1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a painting on the mummy-case
of Bûtehamon in the Turin Museum. "Shû, the great god, lord
of heaven," receives the adoration of two ram-headed souls
placed upon his right and left.
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a specimen in blue enamelled
pottery, now in my possession.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a figure frequently found in
Theban mummy-cases of XXIst and XXIInd dynasties (Wilkinson,
Manners and Customs. 2nd edit., vol. iii. pl. xxv., No 5).
The aspect of the inundated plains of the Delta, of the river by which they are furrowed and fertilized, and of the desert sands by which they are threatened, had suggested to the theologians of Mendes and Bûto an explanation of the mystery of creation, in which the feudal divinities of these cities and of several others in their neighbourhood, Osiris, Sit, and Isis, played the principal parts. Osiris first represented the wild and fickle Nile of primitive times; afterwards, as those who dwelt upon his banks learned to regulate his course, they emphasized the kindlier side of his character and soon transformed him into a benefactor of humanity, the supremely good being, Ûnnofriû, Onnophris.[*] He was lord of the principality of Didû, which lay along the Sebennytic branch of the river between the coast marshes and the entrance to the Wâdy Tûmilât, but his domain had been divided; and the two nomes thus formed, namely, the ninth and sixteenth nomes of the Delta in the Pharaonic lists, remained faithful to him, and here he reigned without rival, at Busiris as at Mendes. His most famous idol-form was the Didû, whether naked or clothed, the fetish, formed of four superimposed columns, which had given its name to the principality.[**]