Legends of the Gods | Page 3

titles,
catch-words, rubrics, names of Apep and his fiends, and a few other
words, are written in red ink. There are two colophons; in the one we

have a date, namely, the "first day of the fourth month of the twelfth
year of Pharaoh Alexander, the son of Alexander," i.e., B.C. 311, and in
the other the name of the priest who either had the papyrus written, or
appropriated it, namely, Nes-Menu, or Nes-Amsu.
The Legend of the Creation is found in the third work which is given in
the papyrus, and which is called the "Book of overthrowing Apep, the
Enemy of Ra, the Enemy of Un-Nefer" (i.e., Osiris). This work
contained a series of spells which were recited during the performance
of certain prescribed ceremonies, with the object of preventing storms,
and dispersing rain-clouds, and removing any obstacle, animate or
inanimate, which could prevent the rising of the sun in the morning, or
obscure his light during the day. The Leader-in Chief of the hosts of
darkness was a fiend called Apep who appeared in the sky in the form
of a monster serpent, and, marshalling all the fiends of the Tuat,
attempted to keep the Sun-god imprisoned in the kingdom of darkness.
Right in the midst of the spells which were directed against Apep we
find inserted the legend of the Creation, which occurs in no other
known Egyptian document (Col. XXVI., l. 21, to Col. XXVII., l. 6).
Curiously enough a longer version of the legend is given a little farther
on (Col. XXVIII., l. 20, to Col. XXIX., l. 6). Whether the scribe had
two copies to work from, and simply inserted both, or whether he
copied the short version and added to it as he went along, cannot be
said. The legend is entitled: Book of knowing the evolutions of Ra [and
of] overthrowing Apep.
This curious "Book" describes the origin not only of heaven, and earth,
and all therein, but also of God Himself. In it the name of Apep is not
even mentioned, and it is impossible to explain its appearance in the
Apep Ritual unless we assume that the whole "Book" was regarded as a
spell of the most potent character, the mere recital of which was fraught
with deadly effect for Apep and his friends.
The story of the Creation is supposed to be told by the god Neb-er-
tcher. This name means the "Lord to the uttermost limit," and the
character of the god suggests that the word "limit" refers to time and
space, and that he was, in fact, the Everlasting God of the Universe.

This god's name occurs in Coptic texts, and then he appears as one who
possesses all the attributes which are associated by modern nations with
God Almighty. Where and how Neb-er-tcher existed is not said, but it
seems as if he was believed to have been an almighty and invisible
power which filled all space. It seems also that a desire arose in him to
create the world, and in order to do this he took upon himself the form
of the god Khepera, who from first to last was regarded as the Creator,
par excellence, among all the gods known to the Egyptians. When this
transformation of Neb-er-tcher into Khepera took place the heavens and
the earth had not been created, but there seems to have existed a vast
mass of water, or world-ocean, called Nu, and it must have been in this
that the transformation took place. In this celestial ocean were the
germs of all the living things which afterwards took form in heaven and
on earth, but they existed in a state of inertness and helplessness. Out of
this ocean Khepera raised himself, and so passed from a state of
passiveness and inertness into one of activity. When Khepera raised
himself out of the ocean Nu, he found himself in vast empty space,
wherein was nothing on which he could stand. The second version of
the legend says that Khepera gave being to himself by uttering his own
name, and the first version states that he made use of words in
providing himself with a place on which to stand. In other words, when
Khepera was still a portion of the being of Neb-er-tcher, he spake the
word "Khepera," and Khepera came into being. Similarly, when he
needed a place whereon to stand, he uttered the name of the thing, or
place, on which he wanted to stand, and that thing, or place, came into
being. This spell he seems to have addressed to his heart, or as we
should say, will, so that Khepera willed this standing-place to appear,
and it did so forthwith. The first version only mentions a heart, but the
second also speaks of a heart-soul as