EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND

With Historical Narrative, Notes on Race Problems, Comparative Beliefs, etc.
by

Donald Mackenzie

Gresham Publishing Co., London

[1907]

CHAPTER XV

The Rise of Amon

The Theban Rulers–Need for Centralized Government–Temple
Building–The first Amon King–Various Forms of Amon–The Oracle–Mentu the War
God–Mut, Queen of the Gods–The Egyptian Cupid–Story of the Possessed Princess–God
casts out an Evil Spirit–A Prince’s Dream–The God of Spring–Amenemhet’s Achievements–Feudal
Lords held in Check–The Kingdom United–A Palace Conspiracy–Selection of Senusert–The
first Personality in History.

ANTEF, the feudal lord of the valley of Thebes, was the next Pharaoh of Egypt.
With him begins the Eleventh Dynasty, which covers a period of over a century
and a half. His power was confined chiefly to the south, but he exercised considerable
influence over the whole land by gaining possession of sacred Abydos. The custodians
of the “holy sepulchre” were assured of the allegiance of the great mass of the
people at this period of transition and unrest.

The new royal line included several King Antefs and King Mentuhoteps, but little
is known regarding the majority of them. Antef I, who was descended from a superintendent
of the frontier, had probably royal blood in his veins, and a remote claim to
the throne. He reigned for fifty years, and appears to have consolidated the power
of his house. Mentuhotep II, the fifth king, was able to impose his will upon
the various feudal lords, and secured their allegiance partly, no doubt, by force
of arms, but mainly, it would appear, because the prosperity of the country depended
upon the establishment of a strong central government, which would secure the
distribution of water for agricultural purposes. Famine may have accomplished
what the sword was unable to do. Besides, the road to sacred Abydos had to be
kept open. The political influence of the Osirian cult must therefore have been
pronounced for a considerable time.

Under Mentuhotep II the country was so well settled that a military expedition
was dispatched to quell the Nubian warriors. Commerce had revived, and the arts
and industries had begun to flourish again. Temples were built under this and
the two succeeding monarchs of the line. The last Mentuhotep was able to organize
a quarrying expedition of ten thousand men.

Meantime the power of the ruling house was being securely established throughout
the land. The Pharaoh’s vizier was Amenemhet, and he made vigorous attacks upon
the feudal lords who pursued a policy of aggression against their neighbours.
Some were deposed, and their places were filled by loyal supporters of the Pharaoh.
After a long struggle between the petty “kings” of the nomes and the royal house,
Amenemhet I founded the Twelfth Dynasty, under which Egypt became once again a
powerful and united kingdom. He was probably a grandson of the vizier of the same
name.

A new god–the chief god of Thebes–has now risen into prominence. His name
is Amon, or Amen. The earliest reference to him appears in the Pyramid of the
famous King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty, where he and his consort are included among
the primeval gods associated with Nu–“the fathers and mothers” who were in “the
deep” at the beginning. We cannot, however, attach much importance to the theorizing
of the priests of Unas’s time, for they were busily engaged in absorbing every
religious myth in the land. Amon is evidently a strictly local god, who passed
through so many stages of development that it is impossible to grasp the original
tribal conception, which may, perhaps, have been crude and vague enough. His name
is believed to signify “The Hidden One”–he concealed his “soul” and his “name”,
like the giant who hid his soul in an egg. 1 Sokar of
Memphis was also a “hidden” god, and was associated with the land of the dead.
Amon may have been likewise a deity of Hades, for he links with Osiris as a lunar
deity (Chapter XXII). In fact, as Amon Ra he displaced Osiris for a time as judge
of the dead.

Amon is represented in various forms: As an ape; 2
as a lion resting with head erect, like the primitive earth lion Aker; as a frog-headed
man accompanied by Ament, his serpent-headed female counterpart; as a serpent-headed
man, while his consort is cat-headed; 3 as a man god with
the royal sceptre in one hand and the symbol of life (ankh) in the other; as a
ram-headed man.

In the Twelfth Dynasty a small temple was erected to Amon in the northern part
of the city which was called Apet, after the mother goddess of that name who ultimately
was fused with Hathor. “Thebes” is believed to have been derived from her name,
the female article “T”, being placed before “Ape”; Tap or Tape was pronounced
Thebai by the Greeks, who had a town of that name. 4 The
sacred name of the city was Nu or Nu-Amon. “Art thou better than populous No?”
cried the Hebrew prophet, denouncing Nineveh; “Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength
and it was infinite.”

Amon, the ram god, was the most famous oracle in Egypt. Other oracles included
the Apis bull; Sebek, the crocodile; Uazit, the serpent goddess of Buto; and Bes,
the grotesque god who comes into prominence later. Revelations were made by oracles
in dreams, and when Thutmose IV slept in the shadow of the Sphinx it expressed
its desire to him that the sand should be cleared from about its body. Worshippers
in a state of religious ecstasy were also given power to prophesy.

The oracle of Amon achieved great renown. The god was consulted by warriors,
who were duly promised victory and great spoils. Wrongdoers were identified by
the god, and he was even consulted regarding the affairs of State. Ultimately
his priests achieved great influence owing to their reputation as foretellers
of future events, who made known the will of the god. A good deal of trickery
was evidently indulged in, for we gather that the god signified his assent to
an expressed wish by nodding his head, or selected a suitable leader of men by
extending his arm.

Amon was fused with several deities as his various animal forms indicate. The
ram’s head comes, of course, from Min, and it is possible that the frog’s head
was from Hekt. His cult also appropriated the war god Mentu, who is depicted as
a bull. Mentu, however, continued to have a separate existence, owing to his fusion
with Horus. He appears in human form wearing a bull’s tall with the head of a
hawk, which is surmounted by a sun disk between Amon’s double plumes; he is also
depicted as a hawk-headed sphinx. As a bull-headed man he carries bow and arrows,
a club, and a knife.

In his Horus form Mentu stands on the prow of the sun bark on the nightly journey
through Duat, and slays the demons with his lance. He was appropriated, of course,
by the priests of Heliopolis, and became the “soul of Ra” and “Bull of Heaven”.
A temple was erected to him near Karnak, and in late times he overshadowed Amon
as Mentu-ra.

Amon was linked with the great sun god in the Eleventh Dynasty, and as Amon-ra
he ultimately rose to the supreme position of national god, while his cult became
the most powerful in Egypt. In this form he will be dealt with in a later chapter.

Amon’s wife was Mut, whose name signifies “the mother”, and she may be identical
with Apet. She was “queen of the gods” and “lady of the sky”. Like Nut, Isis,
Neith, and others, she was the “Great Mother” who gave birth to all that exists.
She is represented as a vulture and also as a lioness. The vulture is Nekhebet,
“the mother”, and the lioness, like the cat, symbolizes maternity. Mut wears the
double crown of Egypt, which indicates that she absorbed all the “Great Mother”
goddesses in the land. Her name, in fact, is linked with Isis, with the female
Tum, with Hathor, the Buto serpent, In the Book of the Dead she is associated
with a pair of dwarfs who have each the face of a hawk and the face of a man.
It was to Mut that Amenhotep III, the father of Akenaton, erected the magnificent
temple at Karnak with its great avenue of ram-headed sphinxes. Queen Tiy’s lake
in its vicinity was associated with the worship of this “Great Mother”.

The moon god Khonsu was at Thebes regarded as the son of Amon and Mut. At Hermopolis
and Edfu he was linked with Thoth. In the Unas hymn he is sent forth by Orion
to drive in and slaughter the souls of gods and men–a myth which explains why
stars vanish before the moon. His name means “the traveller”.

As a lunar deity Khonsu caused the crops to spring up and ripen. He was also
the Egyptian Cupid, who touched the hearts of lads and girls with love. The Oracle
of Khonsu was consulted by those who prayed for offspring. Agriculturists lauded
the deity for increasing their flocks and herds.

This popular god also gave “the air of life” to the newly born, arid was thus
a wind god like Her-shef and Khn As ward of the atmosphere he exercised control
over the evil spirits which caused the various diseases and took possession of
human beings, rendering them epileptic or insane. Patients were cured by Khonsu,
“giver of oracles”, whose fame extended beyond the bounds of Egypt.

An interesting papyrus of the Ramessid period relates the story of a wonderful
cure effected by Khonsu. It happened that the Pharaoh, “the Horus, he who resembles
Tum, the son of the sun, the mighty with scimitars, the smiter of the nine-bow
barbarians”, , was collecting the annual tribute from the subject kings of
Syria. The Prince of Bakhten, 5 who brought many gifts,
“placed in front of these his eldest daughter”. She was very beautiful, arid the
Pharaoh immediately fell in love with her, arid she became his “royal wife”.

Some time afterwards the Prince of Bakhten appeared at Uas (Thebes) with an
envoy. He brought presents to his daughter, and, having prostrated himself before
the “Son of the Sun”, announced:

“I have travelled hither to plead with Your Majesty for the sake of Bent-rash,
the younger sister of your royal wife; she is stricken with a grievous malady
which causes her limbs to twitch violently. I entreat Your Majesty to send a learned
magician to see her, so that he may give her aid in her sore distress.”

Pharaoh said: “Let a great magician who is learned in the mysteries be brought
before me.”

As he desired, so was it done. A scribe of the House of Life appeared before
him, and His Majesty said: “It is my will that you should travel to Bakhten to
see the younger daughter of the royal wife.”

The magician travelled with the envoy, and when he arrived at his journey’s
end he saw the Princess Bentrash, whom he found to be possessed of a hostile demon
of great power. But he was unable to draw it forth.

Then the Prince of Bakhten appeared at Uas a second time, and addressing the
Pharaoh said: “O King, my lord, let a god be sent to cure my daughter’s malady!”

His Majesty was compassionate, and he went to the temple of Khonsu and said
to the god: “Once again I have come on account of the little daughter of the Prince
of Bakhten. Let your image be sent to cure her.”

Khonsu, “giver of oracles” and “expeller of evil spirits”, nodded his head,
assenting to the prayer of the king, and caused his fourfold divine nature to
be imparted to the image.

So it happened that the statue of Khonsu was placed in an ark, which was carried
on poles by twelve priests while two chanted prayers. When it was borne from the
temple, Pharaoh offered up burning incense, and five boats set forth with the
ark arid the priests, accompanied by soldiers, a chariot, and two horses.

The Prince of Bakhten came forth from his city to meet the god, accompanied
by many soldiers, and prostrated himself.

“So you have indeed come,” he cried. “You are not hostile to us; the goodwill
of the Pharaoh has caused you to come hither.”

Khonsu was then carried into the presence of the Princess Bent-rash, who was
immediately cured of her malady. The evil demon was cast out, and it stood before
the god and said: “Peace be with you, O mighty god. The land of Bakhten is your
possession, and its people are your slaves. I am your slave also. As you desire,
I will return again to the place whence I came. But first let the Prince of Bakhten
hold a great feast that I may partake thereof.”

Khonsu then instructed a priest, saying: “Command the Prince of Bakhten to
offer up a great sacrifice to the evil spirit whom I have expelled from his daughter.”

Great dread fell upon the prince and the army and all the people when the sacrifice
was offered up to the demon by the soldiers. Then amidst great rejoicings that
spirit of evil took its departure and went to the place whence it came, according
to the desire of Khonsu, “the giver of oracles”.

Then the Prince of Bakhten was joyful of heart, and he desired that Khonsu
should remain in the land. As it happened, he kept the image of the god for over
three years.

One day the prince lay asleep upon his couch, and a vision came to him in a
dream. He saw the god rising high in the air like a hawk of gold and taking flight
towards the land of Egypt. He awoke suddenly, trembling with great fear, and he
said: “Surely the god is angry with us. Let him be placed in the ark and carried
back to Uas.”

The prince caused many rich presents to be laid in the temple of the god when
his image was returned.

One of Khonsu’s popular names was “The Beautiful One at Rest”. He was depicted,
like the Celtic love god Angus, “the ever-young”, as a handsome youth. The upper
part of a particularly striking statue of this comely deity was found in the ruins
of his temple at Karnak.

As a nature god Khonsu was a hawk-headed man, crowned with a crescent moon
and the solar disk; he was a sun god in spring. Like Thoth, he was also an architect,
“a deviser of plans”, and a “measurer”, for he measured the months. Both the lunar
deities are evidently of great antiquity. The mother-goddess-and-son conception
is associated with the early belief in the female origin of the world and of life.
The “Great Mother” was self-begotten as the “Great Father” was self-begotten,
and the strange Egyptian idea that a god became “husband of his mother” arose
from the fusion of the conflicting ideas regarding creation.

Amenemhet I, the first great ruler who promoted the worship of Amon, was also
assiduous in doing honour to the other influential deities. From Tanis in the
Delta, southward into the heart of Nubia, he has left traces of his religious
fervour, which had, of course, a diplomatic motive. He erected a red granite altar
to Osiris at sacred Abydos, a temple to Ptah at Memphis; he honoured the goddess
Bast with monuments at Bubastis, and duly adored Amon, of course, at Thebes. His
Ka statues were distributed throughout the land, for he was the “son of Ra”, and
had therefore to be worshipped as the god”–the human incarnation of the solar
deity.

Amenemhet was an active military ruler. Not only did he smite the Syrians and
the Nubians, but also punished the rebellious feudal lords who did not bend to
his will. New and far-reaching changes were introduced into the system of local,
as well as central government. The powers of nome governors were restricted. When
one was forcibly deposed an official took his place, and the appointment of town
rulers and headmen of villages became once again vested in the Crown. This policy
was followed by Amenemhet’s successors, until ultimately the feudal system, which
for centuries had been a constant menace to the stability of the throne, was finally
extinguished. The priestly allies of the provincial nobles were won to the Crown
by formal recognition and generous gifts, and all the chief gods, with the exception
of Ptah, were included in the “family” of Amon-ra.

Amenemhet gathered about him the most capable men in the kingdom. Once again
it was possible for humble officials to rise to the highest rank. The industries
of the country were fostered, and agriculture received special attention, so that
harvests became plentiful again and there was abundance of food in Egypt.

When the king was growing old he selected his son Senusert to succeed him.
Apparently the choice was not pleasing to some of the influential members of the
royal house. In the “Instruction of Amenemhet”, a metrical version of which is
given at the end of the next chapter, we learn that a harem conspiracy was organized
to promote the claims of a rival to the throne. A band of conspirators gained
access to the palace through a tunnel which had been constructed secretly, and
burst upon the old monarch as he lay resting after he had partaken of his evening
meal. He “showed fight”, although unarmed, and in the parley which ensued was
evidently successful. It appears. to have been accepted that the succession of
Senusert was inevitable.

How the conspirators were dealt with we have no means of knowing. It is possible
that the majority of them were pardoned. So long as Amenemhet remained alive they
were safe; but they must have feared the vengeance of Senusert, who was a vigorous
and warlike prince, and eminently worthy to succeed his father. The papyrus story
of “The Flight of Senuhet” is evidently no mere folktale, but a genuine fragment
of history. It is possible that Senuhet was one of the sons of Amenemhet; at any
rate he appears to have been compromised in the abortive palace conspiracy. When
the old king died at Memphis, where he appears to have resided oftenest, a messenger
was hurriedly dispatched to Senusert, who was engaged leading an army against
the troublesome Libyans. None of the other princes was informed, and Senuhet,
who overheard the messenger informing the new king of his father’s death, immediately
fled towards Syria. He found that other Egyptians had taken refuge there.

After many years had elapsed his whereabouts were revealed to King Senusert,
who was evidently convinced of his innocence. Senuhet was invited to return to
Egypt, and was welcomed at the palace by his royal kinsman.

The narrative is of homely and graceful character, and affords us more intimate
knowledge of the life of the period than can be obtained from tomb inscriptions
and royal monuments. Senuhet is one of the earliest personalities in history.
We catch but fleeting glimpses of the man Amenemhet in his half-cynical “Instruction”
with its vague references to a palace revolt. In the simple and direct narrative
of the fugitive prince, however, we are confronted by a human being whose emotions
we share, and with whom we are able to enter into close sympathy. The latter part
of the story has some of the happiest touches. Our old friend rejoices because
he is privileged once again to sleep in a comfortable bed after lying for long
years in the desert sand; he throws away his foul rustic clothing and attires
himself in perfumed linen, and feels young when his beard is shaved off and his
baldness is covered by a wig. He is provided with a mansion which is decorated
anew, but what pleases him most is the presence of the children who come to visit
him. He was fond of children. . . . Our interest abides with a man who was buried.
as he desired to be, after long years of wandering, in the land of his birth,
some forty centuries ago!

Footnotes

1 Osiris Sokar “dost hide his essence in the great shrine
of Amon”.–The Burden of Isis, p. 54.
2 Osiris Sokar is addressed: “Hail, thou who growest
like unto the ape of Tehuti” (Thoth). The Thoth-ape appears to be a dawn god.
3 Seb is depicted with a serpent’s head. The cat goddess
is Bast, who links with other Great Mothers.
4 Budge’s Gods of the Egyptians.
5 identified with the King of the Hittites who became
the ally of Ramesis II.