of this principle is a very natural one. This is Neith, Athena. She is again the same creative principle, but, as being the conceptive element, is considered as female. Her hieroglyphic sign (Wilk. Mat. Hier. vii.) is a symbol, which has certainly been somewhat precipitately considered a shuttle, out of fondness for comparing her with Athena: for it is not found in the representations of weaving exhibited on the primeval tomb of the 12th Dynasty.260 Still nat is the Coptic word for loom. The Egyptians wrote the name NT, the Greek transcript, Nn, gives us its pronunciation. She has always the lower crown, and sometimes the shuttle, or a hawk on her head. She also carries a bow and arrows in her hand, and we have chosen this representation for our plates.261 It has the superscription Net, Neith. In Egyptian mythology the old female Power of the Thebaid was merged in Neith, the goddess of Sais, and the name also was consequently transferred to her. Her titles are Muth, the Mother, the Mistress of Heaven, the elder Goddess her. t (her). In Champollion (23.) she is holding a Kukufa-sceptre instead of the ordinary one of Lower Egypt, and is styled "the great Mother," "the mother of Helios, her first-born." In like manner she is called " the Cow, who has produced the Sun." She seems here to be entitled "the mother of the Sun," as, according to Iamblichus, she was called in Sais. As mother of the living she also appears (Champ. 234.) nursing two crocodiles. According to Clemens 262 her great shrine in Sais had an open roof like that at Onka in Thebes of Boeotia, with the far-famed inscription "I am all that was, and 260 Ros. Mon. Civ. xli. Comp. Text M. C., vol. ii. p. 14. seqq. is, and is to be; no mortal has lifted up my veil 263, and the fruit I bore is Helios." 264 In Ptah and Neith the Deity completed its manifestation as the Soul of the World; and they both entered directly into the Theban representation of the first principles. VIII. RA, Phra, Phre, Helios. We have already considered Neith, the goddess of Sais, in her capacity of mother of Helios. The name of this, her first-born, the shining, and nurturing prototype of the creation of the earth, is Ra, with the article, and written by the Greeks, according to the Memphite pronunciation, Phra or Phrē, corresponding to the Hebrew transcript Phra. He must be considered as one of the old gods, because a great part of the succeeding Order is stated to be derived from Helios. In confirmation of which, in the Dynasties of the gods, Ra succeeds Ptah as his son. His usual type is hawk-headed, although, as an exception, he is also found with a human face 265, as Horapollo 266 describes him, with the Sun's disk on his head, encircled by an Uræus. The colour of his flesh in the pictures is red, like that of the Sun's disk. His cosmogonic nature 267 is established in the representation in the Ramesseum, which Birch has cited and explained, where the great Ramesses is sacrificing to him, as "the Lord of the two Worlds, who is enthroned on the sun's disk, who moves his egg, who appears in the abyss of Heaven." We have therefore here his creative power, as it operates by the intervention of the 263 Plut. de Is. et Os. c. 9., who refers this to Isis, in accordance with the enthusiasm which the later writers had for her. He says, moreover, her statue in Sais had the inscription, &c. 264 Proclus, lib. i. in Tim. p. 30. 265 Wilk. xxviii. 3. Pl. 4. 2. 266 Ι. 6. ἱερακόμορφος. 267 Birch, Gallery, p. 24. See Burton, E. H. Pl. lvii. all-nourishing power of the sun upon the earth. Thus far, therefore, the god of Heliopolis (On) is developed in the Egyptian system mediatorially, like the Cabiri. The second Cabir is the generative power of nature, considered as a generative personality. RECAPITULATION OF THE FOREGOING ENQUIRY. We have seen that the gods of the first Order possessed one general attribute, that of revealing themselves— in other words, a creative power or principle. The mythological system obviously proceeded from "the concealed god" Ammon, to the creating god. The latter appears first of all as the generative power of nature in the Phallic god Khem, who is afterwards merged in Ammon-ra. Then sprung up the idea of the creative power in Kneph. He forms the divine limbs of Osiris (the primitive soul) in contradistinction to Ptah, who, as the strictly demiurgic principle, forms the visible world. Neith is the creative principle, as nature represented under a female form. Finally, her son Ra, Helios, appears as the last of the series, in the character of father and nourisher of terrestrial things. It is he, whom an ancient monument represents as the demiurgic principle, creating the mundane egg. As early as the 15th century B. C., Ammon is called Ammun-ra, "Ammun, who is Helios," consequently the beginning and end of the cosmogonic formation. We are unable, however, to prove that the whole cosmogonic system, as exhibited on the monuments of the Ptolemaic and Roman epochs, is the primitive one, or that of the 18th and 19th Dynasties. If, however, we go back to the origin of the deities of this order, different starting-points open upon us. We see here also how the Egyptian was gradually formed out of different provincial elements, which at length were merged in two only, those of Upper and Lower Egypt, though they still leave behind them many traces in the forms of provincial worship. Ammon, Khem, and Kneph belong to the Thebaid; Ptah, Neith, and Ra to Lower Egypt. If we go still deeper into the analysis, we find the worship of Ammon (the primeval god in human form) established principally in the Thebaid, and most particularly so in the city of Ammon. That of Kneph (the ram-headed) was more frequent in Ethiopia, to the south of Elephantina; that of Neith and Ra probably originated in Sais and Heliopolis. Ptah, lastly, is the union of the influences of Upper and Lower Egypt. The primeval shrine was at Memphis, but its builder was a mighty prince of Upper Egypt, Menes of This. Now we have two wholly distinct representations of Ptah, the artistic Egyptian, and the rude Pataikos form. They are co-ordinate without being intermixed. The Temple god of Memphis is still the naked, unformed Pataikos; but Ptah, the god worshipped in all Egypt, is represented out of Memphis with the skull-cap, the sceptres, and mummy wrappings. We can hardly be wrong therefore in considering the former the primeval god of the province of Memphis ; the latter, as the Upper Egyptian artistically finished idea of the same god, introduced by the Thinite prince, for this form of Ptah is closely connected with the deities of Upper Egypt. We think it indispensable to have a correct idea of these historical distinctions. The complete mythological system of the Egyptians was an amalgamation of the various provincial forms and rites. But, in offering this opinion, we would at the same time protest against the hasty conclusion, that this national arrangement was an arbitrary one, by which ideas, originally quite distinct, were worked up artificially into a system. We forget that the Egyptian never could have made these different forms harmonise, had not each province found the complement of its own feelings and ideas all-nourishing power of the sun upon the earth. Thus far, therefore, the god of Heliopolis (On) is developed in the Egyptian system mediatorially, like the Cabiri. The second Cabir is the generative power of nature, considered as a generative personality. RECAPITULATION OF THE FOREGOING ENQUIRY. We have seen that the gods of the first Order possessed one general attribute, that of revealing themselves— in other words, a creative power or principle. The mythological system obviously proceeded from "the concealed god" Ammon, to the creating god. The latter appears first of all as the generative power of nature in the Phallic god Khem, who is afterwards merged in Ammon-ra. Then sprung up the idea of the creative power in Kneph. He forms the divine limbs of Osiris (the primitive soul) in contradistinction to Ptah, who, as the strictly demiurgic principle, forms the visible world. Neith is the creative principle, as nature represented under a female form. Finally, her son Ra, Helios, appears as the last of the series in the character of father and nourisher of terr trial things. It is he, whom an ancient monume represents as the demiurgic principle, creating mundane egg. As early as the 15th century Ammon is called Ammun-ra, " Ammun, who is consequently the beginning and end of the cos formation. We are unable, however, to prov whole cosmogonic system, as exhibited on ments of the Ptolemaic and Roman epochs tive one, or that of the 19 |