d this claim was, from an early date, received and allowed.
"Thy Majesty," says a courtier under the twelfth dynasty, "is the good
God ... the great God, the equal of the Sun-God. ... I live from the
breath which thou givest" Brought into the king's presence, the courtier
"falls on his belly," amazed and confounded. "I was as one brought out
of the dark; my tongue was dumb; my lips failed me; my heart was no
longer in my body to know whether I was alive or dead;" and this,
although "the god" had "addressed him mildly." Another courtier
attributes his long life to the king's favour. Ambassadors, when
presented to the king, "raised their arms in adoration of the good god,"
and declared to him--"Thou art like the Sun in all that thou doest: thy
heart realizes all its wishes; shouldest thou wish to make it day during
the night, it is so forthwith.... If thou sayest to the water, 'Come
from the rock,' it will come in a torrent suddenly at the words of thy
mouth. The god Ra is like thee in his limbs, the god Khepra in creative
force. Truly thou art the living image of thy father, Tum.... All thy
words are accomplished daily." Some of the kings set up their statues in
the temples by the side of the greatest of the national deities, to be
the objects of a similar worship.

Amid this wealth of gods, earthly and heavenly, human, animal, and
divine, an Egyptian might well feel puzzled to make a choice. In his
hesitation he was apt to turn to that only portion of his religion which
had the attraction that myth possesses--- the introduction into a
supramundane and superhuman world of a quasi-human element. The chief
Egyptian myth was the Osirid saga, which ran somewhat as follows: "Once
upon a time the gods were tired of ruling in the upper sphere, and
resolved to take it in turns to reign over Egypt in the likeness of men.
So, after four of them had in succession been kings, each for a long
term of years, it happened that Osiris, the son of Seb and Nut, took the
throne, and became monarch of the two regions, the Upper and the Lower.
Osiris was of a good and bountiful nature, beneficent in will and words:
he set himself to civilize the Egyptians, taught them to till the fields
and cultivate the vine, gave them law and religion, and instructed them
in various useful arts. Unfortunately, he had a wicked brother, called
Set or Sutekh, who hated him for his goodness, and resolved to compass
his death. This he effected after a while, and,