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This Legend is cut in hieroglyphs on the walls of a small chamber in the tomb of Seti I about 1350 B.C. - although it first appears on one of the shrines discovered in the tomb of Tutankhamun. The text relates to a human rebellion against the gods, and the punishment of these humans by the gods (a reference to the time of Akhenaten and his persecution of the old gods).
When Ra, the self-begotten and self-formed god, had been ruling
gods and men for some time, men began to complain about him, saying,
"His Majesty hath become old. His bones have turned into
silver, his flesh into gold, and his hair into real lap~lazuli,,
His Majesty heard these murmurings and commanded his followers
to summon to his presence his Eye (i.e. the goddess Hathor), Shu,
Tefnut, Keb, Nut, and the father and mother gods and goddesses
who were with him in the watery abyss of Nu, and also the god
of this water, Nu. They were to come to him with all their followers
secretly, so that men should not suspect the reason for their
coming, and take flight, and they were to assemble in the Great
House m Heliopolis, where Ra would take counsel with them. In
due course all the gods assembled in the Great House, and they
ranged themselves down the sides of the House, and they bowed
down in homage before Ra until their heads touched the ground,
and said, " Speak, for we are listening." Then Ra addressing
Nu, the father of the first-born gods, told him to give heed to
what men were doing, for they whom he had created were murmuring
against him. And he said " Tell me what you would do. Consider
the matter, invent a plan for me, and I will not slay them until
I have heard what you shall say concerning this thing." Nu
replied, " You O my son Ra, are greater than the god who
made You (i.e. Nu himself), you are the king of those who were
created with you, your throne is established, and the fear of
you is great, Let shine Eye (Hathor) attack those who blaspheme
you. " And Ra said, " Lo, they have fled to the mountains
for their hearts are afraid because of what they have said."
The gods replied, " Let shine Eye go forth and destroy those
who blasphemed you, for no eye can resist shine when it goes forth
in the form of Hathor." Thereupon the Eye of Ra, or Hathor,
went in pursuit of the blasphemers in the mountains, and slew
them all. On her return Ra welcomed her, and the goddess said
that the work of vanquishing men was dear to her heart. Ra then
said that he would be the master of men as their king, and that
he would destroy them. For three nights the goddess Hathor-Sekhmet
waded about in the blood of men, the slaughter beginning at Hensu
(Herakleopolis Magna).
Then the Majesty of Ra ordered that messengers should be sent
to Abu, a town at the foot of the First Cataract, to fetch mandrakes
(?), and when they were brought he gave them to the god Sekti
to crush. When the women slaves were bruising grain for making
beer, the crushed mandrakes (?) were placed in the vessels that
were to hold the beer, together with some of the blood of those
who had been slain by Hathor. The beer was then made, and seven
thousand vessels were filled with it. When Ra saw the beer he
ordered it to be taken to the scene of slaughter, and poured out
on the meadows of the four quarters of heaven. The object of putting
mandrakes (?) in the beer was to make those who drank fall asleep
quickly, and when the goddess Hathor came and drank the beer mixed
with blood and mandrakes (?) she became very merry, and, the sleepy
stage of drunkenness coming on her, she forgot all about men,
and slew no more. At every festival of Hathor ever after "
sleepy beer " was made, and it was drunk by those who celebrated
the feast.
Now, although the blasphemers of Ra had been put to death, the heart of the god was not satisfied, and he complained to the gods that he was smitten with the " pain of the fire of sickness." He said, " My heart is weary because I have to live with men; I have slain some of them, but worthless men still live, and I did not slay as many as I ought to have done considering my power." To this the gods replied, " Trouble not about your lack of action, for your power is in proportion to your will."
Here
the text becomes fragmentary, but it seems that the goddess Nut
took the form of a cow, and that the other gods lifted Ra on to
her back. When men saw that Ra was leaving the earth, they repented
of their murmurings, and the next morning they went out with bows
and arrows to fight the enemies of the Sun-god. As a reward for
this Ra forgave those men their former blasphemies, but persisted
in his intention of retiring from the earth. He ascended
into the heights of heaven, being still on the back of the Cow-goddess
Nut, and he created there Sekhet-hetep and Sekhet-Aaru as abodes
for the blessed, and the flowers that blossomed therein he turned
into stars. He also created the millions of beings who lived there
in order that they might praise him. The height to which Ra had
ascended was now so great that the legs of the Cow-goddess on
which he was enthroned trembled, and to give her strength he ordained
that Nut should be held up in her position by the godhead and
upraised arms of the god Shu. This is why we see pictures of the
body of Nut being supported by Shu. The legs of the Cow-goddess
were supported by the various gods, and thus the seat of the throne
of Ra became stable. When this was done Ra caused the Earth-god
Keb to be summoned to his presence, and when he came he spoke
to him about the venomous reptiles that lived in the earth and
were hostile to him. Then turning to Thoth, he bade him to prepare
a series of spells and words of power, which would enable those
who knew them to overcome snakes and serpents and deadly reptiles
of all kinds. Thoth did so, and the spells which he wrote under
the direction of Ra served as a protection of the servants of
Ra ever after, and secured for them the help of Keb, who became
sole lord of all the beings that lived and moved on and in his
body, the earth. Before finally relinquishing his active rule
on earth, Ra summoned Thoth and told him of his desire to create
a Light-soul in the Tuat and in the Land of the Caves. Over this
region he appointed Thoth to rule, and he ordered him to keep
a register of those who were there, and to mete out just punishments
to them. In fact, Thoth was to be ever after the representative
of Ra in the Other World.
