he "king of the gods." The ideas held concerning Osiris at this
period will best be judged by the following extracts from contemporary
hymns:--

"Glory [Footnote: See _Chapters of Coming Forth by Day_ (translation),
p. 11.] be to thee, O Osiris, Un-nefer, the great god within Abtu
(Abydos), king of eternity, lord of everlastingness, who passest
through millions of years in thy existence. The eldest son of the womb
of Nut, engendered by Seb the Ancestor [of the gods], lord of the
crowns of the South and of the North, lord of the lofty white crown;
as prince of gods and men he hath received the crook and the whip, and
the dignity of his divine fathers. Let thy heart, which dwelleth in
the mountain of Ament, be content, for thy son Horus is stablished
upon thy throne. Thou art crowned lord of Tattu (Busiris) and ruler in
Abydos."

"Praise [Footnote: _Ibid._, p. 34.] be unto thee, O Osiris, lord of
eternity, Un-nefer, Heru-Khuti (Harmachis) whose forms are manifold,
and whose attributes are great, who art Ptah-Seker-Tem in Annu
(Heliopolis), the lord of the hidden place, and the creator of
Het-ka-Ptah (Memphis) and of the gods [therein], the guide of the
underworld, whom [the gods] glorify when thou settest in Nut. Isis
embraceth thee in peace, and she driveth away the fiends from the
mouth of thy paths. Thou turnest thy face upon Amentet, and thou
makest the earth to shine as with refined copper. The dead rise up to
see thee, they breathe the air and they look upon thy face when the
disk riseth on its horizon; their hearts are at peace, inasmuch as
they behold thee, O thou who art eternity and everlastingness."

In the latter extract Osiris is identified with the great gods of
Heliopolis and Memphis, where shrines of the Sun-god existed in almost
pre-dynastic times, and finally is himself declared to be "eternity and
everlastingness"; thus the ideas of resurrection and immortality are
united in the same divine being. In the following Litany the process of
identification with the gods is continued:--

1. "Homage to thee, O thou who art the starry deities in Annu, and the
heavenly beings in Kher-aba; [Footnote: A district near Memphis.] thou
god Unti, [Footnote: A god who walks before the boat of the god, Af,
holding a star in each hand.] who art more glorious than the gods who
are hidden in Annu. O grant thou unto me a path whereon I may pass in
peace, for I am j