432 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



thorised by the sculptures ; and the origin of this 

 notion is probably owing to Nephthys being placed 

 in contradistinction to Isis, as the end to the be- 

 ginning, and in the funereal rites being in an office 

 opposed to that of her sister. 



I have reason to believe that he represented 

 * Death,' in a bad sense, as the dissolution of the 

 animal part of man, and the decay of all things, 

 applied to animals as well as to mankind ; and this 

 will readily account for the presence of the peculiar 

 Demonstrative sign — the hide of an animal with the 

 tail attached to it — which always follows the le- 

 gends denoting ' a beast.' He is also said to " adore 

 his lord," — alluding to the attitude in which he 

 stands before Harpocrates, who in the character of 

 renovation, or new life, might properly be adored 

 by the God of Death. He occurs, as already stated, 

 on the columns of the Mammeisi of Dendera and 

 other places ; and he presents the same appearance 

 in some of the temples of Southern Ethiopia. He 

 is found at the distant Kermesat, in Wady Ker- 

 beccin, beyond Wady Benat ; and in the sculptures 

 of the supposed hunting palace of Wady Benat, 

 where he is represented armed with a shield and 

 sword, slaying the captives he grasps in his hand. 

 Images of this Deity are also found at Thebes and 

 other places, armed in the same manner with the 

 emblems of War, which may argue his being death 

 in the sense of destruction ; and an instance occurs 

 of his having the dress of a Roman soldier*; which 



* Vide Plate 41. fig. I. The shrine he bears on liis head is remark- 

 able. But this figure is of late date. 



