ABSTRACT
S far as we have been able to tell from the Pyramid Texts, Egypt was governed, about 2500 b .c ., by an absolute
monarchy by right divine. The King based his de facto power on the theory that he was the god Horus among men,1 the heir of Osiris, and, at the same time, the son of Ra. Pharaoh concentrated in his person the whole authority, which was religious in essence. Alive, he was worshipped like Horus and Ra ; dead, he became Osiris in Amenti and Ra in the sky. Between gods and men he alone was the Intermediary, the Intercessor, he who knew and performed rites (ir ïkhet\ he who knew how to pray (dua) to the gods, he who held “ all the secrets of magic ” .2
