2

3

who insti

ceremonies

worship.

worship of the gods. They were the first who AFRICA. assigned altars, images, and temples to the several CHAP. V. deities, and who introduced public festivals, pro- mankind, cessions, and solemn introductions; they were also and the first the first who made it a point of religion that men tuted the should abstain from female intercourse in the sacred forms and precincts, and should perform an ablution before they of religious entered a temple. They also claimed the merit of Astrology. having invented the science of astrology, which was subsequently borrowed by the Greeks. Each month and day was by them consecrated to a particular deity; and, according to the day upon which a person was born, they foretold his future fortunes, the life he would lead, the character he would exhibit, and the death he would die. More prodigies Prodigies. were also discovered by this people than by all the rest of mankind. Whenever one occurred, they carefully observed and noted down the result, and if the prodigy was ever repeated, they predicted a similar issue.5 Omens were frequently drawn from Omens. common accidents as tokens of good and bad luck. Thus the deep sigh of the engineer, who superintended the transport of a monolithic shrine from Elephantine to Sais, was sufficient to prevent its introduction into the sacred precinct intended for its reception; and Amasis, though a man of strong mind and singularly free from the prejudices of his countrymen, was induced to give way to this superstitious fancy. The power of divination was attri- Divination. buted to no human beings but only to some of the gods. Oracles were of very remote date in Aegypt, in the high

1 ii. 37.

6

2 ii. 4.

3 ii. 58. The posaywyai, or introductions, are frequently represented on the monuments, and refer to the introduction of a worshipper into the Sekos, or holy recess of the god.

4 ii. 64. Herodotus tells us in the same chapter that almost all other nations, excepting the Aegyptians and Greeks, had intercourse in sacred places, and entered the temples without any previous ablutions. This they did because they thought mankind were like other animals; and as they saw animals and birds coupling in the shrines and temples, they considered that it was not displeasing to the gods, who otherwise would not have permitted it. "But they who argue thus," he says, "act in a manner that I cannot approve."

Oracles held

CHAP. V.

est vener

ation.

AFRICA. and the ancient oracle at Dodona in Epirus was allowed, even by the priestesses themselves, to be of Aegyptian origin.' The principal oracles in Aegypt were those of Heracles, Apollo, Athene, Artemis, Ares, and the Theban Zeus, and above all that of Leto, in the city of Buto. The mode of divining differed in all of them.2 These oracles were consulted on all occasions of importance; and sometimes messages were sent spontaneously to those whom an oracle desired to advise. Mycerinus was assured of his approaching death because he had acted contrary to the divine will; Sabaco retired from the kingdom, because of a prediction; Psammitichus was banished from the dodecarthy on account of an oracular prophecy; and Neco was warned not to continue the canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, lest he should expose his country to foreign invasion." Oracles were also consulted, like the magicians of the present day, in cases of theft; and we are told that Amasis bestowed presents on those which he found from his own experience to be capable of delivering true responses, but that he utterly disregarded those which had given incorrect replies.'

Aegyptian deities divided by

into three
classes.
1st, The

gods.

2nd, The twelve gods.

5

The gods of the Aegyptians were divided, according to our author, into three classes, though he does not Herodotus mention all their several names. The first class consisted of the eight original gods, and included Pan eight great and Leto." The second class consisted of twelve gods, and included Heracles.10 The third class was composed of gods, who had sprung from the second class deities, and included Dionysus." No religious honours were paid to heroes.12 The ages of these classes twelve. of deities were as follows. From the time of Heraworshipped. cles, who belonged to the second class, down to the of the gods. reign of Amasis was a period of 17,000 years;13 and from the time of Dionysus, who belonged to the third class, to the reign of Amasis was a period of 15,000

3rd, The

gods sprung from the

No heroes

Chronology

13

9 ii. 156.

12 ii. 50.

13 ii. 43.

CHAP. V.

years; and the Aegyptians declared that they knew AFRICA. these dates accurately because the years had always been computed and registered.'

triple divi

belief in one

This division of the Aegyptian deities into three Explanaclasses, can be easily understood, and need not be tion of the doubted, though it does not correspond with Ma- sion. netho's division into gods, demigods, and manes, nor do the monuments furnish any traces of such a classification. In the early ages of mankind, the existence of a sole and omnipotent Deity, who created all things, seems, as we have already mentioned, to have been the universal belief, and was undoubtedly the belief of the Aegyptians. Whether they really Primeval represented under any form their idea of this unity great God." of the Deity, is still a doubtful question. Probably his name was regarded by the Aegyptians, as it was by the Jews, with such deep awe and reverence, as never to be uttered; and the Being of Beings, "who is, and was, and will be," was perhaps never even referred to in the sculptures, nor supposed to be approachable, unless under the name and form of some deified attribute, indicative of his power and connexion with mankind. Accordingly the first class 1st Class of of divinities, who were considered to be the great fed attri gods of the Aegyptian Pantheon, were in reality butes. deified attributes indicative of the intellect, power, goodness, might, and other qualities of the eternal Being. The second class consisted of lower eman- 2nd Classations from the same source; and the third were the nations. representatives of inferior powers, of physical objects physical obconnected with the Creator, and of different abstract jects, abideas, whose relative rank depended on the near or etc. distant connexion they were deemed to possess with the Divine origin.3

1 ii. 145.

2 Greek writers have imagined that the snake curled into the form of a circle, with its tail in its mouth, and other similar emblems, were used by the Aegyptians to indicate the unutterable name of the eternal Ruler of the universe. But these are merely symbols of his deified attributes, if indeed the snake, in that form, can be admitted among the number; and neither the snake, the hawk, nor any other emblem, can be considered in any way connected with the unity of the Deity. Wilkinson, vol. i., Second Series.

3 Wilkinson, ibid.

gods-dei

lower ema

3rd Class

stract ideas,

AFRICA.

CHAP. V.. Identification of the

eight pri

mary gods

with Aegyptian deities.

The four great deified attributes:

the Intel

lect;

The First Class comprised, as we have seen, the eight original gods, and probably included four male and four female deities; for we generally find that the Aegyptian gods were arranged in triads comprising a god, a goddess, and their son, the third member of the triad not being of equal rank with the two from whom it had proceeded.' The eight original gods are identified by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson with the following.

3

The two first deities, Kneph and Amun, were both alluded to by Herodotus under the name of Zeus. Kneph was the Zeus of Aethiopia and the more southern part of Upper Aegypt; Amun was the the Spirit; Zeus of Thebes. In Kneph we probably see the idea of the "Spirit of God which moveth upon the face of the waters;" in Amun, the mind or intellect of the Deity. When the Aegyptians began thus to deify each attribute of the ETERNAL GOD; they found it necessary to form two other divinities as representations of different exhibitions of the the creative creative power. These were Pthah, the actual framer of the universe, and Khem, the being who principle. promoted generation.

power; and the generative

Aegyptian representation of Kneph, the

rit, and

KNEPH, "the Spirit," was represented by a man with a ram's head, sometimes surmounted by an divine Spi- asp, or a vase, the asp being the type of dominion, and the vase the hieroglyphic which gave the initial of his name. "the Intellect," was repreAMUN, sented by a man with a head-dress, surmounted by two long feathers. The colour of his body was a

Amun, the divine In

tellect.

1 It may also be remarked, that the female deity was not always the consort of the male.

2 The Roman names of these deities, which are perhaps those by which they are best remembered, are Jupiter, Vulcan, Pan, Juno, Latona, Diana, and Minerva.

3 ii. 29.

4 ii. 42. In our account of the Aegyptian worship of Zeus, we shall have occasion to point out the difference between the Kneph Zeus and the Amun Zeus.

deep blue, like the Indian Vishnoo, as if to indicate AFRICA. his peculiarly exalted and heavenly nature;' but the CHAP. V. name of Amun has been found beside ram-headed figures, and indeed it is extremely difficult to preserve an exact line of distinction between the deities.? Under the name of Amun-rê, he was regarded as the intellectual sun, as Rê was the physical orb; and this union of Amun and Rê will remind the reader of the Zeus Belus of the Babylonians, as both Belus, or Baal, and Rê signify the sun.3 He was considered by Herodotus, and later Greek writers, to be the same as Zeus, in consequence of his having the title of King of the Gods.* From Herodotus we obtain the following in- Identificaformation respecting ZEUS, under which name he Kneph and has confounded Kneph, the ram-headed god of the Zeus of

1 Comp. Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. i., Second Series, and Kenrick, Ancient Egypt, vol. i.

2 It must be borne in mind that the Aegyptian religion does not appear to have been systematically conceived and projected, but to have been fashioned into a whole by the agglutination of parts, each having a separate origin. The worship of different gods was established in different nomes, (Herod. ii. 42,) and this division of worship goes as far back as the origin of the monarchy (Manetho, Dyn. ii. 2). Such an origin explains the intermixture and confusion of the characters and functions of the Aegyptian gods; and we find that each occasionally assumes the attributes of the others, and renders it impossible to draw a permanent line of demarcation between them. Gods of inferior rank are also sometimes invested with the highest titles, and the Theban would consider his Amun, the Memphian his Pthah, and the Saitan his Neith, to be the chief object of worship, and the great head of the whole religious system. For a further inquiry into the causes of the confusion between the Aegyptian deities, see Kenrick, Ancient Egypt, chap. xxi.

sect. i.

3 See pp. 259, 260.

A singular circumstance is mentioned by Sir J. Gardner Wilkinson, in connexion with Amun, or Amun-rê. In all sculptures prior to about the year 1420 B. C., the hieroglyphics, or phonetic name of this deity, had been carefully substituted for others, the combinations of which could never be discovered, having been most carefully erased, and the name of Amun, or Amun-rê, placed in their stead. So systematically also has this substitution been made, that nothing short of a general order to that effect, sent to every part of Aegypt, and executed with the most scrupulous care, can account for it.

Sir J. G. Wilkinson, in another part of his work, thinks it not unlikely that the name of Khem, the generative principle, was the one for which Amun-rê was substituted, or else the name of the one great eternal Deity, which, after the uninitiated had become acquainted with the previously occult meaning of hieroglyphic writing, was deemed too sacred to be exposed to the eyes of the profane.

tion of both

Amun with

Herodotus.