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Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 9, A Day in Old Memphis

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER IX

A Day in Old Memphis

In the Streets--The Temple of Ptah--Glimpses of Life--A Dispute--Old Age is honoured--A Dignified Nobleman--High--born Ladies--Racial Types--Bearers of Temple Offerings--In the Slums--Artisans at Work--The Marketplace--Fresh Fish on Sale--On the Quays--Sailors from Crete--Pharaoh's Soldiers--Arrest of the Tax Collectors--A Significant Folk Tale--The Wronged Peasant--His Appeal to the judge--Eloquent Speeches--Honoured by His Majesty.

As we gaze upon the scenes depicted in tombs, read the inscriptions, and piece together fragments of papyri containing old legends, we are afforded vivid glimpses of life in the Old Kingdom. The great city of Memphis is conjured up before us; its gates lie open, and armed guards permit us to enter. We walk through the crowded streets, pausing now and again to gaze upon the people as they come and go, or, perchance, we loiter in front of a yard or workshop, watching the busy artisans plying their trades.

We pass through a main thoroughfare. Most of the houses are built of brick; the dwellings of the poor are of wattles daubed with clay. . . . Now we enter a spacious square, in the centre of which towers a sublime statue of the Pharaoh. The sun is hot, although it is yet early forenoon, and we seek the shadow of that vast dominating building round which the city has grown up. It is the stone temple of the god Ptah, grandly severe in outline and fronted by two noble pylons of massive proportions. We peer through the gateway as we pass. A procession of priests is crossing an inner court on which lie the broad shadows of great square pillars set widely apart, and supporting immense blocks of limestone. One is impressed by the air of mystery and solemnity which pervades the temple interior.

We can seat ourselves here on the stone bench and watch the crowds pouring from the streets. Memphis is a wonderfully quiet city. You hear a constant hum of voices; it murmurs like a great beehive. But there is no clatter of traffic, for the streets are devoid of vehicles, and horses are as yet unknown in the land of Egypt. Peasants from the country are leading their asses laden with salt, corded bales, rushes for basket makers, bundles of papyrus stalks, and hard stones. Great burdens are carried on the shoulders of labourers; even boys stagger under heavy loads.

Everyone is scantily clad. Men of the lower classes wear only a loincloth, while those of higher social rank have short kilts of linen which are strapped round their waists with leather belts. Women of all ranks are gowned to the ankles, and ladies have skirts so narrow that they walk with short steps, but yet not ungracefully.

Half-naked the men may be, yet it is not difficult to distinguish the various classes. There is no mistaking the labourer, even although his burden has been delivered, or the tradesman, for he carries his tools. Here is a busy merchant knitting his brows, and there a bland-faced scribe with dry, pouting lips and peering eyes set in cobwebs of wrinkles. A few merry students are walking leisurely towards the temple with papyrus rolls under their arms.

A loud clamour of voices in dispute has broken out at a street corner. Two carriers have collided, and the one who has fallen is an Egyptian; the other is a tall negro. The smaller man leaps to his feet. Insult has been added to injury, for the alien is but. a slave, and, fuming with anger, he throws himself on the black man, who is hampered by his load, and belabours him with his fists. A crowd collects, and its sympathy is evidently with the Egyptian. But suddenly a few city guards rush forward; they smite the combatants with their staves, force them apart, and cause them to hasten away. The crowd disperses speedily, and order is again restored.

Note the studied politeness of the greater number of pedestrians. Age is highly honoured, young men stand aside to allow their seniors to pass; three lads have risen from a shaded seat near to us to make room for an old man who is frail and breathless and desires to rest a little ere he enters the temple.

Now the moving crowd breaks apart, for somebody of importance is coming up the street. He is a nobleman and a royal official of high rank. In. the Court he is "Keeper of the Royal Robes" and "Sandal-bearer to the Pharaoh". He is also one of those great judges who sit in the Hall of justice. In his youth he was a college friend of the monarch's, and is now privileged at Court ceremonies to kiss the royal toe instead of the dust on which it trod. He owns a large estate, and has much wealth and influence. As he walks past, the pedestrians salute him respectfully with uplifted arms. He makes no response; he appears to be oblivious to their presence. Mark his imperious air and lordly gait. . . . His kilt is finely embroidered; the upper part of his body is bare; on his head he wears a great stiff wig which falls down behind over his shoulders, protecting his neck from the hot sun. He is square-chested and muscular; he walks erect, with tilted chin. His face is drawn and severe; he has firmly set, drooping lips, and his eyes are stern and proud. He is obviously a man accustomed to command and to be obeyed. . . . A servant shuffles after him carrying his sandals and water bottle.

He has just acknowledged with a curt bow the profound obeisance of that rich merchant. But now he meets an equal in the middle of the square--Imhotep, Chief Architect to the King. Ere they speak they both bow gravely, bending their backs, with hands reaching to their knees. Then they converse for a few moments, salute one another again, and turn gravely away.

Some high-born ladies have gathered in the shade. Two carry bunches of lotus flowers, and the others smell them with appreciation. Their faces are refined and vivacious, and one is "black but comely", for she is a Nubian by birth. How they chatter as they flicker their broad fans! Their white gowns are elaborately embroidered in colours, and they all wear sandals, for the builders have left much grit in the streets. Their wigs are drawn low on their foreheads, round which they are clasped by graven bands of silver and gold. Gems sparkle in their necklaces, which are of elaborate design, and one or two wear their wigs set well back to display heavy car-rings, which are becoming fashionable. A handsome girl is wearing a broad gold armlet which came from Crete. The others examine it with interest, and when they break into laughter, displaying gleaming white teeth, the girl looks sideways in confusion, for they tease her about her far-travelled lover who gifted her that rare ornament. Now they saunter in pairs across the square; they are going down to the quays to sail on the Nile.

There is a variety of racial types about us. The southern Egyptians are almost black, those from the centre of the kingdom are brown, and the Delta people have yellow skins. That bearded man who has just gone past is a Semite from Arabia; and here comes a soft-featured Syrian, walking with an oblique-eyed Sumerian from Babylonia. These tall negroes are Nubian mercenaries, who were taken captive in a frontier war. Of late the stone builders have been purchasing them in large numbers, for they have great muscular strength and make excellent labourers.

There is no mistaking the awkward, wide-eyed peasant who came to the market with salt, and is now surveying the great city of wonderful buildings and endless streets.

That red-haired man who is hurrying past is an Amorite; he came south to barter rugs for corn. He looks behind with an ugly scowl-a carrier has shouted something after him, because an Egyptian peasant dislikes a man who reminds him of red-haired Set, the slayer of Osiris.

Now here comes a handsome stranger who is exciting much interest. Men and women turn round to look after him. Children regard him with wonder. Not only is he taller than the majority of Memphites, but he is distinguished by his lightly coloured hair and his strange blue eyes. Some would fain know if his cheeks are a natural red or smeared with face paint. No one doubts whence he came. He is one of the fair Libyans, and he is evidently a man of some importance, for even royal officials acknowledge his salutations.

Ere we turn away, let us watch that little procession of young peasants walking past. They are bearers of offerings, and are going to the temple. One lad has shouldered a live calf, another brings a bundle of papyrus stalks, and a third has a basket of flour upon his head. The girls carry bunches of flowers, doves in pairs, and tame pelicans. One or two calves are led by boys. Little notice is taken of the peasants. Processions of similar character are seen daily in Memphis.

We had better cross over quickly, for here comes a great herd of unwilling goats driven by shouting peasants who wield their staves rather freely, nor care whether they miss a goat and strike a pedestrian. The city guards are watching them with interest, for they know their men.

Now turn down this narrow twisting street. Houses are lower here, and some are built with brick, but most of them are constructed of clay-plastered wickerwork. Why not enter this little dwelling? The door lies open, and there is nobody within. Man and wife labour in a potter's yard. The furniture consists of one or two tough stools, a low bed over which hangs a gnat-protecting net, and here and there are a few jars and pots of coarse pottery. Within the window lattice a bunch of lotus leaves is drying in the sun; a cut of salted fish hangs on the wall; a flint knife lies on the floor. The house is used mainly as a sleeping apartment, and if there is a baby it is near the mother in the potter's yard.

Outside, a few children are playing a curious game, which appears to be an imitation of a temple ceremony. Wives of artisans sit gossiping in the shade of a brick building; some are sewing, and others are cutting vegetables which they have brought from the market. Two girls go past with water pots on their heads.

We have glimpses, as they walk on, of long narrow lanes of small and low-roofed houses. There is evidently much congestion in the poorer quarters of the city. Look through that open door and you will see an industrious family. A widow and her three daughters are spinning and weaving fine linen, which might well be mistaken for silk.

Here is a brickyard. Labourers are mixing the clay; others shape the bricks with a binding of straw and lay them out to dry. Carriers come for those which are ready, and take heavy loads in two slings suspended from poles which they lift upon their shoulders. An overseer hastens them on, for the builders cannot be kept waiting.

Farther on is a stoneworker's yard. Under an awning squat several skilled artisans who are engaged making vessels of alabaster and porphyry. The process is slow and arduous. One has shaped and polished a handsome jar with fluted lip and narrow neck, and is hollowing it out with a copper-tipped drill which is fed with ground emery. He pauses for a moment to wipe the perspiration from his forehead. and remarks to a fellow: "This is certainly a handsome vessel." The other looks up and surveys it critically. "It is your masterpiece," he remarks, with a smile, and then goes on drilling a large shallow milk bowl.

Two men are cutting a block of porphyry with a copper saw, while an apprentice supplies the emery, and relieves now one and then the other. See how skilfully those labourers are levering a granite boulder into position; it is mounted on a rounded wooden cradle, and slewed this way and that. A lad is gathering wedges with which to raise it up. One or two naked boys, squatted in a shady corner, are watching the proceedings with interest. They are going to saw stone too, when they grow strong.

We enter another street and our ears are assailed by the clamour of metal workers. It is a noisy quarter. Bang, bang, go the hammers on a large sheet of copper. One would be deafened if he stayed here long. Passersby twitch their eyes and foreheads and hurry on. Look at these naked men kneeling round the blazing furnace, puffing their cheeks and blowing through long pipes. No Egyptian inventor has yet contrived a mechanical bellows. Now the glowing metal is pulled from the furnace, and a dozen exhausted workers rise, with their blowpipes in their hands, coughing and rubbing their eyes, to wait until the hammermen require them again.

Here are goldsmiths at work. A man is weighing precious metal in a balance, and a scribe sits in front of him making careful records on a sheet of papyrus. Near by are men with clever fingers and keen eyes, who engrave and pierce little pieces of gold and silver, shape ear-rings and necklaces, and hammer out sheets of gold which are to be inscribed with hieroglyphics. An overseer moves to and fro from bench to bench and artisan to artisan, surveying everything that is being done with critical eyes.

So we pass from street to street, here watching potters at work, there sculptors and carvers of wood and ivory, and anon the sandal makers and those deft leather cutters who provide gentlemen with slitted network to suspend on the back of their kilts for sitting upon.

Now we reach the principal marketplace. The scene is animated and intensely human. Merchants are squatted beside their stalls, some drowsing in the heat while they await purchasers, and others gesticulating excitedly at bargain making. There is a good deal of wrangling, and voices are often raised in dispute, while friends gather in knots and chatter and laugh or engage in lively argument. Some make purchases with ring money, but the majority engage in barter. Here a merchant has displayed a fine collection of vases and bowls. A lady surveys his wares critically and shakes her head over the prices he demands; but he waits patiently, for he knows she is tempted to purchase and notes that she always returns to a particular porphyry jar of exquisite design.

A woman of the working class leans over a basket of fish, and doubts if they are quite fresh. The vendor lifts one, presses it with his fingers, and smiles to her. "Caught this morning," he says. She decides to have it for her husband's dinner, and gives in exchange a piece of red pottery. Another woman barters a small carved box for ointment and perfume, while a man gives a fan for a bundle of onions.

A steward from a nobleman's house passes from stall to stall, accompanied by two servants, making numerous purchases, because several guests of note are coming to the evening meal. He is welcomed, although a hard bargainer, for he pays with money.

We catch, as we turn away, a soothing glimpse of the broad blue river, and turn towards it, for the streets are dusty and hot, and we know the air is cooler beside the quays. We cross an open space in which are piled up the cargoes of unloaded boats. Here come half a dozen foreign sailors who are going sightseeing. They also intend to make private purchases for their friends at home. You can tell by their pants and characteristic "wasp waists" that they are Cretans. They are short of stature and slim and have sharp features like the Delta coast dwellers, and their movements are active. Their dark hair is pleated in three long coils which fall over their shoulders, and they affect small coloured turbans. They all wear armlets, which are greatly favoured in the distant island kingdom.

A company of Pharaoh's soldiers are marching towards the great limestone fortress. They are naked, save for their loincloths, and about half of them are archers; the others are armed with long spears and carry wooden shields, square at the bottom and arching to a point at the top.



A SEATED SCRIBE

From the limestone statue in the Louvre, Paris



AN OLD KINGDOM OFFICIAL

The name "Sheikh-el Beled" (village chief) was given to the statue by the Arabs on account of its resemblance to a familiar specimen of that modern functionary

From the wooden statue in the Cairo Museum

They go past with a fine swing, although they have been drilling all forenoon on an open space two miles southward of the city.

Yonder are boatbuilders at work. The Cretan traders have brought them a fresh supply of seasoned timber as well as a raft of drifted logs from Lebanon. Wood is scarce and dear in Egypt, and watchmen are on duty in the yard day and night.

Three commodious river boats are being constructed. The work is well advanced, for the carpenters are fitting in the benches, which are being pierced and prepared for jointing on trestles by men who sit astride them. The artisans are skilled and active, and the overseers who direct operations are easily recognized; they carry long staffs in their right hands and constantly urge on the men.

But what is happening yonder in front of the Government buildings? A large crowd has assembled, and the jeers and roars of laughter indicate that something of amusing character is in progress. We press forward to find that the city guards have made several arrests, and are hauling their protesting prisoners through the doorway. The spectators are delighted to see "the tables turned", for these are their oppressors--the tax collectors--who are being taken before the Pharaoh's accountants so that their accounts may be audited. There have been several complaints of late of extortionate dealings and dishonest transactions. In a large hall within we see the stern auditors kneeling at their low desks, on which are piled the official records. Scribes record the proceedings. Each arrested man crouches on his knees, and is held firmly by a guard while he is sharply questioned and his accounts are checked. All his private papers have been seized; he must explain every entry and prove that he is a man above suspicion. It is a rough-and-ready, but effective, manner of doing business. Punishments for dishonesty or oppression are sharp and peremptory.

The Pharaoh is the protector of all his subjects great and small. A poor man may suffer a great wrong and find himself unable to have it righted even in the Hall of justice; but if the great monarch is appealed to, he will prove to be no respecter of persons, and visit the wrongdoer with punishment of great severity.

A tale has come down the ages which was often related in the dwellings of poor and great alike, to show how Pharaoh might espouse the cause of the humblest man in the kingdom. Scribes recorded it on papyri, and fragments of these still survive.

Once upon a time a peasant had his dwelling in the Fayum, and it was his custom to load his ass with nitre and reeds, salt and stones, and seeds and bundles of wood, and drive it to a town in the south, where in the marketplace he exchanged what he had brought for other things that he and his family required. He began to be prosperous.

One day, when it was nigh to harvesttime, he journeyed townwards and reached the estate of a great royal official named Meritensa. As he passed through it he came to the farm of Hamti, a feudal tenant. The farmer saw him approach, and to himself he said: "May the god permit me to rob the peasant of his ass and its burden. I have need of salt."

The path along the river bank was exceedingly narrow, for Hamti had sowed much land. Between his corn and the water there was scarcely the breadth of a man's body.

Said the farmer to one of his servants: "Bring me a rug from within." The man ran to Hamti's house and came back with a rug, which was spread out upon the path, and it reached from the corn to the river edge.

The peasant drove his ass along the narrow way, past the corn, and when he drew nigh, the farmer called to him, saying: "Observe where you are going; do not soil my rug."

"I will do according to your will," remarked the peasant, "and avoid troubling you."

So he smote his ass and turned it inland to pass round the field. But the farmer would not be satisfied with that even. He shouted with an angry voice, saying: "Would you dare to trample upon my corn? There is no path that way."

"What else can I do?" remonstrated the peasant; "you prevent me from using the path by laying a rug upon it."

As he spoke his ass began to eat the grain, and the farmer seized it and said: "I will take this animal in payment for the damage it has done."

The peasant cried indignantly: "What? first you close the path against me, and now you seize my ass because it has taken a few ears of barley. Dare not to wrong me on this estate; it belongs to the just Meritensa, the great judge, who is a terror to all evildoers in the kingdom. Well you know that I speak truly. Do not imagine that you can oppress me on the land of such a good and high nobleman."

But the farmer laughed. "Heard you not," he asked, "the maxim which says: 'A peasant is esteemed only by himself?' Know now, too, that I am even Meritensa, the judge, of whom you have spoken. I will deal with you here and now."

Having spoken thus, the farmer seized a scourge and lashed the peasant fiercely, seeking to drive him away. But the wronged man refused to depart. His body ached with many wounds. He waited about all day, but neither by threat nor tearful appeal could he prevail upon the farmer to give him back his ass and the burden it carried.

Then the peasant hastened towards the dwelling of Meritensa. He waited the coming forth of that great lord, sitting patiently beside the wall gate. Hours went past, and at length he saw Meritensa walking out to step into a boat at the river side.

"Hail to thee, my lord!" he called. "Bid one of your servants to hear the tale of my wrong."

As the man desired, so did the nobleman do. He bade a scribe to converse with the peasant, who related how he had been wronged by Hamti.

So it happened that, when sitting in the Hall of justice next morning, Meritensa repeated the accusations which the peasant had made against the farmer. The other judges heard, and then said:

"It is our rule here that these peasants should bring witnesses. We know their ways. If it is proved that the farmer stole some nitre and salt, he can be ordered to make payment, or else he can be scourged. But we must first hear evidence to confirm what is said by this peasant fellow."

Meritensa made no reply. He was indignant at the other judges, and scorned to discuss the matter with them any further. He decided to advise the wronged man what to do.

But the peasant could not find witnesses, and again he waited the coming forth of the good judge. Then he praised him with a loud voice, saying: "Thou art mighty among the mighty ones and the good friend of poor men. May fair winds waft thee on the lake of truth; may no wave smite thee or any terror come nigh. Thou art a father to the fatherless, and a husband to the widow and a brother to the girl in need. I laud thy name, for thou dost give excellent counsel without desire of reward. Thou art the enemy of the wrongdoer and the lover of justice. My cry thou didst hear, and thou hast permitted me to speak. Thou art esteemed by those who are worthy. Now show me mercy and undo my wrong; consider my prayer, enquire regarding me, and thou wilt find that I have been plundered."

Meritensa was on his way to the palace, and he repeated unto Pharaoh what the peasant had said, and related how he had been robbed by the farmer.

His Majesty said: "This man hath great eloquence. See that his wrong is not righted for a little time yet, and arrange that all his fine speeches are recorded by your scribes. I should like to hear them word by word. Meantime see that his wife and his children do not want for food."

The peasant was given a supply of bread each day, and Meritensa arranged that his wife and children should also be supplied with food in abundance.

Daily did the wronged man wait the coming forth of the noble, whom he addressed with great eloquence and poetic fervour. The scribes recorded all the words of his mouth. But Meritensa pretended not to heed him, and he even had him beaten.

Nine times did the peasant make appeal to the judge, and at length two servants went and spoke to the man, who, when he saw them approach, feared that he was about to be scourged once again. But the words which they spake for their lord were:

"You have no cause to be afraid because you addressed the judge these many times. The Pharaoh has read your speeches and has praised them, and you will be rewarded."

Meritensa then caused his scribes to take down the evidence of the peasant regarding the robbery of his ass and its burden of nitre and salt, and he laid the document before His Majesty.

Pharaoh said: "I cannot attend to this matter. Consider it yourself and see that justice is done."

Meritensa then dispatched his officers to the farm, and he caused Hamti's house and all his goods to be confiscated and given unto the peasant.

All that was done was confirmed and approved by the Pharaoh, who commanded that the eloquent peasant should be brought to the palace. His Majesty took delight in his speeches and honoured him greatly, for he caused rich dainties from the royal table to be sent unto the man and his family.

• September 20, 2011
• 0
• Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
• Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 8, The Religion of the Stone Workers

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER VIII

The Religion of the Stone Workers

Memphite Religion--The Cult of Ptah--Ethical Beliefs----Pharaoh worshipped as a God--"Husband of his Mother"--Magical Incantations--"Mesmerizing the Gods"--The Earliest Mastabas--Endowment of Tomb Chapels--The Servants of the Dead--Scenes of Everyday Life--Zoser's Two Tombs--The First Pyramid--An Architect who became a God--Inspiration of Egyptian Religion--How it promoted Civilization--Mythology of the Stone Builders----Ptah and Khn-The Frog Goddess--A Prototype of Isis--A Negroid Deity--Khnassociated with Khufu (Cheops).

WHEN Old Memphis became the leading city of United Egypt the religious beliefs of the mingled peoples were in process of fusion and development. Commerce was flourishing, and ideas were being exchanged as freely as commodities. In the growing towns men of many creeds and different nationalities were brought into close personal contact, and thought was stimulated by the constant clash of opinions. It was an age of change and marked progress. Knowledge was being rapidly accumulated and more widely diffused. Society had become highly organized, and archaic tribal beliefs could no longer be given practical application under the new conditions that obtained throughout the land. A new religion became a necessity-at any rate existing beliefs had to be unified and systematized in the interests of peace and order, especially in a city like Memphis with its large and cosmopolitan population.

The cult which began to mummify the dead had evidently formulated a creed which appealed to the intellectual classes. Beliefs regarding the after-life took definite shape. The "land of shades" was organized like the land of Egypt. Ideas of right living and good government prevailed, and the growth of ethical thought was reflected in the conception of a Judge of the Dead who justified or condemned men after consideration of their actions during life. The attributes of the principal gods were defined; their powers and their places were adjusted; they were grouped in triads and families; and from the mass of divergent beliefs was evolving a complex mythology which was intended not only to instruct but to unite the rival beliefs prevailing in a community.

Egyptian religion as a whole, however, was never completely systematized at this or any subsequent period. Each locality had its own theological system. The old tribal gods remained supreme in their nomes, and when they were grouped with others; the influence at work was more political than intellectual in character. The growth of culture did not permeate all classes of society, and the common people, especially in rural districts, clung to the folk beliefs and practices of their ancestors. A provincial nobleman, supported by the priests, secured the loyalty of his followers therefore by upholding the prestige of their ancient god, who could be linked, if needs be, with the deity of another tribe with whom a union had been effected. If the doctrines of a rival creed influenced the beliefs of the people of a particular district the attributes of the rival god were then attached to their own. When Ptah, for instance, ceased to make intellectual appeal as a creation artificer he was exalted above Ra and the other gods, whom he was supposed to have called into existence by uttering magical words.

Ptah, as we have seen, was linked with Osiris. The combined deity was at once the god of the industrial and agricultural classes, and the Judge of the Dead. He was the chief deity of the new religion which controlled the everyday life of the people. He was the Revealer who made city life possible by promoting law and order as a religious necessity, and by instructing the people how to live honourably and well. He ordained the fate of all men; he rewarded the virtuous and punished the sinners. Masters were required to deal humanely with their servants, and servants to perform their duties with diligence and obedience. Children were counselled to honour their parents lest they might complain to the god and he should hear them.

The supremacy of Ptah was not yet seriously threatened by the sun god Ra, whose cult was gathering strength at Heliopolis. For a full century the ascendancy of the Memphite cult was complete and unassailable. The influence of the north was thus predominant. The Horite religion, which was a form of sun worship, had been displaced; it was overshadowed by the Ptah Osiris creed. Apparently the people of Lower Egypt had achieved an intellectual conquest of their conquerors. The Osirian Paradise was a duplicate of the Delta region, and the new creed was strongly influenced by Osirian beliefs which had prevailed before Mena's day.

Although great rivalry existed between the various cults throughout the land, the people were united in reverencing the Pharaoh. He was exalted as a god; indeed he was regarded as an incarnation of the ruling deity. Until the Fourth Dynasty the monarch was the living Osiris; then he became the earthly manifestation of Ra, the sun god. The people believed that a deity must needs take human form to associate with mankind. His Ka, therefore, entered the king's body as the king's Ka entered his statue. In temple scenes we find the people engaged in worshipping Pharaoh; in fact, the Pharaoh might worship himself--he made offerings to his Ka, which was the Ka of a god.

The idea of the divinity of kings was, no doubt, a survival of ancestor worship. Families worshipped the spirit of their dead sire, and tribes that of their departed leader. But the Pharaoh was not like other men, who became divine after death; he was divine from birth. His father had been the ruling god and his mother the god's wife. On the walls of temples elaborate scenes were carved to remind the people of the divine origin of their ruler. At the marriage ceremony the king impersonated the god, and he was accompanied by his divine attendants. As Ptah Tanen he wore "the high feathers" and two ram's horns, and carried the holy symbols; as Osiris he appeared with crook and flail.; as Ra he was crowned with the sun disk. The queen was thus married to the god within his temple. In sculptured scenes depicting royal births we see goddesses in attendance as midwives, nurses, and foster mothers. This close association with deities was supposed to continue throughout the Pharaoh's life; he was frequently shown in company of gods and goddesses.

When the king died, the spirit of the god passed to his successor. The son, therefore, according to Egyptian reasoning, became his own father, and, in the theological Sense, "husband of his mother". Horus, who was born after Osiris was slain, was "the purified image of his sire". In one of the religious chants the same idea is given expression when it is declared that "the god Seb was before his mother". The new Pharaoh, on ascending the throne, became doubly divine, because both ideas regarding the divinity of kings were perpetuated at the same time.

The worship of a particular Pharaoh did not cease when he died. Like other departed souls he required the service of the living. His priests must assist him to reach the Osirian Paradise of Aalu, or the sun bark of Ra. Even Ra had to be assisted to pass through the perilous hour-divisions of the night. Indeed all the good forces of Nature had to be continually prompted by men who desired to be benefited by them; similarly the evil forces had to be thwarted by the performance of magical ceremonies and the repetition of' magical formul Egyptian religion was based upon belief in magic.

Pharaoh's body was therefore mummified, so that his soul might continue to exist and be able to return to reanimate the bandaged form. Food offerings were given regularly for the sustenance of the Ka. Magical ceremonies, which were religious ceremonies, were performed to cause the gods to act and to speak as was desired--to imitate those who impersonated them upon earth. The priests were supposed, as it were, to mesmerize the gods when they went through their elaborate ceremonies of compulsion and their ceremonies of riddance.

It was considered necessary to afford secure protection for the Pharaoh's mummy; his enemies might seek to dismember it with purpose to terminate the life of the soul. Substantial tombs were therefore erected, and the old brick and wood erections which were constructed for the kings at Abydos went out of fashion.

A tomb chamber was hewed out of solid rock, and over it was built an oblong platform structure of limestone called a mastaba. The mummy was lowered down the shaft. which was afterwards filled up with sand and gravel and closed with masonry. This low and flat-roofed building was large enough to accommodate at least a hundred bodies) but it was made solid throughout with the exception of the secret shaft. Robbers would have to wreck it completely before the hiding place of the body could be discovered. On the east side there was a false door through which the Ka could pass when it came from) or departed towards, the western land of shades. In time a little chapel was provided, and the false door was placed at the end of it. This apartment was used for the performance of the ceremonies associated with the worship of the dead; mourners came with offerings, and met in presence of the invisible Ka.

The statue was concealed in an inner chamber, which was built up, but occasionally narrow apertures were constructed through which food and drink were given to the Ka. But only to kings and rich men could this service be rendered for a prolonged period, so the practice ultimately evolved of providing the dead with models of offerings which by a magical process gave sustenance to the hungry spirit.

Mortuary chapels were endowed as early as the First Dynasty. Priests were regularly engaged in worshipping dead kings and princes who had made provision in their wills for the necessary expenses. The son of one monarch in the Fourth Dynasty devoted the revenues of a dozen towns to maintain the priesthood attached to his tomb. This custom created grave financial problems.

In a few generations the whole land might be mortgaged to maintain mortuary chapels, with the result that a revolution involving a change of dynasty became an economic necessity.

Hearken! ye kings, while horror stalks the land,
Lo! your poor people fall a ready prey
Made weak by your oppression, even in death-
Burdened and bruised and terrorized; their lands
Tax ridden for these temples ye endowed,
That fawning priests might meek obeisance make
And render ceaseless homage to your shades.

The walls of the chapel were either sculptured in low relief or painted with scenes of daily life, and from these we gather much of what we know regarding the manners and customs of the ancient people. But such works of art were not intended merely to be decorative or to perpetuate the fame of the dead. It was desired that those scenes should be duplicated in Paradise. The figures of farm servants sowing and reaping corn, of artisans erecting houses, and cooks preparing meals, were expected to render similar services to the departed soul. Magical texts were inscribed with purpose to ensure this happy condition of affairs; others called down curses on the heads of tomb robbers.

Kings and nobles had no pleasure in the prospect that they would have to perform humble tasks in the Nether World. They desired to occupy there the exalted stations which they enjoyed upon earth. It was necessary, therefore, to have numerous employees so that their mansions might be erected, their fields cultivated, and their luxuries provided as of old.

The custom at first obtained of slaying a number of servants to accompany the great dignitary to Paradise. These poor victims were supposed to be grateful, because they were to be rewarded with assured immortality. But the shedding of blood was rendered unnecessary when the doctrine obtained that substitutes could be provided by sculptors and painters.

Another mortuary custom was to provide little figures, called Ushebtiu, "the answerers", inscribed with magical formul which would obey the dead and perform whatever duties he desired of them in Paradise.



SERVITORS BRINGING THEIR OFFERINGS

From the bas-relief in the Mastaba of Ti, Sakhara



"USHEBTIU" FIGURES OF VARIOUS PERIODS

1. Limestone: made for Ahmes I (XVIII Dynasty). 2. Limestone (XII Dynasty). 3. Painted alabaster: about 1100 B.C. 4. Porcelain, inscribed for an official (XXVI Dynasty). 5. Zoned alabaster, probably made for a king: about 1200 B.C. 6. Limestone: about 800 B.C. 7. Painted limestone: about 550 B.C.

(British Museum)

These were ultimately shaped in mummy form, and in the later Dynasties were made of glazed ware, because wooden figures suffered from the ravages of the white ant.

Many toy-like figures of servants are found in early tombs. Here we discover, perchance, the model of a nobleman's dwelling. An ox is being slain in the backyard. In the kitchen the staff is engaged cooking an elaborate repast; a little fellow devotes himself entirely to a goose which he turns on a spit before the fire. We have a glimpse of high life in another scene. The nobleman has feasted, and he sits at ease in a large apartment listening to singers and harpers. A dancing girl comes out to whirl before him, while her companions keep time to the music by clapping their hands. Meanwhile artisans are busy in their workshops. We see a potter moulding a vessel of exquisite shape, while near at hand a carpenter saws wood with which he intends to construct an elaborate article of furniture. Boats are rocking at a pier, for the soul may desire to sail down the Nile of the Nether World. Here. in fact, is a boat pursuing its way; a dozen strenuous oarsmen occupy the benches, while the steersman stands erect at the helm with the guiding rope in his hands; armed men are on guard, and the nobleman sits with a friend below an awning on a small deck in the centre of the boat, calmly engaged playing a game of draughts.

King Zoser had two tombs erected for himself. One is a great brick mastaba at Abydos, which may have been a "soul house" in the chapel of which his "double" was worshipped; the other, which is constructed of limestone, is situated on the desert behind Memphis. The latter is of particular interest to students of Egyptian history.

It is a terraced structure nearly 200 feet in height, formed by a series of mastabas of decreasing size superimposed one above another. This wonderful building has been called "the step pyramid of Sakkara"; it is not only the first pyramid which was erected in Egypt, but the earliest great stone structure in the world.

So much attention is paid to the three sublime pyramids at Gizeh that Zoser's limestone tomb is apt to be overlooked. Yet it is of marked importance in the history of the country. It was constructed nearly a hundred years before Khufu (Cheops) ascended the throne, and the experience gained in undertaking a work of such vast dimensions made possible the achievements of later times. The architect was the renowned Imhotep, one of the world's great men. His fame was perpetuated in Egypt until the Saite or Restoration period, when he was worshipped as the god called by the Greeks "Imuthes". He was an inventive and organizing genius, and a statesman who exercised much influence at the Court of King Zoser. Like Solomon, he was reputed to be the wisest man of his Age. He was the author of a medical treatise, and he left behind him a collection of proverbs which endured as long as the old Egyptian language. As a patron of learning his memory was revered by the scribes for over two thousand years, and it was their custom before beginning work to pour out from their jars a libation to his spirit.

The step pyramid was Imhotep's conception. He prepared the plans and overlooked the work of construction. No doubt, too, he was responsible for the organization of the army of labourers and artisans who were employed for a prolonged period in erecting this enduring memorial of a great monarch.

Such a vast undertaking is a sure indication of the advanced character of the civilization of the times. Much wealth must have accumulated in the royal exchequer. The country was in a settled and prosperous condition., owing to the excellent system of government and the activity of administrators. It was no small task to bring together thousands of workmen, who had to be housed and fed and kept under control. Skilled tradesmen were employed, who had been trained in quarrying and dressing stone. Evidently masonry had flourished in Memphis for a considerable period. There were hundreds of overseers experienced in the organization of labour, and large numbers of educated scribes conversant with the exact keeping of accounts.

Education was no longer confined to the ruling classes. We know that there were schools in Memphis. Boys were instructed in "the three R's", and in a papyrus of maxims it was quaintly remarked that they could "hear with their backs", an indication as to the manner in which corporal punishment was inflicted. The system of writing was the cursive style called "hieratic", which originated in pre-Dynastic times as a rough imitation in outline of hieroglyphics. A knowledge of elementary arithmetic was required in the ordinary transactions of business. Some corrected exercises have survived. Advanced pupils were instructed in geometry--which had its origin in Egypt--in mensuration, and in the simpler problems of algebra.

As the Egyptians were an intensely practical people, school studies were specialized. Boys were trained for the particular profession in which they were to be employed. If they were to become business men they attended commercial classes. The number of "trial pieces" which have been found show that young sculptors attended technical schools, as did also artists and metal workers. In the temple colleges the future officials and lawyers and doctors were made conversant with the accumulated knowledge and wisdom of the age. Education was evidently controlled by the priests.

Memphis was a hive of organized industry. The discipline of business pervaded all classes, and everywhere law and order were promoted. Pharaoh was no idler. His day was fully occupied in the transaction of public business, and to every prince was allotted a responsible post, and his duties had to be efficiently performed. The nation was in its young manhood; the foundations had been securely established of a great civilization, which was to endure for some thirty centuries.

It may be said that the royal house of the Old Kingdom was established upon a rock. When the Pharaoh's builders discarded brick, and began to quarry and hew stones, Egyptian civilization made rapid progress. It had had its beginnings in the struggle with Nature in the Nile valley. An increasing population was maintained under peaceful conditions when the problem of water distribution was solved by the construction of canals. These had to be controlled, and the responsibility of a regulated flow was imposed upon the Pharaoh. Good government, therefore, became a necessity; a failure of water caused famine and insurrection. To those who toiled and those who protected the toiler Nature gave a bountiful reward. More food was produced than was required for home consumption. The surplus yield of corn was, as we have seen, the means of promoting trade, which made Egypt a wealthy country. As capital accumulated, the progress of knowledge was assured, and men entered upon those higher pursuits which promote moral and intellectual advancement.

Egypt might have continued happily on the even tenor of its way as an agricultural and trading country, but its civilization could never have attained so high a degree of perfection if its arts and industries had not been fostered and developed. We may riot think highly of Egyptian religion, of which, after all, we have but imperfect knowledge, but we must recognize that it was the inspiration of the architects and craftsmen whose sublime achievements we regard with wonder and admiration after the lapse of thousands of years. It was undoubtedly a civilizing agency; it promoted culture and refinement, and elevated mankind to love beauty for its own sake. Egyptian art flourished because it was appreciated and was in demand.

The surplus wealth of Egypt was expended largely for religious purposes. Temple building kept those wonderful old architects and sculptors constantly engaged. an ever-increasing class of skilled workers had also to be trained, disciplined, and organized. Men of ability were brought to the front and were judged on their own merits. There is no place for pretenders in the world of Art. When the Pharaohs, therefore, undertook the erection of temples and tombs they not only ensured regularity of labour, but also stimulated intellectual effort, with results that could not have been otherwise than beneficial to society at large.

We may well regard the conquest of stone as one of the greatest conquests which the Egyptians achieved. In our Introduction we have suggested that the new industry may have been introduced by the cave-hewing pre-Semitic inhabitants of southern Palestine. The remarkable skill manifested by the earliest stone workers of Egypt with almost dramatic suddenness was evidently the result of long experience. Deft workmanship was accomplished from the outset; stones were measured and dressed with wonderful accuracy and skill. The changes which took place in the burial customs during the early Dynasties also suggest that influences from without were being felt in the ancient kingdom.

Whatever the origin of the stone workers may have been, it is evident that they were closely associated with Memphis at a very early period. As we have seen, the art of stone working and stone building on a sublime scale was first displayed by the worshippers of Ptah, the artificer god. It is of special interest to find, therefore, that Manetho has preserved those persistent Egyptian traditions which connect Memphis with the new industry. He credited Zoser, the builder of the step pyramid at Sakkara, with the introduction of stonework; he also recorded that the first temple in Egypt was erected at Memphis to Ptah by King Mena. The city's name of "White Walls" suggests that the fortress was constructed of limestone.

We know now that stone was used at Abydos before Zoser's day--not, however, until after the conquest of the north--but the traditional association of Memphis with the new industry is none the less significant. The probability that a colony of Memphite artisans settled in the vicinity of the Assouan quarries, and introduced stone working into Upper Egypt, is emphasized by the worship of Khn the god of the First Cataract, who bears so striking a resembling to Ptah. He was similarly regarded as the modeller of the world. Like Ptah, he was associated with the chaos egg, and he is depicted shaping the first man upon his potter's wheel.

Khnwas merged at an early date with the ram god Min, for he is invariably shown with ram's horns or a ram's head. He was a Great Father, and represented the male principle. His consort is Hekt, the frog-headed goddess, who is evidently of great antiquity. The Egyptians believed that frogs were generated spontaneously from Nile-fertilized mud, and they associated Hekt with the origin of life. This quaint goddess was one of the "mothers" who was supposed to preside at birth, and so persistent was the reverence shown her by the great mass of the people that she was ultimately fused with Hathor. In Coptic times Hekt was a symbol of the resurrection.

Another goddess associated with Khnwas named Sati. Her title "Lady of the Heavens" links her with Nut and Hathor. She is usually depicted as a stately woman wearing a cow's horns and the crown of Upper Egypt; she is "the queen of the gods".

An island goddess, called Anukt, belongs to the same group. She has negroid attributes and wears a crown of feathers.

It is apparent that this arbitrary grouping of deities at the First Cataract was the direct result of the mingling of peoples of different origin. Hekt represents a purely Egyptian cult, while Sati is evidently one of the forms of the Great Mother deity of the earliest civilized people in the Nile valley; she resembles closely the historic Isis. Anukt, on the other hand, was probably of Nubian origin, and may have been introduced by those dusky settlers from the south whose aggressive tendencies caused so much concern at the royal Court from time to time. The theory that Khnwas the god of the quarries, and builders especially, is supported not only by his resemblance to Ptah, but also by the fact that the Pharaoh who erected the greatest pyramid at Gizeh was called KhnKhufu; this is the monarch whom the Greeks called Cheops.

• September 20, 2011
• 0
• Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
• Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 7, Death and the Judgment

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER VII

Death and the Judgment

The Human Triad--Ghosts--Spirits of the Living--Why the Dead were given Food--Souls as Birds--The Shadow and the Name--Beliefs of Divergent Origin--Burial Customs--The Crouched Burial--Secondary Interment--Extended Burials--Mummies--Life after Death--Two Conceptions--Souls in the Sun Boat--The Osirian Paradise--journey to the Other World --Perils on the Way--Conflicts with Demons--The River of Death--The judgment Hall--Weighing the Heart--The Happy Fields.

IN the maze of Egyptian beliefs there were divergent views regarding the elements which constitute the human personality. One triad was a unity of the Ka, spirit; the Khu, soul; and Khat, the body. Another grouped Khaybet, the shadow, with Ba, the soul, and Sahu, the mummy. The physical heart was called Hati; it was supposed to be the seat of the intelligence, and its "spirit" was named Ab, which signified the will and desires. The "vital spark", or controlling force, was symbolized as the Sekhem, and the Ran was the personal name.

The Ka of the first triad is the most concrete conception of all. It was probably, too, the oldest. The early people appear to have believed that the human personality combined simply the body and the spirit. In those tomb scenes which depict the birth of kings the royal babe is represented by two figures-the visible body and the invisible "double". The Ka began to be at birth; it continued to live on after death.

But a human being was not alone in possessing a Ka. Everything that existed was believed to have its "double". A fish or other animal had a Ka; so also had a tree; and there were spirits in water, in metals, in stone, and even in weapons and other articles manufactured by man. These spirits were invisible to all save the seers, who were able to exercise on occasion the "faculty" which Scottish Highlanders call "second sight".

It was conceived that the Ka could leave the human body during sleep, or while the subject lay in a trance. It then wandered forth and visited people and places, and its experience survived in memory. Dreams were accounted for in this way as actual happenings. When a man dreamt of a deceased friend, he believed that his Ka had met with the Ka of the dead, held converse with it, and engaged in the performance of some Other-World duty. Sometimes the wandering Ka could be observed at a distance from where the sleeper reposed. It had all the appearance of the individual, because it was attired in the "doubles" of his clothing and might carry the "double" of his staff. Ghosts, therefore, included "the spirits of the living", which were not recognized to be spirits until they vanished mysteriously. They might also be simply heard and not seen.

In the story of Anpu and Bata is contained the belief that the Ka could exist apart from the body. Its habitation was a blossom, and when the petals were scattered the younger brother fell dead. He revived, however., when the seed was placed n a vessel of water. This conception was associated with belief in the transmigration of souls. Bata entered a new state of existence after he left his brother.

During normal life the Ka existed in the human body. It was sustained by the "doubles" of everything that was partaken of. After death it required food and drink) and offerings were made to it at the grave. The practice of feeding the dead continues in Egypt even in our own day.

In ancient times a cult believed that the Ka could be fed by magic. Mourners or ancestor worshippers who visited the tomb simply named the articles of food required, and these were immediately given existence for the spirit. The "good wishes" were thus considered to be potent and practical.

It was essential that the dead should receive the service of the living, and those who performed the necessary ceremonies and made the offerings were called the "servants". Thus the Egyptian word for "priest" signified a "servant". But the motive which prompted the mourners to serve the departed was not necessarily sorrow or undying affection, but rather genuine fear. If the Ka or ghost were neglected, and allowed to starve, it could leave the grave and haunt the offenders. Primitive man had a genuine dread of spirits, and his chief concern was ever to propitiate them, no matter how great might be the personal sacrifice involved.

Sometimes a small "soul house" was provided by the wayside for the wandering Ka, but oftener an image of wood or stone was placed for its use in the grave. The statues of kings which have been found in their tombs were constructed so that their disembodied spirits might be given material bodies, and those which they caused to be erected in various parts of the kingdom were primarily intended for a similar purpose and not merely to perpetuate their fame, although the note of vanity is rarely absent in the inscriptions.

The Khu, or "soul", was a vague conception. It was really another form of the Ka, but it was the "double" of the intellect. will, and intentions, rather than the "double" of the physical body. The Khu was depicted as a bird, 1 and was called "the bright one" or "the glorious one".

The Ba of the second triad was a conception uniting both the Ka and the Khu. It is represented in bird form with a human head, hovering over the Sahu, or mummy, on which it gazes wistfully, always seeking to re-enter the bandaged form. Like the Ka, it required nourishment, which was provided, however, by the goddess of the consecrated burial ground.

The Khaybet, or shadow, is evidently the survival of an early belief. It is really another manifestation of the Ka. Like all primitive peoples, the archaic Egyptians believed that their shadows were their souls. Higher conceptions evolved in time, but their cultured descendants clung to the old belief, which was perpetuated by folk customs associated with magical practices. Spells were wrought by casting shadows upon a man., and he might be insulted or injured if an offence were committed against his shadow.

The Ran, or name, was also a manifestation of the Ka. Power could be exercised by uttering the name, because there was magical influence in those words which were believed to have spiritual "doubles". A personal name was the spirit identified; its service was secured when the name was uttered. The spirit was the name and the name was the spirit. If a magician desired to work evil against an individual, he made use of the name when uttering potent magical formul The dead were similarly conjured up when their names were spoken in invocations; evil spirits were cast out by those who knew their names. 2 To guard himself against wizards who uttered "words of power", or verbal spells, the Egyptian therefore considered it necessary to have two names--the big name and the little name, or the true name and the good name. He kept his "big, true name" secret, because it was the Ran; his "good little name" was his nickname, and was not a part of his living being.

The naming ceremony was conducted in secret. The child's fate was bound up in the true name and his character was influenced by it. After it was conferred, a nickname was used, but the true name was the grave name and was uttered when the welfare of the spirit was secured by the utterance of magical spells which "opened the way" in the land of the dead. The gods had Rans also. When Isis obtained the secret name of Ra, she became his equal.

The divergent conceptions regarding the soul in Egyptian religion arose from the mingling of beliefs caused by the mingling of peoples, and also the Egyptian tendency to cling to every belief, or form of belief, which evolved in the course of time in Egypt. A people who believed in the existence of "doubles" and in the transmigration of souls had many vague and complex conceptions. Incoherencies were a feature of their religious beliefs. It must be borne in mind, at the same time, that our review covers a vast period of time, during which various religious cults exercised supreme influence in moulding Egyptian thought. One cult predominated at one period; another cult arose in turn to teach its own peculiar tenets, with the result that all beliefs were ultimately accepted. This process is clearly indicated by the various burial customs and the complex religious ceremonies which prevailed in different ages.

As we have seen, the early people buried their dead crouched up in shallow graves with due provision of nourishment and implements. 3 They appear to have believed that the Ka remained beside the body until the flesh decayed. Then it either ceased to be, or it haunted the cemetery. Among primitive peoples at the present day much concern is evinced regarding the ghosts of the newly dead. When a negro, for instance, is questioned about his remote ancestors, he is unable to express an opinion as to whether or not their spirits continue to exercise any influence upon the living, but he trembles if asked about his dead father.

The Egyptian tree worshippers conceived of a tree goddess which gave food cakes and poured out drink to disembodied Kas. The influence of this ancient cult is traced in the Osiris and Bata folk tales. In late Dynastic times tree worship was revived when the persisting beliefs of the common people gained ascendancy, and it has not yet wholly disappeared in the Delta region. The sacred tree and the holy well are still regarded with reverence.

The. Horites, or Dynastic Egyptians, who pressed northward on their gradual campaign of conquest, introduced a new burial custom. Instead of digging shallow graves they erected brick-lined tombs, in which the dead were laid upon their backs, fully extended, clad in state, and adorned with articles of jewellery. In the inscriptions the Ka and Khu are referred to. But no attempt was made, even in the First and Second Dynasties, to preserve the body from decay, and sumptuous offerings were placed in the tombs,

Another burial custom involved secondary interment, as was the case in those European districts where early graves have been found to contain disconnected skeletons. In Egypt attempts were sometimes made to arrange the bones in proper position, but they were often heaped in confusion. It appears that temporary interment was a ceremony of riddance, the object being probably to hasten the departure of the Ka. Dismemberment was also practised, and many graves show that decapitation was effected after death.

In one of the sacred books of ancient Egypt the mutilation of dead bodies is referred to with horror. "I shall not be destroyed," we read, "my head will not be cut off, nor my tongue taken out, nor will the hair of my head or my eyebrows be shaved off. My body will endure for all time."

The revolt against dismemberment took place at the beginning of the Third Dynasty, about 3000 B.C. Massive stone tombs were then constructed and the bodies of the dead were mummified. The idea was either that the Ka would ultimately return and cause the dead to live again, or that the existence of the soul in the Nether World depended upon the existence of the body upon earth. The embalming of the dead ultimately became general throughout Egypt, but the belief in dismemberment survived in the practise of disjointing one of the mummy's feet. During the Middle Kingdom period the dead were laid on their left sides, as if to peer through the Osiris or Horus eyes depicted outside the mummy cases.

Herodotus, who visited Egypt in the fifth century before Christ, found the people "adhering contentedly to the customs of their ancestors, and averse to foreign manners". He related that when an influential man died, the females of the household smeared their hands and faces with dirt, and ran through the streets with their clothes in disorder, beating their bodies and lamenting aloud. The men behaved in similar manner after the corpse was removed from the house.

Embalmers were licensed to practise their profession, and they displayed much ingenuity and surgical skill. When a body was carried to them, they produced models of mummies and arranged a price. The quality of their work depended on the amount of money expended by the dead man's friends.

The costliest method of embalming was as follows. The brain was extracted through the nostrils with the aid of instruments and after the infusion of a chemical preparation. Then a stone knife was used to make an incision on one side of the body. The liver, heart, lungs, and intestines were immediately drawn out, and, after being cleansed, they were steeped in palm wine and sprinkled with rich perfume. The body was dried, and stuffed with powdered myrrh, cassia, , and sewn up. It was afterwards covered with nitre for seventy days. Then it was washed all over and carefully wrapped in bandages which had been dipped in a strong gum. As soon as it was carried back to the home it was placed in a large coffin, shaped like a human form, which was inscribed with magical charms and decorated with sacred symbols and figures of gods and goddesses. The face of the dead was carved upon the lid; in the Roman period it was painted.

A cheaper method of embalmment was to inject a chemical preparation before the body was covered with nitre. At the end of seventy days the intestines were drawn out. Nothing then remained except the skin and bones; the flesh had been eaten away by the nitre. Poor people could only afford to have a cheap preservative injected into the veins, after which the body was left in nitre for the usual period.

The intestines were placed in four canopic jars, on the lids of which were often shaped the heads of the four protecting gods, who were the sons of Horus, and represented the north, south, east, and west. These were Amset, with human face, who guarded the stomach and large intestines; Hapi, with dog's head, who guarded the small intestines; Dmef, with jackal's head, who guarded lungs and heart, and Kebeh-senuf, the hawk-headed, who guarded the liver and gall bladder. These jars were placed in a chest and deposited in the tomb. The organs they contained were those which were believed to have caused the various sins to be committed.

The funeral procession was a solemn and touching spectacle. All the family were present, and women mourners wailed aloud on the way to the cemetery on the western bank of the Nile. The mummy was drawn upon a sledge. When the tomb was reached, the coffin was set up on end, facing the south, and an elaborate ceremony was gone through. It was conducted by the chief mourner, who recited the ritual from a papyrus roll, while responses were made by the relatives. Two females represented Isis and Nepthys, for a part of the ceremony was a reproduction of the scene enacted around the body of Osiris when it was restored and prepared for burial. The dead had also to be instructed how to reach the Egyptian heaven. The journey could not be accomplished in safety without the aid of magical formul So these were spoken into the ears of the corpse, as was probably the custom in the days of crouched burials. But the danger was ever present that the dead would fail to remember all the priestly instructions which were repeated over them. The formul were therefore inscribed on the coffin and on the walls of the tomb, and as time went on it became customary to prepare rolls of papyrus, which were ultimately collected into The Book of the Dead. This papyrus might be wrapped under the mummy bandages, or else laid within the coffin. A bull was slaughtered to provide food for the sustenance of the Ka and as a sacrifice to the gods.

The coffin was afterwards lowered down the grave shaft to the secret chamber in which had been placed the image of the dead, his weapons and clothing, his ornaments and perfumes and, perhaps, several articles of furniture. Then the entrance was closed up with stonework. A funeral feast in the antechamber concluded a ceremony which grew more and more elaborate as time went on. Food offerings were afterwards brought at intervals by faithful mourners.

There were two distinct conceptions of the after-life and these became confused in the ages that followed. The sun worshippers believed that the souls of the dead passed to the first division of night, where those who were privileged to utter the magical spells, which could compel the obedience of the gods, were permitted to enter the bark of Ra. In their tombs were placed models of the sun boat.

The Other-World conception of the Osirian cult made more permanent appeal to the Egyptian mind. Heaven is pictured as the "double" of the Delta region, where apparently the conception had its origin. But, before it can be reached, the soul must needs travel a long and weary way which is beset with many perils. The Paradise of Aalu is situated in the west. Bleak and waterless deserts have to be crossed, and these are infested by fierce reptiles; boiling streams also intercept the pilgrim, who is ever in danger of being compelled to turn back.

When the soul sets forth, he takes with him his staff and his weapons, and food for nourishment. He climbs the western mountains and then enters the Kingdom of the Dead. An immense sycamore tree towers before him with great clusters of fruit amidst its luxuriant foliage. As he approaches it a goddess leans out from the trunk as from a window, displaying the upper part of her body. In her hands she holds a tray heaped with cakes and fruit; she has also a pot of clear fresh water. The soul must needs eat of the magic food and drink of the magic water, and thus become a servant of the gods, if he is to proceed farther. If he rejects the hospitality of the tree goddess, he will have to return again to the dark and narrow tomb whence he came, and lead forever there a solitary and joyless existence.

The soul of him who is faithful eats and drinks as desired, and then proceeds on the journey, facing many perils and enduring great trials. Evil spirits and fierce demons compass him about, desiring that he should die a second death and cease to be. A gigantic tortoise rises against him; he must fight against it with his lance; serpents are poised to strike, and they must be overcome. The very insects have venomous stings and must be driven away. But his most formidable enemy is the fierce god Set, the murderer of Osiris, the terror of the good gods and of men, who appears as an enormous red monster, with a head like a camel and the body of a hound, his long and forked tail erect and venomous. Fain would that wrathful demon devour the pilgrim on his way.

When the evil god is overcome and driven back, the soul goes forward until he reaches the bank of a wide river There a magic boat awaits him. The crew consist of silent divinities who give him no aid. But ere he can embark he must needs answer each question which the boat addresses to him. He must know and tell how it is constructed in every part, and if the papyrus roll which was laid beside his mummy contains the secrets of the boat. and the magical formulwhich must also be repeated, he will be ferried over the river and taken to the Osirian kingdom. The sulky "ferryman" is called "Turnface": his face is always turned away from the dead who call to him.

After entering the boat the soul's journey is not near to an end. He desires greatly to join those happy beings who have their dwellings in the blessed fields of Aalu but he must first be tried before Osiris the King of the Dead and Judge of All. The only approach to Paradise is through the Hall of justice, which rises before him stupendous and dark and full of mystery. The gate is shut fast; no man can draw the bolts or enter without permission of the king.

Alone, and trembling with fear, the pilgrim soul stands before the gate with both hands uplifted in adoration. He is beheld by the shining god who is within. Then in a clear, full voice the soul cries out in the deep silence:

Hail, unto thee, O thou great god, thou who art lord of truth!
Lo! I draw nigh to thee now, O my lord, and mine eyes behold thy beauty.
Thee I know, and I know also the two-and-forty gods assembled with thee in the Hall of justice;
They observe all the deeds of the wicked; They devour those who seek to do evil;
They drink the blood of those who are condemned before thee, O just and good king.
Hail! Lord of justice; Thee I know,
I come before thee even now to speak what is true,
I will not utter what is false, O Lord of All.

The soul then recites the ritual confession in which he claims to be guiltless of the offences which are punishable.

I have done no evil against any man.
I have never caused my kinsfolk to be put to death,
I have not caused false witnesses to speak in the Hall of justice.
I have not done that which is hated by the gods.
I am not a worker of wickedness.
I have never oppressed a servant with too much work.
I have not caused men to hunger nor to weep.
I have not been devoid of good works, nor have I acted weakly or with meanness.
I am not a murderer.
I have not conspired to have another put to death.
I have not plotted to make another grieve.
I have not taken away temple offerings.
I have not stinted the food offered to the gods.
I have not despoiled the dead.
I have never committed adultery.
I have not failed to keep myself pure as a priest.
I have not lessened the corn measure.
I have not shortened the hand measure.
I have not tampered with the balance.
I have not deprived children of milk.
I have not stolen cattle from the meadows.
I have not snared the birds consecrated to the gods.
I have not taken fish from holy lakes.
I have not prevented (Nile) water from running (in channels).
I have not turned aside the water.
I have not stolen water from a channel.
I have not put out the fire when it should burn.
I have never kept from the Nine Gods what was their due.
I have not prevented the temple cattle from grazing on my land.
I have not obstructed a god (his image) when he came forth (in a festival procession).

The soul concludes by declaring that he is sinless, and expresses the hope that no ill will befall him in the Hall of Judgment.

The jackal-headed god Anubis, "Opener of the Ways", then strides from the hall and leads the soul by the hand before Osiris, who had heard the confession in silence. No word is uttered as the dead man enters. The King of the Dead sits in his high throne within a dim pavilion. His crown is upon his head. In one hand he holds the crook and in the other the flail. He is the supreme judge of the Dead.. Before him stands the sure balance on which the heart of the dead man will be weighed. Thoth, the recording god, is beside it, and Horus and Maat, goddess of truth and justice, are there also. The guardian of the balance is a monster which is ready to fall upon sinners who are condemned before the great god. Around the dread hall crouch the two-and-forty animal gods who tear the wicked to pieces.

In the tingling silence which prevails, the pilgrim again recites the confession. Osiris makes no comment. Then, quivering with fear, the soul watches the gods deliberately weighing his heart in the balance, while Maat, the goddess of truth and justice, or her symbol, an ostrich feather, occupies the opposite scale.

The trembling soul cries out to his heart not to witness against him. "O heart that was mine," he says, "do not say 'Behold the things he hath done'. Permit me not to be wronged in presence of the great god."

If the heart is found to be neither too heavy nor too light, the dead man is acquitted. Thoth makes known the result of the weighing to Osiris, who then orders the heart to be restored to the man on trial. "He hath won the victory," the King of the Dead exclaims. "Now let him dwell with the spirits and the gods in the fields of Aalu."



THE STEP PYRAMID OF SAKKARA

(Tomb of Zoser, of which Imhotep was the architect)



JUDGEMENT SCENE: WEIGHING THE HEART

The judge is Osiris, behind whom stand Isis and Nepthys. Horus and Anubis lead in two forms of deceased. Thoth makes the record, another form of Anubis adjusts the balance, and the monster waits to destroy deceased if the verdict is unfavorable. On the upper part of the picture deceased salutes some of the two-and-forty gods who surround the Judgement Hall.

From "Book of the Dead" papyrus.

Released and rejoicing, the dead man goes forth to gaze upon the wonders of the Nether World. The divine kingdom is a greater and more glorious Egypt, in which the souls work and hunt and combat against their enemies as in other days. To each man is allotted his task. He must till the soil and reap the grain which grows in abundance and to a great height. The harvest never fails, and famine and sorrow are unknown.

When the soul desires to return to visit familiar scenes upon earth it enters the body of a bird or an animal, or perhaps it blossoms as a flower. It may also visit the tomb as the Ba, and reanimate the mummy and go forth to gaze on scenes which were familiar and dear in other days.

The souls of dead men whom Osiris condemns, because of sins committed upon earth, are subjected to terrible tortures ere they are devoured by the animal gods which crouch, waiting, in the silent and awful Hall of Judgment.

Footnotes

1 According to Celtic folk belief the dead sometimes appear as birds. This idea may be a survival of the transmigration-of-souls conception; the soul passed through many animals before re-entering a human body.
2 The "ceremony of riddance" referred to by Isocrates.
3 This burial custom survived at least as late as the Fifth Dynasty, when mummification was well established.

• September 20, 2011
• 0
• Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
• Written by LC Geerts

Egyptian Myth and Legend Chapter 6, The City of the Elf God

EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER VI

The City of the Elf God

The London of Ancient Egypt--Ptah Chief of Nine Earth Spirits--God of a Military Aristocracy--Palestine Cave--dwellers and Alpine "Broad Heads"--Creation Artificers of Egyptians, Europeans, Indians, and Chinese--Sun Egg and Moon Egg--The Later Ptah--Neith as a Banshee--Sokar, God of the Dead--Earliest Memphite Deity--Ptah and Osiris----Manetho's Folk Tales--A Famous Queen--The First Pyramid.

Now, when there was corn in Egypt "as the sand of the sea", traders from foreign countries crossed the parched deserts and the perilous deep, instructed, like the sons of Jacob, to "get you down thither and buy for us from thence". So wealth and commerce increased in the Nile valley. A high civilization was fostered, and the growing needs of the age caused many industries to flourish.

The business of the country was controlled by the cities which were nursed into prosperity by the wise policy of the Pharaohs. Among these Memphis looms prominently in the history of the early Dynasties. Its ruling deity was, appropriately enough, the artificer god Ptah, for it was not only a commercial but also an important industrial centre; indeed it was the home of the great architects and stone builders whose activities culminated in the erection of the Pyramids, the most sublime achievements in masonry ever accomplished by man.

To-day the ruins of Old Memphis lie buried deep in the sand. The fellah tills the soil and reaps the harvest in season above its once busy streets and stately temples, its clinking workshops and noisy markets. "I have heard the words of its teachers whose sayings are on the lips of men. But where are their dwelling places? Their walls have been cast down and their homes are not, even as though they had never been." Yet the area of this ancient city was equal to that of modern London from Bow to Chelsea and the Thames to Hampstead, and it had a teeming population.

O mighty Memphis, city of "White Walls",
The habitation of eternal Ptah,
Cradle of kings . . . on thee the awful hand
Of Vengeance hath descended. . . . Nevermore
Can bard acclaim thy glory; nevermore
Shall harp, nor flute, nor timbrel, nor the song
Of maids resound within thy ruined halls,
Nor shouts of merriment in thee be heard,
Nor hum of traffic, nor the eager cries
Of merchants in thy markets murmurous;
The silence of the tomb hath fallen on thee,
And thou art faded like a lovely queen,
Whom loveless death hath stricken in the night,
Whose robe is rent, whose beauty is decayed--
And nevermore shall princes from afar
Pay homage to thy greatness, and proclaim
Thy wonders, nor in reverence behold
Thy sanctuary glories . . .

Are thy halls
All empty, and thy streets laid bare
And silent as the soundless wilderness?
O Memphis, mighty Memphis, hath the morn
Broken to find thee not?

Memphis was named after King Pepi, 1 and is called Noph in the Old Testament. Its early Dynastic name was "White Walls", the reference being probably to the fortress erected there soon after the Conquest. Of its royal builder we know little, but his mother, Queen Shesh, enjoyed considerable repute for many centuries afterwards as the inventor of a popular hair wash which is referred to in a surviving medical papyrus.

After Egypt was united under the double crown of the Upper and the Lower Kingdoms, and the Pharaoh became "Lord of the Two Lands", the seat of government remained for a long period at Thinis, in the south. The various nomes, like the present-day states of North America, had each their centres of local administration. Pharaoh's deputies were nobles who owed him allegiance, collected the Imperial taxes, supplied workmen or warriors as desired, and carried out the orders of the Court officials regarding the construction and control of canals. The temple of the nome god adorned the provincial capital.

Ptah, the deity of Memphis, is presented in sharp contrast to the sun god Ra, who was of Asiatic origin, and the deified King Osiris, whose worship was associated with agricultural rites. He was an earth spirit, resembling closely the European elf. The conception was evidently not indigenous, because the god had also a giant form, like the hilltop deities of the mountain peoples (see Chapter XII). He was probably imported by the invaders who constituted the military aristocracy at Memphis in pre-Dynastic times. These may have been the cave-dwellers of Southern Palestine, or tall and muscular "broad heads" of Alpine or Armenoid type who prior to the Conquest appear to have pressed southward from Asia Minor through the highlands of Palestine, and, after settlement, altered somewhat the physical character of the "long heads" of the eastern Delta.

Allowance has to be made for such an infusion in accounting for the new Dynastic type as well as for the influence exercised by the displacement of a great proportion of the mingled tribes of Libyans. The Palestine cave-dwellers may have been partly of Alpine origin.

A people seldom remember their early history, but they rarely forget their tribal beliefs. That being so, the god Ptah is of special interest in dealing with the tribal aspect of mythology. Among all the gods of Egypt his individuality is perhaps the most pronounced. Others became shadowy and vague, as beliefs were fused and new and greater conceptions evolved in the process of time. But Ptah never lost his elfin character, even after he was merged with deities of divergent origin. He was the chief of nine earth spirits (that is, eight and himself added) called Khn the modellers. Statuettes of these represent them as dwarfs, with muscular bodies, bent legs, long arms, big broad heads, and faces of intelligent and even benign expression. Some wear long moustaches, 2 so unlike the shaven or glabrous Egyptians.

At the beginning, according to Memphite belief, Ptah shaped the world and the heavens, assisted by his eight workmen, the dwarfish Khn He was also the creator of mankind, and in Egyptian tombs are found numerous earthenware models of these "elves". who were believed to have had power to reconstruct the decaying bodies of the dead. As their dwellings were underground, they may have also been "artisans of vegetation", like the spirits associated with Tvashtar, the "master workman" of the Rig-Veda hymns and the "black dwarfs" of Teutonic mythology. A particular statuette of Ptah, wearing a tight-fitting cap, suggests the familiar "wonder smith" 3 of the Alpine "broad heads" who were distributed along Asiatic and European mountain ranges from Hindu Kush to Brittany and the British isles and mingled with the archaic Hittites in Asia Minor. The Phnician sailors carried figures of dwarfs in their ships, and worshipped them. They were called "pataikoi". In the Far East a creation artificer who resembles Ptah is Pan Ku, the first Chinese deity, who emerged from a cosmic egg.

Like Ra, Ptah was also believed to have first appeared as an egg, which, according to one of the many folk beliefs of Egypt, was laid by the chaos goose which came to be identified with Seb, the earth god, and afterwards with the combined deities Amon-Ra. Ptah, as the primeval "artificer god", was credited with making "the sun egg" and also "the moon egg", and a bas-relief at Philshows him actively engaged at the work, using his potter's wheel.

A higher and later conception of Ptah 4 represents him as a sublime creator god who has power to call into existence each thing he names. He is the embodiment of mind from which all things emerge, and his ideas take material shape when he gives them expression. In a philosophic poem a Memphite priest eulogizes the great deity as "the mind 5 and tongue of the gods", and even as the creator of other gods as well as of "all people, cattle, and reptiles", the sun, and the habitable world.

Thoth is also credited with similar power, and it is possible that in this connection both these deities were imparted with the attributes of Ra, the sun god.

According to the tradition perpetuated by Manetho, the first temple in Egypt was erected at Memphis, that city of great builders, to the god Ptah at the command of King Mena. It is thus suggested that the town and the god of the ruling caste existed when the Horite sun worshippers moved northward on their campaign of conquest. As has been shown, Mena also gave diplomatic recognition to Neith, the earth goddess of the Libyans, "the green lady" of Egypt, who resembles somewhat the fairy, and especially the banshee, of the Iberians and their Celtic conquerors.

The Ptah worshippers were probably not the founders of Memphis. An earlier deity associated with the city is the dreaded Sokar (Seker). He was a god of the dead, and in the complex mythology of later times his habitation was located in the fifth hour-division of night. 6 When sun worship became general in the Nile valley Sokar was identified with the small winter sun, as Horus was with the large sun of summer. But the winged and three-headed monster god, with serpent body, suffers complete loss of physical identity when merged with the elfin deity of Memphis. Ptah-Sokar is depicted as a dwarf and one of the Khn Another form of Sokar is a hawk, of different aspect to the Horus hawk, which appears perched on the Ra boat at night with a sun disk upon its head. 7

Ptah-Sokar was in time merged with the agricultural Osiris whose spirit passed from Pharaoh to Pharaoh. Ptah-Osiris was depicted as a human-sized mummy, swathed and mute, holding firmly in his hands before him the Osirian dadu (pillar) symbol. The triad, Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, gives us a combined deity who is a creator, a judge of the dead, and a traditional king of Egypt. The influence of the sun cult prevailed when Sokar and Osiris were associated with the worship of Ra.

Memphis, the city of Ptah, ultimately became the capital of United Egypt. It was then at the height of its glory; a great civilization had evolved. Unfortunately, however, we are unable to trace its progress, because the records are exceedingly scanty. Fine workmanship in stone, exquisite pottery, , indicate the advanced character of the times, but it is impossible to construct from these alone an orderly historical narrative. We have also the traditions preserved by Manetho. Much of what he tells us, however, belongs to the domain of folklore. We learn, for instance, that for nearly a fortnight the Nile ran with honey, and that one of the Pharaohs, who was a giant about 9 feet high, was "a most dangerous man". It is impossible to confirm whether a great earthquake occurred in the Delta region, where the ground is said to have yawned and swallowed many of the people, or whether a famine occurred in the reign of one pharaoh and a great plague in that of another, and if King Aha really engaged his leisure moments compiling works on anatomy. The story of a Libyan revolt at a later period may have had foundation in fact, but the explanation that the rebels broke into flight because the moon suddenly attained enormous dimensions shows how myth and history were inextricably intertwined.

Yet Manetho's history contains important material.

His list of early kings is not imaginative, as was once supposed, although there may be occasional inaccuracies. The Palermo Stone, so called because it was carried to the Sicilian town of that name by some unknown curio collector, has inscribed upon it in hieroglyphics the names of several of the early kings and references to notable events which occurred during their reigns. It is one of the little registers which were kept in temples. Many of these, no doubt, existed, and some may yet he brought to light.

Four centuries elapsed after the Conquest ere Memphis became the royal city. We know little, however, regarding the first three hundred years. Two dynasties of Thinite kings ruled over the land. There was a royal residence at Memphis, which was the commercial capital of the country--the marketplace of the northern and southern peoples. Trade flourished and brought the city into contact with foreign commercial centres. It had a growing and cosmopolitan population, and its arts and industries attained a high level of excellence.

The Third Dynasty opens with King Zoser, who reigned at Memphis. He was the monarch for whom the first pyramid was erected. It is situated at Sakkara, in the vicinity of his capital. The kings who reigned prior to him had been entombed at Abydos8 , and the new departure indicates that the supremacy of Memphis was made complete. The administrative, industrial, and religious life of the country was for the time centred there.

Zoser's preference for Memphis had, perhaps, a political bearing. His mother, the wife of Khasekhemui,' the last of the Thinite kings, was probably a daughter of the ruling noble of "White Walls". It was the custom of monarchs to marry the daughters of nome governors, and to give their sons his daughters in marriage also. The aristocracy was thus closely connected with the royal house; indeed the relations between the Pharaoh and his noblemen appear to have been intimate and cordial.

The political marriages, however, were the cause of much jealous rivalry. As the Pharaoh had more than one wife, and princes were numerous, the choice of an heir to the crown was a matter of great political importance. The king named his successor, and in the royal harem there were occasionally plots and counterplots to secure the precedence of one particular prince or another. Sometimes methods of coercion were adopted with the aid of interested noblemen whose prestige would be increased by the selection of a near relative--the son, perhaps, of the princess of their nome. In one interesting papyrus roll which survives there is a record of an abortive plot to secure the succession of a rival to the Pharaoh's favourite son. The ambitious prince was afterwards disposed of. In all probability he was executed along with those concerned in the household rebellion. Addressing his chosen heir, the monarch remarks that "he fought the one he knew, because it was unwise that he should be beside thy majesty".

It may be that these revolts explain the divisions of the lines of early kings into Dynasties. Zoser's personality stands out so strongly that it is evident he was a prince who would brook no rival to the throne. His transference of the seat of power to the city of Ptah suggests, too, that he found his chief support there.

With the political ascendancy of Memphis begins the great Pyramid Age; but ere we make acquaintance with the industrial and commercial life in the city, and survey the great achievements of its architects and builders, we shall deal with the religious conceptions of the people, so that it may be understood why the activities of the age were directed to make such elaborate provision for the protection of the bodies of dead monarchs.

Footnotes

1 The Greek rendering of "Men-nofer", the name of Pepi's pyramid. Another Egyptian name was Hiku-ptah, or, according to Budge, "Het-Ka-Ptah, 'House of the Double of Ptah', from which the Greek name of Egypt is derived".
2 The suggestion that these represented serpents is not supported by anything we know about Ptah worship. There was a winged serpent goddess in the Delta named Uazit. The Greeks called her Buto, and identified her with their Leto.
3 Ptah has been compared to the Greek Hephtos (Vulcan). He was not a fire god. His consort Sekhet symbolized fire and sun heat, but his association with her was arbitrary.
4 Eighteenth Dynasty.
5 The poet says "heart", which was believed by the Egyptians to be the seat of intelligence. At the judgment of the dead the heart is weighed in the balance.
6 See Chapter I.
7 Osiris-Sokar is "the brilliant one", "lord of great fear and trembling", "the mysterious one, he who is unknown to mankind", and "enlightener of those who are in the underworld".--The Burden of Isis, Dennis, p. 52-54 (Hymn to Osiris-Sokar).
8 This king's brick tomb at Abydos contains a limestone chamber, which suggests the employment of the Memphite artisans.

• September 20, 2011
• 0
• Published in Egyptian Myth and Legend
• Written by LC Geerts