Egyptian religious poetry

INTRODUCTION 45

Texts, the Pharaoh sometimes appears to be entirely distinct from the god, at other times he is clearly Osiris himself. With the changes in social conditions and the alterations caused by warfare and invasions, Osiris became in certain aspects a completely separate deity before whom the Pharaoh himself must appear when he passed to the OtherWorld. Yet his identity with the Pharaoh is seen in the beautiful temple built by Setekhy I at Abydos, where the ceremonies both in the upper temple and in the secret chapels below ground were for the worship of the dead kings who had themselves been divine.

There is practically no change in the official religion after the New Kingdom. As regards the worship of the local deities, there is little or no evidence to indicate whether they gained or lost ground among their worshippers. When the centre of government shifted from Thebes to the Delta, Bast of Bubastis and Ptah of Memphis became prominent and their temples excited the wonder and admiration of Herodotus. Under the Ptolemies Osiris worship received a great impetus, for the kings and queens of that dynasty were deeply impressed with the idea of their own divinity, and every temple which they built had a * birth-chamber ” where the divine birth of the King was celebrated annually. The sacrifice of Osiris appears to have been practised also, but the evidence for this is not so clear. The puppet play in the temple of Dendera showed forth the mystery of the passion and death of Osiris, and the annual celebration of the sacrifice continued in the villages as a rustic festival dying out less than a century ago.

Though at first sight the religion of Egypt appears both primitive and confused, there are traces of a deeper philosophy underlying the simple dogmas and ideas. Each temple probably had its own school of theology, in which the nature and attributes of their deity were explained to the votaries, but it is rare