THE SACRED BOOKS
In the latest age of ancient Egypt the religious writings were largely
translated into Greek, at a time when they were studied and collected
as embodying the ideas of a world which was already fading away. This
venerated past kept its hold on the imagination as containing mystic
powers of compelling the unseen, and strange travesties of ancient
formulae, the efficacy of which could not be rivalled by any later
writings which were baldly intelligible. There were four main classes
of writings, on theology, ritual, science, and medicine. Though the
late compilations have almost entirely perished, yet we can gather
their nature from the portions of the original documents which are
preserved from earlier times.
The most popular work in the later dynasties was that which has been
called the _Book of the Dead_ by modern writers. We must not conceive
{77} of it as a bound up whole, like our Bible; but rather as an
incongruous accumulation of charms and formulae, parts of which were
taken at discretion by various scribes according to local or individual
tastes. No single papyrus contains even the greater part of it, and
the choice made among the heterogeneous material is infinitely varied.
The different sections have been numbered by modern editors, starting
with the order found in some of the best examples, and more than two
hundred such chapters are recognised. Every variety of belief finds
place in this large collection; every charm or direction which could
benefit the dead found a footing here if it attained popularity. From
prehistoric days downward it formed a religious repertory without
limits or regulation. Portions known in the close of the old kingdom
entirely vanish in later copies, while others appear which are
obviously late in origin. The incessant adding of notes, incorporation
of glosses, and piling of explanations one on the other, has increased
the confusion. And to add to our bewilderment, the scribes were
usually quite callous about errors in a writing which was never to be
seen or used by living eyes; and the corruptions, which have been in
turn made worse, have left hardly any sense in many parts. At {78}
best it is difficult to follow the illusions of a lost faith, but amid
all the varieties of idea and bad readings superposed, the task of
critical understanding is almost hopeless. The full study of such a
work will need many new discoveries and occupy generations of critical
ingenuity. We can distinguish certain groups of chapters, an Osirian
section on the kingdom of Osiris and the service of it, a theological
section, a set of incantations, formulae for the restoration of the
heart, for the protection of the soul from spirits and serpents in the
hours of night, charms to escape from perils ordained by the gods, an
account of the paradise of Osiris, a different version of the kingdom
and judgment of Osiris, a Heliopolitan doctrine about the _ba_, and its
powers of transformation entirely apart from all that is stated
elsewhere, the account of the reunion of soul and body, magic formulae
for entering the Osirian kingdom, another account of the judgment of
Osiris, charms for the preservation of the mummy and for making
efficacious amulets, together with various portions of popular beliefs.
In contrast to the mainly Osirian character above described, we see the
solar religion dominant in the Book of Am Duat, or that which {79} is
in the underworld. This describes the successive hours of the night,
each hour fenced off with gates which are guarded by monsters. At each
gate the right spells must be uttered to subdue the evil powers, and so
pass through with the sun. The older beliefs in Seker, the god of the
silent land, and Osiris, the king of the blessed world, are fitted in
to the newer system by allotting some hours to these other realms as a
part of the solar journey. A variant of this work is the _Book of
Gates_, describing the gates of the hours, but omitting Seker and
making Osiris more important. These books represent the fashionable
doctrines of the kings in the Ramesside times, and are mainly known
from the royal tombs on which they are inscribed.
Another branch of the sacred books survives in the formal theology of
the schools which grouped gods together in trinities or enneads. These
were certainly very ancient, having been formed under the Heliopolitan
supremacy before the rise of the first dynasty. And if the artificial
co-ordinating of the gods of varied sources is thus ancient, we have a
glimpse of the much greater age of the Osiride gods, and still further
of the primitive gods Seb and Nut, and the earliest worship of animals.
{80} The great ennead of Heliopolis consisted of Shu, Tefnut, Seb, Nut,
Osiris, Isis, Set, Nebhat, and Horus; there were also secondary and
tertiary enneads of lesser gods. When the sun-god Atmu became
prominent, Horus was omitted and the eight other gods were called
children of Atmu, who headed the group, as in the Pyramid texts. The
nine are not composed of three triads, but of four pairs and a leader.
This is on the same type as the four pairs of elemental gods at
Hermopolis under the chief god Tahuti. The triads were usual at most
cities, but were in many cases clearly of artificial arrangement, in
order to follow a type, the deities being of very unequal importance.
At Thebes, Amon, Mut, and Khonsu; at Memphis, Ptah, Sekhet, and the
deified man Imhotep; and in general Osiris, Isis, and Horus, were the
principal triads.
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