nsecutive development from the very first; what manner
of life had been led by their fathers; what chiefs they had obeyed and
the names or adventures of those chiefs; why part of the nations had
left the blessed banks of the Nile and gone to settle in foreign lands;
by what stages and in what length of time those who had not emigrated
rose out of native barbarism into that degree of culture to which the
most ancient monuments bore testimony. No efforts of imagination were
needful for the satisfaction of their curiosity: the old substratum of
indigenous traditions was rich enough, did they but take the trouble
to work it out systematically, and to eliminate its most incongruous
elements. The priests of Heliopolis took this work in hand, as they had
already taken in hand the same task with regard to the myths referring
to the creation; and the Enneads provided them with a ready-made
framework. They changed the gods of the Ennead into so many kings,
determined with minute accuracy the lengths of their reigns, and
compiled their biographies from popular tales. The duality of the feudal
god supplied an admirable expedient for connecting the history of the
world with that of chaos. Tumu was identified with Nu, and relegated to
the primordial Ocean: Ra was retained, and proclaimed the first king
of the world. He had not established his rule without difficulty. The
"Children of Defeat," beings hostile to order and light, engaged him in
fierce battles; nor did he succeed in organizing his kingdom until
he had conquered them in nocturnal combat at Hermopolis, and even at
Heliopolis itself.[*]

* The _Children of Defeat_, in Egyptian _Mosu batashu_, or
_Mosu batashit_, are often confounded with the followers of
Sit, the enemies of Osiris. From the first they were
distinct, and represented beings and forces hostile to the
sun, with the dragon Apopi at their head. Their defeat at
Hermopolis corresponded to the moment when Shu, raising the
sky above the sacred mound in that city, substituted order
and light for chaos and darkness. This defeat is mentioned
in chap xvii. of the _Book of the Dead_ (Naville's edition,
vol. i. pl. xxiii. 1. 3, et seq.), in which connexion E. de
Rouge first explained its meaning. In the same chapter of
the _Book of the Dead_ (Naville's edition, vol. i. pis.
xxiv., xxv., 11. 54-58), reference is also made to the
battle by night, in Helio