f Nut" he is identified with
the Syrian Baal.

4. _The Divine Cult._--In the midst of every town rose the temple of the
local god, a stately building of stone, strongly contrasting with the
mud and plaster houses in which even the wealthiest Egyptians dwelt. It
was called the "house of the god" [HRGs], and in it the deity was
supposed to reside, attended by his "servants" [HRGs] the priests. There
was indeed a certain justification for this contention, even when a
contrary theory assigned to the divinity a place in the sky, as in the
case of the lunar divinity Thoth; for in the inmost sanctuary stood a
statue of the god, which served as his representative for the purposes
of the cult. Originally each temple was dedicated to one god only; but
it early became usual to associate with him a mate of the opposite sex,
besides a third deity who might be represented either as a second wife
or as a child. As examples of such triads, as they are called, may be
mentioned that of Thebes, consisting of Ammon, Mut and Chons, father,
mother and child; and as typical of the other kind, where a god was
accompanied by two goddesses, that of Elephantine, consisting of Khnum,
Satis and Anukis. The needs of the god were much the same as those of
mortals; no more than they could he dispense with food and drink,
clothes for his apparel, ointment for his limbs, and music and dancing
to rejoice his heart. The only difference was that the divine statue was
half-consciously recognized as a lifeless thing that required carefully
regulated rites and ceremonies to enable it to enjoy the good things
offered to it. Early every morning the officiating priest proceeded to
the holy of holies, after the preliminaries of purification had cleansed
him from any miasma that might interfere with the efficacy of the rites.
Then with the prescribed gestures, and reciting appropriate formulae all
the while, he broke the seal upon the door of the shrine, loosed the
bolts, and at last stood face to face with the god. There followed a
series of prostrations and adorations, culminating in the offering of a
small image of Maat, the goddess of Truth. This seems to have been the
psychological moment of the entire service: hitherto the statue had been
at best a god in _posse_; now the symbolical act placed him in
possession of all his faculties, he was a god in truth, and could
participate like any mortal in the food and luxuries that his servants
put before him. The d