Page:The Mythology of All Races Vol 12 (Egyptian and Indo-Chinese).djvu/31

Rh 1700 .; the New Empire (Eighteenth to Twenty-Sixth Dynasties), about 1600 to 525

Pictures which could not be photographed directly from books have been drawn by my daughter; Figs. 13, 65 (b) are taken from scarabs in my possession.

Since space does not permit full references to the monuments, I have omitted these wherever I follow the present general knowledge and where the student can verify these views from the indexes of the more modern literature which I quote. References have been limited, so far as possible, to observations which are new or less well known. Although I have sought to be brief and simple in my presentation of Egyptian mythology, my study contains a large amount of original research. I have sought to emphasize two principles more than has been done hitherto: (a) the comparative view—Egyptian religion had by no means so isolated a growth as has generally been assumed; (b) as in many other religions, its doctrines often found a greater degree of expression in religious art than in religious literature, so that modern interpreters should make more use of the Egyptian pictures. Thus I trust not only that this book will fill an urgent demand for a reliable popular treatise on this subject, but that for scholars also it will mark a step in advance toward a better understanding of Egypt's most interesting bequest to posterity.

W. MAX MÜLLER.