which some call zea. Their dough they knead with
their feet; whilst in the removal of mud and dung, they do not scruple
to use their hands. Male children, except in those places which have
borrowed the custom from hence, are left in other nations as nature
formed them; in Egypt they are circumcised. The men have two vests,
the women only one. In opposition to the customs of other nations, the
Egyptians fix the ropes to their sails on the inside. The Greeks, when
they write or reckon with counters, go from the left to the right,
the Egyptians from right to left; notwithstanding which they persist
in affirming that the Greeks write to the left, but they themselves
always to the right. They have two sorts of letters, one of which is
appropriated to sacred subjects, the other used on common occasions
[the hieroglyphic and hieratic characters].
Their veneration of their deities is superstitious to an extreme:
one of their customs is to drink out of brazen goblets, which it is
the universal practice among them to cleanse every day. They are so
regardful of neatness, that they wear only linen, and that always newly
washed; and it is from the idea of cleanliness, which they regard much
beyond comeliness, that they use circumcision. Their priests every
third day shave every part of their bodies, to prevent vermin or any
species of impurity from adhering to those who are engaged in the
service of the gods: the priesthood is also confined to one particular
mode of dress; they have one vest of linen and their shoes are made
of the byblus [papyrus]; they wash themselves in cold water twice in
the course of the day, and as often in the night; it would indeed be
difficult to enumerate their religious ceremonies, all of which they
practise with superstitious exactness. The sacred ministers possess
in return many and great advantages: they are not obliged to consume
any part of their domestic property; each has a portion of the sacred
viands ready dressed, assigned him, besides a large and daily allowance
of beef and of geese; they have also wine, but are not permitted to
feed on fish.
Beans are sown in no part of Egypt, neither will the inhabitants
eat them, either boiled or raw; the priests will not even look at
this pulse, esteeming it exceedingly unclean. Every god has several
attendant priests, and one of superior dignity, who presides over the
rest; when any one dies he is succeeded by his son.
They esteem bulls as sacred to Epaphus, which previously to sacrifice,
are thus carefully examined: if they can but discover a single black
hair in his body, he is deemed impure; for this purpose a priest is
particularly appointed, who examines the animal as it stands, and as
reclined on its back: its tongue is also drawn out, and he observes
whether it be free from those blemishes which are specified in their
sacred books, and of which I shall speak hereafter. The tail also
undergoes examination, every hair of which must grow in its natural
and proper form: if in all these instances the bull appears to be
unblemished, the priest fastens the byblus round his horns; he then
applies a preparation of earth, which receives the impression of his
seal, and the animal is led away; this seal is of so great importance,
that to sacrifice a beast which has it not, is deemed a capital offence.
I proceed to describe their mode of sacrifice: Having led the animal
destined and marked for the purpose, to the altar, they kindle a fire;
a libation of wine is poured upon the altar; the god is solemnly
invoked, and the victim then is killed; they afterwards cut off his
head, and take the skin from the carcass; upon the head they heap many
imprecations: such as have a market-place at hand carry it there, and
sell it to the Grecian traders; if they have not this opportunity,
they throw it into the river. They devote the head, by wishing that
whatever evil menaces those who sacrifice, or Egypt in general, it
may fall upon that head.[11] This ceremony respecting the head of the
animal, and this mode of pouring a libation of wine upon the altar, is
indiscriminately observed by all the Egyptians: in consequence of the
above, no Egyptian will on any account eat of the head of a beast. As
to the examination of the victims, and their ceremony of burning them,
they have different methods, as their different occasions of sacrifice
require.
Of that goddess whom they esteem the first of their deities, and in
whose honour their greatest festival is celebrated, I shall now make
more particular mention. After the previous ceremony of prayers,
they sacrifice an ox; they then strip off the skin, and take out the
intestines, leaving the fat and the paunch; they afterwards cut off
the legs, the shoulders, the neck, and the extremities of the loin;
the rest of the body is stuffed with fine bread, honey, raisins, figs,
frankincense, and various aromatics; after this process they burn it,
pouring upon the flame a large quantity of oil: whilst the victim is
burning, the spectators flagellate themselves, having fasted before
the ceremony; the whole is completed by their feasting on the residue
of the sacrifice. All the Egyptians sacrifice bulls without blemish,
and calves; the females are sacred to Isis, and may not be used for
this purpose. This divinity is represented under the form of a woman,
and, as the Greeks paint Io, with horns upon her head; for this reason
the Egyptians venerate cows far beyond all other cattle. Neither will
any man or woman among them kiss a Grecian, nor use a knife, or spit,
or any domestic utensil belonging to a Greek, nor will they eat even
the flesh of such beasts as by their law are pure, if it has been cut
with a Grecian knife. If any of these cattle die, they thus dispose of
their carcasses: the females are thrown into the river, the males they
bury in the vicinity of the city, and by way of mark, one and sometimes
both of the horns are left projecting from the ground: they remain
thus a stated time, and till they begin to putrefy, when a vessel
appointed for this particular purpose is dispatched from Prosopitis,
an island of the Delta, nine schæni in extent, and containing several
cities. Atarbechis, one of these cities, in which is a temple of
Venus, provides the vessels for this purpose, which are sent to the
different parts of Egypt: these collect and transport the bones of the
animals, which are all buried in one appointed place. This law and
custom extends to whatever cattle may happen to die, as the Egyptians
themselves put none to death.
Those who worship in the temple of the Theban Jupiter, or belong to the
district of Thebes, abstain from sheep, and sacrifice goats. The same
deities receive in Egypt different forms of worship; the ceremonies of
Isis and of Osiris, who they say is no other than the Grecian Bacchus,
are alone unvaried; in the temple of Mendes, and in the whole Mendesian
district, goats are preserved and sheep sacrificed. The veneration of
the Mendesians for these animals, and for the males in particular, is
equally great and universal: this is also extended to goat-herds. There
is one he-goat more particularly honoured than the rest, whose death
is seriously lamented by the whole district of the Mendesians. In the
Egyptian language the word Mendes is used in common for Pan and for a
goat.
The Egyptians regard the hog as an unclean animal, and if they casually
touch one they immediately plunge themselves, clothes and all, into the
water. This prejudice operates to the exclusion of all swine-herds,
although natives of Egypt, from the temples: with people of this
description, a connection by marriage is studiously avoided, and they
are reduced to the necessity of intermarrying among those of their own
profession. The only deities to whom the Egyptians offer swine, are
Bacchus and Luna; to these they sacrifice them when the moon is at the
full, after which they eat the flesh. Why they offer swine at this
particular time, and at no other, the Egyptians have a tradition among
themselves, which delicacy forbids me to explain. The following is the
mode in which they sacrifice this animal to Luna: as soon as it is
killed, they cut off the extremity of the tail, which, with the spleen
and the fat, they enclose in the caul, and burn; upon the remainder,
which at any other time they would disdain, they feast at the full
moon, when the sacrifice is performed. They who are poor make figures
of swine with meal, which having first baked, they offer on the altar.
On the day of the feast of Bacchus, at the hour of supper, every
person, before the door of his house, offers a hog in sacrifice. The
swine-herd of whom they purchased it, is afterwards at liberty to take
it away. Except this sacrifice of the swine, the Egyptians celebrate
the feast of Bacchus in the same manner as the Greeks.[b]
GIFTS AND RICHES OF TEMPLES
There are certain very practical features of the administration of the
temples which Herodotus quite overlooked, but which have come to light
through the efforts of modern scholarship. Some of these are admirably
pointed out by Professor Erman:
Not the least of the circumstances which lent the priesthood of the New
Kingdom that power which finally triumphed over royalty itself, was
their wealth. For this they were indebted to gifts, and, indeed, so far
as we can see, chiefly to gifts from the kings; it is only now and then
that we find a private person making an endowment. From the earliest
times all the rulers are busy in this fatal direction (some, like the
pious kings of the Vth dynasty, were more so than others); even under
the old kingdom many temples had attained such prosperity that they
even possessed military forces of their own.
The golden age for the temples began with the Asiatic campaigns of
the XVIIIth Dynasty. An approximate idea of the gifts which Tehutimes
III made to Amen may be obtained from the remains of an inscription
at Karnak; fields and gardens of the choicest of the South and North,
landed property on high ground, with sweet trees growing on it, milch
cows, and bullocks, and quantities of gold, silver, and lapis lazuli;
then captive Asiatics and negroes,--there were at least 878 souls--men,
women, and children,--who had to fill the god’s granaries, spin and
weave, and till his fields for him. Finally he settled upon Amen three
of the towns conquered by him, En-heugsa, Yenu-amu, and Hurenkhara,
which had to pay an annual tribute to the god. Since almost every
sovereign of the New Kingdom boasts in nearly the same words of having
exhibited his piety in a practical fashion, one is first inclined to
take this constant self-glorification of the Pharaohs, as so much in
the Egyptian text has to be taken, for a conventional empty phrase.
But in that case, our doubt would go too far, since at least some of
the kings did make to the temples gifts which surpass all that might
be considered probable. The lucky chance which has preserved for us
the great Harris papyrus places us in a position to bring forward the
evidence of figures. King Ramses III left behind after his death a
comprehensive manifesto, in which he enumerates in detail all that
he had done for the sanctuaries of his country during the thirty-one
years of his reign. The numbers of these lists are evidently taken
from the accounts of the state and of the different temples, and are
consequently deserving of credit.
This great record, which fills a papyrus roll 1333 feet long, with
seventy-nine pages of a large size, is divided into five sections,
according to the recipients of the gifts. The first contains the gifts
to the Theban temples, then follows the gifts to Heliopolis, those to
Memphis, and those to the smaller sanctuaries of the country; finally,
the fifth section contains the total of all the donations.
Taking together the similar items amongst the donations, tributes,
and sacrificial offerings, we have then the chief items of the sum
of the income of the Egyptian temples during one and thirty years,
somewhat as follows: about 1 ton (1015 kg. 336. g.) of gold; about 3
tons (2993 kg. 964 g.) silver and the value of silver; 940 kg. 3 g. of
black bronze; about 13 tons (13,059 kg. 865 g.) bronze; about 14 lbs.
(7 kg. 124 g.) precious stones; 1,093,803 pieces of valuable stone;
169 towns, 1,071,780 plots of arable land; 514 vineyards and orchards;
178 ships; 133,433 slaves; 514,968 head of cattle (especially oxen);
680,714 geese; 494,800 fish; 2,382,605 fruits: 5,740,352 sacks of corn;
6,744,428 loaves of bread; 256,460 jars of wine; 466,303 jars of beer;
368,461 jars of incense, honey, oil, etc., 1,933,766 items.
In order to give the reader some idea of the large sums here dealt
with, I may remark that even in our own time, when the value of the
metals has so greatly decreased, the quantity of precious metals in
question would be worth about four million marks (about $1,000,000,
or £200,000). And it must not be forgotten that on those same six or
seven millions of Egyptians who, in addition to the state taxes, had
to produce these treasures “_ad majorem dei gloriam_,” there devolved
at the same time the building of the temples of Medinet Habu, Karnak,
Tel-el-Tehudeh, and others. Truly the forces of the little country were
unduly strained for the unproductive purposes of worship.
But what made these conditions so completely unsound was the
disproportionate division of the treasure expended. If the many temples
of the country had participated equally in these gifts, no one of them
would have attained to an extreme height of power and wealth. But,
probably on political grounds, which we can now no longer determine,
Ramses III favoured one temple in the most partial manner, and that the
very one to which his predecessors had already conferred the richest
endowments. This was the sanctuary of the Theban Amen, which carried
off the lion’s share of all the gifts of the generous sovereign.
Thus, for example, of the total 113,433 slaves which Ramses gave away,
no fewer than 86,486 fell to Amen; of the 493,386 head of cattle,
421,362; of the 1,071,780 divisions of land, 898,168; of the 514
vineyards, 433; and so on: the 2756 gold and silver images of the
gods were destined exclusively for him, and so were the nine foreign
towns; it must even here be regarded as an exceptionally mean gift,
when he received only 56 of the 160 Egyptian towns. On the whole,
it will scarcely be wrong to assume that of the total of the gifts,
three-fourths found their way into Amen’s treasuries; of the 86,486
slaves, the god Khonsu and the goddess Mut received in all only 3908.
Since, then, the earlier sovereigns of the New Kingdom had also
laboured to fill the treasury of their favourite god Amen, this god
ended by possessing resources, beside which those of all the other gods
shrank to nothing, and again it is the document of Ramses III which
enables us to estimate it in figures.
If we compare these figures with one another, we cannot doubt that
under the XXth Dynasty the Amen of Thebes possessed at least five times
as much property as the sun-god of Heliopolis, and ten times (if not
far more) as much as Ptah of Memphis. And yet these latter were the
two gods who had formerly been the most distinguished, and certainly
also the richest, in the whole country. The enormous magnitude of
temple property like this, of course, demanded a much more complicated
machinery for its administration than had been required for the modest
possessions of the ancient sanctuaries. Even one of the larger temples
of the middle kingdom could have its treasure, its granaries, and
its affairs of writing carried on by certain members of its priestly
college, for the labours which they entailed could be executed side by
side; beyond the inferior servants there had been scarcely any regular
officials in these temples. It is quite otherwise in the New Kingdom;
the priests can no longer manage the administration unaided, and call
in a host of officials to help. This is true of all the temples, but,
of course, especially so of that of the Theban Amen. This god possessed
a general administration of the house, _i.e._ the temple furniture;
he has special departments for the treasure, for the lands, for the
barns, for the oxen, and for the peasants, and every one of these
departments has its overseer of princely rank, and its scribe. There
is also a superior chief scribe for Amen, who keeps the roll of the
sanctuary’s possessions. And since in a great temple of the New Kingdom
the erection of new buildings and the works of restoration are never
interrupted, he has also his own administration of construction, to
which _all_ works are subordinated; of course, provision is also made
for the required number of labourers and craftsmen of all kinds, from
the painter down to the stone-mason. To secure order in the temple and
on the estates, the god keeps his own military forces with superior
and inferior officers, and since amongst his dependents very secular
proceedings often take place, he has also his own prison. Of the large
staff of subordinate officials, who must have existed in such an
administration, we, of course, know very little, as this class keeps
out of sight. Still such people as the overseer of the sacrificial
storehouses, doorkeepers of every description, and barbers have left us
monuments, and must consequently have enjoyed a certain prosperity.
What we have here stated respecting the temple administration would
be of still greater interest if we knew the mutual relations of all
these offices, and how it came to pass that we find, now these, now
those, united in the same hands. That the high priest arrogated to
himself, at least nominally, now one, now another, especially important
office, is comprehensible enough; but it remains unexplained how, for
instance, the management of the constructions can be at one time handed
over as a secondary function to the chief scribe, and another time
to the superintendent of barns, the more since the former presided
in addition over the god’s bulls, and the latter has the treasury
under his protection, and “seals all contracts in Amen’s temple.” It
is, moreover, a characteristic circumstance that these high temple
officials are frequently also state functionaries; the gradual
transformation of the old kingdom into the priestly state of the XXIst
Dynasty, which is ruled by the high priests of Amen, already distinctly
reveals itself in such dual officers. Still, the kingly power did not
submit to the spiritual without resistance, and it may be that both the
reformation of Khun-aten and the disturbances at the end of the XIXth
Dynasty, when no sacrifices were brought into the temples, were in good
part called forth by the effort to oppose a barrier to the individual
and increasing power of the Amen priesthood. It must be owned that the
latter issued from both trials stronger than ever.[c]
The opulence of the Egyptian temples is the more amazing for being
lavished upon mere beasts. This animal-worship deeply impressed
classical authors. The account of Diodorus is particularly full and
vivid.
DIODORUS ON ANIMAL WORSHIP
The Adoration and Worshipping of Beasts among the Egyptians seems
justly to many a most strange and unaccountable thing, and worthy
Enquiry; for they worship some Creatures even above measure, when they
are dead as well as when they are living; as Cats, Ichneumons, Dogs,
Kites, the Bird Ibis, Wolves and Crocodiles, and many other such like.
The Cause of which I shall endeavour to give, having first premis’d
something briefly concerning them. And first of all, they dedicate
a piece of Land to every kind of Creature they adore, assigning the
Profits for feeding and taking care of them. To some of these Deities
the Egyptians give Thanks for recovering their Children from Sickness,
as by shaving their Heads, and weighing the Hair, with the like Weight
of Gold or Silver, and then giving that Mony to them that have the Care
of the Beasts. To the Kites, while they are flying they cry out with
a loud Voice, and throw pieces of Flesh for them upon the Ground till
such time as they take it. To the Cats and Ichneumons they give Bread
soakt in Milk, stroaking and making much of them, or feed them with
pieces of Fish taken in the River Nile. In the same manner they provide
for the other Beasts Food according to their several kinds.
They are so far from not paying this Homage to their Creatures, or
being asham’d of them, that on the contrary they glory in them, as in
the highest Adoration of the Gods, and carry about special Marks and
Ensigns of Honour for them through City and Country; upon which Account
those that have the Care of the Beasts (being seen afar off) are
honour’d and worshipp’d by all by falling down upon their Knees. When
any one of them dye they wrap it in fine Linen, and with Howling beat
upon their Breasts, and so carry it forth to be salted, and then after
they have anointed it with the Oyl of Cedar and other things, which
both give the Body a fragrant Smell and preserve it a long time from
Putrefaction, they bury it in a secret place. He that wilfully kills
any of these Beasts, is to suffer Death; but if any kill a Cat or the
Bird Ibis, whether wilfully or otherwise, he’s certainly drag’d away to
Death by the Multitude, and sometimes most cruelly without any formal
Tryal or Judgment of Law. For fear of this, if any by chance find any
of these Creatures dead, they stand aloof, and with lamentable Cries
and Protestations tell every body that they found it dead.
And such is the religious Veneration imprest upon the Hearts of Men
towards these Creatures, and so obstinately is every one bent to adore
and worship them, that even at the time when the Romans were about
making a League with Ptolemy, and all the People made it their great
Business to caress and shew all Civility and Kindness imaginable to
them that came out of Italy, and through Fear strove all they could
that no Occasion might in the least be given to disoblige them or be
the Cause of a War, yet it so happ’ned that upon a Cat being kill’d
by a Roman, the People in a Tumult ran to his Lodging, and neither
the Princes sent by the King to dissuade them, nor the Fear of the
Romans could deliver the Person from the Rage of the People, tho’ he
did it against his Will; and this I relate not by Hear-say, but was
myself an Eye-witness of it at the time of my Travels into Egypt. If
these things seem incredible and like to Fables, those that we shall
hereafter relate will look more strange. For it’s reported, that at a
time when there was a Famine in Egypt, many were driven to that strait,
that by turns they fed one upon another; but not a Man was accused to
have in the least tasted of any of these sacred Creatures. Nay, if a
Dog be found dead in a House, the whole Family shave their Bodies all
over, and make great Lamentation; and that which is most wonderful,
is, That if any Wine, Bread or any other Victuals be in the House where
any of these Creatures die, it’s a part of their Superstition, not to
make use of any of them for any purpose whatsoever. And when they have
been abroad in the Wars in foreign Countries, they have with great
Lamentation brought with them dead Cats and Kites into Egypt, when in
the mean time they have been ready to starve for want of Provision.
Moreover what Acts of Religious Worship they perform’d towards Apis in
Memphis, Mnevis in Heliopolis, the Goat in Mendes, the Crocodile in the
Lake of Mœris, and the Lyon kept in Leontopolis, and many other such
like, is easie to describe, but very difficult to believe, except a
Man saw it. For these Creatures are kept and fed in consecrated Ground
inclos’d, and many great Men provide Food for them at great Cost and
Charge; for they constantly give them fine Wheat-Flower, Frumenty,
Sweet-meats of all sorts made up with Honey, and Geese sometimes
rosted, and sometimes boyl’d; and for such as fed upon raw Flesh, they
provide Birds. To say no more, they are excessive in their Costs and
Charges in feeding of these Creatures; and forbear not to wash them in
hot Baths, to anoint them with the most precious Unguents, and perfume
them with the sweetest Odours. They provide likewise for them most
rich Beds to lye upon, with decent Furniture, and are extraordinary
careful about their generating one with another, according to the Law
of Nature. They breed up for every one of the Males (according to their
Kinds) the most beautiful She-mate, and call them their Concubines or
Sweet-hearts, and are at great Costs in looking to them.
When any of them dye, they are as much concern’d as at the Deaths of
their own Children, and lay out in Burying of them as much as all
their Goods are worth, and far more. For when Apis through Old Age
dy’d at Memphis after the Death of Alexander, and in the Reign of
Ptolemy Lagus, his Keeper not only spent all that vast Provision he
had made, in burying of him, but borrow’d of Ptolemy Fifty Talents of
Silver for the same purpose. And in our time some of the Keepers of
these Creatures have lavisht away no less than a Hundred Talents in
the maintaining of them. To this may be further added, what is in use
among them concerning the sacred Ox, which they call Apis. After the
splendid Funeral of Apis is over, those Priests that have the Charge
of the Business, seek out another Calf, as like the former as possibly
they can find; and when they have found one, an end is put to all
further Mourning and Lamentation; and such Priests as are appointed for
that purpose, lead the young Ox [or Bull] through the City of Nile,
and feed him Forty Days. Then they put him into a Barge, wherein is a
Golden Cabbin, and so transport him as a God to Memphis, and place him
in Vulcan’s Grove. During the Forty Days before mention’d, none but
Women are admitted to see him, who being plac’d full in his view, pluck
up their Coats. After, they are forbad to come into Sight of this New
God. For the Adoration of this Ox, they give this Reason. They say that
the Soul of Osiris pass’d into an Ox; and therefore whenever the Ox is
Dedicated, to this very Day the Spirit of Osiris is infus’d into one Ox
after another to Posterity. But some say, that the Members of Osiris
(who was kill’d by Typhon) were thrown by Isis into an Ox made of Wood,
cover’d with Ox-Hides, and from thence the City Busiris was so call’d.
Many other things they fabulously report of Apis, which would be too
tedious particularly to relate. But in as much as all that relate to
this Adoration of Beasts are wonderful and indeed incredible, it’s very
difficult to find out the true Causes and Grounds of this Superstition.
We have before related, that the Priests have a private and secret
account of these things in the History of the Gods; but the Common
People give these Three Reasons for what they do. The First of which is
altogether Fabulous, and agrees with the old Dotage: For they say, that
the First Gods were so very few, and Men so many above them in number,
and so wicked and impious, that they were too weak for them, and
therefore transform’d themselves into Beasts, and by that means avoided
their Assaults and Cruelty. But afterwards they say that the Kings and
Princes of the Earth (in gratitude to them that were the first Authors
of their well-being) directed how carefully those Creatures whose
shapes they had assum’d should be fed while they were alive, and how
they were to be Buried when they were dead.
Another Reason they give is this: The antient Egyptians, they say,
being often defeated by the Neighbouring Nations, by reason of the
disorder and confusion that was among them in drawing up of their
Battalions, found out at last the way of Carrying Standards or Ensigns
before their Several Regiments; and therefore they painted the Images
of these Beasts, which now they adore, and fixt ’em at the end of a
Spear, which the Officers carry’d before them, and by this means every
Man perfectly knew the Regiment he belong’d unto; and being that by
the Observation of this good Order and Discipline, they were often
Victorious, they ascrib’d their Deliverance to these Creatures; and to
make to them a grateful Return, it was ordain’d for a Law, that none
of these Creatures, whose Representations were formerly thus carry’d,
should be kill’d, but religiously and carefully ador’d, as is before
related.
The Third Reason alledg’d by them, is the Profit and Advantage these
Creatures bring to the common support and maintenance of Humane Life.
For the Cow is both serviceable to the Plow, and for breeding others
for the same use. The Sheep yeans twice a Year, and yields Wool for
Cloathing and Ornament, and of her Milk and Cream are made large and
pleasant Cheeses. The Dog is useful both for the Guard of the House,
and the pleasure of Hunting in the Field, and therefore their God whom
they call Anubis, they represent with a Dog’s Head, signifying thereby
that a Dog was the Guard both to Osiris and Isis. Others say, that
when they fought for Osiris, Dogs guided Isis, and by their barking
and yelling (as kind and faithful Associates with the Inquisitors)
drove away the wild Beasts, and diverted others that were in their way;
and therefore in celebrating the Feast of Isis, Dogs lead the way in
the Procession. Those that first instituted this Custom, signifying
thereby the ancient kindness and good Service of this Creature. The Cat
likewise is very serviceable against the Venemous Stings of Serpents,
and the deadly Bite of the Asp.
The Ichneumon secretly watches where the Crocodile lays her Eggs, and
breaks them in pieces, and that he does with a great deal of eagerness,
by natural instinct, without any necessity for his own support; and if
this Creature were not thus serviceable, Crocodiles would abound to
that degree, that there were no Sailing in Nile: Yea, the Crocodiles
themselves are destroy’d by this Creature in a wonderful and incredible
manner. For the Ichneumon rouls himself in the Mud, and then observing
the Crocodile sleeping upon the Bank of the River with his Mouth wide
open, suddenly whips down through his Throat into his very Bowels, and
presently gnaws his way through his Belly, and so escapes himself, with
the Death of his Enemy.
Among the Birds, the Ibis is serviceable for the destroying of Snakes,
Locusts and the Palmer Worm. The Kite is an Enemy to the Scorpions,
horn’d Serpents, and other little Creatures, that both bite and sting
Men to Death. Others say, that this Bird is Deify’d, because the Augurs
make use of the swift flight of these Birds in their Divinations.
Others say, that in ancient Time, a Book bound about with a Scarlet
Thred (wherein were written all the Rites and Customs of Worshipping of
the Gods) was carry’d by a Kite, and brought to the Priests at Thebes:
For which Reason the Sacred Scribes wore a red Cap with a Kite’s
Feather in it. The Thebans worship the Eagle, because she seems to be a
Royal Bird, and to deserve the Adoration due to Jupiter himself. They
say, the Goat was accounted amongst the number of the Gods as Priapus
is honour’d among the Grecians: For this Creature is exceeding Lustful,
and therefore is to be highly honour’d. By this Representation they
would signify their Gratitude to the Gods, for the Populousness of
their Country.
The Sacred Bulls Apis and Mnevis (they say) they honour as Gods by the
Command of Osiris, both for their Usefulness in Husbandry, and likewise
to keep up an honourable and lasting Memory of those that first found
out Bread-corn and other Fruits of the Earth. But however, it’s lawful
to sacrifice red Oxen, because Typhon seem’d to be of that Colour, who
treacherously murder’d Osiris, and was himself put to Death by Isis for
the Murther of her Husband. They report likewise, that anciently Men
that had red Hair, like Typhon, were sacrifis’d by the Kings at the
Sepulcher of Osiris. And indeed, there are very few Egyptians that are
red, but many that are Strangers: And hence arose the Fable of Busiris
his Cruelty towards Strangers amongst the Greeks, not that there ever
was any King call’d Busiris; but Osiris his Sepulcher was so call’d
in the Egyptian Language. They say they pay divine Honour to Wolves,
because they come so near in their Nature to Dogs, for they are very
little different, and mutually ingender and bring forth Whelps.
They give likewise another reason for their Adoration, but most
fabulous of all other; for they say, that when Isis and her Son Orus
were ready to joyn Battle with Typhon, Osiris came up from the Shades
below in the form of a Wolf, and assisted them, and therefore when
Typhon was kill’d the Conquerors commanded that Beast to be worshipp’d,
because the Day was won presently upon his Appearing. Some affirm,
that at the time of the Irruption of the Ethiopians into Egypt, a
great Number of Wolves flockt together, and drove the invading Enemy
beyond the City Elaphantina, and therefore that Province is call’d
Lycopolitana; and for these Reasons came these Beasts before mention’d,
to be thus ador’d and worshipped.
Now it remains, that we speak of Deifying the Crocodile, of which many
have inquir’d what might be the Reason; being that these Beasts devour
Men, and yet are ador’d as Gods, who in the mean time are pernicious
Instruments of many cruel Accidents. To this they answer, that their
Country is not only defended by the River, but much more by the
Crocodiles; and therefore the Theeves out of Arabia and Africa being
affraid of the great number of these Creatures, dare not pass over the
River Nile, which protection they should be depriv’d of, if the Beasts
should be fallen upon, and utterly destroy’d by the Hunters.
But there’s another Account given of these Things: For one of the
Ancient Kings, called Menes, being set upon and pursu’d by his own
Dogs, was forc’d into the Lake of Mœris, where a Crocodile (a Wonder
to be told) took him up and carri’d him over to the other side, where
in Gratitude to the Beast he built a City, and call’d it Crocodile;
and commanded Crocodiles to be Ador’d as Gods, and Dedicated the Lake
to them for a place to Feed and Breed in. Where he built a Sepulcher
for himself with a foursquare Pyramid, and a Labyrinth greatly admir’d
by every Body. In the same manner they relate Stories of other Things,
which would be too tedious here to recite. For some conceive it to
be very clear and evident (by several of them not Eating many of the
Fruits of the Earth) that Gain and Profit by sparing has infected them
with this Superstition: for some never Taste Lentils, nor other Beans;
and some never eat either Cheese or Onions or such like Food, although
Egypt abounds with these Things. Thereby signifying that all should
learn to be temperate; and whatsoever any feed upon, they should not
give themselves to Gluttony. But others give another Reason; for they
say that in the Time of the Ancient Kings, the People being Prone to
Sedition, and Plotting to Rebel, one of their wise and prudent Princes
divided Egypt into several Parts, and appointed the Worship of some
Beast or other in every Part, or forbad some sort of Food, that by that
means everyone Adoring their own Creature, and slighting that which was
worshipped in another Province, the Egyptians might never agree among
themselves.
But some give this Reason for Deifying of these Creatures: They say,
that in the beginning, Men that were of a fierce and beastly Nature
herded together and devoured one another; and being in perpetual War
and Discord, the stronger always destroy’d the weaker. In process of
time, those that were too weak for the other (taught at length by
Experience) got in Bodies together, and had the Representation of those
Beasts (which they afterwards worshipped) in their Standards, to which
they ran together when they were in a Fright, upon every occasion,
and so make up a considerable Force against them that attempted to
assault them. This was imitated by the rest, and so the whole Multitude
got into a Body; and hence it was that that Creature, which everyone
suppos’d was the cause of his Safety, was honour’d as a God, as justly
deserving that Adoration. And therefore at this day the People of Egypt
differ in their Religion, everyone Worshipping that Beast which their
Ancestors did in the beginning.[d]
A MODERN ACCOUNT OF THE WORSHIP OF APIS, THE SACRED BULL
Among the ceremonies connected with Osiris, the fête of Apis holds a
conspicuous place.
For Osiris was also worshipped under the form of Apis, the Sacred Bull
of Memphis, or as a human figure with a bull’s head, accompanied by
the name “Apis-Osiris.” According to Plutarch, “Apis was a fair and
beautiful image of the Soul of Osiris;” and the same author tells
us that “Mnevis, the Sacred Ox of Heliopolis, was also dedicated to
Osiris, and honoured by the Egyptians with a reverence next to that
paid to Apis, whose sire some pretend him to be.” This agrees with
the statement of Diodorus, who says, Apis and Mnevis were both sacred
to Osiris, and worshipped as gods throughout the whole of Egypt; and
Plutarch suggests that, from these well-known presentations of Osiris,
the people of Elis and Argos derived the idea of Bacchus with an ox’s
head; Bacchus being reputed to be the same as Osiris. Herodotus, in
describing him, says, “Apis, also called Epaphus, is a young bull,
whose mother can have no other offspring, and who is reported by the
Egyptians to conceive from lightning sent from heaven, and thus to
produce the god Apis. He is known by certain marks: his hair is black;
on his forehead is a white triangular spot, on his back an eagle, and
a beetle under his tongue and the hair of his tail is double.” Ovid
represents him of various colours. Strabo says his forehead and some
parts of his body are of a white colour, the rest being black; “by
which signs they fix upon a new one to succeed the other, when he
dies;” and Plutarch thinks that, “on account of the great resemblance
they imagine between Osiris and the Moon, his more bright and shining
parts being shadowed and obscured by those that are of a darker hue,
they call the Apis the living image of Osiris, and suppose him begotten
by a ray of generative light, flowing from the moon, and fixing upon
his mother, at a time when she was strongly disposed for it.”
Pliny speaks of Apis “having a white spot in the form of a crescent
upon his right side, and a lump under his tongue in the form of a
beetle.” Ammianus Marcellinus says the white crescent on his right side
was the principal sign, and Ælianus mentions twenty-nine marks, by
which he was recognised, each referable to some mystic signification.
But he pretends that the Egyptians did not allow those given by
Herodotus and Aristagoras. Some suppose him entirely black; and others
contend that certain marks, as the predominating black colour, and the
beetle on his tongue, show him to be consecrated to the sun, as the
crescent to the moon. Ammianus and others say that “Apis was sacred to
the Moon, Mnevis to the Sun”; and most authors describe the latter of a
black colour.
It is difficult to decide if Herodotus is correct respecting the
peculiar marks of Apis. There is, however, evidence from the bronzes,
found in Egypt, that the vulture (not eagle) on his back was one of his
characteristics, supplied, no doubt, like many others, by the priests
themselves; who probably put him to much inconvenience, and pain too,
to make the marks and hairs conform to his description.
To Apis belonged all the clean oxen, chosen for sacrifice; the
necessary requisite for which, according to Herodotus, was, that they
should be entirely free from black spots, or even a single black
hair; though, as I shall have occasion to remark in treating of the
sacrifices, this statement of the historian is far from accurate. It
may also be doubted if the name Epaphus, by which he says Apis was
called by the Greeks in their language, was of Greek origin.
He is called in the hieroglyphic legends Hapi; and the bull, the
demonstrative and figurative sign following his name, is accompanied
by the _crux ansata_, or emblem of life. It has seldom any ornament on
its head; but the figure of Apis- (or Hapi-) Osiris generally wears the
globe of the sun, and the Asp, the symbol of divine majesty; which are
also given to the bronze figures of this bull.
Memphis was the place where Apis was kept, and where his worship was
particularly observed. He was not merely looked upon as an emblem,
but, as Pliny and Cicero say, was deemed “a god by the Egyptians”: and
Strabo calls “Apis the same as Osiris.” Psamthek I there erected a
grand court (ornamented with figures in lieu of columns twelve cubits
in height, forming an inner peristyle), in which he was kept when
exhibited in public. Attached to it were the two stables (_delubra_, or
_thalami_), mentioned by Pliny: and Strabo says “Before the enclosure
where Apis is kept, is a vestibule, in which also the mother of the
sacred bull is fed; and into this vestibule Apis is introduced, in
order to be shown to strangers. After being brought out for a little
while, he is again taken back; at other times he is only seen through a
window.” “The temple of Apis is close to that of Vulcan; which last is
remarkable for its architectural beauty, its extent, and the richness
of its decoration.”
_Festivals and Ceremonials of Apis Worship_
The festival in honour of Apis lasted seven days; on which occasion a
large concourse of people assembled at Memphis. The priests then led
the sacred bull in solemn procession, all people coming forward from
their houses to welcome him as he passed.
When the Apis died, certain priests, chosen for this duty, went in
quest of another, who was known from the signs mentioned in the sacred
books. As soon as he was found, they took him to the city of the Nile,
preparatory to his removal to Memphis, where he was kept forty days;
during which period women alone were permitted to see him. These forty
days being completed, he was placed in a boat, with a golden cabin
prepared to receive him, and he was conducted in state upon the Nile to
Memphis.
Pliny and Ammianus, however, declare that they led the bull Apis to
the fountain of the priests, and drowned him with much ceremony, as
soon as the time prescribed in the sacred books was fulfilled. This
Plutarch limits to twenty-five years (“the square of five, and the
same number as the letters of the Egyptian alphabet”), beyond which
it was forbidden that he should live; and having put him to death,
they sought another to succeed him. His body was embalmed, and a grand
funeral procession took place at Memphis, when his coffin, “placed on a
sledge, was followed by the priests,” “dressed in the spotted skins of
fawns (leopards), bearing the thyrsus in their hands, uttering the same
cries, and making the same gesticulations as the votaries of Bacchus
during the ceremonies in honour of that god.”
When the Apis died a natural death, his obsequies were celebrated on
the most magnificent scale; and to such extravagance was this carried,
that those who had the office of taking charge of him were often ruined
by the heavy expenses entailed upon them. On one occasion, during the
reign of the first Ptolemy, upwards of fifty talents were borrowed
to defray the necessary cost of his funeral; “and in our time,” says
Diodorus, “the curators of other sacred animals have expended a hundred
talents in their burial.”
The Egyptians not only paid divine honours to the bull Apis, but,
considering him the living image and representative of Osiris, they
consulted him as an oracle, and drew from his actions good or bad
omens. They were in the habit of offering him any kind of food with
the hand: if he took it, the answer was considered favourable; if he
refused, it was thought to be a sinister omen. Pliny and Ammianus
observe that he refused what the unfortunate Germanicus presented to
him; and the death of that prince, which happened shortly after, was
thought to confirm most unequivocally the truth of those presages. The
Egyptians also drew omens respecting the welfare of their country,
according to the stable in which he happened to be. To these two
stables he had free access; and when he spontaneously entered one, it
foreboded benefits to Egypt, as the other the reverse; and many other
tokens were derived from accidental circumstances connected with this
sacred animal.
Pausanias says that those who wished to consult Apis first burnt
incense on an altar, filling the lamps with oil which were lighted
there, and depositing a piece of money on the altar to the right of the
statue of the god. Then placing their mouth near his ear, in order to
consult him, they asked whatever questions they wished. This done, they
withdrew, covering their two ears until they were outside the sacred
precincts of the temple; and there listening to the first expression
any one uttered, they drew from it the desired omen.
Children, also, according to Pliny and Solinus, who attended in great
numbers during the processions in honour of the divine bull, received
the gift of foretelling future events; and the same authors mention
a superstitious belief at Memphis, of the influence of Apis upon the
Crocodile, during the seven days when his birth was celebrated. On this
occasion, a gold and silver patera was annually thrown into the Nile,
at a spot called from its form the “Bottle”; and while this festival
was held, no one was in danger of being attacked by crocodiles, though
bathing carelessly in the river. But it could no longer be done with
impunity after the sixth hour of the eighth day. The hostility of that
animal to man was then observed invariably to return, as if permitted
by the deity to resume its habits.
Apis was usually kept in one or other of the two stables--seldom going
out, except into the court attached to them, where strangers came to
visit him. But on certain occasions he was conducted through the town
with great pomp. He was then escorted by numerous guards, who made a
way amidst the crowd, and prevented the approach of the profane; and a
chorus of children singing hymns in his honour headed the procession.
The greatest attention was paid to the health of Apis; they took
care to obtain for him the most wholesome food; and they rejoiced if
they could preserve his life to the full extent prescribed by law.
Plutarch also notices his being forbidden to drink the water of the
Nile, in consequence of its having a peculiarly fattening property.
“For,” he adds, “they endeavour to prevent fatness, as well in Apis,
as in themselves: always studious that their bodies may sit as light
about their souls as possible, in order that their mortal part may not
oppress and weigh down the more divine and immortal.”
Many fêtes were held at different seasons of the year; for, as
Herodotus observes, far from being contented with one festival, the
Egyptians celebrate annually a very great number: of which that of
Diana (Pakht), kept at the city of Bubastis, holds the first rank, and
is performed with the greatest pomp. Next to it is that of Isis, at
Busiris, a city situated in the middle of the Delta, with a very large
temple, consecrated to that Goddess, the Ceres of the Greeks. The third
in importance is the fête of Minerva (Nit), held at Saïs; the fourth,
of the Sun, at Heliopolis; the fifth, of Latona, in the city of Buto;
and the sixth is that performed at Papreims, in honour of Mars.[e]
Strabo, the famous geographer of antiquity, visited Egypt in 24 B.C.,
and ascended the Nile. Among other records of his trip, he has left us
a picturesque account of his peep at the sacred bull.
At Heliopolis, he says, we saw large buildings in which the priests
lived. For it is said that anciently this was the principal residence
of the priests, who studied philosophy and astronomy. But there are
no longer either such a body of persons or such pursuits. No one was
pointed out to us on the spot, as presiding over these studies, but
only persons who perform sacred rites, and who explained to strangers
(the peculiarities of) the temples.
[Illustration]
In sailing up the river we meet with Babylon, a strong fortress, built
by some Babylonians who had taken refuge there, and had obtained
permission from the kings to establish a settlement in that place. At
present it is an encampment for one of the three legions which garrison
Egypt. There is a mountainous ridge, which extends from the encampment
as far as the Nile. At this ridge are wheels and screws, by which water
is raised from the river, and one hundred and fifty prisoners are
(thus) employed.
The pyramids on the other side (of the river) at Memphis may be clearly
discerned from this place, for they are not far off.
Memphis itself also, the residence of the kings of Egypt, is near,
being only three schœni distant from the Delta. It contains temples,
among which is that of Apis, who is the same as Osiris. Here the ox
Apis is kept in a sort of sanctuary, and is held, as I have said, to be
a god. The forehead and some other small parts of the body are white;
the other parts are black. By these marks the fitness of the successor
is always determined, when the animal to which they pay these honours
dies. In front of the sanctuary is a court, in which there is another
sanctuary for the dam of Apis. Into this court the Apis is let loose at
times, particularly for the purpose of exhibiting him to strangers. He
is seen through a door in the sanctuary, and he is permitted to be seen
also out of it. After he has frisked about a little in the court, he is
taken back to his own stall. The temple of Apis is near the Hephæsteum
(or temple of Vulcan); the Hephæsteum itself is very sumptuously
constructed, both as regards the size of the naos and in other
respects. In front of the Dromos is a colossal figure consisting of a
single stone. It is usual to celebrate bull-fights in this Dromos; the
bulls are bred expressly for this purpose, like horses. They are let
loose, and fight with one another, the conqueror receiving a prize.[f]
THE METHODS OF EMBALMING THE DEAD
Even more striking than the worship of Apis was the custom of embalming
the dead, which was in vogue uninterruptedly for some thousands of
years. Herodotus tells us of the exact method of procedure:
There are certain persons appointed by law to the exercise of the
profession of embalming. When a dead body is brought to them, they
exhibit to the friends of the deceased, different models highly
finished in wood. The most perfect of these they say resembles one
whom I do not think it religious to name in such a matter; the second
is of less price, and inferior in point of execution; another is still
more mean; they then inquire after which model the deceased shall be
represented: when the price is determined, the relations retire, and
the embalmers thus proceed: In the most perfect specimens of their
art, they draw the brain through the nostrils, partly with a piece
of crooked iron, and partly by the infusion of drugs; they then with
an Ethiopian stone make an incision in the side, through which they
extract the intestines; these they cleanse thoroughly, washing them
with palm-wine, and afterwards covering them with pounded aromatics:
they then fill the body with powder of pure myrrh, cassia, and all
other perfumes, except frankincense. Having sown up the body, it is
covered with nitre for the space of seventy days, which time they may
not exceed; at the end of this period it is washed, closely wrapped in
bandages of cotton, dipped in a gum which the Egyptians use as glue: it
is then returned to the relations, who enclose the body in a case of
wood, made to resemble a human figure, and place it against the wall
in the repository of their dead. The above is the most costly mode of
embalming. They who wish to be less expensive, adopt the following
method: they neither draw out the intestines, nor make any incision in
the dead body, but inject an unguent made from the cedar; after taking
proper means to secure the injected oil within the body, it is covered
with nitre for the time above specified: on the last day they withdraw
the liquor before introduced, which brings with it all the bowels and
intestines; the nitre eats away the flesh, and the skin and bones
only remain: the body is returned in this state, and no further care
taken concerning it. There is a third mode of embalming appropriated
to the poor. A particular kind of ablution is made to pass through the
body, which is afterwards left in nitre for the above seventy days,
and then returned. The wives of men of rank, and such females as have
been distinguished by their beauty or importance, are not immediately
on their decease delivered to the embalmers: they are usually kept
for three or four days, which is done to prevent any indignity being
offered to their persons. An instance of this once occurred.[b]
Diodorus gives a slightly different account of the methods of the
embalmer, adding certain most instructive details as to burial customs:
“Now tho’ we have said perhaps more than is needful of their sacred
Creatures, yet with this we have set forth the Laws of the Egyptians,
which are very remarkable. But when a Man comes to understand their
Rites and Ceremonies in Burying their Dead, he’ll be struck with much
greater Admiration.
“For after the Death of any of them, all the Friends and Kindred of
the deceased throw Dirt upon their Heads, and run about through the
City; mourning and lamenting till such time as the Body be interr’d,
and abstain from Baths, Wine and all pleasants Meats in the mean time;
and forbear to cloath themselves with any rich Attire. They have three
sorts of Funerals: The Stately and Magnificent, the Moderate, and the
Meanest. In the first they spend a Talent of Silver, in the second
twenty Minas [about £62 10_s._ or $300], in the last they are at very
small Charges. They that have the Charge of wrapping up and burying the
Body, are such as have been taught the Art by their Ancestors. These
give in a Writing to the Family of every thing that is to be laid out
in the Funeral, and inquire of them after what Manner they would have
the Body interr’d. When every thing is agreed upon, they take up the
Body and deliver it to them whose Office it is to take Care of it. Then
the Chief among them (who is call’d the Scribe) having the Body laid
upon the Ground, marks out how much of the left Side towards the Bowels
is to be incis’d and open’d, upon which the Paraschistes (so by them
call’d) with an Ethiopian Stone dissects so much of the Flesh as by the
Law is justifiable, and having done it, he forthwith runs away might
and main, and all there present pursue him with Execrations, and pelt
him with Stones, as if he were guilty of some horrid Offence, for they
look upon him as an hateful Person, who wounds and offers Violence to
the Body in that kind, or does it any Predjudice whatsoever.
[Illustration: GOLDEN EWERS AND BASINS FROM THE TOMB OF RAMSES III]
“But as for those whom they call the Taricheutæ [the Embalmers], they
highly honour them, for they are the Priests Companions, and as Sacred
Persons are admitted into the Temple. As soon as they come to the
dissected Body, one of the Taricheutæ thrusts up his Hand through the
Wound, into the Breast of the Dead, and draws out all the Intestins,
but the Reins and the Heart. Another cleanses all the Bowels, and
washes them in Phœnician Wine mixt with diverse Aromatick Spices.
Having at last wash’d the Body, they first anoint it all over with the
Oyl of Cedar and other precious Ointments for the space of forty days
together; that done, they rub it well with Myrrhe, Cinnamon, and such
like things, not only apt and effectual for long Preservation, but for
sweet scenting of the Body also, and so deliver it to the Kindred of
the Dead, with every Member so whole and intire, that no Part of the
Body seems to be alter’d till it come to the very Hairs of the Eyelids
and the Eye-brows, insomuch as the Beauty and Shape of the Face seems
just as it was before. By which Means many of the Egyptians laying
up the Bodies of their Ancestors in stately Monuments, perfectly see
the true Visage and Countenance of those that were buried, many Ages
before they themselves were born. So that in viewing the Proportion
of every one of their Bodies and the Lineaments of their Faces, they
take exceeding great Delight, even as much as if they were still living
among them.
“Moreover, the Friends and nearest Relations of the Dead acquaint the
Judges and the rest of their Friends with the Time prefixt for the
Funeral of such an one by Name, declaring that such a day he is to
pass the Lake. At which Time forty Judges appear and sit together in a
Semicircle, in a Place beyond the Lake; where a Ship (before provided
by such as have the Care of the Business) is hal’d up to the Shoar,
govern’d by a Pilot, whom the Egyptians call Charon. And therefore they
say, that Orpheus seeing this Ceremony when he was in Egypt, invented
the Fable of Hell, partly imitating them in Egypt, and partly adding
something of his own; of which we shall speak particularly hereafter.
[Illustration: IMPLEMENTS USED IN EMBALMING
(Now in the British Museum)]
“The Ship being now in the Lake, every one is at Liberty by the Law to
accuse the Dead before the Coffin be put aboard; and if any Accuser
appears and makes good his Accusation, that he liv’d an ill Life,
then the Judges give Sentence, and the Body is debarr’d from being
buried after the usual Manner; but if the Informer be convicted of
a scandalous and malicious Accusation, he’s very severely punish’d.
If no Informer appear, or that the Information prove false, all the
Kindred of the Deceased leave off Mourning, and begin to set forth
his Praises; but say nothing of his Birth (as is the Custom among the
Greeks) because they account all in Egypt to be equally noble. But they
recount how the deceased was educated from a Child, his Breeding till
he came to Man’s Estate, his Piety towards the Gods and his Justice
towards Men, his Chastity and other Virtues, wherein he excell’d; and
they pray and call upon the infernal Deities to receive the deceas’d
into the Society of the Just. The common People take it from the other,
and approve of all that is said in his Praise with a loud Shout, and
set forth likewise his Vertues with the highest Praises and Strains
of Commendation, as he that is to live for ever with the just in the
Kingdom of Jove.
“Then they (that have Tombs of their own) interr the Corps in Places
appointed for that Purpose; they that have none of their own, build
a small Apartment in their own Houses, and rear up the Coffin to the
Sides of the strongest Wall of the Building. Such as are deny’d common
Burial, either because they are in Debt, or convicted of some horrid
Crime, they bury in their own Houses; and in After-times it often
happens that some of their Kindred growing rich, pay off the Debts
of the deceas’d, or get him absolv’d, and then bury their Ancestor
with State and Splendour. For amongst the Egyptians it’s a Sacred
Constitution, that they should at their greatest Costs honour their
Parents and Ancestors who are translated to an Eternal Habitation.
“It’s a Custom likewise among them to give the Bodies of their Parents
in Pawn to their Creditors, and they that do not presently redeem
them, fall under the greatest Disgrace imaginable, and are deny’d
Burial after their Deaths. One may justly wonder at the Authors of this
excellent Constitution, who both by what we see practis’d among the
living, and by the decent Burial of the dead, did (as much as possibly
lay within the Power of Men) endeavour to promote Honesty and faithful
Dealing one with another. For the Greeks (as to what concern’d the
Rewards of the Just and the Punishment of the Impious) had nothing
amongst them but invented Fables and Poetical Fictions, which never
wrought upon Men for the Amendment of their Lives, but on the contrary,
were despis’d and laught at by the lewder Sort.
“But among the Egyptians, the Punishment of the bad and the Rewards of
the good being not told as idle Tales, but every day seen with their
own Eyes, all Sorts were warn’d of their Duties, and by this Means was
wrought and continu’d a most exact Reformation of Manners and orderly
Conversation among them. For those certainly are the best Laws that
advance Virtue and Honesty, and instruct Men in a prudent Converse
in the World, rather than those that tend only to the heaping up of
Wealth, and teach Men to be rich.”[d]
FOOTNOTES
[11] See Leviticus, chap. xvi. 21. “And Aaron shall lay both his hands
upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities
of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their
sins, putting them upon the head of the goat.”--TRANSLATOR.