Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/804

* EGYPT. 698 EGYPT. cults, to the worsliii) of animals, etc. — to those leatiires, in fact, which were so unintelligible to the Greeks that they sought to e.plain them as veiling higher ideas under a mysterious sym- bolism. The ibis Tholh (Uhouti) of llcrmopolis became a moon-god and tlie father of science and letters, like the tireek Hermes, whom he also resembled in his function as leader of the dead. I'tah of Memphis was one of the creators of the world, bein;' a craftsman and artist (like He- phirstus) . The cow-formed Athor of Denderah eventually became the goddess of love. Amnion of Thebes, after B.C. 1000 the chief god of Egypt, is, ct course, a sun-god ; his wife Slut becomes the ' skj-, and their child Khonsu the moon. At Eileithyia was revered the goddess Xekhbet, whose counterpart for Lower Egypt is Buto; at Bubastus. the cat I'bastet was worshiped : at Sais, the Libyan goddess Xeit ; in the Fayuni, the croco- dile Sobk (Souchos). The ithyphallic harvest-god Min was worshii)ed at L'henimis and Coptos; at Elephantine, the ram Khnuniu (Chnuphis) and the goddesses Anuket and Satet. Under the New Empire, many Semitic gods were introduced and became very popular: Baal, Astarte, Anat, Ka- dssh, Kaslipu (lightning), etc. The cult of some gods can no longer lie localized : for example, that of the beetle Khepre, another creator of the world and sun-god ; that of the good dwarf Bes, the patron of the dance, of music, and of female dress; that of the equally benignant female hip- popotamus Tueris, etc. The principal animals worshiped as gods were the bulls Apis at Jlem- phis, ilnevis at Heliopolis, and Baehis at Her- monthis, the goat at Mendes, etc. These were all incarnations of local gods. Different is the general sacredness of an animal from a divinity; thus at one place all cats were sacred, at another all dogs. It occasionally happened that in one locality an animal was proscribed and persecuted, while in the neighboring town it was held sacred, as. for example, at Bahnasa (q.v.). Egyptian mythology seems to have been very rich ; legends of the gods were attached to every sanctuary, and dramatic representations of them, in which priests played the part of gods, were given at the local festivals. Allusions to these myths abound in the religious texts, but details are rarely given, and. of all the great mass of Eg>'p)ian mythological lore, only the inyths relat- ing to Osiris and his family and a few legends of the sun-god Ke have survived. Osiris, origi- nally the local god of Abydos and Busiris. was one of the many deities who, in course of time, acquired a solar character. He was especially identified with the setting sun, ruling the lower heavens and the mysterious region below the western horizon. He thus came to be regarded as the god of the realms of the dead, and his worship became popular throughout the land. In Egy])tian mythology. Osiris was the beneficent ruler of mankind, who elevated his subjects from barbarism, and taught them the arts of civ- ilization. He. however, incurred the enmity of his wicked brother Set, by whom he was treach- erously murdered. His body, inclosed in a chest, was cast into the Nile, and floated out to sea. Isis, the sister .and wife of Osiris, after a long search found her husl)and's body, and buried it; but it was disinterred by Set, who cut it in pieces and scattered the fragments far and wide. Isis searched out all the pieces and buried them separately. In the meantime. Horns, the young son of Osiris and Isis. grew to man- hood, and avenged his father by defeating his murderer in a territic coml)at. Osiris, though dead on earth, lived in the under world, and be- came the ruler of the dead. His sister and wife Isis may be identified with the constella- tion Virgo, and their child Horus is the young morning sun. Osiris has another sister, Xeph- tliys, who is married to his brother and mur- derer Set (Typhon). The jackal Anubis (q.v.), the guardian of the lower world and the patron of enii>almers, is the son of Osiris and Nephthys. Set may have been originally the constellation Ursa Major; he then became the personification of every force of nature opposed to the sun, the prime mover of all disorder and violence. He tlius came to be a god of war, and. after B.C. 1000, a sort of Satan. Every evening he cuts Osiris in pieces (the stars), which Isis unites every morning. The parents of the hos- tile gods are Seb (or Geb) and Xut — earth and heaven. The parents .of these are Shu (Shou) and Tefnut (perhaps ether and moist air), while the father of all the gods is Nuu (later erroneous form Xun), the primeval abyss. The Osirian myth is very fully treated by Plutarch in his nepl 'IcriSot Kal 'OfflpiSos, and the general accuracy of Plutarcli's account is attested by numerous allusions in the Egyptian te.xts. The legends of the sun-god Re are derived from monumental sources. According to these legends. Re appeared in primeval ages, and, after de- feating the powers of darkness, assumed the gov- ernment of the world. He reigned long and peacefully, but finally grew old, and his ])oers failed. The wise goddess Isis took advantage of his weakness to gain a long-clierished wish. She was deeply versed in magic and in all hidden and mysterious knowledge, but one thing was wanting — she did not know the secret name of Re, upon which his power was founded. In Older to learn the secret, she had recourse to a str.Ttagem. Taking some of the god's saliva, she kneaded it with earth and formed a poisonous serpent, which she placed in the path along which Re was wont to walk. As the god took the air with his attendants, the serpent stung him. and the poison caused him intense i)ain. He called upon all the gods for aid. but none could re- lieve him save Isis, and she would heal him only at the price of his secret name. For a long time Re held out. but finally, no longer able to endure the torment, he revealed the secret, and regained his health through the magic powers of Isis. His vigor was, however, impaired, and even men dared to rebel against him. In his anger he called a council of the gods, in which it was decided to send the goddess Athor to de- stroy all mankind. In the night Athor de- scended to the earth, and began .such a fearful slaughter that blood ran in rivers, and even the gods were appalled. Re determined to stop the massacre. He caused beer to be prepared, and had it poured o>it at evening so that it over- flowed the fields. In the morning the goddess, drinking copiously of the beer, became drunk, and was unable to recognize mankind. R? was now weary of rule, and he retired to rest in heaven, leaving the god Thoth as his deputy upon earth. Consult, in regard to Egj'ptian mythology : Wiede-