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about 325 feet long and 245 feet broad.
At the west end stood a truncated, or "blunted," pyramid (A),
and on the top of it was an obelisk made of stone (B).
In front of the east side of the pyramid stood an alabaster B altar, and on the north side of the
altar were channels along which the blood of the victims, both A animal and human, ran into ala-
baster bowls which were placed to receive it.
On the north side of the rectangular walled enclosure was a row of store rooms, and on the east
and south sides were passages, the walls of which were decorated with reliefs. Opposite the altar,
on the east side, was a gateway; from this ran a path, which led by an inclined causeway to ano-
ther gate, Which formed the entrance to another large enclosure, about 1,000 feet square. The priests lived in this enclosure, and in special chambers were kept the sacred objects which were carried in procession on days of festival.
The principal object of the cult of Ra and his special symbol was the obelisk, but it has been suggested that the earliest worshippers of the sun believed that their god dwelt in a particular
stone of pyramidal shape.
At stated seasons, or for special purposes, the Spirit of the Sun was induced by the priests to
inhabit the stone, and it was believed to be present when gifts were offered up to the god, and
when human victims, who were generally prisoners of war, were sacrificed.
The exact signification of this sun symbol is not known. Some think that the obelisk represented
the axis of earth and heaven, but the Egyptians can hardly have evolved such an idea; others
assign to it a phallic signification, and others associate it with an object that produced fire and
heat.
That it symbolized Ra is certain, and there was in every sanctuary a
