The Thirty-ninth Ceremony

The second series of ceremonies began with the bringing in of the pert kheru, or offerings of meat and drink, which were to be placed upon the altar, and a

ministrant came with the suten hetep, or "royal offering." Whilst this was being done the Kher heb said:--

"Thoth returneth bringing it with him, he appeareth with the Eye of Horus."

"He hath given the Eye of Horus, and he is content therewith."

It has already been said that the Eyes of Horus, or the sun and moon, suffered eclipse at times through the

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agency of Set, and that the moon after the fourteenth day was devoured by him piecemeal each mouth. The souls of the dead who lived in the Eyes of Horus shared these calamities with the god, and thus it fell out that when the time had come to make the soul of the deceased to enter his body, the soul would be found to have disappeared with the solar or lunar Eye. Sometimes Horus went to look for his Eyes, and sometimes he sent one of them to look for the other; in every case the Eye was "found" and restored to the god. Occasionally Shu "found" the Eye in the hand of Set, and having rescued it from him he gave it back to Horus.

The god, however, to whom Horus was most often indebted for his Eye was Thoth, who presided over the stars, and knew the times of their appearances and disappearances, and regulated their courses. Thoth was called the "Heart of Ra," that is to say, he took possession of the soul of the god, and it was he who gave back the soul to the deceased, or to a god. ¹ In the present case the mummy, or statue, of the deceased is ready to receive back his soul, and the Kher heb announces, as we have seen above, that Thoth hath returned with the Eye of Horus, which he had sought for, and that he hath given it to the deceased, who is content therewith. The deceased

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having once more regained his soul, is now able to enjoy the funeral feast.

Footnotes

101:1 See Dümichen, Grabpalast, p. 29; Moret, Rituel, p. 84.