Page:The Pharaohs and their people; scenes of old Egyptian life and history (IA pharaohstheirpeo00berkiala).pdf/229

 *tered and overcome; good and guardian powers appear as star-crowned genii of light; and for the impure spirit the furnace of purifying fire is kindled, behind which stands a figure holding in his hand the emblem of the purity that must be won.

Nor is it the conflicts and triumphs of the human spirit alone that are portrayed, but the conflicts and triumphs of the gods themselves. We read in a very ancient chapter of the sacred book: 'I am Ra in his first supremacy—the great god, self-existing. There was a battlefield of the gods prepared when I spake.' Later on a more tangible shape and form is given to this great battle. In the tomb of Seti we may see it all in allegory and mystic symbol. Here is depicted in a series of tableaux the 'passage of the Sun through the hours of the day and of the night,' i.e. of the visible and invisible world, beholding and ruling all, both mortal and immortal. Ra in his bark, the 'ancient and unknown One in his mystery,' accompanied by gods and spirits, finds the 'field of battle prepared.' The serpent of evil, Apepi, lies in wait, hidden beneath the waves