CHNEMU.
He is also Hormaχu, the god of the universe: The father of the father of the gods: Creator of heaven, earth, water, and mountains; a local form of Osiris. His wife was the frog-goddess, Hekt (? Serk-t).
Further, he was also regarded as presiding in some special way over water,[165] and, unlike Amen-Rā, though like Ía, he has a position among the gods of the lower world.
A sun-god, with uræus and disk, he is closely associated with Amen-Rā, and if he were one of the earliest of the South Egyptian gods this could only be by Amen-Rā being an emanation from him; the temples in any case do not afford us traces of Amen-Rā before 3700 B.C., and Chnemu is recognised as one of the oldest gods in Egypt, on the same platform as Ptah in the North. If we assume a connection with Eridu, then we are driven to the conclusion that the Eridu culture came either from Egypt or from a common source.
Here for the present the question must be left. I must be content to remark that many of the facts point to a common origin south of the equator. It is clear that if Chnemu were a sun-god of the Winter, brought into Egypt from without, the change to Amen-Rā is precisely what would have been certain to happen, for in Egypt the Summer Solstice, over which Amen-Rā presided, was all-important.
Anthropological Evidence.
It will be seen, then, that a general survey of Egyptian history does suggest conflicts between two races, and this of course goes to strengthen the view that the temple-building phenomena suggest two different worships, depending upon race distinctions.
We have next to ask if there is any anthropological evidence at our disposal. It so happens that Virchow has directed his attention to this very point.
Premising that a strong race distinction is recognised between peoples having brachycephalic or short, and dolichocephalic or long, skulls, and that the African races belong to the latter group, I may give the following extract from his paper:—