Foreign Deities
The attitude of the Egyptians as a nation toward 'other gods' seems to
have been singularly free from any bigotry for their native deities,
though of course the priesthood, of necessity, were more jealous and
conservative in this respect. But the middle and lower classes adopted
foreign gods freely, and in time the widespread belief in certain of
these compelled official recognition and consequent inclusion in the
Egyptian pantheon. Various reasons for this lack of exclusiveness are
quite apparent. The state religion was purely a matter of royal and
priestly organization, of moment to the attendant court of nobles and
officials, but having no permanent or deep-seated effect on the people
generally, each district following its local cult. Polytheistic worship
was thus a national tendency, and therefore, when the people came
into contact with foreign deities who possessed desirable qualities
and powers, there was no sufficiently restraining force in their own
religion to prevent them from becoming devotees of the strange god.
Again, the divinity of another nation's god never seems to have been
disputed, for if a nation were powerful, then that itself was sufficient
proof of the divine and magical nature of their deity, and by so much,
therefore, his power was to be feared and propitiated. That an element
of fear was present in much of this god-adoption cannot be doubted.
This would hold true especially in the case of the soldiery, who would
propitiate gods of war belonging to nations who had shown themselves
savage and furious in warfare; also in that of merchants, who, convoying
their precious cargoes, would seek the gods who ruled the sea. There
was yet another aspect of the question and an important one. According
to Egyptian thought, war between peoples was in fact war between their
respective deities, a trial of their powers; and as the vanquished king
and people might be taken captive, so might the god. Indeed, it was a
necessity, for without the possession of the god it could not be said
that the conquest was completed and the kingdom won. We find traces of
many of these adoptions, not to be found among the official deities,
in the numerous small stelæ belonging to private people and dedicated
by them to these strange gods; in the small images which stood in the
people's houses; while many an inscription carven on the rocks of the
desert yields its quota of evidence. Libya, Palestine, Phœnicia, and
Syria, each furnished the Egyptians with new gods; Ethiopia also. It
is considered probable by some authorities that the goddesses Bast and
Neith were of Libyan origin, though of this no positive statement can be
made. The worship of Bast and Neith was prevalent chiefly in the parts
where the majority of the population were Libyan, and the latter was
almost neglected where the people were of pure Egyptian race.
Asiatic Gods
Semitic Asia supplied the greatest number of gods borrowed by the
Egyptians, foremost among them being Baal, Ashtoreth, Anthat, Reshpu,
and the goddess Qetesh. The greatest of all is, of course, the Syrian
Baal, the terrible god of war, also a personification of those terrors
of the desert, the burning heat of the sun and the destroying wind.
This god first became known to the Egyptians under the Eighteenth
Dynasty, when they were at war with the Syrians for centuries, and, as
they had proved anything but easily vanquished foes, their god must
be regarded with due reverence and awe. The Ramessides especially
esteemed this deity, and "had a special predilection for calling
themselves as brave and mighty as Baal in heaven," and under Rameses II
a temple of the god existed at Tanis, where this king carried out his
architectural undertakings on such a large scale. To a certain extent
Baal was identified with Set, for a figure of the fabulous animal in
which the latter became incarnate is placed by the Egyptians after
their transliterations of the name Baal, from which it is evident that
they believed the two gods to have qualities and attributes in common.
Indeed, in one case, that of the texts of Edfû, wherein is related the
legend of the Winged Sun Disk, the name of Baal is substituted for that
of Set. Unfortunately, of his form and rites nothing is known.
Anthat was a war-goddess whose cult was widespread in Syria, and at the
time when the Egyptians were making their Asiatic Empire she naturally
became one of the adopted deities. Again, the huge number of Syrian
captives brought into Egypt would undoubtedly introduce her worship as
well as that of others into the country, and therefore it is no surprise
to learn that in the reign of Thothmes III a shrine was built and
dedicated to Anthat at Thebes. Rameses II, of the Nineteenth Dynasty,
honoured this goddess often in his inscriptions, a custom followed by
Rameses III, also a great warrior, and the latter gave to his favourite
daughter the name of Banth-Anth, 'daughter of Anth.' Of the form of
her worship little is known, but on Egyptian monuments she is called
the "lady of heaven and mistress of the gods," and is depicted seated
on a throne or standing upright. Seated, she wields a club with her
left hand, and with her right holds spear and shield; standing, she is
shown wearing a panther-skin, with the emblem of life in her left hand,
while in the right she holds a papyrus sceptre. On her head is the White
Crown. Her worship was well established in Egypt, and in time she was
identified with the native gods, and even said to have been produced by
Set.
Ashtoreth
Ashtoreth was called by the Egyptians "mistress of horses, lady of the
chariot, dweller in Apollinopolis Magna." She is a Syrian deity, the
terrible and destroying goddess of war, and her cult would seem to have
been brought into Egypt during the Syrian campaign of Thothmes III. Her
worship seems to have been well established in the country by the time
of Amen-hetep III, for in a letter from Tushratta, king of the Mitanni,
to this Pharaoh, he speaks of "Ishtar of Nineveh, Lady of the World,"
going down into Egypt in his own reign and that of his father, and seems
to infer that her worship there has declined, for he begs Amen-hetep to
make it increase tenfold. That it was widespread cannot be doubted. It
flourished in the Delta, and was known there down to Christian times.
The eastern quarter of Tanis was dedicated to Ashtoreth as was a temple
near by on the shores of the Serbonian lake. Mention is made of a priest
of Memphis who served Ashtoreth together with the moon-god Ah, for she
was also regarded as a moon-goddess, and was identified with one of
the forms of Hathor, or Isis-Hathor. In the treaty concluded between
the Kheta and the Egyptians she is mentioned as the national goddess
of the Syrians, though by this time she was also a familiar deity to
the Egyptians, for proper names compounded with hers were current,
and Rameses II, who had named his daughter after Anthat, also named
one of his sons after Ashtoreth: Mer-Astrot. Her designation 'lady of
horses and chariots' shows the comparatively late period at which she
entered Egypt, for it was only about 1800 B.C., at the earliest during
the Hyksos period, that the Egyptians learned from the Semites of the
Eastern Desert how to use horses in war for charging and for drawing
war-chariots. Ashtoreth is depicted as lioness-headed, and mounted on a
quadriga, she drives her rampant horses over prostrate foes, and thus
was the guide of the madly rushing war-chariot on the battlefield.
Qetesh in her native Syria seems to have been worshipped as a
nature-goddess with rites that tended to the licentious. In Egypt she
came to be identified with one of the forms of Hathor, the goddess
of love and beauty, also as a moon-goddess. By some authorities she
is considered to have been another form and aspect of Ashtoreth. In
Egyptian art she is represented as standing upon a lion, her figure
entirely nude; in her right hand she holds lotus blossoms and a mirror,
while in her left are two serpents. At a later period she is still
depicted in the same attitude, but on her head she wears the headdress
of Hathor. On inscriptions of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Dynasties
she is called "lady of heaven, mistress of all the gods, eye of Ra, who
has none like unto her." She was prayed to for gifts of life and health,
and that after extreme old age her devotees might have a good burial in
the west of Thebes, proving that her worship existed in the capital of
the country. She sometimes appears with Amsu and the god Reshpu, with
whom she seems to be associated as one of a trinity.
Reshpu is another Syrian god whose cult became known in Egypt, the chief
centre of his worship being at Het-Reshp, in the Delta. In Syria he was
regarded as a god of war, and in Egyptian monuments and temples he is
depicted in the form of a warrior with shield and spear in his left hand
and a club in his right. Above his forehead projects a gazelle, which
would seem to be an ancient symbol of the god denoting his sovereignty
over the desert. His titles as given in the Egyptian texts, where he
is described as "the great god, the lord of eternity, the prince of
everlastingness, the lord of twofold strength among the company of
gods," are largely borrowed from the native deities. Reshpu corresponds
to the god known to the Phœnicians and worshipped both in Cyprus and
Carthage, and is considered by some authorities to be a god of the
burning and destructive power of fire, also of the lightning.
Semitic and African Influence
Besides supplying the Egyptians with specific deities, Semitic thought
influenced their religious ideas regarding the mythology and nature
of their own gods. Certain inanimate objects--especially stones, and
in some cases trees--under this influence came to be looked upon
as incorporations of deity, as that of the sun-god in Heliopolis,
while a sign representing the archaic form of the symbol _Kh_ is the
usual determinative of the name Set. It is a circumstance of some
significance that the Asiatic deities in representation, as regards
physical appearance and symbolism, are depicted according to the
Egyptian religious convention; but with gods of African origin it is
far otherwise. They are figured as hideous, frightful, distorted, and
enormously fat creatures, resembling the negro human fetish which may
be found to-day among African tribes. Bes is the most important of the
African deities, and though he underwent many changes as time went on,
which would seem to point to other origins, his original conception
is decidedly African, and "his cult in Egypt is coeval with dynastic
civilizations." His representations point to a savage origin. He is
depicted as a deformed dwarf with large stomach, bowed legs, and a
huge, bearded face. From his thick lips hangs a protruding tongue; his
nose is flat, while his eyebrows are very shaggy. He wears a tiara of
feathers[1] on his head, and round his body a panther-skin, the tail
of which hangs down and usually touches the ground behind him. Another
distinction is that he is generally drawn in full face, the Egyptian
deities being usually presented in profile. Though many names were
given to him later, Bes was his usual appellation, which, according
to Wiedemann, is derived from _besa_, a word designating one of the
great felidæ, the _Cynœlurus guttatus_, whose skin formed his clothing.
His cult existed over a long period--from the time of the Old Kingdom
down to Roman times, in which his oracle at Abydos was consulted down
to a late period--and his influence may be traced in Alexandrian,
Hellenistic, and Phœnician art. The god Bes had varied characteristics.
He was associated with birth, and one of the oldest representations of
him is to be found in a relief in the temple of Hatshepsut, where he
appears as attendant at the birth of the Great Queen. In this connexion
he appears in all the 'Birth Houses' of Egyptian temples, places where
the presiding god was supposed to have been born. As the child grew
Bes was supposed to provide it with amusement, and in this aspect he
is shown as laughing at it, dancing grotesquely and playing on the
harp. From this he came to be regarded as god of the dance, of music
and joviality, hence of rest, joy, and pleasure; and his quaint figure
is to be found carved upon the handles of mirrors, on palettes, and on
_kohl_ vessels. He was appointed guardian of the young sun-god, and
therefore becomes the foe of all serpents, and is shown as gripping and
strangling them in his hands, or biting them in pieces. In time he was
wholly identified with his ward Horus, and depicted with all the symbols
and attributes of that deity, though his peculiar solar province was
the east. In the underworld Bes underwent a transformation. He became
an avenging deity, carrying a menacing knife with which he essayed to
tear out the hearts of the wicked, yet, even thus, to the good and
deserving he never failed to be a true friend and cheering companion.
In his menacing aspect he was called 'the Warrior,' and sometimes this
character was ascribed to him on earth also, where, bearing a shield and
wielding a sword, he wages war for those under his protection, and those
who wear his image as an amulet.
It is undoubted that many local cults existed in different parts of
Egypt and that gods of many and varied origins were the presiding
deities, but usually their power remained purely local and never
attained to any great influence or fame.
Sacred Animals
From the many sources whence comes our knowledge of ancient Egypt there
is to be gathered a most comprehensive survey of the great extent
and influence which animal-worship attained to in that country. It
prevailed there from the earliest times and was far older than Egyptian
civilization. That much of it is of totemic origin cannot be gainsaid,
an origin to be found among the pre-dynastic tribes whence sprang the
Egyptian people.
The inspiring cause of animal-worship was undoubtedly at first nothing
more or less than fear, with an admixture of awesome admiration of the
creature's excelling power and strength. Later there developed the
idea of animals as typifying gods, the actual embodiments of divine
and superhuman attributes. Thus the bull and the ram, possessors of
exceptional procreative energy, came to represent gods of nature and
the phenomena of yearly rejuvenescence, as is stated by Wiedemann:
"The generative power in the animal was identical with the force by
which life is renewed in nature continually and in man after death."
Throughout Egypt the bull and the cow, the latter as typifying
fertility, were worshipped as agricultural gods.
Again, to the Egyptian mind, incapable of abstract thought, an
immaterial and intangible deity was an impossible conception. A god,
and more so by reason of his godhead, must manifest and function in
an actual body. The king was believed to be an incarnation of a god,
but he was apart and only one, and as the Egyptian everywhere craved
the manifestation of and communion with his gods, it thus came about
that incarnations of deity and its many attributes were multiplied.
Certain animals could represent these to a greater degree than man,
though of course to Egyptian thought man was the standard by which
all in the universe was to be measured and weighed. The gods were but
little greater than men; they were limited, and might know death. Their
immortality was only acquired by the power of transmigration from one
body to another, escaping human death by transference to successive
forms and a renewal of the life force.
The symbolism of the Egyptian religion is mostly expressed by means
of animals. Thus the god of the dead is spoken of as a jackal, the
water-god as a crocodile, while the sky is a cow, the sun a falcon,
the moon an ibis. Because of this exaltation of certain animals whole
species were held as sacred, and this led to the many strange ideas and
customs amongst the Egyptians mentioned so often by classic writers, as,
for instance, considering a man fortunate who was eaten by a crocodile.
When these animals died their owners mourned as for a relative, and the
greatest care was taken in the disposal of their remains. Cows were held
in such veneration that their bodies were cast into the sacred waters of
the Nile, and a bull was buried outside the town, its horns protruding
above the ground to mark the place of interment. Other instances might
be adduced.
Apis
From the earliest times the bull was worshipped in Egypt as the
personification of strength and virility and might in battle. Manetho
traces the cult of Apis to Kaiekhos, a king of the Second Dynasty, who
appointed a chosen bull, Hap, to be a god; but Ælian ascribes this to
Mena, the first historical king of Egypt.
Much of our knowledge concerning this cult is derived from Greek
sources. Herodotus gives the following description of Apis: "He is the
calf of a cow which is incapable of conceiving another offspring, and
the Egyptians say that lightning descends upon the cow from heaven and
that from thence it brings forth Apis. This calf has the following
marks: it is black and has a square spot of white on the forehead; and
on the back the figure of an eagle; and in the tail double hairs, and on
the tongue a beetle."
Again, Diodorus gives an account of the finding of the Apis and the
method of its installation on the death and funeral of a former
incarnation of the god Osiris: "After the splendid funeral of Apis is
over those priests who have charge of the business seek out another calf
as like the former as they can possibly 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 through the
city of Nile and feed him forty days. Then they put him into a barge
wherein is a golden cabin and so transport him as a god to Memphis and
place him in Vulcan's grove. During the forty days before mentioned none
but women are admitted to see him, and these, naked, are placed full in
his view. Afterward they are forbidden to come into the sight of this
new god. For the adoration of this ox they give this reason. They say
that the soul of Osiris passed into an ox and therefore whenever the ox
is dedicated, to this very day the spirit of Osiris is infused into one
ox after another to posterity. But some say that the members of Osiris
(who was killed by Typhon) were thrown by Isis into an ox made of wood
covered with ox-hides, and from thence the city of Bubastis was called."
Great honour was also paid to the mother of the chosen bull, and
apartments in the temple were set apart for her beside the splendid ones
occupied by the Apis. This animal was given rich beds to lie upon, its
food was of the purest and most delicate, while water from a special
well at Memphis was given to it alone, the water of the Nile being
considered fattening. A number of carefully selected cows were presented
to the Apis, and these again had their attendant priests. Usually the
sacred bull was kept in seclusion, but when on certain occasions he
appeared in public a crowd of boys marched in procession beside him
singing hymns. The birthday of the Apis was celebrated for seven days
with great rejoicings, and it was believed that during this period no
man was attacked by a crocodile.
The Apis Oracle
Thus in the temple of Ptah were great honours paid to the Apis bull, and
the Pharaohs gave lavishly of their wealth to its cult, and foreigners,
such as Alexander the Great and Titus, presented it with offerings.
Oracles, as usual, were looked for from this god, and the method of
obtaining them is thus described by Wiedemann:
"Chiefly it was renowned for its oracles, which were imparted in very
various ways. When the bull licked the garments of the celebrated
Eudoxus of Cnidus, this signified the astronomer's approaching death;
a like fate was predicted to Germanicus when it refused to eat at his
hand; and the conquest of Egypt by Augustus was announced beforehand by
its bellowing. Some inquiries were answered by the animal's passing into
one or other of the two rooms placed at its disposition, and others by
dreams which were vouchsafed to inquirers who slept in the temple, and
which were explained by the sacred interpreters. Other inquiries, again,
though presented to the creature itself, found their reply through the
voices of children playing before the temple, whose words assumed to
the believing inquirer the form of a rhythmic answer to his question.
Prophecies of a general kind took place during the procession of the
Apis." Of this Pliny says: "Then the youths who accompanied him sang
hymns in his honour, while the Apis appeared to understand all, and to
desire that he should be worshipped. Suddenly the spirit took possession
of the youths and they prophesied."
There were also sacrifices made to the Apis, and these, strangely
enough, were oxen, chosen with the greatest care. The head of the
slaughtered animal was usually thrown into the Nile with the following
words pronounced above it: "If any evil be about to befall either those
who now sacrifice or upon the land of Egypt, may it be averted on this
head."
Some authorities state that after a certain number of years the Apis
was slain and a new one obtained, but it is generally believed that the
Apis died a natural death. Its body was embalmed and general mourning
was observed. The mummy was buried with all magnificence.[2] In 1851
Mariette discovered the famous Serapeum wherein had been buried the
sacred bulls of Memphis from the middle of the Eighteenth Dynasty, 1500
B.C. Here in the gigantic sarcophagi, weighing about fifty-eight tons
each, were discovered some of the remains of these animals. The chapels
of the Serapeum were evidently places of pilgrimage, for many votive
statues and stelæ have been found there dedicated to the dead Apis, "in
hopes of thereby gaining his favour and the fulfilment of their various
wishes." The Apis, though dead, was even yet more powerful, for his soul
became joined to that of Osiris, and thus the dual god Osiris-Apis was
formed, a name more familiar in the Grecian form _Serapis_. To this god
the Greeks ascribed the attributes of their own deity Hades, convinced
of the similarity to Osiris, the great god of the underworld. In both
Egypt and Greece Serapis came to be looked upon as the male counterpart
of Isis. Under the Romans the cult of Serapis extended in all directions
of the Empire, claiming devotees of all classes and races. It reached as
far north in Britain as York.
At Heliopolis another bull, Mnevis, was worshipped as typifying the sun
and its life-giving powers. Manetho ascribes this cult also to Kaiekhos,
of the Second Dynasty, as well as the worship of the _Ram of Mendes_.
This obtained chiefly in the Deltaic cities, such as Hermopolis,
Lycopolis, and Mendes, the last named being the most famous shrine. The
origin of this worship was merely that of a local and tribal animal god,
but, persisting through the changing civilization, it became of more
than local influence as the city grew in wealth and importance, while
the priesthood were among the most wealthy and powerful in Egypt, and
the animal god was identified "first with the indigenous god Osiris,
secondly with the sun-god Ra, and thirdly with the great Ram-god of the
South and Elephantine, _i.e._ Khnemu."
Greek writers furnish us with much graphic material concerning these
animal cults, as in some instances they were eye-witnesses of the ritual
connected with them. Herodotus states that the god Pan and another
goat-like deity were worshipped with a wealth of symbolic display and
gorgeous rite as gods of generation and fecundity. As in many countries
where animal worship obtained the beast chosen for adoration was picked
from a number because of certain distinguishing marks upon its hide, was
enthroned with much pomp and received an imposing public funeral on its
decease.
On the stele of Mendes deciphered by Mariette was found an inscription
stating that Ptolemy II Philadelphus rebuilt the temple of Mendes and
assisted in person at the enthronement of two Rams, and in a relief on
the upper portion of this stele are to be seen the figures of two royal
Ptolemies and an Arsinoë making offerings to the Ram and his female
counterpart Hatmehit.
The Crocodile
The crocodile was the incarnation of the god Sebek. It would seem
beyond doubt that abject fear was the primal origin of the worship of
this repulsive creature, and the idea that its evil and menacing traits
might be averted by propitiation, for in the dry season these reptiles
wandered over the cultivated lands and devoured all at will. Later,
beneficent attributes were ascribed to it, but the dark side always
persisted. In the benign aspect he is connected with Ra, and again
with Osiris, though in legendary lore he is both the friend and foe
of Osiris. One version tells how a crocodile carried the dead body of
Osiris safely to land upon its back, whilst another relates that only by
Isis placing Horus in a little ark woven of papyrus reeds was she able
to protect him against the attacks of the malevolent Sebek. This clearly
identifies him with Set, the murderer of Osiris, and in this connexion
the powers of darkness are symbolized by four crocodiles, who are shown
in the _Book of the Dead_ as menacing the deceased. Whilst still living,
men sought deliverance from these horrible shapes of the underworld by
means of incantations.
But again he is said to be beneficent to the dead, and in the Pyramid
Texts it is Sebek who restores sight to the eyes of the deceased,
who, indeed, revives all his faculties, is his guide in the untried
new life, and helps him to overthrow Set, the evil one who preys upon
every 'Osiris.' In this character he is the helper and protector of
the child Horus. But his characters are multiple, and he is to be
found participating in the rites of all the other gods of the Egyptian
pantheon.
Quite in consonance with this is the fact that while in some parts of
Egypt the crocodile was held sacred, in other districts it was killed;
indeed, the hunting of it was a popular sport with the nobles of the Old
Kingdom. By some the crocodile was looked upon as a protector of Egypt,
Diodorus stating that "but for them Arabian and African robbers would
swim across the Nile and pillage the country in all directions."
Herodotus also states these conflicting views regarding the crocodile,
together with many of the fabulous stories of its wisdom and habits. He
tells how at Thebes and Lake Moeris they were held sacred, and how when
tame the people bedecked them with jewels, placing bracelets on their
fore-paws, while they were fed on the most delicate foods. After death
the body was embalmed with many rites and buried in the subterranean
Labyrinth, a place held so sacred that Herodotus was not allowed to
enter it.
The centre of this worship was Krokodilopolis, in the Fayûm, and Strabo,
who visited Egypt during the reign of the Emperor Augustus, gives the
following account in which he tells that the sacred crocodile "was kept
apart by himself in a lake; it is tame and gentle to the priests. It
is fed with bread, flesh, and wine, which strangers who come to see it
always present. Our host, a distinguished person, who was our guide
about the city, accompanied us to the lake, and brought from the supper
table a small cake, dressed meat, and a small vessel containing honey
and milk. The animal was lying on the edge of the lake. The priests went
up to it; some of them opened its mouth, another put the cake into it,
then the meat, and afterward poured down the honey and milk. The animal
then leaped into the lake and crossed to the other side. When another
stranger arrived with his offering, the priests took it and, going round
to the other side, caught the animal and repeated the process in the
same manner as before."
This cult lasted far into the Roman period. Sebek also had his oracle,
and foretold the demise of King Ptolemæus by refusing to listen to him
or obey the attendant priests.
In religious art Sebek is often represented as a crocodile-headed man
wearing the solar disk with a uræus, or, again, with a pair of horns and
the plumes of Amen.
The Lion
The lion could hardly fail to be the centre of a cult, and there is
ample proof that this animal was, from early dynastic times, worshipped
for his great strength and courage. He was identified with the solar
deities, with the sun-god Horus or Ra. The Delta was the home of
the Egyptian lion, and the chief centre of the cult was the city of
Leontopolis, in the Northern Delta, where, according to Ælian, the
sacred lions were fed upon slaughtered animals, and sometimes a live
calf was put in the den that they might have the pleasure of killing
it. Whilst the feeding was proceeding the priests chanted and sang.
But the same writer also states that lions were kept in the temple at
Heliopolis, as well as at many other places throughout Egypt.
The Lion Guardian
The outstanding characteristic of the lion was that of guardianship, and
this is to be found in the part played by the ancient lion-god Aker,
who guarded the gate of the dawn through which the sun passed each
morning. The later idea that the sun-god passed through a dark passage
in the earth which hid his light, and so caused the darkness of night,
while his emergence therefrom was the signal of day, necessitated the
existence of two guardian lions, who were called Sef and Dua--that is,
'Yesterday' and 'To-morrow.' From this was derived the practice of
placing statues of lions at the doors of palaces and tombs as guardians
of both living and dead against all evil. These statues were often given
the heads of men, and are familiar under the Greek name of 'Sphinxes,'
though the characteristics of the Egyptian lion-statue were very
different from those of the Grecian 'Sphinx.'
The most famous of all is, of course, the wonderful 'Sphinx' at Gizeh,
the symbol of the sun-god Ra, or rather his colossal abode erected
there, facing the rising sun that he might protect the dead sleeping in
the tombs round about.
There were many lion-headed gods and goddesses, in some cases
personifying the destructive power. In the underworld lion-headed
deities guarded some of the halls and pylons there, and that the lion
was connected in some way with the dead is proved by the fact that the
head of the bier was always made in the form of a lion's head, while the
foot was not seldom decorated with a lion's tail.
A curious point is that it was evidently permissible to kill the lions
of another country, if not those of Egypt, for we find that Amen-hetep
III boasted of having shot with his own bow one hundred and two
fierce lions. Rameses II and Rameses III both kept a tame lion, which
accompanied them into battle and actually attacked the enemy. In this
case, however, it is evident that primarily the lion was a symbol of
guardianship.
The Cat
The cat was regarded both as an incarnation of Bast, the goddess of
Bubastis, and therefore sacred to her, and as a personification of
the sun. Throughout Egyptian mythology the cat is to be found, and
generally in a beneficent aspect. In the _Book of the Dead_ it is a cat
who cuts off the head of the serpent of darkness and who assists in the
destruction of the foes of Osiris. On every side there is ample evidence
that everywhere in Egypt the cat was held in great reverence after the
Twenty-second Dynasty. The classical writers are again our authorities.
Diodorus relates that the cats were fed on bread and milk and slices of
Nile fish, and that the animals came to their meals at certain calls.
After death their bodies were carefully embalmed and, with spices and
drugs, swathed in linen sheets. The penalty of death was meted out to
anyone who killed a cat, be it by accident or of intent, and a case is
given in which a Roman who had killed a cat was set upon by the enraged
populace and made to pay for the outrage with his life. A passage from
Herodotus further illustrates the esteem in which these animals were
held: "When a conflagration takes place a supernatural impulse seizes on
the cats. For the Egyptians, standing at a distance, take care of the
cats and neglect to put out the fire; but the cats, making their escape,
and leaping over the men, throw themselves into the fire; and when this
happens great lamentations are made among the Egyptians. In whatsoever
house a cat dies a natural death all the family shave their eyebrows
only, but if a dog die they shave their whole body and the head. All
cats that die are carried to certain sacred houses, where, being first
embalmed, they are buried in the city of Bubastis."
The Dog
Dogs were held in great honour by the Egyptians, as in the city of
Cynopolis, yet strangely enough, they were never looked upon as a
possible incarnation of a god, though there seems to have been some
confusion of the dog with the jackal, sacred to Anubis, who ministered
to Osiris and acted as guide to the souls of the dead. Another animal
so confounded was the wolf, which was specially venerated at Lycopolis.
The fact that the jackal was to be found chiefly in the deserts and
mountains where tombs were usually located led to its early association
with the dead and the underworld in Egyptian mythology, the character
ascribed to it being beneficent and that of a guide.
The Hippopotamus
Another cult probably founded on fear was that of the hippopotamus.
Ta-urt, the hippopotamus-goddess, came in time to be identified with
nearly every goddess in the Egyptian pantheon, and though her attributes
are those of benevolence and protectiveness, the original traits of
ferocious destructiveness were not wholly obliterated, for we find these
personified in the monster, half-hippopotamus, called Amemt, who attends
the Judgment Scene. In this same scene is the dog-headed ape, who sits
and watches the pointer of the scales and reports the results to Thoth.
This animal was greatly revered by the Egyptians. The cult is probably
extremely ancient. Apes were kept in many temples, mostly those of the
lunar deities, as that of Khensu at Thebes.
Other Animals
Two animals, the ass and the pig, attained a peculiar reputation for
evil, though in some aspects looked upon as sacrosanct. They were
always connected with the powers of darkness and evil. In the case of
the ass opinion seems to have fluctuated, for in some instances this
animal figures as a personification of the sun-god Ra. Many smaller
animals are to be found in the mythology of Egypt, among which may be
mentioned the hare, which was worshipped as a deity, the shrew-mouse,
sacred to the goddess Buto, the ichneumon, and the bat, whilst reptiles
were represented by the tortoise, associated with night, therefore
with darkness and evil; and the serpent, clearly propitiated through
fear at first, though afterward credited with beneficent motives. The
uræus became the symbol of divinity and royalty, a symbol worn by the
gods and the kings. But the evil side was undoubtedly prominent in the
mind of the Egyptian, for all the terrors of death and the Unknown were
personified in the monster serpent Apep, who led his broods of serpents
against both gods and men in the gloom of the underworld. Others were
the scorpion, associated sometimes with evil, but also sacred to
Isis; and the frog, worshipped in pre-dynastic times as the symbol
of generation, birth, and fecundity. This cult was the most ancient
in Egypt and is connected with the creation myth. The goddess Heqt,
identified with Hathor, is depicted with the head of a frog.
The Ibis
Amongst birds worshipped by the Egyptians, one of the most important
was the ibis. It was associated with Thoth and the moon, and in the
earliest period the city of Hermopolis was the centre of this cult. A
passage in Herodotus gives many interesting details concerning the ideas
held regarding the bird. He tells us that he went to a certain place
in Arabia, near the city of Buto, to learn about the winged serpents,
brought into Egypt by the west wind, which the ibis was believed to
destroy along with the ordinary reptiles common to the country. Arriving
there, he "saw the backbones and ribs of serpents in such numbers as
it was impossible to describe; of the ribs there were a multitude of
heaps, some great, some small, some of medium size. The place where
the bones lie is at the entrance of a narrow gorge between steep
mountains, which there opens upon a wide plain communicating with the
great plain of Egypt. The story goes that, with the spring, the winged
snakes come flying from Arabia toward Egypt, but are met in this gorge
by the birds called ibises, who bar their entrance and destroy them.
The Arabians assert, and the Egyptians admit, that it is on account of
this service that the Egyptians hold the ibis in so much reverence.
The ibis is a bird of a deep black colour, with legs like a crane; its
beak is strongly hooked, and its size that of the landrail. This is a
description of the black ibis which contends with the serpents."
Another bird held in great reverence was the bennu, a bird of the
heron species which gave rise to the mythical bird, the phœnix. It is
identified with the sun, a symbol of the rising and the setting sun.
Many fables arose concerning this bird, and are recounted by Herodotus
and Pliny. Another sun-bird was the falcon, sacred to Horus, Ra, and
Osiris, and this was worshipped throughout Egypt in the pre-dynastic
period. In another form, represented with a human head, it was symbolic
of the human soul, a distinction it shared with the heron and swallow,
in both of which it was believed the human soul might reincarnate
itself. Plutarch says that it was in the form of a swallow that Isis
lamented the death of Osiris. Also sacred to Isis was the goose, though
one species of it was devoted to Amen-Ra; while the vulture was the
symbol of the goddesses Nekhebet and Mut. There is some evidence to
prove that certain fish were held as sacred, and worshipped because of
their mythological connexion with divers gods and goddesses.
Sacred Trees
Though as a country Egypt was not rich in trees, yet certain of the
family played a not unimportant part in the religious cult, so much so
that tree-worship has been accepted as a fact by most Egyptologists.
That these trees were held in special veneration would support that
belief, though recorded instances of actual tree-worship are rare. This
Wiedemann attributes to the same reason that accounts for the scant
notice taken in Egyptian texts of animal-worship, though we know from
other sources that it formed the most considerable part in popular
religion. And the reason is that official religion took but little
notice of the 'minor' divinities to whom the people turned rather than
to the greater gods; that the priestly class hardly admitted to their
pantheon the 'rustic and plebeian' deities of the lower classes. He goes
on to say that "so far as we can judge, the reception of tree-worship
into temple-service and mythology was always the result of a compromise;
the priests were compelled to make concessions to the faith of
the masses and admit into the temples the worship of the people's
divinities; but they did so grudgingly, and this explains the apparent
insignificance of the official cult of vegetation in Egypt as compared
with the worship of the great gods and their cycles."
In their religious symbolism we find the ancient sacred tree which grew
in the 'Great Hall' of Heliopolis on the place where the solar cat slew
that great serpent of evil, Apep, the place, too, from which the Phœnix
rose. The leaves of this tree possessed magical powers, for when Thoth
or the goddess Safekht wrote thereon the name of the monarch, then was
he endowed with immortality. Again, there was the wonderful tree, a
tamarisk, which wound its stem and branches about the chest that held
the dead Osiris. An olive-tree is mentioned, too, the habitation of a
nameless demon.
The sycamore, whose shade was so welcome in the brazen glare of Egypt,
had its counterpart in the Land of the Dead, and from its midst leaned
out a Hathor, Lady of the Underworld, offering sustenance and water to
the passing souls. Sometimes it is a palm-tree from which she ministers
to the dead, and perhaps it is a leaf from this tree circled by inverted
horns which stands for the peculiar symbol of Safekht, the goddess
of learning. But the sycamore seems to have been first favourite,
and on some monuments it is represented with peasants gathered round
fervently paying their devotions to it and making offerings of fruit and
vegetables and jars of water. It was always held as sacred to Nut and
Hathor, and their doubles were believed to inhabit it, a certain species
being regarded as "the living body of Hathor on earth"; indeed, the
Memphite Hathor was called the 'Lady of the Sycamore.'
As to the later development of this belief Wiedemann states: "In
Ptolemaic times a systematic attempt was made to introduce this form of
cult into the temple of every nome; according to the contemporary lists
relating to the subject, twenty-four nomes worshipped the Nile acacia,
seventeen the _Corda myxa_, sixteen the _Zizyphus Spina Christi_,
while other trees, such as the sycamore, the _Juniperus Phœnica_, and
the _Tamarisk Nilotica_, are named but once or twice. Ten kinds of
sacred trees are here mentioned, in all of which as many as three were
sometimes worshipped in the same nome." Again, there is evidence to
prove that every temple had its sacred tree and sacred groves, whilst
it is recorded that rare trees were brought as precious spoil from
conquered countries, their roots carefully encased in great chests of
earth that they might be planted about temples and palaces.
The Lotus
Amongst flora the only kind which may be said to be sacred is the lotus.
In Egyptian symbolism and decoration it is to be found everywhere. From
the cup of a lotus blossom issues the boy Horus, the 'rising sun,' and
again it is the symbol of resurrection, when Nefer-tem, crowned with the
flowers, grants continuance of life in the world to come. On the altars
of offering the blossoms were laid in profusion.
Religion of the Late Period
The conclusion of the New Empire and the succession of political chaos
during what is known as the Libyan period witnessed what was really,
so far as Egyptian religion is concerned, the beginning of the end.
Thenceforward a gradual decline is apparent in the ancient faith of the
Pharaohs, a subtle decay which the great revival of the eighth century
and onward was powerless to arrest. The ever-increasing introduction
into it of foreign elements, Greek and Persian and Semitic, and the
treasuring of the dry husks of ancient things, from which the soul
had long since departed--these sapped the strength and virility of
the Egyptian religion, hampered true progress, and contributed to its
downfall, till it was finally vanquished and thrown into obscurity by
the devotees of Christianity.
At the beginning of the Libyan period, then, there were a number of
petty rulers in the land of Egypt--a monarch held court at Tanis, in the
Delta; at Thebes the priesthood of Amen's cult were the rulers; other
districts were governed by the chief men among the Libyan soldiery. One
of these latter, Sheshonk by name, attained supremacy about the middle
of the tenth century B.C., and as his capital was at Bubastis, Bast, the
cat-headed goddess of that locality, became for a time supreme deity
of Egypt, while other Delta divinities also came into vogue. A share
of the worship also fell to Amen. It is remarkable that this deity was
himself the ruler of Thebes, being represented by a _Divine Wife_,
always the eldest princess of the ruling family. So firm was the belief
in the divine government of Thebes that no human monarch of the Late
period, however powerful, made any attempt to take the city. Meanwhile a
revulsion of feeling occurred against Set, the dark brother of Isis and
Osiris. Hitherto his position among the gods of the Egyptian pantheon
had been unquestioned, but now he was thrown from his high estate and
confused or identified with the dragon Apep; he was no longer a god, but
a devil.
The cult of the oracle flourished greatly during the decadent period,
and afforded, as we may conjecture, considerable scope for priestly
ingenuity. The usual method of consulting the oracle was to write on
papyrus certain words, whether of advice or judgment, which it was
proposed to put into the mouth of the deity, and to which he might
assent by nodding.
A Religious Reaction
Toward the end of the eighth century B.C. a great religious reaction set
in. Hitherto the brilliant opening of the New Empire, particularly the
time of Rameses II, had set a model for the pious of the Late period;
now the Old Kingdom, its monuments, rites, and customs, its fervent
piety and its proud conservatism, was become the model epoch for the
whole nation. It was, however, less a faithful copy than a caricature of
the Old Kingdom which the Decadent period provided. All that was most
strange and _outré_ in the ancient religion was sought out and emulated.
Old monuments and religious literature were studied; the language and
orthography of long-past centuries were revived and adopted; and if
much of this was incomprehensible to the bulk of the people, its very
mystery but made it the more sacred. In the funerary practices of the
time the antiquarian spirit is very evident. Ancient funerary literature
was held in high esteem; the Pyramid Texts were revived; old coffins,
and even fragments of such, were utilized in the burying of the dead.
The tomb furniture was elaborate and magnificent--in the case of rich
persons, at least--while even the poorest had some such furnishings
provided for them. Ushabti figures of blue faience were buried with the
deceased, to accomplish for him any compulsory labour he might be called
upon to do in the domain of Osiris, and scarabs also were placed in his
coffin. The rites and ceremonies of mummification followed those of the
Old Kingdom, and were religiously carried out. The graves of even the
royal Thebans were not so magnificent as those of private persons of
this era. Yet because their inscriptions were almost invariably borrowed
from the Old Kingdom, it is hard to guess what their ideas really were
on the subjects of death and the underworld. It may be that these also
were borrowed. From the tombs of foreigners--of Syrians belonging to the
fifth century B.C.--some little information may be gathered relative
to the status of the dead in the underworld which probably represents
the popular view of the time. Herodotus asserts that the Egyptians of
this epoch believed in the transmigration of souls, and it is possible
that they did hold this belief in some form. It may well have been a
development of the still more ancient idea that the soul was capable or
appearing in a variety of shapes--as a bird, an animal, and so on.
The Worship of Animals
A very prominent feature of the religion of the Late period, and one
which well illustrates the note of exaggeration already mentioned,
was the worship of animals, carried by the pious Egyptian to a point
little short of ludicrous. Cats and crocodiles, birds, beetles, rams,
snakes, and countless other creatures were reverenced with a lavishness
of ceremony and ritual which the Egyptian knew well how to bestow.
Especially to Apis, the bull of the temple of Ptah in Memphis, was
worship accorded. The Saïte king Amasis, who did a great deal in
connexion with the restoration of ancient monuments, is mentioned as
having been especially devoted to the sacred bull, in whose honour
he raised the first of the colossal sarcophagi at Saqqara. But these
elaborate burial rites were not reserved for individual sacred animals;
they were accorded to entire classes. It was a work of piety, for
instance, to mummify a dead cat, convey the remains to Bubastis, where
reigned the cat-headed Bast, and there inter the animal in a vault
provided with suitable furnishings. Dead mice and sparrowhawks were
taken to Buto; the ibis found his last resting-place at Eshmunên; while
the cow, the most sacred of Egyptian animals, was thrown at death into
the Nile.
It is notable that, despite the exclusiveness which characterized this
phase of the Egyptian religion and the contempt with which the Egyptians
regarded everything that was not of their land, several foreign elements
crept into their faith and were incorporated with it during the Saïtic
and Persian supremacies. The oracles, which played a conspicuous part in
the religious government of the country, were probably not of Egyptian
origin; the burning of sacrifices was a Semitic custom which the people
of the Nile valley had adopted. Already there was a considerable Greek
element in Egypt, and in the time of Amasis a Greek town--Naukratis--had
been founded there. It is therefore not improbable that Greek ideas also
entered into the national faith, colouring the ancient gods, and perhaps
suggesting to Herodotus that resemblance which caused him to identify
the divinities of Egypt with those of Greece--Osiris with Dionysos, Isis
with Demeter, Horus with Apollo, Set with Typhon, and so on. Naturally
this identification became much more general and complete in later
years, when the Hellenes were masters in Egypt.
Besides these foreign ideas grafted on the Egyptian religion, there
were innovations suggested by the native priests themselves, such as
the deification of certain national heroes admired by the populace
for their skill in learning and magic. Such hero-gods were Imhotep, a
distinguished author and architect under King Zoser at an early period
of dynastic history, and Amenhetep, son of Hāpu, who was thought to have
seen and conversed with the gods. Both heroes were adored with the gods
at Thebes and Karnak.
Religion under Persian Rule
If the Saïte rulers endeavoured to keep on good terms with the
priesthood, the Persian monarchs who succeeded them were no whit behind
in this matter. Even the boldest of them found it to his advantage to
bow before the native deities, and to give to these his protection.
Meanwhile the Egyptian dynasts, who ruled contemporaneously with the
Persians, were allowed to proceed unmolested with the building of
temples and monuments. Strangely enough, in view of the nearness of
the Greek conquest and the consequent amalgamation of the religions
of Greece and Egypt, this period was characterized by a hatred and
contempt on the part of the Egyptians for all foreigners dwelling in
their cities. Kambyses, who heaped indignity upon the Apis bull and
finally slew the animal, was afterward persuaded by his physician,
Usa-hor-res-net, to recant his heresy, and was further induced to banish
foreigners out of the temple area and to destroy their houses. Other
rulers levied taxes on Greek imports, devoting the revenue thus obtained
to the goddess Neith.
The Ptolemaic Period
As has been said, Greek ideas had already found their way into the
religion of Egypt when the Alexandrine conquest in the fourth century
B.C. made the Greeks dominant. Yet the ancient religion held its ground
and maintained its established character in all essential respects. The
Hellenic monarchs vied with their predecessors in the tolerance and
respect which they accorded to the native religion. It was they who
maintained the Egyptian deities in splendid state; restored statues,
books, and so on which the Persians had taken from the country; even
they themselves worshipped the absurd animal deities of the Egyptians.
This was the great epoch of temple-building in Egypt. The temples of
Dendereh, Edfû, Kom Ombo, Philæ, and many other famous structures were
raised under Ptolemaic and Roman rulers. For the favours shown them
by the conquerors the priests were duly grateful, even to the extent
of deifying their rulers while they were yet alive. It was said of
Ptolemy and his consort that "the beneficent gods have benefited the
temples in the land and greatly increased the dignity of the gods. They
have provided in every way for Apis, Mnevis, and the other esteemed
sacred animals with great sumptuousness and cost." There was even a
new order[3] of priesthood instituted, known as the "priesthood of the
beneficent gods."
During the period of Roman ascendancy the high-priest was the most
important religious official within a considerable area, acting as the
representative of a still higher Roman official, the high-priest of
Alexander and of all Egypt. The priests of the larger temples, on which
grants of money and land had been lavishly bestowed, were doubtless
sufficiently well provided for, but in the smaller temples things were
far otherwise, if we are to judge from the evidence at our disposal.
The Theban priests especially were regarded as sages well versed in the
lore of antiquity, and as such were much sought after by travellers
from Rome. In Thebes also were priestesses, consecrated to the service
of Amen, the god of that district, to whom the Greeks as well as the
Egyptians rendered homage, identifying him with Zeus.
The worship of animals continued unabated during the Hellenic period;
it is even probable that this phase of the Egyptian religion had become
more pronounced under the Greek rule, for Strabo, writing in the time
of Augustus, asserts that statues of sacred animals had practically
displaced those of the gods. The sacred Ram (Khnemu) of Mendes was
worshipped both by conquered and conquerors, as was the Apis bull and
the sacred crocodile, and it would seem that the temple revenues were at
times increased by the displaying of these animals to the curious gaze
of strangers.
Fusion of Greek and Egyptian Ideas
Meanwhile Greek and Egyptian ideas were becoming more and more
completely fused. As already mentioned, Amen was identified with Zeus,
Isis with Demeter, Hathor with Aphrodite, Osiris with Pluto, Set with
Typhon, Bast with Artemis, and Horus with Apollo. This feature was very
strikingly exemplified in the god Sarapis,[4] a deity equally reverenced
by the Greeks and the Egyptians. Sarapis, as the former called him, or
Asar-Hapi, as he was known to the latter, was a name compounded from
Osiris and Apis. So early as the beginning of the New Empire these two
deities--Apis, the sacred bull of Mendes, and Osiris, the 'Bull of the
West'--had been to some extent identified, and finally the Apis had
been given the attributes of a god of the underworld. To the Greeks, it
would appear, Sarapis was the form taken by the _deceased_ Apis bull.
Tradition assigns the identification of Sarapis with Pluto to the reign
of Ptolemy Soter. Plutarch gives the following version of the legend.
The Legend of Sarapis
"Ptolemy, surnamed the Saviour, had a dream wherein a certain colossean
statue, such as he had never seen before, appeared unto him, commanding
him to remove it as soon as possible from the place where it then stood
to Alexandria. Upon this the king was in great perplexity, as he knew
neither to whom the statue belonged nor where to look for it. Upon his
relating the vision to his friends, a certain person named Sosibius, who
had been a great traveller, declared that he had seen just such a statue
as the king described at Sinope. Soteles and Dionysius were hereupon
immediately dispatched in order to bring it away with them, which they
at length accomplished, though not without much difficulty and the
manifest interposition of providence. Timotheus the Interpreter and
Manetho, as soon as the statue was shown to them, from the Cerberus and
Dragon that accompanied it concluded that it was designed to represent
Pluto, and persuaded the king that it was in reality none other than the
Egyptian _Sarapis_; for it must be observed that the statue had not this
name before it was brought to Alexandria, it being given to it afterward
by the Egyptians, as the equivalent, in their opinion, to its old one of
Pluto."
Another version of the tale asserts that the people of Sinope would not
consent to part with the statue of their god, whereupon the statue of
its own accord set sail for Alexandria, which it reached at the end of
three days. But whatever the means by which Ptolemy contrived to bring
the statue to Egypt, there is no doubt that his provision of a god which
could be worshipped both by Greeks and Egyptians, without violation of
the principles of either, was a diplomatic move which was justified in
its results. In the temples Sarapis was figured as a mummy with a high
crown and plaited beard; or, as Asar-Hapi, he was represented as a bull,
with the solar disk and uræus between his horns. In the small figures
which were worshipped privately, however, he is shown in human shape,
bearded and curly-haired after the Greek fashion.
If Sarapis was one of the most important of Egyptian deities of
this period, Horus the Child (the Greek Harpocrates) was one of the
best-loved. In the early centuries of the Christian era he is shown as
a child, sometimes seated in a lotus-blossom, sometimes in a ship, or
again enthroned as a follower of the sun-god; frequently he carries a
cornucopia or a jar. It is as a child that he was loved and worshipped
by the people, with whom he seems to have been a universal favourite.
Another popular deity was Isis, some of whose forms were decidedly
Grecian. She was the goddess of Alexandria and patron of sea-faring, the
Aphrodite of the Greeks and the Isis of the Egyptians, and at times she
is confused with Hathor. She and Osiris are also figured as serpents,
though the god of the dead is more often represented in his Sarapis
form, ruling in the underworld and accompanied by Cerberus. Another
deity who became popular during the Hellenic period, though formerly
occupying a very obscure position in the Pantheon, was the god Bes,
figured as an armed warrior, still, however, retaining his grotesque
character. A figure borrowed, doubtless, from Christianity represents
Isis and Horus in a posture strongly reminiscent of the Madonna and
Child.
An Architectural Renaissance
The cult of the Old Kingdom persisted through the early, and perhaps
even into the later, Hellenic period. Those temples raised in the time
of the Ptolemies exhibit strong resemblances to those of the Old
Kingdom. Dendereh, for example, was built to a design of the time of
Kheops, and Imhotep, the hero-god, was the architect of Edfû. The walls
of these Ptolemaic temples were covered with inscriptions dealing with
the rites and customs used therein. Temple ceremonials and festivals,
such as that of Horus of Edfû, were held as in ancient times. The
ancient written language was studied by the priests, who thus had at
their command a tongue unknown to the laity. A reversion to ancient
things was evident in every phase of the Egyptian religion, and the
Greeks, far from dispelling the dust of long-past centuries, entered
partly into the spirit of the time, gave their protection to the old
customs and cults, and themselves worshipped at the shrines of sacred
cats, cows, and crocodiles. Truly a strange position for the fathers of
classicism!
During the early centuries of the Christian era foreign religions
began to penetrate the land of the Pharaohs and to mingle with the
Græco-Egyptian compound in a manner most perplexing to the student of
the period. The predominant alien faith, and the one which finally
triumphed, was Christianity. Osiris, the Greek gods, and the archangel
Sabaoth are mentioned in the same breath. In the magical texts
especially this confusion is noticeable, for they frequently contain
Christian, Jewish, Greek, and Egyptian allusions. Doubtless the
magicians reasoned that if the deities of one faith failed them those of
another might prove more successful, and so, to make assurance doubly
sure, they included all the gods they knew in their formulæ.
Change in the Conception of the Underworld
Meanwhile a change took place in the popular conception of the
underworld. It was still the Duat, governed by Osiris or Sarapis; but
now it tended to be a place of punishment for the wicked, where the
future of the deceased was influenced less by his tomb-furnishings
and inscriptions than by the conduct of his life while on earth.
Nevertheless, the burial rites continued to be elaborate and costly.
Mummification was extensively practised even among Christians, and
amulets were buried in their coffins. In the fourth and fifth centuries
there was still a considerable proportion of pagans in the country:
in Alexandria Sarapis was the principal deity; in Memphis Imhotep was
worshipped under the name of Asklepios; Zeus, Apollo, and Rhea were
favourite divinities, while at Abydos the oracle of Bes was worshipped.
Twilight of the Gods
At length, however, Christian fanaticism blotted out the ancient
religion of the Pharaohs, as well as many of its priests and adherents.
The temple of Sarapis was stormed amid scenes of riot and turbulence,
and the last refuge of the Egyptian faith was gone. Henceforth the names
and myths of the ancient deities survived only in the spells and formulæ
of the magicians, while their dreary ghosts haunted the ruined temples
wherein they were nevermore to reign.
[1] In the earliest representations the feathers do not appear.
[2] In the earliest sarcophagi in the Serapeum no mummies were found,
only a few bones.
[3] _Cf._ the priests of the kings of the Old Kingdom.
[4] Or Serapis.