are with earth or land is seen in one of the signs
for province or nome=sept or hesp, which consists of a series of squares,
evidently representing theoretical territorial divisions and possibly a
system of canal-irrigation. Other suggestive signs for sep consist of a
circle containing two strokes; a circle enclosing four dots and a double
circle (fig. 60, 4). It is interesting to find an isosceles triangle
employed, with a slight addition, to express the word ta=land, as well as
sept=province (fig. 60, 4 and 5), and to find on analyzing the circular
sign for nut=sky, which is likewise the determinative for city, that it
contains four triangles. These converge towards the centre, as do the
triangular sides of the square pyramid, and thus the sign nut and the
pyramid clearly appear to express a whole divided into four parts, the
square form being connected with earth and the circle with the sky.

[Illustration.]

Figure 60.

A proof that the quadriform organization was extensively employed in
ancient Egypt, is furnished by Dr. Wallis Budge's statement that each nome
or province was divided into four parts, and had its capital or "nut." The
inference is that each nome constituted a miniature reproduction of the
state and that the sign nut represented its theoretical plan. On the other
hand, the fact that the triangle constitutes one sign for the nome itself,
indicates that, originally, the nome was identified as one of four
divisions of the state only and that, like Babylon, Egypt must have been
theoretically divided, not only into two main divisions, but also into
four regions, corresponding to the

North=Meh-ta, literally North land.
West=Amen-ta, literally Hidden land.
South=Resu.
East=Aba.

In the extracts from the Pyramid texts published by Dr. Wallis Budge
(Pyramid of Unas, Fifth dynasty), the following invocation occurs: "O gods
of the west, O gods of the east, O gods of the south, O gods of the north,
four these, who embrace _the four quarters of the earth holy_." These four
quarters are represented in hieroglyphics by the sign for land=ta,
repeated four times, which thus express, literally, "the four lands" or
regions. Allusion is also made in the same inscription, to the "four
fields of heaven."(108)

The four gods, termed by Egyptologists the "genii of the dead," were Amset
or Mestha, Hapi, Tuaumutef and Kebhsenuf, and it was the custom to pl