zodiac of Denderah, drawn by
Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph taken with magnesium light
by Dumichen.

With his right hand he flourished the _crux ansata_, and turning his
head towards Sothis as he beckoned her on with his left, seemed as
though inviting her to follow him. The goddess, standing sceptre in
hand, and crowned with a diadem of tall feathers surmounted by her most
radiant star, answered the call of Sahu with a gesture, and quietly
embarked in pursuit as though in no anxiety to overtake him. Sometimes
she is represented as a cow lying down in her bark, with tree stars
along her back, and Sirius flaming from between her horns.[*]

* The identity of the cow with Sothis was discovered by
Jollois and Devilliers. It is under this animal form that
Sothis is represented in most of the Graeco-Roman temples,
at Denderah, Edfu, Esneh, Der el-Medineh.

Not content to shine by night only, her bluish rays, suddenly darted
forth in full daylight and without any warning, often described upon the
sky the mystic lines of the triangle which stood for her name. It was
then that she produced those curious phenomena of the zodiacal light
which other legends attributed to Horus himself. One, and perhaps
the most ancient of the innumerable accounts of this god and goddess,
represented Sahu as a wild hunter. A world as vast as ours rested upon
the other side of the iron firmament; like ours, it was distributed into
seas, and continents divided by rivers and canals, but peopled by races
unknown to men. Sahu traversed it during the day, surrounded by genii
who presided over the lamps forming his constellation. At his appearing
"the stars prepared themselves for battle, the heavenly archers rushed
forward, the bones of the gods upon the horizon trembled at the sight
of him," for it was no common game that he hunted, but the very gods
themselves. One attendant secured the prey with a lasso, as bulls are
caught in the pastures, while another examined each capture to decide if
it were pure and good for food. This being determined, others bound the
divine victim, cut its throat, disembowelled it, cut up its carcass,
cast the joints into a pot, and superintended their cooking. Sahu did
not devour indifferently all that the fortune of the chase might bring
him, but classified his game in accordance with his wants. He ate the
great gods at his breakfast in the morning, the lesser gods at his
dinner towards no