+Min+ was the male principle. He was worshipped mainly at Ekhmim and Koptos, and was there identified with Pan by the Greeks. He also was the god of the desert, out to the Red Sea. The oldest statues of gods are three gigantic limestone figures of Min found at Koptos; these bear relief designs of Red Sea shells and sword fish. It seems, then, that he was introduced by a people coming across from the east. His worship continued till Roman times. {60} +Hat-hor+ was the female principle whose animal was the cow; and she is identified with the mother Isis. She was also identified with other earlier deities; and her forms are very numerous in different localities. There were also seven Hathors who appear as Fates, presiding over birth. Thus this goddess has a position different from any other, more generalised, more widely spread, and identified with many places and ideas. The similarity of such a position, with that of the Madonna in Italy in relation to earlier worships, suggests that the widespread devotion to her was of later introduction and superimposed on varied beliefs. The figure of Hathor sometimes has the cow's head, and often has cow's ears. The myth of Horus striking off the head of his mother Isis and replacing it by a cow's head, points to the Horus worshippers uniting Hathor with Isis. Statuettes of Hathor are not common; the head was used for an architectural capital and in the form of the sistrum, a rattle which was employed in her worship. +Maat+ was the goddess of truth. She is always of human form, and shown as seated holding the _ankh_, emblem of life, in her hands. She was never worshipped, and had no temples or shrines, but was represented as being offered by the kings {61} to the gods. She also occurs in the names of several kings, and appears in the judgment scene of the weighing of the heart. She was the only idea of the older religion which was preserved by Akhenaten in his reformation; he always names himself as 'living in truth,' but as an abstraction and without the notion of any actual goddess. She is linked with Ptah, Thōth, and Ra, on different occasions. +Nefertum+ is a god of late times, in human form, as a youth with a lotus flower on his head. He appears to have represented growth and vegetation; and is systematised as a son of Ptah and Sekhet. No temple of his remains; but his figures, usually of bronze, are common. +Safekh+ was the goddess of writing. She is named in the pyramid times, and appears in scenes of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. Four pairs of elemental gods were worshipped at Hermopolis, each pair male and female; _Heh_, Eternity; _Kek_, Darkness; _Nu_, the heavenly ocean; _Nenu_, the Inundation. They are shown as human figures with the heads of frogs and serpents. There were also personifications of Seeing, Hearing, Taste, Perception, Strength, and the 'true voice' necessary to intone the magic formulae. {62} CHAPTER IX THE FOREIGN GODS