Thrice-Greatest Hermes, Vol. I — G. R. S. Mead (1906)

The inscription itself is dated about the eighth century B.C., but it states that it is the reproduction of a then old written text from the temple of Ptah at Memphis.

The chief content has to do with the Osiris-myth, but into this is inserted the distinctive Ptah-doctrine. Ptah is supposed by some to have originally been simply the god of handicraft, seeing that he is equated by the Greek interpreters of god-names with Hephaistos. He was, however, rather the Demiurgus, for in very early times he is found in the closest connection with the Gods of Heaven and Gods of Light, and is conceived as the Dispenser of all life.

In our text Ptah is brought into the closest relations with the Supreme Deity (Atum). This "God the Father " emanates from himself eight deities (the Ogdoad). Each one of these is Ptah with a distinctive epithet. To the fourth3 of them, "Ptah the Great," a theological system is attached, which, though not entirely ignoring the former presentation, is but loosely interwoven with it.

Before, however, Eeitzenstein proceeds to deal with this, he gives Professor Spiegelberg's translation of a

1 Zeitschr.f. ag. Sprache (1901), pp. 39 ff.

2 " Sur la Tout-puissance de la Parole," Recueil des Travaux rel. a la Phil. . . . egypt., xxiv. 168 ff.

3 The God of Fire and Mind.

p. 131

Prayer to Ptah, of the time of Ramses III. (c. 1233 B.C.), from the Papyrus Harris (I. 44, 3 ff.), in order to make clearer the circle of ideas into which we shall be introduced. This Prayer is as follows :

A PRAISE-GIVING To PTAH

" Hail to thee ! Thou art great, thou art old,

Tatenen,1 Father of the gods,
God ancient from the beginning ;
Who fashioned men,
Who made the gods,

Who began with the creation as the first creator,
Who created for all who came after him,
Who made the heaven ; as his heart 2 he created it ;
Who hanged it up,
As God Shu raised himself ; 8
Who founded the earth of thy own power,
Who circled in the primal water of the Great Green,4
Who created the invisible world, which brings the

dead bodies to rest ;

1 An epithet of Ptah. But compare the Hymn to Ra given by Budge (op. tit., i. 339) : " Praise to thee 0 Ra. exalted Sekhem, Ta-thenen, Begetter of his Gods." Sekhem is vital " power " ; Tathenen is, therefore, presumably Creative Life, or the Demiurgic or Creative Power. On page 230 Budge tells us that Tathenen is elsewhere symbolised as a fire-spitting serpent armed with a knife.

2 The Heaven is the Great Heart of the Great Cosmos ; in man the little cosmos, the heart, was the seat of the true understanding and will.

3 Shu generally represents the dry air between the earth and sky. Cf. the Hymn to Amen-Ra : " Thou art the One God, who did'st form thyself into two gods ; thou art the creator of the egg, and thou did'st produce thy Twin-gods " (Budge, op. tit., ii. 89). Shu's twin or syzygy is Tefiiut, who in terrene physics represents the moist air ; but Shu is elsewhere equated with the Light.

4 The Ocean of Heaven.

Who let Ra come to make them glad,

As Prince of Eternity,

Lord of Eternity,

Lord of Life ;

Who fills the lungs with air,

Who gives breath to every nostril,

Who vivifies all beings with his gifts.

Length of life, fortune, and fate are subject unto him

They live by that which goeth forth out of his mouth.1

Who made contentment for all the gods,
In his form of ancient primal water ; 2
Lord of Eternity, to whom Eternity is subject,
Breath of Life for all beings."

There are other hymns of an exactly similar nature in which other gods are praised, especially Thoth and Horus. And now to turn to our inscription, and to that part of the text assigned to the fourth of the Forms of Manifestation, or Aspects or Persons, of Ptah.

PTAH-THOTH THE WISE ONE

L 52. Ptah the Great is the heart and tongue of the god-circle.3

§ 1, I. 53. (Two gods)4 are they, the one as heart, the other as tongue, emanations of Atum. Exceeding great is Ptah; if he ... then are their ka's in this heart and tongue [of his].

1. 54. When Horus arose in him (Atum) as Ptah, and when Thoth arose in him as Ptah, the power of heart