The dawn of astronomy - A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians

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Title: The dawn of astronomy - A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians
Author: Lockyer, Norman, Sir
Language: English
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Transcriber's Notes

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.

Several tables have been rearranged to improve clarity and constrain
width. In particular the table of star signs on p 401 was printed
horizontally with vertical names and has been rotated. The reference to
'the upper list' has been changed to 'the left hand list'.

The names Shesu-Hor and Hor-shesu are used, apparently, interchangeably
and have not been rationalised.

The first two errata have been implemented, the third is erroneous.

Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus =bold= and
superscripts thus y^{en}.

THE DAWN OF ASTRONOMY

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ, LOOKING FROM THE SANCTUARY
TOWARDS THE PLACE OF SUNSET AT THE SUMMER SOLSTICE.
(_From a Photograph by the Author._)]

THE
DAWN OF ASTRONOMY

A STUDY OF
THE TEMPLE-WORSHIP AND MYTHOLOGY
OF THE
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.

BY
J. NORMAN LOCKYER

_Fellow of the Royal Society; Correspondent of the Institute of
France, the Society for the Promotion of National Industry of
France, the Royal Academy of Science, Göttingen, La Società degli
Spettroscopisti Italiani, the Royal Academy of Palermo, Natural
History Society of Genera, the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, and
the Royal Medical Society of Brussels; Member of the Royal Academy of
Lincei, Rome, and the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia;
Honorary Member of the Academy of Natural Science of Catania, Literary
and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Philosophical Society of
York, and Lehigh University; Member of the Committee on Solar Physics,
and Professor of Astronomical Physics in the Royal College of Science_

CASSELL AND COMPANY LIMITED
_LONDON PARIS & MELBOURNE_
1894
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

[Illustration: Decorative figure, La belle sauvage]

PREFACE.

The enormous advance which has been recently made in our astronomical
knowledge, and in our power of investigating the various bodies which
people space, is to a very great extent due to the introduction of
methods of work and ideas from other branches of science.

Much of the recent progress has been, we may indeed say, entirely
dependent upon the introduction of the methods of inquiry to which
I refer. While this is generally recognised, it is often forgotten
that a knowledge of even elementary astronomy may be of very great
assistance to students of other branches of science; in other words,
that astronomy is well able to pay her debt. Amongst those branches
is obviously that which deals with man's first attempts to grasp the
meaning and phenomena of the universe in which he found himself before
any scientific methods were available to him; before he had any idea of
the origins or the conditionings of the things around him.

In the present volume I propose to give an account of some attempts I
have been making in my leisure moments during the past three years to
see whether any ideas could be obtained as to the early astronomical
views of the Egyptians, from a study of their temples and the mythology
connected with the various cults.

How I came to take up this inquiry may be gathered from the following
statement:--

It chanced that in March, 1890, during a brief holiday, I went to the
Levant. I went with a good friend, who, one day when we were visiting
the ruins of the Parthenon, and again when we found ourselves at the
temple at Eleusis, lent me his pocket-compass. The curious direction
in which the Parthenon was built, and the many changes of direction in
the foundations at Eleusis revealed by the French excavations, were
so very striking and suggestive that I thought it worth while to note
the bearings so as to see whether there was any possible astronomical
origin for the direction of the temple and the various changes in
direction to which I have referred. What I had in my mind was the
familiar statement that in England the eastern windows of churches face
generally--if they are properly constructed--to the place of sun-rising
on the festival of the patron saint; this is why, for instance, the
churches of St. John the Baptist face very nearly north-east. This
direction towards the sun-rising is the origin of the general use of
the term _orientation_, which is applied just as frequently to other
buildings the direction of which is towards the west or north or south.
Now, if this should chance to be merely a survival from ancient times,
it became of importance to find out the celestial bodies to which the
ancient temples were directed.

When I came home I endeavoured to ascertain whether this subject
had been worked out: I am afraid I was a nuisance to many of my
archæological friends, and I made as much inquiry as I could by looking
into books. I found, both from my friends and from the books, that
this question had not been discussed in relation to ancient temples,
scarcely even with regard to churches outside England or Germany.

It struck me that, since nothing was known, an inquiry into the
subject--provided an inquiry was possible for a stay-at-home--might
help the matter forward to a certain extent. So, as it was well known
that the temples in Egypt had been most carefully examined and
oriented both by the French in 1798 and by the Prussians in 1844,
I determined to see whether it was possible to get any information
on the general question from them, as it was extremely likely that
such temples as that at Eleusis were more or less connected with
Egyptian ideas. I soon found that, although neither the French nor
the Germans apparently paid any heed to the possible astronomical
ideas of the temple-builders, there was little doubt that astronomical
considerations had a great deal to do with the direction towards which
these temples faced. In a series of lectures given at the School of
Mines in November, 1890, I took the opportunity of pointing out that
in this way archæologists and others might ultimately be enabled to
arrive at dates in regard to the foundation of temples, and possibly to
advance knowledge in several other directions.

After my lectures were over, I received a very kind letter from one
of my audience, pointing out to me that a friend had informed him
that Professor Nissen, in Germany, had published some papers on the
orientation of ancient temples. I at once ordered them. Before I
received them I went to Egypt to make some inquiries on the spot with
reference to certain points which it was necessary to investigate,
for the reason that when the orientations were observed and recorded,
it was not known what use would be made of them, and certain data
required for my special inquiry were wanting. In Cairo also I worried
my archæological friends. I was told that the question had not been
discussed; that, so far as they knew, the idea was new; and I also
gathered a suspicion that they did not think much of it. However, one
of them, Brugsch Bey, took much interest in the matter, and was good
enough to look up some of the old inscriptions, and one day he told me
he had found a very interesting one concerning the foundation of the
temple at Edfû. From this inscription it was clear that the idea was
not new; it was possibly six thousand years old. Afterwards I went up
the river, and made some observations which carried conviction with
them and strengthened the idea in my mind that for the orientation not
only of Edfû, but of all the larger temples which I examined, there was
an astronomical basis. I returned to England at the beginning of March,
1891, and within a few days of landing received Professor Nissen's
papers.

I have thought it right to give this personal narrative, because, while
it indicates the relation of my work to Professor Nissen's, it enables
me to make the acknowledgment that the credit of having first made the
suggestion belongs, so far as I know, solely to him.[1]

The determination of the stars to which some of the Egyptian temples,
sacred to a known divinity, were directed, opened a way, as I
anticipated, to a study of the astronomical basis of parts of the
mythology. This inquiry I have carried on to a certain extent, but it
requires an Egyptologist to face it, and this I have no pretensions
to be. It soon became obvious, even to an outsider like myself, that
the mythology was intensely astronomical, and crystallised early ideas
suggested by actual observations of the sun, moon, and stars. Next,
there were apparently two mythologies, representing two schools of
astronomical thought.

Finally, to endeavour to obtain a complete picture, it became necessary
to bring together the information to be obtained from all these and
other sources, including the old Egyptian calendars, and to compare the
early Babylonian results with those which are to be gathered from the
Egyptian myths and temple-orientations.

It will, I think, be clear to anyone who reads this volume that its
limits and the present state of our knowledge have only allowed me
really to make a few suggestions. I have not even attempted to exhaust
any one of the small number of subjects which I have brought forward;
but if I have succeeded so far as I have gone, it will be abundantly
evident that, if these inquiries are worth continuing, a very
considerable amount of work has to be done.

Of this future work, the most important, undoubtedly, is a re-survey
of the temple sites, with modern instruments and methods. Next,
astronomers must produce tables of the rising and setting conditions
of the stars for periods far beyond those which have already been
considered. The German Astronomical Society has published a table of
the places of a great many stars up to 2000 B.C., but to carry on this
investigation we must certainly go back to 7000 B.C., and include
southern stars. While the astronomer is doing this, the Egyptologist,
on his part, must look through the inscriptions with reference to the
suggestions which lie on the surface of the inquiry. The astronomical
and associated mythological data want bringing together. One part of
that work will consist in arranging tables of synonyms like those to
which I presently refer in the case of the goddesses. My own impression
is that this work will not really be so laborious as the statement of
it might seem to imply. I have attempted to go over the ground during
the last two years as well as my ignorance would allow me, and I have
arrived at the impression that the number both of gods and goddesses
will be found to be extremely small; that the apparent wealth of the
mythology depends upon the totemism of the inhabitants in the Nile
valley--by which I mean that each district had its own special animal
as the emblem of the tribe dwelling in it, and that every mythological
personage had to be connected in some way with these local cults. After
this work is done, it will be possible to begin to answer some of the
questions which I have only ventured to raise.

I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my obligations to the
authorities in Egypt for the very great help they gave towards the
furthering of the inquiries which were set on foot there. Many of my
own local observations would, in all probability, never have been made
if my friend Major A. Davis, of Syracuse (New York) had not invited
me to join him in a cruise up the river in the s.s. _Mohamet Aly_ and
practically given me full command of her movements. My best thanks are
due to him not only for his hospitality, but for sympathetic aid in my
inquiries.

Dr. Wallis Budge and Captain Lyons, R.E., have rendered continual help
while this book has been in progress, and I cannot sufficiently thank
them; to the first-named I am especially indebted for looking over the
proof sheets. I am also under obligations to Professors Maspero, Krall,
and Max Müller for information on certain points, and to Professors
Sayce and Jensen for many valuable suggestions in the chapters dealing
with Babylonian astronomy.

J. NORMAN LOCKYER.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE

PREFACE vii

I. THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN AND THE DAWN 1

II. THE FIRST GLIMPSES OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY 9

III. THE ASTRONOMICAL BASIS OF THE EGYPTIAN PANTHEON 20

IV. THE TWO HORIZONS 40

V. THE YEARLY PATH OF THE SUN-GOD 51

VI. THE PROBABLE HOR-SHESU WORSHIP 58

VII. METHODS OF DETERMINING THE ORIENTATION OF TEMPLES 67

VIII. THE EARLIEST SOLAR SHRINES IN EGYPT 73

IX. OTHER SIMILAR SHRINES ELSEWHERE 86

X. THE SOLAR TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK 99

XI. THE AGE OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK 113

XII. THE STARS--THEIR RISINGS AND SETTINGS 120

XIII. THE EGYPTIAN HEAVENS.--THE ZODIACS OF DENDERAH 132

XIV. THE CIRCUMPOLAR CONSTELLATIONS: THE MYTH OF HORUS 144

XV. TEMPLES DIRECTED TO THE STARS 155

XVI. FURTHER INQUIRIES WITH REGARD TO THE STELLAR TEMPLES 167

XVII. THE BUILDING INSCRIPTIONS 173

XVIII. THE STAR TEMPLES AT KARNAK 182

XIX. THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS--THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT
DENDERAH 192

XX. THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS (_Continued_)--THE TEMPLE
OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH 201

XXI. STAR-CULTS 210

XXII. STAR-CULTS (_Continued_)--AMEN-T AND KHONS 220

XXIII. THE EGYPTIAN YEAR AND THE NILE 226

XXIV. THE YEARS OF 360 AND 365 DAYS 243

XXV. THE VAGUE AND THE SIRIAN YEARS 249

XXVI. THE SOTHIC CYCLE AND THE USE MADE OF IT 257

XXVII. THE CALENDAR AND ITS REVISION 266

XXVIII. THE FIXED YEAR AND FESTIVAL CALENDARS 274

XXIX. THE MYTHOLOGY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 287

XXX. THE TEMPLE-STARS 304

XXXI. THE HISTORY OF SUN-WORSHIP AT ANNU AND THEBES 315

XXXII. THE EARLY TEMPLE AND GREAT PYRAMID BUILDERS 325

XXXIII. THE CULT OF NORTHERN AS OPPOSED TO SOUTHERN STARS 341

XXXIV. THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY--THE NORTHERN
SCHOOLS 359

XXXV. THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY (_Continued_)--THE
THEBES SCHOOL 371

XXXVI. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH RACES 387

XXXVII. THE EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS 396

XXXVIII. THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT UPON TEMPLE-ORIENTATION IN
GREECE 412

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

The Temple of Amen-Rā looking from
the Sanctuary towards the Place of
Sunset at the Summer Solstice _Frontispiece_

The Rosetta Stone 9

Temple of Edfû, looking East; showing
Pylon and Outer Court 13

Great Court of Heaven, at the Entrance
to the Hathor Temple at Denderah 15

Temple Gate with Propylon and Obelisks 16

Hathor Temple of Dêr el-Bahari 17

The Central Portion of the Circular
Zodiac of Denderah 18

Tablet of Kings at Abydos 21

Harpocrates 23

Rā, Min-Rā; Amen-Rā 24

Sebak-Rā, Chnemu-Rā 25

Anubis, or Set, Anubis-Osiris, Osiris
(as a Mummy) 26

Osiris seated 27

Various Forms of Bes--as Warrior,
Musician, and Buffoon 28

Khons-Lunus, Thoth-Lunus, the Goddess
Sesheta 29

The Weighing of the Soul by Horus
and Anubis, in Presence of Osiris 30

Thoth and Sesheta Writing the Name
of Rameses II. on the Fruit of the
Persea 31

Cleopatra as the Goddess Isis 32

Isis (seated) 33

The Rising Sun Horus between Isis and
Nephthys 34

The Goddess Nu-t 35

The Goddess Nu-t represented Double 36

Various Forms of Shu 37

Forms of Ptah, the God of Memphis 38

Apparent Movement of the Stars to an
Observer at the North Pole 40

Apparent Movement of the Stars to an
Observer at the Equator 41

The Celestial Sphere Viewed from a
Middle Latitude 42

A Terrestrial Globe with Wafer attached
to Show the Varying Conditions of
Observation in a Middle Latitude 43

Showing Amplitudes reckoned from the
East or West Points to N.P., North
Point of Horizon, and S.P., South
Point of Horizon 46

Diagram Showing the Various Amplitudes
at which Stars of Different
Declinations Rise and Set in Different
Latitudes 49

Earth and Sun at the Equinoxes 54

Earth and Sun at the Solstices 55

Diagrams Showing Position of the Sun
in Relation to the Zenith of London
at the Northern Winter Solstice and
at the Northern Summer Solstice 56

Azimuth Compass 67

Theodolite for Determining Azimuth
and Altitudes 68

Magnetic Map of the British Isles,
Showing the Variation at Different
Points 71

Plan of the Mounds at Abydos. From
Mariette 74

The Mounds and Obelisk at Annu 76

The Colossi of the Plain at Thebes at
High Nile, Oriented to the Sunrise
at the Winter Solstice 79

Plan of Memphis 80

East and West Pyramids and Temples
at Gîzeh 81

Temple and Temenos Walls of Tanis 82

Temple and Temenos Walls of Saïs
(Sa-el-Hagar) 83

The Temple near the Sphinx, looking
West (True), Showing its relation
to the South Face of the Second
Pyramid 84

Stonehenge, from the North 90

Stonehenge Restored 91

Plan of St. Peter's at Rome, Showing
the Door Facing the Sunrise 96

St. Peter's at Rome; Façade Facing the
East (true) 97

Axis of the Temple of Amen-Rā from
the Western Pylon, Looking South-East 100

Plan of the Temple of Amen-Rā and
some of its Surroundings, Including
the Sacred Lake 101

View to the South-West from the Sacred
Lake of Amen-Rā 103

Ruins of Door at Entrance of the Sanctuary 104

The Obelisks near the Oldest Part of
the Temple of Amen-Rā 105

Inner Court and Sanctuary at Edfû 106

Plan of the Temple of Amen-Rā 118

Model Illustrating the Precession of
the Equinoxes 125

Star-map Representing the Precessional
Movement of the Celestial Pole
from the Year 4000 B.C. to the year
2000 A.D. 127

Northern Half of the So-called Square
Zodiac of Denderah 136

Sirius and Orion (18th Dynasty) 139

Astronomical Drawing's from Bibân el-Mulûk
(18th Dynasty) 140

Ruins of the Ramesseum, where the
Month-Tables were found 142

The God of Darkness--Set 144

Various Forms of Anubis 145

Forms of Typhon 146

Mestha. Hāpi, Tuamāutef, Qebhsennuf 147

Set-Horus 149

Illustration from a Theban Tomb 151

Horus and Crocodiles 152

Horus and Crocodiles, Ptah and Crocodiles 153

Ground Plan of Edfû 157

Ground Plan of the Temple of Hathor
at Denderah; Plan of the Temple of
Seti at Abydos 158

Plan of the Temple of Rameses II. in
the Memnonia at Thebes 159

Plan of Temples at Medînet-Habû 164

The Bent Axis of the Temple of Luxor 165

The Laying of the Foundation Stone
Ceremonial 174

Plan of the Temples at Karnak Showing
their Orientations _To face p._ 183

Plan of Denderah 192

Ruins of the Mamisi (Place of Birth) or
Temple of Isis at Denderah 195

Ceremonial Procession in an Egyptian
Temple 199

Orientation of the Temple of Hathor at
Denderah 202

Capital, with Masks of Hathor with
Cow's Ears 216

The Cow of Isis 217

Hathor as a Cow 218

Hathor, "The Cow of the Western Hills" 219

The Annual Rise and Fall of the Nile 228

Hāpi, the God of the Nile 229

Different Forms of Thoth 232

Scale of the Nilometer at Rôda 235

The Island of Rôda 236

Conditions of the Heliacal Rising of
Sirius from 4000 B.C. to 600 A.D. 255

The Distribution of the 1st of Thoth
(representing the Rise of Sirius)
among the Egyptian Months in the
1460-year Sothic Cycle 258

Julian Dates of the 1st of Thoth
(Vague) from 23 A.D. and 240 A.D. 267

The Month-Table at the Ramesseum 276

Black Granite Statue of Sekhet from
the Temple of Mut at Thebes 288

The Goddess Taurt; the Goddess Serk-t
or Selk-t (both with Horns and Disk) 289

Nit (two forms of); Bast 290

Anuqa; Sati 291

Isis Nursing Horus 292

Isis, Osiris and Horus 297

A "Change of Cult" at Luxor 298

Curves showing the Declinations of
Some of the Stars used by the
Egyptian Astronomers at Different
Epochs 307

The Temples at Tell el-Amarna 322

Apis (two forms of) 330

Mnevis 331

The Two Great Pyramids at the Time
of the Inundation 332

The Step-Pyramid of Sakkarah 334

The Pyramid of Mêdûm 335

The "Blunted Pyramid" of Dashûr 336

Ship of Hāt-Shepset Laden with Produce
from Pun-t 346

Huts Built on Piles in Pun-t 347

Cynocephalus Ape with Moon Emblem 349

Plan of the Pyramids at Nuri 355

Plan of the Temples and Pyramids at
Gebel Barkal 358

Statue of Chephren, Found in Temple
near the Sphinx 368

The Temples at Philæ 382

The Temple at Amada 383

Chnemu 385

The Winged Solar Disk 391

A Greek Temple Restored--the Temple
of Poseidon at Pæstum 413

The Temple of Theseus at Athens: the
Acropolis, with the Parthenon, in the
Background 414

The East Front of the Parthenon, Facing
the Rising of the Pleiades 415

The Temple of Jupiter Olympius Below
the Acropolis at Athens. Oriented to
α Arietis 420

ERRATA.

Page 34, inscription to illustration: for _Iris_ read _Isis_.

Page 83, inscription to illustration: for _Sā-el-lager_ read
_Sa-el-Hagar_.

Page 327, line 8 from top: for _Dies_ read _This_.

THE

DAWN OF ASTRONOMY.

CHAPTER I.

THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN AND THE DAWN.

When we inquire among which early peoples we are likely to find the
first cultivation of astronomy, whatever the form it may have taken,
we learn that it is generally agreed by archæologists that the first
civilisations which have so far been traced were those in the Nile
Valley and in the adjacent countries in Western Asia.

The information which we possess concerning these countries has been
obtained from the remains of their cities, of their temples--even, in
the case of Babylonia, of their observatories and of the records of
their observations. Of history on papyrus we have relatively little.

Not so early as these, but of an antiquity which is still undefined,
are two other civilisations with which we became familiar before the
treasure-houses of Egypt and Babylonia were open to our inquiries.
These civilisations occupied the regions now called India and China.

The circumstances of these two groups are vastly dissimilar so far
as the actual sources of information are concerned; for in relation
to China and India we have paper records, but, alas! no monuments of
undoubtedly high antiquity. It is true that there are many temples in
India in the present day, but, on the authority of Prof. Max Müller,
they are relatively modern.

The contrary happens in Egypt, for there monuments exist more ancient
than any of the inscribed records; monuments indicating a more or less
settled civilisation; a knowledge of astronomy, and temples erected on
astronomical principles for the purposes of worship, the astronomers
being called "the mystery teachers of Heaven."

We go back in Egypt for a period, as estimated by various authors, of
something like 6,000 or 7,000 years. In Babylonia inscribed tablets
carry us into the dim past for a period of certainly 5,000 years; but
the so-called "omen" tablets indicate that observations of eclipses and
other astronomical phenomena had been made for some thousands of years
before this period. In China and in India we go back as certainly to
more than 4,000 years ago.

When one comes to examine the texts, whether written on paper or
papyrus, burnt in brick, or cut on stone, which archæologists have
obtained from all these sources, we at once realise that man's earliest
observations of the heavenly bodies in all the regions we have named
may very fairly be divided into three perfectly distinct stages. I do
not mean to say that these stages follow each other exactly, but that
at one period one stage was more developed than another, and so on.

For instance, in the first stage, wonder and worship were the prevalent
features; in the second, there was the need of applying the observation
of celestial phenomena in two directions, one the direction of
utility--such as the formation of a calendar and the foundation of
years and months; and the other the astrological direction.

Supplied as we moderns are with the results of astronomical observation
in the shape of almanacs, pocket-books, and the like, it is always
difficult, and for most people quite impossible, to put ourselves
in the place and realise the conditions of a race emerging into
civilisation, and having to face the needs of the struggle for
existence in a community which, in the nature of the case, must have
been agricultural. Those would best succeed who best knew when "to plow
and sow, and reap and mow;" and the only means of knowledge was at
first the observation of the heavenly bodies. It was this, and not the
accident of the possession of an extended plain, which drove early man
to be astronomically minded.

The worship stage would, of course, continue, and the priests would
see to its being properly developed; and the astrological direction
of thought, to which I have referred, would gradually be connected
with it, probably in the interest of a class neither priestly nor
agricultural.

Only more recently--not at all, apparently, in the early stage--were
any observations made of any celestial object for the mere purpose of
getting knowledge. We know from the recent discoveries of Strassmaier
and Epping that this stage was reached at Babylon at least 300 years
B.C., at which time regular calculations were made of the future
positions of moon and planets, and of such extreme accuracy that they
could have been at once utilised for practical purposes. It looks as if
rough determinations of star places were made at about the same time in
Egypt and Babylonia.

This abstract inquiry is now practically the only source of interest in
astronomy to us; we no longer worship the sun; we no longer believe in
astrology; we have our calendar; but we must have a Nautical Almanac
calculated years beforehand, and some of us like to know a little about
the universe which surrounds us.

It is very curious and interesting to know that the first stage, the
stage of worship, is practically missing in the Chinese annals; the
very earliest Chinese observations show us the Chinese, a thoroughly
practical people, trying to get as much out of the stars as they could
for their terrestrial purposes.

In Babylonia it is a very remarkable thing that from the beginning of
things--so far as we can judge from the records--the sign for God was a
star.

We find the same idea in Egypt: in some of the hieroglyphic texts three
stars represented the plural "gods."

I have already remarked that the ideas of the early Indian
civilisation, crystallised in their sacred books called Vedas, were
known to us long before either the Egyptian or the Babylonian and
Assyrian records had been deciphered.

Enough, however, is now known to show that we may take the Vedas to
bring before us the remnants of the first ideas which dawned upon
the minds of the earliest dwellers in Western Asia--that is, the
territory comprised between the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the
Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, the Indus, and the waters which bound the
southern coasts--say, as far as Cape Comorin. Of these populations,
the Egyptians and Babylonians may be reckoned as the first. According
to Lenormant--and he is followed by all the best scholars--this region
was invaded in the earliest times by peoples coming from the steppes of
Northern Asia. Bit by bit they spread to the west and east. There are
strange variants in the ideas of the Chaldæans already recovered from
the inscriptions and those preserved in the Vedas. Nevertheless, we
find a sun-god[2] and the following hymn:--

"Oh Sun, in the most profound heaven thou shinest. Thou openest the
locks which close the high heavens. Thou openest the door of heaven.
Oh Sun, towards the surface of the earth thou turnest thy face. Oh
Sun, thou spreadest above the surface, like a mantle, the splendour of
heaven."

Let us consider for a moment what were the first conditions under which
the stars and the sun would be observed. There was no knowledge, but we
can very well understand that there was much awe, and fear, and wonder.
Man then possessed no instruments, and the eyes and the minds of the
early observers were absolutely untrained. Further, night to them
seemed almost death--no man could work; for them there was no electric
light, to say nothing of candles; so that in the absence of the moon
the night reigned like death over every land. There is no necessity
for us to go far into this matter by trying to put ourselves into the
places of these early peoples; we have only to look at the records:
they speak very clearly for themselves.

But the Vedas speak fully, while as yet information on this special
point is relatively sparse from the other regions. It is wise,
therefore, to begin with India, whence the first complete revelations
of this kind came. Max Müller and others during recent years have
brought before us an immense amount of most interesting information, of
the highest importance for our present subject.

They tell us that 1,500 years B.C. there was a ritual, a set of hymns
called the Veda (_Veda_ meaning "knowledge"). These hymns were
written in Sanskrit, which a few years ago was almost an unknown
language: we know now that it turns out to be the nearest relation
to our English tongue. The thoughts and feelings expressed in these
early hymns contain the first roots and germs of that intellectual
growth which connects our own generation with the ancestors of the
Aryan races--"those very people who, as we now learn from the Vedas,
at the rising and the setting of the sun, listened with trembling
hearts to the sacred songs chanted by their priests. The Veda, in
fact, is the oldest book in which we can study the first beginnings
of our language and of everything which is embodied in all the
languages under the sun." The oldest, most primitive, most simple form
of Aryan Nature-worship finds expression in this wonderful hymnal,
which doubtless brings before us the rituals of the ancient Aryan
populations, represented also by the Medes and Persians.

There was, however, another branch, represented by the Zend-Avesta, as
opposed to the Vedas, among which there was a more or less conscious
opposition to the gods of Nature, to which we are about to refer, and
a striving after a more spiritual deity, proclaimed by Zoroaster under
the name of Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd. The existence of these rituals side
by side in time tends to throw back the origin of the Nature-worship
of both. Now, what do we find? In the Veda the gods are called Devas,
a word which means "bright"; brightness or light being one of the most
general attributes shared by the various manifestations of the deity.
What were the deities? The sun, the sky, the dawn, fire, and storm.
It is clear, in fact, from the Vedas that sunrise was, to those from
whom the ritual had been derived, the great revelation of Nature, and
in time, in the minds of the poets of the Veda, _deva_, from meaning
"bright," gradually came to mean "divine." Sunrise it was that inspired
the first prayers of our race, and called forth the first sacrificial
flames. Here, for instance, is an extract from one of the Vedas. "Will
the sun rise again? Will our old friend the Dawn come back again? Will
the power of Darkness be conquered by the God of Light?"

These three questions in one hymn will show what a questionable stage
in man's history is thus brought before us, and how the antithesis
between night and day was one of the first things to strike mankind.
We find very many names for Sun-gods--

Mitra, Indra (the day brought by the sun),
Sûrya, Vasishtha, Arusha (bright or red);

and for the Dawn-gods--

Ushas, Dyaus, Dyotanâ,
Ahanâ, Urvasīī.

We have only to consider how tremendously important must have been the
coming of the sun in the morning, bringing everything with it; and the
dying away of the sun in the evening, followed at once by semi-tropical
quick darkness, to cease to wonder at such worship as this. Here is an
extract from one hymn to the Dawn (Ushas):--

"(1) She shines upon us like a young wife, rousing every living being
to go to his work; when the fire had to be kindled by men she made the
light by striking down darkness.

"(2) She rose up spreading far and wide, and moving everywhere, she
grew in brightness, wearing her brilliant garment [the mother of the
cows (the mornings)], the leader of the days, she shone gold-coloured,
lovely to behold.

"(3) She, the fortunate, who brings the eye of the gods, who leads the
white and lovely steed (of the sun), the _Dawn_, was seen revealed by
her rays, with brilliant treasures, following everyone.

"(4) Thou art a blessing when thou art near.... Raise up wealth to the
worshipper, thou mighty _Dawn_.

"(5) Shine for us with thy best rays, thou bright Dawn....

"(6) Thou daughter of the sky, thou high-born Dawn...."

In addition to the Sun and the Dawn, which turn out to be the two great
deities in the early Indian Pantheon, other gods are to be met with,
such as Prithivī, the Earth on which we dwell; Varuna, the Sky; Ap, the
Waters; Agni, the Fire; and Maruts, the Storm-gods. Of these, Varuna is
especially interesting to us. We read:--

"Varuna stemmed asunder the wide firmament; he lifted up on high the
bright and glorious heaven; he stretched apart the starry sky and the
earth."

Again--

"This earth, too, belongs to Varuna, the king, and this wide sky with
its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the ocean) are Varuna's
loins."

Finally, the result of all this astral worship was to give an idea of
the connection between the earth and the sun and the heavens, which are
illustrated in later Indian pictures, bringing before us modernised and
much more concrete views of these early notions, ultimately transformed
into this piece of poetic thought, that the earth was a shell supported
by elephants (which represent strength), the elephants being supported
on a tortoise (which represents infinite slowness).

This poetical view subsequently gave way to one less poetical--namely,
that the earth was supported by pillars; on what the pillars rested
is not stated, and it does not matter. We must not consider this as
ridiculous, and pardonable merely because it is so early in point of
time; because, coming to the time of Greek civilisation, Anaximander
told us that the earth was cylindrical in shape, and every place that
was then known was situated on the flat end of the cylinder; and Plato,
on the ground that the cube was the most perfect geometrical figure,
imagined the earth to be a cube, the part of the earth known to the
Greeks being on the upper surface. In these matters, indeed, the
vaunted Greek mind was little in advance of the predecessors of the
Vedic priests.

CHAPTER II.

THE FIRST GLIMPSES OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY.

[Illustration: THE ROSETTA STONE. (_In the British Museum._)]

In the general survey, which occupied the preceding chapter, of the
records left by the most ancient peoples, it was shown that Egypt, if
we consider her monuments, came first in the order of time. I have
next to show that in the earliest monuments we have evidences of the
existence and utilisation of astronomical knowledge.

It is impossible to approach such a subject as the astronomy of the
ancient Egyptians without being struck with surprise that any knowledge
is available to help us in our inquiries. A century ago, the man to
whom we owe more than to all others in this matter; the man who read
the riddle of those strange hieroglyphs, which, after having been
buried in oblivion for nearly two thousand years, were then again
occupying the learned, was not yet born. I refer to Champollion, who
was born in 1790 and died in the prime of his manhood and in the midst
of his work, in 1832.

Again, a century ago the French scientific expedition, planned by the
great Napoleon, which collected for the use of all the world facts of
importance connected with the sites, the buildings, the inscriptions,
and everything which could be got at relating to the life and language
of the ancient Egyptians, had not even been thought of; indeed, it only
commenced its labours in 1798, and the intellectual world will for ever
be a debtor to the man who planned it.

I know of no more striking proof of the wit of man than the gradual
unravelling of the strange hieroglyphic signs in which the learning
of the ancient Egyptians was enshrined; and there are few things more
remarkable in the history of scientific investigation than the way in
which a literature has been already brought together which is appalling
in its extent; and yet it may well be that, vast as this literature
is at present, it is but the vanguard of a much more stupendous one
to follow; for we are dealing with a nation which we now know existed
completely equipped in many ways at least seven thousand five hundred
years ago.

It forms no part of the present work to give an account of the
unravelling to which I have referred, one which finds a counterpart in
the results achieved by the spectroscope in another scientific field.

But a brief reference to one of the most brilliant achievements
of the century may be permitted, and the more as it will indicate
the importance of one of the most valued treasures in our national
collections. I refer to the Rosetta Stone in the Egyptian Gallery
of the British Museum. It was the finding of this stone in 1799 by
Boussard, a captain of French artillery at Rosetta, which not only
showed the baselessness of the systems of suggested interpretations
of the hieroglyphics which had been in vogue from the time of Kircher
downwards, but by its bilingual record in hieroglyphic, demotic and
Greek characters, paved the way for men of genius like Thomas Young
(1814) and Champollion (1822). The latter must be acknowledged as
the real founder of the system of interpretation which has held its
own against all opposition, and has opened the way to inquiries into
the history of the past undreamt of when the century was young.
Chateaubriand nobly said of him, "Ses admirables travaux auront la
durée des monuments qu'il nous a fait connaître."

The germ of Champollion's discovery consisted in the bringing together
of two sets of characters enclosed in cartouches. One of them is in
the Rosetta inscription itself; the other, on the plinth of an obelisk
in the island of Philæ. The name of Cleopatra was associated with the
one inscription, and that of Ptolemy with the other. It was clear that
if the two names, written [Hieroglyphs] and [Hieroglyphs], were really
Ptolemaios and Cleopatra, they must include several identical signs or
letters; in Ptolemaios the quadrangular figure [Hieroglyphs], being the
first, must stand for _P_, and this in Cleopatra was found to occur in
the right place, standing fifth in order. The third sign [Hieroglyphs]
in Ptolemaios must be an _o_, and the fourth [Hieroglyphs] an _l_. Now
the lion for _l_ occurs second in Cleopatra, and the knotted cord for
_o_ fourth. In this way, proceeding by comparison with other names,
that of Alexander, or Alksantrs, was next discovered, [Hieroglyphs] and
by degrees the whole Egyptian alphabet was recovered.

What had come down the stream of ages and were universally recognised
as unsurpassed memorials of a mysterious past were the famous pyramids,
successively described by Herodotus, Diodorus and Pliny among
classical, and Abd el-Latîf among Arabian, chroniclers.

Although the rifling of the most important of these structures for the
purpose of finding treasure dates at least as far back as 820 A.D., the
Khalîf El-Mamun being the destroyer, the scientific study of their mode
and objects of construction is a work of quite modern times, and may be
said to have been inaugurated by Colonel Howard Vyse in 1839.

Much that has been written has been wild and nonsensical, but from the
exact descriptions and measures now available, it is impossible to
doubt that these structures _were erected by a people possessing much
astronomical knowledge_. The exact orientation of the larger pyramids
in the pyramid-field of Gîzeh has been completely established, and it
is not impossible that some of the mysterious passages to be found in
the pyramid of Cheops may have had an astronomical use.

Let us, to continue the subject-matter of the present chapter, come
to the year 1820. It was about then that were gathered some of the
first-fruits of the investigations carried on by the Commission to
which I have referred; that some translations of the inscriptions had
been attempted, and that, some of the new results were discussed by the
members of the French Academy, while at the same time they astounded
and delighted the outside world.

[Illustration: TEMPLE OF EDFÛ, LOOKING EAST: SHOWING PYLON AND OUTER
COURT.]

From the point of view which now concerns us, it may be said that the
new discoveries might be arranged into three different groups. First of
all, the land had been found full of temples, vast and majestic beyond
imagination; among these the temples at Karnak were supreme, but there
were others on a par with them in points of architectural detail. But
besides these, then as now, above ground and inviting inspection, there
were many others which were then--as undoubtedly many are still--more
or less buried in the sand; some of these have since been unearthed to
reveal the striking features of their structure.

I shall show subsequently that, on the evidence of the ancient
Egyptians themselves, these temples were constructed in strict relation
to stars; they, then, like the pyramids, must be taken as indicating
astronomical knowledge.

If we deal with the general external appearance of the temples, they
may be arranged architecturally into two main groups. Edfû is the most
perfect example of the first group, characterised by having a pylon
consisting of two massive structures right and left of the entrance,
which are somewhat like the two towers that one sometimes sees on the
west front of our English cathedrals.

In Denderah we have an example of the second group, in which the
massive pylon is omitted. In these the front is entirely changed;
instead of the pylon we have now an open front to the temple with
columns--the Greek form of temple is approached.

[Illustration: GREAT COURT OF HEAVEN, AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE HATHOR
TEMPLE AT DENDERAH.]

Associated with many of the temples, frequently but not universally
in close proximity to the propylon, were obelisks, often of gigantic
proportions, exceeding one hundred feet in height and many hundreds of
tons in weight, which it has since been discovered were hewn out of
the syenite quarry at Aswân, and floated down the river to the various
places where they were to be erected.

It is not necessary to go to Egypt to see these wonderful monoliths,
for they have been carried away from their original temple sites at
Thebes and Heliopolis to adorn more modern cities in the Western world.
London, Paris, Rome, and Constantinople are thus embellished. It is
obvious to anyone acquainted with astronomical history and methods,
that some of these structures, at all events, may have served as
gnomons.

[Illustration: TEMPLE GATE WITH PROPYLON AND OBELISKS.]

Sometimes these temples, instead of being entirely constructed of stone
on a level surface, were either entirely or partly rock-hewn. Of the
former class, the temple of Abu Simbel is the most striking example; of
the latter, the temple of Dêr el-Bahari at Thebes.

[Illustration: HATHOR TEMPLE OF DÊR EL-BAHARI. (_As restored by M.
Brune._)]

The second revelation was that the walls of these temples, and of many
funereal buildings, were, for the most part, covered with inscriptions
in the language which was then but gradually emerging from the unknown,
its very alphabet and syllabary being still incomplete. Hence there was
not only a great wealth of temple buildings, but a still more wonderful
wealth of temple inscriptions.

[Illustration: THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE CIRCULAR ZODIAC OF DENDERAH.]

There was even more than this, and something more germane to
our present purpose. In several temples which were examined,
zodiacs--undoubted zodiacs, representing a third group of finds--were
discovered; these, also, were accompanied by inscriptions of an
obviously astronomical nature.

At the first blush, then, it seemed to be perfectly certain that we had
to deal with a people of an astronomical turn of mind; and here was the
opportunity for the astronomer, which indeed the French astronomers did
not fail to make use of. Where the philologist was for the moment dumb,
it seemed as if the astronomer could be of use, giving explanations,
fixing probable dates on the one hand; while, on the other, he would
certainly be gaining a fresh insight into, and possibly filling a
tremendous gap in, the history of his science.

The figure on the preceding page gives an idea of the method of
presentation generally employed in these zodiacs.

I shall show in the sequel--for I shall have to deal with this part
of my subject at full length in a subsequent chapter--that many of
the animal forms represent at once mythological personages and actual
constellations.

CHAPTER III.

THE ASTRONOMICAL BASIS OF THE EGYPTIAN PANTHEON.

It will be abundantly clear from the statements made in the foregoing
chapter that, as I have said, the main source of information touching
things Egyptian consists no longer in writings like the Vedas, but in
the inscriptions on the monuments, and the monuments themselves. It
is true that, in addition to the monuments, we have the Book of the
Dead, and certain records found in tombs; but, in the main, the source
of information which has been most largely drawn upon consists in the
monuments themselves--the zodiacs being included in that term.

It has been impossible, up to the present time, to fix with great
accuracy the exact date of the earliest monuments. This should not
surprise us. We must all feel that it is not a question of knowing so
little--it is a question of knowing anything at all. When one considers
that at the beginning of this century not a sign on any of these
monuments was understood, and that now the wonderful genius of a small
number of students has enabled Egyptologists to read the inscriptions
with almost as much ease and certainty as we read our morning papers:
_this_ is what is surprising, and not the fact that we as yet know so
little, and in many cases lack certainty.

But we already know that probably some of these monuments are nearly
6,000 years old. This has been determined by the convergence of many
lines of evidence.

[Illustration: TABLET OF KINGS AT ABYDOS.]

One of the many points already profoundly investigated by Egyptologists
has been the chronology of the kings of Egypt from their first monarch,
whom all students recognise as Mena or Menes. All these inquirers
have come to the definite conclusion that there was a King Mena, and
that he reigned a long time ago; but with all their skill the final
result is that they cannot agree to the date of this king within a
thousand years; one reason among many others being that in these early
days astronomy was a science still to be cultivated, and therefore
the early Egyptians had not a perfect mode of recording; perhaps even
they had no idea of a hundred years as we have. We are told that all
their reckonings were the reckonings of the reigns of kings. This
is difficult to believe, and the statement may be a measure of our
ignorance of their method of record. We now, fortunately for us, have
a calendar which enables us to deal with large intervals of time, but
still we sometimes reckon, in Egyptian fashion, by the reigns of kings
in our Acts of Parliament. Furthermore, Egypt being then a country
liable to devastating wars, and to the temporary supremacy of different
kingly tribes, it has been very difficult to disentangle the various
lists of kings so as to obtain one chronological line, for the reasons
that sometimes there were different kings reigning at the same time
in different regions. The latest date for King Mena is, according to
Bunsen, 3600 years B.C.; the earliest date, assigned by Boeckh, 5702
years B.C.; Unger, Brugsch, and Lepsius give, respectively, 5613, 4455,
3892. For our purpose we will call the date 4000 B.C.--that is 6,000
years ago--and for the present consider this as the start-point for the
long series of remains of various orders to which reference has been
made, and from which alone information can be obtained.

We come now to deal with the ideas of the early inhabitants of the Nile
valley. We find that in Egypt we are in presence absolutely of the
worship of the Sun and of the accompanying Dawn. Whatever be the date
of the Indian ideas to which we have referred, we find them in Egypt in
the earliest times. The ancient Egyptians, whether they were separate
from, or more or less allied in their origin to, the early inhabitants
of India, had exactly the same view of Nature-worship, and we find in
their hymns and the lists of their gods that the Dawn and the Sunrise
were the great revelations of Nature, and the things which were most
important to man; _and therefore everything connected with the Sunrise
and the Dawn was worshipped_.

[Illustration: HARPOCRATES.]

Renouf, one of the latest writers on these subjects, says:[3] "I fear
Egyptologists will soon be accused, like other persons, of seeing the
dawn everywhere," and he quotes with approbation this passage from Max
Müller relating to the Veda:--

"I look upon the sunrise and sunset, on the daily return of day and
night, on the battle between light and darkness, on the whole solar
drama in all its details, that is acted every day, every month, every
year, in heaven and in earth, as the principal subject."

But we must now go somewhat further into detail. The various apparent
movements of the heavenly bodies which are produced by the rotation
and the revolution of the earth, and the effects of precession, were
familiar to the Egyptians, however ignorant they may have been of their
causes; they carefully studied what they saw, and attempted to put
their knowledge together in the most convenient fashion, associating it
with their strange imaginings and their system of worship.

Dealing with the earth's rotation, how did the Egyptians picture
it? How was this interaction, so to speak, between the earth and the
sky mythologically represented? They naturally would be familiar
with the phenomena of dawn and sunset, more familiar certainly with
the phenomenon of dawn than we are, because they had a climate much
better suited for its study than ours. There can be no doubt that the
wonderful scenes which they saw every morning and evening were the
first things which impressed them, and they came to consider the earth
as a god, surrounded by the sky--another god.

[Illustration: RA. MIN-RĀ. AMEN-RĀ.]

I have next to point out that, the sun being very generally worshipped
in Egypt, there were various forms of the sun-god, depending upon the
positions occupied in its daily course. We have the form of Harpocrates
at its rising, the child sun-god being generally represented by the
figure of a hawk. When in human form, we notice the presence of a
side lock of hair. The god Rā symbolises, it is said, the sun in his
noontide strength; while for the time of sunset we have various names,
chiefly Osiris, Tum, or Atmu, the dying sun represented by a mummy and
typifying old age. The hours of the day were also personified, the
twelve changes during the twelve hours being mythically connected with
the sun's daily movement across the sky.

[Illustration: SEBAK-RĀ. CHNEMU-RĀ.]

We often find Rā compounded with other names, and in these forms of the
god we possibly get references to the sun at different times of the
year. Amen-Rā, Sebak-Rā, and Chnemu-Rā are cases in point. The former
undoubtedly refers to the sun at the summer solstice. Min-Rā is an
ithyphallic form.

The names given by the Egyptians to the sun then may be summarised as
follows:--

Hor, or Horus, or Harpocrates, and Chepera (morning sun).
Rā (noon).
Tum or Atmu (evening sun).
Osiris (sun when set).

[Illustration: ANUBIS, OR SET.]

[Illustration: ANUBIS-OSIRIS.]

I have not space to quote the many hymns to the Sun-gods which have
been recovered from the inscriptions, but the following extracts will
show that the worship was in the main at sunrise or sunset--in other
words, that the _horizon_ was in question:--

"Thou disk of the Sun, thou living God! There is none other beside
thee. Thou givest health to the eyes through thy beams, Creator of
all beings. _Thou goest up on the eastern horizon of the heaven_ to
dispense life to all which thou hast created--to man, four-footed
beasts, birds, and all manner of creeping things on the earth where
they live. Thus they behold thee, and they go to sleep when thou
settest."

Hymn to Tmu--

"Come to me, O thou Sun,
Horus of the horizon, give me help."

Hymn to Horus--

"O Horus of the horizon, there is none other beside thee,
Protector of millions, deliverer of tens of thousands."

Hymn to Rā-Tmu-Horus--

"Hail to thee of the double horizon, the one god living by Maāt.... I
am the maker of heaven and of the mysteries of the twofold horizon."

[Illustration: OSIRIS (AS A MUMMY).]

Hymn to Osiris--

"O Osiris! Thou art the youth _at the horizon_ of heaven daily, and
thine old age at the beginning of all seasons....

"The _ever-moving_ stars are under obedience to him, and so are _the
stars which set_."

[Illustration: OSIRIS SEATED.]

Hymn to Rā--

"O Rā! in thine egg, radiant in thy disk, shining forth from the
horizon, swimming over the steel (?) firmament.

"Tmu and Horus of the horizon pay homage to thee (Amen-Rā) in all
their words."

So far we have dealt with the powers of sunlight; but the ancient
Egyptians, like ourselves, were familiar with the powers of darkness or
of the underworld. The chief god antithetical to the sun was variously
named--Sit, Set, Sut, Anubis, Typhon, Bes; and a host of other names
was given to him. As I shall show, the idea of darkness was associated
with the existence of those stars which never set, so that even here
the symbolism was astronomical.

[Illustration: VARIOUS FORMS OF BES--AS WARRIOR, MUSICIAN, AND BUFFOON.]

The contrast between the representations of Bes and of the other forms
suggests that the former was imported. In the form of Typhon the
goddess Taurt is represented as a hippopotamus, while for Anubis the
emblem is a jackal.

In all illustrations of funeral ceremonies the above-mentioned figure
largely. In the Book of the Dead we find that in the representations
of the judgment of the dead, besides Osiris we have Anubis, both
responsible for the weighing of the soul.

With the moon we find two gods connected--Thothlunus and
Khons-lunus--though the connection is not a very obvious one.

Thoth is also associated with the Egyptian year, and is variously
represented; all forms, however, are based upon the ibis.

For the stars generally we find a special goddess, Sesheta.

[Illustration: KHONS-LUNUS. THOTH-LUNUS. THE GODDESS SESHETA.]

Thoth as the sacred scribe and Sesheta as the star-goddess are often
represented together engaged in writing.

Associated with the phenomena of morning and evening we find the
following divinities. The attributes stated are those now generally
accepted. This is a subject which will occupy us in the sequel.

_Isis_ represents the Dawn and the Twilight; she prepares the way for
the Sun-god. The rising sun between Isis and Nephthys = morning.

[Illustration: THE WEIGHING OF THE SOUL BY HORUS AND ANUBIS IN PRESENCE
OF OSIRIS.]

_Nephthys_ is the Dawn and the Twilight, sometimes Sunset.

_Shu_ is also the Dawn, or sunlight, Tefnut represents the coloured
rays at dawn. Shu and Tefnut are the eyes of Horus. Shu was also
called "Neshem," which means green felspar, in consequence of the
green colour observed at dawn. The green tint at dawn and sunset are
represented further by the "sycamore of emerald." Sechet is another
goddess of the Dawn, the fiery Dawn.

[Illustration: THOTH AND SESHETA WRITING THE NAME OF RAMESES II. ON THE
FRUIT OF THE PERSEA.
(_Relief from the Ramesseum at Thebes._)]

The _red_ colours at sunset were said to be caused by the blood
flowing from the Sun-god when he hastens to his suicide. A legend
describes Isis as stanching the blood flowing from the wound inflicted
on Horus by Set.

[Illustration: CLEOPATRA AS THE GODDESS ISIS.]

_Hathor_ is, according to Budge, identified with Nu or Nu-t, the sky,
or place in which she brought forth and suckled Horus. She is the
female power of Nature, and has some of the attributes of Isis, Nu-t,
and Maāt.

[Illustration: ISIS (SEATED).]

We next have to gain some general idea of the Egyptian cosmogony--the
relation of the sun and dawn to the sky; this is very different from
the Indian view. The Sky is Nu or Nu-t, represented as a female figure
bending over Seb, the Earth, with her feet on one horizon and her
finger-tips on the other. Seb is represented by a recumbent figure,
while the sky, represented by the goddess Nu-t, is separated from the
earth by Shu, the god of air or sunlight. The daily journey of the
sun is represented by a god in a boat traversing the sky from east to
west. The goddess Nu-t is variously symbolised. Sometimes there is a
line of stars along her back, which clearly defines her nature, but
sometimes she is represented by a figure in which the band of stars is
accompanied by a band of water. This suggests the Jewish idea of the
firmament. We read of the firmament in the midst of the waters, which
divided the waters from the waters, the waters above being separated
from the waters below the firmament.

[Illustration: THE RISING SUN HORUS BETWEEN ISIS AND NEPHTHYS.]

It would seem that it was not very long before the Egyptians saw
that the paths of the sun and stars above the horizon were extremely
unequal: in the case of the sun, at different times of the year; in the
case of the stars, depending upon their position near the equator or
either pole. In this way, perhaps, we may explain a curious variant of
the drawing of the goddess Nu-t, in which she is represented double, a
larger one stretching over a smaller one.

Not only the Sun-gods, but the stars, were supposed to travel in boats
across the firmament from one horizon to the other. The underworld was
the abode of the dead; and daily the sun, and the stars which set, died
on passing to the regions of the west, or Amenti, below the western
horizon, to be born again on the eastern horizon on the morrow. In this
we have the germ of the Egyptian idea of immortality.

[Illustration: THE GODDESS NU-T.]

Among other gods which may be mentioned are Chnemu, the "Moulder," who
was thought to possess some of the attributes of Rā; and Ptah, the
"Opener," who is at times represented with Isis and Nephthys, and then
appears as a form of Osiris.

We can now begin to glimpse the Egyptian mythology.

Seb, the Earth, was the husband of Nu-t, the Sky; and the Sun-and
Dawn-gods and-goddesses were their children, as also were Shu
representing sunlight, and Tefnut representing the flames of dawn.

Maāt, the goddess of law, was the daughter of Rā.

[Illustration: THE GODDESS NU-T REPRESENTED DOUBLE.]

[Illustration: VARIOUS FORMS OF SHU.]

We know several points regarding Egyptian customs independently of the
astronomical inscriptions, properly so-called, to which I have called
attention. We know that there were sacrifices at daybreak; we know that
stars were watched before sunrise, and heralded the dawn; we know that
these observations were among the chief duties of the sacrificial
priests, and it is obvious that a knowledge of star-places, as well as
star-names, must have been imperative to these morning watchers, who
eventually compiled lists of decans--that is, lists of belts of stars
extending round the heavens, the risings of which followed each other
by ten days or so. These are the exact equivalents of the moon-stations
which the Indians, Arabians, and other peoples invented for the same
purpose. We also find, more or less indeterminately from inscriptions
in some graves at Thebes, that the daily risings of the chief stars
were observed very carefully throughout the year. Unfortunately the
inscriptions in question are very difficult indeed to co-ordinate.
There have been various efforts made to connect them with certain
stars, but, so far, I am afraid they have resisted all efforts to get a
complete story out of them, though certain very important points have
been made out. These points I shall consider later.

[Illustration: FORMS OF PTAH, THE GOD OF MEMPHIS.]

It is not too early to point out here that there is evidence that the
Egyptian pantheon, as I have stated it, had not a simple origin. There
are traditions that many of the gods came from a region indeterminately
described as the land of Pun-t. Among these gods are Chnemu, Amen-Rā,
Hathor, and Bes. On page 28 I have associated Bes with Typhon,
following several authorities, but if they are right it is very
difficult to understand his _rôle_. It may also be added that the
temple-evidence supports the view of his foreign origin.[4]

When one comes to consider the Rig-Veda and the Egyptian monuments
from an astronomical point of view, one is struck by the fact that, in
both, the early worship and all the early observations related to the
horizon. This was true not only of the sun, with which so far we have
exclusively dealt, but it was equally true of the stars which studded
the general expanse of sky.

In Egypt, then, as in India, the pantheon was astronomical and, to
a very large extent, solar in origin. I shall have to show that the
remainder--nearly the whole of it--had its origin in stellar relations.

CHAPTER IV.

THE TWO HORIZONS.

It is not only of the first importance for our subject, but of great
interest in itself, to study some of the astronomical problems
connected with this horizon worship, which in the previous chapter we
have found to be common to the early peoples of India and Egypt.

[Illustration: APPARENT MOVEMENT OF THE STARS TO AN OBSERVER AT THE
NORTH POLE.]

We must be perfectly clear before we go further what this horizon
really is, and for this some diagrams are necessary.

The horizon of any place is the circle which bounds our view of the
earth's surface, along which the land (or sea) and sky appear to meet.
We have to consider the relation of the horizon of any place to the
apparent movements of celestial bodies at that place.

We know, by means of the demonstration afforded by Foucault's pendulum,
that the earth rotates on its axis, but this idea was, of course,
quite foreign to these early peoples. Since the earth rotates with
stars, infinitely removed, surrounding it on all sides, the apparent
movements of the stars will depend very much upon the position we
happen to occupy on the earth: this can be made quite clear by a few
diagrams.

[Illustration: APPARENT MOVEMENT OF THE STARS TO AN OBSERVER AT THE
EQUATOR.]

An observer at the North Pole of the earth, for instance, would see
the stars moving round in circles parallel to the horizon. No star
would either rise or set--one half of the heavens would be always
visible above his horizon, and the other half invisible; whereas an
observer at the South Pole would see that half of the stars invisible
to the observer at the northern one, because it was the half below the
N. horizon. If the observer be on the equator, the movements of the
stars all appear as indicated in the above diagram--that is, all the
stars will rise and set, and each star in turn will be half its time
above the horizon, and half its time below it. But if we consider the
position of an observer in middle latitude, say in London, we find that
some stars will always be above the horizon, some always below--that
is, they will neither rise nor set. All other stars will both rise and
set, but some of them will be above the horizon for a long time and
below for a short time, whereas others will be a very short time above
the horizon and a long time below it.

[Illustration: THE CELESTIAL SPHERE VIEWED FROM A MIDDLE LATITUDE.
AN OBLIQUE SPHERE.]

At _O_ we imagine an observer to be in latitude 45° (that is, half-way
between the equator in latitude 0°, and the North Pole in latitude
90°), hence the North Celestial Pole will be half-way between the
zenith and the horizon; and close to the pole he will see the stars
describing circles, inclined, however, and not retaining the same
distance from the horizon. As the eye leaves the pole, the stars rise
and set obliquely, describe larger circles, gradually dipping more and
more under the horizon, until, when the celestial equator is reached,
half their journey is performed below it. Still going south, we find
the stars rising less and less above the horizon, until, as there were
northern stars that never dip below the horizon, so there are southern
stars which never appear above it. _D D'_ shows the apparent path of
a circumpolar star; _B B′ B″_ the path and rising and setting points
of an equatorial star; _C C′C″_ and _A A′ A″_ those of stars of
mid-declination, one north and the other south.

[Illustration: A TERRESTRIAL GLOBE WITH WAFER ATTACHED TO SHOW THE
VARYING CONDITIONS OF OBSERVATION IN A MIDDLE LATITUDE.]

Wherever we are upon the earth we always imagine that we are on the
top of it. The idea held by all the early peoples was that the earth
was an extended plain: they imagined that the land that they knew and
just the surrounding lands were really in the centre of the extended
plain. Plato, for instance, as we have seen, was content to put the
Mediterranean and Greece upon the top of his cube, and Anaximander
placed the same region at the top of his cylinder.

We can very conveniently study the conditions of observation at the
poles of the earth, the equator, and some place in middle latitude, by
using an ordinary terrestrial globe. The wooden horizon of the globe
is parallel to the horizon of a place at the top of the globe, which
horizon we can represent by a wafer. In this way we can get a very
concrete idea of the different relations of the observer's horizon in
different latitudes to the apparent paths of the stars.

We have next to deal with the astronomical relations of the horizon
of any place in connection with the worship of the sun and stars at
the times of rising or setting, when, of course, they are on or near
the horizon; and in order to bring this matter nearer to the ancient
monuments, it will be convenient to study this question for Thebes,
where they exist in greatest number and have been most accurately
described.

To adjust things properly we must rectify the globe to the latitude of
25° 40′ N., or, in other words, incline the axis of the globe at that
angle to the wooden horizon.

It will be at once seen that the inclination of the axis to the horizon
is very much less than in the case of London. Since all the stars
which pass between the North Pole and the horizon cannot set, all
their apparent movement will take place above the horizon. All the
stars between the horizon and the South Pole will never rise. Hence,
stars within the distance of 25° from the North Pole will never set
at Thebes, and those stars within 25° of the South Pole will never
be visible there. At any place the latitude and the elevation of the
pole are the same. It so happens that all these places with which
archæologists have to do in studying the history of early peoples,
Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, China, Greece, &c., are in middle latitudes,
therefore we have to deal with bodies in the skies, which do set, and
bodies which do not; and the elevation of the pole is neither very
great nor very small. In each different latitude the inclination of the
equator to the horizon, as well as the elevation of the pole, will
vary, but there will be a strict relationship between the inclination
of the equator at each place and the elevation of the pole. Except at
the poles themselves the equator will cut the horizon due east and due
west. Therefore every celestial body which rises or sets to the north
of the equator will cut the horizon between the east or west point and
the north point; those bodies which do not set will, of course, not cut
the horizon at all.

The sun, and stars near the equator, in such a latitude as that of
Thebes, will appear to rise or set at no very considerable angle to the
vertical; but when we deal with stars rising or setting near to the
north or south points of the horizon they will seem to skim along the
horizon instead of rising or setting vertically.

Now it will at once be obvious that there must be a strict law
connecting the position of the sun (or a star) with its place of rising
or setting. Stars at the same distance from either of the celestial
poles will rise or set at the same point of the horizon, and if a star
does not change its place in the heavens it will always rise or set in
the same place.

Here it will be convenient to introduce one or two technical terms.
Every celestial body, whether we deal with the sun, moon, planet,
or star, occupies at any moment a certain place in the sky, partly,
though not wholly, defined by what we term its declination, _i.e._,
its distance from the celestial equator. This declination is one of
the two co-ordinates which are essential for enabling us to state
accurately the position of any body on the celestial vault; and we must
quite understand that if all these bodies rise and set, and rise and
set visibly, the place of their rising or setting must be very closely
connected with their declination. Bodies with the same declination will
rise at the same points of the horizon. When the declination changes,
of course the body will rise and set in different points of the horizon.

Next we define points on the horizon by dividing the whole
circumference into four quadrants of 90° each = 360°, so that we can
have _azimuths_ of 90° from the north or south points to the east and
west points.

Azimuths are not always reckoned in this way, navigators preferring
one method, while astronomers prefer another. Thus azimuth may also
be taken as the distance measured in degrees from the south point in
a direction passing through the west, north, and east points. On this
system, a point can have an azimuth varying from 0° to 360°.

[Illustration: SHOWING AMPLITUDES RECKONED FROM THE EAST OR WEST POINTS
TO N.P., NORTH POINT OF HORIZON, AND S.P., SOUTH POINT OF HORIZON.]

It is next important to define the term _amplitude_. The amplitude of
a body on the horizon is its distance north and south of the east and
west points; it is always measured to the nearest of these two latter
points, so that its greatest value can never exceed 90°. For instance,
the south point itself would have an amplitude of 90° south of west
(generally written W. 90° S.), or 90° south of east (E. 90° S.), while
a point 2° to the westward of south would have an amplitude of W. 88°
S., and not E. 92° S.

We can say then that a star of a certain declination will rise or set
at such an _azimuth_, if we reckon from the N. point of the horizon, or
at such an amplitude if we reckon from the _equator_. This will apply
to both north and south declinations.

The following table gives for Thebes the amplitudes of rising or
setting (north or south) of celestial bodies having declinations from
0° to 64°; bodies with higher declinations than 64° never set at Thebes
if they are north, or never rise if they are south, as the latitude
(and therefore the elevation of the pole) there is nearly 26°.

AMPLITUDES AT THEBES.

─────────┬──────────┬────────┬─────────┬────────┬──────────
Declin │ Ampli │ Declin │ Ampli │ Declin │ Ampli
-ation. │ -tude. │ -ation.│ -tude. │ -ation.│ -tude.
─────────┼──────────┼────────┼─────────┼────────┼──────────
° │ ° ′ │ ° │ ° ′ │ ° │ ° ′
0 │ 0 0 │ 22 │ 24 33 │ 44 │ 50 25
1 │ 1 7 │ 23 │ 25 41 │ 45 │ 51 41
2 │ 2 13 │ 24 │ 26 49 │ 46 │ 52 57
3 │ 3 20 │ 25 │ 27 58 │ 47 │ 54 14
4 │ 4 26 │ 26 │ 29 6 │ 48 │ 55 32
5 │ 5 33 │ 27 │ 30 15 │ 49 │ 56 51
6 │ 6 40 │ 28 │ 31 23 │ 50 │ 58 12
7 │ 7 47 │ 29 │ 32 32 │ 51 │ 59 34
8 │ 8 53 │ 30 │ 33 41 │ 52 │ 60 58
9 │ 9 59 │ 31 │ 34 51 │ 53 │ 62 23
10 │ 11 6 │ 32 │ 36 1 │ 54 │ 63 51
11 │ 12 13 │ 33 │ 37 11 │ 55 │ 65 21
12 │ 13 20 │ 34 │ 38 21 │ 56 │ 66 54
13 │ 14 27 │ 35 │ 39 31 │ 57 │ 68 31
14 │ 15 34 │ 36 │ 40 42 │ 58 │ 70 12
15 │ 16 41 │ 37 │ 41 53 │ 59 │ 71 59
16 │ 17 49 │ 38 │ 43 5 │ 60 │ 73 55
17 │ 18 56 │ 39 │ 44 17 │ 61 │ 76 1
18 │ 20 3 │ 40 │ 45 30 │ 62 │ 78 25
19 │ 21 10 │ 41 │ 46 43 │ 63 │ 81 19
20 │ 22 17 │ 42 │ 47 56 │ 64 │ 85 42
21 │ 23 25 │ 43 │ 49 10 │ │
─────────┴──────────┴────────┴─────────┴────────┴──────────

The absolute connection, then, between the declination of a heavenly
body and the amplitude at which it rises and sets is obvious from the
above table: given the declination we know the amplitude; given the
amplitude we know the declination.

Suppose we were dealing with a sea horizon: all the bodies rising or
setting at the same instant of time would be in a great circle round
the heavens, for the plane of the sensible horizon is parallel to the
geocentric one.

But there are some additional points to be borne in mind. Ordinarily we
should determine that the amplitude being so and so, the declination
of the body which rose or set with that amplitude would be so and so,
taking the horizon to be an all-round horizon like a sea one. But that
would not be quite true, because we generally see the sun, to take an
instance, some little time before it really rises and after it has set,
owing to refraction. So that if we see the sun setting, say, north of
west, we know that when we see it setting it appears really a little
further to the north than it actually was at the moment of true sunset,
because refraction gives us the position of the sun just below the
true horizon. That is one point that we have to consider. Another is
that, of course, we as a rule do not deal with sea horizons. Here we
find a hill, there some other obstacle; so that it is necessary to make
a correction depending on the height of the hill or other obstacle
above the sea-or true-horizon at the place. Only when we take these
things completely into consideration, can we determine absolutely the
declination, or distance from the celestial equator, of the body at the
moment of rising or setting. Still, it is worth while noting that when
only approximations are required, the refraction-and hill-corrections
have a tendency to neutralise each other in the northern hemisphere.
Refraction will tend to carry the sunrise or sunset place more to the
north, hills will cause the body to appear to rise or set more to the
south.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE VARIOUS AMPLITUDES AT WHICH STARS OF
DIFFERENT DECLINATIONS RISE AND SET IN DIFFERENT LATITUDES.]

It is important to point out that these corrections vary very
considerably in importance according to the declination of the star
with which we have to deal. With a high north or south declination the
amplitude increases very rapidly, and the more it increases the more
the corrections for refraction and elevation above the true horizon to
which I have referred become of importance. In all cases the correction
has to be made so that the amplitude will be increased or decreased
from the true amplitude by this effect of refraction, according as the
body--whether sun or star--is seen to the north or south of the equator.

In the diagram given on page 49, the various amplitudes are shown at
which bodies of different declinations appear to rise and set in places
with latitudes ranging from 19° to 51° N. It is a diagram to which
frequent reference will be made in the sequel.

CHAPTER V.

THE YEARLY PATH OF THE SUN-GOD.

Let us, then, imagine the ancient Egyptians, furnished with the natural
astronomical circle which is provided whenever there is an extended
plain, engaged in their worship at sunrise, praying to the "Lord of
the two Horizons." The rising (and setting) of stars we will consider
later; it is best to begin with those observations about which there is
the least question.

In the very early observations that were made in Egypt and Babylonia,
when the sun was considered to be a god who every morning got into
his boat and floated across space, there was no particular reason for
considering the amplitude at which the supposed boat left or approached
the horizon. But a few centuries showed that this rising or setting of
the sun in widely varying amplitudes at different parts of the year
depended upon a very definite law. We now, more fortunate than the
early Egyptians, of course know exactly what this law is, and with a
view of following their early attempts to grapple with the difficulties
presented to them we must pass to the yearly path of the sun, in order
to study the relation of the various points of the horizon occupied by
the sun at different times in the year.

Not many years ago Foucault gave us a means of demonstrating the fact
that the earth rotates on its axis. We have also a perfect method
of demonstrating that the earth not only rotates on its axis once a
day, but that it moves round the sun once a year, an idea which was
undreamt of by the ancients. As a pendulum shows us the rotation, so
the determination of the aberration of light demonstrates for us the
revolution of the earth round the sun.

We have, then, the earth endowed with these two movements--a rotation
on its axis in a day, and a revolution round the sun in a year. To see
the full bearing of this on our present inquiry, we must for a time
return to the globe or model of the earth.

To determine the position of any place on the earth's surface we say
that it is so many degrees distant from the equator, and also so
many degrees distant from the longitude of Greenwich: we have two
rectangular co-ordinates, latitude and longitude. When we conceive the
earth's equator extended to the heavens, we have a means of determining
the positions of stars in the heavens exactly similar to the means we
have of determining the position of any place on the earth. We have
already defined distance from the equator as north or south declination
in the case of a star, as we have north latitude or south latitude in
case of a place on the earth. With regard to the other co-ordinate,
we can also say that the heavenly body whose place we are anxious to
determine is at a certain distance from our first point of measurement,
whatever that may be, along the celestial equator. Speaking of heavenly
bodies, we call this distance right ascension; dealing with matters
earthy, we measure from the meridian of Greenwich and call the distance
longitude.

The movement of the earth round the sun is in a plane which is called
the plane of the ecliptic, and the axis of rotation of the earth is
inclined to that plane at an angle of something like 23½°. We can
if we choose use the plane of the ecliptic to define the positions of
the stars as we use the plane of the earth's equator. In that case we
talk of distance from the ecliptic as celestial latitude, and along the
ecliptic from one of the points where it cuts the celestial equator
as celestial longitude. The equator, then, cuts the ecliptic at two
points: one of these is chosen for the start-point of measurement along
both the equator and the ecliptic, and is called the first point of
Aries.

We have, then, two systems of co-ordinates, by each of which we can
define the position of the sun or a star in the heavens: equatorial
co-ordinates dealing with the earth's equator, ecliptic co-ordinates
dealing with the earth's orbit. Knowing that the earth moves round
the sun once a year, the year to us moderns is defined with the most
absolute accuracy. In fact, we have three years: we have a sidereal
year--that is, the time taken by the earth to go through exactly
360° of longitude; we have what is called the tropical year, which
indicates the time taken by the earth to go through not quite 360°, to
go from the first point of Aries till she meets it again; and since
the equinoctial point advances to meet the earth, we talk about the
precession of the equinoxes; this year is the sidereal year minus
twenty minutes. Then there is also another year called the anomalistic
year, which depends upon the movement of the point in the earth's orbit
where the earth is nearest to the sun; this is running away, so to
speak, from the first point of Aries, instead of advancing to meet it,
so that in this case we get the sidereal year plus nearly five minutes.

The angle of the inclination of the earth's plane of rotation to the
plane of its revolution round the sun, which, as I have said, is at the
present time something like 23½°, is called _the obliquity of the
ecliptic_. This obliquity is subject to a slight change, to which I
shall refer in a subsequent chapter.

In order to give a concrete idea of the most important points in the
yearly path of the earth round the sun, let us imagine four globes
arranged on a circle representing the earth at different points of its
orbit, with another globe in the centre representing the sun, marking
the two practically opposite points of the earth's orbit, in which the
axis is not inclined to or from the sun but is at right angles to the
line joining the earth in these two positions, and the two opposite
and intermediate points at which the north pole of the axis is most
inclined towards and away from the sun.

A diagram will show what will happen under these conditions. If we take
first the points at which the axis, instead of being inclined towards
the sun, is inclined at right angles to it, it is perfectly obvious
that we shall get a condition of things in which the movement of the
earth on its axis will cause the dark side of the earth and also the
light side represented by the side nearest to the sun, both being of
equal areas, to extend from pole to pole; so that any place on the
earth rotating under those conditions will be brought for half a period
of rotation into the sunlight, and be carried for half a period of the
rotation out of the sunlight; the day, therefore, will be of the same
length as the night, and the days and nights will therefore be equal
all over the world.

We call this the time of the equinoxes; the nights are of the same
length as the day in both these positions of the earth with regard to
the sun.

[Illustration: EARTH AND SUN AT THE EQUINOXES.]

In the next figure we have the other condition. Here the earth's axis
is inclined at the greatest angle of 23°½, towards, and away from,
the sun. If I take a point very near the north pole, that point will
not, in summer, be carried by the earth's rotation out of the light,
and a part equally near the south pole will not be able to get into
it. These are the conditions at and near two other points called the
solstices.

[Illustration: EARTH AND SUN AT THE SOLSTICES.]

On each of these globes I have drawn a line representing the overhead
direction from London. If we observe the angle between the direction of
the zenith and that to the sun in winter we find it considerable; but
if we take the opposite six-monthly condition we get a small angle.

In other words, under the first condition the sun at noon will be far
from the zenith of London, we shall have winter; and in the other
condition the sun will be as near as it can be to the zenith at noon,
we shall have summer. These two cases represent the two points in the
earth's orbit at which the sun has the greatest declination south and
north. With the greatest north declination the sun will come up high,
appear to remain at the same height above the horizon at noon for a
day or two, as it does at our summer solstice, and then go down again;
at the other point, when it has the greatest southern declination, it
will go down to the lowest point, as it does in our winter, stop, and
come up again--that is, the sun will stand still, so far as its height
above the horizon at noon is concerned, and the Latin word solstice
exactly expresses that idea. We have, then, two opposite points in the
revolution of the earth round the sun at which we have equal altitudes
of the sun at noon, two others when the altitude is greatest and least.

[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING POSITION OF THE SUN IN RELATION TO THE
ZENITH OF LONDON AT THE NORTHERN WINTER SOLSTICE.]

[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING POSITION OF THE SUN IN RELATION TO THE
ZENITH OF LONDON AT THE NORTHERN SUMMER SOLSTICE.]

We get the equal altitudes at the equinoxes, and the greatest and the
least at the solstices.

These altitudes depend upon the change of the sun's declination. The
change of declination will affect the azimuth and amplitude of the
sun's rising and setting; this is why, in our northern hemisphere, the
sun rises and sets most to the north in summer and most to the south
in winter. At the equinoxes the sun has always 0° Decl., so it rises
and sets due east and west all over the world. But at the solstices it
has its greatest declination of 23½° N. or S.; it will rise and set,
therefore, far from the east and west points; how far, will depend on
the latitude of the place we consider. The following are approximate
values:

Latitude of Amplitude of Sun
Place. at Solstice.
° ° ′
25 26 5
30 27 24
35 29 8
40 31 21
45 34 40
50 38 20
55 44 0

At Thebes, Lat. 25° 40′ N., representing Egypt, we find that the
amplitude of the sun at rising or setting at the summer solstice will
be approximately 26° N. of E. at rising, and 26° N. of W. at setting.

These solstices and their accompaniments are among the striking things
in the natural world. At the winter solstice we have the depth of
winter, at the summer solstice we have the height of summer; while
at the equinoxes we have but transitional changes; in other words,
while the solstices point, out for us the conditions of greatest heat
and greatest cold, the equinoxes point out for us those two times of
the year at which the temperature conditions are very nearly equal,
although of course in the one case we are saying good-bye to summer and
in the other to winter. In Egypt the summer solstice was paramount, for
it occurred at the time of the rise of the Nile, the beginning of the
Egyptian year.

Did the ancients know anything about these solstices and these
equinoxes? Were the almost mythical Hor-shesu or sun-worshippers
familiar with the annual course of the sun? That is one of the
questions which we have to discuss.

CHAPTER VI.

THE PROBABLE HOR-SHESU WORSHIP.

At the end of the last chapter I referred to the Hor-shesu or
followers, that is worshippers, of the Sun-god Horus. I shall have to
refer to the traditions relating to them at a later stage, but it is
well that I should state here that those personages who preceded the
true historic period are considered by De Rougé and others to represent
"_le type de l'antiquité la plus reculée_."

Let us for the moment accept the truth of the various traditions
relating to them, and suppose that they left traces of their worship;
what, in the light of the last chapter, should we expect to find? The
thing most likely to remain would be ancient shrines in all probability
serving for the foundation of nobler structures built in later times.

This brings us to the question as to the probabilities of
temple-building generally in relation to the heavenly bodies; but
before I deal with it, it is important to consider a view first put
forward, I believe, by Vitruvius, and repeated by all since his time
who have dealt with the question, that the temples were built purely
and simply to face the Nile.[5]

The statement is so far from the truth that it is clear that those who
have made it had not studied the larger temple-fields. Indeed, we have
only to note the conditions at Karnak alone to determine whether there
is any truth in the view that the temples face the river. We see at
once that this idea cannot be true, because we have the chief temples
facing in four directions, while the Nile flows only on one side.

Other archæologists who have endeavoured to investigate the
orientations of these buildings have found that they practically
face in all directions; the statement is that their arrangement is
principally characterised by the want of it; they have been put down
higgledy-piggledy; there has been a symmetrophobia, mitigated perhaps
by a general desire that the temple should face the Nile. This view
might be the true one, if stars were not observed as well as the sun.

With regard to all the temples of the ancient world, whether they are
located in Egypt or elsewhere, we must never forget that if astronomy
is concerned in them at all, we have to deal with the observations
of the rising or setting of the heavenly bodies; whereas the modern
astronomer cares little for these risings or settings, but deals only
with them on the meridian.

The place of rising or setting would be connected with the temple by
the direction of the temple's axis.

Now, the directions towards which the temples point are astronomically
expressed by their "amplitudes"--that is, the distance in degrees from
the east or west point of the horizon. For instance, a temple facing
east would have an amplitude of zero from the east point. If we suppose
a temple oriented to the north, it would have an amplitude of 90°; if
half-way between the east and north, the amplitude would be 45° north
of east, and so on. So that it is possible to express the amplitude
of a temple in such a way that the temples in the same or different
countries or localities, with the same or equivalent amplitudes, may be
classified; and the more temples which can be thus brought together,
the more likely is any law relating to their structure to come out.

Let us take this, then, as a general principle. Now how would it be
carried out?

It becomes pretty obvious, when we consider the conditions of things
in these early times, that the stars would be the objects which would
first commend themselves to the attention of temple builders, for the
reason that the movements and rising-and setting-places of the various
planets by night, and of the sun by day, would appear to be so erratic,
so long as the order of their movements was not known.

To go a step further. It is clear in the first place that no one
would think of orienting a temple to the moon, as there is so little
constancy about its path in the sky, and, therefore, in its place of
rising or setting. If the temple caught it each month, the intervals
between which this occurrence takes place would vary very considerably,
and in early times would have been impossible to predict. Similarly it
would not be worth while to orient temples to the planets. But when we
come to the stars, the thing is different. A few years' observations
would have appeared to demonstrate the absolute changelessness of the
places of rising and setting of the same stars. It is true that this
result would have been found to be erroneous when a long period of time
had elapsed and when observation became more accurate; but for hundreds
of years the stars would certainly appear to represent fixity, while
the movements of sun, moon and planets would seem to be bound by no law.

Before, then, the yearly apparent movements of the sun had been fully
made out, observations of a star rising or setting _with the sun_
at some critical time of the agricultural cycle, say sowing-time or
harvest, would be of the highest importance, and would secure the
work being done at the right time of the--to the early peoples--still
unformulated year.

If a star was chosen in or near the ecliptic, sooner or later the
sunlight as well as the starlight would enter the temple, and the
use of a solar temple might have thus been suggested even before the
solstices or equinoxes had been thoroughly grasped.

There is no doubt that if we are justified in assuming that the stars
were first observed, the next thing that would strike the early
astronomers would be the regularity of the annual movement of the
sun; the critical times of the sun's movements as related either to
their agriculture, or their festivals, or to the year; the equinoxes
and the solstices, would soon have revealed themselves to these early
observers, if for no other reason than that they were connected in some
way or other with some of the important conditions of their environment.

After a certain time, solar temples, if built at all, would be oriented
either to the sun at some critical time of the agricultural--or
religious--year, or to the solstices and equinoxes. But at first, until
the fixity of the sun's yearly movements and especially the solstices
and equinoxes had been recognised, it would have seemed as useless to
direct a temple to the sun as to the moon. After a time, however, when
the solstices and equinoxes had been made out, it would soon have been
found that a temple once directed to the sun's rising place at harvest
or sowing time, or at a solstice or an equinox, would continue for a
long period to mark those critical points in the sun's yearly course;
and when this yearly course had been finally made out it would soon
be observed that the sun at any part of the agricultural year was as
constant (indeed, as we now know, more constant) in its rising-and
setting-place as a star.

But dealing with _sun_-worshippers, and endeavouring to think out
what the earliest observers probably would try to do in the case of a
_solar_ temple, we see that, in all likelihood, they would orient it to
observe the sun at one of the chief points in the year which could be
best marked. I have said "which could be best marked," but how was this
to be done? Evidently, if terrestrial things were to be assisted, the
marking must have been by something exterrestrial, otherwise they would
have been reasoning in a circle; and moreover we must take for granted
that what was wanted was a warning of what was to be done.

Now, in the earliest times, as I have said, the constant movements of
the stars would have stood out in strong contrast to the inconstant
movements of the sun, and I think that there can be little doubt that
the first fixing of any point in the year was by the rising or setting
of some star at sunrise--or possibly sunset.

It is obvious that this might have gone on even before the solstices
and equinoxes were recognised.

When this came about, then temples might have been directed to the sun
at a solstice or an equinox.

Was it difficult to do this? Did it indicate that the people who built
such temples were great astronomers? Nothing of the kind; nothing is
more easy to determine than a solstice or an equinox.

Let us take the solstice first. We know that at the summer solstice
the sun rises and sets furthest to the north, at the winter solstice
furthest to the south. We have only from any point to set up a line
of stakes before the time of the solstice, and then alter the line of
them day by day as the sun gets further to the north or south, until no
alteration is wanted. The solstice has been found.

There is another way of doing it. Take a vertical rod. Such a rod,
which I may state is sometimes called a _gnomon_ and used to measure
time, may be used with another object: we may observe the length of the
shadow cast by the sun when it is lowest at the winter solstice, and
when it is highest; at these two positions of the sun obviously the
lengths of the shadows thrown will be different. When the noon-sun is
nearest overhead in the summer the length of the shadow will be least,
when the sun is most removed from the zenith the shadow will be longest.

The day on which the shortest shadow is thrown at noon will define the
summer solstice; when the shadow is longest we shall have the winter
solstice.

This, in fact, was the method adopted by the Chinese to determine the
solstices, and from it very early they found a value of the obliquity
of the ecliptic.

It may be said that this is only a statement, and that the record has
been falsified; some years ago anyone who was driven by facts to come
to the conclusion that any very considerable antiquity was possible in
these observations met with very great difficulty. But the shortest and
the longest shadows recorded (1100 years B.C.) do not really represent
the true lengths at present. If anyone had forged these observations
he would state such lengths as people would find to-day or to-morrow,
but the lengths given were different from those which would be found
to-day. Laplace, who gave considerable attention to this matter,
determined what the real obliquity was at that time, and proved that
the record does represent an actual observation, and not one which had
been made in later years.[6]

Next suppose an ancient Egyptian wished to determine the time of an
equinox. We know from the Egyptian tombs that their stock-in-trade, so
far as building went, was very considerable; they had squares, they
had plumb-lines, they had scales, and all that sort of thing, just as
we have. He would first of all make a platform quite flat; he could do
that by means of the square or plumb-line; then he would get a ruler
with pretty sharp edges (and such rulers are found in their tombs), and
in the morning of any day he would direct this ruler to the position
of the sun when it was rising, and he would from a given point draw a
line towards the sun; he would do the same thing in the evening when
the sun set; he would bisect the angle made by these two lines, and it
would give him naturally a north and south line, and a right angle to
this would give him east and west. So that from observations of the
sun on any one day in the year he would practically be in a position
to determine the points at which the sun would rise and set at the
equinox--that is, the true east and west points.

Suppose that the sun is rising, let a rod throw a shadow; mark the
position of the shadow; at sunset we again note where the shadow
falls. If the sun rises exactly in the east and sets exactly in the
west, those two shadows will be continuous, and we shall have made an
observation at the absolute equinox. But suppose the sun not at the
equinox, a line joining the ends of the shadows equally long before and
after noon will be an east and west line.

It is true that there may be a slight error unless we are very careful
about the time of the year at which we make the observations, because
when the sun is exactly east or west at the time of rising or setting
it changes its declination most quickly. So it is better to make the
above observations of the sun nearer the solstices than the equinoxes,
for the reason stated.[7]

We have now got so far. If the Egyptians worshipped the sun and built
temples to it, they would be more likely to choose the times of the
solstices and the equinoxes than any other after its annual movement
had been made out.

Is it possible to bring any tests to bear to see whether they did this
or not? Certainly: examine the temples which still remain, and where
they have disappeared examine the _temenos_ walls which still exist as
mounds in many cases.

Suppose we take, to begin with, as before, that region of the earth's
surface in the Nile valley with a latitude of about 26° N. The temples
will have an amplitude of about 26° N. or S. if they have anything to
do with the sun at the solstices. Any structures built to observe the
sun will have an east and west aspect true if they have anything to
do with the sun at the equinoxes. Dealing with a solstitial temple,
the first thing to observe is the amplitude of the temple, which must
depend upon the latitude in which it was wished to note the rising or
setting of the sun at either of the solstices. If we take the latitude
26° N., which is very nearly the latitude of Thebes, the amplitude
has to be 26° as stated above; so that a temple at Thebes having an
amplitude of 26° would be very likely to have been oriented to the
sun at the moment that it was as far from the equator as it could
be--_i.e._, at the time of the longest day of the year--in which case
we should be dealing with the summer or northern solstice; or of the
shortest day of the year, if dealing with the winter or southern
solstice.

As we deal with higher latitudes, we gradually increase the amplitude,
until, if we go as far as the latitude of the North Cape, the sun
at the summer solstice, as everybody knows, has no amplitude either
at rising or setting, because it passes clear above the horizon
altogether, and is seen at midnight.

These are the conditions which will define for us a solstitial solar
temple. We see the amplitude of the temple must vary with the latitude
of the place where it is erected.

But the temples directed to the sun at an equinox will be directed to
an amplitude of 0: that is, they will point E. or W., and this will be
the case in all latitudes.

The orientation of a temple directed to the sun at neither the
solstices nor the equinoxes will have an amplitude less than the
solstitial amplitude at the place.

As a matter of fact, as I shall show in the sequel, some of the temples
recognised as temples of the sun in the inscriptions are of this latter
class.

CHAPTER VII.

METHODS OF DETERMINING THE ORIENTATION OF TEMPLES.

This brings us at once to a practical point. It will be asked, How can
such an inquiry be prosecuted? How can the amplitudes of the temples be
determined?

[Illustration: AZIMUTH COMPASS.]

Nothing is easier. An azimuth compass is all that is necessary for all
but the most accurate inquiries.

[Illustration: SECTION OF AZIMUTH COMPASS.
A, needle and card; P, prism; SV, directrix or frame carrying a
wire directed to the object and seen over the prism while the prism
reflects to the eye the division of the scale underneath it.]

The azimuth compass is an instrument familiar to many; it consists of
a magnetic needle fastened to a card carrying a circle divided into
360°, which can be conveniently read by a prism when the instrument is
turned toward any definite direction marked by a vertical wire. Its use
depends upon the fact that at the same place and at the same time all
magnetic needles point in the same direction, and the variation for the
true north and south direction is either supposed to be known or can be
found by observation.

[Illustration: THEODOLITE FOR DETERMINING AZIMUTH AND ALTITUDES.]

A theodolite armed with a delicately hung magnetic needle, which can
be rotated on a vertical axis, will do still better; it has first of
all to be levelled. There is a little telescope with which we can see
along the line. When we wish, for instance, to observe the amplitude
of a temple, the theodolite is set up on its tripod in such a position
that we can look along a temple wall or line of columns, etc., by means
of the telescope. We then get a magnetic reading of the direction after
having unclamped the compass; this gives the angle made between the
line and the magnetic north (or south), as in the azimuth compass.

What we really do by means of such an instrument is to determine
the astronomical meridian by means of a magnetic meridian. Here some
definitions will not be out of place.

The _meridian_ (_meridies_ = midday) of any place is the great circle
of the heavens which passes through the zenith (the point overhead) at
that place and the poles of the celestial sphere.

The _meridian line_ at any place is the intersection of the plane
of the meridian with the plane of the horizon at that place, or, in
other words, it is the line joining the north and south points. If
we have the proper instruments, we can determine the meridian line
astronomically at any place by one of the following methods:--

(1) If only an approximate position is required, the best means of
determining it is by fixing the direction of the sun or a star when it
has the greatest altitude. The instrument to be used for this purpose
would be a small theodolite with both a vertical and horizontal circle,
and provided also with tangent screws to give slow motion to each of
the circles as required.

By using stars of both high and low altitudes, a greater exactness
can be obtained, but, after all, the method only gives a first
approximation, as its weakness lies in the very slow change of altitude
as the meridian is approached.

(2) A much more accurate method is that of observing with an altitude
and azimuth instrument the azimuth (_i.e._, its angular distance east
or west of the north or south) of a star when at the same altitude east
and west of the meridian. If the mean of the two readings given by the
azimuth circle be taken, the resulting reading indicates the direction
of the meridian.

If we employ the sun in place of a star, its change of declination
during the interval between the observations must be taken into account.

(3) To find the meridian line by means of the pole star is a simple and
accurate method, as a value can be obtained at _any_ time at night by
a simple altitude, provided the time of observation is known.[8]

If these means of directly determining the astronomical meridian line
are not available, then we have to do it indirectly by using the
magnetic meridian in the first instance.

If we take a magnetic needle and balance it horizontally on a vertical
pivot, its ends will be directed to two points on the horizon. By
drawing a great circle through these two points and the zenith point of
the place, we obtain the _magnetic meridian_.

The _magnetic meridian line_ is the intersection of the plane of the
magnetic meridian with the plane of the horizon. The angle between the
astronomical and magnetic meridian lines is called the variation, E.
or W. according as the needle points to the W. or E. of true--that is,
astronomical--north at any particular place at any particular time. The
variation may vary from place to place, and always varies from time to
time.

The bearing required has, in the first instance, to be determined
by the instruments already referred to in relation to the magnetic
meridian.

Having made such an observation, the next thing we have to do is to
determine the astronomical or true north, which is the only thing of
value.

[Illustration: MAGNETIC MAP OF THE BRITISH ISLES, SHOWING THE VARIATION
AT DIFFERENT POINTS.]

If the magnetic variation has been determined for the region, we may
use a map. Such a map as that shown below gives us the lines along
which in the British Isles the compass variation west of north reaches
certain values. From such a map for Egypt we learn that in 1798 a
magnet swung along a line extending from a little to the west of
Cairo to the second cataract would have had a variation of 11½° to
the west; in 1844 of 8½° to the west; and at the present time the
variation is such that observations made along the same part of the
Nile valley will have a variation closely approximating 4½° to the
west. By means of such a map it is quite possible to get approximately
the astronomical bearings of all temples which were observed by the
French in 1798 or by the Germans in 1844, or which can be observed
in the present day, provided always that there is no local magnetic
attraction.

If we are not fortunate enough to possess such a map, the methods
previously referred to for obtaining the astronomical north must be
employed; observing the direction in which the sun culminates at noon
will give us the south point astronomically; from observations of the
pole star at night the astronomical north can also be determined. From
the former of these observations the magnetic variation is obtained
without any difficulty, even in the absence of accurate local time.
When this is available other methods are applicable.

It is sad to think how much time is lost in the investigation of
a great many of these questions for the reason that the published
observations were made only with reference to the magnetic north,
which is vastly different at different places, and is always varying.
Few indeed have tried to get at the astronomical conditions of the
problem. Had this been done with minute accuracy in all cases, either
by the French or Prussian Commissions to which I have referred, it is
perfectly certain that the solstitial orientation of Karnak and other
temples, which I shall have to mention, would have been long ago known
to all scholars.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE EARLIEST SOLAR SHRINES IN EGYPT.

Not only can an inquiry like that referred to in the previous chapter
be prosecuted--_it has been prosecuted_.

The French and Prussian Governments have vied with each other in the
honourable rivalry of mapping and describing the monuments. The French
went to Egypt at the end of the last century, while the Scientific
Commission which accompanied the army, a Commission appointed by the
Institute of France, published a series of volumes containing plans of
all the chief temples in the valley of the Nile as far south as Philæ.

In the year 1844, some time after Champollion had led the way in
deciphering the hieroglyphics, we became almost equally indebted to the
Prussian Government, who also sent out a Commission to Egypt, under
Lepsius, which equalled the French one in the importance of the results
of the explorations; in the care with which the observations were made,
and in the perfection with which they were recorded. In attempting to
get information from ancient temples on the points to which I have
referred, there is, therefore, a large amount of information available;
and it is wise to study the region round and below Thebes where the
information is so abundant and is ready to our hand.

First, then, with regard to the existence of solar temples. Dealing
with the monumental evidence, the answer is absolutely overwhelming.
The evidence I bring forward consists of that afforded by some of the
very oldest temples that we know of in Egypt. Among the most ancient
and sacred fanes was one at Annu, On, or Heliopolis, which, the
tradition runs, was founded by the Shesu-Hor before the time of Mena;
Mena, as we have seen, having reigned at a date certainly not less than
4000, and possibly 5000 years B.C.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE MOUNDS AT ABYDOS. (_From Mariette._)]

The Nile valley holds other solar temples besides that we have named at
Heliopolis. Abydos was another of the holiest places in Egypt in the
very earliest times.

Since the temples and temple mounds at Abydos can be better made out
than those at Heliopolis, I will take them first. The orientations
given by different authors are so conflicting that no certainty can be
claimed, but it is possible that at Abydos one of the mounds is not far
from the amplitude shown in the tables for the sun in the Nile valley
at sunset at the summer solstice. If this were so, the Egyptians who
were employed in building the temple must have known exactly what they
were going to do.

At Heliopolis, as I have hinted, the matter is still less certain.
Almost every trace of the temple has disappeared, but of remains of
temenos walls in 1844, when the site was studied by Lepsius, there
were plenty. At Karnak, where both temples and temenos walls remain,
we can see how closely the walls reflect the orientation of the
included temples, even when they seem most liable to the suggestion
of symmetrophobia. I have before stated that the Egyptians have been
accused of hating every regular figure, and the irregular figures at
Karnak are very remarkable; in the boundary walls of the temple of
Amen-Rā there are two obtuse angles; round the Mut temple we also have
walls, and there again this hatred of similarity seems to come out, for
we have one obtuse and one acute angle. But if we examine the thing a
little carefully, we find that there is a good deal of method in this
apparent irregularity. The wall of the temple of Amen-Rā is parallel to
the face of the temple or at right angles to its length. One wall of
Mut is perfectly parallel to the face of the temple or at right angles
to the sphinxes. And the reason that we do not get right angles at one
end of the wall is that the walls of the temple at Mut are parallel to
the chief wall of the temple of Amen-Rā. Surely it must be that, before
these walls were built, it was understood that there was a combined
worship; that they stood or fell together. One thing was not attempted
in one temple and another thing in another, but the worship of each
was reflected in the other. If this be true, there was no hatred of
symmetry, but a definite and admirable reason why these walls should be
built as they were.

[Illustration: THE MOUNDS AND OBELISK AT ANNU.]

With the knowledge we possess of both temenos walls and temples at
Karnak, and of the, I may almost say, symbolism of the former, it is
fair to conclude that when temples have gone we may yet get help from
the walls. The walls at Heliopolis are the most extraordinary I have
met with in Egypt, as may be gathered from the accompanying reduction
of Lepsius' map.

The arrow in Lepsius' plan is so wrongly placed that the plan is very
misleading. It follows from Captain Lyons' observations and my own
that the longest mound heads 14° N. of W. to 14° S. of E. within a
degree; the condition of the mounds renders more accurate measures
impossible.[9]

It is to be gathered from the inscriptions that the temple within these
mounds, now only represented by its solitary obelisk, was styled a
sanctuary or temple of the sun.[10]

As the orientation of the N. and S. faces of the obelisk is 13° N. of
W., the sun's declination must have been 11° N. The times of our year
marked by it, therefore, were 18th April and 24th August. But it must
not be forgotten that the temple may have been built originally to
watch the rising or setting of a star which occupied the declination
named, and possibly, though not necessarily, at some other time of the
year. I shall return to this subject.

If Maspero and the great authorities in Egyptology are right--namely,
that the Annu temple was founded before 4000 B.C.--the above figures
drive us to the conclusion that we have in this temple a building
which was orientated to the sun, _not_ at a solstice, some 6000 years
ago.

So much for two of the places known to be of the highest antiquity in
Egypt. There remains another locality supposed to date from more modern
times--I refer to Thebes. It is here that evidence of the most certain
kind with regard to the solstitial temples is to be found.

At Karnak itself there are several temples so oriented, chief among
them the magnificent Temple of Amen-Rā, one of the wonders of the
world, to which a special chapter must be devoted. Suffice it to say
here that the amplitude of the point to which the axis of the great
temple of Amen-Rā points is 26° N. of W., which we learn from the table
already given is the amplitude of the place of sunset at the summer
solstice in the latitude of Thebes. The amplitude of the point to which
the axis of an attached small temple points is 26° S. of E., exactly
the position of sunrise at the winter solstice.

It must not be forgotten in this connection that the Colossi of the
plain on the other side of the river, and the associated temple, also
face the place of sunrise at the winter solstice.

The list of solar solstitial temples, so far probably traced, is as
follows:--

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Place and Temple. Amplitude. Declination. Date.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Kasr Kerun 27° S. of E. S. 23¼°
S.E. Karnak (O) 26½° S. of E. S. 23¾°
Temples. Memnonia (Avenue of Sphinxes) 27½° S. of E. S. 24½°
(orientation not to ½°)
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
S.W. Erment 27½° S. of W. S. 24½°
Temples.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
N.W. Karnak (Q. K) 26½° N. of W. N. 23½°
Temples. Karnak (U) 27½° N. of W. N. 24½°
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

[Illustration: THE COLOSSI OF THE PLAIN AT THEBES AT HIGH NILE ORIENTED
TO THE SUNRISE AT THE WINTER SOLSTICE.
(These are statues of Amen-hotep III., and are monoliths 60 feet
high.)]

[Illustration: PLAN OF MEMPHIS. (_From Lepsius._)]

We have seen that it did not require any great amount of astronomical
knowledge to determine either the moment of the solstice or the
moment of the equinox. The most natural thing to begin with was the
observation of the solstice, for the reason that at the solstice the
sun can be watched day after day getting more and more north or more
and more south until it comes to a standstill. But for the observation
of the equinox, of course, the sun is moving-most rapidly either north
or south, and therefore it would be more difficult to determine in
those days the exact moment.

[Illustration: EAST AND WEST PYRAMIDS AND TEMPLES AT GÎZEH. (_From
Lepsius._)]

We next come to the question as to whether any buildings were erected
from an equinoctial point of view--that is, buildings oriented east and
west.

Nothing is more remarkable than to go from the description and the
plans of such temples as we have seen at Abydos, Annu, and Karnak,
to regions where, apparently, the thought is totally and completely
different, such as we find on the Pyramid Plains at Gîzeh, at Memphis,
Tunis, Saïs, and Bubastis. The orientation lines of the German
surveyors show beyond all question that the pyramids and some of the
temenos walls at the places named are just as true to the sun-rising
at the equinoxes as the temples referred to at Karnak were to the
sun-rising and setting at the solstices, and the Sphinx was merely a
mysterious nondescript sort of thing which was there watching for the
rising of the sun at an equinox, as the Colossi of the plain at Thebes
were watching for the rising of the sun at the winter solstice.

[Illustration: TEMPLE AND TEMENOS WALLS OF TANIS. (_From Lepsius._)]

[Illustration: TEMPLE AND TEMENOS WALLS OF SAÏS (SĀ-EL-LAGER). (_From
Lepsius._)]

Further, the temples at Gîzeh, instead of being oriented to the
north-west, and to the south-east, are just as truly oriented to the
east and west as the Pyramids themselves. We have either Temples of
Osiris pointing to the sunset at the equinox, or temples of Isis
pointing to the sunrise at the equinox, but in either case built in
relation to the Pyramids. As an indication of the importance of the
considerations with which we are now dealing, I may mention that it is
suggested by them that the building near the Sphinx is really a crypt
of a temple of Isis or Osiris. This is a view which may change the
ideas generally held with regard to its age to the extent of something
like a thousand years. It has been imagined that it was at least one
thousand years older than the second Pyramid; but if it be ultimately
proved that this is really a temple of Isis or Osiris, then since it
was built in just as strict relation to the side of the Pyramid as
the temple near the Pyramid was to its centre, both temples were most
probably built at the same time as the Pyramid itself. However this
may be, the important thing is that when we pass from Thebes, and
possibly Abydos, to the Pyramids at Memphis, to Saïs and Tanis, we find
a solstitial orientation changed to an equinoctial one. _There is a
fundamental change of astronomical thought._

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE NEAR THE SPHINX, LOOKING WEST (TRUE), SHOWING
ITS RELATION TO THE SOUTH FACE OF THE SECOND PYRAMID.
(_From a photograph by Mr. Fearing._)]

I confess I am impressed by this distinction; from the astronomical
point of view it is so fundamental that almost a difference of race is
required to explain it. I say this advisedly, although I know creed can
go a great way, because among these early peoples their astronomy was
chiefly a means to an end. It was not a story of abstract conceptions,
or the mere expression of interesting facts whether used for religious
purposes or not. The end was a calendar, of festivals and holydays if
you will, but a calendar which would allow their tillage and harvest to
prosper.

Now, it is almost impossible to suppose that those who worshipped the
sun at the solstice did not begin the year at the solstice. It is, of
course, equally difficult to believe that those who preferred to range
themselves as equinoctials did not begin the year at an equinox. Both
these practices could hardly go on in the case of the same race in the
same country, least of all in the valley where an annual inundation
marked the solstice.

I shall show subsequently how the rise of the Nile, which took place at
the summer solstice, not only dominated the industry, but the astronomy
and religion of Egypt; and I was much interested in hearing from my
friend Dr. Wallis Budge that the rise of the Tigris and Euphrates
takes place not far from the spring equinox. This may have dominated
the Babylonian calendar as effectually as the date of the Nile-rise
dominated the Egyptian. If so, we have a valuable hint as to the
origin of the equinoctial cult at Gîzeh and elsewhere, which in all
probability was interpolated after the non-equinoctial worship had been
first founded at Annu, Abydos, and possibly Thebes.

CHAPTER IX.

OTHER SIMILAR SHRINES ELSEWHERE.

The observations which have been made in Babylonia are very discordant
among themselves, and at present it is impossible to say, from
the monuments in any part of the region along the Tigris valley,
whether the temples indicate that the solstices were familiar to the
Babylonians.

The ancient cities which have so far been excavated and the modern
names of the sites are as follows:

Nineveh = Kouyunjik.
Babylon = Birs Nimrûd.
Calah = Nimrûd.
Erech = Warka.
Ur of the Chaldees = Mukeyyer.
Ashur = Kalat Sherkât.
Dur Sarginu = Khorsabad.

Let us take, for instance, the region in the valley near where the
Upper Zab joins the main stream. We gather from the map published in
1867 by Place,[11] that Nimrûd, the modern Calah, is near the junction,
while the mounds of Kouyunjik, Mosul, and Khorsabad, representing the
ancient Dur Sarginu, are to the north (36° N. latitude). There are two
other mounds shown on the map at Djigan and Tel Hakoab.

Now, by inspection it is quite clear that none of the mounds except
that of Nimrûd lie east and west. It becomes important, therefore, to
determine their orientation; but, alas! this is nearly impossible with
the sole exception of Khorsabad, for no measures appear to have been
made.

At first sight the matter seems more hopeful in the case of Khorsabad,
for we have not only the plans of Place, but those of Botta and
Flandin.[12] The plans seem oriented with care, so far as the existence
of a compass direction is concerned--for that is present while it too
often is lacking in such productions--but in neither series is it
stated whether N. means true or magnetic north.

Both observers noted a well-marked temple facing N.E., and also an
"observatory." About the temple there can be no mistake, for the
fair-way of the light to it is carefully preserved, and there is a
flight of wide steps on the north-east side of it.

Place gives the orientation 37° N. of E. in one plan and 39° in
another. Botta and Flandin give 31½° in one plan and 32° in another!
Now, the change in the magnetic variation between 1849 and 1867 will
not explain this difference, nor indeed can it be accounted for by
supposing that the magnetic north is in question in one set of plans
and the true north in the other;[13] and it is clear that no perfectly
certain conclusion can be arrived at till this work has been done
over again. But it is known that M. Flandin was a skilled surveyor,
and we have the remarkable fact, that if we take his value, _we have
the amplitude of the sun at the summer solstice in the latitude of
Nineveh_!

I certainly think the temple may be accepted as a solstitial solar
temple provisionally; and if so, the question is raised whether the
structures in Assyria, supposed to be oriented so that the _angles_
face the cardinal points, are not all of them oriented to the sun at a
solstice or to some other heavenly body. Certainly we must have more
definite measures before the statement generally made can be accepted
as final.

When we leave Assyria we find other countries, it is true still farther
afield, in which the existence of solstitial temples of a great
antiquity of foundation is fully recognised.

The great temple of the sun at Pekin is oriented to the winter
solstice. The ceremonials which take place there are thus described by
Edkins:--

"The most important of all the State observances of China is the
sacrifice at the winter solstice, performed in the open air at the
south altar of the Temple of Heaven, December 21st. The altar is
called Nan-Tan, 'south mound,' or Yuenkieu, 'round hillock'--both
names of the greatest antiquity.

"Here also are offered prayers for rain in the early summer. The altar
is a beautiful marble structure, ascended by twenty-seven steps, and
ornamented by circular balustrades on each of its three terraces.
There is another on the north side of somewhat smaller dimensions,
called the Ch'i-ku-t'an, or altar for prayer on behalf of grain. On
it is raised a magnificent triple-roofed circular structure 99 feet
in height, which constitutes the most conspicuous object in the _tout
ensemble_, and is that which is called by foreigners the Temple of
Heaven. It is the hall of prayer for a propitious year, and here,
early in the spring, the prayer and sacrifice for that object are
prosecuted. These structures are deeply enshrined in a thick cypress
grove, reminding the visitor of the custom which formerly prevailed
among the heathen nations of the Old Testament, and of the solemn
shade which surrounded some celebrated temples of ancient Greece."

The Temple of Heaven is thus described:--

"The south altar, the most important of all Chinese religious
structures, has the following dimensions: It consists of a triple
circular terrace, 210 feet wide at the base, 150 in the middle, and 90
at the top. In these, notice the multiples of three: 3 × 3 = 9, 3 × 5
= 15, 3 × 7 = 21. The heights of the three terraces, upper, middle,
and lower, are 5·72 feet, 6·23 feet, and 5 feet respectively. At
the times of sacrificing, the tablets to heaven and to the Emperor's
ancestors are placed on the top; they are 2 feet 5 inches long, and 5
inches wide. The title is in gilt letters; that of heaven faces the
south, and those of the ancestors east and west. The Emperor, with
his immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-Ti and
faces the north. The platform is laid with marble stones, forming
nine concentric circles; the inner circle consists of nine stones,
cut so as to fit with close edges round the central stone, which is a
perfect circle. Here the Emperor kneels, and is surrounded first by
the circles of the terraces and their enclosing walls, and then by the
circle of the horizon. He thus seems to himself and his court to be
in the centre of the universe, and turning to the north, assuming the
attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in prayer and by his position
that he is inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Round him on the
pavement are the nine circles of as many heavens, consisting of nine
stones, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and so on in successive
multiples of nine till the square of nine, the favourite number of
Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost circle of eighty-one
stones.

"The same symbolism is carried throughout the balustrades, the steps,
and the two lower terraces of the altar. Four flights of steps of nine
each lead down to the middle terrace, where are placed the tablets to
the spirits of the sun, moon, and stars and the year god, Tai-sui.
The sun and stars take the east, and the moon and Tai-sui the west:
the stars are the twenty-eight constellations of the Chinese zodiac,
borrowed by the Hindoos soon after the Christian era, and called by
them the Naksha-tras; the Tai-sui is a deification of the sixty-year
cycle."[14]

We find, then, that, the most important temple in China is oriented to
the winter solstice.

To mention another instance. It has long been known that Stonehenge
is oriented to the rising of the sun at, the summer solstice. Its
amplitude instead of being 26° is 40° N. of E.; with a latitude of 51°,
the 26° azimuth of Thebes is represented by an amplitude of 40° at
Stonehenge.

The structure consists of a double circle of stones, with a sort of
naos composed of large stones facing a so-called avenue, which is a
sunken way between two parallel banks. This avenue stretches away from
the naos in the direction of the solstitial sunrise.

But this is not all. In the avenue, but not in the centre of its width,
there is a stone called the "Friar's Heel," so located in relation to
the horizon that, according to Mr. Flinders Petrie,[15] who has made
careful measurements of the whole structure, it aligned the coming
sunrise from a point behind the naos or trilithon. The horizon is
invisible at the entrance of the circle, the peak of the heel rising
far above it; from behind the circles the peak is below the horizon.
Now, from considerations which I shall state at length further on, Mr.
Petrie concludes that Stonehenge existed 2000 B. C. It must not be
forgotten that structures more or less similar to Stonehenge are found
along a line from the east on both sides of the Mediterranean.[16]

[Illustration: STONEHENGE, FROM THE NORTH.]

It will be seen that the use of the marking stone to indicate the
direction in which the sun will rise answers exactly the same purpose
as the long avenue of majestic columns and pylons in the Egyptian
temples. In both cases we had a means of determining the commencement
and the succession of years.

[Illustration: STONEHENGE RESTORED.]

Hence, just as surely as the temple of Karnak once pointed to the sun
_setting_ at the summer solstice, the temple at Stonehenge pointed
nearly to the sun _rising_ at the summer solstice. Stonehenge, there is
little doubt, was so constructed that at sunrise at the same solstice
the shadow of one stone fell exactly on the stone in the centre; that
observation indicated to the priests that the New Year had begun, and
possibly also fires were lighted to flash the news through the country.
And in this way it is possible that we have the ultimate origin of the
midsummer fires, which have been referred to by so many authors.[17]

We have thus considered solstitial temples scattered widely over the
earth's surface far from the Nile Valley.

We may now return to the equinoctial temples which can still be traced
to the N.E. of that valley--the chief ones being those, remains of
which still exist at Jerusalem, Baalbek, and Palmyra, where stone was
available for the temple builders. These temples were apparently as
perfectly squared to the equinox as the Pyramids at Gîzeh. I will take
the temple of Jerusalem first, as its history is more complete than
that of the others.

We learn from the works of Josephus that as early as Solomon's time the
temple at Jerusalem was oriented to the east with care;[18] in other
words, the temple at Jerusalem was parallel to the temple of Isis at
the Pyramids; it was open to the east, closed absolutely to the west.
In plan, as we shall see, it was very like an Egyptian temple, the
light from the sun at the equinox being free to come along an open
passage, and to get at last into the Holy of Holies. We find that the
direction of the axis of the temple shows the existence of a cult
connected with the possibility of seeing the sun rise at either the
spring or the autumn equinox.

All the doors being opened, the sunlight would penetrate over the high
altar, where the sacrifices were offered, into the very Holy of Holies,
which we may remember was only entered by the high priest once a year;
it could have done that twice a year, but as a matter of fact it was
only utilised once; whereas at Karnak the priest would only go into the
Holy of Holies once a year, because it was only once illuminated by the
sun in each year.

There is evidence, too, that the entrance of the sunlight on the
morning of the spring equinox formed part of the ceremonial. The priest
being in the naos, the worshippers outside, with their backs to the
sun, could see the high priest by means of the sunlight reflected from
the jewels[19] in his garments, thus referred to by Josephus:--

"I will now treat of what I before omitted--the garment of the high
priest, for he [Moses] left no room for the evil practices of [false]
prophets; but if some of that sort should attempt to abuse the Divine
authority, he left it to God to be present at His sacrifices when He
pleased, and when He pleased to be absent. And he was willing this
should be known, not to the Hebrews only, but to those foreigners also
who were there. For as to those stones, which we told you before,
the high priest bare on his shoulders, which were sardonyxes (and
I think it needless to describe their feature, they being known to
everybody), _the one of them shined out when God was present at their
sacrifices_.[20] I mean that which was of the nature of a button on
his right shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, and being seen
even by those who were most remote; which splendour yet was not before
natural to the stone."

Josephus[21] states that the miraculous shining of the jewels ceased
two hundred years before his time, "God having been displeased at the
transgression of His laws."

This remark of Josephus quite justifies the assumption that the effect
of sunlight on the priest's jewels formed part of the ceremonial,
and in this way. In the earliest times there is no doubt that the
equinoctial temples were solar temples pure and simple, and the rising
sun would always, in fine weather, shine into them at the equinox,
which, while they were used as solar temples, marked New Year's Day.
The influence of the later Babylonian astronomy, however, at length
replaced the sun by the moon, and the year would commence, not at the
equinox, but by a new or a full moon near the equinox. If either of
these happened _at_ the equinox, well and good; but if not, then the
sun's declination might be widely different from 0°--it might amount
roughly to 10° either N. or S.--and under these circumstances, as the
amplitude would be greater, the sun's light could not enter the temple
at all at the date of the feast. More than this, a mistake of a month
might be made, or a question of old style and new style might come in,
and that of course would make matters worse. In this way, then, the
withdrawal of the sunlight from the temple at Jerusalem admits of being
astronomically explained.

It seems highly probable that the temple in question was built on a
Phenician foundation, for some of the stones exceed 38 feet in length
and weigh 90 tons.[22] This remark is suggested by the fact that at
Baalbek or Heliopolis, to which I next direct attention, the most
ancient and most massive part of the structure is, in all probability,
of Phenician origin. To give an idea of its massiveness, which is
almost more than Egyptian, it may be stated that there are three
stones each about 64 feet long, 13 feet high, and 13 feet thick. There
are smaller stones used in the filling in, of the same height and
thickness, and 30 feet long.[23] These form the western wall of the
original naos or of its support.

Here the orientation is due E.[24] When we come to Palmyra, we find
also another temple to the equinoctial sun; but here the sunset, and
not the sunrise, is in question--the temple faces due west.

In the whole problem, then, of orientation as I have had to present it,
and as it now stands, we seem for the moment to be face to face with
two very remarkable and strange things; so strange that the argument
may appear far-fetched and worthless, since we are landed in a region
apparently very far removed from our modern habits of thought. But
is this really so? I assume the personification or the deification of
the sun: I shall subsequently have to include the stars; I indicate
special orientations of buildings devoted to the worship of the sun at
one time of the year or another. But really both these things, though
they seem improbable, have been carried down to our own day, quite
independently of any question relating to Egypt. There is nothing new
about them at all, and there is nothing really strange. When we go into
an observatory we think nothing of turning our telescope towards Venus,
or Jupiter, or Mars. Here we have the deification of the planets. It is
perfectly true that this religious treatment of the planets is not of
our own day: we have inherited it from the Greeks through the Latins;
but we do not think it at all extraordinary that a planet should be
called Venus or Jupiter. Thus we of to-day are completely in touch
with the old Egyptians, except that the Egyptians were wiser in their
generation, and looked after the sun at fixed points in the year and
the constant stars instead of the variable planets.

Then, again, take the question of orientation. This is, after all,
one which survives among ourselves. All our churches are more or less
oriented, which is a remnant of old sun-worship.[25] Any church that
is properly built to-day will have its axis pointing to the rising
of the sun on the Saint's Day, _i.e._, a church dedicated to St. John
ought not to be parallel to a church dedicated to St. Peter. It is true
that there are sometimes local conditions which prevent this; but if
the architect knows his business properly he is unhappy unless he can
carry out this old-world tradition. But it may be suggested that in our
churches the door is always to the west and the altar is always to the
east. That is perfectly true, but it is a modern practice. Certainly in
the early centuries the churches were all oriented to the sun, so that
the light fell on the altar through the eastern doors at sunrise. The
late Gilbert Scott, in his "Essay on Church Architecture," gives a very
detailed account of these early churches, which in this respect exactly
resembled the Egyptian temples.

[Illustration: PLAN OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME, SHOWING THE DOOR FACING THE
SUNRISE.]

In regard to old St. Peter's at Rome,[26] we read that "so exactly due
east and west was the Basilica that, on the vernal equinox, the great
doors of the porch of the quadriporticus were thrown open at sunrise,
and also the eastern doors of the church itself, and as the sun rose,
its rays passed through the outer doors, then through the inner doors,
and, penetrating straight through the nave, illuminated the High
Altar." The present church fulfils the same conditions.

[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AT ROME: FAÇADE FACING THE EAST (TRUE).]

But we have between our own churches and the Egyptian temples a link in
the chain which has just been magnificently completed by Mr. Penrose by
his study of the Greek temples. These interesting results will occupy
us in a later chapter.

CHAPTER X.

THE SOLAR TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK.

So much having been premised concerning the early temple-worship of
the sun in Egypt and the adjacent countries, and the survival of some
of the ideas connected with it down to our own day, I next propose to
describe the finest Egyptian solar temple which remains open to our
examination--that of Amen-Rā at Karnak.

Of the chief solar temples referred to in a previous chapter, two
have passed away; even the orientation of the one at Heliopolis I was
only able to determine by the mounds, assuming them to bear the same
relation to the temple as other mounds do, and the remaining obelisk.

The temple at Abydos is also a mound; but in the case of the temple of
Amen-Rā at Thebes the case is different: instead of being a mere heap,
the orientation of which is obtainable only by the general lie of the
remains, this temple is still in such preservation that Lepsius in the
year 1844 could give us a large number of details about it, and locate
the position of the innumerable courts. Its orientation to the solstice
we can claim, as I hope to be able to show, as an early astronomical
observation. So it is quite fair to say that, many thousand years
ago at all events, the Egyptians were perfectly familiar with the
solstices, and therefore more or less fully with the yearly path of the
sun.

[Illustration: AXIS OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ FROM THE WESTERN PYLON,
LOOKING SOUTH-EAST.]

This temple of Amen-Rā is beyond all question the most majestic ruin
in the world. There is a sort of stone avenue in the centre, giving
a view towards the north-west, and this axis is something like five
hundred yards in length. The whole object of the builder of the great
temple at Karnak--one of the most soul-stirring temples which have ever
been conceived or built by man--was to preserve that axis absolutely
open; and all the wonderful halls of columns and the like, as seen on
one side or other of the axis, are merely details; the point being
that the axis should be absolutely open, straight, and true. The axis
was directed towards the hills on the west side of the Nile, in which
are the tombs of the kings. From the external pylon the South-eastern
outlook through the ruins shows the whole length of the temple, and
we see at the very extremity of the central line a gateway nearly
six hundred yards away. This belonged to a temple pointing towards
the south-east. There were really two temples in the same line back
to back, the chief one facing the sunset at the summer solstice, the
other probably the sunrise at the winter solstice. The distance which
separates the outside entrances of both these temples is greater than
that from Pall Mall to Piccadilly; the great temple covers about twice
the area covered by St. Peter's at Rome, so that the whole structure
was of a vastness absolutely unapproached in the modern ecclesiastical
world.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AND SOME OF ITS
SURROUNDINGS, INCLUDING THE SACRED LAKE.

II. Original Sanctuary.
III. Obelisks.
IV. Hall of Columns.
V. Interior Pylon.
VI. Outer Court.
VII. External Western Pylon.
VIII. Sphinxes.

1 Temple M. of Lepsius.
2 Temple of Seti II.
3 Side Entrance.
4 South Wall.
5 } Pylons of South
6 } Courts.
7 }
8 } Inner Courts near
9 } the Sanctuary.
10 }

_a_ } N. Wall.
_b_ }
_c_ } Columns in Outer
_d_ } Court, N. Side.
_e_ } Columns in Outer
_f_ } Court, S. Side.
_g_ Taharqa's Columns.]

Some Egyptian temples took many tens of years to build; the obelisks,
all in single blocks, were brought for hundreds of miles down the
Nile. The building of a solar temple like that of Amen-Rā meant to the
Egyptians a very serious undertaking indeed.

Some of the structural details are of a very curious nature, while the
general arrangement of the temple itself is no less extraordinary.
First, with regard to the temple axis. It seems to be a general rule
that from the entrance-pylon the temple stretches through various halls
of different sizes and details, until at last, at the extreme end, what
is called the Sanctuary, Naos, Adytum, or Holy of Holies, is reached.
The end of the temple at which the pylons are situated is open, the
other is closed. These lofty pylons, and even the walls, are sometimes
covered with the most wonderful drawings and hieroglyphic figures and
records. Stretching in front of the pylons, extending sometimes very
far in front, are rows of sphinxes. This principle is carried to such
an extent that in some cases separate isolated gates have been built
right in front and exactly in the alignment of the temple.

From one end of the temple to the other we find the axis marked out
by narrow apertures in the various pylons, and many walls with doors
crossing the axis.

[Illustration: VIEW TO THE SOUTH-WEST FROM THE SACRED LAKE OF AMEN-RĀ.]

[Illustration: RUINS OF DOOR AT ENTRANCE OF THE SANCTUARY.]

In the temple of Amen-Rā there are 17 or 18 of these apertures,
limiting the light which falls into the Holy of Holies or the
Sanctuary. This construction gives one a very definite impression that
every part of the temple was built to subserve a special object, viz.,
to limit the light which fell on its front into a narrow beam, and to
carry it to the other extremity of the temple--into the sanctuary, so
that once a year when the sun set at the solstice the light passed
without interruption along the whole length of the temple, finally
illuminating the Sanctuary in most resplendent fashion and striking the
Sanctuary wall. The wall of the Sanctuary opposite to the entrance of
the temple was always blocked. There is no case in which the beam of
light can pass absolutely through the temple.

[Illustration: THE OBELISKS NEAR THE OLDEST PART OF THE TEMPLE OF
AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK.]

The point was to provide an axis open at one end and absolutely closed
at the other, the open courts being only found towards that end towards
which the temple opened, the other end being all but absolutely dark
and quite blocked up at the extremity.

These sunlight effects were fully appreciated. Referring to the
obelisks erected by Queen Hāt-shepset as a monument to her father Amen,
an inscription at the base of one of these says, "They are seen an
endless number of miles off: _it is a flood of shining splendour when
the sun shines between the two_;"[27] and again, "The sun's disc shines
between them as when it rises from the horizon of heaven."[28]

Passing from the temple at Karnak to others in a better state of
preservation, we can gather that the part of the axis furthest from the
entrance was covered, so that in the _penetralia_ there was only a dim
religious light. The entrance is also, as it were, guarded by a massive
exterior pylon, as in the more or less modern temple of Edfû. This,
again, reduces the light in the interior.

It is easy to recognise that these arrangements bear out the idea of an
astronomical use of the temple.

[Illustration: INNER COURT AND SANCTUARY AT EDFÛ.
(_From a Photograph by the Author._)]

First of all we know that the temple was directed to the place of the
sun's setting; and if the Egyptians wished to lead the narrow shaft
of light which was bound to enter the temple, since it was directed
to the sunset, they would have contrived the very system of gradually
narrowing doors which we have found to be one of the special features
of the temple.

The doors were considered as very important--and no wonder. In the
account given of Thothmes III.'s restoration of the temple of Amen-Rā,
we read that after the building had been constructed in a "position
corresponding to the four quarters of heaven" the great stone gateways
were erected.

"The first had doors of real acacia wood covered with plates of gold,
fastened with black bronze and iron."

Then came a propylon (Bekhen) with three other gates connected with it
covered with plates of copper, and the sacrifices were brought through
these.[29]

This idea is strengthened by considering the construction of the
astronomical telescope. Although the Egyptians knew nothing about
telescopes, it would seem that they had the same problem before them
which we solve by a special arrangement in the modern telescope--they
wanted to keep the light pure, and to lead it into their sanctuary as
we lead it to the eyepiece. To keep the light that passes into the
eyepiece of a modern telescope pure, we have between the object-glass
and the eyepiece a series of what are called diaphragms; that is, a
series of rings right along the tube, the inner diameters of the rings
being greatest close to the object-glass, and smallest close to the
eyepiece; these diaphragms must so be made that all the light from the
object-glass shall fall upon the eyepiece, without loss or reflection
by the tube.

These apertures in the pylons and separating walls of Egyptian temples
exactly represent the diaphragms in the modern telescope.

What then was the real use of these pylons and these diaphragms? It
was to keep all stray light out of the carefully roofed and darkened
Sanctuary; but why was the Sanctuary to be kept in darkness?

The first point that I wish to make is that these temples--whatever
view may be entertained with regard to their worship or the ceremonial
in them--were undoubtedly constructed among other reasons for the
purpose of obtaining an exact observation of the precise time of the
solstice. The priests having this power at their disposal, would not be
likely to neglect it, for they ruled by knowledge. The temples were,
then, astronomical observatories, and the first observatories that we
know of in the world.

If we consider them as horizontal telescopes used for the purpose I
have suggested, we at once understand the long axis, and the series of
gradually narrowing diaphragms, for the longer the beam of light used
the greater is the accuracy that can be obtained.

Independently of ceremonial reasons--there is a good deal to be said
under that head--it is quite clear that the darker the sanctuary the
more obvious will be the patch of light on the end wall, and the more
easily can its position be located. It was important to do this on the
two or three days near the solstice, in order to get an idea of the
exact time at which the solstice took place. We find that a narrow beam
of sunlight coming through a narrow entrance some 500 yards away from
the door of the Holy of Holies would, provided the temple were properly
orientated to the solstice, and provided the solstice occurred at the
absolute moment of sunrise or sunset according to which the temple was
being utilised, practically flash into the sanctuary and remain there
for about a couple of minutes, and then pass away. The flash would be
a crescendo and diminuendo, but the whole thing would not last above
two minutes or thereabouts, and might be considerably reduced by an
arrangement of curtains. Supposing the solstice did not occur at the
precise moment of sunrise or sunset, and provided the Egyptians by any
means whatever were able to divide the days and the nights into more
or less equal intervals of time, two or three observations of the sun
rising at the solstice on three different mornings, or of the sunset
at the solstice on three different evenings, would enable a careful
observer to say whether the solstice had occurred at the exact moment
of sunrise or sunset, or at some interval between two successive
sunrises or sunsets, and what that interval was.

We may conclude that there was some purpose of utility to be served,
and the solar temples could have been used undoubtedly, among other
things, for determining the exact length of the solar year.

I now come to my next point, which is that here we have the true origin
of our present means of measuring time; that our year as we know it
was first determined in these Egyptian temples and by the Egyptians.
The magnificent burst of the light at sunset into the sanctuary would
show that a new true solar year was beginning. It so happens that the
summer solstice was the time when the Nile began, and still begins,
to rise; so that in Egypt the priests were enabled to determine, year
after year, not only the length of the year, but the exact time of its
commencement. This, however, they apparently kept to themselves, for
the year in use, called the vague year, began at different times of the
true year through a long cycle, as I shall show in subsequent chapters.

If the Egyptians wished to use the temple for ceremonial purposes, the
magnificent beam of light thrown into the temple at the sunset hour
would give them opportunities and even suggestions for so doing; for
instance, they might place an image of the god in the sanctuary and
allow the light to Hash upon it. We should have a "manifestation of
Rā" with a vengeance during the brief time the white flood of sunlight
fell on it; be it remembered that in the dry and clear air of Egypt the
sun casts a shadow five seconds after the first little point of it has
been seen above the horizon. So that at sunrise and sunset in Egypt the
light is very strong, and not tempered as with us. They did this: we
not only find the exact allocation of words "the manifestation of Rā,"
but what happened is described. One of the inscriptions relating to the
manifestation of Rā has been translated by De Rougé as follows:--

"Il vint en passant vers le temple de Rā; il entra dans le temple
en adorant (deux fois). Le χer-heb [celebrant] invoqua (celui qui)
repousse les plaies du roi; il remplit les rites de la porte; il prit
le seteb, il se purifia par l'encens; il fit une libation; il apporta
les fleurs de _Habenben_ [a part of the temple]; il apporta le parfum
(?). Il monta les degrés vers l'adytum grand, pour voir Rā dans
Habenben; lui-même se tint seul; il poussa le verrou; il ouvrit les
portes; il vit son père Rā dans Habenben; il vénéra la barque de Rā
et la barque de Tum. Il tira les portes, et posa la terre sigillaire
(qu'il) scella avec le sceau du roi. Lui-même ordonne aux prêtres,
'J'ai placé le sceau; que n'entre pas quelqu'un dedans de tout roi qui
se tiendra (là).'"[30]

In the quotation the apparatus of doors is referred to, and it is not
difficult to understand that by a particular arrangement of them it
would be easily possible to allow the hash which lighted up the image
of the god to be of very brief duration. Remember that the sanctuary
was dark, that the king stood with his back to the pylon (and therefore
to the sun). Under these circumstances, to an excited imagination it
would be the god himself and not his image which appeared. Maspero[31]
adduces much evidence to show that the priests were not above pious
frauds even in the worship connected with the Holy of Holies:--

"The shrines [in the sanctuary] are little chapels of wood or stone,
in which the spirit of the deity was supposed at all times to dwell,
and which on ceremonial occasions contained his image. The sacred
barks were built after the model of the Bari, or boat in which the
sun performed his daily course. The shrine was placed amidships of
the boat and covered with a veil or curtain, to conceal its contents
from all spectators.... We have not as yet discovered any of the
statues employed in the ceremonial, but we know what they were like,
what part they played, and of what materials they were made. They
were animated.... They spoke, moved, acted--not metaphorically, but
actually.... Interminable avenues of sphinxes, gigantic obelisks,
massive pylons, halls of a hundred columns, mysterious chambers
of perpetual night--in a word, the whole Egyptian Temple and its
dependencies were built by way of a hiding-place for a performing
puppet, of which the wires were worked by a priest."

In an inscription which covers, according to Brugsch, an entire wall
near the Holy of Holies in the temple of Amen-Rā it is stated that
a beautiful harp, inlaid with silver and gold and precious stones,
on which to sing the praises of the god, statues of the god himself,
and numerous gates (Selkhet) with locks of copper and dark bronze, to
protect the Holy of Holies from intrusion, were among the gifts to the
priests.[32]

Thothmes III., in his account of his embellishments at Karnak, says of
the statues of the gods and of their secret place (possibly the Adytum)
that they were "more glorious than what is created in heaven, more
secret than the place of the abyss, and more [invisible] than what is
in the ocean."[33]

CHAPTER XI.

THE AGE OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK.

If it be accepted that the arguments already put forward justify us in
regarding the temple of Amen-Rā as a solstitial solar temple, we are
brought face to face with the fact that if it be of any great antiquity
its orientation should be such that it will no longer receive the light
of the setting sun at the summer solstice along its axis.

This results from the fact that there is a slow change in what is
called the obliquity of the ecliptic--that is, the angle between the
plane of the earth's equator and the plane of the ecliptic; this
change is brought about by the attraction of the other planetary
bodies affecting the plane of the ecliptic. If these planes approach
each other, the obliquity will be reduced; the present obliquity is
something like 23° 27′; we know that 5,000 B.C. it was 24° 22′, nearly
a degree more. A difference of 1° means, then, a difference of time
of about seven thousand years. It may go down to something below 21°.
Since the obliquity has been decreasing for many thousand years, a
temple directed to the rising or setting sun at the solstice some
thousands of years ago had a greater amplitude than it requires now.

It will be readily understood that if the orientation of the temple and
the height of the hills towards which it points be accurately known,
knowing also the precise obliquity of the ecliptic at different epochs,
we have an astronomical means of determining the date of the original
foundation of the temple, supposing, of course, that it was founded to
observe the solstice.

But before I go into these matters it is essential that the evidence of
Egyptologists should be considered. Very fortunately for us in these
inquiries the temple of Amen-Rā is one of those most carefully studied
by Mariette, so that the _dernier mot_ of the archæologist is at our
disposal.

Mariette, in his magnificent memoir on Karnak,[34] surpassed himself in
the care and sagacity which he displayed in endeavouring to fix dates
for the various structures in that wonderful temple-field, and among
them the various parts of the temple of Amen-Rā.

In his maps, to which I now refer, each part of the temple is coloured
according to the supposed date of its building. He points out first of
all that the inscriptions on the walls must be disregarded, as they
could have been put there at any date after the temples were built. On
this point I quote Mariette's own words:--[35]

"Les couleurs marquées sur le plan servent à indiquer, au moyen
de la légende explicative placée en marge, les époques diverses
de la construction des temples et de leurs parties. Quelques mots
d'explication sont ici nécessaires. Un mur porte les cartouches de
Menephtah; mais il peut avoir été construit deux-cent-cinquante ans
plus tôt par Thoutmès III. Les époques de la décoration ne sont
ainsi pas toujours les époques de la construction. Pour avoir les
époques de la décoration, il ne s'agit que de regarder les murs et
les inscriptions dont ils sont couverts. Pour avoir les époques de la
construction, tout un travail de confrontation, de comparaison, est
nécessaire. Il faut s'assurer si les mêmes mains qui ont construit
le mur l'ont décoré; dans le cas contraire, il faut faire intervenir
l'archéologie dans toutes les branches de cette science qui touchent à
l'observation des lieux, au mode de construction, à l'agencement des
pierres, au choix et à l'appareillage des matériaux."

Taking the temple in its generality, he finds that, so far as his
inquiries had carried him, parts were certainly built at a time an
ancient as the twelfth dynasty--say 2400 or 3000 B.C., according to the
authority in these matters that we may prefer.

Then again we have dates given and indications of kings through the
eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties, and then again on to the times of
the Ptolemies.

In such an inquiry we must have archæological dates on which we can
rely. In the date assigned to the time of Mena by various Egyptologists
we find a difference of nearly--in fact, rather more than--a thousand
years in our authorities. In the twelfth dynasty we find a difference
of five hundred years; but in the later dynasties, such as the
eighteenth, the difference is reduced in some cases to ten years or
so. So that in the later dynasties we know pretty well what time is in
question. We are therefore on firm ground.

The first point to which I wish to call attention is that according to
Mariette the building dates change along the open axis of the temple.
From photographs I took when in Egypt I found reason to believe that
the direction of the axis has been slightly changed at the west end.

If we refer to the plan of the temple, the point of importance to us in
our present inquiry has relation to the circumstances connected with
the buildings of the temple itself. We have in the outer court to the
north-west certain pillars which were built by one of the Ethiopian
kings. These I mark =1=, =1= (see page 118). There is the temple =M=,
built by Rameses III, according to Mariette. There are walls with
columns, marked =2=, =2=, built by the twenty-second dynasty, north
and south of this outer court; and then there is the temple =L= in the
outer court, supposed to have been built by Seti II. The western part
of the temple, therefore, is of no high antiquity. To find this we have
to go some 200 yards to the south-east. Near the central portion of
the temple (marked =4=) there are traces of the twelfth or possibly
the eleventh dynasty. What existed then might have been a shrine with
nothing to the north-west or south-east of it.

This seems almost to have been its condition at the time of Thothmes
III. even.

According to an inscription quoted by Brugsch,[36] "The king (Thothmes
III.) found it in the form of a brick building, in a very dilapidated
condition, being a work of his predecessors. The king with his own hand
performed the solemn laying of the foundation stone for this monument."

From this point, indeed, the temple seems to have extended in both
directions--that is, north-west and south-east--the sanctuary being
thrown back to the eastward and pylons added to the westward.

It follows from the above very brief sketch that the original
orientation of the original shrine is to be gathered from the walls
towards the centre of the present ruins.

Let us agree to this. The Egyptologist already gives us
eleventh-dynasty time, say 2500 B.C. for a part of the existing temple.

Let us now pass to the astronomical problem. Lepsius and others have
measured the amplitude of this part of the temple. It is given as 20°
or 20° 30′ N. of W.

When there I measured the height of the opposite hills (near the tombs
of the kings) roughly at 2½°. If we, therefore, deal with the
amplitude, considering the height of the hills as 2½°, we find that,
as the horizon was above the sea horizon and the sun travels down an
inclined path from south to north, it would meet the hill sooner than
the sea horizon; the apparent amplitude would, therefore, be less than
the true one, so that we get an amplitude of 25° instead of 26°, and
if we correct that for refraction we get 25½°.

Let us take the lower amplitudes. We can construct the following
table:--

With present obliquity 23° 30′ we have at Thebes,
lat. 25° 40′ amplitude on horizon (sun's centre) 26°
Corrected for refraction 26° 30′
The amplitude behind hill, 2½° high, will be 25°
Making correction for refraction 25° 5′

So that, taking the lowest amplitude, the temple axis points almost 1°
too much to the north.

I have already mentioned that the photographs I had taken of the temple
axis towards, and from the outside of, the Ptolemaic pylon indicated a
twist in the temple axis. This was a question that in the absence of
accurate measurements could only be determined by an actual observation
of the solstice.

This being so, I begged the intervention of Col. Sir Colin
Scott-Moncrieff, the Under Secretary of State of the Public Works
Department in Egypt, to detail one of his officers to make observations
of the summer solstice of 1891. He was good enough to accede to my
request, and I proceed to give extracts from the report of the officer
in question, Mr. P. J. G. Wakefield, to Mr. Allan Joseph, the Director
of Works and Irrigation:--

"In accordance with instructions received, I made the following
observations at Karnak on June 21st, 1891:--

"I found that the points which I have marked A, C, D on the
photographic plan (being the centres of the Pylon of Rameses I., the
Pylon of Thothmes I., and the shrine or sanctuary of Philip III. of
Macedon (?) respectively) were all in a straight line. B is a point
midway between the only two opposite pillars of which the bases are
intact (one set up by Rameses I., and the other by Seti I.), and was
very nearly in line; probably the true centre between the pillars
(which is difficult to obtain) would be exactly so. The centre of
the Great Pylon (Ptolemaic) is not in line at all with these points,
there being 1° difference between D A prolonged and A E; I therefore
accepted the line D C A as the true axis.

"From an inspection made on June 20th, it appeared to me that the
setting sun would not be visible from any of the points indicated by
Professor Norman Lockyer. I therefore placed the theodolite at A. I
regret to say that my above supposition was correct, as even from A I
was only able to see a portion of the setting sun, the remainder being
hidden behind the south wall of the Great Pylon. I obtained, however,
one reading, the right limb at, as nearly as I could judge, the moment
of impact of the sun's diameter with the hill."

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ, SHOWING THE POINTS
REFERRED TO IN THE PRESENT CHAPTER.]

Of the measures given the most important are the angle between the axis
of the temple looking south-east from A and the north point 116° 23′
40″ (amplitude 26° 23′) and the angle between the top of the hills and
the horizontal 2° 36′ 20″ .[37] These measures, therefore, entirely
justified the result of the calculations I have before given, and
prove that the interval of over 5000 years is sufficient to cause us to
detect the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic by this method of
observing the sunset at a solstice with an instrument built on so large
a a scale.

Taking the orientation as 26°, and taking hills and refraction into
consideration, we find that the true horizon sunset amplitude would be
27° 30′. This amplitude gives us for Thebes a declination of 24° 18′.

This was the obliquity of the ecliptic in the year 3700 B.C., and this
is therefore the date of the _foundation_ of the shrine of Amen-Rā at
Karnak, so far as we can determine it astronomically with the available
data; but about these there is still an element of doubt, for, so far
as I learn, the recent magnetic readings have not been checked by
astronomical observations.

CHAPTER XII.

THE STARS--THEIR RISINGS AND SETTINGS.

From what has been stated it is not too much to assume that the
Egyptians observed, and taught people to observe, the sun on the
horizon.

This being so, the chances are that at first they would observe the
stars on the horizon too, both stars rising and stars setting; this
indeed is rendered more probable by the very careful way in which early
astronomers defined the various conditions under which a star can rise
or set, always, be it well remembered, in relation to the sun.

It must not be forgotten that the ancients had no telescopes, and had
to use their horizon as the only scientific instrument which they
possessed. They spoke of a star as rising or setting cosmically,
achronically, or heliacally.

The cosmic rising meant that the star rose, and the cosmic setting
meant that the star set, at the same moment as the sun--that is, that
along the eastern horizon we should see the star rising at the moment
of sunrise, or along the western horizon a star setting at the moment
of the sun setting; but unless certain very obvious precautions were
taken it is clear that neither the rising nor the setting star would be
seen, in consequence of the presence of daylight. The achronical rising
or setting is different from the cosmic in this respect--that we have
the star rising when the sun is setting, or setting when the sun is
rising. Finally we have the heliacal rising and setting; that is taken
to be that the star appeared in the morning a little in advance of the
sunrise, or set at twilight a little later than the sun.

It is quite clear that if we observe a star rising in the dawn, it will
get more and more difficult to observe the nearer the time of sunrise
is approached. Therefore, what the ancients did was to determine a
time before sunrise in the early dawn at which the star could be very
obviously and clearly seen to rise. The term "heliacal rising" was
coined to represent a star rising visibly in the dawn, therefore,
before the sun. Generally throughout Egypt the sun was supposed to be
something like 10° below the horizon when a star was stated to rise
_heliacally_.

The following table from Biot should make matters quite clear:--

┌ ┌ True or Cosmic Sun rising.
│ │ ┌ Sun not yet risen, but
│ Morning ┤ Apparent or ┤ depressed below horizon
│ │ Heliacal │ sufficiently to enable
│ └ └ the star to be seen.
│
Star at Eastern ┤ ┌ True or Achronic Sun setting.
Horizon (Rising) │ │ ┌ Sun set, and depressed
│ Evening ┤ Apparent or ┤ below horizon sufficiently
│ │ Heliacal │ to enable the
└ └ └ star to be seen.
┌ ┌ True or Cosmic Sun setting.
│ │ ┌ Sun set and depressed
│ Evening ┤ Apparent or ┤ below horizon sufficiently
Star at Western │ │ Heliacal │ to enable the
Horizon (Setting)┤ └ │ star to be seen.
│
│ ┌ True or Achronic Sun rising.
│ │ ┌ Sun not yet risen, but
│ Morning ┤ Apparent or ┤ depressed below horizon
│ │ Heliacal │ sufficiently to enable
└ └ └ the star to be seen.

It is Ideler's opinion that, in Ptolemy's time, in the case of stars
of the first magnitude, for heliacal risings and settings, if the star
and sun were on the same horizon, a depression of the sun of 11° was
taken; if on opposite horizons, a depression of 7°. For stars of the
second magnitude these values were 14° and 8½°. But if temples were
employed as I have suggested, even cosmic and achronic risings and
settings could be observed in the case of the brightest stars.

But it must not be imagined that, even in Egypt, all stars can be
observed the moment they are above the horizon. In the morning,
especially, there are mists, so that all but the brightest stars are
often invisible till they are 1° or 2° high. On this point I quote
Biot:--

"Comme le rapporte Nouet, l'astronome de l'expédition française, on
n'y aperçoit jamais à leur lever les étoiles de 2° et de 3° grandeur
même dans les plus belles nuits, à cause d'une bande constant de
vapeurs qui borde l'horizon.[38] Aussi en expliquant le calcul
des levers héliaques dans l'Almageste, Ptolémée a-t-il soin de
remarquer[39] que les annonces qu'on voudrait faire de ces phénomènes
seront toujours très-incertaines, à cause de l'état des couches d'air
dans lesquelles on les observe, et à cause de la difficulté optique
qu'on éprouve à saisir la première apparition, comme il dit lui-même
en avoir fait l'expérience."[40]

Before we begin to consider the question of stars at all, we must
be able to describe them--to speak of them in a way that shall
define exactly which star is meant. We can in these days define a
star according to its constellation, or its equatorial or ecliptic
co-ordinates, but all these means of reference were unknown to the
earliest observers. Still we may assume that the Egyptians could define
some of the stars in some fashion; and it is evident that we here
approach a matter of the very highest importance for our subject, to
which I shall have to return in a subsequent chapter.

So far as we have been dealing with the sun and the observations of the
sun at rising and setting, we have taken for granted that the amplitude
of the sun at the solstices does not change; the amplitude of 26° at
Thebes for the solstices is practically, though as we have seen not
absolutely, invariable for a thousand years; but one of the results
of astronomical work is that the _stars_ are known to behave quite
differently. In consequence of what is called _precession_ the stars
change their place with regard to the pole of the equator; and further,
in consequence of this movement, the position of the sun among the
stars at the solstices and equinoxes changes also.

In reference to the sun's path we considered what are called the
ecliptic and the equatorial co-ordinates. The ecliptic defines the
plane in which the earth moves round the sun, and 90° from that plane
we have the pole of the heavens; celestial latitude we found reckoned
from the plane of the ecliptic north and south up to the pole of the
heavens, and celestial longitude was reckoned along the plane of
the ecliptic from the first point of Aries. We had also declination
reckoned from the equator of the earth prolonged to the stars, and
right ascension reckoned along the equator from the first point of
Aries.

The pole of the heavens or of the ecliptic, then, we must regard as
practically, but not absolutely, fixed; but the pole of the earth's
equator is not fixed, it slowly moves round the pole of the heavens.
_In consequence of that movement there is a change of declination in a
star's place._

Going back to the diagram (p. 49), we find that the amplitude of a
body rising or setting at Thebes or anywhere else depends upon its
declination; so that if from any cause the declination of a star
changes, its amplitude must change.

That is the first point where we meet with difficulty, because if
the amplitude changes it is the same as saying that the place of
star-rising or star-setting changes; that is, a star which rises in the
east in a certain amplitude this year will change its amplitude at some
future time.

In the last chapter I referred to one of the difficulties of modern
inquiries into the orientation of ancient temples, which arises from
the fact that the sun has not always, at the solstices, risen or set at
exactly the same points of the horizon. We now find ourselves face to
face with the fact that the stars do not rise or set at the same points
century after century. We saw that the change in the position of the
sun on the horizon at the solstices is due to a very small change of
obliquity of the ecliptic, so that in a matter of something like 6,000
years the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset on the horizon
may be varied by, roughly speaking, 1 degree. But in the case of the
stars the matter is very much more serious, because in the course of
something like 13,000 years the rising-or setting-places of a star may
vary by something like 47° along the horizon north or south.

So that in the cases both of sun and stars there is no real fixity in
the places of rising or setting, although of course those who made the
first observations and built the first temples were not in a position
to know this.

The real cause of this precessional movement which causes the stars to
change their places lies in the fact that the earth is not a sphere,
its equatorial diameter being longer than its polar diameter, so that
there is a mass of matter round the equator in excess of what we should
get if the earth were spherical. Suppose that matter to be represented
by a ring. The ring is differently presented to the sun, one part being
nearer than the other, the nearer part being attracted more forcibly.
If we take the point in the ring nearest the sun where there is the
greatest attraction, and draw a line to the opposite point where the
attraction is least, we can show that the case stands in this way: the
sun's pull may be analysed into two forces, one of them represented by
the line joining the centre of the sun and the centre of the ring, and
another at right angles to it let fall from the point most strongly
attracted on to the first line. The question is, what will that force
at right angles do?

The figure below represents a model illustrating the rotation of the
earth on its axis, and the concurrent revolution of the sun round the
earth once a year. To represent the downward force it is perfectly fair
if I add a weight. The moment this is done the axis of the gyroscope
representing the earth's axis, instead of retaining its direction to
the same point as it did before, now describes a circle round the pole
of the heavens.

[Illustration: MODEL ILLUSTRATING THE PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES.]

It is now a recognised principle that there is, so to speak, a wobble
of the earth's axis round the pole of the heavens, in consequence of
the attraction of the sun on the nearer point of this equatorial ring
being greater than on the part of the ring further removed from it.
That precessional movement is not quite so simple as it is shown by the
model, because what the sun does in this way is done to a very much
larger extent by the moon, the moon being so very much nearer to us.

In consequence, then, of this luni-solar precession we have a variation
of the points of intersection of the planes of the earth's equator and
of the ecliptic; in consequence of that we have a difference in the
constellations in which the sun is at the time of the solstices and the
equinoxes; and, still more important from our present point of view,
we have another difference, viz., that the declinations, and therefore
the amplitudes, and therefore the places of setting and rising of the
stars, change from century to century.

Now that we have thus become acquainted with the physical cause of
that movement of the earth's axis which gives rise to what is called
the precession of the equinoxes, we have next to enter with somewhat
greater detail into some of the results of the movement.

The change of direction of the axis in space has a cycle of something
between 25,000 and 26,000 years. As it is a question of the change of
the position of the celestial equator, or rather of the pole of the
celestial equator, amongst the stars in relation to the pole of the
heavens, of course the declinations of stars will be changed to a very
considerable extent; indeed, we have seen that the declination of a
star can vary by twice the amount of the obliquity, or say 47°, so
that a star at one time may have zero declination--that is, it may lie
on the equator--and at another it may have a declination 47° N. or S.
Or, again, a star may be the pole star at one particular time, and at
another it will be distant from the pole no less than 47°. Although we
get this enormous change in one equatorial co-ordinate, there would
from this cause alone be practically no change with regard to the
corresponding ecliptic co-ordinate--that is to say, the position of
the star with reference to the earth's movement round the sun. This
movement takes place quite independently of the direction of the
axis, so that while we get this tremendous swirl in declination, the
latitudes of the stars or their distances from the ecliptic north or
south will scarcely change at all.

[Illustration: STAR-MAP. REPRESENTING THE PRECESSIONAL MOVEMENT OF THE
CELESTIAL POLE FROM THE YEAR 4000 B.C. TO THE YEAR 2000 A.D. (_From
Piazzi Smyth._)
_Symbols adapted to represent the magnitudes or brightnesses of the
stars_, _1^{st}._ ⊙, _2^{nd}._ ⬭, _3^{rd}._ ∆, _4^{th}._ ⊡.]

Among other important results of these movements dependent upon
precession we have the various changes in the pole-star from period
to period, due to the various positions occupied by the pole of the
earth's equator. We thus see how in this period of 25,000 years or
thereabouts the pole-stars will change, for a pole-star is merely the
star near the pole of the equator for the time being. At present, as
we all know, the pole-star is in the constellation Ursa Minor. During
the last 25,000 years the pole-stars have been those lying nearest to
a curved line struck from the pole of the heavens with a radius equal
to the obliquity of the ecliptic, which, as we have seen, is liable to
change within small limits; so that about 10,000 or 12,000 years ago
the pole-star was no longer the little star in Ursa Minor that we all
know, but the bright star Vega, in the constellation Lyra. Of course
25,000 years ago the pole-star was practically the same as it is at
present.

Associated with this change in the pole-star, the point of intersection
of the two fundamental planes (the plane of the earth's rotation and
the plane of the earth's revolution) will be liable to change, and the
period will be the same--about 25,000 years. Where these two planes
cut each other we have the equinoxes, because the intersection of the
planes defines for us the vernal and the autumnal equinoxes; when the
sun is highest and lowest half-way between these points we have the
solstices. In a period of 25,000 years the star which is nearest to an
equinox will return to it, and that which is nearest a solstice will
return to it. During the period there will be a constant change of
stars marking the equinoxes and the solstices.

The chief points in the sun's yearly path then will change among the
stars in consequence of this precession. It is perfectly clear that if
we have a means of calculating back the old positions of stars, and
if we have any very old observations, we can help matters very much,
because the old observations--if they were accurately made--would tell
us that such and such a star rose with the sun at the solstice or at
the equinox at some special point of ancient time. If it be possible to
calculate the time at which the star occupied that position with regard
to the sun, we have an astronomical means of determining the time,
within a few years, at which that particular observation was made.

Fortunately, we have such a means of calculation, and it has been
employed very extensively at different periods, chiefly by M. Biot in
France, and quite recently by German astronomers, in calculating the
positions of the stars from the present time to a period of 2000 years
B.C. We can thus determine with a very high degree of accuracy the
latitude, longitude, right ascension, declination, and the relation
of the stars to an equinox, a solstice, or a pole, as far back as we
choose. Since we have the planes of the equator and ecliptic cutting
each other at different points in consequence of the cause which I
have pointed out--the attraction of the sun and moon--we have a fixed
equator and a variable equator depending upon that. In consequence of
the attraction of the planets upon the earth, the plane of the ecliptic
itself is not fixed, so that we have not only a variable equator, but
also a variable ecliptic. What has been done in these calculations is
to determine the relations and the results of these variations.

The calculations undertaken for the special purposes of this book will
be referred to later.

A simpler, though not so accurate a method consists in the use of a
processional globe. In this we have two fixed points at the part of the
globe representing the poles of the heavens, on which the globe may
be rotated; when this is done the stars move absolutely without any
reference to the earth or to the plane of the equator, but purely with
reference to the ecliptic. We have, then, this globe quite independent
of the earth's axis, flow can we make it dependent upon the earth's
axis? We have two brass circles at a distance of 23½° from each
pole of the heavens (north and south); these represent the circle
described by the pole of the earth in the period of 25,000 years. In
these circles are forty-eight holes in which I can fix two additional
clamping screws, and rotate the globe with respect to them by throwing
out of gear the two points which produced the ecliptic revolution.

If I use that part of the brass circle which is occupied by our
present pole-star, we get the apparent revolution of the heavens with
the earth's axis pointing to the pole-star of to-day. If we wish to
investigate the position of things, say 8,000 years ago, we bring the
globe back again to its bearings, and then adjust the screws into the
holes in the brass circles which are proper for that period. When
we have the globe arranged to 6000 years B.C. (_i.e._, 8,000 years
ago), in order to determine the equator at that time all we have to
do is to paint a line on the globe-in some water-colour, by holding a
camel's-hair pencil at the east or west point of the wooden horizon.
That line represents the equator 8,000 years ago. Having that line, of
course, the intersection of the equator with the ecliptic will give us
the equinoxes, so that we may affix a wafer to represent the vernal
equinox. Or if we take that part of the ecliptic which is nearest
to the North Pole, and, therefore, the N. declination of which is
greatest, viz., 23½° N., we have there the position of the sun at
the summer solstice, and 23½° S. will give us the position of the
sun at the winter solstice. So by means of such a globe as this it is
possible to determine roughly the position of the equator among the
stars, and note those four important points in the solar year, the two
equinoxes and the two solstices. I have taken a period of 8,000 years,
but I might just as easily have taken a greater or a smaller one. By
means of this arrangement, therefore, we can determine within a very
small degree of error, without any laborious calculations, the distance
of a star north or south of the equator, _i.e._, its declination, at
any point of past or future time.

The positions thus found, say, for intervals of 500 years, may be
plotted on a curve, so that we can, with a considerable amount of
accuracy, obtain the star's place for any year. Thus the globe may be
made to tell us that in the year 1000 A.D. the declination of Fomalhaut
was 35° S., in 1000 B.C. it was 42°, in 2000 it was about 44°, in 4000
it was a little over 42° again, but in 6000 B.C. it had got up to about
33°, and in 8000 B.C. to about 22°.

The curve of Capella falls from 41° N. at 0 A.D. to 10° at 5500 B.C.,
so we have in these 5500 years in the case of this star run through a
large part of that variation to which I have drawn attention.

I have ascertained that the globe is a very good guide indeed within
something like 1° of declination. Considering the difficulty of the
determination of amplitudes in the case of buildings, it is clear that
the globe may be utilised with advantage, at all events to obtain a
first approximation.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE EGYPTIAN HEAVENS--THE ZODIACS OF DENDERAH.

We can readily understand that in the very beginning of observations
in all countries, the moment man began to observe anything, he took
note of the stars, and as soon as he began to talk about them he must
have started by defining, in some way or other, the particular stars he
meant.

Observers would first consider the brightest stars, and separate them
from the dimmer ones; they would then discuss the stars which never
set, and separate them from those which did rise and set; then they
would take the most striking configurations, whether large or small.
They would naturally, in a Northern clime, choose out the constellation
the Great Bear, or Orion, and for small groups the Pleiades. These
would attract attention, and be named before anything else. Then, later
on, it would be imperative, in order to connect their solar with their
stellar observations, that they should name the stars which lay along
the sun's path in the heavens, or those the rising of which heralded
the sunrise at their festivals. They would confine their attention
to a belt round the equator rather than consider the configuration
of stars half-way between the equator and the north pole. In all
countries--India, China, Babylonia, Egypt--they had eventually such
a girdle round the heavens, called by different names in different
countries, and the use of this girdle of stars, which sometimes
consisted of twenty-eight stations, sometimes of twenty-seven, and
sometimes of less, was to enable them to define the place of the sun,
moon, or of any of the planets in relation to any of these stars.

Not very many years ago, when the literature of China and India was
as a sealed book, and the hieroglyphics of Egypt and the wedges of
Babylonia were still unread, we had to depend for the earliest traces
of astronomical observation upon the literatures of Greece and Syria,
and according to these sources the asterisms first specialised and
named were as follows:--

The Great Bear Job (xxxviii. 31), Homer.
Orion Job (ix. 9), Homer, Hesiod.
Pleiades, Hyades Job (xxxviii. 31), Homer, Hesiod.
Sirius and the Great Dog Hesiod (viii.), the name; Homer called it
the Star of Autumn.
Aldebaran, the Bull Homer, Hesiod.
Arcturus Job (ix. 9; xxxviii. 32), Homer, Hesiod.
The Little Bear Thales, Eudoxus, Aratus.
The Dragon Eudoxus, Aratus.

In the Book of Job we read, "Canst thou bind the sweet influences of
Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth
in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?"

Here we have the difficulty which has met everybody in going back into
these old records, because there was no absolute necessity for a common
language at the time; it was open to everyone to call the stars any
name they chose in any country, therefore it is difficult for scholars
to find out what particular stars or constellations were meant by any
particular words. In the Revised Version, Arcturus has given place to
"the Bear with its train," and even our most distinguished scholars do
not know what Mazzaroth means. I wrote to Professor Robertson Smith to
ask him to give me the benefit of his great knowledge, and he tells me
that Mazzaroth is probably that band of stars round the ecliptic or
round the equator to which I have referred, but he will only commit
himself to the statement that it is a probable enough conjecture; other
people believe that it was a reference to the Milky Way.

I mention this to show how very difficult this inquiry really is. The
"seven stars" are held by many to mean the Pleiades, and not the Great
Bear; but this, I think, is very improbable.

Much is to be hoped from the study of the Babylonian records in
relation to the Egyptian ones. This is a point I shall return to in the
sequel.

In observing stars nowadays, we use a transit circle which is carried
round by the earth so as to pick up the stars in different circles
round the axis of the earth prolonged, and by altering the inclination
of the telescope of this instrument we can first get a circle of one
declination and then a circle of another.

The Egyptians did not usually employ meridian observations. Did the
Egyptians make star maps? They certainly did, as we shall see.

The first bit of solid information specially bearing upon ancient
Egyptian constellations was gained at the temple of Denderah, a place
which the traveller up the Nile reaches before he arrives so far as
Thebes. Perhaps among the reasons why so great attention was given to
the so-called zodiacs of Denderah was the fact that one of them, having
been rudely wrenched from its resting-place in the platform of one of
the temples, had been carried to the museum in Paris, so that the thing
itself was _en évidence_ and capable of being examined by experts whose
opinions were of value, and by all the world besides.

The chief temple, when explored by the French expedition, was
deeply buried in the sand. In the front part of it, covering the
ceiling, before one enters the temple itself, there is displayed the
square zodiac, so called, to which I shall have to refer briefly.
The temple was pointed within a few degrees of north; at the
north-east corner of the zodiac is a device, since found to represent
the sunlight falling upon a statue of the Goddess of the Shrine.
Investigations have shown that the zodiac includes a reference to a
great many celestial phenomena of the utmost importance. There is no
difficulty in recognising some of the zodiacal signs, but there the
resemblance to the modern zodiac ends, for the reason that each of the
strange processions of mythological personages represents not only
constellations, with some of which we may be familiar, but a great
deal more. It is noteworthy that the illustration of the very first
astronomical point which we have to consider brings out the fact that
it is impossible to disconnect Egyptian mythology from astronomy.

In the southern half of the zodiac, the lower part is occupied by
stars represented in the guise of different mythological personages,
sailing along in boats; and above them we get half of the zodiac with
the signs of the Fish, the Ram, the Bull and the Twins represented. In
the middle section the sun's course in different parts of the day, and
different parts of the year, is given: whilst, outermost of all, we get
the twelve solar positions, occupied by the sun each hour from rising
to setting, represented by twelve boats. It may be here mentioned that
in ancient Egypt, as in the modern Eastern world, both day and night
always consisted of twelve hours; unequal, of course, the length of the
hours varying according to the time of the year.

[Illustration: NORTHERN HALF OF THE SO-CALLED SQUARE ZODIAC OF
DENDERAH.]

Now, if we take the opposite side, that is the north-west corner, we
find that we have to do chiefly with the opposite part of the sky,
including the signs of the Lion, the Scales, and Sagittarius, and below
them other stars are represented as mythological personages in boats.
The courses of the sun and moon are next given, and some of the lunar
mythology is revealed to us. We see Osiris represented by the moon, and
by an eye at the top of fourteen steps, which symbolise the fourteen
days of the waxing moon.

In the square zodiac, then, there is an immense amount of astronomy.
In the round zodiac, found in another temple (_see_ p. 18), there
are some points which at once claim our attention. There is, first,
a mythological figure of a cow in a boat, and, near it, another
mythological figure, which the subsequent reading of inscriptions
has proved to represent the constellation Orion. In the centre of
the zodiac we have a jackal, and there is very little doubt that it
represents the constellation which we now call the Little Bear, which
then, as now, was near the pole. Not far away, we get the leg of an
animal; this, we now know, was a constellation called the Thigh,
and there seems to be absolutely no question that it represents the
constellation which we now call the Great Bear. Again, close by is
another mythological form, which we know represents the Hippopotamus.
This was made up out of some of the group of stars which forms the
present constellation Draco. There are also two hieroglyphs which
subsequent research has proved to represent setting stars and rising
stars, so that, whatever may have been the date of this round zodiac of
Denderah, it is clear that we are dealing with a time when the stars
had been classed in constellations, one of which, the constellation
Orion, even survives to our own day.

It is little to be wondered at that, when these revelations first burst
upon the scientific world, great excitement was produced. It was
obvious that we had to do with a nation which had very definite ideas
of astronomy, and that the astronomy was very closely connected with
worship. It was also certainly suggested by so many animal forms, that
we had to do with a people whose condition was not unlike that of the
American Indians--to take a well-known instance--at the beginning of
this century, one in which each tribe, or clan, had chosen a special
animal _totem_.

It so happened that, while these things were revealing themselves, the
discussions concerning them, which took place among the scientific
world of France, were partly influenced by the writings of a man
of very brilliant imagination and of great erudition. I refer to
Dupuis, according to whose views an almost fabulous antiquity might be
assigned to ancient traditions in general and astronomical traditions
in particular. It is needless to say, however, that there were others
to take the extreme opposite view--who held the opinion that his
imagination had run away with his learning.

With all this new work before them, and with a genius like
Champollion's among them, it was not long before the French _savans_
compelled the hieroglyphs to give up some of their secrets. First one
word gave two or three letters, then another two or three more, and
finally an alphabet and syllabary were constructed. So it was not long
before some of the inscriptions at Denderah were read. Then it was
found that the temple, as it then stood, had certainly been, partly
at all events, embellished so late as the time of the Roman Emperors.
Naturally there was then a tremendous reaction from the idea of
fabulous antiquity which had been urged by the school of Dupuis. There
were two radically opposed camps, led by Letronne, a distinguished
archæologist, and Biot, one of the most eminent astronomers of his
day, and both of these _savans_ brought papers before the Academy of
Inscriptions. Biot's first paper was read in 1822, and was replied to
by Letronne in 1824; Biot wrote his next paper in 1844, in which he
held to everything that he had stated in his first memoir; and this was
replied to, the next year, by Letronne.

[Illustration: SIRIUS AND ORION (18TH DYNASTY). (_From Brugsch._)]

Biot had no difficulty whatever in arriving at the conclusion that,
precisely as in the case of the sphere of Eudoxus, a prior bone of
contention, however true it might be that, the circular zodiac had
been sculptured in the time of the Roman emperors, still it certainly
referred to a time far anterior; and he suggested that we have in it
sculptures reproducing very old drawings, which had been made long
before on parchment or on stone. He pointed out that in the condition
of astronomy one would expect to be extant in ancient times, it was
far easier to reproduce old drawings than to calculate back what the
positions of the stars had been at some prior date, so that in his
magnificent summing-up of the case in his last paper, he rested his
scientific reputation on the statement that the sculptures of Denderah
represent the celestial sphere on a plane round the north pole of
the equator at a year not far removed from 700 B.C. More than this, he
stated that the time of the year was the time of the summer solstice,
and the hour was midnight. He also showed that, calculating back what
the position of the stars would have been at midnight on the 20th of
June (Gregorian), 700 B.C., the constellations, and even many of the
separate stars shown in the medallion, would occupy exactly the places
they did occupy in the projection employed.

[Illustration: ASTRONOMICAL DRAWINGS FROM BIBÂN EL-MULÛK (18TH
DYNASTY). (_From "Description de l'Égypte."_)]

Let us then, for the moment, assume this to be true. What does it tell
us? That 700 years B.C. in Egypt the solstice was recognised; a means
of determining the instant of midnight with more or less precision was
known; observations of the stars were regularly made; the risings of
some of them were associated with the rising of the sun, and many of
them had been collected into groups or constellations.

This is a wonderful result. I suppose that Biot is universally held
to have proved his case; in fact, Brugsch, who is now regarded as one
of the highest authorities in Egyptian history, has shown that almost
every detail seen in the zodiac of Denderah reproduces inscriptions
or astronomical figures, unearthed since the date of Biot's memoir,
which, without doubt, must be referred to the time of the Eighteenth
Dynasty--that is, 1700 B.C. or thereabouts; so that practically the
Egyptologist has now chapter and verse for many things in the zodiac of
Denderah dating 1,000 years before the period assigned to it by Biot.

The next point to notice is connected with the astronomical drawings
which have been found in the Ramesseum at Thebes--drawings which also
have very obvious connections with the zodiac of Denderah. On these we
find the hieroglyphics for the different months--the constellations
Orion, Hippopotamus, and Jackal, as we saw them at Denderah, and
another form of the constellation of the Thigh. There is certainly the
closest connection between the two sets of delineations.

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE RAMESSEUM, WHERE THE MONTH-TABLES WERE
FOUND.]

Biot set himself to investigate what was the probable date to which
the inscriptions in the Ramesseum referred. When we have the months
arranged in a certain relationship to certain constellations we have
an opening for the discussion of the precessional movements; in other
words, for the consideration of the various changes brought about by
the swinging of the pole of the equator round the pole of the ecliptic.
Here, again, there was no uncertain sound given out by the research.
Biot pointed out that we are here in presence of records, no longer of
a summer solstice, as in the case of Denderah, but of a spring equinox,
the date being 3285 B.C. He further suggested that, in all probability,
one of the mythological figures might be a representation of the
intersection of the ecliptic and the equator in the constellation
Taurus at the date mentioned. This undoubtedly, to a large extent,
justifies what Dupuis had long before pointed out--that the perpetual
reference to the Bull found in ancient records and mythologies arose
from the fact that this constellation occupied an important position at
a critical time in the year, which would indicate a very considerable
lapse of time. This idea was justified by the researches of Biot,
because we are driven back by them to a date preceding 3000 years B.C.
We find in the table at the Ramesseum distinct references to the Bull,
the Lion and the Scorpion, and it is also clearly indicated that at
that time the star Sirius rose heliacally at the beginning of the
Nile-rise.

The month-table at Thebes tells us that the sun's journey in relation
to some of the zodiacal constellations was perfectly familiar 5000
years ago.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE CIRCUMPOLAR CONSTELLATIONS: THE MYTH OF HORUS.

There was to all early peoples all the difference in the world, of
course, between day and night, while we, with our firm knowledge,
closely associate them. There was no artificial illumination such as we
have, and the dark night did not so much typify rest as death; so that
the coming of the glorious morning of tropical or sub-tropical climates
seemed to be a re-awakening to all the joys and delights and activities
of life; thus the difference between night and day was to the ancient
Egyptians almost the difference between death and life. We can imagine
that darkness thus considered by a mythologically-thinking people was
regarded as the work of an enemy, and hence, in time, their natural
enemies were represented as being the friends of darkness.

[Illustration: THE GOD OF DARKNESS--SET.]

Here a very interesting astronomical point comes in. With these views,
there must have been a very considerable difference in the way the
Egyptians regarded those stars which were always visible and those
which rose and set.

The region occupied by the stars always visible depends, of course,
upon the latitude of the place. Taking Thebes, with its latitude of
26°, as representing Egypt, the area of stars always visible was about
one-fourth of that visible to us, so that there would be a very sharp
distinction between the stars constantly seen at night, and those
which rose and set, the rising stars being regarded as heralds of
the sunrise. It seems very probable that the circumpolar stars were
quite early regarded as representing the powers of darkness, because
they were there, visible in the dark, always disappearing and never
appearing at sunrise. If that were so, no doubt prayers would be
as necessary to propitiate them as those powers or gods which were
more beneficent; and, as a matter of fact, one finds that the god
Set--identified sometimes with Typhon, Anubis, and Tebha--was amongst
the greatest gods of ancient Egypt.

[Illustration: VARIOUS FORMS OF ANUBIS.]

The female form of Typhon--his wife--was called Taurt or Thoueris,
represented generally as a hippopotamus.

[Illustration: FORMS OF TYPHON.]

It is probable that the crocodile was a variant of the hippopotamus in
some nomes, both having reference to our modern constellation Draco.

If we return for a moment to the zodiac of Denderah, we find that the
constellations which I indicated--the Thigh, the Hippopotamus and the
Jackal--represent our present constellations of the Great Bear, Draco,
and the Little Bear, which were all of them circumpolar; that is, they
neither rose nor set at the time of the inscription of the zodiac of
Denderah. It therefore will not surprise us, with the above suggested
explanation in mind, to hear that the Hippopotamus was called the Wife
of Set, the Thigh the Thigh of Set, and the Jackal the Jackal of Set.

In the Book of the Dead, Chapter XVII., we read the following
reference to some of the northern stars and constellations:

"The gods Mestha, Hāpi, Tuamāutef, and Qebhsennuf are those, namely,
which find themselves behind the constellation of the Thigh in the
northern heavens."

[Illustration: MESTHA. HĀPI. TUAMĀUTEF. QEBHSENNUF.]

Again, inscribed in the kings' graves at Thebes we read:

"The four Northern Genii are the four gods of the follower [some
constellation]. They keep back the conflict of the terrible one
[Typhon]. He is a great quarreller. They trim the foresail and look
after the mizen in the bark of Rā, in company with the sailors, who
are the four constellations[41] [aχemu-sek], which are found in the
northern heavens. The constellation of the Thigh appears at the late
rising. When this constellation is in the middle of the heavens,
having come to the south, where Orion lies [Orion typifying the
southern part of the skies], the other stars are wending their way
to the western horizon. Regarding the Thigh; it is the Thigh of Set,
so long as it is seen in the northern heavens there is a band [of
stars?] to the two [sword handles?] in the shape of a great bronze
chain. It is the place of Isis in the shape of a Hippopotamus to
guard."

In the square zodiac at Denderah we find an illustration of the
Hippopotamus and the Thigh, and the chain referred to in the
inscription is there also. It will be quite worth while to see whether
this chain is not justified by some line of stars between the chief
stars in Draco and those in the Great Bear.

Let us now turn to the associated mythology. We see that the
astronomical ideas have a most definite character; we learn also from
the inscriptions dating from the Eighteenth Dynasty, that the Egyptians
at that time recognised three different risings. There was the rising
at sunset, the rising at midnight, and the rising at dawn. Plutarch
says that the Hippopotamus was certainly one of the forms of Typhon,
and a reference to the myth of Horus, so beautifully told twenty years
ago and illustrated by Naville by the help of inscriptions at Edfû,
will show how important this identification is.

Naville rightly pointed out how vital the study of mythology becomes
with regard to the advancement of any kind of knowledge of the thoughts
and actions of the ancient Egyptians. Mythology, as Bunsen said, is
one of the poles of the existence of every nation; hence it will be
well not to neglect the opportunity thus afforded of studying the
astronomical basis of one of the best-known myths.

First a word about the mythology of Horus. Generally we begin with the
statement usually made that Horus meant the young (or rising) sun. But
inquiry shows that Horus was something more than this; the Egyptians
were great generalisers.

If we put the facts already known into diagrammatic form, we find that
the condition of things is something like the following:--

HORUS = SUN, PLANET, OR CONSTELLATION RISING.

SUN. PLANETS. CONSTELLATIONS.
┌──────────────┴─────────────────┐
Horus Mars as Orion Northern constellations
Hor-χuti Sah-Horus Set-Horus.
(Laughing Horus)
(Red Horus)

The table shows that, although the Egyptians undoubtedly called the
rising sun Horus, the planets and constellations when rising were in
certain cases called Horus too. We do not get any individual star
rising referred to as Horus; they were always considered as goddesses.
Hence, Horus seems to include constellations--that is, groups of stars
rising--but not single stars.

Since the northern constellations were symbolised by the name of Set,
the god of darkness, we should take Set-Horus to mean that the stars
in the Dragon were rising at sunrise. This may explain the meaning of
a remarkable figure which has set Egyptologists thinking a great deal.
It is the combination of Horus and Set--a body of Horus with two heads,
those of the hawk and jackal.

[Illustration: SET-HORUS.]

Now then for the myth. The reason why Naville went to the temple of
Edfû for his facts is that in the later-time temples--and this is one
of them--the inscriptions on the walls have chiefly to do with myth
and ritual, whereas in the period covered by the earlier dynasties
the temple inscriptions related chiefly to the doings of the kings.
When we come to read the story which Naville brings before us, it
looks as though the greatest antiquity must be conceded to it from
the fact that the god Horus--the rising sun--is accompanied by the
Hor-shesu, the followers or worshippers of Horus. These people are
almost prehistoric, even in Egyptian history. De Rougé says of them, as
I have previously pointed out, _C'est le type de l'antiquité la plus
reculée_. They represent, possibly, the old sun-worshippers at a time
when as yet there was no temple of the sun. Now, in this famous myth
of Horus, Horus, accompanied and aided by the Hor-shesu, does battle
with Typhon, the god of darkness, who had killed his father Osiris,
and Horus avenges his father in the manner indicated in the various
inscriptions and illustrative drawings given in the temple of Edfû.
How does he do it? We find that in this conflict to revenge his father
Osiris, he is represented in a boat killing a hippopotamus with ten
darts, the beast being ultimately cut up into eight pieces. In some
drawings it is a hippopotamus that he is slaying; in others, possibly
for some totemic reason, a crocodile has been selected, but we can only
see that it has been a crocodile by the fact that a little piece of the
tail remains. Doubtless the reference had been found objectionable by
some crocodile-worshipping people.

In very many inscriptions the constellation which, as I have stated,
represents the hippopotamus, is really represented as a crocodile,
or as a crocodile resting on the shoulders of a hippopotamus, so
that there is no doubt that the crocodile and the hippopotamus were
variants; and we can quite understand, further, that the hippopotamus
must have been brought into Egypt by a tribe with that totem, who must
have come from a very long way up the Nile, since the hippopotamus was
never indigenous in the lower reaches of the river; so that we have in
the myth to do with a hippopotamus-worshipping tribe, which, for that
reason, probably came from a region very far to the south. There is
evidence of local tribes in Egypt among which the crocodile was sacred.

[Illustration:
ILLUSTRATION FROM A THEBAN TOMB, SHOWING THE ASSOCIATION OF THE
CROCODILE AND HIPPOPOTAMUS, AND HORUS SLAYING THE CROCODILE, AND THE
CONSTELLATION OF THE THIGH.]

The astronomical explanation of this myth is, I think, very clear. The
inscriptions relating to one of the very earliest of the illustrations
refers to Horus, "the great god, the light of the heavens, the lord
of Edfû, _the bright ray which appears on the horizon_." The myth,
therefore, I take it, simply means that _the rising sun destroys the
circumpolar stars_. These stars are represented in the earliest forms
of the myth either by the crocodile or the hippopotamus; of course
they disappeared (or were killed) at sunrise. Horus, the bright ray
on the horizon, is victorious by destroying the crocodile and the
hippopotamus, which represent the powers of darkness.

[Illustration: HORUS AND CROCODILES.]

This is a general statement. I should not make it if I could not go
a little further. There is an astronomical test of its validity, to
which I must call attention. The effect of precession is extremely
striking on the constellations near the pole, for the reason that the
pole is constantly changing, and the changes in the apparent position
of the stars there soon become very obvious. The stars in Draco were
circumpolar, and could, therefore, have been destroyed (or rendered
invisible), as the hippopotami were destroyed in the myth by the rising
sun, about 5000 years B.C.; and be it noted that at that time there was
only one star in the Great Bear (or the Thigh) which was circumpolar.
But at 2000 years B.C. the stars in Ursa Major were the circumpolar
ones, and the chief stars in the constellation Draco, which formed
the ancient constellation of the Hippopotamus, rose and set; so that,
if there is anything at all in the explanation of the myth which I
have given, and if there is anything at all in the idea that the myth
is very ancient and refers to the time when the constellation of the
Hippopotamus was really circumpolar--a time 7000 years ago--we ought to
find that as the myth existed in more recent times, we should no longer
be dealing with Draco or the Hippopotamus, because Draco was no longer
circumpolar.

As a matter of fact, in later times we get Horus destroying no longer
the Hippopotamus or the Crocodile, but _the Thigh of Set_; and, as I
have said, 2000 years B.C. the Thigh occupied exactly the same position
in the heavens with regard to the pole as the Hippopotamus or the
Crocodile did 3000 years before.

[Illustration: HORUS AND CROCODILES.]

Thus, I think, we may claim that this myth is astronomical from top
to bottom; it is as old as, and probably rather older than, Naville
thought, because it must certainly have originated in a period
somewhere about 5000 years B. C., otherwise the constellation of the
Hippopotamus would not have figured in it.

The various illustrations of Horus on the crocodiles are a reference to
the myth we have just discussed.

It is easy to understand that if the myth were astronomical in origin
there was no reason why it should be limited to Horus representing the
rising sun; we accordingly find it extended to the god Ptah.

[Illustration: PTAH AND CROCODILES.]

But although I hold that the _astronomical_ meaning of the myth is that
the rising sun kills the circumpolar stars, I do not think that is the
last word. A conflict is suggested between a people who worship the
rising sun and another who worship the circumpolar stars. I shall show
in the sequel that there is an astronomical suggestion of the existence
of two such distinct races, and that the companions of the sun-god of
Edfû must probably be distinguished from the northern Hor-shesu.

* * * * *

Here we may conclude our reference to the stars which, in the latitude
of Egypt, do not rise and set--or, rather, did not rise and set at the
epochs of time we have been considering.

CHAPTER XV.

TEMPLES DIRECTED TO THE STARS.

I have now to pass from the circumpolar stars to those which both rise
and set. The difference between the two groups--those that do not rise
and set and those which do--was fully recognised by the Egyptians, and
many references are made to the fact in the inscriptions.

In a previous chapter I have given reasons to show that some of the
earliest solar temples in Egypt were not oriented to the solstice.

The temple of Amen-Rā at Karnak, however, and others elsewhere were
built in such a manner that at sunset at the summer solstice--that is,
on the longest day in the year--the sunlight entered the temple and
penetrated along the axis to the sanctuary. I also pointed out that a
temple oriented in this manner truly to a solstice was a scientific
instrument of very high precision, as by it the length of the year
could be determined with the greatest possible accuracy, provided only
that the observations were continued through a sufficient period of
time.

All the temples in Egypt, however, are not oriented in such a way that
the sunlight can enter them at this or any other time of the year. They
are not therefore solar temples, and they cannot have had this use.
The critical amplitude for a temple built at Thebes so that sunlight
can enter it at sunrise or sunset is about 26° north and south of east
and west, so that any temples facing more northerly or southerly are
precluded from having the sunlight enter them at any time in the year.

It is imperative to be perfectly definite and clear on the question
of the amplitudes above 26° at Thebes. I repeat, therefore, that any
amplitude within 26° means that up to that point the sun at sunrise
or sunset could be observed some day or days of the year--once only
in the year if the amplitude is exactly at the maximum, twice if the
maximum is not reached. But in the case of these temples with greater
amplitudes than 26°, it is quite clear that they can have had nothing
to do with the sun.

This being so, we have the problem presented to us whether or not
temples were built so that starlight might fall along their axes in
exactly the same way that the sunlight could fall along the axes of the
solar temples when the sun was rising in the morning or setting in the
evening.

It is abundantly clear that temples with a greater amplitude than 26°
were oriented to stars if they were oriented at all by astronomical
considerations. How can this question be studied? What means of
investigation are at our disposal?

Suppose that the movements of the stars are absolutely regular; that
there is no change from year to year, from century to century, from
æon to æon; then, of course, the question as to whether or not these
temples were pointed to a star, at rising or setting, would be easily
and sufficiently settled by going to see; because if the stars did
not change their apparent places in the heavens--accurately speaking,
their declinations--and, therefore, the amplitudes at which they appear
to rise and set, then, of course, a temple consecrated to Sirius ten
thousand years ago would view the rising or setting of Sirius now as it
did then.

But, as a matter of fact, astronomy tells us, as we have seen, that the
apparent positions of the stars are liable to change. The change is
much greater in the case of the stars than it is in the case of the
sun, referred to in Chapters VI. and XI.; but still we have seen that
the latter is one which has to be reckoned with the moment it becomes a
question of inquiry into any time far removed from the present.

Hence, although in the case of the sun, there is, of course, no
processional movement, and although a temple once oriented to the sun
would remain so for a long time; still, after some thousands of years,
the change in the obliquity of the ecliptic would produce a small
change in the amplitude at which a solstice is observed.

But while, in the case of the sun, we have to deal with a change of
something like 1° in seven thousand years; we have to face in the case
of the stars a maximum change of something like 47° in a period of
thirteen thousand years. The change of declination must be accompanied
by a change of amplitude, and therefore by a change in the direction of
the temples.

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF EDFÛ.]

Hence, when we get a temple of known date, with an amplitude which
has been accurately measured, we can determine from that amplitude
the exact declination of the body the temple was intended to
observe, supposing, of course, that the temple was oriented upon any
astronomical considerations at all. If the declination of the body
turns out to be 23° 30′ or less, the temple may have been, in all
probability was, a solar one; if the declination is greater it cannot
have had anything to do with the sun directly.

[Illustration: GROUND PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH.]

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF SETI AT ABYDOS.]

This being so, it will be understood why in an inquiry of this kind it
is obviously desirable to begin with a region in which the number of
temples is considerable. Such a condition we have in the region near
Thebes; and the directions of the axes of the different temples--that
is, the orientation of each of them, or, in other words, the amplitude
of the direction in which each temple points--have all been tabulated.
Chief among these we have the large temple of Karnak, showing that the
amplitude of its orientation is 26° north of west, and the temple of
Mut, showing that its orientation is 72½° north of east. There is a
temple at right angles to the temple at Karnak, and again another with
an amplitude of 63° south of west, and so on.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLE OF RAMSES II. IN THE MEMNONIA AT
THEBES (FROM LEPSIUS) SHOWING THE PYLON AT THE OPEN END AND THE
SANCTUARY AT THE CLOSED ONE.]

It may be stated generally that at Karnak itself, not to go farther
afield, there are two well-marked series of temples which cannot,
for the reason given, be solar, since one series faces a few degrees
from the north, and the other a few degrees from the south. There are
similar temples scattered all along the Nile valley.

When we come to examine these non-solar temples, the first question
is, Do they resemble the solar ones in construction? Are the
horizontal telescope conditions retained? The evidence on this point
is overwhelming. Take the Temple of Hathor at Denderah. It points very
far away from the sun; the sun's light could never have enfiladed it;
in many others pointing well to the north or south the axis extends
from the exterior pylon to the Sanctuary or Naos, which is found always
at the closed end of the temple; we have the same number of pylons,
gradually getting narrower and narrower as we get to the Naos, and in
some there is a gradual rise from the first exterior pylon to the part
which represents the section of the Naos, so that a beam of horizontal
light coming through the central door might enter it over the heads
of the people flocking into the outer courts of the temple, and pass
uninterruptedly into the Sanctuary.

In this way the Egyptians had, if they chose to use it, a most
admirable arrangement for observing, with considerable accuracy, either
the rising or the setting of any celestial body, whether it were sun or
star, and especially the possibility of observing a _cosmical_ rising,
as the eye was shielded from the sunrise light, and the place of rising
was completely indicated.

In these, as at Karnak, we have a collimating axis. We have the other
end of the temple blocked; we have these various diaphragms or pylons,
so that, practically, there is absolutely no question of principle of
construction involved in this temple that was not involved in the great
solar temple of Amen-Rā itself.

We made out that in the case of the temples devoted to sun-worship and
to the determination of the length of the year, there was very good
reason why all these attempts should be made to cut off the light, by
diaphragms and stone ceilings, because, among other things, one wanted
to find the precise point occupied by the sunbeam on the two or three
days near the winter or summer solstice in order to determine the exact
moment of the solstice.

But if a temple is not intended to observe the sun, why these
diaphragms? Why keep the astronomer, or the priest, so much in the
dark? There is a very good reason indeed.

From the account given by Herodotus[42] of the ceremonials and
mysteries connected with the temple of Tyre, it is suggested that
the priests used starlight at night for some of their operations,
very much in the same way as they might have used sunlight during the
day. According to Herodotus, in the temple in question there were two
pillars--the one of pure gold, and the other of an emerald stone of
such size as to shine by night.[42] Now, there can be little doubt that
in the darkened sanctuary of an Egyptian temple the light of α Lyræ,
one of the brightest stars in the northern heavens, rising in the clear
air of Egypt, would be quite strong enough to throw into an apparent
glow such highly-reflecting surfaces as those to which Herodotus
refers.

Supposing such a ceremonial as this, the less the worshippers--who,
reasoning from the analogy of the ceremonial termed the manifestation
of Rā,[43] would stand facing the sanctuary, with their backs to the
chief door of the temple--knew about the question of a bright star
which might probably produce the mystery, the better.

Again, the truer the orientation of the temple to the star, and the
greater the darkness the priest was kept in, the sooner would he catch
the star quivering in the light of either early or late dawn.

In the first place, the diaphragms would indicate the true line that
he had to watch; he would not have to _search_ for the star which he
expected; and obviously the more he was kept in the dark the sooner
could he see the star.

Is there any additional line of evidence beyond the structural
conditions of the temples that the Egyptians used these temples to
observe the stars? Here a very interesting question comes in: a temple
built at one period to observe a star could not go on for ever serving
its purpose, for the reason that the declination of the star must
change, as we have seen, by precession. Therefore a temple built with a
particular amplitude to observe a particular star at one period would
be useless later on.

We have here possibly a means of testing whether or not any of these
temples were used to observe the stars. In those very early days,
3000 or 4000 years B.C., we must assume that the people who observed
the stars had not the slightest idea of these possible precessional
changes; they imagined that they were just as safe in directing a
temple to a star as they were in directing a temple to the sun. But
with a star changing its declination in an average way, the _same_
temple could not be used to observe the _same_ star for more than 200
or 300 years; so that at the end of that time, if they still wished to
observe that particular star, they must either change the axis of the
old temple, or build a new one. I have mentioned an average time as the
change of the star's declination is involved.

Now this change of direction is one of the most striking things which
have been observed for years past in Egyptian temples.

As a matter of fact, we find that the axes of the temples have been
changed, and have been freely changed; that there has been a great deal
of work done on many of the temples which are not oriented to the sun,
in order to give them a twist.

Once a solar temple, a solar temple for thousands of years; once a star
temple, only _that_ star temple for something like 300 years, so that
the conditions were entirely changed.

We get cases in which the axis of a temple has had its direction
changed, and others in which, where it has been difficult or impossible
to make the change in a temple, the change of amplitude has been met
by putting up a new temple altogether. We are justified in considering
such temples as a series in which, instead of changing the orientation
of a pre-existing temple, a new temple has been built to meet the
new condition of things. That, I think, is a suggestion which we are
justified in making to Egyptologists on astronomical grounds.

For an instance, I may refer to the well-known temple at Medînet-Habû.
We have there two temples side by side--a large temple, which was
built later, with its systems of pylons and sanctuaries; a smaller
temple, with outside courts, and, again, a sanctuary built much
earlier. The direction of these two temples is very different; there
is a difference of several degrees. It is very difficult indeed to
understand why these two structures should have been built in that way
if there were not some good reason for it. The best hitherto found is
the supposed symmetrophobia of the Egyptians.

[Illustration: PLAN OF TWO TEMPLES AT MEDÎNET-HABÛ.]

We find the same thing in Greece. There is the old Parthenon, a
building which may have been standing at the time of the Trojan war,
and the new Parthenon, with an outer court very like the Egyptian
temples, but with its sanctuary more nearly in the centre of the
building. It was by the difference of direction of these two temples at
Athens that my attention was called to the subject.

[Illustration: THE BENT AXIS OF THE TEMPLE OF LUXOR, LOOKING TOWARD THE
SANCTUARY.]

If we study the orientation of these, we find that, like those
at Medînet-Habû, they are not parallel; there is a difference of
orientation. This method of coping with the changes of amplitude of
the star apparently represents that adopted where there has been ample
space to build another temple by the side of the old one when the star
could no longer be seen from end to end of the old one. But another
way was found where the space was more circumscribed, and that is well
represented by the temple at Luxor, in which the addition is made _end
on_. The suggestion is that, after the temple at Luxor had been built
a certain number of years, the amplitude of the star had got a little
out of the initial line, and the direction was changed at the time when
it was determined to make the temple more beautiful and to amplify it
by adding an outer court. There is another outer court and another very
considerable change. There are four well-marked deviations.

CHAPTER XVI.

FURTHER INQUIRIES WITH REGARD TO THE STELLAR TEMPLES.

In the preceding chapter I discussed the suggestion, quite
independently of any records the Egyptians may have left on the
subject, that certain of the temples were oriented to stars; and I
applied one test, that, namely, of the change of direction which was
imperative if stars were observed for any lengthened period. In such an
inquiry we must proceed with great caution.

We cannot make a statement regarding every particular temple with
absolute certainty, for the reason that in the case of most of the
temples the best Egyptologists cannot give us the most precious
piece of information which we require from the astronomical point of
view--that is, the date of the _foundation_ of the temple. If in the
case of these temples it were absolutely certain that each temple was
built at a certain time with a certain orientation, we could tell at
once whether or not that temple was pointed to any particular star.

In the absence of this precise information a general attack on the
question has been necessary. The method adopted in the search has been
as follows:--

(1) To tabulate the orientations of some of the chief temples described
by the French Commission, by Lepsius and others.

Several interesting facts were soon revealed by this tabulation.

The first point that I have to note is that, in the case of some of
these temples, we get the same, or nearly the same, amplitudes in
different localities. To show this clearly it will be convenient to
compare together the chief temples near Karnak and those having the
same amplitudes elsewhere. We can do this by laying down along a circle
the different amplitudes to which these various temples point. To begin
with and to make the story complete, I draw attention to the temples
which we have already discussed with an amplitude of 27°, or 26°, at
Thebes, Karnak, and elsewhere. These, of course, are solar temples.
Next we have non-solar amplitudes at Karnak and Thebes, associated with
temples having the same amplitude at Denderah, Annu, and other places.

Another point is that we have the majority of the non-solar temples
removed just as far as they can be in amplitude from the solar ones,
for the reason that they are as nearly as possible _at right angles_ to
them, so that if the sun were observed in one temple and a star in the
other, there would be a difference of 90° between the position of the
sun and the position of the star at that moment. This would, of course,
apply also to two stars. Sometimes this rectangular arrangement is in
the same temple, as at Karnak, sometimes in an adjacent one, as at
Denderah.

If we study Denderah we find that we have there a large temple enclosed
in a square _temenos_ wall, the sides of which are parallel to the
sides of the temple; and also a little temple at right angles to the
principal one.

It is hardly fair to say that a rectangular arrangement, repeated in
different localities, is accidental; it is one which is used to some
extent in our modern observatories.

The perpetual recurrence of these rectangular temples shows, I think,
that there was some definite view in the minds of those who built all
the pairs of temples which are thus related to each other; what that
view was I shall endeavour to discuss in the sequel.

A third circumstance is that, when we get some temples pointing a
certain number of degrees south of east, we get other temples pointing
the same number of degrees south of west, so that some temples may
have been used to observe risings and others settings of stars in
the same declination. It is then natural, of course, to suggest that
these temples were arranged to observe the rising and setting of the
same stars; but further inquiry has shown that there are mythological
objections to this explanation.

Finally, we have temples with the same amplitudes high north and
high south, in different places--temples which could not have been
built with reference to the sun; just as we have at different places
temples with the same amplitudes which _could_ have been used for solar
purposes.

* * * * *

(2) To extend and check some of these observations with special
reference to my new point of view in Egypt itself.

In connection with the possible astronomical uses of these temples,
I find that when one of the temples has been built, the horizon
has always been very carefully left open; there has always been a
possibility of vision along the collimating axis prolonged. Lines of
sphinxes have been broken to ensure this;[44] at Medînet-Habû, on the
opposite side of the river to Karnak, we have outside this great temple
a model of a Syrian fort. If we prolong the line of the temple from
the middle of the Naos through the systems of pylons, we find that in
the model of the fort an opening was left, so that the vision from the
sanctuary of the temple was left absolutely free to command the horizon.

It may be said that that cannot be true of Karnak, because we see on
the general plan that one of the temples, with an azimuth of 72½°N.,
had its collimating axis blocked by numerous buildings. That is true;
but when one comes to examine into the date of these buildings, as I
propose to do in a subsequent chapter, it is found that they are all
very late; whereas there is evidence that the temple in question was
one of the first, if not the very first, of the temples built at Thebes.

* * * * *

(3) To determine the declinations to which the various amplitudes
correspond. In this direction I have made use of the German Catalogue
of star places from 1800 A.D. to 2000 B.C., the places for dates beyond
this, and for southern stars, having been calculated chiefly by my son,
Mr. W. J. S. Lockyer, B.A.

Some places for Sirius and Canopus have been obligingly placed at my
disposal by Mr. Hind, and approximate values obtained by the use of a
precessional globe constructed for me by Mr. Newton. This globe differs
considerably from that previously contrived by M. Biot, about which
I was ignorant when I began the work, and enables right ascensions
and declinations, but especially the latter, to be determined with a
fair amount of accuracy for forty-eight equidistant points occupied by
the pole of the equator round the pole of the ecliptic (assumed to be
fixed) in the precessional revolution.

Some simple astronomical considerations may here come to our help. If
the north polar distance of a star is increasing--that is, if a star
is increasing its distance from the north pole--its declination if
north or south will be decreased or increased respectively, and the
orientation of the temple would be gradually becoming more and more
parallel to an E. and W. line; if the declination north or south of the
star be increasing, then the orientation of the temple would have to be
likewise increased. The change in the orientation, therefore, gives us
information towards determining in which quarter of the heavens each
particular star might have been.

* * * * *

(4) In cases where the date of the foundation of a temple dedicated
to a particular divinity has been thoroughly known, there was no
difficulty in finding the star the declination of which at the time
would give the amplitude; and, in the case of series of temples
dedicated to the same divinity, an additional check was afforded if the
changes of amplitude from the latest to the newest temple agreed with
the changes of the declinations of the same star.

* * * * *

(5) Having the declinations of the stars thus determined for certain
epochs, I have next plotted them on curves, showing the amplitude for
any year up to 5000 B.C. at Thebes for a true horizon and when the
horizon is raised 1° or 2° by hills or mist; and, finally, a table has
been prepared showing the declination proper to the amplitude of each
of the chief temples when the needful information was available.

Although, however, these matters can be discussed in a way that will
indicate that the inquiry is raised, I do not wish for one moment to
speak of it as being settled, because the observations which have
been made already in Egypt with regard to the orientation of these
temples have not been made from such a very special point of view; and,
further, considerable alteration in the amplitude would be made by the
presence of even a low range of hills miles away in the case of stars
rising or setting not many degrees from the north or south. No one
would care to make the assertion with absolute definiteness until it
was known whether or not the horizon in each case was interfered with
by hills or any intervening objects--was or was not one, in fact, which
might be regarded as a sea horizon from the point of observation; if
there were impediments, the angular height of them must, of course, be
exactly known; but this information is almost entirely lacking.

Now, however, that the question has been raised by observations of the
temples themselves, it becomes interesting to ask of the inscriptions
if there are records that these temples were directed to stars?

It will be seen in the next chapter that the inscriptions give out no
uncertain sound on this point.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE BUILDING INSCRIPTIONS.

Numerous references to the ceremonial of laying the foundation-stones
of temples exist, and we learn from the works of Chabas, Brugsch,
Dümichen,[45] and others, that the foundation of an Egyptian temple was
associated with a series of ceremonies which are repeatedly described
with a minuteness which, as Nissen has pointed out,[46] is painfully
wanting in the case of Greece and Rome. Amongst these ceremonies, one
especially refers to the fixing of the temple-axis; it is called,
technically, "the stretching of the cord," and is not only illustrated
by inscriptions on the walls of the temples of Karnak, Denderah, and
Edfû--to mention the best-known cases--but is referred to elsewhere.

Another part of the ceremony consisted in the king proceeding to the
site where the temple was to be built, accompanied mythically by the
goddess Sesheta, who is styled "the mistress of the laying of the
foundation-stone."

Each was armed with a stake. The two stakes were connected by a cord.
Next the cord was aligned towards the sun or star, as the case might
be; when the alignment was perfect the two stakes were driven into
the ground by means of a wooden mallet; there was no difference of
procedure in the case of temples directed to the sun. One boundary wall
parallel to the main axis of the temple was built along the line marked
out by this stretched cord.

If the moment of sun--or star-rise or--set were chosen, as we have
every reason to believe was the case seeing that all the early
observations were made on the horizon, it is obvious that the light
from the body towards which the temple was aligned would penetrate the
axis of the temple thus built from one end to the other in the original
direction of the cord.

[Illustration: THE LAYING OF THE FOUNDATION-STONE CEREMONIAL.]

We learn from Chabas that the Egyptian word which expresses the idea
of founding or laying the foundation-stone of a temple is _Senti_--a
word which still exists in Coptic. But in the old language another
word, _Put-ser_, which no longer remains in Coptic, has been traced.
It has been established that _put_ means "to stretch," and _ser_
means "cord;" so that that part of the ceremonial which consisted in
stretching a cord in the direction of a star was considered of so great
an importance that it gave its name to the whole ceremonial.

I will next refer to some of the inscriptions; one, dating from the
last half of the third thousand B.C., occurs in the document describing
the building of the temple of Annu (Heliopolis). We read:--"Arose the
king, attired in his necklace and the feather crown; all the world
followed him, and the majesty of Amenemhāt [first king of the Twelfth
dynasty]. The Kher-heb read the sacred text during the stretching
of the measuring-cord and the laying of the foundation-stone on the
piece of ground selected for this temple. Then withdrew His Majesty
Amenemhāt; and King Usertsen [son and co-regent] wrote it down before
the people."

Nissen, from whom (_loc. cit._) I quote the above, adds:--"On account
of the stretching of the measuring-cord, the Egyptian engineers were
called by the Greeks ἁρπεδονάπται whose art Democritus boasts of having
acquired."

We next turn to Abydos, possibly one of the oldest temple-fields in
Egypt. There is an inscription relating to the rebuilding of one of
them in the time of Seti I. (about 1380 B.C.). In this the goddess
Sesheta addresses the king as follows:--"The hammer in my hand was
of gold, as I struck the peg with it, and thou wast with me in thy
capacity of Harpedonapt. Thy hand held the spade during the fixing of
its [the temple's] four corners with accuracy by the four supports
of heaven." On the pictures the king appears with the Osiris crown,
opposite the goddess. Both hold in their right hand a club, and with it
they each hammer a long peg into the ground. Round the two pegs runs a
rope, which is stretched tight, the ends being tied together.

In two cases the star used for the alignment is actually named. Of
these I will take, first, the record of the ceremony used in the
building of the temple of Hathor at Denderah.

THE ALIGNMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH.

The inscriptions state that the king while stretching the cord had his
glance directed to the _āk_ of the constellation of the _Thigh_--the
old name of the constellation which we now recognise as the Great
Bear--and on this line was built the new temple, "as had been done
there before."

The actual inscription has been translated as follows:--"The living
God, the magnificent son of Asti [a name of Thoth], nourished by the
sublime goddess in the temple, the sovereign of the country, stretches
the rope in joy. With his glance towards the _āk_ [the middle?] of the
Bull's Thigh constellation, he establishes the temple-house of the
mistress of Denderah, as took place there before." At another place the
king says: "Looking to the sky at the course of the rising stars [and]
recognising the _āk_ of the Bull's Thigh constellation, I establish the
corners of the temple of Her Majesty."

Here, then, we have more than evidence of the stretching of a cord
towards a star; an actual constellation is named, and it may be easily
imagined that in connection with this many interesting questions arise
of the utmost importance to the subject we are considering.

Dümichen, in his references to this passage, discusses the meaning
of the word _āk_ in relation to some Theban grave-inscriptions, in
which it is suggested that _āk_ is used to represent the middle course
of a star, or, astronomically speaking, its culminating point as it
passes the meridian. But such a meaning as this will never do in this
connection; for if a cord was stretched towards a star on the meridian
it would lie north and south, and therefore the temple would be
built north and south. But this is by no means the orientation of the
temple--a point to which I shall return presently.

But it may be suggested that the word _āk_, used in relation to the
king's observation, more probably referred to the brightest star,
Dubhe (α Ursæ Majoris) in the asterism, or the "middle point" of the
constellation, which would be about represented by the star δ, which
lies nearly in the centre of the modern constellation of the Great
Bear, supposing, indeed, that the same stars were included in the
old constellation. On this point we unfortunately have no definite
knowledge, as the Thigh is so variously represented; sometimes there is
a hind-quarter, represented evidently by the well-known seven stars; at
others the body of a cow (with horns and disk) is attached.

However this may be, without such a reference to some particular part
of the constellation it is obvious that the stretched cord may have had
a most indeterminate direction.

In order to leave no stone unturned in attempting to explain
this description--supposing it to represent an undoubted fact of
observation--we may consider another possible interpretation of the
word _āk_. The amplitude of the temple being 71½° N. of E., shows
conclusively that we cannot be dealing with the meridian, but may we
be dealing with the most eastern elongation of the star in its journey
round the Pole?

I have inquired into this matter for the time of the last building of
the temple in the time of the Ptolemies, and find that the amplitude
of the temple, instead of being 71½°, would have been about 70°. It
seems probable, then, that this interpretation will not hold, and it
may be further stated that, in the case of a star at a considerable
angle above the horizon, the stretching of a cord in the building
ceremonial--the "Ausspannung der Strickes," as the words _put-ser_ are
translated by Dümichen--would really have been no stretching of the
cord at all; for the star being many degrees above the horizon, another
method must have been employed, and in all probability would have been
distinctly referred to in the careful statements of the ceremonies
which exist, I think, then, that we are perhaps justified in dismissing
this possible explanation, especially as rising stars are referred to.

We now come to considerations of a different order. The inscription
which we have quoted is put into the mouth of the Emperor Augustus,
though he never was at Denderah.

This suggests that the temple built in the time of Augustus carried
forward the account of the old foundation. There is evidence of this.
The constellation of the Thigh neither rose nor set in the time of
Augustus--it was circumpolar. The same statement may be made regarding
the restoration in the time of Thothmes III. So we are driven to the
conclusion that if we regard the inscription as true, it must refer to
a time preceding the reign of Thothmes. I shall return to this subject
in a subsequent chapter.

THE ALIGNMENT OF THE TEMPLE OF EDFÛ.

A reference to the same constellation (the Thigh) is also made in the
account of the ceremonial used at the laying of the foundation-stone of
the temple at Edfû. The king's glance was directed--in the case of the
building of that temple--to the _Thigh_, but no precise reference to
any star or to any point _āk_ is given.

As before, I give the full translation of the inscription,[47]
remarking that the last restoration was made B.C. 237-57. The king is
represented as speaking thus:--"I have grasped the wooden peg and the
handle of the club; I hold the rope with Sesheta; my glance follows
the course of the stars; my eye is on Mesχet [that is, the 'Bull's
Thigh constellation,' or Great Bear]; (mine the part of time of the
number of the hour-clock); I establish the corners of thy house of
God." And in another place:--"I have grasped the wooden peg; I hold
the handle of the club; I grasp the cord with Sesheta; I cast my face
towards the course of the rising constellations; I let my glance enter
the constellation of the Great Bear (the part of my time stands in
the place of his hour-clock); I establish the four corners of thy
temple." The translation is Brugsch's. The phrases in parentheses are
interpreted differently by Dümichen, who translates them:--"Standing
as divider of time by his measuring instrument," or "representing the
divider of time (_i.e._ the god Thoth) at his measuring instrument."
The word _merech_ or _merchet_, in which Brugsch suspects hour-or
water-clock, does not occur elsewhere.

In this case, seeing that the temple lies with its axis very nearly
north and south, as I determined by my own (magnetic) observations,
the stretching of the cord was certainly in or very near the meridian;
and it may be remarked that in the Naos there is an opening in the
roof, over the side of the second or third door from the sanctuary,
and inclined at an angle of 40° (unlike any other opening that I have
seen in the roof of any Egyptian temple), which may have been used to
observe the transit of some particular star. The angle I was not able
to determine with absolute accuracy, as the vertical circle of the
theodolite I had with me was out of adjustment.

Taking the latitude of Edfû as 25°, and assuming the angle of 40° to be
not far from the truth, the North Polar distance of the star observed
would be 15°.

Within a degree or so--and this is as near as we can get till more
accurate observations have been made on the spot--this satisfies
Dubhe, the chief star in the Great Bear in the time of the Ptolemies.
Supposing the temple was originally oriented to Dubhe, its amplitude,
86½° S. of W., gives us the date 3900 B.C. I shall show, however,
that it is more probable that the temple was oriented on some southern
star.

I may here remark that, so far as I know, Edfû is the temple in Egypt
nearest the meridian. If, therefore, it were used as, on my theory, all
other temples were, it could only have picked up the light from each of
the southerly stars, as by the precessional movements they were brought
into visibility very near the southern horizon.

In this respect, then, it is truly a temple of Horns, in relation
to the southern stars--the southern eyes of Horus. But it was not a
sun-temple in the sense that Karnak was one; and if ceremonies were
performed for which light was required, perhaps the apparatus referred
to by the writer Dupuis[48] was utilised. He mentions that in a temple
at Heliopolis--whether a solar temple or not is not stated--the temple
was flooded all day long with sunlight by means of a mirror. I do not
know the authorities on which Dupuis founds his statement, but I have
no doubt that it is amply justified, for the reason that doubtless all
the inscriptions in the deepest tombs were made by means of reflected
sunlight, for in all freshly-opened tombs there are no traces whatever
of any kind of combustion having taken place, even in the inner-most
recesses. So strikingly evident is this that my friend M. Bouriant,
while we were discussing this matter at Thebes, laughingly suggested
the possibility that the electric light was known to the ancient
Egyptians.

With a system of fixed mirrors inside the galleries, whatever their
length, and a movable mirror outside to follow the course of an
Egyptian sun and reflect its beams inside, it would be possible to keep
up a constant illumination in any part of the galleries, however remote.

Dupuis quotes another statement that the greatest precautions were
taken that the first rays of sunlight should enter a temple (of course,
he means a solar temple).

But it is possible that there might have been another temple at right
angles, facing nearly due east. In this case, the larger temple
would have been named after the worship to which the smaller one was
dedicated. If so, unlike the solar temples at Heliopolis, Abydos, and
Thebes, the Edfû temple was sacred to the Equinoctial Sun, or, at all
events, to the Sun very near an equinox.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE STAR-TEMPLES AT KARNAK.

When I began my studies of the Egyptian temples the building
inscriptions referred to in the preceding chapter lay forgotten in
the Egyptologist's archives. I purpose now to give some account of my
work at Thebes, where I made a special study of the temples, because
there is a very great number there, and many are in a fair state of
preservation. These investigations convinced me that temples were
oriented to stars before the inscriptions in question were known
to me, although the whole temple field is so crowded with temples,
each apparently blocking up the fair-way of the other, that it seems
well-nigh impossible that any such process as that described in the
last chapter could have been applied.

This difficulty will be gathered from the accompanying folding plate
giving a reproduction of Lepsius's general maps of the temple region of
Karnak, showing his reference letters and also the _true_ north and the
orientation of the chief temples. We have already dealt with the solar
temple of Amen-Rā.

We find, beginning at the south, a large temple with a long line of
sphinxes, the temple of Mut (X) facing the large temple of Amen-Rā (K).
To the north of the latter is another temple system (A and B and C),
also with an avenue of sphinxes. On the east side of K another temple
(O) is only slightly indicated.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLES AT KARNAK (FROM LEPSIUS), FOLLOWING
THEIR ORIENTATIONS.
_To face p._ 183.]

To the south of the large temple K is another one--that of Khons (T),
also with its sphinxes. Connected with K are two other temples, L,
nearly, and M, exactly, at right angles to it. There is also such
a rectangular temple (Y) added to the temple of Mut. I also call
attention to the temples V and W, chiefly to point out that when I went
over the ground with M. Bouriant it seemed to us as if the temple V
faced S.E. and not N.W. as indicated by Lepsius. Very few traces of the
temple are left.

Since the labours of the French and Prussian Governments gave full
records of Karnak a memoir on the temples has been published by
Mariette, which gives us not only plans, but precious information
relating to the periods at which, and the kings by whom, the various
parts of the temples were constructed or modified. No doubt those which
are still traceable form only a very small portion of those which once
existed; but however that may be, I have now only to call attention to
some among them.

I have previously shown that the magnificent work of Mariette has
supplied us with building dates for the solar temple to which reference
has been made; so that we have, with more or less accuracy, the
sequence of the various parts of the completed building.

If we consider the plan without any reference to the building dates at
all, the idea that the smaller temples were built for observations of
stars seems to be entirely discountenanced. The temple L, for instance,
instead of having a clear horizon, is blocked by the very solid wall
(2) and its accompanying columns; the temple M, instead of having a
clear horizon, is absolutely blocked by two of the line of pillars (1)
very carefully built in front of it. But if we consult Mariette, _we
find in both cases that the wall was built long after one temple, and
the pillars were built long after the other_.

This result is satisfactory, inasmuch as it indicates that a natural
objection to the orientation hypothesis is invalid. But can we
strengthen it by supporting Mariette's statement as to the dates?

Mariette states that the temple M was built by Rameses III., a king of
the twentieth dynasty. With this datum, we consider the orientation of
the temple. The problem is one of this kind:--Taking the Egyptologist's
date for Rameses III. at 1200 B.C., and taking the amplitude of the
temple as 63½° N. of E., was there, when that temple was built, any
star opposite to it, any star to which it accurately pointed? We can
translate the amplitude of that temple into the declination of a star,
making a slight correction for the stated conditions of observation
in Egypt, which would make the apparent amplitude less than the true
one, because the star would appear to rise more to the south. In the
absence of precise information, we are justified in taking the mean of
the values referred to by Biot--that is, an apparent amplitude due to a
stratum of haze 1½° high, especially as the temple looked away from
the Nile.

Searching the astronomical tables, we find that there was a star
visible along the temple axis. The star was γ Draconis.

So much for the temple M. We now proceed to the other one lettered L,
the temple of Seti II.

The amplitude of temple L is 63° S. of W., and the date, according to
Mariette, 1300 B.C. We find the declination, proceeding as before, and
assuming hills 1½° high, to be 53½° S., and about that date the
bright star Canopus set on the alignment of the temple.

It will hence be gathered that just as truly as the temple M seems to
have been pointed to the northern star γ Draconis rising, the temple L
was pointed to the southern star Canopus, setting.

But this is not all. There is another temple to which I have already
directed attention--the temple of Khons (T of Lepsius), founded by
Rameses III., though as it comes to us it is a Ptolemaic structure, it
having been enlarged and restored by the Ptolemies. It is very nearly,
but not quite, parallel to the temple of Seti II.

My measures and those of Lepsius give, approximately, amplitudes as
under--

Temple of Seti (T) 63° S. of W.
Temple of Khons (L) 62° "

Continuing, therefore, the same line of inquiry, and assuming that
Mariette was right, and that the temple was really finally completed
(and no doubt its axis revised) by the Ptolemies, and that they
flourished about 200 B.C., we have the same problem. Was there a star
towards which that temple could have been directed, and which could
have been seen in that temple with its actual orientation?

Calculation shows that the change of amplitude of Canopus due to the
precessional movement between 1300 B.C. and 200 B.C. is almost exactly
1°, the difference in the amplitude of the temples. We seem, then, to
have in the temples L and T two temples directed to the same star at
different times.

These statements must be taken as provisional only. To render them
absolute, careful measurements must be made, on the spot, of the
heights of the hills towards which the temples point.

Leaving this for the moment on one side, we get in this manner
astronomical dates of the reigns of Seti II. and Rameses III. within a
very few years of those given by the Egyptologists.

More than this, the application of this method entirely justifies
Mariette's view with regard to these more modern temples at Thebes,
and shows that when they were built the outlook was clear, so that the
building ceremonials referred to in the last chapter might have been
performed.

I am next anxious to point out that not only is this so, but, accepting
it, we can explain exactly why the walls and temples and columns were
erected in the sequence which Mariette indicates. We not only know when
they were built, but we can presently understand _why they were built_.

The first point to which I draw attention in this matter is the
following:--Referring to the plan, we find that before the time of
Rameses III. the temple of Seti II. was right out in the open. It thus
represented just one of those external rectangular temples which have
been found at Denderah and at very many other places in Egypt. It
was one of the Egyptian ideas to have two temples at right angles to
each other. That temple, then, stood alone. The next change seems to
have been this: The star Canopus, the setting of which it was built
to watch, was, through the processional movement to which I have
referred, no longer conveniently observed in that temple. To obviate
this the temple T was built by Rameses III. with a change of amplitude
equivalent to the actual precessional change of the star's declination,
to carry on the observations.

Further, at the same time another temple (M) was built to observe γ
Draconis. It is now easy to understand what the 21st--a Theban--dynasty
did. Seti's temple (L) had been superseded; the temple M was a second
rectangular temple outside the great temple of Karnak (K). They said
to themselves: "We will make Karnak more beautiful, and we will extend
it. We can now build walls in continuation of the old walls, and we can
build still another pylon, because Seti's temple is no longer being
used, the worship having been transferred to the temple of Rameses
III. (Khons). By building the northern wall we prevent the use of
temple M, sacred to our enemy Sutech."

I should add that the opening in the wall, in prolongation of the axis
of temple M, is _not_ directly opposite the temple M, but a little to
the east; it was probably made later, possibly by the twenty-second
dynasty, who were Set worshippers. Again, coming to the time of
Taharqa, returning at the end of the exile of the priests of Amen in
Nubia, the temple, M was again thrown out of use. Pillars were built in
front of it, right in the fair-way, affording an instance that when a
temple was thrown out of use, not by the precessional movement of the
star to which it had been directed, but by the partisans of another
creed, the fact of its being no longer in operation was insured by
something being built in front of it, to prevent observation of the
stellar divinity no longer in vogue.

It may be added that long after the temple of Seti II. fell out of
astronomical use, and was on that account blocked by the walls of the
twenty-first dynasty, the Ptolemies built a new temple of Osiris,
which, if built before, would have been in the fair-way of the temple
of Seti. Thus, there is a reason for all the changes made at all the
dates referred to by Mariette.

I think we find in this result of the inquiry a valuable corroboration
of Mariette's conclusions, and another reason why we should not cease
to admire his magnificent works.

So far I have only referred to the relatively modern parts of Karnak. I
now pass to the more ancient ones, in which we ought to note the same
laws holding good, if there be any value in the view we are discussing.

We find that some of the most important temples given by Lepsius and
Mariette (B, X, and W) are just as effectively blocked by the mass of
the temple of Amen-Rā as those we have already considered were by the
walls of the twenty-first dynasty and Taharqa's columns; and, looking
at the plan, it seems at first perfectly absurd to continue to hold for
one moment the idea that these temples were built for observations of
stars on the horizon.

The temple X (Mut) is blocked by the pylon marked 3, the temple B by
the eastern end of the great temple, the temple W by the temple O.

Mariette here again comes to our rescue to a certain extent. He shows,
as I have stated in Chapter XI., that in the beginning of things,
certainly in the twelfth dynasty, possibly in the eleventh dynasty,
and possibly even before that, only the central part, marked 4, of the
solar temple existed, less as a temple than as a shrine, with nothing
to the west of it and nothing to the east of it.

That being so, the temple B gets its fair-way to the south, and the
temple of Mut (X) and the smaller temple (W) to the north.

Mariette in his two plates shows the growth of the temple of Amen-Rā in
a most admirable way, from the central portion of the temple to which I
have referred--that, is, the small central court, which, he is careful
to note, existed before Thothmes I.; how much before, he does not say.
Afterwards, the pylons are added; then they are elaborated; then the
sanctuary is thrown back to the eastward, and the temple O built, and B
thereby blocked, and then thrown forward to the westward, thus blocking
X and Z.

If there is anything in these considerations at all, it is suggested
that all the temples to which 1 have referred were founded before these
easterly and westerly extensions, of which Mariette gives us such ample
evidence.

In a subsequent chapter it is suggested that this great lengthening
of the original shrine of Amen-Rā was undertaken for the purpose of
blocking temples X, Z, and W, all dedicated to Set. Thothmes III. and
Taharqa had precisely the same objects in view, apparently.

Here, however, we meet a real difficulty. Mariette states that, so
far as he has been able to find, the temple B, a temple of which the
worship is Amen, and the temple X, in which the worship is Mut, were
built by Amen-hetep III. If that were so, they would have been built
blocked; none of the usual ceremonials could have been employed at
their foundation. They could not have been used at all for astronomical
purposes, because their horizons were blocked by these extensions of
the temple of Amen-Rā.

Here I must refer specially to temple B. Its amplitude is, according to
Lepsius, 63½° S. of W. I have already shown that the amplitudes of
temples L (Khons) and T (Seti II.) are 62° and 63° S. of W., and that
in the times of the Ptolemies and Seti II., each faced the star Canopus
in turn. Hence the probability that we have three temples of nearly
equal orientation sacred to the same divinity.

Temple. Orientation. Declination. Date.
Khons 62 52½° 300 B.C.
Seti II. 63 53½° 1350 B.C.
B 63½ 54 1800 B.C.

The statement is that the part of the temple of Amen-Rā, the building
of which blocked B, was commenced by Thothmes III., whose date,
according to Brugsch, is 1600 B.C., and continued by Amen-hetep
III. (1500 B.C.). Unless, then, some other provision was made, the
observations of Canopus were not continued until another shrine was
built. We know that another shrine was built, that of Seti II., and
that its orientation gives a date of 1350 B.C. It might have been
commenced by Seti I. after the Khu-en-Aten troubles, and finished by
Seti II.

One is therefore tempted to ask whether we have not here one of those
crucial cases which Mariette himself contemplated, in which the true
foundation is so far anterior to the last restoration or the last
decoration, from which, for the most part, the archæologist gets his
information, that one is absolutely misled by the restorations or
decorations as to the true date of the original foundation of the
shrine.[49]

If the archæologists are right in attributing the granite temple
of Osiris (?), near the sphinx, to a date anterior to, or even
contemporaneous with, the second pyramid, we have evidence that in
the early dynasties the temple building in stone, and even in granite
brought from Aswân, was as perfect in the matter of workmanship as
in the eighteenth dynasty; and that it was not then the fashion to
inscribe walls, but only statues and stelas. May it possibly be that
the fashion in question came in, or reached its greatest development,
during the eighteenth dynasty, and that on this account so many temples
are ascribed to that period, whereas they were actually in existence
before?

If the prior dynasties built no temples, why did they not do so?
and if they did, where are they, if some of those _inscribed_ by the
eighteenth dynasty be not they?

In the absence of final archæological evidence--that is, admitting
Mariette's own doubt as to the mere existence of inscriptions--are
there any astronomical considerations which may possibly help us?
Assuming that the temples were astronomically oriented, we have _one_
registering for us the time elapsed since the original direction of
the axis was laid down, in terms of the change in the obliquity of the
ecliptic.

We have others registering time in like manner in terms of the change
due to precession, if we can get any light as to the stars towards
which the temples were oriented.

I have already dealt with the temple of Amen-Rā in Chapter XI., and we
found a foundation date of 3700 B.C. for the original shrine, so far as
the rough observations already available can be trusted. Assuming the
accuracy of this determination, it is clear that we must look for stars
with appropriate amplitudes between that date and say 2500 B.C.

Let us take the temple of Mut (X of Lepsius); its amplitude is 72½
N. of E. This was the amplitude of γ Draconis about 3500 B.C. This
temple, then, bore the same relation to M as T did to L! We have two
cases of two temples erected at different dates to the same star.

Although it has been convenient to begin with Thebes for the reasons
given, the records concerning any one temple there are far more
restricted than those which relate to some temples elsewhere; while the
cult can only be determined in few instances. I propose, therefore, for
the present to content myself with the above general considerations
showing the first application of the method of investigation adopted,
and to pass on to Denderah, where we are sure of the cult and where
many particulars are given.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS--THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT DENDERAH.

We have now to pass from the building ceremonials and a general
consideration of the temples at Karnak, to the worships to which
the various temples were dedicated. And to do this we must face the
problems of Egyptian mythology, so far as the names and origins of the
various gods and goddesses are concerned.

[Illustration: PLAN OF DENDERAH. (_Mariette._)]

There is ample evidence that each temple was sacred to some god or
goddess, although in many cases the name of the patron divinity has
been lost.

Fortunately, at Denderah the patron divinities are well known, so
it will be well to begin with the temples there. We find a general
plan of Denderah among the magnificent drawings which we owe to the
French expedition of 1798. This shows the wall round the temple-space
containing the temple of Hathor, the great temple; and the smaller
temple of Isis at right angles to it. We find, roughly, that the great
temple points to the north-east; the smaller temple of Isis points to
the south-east. A later plan has been published by Mariette in his work
on Denderah.

These, then, are the main conditions of the temples at Denderah. But
we can go a little more closely into them by referring to the map
which accompanies Biot's memoir, to which I have previously referred.
He gives the axis of the Hathor temple pointing, not merely to the
north-east, but to 18° E. of N. Since the other temple lies at right
angles to the great one, its direction, according to Biot, is 18° S. of
E.

To show the uncertainty in these inquiries brought about by the absence
of a proper survey, I may give the following later values:--

1. LEPSIUS, 1844--
Magnetic azimuth of the axis N. 25° E.
" amplitude " " 65° N. of E.
Correction 8½°
∴ Astronomical amplitude 73½° N. of E.

2. MARIETTE, 1870--
Astronomical azimuth N. 15° E.
" amplitude 75° N. of E.

3. LOCKYER, 1891--
Magnetic azimuth of axis N. 23° E.
" amplitude " 67 N. of E.
Assumed correction 4½°
Astronomical amplitude 71½°

As my value agrees closely with that of Biot, I adhere to it; and it
gives, for the amplitude of the temple of Isis at right angles to the
Hathor temple, 18½° S. of E.

Now, it is stated distinctly in the inscriptions that "the place of the
birth of Isis is to the north-west of the temple of Hathor, its portal
is turned to the east, and the sun shines on its portal when it rises
to illuminate the world."[50] We learn from this that the small temple
was locally celebrated as the birthplace of Isis.

It is, then, a temple of Isis. Who was Isis?

Let us begin by considering the temple, remarking that the
inscriptions, apparently relating to both temples, are found in
one only. On this point, I, for the present, content myself with
quoting Plutarch's statement[51] that Isis and Hathor were the same
divinities--at all events, in later Egyptian times.

If we study the inscriptions--and this, thanks chiefly to Mariette's
magnificent book on Denderah, we can do--we find that they give out a
very certain sound. Here is one of them:--

"She [_i.e._ her Majesty Isis] shines into her temple on New Year's
Day, and she mingles her light with that of her father Rā on the
horizon."

Here we have nothing more nor less than a distinct and perfectly
accurate statement relating to the cosmical rising of a star, _i.e._,
as I have before explained, of the sun and the star both rising at the
same instant of time.

[Illustration: RUINS OF THE MAMISI (PLACE OF BIRTH) OR TEMPLE OF ISIS
AT DENDERAH.]

Further, in the inscriptions the "_rising of Hathor_" is mentioned
distinctly. "La grande déesse Sefekh [Sesheta] apporté les écrits qui
se rapportent à ton lever, ô Hathor, et au lever de Rā."[52] Everybody
knows that "Rā" means the sun, and therefore the rising of Rā is at
once accepted by everybody as obviously meaning sunrise. But if we
find "Hathor" treated in the same way as the sun, then Hathor must be
a celestial body rising like the sun. I consider this a very important
conclusion to arrive at, for many reasons.

But, further, Hathor was also worshipped, according to the
inscriptions,[53] under the name of Sothis.

Now we know, quite independently of all mythology, that Sothis is
simply the Greek form of the Egyptian name (Sept) of the star Sirius.

Taking, then, all these inscriptions together, we have an absolute
astronomical demonstration of the fact that the "rising of Hathor,"
which is referred to mythologically in the inscriptions given by
Mariette, was the rising of Sirius; that the star which "shone into the
temple, and which mingled her light with the light of her father Rā,"
was really the star Sirius. We get the demonstration of the fact that
mythologically the star Sirius was Hathor, or otherwise Isis.

In other words, we find a star personified; Sirius being personified as
Hathor or Isis.

But we can go much further than this. It is possible, as I have shown,
to determine the position of Sirius in past times, and therefore to
determine whether the light of that star ever did fall along the axis
of the temple. We know its orientation approximately--18½° S. of
E.--so that any celestial body which rose at that amplitude would shine
upon any object enshrined in the sanctuary. In the case of Sirius,
the conditions are such that, owing to the precessional movement, the
distance of the star from the equator has been gradually lessening from
the earliest times. Its declination in 8000 B.C. was 50° S.; it became
something more than 17° S. in A.D. 1000.

Knowing the declination, it is easy to determine the amplitude--and
given the conditions at the temple of Isis at Denderah, viz., that we
are practically dealing with a sea horizon, we find that the temple
really pointed to Sirius about 700 B.C., which is the date Biot found
for the construction of the zodiac in the temple of Osiris, referred to
in Chapter XIII.

Further, it is easy to show that Sirius at that date rose with the
sun on the Egyptian New Year's Day;[54] in mythological language, she
mingled her light with that of her father Rā on the great day of the
year.

As this is the first instance of such personification that we have
come across, it behoves us to study it very carefully. Why was Sirius
personified and worshipped?

The summer solstice--that is, the 20th of June, the longest day--was
the most important time of the Egyptian year, as it marked the rise of
the all-fertilising Nile. It was really New Year's Day. It has been
pointed out, times without number, that the inscriptions indicate that
by far the most important astronomical event in Egyptian history was
the rising of the star Sirius at this precise time.

Now it seems as if among all ancient peoples each sunrise, each return
of the sun--or of the sun-god--was hailed, and most naturally, as a
resurrection from the sleep--the death--of night: with the returning
sun, man found himself again in full possession of his powers of
living, of doing, of enjoying. The sun-god had conquered death; man was
again alive. Light and warmth returned with the dawn in those favoured
Eastern climes where man then was, and the dawn itself was a sight, a
sensation, in which everything conspired to suggest awe and gratitude,
and to thrill the emotions of even uncivilised man.

What wonder, then, that sunrise was the chief time of prayer and
thankfulness? But prayer to the sun-god meant, then, sacrifice; and
here a practical detail comes in, apparently a note of discord, but
really the true germ of our present knowledge of the starry heavens
which surround us.

To make the sacrifice at the instant of sunrise, preparations had to be
made, beasts had to be slaughtered, and a ritual had to be followed;
this required time, and a certain definite quantity of it. To measure
this, the only means available then was to watch the rising of a star,
the first glimmer of which past experience had shown to precede sunrise
by just that amount of time which the ritual demanded for the various
functions connected with the sunrise sacrifice.

This, perhaps, went on every morning, but beyond all question the most
solemn ceremonial of this nature in the whole year was that which took
place on New Year's morning, or the great festival of the Nile-rising
and summer solstice, the 1st of Thoth. Besides the morning ceremonial
there were processions of the gods during the day.

How long these morning and special yearly ceremonials went on before
the dawn of history we, of course, have no knowledge. Nor are the
stars thus used certainly known to us. Of course any star would do
which rose at the appropriate time before the sun itself, whether the
star was located in the northern or in the southern heavens. But in
historic times there is no doubt whatever about the star so used. The
warning-star watched by the Egyptians at Thebes, certainly 3000 B.C.,
was Sirius, the brightest of them all, and there is complete evidence
that Sirius was not the star first so used.[55]

[Illustration: CEREMONIAL PROCESSION IN AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE. (_From a
Restoration by the French Commission._)]

The astronomical conditions of the rising of this star have,
fortunately for us, been most minutely studied both by Biot and, in
more recent times, by Oppolzer, and from their labours it seems to
be abundantly clear that the rising of Sirius at the solstice was
carefully watched certainly as early as 3285 B.C., according to Biot's
calculations; and, further, that the rising of the same star was still
studied in a relatively modern time. At the earlier date its heliacal
rising was observed, but in later times means had been secured of
noticing its cosmical rising, because although it rose long before the
sun on the longest day 3000 B.C., it rose _with_ the sun on the same
day in the later times referred to. This "cosmical rising" observation
was doubtless secured by the construction of their temples, as I have
shown.

We are, then, astronomically on very firm ground indeed. We have got
one step into the domain of mythology. I assume it is agreed that we
have arrived at the certain conclusion that the goddess Hathor or Isis
personified a star, Sirius, rising at the dawn; and that the temple of
Isis at Denderah was built to watch it.

CHAPTER XX.

THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS (CONTINUED)--THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT
DENDERAH.

In Chapter XVII. I quoted from the inscriptions relating to the
alignment of the axis of the temple of Hathor at Denderah. It will be
remembered that the king, while stretching the cord, had his glance
directed to the _āk_ of the constellation of the Thigh. Further, we saw
in the last chapter that the amplitude of the temple axis is 71½° N.
of E.

A copy of Biot's plan giving his value of the orientation is given on
the next page.

I have shown how truly the temple of Isis was pointed to Sirius. We
have now to try to find a star towards which the temple of Hathor may
have been pointed in like manner.

It will be generally understood that in an inquiry of this kind there
are very many difficulties, chiefly depending upon the uncertainty
of the building-date of the original foundation, and upon the
indeterminate nature of the information available. But although we meet
with these difficulties in the case of the temple of Hathor, there
are many from which we are free. In the case of many of the temples
in Egypt we have no knowledge of the tutelary divinity. For a great
many temples no observational data exist; they have not been properly
measured--that is, we do not know exactly in what direction they point
or what their amplitudes are; and, further we do not know anything
of the horizon at the temple building, so as to be able to make the
necessary corrections due to heights of hills.

[Illustration: ORIENTATION OF THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH (BIOT).
(THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS ON THE ROOF IS ALSO SHOWN ON A LARGER SCALE.)]

This premised, I will now return to the statement regarding the temple
of Hathor, to see what can be made of it on the view that either
the middle or the chief point, that is, the brightest star, of the
constellation of the Great Bear as we now know it, was the one referred
to, and that the cord was stretched to the star on the horizon.

The first question which arises is, Was there any reason why δ Ursæ
Majoris at the centre, or α the brightest, should have been used
as the orientation point at any time? Was there any reason why any
special sanctity should have been associated with either? Certainly
not, in the case of δ, on account of its magnitude, because Dubhe,
not far from it, is much brighter; and possibly not, in the case both
of δ and α, on account of the time of their heliacal rising. We seem
therefore in an _impasse_ along this line of inquiry; but a further
consideration of the question brings out the remarkable fact that at
three widely-sundered points of time the stars α Lyræ, α Ursæ Majoris,
and γ Draconis have been the brightest stars nearest the North Pole,
and with such declinations that α Lyræ would be visible at one of the
dates, α Ursæ Majoris at another, and γ Draconis at another still--all
rising in nearly the same amplitude far to the north.

In Chapter XVIII. I have shown that one of the temples, and possibly
a series of them, at Thebes were directed to γ Draconis. It is
interesting, then, to carry the inquiry further. It may possibly
explain how it is that we get a definite statement about the _āk_ of
the Great Bear in one case and a certain sure orientation to γ Draconis
in the other.

In the first place, it has to be borne in mind that when a star is
circumpolar--that is, never sets--no temple can be directed to its
rising. Now, accepting the _āk_ as the brightest star (and as I stated
in Chapter XVII., it might, indeed, have been the central one as well
in the old constellation, for we do not know its limits), we have to
deal with the facts concerning α Ursæ Majoris, called by the Arabians
Dubhe.

The latitude of Denderah is a little over 20° N., therefore all stars
with a less polar distance than that--or, to put it another way, all
stars with a declination greater than (90°-26° = 64°. N.)--will be
circumpolar. Now, the declination of Dubhe was greater than 64° between
4000 B.C. and 1500 A.D. (I neglect refractions and hills); hence, if
there is any truth in the statements made in the building ceremonials,
the temple could not have been founded between those dates.

But what are the records concerning this temple? We know that the
structure as we see it was built in the time of the last Ptolemies
and the first Roman emperors, and I have already shown that at those
dates the Great Bear (the old Thigh) did not rise at all, as it was
circumpolar.

It is also known that there was a temple here in the time of Thothmes
III., and even earlier, going back to the earliest times of Egyptian
history. King Pepi, of the Sixth Dynasty (_circ._ 3233 B.C.), is
portrayed over and over again in the crypts.

Even this is not all the evidence in favour of a high antiquity. In
one of the crypts (No. 9), according to Ebers and Dümichen, there are
two references to the earliest plans of the temple. One inscription
states that the great ground-plan (_Senti_) of Ant (Denderah) was
found in old writing on parchments of the time of the followers of
Horus (sun-worshippers) preserved in the walls of the temple during
the reign of King Pepi. Another inscription goes further, referring to
the restoration by Thothmes III. (_circ._ 1600 B.C.) of the temple to
the state in which it was found described in old writings of the time
of the King Chufu (Cheops) of the Fourth Dynasty (_circ._ 3733 B.C.).
If any faith is to be placed in this inscription, it seems to me to
suggest a still higher antiquity. There would have been more reason for
describing an antique shrine than a brand new one.

Still another inscription runs:--

"King Tehuti-mes III. has caused this building to be erected in memory
of his mother, the goddess Hathor, the Lady of An (Denderah), the eye
of the Sun, the heavenly queen of the gods. The ground plan was found
in the city of An, in archaic drawing on a leather roll of the time of
the Hor-Shesu: it was found in the interior of a brick wall in the
south side of the temple in the reign of King Pepi."[56]

But let us see what the facts are regarding the date supplied by the
temple itself, accepting the statement made regarding the actual
operations at the laying of the foundation stone originally.

To determine the dates approximately, we find that an amplitude of
71½° N. of E. in the latitude of Denderah gives a declination of
57¾° N., with a sea horizon (correcting for refraction) 58¾° N.
with hills 1° high, and 59¾° N. with hills 2° high, which is not far
from the exact conditions.

The star Dubhe had the declination of 60° N. in 5000 B.C.

If, then, I am right in my suggestion as to the word _āk_ referring to
α Ursæ Majoris, we find the closest agreement between the astronomical
orientation; the definite statement as to a certain star being used in
the building ceremonies; the inscriptions in the crypts referring to
Cheops as the earliest historical personage who describes the building,
and to the Shesu-Hor as the original designers of the building.
According to most authorities, 5000 B.C. lands us in the times of the
Shesu-Hor before Mena.

I must confess that this justification of the double record strikes
me as very remarkable, and I think it will be generally conceded that
further local observations should be made in order to attempt to carry
the matter a stage beyond a first approximation.

We have got so far, then. If we take the history as we find it, and
further take the trouble to work out the very definite statements made,
we find that the temple was founded pointing to the rising of Dubhe
before it became circumpolar, and that in those times this star was
symbolised by the name of Hathor.

We may accept, then, the possibility that as the temple of Isis was
oriented to Sirius, that dedicated to Hathor was directed to Dubhe.

It will have been obvious from what has preceded, that if the worship
of Hathor was to go on at all, and if it were in any way connected with
the observations of a star rising near the north point of the horizon,
a new star must be chosen when α Ursæ Majoris became circumpolar. That
is the first point.

I have already stated that α Ursæ Majoris began to be circumpolar
at Denderah 4000 B.C. I may now add that γ Draconis ceased to be
circumpolar about 5000 B.C. They had the same declination (62° N.) and
the same amplitude (78° N.) 4400 B.C.

Mariette's plan shows a second temple oriented to N. 6° E., which we
may perhaps be justified in taking as N. 9° E., since his azimuth of
the great temple differs from Biot's and my own by 3°.

The corresponding declination would be 68° N. of E., the declination of
Dubhe in 4200 B.C. and of γ Draconis in 4300 B.C. The temple may well,
therefore, have been erected when both stars had the same amplitude,
the apparent difference of 100 years being due to the uncertainty of
the measures available.

The second point, then, is that when Dubhe, which, while it rose
and set, was the brightest star near the pole which did so, _became
circumpolar_; γ Draconis, when it _ceased to be circumpolar_, fulfilled
these conditions; astronomically, then, it became the natural successor
of α Ursæ Majoris.

I have before pointed out that it is not impossible that a temple
once oriented to a certain star, and long out of use on account
of the precessional movement, may be utilised for another, and be
rehabilitated in consequence, when that same movement brings another
conspicuous star into the proper rising amplitude.

This consideration at once leads to my third point, which is, that
after Dubhe became circumpolar the temple of Hathor at Denderah would
become useless--there would be no star to watch--unless a new star was
chosen.

Now, let us suppose this to have been so, and that the natural
successor of the star in question were chosen. Studying the facts as
before approximately, as final data are not yet available, we have the
declination 59¾° N. This was the declination of γ Draconis about
3500 B.C., assuming hills 2° high, which I think is too much; 3300
B.C., with hills 1½° high.

In the present case the orientation fits γ Draconis in the historic
period, but it also fits Dubhe in the times of the Hor-shesu, the
dimly-seen followers of Horus, or sun-worshippers, before the dawn of
the historic period.

Next let us go back to the inscriptions. We found that King Pepi
is portrayed over and over again in the crypts, and, which is more
important, that the plan of the temple on parchment, dating from the
times of the Shesu-Hor, had actually been walled up in the temple
during the reign of the same king, no doubt at the ceremony of
restoration or laying a new foundation stone, as is sometimes done to
this day.

Now, Pepi's date, according to the chronologists, is 3200 B.C., a
difference of 100 years only from the rough orientation date.

We see, therefore, the full importance of the work done in Pepi's
reign. The _āk_ of the Thigh was no longer of use; but a new star was
now available. Hathor was rehabilitated. Perhaps even the priests alone
knew that the star had been changed.

By the temple of Hathor, then, if we assume that the record is
absolutely true (and I, for one, believe in these old records more
and more), and that Cheops only described a shrine founded by the
Hor-shesu, we are carried back to _circ._ 5000 B.C. I am indebted to
my friend Dr. Wallis Budge for the suggestion that the position of
Denderah as the terminus of the highway from the Red Sea--which may
soon again be reached by a railway from Keneh to Kosseir!--would have
made it one of the most important places in ancient Egypt.

It is important to note that at a very early date the traffic between
the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, and thence probably with Arabia and
South Africa, flourished, and grew to be a by no means insignificant
commerce.

According to Ebers,[57] "the oldest and most famous of all these
highways is that which led from Koptos (Keneh, Denderah) to the Red
Sea, through the valley now known as the Wady Hammamāt, and called by
the ancient Egyptians Rohanu. It was a busy high-road, not alone for
trading caravans, but from time to time for stonemasons and soldiers,
whose task it was to hew the costly building materials from the hard
rocks, which here abound, and to prepare the vast monoliths which were
finished _in situ_, and then to convey them all to the residence of the
Pharaohs. A remarkably beautiful kind of alabaster, of a fine honey
yellow or white as snow, is found in these mountains." Another road led
from Esneh or Edfû to the ancient port of Berenice. We shall see in the
sequel that the temple of Redisieh on this route was dedicated to the
same cult as that at Denderah.

If the above results be confirmed, we have a most definite indication
of the fact that in the rebuilding in the times of Pepi, Thothmes III.,
and the Ptolemies, the original orientation of the building was not
disturbed; and that in the account of the building ceremonies we are
dealing as surely with the laying of the first foundation-stone as with
the original plan.

In any case the consideration has to be borne in mind that the series
of temples with high northern (and southern) amplitudes at Denderah,
Thebes, and possibly other places, were nearly certainly founded
before the time at which the heliacal rising of Sirius, near the time
of the summer solstice, was the chief event of the year, watched by
priests, astronomers--if the astronomers were not the only priests--and
agriculturists alike. Now we know, from Biot's calculations, that this
became possible _circ._ 3285 B.C., and that Sirius--though, as I am
informed by Prof. Maspero, _not_ its heliacal rising--is referred to in
inscriptions in pyramid times.

Subsequent research may possibly show that these temples had to do with
the heralding of sunrise throughout the year, the Sirian temples being
limited to New Year's Day.

CHAPTER XXI.

STAR-CULTS.

The last two chapters, then, have brought us so far. There are two
principal temples at Denderah. The smaller is called the temple of
Isis. It is oriented 18½° S. of E. The inscriptions tell us that the
light of Sirius shone into it, and that Sirius was personified as Isis.
We can determine astronomically that the statement is true for the time
about 700 B.C., which was the date determined independently by Biot for
the circular zodiac referred to on page 18.

The larger temple is called the temple of Hathor. It is oriented
71½° N. of E. The inscriptions very definitely tell us what star
cast its light along its axis, and give also definite statements about
the date of its foundation, which enable us to determine astronomically
that in all probability the temple was oriented to Dubhe somewhat later
than 5000 B.C.

Now we are _certain_ that Isis personified Sirius. That "Her Majesty of
Denderah" was Sirius, at all events in the later times referred to in
the inscriptions, is not only to be gathered from the inscriptions, but
has been determined astronomically.

It is also _probable_ that Hathor personified Dubhe. Now this looks
very satisfactory, and it seems only necessary to test the theory by
finding temples of Isis and Hathor in other places, and seeing whether
or not they were oriented to Sirius and Dubhe respectively.

But, unfortunately for us, we have already learned from Plutarch
that Isis and Hathor are the same goddesses, although they certainly
personify different stars, if they personify stars at all.

We seem, then, in a difficulty, and at first sight matters do not
appear to be made any clearer by the fact that Hathor (and, therefore,
Isis) was worshipped under different names in every nome.

Lanzoni, in his admirable volumes on Egyptian mythology, gives us, not
dealing with the matter from this point of view at all, _no less than
twenty-four variants for Hathor_!

In the temple at Edfû no less than 300 names are given with the various
local relations and forms used in the most celebrated shrines.[58]

In the inscriptions at Denderah itself a great number of variants is
given.[59] It is important to give some of them in this place; the full
value of the information thus afforded will be seen afterwards.

Hathor of Denderah = Sekhet of Memphis.
" " Neith " Saïs.
" " Saosis " Heliopolis.
" " Nehem-an " Hermopolis.
" " Bast } " Bubastis.
" " Bes-t }
" " Anub-et " Lycopolis.
" " Amen-t " Thebes.
" " Bouto " Unas.
" " Sothis " Elephantine.
" " Apet
" " Mena-t
" " Horus " Edfû.
(female)

One variant is of especial importance in the present connection, and
is emphasised in a special inscription in one of the chambers of the
temple of Hathor--_not_, be it remarked, in the temple of Isis.

"Elle est la Sothis de Denderah, qui remplit le ciel et la terre de
ses bienfaits. Elle est la régente et la reine des villes.... Au Sud
elle est la reine du maître divin; au nord elle est la reine des
divins ancêtres. Rien n'est établi sans elle.... Elle est la grande
dans le ciel, la reine parmi les étoiles."[60]

Well may Mariette remark on this:

"Cette invocation à Sothis, dans une chambre consacrée à la
consécration de certains produits de la terre, n'a rien qui doit
surprendre. Sothis est le symbole du renouvellement de l'année et de
la résurrection de la nature. Au lever héliaque de Sothis, le Nil sort
de son lit. Jusqu'à ce moment la terre de l'Égypte est stérile et nue.
Fécondée par la fleuve, elle va se couvrir d'une verdure nouvelle."

But the Sothis here in question is _Sirius_, the star to the rising of
which the temple of Isis, and _not_ the temple of Hathor, was directed!

We have, then, at Denderah a temple _not_ pointed to Sirius, the
worship in which is that of Hathor, and there can be little doubt
that we have astronomically determined the fact that "Her Majesty of
Denderah" was really the star Sirius.

We can pass from Denderah to the temple of Hathor at Thebes. The
general plan of Thebes prepared by Lepsius indicates the orientation
of the temple of Dêr el-Bahari, to which I refer, the temple in the
western hills of Thebes, embellished by Queen Hatshepset (_circ._ 1600
B.C.). This temple, instead of being-oriented 71½° N. of E., lies
24½° S. of E.; it can never, therefore, have faced the star observed
in the temple of Hathor at Denderah. There is also another temple
annexed to the temple of Amen-Rā, which received the light of Sirius
in former years. These temples were, in all probability, intended to
observe the same star which was subsequently observed in the temple of
Isis at Denderah.

That is one point; here is another. We have it from Plutarch[61] that
Isis = Mut = Hathor = Methuer.

The amplitude of the temple at Denderah dedicated to _Hathor_ is
71½° N. of E. (59° N. declination). That of the temple dedicated
to Mut at Karnak is 72½° N. of E. (58¾° N. declination), which,
assuming for a moment the same star to have been used, corresponds to a
date (according to the height of the horizon) of _circ._ 3000 to 3500
B.C. This is therefore later than the original foundation of the Hathor
temple of Denderah, but not far from the date of its restoration by
Pepi.

It is fundamental to the orientation theory that the cult shall follow
the star. But we have here the same cult, according to Plutarch; we are
hence permitted to suggest that in dealing with the temples of Hathor
at Denderah and Mut at Thebes we are dealing with local names of the
same goddess personifying the same star.

Two lines of argument may be followed to strengthen this conclusion.

The first has to do with the orientation of the temple of Mut at
Thebes. There is no statement of its great antiquity, as in the case
of the temple of Hathor at Denderah. Here we find again one of the
great difficulties in our way, the impossibility of running back to the
original foundation among the many restorations effected of the most
important among the Egyptian temples. The temple of Mut is ascribed to
Amen-hetep III., but I cannot hold this to be the original foundation,
for the following reasons:--

1. With its orientation in the time of Amen-hetep III. it pointed to no
star in particular.

2. There is a series of four temples at Thebes turned to the same part
of the horizon nearly, their amplitudes ranging from 62° to 72½° N.
of E. Of these temples that of Mut has the highest amplitude; the one
with the lowest but one is the temple lettered M by Lepsius. There is
no question about the real founder of this temple, and there is not
much question as to the date of the founder, Rameses III.

Now in the time of this king a temple erected with the orientation
given pointed precisely to γ Draconis. (_See_ Chapter XVIII.) The
amplitude was 62° N. of E.; the time, 1200 B.C. If we take the simplest
case in the orientation theory--that the amplitudes

62° N. of E.
63½° "
68½° "
72½° "

were given to the various temples to enable observations to be made
of the same star, which was being carried nearer the equator by the
precessional movement, we can not only date the temple of Mut, but find
an explanation of Plutarch's equation Hathor = Mut.

In other words, we watch the Mut-Hathor worship provided for from 3000
B.C. to the times of the Ptolemies.

So that here we have a very concrete case of the cult following the
star, not only in the same place, but at different places, and we are
driven to the conclusion that Hathor at Denderah and Mut at Thebes,
exoterically different goddesses, were esoterically the same star, γ
Draconis.

We are not, however, limited to a comparison between Denderah and
Thebes. We have Annu and Abydos, and other places, to appeal to, since
there are temples remaining there also facing N.E. Those at Abydos,
however, we must leave out of consideration here, as their exact
orientation is not determined. With regard to Heliopolis, and dealing
with the obelisk which tradition tells us was erected by Usertsen I.,
the orientation of its N.E. face, according to my own observations,
taking the present variation at 4½° W., is 77° N. of E. This
corresponds approximately to a declination of 57½° N., which was the
declination of γ Draconis in 2500 B.C. The date given to Usertsen I. by
Brugsch is 2433 B.C.

This is very satisfactory so far, but we can go further. Here we are
landed evidently in the worship of one of the local divine dynasties,
that of Set; and we may justly, therefore, ask if Usertsen did not do
at Heliopolis what it is very probable Pepi did at Denderah--namely,
embellish an old temple which had in the first instance been used for
observations of Dubhe and appropriate it to the use of the new Hathor γ
Draconis. If this were so, then the original foundation stone was laid
about 5100 B.C.

The next line of argument is furnished by the emblems which are
associated with the various goddesses. These obviously indicate that
they arose in a time of totemism, when each tribe or nome had its
special totem, which would be certain to be associated with the local
goddesses or the stars which they personified.

The local totem of the special warning-star in use at any time or place
may be anything: hippopotamus, crocodile, hawk, vulture, lion, or even
some other common living thing into which the totem degraded when the
supply of the original fell short.[62]

Hence, as the number of warning-stars was certainly very restricted,
they--or, rather, the goddesses which typified them--had different
names in almost every nome. Hence Egyptian mythology should be, as
it is in fact, full of synonyms; each local name being liable to be
brought into prominence at some time or another, owing to adventitious
circumstances relating either to dynasties or the popularity of some
particular shrine.

Applying this test of symbolism, we find in the case of Hathor that the
symbolism was double.

The Denderah _Hathor_ was connected with the hippopotamus, while at
Thebes _Mut_ was represented by a hippopotamus.

Now this symbol of the hippopotamus helps us greatly, because it allows
evidence to be gathered from a consideration of the old constellations.
I do not think it is saying too much to remark that among these the
attention of the North Egyptians was almost exclusively confined to
the circumpolar ones. Further, the mean latitude being, say, 25°, the
circumpolar region was a restricted one; 50° in diameter, instead of
over 100°, as with us. But not quite exclusively, for to them in later
times, as to us now, the Great Bear and _Orion_ were the two most
prominent constellations in the heavens; for them, as for us, they
typified the northern and southern regions of the sky.

[Illustration: CAPITAL, WITH MASKS OF HATHOR WITH COWS' EARS.]

There can be no question that the chief ancient constellation in
the north was the Great Bear, or, as it was then pictured, the
Thigh (Mesχet). After this came the Hippopotamus. I had come to the
conclusion that this had been replaced on our maps by part of Draco
before I found that Brugsch and Parthey had expressed the same opinion.

The female hippopotamus typified Taurt, the wife of Set (represented
by a jackal with erected tail, or hippopotamus), and one of the most
ordinary forms of Hathor is a hippopotamus. There is evidence that the
star we are considering, γ Draconis, occupied the place of the head or
the mythical head-gear.

Here, then, in the actual symbolism of Hathor we find γ Draconis as
distinctly pointed to as by the orientation of the temples.

[Illustration: THE COW OF ISIS.]

The other symbolism is quite different; instead of a hippopotamus we
deal with a cow.

In the inscriptions at Denderah we find the star Sirius represented by
a cow in a boat. In the circular zodiac we have the cow in the boat,
the point of the beginning of the year, and the constellation Orion,
so located as to indicate clearly that, at that time, the beginning of
the year fell between the heliacal rising of Sirius and of the stars in
Orion. Sirius was Isis-Sothis.

If we go to Thebes, we pass there from the cow Isis-Sothis to
Isis-Hathor, and there we find the mythology retains the idea of
the cow, the cow gradually appearing from behind the western hills.
There is not a doubt, I think, that the basis of this mythological
representation was, that the temple which was built to observe the
rising of the star at a time perhaps somewhat later than that given by
Biot (3285 B.C.) was situated in the western hills of Thebes, so that
Hathor, the goddess on which the light was to fall in the sanctuary,
was imaged as dwelling in the western hills. At Philæ we get no longer
either Isis-Sothis or Isis-Hathor, but Isis-Sati.[63]

[Illustration: HATHOR AS A COW.]

Now just as certainly as the hippopotamus had to do with the
constellation Draco, the cow had to do with Sirius, for Sirius was
represented as a cow in a boat.

[Illustration: HATHOR, "THE COW OF THE WESTERN HILLS."]

It may be gathered from this how truly astronomical in basis was the
mythologic symbolism to which we have been driven in the effort to
obtain more light; and, indeed, it is necessary for us to consider it
still more closely.

CHAPTER XXII.

STAR-CULTS (CONTINUED)--AMEN-T AND KHONS.

When I had the privilege of discussing at Thebes the orientation
hypothesis with M. Bouriant, the distinguished head of the French
School of Archæology in Egypt, he suggested that I should accompany
him one day to Medînet-Habû, at which place he was then superintending
excavations, and where there are three temples dedicated to Amen.

M. Bouriant, from the first, saw that if there were anything in the new
views, the cult must follow the star; and it was natural, therefore,
that the three temples dedicated to the same divinity at the same place
should be directed to the same star. The three temples to which I
refer are the two well-known temples the lack of parallelism of which
has been so often remarked, and a third much smaller one, built more
recently, lying to the south-west. The amplitudes I found to be as
follows:--

Amplitude S. of E.
Ethiopian or Ptolemaic Temple 45°
Great Temple 46½°
Ancient Temple 51½°

On the orientation hypothesis we were dealing with a star the S.E.
amplitude of which was decreasing like that of Sirius; _it was
therefore in the same quarter of the heavens_.

But which star? To investigate this it was best to deal in the first
instance with the orientation of the great temple, since its building
date was supposed to be that most accurately known; and there is not
much danger in doing this in the present case, because the king
obviously had not expanded an old temple, for there it still is
alongside.

The king was Rameses III., the date, according to Brugsch, 1200 B.C.,
and the hills to which the temples are directed may be taken as 1°
high. With these data we get the declination appropriate to the
amplitude of the temple 40° S. Now, this was nearly the declination
of the star Phact or α Columbæ in the time of Rameses III.; the
orientation date is 1250 B.C.

Taking this star, then, and correcting for heights of hills and
refraction, we get approximately the following dates:--

B.C.
Modern Temple 900
Great Temple 1250
Ancient Temple 2525

If the hills are taken as 1½° high, these dates will stand 750,
1150, and 2400.

The date 700 B.C. we have already found as the probable date of the
undertaking of the restoration at Denderah. It is the time of the
victorious march of the Theban priests northwards from their exile at
Gebel Barkal.

The date 2400 B.C. lands us in the times of the great solstitial king,
Usertsen I., about whom more in a subsequent chapter. Although the more
ancient temple is generally ascribed to Thothmes III., traces of the
work of Amen-hetep I. have been discovered. I think we have a case here
where the eighteenth dynasty enlarged and embellished a shrine erected
by the twelfth dynasty, precisely as the temple of Amen-Rā at Karnak
has been traced back to the twelfth dynasty.

If I am right, then, it follows that temples erected to stars
associated in any way with the chief cult, such as that of Amen-Rā, may
either be dedicated to the god or goddess personified by the star or
to the associated solar deity. Thus at Thebes we have the temple of
Mut, so-called, though Mut was the wife of Amen-Rā; and the temples now
under consideration, called temples of Amen, though they are dedicated
to the goddess Amen-t, the wife of Amen. This may or may not be
connected with the fact that the first of them was dedicated possibly
before the cult of Amen alone had been intensified and expanded by the
Theban priests--probably in the eighteenth dynasty--into the cult of
the solstitial sun-god Amen-Rā.

There is evidence, indeed, that Amen-t replaced Mut in the Theban
triad. With regard to these triads, a few words may be said here
from the astronomical point of view, though the subject, I am told,
is one on which a great diversity of opinion exists on the part of
Egyptologists.

I have collected all the most definite statements I can find on this
head, and it is certainly interesting to see that in many cases, though
not in all, the triad seems to consist of a form of the sun-god,
together with two stellar divinities, one of them certainly associated
with the heliacal rising of the sun at some time of the year, and
therefore a recognised form of Isis or Hathor. Thus we have:--

Place. Triad.
Thebes Amen-Rā
(Greater Triad) Mut
χonsu
(Lesser Triad) χem-Rā
Tamen (? Amen-t)
Harka
Denderah Atmu
Isis
Hathor
Memphis Atmu
Sekhet
Ptah
Hermonthis Menθu-Rā
Ra-Ta (= Hathor)
Hor-Para

Not only may this table enable us to see how Amen-t was sunk at
Medînet-Habû in the term Amen, but it enables us to consider a similar
case presented by those temples at Thebes, some of them associated with
Khons and another with Amen, referred to in Chapter XVII.

The temple of _Khons_ is among the best known at Karnak; the visitor
passes it before the great temple of Amen-Rā is reached. M. Bouriant
was able to prove, while we were together at Karnak, that the temple of
Seti II., nearly parallel to it, was also dedicated to _Khons_; but the
temple B of Lepsius, nearly parallel to both, is sacred to _Amen_. It
is seen at once that the main cult is the same, although the amount of
detail shown in the reference is different--we have the generic name of
the triad in one case, the specific name of the member of the triad in
the other.

As this is the first time a setting star has been in question, it is
well to point out that in this case the ancient Egyptians no longer
typified the star as a goddess but as a god--and, more than this, as
a dying god; for Khons is always represented as a _mummy_--the Osiris
form. Egyptologists state that both Thoth and Khons were moon-gods.
Perhaps the lunar attributes were assigned prior to the establishment
of sun-worship.

I shall show, subsequently, that the temples now being considered find
their place in continuous series stretching back in the case of Amen-t
to 3750 B.C., and in the case of Khons to possibly a long anterior date.

In the case of Amen-t and Khons, therefore, where we are free from the
difficulties connected with the interchange of the titles of Isis and
Hathor at Denderah, the star-cults stand out much more clearly, and we
get a step further into the domain of mythology.

But what did the cults mean? What was the utility of them? What their
probable origin? The cult of Sirius we already understand.

I will deal with Amen-t first. No doubt it will have been already asked
how it came that such an unfamiliar star as Phact had been selected.

Here the answer is overwhelming. This star, although so little familiar
to us northerners, is one of the most conspicuous of the stars in the
southern portion of the heavens, _and its heliacal rising heralded the
solstice and the rise of the Nile before the heliacal rising of Sirius
was useful for that purpose_!

In Phact we have the star symbolised by the ancient Egyptians under the
name of the goddess Amen-t or Teχi, whose figure in the month table at
the Ramesseum leads the procession of the months.

Amen-t, the wife of the solstitial sun-god Rā, symbolised the star the
rising of which heralded the solstice; and the complex title Amen-Rā
signified in ancient times, to _those who knew_, that the solstitial
sun-god Rā, so heralded, was meant.

The answer is clear, though not so simple in the case of Khons. The
setting of Canopus marked the autumnal equinox about 5000 B.C. We have
found that the first Khons temple at Karnak was possibly built as late
as 2000 B.C., when the utility of the observations of Canopus from
this point of view had therefore ceased; but it is also known that
Khons was a late addition to the Theban triad, and I shall subsequently
give evidence that the worship was introduced from the south, where
it had been conducted when the condition of utility held. The time of
introduction to Thebes was the beginning of the eighteenth dynasty,
when the priests wished to increase their power by conciliating all
worships; and we now see that with their local sun-god Amen-Rā and the
goddess Amen-t, with the Northern Mut (Isis) and the Southern Khons,
the Theban triad represented the worship of Central, Northern and
Southern Egypt.

It is an important fact to bear in mind that in the North of Egypt
in early times the stellar temples were more particularly directed
to the north, while south of Thebes, so far as I know, there is only
one temple so directed. It is suggested, therefore, that the Theban
priests amalgamated the northern and southern cults, probably for
political purposes. There is evidence that the priests were at heart
more sympathetic with the southern cults, and a further investigation
of this matter may eventually help us in several points of Egyptian
history.

It will have been noticed also that so far as we have gone, whether
discussing solar or stellar temples, we have had to associate the cults
carried on in most of them with some particular season of the year. If
I am right, in the worships at Denderah, Medînet-Habû, and Karnak, we
have a strict reference to the year, and in Egypt the year was always,
as it is now, associated with the rise of the river.

The sacred river must now occupy our attention for a while; we must
become familiar with its phenomena, and the divisions of time and the
calendar systems which were associated with them.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE EGYPTIAN YEAR AND THE NILE.

Our researches so far leave no doubt upon the question that a large
part of the astronomical activity of the earliest Egyptians had
reference to observations connected especially with New Year's Day.
It has been made abundantly clear, too, that in very early times the
Egyptians had a solar year commencing at the Summer Solstice, and that
this solstice was then, and is now, coincident with the arrival of the
Nile flood at Heliopolis and Memphis, the most important centres of
northern Egyptian life during the early dynasties.

In the dawn of civilisation it was not at all a matter of course that
the sun should be taken as the measurer of time, as it is now with
us; and in this connection it is worth while to note how very diverse
the treatment of this subject was among the early peoples. Thus, for
instance, it was different in Egypt from what it was in Chaldæa and
Babylonia, and later among the Jews. In the Egyptian inscriptions we
find references to the moon, but they prove that she occupied quite
a subordinate position to the sun, at least in the later times.
The week of seven days was utterly unknown amongst the Egyptians.
Everything that can be brought forward in its favour belongs to the
latest periods. The passage quoted by Lepsius from the Book of the Dead
proves nothing, since, according to Krall, an error has crept into his
translation. In Babylonia it would seem that the moon was worshipped
as well as the sun; and it was thus naturally used for measuring time;
and, so far as months were concerned, this, of course, was quite
right. In Babylonia, too, where much desert travel had to be undertaken
at night, the movements of the moon would be naturally watched with
great care.

An interesting point connected with this is that, among these ancient
peoples, the celestial bodies which gave them the unit period of
time by which they reckoned were practically looked upon in the same
category. Thus, for instance, in Egypt the sun being used, the unit
of time was a year; but in Babylonia the unit of time was a month,
for the reason that the standard of time was the moon. Hence, when
periods of time were in question, it was quite easy for one nation
to conceive that the period of time used in another was a year when
really it was a month, and _vice versâ_. It has been suggested that the
years of Methuselah and other persons who are stated to have lived a
considerable number of years were not solar years but lunar years--that
is, properly, lunar months This is reasonable, since, if we divide the
numbers by twelve, we find that they come out very much the same length
as lives are in the present day, and there is no reason why this should
not be so.

There seems little doubt that the country in which the sun was
definitely accepted as the most accurate measurer of time was Egypt.

Rā, the sun, was the chief god of ancient Egypt. He was worshipped
throughout the various nomes. Even the oldest texts (_cf._ that of
Menkaurā in the British Museum) tell of the brilliant course of Rā
across the celestial vault and his daily struggle with darkness.

"The Egyptians," says Ranke in the first chapter of his "Universal
History," which is devoted to Egypt, "have determined the motion of
the sun as seen on earth, and according to this the year was divided,
in comparison with Babylon, in a scientific and practically useful
way, so that Julius Cæsar adopted the calendar from the Egyptians and
introduced it into the Roman Empire. The other nations followed suit,
and since then it has been in general use for seventeen centuries. The
calendar may be considered as the noblest relic of the most ancient
times which has influenced the world."

[Illustration: THE ANNUAL RISE AND FALL OF THE NILE. (_From Horner._)]

Wherever the ancient Egyptians came from--whether from a region where
the moon was the time-measurer or not--so soon as they settled in
the valley where the Nile then, as now, like a pendulum slowly beat
the years by its annual inundation at the Summer Solstice, the solar
basis of their calendar was settled. Hence it was Nature, the Nile--on
the regulation of which depended the welfare of the country--which
facilitated the establishment of the Egyptian year. Solstice and
Nile-flood are the turning-points of the old Egyptian year.

That Egypt is the gift of the Nile is a remark we owe to the Father
of History, who referred not only to the fertilising influence of
the stream, but to the fact that the presence of the Nile, and its
phenomena, are the conditions upon which the habitability of Egypt
altogether depends. That the Egyptian year and that part of Egyptian
archæology and myth which chiefly interests astronomers are also the
gift of the Nile, is equally true.

The heliacal rising of Sirius and other stars at the time of the
commencement of the inundation each year; all the myths which grew out
of the various symbols of the stars so used; are so many evidences of
the large share the river, with its various water-levels at different
times, had in the national life. It was, in fact, the true and unique
basis of the national life.

In this the Nile had a compeer or even compeers. What the Nile was to
Egypt the Euphrates and Tigris were to a large region of Western Asia,
where also we find the annual flood a source of fertility, a spectacle
which inspired poets, and an event with which astronomers largely
occupied themselves.

What more natural than that Euphrates, Tigris, and Nile were looked
upon as deities; that the gods of the Nile valley on the one hand, and
of the region watered by the Euphrates and Tigris, on the other, were
gods to swear by; that they were worshipped in order that their benign
influences might be secured, and that they had their local shrines and
special cults?

The god sacred to the Euphrates and Tigris was called Ea.

[Illustration: HĀPI, THE GOD OF THE NILE.]

The god sacred to the Nile was called Hāpi. The name is the same
as that of the bull Apis, the worship of which was attributed to
Mena.[64] Certainly Mena, Mini, or Menes, as he is variously called,
was fully justified in founding the cult of the river-god, for he first
among men appears to have had just ideas of irrigation, and I have
heard the distinguished officers who have lately been responsible for
the irrigation system of to-day speaking with admiration of the ideas
and works of Mena. Whether the Tigris had a Mena in an equally early
time is a point on which history is silent; but, according to the
accounts of travellers, the Tigris in flood is even more majestic than
the Nile, and yet the latter river in flood is a sight to see--a whole
fertile plain turned, as it were, into an arm of the sea, with here
and there an island, which, on inspection, turns out to be a village,
the mud houses of which too often are undermined by the lapping of the
waves in the strong north wind.

There is no doubt that the dates of the rise of these rivers not only
influenced the national life, but even the religions of the dwellers on
their banks. The Euphrates and Tigris rise at the Spring Equinox--the
religion was equinoxial, the temples were directed to the east. The
Nile rises at a solstice--the religion was solstitial and the solar
temples were directed no longer to the east. To the Egyptians the
coming of the river to the parched land was as the sunrise chasing the
darkness of the night; the sun-god of day conquering the star-gods
of night; or again the victorious king of the land slaughtering his
enemies.

Egypt, in the words of Amru, first appears like a dusty plain, then as
a fresh sea, and finally as a bed of flowers.

It might be imagined at first sight that as the year was thus
determined, so to speak, by natural local causes, the divisions or
seasons would be the same as those which Nature has given _us_. This
is not so. The river and land conditions are so widely different.

By no one, perhaps, have the actual facts been so truly and poetically
described as by Osborn, who thus pictures the low Nile[65]:--

"The Nile has shrunk within its banks until its stream is contracted
to half its ordinary dimensions, and its turbid, slimy, stagnant
waters scarcely seem to flow in any direction. Broad flats or steep
banks of black, sun-baked Nile mud, form both the shores of the river.
All beyond them is sand and sterility; for the hamseen, or sand-wind
of fifty days' duration, has scarcely yet ceased to blow. The trunks
and branches of trees may be seen here and there through the dusty,
hazy, burning atmosphere, but so entirely are their leaves coated with
dust that at a distance they are not distinguishable from the desert
sand that surrounds them. It is only by the most painful and laborious
operation of watering that any tint approximating to greenness can be
preserved at this season even in the pleasure-gardens of the Pacha.
The first symptom of the termination of this most terrible season is
the rising of the north wind (the Etesian wind of the Greeks), blowing
briskly, often fiercely, during the whole of the day. The foliage of
the groves that cover Lower Egypt is soon disencumbered by it of the
dust, and resumes its verdure. The fierce fervours of the sun, then
at its highest ascension, are also most seasonably mitigated by the
same powerful agency, which prevails for this and the three following
months throughout the entire land of Egypt."

Then comes the inundation:--

"Perhaps there is not in Nature a more exhilarating sight, or one
more strongly exciting to confidence in God, than the rise of the
Nile. Day by day and night by night, its turbid tide sweeps onward
majestically over the parched sands of the waste, howling wilderness.
Almost hourly, as we slowly ascended it before the Etesian wind, we
heard the thundering fall of some mud-bank, and saw, by the rush of
all animated Nature to the spot, that the Nile had overleapt another
obstruction, and that its bounding waters were diffusing life and joy
through another desert. There are few impressions I ever received
upon the remembrance of which I dwell with more pleasure than that
of seeing the first burst of the Nile into one of the great channels
of its annual overflow. All Nature shouts for joy. The men, the
children, the buffaloes, gambol in its refreshing waters, the broad
waves sparkle with shoals of fish, and fowl of every wing flutter over
them in clouds. Nor is this jubilee of Nature confined to the higher
orders of creation. The moment the sand becomes moistened by the
approach of the fertilising waters, it is literally alive with insects
innumerable. It is impossible to stand by the side of one of these
noble streams, to see it every moment sweeping away some obstruction
to its majestic course, and widening as it flows, without feeling the
heart to expand with love and joy and confidence in the great Author
of this annual miracle of mercy."

[Illustration: DIFFERENT FORMS OF THOTH.]

After the flood comes the sowing time. The effects of the inundation,
as Osborn shows in another place,

"exhibit themselves in a scene of fertility and beauty such as will
scarcely be found in another country at any season of the year. The
vivid green of the springing corn, the groves of pomegranate-trees
ablaze with the rich scarlet of their blossoms, the fresh breeze laden
with the perfumes of gardens of roses and orange thickets, every
tree and every shrub covered with sweet-scented flowers. These are
a few of the natural beauties that welcome the stranger to the land
of Ham. There is considerable sameness in them, it is true, for he
would observe little variety in the trees and plants, whether he first
entered Egypt by the gardens of Alexandria or the plain of Assouan.
Yet is it the same everywhere, only because it would be impossible to
make any addition to the sweetness of the odours, the brilliancy of
the colours, or the exquisite beauty of the many forms of vegetable
life, in the midst of which he wanders. It is monotonous, but it is
the monotony of Paradise."

The flood reaches Cairo on a day closely approximating to that of the
Summer Solstice. It attains its greatest height, and begins to decline
near the Autumnal Equinox. By the Winter Solstice the Nile has again
subsided within its banks and resumed its blue colour. Seed-time has
occurred in this interval.

Beginning with the inundation (Summer Solstice) we have--

(1) The season or _tetramene_ of the inundation, July-October.
(2) " " " sowing, November-February.
(3) " " " harvest, March-June.

From the earliest times the year was divided into twelve months, as
follows, the leading month being dedicated to the God of Wisdom, Thoth
(Tehuti):--

{Thoth End of June (Gregorian).
Inundation {Phaophi " July.
{Athyr " August.
{Choiak " September.

{Tybi " October.
Seed-time {Menchir " November.
{Phamenoth " December.
{Pharmouthi " January.

{Pachons " February.
Harvest {Payni " March.
{Epiphi " April.
{Mesori " May.

The terms for the seasons and months are found even on the building
material of the largest pyramid of Dashûr, and in the oldest records we
already find calendar indications. On the steles of the Mastăbas, in
which the deceased prays Anubis for a good sepulture, we find a list of
the festal days on which sacrifices are to be offered for the dead.

A modern calendar (given both by Brugsch and De Rougé) is, doubtless, a
survival from old Egyptian times. It is good for the neighbourhood of
Cairo, and the relation of the important days of the inundation to the
solstice, in that part of the river, is as follows:--

Night of the drop 11 Payni
15 " Summer solstice.
Beginning of the inundation 18 " 3 days after.
Assembly at the nilometer 25 " 10 "
Proclamation of the inundation 26 " 11 "
Marriage of the Nile 18 Mesori 63 "
The Nile ceases to rise 16 Thoth 96 "
Opening of the dams 17 " 97 "
End of the greater inundation 7 Phaophi 117 "

In order to show how the astronomy of the ancient Egyptians--to deal
specially with them--was to a large extent concerned with the annual
flood and all that depended upon that flood; and how the first tropical
year used on this planet, so far as we know, was established, it is
important to study the actual facts of the rise somewhat closely, not
only for Egypt generally, but for several points in the line, some
thousand miles in extent, along which in the earliest times cities and
shrines were dotted here and there.

Time out of mind the fluctuations in the height of the river have
been carefully recorded at different points along the river. In the
"Description de l'Égypte" we find a full description of the so-called
nilometer at Aswân (First Cataract), which dates from a remote period,
perhaps as early as the fifth dynasty.

In Ebers' delightful book on Egypt space is given to the description of
the much more modern one located at Rôda.

The nilometer, or "mikyās," on the island of Rôda, now visible, is
stated to have replaced one which was brought thither from Memphis at
some unrecorded date. Makrīzī in 1417, according to Ebers, saw the
remains of the older nilometer.

The present mikyās is within a covered vault or chamber, the roof
being supported on simple wooden pillars. In a quadrangular tank
in communication with the river by a canal is an octagon pillar on
which the Arabic measurements are inscribed. These consist of the pic
(variously called ell or cubit) = 0·54 metre, which is divided into
twenty-four kirats. In consequence of the rise of the river bed in
relatively recent times, the nilometer is submerged at high Nile to a
depth of two cubits.

[Illustration: SCALE OF THE NILOMETER AT RÔDA.]

The rise of the Nile can now be carefully studied, as gauges are
distributed along the river. We have the Aswân gauge from 1869, the
Armant gauge from 1887, the Suhag gauge from 1889, and the Asyût gauge
from 1892. The distances of these gauges from Aswân are as follows:--

Kilometres.
Aswân 0
Armant 200
Suhag 447
Asyût 550
Rôda 941

The Rôda gauge is not to be depended on, as the movements of the
barrage regulation destroy its value as a record. The heights of these
gauges above mean sea-level are as follows:--

Metres.
Aswân 84·158
Armant 69·535
Suhag 56·00
Asyût 53·10
Rôda 13·14

[Illustration: THE ISLAND OF RÔDA.]

Great vagueness arises in there being no very obvious distinction
between the gauge readings reached in summer and that from which the
rise is continuous. There are apparently rainfalls in the end of spring
of sufficient power to raise the Nile visibly in summer, just as muddy
rises have been seen in winter to pass down the valley, leaving a muddy
mark on the rocks at Aswân and Manfalūt. Independently of the actual
gauge-reading of the rise, there are facts about it which strike every
beholder. At the commencement of the rise we have the _green water_.
This occurs in June, but varies in date as much as the top of the flood
varies.

From the fact that modern observations show that the very beginning of
the rise, and the first flush, second flush and final retirement vary,
it seems evident that the ancient Egyptians could not have had any
fixed zero-gauge or time for the real physical fact of the rise, but
must have deduced from a series of observations either a mean period of
commencement, or a mean arrival of the red water, or a mean rising up
to a certain gauge.

First, to deal with the green water. Generally when the rise of an
inch or two is reported from the nilometer at Rôda, the waters lose
the little of clearness and freshness they still possessed. The green
colour is the slimy, lustreless hue of brackish water within the
tropics, and no filter that has yet been discovered can render such
water clear. The colour is really due to algæ.

Happily, the continuance of this state of the water seldom exceeds
three or four days. The sufferings of those who are compelled to drink
it in this state, from vesical disease, even in this short interval,
are very severe. The inhabitants of the cities generally provide
against it by Nile water stored in reservoirs and tanks.

Colonel Ross, R.E., noticed in 1887 and in 1890, when, owing to the
slow retreat of the Nile, the irrigation officers had to hold back many
basins in the Gîzeh province, and also in 1888 when the water remained
long stagnant, that the basin water got green--showed the algæ and
smelt marshy--just as the June green water does.

Hence it has been argued that, as the Nile water in the bed of the
stream--even in very slow-flowing back-waters--does not become green,
the greenness must be produced by an almost absolute stagnation of the
water. We know of great marshes up above Gondokoro, and hence it is
thought that the green water of summer, which comes on suddenly, is
this marsh-water being pushed out by the new water from behind, and
that is why it heralds the rise. No one has so far minutely observed
the gradual intrusion of the green water.

The rise of the river proceeds rapidly, and the water gradually becomes
more turbid. Ten or twelve days, however, elapse before the development
of the last and most extraordinary of all the appearances of the Nile,
thus described by Mr. Osborn[66]:--

"It was at the end of--to my own sensations--a long and very sultry
night, that I raised myself from the sofa upon which I had in vain
been endeavouring to sleep, on the deck of a Nile boat that lay
becalmed off Benisoueff, a town of Middle Egypt. The sun was just
showing the upper limb of his disc over the eastern mountains. I
was surprised to see that when his rays fell upon the water a deep
ruddy reflection was given back. The depth of the tint increased
continually as a larger portion of his light fell upon the water, and
before he had entirely cleared the top of the hill it presented the
perfect appearance of a river of blood. Suspecting some delusion, I
rose up hastily, and, looking over the side of the boat, saw there
the confirmation of my first impression. The entire body of the water
was opaque and of a deep red colour, bearing a closer resemblance
to blood than to any other natural production to which it could be
compared. I now perceived that during the night the river had visibly
risen several inches. While I was gazing at this great sight the
Arabs came round me to explain that it was the Red Nile. The redness
and opacity of the water, in this extraordinary condition of the
river, are subject to constant variations. On some days, when the
rise of the river has not exceeded an inch or two, its waters return
to a state of semi-transparency, though during the entire period of
the high Nile they never lose the deep red tinge which cannot be
separated from them. It is not, however, like the green admixture,
at all deleterious; the Nile water is never more wholesome or more
deliciously refreshing than during the overflow. There are other days
when the rise of the river is much more rapid, and then the quantity
of mud that is suspended in the water exceeds, in Upper Egypt, that
which I have seen in any other river. On more than one occasion I
could perceive that it visibly interfered with the flow of the stream.
A glassful of it in this state was allowed to remain still for a short
time. The upper portion of it was perfectly opaque and the colour
of blood. A sediment of black mud occupied about one-quarter of the
glass. A considerable portion of this is deposited before the river
reaches Middle and Lower Egypt. I never observed the Nile water in
this condition there, and indeed no consecutive observations exist
of the reddening of the water. It is quite clear that the reddening
cannot come from the White Nile, but must be the first floods of the
Blue Nile and Bahral Azral coming down."

One of the most important matters for the purposes of our present
inquiry is connected with the influence upon local calendars, in
different parts of the Nile valley, of the variations of the phenomena
upon which the Egyptians depended for the marking of New Year's Day.

If the _solstice_ had been taken alone, the date of it would have been
the same for all parts of the valley; but certainly the solstice was
not taken alone, and for the obvious reason, that they wanted something
to warn them of the Nile rise, and in the lower reaches of the river
the rise precedes the solstice. Nor was the heliacal rising of Sirius,
of which more presently, taken alone.

But it was chiefly a question of the arrival of the Nile flood, and the
date of the commencement of the Nile flood was by no means common to
all parts of Egypt.

Now it is to be gathered from the modern gauges that it takes the flood
some time, as we can easily imagine, to pass down the 600 miles between
Elephantine and Cairo.

In the early flood, rising from, say, one cubit Aswân to six cubits,
where there are many dry sandbanks, and the spreading out of the river
is considerable, and there is an absence of overlapping flushes from
behind, the rate goes up to fifteen days, and the _earliest_ indication
of the rise may take longer still, but this is very difficult to
observe.

The rate in Hood is 1¾ days from Wādy Halfa to Aswân, and six days
from Aswân to Rôda (941 kilometres). In very high Niles this is perhaps
accelerated to five days.

There is, therefore, a very great difference in time and rate between
Green and Red Nile.

The rise is 45 ft. at Aswân, 38 at Thebes, and 25 at Cairo.

From the data obtained at the gauges named, which have been kindly
forwarded to me by Mr. Garstin, the Under Secretary of State of the
Public Works Department of Egypt, I have ascertained that the average
time taken by the first indication of the flood to travel between
Thebes and Memphis is now about nine days.

It must be remembered, however, that the river-bed is now higher than
formerly; the land around Thebes, according to Budge, has been raised
about nine feet in the last 1,700 years.

If, therefore, at each great city, such as Thebes and Heliopolis, New
Year's Day depended absolutely on the arrival of the inundation, not
only would the day have been uncertain, but the difference of time
in the arrival of the Hood at various places along the river would
represent a difference in the New Year's Days of those places, compared
to which our modern differences of local time sink into insignificance,
for they only touch hours of the day.

The great difficulty experienced in understanding the statements
generally made concerning the Nile-rise is due to the fact that the
maximum flood is, as a rule, registered in Cairo upwards of forty days
after the maximum at Aswân.

For the following account of how this is brought about I am indebted to
the kindness of Colonel Ross, R.E.:--

"The behaviour of the flood at the Aswân gauge is as follows: Between
August 20 and 30 a good average gauge of 16 cubits is often reached,
and between August 27 and September 3 there is often a drop of about
30 centimetres. The August rise is supposed to be mostly due to the
Blue Nile and Atbara River. Between September 1 and 8 the irrigation
officers generally look for a maximum flood-gauge of the year at
Aswân. This is supposed to be the first flush of the White Nile. In
the middle of September there are generally two small flushes, but the
last twenty days of September are generally distinctly lower than that
of the first week. The final flush of the Nile is seldom later than
the 21st to 25th September.

"All this water does not merely go down the Nile; it floods the
different basins. The opening of these basins begins from the south
to the north. This operation is generally performed between the 29th
September and the 22nd October. The great Central Egypt basins are
not connected with the Nile for purposes of discharge into the river
between Asyût and near Wasta, or a distance of 395-90 kilometres = 305
kil.

"The country in the middle or Central Egypt is broad, and thus there
is an enormous quantity of water poured out of these basins into the
lower reaches of the river about the 20th October, which seriously
raises the Nile at Cairo, and in a good average year will bring the
Cairo gauge (at Rôda) up to the maximum of the year on or about
October 22, and hence it is that the guide-books say the Nile is at
its highest in the end of October.

"A gauge of 16½ cubits at Aswân while the basins are being filled
does not give more than 21 cubits at Rôda (Cairo), but, as the basins
with a 16½ gauge will fill by the 10th September, it follows that
a 16½ to 16 cubit gauge at Aswân will not give a constant Cairo
gauge, as the great mass of water passes by the basins and reaches
Cairo. Hence we have frequently the paradox of a steady or falling
gauge at Aswân showing a steady rise at Cairo.

"If the gauge at Aswân keeps above 16 cubits to near the end of
September, the basin-emptying is much retarded, as the emptying at
each successive basin fills the Nile above the 16 cubit level; _hence
the lower halves of the basins do not flow off_, and thus, when the
great Middle Egypt basins are discharged, they do not raise the Nile
so much as they do when the last half of September Nile is below 16 at
Aswân.

"In years like 1887 and 1892, which differ from each other only in
date of maximum gauge at Aswân, the river, having filled the basins in
fifteen to twenty days instead of in twenty-five to thirty days, comes
down to Cairo in so largely increased a volume that a really dangerous
gauge of 25 cubits at Cairo is maintained for over a fortnight (the
average October gauge in Cairo is about 23 cubits), and from September
10 to October 25 the river remains from 24 cubits to 25½ cubits,
and the Middle Egypt basins discharge so slowly that the opening day
is hardly traceable on the Cairo gauge.

"In the 1878 flood, which was the most disastrous flood possible, the
river rose in the most abnormal fashion, and on October 3 attained 18
cubits at Aswân. This breached the Delta, and in addition so delayed
the Upper Egypt basins emptying, from the reason before given, that the
wheat was sown too late, and got badly scorched by the hot winds of
March and April."[67]

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE YEARS OF 360 AND 365 DAYS.

Whether the Egyptians brought their year with them or invented it in
the Nile valley, there is a belief that it at first consisted of 360
days only, that is, 5¼ days too little.

It is more likely that they brought the lunar month with them, taking
it roughly as 30 days (30 × 12 = 360), than that they began with such
an erroneous notion of the true length of the solar year, seeing that
in Egypt, above all countries in the world, owing to the regularity of
the inundation, the true length could have been so easily determined,
so soon as that regularity was recognised. We must not in these
questions forget to put ourselves in the place of these pioneers of
astronomy and civilisation; if we do this, we shall soon see how many
difficulties were involved in determining the true length of such a
cycle as a year, when not only modern appliances, but all just ideas
too, were of necessity lacking.

Since 360 days do not represent the true length of the year, it is
clear that any nation which uses such a year as that will find the
seasons and festivals sweeping through the year. Further, such a year
is absolutely useless for the agriculturist, or the gardener, because
after a time the same month, to say nothing of the same day of the
month, will not mean reaping-time, will not mean sowing-time, or
anything else.

Still, it is right that I should state that all authorities are not
agreed as to the use of this year of 360 days; at all events, during
the times within our ken. Maspero[68] states:--

"Des observations nouvelles, faites sur le cours du soleil, décidèrent
les astronomes à intercaler chaque année, après le douzième mois, et
avant le premier jour de l'année suivante, cinq jours complémentaires,
qu'on nomma _les cinq jours en sus de l'année_ ou jours _epagomènes_
(_epacts_). L'époque de ce changement était si ancienne que nous ne
saurions lui assigner aucune date, et que les Egyptiens eux-mêmes
l'avaient reportée jusque dans les temps mythiques antérieurs à
l'avènement de Mini."

Ideler[69] is of the same opinion as Maspero:--

"I do not hesitate ... to declare that the existence of such a time
cycle--used without reference to the course of the sun or moon simply
for the sake of simple figures--is extremely doubtful to me."

Krall remarks (p. 17):--

"It is probable that the year of 360 days dates from the time before
the immigration into the Nile valley, when the Egyptians were unguided
by the regular recurrence of the Nile flood. In any case, this must
soon have convinced the priests that the 360-days year did not agree
with the facts. But it is well known to everybody familiar with these
things how long a period may be required before such determinations
are practically realised, especially with a people so conservative of
ancient usages as the Egyptians."

And on this ground, apparently, he joins issue with the authorities
already quoted:--

"The Egyptian monuments have contradicted Ideler in this respect. The
trilingual inscription of Tanis testifies expressly that it has only
'later become usual to add the five epagomenes;' that, therefore, the
year originally had 360 days, which were divided into twelve months of
thirty days each."

Krall also argues that the expressions great and little year and their
hieroglyphics referred to the rears of 365 and 360 days respectively,
and adds:--

"If we inquire into the time at which the epagomenes were introduced,
we can only fix approximate dates. If the calendars of the Mastabas,
complete as they are, do not mention the epagomenes, whereas
inscriptions of the period of the Amenamhāts refer to them, this
can only be due to the circumstance that the epagomenes were only
introduced in the meantime, but probably nearer the upper than the
lower limit.... For the sake of completeness, we may mention that,
according to Censorinus, the five epagomenes were introduced by the
King Arminon.... Louth conjectures that Arminon is identical with
Amenamhāt I., under whom the epagomenes are first met with. But
since, between Nitokris and Amenamhāt I., there is a period of 500
years void of records, and the name Arminon has nothing to do with
Amenamhāt, we can hardly share this view."

However this knotty point may subsequently be settled by Egyptologists,
from the astronomers point of view the words of Ideler[70]--"Had
ignorance lead to the establishment of a year of 360 days, yet
experience would have led to its rejection in a few years"--will carry
conviction with them. Indeed, one may ask whether it is not possible
that the use of the 360-day year, and the complications which it
involved, may have had something to do with the foundation of the solar
temples.

Let us attempt to put ourselves, in imagination, in the place of the
ancient Egyptians after the use of this 360-day year had been continued
for any length of time. It is perfectly certain that now in this part
of the Nile valley, now in that, everybody, from Pharaoh to fellah,
must have got his calendar into the most hopeless confusion, compared
with which "the year of confusion" was mere child's-play, and that the
exact determination of the times, either of state functions or sowing,
reaping, or the like, by means of such a calendar would have been next
to impossible.

As each year dropped 5¼ days, it is evident that in about seventy
years (365·25∕5·25) a cycle was accomplished, in which New Year's Day
swept through all the months. The same month (so far as its name was
concerned) was now in the inundation time, now in the sowing time, and
so on. Of fixed agricultural work for such months as these there could
be none.

It must have been, then, that there were local attempts to retain the
coincidences between the true and the calendar year--intercalation
of days or even of months being introduced, now in one place, now in
another; and these attempts, of course, would make confusion worse
confounded, as the months might vary with the district, and not with
the time of year.

That this is what really happened is, no doubt, the origin of the
stringent oath required of the Pharaohs in after times, to which I
shall subsequently refer.

To acknowledge that the calendar year was wrong implied that they knew
the length of the true one. How had they found it out? I think there
can be no question that this knowledge had come to them by observations
either of the solstices or the equinoxes. It is true they had the
inundation; but, as we have seen, the rise is not absolutely regular,
and the inundation takes many days to travel from Philæ to Cairo
(Memphis). If, then, the inundation had fixed the beginning of the
year, each nome would have its special New Year's Day, and this would
never have been tolerated by a settled government embracing the whole
Nile valley, especially as each king's reign was supposed to commence
on New Year's Day.

It seems, then, that the solstitial temples and the pyramids were, if
not actually requisite for settling the matter, at all events all that
was necessary, if they existed.

But now comes in a most interesting and important point. If
observations of the sun at solstice or equinox had been alone made use
of, the true length of the year would have been determined in a few
years. But the next scene in Egyptian history shows us that the true
length of the year was not determined, but only an approximation to it.

How was this? The astronomical answer is very simple.

I have already referred to the common practice of all ancient peoples
that we know of to make sacrifices at dawn, and have shown how, in
order to do this, they took their time from a star rising before the
sun. An observation of the so-called "heliacal rising" of a star--if
the star were properly chosen--would give them the interval necessary
for their preparations before the sun itself appeared; and, as the
highest festival of all was that of New Year's Day, it was especially
important that the work should be well done then.

Now, if the stars had no precessional movement, the sun and stars,
after each interval of a true year, would be in exactly the same
position; but in consequence of the stars having the precessional
movement to which I have before referred, the star so observed and the
sun will _not_ be in exactly the same position after the interval of a
true year. On this account, then, the difference of time between the
heliacal risings will not represent the length of a true year. But,
further, the heliacal rising of the star will not take place on the
same day for the whole of Egypt, the difference between Thebes and
Memphis, depending upon their latitudes, amounting to about four days;
and, further still, the almost constant mists in the mornings in the
Nile valley prevent accurate observations of the moment of rising.

Still, as a matter of fact, the Egyptians defined their new year by
the rising of a star, and the length of it by the interval separating
two heliacal risings. Such a year could not be accurate; and again, as
a matter of fact, their correction was not accurate, for the year was
defined now as consisting of 365 days. It seems clear from this that
the correction was made before the solar temples were in use.

In any case the year of 360 days had naturally to give way, and it
ultimately did so, in favour of one of 365. The precise date of the
change is, as we have seen, not known.[71] The five days were added
as epacts or epagomena; the original months were not altered, but a
"little month" of five days was interpolated at the end of the year
between Mesori of one year and Thoth of the next, as already stated.

When the year of 365 days was established, it was evidently imagined
that finality had been reached; and, mindful of the confusion which, as
we have shown, must have resulted from the attempt to keep up a year of
300 days by intercalations, each Egyptian king, on his accession to the
throne, bound himself by oath before the priest of Isis, in the temple
of Ptah at Memphis, not to intercalate either days or months, but to
retain the year of 365 days as established by the Antiqui.[72] The
text of the Latin translation preserved by Nigidius Figulus cannot be
accurately restored; only thus much can be seen with certainty.

To retain this year of 365 days, then, became the first law for the
king, and, indeed, the Pharaohs thenceforth throughout the whole course
of Egyptian history adhered to it, in spite of their being subsequently
convinced, as we shall see, of its inadequacy. It was a Macedonian king
who later made an attempt to replace it by a better one.

We may reckon upon the conservatism of the priests of the temples
retaining the tradition of the old rejected year in every case. Thus
even at Philæ in late times, in the temple of Osiris, there were 360
bowls for sacrifice, which were filled daily with milk by a specified
rotation of priests. At Acanthus there was a perforated cask into which
one of the 360 priests poured water from the Nile daily.

Indeed, these temple ceremonials are an evidence of their antiquity,
and the further we put back the change from the 360 to 365 days, the
greater the antiquity we must assign to them, and therefore to the
temples themselves.

CHAPTER XXV.

THE VAGUE AND THE SIRIAN YEARS.

During three thousand years of Egyptian history the beginning of the
year was marked by the rising of Sirius, which rising took place nearly
coincidently with the rise of the Nile and the Summer Solstice.

I have insisted upon the regularity of the rise of the Nile affording
the ancient Egyptians, so soon as this regularity had been established,
a moderately good way of determining the length of the year, but we
have seen they did not so employ it.

It is also clear that so soon as the greatest northing and southing of
the sun rising or setting at the solstices had been recognised, and the
intervals between them in days had been counted, a still more accurate
way would be open to them. The solstice _must_ have occurred with
greater regularity than the rise of the river, so that as accuracy of
definition became more necessary the solstice would be preferred. The
solstice was common to all Egypt; the commencement of the inundation
was later as the place of observation was nearer the mouth of the
river. This means they also did not employ, at all events in the first
instance. Of the three coincident, or nearly coincident, phenomena, the
rise of the Nile, the Summer Solstice, and the rising of Sirius, they
at first chose the last.

According to Biot the heliacal rising of Sirius _at the solstice_ took
place on July 20 (Julian), in the year 3285 B.C.; and according to
Oppolzer it took place on July 18 (Julian), in the year 3000 B.C.

But this is too general a statement, and it must be modified here.
There was a difference of seven days in the date of the heliacal
rising, according to the latitude, from southern Elephantine and
Philæ, where the heliacal rising at the solstice was noted first, to
northern Bubastis. There was a difference of four days between Memphis
and Thebes, so that the connection between the heliacal rising and the
solstice depended simply upon the latitude of the place. The further
south, the earlier the coincidence occurred.

Here we have an _astronomical_ reason for the variation in the date of
New Year's Day.

There no doubt was a time when the Egyptian astronomer-priests
imagined that, by the introduction of the 365-days year, marking its
commencement, as I have said, by the rising of one of the host of
heaven, they had achieved finality. But, alas, the dream must soon have
vanished.

Even with this period of 365 days, the true length of the year had
not been reached; and soon, whether by observations of the beginning
of the inundation, or by observations of the solstice in some of the
solar temples when these had been built, it was found that there was
a difference of a day every four years between the beginning of the
natural and of the newly-established year, arising, of course, from the
fact that the true year is 365 days _and a quarter of a day_ (roughly)
in length.

With perfectly orientated temples they must have soon found that their
festival at the Summer Solstice--which festival is known all over
the world to-day--did not fall precisely on the day of the New Year,
because, if 365 days had exactly measured the year, that flash of
bright sunlight would have fallen into the sanctuary just as it did 365
days before. But what they must have found was that, after an interval
of four years, it did not fall on the first day of the month, but on
the day following it.

Recurrent solstices │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Recurrent 1st. of Thoth │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │

The true year and the newly-established year of 365 days, then, behaved
to each other as shown in the following diagram, when the solstice,
representing the beginning of the calendar year, occurred on the 1st
Thoth of the newly-established calendar year. We should have, in
the subsequent years, the state of things shown in the diagram. The
solstice would year by year occur _later_ in relation to the 1st of
Thoth. The 1st of Thoth would occur _earlier_, in relation to the
solstice; so that in relation to the established year the solstice
would sweep forwards among the days: in relation to the true year the
1st of Thoth would sweep backwards.

Let us call the true natural year a _fixed_ year: it is obvious that
the months of the 365-day year would be perpetually varying their place
in relation to those of the fixed year. Let us, therefore, call the
365-day year a _vague_ year.

Now if the fixed year were exactly 365¼ days long, it is quite clear
that, still to consider the above diagram, the 1st of Thoth in the
vague year would again coincide with the solstice in 1,460 years, since
in four years the solstice would fall on the 2nd of Thoth, in eight
years on the 3rd of Thoth, and so on (365 × 4 = 1460).

But the fixed year is not 365¼ days long _exactly_. In the time of
Hipparchus 365·25 did not really represent the true length of the solar
year; instead of 365·25 we must write 365·242392--that is to say, the
real length of the year is a little _less_ than 365¼ days.

Now the length of the year being a little _less_, of course we should
only get a second coincidence of the 1st of Thoth vague with the
solstice in a _longer_ period than the 1460-years cycle; and, as a
matter of fact, 1506 years are required to fit the months into the
years with this slightly shortened length of the year. In the case of
the solstice and the vague year, then, we have a cycle of 1,506 years.

The variations between the fixed and the vague years were known
perhaps for many centuries to the priests alone. They would not allow
the established year of 365 days, since called the _vague_ year, to
be altered, and so strongly did they feel on this point that, as
already stated, every king had to swear when he was crowned that he
would not alter the year. We can surmise why this was. It gave great
power to the priests; they alone could tell on what particular day
of what particular month the Nile would rise in each year, because
they alone knew in what part of the cycle they were; and, in order
to get that knowledge, they had simply to continue going every year
into their Holy of Holies one day in the year, as the priests did
afterwards in Jerusalem, and watch the little patch of bright sunlight
coming into the sanctuary. That would tell them exactly the relation
of the true solar solstice to their year; and the exact date of the
inundation of the Nile could be predicted by those who could determine
observationally the solstice, but by no others.

But now suppose that, instead of the solstice, we take the heliacal
rising of Sirius, and compare the successive risings at the solstice
with the 1st of Thoth.

But why, it will be asked, should there be any difference in the
length of the cycles depending upon successive coincidences of the
1st of Thoth with the solstice and the heliacal rising of Sirius? The
reason is that stars change their places, and the star to which they
trusted to warn them of the beginning of a new year was, like all
stars, subject to the effects brought about by the precession of the
equinoxes. Not for long could it continue to rise heliacally either at
a solstice or a Nile flood.

Among the most important contributors to the astronomical side of
this subject are M. Biot and Professor Oppolzer. It is of the highest
importance to bring together the fundamental points which have been
made out by their calculations. We have determinate references to the
heliacal rising of Sirius, to the 1st of Thoth, to the solstice, and
to the rising of the Nile in connection with the Egyptian year; but,
so far as I have been able to make out, we find nowhere at present any
sharp reference to the importance of their correlation with the times
of the _tropical_ year at which these various phenomena took place. The
question has been complicated by the use by chronologists of the Julian
year in such calculations; so the Julian year and the use made of it by
chronologists have to be borne in mind. Unfortunately, many side-issues
have in this way been raised.

The heliacal rising of Sirius, of course--if in those days a true
_tropical_ year was being dealt with--would have given us a more or
less constant variation in the time of the rising over a long period,
_on account of its precessional movement_; and M. Biot and others
before him have pointed out that the variation, produced by that
movement, in the time of the year at which the heliacal rising took
place was almost exactly equal to the error of the _Julian_ year as
compared with the true tropical or Gregorian one. The Sirius year,
like the Julian, was about eleven minutes longer than the true year,
so that in 3,000 years we should have a difference of about 23 days.
Biot showed by his calculations, using the solar tables extant before
those of Leverrier, that from 3200 B.C. to 200 B.C. in the Julian year
of the chronologists, Sirius had constantly, in each year, risen
heliacally on July 20 Julian = June 20 Gregorian. Oppolzer, more
recently, using Leverrier's tables, has made a very slight correction
to this, which, however, is practically immaterial for the purposes of
a general statement. He shows that in the latitude of Memphis, in 1600
B.C., the heliacal rising took place on July 18·6, while in the year 0
it took place on July 19·7, both Julian dates.

The variation from the true tropical year brought about by the
processional movement of Sirius or any other star, however, can be
watched by noting its heliacal rising in relation to any physical
phenomenon which marks the true length of the tropical year. Such a
phenomenon we have in the solstice and in the rising of the Nile,
which, during the whole course of historical time, has been found to
rise and fall with constancy in each year, the initial rise of the
waters, some little way above Memphis, taking place very nearly at the
Summer Solstice.

Again, M. Biot has made a series of calculations from which we learn
that the heliacal rising of Sirius AT THE SOLSTICE occurred on July
20 (Julian) in the year 3285 B.C., and that in the year 275 B.C., the
_solstice_ occurred on June 27 (Julian), while the heliacal _rising
of Sirius_ took place, as before, on July 20 (Julian), so that in
Ptolemaic times, at Memphis, there was a difference of time of about
24 days between the heliacal rising of Sirius and the solstice, and
therefore the beginning of the Nile flood in that part of the river.
This, among other things, is shown on the next page.

[Illustration: CONDITIONS OF THE HELIACAL RISING OF SIRIUS FROM 4000
B.C. TO 600 A.D.

The diagram shows (1) by white horizontal lines the Gregorian and
Julian dates for the rising at Thebes and at Memphis; (2) by the full
diagonal line the Julian date of the solstice or beginning of the
inundation in each century, at a point of the river near Memphis. The
fainter lines show the Julian dates for other places where the time
of the beginning of the flood differs by three days from the Memphis
dates. The interval between each line represents a difference of three
days in the arrival of the flood; (3) the interval in days between
the heliacal rising and the inundation at different periods and at
different points of the river. This can be determined for each century
by noticing the interval between the proper diagonal line and that
indicating the heliacal rising; (4) by dots at the top of the diagram
the commencement of the Sothic period as determined by Oppolzer, Biot,
and the author.]

We learn from the work of Biot and Oppolzer, then, that the
precessional movement of the star caused successive heliacal risings
of Sirius at the solstice to be separated by almost exactly 365¼
days--that is, by a greater period than the length of the true year. So
that, in relation to this star, two successive heliacal risings at the
1st of Thoth vague are represented by a period of (365¼ × 4 =) 1461
years, while in the case of the solstices we want 1506.

Now in books on Egyptology the period of 1461 years is termed the
Sothic period, and truly so, as it very nearly correctly measures the
period elapsing between two heliacal risings at the solstice (or the
beginning of the Nile flood) on the 1st of Thoth in the _vague_ year.

But it is merely the result of _chance_ that 365¼ × 4 represents it.
It was not then known that the precessional movement of Sirius almost
exactly made up the difference between the true length of the year
and the assumed length of 365¼ days. It has been stated that this
period had not any ancient existence, but was calculated back in later
times. This seems to me very improbable. I look upon it rather as a
true result of observation, the more so as _the period was shortened in
later times_, as Oppolzer has shown.

It will be seen that our investigations land us in several astronomical
questions of the greatest interest, and that the study is one in
which modern computations, with the great accuracy which the work of
Leverrier and others gives to them, can come to the rescue, and eke out
the scantiness of the ancient records.

To consider the subject further, we must pass from the mere question of
the year to that of chronology generally.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE SOTHIC CYCLE AND THE USE MADE OF IT.

Although it is necessary to enter somewhat into the domain of
chronology to really understand the astronomical observations on which
the Egyptian year depended and the uses made of the year, I shall limit
myself to the more purely astronomical part. To go over the already
vast literature is far from my intention, nor is it necessary to
attempt to settle all the differences of opinion which exist, and which
are so ably referred to by Krall in his masterly analysis,[73] to which
I own myself deeply indebted. The tremendously involved state of the
problem may be gathered from the fact that the authorities are not yet
decided whether many of the dates met with in the inscriptions really
belong to a fixed or a vague year!

Let us, rather, put ourselves in the place of the old Egyptians, and
inquire how, out of the materials they had at hand, a calendar could be
constructed in the simplest way.

They had the vague year and the Sirius year, so related, as we have
seen, that the successive coincidences of the 1st Thoth in both years
took place after an interval of 1460 years. Now, for calendar purposes,
they wanted not only to know the days of the years, but the years of
the cycle. This latter is the only point we need consider here. How
were they to do this? The _easiest_ way would be to conceive a great
year or _annus magnus_, consisting of 1460 years, each day of which
would represent four years in actual time; and further, to consider
everything that happened, which had to be thus chronicled, to take
place on the 1st of Thoth in each year. How would this system work?
During the first four years, at the beginning of a cycle, the 1st Thoth
vague would happen on the 1st Thoth of the cycle. During the next four
years the 1st Thoth of the vague year would fall on the fifth epact,
and so on; so, as the cycle swept onward, each group of four years
would be marked by a date in the cycle, which would allow the place of
the group of years in the cycle to be exactly defined. But as the cycle
swept onward, the date would sweep backward among the months of the
great sacred year until its end.

To make this clear, it will be well to construct another diagram
somewhat like the former one.

[Illustration: THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE 1ST OF THOTH (REPRESENTING THE
RISE OF SIRIUS) AMONG THE EGYPTIAN MONTHS IN THE 1460-YEAR SOTHIC
CYCLE.]

Let us map out the 1460 years which elapsed between two successive
coincidences between the 1st of Thoth in the vague year and the
heliacal rising of Sirius at the solstice, so that we can see at a
glance the actual number of years from any start-point (= 0) at which
the 1st of Thoth in the vague year occurred successively further and
further from the heliacal rising, until at length, after a period of
1460 years, it coincided again. As the Sirius-year is longer than the
vague one, the first vague year will be completed before the first
Sirius-year, hence the second vague year will commence just before the
end of the fixed year, and that is the reason I have reversed the order
of months in the diagram.

Now it is clear that, if the Egyptians really worked in this fashion,
the date of the heliacal rising of Sirius, given in this way, would
enable us to determine the number of years which had elapsed from the
beginning of the cycle.

This calendar system, it will be seen, is good only for groups of four
years. Now, a system which went no further than this would be a very
coarse one. We find, however, that special precautions were taken
to define which year of the four was in question, and the fact that
this was done goes some way to support the suggestion I have made.
Brugsch,[74] indeed, shows that a special sign was employed to mark the
first year of each series of four.

Next, as a matter of fact it is known (I have the high authority of
Dr. Krall for the statement) that each king was supposed to begin his
reign on the 1st Thoth (or 1st Pachons) of the particular year in which
that event took place, and the fact that this was so further supports
the suggestion we are considering. During the reign its length and the
smaller events might be recorded in vague years and days so long as the
date of its commencement had been referred to a cycle.

The diagram will show how readily the cycle year can be determined for
any vague year. If, for instance, the 1st Thoth in the vague year falls
on 1 Tybi of the cycle, we see that 980 years must have elapsed since
the beginning of the cycle, and so on.

Here, then, we have a true calendar system. If the Egyptians had not
this, what had they?

Dealing, then, with the matter so far as we have gone, we find that
the system suggested enabled the place of the beginning of each vague
year and of each king's reign to be dated in terms of the cycle of 1460
years; and further that, if they had not such a system as this, they
had no means of recording any lapse of time which exceeded a year. It
is not likely that any nation would put itself in such a position,
least of all the ancient Egyptians.

The existence of periods of 365 years and of 120 years among the
Egyptians is easily explained when the existence of this great year is
recognised; the 365 years' period, marking approximately the intervals
from solstice to equinox and equinox to solstice, in the natural year.

Let us next try to get a little further by assuming the supposed method
of dating to have been actually employed, and finding the year of the
beginning of one or more of these cycles thus obtained. This should
eventually help us to determine whether or not the Egyptians acted on
this principle, or used one widely different. In such an investigation
as this, however, we are terribly hampered by the uncertainty of
Egyptian dates; while, as I have said before, there is great divergence
of opinion among Egyptologists as to whether, from very early times,
there was not a true fixed year.

But let us suppose that the vague year was in common use as a civil
year, and that the rising of Sirius started the year; then, if we can
get any accepted date to work with, and use the diagram to see how many
years had elapsed between that date and the start-point of the cycle,
we shall see if there be any cyclical relation; and if we find it, it
will be evidence, so far as it goes, of the existence not only of a
vague year, but of the mode of reckoning we are discussing.

Now it so happens that there are three references, with dates given,
to the rising of Sirius in widely different times; and, curiously
enough, the month references are nearly the same. I begin with the
most recent, as in this case the date can be fixed with the greater
certainty. It is an inscription at Philæ, described by Brugsch (p.
87), who states that, when it was written, the 1st of Thoth = 28th of
Epiphi. That is, according to the view we are considering, the heliacal
rising of Sirius--that is, the 1st Thoth of the vague year fell on the
28th Epiphi of our cycle. He fixes the date of the inscription between
127 and 117 B.C. Let us take it as 122. Next, referring to our diagram
to find how many years had elapsed since the beginning of the cycle, we
have--

Days.
5 Epacts.
30 Mesori.
2 Epiphi.
──
37 × 4 = 148 years elapsed.

The cycle, then, began in (118 + 122 =) 270 B.C.

We next find a much more ancient inscription recording the rising
of Sirius on the 28th of Epiphi. Obviously, if the Sothic cycle had
anything to do with the matter, this must have happened 1458 years
earlier, _i.e._, about (1458 + 122 =) 1580 B.C. Under which king?
Thothmes III., who reigned, according to Lepsius, 1603-1565 B.C.;
according to Brugsch, 1625-1577. Now, the inscription in question is
stated to have been inscribed by Thothmes III., and, it may be added,
on the temple (now destroyed) at Elephantine.

There is yet another inscription, also known to be of a still earlier
period, referring to the rising of Sirius on the 27th of Epiphi. We
may neglect the difference of one day in the cycle (representing four
years); and again, if the use of the Sothic cycle were the origin of
the identity of dates, we have this time, according to Oppolzer, a
period of 1460 years to add: this gives us (1580 + 1460 =) 3040 B.C.
Again under which king? Here we are face to face with one of the
difficulties of these inquiries, to which reference has already been
made. It may be stated, however, that the inscription is ascribed to
Pepi, and that, according to various authorities, that king reigned
some time between 3000 and 3700 B.C.

We come, then, to this: that one of the oldest dated inscriptions known
seems to belong to a system which continued in use at Philæ up to about
100 B.C., and it was essentially a system of a vague year, the 1st
Thoths of which were represented as days on a 1460-years' cycle.

Now, assuming that the approximate date of the earliest inscription is
3044 B.C., and that it represented the heliacal rising of Sirius on
the 27th of Epiphi, the year 3044 must have been the [(5 + 30 + 3) x 4
=] 152nd after the beginning of the cycle. The cycle, then, must have
commenced (3044 + 152 =) 3196 B.C.

If we assume that the real date of Pepi, who, it is stated, reigned
100 years, included the year 3044 B.C., it may be, then, that the
inscriptions to which I have directed attention give us three Sothic
cycles beginning--

122 + 148 = 270 B.C.
1580 + 148 = 1728 B.C.
3044 + 148 = 3192 B.C.

According to Biot's calculation, the first heliacal rising of Sirius at
the solstice took place in the year 3285 B.C.; it is possible, then,
that the Egyptians utilised this heliacal rising within a hundred
years of the date on which it would have been first possible for them
to do so. This shows how keenly alive they were in these matters, and
also, I think, that they had been trained by watching some other star
previously.

It would also follow that the vague year was in common use. There is
ample evidence to show, however, that by this time the priests were
fully acquainted with the true year, which was called the sacred year,
and that every four years an additional epact was interpolated. Their
solar temples, then, at last had been utilised.

One argument which has been used to show that a vague year was not
in use during the time of the Ramessids has been derived from some
inscriptions at Silsilis which refer to the dates on which sacred
offerings were presented there to the Nile-god. As the dates 15th
of Thoth and 15th of Epiphi are the same in all three inscriptions,
although they cover the period from Rameses II. to Rameses III.--120
years--it has been argued by Brugsch that a fixed year is in question.

Brugsch points out that the two dates are separated by 65 days;
that this is the exact interval between the Coptic festivals of the
commencement of the flow and the marriage of the Nile--the time of
highest water; and that, therefore, in all probability these are the
two natural phenomena to commemorate which the offerings on the dates
in question were made.

But Brugsch does not give the whole of the inscription. A part of it,
translated by De Rougé,[75] runs thus:--

"I (the king) know what is said in the depôt of the writings which are
in the House of the Books. The Nile emerges from its fountains to give
the fulness of life-necessaries to the gods," etc.

De Rougé justly remarks:

"Le langage singulier que tient le Pharaon dédicateur pourrait même
faire soupçonner _qu'il ne s'agit pas de la venue effective de l'eau
sainte du Nil à l'une des deux dates précitées_."

Krall (_loc. cit._, p. 51) adds the following interesting remarks:--

"Consider, now, what these 'Scriptures of the House of Life' were
like. In a catalogue of books from the temple of Edfû we find,
besides a series of purely religious writings, 'The knowledge of the
periodical recurrence of the double stars (sun and moon),' and the
'Law of the periodical recurrence of the stars.'

" ... The knowledge embodied in these writings dated from the oldest
times of the Egyptian empire, in which the priests placed, rightly
or wrongly, the origin of all their sacred rolls" (_cf._ Manetho's
"History," p.130).

Now, to investigate this question we have to approach some
considerations which at first sight may seem to be foreign to our
subject. I shall be able to show, however, that this is not so.

_Imprimis_ we must remember that it is a question of Silsilis, where
we know, both from tradition and geological evidence, in ancient times
the first cataract was encountered. The phrase "the Nile emerges from
its fountains" would be much more applicable to Silsilis, the seat of
a cataract, than as it is at present. We do not know when the river
made its way through this impediment, but we do know that after it took
place and the Nile stream was cleared as far as the cataract that still
remains at Elephantine, a nilometer was erected there, and that during
the whole of later Egyptian history, at all events, the time of the
rise of the river has been carefully recorded both there and at Rôda.

From this it is fair to infer that in those more ancient times the same
thing took place at Silsilis; if this were so, the reason of the record
of the coming of the inundation at Silsilis is not far to seek, and
hence the suggestion lies on the surface that the records in question
may state the date of the arrival _in relation to Memphis time_.

It has been rendered, I hope, quite clear in Chapter XXIII. that there
is a difference of fifteen or sixteen days between the arrival of the
inundation at Elephantine and at Memphis. Hence, if in Pepi's time a
Nile rise were observed at Silsilis, there might easily be a difference
of fifteen days between the rise of the Nile at Silsilis and the
Memphic 1st of Thoth. If both at Silsilis and Memphis the Nile rise
marked 1st Thoth, the day of the rise at Memphis would correspond to
15th Thoth at Silsilis, so that a king reaching Silsilis with Memphis
local time would be struck with this difference, and anxious to record
it. May not this, then, have been the important datum recorded in the
sacred books? If so, it would not touch the question of the fixed or
vague year at all.

Let it, then, be for the present conceded that there was a vague year,
and that at least some of the inscriptions which suggest the use of
only a fixed year in these early times may be explained in another way.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE CALENDAR AND ITS REVISION.

In the last chapter the so-called Sothic cycle was discussed, and dates
of the commencement of the successive cycles were suggested.

These dates were arrived at by taking the very simplest way of writing
a calendar in pre-temple times, and using the calendar inscriptions in
the most natural way.

The dates for the coincidence of the heliacal rising of Sirius and the
1st Thoth of the vague year at, or near, the solstice, were--

270 B.C.
1728 B.C.
3192 B.C.

Here, _in limine_, we meet with a difficulty which, if it cannot be
explained, evidently proves that the Egyptians did not construct and
use their calendar in the way we have supposed.

We have it on the authority of Censorinus that a Sothic period was
completed in 139 A.D., and that there was then a vague year in partial
use. It is here that the work of Oppolzer is of such high value to us;
he discussed all the statements made by Censorinus, and comes to the
conclusion that his account is to be depended upon. It has followed
from the inquiries of chronologists that in this year the 1st of Thoth
took place on July 20 (Julian), the date originally of the heliacal
rising of Sirius, the beginning of the year.

This being so, then, in the year 23 A.D.--in which the Alexandrine
reform of the calendar, of which more presently, was introduced--the
1st of Thoth would take place on August 29, a very important date.
Censorinus also said that in his own time (A.D. 238) the 1st of Thoth
of the vague year fell on June 25. The diagram will show the connection
of these three dates in reference to the vague year. The relations
of the statements made as to the years 139 and 238 are very clearly
discussed by Prof. Oppolzer.

[Illustration: JULIAN DATES OF THE 1ST OF THOTH (VAGUE) FROM 23 A.D.
AND 240 A.D.]

Oppolzer, then, being satisfied as to the justice of taking the year
139 A.D. as a time of coincidence of the fixed and vague years--the
latter being determined alone by the heliacal rising of Sirius, and,
be it remembered, not by the solstices--calculated with great fulness,
using Leverrier's modern values, the years in which, in the various
Egyptian latitudes, chiefly taking Memphis (lat. 30°) and Thebes (lat.
25°), the coincidence between the two Thoths occurred in the previous
periods of Egyptian history. He finds these dates for latitude 30° as
follow:--

Julian year. Historical year.[76]
0 -4235 -4236
1 -2774 -2775
2 -1316 -1317
3 + 139 + 139
4 +1591 +1591
5 +3039 +3039

Now, the date which Oppolzer gives for the coincidence which is nearest
the date we had previously determined at 270 B.C. is 139 A.D. There is
a difference of 409 years.

The question is, Can this fundamental difference be explained? I think
it can.

In the first place, it is beyond doubt that, in the interval between
the Ramessids and the Ptolemies, the calendar, even supposing the
vague year to have been used and to have been retained, had been
fundamentally altered, and the meanings of the hieroglyphics of the
tetramenes had been changed--in other words, the designations of the
three seasons had been changed.

On this point I quote Krall[77]:--

"It is well known that the interpretation of the seasons and the
months given by Champollion was opposed by Brugsch, who propounded
another, which is now universally adopted by experts. Something has
happened here which is often repeated in the course of Egyptian
history--the signs have changed their meaning. Under the circumstance
that the vague year during 1461 years wanders through the seasons in
a great cycle, it is natural that the signs for the tetramenes should
have changed their significations in the course of millenniums.

"While Thoth was the first month of the inundation in the documents of
the Thutmosids and Ramessids, we have in the time of the Ptolemies the
month Pachons as the first month of the flood season. Whilst Brugsch's
explanation is valid for the time of the Ramessids, it is not so for
that of the Ptolemies, to which Champollion's view is applicable."

The signs used for the tetramenes are supposed to represent water,
a field with growing plants, and a barn; the natural order would be
that the first should represent the inundation, the second the sowing
which succeeds it, and the last harvest-time. If this be conceded, the
initial system would have had the month Thoth connected with the water
sign, as Thoth in early Egyptian times was the first inundation month.
But in the times of the Ramessids even this is not so. Thoth has the
sowing sign assigned to it. In the time of the Ptolemies the Hood is no
longer in Thoth, but in Pachons, and Pachons has the barn sign attached
to it, while the month Thoth is marked by the water sign, thereby
bringing back the hypothetical relation _between the name of the month
and the sign_, although, as we have seen, Thoth is no longer the flood
month.

Egyptologists declare that all, or at least part, of this change took
place between the periods named; they are undoubtedly justified as
regards a part.

At one point in this interval we are fortunately supplied with
some precise information. In the year 238 B.C. a famous decree was
published, variously called the decree of Canopus and the decree of
Tanis, since it was inscribed on a stone found there. It is perfectly
clear that one of the functions of this decree was to change, or to
approve an already made change in, the designation of the season or
tetramene in which the inundation commenced, from Thoth to Pachons.

Another function was to establish a fixed year, as we shall see
presently. We must assume, then, that a vague year was in vogue prior
to the decree. Now the decree tells us that at its date the heliacal
rising of Sirius took place on 1 Payni. Assuming that this date had any
relation to the system we have been considering, the cycle to which it
belonged must have begun

Days.
5 Epacts
30 Mesori
30 Epiphi
30 Payni
──
95 × 4 = 380 years previously--that is, in the year 618 B.C.

Here at first sight it would seem that the Sothic cycles we have
been considering have no relation to the one now in question; for,
according to my view, the last Sothic cycle began in 1728 B.C. A little
consideration, however, will lead to the contrary view, and show that
the time about 600 B.C. was very convenient for a revision of the
calendar.

In the first place, nearly a month now elapsed between the coming of
the flood and the heliacal rising; and in the second, by making the
year for the future _to begin with the flood_, a change might be made
involving tetramenes only.

Thus, commencement of cycle 1728 B.C.
Epacts 5
Two tetramenes 240
Month between flood and
rising of Sirius 30[78]
———
275 × 4 = 1100
————
628 B.C.

Nor is this all. A very simple diagrammatic statement will

1728
B.C.

Thoth ┐
Phaophi ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │
Choiach ┘
Tybi ┐
Menchir ├ [Hieroglyph]
Phamenoth │
Pharmuti ┘
Pachons ┐
Payni ├ [Hieroglyph]
Epiphi │
Mesori ┘

show what might also have happened about 618 B.C. if a reformer
of the calendar (and one especially of conservative tendencies)
appeared upon the scene, who believed that the ancient sign for the
inundation-tetramene was the water sign, and that the ancient name was
Thoth. Finding the cycle beginning in 1728 B.C. with the signs as shown
above--

B.C.
618

Thoth ┐
Phaophi ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │
Choiach ┘
Tybi ┐
Menchir ├ [Hieroglyph]
Phamenoth │
Pharmuti ┘
Pachons ┐
Payni ├ [Hieroglyph]
Epiphi │
Mesori ┘

when starting fresh, he would seize the opportunity of effecting a
change, not only by dealing with a tetramene, but he would change the
names of the tetramenes allocated to the signs; as Krall remarks, it
was almost merely a question of a change of the sign! It really was
more, because the new tetramene began with the flood.

Assuming this, we can see exactly what was done in 238 B.C., _i.e._,
about 380 years later. We have seen that the 380 years is made up of

5 Epacts
30 Mesori
30 Epiphi
30 Payni
──
95 × 4 = 380

--the heliacal rising of Sirius occurring on 1 Payni, having swept
backwards along the months in the manner already explained. We had, to
continue the diagrammatic treatment--

B.C.
238

Pachons ┐
Payni ├ [Hieroglyph]
Epiphi │
Mesori ┘
Thoth ┐
Phaophi ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │
Choiach ┘
&c.

To sum up, so far as we have gone, we have the three inscriptions
at Philæ, Elephantine and the still more ancient one of Pepi (?),
indicating on the simple system we have suggested beginnings of Sothic
cycles on the 1st Thoth about the years

270 ┐
1728 ├ B.C.
3192 ┘

On the other hand, we have the decree of Canopus, giving us by exactly
the same system a local revision of the calendar about 600 B.C. I
say _about_ 600 B.C. because it must be remembered that a difference
of 2½ days in the phenomena observed will make a difference of 10
years in the date, and we do not know in what part of the valley the
revision took place, and therefore at what precise time in relation to
the heliacal rising the Nile-rise was observed.

Whenever presumably it took place, New Year's Day was reckoned by the
Flood, and the rising of Sirius followed nearly, if not quite, a month
afterwards. The equivalent of the old 1st Thoth was therefore 1 Payni.
In months, then, the old 1st Thoth was separated from the new one (= 1
Payni) by three months (Payni, Mesori, Epiphi) and the Epacts.

In this way, we can exactly account for the difference of 409 years
referred to above as the dates assigned by Censorinus and myself for
the beginning of the Sirius cycle.

Difference between 270 and 239 = 31 years.
3 months = 90 days × 4 = 360 "
5 epacts × 4 = 20 "
───
411 "

The difference of two years is equal only to half a day!

It seems, then, pretty clear from this that the suggestion I have
ventured to make on astronomical grounds may be worth consideration
on the part of Egyptologists. If our inquiries have really led us to
the true beginnings of the Sothic periods, it is obvious that those
who informed Censorinus that the year 139 A.D. was the end of a cycle
_omitted to tell him what we now can learn from the decree of Tanis_.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE FIXED YEAR AND FESTIVAL CALENDARS.

The reformation of the Egyptian calendar, to be gathered, as I
suggested in the last chapter, from the decree of Tanis, is not,
however, the point to which reference is generally made in connection
with the decree. The attempt recorded by it to get rid of the vague
year is generally dwelt on.

Although the system of reckoning which was based on the vague year
had advantages with which it has not been sufficiently credited,
undoubtedly it had its drawbacks.

The tetramenes, with their special symbolism of flood-, seed-, and
harvest-time, had apparently all meant each in turn; however the
meanings of the signs were changed, the "winter season" occurred in
this way in the height of summer, the "sowing-time" when the whole
land was inundated and there was no land to plant, and so on. Each
festival, too, swept through the year. Still, it is quite certain that
information was given by the priests each year in advance, so that
agriculture did not suffer; for if this had not been done, the system,
instead of dying hard, as it did, would have been abolished thousands
of years before.

Before I proceed to state shortly what happened with regard to the
fixing of the year, it will be convenient here to state a suggestion
that has occurred to me, on astronomical grounds, with regard to the
initial change of sign.

It is to be noted that in the old tables of the months, instead of
Sirius leading the year, we have Teχi with the two feathers of Amen. In
later times this is changed to Sirius.

I believe it is generally acknowledged that the month-table at the
Ramesseum is the oldest one we have; there is a variant at Edfû. They
both run as follows, and no doubt they had their origin when a 1st
Thoth coincided with an heliacal rising and Nile flood.

───────────────┬───────────────┬────────────────────┬───────────────
Egyptian month.│Tropical month.│ Ramesseum. │ Edfû.
───────────────┼───────────────┼────────────────────┼───────────────
│ │ │
1. Thoth │ June-July │Teχi │Teχi
2. Phaophi │ July-Aug. │Ptah │
│ │ (Ptah-res-aneb-f)│Ptah Menχ
3. Athyr │ Aug.-Sep. │Hathor │ ?
4. Choiach │ Sep.-Oct. │Paχt │Kehek
5. Tybi │ Oct.-Nov. │Min │Set-but
6. Menchir │ Nov.-Dec. │Jackal (rekh-ur) │Hippopotamus
│ │ │ (rekh-ur)
7. Phamenoth │ Dec.-Jan. │ " (rekh-netches) │Hippopotamus
│ │ │ (rekh-netches)
8. Pharmuthi │ Jan.-Feb. │Rennuti │Renen
9. Pachons │ Feb.-Mar. │χensu │χensu
10. Payni │ Mar.-Ap. │Horus (χonti) │Horus
│ │ │ (Hor-χent-χati)
11. Epiphi │ Ap.-May │Apet │Apet
12. Mesori │ May-June │Horus (Hor-m-χut) │Horus
│ │ │ (Hor-ra-m-χut)
───────────────┴───────────────┴────────────────────┴───────────────

I am informed that Teχi, in the above month-list, has some relation
to Thoth. In the early month-list the goddess is represented with the
two feathers of Amen, and in this early stage I fancy we can recognise
her as Amen-t; but in later copies of the table the symbol is changed
to that of _Sirius_. This, then, looks like a change of cult depending
upon the introduction of a new star--that is, a star indicating by
its heliacal rising the Nile-rise after the one first used had become
useless for such a purpose.

[Illustration: THE MONTH-TABLE AT THE RAMESSEUM.]

I have said that the Ramesseum month-list is probably the oldest one we
have. It is considered by some to date only from Rameses II., and to
indicate a fixed year; such, however, is not Krall's opinion.[79] He
writes:--

"The latest investigations of Dümichen show that the calendar of
Medînet-Habû is only a copy of the original composed under Ramses II.
about 120 years before....

"But the true original of the calendar of Medînet-Habû does not even
date from the time of Ramses II. It is known to every Egyptologist how
little the time of the Ramessids produced what was truly original,
how much just this time restricted itself to a reproduction of the
traditions of previous generations. In the calendar of Medînet-Habû
we have (p. 48) not a fixed year instituted under Ramses II., but
the normal year of the old time, the vague year, as it was, to use
Dschewhari's words quoted above (p. 852) in the first year of its
institution, the year as it was before the Egyptians had made two
unwelcome observations: First, that the year of 365 days did not
correspond to the reality, but shifted by one day in four years with
regard to the seasons; secondly--which, of course, took a much longer
time--that the rising of Sirius ceased to coincide with the beginning
of the Nile flood.

"We are led to the same conclusion by a consideration of the
festivals given in the calendar of Medînet-Habû. They are almost
without exception the festivals which we have found in our previous
investigation of the calendars of Esne and Edfû to be attached to the
same days. We know already the Uaya festival of the 17th and 18th
Thoth, the festival of Hermes of the 19th Thoth, the great feast of
Amen beginning on the 19th Paophi, the Osiris festivals of the last
decade of Choiak, and that of the coronation of Horuz on the 1st Tybi.

"Festivals somehow differing from the ancient traditions and general
usage are unknown in the calendar of Medînet-Habû, and it is just such
festivals which have enabled us to trace fixed years in the calendars
of Edfû and Esne.

"We are as little justified in considering the
mythologico-astronomical representations and inscriptions on the
graves of the time of the Ramessids as founded on a fixed year, as
we can do this in the case of the Medînet-Habû calendar. In this
the astronomical element of the calendar is quite overgrown by the
mythological. Not only was the daily and yearly course of the sun a
most important event for the Egyptian astronomer, but the priest also
had in his sacred books many mythological records concerning the god
Rā, which had to be taken into account in these representations. The
mythological ideas dated from the oldest periods of Egyptian history;
we shall therefore be obliged, for their explanation, not to remain in
the thirteenth or fourteenth century before Christ, but to ascend into
previous centuries. _I should think about the middle of the fourth
millennium before Christ, that is the time at which the true original
of the Medînet-Habû calendar was framed._ Further, we must in these
mythological and astronomical representations not overlook the fact
that we cannot expect them to show mathematical accuracy--that, on
the contrary, if that is a consideration, we must proceed with the
greatest caution. We know now how inexact were the representations and
texts of tombs, especially where the Egyptian artist could suppose
that no human eye would inspect his work; we also know how often
representations stop short for want of room, and how much the contents
were mutilated for the sake of symmetry."

Sirian, Pre-Sirian
3192 B.C. Teχi

Thoth ┐
Phaophi ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │
Choiach ┘
Thoth ┐ Tybi ┐
Phaophi ├ Menchir ├ [Hieroglyph]
Athyr │ Phamenoth │
Choiach ┘ Pharmuthi ┘
Tybi ┐ Pachons ┐
Menchir ├ Payni ├ [Hieroglyph]
Phamenoth│ Epiphi │
Pharmuthi┘ Mesori ┘
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori

SYRIAN AND PRE-SYRIAN TETRAMENE-SIGNS.

There is also, as I have indicated, temple evidence that Sirius was
not the first star utilised as a herald of sunrise. We have, then,
this possibility to explain the variation from the true meaning of the
signs in Ramessid times. And it may be gathered from this that the
calendar was reorganised[80] when the Sirius worship came in, and that
the change effected in 619 B.C. brought the hieroglyphic signs back to
their natural meaning and first use.

The whole story of calendar revision may, therefore, possibly have been
as follows:--

[Illustration: [Each group of four linked to a Hieroglyph]

Pre-Sirian
Teχi

Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori

Sirian,
3192 B.C.
1st. Cycle

Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori

2nd. Cycle.
1728 B.C.

Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori

B.C.
618

Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach
Tybi
Menchir
Phamenoth
Pharmuthi
Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori

B.C.
238

Pachons
Payni
Epiphi
Mesori
Thoth
Phaophi
Athyr
Choiach

&c.

The revision of 618 B.C. was not universally accepted, so from that
time onward there was an old and a new style in force.

Before I pass on, it may be convenient, in connection with the above
month-tables, to refer in the briefest way to the mythology relating
to the yearly movement of the sun, in order to show that when this
question is considered at all, if it helps us with regard to the
mythology connected with the rising and setting of stars, it will as
assuredly help us with regard to the mythology of the various changes
which occur throughout the year.

We have, as we have seen, in the Egyptian year really the prototype of
our own. The Egyptians, thousands of years ago, had an almost perfect
year containing twelve months; but, instead of four seasons, they had
three--the time of the sowing, the time of the harvest, and the time of
the inundation. Unfortunately, at various times in Egyptian history,
the symbols for the tetramenes seem to have got changed.

The above-given inscriptions show that they had a distinct symbolism
for each of the months. Gods or goddesses are given for ten months out
of the twelve, and where we have not these we have the hippopotamus (or
the pig) and the jackal, two circumpolar constellations. I think there
is no question that we are dealing here with these constellations,
though the figures have been supposed to represent something quite
different.

There are also myths and symbols of the twelve changes during the
twelve hours of the day; the sun being figured as a child at rising,
as an old man when setting in the evening. These ideas were also
transferred to the annual motion of the sun. In Macrobius, as quoted by
Krall, we find the statement that the Egyptians compared the yearly
course of the sun also with the phases of human life.

Little child = Winter Solstice.
Young man = Spring Equinox.
Bearded man = Summer Solstice.
Old man = Autumnal Equinox.

With the day of the Summer Solstice the sun reaches the greatest
northern rising amplitude, and at the Winter Solstice its greatest
southern amplitude. By the solstices the year is divided into two
approximately equal parts; during one the points of rising move
southwards, during the other northwards.

This phenomenon, it is stated, was symbolised by the two eyes of Rā,
the so-called Utchats, which look in different directions. They appear
as representing the sun in the two halves of the year.

* * * * *

We have next to discuss the fixed year, to which the Egyptian
chronologists were finally driven in later Egyptian times. The decree
of Tanis was the true precursor of the Julian correction of the
calendar. In consequence of this correction we now add a day every four
years to the end of February. The decree regulated the addition, by the
Egyptians, of a day every four years by adding a day to the epacts,
which were thus six every four years instead of being always five, as
they had been before.

In fact, it replaced the vague year by the sacred year long known to
the priests.

But if everything had gone on then as the priests of Tanis imagined,
the Egyptian New Year's Day, _if_ determined by the heliacal rising
of Sirius, would not always afterwards have been the 1st of Payni,
although the solstice and Nile flood would have been clue at Memphis
about the 1st of Pachons; and this is, perhaps, one among the reasons
why the decree was to a large extent ignored.

Hence, for some years after the date of the decree of Tanis, there were
at least three years in force--the new fixed year, the new vague year,
reckoning from Pachons, and the old vague year, reckoning from Thoth.

But after some years another attempt was made to get rid of all this
confusion. The time was 23 B.C., 216 years after the decree of Tanis,
and the place was Alexandria. Hence the new fixed year introduced is
termed the Alexandrine year.

This new attempt obviously implied that the first one had failed;
and the fact that the vague year was continued in the interval is
sufficiently demonstrated by the fact that the new year was 216∕4 =
54 days _en retard_. In the year of Tanis it is stated that the 1st
Pachons, the new New Year's Day, the real beginning of the Hood, fell
on the 19th of June (Gregorian), the Summer Solstice, and hence the 1st
of Thoth fell on the 22nd of October (Gregorian). In the Alexandrine
year the 22nd of October is represented by the 29th of August, and the
19th of June by the 20th of April.

It is noteworthy that in the Alexandrine year the heliacal rising
of Sirius on the 23rd of July (Julian) falls on the 29th of Epiphi,
nearly the same date as that to which I first drew attention in the
inscriptions of the date of Thothmes and Pepi. This, however, it is now
clearly seen, is a pure accident, due to the break of continuity before
the Tanis year, and the _slip_ between that and the Alexandrine one. It
is important to mention this, because it has been thought that somehow
the "Alexandrine year" was in use in Pepi's time.

It would seem that the Alexandrine revision was final, and that the
year was truly fixed, and from that time to this it has remained so,
and must in the future for ever remain so. It must never be forgotten
that we owe this perfection to the Egyptian Festival Calendars.

One of the chief uses of the Egyptian calendar that has come down to us
was the arrangement and dating of the chief feasts throughout the year
in the different temples.

The fact that the two great complete feast-calendars of Edfû and Esne
refer to the only fixed years evidenced by records--those of Tanis
and Alexandria--one of which was established over 200 years after the
other, is of inestimable value for the investigation of the calendar
and chronology of ancient Egypt.

In an excellent work of Brugsch, "Three Festival Calendars from the
Temple of Apollinopolis Magna (Edfû) in Upper Egypt," we have two
calendars which we can refer to fixed years, and can date with the
greatest accuracy. In the case of one of these, that of Esne, this is
universally recognised; as to the other, that of Apollinopolis Magna,
we are indebted to the researches of Krall, who points out, however,
that "it is only when the province of Egyptian mythology has been dealt
with in all directions that we can undertake a successful explanation
of the festival catalogues. Even externally they show the greatest
eccentricities, which are not diminished, but increased, on a closer
investigation."

About some points, however, there is no question. The Summer Solstice
is attached in the Edfû calendar to the 6th Pachons, according to
Krall, while the beginning of the flood is noted on the 1st of that
month. In the Esne calendar the 26th Payni is New Year's Day. We
read:--"26th Payni, New Year's Day, Feast of the Revelation of Kahi in
the Temple. To dress the crocodiles, as in the month of Menchir, day
8."

Peculiar to the Esne calendar, according to Krall, is the mentioning
of the "New Years Festival of the Ancestors" on the 9th of Thoth; to
the Edfû calendar, publication No. 1 of Brugsch, the festival "of the
offering of the first of the harvested fruits, after the precept of
King Amenemha I.," on the 1st Epiphi, and "the celebration of the feast
of the Great Conflagration" on the 9th of Menchir. In feast-calendar
No. 1, the reference to the peculiar Feast of Set is also remarkable;
this was celebrated twice, first in the first days of Thoth (? 9th),
then, as it appears, in Pachons (10th). This feast is well known to
have been first mentioned under the old Pharaoh Pepi Merinrā.

It is a question whether in the new year of the ancestors and the
feasts of Set, all occurring about the 9th Thoth and Pachons, we have
not Memphis festivals which gave way to Theban ones; for, so far as I
can make out, the flood takes about nine days to pass from Thebes to
Memphis, so that in Theban time the arrival of the flood at Memphis
would occur on 9th or 10th Thoth. There is no difficulty about the
second dating in Pachons, for, as we have seen, this followed on the
reconstruction of the calendar.

It is also worthy of note that the feast of the "Great Conflagration"
took place very near the Spring Equinox.

Let us dwell for a moment on the Edfû inscriptions to see if we can
learn from them whether or not they bear out the views brought forward
with regard to this reconstruction.

As we have seen, it is now acknowledged that the temple inscriptions at
Edfû (which are stated to have been cut between 117 and 81 B.C.[81])
are based upon the fixed year of Tanis; hence we should expect that the
rising of Sirius would be referred to on 1 Payni, and this is so. But
here, as in the other temples, we get double dates referring to the old
calendars, and we find the "wounding of Set" referred to on the 1st
Epiphi and the rising of Sirius referred to under 1 Mesori. Now this
means, if the old vague year is referred to, as it most probably is,
that

5 Epacts
30 Mesori
──
35 × 4 = 140 years

had elapsed since the beginning of a Sothic cycle, when the calendar
coincidences were determined, which were afterwards inscribed on the
temple walls. We have, then, 140 years to subtract from the beginning
of the cycle in 270 B.C. This gives us 130 B.C., and it will be seen
that this agrees as closely as can be expected with my view, whereas
the inscription has no meaning at all if we take the date given by
Censorinus.

I quote from Krall[82] another inscription common to Edfû and Esne,
which seems to have astronomical significance.

"1. Phamenoth. Festival of the suspension of the sky by Ptah, by the
side of the god Harschaf, the master of Heracleopolis Magna (Al).
Festival of Ptah. Feast of the suspension of the sky (Es).

"Under the 1st Phamenoth, Plutarch, _de Iside et Osiride_, c. 43, b,
notices the ἔμβασις Ὀσίριδος εἰς τὴν σελὴνην. These are festivals
connected with the celebration of the Winter Solstice, and the filling
of the Uza-eye on the 30th Menchir. Perhaps the old year, which
the Egyptians introduced into the Nile valley at the time of their
immigration, and which had only 360 days, commenced with the Winter
Solstice. Thus we should have in the 'festival of the suspension
of the sky,' by the ancient god Ptah--venerated as creator of the
world--a remnant of the time when the Winter Solstice ... marked the
beginning of the year, and also the creation."

The reconstruction of the calendar naturally enhanced the importance of
the month Pachons; this comes out very clearly from the inscriptions
translated by Brugsch. On this point Krall remarks:--

"It is, therefore, quite right that the month Pachons, _which took
the place of the old Thoth by the decree of Tanis_, should play a
prominent part in the feast-calendars of the days of the Ptolemies,
and the first period of the Empire in general, but especially in the
_Edfû_ calendar, which refers to the _Tanitic_ year. The first five
days of Pachons are dedicated in our calendar to the celebration
of the subjection of the enemies by Horus; we at once remember the
above-mentioned (p. 7) record of Edfû of the nature of a mythological
calendar, describing the advent of the Nile flood. On the 6th of
Pachons--remember the great importance of the sixes in the Ptolemæan
records--the solstice is then celebrated. The Uza-eye is then filled,
a mythical act which we have in another place referred to the
celebration of the solstice, and 'everything is performed which is
ordained' in the book 'on the Divine Birth.'"

Next let us turn to Esne. The inscriptions here are stated to be based
on the Alexandrine year, but we not only find 1st Thoth given as New
Year's Day, but 26 Payni given as the beginning of the Nile flood.

Now I have, already stated that the Alexandrine year was practically
a fixing of the vague Tunis year--that is, a year beginning on 1st
Pachons in 239 B.C.

If we assume the date of the calendar coincidences recorded at Esne to
have been 15 B.C. (we know it was after 23 B.C. and at the end of the
Roman dominion), we have as before, seeing that, if the vague Tunis
year had really continued, it would have swept forward with regard to
the Nile flood,

Pachons 30
Payni 26
──
56 × 4 = 224 years after 239 B.C.

This double dating, then, proves the continuation of the vague year of
Tunis if the date 15 B.C. of the inscription is about right.

Can we go further and find a trace of the old cycle beginning 270
B.C.? In this case we should have the rising of Sirius

270
- 15
────
4)255 years
────
64 = say, five Epacts and two months.

This would give us 1 Epiphi. Is this mentioned in the Esne calendar?
Yes, it is, "1 Epiphi. To perform the precepts of the book on the
second divine birth of the child Kahi."

Now the 26th Payni, the new New Year's Day, is associated with the
"revelation of Kahi," so it is not impossible that "the second divine
birth" may have some dim reference to the feast.

It is not necessary to pursue this intricate subject further in this
place; so intricate is it that, although the suggestions I have
ventured to make on astronomical grounds seem consistent with the
available facts, they are suggestions only, and a long labour on the
part of Egyptologists will be needed before we can be said to be on
firm ground.

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE MYTHOLOGY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS.

A long parenthesis has been necessary in order to inquire fully into
the yearly festivals of the Egyptian priests, the relation of the
feasts to the rising of stars, and the difficulties which arose from
the fact that a true year was not in use till quite late.

It is now time to return to the subject-matter of Chapters XIX.-XXII.
in order to show that since the goddesses chiefly worshipped at
Denderah and Thebes were goddesses whose cult was associated with the
year, it is open to us to inquire whether we may not use the facts with
which we are now familiar to obtain a general idea of that part of
mythology which refers to them.

I will begin by taking a certain group of goddesses.

1. _There is evidence that many of the goddesses under discussion
personified stars in exactly the same way that Isis personified Sirius
and Mut_ γ _Draconis._--If we leave Denderah and Thebes for the moment,
and consider the pyramid region of Gîzeh, we find that the temples
there, which are associated with each of the pyramids, are not oriented
to Sirius; but yet they are temples of Isis, pointing due east;
therefore they could not have pointed to the same Isis worshipped at
Denderah, or the same Hathor worshipped at Thebes.

Thus, in the case of the temple of Mut at Thebes, of Isis at Denderah,
and the temples of Isis at the pyramids, and in many towns facing East,
obviously different stars were in question, whatever the mythology
might have been.

[Illustration: BLACK GRANITE STATUE OF SEKHET FROM THE TEMPLE OF MUT AT
THEBES.]

Further, it seems quite certain that the star symbolised as Isis in the
pyramid worship was the star Antares (Serk-t) heralding the autumnal
equinox, and it is probable that the Pleiades (Nit) were so used at the
vernal equinox.

[Illustration:
THE GODDESS TAURT. THE GODDESS SERK-T OR SELK-T.
(_Both with horns and disk._)]

2. _There is evidence that many of the names of these goddesses are
pure synonyms._--That is to say, we have the same goddess (or the same
star) called different names in different places, and associated with
different animal emblems, in consequence of the existence of different
totems in different nomes. I have already referred to the symbolism
of the goddess Mut. In one form she is a hippopotamus; in another
she has a cow's horns and disk. The temple of Hathor at Denderah was
probably associated with the crocodile or the hippopotamus; so that
from the symbolism referred to we get the suggestion that the goddess
Mut was really the Theban form of the goddess Hathor at Denderah.
There is another delineation which shows that even more clearly: it
is a drawing of the goddess with both the lion's and crocodile's
head. One of the most wonderful things to be seen at Thebes is that
marvellous collection of the statues of Sechet in the temple of Mut,
all of them lion-headed. From evidence of this kind in addition to the
temple inscriptions already referred to, we get a clear indication of
the fact that Apet, Mut, Taurt, Sechet, Bast, were the same goddess
under different names, and I may add that they, in all probability,
symbolised the star γ Draconis.

[Illustration: NIT. NIT (ANOTHER FORM). BAST.]

3. _All these goddesses have a special symbol._--Hathor wears the cow's
head and the horns with the disk. Taurt, the hippopotamus-goddess,
is also represented with horns and disk. The horns and disk are also
worn by Serk-t, Sati and Rā-t, the wife of the sun-god Rā; many other
goddesses might be added to this list. Indeed, it looks as if all the
goddesses who are stated to be variants either of Isis or Hathor have
this same symbol.

This generic symbolism suggests that the names Isis and Hathor are
themselves generalisations, meaning an accompaniment of sunrise,
whether that light be the dawn, or an heliacally-rising star, or even
the moon. The generic symbol is the sun's disk and horns, which, I
think, may not impossibly be a poetic development of the sign for
sunrise. Isis and Hathor are two different ways of defining or thinking
about a rising star--that is, a star heralding the sunrise, for such
were the rising stars _par excellence_.

[Illustration: ANUQA. SATI.]

All the goddesses so symbolised are either different forms of Isis
or Hathor, or represent goddesses who personify or bring before us
mythologically stars the rising of which was observed at the dawn at
some time of the year or another.

But it must be added that these goddesses are not always represented
with this head-gear, possibly because they had other functions besides
their astronomical one.

The extent of this variation may be gathered from the two forms of
Neith or Nit given on page 290.

[Illustration: ISIS NURSING HORUS. (The last form is Serk-t-Isis, the
scorpion goddess.)]

4. _Many of the goddesses are represented as Isis nursing Horus._--It
is very important not to forget that stars were chiefly observed rising
in the dawn, and that mythologically such an event was represented by
the Egyptians as Isis (the rising star-goddess) nursing Horus (the
rising sun-god). The sun was supposed to be a youth in the morning, to
be very young therefore at the moment of rising, and the goddess Isis
was supposed to be then nursing him. Many of the goddesses are thus
portrayed. I may mention Renen-t, Serk-t, Rā-t, Amen-t, as instances.
Thus I hold that we get in this series of goddesses the statement, put
mythologically, that certain stars to which the goddesses were sacred
rose heliacally at some time of the year or another. Of course the
record is far from complete, and probably it will become more complete
when inquiries are made from this point of view. The original symbolism
is that Isis or Hathor is a star rising in the dawn, watching over the
sun or taking him from his cradle; and the young Horus, the rising sun,
is, of course, the son of Isis. The emblem of the mother and child is
thus shown to have been in established use for the expression of high
religious thought at least 5000 years ago.

These and other facts may be brought together in a tabular form, to
show what apparently the complete mythology of Isis meant.

ISIS = ANYTHING LUMINOUS TO THE EASTWARD HERALDING SUNRISE.

DAWN. MOON. γ DRACONIS. ANTARES. α COLUMBÆ.
(3000 B.C.) (3700 B.C.) (Before 3000 B.C.)

Isis Isis Isis Serk-t Teχi
Hathor (hawk and (N. Egypt) Amen-t
hippopotamus)
Mut (vulture)
Sechet } Lion or α Centauri
Bast } cat 3700 B.C.
Menkh (S. Egypt)
Tafnet
Apet
Nebun

SIRIUS. DOUBTFUL.
(After 3000 B.C.) (Probably late.)
Isis Anuqa
Hathor (cow) Hak }
Rā-t Haka }
Hak-t }
Hequet}
Maloul

It will be seen that in the case of Isis we are not dealing merely with
a rising star, while, so far as I know, Hathor is limited to stars.

If we accept the general statement regarding Isis, namely, that it was
a term applied to anything appearing to the eastward and heralding
sunrise, many of our difficulties at once disappear. The Isis of the
pyramid-temples and of the smaller temple of Denderah symbolised
different celestial bodies, though they served the same purpose.
The Hathor of the greater temple of Denderah, and the Hathor of Dêr
el-Bahari, symbolised different celestial bodies, but their function
was the same. On the other hand, the Hathor of Denderah and the Mut
of Thebes were neither different divinities, nor did they personify
different stars; they were simply local names of γ Draconis.

We are thus enabled to understand the doubling of the symbolism in the
case of Hathor. The hippopotamus and the cow generically are dealt with
as rising stars; specifically we deal with γ Draconis in one case, and
Sirius in the other.

The evidence goes to show that these two stars were those to the
risings of which very great importance was attached, but they did not
stand alone. We get another form of Isis (referring, it is possible,
to the star α Columbæ, before even Sirius was used), so that we have a
northern star and a southern star observed at the same time--the two
eyes of Rā. Idle other goddesses which have not yet been worked out
probably refer to one or other of these stars, or to others which lie
more to the south. These are represented rather in the temples above
the first cataract than in those below. This fact will be enlarged upon
in the sequel.

The study of orientation, then, combined with mythology, supplies us
with other rising stars besides Sirius, and, indeed, although the
date given by Riot for the first heliacal rising of Sirius at the
solstice--3285 B.C.--seems a very remote one, it is practically certain
that α Columbæ was previously used, because before that time it was
conveniently situated to give warning of the sunrise at the Summer
solstice, as Sirius was subsequently. The worship would be kept up
after the utility had gone.

Dümichen's view with regard to the local cult of Hathor and its
astronomical origin is not very different from mine. He writes:--

"Der Cult der Göttin Hathor geht in die ältesten Zeiten der
ägyptischen Geschichte zurück. Schon die Pyramideninschriften erwälmen
eine Heliopolitische Hathor und Priester und Priesterinnen dieser
Göttin werden in denselben Grabkapellen nicht selten genannt. Die
Hathor war keine speciell lokalisirte Gottheit, sondern eine allgemein
in sämmtlichen Tempeln Aegyptens verehrte Form eines Cultes, dessen
Urgedanke, im weitesten Sinne, die Auffassung des weiblichen Principes
gegenuber dem männlichen Principe der Gottheit war. In dieser
Auffassung erscheint sie geradezu identisch mit der Isis, weshalb auch
beiden Göttinnen die Kuh das geheiligte Thier war. Da in jeder Stadt,
vor allen aber in jeder Nomos-Hauptstadt eine Hathor als Schutzgöttin
des betreffenden Ortes aufgeführt wird, so ist es erklärlich, dass
die lokalen Formen dieser Göttin in den Inschriften der Tempel in
grösster Anzahl aufgeführt werden. Im Tempel von Edfu werden Beispiels
halber an der Decke des Pronaos über 300 Namen der Göttin mit ihren
lokalen Beziehungen hergezählt mit besonderer Bevorzugung derjenigen
lokalen Formen, welche in den einzelnen Nomos-Hauptstädten sich eines
hervorragenden Cultes erfreuten. Die letzteren berühren vorzüglich
eine Sieben-Zahl von Hathoren, welche als die grossen bezeichnet
werden und von denen fast in allen grösseren Tempeln Listen an den
Wänden zu lesen sind.

"In der älteren Zeit bezeichnet Hathor einen kosmischen Urbegriff.
Schon ihr Name verräth aufs Deutlichste die kosmogonische Wurzel. Ha.
t. hor wörtlich übersetzt "Wolnung des Horus--Behausung Gottes" d. i.
die Welt, die Darstellung Gottes in der sichtbaren Welt, die Natur, in
welcher die Gottheit wirksam ist."[83]

Before I pass on, it will, I think, be well to point out that the
argument I have used to show that Isis was really a generic name is
enforced when we consider the allied points relating to Osiris.

It is quite clear that some of the gods symbolised setting stars. We
already know that the setting sun became Osiris, Atmu, or Tmu, and,
whatever the names, they were all represented as mummies. But the sun
was not the only body that was symbolised as Osiris; the moon and stars
were at times symbolised in the same way. We may, indeed, venture to
make the following generalised statement:--

OSIRIS = ANY CELESTIAL BODY BECOMING INVISIBLE.

SUN MOON PLANET STARS BODIES PALING AT DAWN.
SETTING. WANING. SETTING. SETTING. Stars. Planets.

Osiris Osiris Venus Khons-Osiris Sah-Osiris Venus
as Osiris Ptah-Osiris Star of Osiris
Min-Osiris

It will be observed with what fulness the antithesis of Isis is
indicated.

I have already pointed out that the possible temple of Osiris at the
pyramids points to the westward, but our special reference now is to
stars. When we come to look for this mummy-symbolism among the gods
other than sun-gods (it is entirely and remarkably absent among the
goddesses), we find Khons, Ptah, and Khem pictured as mummies; that
is, they become a sort of Osiris. Supposing that these gods were
worshipped, there would probably be temples dedicated to them; still,
the absence of such temples would not be decisive, since they might
have been destroyed. However, very fortunately for this inquiry, there
are two temples still extant at Thebes, known as the temples of Khons
and Ptah. If there is anything, then, in the idea that there must
be some relation with the western horizon in the case of these gods
represented as mummies, these temples should point to the west. _They
do point to the west._

Very fortunately, also, these temples have a pretty good history: that
is, one knows, within some hundreds of years at all events, when they
were founded. Therefore, by help of those astronomical methods to which
I have previously referred, it is not difficult to get at the stars.
They turn out to be a southern star--Canopus--in the case of the temple
of Khons, and Capella in the case of the temple of Ptah. Now, there
is another very important temple at Thebes, it is a temple without a
name, at right angles to the temple of Mut. This also points to the
west. Although the evidence is not complete, it clearly suggests that
this temple was dedicated to the god Min or Khem, and was oriented
to the star Spica; so that at Thebes alone it looks as if the three
gods represented by mummies--different stellar forms of Osiris--Khons,
Ptah and Min, have all been run to earth in the three stars Canopus,
Capella, and Spica.

_Provisionally, we way hazard the assertion that the mummy form marks
a setting star, as the horns and disk mark a rising one. We get the
antithesis between Osiris and Isis._

[Illustration: ISIS, OSIRIS AND HORUS.]

We gather, then, that the wonderful old-world myth of Isis and Osiris
is astronomical from beginning to end, although Osiris in this case is
not the sun, but the moon. But I have not yet finished with the mummy
form; the waning moon is also Osiris. It is supposed to be dying from
the time of full moon to new moon. The Egyptians in their mythology
were nothing if not consistent; the moon was called Osiris from the
moment it began to wane, as the sun was Osiris so soon as it began to
set. A constellation paling at sunrise was also Osiris.

[Illustration: A "CHANGE OF CULT" AT LUXOR.]

I have previously noted the symbolism of Sirius-Hathor as a cow in
a boat associated with the constellation of Orion. There is a point
connected with this which I did not then refer to, but which is of
extreme importance for a complete discussion of the question now
occupying us. We get associated with the cow in the boat, Orion (Sah)
as Horus, but in other inscriptions we get Orion as a mummy--that is
to say, in the course of Egyptian history the same constellation is
symbolised as a rising sun at one time and a setting sun at another.
Now, that must have been so if the Egyptian mythology were consistent
and rested on an astronomical basis, because Sah rose in the dawn
in one case and faded at dawn in the other. From the table giving a
generalised statement with regard to Osiris, similar to that we have
already considered for Isis, it looks as if the mythology connected
with Osiris is simply the mythology connected with any celestial
body becoming invisible. We have the sun setting, the moon waning, a
planet setting, stars setting, constellations fading at dawn. We see,
therefore, that the Egyptian mythology was absolutely and completely
consistent with the astronomical conditions by which they were
surrounded; that, although it is wonderfully poetical, in no case is
the poetry allowed to interfere with the strictest and most accurate
reference to the astronomical phenomena which had to be dealt with.

The argument, then, for the use of Isis as a generic name is greatly
strengthened by the similar way in which the term Osiris, which is
acknowledged to be a generic name, is employed.

Now to return to Denderah in the light of the preceding discussion.
A curious and interesting thing is that we find that the temple of
_Isis_, which is very much ruined, does not contain emblems of the
Sirius worship; but that all these appear in the temple of _Hathor_,
which, of course, pointing as it does to the north-east, could never
have received any light from a star south of the equator. There has
been a change of cult.

On the other hand, the temple of Isis presents so many emblems thought
to relate to the worship connected with γ Draconis, to which the temple
of Hathor was in all probability directed, that it was named the
Typhoneum by the French Commission.

There has been an apparent change of _rôle_ and cult, due either to the
fact that in time the observation of the rising of Sirius superseded
that of the rising of γ Draconis, or that the worship of Set was
replaced.

With regard to this change of cult, we moderns should have no
difficulty. We go to Constantinople and see Mahommedans worshipping
in St. Sophia; we go to Greece or Sicily and find Christian worship
in many of the old temples. Thus the change of cult in Egypt, which
I claim to have demonstrated on astronomical grounds at Denderah,
is a thing with which we are perfectly familiar nowadays. The great
point, however, is that in Egypt the change of cult might depend upon
astronomical change--upon the precession of the equinoxes, as well as
upon different schools of religious or astronomical thought. We gather
from this an idea of the wonderfully continuous observations which were
made by the Egyptians of the risings and settings of stars, because,
if the work had not been absolutely continuous, they would certainly
never have got the very sharp idea of the facts of precession which
they undoubtedly possessed; and it is also, I think, pretty clear
that future astronomical study will enable us to write the history of
those changes which are now hidden by that tremendous mythological
difficulty, which has not yet been faced. That, of course, is not the
only difficulty, because the question is clouded by the absence of
authentic dates and the perpetual reference to the past which is met
with in all the monuments. The Egyptians were much more anxious to
bring back to knowledge what happened 1000 years before than to give an
idea of the current history of the country.

We have, then, at length arrived at a possible explanation of the
difficulties acknowledged in regard to the temples of Denderah in
Chapters XIX. and XX.

It is, briefly, that at some epoch observations of the star Sirius
replaced, or were added to, those made of γ Draconis. Mythologically, a
new Isis would be born.

This point will be referred to later; one of the longest-lasting
astro-theological strifes in Egypt was the fight for supremacy between
the priests of Amen and the priests of Set. At Denderah the former were
ultimately victorious, and hence the change of cult.

This suggestion is based on the following considerations:--

(1) While the Denderah Hathor was represented by the disk and horns
on a hippopotamus, at Thebes (the city of the "Bull" Amen) Hathor is
represented by a cow with a like head-dress.

(2) Isis, represented originally as a goddess with the two feathers of
Amen, standing in a boat, is now changed to a cow with the disk and
horns.

(3) Hathor was the "cow of the western hills" of Thebes. It is in these
hills that the temple Dêr el-Bahari lies; and this temple, if oriented
originally to Sirius, would have been founded about 8000 B.C., when
Sirius at rising would have an amplitude of 20° S. of E.

(4) A temple was built or restored later at Denderah, and Sirius with
the cow's horns and disk became the great goddess there; and when
her supremacy all over Egypt became undoubted, her birthplace was
declared--at Denderah--to have been Denderah.[84]

(5) In the month-list at the Ramesseum the first month is dedicated to
Sirius, the third to Hathor. This is not, however, a final argument,
because _local_ cults may have been in question.

(6) "Set" seems to have been a generic name applied to the northern
(? circumpolar) constellations, perhaps because _Set_ = darkness, and
these stars, being _always visible_ in the night, may have in time
typified it. Taurt, the hippopotamus, was the wife of Set. The Thigh
was the thigh of Set, etc. γ Draconis was associated therefore with
Set, and the symbolism for Set-Hathor was the hippopotamus with horns
and disk. Now if, as is suggested, Sirius replaced γ Draconis, and the
cow replaced the hippopotamus, the cult of Set might be expected to
have declined; and as a matter of fact the decline of the worship of
Set, which was generally paramount under the earlier dynasties, and
even the obliteration of the emblems on the monuments, are among the
best-marked cases of the kind found in the inscriptions.

(7) The _Isis_ temple of Denderah was certainly oriented to Sirius; the
_Hathor_ temple was as certainly _not_ so oriented. And yet, in the
restorations in later times (say, Thothmes III.--Ptolemies), the cult
has been made Sirian, and the references are to the star which rises at
the rising of the Nile.

So far, then, mythology is with me; but there is a difficulty.
According to the orientation theory, the cult must follow the star;
this must be held to as far as possible. But suppose the processional
movement causes the initial function of a star to become inoperative,
must not the cult--which, as we assume, had chiefly to do with the
heralding of sunrise at one time of the year or other--change? And if
the same cult is conducted in connection with another star, will not
the old name probably be retained?

I do not see why the Egyptians should have hesitated to continue the
same cult under a different star when they apparently quite naturally
changed Orion from a form of Osiris (Sah-Osiris) and a mummy (as he
was represented when the light of his stars was quenched at dawn at
the rising of Sirius) to that of Sah-Horus (when in later times the
constellation itself rose heliacally).

And, moreover, the antagonism of rival priesthoods has to be
considered. It is extremely probable that the change of a Set temple at
Denderah into a Theban Hathor-temple was only one example of a system
generally adopted, at least in later times.

CHAPTER XXX.

THE TEMPLE-STARS.

The two preceding chapters should have suggested that if there be any
truth in the astronomical and mythological views therein put forth,
there should be other stars to deal with besides Sirius and γ Draconis,
and other temples besides those at Annu, Denderah and Thebes which have
to be studied.

This is so, and I now propose to give a general account of the
conclusions so far arrived at, but I must _in limine_ state that the
account must be a brief one and more suggestive than final, for the
reason that the lack of accurate local data stops the way.

In an inquiry of this kind it is well to work slowly out from the
known. The facts which have been given will, I think, cause it to be
generally agreed that in the temple of Isis at Denderah we have a
structure which the inscriptions, as well as astronomical inquiry, show
was certainly a temple oriented to Sirius. The other fact that New
Year's Day in the Nile valley was determined for thousands of years by
the heliacal rising of that star, is among the most familiar in the
domain of Egyptology.

Obviously, then, the first inquiry must refer to the possible existence
of other Sirian temples.

From 3285 B.C., when Sirius rose heliacally at the solstice, its
declination has varied from 24° S. to 16½° S. in 500 B.C. The
corresponding amplitudes for Thebes being 26½° and 18° S. of E.

Between these amplitudes we find the following temples:--

SIRIUS.

──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ see
(Temple O) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │below
(Gr.) │ 26°½ │ 24° │ 3300 │ 23½°│=3150=│ 23° │ 3050 │ 1
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
=Dêr el-Bahari= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 24½° │ 22¼ │ 2850 │ 21¾°│=2700=│ 21¼ │ 2575 │
=Dosche= │ 21½° │ 20¼ │ 2225 │ 19¾°│=2050=│ 19½°│ 2000 │
=Karnak= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple D) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 21½° │ 19½°│ 2000 │ 19° │=1800=│ 18½°│ 1600 │
=Naga= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple G) │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 19° │ 18¼ │ 1500 │ 18° │=1400=│ 17¾°│ 1250 │
=Philæ= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(Ethiopian Temple)│ 19½° │ 18° │ 1400 │ 17½°│ 1100 │ 17°│ =800=│ 2
=Denderah= │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
(N.W. Temple) │ 18½° │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remarks 1
This may have been a solar temple, as its amplitude is nearly equal to
that of the sun at the winter solstice.
Remarks 2
Hills high. at least 2°
Remarks 3
Hills very low.

It is quite clear that we must not look for Sirian temples before 3200
B.C., because the heliacal rising of Sirius at Thebes before that time
did not take place near the solstice. The above table shows that the
earliest Sirian temple really dates from about 3000 B.C.[85]

But what star did Sirius replace? An inspection of a precessional globe
shows at once that the star which rose heliacally at the solstice
before Sirius was α Columbæ (Phact). Its declination has varied from
57° S. at 5000 B.C. to 37° S. at 0.

We have the following temples which might have been oriented to this
star; and here I must repeat that once a star has been symbolised as a
god or a goddess on account of its astronomical utility, the cult would
be continued after the utility had ceased--that is, in this case, after
Sirius had replaced Phact astronomically.

PHACT.

──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Memnonia= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Western Temple) │ 58½° │ 50½°│ 3750 │ 49¾°│=3700=│ 49° │ 3550 │ 1.
=Barkal= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple B) │ 53½° │ 50° │ 3250 │ 49¼ │=3600=│ 48¾°│ 3500 │
=Karnak V= │ 56½° │ 49° │ 3550 │ 48¼ │=3400=│ 47½°│ 3250 │
=Abu Simbel= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Hathor Temple) │ 54° │ 48¾°│ 3500 │ 48° │ 3350 │ 47½°│=3250=│ 2.
=Dêr el-Medinet= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 54½° │ 47½°│ 3250 │ 46¾°│=3050=│ 46° │ 2900 │
=Saboa= │ 51¼ │ 46° │ 2900 │ 45½°│=2750=│ 45° │ 2650 │
=Karnak= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temple J) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 51½° │ 45¼ │ 2700 │ 44½°│ 2525 │ 43¾°│ 2300 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Small J J) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 51½ │ 45¼ │ 2700 │ 44½°│=2525=│ 43¾°│ 2300 │
=Barkal= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Temples J and H) │ 47½° │ 44½°│ 2525 │ 44° │=2400=│ 43½°│ 2250 │
=Surarieh= │ 51° │ 43½°│ 2250 │ 42¾°│=2050=│ 42° │ 1850 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Palace K K) │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Gr.) │ 46½° │ 40¾°│ 1500 │ 40° │=1250=│ 39½°│ 1050 │
=Medînet Habû= │ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
(Ethiopian Temple)│ 45° │ 40° │ 1250 │ 39° │ =900=│ 38½°│ =500=│ 3.
│ │ | │ │ │ │ │ │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────
Remarks 1
Hills low.
Remarks 2
Hills nearly 2° high.
Remarks 3
The hills may be taken as a little over 1° high.

The temple of Hathor at Abu Simbel, embellished by Rameses II., was in
all probability a shrine dedicated to Amen-t-Hathor about 3200 B.C.
Amen-t seems to have been an Ethiopian goddess, for we hear nothing of
her at Heliopolis or Memphis.

It follows that if this be so, Sirius succeeded to α Columbæ precisely
as γ Draconis succeeded to Dubhe; but temples could still be dedicated
to the old Hathor α Columbæ, while this was not possible for Dubhe,
because it became circumpolar and never rose.

[Illustration: CURVES SHOWING THE DECLINATIONS OF SOME OF THE STARS
USED BY THE EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMERS AT DIFFERENT EPOCHS.]

It may also be pointed out that the temple V of Lepsius at Karnak finds
its place in a series by supposing it to have been oriented to the S.E.
instead of the N.W. as shown in Lepsius' maps. Such a mistake might
easily have arisen in consequence of its ruined condition. It may be
stated in favour of my view that I am acquainted with no temple in
Egypt directed between the amplitudes 35° and 90° N. of W.

But so far we have dealt only with the summer solstice, and yet in
Egypt there were people who lived in towns with E. and W. walls who, I
take it, must have had a worship depending upon the equinoxes.

About 3500 B.C., Antares (α Scorpii) rose heliacally at the autumnal
equinox as α Columbæ did, as we have seen, at the summer solstice.
There is not much doubt, from the symbol of Serk-t that this goddess
represented a star in the Scorpion. Further, at that date its rising
took place due east, so any E. and W. temple--and many existed in
_Lower_ Egypt--might have been then used for observations of this star.

But about the same time the southern star, α Centauri, could have been
used to herald the sunrise at the autumnal equinox.

α CENTAURI.

──────────────────┬──────┬────────────┬────────────┬────────────┬─────
│ │ Sea │ Hills 1° │ Hills 2° │
│ Amp. │ Horizon. │ High. │ High. │
Place and Temple. ├──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┼─────┬──────┤ Re-
│ S. │Dec. │Years.│ Dec.│Years.│ Dec.│Years.│marks.
│ of E.│ S. │ │ S.│ │ S. │ │
──────────────────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼─────┼──────┼──────
=Barkal E= │ 33½° │ 31¾°│ 3825 │ 31¼ │=3700=│ 30¾°│ 3800 │
=Kûrnah= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Seti I.) │ 35½° │ 31¾°│ 3625 │ 31¼ │=3700=│ 30¾°│ 3800 │Hills
=Kûrnah= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Palace) │ 36° │ 32¼ │ 3500 │ 31¾°│=3625=│ 31° │ 3750 │Hills
=Wady Halfa= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Thothmes II.) │ 38¾° │ 35¾°│ 2900 │ 35¼ │=3000=│ 34¾°│ 3075 │
=Barkal L= │ 38° │ 36° │ 2850 │ 35½°│=2950=│ 35° │ 3030 │
=Wady Halfa= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Thothmes III.) │ 40° │ 36¾°│ 2725 │ 36¼ │=2800=│ 35¾°│ 2900 │
=Wady E. Sofra= │ 38½° │ 37° │ 2675 │ 36¾°│=2700=│ 36¼ │ 2800 │
=Memnonia= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
Rameses II. │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │
(Mean of Fr. & Gr.)│ 43° │ 38¼ │ 2475 │ 37½°│=2600=│ 37° │ 270 │Hills
=Kom Ombo= │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ low.
(Little Temple) │ 43½° │ 39° │ 2375 │ 38½°│=2450=│ 37¾°│ 2575 │
──────────────────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────┴──────┴─────

It would appear that several temples were directed to this star in
_Upper_ Egypt from 3700 B.C. onward. The series of them is shown in the
preceding table.

For the vernal equinox, so far, I have found no temples besides those
directed due E. in which the rising of the Pleiades may have been
watched. It is more than probable that the worship of the sacred bull
by the Memphitic inhabitants of Egypt may have been connected with
this constellation. Certainly in pyramid times Neith and Serk-t were
both worshipped, and the goddesses under whose protection the Canopic
vases were supposed to be--Isis, Nephthys, Neith, and Serk-t--may have
symbolised the two solstices and the two equinoxes.

We may next consider the complete series of N.E. temples represented
at Heliopolis, Denderah and Thebes. These we must, as I have shown in
Chapter XX., divide into two series, dealing with α Ursæ Majoris before
it became circumpolar, and γ Draconis afterwards.

I have already (p. 208) stated that α Lyræ may possibly have preceded
both α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis as a representative of Set, but no
table is necessary.

The first series, dealing with α Ursæ Majoris, is as follows:--

α URSÆ MAJORIS.

The second series, dealing with γ Draconis, is naturally much fuller.

γ DRACONIS.

The table brings before us the remarkable fact that at Redesieh and
Denderah, which both lie on the two old roads from the Red Sea into
Upper Egypt, we have the first traces of the worship of Set: in other
words, of observations during the night in that region, as we found it
at Annu.

As α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis were observed in the extreme north, so
several stars appear to have been observed near the south point, among
them Canopus (α Argûs), towards which star the temples shown in the
following table seem to have been directed, among them the well-known
temple of Khons at Karnak, so that provisionally we may take that
divinity as a personification of the star. Granting this, it will be
noted that the introduction of this cult into Thebes was late; this is
quite in harmony with the statements of Egyptologists, who point out
that this god has the side-lock, indicating youth, and that he was the
latest addition to the Theban Triad.

In later times the curve of declination of this star is so flat that
most accurate measures are required.

CANOPUS.

When we attempt to trace the _most_ southerly stars to which temples
were erected in Upper Egypt, we find a series of temples which are very
remarkable in several respects from the orientation point of view.
Their amplitudes are all above 74°, one being as high as 86½.° They
all face South of _West_, and when their latitudes are taken into
account, the very striking thing comes out that the declination of the
star observed was very nearly the same--that is, that probably _all the
temples were founded at about the same time to observe the same star_.

The facts are as follows:--

Temple. Amplitude S. of W. Declination S.
=Edfû= 86½° 64¾° Hills 1° high.
=Philæ Y= 76½° 64° Hills 2° high.
=Semneh= 76½° 64¾° }
=Amada= 74½° 64¾° }Local conditions not known.

With regard to the Philæ temple, the amplitude is uncertain, as the
measures do not agree; but if we reject Philæ the other coincidences
are too remarkable to be neglected.

It is to be hoped that a complete survey of the island will soon be
undertaken.

Now, I cannot find any important stars to fit this declination since
7000 B.C. except Canopus and Phact, and the latter is barred because it
was used as a _rising star_, and indeed was the first solstitial Isis.

If we inquire into the conditions relative to Canopus, we find
that star had the declination of 64° about 6400 B.C., and that, as
determined by the processional globe, it then set heliacally at the
autumnal equinox.

If we assume that Canopus is in question, the break between the dates
6400 B.C. and 2150 B.C. has to be explained. There may have been
temples at Thebes now destroyed. There seems no doubt that the temple
at Philæ, lettered Y by the French and L in Baedeker's Handbook, was
the most ancient one on the island, and that the cult was similar to
that at Edfû.[87]

It will be most interesting to see whether the suggestion that Canopus
was observed in early times at Philæ and Edfû especially, be confirmed.

It is clear that for these and other southern temples an examination of
the local conditions and a determination of the places of the southern
stars are necessary before the other southern gods and goddesses can be
worked out.

We next come to the N.W. quadrant. Here, apparently, we have only to
deal with Capella and Spica. Summarising the information detailed in
a previous chapter, we find the following temples probably erected to
these stars:--

CAPELLA.

SPICA.

The temples oriented to Capella and Spica are discussed in the next
chapter.

The information given in the present chapter may be completed by a
table showing the warning stars available for heralding sunrise about
the times when the orientations suggest that the various temples were
originally founded.

To prepare this table I have used the precessional globe previously
referred to. The results are therefore rough, as the ecliptic has
been taken as fixed; but they are useful for the purpose of a
reconnaissance. The table shows the stars on the horizon, or near it,
at the equinoxes and solstices when the sun was 10° below the horizon.
When the star was not exactly on the horizon when the sun was 10°
below, its position above or below at that moment is indicated in
the table by giving the number of degrees the star was above (+) the
horizon or below it (-) at the time.

The dates taken are those most conveniently given by the globe, being
those in fact occupied by the pole of the equator at some one or other
of twenty-four equidistant points on a circle round the pole of the
ecliptic starting from 1880 A.D. as zero.

It will be seen that all the stars referred to in the preceding tables
occupied positions of great importance between 6000 B.C. and 2500 B.C.,
and that there are several southern stars indicated which eventually
may be useful in the discussion of the southern temples.

TABLE OF HELIACAL RISINGS AND SETTINGS.

──────┬────────────────────────┬──────────────────────
Date │ Spring Equinox. │ Summer Solstice.
B.C. ├───────────┬────────────┼───────────┬─────────
│ Rising. │ Setting. │ Rising. │ Setting.
──────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┼───────────
5675 │ │ │ Phact │
│ │ │ │
4600 │ Aldebaran │ │ Phact │
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
3525 │α Phenicis│ Antares │ Phact │
│ │ + 2 │ │
│ Pleiades │ │ │
│ + 3 │ │ │
[3200]│ │ │ Sirius │
2450 │ │ α Pavonis │ Sirius │ Altair
│ │ │ + 3 │
──────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┴─────────────
──────┬────────────────────────┬──────────────────────
Date │ Autumnal Equinox. │ Winter Solstice.
├───────────┬────────────┼───────────┬─────────
B.C. │ Rising. │ Setting. │ Rising. │ Setting.
──────┼───────────┼────────────┼───────────┼───────────
5675 │ Vega. │ Canopus │α Phenicis │ β Muscæ
│ - 1 │ │ │
4600 │γ Draconis │ Capella │ │
│α Trianguli│ Canopus │ │
│ │ + 3 │ │
3525 │ Antares │ Aldebaran │ │
│ - 1 │ + 2 │ │
│α Centauri │ │ │
│ + 3½ │ │ │
│ │ │ │
2450 │β Argus │ │ │
│ + 3 │ │ │
──────┴───────────┴────────────┴───────────┴─────────────

The real precedence of Capella and Spica in temple-building is not
shown in the above table, because these stars were not used either at
the solstices or the equinoxes.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE HISTORY OF SUN-WORSHIP AT ANNU AND THEBES.

Now that we have been able to discuss with more or less fulness the
stars--very few in number--to which the temples in both Upper and
Lower Egypt were probably oriented, and further, the astronomical
requirements which they were intended to fulfil, we are in a position
to consider several questions of great interest in relation to the
earliest observations of the sun and stars.

One of the first among these questions is whether the complete inquiry
throws any light upon the suggestion made on page 85, that in different
temples we seem to be dealing with at least two different kinds of
astronomical thought and methods; as if, indeed, we were in presence of
ideas so differently based that the assumption of different races of
men, rather than different astronomical and religious ideas, is almost
necessary to account for them.

Let us begin with the apparent result of the inquiry into sun-worship
as practised at Annu and Thebes.

It was suggested that, although in the matter of simple worship the sun
would come before the stars, in _temple_-worship the conditions would
be reversed in consequence of the stable rising-and setting-places of
the latter as compared with those of the sun at different times of the
year.

Another suggestion was hazarded that sun temple-worship might have been
an accidental result of the sunlight entering a temple which had really
been built to observe a star; and that such temple sun-worship might
possibly have preceded the time at which the solstices and equinoxes,
and their importance, had been made out. I think it is possible to
show that this really happened, and we owe the demonstration of this
important fact to the Egyptian habit of having two associated temples
at right angles to each other, because this habit justifies the
assumption that at Annu the mounds and single obelisk which now remain
not only indicate the certain existence in former times of one temple,
but, in all probability, of two at right angles to each other.

The next question we have to consider is whether the researches at Annu
bear this surmise out. Let me refer to what has already been stated.
As I have shown in Chapter VIII. (p. 77), the north and south faces
bear 13° north of west--13° south of east. I have elsewhere shown
(Chap. XXI., p. 215) that there is good reason for believing that the
original foundation of the temple at Annu dates from the time when the
north-pointing member of such a double system was directed to α Ursæ
Majoris. This was somewhat earlier than 5000 B.C.

Bearing in mind the facts obtained with regard to other similar
rectangular systems, we are led to inquire whether at that date a
temple oriented to declination 11° north, that is the declination
proper to the amplitude of the member looking west, was directed to any
star.

We find that the important star Capella was in question.

Now, so far in my references to stars, little mention has been made
of Capella. It is obvious that the first thing to be done on the
orientation hypothesis is to see whether any other temple--and if of
known cult, so much the better--is found oriented to Capella. There is
one such temple; it was erected by Thothmes III. (Time of Thothmes,
1600 B.C. Amplitude of temple, 35° west of north = with hills 3° high,
32½° north declination; Capella 33° north declination about 1700
B.C.) It is the temple of _Ptah_ at Karnak.

And now it appears there is another. During the year 1892 the officers
of the Museum of Gîzeh, under the direction of M. de Morgan, excavated
a temple at Memphis to the north of the hut containing the recumbent
statue of Rameses, and during their work they found two magnificent
statues of Ptah, "les plus remarquables statues divines qu'on ait
encore trouvées en Égypte,"[88] and a colossal model in rose granite of
the sacred boat of Ptah.

These discoveries have led the officers in question to the conclusion
that the building among the ruins of which these priceless treasures
have been found is veritably the world-renowned temple of Ptah of
Memphis. It may, therefore, be accepted as such for the purpose
of the present inquiry, although it is difficult to reconcile its
_emplacement_ in relation to the statues with the accounts given by the
Arab historians.

In January, 1893, Captain Lyons, R.E., was good enough to accompany me
to determine the orientation of the newly uncovered temple walls. We
had already, two years previously, carefully measured the bearings of
the statues of Rameses. We found the temple in all probability facing
westwards, and not eastwards; this we determined by a seated statue
facing westwards; and we concluded its orientation, assuming a magnetic
variation of 4½° west, to be 12¾° north of west, and the hills in
front of it, assuming the village of Mît-Rahîneh non-existent, to be
50′ high.

Here, then, we get reproduced almost absolutely the conditions of the
obelisk at Heliopolis in a Ptah temple oriented to Capella 5200 B.C.

We are driven, then, to the conclusion that the star Capella is
personified by _Ptah_, and that as Capella was worshipped setting, Ptah
is represented as a mummy. If this be so, we must also accept another
conclusion: the temples both at Annu and Memphis were dedicated to Ptah.

About 5300 B.C. we seem almost in the time of the divine dynasties, and
begin to understand how it is that in the old traditions Ptah precedes
Rā and is called "the father of the beginnings, and the creator of the
egg of the Sun and Moon."[89]

We are driven to the conclusion that this worship at Annu and Memphis
was the worship of the sun's disc when setting, at the time of the year
heralded by Capella, when it had the declination of 10° north. The
dates on which the sun had this declination were, as already stated,
about April 18 and August 24 of our Gregorian year. The former, in
Egypt, dominated by the Nile, was about the time of the associated
spring and harvest festivals.

So much for the Ptah mummy form of the Sun-God, to which the _Theban_
priests erected no important temples. There was still another mummy
form of the Sun-God, the worship of which existed at Thebes, but which
they did their best to abolish by the intensification of the worship of
Amen-Rā.

At Thebes, as we have seen, the temple of Mut is associated with one at
right angles to it, facing north-west. The amplitudes are 72½° north
of east and 17½° north of west. I have shown that the temple of Mut
would allow γ Draconis to be seen along its axis about 3200 B.C. _I
now state that_ Spica _would be seen along the axis of the rectangular
temple at the same time_.

The cult in this temple-system there can be no doubt, I think, was the
worship of Min, otherwise read Amsu, or Khem in ithyphallic mummy form.
This was associated possibly with a harvest-home festival on May 1.
(Amplitude of temple, 17½° north of west = declination 15° = sun's
N. declination on May 1.)

Both at Annu and Thebes, therefore, before the temple of Amen-Rā at the
latter place became of importance, the sun was worshipped in a temple
pointed neither to a solstice nor to an equinox.

It seems, then, that the suggestion that _possibly_ sun-worship existed
before any great development of the solstitial solar worship is amply
justified.

We have next to consider what had taken place at Thebes, so far as
we can trace it on the orientation hypothesis after 3200 B.C., when
apparently the Spica temple and the associated Mut temple were founded.

To do this it is important to study the masterly essay by M. Virey,
entitled "Notices Générales," on the discoveries made at Dêr el-Bahari
by MM. Maspero and Grébaut, which is to be found in the new edition of
the Gîzeh Catalogue.[90] M. Virey makes us acquainted with the politics
of the Theban priests, or rather of the confraternity of Amen which
they had founded.

From his account of the confraternity and of the various attempts made
by it to acquire political power, however, we gather that it was not
only intended to intensify the cult of Amen-Rā at the expense of the
sun-worship previously existing at Thebes (in the Spica temple), but
that one of the chief aims of the confraternity of Amen was to abolish
the worship of Set, Sit, Sut, or Sutech; that is, as I think I have
proved, generically, the stars near the North Pole, and, as it can be
shown, in favour of the southern ones.

The temple of Mut was the chief temple at Karnak in which the cult of
the northern stars was carried on, and this was associated with the
Spica temple; so both these temples had to go.

We can now realise what the Theban priests got Thothmes to do. They
were strong measures, since in his day the cult of Spica (the solar
disc, Aten, Min, Khem), and γ Draconis (the Hippopotamus-and-Lion Isis)
was supreme.

The little shrine of the Theban Amen was enlarged and built right
across the fair-way of the temple of Mut, so that the worship was as
effectively stopped as the worship of Isis (when it was prohibited by
law) was stopped at Pompeii by the town authorities bricking up the
window by which the star was observed.[91]

Further, the shrine so restored was to be of such magnificence that
the Spica temple, which had hitherto held first rank, became an
insignificant chapel in comparison. Nor was this all: in order still to
emphasise the supremacy of Amen-Rā, a third-rate temple was erected to
Ptah.

It is clear from this that we must date the great supremacy of the cult
of Amen-Rā in and after the time of Thothmes III., and that the cult
superseded at Thebes was largely based upon the old worship at Annu.

Now, one of the most remarkable events in Egyptian history was the
so-called apostasy of Amen-hetep IV., some hundred and fifty years
after Thothmes III.

In the time of Thothmes III. the alliance between the royal and the
sacerdotal power was of the closest, and in no time of the world's
history have priests been more richly endowed than were then the
priests of Amen. Not content, however, with their sacred functions,
they aimed at political power so obviously that Thothmes IV. and
Amen-hetep III., to check their intentions, favoured the cults and
priesthoods of Annu and other cities of the north. Amen-hetep III.
and his son, Amen-hetep IV., also looked for alliances out of Egypt
altogether, and entered into diplomatic relations with the princes of
Asia, including even the king of Babylon. This brought him and the
priests to open warfare. He replied to their anger by proscribing the
cult of Amen, and the name of Amen was effaced from the monuments;
still the priestly party was strong enough to make it unpleasant for
the king in Thebes; and, to deal them yet another blow, he quitted
that city and settled at Tell el-Amarna, at the same time, according
to the statement of M. Virey, reviving an old Heliopolitan cult. He
took for divine protection the solar disk _Aten_, "which was one of
the most ancient forms of one of the most ancient gods of Egypt, Rā
of Heliopolis."[92] Now let us say that the time of Amen-hetep IV.,
according to the received authorities, was about 1450 B.C. The lines
of the "Temple of the Sun" at Tell el-Amarna are to be gathered from
Lepsius' map, reproduced in the illustration on the next page. The
orientation is 13° north of west.[93] This gives us a declination of
11° north, and the star Spica at its setting would be visible in the
temple.

[Illustration: THE TEMPLES AT TELL EL-AMARNA. A, The Aten (Spica)
Temple; B, the Set Temple.]

Still the light would not enter it _axially_ if the orientation is
correct. This would have happened in 2000 B.C., that is, 600 years
before the time of Amen-hetep IV. This is a point which Egyptologists
must discuss; it is quite certain that such a pair of temples as
those of which Lepsius gives us the plans could not have been
completely built in his short reign, and they would not perhaps have
been commenced on _heretical_ lines in any previous reign during the
Eighteenth dynasty. They must therefore have been commenced before
1700 B.C., perhaps in the Seventeenth dynasty. In any case they were
certainly finished by Khu-en-Aten.

Professor Flinders Petrie has been good enough, in reply to an inquiry,
to state his opinion that the temple was entirely built by Khu-en-Aten.
Should this be confirmed, it may have been oriented directly to the
sun, on the day named, or was probably built parallel to some former
temple, for traces of other temples are shown on Lepsius' plan, and I
presume Khu-en-Aten is not supposed to have built all of them.

What, then, was this worship which had been absent from Thebes, but
which had held its own to the north to such an extent that Amen-hetep
IV. went back to it so eagerly? It could not have been the worship of
Capella as a star alone, for such worship had been provided for by
Thothmes III. by building temple G. Nor could it have been the worship
of Spica as a star alone, for in that case the precedent of Annu would
not have been appealed to.

The worship he emphasised there exactly resembled that which had in
early times been paramount at Heliopolis. One based on it, but not
identical with it, had been in vogue at Thebes from 3200 B.C. to the
time of Thothmes III., who, as the tool of the confraternity of Amen,
intensified the solstitial worship, and did his best to kill that which
had been based upon the Heliopolis cult.

I say _exactly resembled_, because Amen-hetep IV., or some one of the
preceding kings of Egypt, when reintroducing the old worship at Tell
el-Amarna, orients the solar temple 13° north of west according to the
data available. Now when we take the difference of latitude between
Heliopolis and Tell el-Amarna into account, we find that the same
declination (within half a degree) is obtained from both.

Hence, at Annu in the old days, and at Tell el-Amarna afterwards, the
sun was worshipped on the same day of the year. At both places the
sunlight at sunset would enter the temple on April 18 and August 24 of
the Gregorian year; hence both temples were probably built really to
observe the sunset on a special day. In this view how appropriate was
the prayer of Aāhmes, Khu-en-Aten's chief official--

"Beautiful is thy setting, thou sun's disk of life, thou Lord of Lords
and King of the worlds. When thou unitest thyself with the heaven at
thy setting, mortals rejoice before thy countenance and give honour
to him who has created them, and pray before him who has formed them,
before the glance of thy son who loves thee the King Khu-en-aten.
The whole land of Egypt and all peoples repeat all thy names at thy
rising, to magnify thy rising in like manner as thy setting."[94]

As may be gathered from Lepsius' maps and plans, this "temple of the
Sun" was not built alone. Set was again brought to the front. There was
another at right angles to it, and while Spica was seen setting in one,
a star near γ Draconis was rising in the other.

It may be added that it was not apparently till Rameses II. built
his temple M that Set again had an available temple at Karnak: one,
however, again to be blocked when the victorious Tirhaqa and the Theban
priests returned after their exile. (See page 186.)

We see, then, that in a detailed study of the sun-worship at Thebes
alone, we distinctly trace two schools of astronomical thought
associated with different religious tendencies. As a protest against
the Southern worship of the Theban priests, Khu-en-Aten goes back to a
Northern cult. This point is evidently worth further inquiry.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE EARLY TEMPLE AND GREAT PYRAMID BUILDERS.

In previous chapters I have referred to the difference in astronomical
thought evidenced by the solstitial solar worship at Thebes as
opposed to the non-solstitial solar worship at Annu, and again by the
observations of southern stars above Thebes as opposed to observations
of high northern stars below.

There is still another fundamental difference to be signalised, and
that is the building in some cases of pyramids, with or without
associated temples, east and west true.

It will perhaps be generally conceded that the differences in thought
indicated by the building or non-building of colossal pyramids are
greater than those indicated by the two other _differentia_ to which I
have referred, and on this ground I propose to enter upon this point at
some length.

We may first inquire if there be any other class of considerations
which can be utilised to continue the discussion of the question thus
raised on astronomical grounds. It is obvious that if sufficient
tradition exists to permit us to associate the different classes of
structures which have been studied astronomically with definite periods
of Egyptian history, a study of the larger outlines of that history
will enable us to determine whether or not the critical changes in
dynasties and rulers were or were not associated with critical changes
in astronomical ideas as revealed by changes in temple-worship and
pyramid building. If there be no connection the changes may have been
due to a change of idea only--a variation in astronomical thought--and
the suggestion of a distinction of race falls to the ground.

In a region of inquiry where the facts are so few and difficult to
recognise among a mass of myths and traditions, to say nothing of
contradictory assertions by different authors in their exposition of
the inscriptions, the more closely we adhere to a rigidly scientific
method of inquiry the better. I propose to show, therefore, that there
is one working hypothesis which seems to include a great many of the
facts, and I hope to give the hypothesis and the facts in such a way
that if there be anything inaccurately or incompletely stated it will
be easy at once to change the front of the inquiry and proceed along
the new line indicated.

I may begin by remarking that it is fundamental for the hypothesis,
that the temple of Annu or Heliopolis existed, as stated by Maspero and
other high authorities, before the times of Mini (Mena) and the pyramid
builders.

Before Mini, according to Maspero, "On et les villes du Nord avaient eu
la part principale dans le développement de la civilisation Égyptienne.
Les prières et les hymnes, qui formèrent plus tard le noyau des livres
sacrés, avaient été rédigés à An."

My observations of the orientation of the obelisk at Annu show that the
temple of which it formed part may have possibly been an early member
of the series which includes the temple of Mut at Thebes, and of Hathor
at Denderah; that is, the worship of Set was in question, to speak
generically. Now, according to Maspero, Sit or Set formed one of the
divine dynasties, being associated with the sun and air gods at Annu,
_i.e._ with Rā, Atmu, Osiris, Horus, and Shou.

It is also certain that the solar temple at Annu at right-angles to the
Sit temple, was pointed north-west, and probably to Capella setting,
about 5000 B.C.

So much for the astronomical antiquity of Annu. But there are other
northern towns besides Annu for which a very high antiquity is claimed.

On this point here is the opinion of Ebers and Dümichen, two of our
highest authorities: "Dies ist die älteste Stadt in Aegypten, und das
mit ihm verbundene Abydos kann nicht viel junger gewesen sein, denn
schon im alten Reiche wird es vielfach als heilige Stadt erwähnt."[95]

The sacred character of Abydos is also pointed out by Maspero.[96]

"C'est comme ville sainte qu'elle était universellement connue. Ses
sanctuaires étaient célèbres, son dieu Osiris vénéré, ses fêtes suivies
par toute l'Égypte; les gens riches des autres nomes tenaient à honneur
de se faire dresser une stèle dans son temple."

If it be found that the references to "ancestors," and "divine
ancestors," occur after the eleventh dynasty, the race represented by
Annu, or the one which immediately followed it (? the Hor-Shesu) may be
referred to (_see_ the chapters on the Egyptian year).

Of Abydos astronomically I can only say very little, as the various
statements as to the orientation of the north-east temples there by
various authors are so conflicting that nothing certain can be made
out. As they stand they are suggestive that these temples may possibly
be associated with that at Luxor, and it may be gathered from the
description of them by Ebers and Dümichen in Baedeker that many
references to Set (Anubis) occur in the inscriptions. If subsequent
measurements indicate that Abydos and Luxor are to be treated together,
then astronomically both these places may represent a cult more
ancient than that at Annu,[97] since it would appear that in these
cases α Lyræ was the star personified by Anubis, as α Ursæ Majoris and
γ Draconis were subsequently. But if the cult were more ancient the
temple foundations were not, the first "length" of Luxor having been
built, on this supposition, about 4900 B.C. The last length built by
Ramses II. was certainly oriented to α Lyræ, by which I mean that if
the building date given by Egyptologists is correct, α Lyræ rose in the
axis prolonged--another instance of the long persistence of a cult, and
of the fact that the temples that we see are but shrines restored.

On the assumption that the above view is true for Luxor and that Abydos
followed suit, as is suggested by the imperfect orientations, we are
led to the conclusion that, taking existing temple foundations, Annu
preceded Abydos.[98]

The astronomical results, then, are certainly in harmony with the
historical statement, which I take as fundamental, that Annu preceded
Memphis and pyramid times.

These times were not only remarkable on account of the building of the
great pyramids; there was a vast change in the cult.

I have already pointed out that at Annu we seemed limited to Set as a
stellar divinity; so soon as pyramid times are reached, however, this
is changed. The number of gods is increased, and there is apparently
a mixture, as if some influence had been at work besides that
represented by Annu and the pyramid builders.

I have given before the list of the gods of Heliopolis, and have shown
that with the exception of Sit none are stellar. But we find in pyramid
times the list is increased; only the sun gods Rā, Horus, Osiris, are
common to the two. As new divinities we have[99]--

Isis.
Hathor.
Nephthys.
Ptah.
Serk-t.
Sokhit.

Of these the first two and the last two undoubtedly symbolised stars,
and there can be no question that the temples of Isis built at the
pyramids, Bubastis, Tanis and elsewhere, were built to watch the rising
of some of them.

The temple of Saïs, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had
Memphis, according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Saïs was the goddess
Nit, which, according to some authorities, was the precursor of Athene.
The temple of Athene at Athens was oriented to the Pleiades.

There is also no question that the goddess Serk-t symbolised Antares.

We find ourselves, then, in the presence of the worship of the sun and
stars in the ecliptic constellations in Egypt during pyramid times,
and in constellations connected with the Equinox; for if we are right
about the Pleiades and Antares, these are the stars which heralded the
sunrise at the Vernal and Autumnal Equinox respectively, when the sun
was in Taurus and Scorpio.

Now, associated with the introduction of these new worships in pyramid
times was the worship of the bull Apis, this worship preceding the
building of pyramids. Mena is credited by some authors with its
introduction,[100] but at any rate Kakau of the second dynasty issued
proclamations regarding it,[101] and a statue of Hapi was in the temple
of Cheops.[102]

[Illustration: APIS. APIS.]

The ground being thus cleared, I now state the working hypothesis to
which I have referred above.

1. The first civilisation as yet glimpsed, so far as temple building
goes, in _Northern_ Egypt, represented by that at Annu or Heliopolis,
was a civilisation with a non-equinoctial solar worship, combined with
the cult of a northern star.

2. Memphis (possibly also Saïs, Bubastis, Tanis and other cities
with east and west walls) and the great pyramids were built by a new
invading race, representing an advance in astronomical thought. The
northern stars were worshipped possibly on the meridian, and a star
rising in the east was worshipped at each equinox.

3. The subsequent blank in Egyptian history was associated with
conflicts between these and other races, which were ended by the
victory of the representatives of the old worship of Annu, reinforced
from the south, as if north-star and south-star cults had combined
against the equinoctial cult.

[Illustration: MNEVIS.]

After these conflicts, east and west pyramid building practically
ceased, Memphis takes second place, and Thebes, a southern Annu, so far
as the form of solar worship and the cult of Sit are concerned, comes
upon the scene as the seat of the twelfth dynasty.[103]

4. The subsequent historical events were largely due to conflicts
with intruding races from the north-east. The intruders established
themselves in cities with east and west walls, and were on each
occasion driven out by solstitial solar worshippers who founded
dynasties (eighteenth and twenty-fifth) at Thebes.

[Illustration: THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION.]

Some detailed remarks are necessary on several points connected with
the above generalisation. I will take them _seriatim_.

We find at Memphis, Saïs, Bubastis, and Tanis, east and west walls
which at once stamp those cities as differing in origin from Annu,
Abydos and Thebes, where, as I have shown, the walls trend either
north-west--south-east or north-east--south-west.

For Memphis, Saïs and Tanis the evidence is afforded by the maps of
Lepsius. For Bubastis it depends upon the statement of Naville, that
the walls run "nearly from east to west," and with the looseness too
often associated with such statements, it is not said whether this
bearing is true or magnetic.

Associated with these east and west walls there is, moreover, evidence
of great antiquity. Bubastis, according to Naville,[104] has afforded
traces of the date of Cheops and Chephren, and it is stated by Manetho
to have existed as early as the second dynasty.

It is a matter of common knowledge that the pyramids in Egypt are
generally oriented east and west.[105] Nor is this all; there has been
a distinct evolution in their method of structure.

One of the oldest, if not the oldest pyramid known is the so-called
"step-pyramid of Sakkarah." The steps are six in number, and vary in
height from thirty-eight to twenty-nine feet, their width being about
six feet. The dimensions are (352 north and south) × (390 east and
west) × 197 feet. Some authorities think this pyramid was erected in
the first dynasty by the fourth king (Nenephes of Manetho, Ata of the
tablet of Abydos). The arrangement of chambers in this pyramid is quite
special.

[Illustration: THE STEP-PYRAMID OF SAKKARAH.]

The claim to the highest antiquity of the step-pyramid is disputed by
some in favour of the "false pyramid" of Mêdûm. It also is a genuine
step-pyramid, 115 feet high; its outline, which conceals some of the
steps, shows three stages, seventy, twenty, and twenty-five feet high;
but in its internal structure it is really a step-pyramid of six stages.

[Illustration: THE PYRAMID OF MÊDÛM.]

This pyramid must, according to the important and conclusive researches
of Professor Flinders Petrie,[106] be attributed to Seneferu, although
De Rougé had furnished evidence to the contrary.[107] Seneferu was a
king of the fourth dynasty.

We have at Dashûr the only remaining abnormal pyramid, called the
blunted pyramid, for the reason that the inclination changes at about
one-third of the height. This pyramid forms one of a group of four,
two of stone, and, be it carefully borne in mind, two of brick; their
dimensions are 700 × 700 × 326 feet; 620 × 620 × 321 feet; 350 × 350 ×
90 feet; and 343 × 343 × 156 feet.

[Illustration: THE "BLUNTED PYRAMID" OF DASHÛR.]

One of these pyramids was formerly supposed to have been built by
Seneferu; if any of them had been erected by King Usertsen III. of
the twelfth dynasty, as was formerly thought, the hypothesis we are
considering would have been invalid.

Only after Seneferu, then, do we come to the normal Egyptian pyramid,
the two largest at Gîzeh built by Cheops (Chufu) and Chephren (fourth
dynasty) being, so far as is accurately known, the oldest of the
series. (According to Mariette the date of Mena is 5004 B.C., and the
fourth dynasty commenced in 4235.)

Associated with the cities with east and west walls and these pyramids
are temples facing due east, fit, therefore, to receive the rays from a
star on the equator or of the morning sun rising at an equinox.

According to Professor Flinders Petrie, at the pyramid of Mêdûm there
is a small temple open to the west on the east side of the pyramid. At
sunset at the equinox the sepulchral chamber and the sun were in line
from the adytum. The priest faced a double Osiris.

Other pyramids were built at Sakkarah during the sixth dynasty, but it
is remarkable that such a king as Pepi-Meri-Rā should not have imitated
the majestic structures of the fourth dynasty. He is said to have built
a pyramid at Sakkarah, but its obscurity is evidence that the pyramid
idea was giving way, and it looks as if this dynasty were really on the
side of the southern cult, for the authority of Memphis declined, and
Abydos was preferred, while abroad Sinai was reconquered, and Ethiopia
was kept in order.[108]

The sphinx (oriented true east) may possibly be ascribed to the
earliest pyramid builders; it could only have been sculptured by a race
with an equinoctial cult.

_The Buildings of the Eleventh and Twelfth Dynasties._

We have next to consider what happened after the great gap in Egyptian
history between the sixth and twelfth dynasties, 3500 B.C.--2851 B.C.
(Mariette); from Nitocris to Amenemhāt I. We pass to the Middle
Empire, and here we have merely to deal with the worships previously
referred to in Northern Egypt.

Amenemhāt I. built no pyramids, he added no embellishments to Memphis;
but he took Annu under his care, and now we first hear of Thebes.[109]

Usertsen I. built no pyramids, he added no embellishments to Memphis,
but he also took Annu under his care, and added obelisks to the
temples, one of which remains to this day. Further, he restored the
temple of Osiris at Abydos, and added to the temple of Amen-Rā at
Thebes.[110]

Surely it is very noteworthy that the first thing the kings of the
twelfth dynasty did was to look after the only three temples in Egypt
of which traces exist, which I have shown to have been oriented to the
Sun _not_ at an equinox. It is right, however, to remark that there
seems to have been a mild recrudescence of pyramid building towards
the end of the twelfth dynasty, and immediately preceding the Hyksos
period, whether as a precursor of that period or not.

Usertsen's views about his last home have come down to us in a writing
by his scribe Mirri:--[111]

"Mon maître m'envoya en mission pour lui préparer une grande
demeure éternelle. Les couloirs et la chambre intérieure étaient
en maçonnerie, et renouvelaient les merveilles de construction des
dieux. Il y eut en elle des colonnes sculptées, belles comme le
ciel, un bassin creusé qui communiquait avec le Nil, des portes, des
obélisques, une façade en pierre de Rouou."

There was nothing pyramidal about this idea, but one hundred and fifty
years later we find Amenemhāt III. returning both to the gigantic
irrigation works and the pyramid building of the earlier dynasties.

The scene of these labours was the Fayyûm, where, to crown the new
work, two ornamental pyramids were built, surmounted by statues, and
finally the king himself was buried in a pyramid near the Labyrinth.

_The Buildings of the Eighteenth Dynasty._

The blank in Egyptian history between the twelfth and eighteenth
dynasties is known to have been associated with the intrusion of the
so-called Hyksos. It is supposed these made their way into Egypt from
the countries in and to the west of Mesopotamia; it is known that they
settled in the cities with east and west walls. They were finally
driven out by Aāhmes, the king of solstitial-solar Thebes, who began
the eighteenth dynasty.

On page 338 I have shown what happened after the first great break in
Egyptian history--a resuscitation of the solar worship at Annu, Abydos
and Thebes.

I have next to show that precisely the same thing happened after the
Hyksos period (Dyn. 13 (?) Mariette, 2233 Brugsch; Dyn. 18, 1703 B.C.,
Mariette, 1700 B.C. Brugsch) had disturbed history for some five
hundred years.

It is known from the papyrus Sellier (G.C. 257) that Aāhmes, the first
king of the eighteenth dynasty, who re-established the independence of
Egypt, was in reality fighting the priests of Sutech in favour of the
priests of Amen-Rā, the solstitial-solar god, a modern representative
of Atmu of Annu.

Amen-Rā was the successor of Menthu. So close was the new worship to
the oldest at Annu, that at the highest point of Theban power the third
priest of Amen took the same titles as the Grand Priest of Annu, "who
was the head of the first priesthood in Egypt." The "Grand Priest of
Annu," who was also called the "Great Observer of Rā and Atmu," had the
privilege of entering at all times into the _Hahenben_ or Naos. The
priest Padouamen, whose mummy was found in 1891, bore these among his
other titles.

The assumption of the title was not only to associate the Theban
priesthood with their northern _confrères_, but surely to proclaim that
the old Annu worship was completely restored.

_The Buildings of the Twenty-fifth Dynasty._

There was another invasion from Syria, which founded the twenty-second
dynasty, and again the government is carried on in cities with east and
west walls (Saïs, Tanis and Bubastis). The solstitial-solar priests
of Thebes withdraw to Ethiopia. They return, however, in 700 B.C.,
drive out the Syrian invaders, and, under Shabaka and Taharqa, found a
dynasty (the twenty-fifth) at Thebes, embellish the temples there, and
at Philæ, Medînet-Habû, and Denderah.

_Conclusion._

We see, then, that every important change of cult was associated either
with invasions from without or with some disturbance in Egypt itself,
for in no other way can the gaps in Egyptian history be explained.

* * * * *

So far we have considered the equinoctial temples as opposed to the
non-equinoctial ones in Northern Egypt. We have next to go farther
afield, and include the southern temple worship and the possible
influence of southern races even in the very earliest times.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE CULT OF NORTHERN AS OPPOSED TO SOUTHERN STARS.

So far as my inquiries have yet gone, there is not above Thebes, with
the exceptions of Redesich and Dakkeh, any temple resembling those at
Annu, Thebes, Denderah and Abydos, to which I have directed attention
as having a high north-east amplitude.

Similarly, with one or two exceptions which are probably late, there
are no temples facing the south-east below Thebes.

In short, in Lower Egypt the temples are pointed to rising stars near
the north point of the horizon or setting north of west. In Upper Egypt
we deal chiefly with temples directed to stars rising in the south-east
or setting low in the south-west.

Here again we are in presence of as distinct differences in
astronomical thought and purpose of observation as we found among those
who directed temples to the sun at the equinox, as opposed to those who
worshipped that luminary at some other time of the year.

Now with regard to the northern stars observed rising in high
amplitudes, we have found traces of their worship in times so remote
that in all probability at Annu and Denderah α Ursæ Majoris was used
before it became circumpolar. We deal almost certainly with 5000 B.C.

Since undoubtedly _new_ temples with nearly similar amplitudes (such as
that denoted by M at Karnak) were built in late times, we find so long
a range of time indicated that the utility of the stellar observations
_from the yearly point of view_ could scarcely have been in question,
for the reason that the same star could not herald an equinox or a
solstice for four thousand years.

It may be suggested, therefore, that the observations made in them had
ultimately to do with the determination of the hours of the night; this
seems probable, for in Nubia at present, time at night is thus told.

It may be that such stars as Canopus were used by the southern peoples
for the same purpose as α Ursæ Majoris first and then γ Draconis were
used by the northerners. In other words, the question arises whether
the extreme north and south stars were not both used as warners of the
dawn all the year round, after the cult had been established for use
at some special time. Canopus, for instance, was of use to herald the
autumnal equinox, 6--5000 B.C.; but it is quite natural to suppose that
its utility for night work at all times of the year during which it was
visible would soon suggest itself, and the same remarks apply to the
Northern star γ Draconis.

It is well known that in quite early times means had been found of
dividing the day and night into twelve hours. In the day shadows cast
by the sun, or sundials, might have been used, but how about the night?

We have seen that the Egyptians chiefly, if not exclusively, observed a
heavenly body and the position of other bodies in relation to it, when
it was rising or setting, so that it was absolutely essential that the
body which they were to observe should rise and set. Everybody knows
that as seen in England there are many stars which neither rise nor
set. The latitude of London being 51°, the elevation of the pole is 51°.

Hence, any star which lies within that distance from the pole cannot
set, but sweeps round without touching the horizon at all. The
latitude of Thebes being 25°, the distance from the pole to the horizon
is much smaller, and so the number of stars which do not rise and set
is much smaller. The stars which do not rise or set are stars near the
pole, and therefore stars which move very slowly, and the stars which
rise most to the north and most to the south are those bodies which
are moving most slowly while they yet rise or set. Can this slow rate
of motion have had anything to do with such stars being selected for
observation, the brightest star to the north most slowly moving, the
brightest star to the south most slowly moving? It is possible that
observations of these stars might have been made in such a way that at
the beginning of the evening the particular position of γ Draconis,
for instance, might have been noted with regard to the pole-star; and
seeing that the Egyptians thoroughly knew the length of the night
and of the day in the different portions of the year, they could at
once--the moment they had the starting-point afforded by the position
of this star--practically use the circle of the stars round the north
pole as the dial of a sort of celestial clock. May not this really have
been the clock with which they have been credited? However long or
short the night, the star which was at first above the pole-star,[112]
after it had got round so that it was on a level with it, would have
gone through a quarter of its revolution.

In low northern latitudes, however, the southern stars would serve
better for this purpose, since the circle of northern circumpolar stars
would be much restricted. Hence there was a reason in such latitudes
for preferring southern stars. With regard both to high north and
south stars, then, we may in both cases be in presence of observations
made to determine the time at night. So that the worship of Set, the
determination of the time at night by means of northern stars, might
have been little popular with those who at Gebel Barkal and elsewhere
in the south had used the southern ones for the same purpose, and
this may be one reason why the Theban priests, representing Nubian
astronomical culture and methods, were pledged to drive the cult of
Sutech out of the land.

Since, then, the observations of γ Draconis might be used to herald the
sunrise almost all the year round; and since the modern constellation
Draco is the old Hippopotamus, we can readily understand Plutarch's
statement that "Taurt presides over the birth of the sun," and why
Taurt or Mut should be called the Mistress of Darkness.[113]

It does not seem too much to hope that the continuation of such
inquiries may ultimately enable us to solve several points connected
with early Egyptian history. We read in Brugsch:--[114]

"According to Greek tradition, the primitive abode of the Egyptian
people is to be sought in Ethiopia, and the honour of founding
their civilisation should be given to a band of priests from Meroë.
Descending the Nile, they are supposed to have settled near the
later city of Thebes, and to have established the first state with a
theocratic form of government.

"But it is not to Ethiopian priests that the Egyptian Empire owes its
origin, its form of government, and its high civilisation; much rather
was it the Egyptians themselves that first ascended the river to found
in Ethiopia temples, cities, and fortified places, and to diffuse the
blessings of a civilised state among the rude dark-coloured population.

... "Strange to say, the whole number of the buildings in stone, as yet
known and examined, which were erected on both sides of the river by
Egyptian and Ethiopian kings, furnish incontrovertible proof that the
long series of temples, cities, sepulchres, and monuments in general,
exhibit a distinct chronological order, of which the starting-point is
found in the pyramids, at the apex of the Delta."

It must be emphatically stated that the results obtained from these
monuments, studying them from the astronomical point of view, lead to a
very different conclusion. Instead of one series, there are distinctly
two (leaving out of consideration the great pyramid builders at Gîzeh)
absolutely dissimilar astronomically; and instead of one set of
temple-builders going up the river, there were at least two sets, one
going _up_ the river building temples to north stars, the other going
_down_ building temples to south stars; and the two streams practically
met at Thebes, or at all events they were both very fully represented
there, either together or successively.

The double origin of the people thus suggested on astronomical grounds
may be the reason of the name of "double country," used especially in
the titles of kings, of the employment of two crowns, and finally of
the supposed sovereignty of Set over the north, and of Horus over the
south divisions of the kingdom.[115]

Only by the time of Seneferu was there anything like an amalgamation of
the peoples. He first was "King of the two Egypts,"[116] while later
Chephren called himself "Horus and Sit"[117]--a distinct indication, I
take it, that the influence of Upper Egypt was already felt as early as
Seneferu, and, I think, much earlier, although all _temple_ trace of it
is lost.

[Illustration: SHIP OF HĀT-SHEPSET LADEN WITH PRODUCE FROM PUN-T. (_Dêr
el-Bahari Inscriptions._)]

With regard to the start-point of the temple-builders who came down
the river, there is no orientation evidence, for the reason that there
is little or no information from the regions south of Naga. At Naga
(lat. 16° 18′ N.), Meroë (lat. 16° 55′ N.), Gebel Barkal and Nuri
(both in lat. 18° 30′ N.), there is information of the most important
kind, but beyond Naga there is a gap; but since important structures
were erected at the places named in early times (my inquiries suggest
3000-4000 B.C.), it is probable that the peoples who built them
stretched further towards the equator.

But although the orientation evidence is lacking for the lower
latitudes, the inscriptions are by no means silent, and over and over
again it is stated that those particular gods whom I have found to be
associated with southern stars came from a locality called the land of
Pun-t.

[Illustration: HUTS BUILT ON PILES IN PUN-T. (_Dêr el-Bahari
Inscriptions._)]

Pun-t was always considered a "Holy Land." Hathor was "Queen of the
Holy Land," "Mistress and Ruler of Pun-t." Amen-Rā was "Hak" or "King"
of Pun-t, and Horus was the Holy Morning Star which rose to the west
(?) of the land of Pun-t.[118]

Maspero refers to an ancient tradition that the land of Pun-t could
be reached by going up the Nile, where eventually one came to an
unknown sea which bathed the land of Pun-t. Was this one of the great
lakes?[119]

Brugsch[120] is of opinion that Pun-t occupied the south and west
coasts of Arabia Felix, but Maspero and Mariette do not agree with
him. The two latter authorities identify it with that part of the
Somali-land which borders on the Gulf of Aden. It is the Cinnamonifera
regio or Aromatifera regio of the ancients.[121]

The inscriptions at Dêr el-Bahari make it quite certain that Pun-t is
in Africa. Hottentot Venuses, pile dwellings,[122] elephants, to say
nothing of the products of the country referred to as among the freight
of the ships on their homeward voyage, distinctly point to Africa, and
I think a southern part of it. The Cynocephalus ape, perhaps, is more
doubtful.

The first organised expedition to Pun-t of which we hear anything is
that organised by Se-ānχ-ka-Rā, the last king of the 11th _Theban_
dynasty. This was a new traffic by way of the Red Sea. There was then
no canal in existence joining the sea with the Nile; the expedition
went by land to Coptos.[123]

They further indicate, as Maspero suggests, that the expedition of
Hāt-shepset anchored up a river, and not on the sea-shore. This, again,
makes Africa much more probable than Arabia.

If we agree that Pun-t is really in Africa, south of Somali-land, there
is a great probability that the tradition referred to by Maspero is a
true one.

It is also to be pointed out that there is no trace of the southern
star temples along the various roads to the Red Sea, while, on the
other hand, the earliest traces of northern star worship, with the
exception of Annu or On, occur along one or other of them. There is
distinct evidence that Osiris, Horus, Hathor, Chnemu, Amen-Rā, and
Khons, are worships coming from the south. With regard to Horus, it is
necessary to discriminate, since there were two distinct gods--Horus in
Northern and Horus in Southern Egypt, _and Horus of the south was the
elder of the two_.

[Illustration: CYNOCEPHALUS APE WITH MOON EMBLEM.]

The Hawk-god of Edfû, Harhouditi, the southern Horus, had for servants
a number of individuals called Masniu or Masnitiu = blacksmiths. The
Hawk-god of the Delta, the northern Horus, Harsiisit, had for his
entourage the Shesu Horu.

Now Maspero has recently pointed out[124] that the southern Horus may
have been imported, not from Arabia Felix or Somali-land, but from
Central Africa! and in a most interesting paper has called attention to
some customs still extant among the castes of blacksmiths in Central
Africa, which have suggested to him that the followers of the Edfû
Horus may have come from that province.

He writes:--

"C'est du sud de l'Égypte que les forgerons sont remontés vers le
nord; leur siège primitif était le sud de l'Égypte, la partie du pays
qui a le plus des rapports avec les régions centrales de l'Afrique et
leurs habitants."

Then, after stating the present conditions of these workers in
Equatorial Africa, where they enjoy a high distinction, he concludes:--

"Je pense qu'on peut se représenter l'Horus d'Edfou comme étant au
début, dans l'une de ses formes, le chef et le dieu d'une tribu
d'ouvriers travaillant le métal, ou plutôt travaillant le fer. On ne
saurait en effet se dissimuler qu'il y a une affinité réelle entre
le fer et la personne d'Horus en certains mythes. Horus est la face
céleste (horou), le ciel, le firmament, et ce firmament est de toute
antiquité, un toit de fer, si bien que le fer en prit le nom de
ba-ni-pit, métal du ciel, métal dont est formé le ciel: Horus l'aîné,
Horus d'Edfou, est donc en réalité un dieu de fer. Il est, de plus,
muni de la pique ou de la javeline à point de fer, et les dieux qui
lui sont apparentés, Anhouri, Shou, sont de piquiers comme lui, au
contraire des dieux du nord de l'Égypte, Rā, Phtah, etc., qui n'ont
pas d'armes à l'ordinaire. La légende d'Harhouditi conquérant l'Égypte
avec les masniou serait-elle donc l'écho lointain d'un fait qui se
serait passé au temps antérieurs à l'histoire? Quelque chose comme
l'arrivée des Espagnols au milieu des populations du Nouveau Monde,
l'irruption en Égypte de tribus connaissant et employant le fer, ayant
parmi elles une caste de forgerons et apportant le culte d'un dieu
belliqueux qui aurait été un Horus ou se serait confondu avec l'Horus
des premiers Egyptiens pour former Harhouditi. Ces tribus auraient été
nécessairement d'origine Africaine, et auraient apporté de nouveaux
éléments Africains à ceux que renfermait déjà la civilisation du bas
Nil. Les forgerons auraient perdu peu à peu leurs privilèges pour
se fondre au reste de la population: à Edfou seulement et dans les
villes ou l'on pratiquait le culte de l'Horus d'Edfou, ils auraient
conservé un caractère sacré et se seraient transformés en un sorte de
domesticité religieuse, les masniou du mythe d'Horus, compagnons et
serviteurs du dieu guerrier."

If we are to accept Maspero's suggestion that the elder Horus really
came from Central Africa, traces of the cult of his followers should be
found high up the river.

But such a search is now denied us, while in the time of Thothmes
III. it is supposed that the south frontier Kali of the inscriptions
is probably connected with Koloë in 4° 15′ N. lat. according to
Ptolemy.[125]

As a matter of fact, there is distinct evidence of the cult of the
southern stars coming down the river in the region we can get at; α
Centauri, _e.g._, seems to have been observed at Gebel Barkal before
Thebes--Sirius is too modern to be considered--and above all there is
the remarkable series of temples, apparently oriented to Canopus before
6000 B.C., which come down no lower than Edfû.

The general statement is, then, that there were two distinct groups of
stellar temples, probably built by different races, or at all events by
peoples having very different astronomical methods.

It is well to inquire here whether the dates of the various temples as
determined by the methods dwelt on in previous chapters can throw any
light upon the inquiry. Here I must re-state that in almost every case
the date of foundation so determined precedes the generally-received
date, which invariably has reference to a stone building, while in all
probability the first structure was a brick shrine merely. In support
of this view I may state that the looking after ruined shrines was
recognised as one of the duties of kingship.

"I have caused monuments to be raised to the gods; I have embellished
their sanctuaries that they may last to posterity; I have kept up
their temples; I have restored again what was fallen down, and have
taken care of that which was erected in former times."[126]

Not only did Thothmes III. find the original temple of Amen-Rā built in
brick, but he found the temple at Semneh in brick also, and he rebuilt
it in memory of Usertsen III.[127]

In the following table I bring together the foundation dates I have
found most probable, bearing the above and many other considerations
in mind. The dates are, of course, only provisional, since local data
are in many cases wanting. Where no information is forthcoming as to
the height of the horizon visible along the temple axis, I have assumed
hills 1° high, and used the dates printed in heavy type in Chapter XXX.

TABLE OF TEMPLES BUILT TO N. AND S. STARS.

──────┬────────────────────────┬───────────────────────┬──────────────
│ Northern Stars. │ Southern stars. │
──────┼─────┬─────┬─────┬──────┼──────┬─────┬─────┬────┼──────────────
Years │ α │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│Ursa │ γ │ │ │ │ α │ │ │
B.C. │Maj- │Drac-│Cap- │Spica.│Phact.│Cent-│Can- │Sir-│Remarks.
│oris.│onis.│ella.│ │ │auri.│opus.│ius.│
──────┼─────┼─────┼─────┼──────┼──────┼─────┼─────┼────┼──────────────
[6400]│ │ │ │ │ │ │1, 2,│ │ 1 2
│ │ │ │ │ │ │3, 4.│ │ ?Edfû, Philæ,.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3 4
5400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Amada, Semneh
5300 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Memphis.
│ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Annu.
5200 │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Annu.
5100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
5000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4800 │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Denderah.
4700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4600 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Redesieh.
4500 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
4200 │ 1 │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1, 2. Denderah
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (temple built
4100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ when both stars
4000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ had an equal
3900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ amplitude).
3800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
3700 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Barkal (E).
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Kûrnah (Seti I.).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Memnonia
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Western Temple).
3600 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Kûrnah (Palace).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Barkal (B).
3500 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (Z and X).
│ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Dakkeh.
│ │ 3 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3. Denderah.
3400 │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (V).
3300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
3200 │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ 1. Abu Simbel
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Hathor Temple).
│ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ 2. Karnak (Y).
3100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Karnak
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Temple O) Gr.
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Dêr el-
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Medinet (Gr.).
3000 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (U).
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Wady Halfa
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Thothmes II.).
2900 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Barkal (L).
2800 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Wady Halfa
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Thothmes III.).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Sabooa.
2700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Dêr el-Bahari.
│ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ 2. Wady E. Sofra.
2600 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Memnonia
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Rameses II.)
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Mean of Fr.
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ and Gr.).
2500 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (W).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Karnak (J).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Medînet Habû (JJ).
2400 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ 1. Kom Ombo
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Little Temple).
│ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ 2. Petit Temple
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ du Sud (Memnonia).
│ │ │ │ │ 3 │ │ │ │ 3. Barkal (J and H).
2300 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Annu
2200 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Restoration).
2100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Karnak (B).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Semneh.
2000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Dosche.
1900 │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ 1. Tell el-Amarna.
1800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Karnak (D) Gr.
1700 │ │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak (G).
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ 2. Karnak (Seti II.).
1600 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1500 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1400 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Naga (Temple g), Gr.
1300 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Naga (Temple f).
1200 │ │ 1 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Karnak, (A.M.C).
│ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ │ 2. Medînet Habû
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Palace K K).
1100 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
1000 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ │ 1. Karnak (Khons).
900 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
800 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Philæ
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Ethiopian Temple).
│ │ │ │ │ 2 │ │ │ │ 2. Medînet Habû
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Ethiopian Temple).
700 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1 │ 1. Denderah
│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ (Isis Temple).
──────┴─────┴─────┴─────┴──────┴──────┴─────┴─────┴────┴──────────────

Gr. = German values of Orientation.
Fr. = French "

The following general conclusions may be drawn from the table:--

I. At the earlier periods there are well-marked epochs of
temple-building revealed by the table.

II. If we can accept the possible Canopus temples referred to in
Chapter XXX., the oldest foundations in Egypt yet traced are to
southern stars. They are limited to Upper Egypt, and date from before
6000 B.C.

III. The temples to the north stars, α Ursæ Majoris, γ Draconis, and
Capella (Set and Ptah), begin in the Delta and about 1000 years later.
The series is then broken till about 3500 B.C.

IV. The south star temples to Phact at the summer solstice, and α
Centauri at the autumnal equinox, begin about 3700 B.C.

V. γ Draconis replaces α Ursæ Majoris at Denderah; north-star temples
are for the first time erected in the south at Karnak and Dakkeh in
3500 B.C.

VI. For the first time about 3200 B.C., north-and south-star temples
are built simultaneously.

VII. After this the building activity is chiefly limited to temples to
southern stars.

If we take Brugsch's dates, we find that the foundations of the
greatest number of temples were laid about the time of Seneferu,
Pepi, and the twelfth dynasty. The more modern kings founded few
temples--their functions were those of expanding, restoring, and
_annexing_. Even Thothmes III. seems to have laid no new foundations
except perhaps that of the Ptah temple at Karnak, and that is doubtful.

The wonderful Hall of Columns called Khu-mennu (Splendid Memorial),
in the temple of Amen-Rā, was dedicated by Thothmes III. not only to
Amen-Rā, but to his ancestors. It is important to see who these were
in the present connection. I give them with approximate dates.[128]

Brugsch. Mariette.
B.C. B.C.
Seneferu, fourth dynasty 3766 4235
Assa, fifth dynasty 3366 3951
Pepi, sixth dynasty 3233 3703
The Antefs, eleventh dynasty 2500 3064
The most famous sovereigns of the
twelfth dynasty 2433-2300 2851
Thirty princes of the thirteenth dynasty 2233 (?)

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE PYRAMIDS AT NURI.]

It is interesting to note that in this list the builders of the great
pyramids at Gîzeh, and all the kings who in the last chapter were
suggested as being given to equinoctial worship, are passed over
without notice. It would appear, then, that the ancestors named were
of southern origin, precursors of Thothmes in cult as well as in time.

Of these ancestors, the first--if Brugsch's dates can be taken, which,
I think, is doubtful--limited himself to southern temples; the majority
of temples built near Pepi's time were oriented to the south. The
twelfth dynasty was more catholic.

The more we inquire, the more interesting does this inquiry into the
north-star temples as opposed to the south-star temples become. These
considerations are not limited to the temples--they apply also to
pyramids. At Gîzeh we find both temples and pyramids oriented east
and west. At Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Meroë, in Upper Egypt, we find
both temples and pyramids facing south-east, and at the first of
these places, where both exist together, we find well-marked groups
of pyramids connected by their orientations with each temple. I
can, however, find no information as to the probable dates of these
pyramids; in the absence of facts, it seems fair to assume that they
follow the dates of the temples which agree in orientation.

In the following tables I give the values for Nuri, Meroë, and Gebel
Barkal; a west variation of 8½° has been assumed.

NURI.[129]

─────────────────────────┬─────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
─────────────────────────┼─────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Pyramids 10, 11, 12 │ N. 136 E. │ 37½ S. of E. │ S. 35¼
Pyramids 1, 4 │ N. 137¼ E. │ 38¾ S. of E. │ S. 36¼
Pyramids 13, 14, 15 │ N. 139 E. │ 40½ S. of E. │ S. 38
│ │ │
Pyramids 2, 3, 16, 17 │ N. 145½ E. │ 47 S. of E. │ S. 43¾
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 │ N. 146½ E. │ 48 S. of E. │ S. 44¾
─────────────────────────┴─────────────┴───────────────┴────────

MEROË.[130]

──────────────────────────┬────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
──────────────────────────┼────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Pyramid 16 │ N. 102 E. │ 3½ S. of E. │ S. 3¼
Pyramid 20 │ N. 103 E. │ 4½ S. of E. │ S. 4¼
│ │ │
Temple near Watercourse │ N. 112 E. │ 13½ S. of E. │ S. 12¾
Pyramid 15 │ N. 112 E. │ 13½ S. of E. │ S. 12¾
Pyramids 14, 37 │ N. 113 E. │ 14½ S. of E. │ S. 13¾
│ │ │
Pyramid 10 │ N. 116 E. │ 17½ S. of E. │ S. 16¾
Pyramid 39 │ N. 118 E. │ 19½ S. of E. │ S. 18¾
│ │ │
Pyramid 19 │ N. 83 E. │ 15½ N. of E. │ N. 14¾
──────────────────────────┴────────────┴───────────────┴────────

GEBEL BARKAL.[131]

──────────────────────────┬────────────┬───────────────┬────────
│ Magnetic │ Astronomical │
Cult. │ Azimuth. │ Amplitude. │ Decl.
──────────────────────────┼────────────┼───────────────┼────────
│ ° │ ° │ °
Temple E │ N. 132 E. │ 33½ S. of E. │ S. 31½
Pyramid 18 │ N. 132½ E. │ 34 S. of E. │ S. 32
│ │ │
Temple L │ N. 136½ E. │ 38 S. of E. │ S. 35½
Pyramids 9, 13 │ N. 136 E. │ 37½ S. of E. │ S. 35¼
Pyramid 11 │ N. 140 E. │ 41½ S. of E. │ S. 39
Pyramids 1, 2 │ N. 141 E. │ 40½ S. of E. │ S. 39¾
│ │ │
Temples J and H │ N. 146 E. │ 47½ S. of E. │ S. 44¼
Pyramid 20 │ N. 146 E. │ 47½ S. of E. │ S. 44¼
Pyramids 2, 15, 16, 17 │ N. 147 E. │ 48½ S. of E. │ S. 45¼
│ │ │
Temple B │ N. 152 E. │ 53½ S. of E. │ S. 49¾
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 │ N. 153 E. │ 54½ S. of E. │ S. 50½
Pyramid 19 │ N. 156 E. │ 57½ S. of E. │ S. 53
──────────────────────────┴────────────┴───────────────┴────────

It seems quite justifiable from the above facts to conclude that the
pyramids and temples oriented S.E. and, as I hold, to α Centauri when
it heralded the autumnal equinox, were not built by people having
the same astronomical ideas, worships, and mythology as those who
built at Gîzeh due E. and W., and marked the autumnal equinox by the
heliacal rising of Antares.[132] The only thing in common was noting an
equinox, and so far as this goes we may infer that neither people dwelt
originally in the Nile Valley, but came by devious ways from a country
or countries where the equinoxes had been made out.

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS AT GEBEL BARKAL.]

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY--THE NORTHERN SCHOOLS.

So far we have dealt with the dawn of astronomy in Egypt. We have found
that from the earliest times there were astronomical observations
carried on, and that practically there were three schools of thought.
To all three schools sun-worship was common, but we may clearly
separate them by the associated star-worship. We have found worshippers
of northern stars, east and west stars, and southern stars.

The northern star-worshippers we may associate with Annu, the east
and west star cult with the pyramid fields at Gîzeh, and the southern
star-worshippers with Upper Egypt.

What we have to do in the present chapter is to see whether the
orientation of the structures helps us with any suggestions touching
the question whether we have to stop at the places named and
acknowledge Egypt to be the true cradle of astronomical science; or
whether the facts we have considered compel us to go a stage further
back, and to recognise that the true origin was elsewhere; that, in
short, astronomy, instead of taking its rise in Egypt, was simply
imported thither.

It would appear from the recent work of the students of the languages
of Babylonia and Assyria that in these countries, if anywhere, there
might have been civilisations more ancient than the Egyptian, which
have already been glimpsed.

But before I go further something must be said about Babylonia itself,
for the reason that it also was the meeting-ground of at least two
different schools of astronomical thought. The facts connected with
this subject are still to a certain extent involved in obscurity, which
is little to be wondered at when we think how recently any knowledge
has been available to throw light upon the past of these regions. I
need, however, only briefly refer to them, and for this purpose shall
use the two most recently published books dealing with the question
which at present concerns us. I refer to Prof. Sayce's "Hibbert
Lectures" and Prof. Jensen's "Kosmologie der Babylonier."

But what period are we to take?

It follows from the investigation into the orientation of Egyptian
temples that the stars α Ursæ Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and α
Centauri were carefully observed, some of them as early as 5000 B.C.,
the others between 4000 and 3000 B.C. I have also shown that it is
possible that at Edfû and Philæ the star Canopus may have been observed
as early as 6400 B.C. Further, that the constellations of the Thigh
(Ursa Major), the Hippopotamus (Draco), the Bull, and the Scorpion had
been established in pyramid times.

It becomes important, therefore, if we recognise this as the dawn of
astronomy in Egypt, to see if any information is extant giving us
information concerning Babylonia, so that we may be able to compare the
observations made in the two regions, not only with a view of tracing
the relative times at which they were made, but to gather from these
any conclusions that may be suggested in the course of the inquiry.

The inquiry must be limited to certain detailed points; we know quite
well already, as I have stated before, that the omen tablets, which
mention a king called Sargon (probably Sargon I. of Agade), who reigned
in Babylon about 3700 B.C., prove unquestionably that astronomy had
been cultivated for thousands of years before the Christian Era.[133]
But to institute a comparison we must leave the general and come to
the particular. I will begin with the northern constellations, as it
follows from my researches that very early at Annu and Denderah temples
were erected for their worship--the worship of Anubis or Set, as I have
shown before; that is, of α Ursæ Majoris and γ Draconis.

THE ANNU SCHOOL. THE WORSHIP OF SET.

According to Maspero, Set formed one of the divine dynasties at Annu,
and the northern stars seem to have been worshipped there. I suppose
there is now no question among Egyptologists that the gods Set, Sit,
Typhon, Bes, Sutekh, are identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi
should be added.[134] It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a
god of the Canaanites,[135] and Bes is identified with Set in the Book
of the Dead.[136]

It is also stated by Maspero that at Memphis[137] (time not given)
there were temples dedicated to "Sutekh" and "Baal." In the chapter
on the circumpolar stars I have suggested that they were taken as
typifying the powers of darkness and of the lower world, and I believe
it is conceded by Egyptologists that Anubis in jackal form was either
contemporaneous with or preceded Osiris in this capacity.

In the exact centre of the circular zodiac of Denderah we find the
jackal located at the pole of the equator; it obviously represents the
present Little Bear.

Now, do we get any Babylonian connection so far as we have gone?

We learn, to begin with, from Pierret[138] that the hippopotamus, the
emblem of Set and Typhon, was the hieroglyph of the Babylonian god
"Baal."

Do we get the jackal constellation in Babylonian astronomy? Of this
there is no question, and in early times. Jensen refers[139] to
the various readings "jackal" and "leopard," and states that it is
only doubtful whether by this figure the _god_ ANU or the _pole of
the ecliptic_ ANU is meant. Either will certainly serve our present
purpose, and a leopard in Babylonia might as easily symbolise the night
as a jackal in Northern Egypt.

There seems little doubt that the jackal, leopard, hyæna, black pig
(wild boar), and hippopotamus were chosen as the representatives
of the god of evil and darkness (associated with the circumpolar
constellations), on account of their ravages on flocks and herds and
crops. If this be agreed, nothing is more proper than that the jackal
should be associated with North Egypt, the hippopotamus with South
Egypt, and the wild boar with a latitude to the north of Egypt (and
perhaps of Nineveh) altogether. The representative of the god of
darkness, then, depended upon the latitude. In this connection I may
state that Drs. Sclater and Salvin have quite recently referred me to
an interesting paper by the late Mr. Tomes[140] on the habit of the
hippopotamus when it comes out of the water to exude a blood-coloured
fluid from special pores in its skin. This explains at once why Typhon
took the form of a _red_ hippopotamus, and why Mr. Irving, on the
modern stage, couples Mephistopheles, the modern devil, with red fire.

I know not whether the similarity in the words Anu, Annu and An results
merely from a coincidence, but it is certainly singular that the most
ancient temples in Lower Egypt (Heliopolis and Denderah) should be
called Annu or An[141] if there be no connection with the Babylonian
god Anu.

With regard to Anubis, it is quite certain that the seven stars in
Ursa Minor make a very good jackal with pendent tail, as generally
represented by the Egyptians (_see_ page 276), and that they form the
nearest compact constellation to the pole of the ecliptic.

The worship of Anubis as god of the dead, or the night god, whether
associated with the Babylonian Anu or not, was supreme till the time of
Men-Kau-Rā, the builder of the third pyramid of Gîzeh[142] (3633 B.C.,
Brugsch; 4100 B.C., Mariette). Osiris is not mentioned. The coffin-lid
of this king with the prayer to Osiris "marks a new religious
development in the annals of Egypt. The absorption of the justified
soul in Osiris, the cardinal doctrine of the Ritual of the Dead, makes
its appearance here for the first time."

It seems extremely probable, therefore, that the worship of the
circumpolar stars went on in Babylonia as well as in Egypt in the
earliest times we can get at.

A very wonderful thing it is that, apparently in very early times, the
Babylonians had made out the pole of the equator as contradistinguished
from the pole of the ecliptic. This they called Bīl. With this Jensen
finds no star associated,[143] but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not
far removed from those stars in the present constellation Draco,
out of which I have suggested that the old Egyptian asterism of the
hippopotamus was formed.

Nor was this all; movements in relation to the ecliptic had been
differentiated from movements in relation to the equator. We have
inscriptions running:--

"_The way in reference to Anu_," that is the ecliptic with its pole at
Anu.

"_The way in reference to Bīl_," the equator with its pole at Bīl.

In other words, the daily and yearly apparent movements of the heavenly
bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also

_Kabal šami_, "the middle of the heavens," defining the meridian.

So far as I can make out, when Anubis was supreme in Egypt, the only
sun-gods at Memphis and Annu were Rā and Atmu. Ptah appears to have
been a mixed sun-star god, _i.e._, Capella heralding the sunrise in the
Harvest Time.

Now I learn from Prof. Sayce[144] that in Babylonia Anu and Bīl ranked
as two members of a triad from the commencement of the Semitic period,
the third member being probably a southern star symbolised as we shall
see in the sequel; it is only in later times in Babylonia apparently
that we get a triad consisting of sun, moon, and Venus,[145] Venus
being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.[146]

To the two northern divinities temples were built; both were worshipped
in one temple at Babylon,[147] which must therefore have been oriented
due north; and the pole of the equator (the altitude of which is equal
to the latitude of the place) was probably in some way indicated.
Here there was no rising or setting observation, for Eridu, the most
southern of the old Babylonian cities, had about the same latitude as
Bubastis, in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round
the pole of the equator (Bīl) always above the horizon.

So that since Sutekh = Anu
and Baal = Bīl,

the temple at Memphis to those divinities reported by Maspero (see
_ante_) must have been oriented in the same way as the one at Babylon,
that is to the north; and if the above evidence be considered strong
enough to enable us to associate the Babylonian Bīl with the Egyptian
Taurt, we have not only Ursa Minor but Draco represented in the early
worship and mythology both of Egypt and of Babylonia.

According to Prof. Sayce[148] there is distinct evidence of a change
of thought with regard to Anu in Babylonia--there certainly were
great changes of thought in Egypt with regard to Anubis. Observations
of stars near the pole of the ecliptic appear to have been utilised
before they were taken as representing either the superior or inferior
powers--before, in fact, the Anubis or Set stage _quá_ Egypt was
reached. After this had been accomplished there was still another
advance, in which Anu assigns places to sun, moon, and evening star,
and symbolises the forces of nature.

There is evidence, though unfortunately it is very meagre, that the
temple worship was very similar in the two countries.

In the ceremonials in the temples the statues of the gods in boats
or arks were always carried in procession.[149] The same rectangular
arrangement of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia, and
this perhaps may be the reason why Bīl seems so often to refer to the
sun, whereas it was the name given to the combined worship. Sometimes,
on the other hand, the worship of the stars is distinctly referred to
as taking place in a solar temple. Thus at Marduk's temple, E-Sagili,
we are told that "two hours after nightfall the priest must come and
take of the waters of the river; must enter into the presence of Bīl,
and putting on a stole in the presence of Bīl must say this prayer,"
etc.[150] The temple, then, will probably have been oriented to the
north. Night prayers in a sun-temple afford pretty good indications of
a mixed cult.

The evidence, then, seems conclusive that by the time of the founding
of the temple at Annu a knowledge of the stars near the pole of the
equator, and of the importance of observing them, was common to N.
Egypt and to the region N.E. of it. Whether the worship of Set was
introduced into Egypt from this region, or whether there was a common
origin, must for the present, then, remain undetermined.

THE EQUINOCTIAL SCHOOL--THE WORSHIP OF THE SPRING-SUN.

The East and West orientation, as we have seen, is chiefly remarkable
at the pyramids of Gîzeh and the associated temples, but it is not
confined to them.

The argument in favour of these structures being the work of intruders
is that a perfectly new astronomical idea comes in, one not represented
at Annu and quite out of place in Egypt, with the solstitial rising
river, as the autumnal equinox was at Eridu, with the river rising at
the spring equinox.

We are justified from what is known regarding the rise of the Nile as
dominating and defining the commencement of the Egyptian year at the
solstice, in concluding that other ancient peoples placed under like
conditions would act in the same way; and if these conditions were such
that spring would mean sowing-time and autumn harvest-time, their year
would begin at an equinox.

Now what the valley of the Nile was to Egypt those of the Tigris and
the Euphrates were to the Babylonian empire. Like the Nile, these
valleys were subject to annual inundations, and their fertility
depended, as in Egypt, upon the manner in which the irrigation was
looked after.

But unlike the Nile, the commencement of the inundation of these rivers
took place near the vernal equinox; hence the year, we may assume,
began then, and, reasoning by analogy, the worship in all probability
was equinoctial.

A people entering Egypt from this region, then, would satisfy one
condition of the problem. But is there any evidence that this people
built their solar temples and temple walls east and west, and that they
also built pyramids?

There is ample evidence (referred to in Chapter IX.)--although, alas!
the structures in Babylonia, being generally built in brick and not in
stone, no longer remain, as do those erected in Egypt. Still, in spite
of the absence of the possibility of a comparative study, research has
shown that in the whole region to the north-east of Egypt the temenos
walls of temples and the walls of towns run east and west; and though
at present actual dates cannot be given, a high antiquity is suggested
in the case of some of them. Further, as has been already pointed out,
the temples which remain in that region where stone was procurable, as
at Palmyra, Baalbek, Jerusalem, all lie east and west.

But more than this, it is well known that from the very earliest
times pyramidal structures, called ziggurats, some 150 feet high,
were erected in each important city. These were really observatories;
they were pyramids built in steps, as is clearly shown from pictures
found on contemporary tablets; and one with seven steps and of great
antiquity, it is known, was restored by Nebuchadnezzar II. about 600
B.C. at Babylon.

[Illustration: STATUE OF CHEPHREN, FOUND IN THE TEMPLE NEAR THE
SPHINX.]

A careful study of the historical references to the various pyramids
built in Egypt, leaves it beyond doubt that the step pyramids are the
oldest. They could, then, most easily have been constructed on the
Babylonian model, and in this fact we have an additional argument for
the intrusion of the pyramid builders into Egypt from Babylonia.

But did this equinox-worshipping, pyramid-building race live at
anything like the time required?

There is no doubt now in the minds of scholars that the evidence is
conclusive that among the kings of Babylonia were the following:--[151]

B.C.
Entenna 4200
Naram-Sin 3800
Sargon I. 3750

The date of the earliest known pyramid in Egypt may perhaps be put down
as about 3700 B.C. (Brugsch), or 4200 B.C. (Mariette).

Hence it seems that a third line of evidence is in favour of the
Babylonian intrusion. There was undoubtedly an equinox-worshipping,
pyramid-building race existing in Babylonia at the time the Egyptian
pyramids are supposed to have been built.

Another connecting link is found in the statues of Chephren discovered
in the temple at the pyramids, and at Tel-loh (ancient Lagash) by M.
de Sarzec in 1881. This last find consisted of some large statues of
diorite, and the attitude is nearly identical with that of Chephren
himself as represented in the statues in the museum of Gîzeh.

This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar
tools, in Chaldæa and Egypt about the time in question. Further it
is supposed that the diorite out of which both series of statues
were fashioned came out of the same quarry in Sinai. The characters
in which the inscriptions are written are in what is termed "line"
Babylonian--_i.e._, they resemble pictures more than cuneiform
characters; and the standard of measurement marked upon the plan of
the city, which one of the figures of Tel-loh holds upon his knees,
is the same as the standard of measurement of the Egyptian pyramid
builders--the cubit of 20·63, not the Assyro-Babylonian cubit of
21·6.[152]

Now, although with regard to the cult of the northern stars it was
impossible to decide whether the Egyptian school of astronomers came
from Babylonia or from a source common to both countries, it is clear
that with regard to the equinoctial cult we are limited absolutely to
Babylonia as the special source. The coincidence in time of the same
kind of buildings and the same art in the two countries puts a common
origin out of the question.

To sum up, then, so far as we have gone, both the north-star worship
and the equinoctial worship were imported into Egypt.

CHAPTER XXXV.

THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY (CONTINUED)--THE THEBES SCHOOL.

The next question which arises now that we have considered the facts
relating to the astronomy of Northern Egypt is one connected with the
cults which we have proved to come down the Nile. Were they indigenous
or imported?

Although I have put it forward with all reserve, there is evidence
which suggests that the temples so far traced sacred to the southern
cult are of earlier foundation than those to the north; and they
are associated with Edfû and Philæ, which are known to be of high
antiquity. This is one point of difference. Another is that the almost
entire absence of Set temples and east and west pyramids up the river
indicates that, so far as these structures go, we lack the links which
astronomically and mythologically connect the Delta with Babylonia
either directly or by common origin.

From Prof. Sayce it is to be gathered that the most ancient people yet
glimpsed there inhabited the region at the head of the Persian Gulf,
one of the chief cities being Eridu, now represented by the mounds
of Abu Shahrên on the eastern bank of the Euphrates. It was founded
as a maritime city, but is now far inland, owing to the formation of
the delta, the alluvium of which at the present time advances about
sixty-six feet a year.[153] This alone is an argument in favour of its
high antiquity.

Along with the culture of Eridu went the worship of the god of Eridu,
the primal god of Babylonia, Ea, Ía, or Oannes, symbolised as a
goat-fish, and connected in some way with the sun when in Capricornus.

This, Jensen, by his wonderful analysis (would that I could completely
follow it in its marvellous philological twistings, pages 73-81) puts
beyond question; and he clinches the argument by showing that our
"tropic of Capricorn" of to-day--the goat still represented on our
globes of to-day with a fish's tail!--was called by the Babylonians
"the path followed by Ía" or in relation to Ía.

This Ía was such a great god that to him was assigned the functions of
Maker of Men; he was also a great potter and art workman (p. 293), a
point I shall return to presently. He eventually formed a triad with
Anu and Bīl, that is, the poles of the heavens and the equator.[154]

_The God of Eridu._

Let us assume that the earliest sun-god traced at Eridu was the sun-god
of those early argonauts who founded the colony.

We are told that this god was the son of Ía, and that his name was
Tammuz; he was in some way associated with Asari (? Osiris) (Sayce, p.
144), who, according to Jensen, represented the Earth (p. 195); of the
Moon we apparently hear nothing.

This Tammuz (Dumuzi), we find, ultimately became "the Nergal of
Southern Chaldæa, the sun-god of winter and night, who rules, like
Rhadamanthos, in the lower world" (Sayce, p. 245), and as lord of Hades
he was made son of Mul-lil (Sayce, p. 197).

This was at first. But what do we find afterwards?

Nergal is changed into the Midsummer Sun! (Jensen, p. 484). And
finally he is changed into the Spring Sun Marduk at Babylon (Sayce, p.
144)[155] where he is recognised as the son of Ía and Duazag, that is
the Eastern Mountain (Jensen, p. 237).

Now, however difficult it may be to follow these changes from the
religious point of view, from the astronomical side they are not
only easily explained, but might have been predicted, provided one
hypothesis be permitted, namely, that the colony who founded Eridu were
originally inhabitants of some country where the chief agricultural
operations were carried on about the time of the Autumnal Equinox in
the northern hemisphere.[156]

This country might lie south of the equator, and indeed we find one
which answers the requirements in the region of the great lakes and on
the coast opposite Zanzibar.

Such an hypothesis may at first sight appear strange, but the view
that Eridu was colonised from Cush has been supported by no less an
authority than Lepsius.[157] The boundaries of Cush are not defined,
but they may possibly include the Land of Pun-t, from which certainly
part of the Egyptian culture was derived.

Among all early peoples the most important times of the year must
necessarily have been those connected with seed-time and harvest in
each locality. Now the spring equinox and summer solstice south of the
equator are represented by the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice
to the north of it. If the colonists who came to Eridu came from a
region south of the equator, they would naturally have brought not only
their southern stars, but their southern seasons with them; but their
springtime was the northern autumn, their summer solstice the northern
winter. This could have gone on for a time, and we see that their
sun-god was the god of the winter solstice, Tammuz-Nergal.

But it could only have gone on for a time; the climatic facts were
against such an unnatural system,[158] and the old condition could
have been brought back by calling the new winter summer, or in other
words making the winter-god into the summer sun-god--in short, changing
Nergal into a midsummer sun-god. This it seems they did.[159]

But why the further change of Nergal to Marduk? Because the northern
races were always tending southwards, being pushed from behind, while
the supply of Eridu culture was not being replenished. The religion
and astronomy of the north were continually being strengthened, and
among this astronomy was the cult of the sun at the vernal equinox,
the springtime of the northern hemisphere, sacred to Marduk. Nergal,
therefore, makes another stage onward, and is changed into Marduk!

It is also interesting to find that in Ninib, another sun-god, we
have almost the exact counterpart of the Egyptian Horus. He is the
eastern morning sun, the son of Asari (? Osiris), and the god of
agriculture.[160]

I append here the most recent translation of the hymn to the sun-god,
referred to in the Introduction:--

"O Sun (god)! on the horizon of heaven thou dawnest,
The bolt of the pure heaven thou openest,
The door of heaven thou openest.
O Sun (god)! thou liftest up thy head to the world;
O Sun (god)! thou coverest the earth with the majestic brightness of
heaven."

Marduk, then, the son of Ea, or Ía, was finally as definite a spring
equinox sun-god as Amen-Rā in Egyptian mythology was a summer solstice
sun-god.

We have, then, the undoubted facts that in Southern Babylonia, to
start with, the sun-worship had to do with the winter half of the
year. As the Babylonian culture advanced northward from Eridu and met
the Semitic culture, the winter season was changed for the spring
equinox--that is, a worship identical with that of the pyramid builders
who intruded into Northern Egypt.

_The Myths of Horus and Marduk._

In my references to the myth of Horus in Chapter XIV. I have shown
that in all probability an astronomical meaning is that the rising
sun puts out the northern stars. It was also indicated that the myth
was one of great antiquity, as it was formulated when Draco was
circumpolar; was not simple in its nature, and probably had reference
to a sun-worshipping race abolishing the cult of Set representing the
northern stars.

The facts brought together in subsequent chapters show that if there
were not such a myth, there should have been; for the temple evidence
alone showing the antithesis between Osiris-worship and the worship of
Set is overwhelming.

I have also indicated that temples built to northern stars are
geographically separated from those built to southern ones, and that
the former have had their axes blocked to prevent the worship.

The Horus of Edfû, who is represented as leading the victorious
hosts who revenge the killing of Osiris by Set, is the ally of the
southern-star worshippers whom we have traced from Thebes, possibly
to Central Africa (see page 350); and if we associate the myth with
the records on the walls of the temple of Edfû, and agree to the
possibility of that temple having been founded in 6400 B.C. (see page
311), then there must have been an invasion of the southern peoples
about that date--an invasion which reached Northern Egypt, where
eventually they were conquered by the Set-worshipping race, who came,
as I think I have proved, from a country to the N.E. of the Delta. The
question is: Did this first colony represent the original Hor-Shesu,
so-called specially because perhaps as a novelty they had _added_ the
worship of the sun to the worship of the moon? and was the moon the
first Osiris brought in by moon-worshippers with a year of 360 days?

In Accad and Sumer, where also, according to Hommel and others, the
word Osiris (Asari) has been traced, the sun-god was the daughter of
the moon-god. An eye forms part both of the hieroglyphic and of the
cuneiform name, and the eye was one of the symbols in the name of
Osiris in Egypt. Be this as it may, we have temple evidence to show
that in Egypt the worship of Set was the worship of a northern race,
and that it was finally abolished by a southern one.

Now in Babylonia exactly the opposite happened. The proto-Chaldæan
south-star and winter-sun cult of Eridu was ultimately changed,
absorbed, and buried in the Semitic cult of the northern stars Anu and
Bīl and the spring sun, first Marduk and afterwards Šamaš.

Had there been then myth-makers in Babylonia, the myth would have been
the converse of the Egyptian one. There were myth makers, and precisely
such a myth! It is called the Myth of Marduk and Tiāmat.

The chief change had been in the sun-god. When the northern cult
conquered, the exotic worship of the autumn and winter constellations
was abolished, and they were pictured as destroyed under the form of
Tiāmat, although the worship was once as prominent as that of Set
in Egypt. We have the later developed northern spring-sun Marduk
destroying the evil gods or spirits of winter; and chief among them,
of course, the Goat-fish, which, from its central position, would
represent the winter solstice.

The myth, then, has to do with the fact that the autumn-and
winter-sun-worship of Eridu was conquered by the spring-sun-worship of
the north.

If we accept this, we can compare the Egyptian and Babylonian myths
from the astronomical point of view in the following manner; and a
wonderful difference in the astronomical observations made, as well
as in the form, though not in the basis, of astronomical mythology
in Egypt and in Babylonia is before our eyes. Astronomically in both
countries we are dealing with the dawn preceding sunrise on New Year's
Day, and the accompanying extinction of the stars.

But which stars? In Egypt there is no question that the stars thus
fading were thought of as being chiefly represented by the stars
which never set--that is, the circumpolar ones, and among them the
Hippopotamus chiefly. In Babylonia we have to do with the ecliptic
constellations.

Now I believe that it is generally recognised that Marduk was
relatively a late intruder into the Babylonian pantheon. If he were a
god brought from the north by a conquering race (whether conquering by
craft or _kraft_ does not matter), and his worship replaced that of Ía,
have we not, _mutatis mutandis_, the exact counterpart of the Egyptian
myth of Horus? In the one case we have a southern star-worshipping race
ousting north-star worshippers, in the other a northern equinoctial
sun-worshipping race ousting the cult of the moon and solstitial sun.
In the one case we have Horus, the rising sun of every day, slaying the
Hippopotamus (that is, the modern Draco), the regent of night; in the
other, Marduk, the spring-sun-god, slaying the animals of Tiāmat--that
is apparently the origin of the Scorpion, Capricornus, and Pisces, the
constellations of the winter months, which formed a belt across the sky
from east to west at the vernal equinox.

The above suggested basis of the Babylonian mythology regarding the
demons of Tiāmat, established when the sun was in Taurus at the spring
equinox, enables us to understand clearly the much later (though
similar) imagery employed when the sun at the equinox had passed from
Taurus to Aries--when the Zend Avesta was written, and after the twelve
zodiacal constellations had been established. We find them divided
equally into the kingdoms of Ormazd and Ahriman. Here I quote Dupuis:--

"L'agneau est aux portes de l'empire du bien et de la lumière, et
la balance à celles du mal et des ténèbres; l'un est le premier des
signes supérieurs, et l'autre des signes inférieurs.

"Les six signes supérieurs comprennent les six mille de Dieu, et les
six signes inférieurs les six mille du diable. Le bonheur de l'homme
dure sous les premiers signes, et son malheur commence au septième, et
dure sous les six signes affectés à Ahriman, ou au chef des ténèbres.

"Sous les six signes du règne du bien et la lumière, qui sont agneau,
taureau gémeaux, cancer, lion et vierge ou épi, nous avons marqué les
états variés de l'air et de la terre, qui sont le résultat de l'action
du bon principe. Ainsi on lit sous l'agneau ou sous le premier mille
ces mots, printemps, zephyr, verdure; sous le taureau, sève et fleur;
sous les gémeaux, chaleurs et longs jours; sous le cancer, été, beaux
temps; sous le lion, épis et moissons; et sous la vierge, vendanges.

"En passant à la balance, on trouve les fruits; la commence le règne
du ma aussitôt que l'homme vient à cueillir les pommes. La nature
quitte sa parure; aussi nous avons écrit ces mots, dépouillement de
la nature; sous le scorpion on lit froid; sous le sagittaire, neiges;
sous le capricorne, glace et brouillard, siège des ténèbres et de
longs nuits; sous le verseau, pluies et frimas; sous les poissons,
vents impétueux."

Since the great pyramids were built in the time of the fourth dynasty,
it is quite clear that Eridu must have been founded long before if the
transitions were anything like those I have stated.

_The Argument touching_ η _Argus_.

But there is not only evidence that at Eridu the sun-worship was at
first connected with the winter solstice. It is known that there was
star-worship as well; and there must have been moon-worship too,
judging by the moon-god of the adjacent town of Ur.

Associated with Ía was an Ía-star, which Jensen concludes may be η
Argûs. This we must consider.

Jensen concludes that the Ía-star is η Argûs on the ground that many
of the texts suggest a darkening of it now and again; he very properly
points out that a variability in the star is the only point worth
considering in this connection, and by this argument he is driven to η,
which is one of the most striking variables in the heavens, outshining
Canopus at its maximum. Speaking generally, everybody would agree that
obscuration by clouds, etc., would not be recorded; but if the star
were observed just rising above the southern horizon only, then its
absence, due to such causes, would, I should fancy, be chronicled,
and it must not be forgotten that this is precisely the region where
the Ía star would be observed, if all of the inscriptions referred to
by Jensen are to be satisfied; its place was in "_äussersten Süden_"
(page 153). It was "_das Pendant des im Nordpol des Aequators sitzenden
Himmels-Bi'l_" (page 148); "_Ía's 'Ort' am Himmel liegt im Süden_"
(page 26).

There is another argument. Professor Sayce in his lectures reproduces
(page 437) Mr. George Smith's account of the Temple of Bel derived
from a Babylonian text. The temple was oriented east and west. In a
description of one of the enclosures we read that on the northern side
was a temple of Ía, while on the southern side there was a temple of
Bīl and Anu. This not only shows that Ía was regarded as sacred to
the true south, but that the temple buildings were planned like the
Egyptian ones, the light either from sun or star passing over the heads
of the worshippers in the courts into the temples. (Compare temple M in
the temple of Amen-Rā, page 118 _ante_.)

But η Argûs never rose or set anywhere near the south. I have
ascertained that its declination was approximately 32° S. in 5000 B.C.,
and increased to 42° S. by about 2000 B.C. Hence between these dates
at Eridu its amplitude varied between 38° and 51° S. of E. or W. Now
here we are far away from the S. point, though very near the S.E. or
S.W. point, to which it is stated some of the Babylonian structures had
their sides oriented.

The question arises whether there was a star which answers the other
conditions. _There was a series of such stars._

It may be here mentioned generally that the precessional movement
must, after certain intervals, cause this phenomenon to be repeated
constantly with one star after another.

Beginning with perhaps a sufficiently remote period, we have:--

Achernar 8000 B.C.
Phact 5400 B.C.
Canopus 4700 B.C.

These stars would appear very near the south point of the horizon at
Eridu at the dates stated, and describe a very small arc above it
between rising and setting at certain times of the year.

Now to go a stage further in the study of the Ía--Ea or Eridu--star, it
is desirable to quote the legend concerning Ía or Oannes derived from
Bêrôssos through Alexander Polyhistôr.[161]

"In the first year there appeared in that part of the Erythraean sea
which borders upon Babylonia a creature endowed with reason, by name
Oannes, whose whole body (according to the account of Apollodôros)
was that of a fish; under the fish's head he had another head, with
feet also below similar to those of a man subjoined to the fish's
tail. His voice, too, and language were articulate and human; and a
representation of him is preserved even to this day.

"This being was accustomed to pass the day among men, but took no
food at that season; and he gave them an insight into letters and
sciences and arts of every kind. He taught them to construct houses,
_to found temples_,[162] to compile laws, and explained to them the
principles of geometrical knowledge. He made them distinguish the
seeds of the earth, and showed them how to collect the fruits; in
short, he instructed them in everything which could tend to soften
manners and humanise their lives. From that time nothing material has
been added by way of improvement to his instructions. Now, when the
sun had set, this being Oannes used to retire again into the sea, and
pass the night in the deep, for he was amphibious. After this there
appeared other animals like Oannes."

[Illustration: THE TEMPLES AT PHILÆ.]

It is not necessary to give the string of "other animals" enumerated by
Eusebius, but one of them is important. A companion of Anôdaphas and
Odakôn shows the true reading to have been Anâdakôn--that is, Anu and
Dagon. This other animal, then, clearly refers to the introduction of
the northern Semitic cult, and hence the suggestion is strengthened
that some of the earlier "other animals" who subsequently appeared,
like Ía (? Oannes), may really have been new southern stars making
their appearance in the manner I have shown, and perhaps varying the
cult.

The whole legend is, I think, clearly one relating to men coming from
the south (?) to Eridu in ships. The boat is turned into a "fish-man,"
and the star to which they pointed to show whence they came is made a
god.

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE AT AMADA.]

It is evident the intrusion was from the south, because otherwise
extreme south stars would not have been in question. We have, then, got
so far. The worshippers of the southern star and of the winter months,
including the solstice, were certainly not indigenous at Eridu. They
were probably introduced from the south, and they were sea-borne.

The next question which concerns us is, was this worship in any way
connected with Egypt?

One of the most definite and striking conclusions to which the study
of temples has led, is that in Southern Egypt the temple worship was
limited to southern stars, and, further, that there is a chain of
temples, possibly dating from 6400 B.C., and oriented to Canopus. This
certainly is an argument in favour of a worship similar to that traced
at Eridu.

But is there any trace of Ía or of his son, the sun-god?

This god was, as we have seen, associated in some way with Asari. I am
told that students will probably agree that the connection between this
word and the Egyptian Osiris is absolute. Professor Sayce informs me
that the cuneiform ideograms and the hieroglyphs have the same meaning,
and indicate the same root-words.[163]

Ía was represented as a goat-fish, and was a potter and "maker of men."
This being so, I confess the facts relating to the southern Egyptian
god Chnemu strike me as very suggestive. He is represented goat-headed,
and not ram-headed, as generally stated; he is not only the creator of
mankind, but he is a potter, and he is actually represented at Philæ
as combining these attributes in making man out of clay on a potter's
wheel. Nay, according to Bunsen, he is stated to have formed on his
wheel the divine limbs of Osiris, and is styled the "sculptor of all
men."[164]

I give the following extracts from Lanzoni (p. 956):--

"χ^{NUM.}--χ^{num} [Chnemu] significa 'fabbricatore, modellatore.'
... Questo demiurgo apparisce come una delle più it antiche divinità
dell' Egitto, ed aveva un culto speziale nello Nubia nell' isola di
File di Beghe e di Elephantina.... Esso era il dio delle cataratte,
identificato al dio Nun, il Padre degli dei, il principio Umido.
Il grande testo geografico di Edfu parlando di Elephantina, quale
metropoli del primo Nomo dell' Alto Egitto, ne ricorda la divinità,
come una personificazione dell' Acqua dell' inondazione."

He is also Hormaχu, the god of the universe: The father of the father
of the gods: Creator of heaven, earth, water, and mountains; a local
form of Osiris. His wife was the frog-goddess, Hekt (? Serk-t).

Further, he was also regarded as presiding in some special way over
water,[165] and, unlike Amen-Rā, though like Ía, he has a position
among the gods of the lower world.

A sun-god, with uræus and disk, he is closely associated with Amen-Rā,
and if he were one of the earliest of the South Egyptian gods this
could only be by Amen-Rā being an emanation from him; the temples in
any case do not afford us traces of Amen-Rā before 3700 B.C., and
Chnemu is recognised as one of the oldest gods in Egypt, on the same
platform as Ptah in the North. If we assume a connection with Eridu,
then we are driven to the conclusion that the Eridu culture came either
from Egypt or from a common source.

[Illustration: CHNEMU.]

Here for the present the question must be left. I must be content to
remark that many of the facts point to a common origin south of the
equator. It is clear that if Chnemu were a sun-god of the _Winter_,
brought into Egypt from without, the change to Amen-Rā is precisely
what would have been certain to happen, for in Egypt the Summer
Solstice, over which Amen-Rā presided, was all-important.

_Anthropological Evidence._

It will be seen, then, that a general survey of Egyptian history
does suggest conflicts between two races, and this of course goes to
strengthen the view that the temple-building phenomena suggest two
different worships, depending upon race distinctions.

We have next to ask if there is any anthropological evidence at our
disposal. It so happens that Virchow has directed his attention to this
very point.

Premising that a strong race distinction is recognised between peoples
having brachycephalic or short, and dolichocephalic or long, skulls,
and that the African races belong to the latter group, I may give the
following extract from his paper:--

"The craniological type in the Ancient Empire was different from
that in the middle and new. The skulls from the Ancient Empire are
brachycephalic, those from the new and of the present day are either
dolichocephalic or mesaticephalic; the difference is therefore at least
as great as that between the dolichocephalic skulls of the Frankish
graves and the predominantly brachycephalic skulls of the present
population of South Germany. I do not deny that we have hitherto
had at our disposal only a very limited number of skulls from the
Ancient Empire which have been certainly determined; that therefore
the question whether the brachycephalic skull-type deduced from these
was the general or a least the predominant one cannot yet be answered
with certainty; but I may appeal to the fact that the sculptors of the
Ancient Empire made the brachycephalic type the basis of their works of
art too."

It will be seen, then, that the anthropological as well as the
historical evidence runs on all fours with the results to be obtained
from such a study of the old astronomy as the temples afford us.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH RACES.

It is now time to summarise the evidence concerning the north and south
temple builders, including those who built pyramids as well.

To do this we must deal not only with the buildings, but with the
associated mythology, or, rather, with the astronomical part of the
mythology, for there seems to be very little doubt that in the earliest
times, before knowledge replaced or controlled imagination, everything
was mythologically everything else in turn. It is for this reason that
trusting to genealogies especially seems like building on sand. That
Father-ship and Son-ship in the earliest days were mythologically
something quite different from what the words in their strict sense
imply to-day will be agreed to by everybody; and there is evidence that
many of the absolute contradictions met with, and statements which it
is impossible to reconcile, may all depend upon the point of view from
which the mythological statements were made.

But when astronomy helps us to _the point of view_, the mythological
statements, and even the genealogies, become much clearer and
unmistakable, and contradiction vanishes to a great extent; and it
would seem as if genealogies _en bloc_ were never propounded, hence it
was a commonplace either that a god should be the father of his mother,
or that he should have no father.

Thus, in one sense, Rā is father of all the gods; but in another Ptah
is the creator of the egg of the sun because Capella setting heralded
sunrise at a particular time of the year; and Isis is the _mother_ of
Horus because Phact = α Columbæ, Serk-t = α Centauri, Mut = γ Draconis,
and other stars (Isis) did precisely the same; while in another
connection Isis is the sister of Osiris, and therefore the _mother_
of Horus. But here the relationship depends upon the association of
the moon and warning star in the morning sky. I only offer these as
suggestions; similar variations might be multiplied _ad nauseam_.

But while all this proves that genealogies may be manufactured without
either end or utility, we gather that the association of mythological
personages with definite astronomical bodies may in time be of great
help in such inquiries, and ultimately enable us to raise the veil of
mystery by which these old ideas have of set purpose, and partly by
these means, been hidden.

There seems no doubt that we have got definite evidence that the very
oldest mythological personages were closely connected either with the
sun at some special time of the year, with the moon, or with the rising
and setting of some star or another. Hence we ought to be able from the
temple evidence to classify the northern and southern gods.

_Northern Gods and Goddesses._

GOD. GODDESS.
Ptah = Capella, April sun (1) Bast-Isis = α Ursæ Majoris.
Anubis = Northern constellations. Taurt-Isis = {α Ursæ Majoris.
{γ Draconis.
{Min:
{Khem = May Sun (2). Menat-Isis Spica.
Autumn Sun Serk-t-Isis Antares.
Spring Sun Nit-Isis Pleiades.

_Southern Gods and Goddesses._

Osiris = Moon-god.
Chnemu = Sun-god, autumnal equinox.
Khonsu = Canopus, autumnal equinox, warner.
West horizon
followed by Serk-t = α Centauri
east horizon.
Amen-Rā A combined north and Teχi-Isis } Phact (1)
south god, established Amen-t-Isis } Sirius (2)
about 3700 B.C. Hathor-Isis }

The establishment of Amen-Rā gives us a fair indication of the changes
which must have taken place among the early civilisations when the
beginning of the year was altered. There can be no doubt, I think,
that Chnemu was the first Sun-god of Southern Egypt; the cryosphinxes
at Thebes are alone sufficient to prove it;[166] and if so, then the
southern people must have come from a region where the autumnal equinox
marked the most important time of the year for their agricultural
operations. And this year had eventually to give way, as we know it
did, about 3700 B.C., for one beginning at the summer solstice.

In the above list I have indicated Osiris as a Moon-god. Many
inscriptions might be quoted similar to the following one:--

"Salute a te, Hesiri, il signore dell' eternità. Quando tu sei in
Cielo, tu apparisci come sole, et tu rinnuovi la tua forma comme
Luna."[167]

It has also to be borne in mind that the complicated head-dress,
including the goat's horns, is represented in connection with Thoth
Chnemu and Osiris.[168]

Later he was unquestionably a sun-god, but this would be certain to
happen if the southern intruders worshipped the moon in the first line.

Further, if in later times he represented both sun and moon, as he
certainly did, it is not probable that he did so from the beginning.
All the special symbolism refers to him as a Moon-god; he is certainly
a Moon-god in the myth of Isis and Osiris, for he was cut into fourteen
pieces, the number of days of the waning moon.

Now, we can easily understand an evolution beginning with a Moon-god
and ending with a Sun-god. But the contrary is almost unthinkable;
besides, we know that in Egypt it did not happen; the solar attributes
got hardened as time went on. The calendar evidence, as we have
seen, in relation to the original year of 360 days is in favour of
Moon-worship, and therefore of a Moon-god in the earliest times.

Further, if we accept this, the myth of Horus becomes a complete
historical statement, of which parts have already been shown to refer
to astronomical facts past all dispute. It is well here to give
Naville's remarks upon it. It will be seen that they strengthen my
view.[169]

"La 363^{me} année de son règne, le dieu part avec son fils pour
l'Égypte. Voilà donc une date précise de l'un de ces rois qui, selon
les traditions égyptiennes, avaient occupé le trône de l'Égypte avant
les souverains indigènes. Cette année-là, Horhut chassé Typhon de
l'Égypte, et s'établit en roi sur tout le pays. Cela concorderait donc
avec ce que nous disent Manéthon et Eusèbe, que, dans la première
dynastie des dieux, Typhon précéda immédiatement Horus. La succession
se serait faite par droit de conquête.

"Horus a avec lui des compagnons qui sont nommés partout ses suivants:
les Schesou Hor. M. de Rougé a déjà fait remarquer que, dans plusieurs
inscriptions, ces hommes sont considérés comme les habitants primitifs
de l'Égypte, les contemporains des dynasties divines. Ce sont ces
Mesennou dont il a déjà été question dans la série précédente. Le
rôle qu'ils jouent dans ce récit montre, plus clairement encore, que
l'époque dont il s'agit est la fin des temps mythologiques auxquels
Ména devait succéder. C'est une tradition relative aux événements qui
ne doivent avoir précédé que de peu les temps historiques.

"Horhut monte dans la barque de son père, qui le suit pendant toute
l'expédition, et lui donné son appui et ses conseils. Les dieux
poursuivent Typhon tout le long du fleuve; Horhut livre plusieurs
batailles dans des lieux qui recevront des noms propres à rappeler
ses exploits, et qui seront plus particulièrement voués à son culte.
C'est à Edfon qu'ont lieu les premiers combats, puis dans le 16^{me}
nome de la Haute-Égypte. Le nome de Mert, celui du Fayoum et du lac
Moeris, est le théâtre de plusieurs épisodes de la lutte. C'est dans
la ville de Sutenchenen, appelée ici Nanrutef, un sanctuaire important
d'Osiris, que s'établissent les Schesou Hor. Enfin, lorsque Set a été
chassé du nome de Chent-ab, le 14^{me} de la Basse-Égypte, le pays est
délivré, et la royauté est assurée à Horhut. Son père, qui, à chaque
nouvelle victoire, lui a décerné quelque honneur special, lui accorde
d'être représenté sous la formé du disque ailé, ou du scarabée, sur
tous les temples de la Haute et de la Basse-Égypte. Horus devient le
seigneur des deux régions, s'assied dans un sanctuaire ou il est adoré
comme Horchuti, avec qui il finit par se confondre.

"Telle est cette seconde légende, bien mieux caractérisée que la
première, car elle est rattachée à des localités connues et à une
époque déterminée. Elle me semble même assez claire pour qu'on puisse
y voir une tradition, qui aurait à sa base un fait historique. Set
est un dieu bien connu dans l'histoire d'Égypte; c'est le dieu
des ennemis, et particulièrement des populations sémitiques, qui
conquirent une fois le pays et le mirent souvent en danger. Si nous
considérons qu'il est chassé par Horus, le dieu qui lui a succédé dans
la royauté, et par les habitants primitifs du pays à un moment donné
des annales divines, n'est-il pas naturel d'expliquer ce mythe par une
guerre entre les Égyptiens venus de Nubie, et les Sémites qui auraient
été chassés du pays; soit que cette guerre soit plus ancienne que les
temps historiques, soit que, venue plus tard, elle ait passé dans le
domaine de l'histoire légendaire? Les textes relatifs aux dynasties
divines sont encore trop rares pour que nous puissions pousser
très-loin ces recherches. Le temple d'Edfou nous fournira peut-être un
jour de nouvelles indications sur ces époques préhistoriques, et sur
l'origine si mysterieuse de la civilisation de l'Égypte."

[Illustration: THE WINGED SOLAR DISK.]

In another passage Naville remarks:

"Typhon n'est pas simplement le dieu du mal, l'adversaire personnel
d'Osiris, c'est un souverain qui occupe avec ses alliés la plus grande
partie de l'Égypte depuis Edfou jusqu'a l'Orient du Delta."[170]

It was suggested (page 154) that Horus slaying Set represented by a
hippopotamus was a reference to a time antecedent to 5000 B.C., when
the constellation of Draco was circumpolar; and we now learn from
Chapter XXXII. that Set represented the Northern-Star worship brought
in from the N.E.

Horus, then, represented a conquering force coming from the South.

He was recognised as a Southern god. Naville remarks:

"Horchuti est par excellence le dieu de la Nubie; c'est à lui que sont
consacrés plusieurs des temples pharaoniques qui existent le long du
Nil entre Ouadi-Halfa et Philæ."[171]

But this is not all. The sequence of the Divine Dynasties is as
follows, according to Maspero:--[172]

Atmu.
Rā
Shou
Sibou [Seb]
Osiris
Set
Horus

Neglecting the first four, we find Osiris preceding Set, and are driven
to the conclusion that in Osiris, in this connection, we are dealing
with the Moon, for the Sun-gods Atmu and Rā head the list. Besides, the
worship of Set did not kill the worship of the _Sun_, for the power of
Rā finally became paramount.

We must hold, then, that the Southern Sun-god Horus, the son of Osiris,
was the son of a Moon-god, and it becomes necessary to inquire if such
an idea occurred to other early peoples. Professor Sayce[173] tells
us--

"According to the official religion of Chaldæa, the Sun-god was the
offspring of the Moon-god," and he adds, "Such a belief could have
arisen only where the Moon-god was the supreme object of worship....
To the Semite the Sun-god was the lord and father of the gods."[174]

If we, then, with this precedent, are prepared to take Osiris as the
Moon-god of the Southern race, there is no doubt that the first Sun-god
was Chnemu, and the first Southern Star-god--the star which heralded
sunrise at the Autumnal Equinox--Khonsu (Canopus). Thoth also must
be named, for it is certain that the Calendar which he leads was of
Southern origin, because New Year's Day at the Summer Solstice was
heralded first by Phact and afterwards by Sirius, both Southern stars.

There is likewise ample temple evidence to show that the Autumnal
Equinoctial Sun was also heralded, and in even earlier times, first
by Canopus and next by α Centauri, and it becomes a question whether
the original moon-calendar of Thoth did not refer to a year beginning
at the Autumnal Equinox. This is a suggestion resulting from later
inquiries, and hence I have not referred to it in the chapters on the
year.

And here, perhaps, in their dependence upon the Moon-god Osiris, we
find the real reason that Khonsu and Thoth have lunar instead of solar
emblems; Thoth led the initial lunar year, Khonsu only heralded the
advent of the son of the Moon.

If this be so, before the foundation of the temple of Annu by "la
grande tribu des Anou,"[175] the Southern (originally Moon-worshipping)
race had already made its appearance in force in Northern Egypt,
otherwise the divine dynasties would not have included Osiris; we need
not be astonished that the temple evidence has disappeared there. The
most northern ancient temple of Osiris was at Abydos; that also has
gone, while those at Philæ and Edfû remain, the latter, at some time
subsequent to its original foundation, dedicated to a _female_ Horus.

These things being presumed, we can now bring together in a working
hypothesis the temple evidence so far as it bears upon the mythology
and interaction of the North-and South-Star worshippers.

Date B.C.
Osiris}
6400 A swarm from the south with Thoth } Moon Gods.
Khonsu}
Chnemu (Sun God).
come down the River.
They find a population worshipping Rā and Atmu. Possibly they
were merely worshippers of the dawn and twilight.
The Moon worship is accepted as an addition, and _the divine
dynasty of Osiris_ begins.
The swarm brings a lunar year of 360 days with it, and the
Egyptian Calendar beginning I. Thoth commences.
They build temples at Amada, Semneh, Philæ, Edfû, and probably
Abydos. All these were probably Osiris temples, so called
because Osiris, the Moon-god, was the chief deity, and they
were used for the determination of the Sun's place at the
Autumnal Equinox, at which time their lunar year probably
began.
5400 A swarm, or swarms, from the N.E. One certainly comes by the
Red Sea, and founds temples at Redisieh and Denderah;
another may have come over the isthmus and founded Annu.
They bring the worship of _Anu_.[176]
The _Divine dynasty_ of Set is founded, and we can imagine
religious strifes between the partisans of the new northern
cult and the southern moon-worshippers.
These people might have come either from North Babylonia, or
other swarms of the same race may have invaded North
Babylonia at the same time.
±5000 [This date is fixed by Hippopotamus not being circumpolar after
it. It might have been much earlier, but not much later.]
Horus with his "blacksmiths" comes down the river to revenge his
"father Osiris" by killing his murderer Set (the
Hippopotamus). The 6400 B.C. people, who came from the
South, had been worsted by the last (5400 B.C.) swarm from
the N.E., and have sent for southern assistance.
The South people by this time had become Sun-worshippers, and
"Osiris" now means Sun as well as Moon.
The N.E. people are beaten, and there is an amalgamation of the
_Original_ and Southern cults. The N.E. people are reduced
to second place, but Set is retained, and _Anubis_ looks
after sepulchres, soon to be replaced by Osiris as Southern
priestcraft prevails. The priestly headquarters now are at
Annu and Abydos. At the former place we have an amalgamated
cult representing Sun and N. Star gods. At Abydos Osiris
(changed into a Sun-God) is supreme.

[Sidenote: Pyramid Times
[Mariette 4200,
Brugsch 3700.]]

Another Swarm from N.E., certainly from Babylonia this time,
and apparently by isthmus only, since no E.-W. temples are
found on Red Sea roads.
They no longer bring Anu alone. There is a Spring Equinox
Sun-God.

3700 Southern people at Barkal and Thebes in force; temple-building
on a large scale. Chnemu begins to give place to Amen-Rā.
Still more blending between _original_ and Southern peoples.

3500 Final blending of North and South cults at Thebes. Temples
founded there to Set and Min, on the lines of Annu and An.

3200 Establishment of worship of Amen-Rā at Thebes. Supremacy of
Theban priests.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

THE EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS.

I have already, in Chapter XXXII., pointed out that at Annu we seemed
limited to Set as a stellar divinity; so soon as pyramid times are
reached, however, this was changed, and we found the list of the
gods increased, and the worship of the sun and of stars in the
constellations of the Bull and Scorpion went on, if it was not begun,
in Egypt, in pyramid times. These constellations were connected with
the equinoxes; and associated with the introduction of these new
worships in pyramid times was the worship of the bull Apis.

The first question which now arises is, When were any ecliptic
constellations established in Babylonia? and next, Which were they?

Jensen, in his "Kosmologie der Babylonier," tells us that there is some
very definite information relating not only to Taurus and Scorpio, but
to Capricornus and other winter constellations; and, as in Egypt so in
Babylonia, for the first references to the constellations we have to
refer to the religion and the mythology.

So far as I have been able to gather, any myth like the Egyptian myth
of Horus, involving combats between the sun and circumpolar star gods,
is entirely lacking in Babylonia, but a similar myth in relation to
some of the ecliptic constellations is among the best known. Jensen
shows that the first notions of the Babylonian constellations are to be
got by studying the sun-gods, and especially the mythic war between the
later sun-god Marduk and the monster Tiāmat.

I have already referred to Marduk; he is the Spring Sun-God, and it
has also been stated that the greatest god of ancient Babylonia, Ía of
Eridu, was connected with the constellation of Capricornus.

Marduk represented the constellation of the Bull. Here I quote
Jensen:--[177]

"It has already been suggested that the Bull is a symbol of the
Spring-Sun _Marduk_; that he was originally complete; that he at one
time extended as far as the Fish of _Ía_, _i.e._ the western Fish;
that the Fish of _Ía_, out of which the sun emerged at the end of the
year in ancient times to enter Taurus, is to represent _Ía_, the God
of the Ocean, out of which his son _Marduk_, the early sun, rises
daily; finally, that a series of constellations west of the Fish(es) is
intended to represent symbolically this same ocean. _Marduk_ is on the
one hand, as early sun of the day (and the year), the son of _Ía_, the
god of the world-water."

As to the sun-god Marduk, then, he represents the sun at the vernal
equinox, when the sunrise was heralded by the stars in the Bull.

But what, then, are the fish of _Ía_ and the other constellations
referred to? They are all revealed to us by the myth. They are the
Southern ecliptic constellations.

_Tiāmat._

Tiāmat, according to Jensen, means initially the Eastern Sea (p. 307).
This was expanded to mean the "Weltwasser" (p. 315), which may be taken
to mean, I suppose, the origin of the Greek ὠκεανὸς, and possibly
the overlying firmament of waters. These firmamental waters contain
the southerly ecliptic constellations, the winter and bad-weather
signs--the Scorpion, the Goat-fish, and the Fish among them.

It must be pointed out that these southerly constellations were
associated with the God of Eridu _in his first stage_.

_The Constellations referred to in the Myth of Marduk and Tiāmat._

We are indebted to the myth, then, for the knowledge that when it was
invented, not only the constellations Bull and Scorpion, but also the
Goat and Fishes had been established in Babylonia.

This argument is strengthened by the following considerations suggested
by Jensen:--

"We look in vain among the retinue of Tiāmat for an animal
corresponding to the constellations of the zodiac to the east of
the vernal equinox. This cannot be accidental. If, therefore, we
contended that the cosmogonic legends of the Babylonians stood in
close relationship to the phenomena of sunrise on the one hand and
the entrance of the sun into the vernal equinox on the other--that,
in fact, the creation legends in general reflect these events--there
could not be a more convincing proof of our view than the fact just
mentioned. The three monsters of Tiāmat, which _Marduk_ overcomes, are
located in the 'water-region' of the heavens, which the Spring-Sun
_Marduk_ 'overcomes' before entering the (ancient) Bull. If, as cannot
be doubted, the signs of the zodiac are to be regarded as symbols, and
especially if a monster like the goat-fish, whose form it is difficult
to recognise in the corresponding constellation, can only be regarded
as a symbol, then we may assume without hesitation that at the time
when the Scorpion, the Goat-Fish, and the Fish were located as signs of
the zodiac in the water-region of the sky, they already played their
parts as the animals of Tiāmat in the creation legends. Of course
they were not taken out of a complete story and placed in the sky, but
conceptions of a more general kind gave the first occasion. It does
not follow that all the ancient myths now known to us must have been
available, but certainly the root-stock of them, perhaps in the form of
unsystematic and unconnected single stories and concepts."

There is still further evidence for the constellation of the Scorpion.

"A Scorpion-Man plays also another part in the cosmology of the
Babylonians. The Scorpion-Man and his wife guard the gate leading to
the Māšu mountain(s), and watch the sun at rising and setting. Their
upper part reaches to the sky, and their _irtu_ (breast?) to the lower
regions (Epic of Gistubar 60, 9). After Gistubar has traversed the Māšu
Mountain, he reaches the sea. This sea lies to the east or south-east.
However obscure these conceptions may be, and however they may render a
general idea impossible, one thing is clear, that the Scorpion-Men are
to be imagined at the boundary between land and sea, upper and lower
world, and in such a way that the upper or human portion belongs to the
upper region, and the lower, the Scorpion body, to the lower. Hence
the Scorpion-Man represents the boundary between light and darkness,
between the firm land and the water region of the world. _Marduk_,
the god of light, and vanquisher of Tiāmat, _i.e._ the ocean, has for
a symbol the Bull = Taurus, into which he entered in spring. This
leads almost necessarily to the supposition that both the Bull and
the Scorpion were located in the heavens at a time when the sun had
its vernal equinox in Taurus and its autumnal equinox in Scorpio, and
that in their principal parts or most conspicuous star groups; hence
probably in the vicinity of Aldebaran and Antares, or at an epoch when
the principal parts of Taurus and Scorpio appeared before the sun at
the equinoxes."

If my suggestion be admitted that the Babylonians dealt not with the
daily fight but with the yearly fight between light and darkness--that
is, the antithesis between day and night was expanded into the
antithesis between the summer and the winter halves of the year--then
it is clear that at the vernal equinox Scorpio setting in the west
would be watching the sunrise; at the autumnal equinox rising in the
east, it would be watching the sunset; one part would be visible in
the sky, the other would be below the horizon in the celestial waters.
If this be so, all obscurity disappears, and we have merely a very
beautiful statement of a fact, from which we learn that the time to
which the fact applied was about 3000 B.C., if the sun were then near
the Pleiades.

Jensen, in the above-quoted passage by implication, and in a subsequent
one directly, suggests that not all the zodiacal constellations were
established at the same time. The Babylonians apparently began with
the easier problem of having six constellations instead of twelve. For
instance, we have already found that to complete the present number,
between

Scorpio Capricornus Pisces

we must interpolate

Sagittarius Aquarius.

Aries and Libra seem also to be late additions according to Jensen, who
writes:--

"We have already above (p. 90) attempted to explain the striking
phenomenon that the Bull and Pegasus, both with half-bodies only,
ἡμίτομοι, enclose the Ram between them, by the assumption that the
latter was interposed later, when the sun at the time of the vernal
equinox was in the hind parts of the Bull, so that this point was
no longer sufficiently marked in the sky. Another matter susceptible
of a like explanation may be noted in the region of the sky opposite
to the Ram and the Bull. Although we cannot doubt the existence of
an eastern balance, still, as already remarked (p. 68), the Greeks
have often called it χηλαὶ 'claws' (of the Scorpion), and according
to what has been said above (p. 312), the sign for a constellation
in the neighbourhood of our Libra reads in the Arsacid inscription
'claw(s)' of the Scorpion. These facts are very simply explained on the
supposition that the Scorpion originally extended into the region of
the Balance, and that originally α and β Libræ represented the 'horns'
of the Scorpion, but later on, when the autumnal equinox coincided with
them, the term Balance was applied to them. Although this was used as
an additional name, it was only natural that the old term should still
be used as an equivalent. But it also indicates the great age of a
portion of the zodiac."

Let us suppose that what happened in the case of Aries and Libra
happened with six constellations out of the twelve: _in other words,
that the original zodiac consisted only of six constellations_.

Taurus
_Gemini_
Crab
(or Tortoise)
_Lion_
Virgin
(or ear of corn)
_Libra_
Scorpion
_Sagittarius_
Capricornus
_Aquarius_
Pisces
_Aries_

The left-hand list not only classifies in an unbroken manner
the Fish-Man, the Goat-Fish, the Scorpion-Man, and Marduk of the
Babylonians, but we pick up all or nearly all of the ecliptic stars
or constellations met with in early Egyptian mythology, Apis, The
Tortoise,[178] Min, Serk-t, Chnemu, as represented by appropriate
symbols.

Further, the remarkable suppression or small representation of the
Lion in both the more ancient Babylonian and Egyptian mythology is
explained. I have shown before how the Babylonians with an equinoctial
year would take slight account of the solstice, while it also follows
that the Egyptians, who were wise enough not to use zodiacal stars for
their warnings of sunrise, for the reason that stars in the brighter
light of dawn near the sun are more difficult to see, might easily
neglect the constellation of the Lion, as first Phact and then Sirius,
both southern stars, marked for them the advent of the summer solstice;
on different grounds, then, the Lion might well have been at first
omitted in both countries.

Since there is a doubt as to the existence of the Lion among the first
Babylonian constellations, the argument in the following paragraph
would appear to refer to observations made at a later time, when
totemism was less prevalent:--

"The Lion in the heavens must represent the heat of the summer. He
does this most effectually when the summer solstice coincides with
the constellation--that is, when its principal stars appear before
the sun at the summer solstice. This happened at the time when the
vernal equinox lay in Taurus, and when the principal star-group of
the Bull appeared before the sun at the time of the vernal equinox.
The Water-jug (Amphora), Aquarius, must represent symbolically the
watery season of winter. It does this most effectually when the winter
solstice coincides with it, or its principal star-group appears before
the sun at the winter solstice. This happened about the time when the
vernal equinox lay in Taurus, and its principal star-group rose before
the sun at the time of the vernal equinox."

Thanks to Jensen's researches, then, we have the important conclusion
before us that the Babylonians, as well as the Egyptians, in early
times symbolised the following constellations:--

Taurus Bull.
Cancer Tortoise.
Virgo Ear of corn or other product representing fertility.
Scorpio Scorpion.
Capricornus Goat-man or goat-fish.
Pisces Fish-man.

But what time was this?

We have seen that in Egypt the Bull constellation had been established
possibly in the time of Mena, and that certainly both the Bull and the
Scorpion had been established in pyramid times.

I have also given evidence to show that the E. and W. pyramid worship
was brought from Babylonia. Now, about this date we know that Sargon
I. was king of that country, and reigned at Accad or Agade, lat. 33°
N., on the right bank of the Euphrates, Sippara being across the river.
Here it may be mentioned that the latitudes of Eridu and Babylon are
31° N. and 32½° N. respectively, so that Agade was to the north of
both.

Although the worship of Marduk--that is, the vernal equinox
Sun-god--in Babylon was much intensified when Khammurabi reigned about
2200 B.C., it is known that it existed long before; how long I cannot
find. It is also very remarkable that the deities of Eridu, whenever
that city was pre-eminent, were guarded by sacred bulls. We must
leave it undetermined, therefore, at what date the Bull sun-god was
established; but it seems certain, on the above grounds, that it must
have been before pyramid times.

But we are not limited to the above line of evidence. There are
astronomical considerations which will help us. For the purpose of
noting the validity of the argument based upon them, a slight reference
is necessary to the change of the equinoctial point along the ecliptic.

By the processional movement, the position of the sun in the ecliptic
at an equinox or solstice sweeps round the ecliptic in about 25,000
years. Now if we suppose twelve ecliptic constellations of equal
size--that is, 30° long (30° × 12 = 360°)--the time it would take the
sun's place at the vernal equinox to pass through one constellation
would be (25000∕12 =) 2083 years. If the constellation of the Bull were
twice as long formerly as it is now (when the constellations are twice
as numerous), of course this period would be doubled.

So that the statement that the sun at the equinox was in the Bull does
not help us very much to an actual date, and the constellation of the
Lion could have been established 2000 years after the Bull, and yet
have marked the summer solstice.

Further, if all the stars of the Bull (speaking generally) are seen
at dawn--that is, before the sun rises--the sun has not yet reached
the Bull. We can then, at all events, fix a minimum of time. The sun's
longitude at the vernal equinox being always 0, the longitude of the
most easterly part of the constellation, assuming this part not to
have been changed, will give us the number of years that have elapsed.

I now go on to state Jensen's view as to the date of the introduction
of the god Marduk into Babylonian mythology, or, in other words, of the
worship of the spring-tide sun.

Jensen remarks:--

"It may safely be assumed that the constellations of the Scorpion and
the Bull actually originated at the latest at a time when the autumnal
and vernal equinoctial points respectively coincided with their
principal stars. But this was the case more than 4900 years ago. But
if we assume that Taurus and Scorpio were given their names at a time
when their main stars rose before the sun at the time of the vernal and
autumnal equinoxes respectively, we should obtain as the date of the
establishment of the constellations of Taurus and Scorpio in the skies
about the year-5000.[179] According to Dr. Tetens, the sun stood at the
tips of the horns of the Bull at the commencement of spring 6000 years
ago. At this time, therefore, Taurus had completely risen above the
eastern horizon at sunrise.

"Since it is not inconceivable that in the delineation of the first
signs of the zodiac a name was attached to a constellation of the
ecliptic emerging from behind the sun, and apparently more or less
connected, the name being such as to indicate symbolically the
beginning of the spring then occurring, the time, about 1400 B.C.,
might also be that of the introduction of the Bull (and the Scorpion).
But it is, of course, not necessary that this should have occurred at
one of the three epochs mentioned; this is, indeed, highly improbable,
and the process must be regarded as follows: When the idea was
conceived of indicating symbolically the beginning of spring in the
sky--whether the idea originated in the brains of the masses or in
that of a learned scholar, whether it had a mythological or a more
scientific basis--a name was given in the first instance to the region
in which the sun was at the beginning of spring, or to that west of
it, the name denoting symbolically the beginning of spring. This, of
course, does not exclude the possibility that more eastward portions of
the ecliptic, whose stars were less prominent, were included in this
name. From this we may conclude that Taurus did not originate later
than-3000, for at that time Aldebaran, its principal star, stood east
of the sun at the beginning of spring. Hence it would follow that our
creation legends are, at least in part, just as old."[180]

It may, then, be gathered from the above that the constellations of the
Bull and the Scorpion were recognised as such at the same early date
both in Babylonia and Egypt; and to these we may add the Tortoise (our
present Cancer) and some of the southern constellations. Further, that
the date of their establishment was certainly not later than, say, 4000
B.C., and probably much earlier.

With regard to the complete ecliptic, the information seems meagre
both from Babylonia and from Egypt in early times. I have already
referred to the Egyptian decans, that is, the lists of stars rising
at intervals of ten days. The lists will be found in Lepsius and in
Brugsch's "Astronomische und Astrologische Inschriften," but the stars
have not been made out. In later times in Babylonia--say 1000 B.C.--the
following list represents the results of Jensen's investigations:--

(1) Perhaps Aries (= "leading sheep").

(2) A "Bull (of the Heavens)" = Aldebaran or (and) = our Taurus.

(3) Gemini.

(4)?

(5) Perhaps Leo.

(6) The constellation of the "Corn in Ears" = the Ear of Corn. [Spica.]

(7) Probably Libra, whose stars are, however, at least in general,
called "The Claw(s)" (_i.e._, of the Scorpion).

(8) The Scorpion.

(9) Perhaps Sagittarius.

(10) The "Goat-fish" = Caper.

(11)?

(12) The "Fish" with the "Fish band."

A few hundred years later, we learn from the works of Strassmeyer and
Epping, a complete chain of twenty-eight stars along the ecliptic had
been established, and most careful observations made of the paths of
the moon and planets, and of all attendant phenomena. The ecliptic
stars then used in Babylonia were as follows:--[181]

1. η Piscium.
2. β Arietis.
3. α Arietis.
4. η Tauri.
5. α Tauri.
6. β Tauri.
7. ζ Tauri.
8. η Geminorum.
9. μ Geminorum.
10. γ Geminorum.
11. α Geminorum.
12. β Geminorum.
13. δ Cancri.
14. η Leonis.
15. α Leonis.
16. ρ Leonis.
17. β Leonis.
18. β Virginis.
19. γ Virginis.
20. α Virginis.
21. α Libræ.
22. β Libræ
23. δ Scorpionis.
24. α Scorpionis.
25. δ Ophiuchi.
26. α Capricorni.
27. γ Capricorni.
28. η Capricorni.

In Egypt, dating from the twentieth dynasty (1100 B.C.), is a series
of star tables which have puzzled Egyptologists from Champollion and
Biot downwards. These observations are recorded in several manuscripts
found in tombs; they seem to have been given as a sort of charm to the
people who were buried, in order to enable them to get through the
difficulties of the way in the nether world.

The hieroglyphs state that a particular star of a particular Egyptian
constellation is seen at a particular hour of the night. We have twelve
lines representing the twelve hours of the night, and it is stated that
we have in these vertical lines the equivalent of the lines in our
transit instruments, and that the reference "in the middle," "over the
right eye," "over the right shoulder," or "over the left ear," as the
case may be, is simply a reference to the position of the star.

Were this confirmed, one of the remarkable things about the inquiry
would be that the Egyptians did not hesitate in those days to make a
constellation cover very nearly 90° of right ascension, showing that
they wished to have as few constellations, including as many stars, as
possible. But the best authorities all agree that these are tables of
stars rising at different hours of the night, and a small constellation
near the pole might have taken many hours to rise.

The observations were made on the 1st and 16th of every month. The
chief stars seem to be twenty-four in number, and it looked at first as
if we had really here a list of priceless value of twenty-four either
ecliptic or equatorial stars, similar to the decans to which reference
has already been made.

Unfortunately, however, the list has resisted all efforts to
completely understand it. Whether it is a list of risings or meridian
passages even is still in dispute. Quite recently, indeed, one of
the investigators, Herr Gustav Bilfinger,[182] has not hesitated to
consider it not a list of observations at all, but a compilation for a
special purpose.

"The star-table is intended to carry the principle of time into the
rigid world of the grave, and represents over the sepulchral vault
'the eternal horizon,' as the ancient Egyptians so aptly styled the
grave, an imitation of the sky, a compensation for the sky of the upper
world with its time-measuring motion; yet the idea here is bolder,
the execution is more artificial and complicated, since the sculptor
endeavoured to combine the daily and the annual motion of the celestial
vault in _one_ picture; wanted to transfer into the grave the temporal
frames in which all human life is enacted. This endeavour to represent
by one configuration both motions and both chronological units explains
all the peculiarities and imperfections of our star-table.

"The simplest means of representing both motions was found in the
stars, which circle the earth in the course of a day, and indicate the
year by the successive appearance of new stars in the morning twilight.
If the same stars were to serve both purposes in one representation,
it was necessary to take twenty-four stars which rose at intervals
of fifteen days, since only such followed each other at an average
distance of 15°, and were therefore useful for showing the hours.

"If the calendar-maker really possessed a list of the twenty-four
principal (zodiacal) stars, the course of the year was indicated
thereby; but since he also wanted to represent the daily motion, he
might with some justice have composed each night out of eleven of
these stars, since the stars' risings are only visible during the ten
middle hours of the night. But ten hours would not have adequately
represented the night, since this was thought of as a twelve hours'
interval.

"There was a way out of it--viz., to call hora 0 'sunset,' hora 12
'sunrise,' which would have been a simple and correct solution if the
division of the night into twelve parts for practical purposes had been
aimed at. But this expedient he could not adopt, because he could or
would only operate with stars, and the notions of sunrise and sunset
found no place in his tables. Thus he was forced to _falsify_ the
customary division of the hours, by squeezing the twelve hours of the
night into the time during which star risings are visible--viz., the
dark night exclusive of twilight. On the other hand, he could not, with
his principal stars at intervals of 15°, divide his night, shortened
as it was by two hours, into twelve parts, and thus he was obliged to
make use of two or three auxiliary stars, as we have proved in detail
above, and thus yet more to disfigure the hour-division, since thereby
the lengths of the hours were made very variable. These are then two
things which we must not regard as peculiarities of ancient Egyptian
reckoning, but as a consequence of the leading idea of our table, which
did not intend to facilitate the division of the night into twelve
parts by star observations, but was calculated, by the connection of
thirteen stars with thirteen successive moments, to create the idea of
the circling host of stars and thence the course of the night."

I give an abstract of the list of the twenty-four principal stars and
the Egyptian constellations in which they occur:--

1. Sahu = Orion.
2. Sothis = Sirius.
3. The two stars.
4. The stars of the water.
5. The lion.
6. The many stars.
7. Mena's herald.
8. Mena.
9. Mena's followers.
10. }
11. }
12. } Hippopotamus.
13. }
14. }
15.}
16.}
17.} Necht.
18.}
19.}
20.}
21. Ari.
22.}
23.} Goose.
24. Sahu = Head of Orion.

It will be seen that even this Egyptian star-list is very
indeterminate. It is known that Sahu is the name for the constellation
of Orion. The hippopotamus represents Draco, and probably Necht another
northern constellation. There are indications, too, that Mena may
symbolise Spica, with which star we have seen Min-worship associated.
Further than this the authorities do not venture at present to go.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT UPON TEMPLE-ORIENTATION IN GREECE.

In the final pages of this book I have to show that recent
investigations have put beyond all doubt the fact that the astronomical
observations and temple-worship of the Egyptians formed the basis first
of Greek and later of Latin temple-building.

I have indicated in a former chapter that in our own days, and in our
own land, the idea of orientation which I have endeavoured to work out
for Egypt still holds its own. It was more than probable, therefore,
that we should find the intermediate stages in those countries whither
by universal consent Egyptian ideas percolated. Among these, Greece
holds the first place, as it was the nearest point of Europe to the
Nile Valley.

Before we study the orientation of the Greek temples, let us endeavour
to realise the conditions of those Greek colonists who, filled with the
Egyptian learning; impressed with the massive and glorious temples in
which they had worshipped; favoured, perchance, moreover, with glimpses
of the esoteric ideas of the priesthood; and finally, fired with Greek
ideals of the beautiful, determined that their new land should not
remain altarless.

What would they do? They would naturally adapt the Egyptian temple to
the new surroundings, climatic among others. The open courts and flat
roofs of Egyptian temples would give way to covered courts and sloping
roofs to deal with a more copious rainfall; and it is curious to note
that the chief architectural differences have this simple origin. The
small financial resources of a colony would be reason good enough for a
cella not far from the entrance, with courts surrounding it under the
now necessary roof. The instinctive love of beauty would do the rest,
and make it a _sine quâ non_ that the rosy-fingered dawn should be
observable, and that the coloured light of the rising sun in the more
boreal clime should render glorious a stately statue of the divinity.

[Illustration: A GREEK TEMPLE RESTORED--THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT
PÆSTUM.]

It is well to take this opportunity of emphasising the transition from
the Egyptian form of temple to the Greek one, in order to show how
completely among many apparent changes the astronomical conditions were
retained. The entrance door and the cella are always in the axis of
the temple; the number of columns in the front is always even; _the
door is never blocked_.

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF THESEUS AT ATHENS: THE ACROPOLIS, WITH THE
PARTHENON, IN THE BACKGROUND.]

I have already pointed out that in both groups of Egyptian temples,
whether furnished with a pylon or not, one goes from the entrance to
the other end, which held the sanctuary, through various halls of
different styles of architecture and different stages of magnificence.
But in the Greek temple this is entirely changed; the approach to the
temple was outside--witness the glorious propylæum of the Parthenon at
Athens--the temple representing, so to speak, only the core, the Holy
of Holies, of the Egyptian temple; and any magnificent approach to it
which could be given was given from the outside. Be it further remarked
that the propylæum was never in the fair-way of the light entering the
temple.

[Illustration: THE EAST FRONT OF THE PARTHENON, FACING THE RISING OF
THE PLEIADES.]

The massive pylons of some of the Egyptian temples were useful for
shading the roofless outer courts. In Greece these were no longer
useful.

The east front of the Parthenon very much more resembles the temple of
Denderah than it does the early Egyptian temple--that is to say, the
eastern front is open; it is not closed by pylons.

The view as to the possibility of temple-orientation being dominated by
astronomical ideas first struck me at Athens and Eleusis, and when I
found that the same idea had been held by Nissen, and that the validity
of it seemed to be beyond all question, I consulted my friend Mr. F.
C. Penrose specially with regard to Greece, as I knew he had made a
special study of some of the temples, and that, he being an astronomer
as well as an archæologist (for, alas! they are not, as I think they
should be, convertible terms), it was possible that his observations
with regard to them included the requisite data.

I was fortunate enough to find that he had already determined the
orientation of the Parthenon with sufficient accuracy to enable him
to agree in my conclusion that that temple had been directed to the
rising of the Pleiades. He has subsequently taken up the whole subject
with regard to Greece in a most admirable and complete way,[183] and
has communicated papers to the Society of Antiquaries (February 18,
1892), and more recently to the Royal Society (April 27, 1893) on his
results.[184]

These results are so numerous and complete that it is now quite
possible to trace the transition from Egyptian to Greek temple-worship,
and this, with Mr. Penrose's full permission, I propose to do in this
chapter.

But, in the first instance, I am anxious to state that Mr. Penrose was
soon convinced that in Greece, as in Egypt, the stars were used for
heralding sunrise. He writes:--

"The object the ancients had in using the stars was to employ their
rising and setting as a clock to give warning of the sunrise, so that
on the special feast days the priests should have timely notice for
preparing the sacrifice or ceremonial, whatever it may have been:

"'Spectans orientia solis
Lumina _rite_ cavis undam de flumine palmis
Sustulit,' etc."

I may further give an extract from a letter received from him in which
he deals with the demonstration of the orientation hypothesis furnished
by the Greek temples alone.

"In my paper sent to the Royal Society there was a passage which seems
to make it practically _certain_ that heliacal stars were connected
with the intra-solstitial temples as derived from Greek sources alone,
independent of the powerful aid of the Egyptian cases.

"'That the first beam of sunrise should fall upon the statue centrally
placed in the adytum of a temple or on the incense altar in front of
it on a particular day, it would be requisite that the orientation of
the temple should coincide with the amplitude of the sun as it rose
above the visible horizon, be it mountain or plain.

"'That a star should act as time-warner it was necessary that it
should have so nearly the same amplitude as the sun that it could
be seen from the adytum through the eastern door, if it was to give
warning at its rising, or to have a similar but reversed amplitude
towards the west, if its heliacal setting was to be observed; and it
follows that in the choice of the festival day and the corresponding
orientation, on these principles, both the amplitude of the sun at its
rising and that of the star eastwards or westwards, as the case might
be, would have to be considered in connection with one another.

"'From what has been said it is obvious that in the intra-solstitial
temples the list of available bright stars and constellations is in
the first instance limited to those which lie within a few degrees
of the ecliptic, and it will be found that in the list above given
and those which follow, if we omit Eleusis, where the conditions
were exceptional, all but one of the stars are found in the zodiacal
constellations. A very great limit is imposed, in the second place,
by one of the conditions being the heliacal rising or setting of
those stars from which the selection has to be made. So that,
when both these combined limitations are taken into account, it
becomes improbable to the greatest degree that in every instance of
intra-solstitial temples of early foundation of which I have accurate
particulars, being twenty-eight in number and varying in their
orientation from 21° N. to 18° 25′ S. of the true east, there should
be found a bright heliacal star or constellation in the right position
at dates not in themselves improbable unless the temples had been so
oriented as to secure this combination.'

"I have just been looking into the number of possible stars which
could have been used, _i.e._ within the limits of the greatest
distance from the ecliptic that could have been utilised.

"The stars which could have been utilised in addition to the seven
which serve for nearly thirty temples are ten only, viz.:--

Aldebaran.
Pollux.
β Arietis.
β Tauri.
α and β Capricorni as a group.
β Libræ.
α Libræ.
α Leonis.
γ Leonis.
β Leonis.

"If the orientations had been placed at random, would not our thirty
temples have made many misses in aiming at these seventeen stars, it
being necessary also to hit exactly the heliacal margin? And would
they have secured anything like a due archæological sequence?

* * * * *

"Another point is this:--

"Whenever a star less than first magnitude is used (Pleiades only
excepted) it has been necessary, to secure coincidence, to give it
several more degrees of sun depression than in the cases of Spica and
Antares."

The problem in Greece was slightly different from that in Egypt. We
had not such a great antiquity almost without records to deal with,
and moreover the feast-calendars of the various temples presented less
difficulty. There was no vague year to contend with, and in some cases
the actual dates of building were known within a very few years.

In Greece, not dominated by the rise of the Nile, we should not expect
the year to begin at a solstice, but rather at the vernal equinox.
I have shown that even in pyramid times in Egypt the risings of the
Pleiades and Antares were watched to herald the equinoctial sun; it is
not surprising, therefore, to find the earliest temples in Greece to be
so oriented. Mr. Penrose has found the following:--

B.C.
η Tauri Archaic temple of} Athens R[185] 1530
(The Pleiades) Minerva }
Asclepieion Epidaurus R 1275
The Hecatompedon } Athens R 1150
(site of Parthenon)}
Temple of Bacchus Athens R 1030
Temple of Minerva Sunium S 845

B.C.
Antares Heræum Argos R 1760
Earlier Erechtheum Athens S 1070
Temple at Corinth S 770
Temple on the Mountain} Ægina S 630
Jupiter Panhellenius }

Here we find the oldest temple in a spot which by common consent is the
very cradle of Greek civilisation.

It has also been shown that in Khu-en-Aten's time the sun-temple at
Tell el-Amarna was oriented to Spica. Spica, too, we find so used in
Greece in the following temples:--

B.C.
Spica The Heræum at Olympia R 1445
Nike Apteros Athens S 1130
Themis Rhamnus R 1092
Nemesis Rhamnus R 747
Apollo Bassæ R 728 Eastern doorway.
Diana Ephesus R 715

When the sun at the spring equinox had left Taurus and entered Aries,
owing to precession, in Egypt the equinoxes were no longer in question,
since the solstitial year was thoroughly established, and consequently
we find no temples to the new warning star α Arietis.

In Greece, however, where the vernal equinox had now been established
as the beginning of the year, we find a different state of things. No
less than seven temples oriented to α Arietis are already known:--

B.C.
α Arietis Minerva Tegea R 1580
Jupiter Olympius Athens R 1202
Jupiter Olympia R 790
Temple (perhaps Juno) Platea S 650
Jupiter Megalopolis S 605
Temple at the Harbour Ægina S 580
Temple on Acropolis of Mycenæ R 540 Eastern doorway.
The Metroum Olympia S 360

[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER OLYMPIUS BELOW THE ACROPOLIS, AT
ATHENS, ORIENTED TO α ARIETIS.]

The above are all intra-solstitial temples--that is, the sunlight as
well as the light of the star can enter them--and this enables us to
note a certain change of thought brought about in all probability by
the artistic spirit of the Greeks. The Egyptian temples were all dark,
often with a statue of a god or a reptile obscure in the naos, and many
were oriented so that sunlight never entered them. Mr. Penrose points
out that almost all the Greek temples are oriented so that sunlight can
enter them. Of such temples we have the following twenty-nine:--

7 examples from Athens.
3 " " Olympia.
2 " " Epidaurus.
2 " " Rhamnus.
2 " " Ægina.
2 " " Tegea.
1 " " Nemea.
1 " " Corcyra.
1 " " Sunium.
1 " " Corinth.
1 " " Bassæ.
1 " " Ephesus.
1 " " Platæa.
1 " " Lycosura.
1 " " Megalopolis.
2 " " Argos.

Now in all these Greek temples, instead of the dark naos of the
Egyptian building, we find the cella fully illumined and facing the
entrance. Frequently, too, there was a chryselephantine statue to be
rendered glorious by the coloured morning sunlight falling upon it, or,
if any temple had the westerly aspect, by the sunset glow.

It was perhaps this, combined eventually with the much later invention
of water-clocks for telling the hours of the night, which led to the
non-building of temples resembling those at Thebes and Denderah facing
nearly north; of these, however, there are scattered examples; one of
very remarkable importance, as it is a temple oriented to γ Draconis
1130 B.C., built therefore not very long after the temple M at Karnak,
and this temple is at Bœotian Thebes! A better proof of the influence
exerted by the Egyptians over the temple-building in Greece could
scarcely be imagined. As Mr. Penrose remarks:--

"Thebes was called the City of the Dragon, and tradition records that
Cadmus introduced both Phœnician and Egyptian worship."

It would be very surprising, if we assume, as we are bound to do, that
these temples to stars were built under Egyptian influence, that Sirius
should not be represented among them, that being the paramount star
in Egypt at a time when we should expect to find her influence most
important in Greece. Still, I have shown already that, as the Greek
year ignored the solstice, the use of Sirius as a warning star for all
purposes of utility would not come in. Mr. Penrose finds, however,
that, in spite of this, Sirius was used for temple-worship.

"Leaving the solar temples, we find that the star which was observed
at the great temple of Ceres must have been Sirius, not used, however,
heliacally--although this temple is not extra-solstitial--but for its
own refulgence at midnight. The date so determined is quite consistent
with the probable time of the foundation of the Eleusinian Mysteries,
and the time of the year when at its rising it would have crossed the
axis at midnight agrees exactly with that of the celebration of the
Great Mysteries."

"It is reasonable to suppose that when, as in the case of Sirius
at Eleusis, brilliant stars were observed at night, the effect was
enhanced by the priests by means of polished surfaces."

Another question. Does the star follow the cult in Greece as it does in
Egypt?

In Greece we find the following:--

"The star α Arietis is the brightest star of the _first sign of the
Zodiac_, and would therefore be peculiarly appropriate to the temple
of Jupiter. The heliacal rising of this star agrees both with the
Olympieium at Athens and that at Olympia. There is a considerable
difference in the deviation of the axes of these two temples from the
true east; but this is exactly accounted for by the greater apparent
altitude of Hymettus over the more distant mountain at Olympia.[186]

"The Pleiades are common to the following temples of Minerva--viz.,
the Archaic temple on the Acropolis, the Hecatompedon, and Sunium. In
the two former it is the rising, the latter the setting star.

"There must have been something in common between the temples at
Corinth, Ægina, and Nemea. The two last, at any rate, are reputed
temples of Jupiter."

The Greek side of the inquiry becomes more interesting when the
connection between the orientation of the intra-solstitial temples
and the local festivals is inquired into; in Egypt this is all but
impossible at present.

A temple oriented to either solstice can only be associated with the
longest or with the shortest day; if the temple points to the sunrise
or sunset at any other period of the year, the sunlight will enter the
temple twice, whether it points to the sunrise or sunset place.

Now Mr. Penrose finds that in Greece, as in Egypt, the initial
orientation of each intra-solstitial temple was to a star, and this
would, of course, secure observations of the star and the holding of an
associated festival at the same time of the year for a long period. But
when the precessional movement carried the star away, they would only
have the sun to depend on, and this they might use twice a year. It is
possible, as Mr. Penrose remarks, that

"there would have been no reason for preferring one of these solar
coincidences to the other, and the feast could have been shifted to a
different date if it had been thought more convenient."

He goes on to add:--

"It would appear that something of this sort may have taken place at
Athens, for we find on the Acropolis the archaic temple, which seems
to have been intended originally for a vernal festival, offering its
axis to the autumnal sunrise on the very day of the great Panathenaia
in August.

"The chryselephantine statue of the Parthenon, which temple followed
on the same lines as the earlier Hecatompedon (originally founded
to follow the rising of the Pleiades after that constellation had
deserted the archaic temple alongside), was lighted up by the sunrise
on the feast to the same goddess in August, the Synæcia, instead of
some spring festival, for which both these temples seem at first to
have been founded.

"The temple at Sunium, already quoted for its October star-heralded
festival to Minerva, was oriented also axially to the sun on February
21, the feast of the Lesser Mysteries."

I have had to insist again and again that in the case of the Egyptian
temples the stated date of foundation of a temple is almost always long
after that in which its lines were laid down in accordance with the
ritual. No wonder, then, that the same thing is noticed in Greece.

"In about two-thirds of the cases which I have investigated the
dates deduced from the orientations are clearly earlier than the
architectural remains now visible above the ground. This is explained
by the temples having been rebuilt upon old foundations, as may be
seen in several cases which have been excavated, of which the archaic
temple of Minerva on the Acropolis of Athens and the temple of Jupiter
of Olympius on a lower site are instances. There are temples also of
the middle epoch, such as the examples at Corinth, Ægina, and the
later temples at Argos and at Olympia (the Metroum at the last-named),
of which the orientation dates are not inconsistent with what may be
gathered from other sources."

The problem is, moreover, helped in Greece by architectural
considerations, which are frequently lacking in Egypt: of two temples
it can be shown, on this evidence alone, that one is older than the
other. Such an appeal strengthens my suggestion that two of the temples
of the Acropolis Hill were oriented to the Pleiades, by showing the
older temple to point to an earlier position of the star group. To
these Mr. Penrose adds another pair at Rhanmus, where he has found that
there are two temples almost touching one another, both following (and
with accordant dates) the shifting places of Spica, and still another
pair at Tegea.

INDEX.

=Aāhmes=, King, 339

=Abd el-Latîf=, 12

=Abu Shahrên=, 371

=Abu Simbel=, 16, 306

=Abydos=, mounds and temples at, 74, 99, 175, 214, 338, 393
sanctity of, 327

=Achernar=, 381

=Adytum.= _See_ Sanctuary

=Africa E.=, 373

=Agni=, god of fire, 7

=Ahura-Mazda or Ormuzd=, 6

=Air=, god of, 33

=Āk=, 176, 205

=Amada=, 311

=Amen=, confraternity of, 319
worship of, 189
temples dedicated to, 220, 222

=Amen-t=, Hathor Temple, 306
wife of Amen, 222
star symbol, 223

=Amen-Rā=, Hak of Pun-t, 347
obelisks to, 106
Southern worship, 319
temples of, 25, 75, 78, 99, 223, 351, 354
date of, 119
direction of axis of, 78
growth of, 188
restoration of,108
_See_ also Karnak

=Amenemhāt I.=, 77, 175, 338

=Amen-hetep I.=, 221

=Amen-hetep III.=, Mut Temple, 213
Karnak Temple B, builder of, 189
quarrel with Theban priests, 321

=Amen-hetep IV.=, date of, 321
conservatism of, 320
leaves Thebes, 321
builds Tell el-Amarna, 323

=Amenti=, 35

=Amplitude=, 46

=Amplitudes=, of temples, 59, 67, 170, 309
at Annu, 168
at Denderah, 168, 210
at Karnak, 47, 160, 168, 171, 189
tables of, 305, 306, 311, 312, 318

=Amru=, description of Egypt, 230

=Amsu.= _See_ Min

=An=, and god Anu, 363

=Anaximander=, 8

=Ancestors=, divine, 327

=Annu=, 74
grand priest of (title of Theban priest), 340
list of gods at, 329
Nile flood at, 226
obelisk and mounds at, 214, 316
temples at, 78, 94, 168, 175, 214, 309, 316, 326, 327
walls at, 76
worship at, 318, 319, 326, 359

=Antares=, symbolised by Serk-t, 329, 360
temples in Greece, 419

=Anu=, Babylonian, astronomical meaning for, 363, 365, 372, 377

=Anubis.= _See_ Set

=Ap=, god of the waters, 7

=Apet=, 290

=Apis=, bull, also Hapi, 229, 330, 396

=Apollinopolis Magna.= _See_ Edfû

=Argus= η, 374

=Aries=, first point of, 53

=Arietis= α, temples oriented to, Grecian, 420

=Armant=, Nile gauge at, 235

=Asari=, 372, 384

=Asti=, name of Thoth, 176

=Aswân=, nilometer at, 234, 235
distances of gauges from, 235
Nile flood, maximum time of, 240
to Rôda, Nile flood, rate of, between, 240

=Aten=, most ancient god, 321

=Athene=, temple of, 329

=Athens=, Parthenon at, propylæum of, 415

=Atmu=, Tmu, or Osiris, 25, 26, 295

=Axis= of temples, 169, 173
changes in, 163

=Azimuths=, 46

=Azimuth compass=, 67

=Baal=, hieroglyph for, 361, 362

=Baalbek=, structural origin, 92, 94, 367

=Babylonia=, ancient cities in, modern sites of, 86
Anu and Bīl, 365
kings of, 369
state of astronomy 300 B.C., 3
temple structures in, 367
unit of time in, 227
ziggurats, 367

=Bast=, symbolised star γ Draconis, 290

=Bear=, Great, represented by Thigh, 137, 146, 216
Little, represented by Jackal, 137, 146

=Bel=, temple of, 380

=Berenice=, road between Edfû and, 208

=Bêrôssus=, 381

=Bes=, 28, 368

=Bīl=, 363, 372, 377

=Bilfinger=, star tables, 409

=Biot=, ancient star places, calculation of, 129
Denderah, inscriptions, 139, 193
observing conditions in Egypt, 122
precessional globe of, 170
Ramesseum inscriptions, date of, 143
risings, heliacal, of Sirius, 200, 210, 249, 253, 254, 262

=Boeckh=, date of King Mena, 22

=Botta=, 87

=Bouriant=, 183, 220

=Boussard=, 111

=Brugsch=, Amen-Rā's ancestors, 355
book on calendars, 282
Denderah inscriptions, 141
date of Mena, 22
Rameses III., 221
Thothmes III, 189, 261
Usertsen I., 215
Edfû, temple at, alignment of, 179
Egyptian history, 344
furniture of sanctuaries, 112
Gîzeh-pyramids, 363
Hippopotamus, constellation, 216
Hyksos period, 339
inscription at Philæ, 261
Silsilis, 263
Karnak temple, 116
location of Pun-t, 348
pyramid, oldest, date of, 369
Sothic Cycle, 259
temple-foundations, 354

=Bubastis=, antiquity of, 82, 333
Isis temple at, 329

=Budge=, Dr. Wallis, 85, 208, 240

=Bull=, constellation of, pyramid period, 360, 403, 404

=Bunsen=, 22, 148, 384

=Cairo=, Nile flood, time of, 233, 240

=Calah=, ancient Nimrûd, 86

=Calendar=, Alexandrine reform, date of, 281
Egyptian, chief use of, 282

=Canopus=, decree of, 270

=Canopus= (α Argus), 280, 281
early observations, 312, 360
heralded autumnal equinox, 342
temples to, amplitudes of, 311

=Capella= observed at Annu, 316, 360
personified by Ptah, 318
temples to, amplitudes and dates, 312, 354

=Capricornus=, 372, 378

=Censorinus=, 267

=Centauri= α, temples to, 308, 351, 354, 360

=Chabas=, 173, 174

=Champollion=, 10, 11, 73

=Cheops.= _See_ Chufu

=Chephren=, 327, 346, 369

=China=, early astronomical observations, 4

=Chnemu=, 35, 384
Rā, 25, 319, 385, 389

=Chufu=, 12, 204, 336

=Churches=, architecture, Scott on, 96
orientation of, 96

=Colossi= at Thebes, 78

=Columbæ α.= _See_ Phact

=Compass=, Azimuth, 67

=Constellations=, early names for, 42, 133, 397, 399, 407
northern, called Set, 149

=Country=, double, meaning of, 345

=Cow= = Star Sirius, 218

=Crocodile=, variant of hippopotamus, 146

=Crown=, double, 345

=Cubit=, Babylonian, 370

=Cults=, change of, 300
origin of Egyptian, 371
northern and southern, 225

=Cycle=, Sothic, beginning of, 262

=Cynocephalus= ape from Pun-t, 348

=Dakkeh=, temple at, 341, 354

=Darkness=, gods of, 27, 28

=Dashûr=, blunted pyramid at, 233, 336

=Dawn=, flames of, Tefnut, 36
goddess of, Sechet, 31
gods, hymn to, 7
Isis, 29
names for, 7
representation of Nephthys, 31
risings at, 148

=Declination=, definition of, 45

=Declinations=, corresponding amplitudes, 170

=Delta=, Hawk-god of, 349

=Denderah=, example of second group of temples, 14
Hathor temple, 160, 193, 293, 319, 354
Isis temple, 193
date of, 197
oriented to Sirius, 304
inscriptions at, 141
meaning, 138, 173
Set worship at, 310
temples at, amplitudes, 168, 176
variants of Hathor in, 211
zodiacs of, 19, 134, 146

=Deodorus=, 12

=Dêr el-Bahari=, temple of, orientation of, 16, 212
cult of Hathor, 293
inscriptions at, 319, 348

=De Rougé.= _See_ Rougé

=Devas=, 6

=Djigan=, mounds at, 86

=Draco=, constellation of, forms of, 137, 146

=Draconis= γ, temples to, 310, 354

=Dubhe=, Āk refers to, 176, 203
Āk, meaning of, 176

=Dümichen=, antiquity of This, 327
building inscriptions, 173
Denderah temple, 204
Edfû, temple at, alignment of, 179
Hathor, cult of, 294
Put-Ser, meaning of, 178

=Dumuzi.= _See_ Tammuz, 372

=Dupuis=, 138, 143, 180, 379

=Dur Sarginu=, 86

=Dyaus=, 7

=Dynasties=, divine, 326

=Dyotanâ=, 7

=Ea.= _See_ Ía

=Earth=, axis of, 126
emblem of, 33
god of, 7
shape of, 8

=Ebers=, antiquity of This, 327
old roads to Red Sea, 208
Rôda nilometer, 235
the Denderah crypts, 204

=Ecliptic=, obliquity of, 53
pole of, Babylonian observations, 363
plane of, 52

=Edfû=, early temple at, 311, 360
festival calendar at, 282
Hawk-god of, 349
inscriptions at, temple axis, 173, 179, 284
month-table at, 275
names for Hathor, 211
road between Berenice and, 208
temple of, 14, 106, 181
date of, 363, 376
orientation of, 178, 179, 180

=Edkins=, Sun-temple at Pekin, 88

=El-Mamun=, 12

=Entenna=, 369

=Epacts= (or Epagomena), 247

=Epping=, 3, 407

=Equator=, pole of, Babylonian name for, 365

=Equinoxes=, 54, 57, 62
established in pyramid times, 329

=Eridu=, 371
colonisation of, 374, 385
god of, 372, 377

=Esne=, feast calendars of, 282
inscription at, 284

=Ethiopia=, early history of, 345
exile of Theban priests to, 340
return of Theban priests from, 340

=Eudoxus=, sphere of, 139

=Euphrates=, god sacred to, 229
rise of, 85, 230, 267

=Fayyûm=, pyramids, 339

=Fire=, god of, 7

=Fitz-Gerald=, agriculture in Africa, 273

=Flandin=, plans of Khorsabad, 87

=Foundation-stone=, laying of, 173, 175

=Foundations= of temples, table of dates of, 352
oldest in Egypt, 354

=Garstin=, Nile rising, average rate of, 240

=Gauges=, Nile, distances from Aswân, 235
heights above sea-level 236

=Gebel Barkal=, 221, 347
pyramids at, 356
temples at, 356

=Gîzeh=, cult at, equinoctial, 85, 359
pyramids of, 12, 82, 336, 363
temples at, 82, 287

=Globe=, to rectify the, 44, 130
precessional, 170

=Gnomon=, 63

=Goat-fish= in Babylonia, 377

=Gondokoro=, 238

=Grébaut=, discoveries at Dêr el-Bahari, 319

=Greece=, orientation of temples in. _See_ Chap. xxxviii. _passim_

=Green Water=, Nile, why it heralds the rise, 238

=Green and Red Nile=, difference of time between, 240

=Habenben.= _See_ Sanctuary.

=Hak=, of Pun-t, name for Amen-Rā, 347

=Hāpi=, god of Nile, 147, 229

=Harhouditi=, 349

=Harpocrates= (or Hor or Horus), 24, 26

=Harsiisit=, 349

=Harvest= festivals, 233, 319

=Hathor= = Isis, 210
= Isis = Mut = Methuer, 212
change of representation, 301
connection with hippopotamus, 216
form of, ordinary, 217
generic symbolisms, meaning of, 291
goddess from Pun-t, 347
local cult of, 294
= Mut, 214, 289
name of Sirius, 196
personification of, 210
present views of, 32
represented by Dubhe and γ Draconis, 205, 214
rising of, reference to, 194
southern worship, 349
symbol of, 216, 290, 293
temples of 160, 202, 210
amplitude of, 176, 193, 210
at Abu Simbel, 306
at Denderah, 293
at Dêr el-Bahari, 193, 293
various names for, 211
worshipped in pyramid times, 329

=Hāt-shepset=, queen, 106, 212
expedition to Pun-t, 349

=Heliopolis.= _See_ Annu

=Herodotus=, on temple of Tyre, 161

=Hieroglyphics=, decipherment of, 11

=Hind=, star-places, 170

=Hippopotamus=, connected with Hathor, 178, 216
constellation Draco, 137, 143, 146, 218
in pyramid times, 360
form of Taurt, 146
female, 216
hieroglyph for, 362
represents Mutât Thebes, 216
red, 362
variant of crocodile, 146
wife of Set, 146

=History= of Egypt, first blank in, 331, 337
second blank in, 339
north, first civilisation, 330

=Holy of Holies.= _See_ Sanctuary

=Hommel=, 377

=Horizon=, definition of, 40, 169

=Hor-shesu=, 57, 74, 150, 215, 376

=Horus= or Hor or Harpocrates, 26
= rising sun, 293
= S. Egypt, 345
god from Pun-t, 347, 392
god of the Hor-shesu, 58
hymn to, 26
laughing, 149
meaning of, 148, 149
Northern, 349
myth of, description of, 148-151, 378, 390
red, 149
Southern worship, 349
temple of, 180
and Set, 149
= Set, 149

=Hottentot Venus= in Pun-t, 348

=Hours= (12) of day and night, 342

=Hyksos= period, date of, 338, 339

=Ía=, 372, 397
Annu, and Bīl, triad, 372
father of Tammuz, 372
legend of, 381
representation of, 384, 397

=Ía-star=, 380

=Ideler=, heliacal risings, 121
length of year, 244

=India=, temples in, age of, 2

=Indra=, 7

=Inundation= of Nile, 233, 234

=Isis= = Hathor, 210, 217
= Mut = Hathor = Methuer, 212
change of representation, 301
form of, at Saïs, 329
generic symbolisms, 291, 293
mythology of, complete, 293, 388
name for Sirius, 196, 210
nursing Horus, meaning of, 292
pyramid temples, 293, 329
present ideas of, 29
temples of, amplitude of, 82, 206, 210
Denderah, 83, 193, 210
date of, 197

=Isis-Sati=, 218

=Isis-Sothis=, 217

=Jackal=, constellation of, 137, 143, 146, 361
of Set, 146

=Jensen=, Ía-star, 380
Kosmologie der Babylonier, 360, 396, 397, 405
pole of ecliptic, early Babylonian observations, 363
reference to "Jackal," 362
Scorpio, 405
sun-god, Tammuz, 372
Marduk, 397, 405
Tiāmat, 397
the god Ía, 372
zodiacal constellations, 400

=Jerusalem=, temples at, equinoctial, 92, 367

=Josephus=, temple at Jerusalem, 92

=Kahi=, revelation of, feast of, 282

=Kakau=, worship of Apis, 330

=Kali= = Koloë, 351

=Karnak=, inscriptions at, temple axis, 173
observations at, solstice, 117
orientation of, solstitial, 72
north star, 354
temples at, 14, 75
temples at, amplitudes of, 160, 168
date of, Mariette, 113
description of, 100, 102
Amen-Ra at, 78, 99
Amen-Rā, temple of, date of, 119
temple B, 187, 189
amplitude of, 189
temple L, 115, 183, 185
date of, 116, 184
amplitude of, 189
Brugsch on, 116
temple M, 115, 183
date of, 184
γ Draconis, 184
temple of Mut (X), 187, 188, 213
builder of, 189
temple of Ptah, 317, 354
temple of Spica, 313
temple T, amplitude of, 189
date of, 186
temple V, orientation, 308
temple W, 187

=Kemball=, Sir A.,
agriculture of E. Africa, 273

=Khem.= _See_ Min

=Khnum.= _See_ Chnemu

=Khons=, or Khonsu, connection with Canopus, 296
how represented, 223
personification of, 296
Southern worship, 349, 393
temple of, 182, 223, 224, 296
measures of, 185, 310

=Khons-lunus=, 29, 393

=Khorsabad=, mounds at, 36, 87

=Khu-en-Aten.= _See_ Amen-hetep IV.

=Kirk=, Sir John, on pile-dwellings in Central Africa, 348

=Koptos=, high road between Red Sea and, 208

=Kouyunjik=, mounds of, 86

=Krall=, quoted, 257, 263
change of signs, 269
festival calendar at Edfû, 282
king's reign, time of commencement, 259
length of year, 244
month Pachons, 284
mythology of the sun, 279
oldest month-list, 275
the week, 226

=Lanzoni=, variant for Hathor, 211
Chnemu, 384

=Latitude=, terrestrial definition of, 52
celestial, 52

=Lenormant=, 4

=Lepsius=, work on the monuments of Egypt, 73
date of Mena, 22
Eridu, 374
Karnak temples, 116, 187, 213, 306
Thothmes III., date of, 261
temple of Amen-Rā, 99
temple at Heliopolis, 75
the week, 226

=Letronne=, Denderah inscriptions, 138

=Leverrier=, 256

=Lion=, early Babylonian mythology, 402

=Lockyer=, W. J. S., calculation of star tables, 170

=Longitude=, celestial, 52
terrestrial, definition of, 52

=Luxor=, temple at, 166, 328

=Lyons=, Capt., R.E., measures at Annu, 76
Memphis, 317
Wady Halfa, 358

=Maāt=, relation to Rā, 32, 36

=Makrīzi=, Rôda nilometer, 235

=Marduk= = spring-sun, 373, 397
destroys winter gods, 377
myth of, 375
temple of, ceremony at, 366
and Tiāmat, myth of, 377, 378, 398

=Mariette=, Amen-Rā, temple of, growth of, 115, 188
Denderah temples, 193
Hyksos period, 339
Karnak temples, 113, 183, 184, 187
location of Pun-t, 348
Mena, date of, 337
modern Theban temples, 186
pyramids, 363, 369
Sothis, 212

=Masnitiu= or Masniu of Edfû, 349

=Maspero=, Baal worship at Memphis, 361
building of Annu, 77, 326
discoveries at Dêr el-Bahari, 319
divine dynasties, 392
the land of Pun-t, 347
length of year, 244
location of land of Pun-t, 347
origin of southern Horus, 349
priestcraft, 111
sanctity of Abydos, 327
Sirius in pyramid times, 209

=Max Müller=, age of Indian temples, 2
sunrise and sunset, 23
Vedas, 5

=Mazzaroth=, meaning of, 133

=Medînet-Habû=, 169
temples at, 163, 220
orientation dates, 221

=Mêdûm=, pyramid of, 335, 337

=Memphis=, Nile flood at, 226
pyramids of, 82, 83
temple of Sutech, 361
Baal, 361
Ptah, 248, 317
worship, 318

=Memphis= and Thebes, Nile flood, rate of, between, 240

=Mena= or Menes, 22, 230, 326
date of reign, 74, 115, 337
worship of Apis, 330

=Menthu=, 339

=Merchet= or Merech, 179

=Meridian=, astronomical, 69
magnetic, 70, 71

=Meröe=, 344, 347, 356

=Mestha=, god, 147

=Mesχet= = Thigh, q.v.

=Methuer= = Mut = Isis = Hathor, 212

=Midnight=, risings at, 148

=Min= or Khem, connection with Spica, 25, 297, 319
temple dedicated to, 297

=Moncrieff=, Sir Colin Scott, 117

=Months=, names for Egyptian, 233

=Moon-gods=, 28, 29, 389, 392, 393
Osiris representation, 137
worship, 379
stations, Egyptian equivalents, 37

=Mosul=, mounds of, 86

=Mul-lil=, 372

=Mut= = Hathor, 214
= Isis = Hathor = Methuer, 212
Hathor worship, 214
mistress of darkness, 344
represented by hippopotamus, 216
γ Draconis, 214
symbolised γ Draconis, 289, 290
temple of, 75, 182, 191, 294, 318
associated with Spica, 320
date of, 213, 214

=Myths=, Babylonian, 377
Egyptian and Babylonian, compared, 377
of Horus, 148, 390
of Marduk and Tiāmat, 375, 377, 378, 398

=Naga=, buildings at, 347

=Naos.= _See_ Sanctuary

=Napoleon's= expedition to Egypt, 10

=Naram-Sin=, king, date of, 369

=Naville=, Horus, myth of, 148, 153, 390

=Nebuchadnezzar II.=, ziggurat at Babylon, 367

=Nephthys=, 31, 35
in pyramid times, 329

=Nergal=, son of Ía and Duazag. 373
= spring sun, 373
= midsummer sun, 373

=Neshem=, 31

=New= year's day, variation in date of, 250

=Nigidius Figulus=, 248

=Nile= Flood, at Aswân, 240
at Cairo, 233, 240
rate of, 240
gauges, 235
gauge of, heights above sea-level, 236
at Armant, 235
at Aswân, 235
at Asyût, 235
at Suhag, 235
god sacred to, 229
inundation, effects of, 226, 232
red, 238
rise of, appearance of, 238
at Rôda, 237
average rate of, 240
description of, 241
festival of, 198
importance of, 228
indication of, 237
phenomena coincident with, 249
rate of, 240
warnings of, 239
green water at, why it heralds rise, 238
colour, origin of, 237
time of, rising, 85, 230

=Nilometer= at Aswân, 234

=Nimrûd=, mounds at, 86
modern Calah, 86

=Ninib=, sun-god, 375

=Nissen= on temple building, 173, 175

=Nubia=, mode of telling time at night, 342

=Nuri=, buildings at, 347, 356

=Nu-t= or Nu, 32, 33
double representation of 34
relation to Seb, 35

=Oannes.= _See_ Ía

=Obelisk=, at Annu, orientation of, 214, 326

=Obliquity= of ecliptic, values of, 113

=Observations= of stars daily as opposed to yearly, 341

=On.= _See_ Annu

=Oppolzer=, risings, heliacal of Sirius, 200, 249, 253, 268

=Orion=, constellation of, 137, 143

=Ormuzd= or Ahura-Mazda, 6

=Osborn=, the Nile, 232, 238

=Osiris= in Book of the Dead, 28, 35
hymn to, 26
mythology of, 296
representation of, 137
moon-god, 389
sunset-god, 25
southern worship, 349
temples of, 187
at Abydos, 338
bowls at, 248
direction of orientation, 82, 206, 393
Tmu or Atmu, 295
traced in Babylonia, 334, 377
= waning moon, 297

=Padoramen= priest, titles of, 340

=Palmyra=, temples at, equinoctial, 92, 94, 367

=Parthenon= at Athens, 164, 415, 416

=Parthey=, 216

=Patah.= _See_ Ptah

=Pekin=, sun temple at, 88, 89

=Penrose= on Greek temples, 98, and chap. xxxviii, _passim_

=Pepi=, King, date of, 207, 262, 337
restoration of Denderah, 204
temple foundations, 354

=Period=, Sothic, 256

=Petrie=, Flinders, on Stonehenge, 90
Mêdûm pyramid, 335, 337
Tell-el-Amarna, 323

=Phact= (α Columbæ), 82, 354, 360, 381

=Philæ=, Chnemu at, 384
inscription at, 261
Isis-Sati at, 218
temples at, 73
early to Canopus, 311, 360

=Pierret=, hieroglyph of hippopotamus, 362

=Pile= dwellings in Pun-t, 348

=Pisces=, 378

=Place=, on Assyria, 86

=Pleiades=, temples oriented to, in Greece, 419, 424

=Pompeii=, temple of Isis at, 320

=Precession=, cause of, 124, 126
effects of, 23, 123, 157
model illustrating, 125

=Priests=, Theban, hatred of Set, 319

=Prithivī=, earth god, 7

=Ptah=, connection with Capella, 296
in pyramid times, 329
god of Memphis, 153, 318
personification of, 296
temples of, 248, 296, 317

=Pun-t=, Hak of, 347
land of, 347
possibly in S. Africa, 348

=Put-ser=, meaning of, 174, 175, 178

=Pyramid= builders, 325
-building in 12th dynasty, 338
Isis temples at, 329
of Dashûr, 336
Gîzeh, 82
Mêdûm, 335, 337
Sakkarah, 333
oldest, 369
orientation of, 333
Step, age of, 369

=Qebhsennuf=, 147

=Rā=, eyes of, 280
hymn to, 27
manifestation of, 111
meaning of, 194
sun-god, 25, 26, 35, 227

=Rā=--Tmu--Horus, hymn to, 26

=Rā-t=, symbol of, 290

=Rameses III.=, date of, 135, 184, 221
building of temple T, Karnak, 186
temple M, 115, 214

=Ramessids=, Thoth, sign of, in time of, 269
time of, year used, 263

=Ramesseum=, old month-table at, 141, 275

=Ranke=, 227

=Red= and Green Nile, difference of time between, 240

=Redisieh=, temple of, 208, 341
Set worship at, 310

=Refraction=, 48

=Renouf=, Le Page, 23

=Rhamnus=, temples oriented to Spica, 424

=Rig-Veda=, 38

=Right= ascension, definition of, 52

=Risings.= _See_ Stars and Sun

=Rôda=, nilometer at, 234
rise of Nile at, 237

=Rome=, St. Peter's, 96, 102

=Rosetta= Stone, 11

=Ross=, Col., R.E., 237, 241

=Rougé=, De, on Hor-Shesu, 150
Silsilis inscriptions, 263
Mêdûm pyramid, 336
manifestation of Rā, 111

=Saïs=, 82, 329

=Sakkarah=, step-pyramid of, 333, 337

=Samas=, 377

=Sanctuary=, 102, 340
illumination of, 106
darkness of, object of, 109

=Sargon I.=, King, date of, 360, 369, 403

=Sarzec=, M. de, discoveries at Tel-loh, 369

=Sati=, symbol of, 290

=Sayce=, Ann and Bīl, 364
Asari and Osiris, 384
Eridu, 371
Ía-star, 380
sun-god, Tammuz, 372, 393

=Scorpion=, constellation of, 143, 378, 399, 401, 403
known in pyramid times, 329, 360

=Scott=, Gilbert, on church architecture, 96

=Se-ānχ-ka-Rā's= expedition to land of Pun-t, 348

=Seb=, the god, 33, 35

=Sebak-Rā=, 25

=Sekhet=, goddess, 31
symbolised γ Draconis, 290
statues of, at Thebes, 290

=Semneh=, temple at, 311, 351

=Seneferu=, Dashûr pyramid, 336
King, title of, 346
Mêdûm pyramid, 335
temple foundations, 354

=Senti=, 174

=Sept=, 196

=Serk-t= = Antares and α Centauri, 358
in pyramid times, 329
symbol of, 290, 329

=Sesheta=, goddess, 29, 173, 175

=Set=, Sit, Sut, Typhon, Sutech, god of Darkness, 27, 145, 147
and Horus, 149
associated with γ Draconis, 302
conquered by Horus. _See_ Myth of Horus.
emblem of, 28, 148, 362
feast of, 283
form of, 361
hated by Theban priests, 319
jackal of, 146
N. Egypt, 345
symbolised by northern constellations, 149
temple at Tell el-Amarna, 324
at Annu, 326
temples absent in S. Egypt, 371
thigh of, 146, 147
wife of, 146, 216
worship of, 215, 344, 361, 377

=Seti II.=, 115, 185, 189, 223

=Shabaka=, 340

=Shesu-Hor=, 57, 74, 150, 215

=Shu=, 33, 36

=Silsilis=, inscriptions at, 263

=Sirius-Hathor=, 196, 212, 299
temples to, in Greece, 305, 422

=Sit.= _See_ Set

=Sky=, god of, 7, 33

=Smith=, George, on temple of Bel, 380

=Smith=, Robertson, on Mazzaroth, 133

=Sokhit= in pyramid times, 329

=Solstices=, 55, 57
determination of, 62 _et seq._
by Chinese, 63
relation to inundation, 234
summer, festival of, 198
temples oriented to, 78
and vague year cycle, 252

=Sothis=, Greek form of Sirius, q.v.

=Sowing=, season of, 233

=Sphinx=, object of, 82

=Spica=, associated with Mut temple, 320
observed at Thebes, 318
temples to, 313
in Greece, 419, 424

=St. Peter's=, Rome, 96, 102

=Stars=, apparent paths of, 41
how used to tell time at night, 343
non-rising at Thebes, 44
non-setting at Thebes, 44
northern, antiquity of worship of, 341
risings of, achronic, 121
cosmical, 121, 160
heliacal of Sirius, 121, 200, 209, 210, 249, 250, 254, 262
rising with sun, 60
risings at sunset, 148
settings, achronic, 121
heliacal, 121
table of, 314
southern, used in upper Egypt, 343
southern, worship of, as opposed to northern, 325
table of, 314

=Storms=, god of, 7

=Stonehenge=, 89, 90

=Strassmeyer=, 3, 407

=Suhag=, Nile gauge at, 235

=Sun=, course of, mythology of, 279
the midnight, 65
temples to, at solstices, 78
yearly path of, 53

=Sun-gods=, names for, 7, 373

=Sunlight=, god of, 33, 36

=Sunrise=, herald of, first star used, 277
in Greece, 416

=Sunset=, explanation of red colour of, 32
represented by Nephthys, 31

=Sut.= _See_ Set

=Sutech.= _See_ Set
god of Canaanites, 361
temple at Memphis, 361

=Syria=, invaders from, found 25th dynasty, 340

=Tables= of dates of foundations, 352
of stars, 20th dynasty, 408, 410

=Taharqa=, 187, 340

=Tammuz=, associated with Asari, 372
son of Ía, 372
son of Mul-lil, 372

=Tammuz-Nergal=, sun-god, 372, 374
son of Ía, 372
Mul-lil, 372

=Tanis=, decree of, 270
temple of, 82, 281, 329

=Taurus=, constellation of, 143, 378
in pyramid times, 329

=Taurt=, goddess, 28, 146, 302
mistress of darkness, 344
represented by hippopotamus, 146
symbol of, 216, 290
symbolised star γ Draconis, 290

=Tebha=, 145

=Tefnut=, 31, 36

=Tel Hakoab=, mounds at, 86

=Tell el-Amarna=, Spica temple, 313
temples at, 322, 419

=Temples= in Lower Egypt, as opposed to those in Upper Egypt, 341
series of, in Southern Egypt, 311
diversity of, due to different races, 315

=Tetramenes=, 272

=Teχi=, 223, 275

=Thebes=, amplitudes at, 47, 171
astronomical thought at, 324
two schools of, 325
city of Dragon in Greece, 422
first appearance of in Egyptian history, 331, 338
history of cults at, 320
month table at, 143
Nile flood, 240
rising of land about, 240
statues of Sechet, 290
temples at, amplitudes of, 156, 168, 309
of Amen Rā, 99
modern, 186
M, 213
solstitial, 78

=Thigh=, āk of, 176
(Mesχet), 179, 216
constellation, 137, 143, 302
in pyramid times, 360
of Set, 146, 147
represents Great Bear, 146

=This=, antiquity of, 327

=Thistleton-Dyer=, on Myrrh from Pun-t, 348

=Thoth= = Asti, 176
1st of, dates of, 268
festival of, 198
lunus, 29, 393
month of, sign of, 269
relation to Teχi, 275
sign of, in Ramessids' time, 269

=Thothmes I.=, 188

=Thothmes III.=, date of, 261
and the Theban priests, 321
Ptah temple, 354
Karnak, embellishments at, 112
restoration of temple of Amen-Rā, 108
temples at Medînet-Habû, 221

=Thoueris.= _See_ Taurt

=Tiāmat= and Marduk, myth of, 378, 398

=Tigris=, god sacred to, 229
inundation, time of, 85, 230, 367

=Tmu.= _See_ Atmu

=Tomes= on red hippopotamus, 362

=Totemism=, 215

=Triads=, 222

=Tuamāutef=, 147

=Tum.= _See_ Atmu

=Twilight=, representation of, Isis, 29
representation of, Nephthys, 31

=Typhon.= _See_ Set

=Tyre=, temple of, 161

=Unger=, date of Mena, 22

=Ur= of the Chaldees, 379

=Ursæ Majoris= α, temples to, 309, 341, 354, 360

=Usertsen I.=, 179, 221, 215
obelisk at Annu, 214, 338

=Ushas=, 7

=Utchats=, 280

=Varuna=, 7

=Vedas=, 4, 5, 6

=Virchow=, on race distinctions, 386

=Virey=, Dêr el-Bahari discoveries, 319
on cult of Aten, 321

=Vitruvius=, on temple orientation, 58

=Vyse=, Col. Howard, 12

=Wady Halfa= to Aswân, rate of Nile flood, 240
Capt. Lyons' work at, 358

=Wady Hammamāt=, 208

=Wakefield=, measurements at Karnak, 117

=Worship= of N. star, imported into Egypt, 370

=Year=, anomalistic, 53
calendar, 246
definition of, 247
fixed, 251
length of, 251
length of, 244, 247
true, 250
fixed and vague, time of coincidence, 267
variation between, 252
great, Annus Magnus, 257
measure of length of, first, 110
new, indications, 247
sidereal, 53
Sirian, length of, 253
tropical, 53
vague, 251
beginnings of, 110
and solstice, cycle, 252
in time of Ramessids, 263

=Young=, Thomas, Rosetta stone, 11

=Zend-Avesta=, 6

=Ziggurats=, erection of, 367

=Zodiac=, the signs of, 137

=Zodiacs=, of Denderah, 135, 146
discovery of, 18

PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] My lectures, given in November, 1890, were printed in _Nature_,
April-July, 1891, under the title "On some Points in the Early History
of Astronomy," with the following note:--"From shorthand notes of a
course of lectures to working men delivered at the Museum of Practical
Geology, Jermyn Street, in November, 1890. The notes were revised by
me at Aswân during the month of January. I have found, since my return
from Egypt in March, that part of the subject-matter of the lectures
had been previously discussed by Professor Nissen, who has employed the
same materials as myself. To him, therefore, so far as I at present
know, belongs the credit of having first made the suggestion that
ancient temples were oriented on an astronomical basis. His articles
are to be found in the _Rheinisches Museum für Philologie_, 1885."

[2] Maspero, "Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient." p. 136.

[3] Hibbert Lectures, 1879.

[4] _See_ Rawlinson's "History of Egypt," Vol. II., p. 134, for
references on this subject.

[5] "The temples of the gods ought to be so placed that the statue,
which has its station in cella, should, if there be nothing to
interfere with such a disposition, face the west; in order that those
who come to make oblations and offer sacrifices may face the east....
When temples are built in the neighbourhood of a river, they should
command a view of its banks, like the temples of Egypt upon the borders
of the Nile."--_Vitruvius, Civil Architecture, Section I., Chapter V._

[6] _See_ Biot, "Études sur l'Astronomie Indienne," p. 293.

[7] _See_ Biot, "Sur divers points d'Astronomie ancienne: Mémoires,
Académie des Sciences," 1846, p. 47.

[8] For a detailed account of the way in which the formula in use
has been obtained, the reader had better turn to Vol. I., p. 253, of
Chauvenet's "Spherical and Practical Astronomy."

If we denote the latitude by φ,

and let _p_ = the star's polar distance,
_a_ = " " right ascension,
Θ = sidereal time of observation,
_h_ = the star's altitude,
_t_ = " " hour angle;

then, knowing that

_t_ = Θ - _a_,

the formula may be written as follows:--

φ = _h_ - _p_ cos. t + ½{_p_²} sin. 1” sin. _t²_ tan. _h_.

The Nautical Almanac gives tables to facilitate the computations
involved, but greater exactness is obtained by direct computation.

[9] Since I left Egypt, in February, 1893, Captain Lyons has been good
enough to comply with my request to repeat the observations. I give the
following extract from his letter:--

"The mounds are only within a degree, as it is only the general
direction which can be taken.

South mound old temenos wall, 289½° mag. bearing = 19½° N. of W.
Wall at right angles 189° mag. bearing = 71° S. of W.

Going to the West mound there are two higher humps with an opening
between them, tons of limestone chips, sandstone blocks with Rameses
II.'s name; so that I take this for the site of the great pylon. It is
exactly opposite the obelisk, and distant, I should guess, 600 yards.

Site of S. pylon to obelisk, 106½° mag. bearing = 16½° S. of E.
Pole of N. pylon to obelisk, 109½° mag. bearing = 19½° S. of E.

So I think probably the remaining obelisk is the northern one (_cf._
Horner, "Phil. Trans.," MDCCCLV., pp. 124 and 131), and the temple axis
was directed 289½° mag. bearing with corr. 5½° = 284° = 14° N. of
West true amplitude."

[10] Amenenemāt I., the founder of the sanctuary of the sun, entreats,
after he has begun the great work (which was not finished till the
time of his son, Usertesen), "May it not perish by the vicissitudes
of time, may that which is made endure!" This desire of a great king
which has come down to us through the leathern roll now preserved at
Berlin, has not been fulfilled; for of his magnificent structure, built
for all eternity, nothing remains but the obelisk we have seen, and a
few blocks of stone scarcely worth mentioning. The Persian Cambyses
is unjustly accused of having destroyed the temple and city of the
sun, for the city was minutely described in detail long after his
time, and the temple was still flourishing; nay, many remains of the
sanctuary, that have now long since vanished, were described even by
Arab authors.--Ebers, "Egypt," p. 190.

[11] "Ninive et l'Assyrie," par Victor Place. Imprimerie Imperiale,
1867.

[12] "Monument de Ninive," par Botta and Flandin. Imprimerie Nationale,
1849.

[13] From a magnetic chart which has been prepared for me by the
kindness of Captain Creak, R.N., F.R.S., of the Hydrographic Department
of the Admiralty, it seems that the variation at Nineveh and Babylon
may be taken as follows:--

Nineveh. Babylon.
1800 8° 25′ W. 8° 25′ W.
1900 0° 0° 25′ W.

The values for intermediate dates may be roughly arrived at by an
interpolation curve.

[14] "Journeys in North China," Williamson. Vol. II., chap. xvi., by
Edkins. p. 253.

[15] "Stonehenge: Plans, Descriptions, and Theories," 1880, p. 20.

[16] Ferguson: "Rude Stone Monuments."

[17] _See_ especially "The Golden Bough," by J. G. Fraser, for the
midsummer and Beltaine fires.

[18] "Antiquities," b. 8, c. 4, p. 401, Whiston's edition.

[19] Josephus, "Antiquities" III., c. 8, § 9.

[20] The italics are mine--J. N. L.

[21] "Antiquities" III., c. 8, § 9.

[22] Warren: "Underground Jerusalem."

[23] Acosta, in his "History of Indies," lib. vi., p. 459. quoted by
Maurice ("Observations Connected with Astronomy and Ancient History
and Ruins of Babylon"), states that some of the stones in the Mexican
temples to sun and moon measure 38 feet by 18 feet by 6 feet.

[24] _See_ "Palmyra and Baalbek." R. Wood, 1827. Plates.

[25] On this point I gather the following information from the article
"Orientation" in the "Grand Dictionnaire Universel du 19 Siècle,"
by M. Pierre Larousse:--"From the fifth century to the time of the
Renaissance, the orientation of churches was generally carried out.
The mystical reasons furnished by the sacred writers--according to
St. John of Damascus and Cassiodorus--were that Jesus on the Cross
had His face turned towards the West, hence Christians during prayer
must turn to the East to see it. Further, in the sacred writings Jesus
is called the East (_Oriens ex alto_). Again, Christians hope to see
Christ descending in the East on the last day. Finally, the faithful
when turning to the East during prayer establish a difference between
themselves and the Jews and heretics, for the Jews when praying turn
West, and certain heretics South, and others North, hence the heathen
said they were sun-worshippers." In the ninth century there was a
strong protest against orientation. Catholic churches were built any
way, and it was said, "_Nunc oremus ad omnem partem quia Deus ubique
est_."

[26] See _Builder_, Jan. 2, 1892.

[27] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 174.

[28] Inscription south side of obelisk quoted in "Records of the Past,"
Vol. XII. (Letter from Capt. Lyons).

[29] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 177.

[30] "Chrestomathie Égyptienne," Do Rougé, iii., p. 60.

[31] "Egyptian Archæology," English edition, p. 105.

[32] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 174.

[33] Brugsch, op. cit., p. 187.

[34] "Karnak. Étude topographique et archéologique."

[35] Mariette, _op. cit._, text, p. 2.

[36] "History" p. 175.

[37] Nissen in his important memoir does not refer to this hill; his
conclusions, therefore, are not absolutely justified by the facts as he
states them.

[38] "Œuvres de Volney," vol. v., p. 431.

[39] "Ptolemy Almagest VIII.," chap. vi.

[40] "Recherches sur l'année vague des Egyptiens," by M. Biot. Académie
des Sciences 4th April, 1831.

[41] _I.e._, the stars which never set.

[42] Herodotus II., 44. (I am indebted to my friend Prof. Robertson
Smith for this reference.)

[43] See _ante_, p. 111.

[44] For instance, in the line of sphinxes in front of temple X, shown
in the folding plate inserted in Chap. XVIII., the line was left
incomplete to preserve the fair-way of the ruined temple north of Y
outside the _temenos_ wall.

[45] "Baugeschichte des Dendera-Tempels," 1877.

[46] "Rheinisches Museum für Philologie," 1885, p. 39.

[47] Quoted from Nissen, _op. cit._

[48] "Origine des Cultes," vol. i., p. 450.

[49] On this point I am permitted by Professor Maspero to print the
following extract from a letter I received from him:--"Tous les temples
ptolémaïques et la plus grande partie des temples pharaoniques sont
des _reconstructions_. Ce que vous avez observé de Dendérah, est
vrai d'Esnéh, d'Ombos, d'Assouan, de Philæ, etc. Or, si les premiers
constructeurs d'un temple--ou chez nous d'une église--peuvent choisir
presque à leur gré l'emplacement, et par suite l'orientation, la plus
convenable, il en est bien rarement de même des _reconstructeurs_.
Les maisons accumulées autour du temple les gênaient, d'ailleurs les
habitudes du culte et de la population étaient prises; on rebâtissait
le temple--comme d'ordinaire chez nous on rebâtit l'église--sur
la même orientation et sur les mêmes fondations. J'ai constaté le
fait à Kom-Ombo, où les débris du temple décoré par Amenhotpou I.
et Thoutmosis III. sont orientés exactement comme ceux du temple
ptolémaïque actuel, bâti sur les ruines du précédent. Vous avez donc le
droit de dire, non seulement pour Dendérah, mais pour beaucoup d'autres
temples, qu'ils ont été reconstruits sur l'orientation du temple qu'ils
remplaçaient, quand même cette orientation ne répondait plus à la
réalité des choses."

[50] Mariette, "Denderah," vol. i., p. 263.

[51] Mariette, _op. cit._, p. 142. Plutarch wrote in the first century
A.D.

[52] Mariette, _op. cit._, p. 206.

[53] Mariette, _op. cit._, p. 142.

[54] Hathor is termed "La maîtresse du commencement de l'an." Mariette,
_loc. cit._, p. 207.

[55] "Besides the solstice and the beginning of the Nile flood,
there was an event in the sky which was too striking not to excite
the general attention of the Egyptian priesthood. We also know from
the newly-discovered inscriptions from the ancient empire that
the risings of Orion and Sirius were already attentively followed
and mythologically utilised at the time of the building of the
pyramids."--KRALL.

[56] Brugsch, "Egypt," Edition 1891, p. 189.

[57] Ebers, "Egypt," p. 335.

[58] Mariette, pp. 168 and 178.

[59] Dümichen, "Bauurkunde der Tempelanlagen von Dendera," p. 20.

[60] Mariette, p. 156.

[61] "Isis and Osiris," Parthey, cap. 56.

[62] Have we such instances of degradation in the cat replacing the
lion and the black pig the hippopotamus, to give two instances?

[63] It has been assumed by several authorities in Egyptology that Sati
is a variant for Sirius. It is quite certain that in late times there
was a temple at Philæ oriented to Sirius; but there are many grounds
for supposing that both Sati and Anuqa referred to special southern
stars. There were several points of dissimilarity between Philæ (and
Elephantine) and Thebes.

[64] Maspero, "Hist. Anc." xi. 10.

[65] "Monumental Egypt," chapter i.

[66] "Monumental Egypt," chapter i.

[67] The modern Egyptians still hold to the old months for irrigation.
7 Taba = January 15, is commencement of wheat irrigation; 30 Misra is
the last safe date for sowing maize in the Delta; 1st Tut is the date
of regulating the bridges = September 8 in Upper Egypt.

[68] "Histoire ancienne des Peuples de l'Orient," p. 72.

[69] "Chronologie," i., p. 70.

[70] _Op. cit._, p. 187.

[71] Krall, _loc. cit._, p. 20.

[72] Mommsen, "Chronologie," p. 258.

[73] "Studien zur Geschichte der Alten Aegypten," I. Wien, 1881.

[74] "Matériaux pour servir à la Reconstruction du Calendrier," p. 29.

[75] "Aeg. Zeit.," 1886, p. 5, quoted by Krall.

[76] It should be observed that a distinction is made between the
Julian and the historical year. This comes from the fact that when
astronomical phenomena are calculated for dates B.C., it must be
remembered that chronologists are in the habit of designating by 1,
or rather by-1, the first year which precedes the instant of time at
which the chronological year commenced, while astronomers mark this
year in their tables by 0. It follows, therefore, that the rank of any
year B.C. is always marked by an additional unit in the chronological
dates. For the Christian era, of course, chronologists and astronomers
work in the same way. The following table, given by Biot, exhibits the
connection between these two methods. In the latter Biot shows the
leap-years marked B, and the corresponding years in the Scaligerian
chronological period are also given.

DATES OF JULIAN YEARS COMMENCING ON JANUARY 1.

According to According to Corresponding
Chronologists. Astronomers. years of the period
of Scaliger.
-6 -5 4708
-5B -4B 4709
── ── ───
-4 -3 4710
-3 -2 4711
-2 -1 4712
-1B -0B 4713B
Physical instant when the era commenced.
+1 +1 4714
+2 +2 4715
+3 +3 4716
+4B +4B 4717B
── ── ───
+5 +5 4718

[77] _Loc. cit._, p. 29.

[78] Probably too great a value by two or three days.

[79] _Op. cit._, p. 48.

[80] Goodwin has already asked, "Does the Smith Papyrus refer to some
rectification of the calendar made in the fourth dynasty, similar to
that made in Europe from the old to the new style?" Quoted by Riel,
"Sonnen-und Sirius-Jahr," p. 361.

[81] On the 7th Epiphi of the tenth year of Ptolemy III. the ceremony
of the stretching off the cord took place. Dümichen, _Aeg. Zeit._, 2,
1872, p. 41.

[82] _Op. cit._, p. 37.

[83] Dümichen, "Bauurkunde der Tempelanlagen von Dendera," p. 20.

[84] Brugsch thus translates one of the inscriptions:--"Horus in
weiblicher Gestalt ist die Fürstin, die Mächtige, die Thronfolgerin
und Tochter eines Thronfolger. Ein fliegender Käfer wild (sie?)
geboren am Himmel in der uranfänglichen Stadt (Denderah) zur Zeit der
Nacht des Kindes in seiner Wiege. Es strahlt die Sonne am Himmel in
der Dämmerung, wann ihre Geburt vollbracht wird." Brugsch, "Astron.
Inscript.," p. 97.

[85] In this and the following tables the dates connected with the
heights of hills where they are known are given in heavy type. Where
the local conditions are unknown, hills 1° high have been assumed.

[86] With regard to the temple A of Lepsius, it may be stated that
in the time of the Ptolemies it received considerable and curious
enlargements and embellishments which make it unique among Egyptian
temples.

[87] Baedeker, "Ober-Aegypten," p. 320.

[88] New Gîzeh Catalogue, p. 61.

[89] Brugsch, "Religion und Mythologie," p. 111. Pierret, "Salle
Historique de la Galerie Égyptienne" (du Louvre), p. 199.

[90] "Notices des Principaux Monuments Exposés au Musée de Gîzeh," p.
260. (1893.)

[91] The little temple of Isis at Pompeii and the associated frescoes
in the Naples Museum are well worth careful study, especially with
regard to the arrangements made for the stellar observations (and their
final stoppage by the drastic proceeding referred to in the text),
and the evolution of Horus in Greek times. The Hippopotami are most
carefully drawn.

[92] Gîzeh Catalogue, 1893, p. 63.

[93] Professor Flinders Petrie has been good enough to send me his
recent measurements. They justify those obtained from Lepsius' plan.

[94] Brugsch, "Egypt," 1891, p. 220.

[95] Ebers and Dümichen, in Baedeker's "Ober-Aegypten," p. 59.

[96] _Op. cit._, p. 21.

[97] That is, if we take the temple as oriented originally to α Ursæ
Majoris.

[98] No sun temple is closely associated with the Set temples either at
Luxor or Abydos, and one on the Annu model would not be so associated,
for a right angle would carry its axis outside the ecliptic limits.

[99] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 64.

[100] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 44, note.

[101] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 64.

[102] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 46.

[103] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 41.

[104] "Bubastis," preface, p. iv.

[105] There are, however, notable exceptions to this rule, which will
be discussed further on.

[106] "Mêdûm," chap. i.

[107] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 59.

[108] Further, it is known that there was some connection between
Pepi-Meri-Rā and the eleventh dynasty of Thebes. Maspero, _op. cit._,
p. 91. And it must also be mentioned that in the later pyramids "texts"
are introduced.

[109] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 112.

[110] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 112.

[111] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 113.

[112] It is worthy of inquiry whether the northern star so observed is
not the true Nephthys (Nebt-het). If so, the triad Nephthys, Isis and
Horus represents daily astronomical observations.

[113] Rawlinson, i. 337.

[114] "Egypt under the Pharaohs," ed. 1891, p. 3.

[115] Brugsch, "History," p. 6.

[116] Maspero, "Histoire ancienne," p. 59.

[117] _Idem_, p. 63.

[118] Rawlinson, ii., p. 134.

[119] Maspero, "Histoire ancienne," p. 5.

[120] Brugsch, "History of Egypt," 1891, p. 54.

[121] Mariette, "Dêr el-Bahari," p. 31. Mr. W. T. Thistleton-Dyer, the
director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, agrees in this view. He permits
me to print the following extract from a letter written to me:--"The
only positive fact that I can deal with is the representation in the
pictures of a small scrubby tree, which seems to have been about four
feet high. It appears to have yielded a gummy or resinous exudation
from its trunk. Mariette supposes this to be myrrh. Pount to be
Somali-land, and To Nuter the Socotran Archipelago. All this fits in
very well with botanical facts. Myrrh-producing plants exist both in
Somali-land and Arabia, and also in Socotra, as ascertained by Bayley
Balfour. The two former places still are, as they always have been, the
place of origin of myrrh, and we know that it was largely used by the
Egyptians in embalming. There is no evidence that myrrh, or anything in
any way resembling it, was ever found south of the Equator. I cannot
carry you further south than Berbera."

[122] On this point I am permitted to print the following extract from
a letter received from my friend Sir John Kirk, K.C.B.:--"I send you
a photo, taken in 1858, in the delta of the Zambezi, of a house built
on high poles. The people there live in such houses. There is a ladder
by which they mount, and all their belongings are kept above. Such
houses I have since seen at the mouth of the River Rufiji, opposite the
island of Monfia, to the south of Zanzibar. The reason in both cases
for such a type of house is that the country at one time is flooded,
and also to avoid mosquitoes. Similar structures are used, I am told,
in Madagascar. At Lake Nyassa I believe there are village communities
living in the lake, on artificial islands of piles."

[123] Rawlinson, ii., p. 131.

[124] "L'Anthropologie," 1891, No. 4.

[125] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 184.

[126] Inscription of Thothmes III., translated by Brugsch, "Egypt," p.
188.

[127] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 184.

[128] Brugsch, "Egypt," p. 180.

[129] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., p. 130.

[130] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 133 and 134.

[131] For plans, _see_ Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 125 and 127.

[132] There is a point of great interest here. It would seem from
Captain Lyons' examination of the temples at Wady Halfa, which I make
out to have been oriented to α Centauri, that when the two races were
amalgamated in later times, both the stars to which I have referred as
heralding the equinox were personified by the same goddess, Serk-t.

[133] Besides the book on omens we have "The observations of Bel,"
or "Illumination of Bel" (Mul-lil), seventy-two books dealing with
conjunctions of Sun and Moon, phases (?) of Venus, and appearance of
comets. (Sayce, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 29.) The complete materials for
the study of Babylonian and Assyrian astronomy cannot be available
until the catalogue of the Kouyunjik Collection, now in course of
publication by the British Museum, is finished.

[134] Rawlinson, vol. i., p. 316.

[135] Maspero, "Histoire Ancienne," p. 165.

[136] Pierret, "Le Panthéon Égyptien," p. 48. I have before referred to
a doubt on this point.

[137] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 357.

[138] "Le Panthéon Égyptien," p. 4.

[139] "Kosmologie der Babylonier," p. 147.

[140] "Proc. Zool. Soc.," 1850, p. 160.

[141] Dr. Wallis Budge informs me that An was an old name of the
sun-god.

[142] Rawlinson, vol. ii., p. 64.

[143] "Kosmologie der Babylonier," p. 147.

[144] Sayce, "Hibbert Lectures," 1887, p. 193.

[145] Sayce, p. 193.

[146] Jensen, p. 149.

[147] Sayce, p. 439.

[148] Sayce, "Hibbert Lectures," p. 190.

[149] Sayce, p. 280. There is a bas-relief in the British Museum
showing this ceremonial.

[150] Sayce, p. 101.

[151] _See_ "Guide to the British Museum," p. 71.

[152] Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 33. Flinders Petrie, _Nature_, Aug.
9, 1883, p. 341.

[153] Sayce, _op. cit._, p. 135.

[154] One gets the idea, from reading Professor Sayce's work, that
there might have been in the earliest times a north-star-worshipping
race up the valley before Ía and Sun and Moon worship were established
at Eridu; and that the addition of Ía to the Bīl-Anu-worship to make
one triad, and the addition of Bīl to the Ía-Asari-worship to make
another, were both compromises. See Sayce, pp. 320, 347, 400.

[155] Prof. Sayce has been good enough to inform me that he is of
opinion that Marduk or Merodach was originally a local god of Babylon,
and that he was identified with the son of Ea when a colony came to
Babylon or founded that city, bringing with it the culture and theology
of the south. In this way the sun-god of Babylon became confounded with
the sun-god of Eridu. I should add that Assyriologists are not all
agreed about the transitions to which I have referred.

[156] I owe to the kindness of Sir Arnold Kemball, K.C.B., the perusal
of a valuable report on the agriculture of British East Africa,
prepared for him by Mr. W. W. A. Fitz-Gerald. He has permitted me
to print the following abstract:--"The whole of the eastern coast
is affected in a greater or lesser degree by the S.W. and N.E.
monsoons. The following notes deal only with the extent of coast-land
lying opposite and to the north of Zanzibar and Pemba islands. The
agricultural seasons on the coast-lands are two in number, and
correspond with the advent of the N.E. and S.W. monsoons respectively.
They are distinguished locally as the 'greater rains,' or 'Masika
M'Ku;' the 'lesser rains,' or 'Masika M'dogo.' The greater rains
inaugurate the most important cultivating season, commencing in March
with the S.W. monsoon. Some years the sowing commences as early as
the 7th, but generally speaking the average period may be given as
beginning from the middle of the month, and by the first week in
April all sowings of Indian corn, rice and 'mfmah' (Millet or Sorghum
vulgare), the chief and staple food-stuffs of the people, are generally
finished, though sowings may continue till the end of April. The
heaviest fall of rain occurs in April and May, and the rain continues
with gradually diminishing force to September. _Harvest_ takes place
in July and August, and once the grain is off the field the land is
immediately cleared and prepared for sowing, in anticipation of the
coming of the 'lesser rains' in _October_. The season of the lesser
rains is chiefly the time for the cultivation of Gingelly oil seed,
beans, and such other lesser food-stuffs. The season of the 'lesser
rains' is deemed more uncertain and less to be depended upon, and the
rainfall is decidedly very much smaller in comparison. The 'lesser
rains' practically end in November, for though the wind continues
steadily from the N.N.E., the rainfall in December, January, and
February is slight and uncertain, and it is during these three months,
especially the two last, that the greatest heat prevails. The influence
of the monsoons is considerably less than on Zanzibar Island, and the
difference of rainfall may be put down as about 20 to 30 inches."

[157] Introduction to "Nubische Grammatik," 1880.

[158] Just in the same way that the Equinoctial Pyramid cult gave way
in Egypt, dominated by the rise of the Nile at the solstice.

[159] I shall show subsequently that a similar change seems also to
have been made at Thebes. Amen-Rā, the Summer Sun-god, was a late
invention.

[160] Jensen, pp. 195-198.

[161] Sayce, p. 131.

[162] The italics are mine.--J. N. L.

[163] Professor Sayce also tells me that Asari was subsequently
identified by the Semitic Babylonians with Merodach.

[164] "Egypt's Place," vol. i., p. 377.

[165] Rawlinson's "Ancient Egypt," vol. i., p. 328.

[166] Lanzoni also states that Amen-Rā sometimes appears with the four
heads of the goat, once special to Chnemu, q.v.

[167] Lanzoni, p. 692.

[168] Rawlinson, vol. i., p. 371.

[169] Naville, "Mythe d'Horus," p. 8.

[170] "Mythe d'Horus," p. 7.

[171] "Mythe d'Horus," p. 7.

[172] "Hist. Anc.," p. 33.

[173] "Hibbert Lectures," p. 155.

[174] In modern German, even, the Moon is masculine and the Sun
feminine.

[175] Maspero, _op. cit._, p. 14.

[176] _Annu_ and _An_ (Denderah): (? "la grande Tribu des Anou" of
Maspero?)

[177] _Op. cit._, p. 315.

[178] I think I am right about the Tortoise, for I find the
following passage in Jensen, p. 65, where he notes the absence of
the Crab:--"Ganz absehend davon, ob dasselbe für unsere Frage von
Wichtigkeit werden wird oder nicht, muss ich daran erinnern, das unter
den Emblemen, welche die sogenannten 'Deeds of Sale' häufig begleiten,
verschiedene Male wie der Scorpion so die Schildkröte abgebildet
gefunden wird."

[179] According to a communication of Dr. Tetens, Aldebaran rose
heliacally at the beginning of spring for Babylon 6900 years ago.

[180] With regard to these legends Jensen writes: "Now it is
remarkable that the oldest historical king about whom the Babylonians
know anything, Sargon of Agadi (?) is said to have lived about 3750
B.C.--_i.e._, 5639 years ago--and that his son is called Narām-Sīn
= 'favourite of Sīn,' the moon-god. And if we bear in mind that the
zodiac with its signs plays into the Babylonian legends of creation,
and that the Hebrew cosmogonic legends are derived from these, it is
for us even more remarkable that the Jews place the creation of the
world 5649 years ago, however much the figures derived from the Bible,
according to other computations and traditions, may depart therefrom.
Whether this is accidental or not, I do not profess to judge."

[181] "Astronomisches aus Babylon," pp. 117-133.

[182] "Die Sterntafeln in den ägyptischen Konigsgräbern von Bibân
el-Molûk," von Gustav Bilfinger (p. 69).

[183] In the lists of temples which follow, all the orientations were
obtained from azimuths taken with a theodolite, either from the sun or
from the planet Venus. In almost every case two or more sights were
observed, and occasionally also the performance of the instrument was
tested by stars at night. The heights subtended by the visible horizon
opposite to the axes of the temples were also observed.

[184] _See_ _Nature_, February 25, 1892, and May 11, 1893.

[185] R indicates a rising, and S a setting observation.

[186] With regard to a temple of Minerva using α Arietis at Tegea, Mr.
Penrose writes:--"Minerva is allowed by the poets to have been able
to use Jupiter's thunder, so this is no misappropriation of the star.
Juno also seems to have claimed the use of α Arietis as at Samos, and
at Girgenti it suits the orientation of the temple of Juno better than
Spica. But Spica seems to have been connected with the worship of Juno
and Diana in their more strictly female capacity."

*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The dawn of astronomy - A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians" ***

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