Message #119849

[Josie Linde]

The god Amen, his wife Mut and their associate Khonsu have nothing whatever to do with the Book of the Dead; but Amen, the first member of this great Theban triad, must be mentioned with the other gods, because he was usually identified with one or more of them. The name Amen means the "hidden one," and the founding of the first shrine of the god recorded in history took place at Thebes during the XIIth dynasty; from that time until the close of the XVIIth dynasty, Amen was the chief god of Thebes and nothing more. When, however, the last kings of the XVIIth dynasty had succeeded in expelling the so-called Hyksos and had delivered the country from the yoke of the foreigner, their god assumed an importance hitherto unknown, and his priests endeavoured to make his worship the first in the land. But Amen was never regarded throughout the entire country as its chief god, although his votaries called him the king of the gods. The conception which the Thebans had of their god as a god of the underworld was modified when they identified him with Ra and called him "Amen-Ra"; and, speaking generally, in the time of the XVIIIth dynasty and onwards the god became the personification of the mysterious creating and sustaining power of the universe, which in a material form was typified by the sun. By degrees all the attributes of the old gods of Egypt were ascribed to him, and the titles which among western nations are given to God were added to those pantheistic epithets which Amen had usurped. The following extracts from a fine hymn[3] will set forth the views of the priesthood of Amen-Ra concerning their god.

[1. Erman, Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar, Berlin, 1890, Bl. 10, 11. 13, 14.

2. Compare ###, "the night of thy birth, and the day of thy meskhenet"; see Recueil de Travaux, t. vii., p. 161 (l. 397).

3 See Grébaut, Hymne à Ammon-Ra, Paris, 1874; and Wiedemann, Die Religion, p. 64 ff.]

{p. cxxvii}

"Adoration to thee, O Amen-Ra, the bull in Annu, the ruler of all the gods, the beautiful and beloved god who givest life by means of every kind of food and fine cattle.

"Hail to thee, O Amen-Ra, lord of the world's throne, thou dweller in Thebes, thou bull of thy mother that livest in thy field, that extendest thy journeys in the land of the south, thou lord of those who dwell in the west, thou governor of Punt, thou king of heaven and sovereign of the earth, thou lord of things that exist, thou stablisher of creation, thou supporter of the universe. Thou art one in thine attributes among the gods, thou beautiful bull of the company of the gods, thou chief of all the gods, lord of Maat, father of the gods, creator of men, maker of beasts and cattle, lord of all that existeth, maker of the staff of life, creator of the herbs which give life to beasts and cattle . . . . . . . . Thou art the creator of things celestial and terrestrial, thou illuminest the universe . . . . . . . The gods cast themselves at thy feet when they perceive thee . . . . . Hymns of praise to thee, O father of the gods, who hast spread out the heavens and laid down the earth . . . . . thou master of eternity and of everlastingness. . . . . . . . Hail to thee, O Ra, lord of Maat, thou who -art hidden in thy shrine, lord of the gods. Thou art Khepera in thy bark, and when thou sendest forth the word the gods come into being. Thou art Tmu, the maker of beings which have reason, and, however many be their forms, thou givest them life, and thou dost distinguish the shape and stature of each from his neighbour. Thou hearest the prayer of the afflicted, and thou art gracious unto him that crieth unto thee; thou deliverest the feeble one from the oppressor, and thou judgest between the strong and the weak . . . . . The Nile riseth at thy will. . . . Thou only form, the maker of all that is, One only, the creator of all that shall be. Mankind hath come forth from thine eyes, the gods have come into being at thy word, thou makest the herbs for the use of beasts and cattle, and the staff of life for the need of man. Thou givest life to the fish of the stream and to the fowl of the air, and breath unto the germ in the egg; thou givest life unto the grasshopper, and thou makest to live the wild fowl and things that creep and things that fly and everything that belongeth thereunto. Thou providest food for the rats in the holes and for the birds that sit among the branches . . . . . . thou One, thou only One whose arms are many. All men and all creatures adore thee, and praises come unto thee from the height of heaven, from earth's widest space, and from the deepest depths of the sea . . . . . . . . thou One, thou only One who hast no second . . . . . .whose names are manifold and innumerable."