him by the hand, led him into the presence of the great Triad, or of the presiding Divinity, of the temple. He was welcomed with suitable expressions of approbation; and on this, as on other occasions, the sacred tau, or sign of Life, was presented to 1 f Tau, or sign of Life. him,-a symbol which, with the sceptre of Purity, was usually placed in the hands of the Gods. These two were deemed the greatest gifts bestowed by the Deity on man. The origin of the tau I cannot precisely determine; nor is it more intelligible when given in the sculptures on a large scale. Though there is no evidence of its being of a phallic character, we cannot fail to be struck by the remarkable resemblance of the Egyptian word signifying (ônh), which this implies, to the yohni lingam of the Hindoos. It is true that the yohni of the latter is not the male, but a female emblem; yet the tau of Egypt may combine the two *, and be equally well chosen to denote life. "life" A still more curious fact may be mentioned respecting this hieroglyphic character-that the early Christians of Egypt adopted it in lieu of the cross, which was afterwards substituted for it, prefixing it to inscriptions in the same manner as the cross in later times. For though Dr. Young had some scruples in believing the statement of Sir A. Edmonstone, that it holds this position in the * Was the scal of the frog one of them? Vide suprà, p. 269. sepulchres of the Great Oasis, I can attest that such is the case, and that numerous inscriptions headed by the tau are preserved to the present day on early Christian monuments. The triumph of the king was a grand solemnity. Flattering to the national pride of the Egyptians, it awakened those feelings of enthusiasm which the celebration of victory naturally inspires, and led them to commemorate it with the greatest pomp. When the victorious monarch, returning to Egypt after a glorious campaign, approached the cities which lay on his way, from the confines of the country to the capital, the inhabitants flocked to meet him, and with welcome acclamations greeted his arrival and the success of his arms. The priests and chief people of each place advanced with garlands and bouquets of flowers; the principal person present addressed him in an appropriate speech; and as the troops defiled through the streets, or passed without the walls, the people followed with acclamations, uttering earnest thanksgivings to the Gods, the protectors of Egypt, and praying them for ever to continue the same marks of favour to their monarch and their nation. Arrived at the capital, they went immediately to the temple, where they returned thanks to the Gods, and performed the customary sacrifices on this important occasion. The whole army atmarch continued the tended, and the order of same as on entering the city. A corps of Egyptians, consisting of chariots and infantry, led the van in close column, followed by the allies of the different nations, who had shared the dangers of the field and the honour of victory. In the centre marched the body guards, the king's sons, the military scribes, the royal arm-bearers, and the staff corps, in the midst of whom was the monarch himself, mounted in a splendid car, attended by his fan-bearers on foot, bearing over him the state flabella. Next followed other regiments of infantry, with their respective banners, and the rear was closed by a body of chariots. The prisoners, tied together with ropes, were conducted by some of the king's sons, or by the chief officers of the staff, at the side of the royal car. The king himself frequently held the cord which bound them, as he drove slowly in the procession; and two or more chiefs were sometimes suspended beneath the axle of his chariot, contrary to the usual humane principles of the Egyptians, who seem to have refrained from unnecessary cruelty to their captives, extending this feeling so far as to rescue, even in the heat of battle, a defenceless enemy from a watery grave.† Having reached the precincts of the temple, the guards and royal attendants selected to be the representatives of the whole army entered the courts, the rest of the troops, too numerous for admission, being drawn up before the entrance; and the king, alighting from his car, prepared to lead his captives to the shrine of the God. Military bands played the favourite airs of the country; and the numerous standards of the different regiments, the banners * Vide Vol. I. (1st Series) p. 106. Plate 1. floating in the wind, the bright lustre of arms, the immense concourse of people, and the imposing majesty of the lofty towers of the propylæa, decked with their bright-coloured flags streaming above the cornice, presented a scene seldom, we may say, equalled on any occasion in any country. But the most striking feature of this pompous ceremony was the brilliant cortége of the monarch, who was either borne in his chair of state by the principal officers of state under a rich canopy, or walked on foot, overshadowed with rich flabella and fans of waving plumes. As he approached the inner pylon, a long procession of priests advanced to meet him, dressed in their robes of office; censers full of incense were burnt before him; and a hierogrammat read from a papyrus roll the glorious deeds of the victorious monarch, and the tokens he had received of the Divine favour. They then They then accompanied him into the presence of the presiding Deity of the place; and having performed sacrifice, and offered suitable thanksgivings, he dedicated the spoil of the conquered enemy, and expressed his gratitude for the privilege of laying before the feet of the God, the giver of victory, those prisoners he had brought to the vestibule of the Divine abode.* In the mean time, the troops without the sacred precincts were summoned, by sound of trumpet, to attend the sacrifice prepared by the priests, in the name of the whole army, for the benefits they had received from the Gods, the success of their arms, *The impure foreigners were not taken into the interior of the temple, to which the king and the priests were alone admitted. and their own preservation in the hour of danger. Each regiment marched up by turn to the altar temporarily raised for the occasion, to the sound of the drum *, the soldiers carrying in their hand a twig of olivet, with the arms of their respective corps; but the heavy-armed soldier laid aside his shield on this occasion, as if to show the security he enjoyed in the presence of the Deity. An ox was then killed; and wine, incense, and the customary offerings of cakes, fruit, vegetables, joints of meat, and birds, were presented to the God they invoked. Every soldier deposited the twig of olive he carried at the altar; and as the trumpet summoned them, so also it gave the signal for each regiment to withdraw and cede its place to another. The ceremony being over, the king went in state to his palace, accompanied by the troops; and having distributed rewards to them, and eulogised their conduct in the field, he gave his orders to the commanders of the different corps, and they withdrew to their cantonments, or to the duties to which they were appointed. Of the fixed festivals, one of the most remarkable was the celebration of the grand assemblies, or panegyries, held in the great halls of the principal temples, at which the king presided in person. Of their precise nature, and of the periods when they were held, we are still ignorant; but that * Conf. Clem. Pædag. ii. 4. + Or of the bay tree. This may be an illustration of the remark of Clemens (Strom. v. p. 243.), that "twigs were given to those who came to worship." He mentions in the same place "the wheel turned in the sacred groves." ‡ Vide suprà, Vol. I. (1st Series) p.401. |