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[2] Furthermore, the Egyptians (they said) first used the names of twelve gods1 (which the Greeks afterwards borrowed from them); and it was they who first assigned to the several gods their altars and images and temples, and first carved figures on stone. Most of this they showed me in fact to be the case. The first human king of Egypt, they said, was Min.

1 There is much obscurity about the “Twelve Gods.” This only appears to be clear, that eight (or nine) gods form the first order of the Egyptian hierarchy, and that there are twelve of the second rank. See Hdt. 2.43, and Rawlinson's essay (ch. 3 in his Appendix to Book II.).

Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920.

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