Hail to thee, Hapi
Who descendeth upon earth
And giveth life unto Egypt.
Thou who art hidden in the unknown
Whose waters spread upon the fields
Which the sun-god hath created;
And giveth life to all who are athirst.
Thou, the Creator of corn,
The Maker of barley——
Do thy waters cease to flow,
Then are all mankind in misery;
When thou wanest in heaven
The gods and all living things perish.
It would be useless for us to attempt to become familiar with all the Egyptian divinities. In the age when people conceived and worshipped them, the gods of a given locality were often unknown in a neighboring city, and the animals held to be sacred in one town might be eaten as food in another.
In addition to all their deities, ancestors were worshipped by the Egyptians, and an altar was erected to the departed in every home.
It was believed that the soul left the body after death in the form of a bird (ba), dwelled apart from the body, but would often return to it for nourishment and earthly comforts. In early days, therefore, food in great abundance was placed in the tomb, or the priests were paid to provide daily food for the deceased. Later it was felt that the ka—or that portion of the dead which required nourishment—was a mere shadow, a ghost, a phantom, and so pictures of things to eat would satisfy as well as the articles themselves. Carrying out this idea, the Egyptians pictured upon tomb walls all stages of growing grain, from the time the seed dropped upon the mellow soil until the ground flour was served in loaves for the feast; meat was shown, in all its forms: from the ox, feeding in the pasture, to the juicy roasts, made ready for the table. Such scenes as these adorned the interior chambers of the tomb; upon them, it was believed, the phantom-like ka might look and be appeased.
Dromos and Second Pylon, Temple of Karnak.
In a recently excavated tomb, liquid honey was discovered. Meats too, encased for at least 3,000 years, for the sustenance of the deceased, were here, while a lengthy menu covered a wall, stating the amount of food at the disposal of the departed. 5,006 geese, so it read, were at his command, but the number 5,006 was simply written beneath one pictured goose!
Beds, chairs, toilet articles, chariots, and countless other objects were left in the tomb of the well-to-do Egyptian, but were placed apart from the mummy, which was sealed up in a private apartment by itself, while a statue or image of the deceased was left near the belongings.
It was believed that at death the ba—or soul—went on a long journey to the land where Osiris reigned, and so great were the dangers of the way that many amulets and charms were laid by the departed to assist him in passing the obstacles of the road he must needs encounter. He who arrived at last at the land of Peace, where the joys of life abided without the sorrows of earth, came into the presence of Osiris. Here he made a negative confession, similar to the following: "Hail unto you, ye lords of Truth! hail to thee, great god, lord of Truth and Justice! I have not committed iniquity against men! I have not oppressed the poor! I have not laid labor upon any free man beyond that which he wrought for himself! I have not starved any man! I have not caused any to weep!... There is no crime against me in this land of the Double Truth!"