The development of the ideas suggested is thus
essentially parallel to that described in the chapter on the
Teutonic myths of the three subterranean wells and the
World-tree.
But can any distinctive features of the Egyptian religion be
traced to the influences exerted by the phenomena of the Nile?
Most decidedly so--in two directions more especially. That
religion is one of contrasts; it represents the world as a scene of
titanic conflict. The realm of Osiris is opposed to that of
Typhon--creation to destruction. And the master influence in
shaping the form in which these contrasts were conceived was
undoubtedly the Nile. On one side barren rocks and parched
sands, and on the other the fertilising powers of the sacred
stream. All around, vast solitudes, and along the river the hum
of teeming communities and the rich fullness of prosperous
civilisations. The world was visibly, for the Egyptian, a fierce
recurring battle between life and death.
And springing out of this appears the second great influence to
be attributed to the famous river. The Egyptian grasped firmly
and developed fully the doctrine of immortality. Doubtless
many factors contributed to the peculiar form which his belief
assumed, but none would be of more importance than the ever
renewed gift of life which the Nile brought from an unknown
and an unseen world. Hence also the connection between the
Nile-god and Osiris, the god of the resurrection. So deeply were
the world-views and spiritual experiences of the Egyptians
influenced by the mystic's powers of the Nile--by the immanent
ideas therein made concrete.
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