: The Pharaohs and Their People: Scenes of old Egyptian life and history by Berkley E - Egypt History To 332 B.C.

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THE PHARAOHS AND THEIR PEOPLE.

Reign of the gods--Osiris, Isis, and Horus Myth--Ancient cities and early kings.

The first royal name that meets us on the monuments of Egypt, which was inscribed there during the lifetime of the king who bore it, is that of Senefru , and belongs to a remote antiquity. And yet we must look back through the dimness of many more centuries still before we come to the name of Mena, first King of Egypt--a name that seems to twinkle faintly from beyond the abyss of long past ages like a far-off star on the horizon from beyond the wide waste of waters.

Mena, founder of Memphis, and his successors, we know, at least, by name; but of the 'old time before them' the traditions of Egypt only said that the gods governed the land. According to one ancient record, Ptah, the 'Hidden Being,' the 'Former of all,' ruled in the beginning; Ra, the bright Sun-god, Seb, the ancient Earth-god, followed; and later still Osiris reigned, the 'Good Being' and 'Lord of life.' After having conferred manifold blessings and benefits on the land, he was slain by his brother and rival Set. Set concealed the body, but Isis, the 'great divine Mother,' sister and wife of Osiris, sought after it. An ancient hymn says, 'No word of hers fails; good is she, and kind in will and speech. It is Isis, the exalted one, the avenger of her brother: she went up and down the world lamenting him.'

Nevertheless in bodily form Osiris appeared not on earth again; but Isis ceased not from her search until she had found the remains, all torn and mangled as they were by the malice of Set. 'She made light with her feathers,' says the old hymn, 'and wind with her wings; at his burial she poured forth her prayers.'

'She gave birth to a child; secretly and alone she nursed the infant--no man knows where that was done.

'Now has the arm of that child become strong within the ancient dwelling of Seb.'

The child of Isis, the beautiful and radiant Horus, was the avenger of Osiris; he cast down the terrible Set, and destroyed his power; then, on appearing resplendent from his triumph, he was hailed with acclamation by gods and men, and reigned over the land, Osiris, new-born--the Morning Sun which, having conquered night and darkness, ascends the sky and rules from heaven; the Sun of to-day, which, if another, is yet the same as that which sank down yesterday into the bosom of the night.

The reign of Horus was welcomed with rapture and with song. 'He receives the title of his father and rules the world; he governs both the men of Egypt and the northern barbarians. Every one glorifies his goodness; mild is his love towards us; his tenderness embraceth every heart; great is his love in all our bosoms. His foe falls under his fury; the end of the evil-doer is at hand. The son of Isis, the avenger of his father, appears. The worlds are at rest; evil flies, and earth brings forth abundantly, and is at peace beneath her lord.'

But Osiris was not dead. In the unseen world he lived anew, and there he ruled in righteousness, as Horus ruled on earth. Osiris, the divine being who had died, was judge of the dead. Before him each departed spirit must appear in the judgment-hall of Truth. There the heart is weighed and the life is judged unerringly. He who passes that ordeal becomes himself Osiris, and is henceforth called by his name. The new Osiris lives again, and passes victoriously through every peril, until he is at length admitted amongst the bright and blessed spirits who accompany Ra for ever, and who 'live, as he liveth, in Truth.'

There were certain cities also in Egypt whose foundation was assigned to those prehistoric times. The twin cities Thinis-Abydos were, so far as we know, the most ancient in the land. Thinis was the cradle of the Egyptian monarchy: the first Egyptian dynasties were Thinite, and Mena went from thence to found his new capital. But Abydos was revered as the burial-place and shrine of Osiris himself, and many devout Egyptians in following ages directed their own tombs to be prepared and their bodies laid in this consecrated spot.

The origin of Pa-Ra, the City of the Sun, is also lost in remote antiquity. It stood not far from Memphis, and is better known to us by the name of On. It was the centre of the worship of Ra, as Abydos was of the worship of Osiris, but there was no jealousy or rivalry between the two. They were, in fact, essentially one, and the same individual might be priest or priestess of both sanctuaries.

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