The World's Progress Part 14

Before leaving this brief consideration of Egyptian writing, we should understand what supplied the writing material of Egypt. The papyrus reeds have frequently been mentioned with no explanation of their use.

From this word papyrus has been derived our word _paper_.

The reeds grew thick along the sides of streams. Their stems were three cornered and about three inches wide at the base. By peeling off the outer tough green covering, a white pith was obtained. Splitting it and laying strips together, the edges lapping, and upon a surface so formed placing a second layer running the other way, sprinkling the whole with the muddy Nile water, and putting it all under a press made up the process of manufacturing a composition which could be cut into thin sheets. These afforded all the writing material known until the seventh century after Christ, when prepared skins, or parchment, were sometimes subst.i.tuted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EGYPTIAN SCRIBES]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] From inscription on a tomb; trans. in "Dwellers on the Nile."

[2] Maspero: Ancient Egypt, 9.

[3] Popular Literature of Ancient Egypt. Wiedermann.

CHAPTER XIII.

RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT.

The life of the ancient Egyptians was in a great measure controlled by their religious beliefs. In prehistoric times, as has already been explained, each nome, or province, was independent, and was the home of some tribe or tribes. Just as we find the American Indian wors.h.i.+pping the stick that was powerful enough to throw him in the forest, so these primitive people wors.h.i.+pped animals and trees. Each animate object was conceived as possessing a soul or spirit, and this spirit accounted for the qualities or characteristics of the object--were they good or ill. A lion possessed savage tendencies--hence they would wors.h.i.+p him and propitiate his spirit, and their att.i.tude was the same toward the crocodile, the ram, the elephant, and many other animals. The date-palm brought them great blessings--therefore they would wors.h.i.+p the tree and insure a continuance of these blessings. As time went on, they grew to wors.h.i.+p G.o.ds, and to the G.o.ds these trees and animals, wors.h.i.+pped earlier on their own account, were thought sacred.

Each village and town had its own local deity and special objects of wors.h.i.+p, while the nome as a whole recognized G.o.ds of a more general character. In this way, each province of Upper Egypt--which was older in civilization than the Delta--and various portions of Lower Egypt, developed religions complete and independent of one another. After many hundred years, when all Egypt was united under one government and one king, the priests attempted to comprise these various beliefs into a common faith, to recognize the princ.i.p.al G.o.ds of all the nomes in the temples, and to evolve one religious system from the many local systems.

This they never succeeded in fully accomplis.h.i.+ng. They included in their lists some seventy deities, and harmonized some features of wors.h.i.+p, but each locality clung to its ancient deity and several different religions can be traced throughout Egyptian history.

Like most primitive people, the Egyptians wors.h.i.+pped the sun. This G.o.d revealed himself in many forms, but chiefly as Horus, represented by a falcon, and Re or Ra, represented by the Scarabaeus.

Osiris ruled in the kingdom of the dead, and he was thought to be just and good. With his wife, Isis, and his son, Horus, he was wors.h.i.+pped throughout the land, while everywhere Set was regarded as the principle of Evil.

Qeb was the G.o.d of Earth and Nut, his wife, the queen of the heavens, which in this connection signifies the skies. Their children were Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nebthet (Nephthys). Mat was the G.o.ddess of truth and justice.

One finds similarities between some of these divinities and the divinities of the Greeks--as for example, Nut reminds one of Hera, and Set was feared as much as Pluto; but it is dangerous to make these comparisons, for the religious conceptions of the two nations were fundamentally different.

The Egyptians usually represented their deities with human bodies and the heads of the animal sacred to each. So, for example, Horus always has the head of a sparrow-hawk; Thot, that of an Ibis, and so on. The prominent feature of this religion was the veneration of animals. It was believed that sometimes the G.o.d-spirit took up his abode within certain animals, and for this reason certain animals were regarded as sacred and were therefore, objects of wors.h.i.+p. Ptah was the G.o.d of Memphis. He, it was believed, took the form of the Apis-bull, hence this bull was regarded as sacred.

"The Apis bull dwelt in a temple of his own near the city, had his train of attendant priests, his meals of the choicest food, his grooms and currycombers who kept his coat clean and beautiful, his chamberlains who made up his bed, his cup-bearers who brought his water, and on certain days was led in a festive procession through the main streets of the town, so that the inhabitants might see him, and come forth from their dwellings and make obeisance. When he died he was carefully embalmed, and deposited, together with magnificent jewels and statuettes and vases, in a polished granite sarcophagus, cut out of a single block, and weighing between sixty and seventy tons. The cost of an Apis funeral amounted sometimes, as we are told, to as much as $100,000. Near Memphis the number of Apis bulls buried in this fas.h.i.+on was found to be sixty-four."[1]

In another locality the crocodile was the object of adoration, because, as in the case of the Apis bull, it was believed that some G.o.d dwelt within it.

"The crocodile was princ.i.p.ally wors.h.i.+pped about Lake Moeris. A chosen number of these animals were kept in the temples, where they were given elegant apartments and treated to every luxury at public expense. Let us imagine a crocodile, fresh from a warm, sumptuous bath, anointed with the most precious ointments and perfumed with fragrant odors; its head and neck glittering with jeweled earrings and necklace, and its feet with bracelets wallowing on a rich and costly carpet to receive the wors.h.i.+p of intelligent human beings! Its death was mourned as a public calamity; its body, wrapped in linen, was carried to the embalmers, attended by a train of people weeping and beating their b.r.e.a.s.t.s in grief; then having been expensively embalmed and bandaged in gaily colored mummy cloths, amid imposing ceremonies it was laid away in its rock sepulchre."

For these absurdities the Egyptians were ridiculed by other nations of their own times. Their adoration of animals led to most degrading excesses. The cat was considered sacred throughout the land, and punishment of death was meted out to persons injuring one.

WORs.h.i.+P OF THE NILE.

HYMN TO THE NILE.

Hail to thee O Nile!

Thou shewest thyself in this land Coming in peace, giving life to Egypt; O Ammon (thou) leadest night into day, A leading that rejoices the heart!

Overflowing the gardens created by Ra.

Giving life to all animals; Watering the lands without ceasing, The way of heaven descending, Lover of food, bestower of corn, Giving light to every home, O Ptah!

Bringer of food! Great Lord of provisions, Creator of all good things!

Lord of terrors and of choicest joys!

All are combined in him.

He produceth gra.s.s for the oxen, Providing victims for every G.o.d.

The choice incense is that which he supplies.

Lord in both regions, He filleth the granaries, enricheth the storehouses, He careth for the state of the poor.

Thou s.h.i.+nest in the city of the King; Then the householders are satiated with good things, The poor man laughs at the lotus.

All things are perfectly ordered.

Every kind of herb for thy children, If food should fail, All enjoyment is cast on the ground, The land falls in weariness.

O inundation of Nile, offerings are made to thee: Oxen are slain to thee: Great festivals are kept for thee; Fowls of the field are caught for thee, Pure flowers are offered to thee.

Offerings are made to every G.o.d As they are made unto the Nile.

Incense ascends unto heaven, Oxen, bulls, fowls are burnt!

Nile makes for himself chasms in the South; Unknown is his name in heaven, He doth not manifest his forms, Vain are all representations!

s.h.i.+ne forth, s.h.i.+ne forth, O Nile, s.h.i.+ne forth Giving life to his oxen by the pastures, Giving life to men by his oxen, s.h.i.+ne forth in glory, O Nile!

More natural seems to us the wors.h.i.+p of the Nile. There was a certain beauty which we today can still appreciate in the festivals celebrated each year on the banks of the rising water--which alone brought happiness and prosperity to all. Hapi was the G.o.d of the Nile and he was wors.h.i.+pped alike throughout Upper and Lower Egypt. Hymns were chanted to him, as it was believed he might be importuned to rise high enough to insure sufficient water, while if neglected, only a partial flood might occur. One of these hymns was something like this:

Hail to thee, Hapi Who descendeth upon earth And giveth life unto Egypt.

Thou who art hidden in the unknown Whose waters spread upon the fields Which the sun-G.o.d hath created; And giveth life to all who are athirst.

Thou, the Creator of corn, The Maker of barley---- Do thy waters cease to flow, Then are all mankind in misery; When thou wanest in heaven The G.o.ds and all living things perish.

It would be useless for us to attempt to become familiar with all the Egyptian divinities. In the age when people conceived and wors.h.i.+pped them, the G.o.ds of a given locality were often unknown in a neighboring city, and the animals held to be sacred in one town might be eaten as food in another.

In addition to all their deities, ancestors were wors.h.i.+pped by the Egyptians, and an altar was erected to the departed in every home.

It was believed that the soul left the body after death in the form of a bird (ba), dwelled apart from the body, but would often return to it for nourishment and earthly comforts. In early days, therefore, food in great abundance was placed in the tomb, or the priests were paid to provide daily food for the deceased. Later it was felt that the ka--or that portion of the dead which required nourishment--was a mere shadow, a ghost, a phantom, and so pictures of things to eat would satisfy as well as the articles themselves. Carrying out this idea, the Egyptians pictured upon tomb walls all stages of growing grain, from the time the seed dropped upon the mellow soil until the ground flour was served in loaves for the feast; meat was shown, in all its forms: from the ox, feeding in the pasture, to the juicy roasts, made ready for the table.

Such scenes as these adorned the interior chambers of the tomb; upon them, it was believed, the phantom-like ka might look and be appeased.

In a recently excavated tomb, liquid honey was discovered. Meats too, encased for at least 3,000 years, for the sustenance of the deceased, were here, while a lengthy menu covered a wall, stating the amount of food at the disposal of the departed. 5,006 geese, so it read, were at his command, but the number 5,006 was simply written beneath one pictured goose!

Beds, chairs, toilet articles, chariots, and countless other objects were left in the tomb of the well-to-do Egyptian, but were placed apart from the mummy, which was sealed up in a private apartment by itself, while a statue or image of the deceased was left near the belongings.

It was believed that at death the ba--or soul--went on a long journey to the land where Osiris reigned, and so great were the dangers of the way that many amulets and charms were laid by the departed to a.s.sist him in pa.s.sing the obstacles of the road he must needs encounter. He who arrived at last at the land of Peace, where the joys of life abided without the sorrows of earth, came into the presence of Osiris. Here he made a negative confession, similar to the following: "Hail unto you, ye lords of Truth! hail to thee, great G.o.d, lord of Truth and Justice! I have not committed iniquity against men! I have not oppressed the poor!

I have not laid labor upon any free man beyond that which he wrought for himself! I have not starved any man! I have not caused any to weep!...

There is no crime against me in this land of the Double Truth!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: DROMOS AND SECOND PYLON, TEMPLE OF KARNAK.]

These and many more denials of sin were made and it sometimes happened that the confession was inscribed on one wall of a tomb while elsewhere were shown captives taken in war, slaves oppressed by labor, and other incidents in the earthly career of the departed which lead us to infer that the G.o.ds were supposed to be too mighty to take notice of most remarkable contradictions.