Among these forces Ptah represents "warmth," the basis of all genera tion, Arent the giving principle, and 'Wu/ the receiving principle. Ra is the "sun god," and from him the kings called themselves "son of the Sun," or even simply "Ra," the Sun (whence, by the addition of the article was derived the word Pharaoh). Pc, Annkc (both feminine), and fah (masculine) were the deities of the firmament, the earth, and the 1110011. Sate, the daughter of Ra, was the " goddess of the day." Hathor (Athor) (fig. 7), who was highly venerated throughout Egypt, was the "goddess of the night," and at the same time the "goddess of love" and the "lady of the dance and mirth." Her symbolic animal was the cow, for which reason, probably, she is represented with the head of a cow, or at least with the horns of one enclosing the solar disc.
It is difficult to discern the original signification of the ibis-beaded Thoth, or Taati (p1. 14, 8), as when transferred to the Osiris cult he assumed an ethical character and had assigned to him the task of weighing at the "Judgment of the Dead" the deeds of man and noting the result, on which account he was especially venerated as the representative of truth.
Ma and Scb (jigs. 1, 4) were supposed to be the youngest of the older gods, and were perhaps added in order to make a connection with the system of the younger gods, at whose head stood their children Osiris and Isis. With the latter, as we have stated in referring to Thoth, an ethical religion supplanted the merely natural one—not actually destroying- it, but permeating and transforming it—and spread widely over Egypt. Hence arose a connected body of myths which have conic down to us in a con fused condition, but which plainly sought to glorify, if not the first teacher of civilization, its introduction and establishment, and to make its require ments the law of mankind.
In the myth of Osiris, dualism—the antagonism between good and evil which belongs to the more important of the old Asiatic religions—makes its appearance; for that god, after laboring for twenty-eight years for his country, was outwitted and killed by his hostile brother Set. He left to his family, especially to his wife Isis (jig. 5) and to his son Hor, or Harms (jig. II), the task of avenging this murder, and made it a duty for his worshippers to participate in the battle and thus to become enlisted on the better side.' The attempt of the later Pharaohs to restore the ancient worship of the Sun was evidently a reaction against the Osiris cult; but it met with no response from the priests or from the people. Figure 14 shows the
god Osiris on his throne, and before him King Sethos with offerings in both hands. The animal representative of Osiris was the (p1. 12, fig. 15), a black bull with a white triangular spot on the forehead and a knot under the tongue in the shape of the scarabmus. As several cities contested the distinction of being the real burial-place, and consequently the proper sanctuary, of the god, the Apis was kept in the temple of Ptah at Memphis (the capital), and was there honored with great festivals. After death he was embalmed—an honor which was also paid to other sacred animals (p. 12, figs. II, 12; see p. 135).
The cow was sacred to Isis, and the ass to Set. The hatred against the latter god was vented on his animal. Nevertheless, Set always ranked as a god, and was regularly worshipped as such. He was regarded as the great destroyer, who can never be overcome, who dwells in darkness, and who seeks to unsettle all that is established.' Besides those mentioned, the Egyptian mythology contained numerous other deities, of inferior rank; for instance, the jackal-headed Anubis 14, fig. 6), who assisted in finding the corpse of Osiris, and others, of whom, on account of their characteristic representation, we have inserted pictures copied from old Egyptian paintings. The images of the gods are represented in divers colors. They always hold in one hand a long staff which served as a sceptre, the point of which is decorated with a lapwing's head, while the staff held by the goddesses is decorated with a lotus-flower. In the other hand they carry a T-shaped cross on a handle, the so-called "Nile cross," a symbol of life and fecundity.
The ethical character of the Osiris cult is especially apparent in the belief that he continues his office of sovereign in the lower world and there rules as the judge and rewarder of the dead. The whole minute system of the rites paid to the dead, which will be hereafter described (p. IA, was connected with this belief.
The Religious Ceremonies were in many respects related to the funeral observances. Pompous processions on the water and on the land, in which the images of the gods were carried in costly temple-shaped shrines or in boats (A/. II, fig. 13; pl. 14, fig. 16), made the public worship brilliant and impressive. Secret rites were performed in the temples, and the ritual was adorned by the use of costly utensils, such as censers and vessels for offerings (fl. 11, figs. 14-19).