Akhemu urtchu, “stars that never rest,” known today as the planets. Later in the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 b.c.), “star clocks” decorated the wooden coffins of the deceased. The “star clock” was a kind of calendar that identified 36 groups of stars, or decans, and their locations in the sky. By the Middle Kingdom, the Egyptians had identified five planets and called them the stars that “never rested” because they seemed to sail across the sky. The brightest of the decans was Sirius, the Dog Star, whom the Egyptians called the goddess Sopdet. Her appearance around the middle of July signaled the beginning of the season of “inundation,” when the Nile rose and flooded

Atef crown One of several crowns worn by the Egyptian gods and kings, the atef crownwas similar to the tall white crown of Upper Egypt. The atef crown had two tall plumes, possibly ostrich feathers, and a disk on the top to distinguish it from the white crown, the symbol of Upper Egypt.
A sun god worshipped by the pharaoh Akhenaten when he changed the religion of Egypt. The Aten was symbolized by a sun disk with sunbeams streaming down. The word aten means “disk,” and when written in hieroglyphs, it refers to the sun as an astronomical body. The origin of the Aten is uncertain, but it may have come from an early sun cult in the city of Heliopolis. Queen Hatshepsut’s standing obelisk at Karnak Temple states that the gold and silver cap (electrum) on top of the obelisk would shine on


Egypt like the “aten.” Hatshepsut’s father, Thutmose I, referred to the Aten as a god in an inscription carved during his Nubian campaigns. The Aten was favored by Akhenaten’s father, Amenhotep III, who named a division of his army after the Aten and gave his wife, Queen Tiye, a pleasure boat called The Aten Gleams to sail on her private lake. It was not until Akhenaten became king, however, that the Aten became the supreme god in Egypt. Per-Aten, the first temple dedicated to the Aten, was built at Karnak next to the temple of Amun, the great god of Thebes. What the priests of Amun thought of the new temple is not known, but after Akhenaten’s reign, the temple was torn down. In the 1930s through thethe world are created in different colors and are given different speech by the Aten, from whom all the beauty and bounty of nature come. The Aten cannot be understood by man and can be truly known only by his son, Akhenaten. The people cannot worship the Aten directly. Presumably they worshipped Akhenaten, the son of the Aten. Boundary stelae (carved stone tablets) erected when Akhenaten built his city in the desert tell us about the nature of the Aten.
The great and living Aten . . . ordaining life, vigorously alive, my Father . . . , my reminder of Eternity . . . who proclaims himself with his two hands, whom no craftsman has devised, who is established in the rising and setting each day ceaselessly .


. . He fills the land with his rays and makes everyone to live . . .

35,000 blocks from the dismantled Aten temple. The decorations on the blocks and the foundation suggested to Egyptologists that the Aten temple featured open courts with pillars, several sanctuaries, and colossal statues of Akhenaten. One area of the Aten temple called Gem-Pa-Aten, “finding the Aten,” was the domain of Queen Nefertiti and her daughters. Around year five of his reign, Akhenaten moved the royal court from Thebes to his new city dedicated to the Aten in the remote desert. The city was called Akhet-Aten, “the horizon of the Aten,” and included two major temples to the Aten: the Per-Aten (“house of the Aten”) and the Hwt-Aten (“mansion of the Aten”). Both templesfeatured the new open-air design with no enclosed rooms and with several offering tables placed around the courtyard. The Per-Aten, which Egyptologists call the Great Temple, was the larger of the two. Its first courtyard was called Per-Hay, “the house of rejoicing,” where the first light of the sun was greeted each day. As the sun rose, the worshippers moved into the second court, the Gem-Aten (“finding the Aten”) and made offerings. An inner courtyard was reserved for the royal family—Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and their childrento make special offerings and perform the necessary rituals each day. Today nothing except the foundation remains of these temples, for they were demolished when Akhenaten was no longer king. The essence of the Aten and Akhenaten’s beliefs are preserved in the hymn to


the old concept of Divine Order or maat, “the way the world should be,” was clearly askew. Making war on their neighbors was no longer blessed by the gods, and life in the next world did not seem possible, for it was not clear if there was a Netherworld. The teachings of the Aten were a curious mixture of humanitarianism and elitism, for the Aten shone only on the royal family.

AthenA

Greek goddess associated with Isis and Neith. Athena was a goddess of war as well as of peace and compassion and patroness of arts and crafts. When the cult of Isis spread from Egypt to the

AtlAs
Roman Empire, she was readily accepted as a form of Athena. embraced the dead king in the burial chamber of the pyramid andlifted him to the heavens, where he became an Akhenu seku, an “imperishable star.” During the New Kingdom (1550–1295 b.c.), Atum presided over the coronation of the king, as shown on the walls of the Temple of Amun at Karnak. In the Book of Gates, Atum subdues the serpent NekebuKau by digging his fingernails into the snake, and he confronts the evil serpent Apophis, condemning him to death. Atum protects the souls of the deceased when they travel through the Underworld. Atum appears in human form, usually wearing the combined white and red crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Often he was seated on a throne holding a staff of authority. The bull, lion, lizard, and ichneumon were sacred to Atum.

AtlAS

In Greek mythology, Atlas was the leader of


the Titans, who were defeated in their battle against the gods. Atlas was condemned to carry the world on his shoulders for all eternity. The Greeks associated Atlas with the Egyptian god Shu, the god of air, whose name means “he who holds up.” Shu is always shown holding up the sky.

Atum

Called the “undifferentiated one,” meaning both male and female, Atum was the primeval being and the creator of the world. Recognized as an early form of the sun god, Atum was called the “Lord of Heliopolis,” the ancient city that was the center for sun worship. Because of his association with the sun cult, Atum eventually merged with the sun god, Re, to become Re-Atum. The creation myth from Heliopolis tells us that Atum emerged from Nun,the waters of chaos, onto the primeval mound before heaven and earth were separated. From his semen Atum created the first gods on land, Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture). They in turn produced Geb (earth) and Nut (sky), whose children were Osiris and Isis (who were brother and sister and also husband and wife) and Set and Nephthys (who were also brother and sister and husband and wife). These first nine deities formed the Heliopolitan Ennead, a family of gods. Atum was not only the creator god but also a protector and a guardian of the pharaoh, and one of his titles was “Father of the King of Egypt.” In the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.), it was Atum who

AvAriS

Greek name for the cult center of the god Set,


Avaris was built by the Hyksos kings (1650–1550 b.c.) when they invaded Egypt. Ruling from the north in the Delta during the Second Intermediate period, the Hyksos fortified their city, built temples with a Canaanite design and accepted Set as a manifestation of their storm god Baal. Avaris was captured by Ahmose I, first king of the New Kingdom, who defeated the Hyksos and drove them out of Egypt. Avaris is believed to be the site of the biblical city Pi Ramses, one of two cities built for the pharaoh Ramses II (Ramses the Great). Excavations have shown the city of Pi Ramses to be one of the largest in the ancient world, covering an area of about six square miles.

B 8
ba The Egyptians believed that each personcame into the world with five separate parts, or facets, that made them a whole being: the physical body, the ka, the name, the shadow, and the ba. The ba is the most difficult to describe. At times it was a part of the soul of the deceased—the person’s spirit—and at other times it seemed to be the entire soul or the essence of the deceased. The ba is also described as something like the “personality.” It was able to fly from place to place and is often shown hovering over the mummy or resting on a shrine. Most commonly it is represented as a bird with a human head and arms. Supposedly it could assume any form it chose, and the Book of the Dead has many


spells to assist the ba in its transformation. One of the most important functions of the ba was to unite with the ka so the deceased could reach the heavens and become an akh spirit. Egyptians rarely mentioned the ba of a living person, so it seems as if the ba came into existence after death. Like the living person, the ba had physical needs. Relatives of the deceased were supposed to leave food offerings in front of the tomb to feed the ba until it reached the next world. Illustrations in the Book of the Dead show the ba flying inside and sometimes outside the tomb. In some ways the ba was the alter ego of the deceased. One Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 b.c.) papyrus tells the storyof a man who was feeling weary of the world and wanted to kill himself. He had an argument with his ba, who told him to “throw his complaints on the woodpile” and threatened to desert the man in the next world. The end of the papyrus is missing, so we don’t know if the man followed the advice of his ba or not. Because the ba was essential for existence in the next world, a special chapter in the Book of the Dead ensured that the ba would be reunited with the deceased. In the following spell for “Causing the

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Uniting of the Ba and its Body in the Netherworld,” the reader is instructed to recite the words over an amulet of the ba made of gold, inlaid


by Mary Jordan)

bAAl
The principal Canaanite deity and fierce war god associated with the Egyptian god Set. The Egyptians recognized this powerful foreign god as one of their own, and the image of Set was always included when scribes wrote the name of Baal in hieroglyphs. Baal, an all-powerful god, represented the scorching heat of the desert and the destruction of sandstorms; he was master of the sky and lord of violent storms. Baal’s cult appeared in Egypt in the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 b.c.) complete with a temple and priesthood in Memphis, the capital of Egypt, and the cult continued during the Nineteenth Dynasty (1295–1186 b.c.) in Pi-Ramses, the Delta city built by Ramses the Great. Ramses, in his quest for victorious battles, worshipped Baal, and before his famousof a trinity: His wife, Hat-meh-yt, was the local fish goddess, and their son, Harpocrates, was Horus, the falcon-headed god as a child. As a god of fertility, Ba-neb-djet was symbolic father of the king. Ramses III claimed Ba-neb-djet as his father, and his mother left an account of her union with Ba-neb-djet carved on a stele in Ramses’s mortuary temple at Medinet Habu (located on the west bank at Thebes). The Greeks associated Ba-neb-djet with their fertility gods Priapus and Pan. In the papyrus Chester Beatty, Ba-neb-djet is called upon to mediate a dispute between the gods Horus and Set. Ba-neb-djet, following the vote of the sun god Re (with whom he was also associated), favored the elder brother Set over Horus.

bAAlAt

Canaanite word for goddess or mistress.


She was the female counterpart of Baal and was identified with Hathor, the Egyptian goddess of love and music. A minor god who, in the myth of the Contendings of Horus and Set, sits on the tribunal of gods. He angers the great sun god Re when he taunts him with the remark, “Your shrine is empty,” meaning that neither the gods nor the people have respect for the sun god anymore.

bAbA

bAboon From the earliest time in Egypt, wild baboons were heard screeching as the first rays of the sun shone on the horizon, and their clamor was interpreted by the priests as adoration of the sun god. In some magical way, baboons were thought to be spirits that greeted the first signs of dawn. When the sun’srays appeared on the horizon, the spirits were transformed into baboons that rejoiced and adored the sun each morning. The baboon and the Ibis both represented Thoth, the god of writing, and were both associated with the Eye of Re. A frieze of baboons can be seen above the entrance to the Great Temple at Abu Simbel, and the first rays of the sun reach them each morning.

Beloved cat goddess of the Egyptians, Bastet is goddess of the Delta, with possible origins in the Libyan Desert. When Bastet is associated with Isis, she becomes “the Soul of Isis,” but as a goddess of music and dance, Bastet is linked with Hathor. Their cult instrument is the Sistrum, which they carry as one of their attributes. Bastet’s cult city,


Per-Bast (modern Bubastis), is located in the Delta and is mentioned in the Bible as Pibeseth (Ezekiel 30:17). Bastet’s name is written with (t), and means “She the bas jar (õ) (bs) and a loaf of the bas-jar”—a special vessel that holds perfume associated with her festivals. During the Old Kingdom, Bastet was called “Goddess of the North,” and in the Pyramid Texts of King Unas, she is “nurse and mother of the king.” When Sekhmet the lion goddess was named “Lady of the West,” Bastet became her counterpart as “Lady of the East.” Early depictions of Bastet show her with the head of a lion and associated with the lion-headed goddess, Mut. She is said to be the mother of Maahes, a lion-headed deity, and the wifecarrying a sistrum and an aegis. Because cats were favorite pets in Egypt, Bastet became a popular household goddess. (Photograph
by Pat Remler)

the eye of Re.” As a dutiful daughter, she carried out the orders of Re and was the “means of her father’s vengeance.” By the end of the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), Bastet had become a popular household goddess. Egyptian families welcomed her into their homes as goddess of the hearth and protector of pregnant women. Her festivals were famous, and she was called “goddess of plenty” and “mistress of pleasure.” And as her popularity grew, her cult became well-known for its lavish festivals—some of

The worshippers approached the temple singing, beating drums, and playing tambourines. Some carried sistra (sacred rattles) as they danced through the streets. Herodotus


describes Bastet’s lavish temple as standing on raised ground in the center of the city, so it was visible from every quarter. A temenos wall decorated with various animals surrounded the temple. The inner courtyard was planted with a grove of trees. So popular was Bastet that the Greeks identified her with their goddess Artemis. The third-century Roman poet Ovid refers to the goddess Bastet in his work Metamorphoses and said the goddess could turn herself into a cat. Bastet was most often shown with the body of a woman and the head of a cat, wearing a long, narrow, sheath-style dress with wide decorated bands over the shoulders. The goddess holds her sistrum in one hand, and in the other she holds an aegis, a talisman representinga broad collar necklace with the head of a cat. Sometimes she is shown with kittens at her feet, a further depiction of her association with hearth and family. The ancient Egyptian word for kitten was miw, pronounced “meow”—the sound a cat makes. It became a term of endearment for children, who were called miw-sheri, “little cat.”

bAt
Pilgrims traveled from all over Egypt to visit Bastet’s temple and leave offerings to the goddess. Because the cat was sacred to Bastet, they left bronze statues, amulets, and mummified cats. Thousands of cat mummies have been discovered in underground crypts at the site of Bastet’s temple in Bubastis. Excavations near the Great Pyramid Complex on the Giza Plateau revealed that bakeries and breweries were placed next to each other because both


bread and beer needed yeast as a key ingredient. The workmen who built the pyramids were often paid in bread, beer, and onions. Being a staple of life in ancient Egypt, beer was also given to children. The scribe Ani reminds a son to be kind to his mother for it was she who gave him bread and beer each day when he returned from his lessons. While the chemistry of beer is complex, the Egyptians followed a simple recipe. Pans of damp, unmilled grain were left in the sun to germinate. The germinated grain was then crushed and became malt. Malt was mixed with crumbled bread made from course flour and soaked in a pot of water. The thickened mixture was then partially baked at a lowmenat, the counterpoise for a necklace that was shaped like a keyhole. Egyptian necklaces were often large and heavy, so to keep them in place a counterpoise would hang down the wearer’s back for balance. The menat also resembled the shape of the sistrum, the sacred rattle, that was one of Bat’s ritual objects. One of the names of Bat’s cult center was the “House of the Sistrum.” The earliest mention of Bat is found in the Pyramid Texts, in which King Unas is said to possess the two faces of Bat. There are few later references, and as was so often the case in Egyptian mythology, the goddess Bat merged with Hathor, who became the universal cow goddess. A minor god associated with Anubis in the mythological


at Heliopolis. The benben symbolizes the primeval mound, the first bit of earth to emerge from the waters of chaos (creation myth from Heliopolis). The Hewet-Benben, the Temple of the Benben, housed the first benben and was closely

bEs

linked to the Benu bird that landed on the pyramidal top of the benben when it emerged as the first dry land. When sun temples became popular in Dynasty V, the focus of worship in the open-air courtyards was the benben that stood on a raised platform. Fifth Dynasty benbens served as the prototype for later tall obelisks placed in front of temples during the New Kingdom.

benu The most famous sacred bird, the Benu is a mythological creature that appears in the Heliopolis creation myth. Mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, theBenu is said to be a form of the god Atum who has “risen up, as a benben in the house of the Benu in Heliopolis.” Other myths claim that the Benu emerged from a burning Persea tree in Heliopolis or sprang from the heart of Osiris. The Benu was believed to be the incarnation of Re, for at the dawn of creation, the Benu rested on the first bit of dry land as it emerged from the waters of chaos and, by so doing, symbolized the sun’s rays touching the first earth mound (see benben). A Middle Kingdom (2055–2650 b.c.) papyrus refers to the “Benu of Re” and “He who came into being by himself.” Seemingly, like Re, the Benu was thought to have created itself. The


name Benu derives from the Egyptian word weben “to rise,” and the Benu may have been the basis of the Greek phoenix bird that rose from its own ashes. Herodotus, the Greek traveler, visited Egypt in the fifth century b.c. and noted that he had never actually seen a Benu bird (he called it a phoenix), only a painting of one. The priests of Heliopolis told Herodotus that the Benu bird appeared only every 500 years, when its parents died. Then the Benu carried the bodies of its deceased parents, encased in a chunk of myrrh (an aromatic substance used to preserve bodies), to the sun temple at Heliopolis, the final resting place of the deceased Benu. When Tutankhamen’s solid gold coffin was opened, a black scarab witha Benu bird carved on its back was one of the magical objects found on his mummy. A symbol of rebirth in the Netherworld, the image of the Benu was frequently carved on scarabs and buried with the mummy to help with resurrection in the next world. beS
The dwarf god, with a frightening appearance and a kind nature, Bes was a god of the people and his popularity never waned. His grotesque features and the magical knife he brandished were meant only to ward off evil and frighten demons away from the families he protected. Families loved Bes and often painted his image in their houses to

Although he looks grotesque, Bes is a goodnatured, friendly god. He protects families and their homes and is the patron god of


pregnant women. (Photograph by Pat Remler) bring good luck and well-being. Bes, along with Tauret, the hippopotamus goddess, was a guardian of mothers during childbirth. Bes protected houses from snakes and scorpions that were a constant threat to young children in ancient Egypt. He was always on guard against the problems of daily life. Bes was also a god of music and merrymaking and was often shown with a tambourine. Bes’s strange appearance has caused Egyptologists to speculate on his origin, for he looks nothing like the other slim and elegant Egyptian gods. One of the most significant differences is that he is almost always shown full face and only rarely in profile. Bes looks like a dwarf with a lion’s mane on his head, and his tongueis often sticking out. He has short, stubby arms and legs and a lion’s tail. At different periods in Egyptian history, Bes has been shown with a large knife; a tambourine; a tall, feathered crown; and a skirt. There are speculations that Bes originated in what is now modern Turkey, since his images have been found in Turkish excavation sites. Bes also might have originated in sub-Saharan Africa, because one of his titles is Lord of Punt, an ancient land on the west African coast. The tall, plumed crown that

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0 bluE crown
he sometimes wears is much like the crown of Anukis, a goddess from the southern borders of Egypt. Most Egyptologists now believe that Bes is an Egyptian god with ancient origins. Several different grotesque gods have appeared


over time in different communities in ancient Egypt, and whatever their local name was, they eventually evolved into the god Bes.

book

blue crown See crowns.

book of cAvernS A funerary text written in the Nineteenth Dynasty, the Book of Caverns chronicles in gory detail the perils of the sun god’s journey through the 12 hours of the night. Each of the six parts of the Book of Caverns takes place in a cave or cavern where Re is hailed as the “bringer of light and life” and as the executioner of enemies. The Book of Caverns contrasts the rewards of goodness with Re’s punishment of his enemies. When the book opens, Re is descending into the Duat, where he encounters various gods and goddesses. Each one is enclosed in anbe seen in the tomb of Ramses VI in the Valley of the Kings.

of gAteS One of three major myths about the sun god compiled in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), the Book of Gates refers to the 12 gates separating the hours of the night. It is a vast body of writings, spells, and incantations collected from the religious literature stored in temple libraries. The gates divide the 12 hours of the night and separate the enemies that the sun god will encounter. Similar myths tell a slightly different story of Re’s perilous journey through the 12 hours of the night and of his joyous rebirth in the eastern sky each morning (see Amduat and Book of the Dead). The Book of Gates is dominated by giant


The gate is named “Hidden Entrance,” protected by the serpent named the “Effluent One,” and the hall is guarded by Metes and Shetau. The evil Apep is attacked with knives, and various gods of light and stars appear in preparation for the sun god’s return to the sky. Twelfth Hour The gate is named the gate of “Sacred Power” and is protected by the serpent called “Lord of the Dawn and Enveloper.” The guardians of the hall are Pai and Akhekhi. Re emerges triumphantly from the last hour of the night and proceeds to the eastern horizon to be reborn. There are different versions of the Book of Gates. Those written in Thebes are called the Theban Recension, and those originating in Sais, the capital of the Saiteor Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–525 b.c.), called the Saite Recension, are the most common. In each case, the names of gates and the gods differ somewhat. An example of the text can be found on the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I, now on display in the Sir John Soane’s Museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields in London.

book of hIDDEn chAMbErs

book

of

hiDDen chAmberS

See Amduat.

book of night Similar to its counterpart the Book of the Day, the Book of Night also appeared in the Nineteenth Dynasty. It is a detailed account of the nightly journey of the sun through the body of Nut, the sky goddess, in order to be reborn at the dawn of each day. book of the DAy Taken from a group of writings composed in the Nineteenth Dynasty, the


Book of the Day is an updated version of previous myths dealing with the journey of the sun god. Unlike the books describing the sun’s nocturnal journey through the 12 hours of the night, the Book of the Day illustrates the sun god’s journey across the daytime sky. Because he is now a daytime god, the sun is represented with a falcon’s head instead of the ram’s head that represents the sun during his nightly journey. In the Book of the Day, Re sails his solar barque under the sky goddess, Nut, whose arms and legs form the ends of the sky. Although the daytime journey illustrates the solar cycle and lists the names of the gods involved, there are still references to the Underworld, battling Apophis, andthe Field of Reeds. The Book of the Day can be seen in the tomb of Ramses VI in the Valley of the Kings. book
of the DeAD An illustrated papyrus scroll placed in the tomb as a guidebook for the deceased during his perilous journey through the Netherworld. The Book of the Dead is a composite of ancient Egypt’s oldest and most important religious texts. Some of the writings come from Egypt’s Predynastic period and were 4,000 years old during the time of Jesus. The Book of the Dead is not a book as we know it but consists of rolls of papyrus that contain a collection of spells, incantations, prayers, hymns, and rituals that were written by the priests over Egypt’s long history. The various copies of


Scribes filled papyrus rolls with spells for protection as well as instructions on how to behave and how to make the body work again in the next world. Generally, the Book of the Dead had four sections: (1) how to protect the body in the tomb; (2) how to make the journey to the Netherworld; (3) how to pass the judgment of the gods; (4) how to exist in the next world, after having been accepted by the gods. About 200 different spells or chapters appear in the Book of the Dead, but they appear in no fixed order. Books written in the north or the south of Egypt had a particular style. The actual title of the Book of the Dead is “The going forth by day,”which might refer to the deceased going forth to the Netherworld. The Egyptians were fearful of the night, and it would have been considered an advantage to make the journey during the day. Whatever the title actually meant, it undoubtedly was a reference to death. The ancient Egyptians did not mention death directly but instead had many euphemisms or names for death and the deceased. For example, because the west bank of the Nile was associated with death (the sun died there every day, and the dead were buried in cemeteries on the west side), if someone died, it was said that he “went west.” The dead were called “Westerners” or “True of Voice.” Many of the Theban versions of the Book of the Dead contain hymns to


the gods, especially to Osiris, the god of the dead. An abbreviated example of the hymn to Osiris, from the papyrus of Ani (a scribe in the Eighteenth Dynasty), reads: Adoration of Re when he appears in the eastern horizon of the Sky.
Behold, Osiris, the scribe of the divine offerings of all the gods, Ani. He says, praise to thee who has come as Kheperi, the god of existence who is the creator of the gods . . . May he give pleasure and power as one who is dead. The living soul [of Ani] goes forth to see Horus of the two horizons, the soul of Osiris, the scribe of Ani, true of voice before Osiris . . .

This hymn of praise to Osiris mentions two importantfeatures of the deceased: the ba, which has been translated as “soul,” and the ka, which was a kind of spiritual double. The Egyptians believed a person had five different elements: the physical body, the shadow, the name, and, most important, the ba and the ka. The ba was represented as a bird with the head of the deceased, and it seemed to come into separate exis-

book of thE EArth

An excerpt from the Book of the Dead. (Photograph by Manfred Wernor)

tence only after the person died. The ba was essential for the deceased’s existence in the Netherworld. The ka was a kind of abstract double of the deceased that needed a place to live. Its first choice was the corpse, but in case the body was damaged or


destroyed, many Egyptians were buried with one or more ka statues carved in their likeness so the ka could dwell within the statue. The Egyptians were almost encyclopedic in their concern with the various parts of the body. The Book of the Dead seems to have been written by priests who drew up a list of every body part that would be needed in the next world and then created a spell to protect it, as in the following examples: The Chapter of Not Permitting the Head of a Man to Be Cut Off in the Netherworld.
I am the great one, son of the great one. I am fire, son of fire, whose head was given to him after it was cut off. His head shall not betaken away from him . . .

well into the period of Greek occupation of Egypt. The texts themselves remained virtually unchanged for more than a thousand years. No doubt many who purchased copies of the Book of the Dead could not read them, but that was not of great concern. Having the magical words that would guide them safely to the Netherworld was the important thing.

When the Book of the Dead first appeared in the New Kingdom, it was considered essential to anyone seeking immortality by resurrecting in the Netherworld. This belief in the Book of the Dead continued

of the Divine cow A group of spells and incantations intended to protect the body of the king originating during the Amarna period (1352–1336 b.c.). The Book of the Divine


Cow is based on the myth that the sun god, in very ancient times, lived on Earth and ruled the people. When he grew old, he found that mankind was plotting against him and he was determined to have his revenge (see Destruction of Mankind, the Myth of). Examples of the Book of the Divine Cow can be found on the inside wall of Tutankhamen’s outermost gilt shrine, now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. The Book of the Divine Cow is also inscribed on the wall of a side chamber in the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings.

book

book of the eArth A later version of the sun god’s journey through the Underworld, the Book of the Earth was created during the Twentieth Dynasty

bookof two wAys
(1186–1069 b.c.). It has four sections profusely illustrated with scenes of the Underworld. The Book of the Earth appears in the burial chambers of Ramses VI, VII, and IX in the Valley of the Kings. Buchis bull. Easily identified by the long hairs growing backward on his back, the new Buchis and his mother were installed in the temple complex, where they were perfumed and pampered and lived a life of ease. A hymn to the Buchis Bull found in the Bucheum:
Come unto me Buchis my great lord! O may he live millions of years O may he enjoy the duration of the sun I am thy servant my great lord! I pray unto thee, I never stop praying. Many are my prayers at night .


Thoth and the Mansions of Osiris. By following the instructions carefully, the deceased could join the gods in their heavenly realm. The Book of Two Ways is vividly portrayed on the coffin of Seni, a steward from el Bersha, in middle Egypt (c. 2000 b.c.).

bookS

of the Sky (books of the heavens) This group of books on the afterlife appeared in the Nineteenth Dynasty with the journey of the sun god as their central theme and with Nut, the sky goddess, as a dominant character. Three of the best-known compositions from the Books of the Sky are Book of the Day, Book of the Night, Book of the Divine Cow.

Unlike many other Egyptian animal gods, the Buchis does not seem to have been portrayed with a man’s body. Heis shown as a bull with a sun disk and two tall feather plumes between his horns. The cult center of the Buchis bull, complete with temple, priests, and tomb complex, was visited by Cleopatra VII and Julius Caesar when she took him on a tour of Egypt. Located at Armant on the west bank of the Nile (south of modern Luxor), today its ruins are one of the few places where the cartouche of Cleopatra VII can be found.

buckle

of iSiS See Knot of Isis.

buchiS

bull (white bull) One of three sacred bull cults in ancient Egypt (Apis and Mnevis being the other two), the Buchis arrived late in Egyptian mythology and is first mentioned in the Thirtieth Dynasty during the reign of Nectanebo II, Egypt’s last native ruler.


Revered for his strength and belligerence, the Buchis was worshipped as an incarnation of the war god Montu. He was closely linked to Min and venerated as a physical manifestation of the sun god Re. Two of his titles were “Living God of Re” and the “Bull of the Mountains of Sunrise and Sunset.” The Buchis was a white bull with a black face, and it was said that his color changed with each hour of the day. This may have given rise to the observation that he was all black and that the outline of a vulture could be seen on his back. When the Buchis bull died, he was mummified with great ceremony and placed in the Bucheum, the cemetery created for the Buchis bull andhis mother, who was also revered during her lifetime. Immediately after the death of a bull, a search began for the new

µa

bullS, the SAcreD From the beginning of Egypt’s history, the bull was revered for its strength and virility. During Predynastic times, bulls were associated with the king, who wore a bull’s tail as part of his royal regalia. Bulls’ heads and horns sometimes decorated the mastaba, the building over a royal tomb. In the Pyramid Texts, the “Bull of Re” assists king Unas when he climbs to heaven on a ladder.
Hail, four horned bull of Re, Your horn in the west, your horn in the east, Your southern horn, your northern horn: Bend your western horn for Unas, let Unas pass!

“Mighty Bull” and “Bull of Horus” were


favorite epithets used to personify the pharaoh, and a favored sport of the pharaohs was wild bull hunting. Amenhotep III, in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), issued commemorative scarabs to announce his prowess at hunting wild bulls. The three sacred bulls in Egyptian religion were the Apis, Buchis, and Mnevis.

buto

See Wadjet.

C 8
cAiro cAlenDAr
A magical calendar devised by the ancient Egyptians to determine whether each day would be a good day or a bad day to embark on a certain activity. In 1943, the Egyptian Museum in Cairo bought a rolled-up papyrus titled “An Introduction to the start of Everlastingness and the end of Eternity.” It was written in hieratic, a cursive script that was often used instead of hieroglyphs, and made predictions about every day of the year.the mythological references are sometimes incomplete.

cAlenDAr The first Egyptian calendar had only 360 days in the year, and this soon became a problem, because nature’s year is 365¼ days long. The Egyptians divided their year into three seasons: inundation, when the Nile flooded; emergence, when the water receded; and summer, the growing season. Each season was four months long, and each month had 30 days. By following a 360-day calendar, in a few years the seasons were not in step with nature and “inundation” occurred when the land was dry. To correct this problem, five days were added at the end of every year. These were called epagomenal days, and each one was named after the birthday of a god or goddess.

cAnnibAl hymn

A group of inscriptions inside the


pyramid of the Fifth Dynasty king, Unas (2375–2345 b.c.). The Pyramid Texts suggest the king will have the power of the gods if he devours them. The so-called Cannibal Hymn gained its name in the nineteenth century, when Egyptologists first translated the text and wrongly interpreted it as a sign of cannibalism among the ancient Egyptians. The text shows pharaoh Unas’s concern for his safety in the afterlife. One way to attain protection was to steal the power of the gods. On the antechamber east wall of the pyramid, a long inscription states that the king feeds upon the gods in order to gain their power. One of the verses reads:
Unas devours their magic and swallows their spirits. Their big ones are for his morning meal, Their mediumones are for his evening meal,

cAnopIc jArs
Their small ones are for his night meal, Their old men and their old women are for his fuel. The Great Ones in the north sky, light him fire For the kettles’ contents with the old ones’ thighs, For the sky-dweller serves Unas And the pots are scraped for him . . .

but thought nothing of eating human flesh (Juvenal, Satire 15, On the Atrocities of Egypt).

Thus Unas asserted his new power and was equal to the gods. Another portion of the text suggests he became so powerful that even the gods were afraid of him. It was a dramatic solution to the problem of the king’s immortality and his continued well-being in the heavens. Aside from the Cannibal Hymn, which most


of the liver; Duamutef, the jackal-headed son, was the guardian of the stomach; Hapi, the baboon-headed son, was guardian of the lungs; Qebesenef, the hawkheaded son, was the guardian of the intestines. The internal organs were wrapped and placed in the canopic jars with a solution of natron and water called the “liquid of the children of Horus.” The four sealed jars were placed in a small chest with four compartments, one for each jar, and a magical spell was recited to invoke the protection of the sons of Horus. In addition to this incantation, magical spells were usually written on each jar to doubly ensure the protection of the organs. Canopic jars took their name from the Greek legend of Canopus, the pilot of Menelaus, the kingfaced south, but the workmen reversed them.

represented a loop of rope, knotted at one end, and was a symbol for “all that the sun encircles.” The name cartouche came from the French, following Napoleon’s occupation of Egypt in 1798. When French soldiers saw the hieroglyphic inscriptions on all the monuments with the pharaoh’s name enclosed in the oval shape, they thought it resembled their cartridge shells or bullets, called cartouches in French, and the name has remained.

cArtouche The magical oval that encircled two of the pharaoh’s five names. The cartouche

|

cAt The cat, beloved in ancient Egypt, was a household pet and a feline goddess who could take the form of either a cat or a lioness. Cats are often shown as favored pets in tomb paintings. They must


have been domesticated very early in Egypt, for the remains of one was found in a Predynastic burial at Mostagedda (modern Asset). Cats play an important role in Egyptian mythology. In the Ptolemaic period (332–32 b.c.), Bastet, a daughter of Re, gained great popularity as the

cAtArActs
pleasure-loving cat goddess. Some cats were raised to be mummified and used as offerings to the gods. Hundreds of mummified cats were discovered in a special cat cemetery at Bubastis, the site of the great temple of Bastet. was surrounded by books written in many languages. He studied Latin, Greek, Arabic, Syriac, Chaldean, and Hebrew, but the language most helpful to him in translating hieroglyphs was Coptic, the language spoken in Egypt during the late period. Written in the Greek alphabet with sevenspecial characters added, it is called “Coptic” because the Copts were the Egyptian Christians who used the script. In 1808, when Champollion was still a teenager, he obtained a copy of the Rosetta stone and began his relentless pursuit of its meaning. From his earlier studies he knew there were three separate Egyptian scripts—hieroglyphic picture writing; demotic, a later and more cursive form of writing; and hieratic, a cursive script used by priests. He deduced this by comparing hieratic papyri with hieroglyphic and demotic inscriptions. Champollion began to compare the hieroglyphic inscription of the Rosetta stone with its Greek counterpart. The key was the name Ptolemy. It had long been known that the pharaohs wrote their names in ovals called cartouches. The oval represented a rope showing the


the “goddess of the cataracts,” protected the first cataract from invasion by “southerners.” Her cult center was on Sehel Island at Aswan. Egyptologists have recently excavated an Anukis chapel on Elephantine Island at Aswan. Hapi the Nile god is also associated with the cataracts, as the Egyptians believed he lived below the cataract and controlled the flow of water in the Nile. cAttle Prominent in Egyptian mythology, cattle were an important part of the offering rituals. Bulls were a favored offering to the gods. The Greek historian Herodotus tells us that for a bull to be deemed suitable for sacrifice, the animal had to be tested in several ways. First a priest inspected the bull to make sure that it had no black hairs on any part ofits body. He then examined the animal’s tongue to make sure it was clean and inspected the tail to make sure that the hair grew in the proper direction. When a bull passed these rigorous tests, the priest twisted a band of papyrus around the horns and sealed it with wax stamped by his signet ring. When it was time for the sacrifice, the bull was led to an altar, where priests lit a fire, poured a libation of wine, and invoked the god’s name before the bull was slaughtered. The head was cut off first. Herodotus said that many curses were placed upon the head before it was taken away, perhaps to ward off any malice harbored in the slaughtered bull. He also wrote that if any


scorpions. The image of Horus the child standing on a crocodile and holding snakes and scorpions or other dangerous creatures was carved on the front. This kind of protection, or amuletic device, was popular during the Late period (747 b.c.–a.d. 395). The cippus was believed to have magical powers that could protect children from harm. The largest and most important cippus is called the Metternich stele and is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

cleopAtrA

The last ruler of ancient Egypt and the living embodiment of Isis, Cleopatra is one of the most well-known names in history. She was actually the seventh Cleopatra in her family. She was born in Alexandria in the winter of 69–68 b.c. History does not record the name of her mother orthe exact date of her birth, but Cleopatra’s father was Ptolemy XII, and her family, known as the Ptolemies, had ruled Egypt for 300 years. The Ptolemies were Greek rulers descended from General Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt when Alexander the Great died in 323 b.c. For the most part, the later Ptolemies were corrupt, lazy rulers who cared little for Egypt other than the amount they could collect in taxes. Cleopatra was different; she loved the land and was determined to restore Egypt to its former glory. As was the custom of Ptolemaic queens, Cleopatra assumed the role of the Living Isis and officiated at ceremonies in the temple of Isis wearing the sacred costume of the goddess. By all accounts, Cleopatra

was the brightest and most


clever member of her family; ancient sources say she was not beautiful, but she had a captivating personality. She spoke several languages and charmed everyone who met her. Eager to learn and curious about everything, Cleopatra frequently summoned scholars from the museum to answer her questions and often visited the famous Alexandrian library, which held thousands of books written on papyrus. When Cleopatra was 17, her father, Ptolemy XII, died, and she expected to succeed him on the throne. But her father had written in his will that she was required to marry her 10-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII (whom she detested), and that they should rule Egypt together. Marriage between brothers and sisters was quite common in Egyptian royal families in order to keep the power in thefamily, but the union of Cleopatra and her brother was doomed to failure. Cleopatra was drawn into a palace intrigue and had to flee for her life. Shortly afterward, Julius Caesar, the Roman general, arrived in Egypt to settle the differences between Cleopatra and her brother. In order to meet Caesar without being intercepted by forces loyal to her brother, Cleopatra was rolled up inside a carpet that was delivered to Caesar as a gift. When the carpet was unrolled, Cleopatra appeared and pleaded her case to Caesar, who agreed to support her claim to the throne. By all accounts Cleopatra was intelligent, witty, and determined. It was a winning combination, for she charmed the sophisticated Roman general, and Caesar stayed on in Egypt to be near Cleopatra.


that Cleopatra died from the bite of an asp buried in a basket of figs. Cleopatra’s name lived on in history, and her personification as the “Living Isis” gave new life to the

“cult of Isis,” which grew and prospered and spread throughout the Middle East and into England and Germany. At its height, the cult had more followers than the new religion, Christianity. The cult of Isis died when the old religions were outlawed by the Christian Roman emperor Constantine in a.d. 382.

cobrA goDDeSS See Wadjet. coffin A container to hold a mummified body. Coffins were either anthropoid (in the shape of a human body) or rectangular. Egyptian religion required that the body be intact so it could resurrect in the next world. Early burials in sandpits driedand preserved the body, but wind erosion or wild animals often exposed the corpse. As a protective covering for the body, the first coffins were made of woven reeds and later of wood. During the Old Kingdom, wood coffins and stone sarcophagi were viewed as a place of rest for the deceased (see sarcophagus). The coffin fit inside the stone sarcophagus. The lids of the sarcophagi were so heavy that they had to he raised and lowered with ropes. The difference between a coffin and a sarcophagus is mainly the material from which each is made. One fits inside the other: The innermost (the coffin) is made of wood, and the outer one (the sarcophagus, Greek for flesh-eater) is made of stone. In the Middle Kingdom the most


popular coffins were rectangular, wooden, and often painted with funerary motifs. These coffins could be highly decorated, both inside and out, with scenes of the deceased sitting in front of a sumptuous offering table. Most Middle Kingdom coffins were decorated with the udjat eye. Two Eyes of Horus were painted on the outer panel of the coffin facing east, perhaps so the deceased could still have a view of the world of the living. Anthropoid coffins in the shape of the human body were made in the Twelfth Dynasty (1985–1795 b.c.) and continued to the end of Egyptian civilization. This shape was associated with Osiris, the god of the dead, and the coffins were elaborately painted with religious and mythological scenes.

(2181–2055 b.c.)—the pyramids were opened by robbers. Forthe first time, ordinary people could see the magical spells and prayers that helped the king journey safely to the next world. When the magical spells, or Pyramid Texts, became known, they must have inspired the new custom of inscribing prayers and spells on Middle Kingdom coffins. One of the innovations of the Coffin Texts is that the sun god Re, who previously ruled the Underworld alone, now shared his dominion with Osiris, the god of the dead, who had risen to prominence as the Judge of the Underworld. Another idea to come from the Coffin Texts was that the deceased would be required to labor in the Field of Reeds. The Coffin Texts followed no particular order or structure; they were a group of diverse spells designed


popular in the Middle Kingdom. During the New Kingdom, they were replaced by the more elaborate Book of the Dead.

colossI of MEMnon

colorS, mAgicAl In Egyptian mythology, colors were often used as symbols to represent the gods.
Black Black is not a true color but the absence of light and is associated with death, the necropolis, and the mummy. Osiris, as ruler of the Netherworld, was called “the black one.” Black was the color of the mortuary gods Anubis and Khenty-Amentu, and they were shown as jackals with black coats. Blue Blue was the color of infinity, the cosmos, and the sky. Amun was sometimes shown as blue, as a reminder of his association with the cosmos. Blue beards, wigs, and crowns adorned the gods, and blue faience amulets wereTwo colossal seated statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III (1390–1352 b.c.), the “Colossi of Memnon,” stood in front of Amenhotep III’s now vanished mortuary temple.

The Colossi of Memnon are actually statues of the pharaoh Amenhotep III that stood in front of his mortuary temple on the west bank in Thebes. (Photo by Roweromaniak/Used under a Creative Commons license)

coMposItE DEItIEs
(He was the father of Akhenaten and the grandfather of Tutankhamen.) During the Ptolemaic period, one of the statues was believed to speak for the gods. The statue to the north (to the right when facing them) was damaged by an earthquake in 27 b.c. The fault created in the stone caused it to make a whistling sound every morning, which was interpreted by the priests as the gods speaking.


The Greeks called the statue the “vocal Memnon” and equated it with their Memnon, a character in Homer, who sang to his mother, Eos, goddess of the dawn. The Roman emperor Septimius Severus (a.d. 193–211) ordered that the damage to the colossal statue be repaired, and since then it has not made a sound.

compoSite DeitieS The Egyptians never seemed to mind inconsistencies in their religion. Gods who shared similar traits were often merged by the priesthood to create a composite deity. Such was the case with the composite god Serapis, who embodied the attributes of Apis and Osiris. When the gods of Upper (southern) and Lower (northern) Egypt had similar traits, they often merged into composite deities. Amun of Thebes in the south and Re of Heliopolis inthe north became the composite god Amun-Re. The goddesses Hathor and Isis were sometimes referred to as Isis-Hathor or Hathor-Isis. Foreign deities with traits similar to Egyptian gods were readily accepted by the Egyptians. For example, Aesculapius, the Greek god of healing, and Imhotep were seen as one. The Canaanite god baal and the Egyptian god Set were worshipped as aspects of each other; they were powerful, if sometimes evil, forces. Composite deities were popular throughout Egypt’s history and can be seen as late as the Roman period, when Egyptian gods were associated with the Roman pantheon. The catacombs at Kom el Shuqafa in Alexandria show several Egyptian and Roman composite gods, such as Anubis, dressed in Roman military garb.

When Egyptian priests wanted to focus the specific powers


the island, so that Isis could not influence their decision. But Isis changed herself into an old woman by magic and bribed the ferryman with a gold ring to take her to the “Island-in-the-Midst.” Once on the island, she changed herself into a beautiful young woman and lured Set to her. She then pleaded with him for help, saying that her husband was a herdsman who had been killed by an evil man who then threatened to beat her son and take his cattle. Set replied that he would defend her: “Shall the stranger take the son’s cattle?” At this point Isis turned herself into a bird, flew to the top of an acacia tree, and said, “Your mouth has judged.” Realizing that he had been tricked, Setwept. The god Atum placed the white crown of Egypt on the head of Horus. Angered, Set proclaimed that he would fight Horus and take the crown from his

cosMEtIcs

head. He proposed that they change themselves into hippopotami and fight in the sea, and they plunged into the water. Isis, fearful that her son would be defeated, made a harpoon and threw it into the water. It struck Horus, but Isis, using her magic, instructed the harpoon, “Let him go.” When she threw the harpoon into the water a second time, it struck Set, who cried out to Isis, “You are my sister. What have you done to your brother?” Feeling sorry for Set, Isis called to the harpoon to release him. Horus grew angry at his mother and


cut off her head. Isis changed herself into a headless statue. When the gods saw this, they wanted to punish Horus, and they searched for him on the mountain where he had retreated. When Set found Horus in the desert, he plucked out his two eyes and buried them on the mountain, and lotus blossoms sprang up from the ground where the eyes of Horus were buried. Set said to the tribunal searching on the mountain, “I did not find Horus.” When Hathor, “Mistress of the Southern Sycamore Tree,” found Horus weeping, she poured milk over him and healed his eyes. Hathor then reported to the tribunal that Set had taken both of Horus’s eyes but that she had restored them. (In another version of the myth, Thothrestores one of the eyes.) Horus and Set were called before the tribunal to be judged and were told, “Go, and leave us in peace, eat, drink, and stop quarreling.” The story continues with more trickery and battling between the two, for each time the tribunal of gods awarded the earthly kingdom to Horus, Set refused to abide by its decision and through trickery gained power over Horus. Finally the tribunal directed Thoth, the god of writing and knowledge, to send a letter to Osiris in the Underworld asking what to do about Horus and Set. After many days, his letter reached the tribunal, which met at the White Field of Xois. Osiris chastised the tribunal, saying they had caused maat (divine order) to sink into the Underworld.


He threatened that if the gods did not obey him, he would unleash the demons of the Underworld upon the Earth. Set, who was brought before the tribunal in fetters, agreed to let Horus rule as king on Earth, and the white crown was placed upon Horus’s head. Then ReHorakhty, master of the sky, saved Set from humiliation by taking him to dwell in the sky, saying, “And he shall be thunder in the sky and be feared.” Isis rejoiced that her son had been made king of all on Earth.

unguents, perfumes, and precious oils—were used in daily life as well. Scenes carved on temple walls show the ritual of honoring the god. At dawn each day, a procession of priests who had been ritually cleansed and anointedwith unguents walked through the temple, entered the holy of holies, opened the shrine, and removed the cult statue. The image of the god was adored, cleansed, anointed with green and black eye paint, and clothed in pure linen. Then the cult statue was returned to the shrine, and the doors were sealed. The magical properties of eye paint were written in the Pyramid Texts. Utterance 79 provides Unas, the deceased king, with eye paint for the next world: “Say four times, Osiris Unas, the sound eye of Horus is being rubbed on the face. [Given to you are] Two bags of green eye cosmetic.” The Book of the Dead contained instructions to the deceased about to enter the Hall of Two Truths:
. . . This is the


onto the temple, enhancing the shape of the eyes. Originally the favored color was green, thought to have health-giving and magical properties, but black gained popularity at the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty. The composition of both colors is known: ground malachite produced green, and ground galena (lead sulfide) produced black to silvery-gray powder that was mixed with fat to form a thin paste and stored in cosmetic jars. Small wands of wood, ivory, or bone were dipped into the jars and used to apply the eyeliner. Women colored their lips with a brush dipped into a paste of red ochre and fat. Although scholars are not certain, the red lips on some male statues may indicate that men painted their lips as well. Red ochre was alsoapplied to the cheeks. Henna, still used today to color the hands and feet of modern

crAftsMEn, goD of
bridal parties, colored the nails of ancient Egyptians. The base of Egyptian cosmetics was fat, and it was thick and difficult to remove, so a cleansing cream was concocted from powdered limestone and a light vegetable oil to remove the cosmetics. Elaborate inlaid wooden cases held stone or faience (ceramic paste) cosmetic jars in individual compartments, along with a hand mirror of highly polished metal. Mirrors (called “ankh” in Egyptian) were circular, with wood, metal, ivory, or faience handles, and they were often in the shape of a papyrus column. Perfume was an essential component of every cosmetic case and was used liberally. By distilling the essence of flowers (or any


fragrant substance), the Egyptians had the base for their perfume, which was then added to various oils. Analyses of ancient perfumes shows that iris root or balsam was used as a base. Sometimes cinnamon, cardamom, myrrh, honey, wine, or flowers were used to create fragrances. Banquet scenes on tomb walls show ladies adorned with cones of perfume. A cone of fat impregnated with perfume was placed on a woman’s head, and as the evening progressed, it melted into her wig, releasing a pleasant aroma. and is answered by the appearance of a creator god who arises spontaneously from the waters of chaos and magically impregnates himself. From Memphis came a third view of creation based on the idea that to say it was to do it: The creator-god,relationship to the king. Later, when Isis and Hathor were closely associated, Isis wore a crown similar to that of Hathor, with cow’s horns and a sun disk. The symbols for the gods changed over time, and by the Ptolemaic period (332–32 b.c.), the gods’ crowns incorporated many different elements, indicating that the god or king was associated with several other gods. The white crown (hedjet) of Upper Egypt, in the shape of a tall cone with a bulb on the end, was first worn by King Scorpion, and it was depicted on his

crAftSmen, goD

of See Ptah.

creAtion mythS During the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.), three different creation myths arose in three different towns in ancient Egypt. Each had its own set of gods promoted by its own group


of priests. These were not the only creation stories in Egyptian mythology, but except for the rise of Amun-Re in Thebes during the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 b.c.), these myths that began in Hermopolis, Heliopolis, and Memphis were the most well known. Hermopolis produced the myth of the Ogdoad, or the eight. Based on four pairs of primeval deities, this myth attempted to answer the question, “How did something appear from nothing?” Existing only as a force of power, the first primeval forces appeared as frogs or serpents that later evolved: Nun and Nunette became water, Hek and Heket became space, Kek and Keket became darkness, and Amun and Amunette became hiddenness. Heliopolis had another creation myth: the Ennead. Its four generations of deities came into existence by thewill of their creator. The Ennead asks the question, “How does one become many?”

cult of thE kIng

mace head, a ceremonial weapon. The white crown is also shown on the Narmer Palette (c. 3100 b.c.). The red crown (deshret) of Lower Egypt looks something like a cylinder that was shorter in the front and stretched up in the back to a peak with a long coil that stuck out from the front. The double crown was a combination of the white and the red and served as a symbol of the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. The red crown is depicted on the reverse side of the Narmer Palette. The atef, or feathered crown, was the tall white crown of Upper Egypt with ostrich plumes on either side


and a disk attached to the top. It was worn by the gods for religious ceremonies and for funerary rites. The nemes was a head wrap made from striped cloth that was pulled tight across the forehead and secured in the back so that folds of cloth rested on the shoulders. The uraeus, the cobra god who protected the king, was fastened to the front of the nemes. The blue crown (khepresh), in the shape of a flanged helmet, appeared in the Eighteenth Dynasty.

cubit, the egyptiAn A unit of measurement in ancient Egypt based on the magical number seven, the cubit represents one of the earliest examples of precise measurement in the ancient world. The cubit was critical to pyramid building, and the goddess of measurement, Sheshat, presidedalso based on the number seven. The Egyptian Museum in Turin, Italy, has a granite royal cubit rod divided into 28 units that dates from Dynasty XIX (c. 1300 b.c.). It was presented to Amen-ope, a viceroy to Nubia. The cubit was developed in the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.) and is mentioned in the tale of the shipwrecked sailor.

Crowns worn by the kings of Egypt: (A) the white crown of Upper Egypt, (B) the red crown of Lower Egypt, (C) the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt, (D) the atef crown, (E) the blue crown, (F) the nemes headdress. (Drawing by Mary Jordan)

cult of the king The cult of the king is basic to ancient Egyptian religion. Kings were worshipped as gods during their lives and after


death. During a king’s coronation, a special ceremony was performed to unite the king’s ka (soul) with the “royal ka” (a divine double), and in that instant the king magically became a divine being—a ntr, or “living god on Earth.” Every year during the Opet festival in Thebes, the king’s status as a god was renewed. The cult statue of the god Amun was carried by pious priests from his sanctuary at Karnak Temple to visit Luxor Temple. It was during this festival that a symbolic union of Amun and the king’s mother took place, and the king renewed and celebrated his divinity as a living god. The story of the Opet Festival is recorded on the walls of Luxor Temple. Once the king became ntr, he wasworshipped during his life and after death. As a divine being, the king became a son of Re, associated with Amun-Re, Horus, and Osiris. Being a god on Earth, it was the king’s job to maintain maat or divine order—to

cults of thE goDs
make sure that peace and prosperity continued throughout Egypt. During the New Kingdom, not only did the king have to be one with the “divine ka,” but it was important to show that Amun was his father. When Queen Hatshepsut crowned herself king, she made her claim to kingship and to becoming a ntr by showing that Amun was her father. This magical occurrence, the divine union of her mother and Amun, disguised as her father, is documented along with the scene of her birth on


the walls of her mortuary temple at Deir el Bahri. After a king died, he continued to be worshipped at his mortuary temple. An endowment was made to support priests who would make offerings to his ka each day. from Karnak Temple across the Nile to the Temple at Deir el Bahri. Every deity had secret rituals, special festival days, and sacred animals. By performing the rituals and paying scrupulous attention to details, the faithful could demonstrate their devotion to the god or goddess and hope that their prayers would be answered. Devotion to a cult was a means of expressing one’s personal piety. According to Juvenal, the first-century Roman writer, the women of Rome (who were devoted to Isis) carried their expression of piety to extremes. AfterCleopatra VII’s visit to Rome, many Roman women became addicted to the cult of Isis. Some women made pilgrimages to Egypt to collect water from the Nile to use in their rituals and kept all-night vigils at the shrines of Isis.

cultS of the goDS Much of the religious activity in the ancient world revolved around the cults of Egypt’s most powerful deities. The most popular—Amun-Re, Horus, Min, Hathor, and Isis—had large priesthoods and huge temple complexes, complete with storerooms, living quarters, kitchens, bakeries, and breweries. Large farms were attached to the temples to supply offerings to the gods and food for the priests. The center of all cult activity was the statue or cult image of the god or goddess, often cast in gold, for it was said


During the Opet festival in Thebes, the god Amun and statues of his family traveled from Karnak Temple to Luxor Temple, a distance of about two miles, and stayed for about three weeks. Other important festivals were the Festival of the New Year, the Festival of Osiris at Abydos, the Festival of Bastet at Bubastis, the Festival of Hathor at Dendera, the Festival of Horus at Edfu, and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley, when Amun-Re journeyed

curSe of tutAnkhAmen The ancient Egyptians never seem to have placed curses on their tombs, but after Tutankhamen’s tomb was opened in 1922, a rumor spread that his tomb was cursed. Supposedly a tablet was found in the tomb with the inscription: “Death will slay with his wings whoever disturbs the peacecurse. While it is true that Carnarvon died soon after he entered Tutankhamen’s tomb, it is also true that he was in poor health, and the cause of his death was an infected mosquito bite. Power failures were not uncommon in Cairo in the 1920s. Some have expressed concern that germs and bacteria in the tomb were the cause of death of those who died later. On the morning after the burial chamber was opened, however, sterile swabs were used to take cultures from the wall, floor, and shrine. Analysis showed that no life of any kind existed in the burial chamber at the time it was first opened, so any illness contracted by members of the excavation did not come from bacteria in the tomb.

D 8
DeAD, goDS
Sokar.

of


the

See Anubis, Osiris,

DeDun (also dedwen)

DeAD, iSlAnD of the See Field of Reeds. DeAth rituAlS See mummification and Opening of the Mouth Ceremony. DecAnS The Egyptians divided the night sky into 36 groups of stars, or decans, forming constellations. Each decan was named and associated with a corresponding god or goddess. For the Egyptians, the most impressive constellation in the sky was Orion, and the most important star was Sirius, called the Dog Star by the Greeks. Egyptian mythology equated Sirius with Isis and saw her as Orion’s companion. Together they dominated the southern sky. Sirius was the brightest star in the night sky, and when it appeared on the horizon around July 9, it was a sign that the Nile was about to rise and the season ofinundation or flooding was about to begin. The inundation was crucial, because a low Nile would mean less water for irrigation, causing a poor harvest. Every 10 days, a different decan appeared on the dawn horizon just before the sun rose. Thus the 36 decans could be used for measuring a 360-day year. By noting the positions of decans, the Egyptians also could tell time during the hours of the night. Pictures of the decans, or “star clocks,” were sometimes painted on coffin lids or on tomb walls. Eventually “star clocks” were more of a decoration than a timekeeper, for at the end of every year, they were about six hours behind time, and after several years, they were off by weeks. Although the decans and the god


and goddesses who represented them were not actually used for telling time, they continued to appear on the walls and ceilings of tombs and as coffin decorations until the Greco-Roman period.

A Nubian god of wealth, Dedun is generally shown as a man, but he can take the shape of a lion as well. One of his titles is the god of “Four Directions,” but he seems to have been best known in Nubia as the keeper of incense. He appears with incense at the royal births and is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts.

DeificAtion The process by which a person, living or dead, is declared a god. With the possible exception of Akhenaten, the Egyptians did not deify living people. The king was considered a living god, but heinherited his position; he came into the world as the living manifestation of Horus, and so he was born a god. Some kings reinforced their position of god on Earth by erecting statues of themselves as gods during their reign. Ramses the Great (1279–1213 b.c.) placed a statue of himself as Re the sun god beside Amun-Re, Re-Horakhty, and Ptah in the sanctuary of his temple at Abu Simbel. Another statue of Ramses as Amun was found in his mortuary temple at the Ramesseum in Thebes. A handful of private people, revered for their knowledge, achieved deification after death. Perhaps the most notable was Imhotep, vizier (prime minister) and architect to Zoser (2667–2648 b.c.), the Third Dynasty king for whom the first pyramid was built. Imhotep, a man


of many talents, was legendary for his medical skills and wisdom. He was deified 2,000 years after his death. During the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu, who was the architect for but unrelated to Amenhotep III, was honored for his wisdom and medical skills. Like Imhotep, Amenhotep-son-of-Hapu was deified and worshipped as a god of healing. During the Late period (747–332 b.c.), drowning in the Nile was sometimes reason enough for deification, as was the case with Pehor and Pehesi, who drowned in the Nile in Nubia at Dendur. Antinous,

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the companion of the emperor Hadrian, also was deified after he drowned in the Nile, and the town of Antinoopolis, the cult center for the worship of Antinous, was built on the banks of the Nile where hefor help brought Thoth from the heavens and help from her sister Nephthys. Because the scorpion was actually the evil Set in disguise and his magic was not as strong as that of Isis, the infant Horus was saved. The Delta begins north of Cairo, where the Nile splits into the eastern Damietta Branch and the western Rosetta Branch. The modern town Qantar sits at the fork in the river. Many of the ancient sites in the Delta are in ruins or lost completely due to the high water table that causes ancient sites to sink into the ground and topple over. One of the most important cities was Bubastis (modern Zagazig), the flourishing cult center for the goddess Bastet. Farther north (modern San el Hagar) are the


ruins of ancient Tanis, believed by many to be the biblical city of Pi-Ramses. The modern town of Tanta is the site of ancient Sais, the capital of Egypt in the Twenty-sixth Dynasty and the cult center for the goddess Neith. Nearby are the ruins of Nacratus, an ancient Greek city, and Buto, the cult center of Edjo, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt.

Another kind of demon was associated with Sekhmet, the lion-headed goddess; when she was in her fierce and corrupt mood, she could unleash demons of all kinds. The Smith Surgical Papyrus (see medicine, gods of) mentions Sekhmet and malicious gods and demons as the cause of an epidemic that apparently afflicted the Egyptians every year. One magical spell suggested that these demons of disease rodecould be subdued. One of the most popular household gods, Bes, had the frightening appearance of a demon but was in fact a benevolent god who was believed to protect families, especially children, from the very real dangers of scorpions, snakes, and crocodiles.

DemonS Protecting oneself from demons seemed to be a constant concern of the ancient Egyptians. Of the nearly two dozen amuletic papyri, which were manuals for using amulets and conjuring spells, almost all contain spells for protection from evil demons. One such papyrus in the Egyptian Museum

Demotic One of the three scripts inscribed on the Rosetta stone, demotic is a Late period cursive form of writing hieroglyphs that appeared about 660 b.c. Because demotic was much faster and easier to write, it soon became more popular


a god of vegetation. The seemingly endless desert that stretched beyond the fertile Nile valley was a fearful place to most Egyptians, who avoided the dry wasteland. Depictions of the entrance to the Underworld were often the sandy hills of the Western Desert.

DeStruction

of mAnkinD, myth of the An Egyptian myth that tells how the wickedness of the people on Earth aroused the anger of the sun god Re and how Re was determined to punish humankind. The Myth of the Destruction of Mankind is part of a much longer story, the Myth of the Heavenly Cow, found in several Eighteenth Dynasty tombs in the Valley of the Kings. Like the biblical tale of the flood, the angry god relents and does not destroy all of humankind. The Destructionof Mankind is found in New Kingdom tombs (1550–1069 b.c.), but scholars think it may have originated in the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 b.c.). The story is as follows: It so happened that in ancient times Re the sun god lived on Earth, where he was king of the gods and humankind. One day he discovered that humankind was plotting against him, for it was said that he was growing old and that his bones were of pure silver, his flesh of gold, and his beard of true lapis lazuli. Re became angry with the people of Earth. He summoned all the gods and said, “Oh Nun, eldest god, look, mankind is plotting against me. Tell me what you would do, for I am searching and I will not


in the story, the Powerful One, Sekhmet, was born. She became the power and the fierce messenger of the Eye of Re against his enemies. Now that Re had regained power over humans, he no longer wanted to kill them, so he devised a plan to stop Sekhmet, who enjoyed acting as his vengeful Eye and who wanted to wade in the blood of humans. Re summoned swift messengers to bring him great quantities of red ochre and maidservants to brew great quantities of beer. When the red ochre and the beer were mixed, the mixture resembled human blood. Seven thousand jars were filled with the mixture and carried to the place were the goddess was to kill humans. It was poured onto the ground and flooded theland. In the morning when the goddess appeared, she was pleased to see what looked like blood flooding the land. She began to drink and consumed so much beer that she became drunk and did not kill humans. Re was pleased that mankind was spared and greeted the goddess, “Welcome in peace, O gracious one.”

Devourer, DionySuS

the See Ammut.

Greek god of wine and revelry often associated with the Ptolemaic god Serapis, Dionysus’s reputation for merrymaking overshadowed his agricultural endeavors. Besides revelry, he was also known for tending the vineyards and producing wine, and it may have been this side of Dionysus that linked him to Serapis, the Ptolemaic god of agricultural abundance. Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony often appeared as Isis and Dionysus in pageants and festivals in Alexandria.


Antony, known for his wild living, adopted the title New Dionysus, along with several others, after his resounding victory over the Roman republican forces (led by Cassius and Brutus) in the Macedonian town of Philippi. Hailed as the New God of Wine, Dionysus Redivivus, Antony lived the part as he led his triumphal tour through Greece.

djed pillAr A symbol called the backbone of Osiris, the djed pillar represents stability. One of Egypt’s most ancient symbols, the djed's meaning is not fully understood. It has been suggested that originally the djed pillar was a standard or totem from which sheaves of grain were hung and that it was used in an early fertility rite. The djed pillar became synonymous with power and stability, and

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DjEhuty
might have looked like dog couldnot viewed as an incarnation of a god.

Donkey In mythology, the donkey sometimes represents the god of evil and chaos, Set.

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The djed pillar represents the backbone of Osiris, the god of the dead. Djed amulets represented stability. (Photo by Pat Remler)

Ptah, the god of Memphis, was sometimes called the “noble djed.” A ceremony called the “raising of the djed” took place in Memphis when the king himself elevated a djed column by means of ropes with the help of the priesthood. Later in the New Kingdom (1550–1069 b.c.), coffins were often decorated with the djed column to give the deceased stability. The later concept of the djed pillar is fully developed in the myth of Osiris. An early fertility god, Osiris represents the spirit of life. From the


god of fertility and renewal, he becomes the god of regeneration and life. He is a savior; he renews the deceased, and the djed pillar became the symbol of Osiris and stability. When the priests performed the rites of Osiris, one of the last ceremonies was the raising of a wooden djed pillar by the king or high priest to symbolize stability and Osiris’s triumph over death. Djed pillars were popular amulets for both the living and the dead.

Djehuty

See Thoth.

Dog Dogs and jackals were often confused in Egyptian mythology, and part of the confusion may have arisen because dogs and jackals interbreed. What

DoomeD prince, myth of the The story of the doomed prince is found in the Harris Papyrus, written in the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550–1295 b.c.) and nowin the British Museum. The papyrus tells the story of a prince of Egypt and his destiny, but, unfortunately, the papyrus is damaged and the end of the story is missing. The story goes as follows: Once there was a king who longed for a son and prayed fervently to the gods to grant his wish. The gods answered his prayers and a son was born to his wife. Hathor was summoned to decide the young prince’s destiny and pronounced: “His death shall be by the crocodile, or by the serpent, or by the dog.” Upon hearing the destiny of his son, the king was greatly troubled. To keep the prince safe from harm, he built a palace in the mountains and furnished it with everything that could


be desired so that his son would never wish to leave. One day the young prince climbed to the roof of his palace and, looking down, he saw a man walking along the road with a dog. The prince asked his companion, “What is that following the man on the road?” “That is a dog,” answered the companion, and the prince said, “Let there be brought to me one like it.” When the king was told of the prince’s request, he could not deny his son’s wish and sent a little dog to the prince. As the prince grew into manhood, he wanted to leave his palace. He sent a message to his father saying he wished to be free to go his own way: “Though I amfated to three evil fates, let me follow my desires.

DrEAMs

Let the gods fulfill their will.” The king, who could not deny his son, agreed, and the prince, armed with weapons of many kinds, set out with his dog. First he went north to the desert and lived by hunting game. Then he went to the chief of Naharaina, whose only child was a daughter. The chief had built a great house for her with 70 windows, each 70 cubits from the ground. He then summoned the sons of the chiefs of Khalu, saying, “He who climbs and reaches my daughter’s window shall win her for his wife.” When the prince met the sons of the chiefs of Khalu, he was treated with great kindness. They asked the prince


where he had come from, and he answered that he came from Egypt: “I am the son of an officer of the land. My mother died and my father has taken another wife, who, when she bore my father other children, grew to hate me. Therefore I have fled.” They felt sorry for him and embraced him and told the prince they had come to climb to the windows of the chief’s daughter’s house. The prince had seen the princess from afar when she stood at her window gazing out, and he was inspired to climb the high wall. When he reached the princess, she kissed him and embraced him and sent a message to her father that a suitor has reached her window. The chief was pleaseduntil he heard it was the fugitive from Egypt who had reached his daughter. He became angry and ordered that the prince return to Egypt. The messenger rushed to warn the prince, but the chief’s daughter refused to let her suitor go, saying, “. . . if he is taken from me, I will neither eat nor drink and in that hour I shall die!” Upon hearing of her vow, the chief sent someone to murder the prince. The princess responded, “By the great god Re, if he be slain, then I shall die ere the set of sun. If I am parted from him, then I will live no longer.” When the chief heard his daughter’s words, he relented. He gave his daughter and the prince a


fine house with servants and land and cattle and many fine gifts. After some days, the prince confided in his wife that he was “doomed to three fates: a crocodile, a serpent, and a dog.” She became afraid and wanted to have his dog killed, but he refused, having had the dog since he was a child. Eventually the time came when the prince wished to travel to Egypt, and his wife, fearing for his safety, went with him. During their travels they came to a town with a crocodile living in the river, but in that town was a strong and mighty man who captured the crocodile and bound it. When the crocodile was bound, the mighty man was at peace and walked abroad.

As the time passed,the prince and his wife were content, and as night fell, the prince slept easily. When her husband was sleeping, his wife poured milk into a bowl and placed it next to him. As she sat waiting, a serpent slipped from its hole and moved toward the prince as if to kill him. The servants of the house quickly poured milk for the serpent and it drank and became drunk and rolled on its back. Drawing her dagger, the wife stabbed the serpent many times, killing it. Awakened by the noise, the prince was astonished to see his wife with a dagger. She said to him, “Behold, thy god hath given one of thy dooms into thy hand. Surely he shall also give thee the others!” The prince


sacrificed to the gods of Egypt and praised them. One day when the prince was walking through his fields, his dog ran away, chasing wild game. The prince, following his dog, plunged into the river, and the crocodile appeared and carried the prince to a place where the mighty man lived. And the crocodile said to the prince, “Behold, I am thy destiny, following after thee.” It is here that the papyrus breaks off; we do not know the fate of the doomed prince.

Double crown The double crown worn by the king symbolized the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. It is a combination of the white crown (hedjet) of Upper Egypt, seen on one side of the Narmer Palette (c. 3000 b.c.), and the red crown (deshret)of Lower Egypt, seen on the other side. DreAmS The Egyptians believed that their dreams were sent by the gods as a means of telling the future. The frequency with which dreams are mentioned in the first two books of the Old Testament indicate just how important dreams were in the ancient world. In Genesis alone there are more than a dozen references to dreams, most of them prophetic. The Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers reveals much about ancient beliefs in prophetic dreams. Joseph was sold into slavery partly because he had dreams that foretold he would rule over his brothers (35:5–11). Later, when Joseph was in jail in Egypt with two of the pharaoh’s former officials, a cupbearer and a baker, they told him


that they had had dreams but that they could not understand them. Joseph correctly interpreted the dreams to mean that in three days the cupbearer would be released and the baker hanged. Joseph was released from prison when he was called upon to interpret the pharaoh’s dreams that the royal magicians had failed to decipher. In

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the first dream the pharaoh had seen seven fat cows devoured by seven lean cows. In the pharaoh’s second dream, seven meager ears swallowed seven full ears of corn. Joseph told the pharaoh the dreams meant that Egypt would have seven years of prosperity followed by seven years of famine; the people would have to plan accordingly in order to avoid mass starvation. Archaeological evidence also provides us with an account of theEgyptians' belief in prophetic dreams. The case of Thutmose IV (1400–1390 b.c.) is perhaps most famous. At the foot of the Great Sphinx is a stele that tells of a dream by the young prince who was to become Thutmose IV. The prince was hunting in the desert one day and stopped at noon for a nap, near where the Great Sphinx lay partially buried in the sand. The prince dreamed that the Sphinx told him if he cleared away the sand that covered it, the young prince would become pharaoh. He cleared the sand from the Sphinx, and he became pharaoh. The stele supports the impression given in Genesis and Exodus that the ancient Egyptians believed strongly in prophetic dreams. In the Joseph story, the pharaoh had


enough confidence in Joseph’s interpretation of his dreams to place him in charge of the country’s economic future for the next 14 years. An almost complete Dream Book from a hieratic papyrus in the British Museum gives some idea of how the ancient Egyptians interpreted dreams. The book is written on the recto side (front) of a papyrus, but some sections have been lost. The verso (back), the side with the horizontal fibers on top (and the side easier to write on), describes a battle and includes a copy of a letter to the vizier of Egypt. This side was undoubtedly written during the Nineteenth Dynasty (1295–1186 b.c.). Since the verso or back side is always written first, it is certain that the Dream Book was written later.vocalized ancient Egyptian. In the Coptic (Bohairic) version of the Bible, when the pharaoh calls for his dream interpreters, the word used for “interpreters” is seshperonch. This is probably a corruption of ø!LŒ, sesh-per-ankh—scribe of the House of Life. It was common practice for anyone seeking divine guidance to spend a night in the temple, where the priests, for a fee, would interpret the person’s dream. In fact, sleeping in a temple to obtain dream oracles was virtually required for any Greek tourist in Egypt, and the Temple of Seti at Abydos was a favorite dream spot. On the walls of the back staircase in the temple are names carved by tourists who slept there. The names are often only a foot or so above the steps, so


the dreams. It may have been that the list was compiled over years and the interpretations changed over time.

DuAmutef One of the four sons of Horus who guarded the internal organs of the mummy. Duamutef protected the stomach. Duamutef has the head of a jackal. DuAt
A place of darkness and home of terrifying demons, the Duat was a mythological location between the world of the living and the world of the dead. The Amduat, “The Book of That Which is in the Netherworld,” says the Duat is located deep in a

valley that separates Earth from the Netherworld. When Re the sun god sinks below the horizon at the end of each day to begin the 12-hour journey he is accompanied by souls of the deceased. Only those soulsfound to be pure after the Weighing of the Heart Ceremony are allowed to accompany the sun god on this perilous journey. At the end of the twelfth hour, after successfully battling and overpowering evil demons that menace the sun god at every hour, Re and the souls emerge safely into the welcoming realm of the sky goddess, Nut. Re appears on the horizon to begin a new day, and the souls prepare for resurrection in the Netherworld.

DwArf goDS See Bes.

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A Greek goddess of childbirth who was associated with Nekhbet, the vulture goddess of Upper Egypt, who was also a mother goddess. An early reference to this role is found in the Pyramid Texts, where the king’s mother is given the title “Great White Cow who Dwells


in Nekheb (home of Nekhbet) and Whose Breasts are Hanging.” Another reference to Nekhbet as protector and nurse to the king can be found in the mortuary temple of the Fifth Dynasty king, Sahure (2487–2475 b.c.).

eileithyiA

When the peasant approaches the high steward, Remsi, to beg for justice, his words are eloquent. He begins,
Oh high steward, my lord, Greatest of the great leaders of all! . . . . . . you are father to the orphan Husband to the widow Brother to the rejected woman . . .

elephAntine triAD The group of three gods worshipped in Aswan at Elephantine Island: Khnum, the ram god who created mankind on the potter’s wheel; Anukis, the goddess who was guardian of Egypt’s southern frontier; and Satis, their daughter, the goddess ofthe cataracts in Aswan. During some periods in Egyptian history, Satis was considered the wife or consort of Khnum. eloquent peASAnt, tAle of the
Inscribed on four Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 b.c.) papyri, the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant is a classic in ancient Egyptian literature. It is the story of Nemtynakht, the corrupt son of a local official who calls upon the gods to give him a “potent vision” so he can steal a peasant’s donkey and all the goods it carries, and the good peasant who seeks justice. As the peasant and his donkey approach, Nemtynakht places a length of linen across the narrow road so the fringe touches the water on one side and the hem touches the field of barley on the other side. Then he


shouts at the peasant not to ruin his “clothes.” As the donkey moves to avoid the linen, he comes close to the field and takes a mouthful of barley. Nemty-nakht shouts that he will seize the donkey and all the goods it carries in payment for its having eaten one mouthful of grain. He beats the peasant and sends him on his way.

He points out that the steward is like a father who looks after his family. So, to make amends, the steward gives the peasant 10 loaves of bread and two jugs of beer, but his donkey and goods are not restored to him. Over the course of time the peasant makes nine petitions to the authorities, each time pleading for the return of his donkey andGreek mythology, Homer describes the Elysian Fields or Elysium as an idyllic spot where the god Zeus experienced perfect pleasure. Later, in the writings of Vergil, the Elysian Fields were said to be found in the Underworld and home to the blessed dead. In the Egyptian Book of the Day, the Elysian Fields (Field of Reeds) are described as being the location of the House of Osiris and a region with canals and lakes.
enneAD A Greek term for the nine gods and goddesses that were the basis of one of ancient Egypt’s creation myths. The first creation myth came from Heliopolis and included the nine deities that sprang from the creator god Atum, who spontaneously arose from the watery abyss called Nun onto the primeval hill, the first


mound of Earth. Atum then produced Shu, goddess of air, and Tefnut, god of moisture. They in turn produced Geb, god of earth, and Nut, the sky goddess. Geb and Nut were the parents of Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys, who populated the land (see creation myths). Later enneads had a varying number of gods: Abydos has seven, and Karnak Temple has 15 deities in its ennead. epAgomenAl DAyS The birthdays of five important deities. When the Egyptians realized that their 360-day calendar was out of phase, they added five days at the end of the year to keep the seasons in step with nature. These were called the epagomenal days, and mythology tells us that the goddess Nut gave birth to each of her five children onto see the two Colossi of Memnon. It was believed that the statues spoke in the early morning, when the wind whistled through cracks in the stone. His trip was successful, for he reported that the statues spoke to him in seven oracle verses. He must have thought the verses important, for he never repeated what the oracle said to him (when the statues were later repaired, the sounds stopped, and they never “spoke” again). Returning north on the Nile, Eucrates met one of the sacred scribes of Memphis traveling on his boat. The scribe/magician said he had spent 23 years in the underground sanctuaries where Isis had taught him magic. Eucrates watched the magician work miracles along the Nile—he could ride crocodiles and command every creature in


the river. Eucrates was fascinated and asked if he could study with the magician. When they reached Memphis, Eucrates and his servants were invited to stay with the magician. Eucrates could see that the magician had no servants, but clearly he needed none. When there was a chore to be done, he would put clothes on a door bolt, a pestle (a pounder or grinder used to crush ingredients in a bowl), or a broom, recite a magic spell and the objects would come alive and do his bidding. When the chores were finished, the magician said another few words, and his servants returned to inanimate objects. Eucrates wanted to learn the trick, but the magician was secretive and would not tell him how it was done. Oneday when the magician was saying the spell over a pestle, Eucrates overheard him and memorized the magic word. (The story specified that the word had three syllables but does not give the word.) When the magician stepped out, Eucrates tested his new power by instructing the pestle to fetch water. After the pestle brought a vessel of water, Eucrates tried to stop him, but he had not learned the word to stop the magic. The pestle kept bringing water. In desperation, Eucrates cut the pestle in two, but then both halves took up vases and continued bringing water. Finally, just as the house was being flooded, the magician returned to restore order. This story is best known to us through Walt Disney’s Fantasia, where the sorcerer’s apprentice


is Mickey Mouse, the pestle is the broom, and the vase a bucket. But the story is basically the tale of the Egyptian magician. This tale demonstrates how much the Greeks believed in Egyptian magic.

EvIl, goD of
evil, goD of See Set. evil eye Because much of the natural world was not understood by ancient cultures, and Egypt was no exception, when something went wrong—someone’s fortune changed, he fell ill or died, or his crops failed, for example—it was often attributed to having the evil eye placed upon the person. It was believed that the evil eye was cast upon someone when an envious and evil person looked upon her. To ward off the evil eye, magicians inscribed spells on wooden plaques to help their clients and threatened terribleconsequences such as “may the possessor of the evil eye be cursed by Isis, blinded by Horus, and pierced by the arrows of Sekhmet.” One of the amulets used to protect against the evil eye was the cowrie shell, perhaps because it resembles an eye. Egyptian tomb paintings often show young women wearing belts of cowrie shells, and amulets in the shape of the cowrie were made from gold and silver. Another protection from the evil eye was a divine decree. When a child was born, a god or goddess might be implored by the family to declare the child’s fate, and a priest might write the prediction on papyrus and place it in an amulet holder that was strung on a cord and hung around the child’s


Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. (Photograph by Pat Remler)

fAlcon From Egypt’s most ancient history, the falcon, or hawk, has held a place of honor in Egyptian mythology. Soaring through the desert sky, the falcon was believed to be a protector of the king and a manifestation of the sun god Re. Hierakonpolis (hawk city) is the site of one of the earliest cult centers devoted to the falcon god, and many important discoveries have been made at this site. The Narmer Palette, an early historical document (c. 3100 b.c.) found at the site, shows the falcon as king, subjugating his enemies. Hawks have always been sacred in Egyptian religion. They represented the war gods Montu and Sokar, and the goddess Hathor was sometimes portrayed asa female falcon. The Greek historian Herodotus mentions in his Histories that the punishment for killing a falcon was death. In his role as protector of the king, the falcon is frequently shown with outstretched wings. An example of this can be seen on the Fourth Dynasty statue of

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The well-preserved Ptolemaic temple at Edfu is guarded by two monumental falcons carved from black granite. They protect the figure of the king.
(Photograph by Pat Remler)

to Thoth and the falcon sacred to Horus. Along the route to the galleries were stalls where pilgrims could purchase mummified birds, many of which had been raised for that purpose. After a pilgrim selected one, it was placed in a ceramic pot and sealed. Priests of the gallery would place it in


company in the next word, but many were raised to be sacrificed as offerings to the gods. When an Egyptian wished a favor from a god, he or she might leave an offering of a mummified animal in the god’s temple. The largest animal cemeteries in Egypt are the ibis and falcon galleries at Saqqara—miles of tunnels containing mummified birds. Carved into the walls of each tunnel are thousands of niches, each with a mummified bird inside a clay pot. When the priest ran out of niches, he stacked the pots on the floor. The ibis was sacred

fAmilieS of goDS (Triads) Gods in ancient Egypt often came in threes, and families of gods were called triads. These trinities of gods, consisting usually of a father, a mother, andtheir child, could be found in all of the important cult centers in Egypt. Huge temple complexes grew up around the cult centers, and the priests became very powerful and wealthy. The most important cult centers were the following:

triad Horus; his wife, Hathor; and their son Harsomtus (Harpakhered; Horus the child) Khnum; his wife, Anukis; and their daughter Satis Ptah; his wife, Sekhmet; and their son Nefertum Amun; his wife, Mut; and their son Khonsu

city Edfu

Elephantine Memphis Thebes

The Edfu Triad Edfu, located just south of Thebes, became an important cult center and home of the Edfu triad during the Ptolemaic dynasty (332–32 b.c.). Horus, the falcon god, was the principal deity, and inscriptions carved on the temple walls give a complete version of the mythical story of Horus

fAMIlIEs


of goDs
Dendera to Edfu, where the marriage of Horus and Hathor took place. Their son Harsomtus, Horus the younger, was through magic born simultaneously at the birth houses in Edfu and Dendera. Hathor is the cow-headed goddess of love and music, and Harsomtus was at the same time a human, a falcon, and a reincarnation of the dead king; one of his titles was “Son of the Earth.” The Elephantine Triad Elephantine Island is situated at Aswan. The cult center for the trinity of Khnum, Anukis, and Satis was in a town called Abdu (modern Syene). The principal god was Khnum, who wore a white crown with ram’s horns and a solar disk. Occasionally he was shown with a jug on his head, a symbol for “unite” or“build.” His name may originally have had an astronomical reference, uniting the sun and the moon. Khnum is a builder or maker of men. According to his priests, he made the first egg, which produced the sun. Khnum is also believed to have fashioned men on the potter’s wheel. His consort or wife, Anukis, was the goddess of the cataracts, the large boulders in the river at Aswan. Their daughter, Satis, was sometimes also shown as the consort or wife of Khnum; she was the goddess of the flood or inundation. The Memphis Triad Memphis, the capital of Egypt during the Old Kingdom (2686–2181 b.c.), was known for its strong fortifications. It was called the city of walls, and shrines to Ptah were sometimes called “his southern wall.”