[19.] ‘Chepera, father of the gods.’ Expressions like this are liable to be misunderstood by superficial readers. They are not meant to imply that ‘father of the gods’ was the special attribute of Chepera. ‘Father of the gods’ is predicated in Chapter 8 of Sutu, and it is predicated elsewhere of many other divinities. As in mathematics any point in space may be conceived as the origin of a given line or surface, so in Egyptian mythology any god may be rightly called the father of the gods. And for the same reason. The Day precedes the Night, but not more truly than Night precedes, or in mythological language gives birth to Day. But we may begin at Daybreak, or at Noon, or at Sunset, or with the Sun or the Moon, or with the rising of the Nile or any other natural phenomenon which obeys an evidently permanent fixed Law.
[11]. One of the names of the Uræus on the royal crown.
[12]. ‘The Glorious ones’; see [Note 1] on Chapter I.
[14]. An abode of bliss (like the Elysian fields) frequently mentioned and described in the Book of the Dead.
[15]. The dragon Âpepi.
[16]. Both Chabasu and Hammemit have the sign of the plural, which may arise from the omission of who art above before the first of these words. Unfortunately we have no other copy to check the readings. But it is certain that the sign of plurality is often affixed to words which though in plural form (like the Latin moenia, literae, tenebrae) have a singular meaning. Chabasu means a lamp, and the stars, especially the decans, were called by this appellation. Hammemit is the name given to those yet unborn.
[17].
