Page Content (OCR)
31 throw of them. He also brought 142 enemy prisoners to the forepart of the boat of Ra," where they were quickly executed. The Edfu temple inscription now shifts to a new panel, for in- deed there began a new chapter in that War of the Gods. The ene- mies that had managed to escape "directed themselves by the Lake of the North, setting themselves toward the Mediterranean, which they desired to reach by sailing through the water district. But the god smote their hearts [with fear), and when they reached the middle of the waters as they fled, they directed themselves from the western lake to the waters which connect with the lakes of the district Mer, in order to join themselves there with the enemies who were the Land of Seth." These verses provide not only geographical information; they also identify "the enemies" for the first time. The conflict had shifted to the chain of lakes that in antiquity, much more than now- adays, physically separated Egypt proper from the Sinai peninsula. To the east, beyond this watery barrier, lay the domain of Seth— the erstwhile adversary and slayer of Osiris, the father of Horns. Seth, we now learn, was the enemy against whose forces Horus had been advancing from the south. And now Horus reached the line dividing Egypt from the Land of Seth. For a while there was a lull in the fighting, during which Horus brought up to the front line his armed Metal People, and Ra reached the scene in his boat. The enemies, too, regrouped and crossed back the waters, and a major battle followed. This time, 381 of the enemy were captured and executed (no casualty figures on the side of Horus are ever given in the text); and Horus. in hot pursuit, crossed the waters into the territory of Seth. It was then, according to the inscription in the great temple of Edfu, that Seth was so enraged that he faced Horus for a series of battles—on the ground and in the air—for god-to-god combat. Of this combat there have been found several versions, as we _ shall see. What is interesting at this point is the fact brought out by E. A. Wallis Budge in The Gods of the Egyptians: that in the first in- volvement of men in the Wars of the Gods, it was the arming of mankind with the Divine Iron that brought victory to Horus: "It is pretty clear that he owed his success chiefly to the superiority of the weapons with which he and his men were armed, and to the mate- rial of which they were made." Thus, according to Egyptian writings, did man learn to lift sword against man. When all the fighting was over, Ra expressed satisfaction with The Contending of Horns and Seth