Thoth, the ibis-headed god of wisdom, inventor of the art of writing; Osiris, the dead god who arose and set the pattern for death-and-resurrection gods ever since; Isis, the great mother, wandering through the reed swamps; Anubis, conductor of the dead, with jackal head; Bast, the cat goddess; Set, the evil serpent; Ptah, the living mummy ...
For more than 2,500 years, since the days of Herodotus, students have found the gods of Ancient Egypt a source of fascination and wonder. Strange beings who lived in a world of their own (as opposed to the human gods of the European people), irrational powers and menaces, sometimes animal-like, sometimes superhuman, sometimes incalculable in their evil potentialities, they still have the power to move men's thought.
By far the most thorough, most useful coverage of the gods of Ancient Egypt is this book by Dr. Budge of the British Museum, one of the foremost Egyptologists of the century. In it is presented practically everything known about the high gods, the local gods, demigods, demons, and mythological figures of Khem. Dr. Budge provides full information on the origins of the ancient religion; its peculiarly Egyptian aspects; evolution of cults, rites, and gods; the priesthoods; the heretical aberration of Ikhnaten and the Aten cult; the cult of Osiris; the Book of the Dead and its rites; the sacred animals and birds; heaven and hell, and much other secret wisdom that has been discovered hidden in mummy cases or written on tomb walls. The text is profusely illustrated, with many reproductions of tomb and mummy-case paintings, while many full texts are presented, with both hieroglyphs and translation.
Dr. Budge's book is a standard work in the history of religion. It is also a most useful background book for anyone seriously interested in the life and thought of Ancient Egypt, an explicator of many of the obscurer passages in the Book of Dead.
Volume 1 contains 16 chapters including The Gods of Egypt, Hell and the Damned, Ra the Sun-God and His Forms, and The Horus Gods. 34 plates and 38 illustrations.
Volume 1 Table of Contents:
I. THE GODS OF EGYPT
APPENDIX: UNÁS, THE SLAYER AND EATER OF THE GODS-HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
II. CONCEPTION OF GOD AND THE GODS
III. PRIMITIVE GODS AND NOME-GODS
IV. THE COMPANIONS OF THE GODS IN HEAVEN
V. THE UNDERWORLD
VI. HELL AND THE DAMNED
VII. THE OLDEST COMPANY OF THE GODS AND THE CREATION
VIII. HISTORY OF THE CREATION OF THE GODS AND OF THE WORLD-HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
IX. RA, THE SUN-GOD, AND HIS FORMS
X. THE MYTHS OF RA
XI. THE LEGEND OF RA AND ISIS-HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
XII. THE DESTRUCTION OF MANKIND-HIEROGLYPHIC TEXT WITH INTERLINEAR TRANSLITERATION AND TRANSLATION
XIII. THOTH, AND MAAT AND THE OTHER GODDESSES WHO WERE ASSOCIATED WITH HIM
XIV. HATHOR AND THE HATHOR-GODDESSES
XV. THE HORUS GODS
XVI. THE GREAT TRIAD OF MEMPHIS, PTAH, SEKHET, AND I-EM-HETEP
Volume 2
Contains 20 chapters including thorough coverage of evolution of cults, rites and gods; the cult of Osiris; the Book of the Dead and its rites; Heaven and Hell; Amen, and Amen-Ra, and the Triad of Thebes; Hapi, the God of the Nile; The Triad of Elephantine; Osiris; Isis; miscellaneous gods of the winds, senses, planets, and Sacred Animals and Birds.
