264 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



Amun-re. * Either this may have been the case, or 

 the original legend may have contained a name of 

 the Deity, which in after times was deemed too sa- 

 cred to be exposed to the eyes of the profane, when 

 the uninitiated had become acquainted with the 

 previously occult meaning of hieroglyphic writing. 



Khem was considered the generating influence 

 of the Sun, whence perhaps the reason of his being 

 connected with Amunre : and in one of the hie- 

 roglyphic legends accompanying his name he is 

 styled the Sun ; that is, the procreating power of 

 the only source of warmth, which assists in the 

 continuation of the various created species. I have 

 twice found hieroglyphic legends stathig him to be 

 " engendered by the Sun," and in another he is 

 called the " Son of Isis," which might seem to 

 deny him a place among the eigiit great Gods ; 

 but these may refer to a distinct office he was sup- 

 posed to bear on some occasions, and his intimate 

 connection with Amun-re fully establishes his claim 

 to the rank Herodotus has given him in the Egyp- 

 tian Pantheon, t " The Greeks," says the historian, 

 " consider Hercules, Bacchus, and Pan as the most 

 modern of their Gods ; the Egyj)tians, on the con- 

 trary, look upon Pan as very ancient, holding a rank 

 among the first eight Deities ; Hercules they place 

 in the number of the twelve, called the second 

 order ; and Bacchus ranks with those of the third 

 order, who are engendered by the twelve." 



It is not improbable, then, that Khem was also 



* llde siiju-d, p. 244. f Herodot. ii. 145. 



