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body of the king, and the divine power and wisdom, which were in the
king as the god's representative, were renewed. The king then closed the
doors of the shrine and left the sanctuary for a short time. When he
returned he opened the shrine again, and made adoration to the god, and
presented a series of offerings that symbolised Truth. After this the
king dressed the figure of the god in sacred apparel, and decorated it.
Then, having performed further acts of worship before it, he closed the
doors of the shrine, sealed them with mud seals, and left the sanctuary.

VI. The BOOK "MAY MY NAME FLOURISH."--This was a very popular funerary
work in the Roman Period. It is a development of a long prayer that is
found in the Pyramid Texts, and was written by the priests and used as a
spell to make the name of the deceased flourish eternally in heaven and
on the earth. Many copies of it, written on narrow strips of papyrus,
are preserved in the British Museum.

VII. The BOOK OF AAPEP, the great enemy of the Sun-god.--Aapep was the
god of evil, who became incarnate in many forms, especially in wild and
savage animals and in monster serpents and venomous reptiles of every
kind. He was supposed to take the form of a huge serpent and to lie in
wait near the portals of the dawn daily, so that he might swallow up the
sun as he was about to rise in the eastern sky. He was accompanied by
legions of devils and fiends, red and black, and by all the powers of
storm, tempest, hurricane, whirlwind, thunder and lightning, and he was
the deadly foe of all order, both physical and moral, and of all good in
heaven and in earth. At certain times during the day and night the
priests in the temple of Amen-Ra recited a series of chapters, and
performed a number of magical ceremonies, which were intended to
strengthen the arms of the Sun-god, and give him power to overcome the
resistance of Aapep. These chapters acted on Aapep as spells, and they
paralysed the monster just as he was about to attack the Sun-god. The
god then approached and shot his fiery darts into him, and his attendant
gods hacked the monster's body to pieces, which shrivelled up under the
burning heat of the rays of the Sun-god, and all the devils and fiends
of darkness fled shrieking in terror at their leader's fate. The sun
then rose on this world, and all the stars and spirits of the morning
and all the gods of heaven sang for joy. The complete text of this book
is found in a