The Buildings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty.
There was another invasion from Syria, which founded the twenty-second dynasty, and again the government is carried on in cities with east and west walls (Saïs, Tanis and Bubastis). The solstitial-solar priests of Thebes withdraw to Ethiopia. They return, however, in 700 B.C., drive out the Syrian invaders, and, under Shabaka and Taharqa, found a dynasty (the twenty-fifth) at Thebes, embellish the temples there, and at Philæ, Medînet-Habû, and Denderah.
Conclusion.
We see, then, that every important change of cult was associated either with invasions from without or with some disturbance in Egypt itself, for in no other way can the gaps in Egyptian history be explained.
So far we have considered the equinoctial temples as opposed to the non-equinoctial ones in Northern Egypt. We have next to go farther afield, and include the southern temple worship and the possible influence of southern races even in the very earliest times.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE CULT OF NORTHERN AS OPPOSED TO SOUTHERN STARS.
So far as my inquiries have yet gone, there is not above Thebes, with the exceptions of Redesich and Dakkeh, any temple resembling those at Annu, Thebes, Denderah and Abydos, to which I have directed attention as having a high north-east amplitude.
Similarly, with one or two exceptions which are probably late, there are no temples facing the south-east below Thebes.
In short, in Lower Egypt the temples are pointed to rising stars near the north point of the horizon or setting north of west. In Upper Egypt we deal chiefly with temples directed to stars rising in the south-east or setting low in the south-west.