DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14144#0703
EGYPTIAN DEITIES. 667
Statues of Foreign Deities.
It is a constantly recurring phenomenon in the religious history of
mankind that when the streams of religious faith and sentiment leave
their natural and accustomed channels, they either lose themselves
in the stagnant pools of indifference and unbelief, or plunge wildly
into the hidden depths of mysticism and superstition. The Romans
of the declining Empire, depraved by luxury and slavery, having left
' the old paths' in which their fathers had walked, delighted to follow
up the intricate and winding mazes, to search out the dark and
gloomy caverns and the secret and ghostly chambers of the Oriental
mind. During the earlier and nobler part of their history, both Greeks
and Romans looked with mingled contempt and dread on the gloomy
superstitions of Egypt and Assyria, as only fitted for barbarians and
slaves. But in spite of the resistance of the Roman Government, the
cults of these and other countries gained a firm footing among the
dregs of the populace—that colhivies gentium which seethed and
festered in Rome, the great centre and capital of the world.
The principal Gods of Egypt were not unknown in Greece even at
an early period of its history, but they were looked upon as modifica-
tions of Grecian deities, and were represented in Greek forms, under
which they passed with other types into the Roman Pantheon. Among
the best known of these were Osiris and Isis, the former probably
Representing the Nile as the fructifying power on which the fertility
of the country depended, and the latter the land of Egypt itself—the
Consort of the sacred river. ' These,' says Herodotus,1' were the only
Gods Worshipped by all the Egyptians.' The other Egyptian deities
known to the Greeks and Romans were Sarapis, and Horns, the
Egyptian Sun-god, who is identified with Harpocraies, the youngest
son of Osiris and Isis.
It is not necessary in this place to Inquire into the original
character and functions of these Gods as the)- presented themselves
to the minds of the Egyptians themselves. We are chiefly concerned
Statues of Foreign Deities.
It is a constantly recurring phenomenon in the religious history of
mankind that when the streams of religious faith and sentiment leave
their natural and accustomed channels, they either lose themselves
in the stagnant pools of indifference and unbelief, or plunge wildly
into the hidden depths of mysticism and superstition. The Romans
of the declining Empire, depraved by luxury and slavery, having left
' the old paths' in which their fathers had walked, delighted to follow
up the intricate and winding mazes, to search out the dark and
gloomy caverns and the secret and ghostly chambers of the Oriental
mind. During the earlier and nobler part of their history, both Greeks
and Romans looked with mingled contempt and dread on the gloomy
superstitions of Egypt and Assyria, as only fitted for barbarians and
slaves. But in spite of the resistance of the Roman Government, the
cults of these and other countries gained a firm footing among the
dregs of the populace—that colhivies gentium which seethed and
festered in Rome, the great centre and capital of the world.
The principal Gods of Egypt were not unknown in Greece even at
an early period of its history, but they were looked upon as modifica-
tions of Grecian deities, and were represented in Greek forms, under
which they passed with other types into the Roman Pantheon. Among
the best known of these were Osiris and Isis, the former probably
Representing the Nile as the fructifying power on which the fertility
of the country depended, and the latter the land of Egypt itself—the
Consort of the sacred river. ' These,' says Herodotus,1' were the only
Gods Worshipped by all the Egyptians.' The other Egyptian deities
known to the Greeks and Romans were Sarapis, and Horns, the
Egyptian Sun-god, who is identified with Harpocraies, the youngest
son of Osiris and Isis.
It is not necessary in this place to Inquire into the original
character and functions of these Gods as the)- presented themselves
to the minds of the Egyptians themselves. We are chiefly concerned