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
It is not too early to point out here that there is evidence that the
Egyptian pantheon, as I have stated it, had not a simple origin. There
are traditions that many of the gods came from a region indeterminately
described as the land of Pun-t. Among these gods are Chnemu, Amen-Rā,
Hathor, and Bes. On page 28 I have associated Bes with Typhon,
following several authorities, but if they are right it is very
difficult to understand his _rôle_. It may also be added that the
temple-evidence supports the view of his foreign origin.[4]
When one comes to consider the Rig-Veda and the Egyptian monuments
from an astronomical point of view, one is struck by the fact that, in
both, the early worship and all the early observations related to the
horizon. This was true not only of the sun, with which so far we have
exclusively dealt, but it was equally true of the stars which studded
the general expanse of sky.
In Egypt, then, as in India, the pantheon was astronomical and, to
a very large extent, solar in origin. I shall have to show that the
remainder--nearly the whole of it--had its origin in stellar relations.
CHAPTER IV.
THE TWO HORIZONS.
It is not only of the first importance for our subject, but of great
interest in itself, to study some of the astronomical problems
connected with this horizon worship, which in the previous chapter we
have found to be common to the early peoples of India and Egypt.
[Illustration: APPARENT MOVEMENT OF THE STARS TO AN OBSERVER AT THE
NORTH POLE.]
We must be perfectly clear before we go further what this horizon
really is, and for this some diagrams are necessary.
The horizon of any place is the circle which bounds our view of the
earth's surface, along which the land (or sea) and sky appear to meet.
We have to consider the relation of the horizon of any place to the
apparent movements of celestial bodies at that place.
We know, by means of the demonstration afforded by Foucault's pendulum,
that the earth rotates on its axis, but this idea was, of course,
quite foreign to these early peoples. Since the earth rotates with
stars, infinitely removed, surrounding it on all sides, the apparent
movements of the stars will depend very much upon the position we
happen to occupy on the earth: this can be made quite clear by a few
diagrams.
[Illustration: APPARENT MOVEMENT OF THE STARS TO AN OBSERVER AT THE
EQUATOR.]
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