Sacred

emblems of deities, as shrines in which their symbols were carried. The ark is a portable temple, a shrine equally with church or Dagoba. The city of Kutha (in Babylonia) is said to have had an ark (or Parakku), in which its god Nergal was carried perhaps as early as 2140 B.c, (Ree. of Past, New Series, i, p. 152). Amos (v, 26) appears to refer to an ark as the “tabernacle” of Moloch, borne (as he sarcastically says) by Israel in the desert. Every god had an ark or place of rest—the symbol also of his feminine form. It is the arcanum of the faith, concealing its secrets, and may be adored as such. Hence early students speak of “ Arkite Faiths”; but the ark is the Vahana, or “ carrier,” of deity. Osiris must not be separated from Isis, or from his ark, nor is Bhagavati from Bhagava, The root word (Arg: Latin area) means any enclosure or arcanum (secret place). In English translation the Tebah of Noah and Moses (an ark-boat), is confounded with the Aram or sacred ark (see Aaron). The latter held the *Edoth or certain sacred “tokens.” The Aran is also Joseph's coffin (Gen. 1, 26). 169