ned. What took place at Thebes was repeated with some variations
in each of the other large cities. Corruption, theft, and extortion had
prevailed among the officials from time immemorial, and the most active
kings alone were able to repress these abuses, or confine them within
narrow limits; as soon as discipline became relaxed, however, they began
to appear again, and we have no more convincing proof of the state of
decadence into which Thebes had fallen towards the middle of the XXth
dynasty, than the audacity of the crimes committed in the necropolis
during the reigns of the successors of Ramses III.

The priesthood of Amon alone displayed any vigour and enjoyed any
prosperity in the general decline. After the victory of the god over the
heretic kings no one dared to dispute his supremacy, and the Ramessides
displayed a devout humility before him and his ministers. Henceforward
he became united to Ra in a definite manner, and his authority not only
extended over the whole of the land of Egypt, but over all the countries
also which were brought within her influence; so that while Pharaoh
continued to be the greatest of kings, Pharaoh's god held a position
of undivided supremacy among the deities. He was the chief of the two
Bnneads, the Heliopolitan and the Hermopolitan, and displayed for
the latter a special affection; for the vague character of its eight
secondary deities only served to accentuate the position of the ninth
and principal divinity with whose primacy that of Amon was identified.
It was more easy to attribute to Amon the entire work of creation when
Shu, Sibu, Osiris, and Sit had been excluded--the deities whom the
theologians of Heliopolis had been accustomed to associate with the
demiurge; and in the hymns which they sang at his solemn festivals they
did not hesitate to ascribe to him all the acts which the priests of
former times had assigned to the Ennead collectively. "He made earth,
silver, gold,--the true lapis at his good pleasure.--He brought forth
the herbs for the cattle, the plants upon which men live.--He made to
live the fish of the river,--the birds which hover in the air,--giving
air to those which are in the egg.--He animates the insects,--he makes
to live the small birds, the reptiles, and the gnats as well.--He
provides food for the rat in his hole,--supports the bird upon the
branch.--May he be blessed for all this, he who is alone, but with many
hands." "Men spring from his two eyes