THE PERSONIFICATION OF STARS (CONTINUED)--THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT
DENDERAH.
In Chapter XVII. I quoted from the inscriptions relating to the
alignment of the axis of the temple of Hathor at Denderah. It will be
remembered that the king, while stretching the cord, had his glance
directed to the _āk_ of the constellation of the Thigh. Further, we saw
in the last chapter that the amplitude of the temple axis is 71½° N.
of E.
A copy of Biot's plan giving his value of the orientation is given on
the next page.
I have shown how truly the temple of Isis was pointed to Sirius. We
have now to try to find a star towards which the temple of Hathor may
have been pointed in like manner.
It will be generally understood that in an inquiry of this kind there
are very many difficulties, chiefly depending upon the uncertainty
of the building-date of the original foundation, and upon the
indeterminate nature of the information available. But although we meet
with these difficulties in the case of the temple of Hathor, there
are many from which we are free. In the case of many of the temples
in Egypt we have no knowledge of the tutelary divinity. For a great
many temples no observational data exist; they have not been properly
measured--that is, we do not know exactly in what direction they point
or what their amplitudes are; and, further we do not know anything
of the horizon at the temple building, so as to be able to make the
necessary corrections due to heights of hills.
[Illustration: ORIENTATION OF THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR AT DENDERAH (BIOT).
(THE TEMPLE OF OSIRIS ON THE ROOF IS ALSO SHOWN ON A LARGER SCALE.)]
This premised, I will now return to the statement regarding the temple
of Hathor, to see what can be made of it on the view that either
the middle or the chief point, that is, the brightest star, of the
constellation of the Great Bear as we now know it, was the one referred
to, and that the cord was stretched to the star on the horizon.
The first question which arises is, Was there any reason why δ Ursæ
Majoris at the centre, or α the brightest, should have been used
as the orientation point at any time? Was there any reason why any
special sanctity should have been associated with either? Certainly
not, in the case of δ, on account of its magnitude, because Dubhe,
not far from it, is much brighter; and possibly not, in the case both
of δ and α, on account of the time of their heliacal rising. We seem
therefore in an _impasse_ along this line of inquiry; but a further
consideration of the question brings out the remarkable fact that at
three widely-sundered points of time the stars α Lyræ, α Ursæ Majoris,
and γ Draconis have been the brightest stars nearest the North Pole,
and with such declinations that α Lyræ would be visible at one of the
dates, α Ursæ Majoris at another, and γ Draconis at another still--all
rising in nearly the same amplitude far to the north.
In Chapter XVIII. I have shown that one of the temples, and possibly
a series of them, at Thebes were directed to γ Draconis. It is
interesting, then, to carry the inquiry further. It may possibly
explain how it is that we get a definite statement about the _āk_ of
the Great Bear in one case and a certain sure orientation to γ Draconis
in the other.
In the first place, it has to be borne in mind that when a star is
circumpolar--that is, never sets--no temple can be directed to its
rising. Now, accepting the _āk_ as the brightest star (and as I stated
in Chapter XVII., it might, indeed, have been the central one as well
in the old constellation, for we do not know its limits), we have to
deal with the facts concerning α Ursæ Majoris, called by the Arabians
Dubhe.
The latitude of Denderah is a little over 20° N., therefore all stars
with a less polar distance than that--or, to put it another way, all
stars with a declination greater than (90°-26° = 64°. N.)--will be
circumpolar. Now, the declination of Dubhe was greater than 64° between
4000 B.C. and 1500 A.D. (I neglect refractions and hills); hence, if
there is any truth in the statements made in the building ceremonials,
the temple could not have been founded between those dates.
But what are the records concerning this temple? We know that the
structure as we see it was built in the time of the last Ptolemies
and the first Roman emperors, and I have already shown that at those
dates the Great Bear (the old Thigh) did not rise at all, as it was
circumpolar.
It is also known that there was a temple here in the time of Thothmes
III., and even earlier, going back to the earliest times of Egyptian
history. King Pepi, of the Sixth Dynasty (_circ._ 3233 B.C.), is
portrayed over and over again in the crypts.
Even this is not all the evidence in favour of a high antiquity. In
one of the crypts (No. 9), according to Ebers and Dümichen, there are
two references to the earliest plans of the temple. One inscription
states that the great ground-plan (_Senti_) of Ant (Denderah) was
found in old writing on parchments of the time of the followers of
Horus (sun-worshippers) preserved in the walls of the temple during
the reign of King Pepi. Another inscription goes further, referring to
the restoration by Thothmes III. (_circ._ 1600 B.C.) of the temple to
the state in which it was found described in old writings of the time
of the King Chufu (Cheops) of the Fourth Dynasty (_circ._ 3733 B.C.).
If any faith is to be placed in this inscription, it seems to me to
suggest a still higher antiquity. There would have been more reason for
describing an antique shrine than a brand new one.
Still another inscription runs:--
"King Tehuti-mes III. has caused this building to be erected in memory
of his mother, the goddess Hathor, the Lady of An (Denderah), the eye
of the Sun, the heavenly queen of the gods. The ground plan was found
in the city of An, in archaic drawing on a leather roll of the time of
the Hor-Shesu: it was found in the interior of a brick wall in the
south side of the temple in the reign of King Pepi."[56]
But let us see what the facts are regarding the date supplied by the
temple itself, accepting the statement made regarding the actual
operations at the laying of the foundation stone originally.
To determine the dates approximately, we find that an amplitude of
71½° N. of E. in the latitude of Denderah gives a declination of
57¾° N., with a sea horizon (correcting for refraction) 58¾° N.
with hills 1° high, and 59¾° N. with hills 2° high, which is not far
from the exact conditions.
The star Dubhe had the declination of 60° N. in 5000 B.C.
If, then, I am right in my suggestion as to the word _āk_ referring to
α Ursæ Majoris, we find the closest agreement between the astronomical
orientation; the definite statement as to a certain star being used in
the building ceremonies; the inscriptions in the crypts referring to
Cheops as the earliest historical personage who describes the building,
and to the Shesu-Hor as the original designers of the building.
According to most authorities, 5000 B.C. lands us in the times of the
Shesu-Hor before Mena.
I must confess that this justification of the double record strikes
me as very remarkable, and I think it will be generally conceded that
further local observations should be made in order to attempt to carry
the matter a stage beyond a first approximation.
We have got so far, then. If we take the history as we find it, and
further take the trouble to work out the very definite statements made,
we find that the temple was founded pointing to the rising of Dubhe
before it became circumpolar, and that in those times this star was
symbolised by the name of Hathor.
We may accept, then, the possibility that as the temple of Isis was
oriented to Sirius, that dedicated to Hathor was directed to Dubhe.
It will have been obvious from what has preceded, that if the worship
of Hathor was to go on at all, and if it were in any way connected with
the observations of a star rising near the north point of the horizon,
a new star must be chosen when α Ursæ Majoris became circumpolar. That
is the first point.
I have already stated that α Ursæ Majoris began to be circumpolar
at Denderah 4000 B.C. I may now add that γ Draconis ceased to be
circumpolar about 5000 B.C. They had the same declination (62° N.) and
the same amplitude (78° N.) 4400 B.C.
Mariette's plan shows a second temple oriented to N. 6° E., which we
may perhaps be justified in taking as N. 9° E., since his azimuth of
the great temple differs from Biot's and my own by 3°.
The corresponding declination would be 68° N. of E., the declination of
Dubhe in 4200 B.C. and of γ Draconis in 4300 B.C. The temple may well,
therefore, have been erected when both stars had the same amplitude,
the apparent difference of 100 years being due to the uncertainty of
the measures available.
The second point, then, is that when Dubhe, which, while it rose
and set, was the brightest star near the pole which did so, _became
circumpolar_; γ Draconis, when it _ceased to be circumpolar_, fulfilled
these conditions; astronomically, then, it became the natural successor
of α Ursæ Majoris.
I have before pointed out that it is not impossible that a temple
once oriented to a certain star, and long out of use on account
of the precessional movement, may be utilised for another, and be
rehabilitated in consequence, when that same movement brings another
conspicuous star into the proper rising amplitude.
This consideration at once leads to my third point, which is, that
after Dubhe became circumpolar the temple of Hathor at Denderah would
become useless--there would be no star to watch--unless a new star was
chosen.
Now, let us suppose this to have been so, and that the natural
successor of the star in question were chosen. Studying the facts as
before approximately, as final data are not yet available, we have the
declination 59¾° N. This was the declination of γ Draconis about
3500 B.C., assuming hills 2° high, which I think is too much; 3300
B.C., with hills 1½° high.
In the present case the orientation fits γ Draconis in the historic
period, but it also fits Dubhe in the times of the Hor-shesu, the
dimly-seen followers of Horus, or sun-worshippers, before the dawn of
the historic period.
Next let us go back to the inscriptions. We found that King Pepi
is portrayed over and over again in the crypts, and, which is more
important, that the plan of the temple on parchment, dating from the
times of the Shesu-Hor, had actually been walled up in the temple
during the reign of the same king, no doubt at the ceremony of
restoration or laying a new foundation stone, as is sometimes done to
this day.
Now, Pepi's date, according to the chronologists, is 3200 B.C., a
difference of 100 years only from the rough orientation date.
We see, therefore, the full importance of the work done in Pepi's
reign. The _āk_ of the Thigh was no longer of use; but a new star was
now available. Hathor was rehabilitated. Perhaps even the priests alone
knew that the star had been changed.
By the temple of Hathor, then, if we assume that the record is
absolutely true (and I, for one, believe in these old records more
and more), and that Cheops only described a shrine founded by the
Hor-shesu, we are carried back to _circ._ 5000 B.C. I am indebted to
my friend Dr. Wallis Budge for the suggestion that the position of
Denderah as the terminus of the highway from the Red Sea--which may
soon again be reached by a railway from Keneh to Kosseir!--would have
made it one of the most important places in ancient Egypt.
It is important to note that at a very early date the traffic between
the Nile Valley and the Red Sea, and thence probably with Arabia and
South Africa, flourished, and grew to be a by no means insignificant
commerce.
According to Ebers,[57] "the oldest and most famous of all these
highways is that which led from Koptos (Keneh, Denderah) to the Red
Sea, through the valley now known as the Wady Hammamāt, and called by
the ancient Egyptians Rohanu. It was a busy high-road, not alone for
trading caravans, but from time to time for stonemasons and soldiers,
whose task it was to hew the costly building materials from the hard
rocks, which here abound, and to prepare the vast monoliths which were
finished _in situ_, and then to convey them all to the residence of the
Pharaohs. A remarkably beautiful kind of alabaster, of a fine honey
yellow or white as snow, is found in these mountains." Another road led
from Esneh or Edfû to the ancient port of Berenice. We shall see in the
sequel that the temple of Redisieh on this route was dedicated to the
same cult as that at Denderah.
If the above results be confirmed, we have a most definite indication
of the fact that in the rebuilding in the times of Pepi, Thothmes III.,
and the Ptolemies, the original orientation of the building was not
disturbed; and that in the account of the building ceremonies we are
dealing as surely with the laying of the first foundation-stone as with
the original plan.
In any case the consideration has to be borne in mind that the series
of temples with high northern (and southern) amplitudes at Denderah,
Thebes, and possibly other places, were nearly certainly founded
before the time at which the heliacal rising of Sirius, near the time
of the summer solstice, was the chief event of the year, watched by
priests, astronomers--if the astronomers were not the only priests--and
agriculturists alike. Now we know, from Biot's calculations, that this
became possible _circ._ 3285 B.C., and that Sirius--though, as I am
informed by Prof. Maspero, _not_ its heliacal rising--is referred to in
inscriptions in pyramid times.
Subsequent research may possibly show that these temples had to do with
the heralding of sunrise throughout the year, the Sirian temples being
limited to New Year's Day.