Adams, Walter M.: The house of the hidden places: a clue to the creed of early Egypt from Egyptian sources (London, 1895)

58 The Hoiise of Osiris. [Ch.

have been effected by a twofold route. In part,
according to a very ancient tradition, mentioned
by Dr. Brugsch, they proceeded along the banks
of the river, sojourning for a while, it would
seem, in the island of Meroe, where the hoary
temple of Amen and the ruins of Assur, men-
tioned above, mark their ancient presence;
while others appear to have come down by the
Eed Sea, as Mr. Petrie's discoveries indicate,
and thence to have crossed the desert to Coptos.
From this most important circumstance, it
is essential to bear in mind that to the
Egyptian the South was the " Great Quarter,"
to which especial reverence was due. Hence
it was that every year the sacred images were
carried into the ancestral country ; an echo
of which tradition is found in the visits of
the gods of Homer to the " blameless
Ethiopians." Hence, in the ancient inscription
on the coffin of Amamu, we are told how the
holy dead, " after flying over the whole face
of heaven," is " established among the blessed