Chapter 43 (part 83)

A large number of faïence figures of this triune god are found in graves, and specimens exist in all museums. He is represented as a dwarf standing upon a crocodile, and having a scarabæus upon his head; the scarab is the emblem of the new life into which the deceased is about to break, the crocodile is the emblem of the darkness of death which has been overcome. According to some the element of Ptah in the triad is the personification of the period of incubation which follows [1. ###. Naville, Todtenbuch , Bd. I., Bl. 34, ll. 4, 5. 2. Lanzone: op. cit. , tavv. 87-91. 3. Lanzone, op. cit., tav. 368.] {p. cix} death and precedes the entry into eternal life, and the symbols with which he is accompanied explain the character attributed to this god.[1] The god Ptah is also united with the gods Hapi, Nu and Tanen when he represents various phases of primeval matter. Khnemu worked with Ptah in carrying out the work of creation ordered by Thoth, and is therefore one of the oldest divinities of Egypt; his name means, "to mould," "to model." His connexion with the primeval water caused him to be regarded as the chief god of the inundation and lord of the cataract at Elephantine. He dwelt in Annu, but he was lord of Elephantine, and "the builder of men, the maker of the gods, and the father from the beginning." Elsewhere he is said to be ari enti-s qemam unenet sa xeperu tef Maker of things which are, creator of what shall be, the beginning of beings, father tefu ma ma of fathers, and mother of mothers. He supported the heaven upon its four pillars in the beginning, and earth, air, sea, and sky are his handiwork. He is depicted in the form of a man having a ram's head and horns surmounted by plumes, uræi with disks, etc. ; in one hand be holds the sceptre and in the other the emblem of life. Occasionally he is hawk-headed, and in one representation he holds the emblem of water, in each hand. On a late bas-relief at Philæ we find him seated at a potter's table upon which stands a human being whom he has just fashioned.[2] Khepera was a form of the rising sun, and was both a type of matter which is on the point of passing from inertness into life, and also of the dead body which is about to burst forth into a new life in a glorified form. He is depicted in the form of a man having a beetle for a head, and this insect was his type and emblem among ancient nations, because it was believed to be self-begotten and self-produced; to this notion we owe the myriads of beetles or [1. Lanzone, op. cit., p. 244. 2. Lanzone, op. cit., tav. 336, No. 3.] {p. cx } scarabs which are found in tombs of all ages in Egypt, and also in the Greek islands and settlements in the Mediterranean, and in Phœnicia, Syria, and elsewhere.