his younger brother Bata into a vessel of water; when the heart had absorbed all the water it came to life. Water not only washed away sin, but gave new birth and life to the dead.
The Gnostics, who preserved many ancient Egyptian beliefs, attached great importance to the use of water ceremonially, and, according to Irenaeus (Haeres, 1, 2, § 5), they threw oil and water over the heads of the dying to make them invisible to the powers of darkness. The ancient Egyptians certainly dissolved salt, or soda in some form, in their “holy water,” and it is probable that they pronounced some formula over it before sprinkling it upon the dead. The sprinkling of the dead was the first and most important of burial ceremonies among the Egyptians for thousands of years, and it is probable that it was adopted, under the name of baptism of the dead, by many sections of the Christian Church. For centuries certain Christians actually baptized the dead, and they continued to do so in spite of the prohibitions of many Councils.
The exact meaning which is to be attached to the word ṭu or “evil” is not quite clear;[1] it was certainly connected with the words of Unȧs, but whatever it was this “evil ” was carried to Osiris by Thoth. Here we see Thoth acting as a sort of advocate for Unȧs with Osiris, and playing his part as the “lord of divine words,” and author of holy books, with which we are familiar from the texts of the Theban Recension of the
- ↑ Maspero renders it by Mauvais.
