The religions of ancient Egypt and BabyloniaSayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Religion
The religions of ancient Egypt and Babylonia
Sayce, A. H. (Archibald Henry)
Assyro-Babylonian religion; Egypt -- Religion
Here follows an account of the several battles which drove the enemies of
Horus from place to place until eventually all Egypt passed under his
sway. The first battle, that which took place south-east of Thebes, was at
Aa-Zadmi, so called from the “wounds” inflicted on the foe, which
henceforth bore the sacred name of Hât-Ra, “the House of Ra.” The second
was at Neter-khadu, “the divine carnage,” to the north-east of Dendera;
the third at Hebnu, near Minia, in the nome of the Gazelle; and others
followed at Oxyrrhynchus or Beḥnesa, and Herakleopolis or Aḥnas, where a
twofold Mesen or “Forge” was established. Then the foe were driven through
the Delta and defeated at Zaru on its eastern frontier, whence they fled
in ships down the Red Sea, but were finally overthrown at Shas-ḥer, near
the later Berenikê, at the end of the road that led across the desert from
the Nile.
Meanwhile, on the 7th of Tybi, their leader “Set had come forward and
cried horribly, uttering curses upon the deed of Hor-Beḥudet in slaying
the enemy. And Ra said to Thoth: ‘The horrible one cries loudly on account
of what Hor-Beḥudet has done against him.’ Thoth replied to Ra: ‘Let the
cries be called horrible from this day forward.’ Hor-Beḥudet fought long
with Set; he flung his iron at him, he smote him to the ground in the city
which henceforward was called Pa-Reḥeḥui (the House of the Twins).(178)
When Hor-Beḥudet returned, he brought Set with him; his spear stuck in his
neck, his chain was on his hand; the mace of Horus had smitten him, and
closed his mouth. He brought him before his father Ra.
“Then Ra said to Thoth: ‘Let the companions of Set be given to Isis and
Horus her son, that they may deal with them as they will.’... So Horus the
son of Isis cut off the head of Set and his confederates before his father
Ra and all the great Ennead. He carried him under his feet through the
land, with the axe on his head and in his back.”
Set, however, was not slain. He transformed himself into a serpent, and
the battles succeeded which ended with the victory at Shas-ḥer in the land
of Uaua. After this “Harmakhis came in his bark and landed at Thes-Hor
(the Throne of Horus or Edfu). And Thoth said: ‘The dispenser of rays who
cometh forth from Ra has conquered the enemy in his form (of a winged
disc); let him be named henceforward the dispenser of rays who cometh
forth from the horizon.’ And Ra said to Thoth: ‘Bring this sun (the winged
disk) to every place where I am, to the seats of the gods in Southern
Egypt, to the seats of the gods in Northern Egypt, (to the seats of the
gods) in the other world, that it may drive all evil from its
neighbourhood.’ Thoth brought it accordingly to all places, as many as
exist where there are gods and goddesses. It is the winged solar disc
which is placed over the sanctuaries of all gods and goddesses in Egypt,
since these sanctuaries are also that of Hor-Beḥudet.”(179)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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