admit that if such thoughts existed they were alien to the
character of the Egyptian mind as a whole.

While the Egyptians conceived the heavenly bodies as the
abiding-place of various of their deities, it does not appear
that they practised astrology in the later acceptance of that
word. This is the more remarkable since the conception of lucky
and unlucky days was carried by the Egyptians to the extremes of
absurdity. "One day was lucky or unlucky," says Erman,[3]
"according as a good or bad mythological incident took place on
that day. For instance, the 1st of Mechir, on which day the sky
was raised, and the 27th of Athyr, when Horus and, Set concluded
peace together and divided the world between them, were lucky
days; on the other hand, the 14th of Tybi, on which Isis and
Nephthys mourned for Osiris, was an unlucky day. With the unlucky
days, which, fortunately, were less in number than the lucky
days, they distinguished different degrees of ill-luck. Some were
very unlucky, others only threatened ill-luck, and many, like the
17th and the 27th Choiakh, were partly good and partly bad
according to the time of day. Lucky days might, as a rule, be
disregarded. At most it might be as well to visit some specially
renowned temple, or to 'celebrate a joyful day at home,' but no
particular precautions were really necessary; and, above all, it
was said, 'what thou also seest on the day is lucky.' It was
quite otherwise with the unlucky and dangerous days, which
imposed so many and such great limitations on people that those
who wished to be prudent were always obliged to bear them in mind
when determining on any course of action. Certain conditions were
easy to carry out. Music and singing were to be avoided on the
14th Tybi, the day of the mourning of Osiris, and no one was