History of Egypt, Chaldæa, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, Volume 2 (of 12) by Gaston Camille Charles Maspero
page 26 of 336 (07%)
page 26 of 336 (07%)
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quadruped having a pointed snout and long retreating ears,
and belonging to the greyhound, jackal, or jerboa species. ** This method of distinguishing deceased kings is met with as far back as the "Song of the Harpist," which the Egyptians of the Ramesside period attributed to the founder of the XIth dynasty. The first known instance of a temple raised by an Egyptian king to his double is that of Amenôthes III. Man, as far as his body was concerned, and god in virtue of his soul and its attributes, the Pharaoh, in right of this double nature, acted as a constant mediator between heaven and earth. He alone was fit to transmit the prayers of men to his fathers and his brethren the gods. Just as the head of a family was in his household the priest _par excellence_ of the gods of that family,--just as the chief of a nome was in his nome the priest _par excellence_ in regard to the gods of the nome,--so was Pharaoh the priest _par excellence_ of the gods of all Egypt, who were his special deities. He accompanied their images in solemn processions; he poured out before them the wine and mystic milk, recited the formulas in their hearing, seized the bull who was the victim with a lasso and slaughtered it according to the rite consecrated by ancient tradition. Private individuals had recourse to his intercession, when they asked some favour from on high; as, however, it was impossible for every sacrifice to pass actually through his hands, the celebrating priest proclaimed at the beginning of each ceremony that it was the king who made the offering--_Sûtni di hotpu_--he and none other, to Osiris, Phtah, and Ka-Harmakhis, so that they might grant to the faithful who implored the object of their desires, and, the declaration being accepted in lieu of the act, the king was thus regarded as really |
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