(14901468 BCE).

Who was the first family of Egyptian myth?

Most people have to cope with annoying family members and brotherly spats. Egypt's Great Ennead-the first family of the gods-took those fraternal quarrels to cosmic heights and created the core myths of ancient Egypt. All of the most significant deities in the Egyptian world grew out of the Heliopolis Creation story, which continued as the twin brother and sister, Shu and Tefnut, became the first divine couple. They next produced another pair of twins, Geb and his sister, Nut, the grandchildren of the sun god Atum. Geb was the male earth god and his sister-consort, the female Nut, represented the sky and heavens.

There are two Egyptian versions of how earth and sky were separated. In one, they were locked together in an embrace at birth, and Atum, their grandfather, told Shu to separate the twins. In a second account of their separation, Geb and Nut married, but Atum, the sun god, was angry, since he was not informed of the match and had not approved it. He ordered their father, Shu, to push Nut away from Geb into the sky. Standing on Geb, Shu forced Nut upward to form the great arch of the sky, with her hands and feet resting on the four points of the compass. Nut is usually depicted in Egyptian art in this position-hands and feet straddling the earth, with her back arched to form the heavens. As the sky goddess, Nut was traditionally shown as covered with starlike speckles-and stars were later explained in Egyptian religion as the spirits of the dead who had gone to join the gods in the heavens. Nut's laughter became the thunder, and her tears were the rain.

Apart from Nut's role as mother of other gods, she played a central role in the most essential aspect of Egyptian religious belief-the daily passage of the sun. Every day, the sun god made his journey from dawn to dusk in a boat across the underside of Nut's arched body. At the end of the day, Nut swallowed the sun god and his boat (a symbolic daily death) which then traveled the inside length of her body-equivalent to traveling through the Egyptian underworld, known as the Duat. Each morning, she gave birth, and the sun god emerged from her womb. According to this myth, the redness of the sky at dawn was explained as the bloody afterbirth that accompanied the sun god's birth each day.

This myth was the great beating heart, focal point of all Egyptian belief. The sun's daily birth and death symbolized the eternal cycle of life and death. For Egyptians, life and death and the role of the sun as life-giver were all tied together in the regular cycle of the flooding of the Nile, which brought the fertility to the soil and the harvest that sustained Egypt. It carried over into the Egyptians' core belief that humans could also live, die, and be reborn. In that fundamental idea of death and resurrection lay the basic foundation for all of Egypt society and worship.

In the continuation of the Creation story, when Nut became the sky and heavens, her brother-husband, Geb, was forced to lie down and become the earth. As god of the earth, Geb was thought to be the cause of earthquakes, which were attributed either to his laughter or his wailing for his sister-bride. Geb was especially significant, because as earth god, he was responsible for the fertility of the lands, and he is often depicted with his phallus stretching up toward his sister. Some accounts say that the obelisk was designed as a symbol of Geb's phallus pointing heavenward to impregnate Nut. In other versions of this myth, Geb became the first king of Egypt, establishing the divine connection between the king and the gods.

Before Geb and Nut were separated, they produced children, and the Egyptian Creation continued as the four most important children of Geb and Nut were born: Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys. Osiris, their eldest child, became one of the most significant gods in the Egyptian pantheon. He was widely worshipped in popular religion as a god of fertility, death, and resurrection. Originally a god of vegetation, Osiris was credited with bringing plants and seasons to the earth, teaching humans to farm, and creating civilization. He abolished cannibalism, taught men to use tools, and showed them how to make wine and bread. He also ruled on earth and became the first pharaoh, instituting both religion and the legal system. Most significant, he later became the judge of the dead, a crucial role in a society so concerned with the afterlife. (See Isis-Osiris below.) Geb and Nut's second child was Isis, who was both the twin sister and wife of Osiris, and another of the most significant figures in Egyptian myth. In some versions of the myth, her story begins in the womb, where she first makes love to Osiris, her brother and husband. Credited with creating the Nile River with the tears she wept at the death of Osiris, she taught the Egyptians how to grind flour, spin, and weave and was a healer goddess who could cure illnesses. Isis was also credited with introducing marriage.

One of the most widely worshipped figures in all mythology, Isis became the focal point of a religious cult that survived for thousands of years and was passed on to other civilizations, including Greece and Rome. She was known as the Great Mother, devoted wife and a powerful source of magic, and Isis worship continued to flourish down to Christian times. When the Christianized Roman Emperor Theodosius I officially banned Isis worship in 378 CE, her temples were destroyed, often replaced by Christian churches.

The third child of Geb and Nut was the evil Seth (also Set), the brother and enemy of Osiris. A storm god who may have originated as a desert deity, he was sometimes regarded as the incarnation of evil, and the force of disturbances and discord in the world. An ill-tempered god, Seth personified rage, anger, and violence.

But Seth also played a positive role in the sun-god ritual. As a powerful deity, he was charged with protecting and defending the sun god during his nightly journey through the underworld. During the night, the sun god's boat, or barque, was attacked by Apep (or Apophis), the serpent of chaos, sometimes also depicted as a crocodile. In an interesting parallel to the biblical serpent, Apep is called the "great Rebel" and "evil One." Possibly based upon the deadly African python and then merged with the crocodile-two of the Nile's most fearsome and deadly creatures-Apep may be one of the oldest versions of the dragon. Seth is often shown as the one who spears Apep, the lord of darkness, when he attacks the barque each night in its travels through the Duat.

But Seth's most important role lies in the story of his hatred for his favorite brother. The profound jealousy resulting in blood feuds between brothers-sibling rivalry played out on a cosmic scale-is a common theme in mythical and biblical stories. Just as Cain was jealous of Abel and killed him, and Isaac cheated his brother Esau out of his inheritance in Genesis, Seth resented his brother's success and great stature. There is a suggestion that this mythical rivalry may have been a symbolic account of the political rivalry between two regions of Egypt. As a desert god of the "Red Land," Seth was viewed as the force of destruction and chaos that threatened vegetation, and their conflict, played out in the saga of Isis and Osiris (see below), is a central piece of one of the most significant myths in world history.

The fourth child of Geb and Nut was Nephthys, who clearly plays second fiddle to her older sister Isis, the superstar of Egyptian myth. First married to her brother Seth, Nephthys deserted Seth for her other brother, Osiris. Seemingly barren with Seth, she conceives a child who becomes the jackal-headed god Anubis, another key deity in Egyptian burial rituals. Nephthys also becomes significant as a funerary goddess who protects the dead and is often shown on coffins and jars that held the vital organs of the deceased. In Egyptian funeral customs, two women would impersonate Isis and Nephthys to lament over the mummy of the deceased on the funeral boat that carried the deceased to the western side of the Nile, where it would be buried.

These nine deities-Atum, his children Shu and Tefnut, their children Geb and Nut, and their children Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys-were responsible for bringing all other life into being. They are traditionally known by the Greek word for nine, ennea, as the Great Ennead.

MYTHIC VOICES.

Hail to you Re, perfect each day, Who rises at dawn without failing...

In a brief day you race a course Hundreds, thousands, millions of miles.

-Litany of Re.

Who was Re?

The boggling variety of these Egyptian Creation stories, along with the various sun gods and creator gods, point up one of the challenges of Egyptian mythology. Lacking a biblical-style story structure, Egypt's mythology does not follow a single narrative stream but emerged gradually as local customs and beliefs were blended over centuries and finally integrated into a unified Egyptian religion, often reflecting the changing balance of power in Egypt. Most historians believe that as different regions or cities rose to prominence, their patron deities emerged as the most significant gods.

Still, a dominant force underlies all Egyptian myth. As in many other ancient societies, for the Egyptians it was the sun and its life-giving powers. The daily passage of the sun across the sky gave rise to many different metaphors and images. In the morning, the sun was born from the sky goddess Nut. At midday, it was a boat floating on the blue sea of heaven. It was even envisioned as a scarab beetle pushing a ball of dung across the sand. That would seem a profane image for an all-high god, but the Egyptians saw metaphors of life and death everywhere, especially in the animal world. The scarab-or dung-beetle lays its eggs in a ball of dung that it rolls to its burrow. Within the dung ball, the eggs incubate in the warmth of the sun. Even in the life cycle of one of the lowliest insects, Egyptians found the eternal image of life. This was the reason that scarabs became such a significant motif in Egyptian art.

Over time, the sun god Re (also called Ra) evolved into the most important member of the Egyptian pantheon, and for much of Egypt's history, he was the supreme deity. Originating in Heliopolis (City of the Sun), Re emerged as the chief sun god, and his name originally may have meant "creator." Re was considered both the ruler of the world and the first divine pharaoh. Although Re's existence probably goes back much further in time, his name was first recorded during the Second Dynasty (28902686 BCE), and by the time of the Fourth Dynasty, Egypt's kings were using the words "Son of Re" as one of their honorific titles. From the time of the Fourth Dynasty's (26132494 BCE) King Khafra (also known as Chephren), the pyramids and other sacred buildings were linked with the name of Re. By the Fifth Dynasty (24942345 BCE), Re had essentially become the state god, and six of the seven Fifth Dynasty kings built temples exclusively dedicated to him. These sun temples, built near large pyramid complexes, established Re as the "ultimate giver of life and moving force," according to Egyptologist Jaromir Malek. But these temples were also a statement by the pharaohs of their direct connection to Re, in this world and in the afterlife.

For centuries, the worship of Re had been based in Heliopolis, but gradually he was worshipped throughout Egypt. As a sun god, Re traveled in his boat through the sky and was reborn each day. In one story, man was said to be formed from Re's tears. (The words for "tears" and "man" were very similar in Egyptian, just as in ancient Hebrew the words "earth" and "adam" found in the Genesis Creation story are also related.) Gradually, Re was fused with other Egyptian solar gods, and one way the Egyptians explained this was to identify Re with the sun at different times of the day. For instance, he was called Re-Horus as the morning sun and Re-Atum as the evening sun. In the Creation myth of Heliopolis that produced the Great Ennead, the god Atum was merged with Re into a single deity called Re-Atum. In this manifestation, he emerged as the creator god who fathered the first divine pair.

During the Middle and New Kingdoms, when Egypt reached the pinnacle of its power and wealth, Re and Amun-a powerful god worshipped in the cities of Thebes and Hermopolis-were also joined together to become Amun-Re and were viewed as an even more powerful national god. Amun-Re, king of the gods, creator of the universe, and father of the pharaohs, also became the lord of the battlefield. At the crucial Battle of Kadesh in 1286 BCE, when Ramses II defeated a Hittite army, legend has it that Amun-Re supposedly comforted the pharaoh when the battle was going against the Egyptians and promised, "Your father is with you! My powerful hand will slay a hundred thousand men." Faced with defeat, Ramses II was saved by the seemingly miraculous arrival of reinforcements. After the battle, Ramses II apparently decided to make love, not war. He took the daughter of the Hittite leader as one of his seven wives, cementing a peace between the two ancient rivals.

If that notion of gods intervening in battle strikes modern readers as preposterous, primitive superstition, remember: there are many examples throughout history of similar divinely inspired victories. Various "war gods" have been credited with triumph in battles, especially against overwhelming odds. From the Greeks at Troy, to Joshua at Jericho, David and Goliath, and other biblical battles, the notion continued in the Christian era with Emperor Constantine, who converted to Christianity after a religious vision led him to victory in 312 CE, and Joan of Arc, whose religious visions enabled her to lead French armies. The notion of gods interceding in battle is an old and revered tradition, and more than a few twentieth-century American generals have credited God with victories in America's wars. It's one reason football coaches still make their players pray in the locker room.

MYTHIC VOICES.

Hail to you Osiris Lord of Eternity, king of gods, Of many names, of holy forms, Of secret rites in temples.

-The Great Hymn to Osiris.

Which god became Egypt's lord of the dead?

After Re, no god was considered more important or greater in Egypt than Osiris, and no story was more important than the myth of his life, death, and rebirth. The son of Nut and Geb, Osiris had succeeded his father as the ruler of Egypt. With his sister Isis as his wife, this divine pair first civilized Egypt, and then Osiris decided to do the same for the rest of the world, leaving Isis in his place as ruler. After several years, he returned and found everything in order, as Isis had ruled wisely in his absence.

But his brother Seth was jealous of Osiris's power and success, and plotted to kill him. In some versions of the myth, Seth's jealousy was compounded when Osiris slept with Nephthys-their sister who was also Seth's wife. In anger, Seth cursed their child, who became the jackal-headed god Anubis.

But Seth was not finished with Osiris. He invited his brother to a banquet attended by seventy-two of Seth's accomplices. At the banquet, there was a beautifully carved wooden chest. In a Cinderella's-slipper scenario, Seth offered the coffinlike box to whoever could fit inside it. All the guests tried to fit in but were unable, until finally, the trusting Osiris climbed into the box and fit perfectly. Quickly Seth had the lid nailed shut by his helpers, and sealed it with molten lead. Then they dropped the box into the river, and it was carried out to sea, coming to rest under a tamarisk tree in Byblos, the Phoenician port city (in modern Lebanon). As time went by, the tree grew around the box, eventually enclosing it-with Osiris's dead body sealed inside. When the Phoenician king later had the tree cut down, it emitted a delicious fragrance and was soon famed throughout the world.

Mourning the loss of her beloved husband-brother, Isis was inconsolable, and her endless stream of tears was said to cause the flooding of the Nile. She began to search for Osiris, accompanied by the jackal-headed Anubis, the son of Osiris and his other sister, Nephthys. Hearing about the tree and its wonderful fragrance, Isis realized its significance. She retrieved the box and hid it in the swampy Nile Delta. When Isis finally opened the lid, she turned into a bird-either a sparrow or a hawk, depending on the version-and the flapping of her wings forced the breath back into Osiris's lifeless body. Her beloved husband was alive briefly, just long enough for them to make love before Osiris died once again. Isis became pregnant and the child she conceived was Horus, the falcon-headed sky god. The dead Osiris was returned to his tomb, which Isis guarded.

After killing his brother, Seth had become pharaoh of Egypt. Learning that Osiris was lying in a tomb, Seth was unsatisfied. He discovered the box containing Osiris in the tomb, and, in a rage, cut Osiris's remains into fourteen pieces, scattering the parts all over Egypt. In the myth, however, the distraught Isis searched for all the pieces with the assistance of her mother, Nut, the sky goddess, and the jackal-headed Anubis.

Although Isis was able to gather up almost all the pieces, she could not find Osiris's phallus, which had been swallowed by three kinds of fish. (Eating these varieties of fish was considered taboo by some Egyptians.) In one version of this myth, Isis buried these thirteen parts of Osiris where she found them, and each of these became the site of a major Osiris temple. Temples to Osiris throughout Egypt staked a claim to being the burial site of these remnants of Osiris. They attracted devoted worshippers, just as certain Christian churches that claim to possess "relics," such as a piece of the "true cross" or remains of saints, become pilgrimage destinations.

In the more significant version of the myth, Isis once again resurrected Osiris's body. Alive, but unable to reproduce because his phallus had been lost, Osiris went to the other gods to discredit Seth. Now infertile, Osiris was made lord of the dead, given to rule over the land that existed beyond the western desert horizon. To prepare Osiris for his journey to the land of the dead, Isis invented embalming and mummification, which was carried out by her loyal assistant, the jackal-headed Anubis. The preservation of the body of the dead person was thought to be essential for survival after death. As lord of the dead, Osiris was the god who gave permission to enter the underground kingdom. This was the beginning of the elaborate rituals that formed the essence of Egyptian religion-the burial rites that ensured immortality. In many ways, while Osiris did not supplant Re in power, he became Egypt's most popular deity, with a cult following that lasted over two thousand years.

Who was Egypt's most significant goddess?

The family feud did not end there. This epic story continued with the conflict between Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, and his uncle Seth. With Osiris in the underworld, evil Seth remained the king. But when Horus reached manhood, he vowed to avenge his father and challenged his uncle for the throne. In one version of the myth, Isis disguised herself and convinced Seth that Horus deserved to be the king. But other versions detail a lengthy series of battles, in which Horus castrated and killed Seth-but not before Seth tore out one of Horus's eyes. Judged the victor by the gods, Horus was given the throne of Egypt and Seth ascended into the heavens, to be the god of storms. Having overthrown Seth, Horus became the king and guide of dead souls, and, ultimately, the protector of pharaohs, who took as one of their several titles the name "the Living Horus." When the pharaoh died, he was thought to become Osiris, the god of the underworld.

Based on the seemingly timeless, crucial, and annual pattern of the flooding of the Nile, this was an elemental myth in Egyptian history. Osiris represented growth and life, and Seth represented death. The forces of vegetation and creation-symbolized by Osiris, Isis, and Horus-triumphed over the evil forces of the desert, symbolized by Seth. But, more significant, with the help of Isis, Osiris had cheated death. The Egyptians believed that if Osiris could triumph over death, so could human beings.

Over the centuries, the beguiling Isis became the most significant goddess in the Egyptian pantheon-mother of god, healer, the powerful goddess with deep knowledge of magical arts and sexual power. In one legend, Isis tricked the aging Re into confiding his secret names to her. Using magic to create a snake that bit Re, Isis healed the god only after he revealed all of these names to her. With this knowledge, Isis acquired unmatched skills in magic and healing. In Egyptian, her name is related to the word for "throne," and she is often depicted in Egyptian art as a throne for the king. In Greece, Isis would become identified with Demeter-the Mother Earth, or Grain Mother of Greek myth (see chapter 4)-and she became even more popular in Imperial Rome. Temples devoted to the worship of Isis were built in every corner of the Roman Empire, including one discovered beneath the streets of modern London. The image of Isis suckling the infant Horus, one of the most familiar themes in Egyptian art, was later adopted by early Christians to represent the Virgin Mary. The traditional blue dress of the Virgin Mary, the title Stella Maris (Star of the Sea), the reference to Mother of God, and the symbol of the crescent moon associated with Mary were all borrowed from the Roman cult of Isis.

While very ancient Egyptian papyruses and other works of art serve as sources for the Isis-Osiris myth, it was best known to the Greeks and Romans as it was recorded in a volume called Concerning Isis and Osiris by Plutarch (c. 40120 CE), a Greek biographer and essayist best known for his work Parallel Lives of Illustrious Greeks and Romans. Born in Greece, Plutarch studied philosophy in Athens and later lectured on this subject in Rome. After travels through Greece, Italy, and Egypt, he returned to Greece as a priest of Apollo at Delphi, and it is believed that he wrote his great works there. Drawing on earlier sources, Plutarch retold the Isis story, giving Greek names to the Egyptian gods. In his version, Horus became the Greek Apollo and Seth became the Greek Typhon, a serpentlike monster who appears in Greek myth (and the source of the word "typhoon").

What did Christians think of Isis?

The story of Isis and Osiris-which shares some features with the Mesopotamian myth of Inanna and Dumuzi (see chapter 3) and may even be historically related to it-eventually reached far beyond Egypt. First adopted by the Greeks and later the Romans, it evolved into a significant story of a resurrected deity who promised salvation, and Isis and Osiris became the central figures in the "mystery religions" that flourished in the first century before the rise of Christianity. In A History of God, Karen Armstrong describes how these "Oriental cults" found a ready audience in the international empire that Rome had become by the first century. "The old gods seem petty and inadequate," Armstrong writes in a description that almost seems befitting modern times and fascination with so-called New Age religions of our times. "They were looking for new spiritual solutions, [and] deities like Isis...were worshipped alongside the traditional gods of Rome."

To the Roman world, Isis was alluring, holding out the promise of magical secrets and even immortality. Married to one god and mother of another one, she contained all of the female creative power associated with great goddesses.

It was against that backdrop of fading interest in the old gods of Rome and growing fascination with attractive new gods, such as Isis and Osiris, that Christianity also began to take root in Rome. To many religious historians, that searching mood in ancient Rome, combined with myths of dying and rising gods, may have opened the way for Christianity. Early in the twentieth century, scholar Jane Harrison wrote: "Of all Egyptians, perhaps of all ancient deities, no god has lived so long or had so wide and deep an influence as Osiris. He stands as the prototype of the great class of resurrection gods who die that they may live again."

The story raises another troubling question. The marriage of Isis and Osiris, like most other divine relationships in Egyptian mythology, was clearly incestuous. That was not unique to Egypt, as many myths feature such family couplings. There is a practical explanation for this, which is that if you are a god and there is nobody else around, sleeping with your sister is the only option. Did that mean incest was condoned in Egypt? In Egyptian history, it was clear that the ruling families condoned inter-marriage and incestuous marriages. Again, it was a practical matter, a means to keep power within the family. That raises the question: Did the pharaohs do it because the gods did? Or was it the other way around? That is, were myths of incestuous gods devised to justify incest? There is considerable scholarly disagreement over whether incest was widespread among average Egyptians. While other myths, including those of the Greeks, commonly feature incestuous doings, taboos against incestuous marriages developed in most societies. Under biblical law, most forms of incest were forbidden and were capital offenses, and by 295 CE they were forbidden in Rome as well-which is intriguing, since some of Rome's emperors were notorious for their incestuous couplings.

MYTHIC VOICES.

The elaborate burial rituals of the Egyptians required that the deceased be properly prepared for the challenges of the journey to the afterlife. To ease the way and guarantee immortality, the Egyptians developed a rich tradition of instructions, incantations, and spells. As time went by, any Egyptian who could afford one was able to purchase one of these collections that have come to be called The Book of the Dead. Like any set of ritual prayers in Judaism or Christianity, they were designed to ensure that the correct words were spoken at the entrance to eternity. Among these the central was "Negative Confession," which the deceased used to testify that he had lived a life free of forty-two specific sins, one for each of the gods sitting in judgment.

Hail to you, great god, Lord of Justice! I have come to you, my lord, that you may bring me so that I may see your beauty, for I know you and I know your name, and I know the names of the forty-two gods of those who are with you in this Hall of Justice, who live on those who cherish evil and who gulp down their blood on that day of reckoning of characters.... Behold I have come to you. I have brought you truth, I have repelled falsehood against men, I have not impoverished my associates, I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth, I have not learnt that which is not, I have done no evil, I have not daily made labour in excess of what was due to be done for me, my name has not reached the office of those who control slaves, I have not deprived the orphan of his property, I have not done what the gods detest,...I have not caused pain, I have not made hungry, I have made no man weep, I have not killed, I have not commanded to kill, I have not made suffering for anyone....

I am pure, pure, pure, pure! My purity is the purity of the great phoenix....

-Spell 125, "The Negative Confession," The Egyptian Book of the Dead O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart of my different ages! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance, for you are my ka which was in my body, the protector who made my members hale. Go forth to the happy place whereto we speed; do not make my name stink to the Entourage who make men. Do not tell lies about me in the presence of the god; it is indeed well that you should hear.

-Spell 30B, The Egyptian Book of the Dead What was the "weighing of the heart"?

From the earliest of days, Egyptian life revolved around the cycles of birth, death, and rebirth. What was true for the earth itself-with life coming from the Nile floods that allowed the crops to flourish-could be true for humans. Very early on in the Egyptian world, this fundamental duality between life and death and the hope for renewal became an essential part of Egyptian mythology. Initially, it was expressed in the life of the kings and royalty. Descended from the gods, they were destined to be reunited with the gods. But at some point in Egypt's long history, the death and resurrection business went retail.

After death, Egyptians hoped to become one with Osiris, the god of resurrection and the underworld. The elaborate rituals of mummification and burial were all expressions of this desire. And the centerpiece of the elaborate rituals that guided the journey of the souls of the dead to the afterlife was the belief that the dead person would come to be judged by the gods in a ceremony known as the "weighing of the heart."

As the deceased traveled to an encounter with the gods, there were thought to be many trials, mirroring the trials that Re went through each night as he passed through the dangerous underworld before reemerging the next day. Ultimately, however, the deceased was brought into the great hall of judgment, before Osiris, accompanied by Isis and Nephthys and foty-two other gods, each one representing the nomes-administrative provinces into which Egypt was divided. Standing before the gods on this judgment day, the dead person would attest to having lived a just life. Then his heart was weighed on the scales of justice against the feather of the goddess Maat, a daughter of Re, who was the personification of the Egyptian idea of maat, the philosophy, religious notion, concept of harmony, and code of behavior that served as the basis for the stability of Egyptian society. It was the cosmic order that came through justice and right living.

This was the Egyptian equivalent of coming to the Pearly Gates and standing before St. Peter. Or, in more traditional Christian terms, the Judgment Day at which God would judge "the quick and the dead." If the deceased's heart was heavy with sin and evil deeds, redemption and eternal life were lost. For those who failed the weighing of the heart, the fearsome Ammut, "devourer of the dead," waited, eager to ravenously eat the heart of the deceased. An eternity in a sort of limbo followed. If the heart was in balance with the feather of truth, the soul of the deceased was saved and could join Osiris and the other gods.

By the New Kingdom (15501069 BCE), the possibility of achieving immortality was opened up to at least the upper and middle classes who could afford elaborate burial-the hope of the afterlife in eternity had gone retail and was available in The Book of the Dead. Produced on papyrus scrolls by scribes, these elaborate books were purchased by the families of the deceased and then entombed with the mummified body. Depending on the wealth of the dead person, they might contain as many as two hundred pages. This manual for immortality ensured that the deceased would know the proper words to say when confronted by the feather of truth.

WHO'S WHO OF EGYPTIAN MYTHS.

In addition to the gods already singled out, there was an enormous Egyptian pantheon consisting of hundreds of major and minor deities. Some were ancient local gods, patrons of cities, towns, and villages up and down the Nile. Others were newly minted gods that reflected the changes over the long course of Egyptian history. This list includes some of the other most significant Egyptian deities and the role they played in Egyptian society.

Ammut The goddess known as the "eater (devourer) of the dead" stands by the scales when the hearts of the dead are weighed at the entrance to the underworld. If the dead person has led a wicked life and is not fit to survive into the next world, Ammut eats the heart. There are, however, no accounts of anyone failing that test. Terrifying to behold, Ammut incorporates three of the most feared animals of ancient Egypt, with the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion, and the hindlegs of a hippopotamus.

Anubis The god of embalming and cemeteries, he is the jackal-headed son of Osiris and his sister Nephthys. The connection between the jackal and death probably came from people seeing the desert canines who scavenged in the shallow graves of early cemeteries. Adopted by Isis, Anubis becomes her devoted servant and plays a role in the Isis-Osiris story, wrapping the dead Osiris in bandages and making him the first mummy. After Osiris becomes lord of the underworld, Anubis joins him and presides over the crucial ceremony of weighing the heart. Those who pass this crucial test are then taken by Anubis to be judged in person by Osiris.

Anubis became the patron of embalmers, and priests who supervised the preparation of the mummy wore a jackal-headed Anubis mask.

Bast (or Bastet) The daughter of the sun god Re, she is the popular, catlike goddess of love, sexuality, and childbirth. At her cult city, Bubastis in the Nile Delta, thousands of cats, which were prized by Egyptians and thought to be lucky, were mummified in her honor.

Bes A popular household god, he is an ugly but friendly dwarf god who frightens away evil spirits, and his name may have meant "to protect." He was likely a god who developed later in Egyptian history and has similarities with about ten other gods. But as Bes, he is one of the most widely worshipped gods, whose image was often found in households on headrests and beds as well as on mirrors and cosmetic items. Because of his benevolent nature, Bes is often depicted with Taweret ("the great female one"), a goddess of childbirth, because he also looks on while women give birth, and is considered a good-luck figure. In spite of her benevolent role, Taweret, who protected women during childbirth, has many fearsome animal attributes and is portrayed with the head of a hippopotamus, a lion's limbs, the tail of a crocodile, a swollen human belly, and breasts-her forbidding appearance is thought to keep away evil spirits.

Bes was so popular and long-lasting that Roman soldiers apparently carried his likeness on amulets when they went into battle.

Hapy God of the Nile floods, he lives in a cave near the cataract and it is his job to keep the land along the river fertile. Although a male god, he is often depicted with long hair, large breasts, and a protruding stomach, all symbols of fertility. His annual feast days were especially important, and one ancient text describes the sacrifice of more than one thousand goats to him.

Hathor A powerful, complex goddess, she is one of the most significant goddesses, the protectress of lovers and women, especially in childbirth. Often shown in human form, Hathor is also depicted as a cow-headed goddess. At times, she was closely connected with Re and said to be both his wife and daughter. Hathor suckled the young Horus and came to his aid when Seth put out his eyes. In other traditions, she marries Horus, and her milk becomes the food of the gods. In the underworld, Hathor also greets the souls of the dead and offers them food and drink.

As men aspired to "become" Osiris in the afterlife, women typically wished to be associated with Hathor.

Imhotep Unlike most of the deities in this chapter, Imhotep is no myth. In fact, he was probably more interesting than myth. He was a real man, whose existence is proved by archaeology and written accounts. Only later did Egyptian-era spin doctors take over and transform him into a legend that had nothing to do with sacred stories. (Or cursed mummies. In the most recent Mummy films, the evil Mummy is said to be the reincarnated Imhotep who was once buried alive for trifling with the secrets of the dead.) The historical Imhotep was a multitalented priest and chief advisor, or vizier, to King Djoser. He was also the architect of the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara, the first colossal stone building in history. Although Imhotep's own tomb has not been located, a limestone bust of him was found in Djoser's funerary complex. A high priest in Heliopolis, Imhotep was eventually deified and regarded as the son of Ptah, the ancient creator god. He was also viewed as the patron god of physicians, and even today, modern medicine honors him as the first physician known by name. (A statue in his honor stands in the Hall of Immortals in the International College of Surgeons in Chicago.) Mehet-Weret (or Mehturt) An ancient cow-goddess and sky goddess, whose name means "great flood," she is also identified with the celestial river or canal on which Re sails his boat. In early traditions, Mehet-Weret is seen as the mother of Re, usually depicted as a cow, or half cow, half human, with a sun disk between her horns. She is also later linked with Hathor, another central cow-goddess.

Neith One of the most ancient deities whose existence is known in the prehistoric and early dynastic periods, she is a mother goddess worshipped in the Nile Delta. According to Egyptian tradition, Neith invented childbirth and brought gods, animals, and humans into existence. Because she is so ancient, she acquired other attributes over time and was also considered a warrior goddess. In one story, she spat into the water and her spit turned into Apep, the dragonlike serpent of the underworld who tries to devour Re each night as he passes through the Duat.

Sekhmet The lion-headed wife of the early creator god Ptah, she is a war goddess whose name means "powerful," and she could breathe fire against her enemies. Many Egyptian kings adopted her as a patroness of battle. In another of her roles, Sekhmet is the goddess who delivers punishments to the other gods.

Serqet An ancient scorpion goddess, she is the companion of Isis, and is one of the four funerary deities (the others were Isis, Nephthys, and Neith) who protect and guard the coffins and canopic jars that contain the embalmed, mummified organs of the deceased. There is a famous gilded wooden statue of Serqet, wearing the scorpion with a raised tail on her head, discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun in which she guards one side of the king's shrine. Serqet was also invoked through spells that were meant to protect and heal poisonous bites.

Thoth (or Djehuty) Originally a moon god, he is best known as the divine scribe who records the weighing of souls when they arrive in the hall of justice to determine their fate after death. Thoth is usually depicted with the head of an ibis, because the curved beak of that bird was thought to resemble the crescent moon. (He is also sometimes depicted as a baboon.) In The Book of the Dead, Spell 30B invokes Thoth in his role in the weighing ceremony:

Thus says Thoth, judge of truth, to the Great Ennead which is in the presence of Osiris: Hear the word of very truth. I have judged the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands as witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the great balance, and no sin has been found in him."

As the inventor of writing and patron of scribes, Thoth records the Ennead's "divine words" and documents the passing of kings. Worshipped as a patron of learning and the master of inventions, Thoth is also credited with the creation of writing.

Wepwawet Another funerary god with a dog's body and the head of a jackal, his name means "the opener of ways." A very old deity, represented on the Narmer Palette, he guides the dead person's soul through the underworld and assists in the weighing of the heart.

Why are there so many animals-real and imaginary-in Egypt's myths?

Maybe you've heard the riddle of the sphinx? It was once popular fifth-grade humor.

"Which lion doesn't roar?"

Answer: "The Sphinx-it's made of stone."

In ancient Egypt, animals played a prominent role in myth and religion, apparently from prehistoric times, judging from early art and burial practices. Images and references to hawks, falcons, lions, serpents, crocodiles, and bulls fill the pantheon of Egypt and are vividly illustrated in Egyptian art. While that idea was not unique to Egypt, animal worship may have been more significant in Egypt than almost any other ancient civilization. Springing from the belief that animals were manifestations of the gods-vehicles through which the gods could be worshipped-the Egyptians often buried animals in ritual graves, mummified them, provided them with food on their journeys to the afterlife, and used them in worship ceremonies at temples.

The Apis bull of Memphis, for instance, was considered a manifestation of the creator god Ptah and was used to make divinations. Worshippers could ask "yes" or "no" question of the oracle bull, which provided an answer to the petitioner by moving into one sacred corral or another. Other major religious centers, such as Heliopolis and Elephantine, had stables of sacred bulls and rams, respectively, while flocks of ibises and falcons, and thousands of cats-considered manifestations of Thoth, Horus, and Bastet-were maintained throughout Egypt, vast menageries that were used to make sacrifices by pilgrims seeking a favor from the gods.

Not only did the Egyptians represent their gods in animal forms, they also used a combined animal-human form, of which the Sphinx is the most famous example. A Greek word that is derived from Egyptian words meaning "living statue," a sphinx in ancient times was believed to be a mythical beast with the body of a lion or lioness and the head of a ram, hawk, or reigning king or queen. Sphinxes, which were reported by ancient Greek travelers to have been located all across Egypt, were thought to embody the power of the ruler to defend Egypt and served as visible symbols of the strength and power of the pharaoh.

Located near the pyramids at Giza, the Great Sphinx is one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of art in the world as well as the largest statue in the ancient world. Measuring 240 feet (73 meters) long and about 66 feet (20 meters) high, and carved from an outcropping of limestone, the Great Sphinx at Giza was sculpted with the body of a lion and the head of Khafra, son of Khufu the Great. The Sphinx's head, which served as the guardian of the royal cemeteries outside Memphis, seems to have been positioned so that the setting sun would stream through the temple on the days of the two equinoxes, capturing the moment when day and night were in perfect harmony.

MYTHIC VOICES.

But no crime was too great for Cheops: when he was short of money, he sent his daughter to a brothel with instructions to charge a certain sum-they didn't say how much. This she actually did, adding to it a further transaction of her own; for with the intention of leaving something to be remembered by after her death, she asked each of her customers to give her a block of stone, and of these stones (the story goes) was built the middle pyramid of the three which stand in front of the great pyramid.

-HERODOTUS, The Histories (Book Two).

What did the pyramids have to do with the gods?

No doubt it was repeating stories like this-about a king forcing his daughter to become a prostitute to pay for a pyramid-that made people wonder whether Herodotus was a reliable source. What the first Greek historian might have been passing on as "history" sounds suspiciously like the kind of story disgruntled commoners might tell if they don't like the king. Since Cheops-or more accurately Khufu-lived some two thousand years before Herodotus was in Egypt, the story of the daughter in the brothel has the ring of legend, not history. In fact, although the writings of Herodotus on Egypt profoundly influenced the study of Egypt for centuries, recent scholarship suggests that Herodotus never even traveled to some of the places he claims to have visited. For his inaccuracies and tall tales, Herodotus is sometimes called the "father of lies."