The “four supports of heaven” referred to here are obviously “the gods Mestha, Hapi, Tuamautef and Qebhsennuf,” who are recorded in the Book of the Dead (chapter 17) as being “those which find themselves behind the constellation of the Thigh in the northern heaven.” In an inscription in the kings' graves at Thebes mention is made of the “four Northern Genii who are the four gods of ‘the follower’ [obviously a circumpolar constellation]” (Lockyer, p. 147). They seem to be also identical with the “four constellations [Akhemusek] which are found in the northern heavens,” and the “sailors or oarsmen in the bark of Ra,” mentioned in the same and in many other inscriptions. The four “gods” are represented with human bodies respectively surmounted by the head of a man, an ape, a jackal and a hawk and are identical with the “genii of the dead,” represented on the canopic vases placed at the four corners of the bier. In this connection attention is drawn to how clearly the symbolism of the mortuary customs becomes apparent when it is realized that the mummy, the image of Ptah-Osiris, and of the pole-star god, was laid to “eternal rest” in an imaginary “sacred centre,” obtained by naïvely placing the effigies of the gods of the cardinal points, the personifications of the “four stars of the northern heaven,” at the corners of the bier. The same dominant thought which underlies the popular use of the canopic vases clearly led to the building of the vast pyramids which constituted the sacred “centres of the world” par excellence, the square base typifying the four regions and “corners” of the earth; the triangular sides the four divisions of the sky, which converge to a single Middle, associated with Polaris, the sacred pole or ak of the Cosmos.
Returning to the subject of the measurement of time by means of the circumpolar constellations, it is instructive to find that the [pg 387] Egyptian determinative sign for “time” consists of a central dot with a circle drawn around it and to note that the only celestial body that could be accurately figured as occupying the centre of a circle described around it is the primitive sun, Polaris.
The Egyptian for “time” is rek, an inversion of ker=the night, the common sign for which is a band, figuring the sky, from the centre of which a star is suspended by a thread. As the star is usually formed by two lines, diagonally crossed, at the end of the thread, there is a strong temptation to see in the hanging single star an actual representation of a cross symbol. It is particularly striking to find in Brugsch's work, that the determinative for time is actually represented, in numerous cases, as close to the single hanging star (fig. [62], 9). I leave it to the reader to form his own conclusions whether this group represents Polaris and the circuit of time measured by the circumpolar constellations, or whether it merely represents, as Brugsch states, the winter solstice, i. e. the day sun in the nocturnal sky.
There exists a remarkable variant of the determinative of time, which I shall discuss more fully further on. Instead of a mere dot, a five-pointed star is distinctly figured in the centre of the circle (fig. [62], 12). This variant furnishes, in my opinion, convincing proof of the meaning of the determinative for time, which also constituted the well-known sign for Ra=god, and forms a part of the name of the supreme divinity of Egypt, Amen, or Amon or Amun Ra, the “hidden or secret god,” whose name contradicts the current assumption that Ra signifies the diurnal sun merely, and that Amen-Ra was a “solar” deity.
The following texts relating to the “supreme true but hidden god” amply demonstrate that the chief characteristic of his cult was that it was shrouded in secrecy and mystification. Others, which I shall quote farther on, allow us clearly to perceive that individuals were obliged to pass through a series of initiations into the meanings of cabalistic signs and symbols of the divinity before they attained the pure knowledge of the nature of the mysterious, “hidden divinity.” On reading the texts of the famous “Book of the Dead” it has frequently occurred to me that the negative confession and judgment of the soul of the departed may originally signify the actual confession and judgment of an applicant for initiation into the secrets of the priesthood and the astronomical and theological knowledge they so rigidly guarded from the ignorant [pg 388] multitude. The highest knowledge and most profound secret they could impart was doubtlessly the acknowledgment and perception of the existence of a supreme power which governed the universe on a certain plan, which the rulers of the land of Egypt endeavored to apply to its organization and government in order to make it a celestial kingdom upon earth.
The rigidly-adhered-to policy of the ruling caste was, however, the shrouding and concealment of their store of knowledge from the uninitiated and the gradual admission of select individuals to the inner chambers of secrecy. The following texts show that even the true name of the supreme divinity was wrapped in impenetrable mystery, but the assumption that we are dealing with a pole-star god seems to enable us to penetrate the obscurity of the formulæ employed by the scribes to veil the true meaning of the texts.
Beginning with the hymn published by Mr. Wallis Budge, in his useful handbook, “The Nile,”[110] we find Amen-Ra addressed as “King, One among the gods, myriad are his names, how many are they, is not known ... the lord of Law, whose shrine is hidden, ... whose name is hidden from his children in his name Amen.”... In the legend of Ra and Isis (xxth dynasty) he is designated as “the god divine, the creator of himself, the creator of heaven, earth, breath of life, fire, gods, men, beasts, cattle, reptiles, fowl of the air, fish, king of men and gods, in form one, to whom periods are as years, many of names, not known are they, not know them the gods.”[111]
The mysterious supreme god is further spoken of in the hymn as ... “the lord of the uræus crown, exalted of the plumes; the serpent Mehen, and the two uræi are the (ornaments) of his face....” Mention is likewise made of his lordship over the Sekti boat (which sailed from the place of rising in the East) and the Atet boat (which sailed to the place of setting in the West); he is also addressed as the “god Khepera in his boat.” In many passages he is apparently identified with the sun, “the eye of Horus,” but is at the same time, also addressed as Ani, the lord of the New Moon festival and he is termed “the lord of all the gods whose appearances are in the horizon.” His all-embracing nature is clearly conveyed by the passages terming him “the maker and [pg 389] lord of things which are below and of things which are above;” “of the heaven and earth.” The above evidence suffices to show that, on the one hand, Amen-Ra is constantly referred to as the “One god, without a second, the knowledge of whose nature is concealed from men and gods, who reveals himself in innumerable forms; who exerts hidden control and universal dominion and is associated with stability and power, time and eternity.” On the other hand, stress is laid on his dual nature: Amen-Ra is bi-sexual and self-creative; alternately becomes light and darkness; and the sun and moon are the eyes of his “hidden face,” which, literally translated, yields Amen-Hra.
In the hymn previously cited he is also termed the “lord of the sky, the establisher of all things, ... the extender of foot-steps.... One in his times as among the gods....” He is apostrophized as “the maker of the gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth,” “the chief who makest the earth like unto himself,”.... “President of the great cycle of the gods, only one without his second ... living in Law every day.... O Form, one, creator of all things, O one only, maker of existences ... he giveth the breath of life to (the germ) in the egg.... Hail to thee, thou only one!... He watches all people who sleep ... all people adore thee.... O thou ... the untiring watcher, Amsu-amen lord of eternity, the Maker of Law....” Another passage states: “the aten (disk) is thy body” (i. e. image or symbol). In the legend of Ra and Isis, quoted above, the god is made to say of himself: “I am the maker of the hours, the creator of days, I am the opener of the festivals of the year.... I am he who when he opens his eyes [i. e. the sun and moon] becometh light, when he shutteth his two eyes, becometh darkness.” Brugsch tells us that Ra, whom he accepts as the day-sun, was addressed as the master of double or two-fold force, who illuminates the world with his two eyes and “was symbolized by two lions.” Further on I shall quote facts establishing that the king and queen of Egypt were respectively named the right and left eye of Amen-Ra, were associated with sun and moon, regarded as the personifications of Osiris and Isis, and that these deities were represented in the form of uræus serpents with human heads, and that the two serpents were employed as symbols of Upper and Lower Egypt. Mr. Wallis Budge informs us that Amen-Ra was named “bull ... in thy name of ‘Amen bull of [pg 390] his mother,’ and that he was entitled ‘lord of the thrones of the two lands;’ ‘king of the gods;’ ‘maker of mortals;’ ‘mighty law.’ ” In one of his forms he is represented as wearing horns (an allusion to duality and the title of bull) and feathers (=mat=maat=law) and holding the emblems of stability, power, dominion and rule.