Endnotes explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Religion and Mysticism

  Notes explain Egyptian religious concepts of the soul, the Godhead, and the significance of the sistrum.

Characters to notice

• Amenemhat

  Portrait of Amenemhat himself is referenced.

• Atoua

  Atoua's saying about papyrus is explained.

• Harmachis

  The name Harmachis is glossed as the Grecian title of the divinity of the Sphinx.

Key passages

• “The Egyptian Hades or Purgatory.”

  The Egyptian underworld or place of purification.

  Editor's note explaining a term.

• “The Egyptian Parcae or Fates.”

  The Egyptian goddesses of destiny.

  Editor's note explaining a term.

• “The soul when it has been absorbed in the Godhead.”

  The soul after merging with the divine.

  Editor's note explaining a term.

• “The dog-star, whose appearance marked the commencement of the overflow of the Nile.”

  The star Sothis, which signaled the start of the Nile flood.

  Editor's note explaining the dog-star.

• “According to the Egyptian religion the being Man is composed of four parts: the body, the double or astral shape ( ka ), the soul ( bi ), and the spark of life sprung from the Godhead ( khou ).”

  In Egyptian belief, a person consists of body, astral double (ka), soul (bi), and divine spark (khou).

  Editor's note on Egyptian anthropology.

• “A musical instrument peculiarly sacred to Isis of which the shape and rods had a mystic significance.”

  The sistrum, a sacred rattle of Isis with symbolic shape and rods.

  Editor's note on the sistrum.