The Literature of the Ancient Egyptians Part 6

The G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses next created were five, namely, Osiris, Horus, Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Osiris married Isis, and their son was called Horus; Set married Nephthys, but their son Anpu, or Anubis, is not mentioned in our text. Osiris became the great Ancestor-G.o.d of Egypt, and was a reincarnation of his great-grandfather. Men and women were first formed from the tears that fell from the Eye of Khepera, or the Sun-G.o.d, upon his body; the old Egyptian word for "men" very closely resembles in form and sound the word for "tears." Plants, vegetables, herbs, and trees owe their origin to the light of the moon falling upon the earth. Our text contains no mention of a special creation of the "beasts of the field," but the G.o.d states distinctly that he created the children of the earth, or creeping things of all kinds, and among this cla.s.s quadrupeds are probably included. The men and women, and all the other living creatures that were made at that time by Nebertcher, or Khepera, reproduced their species, each in his own way, and thus the earth became filled with their descendants as we see at the present time. The elements of this Creation legend are very, very old, and the form in which they are grouped in our text suggests the influence of the priests of Heliopolis. It is interesting to note that only very ancient G.o.ds appear as Powers of creation, and these were certainly wors.h.i.+pped for many centuries before the priests of Heliopolis invented their cult of the Sun-G.o.d, and identified their G.o.d with the older G.o.ds of the country. We may note, too, that G.o.ds like Ptah and Amen, whose reputation was so great in later times, and even when our text was copied in 305 B.C., find no mention at all.

CHAPTER VII

LEGENDS OF THE G.o.dS

The Egyptians believed that at one time all the great G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses lived upon earth, and that they ruled Egypt in much the same way as the Pharaohs with whom they were more or less acquainted. They went about among men and took a real personal interest in their affairs, and, according to tradition, they spared no pains in promoting their wishes and well-being. Their rule was on the whole beneficent, chiefly because in addition to their divine attributes they possessed natures, and apparently bodily const.i.tutions that were similar to those of men. Like men also they were supposed to feel emotions and pa.s.sions, and to be liable to the accidents that befell men, and to grow old, and even to die. The greatest of all the G.o.ds was Ra, and he reigned over Egypt for very many years. His reign was marked by justice and righteousness, and he was in all periods of Egyptian history regarded as the type of what a king should be. When men instead of G.o.ds reigned over Egypt they all delighted to call themselves sons of Ra, and every king believed that Ra was his true father, and regarded his mother's husband as his father only in name. This belief was always common in Egypt, and even Alexander the Great found it expedient to adopt it, for he made a journey to the sanctuary of Amen (Ammon) in the Oasis of Siwah in order to be officially acknowledged by the G.o.d. Having obtained this recognition, he became the rightful lord of Egypt.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND

This Legend is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of a small chamber in the tomb of Seti I about 1350 B.C. When Ra, the self-begotten and self-formed G.o.d, had been ruling G.o.ds and men for some time, men began to complain about him, saying, "His Majesty hath become old. His bones have turned into silver, his flesh into gold, and his hair into real lapis-lazuli." His Majesty heard these murmurings and commanded his followers to summon to his presence his Eye (_i.e._ the G.o.ddess Hathor), Shu, Tefnut, Keb, Nut, and the father and mother G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses who were with him in the watery abyss of NU, and also the G.o.d of this water, NU. They were to come to him with all their followers secretly, so that men should not suspect the reason for their coming, and take flight, and they were to a.s.semble in the Great House in Heliopolis, where Ra would take counsel with them. In due course all the G.o.ds a.s.sembled in the Great House, and they ranged themselves down the sides of the House, and they bowed down in homage before Ra until their heads touched the ground, and said, "Speak, for we are listening." Then Ra addresing Nu, the father of the first-born G.o.ds, told him to give heed to what men were doing, for they whom he had created were murmuring against him. And he said, "Tell me what ye would do. Consider the matter, invent a plan for me, and I will not slay them until I have heard what ye shall say concerning this thing." Nu replied, "Thou, O my son Ra, art greater than the G.o.d who made thee (_i.e._ Nu himself), thou art the king of those who were created with thee, thy throne is established, and the fear of thee is great. Let thine Eye (Hathor) attack those who blaspheme thee."

And Ra said, "Lo, they have fled to the mountains, for their hearts are afraid because of what they have said." The G.o.ds replied, "Let thine Eye go forth and destroy those who blasphemed thee, for no eye can resist thine when it goeth forth in the form of Hathor." Thereupon the Eye of Ra, or Hathor, went in pursuit of the blasphemers in the mountains, and slew them all. On her return Ra welcomed her, and the G.o.ddess said that the work of vanquis.h.i.+ng men was dear to her heart. Ra then said that he would be the master of men as their king, and that he would destroy them. For three nights the G.o.ddess Hathor-Sekhmet waded about in the blood of men, the slaughter beginning at Hensu (Herakleopolis Magna).

Then the Majesty of Ra ordered that messengers should be sent to Abu, a town at the foot of the First Cataract, to fetch mandrakes (?), and when they were brought he gave them to the G.o.d Sekti to crush. When the women slaves were bruising grain for making beer, the crushed mandrakes (?) were placed in the vessels that were to hold the beer, together with some of the blood of those who had been slain by Hathor. The beer was then made, and seven thousand vessels were filled with it. When Ra saw the beer he ordered it to be taken to the scene of slaughter, and poured out on the meadows of the four quarters of heaven. The object of putting mandrakes (?) in the beer was to make those who drank fall asleep quickly, and when the G.o.ddess Hathor came and drank the beer mixed with blood and mandrakes (?) she became very merry, and, the sleepy stage of drunkenness coming on her, she forgot all about men, and slew no more.

At every festival of Hathor ever after "sleepy beer" was made, and it was drunk by those who celebrated the feast.

Now, although the blasphemers of Ra had been put to death, the heart of the G.o.d was not satisfied, and he complained to the G.o.ds that he was smitten with the "pain of the fire of sickness." He said, "My heart is weary because I have to live with men; I have slain some of them, but worthless men still live, and I did not slay as many as I ought to have done considering my power." To this the G.o.ds replied, "Trouble not about thy lack of action, for thy power is in proportion to thy will." Here the text becomes fragmentary, but it seems that the G.o.ddess Nut took the form of a cow, and that the other G.o.ds lifted Ra on to her back. When men saw that Ra was leaving the earth, they repented of their murmurings, and the next morning they went out with bows and arrows to fight the enemies of the Sun-G.o.d. As a reward for this Ra forgave those men their former blasphemies, but persisted in his intention of retiring from the earth. He ascended into the heights of heaven, being still on the back of the Cow-G.o.ddess Nut, and he created there Sekhet-hetep and Sekhet-Aaru as abodes for the blessed, and the flowers that blossomed therein he turned into stars. He also created the millions of beings who lived there in order that they might praise him. The height to which Ra had ascended was now so great that the legs of the Cow-G.o.ddess on which he was enthroned trembled, and to give her strength he ordained that Nut should be held up in her position by the G.o.dhead and upraised arms of the G.o.d Shu. This is why we see pictures of the body of Nut being supported by Shu. The legs of the Cow-G.o.ddess were supported by the various G.o.ds, and thus the seat of the throne of Ra became stable. When this was done Ra caused the Earth-G.o.d Keb to be summoned to his presence, and when he came he spake to him about the venomous reptiles that lived in the earth and were hostile to him. Then turning to Thoth, he bade him to prepare a series of spells and words of power, which would enable those who knew them to overcome snakes and serpents and deadly reptiles of all kinds. Thoth did so, and the spells which he wrote under the direction of Ra served as a protection of the servants of Ra ever after, and secured for them the help of Keb, who became sole lord of all the beings that lived and moved on and in his body, the earth. Before finally relinquis.h.i.+ng his active rule on earth, Ra summoned Thoth and told him of his desire to create a Light-soul in the Tuat and in the Land of the Caves. Over this region he appointed Thoth to rule, and he ordered him to keep a register of those who were there, and to mete out just punishments to them. In fact, Thoth was to be ever after the representative of Ra in the Other World.

THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS

This Legend is found written in the hieratic character upon a papyrus preserved in Turin, and it ill.u.s.trates a portion of the preceding Legend. We have seen that Ra instructed Thoth to draw up a series of spells to be used against venomous reptiles of all kinds, and the reader will perceive from the following summary that Ra had good reason for doing this. The Legend opens with a list of the t.i.tles of Ra, the "self-created G.o.d," creator of heaven, earth, breath of life, fire, G.o.ds, men, beasts, cattle, reptiles, feathered fowl, and fish, the King of G.o.ds and men, to whom cycles of 120 years are as years, whose manifold names are unknown even by the G.o.ds. The text continues: "Isis had the form of a woman, and knew words of power, but she was disgusted with men, and she yearned for the companions.h.i.+p of the G.o.ds and the spirits, and she meditated and asked herself whether, supposing she had the knowledge of the Name of Ra, it was not possible to make herself as great as Ra was in heaven and on the earth? Meanwhile Ra appeared in heaven each day upon his throne, but he had become old, and he dribbled at the mouth, and his spittle fell on the ground. One day Isis took some of the spittle and kneaded up dust in it, and made this paste into the form of a serpent with a forked tongue, so that if it struck anyone the person struck would find it impossible to escape death. This figure she placed on the path on which Ra walked as he came into heaven after his daily survey of the Two Lands (_i.e._ Egypt). Soon after this Ra rose up, and attended by his G.o.ds he came into heaven, but as he went along the serpent drove its fangs into him. As soon as he was bitten Ra felt the living fire leaving his body, and he cried out so loudly that his voice reached the uttermost parts of heaven. The G.o.ds rushed to him in great alarm, saying, "What is the matter?" At first Ra was speechless, and found himself unable to answer, for his jaws shook, his lips trembled, and the poison continued to run through every part of his body. When he was able to regain a little strength, he told the G.o.ds that some deadly creature had bitten him, something the like of which he had never seen, something which his hand had never made. He said, "Never before have I felt such pain; there is no pain worse than this." Ra then went on to describe his greatness and power, and told the listening G.o.ds that his father and mother had hidden his name in his body so that no one might be able to master him by means of any spell or word of power.

In spite of this something had struck him, and he knew not what it was.

"Is it fire?" he asked. "Is it water? My heart is full of burning fire, my limbs are s.h.i.+vering, shooting pains are in all my members." All the G.o.ds round about him uttered cries of lamentation, and at this moment Isis appeared. Going to Ra she said, "What is this, O divine father?

What is this? Hath a serpent bitten thee? Hath something made by thee lifted up its head against thee? Verily my words of power shall overthrow it; I will make it depart in the sight of thy light." Ra then repeated to Isis the story of the incident, adding, "I am colder than water, I am hotter than fire. All my members sweat. My body quaketh.

Mine eye is unsteady. I cannot look on the sky, and my face is bedewed with water as in the time of the Inundation."[1] Then Isis said, "Father, tell me thy name, for he who can utter his own name liveth."

[Footnote 1: _i.e._ in the period of summer. The season Shemmu began in April and ended about July 15.]

Ra replied, "I am the maker of heaven and earth. I knit together the mountains and whatsoever liveth on them. I made the waters. I made Mehturit[1] to come into being. I made Kamutef.[2] I made heaven, and the two hidden G.o.ds of the horizon, and put souls into the G.o.ds. I open my eyes, and there is light; I shut my eyes, and there is darkness. I speak the word[s], and the waters of the Nile appear. I am he whom the G.o.ds know not. I make the hours. I create the days. I open the year. I make the river [Nile]. I create the living fire whereby works in the foundries and workshops are carried out. I am Khepera in the morning, Ra at noon, and Temu in the evening." Meanwhile the poison of the serpent was coursing through the veins of Ra, and the enumeration of his works afforded the G.o.d no relief from it. Then Isis said to Ra, "Among all the things which thou hast named to me thou hast not named thy name. Tell me thy name, and the poison shall come forth from thee." Ra still hesitated, but the poison was burning in his blood, and the heat thereof was stronger than that of a fierce fire. At length he said, "Isis shall search me through, and my name shall come forth from my body and pa.s.s into hers." Then Ra hid himself from the G.o.ds, and for a season his throne in the Boat of Millions of Years was empty. When the time came for the heart of the G.o.d to pa.s.s into Isis, the G.o.ddess said to Horus, her son, "The great G.o.d shall bind himself by an oath to give us his two eyes (_i.e._ the sun and the moon)." When the great G.o.d had yielded up his name Isis p.r.o.nounced the following spell: "Flow poison, come out of Ra. Eye of Horus, come out of the G.o.d, and sparkle as thou comest through his mouth. I am the worker. I make the poison to fall on the ground. The poison is conquered. Truly the name of the great G.o.d hath been taken from him. Ra liveth! The poison dieth! If the poison live Ra shall die." These were the words which Isis spoke, Isis the great lady, the Queen of the G.o.ds, who knew Ra by his own name.

[Footnote 1: An ancient Cow-G.o.ddess of heaven.]

[Footnote 2: A form of Amen-Ra.]

In late times magicians used to write the above Legend on papyrus above figures of Temu and Heru-Hekenu, who gave Ra his secret name, and over figures of Isis and Horus, and sell the rolls as charms against snake bites.

THE LEGEND OF HORUS OF BEHUTET AND THE WINGED DISK

The text of this Legend is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of the temple of Edfu, in Upper Egypt, and some of the incidents described in it are ill.u.s.trated by large bas-reliefs. The form of the Legend here given dates from the Ptolemaic Period, but the subject matter is some thousands of years older. The great historical fact underlying the Legend is the Conquest of Egypt by some very early king who invaded Egypt from the south, and who succeeded in conquering every part of it, even the northern part of the Delta. The events described are supposed to have taken place whilst Ra was still reigning on the earth. The Legend states that in the three hundred and sixty-third year of the reign of Ra-Harmakhis, the ever living, His Majesty was in Ta-sti (_i.e._ the Land of the Bow, or Nubia) with his soldiers; the enemy had reviled him, and for this reason the land is called "Uauatet" to this day. From Nubia Ra sailed down the river to Apollinopolis (Edfu), and Heru-Behutet, or Horus of Edfu, was with him. On arriving there Horus told Ra that the enemy were plotting against him, and Ra told him to go out and slay them. Horus took the form of a great winged disk, which flew up into the air and pursued the enemy, and it attacked them with such terrific force that they could neither see nor hear, and they fell upon each other, and slew each other, and in a moment not a single foe was left alive. Then Horus returned to the Boat of Ra-Harmakhis, in the form of the winged disk which shone with many colours, and said, "Advance, O Ra, and look upon thine enemies who are lying under thee in this land." Ra set out on the journey, taking with him the G.o.ddess Ashtoreth, and he saw his enemies lying on the ground, each of them being fettered. After looking upon his slaughtered foes Ra said to the G.o.ds who were with him, "Behold, let us sail in our boat on the water, for our hearts are glad because our enemies have been overthrown on the earth." So the Boat of Ra moved onwards towards the north, and the enemies of the G.o.d who were on the banks took the form of crocodiles and hippopotami, and tried to frighten the G.o.d, for as his boat came near them they opened their jaws wide, intending to swallow it up together with the G.o.ds who were in it. Among the crew were the Followers of Horus of Edfu, who were skilled workers in metal, and each of these had in his hands an iron spear and a chain. These "Blacksmiths" threw out their chains into the river and allowed the crocodiles and hippopotami to entangle their legs in them, and then they dragged the beasts towards the bows of the Boat, and driving their spears into their bodies, slew them there. After the slaughter the bodies of six hundred and fifty-one crocodiles were brought and laid out before the town of Edfu. When Thoth saw these he said, "Let your hearts rejoice, O G.o.ds of heaven, Let your hearts rejoice, O ye G.o.ds who dwell on the earth. The Young Horus cometh in peace. On his way he hath made manifest deeds of valour, according to the Book of slaying the Hippopotamus." And from that day they made figures of Horus in metal.

Then Horus of Edfu took the form of the winged disk, and set himself on the prow of the Boat of Ra. He took with him Nekhebet, G.o.ddess of the South, and Uatchet, G.o.ddess of the North, in the form of serpents, so that they might make all the enemies of the Sun-G.o.d to quake in the South and in the North. His foes who had fled to the north doubled back towards the south, for they were in deadly fear of the G.o.d. Horus pursued and overtook them, and he and his blacksmiths had in their hands spears and chains, and they slew large numbers of them to the south-east of the town of Thebes in Upper Egypt. Many succeeded in escaping towards the north once more, but after pursuing them for a whole day Horus overtook them, and made a great slaughter among them. Meanwhile the other foes of the G.o.d, who had heard of the defeats of their allies, fled into Lower Egypt, and took refuge among the swamps of the Delta.

Horus set out after them, and came up with them, and spent four days in the water slaying his foes, who tried to escape in the forms of crocodiles and hippopotami. He captured one hundred and forty-two of the enemy and a male hippopotamus, and took them to the fore part of the Boat of Ra. There he hacked them in pieces, and gave their inward parts to his followers, and their mutilated bodies to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses who were in the Boat of Ra and on the river banks in the town of Heben.

Then the remnant of the enemy turned their faces towards the Lake of the North, and they attempted to sail to the Mediterranean in boats; but the terror of Horus filled their hearts, and they left their boats and fled to the district of Mertet-Ament, where they joined themselves to the wors.h.i.+ppers of Set, the G.o.d of evil, who dwelt in the Western Delta.

Horus pursued them in his boat for one day and one night without seeing them, and he arrived at the town of Per-Rehui. At length he discovered the position of the enemy, and he and his followers fell upon them, and slew a large number of them; he captured three hundred and eighty-one of them alive, and these he took to the Boat of Ra, then, having slain them, he gave their carcases to his followers or bodyguard, who presumably devoured them. The custom of eating the bodies of enemies is very old in Egypt, and survives in some parts of Africa to this day.

Then Set, the great antagonist of Horus, came out and cursed him for the slaughter of his people, using most shameful words of abuse. Horus stood up and fought a duel with Set, the "Stinking Face," as the text calls him, and Horus succeeded in throwing him to the ground and spearing him.

Horus smashed his mouth with a blow of his mace, and having fettered him with his chain, he brought him into the presence of Ra, who ordered that he was to be handed over to Isis and her son Horus, that they might work their will on him. Here we must note that the ancient editor of the Legend has confounded Horus the ancient Sun-G.o.d with Horus, son of Isis, son of Osiris. Then Horus, the son of Isis, cut off the heads of Set and his followers in the presence of Ra, and dragged Set by his feet round about throughout the district with his spear driven through his head and back, according to the order of Ra. The form which Horus of Edfu had at that time was that of a man of great strength, with the face and back of a hawk; on his head he wore the Double Crown, with feathers and serpents attached, and in his hands he held a metal spear and a metal chain. And Horus, the son of Isis, took upon himself a similar form, and the two Horuses slew all the enemies on the bank of the river to the west of the town of Per-Rehui. This slaughter took place on the seventh day of the first month of the season Pert,[1] which was ever afterwards called the "Day of the Festival of Sailing."

[Footnote 1: About the middle of November.]

Now, although Set in the form of a man had been slain, he reappeared in the form of a great hissing serpent, and took up his abode in a hole in the ground without being noticed by Horus. Ra, however, saw him, and gave orders that Horus, the son of Isis, in the form of a hawk-headed staff, should set himself at the mouth of the hole, so that the monster might never reappear among men. This Horus did, and Isis his mother lived there with him. Once again it became known to Ra that a remnant of the followers of Set had escaped, and that under the direction of the Smait fiends, and of Set, who had reappeared, they were hiding in the swamps of the Eastern Delta. Horus of Edfu, the winged disk, pursued them, speared them, and finally slew them in the presence of Ra. For the moment there were no more enemies of Ra to be found in the district on land, although Horus pa.s.sed six days and six nights in looking for them; but it seems that several of the followers of Set in the forms of water reptiles were lying on the ground under water, and that Horus saw them there. At this time Horus had strict guard kept over the tomb of Osiris in Anrutef,[1] because he learned that the Smait fiends wanted to come and wreck both it and the body of the G.o.d. Isis, too, never ceased to recite spells and incantations in order to keep away her husband's foes from his body. Meanwhile the "blacksmiths" of Horus, who were in charge of the "middle regions" of Egypt, found a body of the enemy, and attacked them fiercely, slew many of them, and took one hundred and six of them prisoners. The "blacksmiths" of the west also took one hundred and six prisoners, and both groups of prisoners were slain before Ra. In return for their services Ra bestowed dwelling-places upon the "blacksmiths," and allowed them to have temples with images of their G.o.ds in them, and arranged for offerings and libations to be made to them by properly appointed priests of various cla.s.ses.

[Footnote 1: A district of Herakleopolis.]

Shortly after these events Ra discovered that a number of his enemies were still at large, and that they had sailed in boats to the swamps that lay round about the town of Tchal, or Tchar, better known as Zoan or Tanis. Once more Horus unmoored the Boat of Ra, and set out against them; some took refuge in the waters, and others landed and escaped to the hilly land on the east. For some reason, which is not quite apparent, Horus took the form of a mighty lion with a man's face, and he wore on his head the triple crown. His claws were like flints, and he pursued the enemy on the hills, and chased them hither and thither, and captured one hundred and forty-two of them. He tore out their tongues, and ripped their bodies into strips with his claws, and gave them over to his allies in the mountains, who, no doubt, ate them. This was the last fight in the north of Egypt, and Ra proposed that they should sail up the river and return to the south. They had traversed all Egypt, and sailed over the lakes in the Delta, and down the arms of the Nile to the Mediterranean, and as no more of the enemy were to be seen the prow of the boat of Ra was turned southwards. Thoth recited the spells that produced fair weather, and said the words of power that prevented storms from rising, and in due course the Boat reached Nubia. When it arrived Horus found in the country of Uauatet men who were conspiring against him and cursing him, just as they had at one time blasphemed Ra. Horus, taking the form of the winged disk, and accompanied by the two serpent-G.o.ddesses, Nekhebet and Uatchet, attacked the rebels, but there was no fierce fighting this time, for the hearts of the enemy melted through fear of him. His foes cast themselves before him on the ground in submission, they offered no resistance, and they died straightway.

Horus then returned to the town of Behutet (Edfu), and the G.o.ds acclaimed him, and praised his prowess. Ra was so pleased with him that he ordered Thoth to have a winged disk, with a serpent on each side of it, placed in every temple in Egypt in which he (_i.e._ Ra) was wors.h.i.+pped, so that it might act as a protector of the building, and drive away any and every fiend and devil that might wish to attack it.

This is the reason why we find the winged disk, with a serpent on each side of it, above the doors of temples and religious buildings throughout the length and breadth of Egypt.

In many places in the text that contains the above Legend there are short pa.s.sages in which attempts are made to explain the origins of the names of certain towns and G.o.ds. All these are interpolations in the narrative made by scribes at a late period of Egyptian history. As it would be quite useless to reproduce them without many explanatory notes, for which there is no room in this little book, they have been omitted.

THE LEGEND OF KHNEMU AND A SEVEN YEARS' FAMINE

This Legend is cut in hieroglyphs on a large rounded block of granite, which stands on the south-east portion of Sahal, a little island in the First Cataract in Upper Egypt, two or three miles to the south of the modern town of Aswan, the ancient Syene. The form of the Legend, and the shapes of the hieroglyphs, and the late spelling of the words, prove that the inscription is the work of the Ptolemaic Period, though it is possible that the Legend in its simplest form is as old as the period to which it is ascribed in the Sahal text, namely, the third dynasty, about 4100 B.C. The subject of the Legend is a terrible famine, which lasted for seven years, in the reign of King Tcheser, and which recalls the seven years' famine that took place in Egypt when Joseph was there. This famine was believed to have been caused by the king's neglect to wors.h.i.+p properly the G.o.d Khnemu, who was supposed to control the springs of the Nile, which were a.s.serted by the sages to be situated between two great rocks on the Island of Elephantine. The Legend sets forth that the Viceroy of Nubia, in the reign of Tcheser, was a n.o.bleman called Meter, who was also the overseer of all the temple properties in the South. His residence was in Abu, or Elephantine, and in the eighteenth year of his reign the king sent him a despatch in which it was written thus: "This is to inform thee that misery hath laid hold upon me as I sit upon the great throne, and I grieve for those who dwell in the Great House.[1] My heart is grievously afflicted by reason of a very great calamity, which is due to the fact that the waters of the Nile have not risen to their proper height for seven years. Grain is exceedingly scarce, there are no garden herbs and vegetables to be had at all, and everything which men use for food hath come to an end. Every man robbeth his neighbour. The people wish to walk about, but are unable to move. The baby waileth, the young man shuffleth along on his feet through weakness. The hearts of the old men are broken down with despair, their legs give way under them, they sink down exhausted on the ground, and they lay their hands on their bellies [in pain]. The officials are powerless and have no counsel to give, and when the public granaries, which ought to contain supplies, are opened, there cometh forth from them nothing but wind.

Everything is in a state of ruin. I go back in my mind to the time when I had an adviser, to the time of the G.o.ds, to the Ibis-G.o.d [Thoth], and to the chief Kher-heb priest Imhetep (Imouthis),[2] the son of Ptah of his South Wall.[3] [Tell me, I pray thee], Where is the birthplace of the Nile? What G.o.d or what G.o.ddess presideth over it? What kind of form hath the G.o.d? For it is he that maketh my revenue, and who filleth the granaries with grain. I wish to go to [consult] the Chief of Het-Sekhmet,[4] whose beneficence strengtheneth all men in their works.

I wish to go into the House of Life,[5] and to take the rolls of the books in my own hands, so that I may examine them [and find out these things]."

[Footnote 1: An allusion to the royal t.i.tle of Pharaoh, in Egyptian PER-AA, the "Great House," in whom and by whom all the Egyptians were supposed to live.]

[Footnote 2: A famous priest and magician of Memphis, who was subsequently deified.]

[Footnote 3: A part of Memphis.]

[Footnote 4: _i.e._ Hermopolis, the town of Thoth.]

[Footnote 5: _i.e._ the library of the temple.]

Having read the royal despatch the Viceroy Meter set out to go to the king, and when he came to him he proceeded to instruct the king in the matters about which he had asked questions. The text makes the king say: "[Meter] gave me information about the rise of the Nile, and he told me all that men had written concerning it; and he made clear to me all the difficult pa.s.sages [in the books], which my ancestors had consulted hastily, and which had never before been explained to any king since the time when Ra [reigned]. And he said to me: There is a town in the river wherefrom the Nile maketh his appearance. 'Abu' was its name in the beginning: it is the City of the Beginning, it is the Name of the City of the Beginning. It reacheth to Uauatet, which is the first land [on the south]. There is a long flight of steps there (a nilometer?), on which Ra resteth when he determineth to prolong life to mankind. It is called 'Netchemtchem ankh.' Here are the 'Two Qerti,'[1] which are the two b.r.e.a.s.t.s wherefrom every good thing cometh. Here is the bed of the Nile, here the Nile-G.o.d reneweth his youth, and here he sendeth out the flood on the land. Here his waters rise to a height of twenty-eight cubits; at Hermopolis (in the Delta) their height is seven cubits. Here the Nile-G.o.d smiteth the ground with his sandals, and here he draweth the bolts and throweth open the two doors through which the water poureth forth. In this town the Nile-G.o.d dwelleth in the form of Shu, and he keepeth the account of the products of all Egypt, in order to give to each his due. Here are kept the cord for measuring land and the register of the estates. Here the G.o.d liveth in a wooden house with a door made of reeds, and branches of trees form the roof; its entrance is to the south-east. Round about it are mountains of stone to which quarrymen come with their tools when they want stone to build temples to the G.o.ds, shrines for sacred animals, and pyramids for kings, or to make statues. Here they offer sacrifices of all kinds in the sanctuary, and here their sweet-smelling gifts are presented before the face of the G.o.d Khnemu. In the quarries on the river bank is granite, which is called the 'stone of Abu.' The names of its G.o.ds are: Sept (Sothis, the dog-star), Anqet, Hep (the Nile-G.o.d), Shu, Keb, Nut, Osiris, Horus, Isis, and Nephthys. Here are found precious stones (a list is given), gold, silver, copper, iron, lapis-lazuli, emerald, crystal, ruby, &c., alabaster, mother-of-emerald, and seeds of plants that are used in making incense. These were the things which I learned from Meter [the Viceroy]."

[Footnote 1: The two caverns which contained the springs of the Nile.]

Having informed the king concerning the rise of the Nile and the other matters mentioned in his despatch, Meter made arrangements for the king to visit the temple of Khnemu in person. This he did, and the Legend gives us the king's own description of his visit. He says: I entered the temple, and the keepers of the rolls untied them and showed them to me.

I was purified by the sprinkling of holy water, and I pa.s.sed through the places that were prohibited to ordinary folk, and a great offering of cakes, ale, geese, oxen, &c., was offered up on my behalf to the G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses of Abu. Then I found the G.o.d [Khnemu] standing in front of me, and I propitiated him with the offerings that I made unto him, and I made prayer and supplication before him. Then he opened his eyes,[1] and his heart inclined to me, and in a majestic manner he said unto me: "I am Khnemu who fas.h.i.+oned thee. My two hands grasped thee and knitted together thy body; I made thy members sound, and I gave thee thy heart.

Yet the stones have been lying under the ground for ages, and no man hath worked them in order to build a G.o.d-house, to repair the [sacred]

buildings which are in ruins, or to make shrines for the G.o.ds of the South and North, or to do what he ought to do for his lord, even though I am the Lord [the Creator]. I am Nu, the self-created, the Great G.o.d, who came into being in the beginning. [I am] Hep [the Nile-G.o.d] who riseth at will to give health to him that worketh for me. I am the Governor and Guide of all men, in all their periods, the Most Great, the Father of the G.o.ds, Shu, the Great One, the Chief of the earth. The two halves of heaven are my abode. The Nile is poured out in a stream by me, and it goeth round about the tilled lands, and its embrace produceth life for every one that breatheth, according to the extent of its embrace.... I will make the Nile to rise for thee, and in no year shall it fail, and it shall spread its water out and cover every land satisfactorily. Plants, herbs, and trees shall bend beneath [the weight of] their produce. The G.o.ddess Rennet (the Harvest G.o.ddess) shall be at the head of everything, and every product shall increase a hundred thousandfold, according to the cubit of the year.[2] The people shall be filled, verily to their hearts' desire, yea, everyone. Want shall cease, and the emptiness of the granaries shall come to an end. The Land of Mera (_i.e._ Egypt) shall be one cultivated land, the districts shall be yellow with crops of grain, and the grain shall be good. The fertility of the land shall be according to the desire [of the husbandman], and it shall be greater than it hath ever been before." At the sound of the word "crops" the king awoke, and the courage that then filled his heart was as great as his former despair had been.

[Footnote 1: The king was standing before a statue with movable eyes.]

[Footnote 2: _i.e._ the number of the cubits which the waters of the Nile shall rise.]

Having left the chamber of the G.o.d the king made a decree by which he endowed the temple of Khnemu with lands and gifts, and he drew up a code of laws under which every farmer was compelled to pay certain dues to it. Every fisherman and hunter had to pay a t.i.the. Of the calves cast one tenth were to be sent to the temple to be offered up as the daily offering. Gold, ivory, ebony, spices, precious stones, and woods were t.i.thed, whether their owners were Egyptians or not, but no local tribe was to levy duty on these things on their road to Abu. Every artisan also was to pay t.i.the, with the exception of those who were employed in the foundry attached to the temple, and whose occupation consisted in making the images of the G.o.ds. The king further ordered that a copy of this decree, the original of which was cut in wood, should be engraved on a stele to be set up in the sanctuary, with figures of Khnemu and his companion G.o.ds cut above it. The man who spat upon the stele [if discovered] was to be "admonished with a rope."