Transcriber's Notes
Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations
in hyphenation and accents have been standardised but all other
spelling and punctuation remains unchanged.
Several tables have been rearranged to improve clarity and constrain
width. In particular the table of star signs on p 401 was printed
horizontally with vertical names and has been rotated. The reference to
'the upper list' has been changed to 'the left hand list'.
The names Shesu-Hor and Hor-shesu are used, apparently, interchangeably
and have not been rationalised.
The first two errata have been implemented, the third is erroneous.
Italics are represented thus _italic_, bold thus =bold= and
superscripts thus y^{en}.
THE DAWN OF ASTRONOMY
[Illustration: THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ, LOOKING FROM THE SANCTUARY
TOWARDS THE PLACE OF SUNSET AT THE SUMMER SOLSTICE.
(_From a Photograph by the Author._)]
THE
DAWN OF ASTRONOMY
A STUDY OF
THE TEMPLE-WORSHIP AND MYTHOLOGY
OF THE
ANCIENT EGYPTIANS.
BY
J. NORMAN LOCKYER
_Fellow of the Royal Society; Correspondent of the Institute of
France, the Society for the Promotion of National Industry of
France, the Royal Academy of Science, Göttingen, La Società degli
Spettroscopisti Italiani, the Royal Academy of Palermo, Natural
History Society of Genera, the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, and
the Royal Medical Society of Brussels; Member of the Royal Academy of
Lincei, Rome, and the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia;
Honorary Member of the Academy of Natural Science of Catania, Literary
and Philosophical Society of Manchester, Philosophical Society of
York, and Lehigh University; Member of the Committee on Solar Physics,
and Professor of Astronomical Physics in the Royal College of Science_
CASSELL AND COMPANY LIMITED
_LONDON PARIS & MELBOURNE_
1894
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
[Illustration: Decorative figure, La belle sauvage]
PREFACE.
The enormous advance which has been recently made in our astronomical
knowledge, and in our power of investigating the various bodies which
people space, is to a very great extent due to the introduction of
methods of work and ideas from other branches of science.
Much of the recent progress has been, we may indeed say, entirely
dependent upon the introduction of the methods of inquiry to which
I refer. While this is generally recognised, it is often forgotten
that a knowledge of even elementary astronomy may be of very great
assistance to students of other branches of science; in other words,
that astronomy is well able to pay her debt. Amongst those branches
is obviously that which deals with man's first attempts to grasp the
meaning and phenomena of the universe in which he found himself before
any scientific methods were available to him; before he had any idea of
the origins or the conditionings of the things around him.
In the present volume I propose to give an account of some attempts I
have been making in my leisure moments during the past three years to
see whether any ideas could be obtained as to the early astronomical
views of the Egyptians, from a study of their temples and the mythology
connected with the various cults.
How I came to take up this inquiry may be gathered from the following
statement:--
It chanced that in March, 1890, during a brief holiday, I went to the
Levant. I went with a good friend, who, one day when we were visiting
the ruins of the Parthenon, and again when we found ourselves at the
temple at Eleusis, lent me his pocket-compass. The curious direction
in which the Parthenon was built, and the many changes of direction in
the foundations at Eleusis revealed by the French excavations, were
so very striking and suggestive that I thought it worth while to note
the bearings so as to see whether there was any possible astronomical
origin for the direction of the temple and the various changes in
direction to which I have referred. What I had in my mind was the
familiar statement that in England the eastern windows of churches face
generally--if they are properly constructed--to the place of sun-rising
on the festival of the patron saint; this is why, for instance, the
churches of St. John the Baptist face very nearly north-east. This
direction towards the sun-rising is the origin of the general use of
the term _orientation_, which is applied just as frequently to other
buildings the direction of which is towards the west or north or south.
Now, if this should chance to be merely a survival from ancient times,
it became of importance to find out the celestial bodies to which the
ancient temples were directed.
When I came home I endeavoured to ascertain whether this subject
had been worked out: I am afraid I was a nuisance to many of my
archæological friends, and I made as much inquiry as I could by looking
into books. I found, both from my friends and from the books, that
this question had not been discussed in relation to ancient temples,
scarcely even with regard to churches outside England or Germany.
It struck me that, since nothing was known, an inquiry into the
subject--provided an inquiry was possible for a stay-at-home--might
help the matter forward to a certain extent. So, as it was well known
that the temples in Egypt had been most carefully examined and
oriented both by the French in 1798 and by the Prussians in 1844,
I determined to see whether it was possible to get any information
on the general question from them, as it was extremely likely that
such temples as that at Eleusis were more or less connected with
Egyptian ideas. I soon found that, although neither the French nor
the Germans apparently paid any heed to the possible astronomical
ideas of the temple-builders, there was little doubt that astronomical
considerations had a great deal to do with the direction towards which
these temples faced. In a series of lectures given at the School of
Mines in November, 1890, I took the opportunity of pointing out that
in this way archæologists and others might ultimately be enabled to
arrive at dates in regard to the foundation of temples, and possibly to
advance knowledge in several other directions.
After my lectures were over, I received a very kind letter from one
of my audience, pointing out to me that a friend had informed him
that Professor Nissen, in Germany, had published some papers on the
orientation of ancient temples. I at once ordered them. Before I
received them I went to Egypt to make some inquiries on the spot with
reference to certain points which it was necessary to investigate,
for the reason that when the orientations were observed and recorded,
it was not known what use would be made of them, and certain data
required for my special inquiry were wanting. In Cairo also I worried
my archæological friends. I was told that the question had not been
discussed; that, so far as they knew, the idea was new; and I also
gathered a suspicion that they did not think much of it. However, one
of them, Brugsch Bey, took much interest in the matter, and was good
enough to look up some of the old inscriptions, and one day he told me
he had found a very interesting one concerning the foundation of the
temple at Edfû. From this inscription it was clear that the idea was
not new; it was possibly six thousand years old. Afterwards I went up
the river, and made some observations which carried conviction with
them and strengthened the idea in my mind that for the orientation not
only of Edfû, but of all the larger temples which I examined, there was
an astronomical basis. I returned to England at the beginning of March,
1891, and within a few days of landing received Professor Nissen's
papers.
I have thought it right to give this personal narrative, because, while
it indicates the relation of my work to Professor Nissen's, it enables
me to make the acknowledgment that the credit of having first made the
suggestion belongs, so far as I know, solely to him.[1]
The determination of the stars to which some of the Egyptian temples,
sacred to a known divinity, were directed, opened a way, as I
anticipated, to a study of the astronomical basis of parts of the
mythology. This inquiry I have carried on to a certain extent, but it
requires an Egyptologist to face it, and this I have no pretensions
to be. It soon became obvious, even to an outsider like myself, that
the mythology was intensely astronomical, and crystallised early ideas
suggested by actual observations of the sun, moon, and stars. Next,
there were apparently two mythologies, representing two schools of
astronomical thought.
Finally, to endeavour to obtain a complete picture, it became necessary
to bring together the information to be obtained from all these and
other sources, including the old Egyptian calendars, and to compare the
early Babylonian results with those which are to be gathered from the
Egyptian myths and temple-orientations.
It will, I think, be clear to anyone who reads this volume that its
limits and the present state of our knowledge have only allowed me
really to make a few suggestions. I have not even attempted to exhaust
any one of the small number of subjects which I have brought forward;
but if I have succeeded so far as I have gone, it will be abundantly
evident that, if these inquiries are worth continuing, a very
considerable amount of work has to be done.
Of this future work, the most important, undoubtedly, is a re-survey
of the temple sites, with modern instruments and methods. Next,
astronomers must produce tables of the rising and setting conditions
of the stars for periods far beyond those which have already been
considered. The German Astronomical Society has published a table of
the places of a great many stars up to 2000 B.C., but to carry on this
investigation we must certainly go back to 7000 B.C., and include
southern stars. While the astronomer is doing this, the Egyptologist,
on his part, must look through the inscriptions with reference to the
suggestions which lie on the surface of the inquiry. The astronomical
and associated mythological data want bringing together. One part of
that work will consist in arranging tables of synonyms like those to
which I presently refer in the case of the goddesses. My own impression
is that this work will not really be so laborious as the statement of
it might seem to imply. I have attempted to go over the ground during
the last two years as well as my ignorance would allow me, and I have
arrived at the impression that the number both of gods and goddesses
will be found to be extremely small; that the apparent wealth of the
mythology depends upon the totemism of the inhabitants in the Nile
valley--by which I mean that each district had its own special animal
as the emblem of the tribe dwelling in it, and that every mythological
personage had to be connected in some way with these local cults. After
this work is done, it will be possible to begin to answer some of the
questions which I have only ventured to raise.
I am glad to take this opportunity of expressing my obligations to the
authorities in Egypt for the very great help they gave towards the
furthering of the inquiries which were set on foot there. Many of my
own local observations would, in all probability, never have been made
if my friend Major A. Davis, of Syracuse (New York) had not invited
me to join him in a cruise up the river in the s.s. _Mohamet Aly_ and
practically given me full command of her movements. My best thanks are
due to him not only for his hospitality, but for sympathetic aid in my
inquiries.
Dr. Wallis Budge and Captain Lyons, R.E., have rendered continual help
while this book has been in progress, and I cannot sufficiently thank
them; to the first-named I am especially indebted for looking over the
proof sheets. I am also under obligations to Professors Maspero, Krall,
and Max Müller for information on certain points, and to Professors
Sayce and Jensen for many valuable suggestions in the chapters dealing
with Babylonian astronomy.
J. NORMAN LOCKYER.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
PREFACE vii
I. THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN AND THE DAWN 1
II. THE FIRST GLIMPSES OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY 9
III. THE ASTRONOMICAL BASIS OF THE EGYPTIAN PANTHEON 20
IV. THE TWO HORIZONS 40
V. THE YEARLY PATH OF THE SUN-GOD 51
VI. THE PROBABLE HOR-SHESU WORSHIP 58
VII. METHODS OF DETERMINING THE ORIENTATION OF TEMPLES 67
VIII. THE EARLIEST SOLAR SHRINES IN EGYPT 73
IX. OTHER SIMILAR SHRINES ELSEWHERE 86
X. THE SOLAR TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK 99
XI. THE AGE OF THE TEMPLE OF AMEN-RĀ AT KARNAK 113
XII. THE STARS--THEIR RISINGS AND SETTINGS 120
XIII. THE EGYPTIAN HEAVENS.--THE ZODIACS OF DENDERAH 132
XIV. THE CIRCUMPOLAR CONSTELLATIONS: THE MYTH OF HORUS 144
XV. TEMPLES DIRECTED TO THE STARS 155
XVI. FURTHER INQUIRIES WITH REGARD TO THE STELLAR TEMPLES 167
XVII. THE BUILDING INSCRIPTIONS 173
XVIII. THE STAR TEMPLES AT KARNAK 182
XIX. THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS--THE TEMPLE OF ISIS AT
DENDERAH 192
XX. THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS (_Continued_)--THE TEMPLE
OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH 201
XXI. STAR-CULTS 210
XXII. STAR-CULTS (_Continued_)--AMEN-T AND KHONS 220
XXIII. THE EGYPTIAN YEAR AND THE NILE 226
XXIV. THE YEARS OF 360 AND 365 DAYS 243
XXV. THE VAGUE AND THE SIRIAN YEARS 249
XXVI. THE SOTHIC CYCLE AND THE USE MADE OF IT 257
XXVII. THE CALENDAR AND ITS REVISION 266
XXVIII. THE FIXED YEAR AND FESTIVAL CALENDARS 274
XXIX. THE MYTHOLOGY OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 287
XXX. THE TEMPLE-STARS 304
XXXI. THE HISTORY OF SUN-WORSHIP AT ANNU AND THEBES 315
XXXII. THE EARLY TEMPLE AND GREAT PYRAMID BUILDERS 325
XXXIII. THE CULT OF NORTHERN AS OPPOSED TO SOUTHERN STARS 341
XXXIV. THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY--THE NORTHERN
SCHOOLS 359
XXXV. THE ORIGIN OF EGYPTIAN ASTRONOMY (_Continued_)--THE
THEBES SCHOOL 371
XXXVI. GENERAL CONCLUSIONS AS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH RACES 387
XXXVII. THE EGYPTIAN AND BABYLONIAN ECLIPTIC CONSTELLATIONS 396
XXXVIII. THE INFLUENCE OF EGYPT UPON TEMPLE-ORIENTATION IN
GREECE 412
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
The Temple of Amen-Rā looking from
the Sanctuary towards the Place of
Sunset at the Summer Solstice _Frontispiece_
The Rosetta Stone 9
Temple of Edfû, looking East; showing
Pylon and Outer Court 13
Great Court of Heaven, at the Entrance
to the Hathor Temple at Denderah 15
Temple Gate with Propylon and Obelisks 16
Hathor Temple of Dêr el-Bahari 17
The Central Portion of the Circular
Zodiac of Denderah 18
Tablet of Kings at Abydos 21
Harpocrates 23
Rā, Min-Rā; Amen-Rā 24
Sebak-Rā, Chnemu-Rā 25
Anubis, or Set, Anubis-Osiris, Osiris
(as a Mummy) 26
Osiris seated 27
Various Forms of Bes--as Warrior,
Musician, and Buffoon 28
Khons-Lunus, Thoth-Lunus, the Goddess
Sesheta 29
The Weighing of the Soul by Horus
and Anubis, in Presence of Osiris 30
Thoth and Sesheta Writing the Name
of Rameses II. on the Fruit of the
Persea 31
Cleopatra as the Goddess Isis 32
Isis (seated) 33
The Rising Sun Horus between Isis and
Nephthys 34
The Goddess Nu-t 35
The Goddess Nu-t represented Double 36
Various Forms of Shu 37
Forms of Ptah, the God of Memphis 38
Apparent Movement of the Stars to an
Observer at the North Pole 40
Apparent Movement of the Stars to an
Observer at the Equator 41
The Celestial Sphere Viewed from a
Middle Latitude 42
A Terrestrial Globe with Wafer attached
to Show the Varying Conditions of
Observation in a Middle Latitude 43
Showing Amplitudes reckoned from the
East or West Points to N.P., North
Point of Horizon, and S.P., South
Point of Horizon 46
Diagram Showing the Various Amplitudes
at which Stars of Different
Declinations Rise and Set in Different
Latitudes 49
Earth and Sun at the Equinoxes 54
Earth and Sun at the Solstices 55
Diagrams Showing Position of the Sun
in Relation to the Zenith of London
at the Northern Winter Solstice and
at the Northern Summer Solstice 56
Azimuth Compass 67
Theodolite for Determining Azimuth
and Altitudes 68
Magnetic Map of the British Isles,
Showing the Variation at Different
Points 71
Plan of the Mounds at Abydos. From
Mariette 74
The Mounds and Obelisk at Annu 76
The Colossi of the Plain at Thebes at
High Nile, Oriented to the Sunrise
at the Winter Solstice 79
Plan of Memphis 80
East and West Pyramids and Temples
at Gîzeh 81
Temple and Temenos Walls of Tanis 82
Temple and Temenos Walls of Saïs
(Sa-el-Hagar) 83
The Temple near the Sphinx, looking
West (True), Showing its relation
to the South Face of the Second
Pyramid 84
Stonehenge, from the North 90
Stonehenge Restored 91
Plan of St. Peter's at Rome, Showing
the Door Facing the Sunrise 96
St. Peter's at Rome; Façade Facing the
East (true) 97
Axis of the Temple of Amen-Rā from
the Western Pylon, Looking South-East 100
Plan of the Temple of Amen-Rā and
some of its Surroundings, Including
the Sacred Lake 101
View to the South-West from the Sacred
Lake of Amen-Rā 103
Ruins of Door at Entrance of the Sanctuary 104
The Obelisks near the Oldest Part of
the Temple of Amen-Rā 105
Inner Court and Sanctuary at Edfû 106
Plan of the Temple of Amen-Rā 118
Model Illustrating the Precession of
the Equinoxes 125
Star-map Representing the Precessional
Movement of the Celestial Pole
from the Year 4000 B.C. to the year
2000 A.D. 127
Northern Half of the So-called Square
Zodiac of Denderah 136
Sirius and Orion (18th Dynasty) 139
Astronomical Drawing's from Bibân el-Mulûk
(18th Dynasty) 140
Ruins of the Ramesseum, where the
Month-Tables were found 142
The God of Darkness--Set 144
Various Forms of Anubis 145
Forms of Typhon 146
Mestha. Hāpi, Tuamāutef, Qebhsennuf 147
Set-Horus 149
Illustration from a Theban Tomb 151
Horus and Crocodiles 152
Horus and Crocodiles, Ptah and Crocodiles 153
Ground Plan of Edfû 157
Ground Plan of the Temple of Hathor
at Denderah; Plan of the Temple of
Seti at Abydos 158
Plan of the Temple of Rameses II. in
the Memnonia at Thebes 159
Plan of Temples at Medînet-Habû 164
The Bent Axis of the Temple of Luxor 165
The Laying of the Foundation Stone
Ceremonial 174
Plan of the Temples at Karnak Showing
their Orientations _To face p._ 183
Plan of Denderah 192
Ruins of the Mamisi (Place of Birth) or
Temple of Isis at Denderah 195
Ceremonial Procession in an Egyptian
Temple 199
Orientation of the Temple of Hathor at
Denderah 202
Capital, with Masks of Hathor with
Cow's Ears 216
The Cow of Isis 217
Hathor as a Cow 218
Hathor, "The Cow of the Western Hills" 219
The Annual Rise and Fall of the Nile 228
Hāpi, the God of the Nile 229
Different Forms of Thoth 232
Scale of the Nilometer at Rôda 235
The Island of Rôda 236
Conditions of the Heliacal Rising of
Sirius from 4000 B.C. to 600 A.D. 255
The Distribution of the 1st of Thoth
(representing the Rise of Sirius)
among the Egyptian Months in the
1460-year Sothic Cycle 258
Julian Dates of the 1st of Thoth
(Vague) from 23 A.D. and 240 A.D. 267
The Month-Table at the Ramesseum 276
Black Granite Statue of Sekhet from
the Temple of Mut at Thebes 288
The Goddess Taurt; the Goddess Serk-t
or Selk-t (both with Horns and Disk) 289
Nit (two forms of); Bast 290
Anuqa; Sati 291
Isis Nursing Horus 292
Isis, Osiris and Horus 297
A "Change of Cult" at Luxor 298
Curves showing the Declinations of
Some of the Stars used by the
Egyptian Astronomers at Different
Epochs 307
The Temples at Tell el-Amarna 322
Apis (two forms of) 330
Mnevis 331
The Two Great Pyramids at the Time
of the Inundation 332
The Step-Pyramid of Sakkarah 334
The Pyramid of Mêdûm 335
The "Blunted Pyramid" of Dashûr 336
Ship of Hāt-Shepset Laden with Produce
from Pun-t 346
Huts Built on Piles in Pun-t 347
Cynocephalus Ape with Moon Emblem 349
Plan of the Pyramids at Nuri 355
Plan of the Temples and Pyramids at
Gebel Barkal 358
Statue of Chephren, Found in Temple
near the Sphinx 368
The Temples at Philæ 382
The Temple at Amada 383
Chnemu 385
The Winged Solar Disk 391
A Greek Temple Restored--the Temple
of Poseidon at Pæstum 413
The Temple of Theseus at Athens: the
Acropolis, with the Parthenon, in the
Background 414
The East Front of the Parthenon, Facing
the Rising of the Pleiades 415
The Temple of Jupiter Olympius Below
the Acropolis at Athens. Oriented to
α Arietis 420
ERRATA.
Page 34, inscription to illustration: for _Iris_ read _Isis_.
Page 83, inscription to illustration: for _Sā-el-lager_ read
_Sa-el-Hagar_.
Page 327, line 8 from top: for _Dies_ read _This_.
THE
DAWN OF ASTRONOMY.
CHAPTER I.
THE WORSHIP OF THE SUN AND THE DAWN.
When we inquire among which early peoples we are likely to find the
first cultivation of astronomy, whatever the form it may have taken,
we learn that it is generally agreed by archæologists that the first
civilisations which have so far been traced were those in the Nile
Valley and in the adjacent countries in Western Asia.
The information which we possess concerning these countries has been
obtained from the remains of their cities, of their temples--even, in
the case of Babylonia, of their observatories and of the records of
their observations. Of history on papyrus we have relatively little.
Not so early as these, but of an antiquity which is still undefined,
are two other civilisations with which we became familiar before the
treasure-houses of Egypt and Babylonia were open to our inquiries.
These civilisations occupied the regions now called India and China.
The circumstances of these two groups are vastly dissimilar so far
as the actual sources of information are concerned; for in relation
to China and India we have paper records, but, alas! no monuments of
undoubtedly high antiquity. It is true that there are many temples in
India in the present day, but, on the authority of Prof. Max Müller,
they are relatively modern.
The contrary happens in Egypt, for there monuments exist more ancient
than any of the inscribed records; monuments indicating a more or less
settled civilisation; a knowledge of astronomy, and temples erected on
astronomical principles for the purposes of worship, the astronomers
being called "the mystery teachers of Heaven."
We go back in Egypt for a period, as estimated by various authors, of
something like 6,000 or 7,000 years. In Babylonia inscribed tablets
carry us into the dim past for a period of certainly 5,000 years; but
the so-called "omen" tablets indicate that observations of eclipses and
other astronomical phenomena had been made for some thousands of years
before this period. In China and in India we go back as certainly to
more than 4,000 years ago.
When one comes to examine the texts, whether written on paper or
papyrus, burnt in brick, or cut on stone, which archæologists have
obtained from all these sources, we at once realise that man's earliest
observations of the heavenly bodies in all the regions we have named
may very fairly be divided into three perfectly distinct stages. I do
not mean to say that these stages follow each other exactly, but that
at one period one stage was more developed than another, and so on.
For instance, in the first stage, wonder and worship were the prevalent
features; in the second, there was the need of applying the observation
of celestial phenomena in two directions, one the direction of
utility--such as the formation of a calendar and the foundation of
years and months; and the other the astrological direction.
Supplied as we moderns are with the results of astronomical observation
in the shape of almanacs, pocket-books, and the like, it is always
difficult, and for most people quite impossible, to put ourselves
in the place and realise the conditions of a race emerging into
civilisation, and having to face the needs of the struggle for
existence in a community which, in the nature of the case, must have
been agricultural. Those would best succeed who best knew when "to plow
and sow, and reap and mow;" and the only means of knowledge was at
first the observation of the heavenly bodies. It was this, and not the
accident of the possession of an extended plain, which drove early man
to be astronomically minded.
The worship stage would, of course, continue, and the priests would
see to its being properly developed; and the astrological direction
of thought, to which I have referred, would gradually be connected
with it, probably in the interest of a class neither priestly nor
agricultural.
Only more recently--not at all, apparently, in the early stage--were
any observations made of any celestial object for the mere purpose of
getting knowledge. We know from the recent discoveries of Strassmaier
and Epping that this stage was reached at Babylon at least 300 years
B.C., at which time regular calculations were made of the future
positions of moon and planets, and of such extreme accuracy that they
could have been at once utilised for practical purposes. It looks as if
rough determinations of star places were made at about the same time in
Egypt and Babylonia.
This abstract inquiry is now practically the only source of interest in
astronomy to us; we no longer worship the sun; we no longer believe in
astrology; we have our calendar; but we must have a Nautical Almanac
calculated years beforehand, and some of us like to know a little about
the universe which surrounds us.
It is very curious and interesting to know that the first stage, the
stage of worship, is practically missing in the Chinese annals; the
very earliest Chinese observations show us the Chinese, a thoroughly
practical people, trying to get as much out of the stars as they could
for their terrestrial purposes.
In Babylonia it is a very remarkable thing that from the beginning of
things--so far as we can judge from the records--the sign for God was a
star.
We find the same idea in Egypt: in some of the hieroglyphic texts three
stars represented the plural "gods."
I have already remarked that the ideas of the early Indian
civilisation, crystallised in their sacred books called Vedas, were
known to us long before either the Egyptian or the Babylonian and
Assyrian records had been deciphered.
Enough, however, is now known to show that we may take the Vedas to
bring before us the remnants of the first ideas which dawned upon
the minds of the earliest dwellers in Western Asia--that is, the
territory comprised between the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the
Caucasus, the Caspian Sea, the Indus, and the waters which bound the
southern coasts--say, as far as Cape Comorin. Of these populations,
the Egyptians and Babylonians may be reckoned as the first. According
to Lenormant--and he is followed by all the best scholars--this region
was invaded in the earliest times by peoples coming from the steppes of
Northern Asia. Bit by bit they spread to the west and east. There are
strange variants in the ideas of the Chaldæans already recovered from
the inscriptions and those preserved in the Vedas. Nevertheless, we
find a sun-god[2] and the following hymn:--
"Oh Sun, in the most profound heaven thou shinest. Thou openest the
locks which close the high heavens. Thou openest the door of heaven.
Oh Sun, towards the surface of the earth thou turnest thy face. Oh
Sun, thou spreadest above the surface, like a mantle, the splendour of
heaven."
Let us consider for a moment what were the first conditions under which
the stars and the sun would be observed. There was no knowledge, but we
can very well understand that there was much awe, and fear, and wonder.
Man then possessed no instruments, and the eyes and the minds of the
early observers were absolutely untrained. Further, night to them
seemed almost death--no man could work; for them there was no electric
light, to say nothing of candles; so that in the absence of the moon
the night reigned like death over every land. There is no necessity
for us to go far into this matter by trying to put ourselves into the
places of these early peoples; we have only to look at the records:
they speak very clearly for themselves.
But the Vedas speak fully, while as yet information on this special
point is relatively sparse from the other regions. It is wise,
therefore, to begin with India, whence the first complete revelations
of this kind came. Max Müller and others during recent years have
brought before us an immense amount of most interesting information, of
the highest importance for our present subject.
They tell us that 1,500 years B.C. there was a ritual, a set of hymns
called the Veda (_Veda_ meaning "knowledge"). These hymns were
written in Sanskrit, which a few years ago was almost an unknown
language: we know now that it turns out to be the nearest relation
to our English tongue. The thoughts and feelings expressed in these
early hymns contain the first roots and germs of that intellectual
growth which connects our own generation with the ancestors of the
Aryan races--"those very people who, as we now learn from the Vedas,
at the rising and the setting of the sun, listened with trembling
hearts to the sacred songs chanted by their priests. The Veda, in
fact, is the oldest book in which we can study the first beginnings
of our language and of everything which is embodied in all the
languages under the sun." The oldest, most primitive, most simple form
of Aryan Nature-worship finds expression in this wonderful hymnal,
which doubtless brings before us the rituals of the ancient Aryan
populations, represented also by the Medes and Persians.
There was, however, another branch, represented by the Zend-Avesta, as
opposed to the Vedas, among which there was a more or less conscious
opposition to the gods of Nature, to which we are about to refer, and
a striving after a more spiritual deity, proclaimed by Zoroaster under
the name of Ahura-Mazda, or Ormuzd. The existence of these rituals side
by side in time tends to throw back the origin of the Nature-worship
of both. Now, what do we find? In the Veda the gods are called Devas,
a word which means "bright"; brightness or light being one of the most
general attributes shared by the various manifestations of the deity.
What were the deities? The sun, the sky, the dawn, fire, and storm.
It is clear, in fact, from the Vedas that sunrise was, to those from
whom the ritual had been derived, the great revelation of Nature, and
in time, in the minds of the poets of the Veda, _deva_, from meaning
"bright," gradually came to mean "divine." Sunrise it was that inspired
the first prayers of our race, and called forth the first sacrificial
flames. Here, for instance, is an extract from one of the Vedas. "Will
the sun rise again? Will our old friend the Dawn come back again? Will
the power of Darkness be conquered by the God of Light?"
These three questions in one hymn will show what a questionable stage
in man's history is thus brought before us, and how the antithesis
between night and day was one of the first things to strike mankind.
We find very many names for Sun-gods--
Mitra, Indra (the day brought by the sun),
Sûrya, Vasishtha, Arusha (bright or red);
and for the Dawn-gods--
Ushas, Dyaus, Dyotanâ,
Ahanâ, Urvasīī.
We have only to consider how tremendously important must have been the
coming of the sun in the morning, bringing everything with it; and the
dying away of the sun in the evening, followed at once by semi-tropical
quick darkness, to cease to wonder at such worship as this. Here is an
extract from one hymn to the Dawn (Ushas):--
"(1) She shines upon us like a young wife, rousing every living being
to go to his work; when the fire had to be kindled by men she made the
light by striking down darkness.
"(2) She rose up spreading far and wide, and moving everywhere, she
grew in brightness, wearing her brilliant garment [the mother of the
cows (the mornings)], the leader of the days, she shone gold-coloured,
lovely to behold.
"(3) She, the fortunate, who brings the eye of the gods, who leads the
white and lovely steed (of the sun), the _Dawn_, was seen revealed by
her rays, with brilliant treasures, following everyone.
"(4) Thou art a blessing when thou art near.... Raise up wealth to the
worshipper, thou mighty _Dawn_.
"(5) Shine for us with thy best rays, thou bright Dawn....
"(6) Thou daughter of the sky, thou high-born Dawn...."
In addition to the Sun and the Dawn, which turn out to be the two great
deities in the early Indian Pantheon, other gods are to be met with,
such as Prithivī, the Earth on which we dwell; Varuna, the Sky; Ap, the
Waters; Agni, the Fire; and Maruts, the Storm-gods. Of these, Varuna is
especially interesting to us. We read:--
"Varuna stemmed asunder the wide firmament; he lifted up on high the
bright and glorious heaven; he stretched apart the starry sky and the
earth."
Again--
"This earth, too, belongs to Varuna, the king, and this wide sky with
its ends far apart. The two seas (the sky and the ocean) are Varuna's
loins."
Finally, the result of all this astral worship was to give an idea of
the connection between the earth and the sun and the heavens, which are
illustrated in later Indian pictures, bringing before us modernised and
much more concrete views of these early notions, ultimately transformed
into this piece of poetic thought, that the earth was a shell supported
by elephants (which represent strength), the elephants being supported
on a tortoise (which represents infinite slowness).
This poetical view subsequently gave way to one less poetical--namely,
that the earth was supported by pillars; on what the pillars rested
is not stated, and it does not matter. We must not consider this as
ridiculous, and pardonable merely because it is so early in point of
time; because, coming to the time of Greek civilisation, Anaximander
told us that the earth was cylindrical in shape, and every place that
was then known was situated on the flat end of the cylinder; and Plato,
on the ground that the cube was the most perfect geometrical figure,
imagined the earth to be a cube, the part of the earth known to the
Greeks being on the upper surface. In these matters, indeed, the
vaunted Greek mind was little in advance of the predecessors of the
Vedic priests.