the
corridor of the tomb is directed towards Polaris, it appears obvious that
the supreme god of "life, strength, eternity, rule and power," was a
personification of Polaris, the stability of which was naively expressed
by the body in mummy form symbolizing the absolute repose and immobility
of death, combined with an animated face and the symbols of living, active
power.

As the divine land is expressly designated as the divine land of the north
in astronomical texts and that this celestial region had its terrestrial
counterpart, it is naturally in Lower Egypt, that the holy land of the
north must be sought.

Investigation speedily proves that the most ancient vestiges of
civilization are situated in the neighborhood of Memphis which, under the
kings of the fourth and the sixth dynasties, reached its height of
splendor. It is in the land of the north, Meh-ta, that the extremely
ancient seven-storied pyramid of Sakkarah lies, and that there exists the
area of about thirty kilometers in which eighty pyramids are concentrated,
and which constitutes the great burial ground of countless generations of
Egyptians of all periods. A curious detail, to which I shall refer again,
is the affinity in sound of the name for "north land," Meh-ta, and
mit=death or the dead, and the undeniable resemblance of both words to the
Nahuatl, ancient Mexican mictlan=the North, or underworld, from
mic-quiztli=death and tlan=land (_cf._ Egyptian ta=land).

In Egypt, as elsewhere, the western horizon, below which sun, moon and
stars disappeared, was naturally regarded as the entrance to the region of
the underworld. The west being therefore designated amen-ta, "the hidden
or concealed land or region," it is all the more significant to find the
single entrance and exit corridor of each pyramid directed, not towards
the west, the underworld, but towards the stable centre of the northern
region of the sky. It would therefore seem as though the intention had
been to establish a direct line of communication between the tomb chamber
in the centre of the pyramid and the divine "northern land of God," the
sacred mountain Manu and the shining celestial city Anu, lying "between
the east and west," _i. e._ in the Middle, where the supreme star-god
dwelt in eternal repose. An interesting proof that the longing of the
souls of the dead tended towards the north is furnished by the common
prayer-formula: "may my soul ... inhale the north-wind and drink from t