The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879Various
History
The Contemporary Review, Volume 36, September 1879
Various
Arts -- Periodicals; Literature -- Periodicals; Political science -- Periodicals
as Virgil incorrectly did (repeating doubtless some old tradition) at a
later time. Even Professor Smyth notices the necessity that the pyramid
gallery should correspond in some degree with such a date. "For," says
he, "there have been traditions for long, whence arising I know not,
that the seven overlappings of the grand gallery, so impressively
described by Professor Greaves, had something to do with the Pleiades,
those proverbially seven stars of the primeval world," only that he
considers the pyramid related to _memorial_ not _observing_ astronomy,
"of an earlier date than Virgil's." The Pleiades also, it may be
remarked, were scarcely regarded in old times as belonging to the
constellation of the Bull, but formed a separate asterism.
The upper end of the great gallery lies very near the vertical axis of
the pyramid. It is equidistant, in fact, from the north and south edges
of the pyramid platform at this level, but lies somewhat to the east of
the true centre of this platform. One can recognise a certain
convenience in this arrangement, for the actual centre of the platform
would be required as a position from whence observation of the whole sky
could be made. Observers stationed there would have the cardinal points
and the points midway between them defined by the edges and angles of
the square platform, which would not be the case if they were displaced
from the centre. Stationed as they would be close to the mouth of the
gallery, they would hear the time signallings given forth by the
observers placed at various parts of the gallery; and no doubt one chief
end of the exact time-observations for which the gallery was manifestly
constructed, would be to enable the platform observers duly to record
the time when various phenomena were noticed in any part of the heavens.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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