OTHER SIMILAR SHRINES ELSEWHERE.
The observations which have been made in Babylonia are very discordant
among themselves, and at present it is impossible to say, from
the monuments in any part of the region along the Tigris valley,
whether the temples indicate that the solstices were familiar to the
Babylonians.
The ancient cities which have so far been excavated and the modern
names of the sites are as follows:
Nineveh = Kouyunjik.
Babylon = Birs Nimrûd.
Calah = Nimrûd.
Erech = Warka.
Ur of the Chaldees = Mukeyyer.
Ashur = Kalat Sherkât.
Dur Sarginu = Khorsabad.
Let us take, for instance, the region in the valley near where the
Upper Zab joins the main stream. We gather from the map published in
1867 by Place,[11] that Nimrûd, the modern Calah, is near the junction,
while the mounds of Kouyunjik, Mosul, and Khorsabad, representing the
ancient Dur Sarginu, are to the north (36° N. latitude). There are two
other mounds shown on the map at Djigan and Tel Hakoab.
Now, by inspection it is quite clear that none of the mounds except
that of Nimrûd lie east and west. It becomes important, therefore, to
determine their orientation; but, alas! this is nearly impossible with
the sole exception of Khorsabad, for no measures appear to have been
made.
At first sight the matter seems more hopeful in the case of Khorsabad,
for we have not only the plans of Place, but those of Botta and
Flandin.[12] The plans seem oriented with care, so far as the existence
of a compass direction is concerned--for that is present while it too
often is lacking in such productions--but in neither series is it
stated whether N. means true or magnetic north.
Both observers noted a well-marked temple facing N.E., and also an
"observatory." About the temple there can be no mistake, for the
fair-way of the light to it is carefully preserved, and there is a
flight of wide steps on the north-east side of it.
Place gives the orientation 37° N. of E. in one plan and 39° in
another. Botta and Flandin give 31½° in one plan and 32° in another!
Now, the change in the magnetic variation between 1849 and 1867 will
not explain this difference, nor indeed can it be accounted for by
supposing that the magnetic north is in question in one set of plans
and the true north in the other;[13] and it is clear that no perfectly
certain conclusion can be arrived at till this work has been done
over again. But it is known that M. Flandin was a skilled surveyor,
and we have the remarkable fact, that if we take his value, _we have
the amplitude of the sun at the summer solstice in the latitude of
Nineveh_!
I certainly think the temple may be accepted as a solstitial solar
temple provisionally; and if so, the question is raised whether the
structures in Assyria, supposed to be oriented so that the _angles_
face the cardinal points, are not all of them oriented to the sun at a
solstice or to some other heavenly body. Certainly we must have more
definite measures before the statement generally made can be accepted
as final.
When we leave Assyria we find other countries, it is true still farther
afield, in which the existence of solstitial temples of a great
antiquity of foundation is fully recognised.
The great temple of the sun at Pekin is oriented to the winter
solstice. The ceremonials which take place there are thus described by
Edkins:--
"The most important of all the State observances of China is the
sacrifice at the winter solstice, performed in the open air at the
south altar of the Temple of Heaven, December 21st. The altar is
called Nan-Tan, 'south mound,' or Yuenkieu, 'round hillock'--both
names of the greatest antiquity.
"Here also are offered prayers for rain in the early summer. The altar
is a beautiful marble structure, ascended by twenty-seven steps, and
ornamented by circular balustrades on each of its three terraces.
There is another on the north side of somewhat smaller dimensions,
called the Ch'i-ku-t'an, or altar for prayer on behalf of grain. On
it is raised a magnificent triple-roofed circular structure 99 feet
in height, which constitutes the most conspicuous object in the _tout
ensemble_, and is that which is called by foreigners the Temple of
Heaven. It is the hall of prayer for a propitious year, and here,
early in the spring, the prayer and sacrifice for that object are
prosecuted. These structures are deeply enshrined in a thick cypress
grove, reminding the visitor of the custom which formerly prevailed
among the heathen nations of the Old Testament, and of the solemn
shade which surrounded some celebrated temples of ancient Greece."
The Temple of Heaven is thus described:--
"The south altar, the most important of all Chinese religious
structures, has the following dimensions: It consists of a triple
circular terrace, 210 feet wide at the base, 150 in the middle, and 90
at the top. In these, notice the multiples of three: 3 × 3 = 9, 3 × 5
= 15, 3 × 7 = 21. The heights of the three terraces, upper, middle,
and lower, are 5·72 feet, 6·23 feet, and 5 feet respectively. At
the times of sacrificing, the tablets to heaven and to the Emperor's
ancestors are placed on the top; they are 2 feet 5 inches long, and 5
inches wide. The title is in gilt letters; that of heaven faces the
south, and those of the ancestors east and west. The Emperor, with
his immediate suite, kneels in front of the tablet of Shang-Ti and
faces the north. The platform is laid with marble stones, forming
nine concentric circles; the inner circle consists of nine stones,
cut so as to fit with close edges round the central stone, which is a
perfect circle. Here the Emperor kneels, and is surrounded first by
the circles of the terraces and their enclosing walls, and then by the
circle of the horizon. He thus seems to himself and his court to be
in the centre of the universe, and turning to the north, assuming the
attitude of a subject, he acknowledges in prayer and by his position
that he is inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Round him on the
pavement are the nine circles of as many heavens, consisting of nine
stones, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and so on in successive
multiples of nine till the square of nine, the favourite number of
Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost circle of eighty-one
stones.
"The same symbolism is carried throughout the balustrades, the steps,
and the two lower terraces of the altar. Four flights of steps of nine
each lead down to the middle terrace, where are placed the tablets to
the spirits of the sun, moon, and stars and the year god, Tai-sui.
The sun and stars take the east, and the moon and Tai-sui the west:
the stars are the twenty-eight constellations of the Chinese zodiac,
borrowed by the Hindoos soon after the Christian era, and called by
them the Naksha-tras; the Tai-sui is a deification of the sixty-year
cycle."[14]
We find, then, that, the most important temple in China is oriented to
the winter solstice.
To mention another instance. It has long been known that Stonehenge
is oriented to the rising of the sun at, the summer solstice. Its
amplitude instead of being 26° is 40° N. of E.; with a latitude of 51°,
the 26° azimuth of Thebes is represented by an amplitude of 40° at
Stonehenge.
The structure consists of a double circle of stones, with a sort of
naos composed of large stones facing a so-called avenue, which is a
sunken way between two parallel banks. This avenue stretches away from
the naos in the direction of the solstitial sunrise.
But this is not all. In the avenue, but not in the centre of its width,
there is a stone called the "Friar's Heel," so located in relation to
the horizon that, according to Mr. Flinders Petrie,[15] who has made
careful measurements of the whole structure, it aligned the coming
sunrise from a point behind the naos or trilithon. The horizon is
invisible at the entrance of the circle, the peak of the heel rising
far above it; from behind the circles the peak is below the horizon.
Now, from considerations which I shall state at length further on, Mr.
Petrie concludes that Stonehenge existed 2000 B. C. It must not be
forgotten that structures more or less similar to Stonehenge are found
along a line from the east on both sides of the Mediterranean.[16]
[Illustration: STONEHENGE, FROM THE NORTH.]
It will be seen that the use of the marking stone to indicate the
direction in which the sun will rise answers exactly the same purpose
as the long avenue of majestic columns and pylons in the Egyptian
temples. In both cases we had a means of determining the commencement
and the succession of years.
[Illustration: STONEHENGE RESTORED.]
Hence, just as surely as the temple of Karnak once pointed to the sun
_setting_ at the summer solstice, the temple at Stonehenge pointed
nearly to the sun _rising_ at the summer solstice. Stonehenge, there is
little doubt, was so constructed that at sunrise at the same solstice
the shadow of one stone fell exactly on the stone in the centre; that
observation indicated to the priests that the New Year had begun, and
possibly also fires were lighted to flash the news through the country.
And in this way it is possible that we have the ultimate origin of the
midsummer fires, which have been referred to by so many authors.[17]
We have thus considered solstitial temples scattered widely over the
earth's surface far from the Nile Valley.
We may now return to the equinoctial temples which can still be traced
to the N.E. of that valley--the chief ones being those, remains of
which still exist at Jerusalem, Baalbek, and Palmyra, where stone was
available for the temple builders. These temples were apparently as
perfectly squared to the equinox as the Pyramids at Gîzeh. I will take
the temple of Jerusalem first, as its history is more complete than
that of the others.
We learn from the works of Josephus that as early as Solomon's time the
temple at Jerusalem was oriented to the east with care;[18] in other
words, the temple at Jerusalem was parallel to the temple of Isis at
the Pyramids; it was open to the east, closed absolutely to the west.
In plan, as we shall see, it was very like an Egyptian temple, the
light from the sun at the equinox being free to come along an open
passage, and to get at last into the Holy of Holies. We find that the
direction of the axis of the temple shows the existence of a cult
connected with the possibility of seeing the sun rise at either the
spring or the autumn equinox.
All the doors being opened, the sunlight would penetrate over the high
altar, where the sacrifices were offered, into the very Holy of Holies,
which we may remember was only entered by the high priest once a year;
it could have done that twice a year, but as a matter of fact it was
only utilised once; whereas at Karnak the priest would only go into the
Holy of Holies once a year, because it was only once illuminated by the
sun in each year.
There is evidence, too, that the entrance of the sunlight on the
morning of the spring equinox formed part of the ceremonial. The priest
being in the naos, the worshippers outside, with their backs to the
sun, could see the high priest by means of the sunlight reflected from
the jewels[19] in his garments, thus referred to by Josephus:--
"I will now treat of what I before omitted--the garment of the high
priest, for he [Moses] left no room for the evil practices of [false]
prophets; but if some of that sort should attempt to abuse the Divine
authority, he left it to God to be present at His sacrifices when He
pleased, and when He pleased to be absent. And he was willing this
should be known, not to the Hebrews only, but to those foreigners also
who were there. For as to those stones, which we told you before,
the high priest bare on his shoulders, which were sardonyxes (and
I think it needless to describe their feature, they being known to
everybody), _the one of them shined out when God was present at their
sacrifices_.[20] I mean that which was of the nature of a button on
his right shoulder, bright rays darting out thence, and being seen
even by those who were most remote; which splendour yet was not before
natural to the stone."
Josephus[21] states that the miraculous shining of the jewels ceased
two hundred years before his time, "God having been displeased at the
transgression of His laws."
This remark of Josephus quite justifies the assumption that the effect
of sunlight on the priest's jewels formed part of the ceremonial,
and in this way. In the earliest times there is no doubt that the
equinoctial temples were solar temples pure and simple, and the rising
sun would always, in fine weather, shine into them at the equinox,
which, while they were used as solar temples, marked New Year's Day.
The influence of the later Babylonian astronomy, however, at length
replaced the sun by the moon, and the year would commence, not at the
equinox, but by a new or a full moon near the equinox. If either of
these happened _at_ the equinox, well and good; but if not, then the
sun's declination might be widely different from 0°--it might amount
roughly to 10° either N. or S.--and under these circumstances, as the
amplitude would be greater, the sun's light could not enter the temple
at all at the date of the feast. More than this, a mistake of a month
might be made, or a question of old style and new style might come in,
and that of course would make matters worse. In this way, then, the
withdrawal of the sunlight from the temple at Jerusalem admits of being
astronomically explained.
It seems highly probable that the temple in question was built on a
Phenician foundation, for some of the stones exceed 38 feet in length
and weigh 90 tons.[22] This remark is suggested by the fact that at
Baalbek or Heliopolis, to which I next direct attention, the most
ancient and most massive part of the structure is, in all probability,
of Phenician origin. To give an idea of its massiveness, which is
almost more than Egyptian, it may be stated that there are three
stones each about 64 feet long, 13 feet high, and 13 feet thick. There
are smaller stones used in the filling in, of the same height and
thickness, and 30 feet long.[23] These form the western wall of the
original naos or of its support.
Here the orientation is due E.[24] When we come to Palmyra, we find
also another temple to the equinoctial sun; but here the sunset, and
not the sunrise, is in question--the temple faces due west.
In the whole problem, then, of orientation as I have had to present it,
and as it now stands, we seem for the moment to be face to face with
two very remarkable and strange things; so strange that the argument
may appear far-fetched and worthless, since we are landed in a region
apparently very far removed from our modern habits of thought. But
is this really so? I assume the personification or the deification of
the sun: I shall subsequently have to include the stars; I indicate
special orientations of buildings devoted to the worship of the sun at
one time of the year or another. But really both these things, though
they seem improbable, have been carried down to our own day, quite
independently of any question relating to Egypt. There is nothing new
about them at all, and there is nothing really strange. When we go into
an observatory we think nothing of turning our telescope towards Venus,
or Jupiter, or Mars. Here we have the deification of the planets. It is
perfectly true that this religious treatment of the planets is not of
our own day: we have inherited it from the Greeks through the Latins;
but we do not think it at all extraordinary that a planet should be
called Venus or Jupiter. Thus we of to-day are completely in touch
with the old Egyptians, except that the Egyptians were wiser in their
generation, and looked after the sun at fixed points in the year and
the constant stars instead of the variable planets.
Then, again, take the question of orientation. This is, after all,
one which survives among ourselves. All our churches are more or less
oriented, which is a remnant of old sun-worship.[25] Any church that
is properly built to-day will have its axis pointing to the rising
of the sun on the Saint's Day, _i.e._, a church dedicated to St. John
ought not to be parallel to a church dedicated to St. Peter. It is true
that there are sometimes local conditions which prevent this; but if
the architect knows his business properly he is unhappy unless he can
carry out this old-world tradition. But it may be suggested that in our
churches the door is always to the west and the altar is always to the
east. That is perfectly true, but it is a modern practice. Certainly in
the early centuries the churches were all oriented to the sun, so that
the light fell on the altar through the eastern doors at sunrise. The
late Gilbert Scott, in his "Essay on Church Architecture," gives a very
detailed account of these early churches, which in this respect exactly
resembled the Egyptian temples.
[Illustration: PLAN OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME, SHOWING THE DOOR FACING THE
SUNRISE.]
In regard to old St. Peter's at Rome,[26] we read that "so exactly due
east and west was the Basilica that, on the vernal equinox, the great
doors of the porch of the quadriporticus were thrown open at sunrise,
and also the eastern doors of the church itself, and as the sun rose,
its rays passed through the outer doors, then through the inner doors,
and, penetrating straight through the nave, illuminated the High
Altar." The present church fulfils the same conditions.
[Illustration: ST. PETER'S AT ROME: FAÇADE FACING THE EAST (TRUE).]
But we have between our own churches and the Egyptian temples a link in
the chain which has just been magnificently completed by Mr. Penrose by
his study of the Greek temples. These interesting results will occupy
us in a later chapter.