CHAPTER XXVI 



SACRED FISH 



Apart from the mythological fishes, the Abdu and the Ant, 

 which were supposed to accompany the boat of the Sun, we 

 find others held sacred or worshipped in different Nomes or 

 cities. 



Before considering these, I draw attention to the cut of a 

 representation from Gamhud.i and to the account by E. Mahler 

 of a Stele, attributed to Thotmes III., now in the Museum at 

 Buda-Pesth.2 



Both are remarkable ; for in both Fish takes the place 

 of the usual Bird-Soul. As the Buda-Pesth Stele is unpubUshed, 

 we have to depend on Mahler's account. He tells us that in 

 the ancient beliefs and myths of Egypt the fish was a symbol 

 of eternity, and guided the boat which bore the dead to the 

 waters of the blessed. 



The Gamhud illustration, attributed to the Ptolemies, who 

 held fast to the tradition that the parts of Osiris were eaten by 

 three fishes, one of which was the Oxyrhynchus, has a distinct 

 interest, because here for the first time the Oxyrhynchus figures 

 as a substitute for the Bird-Soul. 



The Buda-Pesth Stele probably deduces from Gurob, where 

 there is, or rather twenty years ago was, a fish cemetery 

 excavated by Petrie. Here, too, was a temple built by 

 Thotmes III., and a smaller one erected in his honour. 



The idea of the dead man may well have been " I have 

 embalmed thousands and thousands of fish. Now then, one 

 of you, in return do your best to secure for me immortality." 



^ Ahmed Bey Kamal, Annales du Service des Antiquit^s de I' Egypt, 1908, 

 IX. 23 f.. PI. I. 



* Actes du IV' Congyh International d'Histoire des Religions, 1913, p. 97 f. 



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