195).
Pursuing our investigations of the territorial divisions of Egypt, we learn, from Mr. Wallis Budge, that collectively there were 42 nomes in Upper and Lower Egypt. This number is identical with that of the 42 G.o.ds represented in the Book of the Dead as being with Osiris in the hall of Two Truths where the dead were judged. The 42 "judges of the dead" are represented as seated figures, with human or animal heads, and are equally divided into two groups. From the "negative confession" which the deceased makes to his judges, we learn that each G.o.d was identified with a locality, some amongst them being addressed as "coming out from" such important cities as Heliopolis, Sais, Bubastis, etc. The inference I venture to make is that these 42 judges were the G.o.ds of the 42 nomes who, with Osiris, the chief G.o.d and the "President," formed the council of G.o.ds, which judged and ordered the affairs of men.
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Figure 61. The Races Of Men According To The Egyptians.
It is moreover natural to suppose that terrestrial administrations of justice must also have been executed by a supreme council of men, composed of the king, the living image of Osiris, and the chiefs of the 42 nomes of Upper and Lower Egypt, who personified, as elsewhere, the totemic divinity of tribe or district. Postponing further discussion of the number 42, a.s.sociated with nomes and G.o.ds, let us examine further data concerning the territorial organization of ancient Egypt.
Dr. Wallis Budge tells us that, "during the rule of the Greeks (B.C.
342-332), Egypt was divided into three parts: Upper, Central and Lower Egypt. Central Egypt consisted of seven nomes, and was called Heptanomis"
(Nile, p. 28). The seven-storied pyramid of Sakkarah and the employment of the signs expressing "three regions" and "four regions or lands," to signify the whole land or universe, prove that, long before Greek rule, the ancient Egyptians, like the Babylonians, employed the heptameredal system. Thus, according to Herodotus, "There are seven cla.s.ses of Egyptians, and of these some are called priests, others warriors, others herdsmen, others swineherds, others tradesmen, others interpreters and lastly pilots; such are the cla.s.ses of Egyptians; they take their names from the employments they exercise" (Euterpe II, 164). Pa.s.sages from Prof.
Flinders Petrie"s History of Egypt (Vol. II, pp. 156 and 185) afford, moreover, instances of the conquest of a heptarchic government by an Egyptian king and the employment, in about B.C. 1500, of the number seven, as a mystic or sacred number, in a letter from a Syrian prince to the Egyptian king.
In the record of the triumphal return of Aa-kheperu-ra, the seventh king of the eighteenth dynasty (B.C. 1449-1423), it is said: "His Majesty returned in joy of heart to his father Amen; his own hand, with his mace, had struck down the seven chiefs, which were of the territory of Pakhsi (near Aleppo)".... "Six of these enemies were hanged in front of the walls of Thebes; the seventh [probably the chief of chiefs], was brought to Nubin and was hanged on the wall of the town of Napata, to show forth for all time the victories of the king among all people of the negro land, inasmuch as he had taken possession of the nations of the south and he had bound the nations of the north and the ends of the whole extent of the earth on which the sun rises and sets, without finding any opposition, according to the command of his father Amen-ra of Thebes." A letter from a Syrian prince to Amenhotep III (B.C. 1414-1379), opens thus: "To the king, my master, my G.o.d, my sun, this is said: Yatibiri, the servant, the dust of thy feet, at the feet of my king, my master, my G.o.d, my sun, seven times, and seven times more, I fall down.(109)"...
While the above data suffice to establish that more than a thousand years before Greek rule was established in Egypt its inhabitants were familiar with the seven-fold scheme of organization, the following extremely interesting portion of Brugsch"s monumental work, already cited, indirectly teaches much concerning the divisions of the land of Egypt. The ancient Egyptian astronomers regarded the nocturnal heaven as the exact counterpart of the land of Egypt (I, p. 176). In the inscriptions, the firmament is frequently considered geographically, as a region comprising countries surrounded by seas and traversed by rivers and ca.n.a.ls, and covered with cities and houses and divided into nomes which corresponded to those of Egypt, excepting in point of number, there being thirty-six celestial nomes. According to the inscriptions and pictures in the royal tombs at Thebes, there was a celestial eastern sea (uat-ura abti), a western sea (uat-ura amentti) and a northern sea (uat-ura mahtet or mehtat). Special mention is made of "the waters" and land of the "northern place of light above the constellation of the Great Bear."
The lands of Punet (Punt?), Uthenet, Kenemti and Sa-nutart-mahti, "the northern land of G.o.d" are designated, beside other names which correspond to the terrestrial geographical situation of outlying foreign countries known to the Egyptians. There was a celestial city, "Anu or On," whose eastern and western sides or places of light are frequently mentioned. The mention of a single Anu or On, names which are found applied to the most ancient capitals of the land of Egypt, is particularly noteworthy. It will be shown further on, upon Sir Norman Lockyer"s authority, that, in the exact centre of the circular zodiac at Denderah, the jackal, expressing the name Anubis, "is located at the pole of the equator and obviously represents the present Little Bear." This and other data establish beyond a doubt that the celestial Anu, On or No, was supposed to be situated in Polaris and that the terrestrial capital was intended to be the counterpart of the apparent seat of central rule and government according to fixed laws and order of rotation. The idea that, after death, the human soul lived again in the celestial sphere is shown in the following address to a departed spirit contained in the Bulak papyrus cited by Brugsch: "The images of the G.o.ds of the Southern and Northern countries appear to thee in the thirty-six nomes; thou goest where they are as a perfect soul, thou doest what pleases thee in the heaven, thou art amongst the constellations of the thirty-six Beka."
This word is rendered by Brugsch as the "Dekane" in German and I have been unable to find its exact equivalent in English. The Dekanes are alluded to in an inscription from the Ptolemaic period cited by Brugsch (_op. cit._ I, p. 135) as follows: "They shine forth after the sun has set. They _run in a circle_, and continually release each other. They become apparent at sunset at hours varying with the seasons." The Dekane constellations or stars were those which rose at the beginning of each decade or period of ten days, which const.i.tuted the Egyptian "week." There were thirty-six or 49 of these in the Egyptian year, at the end of which an epact of five days was added, each day being consecrated to one of the five chief G.o.ds.
Deferring the discussion of the Egyptian numerical calendaric system, I merely point out here the obvious agreement between the number of celestial nomes = 36, the number of decades in the year of 360 days to which should be added the familiar fact that each day and decade had its special "G.o.d." Laying stress upon the point that in ancient Egypt we find thirty-six celestial, geographical districts, corresponding to the thirty-six decades of the year and to thirty-six G.o.ds, I take pleasure in pointing out how clearly the following pa.s.sages of Sir Norman Lockyer"s "Dawn of Astronomy" show that the thirty-six G.o.ds had as many human representatives, priests, who performed certain religious rites and homage in the chief temple in a fixed order of rotation. "Even at Philae in late times, in the temple of Osiris, there were 360 bowls for sacrifices, which were filled daily with milk by a specified rotation of priests. At Acanthus there was a perforated cask into which one of the 360 priests poured water from the Nile daily;" an enforced act of obedience recalling the punishment of the daughters of Danae. As Sir Norman Lockyer justly remarks "these temple ceremonials are an evidence of their antiquity and may be regarded as traditions preserved by the conservative priesthood."
I am inclined to regard the above mentioned acts of empty homage as survivals of conditions strictly a.n.a.logous to those which existed in ancient America, where each geographical district of the state was a.s.sociated with a cla.s.s of people under their representative, and a day of the calendar on which obligations towards the central government, such as the paying of tribute, had to be performed in a fixed order of rotation, corresponding to the annual circuit of the circ.u.mpolar constellations around the pole star.
During centuries the most remarkable of these, Ursa Major, like the hand of a great celestial dial, moved by an unseen ruling power apparently located in Polaris, became visible after dusk and pointed towards the four quarters of heaven in succession, at intervals of nine decades of days. As in China and elsewhere at the present day, its position was referred to as a guide in determining time, during the night, and the seasons; and mankind became familiarized with the idea of a changeless inexorable law and order governing the universe and determining human periodical activities, and thus directly influencing individual lives. Added to this the idea of a heavenly kingdom, traversed by the celestial Nile, the Milky Way, and in which each familiar locality in Egypt had its counterpart, it is easy to follow the spread of the belief that there was a close connection between the stars and their terrestrial counterparts and that they directly influenced the destinies of individuals, each of which had its particular star in the sky.
The following portions of the decree inscribed B.C. 238 on the famous trilingual stela of Canopus, preserved at Gizeh, contain what appear to me to be distinct allusions to the ideal of a terrestrial kingdom, laid out and governed in accordance with the system and fixed laws observed as existing in the heavens and governing the movements of celestial bodies.
The hieroglyphic text records the establishment of festivals "in accord with the existing fundamental laws upon which the heavens [the movements of heavenly bodies] are established."... The Greek translation of this pa.s.sage reads: "according to the now existing order of the world [universe]" and the demotic version is: "in accordance with the scheme, upon which the heaven is established " (Brugsch, _op. cit._ I, p. 180).
Further facts concerning celestial and terrestrial territorial divisions remain to be examined and discussed.
A number of representations exist in which the figure of the sky-G.o.ddess, Nut, appears as though stretched across the vault of heaven, her feet resting on the earth in the east and the tips of her fingers touching the horizon in the west. A study of certain texts cited by Brugsch clearly shows that it was for very practical and sensible reasons that the Egyptian astronomers had adopted the plan of an imaginary human form stretched across the nocturnal heaven, as it enabled the position of constellations and stars to be definitely located. Lepsius has shown that, in a series of inscriptions in the tombs of Ramses VI and Ramses IX, the movements and positions of stars are given in connection with the parts of an imaginary human form in the sky. It is thus said of a star that it was situated: "in the middle of the breast, in the right eye, the left eye, the right ear, the left ear, the right arm, the left arm, the left thigh."
Brugsch (_op. cit._ I, p. 187) quotes the opinion of Lepsius that the parts alluded to in the above inscriptions, referred to an imaginary male figure stretched across the firmament and viewed _en face_, and publishes a theoretical reconstruction of this imaginary figure. It recalls that of a Buddha and suggests the idea that the Egyptian schematical figure must have also been imagined as seated on the stable centre of the heaven.
Egyptian astronomical texts, which I shall cite further on, appear to me to show distinctly that the lotus flower (the name for flower being ankh) was employed to express the sound ankh, which means "life" and that it occurs in connection with other symbols of the pole-star G.o.d.
Returning to the representations of Nut stretched across the sky, it should be noted that this employment of the human form belongs to the same category as the Sphinx, which appears to have been the terrestrial counterpart of the celestial schematical figure. On the other hand, the sign nut, consisting of a circle with four divisions, like the pyramid, represents the successful attempt to express the same thought in abstract, geometrical form, such as would be intelligible to an initiated, intellectual minority only.
It will be seen further on that I advance the view that the pyramid, being a miniature reproduction of the scheme of the universe, contained a sacred central chamber, representing the sacred Middle, and that this was destined to be the "house of eternal repose" for the dead king, the representative of the universal G.o.d.
As Dr. Wallis Budge tells us: "If the deceased succeeds in pa.s.sing the ordeal [of judgment after death] satisfactorily, he comes forth at once as a G.o.d (there is no place of probation), he becomes identified with Osiris, in whose shape his mummy is made" (The Dwellers on the Nile, p. 177).
The following text, from the inscription on an amulet found on the neck of the mummy of a young girl, preserved at the Berlin Museum, is explained in the official catalogue of the museum (p. 343), as signifying that "the mummy was supposed to lie in the centre of the whole world:" "The sky is locked over the earth, the earth is locked over the beyond and the beyond is locked over this strong mummy-case of the departed Osiris-Hathor-tsen-usire...." As the "beyond" in the inscription evidently signifies the "underworld," the idea that the mummy case, resting on the earth, was being pressed upon from beneath by the underworld, and from above by the sky, is clearly conveyed and is in keeping with the sign for universe, already alluded to, which represents three regions superposed.
The "deification" of the mummy, which is named "Osiris-Hathor," is an interesting instance of the idea that the mummy became the image not only of the G.o.ddess Hathor but also of the G.o.d Osiris, or Ptah, who is usually represented in the form of a mummy.
A remarkable instance of a king in a pyramid being actually worshipped and bearing the name of Ptah, added to his own, is given by Professor Flinders Petrie (_op. cit._ II, p. 257). "... The figure of the king Teta, ent.i.tled Teta-mer-en-ptah, is placed in a triangle, which is suggestive of a pyramid (as Men-nefer is written with the same triangle on this naos).
Rather than suppose a new king at this period, we should see in this the worship of a pyramid king, Teta, of the sixth dynasty...." The a.s.sociation of Ptah, who is regarded as perhaps the oldest of all G.o.ds of Egypt, with the square=ptah and the pyramid and the mummy, is of extreme interest, especially as Egyptian texts contain references to "a single G.o.d, who becomes a quaternary of G.o.ds" (Brugsch II, 408), and we therefore see that the idea of Four in One was a familiar one. The personification of Ptah usually consists of a mummy holding a sceptre, expressing strength, life and stability. Under the form of Osiris he usually holds the curved sceptre denoting dominion, beside the symbols for life, rule and power, and is ent.i.tled the "lord of the holy land, lord of eternity, prince of everlasting, the president of the G.o.ds, and the head of the corridor of the tomb." Considering that in all pyramids. .h.i.therto explored, the corridor of the tomb is directed towards Polaris, it appears obvious that the supreme G.o.d of "life, strength, eternity, rule and power," was a personification of Polaris, the stability of which was navely expressed by the body in mummy form symbolizing the absolute repose and immobility of death, combined with an animated face and the symbols of living, active power.
As the divine land is expressly designated as the divine land of the north in astronomical texts and that this celestial region had its terrestrial counterpart, it is naturally in Lower Egypt, that the holy land of the north must be sought.
Investigation speedily proves that the most ancient vestiges of civilization are situated in the neighborhood of Memphis which, under the kings of the fourth and the sixth dynasties, reached its height of splendor. It is in the land of the north, Meh-ta, that the extremely ancient seven-storied pyramid of Sakkarah lies, and that there exists the area of about thirty kilometers in which eighty pyramids are concentrated, and which const.i.tutes the great burial ground of countless generations of Egyptians of all periods. A curious detail, to which I shall refer again, is the affinity in sound of the name for "north land," Meh-ta, and mit=death or the dead, and the undeniable resemblance of both words to the Nahuatl, ancient Mexican mictlan=the North, or underworld, from mic-quiztli=death and tlan=land (_cf._ Egyptian ta=land).
In Egypt, as elsewhere, the western horizon, below which sun, moon and stars disappeared, was naturally regarded as the entrance to the region of the underworld. The west being therefore designated amen-ta, "the hidden or concealed land or region," it is all the more significant to find the single entrance and exit corridor of each pyramid directed, not towards the west, the underworld, but towards the stable centre of the northern region of the sky. It would therefore seem as though the intention had been to establish a direct line of communication between the tomb chamber in the centre of the pyramid and the divine "northern land of G.o.d," the sacred mountain Manu and the shining celestial city Anu, lying "between the east and west," _i. e._ in the Middle, where the supreme star-G.o.d dwelt in eternal repose. An interesting proof that the longing of the souls of the dead tended towards the north is furnished by the common prayer-formula: "may my soul ... inhale the north-wind and drink from the stream."
Before advancing further, the following authoritative statements, establishing the supremacy of pole-star cult in ancient Egypt, should be presented.
According to Sir Norman Lockyer, "It seems extremely probable that the worship of circ.u.mpolar constellations went on in Babylonia as well as in Egypt in the earliest times we can get at" (_op. cit._ p. 363). "There can be no question that the chief ancient constellation in the North was the Great Bear or, as it was then pictured, the Thigh (Meskhet)" (p. 216). "In the exact centre of the circular zodiac of Denderah we find the jackal [Anubis] located at the pole of the equator: it obviously represents the present Little Bear" (p. 362).
"With regard to Anubis, it is quite certain that the seven stars in Ursa Minor make a very good jackal with pendent tail, as generally represented by the Egyptians and that they form the nearest compact constellation to the pole of the ecliptic...."
Sir Norman Lockyer adds that he is informed by Dr. Wallis Budge that "An was an old name of the sun-G.o.d," but also states, in another page of his work that "the worship of Anubis, as G.o.d of the dead or the night G.o.d ...
was supreme until the time of Men-kau-ra, the builder of the third pyramid of Gizeh" (B.C. 3633, Brugsch; B.C. 4100, Mariette; p. 363).
Pending the production of astronomical texts which amply demonstrate that An was a name of a G.o.d of the night sun, Polaris, the following establishes that, at Annu or Heliopolis, in remotest antiquity and amongst the pyramid builders, the cult of a northern star prevailed.
"The first civilization as yet glimpsed, so far as temple building goes, in Northern Egypt, represented by that at Annu, or Heliopolis, was a civilization which combined the cult of a northern star with a non-equinoctial solar worship".... "I know not whether the similarity in the words Anu, Annu and An results merely from a coincidence, but it is certainly singular that the most ancient temples in Lower Egypt (Heliopolis and Denderah) should be called Annu or An, if there be no connection with the Babylonian G.o.d Anu" (Lockyer, _op. cit._ p. 321).
The well-known fact that the entrance pa.s.sage to the earliest pyramid known, that of Medum, and of all pyramids. .h.i.therto explored, has not only been found on the north face of the structure but is also believed to have oriented towards "Sut-anup," the pole-star (of the period of its construction), unquestionably proves that the pyramid builders a.s.signed a particular importance to the north. Referring the reader to Sir Norman Lockyer"s work for a ma.s.s of valuable and interesting information concerning the orientation of Egyptian temples, I merely quote the following statements which not only show that throughout Lower Egypt north-star worship existed, but also establish the interesting and important fact that in Upper Egypt a totally different astronomical cult was carried out during an unknown length of time.
"It is an important fact to bear in mind that in the North of Egypt, in early times, the stellar temples were more particularly directed to the north, while south of Thebes, so far as I know, there is only one temple so directed" (p. 225).... "From the astronomical point of view ... there are distinctly two series [of temples and monuments in general], (leaving out of consideration the great pyramid builders at Gizeh) absolutely dissimilar astronomically; ... there are at least two sets [of temple-builders], one going _up_ the river building temples to the north stars, the other going down the river building temples to the south stars; and the two streams practically met at Thebes, or at all events they were both very fully represented there either together or successively."
Sir Norman Lockyer proceeds to say: "The double origin of the people thus suggested on astronomical grounds may be the reason of the name of "double country," used especially in the t.i.tles of kings, of the employment of two crowns, and finally of the supposed sovereignty of Set over the north, and of Horus over the south divisions of the kingdom" (_op. cit._ p. 345). "In short, in Lower Egypt the temples are pointed to rising stars near the north point of the horizon, or setting north of west. In Upper Egypt we deal chiefly with temples directed to stars rising in the southeast, or setting low in the southwest. Here again we are in presence of ...
distinct differences of astronomical thought...." (p. 341). "With regard to the northern stars observed rising in high amplitudes, we have found traces of their worship in times so remote that in all probability at Annu and Denderah a Ursae Majoris was used before it became circ.u.mpolar. We deal almost certainly with 5000 B.C.... _New_ temples with nearly similar amplitudes ... were built at later times ... it may be suggested that the stellar observations made in them had ultimately to do with the determination of the hours of the night; this seems probable, for in Nubia at present, time at night is thus told."
"It is possible that observations of these stars [which are nearest the pole and move most slowly] might have been made in such a way that, at the beginning of the evening the particular position of ? Draconis, for instance, might have been noted with regard to the pole-star; and seeing that the Egyptians thoroughly knew the length of the night and of the day in the different portions of the year, they could at once, the moment they had the starting-point afforded by the position of this star, practically use the circle of the stars round the north pole as the dial of a sort of celestial clock. May not this really have been the clock with which they have been credited? However long or short the night, the star which was at first above the pole-star after it had got round so that it was on a level with it, would have gone through a quarter of its revolution. In low northern lat.i.tudes, however, the southern stars would serve better for this purpose, since the circle of northern circ.u.mpolar stars would be much restricted. Hence there was a reason in such lat.i.tudes for preferring southern stars. With regard both to high north and south stars, then, we may in both cases be in presence of observations made to determine the time at night. So that the worship of Set, the determination of the time at night by means of the northern stars, might have been little popular with those who at Gebel Barkal and elsewhere in the south had used the southern ones for the same purpose ..." (p. 344).
Valuable and suggestive as these observations are, I venture to point out that the following texts appear to indicate very clearly that, as in China and Mesopotamia, in the present day, the ancient Egyptian high-priest and king on important public occasions simply utilized the conspicuous constellation of Ursa Major as a measurer of time.
In the account of the ceremonial used at the laying of the foundation of the temple at Edfu, it is stated that the king"s glance was directed to the Ak or "Middle" and to Meskhet=Ursa Major. A part of the full translation of the inscription quoted from Nissen by Sir Norman Lockyer (_op. cit._, pp. 176 and 179) represents the king as speaking, thus: "Looking to the sky and recognizing the "ak" of the Bull"s Thigh constellation, I establish the corners of the temple of Her Majesty." It is further said "With his glance directed towards the "ak" of the Bull"s Thigh constellation he [the king] establishes the temple house of the mistress of Denderak, as took place there before."
Having found out, by referring to Egyptian dictionaries, that er-ak means "in the middle," and em-aka "in the midst or middle," while Hak was a word employed for "king," I suggest that these meanings afford a different and much more simple explanation of the "ak" mentioned in the inscription than that given by Sir Norman Lockyer and Dumichen. In dealing, further on, with the astronomical signs and names a.s.sociated with the pole of the ecliptic, I shall, moreover, point out that the bull=ka, employed as an astronomical symbol of Ursa Major, may have been adopted as a cryptic sign for Polaris, merely because its name contained the letters of the word ak=the Middle. The recurrence of the same letters in Hak=king seems to explain also why the king of Egypt was ent.i.tled "the bull."
Returning to the inscription relating to the ceremony of laying the foundation stone; in other texts cited by Sir Norman Lockyer we find the king saying: "I have grasped the wooden peg [stake] and the handle of the club; I hold the rope with Sesheta [his female consort]. My glance follows the course of the stars; my eye is on Meskhet; standing as divider of time by his measuring instrument" (Duemichen"s version) or "mine is the part of time of the number of the hour-clock " (Brugsch"s version). In another part the king says "... I let my glance enter the constellation of the Thigh (representing the divider of time at his measuring instrument)"
(Duemichen"s translation) or "the part of my time stands in the place of his hour-clock" (Brugsch"s translation). Sir Norman Lockyer notes that "the word merech or merechet, in which Brugsch suspects hour or water-clock, does not occur elsewhere."
Whatever differences there may be in the Brugsch and Duemichen translations and the interpretations of the word ak, the above texts establish that the Egyptian king directed his glance to "the Middle" and that the constellation Meskhet=Ursa Major was connected with time-measurement and the establishment of the four quarters of the temple.
As I shall show further on, the "Sesheta," mentioned in the text as performing the ceremony with the king, appears to be not a "mythical G.o.ddess," as Sir Norman Lockyer infers, but the living "divine queen," and consort of the king. She is represented with the insignia of Isis, whereas he wears the crown of Osiris, and I note that while she holds her stake in her left, he holds his in his right hand. Deferring a discussion of the position of Egyptian queens, I point out here that, in the interesting description of a foundation ceremonial, preserved in an inscription relating to the rebuilding of a temple at Abydos, about B.C. 1380, the Sesheta, ent.i.tled the "mistress of the laying of the foundation stone,"
seems to have been the chief actor, since it is she who addresses the king, as follows: "The hammer in my hand was of gold, as I struck the peg with it, and thou wast with me in thy capacity of Harpedonapt [?]. Thy hand held the spade during the fixing of its [the temple"s] four corners with accuracy by the four supports of heaven" (Lockyer, p. 175).
The "four supports of heaven" referred to here are obviously "the G.o.ds Mestha, Hapi, Tuamautef and Qebhsennuf," who are recorded in the Book of the Dead (chapter 17) as being "those which find themselves behind the constellation of the Thigh in the northern heaven." In an inscription in the kings" graves at Thebes mention is made of the "four Northern Genii who are the four G.o.ds of "the follower" [obviously a circ.u.mpolar constellation]" (Lockyer, p. 147). They seem to be also identical with the "four constellations [Akhemusek] which are found in the northern heavens,"
and the "sailors or oarsmen in the bark of Ra," mentioned in the same and in many other inscriptions. The four "G.o.ds" are represented with human bodies respectively surmounted by the head of a man, an ape, a jackal and a hawk and are identical with the "genii of the dead," represented on the canopic vases placed at the four corners of the bier. In this connection attention is drawn to how clearly the symbolism of the mortuary customs becomes apparent when it is realized that the mummy, the image of Ptah-Osiris, and of the pole-star G.o.d, was laid to "eternal rest" in an imaginary "sacred centre," obtained by navely placing the effigies of the G.o.ds of the cardinal points, the personifications of the "four stars of the northern heaven," at the corners of the bier. The same dominant thought which underlies the popular use of the canopic vases clearly led to the building of the vast pyramids which const.i.tuted the sacred "centres of the world" par excellence, the square base typifying the four regions and "corners" of the earth; the triangular sides the four divisions of the sky, which converge to a single Middle, a.s.sociated with Polaris, the sacred pole or ak of the Cosmos.
Returning to the subject of the measurement of time by means of the circ.u.mpolar constellations, it is instructive to find that the Egyptian determinative sign for "time" consists of a central dot with a circle drawn around it and to note that the only celestial body that could be accurately figured as occupying the centre of a circle described around it is the primitive sun, Polaris.
The Egyptian for "time" is rek, an inversion of ker=the night, the common sign for which is a band, figuring the sky, from the centre of which a star is suspended by a thread. As the star is usually formed by two lines, diagonally crossed, at the end of the thread, there is a strong temptation to see in the hanging single star an actual representation of a cross symbol. It is particularly striking to find in Brugsch"s work, that the determinative for time is actually represented, in numerous cases, as close to the single hanging star (fig. 62, 9). I leave it to the reader to form his own conclusions whether this group represents Polaris and the circuit of time measured by the circ.u.mpolar constellations, or whether it merely represents, as Brugsch states, the winter solstice, _i. e._ the day sun in the nocturnal sky.
There exists a remarkable variant of the determinative of time, which I shall discuss more fully further on. Instead of a mere dot, a five-pointed star is distinctly figured in the centre of the circle (fig. 62, 12). This variant furnishes, in my opinion, convincing proof of the meaning of the determinative for time, which also const.i.tuted the well-known sign for Ra=G.o.d, and forms a part of the name of the supreme divinity of Egypt, Amen, or Amon or Amun Ra, the "hidden or secret G.o.d," whose name contradicts the current a.s.sumption that Ra signifies the diurnal sun merely, and that Amen-Ra was a "solar" deity.