ON ACCOUNTS OF THE CREATION. 237 



to tlie latter ifc was a system combining strict monotheism with 

 a metaphysical speculative philosophy/^ 



Now, if we consult the translations that have yet been 

 published of the monuments, we find mixed up with 

 abundance of polytheistic details striking assertions of the 

 fact of creation, without any attempt to descend into par- 

 ticulars. Thus, in a hymn addressed to Ammon-Ra, the Sun, 

 we read {Records of tJtc Fad^ vol. ii., p. 131) : — 



Hail to thee, Ra, lord of truth ! 



Whose shrine is hidden, Lord of the gods ; 

 Creator, sailing in thy boat ; 

 At whose command the gods were made ; 



Turn the maker of men. 



Again, in the same hymn (p. 133) : — 



The spirits thou hast created exalt thee, 



Eejoiciug before the feet of their begetter. 

 They cry out welcome to Thee, 

 Father of the father of all the gods ; 



Who raises up the heavens, who fixes the earth. 



Maker of beings, Creator of existences, 



Sovereign of life and health and strength, chief of the gods ; 

 We worship thy spirit which alone has made us ; 

 We, whom thou hast made, thank thee that thou hast given us birth. 



We give praises to thee for thy mercy towards us ! 



In other documents the god Ptliah (Hephasstus of the Greeks) 

 is spoken of as '' he who moves the eg^ of the sun and 

 moon " (apparently an allusion to the widespread conception 

 of the nascent world as an eg^ which a god cleaves asunder), 

 " the weaver of the beginnings, ^^ " the father of the father of 

 the gods,^' " the creator in heaven and on earth, who has made 

 all things, the lord of all that is and is not" (Duncker, Hist, 

 of Antiq., vol. i., pp. 43-4). 



Taken by themselves, these lofty utterances seem to be 

 echoes of primeval revelation. At any rate, their great 

 antiquity gives them immense value. As far as written 

 history goes back, this is the voice of early man, and not the 

 coarse guesses of rude barbarians. At the same time it must 

 be remembered that this creation was ascribed promiscuously 

 to many gods, even to the comparatively insignificant Nile. 

 Side by side with these sublime expressions of a purer faith, 

 speculative and mythological cosmologies existed. Diodorus 

 Siculus knew of one in which a self-begotten wind began to 

 breathe over Chaos ; the elements then proceeded to sort them- 



