XVI. The Bekhten Stele

XVII. The Metternich Stele--Obverse

XVIII. The Metternich Stele--Reverse





INTRODUCTION


I.


THE LEGEND OF THE GOD NEB-ER-TCHER, AND THE HISTORY OF CREATION.




The text of the remarkable Legend of the Creation which forms the first
section of this volume is preserved in a well-written papyrus in the
British Museum, where it bears the number 10,188. This papyrus was
acquired by the late Mr. A. H. Rhind in 1861 or 1862, when he was
excavating some tombs on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes. He did
not himself find it in a tomb, but he received it from the British
Consul at Luxor, Mustafa Agha, during an interchange of gifts when Mr.
Rhind was leaving the country. Mustafa Agha obtained the papyrus from
the famous hiding-place of the Royal Mummies at Der-al-Bahari, with the