The third notion was that the dead joined the sun, and went through all the hours of day and night with Ra, the sun-god.
(2) Amulets and Charms. So far as purely personal religion can be traced, the belief in amu lets and their magical effects was the most potent force. In the old kingdom (3500 B. C.) amulets of many kinds were worn; the sacred eyes of horses and the images of gods were the more theologic, and continued in use till late times ; •.vhile the clinched hand, the jackal's head, and the hornet were simple charms which did not hold their place against later ideas. Such amulets were equally efficacious for the dead as for the living, and could control the malice of evil spirits in the future as in the present world. Hence nearly all our examples are those found in the mummies in tombs.
The more social beliefs of the household seem to have been largely devoted to the worship and benefit of the ancestors, as in China at present. In the central hall of the house was a niche or recess, usually in the western wall. This recess was two or three feet wide, and with sometimes a narrower recess in the middle of it. A raised step stood before it, or sometimes a platform with two or three steps leading to it. The recess was usually painted red, but in one case a painted scene remains in it, showing an ancestor come forth from his tomb as a ka of human form, and a ba or human-headed bird. Both ka and ba are ador ing the tree goddess, who gives them food and drink. Here we see that the earliest and simplest beliefs about the soul continued to be the basis of the domestic worship, although complex and gorgeous services were devoted to the temple gods at the same time. The evidence for this be longs only to the XVIII-XXII dynasties; so that we do not know how late this domestic worship continued. We may infer from its simple type that it preceded this period from the earliest times downward.
In later times of the Ptolemaic and Roman ages very few of the well-known gods appear at all in the popular pantheon. The main objects of worship were, before all, Horns, then isis with Horus and Seraiis, which was the later form of Osiris as modified by the type of Zeus. The vase-formed (or "canopic") Osiris is equally fre quent. Female figures are also com mon, and are of different types, but connected with the gestures of those who went to the orgies at Bubastis, and those who' sought fertility by in voking the sacred Hapi bull at Mem phis. These were probably charms against childlessness, so dreaded in the East.
(3) Animal Worship. This worship, which served for the ridicule of Roman and Christian writers, was probably one of the earliest, and be longed to the most nearly primitive layer of Egyp tian population. It was extended through every state of the country, and every local capital had its sacred animal.
The list of animals thus honored comprises the baboon, shrew-mouse, dog, wolf, jackal, ichneu mon, cat, lion, hippopotamus, ram, bull, cow, vulture, hawk, egret, ibis, goose, crocodile, cobra, oxyrhynkhos fish, eel, lepidotas, latus, and maeotes; while the scarab:ens beetle was the com moncst sacred emblem, though not worshiped any where. Of all these animals that were worshiped, it should be noted that it was always an individual animal that was honored and held sacred; while the whole species enjoyed only a vague sanctity, since any member of it might possibly become the divine representative. There was not the tabu and inviolability of the species to a special family or tribe, as in totemism; and no Egyptian hesi tated to kill and feed on the sheep, ox. or goose. however much single individuals were honored and adored.
This worship of the individual animals did not ensure their length of life. On the contrary, they were the victims of a sacramental feast.
The source of this worship of animals has been much debated. That the)' were not adored be cause of their utility is evident, as many are use less to man. That they were not merely employed as emblems of pre-existing gods is probable, since different gods arc associated with the same ani mals; the animal worship appears to be a wider and earlier stratum than that of gods, and some were sacred apart from any god. Probably the idea of extra-human intelligence, perception, and powers attributed to them is to be looked on as really the origin of the worship devoted to them. The most celebrated examples of the worship of sacred animals arc described by Creek and Roman authors. Four sacred bulls were adored: Hap; or Apis at Memphis, Mnevis at Heliopolis, Bak or Bakis at Hermonthis, and Onuphis. These appear from some figures of them to have hcen different local breeds with marked characteris tics. The most celebrated by far was the bull Hapi of Memphis; the long series of tombs of these sacred bulls at Sakkara is one of the most impressive sights in Egypt ; the earlier ones. about 150o B. C., were separate chapels; but during the later centuries vast catacombs were excavated, in the chambers of which gigantic sarcophagi of granite still remain. Later, in Greek times, the deified Hapi (who became an Osiris in his apotheosis, and was hence the Osir-apis) was wor shiped as Serapis; and this form of Osiris became the principal state deity of the Ptolemaic and Roman government of Egypt. The noble temple of Serapis at Alexandria was one of the greatest and most magnificent then known, and became the rallying point of the expiring struggles of pagan ism. The last great festival of the Egyptian re ligion was that of a fresh Apis bull under Julian, 361 A. D., noted on his coinage as an event of his reign.