customary offerings to the dead were supposed to pass through his hands, and the family availed themselves of his name in the formula suten ta hotep to forward them to the other world.  The king is seen, therefore, in all parts of the temple, standing, seated, kneeling, slaying the victim, presenting the parts, pouring out the wine, the milk, and the oil, and burning the incense.  All humankind acts through him, and through him performs its duty towards the gods.  When the ceremonies to be performed required the assistance of many persons, then alone did mortal subordinates (consisting, as much as possible, of his own family) appear by his side.  The queen, standing behind him like Isis behind Osiris, uplifts her hand to protect him, shakes the sistrum, beats the tambourine to dispel evil spirits, or holds the libation vase or bouquet.  The eldest son carries the net or lassoes the bull, and recites the prayer while his father successively presents to the god each object prescribed by the ritual.  A priest may occasionally act as substitute for the prince, but other men perform only the most menial offices.  They are slaughterers or servants, or they bear the boat or canopy of the god.  The god, for his part, is not always alone.  He has his wife and his son by his side; next after them the gods of the neighbouring homes, and, in a general way, all the gods of Egypt.  From the moment that the temple is regarded as representing the world, it must, like the world, contain all gods, both great and small.  They are most frequently ranged behind the principal god, seated or standing; and with him they share in the homage paid by the king.  Sometimes, however, they take an active part in the ceremonies.  The spirits of On and Khonu[21] kneel before the sun, and proclaim his praise.  Hor, Set, or Thoth conducts Pharaoh into the presence of his father Amen Ra, or performs the functions elsewhere assigned to the prince or the priest.  They help him to overthrow the victim or to snare birds for the sacrifice; and in order to wash away his impurities, they pour upon his head the waters of youth and life.  The position and functions of these co-operating gods were strictly defined in the theology.  The sun, travelling from east to west, divided the universe into two worlds, the world of the north and the world of the south.  The temple, like the universe, was double, and an imaginary line passing through the axis of the sanctuary divided it into two temples—­the temple of the south on the right hand, and the temple of the north on the left.  The gods and their various manifestations were divided between these two temples, according as they belonged to the northern or southern hemisphere.  This fiction of duality was carried yet further.  Each chamber was divided, in imitation of the temple, into two halves, the right half belonging to the south, and the left half to the north.  The royal homage, to be complete, must be rendered in the temples of the south and of the north, and