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senting him either in the guise of a worshipper or 
offerer, or as just standing or seated, were set up in 
various parts of the temple. Through the medium of 
these statues, which to the Egyptian mind were very 
closely connected with the person they represented 
(that person being regarded as immanent in them), the 
_king could, according to the character of the statue, 
function perpetually either as worshipper or offerer, or 
else as the recipient of worship and offerings. 
In the main sanctuary, and in the sanctuary of each 
_ of the co-templar divinities, was a shrine containing the 
-cultus-image, which was as a rule quite small—sixteen 
inches to four feet in height—and made of wood. Some- 
times the shrine was a monolithic naos set up against 
the back wall of the sanctuary, with a bronze frame 
inserted in front fitted with double doors. More often 
_the shrine was in the form of a boat, which rested upon 
an altar-like stone pedestal, the place where it stood 
being designated “ the great place.’ In the centre of 
the boat, covered with a veil, was a cabin containing 
the image. Poles were attached to these boats so that 
they might be carried in procession, the number of 
priests who supported them varying from eight to 
wenty-four, or even twenty-six. In the sanctuary of 
the Heliopolitan sun-temple there were two such: boat- 
shrines, representing the morning- and evening-barque 
of the sun-god. The boat-shrine is undoubtedly of 
solar origin, for it was the sun-god in particular who was 
conceived of as sailing across the sky in a boat. 
The sanctuary, or else the actual naos containing the 
age, is often designated “‘ Heaven ” or the ‘‘ Horizon” 
‘in inscriptions, and one of the titles borne by the high- 
priest of the solarised Theban Amin was “ Opener of 
e Doors of Heaven in Elect-of-Places (Luxor),” it 
being the duty of the chief officiating priest to open the 
doors of the shrine or sanctuary at an early stage of the 
temple liturgy. 
Every temple possessed its sacred pool containing 
the water used for purificatory purposes, and it is to be 
‘noted that this pool, for reasons that have been fully 
set forth above, seems always to have been associated 
with the sun-god. 
_ Again, every temple down to the latest times pos- 
sessed its vestry or House of the Morning, an adjunct, 
_as has already been pointed out, of the ancient Helio- 
politan sun-temple. 
One of the clearest proofs of the complete solarisa- 
tion of institutional religion in Egypt is to be found in 
the organisation of the priesthood, which at every 
temple was divided into four “ watches,” or, as the 
classical writers designated them, phyle. These 
“watches ” bear the names of the four quarters of a 
ship—the bow-, stern-, starboard-, and larboard-watch, 
names which mythological texts assign to the four 
watches into which the crew of the sun-god’s ship was 
divided. It was evidently the Heliopolitan priests 
who were first divided into four watches bearing these 
names, for, as already stated, the sun-god was supposed 
to traverse the heavens in a ship and his priests may 
well have been regarded as his crew. 
The liturgy itself consisted largely of a series of 
toilet-episodes, and thus closely resembled the cere- 
monial toilet of the Pharaoh in the House of the 
“Morning, a resemblance due to the fact that both 
imitated the same performance, the supposed daily 
NO. 2789, VOL. 111] 
NATURE 
501 
matutinal ablutions of the sun-god, the cultus-image ot 
the divinity (originally the sun-god) being washed or 
sprinkled with water every day at dawn, as the god 
himself was believed to be. That the other toilet 
episodes in the temple liturgy—robing, anointing, 
crowning, etc.—were like those performed for the king, 
was due to the fact that the sun-god, for whom the rite 
was instituted, was himself regarded as a king—the 
divine prototype of all Heliopolitan kings. The chief 
officiant at the liturgy was supposed to be the Pharaoh, 
but it was of course impossible for the supreme head of 
the highly organised Egy ptian state of historic times to 
function daily as high-priest, even in the temple at the 
capital, let alone in the countless temples scattered over 
the length and breadth of the land. His place was 
therefore taken by a deputy, the local high-priest, or 
some other member of the higher grade of the priest- 
hood. In addition to the chief officiant a number of 
assistant priests took part in all the ceremonies, as 
certain representations clearly show. 
The liturgy falls into three main divisions: (1) A 
series of pre-toilet episodes, among which were included 
the unbolting and opening of the sanctuary ornaos doors, 
the sweeping of the sanctuary floor with a cloth or 
besom, preliminary fumigations with incense, the pros- 
tration of the celebrant, the chanting of the praises of 
the god, and the removal of the i image from the shrine. 
(2). The lustral washing of the image, followed by a long 
series of other toilet performances. (3) The liturgy 
terminated with the presentation of a meal to the god, 
a lengthy and highly ceremonious proceeding. When 
the food- and drink - offerings had all been laid in 
order before the image—the heaped-up food offerings 
surmounted with bouquets of flowers and the wine- 
jars wreathed with garlands—the officiant extended his 
right arm and, bending his hand upwards in the pre- 
scribed manner, pronounced a formula beginning with 
the words “ An offering which the king gives.” The 
recitation of this formula was preceded by the burning 
of incense and the pouring out of a libation. The priest 
having next recited the formula of ‘“‘ Summoning the 
divinity to his repast,” performed the act of consecra- 
tion, by which each item of food and drink was finally 
made over to the divine banqueter. This act consisted 
in the king, or his deputy the priest, standing before 
what was to be offered, and four times stretching out 
over it or towards it a ceremonial baton called the 
kherp-baton, which he grasped in his right hand. 
The last act of the officiant before he left the sanctu- 
ary was to remove all traces of his own and his assistants’ 
footprints. This he did by sweeping the floor once 
more with a cloth or besom. The sanctuary door 
was then closed and bolted and a clay seal affixed to the 
bolts. 
Before bringing this preliminary article to an end, it 
should be pointed out that music, vocal and instru- 
mental, was a great feature of Egyptian worship—a 
much greater feature than may have appeared from 
what has already been said in connexion with the 
musician-priestesses. These priestesses, it would seem, 
headed by the god’s earthly wife, the high-priestess, 
rattled their sistra, beat single-membrane drums, and 
chanted hymns in the divinity’s praise, all the time that 
the chief officiant and his assistant priests were execut- 
ing the various ritual acts, while male musicians also 
P 2 
