The signification of the obelisk and the worship of the sun.

The most interesting point to be touched upon in our further investigation concerning obelisks is undoubtedly that with regard to their meaning and signification, or, in other words, what the mind of the Egyptian priest saw expressed under the figure of an obelisk. This leads us into the religion and mythology of a nation that had some very lofty conceptions of life, death, and eternity. The objects which called forth such thoughts were pre-eminently the obelisk and the pyramid, the former representing life in the sunshine of glory, the latter death in the darkness of passing night.

In the cosmogony of the Egyptians the Sun plays the most important part. Its birth is thus aptly described from the monuments by Prof. Dr. H. Brugsch: "In the beginning there was no heaven or earth. A boundless water, shrouded in dense darkness, made up the universe. This held in its bosom the male and female germs or beginnings of the future world. The divine primeval spirit, inseparable from the matter of the primitive water, felt a longing after creative power, and his word called into being the world, whose figure and variegated form had already manifested themselves to him. Its corporeal outlines and colors corresponded, in consequence of their derivation, to Truth, that is, to the exact intention of the divine spirit with reference to his future work. The first act of creation consisted in the formation out of the primitive water of an egg, from which the light of day (Ra 'the sun') proceeded, which animated everything in the world. In this rising sun is embodied the almighty divinity in its grandest manifestation".

This new-born deity was destined to become greater than its parent, and to receive adoration in all its many phases. The path of the sun was frequently compared to the life of a man from infancy to old age. Hence the sun was called a boy in the morning, a youth in the midday, and an old man in the evening (glyph khrud "boy", glyph ?unnu "youth", glyph ?au "old man"). The most common names of the sun, however, which constantly recur on the innumerable Egyptian monuments are glyph Ra and glyph Tum, the former representing the sun in all its glory in the morning and at noon, the latter the sun when it has completed [tum] its course and leaves the earth in darkness. Thus the inscriptions frequently speak of glyph (Ra em ubenef) "RÂ when he rises" [whence perhaps the royal title in the stelÉ of Abusimbel: glyph (uben) "the glorious rising sun"], and of glyph (Tum em ?otepef) "Tum when he sets".

The obelisk was erected in honor of the sun in all its phases, both when rising and when about to set. The pyramids, on the other hand, symbolizing the sun after it had set, were always built in the region of darkness and death on the western bank of the Nile, and had only to do with Tum, the setting sun. Here, in the domain of Tum, the bodies of the departed were to rest securely until the light of an eternal morning should wake them again and endow them with the splendor of the rising sun, which also set in the west, entered the lower regions and bowels of the earth or Hades (the Egyptian glyph ?-menti), and again victoriously left its dark dungeon to break forth in its usual glory.

The various phases of the sun in its passage over the heavens are even represented by pictures on the monuments. The sun of morning is pictured as a hawk-faced deity (Horus) crowned with the snake-encircled disk of the sun, called Ra-Hor-Khuti; the sun of noon as the same deity wearing the double crown of Egypt, called Hor or Hor-Khuti; the sun of evening as a human-faced deity with the double crown of Egypt, called Tum or Atum; and the invisible sun of night as a human-faced deity with the sacred scarab above it, called Kheper or Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. These four deities also represented the beginning of the four seasons of the year: the vernal equinox, the summer solstice, the autumnal equinox, and the winter solstice. Some other names and forms under which the sun was worshiped are, besides the above, Amen-Ra (in Thebes), Sebek-Ra (in Ombos), and Khnum-Ra (in Elephantine).

All this proves the vast and supreme importance attached to the sun by the ancient Egyptians. But why should they have selected the sun as their principal deity? All the pictures, in which the sun or the sun-god is represented, give us the answer. On them it will be noticed that each deity holds in one of its hands the sign glyph (ankh) meaning "life", and in a tomb at Tel-el-Amarna we find the sun represented with rays terminating in human hands and touching the lips of Amenophis IV. and his wife with the sign glyph. As all nature receives its life from the light of the sun, so all human beings obtain their life and their subsistence from the same source. Therefore Pharaoh and his people would turn to the heavenly orb each day with prayer and adoration, asking of it the blessing and gift of life here on earth, and the life to come in Amenti or Hades. The sun is to them the giver of life, strength, health, existence, and all happiness. It is for this reason, that the finest productions of the Egyptian scribes are the grand hymns addressed to the sun, the tutelary god of Egypt.

Having called attention to the belief of the ancient Egyptians in the sun as their guiding and illuminating deity, it will now be necessary to consider the place the obelisk occupies with regard to it. The first thing that greets our eyes on most obelisks is the figure of a bird on the top of each column of hieroglyphs. This represents the god Horus in the form of a sparrow-hawk (glyph), and gives him the usual insignia, namely the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt; thus, glyph. Horus was a form or hypostasis of RÂ, the sun, in his midday power, and is often found in the mysterious combination as Hor-RÂ glyph and RÂ-Hor-Khuti glyph or Hor-em-khuti glyph.

Why did the Egyptians choose the hawk as the embodiment of their highest god? Perhaps on account of the lofty flight of the bird, or else because of its keen vision. In the "victory-stelÉ" of Thothmes III. the deity says to the king: glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph glyph [Pronounced: du·? ma sen hen·k em neb dema·t thet em degag·t·f er merer·f] "I let them behold your majesty like the lord of flight (hawk), grasping with his glance whatever he desires", thus combining in one verse the two explanations given above. The grandest sanctuary in which Horus was worshiped was in Edfu, where he was called glyph Hor-Hud·t. Horus and RÂ were generally united into one deity and then represented as a hawk-faced man with the disk of the sun on his head (glyph). In order to proclaim this deity a ruler over the earth as well as the heavens, the picture of the hawk frequently has the double crown of Egypt (glyph being the white crown—glyph hez—of Upper Egypt and the red crown—glyph desher—of Lower Egypt) added to it (glyph), to signify that Horus is the lord of the universe.

In common with the belief of all the ancient nations, the king was considered by the Egyptians not only as a mortal but also, by reason of his exalted rank, as a god on earth. He was the essence of the divinity and styled himself "the offspring of the gods" (glyph mes nuter·u) or more in particular "RÂ's son" or "son of the sun" (glyph sa Ra). Being or pretending to be the sun's son, he demanded and received the homage of his subjects as a god. His person was inviolable, his command was absolute, his power was unlimited. His first act each day was to offer up sacrifice and prayer to his father, the sun, and impress this worship on his subjects.

Summing up, we find the obelisks erected in honor of the sun-god by his son, the king, and used by him to further his own ambitious designs, glorify his own name, and turn the worship of his subjects both to himself and his sire above.

Note. Besides the frequent mention of the obelisk in the countless Egyptian inscriptions on stone, wood, leather, and papyrus, dating back to the earliest dynasties, we find the picture of two obelisks in many copies of the sacred writings of the Egyptians, the so-called "Book of the Dead" or the Egyptian Ritual. It forms part of the vignette of the first division of this book (1-15 chap.), which has mostly to do with hymns, prayers, and incantations addressed to the sun-god. No mention is made of the obelisk in the text of the Ritual. On the preceding page will be found the picture of the two obelisks on a piece of mummy-cloth in the possession of the author. The Hieratic words below the vignette form a portion of the first chapter of the Ritual.