Note 78 — Chapter XIII · The Symbolism of Jade

Even in the worship of ancestors in China one can trace the influence of Ancient Egyptian ideas. When the Pharaoh died, he was identified with the god. King Unis, in the Pyramid Texts, becomes Osiris, who controls the Nile. “It is Unis”, we read, “who inundates the land.” Pepi I, in like manner, supplanted the god, and he is addressed as Osiris, as is also King Mernere—“Ho this Osiris, King Mernere!” runs a Pyramid Text.78 The sun-god Ra was similarly supplanted by his son, the dead Pharaoh.