Table Of ContentF F G
r o m e i i s b i o o d in
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n cien t g y p t
Written by the eminent Egyptologist, E. A. Wallis Budge, this
work addresses Egyptian religion and mythology in all mani
festations, from the times when earth, sea, air and sky were
filled with hostile spirits and men lived in terror of the Evil Eye,
to the moment when Egyptians hailed Amen-Ra as their one
god. Topics include the predynastic cults, magic, gods (cosmic,
stellar, borrowed and foreign), memphite theology, judgement
of the dead, and the underworld. Important hymns and leg
ends, in English translation, are also included.
www.keganpaul.com
The Kegan Paul Library
of Ancient Egypt
In Search of the Woman Pharaoh Hatshepsur • H.E. Winlock
The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh • W.M. Flinders Petrie
The Cat in Ancient Egypt • N. Langton and B. Langton
Burial Customs of the Ancient Egyptians • John Garstang
Osiris • E. A. Wallis Budge
Arts and Crafts of Ancient Egypt • W. M. Flinders Petrie
Egyptian Mummies • G.E. Smith and Warren R. Dawson
Researches in Sinai • W. M. Flinders Petrie
Ancient Egyptian Scarabs and Cylinder Seals • Percy Newberry
Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt and Assyria • G. Maspero
Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers • Amelia B. Edwards
Egyptian Art • G. Maspero
Egyptian Temples • Margaret Murray
Five Years’ Explorations at Thebes • Howard Carter
From Fetish to God in Ancient Egypt • E. A. Wallis Budge
Notes for Travellers in Egypt • E. A. Wallis Budge
Seventy Years in Archaeology • W. M. Flinders Petrie
The Amarna Age • James Baikie
Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts • Arthur E. P. Weigall
F F G
r o m etish to o d
A E
in n c ie n t g y p t
E.A. W allis Budge
O Routledge
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First published in 2004 by
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Budge, E. A. Wallis
From fetish to God in ancient Egypt. - New ed. - (Library of ancient Egypt)
1 .Mythology, Egyptian 2.Egypt - Religion
I.Title
299.3’1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Applied for.
ISBN 13: 978-0-710-30912-9 (hbk)
NOTE
Th irty years ago I published The Gods of the Egyptians, an
illustrated work in two volumes which dealt in a general
and popular way with the mythology and religion of the dynastic
Egyptians. The book was well received and the whole edition
was sold out in a few months; the printing of the long series of
coloured plates rendered reprinting impossible, and the book can
now only be obtained second-hand and at an enhanced price.
Colleagues and friends assured me in 1930 that some book of this
kind was more needed then than it was in 1900-4 when The Gods
of the Egyptians was written, especially when the vast amount of
new material which had become available for study since 1900
was taken into consideration. They wished me to return to the
study and to produce a book which would, as far as possible, deal
with the religion of the predynastic portion of Egyptian history,
as well as the cults, theological systems, and religions of the
dynastic period. The present book is the result of their friendly
suggestion. It is divided into two Parts in which I have tried
to deal with the main facts of the religious beliefs of the EGYPTIAN
from the time when the Egyptian savage filled earth, air, sea, and
sky with hostile evil spirits and lived in terror of the Evil Eye,
and relied upon every branch of magic for help and deliverance
from them, to the moment when the Egyptian nation hailed as
their One God, or God One, am en-ra of thebes, lord of the
thrones of the world.
Part I contains the principal facts about the religious beliefs
and thoughts of the Egyptians, and their conception of God and
the ‘gods’, their enneads and triads, the religions and systems
of the great cities, &c. Magic, the cult of animals, the cult of
osiris, and the tuat, or Other World, are treated at some length.
Part II is devoted to a series of revised English translations of
a considerable number of fine hymns; myths, both ritual and
aetiological; legends of the gods, and a few miscellaneous texts.
The aetiological myths, i.e. those which were invented to account
for some existing condition, are of special interest for myths
vi NOTE
constructed in the same way exist in Babylonian literature. I
discussed many of them with Sidney smith, Keeper of Egyptian
and Assyrian Antiquities in the British museum, and he has most
obligingly drawn up a memorandum on the myths of both kinds,
and I have printed this as a preface to the myths translated in
Part II.
In the Introduction I have described briefly the results of the
study of the ancient Egyptian religion in europe, chiefly in the
nineteenth century, and summarized the deductions which I
believe may be rightly made from the facts supplied by the
monuments and papyri, and the conclusions at which I have
arrived. The most important sections of the Introduction are the
paragraphs which deal with the results which sethe has obtained
from his exhaustive study of the remarkable hieroglyphic text
of the reign of shabaka (about b.c. 700) in the British museum.
For sixty or seventy years this text has been studied, from the
time of birch who translated portions of it in his official manuscript
catalogue, but it has been reserved for sethe to bring out the full
import of the mutilated inscription. He has proved beyond all
doubt that it describes the theological system of the priests of
MEMPHIS as it existed under the Old Kingdom some five thousand
years ago. The priests of ptah had at that time arrived at the
highest conception of God which was ever reached in EGYPT,
and their religion was a pure monotheism. They evolved the
idea of God as a Spirit, a self-created, self-subsisting, eternal,
almighty mind-god, the creator of all things, the source of all
life and creation, who created everything that is merely by thinking,
horus being his heart or mind, and thoth, the Word which gave
expression to the thought which ‘came into his mind’. Creation
was the visible result of the utterances of his mouth. The other
gods, e.g. those of heliopolis, were only the thoughts of ptah,
the One God. As we work out the details of the text and the
scheme of thought underlying them, it becomes clear that the
Memphite theology can be fittingly described by the opening
verses of the Gospel of St. John:
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.
NOTE vii
2. The same was in the beginning with God.
3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made.
4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
When exactly and how the Memphite system of theology came
into being is not clear, but there is every reason for agreeing with
sethe that it dates from the time of the founding of memphis.
Purity of religion was not the only motive of the king (probably
menes) who established it as the religion of his kingdom, for it
is clear that there was a political element in his mind. He wished
to destroy the supremacy of the great and powerful priesthood
of H eliopolis, and to reduce their god ra to the position of a
thought of the mind of ptah. And we maybe sure that the wealthy
endowments of heliopolis were not forgotten by the royal
reformer of the Egyptian religion. But the Egyptians, when once
the material powers of the Memphite cult had declined, rejected
the Spirit-god of memphis, and his religion decayed, and before
the end of the Old Kingdom disappeared, as jablonski showed.
Under the New Kingdom the cult of ptah was of great importance,
and in the hymns to him we find all the titles and powers of the
old Spirit-god applied both to him and to amen-ra, as sethe has
proved convincingly.
A great deal of new light has been thrown on the attitude of the
Egyptians towards their gods by the recently discovered Chester
beatty Papyrus No. 1 which dr. alan gardiner has edited with
conspicuous learning and success, and translated. The informa
tion to be derived from it seems to me to be of such importance
that I have ventured to give a summary of it in Part II, and I am
glad to express my obligation to dr. gardiner, its first editor
and translator. In connexion with the Egyptian religion and
plutarch’s treatise on isis and osiris, the attention of students
may be called to Osiris, a Study in Myths, Mysteries and Religion,
by harold p. cooke, London, 1931. The author gives an accurate
translation of plutarch’s work, and discusses many points in it
which have not been adequately dealt with, if at all, by Egypto
logists. His criticisms are to the point, and are to be welcomed,
and a great many of his conclusions, especially those which
viii N OTE
deal with the stellar origin of the Egyptian religion, must be
accepted.
The black and white illustrations which are given in Part I
explain themselves for the most part, and all spare the reader
much verbiage in descriptions. They are taken from tracings
and drawings which were made by MR. anderson, an artist who
was attached to the departments of Antiquities in the British
museum, and MR. f. c. compton price, a distinguished litho
grapher, who prepared the plates for the Great Harris Papyrus,
No. i (british museum No. 9900) edited by dr. birch, and the
second edition of the Papyrus of Ani edited by myself. The
drawings and tracings were intended to be used in illustrating a
dictionary of the Egyptian gods, but the scheme broke down,
and as they were my personal property I used many of them in
the official Guides of the British museum and other works.
anderson and compton price were masters of their craft, and
it is fitting that their names should be remembered. When the
War broke out neither of them could find work, and both were
too old to join the Army, anderson suffered serious privations
and succumbed, but a year or two later, through my friend
dr. shipley, late Master of Christ’s, compton price was elected
a brother in the Charterhouse. Worthy of remembrance also are
MR. n eth erclift who prepared the copies of the sallier and
anastasi papyri for dr. birch’s Select Papyri in 1840-1, and
MR. bow ler the lithographer of the early volumes of sir henry
raw linson’s Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia.
Whilst the manuscript of the present volume was being set
in type, and the illustrations were unplaced, I was attacked by an
illness which was sufficiently severe to send me into a nursing
home. Work of any kind was strictly prohibited, and there was
every probability that my enforced idleness would continue for
a considerable time. On leaving the home I consulted john
Johnson, M.A., D.Litt., Printer to the University of oxford,
and asked his help. He promptly made arrangements which
relieved me of most of the reading of proofs, and index-making,
and much else, and undertook that the publication of my works
which he was then printing should not be delayed through my
NOTE ix
illness. To their supreme expert skill he and his staff of readers
have added efficient sympathy, and it is to them entirely that the
appearance of this work at the present time is due. I am glad to
have the opportunity of expressing my obligation to them, both
official and private, and I offer them my profound gratitude and
sincere thanks.
E. A. WALLIS BUDGE
48 BLOOMSBURY STREET
BEDFORD SQUARE, W.C.I
1934
