Mareotis.[FN#15] Ra also ordered that in future at every one of his
festivals vessels of "sleep-producing beer" should be made, and that
their number should be the same as the number of the handmaidens of Ra.
Those who took part in these festivals of Hathor and Ra drank beer in
very large quantities, and under the influence of the "beautiful
women," i.e., the priestesses, who were supposed to resemble Hathor in
their physical attractions, the festal celebrations degenerated into
drunken and licentious orgies.



[FN#15] It was also called the "City of Apis," (Brugsch, Dict. Geog.,
p. 491), and is the Apis city of classical writers. It is, perhaps,
represented by the modern Kom al-Hisn.



Soon after this Ra complained that he was smitten with pain, and that
he was weary of the, children of men. He thought them a worthless
remnant, and wished that more of them had been slain. The gods about
him begged him to endure, and reminded him that his power was in
proportion to his will. Ra was, however, unconsoled, and he complained
that his limbs were weak for the first time in his life. Thereupon the
god Nu told Shu to help Ra, and he ordered Nut to take the great god Ra
on her back. Nut changed herself into a cow, and with the help of Shu
Ra got on her back. As soon as men saw that Ra was on the back of the
Cow of Heaven, and was about to leave them, they became filled with
fear and repentance, and cried out to Ra to remain with them and to
slay all those who had blasphemed against him. But the Cow moved on
her way, and carried Ra to Het-Ahet, a town of the nome of Mareotis,