DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32079#0070
of the same divinity. The worship of a deity under
a particular name was confined to a particular
nome, but when in the course of political changes
one nome became dominant over many, then did
the worship peculiar to that nome extend over
the dependent provinces, without necessarily extin-
guishing the particular worship of the latter. It was
thus that with the rise of the Theban power under
the XVIII dynasty, the great Theban divinity,
Ammon, inseparably associated with Ra, the sun,
became the dominant deity of Egypt. The impos-
ing of this popular faith upon the rest of the coun-
try suggests a kind of feudal relation between the
gods of the subordinate nomes and the great deity
of the heavens worshipped at Thebes. Thus the
worship varied with the political changes which
occurred in the course of Egyptian history.
Much of our confusion in surveying Egyptian
religion arises from our lack of historical perspective.
We, as we look back from afar, see massed together
religious forms which ought to be recognized as
belonging to different periods. Therefore it is im-
portant to note that it was a political or geographi-
cal distinction rather than a real division which
makes an apparent polytheism so conspicuous. For
instance, Horus, Khons, Khem, Harmakhis are one
and the same deity worshipped in different places
under different names. So are Hathor, Isis, and
Nout, names of the same goddess; and so on through
their mythological index. But after making due
allowance for this, it is unquestionable that the ap-
pearance of distinct and separate deities possessing
different attributes and represented under different
forms does exist. These divine persons may be
broadly divided into two great groups, the deities
who represent the forces and elements of nature,
and those who, under the presidency of Osiris, govern
the dead. Under the former division are Nou, the
primordial water; Seb, the earth; Nout, the vault
ofheaven; Hapi, the Nile, and many others, all
plainly proving how truly the worship of nature in
34
a particular name was confined to a particular
nome, but when in the course of political changes
one nome became dominant over many, then did
the worship peculiar to that nome extend over
the dependent provinces, without necessarily extin-
guishing the particular worship of the latter. It was
thus that with the rise of the Theban power under
the XVIII dynasty, the great Theban divinity,
Ammon, inseparably associated with Ra, the sun,
became the dominant deity of Egypt. The impos-
ing of this popular faith upon the rest of the coun-
try suggests a kind of feudal relation between the
gods of the subordinate nomes and the great deity
of the heavens worshipped at Thebes. Thus the
worship varied with the political changes which
occurred in the course of Egyptian history.
Much of our confusion in surveying Egyptian
religion arises from our lack of historical perspective.
We, as we look back from afar, see massed together
religious forms which ought to be recognized as
belonging to different periods. Therefore it is im-
portant to note that it was a political or geographi-
cal distinction rather than a real division which
makes an apparent polytheism so conspicuous. For
instance, Horus, Khons, Khem, Harmakhis are one
and the same deity worshipped in different places
under different names. So are Hathor, Isis, and
Nout, names of the same goddess; and so on through
their mythological index. But after making due
allowance for this, it is unquestionable that the ap-
pearance of distinct and separate deities possessing
different attributes and represented under different
forms does exist. These divine persons may be
broadly divided into two great groups, the deities
who represent the forces and elements of nature,
and those who, under the presidency of Osiris, govern
the dead. Under the former division are Nou, the
primordial water; Seb, the earth; Nout, the vault
ofheaven; Hapi, the Nile, and many others, all
plainly proving how truly the worship of nature in
34