Egyptian Myth and Legend (Mackenzie, Donald)

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EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

Scanned at sacred-texts.com, April 2002, J. B. Hare, Redactor

PREFACE

In this volume the myths and legends of ancient Egypt are embraced in a

historical narrative which begins with the rise of the great Nilotic civilization and

ends with the Græco-Roman Age. The principal deities are dealt with chiefly at

the various periods in which they came into prominence, while the legends are so

arranged as to throw light on the beliefs and manners and customs of the ancient

people. Metrical renderings are given of such of the representative folk songs and

poems as can be appreciated at the present day.

Egyptian mythology is of highly complex character, and cannot be considered

apart from its racial and historical aspects. The Egyptians were, as a Hebrew

prophet has declared, a "mingled people", and this view has been confirmed by

recent ethnological research: "the process; of racial fusion begun in the Delta at

the dawn of history", says Professor Elliot Smith, "spread through the whole land

of Egypt". In localities the early Nilotic inhabitants accepted the religious beliefs

of settlers, and fused these with their own. They also clung tenaciously to the

crude and primitive tribal beliefs of their remote ancestors, and never abandoned

an archaic conception even when they acquired new and more enlightened ideas;

they accepted myths literally, and regarded with great sanctity ancient ceremonies

and usages. They even

p. iv

showed a tendency to multiply rather than to reduce the number of their gods and

goddesses, by symbolizing their attributes. As a result, we find it necessary to deal

with a bewildering number of deities and a confused mass of beliefs, many of

which are obscure and contradictory. But the average Egyptian was never

dismayed by inconsistencies in religious matters: he seemed rather to be fascinated

by them. There was, strictly speaking, no orthodox creed in Egypt; each

provincial centre had its own distinctive theological system, and the religion of an

individual appears to have depended mainly on his habits of life. "The Egyptian",

as Professor Wiedemann has said, "never attempted to systematize his conceptions

of the different divinities into a homogeneous religion. It is open to us to speak of

the religious ideas of the Egyptians, but not of an Egyptian religion."

In our introduction we deal with the divergent character of some of the ancient

myths so as to simplify the study of a difficult but extremely fascinating subject. It

is shown that one section of the people recognized a Creator like Ptah, who begot

himself and "shaped his limbs" ere he fashioned the Universe, while another

section perpetuated the idea of a Creatrix who gave birth to all things. At the

dawn of history these rival conceptions existed side by side, and they were

perpetuated until the end. It is evident, too, that the theologies which were based

on these fundamental ideas had undergone, ere the fusion of peoples occurred, a

sufficiently prolonged process of separate development to give them a racial, or, at

any rate, a geographical significance. As much is suggested by the divergent ideas

which obtained regarding the world. One section, for instance, had conceived of

land surrounded by sky-supporting mountains, peopled by gods and giants, round

which the sun ass

p. v

galloped to escape the night serpent; another section believed that the world was

embraced by the "Great Circle"--Ocean--and that the Nile flowed from sea to sea;

a third conception was of a heavenly and an underground Nile. There were also

two Paradises--the Osirian and the Ra (sun god's). Osiris judged men according to

their deeds. He was an agricultural deity, and the early system of Egyptian ethics

seems to have had its origin in the experiences enshrined in the text: "Whatsoever

a man soweth that shall he also reap". Admission to the Paradise of the sun cult

was secured, on the other hand, by the repetition of magical formulæ. Different

beliefs obtained also regarding the mummy. In the

Book of the Dead

it would

appear that the preservation of the body was necessary for the continued existence

of the soul. Herodotus, however, was informed that after a period of 3000 years

the soul returned to animate the dead frame, and this belief in transmigration of

souls is illustrated in the Anpu-Bata story, and is connected with a somewhat

similar conception that the soul of a father passed to a son, who thus became "the

image of his sire", as Horus was of Osiris, and "husband of his mother".

Of special interest in this connection are the various forms of the archaic chaos-

egg myth associated with the gods Ptah, Khnûmû, Seb, Osiris, and Ra. As the

European giant hides his soul in the egg, which is within the duck, which is within

the fish, which is within the deer and so on, and Bata hides his soul in the

blossom, the bull, and the tree ere he becomes "husband of his mother", so does

Osiris "hide his essence in the shrine of Amon", while his manifestations include a

tree, the Apis bull, the boar, the goose, and the Oxyrhynchus fish. Similarly when

Set was slain he became a "roaring serpent", a hippopotamus, a crocodile, or a

boar. The souls of Ra,

p. vi

Ptah, and Khnûmû are in the chaos egg like two of the prominent Hindu and

Chinese gods. Other Egyptian deities who are "hidden" include Amon, Sokar, and

Neith. This persistent myth, which appears to have been associated with belief in

transmigration of souls, may be traced even in Akhenaton's religion. We have

"Shu (atmosphere god) in his Aton (sun disk)", and a reference in the famous

hymn to the "air of life" in the "egg". There can be little doubt that the

Transmigration theory prevailed at certain periods and in certain localities in

ancient Egypt, and that the statement made by Herodotus was well founded,

despite attempts to discredit it.

It is shown that the conception of a Creator was associated with that form of earth,

air, and water worship which was perpetuated at Memphis, where the presiding

Deity was the hammer god Ptah, who resembles the Chinese Pan-ku, Indra of the

Aryans, Tarku and Sutekh of Asia Minor, Hercules, Thor, &c. The Creatrix, on

the other hand, was more closely associated with lunar, earth, and water worship,

and appears to have been the principal Deity of the Mediterranean race which

spread into Asia Minor and Europe. In Scotland, for instance, as we show, she is

called Cailleach Bheur, and, like other archaic tribal deities and ghosts, she was

the enemy of mankind. Similarly the Egyptian goddesses Sekhet and Hathor were

destroyers, and Tefnut was goddess of plagues. Even the sun god Ra "produced

calamity after thy (Osiris's) heart", as one of the late temple chants puts it.

In the chapter dealing with animal worship the racial aspect of early beliefs, which

were connected with fixed and definite ceremonies, is illustrated in the Horus-Set

myth. The "black pig" was Set (the devil) in Egypt, pork was "taboo", and the

swineherd was regarded as

p. vii

"an abomination", and not allowed to enter temples. The Gauls and Achæans, on

the other hand, honoured the swineherd and ate pork freely, while in the Teutonic

Valhal and the Celtic (Irish) Paradise, swine's flesh was the reward of heroes. In

Scotland, however, the ancient prejudice against pork exists in localities even at

the present day, and the devil is the "black pig". Professor Sir John Rhys, in his

Celtic Folklore

, records that in Wales the black sow of All-Hallows was similarly

regarded as the devil. Even in parts of Ireland the hatred of pork still prevails,

especially among certain families. This evidence, considered with that afforded by

the study of skull forms, suggests that Mediterranean racial ideas may not yet be

wholly extinct in our own country." Strange to say," writes Mr. R. N. Bradley, in

his recent work on

Malta and the Mediterranean Race

, "it is in these lands remote

from the origin that some of the best indications of the (Mediterranean) race are to

be found." The Gaulish treatment of the boar appears to be Asiatic. Brahma, in

one of the Hindu creation myths, assumes the form of a boar, the "lord of

creatures", and tosses up the earth with his tusks from the primordial deep.

Another myth which seems to havoc acquired a remote racial colouring is the

particular form of the dragon story which probably radiated from Asia Minor.

The hero is represented in Egypt by Horus, with his finger on his lips, in his

character as Harpocrates, as the Greeks named this mysterious form of the god.

The god Sutekh of Rameses II, as we show, was also a dragon slayer. So was

Hercules, who fought with the Hydra, and Thor, who at Ragnarok overcame the

Midgard Serpent. Sigurd, Siegfried, the Teutonic heroes, and the Celtic Finn-

mac-Coul suck a finger or thumb after slaying the dragon, or one of its forms, and

cooking part of it, to

p. viii

obtain "knowledge" or understand "the language of birds". In an Egyptian folk tale

Ahura, after killing the "Deathless Snake", similarly understands "the language of

birds, fishes", &c. Harpocrates appears to be the god Horus as the dragon-slaying

Sutekh, the imported legend being preserved in the Ahura tale of the Empire

period, when Egypt received so many Asiatic immigrants that the facial type

changed as the statuary shows. Professor Elliot Smith considers that while the

early Egyptian was "the representative of his kinsman the Neolithic European . . .

the immigrant population into both Europe and Egypt" represented "two streams

of the same Asiatic folk". Racial myths appear to have followed in the tracks of the

racial drift.

In our historical narrative the reader is kept in touch with the great civilizations of

the Cretans, Hittites, Babylonians, Assyrians, &c., which influenced and were

influenced. by Egypt. Special attention is also devoted to Palestine and the great

figures in Biblical narrative--Joseph, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nahum, and the

notable kings of Israel and Judah. There are numerous quotations from the Old

Testament, and especially from the prophets who dealt with the political as well as

the religious problems of their times. To students of the Bible this part of the

volume should make special appeal. It is impossible to appreciate to the full the

power and sagacity of Isaiah's sublime utterances without some knowledge of the

history of ancient Egypt.

DONALD A. MACKENZIE

CONTENTS

CHAP. Page

INTRODUCTION xvii

I. CREATION LEGEND OF SUN WORSHIPPERS 1

II. THE TRAGEDY OF OSIRIS 15

III. DAWN OF CIVILIZATION 30

IV. THE PEASANT WHO BECAME KING 45

V. RACIAL MYTHS IN EGYPT AND EUROPE 62

VI. THE CITY OF THE ELF GOD 77

VII. DEATH AND THE JUDGMENT 87

VIII. THE RELIGION OF THE STONE WORKERS 102

IX. A DAY IN OLD MEMPHIS 116

X. THE GREAT PYRAMID KINGS 131

XI. FOLK TALES OF FIFTY CENTURIES 142

XII. TRIUMPH OF THE SUN GOD 155

XIII. FALL OF THE OLD KINGDOM 171

XIV. FATHER GODS AND MOTHER GODDESSES 185

XV. THE RISE OF AMON 195

XVI. TALE OF THE FUGITIVE PRINCE 207

XVII. EGYPT'S GOLDEN AGE 221

XVIII. MYTHS AND LAYS OF THE MIDDLE KINGDOM 234

XIX. THE ISLAND OF ENCHANTMENT 228

XX. THE HYKSOS AND THEIR STRANGE GOD 252

XXI. JOSEPH AND THE EXODUS 268

XXII. AMON, THE GOD OF EMPIRE 280

XXIII. TALK OF THE DOOMED PRINCE 294

XXIV. CHANGES IN SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS LIFE 302

XXV. AMENHOTEP THE MAGNIFICENT AND QUEEN TIY 316

XXVI. THE RELIGIOUS REVOLT OF THE POET KING 325

XXVII. THE EMPIRE OF RAMESES AND THE HOMERIC AGE 338

XXVIII. EGYPT AND THE HEBREW MONARCHY 352

XXIX. THE RESTORATION AND THE END 363

PLATES IN COLOR

THE GIRL WIFE AND THE BATA BULL p. 194a

THE FARMER PLUNDERS THE PEASANT p. 194b

SENUHET SLAYS THE WARRIOR OF TONU p. 194c

QUEEN AHMES (WIFE OF THOTHMES I) p. 194d

LURING THE DOOM SERPENT p. 194e

FOWLING SCENE p. 194f

FARM SCENE p. 194g

PASTIME IN ANCIENT EGYPT THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO p.

194h

PLATES IN MONOCHROME

Facing page

LUNAR, SOLAR, AND EARTH GODS (THOTH, OSIRIS-AH, PTAH, RA, AND SET) 16

OSIRIS, ISIS, AND HORUS 17

SACRED ANIMALS 70

FIGURE OF THE APIS BULL, WITH A KING MAKING OFFERING 71

THE STEP PYRAMID OF SAKKARA 100

JUDGMENT SCENE: WEIGHING THE HEART 101

SERVITORS BRINGING THEIR OFFERINGS 108

"USHEBTIU" FIGURES OF VARIOUS PERIODS 109

A SEATED SCRIBE 124

AN OLD KINGDOM OFFICIAL ("SHEIKH-EL-BELED") 125

THE GREAT PYRAMID OF KHUFU (CHEOPS) 138

KING KHAFRA (IV DYNASTY) 139

NEFERT, A ROYAL PRINCESS OF THE OLD KINGDOM PERIOD 190

THREE TYPICAL "GREAT MOTHER" DEITIES (ISIS, BAST, AND SEKHET) 191

COURTYARD OF AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE (RESTORED) 238

LOCAL GODS WITH ADDED SOLAR AND OTHER AT TRIBUTES (KHNÛMÛ,

SEBEK, MIN, BES, ANUBIS)

239

EGYPTIAN CHARIOT (FLORENCE MUSEUM) 278

EGYPTIAN KING (SETI I) MOUNTED ON CHARIOT 278

A PLATOON (TROOP) OF EGYPTIAN SPEARMEN 279

DEITIES OF THE EMPIRE PERIOD (AMON-RA, MUT, AND HAPI) 288

RUINS OF THE TEMPLE OF DER-EL-BAHARI, THEBES 289

AMENHOTEP III 326

AMENHOTEP IV (AKHENATON) 327

AKHENATON, HIS QUEEN, AND THEIR CHILDREN 348

MUMMY HEADS OF NOTABLE PHARAOHS (THOTHMES II, RAMESES II.

RAMESES III, SETI I)

349

GREAT SEA AND LAND RAID: PHILISTINE PRISONERS 356

AMON PRESENTING TO SHESHONK LIST OF CITIES CAPTURED IN ISRAEL

AND JUDAH

357

RESTORATION PERIOD DEITIES (PTAH -SOKAR -OSIRIS, IMHOTEP) 374

MUMMY CASES 375

p. xvii

INTRODUCTION

"CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE", on the Thames Embankment, affords us an

introduction to ancient Egypt, "the land of marvels" and of strange and numerous

deities. This obelisk was shaped from a single block of red granite quarried at

Assouan by order of one of the old Pharaohs; it is 68 feet 5½, inches high, and

weighs 186 tons. Like one of our own megalithic monuments, it is an interesting

relic of stone worship. Primitive man believed that stones were inhabited by

spirits which had to be propitiated with sacrifices and offerings, and, long after

higher conceptions obtained, their crude beliefs survived among their

descendants. This particular monument was erected as a habitation for one of the

spirits of the sun god; in ancient Egypt the gods were believed to have had many

spirits.

The "Needle" was presented to the British Government in 1820, and in 1877-8

was transported hither by Sir Erasmus Wilson at a cost of £10,000. For about

eighteen centuries it had been a familiar object at Alexandria. Its connection with

the famous Queen Cleopatra is uncertain; she may have ordered it to be removed

from its original site on account of its archæological interest, for it was already old

in her day. It was first erected at Heliopolis thirty-two centuries ago. But even

then Egypt was a land of ancient memories; the great Pyramids,

p. xviii

near Cairo, were aged about 500 years, and the Calendar had been in existence for

over fourteen centuries.

Heliopolis, "the city of the sun", is called On in the Bible. It was there that Moses

was educated, and became "mighty in word and in deed". Joseph had previously

married, at On, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest of the sun temple, the

site of which, at modern Matarieh, is marked by an erect obelisk of greater

antiquity even than the "Needle". Near by are a holy well and a holy tree, long

invested with great sanctity by local tradition. Coptic Christians and native

Mohammedans still relate that when Joseph and Mary fled with the infant Christ

into Egypt, to escape the fierce King Herod, they rested under the tree, and that

Mary washed in the well the swaddling clothes of the holy child.

When "Cleopatra's Needle" was erected at On, which is also called Beth-

shemesh 1, "the house of the sun god", in the Hebrew Scriptures, the priests

taught classes of students in the temple colleges. For about thirty centuries the

city was the Oxford of Egypt. Eudoxus and Plato, in the course of their travels,

visited the priestly professors and heard them lecture. As ancient tradition has

credited Egypt with the origin of geometry, Euclid, the distinguished

mathematician, who belonged to the brilliant Alexandria school, no doubt also

paid a pilgrimage to the ancient seat of learning. When he was a student he must

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EGYPTIANMYTHANDLEGENDWithHistoricalNarrative,NotesonRaceProblems,ComparativeBeliefs,etc.byDonaldMackenzieGreshamPublishingCo.,London[1907]Scannedatsacred-texts.com,April2002,J.B.Hare,RedactorPREFACEInthisvolumethemythsandlegendsofancientEgyptareembracedinahistoricalnarrativewhichbeginswiththeriseoft...

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