DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.572#0145
PART II. FIGURES OF GODS INVENTED. 117
As the mother of all, the Deity was Maut ;* and
other attributes, and characters, held a rank ac-
cording to their closer, or more distant, relation
to his essence, or operations.
In order to specify, and convey an impression of
these abstract notions to the eyes of men, it was
thought necessary to distinguish them, by some
fixed representation; and the figures of Pthah,
Osiris, Amun, Maut, Neith, and other gods, or
goddesses, were invented as the signs of the vari-
ous attributes of the Deity. But it did not stop
there ; and as the subtlety of philosophical specu-
lation entered into the originally simple theory,
numerous subdivisions of the divine nature were
made; and at length, everything which appeared
to partake of, or to bear analogy to, it, was ad-
mitted to a share of worship. Hence arose the
various grades of deities ; and they were known as
the gods of the first, second, or third orders, in
proportion as they were real attributes of the
primary Being, or emanations, or partaking only
in a minor degree of the divine essence.f But
Herodotus is perfectly right, in saying that the
Egyptians gave no divine honours to heroes.
The Egyptian figures of gods were only vicarious
* Man, " mother", with the feminine article " t" affixed, not prefixed,
as in Coptic. Maut was probably primaeval darkness, and the same as
Buto.
t It was the difference between potuer (which belonged to the Deity),
and physical strength, that led the Greeks to place Hercules only among
demigods. He related to a gift to man, while power was an attribute of
the Deity. The Egyptian Hercules was power, and was therefore, as
Herodotus says, one of the twelve old gods, of the second order. Vide
Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv, p. 316, and vol. v, p. 111.
As the mother of all, the Deity was Maut ;* and
other attributes, and characters, held a rank ac-
cording to their closer, or more distant, relation
to his essence, or operations.
In order to specify, and convey an impression of
these abstract notions to the eyes of men, it was
thought necessary to distinguish them, by some
fixed representation; and the figures of Pthah,
Osiris, Amun, Maut, Neith, and other gods, or
goddesses, were invented as the signs of the vari-
ous attributes of the Deity. But it did not stop
there ; and as the subtlety of philosophical specu-
lation entered into the originally simple theory,
numerous subdivisions of the divine nature were
made; and at length, everything which appeared
to partake of, or to bear analogy to, it, was ad-
mitted to a share of worship. Hence arose the
various grades of deities ; and they were known as
the gods of the first, second, or third orders, in
proportion as they were real attributes of the
primary Being, or emanations, or partaking only
in a minor degree of the divine essence.f But
Herodotus is perfectly right, in saying that the
Egyptians gave no divine honours to heroes.
The Egyptian figures of gods were only vicarious
* Man, " mother", with the feminine article " t" affixed, not prefixed,
as in Coptic. Maut was probably primaeval darkness, and the same as
Buto.
t It was the difference between potuer (which belonged to the Deity),
and physical strength, that led the Greeks to place Hercules only among
demigods. He related to a gift to man, while power was an attribute of
the Deity. The Egyptian Hercules was power, and was therefore, as
Herodotus says, one of the twelve old gods, of the second order. Vide
Ancient Egyptians, vol. iv, p. 316, and vol. v, p. 111.