the Book of the Dead ( PDF )

The Gods Of The Book Of The Dead.
solar god is quite clear, but whether he "closed" the day or the night is not certain. Originally his festival
was celebrated in the evening, wherefrom it appears that he represented some form of the night sun; but
in later times the ceremony of drawing the image of the god Seker in the hennu boat round the sanctuary
was performed in the morning at dawn, and thus, united with Ptah, he became the closer of the night and
the opener of the day. He is depicted as a mummied body with the head of a hawk, and he sometimes
holds in his hands emblems of power, sovereignty, and rule.[3]
Another form of Ptah was Ptah-Seker-Ausar wherein the creator of the world, the sun, and Osiris as the
god of the dead, were represented. A large number of faïence figures of this triune god are found in
graves, and specimens exist in all museums. He is represented as a dwarf standing upon a crocodile, and
having a scarabæus upon his head; the scarab is the emblem of the new life into which the deceased is
about to break, the crocodile is the emblem of the darkness of death which has been overcome.
According to some the element of Ptah in the triad is the personification of the period of incubation
which follows
[1. ###. Naville, Todtenbuch, Bd. I., Bl. 34, ll. 4, 5.
2. Lanzone: op. cit., tavv. 87-91.
3. Lanzone, op. cit., tav. 368.]
{p. cix}
death and precedes the entry into eternal life, and the symbols with which he is accompanied explain the
character attributed to this god.[1]
The god Ptah is also united with the gods Hapi, Nu and Tanen when he represents various phases of
primeval matter.
Khnemu worked with Ptah in carrying out the work of creation ordered by Thoth, and is therefore one of
the oldest divinities of Egypt; his name means, "to mould," "to model." His connexion with the primeval
water caused him to be regarded as the chief god of the inundation and lord of the cataract at
Elephantine. He dwelt in Annu, but he was lord of Elephantine, and "the builder of men, the maker of the
gods, and the father from the beginning."
Elsewhere he is said to be
ari enti-s qemam unenet sa xeperu tef
Maker of things which are, creator of what shall be, the beginning of beings, father
tefu ma ma
of fathers, and mother of mothers.
He supported the heaven upon its four pillars in the beginning, and earth, air, sea, and sky are his
handiwork. He is depicted in the form of a man having a ram's head and horns surmounted by plumes,
uræi with disks, etc.; in one hand be holds the sceptre and in the other the emblem of life. Occasionally
he is hawk-headed, and in one representation he holds the emblem of water, in each hand. On a late
bas-relief at Philæ we find him seated at a potter's table upon which stands a human being whom he has
just fashioned.[2]
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