Some have turned to the heavens for an explanation of serpent-worship. Thus, Mr. Arthur Lillie, in an interesting little work, says: “Like all old religious ideas, the serpent-symbol was, probably, in the first instance, astronomical.[228] Two thousand eight hundred and thirty-six years before Christ, a large star was within one degree of the celestial pole. This was the _A_ of Draco.”[229] Much interest was taken in this star of Draco, formerly, as Mr. Proctor says, “the polar constellation”[230] in different countries,[231] as, for instance, in Egypt. In their studies of the great pyramid Jizeh, both Proctor and Piazzi Smyth[232] dwell on the subject at length.[233] The passage from the north, which slants downward at an angle of 26° 17´ into the immense structure, would seem to have been constructed so that _A_ of Draco shone down it. When this was the case, the star was 3° 42´ from the pole, which was its position both about 2170 and 3350 B.C. “We conclude,” says Proctor, “with considerable confidence, that it was about one of the two dates, 3350 and 2170 B.C., that the erection of the great pyramid began, and from the researches of Egyptologists it has become all but certain that the earlier of these dates is very near the correct epoch.”[234] Smyth takes 2170 B.C. as the correct date, but his unscientific method of study renders him an unreliable authority. The question is highly interesting and important. However, the constellation of Draco was represented in ancient astronomy by a tortuous serpent, either alone or in connection with a tree. Those familiar with the description of the shield of Hercules,[235] attributed to Hesiod, and which, it is believed, was suggested by a Zodiac temple[236] of the Chaldeans, imitations of which were to be found in Egypt and elsewhere, will recall the reference to Draco,[237] as follows:— “The scaly terror of a dragon coil’d Full in the central field; unspeakable; With eyes oblique, retorted, that aslant Shot gleaming flame; his hollow jaw was fill’d Dispersedly with jagged fangs of white, Grim, unapproachable.”[238] It is hardly to be inferred from this description, I may remark, that the worship of Draco would be one of love. Yet, Rawlinson says: “The stellar name of Hea was Kimmut; and it is suspected that in this aspect he was identified with the constellation Draco, which is perhaps the Kimmah[239] of Scripture.”[240] This is an interesting statement when taken in connection with what has been already said about Hea. To the Accadians and others the north was a favorable point, being the source of cool, vivifying breezes.