LEGENDS OF THE GODS

The Egyptians believed that at one time all the great gods and goddesses
lived upon earth, and that they ruled Egypt in much the same way as the
Pharaohs with whom they were more or less acquainted. They went about
among men and took a real personal interest in their affairs, and,
according to tradition, they spared no pains in promoting their wishes
and well-being. Their rule was on the whole beneficent, chiefly because
in addition to their divine attributes they possessed natures, and
apparently bodily constitutions that were similar to those of men. Like
men also they were supposed to feel emotions and passions, and to be
liable to the accidents that befell men, and to grow old, and even to
die. The greatest of all the gods was Ra, and he reigned over Egypt for
very many years. His reign was marked by justice and righteousness, and
he was in all periods of Egyptian history regarded as the type of what a
king should be. When men instead of gods reigned over Egypt they all
delighted to call themselves sons of Ra, and every king believed that Ra
was his true father, and regarded his mother's husband as his father
only in name. This belief was always common in Egypt, and even Alexander
the Great found it expedient to adopt it, for he made a journey to the
sanctuary of Amen (Ammon) in the Oasis of Siwah in order to be
officially acknowledged by the god. Having obtained this recognition, he
became the rightful lord of Egypt.

THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND

This Legend is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of a small chamber in the
tomb of Seti I about 1350 B.C. When Ra, the self-begotten and
self-formed god, had been ruling gods and men for some time, men began
to complain about him, saying, "His Majesty hath become old. His bones
have turned into silver, his flesh into gold, and his hair into real
lapis-lazuli." His Majesty heard these murmurings and commanded his
followers to summon to his presence his Eye (_i.e._ the goddess Hathor),
Shu, Tefnut, Keb, Nut, and the father and mother gods and goddesses who
were with him in the watery abyss of NU, and also the god of this water,
NU. They were to come to him with all their followers secretly, so that
men should not suspect the reason for their coming, and take flight, and
they were to assemble in the Great House in Heliopolis, where Ra would
take counsel with them. In due course all the gods assembled in the
Great Hous