1 Plan drawn by Thuillier, from the Description de l'
Egypte, Ant., vol. iv. pl. 50.
Nît was the source and ruler of the Ennead of Saïs, Isis of that of Bûto, and Hâthor of that of Denderah.[**] Few of the sacerdotal colleges went beyond the substitution of their own feudal gods for Atûmû. Provided that the god of each nome held the rank of supreme lord, the rest mattered little, and the local theologians made no change in the order of the other agents of creation, their vanity being unhurt even by the lower offices assigned by the Heliopolitan tradition to such powers as Osiris, Sibû, and Sit, who were known and worshipped throughout the whole country.
** On the Ennead of Hâthor at Denderah, see Mariette,
Denderah, p. 80., et seq., of the text. The fact that Nît,
Isis, and, generally speaking, all the feudal goddesses,
were the chiefs of their local Enneads, is proved by the
epithets applied to them, which represent them as having
independent creative power by virtue of their own unaided
force and energy, like the god at the head of the
Heliopolitan Ennead.
The theologians of Hermopolis alone declined to borrow the new system just as it stood, and in all its parts. Hermopolis had always been one of the ruling cities of Middle Egypt. Standing alone in the midst of the land lying between the Eastern and Western Mies, it had established upon each of the two great arms of the river a port and a custom-house, where all boats travelling either up or down stream paid toll on passing. Not only the corn and natural products of the valley and of the Delta, but also goods from distant parts of Africa brought to Siûfc by Soudanese caravans, helped to fill the treasury of Hermopolis. Thot, the god of the city, represented as ibis or baboon, was essentially a moon-god, who measured time, counted the days, numbered the months, and recorded the years. Lunar divinities, as we know, are everywhere supposed to exercise the most varied powers: they command the mysterious forces of the universe; they know the sounds, words, and gestures by which those forces are put in motion, and not content with using them for their own benefit, they also teach to their worshippers the art of employing them.
1 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from an enamelled pottery figure
from Coptos, now in my possession. Neck, feet, and tail are
in blue enamel, the rest is in green. The little personage
represented as squatting beneath the beak is Mâit, the
goddess of truth, and the ally of Thot. The ibis was
furnished with a ring for suspending it; this has been
broken off, but traces of it may still be seen at the back
of the head.
2 Drawn by Faucher-Gudin from a green enamelled pottery
figure in my possession (Saïte period).
Thot formed no exception to this rule. He was lord of the voice, master of words and of books, possessor or inventor of those magic writings which nothing in heaven, on earth, or in Hades can withstand.[***]
*** Cf. in the tale of Satni (Maspero, Contes populaires
de l'Ancienne Egypte, 2nd edit., p. 175) the description of
the book which Thot has himself written with his own hand,
and which makes its possessor the equal of the gods. "The
two formulas which are written therein, if thou recitest the
first thou shalt charm heaven, earth, Hades, the mountains,
the waters; thou shalt know the birds of the sky and the
reptiles, how many soever they be; thou shalt see the fish
of the deep, for a divine power will cause them to rise to
the surface of the water. If thou readest the second
formula, even although thou shouldest be in the tomb, thou
shalt again take the form which was thine upon earth; thou
shalt even see the sun rising in heaven, and his cycle of
gods, and the moon in the form wherein it appeareth."