THE EARLY TEMPLE AND PYRAMID P,UILDERS. 97 



show that both solstitial solar wors]ii[) and star worshij) were carried 

 on, if walls had the same relation to the included temples at On as they 

 had at Thebes. 



The solar temple at On has entirely disai)pearod. As may be gath- 

 ered ti'om the remains of th<' mounds, it lay in the line of the solstices. 

 As the gods included Ra, Atmu, and Osiris, probably like the temple 

 of Amen lla at Tliebes, there were two temples back to back. At 

 Thebes the temples were directed northwest to southeast, at On south- 

 west to northeast. 



My observations of the orientation of the obelisk show that the tem- 

 ple of which it formed a part may have possibly been the first of the 

 series which includes the temple of Mut at Thebes, and other temples 

 there and at Abydos; that is the worship of Set was in question, to 

 speak generically. Now, according to Maspero,* Sit or Set formed one 

 of the divine dynasties, being associated with the sun and air gods at 

 On, i. e., with Ra, Atmu, Osiris, Horus, and Shon. 



At Abydos, as also can be determined by the orientation of the walls, 

 one of the oldest temples was probably a solstitial one. The stellar 

 temples, sacred to Set, were built much later than the solar temple. 



Like On, Abydos was a sacred city.t '-O'est comme vdle sainte 

 qu'elle etait universellement connue. Ses sanctuaires etaient cclebres, 

 son dieu Osiris venere, ses fetes suivies par toute I'figypte; les gens 

 riches des autres nomes tenaient a honneur de se faire dresser une stele 

 dans son temple." | 



If it be found that the references to "ancestors" and "divine ances- 

 tors" occur after the eleventh dynasty, the race represented by On may 

 be referred to and it nuiy be that so often referred to as the Hor-shesu. 



Only one star temple, as I have said, is still represented at On ; those 

 at Abydos are known to be late. The term, then, of Sun-worshippers 

 was highly distinctive, and there is reavSon to believe that the stellar 

 observations were connected with the solar worship. 



II. — [(() THE EAST AND WEST WALLS AND PYRAMID GUILDERS. 



Oil the hypothesis these came from a country wliere the worship M'as 

 equinoctial. 



We are justified from what is known regarding the rise of the Nile 

 as dominating and defining the commencement of the Egyptian year 

 that other ancient peoples placed under like conditions would act in 

 the same way. 



Now what the Nile was to Egypt the valleys of the Tigris and the 

 Euphrates were to the early Chaldean empire. Like the Nile, these 



* Op. eit., p. 33. t Maspero, op. cH., p. 21. 



+ It is importaut to inciiiire if this took ]>laed after tlie advent of the ch'vciith 

 dynasty. 



SM 93 -7 



