Chapter XVII: Front Matter (17)

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 titles 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 α Ursæ Majoris was used before it became circumpolar. 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 γ 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 latitudes, however, the southern stars would serve better for this purpose, since the circle of northern circumpolar stars would be much restricted. Hence there was a reason in such latitudes 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 Edfû, 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 Dümichen. In dealing, further on, with the astronomical signs and names associated 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 entitled “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 goddess,” 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, entitled 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 gods 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 gods of ‘the follower’ [obviously a circumpolar 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 “gods” 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 god, was laid to “eternal rest” in an imaginary “sacred centre,” obtained by naïvely placing the effigies of the gods 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 constituted 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, associated with Polaris, the sacred pole or ak of the Cosmos.

Returning to the subject of the measurement of time by means of the circumpolar 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 circumpolar 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 constituted the well-known sign for Ra=god, and forms a part of the name of the supreme divinity of Egypt, Amen, or Amon or Amun Ra, the “hidden or secret god,” whose name contradicts the current assumption that Ra signifies the diurnal sun merely, and that Amen-Ra was a “solar” deity.

The following texts relating to the “supreme true but hidden god” amply demonstrate that the chief characteristic of his cult was that it was shrouded in secrecy and mystification. Others, which I shall quote farther on, allow us clearly to perceive that individuals were obliged to pass through a series of initiations into the meanings of cabalistic signs and symbols of the divinity before they attained the pure knowledge of the nature of the mysterious, “hidden divinity.” On reading the texts of the famous “Book of the Dead” it has frequently occurred to me that the negative confession and judgment of the soul of the departed may originally signify the actual confession and judgment of an applicant for initiation into the secrets of the priesthood and the astronomical and theological knowledge they so rigidly guarded from the ignorant multitude. The highest knowledge and most profound secret they could impart was doubtlessly the acknowledgment and perception of the existence of a supreme power which governed the universe on a certain plan, which the rulers of the land of Egypt endeavored to apply to its organization and government in order to make it a celestial kingdom upon earth.

The rigidly-adhered-to policy of the ruling caste was, however, the shrouding and concealment of their store of knowledge from the uninitiated and the gradual admission of select individuals to the inner chambers of secrecy. The following texts show that even the true name of the supreme divinity was wrapped in impenetrable mystery, but the assumption that we are dealing with a pole-star god seems to enable us to penetrate the obscurity of the formulæ employed by the scribes to veil the true meaning of the texts.

Beginning with the hymn published by Mr. Wallis Budge, in his useful handbook, “The Nile,”(110) we find Amen-Ra addressed as “King, _One_ among the gods, _myriad are his names, how many are they, is not known_ ... the lord of Law, _whose shrine is hidden, ... whose name is hidden from his children in his name Amen_.”... In the legend of Ra and Isis (XXth dynasty) he is designated as “the god divine, the creator of himself, the creator of heaven, earth, breath of life, fire, gods, men, beasts, cattle, reptiles, fowl of the air, fish, king of men and gods, _in form one_, to whom periods are as years, _many of names, not known are they, not know them the gods_.”(111)

The mysterious supreme god is further spoken of in the hymn as ... “the lord of the uræus crown, exalted of the plumes; the serpent Mehen, and the two uræi are the (ornaments) of his face....” Mention is likewise made of his lordship over the Sekti boat (which sailed from the place of rising in the East) and the Atet boat (which sailed to the place of setting in the West); he is also addressed as the “god Khepera in his boat.” In many passages he is apparently identified with the sun, “the eye of Horus,” but is at the same time, also addressed as Ani, the lord of the New Moon festival and he is termed “_the lord of all the gods_ whose appearances are in the horizon.” His all-embracing nature is clearly conveyed by the passages terming him “the maker and lord of things which are below and of things which are above;” “of the heaven and earth.” The above evidence suffices to show that, on the one hand, Amen-Ra is constantly referred to as the “One god, without a second, the knowledge of whose nature is concealed from men and gods, who reveals himself in innumerable forms; who exerts hidden control and universal dominion and is associated with stability and power, time and eternity.” On the other hand, stress is laid on his dual nature: Amen-Ra is bi-sexual and self-creative; alternately becomes light and darkness; and the sun and moon are the eyes of his “hidden face,” which, literally translated, yields Amen-Hra.

In the hymn previously cited he is also termed the “lord of the sky, the establisher of all things, ... the extender of foot-steps.... _One_ in his times as among the gods....” He is apostrophized as “the maker of the gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth,” “the chief who makest the earth like unto himself,”.... “President of the great cycle of the gods, _only one without his second_ ... living in Law every day.... O Form, _one_, creator of all things, O _one_ only, maker of existences ... he giveth the breath of life to (the germ) in the egg.... Hail to thee, thou _only one_!... _He watches all people who sleep_ ... all people adore thee.... O thou ... _the untiring watcher_, Amsu-amen lord of eternity, the Maker of Law....” Another passage states: “the aten (disk) is thy body” (_i. e._ image or symbol). In the legend of Ra and Isis, quoted above, the god is made to say of himself: “I am the maker of the hours, the creator of days, I am the opener of the festivals of the year.... I am he who when he opens his eyes [_i. e._ the sun and moon] becometh light, when he shutteth his two eyes, becometh darkness.” Brugsch tells us that Ra, whom he accepts as the day-sun, was addressed as the master of double or two-fold force, who illuminates the world with his two eyes and “was symbolized by two lions.” Further on I shall quote facts establishing that the king and queen of Egypt were respectively named the right and left eye of Amen-Ra, were associated with sun and moon, regarded as the personifications of Osiris and Isis, and that these deities were represented in the form of uræus serpents with human heads, and that the two serpents were employed as symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. Mr. Wallis Budge informs us that Amen-Ra was named “bull ... in thy name of ‘Amen bull of his mother,’ and that he was entitled ‘lord of the thrones of the two lands;’ ‘king of the gods;’ ‘maker of mortals;’ ‘mighty law.’ ” In one of his forms he is represented as wearing horns (an allusion to duality and the title of bull) and feathers (=mat=maat=law) and holding the emblems of stability, power, dominion and rule.

Figure 62.

Before demonstrating that the chief astronomical signs of the Egyptian zodiac partake of the nature of a rebus and express the sound of the various attributes and titles and some of the “myriad of names” of the “hidden god,” contained in the preceding texts, I point out how clearly the conception of Amen-Ra, as shown in these hymns and invocations, is consistent with a pole-star origin. We have, moreover, the authoritative opinion of Brugsch that “the hieroglyph and name Ra did not only refer to the day-sun, but also designated certain brilliant stars,” which he presumes to be the planets (_op. cit._ I, p. 79). This identification of the name Ra with stars involuntarily obliges one to recall the Sanscrit tara=star while the Chinese employment of a plain circle to designate “star,” also finds its analogy. Let us now examine the hieroglyphic signs and symbols of Ra and note how intelligible they become when the god is identified as Polaris.

The following (fig. 62) are some of the modes in which the name Ra is found expressed in texts published in Mr. Wallis Budge’s “First steps in Egyptian:”

Fig. 62, 1. By a dot in the centre of a circle, the determinative of “time.”

2. By the latter accompanied by the image of a seated god and the numeral 1.

3. _Idem_, partly surrounded by a serpent in motion and accompanied by the numeral 1.

4. The serpent and circle on the head of a hawk-headed seated god.

To these are added for purposes of comparison

5. The circle with two uræi.

6. _Idem_, to which a single uræus and a wing are attached.

7. _Idem_, with two uræi and two wings.

8. _Idem_, with one wing.

9. _Idem_, accompanied by the numeral one and the sign for heaven, to which a cross-shaped star is hanging.

10. _Idem_, resting in the centre of the summit of a twin mountain.

11. _Idem_, resting in the centre of a boat.

12. _Idem_, with a central star instead of a dot constituting the word duat=“lower hemisphere” (Brugsch).

13. The variant of this, cited by Brugsch.

14. The disk containing a single eye.

My prolonged study of the ancient Mexican picture-writings having given me the habit of regarding each primitive symbol as a possible rebus led me to look up the phonetic values of the symbols combined with the Ra sign and to note that some of them were actually mentioned in connection with Amen-Ra in the texts cited above, namely: the face, the eye, the egg, the uræus, the disk, the “serpent Mehen.” It was a surprise to find, on simply referring to the glossaries, that the name for uræus=ara and that eye=ari; an egg=ar (also sa, se, and suht); face=hra; each word thus containing the name Ra=god, in simple or inverted form (see fig. 63, 1-4). The natural inference was that I had obtained an insight into the method devised by the ingenious Egyptian priesthood, to express, in cryptic form, the name of the “hidden god.”

Figure 63.

Further glimpses of light seemed obtained when I found that, as written by German Egyptologists, the determinative for divinity, the banner=nutar, notar, netar, or neter, not only expressed the same sound as the word nut, but also contained the letters “r” and “a” (5). The disk=atun, aton or aten might also be regarded as an anagram, being the inverted form of nutar, minus the last letter (6). The names for wing (7) being tun, ton or ten, the wing attached to the disk constituted a complementary sign, duplicating the final syllable. At the same time, as a second name for wing was meh, or mah (_cf._ mat and its synonym su=feather), there seemed to be an explanation of the “serpent mehen” applied to Amen-Ra and the possibility that it signified the “winged serpent,” such as is frequently depicted in texts published by Brugsch (8). It was obvious that the uræus=ara and the wing meh, would form an ingenious anagram expressing, by means of the signs, a-meh-ra, the name Amen-Ra.

The constantly recurring form of the Ra sign, in which the serpent is represented as gliding around the circle, enclosing the central point of fixity, naturally suggests the inference that this variant must have been adopted at a time when the constellation Draco, the “Old serpent,” or “Nakkasch qodmun,” was circumpolar and was equally familiar, under this name, to the Egyptian and Euphratean astronomers. This inference seems to be confirmed by the fact that, in the hymn to Amen-Ra, cited above, the name Nak is given to “the serpent with knives stuck in his back,” who, according to the myth, was the demon of night and the enemy of the sun-god, the ruler of day. The fact that, in the temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes, a service was recited daily for the destruction of the serpent Nak by Horus, appears to indicate the growth of the idea of a combat between light and darkness and the dual forces of nature, which would naturally tend to create the thought of an antagonism existing not only between the sexes, but also between the two divisions of Egypt and the separate cults of the nocturnal heaven (Polaris and the moon) and the diurnal heaven (the sun).

In the list of festivals, dating from the Ptolemaic period and inscribed in the temple at Edfu, there are mentioned: “the festival of the end or point of the triangle,” simultaneous with that of “the serpent Nai or Na,” immediately followed by “the festivals of the ‘tena’=[aten?], and of the great serpent Na,” and “of the Ken=the festival of darkness, and of the red serpent Na” (Brugsch _op. cit._ I, p. 51). Commenting upon the above names I draw attention to the curious fact that in the above word ken, we seem to have the inversion of nak, the name of the “night-serpent” and that na is actually the inversion of the word an, which signifies “he who turns or winds himself around.” I shall show further on, in astronomical texts, that this name is actually identified with the pole.

When these facts are borne in mind the full import of the familiar Egyptian symbol for eternity=tet, becomes clear. It consists of the image of a mummy, symbolizing fixity, around which a great serpent is winding itself, conveying the idea of circling motion (fig. 63, 9 and 10). It is well known that this group symbolized eternity=tet and the sign is always interpreted as expressing the sound tet. If analyzed more closely, however, and interpreted as a rebus, it appears to yield a fund of deeper meaning.

The serpent Na furnishes the word An=the winder or he who moves around. Linked to one of the names for mummy=sah, the group might be read as An-sah, a name which invites comparison with Anshar, the Assyrian pole-star god who was said to shoot arrows in all directions, _i. e._ to turn around, and the Akkadian title for Ursa Major, Akanna=the Lord of Heaven. The second name for mummy, given in Mr. Wallis Budge’s Nile, is tut, the exact word which signifies “to engender,” which explains why images of the creator should have been made in mummy form. The word tut directs attention to the name of the god Tehuti=Thoth, “the Measurer,” a name to be weighed in connection with the fact that time was measured by the circumpolar constellations. It does not appear impossible that the word khat=corpse may also have been brought into use in the rebus and furnished an anagram or allusion to the ak or centre.

The other well-known symbol for eternity, _i. e._ stability, is the column tet, representing a pillar usually consisting of four or five parts (fig. 63, 11). It appears hitherto to have escaped attention that the Egyptian for hand being tet, the hand, employed as a rebus, would actually express the name for eternity and may well have been employed as a secret sign for the divine centre, eternal stability and the sacred number five, consisting of the Middle and the Four Quarters, symbolized by the fingers and thumb (fig. 63, 12). To this must be added the interesting fact that, in hieratic script, the hand expressed the sound “a” which means “power” while aa=great, aat=great and mighty, aa=mighty one. To those initiated in the mysteries of hieroglyphic writing the hand thus clearly constituted a rebus, expressing the eternal, permanent, stable, great, mighty power, one yet double and fourfold, the sacred five in one, the Middle and Four Quarters.(112)

The following is a group of animal and other figures, which are repeated, with variations of form, combination and position, in the different zodiacs.

Figure 64.

The principal and the phonetic values of their names are figured as follows: the thigh=uart, khepes or maskhet; the bull, ox or cow=ka, ah, aua; the hawk=bak, designated as an, kher or heu=Horus; the cynocephalus ape and phallus=aaani and ka; the lion=mahes; the jackal (anubis) uher or sabi; the scorpion=tart or serkhet; the crocodile=sebek, also amsuk or emsuh, and seta; the vase or jar=nu (_cf._ nut); the female hippopotamus=tebt, shown by Dr. Gensler to have been associated with the name menat=nurse, she who nurses (see Brugsch I, p. 130).

Plate V.

In the Edfu zodiac, the latter, whose name furnishes an anagram of amen=hidden, is represented with the Ra sign on her head and holds a cord to which the constellation of Ursa Major is attached. This is figured, with its seven stars, as the thigh (pl. V, 2), with the head of a bull, elements which furnish the phonetic values of uart, khepes or maskhet and aua, ka or ah, to which should be added that the Egyptian mode of saying “a bull”=ua en ka, literally “one of bull,” the female form being “uat en ka” (see Wallis Budge, First steps in Egyptian).

After having studied the hymns and invocations to Amen-Ra we are aware, not only that the “hidden god” is named “the bull,” but that great stress is laid upon his being “One”=ua, yet double=ka. It therefore appears very significant to find these words incorporated in the name for Ursa Major=thigh, uart, and this combined with bull=ua or ka which furnishes the anagram ak=middle. What is more, the second name for thigh being khepes, this might form a rebus for the common name for (1) luminary or star in general=khebs or khabs, literally, lights, lamps, flames, _cf._ seb=star; (2) kheper=life, existence, to come into existence, _cf._ khepdes=uterus, kher khepd=the navel, khepesh=power.

The fact that one title of Amen-Ra was Khepera=the creator, lends additional interest to the association of his secret sign, the hippopotamus, with the constellation Ursa Major, which he apparently holds and guides and which emblematizes life, _i. e._ motion—The thigh=khepes, scarab=kheper, fish, khepanen, crocodile=seta or sebek, which, inverted, yields the word khebes=star, and royal sickle=khepes, thus appear to have been but different modes of expressing the same meaning and the title of Khepera (fig. 63, 13-16). It can be readily understood why the scarab beetle, which encloses its egg in a ball of mud and rolls this to a safe hatching place, became the favorite secret sign for the “hidden god,” since none but the initiated would see in the beetle, holding the ball of earth enclosing its egg, the actual rebus of Khepera, the creator, expressed by the kheper; and the circle or disk, the sign of Ra, containing the germ of life.

Returning to an examination of the signs for Ursa Major employed by the Egyptian astronomer scribes, we find, beside the more elaborate form given by Mr. Wallis Budge (pl. V, 3), the variants (4 and 5) which constantly recur in the texts published by Brugsch, and which reveal that the thigh, accompanied by a single star, constituted the essential elements of the sign. It is one of the curiosities of Egyptian hieroglyphics that the image of a star may express either seb=star, or the numeral five=tuau. This being the case, and the word for thigh being either khepes or uart, it is obvious that the thigh and star yield more than one interpretation from the rebus point of view, and may either be read as seb khepdes, seb-uart or tuau-uart—in one case containing the divine title “creator” and in the second a play upon the name ua=One, the favorite appellation given to Amen-Ra.

The following star names contained in the Brugsch texts, and which have avowedly not been satisfactorily identified, up to the present, will speak for themselves and will be found to be comprehensible and appropriate only when identified with Polaris: Seb-uati=the lone, single, only, or sole star (_cf._ title “One” given to Amen-Ra); Seb-seta=the hidden star, in Greek texts, sebkhes, sebkhe, the sebses, anagrams of khebs, or khepdes (_cf._ “hidden” god). This star is found pictured in the astronomical texts by a turtle, the name for which is seta, sita, sit or set; in Greek texts cit.

To me it seems clear that the turtle constituted a rebus sign for the “hidden star” and concealed god, and I find that another Egyptian word could have served equally well for the same purpose, viz., seta=the vulture. What is more, the following names, mentioned in the astronomical texts, yield the sound of the first vowel of the words seb=star and seta=hidden, and attention is drawn to the fact that, as the goose and egg, for instance, were known under several names, the secrecy of the true meaning of these sacred symbols was insured: goose=se, ser, sar, seb, smen, apt, aq; egg=se, sa, ser, sar, ar, suht; nest=ses; pool of water=se; heron=sent.

A curious double similarity of sound exists between the name for turtle and one of the names for goose, inasmuch as the turtle=seta is also called aps, and the goose=se is named apt (fig. 63, 17-18). Another name for goose being aq or ak, we find that its value as a rebus must have been supreme, since it so perfectly expressed the word ak=middle. A proof that its merits were duly appreciated by the ancient scribes, is its constant and widespread employment in decorative art as a so-called “solar symbol,” in association with the circle or disk and the swastika. Through its name se, the goose-symbol likewise expressed the same meaning as the egg and the first syllable of seta=hidden; perhaps also ne-se-r=flame, the synonym of khebs=luminary or star (Brugsch). Through its name ak, the goose symbol became the synonym of all ak or ka words. Finally, through its name apt, it became related to the whole series of anagrams of ptah and the synonym of the pair of horns which express ap in hieratic script.

The association of the syllable ap with the bull=uau and ka, is proven by the name Apis given to the living, sacred bull, under which form the supreme divinity was worshipped from earliest times, at or before the building of the pyramids at Memphis. The explanation that, just as sacred bull was merely a living rebus expressing by the sound of its names, the words “the one, the double, the middle of the central two-fold one,” or “divine twain,” fully explains why, in time, the bull itself came to be chosen, revered and worshipped as the living image of the “hidden god.”

The marks of the sacred calf Apis, described by Herodotus, appear to become intelligible, when translated as follows and then analyzed: “It is black (khem or kam) and has a square (ptah) spot of white (hetet) on the forehead (tehen). On the back (of the head) (makha or at) the figure of an eagle=vulture (seta). In the tail (peh?) double (ka) hairs (anem). On the tongue (nes) a beetle (kheper).”

Feeling convinced that Egyptologists could find further phonetic elements and hidden meaning in the above material, it is with diffidence that I point out some of the meaning I am able to discern with the simple aid of “First steps in Egyptian.” Besides being the image of Amen-Ra Polaris, the one and divine twain, the black (khem) skin (annu) of the sacred bull appears to contain an allusion to Egypt, known as “khem” and its central capital Annu, besides that to the nocturnal heaven and its shining city. The square ptah of white=hetet (_cf._ hetet, and chut=light) appears to symbolize the quadriform plan of the celestial and terrestrial kingdom and its position on the head (tep) between the two horns (ap) gains in significance when it is realized that, in astronomical texts, the square (designated above as hetet=white) is as frequently pictured between a pair of horns as the pillar=tet, that both square and pillar appear thus to have expressed the same sound=tet, which signifies eternity. The bird of prey=seta on the bull’s back (makha) evidently signified the hidden=seta, centre, m-akh-a, further significance being lent to the syllable akh by the fact that it also means “to support,” and that “the support of heaven” was a divine title contained in the hieratic texts. The double hair=anem, ka, appears as another mode of expressing the “hidden” ka=double or ak=centre. The word for tongue (nes) being the reversal of sen=two, the kheper=life, on the tongue, appears as an allusion to dual principles or powers of nature. The giving forth and drawing in of breath by the living Apis bull must doubtlessly have seemed, to the Egyptian priesthood, emblematical of the giving and taking away of breath of life, by the creator, Khepera, over whose emblem, on the tongue of the animal, each breath necessarily passed.

An insight may thus be gained of the method by means of which primitive, naïve picture-writing could have become more ingenious and intricate until, as actually stated in the hymns, the name of the supreme divinity became “hidden from his children in the name Amen” [literally=hidden], and a “myriad of names, how many are they is not known” had been invented by the scribes, to designate the King (Hak), “one among gods, in form one, the lord of eternity, stability and law.”

Before making a cursory examination of the following lists of homonyms of the names for bull=ah, uau and ka, I must revert to astronomical pictures and signs and make some statements concerning the hawk-headed human form found represented in the zodiacs in close association with the image of Ursa Major, the bull; (see pl. V, 1, from Denderah). The presence of the hawk=bak in the centre of the polar region, with the bull ka, assumes significance in connection with the word ak=middle and the name for “the middle of the heavens,” cited by Sir Norman Lockyer; _i. e._, kabal sami, and all of these words are particularly interesting when it is remembered that the Babylonian name for north was akkad, the Akkadian title for Ursa Major was Akanna, while Ursa Minor was named Kakkabu in Babylonia and Assyria. The Arabian kaaba is recalled here.

The inscriptions accompanying the zodiacs published by Brugsch (_op. cit._ I, p. 127) designate this hawk-headed personage, who, in each case, holds either a spear or a plain staff, by the following names, of which I give Brugsch’s translation, followed by my own commentary. An=he who turns or winds himself around. In this connection I point out that the name Na, given to the serpent, is the inversion of an. Kher-an=he who fights and turns or winds himself around. As kher is likewise the word for ring or circle (_cf._ Greek kirkos, Latin circus or circulus, Scand. kring), it is evident that the name Kher-an admits of being interpreted as “he who winds or turns around in a ring or circle,” kher=the fighter or combatant. At the same time, the word kher likewise signifies ring or circle; moreover ker=night and rek=time. Therefore the name Neb-kher, cited by Brugsch (_op. cit._ I, 176), as one of those given to the god of the city of At-Nebes, besides signifying, as he says, the “lord of strife or fighting,” clearly means “the lord of the circle or ring.” This is undoubtedly one of the most appropriate of names for the god of the pole star and Ursa Major and is, besides, the Egyptian equivalent for the Hindu “lord of the wheel,” the Persian “god of the ring,” and the Mexican “lord of the circle and of the night”=Yaual or Yohual-tecuhtli. The other titles of the same god recorded by Brugsch are “the flame or light”=Neser, and “the lord of life”=Neb-ankh.

I merely point out here what I shall discuss more fully later on, that, in the Egyptian An, “he who turns himself around,” we have the counterpart, not only of the Assyrian An-shar (fig. 65, 5) who shoots his darts in all directions, but also of the “North god” of the ancient Mexicans, who, fully armed is held by one foot, by the sign of the North, to the centre of the cross, the symbol of the Four Quarters, and like the Akkadian “lord of heaven,” Akanna, is identified with Ursa Major.

I note, moreover, that, whereas the common name for hawk is bak, that employed by Brugsch is hru (_cf._ inversion ur=the Egyptian name for cross symbol) which is sometimes transcribed as hur, her or heru, hor or har=and translated as Horus or Ra Harmachis. An interesting image of the hawk god is found in another inscription in the temple of Denderah containing the group (pl. V, 6) consisting of a single star, the bull and hawk, transcribed by Brugsch as “Hru-Ka” and translated as “the bull (of) Horus” (_op. cit._ I, p. 7). Another interesting case of the combination of the bull and hawk is the hawk with a bull’s head also figured by Brugsch, and which is obviously a variant of “hru-ka.” A curious instance which seems to contain a reversal of these syllables is the bull, repeated in inverted positions, with the cross-sign=ur, a group which might well have been employed as a rebus expressing the sound ur-ak-ka, a combination which I shall discuss further on.

The identity of Horus as a form of Polaris is hinted at in the following inscription in the temple at Denderah (pl. V, 10) which Brugsch translates: “Ra Horchuti (=hur-chuti) the shining Horus, the ray of light in the night” ... (_op. cit._ I, p. 16). The “god” is figured in mummy form, holding the sceptre tam (_cf._ mat=justice, truth) and the sign ankh (life), with the head of a hawk=bak or hru (_cf._ ur=four, and head=tep or tepet, also name for “chief”), the head conveying idea of four-fold chieftainship, surmounted by the horns=ap and circle or disk=ra.

Figure 65.

An extremely suggestive astronomical picture (pl. V, 13) contains the combination of Horus, the An, in the form of the human-headed hawk, with a serpent Na, the boat (uaa, am or makhen) and the circle enclosing a single star, duat (_cf._ ua=one). The complete group thus conveys a wealth of hidden meaning which is perfectly intelligible when interpreted as pole-star symbolism.

The reader is now invited to take a preliminary look at the columns of signs included in figs. 66, 67, 68, some of which will be recognized as primitive pole-star symbols already discussed, and which will respectively be found to contain homonyms of ua=One and uahi=permanent; ak and kabal=centre, ka=double, an=he who turns and ankh=life, etc. Special attention is also drawn to the modes of expressing the syllable am by the homonyms boy or child, boat and tree (fig. 63, 20-22).

Different combinations of identical phonetic elements are found in the following groups which prove to be but different ingenious figures expressing the same sounds, with more or less the same meanings: pl. V, 15, represents the boat, whose phonetic values are given above, with a flower=ankh, the homonym of life, containing the names an and na, from which the uræus=ara, is rising. Later on the deeper symbolism of this and fig. 12, pl. V, will be further discussed. In the latter, instead of the flower the boat contains the ara and a boy=ah or aah, whose name is the homonym for great, mighty, powerful, etc. Assuming that the boat expressed its particular name uaa=ua=one, we thus have a rendering of the appellation so constantly given to Amen-Ra in the hymns and invocations: “One, great, powerful, mighty god,” accompanied by a whole series of secondary meaning and symbolism. In pl. V, 9, the boat containing the bull or cow, is accompanied by stars which reproduce Ursa Major exactly, minus one star, the head of the animal occupying the centre of the four stars forming the inverted square of “the dipper.” In this case the boat seems to express its name makhen, incorporating ak, the name for the sacred centre of the sky, which is repeated in the name ka=bull, whose image, like that of the boat, conveys the allusion to ua=one, by their respective double names, aua and uaa.

What appears to me to contain the most convincing proof of the identity of Amen-Ra with Polaris is 11, pl. V, which shows us a boat in which lies a mummy, above which is a row of seven stars under an oval, containing two eyes. The oval ring is evidently the image of Amen-Ra, who united in his person the dual principles of nature symbolized by sun and moon=his “two eyes.” The symbolism of the boat and mummy has already been sufficiently discussed to enable the reader to discern its association with the idea of oneness, of stability and centrality. Further light is thrown upon the connection of the two eyes with the sacred centre by pl. V, 14, from the Book of the Dead, where the chosen place of sepulchre for the dead person, mentioned in the text, is the temple pyramid, the apex of which is rendered prominent by being painted black and suggestively occupies a central position between two eyes. After the periods of Greek rule in Egypt, the point of the pyramid must have been associated with the Greek words, akra=hill-top and aku=point, which recurs in the Latin name acacia, by which the thorny tree, originally found in Egypt, is still known. It can readily be seen how this tree would have been chosen as a symbol of the ak=middle and it is possible that its name may originally have been that also given to the olive tree=bak. The inscription on the famous obelisks erected by queen Hat-shepsut contains a special mention of the point of the obelisk, as being made of precious material: “two great obelisks of hard granite of the south, the point of each is of electrum, the tribute of the best quality of all countries” (Flinders Petrie, History of Egypt, Vol. II, p. 86).

The many variants of the constellation or star termed “the divine triangle” or “the triangle of the god” next claim attention. An extremely interesting variant of this constellation represents a hawk-headed sphinx, next to the triangle (pl. VI, 1); 2-4 represent the common form expressing the name Sopedet. As Brugsch informs us, the above name was changed at a more recent period into Satit (6-8), which he translates as “she who shoots, the archeress” or “she who causes the Nile to rise.” In these cases the written name either contains an arrow (6), the pyramid symbol for earth (7), or a seated figure above whose head is a single star (8). A rarer form of representing the same constellation is 9 and 10, the group being transcribed by “Satit Hont Khabsu” which Brugsch translates as “Sothis, the Queen of the ... stars.” From the feminine terminations employed in the text it is clear that it is a cow which figures here in the boat, with a single star between its horns and it appears to me to be obvious that we have to deal here with the feminine form of Polaris, with Auset=Isis, closely related to the Assyrian “goddess of battle,” Ishtar, the female counterpart of Ausar=Osiris, the Assyrian Anshar, or Ashur, the “god of battle.”

Plate VI.

This view is confirmed by further astronomical pictures published by Brugsch, which appear to me not merely to signify the constellations Orion and Sirius as Brugsch infers, but to be hieroglyphs intended to be understood by the initiated only, representing two or more of the forms under which Amen-Ra was figured. At Edfu (pl. VI, 11) the boat=au, uaa, and the mummy=sah form a fair rebus for Ausar=Osiris, while the boat alongside of it contains the cow, a form under which Isis=Hathor was worshipped in Egypt during centuries. At Denderah (12) there is a cow in one boat=Isis; and a man in another who holds the sceptre tam, emblematic of power, and turns his head around, an evident allusion to the action an=he who turns himself around, or to sah=one who turns away. Between both is the hawk=bak or Hur-chuti=Horus, standing on the sceptre named aut, composed of the lotus flower=ankh. A variant of the same group (13) also symbolizing the “Above, Below and Middle,” and from Denderah, represents Isis only in the celestial boat and Osiris standing (on earth) holding, beside the tam, the whip=nekhe khu, emblematic of rule. In 14, a female figure stands in the boat under the written name Auset=Isis and bears in her hand the ankh sign and the lotus flower=ankh sceptre. In the second boat the figure of a boy (ahi) turning (an or sah) his head, holds up the ankh. In 15, we seem to have an evidence of the ascendancy of Isis worship, for the boat contains not only the cow, under the name satit=she who shoots, or the archeress, but also the standing figure of the goddess, crowned by the disk or circle between two horns.

A striking proof that the knowledge of the true, hidden meaning of the signs just discussed was regarded by those who possessed it as an evidence of an advanced stage of initiation in the mysteries of the priesthood, is furnished by the following text, which accompanies pl. VI, 16:

In the Book of the Dead (Leyden, Papyrus, p. 16), in a chapter entitled: “Chapter of the knowledge of the eastern spirits, ro en rex biu abti,” the dead person utters the following words: “I know that eastern mountainous region of the heaven whose south is at the sea Kharo and the north at the river of Ro, at the place where the day-god Ra drives around amidst storm-winds. I am a welcome comrade in the boat and I row without tiring in the bark of Ra. I know that tree of emerald green brandies amongst which Ra shows himself when he goes over the layer of clouds of the god Su. I know that gate out of which Ra issues. I know the meadow of alo, whose wall is of iron.... _I know the eastern spirits, namely the god Hur-Chuti, the calf next to this god and the god of the morning_,” the original text of the latter sentence being: “au-a-rekh-ku-a biu abti Hur-chuti pu behsu kher nutar pen nutar duaut pu” (Brugsch, _op. cit._, I, p. 72).

The evasion and caution with which the speaker alludes to his knowledge of the meaning of the signs, without betraying the latter, sufficiently indicate the obligation of absolute secrecy which bound him, and it may be inferred that several of the words he employed were intended to be misleading to an outsider just as the astronomical pictures, exposed to public view, were purposely made to seem to relate to the more familiar sun, moon and constellations, the mind being thus led away from the hidden but true star-god=Polaris. The circumstance that, on the body of the young bull in the boat, there are seven dots and above it a single star and that the hawk-headed seated deity behind it is crowned by the serpent circle or disk of Amen-Ra, sufficiently enlightens us as to the true, veiled significance which represents different forms of the “hidden god,” of the group. A careful analysis of this and of the astronomical images suffices, however, to disclose the limited scope of the meaning of such groups, each one being but a different rebus containing the same phonetic elements. Let us now briefly indicate what appear to have been the essential components which all images contain and a few of the myriad of ways by which they were expressed.

_Uahi=permanent, and Ua=One. Represented by_

Fig. 66. 1. An arrow=au (_cf._ abau=to fight), an arm=a, and the numerical one=ua.

2. The cow=ah, aua, the latter name incorporating the adjective a=mighty, powerful, etc.

3. The thigh=uart.

4. The boat=uaa.

5. The numeral five=tuau.

6. The throne, seat or place=auset, which constitutes the name Auset=Isis, the consort of Ausar=Osiris.

7. The bowl=au.

8 and 9. Two forms of sceptre or bent staff=au, uat, _also_ aam.

Figure 66.

Besides these signs, well known as sacred symbols, we find that the following names also contain the sacred title Ua: uatet=greenstone, emerald, aut=quadrupeds, au=heir, also dog, maau=rays of light, mau=lion, also cat. The reason why certain quadrupeds, and particularly the cow, lion, and the cat, should have become sacred animals in Egypt, seems to be satisfactorily explained by the fact that each constituted a rebus and could therefore be employed as an “image” of the One god. It is obvious that locality would necessarily influence the choice of the sacred animal and that while one city might adopt the cow, another would be obliged to adopt the cat, etc, as the living rebus. The adoption of “the heir,” or first-born of the sacramental union of king and queen, as the living image of the deity, throws an unexpected light on the reason why members of the royal line were treated with divine honors. While persons, animals and objects whose names contained the divine Ua=one, would thus be chosen, others containing the word Ra=god, would also be adopted.

_Ra=god._

Of these I have already pointed out the uræus=ara, the eye=ari, face=hra and egg=ar, also se or sa and suht. To these may also be added the date palm or dates=ben-ra; grain=nepra; the vine=aarer and grapes=aarer, each of which is to be found associated with sacred symbolism.

The veneration accorded in different localities to the pig=re-ra and the horse, may thus be accounted for, especially as the name for the latter, het-ra, consists of het=light or fair, and ra=god, and the horse is actually found associated with the light-gods of antiquity and with so-called solar symbols and the swastika.

Food for reflection is afforded by the Egyptian name for mirror, which literally signifies to see, or the seer=maa, of the face=hra, but which furnishes, as a rebus, the word maat=law, which is usually expressed by the feather=mat, connected with hra=_i. e._ ra=god (fig. 66, 10). The employment of the mirror as an image of the god of law would thus naturally have been suggested by its name. The presence of the eye=ari (_cf._ ra) in the centre of a mirror which is being worshipped, also suggests that in ancient Egypt the mirror was employed in the temple to hold the reflection of Polaris=Amen-Ra, “the untiring watcher, the lord of eternity and the maker of law” (see fig. 66, 11). It is obvious that the habitual employment, by the astronomer priests, of a mirror so placed in the sanctuary as to catch the reflection of the pole-star through an open doorway, would lead to the discovery of the movements of the sun and the positions it assumes during the year. The flashing of a beam of sunlight once a year, at the period of the summer solstice, upon the mirror which constantly reflected the pole-star, would naturally suggest the idea of “the union of the day-sun with the night-sun” and seem particularly impressive as it was at this period that the Nile began to rise. In dealing with the religious festivals held at this period more will be said on this subject.

The word maat=law, besides being expressed by the feather=mat, could also have been indicated to those initiated in the mysteries of hieratic rebus-writing, by the lion=ma hes; the antelope=ma-het, which also contains the sacred attribute light=het, the synonym of khu, thus expresses the idea of the “light of the law.” The musical instrument named mat may also have originally been, like the tam sceptre, a symbol of lawful power and conveyed an allusion to meht or maht=north. To this series the word am should be added, signifying child, tree and boat, each of which has already been treated of in connection with pole-star symbolism and Amen-Ra (fig. 63, 20-22).

_Duality=ka=double; and the Middle=ak._