Tutankhamen: Tutankhamen and the Cult of Amen
given that which Horus has obtained for himself from the Company of the gods. Thou art like a god who designs with thy fingers, Eke a god who designs with thy toes. Thou hast become the Lord of everything, Aten who came into being in primeval time, god of the two high plumes. Thou Begetter, thou hast created more than all the gods." (Ibid., p. 129.)
Fashioning himself none knows his forms. (Chap. VIII.) Mingling his seed with his body to make his egg to come into being within himself. (Chap. VIII.) The Aten (Disk) of heaven, his rays are on thy face. He drove out the Nile from his cavern for thy Pautti. The earth is made thy statue. Thy name is victorious, thy souls (or Will) are weighty. Hawk destroying his attacker straightway. Hidden (or secret) Lion roaring loudly, driving his claws into what is under his paws, Bull for his town, Lion for his people. The earth shakes when he sends forth his voice. Every being is in awe of him, mighty in power there is none like him. He is the Beneficent Power of the births of the Nine gods. (Chap. IX.) The extracts given in the last section are taken, from a work on Amen which was not intended to be sung in the temples. It is, more or less, a, philosophical treatise on the origin, nature, and powers of the god, showing that he is the source of all life, animate and inanimate. The existence of other gods is admitted, but they are merely forms of him, the great god whose three characters or persons were called Amen (of Thebes), Ra (of Heliopolis) and Ptah (of Memphis). His ONENESS, or Unity, was absolute. We may now give an extract from the famous Hymn to Amen which is preserved in a papyrus in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, 2 and was undoubtedly sung by men and women to the accompaniment of music in the temples.
§ I. Bull, dwelling in On, President of all the gods, § II. Hail to thee, Amen-Ra, Lord of the Throne of the Two Lands! § III. ONE, through his unrivalled powers among the gods, Chief of all the gods, § IV. POWER, produced by Ptah, 16:1 See Daressy, Une Nouvelle Forme d'Amon in Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Egypte, tome IX, p. 64 ff. 16:2 Quintus Curtius, lib. IV, §7. See also Naville, Le Dieu de l'Oasis de Jupiter-Amon in Comptes Rendus de l'Académie, 1906, p. 25. 20:1 Preserved in Berlin; see Winckler, Die Thontafeln von Tell-el-Amarna, No. 24, p. 51. 21:1 Bork, Die Mitanni Sprache, Berlin, 1909. 22:1 See Erman, Die Märchen des Papyrus Westcar, Berlin, 1890. 22:2 See Naville's edition of the texts, Vol. II, pl. 46-55. 24:1 Neb-maat-Ra is the prenomen of Amenhetep III 24:2 Denkmäler, III, 85. 26:1 No. 475, Bay 9. Old No. 826. See A Guide to the Egyptian Galleries, p. 134. 32:1 The true reading may be hememit and so be connected with the word to "roar"--Khnem Amen of the roarings. Amenhetep IV dedicated a scarab to a god of roarings (British Museum, No. 51084). 35:1 A hieroglyphic transcript of the hieratic text will be found in Moret, Le Rituel du Culte Divin Journalier en Égypte, Paris, 1902, p. 69. 42:1 For transcripts of the hieratic texts, translations, etc., see, Gardiner in Aegyptische Zeitschrift, Bd. 42 (1905), p. 12 ff. 42:2 A complete transcript of the hieratic text into hieroglyphs, with a French translation, has been published by Grébaut, Hymne à Ammon-Ra, Paris, 1875.
Beautiful god, Meriti (he who is loved),
Giving all life of warmth
To all beautiful cattle.
First One in the Apts (i.e., Karnak),
Bull of his mother, first one of his pasture,
Extended of stride, first one of the Land of the South,
Lord of the Matchaiu (Nubians), Governor of Punt,
Prince of Heaven, Eldest one of Earth,
Lord of things which are, stablisher of creation, stablisher of all creation.
Lord of Truth, Father of the gods,
Maker of men, creator of beasts,
Lord of the things that are, creator of the plant of life (wheat),
Maker of green plants, making to live the cattle.
Beautiful Boy of love,
The gods ascribe praises to him,
Maker of things below and of things above, illumining Egypt,
Sailing over the heavens in peace.
King of the South and North RA
Whose word is true, Chief of the Two Lands (Egypt),
