Among the early Babylonians and Egyptians, as among other primitive peoples, the twofold symbols of sex are counted the sacred emblem of life, and as such are borne by the gods of life, and by those who have the power of life and death from those gods. The circle and rod, or ring and bolt, conjoined, are in the right hand of the Babylonian sun-god Shamash;[534] as, in the _ankh_, or _crux ansata_, they are in the right hand of every principal deity of ancient Egypt.[535] It is much the same with the Phœnicians and others.[536]
In the innermost shrine of the most sacred Shinto temples of Japan, the circular mirror, and the straight dagger, with the same meaning as the circle and rod in Babylonia and Egypt and Phœnicia, are the only indications of the presence of deity; and the worshipers in those temples can come no farther than the threshold of the shrine containing these emblems.[537]
Wherever, among the primitive peoples in America, as elsewhere, the red hand is found as a symbol of covenant, and of life and strength through covenant, it would seem to point to this primal meaning of the hand stamp of blood at the doorway of life in a sacred covenant. There are indications in Central American sculptures of the sacredness attaching to the covenant rite between the first pair; and the combined symbols of sex are represented there as in the East.[538]
It is a well-known fact that the public exhibit of the primitive Threshold Covenant, as here explained, has been continued as a mode of reverent worship among primitive peoples in the South Sea Islands, down to modern times. The testimony of Captain Cook, the famous navigator, is specific on this point.[539] It is also to be noted that in these islands the two supports of the altar, or table of sacrifice, are seemingly symbols of the two sexes, similar to those used in the far East.[540]
All of the gathered facts concerning the Threshold Covenant in different lands and in different times, as presented in the foregoing pages, would seem to be in accordance with this view of the origin of the rite, as with no other that can be suggested. The main symbolism of both the Old and the New Testament also seem to indicate the same beginning.