100 THE EARLY TEMPLE AND PYRAMID BUILDERS. 



Associated with the cities with east and west walls are temples facing 

 dne east; fit therefore to receive the rays of the inorniug siiii risiug 

 at an equinox. 



Associated with these pyrannds, carefully oriented east and west, we 

 find on their eastern sides some distance away and on a line passing- 

 through their centers at right angles to a meridian line, temples focing 

 due west, the clearest possible indication of equinoctial worship. At 

 sunset at the equinox the sepulchral chamber and the sun were in a 

 line from the adytum. The i)riest faced a double Osiris. 



In the case of the pyramid of Chephren, not only have we (as 1 hold) 

 such a temple of Osiris, but the Sphinx granite temple was most prob- 

 ably the crypt of a temple of Isis, its relation to the south face of the 

 l)yramid being borne in mind. If this were so, Osiris was a name both 

 for the solstitial and equinoctial sun. 



Other pyramids were built at Sakkarah during the sixth dynasty, 

 but it is remarkable that such a king as Pepi-Meri-Ea should not have 

 imitated the majestic structures of the fourth dynasty. He is said to 

 have built a pyramid at Sakkarah, but its obscurity is evidence that 

 the pyramid idea was giving way, and it looks as if this dynasty Mere 

 really on the side of On,* for the authority of Memphis declined and 

 Abydos was preferred, while abroad Sinai was re-conquered and Ethi- 

 opia was kept in order.+ 



The sphinx (oriented true east) must also be ascribed to the earliest 

 pyramid builders; it could not have been built before their intrusion. 

 The Colossi of the plain at Thebes was a subsequent reply of the On 

 solstitial worship to it. 



(/>) THE WORSHIP OF THE BULL BY THE PYRAMID BUILDERS. 



There is a subsidiary ])oint in connection with the pyramid builders 

 and e(|uinoctial worship. 



The worship of A])is preceded the building of pyramids. IMini is 

 credited by Elian with its introduction,! but at any rate Kakau of the 

 second dynasty issued i)r<)clamations regarding it,§ and a statue of 

 Hapi was in the temple of Cheops.|| 



It is stated that the first month of the Chaldsiean year was dedicated 

 to the " propitious bull," and that the figure of a bull constantly occurs 

 on the monuments as opening the year. Now the sun at the vernal 

 equinox 4500 b. c. was in the constellation Taurus. Biot has shown 

 that the equinox occurred with the sun near the pleiades in 3285 b. c. 



*Maspero, op. cit., p. 80. 



+ Further, it is known that there was some connection Ix'tween Pe])i-M('ri-Rri and 

 the eleventh dynasty of Thebes. Maspero, ojt. cit., ]». HI. 

 t Maspero, op. cit., p. 44, note. 

 ^ Maspero, op. cit., p. 46. 

 II Maspero, op. cit., p. 64. 



