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
"There was a way out of it--viz., to call hora 0 'sunset,' hora 12
'sunrise,' which would have been a simple and correct solution if the
division of the night into twelve parts for practical purposes had been
aimed at. But this expedient he could not adopt, because he could or
would only operate with stars, and the notions of sunrise and sunset
found no place in his tables. Thus he was forced to _falsify_ the
customary division of the hours, by squeezing the twelve hours of the
night into the time during which star risings are visible--viz., the
dark night exclusive of twilight. On the other hand, he could not, with
his principal stars at intervals of 15°, divide his night, shortened
as it was by two hours, into twelve parts, and thus he was obliged to
make use of two or three auxiliary stars, as we have proved in detail
above, and thus yet more to disfigure the hour-division, since thereby
the lengths of the hours were made very variable. These are then two
things which we must not regard as peculiarities of ancient Egyptian
reckoning, but as a consequence of the leading idea of our table, which
did not intend to facilitate the division of the night into twelve
parts by star observations, but was calculated, by the connection of
thirteen stars with thirteen successive moments, to create the idea of
the circling host of stars and thence the course of the night."
I give an abstract of the list of the twenty-four principal stars and
the Egyptian constellations in which they occur:--
1. Sahu = Orion.
2. Sothis = Sirius.
3. The two stars.
4. The stars of the water.
5. The lion.
6. The many stars.
7. Mena's herald.
8. Mena.
9. Mena's followers.
10. }
11. }
12. } Hippopotamus.
13. }
14. }
15.}
16.}
17.} Necht.
18.}
19.}
20.}
21. Ari.
22.}
23.} Goose.
24. Sahu = Head of Orion.
It will be seen that even this Egyptian star-list is very
indeterminate. It is known that Sahu is the name for the constellation
of Orion. The hippopotamus represents Draco, and probably Necht another
northern constellation. There are indications, too, that Mena may
symbolise Spica, with which star we have seen Min-worship associated.
Further than this the authorities do not venture at present to go.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT UPON TEMPLE-ORIENTATION IN GREECE.
In the final pages of this book I have to show that recent
investigations have put beyond all doubt the fact that the astronomical
observations and temple-worship of the Egyptians formed the basis first
of Greek and later of Latin temple-building.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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