Page:The Harveian oration 1904.djvu/22

THE HARVEIAN ORATION, 1904 5 were places of healing for the people. His name is I-em-hotep, meaning 'he who cometh in peace.' According to ancient inscriptions he was the son of a certain architect named Kanofer, but when raised in popular esteem to the rank of a demi- god he is called the son of the supreme god Ptah, the Hephaistos of Egypt, and he becomes one of the great god-triad of Memphis. I-em-hotep is described as 'the good physician of gods and men, a kind and merciful god, assuaging the sufferings of those in pain, healing the diseases of men, giving peaceful sleep to the restless and suffering'; he is called 'the creative god who giveth life to all men, who comes unto them who call upon him in every place, and who gives sons to the child- less." He was great in magic and all learning. He and his followers had to do with the embalming of the body, and he protected the soul of the dead man from all spiritual enemies after it had left the body. In the ritual of embalmment the dead man was encouraged by these words, "Thy soul uniteth itself to I-em-hotep; while thou art in the funeral valley thy heart rejoiceth because thou dost not go into the dwelling of Sebek, but thou are like a son in the house of his father."2

From the testimony of temple inscriptions and papyri, as well as from the writings of Man- etho, it is clear that the cult of the medicine-god 1. Hieroglyphic inscription on Temple of I-em-hotep at Philae. See Brugsch, Thesaurus, p. 783 2. Maspero, La Mythol. Egypt, p. 80