dead and in immortality, and the general evidence derived both from
archaeological and religious considerations supports this view. As old,
however, as this belief in general is the specific belief in a spiritual
body (S[=A]H or S[=A]HU); for we find it in texts of the Vth dynasty
incorporated with ideas which belong to the prehistoric Egyptian in his
savage or semi-savage state. One remarkable extract will prove this
point. In the funeral chapters which are inscribed on the walls of the
chambers and passages inside the pyramid of King Unas, who flourished at
the end of the Vth dynasty, about B.C. 3300, is a passage in which the
deceased king terrifies all the powers of heaven and earth because he
"riseth as a soul (BA) in the form of the god who liveth upon his
fathers and who maketh food of his mothers. Unas is the lord of wisdom
and his mother knoweth not his name. He hath become mighty like unto the
god Temu, the father who gave him birth, and after Temu gave him birth
he became stronger than his father." The king is likened unto a Bull,
and he feedeth upon every god, whatever may be the form in which he
appeareth; "he hath weighed words with the god whose name is hidden,"
and he devoureth men and liveth upon gods. The dead king is then said to
set out to limit the gods in their meadows, and when he has caught them
with nooses, he causes them to be slain. They are next cooked in blazing
cauldrons, the greatest for his morning meal, the lesser for his evening
meal, and the least for his midnight meal; the old gods and goddesses
serve as fuel for his cooking pots. In this way, having swallowed the
magical powers and spirits of the gods, he becomes the Great Power of
Powers among the gods, and the greatest of the gods who appear in
visible forms. "Whatever he hath found upon his path he hath consumed,
and his strength is greater than that of any spiritual body (S[=A]HU) in
the horizon; he is the firstborn of all the firstborn, and ... he hath
carried off the hearts of the gods.... He hath eaten the wisdom of every
god, and his period of existence is everlasting, and his life shall be
unto all eternity, ... for the souls and the spirits of the gods are in
him."

We have, it is clear, in this passage an allusion to the custom of
savages of all nations and periods, of eating portions of the bodies of
valiant foes whom they have vanquished in war in order to absorb their
virtues and strength; the same habit has also obtain