All classes were intensely =superstitious=, and they believed firmly in the existence of =spirits=, good and bad, =witches=, and fiends and devils, which they tried to cajole, or wheedle, or placate with gifts, or to vanquish by means of =spells=, =magical names=, =words of power=, =amulets= of all kinds, etc. The =magician= was the real priest, to the lower classes at least, as he is to this day in Central Africa, for by the use of =magical figures= he assured his clients that he could procure for them the death, or sickness, of an enemy, riches, the love of women, dreams wherein the future would be revealed to them, and above all, the assistance of the gods. We find that about B.C. 312 a service was regularly performed in the temple of Ȧmen-Rā at Thebes to make the sun rise. In the course of it a figure of the monster Āpep, who was supposed to be lying in wait to swallow the Sun-god, was made of wax, then wrapped in new papyrus on which the “accursed name” of the fiend was written in green ink, and solemnly burned in a fire fed by a special kind of herb, whilst the priest spurned it with his left foot and poured out curses on each of the thirty “accursed names” of the evil one. As the wax melted and was consumed, together with the papyrus and the green ink with which his name was written, so the body of Āpep was believed to be consumed in the flames of the rising sun in the eastern sky. [Illustration: The spearing of Āpep.] From the evidence given at Thebes about B.C. 1200 against certain officials who were implicated in a case of conspiracy against Rameses III, it appeared that a certain man had stolen a book of magic from the temple library. From this he obtained instructions how to make the wax figures which caused the sickness, quakings of the limbs, and death of those in whose forms they were made. An example of the wax figures which were used in the Ptolemaïc period is exhibited in Table-case C in the Third Egyptian Room, No. 198. The core is made of inscribed papyrus, and in front, in the centre, is a piece of hair, presumably that of the person on whom the magician who made the figure sought to exert his influence. Every act of daily life had some magical or religious observance associated with it, and every day, either in whole or in part, was declared to be lucky or unlucky, in accordance with a series of events which were represented by the =Calendar of lucky and unlucky days=.