Egyptian

It is doubtful that the deity called Thoth by the Egyptians was originally Hermes, but the two personalities were blended together and it is now impossible to separate them. Thoth was called "The Lord of the Divine Books" and "Scribe of the Company of the Gods." He is generally pictured with the body of a man and the head of an ibis. MPH

Thoth, the Dog-Headed

From Lenoir’s La Franche-Maconnerie

Aroueris, or Thoth, one of the five immortals, protected the infant Horus after the murder of Osiris. He also revised the ancient Egyptian calendar by increasing the year from 360 days to 365. Thoth-Hermes was called "The Dog-Headed" because of his faithfulness and integrity. He is shown crowned with a solar nimbus, carrying in one hand the Crux Ansata, the symbol of eternal life, and in the other a serpent-wound staff symbolic of his dignity as a counselor of the gods. MPH

Isis, Queen of Heaven

From Mosaize Historie der Hebreeuwse Kerke

Diodorus writes of a famous inscription carved on a column at Nysa, in Arabia, wherein Isis described herself as follows: "I am Isis, Queen of this country. I was instructed by Mercury. No one can destroy the laws which I have established. I am the eldest daughter of Saturn, most ancient of the gods. I am the wife and sister of Osiris the King. I first made known to mortals the use of wheat. I am the mother of Orus the King. In my honor was the city of Bubaste built. Rejoice, O Egypt, rejoice, land that gave me birth!" MPH

The Egyptian Madonna

From Lenoir’s La Franche-Maconnerie

Isis is often shown with her son Horus in her arms. She is crowned with the lunar orb, ornamented with the horns of rams or bulls. Orus, or Horus, was the son of Isis and Osiris. He was the god of time, hours, days, and this narrow span of life recognized as mortal existence. In all probability, the four sons of Horus represent the four kingdoms of Nature. It was Horus who finally avenged the murder of his father, Osiris, by slaying Typhon, the Spirit of Evil. MPH

Osiris, King of the Underworld

From Lenoir’s La Franche-Maconnerie

Osiris is often represented with the lower part of his body enclosed in a mummy case or wrapped about with funeral bandages. Osiris was the river Nile and that Isis (his sister-wife) was the contiguous land, which, when inundated by the river, bore fruit and harvest. The murky waters of the Nile were believed to account for the blackness of Osiris, who was generally symbolized as being of ebony hue. MPH

The Winged Globe of Egypt

From Maurice’s Indian Antiquities

This symbol, which appears over the pylons or gates of many Egyptian palaces and temples, is emblematic of the three persons of the Egyptian Trinity. The wings, the serpents, and the solar orb are the insignia of Ammon, Ra, and Osiris. MPH

The Royal Egyptian Scarab

From Hall’s Catalogue of Egyptian Scarabs, Etc., in the British Museum

The flat under side of a scarab usually bears an inscription relating to the dynasty during which it was cut. These scarabs were sometimes used as seals. Some were cut from ordinary or precious stones; others were made of clay, baked and glazed. Occasionally the stone scarabs were also glazed. The majority of the small scarabs are pierced as though originally used as beads. Some are so hard that they will cut glass. In the picture above, A shows top and side views of the scarab, and B the under surface with the name of Men-ka-Ra within the central cartouche. MPH

The Uraeus

From Kircher’s OEdipus AEgyptiacus

The spinal cord was symbolized by a snake, and the serpent coiled upon the foreheads of the Egyptian initiates represented the Divine Fire which had crawled serpent-like up the Tree of Life. MPH

An Egyptian Phoenix

From Wilkinson’s Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians

The Egyptians occasionally represented the phoenix as having the body of a man and the wings of a bird. This biform creature had a tuft of feathers upon its head and its arms were upraised in an attitude of prayer. As the phoenix was the symbol of regeneration, the tuft of feathers on the back of its head might well symbolize the activity of the pineal gland, or third eye, the occult function of which was apparently well understood by the ancient priest-craft. MPH

The Sacred Bull, or Apis

From Kircher’s Sphinx Mystagoga

The bull and the ox are ancient emblems of the vernal equinox and the element of earth—consequently of the planet itself. Pultarch wrote: "The Apis ought ever to be regarded by us, as a fair and beautiful image of the soul of Osiris." Osiris represents the spiritual nature of the lower world which is murdered and distributed throughout the substance of the physical spheres; Apis is the emblem of the material world within which is the spiritual nature—Osiris. MPH

The Crux Ansata (the Ankh)

Both the cross and the circle were fertility symbols, for the ancient world venerated the generative powers of Nature as being expressive of the creative attributes of the Deity. The Crux Ansata, by combining the masculine TAU with the feminine oval, exemplified the principles of generation. MPH

A Vertical Section of the Great Pyramid

From Smyth’s Life and Work at the Great Pyramid

The Great Pyramid stands upon a limestone plateau at the base of which, according to ancient history, the Nile once flowed, thus supplying a method of transportation for the huge blocks used in its construction. Presuming that the capstone was originally in place, the Pyramid is, according to John Taylor, in round figures 486 feet high; the base of each side is 764 feet long, and the entire structure covers a ground area of more than 13 acres. The Pyramid contains four chambers.

The King’s Chamber is an oblong apartment approx. 39 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 19 feet high, with a flat roof consisting of nine great stones, the largest in the Pyramid. Above the King’s Chamber are five low compartments, generally termed construction chambers. In the lowest of these the so-called hieroglyphs of the Pharaoh Cheops are located. The roof of the fifth construction chamber is peaked. At the end of the King’s Chamber opposite the entrance stands the famous sarcophagus, or coffer, and behind it is a shallow opening that was dug in the hope of discovering valuables. Two air vents passing through the entire body of the Pyramid ventilate the King’s Chamber. In itself this is sufficient to establish that the building was not intended for a tomb.

Between the upper end of the Grand Gallery and the King’s Chamber is a small antechamber, its extreme length 9 feet, its extreme width 5 feet, and its extreme height 12 feet, with its walls grooved for purposes now unknown. In the groove nearest the Grand Gallery is a slab of stone in two sections, with a peculiar boss or knob protruding about an inch from the surface of the upper part facing the Grand Gallery. This stone does not reach to the floor of the antechamber and those entering the King’s chamber must pass under the slab. From the King’s Chamber the Grand Gallery—157 feet in length, 28 feet in height, 7 feet in width at its widest point and decreasing to 3½ feet as the result of seven converging overlaps of the stones forming the walls—descends to a little above the level of the Queen’s Chamber. Here a gallery branches off, passing more than 100 feet back towards the center of the Pyramid and opening into the Queen’s Chamber. The Queen’s Chamber is 19 feet long, 17 feet wide, and 20 feet high. Its roof is peaked and composed of great slabs of stone. Air passages not shown lead from the Queen’s Chamber, but these were not open originally. In the east wall of the Queen’s Chamber is a peculiar niche of gradually converging stone, which, in all likelihood, may prove to be a now lost entrance way. At the point where the Grand Gallery ends and the horizontal passage towards the Queen’s chamber begins is the entrance to the well and also the opening leading down the first ascending passage to the point where this passage meets the descending passage leading from the outer wall of the Pyramid down to the subterranean chamber. After descending 59 feet down the well the grotto is reached. Continuing through the floor of the grotto the well leads downward 133 feet to the descending entrance passage, which it meets a short distance before this passage becomes horizontal and leads into the subterranean chamber. The subterranean chamber is about 46 feet long and 27 feet wide, but is extremely low, the ceiling varying in height from a little over 3 feet to about 13 feet from the rough and apparently unfinished floor. From the south side of the subterranean chamber a low tunnel runs about 50 feet and then meets a blank wall. These constitute the only known openings in the Pyramid, with the exception of a few niches, exploration holes, blind passages, and the rambling cavernous tunnel hewn out by the Moslems under the leadership of the Prophet’s descendant, Caliph al Mamoun. MPH