n refers to some calamity which befell the Eye of Nebertcher
or of Khepera, but what it was is not clear; at all events the Eye
became obscured, and it ceased to give light. This period of darkness
is, of course, the night, and to obviate the inconvenience caused by
this recurring period of darkness, the god made a second Eye, _i.e._ the
Moon, and set it in the heavens. The greater Eye ruled the day, and the
lesser Eye the night. One of the results of the daily darkness was the
descent of the Sky-goddess Nut to the Earth-god Keb each evening.

[Footnote 1: The second version here states that the name of Nebertcher
is Ausares (Osiris), who is the oldest god of all.]

The gods and goddesses next created were five, namely, Osiris, Horus,
Set, Isis, and Nephthys. Osiris married Isis, and their son was called
Horus; Set married Nephthys, but their son Anpu, or Anubis, is not
mentioned in our text. Osiris became the great Ancestor-god of Egypt,
and was a reincarnation of his great-grandfather. Men and women were
first formed from the tears that fell from the Eye of Khepera, or the
Sun-god, upon his body; the old Egyptian word for "men" very closely
resembles in form and sound the word for "tears." Plants, vegetables,
herbs, and trees owe their origin to the light of the moon falling upon
the earth. Our text contains no mention of a special creation of the
"beasts of the field," but the god states distinctly that he created the
children of the earth, or creeping things of all kinds, and among this
class quadrupeds are probably included. The men and women, and all the
other living creatures that were made at that time by Nebertcher, or
Khepera, reproduced their species, each in his own way, and thus the
earth became filled with their descendants as we see at the present
time. The elements of this Creation legend are very, very old, and the
form in which they are grouped in our text suggests the influence of the
priests of Heliopolis. It is interesting to note that only very ancient
gods appear as Powers of creation, and these were certainly worshipped
for many centuries before the priests of Heliopolis invented their cult
of the Sun-god, and identified their god with the older gods of the
country. We may note, too, that gods like Ptah and Amen, whose
reputation was so great in later times, and even when our text was
copied in 305 B.C., find no mention at all.

CHAPTER VII