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THE GODS OF EGYPT.
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in Christian times never meant anything but "devils." The gods of the Egyptian, as well as those of the Indian, Greek or Teutonic mythologies, were the "powers" of nature, the "strong ones," whose might was seen and felt to be irresistible, yet so constant, unchanging and orderly in its operations, as to leave no doubt as to the presence of an ever living and active Intelligence.[1]
- ↑ Much in this Lecture will be new, and perhaps appear doubtful, to my learned colleagues in Egyptology, especially to those whose studies have not led them into the field of Indo-European philology. From the time of Champollion, the Egyptian language and literature have been almost exclusively illustrated from Semitic, not to say purely Hebrew, sources. This is a fatal mistake, though perhaps inevitable at first. I have for years been humbly endeavouring to bring the Science of Language to bear upon Egyptian philology, and I trust this Lecture will at least induce some eminent scholars to study the Egyptian by the light of other mythologies. M. Lefébure has already done most valuable work in this direction. M. Grébaut, though confining himself entirely to Egyptian mythology, has, in his "Hymne à Ammon-Rā," published in the Bibliothèque de l'ecole des hautes études, and in an article of the Mélanges d'Archéologie, tome 11. p. 247, demonstrated several important truths, and he has very nearly approached the true conception of Maāt. As regards the identification of certain deities, I have very nearly been anticipated by M. Naville, who in his admirable work on the "Litany of the Sun," p. 38, is inclined to consider Isis and Nephthys "comme personnifiant des êtres dont chacun caractérisait plus particulièrement l'un des horizons; pent être l'étoile du matin et celle du soir, ou encore le crépuscule du matin et celui du soir; les deux formules de la litanie se comprendraient alors facilement." But he puts Isis at the west, and Nephthys at the east.
