All this proves the vast and supreme importance attached to the sun by the ancient Egyptians. But why should they have selected the sun as their principal deity? All the pictures, in which the sun or the sun-god is represented, give us the answer. On them it will be noticed that each deity holds in one of its hands the sign [glyphs] (_ankh_) meaning "life", and in a tomb at Tel-el-Amarna we find the sun represented with rays terminating in human hands and touching the lips of Amenophis IV. and his wife with the sign [glyphs]. As all nature receives its life from the light of the sun, so all human beings obtain their life and their subsistence from the same source. Therefore Pharaoh and his people would {30}turn to the heavenly orb each day with prayer and adoration, asking of it the blessing and gift of life here on earth, and the life to come in Amenti or Hades. The sun is to them the giver of life, strength, health, existence, and all happiness. It is for this reason, that the finest productions of the Egyptian scribes are the grand hymns addressed to the sun, the tutelary god of Egypt. [Illustration: Ra bestowing "life" on Amenophis IV. and his wife.] Having called attention to the belief of the ancient Egyptians in the sun as their guiding and illuminating deity, it will now be necessary to consider the place the obelisk occupies with regard to it. The first thing that greets our eyes on most obelisks is the figure of a bird on the top of each column of hieroglyphs. This represents the god Horus in the form of a sparrow-hawk ([glyphs]), and gives him the usual insignia, namely the crown of Upper and Lower Egypt; thus, [glyphs]. Horus was a form or hypostasis of Râ, the sun, in his midday power, and is often found in the mysterious combination as Hor-Râ [glyphs] and Râ-Hor-Khuti [glyphs] or Hor-em-khuti [glyphs]. Why did the Egyptians choose the hawk as the {31}embodiment of their highest god? Perhaps on account of the lofty flight of the bird, or else because of its keen vision. In the "victory-stelé" of Thothmes III. the deity says to the king: [glyphs] [glyphs] [Pronounced: du·a ma sen hen·k em neb dema·t thet em degag·t·f er merer·f] "_I let them behold your majesty like the lord of flight_ (hawk), _grasping with his glance whatever he desires_", thus combining in one verse the two explanations given above. The grandest sanctuary in which Horus was worshiped was in Edfu, where he was called [glyphs] Hor-Hud·t. Horus and Râ were generally united into one deity and then represented as a hawk-faced man with the disk of the sun on his head ([glyphs]). In order to proclaim this deity a ruler over the earth as well as the heavens, the picture of the hawk frequently has the double crown of Egypt ([glyphs] being the white crown--[glyphs] _hez_--of Upper Egypt and the red crown--[glyphs] _desher_--of Lower Egypt) added to it ([glyphs]), to signify that Horus is the lord of the universe. [Illustration: Horus of Edfu.]