FIGURE 5
The holy barque, the shrine and the altar
The Sanctuary And The Meaning Of The Holy Barque
In the sanctuary (or holy of holies) of the Egyptian temple was kept the holy barque of the god
or goddess, the one in which he/she was processioned along the Nile. Actually, the statue of
the god was kept inside a sort of chest that was indeed the cabin of the embarkation. This cabin
was called naos or pyxis in Greek, and corresponds to the Ark of Covenant of Judeo-Christian
traditions, to which it served as the model. Its Egyptian name is per, a word which indeed desi-
gnated the shrine within which the statue of the god was kept.
Actually, many authorities hold that the Ark of Covenant is a direct copy of the Egyptian shrine
(per), that is, the naos or cabin of the holy barque. These holy barques correspond to the well-
known Solar Boats in which the gods were deemed to travel to and from Paradise, as illustrated
in Fig. 5 and in innumerous other iconographies.
To make a long story short, we may say that the barque is the Ark where the gods once came
from Punt, crossing the Indian Ocean, driven out of their homeland by the terrible cataclysm that
caused its sinking. Such is the nocturnal trip illustrated by the voyage of the matet boat. And,
in the end of times the gods, led by Osiris, whose figure the Pharaoh represents, shall return to
Paradise (Punt) the same way, sailing in the sactet boat, the one of the return.