It was suggested (page 154) that Horus slaying Set represented by a hippopotamus was a reference to a time antecedent to 5000 B.C., when the constellation of Draco was circumpolar; and we now learn from Chapter XXXII. that Set represented the Northern-Star worship brought in from the N.E.
Horus, then, represented a conquering force coming from the South.
He was recognised as a Southern god. Naville remarks:
"Horchuti est par excellence le dieu de la Nubie; c'est à lui que sont consacrés plusieurs des temples pharaoniques qui existent le long du Nil entre Ouadi-Halfa et Philæ."[171]
But this is not all. The sequence of the Divine Dynasties is as follows, according to Maspero:—[172]
- Atmu.
- Rā
- Shou
- Sibou [Seb]
- Osiris
- Set
- Horus
Neglecting the first four, we find Osiris preceding Set, and are driven to the conclusion that in Osiris, in this connection, we are dealing with the Moon, for the Sun-gods Atmu and Rā head the list. Besides, the worship of Set did not kill the worship of the Sun, for the power of Rā finally became paramount.
We must hold, then, that the Southern Sun-god Horus, the son of Osiris, was the son of a Moon-god, and it becomes necessary to inquire if such an idea occurred to other early peoples. Professor Sayce[173] tells us—
"According to the official religion of Chaldæa, the Sun-god was the offspring of the Moon-god," and he adds, "Such a belief could have arisen only where the Moon-god was the supreme object of worship.... To the Semite the Sun-god was the lord and father of the gods."[174]
If we, then, with this precedent, are prepared to take Osiris as the Moon-god of the Southern race, there is no doubt that the first Sun-god was Chnemu, and the first Southern Star-god—the star which heralded sunrise at the Autumnal Equinox—Khonsu (Canopus). Thoth also must be named, for it is certain that the Calendar which he leads was of Southern origin, because New Year's Day at the Summer Solstice was heralded first by Phact and afterwards by Sirius, both Southern stars.