nce of the cult
became one of the most important affairs of state. The most illustrious
monarchs prided themselves no less on the buildings they raised in
honour of the gods than on the successful wars they waged: indeed the
wars won a religious significance through the gradual elevation of the
god of the capital to god of the nation, and a large part of the spoils
was considered the rightful perquisite of the latter. Countless were the
riches that the kings heaped upon the gods in the hope of being requited
with long life and prosperity on the throne of the living. It became the
theory that the temples were the gifts of the Pharaoh to his fathers the
gods, and therefore in the scenes of the cult that adorn the inner walls
it is always he who is depicted as performing the ceremonies. As a
matter of fact the priesthoods were much more independent than was
allowed to appear. Successive grants of land placed no small portion of
the entire country in their hands, and the administration of the temple
estates gave employment to a large number of officials and serfs. In the
New Kingdom the might of the Theban god Ammon gradually became a serious
menace to the throne: in the reign of Rameses III. he could boast of
more than 80,000 dependants, and more than 400,000 cattle. It is not
surprising that a few generations later the high priests of Ammon
supplanted the Pharaohs altogether and founded a dynasty of their own.

At no period did the priests form a caste that was quite distinctly
separated from the laity. In early times the feudal lords were
themselves the chief priests of the local temples. Under them stood a
number of subordinate priests, both professional and lay. Among the
former were the _kher-heb_, a learned man entrusted with the conduct of
the ceremonies, and the "divine fathers," whose functions are obscure.
The lay priests were divided into four classes that undertook the
management of the temple in alternate months; their collective name was
the "hour-priesthood." Perhaps it was to them that the often recurring
title _oueb_, "the pure," should properly be restricted, though strict
rules as to personal purity, dress and diet were demanded of all
priests. The personnel of the temple was completed by various
subordinate officials, doorkeepers, attendants and slaves. In the New
Kingdom the leading priests were more frequently mere clerics than
theretofore, though for instance the high priest of Ammon was often at
the