Chapter 50 Killing the Divine Animals: Killing the Divine Sheep

The crude ritual of California which we have just examined has a very close analogue in the religion of ancient Egypt.The Thebes and all other ancient Egyptians who worshiped the god Amon of Thebes regarded rams as sacred animals and did not kill rams.But at the annual Amon Festival, they would kill a ram, skin it, and put the skin on the image of the god Amon.They then mourned the ram and buried it in a holy tomb.There is a story that illustrates this custom.The story is roughly like this: Zeus once appeared in front of Hercules, wearing sheep's clothing and wearing a sheep's head.Of course, the ram in the previous example is the beast god of Thebes, just as the wolf is the beast god of Lycopolis, and the goat is the beast god of Mendes.In other words, the ram is Amon himself.Yes, the image of Amon on the tablet has a human body and a ram's head.However, this only shows that he is still in the usual state of preparation. As usual, the beast god becomes a fully humanized god after passing through the state of preparation.Therefore, the ram was killed not as a sacrifice to Amon, but as the god himself, and the slaughtered sheep's skin was put on the idol of Amon. This custom clearly shows that the god and the beast are one. thing.The reason for the annual killing of the ram god is probably the reason I give for the custom of killing the god in general, and the reason I give for the peculiar Californian custom of killing the god eagle.A similar example of the bull-killing god Apis, who could not live beyond a certain number of years, also proves that this interpretation can be applied to Egypt.The purpose of imposing a time limit on the life of a god, as I have stated, is to keep it from growing old and infirm.The same reason can also explain the custom of killing the beast god every year-probably the custom of killing the beast god is older-the ram of the Thebes is the beast god killed every year.

One point in the Theban ritual—the draping of sheepskins on the idols—deserves special attention.If in the beginning God was a living sheep, then the representation of him by an idol is later.But how did it come about?The practice of preserving the hides of slain mythical beasts may provide an answer to the question.We have already said that the Californians preserve carved hides; and the skin of a goat, which represents the corn-spirit, is killed in the harvest-field, and its hide is also preserved for various superstitious purposes.In fact, the skin is preserved as a symbol or memorial of the god, not that the skin itself contains a part of the life of the god, but that the skin is stuffed with something and propped on a shelf as a regular statue of the god.In the beginning, this image was changed every year, and the skin of the killed animal was used to make a new image.But the transition from a one-year deity to a permanent deity is not difficult.We have already spoken of the annual custom of cutting a new may-tree, which was replaced by a may-pole which was kept in perpetuity, but which was to be adorned with new leaves and flowers every year, and even topped with a new young tree every year.Likewise, the practice of representing gods in stuffed skins was replaced by permanent idols of wood, stone, or metal, which were annually covered with fresh skins of killed animals.At this stage of development, it is natural to interpret the custom of ram-killing as a sacrifice to the idol, as illustrated by the story of Amon and Hercules.