titutes their difference from each other, and keeps
them separate.

The Great Gods also are Local.--The nature-god as well as the
animal-god was worshipped in his own nome, where he dwelt in the
midst of his own community of worshippers; he was not recognised in
other nomes unless there were special reasons for it. But at the
earliest period of our knowledge of Egypt this simple early
arrangement has already undergone many modifications. Each nome has
its own special deity. Set is the god of Oxyrhynchus, Neith of Sais,
but more gods than one are worshipped in each nome. Generally there
are three; in many places there is an ennead, a nine of gods, but the
nine is a round number; there might be one or two less or more. The
god of a nome which had risen to a commanding position extended his
influence beyond his own nome, and came to share the temples of other
gods, so that he was at home in a number of places. Ra is said to
have fourteen persons--that is, fourteen views of his person have
been developed in so many different districts. But if one god could
thus be divided into several, the converse also took place; two or
more gods were combined, by the simple addition of their names
together, to form a new god. We have Ra-harmachis, Amon-ra,
Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, and some even more elaborately compounded deities.

Thus there was a constant tendency to the production of new deities;
even the attempts to combine existing deities only add to the number.
No attempt in the direction of a system of gods had any success;
local deities could not be suppressed; the nomes retained their
separate deities and religious establishments to the end. There never
was a religious organisation of Egypt generally; a priest could in
some cases pass from the religion of one nome to that of another, but
there was never a high priest of Egypt as a whole, however much a
king might wish to organise all the worships of the country in one
system. This local character of the Egyptian high gods was a source
of weakness in these great beings, and never ceased to check their
upward movement.

The temple of a nome had, as a rule, three gods, and these formed a
family, the chief god having his consort and the third being their
son. Of these triads we may mention some:--

Amen-Mut-Chonsu are the triad of Thebes.
Ptah-Sechet-Imhotep " Memphis.
Osiris-Isis-Horus " Abydos (Philae).
Seba