Note 142 — ALBA’S DREAM. BY THE AUTHOR OF “ARE YOU MY WIFE?” “A SALON IN PARIS BEFORE THE WAR,” ETC. PART III. (continued 2)

An historical fact which exercised considerable influence on the religion of Egypt, and which helps to explain the multiplicity of the names given to the Deity, was that the whole of Egypt which Menes united under his sceptre was divided into nomes, each having its capital city; and each of these regions had its principal god, designated by a special name, but under these different names the same doctrine always remains of a divine unity. Thus by the side of the political there was also a kind of divine feudality. Tum reigned at Heliopolis, Osiris at Theni and later at Abydos, Ammon was over Thebes, and over Memphis Phtah. Each of these gods, identical in substance with the gods of the other nomes, easily allowed this fundamental identity. Ammon of Thebes gave hospitality in his temple to Min or Khem of Coptos, to Tum of Heliopolis, and to Phtah of Memphis, who on their part received Ammon with equal readiness into their own sanctuaries.