THE WISDOM OF OLD EGYPT 43 



impose on Egypt was a purely spiritual and ethical 

 monotheism. 



Thus monotheism was officially proclaimed in 

 Egypt five hundred years before a single prophet 

 arose in Israel or a line of the Old Testament was 

 written. The character of the new cult may be 

 gathered from the " Hymn to Amon-Ba," which has 

 been discovered, and from which I may quote a few 

 verses : — 



Praise be to thee, Ea, Lord of Eight, whose 



holiness is hidden Thou alone art he that created 



whatsoever is ; men came forth from thine eye, and 

 the gods from out of thy mouth. Thou art he that 

 did create green herbs for the cattle and fruit-bearing 

 trees for men ; who giveth a livelihood to the fishes 

 in the rivers and the birds under the heavens ; who 

 lendeth breath to the creature that is still within 

 the egg, and nourisheth the son of the worm ; that 

 giveth life to the flies as w T ell as to the worms and 

 the fleas. 



Thus is the doctrine of creation, providence, and 

 supreme and universal father plainly set out in the 

 fourteenth century before Christ. There is in this 

 hymn a reference to other gods — the stubborn ancient 

 deities, with strong priesthoods, that it was so difficult 

 to suppress. They were therefore made subordinate 

 to the supreme deity, as in parts of the Old Testa- 

 ment. But in his Religion of the Ancient Egyptians 

 (1905) Professor Steindorff quotes other hymns and 

 prayers which were purely monotheistic. " Thou 

 art the one god that hath no equal," says one. 



But Amenhetep IV was worn out by his struggle 

 with the conservative priests. He died young, and 

 the religious condition of the country returned to its 

 old state. Art passed once more under the control 



