(hk) There were also certain buildings, temples, pyramids, and the like, that were temporarily peated as divinities to whom veneration was
ue.
(5) DEIFIED ABSTRACT NOTIONS.—These hold a special place in the list of Egyptian objects of veneration. It would be a mistake to look upon such deification as tle result of profound philo- sophical speculation; it is simply a development of the fundamental idea which never ceased to make itself felt in Egypt, namely, that every word must have corresponding to it a perceptible form, a kind of personality, which could be por- trayed and, if necessary, worshipped. The number of abstract notions known as yet from lists of gods or from other indications, is pretty large ; the dis- covery of fuller lists will no doubt increase the number. The base of an altar (now at Turin, pub. in 7SBA iii. p. 110ff.) dating from the time of king Pepi I. (6th dynasty), supplies the following group : Day (Hw), Year (Kenpt), Eternity (Heh), Unendingness (Z”et-ta) ;_ followed by Life (Anch), Stability (Jet), and Joy (fu-t-ab). Further, we find here Seeing (Ma), and Hearing (Sen), and, finally, Right Speaking (Mad-cher). In other inscriptions appear Taste (Hw), Perception (Sa), Strength (Us), etc. When it is desired to portray these abstract notions, they are simply provided with a human form having the appropriate written sign on its head, or their ideographic hieroglyph sign is drawn with arms and legs ap- pended to it. In the temple cult these forms in general scarcely received actual worship, although
under the New Empire. A number of abstract notions seem to make their appearance as a con- nected group at Hermopolis, where the so-called eight elementary deities enjoyed Divine honours. These eight, divided into four pairs, each with a male and a female, were Eternity (Heh), Darkness (Kek), Heavenly Water (Nw), Earthly Water of Inundation (of the Nile, Nend) ; see the Literature in Wiedemann, Orient. Liztg. iv. 381 ff. From this starting - point they found admittance into other temples as well.
There was only one abstract notion which by itself played a prominent part, namely the god- dess Maat, ‘ Truth,’ who appears as a woman, with the ideogram for ‘truth’ upon her head. She is quite materialistically conceived of; one can eat and drink the truth, in order to become truthful. Maat is mentioned from the earliest times onwards, but, in spite of the widely diffused veneration for her, she had seldom a sacrificial cult of her own. When prominent officials are called ‘ priests of the truth,’ this is probably rather a title intended to characterize them as specially truthful, and not the name of an actual office. Occasionally we hear of two Truths, in which case there was prob- ably in view the distinction between truth in action, 7.¢. justice, and inward sincerity. The goddess of Truth, when represented as human, appears at times blindfolded, because she judges without respect of persons. She conducts the dead into the judgment-hall of Osiris, where she attends to the weighing of the heart. In myth- ology she plays no part; and if at times she ap- pears as the consort of Thoth, this has nothing to do with her proper significance, but rests upon later speculation, which desired to bring the god of wisdom into connexion with the truth. A similar judgment is to be passed on the statement that Maat is a daughter of Ra. This is simply an expression of the thought that the light of the sun brings the truth to view. None of these notions has been further worked up (cf. for Maat, Stern, Aegyp. Ztschr. 1877, pp. 86 ff., 113 ff. ; Wiedemann, Ann. du Musée Guimet, x. 581 ff.).
iii. THE CULTUS.—The worship of the deity in the temple was concerned, above all,, with the charge of the image of the god or the sacred animal that found a place in the holiest part of the build- ing, the naos. The door leading to the naos, or the barred gate giving access to the god-animal, was fastened by a priest every evening with a strip of papyrus, the ends of which were smeared with clay and a stamp impressed upon them. The following morning it was one of the first sacred functions to break this seal, and thus to renew the possibility of communion between the deity and man. Regarding this ceremony and others which accompanied or followed the breaking of the seal, we are informed through the ritual books of vari- ous temples which have come down to us, and which describe the various sacred duties to be performed on the morning of each day. We have the ritual at Abydos, in the time of Seti 1., for Osiris, Isis, Horus, Amon, Ra-Harmachis and Ptah (publ. by Mariette in Abydos, i, 34-86) ; at Karnak (in the Hall of Pillars, back wall), from the time of Seti 1., for Amon-Ra (not yet publ.). Then there are isolated pieces ; mostly with refer- ence to royal visits to the temple, containing also pictures of the various ceremonies, mostly in the correct order, but furnished with abbreviated legends. These are to be met with on most temple walls, on the outside of the naos, temple doors, obelisks, etc. Further texts may be found in Papyr. Berlin 55 [now 3055] for Amon, and 14 and 53 [now 3014 and 3053] for Mut, both dating