Identifier: historyofartinan01perruoft Title: A history of art in ancient Egypt Year: 1883 (1880s) Authors: Perrot, Georges, 1832-1914 Chipiez, Charles, 1835-1901 Armstrong, Walter, Sir, 1850-1918 Subjects: Art -- Egypt History Egypt -- Antiquities Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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Text Appearing Before Image: efforts of conjecture, allphenomena to a certain number ofcauses, which it calls gods. It nextperceives that these causes, or gods,are of unequal importance, and soit constitutes them into a hierarchy.Still later it begins to comprehendthat many of these causes are butdifferent names for one thine, thatthey form but one force, the appli-cation of a single law. Thus byreduction and simplification, bylogic and analysis, is it carried onto recognize and proclaim the unityof all cause. And thus monotheismsucceeds to polytheism. In Egypt, religious speculationarrived on the threshold of thisdoctrine. Its depths were dimlyperceived, and it was even taughtby the select class of priests whowere the philosophers of thosedays ; but the monotheistic con-ception never penetrated into theminds of the great mass of thepeople.^ Moreover, by the verymethod in which Egyptian myth-ology described it, it was easily adapted to the national poly-theism, or even to fetish worship. The theory of emanations

Text Appearing After Image: iSn.< Fig. 35,—Ptali, from a bronze in theLouvre. Actual size. 1 In his work entitled Des deux Yeux du Disqiie solaire, M. Grkbaut seems to havevery clearly indicated how far we are justified in saying that Egyptian religiousspeculation at times approached monotheism {Recueil de Travaux, etc., t. i. p. 120). The Egyptian Religion and the Plastic Arts. 53 reconciled everything. The different gods were but the differentqualities of the eternal substance, the various manifestations ofone creative force. These qualitiesand energies were revealed bybeing imported into the world ofform. They took finite shape andwere made comprehensible to theintellect of man by their mysteriousbirth and generation. It wasnecessary, if the existence of thegods were to be brought home tomankind, that each of them shouldhave a form and a domicile. I masfi-nation therefore did well in com-mencing to distinguish and definethe gods ; artists were piouslyoccupied when they pursued thesame course. They gave p

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