STAR-CULTS.
The last two chapters, then, have brought us so far. There are two
principal temples at Denderah. The smaller is called the temple of
Isis. It is oriented 18½° S. of E. The inscriptions tell us that the
light of Sirius shone into it, and that Sirius was personified as Isis.
We can determine astronomically that the statement is true for the time
about 700 B.C., which was the date determined independently by Biot for
the circular zodiac referred to on page 18.
The larger temple is called the temple of Hathor. It is oriented
71½° N. of E. The inscriptions very definitely tell us what star
cast its light along its axis, and give also definite statements about
the date of its foundation, which enable us to determine astronomically
that in all probability the temple was oriented to Dubhe somewhat later
than 5000 B.C.
Now we are _certain_ that Isis personified Sirius. That "Her Majesty of
Denderah" was Sirius, at all events in the later times referred to in
the inscriptions, is not only to be gathered from the inscriptions, but
has been determined astronomically.
It is also _probable_ that Hathor personified Dubhe. Now this looks
very satisfactory, and it seems only necessary to test the theory by
finding temples of Isis and Hathor in other places, and seeing whether
or not they were oriented to Sirius and Dubhe respectively.
But, unfortunately for us, we have already learned from Plutarch
that Isis and Hathor are the same goddesses, although they certainly
personify different stars, if they personify stars at all.
We seem, then, in a difficulty, and at first sight matters do not
appear to be made any clearer by the fact that Hathor (and, therefore,
Isis) was worshipped under different names in every nome.
Lanzoni, in his admirable volumes on Egyptian mythology, gives us, not
dealing with the matter from this point of view at all, _no less than
twenty-four variants for Hathor_!
In the temple at Edfû no less than 300 names are given with the various
local relations and forms used in the most celebrated shrines.[58]
In the inscriptions at Denderah itself a great number of variants is
given.[59] It is important to give some of them in this place; the full
value of the information thus afforded will be seen afterwards.
Hathor of Denderah = Sekhet of Memphis.
" " Neith " Saïs.
" " Saosis " Heliopolis.
" " Nehem-an " Hermopolis.
" " Bast } " Bubastis.
" " Bes-t }
" " Anub-et " Lycopolis.
" " Amen-t " Thebes.
" " Bouto " Unas.
" " Sothis " Elephantine.
" " Apet
" " Mena-t
" " Horus " Edfû.
(female)
One variant is of especial importance in the present connection, and
is emphasised in a special inscription in one of the chambers of the
temple of Hathor--_not_, be it remarked, in the temple of Isis.
"Elle est la Sothis de Denderah, qui remplit le ciel et la terre de
ses bienfaits. Elle est la régente et la reine des villes.... Au Sud
elle est la reine du maître divin; au nord elle est la reine des
divins ancêtres. Rien n'est établi sans elle.... Elle est la grande
dans le ciel, la reine parmi les étoiles."[60]
Well may Mariette remark on this:
"Cette invocation à Sothis, dans une chambre consacrée à la
consécration de certains produits de la terre, n'a rien qui doit
surprendre. Sothis est le symbole du renouvellement de l'année et de
la résurrection de la nature. Au lever héliaque de Sothis, le Nil sort
de son lit. Jusqu'à ce moment la terre de l'Égypte est stérile et nue.
Fécondée par la fleuve, elle va se couvrir d'une verdure nouvelle."
But the Sothis here in question is _Sirius_, the star to the rising of
which the temple of Isis, and _not_ the temple of Hathor, was directed!
We have, then, at Denderah a temple _not_ pointed to Sirius, the
worship in which is that of Hathor, and there can be little doubt
that we have astronomically determined the fact that "Her Majesty of
Denderah" was really the star Sirius.
We can pass from Denderah to the temple of Hathor at Thebes. The
general plan of Thebes prepared by Lepsius indicates the orientation
of the temple of Dêr el-Bahari, to which I refer, the temple in the
western hills of Thebes, embellished by Queen Hatshepset (_circ._ 1600
B.C.). This temple, instead of being-oriented 71½° N. of E., lies
24½° S. of E.; it can never, therefore, have faced the star observed
in the temple of Hathor at Denderah. There is also another temple
annexed to the temple of Amen-Rā, which received the light of Sirius
in former years. These temples were, in all probability, intended to
observe the same star which was subsequently observed in the temple of
Isis at Denderah.
That is one point; here is another. We have it from Plutarch[61] that
Isis = Mut = Hathor = Methuer.
The amplitude of the temple at Denderah dedicated to _Hathor_ is
71½° N. of E. (59° N. declination). That of the temple dedicated
to Mut at Karnak is 72½° N. of E. (58¾° N. declination), which,
assuming for a moment the same star to have been used, corresponds to a
date (according to the height of the horizon) of _circ._ 3000 to 3500
B.C. This is therefore later than the original foundation of the Hathor
temple of Denderah, but not far from the date of its restoration by
Pepi.
It is fundamental to the orientation theory that the cult shall follow
the star. But we have here the same cult, according to Plutarch; we are
hence permitted to suggest that in dealing with the temples of Hathor
at Denderah and Mut at Thebes we are dealing with local names of the
same goddess personifying the same star.
Two lines of argument may be followed to strengthen this conclusion.
The first has to do with the orientation of the temple of Mut at
Thebes. There is no statement of its great antiquity, as in the case
of the temple of Hathor at Denderah. Here we find again one of the
great difficulties in our way, the impossibility of running back to the
original foundation among the many restorations effected of the most
important among the Egyptian temples. The temple of Mut is ascribed to
Amen-hetep III., but I cannot hold this to be the original foundation,
for the following reasons:--
1. With its orientation in the time of Amen-hetep III. it pointed to no
star in particular.
2. There is a series of four temples at Thebes turned to the same part
of the horizon nearly, their amplitudes ranging from 62° to 72½° N.
of E. Of these temples that of Mut has the highest amplitude; the one
with the lowest but one is the temple lettered M by Lepsius. There is
no question about the real founder of this temple, and there is not
much question as to the date of the founder, Rameses III.
Now in the time of this king a temple erected with the orientation
given pointed precisely to γ Draconis. (_See_ Chapter XVIII.) The
amplitude was 62° N. of E.; the time, 1200 B.C. If we take the simplest
case in the orientation theory--that the amplitudes
62° N. of E.
63½° "
68½° "
72½° "
were given to the various temples to enable observations to be made
of the same star, which was being carried nearer the equator by the
precessional movement, we can not only date the temple of Mut, but find
an explanation of Plutarch's equation Hathor = Mut.
In other words, we watch the Mut-Hathor worship provided for from 3000
B.C. to the times of the Ptolemies.
So that here we have a very concrete case of the cult following the
star, not only in the same place, but at different places, and we are
driven to the conclusion that Hathor at Denderah and Mut at Thebes,
exoterically different goddesses, were esoterically the same star, γ
Draconis.
We are not, however, limited to a comparison between Denderah and
Thebes. We have Annu and Abydos, and other places, to appeal to, since
there are temples remaining there also facing N.E. Those at Abydos,
however, we must leave out of consideration here, as their exact
orientation is not determined. With regard to Heliopolis, and dealing
with the obelisk which tradition tells us was erected by Usertsen I.,
the orientation of its N.E. face, according to my own observations,
taking the present variation at 4½° W., is 77° N. of E. This
corresponds approximately to a declination of 57½° N., which was the
declination of γ Draconis in 2500 B.C. The date given to Usertsen I. by
Brugsch is 2433 B.C.
This is very satisfactory so far, but we can go further. Here we are
landed evidently in the worship of one of the local divine dynasties,
that of Set; and we may justly, therefore, ask if Usertsen did not do
at Heliopolis what it is very probable Pepi did at Denderah--namely,
embellish an old temple which had in the first instance been used for
observations of Dubhe and appropriate it to the use of the new Hathor γ
Draconis. If this were so, then the original foundation stone was laid
about 5100 B.C.
The next line of argument is furnished by the emblems which are
associated with the various goddesses. These obviously indicate that
they arose in a time of totemism, when each tribe or nome had its
special totem, which would be certain to be associated with the local
goddesses or the stars which they personified.
The local totem of the special warning-star in use at any time or place
may be anything: hippopotamus, crocodile, hawk, vulture, lion, or even
some other common living thing into which the totem degraded when the
supply of the original fell short.[62]
Hence, as the number of warning-stars was certainly very restricted,
they--or, rather, the goddesses which typified them--had different
names in almost every nome. Hence Egyptian mythology should be, as
it is in fact, full of synonyms; each local name being liable to be
brought into prominence at some time or another, owing to adventitious
circumstances relating either to dynasties or the popularity of some
particular shrine.
Applying this test of symbolism, we find in the case of Hathor that the
symbolism was double.
The Denderah _Hathor_ was connected with the hippopotamus, while at
Thebes _Mut_ was represented by a hippopotamus.
Now this symbol of the hippopotamus helps us greatly, because it allows
evidence to be gathered from a consideration of the old constellations.
I do not think it is saying too much to remark that among these the
attention of the North Egyptians was almost exclusively confined to
the circumpolar ones. Further, the mean latitude being, say, 25°, the
circumpolar region was a restricted one; 50° in diameter, instead of
over 100°, as with us. But not quite exclusively, for to them in later
times, as to us now, the Great Bear and _Orion_ were the two most
prominent constellations in the heavens; for them, as for us, they
typified the northern and southern regions of the sky.
[Illustration: CAPITAL, WITH MASKS OF HATHOR WITH COWS' EARS.]
There can be no question that the chief ancient constellation in
the north was the Great Bear, or, as it was then pictured, the
Thigh (Mesχet). After this came the Hippopotamus. I had come to the
conclusion that this had been replaced on our maps by part of Draco
before I found that Brugsch and Parthey had expressed the same opinion.
The female hippopotamus typified Taurt, the wife of Set (represented
by a jackal with erected tail, or hippopotamus), and one of the most
ordinary forms of Hathor is a hippopotamus. There is evidence that the
star we are considering, γ Draconis, occupied the place of the head or
the mythical head-gear.
Here, then, in the actual symbolism of Hathor we find γ Draconis as
distinctly pointed to as by the orientation of the temples.
[Illustration: THE COW OF ISIS.]
The other symbolism is quite different; instead of a hippopotamus we
deal with a cow.
In the inscriptions at Denderah we find the star Sirius represented by
a cow in a boat. In the circular zodiac we have the cow in the boat,
the point of the beginning of the year, and the constellation Orion,
so located as to indicate clearly that, at that time, the beginning of
the year fell between the heliacal rising of Sirius and of the stars in
Orion. Sirius was Isis-Sothis.
If we go to Thebes, we pass there from the cow Isis-Sothis to
Isis-Hathor, and there we find the mythology retains the idea of
the cow, the cow gradually appearing from behind the western hills.
There is not a doubt, I think, that the basis of this mythological
representation was, that the temple which was built to observe the
rising of the star at a time perhaps somewhat later than that given by
Biot (3285 B.C.) was situated in the western hills of Thebes, so that
Hathor, the goddess on which the light was to fall in the sanctuary,
was imaged as dwelling in the western hills. At Philæ we get no longer
either Isis-Sothis or Isis-Hathor, but Isis-Sati.[63]
[Illustration: HATHOR AS A COW.]
Now just as certainly as the hippopotamus had to do with the
constellation Draco, the cow had to do with Sirius, for Sirius was
represented as a cow in a boat.
[Illustration: HATHOR, "THE COW OF THE WESTERN HILLS."]
It may be gathered from this how truly astronomical in basis was the
mythologic symbolism to which we have been driven in the effort to
obtain more light; and, indeed, it is necessary for us to consider it
still more closely.