The innumerable little figures scattered throughout the first seven
cases are all Egyptian deities with their appropriate symbols,
including those in porcelain and stone with holes bored in them for
the purpose of attaching them to mummy bandages; those in wood which
were carved generally to decorate tombs, and those in bronze which
were the household gods. It would be impossible for the general
visitor to examine this collection in detail, but he may notice the
chief deities with the extraordinary jumble of human and brute life
which they present. First of all the visitor will remark, in the first
division of the first case, a sandstone figure, seven inches high,
seated upon a throne with lotus sceptres, and attendant deities; this
is Amenra, the Jupiter of the Egyptians; and in the same case Phtah,
the Vulcan of the Egyptians, with a gour, or animal-headed sceptre in
both hands, and an oskh, or semi-circular collar, about his neck; the
Egyptian Saturn, Sabak, with the head of a crocodile, with the shenti
about his loins; and Thoth, the Egyptian Mercury, with an ibis head
surmounted by a crescent moon. In the second division, or case, amid
the strange figures, the visitor should remark the Egyptian Juno,
Mout, or mother, represented in the act of suckling, and wearing the
pschent, or cap, worn only by deities and Pharaohs; the Egyptian
Minerva, Nepth, on a throne, with the teshr, or inferior cap on her
head; a human form with a goat's head, wearing a conical cap
ornamented with two ostrich feathers, and disk on goat's horns,
representing Num, or water, called Jupiter Chnumis by the Greeks;
Khem, the Egyptian Pan, standing on nine bows; a youthful figure with
one lock of hair, and supporting the lunar disk, representing Chons,
or the Egyptian Hercules; an Egyptian Venus, Athor, in gold,
cow-headed; Ra, the sun, seated, and hawk-headed; Nefer Atum, with the
lotus flower and plumes for head ornaments, from Memphis, and
reverenced as the guardian of the sun's nostril; and the Egyptian
Diana, Pasht, or Bubastis, a bronze female figure with the head of a
cat. The third division includes a group, in vitrified earth,
representing Amenra seated on a feathered throne; a triad, in blue
porcelain, of Amoun Mout, the mother, and Chons, or Hercules; a figure
in lapis-lazuli of the Egyptian Minerva, Nepth; Num, ram-headed,
walking; Ptah-Socharis standing upon two crocodiles, and supporting
two hawks on his shoulders; and Pasht, the Egyptian Diana,
lion-headed. The third and fourth cases are filled with more specimens
of ancient Egyptian deities. In the first division the visitor should
remark a stone figure of the Egyptian Pluto, Osiris Pethempamentes,
with the atf, or conical cap, on his head, and the curved sceptre, and
three-thonged whip in his hand; a figure in stone, seated, wearing a
conical cap, and holding the sceptre called a gom, which represents
the Egyptian Bacchus, Osiris Ounophris; and a painted wooden figure,
kneeling, and supporting a building and a basket, representing the
Egyptian Proserpine, Nepththys, mistress of the palace. The second and
third divisions contain some remarkable figures, including bronze
groups of Osiris-ioh, or the moon, with the lunar disk; a walking
figure of Anubis, with a jackal's head; the ibis-headed Thoth, and
Har-si-esi with a hawk's head, each pouring a flood of water upon the
earth; various hawk-headed and other deities, in the beautiful lapis
lazuli, blue porcelain, and green felspar, including Isis suckling her
son Horus, and walking with a throne on her head; Nephthys walking; a
porcelain Horus with the mystic lock; a blue porcelain plate,
representing a procession of female deities; a snake-headed deity,
also in blue porcelain; and a porcelain Thoth carrying a scarabaeus.
In the fourth division the visitor will at once notice a small
monument in calcareous stone, about one foot two inches in height,
with various deities represented upon it; also other monuments, one
decorated with a flying scarabaeus; Horus seated upon a throne flanked
with lions; and Pasht upon a throne supported by two negroes and two
Asiatics. The fifth case is devoted also to deities, which the visitor
will recognise, and here he should notice the terra-cotta figure, with
a buckler and sword, which represents the Mars of the Egyptians, known
as Onouris. The principal object in the sixth case is the mummy-shaped
coffin of a Theban priest, called Penamen, and grouped near it are
offering stands and fragments. The seventh case contains one or two
remarkable groups, including some sacred animals; statues of Horns and
the son of Horus supporting three vases upon goat's horns; various
figures of Khons, one standing on a lotus flower; an extraordinary
figure of Phtah-Socharis upon two crocodiles; Ta-ur, an erect
hippopotamus, with human breasts, and the back covered by a
crocodile's tail; Typhon, ass-headed; and the tortoise-headed guardian
of the third hall of the Amenti, recovered from the tombs of the kings
at Thebes. Having noticed these remarkable combinations and symbols of
the religious idea of ancient Egypt, the visitor should rapidly
examine the extraordinary collection of