Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with TranslationsBudge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
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Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian Texts, edited with Translations
Budge, E. A. Wallis (Ernest Alfred Wallis), Sir
Egyptian literature -- Translations into English; Mythology, Egyptian
When Ra entered the Great Temple, the gods made obeisance to him, and
took up their positions on each side of him, and informed him that they
awaited his words. Addressing Nu, the personification of the World-
ocean, Ra bade them to take notice of the fact that the men and women
whom his Eye had created were murmuring against him. He then asked
them to consider the matter and to devise a plan of action for him, for
he was unwilling to slay the rebels without hearing what his gods had
to say. In reply the gods advised Ra to send forth his Eye to destroy
the blasphemers, for there was no eye on earth that could resist it,
especially when it took the form of the goddess Hathor. Ra accepted
their advice and sent forth his Eye in the form of Hathor to destroy
them, and, though the rebels had fled to the mountains in fear, the Eye
pursued them and overtook them and destroyed them. Hathor rejoiced in
her work of destruction, and on her return was praised by Ra, for what
she had done. The slaughter of men began at Suten-henen
(Herakleopolis), and during the night Hathor waded about in the blood
of men. Ra asserted his intention of being master of the rebels, and
this is probably referred to in the Book of the Dead, Chapter XVII., in
which it is said that Ra rose as king for the first time in Suten-
henen. Osiris also was crowned at Suten-henen, and in this city lived
the great Bennu bird, or Phoenix, and the "Crusher of Bones" mentioned
in the Negative Confession.
The legend now goes on to describe an act of Ra, the significance of
which it is difficult to explain. The god ordered messengers to be
brought to him, and when they arrived, he commanded them to run like
the wind to Abu, or the city of Elephantine, and to bring him large
quantities of the fruit called tataat. What kind of fruit this was is
not clear, but Brugsch thought they were "mandrakes," the so-called
"love-apples," and this translation of tataat may be used
provisionally. The mandrakes were given to Sekti, a goddess of
Heliopolis, to crush and grind up, and when this was done they were
mixed with human blood, and put in a large brewing of beer which the
women slaves had made from wheat. In all they made 7,000 vessels of
beer. When Ra saw the beer he approved of it, and ordered it to be
carried up the river to where the goddess Hathor was still, it seems,
engaged in slaughtering men. During the night he caused this beer to
be poured out into the meadows of the Four Heavens, and when Hathor
came she saw the beer with human blood and mandrakes in it, and drank
of it and became drunk, and paid no further attention to men and women.
In welcoming the goddess, Ra, called her "Amit," i.e., "beautiful one,"
and from this time onward "beautiful women were found in the city of
Amit," which was situated in the Western Delta, near Lake
Mareotis.[FN#15] Ra also ordered that in future at every one of his
festivals vessels of "sleep-producing beer" should be made, and that
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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