is the birthplace of the gods; and the birth of the deity is
depicted with literal crudity as an emergence from the portal between
its two mountains. The mountain splits to give birth to the sun-god,
just as in the later fable the parturient mountain produced the
"ridiculous mouse" (Apollo Smintheus). The Great Mother is described as
giving birth--"the gates of the firmament are undone for Teti himself at
break of day" [that is when the sun-god is born on the horizon]. "He
comes forth from the Field of Earu" (Egyptian Pyramid Texts--Breasted's
translation).

In the domain of Olympian obstetrics the analogy between birth and the
emergence from the door of a house or the gateway of a temple is a
common theme of veiled reference. Artemis, for instance, is a goddess of
the portal, and is not only a helper in childbirth, but also grows in
her garden a magical herb which is capable of opening locks. This
reputation, however, was acquired not merely by reason of her skill in
midwifery, but also as an outcome of the legend[353] of the
treasure-house of pearls which was under the guardianship of the great
"giver of life" and of which she kept the magic key. She was in fact
the feminine form of Janus, the doorkeeper who presided over all
beginnings, whether of birth, or of any kind of enterprise or new
venture, or the commencement of the year (like Hathor). Janus was the
guardian of the door of Olympus itself, the gate of rebirth into the
immortality of the gods.

The ideas underlying these conceptions found expression in an endless
variety of forms, material, intellectual, and moral, wherever the
influence of civilization made itself felt. I shall refer only to one
group of these expressions that is directly relevant to the
subject-matter of this book. I mean the custom of suspending or
representing the life-giving symbol above the portal of temples and
houses. Thus the plant peculiar to Artemis herself, the mugwort or
Artemisia, was hung above the door,[354] just as the winged disk was
sculptured upon the lintel, or the thunder-stone was placed above the
door of the cowhouse[355] to afford the protection of the Great Mother's
powers of life-giving to her own cattle.

In the Pyramid Texts the rebirth of a dead pharaoh is described with
vivid realism and directness. "The waters of life which are in the sky
come. The waters of life which are in the earth come. The sky burns for
thee, the earth trembles for thee, before the birt