Lecture IV. The Sun-God And The Ennead. 83
of Ra.”It narrowed their pretensions to divinity, and at the same
time implied their submission to the god of the great sanctuary
which stood in such close relations with Memphis. As we have
seen, the first monument on which the winged solar disc is found
is that of a king of the Fifth Dynasty; it there overshadows his
figure and his two names; but though the hawk of Horus stands
above the name of his double, his birth-name is without the title
of“Son of Ra.”
When once the principle had been adopted that the leading
gods of Egypt were but varying forms of the sun-god, it was
easy to construct Enneads, whatever might be the number of
the deities it was wished to bring into them. Thus at Heliopolis
itself Horus the son of Isis was introduced, his confusion with
the sun-god Horus facilitating the process. At This, Anher was
identified with Shu; at Thebes, Amon was made one with Tum
and Ra, with Mentu and Mut. Where a goddess was at the head
of the local Pantheon the process was the same; she interchanged
with the other goddesses of the country, and even with Tum
himself. At all events, Horapollo (i. 12) states that Nit of Sais
was at once male and female.
One result of all this kaleidoscopic interchange was the growth
of trinities in which the same god appears under three separate
forms. At Heliopolis, for example, Harmakhis became identified
with Tum, and the trinity of Tum, Ra, and Harmakhis grew up,
in which Harmakhis was the sun of the morning and Tum of the
evening, while Ra embodied them both. From one point of view,
in fact, Harmakhis and Tum were but different aspects under
which Ra could be envisaged; from another point, Ra, Tum, and
Harmakhis were three persons in one god. [090]
I believe that Professor Maspero is right in holding that the
Egyptian trinity is of comparatively late origin and of artificial
character.^61 He points out that it presupposes the Ennead, and
(^61) Études de Mythologie et d'Archéologie égyptiennes, ii. p. 270 sqq.