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

I take it to mean simply that, according to the general Isis-tradition, the founder of its mysteries was stated to be Kamephis, but that the Isis-Hermes circles claimed that this Kamephis, though truly the most ancient figure in the Isis tradition proper, was nevertheless in his turn the pupil of the still more ancient Hermes.

The grade of Kamephis was presumably represented in the mystery-cult by the arch-hierophant who presided at the degree called the " Dark Mystery " or " Black Eite." It was a rite performed only for those e>e KO.I r$ rf\dc? ne\avi frf/tqcrci'. This has hitherto been always supposed by the philological mind simply to refer to the mysteries of ink or writing, and that too 'without any humorous intent, but in all portentous solemnity. We must imagine, then, presumably, that it refers to the schooldays of Isis, when she was first taught the Egyptian equivalents for pothooks and hangers. This absurdity is repeated even by Meineke.

who were judged worthy of it (er/^o-ei/) after long probation in lower degrees, something of a far more sacred character, apparently, than the instruction in the mysteries enacted in the light.

I would suggest, therefore, that we have here a reference to the most esoteric institution of the Isiac tradition, the more precise nature of which we will consider later on; it is enough for the moment to connect it with certain objects or shows that were apparently made to appear in the dark. As Clement of Alexandria says in his famous commonplace book, called the Stromateis1:

" It is not without reason that in the mysteries of the Greeks, lustrations hold the first place, analogous to ablutions among the Barbarians [that is, non-Greeks]. After these come the lesser mysteries, which have some foundation of instruction and of preliminary preparation for what is to follow ; and then the great mysteries, in which nothing remains to be learned of the universe, but only to contemplate and comprehend nature [herself] and the things [which are mystically shown to the initiated]."2

1 The more correct title of this work should be "Gnostic Jottings (or Notes) according to the True Philosophy," as Clement states himself and as has been well remarked by Hort in his Ante-Nicene Fathers, p. 87 (London, 1895).

2 Op. cit., v. 11. Sopater (Dist. Quast., p. 123, ed. Walz) speaks of these as " figures " (O-X^/XOTO), the same expression which Proclus (In Plat. Rep., p. 380) employs in speaking of the appearances which the Gods assume in their manifestations ; Plato (Phcedr., p. 250) calls them "blessed apparitions," or beatific visions" (euSoiVoyo <f>dcr/jia.Ta) ; the author of the Epinomis (p. 986) describes them as " what is most beautiful to see in the world"; these are the "mystic sights" or "wonders" (nvffriKa 0e(£/xaTo) of Dion Chrysostom (Orat., xii., p. 387, ed. Reiske) ; the "holy appearances" (#710 ^a^racr/tara) and "sacred shows" (fepi toutvAn&a) of Plutarch (Wyttenbach, Fragm., vi. 1, t. v., p. 722, and De Profect. Virtut. Sent., p. 81, ed. Reiske); the

KNEPH-KAMEPHIS

But who was Kamephis in the theology of the Egyptians? According to Reitzenstein, Kamephis or Kmephis, that is Kmeph, is equated by Egyptologists with Kneph, who, according to Plutarch,1 was worshipped in the Thebaid as the ingenerable and immortal God. Kneph, however, as Sethe has shown,2 is one of the aliases of Ammon, who is the " bull [or husband] of his mother," the " creator who has created himself." Kneph is, moreover, the Good Daimon, as Philo of Byblus says.3 He is the Sun-god and Heaven-god Ammon.

" If he open his eyes, he filleth all with light in his primaeval 4 land ; and if he close them all is dark." 6

Here we have Kneph- Ammon as the giver of light in darkness, and the opener of the eyes.

Moreover, Porphyry6 tells us that the Egyptians regarded Kneph as the demiurge or creator, and represented him in the form of a man, with skin of a blue-black tint, girt with a girdle, and holding