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CHAPTER IV.

OF THE POLYTHEISM OF THE EGYPTIANS.

In my short account of the origin of this religion, I shall take Volney for my guide, because, being unacquainted with most of the ancient authors, whose works are connected with this subject, I am illy qualified to add any thing to his speculations. If I have ventured to differ from him, in some instances, they are but few. I should have referred the reader to his work, for all information on this head, if it would not have rendered my own imperfect.

The inhabitants of ancient Egypt, compelled by the annual necessity of surveying their lands, the boundaries of which were swept away by the floods; by their commerce, for which their country was advantageously situated, and by the necessity of foreknowing the time when their country would be inundated, by the overflowing of the Nile, must, at a very early period, have turned their attention to the observation of the stars. They must have soon perceived that at the approach of the flood, or of any season of the year, the same stars were visible at the same time of the night, that the same stars began to appear, in the eastern horizon, immediately after the sitting, or before the rising of the sun. From these facts, the knowledge they derived of the coming of the seasons, was readily obtained.*

*There are three methods by which the coming of any season, may be predicted. First, by observing the number of days

When they had thus observed, that the seasons were always preceded by the appearance of the same star both in the morning and evening, they regarded those stars, as the causes of those seasons, and believed that some produced the overflowing of the river, and others the drought, some the hot seasons, and others the cold. Thus the stars which are in fact destitute of effect, or influence, on the earth, became genii, producers, and theoi, regulators of the affairs of men.

As it is contrary to the inclination of mankind to give arbitrary names where others can be found, the stars would bear the appellation of the season, whose coming their appearance preceded, or of some object connected with it. Thus the stars, or the most conspicuous star, whose appearance preceded the season of ploughing, was called the Bull, or the star of the Bull. To those whose appearance preceded the coming of the lion, the name of stars of the lion, was given. Two bright stars, which appeared at the time of the harvest, were called the husband man and the virgin to those which appeared before the season of sickness, they gave the name of the scorpion, which, as they asserted, poured his venom upon the earth; to those which appeared in the midst of the flood, the name of Aquarius, (waterman) Pisces (fish.)

As the stars were regarded as the causes of the variety of the seasons, the Egyptians held festivals, and erected temples to their honor, for the same reason that festivals were held, and temples erected, in honor of the principles of nature, and other theoi; they also appointed priests, to have the care of their festivals,

that intervened between its different comings; secondly, by observing the altitude of the sun at noon, at the time which immediately preceded its arrival; and thirdly, by observing the stars, which at that time began to appear, in the eastern horizon, before the rising, or after the sitting of the sun. The Egyptians appear to have adopted the latter method.

and temples, who in later times, became the priests of their religion.

Prayers were also offered to the stars, to which they had given, for the most part, the name of animals. They prayed the bull, that he would continue his favours; the scorpion, that he would not pour out his venom upon the earth; the lion, that he would not destroy them, not because they supposed that these prayers would be attended with any beneficial effects, but because such is the most natural way for man to express his sense of the benefits, or injuries, which he receives from inanimate, as well as animate objects.From these causes the stars were soon converted into Gods.*

As the stars had mostly received the names of animals, the Gods, into which they were converted, received the same appellation. From this cause, those animals on earth, which bore the same names, became Gods themselves, all other animals, and even vegetables, received the divine nature, through analogy.Hence in Egypt, every orchard was overrun with Gods. As the animals on earth are ever at war with

*M. Volney thinks that about 17000 years have elapsed, since the rise of this religion, but his opinion is founded on the supposition that the stars, would take the name of objects, connected with those seasons of the year, in which they began to appear in the east, before the rising of the sun, that is of those seasons in which they were in conjunction with the sun. It is however, more reasonable to suppose, that they took their names, from those seasons, in which they were in opposition to it, or in which they began to appear in the evening, for the evening is the time in which men more generally view the stars, this would shorten the time, since its rise to about 7000 years.

Of those species of animals, whose flesh was used for food, but one selected individual, was considered a God, because it would not have been politic, to have made the whole species sacred. For this reason only one bull (Apis) was worshipped. But the whole of those species, which were useful :o man only in their life, were regarded as divine, such was the case with the dog and the cat.

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each other, one, species destroying others for its food, these same contentions and hostilities were introduced among the animal Gods. The God Lion was opposed to the God Bear; the God Ichneumon to the God Crocodile. Poets related tales of their battles, and the world became full of traditions concerning the wars of the superiour powers.

When a planet, in its wanderings, entered a constellation of stars, these were understood from an ambiguity* of language, to have mingled in love. From this circumstance, arose tales concerning the loves of the Gods.

The stars, whose appearance preceded, and which were regarded as the causes of disagreeable or unhealthy seasons, when they became Gods, were considered as malevolent beings; these Gods which derived their names, and existence, from those animals which are hostile to man, bore the same character; while the other divinities were regarded as the friends of the human race. From this arose the doctrine of the two principles of good and evil.

This religion has had some effect on that of the Christians, who have borrowed many of their traditions from it. I shall end this chapter with an account of some of these.

It is asserted in the scriptures, "that in the beginning, a man and woman, by their fall, brought sin and death into the world." By this was denoted, the astronomical fall of the celestial virgin, and the herdsman, Bootes, which, setting heliacly at the 'antumnal equinox, resigned the heavens to the wintry constellations, and seemed, in sinking below the horizon, to in

*Intravit in cam, he went in unto her. This phrase was anciently used to relate the amours of men, as well as the entrance of a planet, into a constellation.

troduce into the world the Genius of evil Ahrimanes, represented by the constellation of the serpent.

"That the woman decoyed and seduced the man.

And in reality, the virgin first sinks below the horizon, and appears to draw the man after her.

"That the woman tempted him, by offering him fruit pleasant to the sight, and good for food, which gave the knowledge of good and evil."

Manifestly alluding to the virgin, who is depicted holding a branch of fruit (emblem of Autumn) in the hand, which she appears to extend towards the herds

man.

"That this couple were driven from the celestial garden, and that a cherub, with a flaming sword, was placed at the gate to guard it."

When the virgin and the herdsman sink below the western horizon, Perseus rises on the opposite side of the heavens, and sword in hand, may be said to drive them from the summer hemisphere, the garden, and reign of fruits and flowers.

"That a virgin should conceive, and bring forth a son, that should crush the serpent's head, and deliver the world from sin."

By this child was denoted the sun, which at the period of the summer solstice, at the precise moment that the Persian Magi drew the horoscope of the new year, found itself in the bosom of the virgin, and which, on this account, was represented, in their astrological pictures, in the form of an infant, suckled by a chaste virgin and afterwards became, at the vernal equinox, the Ram, or Lamb, conqueror over the constellation of the serpent, which disappeared from the heavens.

"That this virgin was espoused to a husband, whe nevertheless, knew her not."

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