May i8, 1893] 



NATURE 



57 



Thebes was a subsequent reply of the On solstitial worship 

 to it. 



{b) The Worship of the Bull by the Pyramid Builders. 



There is a subsidiary point in connection with the 



pyramid builders and equinoctial worship. 

 The worship of Apis preceded the building of pyramids. 

 KMini is credited by Elian with its introduction,' but at any 



rate Kakau of the second dynasty issued proclamations 



regarding it,- and a statue of Hapi was in the temple of 

 i Cheops." 



It is stated that the first month of the Chaldsan year 



vas 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 

 I4500 B.C. was in the constellation Taurus. Biot has shown 

 Ithat the equinox occurred with the sun near the pleiades 

 |in 3285 B.C. We seem driven to the conclusion that the 



constellation of the bull dates from this time, and that 



Mapi represented it.-* 



{c) The Art of the Pyramid Builders. 



Another connecting link is found in the diorite statues 

 found in the temple of Chephren, at the pyramids, and at 

 Tell-loh (ancient Sirgalla) by M. de Sarzec in 1881. 



This last find consisted of some large statues of diorite, 

 ^and the attitude chosen was that of Chephren himself as 

 represented in the Museum of Gizeh. 



This indicates equality in the arts and the possession 

 of similar tools in Chaldaea and Egypt about the time in 

 question. 



(d) The Star Worship of the Pyramid Builders. 



I have given before the gods of Heliopolis, and have 

 shown that with the exception of Sit none are stellar ; and 

 that the temple of Sit is still represented. But we find 

 in pyramid times the list is vastly changed ; only the Sun 

 gods Ra, Horus, Osiris, are common to the two. As new 

 divinities we find '•> : — 



Isis. 



Hathor. 



Nephthys. 



Ptah. 



Selkit. 



Sokhit. 



Of these the first two and the last two undoubtedly 

 symbolised stars, and there can be no question that the 

 temple of Isis at the pyramids was built to watch the 

 rising of some of them." Of Iris and Hathor I have 

 already written at length, and I think the stars are now 

 known. The others are more doubtful, but it may be that 

 Ptah = Capella and Selkit = Antares. 



But it is also stated that at Memphis ' [time 



pot given] there were temples dedicated to Soutekh 



-ud Baal. Now this is of great importance, for I suppose 



,here is now no question among Egyptologists that the 



Jfods Set, Sit, Typhon, Bes, Soutekh, Soutkhou are 



pentical. It is also equally well known that Soutekh 



^as a god of the Canaanites " that the hippopotamus, 



'he emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of 



he Babylonian god Baal, ■' and Bes is identified with Set 



T the book of the dead.'" 



- Maspcro, op. cit. p. 46. 



Maspcro, oj>. cit. p. 44, note- 

 Maspero, op. cit. p. 64. 



* Not only the bull ; there is evidence in favour of the view that the 

 f**^?.*^ ^'"^ ? Antares. If so, the scorpion constellation had also been 

 ptabhshed, and both equinoxes marked by constellations in the time of 

 ^"^^ij.'' ■ ^ '' ^'aspero, op. cit. p. 64. 



' o the temple of Sait, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had 

 Wemphis according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Sais was the goddess 

 Sleith, which, according to some .-luthorities, was the precursor of Athene, 

 rhe temple of Athene at Athens was oriented to the Pleiades. 



' Maspero, op. cit. p. 357. 



8 Maspero, op. cit. p. 163. « Pierret, p. 4. i» Idem, p. 48. 



NO. 1229, VOL. 48] 



Jensen in his " Kosmologie der Babylonier," p. i6, 

 points out that Bll was the name for the pole of the 

 equator. If this be the Baal referred to by Pierret, we get 

 the most marvellous coincidence between the Egyptian 

 and Babylonian star-worship and suggestion of a common 

 origin among an astronomically-minded people. 



This suggests that the founders of On and Memphis 

 had a common origin, and the Memphitic intrusion took 

 place after solar solstitial worship had been introduced 

 at On. This worship could not have been brought into 

 Egypt from any other country, bordering on Chaldaea, 

 and its ultimate predominance is the origin of the myth 

 of Horus slaying the hippopotamus. Nay, it may be also 

 suggested that the predominance was brought about by 

 men and ideas reaching On from the south, so that the 

 myth had a single celestial and a double terrestrial 

 side. 



The Hawk God of Edfii, Harhouditi, had for servants 

 a number of individuals called .Masniou or Masnitiou = 

 blacksmiths, just as the Hawk God of the Delta, Harsiisit, 

 has for his entourage the Shosou Horou. Maspero in a 

 most interesting paper ' has recently called attention to 

 some customs still extant among the castes of black- 

 smiths in Central Africa, which have suggested to him 

 that the followers of the Edfu Horus may have come 

 from that province. 



He writes : " C'estdu sud del'Egypteque les forgerons 

 sont remont(5s vers le nord, leur siege primitif etait le sud 

 de I'Egypte, la partie du pays qtii a le plus des rapports 

 avec les regions centrales de I'Afrique et leurs habitants.'' 



Then after stating the present conditions of these 

 workers in equatorial Africa, where they enjoy a high 

 distinction, he concludes : — 



"Jepense qu'on peut se representer I'Horus d'Edfou 

 comme c'tant au debut, dans Tune de ses formes, le chef 

 et le dieu d'une tribu d'ouvriers travaillant le mtStal, ou 

 plutot travaillant le fer. On ne saurait en eftet se dis- 

 simuler qu'il y a une affinite reelle entre le fer et la personne 

 d'Horus en certains mythes. Horus est la face celeste 

 (horou), le ciel, le firmament, et ce firmament est de toute 

 antiquitc, un toit de fer, si bien que le fer en prit le nom 

 de ba-ni-pit, metal du ciel, metal dont est forme le ciel : 

 Horus I'ain^, Horus d'Edfou, est done en rdalite un dieu 

 de fer. II est, de plus, muni de la pique ou de la javeline 

 \ point de fer, et les dieux qui lui sont apparentds, 

 Anhouri, Shou, sont de^piquiers comme lui, au contraire 

 des dieux du nord de I'Egypte, Ra, Phtah, etc., qui n'ont 

 pas d'armes k I'ordinaire. La legende d'Harhouditi con- 

 querant I'Egypte avec les masniou serait-elle done I'echo 

 ointain d'un fait qui se serait passe' au temps anterieurs 

 <\ I'histoire ? Quelque chose comme Tarrivee des 

 Espagnols au milieu des populations du Nouveau Monde, 

 I'irruption en Egypte de tribus connaissant et employ- 

 ant le fer, ayant parmi elles une caste de forgerons et 

 apportant le culte d'un dieu belliqueux qui aurait etd un 

 Horus ou se serait confondu avec I'Horus des premiers 

 Egyptiens pour former Harhouditi. Ces tribus auraient 

 dtd ne'cessairement d'origine Africaine et auraient apportd 

 de nouveaux elements Africains h ceux que renfermait 

 dcja la civilisation du bas Nil. Les forgerons auraient 

 perdu peu a peu leurs privileges pour se fondre au reste 

 de la population : ;\ Edfou seulement et dans les villes ou 

 I'on pratiquait le culte de I'Horus d'Edfou, ils auraient 

 conservd un caractere sacrd et se seraient transformds en 

 un sorte de domesticitd religieuse, les masniou du mythe 

 d'Horus, compagnons et serviteurs du dieu guerrier." 



3. — The Work of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties. 



We have next to consider what happened after the 

 great gap in Egyptian history between the sixth and 

 twelfth dynasties, 3500 B.C.-2851 B.C. (Mariette), from 



J Z'.4«Mni/(j/^f/V, July-.\ugust, i8gi. No. 4. 



