s he
constantly appears from the nineteenth dynasty onward. One of the
earlier of these forms is that of the boy Horus standing upon
crocodiles, and grasping scorpions and noxious animals in his hands.
This type was a favourite amulet down to Ptolemaic times, and is often
found carved in stone to be placed in a house, but was scarcely ever
made in other materials or for suspension on the person. The form of
the young Horus seated on an open lotus flower was also popular in the
Greek times. But the infant Horus with his finger to his lips {47} was
the most popular form of all, sometimes alone, sometimes on his
mother's lap. The finger, which pointed to his being a sucking child,
was absurdly misunderstood by the Greeks as an emblem of silence. From
the twenty-sixth dynasty down to late Roman times the infant Horus, or
the young boy, was the most prominent subject on the temples, and the
commonest figure in the homes of the people.

The other main group of human gods was Amon, Mut, and Khonsu of Thebes.
_Amon_ was the local god of Karnak, and owed his importance in Egypt to
the political rise of his district. The Theban kingdom of the twelfth
dynasty spread his fame, the great kings of the eighteenth and
nineteenth dynasty ascribed their victories to Amon, his high priest
became a political power which absorbed the state after the twentieth
dynasty, and the importance of the god only ceased with the fall of his
city. The original attributes and the origin of the name of Amon are
unknown; but he became combined with Ra, the sun-god, and as Amon-Ra he
was 'king of the gods,' and 'lord of the thrones of the world.' The
supremacy of Amon was for some centuries an article of political faith,
and many other gods were merged in him, and only survived as aspects
{48} of the great god of all. The queens were the high priestesses of
the god, and he was the divine father of their children; the kings
being only incarnations of Amon in their relation to the queens.

+Mut+, the great mother, was the goddess of Thebes, and hence the
consort of Amon. She is often shown as leading and protecting the
kings, and the queens appear in the character of this goddess. Little
is known about her otherwise, and she disappears in the later theology.

+Khonsu+ is a youthful god combined in the Theban system as the son of
Amon and Mut. He is closely parallel to Th[=o]th as being a god of
time, as a moon god, and of science, 'the executor