This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar tools, in Chaldæa and Egypt about the time in question. Further it is supposed that the diorite out of which both series of statues were fashioned came out of the same quarry in Sinai. The characters in which the inscriptions are written are in what is termed "line" Babylonian--_i.e._, they resemble pictures more than cuneiform characters; and the standard of measurement marked upon the plan of the city, which one of the figures of Tel-loh holds upon his knees, is the same as the standard of measurement of the Egyptian pyramid builders--the cubit of 20·63, not the Assyro-Babylonian cubit of 21·6.[152] Now, although with regard to the cult of the northern stars it was impossible to decide whether the Egyptian school of astronomers came from Babylonia or from a source common to both countries, it is clear that with regard to the equinoctial cult we are limited absolutely to Babylonia as the special source. The coincidence in time of the same kind of buildings and the same art in the two countries puts a common origin out of the question. To sum up, then, so far as we have gone, both the north-star worship and the equinoctial worship were imported into Egypt. CHAPTER XXXV. THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY (CONTINUED)--THE THEBES SCHOOL. The next question which arises now that we have considered the facts relating to the astronomy of Northern Egypt is one connected with the cults which we have proved to come down the Nile. Were they indigenous or imported? Although I have put it forward with all reserve, there is evidence which suggests that the temples so far traced sacred to the southern cult are of earlier foundation than those to the north; and they are associated with Edfû and Philæ, which are known to be of high antiquity. This is one point of difference. Another is that the almost entire absence of Set temples and east and west pyramids up the river indicates that, so far as these structures go, we lack the links which astronomically and mythologically connect the Delta with Babylonia either directly or by common origin. From Prof. Sayce it is to be gathered that the most ancient people yet glimpsed there inhabited the region at the head of the Persian Gulf, one of the chief cities being Eridu, now represented by the mounds of Abu Shahrên on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. It was founded as a maritime city, but is now far inland, owing to the formation of the delta, the alluvium of which at the present time advances about sixty-six feet a year.[153] This alone is an argument in favour of its high antiquity. Along with the culture of Eridu went the worship of the god of Eridu, the primal god of Babylonia, Ea, Ía, or Oannes, symbolised as a goat-fish, and connected in some way with the sun when in Capricornus.