331 
water, thou art air in the midst of them. Thou hast hailed at things 
to be done of him who is indefatigable, the orderer of the visible and 
invisible.* * * § 
46 Thou givest life to them as thou increasest them, thy soul prepares them 
under thy type of Amen Ba, lord of all existences. 
22. The text concludes by declaring, in the usual metaphorical 
language of the Egyptian religious texts, that the god Amen 
Ra has given to his son Darius victory over all his enemies, and 
implanted the fear of him in the breasts of the people of all 
the countries near and far.f 
23. Independently of the Solar Litanies there is another reli- 
gious document, the text of which occurs in the so-called chamber 
of the Cow in the tomb of Seti — which presents another feature 
of the character of the god Ra in a new light. J This document, 
now unfortunately very imperfect, and the style of which is 
mystical in the highest degree, has yet a peculiar significance 
to Biblical students, for it describes the destruction of mankind 
by the supreme deity Ra, aided by his children and coadjutors, 
Shu and Tefnut. The text, for the publication and translation 
of which we are indebted to the labours of M. Edouard Naville,§ 
represents a transaction so wholly at variance to the general 
nature of the god, that it is difficult to understand at what 
period of mythical history the event took place, or what precise 
purpose was served by its occurrence ; aud it has in consequence 
been even conjectured to have served the purpose of a mytho- 
logical or allegorical account of some real battle undertaken by 
Seti — which may have been accompanied with circumstances of 
cruelty requiring extenuation. There are, as will be seen, 
several very strange incidents in the narrative, — the disobe- 
dience of mankind ; the wrath of Ra ; the resolution to destroy 
the sinners; the agency selected for their punishment, the 
goddess Hathor being commissioned to destroy all mankind ; 
the council of Nun and the other gods who advise the massacre ; 
the extent of the destruction ; the torrents of blood, reaching 
* Existent and non-existent. 
+ It is not known what king of the name of Darius set up this inscrip- 
tion, as the second or personal cartouche of the royal name is wanting ; 
but it was most probably Darius Hystaspes, who held the sovereignty of 
Egypt with greater vigour than any of his successors of the same name, 
and who is known to have paid special honour to the shrines of the 
Egyptian gods. 
•t; See Trans. Soc. Sih. Arc., vol. iv. p. 1. 
§ In Records of the Past, vol. vi. p. 103. 
