298 
according to Horapollo,* that bird on account of his “ bein^ 
prolific and long-lived, or perhaps rather because it seems to 
be an - image of the sun, being capable of looking more intently 
towards Ins rays than all other winged creatures/’ In every 
case the solar disk and uraeus formed his head-dress, and the 
CU 1 U1 i. S S? P £ e WaS m ,lis left hand > the holding, in common 
Mith all the Egyptian deities, the handled cross or symbol of life + 
Another but a less distinctive form of representing Ra was simply 
by the figure of the solar disk without unei or wings, thus distin- 
guishing him from Har-hut, j but with the scarabeus of the god 
Kheper, the creator, in the centre, and pendent from the ed^e the 
handled cross and cucufa; this would more properly apply to Ra as 
the midday sun-god When figured as Turn, the solar disk was 
placed in the hollow of the western mountains, and in the place of 
scarabeus a srnal sitting figure of the deity proper occupied the 
centre of the disk. This latter symbol was generally wrought 
in carnelian or yellow jasper, and worn by the* Egyptian 
c nldren as an amulet, in which case it was supposed to preserve 
the vital warmth of the soul. P 
4. I he oldest mythological work in which the worship of Ra is 
distinctly formulated is of course, the Ritual of the Dead, the 
eai best portions of which are found in the coffin of Queen 
Mentu-hotep °f the Xlth dynasty, with a self-contained 
efeience in i the text itself to an earlier edition of one of the 
lapters. the LXIV., to the period of King Menkeres the 
lounder of the third Pyramid, and one of the chief monarchs of 
the \ th dynasty. § This to a certain extent fixes the great anti- 
qinty of the doctrine, which we have generally to examine and 
16 Ritual itself may be regarded as dedicated to the' sun 
as Ra or lum, Amen Ra, and many of the better known divini- 
ies . o{ Ja ter times receiving far less notice than is devoted to the 
anous attitudes of Ra. The Ritual almost commences with an 
address to Ra as lum of the under-world : — \\“ O Turn O Tum 
coming forth from the great place within the celestial abyss’ 
* Horapollo, by Cory, book i. sec. vi. 
EgyjrtiM8 m ° f H ° rU8 88 th ° S ° 0d Spirit ’ ° r A 3 athodamon of the Greco- 
+ Wilkinson, Materia HieroglypMca, pi iv 
the Dead™’ ^ ^ P ‘ 127> Jntroi ^n to the Book of 
oJi u?® Cbapter ° f COming forth aH the 8Un - living after death 
Cap. ill. 
