The dawn of astronomy: A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient EgyptiansLockyer, Norman, Sir
Religion
The dawn of astronomy: A study of the temple-worship and mythology of the ancient Egyptians
Lockyer, Norman, Sir
Astronomy, Egyptian; Sun -- Mythology; Sun worship; Temples -- Egypt
These discoveries have led the officers in question to the conclusion
that the building among the ruins of which these priceless treasures
have been found is veritably the world-renowned temple of Ptah of
Memphis. It may, therefore, be accepted as such for the purpose
of the present inquiry, although it is difficult to reconcile its
_emplacement_ in relation to the statues with the accounts given by the
Arab historians.
In January, 1893, Captain Lyons, R.E., was good enough to accompany me
to determine the orientation of the newly uncovered temple walls. We
had already, two years previously, carefully measured the bearings of
the statues of Rameses. We found the temple in all probability facing
westwards, and not eastwards; this we determined by a seated statue
facing westwards; and we concluded its orientation, assuming a magnetic
variation of 4½° west, to be 12¾° north of west, and the hills in
front of it, assuming the village of Mît-Rahîneh non-existent, to be
50′ high.
Here, then, we get reproduced almost absolutely the conditions of the
obelisk at Heliopolis in a Ptah temple oriented to Capella 5200 B.C.
We are driven, then, to the conclusion that the star Capella is
personified by _Ptah_, and that as Capella was worshipped setting, Ptah
is represented as a mummy. If this be so, we must also accept another
conclusion: the temples both at Annu and Memphis were dedicated to Ptah.
About 5300 B.C. we seem almost in the time of the divine dynasties, and
begin to understand how it is that in the old traditions Ptah precedes
Rā and is called "the father of the beginnings, and the creator of the
egg of the Sun and Moon."[89]
We are driven to the conclusion that this worship at Annu and Memphis
was the worship of the sun's disc when setting, at the time of the year
heralded by Capella, when it had the declination of 10° north. The
dates on which the sun had this declination were, as already stated,
about April 18 and August 24 of our Gregorian year. The former, in
Egypt, dominated by the Nile, was about the time of the associated
spring and harvest festivals.
So much for the Ptah mummy form of the Sun-God, to which the _Theban_
priests erected no important temples. There was still another mummy
form of the Sun-God, the worship of which existed at Thebes, but which
they did their best to abolish by the intensification of the worship of
Amen-Rā.
At Thebes, as we have seen, the temple of Mut is associated with one at
right angles to it, facing north-west. The amplitudes are 72½° north
of east and 17½° north of west. I have shown that the temple of Mut
would allow γ Draconis to be seen along its axis about 3200 B.C. _I
now state that_ Spica _would be seen along the axis of the rectangular
temple at the same time_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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