thus might become gods. Many of the Pharaohs became deities. The king
who wished to become impregnated with the divine _sa_ sat before the
statue of the god in order that this principle might be infused into
him. The gods were spared none of the anguish and none of the perils
which death so plentifully bestows on men. The gods died; each nome
possessed the mummy and the tomb of its dead deity. At Thinis there was
the mummy of Anhuri in its tomb, at Mendes the mummy of Osiris, at
Heliopolis that of Tumu. Usually, by dying, the god became another
deity. Ptah of Memphis became Sokaris; Uapuaitu, the jackal of Siut, was
changed into Anubis. Osiris first represented the wild and fickle Nile
of primitive times; but was soon transformed into a benefactor to
humanity, the supremely good being, Unnofriu, Onnophris. He was supposed
to assume the shapes not only of man, but of rams and bulls, or even of
water-birds, such as lapwings, herons, and cranes. His companion goddess
was Isis, the cow, or woman with cow's horns, who personified the earth,
and was mother of Horus.

There were countless gods of the people: trees, serpents and family
fetishes. Fine single sycamores, flourishing as if by miracle amid the
sand, were counted divine, and worshipped by Egyptians of all ranks, who
made them offerings of figs, grapes, cucumbers, vegetables and water.
The most famous of them all, the Sycamore of the South, used to be
regarded as the living body of Hathor on earth. Each family possessed
gods and fetishes, which had been pointed out by some fortuitous meeting
with an animal or an object; perhaps by a dream and often by sudden
intuition.


_III.--Legendary History of Egypt_