Pyramid Scheme

by Dave Freer

  Egyptian:

  Amemait:

  The devourer. A monster with a crocodile snout, part lion, part hippopotamus, all nasty, the devourer of unjustified souls.

  Anubis:

  Jackal-headed Anubis. The son of Nephthys, by Osiris. Usher in the hall of judgment and inventor of embalming techniques.

  Bes:

  A dwarf-god, the protector of man against evil spirits and dangerous beasts. He is always portrayed grinning and bearded, with a topknot adorned with ostrich plumes and a leopard-skin cloak. Fond of fighting and dancing, his symbol was used to protect against dangerous beasts, and evil spirits that haunted dreams. He presided over marriages, and the makeup and adornment of women, as well as protecting pregnant mothers. Revered in Punt (Ethiopia) and Carthage as well as Egypt, the little hell-raiser was definitely one of the most attractive figures in ancient mythology.

  Harmakhis:

  The correct name of the huge stone sphinx of Gizeh.

  Isis:

  Moon goddess, sorceress, sister-wife of Osiris. It was she who gathered up the pieces of the dismembered Osiris (except for his phallus—which had been eaten by the crabs) and sewed him back together again.

  Min:

  An ancient god, always represented with his phallus erect. The protector of travelers and fertility.

  Nephthys:

  The personification of the desert margin, arid but sometimes fertile. Sister to Isis, married to her brother Set, by whom she had no children. She got Osiris (also her brother, and husband to her sister Isis) drunk, and took advantage of him to conceive Anubis. She abandoned the child at birth. She helped with the embalming of Osiris, despite the fact that he was murdered by her husband. It's all very complicated. . . .

  Osiris:

  A vegetation god, personifying harvest and rebirth of seedlings (perhaps this explained his greenish skin). He was married to Isis. Osiris was the enemy of violence and the bringer of civilization. He was murdered and later dismembered by Set. Sewed together and reanimated by Isis, he then went on to become ruler of the kingdom of the dead. He presided over the weighing of souls.

  Sebek:

  A crocodile-headed divinity, who shared Set's evil reputation. His principal sanctuary had a lake with a real crocodile, Petesuchos.

  Sekhmet:

  The lioness-headed goddess of war. Bloodthirsty and merciless.

  Set:

  Red-haired and pale-skinned, rough and rude, with the head of the typhonean beast (a curved snout with square-cut ears). Set is the eternal adversary, the destroyer, the desert.

  Sphinx:

  Egyptian. A lion-bodied, human-headed creature. Some authorities think they may have had their origins as protective desert genii. The sphinxes from Egypt, Asia Minor and Greece share common origins.

  Tauret:

  Hippopotamus goddess. Childbirth and protection.

  Thoth:

  Ibis-headed Thoth (also sometimes represented as the dog-headed ape). The herald and scribe of the gods, the keeper of records, and the first magician. A pedant of note.

  THE END

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