[215] "Rekhyt," like "Pat," seems to be a designation of the Egyptians. To "open the throat" of a man is to give him life by enabling him to breathe.
[216] A "good burial" after a "long old age" was a characteristic wish of the Egyptians.
[217] The Aten is the name of the visible sun rather than of an abstract Sun god. It is pictured as a radiant disk, the rays terminating in human hands, often resting beneficently on the figure of the worshiper, bestowing upon him symbols of life, or graciously accepting his offerings.
[218] See note, p. 5303. The word occurs in these translations often, but not with any very definite meaning.
[219] The Nile here stands for the main sources of water: that in heaven giving rain on the mountains and fields, that in the "deep" or "underworld" giving rise to springs, wells, and rivers.
[220] "Fairest of the Forms of Ra, the Only One of Ra," is the title which Akhenaten took when first he ascended the throne, and which he continued to bear all through his reign, notwithstanding his reform.
[221] Amen was god of Thebes; and under the XVIIIth Dynasty, when Thebes was the capital of the whole country and Egypt was at the height of her power, Amen took the first place in the national pantheon. He was then identified with Ra the Sun god, perhaps to make him more acceptable to the nation at large. Hence a hymn to Amen Ra was practically a hymn to the supreme Sun god.
[222] Compare the seven-line stanza in the inscription of Una, above, p. 5298.
[223] Mezau and Punt were on and about the east coast of Africa, in Nubia and Somaliland.
[224] The supreme god was surrounded by eight other gods, and together they formed an Ennead, or group of nine.