to be
regarded as a woman, the Great Mother.[47] When the fertilizing water
came to be personified in the person of Osiris his consort Isis was
identified with the earth which was fertilized by water.[48]

One of the earliest pictures of an Egyptian king represents him using
the hoe to inaugurate the making of an irrigation-canal.[49] This was
the typical act of benevolence on the part of a wise ruler. It is not
unlikely that the earliest organization of a community under a definite
leader may have been due to the need for some systematized control of
irrigation. In any case the earliest rulers of Egypt and Sumer were
essentially the controllers and regulators of the water supply and as
such the givers of fertility and prosperity.

Once men first consciously formulated the belief that death was not the
end of all things,[50] that the body could be re-animated and
consciousness and the will restored, it was natural that a wise ruler
who, when alive, had rendered conspicuous services should after death
continue to be consulted. The fame of such a man would grow with age;
his good deeds and his powers would become apotheosized; he would become
an oracle whose advice might be sought and whose help be obtained in
grave crises. In other words the dead king would be "deified," or at any
rate credited with the ability to confer even greater boons than he was
able to do when alive.

It is no mere coincidence that the first "god" should have been a dead
king, Osiris, nor that he controlled the waters of irrigation and was
specially interested in agriculture. Nor, for the reasons that I have
already suggested, is it surprising that he should have had phallic
attributes, and in himself have personified the virile powers of
fertilization.[51]

In attempting to explain the origin of the ritual procedures of burning
incense and offering libations it is essential to realize that the
creation of the first deities was not primarily an expression of
religious belief, but rather an application of science to national
affairs. It was the logical interpretation of the dominant scientific
theory of the time for the practical benefit of the living; or in other
words, the means devised for securing the advice and the active help of
wise rulers after their death. It was essentially a matter of practical
politics and applied science. It became "religion" only when the
advancement of knowledge superseded these primitive scientific theories
and