The gods and their supernatural principles

Imen: Hidden

In Egypt there were not thousands of gods, but a multitude of deified principles (Maat – justice, Nout – night, Mout – mother...). Their colours and all their attributive adjectives had very precise meanings. All phenomena, by nature abstract and difficult to describe, were personified. Greek and Roman civilisations followed the Egyptian example. Thus the Greek god Hephaistos and the Roman god Vulcan played a similar role to Ptah, the Egyptian god of the arts. In France, we ourselves represent justice and the Republic by figures of women. Egyptian principles often had two incarnations. The god, Imen, was shown both with a human body or as a ram. His companion, the goddess, Mout, was shown as frequently as a female figure as a vulture. Similarly, the goddess Hathor was represented by a cow or the body of a woman. Their different aspects do not appear to refer to the human world or to the animal kingdom. When shown in human form they were invariably young, for it is difficult to conceive of a principle growing old. The principles applied equally to the human, animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. Thus the god Ousir (Osiris in Greek) represented metamorphosis in the widest sense. He was equally the symbol of the transformation and resurrection of the body of a deceased who had been buried, the regeneration and germination of seeds in the underground world, and the evolution and mutation of matter reconstituted chemically.

The goddess Hathor could be represented both by a cow or a female figure with cows ears. She symbolised the reproduction of all beings and things. In the mineral world she was the crucible in which creation occurred. She was the kiln in which matter was regenerated.