Hymns

Of the number of hymns that have been preserved the greater number are in praise of Ra, the sun-god. But there are also hymns to Ptah, Osiris, the Nile, Amen, and Has or. According to Renouf these hymns represent the henotheistic side of Egyptian religion. The ideas expre ed in them are often very lofty, and the conception of the Deity is in such language as would be employed in these times. But invariably there is mixed up with these fine pa ages a great deal of polytheistic teaching. The chief hymns that have been studied are, Hymn to the Nile, in the Sallier Papyrus, translated by Maspero; Hymn to Amen, in a Cairo papyrus, XXth Dynasty, translated by Grébaut; Hymn to Osiris, on a stela in Paris, translated by Chabas; a pantheistic hymn from the temple of El Khargeh, translated by Brugsch, Birch, and Renouf; Hymn to the Aten, in a tomb at Tel el Amarna, translated by Bouriant and Breasted; Hymn to Ra, in the 15th chapter of the "Book of the Dead" (Turin Papyrus), translated by Weidemann and others. (See Henotheism .)