Another Morning Star appears also in the tenth hour, and the breeze of morning seems to be felt by the goddesses in the eleventh hour, for they raise their hands to shelter their faces from it. Budge (Egyptian Heaven and Hell) suggests also that the Egyptians looked upon the red clouds of the dawn as being tinged with the reflection from the pits of flame. These indications of morning appearing in the wrong place point clearly to the fact of the book being a compilation, more or less clumsy.
The first hour seems to have been added in order to make a good introduction to the compilation. The last hour is evidently a compromise. The most ancient idea with regard to the sunrise was that the Sun was born anew every morning of the Sky-goddess Nut. This theory does not fit with the dogma of the Sun's nightly journey through the Other World in a Boat; therefore the last hour is represented as a dark and tortuous passage symbolising the womb of the goddess. The birth of the Sun was the most important event of the day to his worshippers, consequently the account of the last hour is found frequently on papyri, buried in the graves.
The Duat, or Other World, was generally supposed to be the region lying to the north of Egypt; the delta by the Egyptians of the South; the Mediterranean and its islands by the delta-people.
The Egyptians had an abridgment or summary of this long account of Ka's night-journey. It was always written on papyrus in vertical columns, with all the scenes and long speeches omitted. It gives the name of each gate and country and of the goddess of every hour; sometimes, though not always, the names of the gods who live in the different regions; and always the magical words of Ra to the inhabitants of each land. Felicitous results here and hereafter are promised to all who know the words and scenes thoroughly.
The hymn to Ra is a paraphrase of hymns which are still extant.
Abtu-fish.—A mythological fish which accompanies the Boat of Ra at sunrise.
Amemt.—The mythical animal which devours the hearts of the wicked at the Judgment of Osiris.
Amon.—God of Thebes. In and after the xviiith dynasty he became the supreme deity of Egypt under the name of Amon-Ra.
Ant-fish.—A mythological fish which accompanies the Boat of Ra at sunrise.
Anubis.—A jackal-headed deity who presided over the embalming of the dead. He was said to be the illegitimate son of Osiris and Nephthys, and, in the form of a dog, to have protected Isis in her wanderings.
Apep.—The enemy of Ra in the Duat.
Astarte.—A Syrian goddess, whose name is found occasionally in Egyptian inscriptions.
Atmu.—An early name of the solar deity worshipped at Heliopolis. In later times, the name of the setting sun.
Bee.—A bandy-legged dwarf with horns. God of music and pleasure, and protector of children. Possibly also a god of birth.
Besa.—A spirit of the corn.
Geb.—The earth-god, father of Osiris.
Harmakhis.—Horus on the Horizon, i.e. the sun at its rising and setting.
Harpocrates.—Horus the Child, son of Isis and Osiris.
Hathor.—Goddess of love and beauty; often identified with all the other goddesses, including Sekhmet.
Hekt.—The frog-headed goddess of birth.
Her-desuf.—A form of Horus.
Horakhti.—The Horizon-Horus. The same as Harmakhis.
Horus.—The hawk-headed god is, properly speaking, the brother of Isis and Osiris; but is constantly confused with Horus the Child, and is called Avenger or Protector of his Father.
Isis.—The greatest of Egyptian goddesses, wife of Osiris, and mother of Harpocrates.
Khepera.—The rising sun, god of resurrection.
Khnum.—The ram-headed god of the cataract, who creates man upon the potter's wheel.
Khonsu.—The moon-god at Thebes.
Mehen.—The serpent who protects Ra in the Duat.
Mentu.—God of war.
Meskhent.—Goddess of birth.
Min.—Father of gods and men. God of Koptos.
Neith.—Goddess of Saïs. Identified by the Greeks with Athena.
Nekhbet.—The vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt.
Nephthys.—Sister of Isis and Osiris.
Nepra.—A spirit of the corn.
Nun.—God of the primaeval waters.
Nut.—The sky-goddess, mother of Osiris.
Osiris.—One of the chief gods of Egypt. Murdered and torn to pieces by his brother Set, re-vivified by Isis and Horus.
Ra.—The Sun-god, one of the chief gods of Egypt. Heliopolis (the On of the Bible) was the principal centre of his worship.
Sekhmet.—The lioness-headed goddess of Memphis.
Selk.—The scorpion-goddess.
Set.—Brother and murderer of Osiris. Looked upon, in late times, as the Author of Evil.
Shu.—Twin-brother of Tefnut. He holds up the sky above the earth.
Sokar.—The hawk-headed god of the dead. When fused with Ptah (Ptah-Sokar) he appears in the form of a misshapen dwarf, and is then looked upon as a god of resurrection.
Tatanen.—An obscure god, generally fused with Ptah of Memphis as Ptah-Tatanen.
Ta-urt.—The hippopotamus goddess of birth.
Tefnut.—Lioness-headed. Twin-sister of Shu. The two form the constellation Gemini.
Tepu-yn.—A spirit of the corn.
Thoth.—The ibis-headed god of all learning and magic. Chief centre of worship Khemennu or Hermopolis, now called Eshmunen.
Uazet.—Goddess of Lower Egypt.
Up-uaut.—The jackal-god of Siut.
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