Egyptians, the greater number being favourite objects of worship, while
Set was held in general detestation.

It was a peculiar feature of the Egyptian religion, that it contained
distinctively evil and malignant gods. Set was not, originally, such a
deity; but he became such in course of time, and was to the later
Egyptians the very principle of evil--Evil personified. Another evil
deity was Taour or Taourt, who is represented as a hippopotamus standing
on its hind-legs, with the skin and tail of a crocodile dependent down
its back, and a knife or a pair of shears in one hand. Bes seems also to
have been a divinity of the same class. He was represented as a hideous
dwarf, with large outstanding ears, bald, or with a plume of feathers on
his head, and with a lion-skin down his back, often carrying in his two
hands two knives. Even more terrible than Bes was Apep, the great
serpent, with its huge and many folds, who helped Set against Osiris,
and was the adversary and accuser of souls. Savak, a god with the head
of a crocodile, seems also to have belonged to the class of malignant
beings, though he was a favourite deity with some of the Ramesside
kings, and a special object of worship in the Fayoum.

[Illustrations: FIGURES OF TAOURT.]

The complex polytheism of the monuments and the literature was not,
however, the practical religion of many Egyptians. Local cults held
possession of most of the nomes, and the ordinary Egyptian, instead of
dissipating his religious affections by distributing them among the
thousand divinities of the Pantheon, concentrated them on those of his
nome. If he was a Memphite, he worshipped Phthah Sekhet, and Tum; if a
Theban, Ammon-Ra, Maut, Khons, and Neith; if a Heliopolite, Tum, Nebhebt
and Horus; if a Elephantinite, Kneph, Sati, Anuka, and Hak; and so on.