torehouse of facts and references.)

WIEDEMANN.--_Religion of the Ancient Egyptians_, 1897.
307 pp, 73 figs. 12s. 6d. (The best general view of the
subject.)

WIEDEMANN.--Article in supplement to _Hastings's Dictionary
of the Bible_. (Excellent outline.)

WIEDEMANN.--_Ancient Egyptian Doctrine of Immortality_,
1895. 71 pp., 21 figs., 2 pls. 3s.

MASPERO.--_Dawn of Civilisation_, see pp. 81-222, 1894. 25s.
(A popular outline by a master.)

MASPERO.--_Etudes de Mythologie_, 1893, 895 pp.

MASPERO.--_Inscriptions des Pyramides de Saqqara_, 1894.
456 pp., 9 pl.

RENOUF.--_Book of the Dead_, 1893-1902. 308 pp., 53 pl. L2.
(The standard translation with the illustrations.)

BUDGE.--_Gods of the Egyptians_, 1904. 908 pp., 131 figs.,
98 pls. L3. 3s. (Useful repertory, but illustrations not
exact.)

SAYCE.--_Religions of Ancient Egypt and Babylonia_, 1902.
509 pp. 7s. 6d. (Useful for comparative view.)

PETRIE.--_Religion and Conscience in Ancient Egypt_, 1898.
176 pp. 2s. 6d. (A study of the nature of conscience,
and the tribal aspect of religion.)

{1}

THE RELIGION OF ANCIENT EGYPT

CHAPTER I

THE NATURE OF GODS

Before dealing with the special varieties of the Egyptians' belief in
gods, it is best to try to avoid a misunderstanding of their whole
conception of the supernatural. The term god has come to tacitly imply
to our minds such a highly specialised group of attributes, that we can
hardly throw our ideas back into the more remote conceptions to which
we also attach the same name. It is unfortunate that every other word
for supernatural intelligences has become debased, so that we cannot
well speak of demons, devils, ghosts, or fairies without implying a
noxious or a trifling meaning, quite unsuited to the ancient deities
that were so beneficent and powerful. If then we use the word god for
such conceptions, it must always {2} be with the reservation that the
word has now a very different meaning from what it had to ancient minds.

To the Egyptian the gods might be mortal; even Ra, the sun-god, is said
to have grown old and feeble, Osiris was slain, and Orion, the great
hunter of the heavens, killed and ate the gods. The mortality of gods
has been dwelt on by Dr. Frazer (_Golden Bough_), and the many
instances of tombs of gods, and of the slaying of the deified man who
was worshipped, all show that immortality was not a divine attribute.
Nor was th