The mystery of the Great pyramid : traditions concerning it and its connection with the Egyptian Book of the dead : with numerous illustrations

MYSTERY OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

is admitted: “ What, then, is this (gate)? he asks ; “Tt is (the gate of). . . the underworld (Tuat), and it is the northern door of the Tomb—literally ‘door of the passages of the Tomb ’—precisely as in the Great Pyramid the only entrance to its passages is the ‘ Gate of Ascent’”’ (Tchesert) in the seventeenth course of the northern face. “The Gate of Tchesert is the northern gate of the Tuat . . it is the two leaves of the door (symbolized by the pair of angle-stones) through which the god Tem (Harmachis) passeth when he goeth forth to the eastern horizon of heaven” (lines 56-9).

In connection with the god Harmachis, dwelling in the horizon of heaven, it is interesting to note that the Sphinx was called Hu, or “ protector’, by the ancient Egyptians, and represented this god in his aspect of the rising sun ; hence the Sphinx being oriented to the East. The name Sphinx was given to it by the Greeks because it was similar to their own mythological figure, which, however, had a winged body of a lion, and the breast and head of a woman (see Note W.) The Sphinx of Gizeh, representing Harmachis, the guide and protector, has a man’s head, and was probably connected with sun-worship. There seems to be a tradition that Khufu carried out certain repairs on it, in which case it must have been of considerable antiquity even when the Great Pyramid was being erected. The late Sir Gaston Maspero, for one, considered it the most ancient statue known, and states that it was already in existence in the time of Khufu, and could probably be ascribed to the generations before Menes, the founder of the First Dynasty, who were called ‘“* followers of Horus”, and mentioned in various passages in the Book of the Dead, an appellation revealed in the name of Horem-Khu—* Horus-on-theHorizon ”—another form of Heru-Khuti (or Harmachis), to whom the Sphinx was dedicated.