Page:Books on Egypt and Chaldaea, Vol. 32--Legends of the Gods.pdf/113

 each having a pair of human arms and hands. On the right of Harpokrates are Seker and Horus, and on his left the symbol of Nefer-Temu. On the left and right are the goddesses Nekhebet and Uatchet, who guard the South of Egypt and the North respectively. On the reverse and sides are numerous small figures of gods. This stele represented the power to protect man possessed by all the divine beings in the universe, and, however it was placed, it formed an impassable barrier to every spirit of evil and to every venomous reptile. The spells, which are cut in hieroglyphics on all the parts of the stele not occupied by figures of gods, were of the most potent character, for they contained the actual words by which the gods vanquished the powers of darkness and evil. These spells form the texts which are printed on p. 142 ff., and may be thus summarized:-—

The first spell is an incantation directed against reptiles and noxious creatures in general. The chief of these was Āpep, the great enemy of Rā, who took the form of a huge serpent that "resembled the intestines," and the spell doomed him to decapitation, and burning, and hacking in pieces. These things would be effected by Serqet, the Scorpion-goddess. The second part of the spell was directed against the poison of Āpep, and was to be recited over anyone who was bitten by a snake. When uttered by Horus it made Āpep to vomit, and when used by a magician properly qualified would make the bitten person to vomit, and so free his body from the poison. 