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Rameses II: Ammon

THE tabernacles of the gods were followed by statuettes of the royal ancestors and predecessors of Mei-Amount also carried and interpreted by priests. Then, in the midst of another sacerdotal group, the white bull, the living emblem of Ammon- Ra, covered with flowers and enveloped in a cloud of incense, appeared on the threshold of the temple, as though to invite the new Aroeri to cross it. Then, descending from his elevated naos, Mei- Amoun on foot proceeded through the interior * See Diodorus, Book I., chapter 70. + See Appendix VI. porticoes and the high colonnades of the hypostylic halls toward the sanctuary where, upon an altar of porphyry, sat the grand Theban triad. The priestly choirs, the sacred baris, the images of the ancestors, the royal family and the chiefs of the Eris only went in thither with him.

On his arrival, the high priest presiding over the pageant, caused the pontiffs officiating under him to intone the chant consecrated to the Divine light revealing itself to mortals. Standing erect at the altar, he there received the King, who, ascending to a place beside him, aided him in completing the sacrifice ordained for the occasion; poured out consecrated libations before Ammon; burned the prescribed incense, amid a shower of flowers, and prostrated himself while pronouncing these words, at once so haughty and so simple : "I come to my father Ammon at the end of the procession of gods which he forever admits to his presence."

During this time, these same gods and their terrestrial retinue wheeled solemnly around the altar, mingling with the homage that they laid at the feet of the King of Heaven, as they passed, the wishes which they expressed for the welfare of the new King of the Earth. The strange import of these antique litanies may be conjectured from the Karnak, the Interior Court (restored according to the Egyptian Commission). following fragments which have been preserved for us by the mural inscriptions :