Part 31 (1/2)
Kha-ut (fig. 67, 5) is the name for the sacrificial offering laid on the utu=altar, which is shaped like the tau and symbolizes the above and below by its perpendicular and horizontal lines. In the centre of this is the bread=ta (the h.o.m.onym of ta=earth, _cf._ neb-at=fire), which is remarkable on account of its division into four parts a.n.a.logous to that of nut=city, a feature which justifies the inference that the word for cake=sen-nu made with honey=bat or net, is intended to be expressed here. A jar stands at each side of the cake, which is placed on edge so as to exhibit the sacred design upon it. It is significant that, if the jars contained wine=arp, milk=art, the name of the liquid const.i.tuted an anagram of ra, if perfume=anta was present, this furnished the syllables an and ta=earth. It is, of course, impossible to surmise how far such resemblances of sounds influenced the choice of sacred offerings.
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Figure 67.
The kha (fig. 67, 6)=crown is particularly interesting as Amen-Ra is addressed as ”crowned form,” the lord of the ureret crown, ... beautiful of tiara, exalted of the white crown ... on whose brow the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt is established. It appears, therefore, evident that the crown=kha was but another mode of expressing ka=double. At the same time it likewise conveyed the idea of ak=the centre and the act of crowning a sovereign appears as vested with deep symbolical meaning when it is realized that, according to the primitive modes of thought I have been tracing, by enclosing the head of the king in a circlet he was const.i.tuted the hak, regent or central chief, the living image of Ra, whose sign was the star or dot in the circle or ring.
Ka (duality) is commonly expressed by an uplifted pair of arms; a variant being the whole figure of a man with raised arms (7 and 8). The fact that the name for phallus was also ka, explains its employment as a sacred symbol, recorded by Herodotus, which proves to what extremes the ancient rebus-writers went in their nave invention and multiplication of secret signs and modes of expressing the names and attributes of their ”hidden G.o.d.” The hatred and disgust conceived by the great reformer Amenophis IV, against all that pertained to the cult of Amen-Ra, his destruction of all images devised by the priesthood and adoption of a pure image of the supreme divinity of a plain disk or circle, with rays terminating in hands, are readily understood in connection with the above.
Returning to our list of akh words: the akh or centre is figured by a man between two signs for heaven=pet, supporting the upper heaven with both hands; the idea ka=double or dual, being simultaneously expressed (9).
The hawk=bak (10) const.i.tutes so perfect a rebus or anagram of middle=ak and kabal, as well as for khab=star, that the reason why the hawk was chosen as an image or form of Amen-Ra is as reasonably accounted for as the choice of the bull. Before supporting this a.s.sertion by a series of convincing proofs, the following list must be studied:
_An=he who turns himself around (__i. e.__ who performs a circuit=the circuiteer) and ankh=life._
In the ”First steps in Egyptian” I find the word ”an” expressed by (fig.
68, 1) a man in the act of turning around, resembling the position of the male deity in the boat, already discussed and represented in the astronomical texts (fig. 68, 2) by an eye, the form of which differs from that of the eye=ari; (3) by a fish, also different in form from the fish=kha, and particularly interesting if compared to the fish khepanen, figured in the kheper series, which const.i.tutes a rebus combining the t.i.tles khepera=creator and an=the circuiteer; (4) by a stone=aner, also by hair=anem; (5) by two arms spread outwards, recalling the position of the front legs of quadrupeds; (6) by a spear whose shaft is inserted in a double stand; which sign recurs in the name of the city Annu, expressed by the an=spear, the vase=nu and the nut determinative for city or capital (7). It is extremely interesting to compare, at this point, the Greek polus=a pole or axis, and polis=city or capital, and to realize that, in Egypt and Greece alike, the names for capital are a.s.sociated with the idea of centrifugal power and rule.
The signification of all the above ”an” signs becomes intensified when it is realized that they conveyed also the first two letters of the word ankh=life, which was usually expressed by the familiar symbol expressing the union of the dualities of nature (8).
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Figure 68.
Amongst the many surprises received during the course of this investigation, few have given me as much satisfaction and light, as the observation of the fact that the Egyptian name for flower, ankh (9), was the same as that for ”life.” The full significance of the lotus blossom as a symbol became clear to me, and my attention having been called by a friend to Mr. William H. Goodyear's admirable work ”The Grammar of the Lotus,” London, 1891, I was able to obtain from it the series of Egyptian symbols which I now present and shall proceed to interpret according to the method set forth in the preceding pages. The interesting observation was by Mr. Goodyear that ”the ankh was the exact counterpart of the lotus as regards solar a.s.sociation” and in his work, on pl. LXV and elsewhere, this close observer publishes several instances ill.u.s.trating this view. Of these I reproduce but two, which suffice, feeling convinced that Mr.
Goodyear will be as interested as I was to hear that the ankh and lotus were h.o.m.onyms of ankh=life. This fact of itself fully explains why the lotus flower was employed by the ancient Egyptians, as Mr. Goodyear states, as the ”symbol of life, immortality and of renaissance and resurrection and of fecundity.”
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Figure 69.
In fig. 69, 1, two (ka) fishes (khepanen or an) hold the lotus, ankh, and thus const.i.tute a sacred rebus, the profound meaning of which can be surmised by studying the preceding pages. In 2, one (ua) fish holds the ankh instead of the lotus. Both signs obviously express precisely the same meaning with the difference that, in one case duality is expressed by two fishes, and in the other by the ankh symbol which emblematizes the union of nature's dualities.
Fig. 69, 3, shows the bull, carrying the circle of Ra between its horns and wearing the ankh symbol hanging from its neck. The lotus replaces this in 4, where the circle is missing and one bull (ua en ka) expresses the mystic sacred words ua=One and ka=double or ”the divine Twain.” It is evident that it is only when it is a.s.sumed that pole-star wors.h.i.+p const.i.tuted the basis of the natural religion of the ancient Egyptians that their sacred symbols become intelligible.
Though a novice in Egyptology and with extremely limited works of reference at hand, which facts will, I trust, excuse faults and omissions, I perceive so much that is clear and simple in the following series of Egyptian sacred symbols, culled from Mr. Goodyear's work, that I am tempted to submit my interpretation of their meaning, thereby putting my view and method to a crucial test.
In pl. VII, 2, we have an interesting group uniting the boat, the meaning of which has been discussed, a seated figure on a square pedestal, a column, the upper portion of which is separate and simulates the bowl or cup=au, the dot and circle, the sign of Amen-Ra, and a single flower. As a rebus, some of the words expressed are am, uaa or makhen=boat, tet=column, Ra=dot and circle, also seated figure, determinative of G.o.d=Ra, and ua en ankh=one flower. While the rebus supplies the words ua=one, uahi=permanent, ra=G.o.d, an=the circuiteer, ankh=life, tet=eternal, it is only when identified as pole-star symbolism that the group becomes comprehensible.
Pointing out that, in the above, we have a clear case of the flower in a.s.sociation with the Ra sign and other symbols which have been discussed as pole-star signs, let us next examine 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8, in each of which one blossom=ua en ankh, const.i.tutes the emblem for the sacred Middle, and openly conveys the idea of the verb an, to perform a circuit and ankh=life.
The fact that, in 6, the flower consists of five petals, on four of which the genii of the four quarters stand, sufficiently proves that the flower, like the five-dot group, const.i.tuted a symbol of the four quarters and centre, the latter being figured as a pyramid-shaped petal. Interesting variants of this group are 5, with the four genii standing on seven of the nine petals of the flower, which is placed between two buds, the idea of centrality being thus conveyed; and 7 where an inverted triangle replaces the flower and reveals some of the deeper meaning attached to this symbol.
In 1 and 3 the flower is surmounted by the hawk crowned with the Ra sign which, as has already been stated, symbolizes circuition around a central point of fixity. The names for hawk=hak (_cf._ ak and cabal=middle, also hak=king) and her or hur (_cf._ hru=upper, the above, and ur=four=Horus) reveal its appropriate use as rebus and symbol of the central ”sun” G.o.d.
In 8, instead of the Ra sign, the hawk wears the peculiar double diadem with a circle at its base, which is the particular attribute of the images of the ram-headed G.o.d Amon who is represented in no. 12, holding the ankh sign and accompanied by the kheper sign, composed of a circle, surmounted by a cone and supported by a pedestal. It is well known that the ram=ser, sart or sar, was the form under which the supreme divinity was wors.h.i.+pped at Thebes, the real metropolis of the whole land of Egypt, during many centuries.(113) The name Amon, also given as Ammon, Amoun, Hammon, resembles Amen closely enough to justify the identification of Amon as a form of Amen-Ra, the concealed G.o.d.
[Ill.u.s.tration.]
Plate VII.