THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 35 



valley — a strip of rich soil only a few miles wide 

 between severe rocks and deserts— was for ages a 

 battleground of conflicting peoples. The remarkable 

 collection of gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt is 

 proof enough of this. We saw that the Cretans had 

 a simple nature-religion, with one great mother- 

 goddess (mother-earth). No doubt they had also 

 local spirits of the woods and streams, etc. ; and 

 there are faint traces of a young man god (probably 

 the original of Adonis), though this may have been 

 an importation. In Egypt, on the contrary, the 

 number of deities was bewildering, and their animal 

 forms are apt to surprise people who now visit 

 museums. The most outrageous superstitions (gods 

 with heads of animals) seem to have flourished 

 together with a superb art and a very high code of 

 morals. It is a reflection of the early confusion 

 of Egypt. The conservative power of religion is 

 notorious. Even when the country was brought 

 under one monarch, it was impossible to suppress 

 the ancient superstitions (each of which had its 

 priests), and the Egyptian religion was made to 

 embrace a whole pantheon of gods and goddesses. 

 The more stupid features were, of course, confined to 

 the workers, who were kept in ignorance. 



The unification of Egypt was a long and slow 

 development. A country which is only a few miles 

 wide and several hundred miles long would, in those 

 days of difficult communication, not easily be wrought 

 into a political unity. People in the south, with 

 a strong mixture of African blood, would scarcely 

 understand people in the north. On the usual lines 

 of political development, however, local chiefs absorbed 

 their less powerful neighbours, and became petty 



