DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5392#0246
222 THE TWENTIETH DYNASTY.
der and enchantment; superstition was rife
on all hands. The god especially honoured
under the twentieth dynasty was the oracle-
giving Khons;1 the chapters of the ritual
assigned to this date are full of elaborate cere-
monial, and the use of certain portions as a
spell or talisman is more and more insisted on.
Great virtue was also assigned to the mere
repetition of long and apparently meaningless
names. Omens of all kinds were much regarded,
and so were lucky and unlucky clays in the
calendar.2 Nevertheless, alongside of these
superstitious notions and practices there existed
a higher and a nobler life ; no hymns preserved
to us are more lofty and beautiful in tone than
some that are assigned to this period. In one
addressed to Amen-Ra, we read :—
' O Ra, adored in Thebes ! Thy love pervades the
earth. Thou makest grass for the cattle and fruit-
bearing trees for men. He causeth fish to live in the
river, and giveth food to the birds upon the wing,
1 Khons was the son of Amen and of Mut, the ' divine mother,' and
formed with them the sacred triad of Thebes : but his worship never
assumed a prominent place before this period. In many respects
resembling Thoth, and, like him, connected with the moon, he was the
especial god of the priesthood and giver of oracles.
2 Tiele, Hist, of Egyp. Relig.
der and enchantment; superstition was rife
on all hands. The god especially honoured
under the twentieth dynasty was the oracle-
giving Khons;1 the chapters of the ritual
assigned to this date are full of elaborate cere-
monial, and the use of certain portions as a
spell or talisman is more and more insisted on.
Great virtue was also assigned to the mere
repetition of long and apparently meaningless
names. Omens of all kinds were much regarded,
and so were lucky and unlucky clays in the
calendar.2 Nevertheless, alongside of these
superstitious notions and practices there existed
a higher and a nobler life ; no hymns preserved
to us are more lofty and beautiful in tone than
some that are assigned to this period. In one
addressed to Amen-Ra, we read :—
' O Ra, adored in Thebes ! Thy love pervades the
earth. Thou makest grass for the cattle and fruit-
bearing trees for men. He causeth fish to live in the
river, and giveth food to the birds upon the wing,
1 Khons was the son of Amen and of Mut, the ' divine mother,' and
formed with them the sacred triad of Thebes : but his worship never
assumed a prominent place before this period. In many respects
resembling Thoth, and, like him, connected with the moon, he was the
especial god of the priesthood and giver of oracles.
2 Tiele, Hist, of Egyp. Relig.