on carries the net or
lassoes the bull, and recites the prayer while his father successively
presents to the god each object prescribed by the ritual. A priest may
occasionally act as substitute for the prince, but other men perform only
the most menial offices. They are slaughterers or servants, or they bear
the boat or canopy of the god. The god, for his part, is not always alone.
He has his wife and his son by his side; next after them the gods of the
neighbouring homes, and, in a general way, all the gods of Egypt. From the
moment that the temple is regarded as representing the world, it must, like
the world, contain all gods, both great and small. They are most frequently
ranged behind the principal god, seated or standing; and with him they
share in the homage paid by the king. Sometimes, however, they take an
active part in the ceremonies. The spirits of On and Khonu[21] kneel before
the sun, and proclaim his praise. Hor, Set, or Thoth conducts Pharaoh into
the presence of his father Amen Ra, or performs the functions elsewhere
assigned to the prince or the priest. They help him to overthrow the victim
or to snare birds for the sacrifice; and in order to wash away his
impurities, they pour upon his head the waters of youth and life. The
position and functions of these co-operating gods were strictly defined in
the theology. The sun, travelling from east to west, divided the universe
into two worlds, the world of the north and the world of the south. The
temple, like the universe, was double, and an imaginary line passing
through the axis of the sanctuary divided it into two temples--the temple
of the south on the right hand, and the temple of the north on the left.
The gods and their various manifestations were divided between these two
temples, according as they belonged to the northern or southern hemisphere.
This fiction of duality was carried yet further. Each chamber was divided,
in imitation of the temple, into two halves, the right half belonging to
the south, and the left half to the north. The royal homage, to be
complete, must be rendered in the temples of the south and of the north,
and to the gods of the south and of the north, and with the products of the
south and of the north. Each sculptured tableau must, therefore, be
repeated at least twice in each temple--on a right wall and on a left wall.
Amen, on the right, receives the corn, the wine, the liquids of the south;
while on the left he receives the