24 HUMAN DISSECTION. ITS DRAMA AND STRUGGLE 



Primitive polytheism was the order of the day in ancient 

 Egypt. Each of the city states had its own god who presided over 

 the interests of its inhabitants and most were intimately related 

 with some animal or plant: ram, cow, vulture, cat, falcon, jackal, 

 crocodile, ibis and trees, among others. All were imagined to be 

 endowed with human character and motives. 



Certain powers of nature, such as the sun, moon, sky and 

 the river Nile were also accepted as gods. By contrast, these were 

 thought to bestow their blessings on all alike, not favoring the 

 population of one locality over another. About 2750 B.C. the 

 sun became pre-eminent as a deity; it was called Ra (Re) and 

 was thought to have been created from sky and earth. At this 

 period, the heaven was regarded as an immense cow, her four 

 legs being planted at the corners of the earth. It was obvious to 

 them that the sun traveled in a circle around the sky and under- 

 world. Sometimes Ra was imagined as flying across the firmament 

 in the form of a dung beetle, sometimes as a calf. It was often visu- 

 alized as traversing its way along either the belly or the back of 

 the sky-cow in a boat. When the sun went down in the west, 

 the vessel was exchanged for another designed to transport a 

 reborn sun. The nocturnal journey of Ra underneath the earth 

 was divided into twelve parts, representing the hours of the 

 night; each division consisted of fields, cities and dwellings, con- 

 nected by a river and each was entered through special doors 

 placed across the stream. Throughout this part of the trip, the sun 

 was gradually growing to its full size, which it attained when it 

 appeared at dawn. 



All sorts of demons lived along the banks of this river of 

 the underworld. Only a few favored ones, accompanied Ra on 

 this part of his travel; when the sun-god was uplifted at the 

 horizon, these selected spirits accompanied and remained with 

 him, without losing their individuality. 



The believers, who accepted the sun-god, Ra, were not as 

 numerous as those who eventually accepted Osiris, god of the 

 earth. The latter was also thought to have been created by the 

 sky and earth. Tlie myth relating to this god is as follows: he was 

 treacherously murdered by his brother Set, following which his 

 corpse was sought, in the underworld, and found by his wife, 



