Legends of the Gods Part 2

PLATE XVI.

The Stele recording the casting out of a devil from the Princess of Bekhten.

The hymn concludes with a reference to the accession of Horus, son of Isis, the flesh and bone of Osiris, to the throne of his grandfather Keb, and to the welcome which he received from the Tchatcha, or Administrators of heaven, and the Company of the G.o.ds, and the Lords of Truth, who a.s.sembled in the Great House of Heliopolis to acknowledge his sovereignty. His succession also received the approval of Neb-er- tcher, who, as we saw from the first legend in this book, was the Creator of the Universe.

VI.

A LEGEND OF KHENSU NEFER-HETEP[FN#31] AND THE PRINCESS OF BEKHTEN.

[FN#31] In the headlines of this section, p. 106 ff., for Ptah Nefer-hetep read Khensu Nefer-hetep.

The text of this legend is cut in hieroglyphics upon a sandstone stele, with a rounded top, which was found in the temple of Khensu at Thebes, and is now preserved in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris; it was discovered by Champollion, and removed to Paris by Prisse d'Avennes in 1846. The text was first published by Prisse d'Avennes,[FN#32] and it was first translated by Birch[FN#33] in 1853. The text was republished and translated into French by E. de Rouge in 1858,[FN#34] and several other renderings have been given in German and in English since that date.[FN#35] When the text was first published, and for some years afterwards, it was generally thought that the legend referred to events which were said to have taken place under a king who was identified as Rameses XIII., but this misconception was corrected by Erman, who showed[FN#36] that the king was in reality Rameses II. By a careful examination of the construction of the text he proved that the narrative on the stele was drawn up several hundreds of years after the events described in it took place, and that its author was but imperfectly acquainted with the form of the Egyptian language in use in the reign of Rameses II. In fact, the legend was written in the interests of the priests of the temple of Khensu, who wished to magnify their G.o.d and his power to cast out devils and to exorcise evil spirits; it was probably composed between B.C. 650 and B.C. 250.[FN#37]

[FN#32] Choix de Monuments Egyptiens, Paris, 1847, plate xxiv.

[FN#33] Transactions of the Royal Society of Literature, New Series, vol. iv., p. 217 ff.

[FN#34] Journal Asiatique (Etude sur une Stele Egyptienne), August, 1856, August, 1857, and August-Sept., 1858, Paris, 8vo, with plate.

[FN#35] Brugsch, Geschichte Aegyptens, 1877, p. 627 ff.; Birch, Records of the Past, Old Series, vol. iv., p. 53 ff.; Budge, Egyptian Reading Book, text and transliteration, p. 40 ff.; translation, p.

xxviii. ff.

[FN#36] Aeg. Zeit., 1883, pp. 54-60.

[FN#37] Maspero, Les Contes Populaires, 3rd edit., p. 166.

The legend, after enumerating the great names of Rameses II., goes on to state that the king was in the "country of the two rivers," by which we are to understand some portion of Mesopotamia, the rivers being the Tigris and Euphrates, and that the local chiefs were bringing to him tribute consisting of gold, lapis-lazuli, turquoise, and logs of wood from the Land of the G.o.d. It is difficult to understand how gold and logs of wood from Southern Arabia and East Africa came to be produced as tribute by chiefs who lived so far to the north. Among those who sent gifts was the Prince of Bekhten, and at the head of all his tribute he sent his eldest daughter, bearing his message of homage and duty. Now the maiden was beautiful, and the King of Egypt thought her so lovely that be took her to wife, and bestowed upon her the name "Ra- neferu," which means something like the "beauties of Ra." He took her back with him to Egypt, where she was installed as Queen.

During the summer of the fifteenth year of his reign, whilst Rameses II. was celebrating a festival of Amen-Ra in the Temple of Luxor, one came to him and reported that an envoy had arrived from the Prince of Bekhten, bearing with him many gifts for the Royal Wife Ra-neferu. When the envoy had been brought into the presence, he addressed words of homage to the king, and, having presented the gifts from his lord, he said that he had come to beg His Majesty to send a "learned man," i.e., a magician, to Bekhten to attend Bent-enth-resh, His Majesty's sister-in-law, who was stricken with some disease. Thereupon the king summoned the learned men of the House of Life, i.e., the members of the great College of Magic at Thebes, and the qenbetu officials, and when they had entered his presence, he commanded them to select a man of "wise heart and deft fingers" to go to Bekhten. The choice fell upon one Tehuti-em-heb, and His Majesty sent him to Bekhten with the envoy. When they arrived in Bekhten, Tehuti-em-heb found that the Princess Bent-enth-resh was possessed by an evil spirit which refused to be exorcised by him, and he was unable to cast out the devil. The Prince of Bekhten, seeing that the healing of his daughter was beyond the power of the Egyptian, sent a second envoy to Rameses II., and besought him to send a G.o.d to drive out the devil. This envoy arrived in Egypt in the summer of the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Rameses II., and found the king celebrating a festival in Thebes. When he heard the pet.i.tion of the envoy, he went to the Temple of Khensu Nefer-hetep "a second time,"[FN#38] and presented himself before the G.o.d and besought his help on behalf of his sister-in-law.

[FN#38] Thus the king must have invoked the help of Khensu on the occasion of the visit of the first envoy.

Then the priests of Khensu Nefer-hetep carried the statue of this G.o.d to the place where was the statue of Khensu surnamed "Pa-ari-sekher," i.e., the "Worker of destinies," who was able to repel the attacks of evil spirits and to drive them out. When the statues of the two G.o.ds were facing each other, Rameses II. entreated Khensu Nefer-hetep to "turn his face towards," i.e., to look favourably upon Khensu. Pa-ari- sekher, and to let him go to Bekhten to drive the devil out of the Princess of Bekhten. The text affords no explanation of the fact that Khensu Nefer-hetep was regarded as a greater G.o.d than Khensu Pa-ari- sekher, or why his permission had to be obtained before the latter could leave the country. It is probable that the demands made upon Khensu Nefer-hetep by the Egyptians who lived in Thebes and its neighbourhood were so numerous that it was impossible to let his statue go into outlying districts or foreign lands, and that a deputy-G.o.d was appointed to perform miracles outside Thebes. This arrangement would benefit the people, and would, moreover, bring much money to the priests. The appointment of a deputy-G.o.d is not so strange as it may seem, and modern African peoples are familiar with the expedient. About one hundred years ago the priests of the G.o.d Bobowissi of Winnebah, in the Ts.h.i.+ region of West Africa, found their business so large that it was absolutely necessary for them to appoint a deputy. The priests therefore selected Brahfo, i.e., "deputy," and gave out that Bobowissi had deputed all minor matters to him, and that his utterances were to be regarded as those of Bobowissi. Delegates were ordered to be sent to Winnebah in Ashanti, where they would be shown the "deputy" G.o.d by the priests, and afterwards he would be taken to Manka.s.sim, where he would reside, and do for the people all that Bobowissi had done hitherto.[FN#39]

[FN#39] Ellis, Ts.h.i.+-speaking Peoples, p. 55.

When Rameses II. had made his pet.i.tion to Khensu Nefer-hetep, the statue of the G.o.d bowed its head twice, in token of a.s.sent. Here it is clear that we have an example of the use of statues with movable limbs, which were worked, when occasion required, by the priests. The king then made a second pet.i.tion to the G.o.d to transfer his sa, or magical power, to Khensu Pa-ari-sekher so that when he had arrived in Bekhten he would be able to heal the Princess. Again the statue of Khensu Nefer-hetep bowed its head twice, and the pet.i.tion of the king was granted. The text goes on to say that the magical power of the greater G.o.d was transferred to the lesser G.o.d four times, or in a fourfold measure, but we are not told how this was effected. We know from many pa.s.sages in the texts that every G.o.d was believed to possess this magical power, which is called the "sa of life," or the "sa of the G.o.d,".[FN#40] This sa could be transferred by a G.o.d or G.o.ddess to a human being, either by an embrace or through some offering which was eaten. Thus Temu transferred the magical power of his life to Shu and Tefnut by embracing them,[FN#41] and in the Ritual of the Divine Cult[FN#42] the priest says, The two vessels of milk of Temu are the "sa of my limbs." The man who possessed this sa could transfer it to his friend by embracing him and then "making pa.s.ses" with his hands along his back. The sa could be received by a man from a G.o.d and then transmitted by him to a statue by taking it in his arms, and this ceremony was actually performed by the king in the Ritual of the Divine Cult.[FN#43] The primary source of this sa was Ra, who bestowed it without measure on the blessed dead,[FN#44] and caused them to live for ever thereby. These, facts make it tolerably certain that the magical power of Khensu Nefer-hetep was transferred to Khensu Pa-ari-sekher in one of two ways: either the statue of the latter was brought near to that of the former and it received the sa by contact, or the high priest first received the sa from the greater G.o.d and then transmitted it to the lesser G.o.d by embraces and "pa.s.ses" with his hands. Be this as it may, Khensu Pa-ari-sekher received the magical power, and having been placed in his boat, he set out for Bekhten, accompanied by five smaller boats, and chariots and horses which marched on each side of him.

[FN#40] Text of Unas, line 562.

[FN#41] Pyramid Texts, Pepi I., l. 466.

[FN#42] Ed. Moret, p. 21.

[FN#43] Ibid., p. 99.

[FN#44] Pepi I., line 666.

When after a journey of seventeen months Khensu Pa-ari-sekher arrived in Bekhten, he was cordially welcomed by the Prince, and, having gone to the place where the Princess who was possessed of a devil lived, he exercised his power to such purpose that she was healed immediately. Moreover, the devil which had been cast out admitted that Khensu Pa- ari-sekher was his master, and promised that he would depart to the place whence he came, provided that the Prince of Bekhten would celebrate a festival in his honour before his departure. Meanwhile the Prince and his soldiers stood by listening to the conversation between the G.o.d and the devil, and they were very much afraid. Following the instructions of Khensu Pa-ari-sekher the Prince made a great feast in honour of the supernatural visitors, and then the devil departed to the "place which he loved," and there was general rejoicing in the land. The Prince of Bekhten was so pleased with the Egyptian G.o.d that he determined not to allow him to return to Egypt. When the statue of Khensu Pa-ari-sekher had been in Bekhten for three years and nine months, the Prince in a vision saw the G.o.d, in the form of a golden hawk, come forth from his shrine, and fly up into the air and direct his course to Egypt. Realizing that the statue of the G.o.d was useless without its indwelling spirit, the Prince of Bekhten permitted the priests of Khensu Pa-ari-sekher to depart with it to Egypt, and dismissed them with gifts of all kinds. In due course they arrived in Egypt and the priests took their statue to the temple of Khensu Nefer-hetep, and handed over to that G.o.d all the gifts which the Prince of Bekhten had given them, keeping back nothing for their own G.o.d. After this Khensu Pa-ari-sekher returned to his temple in peace, in the thirty-third year of the reign of Rameses II., having been absent from it about eight years.

VII.

A LEGEND OF KHNEMU AND OF A SEVEN YEARS' FAMINE.

The text of this most interesting legend is found in hieroglyphics on one side of a large rounded block of granite some eight or nine feet high, which stands on the south-east portion of Sahal, a little island lying in the First Cataract, two or three miles to the south of Elephantine Island and the modern town of Aswan. The inscription is not cut into the rock in the ordinary way, but was "stunned" on it with a blunted chisel, and is, in some lights, quite invisible to anyone standing near the rock, unless he is aware of its existence. It is in full view of the river-path which leads from Mahallah to Philae, and yet it escaped the notice of scores of travellers who have searched the rocks and islands in the Cataract for graffiti and inscriptions. The inscription, which covers a s.p.a.ce six feet by five feet, was discovered accidentally on February 6th, 1889, by the late Mr. C. E. Wilbour, a distinguished American gentleman who spent many years in research in Egypt. He first copied the text, discovering in the course of his work the remarkable nature of its contents and then his friend Mr. Maudslay photographed it. The following year he sent prints from Mr. Maudslay's negatives to Dr. Brugsch, who in the course of 1891 published a transcript of the text with a German translation and notes in a work ent.i.tled Die biblischen sieben Jahre der Hungersnoth, Leipzig, 8vo.

The legend contained in this remarkable text describes a terrible famine which took place in the reign of Tcheser, a king of the IIIrd Dynasty, and lasted for seven years. Insufficient Nile-floods were, of course, the physical cause of the famine, but the legend shows that the "low Niles" were brought about by the neglect of the Egyptians in respect of the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.d of the First Cataract, the great G.o.d Khnemu. When, according to the legend, king Tcheser had been made to believe that the famine took place because men had ceased to wors.h.i.+p Khnemu in a manner appropriate to his greatness, and when he had taken steps to remove the ground of complaint, the Nile rose to its accustomed height, the crops became abundant once more, and all misery caused by scarcity of provisions ceased. In other words, when Tcheser restored the offerings of Khnemu, and re-endowed his sanctuary and his priesthood, the G.o.d allowed Hapi to pour forth his streams from the caverns in the Cataract, and to flood the land with abundance. The general character of the legend, as we have it here, makes it quite certain that it belongs to a late period, and the forms of the hieroglyphics and the spellings of the words indicate that the text was "stunned" on the rock in the reign of one of the Ptolemies, probably at a time when it was to the interest of some men to restore the wors.h.i.+p of Khnemu, G.o.d of the First Cataract. These interested people could only have been the priests of Khnemu, and the probability that this was so becomes almost a certainty when we read in the latter part of the text the list of the tolls and taxes which they were empowered to levy on the merchants, farmers, miners, etc., whose goods pa.s.sed down the Cataract into Egypt. Why, if this be the case, they should have chosen to connect the famine with the reign of Tcheser is not clear. They may have wished to prove the great antiquity of the wors.h.i.+p of Khnemu, but it would have been quite easy to select the name of some king of the Ist Dynasty, and had they done this, they would have made the authority of Khnemu over the Nile coaeval with Dynastic civilization. It is impossible to a.s.sume that no great famine took place in Egypt between the reign of Tcheser and the period when the inscription was made, and when we consider this fact the choice by the editor of the legend of a famine which took place under the IIIrd Dynasty to ill.u.s.trate the power of Khnemu seems inexplicable.

Of the famines which must have taken place in the Dynastic period the inscriptions tell us nothing, but the story of the seven years' famine mentioned in the Book of Genesis shows that there is nothing improbable in a famine lasting so long in Egypt. Arab historians also mention several famines which lasted for seven years. That which took place in the years 1066-1072 nearly ruined the whole country. A cake of bread was sold for 15 dinanir, (the dinar = 10s.), a horse was sold for 20, a dog for 5, a cat for 3, and an egg for 1 dinar. When all the animals were eaten men began to eat each other, and human flesh was sold in public. "Pa.s.sengers were caught in the streets by hooks let down from the windows, drawn up, killed, and cooked."[FN#45] During the famine which began in 1201 people ate human flesh habitually. Parents killed and cooked their own children, and a wife was found eating her husband raw. Baby frica.s.see and haggis of children's heads were ordinary articles of diet. The graves even were ransacked for food. An ox sold for 70 dinanir. [FN#46]

[FN#45] Lane Poole, Middle Ages, p. 146.

[FN#46] Ibid., p. 216.

The legend begins with the statement that in the 18th year of the reign of King Tcheser, when Matar, the Erpa Prince and Ha, was the Governor of the temple properties of the South and North, and was also the Director of the Khenti men at Elephantine (Aswan), a royal despatch was delivered to him, in which the king said: "I am in misery on my throne. My heart is very sore because of the calamity which hath happened, for the Nile hath not come forth[FN#47] for seven years. There is no grain, there are no vegetables, there is no food, and every man is robbing his neighbour. Men wish to walk, but they are unable to move; the young man drags along his limbs, the hearts of the aged are crushed with despair, their legs fail them, they sink to the ground, and they clutch their bodies with their hands in pain. The councillors are dumb, and nothing but wind comes out of the granaries when they are opened. Everything is in a state of ruin." A more graphic picture of the misery caused by the famine could hardly be imagined. The king then goes on to ask Matar where the Nile is born? what G.o.d or G.o.ddess presides over it? and what is his [or her] form? He says he would like to go to the temple of Thoth to enquire of that G.o.d, to go to the College of the Magicians, and search through the sacred books in order to find out these things.

[FN#47] i.e., there have been insufficient Nile-floods.

When Matar had read the despatch, he set out to go to the king, and explained to him the things which he wished to know. He told him that, the Nile rose near the city of Elephantine, that it flowed out of two caverns, which were the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of the Nile-G.o.d, that it rose to a height of twenty-eight cubits at Elephantine, and to the height of seven cubits at Sma-Behutet, or, Diospolis Parva in the Delta. He who controlled the Nile was Khnemu, and when this G.o.d drew the bolt of the doors which shut in the stream, and smote the earth with his sandals, the river rushed forth. Matar also described to the king the form of Khnemu, which was that of Shu, and the work which he did, and the wooden house in which he lived, and its exact position, which was near the famous granite quarries. The G.o.ds who dwelt with Khnemu were the G.o.ddess Sept (Sothis, or the Dog-star), the G.o.ddess Anqet, Hap (or Hep), the Nile-G.o.d, Shu, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Nephthys, and Horus. Thus we see that the priests of Khnemu made him to be the head of a Company of G.o.ds. Finally Matar gave the king a list of all the stones, precious and otherwise, which were found in and about Elephantine.

When the king, who had, it seems, come to Elephantine, heard these things he rejoiced greatly, and he went into the temple of Khnemu. The priests drew back the curtains and sprinkled him with holy water, and then he pa.s.sed into the shrine and offered up a great sacrifice of bread-cakes, beer, geese, oxen, and all kinds of good things, to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses who dwelt at Elephantine, in the place called "Couch of the heart in life and power." Suddenly he found himself standing face to face with the G.o.d Khnemu, whom he placated with a peace- offering and with prayer. Then the G.o.d opened his eyes, and bent his body towards the king, and spake to him mighty words, saying, "I am Khnemu, who made thee. My hands knitted together thy body and made it sound, and I gave thee thy heart." Khnemu then went on to complain that, although the ground under the king's feet was filled with stones and metal, men were too inert to work them and to employ them in repairing or rebuilding of the shrines of the G.o.ds, or in doing what they ought to do for him, their Lord and Creator. These words were, of course, meant as a rebuke for the king, who evidently, though it is not so stated in the text, was intended by Khnemu to undertake the rebuilding of his shrine without delay. The G.o.d then went on to proclaim his majesty and power, and declared himself to be Nu, the Celestial Ocean, and the Nile-G.o.d, "who came into being at the beginning, and riseth at his will to give health to him that laboureth for Khnemu." He described himself as the Father of the G.o.ds, the Governor of the earth and of men, and then he promised the king to make the Nile rise yearly, regularly, and unceasingly, to give abundant harvests, to give all people their heart's desire, to make misery to pa.s.s away, to fill the granaries, and to make the whole land of Egypt yellow with waving fields of full ripe grain. When the king, who had been in a dream, heard the G.o.d mention crops, he woke up, and his courage returned to him, and having cast away despair from his heart he issued a decree by which he made ample provision for the maintenance of the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.d in a fitting state. In this decree, the first copy of which was cut upon wood, the king endowed Khnemu with 20 schoinoi of land on each side of the river, with gardens, etc. It was further enacted that every man who drew water from the Nile for his land should contribute a portion of his crops to the G.o.d. Fishermen, fowlers, and hunters were to pay an octroi duty of one-tenth of the value of their catches when they brought them into the city, and a t.i.the of the cattle was to be set apart for the daily sacrifice. The masters of caravans coming from the Sudan were to pay a t.i.the also, but they were not liable to any further tax in the country northwards. Every metal-worker, ore-crusher, miner, mason, and handicraftsman of every kind, was to pay to the temple of the G.o.d one-tenth of the value of the material produced or worked by his labour. The decree provided also for the appointment of an inspector whose duty it would be to weigh the gold, silver and copper which came into the town of Elephantine, and to a.s.sess the value both of these metals and of the precious stones, etc., which were to be devoted to the service of Khnemu. All materials employed in making the images of the G.o.ds, and all handicraftsmen employed in the work were exempted from t.i.thing. In short, the wors.h.i.+p of the G.o.d and his company was to be maintained according to ancient use and wont, and the people were to supply the temple with everything necessary in a generous spirit and with a liberal hand. He who failed in any way to comply with the enactments was to be beaten with the rope, and the name of Tcheser was to be perpetuated in the temple.

VIII.

THE LEGEND OF THE DEATH AND RESURRECTION OF HORUS, AND OTHER MAGICAL TEXTS.

The magical and religious texts of the Egyptians of all periods contain spells intended to be used against serpents, scorpions, and noxious reptiles of all kinds, and their number, and the importance which was attached to them, suggest that Egypt must always have produced these pests in abundance, and that the Egyptians were always horribly afraid of them. The text of Unas, which was written towards the close of the Vth Dynasty, contains many such spells, and in the Theban and Saite Books of the Dead several Chapters consist of nothing but spells and incantations, many of which are based on archaic texts, against crocodiles, serpents, and other deadly reptiles, and insects of all kinds. All such creatures were regarded as incarnations of evil spirits, which attack the dead as well as the living, and therefore it was necessary for the well-being of the former that copies of spells against them should be written upon the walls of tombs, coffins, funerary amulets, etc. The G.o.ds were just as open to the attacks of venomous reptiles as man, and Ra, himself, the king of the G.o.ds, nearly died from the poison of a snake-bite. Now the G.o.ds were, as a rule, able to defend themselves against the attacks of Set and his fiends, and the poisonous snakes and insects which were their emissaries, by virtue of the fluid of life, which was the peculiar attribute of divinity, and the efforts of Egyptians were directed to the acquisition of a portion of this magical power, which would protect their souls and bodies and their houses and cattle, and other property, each day and each night throughout the year. When a man cared for the protection of himself only he wore an amulet of some kind, in which the fluid of life was localized. When he wished to protect his house against invasion by venomous reptiles he placed statues containing the fluid of life in niches in the walls of various chambers, or in some place outside but near the house, or buried them in the earth with their faces turned in the direction from which he expected the attack to come.

PLATE XVII.

The Metternich Stele-Obverse.

PLATE XVIII.

The Metternich Stele-Reverse.

Towards the close of the XXVIth Dynasty, when superst.i.tion in its most exaggerated form was general in Egypt, it became the custom to make house talismans in the form of small stone stelae, with rounded tops, which rested on bases having convex fronts. On the front of such a talisman was sculptured in relief a figure of Horus the Child (Harpokrates), standing on two crocodiles, holding in his hands figures of serpents, scorpions, a lion, and a horned animal, each of these being a symbol of an emissary or ally of Set, the G.o.d of Evil. Above his head was the head of Bes, and on each side of him were: solar symbols, i.e., the lily of Nefer-Tem, figures of Ra and Harmakhis, the Eyes of Ra (the Sun and Moon), etc. The reverse of the stele and the whole of the base were covered with magical texts and spells, and when a talisman of this kind was placed in a house, it was supposed to be directly under the protection of Horus and his companion G.o.ds, who had vanquished all the hosts of darkness and all the powers of physical and moral evil. Many examples of this talisman are to be seen in the great Museums of Europe, and there are several fine specimens in the Third Egyptian Room in the British Museum. They are usually called "Cippi of Horus." The largest and most important of all these "cippi" is that which is commonly known as the "Metternich Stele," because it was given to Prince Metternich by Muhammad `Ali Pasha; it was dug up in 1828 during the building of a cistern in a Franciscan Monastery in Alexandria, and was first published, with a translation of a large part of the text, by Professor Golenischeff.[FN#48] The importance of the stele is enhanced by the fact that it mentions the name of the king in whose reign it was made, viz., Nectanebus I., who reigned from B.C. 378 to B.C. 360.

[FN#48] See Metternichstele, Leipzig, 1877. The Stele was made for Ankh-Psemthek, son of the lady Tent-Het-nub, prophet of Nebun, overseer of Temt and scribe of Het (see line 87).

The obverse, reverse, and two sides of the Metternich Stele have cut upon them nearly three hundred figures of G.o.ds and celestial beings. These include figures of the great G.o.ds of heaven, earth, and the Other World, figures of the G.o.ds of the planets and the Dekans, figures of the G.o.ds of the days of the week, of the weeks, and months, and seasons of the year, and of the year. Besides these there are a number of figures of local forms of the G.o.ds which it is difficult to identify. On the rounded portion of the obverse the place of honour is held by the solar disk, in which is seen a figure of Khnemu with four ram's heads, which rests between a pair of arms, and is supported on a lake of celestial water; on each side of it are four of the spirits of the dawn, and on the right stands the symbol of the rising sun, Nefer-Temu, and on the left stands Thoth. Below this are five rows of small figures of G.o.ds. Below these is Harpokrates in relief, in the att.i.tude already described. He stands on two crocodiles under a kind of canopy, the sides of which are supported by Thoth and Isis, and holds Typhonic animals and reptiles. Above the canopy are the two Eyes of Ra, each having a pair of human arms and hands. On the right of Harpokrates are Seker and Horus, and on his left the symbol of Nefer-Temu. On the left and right are the G.o.ddesses Nekhebet and Uatchet, who guard the South of Egypt and the North respectively. On the reverse and sides are numerous small figures of G.o.ds. This stele represented the power to protect man possessed by all the divine beings in the universe, and, however it was placed, it formed an impa.s.sable barrier to every spirit of evil and to every venomous reptile. The spells, which are cut in hieroglyphics on all the parts of the stele not occupied by figures of G.o.ds, were of the most potent character, for they contained the actual words by which the G.o.ds vanquished the powers of darkness and evil. These spells form the texts which are printed on p. 142 ff., and may be thus summarized:-

The first spell is an incantation directed against reptiles and noxious creatures in general. The chief of these was Apep, the great enemy of Ra, who took the form of a huge serpent that "resembled the intestines," and the spell doomed him to decapitation, and burning and backing in pieces. These things would be effected by Serqet, the Scorpion-G.o.ddess. The second part of the spell was directed against the poison of Apep, and was to be recited over anyone who was bitten by a snake. When uttered by Horus it made Apep to vomit, and when used by a magician properly qualified would make the bitten person to vomit, and so free his body from the poison.

The next spell is directed to be said to the Cat, i.e., a symbol of the daughter of Ra, or Isis, who had the head of Ra, the eyes of the uraeus, the nose of Thoth, the ears of Neb-er-tcher, the mouth of Tem, the neck of Neheb-ka, the breast of Thoth, the heart of Ra, the hands of the G.o.ds, the belly of Osiris, the thighs of Menthu, the legs of Khensu, the feet of Amen-Horus, the haunches of Horus, the soles of the feet of Ra, and the bowels of Meh-urit. Every member of the Cat contained a G.o.d or G.o.ddess, and she was able to destroy the poison of any serpent, or scorpion, or reptile, which might be injected into her body. The spell opens with an address to Ra, who is entreated to come to his daughter, who has been stung by a scorpion on a lonely road, and to cause the poison to leave her body. Thus it seems as if Isis, the great magician, was at some time stung by a scorpion.

The next section is very difficult to understand. Ra-Harmakhis is called upon to come to his daughter, and Shu to his wife, and Isis to her sister, who has been poisoned. Then the Aged One, i.e., Ra, is asked to let Thoth turn back Neha-her, or Set. "Osiris is in the water, but Horus is with him, and the Great Beetle overshadows him," and every evil spirit which dwells in the water is adjured to allow Horus to proceed to Osiris. Ra, Sekhet, Thoth, and Heka, this last- named being the spell personified, are the four great G.o.ds who protect Osiris, and who will blind and choke his enemies, and cut out their tongues. The cry of the Cat is again referred to, and Ra is asked if he does not remember the cry which came from the bank of Net.i.t. The allusion here is to the cries which Isis uttered when she arrived at Net.i.t near Abydos, and found lying there the dead body of her husband.

At this point on the Stele the spells are interrupted by a long narrative put into the mouth of Isis, which supplies us with some account of the troubles that she suffered, and describes the death of Horus through the sting of a scorpion. Isis, it seems, was shut up in some dwelling by Set after he murdered Osiris, probably with the intention of forcing her to marry him, and so a.s.sist him to legalize his seizure of the kingdom. Isis, as we have already seen, had been made pregnant by her husband after his death, and Thoth now appeared to her, and advised her to hide herself with her unborn child, and to bring him forth in secret, and he promised her that her son should succeed in due course to his father's throne. With the help of Thoth she escaped from her captivity, and went forth accompanied by the Seven Scorpion-G.o.ddesses, who brought her to the town of Per-Sui, on the edge of the Reed Swamps. She applied to a woman for a night's shelter, but the woman shut her door in her face. To punish her one of the Scorpion-G.o.ddesses forced her way into the woman's house, and stung her child to death. The grief of the woman was so bitter and sympathy- compelling that Isis laid her hands on the child, and, having uttered one of her most potent spells over him, the poison of the scorpion ran out of his body, and the child came to life again. The words of the spell are cut on the Stele, and they were treasured by the Egyptians as an infallible remedy for scorpion stings. When the woman saw that her son had been brought back to life by Isis, she was filled with joy and grat.i.tude, and, as a mark of her repentance, she brought large quant.i.ties of things from her house as gifts for Isis, and they were so many that they filled the house of the kind, but poor, woman who had given Isis shelter.

Now soon after Isis had restored to life the son of the woman who had shown churlishness to her, a terrible calamity fell upon her, for her beloved son Horus was stung by a scorpion and died. The news of this event was conveyed to her by the G.o.ds, who cried out to her to come to see her son Horus, whom the terrible scorpion Uhat had killed. Isis, stabbed with pain at the news, as if a knife had been driven into her body, ran out distraught with grief. It seems that she had gone to perform a religious ceremony in honour of Osiris in a temple near Hetep-hemt, leaving her child carefully concealed in Sekhet-An. During her absence the scorpion Uhat, which had been sent by Set, forced its way into the biding-place of Horus, and there stung him to death. When Isis came and found the dead body, she burst forth in lamentations, the sound of which brought all the people from the neighbouring districts to her side. As she related to them the history of her sufferings they endeavoured to console her, and when they found this to be impossible they lifted up their voices and wept with her. Then Isis placed her nose in the mouth of Horus so that she might discover if he still breathed, but there was no breath in his throat; and when she examined the wound in his body made by the fiend Aun-Ab she saw in it traces of poison. No doubt about his death then remained in her mind, and clasping him in her arms she lifted him up, and in her transports of grief leaped about like fish when they are laid on red-hot coals. Then she uttered a series of heartbreaking laments, each of which begins with the words "Horus is bitten." The heir of heaven, the son of Un- Nefer, the child of the G.o.ds, he who was wholly fair, is bitten! He for whose wants I provided, he who was to avenge his father, is bitten! He for whom I cared and suffered when he was being fas.h.i.+oned in my womb, is bitten! He whom I tended so that I might gaze upon him, is bitten! He whose life I prayed for is bitten! Calamity hath overtaken the child, and he hath perished.

Whilst Isis was saying these and many similar words, her sister Nephthys, who had been weeping bitterly for her nephew Horus as she wandered about among the swamps, came, in company with the Scorpion- G.o.ddess Serqet, and advised Isis to pray to heaven for help. Pray that the sailors in the Boat of Ra may cease from rowing, for the Boat cannot travel onwards whilst Horus lies dead. Then Isis cried out to heaven, and her voice reached the Boat of Millions of Years, and the Disk ceased to move onward, and came to a standstill. From the Boat Thoth descended, being equipped with words of power and spells of all kinds, and bearing with him the "great command of maa-kheru," i.e., the WORD, whose commands were performed, instantly and completely, by every G.o.d, spirit, fiend, human being and by every thing, animate and inanimate, in heaven, earth, and the Other World. Then he came to Isis and told her that no harm could possibly have happened to Horus, for he was under the protection of the Boat of Ra; but his words failed to comfort Isis, and though she acknowledged the greatness of his designs, she complained that they savoured of delay. "What is the good," she asks, "of all thy spells, and incantations, and magical formulae, and the great command of maa-kheru, if Horus is to perish by the poison of a scorpion, and to lie here in the arms of Death? Evil, evil is his destiny, for it hath entailed the deepest misery for him and death."

In answer to these words Thoth, turning to Isis and Nephthys, bade them to fear not, and to have no anxiety about Horus, "For," said he, "I have come from heaven to heal the child for his mother." He then pointed out that Horus was under protection as the Dweller in his Disk (Aten), the Great Dwarf, the Mighty Ram, the Great Hawk, the Holy Beetle, the Hidden Body, the Divine Bennu, etc., and proceeded to utter the great spell which restored Horus to life. By his words of power Thoth transferred the fluid of life of Ra, and as soon as this came upon the child's body the poison of the scorpion flowed out of him, and he once more breathed and lived. When this was done Thoth returned to the Boat of Ra, the G.o.ds who formed its crew resumed their rowing, and the Disk pa.s.sed on its way to make its daily journey across the sky. The G.o.ds in heaven, who were amazed and uttered cries of terror when they heard of the death of Horus, were made happy once more, and sang songs of joy over his recovery. The happiness of Isis in her child's restoration to life was very great, for she could again hope that he would avenge his father's murder, and occupy his throne. The final words of Thoth comforted her greatly, for he told her that he would take charge of the case of Horus in the Judgment Hall of Anu, wherein Osiris had been judged, and that as his advocate he would make any accusations which might be brought against Horus to recoil on him that brought them. Furthermore, he would give Horus power to repulse any attacks which might be made upon him by beings in the heights above, or fiends in the depths below, and would ensure his succession to the Throne of the Two Lands, i.e., Egypt. Thoth also promised Isis that Ra himself should act as the advocate of Horus, even as he had done for his father Osiris. He was also careful to allude to the share which Isis had taken in the restoration of Horus to life, saying, "It is the words of power of his mother which have lifted up his face, and they shall enable him to journey wheresoever he pleaseth, and to put fear into the powers above. I myself hasten [to obey them]." Thus everything turned on the power of the spells of Isis, who made the sun to stand still, and caused the dead to be raised.

Such are the contents of the texts on the famous Metternich Stele. There appears to be some confusion in their arrangement, and some of them clearly are misplaced, and, in places, the text is manifestly corrupt. It is impossible to explain several pa.s.sages, for we do not understand all the details of the system of magic which they represent. Still, the general meaning of the texts on the Stele is quite clear, and they record a legend of Isis and Horus which is not found so fully described on any other monument.