next page previous page home

Khnum, it is said in the comments by Budges (in Book of the Dead):

... supported the heaven upon its four pillars in the beginning, and earth, air, sea, and sky are his handiwork ...

Most interesting is Budge's insertion here of a picture of those 4 pillars:

They are open upwards and they support the sky. Wilkinson has no picture of them, but he has the upside down version (menchet):

It means 'cloth', and we can immediately understand why: There is no chance for the light to come inside the pair of triangular forms. The two pillars are turned upside down and placed on the ground. The similarity with henen is obvious - light is barred. Wilkinson has not mentioned this way of 'reading' menchet. But 4 is the number of 90-day quarters for the Sun and 2 is the number of fortnights for Waxing respectively Waning Moon.

On Easter Island (south of the equator) menchet changes from 2 to 1:

henua ora

A black cloth covers the earth. A single upside down Moon pillar is in the center (it has 2 'bars'). Instead of a straight horizontal line for the ground we have a curved cup-form. The Moon type of menchet is black, while the Sun type is white (cfr at vaha kai):