e when the constellation Draco, the "Old serpent," or
"Nakkasch qodmun," was circumpolar and was equally familiar, under this
name, to the Egyptian and Euphratean astronomers. This inference seems to
be confirmed by the fact that, in the hymn to Amen-Ra, cited above, the
name Nak is given to "the serpent with knives stuck in his back," who,
according to the myth, was the demon of night and the enemy of the
sun-god, the ruler of day. The fact that, in the temple of Amen-Ra at
Thebes, a service was recited daily for the destruction of the serpent Nak
by Horus, appears to indicate the growth of the idea of a combat between
light and darkness and the dual forces of nature, which would naturally
tend to create the thought of an antagonism existing not only between the
sexes, but also between the two divisions of Egypt and the separate cults
of the nocturnal heaven (Polaris and the moon) and the diurnal heaven (the
sun).

In the list of festivals, dating from the Ptolemaic period and inscribed
in the temple at Edfu, there are mentioned: "the festival of the end or
point of the triangle," simultaneous with that of "the serpent Nai or Na,"
immediately followed by "the festivals of the 'tena'=[aten?], and of the
great serpent Na," and "of the Ken=the festival of darkness, and of the
red serpent Na" (Brugsch _op. cit._ I, p. 51). Commenting upon the above
names I draw attention to the curious fact that in the above word ken, we
seem to have the inversion of nak, the name of the "night-serpent" and
that na is actually the inversion of the word an, which signifies "he who
turns or winds himself around." I shall show further on, in astronomical
texts, that this name is actually identified with the pole.

When these facts are borne in mind the full import of the familiar
Egyptian symbol for eternity=tet, becomes clear. It consists of the image
of a mummy, symbolizing fixity, around which a great serpent is winding
itself, conveying the idea of circling motion (fig. 63, 9 and 10). It is
well known that this group symbolized eternity=tet and the sign is always
interpreted as expressing the sound tet. If analyzed more closely,
however, and interpreted as a rebus, it appears to yield a fund of deeper
meaning.

The serpent Na furnishes the word An=the winder or he who moves around.
Linked to one of the names for mummy=sah, the group might be read as
An-sah, a name which invites comparison with Anshar, the Assyrian
pole-star god who was