Egyptian religious poetry

34 EGYPTIAN RELIGIOUS POETRY

(Ysyt), She of the Throne. In the eyes of the people the King was the incarnation of the local god in every place which he visited, and was worshipped with divine honours ; but as he was also human he was obliged to have a god of his own, and this god was the sun. There are therefore three strata in the ancient religion :—

(a) the primitive gods of each district, generally in animal form.

(b) the Osiris-Pharaoh and the Isis-Queen and their attendant deities.

(c) the Sun, originally worshipped by the Pharaoh only.

Much can be learned about the religion of the primitive principalities not only from the survivals but from the records of similar conditions in other countries in historic times. Each little state regarded its local deity as supreme, a form of monotheism found in the majority of early communities. But the supremacy of the god was confined to his own district only and did not extend to the next principality. A tribal war meant a combat between two rival gods as well as between two fighting tribes. An unsuccessful raid could be ascribed to the fact that a god was difficult to conquer when fighting in his own district, though he might be defeated if inveigled into the invaders’ country. An example of such a belief is seen when the Hadadites of the plains were defeated by the Yahvite hill-tribes under Ahab (1 Kings xx. 23).

Changes in this isolationist belief were due to various causes. Peaceful intercourse, with alliances for mutual protection, would unite two districts so closely that they would gradually become one. The gods would then become also united, though each keeping his or her own individuality. This came about by regarding them, according to their reputed age and sex, as husband and wife, parent and child, or more rarely as brother