Nile Lyrics
Cast Down the Heretic

[Music and lyrics by Karl Sanders]

Blasphemer, Heretic, Defiler of the Sacred Ones.
Thou art Deprived of Your Limbs. Thy Nose Shall be
Split. Thou art Cast Down and Overthrown.
Ra-Harmakhis Destroyeth Thee. He Damneth Thee and
Driveth Hooks into Thy Body. Isis Sayeth in Mighty
Voice, "The Number of Thy Days are Cut Short.
Thy Bones are Broken to Splinters Thy Vertebrae
are Severed." Horus Hammereth Thy Head. The
Sons of Heru Smash You with Their Blows.

Thou Art Decimated by Their Violence. Thou Fallest
Backwards as Thou Retreateth Like unto Apep. The
Great Company of Gods Gather in Retribution. They
Hath Passed Judgment upon Thee. They Cast Down
Your Heresy. They Spit Upon Thee and Thy Rebellion
And Turn Their Back upon Thee. Horus Repulseth Thy
Crocodile. Sut Defileth Thy Tomb. Nephthys Hacketh
Thee in Pieces. The Sons of Horus Speareth Thee.
The Gods Repulse Thee. The Flame of Their Fire is
Against Thee. Cursed Art Thou, Impaled Thou Art,
Flayed Art Thou. Heretic Thou Art Cast Down.

Blows are Rained upon Thee. Dismemberment and
Slaughter are on Thee. Thy Crocodile is Trampled
under Foot. Thy Soul is Wrenched from its Shade.
Thy Name is Erased. Thy Spells are Impotent.
Nevermore Shalt Thou Emerge from Thy Den. Thy City
Armana Lays in Ruin. Damned Art Thy Accursed Soul
and Shadow. Die O One, which Art Consumed. Thy
Name is Buried in Oblivion. Silence Covereth Thee
and Thy False One. Down upon Thy Belly. Be
Drowned, Be Drowned, Be Vomited Upon.

[Guitar solo]

The Gods have Pronounced Thy Doom. They Scorn Thee
and Thy False Aten. The Ancient Ones Turn Their
Backs upon Thee. Thou Art Cast Down, Overthrown.
Thy Reign of Heresy is Ended. Those Thou Hast
Driven Out Have Risen Against Thee.

Cast down the Heretic. Cast down the Heretic. Cast
down the Heretic.

Khnemu Draggeth Thy Spawn to the Block of
Slaughter. Sick Shalt Thou be at the Mention of
Thine Own Name. Sekhmet Teareth Out Thy Bowels and
Casteth Them into Flames. She Filleth Thine
Orifices with Fire. Uadjit Shutteth Thee in the
Pits of Burning. Nevermore Shall You Breathe or
Procreate. Neither Thy House or Tomb Exist. Thou
Shalt Drive Thy Teeth into Thine Own Body.
Heretic, Thou Art Cast Down. Overthrown, Ended,
Hacked in Pieces, Slaughtered, Butchered. Ra Hath
Made Thoth to Slay Thee Utterly.

["Cast Down the Heretic" concerns the
Pharaoh Akhenaten, who ruled Egypt from 1379 to
1362 B.C. The son of Amenophis III and Tiye,
Amenophis IV changed his name to Akhenaten (which
most likely means "Servant of the Aten")
in Year 5 of his reign, indicating his allegiance
to Aten (a creator god symbolized by the Sun's
disc).

Akhenaten's unique contribution to Egypt was to
ensure that Aten's cult approached a form fo
Monotheism. Akhenaten regarded Aten as unique and
omnipotent - a universal, supreme and loving deity
[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/BGoo ]
symbolized by the life-giving Sun. Akhenaten, as
the god's sole earthly representative, became
virtually interchangeable with Aten, and spent his
days communing with the god. Akhenaten was most
likely prompted by political, as well as religious
motives, as this may have been an attempt to curb
the far-reaching political influence of the
priesthood of Amen-Ra.

In Year 6 of his reign, Akhenaten moved the
religious and political capital fo Egypt from
Thebes to a new site (commonly called Amarna), in
large part due to the inability of his
monotheistic cult to exist alongside the other
long-established and institutionalized hods of
Egypt. Akhenaten closed down all the other
temples, disbanded their priesthoods and diverted
their revenue to the Aten's cult. In additioon,
the names of all the old official deities were
erased - Aten became the exclusive royal god.

Akhenaten's reign was not to last. His rule was
weak, and with his exclusive devotion to his
religious/mystical interests, internal political
strife and rebellion ran unchecked.

Akhenaten has been blamed for allowing Egypt's
empire in Syria to disintegrate while he pursued
his religous reforms, as well as Egypt's decline
in overall influence in the region. Not only that,
but the military became weak, and the borders
unstable. (In the Amarna Letters, the diplomatic
correspondence found in the ruins at El Amarna,
vassal Princes begged in vain for Egyptian aid
against the predatory ambitions of the region's
other great powers. At home, internal organizaion
had begun to crumble, and the
counter-revolutionary insurgencies - incited by
the old deposed priesthoods - sought to restore
the old order.)

Akhenaten was soon overthrown, proclaimed a
heretic and a disastrous ruler. Every effort was
amde to expunge his name from the records and
return Egypt to religious orthodoxy.

For several years, many people have suggested that
I write a Nile song concerning Akhenaten, but I
have stayed away from it, not only because of the
much-vaunted Philip Glass Opera concerning
Akhenaten, but also because I was unsure of how to
treat the subject matter given the usual Nile
lyrical stance, and how to interpret Akhenaten's
vain and ill-fated attempt to reform the old ways
to a new Monotheism. It was not until a friend,
Deni of Anubis Records, made the suggestion to me
in such a way as to fire my imagination.

Although exact details of Akhenaten's overthrow,
deposition and execution are scarce, it does not
take a genius to figure out that his demise at the
ghands of the old priesthood of Amen-Ra was
certainly long-awaited and most likely gruesome.
Akhenaten had, after all, thrown out an entire
country's priest class - men who enjoyed wealth
and political influence. To my thinking,
Akhenaten's demise would have been, aside from a
certain grand revenge satisfaction for Amen-Ra's
priesthood, a political necessity - not merely for
the stability of the country, but also for the
future survival of the priest class of the entire
"Old Order". Akhenaten's death would
need to be so grisly as to ensure that no Pharaoh
would ever again be foolish enough to politically
chalenge the priesthood of Amen-Ra. It is quite
easy to imagine Akhenaten's execition done in as
legendary a fashion as would be any of the great
enemies of Ra (perhaps similar to the ceremonial
destruction of evil enacted in the stylized ritual
found in "The Book of Overthrowing Apep).

I belive thah history somewhat bears out this
lesson, as later conquerors/rulers of Egypt -
Alexander, Ptolemy, Caesar - did not interfere
whatsoever with the old established religious
ways. They allowed the people to practice their
relgious beliefs (even aligning themselved with
the Egyptian gods), thus avoiding extraneous
political turmoil and unrest.]