We have seen how R[=a] has become the visible type and symbol of God, and the creator of the world and of all that is therein; we may now consider the position which he held with, respect to the dead. As far back as the period of the IVth dynasty, about B.C. 3700, he was regarded as the great god of heaven, and the king of all the gods, and divine beings, and of the beatified dead who dwelt therein. The position of the beatified in heaven is decided by R[=a], and of all the gods there Osiris only appears to have the power to claim protection for his followers; the offerings which the deceased would make to R[=a] are actually presented to him by Osiris. At one time the Egyptian's greatest hope seems to have been that he might not only become "God, the son of God," by adoption, but that R[=a] would become actually his father. For in the text of Pepi I, [Footnote: Ed. Maspero, line 570.] it is said: "Pepi is the son of R[=a] who loveth him; and he goeth forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. R[=a] hath begotten Pepi, and he goeth forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. R[=a] hath conceived Pepi, and he goeth forth and raiseth himself up to heaven. R[=a] hath given birth, to Pepi, and he goeth forth and raiseth himself up to heaven." Substantially these ideas remained the same from the earliest to the latest times, and R[=a] maintained his position as the great head of the companies, notwithstanding the rise of Amen into prominence, and the attempt to make Aten the dominant god of Egypt by the so-called "Disk worshippers." The following good typical examples of Hymns to R[=a] are taken from the oldest copies of the Theban Recension of the Book of the Dead. I. FROM THE PAPYRUS OF ANI. [Footnote: See _The Chapters of Coming Forth by Day_, p. 3.] "Homage to thee, O thou who hast come as Khepera, Khepera the creator of the gods. Thou risest and thou shinest, and thou makest light to be in thy mother Nut (_i.e._, the sky); thou art crowned king of the gods. Thy mother Nut doeth an act of homage unto thee with both her hands. The laud of Manu (_i.e._, the land where the sun sets) receiveth thee with satisfaction, and the goddess Ma[=a]t embraceth thee both, at morn and at eve. [Footnote: _i.e._, Ma[=a]t, the goddess of law, order, regularity, and the like, maketh the sun to rise each day in his appointed place and at his appointed time with absolute and unfailing regularity.] Hail, all ye gods of the Temple of the Soul, [Footnote: _i.e._, the soul referred to above in the account of the creation; see p. 24.] who weigh heaven and earth in the balance, and who provide divine food in abundance! Hail, Tatunen, thou One, thou Creator of mankind and Maker of the substance of the gods of the south and of the north, of the west and of the east! O come ye and acclaim R[=a], the lord of heaven and the Creator of the gods, and adore ye him in his beautiful form as he cometh in the morning in his divine bark.