Piānchi, who at Heliopolis paid a visit to the great Tabernacle
(⁂⁂⁂) of the Sun-god, the doors of which he opened and
afterwards sealed up with the royal seal. Before going up the steps to
it he had to lift the _Vail_ (⁂⁂⁂⁂) or Curtains which
concealed it, and perform sprinklings and offer incense and flowers. Two
important words (of which the first has the interesting variant ⁂ and
the second is written ⁂⁂⁂ in the oldest texts) are thus made
clear.
The god is said, according to the different readings, to pierce
“through, the Vail” or “through _what is upon_ the Vail.”
It will be remembered that the Hebrew Holy of Holies was separated from
the Sanctuary by a curtain upon which the figures of Cherubim were
woven, that before the curtain of the Holy of Holies stood the altar
upon which incense was offered each morn and evening, and that in
sin-offerings the priest sprinkled blood seven times before the Vail of
the Sanctuary.