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The dawn of astronomy (and astrology)
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[CHAP. XXX.
TABLE OF HELIACAL RISINGS AND SETTINGS.
Date Spring Equinox. Bummer Solstice. 1 Autumnal Equinox. Winter Solstice.
B.C. Rising. Setting. Rising. ^
/ ' Setting. ^ Rising. Setting. j Rising, j Retting.
5675 PJrfact ! Vega. Canopus a Phenicis 0 Muse®
4600 Aldebaran Phact 1 *
\y Draoonis Capella
'aTrianguli Canopus
1 +3
3525 aPhenicis Antares Phact Antares Aldebaran
+2 1 -1 -f 2
Pleiades la Centaari
+3 I +34
[3200] Sirius 1
2450 a Pavonis Sirius Altair I 0 Argus
l
1 . +3
1 1 -1-3 1 1
The real precedence of Capella and Spica in templebuilding is not shown in the above table, because these stars were not used either at the solstices, or the equinoxes.
CHAPTER XXXI.
THE HISTORY OP SUN-WORSHIP AT ANNU AND THEBES.
Now that we have been able to discuss with more or lass 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 /mjofe-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
316
[CHAP. XXXI.
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. Lot 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. XXL, 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 « Ursae 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 Tliothmes III. (Time of Thothmes, 1600 B.C. Amplitude of temple, 35° west of north = with hills 3° high, 32^°
CHAP. XXXI.]
MEMPIII8-TEMPLES.
317
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 Gizeh, 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, 11 les plus remarquables statues divines qu’on ait encore trouv^es en Egypte,” 1 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, he 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 -4^° west, to be 12f° north of west, and the hills in front of it, assuming the village of Mit-Rahtneh 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
1 New Gizch Catalogue, p. 61.
318
[CHAP. XXXI.
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 Ra and is called “ the father of the beginnings, and the creator of the egg of the Sun and Moon.” 1
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-Ra.
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 72^° north of east and 17J° north of west. I have shown that the temple of Mut would allow y 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
1 Brugseh, “ Religion und Mythologie,” p. 111. Pierrot, “ Salle Historique de la Galerie ggyptienno” (du Louvre), p. 199.
CHAP. XXXI.]
THEBAN POLITICS.
319
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, 17^° north of west = declination 15° = sun’s N. declination on May 1.)
Both at Annu and Thebes, .therefore, before the temple of Amen-Ra 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 Gdndrales,” on the discoveries made at Der el-Bahari by MM. Maspero and Gr£baut, which is to be found in the new edition of the Gizeh Catalogue.1 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-Ra 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
1 “ Notices des Principaux Monuments Exposes au Mus6c de Gizeh,” p. 260. (1893.)
320
THE DA \VN OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAr. XXXI.
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 earned 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 Thotlimes to do. They were strong measures, since in his day the cult of Spica (the solar disc, Aten, Min, Kliem), and r 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.1 •
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-Ra, 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-Ra in and after the time of Thothmes III., and that the cult supereeded 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-lietop IV., some hundred and fifty years after Thothmes III.
1 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.
CHAT. XXX!.]
REVIVAL OF ATEN-WORSHIP.
321
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 Anuu 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 tfieir 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, Ra of Heliopolis.”1 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.1 2 This gives us a declination of 11° north, and the star Spica at its setting would be visible in the temple.
Still the light would not enter it axially if the orientation is correct. This would have happened in 2000 B.C., that is,
1 Gizeh Catalogue, 1893, p. 63.
2 Professor Flinders Petrie has been good enough to send me his recent measurements. They justify those obtained from Lepsius* plan.
V
322
(CHAP. XXXI.
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
THE TEMPLES AT TELL EL-AMARNA. A, The Aten (Spica) Temple; B, the Set Temple.
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.,
CHAP. XXXI.)
KHU-EN-ATEN.
323
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 he 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 Thotlimes III. by building temple Gr. 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 leased on it, but not identical with it, had been in vogue at Thebes from 3200 B.C. to the time of Thotlimes 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-Amama, 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-Amama 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-Amama v 2
324 ICHAP. xxxi.
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 IS 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 Aahmes, 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.”1
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 y 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 tbe 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.
1 Brngsch, “ Egypt,” 1891, p. 220.
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
326
[CHAP. XXXII.
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 bo easy at once to change the front of the inquiiy 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 d^veloppement de la civilisation figyptienne. Les pri&res et les hymnes, qui form&rent plus tard le noyau des livres sacr&, avaient ete r^diges a 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 Ra, Atmu, Osiris, Horus, and Shou.
CHAP. XXXII.]
ABYDOS.
327
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 ai*e other northern towns besides Annu for which a very high antiquity is claimed.
On this point here is the opinion of fibers and Diimichen, two of our highest authorities: “ Dies ist die alteste Stadt in Aegyptcn, und das mit ihm verbundene Abydos kann nicht viel j unger gewesen sein, denn sclion im alten Reiehe wird es vielfach als heilige Stadt erwahnt.”1
The sacred character of Abydos is also punted out by Maspero.2
“ C’est comme ville sainte qu’elle dtait universellement connue. Ses sanctuaires etaient c^lebres, son dieu Osiris vdn£rd, ses fetes suivies par toute l’Egypte; les gens riches des autres nomes tenaient h houneur de se faire dresser une stele 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 northeast 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 fibers and Diimichen in Baedeker
1 Ebers and Diimichen, in Baedeker’s “ Ober-Aegyptcn,” p. 69.
3 Op. eit., p. 21.
[CH*r. XXXII.
that many references to Set (Anubis) occur in the inscriptions. If subsequent measurements indicate that Abydos and Luxor are to bo treated together, then astronomically both these places may represent a cult more ancient than that at Annu,1 since it would appear that in these cases a Lyrae was the star personified by Anubis, as a Ursae Majoris and 7 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 Rameses II. was certainly oriented to a Lyra1, by which I mean that if the building date given by Egyptologists is coi’rect, a Lyrae rose in the axis prolonged— another instance of the long persistence of a cult, and of the fact that the temples that w'e 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.2
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
1 That is, if we tako the temple as oriented originally to a Ursae Majoris.
3 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 an^e would cany its axis outside the ecliptic limits.
CHAP. XXXII.)
ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS.
329
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 Ra, Horus, Osiris, are common to the two. As new divinities we have1—
" Isis.
Hathor.
Nephthys.
Ptah.
Serk-t.
Sokliit.
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 Sa'is, as I have said, had east and west walls, and so had Memphis, according to Lepsius. The form of Isis at Sa'is 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 timps, 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.
1 Mnspero, op. citp. 64.
330
ICHAP. XXXII.
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,1 but at any rate Kakau of the second dynasty issued proclamations regarding it,* and a statue of Hapi was in the temple of Cheops.3
The ground being thus cleared, I now state the working hypothesis to which 1 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
1 Maspero, op. cit., p. 44, note.
2 Maspero, op. cit., p. 64.
3 Maspero, op. cit., p. 46.
CHAP. XXXII.)
WORKING HYPOTHESIS.
331
non-equinoctial solar worship, combined with the cult of a northern star.
2. Memphis (possibly also Sai's, 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 cast was worshipped at each equinox.
3. The subsequent blank in Egyptian histoiy 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.
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.1
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.
1 Maspero, op. citp. 41.
THE TWO GREAT PYRAMIDS AT THE TIME OF THE INUNDATION
*
CHAP. XXXII.]
DISCUSSION.
333
Some detailed remarks are necessary on several points connected with the above generalisation. I will take them seriatim.
We find at Memphis, Sai's, 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 northeast—south-west.
For Memphis, Sa'is and Tanis the evidence is affoi'ded 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 wrcst walls there is, moreover, evidence of great antiquity. Bubastis, according to Naville,1 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.4 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) x (396 east and west) x 197 feet. Some authorities think this pyramid was erected in the first dynasty by the fourth king (Nenephes of Manetho, Ata of the tablet
1 u Bubastis,” preface, p. iv. -
* There are, however, notable exceptions to this rule, which will be discussed further on.
T11E STEP-PYRAMID OF HA KK A It All.
CHAP. XXXII.]
ABNORMAL PYRAMIDS.
335
of Abydos). The arrangement of chambers in this pyramid is quite special.
The claim to the highest antiquity of the step-pyramid is disputed by some in favour of the “false pyramid ” of Medthn. 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 if is really a step-pyramid of six stages.
THE PYRAMID OF MEDUM.
This pyramid must, according to the important and conclusive researches of Professor Flinders Petrie,1 be attributed to Seneferu, although De Rouge had furnished
1 “ Mddum,” chap. i.
336
[CHAP. XXXII.
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 Glzeh built by Cheops
1 Maspero, op. citp. 59.
evidence to. the contrary.1 Seneferu was a king of the fourth dynasty.
We have at DasMr 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 x 700 x 326 feet; 620 x 620 x 321 feet; 350 x 350 x 90 feet; and 343 x 343 x 156 feet.
THE “ BLUNTED PYRAMID ” OP DASHOR.
CHAP. XXXII.]
PYRA MID-TEMPLES.
337
(Chufu) and Cliephren (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 MMfim 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-Ra 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 tliis 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.1
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
1 Further, it is known that there was some connection between Pepi-Meri-Ra 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.
W
338
(CHAP. XXXII.
Amenemhat I. We pass to the Middle Empire, and here we have merely to deal with the worships previously referred to in Northern Egypt.
Amenemhat I. built no pyramids, he added no embellishments to Memphis ; but he took Annu under his care, and now we first hear of Thebes.1
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, lie restored the temple of Osiris at Abydos, and added to the temple of Amen-Ra at Thebes.*
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 Mini:—3
“ Mon nmitre m’envoya en mission pour lui preparer une grande demeure dtemelle. Les couloirs et la chambre intSrieure ^taient en ma^nnerie, et renouvelaient les merveilles de construction des dieux. II y eut en elle des colonnes sculptces, belles comme le ciel, un bassin creus£ qui communiquait avec le Nil, des portes, des obelisques, une facade en pierre de Rouou.”
There was nothing pyramidal about this idea, but one hundred and fifty years later we find Amenemhat III. returning both to the gigantic irrigation works and the pyramid building of the earlier dynasties.
1 Maspero, op. cit., p. 112. 2 Maspero, op. cit., p. 112. * Maspero, op. citp. 113.
CHAP. XXXII.}
THE EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY.
339
The scene of these labours was the Fayyftm, where, to crown the new work, two ornamental pyramids were built, surmounted by statues, and finally the king liimself 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 Aahmes, 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 liistory—a resuscitation of the solar worship at Annu, Abydos and Thebes.
I have next to show that precisely the same tiling happened after the Hyksos period (Dyn. 13 (?) Marietta, 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 Aahmes, 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-Ra, the solstitial-solar god, a modem representative of Atmu of Annu.
Amen-Ra 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
340
[CHAP. XXXII.
Annu,” who was also called the “ Great Observer of Ra and. Atmu,” had the privilege of entering at all times into the Habenben 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 confreres, 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 (Sa'is, 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 Phil®, Medinet-HaM, 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 Redesieh 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 a Ursae 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 Kamak) 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,
342
{CHAP. XXXIII.
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 a Ursae Majoris first and then y Draconis were used by the northerners. In other words, the question arises whether the extreme north and south stars were not both used as wamers 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 y 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
CHAP. XXXIII.]
CIRCUMPOLAR CLOCK-STA RS.
343
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 observa- ? tion, 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 y 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,1 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
1 It is worthy of inquiry whether the northern star so observed is not the true Neph- thys (Nebt-het). If so, the triad Nephthys, Isis and Horus represents daily astronomical observations.
344
(CHAP. XXXIII.
stars. With regard both to high north and south star's, 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 7 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.1
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:—2
“ 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 Meroe. 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
1 Rawlinson, i. 337.
2 “Egypt under the Pharaohs/’ ed. 1891, p. 3.
CHAP. XXXIII.]
TWO SERIES OF TEMPLES.
345
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 i*esults obtained from these monuments, studying them from the asti’onomical point of view, lead to a very diffei*ent conclusion. Instead of one series, thei*e are distinctly two (leaving out of consideration the great pyramid builders, at Grizeli) absolutely dissimilar astronomically; and instead of one set 6f temple- builders going up the river, there were at least two sets, one going up tjie river building temples to north stare, 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.1
Only by the time of Seneferu was there anything like an amalgamation of the peoples. He first was “ King of the two Egypts,”2 while later Chephren called himself “ Horus and Sit ”8
1 Brugsch, “History,” p. 6. 8 Maspcro, “Histoire ancienne,” p. 69. 8 Idem, p. 63.
346
THE DAWN OF
[CHAP. XXXIII.
—a distinct indication, I take it, that the influence of Upper Egypt
was alreadv felt •/
as early as Sene- feru, and, I think, much earlier, although all temple trace of it is lost.
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.), Meroe (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
CHAP. XXXIII.)
THE LAND OF
347
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
HUTS BUILT ON PILES IN PUN-T. QDcr d-Jiahari Inscription*.')
gods whom I have found to be associated with southern stars
came from a locality called the land of Pun-t.
Pun-t was always considered a “ Holy Land.” Hathor
was “ Queen of the Holy Land,” “ Mistress and Ruler of
Pun-t.” Amen-Ra 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.1
Maspero refers to an ancient tradition that the land
of Pun-t could be reached by going up the Nile, where
eventuallv one came to an unknown sea which bathed the %?
land of Pun-t. Was this one of the great lakes ?2
1 Rawlinson, ii., p. 134.
3 Maspero, “ Histoire ancienne,” p. 5.
348
CHAP. XXXIII.
Brugseh1 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 Aromati- fera regio of the ancients.2
The inscriptions at Der el-Bahari make it quite certain that Pun-t is in Africa. Hottentot Venuses, pile dwellings, 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-an^-ka-Ra, 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
1 Brugseh, “History of Egypt,” 1891, p. 64.
2 Mariette, “ Der 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.”
* 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.”
CHAP. XXXIII.] THE EDFO BLACKSMITHS. 349
joining the sea with the Nile; the expedition went by land to Coptos.1
They further indicate, as Maspero suggests, that the expedition of Hatshepset 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-Ra, ArE WITH MOON 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.
The Hawk-god of Edfti, Harliouditi, the southern Horus, * had for servants a number of individuals called Masniu or Masnitiu=blacksmitlis. The Hawk-god of the Delta, the northern Horus, Harsiisit, had for his entourage the Sliesu Horu. '
Now Maspero has recently pointed out2 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
1 Rawlinaon, ii., p. 131. 2 “L’Anthropologie,” 1891, No. 4.
CYN0CEPHALU8
350
(CHAP. XXXIII.
the castes of blacksmiths in Central Africa, which have suggested to him that the followers of the EdM Horus may have come from that province.
He writes:—
“ C’est du sud de l’Egypte que lea forgerons sont remont& vers le nord ; leur si£ge primitif dtait le sud de l’l£gypte,-la partie du pays qni a le plus des rapports avec les regions 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 reprdsenter PHorus d’Edfou comme ytant au ddbut, dans Pune de ses formes, le chef et le dieu d’une tribu d’ouvriers travaillant le m^tal, ou plut6t travaillant le fer. On ne sauraib en effet se dissimuler qu’il y a une affinity rdelle entre le fer et la personne d’Horus en certains mythea. Horus est la face celeste (horou), le ciel, le firmament, et ce firmament est de toute antiquity, un toit de fer, si bien que le fer en prit le nom de ba-ni-pit, metal du ciel, m£tal dont est formd le ciel: Horus l’ain£, Horus d’Edfou, est done en reality un dieu de fer. II est, de plus, muni de la pique ou de la javeline k point de fer, et les dieux qui lui sont apparent^, Anhouri, Shou, sont de piquiers comme lui, au contraire des dieux du nord de P^gypte, R&, Phtah, etc., qui n’ont pas d’armes k l’ordinaire. La l^gende d’Harhouditi conqu^rant l’^gypte avec les masniou serait-elle done l’^cho lointain d’un fait qui se serait pass£ au temps ant&ieurs & l’histoire? Quelque chose comme Pamv^e des Espagnols au milieu des populations du Nouveau Monde, Pirruption eu l^gypte de tribus connaissant et employant le fer, ayant parmi elles une caste de forgerons et apportant le culte d’un dieu belliqueux qui aurait &tk un Horus ou se serait confondu avec PHorus des premiers Egyptiens pour former Harhouditi. Ces tribus auraient et£ n&essairement d’origine Africaine, et auraient apport£ de liouveaux dllments Africains a ceux que renfermait dej&'la civilisation du bas Nil. Les forgerons auraient perdu peu k peu leurs privileges pour se fond re au reste de la population: a Edfou seulement et dans les villes ou Pon pratiquait le culte de PHorus d’Edfou, ils auraient conserve un caractere sacre et se seraient transform^ en un sorte de domesticity religieuse, les masniou du my the 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.
CHAT. XXJCI1I.)
THE DATES OF THE TEMPLES.
351
But sucli a search is now denied us, while in the time pf Thothmes III. it is supposed that the south frontier Kali of the inscriptions is probably connected with Koloe in 4° 15' N. lat. according to Ptolemy.1
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; a Centauri, e.g., seems to have been observed at Gebel Barkal before Thebes—Sirius is too modem 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 Edfu.
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.” 3
Not only did Thothmes III. find the original temple of Amen-Ra built in brick, but he found the temple at Semneh in brick also, and he rebuilt it in memory of Uscrtsen III.3
1 Brugsch, “Egypt,” p. 184.
2 Inscription of Thothmes III., translated by Brugsch, “Egypt,” p. 188.
3 Brugsch, “ Egypt,” p. 184.
352
[CHAP. XXXIII.
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. STABS.
Years B.C. Northern Stars. Southern stars. Remarks.
I
m
1
S ' / * e
§ ; 1 | Q e 1
1 1 6 ' i U
3
a
i i
CU ti Canopus. «3
1 1 ; 5
[6400] | 1 1,2,! 1 12 3 4
! 8,4,1 l EdfA, Philte, Amada, Semneh.
5400 i
5300 1 i 1 i 1. Memphis.
2 1 1 2. Annu.
5200 i 1 , ! ! 1. Annu.
5100
5000
4900
4800
4700
4600
4500
4400
4300
4200
! i :
i i
i I
1. Denderah. I 1. Redesieh.
1, 2. Denderah (temple built when both stars had an equal amplitude).
4100
4000
3900
3800
3700 1 1 i | 1. Barkal (E).
l 1 2 1 ! ! | 2. Ktirnah (Seti 1.).
3 3. Memnonia (Western Temple).
3600 I f i i 1 1 1 1 1 1. Kfirnah (Palace).
it1!1 2 ] 2. Barkal (B).
3500 1 1 , : 1. Karnak (Z and X)
2 ' 2. Dakkeh.
i 3 , 3. Denderah.
3400 ' 1 ! 1. Karnak (V).
3300 j j i 1 i ! , i
CHAP, XXXIII.) NORTH AND SOUTH' STAR TEMPLES.
383
TABLE .OP TEMPLES BUILT TO N. AND S. STABS {continued).
Northern Stars. Southern Stars.
: * > ,
Year* B.C. •
c
7
a
i
&
0 *
a
8
1 A
I
5 Spica. •5
i
* ?c
I
I
0 1
! I-
;i ?e
m Remarks.
3200 1 i 1. Abu Simbel (Hathor Temple).
3100 2 i
i l 2. Kamak (Y).
1. Kamak (Temple 0) Gr.
3000 2 2. D6r el-Medinet (Gr.).
1 2 i
i 1. Karnak (U). .
2. Wady Haifa (Thothmes II.).
2900
1 1. Barkal (L).
2800 1 1. Wady Haifa (Thothmes III.).
2700
2600 1
1 2
1 1 i
i
i l 2. Sabooa.
1. Der el-Bahari.
2. Wady E. Sofra.
1 1. Memnonia (Rameses II.)
2500 (Mean of Fr. and Gr.).
1 2 1. Kamak (W).
2. Kamak (J).
2400 ! 3 x ' i 3. Medinet Habfi. (JJ).
1. Kom Ombo (Little Temple).
2300 1 2 3 j 1 2. Petit TempleduSud (Memnonia).
3. Barkal (J and H).
1 1 i 1. Anna (Restoration).
2200
2100 2 I 1. Kamak (B).
2. Semneh.
2QOO I i j 1. Dosche.
1900 i 1 1. Tell el-Amarna.
1800 1 i i 1 1. Karnak (D) Gr.
1700 1
i 1 1 1
! | 2 1. Kamak (G).
2. Karnak (Seti II.).
1600
1500 | : 1
UOO l i | i i 1. Xaga (Temple g), Gr.
1300 1 | I I 1. Na^a (Temple f).
1200 i 1 1 1 I 1 ! 1. Karnak, (A.M.C).
1100 i 2 i
i 1 | i ; 2. Medinet Habti (Palace K K).
1000
900 i 1
i 1
I I ! 1 1. Kamak (Khons).
800 I i
I 2 1 i
1 i 1. Phi la) (Ethiopian Temple).
2. Medinet Habti. (Ethiopian
Temple).
1. Denderah (Isis Temple).
700 i
i
i 1
i 1
1 i
X
Gr. = German values of Orientation. Fr. = French
354
[CHAP. XXXIII.
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, a Ursae Majoris, 7 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 a Centauri at the autumnal equinox, begin about 3700 B.C.
V. 7 Draconis replaces a Ursae Majoris at Denderah; north-star temples are for the first time erected in the south at Kamak 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 Sencferu, Pepi, and the twelfth dynasty. The more modem 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 Kamak, and that is doubtful.
The wonderful Hall of Columns called Khu-mennu (Splendid Memorial), in the temple of Amen-Ra, was dedicated by Thothmes III. not onlv to Amen-Ra, but to his ancestors. It
CHAP, XXXIII.] THE ANCESTORS OF THOTUMES III. 355
is important to see who these were in the present connection. I give them with approximate dates.1
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 (?)
PLAN OP THE PYRAMIDS AT NUBI.
It is interesting to note that in this list the builders of the great pyramids at Glzeli, 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,
1 Brugsch, “Egypt,” p. 180.
x 2
356
[CHIP. XXXIII.
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 l
Prometheus:
limited to the temples—they apply also to pyramids. At Gizeh we find both temples %nd pyramids oriented east and west. At Gebel Barkal, Nuri, and Meroe, 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, Meroe, and Gebel Barkal; a west variation of 8£° has been assumed.
NURI.1
Cult. Magnetic 1 Azimuth. 1 Astronomical | Amplitude. Decl.
Pyramids 10, 11, 12 ... N. 136 E. 374 S. of E. S. 35J
Pyramids 1, 4 ... N. 137£ E. 38f S. of E. S. 36J
Pyramids 13, 14, 15 ... N. 139 E. ! 40J S. of E. S. 38
Pyramids 2, 3, 16, 17 ... ! N. 145J E. 47 S.ofE. S. 43f
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 ... , N. 1464 E. 48 S.ofE. S. 44f
1 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., p. 130.
CHAP. XXXIII.1
THE S. EGYPTIAN PYRAMIDS.
357
MEROE.1
Cult Magnetic
Azimuth. Astronomical
Amplitude. Decl.
Pyramid 16 ... N. 102 E. 3$ S. of E. s. 4
Pyramid 20 ... N. 103 E. , 4$ S. of E. S. 4}
Temple near Watercourse ... N. 112 E. 13$ S. of E. S. 12$
Pyramid 15 ... N. 112 R 13$ S. of E. S. 12$
Pyramids 14, 37 N. 113 E. ' 14* S. of E. S. 13$
Pyramid 10 ... N. 116 E. 1 17$ S. of E. , S. 16$
Pyramid 39 ... N. 118 E. 19$ S. of E. |
j S. 18$
Pyramid 19 ... N. 83 E. 151 N. of E.
1 N. 14$
1
GEBEL BARKAL. 2
I
Cult i
Magnetic
Azimuth. Astronomical * Amplitude. Decl.
Temple E ... ... N. 132 E. o
331 S. of-E. S. 31$
Pyramid 18 ... ... ... , N. 132£ E. 34~ S. of E. S. 32
1
Temple L ... ... ... , N.-136J E. 38 S. of E. s. 354
Pyramids 9, 13 ... ... 1 N. 136~E. 37$ S. of E. S. 35$
Pyramid 11 ... N. 140 E. 41$ S. of E. S. 39
Pyramids 1, 2
1 N. 141 E.
, 40$ S. of E. S. 39$
Temples J and H ... ... 1 1
N. 146 E. j 471 S. of E. S. 44$
Pyramid 20 ... ... ... i N. 146 E. 471 S. of E. S. 44$
Pyramids 2, 15, 16, 17 ... |
i N. 147 E. 481 S. of E. S. 45$
i
Temple B ... ... ... i N. 152 E. 531 S. of E. S. 49$
Pyramids 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 ... N. 153 E. 1 541 S. of E. S. 50$
Pyramid 19 ... ... ... j N. 156 E. , 571 S. of E.
! S. 53
1 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 133 and 134. 3 For plans, see Lepsius, vol. ii., pp. 125 and 127.
358
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
(CHAP. XXXIII.
It seems quite justifiable from the above facts to conclude that the pyramids and temples oriented S.E. and, as I hold, to a 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 Gizeh due E. and W., and marked the autumnal equinox by the heliacal rising of Antares.1 The only thing in common was noting
PLAN OF THE TEMPLES AND PYRAMIDS AT GEBEL BARKAL.
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.
1 There is a point of great interest here. It would seem from Captain Lyons’ examination of the temples at Wady Haifa, which I make out to have been oriented to a 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.
^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 earned on, and that practically there were three schools of thoyght.. To nil flirpe schools sun-;worship.was common, hut, 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 Grizeh. 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 those 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.
360
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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. Snyra’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 a Ursae Majoris, Capella, Antares, Phact, and a 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 Edfft and Philse 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 Saigon (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
CB*r. XXXIV ]
* TIIE ANNU SCHOOL.
361
Era.1 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 a Ursae Majoris and y Draconis.
THE ANNU SCHOOL. THE WORSHIP OP 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, Sutekli, are identical. To this list possibly Ombo and Nubi should be added.2 It is also equally well known that Sutekh was a god of the Canaanites,3 and Bes is identified with Set in the Book of the Dead.4
It is also stated by Maspero that at Memphis5 (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.
1 Besides the book on omens wo 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. (Sayee, “ 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.
2 Iiawlinson, vol. i., p. 316.
3 Maspero, “ Histoire Ancienne,” p. 165.
4 Pierret, “Le Pantheon 6gypticn,” p. 48. I have before referred to a doubt on this point.
5 Maspero, op. cit., p. 357.
362
[CBAP. XXXIV.
A
Now, do we get any Babylonian connection so far as we have gone?
We learn, to begin with, from Pierret1 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 refers2 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, hyaena, 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. Tomes3 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
1 “ Le Panth6on fegyptien,” p. 4. a “ Kosmologie der Bubylonier,” p. 147. * “Proc. ZooL Soc.,” 1850, p. 160.
CHAP. XXXIV.]
WORSHIP OF SET.
363
Mr. Irving, on the modern stage, couples Mepliistopheles, the modem 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 Denderali) should be called Annu or An1 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-Ra, the builder of the third pyramid of Gizeh1 2 3 (3633 B.C., Brugsch; 4100 p.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 Bil. With this Jensen finds no star associated,8 but 6000 B.C. this pole would be not far removed from those
1 Dr. Wallis Budge informs me that An was an old name of the sun-god.
2 Rawlinson, vol. ii., p. 64.
3 “ Kosmologie der Babylonier,” p. 147.
364
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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 icay in reference to Bilf the equator with its pole at Bil.
In other words, the daily and yearly apparent movements of the heavenly bodies were clearly distinguished, while we note also
Kabal Sami, “ 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 Ra and Atnxu. Ptali appears to have been a mixed sun-star god, i.e., Capella heralding the sun-rise in the Harvest Time.
Now I learn from Prof. Sayce1 that in Babylonia Anu and Bil 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,2 Venus being replaced at Babylon by Sirius.3
To the two northern divinities temples were built; both were worshipped in one temple at Babylon,4 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,
1 Savre, “ Hibbcrt Lectures.” 1887, p. 193.
2 Sayce, p. 193.
8 Jensen, p. 149. 4 Sayce, p. 439.
CHAP. XXXIV.l
A XU IX BABYLOXIA.
365
in Egypt. The pole of the ecliptic (Anu) would revolve round •*- the pole of the equator (Bil) always above the horizon.
So that since Sutekh = Anu
and Baal = Bil,
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 Bil 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. Sayce1 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 qua 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.2 The same rectangular arrangement of temples which held in Egypt, held also in Babylonia, and this perhaps may be the reason why Blljlj 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
1 Sayce, “ Hibbert Lectures,” p. 190.
2 Sayce, p. 280. There is a bas-relief in the British Museum showing this ceremonial.
366
THE DA IO' OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXIV.
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 Bil, and putting on a stole in the presence of Bil must say this prayer,” etc.1 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 OP THE SPRING-SUN.
The East and West orientation, as we have seen, is chiefly remarkable at the pyramids of Grizeh and the associated temples, but it is not confined to them.
The argument in favour of those 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.
1 Sayce, p. 101.
CHAV. XXXIV.]
THE EQUIXOCTIAL SCHOOL.
367
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.
STATUE OF CHEPHREN, FOUND IN THE TEMPLE NEAR THE SPHINX.
CHAP. XXXIV.)
AN INTRUSION FROM BABYLONIA.
369
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, theii, 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 :—1
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 Glzeli.
This indicates equality in the arts, and the possession of similar tools, in Chaldsea and Egypt about the time in question. Further it is supposed that the diorite out of which both
1 See “Guide to the British Museum,” p. 71.
Y
370
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
(CHAP. XXXIV.
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 *6.1
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.
1 Sayco, Hibbert Lectures, p. 33. Flinders Petrie, Nature, Aug. 9, 1883, p. 341.
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 ax*o of earlier foundation than those to the north; and they are associated with Edfu and Philae, which are known to be of high antiquity. This is one point of difference. Another is that the almost entire absence of Sot 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 Shahren 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.1 This alone is an argument in favour of its high antiquity.
Along with the culture of Eridu went the worship of the
1 Sayce, op. ci/., p. 135.
372
[CHAP. XXXV.
god of Eridu, the primal god of. Babylonia, Ea, fa, or Oannes, symbolised as a goat-fish, and Connected in some way with the sun when in Capricomus.
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 fa” or in relation to fa.
This la 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 Bll, that is, the poles of the heavens and the equator.1
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 fa, 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 Chaldaea, the sun-god of winter and night, who rules, like Bhadamanthos, in the lower woi*ld” (Sayce, p. 245), and as lord of Hades he was made son of Mul- lil (Sayce, p. 197).
1 One gets the idea, from reading Professor Saycc’s work, that there might have been in the earliest times a north-star-worshipping race up the Galley beforo la and Sun and Moon worship were established at Eridu; and that the addition of fa to the Bll-Anu-worship to make one triad, and the addition of Bil to the la-Asari-worship to make another, were both compromises. See Sayce, pp. 326, 347, 400.
CHAP. XXXV.]
THE GOD OF ERIDU.
373
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)1 where he is recognised as the son of la 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 Eridn 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.2
1 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. Jn this way the sun-god of Babylon became confounded with the sun-god of Eridn. I should add that Assyriologists are not all agreed about the transitions to which I have referred.
3 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 ‘ Maaika M’Ku; ’ the ‘ lesser jains,’ 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 Blight and uncertain, and it is during these three months, especially the two last, that the greatest heat prevails. The
/
O'
374
[CHAP. XXXV.
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.1 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 seedtime 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,2 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.®
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.”
1 Introduction to “ Nubische Grammatik,” 1880.
3 Just in the same way that the Equinoctial Pyramid cult gave way in Egypt, dominated by the rise of the Nile at the solstice.
* I shall show subsequently that a similar change seems also to have been made at Thebes. Amen-Ra, the Summer Sun-god, was a late invention.
(.'BAP. XXXV.]
BABYLOXJAN MYTHS.
375
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.1
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 la, was finally as definite a spring equinox sun-god as Amen-Ra 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.
Ike Myths of Horus and Marduk.
In my references to the myth of Horus in Chapter XIV.
1 Jensen, pp. 195—198.
376
[CHAP. XXXV
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 sunworshipping race abolishing the cult of Set representing the northern stars.
The facts brought together in subsequent chaptex*s 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 oveiwhelming.
I have also indicated that temples built to northern stars ai*e geographically separated fi'om those built to southern ones, and that the fonner have had their axes blocked to prevent the worship.
The Horus of Edffi, who is represented as leading the victorious hosts who revenge the killing of Osii’is 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 Edfti, 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 repi’escnt the original Hor-Shesu, so-called specially because perhaps as a novelty they had added the woi*ship of the sun to the worship of the moon? and was the moon the first Osiris brought in by moon-woi*shippers with a year of 360 days?
CHAP. XXXV.I
MARDUK AND TIAMAT.
377
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-Chaldaean south-star and winter-sun cult of Eridu was ultimately changed, absorbed, and buried in the Semitic cult of the northern stars Anu and Bll and the spring sun, first Marduk and afterwards SamaS.
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 Tiamat.
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 Tiamat, 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
378
[CHAP. XXXV.
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 la, have we not, mutatis mutandis, the exact counterpart of the . Egyptian myth of Horns ? 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 Tiamat— that is apparently the origin of the Scorpion, Capricomus, 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 Tiamat, established when the sun was in Taurus at the spring equinox, enables us to understand
CHAP. XXXV.)
THE STAR OF fA.
379
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 1& lumi&re, et la balance h celles du mal et des t^n&bres; Tun est le premier des signes sup&rieurs, et 1'autre des signes inf&rieurs.
“ Les six signes sup&ieurs comprennent les six mille de Dieu, et les six signes inftSrieurs les six mille du diable. Le bonheur de l’homme dure sous les premiers signes, et son malbeur commence au septi&me, et dure sous les six signes affect^s k Ahriman, ou au chef des t&i&bres.
“ Sous les six signes du regne du bien et la lumifere, qui sont agneau, taureau, gemeaux, cancer, lion et vierge ou Ipi, nous avons marqu^ les ^tats varies de l'air et de la terre, qui sont le r&ultat de Taction du bon principe. Ainsi on lit sous Tagneau ou sous le premier mille ces mots, printemps, zephyr, verdure; sous le taureau, seve et iieur; sous les gemeaux, chaleurs et longs jours; sous le cancer, 6t6, beaux temps; sous le lion, ^pis et moissons; et sous la vierge, vendanges.
“ En passant k la balance, on trouve les fruits; la commence le rfegne du mal aussitdt que l'homme vient k cueillir les pommes. La nature quitte sa parure ; aussi nous avons ^crit ces mots, d^pouillement de la nature; sous le scorpion on lit froid; sous le sagittaire, neiges; sous le capricome, glace et brouillard, si&ge des t^nebres et de longs nuits; sous le verseau, pluies et frimas; sous les poissons, vents imp^tueux."
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 17 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.
380 [CHAI. xxxv.
Associated with la was an la-star, which Jensen concludes. may be v Argfis. This we must consider.
Jensen concludes that the Ja-star is v Argils 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 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 la star would be observed, if all of the inscriptions referred to by Jensen are to be satisfied: its place was in “aussersten Stiden” (page 153). It was “das Pendant des im Nordpol des Aequators sitzenden HimmeU-Bi’l ” (page 148); “Id’s ‘ Ort’ am Himmel liegt im Stiden” (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 la, while on the southern side there was a temple of Bil and Anu. This not only shows that la 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-Ra., page 118 ante.)
But v Argils never rose or set anywhere near the south.
CHAP, XSTXV.I THE SOUTH STARS AT ERIDU. 381
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 vexy 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 hei*e 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:—
Achemar 8000 B.C.
Phact ... ... ... ... ... 5400 B.C.
Canopus 4700 B.C.
These stars would appear very near the south point of the horizon at Eiidu at the dates stated, and describe a verv 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 la—Ea or Eridu—star, it is desirable to quote the legend concerning la or Oannes derived from Berdssos through Alexander Polyhistor.1
“ 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 Apollod6ros) 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
1 Sayce, p. 131.
382
[CHAP. XXXV.
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,l 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. Prom 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.”
It is not necessary to give the string of “other animals” enumerated by Eusebius, but one of them is important. A companion of Anodaphas and Odakon shows the true reading to have been Anadakon—that is, Anu and Dagon. This other animal, then, clearly refers to the introduction of the northern Semitic cult, and hence the suggestion is
1 The italics are mine.—J. N. L.
CHAP. XXXV.)
THE LEGEND OF ERIDU.
383
strengthened that some of the earlier “other animals” who subsequently appeared, like la (? 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
THE TEMPLE AT AMADA.
boat is turned into a “ fisli man,” and the star to which they pointed to show whence they came is made a god.
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.
384 THE DAWN-OF ASTRONOMY. [CHAP. XXXV.
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 la 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.1
la 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 ramheaded, as generally stated; he is not only the creator of mankind, but he is a potter, and he is actually represented at Philaj 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.”2
I give the following extracts from Lanzoni (p. 956):—
—xnum [Chnemu] significa s fabbricatore, modellatore.’ . . . Questo demiurgo apparisce come una delle piu antiche divinity 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. 11 grande testo geografico di Edfu parlando di Elephantina,
1 Professor Sayce also tells me that Asari was subsequently identified by the Semitic Babylonians with Merodach.
8 “Egypt’s Place,” vol. i., p. 377.
CHAP. XXXV.]
CHKEMU;
385
quale metropoli del primo Nomo dell* Alto Egitto, ne ricorda la divinita, come una personificazione dell’ Acqua dell’ inondazione.”
He is also Hormaxu, 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,1 and, unlike Amen-Ra, though like la, he has a position among the gods of the lower world.
A sun-god, with uraeus and disk, ho is closely associated with Amen-Ra, and if he were one of the earliest of the South Egyptian gods this could only be by Amen-Ra being an emanation from him; the temples in any case do not afford us traces of Amen-Ra before 3700 B.c., and Clmemu 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.
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 Clmemu were a sun-god of the Winter,brought into Egypt from without, the change to Amen-Ra is precisely what would have been certain to happen, for in Egypt the Summer Solstice, over which Amen-Ra presided, was all-important.
Anthropological Evidence.
It will be seen, then, that a general survey of Egyptian
1 Kawliiuon’s “Ancient Egypt,” vol. i., p. 328.
Z
386
THE DAWN OF ASTROXOMY.
[CHAP. XXXV.
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 mesati- cephalic; 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, Ra is father of all the gods; but
388
[CHAP. XXXVI.
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 = o Columbse, Serk-t = o Centauri, Mut = 7 Draconis, and other stars (Isis) did precisely the same; while in another connection Isis is the sister of Osiris, and therefore the mother of Homs. 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
Northern Gods and Goddesses.
GOD.
{
Ptali = Capella, April sun (1) Anubis = Northern constellations. Min.
Khem = May Sun (2).
Bast-Isis = a Ursie Majoris.
Menat-Isis Spica.
Serk-t-Isis Antares,
Nit-Isis Pleiades.
Autumn Sun Spring Sun
CHAP. XXXVI.J
THE MOOX-GODS.
389
Southern Gods and Goddesses.
Osiris = Moon-god.
Chnemu = Sun-god, autumnal equinox.
Khonsu = Canopus, autumnal equinox, warner.
West horizon
followed by Serk-t = a Ceniauri east horizon.
Amen-Ra A combined north and Te^i-Isis
south god, established Amen-t-Isis about 3700 B.C. Hathor-Isis
The establishment of Amen-Ra 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;1 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 deir eternitk. Quando tu sei in Cielo, tu apparisci come sole, et tu rinnuovi la tua forma comme Luna.” 2
1 Phact (1) | Sirius (2)
It lias also to be borne in mind that the complicated headdress, including the goat’s horns, is represented in connection with Thoth Chnemu and Osiris.3
Later he was unquestionably a sun-god, but this would be
1 Lanzoni also states that Amen-R& sometimes appears with the four heads of the goat, once special to Chnemu, q.v.
2 Lanzoni, p. 692.
* Rawlinson, vol. i., p. 371.
390
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXVI.
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 Hor.us 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.1
“ La 363me ann^e de son regne, le dieu part avec son fils pour l'^lgypte. Voili done une date precise de l’un de ces rois qui, selon les traditions ^gyptiennes, avaient occupd le trfine de l’l^gypte avant les souverains indigenes. Cette ann^e-li, Horliut chasse Typhou de l’tigypte, et s’dtablit en roi sur tout le pay a Cela concorderait done avec ce que nous disent Mand- thon et Eusebe, que, dans la premiere dynastie des dieux, Typhon prdedda immediatement Horus. La succession se serait faite par droit de conquete,
“ Horus a avec lui des compagnons qui sont nommds partout ses suivants : les Scliesou Hor. M. de Roug^ a ddjii fait remarquer que, dans plusieurs inscriptions, ces homines sont eonsiderds com me les habitants primitifs de l’^gypte, les contemporains des dynasties divines. Ce sont ces Mesennou dont il a dlj& iik question dans la s&ie prdeddente. Le rdle qu’ils jouent dans ce rccit montre, plus clairement encore, que l’dpoque dont il s’agit est la fin des temps mythologiques auxquels M6na devait succdder. C’est une
1 Naville, “Mythc d’Horas,” p. 8.
CHAP. XXXVI.]
THE MYTH OF HQEUS.
391
tradition relative aux £v4nements qui ne doivent avoir precede que de pen les temps historiques.
“Horhut monte dans la barque de son pere, qui le suit pendant toute l’expedition, et lui donne 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 & rappeler ses exploits, et qui seront plus particu 1 i£rement vou^s a son culte. C’est a Edfou qu’ont lieu les premiers combats, puis dans le 16me nome de la Haute-^gypte. Le nome de Mert, celui du Fayoum et du lac Moeris, est le theatre de plusieurs Episodes de la lutte. CPest dans la ville de Sutenchenen, appel^e ici Nanrutef, un sanctuaire important d’Osiris, que s’&ablissent les Schesou Hor. Entin, lorsque Set a etfc chass^ du nome de Chent-ab, le 14me de la Basse-Egypte, le pays est d^livr^, et la royaut^ est assume k Horhut. Son p&re, qui, & chaque nouvelle victoire, lui a d6cern^ quelque honneur special, lui accorde d’etre represent^ sous la
THE WINGED SOLAR DISK.
forme du disque ail^, ou du scarab^e, sur tous les temples de la Haute et de la Basse-jfigypte. Horus devient le seigneur des deux regions, s’assied dans un sanctuaire ou il est ador£ com me Horchuti, avec qui il finit par se confondre.
“Telle est cette seconde legende, bien mieux caract6ris«$e que la premiere, car elle est rattach^e k des localities connues et k une ^poque d^termin^e. Elle me semble mime assez claire pour qu’on puisse y voir une tradition, qui aurait a sa base un fait historique. Set est un dieu bien connu dans l’histoire d’Egypte; c’est le dieu des ennemis, et particuli&rement des populations simitiques, qui conquirent une fois le pays et le rnirent souvent en danger. Si nous considerons qu’il est chassi par Horus, le dieu qui lui a succide dans la royauti, et par les habitants primitifs du pays k un moment donni des annales divines, n’est-il pas naturel d’expliquer ce mythe par une guerre entre les ftgyptiens venus de Nubie, et les Semites qui auraient 6t6 chassis du pays; soit que cette guerre soit plus ancienne que les temps historiques, soit que, venue plus tard, elle ait passi dans le domaine de 1’histoire ligendaire 1 Les textes relatifs aux dynasties divines sont encore trop rares pour que nous puissions pousser trfes-loin ces recherches. Le temple d’Edfou nous fournira peut-etre un jour de nouvelles indications sur ces dpoques pr^historiques, et sur l’origine si mysterieuse de la civilisation de lTfegypte.”
In another passage Naville remarks:
392
[CHAP. XXXVI.
“ Typhon n’est pas simplement le dieu du mal, l’adversaire personnel d’Osiris, c’est un sonverain qui occupe avec ses allies la plus grande partie de l’Egypte depuis Edfou jusqn’4 l’Orient du Delta.” 1
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 a lui que sont consacrds^ plusieurs des temples pharaoniques qui existent le long du Nil entre Ouadi-Halfa et Philse.” 2
But this is not all. The sequence of the Divine Dynasties is as follows, according to Maspero:—*
Atmu.
R&
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 Ra head the list. Besides, the worship of Set did not kill the worship of the Sun, for the power of Ra 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 Sayce4 tells us—
1 “ Mythe d’Horus,” p. 7. 2 “ Mythe d’Horus,” p. 7.
8 “Hist. Anc.,” p. 33. 4 “ Hibbert Lectures.” p. 155.
CHAP. XXXVI.]
THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX.
393
“ According to the official religion of Chaldsea, the San-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.”1
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 ceiiain that the Calendar which he leads was of Southern origin, because New Year’s Day at the Summer Solstice was heralded first by Pliact 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 a Centauri, and it becomes a question whether the original moon-calendar of Tho
Prometheus:
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,”2 the Southern (originally Moonworshipping) 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
1 In modern German, even, the Moon is masculine and the Sun feminine.
2 Maspero, op. eit.t p. 14.
394
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXVI.
at Phil® and Edfu 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 ip a working hypothesis the temple evidence so far as it bears upon the mythology and inter-action of the North- and South- Star worshippers.
Date B.C.
Osiris J /
6400 A swarm from the south with Thoth V Moon Gods.
Khonsu )
Chnemu (Sun God).
come down the River.
They find a population worshipping R& 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, Philre, Edfu, 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.^
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.J
Horus with his “ blacksmiths v comes down the ri’ver to revenge his “ father Osirisby 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.
1 Annu and An (Denderah): (? “ la grande Tribu des Anou” of Maspero ?)
CHAP. XXXVI.]
SEQUENCE OF WORSHIPS.
395
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 A nubis 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 represanting Sun and N. Star gods. At Abydos Osiris (changed into a Sun-God) is supreme.
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. Cknemu begins to give place to Amen-Ra. 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-Ra at Thebes. Supremacy of Theban priests.
Pyramid Times [Marietta 4*200, Branch 3700.1
CHAPTER XXXVII.
THE EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS.
I HAVE already, in Chapter XXXII., pointed out that at Annu we Heemed 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 equinoxesand 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 Tiamat.
I have already referred to Marduk; he is the Spring
CHAP. XXXVII.]
MARDUK AND TIAMAT.
397
Sun-God, and it has also been stated that the greatest god of ancient Babylonia, la of Eridu, was connected with the constellation of Capricomus.
Marduk represented the constellation of the Bull. Here I quote Jensen:—1
“ 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 fa, i.e. the western Fish; that the Fish of la, out of which the sun emerged at the end of the year in ancient times to enter Taurus, is to represent la, the God of the Ocean, out of which his son Mard/tk, 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 fa, 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 fa and the other constellations referred to? They are all revealed to us by the myth. They are the Southern ecliptic constellations.
Tiamat
Tiamat, 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 w/cewo?, and possibly the overlying firmament of waters. These finuamental waters contain the southerly ecliptic constellations, the winter and bad-weather signs— the Scorpion, the Goat-fish, and the Fish among them.
1 Op. cit., p. 315.
398
[CHAP. XXXVII.
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
Tiamat.
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 Tiamat 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 Tiamat, 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 Tiamat in the creation
CHAP. XXXVII.)
THE SCORPIOX-MEX.
399
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 Ma&u 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 MaSu 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 woi’ld, 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 Tiiimat, 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
400
(CHAP. XXXVII.
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, wo 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 halfbodies only, rjfjLiTOfioi, 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
CHAP. XXXY:II.]
THE ORIGINAL ZODIAC.
401
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 ytfvaX 1 claws ’ (of the Scorpion), and according to what has been said above (p. 812), the sign for a constellation in the neighbourhood of our Libra reads in the Arsacid inscription ‘ claw(8) ’ 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 a and /8 Librae 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.
The upper list not only classifies in an unbroken manner
A A
402
(CHAP. XXXVII.
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,1 Min, Serk-t, Clinemu, 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 blighter 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
1 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 da von, ob dasselbe fur unsere Frage von Wichtigkeit werden wird oder nieht, muss ich damn erinnern, das unter den Emblemcn, welche die sogenahnten ‘Deeds of Sale’ haufig begleiten, versehiodene Male wie der Scorpion so die Schildkrdte abgebildet gefundcn wird.”
CHAT. XXXVII.]
EARLY SYMBOLS.
403
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 befoi*e 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:—
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 32£° N. respectively, so that Agade was to the north of both.
Although the worship of Marduk—that is, the vernal
Taurus
Cancer
Virgo
Bull.
Tortoise.
Ear of corn or other product representing
Scorpio
Capricornus...
Pisces
fertility.
Scorpion.
Goat-man or goat-fish. Fish-man.
A A 2
404
[CHAP. XXXVII.
equinox Sun-god—in Babylon was much intensified when Kharumurabi 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 precessional 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° x 12 = 360°)—the time it Avould take the sun’s place at the vernal equinox to pass through one constellation would be (^r =) 2083 years. If the constellation of the Bull were twice as long formerly as it is now (when the constellations arc 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 venial equinox being always 0, the longitude of the most easterly part of
CHAP. XXXVII.]
DATE OF SPRINGSUN WORSHIP.
405
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 woiwhip 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 Scoiqno 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.* 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:
1 According to a communication of Dr. Tetens, Aldebaran rose hcliacally at the beginning of spring for Babylon 6900 years ago.-
406
THE DA WN OF ASTRONOMY.
[CHAP. XXXVII.
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.”1
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 earliex*.
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
1 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 Nar&m-Sin= * favourite of Sin,’ the moon-god. And if we bear in mind that the zodiac with its signs plays into the Babylonian legonds 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.”
CHAP. XXXVII.]
MOON-STATIONS.
407
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) J,=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.9 of the Scorpion).
(8) The Scorpion.
(9) Perhaps Sagittarius.
(10) The “ Goat-fish ”=Caper.
(11) I
(12) The “ Fish” with the “ Fish band.’1
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:—1
1. tl Piscium. 15. « Leonis.
2. /3 Arietis. j 16. p Leonis.
3. « Arietis. i 17. /3 Leonis.
4. rj Tauri. j 18. /3 Virginis.
5. a Tauri. 1
| 19. y Virginis.
6. /3 Tauri. i 20. a Virginis.
7. C Tauri. 21. a Librse.
8. T) Geminorum. • 1 22. fi Librie
9. p Geminorum. 23. S Scorpionis.
10. y Geminorum. 24. a Scorpionis.
11. « Geminorum. 25. 3 Ophiuchi.
12. Geminorum. 26. a Capricorn i.
13. 3 CancrL 27. y Capricorni.
14. e Leonis. 28. 17 Capricorni.
1 “ Astronomisches a us Babylon,” pp. 117-133.
408
[CHAP. XXXVII.
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 tablos 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,
CHAP. XXXVII.]
BIBAX EL-MOLCK TABLES.
409
indeed, one of the investigators, Herr Gustav Bilfinger,1 lias 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 cany 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 earfh 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.
1 “ Die Stemtafeln in den agyptischen Konigsgriibern von Biban el-Molitk,” von Gustav Bilfinger (p. G9).
410
Prometheus:
[CHAP. XXXVII.
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 horn 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 horn’s, 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 regal’d 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.
CHAP. XXXVII.]
CONSTELLATIONS INDICATED.
411
7. Mena’s herald.
8. Mena.
9. Mena’s followers. 10.1
11.
12.
13.
- Hippopotamus.
14. J
15.
16.
17. 18.1
r Necht.
19.
20 J
21. Ari.
22.1
23. ) Goose-
24. Sahu=Head of Orion.
It will be seen that even this Egyptian star-list is very indeterminate. It is known that Saliu 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 templebuilding.
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.
CHAP. XXXVIII.]
BUILDING CONDITIONS.
413
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 qua non
A GREEK TEMPLE RESTORED—THE TEMPLE OF POSEIDON AT PJESTUM.
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.
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
414
[CHAP. XXXVIII.
temple; the number of columns in the front is always even; the door is never blocked.
I have already pointed out that in both groups of Egyptian
THE TEMPLE OP THESEUS AT ATHENS : THE ACROPOLIS, WITH THE PARTHENON, IN
THE BACKGROUND.
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
CHAP. XXXVIII. I
THE GREEK
415
this is entirely changed; the approach to the temple was outside—witness the glorious propylseum 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 propylaeum was never in the fair-way of the light entering the temple.
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.
416
(CHAP. XXXVIII.
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 archaeologist (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,1 and has communicated papers to the Society of Antiquaries (February 18, 1892), and more recently to the Royal Society (April 27, 1898) on his results.2
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:—
1 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 Yenus. 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.
2 See Nature, February 25, 1892, and May 11, 1893.
CHAP. XXXVIII.]
GREEK EVIDENCE,
417
‘‘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 flu mine pal mis 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
418
[CHAP. XXXVIII.
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. t 3 Librae.
Pollux. a Librae.
/3 Arietis. I a Leonis.
/3 Tauri. y Leonis.
a and /3 Capricorni as a group. t /3 Leonis.
u 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 archaeological sequence?
w 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 venial 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:—
CHAP. XXXVIII.]
EQUINOCTIAL TEMPLES.
419
>/ T&uri Archaic temple of 1 |- Athens R1 B.C.
1530
(The Pleiades) Minerva ...# J
Asclepieion
The Hecatompedon I Epidaurus ... | Athens R
R 1275
1150
(site of Parthenon) j
Temple of Bacchus... Athens R 1030
Temple of Minerva... Sunium S 845
Antares Heifeum Argos R B.C.
1760
Earlier Erechtheum Athens S 1070
Temple at ...
Temple on the Moun- ] Corinth
1 S 770
tain ... ... > iEgina 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-Amama was oriented to Spica. Spica,. too, we find so used in Greece in the following temples:—
The Heneum at Olympia ... R B.C.
1445
Nike Apteros ... Athens S 1130
Themis... Rhamnus... R 1092
Nemesis Rhamnus... R 747
Apollo ... Bassie 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 a Arietis.
In Greece, however, where the venial equinox had now been established as the beginning of the year, we find a 1
1 R indicates a rising, and S a setting observation.
B B 2
420
THE DAWN OF ASTRONOMY
[CHAP. XXXVIII.
THE TEMPLE OF JUPITER OLYMPIUS BELOW THE ACROPOLIS, AT ATHENS, ORIENTED
TO a ARIETIS.
different state of things. No less than seven temples oriented to a Arietis are already known:—
a Arietis
B.C.
Minerva Tegea R 1580
Jupiter Olympius ... Athens ... R 1202
J upiter Olympia ... R 790
Temple (perhaps Juno) Platea S 650 '
J upiter Megalopolis S 605
Temple at the Har- | hour ... ... J j* iEgina ... s 580
Temple on Acropolis of Myceme ... R 540 Eastern doorway.
The Metroum Olympia ... s 360
The above are all intra-solstitial temples—that is, the
CHAP. XXXVIII.)
INTRA-SOLSTITIAL TEMPLES.
421
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. 1 example from Sunimn.
3 »» „ Olympia. 1 »> Corinth.
2 )) „ Epidaurus. 1 >i Basste.
2 ff „ Rhamnus. 1 „ Ephesus.
2 n „ ,*gina. 1 y> Platfea.
2 9J „ Tegea. 1 Ly cosura.
1 » „ Nemea. 1 Megalopolis.
1 » „ Corey ra. 2 „ Argos.
Now in all these Gi*eek 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 chiys- elephantine 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 Denderali facing nearly north; of these, however, there are scattered examples; one of very remarkable importance, as it is a temple oriented to 7 Draconis 1130 B.C., built therefore not very long after the temple M at Karnak, and this temple is at Boeotian 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:—
422
THE DAWK OF ASTRONOMY,
[CHAP. XXXVIII.
“Thebes was called the City of the Dragon, and tradition records that Cadmus introduced both Phoenician 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 wo should expect to find her influence most important in Greece. Still, I have shown ah-eady 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 a Arietis is the brightest star of the first sign of the Zodiac, and would therefore be j»eculiarly 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.1
1 With regard to a temple of Minerva using a Arietis at Tegea, Mr. Penrose writes:— “ Minerva is allowed by the poets to have been able to use Jupiter’s thundor, so this is no misappropriation of the star. Juno also seems to have claimed the use of a 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.”
CHAP. XXXVIII.]
LOCAL FESTIVALS.
423
“ 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, ASgina, 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 file 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 processional movement •earned 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 wc 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
424
[CHAP. XXXVIII.
alongside), was lighted up by the sunrise on the feast to the same goddess in August, the Synsecia, 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, ^gina, 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.
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