also herself "the mother plant," like the mother of
Horus.]

[360: Whose cultural associations with the Great Mother in the Eastern
Mediterranean littoral has been discussed by Sir Arthur Evans, "Mycenaean
Tree and Pillar Cult," pp. 49 _et seq._ Compare also _Apollo hyakinthos_
as further evidence of the link with Artemis.]

[361: P. J. Veth, "Internat. Arch. f. Ethnol.," Bd. 7, pp. 203 and 204.]

[362: "Hieroglyphics," p. 60.]

[363: Budge, "The Gods of the Egyptians," Vol. I, pp. 436 and 437.]

[364: Alan Gardiner, "Life and Death (Egyptian)," Hastings'
_Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics_.]

The Mandrake.

We have now given reasons for believing that the personification of the
mandrake was in some way brought about by the transference to the plant
of the magical virtues that originally belonged to the cowry shell.

The problem that still awaits solution is the nature of the process by
which the transference was effected.

When I began this investigation the story of the Destruction of Mankind
(see Chapter II) seemed to offer an explanation of the confusion.
Brugsch, Naville, Maspero, Erman, and in fact most Egyptologists, seemed
to be agreed that the magical substance from which the Egyptian elixir
of life was made was the mandrake. As there was no hint[365] in the
Egyptian story of the derivation of its reputation from the fancied
likeness to the human form, its identification with Hathor seemed to be
merely another instance of those confusions with which the pathway of
mythology is so thickly strewn. In other words, the plant seemed to have
been used merely to soothe the excited goddess: then the other
properties of "the food of the gods," of which it was an ingredient,
became transferred to the mandrake, so that it acquired the reputation
of being a "giver of life" as well as a sedative. If this had been true
it would have been a simple process to identify this "giver of life"
with the goddess herself in her role as the "giver of life," and her
cowry-ancestor which was credited with the same reputation.

But this hypothesis is no longer tenable, because the word _d'd'_
(variously transliterated _doudou_ or _didi_), which Brugsch[366] and
his followers interpreted as "mandragora," is now believed to have
another meaning.

In a closely reasoned memoir, Henri Gauthier[367] has completely
demolished Brugsch's interpretation of this word. He says there are
numerous instances of the use of _d'd'_ (whic