DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4689#0017
THE GREAT HALL.
II
which is worshipped when on the horizon, i.e.,
at its rising and setting. In the Dream-stele of
Thothmes IV., the king is represented worshipping
a sphinx which is called Hor-em-akht, and in the
text of the stele the king relates how the god (who is
called both Hor-ern-akht and Horakhti), appears
to him in a vision under the form of the Great
Sphinx.
3. Nu, the Primaeval Waters. Nu is often repre-
sented in the Book of the Other World (Am-Duat)
as a bearded man upholding the Barque of the Sun
(Pl. XIII).
4. Maat, Goddess of Truth, Righteousness, and
Law. Her emblem is the ostrich feather which she
wears on her head. In scenes of the Psychostasia,
the heart of the dead man is weighed against the
feather of Maat, while the figure of the goddess is
often represented on the support of the balance to
indicate the strict impartiality of the weighing. In
mythological texts the gods are said to live upon
Maat, and the words used make it appear that they
actually ate Maat. This may account for the figures
of the goddess of Truth, which are constantly offered
to the gods by royal personages, together with offer-
ings of food and clothing. Plutarch gives a curious
corroboration of this when he says that on the feast
of Hermes the Egyptians eat honey and figs, saying
to each other at the same time, " How sweet is
Truth."
5. The Boat of Ra. The Egyptians conceived of
the sky and the other world as a more or less exact
facsimile of the world and the country which they
knew. As the Nile flowed through Egypt and
formed the great highway, so a celestial river flowed
through the sky and the Duat (the other world), and
on this river sailed the great boat in which the sun
made his daily journey from east to west, and at
night followed the course of the river through the
Duat. The Boat of the Sun is figured on scarabs as
a charm, generally followed by the words En send,
Fear not. M. Chassinat gives a translation of a
curious magical ceremony to protect the Boat of the
Sun. " Book of protecting the Divine Boat. To be
said over the statuette of Set made of red wax,
on the day of the voyage of the Boat to Abydos;
after having bound it [the statuette] with hair of a
black colour. Place a harpoon upon it, and wrap it
in a fishing-net, the two arms having been cut off
with a knife of black tes ; then put it on a fire with
branches of khasi (cassia ?) under it." (Chassinat,
Rec. de Trav. xvi. 114.)
6. Atum. One of the gods of Heliopolis, and
generally
identified with the setting sun. Ra, the
sun-god, was worshipped as Khepra at his rising and
Atum at his setting. The entrance to the sixth
gate of the other world (Pl. XIII) is decorated with
two poles, surmounted by the heads of Khepra and
Atum as symbolical of the position of the sun, which
is then half-way between his setting and his rising,
and therefore partakes of the characters of both
deities.
7. The great cycle of the gods.
8. The little cycle of the gods.
Every great religious centre had its greater and
lesser cycle or ennead of gods. In the Pyramid of
Pepy II (/. 665), the great cycle of Heliopolis is said
to consist of Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris,
Isis, Set, and Nephthys. In chap, xvii of the " Book
of the Dead," Ra is said to create the cycle of the
gods out of his own names : " I am Ra at his first
appearance. I am the great god self-produced.
His names together compose the company of the
gods. Who then is this ? It is Ra, as he creates
the names of his limbs, which become the gods who
accompany him."
9. Horus, Lord of the Urert Crown. The Urert
or Double Crown is the emblem of sovereignty over
the South and North. The semi-circular basket on
which it is placed has the phonetic value Neb,
" Lord," and appears in the A^to'-title of the King,
where the Uraeus and Vulture, emblems of the
goddesses of the South and North, are each figured
upon this sign.
10. Shu. Shu uplifts the sky-goddess, Nut, from
the embraces of the earth-god Geb. He is often
&^
mentioned in connection with the goddess Tefnut,
and together they are called the Double-Lion deity.
11. Tefnut. The part which Tefnut plays in
Egyptian mythology is not yet clearly defined. An
inscription at Dendereh, of which Brugsch gives a
translation {Diet, geog., 212), implies that she was a
foreign goddess :—" From the 28th of Tybi to the
1st of Mechir, [festival] of the voyage of this goddess
[instituted] by Ra. It was celebrated for her when
she arrived at Bukem to see the Nile of Egypt and
the produce of the land of Egypt. When she
appeared she turned her back on the country of the
the Sati (Asia)." Brugsch identifies Bukem with
the district lying between El Kab and the port of
Berenice on the Red Sea. One of the great trade
routes from the Red Sea to Egypt passed through
this region, and the inscription implies that the
II
which is worshipped when on the horizon, i.e.,
at its rising and setting. In the Dream-stele of
Thothmes IV., the king is represented worshipping
a sphinx which is called Hor-em-akht, and in the
text of the stele the king relates how the god (who is
called both Hor-ern-akht and Horakhti), appears
to him in a vision under the form of the Great
Sphinx.
3. Nu, the Primaeval Waters. Nu is often repre-
sented in the Book of the Other World (Am-Duat)
as a bearded man upholding the Barque of the Sun
(Pl. XIII).
4. Maat, Goddess of Truth, Righteousness, and
Law. Her emblem is the ostrich feather which she
wears on her head. In scenes of the Psychostasia,
the heart of the dead man is weighed against the
feather of Maat, while the figure of the goddess is
often represented on the support of the balance to
indicate the strict impartiality of the weighing. In
mythological texts the gods are said to live upon
Maat, and the words used make it appear that they
actually ate Maat. This may account for the figures
of the goddess of Truth, which are constantly offered
to the gods by royal personages, together with offer-
ings of food and clothing. Plutarch gives a curious
corroboration of this when he says that on the feast
of Hermes the Egyptians eat honey and figs, saying
to each other at the same time, " How sweet is
Truth."
5. The Boat of Ra. The Egyptians conceived of
the sky and the other world as a more or less exact
facsimile of the world and the country which they
knew. As the Nile flowed through Egypt and
formed the great highway, so a celestial river flowed
through the sky and the Duat (the other world), and
on this river sailed the great boat in which the sun
made his daily journey from east to west, and at
night followed the course of the river through the
Duat. The Boat of the Sun is figured on scarabs as
a charm, generally followed by the words En send,
Fear not. M. Chassinat gives a translation of a
curious magical ceremony to protect the Boat of the
Sun. " Book of protecting the Divine Boat. To be
said over the statuette of Set made of red wax,
on the day of the voyage of the Boat to Abydos;
after having bound it [the statuette] with hair of a
black colour. Place a harpoon upon it, and wrap it
in a fishing-net, the two arms having been cut off
with a knife of black tes ; then put it on a fire with
branches of khasi (cassia ?) under it." (Chassinat,
Rec. de Trav. xvi. 114.)
6. Atum. One of the gods of Heliopolis, and
generally
identified with the setting sun. Ra, the
sun-god, was worshipped as Khepra at his rising and
Atum at his setting. The entrance to the sixth
gate of the other world (Pl. XIII) is decorated with
two poles, surmounted by the heads of Khepra and
Atum as symbolical of the position of the sun, which
is then half-way between his setting and his rising,
and therefore partakes of the characters of both
deities.
7. The great cycle of the gods.
8. The little cycle of the gods.
Every great religious centre had its greater and
lesser cycle or ennead of gods. In the Pyramid of
Pepy II (/. 665), the great cycle of Heliopolis is said
to consist of Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris,
Isis, Set, and Nephthys. In chap, xvii of the " Book
of the Dead," Ra is said to create the cycle of the
gods out of his own names : " I am Ra at his first
appearance. I am the great god self-produced.
His names together compose the company of the
gods. Who then is this ? It is Ra, as he creates
the names of his limbs, which become the gods who
accompany him."
9. Horus, Lord of the Urert Crown. The Urert
or Double Crown is the emblem of sovereignty over
the South and North. The semi-circular basket on
which it is placed has the phonetic value Neb,
" Lord," and appears in the A^to'-title of the King,
where the Uraeus and Vulture, emblems of the
goddesses of the South and North, are each figured
upon this sign.
10. Shu. Shu uplifts the sky-goddess, Nut, from
the embraces of the earth-god Geb. He is often
&^
mentioned in connection with the goddess Tefnut,
and together they are called the Double-Lion deity.
11. Tefnut. The part which Tefnut plays in
Egyptian mythology is not yet clearly defined. An
inscription at Dendereh, of which Brugsch gives a
translation {Diet, geog., 212), implies that she was a
foreign goddess :—" From the 28th of Tybi to the
1st of Mechir, [festival] of the voyage of this goddess
[instituted] by Ra. It was celebrated for her when
she arrived at Bukem to see the Nile of Egypt and
the produce of the land of Egypt. When she
appeared she turned her back on the country of the
the Sati (Asia)." Brugsch identifies Bukem with
the district lying between El Kab and the port of
Berenice on the Red Sea. One of the great trade
routes from the Red Sea to Egypt passed through
this region, and the inscription implies that the