History Of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Vol. 1 — 18 - Vol. 01, Ch. 03: The Legendary History of Egypt, pt. 2

In course of time men perceived his decrepitude.

They took counsel against him: "Lo!

his Majesty waxeth old, his bones are of silver, his flesh is of gold, his hair of lapis-lazuli."

As soon as his Majesty perceived that which they were saying to each other, his Majesty said to those who were of his train, "Call together for me my Divine Eye, Shû, Tafnûît, Sibû, and Nûît, the father and the mother gods who were with me when I was in the Nû, with the god Nû.

Let each bring his cycle along with him; then, when thou shalt have brought them in secret, thou shalt take them to the great mansion that they may lend me their counsel and their consent, coming hither from the Nû into this place where I have manifested myself."

So the family council comes together: the ancestors of Râ, and his posterity still awaiting amid the primordial waters the time of their manifestation--his children Shû and Tafnûît, his grandchildren Sibû and Nûît. They place themselves, according to etiquette, on either side his throne, prostrate, with their foreheads to the ground, and thus their conference begins: "O Nû, thou the eldest of the gods, from whom I took my being, and ye the ancestor-gods, behold!

men who are the emanation of mine eye have taken counsel together against me!

Tell me what ye would do, for I have bidden you here before I slay them, that I may hear what ye would say thereto."

Nû, as the eldest, has the right to speak first, and demands that the guilty shall be brought to judgment and formally condemned.

"My son Râ, god greater than the god who made him, older than the gods who created him, sit thou upon thy throne, and great shall be the terror when thine eye shall rest upon those who plot together against thee!"

But Râ not unreasonably fears that when men see the solemn pomp of royal justice, they may suspect the fate that awaits them, and "flee into the desert, their hearts terrified at that which I have to say to them."

The desert was even then hostile to the tutelary gods of Egypt, and offered an almost inviolable asylum to their enemies.

The conclave admits that the apprehensions of Râ are well founded, and pronounces in favour of summary execution; the Divine Eye is to be the executioner.

"Let it go forth that it may smite those who have devised evil against thee, for there is no Eye more to be feared than thine when it attacketh in the form of Hâthor."

So the Eye takes the form of Hâthor, suddenly falls upon men, and slays them right and left with great strokes of the knife.

After some hours, Râ, who would chasten but not destroy his children, commands her to cease from her carnage; but the goddess has tasted blood, and refuses to obey him.

"By thy life," she replies, "when I slaughter men then is my heart right joyful!"

[Illustration: 236. jpg SOKHÎT, THE LIONESS-HEADED.

1] 1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a bronze statuette of the Saïte period in the Gizeh Museum (Mariette, _Album photographique du Musée de Boulaq_, pl.

6).

That is why she was afterwards called Sokhît the slayer, and represented under the form of a fierce lioness.

Nightfall stayed her course in the neighbourhood of Heracleopolis; all the way from Heliopolis she had trampled through blood.

As soon as she had fallen asleep, Râ hastily took effectual measures to prevent her from beginning her work again on the morrow.

"He said: 'Call on my behalf messengers agile and swift, who go like the wind.'

When these messengers were straightway brought to him, the Majesty of the god said: 'Let them run to Elephantine and bring me mandragora in plenty.'

"[**] ** The mandragora of Elephantine was used in the manufacture of an intoxicating and narcotic drink employed either in medicine or in magic.

In a special article, Brugsch has collected particulars preserved by the texts as to the uses of this plant.

It was not as yet credited with the human form and the peculiar kind of life ascribed to it by western sorcerers.

When they had brought him the mandragora, the Majesty of this great god summoned the miller which is in Heliopolis that he might bray it; and the women-servants having crushed grain for the beer, the mandragora, and also human blood, were mingled with the liquor, and thereof was made in all seven thousand jars of beer.

Râ himself examined this delectable drink, and finding it to possess the wished-for properties: "'It is well,' said he; 'therewith shall I save men from the goddess;' then, addressing those of his train: 'Take these jars in your arms, and carry them to the place where she has slaughtered men.'

Râ, the king, caused dawn to break at midnight, so that this philtre might be poured down upon the earth; and the fields were flooded with it to the depth of four palms, according as it pleased the souls of his Majesty."

In the morning the goddess came, "that she might return to her carnage, but she found that all was flooded, and her countenance softened; when she had drunken, it was her heart that softened; she went away drunk, without further thought of men."

There was some fear lest her fury might return when the fumes of drunkenness were past, and to obviate this danger Râ instituted a rite, partly with the object of instructing future generations as to the chastisement which he had inflicted upon the impious, partly to console Sokhît for her discomfiture.

He decreed that "on New Year's Day there should be brewed for her as many jars of philtre as there were priestesses of the sun.

That was the origin of all those jars of philtre, in number equal to that of the priestesses, which, at the feast of Hâthor, all men make from that day forth."

Peace was re-established, but could it last long?

Would not men, as soon as they had recovered from their terror, betake themselves again to plotting against the god?

Besides, Râ now felt nothing but disgust for our race.

The ingratitude of his children had wounded him deeply; he foresaw ever-renewed rebellions as his feebleness became more marked, and he shrank from having to order new massacres in which mankind would perish altogether.

"By my life," says he to the gods who accompanied him, "my heart is too weary for me to remain with mankind, and slay them until they are no more: annihilation is not of the gifts that I love to make."

And the gods exclaim in surprise: "Breathe not a word of thy weariness at a time when thou dost triumph at thy pleasure."

But Râ does not yield to their representations; he will leave a kingdom wherein they murmur against him, and turning towards Nû he says: "My limbs are decrepit for the first time; I will not go to any place where I can be reached."

It was no easy matter to find him an inaccessible retreat owing to the imperfect state in which the universe had been left by the first effort of the demiurge.

Nû saw no other way out of the difficulty than that of setting to work to complete the creation.

Ancient tradition had imagined the separation of earth and sky as an act of violence exercised by Shu upon Sibû and Nûît. History presented facts after a less brutal fashion, and Shû became a virtuous son who devoted his time and strength to upholding Nûît, that he might thereby do his father a service.

Nûît, for her part, showed herself to be a devoted daughter whom there was no need to treat roughly in order to teach her her duty;

of herself she consented to leave her husband, and place her beloved ancestor beyond reach.

"The Majesty of Nû said: 'Son Shu, do as thy father Râ shall say; and thou, daughter Nûît, place him upon thy back and hold him suspended above the earth!'

Nûît said: 'And how then, my father Nû?'

Thus spake Nûît, and she did that which Nû commanded her;

she changed herself into a cow, and placed the Majesty of Râ upon her back.

When those men who had not been slain came to give thanks to Râ, behold!

they found him no longer in his palace; but a cow stood there, and they perceived him upon the back of the cow."

They found him so resolved to depart that they did not try to turn him from his purpose, but only desired to give him such a proof of their repentance as should assure them of the complete pardon of their crime.

"They said unto him: 'Wait until the morning, O Râ!

our lord, and we will strike down thine enemies who have taken counsel against thee.'

So his Majesty returned to his mansion, descended from the cow, went in along with them, and earth was plunged into darkness.

But when there was light upon earth the next morning, the men went forth with their bows and their arrows, and began to shoot at the enemy.

Whereupon the Majesty of this god said unto them: 'Your sins are remitted unto you, for sacrifice precludes the execution of the guilty.'

And this was the origin upon earth of sacrifices in which blood was shed."

Thus it was that when on the point of separating for ever, the god and men came to an understanding as to the terms of their future relationship.

Men offered to the god the life of those who had offended him.

Human sacrifice was in their eyes the obligatory sacrifice, the only one which could completely atone for the wrongs committed against the godhead; man alone was worthy to wash away with his blood the sins of men.

[*] For this one time the god accepted the expiation just as it was offered to him; then the repugnance which he felt to killing his children overcame him, he substituted beast for man, and decided that oxen, gazelles, birds, should henceforth furnish the material for sacrifice.

[**] * This legend, which seeks to explain the discontinuance of human sacrifices among the Egyptians, affords direct proof of their existence in primitive times.

This is confirmed by many facts.

We shall see that _ûashbîti_ laid in graves were in place of the male or female slaves who were originally slaughtered at the tombs of the rich and noble that they might go to serve their masters in the next world.

Even in Thebes, under the XIXth dynasty, certain rock-cut tombs contain scenes which might lead us to believe that occasionally at least human victims were sent to doubles of distinction.

During this same period, moreover, the most distinguished hostile chiefs taken in war were still put to death before the gods.

In several towns, as at Eilithyia and at Heliopolis, or before certain gods, such as Osiris or Kronos-Sibû, human sacrifice lasted until near Roman times.

But generally speaking it was very rare.

Almost everywhere cakes of a particular shape, and called [Greek word], or else animals, had been substituted for man.

** It was asserted that the partisans of Apôpi and of Sît, who were the enemies of Râ, Osiris, and the other gods, had taken refuge in the bodies of certain animals.

Hence, it was really human or divine victims which were offered when beasts were slaughtered in sacrifice before the altars.

This point settled, he again mounted the cow, who rose, supported on her four legs as on so many pillars; and her belly, stretched out above the earth like a ceiling, formed the sky.

He busied himself with organizing the new world which he found on her back; he peopled it with many beings, chose two districts in which to establish his abode, the Field of Reeds--_Sokhît Ialû_--and the Field of Rest--_Sokhît Hotpît_--and suspended the stars which were to give light by night.

All this is related with many plays upon words, intended, according to Oriental custom, as explanations of the names which the legend assigned to the different regions of heaven.

At sight of a plain whose situation pleased him, he cried: "The Field rests in the distance!"

--and that was the origin of the Field of Rest.

He added: "There will I gather plants!"

--and from this the Field of Reeds took its name.

While he gave himself up to this philological pastime, Nûît, suddenly transported to unaccustomed heights, grew frightened, and cried for help: "For pity's sake give me supports to sustain me!"

This was the origin of the support-gods.

They came and stationed themselves by each of her four legs, steadying these with their hands, and keeping constant watch over them.

As this was not enough to reassure the good beast, "Râ said, 'My son Shû, place thyself beneath my daughter Nûît, and keep watch on both sides over the supports, who live in the twilight; hold thou her up above thy head, and be her guardian!'

" Shû obeyed; Nûît composed herself, and the world, now furnished with the sky which it had hitherto lacked, assumed its present symmetrical form.

Shû and Sibû succeeded Râ, but did not acquire so lasting a popularity as their great ancestor.

Nevertheless they had their annals, fragments of which have come down to us.

Their power also extended over the whole universe: "The Majesty of Shû was the excellent king of the sky, of the earth, of Hades, of the water, of the winds, of the inundation, of the two chains of mountains, of the sea, governing with a true voice according to the precepts of his father Râ-Harmakhis."

[Illustration: 242. jpg COW, SUSTAINED ABOVE THE EARTH BY SHÛ AND THE SUPPORT]

1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin.

Only "the children of the serpent Apôpi, the impious ones who haunt the solitary places and the deserts," disavowed his authority.

Like the Bedawîn of later times, they suddenly streamed in by the isthmus routes, went up into Egypt under cover of night, slew and pillaged, and then hastily returned to their fastnesses with the booty which they had carried off.

From sea to sea Ka had fortified the eastern frontier against them.

He had surrounded the principal cities with walls, embellished them with temples, and placed within them those mysterious talismans more powerful for defence than a garrison of men.

Thus Aît-nobsû, near the mouth of the Wady-Tûmilât, possessed one of the rods of the Sun-god, also the living uraeus of his crown whose breath consumes all that it touches, and, finally, a lock of his hair, which, being cast into the waters of a lake, was changed into a hawk-headed crocodile to tear the invader in pieces.

[*] * Egyptians of all periods never shrank from such marvels.

One of the tales of the Theban empire tells us of a piece of wax which, on being thrown into the water, changed into a living crocodile capable of devouring a man.

The talismans which protected Egypt against invasion are mentioned by the Pseudo-Callisthenes, who attributes their invention to Nectanebo.

Arab historians often refer to them.

The employment of these talismans was dangerous to those unaccustomed to use them, even to the gods themselves.

Scarcely was Sibû enthroned as the successor of Shu, who, tired of reigning, had reascended into heaven in a nine days' tempest, before he began his inspection of the eastern marches, and caused the box in which was kept the uræus of Râ to be opened.

"As soon as the living viper had breathed its breath against the Majesty of Sibû there was a great disaster--great indeed, for those who were in the train of the god perished, and his Majesty himself was burned in that day.

When his Majesty had fled to the north of Aît-nobsû, pursued by the fire of this magic urasus, behold!

when he came to the fields of henna, the pain of his burn was not yet assuaged, and the gods who were behind him said unto him: 'O Sire!

let them take the lock of Râ which is there, when thy Majesty shall go to see it and its mystery, and his Majesty shall be healed as soon as it shall be placed upon thee.'

So the Majesty of Sibû caused the magic lock to be brought to Piarît,--the lock for which was made that great reliquary of hard stone which is hidden in the secret place of Piarît, in the district of the divine lock of the Lord Râ,--and behold!

this fire departed from the members of the Majesty of Sibû.

And many years afterwards, when this lock, which had thus belonged to Sibû, was brought back to Piarît in Aît-nobsû, and cast into the great lake of Piarît whose name is _Aît-tostesû_, the dwelling of waves, that it might be purified, behold!

this lock became a crocodile: it flew to the water and became Sobkû, the divine crocodile of Aît-nobsû."

In this way the gods of the solar dynasty from generation to generation multiplied talismans and enriched the sanctuaries of Egypt with relics.

[Illustration: 244. jpg THREE OF THE DIVINE AMULETS PRESERVED IN THE TEMPLE OF AÎT-NOBSÛ AT THE ROMAN PERIOD.

1]