LEGENDS OF THE GODS

The magical and religious texts of the Egyptians of all periods containspells intended to be used against serpents, scorpions, and noxiousreptiles of all kinds, and their number, and the importance which wasattached to them, suggest that Egypt must always have produced thesepests in abundance, and that the Egyptians were always horribly afraidof them. The text of Unas, which was written towards the close of theVth Dynasty, contains many such spells, and in the Theban and SaiteBooks of the Dead several Chapters consist of nothing but spells andincantations, many of which are based on archaic texts, againstcrocodiles, serpents, and other deadly reptiles, and insects of allkinds. All such creatures were regarded as incarnations of evilspirits, which attack the dead as well as the living, and therefore itwas necessary for the well-being of the former that copies of spellsagainst them should be written upon the walls of tombs, coffins,funerary amulets, etc. The gods were just as open to the attacks ofvenomous reptiles as man, and Ra, himself, the king of the gods, nearlydied from the poison of a snake-bite. Now the gods were, as a rule,able to defend themselves against the attacks of Set and his fiends,and the poisonous snakes and insects which were their emissaries, byvirtue of the fluid of life, which was the peculiar attribute ofdivinity, and the efforts of Egyptians were directed to the acquisitionof a portion of this magical power, which would protect their souls andbodies and their houses and cattle, and other property, each day andeach night throughout the year. When a man cared for the protection ofhimself only he wore an amulet of some kind, in which the fluid of lifewas localized. When he wished to protect his house against invasion byvenomous reptiles he placed statues containing the fluid of life inniches in the walls of various chambers, or in some place outside butnear the house, or buried them in the earth with their faces turned inthe direction from which he expected the attack to come.PLATE XVII.The Metternich Stele--Obverse.PLATE XVIII.The Metternich Stele--Reverse.Towards the close of the XXVIth Dynasty, when superstition in its mostexaggerated form was general in Egypt, it became the custom to makehouse talismans in the form of small stone stelae, with rounded tops,which rested on bases having convex fronts. On the front of such atalisman was sculptured in relief a figure of Horus the Child(Harpokrates), standing on two crocodiles, holding in his hands figuresof serpents, scorpions, a lion, and a horned animal, each of thesebeing a symbol of an emissary or ally of Set, the god of Evil. Abovehis head was the head of Bes, and on each side of him were: solarsymbols, i.e., the lily of Nefer-Tem, figures of Ra and Harmakhis, theEyes of Ra (the Sun and Moon), etc. The reverse of the stele and thewhole of the base were covered with magical texts and spells, and whena talisman of this kind was placed in a house, it was supposed to bedirectly under the protection of Horus and his companion gods, who had