Their kings, it is true, often went on expeditions at
the head of mercenaries either against the negroes of Ethiopia or
against the tribes of Syria. They gained victories which they had
painted on the walls of their palaces, they brought back troops of
captives whom they used in building monuments; but they never made
great conquests. Foreigners came more to Egypt than Egyptians went
abroad.
=Religion of the Egyptians.=--"The Egyptians," said Herodotus, "are
the most religious of all men." We do not know any people so devout;
almost all their paintings represent men in prayer before a god;
almost all their manuscripts are religious books.
=Egyptian Gods.=--The principal deity is a Sun-god, creator,
beneficent, "who knows all things, who exists from the beginning."
This god has a divine wife and son. All the Egyptians adored this
trinity; but not all gave it the same name. Each region gave a
different name to these three gods. At Memphis they called the father
Phtah, the mother Sekhet, the son Imouthes; at Abydos they called them
Osiris, Isis, and Horus; at Thebes, Ammon, Mouth, and Chons.
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